The Founding Fathers were not a monolithic block. As a result it's easy for people, including me, to pick and choose from their statements to defend a particular viewpoint.

In the United States, it is the Supreme Court which determines the Constitutionality of a law. The Roberts Court has determined the 2nd Amendment Guarantees an individual right to own a firearm.

There is a history of Supreme Court decisions that many have regarded as "wrong". Many of the same people, for example, who support the Supreme Court decision on individual gun rights disagree with its decision on the Affordable Care Act, Corporations having a right to speech, Same Sex Marriage, Roe v. Wade, etc. Similarly the Supreme Court in its history has endorsed slavery in Dred Scott v. Sandford and racial segregation with Plessy v. Ferguson.

Opponents of "wrong" decisions have on occasion been able to get such decisions overturned and one can witness such a desire in the potential nominees for the 2016 Presidential Election.



With that out of the way, I'm going to offer one of the reasons the Second Amendment was so important and it strongly focuses on the militia clause of the Amendment. Let us review the text of the Second Amendment:

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

It is worth noting there exist more than one version of this Amendment with slightly different punctuation and capitalization of words.





Going back to the late 18th century, it becomes important to note there were a number of things the people of the new Republic were very nervous about. For example, consider the Third Amendment, of which I believe there are no organizations dedicated to preserving:

No Soldier shall, in time of peace be quartered in any house, without the consent of the Owner, nor in time of war, but in a manner to be prescribed by law. One of the grievances of the American Colonies against the British Empire was that the British maintained a right to quarter soldiers in the homes of the Colonists without their consent. This is not something that has ever been a major issue in the United States but it was important enough to the early Americans to include in the first ten Amendments.









Liberty

The militia continued to exist and fight throughout the revolution with mixed results. Continental Army officers tended to deride its effectiveness, probably with reason, at least in the early years of the war. But at Saratoga, in the South, and in New Jersey during a 1780 campaign, they were essential fighting forces. By the end of the war, Washington and others in the Continental command were using the militia as support for the regular army, and they were a crucial component in the ultimate victory. With that in mind, it is worth considering the fear of standing armies that the early Americans had. While George Washington was leader of the Continental Army, the governors were the leaders of the state militias. PBS' discussed the differences between the two:

Though the Continental Army was essential to American Victory, many in the 18th century considered a permanent standing army a threat to liberty. With that in mind, among the powers vested to Congress in Article 1 Section 8 of the US Constitution was the power to raise an army, but an army could only be funded at most for two years at a time, preventing the permanent financing of a standing army:

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years







The Heritage Foundation discussed how in the 18th century standing armies were considered a threat to liberty and how that clause was designed to balance the threat to liberty a standing army posed with the need to protect the fledgling republic:

For most Americans after the Revolution, a standing army was one of the most dangerous threats to liberty. In thinking about the potential dangers of a standing army, the Founding generation had before them the precedents of Rome and England. In the first case, Julius Caesar marched his provincial army into Rome, overthrowing the power of the Senate, destroying the republic, and laying the foundation of empire. In the second, Cromwell used the army to abolish Parliament and to rule as dictator. In addition, in the period leading up to the Revolution, the British Crown had forced the American colonists to quarter and otherwise support its troops, which the colonists saw as nothing more than an army of occupation. Under British practice, the king was not only the commander in chief; it was he who raised the armed forces. The Framers were determined not to lodge the power of raising an army with the executive. Many of the men who met in Philadelphia to draft the Constitution, however, had the experience of serving with the Continental Line, the army that ultimately bested the British for our independence. Founders like George Washington, James Madison, and Alexander Hamilton were also acutely aware of the dangers external enemies posed to the new republic. The British and Spanish were not only on the frontiers of the new nation. In many cases they were within the frontiers, allying with the Indians and attempting to induce frontier settlements to split off from the country. The recent Shays's Rebellion in Massachusetts had also impelled the Framers to consider the possibility of local rebellion. The "raise and support Armies" clause was the Framers' solution to the dilemma. The Constitutional Convention accepted the need for a standing army but sought to maintain control by the appropriations power of Congress, which the Founders viewed as the branch of government closest to the people. ... [B]oth Federalists and Anti-Federalists alike expressed concerns about a standing army, as opposed to a navy or the militia. Accordingly, this is the only clause related to military affairs that includes a time limit on appropriations. The appropriations power of Congress is a very powerful tool, and one that the Framers saw as particularly necessary in the case of a standing army. Indeed, some individuals argued that army appropriations should be made on a yearly basis. During the Constitutional Convention, Elbridge Gerry raised precisely this point. Roger Sherman replied that the appropriations were permitted, not required, for two years. The problem, he said, was that in a time of emergency, Congress might not be in session when an annual army appropriation was needed.

What does this have to do with the Second Amendment? During the debate about the Second Amendment, text under consideration stated: A well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, being the best security of a free state; the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed, but no person, religiously scrupulous, shall be compelled to bear arms. Constitution Society, Documents on the First Congress Debate on Arms and Militia Representative Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts (of whom we get the term Gerrmandering - thanks for that) was uncertain as to if the religious clause was necessary and engaged in a discussion as to the purpose of the Amendment. Also from the Constitution Society, we see him saying in the minutes of the debate:



Mr. Gerry  This declaration of rights, I take it, is intended to secure the people against the mal-administration of the government; if we could suppose that in all cases the rights of the people would be attended to, the occasion for guards of this kind would be removed. Now, I am apprehensive, sir, that this clause would give an opportunity to the people in power to destroy the constitution itself. They can declare who are those religiously scrupulous, and prevent them from bearing arms. What, sir, is the use of a militia? It is to prevent the establishment of a standing army, the bane of liberty. Now it must be evident, that under this provision, together with their other powers, congress could take such measures with respect to a militia, as make a standing army necessary. Whenever government mean to invade the rights and liberties of the people, they always attempt to destroy the militia, in order to raise an army upon their ruins. This was actually done by Great Britain at the commencement of the late revolution. They used every means in their power to prevent the establishement of an effective militia to the eastward. The assembly of Massachusetts, seeing the rapid progress that administration were making, to divest them of their inherent privileges, endeavored to counteract them by the organization of the militia, but they were always defeated by the influence of the crown. [Emphasis mine]

To be frank, there is considerable debate at this time as to what constituted a militia in the eyes of the Founders, with some saying it referred to all the citizens and others indicating it referred to specific bodies. Above, Representative Gerry references the attempts of the Massachusetts Assembly to raise an effective militia, something Great Britain actively sought to prevent. What I take from this is he was referring to a power of a state, namely Massachusetts, in opposition to a central government - in his example, Great Britain. Essentially, what I take this debate to be about is not the right of a citizen to own a gun in order to hunt, protect his land, etc. but rather the right of a state to have an armed militia as a check against the federal government.



One can see how much more important the state militias were compared to the standing army. At the start of the War of 1812,

[T]he U.S. Army consisted of only 6744 men and officers. The militia of the states was called into federal service and 489,173 militiamen responded. The most famous militia commander during the War of 1812 was Major General Andrew Jackson, whose backwoods sharpshooters defeated British regulars at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. Clearly this assemblage of militias called up people who were members of specific organizations, not a general assemblage of citizens. The militias were organized with their own leadership structure, such as the aforementioned General Jackson.





Does this mean that there is no possible interpretation of the Second Amendment to give an individual right to bear arms? No, as the Supreme Court has in other cases, perhaps most famously in Roe v. Wade, delineated inferred rights from the Constitution. However, I do believe it to be a stretch that foremost on the authors' minds was the right of an individual - it seems to me the primary motivation was protecting the rights of the states against the potential tyranny of standing armies from the federal government.





Image credit - public domain painting of Elbridge Gerry by James Bogle (1861) Representative Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts (of whom we get the term Gerrmandering - thanks for that) was uncertain as to if the religious clause was necessary and engaged in a discussion as to the purpose of the Amendment. Also from the Constitution Society, we see him saying in the minutes of the debate:To be frank, there is considerable debate at this time as to what constituted a militia in the eyes of the Founders, with some saying it referred to all the citizens and others indicating it referred to specific bodies. Above, Representative Gerry references the attempts of the Massachusetts Assembly to raise an effective militia, something Great Britain actively sought to prevent. What I take from this is he was referring to a power of a state, namely Massachusetts, in opposition to a central government - in his example, Great Britain. Essentially, what I take this debate to be about is not the right of a citizen to own a gun in order to hunt, protect his land, etc. but rather the right of a state to have an armed militia as a check against the federal government.One can see how much more important the state militias were compared to the standing army. At the start of the War of 1812, according to GlobalSecurity.org:Clearly this assemblage of militias called up people who were members of specific organizations, not a general assemblage of citizens. The militias were organized with their own leadership structure, such as the aforementioned General Jackson.Does this mean that there is no possible interpretation of the Second Amendment to give an individual right to bear arms? No, as the Supreme Court has in other cases, perhaps most famously in Roe v. Wade, delineated inferred rights from the Constitution. However, I do believe it to be a stretch that foremost on the authors' minds was the right of an individual - it seems to me the primary motivation was protecting the rights of the states against the potential tyranny of standing armies from the federal government.- public domain painting of Elbridge Gerry by James Bogle (1861)





Since this post has to do with the 2nd Amendment, something that generates a lot of passion, I'll begin with a few points:
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Leading hotel management group Rotana today announced the soft opening of City Centre Rotana Doha, the citys newest five-star hotel.



Developed by Al Rayyan Tourism Investment Company (ARTIC) the international hotel investment and hospitality subsidiary of Al Faisal Holding Company, the City Centre Rotana Doha is located in the West Bay area. This 52-storey tower features 287 luxurious modern rooms and suites and 94 serviced apartments.



To mark this occasion, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Faisal Al Thani, ARTICs vice chairman, said: We are delighted to welcome our guests to City Centre Rotana, the latest addition to ARTICs growing portfolio of high quality assets. Qatar is witnessing a remarkable growth in the tourism sector and we are committed to playing a key role in supporting this growth. With City Centre Rotana, we are offering a unique addition to Qatars hospitality market that specifically caters to today's modern travellers. The hotel provides guests with excellent facilities which will undoubtedly set even higher standards in Qatars vibrant hospitality sector.



City Centre Rotana offers exquisite dining venues to suit all tastes, from stylish to informal, fusion to international and state-of-the art facilities for conference and seminar requirements with the latest high-tech facilities including the grand ballroom, fully equipped meeting rooms as well as a business centre. The hotel also includes a state-of-the-art Bodylines Leisure and Fitness Club, massage rooms as well as sauna and Jacuzzi rooms which are all linked to an outdoor swimming pool and a landscaped patio space.



Commenting on the opening, Omer Kaddouri, president and CEO of Rotana said: "Qatars hospitality sector is one of the most vital sectors in the region, especially with the global status that Doha holds in attracting international events in general and sports-related ones in particular. Opening our third hotel in Qatar, following the five-star Oryx Rotana and Sedra Residences by Rotana, is a major milestone for us. With this, our existence in this promising market will help us grow and move forward in our expansion plans and we are very confident that City Centre Rotana will provide the utmost standards and quality services for its guests.



With the opening of City Centre Rotana, Rotanas inventory in Doha has increased to more than one 1,000 rooms. Moreover, the second quarter of this year is slated to witness the opening of Centro Capital Doha, our first hotel to be launched in the country under the lifestyle affordable brand Centro Hotels by Rotana, which will then add another 229 rooms to our portfolio in Qatar, he added.



City Centre Rotana is characterised by its connection to the City Center Doha shopping complex  the leading family shopping mall in Doha. Further, the hotel is only 30 minutes away from the airport, 15 minutes away from the traditional Souq Waqif, the banks street and the Museum of Islamic Art.



The hotel also seeks to offer its guests an exquisite culinary experience offered by the most skilled chefs. Olive Oil the all-day dining restaurant featuring cuisines from around the world will offer an international buffet for breakfast, lunch and dinner in a relaxing atmosphere. The lobby lounge Caramel will serve fresh bakery, a wide variety of sandwiches and salads and is the ideal venue for an informal get together over a cup of coffee or a refreshing cocktail with family or friends. Bostons the restaurant and lounge that will open in mid-January, will offer a variety of cocktails and sumptuous dishes to relax and unwind with friends, while Teatro that is scheduled to be opened in March will offer an intriguing menu featuring masterpieces from Thai, Indian, Chinese, Japanese Sushi and Italian cuisines.



To add an oriental touch, Misk  the specialty Lebanese restaurant, which will open its doors in April, will offer a variety of authentic cuisine with a contemporary Arabic flavour. Further, to relax and get out of business and working mode, Aquarius, the outdoor lounge will provide complete comfort and a variety of options for dinner with a large variety of appetizers.



City Centre Rotana also provides a ballroom and meeting rooms, which matches the diverse demands and varies in size between 40-sq-m and 84-sq-m, depending on the space needed by organisers for events, conferences or exhibitions. In addition to the business centre, there are 11 meeting rooms that are available 24/7 and are equipped with state-of-the-art audio and video systems.  TradeArabia News Service
Valentine's Day draws out the chocolate lover in all of us, but genuine chocoholics realize that a travel through a chocolate processing plant or confectioner's shop can be a memorable part of a tour any time of the year. Out of appreciation for each explorer who cherishes sweet desserts, here is a slideshow of a portion of the world's coolest chocolate destinations.

Rococo Flagship Store, London

In this captivating maze for goodness' sake chocolate, you can look for cocoa nibs and crystallized violet petals, taste hot chocolate in a Moorish-style patio while watching chocolatiers in action, or take a truffle-moving class at the nearby school. Chantal Coady worked behind the Harrods treat counter before opening Rococo in 1983; it now has four locations and is one of Britain's biggest handmade chocolate creators. Its artisan bars, which come in antique packaging with fascinating flavors such as basil and Persian lime, make them a perfect present for chocolate lovers back home.

Pannys Amazing World of Chocolate

Kids and kids at heart will love this Willy Wonka-meets-Disneyland experience near Melbourne, Australia, where you can make your own chocolate bars, control a miniature train through a chocolate town and gape at chocolate stalagmites, and a mosaic wall with Dame Edna's likeness designed out of truffles.

Theo Chocolate Tour, Seattle

One of the youngest bean-to-bar industrial facilities in the United States, Theo offers hour-long visits that draw raves for its generous samples and thoroughness. Enthusiastic aides walk you through everything from the bean-roasting and table-tempering procedure to the last ganache-making steps in a 100-year-old building that once housed streetcars, now loaded with vintage cooking and grinding machinery. Best of all, the store offers exceptional factory-only flavors like salted licorice caramel, key lime pie and peach riesling.

Maison Cailler, Switzerland

The Swiss people love chocolate and couple of factories showcase that as extensively as this one. Set on an idyllic estate in the western Swiss town of Broc, Cailler's hour-long visits start with a glance at old Aztec cocoa ceremonies, walk you through the milk chocolate production line and end, joyfully, with an everything you-can-eat tasting experience. Reservation-required workshops exhibit how to make customized pralines, cream-filled Valentine's Day hearts and child-friendly chocolate molds.

Mast Brothers Chocolate, Brooklyn

The brothers behind this specialty factory in Brooklyn offer a cozy visit that mirrors their science-meets-bicycle culture way to artisanal chocolate perfection. Raw cacao beans from the Dominican Republic, Venezuela and Madagascar are hand-sorted, roasted and winnowed through a machine specially crafted by a friend and previous plane engineer. One of the highlights of the visit perceives how flavors like bean chili pepper and Stumptown espresso are added to the procedure.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
Taiwan finally opens a new branch of one of the world's top museums with some of China's most valuable historic artefacts on display. Located in the southern city of Chiayi, the 9,000 square meter venue is an extension of Taipei's National Palace Museum -- one of the most popular museums in the world with more than five million visitors every year.

Design

The museum is designed by Kris Yao, the southern branch costs approximately $355 million to build with a modern design and a huge glass interior.

"Yao incorporated Chinese culture into the design for the National Palace Museum's Southern Branch, fusing the most advanced engineering technology with the most ancient cultural forms," said President Ma during the opening ceremony.

"He himself practiced Chinese calligraphy, incorporating three different styles in the design, which was no simple task," he said. "It is very meaningful, because when people visit in the future, they will be able to feel that the purpose of the museum is to promote Chinese culture."

Exhibit

The branch in Chiayi will focus on the arts of Chinese dynasties through the ages with artworks from Japan, the Korean Peninsula, the Islamic world and in other parts of Asia.

The museum will also feature Buddhist artifacts, Asian textiles and tea culture displays.

Exhibits from the Taipei museum will be moved to Chiayi for the inaugural months including the "Jadeite Cabbage" sculpture from the 19th century. The Southern branch will also feature South Asian costumes, Islamic jades and porcelains from the Ming Dynasty.

"We hope to attract up to 1.5 million visitors in the first year," said Feng Ming-chu, director of both the Taipei and Chiayi museums in an article published on msn.com.

Feng added that the new venue will target domestic and foreign visitors and the museum will be included in travel packages.

See Now: The U.S. had the highest number of Most Wanted properties, dominating the Hotels.com Loved By Guests Awards 2018
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Rajiv Ahuja

Senior VP (Operations), Convergys talks to Girja Shankar Kaura

After starting its operations in India 14 years ago, Convergys has been growing continuously. As one of the leaders in the Business Process Management (BPM) industry, it is looking to carry on its expansion plans in India in the coming year. Rajiv Ahuja, senior VP (operations)  India, China and Malaysia  talks about the companys plans.

Q. What has been your past experience and how does it help you with a people-centric company like Convergys?

A. With over 30 years of work experience, a large amount of it in global, customer-oriented companies, my scope of responsibilities spanned multiple geographies such as Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and India. I also spent close to eight years in the Indian Army, and have trained troops in Survival and Special Forces Ops at the Commando Wing.

We are in a business where our most important resource is our people, and Im grateful for the opportunity to be part of Convergys. Our mission is to deliver unparalleled care for our clients, customers and our people.

Q. How has technology played an important role in shaping the BPM industry?

A. Technology solutions and capabilities are intrinsic to any global BPM companys success and are a part of our continued investments to take the lead in our industry. Clients prefer BPM company partners that have the depth and breadth of solutions to support a seamless experience for our clients customers in their preferred service channel and at scale  whether that customer service channel is voice, chat, or email.

Convergys invests in omni-channel technology capabilities to make sure that we can deliver across these channels effectively, and add value to our clients.

Q. What has been your business strategy in addressing the needs and challenges of Indian BPM industry?

A. BPM industry in India continues to grow, with an already 3.5 million workforce. To stay ahead in a competitive market like India, we need to be the trusted partner of clients, and that requires our people to consistently deliver world class customer experience, across all their interactions, day in and day out.

The needs and opportunities in the industry involves cost-effective innovation and expertise in our domain, maintaining a robust, high-quality talent pool to meet the growth, and developing top talent. Convergys business strategy is a global growth strategy  having a global footprint and the depth and breadth of solutions that can meet any and all needs of our clients.

Q. What are the best practices that you follow at Convergys India to keep the employees motivated?

A. We rely on a strong value chain of talent acquisition, development and retention. It is important to us not only to provide meaningful employment but also to grow long-term careers for our people. Robust employee engagement, continuous training, and talent development programmes that equip our employees with new skills to move up the ladder and grow.

Q. How are you currently poised in India and what are your plans for 2016?

A. India remains vital to the success of our global growth strategy. Since Convergys started operations in India, our team has steadily grown. Thanks to the great performance of the India team across our seven centres nationwide, we continue to attract the best and brightest Indian talent, and are already 15,000-strong today from 13,000 at the start of the year. As a publicly traded global company, we cannot provide forward-looking statements or details on our expansions. That said, we look forward to continuing our journey of growth.
Tribune News Service

Bathinda, January 4

Continuing with their annual joint exercise in counter-insurgency and counter-terrorism environment, which, over the years, has added substantial experience to the rank and file of both the Indian and French Armies, a contingent of the French Army personnel will arrive in Mahajan Field Firing Range in Rajasthan for a joint training exercise to be held this month.

Exercise Shakti-2016 reflects the vibrancy of the continued Indo-France strategic partnership.

Shakti-2016 is the third edition in the series of bilateral exercises under this banner. The joint exercise would focus on counterterrorism operations in the backdrop of semi-urban terrain under the United Nations mandate.

To achieve inter-operability in joint real life operations in future, troops from French (I) Motorised Brigade and Indian Armys Infantry Unit will strive to acquaint themselves with the arms and equipment, command and control system and operational tactics of each other.

The joint training will also focus on high degree of physical fitness, tactical drills, techniques and procedure.

A comprehensive training programme for a period of two weeks has been worked out for achieving the objective.

During the exercise, participants will engage in a variety of missions from joint planning, cordon and search operations, search and rescue, joint tactical drills and basics of special arms skills.

The exercise will be conducted at Mahajan Field Firing Range and on its completion, the personnel of the two Armies will strive to learn from each other on terrorist solutions.

The exercise will be conducted in two phases, namely combat conducting and tactical training and validation exercise.

The size and scope of this combined exercise is unparalleled and it will be characterised by regular, realistic, academic and natural exchange.

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Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 4

As five terrorists, in army fatigues, stormed the Air Force base in Pathankot, the police today carried out search at shops near railway station where fabric and shoes of army uniform are sold.

Gurpreet Singh, Station House Officer of the Kotwali police station, said no one had been caught for illegally selling Army fatigues. Sources said four persons were rounded up and taken to the Kotwali police station. However, they were let off following a warning.

Paramraj Singh Umranangal, Commissioner of Police, said: So far, there has been no report of anyone selling Army uniform illegally. Further, the police have been directed to nab anyone found violating the law.

Meanwhile, the police continued round-the-clock nakas in the city. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Narinder Bhargav carried out a surprise visit across the city early morning to check security arrangements.
Avdash Kaushal

On November 18, 1955, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru described the Bhakra Dam as the "New Temple of Resurgent India". The economic progress and development of Punjab and Haryana is due to the Bhakra Dam. The present Government is thinking of developing waterways and the first choice is the Bhakra Dam.

Current unscientific criticism of hydro-projects evokes passionate responses. The Prime Minister, Narendra Modi is going from country to country, begging for nuclear energy projects to be set up in India. Nuclear power runs the risk of Fukushima-type tragedies. All the countries are trying to get rid of nuclear power plants and want to sell uranium along with machines, equipments and their experts with no liability. Opponents of clean hydro energy suggest other alternative sources like nuclear power plants, coal thermal power, solar energy, gas, wind energy etc. Hydro power is a good source for peaking requirements and it further provides multi-purpose benefits for irrigation and flood control.

Uranium is not being used to make the atom bombs openly after World War II. Uranium-producing countries also put the condition that they should be allowed to inspect all the nuclear sites and ordnance factories at any time, resulting a great risk for secrecy of our defence.

Coal thermal power plants are dirty and also not sustainable; dust from the thermal station washeries contains radiation hazards and also pollutes the air. Windmills and noise associated with them are harmful for ornithology; solar panels need an army of cleaners who have to toil in the hot sun to constantly keep them clean. Solar energy is very unreliable during winter and the rainy season. When the need for hot water is much more, solar geysers do not work. The solar photovoltaic cells involve the use of toxic chemicals in the production. One should not use secondary batteries since they contain lead, lithium, metal hydrides and heavy metals that are likely to cause poisoning and cancer.

Hydel power projects are being opposed on unscientific arguments. It is argued that the Pala Maneri, Lohari Nagpala and Bhairon Ghati projects of Uttarakhand are based on the run of the river and river water is diverted into tunnels. And to make these tunnels, the mountains were blasted. However, the fact remains that the tunnels are not made by blasting the mountains but by the same drilling techniques used in making tunnels for metro trains in big cities like Delhi and Kolkata, and now in Lucknow. No house or building made on top of the metro tunnels is unsafe or is damaged. The best example is the way, two years back, a 13-km-long railway tunnel was constructed in Jammu and Kashmir without any damage to the environment. In 2013-14, Uttarakhand had to buy Rs 770 crore worth electricity from outside, which too is not sufficient as per the states requirement. Uttarakhand alone has the potential of generating 27,000 Mw energy from hydro power projects.

Neighbouring countries like China, Nepal, and Bhutan are constructing hydro projects from 1,000 to 14,000 Mws in the same Himalayas. Even Uttarakhand's neighbouring state Himachal Pradesh is constructing hydro projects worth 6,000 Mw, with the result these states are not only independent as far as electricity goes but are also selling it and earning profits. These profits are being used for the welfare of people. Electricity needed as much as food and shelter. An indication of the growing appetite for electricity in India is how the country's per capita electricity consumption has reached 1010 kilowatt-hour (kWh) in 2014-2015, compared with 957 kWh in 2013-14 and 914.41 kWh in 2012-13, according to the Central Electricity Authority (CEA), India's apex power sector planning body. India's per capita power consumption is among the lowest in the world. Around 280 million people in the country do not have access to electricity. In comparison, China has a per capita consumption of 4,000 kWh, with developed nations averaging around 15,000 kWh per capita. India accounts for over 300 million of the 1.4 billion people in the world who have no access to electricity.

Bill Gates, the former Microsoft CEO and co-founder of the world's biggest charitable foundation, indicated that Wind and solar energy will be a big part of the mix, but the intermittency makes it unviable, compared with other sources. Energy has to be reliable, and when the sun isn't shining and the wind isn't blowing, you still need energy if you are running a factory 24 hours a day. So the whole system designed in terms of storage and transmission gets quite complex. You still have other substantial sources of energy that are reliable. So wind and solar can be a part of your mix, but you can't do much with them without a storage miracle.

Pseudo environmentalism is the new religion and even the sadhus and shankaracharyas, leaving dharma, have become environmentalists. These NGO jholawallahs, sadhus and shankaracharyas use electricity from hydro power plants and claim that hydel energy is very harmful. All of them are using big diesel generators. Everyone knows that the dams are the backbone of any civilisation as they play a crucial role in water conservation for irrigation, municipal supplies and industries, generating power, flood control, recreation navigation, river rafting etc, fish production and road bridges and most importantly, they provide employment to the people.

The writer, a recepient of the Padma Shri Award. is the Chairperson of the Dehradun-based Rural Litigation and Entitlement Kendra.
The latest terrorist outrage is in the mopping-up stage but like the Dinanagar attack, it leaves behind unanswered questions. The red flag should have gone up when Prime Minister Narendra Modis plane began the unscheduled descent to Lahore on December 25. Punjab should have been doubly on the guard because it had endured a terror attack just six months ago. The entire narrative has many unexplained gaps, right from the time a SP from a sensitive border district was allegedly kidnapped to the deployment of urban counter-terrorism specialists, the National Security Guards (NSG), in a very different setting. At last count, at least half a dozen security agencies were engaged in eliminating the terrorists.

The Centre is currently probing the role of the SP and porosity of the border, if the terrorists had indeed crossed over. The imperatives of real-politics will make it impossible for the government to publicly launder the culpability of men from the local police or the BSF. This is because it would knock the bottom out of Indias contention, especially by people leading the government at the Centre, that all incidents such as these have been perpetrated by forces from across the border with the active connivance of one of the wings of the Pakistan Government.

Be that it may, India can certainly improve the reflexes of its security forces who have been found wanting in situations that are not of the set-piece kind. For a start, it must pay attention to the Punjab Police whose unpreparedness was glaringly visible on TV channels. Next, it has to improve the leadership quality of the BSF and also of the other paramilitary forces. From Mumbai to Pathankot, the common thread has been the inability of the countrys minders of the borders to check ingress of anti-India elements out to commit violence. True, no country can completely check migration out of economic distress. But the integrity and capability of a countrys security forces is judged by its ability to protect citizens from intruders. On that count, despite promising to make a difference, the Modi dispensation also seems to have feet of clay.
It took just eight days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise stopover in Lahore for the inevitable to happen. And it was big. As the security forces battled to quash the threat, public opinion is being stirred against his judgment about rebuilding bridges with Pakistan. The Pathankot attack was exactly meant to do that  bring hostility surging back in the narrative of Indo-Pak ties. The relationship was about to be rescued from institutional vendors of negativity. Now Pathankot has happened.

In the context of both countries trying to turn a new page, the attack and its intensity should not have been a surprise. There are elements on both sides with a vested interest in keeping the pot boiling. After about 16 months in office, the Prime Minister seemed to have put aside his own cultivated hostility towards Pakistan and, for now, overruled the hawks in his security establishment. He seemed to be coming to terms with the axiom that domestic and foreign policy imperatives do not countenance permanent hostility as a workable strategy.

The Oppositions initial reaction to the Pathankot was reasonable. Apart from stray pot shots, the Opposition commended the security forces for their fortitude and desisted from hauling Modi over the coals for going to Pakistan. While the road to restoration of civility in bilateral diplomatic ties will be a long haul, Modi should try to neutralise the domestic obstructionists wanting to inflame and incite Indian public opinion against Indo-Pak dialogue in the wake of the Pathankot attack. The challenge before Modi, if the Pak opening was not another headline grabbing moment, will be to control the hotheads within his Parivar as well as build bridges with reasonable sections of the Opposition to isolate the spoilers. The wreckers who carried out the hits in Pathankot, Gurdaspur and Udhampur will return like a bad penny. Modi will need to curb his own instincts for abolsute power and his colleagues' practiced machismo to build political consensus and steer India towards a constructive engagement with Pakistan. He is being tested. He must stay the Lahore course.
Bhanu P Lohumi

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 3

Stage is set for election of Himachal State BJP president slated for January 6 but there is no excitement as the state leaders are aware that election would be a tame affair with general house simply putting its stamp on the choice of the High Command.

Party leaders are awaiting arrival of national vice-president of the BJP, Ganeshi Lal who has been appointed observer for election of state party chief.

Former Chief Minister and senior most leader of the party Shanta Kumar, MP from Kangra, has already informed the party that he would not be able to attend the meeting as he is away to Andaman Nicobar along with his family members.

I am in Andaman Nicobar with my family and have come to know about the election of party chief on January 6. I would not be able to attend the meeting due to pre-decided programme. I am confident that with the consultations among top party leaders, consensus would be arrived and choice would be crucial as Assembly elections in the state are scheduled next year, he said in a message to party leaders.

The electoral college consists of 81 members  65 delegates from each Assembly constituency, 10 members nominated by legislature party and six members of Parliament (four Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha).

The elections of Kinnaur, Chopal and Banikhet Mandals have not been held and their representatives would not participate in the election process. Union health Minister J P Nadda, former Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal, national BJYM president Anurag Thakur, state party chief Satpal Singh Satti and more than a dozen former ministers are likely to attend the meeting.

The BJP spokesperson Ganesh Dutt said that the possibility of Satti getting a second term could not be ruled out as his term was successful and non-controversial. BJP won all four Lok sabha seats under his leadership. Moreover, he enjoys support of all segments of the party leadership.
Tribune News Service

Jammu, January 4

In a major push to provide all-weather road connectivity to the isolated Ladakh region, IRB Infrastructure Developers has been entrusted with the task of constructing Rs 10,050-crore Zojila tunnel on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh highway in Jammu and Kashmir.

The company has received a letter of award (LoA) from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, headed by Nitin Gadkari, for the construction, operation and maintenance of the longest tunnel in South-East Asia, Zojilla tunnel, in Jammu and Kashmir, IRB Infrastructure Developers said in a statement issued here.

It is the biggest national highway project awarded in India in terms of the project cost of Rs 10,050 crore, an official spokesperson for the company quoted Chairman and Managing Director Virendra Mhaiskar here.

The scope of the project includes constructing approaches on NH-1 (Srinagar-Sonamarg-Gumri road) on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (DBFOT) (annuity) basis.

This project has a strategic and socio-economic importance as it will provide the much-needed all-weather connectivity between the Kashmir valley and Ladakh, which remains cut-off during winter due to heavy snowfall and hence assumes national importance, Mhaiskar said.

Besides a tunnel length spanning 14.08 km, the project also involves construction of a 10.8-km approach road with three vertical ventilation shafts, 700-m snow gallery and avalanche protection measures, the spokesperson said.

The construction of the tunnel is scheduled to be completed in seven years and the concession period is 22 years. The funding for the construction of the Zojilla tunnel was recently announced in the Rs 80,000 crore Prime Ministers Reconstruction Plan for Jammu and Kashmir. In the package, Rs 9,090 was earmarked for the project.

The Tribune had exclusively reported in its December 30, 2015, edition that the Centre had taken the first step for the construction of the Zojila tunnel connecting Kashmirs Sonamarg with the Gumri area in Kargil district by inviting global bids for expression of interest (EOI).

Meanwhile, the work is already in progress on another tunnel near Z-Morh, 20 km away from the Zojilla pass, on the Srinagar-Kargil-Leh highway.

Coming up at a cost of Rs 2716.90 crore, the Z-Morh tunnel is expected to be completed by 2017. The 6.5-km tunnel would connect Gagangeer directly with Sonamarg.

Once the two tunnels are put in place, the journey time from Kashmir to Ladakh would be reduced drastically and the entire stretch would become motorable throughout the year.
Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, January 4

Security has been tightened at Mumbais suburban and outstation train stations after an email allegedly threatening terror attacks by ISIS was received by officials in New Delhi.

We have received an alert from Delhi about an email threat to blow up trains leaving for Mumbai, Kanpur and other places in the next 72 hours, the Mumbai police control room confirmed this morning. The email was sent late Saturday and security was tightened from Sunday, the police said.

The police have erected barricades in different parts of Mumbai to check vehicles and two-wheelers.

Western and Central Railway officials said the email threatened to target trains like the Rajdhani, Shatabdi, and the August Kranti Express.

Officials added that security personnel have conducted checks on a number of trains leaving New Delhi for Mumbai, Kanpur and other places after the receipt of the email. However, nothing has been spotted so far.

The police have also started checking identity cards of people at random as a security measure, officials said.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Director-General of Police Pravin Dixit has issued a public appeal asking people to report anything suspicious to the police. Dixit added that the police would keep the identity of those providing information secret.
Tribune News Service and agencies

Guwahati, January 4

A powerful earthquake struck northeast India and Bangladesh this morning, killing at least 16 persons and injuring around 200, with efforts to reach remote areas where people might be trapped hampered by severed power lines and telecommunication links. Besides India and Bangladesh, tremors were also felt in Nepal and Myanmar.

At least 11 persons were killed in India when an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale rocked the northeastern region around 4.35 am today. The epicentre of the earthquake was at Tamenglong in Manipur.

At least eight deaths have been reported so far from the worst-affected Manipur, where over 90 persons were injured at various places. Two persons died in Guwahati and one in Bihar after suffering cardiac arrest when they got panicky trying to rush out of their homes during the quake. There was, however, no report of any major damage or casualties from other states of the region.

According to the data available with the seismological science department of the North East Institute of Science and Technology (NEIST), Jorhat, the earthquake hit the North-East 16 seconds past 4.35 am with an intensity of 6.7 on the Richter scale. The epicentre of the earthquake has been traced to Tamenglong in Manipur (latitude 28.8 N longitude 93.5 E) at a depth of 17 km from the earth surface.

Dr Ranju Duarah, senior geologist at the NEIST, said more tremors were likely in the region as aftershocks. He said the area in Tamenglong district of Manipur where the epicentre of the quake was situated was within the Indian continental crust, but close to ancient tectonic boundaries between Indian and Myanmar continental plates. He said continental plate boundary region remained seismically very active and earthquakes could occur any day in those areas as stress was always building in those areas.

Two teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) were rushed to Manipur for conducting rescue operations. At Imphal's airport, flights were normal, although a boundary wall collapsed, and a crack appeared in the terminal building, said Thanglian, who works there.

Union Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju and Minister for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh arrived in Imphal to monitor the relief and rescue operations. Several buildings, including the multi-storied all-women market in Imphal, suffered extensive damage in the quake. Power supply was hit throughout Manipur, sources said.

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is in Assam visiting areas on the India-Bangladesh border, said the Centre was monitoring the situation in Manipur and would provide all possible assistance to help the state tide over the crisis.

Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh convened an emergency meeting of the state Cabinet to discuss the situation in the aftermath of the disaster. He said the state would need assistance from all, including governments and NGOs, to tide over the crisis.

Manipur witnessed three earthquakes since 11 pm last night. The latest and the third one with magnitude 3.6 on the Richter scale occurred around 9.27 am with epicentre near Tamenglong at a depth of 20 km. The second one with magnitude 6.7 on the Richter scale was the most damaging.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Ibobi Singh, Tarun Gogoi and other chief ministers of the region early in the morning to take stock of the situation in the aftermath of the quake. Extensive damage to dwelling units was reported from Majuli, the largest inhabited river island on the planet.
Lalit Mohan

Tribune News Service

Dharamsala/Chamba, Jan 4

Jagdish Chands family at Basa village in Chamba was on fast since they received the news of his martyrdom.

Jagdish had recently built a new house at his native village and was planning to shift there. There is no road link to his village and one has to walk 2 km on foot. His relatives said the destiny did not allow Jagdish to spend time in his new house.

Jagdish Chand had retired from the Army in 2009 after serving in the 7 Dogra Regiment for 26 years. A year later, he joined the Defence Security Corps (DSC). He was transferred to Pathankot from Leh on November 23. He visited his village on December 31 and assured the villagers that he would return for the panchayat elections on January 10.

The villagers said Jagdish was off duty and was working in a mess when terrorists attacked the Pathankot airbase. Unarmed, Jagdish snatched a rifle from the terrorist and killed him. However, he could not survive attack from other terrorists.

Jagdish is the third martyr from Basa village with a population of 250. The other two martyrs were Suja Ram of 15 Dogra who was killed while serving the IPKF in Sri Lanka and Khemraj, who was killed in the Kargil war. Jagdish Chand is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son.
Tribune News Service

Pathankot, January 4

The confusion over the number of terrorists involved in the attack on the Pathankot air base continued on Monday evening, with the authorities announcing that five terrorists have been killed, while making no mention of the sixth they had been talking of all day.

A press briefing was held in the evening in which the Inspector General, NSG, Major General Dushyant Singh, said five terrorists had been killed in all, including one today. He added a combing operation was on at the base to sanitise the area.

Sound of intermittent firing could be heard at the air base.

A few hours earlier, there were reports that all six had been killed, with the last one blowing himself up, though that was not official.

The two were said to have been hiding in a two-storey residential building meant for Air Force personnel.

Addressing the media in the morning, Inspector General, NSG, Major General Dushyant Singh had said the operation was still on and the air base was yet to be declared safe.

Gunshots were heard in the area in the morning as multiple security agencies undertook a combing operation on the base.

At one point, the building was bombed by the security forces targeting the terrorists. The blast was followed by the sound of gunfire.

Earlier in the day, a press conference at Pathankot was addressed by Army, NSG and Air Force officials, who said the operation would continue till the combing of the entire area was over. They said four terrorists had been killed yesterday, and two more were holed up on the air base, which is spread over a large area and is like a mini city.

The officials said all families of military personnel, besides Air Force assets such as aircraft, were safe.

(Editorial: Stay the Lahore course)

Inspector General, NSG, Maj-General Dushyant Singh, flanked by Air Officer Commanding, Air commodore J S Damoon and Brigadier Anupinder Singh, had said in the morning: "The entire operation will continue till all the personnel, assets, structure are physically combed. So it is likely to take a long time."

He said that the terrorists had come "well prepared" and were "heavily armed" with the aim of targeting strategic assets of the Air Force.

The officers said the Army was on general alert since January 1 following intelligence inputs of a terror strike.

Firing could be heard during the night and Monday morning. Officials said this firing could be linked to the mopping operation.

IAF helicopters flew through the night over the air base to assist ground forces in the counter offensive against the terrorists.

Army and para-military forces have surrounded the entire air force base, which is spread in a huge area.

Four terrorists were killed by security forces on Saturday after a 15-hour long gunfight in which the NSG, Indian Army and IAF commandos were involved, assisted by IAF helicopters.

A gunfight between the remaining terrorist (or terrorists?), who acted like a separate team, and security forces continued through Sunday into Monday.

Seven security personnel, including one official of the National Security Guard, one IAF Garud commando and five Defence Services Corps (DSC) personnel were killed in the counter-offensive against the terrorists.

"Combing operation continued (on Sunday). This operation is at the completion stage. The operation will continue till the whole air base has been cleared of any intruders," Air Commodore J. S. Dhamoon, the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of the Pathankot Air Force Station told the media.

 Wwith inputs from Agencies
Tribune News Service

Mohali, January 4

Three suspected smugglers were arrested on Monday and some foreign-made weapons  among them a Pakistani double-magazine automatic stengun seized, police said.

Gurjant Singh alias Bholu (26) and Sandip Singh (25)  both from Havelian village  and Jatinder Singh alias Jindi (34) were arrested after they had a fight. Police also claim they shot at policemen.

A 9 mm, two pistols (.9mm), two pistols (.30 bore), one airgun, 190 live cartridges and 31 mobile phones were seized from the suspects.

A SIM card from Pakistan was among the things recovered from the suspects, Mohali SSP Gurpreet Singh Bhullar said. A Swift car they had was also impounded.

"The miscreants are close acquaintances of notorious gangster Jaipal, who is wanted in a number of robbery, dacoity and smuggling cases", said SSP Bhullar.

He added that apart from smuggling heroin from across the border, the gangsters were now conspiring to kidnap wards of rich people for ransom.
Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe courted Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday, holding out the prospect for a summit as he renewed his call for progress on an elusive World War II peace treaty. The two countries have never officially struck a peace accord more than after 70 years after the end of the conflict amid a territorial dispute over four Japanese islands seized by Soviet troops at the war's conclusion. AFP

Treason charges against 3 Madhesi activists

Kathmandu: The Nepal government on Monday filed treason charges against three Madhesi activists for holding a mock referendum on "Free Madhes". They were arrested from the south-eastern Nepali Siraha district on Saturday, and brought to Kathmandu for the filing of treason charges at a Special Court that looks after cases of treason and matters of national sensitivity. IANS

Jordan frees No 2 figure in Muslim Brotherhood

Amman: Jordan on Monday released a top leader of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group after he served over two-thirds of his 18-month prison term for criticising the United Arab Emirates, an ally of the kingdom. Zaki Bani Ersheid's (pic) release comes at a time of growing divisions in the Jordanian branch of the pan-Arab Brotherhood. pti

China to establish first counter-terrorism college

Beijing: China is considering to establish its first counter-terrorism college, days after passing its controversial first counter-terrorism law, a media report said on Monday. The college, to be established in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, will offer counter-terrorism courses to undergraduate and postgraduate students. The recruitment for the institution will be nationwide and law undergraduates are preferred. PTI
Dubai, January 4

Iran accused Saudi Arabia on Monday of using an attack on its embassy as a pretext to sever ties in a diplomatic crisis deepening their often violent struggle for influence across the Middle East.

(Also read: Saudi execution ignites fire of Shia protest)

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday and fellow-Sunni Bahrain followed suit on Monday, two days after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest at Riyadh's execution of a senior Shi'ite cleric.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) also downgraded its ties with Iran, as the dispute between the region's top Sunni and Shi'ite powers rippled across the region, driving up oil prices and threatening to widen the Middle East's sectarian divide.

A man was shot dead in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province late on Sunday when security officers came under fire, and two Sunni mosques in Iraq's Shi'ite-majority Hilla province were bombed.

After a furious response in Shi'ite communities worldwide to the Sunni kingdom's execution of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accused Iran of creating "terrorist cells" among the kingdom's Shi'ite minority.

Iran retorted that Riyadh had used the embassy incident and a similar attack on its consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad as an "excuse" to stoke tensions.

Oil prices rose almost two per cent, overcoming economic weakness in Asia, as the two big petroleum exporters traded insults and tensions spilled into other crude producers such as Iraq.

Stock markets across the Gulf dropped sharply, led by Qatar, which fell more than 2.5 percent, with geopolitical jitters outweighing any benefit from stronger oil.

Crude importer China declared itself "highly concerned" with the developments, in a rare foray into Middle East diplomacy.

The United States and Germany called for restraint, while Russia offered to mediate an end to the dispute.

The tensions threatened to derail efforts to end Syria's five-year-old civil war, where Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab powers support rebel groups against Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad.

In neighbouring Lebanon, newspapers said the spat had clouded the hopes of filling the vacant presidency that had been raised last month after Iran and Saudi Arabia both voiced support for a power-sharing deal.

Sudan cuts diplomatic ties with Iran

Sudan said on Monday it is cutting diplomatic relations with Iran after Gulf ally Saudi Arabia did the same amid mounting tensions between Riyadh and Tehran over the execution of a cleric.

"The Sudanese government announces the cutting of diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran immediately," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Divine revenge

Saudi Arabia executed Nimr and three other Shi'ites on terrorism charges on Saturday, alongside dozens of Sunni jihadists. Shi'ite Iran hailed him as a "martyr" and warned Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family of "divine revenge".

Shi'ite groups united in condemnation of Saudi Arabia while Sunni powers rallied behind the kingdom, hardening a sectarian split that has torn apart communities across the Middle East and nourished the jihadist ideology of Islamic State.

Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based seat of Sunni Muslim learning, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia, condemned the attacks on Riyadh's missions and stressed Tehran's obligation to respect the internal affairs of the kingdom.

The UAE, an ally of Saudi Arabia that is also home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, cut the number of Iranian diplomats allowed in the country, after summoning the ambassador to protest what it called Iran's interference in Saudi Arabia.

The Yemeni government on Monday announced a curfew in the port city of Aden, a beach-head for Saudi and UAE forces waging war on the Shi'ite Houthi group that controls much of the country. A ceasefire collapsed on Saturday.

Western powers, many of which supply billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Gulf Arab powers, tried to tamp down the tensions with Iran but also deplored the executions, as human rights groups strongly criticised Saudi Arabia's judicial process and protesters gathered outside Saudi embassies.  Reuters/ AFP
Dont call it a banquet. Its a block party.

The Sand Springs Chamber of Commerce Annual reception will have more of a casual theme rather than a formal event. Last year, former chamber president Mary Eubanks hosted a drop-in-style banquet with appetizers and drinks, and new president Kristen Valentin wants to keep that going.

Each year the board chair has a mantra they want to promote and Jim ORourke is our board chair. He is promoting Sand Springs  a great place to live, work and play. He suggested a block party and I loved it. Its not a banquet, Valentin said.

There wont be a formal dinner but Valentin said heavy appetizers will be served along with an open bar.

The cost is $30 per ticket and the awards for Volunteer of the Year and Business Person of the Year will be announced. Nominations for these two awards will be accepted through Jan. 8. Anyone can nominate any volunteer or business person. However, Valentin said there are some criteria the committee looks for in both.

The attire for the block party is business attire.

Anyone can come to the block party straight after work if they want to, Valentin said.

Last year, Bradon Grell, of Green Country Federal Credit Union, was named Business Person of the Year, Rib Cribs Cody Worrall was Volunteer of the Year, and Jason Charles and Cathy Bolinger were ambassadors.
TEHRAN, Iran  Saudi Arabia announced Sunday it was severing diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran amid escalating tensions over the Sunni kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

The move came hours after demonstrators stormed and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in protest over the death of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iranian diplomatic personnel had 48 hours to leave his country and all Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran had been recalled home.

The mass execution of al-Nimr and 46 others  the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades  has laid bare the divisions gripping the Middle East, where demonstrators took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan in protest.

It also illustrates the kingdom's new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shiite power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran's top leader warned Saudi Arabia on Sunday of "divine revenge" over al-Nimr's death, while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting "terrorism" in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the U.S. and the European Union sought to calm the region.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia put al-Nimr and three other Shiite dissidents to death, along with a number of al-Qaida militants. Al-Nimr's execution drew protests from Shiites around the world, who backed his call for reform and wider political freedom for their sect.

While the split between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the early days of Islam and disagreements over the successor to Prophet Muhammad, those divisions have only grown as they intertwine with regional politics, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia vying to be the Mideast's top power.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Iran's backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran also has backed Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Houthis.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned al-Nimr's execution, saying Sunday the cleric "neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism."

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saudi Arabia's "medieval act of savagery" would lead to the "downfall" of the country's monarchy.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had "revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism."

In Tehran, a protest outside the Saudi Embassy early Sunday quickly grew violent as protesters threw stones and gasoline bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building ablaze, according to Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, the country's top police official, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Forty people were arrested and investigators were pursuing other suspects, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as "extremists."

"It is unjustifiable," he said in a statement.

Hundreds of protesters later demonstrated in front of the embassy and in a central Tehran square, where street signs near the embassy were replaced with ones bearing the slain sheikh's name.

Across the region, protesters also took to the streets.

In Bahrain, police fired tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators on Sitra Island, south of the capital, Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifa family.

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called al-Nimr "the martyr, the holy warrior," while protests erupted from Turkey to India to Pakistan.

Western powers sought to calm the tensions. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the U.S. condemned the embassy attack and called on all sides "to avoid any actions that would further heighten tensions in the region."

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats," according to a statement.

The cleric's execution has threatened to complicate Saudi Arabia's relationship with the Shiite-led government in Iraq, where the Saudi Embassy is preparing to formally reopen for the first time in nearly 25 years. On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.

Iran and Saudi Arabia summoned each other's envoys for consultations, and Saudi allies Egypt and the United Arab Emirates summoned Iranian officials in their capitals over the Tehran embassy assault.

Meanwhile, al-Nimr's family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya in the kingdom's al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikh's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Joseph Krauss and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad, Reem Khalifa in Manama, Bahrain, Brian Rohan in Beirut and Tom Strong in Washington contributed to this report.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap .
Tulsa is still in the hunt to get the Air Forces newest fighter jet, the F-35A. Now it has the solid support of all seven members of Oklahomas congressional delegation. That certainly cant hurt.

The 138th Fighter Wing of the Oklahoma Air National Guard would fly the F-35A. It is one of the top Air National Guard units in the country and operates out of Tulsa International Airport. The 138th is one of the most decorated fighter wings and the second largest fighter wing in the country. It has deployed 11 times since 1996 in support of combat operations. It is now deployed to the U.S. Pacific Command for security details.

A letter to Air Force Secretary Debra Lee James from the Oklahoma delegation points out that the 138th in Tulsa has the experience, training, facilities and community support that would make placing the F-35A here ideal.

The Air Force has already decided that the first guard unit to receive the new planes will be the Air National Guard wing in Burlington, Vermont, in 2020. Two other units will receive F-35As in 2022 or 2023.

Flight simulators for F-35A training made the cut in the proposed Vision 2025 tax extension. The $9.4 million for the simulators is included in the $32 million package for work at Tulsa International Airport.

Tulsa and all of Oklahoma can be proud of the men and women who fly and maintain the F-16s currently being used by the 138th. Both Guard members and the F-16 have proven their value over the years. The F-35A is replacing the F-16s over the next decade as the militarys primary fighting aircraft.

Tulsa has a long history of support for both commercial and military aviation. Thanks to all seven members of the Oklahoma congressional delegation for unifying behind the 138th.

We look forward to the new F-35As adding to Tulsas legacy of top-notch service to the U.S. military.
Guyanese nationals with valid passports will be able to travel to the UK as tourists for a s
9:57 a.m., Jan. 4, 2016--As American medical students increasingly want and expect to have international work experience, more and more short-term programs are being offered to give them that opportunity, according to Melissa Melby, assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Delaware.

The trouble is, she writes in a new article in Academic Medicine, that too many of these programs  called STEGH, or short-term experiences in global health  focus on the needs of the student trainees and not on whats best for their patients or for overall health care in the countries they visit.

Most students who participate in these programs genuinely want to help people, Melby said. But many of them may not be aware of the unintended consequences that can occur. In this article, we propose four core principles that we hope will help guide both the developers and the participants in STEGH programs.

Melby, who specializes in the biological and medical aspects of anthropology, is the lead author of the article, written with colleagues who are medical doctors involved with global health care issues. She said her co-authors, who connected with her through the Delaware Health Sciences Alliance, of which UD is a founding partner, saw problems with many STEGH programs and sought her out for an anthropological perspective.

STEGHs are often very short term, perhaps about three weeks or even less, and many times the participants are dropped into an area with very little preparation, Melby said. They dont know the language, they dont know the culture, and theyre jet-lagged. Theyre well-intentioned, but this is often not the best way to help people.

The authors of the paper list four principles that they say can be used to create better STEGH programs and to help students evaluate existing programs and make good choices about which to join. The principles are:

Cultural humility . I think there is a tendency to see these programs as bringing our advanced technology to people in need, but we need to realize that our approaches are not always the best in every context, Melby said. In fact, in health care, America doesnt have the best outcomes in the world. The authors advocate that STEGHs provide specialized cross-cultural training to participants before they travel and ensure that the students be aware of their own limitations even after such training.

. I think there is a tendency to see these programs as bringing our advanced technology to people in need, but we need to realize that our approaches are not always the best in every context, Melby said. In fact, in health care, America doesnt have the best outcomes in the world. The authors advocate that STEGHs provide specialized cross-cultural training to participants before they travel and ensure that the students be aware of their own limitations even after such training. Bidirectional participatory relationships . Effective STEGHs will establish true collaborations and partnerships with local health care providers and communities, Melby said, focusing on what communities actually need before offering to provide services.

. Effective STEGHs will establish true collaborations and partnerships with local health care providers and communities, Melby said, focusing on what communities actually need before offering to provide services. Local capacity building . The authors note that unintended consequences often result when STEGHs come to an area, provide direct health care to some patients, and then leave. Problems might include a lack of follow-up care and a tendency for patients to delay seeing local providers while they wait for outside help to return, undermining the local health care system.

. The authors note that unintended consequences often result when STEGHs come to an area, provide direct health care to some patients, and then leave. Problems might include a lack of follow-up care and a tendency for patients to delay seeing local providers while they wait for outside help to return, undermining the local health care system. Long-term sustainability. Wed like to see these programs focus less on direct care and more on larger issues of public health, Melby said. Those issues include poverty and inequality, public health infrastructure and human resources in low-income countries.

While STEGHs can provide students with important global and cross-cultural education, the authors say they believe a paradigm shift is needed to ensure that the programs benefit both the trainees and the communities they visit. And, Melby said, the proposed guidelines can apply beyond medical or pre-med students to include other study-abroad and global service-learning programs.

We think these principles are relevant to a lot of student groups that do global work, she said. Most peoples hearts are in the right place, but there are often aspects to what theyre doing that they just dont think about.

The article, Beyond Medical Missions to Impact-Driven STEGHs: Ethical Principles to Optimize Community Benefit and Learner Experience, is available online. It will be published in an upcoming print edition of Academic Medicine, the journal of the Association of American Medical Colleges.

The co-authors are Drs. Lawrence C. Loh, Jessica Evert, Christopher Prater, Henry Lin and Omar Khan, who also is an affiliated faculty member in UDs College of Health Sciences.

Article by Ann Manser

Photo by Kathy F. Atkinson
Surveillance photo of suspect and two men entering the Fred Rust Ice Arena

Surveillance photo of suspect in trash can fire at UD's Fred Rust Ice Arena

11:23 a.m., Jan. 4, 2016--University of Delaware Police have released additional surveillance images of the person suspected of starting a fire in a trash can in the men's restroom at the Fred Rust Ice Arena on Saturday, Dec. 19.

The incident occurred around 9 p.m. that day. An ice arena employee was able to remove the trash can from the building and extinguish the fire before any damage was caused or anyone was injured.

According to UD Police, the suspect made statements about a fire just before the alarm activated, and he also was observed lighting a wooden match and throwing it on the ground near the concession area.

New surveillance images show the suspect arriving at the ice arena at 7:53 p.m., accompanied by two men.

Anyone with information about this individual is asked to contact UD Police at 302-831-2222.

    

Members of the UD community may download a free smartphone app, LiveSafe, that lets users submit tips to police, receive important broadcast notifications and contact the University of Delaware Police Department directly. To learn more, visit this UD Police website.

Visit this website to receive a UD Crime Alert email whenever an article about a police investigation is posted on UDaily.

Images courtesy of University of Delaware Police
Hi, my name is Scott C. Waring and I wrote a few books and am currently a ESL School Owner in Taiwan. I have had my own UFO sighting up close and personal, but that's how it works right? A non believer becomes a believer when they experience their first sighting. You witnessed it, your perceptual field changes, so now you need to share it.





I created this site to help the UFO community get a little bit organized. I noticed that there was a lot of chaos when searching for UFO sighting reports, so I hope this site helps. I wanted to support those eyewitnesses who have tried to tell others about what they have seen, yet were laughed at by even closest of friends.





More and more each day the governments of the world leak bits and pieces of UFO information to the public. They have a trickle down theory in hopes of slowly getting citizens use to the idea that we are not alone in universe and never have been. The truth is being leaked drop by drop until one day we look around and find ourselves neck high in it.





The discovery of alien species in existence is the most monumental scientific event in human history, suppression of that information is a crime against humanity.





About me:

I live in Taiwan. I OWN MY OWN ENGLISH SCHOOL, AND ONCE HAD 5 SCHOOLS.

Am Former USAF at SAC base (flight line).

Age: 42

Educ: BA in Elem ed. Masters in Counseling ed.





I had two UFO sightings, (30+bus size orbs) in military and in 2012 personally saw the UFO over Taipei 101 building on New Years Day (and recored it).
The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine conducts negotiations on further opening of the market of Azerbaijan for Ukrainian agricultural producers.

Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food for the European integration Vladyslava Rutytska informed this on Facebook.

"Now our ministry is working on opening of the market for 178 Ukrainian businesses that want to export their products to Azerbaijan. I am sure that there will be progress!" she wrote.

She also reminded the market of Azerbaijan was open for exporters of livestock.

ish
Polish consulates in Ukraine during 2015 issued almost 930 thousand Ukrainian or 97,000 visas more than in 2014.

The Polish Foreign Ministry told the Ukrinforms own correspondent in Poland.

"Data as of mid-December 2015 show that for the entire year, the number of visas issued in Ukraine will total about 930,000," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Poland notes.

According to the ministry, it is almost 97,000 more than in 2014 and 210,000 more than in 2013.

Overall in the last five years from 2011 to 2015, Polish consulates in Ukraine issued nearly 3.7 million visas, and with each subsequent year the number of issued visas was up by at least 70,000 in 2012 and recorded a maximum of 110,000 growth in 2014.

Most visas issued in the January-November period of last year was by the Polish consulate in Lviv - over 347,000, which is 41 percent of all visas issued in Ukraine. The three leaders also included the cities of Lutsk and Kyiv where 211,000. (25 percent) and more than 101,000 visas (12 percent) were issued respectively. Somewhat fewer visas were issued to Ukrainian in the city of Vinnytsia (over 83,000, 9.8 percent), Kharkiv (over 69,000, over 8 percent) and Odesa (over 33,000, 3.9 percent).
UN High Commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi, addresses staff at headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland.  UNHCR/S.Hopper

GENEVA, Jan 4 (UNHCR) - Filippo Grandi, a UN official who has worked in refugee and political affairs in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia, began his five-year term as UN High Commissioner for Refugees on January 1, succeeding Antonio Guterres whose more than 10 years in office ended last week.

High Commissioner Grandi, who arrived at UNHCR's headquarters office in Geneva earlier on Monday (January 4), takes up the position at a time of unprecedented displacement challenges. Record numbers of people globally are forced to flee war and persecution, including more than one million refugees and migrants who crossed the Mediterranean to Europe during the past year.

Other challenges include critical shortfalls in humanitarian funding, fewer voluntary returns than at any time in more than three decades, people staying in exile for longer periods of time and the increased politicization of refugee issues in many countries.

"UNHCR is navigating extraordinarily difficult waters," Grandi said. "The combination of multiple conflicts and resulting mass displacement, fresh challenges to asylum, the funding gap between humanitarian needs and resources, and growing xenophobia is very dangerous. The road ahead is a challenging one, but I hope that - working with governments, civil society, and other partners - we will make progress in ensuring international protection and improved living conditions for millions of refugees, internally displaced and stateless people."

Grandi added that he hoped solutions to crises of displacement would be "pursued with renewed determination by addressing their root causes and investing adequate political and material resources. UNHCR, whose mandate includes the search for solutions, stands ready to work with all those pursuing this goal."

Grandi, 58, who is from Italy, has worked in international affairs for over 30 years, 27 of them with the United Nations. Formerly head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), he worked prior to that for the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) as Deputy Special Representative, following a long career first with NGOs and later with UNHCR in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and at the organization's Geneva headquarters.

UNHCR works worldwide to protect, assist and find solutions for refugees, internally displaced people and stateless populations. It has some 9,700 staff across 126 countries, many of them working in humanitarian emergencies and in close proximity to regions of conflict. In June 2015 it reported that worldwide forced displacement had reached a new post-World War II high of 59.5 million people. Displacement levels have continued to rise since, most visibly with the situation of more than one million refugees and migrants who have crossed the Mediterranean to Europe during 2015.
Colleges and universities are cracking down on students who publicly broadcast racist views, but a new poll shows Americans are divided on whether or not it is necessary.

The Huffington Post and YouGov released a poll gathering Americans' positions on matters like creating a diversity office and other efforts that promote inclusion. The HP/YouGov poll included responses from 1,000 U.S. citizens at least 18 years old.

One of the biggest divides was over the necessity of a diversity office at a college or university was among political parties. 62 percent of Republican respondents thought it was not necessary for schools to educate students on race relations, whereas 66 percent of Democratic respondents did.

However, 72 percent of all respondents believe the school's president should be expected to address "racist incidents" on campus. 53 percent of respondents also believe the students responsible for such incidents should be punished, whereas 28 percent disagreed and 19 percent were unsure.

The issue of racism on college campuses has been thrust into the national spotlight with incidents at several major U.S. institutions. In some cases, like the University of Oklahoma, the school's swift, decisive response was generally lauded. On the other hand, more delayed responses and even just the appearance of neglecting such issues resulted in widespread criticism, like at the University of Missouri.

Some of these highly publicized cases have also brought up the matter of free speech and oversensitivity to things that may not be offensive, but rather a difference in perspective. President Barack Obama went on record multiple times of late discussing free speech on college campuses.

While he praised OU's response to an overt and indefensible display of racism, he has cautioned students to not dismiss opposing viewpoints simply because they conflict with their own.

38 percent of respondents to the HP/YouGov poll believed schools should allow "an absolute right to free speech, even if that means allowing offensive or racist comments." 43 percent agreed it is important "students have an environment free from discrimination, even if that means placing some limits on what students can say."
Teddy Bears Donated to Wyoming Highway Patrol

Lt. Michael Simmons of the Wyoming Highway Patrol and University Store Marketing Coordinator Jenny McCullough with some of the teddy bears that will be shared with children who have experienced tragic events. (University Store Photo)

The University of Wyomings University Store recently donated 100 teddy bears to the Wyoming Highway Patrol Association. They will be distributed to patrol cars to provide comfort to children who have experienced life-threatening or tragic events.

The University Store created the customer-backed Share a Bear program in November, says Director Misty Eaton.

The program allows customers to purchase a plush teddy bear at checkout and donate it back to the store, she says. The University Store then collects all the bears and donates them to the Wyoming Highway Patrol Association.

Lt. Michael Simmons, Wyoming Highway Patrol supervisor, says, These bears provide a lot of comfort to those children in one of the most difficult times in their lives.

Eaton adds the program has been well received by customers and the community.

Right away, from the first day they were put on the floor, people were purchasing bears to donate, Eaton says. This is a great opportunity to help give back to our community and help the Wyoming Highway Patrol comfort those when they need it most.

Located in the Wyoming Union, the University Store is owned and operated by UW. Eaton says the store plans to offer the program next holiday season.
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The majority of states in the United States including major cities will implement new minimum wage rate starting this year as workers continue to strike and demanding a better payment. Workers have been under pressure lately as the cost of living continues to increase yet their minimum wage remains the same.

According to Telesur TV, current minimum wage set by the federal government is still $7.25 per hour and has not been increased for over six years. So far, fourteen states had expressed their plan for a hike from the current average of $9 per hour in their states to an amount which will be revealed soon.

From all 14 states, few states increase their minimum wage by $1 which is the highest compared to other states. These states are Alaska, California, and Massachusetts. All these states increase the minimum wage to $10 per hour.

The Inquisitr reported that among 14 states pledge for a wage hike, South Dakota give the lowest increase which is only $0.05. However, the state's minimum wage previously are around $8.50 per hour.

Besides the 14 states, there will be two additional states that will be implementing new minimum wage automatically based on the increasing cost of living. The new rate will be automatically implemented starting on the 1st of January.

The two states are Colorado and South Dakota based on the National Conference of State Legislatures signed by them.

Although the news is welcomed by the workers, there is some organization that against the move by these states. Among this organization is the National Federation of Independent Business. According to its spokesperson, Jack Mozloom, "Businesses, whose sales are not increasing at the same pace as wages are increasing, are going to face difficult decisions."

However, according to another party supporting the latest moves, Alissa Barron-Menza from Business for a Fair Minimum Wage told the NBC News, "Consumer demand and income levels have not recovered in the wake of the Great Recession and raising the minimum wage is a very effective tool in boosting consumer demand."

Previously, a number of companies had taken independent moves to increase their minimum wage as a way to motivate their workers. Among these companies are McDonald's, Facebook and other small business.

The White House is in full force mode supporting a new and higher federal minimum wage to around $12 or $15 per hour and they are expected to continue debating the matter. Congress is planning to implement the new rate by 2020.
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By Jc Oberst

The traveling memorial, "Remembering Our Fallen," has returned to Ventura County and it can be viewed this week at the Ventura County Government Center in the Lower Plaza Assembly Room at the Hall of Administration in Ventura.

The pictorial memorial honors the 710 service members from California who were killed in the Iraq and Afghanistan since 9/11.

I was emotionally moved Thursday by the opening ceremony and the memorial as each speaker reflected on the sacrifices of the remembered service members.

The speakers were Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Westlake Village, state Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, D-Santa Barbara, Supervisor Kathy Long, Capt. Chris Janke, commanding officer of Naval Base Ventura County, Ron Greenwood and Evonne and Bill Williams.

The ceremony was respectfully orchestrated by Paul Grossgold, head of the Ventura County General Services Agency.

Here is a summary of some of the speakers' comments and a reflection on how the memorial touched me.

California has lost more lives in military combat since 9/11 than any other state. Ventura County lost 23 service men and women in combat since 9/11. The men and women we remember in this memorial all volunteered to serve their country and they gave their lives in defense of our freedoms.

Many of those being remembered were strongly influenced to join the military by the events of 9/11. If you take the time to view the memorial, you will see photos of men and women who are young and not so young. Many of those pictured served not just one combat tour, but multiple tours to protect our freedoms.

The result of an all-volunteer force is only half of 1 percent of our nation's population has family members serving in our military. The military draft era impacted a greater percentage of our population. Today, it is too easy for many citizens to be unaware or indifferent to those who serve or have served in our nation's military. This memorial is a reminder to the 38.8 million people living in California of the tremendous price of freedom paid by so few.

This memorial is much more personal than other memorials because the individual photos make remembering a much more emotional event. This memorial provides our community an opportunity to remember the service members who lived in our county and our state. It also serves as a tribute to those families who lost a loved one.

I urge you to remember your neighbor's son, daughter, brother, sister, husband, wife, father or mother's sacrifice and the impact on their families. The time you take to visit the memorial may be small but it is a meaningful act. The Remembering Our Fallen can be viewed free during normal business hours through Thursday at 800 S. Victoria Ave.

Below are some upcoming veteran and military events that may interest you.

n Fellowships available for Post 9/11 veterans. If you are interested in assisting other veterans during a six-month paid fellowship contact Angel at 482-6550.

n To find out if you are eligible for VA Health benefits contact the Veterans Service Office in Ventura County at 477-5155. Reminder, the VA health care at the Oxnard Community Based Outpatient Clinic moved to its new facility at 1690 Universe Circle, Oxnard. The new phone number is 204-9135.

n Ventura Vet Center, 790 E. Santa Clara St., Suite 100, Ventura. The Vet Center is available for veterans who served in a combat zone and offers a broad range of counseling, outreach and referral service. Call 585-1860 or 877-927-8387 for more information.

n Tuesday, 10-11 a.m., Energy Healing session, 4001 Mission Oaks Blvd., Suite D, Camarillo. This event is free for veterans and their family members. The meditation class is led by international healer, Roger Ford, founder of Healing in America. Call Ford to register at 640-0211.

n Feb. 5, 1 to 4 p.m., Military and Veterans Free Legal Clinic, National University, 1000 Town Center Drive, Suite 502, Oxnard. In addition to free legal counsel, veterans can meet with Medi-Cal/CalFresh, Sure Path (financial counseling), Child Support, Public Defender's Office, the Veteran Services Office and other providers. For more information call 983-4850, email LegalClinic@Military411.org or online at www.Military411.org.

Not sure where to go for veteran services? Give JC Oberst a call at 482-6550. To find more veterans events visit the GCVF.org online calendar under the events tab.
SHARE Santa Paula Mayor Martin Hernandez

By Claudia Boyd-Barrett

Santa Paula residents could be asked this year to vote once again on a sales tax increase to boost funding for their city's fire and police departments.

The city's new mayor, Martin Hernandez, said he and former mayor John Procter plan to present a proposal for a new, 1 percent sales tax initiative to council in early 2016. The goal is to get the initiative on the November ballot, Hernandez said.

The mayor said he and Procter have been in discussions with city manager Jaime Fontes and Santa Paula's police and fire chiefs about the measure, but are still working out the details.

"There hasn't been a decision made on the percentage of the tax that's going to be the pro rata share between fire and police, we're still talking about that," Hernandez said. "We're just kind of crunching the numbers, seeing if that's going to be enough money for the departments, if they get that money what would they do with it."

A similar ballot initiative, Measure F, failed in the November 2014 election. That initiative would have raised an estimated $1.6 million for police and fire services and street repairs. Because it was proposed as a special tax, meaning a tax for a specific purpose, Measure F required two-thirds of voters to approve it to pass. It obtained 58 percent of the vote.

Hernandez said the new proposal would be for a general tax, which requires only 50 percent plus one vote for approval. Procter said he believes the measure can be crafted in a way that allows the money to be directed toward public safety, while still qualifying as a general tax. Road repairs could still be part of the initiative, he said.

Both officials said they are optimistic a general tax would pass, given the percentage of voters who supported Measure F.

"It seemed like it was something that found great favor with people. Getting 58 percent of the population to tax themselves is very difficult," Procter said. "The fact that 58 percent were wiling, that was unusually high. In any other kind of regular election, for a candidate or whatever, 58 percent is a great victory."

The city has struggled to find enough funding for its police and fire departments. Citizens have called repeatedly for hiring more police officers. Police Chief Steve McLean has also lamented that he does not have the officers he needs to adequately fight crime.

"We really are in great need of some kind of boost, and I think it's worth making another run at it," Procter said.

In the meantime, the city council is also pursuing a study of alternative approaches to paying for the city's fire services. The analysis is expected to look at ways of restructuring the city's fire department within its current budget and options for obtaining fire services through the county's fire department.

Hernandez said these options will be looked at together with the tax proposal before any decision is made on which one to move forward with.

"That way we can put all three (ideas) on the table and see which one makes the most sense," he said.
STAR FILE PHOTO Simi Valley Mayor Bob Huber, left, honors Ford Worthington Rice, a Pearl Harbor survivor, in celebration of his 100th birthday at the Museum of Military History in Simi Valley in August.

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By Staff Reports

Simi Valley resident Ford Worthington Rice, a Pearl Harbor survivor, has died at age 100.

The 20-plus-year Navy veteran died Friday in his sleep at his home, his daughter, Cindy Rice, said Monday. He died a few days after falling, breaking his hip and coming down with pneumonia, said his friend Cherie Whitaker, chairwoman of the nonprofit veterans support group Salute To Arms.

"He went peacefully," Cindy Rice said. "I will miss him terribly. But I know it was his time to go. He made it to 100 years and he lived a fantastic life. He even had one last leftover Christmas dinner. You couldn't ask for anything better."

Fewer than 2,000 survivors of the Dec. 7, 1941, Japanese attack on the Navy base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, are estimated still to be alive.

Rice was born Aug. 21, 1915, when Woodrow Wilson was president, the top-grossing movie of the year was "The Birth of a Nation" and the Ford Model T Town Car was the rage.

Rice was a 26-year-old Navy seaman aboard the USS Solace, a hospital ship at Pearl Harbor, when Japanese war planes attacked, killing 2,403 Americans, wounding 1,178 others and pushing the nation into World War II.

He was watching the colors being posted on the nearby USS Arizona when he saw a Japanese plane approach from the left, he recalled at his 100th birthday celebration in August at the Museum of Military History at the Simi Valley Town Center mall.

"He turned his head and looked right at me as he went by," Rice said of the pilot, who dropped a torpedo on the Arizona.

Rice helped rescue and carry the wounded from the ship, which eventually sank.

At the August celebration, Rice was presented with letters from President Barack Obama, former President George W. Bush and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif.

"Ford, you're truly an inspiration to us all," Feinstein wrote.

Simi Valley Mayor Bob Huber presented Rice, the city's only Pearl Harbor survivor, with a commendation.

More recently, Rice attended a Dec. 7 ceremony at the museum marking the Pearl Harbor attack.

Whitaker said what stood out the most about Rice was his patriotism.

"At every military event  Veterans Day, Pearl Harbor Day, all those things  the most important thing for Ford was that he stood when the anthem was being played and saluted and honored his flag," she said.

He was named Veteran of the Year in 2012 by Whitaker's group and was a longtime member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars #10049 and Disabled American Veterans #55.

Rice is survived by his daughter; three grandchildren, Ashley Furbershaw, 32, Tracey Furbershaw, 29, and Scott Furbershaw, 29; and Scott's new wife, Jaclyn.

A celebration of Rice's life will be held in February, Whitaker said. Details are still being worked out, she said.

Star correspondent Michele Willer-Allred contributed to this report.
ROB VARELA/THE STAR Lauren Rehbein refers to The Sibley Field Guide to Birds as she looks for birds to count near the Ventura River at Ojai Valley Sanitary Districts wastewater treatment plant Sunday.

SHARE ROB VARELA/THE STAR Frank DeMartino (from left), Lauren Rehbein and Cia DeMartino look for birds along the Ventura River near the Ojai Valley Sanitary Districts wastewater treatment plant Sunday. ROB VARELA/THE STAR Cia DeMartino (right) and Lauren Rehbein bushwhack through brush as they look for birds near the Ventura River at the Ojai Valley Sanitary Districts wastewater treatment plant Sunday. ROB VARELA/THE STAR Blackbirds hang out in a tree near the Ventura River at the wastewater treatment plant off Canada Larga Road in Ventura Sunday. The annual Christmas bird count in Ventura took place Sunday. ROB VARELA/THE STAR Lauren Rehbein (right) refers to The Sibley Field Guide to Birds as Frank DeMartino (left), and his wife Cia DeMartino, look for birds near the Ventura River at the wastewater treatment plant Sunday.

By Anne Kallas

Braving the early morning chill, three members of the Ventura Audubon Society mounted the metal stairs leading to the wastewater treatment tanks at the Ojai Valley Sanitary District's wastewater treatment plant Sunday at the northern end of Ventura Avenue before it joins Highway 33.

Frank DeMartino, of Ventura, who was heading up the small group, turned and cautioned, "Watch out. It will be like an explosion."

As soon as he spoke, hundreds of ducks and seagulls took off squawking and flapping their wings from their relatively warm spots in the treatment tanks, where the birds like to gather.

The National Audubon Society holds its annual bird count from Dec. 14 to Jan. 5 each year as a way to survey birds across the U.S., Canada and other countries. Researchers use the data to learn about the long-term health and status of bird populations across North America.

The Ventura group was doing its part Sunday to tally the number of birds in the area for the 116th annual event.

In addition to the Ventura Audubon Society, Ventura County also has the Conejo Audubon Society, which held its Christmas bird count Dec. 20.

Cia DeMartino, Frank's wife, said the count is a great example of citizen science, collecting data that is used to track the ever-declining songbird populations, while observing the numbers of invasive birds, such as starlings, cowbirds and Eurasian collared doves.

"It's heartbreaking  the decline of songbirds," Cia DeMartino said. "We've only been birding for about eight years. But other people tell us about times they went out and the amazing birds that are no longer in the county."

The DeMartinos met in New Jersey, where they both grew up.

"I became interested in birds because my parents were feeding birds in our backyard," Cia DeMartino said. "We had just started dating when a kingfisher buzzed us, and we both stopped and identified it to each other. Then we started getting into studying birds. It's a good thing to have in common."

Frank DeMartino said bird-watching is "always interesting. I enjoy coming out with about 100 people who spread out all over Ventura County."

In addition to the DeMartinos, Lauren Rehbein, a student at UC Berkeley who is home visiting her parents, was bundled up against the morning chill, clutching a pair of binoculars and "The Sibley Field Guide to Birds."

Rehbein, who was participating in her first Christmas Bird Count, said she first got interested in bird-watching when visiting Costa Rica.

"I've done some bird-watching for one of my classes and in Costa Rica we'd go around the lagoons with a guidebook. I really like doing this," she said.

During the annual Christmas bird count, the 100 or so volunteers who come out to observe and write down the number and varieties of birds they see, decide on a geographic area that forms a circle.

The Ventura circle runs across a 15-mile diameter of eight sectors that encompasses all of Ventura, extending past city boundaries into the mountains to the north, out to sea along the shoreline and up the Ventura River past Foster Park.

The Ojai Valley wastewater treatment plant has been welcoming the birders for years, said Karl Gamsby, treatment plant operator.

"This is a great place to watch birds. I like the bigger ones  the egrets, seagulls and ducks," Gamsby said, though noting they can be a nuisance. "We have to clean up after them all of the time. I like birds, but they're sloppy."

Frank DeMartino said the small group saw a surprising variety of birds at the treatment plant this year. He said that while there are always dozens of mew gulls  a smaller migrating cousin to the California gulls  and hundreds of American wigeon ducks, with a few dozen mallard ducks, there isn't much variety.

But after finishing the count, he said they were surprised by a roadrunner that crossed their paths. And they saw the elusive hairy woodpecker he was seeking.

"There were also some hooded mergansers in the woods. It was a pretty good day. We also saw a sage thrasher, which is rare around here," Frank DeMartino said of the group's exploration outside the wastewater treatment plant, which is next to an overgrown area of the Ventura River.

Last year, the Ventura Audubon group spotted 179 species of birds. The Ventura County groups are known for being in the top nationally for spotting different bird species, Frank DeMartino said.
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We Muslim, Christian and Jewish leaders need to go further  further than our condemnations of murders committed, further than our heartbreak for those slain and wounded, further than mere tolerance for one another, and further than our prayers for peace and understanding. We need to assert some truths.

1. Muslims, Christians and Jews worship the same God. The Bible and Quran each affirm the fact that we are one family worshiping the God of Abraham. We are therefore shocked and horrified to learn that an Illinois Christian institution of higher learning, a Georgia state official and a Tennessee lawmaker have all taken serious steps asserting that this is not the truth. As stated so eloquently by Daniel Patrick Moynihan: "Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts."

2. Islam, Christianity and Judaism are religions that mandate peace. The clearest statement of this idea is the Golden Rule. In the words of the Prophet Muhammad: "As you would have people do to you, do to them; and what you dislike to be done to you, don't do to them." Christian Scripture quotes Jesus as saying, "Do to others what you want them to do to you." Judaism's Talmud teaches, "What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow."

3. Those who murder in the name of God desecrate God's name and their own religion. Recent murders in Paris and San Bernardino by those who claim to be acting on behalf of Islam are themselves acts of sin and perversions of Islam just as murders at an abortion clinic in the name of Christian belief and murders of innocent Palestinians in the name of Judaism are clearly sins and perversions of Christianity and Judaism. Individual acts by murderers must not be understood as representative of religions' true teachings.

4. ISIS, its leaders and its actions have been clearly condemned by Muslim authorities. We often hear people asking, "Why don't Muslims condemn these kinds of murders?" The answer is that the condemnation has been made. In a detailed (17-page) open letter, published on Sept. 19, 2014, to the self-declared leader of ISIS, 126 leaders and scholars of Islam (who have since been joined by an additional 49) condemned the actions and assertions of ISIS in clear and compelling terms including the following: "It is forbidden in Islam to kill the innocent." "Jihad in Islam is defensive war. It is not permissible without the right cause, the right purpose and without the right rules of conduct." "It is forbidden in Islam to enact legal punishments without following the correct procedures that ensure justice and mercy." (Executive summary and full text at www.lettertobaghdadi.com)

5. "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself," as President Franklin D. Roosevelt said in 1932. The wars of the last century have taught the danger of following those who would scapegoat a religion to frighten the populace into following them.

We pledge ourselves to work toward a world in which each of us will pursue our faith journeys in peace, enlightened by the insights and teachings of our brothers and sisters who follow different paths to the holy. In this darkest time of the year, we pray that the light of love, compassion, understanding and wisdom illuminate our minds and warm our hearts.

We humbly submit this statement on behalf of the Ventura County Interfaith Community and Campus Interfaith for California State University at Channel Islands representing Baha'i, Buddhist, Catholic, Episcopal, Greek Orthodox, Jewish, Mormon, Lutheran, Methodist, Muslim, Pagan, Presbyterian, Quaker and Unitarian traditions.

Feel free to join our conversation on our "VenturaCountyInterfaith" Facebook page.
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The following editorial was published Dec. 14 on BloombergView.com:

Don't break out your Montecristos just yet, but the U.S. and Cuba just started talks on compensation claims for expropriated property and damages. It's a promising moment for both sides  and more is at stake than the sums directly involved.

Restoring economic ties between the U.S. and Cuba can speed an economic transformation that will benefit not just the old antagonists but the wider Caribbean region as well. That prize should urge the parties to show some ambition and flexibility. This negotiation is far from being a zero-sum game.

For much of the 19th and 20th centuries, Cuba was not only the Caribbean's most populous country but also its biggest exporter  a magnet for migrants and U.S. investment. By the time Fidel Castro came to power in 1959, the value of U.S. business enterprises in Cuba outstripped U.S. investment in any other Latin American country except Venezuela, and included marquee firms such as IBM, Firestone and what became Exxon Mobil.

The expropriation of those investments and Castro's declarations of solidarity with the Soviet Union prompted U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to impose an embargo in October 1960, and then to break off ties in January 1961. Ever since, the U.S. has demanded compensation.

In 1996, Congress made lifting the embargo contingent on Cuba's "demonstrable progress" in returning seized assets or providing fair compensation. The U.S. Foreign Claims Settlement Commission puts the number of claims by U.S. citizens or companies at nearly 6,000, with a value of $1.9 billion, not counting interest. Add the commission's preferred 6 percent a year and the total rises to $8 billion. The Cuban government owes another $2 billion to plaintiffs who sued for damages in U.S. courts.

Cuban officials argue that compensation should go the other way. They say they are owed $121 billion in economic damages from the embargo, plus personal-injury damages for "acts of terrorism."

None of these numbers are worth taking seriously. The U.S. figures rely heavily on guesswork, Cuba's on magical thinking. There's ample room to negotiate. Ten companies account for half the value of the U.S. claims, and some might happily accept stakes in new investments on the island in exchange; Cuba could easily afford the $229 million cost of the 5,014 claims made by individual U.S. citizens.

Rather than going over each claim with a green eyeshade, the parties should aim for a "grand bargain" like the one suggested by a recent Brookings Institution report. This would fold a realistically modest financial settlement into a larger bundle of agreements to lift sanctions, promote trade and investment, offer development assistance, and bind Cuba to undertake faster and deeper economic reforms.

Caribbean nations are quailing over the potential impact of Cuba's re-integration on tourism and other industries, but these concerns are misconceived. As Cuba achieves its economic potential, it will be a more valuable customer for the exports of its neighbors. U.S. investment applied to Cuba's relatively developed industrial base and highly educated population would spur growth and deliver a boost to the entire region.

After a half-century of division, the region's broken economy can be made whole once again. This would be in everybody's interests, and squabbles over accounting shouldn't be allowed to prevent it.
Via Brasil Steakhouse invites you to raise your glass as they host a fundraising dinner for Nevada Cancer Institute on Thursday, February 26.

The event begins at 7 p.m. and features Via Brasils signature Rodizio dinner at a special price of $42.95. The gourmet, all-you-can-eat experience includes 18 varieties of rotisserie-grilled meat including Brazilian sirloin, pork, chicken and fish all carved tableside as well as the unlimited gourmet salad bar including hot and cold side dishes, an assortment of breads and cheeses, fresh salads and specialty sushi.

Via Brasil Steakhouse will donate 30% of all sales (including dinner and alcohol) for this one night only, from 7 p.m. until close, to Nevada Cancer Institute. All are invited to show their support for a worthy cause and help fight cancer.

Located in Summerlin, Via Brasil Steakhouse is at located at 1225 S. Fort Apache Road, Suite 100, on the southwest corner of Charleston Boulevard and Fort Apache Road in the Fort Apache Commons shopping center. Open seven days a week, Via Brasil Steakhouse is open for lunch Monday through Friday, 11:30 am to 3 pm. Dinner service is from 4 pm to 10 pm, Monday throughWednesday and Sunday, and 4 pm to 11 pm Friday and Saturday. Happy Hour food and beverage specials are offered Monday through Friday between 4 and 7 pm. Reservations are encouraged. For reservations or more information, please call 702-804-1400 or visit www.viabrasilsteakhouse.com.
The Dirt Track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will open its 2012 season on March 7-8 with World of Outlaws Sprint Cars, West Coast 360 Sprint Cars, West Coast Late Models and IMCA Modifieds on a new clay surface.

Late Models and IMCA Modifieds will open the two-day show during LVMS NASCAR Weekend on Wednesday, March 7.

World of Outlaws Sprint Car and West Coast 360 Sprint Cars will take to the half-mile track on Thursday, March 8. The West Coast 360 Sprint Car Showdown will attract the top drivers from the United States Auto Clubs (USAC) Western Region, battling with the top regional racers from the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS). This will be the first-ever non-wing 360 Sprint Car event on the LVMS half-mile.

Spectator gates will open at 4:30 p.m. on both days.

A new clay racing surface has been laid on the track to make the four-and-five-wide racing action even better. The new 1/5-mile clay oval also will debut on March 7-8.



Wednesday, March 7  West Coast Late Model Shootout Series & IMCA Modifieds

1 p.m.  Pit gates and credential sales open.

4:30 p.m.  Spectator gates open; Late Model and IMCA Modified driver autograph Session on midway.

6 p.m.  West Coast Late Model hot laps.

6:30 p.m.  IMCA Modified hot laps.

6:55 p.m.  Opening ceremonies, national anthem.

7:05 p.m.  Heat races, Last-Chance Races, dashes, features.

Thursday, March 8  World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series & West Coast 360 Sprint Car Showdown (USAC vs. ASCS Non-Wing 360 cars)

1 p.m.  Pit gates and credential sales open.

4:30 p.m.  Spectator gates open.

4:30 p.m.  World of Outlaws autograph session on midway (concludes at 5:15 p.m.).

6 p.m.  360 Sprint hot laps.

6:30 p.m.  World of Outlaws hot laps.

6:55 p.m.  National anthem.

7 p.m.

World of Outlaws qualifying.

West Coast 360 Sprint Car Showdown heat races (pill draw for line-up).

World of Outlaws heat races.

West Coast 360 Sprint Car Last-Chance Race (12 laps).

World of Outlaws Last-Chance Race (12 laps).

World of Outlaws Dash.

West Coast 360 Sprint Car feature (25 laps).

World of Outlaws feature (35 laps).

Admission prices:

March 7-8 two-day adult: $50.

March 7-8 two-day kids (ages 6-12): $15.

March 7 adult: $19.

March 7 kids (ages 6-12): $6.

March 8 adult: $39.

March 8 kids (ages 6-12): $9.

Advance-purchase bonus: Buy your March 8 tickets before March 6 and receive a free March 8 pit pass upgrade.

Series websites and information:

West Coast Sprint Cars: www.westcoastsprintcars.com

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series: www.woosprint.com

West Coast Late Model Shootout Series: www.westcoastlatemodels.com

IMCA: www.imca.com

For more information, please call LVMS at (702) 644-4444 or visit www.LVMS.com.
By: Oscar Mussons, Fernando Vidaurri

With the text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement agreed to in recent months an influx of investment into Vietnam is expected. Abundant low-cost manufacturing, a young labor force and a growing middle class have made Vietnam a very attractive investment destination. The TPP will further boost trade, not only with established partners such as the US and Japan, but also with Latin America.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, bilateral trade between Vietnam and Latin America increased from only tens of millions USD in 1990 to US $9.5 billion in 2014. Out of these US $4.71 billion of Vietnam consisted of exports to Latin America and US $4.8 billion in imports to Vietnam from the region. The TPP will further increase Vietnams trade with the region, especially with Chile, Mexico, and Peru  all of which are party to the agreement. In this article, we will take a look at trade relations between Vietnam and its Latin American partners and future business opportunities.

Chile  Current Strengths and New Business Opportunities

Out of the three Latin-American countries party to the agreement; Vietnam has a free trade agreement (FTA) in place only with Chile. In fact, despite the FTA going into effect only in 2014, good exchanges between Chile and Vietnam have been growing at an average of 26.8 percent over the past five years. During the first eleven months of 2015 total exports from Chile to Vietnam reached US $244.7 million, while imports from Vietnam to Chile reached US $515.5 million in the same time period.

The timber and woodwork industry provides one opportunity for cooperation between Chilean and Vietnamese companies. Chile is an important timber producer with an annual production of 40 million cubic meters, while Vietnams wooden products exports have grown at an annual rate of 15 to 18 percent in the last decade. Vietnam is currently the largest wooden products producer in Southeast Asia and sixth largest in the world, with production reaching US $7 billion in 2015. Since Vietnam is dependent on timber imports for its wooden exports, this provides multiple opportunities for Chilean companies.

In addition to its fast growing economy, Vietnam has a growing middle class with rising purchasing power. This has helped make the wine market one of the most promising industries for Chilean companies. Chile currently has the second largest market share at 20 percent. Chilean wine has become increasingly popular since it is perceived as quality wine with a good price. Additionally, Chilean wine has benefited from the lowering in customs tariffs from 56 percent to 20 percent under the FTA.

Finally, mining is one of the strongest export markets for Chile, due to its well-developed infrastructure and abundant natural resources. However, the sector has been highly dependent on shipments to China and has been affected by that countrys economic slowdown. Stronger economic ties and the reduction of trade barriers under TTP with Vietnam thus offers multiple opportunities for Chilean companies to diversify their export markets.

Mexico  Potential for Stronger Economic Ties and Cooperation

Despite not having a FTA agreement in place, Mexico is currently Vietnams second largest trading partner in Latin America behind Brazil. Bilateral trade between the two countries was worth nearly US $1.7 billion up to the first eleven months of 2015, an increase of 57percent year-on-year. According to data from the Vietnamese Trade office in Mexico total bilateral trade was expected to reach US $1.98 billion at the end of 2015, a 52.3 percent increase from 2014.

The TPP will further deepen these ties and allow companies to take advantage of opportunities found within each market. Currently, major imports from Mexico to Vietnam include computers, electronic products, machinery and equipment, scrap iron and steel, and food for cattle. It is forecast that imports will rise due to sharply rising demand for goods and materials from Mexico. Many of these industries can greatly benefit from Vietnams growing industrial capacity and fast expanding economy. Vietnam has a larger and cheaper workforce than fellow TPP signatory Malaysia, and thus it provides a good starting point for companies looking to invest in Asia.

Additionally, Mexican companies looking to enter the Vietnamese market can greatly benefit from the support of trade promotion agencies, such as ProMexico. In fact, this past November a business delegation visited Vietnam in order to study investment and cooperation business opportunities. A second delegation, also organized by ProMexico will visit the country in February, the support of these agencies will be key for companies looking to invest in Vietnam.

Peru  Beginning of a New Economic Relationship

While bilateral trade between Vietnam and Peru is not as strong as that between Vietnam and other Latin American countries, both countries have been working together to strengthen economic and political ties even before the TPP was signed, a fact highlighted by the recent opening of a Peruvian embassy in Hanoi.

In an effort to reinforce trade links, the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade and the Peruvian Ministry of Foreign Relations signed an agreement for cooperation economic, trade and technological issues on August 31, 2015. The agreement would also establish a framework that would allow cooperation in other areas such as agriculture. Under this agreement, Peru is looking into agreements that would allow it to export citrus, blueberries and avocados to the growing Vietnamese market.

Export in the fishing and mining can greatly benefit under the TPP. After the TPP comes into effect, Vietnam will remove 66 percent of its tariffs on exports of salmon, mackerel, tuna, codfish, anchovies and fish oil. This will benefit as much as 98 percent of the Perus export value, thus proving attractive for companies in this industry. Meanwhile, in the extraction industry where Peru is global leader in copper mining, companies can look to invest more in the Vietnam market, the fastest growing economy in ASEAN, at a moment when commodity exports to other markets are slowing down.

Moving Forward

The TPP and FTAs between Vietnam and Latin America show great potential for both regions moving forward, however, certain challenges remain. These include language barriers, geographical distance and limited information between partners. However, some of these challenges can be overcome when companies are provided with the right guidance. This will require a better understanding of investment procedures, further market research and guidance through the Vietnamese legal framework.

With decades of experience operating in the region, the specialists at Dezan Shira & Associates are well placed to help Latin American businesses overcome these challenges, and succeed in the Vietnamese market, and can offer support directly through our Spanish Desk. For more information, please get in touch further at vietnam@dezshira.com.



About Us Asia Briefing Ltd. is a subsidiary of Dezan Shira & Associates. Dezan Shira is a specialist foreign direct investment practice, providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in China, Hong Kong, India, Vietnam, Singapore and the rest of ASEAN. For further information, please email vietnam@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight. 

Investing in Vietnam: Corporate Entities, Governance and VAT

In this issue of Vietnam Briefing Magazine, we provide readers with an understanding of the impact of Vietnams new Laws on Enterprises and Investment. We begin by discussing the various forms of corporate entities which foreign investors may establish in Vietnam. We then explain the corporate governance framework under the new Law on Enterprises, before showing you how Vietnams VAT invoice system works in practice.

Navigating the Vietnam Supply Chain

In this edition of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the advantages of the Vietnamese market over its regional competition and highlight where and how to implement successful investment projects. We examine tariff reduction schedules within the ACFTA and TPP, highlight considerations with regard to rules of origin, and outline the benefits of investing in Vietnams growing economic zones. Finally, we provide expert insight into the issues surrounding the creation of 100 percent Foreign Owned Enterprise in Vietnam.

Tax, Accounting, and Audit in Vietnam 2014-2015

The first edition of Tax, Accounting, and Audit in Vietnam, published in 2014, offers a comprehensive overview of the major taxes foreign investors are likely to encounter when establishing or operating a business in Vietnam, as well as other tax-relevant obligations. This concise, detailed, yet pragmatic guide is ideal for CFOs, compliance officers and heads of accounting who need to be able to navigate the complex tax and accounting landscape in Vietnam.
The first sphere was found by local residents in Tuyen Quang Province, following a loud noise from a supposed aerial explosion on Saturday morning.

Provincial leader Chau Van Lam confirmed the report to Tuoi Tre(Youth) newspaper and said that competent authorities have been working to identify the metallic object.

The mysterious sphere, about 50kg in weight, which has Russian letters on its surface, was initially identified as a device for meteorological research, Lam said.

However, the presumption was denied by Le Thanh Hai, deputy general director of the National Hydro-Meteorological Service under the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

The object found in Tuyen Quang is not related to the common weather balloon, which carries instruments that can record meteorological statistics, Hai asserted.

Several other people associated the strange ball with the fuel tank of jet engines or space equipment.



This object was found in Yen Bai Province, Vietnam, on January 2, 2016. Photo: Tuoi Tre.

Two similar objects, in different sizes, were also spotted falling onto Son La Province and Yen Bai Province the same day, according to some Tuoi Tre sources.

Officials in Yen Bai affirmed that one of the metallic spheres, hollow and 6kg in weight, crashed onto the province at the same time of the incident in Tuyen Quang.

The orbs could possibly be the compressed air tanks of a rocket or an aircraft, Phan Van Tu, former head of the High-Tech Division under the Ministry of National Defense was quoted by local media as saying.

The Russian letters on the spheres indicate that they were manufactured by the erstwhile Soviet Union or Russia, Tu said.

The official also assumed that the objects were made of special alloys or composite materials as they remained intact even after the fall.

Lieutenant General Vo Van Tuan, deputy chief of the Vietnam Peoples Army, on Saturday evening said that the Vietnamese military was not conducting any activities in the immediate vicinity at the time of the incidents in the three provinces, according to local media.

The objects have been kept by competent agencies to assist in the ongoing identification process.


If approved, the Ninh Thuan 1 Nuclear Power Plant will help alleviate Vietnams energy shortage

Minister of Planning and Investment Bui Quang Vinh said that his ministry had submitted a proposal to the Politburo on special incentives for the power plant, which will be located in the south-central province of Ninh Thuan.

We are waiting for the Politburos feedback. After that, the next steps for the project will be implemented, Vinh said at last weeks government meeting with ministries and localities.

At the conference, Chairman of the Ninh Thuan Peoples Committee Luu Xuan Vinh asked the government to submit the proposal to the Politburo so that the project could begin construction as quickly as possible. The plant will be built in Vinh Truong commune of Phuoc Dinh district, on a 443-hectare land area, and will also cover 440ha of sea.

The Vietnam Atomic Energy Institute consulted state-run Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the projects investor, on the implementation of AES-2006 state-of-the-art technology with version of VVER-1200 for the plant. EVN recently submitted their proposal on using this technology to the government, and expected feedback in early 2016.

Andrey Stankevich, representative of Russias Rosatom State Atomic Energy Corporation (Rosatom) in Vietnam, which will construct the plant, said that the feasibility study (FS) made by Rosatom had been appraised at a ministerial level and by a state-level appraisal council in Vietnam.

Hopefully the FS appraisal will be completed within the first half of 2016, and then the FS will be approved by the government, Stankevich said.

After the approval, EVN and ASE, a Vietnamese-Russian joint venture established to build the plant, will sign a contract for the plants technical design, which will be made within 1.5 to two years.

Meanwhile, the two sides will also prepare dossiers to request governmental permission to use the designs. If the technical design contract is signed in late 2016, the design will be implemented in the 2018-2019 period, when a construction licence for the project must be obtained.

We can expect that if everything goes smoothly, the construction will begin in late 2019, Stankevich said, adding that the building of the plant might take up to six years.

Right now, we are keen to have the FS approved by the Vietnamese government. We stand ready to provide more information for the Vietnamese side during the appraisal and approval process, Stankevich said.

Last week, Russian Ambassador to Vietnam Konstantin Vnukov said that this project should be added to Rosatoms list of 33 nuclear reactors being designed by Rosatom for 15 nations. These reactors, or piles occupy 41 per cent of the entire amount worldwide.

I believe that the Ninh Thuan 1 Nuclear Power Plant will have a bright future through Russian support. It will help solve the countrys need for electricity and will help Vietnam develop clean energy, Vnukov said.

He added that Russia would also support Vietnam in building a scientific and nuclear technology institute sometime in the future. Currently, Russia is training over 420 Vietnamese students in the field of nuclear energy.


FiinPro Platform -Version 1.0.4

FiinPro Platform will be used by the central banks Forecast and Statistics Department. The department is in charge of research and forecasting to support the Governor with overseeing the banking system, Vietnams balance of payment, evaluating the monetary and financial markets, macroeconomic conditions, and especially the corporate earnings performance.

Trang Truong, managing director of Financial Information Services at StoxPlus said that FiinPro is believed to fulfill and support the central banks tasks via our rich database on macroeconomics and on over 2000 public companies accompanied by smart functions on statistics and data exporting.

The Agreement to provide FiinPro platform for SBV once again, shows StoxPlus efforts in being the most trusted data vendor in the country and helping to enhance the transparency of Vietnams financial market.

This FiinPro subscription contract followed a series of contracts of StoxPlus with many large domestic and international financial and investment institutions, including CJ (Korea), Financial Investment Company of State Capital Investment Corporation (SIC), Ho Chi Minh City Securities Corporation (HSC), Agribank Securities Joint Stock Corporation, Viet Dragon Securities Corporation (VDSC) and Japan Securities Incorporated (JSI).

FiinPro customers are also supported with our valued added services such as data enquiry, publications and highly practical training workshops based on the FiinPro data exploitation strength with our local and foreign experts.

FiinPro is an essential tool for market screening, analysing and research Vietnam, covering a complete set of information of over 2000 public companies, macro-economy, market news in both English and Vietnamese. FiinPro platform includes information on public company profiles, financial indicators, revenues and profits forecast and hundreds of profitability, liquidity, working capital, leverage ratios for each industry and the market. Besides, FiinPro also has smart functions such as Stocks Analysis, Stocks Screening, Data Export in Excel and many other tools to support research analysts, portfolio managers, investment bankers and financial consultants and other financial professionals.
Part of Tan Son Nhat International Airport, HCM City. The Defence Ministry will allocate an additional 20 hectares of land for the expansion of the airport.-VNA/VNs Photo Phuong Vy

Speaking during an online conference last week, Phung Quang Thanh, Minister of Defence, said the ministry will allocate an additional 20 hectares of land for an additional expansion.

The land would be used to improve transport infrastructure and expand Cong Hoa Street, which connects to the airport, he said.

Vo Van Tuan, deputy head of the general staff of Viet Nam People's Army, told Nguoi Lao Dong (the Labourer) newspaper on Tuesday that the ministry will allocate the land as soon as possible to reduce overloading at the airport.

The demand for the airport expansion is very high because the airport is overloaded not only in passenger terminals but also in airplane parking areas, runways and roads connecting to the airport, said an official of Tan Son Nhat Airport.

Previously, the Ministry of Defence had agreed to allocate 7.63 hectares of land for the Ministry of Transport to expand the airport.

Of the figure, four hectares has been handed over and the rest will be handed over by the end of February 2016.

The 7.63 hectares of land will be used for airplane parking areas and expanding the taxiway M1.

Under the planning of roads connecting to the airport, Truong Son Road is still a main road with six lanes connecting to the airport. The Tan Son Nhat  Binh Loi Road will also be completed, connecting to the airport.

Traffic jams on Truong Son, Hong Ha and Bach Dang roads in the airport area occur frequently.

Residents to be resettled

Residents in the southern province of Dong Nai who will be resettled to other areas to make way for construction of Long Thanh International Airport expected the project to begin so that their lives would be stabilised soon.

This was revealed at a dialogue with a working group of the National Assembly's Economic Committee and representatives from Dong Nai Province agencies on Tuesday that most of them supported the project's implementation.

They expected the National Assembly to promptly issue policies on financial compensation, support schemes, site clearance and resettlement for residents.

Nguyen Van Hau, a Long An Commune resident, said thousands of households didn't dare to repair or build their houses despite the fact that the project was planned 20 years ago.

The road was covered with mud and dust while the project was on hold for a long time so local people worried about having to move to other places, he said.

Nguyen Van Trung, another resident, said like other people in the commune he was ready to give up land for public interest but he hoped that the government would provide appropriate compensation.

Vo Van Chanh, deputy chairman of the provincial People's Committee, said authorities were preparing documents to separate compensation, site clearance, resettlement and vocational training to submit to the Government for approval in a bid to speed up the project.

They were also completing policies on financial compensation, support schemes and resettlement for people who were affected by the Long Thanh Airport project to submit to the government for approval.

Nguyen Van Phuc, deputy head of the National Assembly's Economic Committee, said much attention had been paid by the National Assembly to the project.

He suggested the provincial authorities publicise and provide adequate information on the project. The External Committee would soon ask the National Assembly's Standing Committee to review and find a special mechanism for the issues.

According to Dong Nai province's Natural Resources and Environment, nearly 15,000 people from Long Thanh District's Binh Son, Suoi Trau, Cam Duong, Bau Can, Long An and Long Phuoc had to move to other places for the construction of Long Thanh Airport project. Most of them were of labour age and their incomes depended on agricultural and industrial production.

Total land used by individuals and families in the project's area amounts to 3,000ha, accounting for 60 per cent of land revoked for the project.

The Long Thanh international airport project was approved by the National Assembly in June this year. Once completed, the airport will be able to handle 100 million passengers and five million tonnes of cargo per year.

Construction is scheduled to begin in 2018, and the airport is likely to become operational by 2025.

The total cost of the three-phase project is estimated to be VND336.63 trillion (US$15 billion). The project's funding is expected to come from the State budget, official development assistance, corporate investment and public-private partnerships, among other resources.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Le Hai Binh.

Vietnamese competent agencies have reported that China on Saturday conducted trial flying to the Fiery Cross Reef which is part of Viet Nams Truong Sa archipelago.

Viet Nam demands China immediately stop such deed and take practical actions to contribute to maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and aviation in the East Sea, Mr. Binh said.

The aforesaid deed by China seriously encroaches on Viet Nams sovereignty over the Truong Sa archipelago, goes against the common perceptions of the senior leaders of the two countries, the Viet Nam-China agreement on basic principles guiding the settlement of sea-related issues, and the Declaration on the Conduct of Parties in the East Sea. It also undermines peace and stability in the East Sea and political trust between the two countries, and negatively affects the neighboring relations and sentiments of the two peoples.

The same day, the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry met with Chinese embassy representatives in Ha Noi to hand over a diplomatic note of protest.
Cambodian agricultural experts are suggesting a national standard for organic products.

Cambodian farmers are increasingly growing organic rice and vegetables in some places, but there is no official certification available.

Officials at an annual conference held by the Center for Study and Development in Agriculture, or Cedac, say such a standard would increase the market value of organic products, helping diversify the agricultural market and would also prevent the spread of fake organic products.

Many dont believe that the farmers produce is organic, Cedac Director Yang Saing Koma said. Yet, if there were a verified standard upon such produce, it would help strengthen the consumers confidence, while farmers could defend their produce as undeniably organic.

A national standard would help define what organic means for farmers and consumers, including what kinds of substances could be used during the growth process, including fertilizer, but it would require verification, he said.

The Ministry of Agriculture is currently reviewing a proposal for such a certification, but it is unclear when or if it will be implemented.

Meanwhile, there are around 250 organic vegetable farmers and 2,000 organic rice farmers spread across four provinces: Kampong Chhnang, Kampong Speu, Siem Reap and Takeo. They supply local markets and export to the US and Europe.

Yem Sovannary, a 37-year-old organic rice and vegetable farmer in Takeo, told VOA Khmer a national standard would help Cambodia finds markets in an integrated Asean. The neighboring countries favor organic farming, he said. They favor changing the quality of the soil. But for Cambodia, its still in a fledgling state. Theres training here and there provided by the government and NGOs, but its not nationwide just yet.

In an effort to increase the growth of organic crops, Cedac has set up stores in eight locations in Phnom Penh, Tbong Khmum, Kampong Thom and Siem Reap. Another market is expected to be up and running in Prey Veng later this month.

Hean Vanhorn, director of the agricultural department at the Ministry of Agriculture, said the ministry is currently focused on a wider program called good agricultural practice, to increase yields, rather than organics. The development sector pushes for organics, he said, but they dont provide as much benefit as GAP, he said.

GAP products arent harmful, he said, so why do we need to resort to organic products that arent really scientific and not as accurate as GAP? GAP ensures that food is safe to eat, he said. What else should we be looking for?

Kiem Makarady, Cedacs environment and health director, said both standards should be worked on at the same pace, to follow the international trend toward organics. GAP produces food with chemicals, and such products from Thailand have been rejected by the European Union, he said.

Meanwhile, produce grown with certain fertilizers and other chemicals can be dangerous, leading to potential poisoning or even cancer, he said. Thus, I think that there is an increasing trend toward organic agriculture.
Police and other security personnel halted a group of mourners on the outskirts of Phnom Penh Sunday that had planned to hold a Buddhist ceremony for protesters killed in early 2014.

At least five people died in a brutal government crackdown during two days of rioting in January 2014, following prolonged protests by factory workers in 2013 and into 2014.

Vorn Pov, director of the development organization IDEA and a worker representative, who was detained and beaten during the 2014 crackdown, shouted at authorities on Sunday as they sought to disperse the mourners.

The victims families are just holding this ceremony according to Buddhism, for the victims, and they are blocked, he said. There is no freedom, no justice, in Cambodia.

Venerable Luon Sovath, a monk and human rights defender, said he had joined mourners to remember those who were killed and injured in the crackdown and to provide a blessing. But the ceremony was broken up by police with electric batons, he said. They also pushed me, a monk, claimed that Im a fake monk, and told me to stay in the pagoda, not on the street, he said.

The crackdown echoed the violent operation undertaken Jan. 2 and Jan. 3, 2014, when members of Special Unit 911 broke up protests, firing at workers. Four protesters were killed and a fifth disappeared and is presumed killed.

City Hall spokesman Long Dimanche defended Sundays crackdown, saying authorities had put up blockades to curb acts of incitement from civil society, who had sought to perform a ceremony without the citys permission.

We think that through what they are doing, we can see their intention clearly, he said. They use the image of religion to take the opportunity to incite and cause chaos and instability in society. We see the same faces of people who participate with them in various demonstrations. We almost call them multi-sector protestors because in every problem, we see their faces.

Moeun Tola, director of labor program at Community Legal Education Center, posted the blessing ceremony on his Facebook page, saying the ceremony involved burning of incense, bouquets to commemorated the souls of the killed workers, comments from the victims and their families, a joint statement by union representatives and the releasing of balloons.

Am Sam Ath, chief technical investigator for the rights group Licadho, said authorities resorted to pushing and pulling mourners, rather than peaceful negotiations. Meanwhile, there has been no investigation into the killings.

We need to find justice for the victims, eradicate impunity and put a halt to the culture of violence, he said. But we shouldn't have high hopes for now, since there's no breakthrough in finding justice for the victims just yet.

Interior Ministry's spokesman Khieu Sopheak could not be reached for comment.

In Leakhena, the mother of the worker who disappeared, Khem Sophath, said she was disappointed the authorities blocked the mourning ceremony. Its really hard. Since I lost my son, I have been struggling. Theres nobody to support the younger children in the household. And now they are blocking us; its just sad.
Authorities have arrested three suspects, including a minor, after a mayor of a Mexican city was killed less than 24 hours after her inauguration.

Gisela Mota, a former federal lawmaker, was killed at her home in Temixco by gunmen.

In addition to those arrested, two other suspects were killed in clashes with police.

The Los Angeles Times reports the gunmen were paid $29,000 to kill Mota and the killing was the work of the The Reds drug gang.

Motra's leftist Democratic Revolution Party said in a statement Mota was "a strong and brave woman who on taking office as mayor, declared that her fight against crime would be frontal and direct."

Bishop Ramon Castro said he thought Mota's murder likely served as a "warning to other mayors... If you don't cooperate with organized crime, look at what will happen to you."

The Association of Local Mexican Authorities said on Twitter that more than 1,000 public municipal servants have been killed since 2006, mainly by organized crime.

Temixco is about 100 kilometers south of Mexico's capital and borders Cuernavaca, a resort that has experienced kidnappings and extortion linked to organized crime.
Authorities in Afghanistan say a suicide car bomber struck a police check post near Kabuls international airport Monday but reported no casualties.

Police in the Afghan capital say the bomber apparently wanted to target a convoy of foreign forces and confirmed one of the vehicles was slightly damaged.

The violence comes as several heavily-armed assailants were still holed up in a building just meters from Indias consulate in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif and a gunfight fight was underway with Afghan security forces.

The siege in the Balkh province began Sunday night when a group of gunmen attempted to storm the consulate by firing rockets at the facility before retreating into the adjacent building.

Provincial Governor Atta Mohammad Noor, who is personally commanding the clearing operation, told VOA Monday that at least three attackers are shooting at Afghan security forces from inside the building.

So far, no-one has claimed responsibility for the consulate attack.

Afghan police have confirmed that five security personnel and three civilians are among at least eight people wounded in the firefight.

Residents in the area told reporters shortly after the standoff began they heard two loud explosions followed by bursts of automatic gunfire. We are under fire, Barjabashi Sardar, Indias Consul General in Mazar-e-Sharif, told the Indian media, adding everybody is safe because nobody could enter the consulate.

This is not the first time an Indian diplomatic facility has come under militant attack in Afghanistan. Suicide bombers assaulted Indias consulates in the Afghan cities of Herat city in 2014 and Jalalabad city near the Pakistani border in 2013.
Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made his first solo campaign appearance Monday for his wife, Hillary, the former U.S. secretary of state who is the leading 2016 Democratic presidential contender.

The country's 42nd president, whose two terms in office enveloped most of the 1990s, told several hundred voters at a political rally in the northeastern state of New Hampshire that Hillary Clinton offers the best chance of restoring "broadly shared prosperity" in the United States.

"I do not believe in my lifetime anybody has run for this job at a moment of great importance who was better qualified by knowledge, experience and temperament to do what needs to be done now," he said.

He made no direct comment about the leading Republican presidential contender, billionaire real estate mogul Donald Trump, who has attacked both Clintons in recent days. The flamboyant Trump says that Bill Clinton has a "terrible record" with women, alluding to the former president's marital infidelities and his impeachment for lying about an affair with a White House intern during his tenure in office.

The thrice-married Trump said, "The worst thing Hillary could do is have her husband campaign for her. Just watch."

But the former president remains a popular figure in the U.S. and his wife's campaign says they plan to call on him frequently to speak on her behalf.
Afghan officials say security forces have killed all four heavily armed assailants who have been holed up since Sunday night in a building near India's consulate in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told VOA at least one security personnel was killed and nine others were wounded fighting the attackers.

The standoff began Sunday evening after the gunmen tried to storm the Indian diplomatic mission by firing rockets at the facility before retreating into a nearby building, erupting an intense gun battle with Afghan security forces.

Officials say the men armed with rocket-propelled grenades and light weapons had engaged Afghan troops all night and the siege continued until Monday evening when members of the commando unit rappelled from helicopters onto the roof of the building and neutralized the threat.

No-one claimed responsibility for the consulate attack.

WATCH: Video footage from the scene



Taliban denies involvement

The Taliban is mostly blamed for attacks against local and foreign targets in the country.

However, when contacted by VOA, a spokesman for the Islamist insurgency, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that Taliban fighters and sources in the city had no knowledge "about the gunmen involved in the raid.

Residents in the area told reporters shortly after the standoff began they heard two loud explosions followed by bursts of automatic gunfire. We are under fire, Barjabashi Sardar, Indias Consul General in Mazar-e-Sharif, told the Indian media, adding everybody is safe because nobody could enter the consulate.

The attack on the Indian consulate is the latest in a series of assaults on India's diplomatic facilities in Afghanistan.

Suicide bombers attacked Indias consulates in the Afghan city of Herat in 2014 and in the eastern city of Jalalabad bordering Pakistan in 2013.

Kabul attack

Meanwhile, police in the capital Kabul reported a powerful car bomb explosion near the citys international airport Monday evening in which at least 30 people were wounded.

A health ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ismail Kawasi, told VOA that children and women were among the victims brought to government hospitals from the site of the attack.

The Taliban swiftly took responsibility, saying the explosives-laden vehicle targeted a foreign forces camp near the airport and inflicted heavy casualties on the foreign occupier.



The blast occurred near the eastern entrance of the airport which is dedicated for military purposes and is also used by NATO forces, said interior ministry officials.



The attack took place just hours after a suicide bomber struck a police security post in the same area in his bid to target a foreign military convoy, Kabul police told reporters, adding only the bomber was killed in that attack and a vehicle in the convoy was slightly damaged. The Taliban also claimed responsibility for the bombing.
An independent panel has concluded that Haiti's president and parliamentary elections in October were marred by irregularities.

The panel's report released Sunday bears out charges of fraud made by opposition presidential candidate Jude Celestin.

Problems included ballots where the votes were crossed out, miscounting, and discrepancies in voter identification.

Allegations of fraud led to street protests that forced officials to cancel the second round of voting last month.

It is unclear when the runoff will be held, but Haiti's constitution calls for a new president to take office by February 7.

The pro-government candidate Jovenel Moise won the first round, followed by Celestin, in a field of more than 50 candidates.

Haiti has been struggling for decades to put together a stable government and society vital in attracting badly needed investment.

Corruption, violence, and a devastating 2010 earthquake have thwarted Haiti's efforts to build a thriving country.
A strong 6.7 magnitude earthquake shook remote northeastern India before dawn Monday near the borders with Bangladesh and Myanmar, killing at least two people and injuring dozens.

Reports say scores of buildings were damaged.

Residents in the city of Guwahati in Assam state fled into the streets when their houses started shaking and books fell from shelves.

The quake was centered 30 kilometers northwest of the city of Imphal, at a depth of 55 kilometers. It was felt as far away as Kolkata in West Bengal state, 600 kilometers to the southwest and in Myanmar's main city, Yangon, 1,175 kilometers to the south.
An alliance of more than a dozen militant groups called the United Jihad Council, based in Pakistani Kashmir, has claimed responsibility for an attack by heavily armed gunmen on a strategic Indian airbase in Pathankot town, about 50 kilometers from the border with Pakistan.



Operations continued for a third day to secure the airbase in the northern Punjab state, which was infiltrated by heavily armed gunmen on Saturday. Five gunmen have been killed and seven security personnel have died in the attack, which could jeopardize peace talks between India and Pakistan.



The United Jihad Council, which is fighting to end Indian rule in Kashmir said it wanted to show India that no military installation was out of the reach of militants and India should allow Kashmiris to decide their political future.



The claim of responsibility came in a statement issued to a Srinagar-based news agency.

Reports in India have suggested that the Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad group carried out the attack.

Airbase under attack



More soldiers armed with rocket launchers and mortar guns were sent into the defense facility on Monday.



Security officials said the search and combing operations are in the final stages, but could still take time because the air base sprawls over a very large area. The entire operation will continue till all the personnel, assets, structures are physically combed, so it is likely to take a long time, but we would like to assure everyone that  said Major General Dushyant Singh, a top officer of the National Security Guards, which is conducting the operation along with the army and the air force.



Officials pointed out that besides strategic assets, the airbase houses many families and schools. It is like a mini city, says Lt. General J.S. Dhamoon.



Officials stressed that all the installations at the base, which houses fighter jets and assualt helicopters, are safe. I would like to assure everybody that all these air assets have been seured and are safe, there has been no damage to anyone of them, Brigadier Anupinder Belvi told reporters.

Although officials are trying to stress that damage at the airbase was minimized, questions are being raised over how the gunmen managed to enter the military facility despite intelligence alerts about a possible terror attack. There are serious holes in the entire security structure, says Sukh Deo Muni at New Delhis Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses. How should this happen after all the alerts that were given?



Defending the airbase

Even as operations were continuing, India witnessed a second militant attack when four unidentified gunmen tried to storm its consulate in the Afghan town of Mazar-e-Sharif.



Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi held a meeting Monday to review both the attacks, which took place about a week after he visited Lahore in an effort to boost a flagging peace process with the rival nation.



Questions are now being raised in New Delhi on how the government will react and whether the attacks will impact talks scheduled to be held between the foreign secretaries of the two countries in Islamabad later this month.

Pakistan on Monday again condemned the airbase attack in India and says it is "working on the leads provided by" New Delhi to help investigate the deadly assault in line with Islamabad's commitment to effectively counter and eradicate terrorism.

A foreign ministry statement says that "living in the same region and with a common history, the two countries should remain committed to a sustained dialogue process." It added that the challenge of terrorism calls for strengthening our resolve to cooperative approach.



Analyst S.D. Muni says there is pressure from both within the ruling party, opposition parties and civil society to cancel the bilateral dialogue, but New Delhis options are limited. I dont think government has many better options, because cancelling the talks again puts the whole thing into square one. What do you? If you dont talk, this is where you come to a dead end of diplomacy, says Muni.

Ayaz Gul contributed to this report from Islamabad.
Saudi Arabia's allies curbed their diplomatic links with Iran Monday, following Riyadh's decision to sever its relations with Iran after protesters stormed the country's embassy in Tehran.

Bahrain and Sudan cut their diplomatic ties to Tehran, while the United Arab Emirates downgraded its relations with Iran, limiting the number of Tehran's diplomats in the country and reducing the representation to a charge d'affaires rather than an ambassador. Saudi Arabia also announced that all flights to and from Iran have been cancelled.

At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest stressed the the need for Iran and Saudi Arabia to "deescalate" the situation and urged all sides to show restraint.

The heightened tensions came in the aftermath of Sunni Saudi Arabia's execution Saturday of a leading Shi'ite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. After Riyadh announced his execution, along with 46 others, angry Iranian protesters smashed furniture and set fires at the Saudi embassy in Tehran, with demonstrators also attacking the country's consulate in Mashhad.

VIDEO: Analysts discuss message Saudi Arabia sent to Iran

At least 40 protesters were arrested in the attacks, which Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called "totally unjustifiable." But he also denounced al-Nimr's execution, and about 3,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran Monday in protest of the cleric's killing.

Sudan said it was cutting Tehran ties because of the "barbaric attacks" on the Saudi embassy in Tehran. The UAE said it was curbing its Iran ties because of Tehran's "continuous interference in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states, which has reached unprecedented levels." Somalia denounced the attacks on the Saudi outposts as a "flagrant violation" of international law.



WATCH: Related video clip



A statement on the state-run BNA news service said Bahrain called on Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours. Bahraini police fired tear gas and birdshot at protesters demonstrating against al-Nimr's execution. Saudi Arabia, in announcing its move late Sunday, also gave Iranian diplomats two days to leave.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said at a Monday morning briefing Iran was arranging for its personnel to return home from their Saudi posts, but that none had yet left. He also criticized Saudi Arabia for its decision, saying Saudi actions are fueling tensions in the region.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia would not allow Shi'ite dominated Iran to undermine his country's security, or that of the region.

"The continued attacks on diplomatic missions is a flagrant violation of all international treaties," Jubeir said. "We want to make it very clear that there is no space in the community of nations for a country that condones terrorism, that supports terrorism and that engages in terrorism."

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said later the Saudi decision could not distract from its "big mistake" of executing Nimr, who was a prominent critic of Saudi Arabia's ruling royal family. He was convicted in 2014 of sedition and other charges, and in 2011 was a key leader of Shi'ite protests in eastern Saudi Arabia.

The mass executions, the most in Saudi Arabia in more than three decades, triggered international outrage and warnings of grave repercussions for the Saudi royal family.

The U.S. State Department, in a statement, said Washington "will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions." The statement also said President Barack Obama's administration believes "that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential" to resolving the crisis.



Iran threatens 'divine vengeance'

Earlier Sunday, Iran's supreme leader said Saudi Arabia will face "divine vengeance" for its execution of Nimr. State television quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying, "The unjustly spilled blood of this oppressed martyr will no doubt soon show its effect and divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians."

He also said Nimr "neither encouraged people into armed action nor secretly conspired for plots, but the only thing he did was utter public criticism rising from his religious zeal."

Angry Iranian protesters on Saturday stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in Mashhad, smashing furniture and setting fires at the embassy before being ejected by police.

At least 40 protesters were arrested. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the attacks on the diplomatic missions "totally unjustifiable," even as he denounced Riyadh's execution of the 56-year-old Shi'ite cleric.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said in a statement Sunday Nimr's death would lead to the "downfall" of Saudi Arabia's monarchy. The Guard described Nimr's execution as a "medieval act of savagery."

Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called the execution "an injustice and an aggression."

Condemnations, warnings spread

A top Shi'ite cleric in Lebanon also warned of a backlash to Nimr's execution. Sheikh Abdul-Amir Kabalan described the execution as "a crime at a human level and will have repercussions in the coming days."

Protests also erupted in Bahrain, where police used tear gas on the crowds. Demonstrations also took place in India, as well as the Saudi embassy in London.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply dismayed" by the execution of Nimr and called for "calm and restraint in reaction" to the killings.

Washington warned that Nimr's death would only add to strife between religious sects in the region.

"We are particularly concerned that the execution of prominent Shia cleric and political activist Nimr al-Nimr risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Saturday.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been vying for leadership in the Muslim world since Iran's 1979 revolution, which elevated to power hard-line Shi'ite clerics. The U.S. war in Iraq further inflamed religious and ethnic tensions by leading to a Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad and a crucial shift in the sectarian balance of power in the region.

After Arab Spring protests erupted in 2011, Saudi Arabia and Iran entered into a fierce proxy war in Syria, where they support opposite sides of the conflict. The two foes also back opposing military factions in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has bombed Iran-backed Shi'ite targets for the past nine months.
Islamic State militants attacked Iraqi troops and allied tribal fighters outside the western town of Haditha on Monday, killing at least 11 and wounding dozens, officials said.

The Associated Press reported that 30 troops were wounded in the attacks, which included a suicide car bombing and roadside bombs.

The attack comes a week after Iraqi troops backed by U.S.-led airstrikes and Sunni tribesmen pushed IS out of central Ramadi, capital of sprawling Anbar province, which also includes Haditha.



Pockets of IS fighters remain to the east and north of the city and have launched daily counterattacks against Iraqi military positions, mostly using suicide car bombs.

The United States and its allies conducted 25 strikes against Islamic State militants in Iraq on Sunday.

The Combined Joint Task Force, the coalition leading the operations, said the strikes were staged near nine Iraqi cities, including Fallujah, Kisik, Mosul, Ramadi and Sinjar, and hit 10 of the militant group's tactical units.

Meanwhile, blasts rocked two Sunni mosques in central Iraq Monday amid fears of renewed sectarian strife following Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

As thousands demonstrated against the Saudi monarchy in Baghdad, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi vowed to track down the attackers, who he said were attempting to undermine national unity.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts.
Islamic State suicide bombers attacked key oil facilities in northern Libya on Monday but were pushed back, army officials said.

The attacks targeted the Al-Sidra oil export terminal, killing two soldiers.

IS has been trying to push east from Sirte for several weeks to reach the country's "oil crescent," where its main oil terminals such as Al-Sidra and Ras Lanouf are based.

IS announced on Twitter that its fighters had led an "attack on the Al-Sidra area followed by violent clashes with the enemies of God."
Kenya has reopened Garissa University College, the scene of the single deadliest terrorist attack in East Africa since the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings.

Teachers and some students returned to the college Monday, nine months after gunmen rampaged through the eastern Kenyan school and killed 148 people, all but five of them students. Classes are set to resume next week.

The college was scheduled to reopen during the summer, but officials decided to move up the date last month when government officials and MPs visited the town.

Ethnic Somali politicians representing Garissa town told the government they were determined to reopen the only university in the region, said college principal Ahmed Osman Warfa.

He said the decision ultimately stemmed from a desire to move on.

"We were attacked, we are aggrieved, we are saddened but we have to move on. Counseling has been done, and life has to go on," he told VOA's Somali Service.

New students

The college had about 800 students at the time of the attack, but only 80 of those will be back next week to resume their education. They will be joined by about 170 new students, Warfa said.

Al-Shabab has carried out dozens of attacks in Kenya since Kenyan troops crossed the border to fight the group in 2011. Prior to last April, al-Shabab's deadliest attack was the 2013 assault on Nairobi's Westgate Mall that left 67 people dead.

Garissa, which sits about 150 kilometers from the Somali border, was considered a remote and safe area until the morning of April 2, 2015, when five gunmen stormed the campus and began to summon students out of dormitories.

Witnesses and officials said the attackers spared Muslims during the daylong assault while singling out and shooting Christians.

Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud said the group's intention was to divide communities in Kenya along religious lines. But it appears they failed. When al-Shabab hijacked a bus in Kenya's Mandera district last month, the Muslims on board  in an unprecedented action  refused to be separated from the Christians. The gunmen let the bus and its passengers go.

No 'more attacks'

Warfa said he is not worried about another attack on the college.

"We don't expect any more attacks because we have enough security. We have a police force inside the university, we have 30 police officers and we are hoping they will be able to take care of all the security measures inside and outside the university," he said.

Four of the gunmen who stormed the campus that day were killed by security forces, while a fifth blew himself up with explosives. The government has since arrested five more men, all of them charged with conspiracy to commit a terrorist act.

However, two militants the Kenyan government named as the "masterminds" of the attack, Mohamed Kuno and Ahmed Iman, are still at large.

Kuno, also known as Dulyadayn, is the commander of al-Shabab forces in the Juba regions, while Iman is the head of al-Hijra, Shabab's Kenya branch. The government has offered rewards of $20,000 each for information leading to their capture.
As the U.S. heads into a presidential election year amid sharpening political divisions, the Supreme Court is set to decide a number of ideologically charged cases in 2016 on topics such as abortion, contraceptives, immigration and union membership.

The sharply divided Court is likely to produce a series of 5-4 decisions that will remind voters the next presidents appointees could tip the balance either right or left.

The justices will hear their first abortion case in nearly a decade - deciding whether Texas can enforce two regulations that would force about 75 percent of the states abortion clinics to shut down.

One measure requires clinics to use only doctors with admitting privileges at a nearby hospital. A second requires abortion facilities to match the standards of an outpatient surgical center.

Both sides have been gathering vivid personal accounts from women to supplement the legal arguments, believing the effort could appeal particularly to swing-vote Justice Anthony Kennedy.

The case will be argued March 2.

Obamacare, unions

The Court will also decide its fourth case on U.S. President Barack Obamas health care law, the Affordable Care Act.

This one is a challenge brought by Christian colleges and religious non-profits who contend the laws requirement that their health plans provide birth control violates their religious beliefs.

The justices combined seven similar cases from groups that include the Little Sisters of the Poor, an order of Roman Catholic nuns that runs nursing homes.

On January 11, the Court will hear oral arguments on whether public employees can be required to join a union or pay it a fee for collective-bargaining services.

The California case challenges pro-union laws in more than 20 states that require all public employees pay a fair share fee to their union, even if they are opposed to the union and refuse to join.

If the lawsuit is upheld, public-employee unions say they could be dealt crippling blows in about half the overwhelmingly Democratic states that allow such agency clauses.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un's New Year's speech shows the young leader is placing a high priority on the economy, analysts in Seoul said.

In a 30-minute address Friday, Kim appeared to stress economic development over military power. The annual speech is a possible indicator of the communist country's intentions for the coming year.

"We should concentrate all our efforts on building an economic giant to bring about a fresh turn in developing the country's economy and improving the people's standard of living," Kim said.

In a report released Sunday, Cheong Seong-chang, director of unification strategy at the Sejong Institute, noted that the country's military-first politics  or Songun, a guideline for domestic governance and foreign policy set by Kim's father  was less visible in the speech.

Cheong, who specializes in the North Korean leadership, said Kim has been focusing less on the military-first policy in his annual speech since he took power in late 2011. The change shows Kim is gaining confidence in his power, according to Cheong.

Stabilized grip on power

"Politically, Kim appears to believe he has stabilized his grip on power. With submarine-launched ballistic missile tests, he might feel his country has secured deterrent against the United States and South Korea militarily," Cheong said.

Lim Eul-chul, a professor at Kyungnam University's Institute for Far Eastern Studies in Seoul, said Kim appears to be seeking economic self-reliance in anticipation of prolonged international sanctions.

"The North Korean regime isn't expecting international sanctions to be lifted anytime soon, so it has been focusing its efforts on creating foundation for self-reliance. Related policies have been introduced during the last four years," Lim said.

Yang Moon-soo, a professor at the University of North Korea Studies, expects Kim to pursue pragmatic economic policies this year. In a discussion in Seoul, Yang said Kim is likely to invest resources in fields that could show visible results, including agricultural, livestock and construction industries.

In an apparent attempt to broaden its engagement with the international community, North Korea is reportedly planning to send a delegation to the World Economic Forum in Switzerland for the first time in 18 years.

South Korea's Yonhap News said North Korean Foreign Minister Ri Su Yong may attend the annual event, scheduled to take place January 20 to 23 in Davos.
U.S. authorities worked Monday to end a standoff at a federal wildlife center in the northwestern state of Oregon, where armed anti-government protesters took over the facility and declared they are prepared to stay for years.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama is aware of the situation and "hopeful it can be resolved peacefully and without violence."

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it is working with local and state law enforcement officials to try to resolve the situation.

Demonstrators said they took over the remote facility at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in solidarity with two ranchers, Dwight Hammond, 76, and his son, Steven, 46, who are facing extended prison sentences for setting fires on federal land in the area they had used to graze their cattle.

They originally were given shorter sentences, but a federal appeals court ruled in October that the first judge erred in ignoring the mandatory minimum sentence for the crime, and it said they should be given five-year terms.

The two men turned themselves in Monday to resume their prison terms. Their attorneys said they would seek clemency from President Barack Obama to win their freedom again.

The armed protesters, making up a loosely organized group, said they have as many as 100 people with them. They are being led by Ammon Bundy, whose family was at the center of a 2014 standoff over grazing rights on federal lands.

"We will be here as long as it takes," Bundy told reporters Sunday. "We have no intentions of using force upon anyone. If force is used against us, we would defend ourselves."

Bundy said their case is a symptom of a "huge, egregious problem," happening across the country with the government imposing too many restrictions on land use and causing economic harm to local populations.

A sign in front of the occupied refuge building accuses the government of "doing what they do best, ABUSING POWER."

'Light up the whole country'

The Hammonds said they started the fires on their property to kill invasive species and then the flames spread to the federal land by accident. But witnesses said they illegally killed deer, then distributed matches to others to be lit and dropped to "light up the whole country on fire."

A Hammond family statement says the two men only want to turn themselves in and serve out their prison terms. The family says no "patriot group or individual has the right or authority to force an armed standoff...against their wishes."

The anti-government militiamen who took over the wildlife refuge are angry that the court ruled to send the Hammonds back to prison, with credit for the time they already have served.

After the peaceful protest in the nearby town of Burns, the group took over the offices at the refuge, which were closed at the time. Photographs showed the militia members moving fuel and food onto the refuge.

WATCH: Video footage from the scene



Federal ownership of western lands

Bundy and his father Cliven held a month-long armed standoff with federal authorities in 2014 over unpaid fees the government said they owed for letting their cattle graze on federal land in Nevada. Hundreds of supporters joined the Bundys and eventually the government backed down and decided to return the cattle it had confiscated to try to force payment.

The federal government's land ownership has long been a contentious issue, particularly in the western part of the United States. According to a report by the Congressional Research Service, federal agencies own 28 percent of the country's land, most of which is in the western states and Alaska.

At 53 percent, the state of Oregon has the fifth-highest percentage of federally owned land.

The report cites early treaties and land settlement patterns for why so much of federal land is in the west. The U.S. began with colonies on the east coast in the early 1600s through the country's independence from Britain in 1776. It was not until the mid-1800s that the government acquired the land in the west.

The Malheur refuge is one of 560 in the United States set aside by the federal government to protect wildlife species and their habitats.

Watch video report from VOA's Zlatica Hoke:


Unidentified assailants fired three shells toward the center of Burundi's capital Monday, two days before peace talks between Burundis government and opposition are set to start in Tanzania this week.



One of the shells landed a few meters from the offices of Bujumbura's mayor, injuring three people, including a woman who was seriously wounded. Brief panic ensued after the attack.



Tensions running high, violence continues

Over the weekend, at least three people were killed. Eyewitnesses say that one of them was a young musician murdered by a police officer. Police officials said he was criminal fleeing arrest when he was accidentally gunned down. Authorities have opened an investigation into the incident.

Bujumbura saw dozens of shootings and bombings during 2015, amid the protests against President Pierre Nkurunziza's bid for a third term. The United Nations says at least 400 people have died.

Pierre Nkurikiye, police spokesman for Burundi, said his ministry is asking the public to remain vigilant.



For those cases of insecurity, the ministry of public security sympathized with the bereaved families and informs the public that each case was followed by a careful investigation that will bring the perpetrators to justice," he said.

Burundians meanwhile are waiting for negotiations between their government and the opposition to begin on January 6 in Arusha.

Tension is running high ahead of the talks, as the African Union has said it may deploy up to 5,000 peacekeepers in Burundi. The government has said that if the troops come without permission, they will be attacked.
U.S. President Barack Obama has unveiled a series of executive orders he says will curb gun violence but will not step on the rights of Americans to lawfully bear arms under the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

Some of the measures, announced by the White House Monday, include expanded background checks, more effective enforcement of gun laws, increased mental health treatment and reporting to the national background check system, and more research into gun safety technology.

After meeting earlier with top legal and law enforcement officials at the White House, Obama said he plans to take his case to the American people to explain the series of initiatives he will implement to tighten federal gun control regulations.

The president is scheduled to further outline his initiatives during remarks in the White House East Room on Tuesday.

Obama presented the recommendations discussed during a White House meeting with top officials including U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch and FBI Director James Comey.

The good news is that these are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authority and the executive branch, said Obama after the meeting. But they are also ones that the overwhelming majority of the American people, including gun owners, support and believe in.



One key element of the plan includes requiring any business selling firearms, including at gun shows, to get a license and conduct background checks.



We intend to make this system more efficient and make it more comprehensive, said Lynch on Monday. The goal is keeping bad actors away from firearms and also to make it easier for authorities to make sure that the gun laws are properly followed and enforced.



Part of the effort includes increasing by 50 percent the number of FBI personnel who staff the national background check system, said Lynch.

Background checks

Recent polls show an increase in the number of Americans who support background checks on those seeking to purchase a firearm. Among other actions, the White House is pushing for stricter background checks.



A new survey by Webster's research center found that 85 percent of gun owners believe there should be background checks for every individual seeking to buy a gun.



Each year, tens of thousands of people are killed by guns in the United States, including in mass shootings and suicides, committed at far greater rates than in other countries around the world, said the president.

Republican reaction



The Republican-led Congress opposes more restrictions on gun ownership, and any actions planned by the president likely will face legal challenges.



House Speaker Paul Ryan criticized the presidents plan Monday, saying the underlying cause of gun violence is mental illness, and that the gun control measures advocated by the White House will not stop such attacks. Ryan pointed out that Congress has rejected gun control measures supported by the White House.



The president is at minimum subverting the legislative branch and potentially overturning its will, said the Republican congressman. The American people deserve a president who will respect their constitutional rights - all of them.



But Obama insisted the gun control initiatives he plans are within his power to implement.



The recommendations are entirely consistent with the second amendment and peoples lawful right to bear arms, Obama said. We have been very careful recognizing that although we have a strong tradition of gun ownership in this country, that even those who possess firearms for hunting, for self-protection and for other legitimate reasons want to make sure that the wrong people dont have them for the wrong reasons.
Almost a year after deadly attacks on the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris, a new report by Reporters Without Borders calls jihadism "among the worlds worst predators of press freedom."

The Paris-based nonprofit organization on Monday released "Jihad Against Journalists," summarizing efforts by Islamist armed groups such as Islamic State, al-Qaida, Boko Haram and al-Shabab to intimidate and silence journalists  and to repress the societies they cover.

Last January 7, brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi stormed Charlie Hebdos offices in Paris, killing eight staff members and four others. Al-Qaidas branch in the Arabian Peninsula claimed responsibility for the attack.

"As the Charlie Hebdo massacre showed, we are entering a period in which this threat is becoming globalized," Reporters Without Borders' secretary-general, Christophe Deloire, said in statement accompanying the reports release.

"It will not be possible to protect journalists  and by extension all of the worlds peoples as well  unless there is an all-out effort to oppose ideologies of hate that often have state support," he continued. "Preserving media freedom and independence is clearly a major challenge for the future of humankind."

Some 69 journalists were killed last year alone, with Islamic State and al-Qaida responsible for 28  or 40 percent  of those deaths, the Committee to Protect Journalists reported last week. That press freedom group said nine journalists died in France, "second only to Syria as the most dangerous country for the press in 2015."

Reporters Without Borders' "press freedom barometer" shows 154 journalists currently imprisoned for displeasing governments or extremist groups.

The organizations new report explores the origins of jihadists' contempt for journalists, as well as efforts to eliminate a free press and to create propaganda promoting an extreme form of Islam.

The report includes the Islamic State's "11 commandments" for journalists, first of which is swearing "allegiance to the caliph." These rules forbid journalists from working for TV channels "fighting Islamic countries," RSF says, and require them to clear any stories with IS media offices before release.

Violators face arrest, kidnapping, summary executions and murder.

Special Charlie Hebdo issue

On Wednesday, Charlie Hebdo plans to release a special anniversary edition with a press run of 1 million copies. Its cover shows a bearded figure representing God, with an automatic weapon slung over his shoulder. Its headline: "The assassin is still out there."

Despite such bravado, a survivor of the Charlie Hebdo attacks said he and other of the remaining 20 staffers "feel terribly alone" in challenging militant extremists..

"We had hoped that others would do satire, too," financial director Eric Portheault told the Agence-France Presse news agency in a story released Monday. "No one wants to join us in this fight because it's dangerous. You can die doing it."
The offices of the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, California, where 14 people were killed in a terror attack in early December, reopened Monday.

Six hundred employees returned to offices that had been frozen in time. Tinsel still hung on the office cubicles. A small Christmas tree had unopened presents underneath.

Security guards checked badges as people filed into work past a chain link security fence that was not there before the shooting and will remain up indefinitely.

Most of us are relieved to be back at work. We want to continue with the normalcy, and we miss each other very much,'' Executive Director Lavinia Johnson told reporters. "We want to ensure that our staff feels safe and secure as they work in their offices.''

Center employees have been working from home in the interim, serving clients with developmental disabilities. Therapists have visited autistic children and mentally disabled adults at their homes.

For the annual toy drive in late December, regional center staffers worked with a homecare service to deliver toys to needy families rather than distribute them at the center.

San Bernardino County's health department had rented the centers conference building for a holiday party on December 2, when Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik opened fire on the partiers.

Farook was a county restaurant inspector and the people he shot were his co-workers. Fourteen were killed and 22 were wounded. Farook and Malik later died in a shootout with police.

Together again



The conference building is the only part of the campus that will not reopen Monday.

While the hum of activity once again pervades the center, for the first week back, no patients will visit. Instead, therapists and social workers will be the ones taken care of. Counselors are on site to speak with them about their feelings in the wake of the terror attack.

"Just be together again,'' Johnson said, "share where they're at.''
Boiling tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia risk dooming fragile, painstaking efforts to negotiate a Syrian peace deal as the fallout from the Saudis execution of a Shiite cleric spreads across the region.

The escalating confrontation over the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and three other Shi'ites, along with 43 Sunni Muslim jihadists, on terrorism charges, is already worsening Islamic sectarianism in the region, with allies and proxies taking sides and threatening retaliation.

Western diplomats are now scrambling behind the scenes to persuade the Saudis to refrain from executing al-Nimirs nephew, who also faces a death sentence for participating in anti-government protests like his uncle.

But the rhetorical confrontation between Riyadh and Tehran - initially over the beheadings and then over the weekend storming of the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital by protesters -- is already turning violent, risking more trouble between the two regional powers best positioned to help shape an end to the nearly five-year-long Syrian conflict.

Allies and proxies of the Saudis and Iranians are already making their feelings felt  and not just with words and protests.

Violence and attacks

Bomb blasts rocked two Sunni mosques in Hilla, 80 kilometers south of Baghdad; a Sunni imam in Iskandariya, in central Iraq, was killed by a gunman; and police came under heavy gunfire Sunday night in Sheikh Nimr's hometown of Awamiya in Saudi Arabia's restive Eastern Province, leaving one civilian dead and a child wounded.

More could come, warns David Weinberg, an analyst with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a Washington DC-based think tank.

He fears both Tehran and Riyadh could miscalculate their responses. The danger of all of this is that it could lead to miscalculation militarily in the region by the Saudis and the Iranians, ...with violence spinning out of control due to the reactions of terror properties of Iran retaliating, as they had threatened to do, if al-Nimir was executed, he says.

This is going to be very hard to contain, he adds.

Some analysts argue that the executions illustrate the Saudi kingdom's new aggressive posture under King Salman, who was crowned monarch last year following the death of his half brother Abdullah. Weinberg suspects the Saudi leaders may not have considered the possible geopolitical fallout from executing the Shi'ite cleric. 

Saudi Arabia has been tone deaf for years about how its conduct towards the Shia minority in the kingdom engenders a backlash, he says.

Likewise, Iran appears to have handed the Saudis a public relations and strategic victory  at least as far as Saudis Sunni Gulf neighbors are concerned  with the storming of Saudi Arabias embassy in Tehran. The Iranian government insists that it was not behind the protest, but the Saudis insist the storming of the mission was a purposeful escalation.

The stage is set for both sides to exploit the row.

'Political agitation'

Irans powerful Revolutionary Guards warned Sunday that the execution of al-Nimr will lead to the downfall of the Saudi monarchy. Analysts say that in retaliation, Iranian hawks are likely to encourage restive Shi'ite Muslims in eastern Saudi Arabia to up their political agitation against the ruling House of Saud.

Bahrainis fear this will also happen in their emirate, where a long-running, low-level insurgency has been under way since Bahrain's majority Shi'ite population began protests in 2011 against the emirates Sunni rulers.

Bahrains leaders say they have seen signs of increased Iranian agitation. In July, the Bahrainis withdrew their ambassador from Tehran after claiming the Revolutionary Guards were behind a plot to smuggle arms into the country, orchestrated by two Bahraini nationals with close ties to Iran. And, in October, Bahrain accused Iran of seeking to topple the Bahraini royal family, claiming Irans Revolutionary Guards were training Shi'ite terrorists.

The row between Riyadh and Tehran comes at a difficult moment for efforts to find a political solution for the wars raging in the region  conflicts in which Iran and Saudi Arabia are backing opposing sides.

German government spokesman Steffen Seibert acknowledged Monday that relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran are of fundamental importance for solving the crises in Syria and Yemen.

Prospects of Syrian peace talks

Developments inside and outside Syria are not helping advance peace. Russian airstrikes and Syrian government barrel-bombing of civilians are hardening rebel sentiment. Regional rivalries have complicated the search for peace from the outset, but last month there were signs that both Tehran and Riyadh were getting more serious about resolving the conflict.

Saudi Arabia played a key part in brokering a deal between more than 100 Syrian rebel and opposition groups, securing an agreement between them over a negotiating framework. But with confrontation flaring between Iran and Saudi Arabia, the prospects for the Syrian peace talks look even more forlorn.

And the standoff may help hardliners in Iran, who have already been maneuvering ahead of next months parliamentary elections, seen as a crucial test of reformist President Hassan Rouhanis authority. Hawks have already been seeking to gain the upper hand with a civil liberties crackdown and Rouhani has been unable to rein in the countrys security apparatus.
South Korea responded cautiously Monday to Kim Jong Uns recent call to improve bilateral relations.

During his New Years Day message, the North Korean leader said Pyongyang will make strenuous efforts to develop inter-Korean talks and improve bilateral relations.

No talks looming

In response, Seouls Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee on Monday said there are no immediate plans to propose any new talks with Pyongyang.

Instead, Jeong chose to respond to the sharp criticism Kim directed at South Korea in his address when the North Korean leader called President Park Geun-hyes peaceful reunification goal a disguised form of regime change in the North.

We urge North Korea to face our effort to establish a basis for peaceful reunification, and put effort to create an era of peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula through trust between two Koreas, said Jeong Joon-hee.

Following the inter-Korean talks that collapsed in December, Seoul seems to be taking a harder stance against Pyongyang.

The two days of high-level talks in December failed to make progress on modest, non-political projects like instituting regular reunions for families that were separated by the division of the Korean peninsula and restarting cross-border tourism.

Afterwards, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se noted that the lack of trust between the North and South makes any substantial dialogue difficult. Yun downplayed the possibility of a summit between Park and Kim until North Korea curbs its nuclear weapons program.

In addition, North Korea analyst Kim Yong-hyun with Dongguk University in Seoul said, with South Korean legislative elections scheduled for April, the Park administration is unlikely to risk alienating its conservative supporters by engaging in politically risky negotiations with the North.

At this point, it is difficult to create a mood to hold talks between the two Koreas, said Kim Yong-hyun.

North Korea nuclear

While Kim Jong Un did not mention his countrys nuclear program during his New Year address, there are indications that North Korea may be preparing to test its thermonuclear weapons capabilities.

South Koreas Chemical, Biological and Radiological (CBR) Defense Command reported Sunday that Pyongyang may be building a light water nuclear reactor to produce tritium, a radioactive isotope necessary to build more sophisticated nuclear weapons.

The U.S. research institute 38 North, which studies high-resolution commercial satellite imagery of the region, said last week North Korea is excavating a new tunnel. The site of the new tunnel is at Punggye-ri where Pyongyang conducted its three nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

These activities support Seoul's National Intelligence Service assertion in October that Pyongyang is preparing for its fourth nuclear test.

Chinas influence debated

North Korea last year made threats to launch a long-range rocket and conduct a fourth nuclear test. Officials in Seoul have credited China with persuading the North to restrain from initiating provocative weapons tests in exchange for expanded economic development at the China-North Korea border.

However, North Korea analyst Bruce Bechtol at Angelo State University in Texas is doubtful that China wields that degree of influence over North Korea. While ties have improved of late, Sino-North Korean relations have been contentious since Beijing supported U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang for conducting its third nuclear test in 2013.

Bechtol said North Koreas recent nuclear restraint may have been caused more by technical delays than relenting to political and economic pressure.

It may be nothing more than that. It may have nothing to do with the Chinese. In fact that is probably likely, he said.

Last month Kim Jong Un also claimed his country now possesses a hydrogen bomb, which is more powerful than the atomic bombs tested in the past. The U.S. discounted Kims hydrogen bomb claim as unsubstantiated, but cautioned that North Korea's nuclear ambitions pose a very serious risk to global peace and security.
A Sudan opposition leader said her party will honor an African Union invitation to hold talks in Ethiopia with Sudanese President Omar al-Bashirs government to discuss a national dialogue intended to resolve the countrys problems.

A national dialogue launched last year by President Bashir is currently being held in Sudan.

Mariam al-Mahdi, daughter of opposition leader Sadig al-Mahdi and vice president of the Umma party has been critical of the current dialogue because it is being held in what she calls, "an unfriendly environment."

Mariam al-Mahdi said an African Union-sponsored dialogue would be different from the one being held in Khartoum because, first of all, it would discuss the root causes of the problems in Sudan, including lack of political and press freedom, and secondly, its preparatory meeting will be held outside Sudan.

It will be different because already the condition is conducive. In African Union Resolution #456, Article 14, this is what we are calling for because it needs to have conducive atmosphere first and with detailed items like the basic freedom and the participation of everybody and the addressing of all issues. Number 2, it allows for the preparatory meeting taking place outside of Sudan in Addis Ababa and that would allow all the stakeholders to participate in the preparation, she said.

This is not a change of position for my part because my party has been all time committed to radical change in Sudan to resolve all these crises and to get to peace and democratic transformation through dialogue and or popular uprising. From the beginning we have been very much committed to the national dialogue through the African Union Peace and Security Council Resolution #456, she added.

She said the dialogue currently being held in Khartoum is not genuine because it has been orchestrated by the ruling National Congress Party, which does not want to address the root causes of Sudan's problems.

Sudan's Information Minister Ahmed Bilal said some opposition parties refused to join the national dialogue despite invitations from President Bashir.

Actually the president, every here and now hes talking about the national dialogue and persuading others to join the national dialogue. We spent a whole year talking about this, but the opposition actually they are not going to join. We talked to the rebels outside and they agree to join the national dialogue; and we waited for them for more than two or three months, he said.

Over the weekend, Hassan al-Turabi, secretary general of the Sudan Popular Congress Party, one of the parties participating in the Khartoum dialogue, called for a two-year transitional government to be headed by President Bashir.

Mariam al-Mahdi said al-Turabis proposal is nothing new.

The call for a national interim government is a call that has been well established since 2014 by the major opposition parties  the armed and non-armed ones. But we dont call this government to be headed by al-Bashir. We want the national dialogue to be headed by an independent Sudanese character as well as the national interim government to be headed by a non-partisan independent Sudanese personality and that will assure the smooth transition from the government of the ruling party to the government of the people of Sudan, al-Mahdi said.

Analysts think the Addis Ababa meeting could clear the way for the Umma party to join the national dialogue currently going on in Khartoum.
Germany warned Monday that the passport-free Schengen zone in Europe is in 'danger' after Sweden and Denmark introduced new border controls to stem the flow of migrants.

German Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said "freedom of movement is an important principle" and one of the European Union's biggest achievements.

He spoke shortly after Denmark said it would enforce temporary controls on its border with Germany. Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said that actions by other Nordic countries could lead to more asylum seekers traveling to his country.

Also Monday, Sweden imposed new restrictions, saying people entering from Denmark will have to show photo identification.

The move by Sweden is an attempt to stop the flow of undocumented migrants into the country known for its generous welfare system. The new measure means Sweden is closing its open-door migrant policy after receiving 160,000 migrants last year. Neighboring Denmark only took in 18,000.

Travelers have been warned to expect long lines on the Danish side of the Oresund Bridge, a major entry point for migrants seeking a new life in Sweden.

The re-introduction of the border controls between Sweden and Denmark means that travelers between the two Nordic countries will have to show their passports for the first time in more than 50 years.

The thousands of daily commuters between the countries will also be affected by the new measure.

Sweden is the latest European country to impose the border checks, all but erasing the idea of a borderless Europe where a traveler could pass from one country into another without showing a passport.

Europe is facing its largest refugee crisis since World War Two.

More than one million migrants, mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, sought asylum in Europe last year, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
The United Nations Security Council on Monday condemned the storming of Saudi Arabia's embassy in the Iranian capital, which happened Saturday after Riyadh carried out the death penalty against a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

A council statement called on Iran to respect its international obligations to protect diplomatic property and urged all parties to "maintain dialogue and take steps to reduce tensions in the region."

In a letter earlier Monday to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, as well as to the presidents of the U.N. Security Council and the General Assembly, Saudi Arabias U.N. Ambassador Abdallah al-Mouallimi strongly condemned the invasion of its Tehran embassy and damage to its consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad.

We call upon the Security Council to take all appropriate measures to ensure the inviolability of diplomatic facilities and the protection of all Saudi diplomats in Iran, al-Mouallimi wrote.

He said Riyadh is appalled at the failure of Iranian authorities to prevent the attacks. Under the 1961 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations, host countries are required to take necessary steps to protect diplomatic and consular premises and staff.

In its own letter to the U.N. chief, Iranian envoy Gholamali Khoshroo acknowledged that around 8,000 protesters staged a peaceful demonstration that got out of control, despite extensive efforts by police. He said more than 40 protesters were arrested and an investigation to find other perpetrators is under way.

The protesters were angry at the execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. The Saudi government announced his execution on January 2, along with 46 other prisoners on terrorism related charges. Nimr was an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy.

The Iranian ambassador called the clerics execution by beheading unjustified and provocative.

Regional Consequences

Secretary-General Ban expressed concern at the escalation in tensions between the two regional powers, urging them to avoid actions that could exacerbate the situation bilaterally and in the region as a whole. He added that the announcement of a break in Saudi diplomatic relations with Tehran is deeply worrying.

Bahrain and Sudan also said they are cutting their diplomatic ties with Tehran, while the United Arab Emirates downgraded its relations with Iran.

This escalation is likely to have regional consequences in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and beyond, said George Washington University international affairs professor Edmund Ghareeb. He warned it could hurt efforts to push the fledgling peace process forward in Syria. The U.N. hopes to hold the first round of intra-Syrian talks on January 25.

This escalation is likely to complicate the efforts of the United Nations, Russia and the United States to bring the parties together, Ghareeb added.

We are concerned it could escalate and could derail the Syria talks; it could derail the Yemen talks; it could potentially become a much bigger problem, Britains U.N. ambassador Matthew Rycroft told reporters. He said he hopes the Security Council will do its part to manage the tension and to seek de-escalation.

The secretary-general spoke Sunday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and on Monday with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir in a bid to calm the situation.

The U.N. said Ban expressed his condemnation to Zarif of the attack at the Saudi embassy in Tehran and urged the foreign minister to take the necessary measures to protect diplomatic facilities in the country. He also reiterated his deep dismay at the execution of Sheikh Nimr and the 46 other prisoners.

Death Penalty

In his call with the Saudi foreign minister, the U.N. said the secretary-general reiterated his views on capital punishment and his disappointment over the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr, whose case he had raised with the Saudi authorities on several occasions.

The secretary-general has previously said the death penalty has no place in the 21st century, and has urged a worldwide moratorium on its use.

In a statement Saturday about the mass executions, Ban expressed concern that they were carried out following trials that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process.

Saudi Arabia rejected that criticism, saying in a statement from its U.N. mission that all of those convicted had fair and public trials and the right to appeal.

"He was very much misinformed, the Saudi ambassador told reporters about the secretary-general. The allegations that the trial and the procedures were somehow tainted is simply misinformed, he added.

UN Envoy to Riyadh

The U.N. Special Envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, arrived in Riyadh Monday to meet with officials. He said this is a very worrisome development and he will assess the implications of it on the Syria peace process. He will visit Tehran later this week.

The U.N.s Special Envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, also is due in the region Wednesday to try to secure a new cease-fire after the Saudis ended a shaky one put in place on December 15 that coincided with peace talks in Geneva. Both sides repeatedly violated that truce.
Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran less than a day after demonstrators in Tehran stormed the Saudi embassy to protest the Saudi execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

In comments carried by the state-run IRNA news agency, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian criticized the move late Sunday, saying Saudi Arabia could not distract from its "big mistake" of executing Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by cutting ties with Iran.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced his country's move late Sunday. He said all Iranian diplomats must leave the country within 48 hours and that Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia would not allow Shi'ite dominated Iran to undermine Saudi security.

"The continued attacks on diplomatic missions is a flagrant violation of all international treaties," al-Jubeir said.

He added that Saudi Arabia will not let Iran undermine its security or that of the region.

"We want to make it very clear that there is no space in the community of nations for a country that condones terrorism, that supports terrorism and that engages in terrorism."

The move caps a rapidly worsening diplomatic crisis that erupted Saturday, shortly after Saudi officials announced the execution of Nimr, a prominent Shi'ite critic of Saudi Arabias ruling royal family. Nimr, convicted in 2014 of sedition and other charges, was also a key leader in 2011 of Shi'ite protests in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Forty-six others were also executed in the kingdom Saturday, triggering international outrage and warnings of grave repercussions for the Saudi royal family.



The U.S. State Department, in a statement, said Washington "will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions." The statement also said the Obama administration believes "that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential" to resolving the crisis.

Iran threatens 'divine vengeance'

Earlier Sunday, Iran's supreme leader said Saudi Arabia will face "divine vengeance" for its execution of al-Nimr. State television quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying, "The unjustly spilled blood of this oppressed martyr will no doubt soon show its effect and divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians."

He also said Nimr "neither encouraged people into armed action nor secretly conspired for plots, but the only thing he did was utter public criticism rising from his religious zeal."

Angry Iranian protesters on Saturday stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in Mashhad, smashing furniture and setting fires at the embassy before being ejected by police.

At least 40 protesters were arrested. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the attacks on the diplomatic missions "totally unjustifiable," even as he denounced Riyadh's execution of the 56-year-old Shi'ite cleric.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said in a statement Sunday Nimr's death would lead to the "downfall" of Saudi Arabia's monarchy. The Guard described Nimr's execution as a "medieval act of savagery."

Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called the execution "an injustice and an aggression."

Condemnations, warnings spread

A top Shi'ite cleric in Lebanon also warned of a backlash to Nimr's execution. Sheikh Abdul-Amir Kabalan described the execution as "a crime at a human level [that] will have repercussions in the coming days."

Protests also erupted in Bahrain, where police used tear gas on the crowds. Demonstrations also took place in India, as well as the Saudi embassy in London.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply dismayed" by the execution of Nimr and called for "calm and restraint in reaction" to the killings.

Watch related video on the Muslim world's reaction by Zlatica Hoke:



Washington warned that Nimr's death would only add to strife between religious sects in the region.

"We are particularly concerned that the execution of prominent Shia cleric and political activist Nimr al-Nimr risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced," U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Saturday.



Iran and Saudi Arabia have been vying for leadership in the Muslim world since Iran's 1979 revolution, which elevated to power hardline Shi'ite clerics. The U.S. war in Iraq further inflamed religious and ethnic tensions by leading to a Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad and a crucial shift in the sectarian balance of power in the region.



After Arab Spring protests erupted in 2011, Saudi Arabia and Iran entered into a fierce proxy war in Syria, where they support opposite sides of the conflict. The two foes also back opposing military factions in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has bombed Iran-backed Shi'ite targets for the past nine months.
The strike by doctors and nurses in Zimbabwe is affecting many poverty-stricken Zimbabweans as patients seeking state medical help at government hospitals cannot afford to pay consultations fees of up to $30 per person charged by private practitioners.

Its 3pm at Parirenyatwa Hospital in Zimbabwe, stretchers carrying critically-ill patients are lined up at the Observation Ward, their relatives watching them in despair.

Doctors and nurses have engaged in an industrial action over unpaid salaries. Patients are taking a long time to get medical help.

The queue is long and winding and moving very slowly. More patients are joining the ever-lengthening queue. Some patients are saying they have witnessed others dying in the queues though this cannot be confirmed by hospital authorities. The situation is dire.

Patrick Kagura, who has been in the hospital queue, for almost two days, told Studio 7 he witnessed some patients dying while waiting to get medical help.

There are many people in the queue and many people are dying, but there is nobody, no doctor, no help since yesterday. The whole day yesterday then the whole night and up to this hour now.

Another patient, Robert Ganyani, told Studio 7 he now fears for his life as he has learnt that two people lost their lives in the queue while waiting for a doctor.

Ganyani said, When we came here in the morning some people here told us two people had died while in the queue before they got attended to. Some of them needed urgent treatment but doctors were not here to attend to them. Here you can look at the situation here. Some are critically ill.

"They might face the same situation. The situation is bad. We urge government to prioritise health so that people can get treatment. Lives are being lost.

Harare resident, Bradley Shonhai, added that the government should address the dire situation in order to curb the loss of lives.

The situation is so bad and people are not being attended to on time. It is a burden to patients. I came here about 10am and now its 3:20pm we are still in the queue waiting to be attended to. Government should put more money to hospitals and increase staff so that whenever a patient comes they are attended to quickly

Zimbabwean doctors and nurses said they are too incapacitated to go to work as the government has not yet paid their December salaries. While they are fighting to get their pay, patients are said to be dying in queues at general hospitals.
The small Mashonaland West town of Norton is in the limelight following revelations that miracles are allegedly happening in the town.



At the centre of focus is news that a number of mentally challenged people have been healed by members of the Johane Masowe weChishanu Apostolic Faith church while 31 others are going through the healing process.



What is convincing the members of the public is the fact that the mentally disabled people were rounded up from the streets in areas where they are known that they had been sick for over a long period.



Studio 7 visited the healing place where 31 people picked from the streets in Harare, Kadoma, Chitungiwza, and Masvingo, are going through the healing process.



One of the mentally challenged people Patrick Maphosa, who is on the verge of recovery even took his time to ask visitors to send his greetings to one of his relatives. Send my greetings to Jacob Mawere

and Mlungisi, he said.



Madzibaba Silog Sogeriki, is spearheading the healing sessions.

He said, We were sent by the Holy Spirit to help those who eat from the bins or drink dirty water. We gather all of them for prayer and those who would have been healed we sent them back to their relatives.



Madzibaba Sogeriki said they do not charge for their services and do not encourage those who offer money after their relatives have been healed. Our services are for free. Those who bring their relatives here are not required to pay anything.



One of those who has been healed and has returned home is Sitefani Songo from Kadoma. Studio 7 also tracked Sitefani at his parents home in Rimuka where the father said the behavior of his son has completely changed.



Since I took him from Norton there has been great change. He is now understanding many things, can be sent on an errand and no longer roams the streets as he used to do, said Songo.



He said so far, they have assembled people from Harare, Kadoma, Chitungwiza, and Masvingo for assistance and are hoping to spread their wings to as far as Matabeleland and the Manicaland provinces.
The Zimbabwe Hospital Doctors' Association (ZHDA) says it is still verifying reports that an industrial action by doctors and nurses has increased the maternal and neonatal mortality rate.

ZHDA president Fortune Nyamande in an exclusive interview with VOA refused to take blame for the alleged tragedy.

"Questions about the deaths must be directed to the government. We cannot be blamed. All we are demanding are our salaries and bonuses. We cannot attend to patients on empty stomachs. People must ask the government why it does not prioritize health "

Dr Nyamande said the doctors body is still gathering information on the death reports.

The cash-strapped government has been struggling to pay salaries for its workers numbering about 550,000.

Dr Nyamande, says the salaries are now reflecting but there are no promised bonuses.

A statement released after the doctors and the Zimbabwe Nurses Association after a joint meeting read in part, Our members will report for their duties as normal as soon as they access their cash from their accounts beginning tomorrow. (Tuesday). We maintain that for their normalcy to be long lasting our salaries and beyond must never be tampered with again.

They added that, We demand our outstanding bonuses on or before the 31st of January 2015. Health workers deserve to be paid the 13th cheque as they work for long extra unpaid hours during the night, weekends and holidays. Fiscal challenges cannot be an excuse as we had long proposed an alternative non cash incentives scheme. 

But civil servants who met Central Bank Chief John Mangudya last week told Studio 7 that he told them the bonuses would be spread over 6 months.

Efforts to get a comment from Health minister David Parirenyatwa and Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa were futile as their phones went unanswered.

Dr Nyamande told Studio 7s Blessing Zulu that they are still pressing ahead with their industrial action though they plan to meet this evening to map the way forward.

Meanwhile, Chief economist Prosper Chitambara of the Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe says he is not amused by the salary crisis.
Zimbabwe has announced new indigenization regulations that give foreign-owned companies the right to part with less shares than the feared 51 percent previously demanded by the government.

Youth and Indigenization Minister Patrick Zhuwao made the announcement in Harare on Monday, almost a week after the government, through Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa, gazetted the new regulations.

Zhuwao told journalists that the new indigenization frameworks are designed to be in line with the countrys economic blue-print  the Zimbabwe Agenda for Social and Economic Transformation or Zimasset.

The new rules stipulate that line ministries will now play a critical in the indigenization process with the Zimbabwe Investment Center handling all investment applications in order to accelerate the ease of doing business in the country.

An indigenization levy that takes into account a rebate scoring system has been introduced under the new regulations that encourage indigenization in the form of economic empowerment credits.

These frameworks procedures and guidelines have been developed in line with the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation to give added impetus towards compliance with the indigenisation and economic empowerment legislation and to give effect to His Excellency, President R.G Mugabes pronouncements of 12 December 2015.

This represents an important milestone in the transformation of the economy in line with the Zimbabwe Agenda for Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation, the 10 Point Plan enunciated by His Excellency, President R.G Mugabe and the Rapid Results Approach Framework.

He added that now that we have clarified the position we do not expect any affected companies to remain defiant and non-compliant.

According to Zhuwao, models that allow for achieving the objectives of ZIMASSET and the 10 Point Plan within the legislative framework of the Indigenization and Economic Empowerment Act will be developed in consultation with the appropriate line ministries.

Stakeholders are urged to engage with the respective sector ministries for input towards the development of the said models or if they encounter any difficulties.

He said the legislation is robust and comprehensive enough to provide several possible pathways that businesses may adopt to achieve compliance and thereby enhancing investments and production across all sectors of the economy.

The frameworks provide for two possible pathways for ensuring compliance, namely compliance through provision of a lesser share of indigenisation for the economic empowerment of indigenous Zimbabweans; or implementation of the Indigenisation Compliance and Empowerment Levy that takes account of the rebate scoring system.

Zhuwao further noted that the frameworks emphasise that ZIA will be receiving all applications in order to accelerate the Ease of Doing Business as well as the operationalization of the One Stop Investment Centre in line with the Rapid Results Approach Framework.

Zhuwao and Chinamasa were not available for comment as their mobile phones were not reachable.

Independent economic Rejoice Ngwenya told VOA Studio 7 this is a positive government move meant to boost investment in the country.

Studio 7 also spoke to Dr. Godfrey Kanyeze who says the government should have consulted all stakeholders when crafting the new regulations.
Reviewing the bidding on the United States at the end of 2015, I conclude that we are a killer nation, at home and abroad.

The segment of our society that benefits most from this role, again, at home and abroad, is the arms industry. At home, it sells the guns that are used, virtually without control, to slaughter innocent groups of people, including in churches and schools. Our corrupt and conscienceless federal and state legislators lack the courage and brains to stop it. And this is not just about the National Rifle Association; it is also about the arms manufacturers and dealers that finance the NRA so that it can exercise influence in Washington and state capitals.

Overseas, we are considered killers. Other countries can only pray to their chosen god or gods that the United States does not decide to work its will on them, whether it be to impose a form of government we think they should adopt or to cite some supposed wrong they have committed as an excuse to pour bombs down upon them or send drones to kill their leaders.

Like it or not, that is our reputation. Most foreigners I meet think we are crazy. Virtually all think we are a danger to world society.

Some of our so-called allies take our side in an attempt to exercise some sort of control over our homicidal tendencies. I put the British in that category.

Some countries just want to stay away from us, and, most of all, not to depend on us for anything. An example is India. U.S. government and private arms salesmen have worked for years to make India a big client for American weapons. India has chosen instead to smile at Americans but to continue to buy its arms from Russia  the Russia led by the notorious Vladimir V. Putin, as opposed to the America led by the adorable Barack H. Obama. Could it be that India is aware that American arms are invariably accompanied by American military advisers to train and support their foreign customers?

So where are we as 2015 draws to a close?

We are in Afghanistan, where we started in 2001 right after 9/11. We are in Iraq, where President George W. Bush took us on false premises in 2003 to get himself re-elected as a wartime president.

We have lost 2,332 troops in Afghanistan over the past 14 years  another six last week  and 4,425 in Iraq. We still maintain thousands of troops in each country, a tribute to our having put into place governments that cannot sustain themselves. U.S. special forces have just helped the Iraqis retake Ramadi, which we have fought for before, this time from the Islamic State group. Last time it was the Sunnis who rose up there. In Afghanistan we are fighting again to hold onto places that otherwise would fall to the Taliban and which may, in fact, fall to the Taliban despite our efforts.

Why are we doing this? I thought the argument Ronald Reagan made in 1986, that if we didnt fight the Communists in Nicaragua we would have to fight them in Harlingen, Texas, was as dead as the charlatans who governed us at that time. Does anyone really believe that whether Ramadi in Iraq or Sangin in Afghanistan is in friendly hands makes any difference to Americans? Even to ask that is to imagine that the Abadi government in Iraq and the Ghani government in Afghanistan are friendly hands, a Washington fantasy as close to credibility as a Ted Cruz or Hillary Clinton campaign ad.

I suppose Mr. Obamas efforts to finish his term without seeing Afghanistan or Iraq collapse into total chaos can be put down to some sort of obsessive compulsive disorder or campaign loyalty to his former Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. It is long past time that we should have taken the position that wed done all we could in Afghanistan and Iraq and brought our troops home.

What else have we done? We wrecked Libya. Moammar Gadhafi was an egomaniacal pest, even though he eventually relinquished his nuclear-weapons program. But what has taken his place, in large part due to decisions by Mr. Obamas government, including Ms. Clinton, is two aspiring national governments and many lawless local militias, now including the Islamic State, as well as uncontrolled migration to Europe.

In support of our ally and major arms purchaser, Saudi Arabia, we have helped to destroy Yemen. The Saudis have bombed it into the Stone Age, and I have yet to hear anyone in the White House or the Pentagon say there are no U.S. pilots in Saudi cockpits. Yemen already was the poorest country in the Middle East.

U.S. involvement in the Yemen conflict also puts us right in the middle of the Sunni-Shiite conflict within Islam. There is just no reason in the world for us to be involved in an intra-Islamic conflict. The reason we are is American arms manufacturers commitments to after-purchase support of weapons theyve sold to Saudi Arabia. I dont think we sold them the swords they use to cut off the heads of accused criminals.

The United States also has used the absence of government in Somalia and the venality of the government of Djibouti to establish a military outpost in Djibouti. There are now thousands of U.S. troops, fighter bombers and a drone base there, with no good reason. This represents an unneeded, Pentagon supply-driven intervention in Africa.

We should bring our forces home. There will be no peace on Earth until we do. Let us not be killers.
Camille Cosby at an event in 2009. Photo: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images

In the same week that Bill Cosby was charged for the assault of Andrea Constand, a federal judge in Massachusetts has ordered that Cosbys wife, Camille, must testify in a civil case filed against him by seven women who say that he defamed them. According to the New York Times, on Thursday, United States Magistrate Judge David H. Hennessy of Massachusetts ruled against arguments made by Cosbys legal team that the deposition would represent an undue burden upon his wife of nearly 52 years. On Friday, Cosbys lawyers said they would appeal the ruling.

Hennessy did not limit the scope of questioning, which means that, during the deposition, scheduled for Wednesday, Camille Cosby would likely face questions about her knowledge of her husbands treatment of women throughout the course of their relationship. The women involved in the case, first filed in December 2014 by Tamara Green, have also requested that Cosby testify. All seven claim Cosby sexually assaulted them, that they publicly accused the entertainer, and that Cosby then responded by calling them liars. Because the statute of limitations for claims of sexual assault has passed, the women are suing for defamation. Cosby has denied the allegations and countersued, claiming that the women are defaming him.

Cosby is currently out on a $1 million dollar bail after being arraigned for criminal-assault charges Wednesday. On Friday, in the midst of news from both cases, the entertainer tweeted, Friends and fans, Thank You. For more information on the case against Cosby, read New Yorks interviews with the 35 women who have accused him of assault and the timeline of the abuse charges against the entertainer.

Update: Lawyers for Camille Cosby have filed a motion to delay her deposition until her appeal of the federal judges order for her to testify has been resolved first. Without a stay of her deposition, both Mrs. Cosbys privacy and freedom will be put at issue in a case to which she is not a party, and for which she is not alleged to have any personal, first-hand knowledge, the motion reads.

Hennessy has granted Camille Cosby a stay in her deposition, delaying her testimony so her lawyers can appeal the magistrates order. She was scheduled to be deposed in Massachusetts on Wednesday.
Photo: Netflix

Spoilers ahead.

If the last couple of years in American popular culture have taught us anything, its to thank the lord for every day you arent ensnared in our criminal-justice system. As episodes five through seven of Making a Murderer show, cops and judges dont have to be malicious to do you wrong, and even ace defense attorneys Dean Strang and Jerry Buting  who are the legal equivalent of Ferris Bueller and Cameron Frye, respectively  can only do so much on your behalf.

In episode five, the representatives of the state complain to the judge that they are swimming upstream, or that they will be if the judge agrees to the defenses suggestion that he give curative instruction to the jury. The defense points out that the jury has been exposed, via incessant media coverage, to salacious details about the case, including the allegation that Steven Avery raped and tortured Teresa Halbach before killing her, which the prosecution will not actually bring up, or bother to prove, during the trial itself.

The judge declines to give any special instructions to the jury, in the same manner he declines virtually all of the requests of the defense. The prosecution, in response, drops two of the charges that it had tacked on after taking into account Brendan Dasseys confused, contradictory confession, and the trial of Steven Avery  on four counts, including murder  begins.

What follows is six weeks of trial condensed into a few hours of television, during which the state presents its evidence and the defense picks it apart. There are Halbachs cell-phone records to pore over, her bone fragments to examine, and the splashes of blood to test for any indication that they came from a test tube rather than from Avery himself. There are also witnesses of a sort, people  including Brendans brother Bobby  who claim some connection to the property either during or after the time at which the crime is supposed to have taken place.

Everyones memory is faulty in some way, as is every piece of evidence. With only closing statements left to make, the defense feels cautiously optimistic that it should be able to leave the members of the jury with reasonable doubt as to Averys guilt.

A lot was packed into these three episodes. What was left out?

The defense maintains it was odd that the police never followed any other leads or treated any of the men in Halbachs life as suspects. Theyre right.

Women are much more likely than men to be hurt or killed by people they know. In more than one out of every three cases, and more than 40 percent in some states, the murderer of a woman turns out to be a male intimate partner, meaning a current or former lover. Additionally, more than half of those women who are murdered by intimate partners are shot to death, as it appears Halbach was.

Starting an investigation into the shooting death of a 20-something woman by interrogating current and former boyfriends would seem to be standard practice. And yet Halbachs ex-boyfriend, who admitted on the stand to knowing Halbachs voice-mail password and who may well have deleted some messages from her mailbox, was never treated as a suspect. Neither was Halbachs (male) roommate, who only reported her missing after she had been gone for three days; her brother, who claimed to be mourning his sister before her body was even found; or any of the other men in her life.

Other possible suspects, who go more or less unmentioned by the documentary, include members of the extended Avery family.

As journalist and private investigator Ann Brocklehurst points out, The [defense] lawyers list of suspects was dominated by members of the Avery clan, including Steven Averys brother-in-law, Scott Tadych, Charles and Earl Avery, and the Dassey brothers. Investigator Michael OKelly, who helped Brendan Dassey implicate himself in the crime, is on record as believing that Averys brothers could have had a role in Halbachs murder.

Tadych, meanwhile, has a documented history of violent behavior against women, and he and his stepson Bobby serve as alibis for each other on October 31. Various amateur detectives on Reddit have been putting together cases against all of these individuals, as well as others.



Judge Foxs behavior, in continually siding with the prosecution, is not unusual. And what appear to be missteps from the prosecution arent unusual either. Neither judges nor prosecutors are ordinarily held accountable for their actions, however objectionable.

In a blistering piece on the blog Above the Law, a lifetime criminal-defense attorney asserts that judges and prosecutors dont care if theyre right and calls our court system broken. According to the Center for Prosecutor Integrity, an estimated 43% of wrongful convictions arise from misconduct involving prosecutors and other officials. And Americans in general are concerned: Over two-fifths (42.8%) of the respondents say prosecutorial misconduct is widespread. DailyKos reports that nine studies have looked at misconduct over 50 years, on both state and national levels, and found 3,625 instances. Of those, public sanctions were imposed in 63 cases, less than 2 percent of the time. The sanctions, when they were imposed, were mild.

District Attorney Ken Kratz insists that some incriminating evidence was omitted by the documentarians.

In an interview with Maxim magazine, Kratz maintains that Averys DNA from his sweaty hands also connected him to Halbachs vehicle: Do the cops also have a vial of his sweat that they are carrying around? The evidence conclusively shows that Steven Averys hand was under the hood when he insists he never touched her car.

Kratz also says that some of Halbachs personal possessions, including her cell phone and camera, were burned in a barrel on Averys property, and that two people saw him putting that stuff in there. This isnt contested. It was all presented as evidence at the jury trial, and the documentary people dont tell you that.

He also claims that Avery boasted while in prison of his plans to torture and rape and murder young women once he was free. Though the judge did not allow that evidence to go the jury, the fact that the judge considered it may help explain his apparent antipathy to, and fear of, Avery.

EDTA tests are indeed both rare and unreliable.

EDTA, or ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid, is a chemical preservative. The FBI performed a rush EDTA test on the blood found in Halbachs car in order to report, in support of the state, that there is no indication that the blood came from the vial of Averys previously collected blood (which itself was tested and found to contain EDTA) rather than from a free-flowing source (Avery himself).

A lawyer on Reddit voiced his disgust: FBI test can produce false negatives on EDTA, which is why labs stopped using the test. Shameful that the judge let them use that test.

The O.J. Simpson case is another high-profile situation in which the defense used a sloppy crime-scene investigation to accuse the officers involved of incompetence, if not conspiracy. An article from the Green Bay Press-Gazette at the time of the Avery trial quotes the defense bringing up that case  the last time the FBI performed an EDTA test in a hurry  arguing that the lab notoriously screwed up in that instance and, presumably for that reason, had not been called to testify in a trial since:

In the last 10 years, nobody has come to your lab and asked for your lab to give us the benefit of your knowledge and your ability to test for EDTA in bloodstains, isnt that right? Buting asked.



It hasnt happened to me personally or to my knowledge, LeBeau said.



That might be because your lab screwed up in the O.J. Simpson case, Buting said.



No. We did not screw up, as you say, in the O.J. Simpson case, LeBeau responded.



Buting pointed out that FBI tests found EDTA in a bloodstain on a sock and the defense used that evidence to help acquit Simpson of charges that he killed his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend, Ron Goldman.



I didnt do the testing in the O.J. case and Im not fully aware of all the final findings in that particular case, LeBeau said. I believe its been 12 years, but its my recollection that we didnt report there was a significant amount of EDTA in that bloodstain.

Cops have been caught, and even convicted of, planting evidence.

Leaving aside the O.J. Simpson trial, it is documented that police have planted incriminating evidence on defendants in various cases ranging from drug crimes across Alabama, in which thousands of African-Americans were framed over the course of a decade, to myriad other cases in Philadelphia, Camden, Detroit, Illinois, New York, and more. American servicemen in Iraq and Afghanistan have been convicted of doing the same.
Steven Avery. Photo: Netflix

Since the mid-December release of Netflixs Making a Murderer docuseries, viewers have set up two major petitions with goals of freeing its subject, Steven Avery. The Wisconsin native is serving a life sentence because of a 2005 murder conviction, the peculiarities of which are detailed in the show. The appeals have so far amassed more than 160,000 signatures during the few weeks the series has been available, with one roughly 75 percent of the way to its support goal. Both petitions  one on Change.org, and another on the White Houses site  say the justice system failed Avery, and he and his also-convicted nephew, Brendan Dassey, deserve presidential pardons.

The White House one, available here, reads:

Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey should be given a full pardon by President Obama for their wrongful conviction in the connection to the murder of Teresa Halbach. Based on the evidence in the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, the justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives. There is clear evidence that the Manitowoc County sheriffs department used improper methods to convict both Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey. This is a black mark on the justice system as a whole, and should be recognized as such, while also giving these men the ability to live as normal a life as possible.

At time of publication, this petition had nearly 19,000 signatures. It needs 81,000 more by January 19 to elicit an official, public response from the White House. And heres the Change petition:

There is a documentary series on Netflix called Making a Murderer. After viewing it, I am outraged with the injustices which have been allowed to compound and left unchecked in the case of Steven Avery of Manitowoc County in Wisconsin, U.S.A. Averys unconstitutional mistreatment at the hands of corrupt local law enforcement is completely unacceptable and is an abomination of due process. Steven Avery should be exonerated at once by presidential pardon, and the Manitowoc County officials complicit in his two false imprisonments should be held accountable to the highest extent of the U.S. criminal and civil justice systems.

This one had more than 150,000 signatures  making it close to 49,000 short of its goal. Clearly, the true-crime show has become immensely popular on Netflix  so much so that the prosecutor who convicted Avery of murder has had a rough time on Yelp. He also claims the series directors omitted crucial evidence pointing to Averys guilt, misleading legions of Netflix viewers.

Update: The We the People petition exceeded 100,000 signatures, meaning the White House had to issue a public response. It did so on Thursday, explaining the president cannot pardon a state criminal offense. Heres the most relevant excerpt:

Under the Constitution, only federal criminal convictions, such as those adjudicated in the United States District Courts, may be pardoned by the President. In addition, the Presidents pardon power extends to convictions adjudicated in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia and military court-martial proceedings. However, the President cannot pardon a state criminal offense. Since Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey are both state prisoners, the President cannot pardon them. A pardon in this case would need to be issued at the state level by the appropriate authorities.

The full statement is available here.
Will Smith as a man whose cognitive functions are far from impaired. Photo: Columbia Pictures

Vulture is speaking to the screenwriters behind 2015s most acclaimed movies about the scenes they found most difficult to crack. In todays post, Concussion screenwriter and director Peter Landesman explains the unexpected epiphany about a key courtroom scene, featuring Will Smiths character Dr. Bennet Omalu, that dawned on him while editing.

Our brains have this habit of quilting dreams from the fabrics of our lives. As a filmmaker, I get to do it for a living. When it came to Concussion, I found myself with so many threads to weave. So integral to the whistle-blowers tale were spirituality, the cost of hero-worshipping, what it means to be an American, and just how dangerous the truth can be.

Will Smiths character, Dr. Bennet Omalu, undergoes a journey that pulls apart the strands. His unraveling as a character leads us to the universal truths buried in the stitches of cultural backlash to his medical discovery, begging the question, Who is this guy? A question that, with so much ground to cover, I could only answer in one scene.

Originally, that moment started on page 17 of the screenplay, when Bennet, testifying as an expert witness at a capital-punishment appeal hearing, describes his Nigerian background, lists his various degrees (he has like 14 graduate diplomas), demonstrates a deeper connection with deceased victims in his coroners office than living people, and uses his brilliance to prove the defendants innocence.

At the time, I thought Bennets testimony would introduce the character with just the right words  his own. But writing is the wrong way to describe what happens to words in a movie. First you put down words. Then you rehearse them with actors. Then you shoot the words. Then you edit them. You cut a lot of them, you fudge them, you make up new ones in voice-over. Then you cut it and throw it all away.

After I cut that scene together, I knew it was too long, in the wrong place, and focused attention on a death-row case that would never come up again. But then I woke up at 3 a.m. with an idea: a different home for the words. In a different form. In a different part of the movie.

I turned way-long writing that was too clever into a music video: I put an impressionistic version at the very front of the movie instead. And there it lives.
The Waco Independent School District magnet school enrollment process for the 2016-2017 school year is underway.

Students living in the WISD school boundaries can apply to attend one of the magnet programs at Hillcrest Professional Development School (pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade), Lake Air Montessori Magnet School (pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade) or A.J. Moore Academies at University High School (ninth through twelfth-grade).

Magnet schools use a random lottery process for student selection rather than geographic boundaries or attendance zones.

Applications for Hillcrest PDS and Lake Air Montessori are due by 5 p.m. Jan. 29. Applications for The A.J. Moore Academies at University High School are due by April 5.

Applications are available at www.wacoisd.org. To arrange a tour, the public can call the magnet program of their choosing.

WMRTA meeting

The Waco McLennan County Retired Teachers Association will meet at 2 p.m. Tuesday at Stilwell Retirement Residence, 5400 Laurel Lake Drive.

Nancy Grayson, proprietor of Lula Janes Bakery, will present the program, and Texas State Sen. Brian Birdwell will address the group about several important issues affecting retired educators.

For more information, call 715-0934 or email lhallenbama65@gmail.com.

Social Media 101

McLennan Community College is offering a Social Media 101 class from 9 a.m. to noon Jan. 23 and 30.

The two-session class is geared for people age 55 and older and will cover the basics of popular social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+ and Instagram.

Participants will learn how to use each program, what their differences are and pointers for sharing their information, as well as how to create and post a blog.

Registration fee is $59.

For registration information, call 299-8888 or visit www.mccandyou.com.

Hewitt story times

Hewitt Public Library, 100 Zuni Drive in Hewitt, will offer two weekly story time sessions at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday.

This weeks story time theme is Sock Hop Dance Party.

For more information about the free programs, call 666-2442.

Baylor Singing Seniors

The Baylor Singing Seniors, under the direction of Phillip Sitton, will conduct spring semester registration before the choirs first spring rehearsal Jan. 11 at First Baptist Church of Woodway, 101 Ritchie Road.

Registration will begin at 8:15 a.m., followed by rehearsal at 9 a.m.

The choirs program for the spring semester will feature favorites from American stage and films.

Choir membership is open to people age 55 and older. The semester fee is $65, which covers the cost of music.

For more information, visit www.baylorsingingseniors.org or call 210-887-5370.

Submit items for Briefly in printed or typed form to Briefly, P.O. Box 2588, Waco 76702-2588; fax to 757-0302; or email to goingson@wacotrib.com at least one week before an event. Notices cannot be accepted by phone. Because of high volume, some items might be omitted.
Industry night returns: Graffiato revives its Monday Industry Takeover Nights this week from 10 pm to 1 pm, featuring complimentary snacks from guest chefs Mei Lin of Ink in Los Angeles and Marjorie Meek-Bradley (Ripple). Guests pay a $10 cash cover at the door, with proceeds benefiting Marthas Table.

More Top Chef fun: The Top Chef dining continues on Tuesday with a dinner at G by Mike Isabella from 7 to 10. Chef Mei Lin, the winner of season 12, joins current cheftestants Marjorie Meek-Bradley (Ripple) and George Pagonis (Kapnos) for a six-course meal with beverage pairings. Tickets ($206.72) are available online.

Brine meets brew: The Wine Kitchen kicks off a beer and oyster event on Thursday at its three locations in Virginia and Maryland. Guests can feast on $1 local oysters and sip $2 bottled brews. A selection of ales from local breweries like Sly Fox, AleWerks, and Brewers Art are featured. No reservations required.

Chefs table: Wildfire in Tysons Galleria hosts a gluten-free chefs table dinner on Thursday beginning at 5:30. Chefs Edwin Amaya and Moreno Espinoza present a four-course meal with optional wine pairings. Reservations for the dinner ($85 with wine pairings and $65 without) are available by calling 703-442-9110.

Anniversary party: One Eight Distilling celebrates its first anniversary in Ivy City on Friday from 6 to 10. Tickets include three spirit tastings, plus food from Mason Dixie Biscuit Co., Ekiben, and Milk Cults boozy desserts. Guest bartenders Caroline Blundell of Ripple and Christine Kim (Tico) serve cocktails featuring the distillerys finest. Tickets ($22.09) are available online.

Art of the cocktail: Head back to the 1840s with Catoctin Creek Distillery on Friday for the start of a six-part educational workshop on the history and art of the cocktail. Co-owner Scott Harris leads each session, which involves a mix of sampling and learning at the Purcellville, Virginia distillery. Tickets ($25) are available online.

Offal-y tasty: Want to learn how to cook sweetbreads at home? Head to Del Campo on Saturday at noon for an offal cooking class taught by chef Victor Albisu. Learn about the background and history of dishes like foie gras and pate, and how to purchase, handle, and cook the delicate ingredients. The class includes a lunch with wine pairings. Tickets ($98) include all instruction and a meal.

A class in comfort: Urbana hosts its monthly cooking class on Saturday from 2 to 4. Chef Ethan McKee focuses on Italian comfort foods this month, which participants can test out during the course alongside beverage pairings. Recipe cards to take home are included. Email ray.daly@urbanadc.com for reservations ($45).
Two years ago, the Wall Street Journal ran a story suggesting that the Loudoun County government we knewthe crazy uncle of the Virginia suburbs whose tales of official corruption and homophobic rants made for good reading in the Washington Postwas a case of local politics seriously lagging behind rapidly changing demographics. No longer an exurban refuge for Fairfax residents seeking acreage, Loudoun has been drawing newcomers from as far away as Los Angeles and Dallas, and theyre younger, more diverse, and more affluent.

In November, Loudouns politics caught up. Phyllis Randall, a 51-year-old mental-health therapist and a Democrat, became the first African-American woman elected to chair a Virginia countys board of supervisors and one of two African-Americans to win a seat in Loudoun. Though she previously ran for the board and lost, Randall expresses little surprise at the shakeup. We did not have a board that reflected the diversity of Loudoun County, she says.

Randall was the face of that diversity long before she decided to run. A Denver native who moved to Ashburn with her husband 23 years ago (and more recently to Lansdowne), Randall was drawn into her schools parent-teacher organizations as her two sons grew up, and in 2003 she ran unsuccessfully for the school board. Four years later, she was soundly beaten in her bid for supervisor from the Broad Run district.

In the intervening years, Loudoun became one of the nations fastest-growing counties. Its population, 83 percent white in 2001, has doubled since then to more than 360,000 and is now 8 percent black, 17 percent Asian, and 13 percent Hispanic. But the changes in Loudoun are generational as much as racialfor her win, Randall benefited from the younger, better-educated, high-income voters who have been moving to the county in waves. It didnt hurt that Republican votes were split between a lawyer named Charles King and four-term incumbent Scott York, who had planned to retire but ran as an independent because he thought King couldnt win.

Randall appealed to Loudouns new voters by challenging the countys record on transparency. York delivered his last State of the County address, for instance, at a $75-a-plate breakfast held by the Loudoun chamber of commerce. Randall wants the board to adopt an ethics pledge that includes opening more meetings to the public. She also wants to expand full-day kindergarten to the entire county, which previous boards have dismissed as too costly.

But shes no liberal firebrand. Randall once blogged under the name A Moderate Voice, and in 2013 Virginia Democrats reportedly passed on her as a state Senate candidate because of her 2006 rant about a full-scale invasion of illegal immigrants. If she sounds like a progressive urbanistMy vision is a walkable community where people can work, live, play, eat, she saysits because she realizes that Loudoun needs to build an economy that relies less on federal contracts. Her best hope is that Metros Silver Line, scheduled for completion in Loudoun just as Randalls term is winding down in 2019, will generate the kind of boom its first segment spurred at Tysons in neighboring Fairfax County.

If that comes to pass, Loudouns culture will continue to be transformed in ways that will make Randalls historic election seem a footnote.

This article appears in our January 2016 issue of Washingtonian.

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Residents of Boonsboro, Maryland, like to talk about the juxtaposition that defines their townlove and war. Their ancestors tended wounded soldiers on September 17, 1862, as Americas bloodiest one-day battle raged nearby. Exploring Antietam National Battlefield by car, bike, horse, Segway, or foot is a stirring experience. As for the love part, well, history is more joyfully manifested in the 1790s Inn BoonsBoro, shown below (1 N. Main St.; 301-432-1188), restored by bestselling romance author and local resident Nora Roberts. The rooms are inspired by famous literary couples and are featured in her fictional Inn BoonsBoro Trilogy. Fans can also pop into Turn the Page Bookstorerun by her husband, Bruce Wilderwhere the prolific author does signings or just drops in from time to time.

The Inn Boonsboro has been standing since the 1790s. Photograph by Bruce Wilder.

Other diversions in and around town include hiking on the nearby Appalachian Trail, playing the hilly, scenic Musket Ridge Golf Club, exploring Crystal Grottoes Caverns, or shopping at Premium Outlets in Hagerstownor right on Main Street, at Robertss Gifts Inn BoonsBoro, which showcases local artists as well as products used at the inn. Cap off a visit with Italian fare at Vesta Pizzeria (2 S. Main St.; 301-432-6166) or a local brew at Dans Restaurant & Tap House (3 S. Main St.; 301-432-5224), both owned by members of Robertss family.

Population: 3,449.

Distance from DC: 63 miles.

Town trivia: Nora Robertswho has written more than 200 books that have sold more than 400 million copiesowns several businesses in town and supports others.
Controversial Fremantle tagger Ryan Crowley will play in the WAFL this season after signing with Swan Districts.

Having been delisted by the Dockers at the end of 2015, Crowley explored the possibility of another chance at the elite level before eventually settling with the Western Australian state league club.

Off to the WAFL: Ryan Crowley.

His opening match in the WAFL this season will be the first time the 31-year-old has played since the 2014 semi-final against Port Adelaide, as he was forced to sit out the entire 2015 AFL season while serving of a 12-month suspension for taking a prohibited substance.

The 2012 Dockers best and fairest winner joins former St Kilda midfielder Clint Jones as a high-profile signing in the WAFL, with the former AFL player set line up for Perth this year.
The gloss went off our New Year's celebrations when the smallest member of the household went into his shell. He stopped eating, which is remarkable for a young cat who spends a large amount of time cadging for food. The gloss has gone off his coat. He is subdued. When a rain squall arrived on Sunday he preferred to stay out under the bushes rather than come inside. Another bad sign.

This is an inconsequential concern, taken in isolation, but millions of Australians will know that if something serious happens to our cat, it will be a very, very bad start to our year. A bitter blow. Because two-thirds of Australian households contain at least one dog, or cat, or other animal, or bird. Most are part of the family. Their collective contribution to our culture is enormous.

Illustration: Michael Mucci

Thus I don't see it as a healthy cultural marker that the long-term trend in dog and cat ownership in Australia is down.

Twenty years ago, when the population was 18 million, there were four million companion or working dogs in Australia, and three million domestic cats.
Naomi Halpern, a victim of bad financial advice who was caught up in the collapse of forestry investment scheme Timbercorp, will take the fight up to the financial sector and the corporate watchdog at the next federal election.

The Apollo Bay resident has been named as the lead Victorian Senate candidate for Nick Xenophon's new political party set up by the independent South Australian senator who has been a vocal campaigner for cleaning up the financial advice sector.

Victims of poor financial advice like Naomi Halpern have concerns about bankruptcy reforms. Credit:Wayne Taylor

In her first interview since being preselected for The Xenophon Team in December, Ms Halpern took a swipe at the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's handling of financial collapses and white collar crime.

"There needs to be an appropriate organisation to investigate complaints of white collar crime," Ms Halpern said.
A neighbourhood row on Australia's most expensive street has stretched over five years, involved a wooden staircase, an "unedifying brawl", and complaints about loud music and dangerous driving.

And now, the dispute between Crystal Car Wash owner Anthony Sahade and his Point Piper neighbours Eckart and Celia Bischoff includes an argument in the state's highest court.over $500.

Anthony Sahade, centre, outside court in 2013. Credit:Nick Moir

A physical fight between Mr Sahade, his carpenter Adam Paul Smith and Mr Bischoff erupted on the battleaxe block on Wolseley Road on the afternoon of May 21, 2012.

Tensions had erupted during the court-ordered demolition of a staircase on Mr Sahade's house, which was built without approval.
Solace for the family of a Hells Angels associate gunned down more than two years ago has been stalled by the "pathetic weakness" of those who know who pulled the trigger but won't come forward.

Tyrone Lee Slemnik, 37, was standing guard outside the home of Hells Angels Sydney chapter president Suvat Sarimsaklioglu on July 8, 2013, when shots were fired from a passing car.

Tyrone Slemnik was killed while standing guard outside a senior Hells Angels member's home in July 2013. Credit:Facebook

Mr Slemnik, who family say had recently received his club colours, suffered a single gunshot wound to his stomach and died on the street in Eastlakes, near Mascot.

Since then, Mr Slemnik's associates have nominated a suspect to police but have refused to provide any evidence to support the claims.
Queensland police are searching for a 13-year-old NSW girl who has gone missing in Brisbane while on holiday with her family.

The girl, whose name has not been released, went missing in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Highgate Hill on Sunday afternoon.

A 13-year-old NSW girl has gone missing while on a family holiday in Brisbane. Credit:Queensland Police Service

The Queensland Police Service said the girl had no known friends or family in Brisbane but might have visited the CBD or inner suburbs of West End and South Bank.

The girl is Caucasian, approximately 150 centimetres tall with a proportionate build, shoulder-length brown curly hair and brown eyes.
An ex-police officer took out a life insurance policy against his former wife shortly before he killed her in Queensland, a court has heard.

Louis James Mahony was last month charged with murdering Lainie Coldwell in Charleville in August 2009.

A police officer who allegedly murdered his former wife seven years ago has been denied bail. Credit:Louie Douvis

He was arrested following a forensic review of the case that led detectives to question the assumption the woman died while taking down Christmas lights from a tree at her home.

Mahony applied for bail in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Monday but Justice Martin Daubney rejected the application.
Memorising the periodic table just got even harder as four new elements have just been included, completing its seventh row and instantly rendering all science textbooks outdated.

The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry have verified elements 113, 115, 117, and 118, which will soon get their new names.

Kosuke Morita of Riken Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science points out the new elements added to the periodic table of the elements during a press conference. Credit:AP

Elements can be named after a mythological concept, mineral, place, country, property or a scientist. The last element to be named was Ununseptium in 2010.

The US-based union announced there is now enough evidence to give the synthetic elements - discovered by Japanese, Russian and American scientists - permanent places on the table.
A 29-year-old woman was saved from drowning in a heroic rescue by two police officers and a member of the public at a Bunbury beach on Sunday night.

After being called to the beach, rescuers found the woman upside down, under water and unconscious approximately 250 metres from the shore.

A woman was rescued from drowning at a Bunbury beach on Sunday night.

The woman was placed on the boogie board and taken back to the beach where she was unresponsive so one of the police officers began CPR on her and after a short period of time she regained consciousness.

A police spokesman said police were called to the beach, near the old power station in Bunbury, at 8.50pm on Sunday by a man who was concerned about the wellbeing of his woman friend who had not returned from swimming.
Prisoners who test positive for drugs will be denied contact visits as part of a new crackdown on substance abuse in West Australian jails.

Prison officers will also be routinely tested amid reports some are under the influence while on-duty, Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis says.

The new plan will be first trialled at Bunbury Regional Prison this month.

The minister said about 90 per cent of inmates at the prison had previously tested positive for drugs but were rarely punished.
Fremantle mayor Brad Pettitt fears there is an organised bike ring operating in the port city after the recent spate of bicycle thefts.

Over the past few months at least 40 portsiders have posted pictures of their much-loved bikes on social media sites like Freo Massive, after they were pinched from their front yards, outside cafes and even workplaces.

One of the many social media posts about bike thefts in and around Fremantle Credit:Facebook

And police have confirmed there has been an increase in the number of treadlies stolen in Fremantle recently.

Dr Pettitt didn't think the organised bike ring was just targeting Fremantle, but he was aware more bikes were disappearing from the port city every day.
"When these things happen in Perth there isn't any one place that can help," she says. Sarah Kelly in the courtyard of the new home she shares with her two boys, a previously barren space made into a garden by supportive friends. "You spend a year driving around trying to contact people in all different areas. "I was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. I didn't sleep at all, I didn't eat; my phone was constantly ringing with police and prosecutors and dealing with lawyers. "I was depressed ... stressed about going out in public with the damage to my face; and seeing him in court was very intimidating.

"You are left hanging and reliving the nightmare over and over and you can't really move on with your life." Lawyer Shirley McMurdo, who has spent 25 years in diverse areas of legal practice, says her newly-launched Domestic Violence Legal Clinic in Morley, an outreach arm of her existing firm, will be the first service in Australia to charge clients on a sliding scale according to income. It will be a "one-stop shop" for legal work including restraining orders, custody and parenting arrangements, property settlements and compensation claims  but will also manage referrals to services such as financial counselling and crisis accommodation. Ms McMurdo said a recent five-year stint working in affordable legal clinics in Midland and Perth showed her the system is failing those who need it most. She says one barrier is fees as lawyers usually cost upwards of $400 per hour and domestic violence victims' assets are often tied up in mortgages and trusts controlled by their partners.

Even if they can afford the fees many firms do not offer restraining orders, criminal injuries compensation, family court and property issues under one roof which forces victims to repeat their stories for every new lawyer, support service, doctor and psychologist  compounding their trauma. Ms McMurdo says crisis care lines cannot provide legal advice or representation, so many women, already mentally and physically worn out, are completing legal paperwork alone and remain unaware of their eligibility for compensation, which can mean bond on a new home. "For the victim the hardest thing is to pick up the phone," she says. "The last thing they want is more trauma with lawyers and cops. "We're trying to take that pain away, so they can come forward willingly, knowing they will go through a process with sensitivity and confidentiality.

"We are in it for the long haul." Ms McMurdo has a panel of barristers lined up to represent clients for reduced rates. She intends to keep detailed statistics for use in advocacy work and eventually expand interstate. Her existing practice will cover out-of-pocket costs and her support staffer, law and psychology student Lucette Combo-Matsiona, has taken a year off studying to volunteer by manning the phones and managing support service referrals. "We won't be making a lot of money," Ms McMurdo says. "I am 54  I have got to the stage in my life where I want more than that.

"This is what I have always wanted to do and I plan to do it for the next 20 years." Ms Kelly says the service will help women concentrate on recovery during legal proceedings that are often prolonged  a prospect impossible under the present system, she says. In the meantime, she urges women in violent circumstances to keep in constant contact with their support networks and to stay strong to see justice done. "You are not alone. There are thousands of women going through this," she said. "You need to [report] it, otherwise you might never get away."
Perth drivers are being encouraged to fill up at the bowser on Monday night, with unleaded petrol prices set to rise by around 14 cents a litre on Tuesday.

The average unleaded petrol price on Tuesday will be $1.27 with some outlets including most Puma, BP, Caltex and Coles Express increasing their prices to $1.30 per litre.

Perth drivers warned to fill up before unleaded petrol price hike on Tuesday.

Monday's metro average unleaded fuel price is $1.12.

The cheapest fuel on Tuesday will be $1.10 at United Roleystone, $1.06 at BP Baldivis and $1.09 at United Osborne Park.
Since then, it appears, the militia have been looking for another excuse to level their weapons at government agents. A sign at the wildlife refuge about 50 km southeast of Burns, Oregon. Credit:AP The dispute in Harney County, Oregon, is also over federal land, and also with the Bureau of Land Management, a federal government agency. This is what led to the militia involvement. Ryan Payne, an Army veteran from Montana, was among key militiamen who seized control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon. Credit:AP

At its heart are father and son Dwight and Steven Hammond, described by The Oregonian newspaper as prosperous and hardworking cattlemen. For years they have been central to their community, donors to, and volunteers and board members of, community organisations. Protesters march in support of an Oregon ranching family facing jail time for arson in Burns, Oregon, ahead of the militant takeover of a federal building. Credit:AP They also have a history of getting into trouble with the BLM, which has long come into conflict with fiercely independent ranchers of the far West. The Oregonian reported that, in 2001, they were warned for starting a fire that spread to government land.

They claim they were legally trying to burn out the invasive plant species juniper. The government claims they were covering up the illegal slaughter of a deer. In 2006, the Hammonds lit a fire to backburn against another fire started by lightning strike. The BLM accepts this explanation but says the fire threatened young volunteer firefighters camped on higher ground from the backburn, which was lit in defiance of a fire ban. The Hammonds were finally charged with arson in 2010 under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.

That act carries a mandatory five-year sentence, but the federal judge they faced overrode the sentence, saying it would be unconscionable. In the end Dwight was sentenced to three months and Steve to one year. But that did not satisfy Oregon's state attorney, who appealed to have the original sentences reimposed, hence the current stand-off. The two men are due to turn themselves in on Monday. As the Oregonian has reported, the long sentences have deeply disturbed many in the community. "There's nobody in history who has gone to federal prison for burning a few acres of public property," Melodi Molt, a Harney County rancher and former president of Oregon CattleWomen, told the paper. "It's not right."

The Oregon Farm Bureau said the second prison term was "gross government overreach and the public should be outraged". It appears that this was what attracted the attention of militants involved in the Bundy stand-off. Sometime before Christmas, Ammon Bundy, the son of Cliven Bundy, arrived in the town of Burns, where this drama has unfolded, and started trying to rally support for the Hammonds. Militia members from other parts of the country, including Ryan Payne from Montana who had joined the Bundy Ranch Stand-off and reportedly boasted of organising sniper teams to target federal government officials, joined him. Another man reported to have joined them is the Marine Corp veteran Jon Ritzheimer, who has attracted FBI attention for his anti-Islamic rants in Arizona.

In tearful video published on YouTube on New Year's Eve, he sits in his car in military-style clothing and explains to his wife and daughter that he cannot be at home for the holidays because he swore an oath to defend the US constitution against all enemies, "foreign and domestic". "The oppression that is taking place here in Oregon, we know is taking place all across the US, the Bundy ranch is prime example, and we the people need to take a stand." In the video, he says he wants to "die a free man". The following day nervous locals called for a public meeting with the outsiders.

"I am scared to death," Shonna McKay, wearing a black T-shirt with "Harney County Stand Down" imprinted on the back, was reported as saying. "Everyone here should know what your agenda is." Another resident said locals would be left to "bury the dead" should tensions escalate. The following day they did. On Saturday, after a protest rally in support of the Hammonds, a faction led by the veterans of the Bundy stand-off, seized the headquarters of a wildlife refuge controlled by the federal lands bureau. The building was unoccupied over the weekend and there is no suggestion that hostages were taken.
The Decoteak Classic Teak Outdoor Side Table is a classy addition to your home. It emanates contemporary charm from whichever angle you look at it. This end table belongs to the Outdoors collection from Decoteak. This table has been specially designed with standard utility shelf that provides some extra storage space to your outdoor accessories, while making your living space appear classier than before. The Classic Teak Outdoor Bench Shelf Serving Caddy or End Table from Decoteak features foot leveling pads on its legs. These pads provide you with tremendous flexibility when it comes to positioning of the table, as it can stand firmly on uneven floors without any wobble. Made of 100 percent sustainably harvested solid teak wood, this end table manages to look classy with its golden brown finish. The stain used to finish this end table is hand mixed. This gives the look of the end table a special feel and makes it resistant to water, mildew, and weather. It features an attractive pattern on it that complements your decor. Besides, this table also features galvanized stainless steel hardware that is resistant to corrosion. The side table is easy to maintain and can be cleaned with a dry cloth to keep it dust-free.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Jan. 03, 2016 | 05:01 PM | PADUCAH, KY

A Fredonia man was arrested Saturday night on DUI and drug charges.

McCracken County Sheriffs deputies received a call at around 9:10 pm Saturday about a vehicle driving recklessly on Kentucky Dam Road toward McCracken County. Deputies stopped the vehicle in the area of Camelback Road.

The driver, 22-year-old Michael B. Bates of Fredonia, was reportedly found to be under the influence of alcohol/drugs. Deputies said that after arresting Bates, they found several Xanax pills on him that were not in the proper container. A police dog search of the vehicle revealed a small container with hash oil inside.

Bates was arrested and booked into the McCracken County Regional Jail on charges of DUI, possession of drug paraphernalia, illegal possession of legend drug, and possession of a controlled substance.
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By The Associated Press Jan. 02, 2016 | 09:22 PM | ST. LOUIS, MO

President Barack Obama has declared an emergency exists in Missouri because of flooding.

It allows federal aid to be used to help state and local response efforts to storms that began Dec. 22 and flooding that continues. It also authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency to coordinate disaster relief efforts.

Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon said in a release Saturday that he would ask that a disaster be declared, so the state would quickly get help in the removal of flood debris, and assistance in recovery costs for the St. Louis area, which was hit by historic flooding along the Mississippi and Meramec rivers this week. Nixon says he'll ask the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help collect and dispose of the debris.

The flooding that began with heavy rain last weekend is blamed for at least 24 deaths. In southeastern Missouri, the Mississippi River has crested, but not before damaging about two dozen homes in Cape Girardeau.

Elsewhere, the Illinois River continued to rise Saturday and could near historic crests Tuesday or Wednesday, according to Thomas Spriggs, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in St. Louis. He says it's "still a very significant flood" and "it's going to be at major flood stage for the next three days."
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By The Associated Press

Jan. 03, 2016 | LEXINGTON, KY

By The Associated Press Jan. 03, 2016 | 08:34 PM | LEXINGTON, KY

Nathan Smith was one of the first people to enter a new Fayette County treatment court for people with a diagnosed mental illness.



During a recent court hearing, Smith told a judge that he had been "clean" for 57 days, the Lexington Herald-Leader reports. The judge replied it was about the best he had ever seen Smith look. The courtroom clapped as Smith grinned.



Participants in the treatment court agree to a two-year diversion program that focuses on treatment and recovery instead of jail time.



It is one of four courts in Kentucky that focuses on treatment instead of jail time for people with mental illness, the newspaper reports.



In its first eight months, 21 people enrolled in the diversion program. Eighteen were still in the program in early December.
Rita Redmond was a true lady who felt that every pupil had something to gift to the world
Casting has been announced for Lee Tannen's I Loved Lucy which will receive its UK premiere at the Jermyn Street theatre next month.

Sandra Dickinson (A Streetcar Named Desire, Not about Nightingales, Orpheus Descending) plays Lucy alongside Matthew Bunn (The Ladykillers, Ghost Stories) as Lee.

The production, which is directed by Jermyn Street Theatre's artistic director Anthony Biggs, will run from 2 - 27 February.

Based on his best-selling memoir, Tannen's play tells the story of Lucille Ball, the red-headed Hollywood star best known for her portrayal of Lucy Ricardo in her groundbreaking 1950s TV sitcom, I Love Lucy.

Dickinson has enjoyed a prolific career on stage and screen, notably as Trillian in the cult sci-fi TV series The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy.
VAULT Festival returns to The Vaults on Leake St in Waterloo for another year of comedy, theatre and experimental work from emerging artists.

Highlights from the 2016 line-up include Squidboy, a new show from award-winning physical performer Trygve Wakenshaw about an imaginary friend who creates their own imaginary friends (27-30 Jan) and The Misfit Analysis, written and lead by Cian Binchy who is a consultant for the National's Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. Journeying through the mischievous mind of an autistic man, audiences will be taken through a world of wheelchairs and blow up dolls (2-6 March).

Making their VAULT Festival debut from 17-21 Feb will be award-wining company Clout Theatre with The Various Lives of Infinite Nullity, a piece of absurdism centered around a post-suicide support group held in the afterlife. The production will run alongside Dom Coyote & The Blood Moneys' Songs for the End of the World which is billed as 'part gig, part play, part apocalypse' and features artists from Kneehigh and Little Bulb Theatre.

Other highlights around the festival include the previously announced one-man show from Jamie Muscato; Tar Baby, a Fringe First Award-winning solo show which looks at race in America (10-14 Feb), The Devil Speaks True, an immersive show offering an intimate perspective of a man returning home from war with PTSD (17-27 Feb) and a new film festival taking place each Sunday in February with long and short form screenings of drama, documentary, animation and more.

Taking place from 27 January to 6 March, expect pop-up bars, restaurants, club nights and performances. Since its inception in 2012, VAULT has hosted over 250 productions and the 2016 festival includes shows which explore themes including gender, mental health and conflict.

For the full VAULT Festival line-up, click here.
An 18-year-old Altura man faces charges of third-degree criminal sexual conduct for having intercourse with a 13-year-old girl.

According to charges filed in Winona County District Court, Ryan Jacob Kouten had sex "about once a week" from August to the end of November. The two had dated for about seven months and both described the sex as "consensual," according to the charges.

According to Minnesota law, any sexual contact with a person under 13 is illegal. If a person is at least 13, but under 16, they may give legal consent to sexual contact with a person less than four years older. The minimal age of sexual consent without regard to age is 16.
Winona

Friday

12:01 a.m.  Fermin Rodrigo Aguilar, 22, Arcadia, Wis., was cited for misdemeanor giving a false name and date of birth to police, and no Minnesota drivers license following a traffic stop near West Second and Main streets.

1:24 a.m.  Charges of third-degree drunken driving were referred against Robert Lawrence Rondeau, 30, Goodview, following a traffic stop near Wabasha and Grand streets. His blood-alcohol level was .13.

5:10 a.m.  Charges of felony domestic assault (strangulation) were referred against Jordan Timothy Sommer, 28, Winona, following an incident at a residence on the 350 block of East Sarnia Street.

2:21 p.m.  A vehicle parked on the 300 block of Center Street was entered and a big, blue wireless speaker was reported missing.

4:37 p.m.  Victoria Lynn Dulas, 42, Winona, was cited for shoplifting at Walmart.

11:36 p.m.  Madison Rose Vachuska, 20, Winona, was cited for shoplifting at Walmart.

Saturday

12:13 a.m.  Charges of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance were referred against Jamie John Kujak, 27, Lake Mills, Iowa, following a traffic stop near Fourth and St. Charles streets.

12:29 p.m.  A backpack valued at $27.12 was reported missing from a mailbox at a residence on the 650 block of East Broadway.

5:52 p.m.  A cellphone was reported missing from the pharmacy counter at Walmart.

Sunday

1:23 a.m.  Charges of domestic assault (causing fear) were referred against Brandon John Looney, 23, Winona, following an incident on the 150 block of Franklin Street.

1:38 a.m.  Unidentified individuals removing wheels from a vehicle parked on the 350 block of Hilbert street were interrupted by the vehicle owner. Two wheels were removed and left at the scene when the individuals fled.

10:00 a.m.  Tools were reported missing from a garage at a residence on Links Lane.

5:26 p.m.  Johnathan Taylor Tubbs, 25, Rosemont, Minn., was cited for possession of a small amount of marijuana, and possession of drug paraphernalia following a traffic stop near West Sanborn and Huff streets.

10:49 p.m.  Charges of fifth-degree possession of a controlled substance were referred against Michael Patrick Kreidermacher, 33, Winona, by officers responding to a reported disturbance at a residence on the 600 block of East Fourth Street.

Monday

12:01 a.m.  6:30 a.m.  Police ticketed 22 vehicles for alternate-side parking violations; 22 vehicles were ticketed and towed during a scheduled tag-and-tow in the downtown area.

Winona County

Friday

1:46 a.m.  Jayston Robert Seeling, 29, Winona, was cited for fourth-degree drunken driving following a traffic stop near Broadway and Lafayette Street. His blood-alcohol level was .10.

2:50 a.m.  The Wabasha County Sheriffs Department reported a 32-year-old Plainview man had been injured when he lost control of his snowmobile near County Road 26 and County Road 37 between Altura and Elba about 10 p.m. Thursday. The accident was reported in Wabasha County after the man made his way home and was persuaded to seek medical attention for an apparent head injury.

Sunday

2:46 a.m.  Carly Rae Lesar, 21, Cedarburg, Wis., was cited for fourth-degree drunken driving following a traffic stop on Harriet Street in Winona. Her blood-alcohol level was .08.
FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP)  In the 1920s and early 30s, the Holyland east of Fond du Lac was a bootleggers paradise.

The Depression made it hard for the German-Catholic immigrants who settled in the area to make a living, but Prohibition created a market for illegal booze, and some of these pious churchgoers jumped at the chance.

As stills fired up and the moonshine flowed out of barns and faux cheese factories, family secrets, attacks by federal agents, Al Capone sightings and even murder were the result.

John Jenkins, who researched the subject for his thesis at Marian University in Fond du Lac, told Action Reporter Media that residents from these sleepy farm communities were lured to the lucrative brewing, distilling and selling of illegal moonshine to make ends meet during difficult times.

The business of illicit liquor supplied jobs during the toughest years of the Depression. Freight transporters, coal dealers, farmers (corn to make corn sugar), auto mechanics and barn owners in Fond du Lac County profited or at least earned enough to put food on the table.

I grew up on a farm with seven kids in our family, and I can tell you it was a struggle. People got into this business just to survive, said Bill Casper, who as a child lived across from one of the largest and most well-known bootleg operations in the area.

The Holyland, the name given to Catholic communities within miles of one another, was a unique fit for the job, Jenkins said. It was geographically isolated, had access to the railroad for delivering liquor ingredients and was comprised of residents who felt that Prohibition was anti-immigrant, anti-German and anti-Catholic.

The German Catholics deep faith was reflected in the names they gave their communities, such as St. Cloud, Marytown, Johnsburg, St. Anna and Mount Calvary.

But pay during hard times took precedent over piety.

While I was interviewing one man, he commented that I looked stunned, Jenkins said. I replied that I thought these were pious people living in the region, the kind who went to church every Sunday.

On Sunday, yes, the man replied, but what we did the other six days of the week made life fun.

Casper said he first learned about the business of bootlegging sometime in the late 1930s.

As a youth living in Malone, which is between Johnsburg and Mount Calvary, Casper bailed hay with his father at the neighboring farm. At one point the boy looked up and noticed a large hole, as big around as a bushel basket, cut into the barns roof. It was a telltale sign, revealing where there once was a smoke stack from a still for making moonshine.

I asked my dad about it, but he didnt really want to talk about it, said Casper, now 84. Everything was kept secret, and nobody knew nothing about anything that was going on.

The barn still stands today along Silica Road off of Fond du Lac County W in Malone.

Just down the road from the barn in Malone was Oligs Cheese factory, or so it was called.

The cheese factory was a front, Casper said. Years later, when my Uncle Alex Casper was in a nursing home, he told me about carloads of sugar that came into the train station in Malone. It was his job to unload the train car and transport the sugar to the cheese factory.

The mash, or fermented grain, was brewed in large vats at the cheese factory, then transported to the barn, where it was boiled in the still to complete the process and bottled for nighttime transport by truck.The Malone operation churned out moonshine using simple ingredients: sugar, water and yeast.

As a teen, Casper discovered a huge collection of bottles in a hidden room in the hay mow of his familys barn. In that moment, he realized that his father was storing the glassware for the moonshiners who were brewing across the road.

People didnt even tell their families what they were doing because there was always danger from the feds (federal agents) who were hanging around, of maybe someone getting knocked off, Casper said.

The late Ludwig Louie Karl faced that danger one night and lived to tell about it. Karl was part of the Malone moonshine operation from 1930 to 1935, as well as other whiskey operations in the area. He related his story in an audio recording in the 1970s made by a grandson.

Karl, who was a plumber by trade, worked for the moonshine operation as a lookout. He sat through the night at a fork between two long driveways. One driveway led to the barn, almost undetectable from County Road W. He gripped a rope that ran across a field to a bell in the barn, and if he saw police or federal investigators coming, he would warn his colleagues by jerking the rope to ring the bell.

One night during an ambush, Karl was shot in the back by federal agents.

I was in the hospital and they fixed me up ... I walked out a couple days later when I felt better, he said.

Two years later, Karl was tried and fined $250 for his wrongdoing.

In just one night, 24 50-gallon drums of alky could be made and shipped out, Karl said. Shipments went north to New London and south to Chicago. Most of the operations earnings were spent paying off law enforcement officials and neighboring farmers to keep their mouths shut, he said.

Asked about rumors that the famous Chicago mobster Al Capone was connected to the Holyland operation, Karl claimed to have seen him around the area. Old-timers relate stories of Capones deep involvement in a Marytown bootlegging operation and another located between Mount Calvary and St. Peter. Stories say the gangster rented a room year-round at the Columbia Harbor hotel in the nearby town of Pipe and killed a prostitute at the hotel and a young still hand at his Mount Calvary-St. Peter operation.

Karl said the business of bootlegging was addictive. The more money he made, the more he wanted to make.

And the more you made, the more you spent, Karl said. You just wanted to make a bigger operation.

Fred Sieber, 89, was 7 years old during the winter of 1932-33 when men from Chicago showed up and asked to rent the abandoned Cheese Factory his father owned and his family lived above in a small apartment in Mount Calvary. A winter-long whiskey operation ensued, and to mask the sweet smell of alcohol, Siebers father sprayed the youngster with perfume each morning before he headed off to school.

I remember plenty  all kinds of things, like their two-ton trucks going in and out and their big electric lights (in the cheese factory) burning all through the night, Sieber said.

The cheese vat that was converted into the main still was 17 feet high and could hold 650 gallons of mash, Sieber recalled, with a daily output of 17 gallons of pure ethanol (193 proof).

One time, the moonshiners dumped corn mash in the yard, and Siebers father fed it to the cattle. The tipsy cattle swayed and stumbled, unable to find the barn-door exit. Once outside, the cattle meandered about and had to be escorted by cattle hands back into the barn for the night.

One of the deadliest accounts of the areas murky Prohibition past is the 1932 murder of Gregor Neiss of Mount Calvary. According to archival newspaper accounts, Neiss was found with two gunshots wounds to the back of the head and a bottle of moonshine tucked in his pocket. His body lay where Taco Bell now stands on East Johnson Street in Fond du Lac. At the time, the airport was located across the street.

An investigation revealed Neiss was playing a dangerous game of posing as a federal agent in an attempt to extort local bootleggers, most of whom were linked to Chicago gangs.

Bruno Kraus is another Holylander who spent his childhood near a large bootleg operation outside St. Peter and said it was often visited by g-men. Kraus, now 92, can remember laying awake at night and hearing vehicles with headlights off run fast up and down the driveway, like a car chase scene in a movie.

Victor Sippel, born in 1918, grew up outside Mount Calvary during the Depression years. He estimates one out of 10 people he knew in the Holyland was involved in the business of moonshine. One man was thrown in jail for six months, he said.

Although his family was not involved in the illegal trade, Sippel said they, like everyone else, accepted it as a fact of life and looked the other way.

It still amazes me to this day that there was so much moonshine being made in all these little towns, he said. I know, because I saw it with my own eyes.

I grew up on a farm with seven kids in our family, and I can tell you it was a struggle. People got into (the moonshine) business just to survive. Bill Casper
Postal workers, mail handlers, urban and rural letter carriers processed and delivered more than 15.5 billion packages, letters and parcels this holiday season.

Its intense, demanding, long-hours, late-night and weekend work  and there is more of it this year than last year. Noting that the United States Postal Service is projected to deliver 10.5 percent more parcels this December than it did just last year, National Association of Letter Carriers union activist Keith Steffen reminds us, The increased volumes are associated with online shopping and catalog sales, contradicting the urban myth that the Internet is dooming the Postal Service.

USPS employees do an extraordinary job of keeping the promise of a robust national Postal Service that is outlined in Article 1 of the United States Constitution.

Unfortunately, Congress does a lousy job of supporting the USPS. In fact, Congress and Postal Service executives keep creating challenges for the agency.

There is something profoundly wrong  not to mention profoundly absurd  about the notion that any federal official would abandon the Constitutions promise and the workers who keep it. Yet that is precisely what is happening.

Pressured by extreme demands from Congress and hamstrung by outdated restrictions on how it can operate, the Postal Service faces financial challenges that are real  but those challenges could be addressed with relative ease by Congress. At the same time, USPS executives continue to undermine historic commitments to universal and rapid service by imposing austerity cuts that are irresponsible in the extreme.

The postmaster general has shuttered more than 140 mail-sorting plants and slowed delivery times as part of a cost-cutting rampage that Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders said has caused a disaster that is negatively impacting Americans all over this country.

The Democratic presidential contender argues that it is not just congressional incompetence but corporate greed that threatens the Postal Service.

Whether you are a low-income elderly woman living at the end of a dirt road in Nevada or Vermont or a wealthy CEO living on Park Avenue, you get your mail six days a week, Sanders told American Postal Workers Union members at a mass meeting in Las Vegas in October. And the American people pay for this service at a cost far less than anywhere else in the industrialized world.

Sanders pointed out that many who seek to privatize Social Security, Medicare, and public education are working to erode the Postal Service so it too can be privatized and turned into a for-profit business.

For many years, Sanders has championed policies that would strengthen the Postal Service, and he has many strong allies in Congress, including Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan and Wisconsin Sen. Tammy Baldwin. Unfortunately, Congress failed to step up in 2015.

Its important to thank postal workers at the post office counter and at the door this holiday season. For Americans who hope to appreciate the service next holiday season, however, now is the time to thank postal workers by fighting to renew and extend the mission of the United States Postal Service.
The man allegedly responsible for stealing a van and a television from Safe Ride Ron is in custody after he was arrested in Waukesha County by the Wisconsin Department of Corrections for a probation violation.

Despite difficult winter weather, Brian Krieger, 48, was picked up by Ron Gafner, a driver for Dodge Countys Safe Ride Program Dec. 29 at approximately 1:30 a.m. after Krieger had too much to drink at Tower Lanes, 1660 N. Spring St., Beaver Dam.

Gafner drove Krieger to an address on Lakecrest Drive where Krieger was unable to make contact with anyone in the building and was unable to get inside. Krieger eventually returned to the vehicle.

Gafner said he offered to drive Krieger to a motel, but Krieger told him he didnt have any money. Gafner then drove Krieger to Kwik Trip, 1200 Madison St., so Krieger could use the ATM.

Gafner said Krieger told him he couldnt get any money from the ATM. Gafner offered to drive Krieger anywhere he needed to go and Krieger told him he had nowhere else to go.

I felt sorry for him. It was blowing. It was cold, Gafner said.

Gafner took Krieger home, gave him some bedding and allowed him to sleep on his couch.

When Gafner woke up in the morning, he discovered Krieger was gone and so was his 42-inch flat screen television and a green, 1994 Plymouth Voyager minivan with a Wisconsin disabled plate, belonging to one of Gafners friends. Gafner said that the blanket he loaned Krieger was also missing.

The van was located Dec. 30 in the city of Milwaukee and was taken to a secure facility.

Krieger was eventually located in Waukesha County and was taken into custody for a parole violation. The Dodge County Sheriffs Office is continuing their investigation. Krieger remains a person of interest and no charges have been filed at this time.

Krieger was previously convicted of taking a vehicle without the consent of the owner and escaping criminal arrest in 2014 in Dodge County.

According to Dodge County Sheriff Dale Schmidt, an anonymous resident donated a new television to Gafner which was delivered on New Year's Eve. The sheriffs office thanked the public for their help with the investigation and for their generosity.
NEW YORK  A sign with a flower outside a cathedral at what has to be one of Manhattans busiest intersections on 34th Street and Second Avenue stands as a subtle reminder of genocide. One wonders how many diplomats on the way to and from the United Nations headquarters, tourists and commuters have passed it this year without noticing the banner for the centennial year of the Armenian genocide outside St. Vartan Cathedral.

2015 marked the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide, even as the massacre still goes unacknowledged throughout the world. As Philadelphia Archbishop Charles J. Chaput put it in a speech: Starting in 1915, Turkish officials deliberately murdered more than 1 million members of Turkeys Armenian minority. The ethnic and religious cleansing campaign went on into the 1920s. (The victims) were overwhelmingly Christian. Turkey has never acknowledged the genocide. Its one of the worst unrepented crimes in history.

And there could be other such crimes on the way. By way of a brief tour, Chaput said: Today we have our own tragedies, from church bombings in Pakistan to the beheadings of Christians in North Africa. More than 70 percent of the world now lives with some form of religious coercion. Tens of thousands of Christians are killed every year for reasons linked to their faith.

I was heartened to see President Barack Obama issue a statement just before Christmas recognizing brutal atrocities being committed against Christians in Iraq and Syria. In some areas of the Middle East where church bells have rung for centuries on Christmas Day, this year they will be silent; this silence bears tragic witness to the brutal atrocities committed against these communities by (ISIS).

In the weeks preceding Christmas, it was reported that the White House would soon be issuing a statement labeling the slaughter of the Yazidi people in Iraq genocide. While applauding that move, an ecumenical coalition urged that the administration include Middle Eastern Christians in the designation.

As the letter sent to Secretary of State John Kerry signed by pastors, scholars and activists put it: We have extensive files supporting a finding that ISIS treatment of Iraqi and Syrian Christians, as well as Yazidis and other vulnerable minorities, meets this definition. They include evidence of ISIS assassinations of church leaders; mass murders; torture; kidnapping for ransom in the Christian communities of Iraq and Syria; its sexual enslavement and systematic rape of Christian girls and women; its practices of forcible conversions to Islam; its destruction of churches, monasteries, cemeteries and Christian artifacts; and its theft of lands and wealth from Christian clergy and laity alike.

In testimony before Congress shortly thereafter, Carl Anderson, head of the Knights of Columbus, which has an emergency aid campaign supporting church efforts on the ground in the region, urged: The United States is rightly viewed as the worlds leading defender of vulnerable minorities, and it is critically important that the State Department consider the best available evidence before issuing a statement that would exclude Christians. An official government declaration of genocide is an opportunity to bring Americas religious communities together to pursue the truth, to support victims, and to bear witness to the noble principle of Never Again.

The White House could listen to its own ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, Rabbi David Saperstein. He was in Rome in December, where he said that the West cannot remain silent about what is happening to Christians, who are in danger of being wiped out. President Obama, not for the first time, said something beautiful about religious freedom. Acknowledging the fact of genocide against Christians in the world today would put some teeth to his words.
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Where can you afford to see in New Year?

Athens is said to offer Europe's cheapest hotel accommodation on New Year's Eve

Britons thinking about taking a European city break to see in the New Year may find that Moscow or Athens will offer them the best value for money.

A new survey of 30 major destinations conducted by TravelMag shows that the Greek capital is offering the cheapest accommodation for New Year's Eve.

The least expensive double room available in Athens in a three-star hotel or better will cost them just 27, leaving plenty of money left over for food, drink, flights and travel insurance.

'Room near Red Square for less than 50'

According to the survey travellers should also be able to find a similar room in the Russian capital for under 50 on December 31.

While getting to Edinburgh to celebrate Hogmanay may not necessitate flying, revellers will need to have plenty of cash to pay for their accommodation there.

TravelMag says Scotland's capital is the most expensive to stay in at New Year with the cheapest comparable room there costing 302. That is nearly six times more expensive than normal January prices.

Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, and Amsterdam are the second and third dearest European cities to say goodbye to 2015 in. The cheapest rooms there, the survey shows, are priced at 296 and 236 respectively.

'Dublin among most expensive cities'

Those staying in the German city of Hamburg to see in 2016 will also have to fork out more than 200 for the cheapest double room in a similar hotel.

A night's accommodation in London won't cost less than 187, the survey suggests, with the cheapest rooms in the rest of Europe's 10 most expensive cities - Vienna, Venice, Dublin, Prague and Copenhagen - ranging in price from 142 to 179.

Although the cheapest room available in the Czech Republic's capital, Prague, costs little over half as much as one in Edinburgh, the 156 minimum price is a whopping 642% higher than the normal January rate.

The survey only includes centrally located hotels with at least three stars and positive guest reviews.
Final module installed at Sanmen 2

04 January 2016

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The final module - the containment water tank - has been installed at the second AP1000 unit under construction at Sanmen in China's Zhejiang province.

The CB20 module is lowered on to Sanmen 2's containment (Image: CNEC)

The operation to lift the 312-tonne containment cooling tank - with an outer diameter of almost 26 metres, an inner diameter of 10.6 metres and a height of just over 10 metres - was completed on 27 December, plant constructor China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC) announced.

Pumps arrive for unit 1



The first two of four reactor coolant pumps for unit 1 of the Sanmen plant arrived at the construction site on 30 December, State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation (SNPTC) announced.



The pumps were shipped from US manufacturer Curtiss-Wright Corporation on 11 November following final performance testing and post-test inspections.



The third and fourth pumps for Sanmen 1 were due to be shipped from the USA last month, while all four pumps for Haiyang 1 will be shipped by the end of February, SNPTC said.

The large round component is a major part of the AP1000's safety systems. It will hold some 3000 cubic metres of water ready to flow down to evaporate from the surface of the containment vessel in any emergency situation where the reactor system may be overheating. This evaporation would help to cool the overall system. The water could also be directed to top up the used fuel pool, while the tank itself can be refilled from water stored elsewhere on site.

The positioning of the module completes the distinctive silhouette of the AP1000 design, while fit-out and preparation continues inside.

In September 2007, Westinghouse and its partners the Shaw Group received authorization to construct four AP1000 units China: two at Sanmen in Zhejiang province and two more at Haiyang in Shandong province.

Sanmen unit 1 is expected to be the first AP1000 to begin operating, in September 2016. Haiyang 1 is expected to start up by the end of 2016. Containment tests have already been successfully conducted at both units. All four Chinese AP1000s are scheduled to be in operation by the end of 2017.

Four AP1000 reactors are being built in the USA - two each at Vogtle and Summer - while three AP1000s are also proposed for the Moorside site in the UK.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Simulator delivered for China's HTR-PM

04 January 2016

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The full-scope simulator for the demonstration HTR-PM high-temperature gas-cooled reactor plant under construction at Shidaowan in China's Shandong province has officially entered operation.

The full-scope simulator for the HTR-PM (Image: CGN)

China General Nuclear (CGN) announced on 28 December that its China Guangdong Nuclear Simulation Technology subsidiary completed the on-site installation and commissioning of the HTR simulator on 20 December. A site acceptance certificate was signed on 24 December, marking the official start of use of the simulator system.

CGN said the simulator would mainly be used for the training and licensing of nuclear power plant operators, as well as for supporting emergency exercises, and plant design and operation verification. Chinese regulations specify that all nuclear power plants incorporate a simulator, which must be available at least one year prior to the plant's start up to enable sufficient operator training.

Simulators are a vital piece of equipment for training plant operators, both at the start of their careers and for their continuing training. The Shidaowan simulator features a complete replica of an HTR plant's control room, including the instrumentation and control system.

Work began on two demonstration HTR-PM units at China Huaneng Group's Shidaowan site in December 2012. China Huaneng is the lead organization in the consortium to build the demonstration units together with China Nuclear Engineering Corporation (CNEC) and Tsinghua University's Institute of Nuclear and New Energy Technology (INET), which is the research and development leader. Chinergy, a joint venture of Tsinghua and CNEC, is the main contractor for the nuclear island.

The demonstration plant's twin HTR-PM units will drive a single 210 MWe turbine. It is expected to start commercial operation in late 2017. Eighteen further units are proposed for the Shidaowan site, near Rongcheng in Weihai city.

A proposal to construct two 600 MWe HTRs at Ruijin city in China's Jiangxi province passed a preliminary feasibility review in early 2015. The design of the Ruijin HTRs is based on the smaller Shidaowan demonstration HTR-PM. Construction of the Ruijin reactors is expected to start in 2017, with grid connection in 2021.

Researched and written

by World Nuclear News

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Fresh Faces & Changes at Glyndwr in Push to Double Student Numbers

This article is old - Published: Monday, Jan 4th, 2016

Students and staff at Glyndwr University Wrexham are preparing for a positive year full of new developments and fresh faces.

The University is getting ready to welcome several new faces, including incoming Vice-Chancellor Dr Maria Hinfelaar  current President of the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT)  as well as a new Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Director of Finance in the weeks ahead.

Alec Shepley will return to the institution from the University of Lincoln to replace outgoing Head of Media, Art and Design, Professor Estelle Thompson, and other recruits include Mike Hamer, who joins Glyndwr as Head of Estates and Campus Management, and Campus Services Manager, Edward Taylor-Robinson. Naomi Squire has also recently joined the team, as Chaplaincy Coordinator.

As well as changes in university personnel, the Students Guild building will continue to undergo further improvements in 2016, including a new bar lounge.

The University also plans to refocus its approach to postgraduate study and research, with Heads of Schools working with Research Centre leaders to develop graduate students.

This all follows the launch of a five-year strategic framework last summer, which unveiled proposals to double student numbers by 2020 and increase turnover to 75m over the same period.

After more than a decade at the helm of LIT, Dr Hinfelaar says she is looking forward to the challenge of taking on the Welsh institution and joins at an exciting time in its short history.

I can see tremendous potential for the University at the heart of north east Wales, which is a region undergoing interesting development, said the 56 year-old.

Personally, having spent the last 11 years leading a similar institution in the mid-west of Ireland, I have discovered first-hand how crucially important universities are to their area.

I look forward to joining Glyndwr University and getting to know the staff, students and wider stakeholders.

A Netherlands native, Dr Hinfelaar has overseen significant development at LIT, which was named Institute of Technology of the Year 2008/09 and 2012/13 in the prestigious Sunday Times University Guide.

Maxine Penlington OBE  recently unveiled as chair of the Board of Governors, alongside new Chancellor, Trefor Jones CBE  said the appointment marks a big step for the University.

Maria comes to us with an excellent track record of institutional leadership and of business and regional engagement and I am confident that she will be an asset both to the University and to the community of north east Wales.

Professor Graham Upton, who stands down as Interim Vice-Chancellor on March 31st, believes new alliance agreements with further and higher education partners in North Wales and the North West shows the institution can move forward as an independent entity in a position of strength, working closely to benefit the region.

He added: I may have only arrived in Wrexham last February to take on this interim position but during that time I have come to feel part of the University and am very proud that we have achieved so much in such a short time.

The institution has huge potential and Dr Hinfelaar recognises that. Her vision matches that of the University  to become bigger, stronger and bolder  so the future looks very bright indeed.
Several recent incidents in Ukraine have further exposed the far-right nature of the forces unleashed by the 2014 Maidan revolution that ousted then-President Viktor Yanukovych and eventually brought to power the countrys current, widely despised leader, oligarch Petro Poroshenko, whose approval rating has collapsed to just 17 percent.

In a recent video posted to the internet, Artyom Vitko, parliament member and representative of the nationalist Radical Party, can be seen riding in an SUV drinking vodka and singing along to an anti-Semitic song titled Adolf Hitler is Together with Us by a Russian neo-Nazi rock group. Vitko, who has also served as a commander in the government-backed Luhansk Battalion that is fighting to suppress pro-Russian breakaway regions in Ukraines Donbass, is shown enjoying the lyrics to the songs chorus, Adolf Hitler is together with us, Adolf Hitler is in each of us, and an eagle with iron wings will help us at the right time. As part of his duties as a member of the Ukrainian parliament, Vitko sits on a committee dedicated to improving ties between Israel and Ukraine.

The far-right leader first made international headlines in January 2015 when he supposedly threw blood in the face of Gennady Zyuganov, leader of the Communist Party of Russia, at a meeting of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in Strasbourg, France. According to a public Facebook posting by fellow Radical Party member Dmytro Linko, At the entrance to PACEs building, Artyom Vitko and I hurled blood at the face of Russian Communist Zyuganov. We smacked him in his hostile mug.

The videos exposure was preceded by reports that the mayor in the city of Konotop, located in northern Ukraine, has been openly displaying anti-Semitic symbols.

According to the Jerusalem Post, Mayor Artyom Semenikhin, who is a member of the far-right Svoboda Party, drives around in a car bearing the number 14/88, a numerological reference to the phrases we must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children and Heil Hitler; replaced the picture of President Petro Poroshenko in his office with a portrait of Ukrainian national leader and Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera; and refused to fly the citys official flag at the opening meeting of the city council because he objected to the star of David emblazoned on it.

The release of the video with Vitko singing neo-Nazi songs coincided an official visit to Israel by Ukrainian President Poroshenko. In meetings with Labor Party members, Poroshenko downplayed the rise of anti-Semitism as a political ideology in Ukraine and blamed Russia for promoting anti-Semitism in Crimea.

According to Labor Party lawmaker Ksenia Svetlova, Poroshenko stated, In Ukraine, Jews have nothing to fear. But in the Crimea they are oppressed and not allowed in synagogue. Jewish organizations in Crimea, which is now controlled by Russia, declared Poroshenkos statements to be false.

In a grotesque display of political hypocrisy, during his visit to Israel, Poroshenko declared in a speech before the Knesset, We must remember the negative events in history, when collaborators helped the Nazis seek the Final Solution. He announced that Ukraine would hold an official 75th anniversary memorial of the massacre at Babi Yar site in Kiev, where Nazi forces killed nearly 34,000 Jews.

Last April, Poroshenkos government officially rehabilitated the countrys Nazi collaborators, the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), and moved the countrys Defender of Ukraine Day to coincide with the formation date of the UPA.

In an expression of the Zionist regimes utter bankruptcy and the falsity of its claim to defend the worlds Jewish population, Israeli leader Benjamin Netanyahu later stated that he plans to attend the memorial ceremony in Ukraine.

Today, the direct political and familial descendants of the OUN and the UPA are found in Ukraines government-backed, far-right military battalions and political parties, such as Svoboda and Vitkos Radical Party. The latter, for instance, counts Yuriy Shukhevych among its parliamentary members. Yuriy Shukhevychs father, Roman Shukhevych, was a leader of the UPA. The younger Shukhevych helped draft the April 2015 law honoring Ukraines Nazi collaborators.

Since the Kiev regime came to power in a US-backed coup in February 2014, the fascist forces that carried out the overthrow of elected President Viktor Yanukovych have committed violent atrocities against opponents in an effort to terrorize the population into submission.
Facing a growing political crisis stemming from his role in the cover-up of the October 2014 police murder of Laquan McDonald, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel announced last Wednesday so-called reform measures that will, in fact, increase the ability of the police to violently attack workers and youth while doing nothing to halt the wave of police murders.

At the center of Emanuels proposals is a doubling by June of the number of tasers available to the police. Under the mayors plan, every patrol car will be equipped with the electric shock device.

In its determination to defend the militarized forces tasked with suppressing the working class, the political establishment in Chicago (and nationally) presents the provision of more instruments of repression as a means of curbing police violence.

Emanuel and Interim Police Chief John Escalante also announced a de-escalation program. This consists of urging cops to ask themselves a series of questions in the course of their encounters with the public.

Emanuel went out of his way to signal his support for the police and all but rule out any consequences for those responsible for harassing and brutalizing the working population. Our police officers have a very difficult and dangerous job, he said. They put their lives on the line so the rest of us can be safe. And like all of us, they are human and make mistakes. Our job is to reduce the chances of mistakes.

Video of the killing of McDonald, suppressed for over a year by Emanuels administration and the Chicago police, with the complicity of the Obama administration, showed police officer Jason Van Dyke shooting the retreating and unarmed youth 16 times. This is what Emanuel calls a mistake.

Van Dyke was finally charged in November of last year, after a court ordered the release of the video.

Emanuel said Wednesday, I think obviously if you have eight officerslike in the Laquan McDonald situationall calling for a taser, and none of them have it, we have a problem, and it has to be addressed.

This is a whitewash of the murder. At issue in the McDonald situation is not the absence of tasers, but the cold-blooded, calculated killing of a 17-year-old who posed no danger to himself or anyone else.

Experience has shown, moreover, that tasers are deadly. While they have been promoted as a safe alternative to police firearms, they have been associated with some 1,000 deaths since 2000. According to the Guardian, in 2015 at least 47 people died in the US from police tasers, which are often used as a particularly brutal form of torture.

The Chicago mayor added, With the right policies, the right procedures and the right practices, we can change our officers perspectives to help them ensure their own safety and the safety of others. That is to say, the spate of police violence and murder is simply a problem of good cops not having the right perspective.

Emanuels proposals are intended as a signal to police: You can continue to kill with impunity. We will back you up with more instruments of repression and will defend you at all costs. Emanuels rationalizations for the actions of Van Dykethat he did what he did because he did not have proper equipment, including taserswill likely be used by his legal defense.

The mayors reform proposals are a continuation of the administrations response to the McDonald killing from the beginning. Emanuels office worked with the police department, the Cook County States Attorneys office and the City Council to hide the truth behind the false police report of the incident.

Just before midnight on December 31, the Emanuel administration released a 3,085 page bundle of partly redacted emails from 2014 to 2015, sent between the mayors staffers, police officials and others responsible for handling information on the killing of McDonald. In addition to showing how Emanuels office, the Chicago Police Department and the so-called Independent Police Review Association carefully coordinated the response to McDonalds murder from the very beginning, the emails also reveal the extensive collaboration between the city and business and religious leaders, community groups and the press in managing the political fallout.

The mayors announcement comes amid a wave of police shootings in Chicago and across the US. In 2015, police killed 1,199 people in the US according to news aggregator KilledByPolice.net, a 7.8 percent increase over 2014. Emanuel made no mention in his remarks of the recent Chicago police killings of Quintonio Legrier, 19, and Bettie Jones, 55.

The response of the entire political establishment, led by the Obama administration, to public outrage over police killings has been to organize fraudulent reforms and investigations while ensuring that police continue to have a steady stream of militarized weaponry and an effective license to kill.

In the case of McDonald, the cover-up was coordinated with the Obama administration, which launched an investigation more than a year ago. The Justice Department had access to the video showing the murder but helped prevent its public release.

Now the Obama administration has announced it will carry out a federal investigation of the Chicago police for civil rights violations, along the lines of those carried out in Ferguson, Missouri, Cleveland, Ohio and other cities. These investigations uniformly result in wrist-slap punishments or recommendations for police training, along the lines proposed by Emanuel.

Since 2013, Obama has overseen an increase in police violence and the distribution of military-grade weaponry and vehicles to domestic police departments, including those used in Ferguson, Missouri against the protests over the 2014 police murder of Michael Brown.

Killer cops are almost never prosecuted. Grand juries have been converted into rigged procedures for the purpose of providing a legal fig leaf for the exoneration of uniformed killers. Late last month, a grand jury failed to indict the cop who murdered 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland, Ohio in 2014. Aurora, Colorado Officer Paul Jerothe also escaped indictment for the murder of Naeschylus Vinzant, an unarmed black man, in March of last year.

Last month, two Chicago police officers escaped prosecution. Cook County States Attorney Anita Alvarez declined to press charges against Officer George Hernandez for killing Ronald Johnson, who was shown on video running away from the cops when he was shot. Chicago Police Commander Glenn Evans was acquitted December 14 of charges related to his brutalization of a young man by jamming the muzzle of a pistol into the victims mouth.

This support for police violence is based in the needs of the ruling class. No reforms or limitations will be placed on the police because the ruling class is keenly aware of the enormous social anger and dissatisfaction with the policies of both the Democratic and Republican parties. They will do nothing to rein in the police, who serve as the front line protectors of the interests of the ruling elite.
Since the tightening of restrictions on the right to asylum decided by the majority of the German parliament in October, many more refugees have been deported. At the end of November, the number of people forcibly deported from Germany was already nearly twice as high as in the entire previous year.

However, there has not just been a quantitative increase in deportations. The brutality and inhumanity of the deportations have also reached a new level. Not only refugees who arrived recently have been deported, but also people who have already lived in Germany for a long time, some of them ill.

The state of Bavaria, whose government is headed by the Christian Social Union (CSU), has treated the refugees especially cruelly. The number of deportations from Bavaria in the first 11 months of the year has quadrupled compared to the previous year.

The first deportation camps for refugees from the Balkans were also set up in Bavaria. The camps, officially dubbed Arrival and Return Institutions (ARE), are the practical implementation of the transit zones that the CSU demanded for months, but was unable to implement. The only difference consists in the fact that they do not lie directly on the border as the CSU had originally demanded.

Refugees from countries in the West Balkans were gathered in the deportation camps after these countries were recently declared safe countries of origin in order to deport them as quickly as possible. Refugees from these countries are no longer recognised as having a right to asylum in Germany.

Part of the purpose of the camps is to serve as deterrence. When the first camp was opened at the beginning of September on the grounds of the former armed forces barracks in Manching, near Ingolstadt, Bavarian Social Minister Emilia Muller (CSU) said: I am certain that it will soon be said in Kosovo, in Albania, in Montenegro, in Serbia, in all the countries of the West Balkans, that the journey to Germany as an asylum seeker is definitely not worth it.

The concerns of the Bavarian Refugee Council were simply brushed aside. It called the centre a special camp with a deportation airport and warned that there were also asylum seekers from the Balkans who had a right to protection against persecutionabove all, Sinti and Roma who were persistently discriminated against.

Since then, several reports have appeared revealing the inhumane conditions in deportation camps.

A report in Die Zeit on December 23 discusses the institutions of arrival and sending back in the Bavarian city of Bamberg. At the time of the report, 854 people were to be deported. According to the plans of the Bavarian state government, this number will rise to 4,500 by the end of March.

Many of the people in the camp had already lived in Germany for a long time. Most of the people one talks to here can speak German. Their children went to normal schools till a short time ago, had friends and ideas about their future in Germany, Die Zeit reports. Now their children are not allowed to attend normal schools. At the moment, two teachers are in charge of 160 children of all ages.

The refugees in the deportation institutions in Bamberg are largely cut off from the outside world. The initial registration station for newly arrived refugees and the Immigration Authority are located directly inside the institution.

Peter Immeler, who leads the Bamberg branch office of the Federal Agency for Migration and Refugees, justified the new strategy in Bavaria to Die Zeit, saying that the priority was enforcement. He and his team only needed five to 10 days to come to an asylum decision. And this serves, he said, as an example for the creation of further deportation centres in other states.

Under the title Refugees without the prospect of residencyout, and quickly, the Suddeutsche Zeitung published an article on December 14 about the ARE Bamberg camp.

The report covered, among other things, the fate of a six-person family from Kosovo. A son of the family, Muhamet, suffers from epileptic seizures. He can get medications and good medical care in Germany, but in Kosovo this is not possible. His mother said, If we have to go back to Kosovo, then Muhamet does not have a chance. She fears for his life if he does not receive the necessary medical care.

Fourteen-year-old Muhamet has other medical issues on top of his epilepsy. He is also mentally and physically handicapped and is blind and can barely hear. On the flight to Germany a year and a half ago, his father held him on his arm the entire time. While there is no cure for his condition, he is no longer in pain thanks to the medications and therapy he received in Germany.

But none of that counts for anything in the eyes of the authorities, who have decided to deport him and his entire family. Muhamet is no exception, as the Suddeutsche Zeitung demonstrated by means of a number of other tragic cases, including that of a wife and mother who is very sick with cancer.

In addition to children and the sick, many others from the Balkan states were also brought to ARE Bamberg. Some of them have lived and worked in Germany for many years, speak German and have children. Some were born in Germany, go to school and are integrated. However, they are being deported as recklessly and quickly as possible.

According to the account in the Suddeutsche Zeitung at the beginning of December, almost 800 refugees from the Balkans living in Frankonia, Oberpfalz and Lower Bavaria received almost the exact same order in their mailboxes: Pack your suitcases immediately, off to Bamberg. Anyone not willing to go was threatened by the authorities with police violence and enforcement by means of immediate compulsion.

Bavaria is not the only state that is proceeding with rigid and reckless deportations. The government of North Rhine-Westphalia, a coalition of the Social Democratic Party (SPD) and the Greens, bragged that it had deported more refugees by the end of November (3,845) than Bavaria.

There is a bizarre dispute between the opposition inside the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the government over whether or not deportations should be announced in advance. Minister President Hannelore Kraft (SPD) had promised at the end of October that no family in North Rhine-Westphalia would be woken in the middle of the night and deported without warning. Opposition leader Armin Laschet therefore accused her of circumventing the further restrictions placed on the right to asylum by the federal parliament.

According to the new rules, those who are being forced to leave and who do not freely depart within seven to 30 days will be deported without warning. This was justified with the claim that otherwise they would go into hiding or pretend to be sick.

Krafts promise was, however, worthless. Recently, a family from Albania living in Ibbenburen were woken up at three in the morning and brought to Dusseldorf on a special flight.

Since then, a competition has broken out between states over which one deports the most asylum seekers and refugees. The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported this on December 21 in an article headlined The great wave of deportations is ahead.

The Left Party is also participating in the competition. The only state premier in its ranks, Bodo Ramelow in Thuringia, complained about the figures of the federal Interior Ministry, which showed that Thuringia was the only state that had deported fewer refugees in 2015 than in the previous year.

Ramelow would not allow this disgrace to stand. He claimed that by the end of November Thuringia had deported 242 people, not 152. By December 21, it had deported 460 people. That is clearly more than in the entire year of 2014, said Oliver Will, spokesperson of the Thuringia Ministry for Migration, Justice and Consumer Protection.

Saxony also complained about the Interior Ministrys statistics. The state claimed that by the end of November, 1,497 people had been deported, not the 692 people reported by the Interior Ministry. In November alone, 745 people had been deported, Saxony claimed.

If these numbers from the states are accurate, then in this year alone 20,000 people have already been deported from Germany, the majority since restrictions were placed on the right to asylum in October.
High temperatures, an ongoing drought and other adverse weather conditions caused by an El Nino weather pattern in the Pacific Ocean have sparked major bushfires in southern-eastern Australia in recent weeks.

The worst fires erupted in the state of Victoria in the Otway Ranges region, where heavy eucalypt forests adjoin the coastline, making popular seaside towns along the Great Ocean Road highly susceptible.

Nightmare conditions, including temperatures over 40 degrees centigrade, faced firefighters on Christmas Day with 116 homes destroyed in two small coastal communities98 houses at Wye River and 18 at Separation Creek. Authorities permitted residents from the devastated communities to view the damage the next day but they were not allowed to stay.

Within days high temperatures saw the return of the fire threat, with the blaze continuing to burn some 2,295 hectares of inaccessible bushland along a 39-kilometre front.

On New Years Eve residents and holidaymakers along the ocean coastal strip were advised by fire-fighting authorities to evacuate in a Leave early and live campaign in case hot summer winds pushed the still burning fire back towards other seaside communities. Part of the iconic Great Ocean Road remains closed, due to concerns about the danger of rock falls from the steep, but now denuded, hillsides.

More than 600 firefighters, many of them volunteers, battled the blaze, with another 20 specialist firefighters due to arrive this week from New Zealand to assist in creating firebreaks and containing the fire. There were also 69 vehicles with water tanks, 11 fire-tankers, bulldozers and 60 aircraft in one of the largest aerial fire fighting operations in the states history.

While the damage bill from the Christmas Day losses is estimated to be around $38 million, the state government has provided just $32,000 in compensation for primary homes in the area, and none for holiday houses.

There was the usual official outpouring of sympathy for the fire victims from the political elite.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull visited the devastated township of Wye River between Christmas and the New Year and praised the efforts of residents and firefighters. Victorian Labor state premier Daniel Andrews travelled to the area on New Years Eve offering similar platitudes.

Federal and state politiciansLiberal and Labor alikeare adept at shedding crocodile tears and utilising the photo opportunities at these disasters to try and deflect from their continual underfunding of fire and emergency services, as part of wider budget cuts (see: Australian fire-fighting budget cuts place lives at risk). In 2014 , the Victorian government slashed 164 full-time jobs from the Country Fire Authority (CFA).

While Australia is one of the most bush-fire prone countries in the world, its fire-fighting services rely heavily on thousands of unpaid volunteers. Currently there are just over 13,000 full-time fire fighters in Australia, concentrated in the cities, with more than 219,000 unpaid volunteers, drawn from local rural communities. Fire-fighting authorities estimate that fire services need to be doubled by 2030, yet neither federal nor state governments are prepared to provide the necessary funding.

Although the immediate danger has passed, the Otway Ranges fire may not be extinguished for weeks because of inaccessible terrain, even with the support of fire-fighting aircraft. A combination of more hot weather and high winds could see the entrenched blaze threaten adjoining towns and communities again.

About 20 bushfires were sparked by lightning strikes in Gippsland in Victorias east on Friday. Rain and colder weather assisted fire fighters the next day. Gippsland regional controller Michael Owen warned: Were just having a bit of a respite and it will come back with a vengeance. The things weve seen in the west of the state can happen in Gippsland.

While Australias traditional summer fire season is from December to February, six people have been killed and thousands of hectares of property and hundreds of homes were destroyed by bush fires in Australia during October and November.

Victoria, in fact, has suffered more than 2,500 bushfires, of varying sizes, since October resulting in 139 houses, several vehicles and other assets destroyed. The hottest months, when the most damaging bushfires usually occur are still to come.

CFA chief officer Joe Buffone told the media that Victorian grasslands and forests were much drier than they usually are at this time of the year. Were pretty much between five and six weeks ahead of what the drying pattern would be for grasslands  obviously in the forests theres been underlying moisture deficit, he said.

If you think about the fires in the Otways, they are normally wet forests. If you get a fast-moving grass fire that then moves into the forest, that becomes a significant ongoing fire for us.

December broke high temperature records across large parts of south-eastern Australia and El Nino conditions mean there are far greater chances of bushfires this summer. According to US space agency NASA and meteorologists, extreme weather events around the world in the last month are the result of the current El Nino that could be comparable to the most severe such event which occurred in 199798.

According to NASA, this has produced flooding in South America, a record breaking hurricane season in the eastern tropical Pacific and hotter and drier conditions in Australia, particularly across the south and inland areas in the east of the continent. Nine of the 10 driest winter and spring periods on record for eastern Australia occurred during El Nino years.

Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre CEO Dr Richard Thornton told Fairfax Media that El Nino seasons created dangerous bushfire conditions. He also warned that increasing numbers of people were living in fire danger zones in Victoria. Were living closer to the bushthere are more people in Victoria now than there were 20 years ago, so the chance of fire intersecting with a community is much higher just on population figures, he said.

As well as in densely-forested areas, such as Victorias Otways Ranges, there are potential bushfire dangers in newly-developed locations on urban perimeters around Melbourne and in regional centres.

Inflated and escalating housing costs in Australian cities and towns has resulted in the real estate and property industries in the drive for quick profits pushing into forested and grassland areas that are inherently fire-prone. Ad hoc development of new communities and the refusal of state and federal government to provide adequate fire-fighting and emergency services are exposing hundreds of families to serious risk.

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One worker was killed and another critically injured Saturday after a concrete wall collapsed at Fords Chicago Assembly Plant, the companys oldest continually operating factory. The deceased worker was identified by the Cook County medical examiner as 45-year-old John J. Jaloway of Carol Stream, Illinois. This is at least the second fatality at Ford in a matter of weeks, following the death of a worker at the companys Kansas City Assembly plant in the days before Christmas.

The incident at Fords plant on Chicagos Far South Side occurred shortly before 11 a.m. Saturday, according to the Chicago Fire Department, when an eight-by-eight foot concrete wall that was under construction collapsed, trapping a contractor underneath. A 48-year-old autoworker who rushed over to help was himself injured when a section of the wall fell on his leg.

Danny Palumbo, another autoworker who was working nearby, described the incident in a post on Facebook: I was less than 25 feet away when it happened, I worked with three other guys and we tried to lift that wall, but we couldnt move it. We finally got twenty or maybe even thirty guys around it and lifted it maybe three inches and pulled the guy out.

I cant remember much else because the blood rushed to my head when we let the wall fallI didnt know the guy, but I am typing with tears in my eyes.

The contractor was taken in grave condition to a nearby hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Fords Chicago plant first began operation in 1924, producing the Model T. While the company has spent hundreds of millions to install state-of-the-art robotics and other technology in recent years, many autoworkers have told WSWS reporters that the plant is a hell, with holes in the roof and walls, standing water, and vermin. The massive 2.8-million-square-foot facility has no air conditioning, and workers report regularly passing out from heat exhaustion in the summer.

After the incident Saturday, Ford issued a statement of insincere and worthless sympathy, saying, We are saddened that a contractor was killed in a construction accident at the Ford Chicago Assembly Plant today and another worker was injured while trying to help after the initial accident. We offer our sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues. We are cooperating fully with the investigation.

For their part, local officials for the United Auto Workers union responded on social media by exhorting workers to be safe and pray, while passing over in silence Fords record of criminal negligence towards safety.

In response, one worker commented sarcastically, Good thing that we have the UAW looking out for workers safety! Before the UAW, a wall might have come down on some people and killed or injured them....

Others denounced Ford and the abominable conditions at the plant. John L. wrote, Lets be honest all the walls on Torrence avenue are crumbling. Every 5 feet you can see through that wall somewhere. Ford motor company is hugely at fault. This is their band aid on a bullet wound model at its finest! Its time our safety is taken seriously. Everywhere!

The workplace deaths at the Chicago and Kansas City plants serve to further expose the UAWs lie that workers and the auto companies share the same interests. The billions of dollars in investment promised by the Big Three if workers signed their contractswhich the UAW used to blackmail workersis intended solely to increase productivity, speed up the line, and wring out even more profits from autoworkers, who meanwhile are being forced to labor in miserable and dangerous conditions resembling those of the early 20th century.

When workers are injured or killed, as in Chicago and Kansas City, the main concern of the UAW is to cover up the culpability of the company, and their own complicity, in sacrificing workers lives and limbs on the altar of profit.

The WSWS Autoworker Newsletter spoke at length Saturday with a worker from the Chicago Assembly Plant who had previously filed a complaint over conditions at the plant with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the US government body nominally tasked with regulating workplace safety.

In 2014, I filed a complaint with OSHA regarding the building structure. There were lots of things I saw that were unsafe for us to be working in. The buildings integrity is horrible. Saying its horrible is putting it too nicely. These are things that when you look at them, theyve been deteriorating for decades.

For example, when it rained hard, water would come in through the ceiling and pool in 40- to 50-foot puddles, almost looking ponds, to the point where you had to lift up the bottom of your pants. Workers had to put tons and tons of rags down to walk across them. Water will drip on electrical or computer equipment, too.

I had also noticed a white substance coming from the ceiling directly below pipes that had asbestos warning labels.

I listed about 11 things in my complaint. A few weeks later, I got a letter from OSHA stating, Due to limited resources, we will have to delay our investigation of Ford. Meanwhile, Ford went around and did minor fixes, like putting barrels under where the water was leaking, basically band-aids. On the same side of the plant where that wall collapsed, there were huge holes where raccoons could come if they wanted to. They fixed that by just putting a big metal slab over it.

So six months later, OSHA comes in and gives them no violations for anything. They said there was no evidence to support the allegations. They have no regard for our safety.

When told about UAW Local 551s calls for workers to be safe and pray, he responded, I would say thats an insult to the people that work there and the families of the people who were hurt. Theyve ignored safety. When we find something thats wrong, they look at you like youre the problem.

Their idea of a safety meeting is coming up while youre on the job, making you sign a piece of paper and hurry up and get back to work. You dont even have time to read what theyre giving you.

Or theyll shut down the line, and have an entire zone gather around a supervisor. The majority of the time, most individuals cannot hear what is being said, and questions are discouraged. At the end of this very quick run-through, all employees are made to sign a form, relieving the company of liability.

If you go to medical, they belittle you and yell at you, and they try to make it taboo. They have scare tactics they use to try to prevent people from going there.

Safety is not Fords priority. If they had had regard for safety a year ago, this couldve been taken care of. How can you claim that safety is a priority, when they have these jobs figured out to the last second, and the only thing that matters is the speed youre doing the job?

Of course, Im sure theyre going to try cover up the cause of the wall collapse. The only thing thats a concern is getting the cars out, one after another. This is how bad things are at the company for the workers.

And this speaks volumes about OSHA too. They had a complaint in their office last year and they did nothing about it, and now somebodys dead.
Fracking firms have been handed significant victories by the Conservative government in their quest to reap billions in profits from the UKs untapped and potentially vast shale gas resources.

Hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is used to extract oil and natural gas trapped in shale deposits that are otherwise difficult to exploit. Drilling along the shale bed is followed by the injection of large quantities of highly pressurized water, laced with a cocktail of toxic and carcinogenic chemicals, plus sand. This fractures and holds open fissures in the rock from which the hydrocarbon material (gas and oil) can then escape and be extracted.

On December 16, Parliament voted by 298 to 261 to allow fracking under all Englands 10 national parks, five areas of Outstanding National Beauty, the Norfolk and Suffolk Broads and World Heritage Sites.

In January 2015, Members of Parliament (MPs) rejected a bid to suspend fracking in a House of Commons vote following a debate in which ministers promised an outright ban on fracking in national parks. The promise has been overturned with virtually no further debate.

The decision puts the UKs most beautiful countryside and wildlife under threat of poisoned water supplies and heavy vehicles with their associated noise and pollution. It sends a signal that the government is determined to push through fracking regardless of any environmental or safety issues and will ride roughshod over public opposition to it.

Since the vote, supportive MPs have reached new levels of Orwellian double-speak by claiming that the whole point of the new rules was to protect national parksin the words of Conservative Nick Herbert, Arundel and South Downs MP.

No fracking is currently taking place in the UK, but the government has made public its determination to establish a shale gas industry using arguments about the positive effect on the balance of payments along with claims that it will boost employment.

The governments drive to establish a fracking industry was stepped up the day after the vote when it handed out new licences for onshore gas and oil exploration in 159 blocks of 100 square kilometres each. This allows exploration for oil and gas across about 5,000 square miles of England, in addition to 1,000 square miles in licenses awarded in the summer. The blocks are incorporated into 93 onshore licences. Around 75 percent of the blocks are expected to be explored for unconventional shale oil or gas, which would be extracted using fracking.

The selloff included blocks in Scotland, England and Wales. A large proportion of the UK land mass (almost 7 percent) has been opened up to fracking in a single stroke, vast areas of Yorkshire and North West England, as well as some areas in the south of England.

Fracking will be allowed as long as the drilling work takes place from outside the restricted area and the fracking takes place 1.2 kilometres below ground level.

Not one of the 159 licences applied for was refused on grounds of environmental concerns, or on grounds of concerns with the company making the bid. All the areas where fracking may be possible have now been parcelled up and sold off.

The biggest winner in the selloff of exploration rights was Ineos, founded by billionaire Jim Ratcliffe. The company jumped ahead of Cuadrilla and IGas to become the UKs largest shale gas company by the number of licences (21). Ineos has gained fracking rights for more than a million acres of land. It is committed to drilling 20 wells and to frack 13 of them. The firm will potentially drill a further five wells. One of Ineos potential wells is in an area entirely within the North York Moors National Park.

Ken Cronin, chief executive of the lobby group representing onshore oil companies, told the Financial Times, This is a big moment for us. It is the largest shale gas licensing we have ever had.

In contrast to the United States and Canada, due to the UKs high population density, all the areas affected by fracking are close to inhabited areas. Just in Greater Manchester, a densely populated county of 2.5 million people, sizable parts of Trafford, Rochdale, Salford, south Manchester, Bury, Bolton, and Wigan have been made available for fracking exploration. In the county of Yorkshire with a population of more than 5 million, land around Sheffield, Chesterfield, Barnsley and York is to be explored. Both areas are considered prime drilling targets because of the presence of a geological formation known as the Bowland Shale, thought likely to contain large amounts of trapped gas.

Using now-familiar language to justify the governments decision on the day of the selloff, Energy Minister Andrea Leadsom said in a statement, Last month we set out the vital role gas will play in the UKs transition to a low-carbon future. The licenses offered today move us a step closerdriving forwards this industry which will provide secure, home grown energy to hardworking families and businesses for decades to come.

Little used powers to decide planning appeals on matters of national importance are to be invoked on behalf of the fracking companies. If local councils take longer than 16 weeks to decide on fracking applicationsas has happened recently in Lancashirethe law will take the decision out of their hands and give it to Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Greg Clark, who is certain to rule on behalf of the companies.

The government has also changed the rules on property rights. Fracking companies no longer need permission from landowners to drill horizontally deep underground, even though this is likely to affect property values. In the US, this has proven to cause side effects including pollution and earthquakes.

Underlining the danger of earthquakes caused by fracking, Canadian authorities recently confirmed the largest earthquakemagnitude 4.6 on the Richter scalecaused by fracking in British Columbia, Canada during August 2014.

Little if any debate preceded the vote. None was permitted over the licenses. The licenses to frackers were publicised in a statement released on December 17, the final day of Parliaments autumn session before the holiday and when the media were mainly following Prime Minister David Camerons European Union renegotiation.

On the same day, with media attention focused elsewhere, in an attempt to bury numerous bad news announcements the government released 36 written statements, including on fracking.

As it announced massive support for the fracking firms, another statement announced that government subsidies for rooftop solar panels are to be slashed. The support for household solar panels and small wind turbines is to be reduced by 65 percent. Government funding support for large-scale solar projects is to be ended. An estimated 9,700 to 18,700 jobs could be lost in the solar power industry as a result.

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The Iranian regime has reacted angrily to threats by the Obama administration last week to impose new sanctions targeting individuals and companies connected to its ballistic missile program. The US is accusing Iran of carrying out two ballistic missile testsin October and Novemberin breach of a UN Security Council resolution banning Irans development of such weapons systems.

Washingtons threat is particularly provocative as it came just days after Tehran fulfilled a key aspect of the nuclear agreement reached last July between Iran and the P5+1 group that includes the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany. A Russian ship left Iran last Monday carrying virtually all countrys stockpile of low-enriched uranium and thus greatly lengthening the time that would be needed to manufacture enough highly enriched uranium to build a nuclear weapon. Tehran has repeatedly denied that it has any plans to build a nuclear weapon.

In return for the shipment, Iran will receive an equivalent amount of natural uranium from Kazakhstan that has not been enriched. However, Irans main payoff for giving up its enriched uranium is meant be the first steps to lifting the punitive sanctions that have crippled the countrys economy, possibly this month. These would include the release of about $100 billion in frozen assets, limitations on the sale of Iranian oil and allowing Iran to operate freely in the world financial system.

Last Wednesday, the Obama administration circulated a draft of proposed new sanctions targeting companies and individuals in Iran as well as Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates. The sanctions would ban US or foreign nationals from conducting business with the blacklisted firms and American banks would be compelled to freeze the assets of the companies and individuals.

The following day Iranian President Hassan Rouhani denounced the Obama administrations illegal intervention in Tehrans right to boost its defensive power and directed the defence ministry to quickly and firmly continue with its plans to produce different missiles needed by the countrys armed forces. Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari warned the US against taking actions that were unilateral, arbitrary and illegal.

Rouhani won the Iranian presidency in 2013 and was given the green light by the countrys Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to negotiate an end to the devastating sanctions regime. The agreement reached last year after months of talks and relentless pressure on Tehran, above all with Washington, involved a major winding back of Irans nuclear programs, including its uranium stockpiles and its capacity to enrich uranium, and the reconfiguration of the heavy water research reactor being built at Arak.

Rouhani is now coming under pressure from hard-line sections of the regime, particularly in the military, that have heavily criticised him for conceding too much in reaching the nuclear deal. While he is not facing an election in the near future, Rouhani is concerned that his allies will lose ground in two crucial elections next monthfor the parliament and for the smaller Council of Experts that selects the countrys supreme leader.

Tehran had already expressed its opposition to a new US anti-terror law prohibiting citizens from 38 countries, mainly European, from travelling to the United States if they have visited Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan in the previous five years. A senior parliamentary official Alaedin Boroujerdi wrote to European, Chinese and Russian counterparts criticising the legislation which he described as a destructive blow against the nuclear agreement.

The Obama administrations determination to maintain pressure on Tehran underscores the fact that the nuclear issue has always been a pretext for advancing the economic and strategic agenda of US imperialism in the Middle East. The threat of new sanctions, and to potentially drag out the lifting of existing measures, is aimed at extracting concessions from the Iranian regime on other issues.

The US, for instance, would like to weaken Iranian support for the Syrian regime of President Bashar al-Assad, which Tehran has backed politically and militarily. A UN Security Council resolution passed last month sets the stage for a ceasefire and negotiations between the Syrian government and opposition to establish a transitional government. Washington is adamant that Assad must go but is opposed by Russia, and at this stage, Iran.

Moreover, if the nuclear agreement enables the lifting of sanctions, possibly within weeks, the major beneficiaries are likely to be Washingtons rivals in Europe and Asia. Since the accord was reached last July, a stream of diplomats and corporations has headed to Tehran to sound out opportunities in preparation for the ending of key bans.

An article in Saturdays Guardian entitled Foreign firms dash to get in on Iran gold rushbut US companies left out in cold pointed out that companies from Asia and Europe were flocking to Tehran to take advantage of what is being mooted as the worlds last great emerging economy. American companies, however, have been more wary. Not only are there significant US sanctions, in addition to international ones, to deal with, but Republican candidates in this years presidential election are pledging to scrap the nuclear agreement if they win office.

Obama is already under fire for failing to immediately implement last Wednesdays threat to impose new sanctions over Irans missile program. A Wall Street Journal editorial last Friday entitled The Mullahs thank Mr Obama again lambasted the US administration over the nuclear agreement and its delay in responding to Irans missile tests. It also claimed that the firing of rockets from Iranian Revolutionary Guard vessels last week in the Gulf of Hormuz was a hostile act that could have resulted in American casualties. In reality, the Iranian vessels issued a warning in advance and the rockets landed over a kilometre away from US navy ships in the narrow strait.

The editorial concluded by denouncing the Obama administration and anyone else who put any faith in the nuclear agreement or so-called moderates like Rouhani in Tehran. When will this crowd figure out that Irans rulers dont want better relations with the US? They want to become the dominant power in the Middle East while driving the US out of the region, it declared.

In enunciating the opposition of right-wing layers of the political establishmentRepublican and Democrat, the Wall Street Journal is standing reality on its head. US imperialism has no intention of being driven out of the energy-rich region and is determined to remove all obstacles to its regional dominance by any means. While not spelt out, the logic of the editorial in rejecting Obamas tactic for ensuring American hegemony is a further expansion of the US-led war already underway in Iraq and Syria to also target Iran.
Lulu, the opera left unfinished by Austrian composer Alban Berg at his death in 1935 and not presented in a full three-act form until more than four decades later, arrived at New Yorks Metropolitan Opera last November, in a new production directed by South African artist William Kentridge.

This latest production provides the opportunity to explore the opera itself, and its place in the history of 20th century music. It is one of relatively few operas of this period to have found a place in the repertory of many European and North American opera houses.

Berg was born in 1885 and was shaped by fin-de-siecle Vienna in the years immediately preceding the First World War, amidst the growing social and political crisis that would end with the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The crisis was reflected across many fields of cultural life, including that of music. Arnold Schoenberg (1874-1951) became the leading theorist of what he characterized as a necessary break with the system of tonal harmonies that had shaped Western classical music for about three centuries.

Atonality was systematized by Schoenberg in the early 1920s, with his twelve-tone system, in which each musical note in the twelve-tone octave is treated equally.

Berg was one of Schoenbergs most well-known pupils. He adhered to Schoenbergs teachings, but with some flexibility. He found ways to bring dramatic and musical coherence to his music, giving it an expressiveness that was lacking with most of the other practitioners of atonality. Of particular significance was his use of leitmotifs in his two operas, Wozzeck and Lulu, in which pitch progressions were repeated to correspond to certain characters and situations. While not representing the tonal system of major and minor keys, the repeated pitches made the music more dramatic and accessible than other twelve-tone compositions.

Much of Bergs music retained elements of late romanticism, an expressiveness and emotional quality inserted, as it were, into the atonal framework. In addition to Wozzeck and Lulu, the composers best known compositions include the Lyric Suite for string quartet, several song cycles, and especially the Violin Concerto, which he dedicated to the memory of Manon Gropius, the young daughter of architect Walter Gropius and Alma Mahler, the composers widow. He wrote the concerto in the last months of his life, before his sudden death at the age of 50 from blood poisoning.

In relation to Schoenberg and Berg, it could be said that the works of the pupil have attracted more interest than those of the teacher. Wozzeck and Lulu are among the most frequently performed operas of those composed during the explosive inter-war period. Schoenbergs Moses and Aaron, also composed during the early 1930s and, like Lulu, left unfinished, is heard far less often.

Wozzeck was completed in 1922 and premiered in 1925. It is based on Woyzeck, the famed drama of Georg Buchner, who died of typhus in 1837 at the age of 23. (The spellings are different because the manuscript Buchner left behind was nearly illegible and Wozzeck was thought to be the title at the time Berg began composing his opera; a later edition corrected the mistake.) Buchner was a revolutionary figure, influenced by utopian socialism, and Woyzeck, along with the opera based on it, clearly indicts militarism and social oppression.

Berg began work on Lulu in 1929, amid the growing threat of fascism both in Germany and elsewhere. The composer based himself on two plays by Frank Wedekind, who was active at the turn of the 20th century. Wedekind was a German playwright and critic of existing society, whose work focused on exposing bourgeois hypocrisy and puritanism, especially on sexual matters.

Earth Spirit (1895) and Pandoras Box (1904) were originally conceived as one play. Berg had seen both of these works by the time he was 20 years old, and some 25 years later he began work on the opera that followed the life of Lulu, the sexually magnetic woman at the center of both dramas.

Berg worked on the opera intermittently over the next six years. It grew to proportions far greater than the 90-minute Wozzeck. He was interrupted in his work by other projects, and he also had to contend with the Nazi-inspired campaign against all forms of musical modernism, a campaign that became official policy in Germany after January 1933, and also grew in influence in Vienna in the years leading up to the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938. Bergs compositions, along with those of Schoenberg and others, were labeled degenerate music, and Berg was threatened in particular because of his association with the Jewish Schoenberg.

The orchestration of Lulus third and final act was sketched out but unfinished at Bergs death. After Schoenberg indicated he did not have the time to complete the opera, the composers widow, who lived until 1976, forbade anyone else from taking up the task.

A two-act version of Lulu was premiered in Zurich in 1937, but it was not until 1979, after Helene Bergs death, that a three-act production, including a completion of the orchestration by Austrian composer Friedrich Cerha, premiered in Paris. Since then the opera has almost always been presented in this form.

Lulu is a very complex work, lasting nearly four hours and including two dozen significant characters. It is set in Vienna, Paris and London, in a period suggestive of the late 19th century. The opera, with its predominantly sexual themes, reflected the influence of Freuds psychoanalytic theories among the Central European intelligentsia during this period.

The libretto, written by Berg himself, follows the rise and fall of the title character, whose sexual power leads first to wealth and comfort, and then to destitution and death.

Lulu exercises her magnetic power over every man in sight, and at least one woman as well. The characters include her first husband, identified in this production only as The Physician; her second victim, The Painter; Dr. Schon, the wealthy publisher who first discovered Lulu, and becomes her third husband; Alwa, a composer who is Schons son and later becomes another of Lulus lovers; and the Countess Geschwitz, a lesbian who falls madly in love with Lulu and follows her from Paris to London.

Act I finds Lulu steadily growing in power. The Physician dies of a heart attack when he discovers his wife being romanced by The Painter. The Painter then marries Lulu, but soon after slits his own throat when Schon tells him of Lulus lurid past. Lulu, who has long been Schons mistress, marries the wealthy publisher, after demanding that he break off his engagement to his fiancee.

Act II witnesses the accumulation of events that will eventually be the undoing of the title character. The luxurious existence of Schon and Lulu is disturbed by the continued attention devoted to Lulu by Alwa and Countess Geschwitz, among numerous others. When Schon orders Lulu to shoot herself to protect his reputation, she turns the gun on him instead.

An orchestral interlude portrays the sequences of arrest, trial, imprisonment, and Lulus escape from the hospital to which she has been confined after contracting cholera. Alwa, the newest of Lulus conquests, goes to Paris with her.

In the final act Lulu and Alwa are enjoying a lavish lifestyle that is disturbed by various attempts to blackmail Lulu as Schons murderer. At the same time, the speculative investment in railway shares that is financing this lifestyle suddenly collapses. The final scene of the opera finds Lulu and Alwa, followed by the Countess, in London, where Lulu is working as a prostitute.

Here the mirror-like character of the librettothe rise and fallfinds vivid expression, as Lulu brings back to her pathetic living space three clients who are played by the same performers as Lulus first three victims: the Physician, the Painter and Schon. The first of the clients is the Professor, the second an African Prince, and finally Jack the Ripper. Lulu argues with this latest client, and in a moment her death cries are heard from her room, after which Jack the Ripper completes the carnage by killing the devoted Countess.

The critics and the team involved in the new production have focused almost exclusively on the grim psychosexual themes of Lulu, which undoubtedly figured prominently in the composers own conception of the work. Berg turned toward a more psychological approach in this opera compared to Wozzeck.

At the same time, Lulu brings some other themes and associations to mind. It is certainly not the antithesis of Wozzeck in its handling of social questions. Particularly in the scene of the share collapse and the direct impact this has on Lulus fortunes, we see echoes of the early 1930s, scenes of decadence worthy of artists George Grosz and John Heartfield, and suggestions of the bankruptcy of the capitalist social order. Just as Buchner a century earlier had indicated that Woyzecks murderous jealousy was the product of social circumstances, so Lulus fate is also at least partly a commentary on society.

In this sense, Lulu is somewhat reminiscent in its theme of The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny, the operatic masterpiece by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht that premiered in March 1930, while Berg was engaged in work on Lulu. Mahagonny, which contains some of the most famous musical numbers in the Brecht-Weill collaboration (Alabama Song, Benares Song), tells the story of the search for wealth in a mythical Wild West America that ends in disaster. It is a parable of the decay and savagery of capitalism. Like the Threepenny Opera, it was banned by the Nazis and virtually disappeared for several decades, before being revived in the 1960s.

In Lulu, we have the rise and fall of a powerful woman who sells her most valuable asset, her sexual power. She begins essentially as a high-priced courtesan, and she ends her life as a desperate prostitute.

Lulus musical language, however, is very different from that of Mahagonny. Atonality, pioneered by Schoenberg about a quarter-century before Lulu, represented musical experimentation and a reaction against the lush harmonies of late romanticism. It also reflected, even if indirectly, an atmosphere of crisis, amid growing awareness of the social and political contradictions that would explode in a few short years in world war and revolution.

By the time Berg wrote the works for which he is most famous, the twelve-tone system that had by then emerged became, in the hands of many composers, an expression of despair over the fate of humanity in the wake of the First World War, followed by the crisis of the Weimar Republic and the isolation of the Russian Revolution.

The 1920s were a period of debate between different musical trends, as even the briefest hearing of Mahagonny and Lulu will attest. The debate was severely distorted and cut off, with composers forced into exile or placed under immense pressure by the triumph of Fascism on the one hand and the totalitarian rule of the Stalinist bureaucracy in the USSR on the other.

These conditions led some sections of the artistic intelligentsia to draw very pessimistic conclusions, and it is not possible to hear Bergs lengthy Lulu without feeling this element strongly.

Bergs genius enabled him to present these moods in a way that is, at least in part, musically and dramatically effective. One feels the element of social criticism, but even more the mood of despair.

The opera uses Sprechstimme, the German term signifying a vocal technique between singing and speaking. This method is used to convey varying moods, almost all of them bleak. The coloratura soprano role of Lulu is of course central. It requires, in addition to a powerful voice and vocal technique, the ability to shift moods rapidly between those of exhilaration, fear, agitation, desperation and despair.

The performances in the latest production were for the most part excellent. Especially impressive was Marlis Petersen as Lulu (who has sung the role numerous times). Among some of the other major roles, leading American mezzo-soprano Susan Graham was Countess Geschwitz, Johan Reuter sang Dr. Schon/Jack the Ripper, and Daniel Brenna was Alwa.

Lulus changing moods were powerfully on display in the first scene of Act II, ending with the murder of her patron Schon, and even more so in the first scene of Act III, as Lulu schemes for survival in the face of blackmail threats and her impending re-arrest.

The production as a whole cut across some of the strengths of the performances, and the reasons for this were made clear by the director himself.

Kentridge has spoken at some length on how he views the opera. In the Met program, ignoring all social and historical elements, he describes the opera as about the fragility or impossibility of desire  in each case, this impossibility of desire ends in disaster

Its about the realpolitik of sex, the engine that drives desire, Kentridge continues. And its a real opera in the sense that, by the end, there are many bodies strewn across the stage.

The director apparently thinks dead bodies are a quintessential feature of grand opera. There are certainly many dead bodies in operas of the 19th and early 20th centuries, but they are far from their only feature, or even the main one. Indeed, opera is often unfairly caricatured in the fashion suggested by Kentridges comment.

The above approach also found expression when Kentridge attempted to bring back the kind of animation he used for the Mets production of Dmitri Shostakovichs early opera The Nose back in 2010. For Lulu he worked with the same team, including co-director Luc De Wit, set designer Sabine Theunissen, projection designer Catherine Meyburgh and lighting designer Urs Schonebaum.

The combination of animation and screen projections on walls, along with sliding panels, worked at least a portion of the time in Shostakovichs experimental opera based on Gogols famous satire of bureaucracy. In Lulu, however, it was much less successful. The more complex libretto, not to mention the music, demands close attention, and Kentridges images and projections posed something of a dilemma. The different elements of the production seemed at war with one another. One could either allow the fast-moving projections, evoking the era of German Expressionism, to slide by as a form of vague background, or one could try to pay closer attention to themat the expense of the opera itself!

It must be said, as far as the opera itself, that hours of the unrelieved twelve-tone musical language becomes monotonous. The overwhelmingly bleak mood and message also threatens to become tedious.

The latest revival of Lulu was an opportunity to see a work of some significance in musical history. One came away with an appreciation for Bergs genius, a feeling for the period in which this work was composed, but also the conclusion that the musical language represented something of a blind alley. Bergs softening of atonality was in its own way an admission that the twelve-tone method was in part an artificial schema, a cry of frustration and a turning away from the challenges of writing for a broader audience.
The MBTA Fiscal and Management Control Board (FMCB), appointed after last winters systemic breakdown of the eastern Massachusetts public transportation system, issued its first annual report December 22. Calling them tough choices, the report threatens layoffs, fare hikes and privatization of services.

In a coordinated attack on workers, management of the MBTA (Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority, known as the T) released payroll figures in December, listing by name the 24 percent of hourly T employees who have made $100,000 or more in 2015. One day before the FMCB reports release, the board approved a policy allowing for a 10 percent fare increase in 2016.

The FMCB was established by the Democratic Party-controlled state legislature and subsequently appointed by Republican Governor Charlie Baker, who was inaugurated shortly before the 2015 winter crisis that saw record snowfall. Baker, who in May and June forced thousands of state workers into early retirement, sees the MBTAs breakdown as an opportunity to attack public transportation.

The FMCB report proposes to put the squeeze on workers by shifting salaries from the capital budget to the operating budget and then cutting operating expenses. The expense reduction in the capital budget$52 million in the fiscal year beginning July 2016is pennies compared to the MBTAs deferred maintenance backlog of more than $7 billion.

The report then proposes to cut operating expenses by $187 million so that this amount, allocated by the legislature in fiscal year 2016, can be used for capital rather than operating expenses. These cuts, to be taken mainly from workers wages and benefits, total less than 25 percent of the $765 million that needs to be spent per year to bring the deferred maintenance backlog to $0 by 2040. As in the past, the majority of capital funding will still come from bonds, which will increase the debt service cuts in the operating budget. In the boards opinion, however, debt in itself is not a bad thing for the MBTA.

In reality, debt is not a bad thing for the predatory lenders that will receive the interest. The 2015 law establishing the FMCB stipulated that no existing rights of the holders of bonds, notes and other financing obligations issued by or on behalf of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority  shall be impaired, and nothing herein shall be construed to alter or grant the power to alter existing agreements securing such bonds or other obligations, hedge agreements or investment contracts pertaining thereto.

One is tempted to compile a glossary of the board reports euphemisms. Significant internal cost savings = layoffs, reducing the rate of future forecast operating expense growth = cuts to workers health insurance and pensions, alternative approaches to service delivery = privatization, workforce cost savings = wage freezes, etc.

While the FMCB promises to work with stakeholders and improve the MBTAs customer-facing transparency, it stresses in the report its authority to make and impose changes to the public transportation system. As with its appointment, its operation will be undemocratic. The governor appoints all five board members, with one referred by the House speaker and one by the Senate president.

The viciousness of the coming attack on workers wages is demonstrated by managements publishing of the names of all workers who made more than $100,000 this year. The Boston Globe, traditionally considered liberal, and the Boston Herald, traditionally right-wing, have picked up on the attack by also questioning the amount of overtime earned by the 1,551 hourly workers whose data was released.

The total overtime of approximately $75 million that will be paid this year pales in comparison to the more than $400 million in debt service that will be paid to predatory lenders.

The pay of many of the workers also included delayed back pay from union contracts, going back as far as five years. Managements own numbers show that the average MBTA rail operator makes $35.58 per hour and the average bus operator makes $34.99. For a 40-hour workweek all year long, these wages total $72,780 to $74,000. The Boston area has a high cost of living, with some estimates putting the average monthly rent for a two-bedroom apartment at $2,600.

Many public transportation workers put their lives on the line to earn their wages. A 2014 National Transportation Safety Board Special Investigation Report on Railroad and Rail Transit Roadway Worker Protection included a January 2007 incident in which two roadway workers were killed and two injured when they were struck by an MBTA commuter rail train. In May 2012 a vehicle malfunction killed a worker who was fueling a ferry in Quincy. In January 2005, three workers were hit by an Orange Line subway train while clearing snow from the tracks, killing one.

Baker and the FMCB are also preparing to fight existing union contracts that include binding arbitration clauses that provide some protection to workers. So far their plans for privatization have been limited to some bus routes, but the state government is looking to go further. After the data on workers wages was released, House Speaker Robert DeLeo boasted to McClatchy that we suspended the Pacheco Law, which is something that we have been talking about for many, many a year. The Pacheco Law had put in place limits on privatizing work that could be done by state employees, including MBTA maintenance personnel.

The release of the salary data also paves the way for pitting MBTA workers against riders, who are being threatened with a 10 percent fare hike. The media has deliberately stirred up this antagonism. However, the fact that less than 10 percent of Massachusetts tax revenues come from corporations is kept hidden, as is the regressive nature of the sales tax from which the legislature passes on revenues to the MBTA.

While a 2013 state law allowed the MBTA to raise fares by 5 percent every two years, the FMCB has ruled that it can impose a 10 percent hike every two years, given the wording of the law. The most recent fare hike, in 2014, was 5 percent.
Over the past four weeks at least 24 people have been killed by near-record flooding along the Mississippi River, caused by extensive storms throughout the central United States. An estimated 17 million people live in areas placed under flood warning, according to a report last week by the National Weather Service, or around 5 percent of the population of the entire country.

The surging floodwaters continued downstream over the weekend from the St. Louis area, where extensive flooding from a Mississippi River tributary inundated parts of the citys suburbs, into largely rural southern Illinois.

Residents of several small rural towns in Alexander County, the southernmost county in the state, were forced to evacuate after multiple levees were overtopped or breached last week. On Friday Len Small Levee, which protects 500 people, was overtopped by floodwaters, two days before it was expected to crest.

On Saturday morning floodwaters breached the levees in Thebes, Illinois, a small town of 436 people in the southernmost tip of the state, sending water from the Mississippi River as much as six miles inland and cutting off the towns of Miller City and Fayville, according to a local television station. No injuries were reported.

Flood levels have already reached record highs in some places, surpassing even the infamous 1993 flood, which killed 50 people and caused $15 billion in damages. In Cape Girardeau, Missouri flood levels reached 48.86 feet on New Years Day, surpassing the 1993 peak, and continued to rise. At least 30 homes were destroyed in the city of nearly 39,000, according to an Associated Press report.

In Thebes, flood waters reached record levels on New Years Eve and continued to rise, cresting on Saturday at over 47 feet. The Ohio River, which also borders Alexander County and which empties into the Mississippi River, also experienced flooding, reaching 56 feet on Sunday, 16 feet above flood stage.

At least 15 of the recorded deaths occurred in Missouri where flood waters inundated suburbs around St. Louis. Flooding reached record levels last week along the Meramec River, a tributary of the Mississippi River just south of St. Louis, flooding nearby neighborhoods and forcing the closure of major highways. Flooding on the Meramec also knocked out several water processing facilities in the St. Louis area.

On Tuesday, the Fenton Wastewater Treatment plant was taken off-line after being flooded with water from the Meramec River, resulting in raw sewage being diverted into the Mississippi River for several days. Shortly afterward the Grand Glaize Water Treatment Plant was also taken off-line after a local levee breach.

Memphis, Tennessee is the next major city in the path of the floodwaters, where the river is expected to crest on January 8. The Memphis area suffered extensive flooding and roughly $2 billion in property damage during the last major flooding of the Mississippi River in 2011.

The floods along the Mississippi, unusual during the winter months, are due to severe storms throughout the central United States which occurred late last month, resulting in rainfalls of over six inches throughout much of the Midwest, as well as a spate of tornadoes which killed more than 40 people, including 11 in the Dallas, Texas area. The St. Louis area saw the wettest December in its history with nearly a foot of rainfall, smashing the old record of 7.82 inches.

The Mississippi River and its tributaries drain more than a third of the land area of the continental United States, meaning much of the rainfall from these storms have been funneled into the river. A similar phenomenon occurred in 2011 when snow from record-setting blizzards the previous winter melted in the spring, resulting in large-scale flooding along the Mississippi River.

On Saturday, President Barack Obama declared a federal state of emergency in Missouri, on top of the pre-existing state of emergency declared by Missouri Governor Jay Nixon, who deployed Missouri National Guardsmen to areas impacted by flooding. In Tennessee a state of emergency declared on December 23, during the initial heavy rainstorms, remains in effect. On December 30, Governor Bobby Jindal declared a state of emergency in Louisiana, despite the fact that the state has not yet received any significant flooding.

In Louisiana, the US Army Corps of Engineers is deliberating whether to open the Bonnet Carre Spillway, which lies just upriver from New Orleans and is designed to protect the city from flooding. The last time the Spillway was opened was during the 2011 floods. In the states capital, Baton Rouge, 80 miles upriver from New Orleans, the river is expected to crest as high as 44 feet by January 19, flooding low-lying areas outside of the levee system and significantly impacting shipping activity.

The flooding has already significantly impacted shipping and transportation infrastructure throughout the region. The Coast Guard closed 76 miles of the Mississippi River south of St. Louis to shipping traffic. The Mississippi River is one of the most important shipping thoroughfares in the country, with 60 percent of US grain exports traveling down river to ports in southern Louisiana.

An oil pipeline stretching from Oklahoma to a refinery in Illinois, a portion of which runs along the bottom of the Mississippi River, was also shut down. Amtrak passenger rail service was suspended for four days last week after high water inundated the tracks at some points along the line. Interstate highways in the St. Louis area were also closed by flooding from the Meramec, wreaking havoc on commuters traveling to work.

Numerous oil refineries also lie on or near the banks of the Mississippi River, whose operations may be impacted by the flooding. Flooding along the Mississippi river temporarily reduced US refining capacity by 2.3 million barrels per day in 2011.
Washingtons closest ally in the Arab world, the dictatorial monarchy of Saudi Arabia, ushered in the New Year with a torrent of blood, simultaneously executing 47 prisoners.

This wave of state murders unfolded at 12 separate prisons across the kingdom. At eight of them, the condemned were beheaded, while at four others they were cut down by firing squads. The headless corpses were then crucified and left hanging in public as a hideous warning to any who would even contemplate opposing the absolute power of the ruling royal family.

The most prominent of those put to death was Nimr al-Nimr, a Muslim cleric and leading spokesman for Saudi Arabias oppressed Shiite minority. Nimr, who was interrogated under torture and then brought before a kangaroo court, was convicted on charges that included disobeying the ruler and encouraging, leading and participating in demonstrations.

These crimes stemmed from the mass protests that swept Saudi Arabias predominantly Shiite Eastern Province in 2011, expressing popular demands for democratic reforms and an end to the Sunni monarchys discrimination and oppression of the Shiite population.

Three other Shiite prisoners were executed alongside Nimr, including one who was a minor at the time of his alleged offense. The rest of those put to death were Sunnis accused of involvement in Al Qaeda attacks that took place in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2006.

The barbaric killing spree carried out by the regime in Riyadh was a calculated political act driven by both domestic and international objectives. The Saudi monarchy joined the execution of Nimr with those of the alleged Al Qaeda members to drive home its identification of any opposition to its rule as an act of terrorism. In the first instance, its aim is to intimidate the Shiite minority, which constitutes approximately 15 percent of the population and is concentrated in the Eastern Province, a key oil-producing region.

At the same time, the House of Saud was sending a bloody signal that it will ruthlessly suppress any attempt to bring home the kind of Islamist terrorism it has fomented, funded and ideologically inspired elsewhere, with particularly horrific effect in Syria. The monarchy is increasingly fearful that it could fall prey to the Frankenstein monster it has unleashed in the form of groups such as ISIS and the Al Nusra Front, whose Wahabi religious ideology and mass beheadings are modeled after the state terror imposed in Saudi Arabia itself.

More generally, the whore-masters and parasites who make up Saudi Arabias ruling family fear that conditions are building up for a social explosion that could land them in the same spot as previous royal houses, with their own heads on the chopping block. The plummeting of oil prices, itself a product of the decision, backed by Washington, to reject any reduction in outputwith the aim of undermining the economies of both Russia and Iranis beginning to take its toll on the Saudi economy itself.

At the end of last year, the Saudi regime revealed that it had run a $98 billion budget deficit in 2015 and was anticipating a similar shortfall this year. In a desperate attempt to raise revenue, it has imposed a 50 percent increase on gas prices and is embarking on further cuts in public spending, particularly the economic subsidies that have allowed the large impoverished layers of Saudi society to eke out a living. The Financial Times described the new budget as an exercise in radical austerity.

Under these conditions, the sharp rise in beheadingsat least 158 people were killed in this manner in 2015is intended to serve as a means of mass intimidation.

On the international front, the state murder of Sheikh Nimr represents a calculated provocation, designed to radically intensify sectarian strife throughout the region. It is aimed at provoking Iran, whose Shiite Muslim leadership responded with warnings of divine vengeance. The execution triggered demonstrations that included firebomb attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consular facility in the Iranian city of Mashhad. Riyadh has responded by severing diplomatic relations.

The Saudi monarchy is determined to blow up any attempt to end the civil war in Syria without first achieving the original aim of it and its Western alliesregime-change. By exacerbating tensions with Iran, the principal ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Saudis hope to prevent any such settlement and to create the conditions for war with Iran itself.

In what is hardly a coincidence, on the same day as the mass executions, Riyadh announced an end to a supposed cease-fire in Yemen, where the Saudi military has led an illegal and deadly intervention aimed at suppressing a revolt by the Houthis, an insurgent movement whose members are drawn from the Shia population.

The execution of the Saudi Shiite cleric is designed to widen an already spiraling regional conflict in the Middle East. Like the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, it is an event with the potential of ultimately drawing the major powers into a far bloodier global conflagration.

The main responsibility for the crimes of the Saudi regime rests with its principal patron, US imperialism. The savage monarchy in Saudi Arabia is not merely some remnant of feudal backwardness. It is rather the direct product of US imperialist intervention in the Middle East, from the concessions secured by Texaco and Standard Oil in the 1930s and 1940s to the current massive arms sales that make the Saudi monarchy todays number one customer of Americas military-industrial complex.

Washington has responded to the mass beheadings in Saudi Arabia as an event of little consequence, having nothing to do with the policies of the US itself. Both the White House and the State Department issued mealy-mouthed statements reaffirming pro forma calls for the Saudi regime to respect human rights but making no direct condemnation of the political murder of Sheikh Nimr.

The Pentagon and the CIA are full partners in the Saudi monarchys repression at home, while the US has provided the bombs and targeting information, along with the midair refueling of Saudi bombers, that have made possible the nine-month war in Yemena criminal aggression that has killed thousands of Yemeni civilians while turning hundreds of thousands more into homeless refugees.

The blood-soaked Saudi monarchy is a manifestation of the predatory policy pursued by US imperialism in the Middle East. Washingtons defense of and reliance upon this ultra-reactionary regime expose all of the pretexts given for the successive US military interventions in the region, from the so-called war on terrorism to the supposed promotion of democracy and human rights.

In the final analysis, any policy that is predicated on an alliance with the House of Saud is a house of cards that will come crashing down with the revival of the class struggle in the Middle East.
In the last days of 2015, the Polish parliament hastily adopted a new National media law allowing the Law and Justice (PiS) government to take control of public television and radio. The new bill terminates the current public media executives terms in office, giving the right to their appointments directly to the Ministry of Treasury, a government institution. Polish president Andrzej Duda (formerly a member of PiS) is expected to sign the bill soon. The law would then immediately become effective.

Top executives in the public broadcasting sector were previously elected through a system of open competition by the National Broadcasting Council (KRRiT). The minister of treasury will now be allowed to appoint and dismiss the top officials as he pleases.

In parliament, PiS delegates stated that the bill would civilise the media that ignore their own mission to the national community by propagating ideological and social trends [that are] unaccepted by the majority of the population [and] often sympathetic to opinions hostile to the Polish state.

The small media bill allows for the immediate purge of current media personnel critical of the antidemocratic actions of the new PiS government.

Since winning the parliamentary elections in October 2015, the PiS government has begun an aggressive take-over of public institutions. Utilising its majority in the parliament (Sejm), PiS rapidly disempowered the Constitutional Tribunal in order to push through anticonstitutional legislation, including tightening government control over the civil service and public media.

Polish public TV reaches more than 90 percent of the countrys population daily. It offers two main national channels, a separate news (TVP Info) and a culture channel (TVP Kultura), 16 regional channels, as well as TVP Polonia designed for the Polish population living abroad. Operating through over 200 stations, Polish Radio reaches more than half of the countrys 38 million residents.

The new media bill is said to be only the first of a series of reforms aimed at turning the countrys public media into a national media system. Other reforms will include changes to the education system that will serve to foster the propagation of nationalism among children. The government also wants to step up the surveillance and censorship of the Internet. It plans legislation that would allow the police and intelligence services to monitor the Internet as well as the private telephone communication of all citizens.

In a protest against the new media law, several top executives of the main public television stations (TVP channels) resigned on New Years Eve. These included Piotr Radziszewski (TVP1), Jerzy Kapuscinski (TVP2), Katarzyna Janowska (TVP Kultura) and Tomasz Sygut (TV Information Agency). Several programs, including TVP Kulturas Grand Press award-winning talk show Hala Odlotow (The Hall of Departures) and TVP2 Tomasz Lis na zywo (Tomasz Lis live) are expected to be taken off the air.

Katarzyna Janowska, the chief executive of TVP Kultura, has been very critical of the PiS proposal to subject public culture to censorship and financial blackmail. In one of the recent editions of Hala Odlotow entitled Is Poland turning brown? Janowska criticised the nationalistic and fascistic trends in Polish politics. In her goodbye Facebook post she wrote Do not be afraid!

Tomasz Lis, editor-in-chief of Newsweek Poland and host of a prominent political talk show on TVP2, announced that he would continue his work somewhere else. Lis is one of Polands best-known public figures. His show, Tomasz Lis live, was watched by more than 2 million viewers each week.

Protests against the new broadcast law were also staged by the public radio program Jedynka (PR 1), which started broadcasting the Polish anthem followed by the hymn of the European Union, Beethovens Ode to Joy.

Several European journalists organisations such as the European Federation of Journalists (EFJ), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Association of European Journalists and Reporters Without Borders (RSF) urged the Polish government to withdraw the bill.

The law has served to heighten already strong tensions within the EU. In an interview with the German Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, the EU commissar for media, Gunther Oettinger, announced that he would advocate placing Poland under EU control because of breaches of the EU rule of law at the next session of the EU Commission on January 13. If this mechanism was implemented, the EU could inaugurate proceedings against Poland on the basis of breaching core European values. While this has never happened before, Brussels could go so far as revoking the voting rights of Poland within the EU.

In recent months, tensions between the EU and Poland, and particularly Germany and Poland, have risen due to the policies and agenda of the PiS government. PiS is highly critical of the EU and oriented toward a close alliance with US imperialism in its war drive against Russia.

Statements by EU representatives in defence of democracy in Poland are utterly hypocritical and serve to cover the differences in foreign and domestic policy between Brussels and Berlin on the one hand, and Warsaw on the other. The EU has not shied away from undermining fundamental democratic rights and mechanisms when it comes to implementing austerity measures in Greece and Italy, and it collaborates closely with dictatorial regimes such as Turkey and Saudi Arabia. (See also: The shift to the right in Poland and the crisis of the EU)

The new media law introduced by PiS constitutes a direct assault on freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It is aimed at subordinating all publicly funded broadcasting institutions to the political agenda of the government. The PiS government will use its control over the media to propagate its right-wing nationalistic views and agenda.

The partys head, Jarosaw Kaczynski, is a professed admirer of the authoritarian regime of the dictator Jozef Pisudski who ruled Polands second Republic in the 1920s and 1930s. He is a fierce nationalist and racist, and promotes both anti-German and anti-Russian sentiments.

The party also includes openly fascistic elements. The current minister of defence in the PiS government, Antoni Macierewicz is a well-known Russophobe and an anti-Semite. Macierewicz was a leading anti-Communist figure in the opposition to the Stalinist regime and in the Solidarity movement. Macierewicz used to be a member of the far-right League of Polish Families at a point when the party openly promoted the views of Roman Dmowski, the founding father of Polish fascism.

In an interview in 2002, Macierewicz, declared that there was a Jewish world conspiracy in media and politics. He expressed his support for the authenticity of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a notorious anti-Semitic pamphlet from 1905 that historically also inspired the Russian far-right and Germanys National Socialists. Macierewicz never distanced himself from these views. Occupied Poland was the main site of the annihilation of European Jewry by the Nazis with some 3 million out of 3.5 million Polish Jews murdered. While the Nazis organized the Holocaust, Polish fascists, although fervently anti-German, supported the Nazi murder of the Jews in Poland.

Following the example of the radio station Radio Maryja, which aggressively promotes the Catholic Church, PiS intends to now use the media to propagate Polish nationalism, homophobia, anti-Semitism and anti-Russian sentiments.
In the latest in a long line of bigoted diatribes against democracy and equality, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia declared Saturday, in remarks at a Catholic school in Louisiana, that there was no constitutional barrier to the US government discriminating in favor of religious believers against non-believers.

Scalia was speaking at Archbishop Rummel High School in the New Orleans suburb of Metairie. He rejected claims that the First Amendment requires the government to be neutral between religion and non-religion. To tell you the truth, there is no place for that in our constitutional tradition, he said. Where did that come from?

The First Amendment to the US Constitution reads as follows: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and the state of Virginias declaration of religious freedom, described the First Amendment as establishing a wall of separation between church and state. That constitutional tradition was reaffirmed in such decisions as Everson vs. Board of Education (1947), when Justice Hugo Black wrote in his opinion, Neither a state nor the Federal Government can set up a church. Neither can pass laws which aid one religion, aid all religions, or prefer one religion over another.

Scalia adheres to a very different theory. He told his audience in Louisiana, To be sure, you can't favor one denomination over another, but [you] cant favor religion over non-religion? On other occasions, he has specified Judeo-Christian religions, in particular, as legitimate objects of government support, provided no one sect is preferred.

In his remarks in Louisiana, Scalia elaborated a remarkable theory of American history: the United States won wars, and even specific battles, because of divine favor, a payoff from the divinity for lip service from American politicians.

"God has been very good to us, Scalia said. That we won the revolution was extraordinary. The Battle of Midway was extraordinary. I think one of the reasons God has been good to us is that we have done him honor. Unlike the other countries of the world that do not even invoke his name, we do him honor. In presidential addresses, in Thanksgiving proclamations and in many other ways.

Presumably, the bombs dropped by Obama on Syria and Iraq, the drone-fired missiles employed for targeted assassinations in Yemen, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and even the bullets fired by Chicago cops into the bodies of fleeing youth are similar manifestations of divine favor.

Scalia actually made a labored linguistic argument (too abstruse and indirect to detail here), tracing the separation of church and state back to words spoken by a serpent, addressing a woman named Eve. In other words, Jeffersons wall of separation is really the spawn of Satan!

The Supreme Court justice claimed that the interpretation of the First Amendment to bar government support for religious institutions dates back only to the 1960s. Without acknowledging his real target, Scalia, an ultra-right Catholic, was aiming his fire at another Catholic, President John F. Kennedy, who made perhaps the most famous and categorical affirmation of the separation of church and state during his 1960 presidential campaign.

Seeking to rebut suggestions by Protestant fundamentalists that a Catholic president would take orders from the Pope, Kennedy spoke before an association of Protestant ministers in Houston, Texas. His words are worth recalling, for they underscore the enormous decline in social and political thought in bourgeois circles over the past half century.

I believe in an America where the separation of church and state is absolute, Kennedy declared, where no Catholic prelate would tell the president (should he be Catholic) how to act, and no Protestant minister would tell his parishioners for whom to vote; where no church or church school is granted any public funds or political preference; and where no man is denied public office merely because his religion differs from the president who might appoint him or the people who might elect him. He added, I do not speak for my church on public matters, and the church does not speak for me.

Scalias comments are particularly provocative because the court is hearing arguments later this year in yet another case brought by religious organizations claiming that the Obama administrations Affordable Care Act violates their religious freedom by requiring hospitals, colleges and other institutions run by religious groups to offer contraceptive coverage to employees.

He criticized his fellow justices who have voted to uphold the separation of church and state and see it as prohibiting discrimination in favor of religious groups in setting government policy. He declared, Dont cram it down the throats of an American people that has always honored God on the pretext that the Constitution requires it.

Scalia added, in another attack on constitutional principles, that courts, including the Supreme Court, were wrong to insist that search and seizure is unconstitutional without a warrant. We made that up, he said, claiming that the constitutional requirement applies only to homes, not other premises, or vehicles, or people walking down the street.

The senior justicehe was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1986 and confirmed by a unanimous bipartisan Senate votehas a long record of such anti-democratic sophistries. In December 2014, after the release of the Senate Intelligence Committee report on CIA torture, Scalia declared that the constitutional prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment did not apply to torture for interrogation purposes, since that torture was not intended as punishment, but rather to extract information.

Last month, he interrupted arguments over an affirmative action case to declare that African-American students might be better off not going to top universities where they do not do well, as opposed to having them go to a less-advanced school, a slower-track school, where they do well. This philosophy would take American education back to the days before Brown v. Board of Education banned segregated schools.

In that respect, the location of Scalias latest outpouring of ignorance and misinformation may have some significance. Metairie is the area once represented in the Louisiana state legislature by former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke, who was elected as a Republican in 1989 and served for three years.

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25 Years Ago | 50 Years Ago | 75 Years Ago | 100 Years Ago

25 years ago: On eve of war on Iraq, Pentagon muzzles press

On January 4, 1991, on the eve of the US-imposed deadline for Iraq to unconditionally withdraw its forces from Kuwait, Pentagon representatives met with Washington bureau chiefs of the major US news organizations on the just-announced press guidelines for the impending war. In what was described as an acrimonious two-hour session, the Pentagon was said to have backed down on the restrictions announced the previous day in Saudi Arabia.

By that time, the US and allied regimes in Saudi Arabia had assembled the largest invasion force since Hitler launched Operation Barbarossa in 1941 against the Soviet Union. US commanders issued a 12-page document of restrictions for war reporting to journalists on the ground, which laid down rules far more stringent than any measures taken in the Vietnam war.

Even after Pentagon officials later softened some of the restrictions in response to an outcry by media representatives, the so-called guidelines represented an unprecedented attack on press freedoms. Reporters were banned from any independent travel. Military-organized press pools were the only means by which reporters would be allowed in the war zone. All reporters were required to remain with your military escort at all times.

All reports were subject to a security review before being submitted for publication. A military censor would have the power to override any objections from the journalist and hold articles until reviewed by press headquarters and then the Pentagon if deemed unreleasable.

Eight publications, including The Nation, Harpers, The Village Voice and In These Times, filed a lawsuit with a US District Court on January 7, challenging the constitutionality of the rules. Major broadcast networks ABC, CBS, NBC and CNN wrote a letter to Defense Secretary Richard Cheney to complain about the restrictions.

The publication in Newsweek magazine that same week of a report titled THE NUCLEAR OPTION: THINKING THE UNTHINKABLE, revealed what the Pentagon feared. The weekly newsmagazine reported on a high-level debate within the US government over the possible use of the atomic bomb in Iraq. The magazine said, the US commander in the gulf, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, requested authorization to explode a nuclear device high over Iraq at the start of hostilities. Such a blast would generate a massive electromagnetic pulse, which would shut down every electronic device in Iraq. Newsweek reported that the use of atomic weapons was rejected by the White House, but only in favor of using conventional weapons in such a concentrated way, including hundreds of cruise missiles and over 2,000 air strikes per day, that more Iraqis would be killed than by a nuclear strike. Without ever splitting an atom, the magazine concludes, US forces may yet subject the Iraqis to something like ... [a] nuclear holocaust...

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50 years ago: Massacres continue in Indonesia

On January 12, 1966, the first reports of the extent of the slaughter of members and supporters of the Indonesian Communist Party appeared in the capitalist press. Experts from Britain claimed the total killed exceeded 150,000 since the aborted October 1, 1965 CIA-backed military coup.

All leaders of the three-million-strong Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) were said to have been killed or captured.

US diplomats and CIA officers helped orchestrate the massacre which ultimately claimed one million lives. Masterminded by CIA Director William Colby, it was the biggest anticommunist pogrom in history. US officials worked hand in hand with the death squads of General Suharto to exterminate every known member and supporter of the PKI. Suhartos men were ordered to report back after each set of killings so the names could be taken off the CIA death lists which were drawn up in advance.

Gangs of youth from right-wing Muslim organizations were instigated by the military to carry out mass killings. There were reports of one river being choked with corpses. On the island of Bali, a PKI stronghold, at least 35,000 were killed by early January. One German reporter told of bodies lying along the roads or heaped in pits and of half-burned villages where villagers were terrified to leave the shells of their huts.

Throughout the mass extermination, the leaders of the Stalinist Communist Parties of China and the Soviet Union urged workers and peasants to offer no resistance. Even as the massacres continued, the PKI leadership continued to instruct workers and peasants to give full support to the bourgeois nationalist regime of President Sukarno, which had paved the way for the bloodbath.

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75 years ago: AFL bars strikes by building trades

On January 7, 1941, leaders of 19 national unions affiliated with the Building Trades Department of the American Federation of Labor announced that they would bar strikes on construction sites related to military defense projects.

There is no reason for strikes of any character on defense building projects, declared John Coyne, president of the Building Trades Department. The unions pledged themselves to accept mediation of the Department of Labor if direct negotiations with the General Association of Contractors failed. If mediation failed, arbitration would decide contract disputes.

The decision was taken without any consultation of the 1.5 million members of the unions affected. It followed similar action taken by the AFLs Metal Trade Department, which represented 900,000 union members. In December AFL President William Green pledged,

We commit ourselves to avoid strikes ... for scarcely any cause.

The Building Trades Department decision also came one day after US President Franklin Roosevelt delivered his annual state of the union address in which he declared, the immediate need is a swift and driving increase in our armament production.

A free nation has the right to expect full cooperation from all groups, Roosevelt said, specifically mentioning labor.

American imperialism was launching a rapid military buildup to both supply British imperialism, embroiled in war with Nazi Germany, and at the same time prepare for conflict with Japan in the Pacific.

Under these conditions, the AFL bureaucracy was lining up behind Wall Streets war efforts and moving to sabotage any attempts by the working class to defend or increase its living standards.

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100 years ago: Allied troops complete evacuation of Gallipoli peninsula

On January 9, 1916, the final contingent of British troops left the Gallipoli peninsula, marking the end of the campaign launched in April 1914 with a decisive victory for the Ottoman Empire over the invasion by the Allied Powers including France, Britain, Australia and New Zealand.

Allied troops had first landed at Gallipoli on April 25, 1914. The move was aimed at securing control of the Dardanelles, a narrow strait that separates mainland Asia from the Balkans and connects the Black Sea to the Mediterranean. Control of the Dardanelles would have enabled the Allies to establish a new supply line to the Russian Empire, which had been cut off from British and French supplies by Germany and Austria-Hungary on the Eastern Front.

At a number of beaches, the landing parties were strongly opposed by Ottoman troops, with thousands of casualties reported in the first days after troops had disembarked. Turkish casualties were also high. One entire regiment, the 57th Infantry Regiment, perished attempting to repel the invaders with just bayonets.

Over the ensuing months, both sides launched a series of offensives and counteroffensives, with the peninsula known for brutal trench warfare. A major offensive by the Allies was successfully repelled in August. With the failure of the campaign increasingly apparent, the Allies prepared to disembark in December, 1914. In what is regarded as one of the most successful aspects of the campaign, Allied troops evaded Ottoman attacks during their withdrawal, avoiding casualties.

The number of Allied casualties throughout the campaign is estimated at around 250,000, or almost half of the troops who fought at Gallipoli. Turkish casualties are likewise thought to have been as high as 251,000.

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Washington compensation program paid out $9.8 million in 2014 to victims of violent crime, but many dont know it exists
In the political sphere, as in the public one, achieving prestige is very difficult and losing it is very easy. Last week, Education Minister Naftali Bennett earned a lot of points to his credit. His unambiguous words opposing the attacks on the Shin Bet and his condemnation of the Duma murderers were widely praised. Even the prime minister had not given the Shin Bet that much support until Bennett backed them publically.

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But every week has a weekend, and if for a moment we allowed ourselves to forget where the education minister came from and what he represents, it turned out the Education Ministry, headed by Bennett, decided to exclude the book "Borderlife" by Dorit Rabinyan  which deals with a love story between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man  from school curriculums.

The Education Ministry's reasoning for the exclusion makes one want to cry. Really. Crying over the darkness that is slowly coming down upon our lives. Crying because of the slow-but-steady takeover of extremist, racist worldviews  which, as in this case, are sometimes so blatant, and sometimes without us even being aware of it happening.

Minister of Education Naftali Bennett. Received credit for Duma comments (Photo: Yaron Brener)

Crying over the fact fundamentalists, no less, have taken over important issues, like the education of our children. Things that had we heard were happening elsewhere - we would have been shocked.

But this is happening here. And there are people here who hold the most important positions, who are trying to make us not think. To take over our collective consciousness. To fog up the reality of our lives. The will to preserve the "identity and heritage of students of all sectors" and the thought that "intimate relations between Jews and non-Jews threaten the separate identity"  these are arguments reminiscent of laws from the history of our nation that we would probably rather forget.

There's no way of softening the blow of the Pedagogic Secretariat's decision, which is backed by the education minister. What the ministry is telling us, without even masking its words too much, is that we need to teach our children that Jewish and Arab blood must not be mixed. That the existing state must be followed.

What are these if not racial laws. Of all the books in the world, which deal with complex subjects like murder, adultery, corruption, immorality  some of which our children read when studying for their matriculation exams  this book, which deals with love, in particular, was disqualified by the Education Ministry.

Dorit Rabinyan's 'Borderlife.' Won't be taught in school (Photo: Am Oved publishing)

The alarm clock started going off a long time ago. It was set off by Culture and Sport Minister Miri Regev's decisions over culture , it was set off by Knesset members' racist comments, it was set off by ministers' fascistic speeches. We apparently hit the off button and went back to sleep.

Now the alarm clock is going off again, with the exclusion of a book from the curriculum. A book that deals with the reality of our lives and attempts to rise above the fence separating us from our neighbors. A book that makes us think.

But we must not think. There's a fear that we, like the youths spoken of in the Secretariat's arguments, "don't have a systemic view which includes considerations of preserving the people's identity and the meaning of assimilation."

So let's hit the alarm clock. Let's turn it back off. Let's cover our heads with our blankets and go back to sleep.
The conversation began with a heart-rending cry. It was not so long after it turned out that a family member had committed the murder. It's not us, he told me, it's not what we have been trying to build all our lives. You know that.

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He didn't have to go to the trouble of saying that. I have known the extended family since the 1980s. So the following words are a personal testimony.

Tel Aviv Shooting It's government's responsibility to fight radicalization Yoaz Hendel Op-ed: Most Israeli Arabs want to live in peace and be part of the State of Israel, but they have no political power or support to fight the 'Wild West' taking place around them. The prime minister has no one else to blame for this situation but himself. It's government's responsibility to fight radicalization

I have been there, in Ar'ara and in Wadi Ara, dozens of times. We are talking about a large, well-known family. Attorney Sami Melhem, who represented the suspected murderer in the past, is a close friend. We have been engaging in a dialogue for years. A lot can be said about him and the family members. They were never among the radicals.

There were moments of crisis too. In 2006, the police tried to arrest one of the extended family members on suspicion of criminal activity. The attempted arrest ended in the detainee's killing. The police officers were accused of being trigger-happy. Dr. Asad Ghanem of Haifa University argued in an article published in Yedioth Ahronoth that the incident was "a targeted assassination in Wadi Ara." Something broke among the family members too. Riots erupted. Those were not easy days. Such incidents can destroy relations build over years.

The suspected murderer's father. In its condemnation of the act, the family represents the majority of Israel's Arabs (Photo: Hassan Shaalan)

A few more years passed and Nashat Melhem, who is suspected of carrying out the murder on Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Street on Friday, got into trouble when he tried to snatch a weapon from a soldier. He spent five years in jail. He was represented by Adv. Melhem. We occasionally pondered the possibility that the lawyer's clear, sane voice in favor of coexistence, against radicalism, required a further step. Going into politics. That may still happen.

Another family member, Jamal Melhem, was active in the Labor Party. For several years, he even served as an assistant to former Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who was like one of the family in the area.

The suspected murderer, according to the family's testimonies, did not undergo a radicalization process. He did not go to mosque. He may have been affected by his cousin's killing. He may have also become enchanted by the Islamic State. If that's the case, it happens to one in thousands. The unequivocal condemnation of the family, of the surroundings, of all Arab Knesset members, is real.

That is not always the case. Here are there, there is a tone of understanding and even justification of the "resistance." After all, Azmi Bishara, Hanin Zoabi and Raed Salah belong to the inciters' department. But this time, at least this time, the condemnation is real.

Israel's Arabs are dealing with a conflict between loyalty to the Palestinian people and loyalty to the State of Israel. It's not just the conflict which has been going on got 100 years now. There are problematic relations in Sweden and Germany too.

The fact that only few of Israel's Arabs have turned to hostile activity, as opposed to expressions of protest, is a badge of honor for both the Arabs and the Jews. There is incitement. There are inciters. But the Melhem family, where the murderer came from, represents the majority of Israel's Arabs when it condemns and disagrees with the act.

There is one more thing we should remember: The Jews dont like to be linked to the "price tag" hooligans. Let's not do to our neighbors what we hate. Let's not link the despicable murder to all Israeli Arabs.
The current intifada has been going on for three months. Whoever needed the deadly terror attack in Tel Aviv to understand is happening outside the city, is in need of self-examination.

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Welcome to the State of Israel, a state where governability is conditional. It has clear geographical borders, religion, race and gender. In Tel Aviv, one can't close off a balcony without the municipality's approval; outside, its a jungle.

PM vs. Israel's Arabs Netanyahu's ugly generalizations Shimon Shiffer Op-ed: The loyalty of most Israeli Arabs and their desire to live in this country are unquestionable, but the prime minister keeps inciting - just like he did on Election Day. Netanyahu's ugly generalizations

Benjamin Netanyahu referred to the assailant as a murderer rather than as a terrorist. Channel 2 used the same term, and was attacked immediately afterwards by some people on Channel 20.

This is the entire problem within a linguistic debate: Dealing with nonsense, focusing on nonsense, looking for signs of patriotism instead of looking the problem in the eye. Let's toss the political correctness aside for a moment.

Netanyahu is right about the existence of a state within a state. But it's his responsibility, not the Arab sector's. He is the sovereign (Photo: EPA)

Even if the murderer is unstable, and I doubt it, he was aiming to murder Jews. Had he just been aiming to kill, he would have gone out of his house and killed the neighbors. He did it because he heard things on the street or in his surrounding, because he read books or was convinced that the State of Israel in which he lives is his enemy.

The majority want to live in peace, integrate into the State of Israel, be part of it. That's true. But they have no political power and voice today. They have no support to fight against what is going on around them.

The truth is that outside Tel Aviv, there is a serious problem in the Arab sector. The numbers show that the crime rate in violence offenses among Israel's Arabs is double and sometimes triple their part in the general population. Seventy-nine percent of shooting incidents in Israel take place in the Arab sector. Protection rackets, car thefts, honor killings and endless data which show that Israel has a problem. Add that to the illegal construction (about 5,000 buildings a year in the Negev and the Galilee) and agricultural crime which makes farmers give up - and you'll get the lack of governability which we have suddenly been reminded of.

In Israel, there are two states for two people. One sovereign, progressive and enlightened state, where the law is enforced regardless of religion, race or gender, and another state which is sometimes reminiscent of the Wild West.

Who is responsible for this situation? Only we are. Long years of disregard. The prime minister and interior minister have no one else to blame. They were here two and three years ago too. Even six years ago. This isn't a new problem.

Last week, the government made an important decision to invest budgets in the Arab sector. It was accompanied by all the right words about creating governability and civil service. If we seek to create an egalitarian process, we need duties alongside rights. After all, that's the first lesson in political science: Invest, nurture, commit. If the Israeli Arabs' leadership is radical, the State must decide not to wait for the Messiah. Where does all this stand after last week's declarations, after Saturday evening's declarations? In the air.

I have been writing about the lack of governability in the Negev and in the Galilee for several years now. I live in a small moshav in the Jerusalem mountains. No one has to tell me about the agricultural thefts outside the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, about the feeling of chaos. I am part of this story, an activist in the executive committee of the HaShomer HaChadash organization, which was founded to help farmers protect their lands in the Galilee and the Negev. It's part of Lev BaGalil, which aims to convince the government to invest in the Galilee.

These organizations were established because it's easy to ignore. The weapon used by the terrorist in Tel Aviv is completely legal. The terrorist is an Israeli citizen. His family is part of the sector. Dont tell me things will be different starting tomorrow.

We have no other choice but to live together - Arabs and Jews. Coexistence in a Jewish and democratic state. There are no other patents apart from investing in law enforcement, in duties such as national service and investing in budgets. The majority of the Arab sector wants to integrate into this state. It's the best place in the Middle East to be a Muslim, a Christian or a Jew.

The responsibility for fighting radicalization and encouraging the Israelization process lies on the government's shoulders. Netanyahu was right about the existence of a state within a state. But it's his responsibility, not the Arab sector's. He is the sovereign.
Saudi Arabia announced Sunday it was severing diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran amid escalating tensions over the Sunni kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

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The move came hours after demonstrators stormed and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran in protest over the death of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iranian diplomatic personnel had 48 hours to leave his country and all Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran had been recalled home.

Protesters at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran

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Saudi diplomats evacuated from Iran after their embassy was stormed by protesters in Tehran landed in Dubai on their way home to the kingdom, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported early on Monday (local time).

Their arrival coincided with Saudi Arabia's announcement regarding the severing of diplomatic ties.

The mass execution of al-Nimr and 46 others -- the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades -- has laid bare the divisions gripping the Middle East, where demonstrators took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan in protest.

Protesters outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran

It also illustrates the kingdom's new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shiite power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran's top leader warned Saudi Arabia on Sunday of "divine revenge" over al-Nimr's death, while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting "terrorism" in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the U.S. and the European Union sought to calm the region.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia put al-Nimr and three other Shiite dissidents to death, along with a number of al-Qaida militants. Al-Nimr's execution drew protests from Shiites around the world, who backed his call for reform and wider political freedom for their sect.

While the split between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the early days of Islam and disagreements over the successor to Prophet Muhammad, those divisions have only grown as they intertwine with regional politics, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia vying to be the Mideast's top power.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Iran's backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran also has backed Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Houthis.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned al-Nimr's execution, saying Sunday the cleric "neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism."

Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution by Saudi Arabia has provoked a diplomatic crisis between the kingdom and Iran (Photo: Reuters)

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saudi Arabia's "medieval act of savagery" would lead to the "downfall" of the country's monarchy.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had "revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism."

In Tehran, a protest outside the Saudi Embassy early Sunday quickly grew violent as protesters threw stones and gasoline bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building ablaze, according to Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, the country's top police official, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Forty people were arrested and investigators were pursuing other suspects, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as "extremists."

"It is unjustifiable," he said in a statement.

Hundreds of protesters later demonstrated in front of the embassy and in a central Tehran square, where street signs near the embassy were replaced with ones bearing the slain sheikh's name.

Across the region, protesters also took to the streets, from Turkey to India to Pakistan.

In Bahrain, police fired tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators on Sitra Island, south of the capital, Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifa family.

Earlier in the day Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah attacked the House of Saud in a speech. The speech was supposed to be a memorial to Lebanese Shi'ite cleric Mohammed Hatoun, but the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr became the focal point. Nasrallah did not hesitate to threaten the Saudi kingdom. Nasrallah called al-Nimr "the martyr, the holy warrior."

Nasrallah delivering a speech on the execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric (Photo: EPA)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and Supreme Leader Ali Khamanei also threatened that the Saudis would pay the price for the sheikh's execution.

Western powers sought to calm the tensions. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the U.S. condemned the embassy attack and called on all sides "to avoid any actions that would further heighten tensions in the region."

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats," according to a statement.

The cleric's execution has threatened to complicate Saudi Arabia's relationship with the Shiite-led government in Iraq, where the Saudi Embassy is preparing to formally reopen for the first time in nearly 25 years. On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.

Iran and Saudi Arabia summoned each other's envoys for consultations, and Saudi allies Egypt and the United Arab Emirates summoned Iranian officials in their capitals over the Tehran embassy assault.

Meanwhile, al-Nimr's family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya in the kingdom's al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikh's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.
A document released publicly for the first time on Monday suggested that the main suspect in the murderous arson fire in Duma may not have acted alone, and that a group of settlers had been spotted leaving Duma shortly after the fire.

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About ten minutes after IDF troops arrived at the village, lookouts spotted settlers walking away from the northern part of Duma to a nearby outpost of Adei Ad. Around an hour later, a military security coordinator reported seeing settlers getting out of a car in another outpost in the area, who began to walk towards the adjacent Palestinian village of Sinjil. The same security coordinator reported his belief that the settlers could have been involved in the incident.

Inside the Dawabsheh family's home after the fire (Photo: Zakaria Sadeh)

The new details emerged in a new document submitted to the Supreme Court in the context of a petition by the Yesh Din human rights group demanding that Adei Ad be evacuated. The NGO has argued that the outpost is illegal and that it serves as a base for anti-Palestinian violence.

The records raise the question of whether it may have been possible to locate the perpetrators of the attack minutes after it occurred.

The report showed that IDF troops arrived 11 minutes after the fire started, encountering Palestinian rescue services.

It was only about ten minutes after IDF forces arrived that settlers were seen walking from Duma to Adei Ad, according to the document.

The document in question was under a gag order for months, as the state claimed that it would damage the investigation and that it was unreliable.

The indictment of the Duma suspects stated that the actual arson attack was perpetrated by Amiram Ben-Uliel alone, and that "fire began to rage and he ran away." However, the document clearly indicated that observations caught view of "settlers." This raises the question of whether the document is even reliable or whether there other perpetrators who have not yet been caught.

In addition, the indictment didn't specify where the attacker fled and where he stayed in the hours following the murder.

Yesh Din Executive Director Neta Patrick said that "the information exposed raises the suspicion that the outlaws received shelter at the illegal outpost of Adei Ad, and strengthens the claim that it is a focus point for criminal activity. Anyone who values the rule of law should demand that Adei Ad be cleared immediately, and that it not be retrospectively legitimized, as the state is shamefully choosing to do."
A shoeprint was but one piece of allegedly damning evidence against 21-year-old Amiram Ben-Uliel , who was charged on Sunday with murdering three members of a Palestinian family by setting their home on fire. The clue did not result in an immediate arrest. The investigation was just beginning.

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Additional evidence, from clues found at the scene to details provided by Ben-Uliel that would be known only to someone involved in the crime, means Sunday's indictment was not based solely on the suspect's confession  meaning his attorneys will have a tough time arguing that he confessed under physical duress.

Amiram Ben-Uliel

A supposed accomplice, a 17-year-old known as A., was arrested before Ben-Uliel, despite Shin Bet investigators already considering the latter a suspect. A major development occurred two weeks later, when A. began providing detailed confessions to multiple price tag attacks, including setting a church on fire and puncturing tires in East Jerusalem.

Once A. implicated himself in price tag activities, investigators moved on to Ben-Uliel. Following a few weeks of questioning and surveillance, police noticed that Ben-Uliel had officially changed his residence from the "hilltop" to Jerusalem, a move that raised suspicions. "I have known this guy for many years, and it was clear to me that there was no way he would leave the 'hilltop'," said one investigator. "He is a person who is very devout in his faith, and if he decided to leave the 'hilltop', then he must have gone through some kind of change. Apparently someone made him do it."

The Dawabsheh house in Duma after the fire (Photo: Zakaria Sadeh)

Ben-Uliel was arrested and thoroughly questioned, in one case being prevented from attending a court hearing so as not to interrupt questioning. "He was stubborn and it was obvious that we would only crack the case when we could get eye contact out of him," said an investigator.

The suspects' attorneys have argued that the Shin Bet's use of the "ticking time bomb" procedure resulted in harsh measures that led to false confessions.

Ben-Uliel ultimately confessed to investigators and purportedly further implicated himself by providing details that only someone involved in the murders should know. For example, Ben-Uliel reportedly said the fire was started by a Molotov cocktail created with a green-colored glass beer bottle, which matched forensic evidence of which the suspect had not been informed.

The suspect allegedly also volunteered additional confidential information, thus weakening the claims of a false confession. Ben-Uliel was then brought to the Dawabsheh house in Duma to reenact the night of the murder, which also resulted in Ben-Uliel revealing confidential knowledge.

"At first he didn't recognize the place, but when we went in (to the town) and got near the Dawabsheh family's house, he began to provide details about the place," said an investigator. "He described, for example, the Dawabsheh family's black Skoda, and told us he tried to get to the house from a particular direction but encountered a pile of garbage and had to backtrack."

Ben-Uliel then purportedly offered another incriminating detail  that he had stumbled and fallen while fleeing Duma on foot, which matched testimony by a neighbor of the Dawabshehs.
A Paris auction house recently removed a painting in which terrorist Marwan Barghouti was presented as a Palestinian version of Nelson Mandela after the Israeli embassy sent a letter protesting it. The painting was supposed to be auctioned ,with proceeds going to the Reporters Without Borders organization.

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The artist who painted Barghouti wrote in the inscription that "Nelson Mandela was also called a terrorist in the 1950s." The Israeli embassy sent a letter to the auction house expressing disapproval of the comparison. The letter emphasized that Barghouti is a convicted murderer and a terrorist, while Mandela opposed violence.

Marwan Barghouti. Serving 5 consecutive life sentences. (Photo: Yariv Katz)

Following the letter's reception, the auction house decided to remove the painting, saying that it did not intend to generate conflict. Barghouti was found guilty of several murderous terror acts by an Israeli court, and is serving five consecutive life sentences plus 40 years.

Israel and the French Jewish community have also contacted the Paris municipal authorities in order to prevent the reopening of an exhibit by Reporters Without Borders (RWB), which they believe unfairly incited people against the IDF. The exhibit shows life in Gaza after bombings by the Israeli military. Among other things, it displays photos of the Gaza Strip and information about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, while ignoring Hamas' actions and its rocket fire at Israeli civilians.

Ambassador Aliza Ben-Nun. (Photo: Foreign Ministry)

The exhibit opened last month in a local culture center connected with the Paris municipality, and is expected to reopen from January 5-17. Israel's Ambassador to France Aliza Ben-Nun, said of this that "it is a shameful exhibit, whose whole goal is to promote an anti-Israeli agenda, and which gives aid to terrorism and empowers extremists inside France as well."

Ben-Nun further said that "the embassy has worked in conjunction with civil organizations and the Jewish community in order to express its severe protest of the initiative. It's very sad that an organization with a humanitarian reputation doesn't bother to mention the medical treatment given by the state of Israel to the residents of the Gaza Strip, among them the relatives of Ismail Haniyeh."
Residents of Tel Aviv's northern Ramat Aviv neighborhood awoke Monday to another day of intense security and police patrols. It was the fourth consecutive day that law enforcement personnel were out in full force to search for Nashat Melhem, believed to be the terrorist who murdered two people and wounded several at a Tel Aviv pub.

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Policemen, detectives, and special units continued to search the neighborhood, knocking on doors  especially ground-floor houses and homes belonging to the elderly  in order to make sure that the armed terrorist had not holed up and taken someone hostage.

Security forces at entrance to private home in Ramat Aviv on Monday (Photo: Ido Erez)

Security forces have been mapping particular areas, while investigators have been combing through security camera footage in the hopes of finding new images of the terrorist. A helicopter was also flying over north Tel Aviv.

The last sighting of Melhem was on Namir Road. Police have been working based on two scenarios: one in which Melhem managed to avoid roadblocks placed after the attack and leave Tel Aviv, and another in which he was still in the Ramat Aviv area.

The known movements of Melhem on the day of the attack were a visit to natural products store Anise on Dizengoff Street, from where he continued to the street and sprayed customers at the Hasimta bar with bullets, killing Shimi Roimi and Alon Bakal and wounding seven others. Melhem also shot at other businesses, shattering windows, and then fled without being stopped.

Photo: Ido Erez

Following the murders at the bar, the attacker began running north on Dizengoff Street  not far from the local police station. According to police assessments, he turned on foot towards Ibn Gabirol Street, where he got in Ayman Shaaban's cab. He traveled north with Shaaban, and then murdered him as well, near the Mandarin Hotel. He dropped the body there, and took the cab a few hundred meters, then abandoned it on Namir Road, not far from a bus station.

The attacker's cell phone was found on Reading Street in the Ramat Aviv neighborhood the same day. Since then, thousands of Shin Bet members and police officers have been searching for him.

With Melhem still being at large, many children did not attend school on Monday. Alliance High School was attended by just about 230 of its 1,600 students  the same as on Sunday. Lady Davis High School was attended by about 70 percent of students, compared to about 50 percent on Sunday.

Chen, a mother of three from north Tel Aviv, sent two of her children  ages two and four  to their preschools, but came back for them a few hours later. "The truth is that I'm Just not calm, even though we hired an armed guard for the preschools," she said. Her 6-year-old daughter did not attend school on Monday.
Bahrain announced on Monday it was cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, state news agency BNA reported, a day after its ally and neighbour Saudi Arabia also severed relations with Tehran.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with regional rival Iran on Sunday after Iranian protesters attacked its mission there, angered by the Sunni Muslim kingdom's decision to execute a leading Shi'ite cleric. Iran is the main Shi'ite power. "Bahrain decided to break off diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and calls upon all members of the mission to leave the kingdom within 48 hours," BNA said.
A large roadside bomb exploded near an IDF force at the Lebanese border near the Shebaa Farms area on Monday afternoon, leading the IDF to fire artillery shells at Hezbollah targets in the area for about an hour.

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The explosion targeted an IDF's Caterpillar D9 armored bulldozer and another armored vehicle. No soldiers have been hurt in the incident, the IDF said.

IDF Engineering forces cordoned off the area and searched for any additional explosives.

IDF firing artillery fire at Hezbollah posts in Lebanon (:  )

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Lebanese media reported considerable Israel Air Force presence in the area. Al Mayadeen quoted a Lebanese security source saying the IDF had fired artillery at a Lebanese military post in the Bastra Farm area on the outskirts of Kfarchouba. The TV station also reported casualties on the Lebanese side.

Lebanese security officials said more than 50 Israeli shells hit several villages in the area where the Hezbollah operation was carried out. Residents along the border said shelling from Israeli tanks and artillery landed in agricultural areas inside Lebanon, but did not report casualties.

Artillery fire at the border on Monday (Photo: Avihu Shapira)

"We fired artillery at Hezbollah targets near the border," an IDF spokesperson said. "It happened near Nahal Sion."

The spokesperson denied there was an attempt at kidnapping soldiers, anti-tank fire, or infiltration of terrorists into Israel.

Photos posted on Lebanese social media documenting the IDF artillery bombardment.

The Lebanese terror organization Hezbollah claimed responsibility for the attack, which they say was committed by the "Samir Kuntar Brigades."

Samir Kuntar was a notorious Hezbollah terrorist who spent almost three decades in Israeli prison for the murder of the Haran family and an Israeli police officer. After his release in a prisoners exchange deal in 2008, Kuntar returned to terror, planning attacks against Israel in the Golan Heights.

He was killed in an airstrike in Syria, which Hezbollah attributed to Israel and for which it vowed revenge.

The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, urged both sides to avoid an escalation, saying it had stepped up patrols on the ground after the incident.

In a statement, head of mission Major-General Luciano Portolano urged both sides "to exercise utmost restraint against any provocation."

The IDF has been conducting controlled explosions and firing artillery into unpopulated, empty areas in order to prevent Hezbollah from exploiting stormy weather to commit a terror attack in the border area.
RIYADH - Saudi Arabia widened its rift with Iran on Monday, saying it would end air traffic and trade links with the Islamic republic and demanding that Tehran must "act like a normal country" before it would restore severed diplomatic relations.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters in an interview that Tehran was responsible for rising tensions after the kingdom executed Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, describing him as a terrorist.

Insisting Riyadh would react to "Iranian aggression", Jubeir accused Tehran of despatching fighters to Arab countries and plotting attacks inside the kingdom and its Gulf neighbours.

"There is no escalation on the part of Saudi Arabia. Our moves are all reactive. It is the Iranians who went into Lebanon. It is the Iranians who sent their Qods Force and their Revolutionary Guards into Syria," he said.
BERLIN - A UN expert on the human rights of Palestinians has submitted his resignation, complaining that Israel didn't grant him access to the Palestinian territories.

The UN human rights office said Monday that Makarim Wibisono, the special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, will step down March 31.

Wibisono, who took the post in mid-2014, said he accepted it "with the understanding that Israel would grant me access, as an impartial and objective observer" but his efforts were "frustrated every step of the way." He added that repeated requests for access, both orally and in writing, were unsuccessful.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon noted Wibisono wasn't the first person to resign the post. He said the mandate given to the rapporteur is "distorted and biased."
A Palestinian taxi driver was attacked by armed settlers at the end of last week next to the settlement of Mevo Dotan in the northern West Bank. Mahmoud Kabaha, from the town of Barta'a on the Green Line near Umm al-Fahm, was wounded and taken to a hospital in Jenin for treatment.

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Footage of the incident, which was obtained by Ynet on Monday, gives a glimpse into the daily reality of violence against local residents and the sense of powerlessness even when Israeli security forces on the scene.

Video footage showing Palestinian being attacked by settlers

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A passenger in the taxi filmed the attack. In the footage, one can hear the settler telling the taxi driver: "Don't come any closer and turn around now," and then attacking him.

The taxi driver shouts: "Don't raise your hand."

The settler replies: "Go home, get in the car."

The taxi driver gets out of the car and calls for help, shouting: "Soldiers, soldiers!"

The settlers shout at him: "Go away, it's forbidden for you to be here."

Still from video showing settlers attacking Palestinian taxi driver near Barta'a

Kabaha told Ynet that the attack happened during the afternoon, between the Richan checkpoint near Barta'a and Mevo Dotan.

"I was carrying a few passengers towards Barta'a. But settlers blocked my way and wouldn't let me continue on the journey.

"There were soldiers there who tried to open the road again, against the wishes of the settlers," Kabaha added.

"While I was waiting in the taxi two armed settlers approached me and told me to go back, not to continue on the same route. But I didn't follow their order," Kabaha continued. "So the two settlers struck me in the face several times and hit me in the eyes.

"I got out of the car to call for help, I called the soldiers, but I was forced to get back in the taxi because of the settlers' threats."

Kabaha added that he also called for the police. Officers arrived on the scene and took down personal details of the settlers, who denied that they had attacked him.

"I also let out the passengers, although they hadn't reached their destination," Kabaha said. "I went to the hospital in Jenin so I could get treatment for the severe pain in my head that resulted from the attack."

He submitted a complaint about the attack to Ariel police on Saturday. After the incident, MK Yousef Jabareen (Joint List) turned to Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, saying: "The incident must be investigated and the settlers responsible brought before the law.

"The footage shows just a small portion of settlers' abuse of Palestinians and their continuous attacks on them," Jabareen said. "Settlers take the law into their own hands. There is no law and no judge. They act out of a sense of superiority and lordship that is nourished by the apartheid regime in the territories."

The Samaria and Judea District Police responded that they had opened an investigation into the incident.
DUBAI - Saudi Arabia rallied Sunni allies to its side in a growing diplomatic row with Iran on Monday, deepening a sectarian split across the Middle East following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

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Bahrain and Sudan cut all ties with Iran, following Riyadh's example the previous day. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters Riyadh would also halt air traffic and commercial relations between the rival powers.

He blamed Iran's "aggressive policies" for the diplomatic action, alluding to years of tension that spilled over on Saturday night when Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom's embassy in Tehran.

A protest in Tehran against the execution of the Shi'ite cleric (Photo: EPA)

Shi'ite Iran accused Saudi Arabia of using the attack on the embassy as an "excuse" to sever ties and further increase sectarian tensions, as protesters in Iran and Iraq marched for a third day to denounce Saudi Arabia's execution of Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

A man was shot dead in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province late on Sunday, and two Sunni mosques in Iraq's Shi'ite-majority Hilla province were bombed in the fallout from the dispute between the Middle East's top Sunni and Shi'ite powers.

Oil prices spiked during European trading as the two big petroleum exporters traded insults and after violence hit other crude producers such as Iraq. But prices then eased back on evidence of economic weakness in Asia.

Stock markets across the Gulf dropped sharply, led by Qatar which fell more than 2.5 percent, with geopolitical jitters outweighing any benefit from stronger oil.

A protest in Bahrain against the execution of the Shi'ite cleric (Photo: AFP)

Crude importer China declared itself "highly concerned" with the developments, in a rare foray into Middle East diplomacy. The United States and Germany called for restraint, while Russia offered to mediate an end to the dispute.

The row threatened to derail efforts to end Syria's five-year-old civil war, where Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab powers support rebel groups against Iran-backed President Bashar Assad.

In neighboring Lebanon, newspapers said the spat had clouded the hopes of filling the vacant presidency that had been raised last month after Iran and Saudi Arabia both voiced support for a power-sharing deal.

Nevertheless, analysts said fears of a sectarian rupture across the Middle East were premature, and the break in relations could be more a symptom of existing strains than evidence of new ones.

"The fact that the UAE was unwilling to cut off ties with Iran completely, despite the closeness of its relations with Saudi Arabia, shows the difficulty that the Saudis will have in trying to isolate Iran," said Julien Barnes-Dacey, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

"The downgrading of ties is not fundamentally a question of responding to executions and the storming of an embassy... (but rather) a function of a much deeper conflict between the two states," he added.

'Divine revenge'

After a furious response in Shi'ite communities worldwide to the Sunni kingdom's execution of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iran was creating "terrorist cells" among the kingdom's Shi'ite minority.

Saudi Arabia executed Nimr and three other Shi'ites on terrorism charges on Saturday, alongside dozens of Sunni jihadists. Shi'ite Iran hailed him as a "martyr" and warned Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family of "divine revenge".

Shi'ite groups united in condemnation of Saudi Arabia while Sunni powers rallied behind the kingdom, hardening a sectarian split that has torn apart communities across the Middle East and nourished the jihadist ideology of Islamic State.

Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based seat of Sunni Muslim learning, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia, condemned the attacks on Riyadh's missions and stressed Tehran's obligation to respect the internal affairs of the kingdom.

Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled island kingdom with a restive Shi'ite majority, accused Iran of "blatant and dangerous interference" in the affairs of the Gulf Arab countries, in a statement announcing the severing of diplomatic ties.

The Yemeni government on Monday announced a curfew in the port city of Aden, a beachhead for Saudi and UAE forces waging war on the Shi'ite Houthi group that controls much of the country. A ceasefire collapsed on Saturday.

Western powers, many of which supply billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Gulf Arab powers, tried to tamp down the tensions with Iran but also deplored the executions, as human rights groups strongly criticised Saudi Arabia's judicial process and protesters gathered outside Saudi embassies.
Fishermen from the town of Jisr az-Zarqa were stunned to learn that the Chinese man they found lying unconscious by a boat at the harbor had set sail from Greece and arrived on the Israeli shore quite by accident.

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The fishermen took care of the man, giving him food and drink. When he recovered, they asked him how he came to be on the beach. "I'm a Chinese citizen and I just found myself here," he answered in English.

They had a hard time communicating with the man and called the police, who took the unexpected tourist in for questioning.

The Chinese man

The man told the police he set sail from Greece and apparently was blown off course by strong winds and carried to Israel.

The Administration of Border Crossings, Population and Immigration has taken over the handling of the case.

One of the fishermen said that "this is the first time we encounter a case like this. We didn't expect someone to get to us through the sea because of Israel's increased security. Usually, it's hard to believe that anyone who illegally crosses the border gets to live. This Chinese man is lucky. We're happy he's fit and healthy and hope he returns to his family soon."

The fishermen with the Chinese man's boat

Sami Ali, a member of the local council, said that "we were surprised to find a foreign national on the beach, a man with an east-Asian appearance, who was lying near his boat passed out."

Ali went on to say that "I approached the boat and saw it is damaged. The sail was broken and the hull also suffered damages. Inside the boat was a large quantity of food and water."
Alongside the indictment of Amiram Ben-Uliel for carrying out an attack in Duma that murdered three members of the Dawabsheh family, E., a minor, was also charged with being an accessory to the crime.

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E., 17, grew up in a well-known and established settlement in the northern West Bank. The fact that he is underage means that his identity remains under wraps even after the general gag order over the Duma investigation was lifted.

Interview with A., the second suspect in the Duma arson from a year ago

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He is being charged with a series of "price tag" activities, including vandalizing Jerusalem's Dormition Abbey, an arson attack on a Palestinian taxi near the village of Yasuf, the setting alight of a storage unit in the town of Aqraba near Nablus, an attack on a Palestinian shepherd in Kochav HaShahar and slashing tires in Beit Safafa in Jerusalem.

E.'s story differs a little from that of the other suspects. He grew up in a family that could be described as part of the religious-Zionist elite in the northern West Bank. His mother is an educator and his father is a settlement rabbi, and they live in a large and well-kept house.

"I remember him as a good guy from a good family," said one of the family's neighbors. "They didn't give any impression of being extremists, not in their views or in their conduct."

Another neighbor added: "They are an exemplary family. Salt of the earth. It's difficult to believe that their son could be involved in something like this."

And yet, E.'s life led him out of the structure of educational institutions. Up until two years ago, he studied in a yeshiva in the Binyamin area, but at some point he decided to drop out and stopped going to school.

Family and friends of the Duma suspects protesting outside the court in Lod (Photo: AFP)

He went to live in illegal outposts in the northern West Bank, including Baladim , and started to work odd jobs. A friend described him at that time as a charismatic individual who lived ascetically.

At that time he got to know Ben-Uliel, the central suspect in the Duma murders, along with other price tag suspects. At the Baladim outpost, he and his friends absorbed the ideology of the " Revolt " group.

According to the Shin Bet, the dozens of youngsters belonging to the group have developed a new anti-Zionist ideology with the aim of overthrowing the government, crowning a king of Israel and rebuilding the Temple.

Nonetheless, a family acquaintance said that "even though he went 'around the hilltops,' he stayed in close contact with his family. They maintained a good, open relationship. There were differences of opinion but they always spoke."

According to the charges, in July 2014, E. started to take part in price tag activities that caused serious damage to Palestinian property. He was interrogated by the police and the Shin Bet in connection with these crimes, and they resulted in him receiving administrative orders restricting his movement in the northern West Bank.

E. and his friends boasted that they knew how to deal with Shin Bet interrogations. In a video uploaded to YouTube about a year ago, E. can be seen saying: "In one of the interrogations the interrogator said to me, 'you don't want to talk,' and tried to tell me that my friends had talked. He didn't know that I knew that these were old practices they use afresh each time."

In the video, E. continues: "I don't cooperate with people who sabotage the Jewish people, representatives of the foreign government in our land."

Saed, Ali and Reham Dawabsheh who were murdered in an arson attack on their home (Photo: Hassan Shaalan)

According to the main charge, which accuses him of assisting with the murders in Duma, he spoke with Ben-Uliel about the possibility of carrying out an attack avenging the murder of Malachi Rosenfeld

The two met in an outpost known as Yishuv HaDa'at in order to plan the attack, even conducting reconnaissance of Duma and the village of Majdal nearby. The pair looked at the possibility of setting houses on fire in both places at the same time.

Afterwards, according to the charge, E. observed the villages through binoculars and updated Ben-Uliel with his conclusions. They arranged to meet in a cave in the outpost on the night of the murder, but E. did not turn up at the appointed hour and Ben-Uliel carried out the attack on his own.

AE was arrested on November 25. His parents and sister were also interrogated. Claims that E. was tortured arose during his arrest, but the Shin Bet fiercely denied the accusations.

Honenu, a legal aid organization, claimed during his arrest that E. had tried to commit suicide due to the conditions he was facing, but the Shin Bet denied this as well.

In one of the hearings to extend E.'s arrest that took place at the Magistrate's Court in Petah Tikva, E. told Judge Erez Nurieli: "They're taking me apart. They're twisting my whole back. They're laughing, looking at me with contempt.

"They're turning me upside down until my hands are burning. I feel as if they're burning me with a lighter. Every day it goes up a level and I don't know what's coming tomorrow," E. continued to the judge.

"After a whole night of abuse I told them, 'Kill me and don't do this to me. Give me poison. I'm begging  I can't take it anymore.'"

In the wake of the hearings, the judge who ruled on the extension of E.'s arrest was subjected to a wave of incitement.

The body of Ali Dawabsheh following an arson attack on his home in Duma (Photo: Mohammed Shanawi)

Those close to E. claim that the charges against him are based on confessions that were gained under torture. "Before this he was interrogated about other incidents, Dormition (Abbey) and others. But he denied all involvement," one said. "I believe that these incidents were 'solved' after he underwent torture."

As for the hilltop youth, who slipped through the cracks in the system and who are sometimes compared to youth at risk, an associate of the family said: "This is not youth at risk. Their motives are good and pure  the desire to make an impact, to be involved socially. To be partners in a process and to advance an ideology that goes beyond talk  the land of Israel, settling.

"They are doing this in a difficult period of terror attacks, in a fraught security situation. They have a very good connection with their parents. In the settlements there is a thin line between being a good person who does good things and breaking the law," he said.

In response to E.'s indictment, Chai Haber, his lawyer, said: "Sadly we have come to a day which is a badge of shame for the rule of law in Israel. The charges are based on confessions extracted from people under torture and severe violence."

On the state's request to conduct proceedings under a gag order, Haber said: "The intention was not to expose the public to the serious things that are being done in the interrogation rooms.

"But it's in precisely this kind of situation that the public has the right to know and be exposed to the full details," Haber continued.
ATLANTA - Georgia's governor has withdrawn an executive order trying to stop resettlement of Syrian refugees after the state's attorney general ruled he didn't have that authority.

Gov. Nathan Deal rescinded the order Monday, five days after Attorney General Sam Olens issued an official opinion that the state could not exclude Syrian refugees from coming to Georgia or deny them federally funded benefits.

Deal's initial order in November directed state agencies to "halt any involvement" in the acceptance of Syrian refugees until federal authorities change the process for vetting them. At the time, he cited a terrorist attack three days earlier in Paris. Other governors issued similar directions.

Deal later asked Olens to weigh in after questions from the federal agency that oversees the federally funded food stamp program.
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News of Natalie Cole's death plagued the internet on Thursday night. She was 65.

According to NBC News, the singer died at Cedar Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles "due to complications from ongoing health issues," as stated by her family.

"It is with heavy hearts that we bring to you all the news of our Mother and sister's passing, Natalie fought a fierce, courageous battle, dying how she lived ... with dignity, strength and honor," her sisters, Timolin and Casey Cole, and son, Robert Yancy, said in the statement.

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"Our beloved Mother and sister will be greatly missed and remain unforgettable in our hearts forever."

Apparently, Nat King Cole's daughter has been battling health issues for years and received a kidney transplant in 2009 after having hepatitis due to a previous history of intravenous drug use.

Natalie Cole topped the charts with her hits "Our Love," "Inseparable" and "This Will Be." Recently, Cole had to cancel several tour stops, including on New York and Louisville due to illness, as stated in several reports.

As reported by The Guardian, Natalie Cole's biggest success is contributed by her 1991 album, "Unforgettable... With Love" which was a tribute to her father that includes revisions of his hits namely "Mona Lisa," "That Sunday That Summer" and "Too Young."

Natalie Cole had her voice merged with her dad's in "Unforgettable," giving a kick to the track even after 25 years. "Unforgettable... With Love" sold around 14 million copies and won six Grammy's, including song of the year and album of the year.

News of Natalie Cole's death had people speculate on her past drug use. "Angel On My Shoulder," Cole's autobiography, revealed how she fought cocaine, alcohol and heroin addiction for several years. In 1983, Cole spent six months in rehab.

NBC News stated that on Monday, flowers will be placed on Natalie Cole's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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What makes the latest Ebola outbreak different from the previous ones? The answer is ease of travel.

In a new US university study, traveling, along with international trade, is considered as one of the most efficient couriers of infectious diseases as sick people with communicable illnesses can board a plane while unsuspectingly spreading the virus among the co-passengers and residents of their destination.

The research was created by a team from the University of Arizona including Charles Perrings, a university professor for environmental economics. It was presented in a British-organized conference and was earlier published in Food Security.

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In its presentation, the group cited the recent Ebola epidemic that killed more than 8,000 people, mostly from West African countries such as Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. However, a man from Liberia, Thomas Eric Duncan, became patient zero in the United States.

Duncan was visiting his family in Texas when he showed symptoms of the viral disease and was brought to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas where two of his attending nurses, Nina Pham and Amber Vinson, later contracted the same disease. While Duncan died, Pham and Vinson eventually recovered.

The risks of Ebola spread through air travel had prompted many airports around the globe to conduct screenings among passengers coming from disease hot spots and perform immediate isolation for those who they believed to be showing symptoms like low-grade fever upon arrival.

The same paper also pointed out that international trade could increase infectious diseases particularly among plants and animals. Perrings mentioned about the hoof and mouth disease that cost the UK government more than $8 billion during the height of the outbreak and the African swine fever coming from traded pork and its derivatives. Some diseases such as avian flu are also zoonotic, which means they can be passed on from animals to humans.

To resolve the issue, Perrings recommended addressing it at the source and confronting the importers and exporters with the degree of risks associated with both travel and international trade.
NAFSO (National Fisheries Solidarity Movement), which organizes fishermen to lobby the government to defend their rights and to bring about good environmental practice in coastal areas. NAFSO has helped a fishing community to take legal action against a proposal to build a five-star hotel on a mangrove where fish spawn."We are not against hotels, because they bring tourism and income. But 3,000 families and 15,000 fishermen use this lagoon and all of them could be affected by the developments. Only 200 would be employed by the hotel. The lagoon is our mother, and we must protect her." Jude Preman Fernando, local fisherman. At the present situation we are continuing our campaign with small scale fishermen to urge the government to take legal action against Destructive Fishing Practices around the coastal areas of Sri Lanka.For The More Details :pradeeplaksirifernando@gmail.com
"We should always remember that the danger to societies from security services is not that they will spontaneously decide to embrace [Stasi style] mustache twirling and jackboots to bear us bodily into dark places, but that the slowly shifting foundation of policy will make it such that mustaches and jackboots are discovered to prove an operational advantage toward a necessary purpose. ~ Edward Snowden





"America: just a nation of two hundred million used car salesmen with all the money we need to buy guns and no qualms about killing anybody else in the world who tries to make us uncomfortable." ~ Hunter S. Thompson



"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws." ~ Mayer Rothschild



"News is what somebody does not want you to print. All the rest is advertising." ~ LACUNA



"What matters in journalism isn't politics, which are as universal and inescapable as breathing. What matters -- along with a fundamentally adversarial attitude toward government, without which "journalism" is simply public relations -- is integrity, transparency, evidence, coherence, and principle. These are the principles on which we should evaluate the quality of journalism, and their absence is why some journalists are so desperate to get you to focus on something else." ~ Barry Eisler



"There is no inverse relationship between freedom and security. Less of one does not lead to more of the other. People with no rights are not safe from terrorist attack." ~ Molly Ivins



"The brain of our species is, as we know, made up largely of potassium, phosphorus, propaganda, and politics, with the result that how not to understand what should be clearer is becoming easier and easier for all of us." ~ James Thurber



"The highest patriotism is not a blind acceptance of official policy, but a love of one's country deep enough to call her to a higher plane....When you hold up your arm and swear to uphold the Constitution, you dont say, 'Except in wartime.'" -- George McGovern



"Ill believe that corporations are people when Texas executes one." ~ Bill Moyers






New Delhi: Afghanistan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on Monday called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi and condemned the cross border terrorist attack on the Pathankot air base.

President Ghani also briefed Prime Minister Modi about the terror attack in northern Afghan city of Mazar -i-Sharif.

Prime Minister Modi in turn expressed his gratitude to President Ghani.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who gave the information in this regard, told ANI that a National Security Council meeting was chaired by the Prime Minister at 11a.m. on Monday to discuss the Mazar-i-Sharif attack among others.

He said all consulate officials in Mazar-i-Sharif were safe, while the latest reports suggested that the firing was still on.

The Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, northern Afghan, was attacked on Sunday, with unknown gunmen attempting to enter the compound after twin explosions.

The attack came close on the heels of the terrorists attack at the Pathankot air base.
Chennai: Three days after a dress code for devotees visiting temples across Tamil Nadu came into force, the state government on Monday challenged the Madras High Court order banning jeans and shorts as "inappropriate" for spiritual worship.

In its appeal, the state government said the court order is not in consonance with the existing Tamil Nadu Temple Entry Authorisation Act, 1947 which permits each temple to frame its own dress code according to local customs, as per a report published in NDTV.

In December 2015, the Madras High Court had ordered temple authorities in Tamil Nadu to refuse entry to anyone wearing jeans, bermuda shorts, skirts, short-sleeves or tight leggings to "enhance spiritual ambiance".

Though some temples have begun denying entry to those who do not comply with the new dress code, many officials say it is hard to implement in the long run for want of manpower. Some temples are also toying with the idea of renting formal clothing to help devotees.

The dress code applies to both locals and foreigners visiting the temples, some of which are major tourist attractions.

According to a AFP report, Arulmigu Ramanatha Swami temple alone receives more than four million visitors each year.

Several Hindu temples and other religious sites in India restrict devotees from entering the premises on pretext of dress, eating habits -- some do not allow non-vegetarians to enter -- as well gender.

In Mumbai a women`s rights group is fighting a legal battle to overturn a four-year ban on entry of women to Haji Ali Dargah, a Muslim shrine, where menstruation was cited as the reason for the restriction.

While in urban centres such as New Delhi and Mumbai many people, especially men, wear western clothes, in the southern states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala traditional garments are more popular.

(With Agency inputs)
Ambala/Bengaluru/Shimla: Some held their tears while others were inconsolable as coffins of security personnel killed in Pathankot terror strike reached home on Monday for last rites, which were performed with full military honours.

Breaking the tradition, the daughters of two slain officers gave shoulder to their father's coffin. Slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' rent the air as the body of Garud commando Gursewak Singh, draped in the tricolour, reached his native Garnala village near Ambala, while the family members of the young Sikh, who was married in November, were inconsolable.

Haryana Ministers Anil Vij and Abhimanyu were present to pay tributes along with senior officers from the Air Force, besides personnel from the army, police and civil administration.

The body of Lt Colonel E K Niranjan, a bomb expert with the National Security Guard who was killed while defusing a grenade at the scene of the terror attack at Pathankot IAF base, was brought to Bengaluru from where it was to be taken to his hometown Palakkad in Kerala. Teary-eyed people filed past the body as the martyr's family members sat near it.

"He was always interested in the army. I am proud of his sacrifice," Niranjan's father Sivarajan said. Niranjan's sister said, "I look at him as Arjuna who fought for his karmabhoomi." He hailed from Palakkad in Kerala and is survived by his wife Dr Radhika and a 18-month-old daughter. Fellow army officers and many prominent and eminent personalities paid tributes to the martyr at his residence.

Thirty two-year-old Niranjan, whose family stays in Bangalore, was commissioned in the Engineers Regiment of the Army in 2004. Niranjan, head of the elite bomb squad of the NSG, was killed while defusing an IED at Pathankot IAF base, yesterday.

He was among seven security personnel killed in the terrorist attack there. In Gurdaspur, Punjab, scores of mourners gathered at the house of Subedar Fateh Singh, 51, a shooter who had won Commonwealth medals.

Singh's daughter Madhu joined the soldiers in carrying the body to the cremation ground.

"What my father has done today, I don't think anything can match it. I am proud of my father," Madhu said. "We were at the air base when the attack took place," she said. Singh's wife, daughter and son had come to visit him.

Before leaving the quarters, Singh told his wife that he was going to get some documents signed after which they would go home. "My father snatched the gun from that man and shot him," she said.

In the same district, rich tributes were also paid to another martyr from Defense Security corps Havildar Kulwant Singh, who was consigned to flames with full military honors at his Chak Sharif village.

The IAF and military personnel fired in air and reversed their arms as a mark of respect to the departed soul.

Two brave soldiers from Himachal Pradesh-- Havildar Sanjeevan Singh Rana (50) of Siyun village in Kangra district and Havildar Jagdish Chand (58) of Gola village in Chamba district-- were cremated with full state honours at their respective native places today. Gloom descended on the villages and thousands of people including army jawans, ex-servicemen and villagers from adjoining areas attended the funeral.

Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today announced financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh each to next of kin of the deceased.

Lance Naik Mool Raj's body reached his Jakh village in Samba district of Jammu and Kashmir. He was cremated with full military honours. Mool Raj, father of two had fallen to the bullets of terrorists in Pathankot, just a day after he returned to join his duties after celebrating the New Year with his family.

Before returning to join his duties in Pathankot, he took promise from his children that one day they would make him feel proud of them.

"Instead he made us proud! Though the lacuna that his absence created in our life will never be filled, but we are proud to have a father like him," said Asish Kumar Mooj Raj's son.

"He was home to celebrate the New Year with his family and returned to join his duties in Pathankot on January 1. Who knew this would be his last visit", Pawan Kumar, younger brother of the martyr said.

"You laid down your life for the nation... we are proud of you papa," said his daughter Pooja Devi. Pooja, his daughter and a college student, gave a shoulder to the body of her father.

"I am proud of you dad and want that every child should get a brave father like you", she said.

"Our father always wanted us to do something big in life, we will follow his footsteps and join the army and serve the motherland as our father did in his life and his death," Ashish said.

Gayatri Devi, the widow of the fallen warrior says that she has been lucky to have married a man who never backed away from his duties and served his motherland till his last breath.

"Earlier he belonged to us, but now he is belongs to the entire nation. I am proud of him that he laid down his life to save the lives of 1.25 billion people of this nation," she said. Four terrorists have been neutralised in the operation at the Pathankot air base after the Saturday attack.

One Garud commando, one NSG officer and five personnel of Defence Security Corps (DSC) were martyred. Seventeen security personnel were also injured.
Bengaluru/Chandigarh: The national paid tribute to its two brave soldiers- Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan EK and IAF's Garud Commando Gursewak Singh On Monday.

Thousands of people paid tributes to martyred National Security Guard (NSG) commando Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan EK at his residence in Bommasandra in Bengaluru. His last rites will be performed at his native village in Kerala on Tuesday.

Gursewak Singh, who sacrifices his life battling terrorists inside Pathankot Air Force base, was laid to rest at his native place in Garnala village of Punjab. Also read: With shock and disbelief, Garnala goes into mourning for its brave son Gursewak

Highlights:

Locals and family members pay tribute to Garud Commando Gursewak Singh

Meanwhile, body of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh, who laid down his life while fighting terrorists in Pathankot Air Force base, has also been brought to Garnala, in Ambala.

Family members in mourning as mortal remains of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh arrive in Garnala (Ambala) https://t.co/NrX4U4XBat &; ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016

Locals and students pay tribute to Lt Col Niranjan

Karnataka CM S Siddaramaiah also visited BEL ground in Bengaluru and paid tribute to Lt Col Niranjan

Lt Col Niranjan Kumar's family members are also present at the BEL Ground

Nirajan Kumar's body will be kept at Bengaluru's BEL ground till 3 pm before being taken to his native place in Kerala.

Family member mourns demise of NSG Lt Col Niranjan who lost his life in #PathankotAttack https://t.co/MA7MbgAbcI &; ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016
New Delhi: Despite specific intelligence alert of possible terror strike, the attack on Pathankot airbase could not be averted. And, as a result the nation lost some brave and courageous soldiers.

Now, Centre and Punjab are engaged in a blame game over the Pathankot terror attack. But, the big question is - Who is responsible for the irreparable loss of the lives of soldiers?

The Centre claims that even after it dispatched the National Security Guards (NSG) commandos to Pathankot, the Punjab Police failed to locate the terrorists.

Reportedly, the militants who targeted the Air force installation are believed to have been hiding in the area since the New Years eve.

A heavy contingent of commandos of the National Security Guards (NSG) were rushed from New Delhi to Pathankot on Friday evening, a night before the attack took place. Despite all the paraphernalia in place, a breach in security apparatus took place.

Now, the nation mourns the loss of its brave jawans as Centre and Punjab are engaged in blame game.
Pathankot: The NSG said on Monday that five terrorists had been killed in Pathankot air base operations so far. It was also reported that the Indian government may put on hold the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan in Islamabad due on January 15.

Here are the latest developments:

-In touch with Indian government and working on leads provided by it, says Pakistan Foreign Ministry.

-India will decide on going ahead with the foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan scheduled later this month only after operations to flush out terrorists

from the IAF base at Pathankot is over, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.

-20 member team of NIA led by an IG ranking officer has been camping at Pathankot since Jan 2, 2016 to supervise the on-going investigations.

-Intermittent firing heard at Air Force base.

-Air Force base attack case transferred to NIA.

-As per NSG, five terrorists have been killed so far and combing operations are still underway.

-Reports suggest there were two groups of terrorists, which entered the air force base. First group entered base before Gurdaspur SP was abducted.

-Centre "mulling options" regarding holding of Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan in Islamabad on January 15, reports PTI.

-Massive combing operation is still on for the sixth and the last terrorist hiding in the area, reports ANI.

-Out of the two terrorists holed up inside the Pathankot Air Force base has been neutralised, says ANI.

-Mohali Police have arrested three men and seized a huge cache of arms manufactured in Pakistan and China. Their identity is being ascertained.

-While the counter-terror operation to eliminate two remaining terrorists is in its final stage, it has been reported that NSA Ajit Doval has called off his China visit.

-PM Modi meets NSA Ajit Doval, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Senior MEA officials over the Pathankot attack.

-All installations inside the air base are safe, says reports.

-Major explosion reported in the holed up area of militants at the Pathankot air base, reports PTI.

-Currently operations are in progress to clear the building where the terrorists are holed up: Army spokesperson.

-These terrorists came prepared to sabotage airbase assets. But I assure you that the assets are now secure: Army spokesperson.

-Want to compliment agencies participating in this operation, salute personnel who lost their lives or are wounded: Army spokesperson.

-Families live here, schools are here too. It is like a mini city here, their safety has been ensured: NSG DG.

-I would like to assure that all personnel and strategic assets are safe: Major General Dushyant Singh, NSG.

-Operations for this airbase are going on smoothly. Given the magnitude, joint ops have been launched: NSG spokesperson.

-Ops to continue till all terrorists are eliminated, says top NSG official.

-Two JeM terrorists are still believed to be holed up in the area.

-More reinforcements have been sent to the area and the entire airbase has been cordoned off.

-Heavy security has been deployed outside Indian Air Force Base in Pathankot.

-Operations at the air base, where terrorists had launched a pre-dawn attack on Saturday, continued for the third day.

-Intermittent gunfire, which carried on through yesterday, had stopped late in the evening.

-The Air Force said two terrorists had been holed up at the Pathankot base - from where Russian-made fleet of MiG-21 fighter jets and Mi-35 attack helicopters fly - since Sunday morning.

-Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan Kumar of the National Security Guard, who died during combing operations on Sunday, will be cremated today in his home town in Kerala's Palakkad.

-Funerals of Champion shooter Subedar Fateh Singh and the others will also be held.

-On Sunday evening, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a meeting with the National Security Adviser, foreign secretary and other officials to discuss the situation in Pathankot.

-Foreign minister Sushma Swaraj met a group of diplomats to chalk out a strategy on Pakistan. Coming a week after PM Modi's "spontaneous" visit to Pakistan, the attack has triggered a debate over ties with the neighbouring country.

-Opposition Congress has said India should reassess its position on Pakistan. Former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir Omar Abdullah called the attack "the first major challenge to PM Modi's bold Pakistan gambit."

-The gun-battle started at 3.30 am on Saturday. The armed forces - which had secured the compound following intelligence warning - had detected the advent of terrorists with the help of aircraft using thermal imaging capability.

-The army wrested control of the base with the help of attack helicopters, mine-proof and bullet-proof personnel carriers. Four terrorists were killed on Saturday after the day-long gun-battle.

-Vital air force assets -- MiG-21 Bison fighters and Mi-35 attack helicopters - were safe following advance intelligence about the attack.
New Delhi: As the counter operation entered its third day on Monday, security forces today nailed one more terrorists who had attacked the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot along with four others, senior National Security Guard (NSG) official said.

Seven security personnel, including one officer of the National Security Guard, were killed in the counter-offensive against the terrorists, as a final combing operation was in progress till evening.

"The operations for this particular Air Base are going on smoothly given the magnitude of this air base. Joint operations launched by security forces are being conducted in an excellent manner by the NSG, Army, Air Force, Police and intelligence agencies in a combined and synergised manner. We have eliminated four terrorists and the operation to eliminate two more terrorists possibly is in final stage," Major General Dushyant Singh, NSG addressed the media in a joint presser.

He added that due to the area of the Air Base which is very large and the personal, strategic assets located there, the combing operations are going on simultaneously by the Army and other forces to eliminate the terrorists.

"The entire operation will continue till all the personal assets and structures are physically combed, so it is likely that it will take a long time," Singh said.

He assured that all the personnel strategic assets are secure and their safety has been ensured and that all the families living in the base are safe.

The Army representative at the presser stated that the terrorists had entered the Base 'well prepared and heavily armed' with the aim of targeting the IAF assets which include aircrafts and helicopters located in the vital Air base.

"All these assets have been secured and are safe. There has been no damage to any one of them," the Army official said.

He added that the Army team which was located in close proximity of the base was on 'general alert since 1st January' on the basis of intelligence inputs and had mobilised six columns initially. Two more columns were added subsequently.

"The terrorists opened fire again close to midday and are holed up in a double storey building which were the living quarters of Air Force personnel. Currently, operations are in progress to clear the building. We have ensured that there has been no collateral damage and civilian injuries," the Army official said.

He assured that the situation was under the complete control of the NSG, Army and the Air Force.

Meanwhile, firing and explosions were heard from the base where the counter operation is underway.

The NSG official further said,  Operations will be conducted till we can fully render the Air Base safe.

Terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, infiltrated into the air base in Pathankot early on Saturday which led to a fierce gunfight with security forces. Four terrorists were killed on Saturday in a 15-hour gunfight in which the NSG, Indian Army and IAF commandos were involved, assisted by IAF attack helicopters.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, earlier today, chaired a high-level meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar in the wake of the terror attack at the Indian Air Force base near Pathankot in Punjab.

The terror attack came almost a week after Modi flew into Lahore, on his way back from Afghanistan, for a surprise meeting with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif. Both leaders had vowed to pursue the derailed bilateral peace process.

Foreign secretaries of India and Pakistan are expected to meet on January 15 to draw up a roadmap for bilateral engagement.

The Modi government has faced sharp criticism from Congress and some other parties over its policy on Pakistan. The opposition parties have said the Modi government`s policy on Pakistan "lacks clarity and consistency".
Delhi: After a high-level meeting with Prime Minister Narendra Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday that the terror strike at Pathankot air base was a fidayeen attack and the objective was to cause loss to its strategic assets.

"PM discussed Pathankot attack and Northeast quake at National Security Council meet today," Jaitley said.

"They were trained terrorists, suicide squads with the objective to inflict maximum damage. The way our security forces took prompt action prevented in major assets being destroyed" the FM added briefing the media here.

"Security forces succeeded in all objectives - minimal casualties, protecting strategic assets and neutralising terrorists," he reiterated.

"The terrorists were confined and four bodies are in possession of the security forces," Jaitley said.

On talks with Pakistan, he said, "Govt will decide on Indo-Pak talks once operation get over."

Answering a question on why the operation at the air base was a long on the FM maintained, "The expolsives were in huge number and the area was big, so the exercise took time. Even in Mumbai, the operation continued for a very long time because these are trained terrorists."

He refused to comment on who was behind the terror attack, "We are at a stage when the operations are on, and so we cannot talk about who is behind the attacks."
New Delhi: The Indian government is likely to raise the issue of the Pathankot terror attack with the Pakistani government on Monday.

As per reports, India is likely to ask Pakistan to take tough action against terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), which is widely believed to have orchestrated the attack.

As per sources, the Indian side is expecting a response from the Pakistani establishment against JeM within 72 hours.

During today's meeting, India will reportedly press Pakistan to act on the intelligence inputs and the evidence gathered against the terror group.

The Indian side is likely to tell Pakistan in clear terms to raid these groups and wants the military court to act against them. The investigating officials have recovered a note that points to the JeM role in the attack.

The future of the Foreign Secretary level talks now depends on Pakistan's action JeM. India is likely to inform Pakistan that terror and talks can't go further without action on these groups.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday chaired a high-level meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Jai Shankar and other top officials to take stock of the Pathankot attack.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj also yesterday met two former foreign secretaries and five former envoys to Pakistan as the government sought wider consultation over its policy towards Pakistan in the wake of the terror attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot that claimed 13 lives, including those of seven Indian security personnel.

Sushma Swaraj met Shiv Shankar Menon, former foreign secretary and national security adviser; Shyam Saran, former foreign secretary; Satinder Lambah, former envoy to Pakistan and former special envoy to the prime minister who conducted back channel talks with Pakistan; and four former envoys to Pakistan, T.C.A. Raghavan, Sharad Sabharwal, Satyabrata Pal and G. Parthasarathy.
Pathankot: Even as security forces continue to sanitise the Pathankot Air Force base, National Investigation Agency (NIA) has started probe into the case. The investigating agency on Monday grilled the Punjab Police SP who was abducted by a group of terrorist ahead of the attack.

SP Salwinder Singh of Gurdaspur has claimed that he and his friend along with his cook were abducted by a group of armed men on Thursday night.

He said the group, in Army uniform, signalled them to stop. Salwinder said as they stopped their vehicle, all the five men barged inside the vehicle and started beating them. He claimed that one of them took the driver's seat and drove towards Pathankot.

After a while, Singh was pushed out of the vehicle and his two companions were driven away by the men. Later, the men pushed one person out of the vehicle near Pathankot and slit the throat of the third man, who has been identified as Rajesh Kumar, was dropped near Damtal hills on the Punjab-Himachal border after he pretended to be dead.

Later their car was recovered near Dhira village.
New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA), mandated to probe terror cases, will register a case on Monday to probe the conspiracy of Pakistan-based terrorist group, believed to be Jaish-e-Mohammed, behind the strike at the IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab.

A team of NIA was at the spot on Saturday as per the standard operating procedure and on Sunday the government decided to hand over the case to the NIA after taking concurrence from the Punjab government, official sources said.

A team of NIA was at the spot yesterday as per the standard operating procedure and today the Government decided to hand over the case to the NIA after taking concurrence from the Punjab government, official sources said.

The mandate of the NIA probe will include entry of the militants into India, killing of a taxi driver Ikagar Singh, kidnapping of Superintendent of Police-rank officer of Punjab Police, who was later released and entry into the IAF campus, the sources said.

They said the investigators will also try and ascertain the conspiracy that was hatched on the Pakistani soil by the terrorists and if possible find out the state and non-state actors in that country. As per the standard operating procedure, an NIA team is rushed to the site of terror strike so that they can share their expertise as well as have first-hand information about the case, the sources said.

The NIA may also question or seek custodial interrogation of a sacked IAF personnel Ranjith KK, a Leading Air Craftman (LAC) with IAF posted at Bhatinda, who was arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly supplying information to ISI, the sources said.

The Pathankot IAF facility, located near the border with Pakistan, is the base of MiG-21 fighter planes and MI-25 attack helicopters of Air Force. India recently gifted four such choppers to Afghanistan last month.
Mohali: Days after terrorists stormed Pathankot's airbase, Punjab Police on Monday arrested three men with a Pakistani SIM and several sophisticated weapons.

The three men, arrested from Mohali, were carrying weapons having Pakistan's markings. Also, Chinese pistols have been recovered from their possession.

"They had links with smugglers across border,many cases of murder against them," police official S Bhullar said.

"No report of them being in touch with extremists, they are smugglers who also kidnap for ransom," police added.

Officials are quizzing them to determine their identity. However, terror angle is still not ruled out.

A maximum alert was sounded and security strengthened across Punjab on Sunday in the wake of the Pathankot attack by suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists.
Pathankot: A fierce search-and-kill operation by the Indian security forces has come to an end at Pathankot Air Force Base, ending an over 60-hour long siege by suspected Pakistan-based terrorists. Amid confusing reports from the Ground Zero, we bring you the main highlights of the operation.

1. With sixty hours and on, the Pathankot Air Force Base encounter is one of the longest siege by terrorists in the history of the country. So far, India has lost seven security men.

2. Lt Col Niranjan Kumar , martyred during the encounter, was leading the NSG's anti-bomb disposal squad inside the Air Force Base. His last rites will be performed at his native village in Kerala.

3. IAF's Garud Commando Gursewak Singh's last rites were performed at his native village Garnala in Punjab on Monday. Married just 45 days ago, Singh was supposed to come home on January 13. Also read: Nation pays tribute to its bravehearts Lt Col Niranjan, Commando Gursewak Singh

4. A group of 5-7 terrorists infiltrated the Pathankot Air Force base on the night of January 1 and began firing on early Saturday morning.

5. Pathankot Air Force, one of the most crucial defence installations in the country, houses MiG-21 fighter jets and Mi-25, Mi-35 attack helicopters. Apart from vital defence machinery and equipment, the base is home to 1,500 families of IAF personnel.

6. Pathankot Air Force base is located on Pathankot-Jammu national highway, just 30 kilometers away from Indo-Pak border.



7. National Investigating Agency (NIA) is interrogating Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh. Singh, posted in Gurdaspur, has claimed that he and his friend along with his cook were abducted by a group of armed men on Thursday night, almost 24 hours before the deadly attack on Pathankot Air Force base.

8. Pathankot Air Force base attack, which comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprise visit to Pakistan to attend Nawaz Sharif's granddaughter's wedding, is first such attack after he became PM in May 2014.

9. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), headed by Masood Azhar, is suspected to be behind the attack. Masood Azhar was freed by India in 1999 for the release of hijacked Air India plane IC 814.

10. Reports say that Indian intelligence agencies had a prior input about the terror strike in the area but failed to prevent the attack. Agencies claim that a huge contingent of NSG commandos was rushed from New Delhi to Pathankot on Friday evening, a day before the attack.
Delhi: Pakistan Foreign Office said on Monday that they were working on the 'leads' provided by India with regard to the terror attack at Pathankot air base.

"Pakistan is in touch with Indian government and is committed to effectively counter and eradicate terrorism", the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Pakistan Foreign office said in a statement as per media reports.

Extending Pakistan's deepest condolences to the government and people of India on the "unfortunate terrorist incident" in Pathankot, the statement further said, "We understand the pain of many families who have lost their dear ones in this tragedy, as Pakistan itself is a major victim of terrorism."

The statement, however, did not give details of the "leads" provided by India. It also said that India and Pakistan should remain "committed" to a sustained dialogue process.

Earlier, it was reported that details of phone call records of terrorists, who attacked the Pathankot air base, mobile numbers of their handlers based in Pakistan and proof that they came from across the border were expected to be shared with the neighbouring country when officials of the two sides meet in near future.

Government officials had said that whenever the two sides meet, be it at the Foreign Secretary-level or in National Security Advisor - level, all proof of Pakistani links of the terrorists would be given for action.

The terrorist had snatched at least four mobile phones after hijacking the vehicle of Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh, his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and Singh's cook and at least two of these phones were used to call their handlers in Pakistan.

The infiltrators also used two Pakistani SIMs to call their handlers, suspected to be based in Bahawalpur in Pakistan Punjab.

Security agencies are also trying to find out the antecedents of the terrorists who were killed in the operations so that their details could also be shared with Pakistan, sources said.

Meanwhile, NIA today registered three cases to probe the entire conspiracy behind the strike at the IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab believed to have been carried out by Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The cases were initially registered by local police stations in Pathankot that were transferred and handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), a central probe agency that was set up after the audacious 26/11 Mumbai terror strike to probe all terror cases in the country.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: The dastardly attack on the Indian Air Force Base at Pathankot on Saturday is likely to jeopardise the forthcoming high-level talks between India and Pakistan amid indications that the Indian government is likely to focus on tackling incidents of terror as of now while also continuing its engagement with Islamabad at the same time.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj, who had consulted veteran diplomats for the dialogue with Pakistan after the Pathankot attack, has been told that India should press Pakistan to act tough against terror before resuming talks with New Delhi.

Swaraj had yesterday met two former foreign secretaries and five former envoys to Pakistan as the government sought wider consultation over its policy towards Pakistan in the wake of the terror attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot that claimed 13 lives, including those of seven Indian security personnel.

Swaraj met Shiv Shankar Menon, former foreign secretary and national security adviser; Shyam Saran, former foreign secretary; Satinder Lambah, former envoy to Pakistan and former special envoy to the prime minister who conducted back channel talks with Pakistan; and four former envoys to Pakistan, T.C.A. Raghavan, Sharad Sabharwal, Satyabrata Pal and G. Parthasarathy.

India has long maintained terror originating from across the border should stop for the peace talks to deliver, however, some experts say the best response to such incidents would be to continue the peace process that has just begun.

However, the recently resumed dialogue process, and the surprise visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistan on his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif's birthday, appeared to write new chapters in the annals of bilateral diplomacy.

The attack at the frontline Indian Air Force (IAF) base in northern Punjab, around 30 km from the international border, coming within days of Modi's maiden visit to Pakistan, might have made a dent, but the balanced response from both the countries have raised hopes.

The five terrorists who staged the attack were killed in a gunbattle that lasted for 15 hours.

Pakistan immediately condemned the attack and expressed its commitment to partner with India to eradicate terrorism.

Home Minister Rajnath Singh, while stating that terror will be given a "befitting reply", added that India wants peace.

Former Indian Army chief, General VP Malik, described the attack as "minor" and said it was unlikely to disrupt the dialogue process.

He also said that following Prime Minister Modi's visit to Lahore, the stakes are high as the blame or credit will go completely to him.

"We must look at the prime minister's visit as a strategic engagement; with one engagement everything cannot fall in place," General Malik said, adding, "The second thing is that this particular event is a minor one; so its impact on the dialogue process will not be much."

The former army chief also said that the attack could not have been planned following Modi's Pakistan visit.

"Such attacks are planned months in advance..." he said.

Meanwhile, the Indian government is likely to raise the issue of the Pathankot terror attack with the Pakistani government on Monday.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi yesterday chaired a high-level meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary Jai Shankar and other top officials to take stock of the Pathankot attack.
Srinagar: Following plans of protest by Shia community against execution of a Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Al Nimr in Saudi Arabia, authorities have imposed curfew like restrictions in parts of Srinagar city on Monday.

"Restrictions have been imposed today (Monday) in areas falling under the jurisdiction of Rainawari and Zadibal police stations in Srinagar," a senior police official told IANS.

Shia leaders have called for protest on Monday against the execution of Nimr Al Nimr.

Police and paramilitary central reserve police force (CRPF) troops in full riot gear have been deployed in all law and order sensitive areas in Srinagar especially in the areas where Shia community lives in large numbers.

Shia leader Aga Syed Hassan has appealed people to assemble at city centre Lal Chowk to protest the execution of the top Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia.

The University of Kashmir has, however, announced that all exams scheduled for Monday will be held as per the already published date sheet.
London: British Minister for the Middle East Tobias Ellwood on Sunday expressed "disappointment" at the mass executions in Saudi Arabia, saying Britain will continue to raise these cases with the Saudi authorities.

Early on Saturday, Saudi Interior Ministry announced the execution of 47 people on terrorist charges, including the prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

"I am deeply disturbed by the escalation in tensions in the last 24 hours in the Middle East," Ellwood said Sunday in a statement.

"The UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty. We have stressed this to the Saudi authorities and also expressed our disappointment at the mass executions," he noted.

"We have discussed with the authorities in Riyadh, and expect that Ali Al-Nimr and others who were convicted as juveniles will not be executed. The UK will continue to raise these cases with the Saudi authorities," the minister added.

Ellwood also expressed concern over the attack on the Saudi Embassy in Iran. Angry Iranian protesters against the execution of Nimr al-Nimr raided and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran late Saturday.

"We are deeply concerned to hear of the attack yesterday on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. It is essential that diplomatic missions are properly protected and respected," he urged.

He continued that there are "those who will wish to exploit the situation and raise sectarian tensions higher."

"This would be against the wishes of the vast majority of those in the region. I urge all parties in the region to show restraint and responsibility," said the minister.
Guatemalan anti-narcotics officers have seized 540 kilos (1.2 tons) of cocaine hidden on a boat and arrested the four Ecuadorians on board, officials said Monday.

The vessel was intercepted late Sunday off Guatemala`s Pacific coast and the officers discovered the drugs packed in one-kilo bags, a spokeswoman for the state prosecutor`s office, Julia Barrera, told reporters.

The boat and the Ecuadorians were taken to a navy base in the southern Escuintla region, she said.

Central America is a waypoint for illicit drugs heading from South America to the United States.

According to US estimates, some 90 percent of cocaine consumed in America is brought there by land, air or sea -- including by submarine -- through the region and then through Mexico.

Guatemalan officials say around half the 6,000 homicides recorded annually in their country are linked to drug trafficking and turf wars between gangs.
Balkh: Fresh explosions and gunfire were heard as Afghan forces launched their final push to flush out militants holed up inside a building near the Indian consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, hours after they attempted to storm the diplomatic mission.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid. Reports said that some six assailants are mounting the attack from a building close to the Indian consulate in Balkh province. The Afghan forces have cordon off the area.

Also Read: Indian consulate attack: Afghan prez calls PM Modi, updates him of developments

A spokesman for the governor of Balkh province said that two loud explosions were heard even as fierce gunfight between militants and Afghan forces raged.

Afghan authorities said the militants armed to the teeth tried to storm the consulate.

"They faced resistance from the guards and, instead, entered a house about 100 metres from the consulate and opened fire from there," spokesman Muneer Ahmad Farhad said.

He added that some casualties had been reported but initial details were scarce.

WATCH: Afghan forces chopper-dropped at encounter site in Mazar-i-Sharif

Clearing operations in Mazar-i-Sharif is on by special forces, Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha said.

Heavy fighting going on, he said, adding that Balkh provinces Governor Atta Muhammad Noor was personally monitoring the situation.

Sinha, in a tweet, said all were safe in the consulate.

An Indian official, who was hunkered down in a secure area within the diplomatic enclave, said all consulate employees were safe and accounted for.

"We are being attacked," the official told AFP by telephone from inside the heavily-guarded compound.

"Fighting is going on," he said soon after the fighting erupted late Sunday evening.

Also Read: Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif attacked, two gunmen killed

Vikas Swarup, Indian foreign ministry spokesman, also told AFP that no Indian casualties had been reported so far.

Meanwhile, security forces are carrying out door-to-door search in the area and have not ruled out the presence of more attackers.

"The area is completely blocked by our forces," said Shir Jan Durrani, a police spokesperson.

"We are cautiously conducting our clearance operation to avoid any civilian casualties."

Sunday's attack came as Indian security forces were still trying to suppress an assault on an airbase near the border with Pakistan that has killed at least seven military personnel and wounded 20 others.

The attack comes amid renewed efforts to reduce long-standing tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad and restart peace talks with the Afghan Taliban.

Narendra Modi visited Kabul and Islamabad last month, the first visit to Pakistan by an Indian premier in over a decade.

Sunday's attack was not the first time an Indian diplomatic post had been attacked in Afghanistan.

In 2008, a car bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed 60 people and the embassy was again hit by a suicide strike in 2009.

Nine civilians, including seven children, were killed in August 2013 when suicide bombers targeted the Indian consulate in Jalalabad.

In May 2014, gunmen launched a pre-dawn attack on India's consulate in the western city of Herat.

(With Agency inputs)
New Delhi: Afghan security forces late on Monday night killed all the terrorists involved in the attack on the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, ending a 25-hour siege that had heightened concern about India's security.

Following a botched attempt to storm the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif on Sunday night, the militants had held their fort inside a house close to the mission building, with Afghan security forces cordoning off the area and mounting a final assault to end the siege.

The ensuing gunbattle lasted throughout the day on Monday.

However, all the personnel at the Indian consulate were safe and the building was secured.

Also Read: Indian consulate attack: Afghan prez calls PM Modi, updates him of developments

An Afghan police officer has also been killed in the gunfight.

On Sunday night, some 5 or 6 militants had tried to storm the Indian consulate in the city. However, prompt action by the Afghan forces have repelled the attack. The militants then took shelter in a house close to the consulate and from where they had resumed their gunfight on Monday.

Images taken from the scene show the Afghan troops being heli-dropped at the encounter site in a bid to consolidate their positions.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid. The militants were heavily armed.

On Monday afternoon, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani telephoned Prime Minister Narendra Modi to update him on the latest development.

WATCH: Afghan forces chopper-dropped at encounter site in Mazar-i-Sharif

PM Modi expressed deep appreciation for the bravery shown by the Afghan security forces in thwarting the terrorist attack and ensuring safety of the Indian Consulate and personnel.

President Ghani also expressed grief at the loss of life in the terror attack in Pathankot in which seven Indian security personnel were martyred.

Describing the attack in Mazar-i-Sharif, spokesman for the governor of Balkh province Muneer Ahmad Farhad said: "They (Militants faced resistance from the guards and, instead, entered a house about 100 metres from the consulate and opened fire from there." Details about civilian casualties are not clear.

Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha confirmed all the personnel in the consulate are safe.

Also Read: Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif attacked, two gunmen killed

Afghan security forces have carried out a door-to-door search in the area to make sure the area is secured.

Sunday's attack comes as Indian security forces were trying to suppress an assault on an Air Force base in Pathankot in Punjab.
Baghdad: At least two Sunni Muslim mosques have been attacked in Iraq and two people killed in apparent retaliation for the execution of a senior Shi`ite cleric in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, officials and police said on Monday.Iraqi Shi`ites protesting the Jan.

2 execution of Saudi Shi`ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr separately marched in Baghdad and in southern cities, calling for a boycott of Saudi products and severing ties with the Sunni-ruled kingdom.

Iraq`s Interior Ministry confirmed the attacks on Sunni mosques late Sunday in Hilla, around 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi blamed them on "Daesh (Islamic State) and those who are similar to them," without further explanation.

He ordered provincial authorities "to chase the criminal gangs" who attacked the mosques.

Iraq has faced sectarian bloodletting for years, mainly between minority Sunnis and a Shi`ite majority empowered after the US-led invasion in 2003. The battle against Sunni Islamic State militants who control large swathes of the north and west has only exacerbated those tensions.

The spark for Sunday`s attacks appears to have been Nimr`s execution a day earlier, which triggered angry reactions in Shi`ite-ruled Iraq and Iran.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with regional rival Iran on Sunday after protesters attacked the kingdom`s embassy in Tehran. Bahrain, the Shi`ite-majority Gulf state ruled by a Sunni family, and Sudan followed suit on Monday.

Protests

The attack on a mosque in central Hilla destroyed its dome and several walls, according to a Reuters TV cameraman who visited the site. Provincial council member Falah al-Khafaji and a police source said a guard in the building was killed.

"We saw smoke rising from the dome of the mosque. We found all the walls destroyed and the furniture inside in shambles," said resident Uday Hassan Ali.

Another mosque in Hilla`s northern outskirts was also attacked and a Sunni cleric was killed in a separate incident in Iskandariya, about 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, Khafaji and the police source said.

"We have leads and security measures will be taken near mosques," said Khafaji, pledging to rebuild the buildings.

Prominent religious and political leaders in Iraq have called on the government to cut ties with Saudi Arabia, which reopened its Baghdad embassy last week after closing it in 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

While Abadi and Iraq`s foreign ministry have condemned Nimr`s execution, they have given no indication of a more severe response.

Thousands of protesters marched in Baghdad and Shi`ite cities in southern Iraq, heeding calls by prominent Shi`ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to protest against al-Nimr`s execution. In Baghdad, demonstrators carrying portraits of Nimr rallied outside the heavily fortified Green Zone housing government departments and diplomatic representations, including the newly reopened Saudi embassy.

Police guarding the zone pushed back a group trying to cross a line of barbed wire as they chanted "damned, damned be Al Saud," referring to the Saudi ruling family.

Similar protests were held in Basra, southern Iraq`s biggest city, and in the Shi`ite holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala.
Benghazi: Islamic State fighters clashed with security forces near Libya`s Es Sider oil export terminal on Monday killing two guards and setting an oil storage tank on fire, witnesses and a Petrol Facilities Guard source said.

The source told Reuters that the tank had been hit by a rocket during the fighting, causing a huge fire, and that two Islamic State suicide car bombers had attacked the area around the port after which its fighters had retreated.

According to Mohamed al-Manfi, an oil official based in eastern Libya, the tank was holding 420,000 barrels of oil.

Libya descended into chaos after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and rival governments and the militias that support them are fighting for control of the North African state and its energy reserves. Es Sider and nearby Ras Lanuf oil ports, between Sirte and Benghazi, have been shut for a year.

Islamic State has taken advantage the security vacuum to grab territory and are threatening to advance from Sirte, which it controls. So far the group has failed to take control of any Libyan oil installations but has done so in Syria.

The group said it had attacked Es Sider after taking the nearby town of Ben Jawad. However, there was no independent confirmation of its capture.

Es Sider is protected by Ibrahim al-Jathran`s Petrol Facilities Guard, which has backed the government based in the city of Bayda in the east, but is also fighting other forces supporting that government.

The United Nations has been trying to win support for a deal brokered in Morocco last month to create a national unity government for Libya.

Separately on Monday, a plane targeting militant groups in the eastern city of Benghazi was shot down, though the pilot ejected, senior army commander Fadel al-Hassi told Reuters.

Forces allied to the Bayda government have been battling insurgents based in Benghazi for months.
Washington: Dozens of anti-government militiamen occupied an Oregon wildlife refuge for a second day on Sunday, warning that their protest against the jailing of two ranchers could last for months.

The group on Saturday occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Reserve in northeastern Oregon on Saturday after a peaceful rally in support of Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven, 46 -- ranchers who were jailed over fires on federal land.

The local sheriff`s department said in a statement on Sunday that the building at the federal wildlife site was empty at the time it was seized.

"These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States," said the statement from David Ward, sheriff of Harney County, where the refuge is located.

He added that efforts were under way to resolve the standoff "as quickly and peaceful as possible."

For their part, the militia members -- an apparently loose-knit grouping of anti-government farmers, ranchers and survivalists -- said they planned no violence but would not rule it out.

There have been no reports so far of any confrontation around the federal facility, which was closed for the holiday weekend.

One of the protesters is Ammon Bundy, the 40-year-old son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was at the center of an armed, anti-government standoff with authorities in 2014 over grazing rights on public lands.

The younger Bundy, who spoke by phone to CNN on Sunday, called on the government to restore the "people`s constitutional rights."

His brother Ryan and others in the group have demanded that the Hammonds be released and that the government relinquish control of the wildlife reserve. It was unclear how many of them, if any, might be armed.

"We will be here as long as it takes," Ammon Bundy said. "We have no intentions of using force upon anyone, (but) if force is used against us, we would defend ourselves."

The Hammonds had been convicted of arson after lighting what they said was a controlled fire on their property that spread to government land.

But witnesses at their trial said that Steven Hammond, leading a hunting party, had illegally slaughtered deer on federal property then handed out matches in order to "light up the whole country on fire," according to a Justice Department statement.

The fire consumed 139 acres of public land and destroyed any evidence of illegal hunting.

The pair had been freed after serving reduced jail time -- three months for the father and a year for his son, according to local media.

But when a judge, in an appeal, ruled in October that a five-year sentence was justified, the militia groups responded angrily.

Following a rally by around 300 people Saturday in the town of Burns, a group of protesters advanced on the federal reserve 50 miles (80 kilometers) to the southeast, where wild horses, pronghorns (an antelope-like mammal) and other creatures roam free.

Ammon Bundy told The Oregonian by phone that the protesters had no intention of leaving anytime soon.

"We`re planning on staying here for years, absolutely," he said. "This is not a decision we`ve made at the last minute."

The Hammonds are to report Monday to a federal prison in California to serve the balance of their five-year terms, local station KTVZ reported.
Moscow: Russia is ready to serve as an intermediary to resolve the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran that saw the kingdom break off diplomatic relations with Tehran, the foreign ministry said on Monday.

"We ask... Tehran, Riyadh and other Gulf countries to show restraint," the ministry said in a statement, as it called on Saudi Arabia and Iran to take "the path of dialogue".

"Russia is ready to support such efforts," the statement said, adding that "Moscow is deeply concerned by the latest escalation of the situation in the Middle East caused by the major regional powers, Saudi Arabia and Iran."

Earlier, a foreign ministry source had told AFP that "Russia is ready to serve as an intermediary between Riyadh and Tehran".

Another unnamed Russian diplomatic source quoted by TASS news agency said Moscow was ready to host the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers -- Adel al-Jubeir and Mohammad Javad Zarif -- for talks.

"If our partners Saudi Arabia and Iran show they are ready and willing (to meet), our initiative will remain on the table," the source said.

Saudi Arabia announced Sunday it was severing its ties to Iran after its embassy in Tehran was firebombed in protest at the kingdom's execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Nimr was a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in eastern Saudi Arabia, where Shiites have long complained of marginalisation.

Sunni-led Bahrain followed suit and cut ties with Iran, while the United Arab Emirates recalled its ambassador from Iran and downgraded diplomatic relations with Tehran.

Oil-rich Tehran and Riyadh have been divided over the nearly five-year war in Syria, where Iran is backing the regime, and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hosted both Jubeir and Zarif individually last year for talks on the Syrian crisis as Moscow pushed for the creation of a broad coalition to fight ISIS terrorists in Syria.
Manila: The Philippines says that like Vietnam, it opposes a recent Chinese flight test in a newly completed runway on one of seven islands Beijing constructed in the disputed South China Sea.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said today the Philippine government was considering protesting China's action, like what Vietnam did, adding that the flight test at Fiery Cross Reef "adds to tension and uncertainties in the region."

Vietnam said last week the flight test violated its sovereignty and demanded that China stop similar actions. China rejected Hanoi's protest and will likely dismiss Manila's concerns too.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Saturday the flight test was carried out to determine whether the new airfield in what she said was Chinese territory conformed to civil aviation standards.
Washington: As uncertainty prevailed over Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan in the wake of Pathankot terror strike, the US today said "warmer" ties would be in the interest of the two nations, but it is for their leaders to decide their national interest."The United States certainly believes that warmer relations and more cooperation between the government of India and the government of Pakistan would be in the interests of both countries. But ultimately, the leaders of those countries will have to decide for themselves," the White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, told reporters at his daily news conference.

Earnest was responding to questions on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Lahore and the terror strike at the Pathankot air base, which appeared to have originated from Pakistan.

An element of uncertainty today prevailed over next week's Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan amid indications that these may be deferred in the wake of the terror attack.

"Obviously the leaders of both countries are gonna have to decide for themselves what they believe is in the interests of their citizens," Earnest said.

Jaishankar is scheduled to hold discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry to chalk out a roadmap to carry forward the engagement under the newly announced "Bilateral Comprehensive Dialogue".

However, official sources said the government was mulling options" with regard to the Islamabad meeting. Responding to another question, Earnest said that it is

in the interest of Pakistan to take actions against terrorist groups.

"The government of Pakistan has their own interest in trying to fight extremism and fight terrorist organisations that are operating inside their own country," he said, adding that the US has offered its support to the Pakistani government.

"We obviously want to help them particularly in light of that terrible terrorist incident where we saw an extremist organisation carry out an attack against an elementary school inside Pakistan. That was a little over a year ago, I believe," he said, referring to horrific Taliban attack on a Peshawar school.

"That was I think was a rather vivid illustration for people who don't closely follow this issue that citizens in Pakistan and the Pakistani government has their own vested interest in trying to deal with terrorist organizations that are attempting to operate inside the country, and the United States obviously strongly supports the Pakistan government as they do that," he said. Earnest said he is not aware of any upcoming meeting between the US President and the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan.

"I'm not aware of any upcoming meetings between the president and the leaders of India and Pakistan, but if anything like that materializes, we'll certainly let you know," he said in response to another question.
By Shubhankar Chakravorty (Reuters) - Canadian Oil Sands Ltd on Monday urged shareholders again to reject Suncor Energy Inc's hostile C$4.3 billion bid, which is set to lapse later this week. The Alberta Securities Commission had given Canadian Oil Sands shareholders until Jan. 4 to decide how to respond to the offer. Suncor on Monday reiterated its all-stock offer of 0.25 of Suncor share for each Canadian Oil Sands share, implying a value of C$8.93 per share based on Suncor's Dec. 31 close. Suncor, Canada's largest oil producer, is not expected to extend the offer when it lapses on Friday. "We can only invest so much time and money in this effort and will feel compelled to move on to other opportunities if we don't see substantial support for our bid on Friday," Suncor Chief Executive Steve Williams said. In a letter to shareholders, Canadian Oil Sands Chairman Don Lowry touted "independence," while calling upon shareholders not to tender their shares. "Suncor's substantially undervalued bid is set to lapse, and when it does they say they will walk away. For all of us, as shareholders, this scenario reveals a far more compelling and valuable alternative: Independence," Chairman Don Lowry said in a letter to shareholders. The letter comes as Canadian Oil Sands' shareholder rights plan expires on Monday. The company had adopted the plan, also known as poison pill, two days after Suncor made the offer in early October. Lowry said the company had also considered a full range of alternatives against the Suncor offer, including a full or partial sale to other parties, and a royalty financing. "(Canadian Oil Sands) has the financial resources to weather the current downturn," he said, referring to the steep decline in oil prices.
From property crimes to prostitution to renovations to their own headquarters, 2015 was a very busy year for Cape Breton's police service.

Police chief Peter MacIsaac says crime rates are "pretty much the same" as last year, but the police service has nonetheless kept itself occupied with special task forces and renovations.

The service received around 70,000 calls for service, he says  an increase over the previous year. MacIsaac listed the following statistics:

- Overall criminal code violations: on par with Nova Scotia's average, about 5,500 violations per 100,000 people

- Violent criminal code violations: lower than provincial average and Canada as a whole

- Property crime violations were "significantly higher" than provincial average due to a lot of vandalism

- Most frequent violation was break and enter, mostly vehicles.

MacIsaac says the service is continuing with objectives set in its strategic plan for 2015 to 2018.

Break and Enters

"We see several thousand calls per year in relation to that," MacIsaac told CBC Sydney's Information Morning.

The numbers have been high enough over the last few years to trigger a special task force to curtail the problem. MacIsaac says efforts have led to 150 charges being laid.

"Our task force was basically led by a combination of our community safety enforcement unit and our patrol unit, working very closely with our criminal analyst," he said.

"We looked at some of the crime trends and did the crime patterning where the incidents were happening at."

Their plan analyzed common times of day the offences were occurring and the locations. They also linked past suspects because "70 per cent of our calls are in relation to people we've dealt with in the past."

He says task force has been a positive force in returning stolen property.

Operation John Be Gone

Prostitution in the municipality "really reached a head this year," and required another task force called Operation John Be Gone.

Story continues

MacIsaac says police have had numerous complaints from businesses and citizens about activity on Charlotte Street. About 200 people were engaging two-dozen women who've been "victimized and exploited," "viciously assaulted" and "unlawfully confined," he said.

Changes to prostitution laws in Canada put significant pressure on the police force, he says. When they started investigating, social issues were ruled as a major cause.

"We found out those women weren't there by choice. They were there by their circumstances," he said.

"There were there because there were addiction problems. There was lack of family support. There was lack of lower levels of education. There was lack of food, lack of shelter."

Social and addiction services joined police efforts. Arrests of several individuals who were procuring those services have been made, he says.

"My biggest fear was that if we didn't do something and get everyone involved here and help these women, we were going to have a homicide here."

Renovations to headquarters

Renovations continue at their new headquarters, 865 Grand Lake Road.

"It's great for morale but at the end of the day, it goes right back to service delivery," he said. "It has been a big deal for our officers and flow of our service."

It's been key for organization since amalgamation 20 years ago, MacIsaac says. It's providing much-need amenities including Interview and interrogation rooms, major crimes rooms, identification rooms, labs, polygraph rooms, and patrol offices.

Several sections of the building are complete, but renovations will continue.

"I suspect the central division will be done shortly, probably early February," he said. "We're not bursting at the seams any more."
Jeremy Corbyn is more popular with voters after three months as Labour leader than Ed Miliband was at the same stage of his leadership, according to a poll.

A quarter of voters believe the radical left-winger is "turning out to be a good leader of the Labour Party" compared with 17% for his predecessor in the months after he was elected, the ComRes survey for The Independent on Sunday and Sunday Mirror finds.

Labour has also gone up two points to 29%, while the Conservatives have dropped two, although they are still significantly out ahead on 40%.

But the poll indicates that Hilary Benn, the shadow Foreign Secretary, outscores Mr Corbyn as a possible "good leader".

His speech in favour of military airstrikes against Islamic State in Syria last month was widely praised by both sides of the Commons.

However, much of Mr Benns support comes from Conservative voters, with 42% saying he would be a good Labour leader, compared with 25% of Labour voters.

Some 56% of Labour voters think Mr Corbyn is a good leader.

The polling also finds that 40% of voters believe Mr Corbyn offers a positive difference from other politicians while 37% think he is being treated unfairly by the media.

:: ComRes interviewed 2,049 UK adults online between 9 and 11 December, and the data was weighted.
By Mariam Karouny BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanon's Hezbollah group on Monday said it would retaliate for the killing of prominent militant Samir Qantar in an Israeli air strike in Syria, after giving him an elaborate funeral in Beirut of the kind reserved for its top commanders. Thousands of people chanted "death to Israel" as Hezbollah fighters in military uniforms carried Qantar's coffin, which was wrapped by the group's yellow flag, to a Shi'ite Muslim cemetery in its south Beirut stronghold where he was laid to rest. "We have no doubt or question that Israel is the one which assassinated Samir Qantar, its planes fired precision missiles on a residential apartment (he was in)," Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said in a speech aired on the group's al-Manar television channel. "Samir is one of us, a commander of our resistance and it is our right to retaliate for his assassination in the place, time and way we see appropriate," Nasrallah said. "We will exercise this right, God willing. Everyone should bear this mind." A number of Syrians were also killed in the attack, he said. Qantar was jailed in Israel for his part in a 1979 raid in Israel that killed four people. He was a member of a Palestinian militant group then. Qantar was repatriated to Lebanon in 2008 in a prisoner swap with Hezbollah, which he then joined. Israel welcomed his death, saying he had been preparing attacks on it from Syrian soil, but stopped short of confirming responsibility for the air strike on Saturday that killed him. "We, in a firm and definite way, hold the Zionist enemy responsible for assassinating him," Nasrallah said. Qantar, born in 1962, kept a low public profile after Israel freed him. Hezbollah did not say what role he played in Syria's ongoing conflict, in which Hezbollah is fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad. But Syrian state media said he was involved in a major offensive earlier this year in Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. In January, an Israeli air strike in Syria killed six members of Hezbollah, including a commander and the son of the its late military chief Imad Moughniyah near the Golan Heights. In a symbolic gesture at Monday's funeral, Hezbollah fighters carrying Qantar's coffin stopped by the grave of Moughniyah, where they took the group's official oath and pledged loyalty to Nasrallah. "If the Israelis think by killing Samir Qantar they have closed an account then they are very mistaken because they know and will come to know that they have instead opened several more," Hashem Safeieddine, a senior official in the powerful Shi'ite militant movement, said at the funeral. (Additional reporting by Suleiman al-Khalidi; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Dominic Evans)
By Sam Wilkin DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran said on Monday that Israeli lobbying was behind a new measure passed by the U.S. Congress that will prevent visa-free travel to the United States for people who have visited Iran or hold Iranian nationality. The measure, which President Barack Obama signed into law on Friday, also applies to Iraq, Syria and Sudan, and was introduced as a security measure after the Islamic State attacks in Paris and a similar attack in San Bernardino, California. Iran, a Shi'ite Muslim theocracy staunchly opposed to Sunni radicalism espoused by groups like Islamic State, says its inclusion on the list is intended to undermine a deal on its nuclear programme that Tehran reached with world powers, including the United States, in July, known as the JCPOA. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in a televised news conference that the U.S. measure had been passed "under pressure from the Zionist lobby and currents opposed to the JCPOA". Citizens of 38 countries, most of them in Europe, are eligible for waivers under the U.S. Visa Waiver Program. Under the new restrictions, citizens who have visited Iran, Iraq, Syria or Sudan in the last five years, and those who hold dual nationality with one of those countries, are excluded. The measure was introduced after 130 people were killed in the Islamic State attacks in Paris on Nov. 13. Several of the attackers had European passports, and some had traveled to Islamic State's territory in Syria. IRAN SAYS DECISION "ABSURD" Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday said it was "absurd" that Tehran should be included on the list. "No Iranian nor anybody who visited Iran had anything to do with the tragedies that have taken place in Paris or in San Bernardino or anywhere else," he said in an interview with Middle East-focused website Al Monitor. Asked whether Iran's inclusion in the visa law was a backdoor attempt to undermine the nuclear deal, State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington that the restrictions applied because Tehran was on the department's list of state sponsors of terrorism. There is no intention to use the visa program "to halt the legitimate business interests of Iran post-implementation" of the nuclear deal, Kirby told reporters at a news briefing. Iran has been promised a lifting of international sanctions hobbling its economy once it has restrictions on its nuclear programme in place as stipulated by its deal with the powers. Iranian officials have said the visa measure will adversely affect bilateral relations. Some suggest the measure is effectively a new sanction against the Islamic Republic that could jeopardise the nuclear deal. "Existing sanctions not yet lifted, additional sanctions imposed," ran the front-page headline of the hardline daily Kayhan on Monday. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry wrote to Zarif on Saturday to assure him that Washington remained committed to the JCPOA, noting that the White House can waive the new requirements in individual cases. Ali Shamkhani, the secretary of Iran's National Security Council, warned that the measures would breed mistrust between the two countries. "It could have irreversible effects on the implementation of mutual commitments under the JCPOA," Shamkhani was quoted as saying by the state news agency IRNA. (Reporting by Sam Wilkin in Dubai and Washington Newsroom; Editing by Sami Aboudi and Mark Heinrich)
Manitoba sends ambulances to Ukraine to help victims of crisis

Manitoba is sending ambulances to Ukraine to serve civilians embroiled in regional conflicts.

Three emergency medical service vehicles headed overseas were unveiled by Manitoba Premier Greg Selinger at a news conference outside the legislative building Monday.

"Manitobans have a special bond with the people of Ukraine, and we stand with them during this crisis and in their time of need," Selinger said in a statement.

The donation is part of Ambulances for Ukraine, a humanitarian project aimed at helping those affected by ongoing violence and civil unrest in the country.

"The ambulance project is a practical way Canadians, and in particular, the Ukrainian Canadian community, can help," Selinger said.

John Holuk, the project manager with Ambulances for Ukraine, said the move to send emergency medical vehicles to the area followed calls on the international community to provide care for victims of violence in eastern Ukraine.

"The second phase will expand the focus to meet the needs highlighted by the United Nations and World Health Organization, where the continuing conflict has deprived many communities [of] access to basic medical care," Holuk, who is also a member of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress Ukraine Appeal, said in a statement.

Saskatchewan and Alberta have already donated ambulances.

Selinger said both provinces previously sent ambulances that have been used for more than 100 emergency trips.
Bahrain has followed Saudi Arabia in severing diplomatic ties with Iran and ordering Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours.

The Bahrainis said the decision was triggered by the "cowardly" attacks on the Saudi embassy in Iran by protesters angry at the execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al Nimr.

The United Arab Emirates has also announced it is downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran, while Saudi media is reporting that Sudan has expelled the Iranian ambassador there.

The interventions by Bahrain, UAE and Sudan, which like Saudi Arabia are predominantly Sunni, represent another escalation in tension between the two branches of Islam .

Iran, a Shia powerhouse, has accused Saudi Arabia of using the attacks on its embassy in Tehran to deliberately stoke "tensions" in the region.

"Saudi Arabia, which thrives on tensions, has used this incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions," foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in televised remarks.

The protesters lit fires and smashed furniture in the embassy before being cleared out by police, who arrested 40 people.

No Saudi diplomats were in the embassy at the time and all have now been called home.

Iranian officials condemned the attack, as well as Sheikh al Nimr's execution by Saudi Arabia.

The 56-year-old was a driving force behind anti-government protests in Saudi during the Arab Spring of 2011.

He was put to death along with 46 other prisoners on Saturday, sparking widespread demonstrations and criticism.

The Saudis have insisted the death penalties were part of a justified war on terrorism.

But Iran's supreme leader said Saudi politicians will face "divine vengeance" for killing the cleric.

There has also been sectarian anger in eastern parts of Saudi, with hundreds of Shia Muslims marching through the streets, and demonstrations spread to countries including Turkey, Pakistan, India and Lebanon.

Police fired tear gas at demonstrators in Bahrain, while two Sunni mosques were bombed in Iraq's Hilla province.

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The leader of Lebanese Shia militant group Hizbollah also strongly condemned Saudi Arabia, saying Sheikh al Nimr was a brave martyr killed only for his criticism of the Saudi ruling family.

China declared itself "highly concerned" with the developments, while Germany and the US called for calm.

An unnamed diplomat quoted by Russian state media said Moscow was ready to act as a peacemaker between the two countries.

Most of those executed on Saturday were detained after a series of attacks by al Qaeda between 2003 and 2006 in which hundreds of people were killed.

Four, including Sheikh al Nimr, were Shias accused of shooting police.

All but two - an Egyptian and a Chadian - were Saudi nationals.

Britain's Treasury minister David Gauke said the executions were "wrong", but he defended the UK's close relationship with the Saudi regime.

He told Sky News' Murnaghan programme: "When it comes to protecting British people, the Prime Minister has made it clear that intelligence from Saudi Arabia has helped save lives and protect people in the UK ...

"We have a relationship with Saudi Arabia where we are able to speak candidly to them, where these issues are raised on a regular basis by the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister and our representatives in Riyadh."
Rumble

Introducing the recipe for seafood Chijimi (Korean pan cake) made with Nira (garlic chives) and squid. Adding carrots adds a gentle sweetness and the indescribably enchanting texture of fluffy, chewy pancake is almost addictive. Thinly cooked with the flavor of sesame oil and dipped in the authentic homemade sauce, this dish is a delicious dinner or finger food. The recipe can easily be modified for restricted diets, substituting the squid for thinly sliced pork, or even subbing all animal based products with vegetarian ones (roasted vegetables instead of meat - vegetable broth instead of chicken, etc). =============================================================  YouTube : https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDvC...  Instagram : https://www.instagram.com/hungrycooki... ============================================================= 00:38 Prepping Ingredients 01:25 How to Gut a Squid 03:43 How To Make Chijimi Dipping Sauce 05:28 Putting Together the Chijimi 06:43 How to Cook Chijimi  Ingredients (for one chijimi) Weak (Cake) flour... 1/3 cup Potato starch ... 2 tbsp Water... 1/3 cup Garlic chives ... 1/3 bunch Carrots ... 1/8 (about 5cm) Squid ... 1/2~1 Salt Torigara (chicken bone) soup stock base (or Hondashi)  1 tsp  Olive oil  Sesame oil Sauce Soy sauce... 2 tablespoons Vinegar... 2 tablespoons Kochijang... 2 tsp Ichimi chili pepper Sesame oil... 1 tablespoon La-Yu (chili oil) Sesame  Cooking Recipe  Slice the Garlic Chives into 3~5cm pieces and julienne the carrots.  Gut, wash, and prep the squid into about 3-5cm strips.  This is a good time to prepare the sauce, so mix the sauce ingredients together to create the dipping sauce for the pancakes.  Add cake flour and potato starch, mixing loosely. Add water, salt, and torigara (chicken bone broth concentrate) or a different stock base like Hondashi, and stir until smooth. Lastly, add prepped vegetables and squid into the bowl and mix to incorporate.  Place the a pan over high heat and when hot, pour in sesame oil and olive oil. Add the batter made in step 4 into the pan, shape, and cook for 1~1.5 minutes on one side. When solid and lightly browned, flip the pancake and cook the other side through, pressing down with a spatula as needed.  Before completely cooked through, pour sesame oil along the rim of the pan and cook for 1~1.5 minutes more until browned. Reduce heat to medium and cook until both sides are both sides are fragrant and of good color.  After removing from the pan when fully cooked, cut into bite sized pieces and serve with prepared dipping sauce.  Cooking tips Thinly sliced pork is a delicious alternative to squid. This recipe can also be made vegetarian by subbing meats with roasted eggplant or other hearty vegetables, and broth subbed with vegetable broth concentrate. If you like a sweeter dipping sauce, add a pinch sugar when putting the sauce together. If you add an egg the taste will be much richer. However, add more flour to the batter as too small of an amount will result in a heavier, less crispy pancake. A recommended ratio will be about 1 cup of flour to 1 egg. When cutting pancakes, the chives are a little hard to cut and tend to lose their shape so cut them carefully. The pancake is easier to cut if you have a pizza cutter on hand.
A 32-year-old woman from Norway House, Man., has been charged in connection with a stabbing on New Year's Day.

RCMP say they found a 31-year-old man injured and lying on the floor of a home in the Rossville area, near Norway House, shortly after 1 p.m. Friday.

The man, who was also from Norway House, was taken to hospital. Investigators learned early Saturday morning that he had died, RCMP said in a news release Monday.

The woman was arrested and charged with aggravated assault. She was scheduled to appear in court in Thompson, Man., on Monday.

An RCMP spokesperson told CBC News the aggravated assault charge was laid based on information that investigators had at the time, and "further medical investigation" will determine if that charge should be modified.
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By Sam Wilkin DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia rallied Sunni allies to its side in a growing diplomatic row with Iran on Monday, deepening a sectarian split across the Middle East following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric. Bahrain and Sudan cut all ties with Iran, following Riyadh's example the previous day. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters Riyadh would also halt air traffic and commercial relations between the rival powers. He blamed Iran's "aggressive policies" for the diplomatic action, alluding to years of tension that spilled over on Saturday night when Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom's embassy in Tehran. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, partially downgraded its relations but the other Gulf Arab countries - Kuwait, Qatar and Oman - stayed above the fray. Shi'ite Iran accused Saudi Arabia of using the attack on the embassy as an "excuse" to sever ties and further increase sectarian tensions, as protesters in Iran and Iraq marched for a third day to denounce Saudi Arabia's execution of Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. The UAE said Iran needed to stay out of Arab affairs and not act like a protector of Arab Shi'ites. "The Arab world isn't a venue for its blatant interference ... Iran does not have guardianship or jurisdiction over a large number of Arabs for some sectarian reason," UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV. A man was shot dead in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province late on Sunday, and two Sunni mosques in Iraq's Shi'ite-majority Hilla province were bombed in the fallout from the dispute between the Middle East's top Sunni and Shi'ite powers. Oil prices spiked during European trading as the two big petroleum exporters traded insults and after violence hit other crude producers such as Iraq. But prices then eased back on evidence of economic weakness in Asia. Stock markets across the Gulf dropped sharply, led by Qatar which fell more than 2.5 percent, with geopolitical jitters outweighing any benefit from stronger oil. Crude importer China declared itself "highly concerned" with the developments, in a rare foray into Middle East diplomacy. The United States and Germany called for restraint, while Russia offered to mediate an end to the dispute. SYRIA, YEMEN The row threatened to derail efforts to end Syria's five-year-old civil war, where Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab powers support rebel groups against Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad. In neighboring Lebanon, newspapers said the spat had clouded the hopes of filling the vacant presidency that had been raised last month after Iran and Saudi Arabia both voiced support for a power-sharing deal. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Saudi foreign minister on Monday that Riyadh's decision to break off diplomatic ties with Iran was extremely troubling. A spokesman said Ban wanted to help ensure both countries continued their commitment to ending the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. The U.N. chief urged Saudi Arabia to renew a ceasefire it ended this weekend with the Iran-allied Shi'ite Houthi group in Yemen that it has been bombing for nine months. But analysts said fears of a sectarian rupture across the Middle East were premature, and the break in Saudi-Iran relations could be more a symptom of existing strains than evidence of new ones. "The fact that the UAE was unwilling to cut off ties with Iran completely, despite the closeness of its relations with Saudi Arabia, shows the difficulty that the Saudis will have in trying to isolate Iran," said Julien Barnes-Dacey, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. "The downgrading of ties is not fundamentally a question of responding to executions and the storming of an embassy... (but rather) a function of a much deeper conflict between the two states," he added. Trade between Saudi Arabia and Iran is small compared with the size of their economies, but some business is routed through the United Arab Emirates; comprehensive figures are not available. Investment ties are also minimal, though Saudi food conglomerate Savola has major manufacturing operations in Iran. "DIVINE REVENGE" After a furious response in Shi'ite communities worldwide to the Sunni kingdom's execution of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iran was creating "terrorist cells" among the kingdom's Shi'ite minority. Saudi Arabia executed Nimr and three other Shi'ites on terrorism charges on Saturday, alongside dozens of Sunni jihadists. Shi'ite Iran hailed him as a "martyr" and warned Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family of "divine revenge". Shi'ite groups united in condemnation of Saudi Arabia while Sunni powers rallied behind the kingdom, hardening a sectarian split that has torn apart communities across the Middle East and nourished the jihadist ideology of Islamic State. Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based seat of Sunni Muslim learning, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia, condemned the attacks on Riyadh's missions and stressed Tehran's obligation to respect the internal affairs of the kingdom. Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled island kingdom with a restive Shi'ite majority, accused Iran of "blatant and dangerous interference" in the affairs of the Gulf Arab countries, in a statement announcing the severing of diplomatic ties. Western powers, many of which supply billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Gulf Arab powers, tried to tamp down the tensions with Iran but also deplored the executions, as human rights groups strongly criticized Saudi Arabia's judicial process and protesters gathered outside Saudi embassies. (Additional reporting by Katie Paul, Noah Browning, Tom Perry in Beirut and Maher Chmaytelli in Baghdad; editing by William Maclean, Philippa Fletcher and Pravin Char)
Benghazi (Libya) (AFP) - The Islamic State jihadist group launched attacks near key oil facilities in northern Libya on Monday but were repulsed, an army official said.

The jihadists first carried out a suicide car bomb attack on a military checkpoint at the entrance to the town of Al-Sidra, killing two soldiers, said a colonel in the army loyal to the internationally recognised government.

"We were attacked by a convoy of a dozen vehicles belonging to IS," Bashir Boudhfira said. "They then launched an attack on the town of Ras Lanouf via the south but did not manage to enter."

IS has for several weeks been trying to push east from the coastal city of Sirte under its control to reach Libya's "oil crescent" and the key oil terminals of Al-Sidra and Ras Lanouf.

A Libyan oil official told AFP that a 420,000-barrel oil storage tank in Ras Lanouf caught fire during the clashes.

IS on Twitter announced that its fighters had led an "attack on the Al-Sidra area followed by violent clashes with the enemies of God".

The jihadists have taken advantage of chaos in Libya since the 2011 revolt that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi to extend their influence there.

Monday's attack is the first of its kind since IS seized Kadhafi's hometown of Sirte in June 2015.

The group said the attack came after it took control of Ben Jawad town, 150 kilometres (90 miles) east of Sirte.

It came as an air force colonel from the city of Misrata east of Tripoli said air strikes were carried out "from morning to nightfall" on jihadist positions.

The officer, who declined to be named, said the strikes focused on targets between Al-Sidra and Ben Jawad.

His comments came amid reports that IS fighters were advancing west of Sirte.

- Fighter jet crashes -

Meanwhile, Libya's national news agency LANA, quoting a military spokesman, reported that a MiG 23 warplane crashed in the region of Abu Hadi, southwest of second city Benghazi, because of a "technical failure in the hydraulic system".

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The SITE Intelligence Group reported an IS claim that it shot down the plane.

Oil is Libya's main natural resource, with a pre-revolt output capacity of about 1.6 million barrels per day, accounting for more than 95 percent of exports and 75 percent of the budget.

But unrest has forced a major slump in production.

The country sits on reserves estimated at 48 billion barrels, the largest in Africa.

Libya has had rival administrations since August 2014, when an Islamist-backed militia alliance overran Tripoli, forcing the government to take refuge in the east.

The United Nations is pressing both sides to accept a power-sharing agreement it hopes will help reverse gains made by IS.

On December 17, under UN guidance, envoys from both sides and a number of independent political figures signed a deal for a unity government.

It calls for a 17-member government, headed by businessman Fayez el-Sarraj as premier, based in Tripoli.

The British ambassador to Libya, Peter Millet, tweeted his concern about the latest developments.

"Deeply concerned by reports of a #Daesh (IS) offensive at Sidra & Ras Lanuf. Reinforces the need for Libyans to back Govt of National Accord," he said.
Riyadh (AFP) - The diplomatic crisis surrounding Saudi Arabia and Iran widened on Tuesday as Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Tehran and Bahrain severed air links in the face of growing international concern.

Joining Riyadh and its Sunni Arab allies in taking diplomatic action, Kuwait said it was withdrawing its envoy over a weekend attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Kuwait's move came after the UN Security Council strongly condemned the attack by protesters angry over Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Tensions between Saudi Arabia, the main Sunni power, and Shiite-dominated Iran erupted this week into a full-blown diplomatic crisis, sparking widespread worries of regional instability.

Iran on Tuesday lashed out again at Saudi Arabia over Saturday's execution, with President Hassan Rouhani accusing Riyadh of seeking to "cover its crime" by severing ties.

"One does not respond to criticism by cutting off heads," Rouhani said, referring to the usual Saudi practice of carrying out executions with beheading by the sword.

Washington and other Western powers have called for calm amid fears the dispute could raise sectarian tensions across the Middle East and derail efforts to resolve conflicts from Syria to Yemen.

The Security Council joined those calls late on Monday, issuing a statement urging all sides to "take steps to reduce tensions in the region".

The statement by the 15-member council condemned "in the strongest terms" the attacks which saw protesters firebomb the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Iran's second-biggest city Mashhad.

But the council made no mention of the event that set off the crisis -- Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a cleric and activist whose death sparked widespread Shiite protests.

- 'Grave violation' -

Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in protest at the attacks on Sunday and has severed air links with Iran.

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Some of its allies among Sunni Arab states followed suit, with Bahrain and Sudan breaking off ties and the United Arab Emirates downgrading relations.

Bahrain -- base of the US Fifth Fleet -- cut air links with Iran on Tuesday.

Kuwait said Tuesday the embassy attacks "represent a flagrant breach of international agreements and norms and a grave violation of Iran's international commitments".

Rouhani has condemned the attacks and Tehran's mission to the UN vowed in a letter to the Security Council to "take necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents in the future".

Iranian officials have brushed aside the dispute, with government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht saying Tuesday it "will have no impact on Iran's national development".

"It is Saudi Arabia that will suffer," he said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called his Iranian and Saudi counterparts on Monday to urge calm as European leaders voiced concerns and Moscow offered to mediate.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also spoke by phone with the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers to urge them to "avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"A breakdown of relations between Riyadh and Tehran could have very serious consequences for the region," Dujarric said.

The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, rushed to Riyadh in a bid to defuse tensions. He is also expected in Iran later this week and in Damascus on Saturday, UN sources said.

- Regional rivals -

The official Saudi SPA news agency, without referring to the Iran crisis, said Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir reaffirmed to the envoy Tuesday Riyadh's view that "(President) Bashar al-Assad doesn't have any role in Syria's future".

The UN quoted De Mistura as saying Riyadh was determined that regional tensions "will not have any negative impact... on the continuation of the political process that the UN, together with the International Syria Support Group, intend to start in Geneva soon".

And the Security Council called for a new ceasefire in Yemen and a return to peace talks despite the Saudi-Iran crisis.

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of Sunni Arab states said it would meet in Riyadh Saturday for talks on the embassy attacks, a day before an Arab League emergency meeting.

The foreign minister of Shiite-majority Iraq was due in Tehran Wednesday, Iran state media reported, "in the framework of improving Iran-Iraq bilateral relations".

Media reports said his counterpart from Oman, which has often played the role of mediator in the region, was also expected in the Iranian capital.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are on opposing ends of a range of crucial issues, including the war in Syria -- where Tehran backs Assad's regime and Riyadh supports rebel forces -- and Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite insurgents.

The spike in tensions comes after Iran last year secured a historic nuclear deal with world powers led by the United States, sparking major concern in longtime US ally Riyadh.

Nimr, one of 47 men executed on Saturday, was a driving force behind 2011 anti-government protests in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.

He was arrested in 2012 after calling for two Saudi governorates to be separated from the kingdom.

More trouble flared in Eastern Province Tuesday when gunmen intercepted and torched a bus, without causing casualties, two days after a civilian was shot dead in Nimr's home village.
Both the Malaysian and Singaporean governments have come to a consensus on the alignment of the 330km high-speed rail (HSR) linking Kuala Lumpur to Singapore, and have decided on two services, one being a direct service linking Kuala Lumpur to the island republic, and another with transit stops in between. We are envisioning to start with two services  one that will go directly to Singapore, and another that will stop with transit services in Bandar Malaysia, Seremban, Melaka, Muar, Batu Pahat and Nusajaya, and then [across the causeway to] Singapore... even with the stops in between, we will have express services that do not stop, MyHSR Corp Sdn Bhd chief executive officer Mohd Nur Ismal Mohamed Kamal told The Edge Financial Daily in an exclusive interview. MyHSR Corp, which is wholly owned by the Finance Ministry, was given the mandate to develop and promote the HSR project, and is the project delivery vehicle accountable for the definition of the technical and commercial aspects of the project. While the dedicated direct train is slated to take 90 minutes linking the two cities, the other with six transit stops in Malaysia should take about two hours, depending on the customs and immigration processes. As of now, the transit services will have to stop in Nusajaya, but for the direct service, you clear both customs and immigration checks [only once] in either Kuala Lumpur or Singapore... like the Eurostar between London and Paris, Nur Ismal said. On other key areas which have yet to be decided, such as the cost of the infrastructure project, which is said to be testing the RM70 billion mark now, Muhd Nur Ismal was non-committal and dispelled all the figures being bandied about as mere speculation. We are still in the midst of discussion with Singapore. We are trying to decide on the common grounds, the approach to tendering... this will determine if it is a government design-and-build contract or if certain parts are being done in other manners. So, its still not decided, he said. On whether there is a time frame or time limit as to when to finalise the key issues of the HSR, he said: We have to come up with the best decisions for both countries... that are of high priority. However long it takes to get to the right decision, we will do it. Talks between officials of the two governments have been ongoing for some time now, but little information has been divulged. About three months ago, the Land Public Transport Commission (SPAD) and Singapores Land Transport Authority jointly launched a request for information (RFI) exercise to test industry opinion and gauge market interest in aspects of the HSR project. This RFI exercise was mainly to gauge the perception of the general populace, in the event certain specifics are opted for. Due to the high contract values, there has also been much lobbying by the Japanese and Chinese HSR players, both angling for the potentially large lucrative job. In the background, the South Koreans are also jostling for the large-scale job, while a clutch of European companies are understood to be setting up a consortium, also eyeing the job. In a presentation by China Railway in December last year, the price tag of the Kuala Lumpur to Singapore HSR was pegged at RM70 billion, up from RM65 billion a few months ago, and up from a price tag of RM40 billion in May. Questions over the supposedly high price tag have been raised lately, as about nine years ago, in 2007, conglomerate YTL and its technical partner, Germanys Siemens AG, put in a proposal to build the HSR or bullet train linking Kuala Lumpur to Singapore at a cost of only RM8 billion. How the price of the HSR has escalated to the current level of RM70 billion is not clear.  The Edge Markets, January 4, 2016.
Fresh evidence of China's economic slowdown sent world stock markets tumbling on Monday, with Europe and the United States following Asia sharply lower in a gloomy start to 2016. Shanghai equities plunged seven percent, leading an Asian retreat, as more weak factory data fanned fears about the health of the world's second-biggest economy. In Europe, Frankfurt posted the heaviest losses, diving 4.3 percent. Milan slumped 3.2 percent and Paris shed 2.5 percent. London stocks lost 2.4 percent, with China-exposed mining companies falling the heaviest. Wall Street joined the sell-off, with the S&P 500 falling 1.5 percent. "It hasn't been a textbook start for 2016. It's in fact been one of the worst first trading days on record," said market analyst Jasper Lawler at CMC Markets UK. "Markets have been swept up in a renewed fear that China's economic slowdown is picking up speed after surprisingly weak manufacturing data," he added. The sell-off came as financial markets reopened after Friday's new year holiday. London's top fallers were mining giants Anglo American, which tanked 7.2 percent, and Glencore which dropped 5.8 percent, on demand fears in leading commodity consumer China. In the US, some of the biggest equity winners from 2015 fell hard in a decline analysts attributed to profit taking. Amazon tumbled 5.8 percent, Netflix 3.9 percent and Priceline, Facebook and Google parent Alphabet all lost about 2.3 percent. Global markets were also spooked over the flare-up in tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Following angry protests over Saudi Arabia's execution Saturday of prominent Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Arabia and then Bahrain and Sudan severed relations with Iran, the main Shiite power. Oil prices initially gained on the Saudi-Iran rift, but fizzled as traders returned to focus on the prolonged global supply glut and the weak China data. - 'Shocking start' - "On the first trading day of 2016, the markets have got off to a shocking start," said analyst Manoj Ladwa at brokerage TJM Partners. "The problems in the Middle East have taken a turn for the worse with the Saudi-Iran stand-off. And China has only added to the negative sentiment as their economy shows further signs of slowing," he told AFP. Authorities in China suspended trading on its stock markets in the early afternoon after shares collapsed. The drop in the CSI300 index -- which covers the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses -- for the first time triggered an automatic early closure under a "circuit breaker" mechanism to curb volatility, after an earlier 15-minute trading halt had failed to stem the declines. The sharp losses revived memories of the summer rout that saw Shanghai crash about 40 percent and trillions of dollars wiped off valuations. "This situation has gotten the market off to a very ugly start," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial. - Key figures around 2200 GMT - New York - Dow: DOWN 1.6 percent at 17,148.94 (close) New York - S&P 500: DOWN 1.5 percent at 2,012.66 (close) New York - Nasdaq: DOWN 2.1 percent at 4,903.09 (close) London - FTSE 100: DOWN 2.4 percent at 6,093.43 points (close) Paris - CAC 40: DOWN 2.5 percent at 4,522.45 (close) Frankfurt - DAX 30: DOWN 4.3 percent at 10,283.44 (close) EURO STOXX 50: DOWN 3.1 percent at 3,164.76 (close) Shanghai - composite: DOWN 6.9 percent at 3,296.26 (close) Shenzhen - composite: DOWN 8.2 percent at 2,119.16 (close) Tokyo - Nikkei 225: DOWN 3.1 percent at 18,450.98 (close) Euro/dollar: DOWN to $1.0833 from $1.0855 Thursday Dollar/yen: DOWN to 119.42 yen from 120.27 yen Thursday


4 Jan  Singaporean filmmaker Tan Pin Pin has decided to pull her movie "Singapore GaGa" from the upcoming Singapore Film Festival in Kuala Lumpur organised by Titian Budaya.

The 2005 movie has been deemed a "security threat" by Malaysia's Film Censorship Board, according to a post on Tan's Facebook.

The movie could "create doubts and restlessness" among citizens, all due to its inclusion of the word "animals" in the Malay language in one of its scenes.

It was revealed by Tan that the organisers' appeal to the Chief Censor was rejected last week.

Tan posted a translated quote from the censor's report: "Erase (Victor Khoo) saying "animals" in Malay and delete the subtitles of "animals" which has a double meaning.

This goes against the film Censorship guidelines Ministry of home affairs Part II:2.1.1 (v) Dialogue can create doubt and restlessness among citizens and finally may cause a security threat, disturbance of public peace and national defense."

The scene in question depicts the late Singaporean entertainer Victor Khoo and his ventriloquist act Charlee, where he teased the kids by calling them animals in Malay.

Tan has decided to keep the movie intact instead of editing it, and has withdrawn the movie from the event.

Her decision to keep the movie as it is has been lauded by many, including the late entertainer's own son, Brandon Khoo, who commented on her Facebook post, thanking her for not removing the section.

This was not the first time for the movie to be aired in Malaysia, as it was also previously screened in 2006, though there were no censorships applied to it at the time.

"Singapore GaGa" was supposed to screen for the Singapore Film Festival by Titian Budaya taking place this 14 to 17 January at selected GSC cinemas.

The festival is part of the Titian Budaya programme, which is held since 21 November 2015 to 17 January 2016 in celebration of 50 years of friendship between Singapore and Malaysia.
By Hadeel Al Sayegh DUBAI (Reuters) - A fire tore through the intensive care unit and the maternity ward of a Saudi hospital before dawn on Thursday, killing at least 24 people and injuring 123, officials said. The fire broke out at the general hospital in the southwestern port city of Jazan, the capital of the Jizan region, one of Saudi Arabia's poorest areas. The civil defence agency said 25 people died but a later statement by Health Minister Khalid al-Falih put the death toll at 24. Two of the dead were security guards and one was a child, officials said. Government-controlled al-Ekhbariya television interviewed a witness who said the cause of the fire seemed to be electrical, and that it took only three minutes to sweep through the hospital. "We could hear the women screaming," said the man, who was not named. Photographs published on Twitter by the civil defence agency showed heavy smoke and an intense blaze which appeared to have severely damaged the interior of the white-walled hospital. Some rescuers used a ladder to gain access through a window. Criticism of Saudi Arabia's ruling family is frowned upon, but a string of comments by Twitter users suggested the fire was the result of official negligence and criticised a series of accidents at public facilities in the kingdom this year. "Does the health minister have the courage to submit his resignation after the fire at Jazan General Hospital? What disaster lies after this calamity?" tweeted one person, whose account identified him as Mohammed Alsubaie, from Riyadh. A correspondent for Saudi-owned al-Arabiya television reported he had seen several emergency doors locked with chains when he visited the hospital after the disaster. He said the hospital had previously received official warnings over safety violations. The region's Director of Health Affairs, Ahmed al-Sahli, denied any safety problems, telling al-Arabiya that many people had been able to escape easily from the blaze because the doors were open and safety equipment was in place. But Eissa Amaish, whose sister was killed in the fire, blamed the hospital's management. "What happened in this hospital was a crime of murder," he told al-Arabiya. "This hospital was not equipped at all to deal with a fire." In a brief statement, Falih said he recognised the ministry had failed, but that it was too early to identify the causes of the disaster and a committee would investigate them. "When we have deaths like this number, there is no doubt that there is a failure in the system of the ministry of health, and we would like to ensure that this will not occur again at any other hospital," he said. A deadly crush at the haj in Mecca in September killed 769 people, according to Saudi officials. Reuters calculations based on numbers provided by the pilgrims' home countries showed the death toll was at least 2,070. Two weeks earlier, 110 people died in Mecca's Grand Mosque when a crane working on an expansion project collapsed during a storm, crushing pilgrims below. In August, fire swept through an oil workers' residential compound in the town of Khobar, killing 10 people. Jazan, near the Yemeni border, is the focus of a $20 billion plan to develop the local economy by building an industrial complex that produces and uses oil products for manufacturing. The city has also been caught up in Saudi Arabia's military intervention against Houthi rebels in Yemen this year. On Tuesday, Saudi authorities said they had shot down a ballistic missile fired from Yemen that was on a trajectory towards Jazan. (Writing by Andrew Torchia; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
BERLIN (Reuters) - There is no evidence that Iran is planning to depart from a deal reached with world powers last year to scale back its nuclear programme and it could even fulfill all of its agreements this month, a German foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday. "I very much expect that there is no interest among the decisive actors in Iran - the Iranian government, the Iranian president, and elsewhere - in diverging from the agreements made in Vienna last summer," Martin Schaefer told a news conference. Iran signed a nuclear deal with six world powers, including Germany, in July that would see it curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the easing of crippling economic sanctions. Schaefer suggested these sanctions could be lifted soon. "The day on which Iran fulfills all of its obligations from the Vienna agreement, which will result in international sanctions being suspended or revoked, is getting closer and could even be reached this month," he said. Volker Treier, managing director of Germany's DIHK Chambers of Commerce, said German companies were hoping that a timetable to dismantle Western sanctions would be presented in the first quarter and that this process would then quickly start. However he said German businesses were concerned about risingtensions between Iran and its regional rival Saudi Arabia, after Riyadh's execution of four prominent Shi'ites on Saturday. The kingdom severed its ties with Iran on Sunday after protesters stormed its embassy in Tehran. Treier said that once sanctions on Tehran were lifted, the growth rate of German exports to Iran would probably be in double figures. German-Iranian trade volume could quadruple to around 10 billion euros within five to seven years from around 2.4 billion euros in 2014, he added. (Reporting by Gernot Heller; Writing by Paul Carrel and Michelle Martin; Editing by Noah Barkin and Dominic Evans)
By Mukesh Gupta and Rupam Jain Nair PATHANKOT, India/NEW DELHI (Reuters) - A rapprochement effort between India and Pakistan appeared to be in jeopardy on Monday, as Indian security forces battled for the third day to clear out militants who attacked one of its air bases and killed seven soldiers. The foreign secretaries of the nuclear-armed neighbours are due to meet for talks on Jan. 15, building on a thaw in relations after a surprise visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif last month. But an Indian government official said India was now considering whether to go ahead with the talks or not, and that a final decision will be taken once the operations to secure the Pathankot Air Force base in Punjab state are over. The government official, who requested anonymity, said it could take another 48 hours for the base to be secured, and by then the government hoped to have more information about the attackers and what links they may have to Pakistan, if any. On Monday, the United Jihad Council, an alliance of more than a dozen pro-Pakistan militant groups based in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, claimed responsibility for the air base attack, according to a statement from the group's spokesman. "The attack is a message by Mujahideen (militants) that no sensitive installation of India is out of our reach," said UJC spokesman Syed Sadaqat Hussain in a statement, a copy of which was seen by Reuters. The attack on the base, which started before dawn on Saturday, is a rare targeting of an Indian military installation outside of the disputed Kashmir region. Indian security forces have killed five militants involved in the attack, said Major General Dushyant Singh, of India's counter-terrorism force, the National Security Guard, at a briefing on Monday. But gunfire could still be heard at the base on the third day of operations. It was unclear how many militants remained at large, if any. As well as the seven Indian security personnel killed, 22 had been wounded. "Operations will continue to be conducted until we can render the base fully safe," said Singh. Pakistan has condemned the attack and said it wanted to build on the goodwill created by the impromptu meeting between Modi and Sharif last month. Separately, late on Sunday, the Indian consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif came under attack. CONFLICTING REPORTS Indian security officials have given conflicting accounts on whether the attackers at the Pathankot air base were still active after Home Minister Rajnath Singh declared on Saturday evening that they had been "neutralised". The reluctance of officials to declare the mission complete appeared to reflect an abundance of caution until all the attackers' bodies had been accounted for. The sound of continuing gunfire from the base added confusion to the picture. A senior federal government official said earlier on Monday that two militants hiding in the administrative block of the base had been killed on Sunday, but authorities had yet to recover the bodies. The official said six militants had been killed. "But every inch of the air base has to be secured before we call off the operation," said the official in New Delhi, who requested anonymity. Thousands of police were scanning hotels, markets and forested areas in the city of Pathankot around the base, to ensure no more militants were hiding, said police official Manoj Kumar. "Our biggest concern is to protect public spaces," Kumar said. "The militants who entered the air base must have a local network coordinating with them." Manish Mehta, an Indian army spokesman, said the military was working at a "very fast pace" to defuse live hand grenades and gather the remains of the dead militants. "The air base is large and we have been working all night to ensure that the base is totally in our control," Mehta said early on Monday. (Additional reporting by Krista Mahr and Paritosh Bansal in New Delhi and Abu Arqam Naqash in Muzaffarabad; Writing by Rupam Jain Nair and Krista Mahr; Editing by Douglas Busvine and Clarence Fernandez)
A Palestinian tried to attack Israeli soldiers with a knife in the West Bank on Thursday and was shot dead, the army said, the latest incident in more than two-months of violence. "During routine security activity in Hawwara, forces spotted a suspect and approached in order to question him," the army said in a statement of the incident near Nablus in an area where Israeli settlers and Palestinians cross a military checkpoint. It said the man ran towards the soldiers, who opened fire, "resulting in his death." Palestinian security sources said Israeli authorities had taken the body of the attacker, as has occurred regularly. Members of his family identified him as 15-year-old Abdullah Nassara. He had been to school that morning for an exam, which he attended, but never returned, his family said. Violence since the start of October has killed 120 on the Palestinian side, 17 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean. Many of the Palestinians killed have been attackers, while others have been shot dead by Israeli security forces during clashes. Those carrying out stabbings have often been young Palestinians, including teenagers, who appear to be acting on their own. A number of them have attempted attacks with kitchen knives in what some analysts have described as de facto suicide missions. Palestinians have grown frustrated with Israel's occupation, the complete lack of progress in peace efforts and their own fractured leadership, while international efforts to restore calm have so far failed. On Wednesday, envoys of the international diplomatic quartet met senior Israeli officials in Jerusalem and were due to meet Palestinian officials on Thursday. The quartet groups the United States, Russia, the United Nations and the European Union in an effort to broker an end to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Separately in the southern West Bank city of Hebron, hundreds of Palestinians demonstrated to demand Israel return the bodies of attackers who have been killed. Hebron has been a flashpoint in the recent wave of violence, with several hundred Israeli settlers living in the heart of the city under heavy military guard among some 200,000 Palestinian residents.
DAVAO CITY  The government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) should come up with a Plan B should Congress fail to pass the proposed Bangsamoro Basic Law (BBL).

The Third Party Monitoring Team (TPMT), the independent body that tracks the implementation of the Comprehensive Agreement on the Bangsamoro (CAB) signed by the government and the MILF, cited the ongoing, indeed increasing, uncertainties regarding the possible outcome of the legislative process concerning the BBL at the Senate and the House of Representatives.

The monitoring team urged the government and MILF panels to intensify efforts to promote the passage of the BBL in compliance with the CAB, as well as manage public expectations in the event Congress fails to complete its work on the proposed law.

The TPMT was jointly set up by the government and MILF to monitor implementation of the Framework Agreement on the Bangsamoro, which was signed on Oct. 15, 2012.

The panel is composed of five members, two nominated by the government, two by the MILF, and a jointly nominated chairman, Huseyin Oruc of the Turkish non-government organization IHH.

The members include Karen Tanada of the Gaston Z. Ortigas Peace Institute, Rahib Kudto of Unypad, Steven Rood of the Asia Foundation and Alistair MacDonald, former EU ambassador who has been nominated to chair the TMPT.

MacDonald, for his part, sent letters to peace panel chairs Miriam Coronel-Ferrer of the government and Mohagher Iqbal of the MILF, noting the stakeholders concerns about the delays in the approval of the BBL.

MacDonald pointed out the content of any BBL which might be adopted by Congress as well as about the continuity of the process, if indeed a BBL cannot be passed under this administration.

MacDonald said the observations of the TPMT came from its meetings with MILF members led by chairman Murad Ebrahim last month.

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The meeting was also attended by members of the MILF Central Committee, peace panel and mechanisms; the multinational International Monitoring Team and Independent Decommissioning Body; the Bangsamoro Development Authority and civil society representatives.

On the side of government, the peace monitors also met with the government panel, Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Secretary Teresita Quintos-Deles, and members of the House of Representatives and the Bangsamoro Transition Commission.

The TPMT also held meetings with the chair of the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC), members of the International Contact Group and the people behind Fastrac, a joint initiative of the United Nations and the World Bank providing support to the Bangsamoro peace process.

MacDonald described the meeting called by President Aquino with congressmen last Dec. 8 as encouraging.

Aquino called a meeting with House members in Malacanang to convince the lawmakers to fast-track approval of the BBL.

The House was able to at least close the period of interpellation in the final days of its December session despite its inability to establish a quorum over the past several months, MacDonald noted.

However, there has been no significant progress in the Senate, he said.

It is difficult to look forward, at a time when there are so many uncertainties as to whether a BBL will be passed, whether if passed the BBL will be compliant with the CAB, and whether if not passed the next administration will be committed to carry forward the process, MacDonald said.

Despite delays on the passage of the BBL, MacDonald said the TPMT lauded the progress in the normalization aspect of the CAB.

The BBL is only one element, though a crucial element, in the peace process, and developments in the area of normalization should not be overlooked, he said.

MacDonald pointed out some positive developments, including the ongoing implementation of large-scale Joint Peace and Security Team training, the work of the Joint Task Force for the Decommissioned Combatants and their Communities and Task Force Camps Transformation, the completion of the Department of Social Welfare and Development-MILF profiling of the 145 former combatants, and the strengthening of the organizational coherence and footprint on the ground of the International Decommissioning Body.

He also identified the submission of the TJRC report as an important contribution to drawing public and political attention to the issues underlying the peace process.

MacDonald also noted the progress being made in promoting a coming together of the different stakeholder groups in the Bangsamoro.

He cited the fact that apart from the Unified Declaration of the MILF and the faction of the Moro National Liberation Front (MNLF) led by Muslimin Sema in October, further efforts have been made to confirm support of the BBL from other factions of the MNLF, led by Abdulkhayr Alonto and Nur Misuari.

Misuari, founder of the MNLF, has openly opposed the government peace agreement with the MILF, saying it was a violation of the 1996 final peace agreement with the MNLF.
By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia's execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric provoked sectarian anger across the Middle East, but by putting to death dozens of al Qaeda convicts at the same time it also delivered a strong message that Sunni violence would not be tolerated at home. Riyadh knew its killing of Nimr al-Nimr and three other Shi'ites for involvement in police deaths would prompt outrage and protests abroad, but seemed to calculate that, within the kingdom at least, the consequences would be controllable. Amid rising regional turmoil and a series of bombings and shootings that have killed over 50 Saudis since late 2014, Riyadh's execution of 43 jihadists was a warning that internal support for militant Sunni groups would be crushed. Awadh al-Qirni, a prominent Sunni cleric who backs the government against the jihadists, tweeted that the executions were "a message to the world and to criminals that there will be no snuffing out of our principles and no complacency in our security". The Al Saud ruling family regard the expansion of Shi'ite Iran's influence in the Middle East as a threat to their security and to their ambition of playing the leading role among Arab states. Inside the kingdom, however, it is the threat of a rebellion by the majority Sunnis that most alarms a dynasty whose rule is based on conservative support at home and an alliance with the West. All past threats to the Al Saud, from a 1920s tribal rebellion to riots in the 1960s, a siege at Mecca's Grand Mosque in 1979 and protests in the 1990s, were caused by conservative Sunni anger at modernisation or ties with the West. That was why the al Qaeda uprising that began in 2003, and attacked the Al Saud by turning its own conservative Salafi brand of Sunni Islam against it, was such a danger. It is why the jihadist movement's latest iteration, Islamic State, is also a problem. While Islamic State seems to lack real support among Saudis, some may sympathise with its broader goals, approving of its rhetoric against Shi'ites and the West and its criticism of corruption among the Al Saud. By executing al Qaeda ideologues and attackers, Riyadh was showing its determination to crush support for the militant cause. By also killing four Shi'ites, angering Iran in the process, it was telling conservative Sunnis it was still on their side. WANTON EXCOMMUNICATION The notion that Saudi Arabia believes it is facing not only a physical threat, but an ideological battle with a rival interpretation of Salafi Islam, was strengthened by state media's focus on Faris al-Shuwail al-Zahrani among the executed. Zahrani, bearded, bespectacled, and in prison since 2004, is portrayed in Saudi media as al Qaeda's main ideologue during a series of attacks on expatriate housing compounds, police stations and oil facilities that killed hundreds. Described at the time by the government as "one of the heads of strife, a preacher of takfir", Zahrani helped articulate the jihadist view that the Al Saud had abandoned Islam, and that it was the duty of Muslims to kill them and their allies. Takfir, the process of excommunicating other Muslims by calling them infidels, is a central pillar of Salafi Islam. But unlike in Saudi Arabia's so-called Wahhabi version of Salafism, in which only Riyadh's state-appointed clergy are permitted to practise takfir, the jihadists say any Muslim can declare another to be infidel. That and other differences have set up a fierce enmity between the kingdom's official clergy - which runs the Sharia Islamic courts that sentenced to death the 43 al Qaeda figures executed on Saturday - and the jihadist ideologues whose main target is the Al Saud. "The official view is that these people are extremists involved in a wanton excommunication of other Muslims, in disobedience to the rightful ruler and in 'sowing dissention and disorder in the land'. So they are beyond the pale of Sunni Islam," said Bernard Haykel, professor of Near Eastern Studies at Princeton. The jihadists dispute Saudi Arabia's claim to lead Salafi Islam, the position of its state-appointed clergy as arbiters of religious orthodoxy, and the Al Saud's status as legitimate rulers of the country. SECTARIAN BALANCE Official Saudi media presented the jihadist Zahrani and the Shi'ite Nimr as equivalents - "inciters of violence and terrorism" as Sunday morning newspapers described them. It seemed to be an attempt by the government to reassure conservative Sunnis that Saturday's executions did not mean Riyadh would stop championing their sect against what it portrays as Shi'ite aggression across the Middle East. "My sense is the Shi'ite executions are a very convenient foil," said Haykel, adding that while the Al Saud did not regard its Shi'ite minority as posing as grave a threat as the jihadists, putting some of them to death helped rally the rulers' conservative base. (Editing by Giles Elgood)
Denmark announced the immediate introduction of random controls at the German border, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said Monday, on the same day neighbouring Sweden introduced controls on its frontier with Denmark to stem the flow of refugees. "When other Nordic countries seal their borders it can have major consequences for Denmark," Rasmussen said, referring to the Swedish measure. "It can lead to more asylum seekers," he told reporters in Copenhagen. Rasmussen has sought to limit arrivals of migrants on Danish territory, and he had hinted that he would react strongly to the systematic checks announced by Sweden. The Danish controls will initially be in place for 10 days, after which they may be extended. "We are simply reacting to a decision made in Sweden. We are introducing temporary border controls but in a balanced way. This is not a happy moment at all," Rasmussen said. The refugee crisis has been a major point of contention between Sweden and Denmark. Sweden took in over 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015, the highest proportion per capita in the European Union, while Denmark has received just 18,000. Sweden on Monday began requiring all train, bus and ferry operators to check the photo identification of passengers travelling from Denmark after saying it could no longer cope with the flood of migrant arrivals.
Indonesias online ticket and hotel bookings are poised to increase by IDR 2 trillion (US$144 million) every year

Online ticket booking platform Tiket.com announced plans to expand its business locally and regionally in 2016, during a media event in Jakarta last week.

Citing over 100 per cent growth in 2015 alone due to rising airline ticket and hotel bookings, Tiket.coms Co-Founder and CMO Gaery Undarsa stated that the company plans to set up new representation offices outside of Jakarta, and foster new partnerships with international airlines and hotels.

We plan to strengthen transactions in Jakarta while also aiming for big cities outside of Jakarta, as there is a strong potential for demands for airline tickets and hotel bookings from those cities, he said, adding that Denpasar, Jogjakarta, Surabaya, Semarang and Bandung are Tiket.coms users top destinations.

This year [2015], we are still focussing on regional airlines in Southeast Asia and Japan. But starting from next year we will start partnerships with international airlines so that we can also reach the United States and Europe, he said.

By 2015, Tiket.com already fostered partnerships with 14 airlines, 180,000 hotels and 15 banks across Indonesia. It also works closely with e-commerce startups such as Elevenia and Kaskus.

Also Read: Travel search site Wego appoints new GM for Indonesia

According to Undarsa, Indonesias relatively stable macroeconomic condition leading up to 2016 would prove beneficial for the growth of Tiket.com, as well as e-commerce and travel industry in general.

The growth of Indonesias online travel industry is also determined by regulatory support  We believe that the government will provide better regulation for the sake of the growth of e-commerce industry in Indonesia, he said.

Data from market research firm Phocuswright and travel company Expedia revealed that hotel bookings through online travel agents in Indonesia are poised to increase by IDR 2 trillion (US$144 million) every year, due to a 200 to 300 per cent consistent increase in online travel market usage.

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Enjoy 2-for-1 tickets to Echelon Indonesia 2016 now. Do not miss out on Indonesias biggest international tech conference!

Image Credit: Steven Lewis at Unsplash.com

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ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan met with Khaled Meshaal, leader of Palestinian militant group Hamas, on Saturday in Istanbul, Turkish presidential sources said, a day after Israel and Turkey said they were close to patching up five-year political rift. A source from Erdogan's office said Meshaal "briefed Erdogan on the latest developments in the region", without giving further details. Islamist Hamas controls the Gaza strip. Israeli officials said late on Thursday that a deal with Turkey was struck to normalise ties following high-level bilateral talks in Switzerland. Turkish officials said a final agreement was yet to be sealed, but that given the progress it would not be too long. Israel's once-strong ties to Turkey soured in 2010 when Israeli commandoes killed 10 Turkish activists when storming the Mavi Marmara, a ship in a convoy seeking to break an Israeli naval blockade of the Palestinian territory of Gaza. Turkey had demanded Israel apologise over the assault, pay compensation and lift the Gaza blockade. For Israel, limiting Hamas activity in Turkey has been key. Under the preliminary deal between the two countries, Saleh al-Aruori, a senior leader in the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas who has been living in Turkey, would be barred from the country, the Israeli official had said. (Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky)
Authorities in Yemen's southern city of Aden imposed a curfew on Monday after violence blamed on suspected jihadists killed at least 17 people, pro-government media and security sources said. Suspected Islamic State group jihadists also shot dead Sheikh Ali Othman, a Sufi imam who was considered a moderate, in the city, according to security officials. The curfew will come into force at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) and last until 5:00 am (0200 GMT), the sabanews.net website said, citing a decision taken by the Aden Security Commission. The decision comes after fierce battles on Sunday in the port of Aden that killed 17 people, among them nine members of the security forces including a colonel, the security sources said. Security sources said the clashes erupted when forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi met resistance as they tried to deploy in the port to secure it completely. They said the fighting lasted several hours and that pro-Hadi forces eventually managed to take control of the port. Witnesses said they saw an unprecedented number of armed men in Aden on Sunday, without being able to identify them. Aden, declared by the government as Yemen's temporary capital, has been the scene of growing unrest as Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, long active in Yemen, and IS appear to be vying for influence in the port city. It was rocked by months of fighting last year between pro-government forces and Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels who seized the capital Sanaa in September 2014 before expanding south. Supported by a Saudi-led coalition, loyalists have regained control of Aden and four nearby provinces in the south since July as fierce battles persist across the country.
Policy

ED's Top Tech Director Steps Down To Head Home

Where do you go after you leave a high-profile position in the Obama administration? Back home. That's where United States Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan headed at the end of the year when he returned to Chicago. And now, so is Richard Culatta, who is stepping down as director of the Office of Educational Technology within the same federal agency.

In December, EdSurge reported that Culatta would be leaving his post after two years. He joined the department in 2011 as the deputy director to Karen Cator's directorship. When she left to run Digital Promise, he took on the director role.

Shortly after the announcement of his pending departure, another news source reported that he'd be returning to Rhode Island to work with Governor Gina Raimondo on education initiatives.

The governor is involved in several education initiatives, especially those that emphasize workforce issues and job development. In April she supported state regulations to create Prepare RI, an initiative to encourage qualified high schoolers to take college-level courses at no cost. In September, Raimondo introduced the "Promise" scholarship to restructure the state's higher ed grant program among its public institutions to be more flexible in how it closes the gap between what students pay for college and what college costs.

During his time at the Department of Education, Culatta has promoted several initiatives, including ConnectED, intended to get high-speed Internet connections into every school in the country; Future Ready Schools, a project of the Alliance for Excellent Education that pushes district leaders to commit to the transformation of their schools through digital learning; the use of open educational resources by schools; and the aggressive use of public-private partnerships to make progress in education innovation.

Culatta is a native of Rhode Island and spent several years at the University of Rhode Island as an instructional technologist during the late 1990s. He also served as a technology advisor at Brigham Young University, where he earned both a bachelor's degree in Spanish teaching and master's degree in educational psychology and technology. Before joining the Department of Education, Culatta served as a learning technologies manager for CIA University, an education facility of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency, and as an education fellow for Senator Patty Murray.
Assessment

New UNESCO Database Tracks Student Assessments Around the World

Every three years Malawi, a country in southeastern Africa, issues written exams to public school students in grades 2, 4 and 7. The math test runs 120 minutes; the Chichewa language exam is 90 minutes; and the English language assessment is 90 minutes. Test items consist of multiple choice questions with three or more response options and open-ended questions requiring short constructed responses. Processing of all the results is handled manually by a division in the Malawi Ministry of Education, Science and Technology.

Thailand students take an annual assessment in grades 6, 9 and 12 in both public and private schools. The final score determines promotion to the next grade and whether or not the student will be allowed to enter certain higher education programs. The tests cover eight different subjects, each lasting between 30 and 120 minutes, depending on grade level. Test processing is handled by automated scanning.

These are two of the dozens of assessment profiles recently collected through an international program to boost education. The UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) has developed a public learning assessments database and a catalog of learning assessments to provide policymakers and education leaders with specific kinds of information about how different countries measure learning, what data they gather through assessments and how they use the data.

The Database on Learning Assessments provides standardized information on public exams and national learning assessments conducted around the world. Currently, about 61 countries have entered data about their student testing into the database. Data about assessment within the United States currently isn't included.

For details about the different kinds of assessments, the UIS Catalogue of Learning Assessments collects and provides descriptive information on the exams each country participates in.

Both resources were developed as part of UNESCO's Education 2030 initiative to monitor education progress globally. As a first step participating countries need to come up with indicators that will work uniformly, and the data collection work is part of that.

"Our first goal is for countries themselves to know what others are doing in terms of assessment," said UIS Director Sylvia Montoya, in a blog article. "The database and catalogue are great tools for countries to see how much is possible  because others are already doing it  and how they could achieve this sort of systematic measurement of learning themselves. And this can also show the international community that countries are really capable of making progress in this area. After all, 80 percent of countries already have some type of national or cross-national assessment!"

Montoya said she expected initial interest in the data to come from people in charge of education planning and assessment as well as researchers trying to gain "a cross-country perspective on how different aspects of learning are being measured."

"Donors and citizens themselves may also be interested in seeing for themselves what is going on in their own countries and around the world," she added.
By Barani Krishnan NEW YORK (Reuters) - Oil prices fell on Monday in volatile trade, with gains from an early rally on Middle East tensions vanishing as sliding global stock markets and worries about China extended crude's slump into the first trading day of 2016. Brent jumped 4 percent early on worries about Middle East tensions. But the benchmark erased its gains and settled a few cents lower as fears about the global economy outweighed concern about the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran, which looked unlikely to disrupt oil supplies immediately. U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures finished down almost 1 percent, pressured by worries that record inventories could swell further at the Cushing, Oklahoma delivery hub. Last week's floods in the U.S. Midwest prevented oil from getting to some refineries. With Brent and WTI still trading some two-thirds below their mid-2014 highs, analysts said focus was back to the glut in global crude supplies. "Given what is likely to be some high-pitched volatility within global equities this month, we look for a closer connection between oil and the stock market for a few weeks," said Jim Ritterbusch, of Chicago-based oil markets advisory Ritterbusch & Associates. Brent settled down 6 cents at $37.22 a barrel. It hit a session high of $38.99, its highest in nearly three weeks. WTI finished down 28 cents at $36.76. It had traded as high as $38.39. Global equity markets fell on renewed worries about economic growth after Chinese shares slid 7 percent on weak data. Wall Street's S&P 500 stock index fell about 2 percent. [MKTS/GLOB] [.N] "The Saudi-Iran standoff is certainly one to worry over given its ramifications for oil supply," said Phil Flynn, analyst at the Price Futures Group brokerage in Chicago. "But the equity markets selloff is more pressing and difficult to ignore because of the impact of China on the global economy and overall demand for oil." The clash between Saudi Arabia and Iran comes as Tehran hopes to ramp up oil exports once sanctions come off against its nuclear programme. Traders said market intelligence firm Genscape reported a build of more than 480,000 barrels in Cushing crude supplies for the week to Jan. 1, after flooding in the U.S. Midwest caused temporary closure of a couple of pipelines. Notwithstanding the Cushing build, analysts polled by Reuters forecast that crude stocks across the United States probably fell last week by 500,000 barrels. [EIA/S] (Additional reporting by Amanda Cooper in London and Henning Gloystein in Singapore; Editing by Adrian Croft and David Gregorio)
By Wiktor Szary and Justyna Pawlak WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland's new conservative government will stick to its predecessor's commitment to take in about 7,000 migrants despite the objections it raised when it was in opposition, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said. But it will conduct thorough security checks on would-be migrants and take in refugees only once their identity has been established and confirmed, Waszczykowski said in an interview. Warsaw's previous centre-right government came in for sharp criticism from the Law and Justice (PiS) party when it broke ranks with Hungary and other eastern European nations by agreeing to take in about 7,000 refugees following a European Union directive for up to 120,000 migrants to be relocated across the bloc. After the conservative and eurosceptic PiS won election last year to form a majority government, the incoming European affairs minister said the November attacks in Paris, in which Islamic State militants killed 130 people, meant there were no "political possibilities" for carrying out the plan. But Waszczykowski said the new government would stick to the plan laid out by the previous administration, which envisages first arrivals this year, though it regarded it as legally flawed. Asked whether the last government's road map for 7,000 refugees still stood, he replied: "Yes, we are already prepared for it and we confirm that we'll start doing it ..." "The vast majority of these people are emigrants, but they were treated as refugees. In our view, the legal premise of this decision is faulty," Waszczykowski said. He said Poland was not "for now" planning to follow in Hungary and Slovakia's footsteps and challenge the relocation scheme in court, but it was watching developments and liaising with the two countries. It would conduct thorough security checks and only accept refugees who wished to relocate to Poland once their identity has been established and confirmed. "We have information from Germany, that the Germans are only able to confirm the identity of around 20 percent (of migrants), and in most cases they don't know who those people are," Waszczykowski said. "We cannot repeat the mistakes of other countries. We cannot afford migration and refugees who will not guarantee the security of the country." (Additional reporting by Pawel Sobczak; Writing by Wiktor Szary; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
US private equity firm North Castle Partners has sold fitness equipment manufacturer Octane Fitness in a $115m deal.

The consumer-focused firm sold Octane to fitness product company Nautilus, 10 years after it joined the North Castle family.

North Castle managing director Alison Minter said, As a focused fund with nearly two decades of experience in the healthy, active and sustainable Living market, and eight investments in the fitness sector over the last 15 years, we were able to leverage deep expertise in the fitness industry in partnership with the Octane team to build on their track record of innovating award-winning, patent-protected zero-impact cardiovascular fitness products.

Founded in 2001, Octane is US designer and distributor of premium low-impact fitness equipment.

Headquartered in Connecticut, North Castle focuses on investments in consumer-driven product and service businesses.

The firms current portfolio includes, Sprout Organic Foods, Barrys Bootcamp, Smarty Pants vitamins, Doctors Best, Mineral Fusion and Performance Bicycle, among others.

Back in March, AltAssets reported that North Castle Partners had exited its investment in flatbread maker Flatout in a $92m all-cash deal.

Copyright  2016 AltAssets
Sports and wellness-focused venture capital firm Will Ventures has picked up $150m for its sophomore fund, almost triple the total it collected for its debut vehicle in 2020.
News / Africa

by Agencies

A 25-year-old Zimbabwean man appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate's Court on Monday to face murder charges in connection with the killing of SA Police Services Captain Kenneth Poortman.In a brief appearance before Chief Magistrate Desmond Nair, murder accused Steven Meda said he understood English "just a little".Nair repeatedly explained to Meda that the charges he faced were so serious that, if convicted, could mean life imprisonment. Meda also faces charges of kidnapping, robbery with aggravated circumstances and possession of unlicensed firearm and ammunition.In court, Meda's trial was officially joined to that of three other accused, already in police custody. Sipho Alfred Tlou, 25, Thabo Mampa, age unknown, and Themba Mbowane, 34, were arrested in Winterveld, north of Pretoria, in December. They appeared before Nair last week, facing charges of murder, kidnapping, robbery with aggravated circumstances, and possession of an unlicensed firearm and ammunition.Their case will continue in the court on Tuesday. They will now be joined by Meda in their formal bail application.Nair ordered that a Shona-speaking prosecutor be availed on Tuesday, for Meda's benefit.The four allegedly hijacked Poortman, 47, in Pretoria central, stabbed him in the upper body, and dumped him along the Theo Martin road in Mabopane. They allegedly took his firearm and drove to Winterveld in his car, where the first three accused were arrested.Poortman's car and firearm were later recovered.Poortman was married to another police officer, Warrant Officer Ann Poortman, who is the spokeswoman for the Pretoria central police station. Warrant Officer Poortman was called to the crime scene to gather information for the media when a body was found on December 27.She only discovered that the victim was in fact her husband when she identified the body by the Mabopane roadside.
News / Local

by Staff reporter

SCORES of security guards at a Bulawayo-based firm have threatened to march to State House to demand their pay from President Robert Mugabe after reportedly being instructed by the owner to do that.About 20 workers stormed the Southern Eye newsroom on Tuesday claiming that they had gone for months without pay and some of them had given up and resigned.Their last payment was in June, a half salary of about $70 each.The planned march to State House was allegedly at the instigation of the Dimension Pro-action Services (DPS) owner identified as Khulumani Mlotshwa.Workers said each time they asked for their pay, Mlotshwa would point at Mugabe's portrait instructing them to demand pay from him as he has "created the economic mess".Some of the workers had termination of contracts dated December 8, 2015."The main query is on the point that the director of the company always refers the workers to lodge their problem to the State President," read the minutes of a workers' committee meeting."The workers say they no longer know the salary they are working for. [Mlotshwa] points to the President's portrait saying go to him for your pay. We were never employed by the President."One of the workers' representative said: "We have resolved to march to State House and demand answers if there is no action by law and order police and unions (NEC for security). Has the indigenisation programme made workers to be slaves?"However, Mlotshwa yesterday denied the allegations made by his workers."I am a former police officer and I cannot make such statements about the President. The person who is making the allegations even claims I have said that four times in two years," Mlotshwa queried.Mlotshwa claimed he paid the workers last Wednesday.He threatened to fire the workers who were "rushing to the media to tarnish" his image."There are countless people who are seeking employment from me. I will fire these workers," Mlotshwa charged.Meanwhile, some of the workers will have their employment terminated today.Part of the termination of contract letter signed by personnel and training officer Mxolisi Mpofu read: "This letter serves to inform you of the termination of Urban Sites by MIPF and CBC effective December 31 2015. In line with this directive DPS security is also obliged to inform you of the termination of your employment contract by December 31, 2015."Please note that this is a reactive stance necessitated by the nature of our industry which is client-based. Efforts are underway to engage our clients with the view to extend our contract and should these bear fruit you will be re-engaged as a matter of priority."
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The opposition National Constitutional Assembly party has claimed that the rampant corruption rocking Zimbabwe has caused government to fail to pay civil servants in time.In a statement party spokesperson Madock Chivasa said government failure to pay bonuses and delay in paying civil servants salaries was due to corruption in the government circles."NCA party is seriously concerned that the corrupt Zanu PF government failed to pay civil servants their salaries on time and completely failed to pay them their bonuses. So far some sections of civil servants received their salaries with no bonuses while a number are still waiting to get their salaries," he said."The delay in paying civil servants their salaries and failure to pay them bonuses is happening as the 91 year old President Robert Mugabe is out of the country for an expensive holiday in the Far East."He said it is deplorable that the same empty Zanu PF government that is failing to pay workers their bonuses and salary on time was recently lavishing spending millions doing a useless conference in Victoria Falls."If the corrupt Zanu PF government can get money to squander over a mere directionless conference it must surely be in a position to pay workers' salaries on time and provide them with their bonuses," he said."Zanu PF government's failure to pay civil servants salaries on time and complete failure to pay them their bonuses is illegal and in clear violation of state's contractual obligations."Chivasa said delay by the arrogant Zanu PF government to pay salaries and failure to pay bonuses to civil servants is also a clear testimony that the country is being run by selfish politicians who have either taken leave or already retired from working towards improving the welfare of workers."Finance Minister Patrick Chinamasa is being dishonesty to workers by continuously giving them endless empty promises but he is however failing to meet his own imaginary pay dates and no adequate explanation is being given to the affected civil servants," he said."As NCA party we take Finance Minister Chinamasa's actions as worse than hypocrisy and clear negligence of duty. Instead of coming out clear that the clueless Zanu PF government does not have any money to pay workers the Finance Minister continue to play political gimmick misleading the nation that he is addressing the plight of workers."Chivasa said NCA party is reminding the Finance Minister Mr Patrick Chinamasa and his corrupt Zanu PF government that what is needed now is money to pay workers their salaries and bonuses."The NCA party is urging all civil servants to vote wisely in future. If they vote for corrupt political parties like Zanu PF to be government they will be indirectly perpetuating their own misery as they will continue getting salaries late and may never get any bonuses in their lifetime," he said."As NCA party we sturdily advise all civil servants to seriously consider industrial action against Zanu PF government failure to pay them their bonuses and for delaying to pay them their salaries on time as expected."He said a future NCA government will ensure that there is a fixed pay day for all civil servants to get their salaries and will always make sure that bonuses are paid to all workers on time every year.
Every year those dedicated to the credit union movement gather in Washington D.C. (in the winter mind you, which shows how dedicated we all are), at one of the largest events of the year CUNA GAC. Whether a seasoned GACer or a fresh face this year, weve got 10 must-dos to help you make the most out of your experience.

10. Find fellow credit union friends and take a night tour of Mount Vernon.

9. Get ready for opening day right by checking out Georgia Browns Famous Gospel Sunday Brunch.

8. Buy all the Band-Aids you can find in preparation for spending days walking the most expansive exhibit hall ever.

7. Kick off CUNA GAC 2016 with CUNA CEO Jim Nussle (reminder: take my annual selfie with him).

6. Take an educational pub-crawl with the brightest minds in the industry (customary pit stops include: Marriot , Renaissance, and Hyatt lobby bars. Also theres always Fados).

5. Be inspired by true greatness and at The National Credit Union Foundations Herb Wegner Memorial Dinner.

4. Vow to learn how to play the piano after hearing The Fabulous Dueling Pianos at Late Night at the GAC with CO-OP Financial Services.

3. Stop by a one night only display called Thunderpunch where The Cooperative Trust has managed to round up the mysterious millennials for you to meet.

2. Keep your credit union running smoothly after a cyber attack with tips from famed journalist, Ted Koppel.

and most importantly

1. Join the forces for good and go on GAC Hill Visits!
Erayne Gee-Hill, vice president of marketing at $220 million asset Unity One Credit Union in Fort Worth, Texas, is rarely described as shy.

She is vocal about her passion for the credit union movement. Her enthusiasm for her work, family, and even cupcakes is contagious. And she recently envisioned a marketing campaign that turned heads.

The attention-grabbing campaign, which was a collaboration with Unity Ones CEO, was called Dont Get Spanked by the Banks.

The clever catchphrase paid off says Andy Reed, the CEO of neighboring $21 million asset Texas People Federal Credit Union in Fort Worth.

She envisioned an edgy marketing campaign in conservative Fort Worth that produced amazing results evidenced by solid metrics, Reed says.
Farmers are being urged to think carefully before spreading manure in the wake of one the wettest Decembers in living memory.

The unprecedented flooding has hampered both the storage and spreading of slurry for farmers and contractors, especially in northern England and Wales.

As a result, many stores are full after fields were left waterlogged and therefore unsuitable for slurry spreading.

Rob Howells, NFU water quality adviser, said: For many farmers and contractors conditions are not really suitable for spreading manure following weeks of wet weather.

If they are getting close to storage capacity and have concerns and are unable to get a window to get out and spread, they really need to speak to the Environment Agency.

See also: Farmers face water pollution clampdown

The use of nitrogen fertilisers and organic manures is restricted in nitrate-vulnerable zones (NVZs) in England and Wales.

Heavy rain and flooding, especially on sloping fields, increases the risk of run-off potentially causing water pollution.

Farmers are being reminded that anyone spreading slurry during these times, or equally in the closed period, could face cross-compliance penalties.

The closed period for spreading slurry on shallow or sandy soils on grassland or arable land ended on 31 December 2015. However, depending on the soil type, it is still in place until mid-January or the start of February.

NVZ rules state that farms must provide sufficient storage facilities to store all slurry produced by livestock during a period of six months for pigs and poultry (1 October to 1 April) and five months for cattle (1 October to 1 March).

There has been no indication from Defra that NVZ rules will be relaxed due to the severe wet weather to allow farmers to spread slurry when stores are approaching capacity.

But Mr Howells said farmers who were experiencing concerns over capacity should be able to get help on a case-by-case basis from the Environment Agency.

The agency can help identify low-risk fields to help farmers get out as soon as ground conditions are suitable, he added.

If need be, they can also help with temporary slurry storage. Its really important that farmers dont just stick their heads in the sand.

For Welsh farmers, Natural Resources Wales has issued guidelines explaining how they can best cope with the current situation.

These include:

Spread slurry as thinly as possible: no more than 30cu m/ha. If possible allow three weeks between each spreading  a legal requirement in NVZ areas  and target lighter land, as this may warm up more quickly

Walk the fields before spreading to assess the risks of water pollution from slurry run-off and soil damage

Use as much land as safely as possible, while maximising the no-spreading distance on down-slope field edges and targeting land with good grass cover

Keep records of the quantity, date and field location of each application  a legal requirement in NVZ areas.

The Code of Good Agricultural Practice (PDF) contains advice on slurry spreading. It includes the need to avoid spreading on land that is waterlogged or frozen.

In England, for more information on using nitrogen fertilisers and manures in NVZs and other requirements of cross-compliance, contact the Farming Advice Service on 0345 345 1302 (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm) or email advice@farmingadviceservice.org.uk

Welsh farmers can contact Natural Resources Wales customer service line on 0300 065 3000 to clarify points and confirm any intended actions.

In Scotland, full details of guidance and rules on slurry spreading can be found on the Scot.gov website. In Northern Ireland, details can be found under the governments Nitrate Action Programme (PDF).

Over the next few months, Defra is due to launch a consultation on new guidance for complying with rules for NVZs after January 2017.
News / National

by Isdore Guamombe

Zimbabwe will increase the number of live wildlife exports to China and will not apologise to anyone for taking that decision, Minister of Environment, Water and Climate, Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri has said.Addressing journalists after touring the National Ex-Situ Conservation Base for World Endangered Wild Plants and Animals at Quingyuang Chimelong near Guangzhou in China yesterday, Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri said she was satisfied with the conditions the elephants exported to China in July last year were being kept, contrary to lies peddled by Zimbabwe's detractors in Western Europe and United States of America."We're going to increase the number of elephants and other species we're exporting to China because they've done a good job in taking care of those they've already bought from us. We'll not apologise to anyone. Not even once because they're our elephants and our people live with a huge population of elephants and bear the trouble of interacting with them."After touring Chimelong Safari Park, I'm satisfied that the animals are in good shape and are being well taken care of."The Chinese have inquired about more elephants, baboons, hyenas and lions among others and we'll sell them more without hesitation. We're not going to apologise to anyone," she said.Muchinguri-Kashiri said Zimbabwe's more than 84,000 elephant population faces critical water and food shortage due to climate and conflict with humans and that instead of allowing them to die of drought, Zimbabwe would rather export them to the Chinese and other friends who needed them alive."There's drought and soon the elephants will die. It's better we sell them, especially to those who can take good care of them. Whatever our detractors say, we don't mind."At the moment the world faces two major problems, poaching and terrorism. We must therefore, raise resources for the upkeep of the elephant by selling them. Poachers are getting complicated and we should also invest in sophisticated anti-poaching systems."We're here in China to also look at anti-poaching and surveillance technology like drones and helicopters because the poachers are getting more sophisticated. All these things need money and we must raise the money," she said.Zimbabwe started exporting live sub-adult elephants to China in July last year and has been criticised by animal rights activists and West European governments.So far, Zimbabwe has exported about 100 sub-adult elephants aged between five years and seven years, but animal rights activist have chosen to call them infants or baby elephants as a way of attracting sympathy for the elephants and inviting the wrath of the world. But Zimbabwe has remained unmoved.Chimelong Park is the biggest wildlife sanctuary in Asia and houses almost all species of wildlife from the world. It has a state-of-the-art animal hospital in situ, manned by qualified veterinary surgeons. Chimelong imports hay from the United States and Africa, as well as bananas, apples, water melons, carrots and apples for the elephants. The elephants are also fed on bread.During the tour, Minister Muchinguri-Kashiri fed the elephants herself with carrots, bread, apples and other fruits.
On January 2, community members in Watsonville picketed in front of the Mi Pueblo Food Center on Freedom Boulevard in support of the international boycott of Driscoll's Berries. The headquarters of Driscoll's Berries is located in Watsonville, and Mi Pueblo is a large chain supermarket that sells the brand. The action was organized by the Watsonville and Sacramento Brown Berets, who noted this was the first event organized for the Driscoll's boycott in Santa Cruz County.

According to organizers of the international boycott, Driscoll's is the largest distributor of berries in the world and the company has a history of repressing union organizing. The boycott of Driscoll's has been initiated in response to the poor treatment of farmworkers who grow their berries in San Quintin, Mexico, as well as at Sakuma Bros. Berry Farm in Burlington, Washington.In 2013, workers at Sakuma organized an independent labor union named Familias unidas por la Justicia, or Families United for Justice (FUJ). FUJ is asking that Driscolls and Sakuma Berry Farms recognize them as the official union representing farm worker harvesters. Additionally, they have issued the following demands:a- $15 per hour minimum wage and overtime pay.b- IF a piece-rate wage process is accepted it must be negotiated as an ongoing process with worker representation- Sakuma Farms already agreed to a mutually acceptable process in 2013. The piece rate wage process has been used by Sakuma Farms as a wage theft mechanism that FUJ wants to end.c- A medical plan for all harvesters paid for by the company.d- No children or youth in the fields younger than 17 years.e- Negotiate equitable hiring and firing practices.f- A pesticide safety committee with union representation.g- Union representation in the development of supervisor training program.h- A union label on all harvested products.In 2015 Families United for Justice issued a statement in support of individuals who grow berries in the San Quintin Valley of Mexico that are distributed by Driscoll's. A general strike was observed by over 50,000 San Quintin farmworkers that year. They organized as an independent union called the Alliance of National, State and Municipal Organizations for Social Justice. The farmworkers initially demanded their wages be increased to 300 pesos a day, but they lowered that figure to 200 pesos, which is about $13. Most of the workers earned $7 to $8 a day before the strike began."Farmworker families in both WA and Mexico are asking people to stop buying Driscoll's Berries until they have legally binding union contracts that ensure they have justice and dignity in the workplace. People all over North America are taking action in solidarity with this movement. Tell your local grocery store manager that you support the boycott and ask them to remove Driscoll's berries from their shelves," read a flyer handed out at the January 2 boycott demonstration in Watsonville.In addition to being organized by the Watsonville and Sacramento Brown Berets, the action was sponsored by the Fresno Brown Berets, Labor Council for Latin American Advancement (Sacramento Chapter) AFL-CIO, SEIU 1021, Sacramento Central Labor Council AFL-CIO, Organization of Agricultural Workers California, First of May Civic Union, The Organizer, United Public Worker For Action, Women Take Back The Night.For more information, see:Boycott Sakuma BerriesFamilias Unidas por la JusticiaAlex Darocy
The neoliberal rollback has created growing instabilities. An advancing process of de-democratization and social re-feudalization is connected with the rise of the new "super-rich." The development of global capitalism reveals its contradictory form described by Marx and other philosophers in which something new is constantly proclaimed that ultimately only leads to the old conditions... Piketty warned of the growing inequality between the rich and the poor.

SOCIAL INEQUALITY TODAYDiagnoses and InterpretationsBy Helmut Martens[This article published on January 20, 2015 is translated from the German on the Internet, http://www.gegenblende.de .]The idea of overcoming social poverty was joined with the triad of work, progress and happiness in the welfare state democracies of the first postwar decades (Martens/ Peter/ Wolf 1984). This has changed completely in view of a neoliberal rollback that has continued for more than thirty years (Scholz and others 2006). At regular intervals, studies and analyses are presented that explain the extent of the increasing division between the poor and rich sectors of the population. This consciously forced social inequality intensifies economic crisis processes and undermines the political idea of a democratic idea of the free and equal. To what extent a crisis of social cohesion is bound with the crisis of democracy and the crisis of the economy will be discussed in this paper.ADVANCING PROCESSES OF SOCIAL DISINTEGRATIONThe Poverty- and Wealth Report of the German government presented in 2013 for the fourth time since 2001 was politically controversial in the assessment of the political data (BMAS 2013). Still the facts are clear. Whoever has less than 60% of middle need-weighted income is considered poor according to the European Unions definition. In Germany, the corresponding 2012 monthly income for single persons was 869 Euros and 1826 Euros for families with two children. 14 to 16 percent of the population was regarded as poor. As to wealth distribution, the report shows the lower 50% of the population had 1% of the total wealth (in 1998 it was still 4%) while the top 10% had over 53% *45% in 1998).Germany lies in the general trend in the advancing processes of social disintegration  following the US as trailblazer and with a top position within the EU. The intensely discussed studies of Thomas Piketty (2014) and Chrystia Freeland (2013) verify this. Piketty shows the gulf between poor and rich in the US was never as great as today since the worldwide economic crisis of 1929. The increased share of the top elite in the social wealth corresponds to the decline in the large majority. The original title of Freelands study is Plutocrats. The Ascent and Rule of a New Global Money Elite and the Descent of Everyone Else. The Forbes 2012 list of the richest persons included 1,226 billionaires [1]. Piketty also emphasizes the role of the economic elite for the US (the top 10%) in aggravating social inequality. Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman (2014) continue and develop his findings and intensify the diagnosis. According to them, the share of 0.01% of the top elite is responsible for the sharp rise of inequality in the US. Their thesis is: Wealth inequality has grown very intensely at the most extreme top but not below the top 0.1%/ Their tables show an increase for the top 0.01% from 3% (1960) to 11% (2012) and for the top 0.1% to 0.01% from 6.5% to 10.5% in the same time period.In her analysis, Chrystia Freeland says extreme inequality in the US first developed after the second industrial revolution. That was the Gilded Age, as described by Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner (2011) in the transition from the 19th to the 20th century. As we know, growing social instabilities arose at that time in the US and Europe (e.g. strikes and slums). They flowed into geopolitical adventure and ultimately the First World War. The reasons why the book by Twain and Warner has become a history of today are not clearly explored by Freeland. She speaks of a second Gilded Age. She mainly understands the current developments as further stages of development of the promise of capitalist development that she sees confirmed in the genesis of a new middle class in China for example. Piketty warns sharply of the emerging and growing inequality between rich and poor. He enters into pragmatic solutions as in progressive wealth taxes that are not a question of left and right but common sense. At the same time he says he chose Capital as part of the title of his book although he doesnt understand himself as a Marxist.POST-DEMOCRACY, RE-FEUDALIZATION AND THE CRISIS OF POLITICSThe neoliberal rollback since the middle of the 1970s reacted to declining growth rates and growing structural unemployment in the advanced western states (Thatcherism, Reaganomics). For a long time up to the outbreak of the new worldwide economic crisis, this rollback was justified as a great promise of freedom in opposition to supposed welfare state dehumanization (Krugman 2009). Many persons of formerly command socialist countries set their hopes on a capitalism tamed by the welfare state that was already in retreat at that time and whose erosion was forced by the implosion of command socialism. To many politicians, the European debt crisis was reason enough to argue that we all have lived above our means. The perspective of a market-conforming democracy (Merkel) was a political explanation for the surprising survival of neoliberalism (Crouch 2011). This prompted the conservative Democrat Frank Schirrmacher to the questions how falling prices in the middle of a market crisis could appear as a political vision and why there were repair efforts in states but not in markets. His answer was: Nearly all political and social elites confuse the theory that the market as a natural law knows better than humans. The core meltdown of the financial markets triggered the political vision of a democracy obeying the market like Phoenix rising from the toxic ashes and didnt cast doubt on the omniscient (Schirrmacher 2013).We are not only confronted with post-democratic developments that intensify the real threat of continuing multiplier crisis developments so authoritarian solutions catch on. The advancing social division in poor and rich in the Gilded Age creates a reality in which the official showmanship can decreasingly hide the growing misery of the world (Bourdieu 1997). The current consolidation of wealth and influence is correctly described as re-feudalization. Following Jurgen Habermas, Sighard Neckel (2013) doesnt use this term as the return of a long past historical epoch but as a continuing self-contradiction that can suddenly change certain threshold values so social institutions lose their normative qualities that once characterized them as historically new (Neckel 2010). He explains this development as a re-feudalization of values in the achievement society (for legitimating high salaries), as a re-feudalization of the economic organizations (through establishment of a privileged estate, the manager class), as a re-feudalization of the social structure (through return of the distance between the elite and the precariat) and as a re-feudalization or dismantling of the welfare state (in which public welfare is re-privatized as donations and gifts).More or less silently we are moving today to accepting already implemented re-feudalization processes as foregone conclusions and the growing speechlessness of the new precariat as an inescapable moment. We are living in a democracy of the higher paid. In an essay where he develops the reasons for a way from market freedom to economic democracy, the philosopher Tilo Wesche (2014) says very rightly that the political idea of a democratic society of the free and equal is undermined given the recent concentration of property and political power.CONCLUSIONSThe neoliberal rollback has created growing instabilities. An advancing process of de-democratization and implementation of social re-feudalization processes is connected with the rise of the new super-rich. The analyses of Neckel and Freeland can be understood as confirmation of Jacques Rancieres thesis that the struggle between rich and poor is not the social reality with which politics must reckon. Rather it is identical with its organization. Democratic politics exists when there is a share of the uninvolved, a part of party of the poor (Ranciere 2002). However one could also conclude with these reflections on wealth and poverty that the development of global capitalism reveals its contradictory form described by Marx and other philosophers in which something new is constantly proclaimed that ultimately only leads to the old conditions. [2]NOTES1 A longer version of this article is available at the authors website http://www.drhelmutmartens.de In 2014 this number in the Forbes list of the richest persons rose to 1,645 (after 423 in 1996 und 946 in 2006) with most (492) in den USA followed by China (152), Russia (111) und Germany 85 (see Wikipedia). Other lists of the rich show higher numbers. The Swiss USB Bank for 2014 has 2,325 billionaires (Manager-Magazin-online, 28.10. 2014).
News / National

by Prosper Dembedza

A 10-year-old girl is battling for life at Parirenyatwa Hospital after she was knocked down by a speeding commuter omnibus in Harare while seven municipal police officers were hospitalised following brutal attacks with weapons by touts and kombi crews resisting Harare council's bid to rid the city of unruly drivers and unregistered taxis.The officers were attacked while enforcing traffic by-laws under an operation code-named "Scorpion" to clear illegal passenger pick-up points popularly known as "mishikashika". along Julius Nyerere WayThe melee that saw one municipal officer being thrown out of a moving kombi brought in the police who managed to arrest at 43 suspects, mainly kombi crews.The suspects were by late night still at Harare Central Police Station assisting police with investigations.A 10-year-old girl battles for her life at Parirenyatwa Hospital. - Picture by Munyaradzi ChamalimbaSources said the girl (name withheld), who was celebrating her 10th birthday yesterday, was knocked down by a kombi that was picking up commuters from an undesignated point as it tried to flee from approaching municipal police officers.Police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed the skirmishes and the arrest of 43 kombi crews and touts."Yes, I can confirm the skirmishes that took place in town this afternoon where seven municipal police officers were attacked with stones by kombi crews who were resisting their operation. From the incident, we arrested 43 hooligans," she said.Snr Asst Comm Charamba said the police would deal ruthlessly with kombi crews who caused chaos and endangered the lives of innocent people in the city."As the police, we are going to deal with these hooligans ruthlessly because we are there to maintain law and order in the country," she said.When The Herald visited the injured people at Parirenyatwa Hospital yesterday, the 10-year-old girl was still lying on a stretcher, waiting for a doctor to attend to her.Her mother, who declined to be named, said she was shocked to see her daughter flying in front of her after being hit by the kombi."We were standing on a pavement along Jason Moyo Avenue intending to cross the road when suddenly I saw my daughter flying over the road after she was knocked by a kombi that was fleeing municipal police officers," she said.She said she was concerned over the fate of her daughter who was celebrating 10 years.One of the municipal police officers who was seriously injured, Mr Ian Musariri (32), said he was attacked by the kombi crews who were resisting the operation to clean up the city.''I only heard the kombi crews shouting that I was one of the municipal cops and one of them hit me on the chin with a spike. I fell to the ground and they started kicking me all over the body," he said.Mr Musariri said he suspected his right leg could be fractured as a result of the attack as he was yet to see a doctor when the Herald crew arrived.Another municipal officer, Ms Precious Muredzi (33), said she was thrown out of a moving commuter omnibus by a kombi crew she had apprehended."When I fell on the tarmac, touts joined and started kicking me all over the body."Other officers - Ms Sharon Dombo (29), Mrs Monica Chiomba (42), Mr Ben Rukwava (29) and Aaron Madondo (45) - were also attacked.Said Rukwava: "As I jumped from our truck intending to apprehend the culprits, I was attacked with missiles from all directions."Harare City acting corporate communications manager Mr Michael Chideme confirmed the incident saying seven of their officers were injured during the skirmishes."Yes, seven of our police officers were attacked by rowdy kombi crews as they were carrying out an operation against mishikashika and illegal vending. One of them is in a critical condition," he said.He said the public should not view municipal police officers as their enemies, but as people trying to restore sanity in cities and towns."The public should respect and protect municipal police officers because they protect the interests of all residents," said Mr Chideme.Mr Chideme said council was adopting zero tolerance towards mishikashika and illegal vending.
A massive protest was carried out on Sunday, January 3, by Members of the Islamic Movement in Nigeria under the stewardship of Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky.

Shiites in Bauchi protest the killing of Sheikh Nimr.

The thousands of Shia faithfuls staged a peaceful protest in Bauchi to condemn the provocative execution of the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr by the Saudi regime.

READ ALSO: Report: How Jonathan Killed Three Sons Of Sheikh Zakzaky (PHOTOS)

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According to ABNA, the demonstration also called for the immediate release of Sheikh Ibrahim Zakzaky, wife and hundreds of followers who are allegedly being held unjustifiably by the Nigerian government.

The protests which spanned various streets in Bauchi city showed sympathizers carrying the placards "we are all Nimr" and " Free Zakzaky", which are meant to condemn the continued persecution of Shias in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Nigeria.

The protesters derided the execution as a plot to worsen a sectarian tension in the Muslim world which is already enmeshed in the war of attrition in countries like Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Yemen.

Malam Ahmad Yashi who led the peaceful demonstration has called the execution 'provocative and barbaric'.

In his closing remark, he excoriated the Saudi royal families for playing politics with the lives of Shia dissents whose only faults are calling for an end to Shia marginalisation in the country and demanding the release of their detained members who are languishing in various jails across the country.

The cleric said Saudi Arabia has surreptitiously connived with the Western powers to cripple the rise of Shias in the world. He finally concluded by saying that those who think killing Shias will suppress its growing acceptance has got it all wrong.

Below are photos from the protest in Bauchi.

READ ALSO: ISIS: Christian Elders Warn PMB Against Dragging Nigeria Into Saudi Coalition

READ ALSO: Read How Zakzaky Ran Parallel Government For Over 20 Years In Kaduna

READ ALSO: Changing Face Of Civil-Military Relations By Understanding The Army-Shiite/IPOB Tragedy

Meanwhile, the Islamic Movement in Nigeria (IMN) has alleged that a member of the Shiite group, Abbas Isiyaku, was killed while in detention on Saturday, January 2. Leadership reports that Isiyaku was shot and kept in detention without proper medical attention.

Source: Legit.ng
Alhaji Abubakar Tsav, a former commissioner of police in Lagos state, has confessed that he was alarmed by the amount of money allegedly diverted by Sambo Dasuki, a former national security adviser.

Former Commissioner of police, Abubakar Tsav

The Sun reports Tsav expressed support for Muhammadu Buharis anti-corruption campaign and disputed claims that the president was singling out Dasuki for investigation because of their past relationship.

The gravity of the crime allegedly committed by Dasuki can only be imagined than described. He said the money which was meant for the fight against insurgency to finance the campaign of President Goodluck Jonathan.

As a result of this alleged act, many innocent Nigerians lost their lives, many children not only missed going to schools, but were orphaned, he said.

READ ALSO: Flashback: How Dasuki Ruined Buharis Marriage In 1985

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Speaking further, Tsav expressed worry over the alarm raised by Rev. Fr. Njike Mbaka over a plot to assassinate President Buhari.

According to the ex-commissioner of the police, this alarm should not be misplaced taking into consideration the fact that there could be many corrupt politicians around the president who will stop at nothing to frustrate him.

Therefore, Tsav called on all Nigerians to pray for Buharis safety and for him to successfully save the country from the grip of corruption.

Meanwhile, the Human Rights Writers Association of Nigeria (HURIWA) was outraged by Father Mbaka's prophecy and called it sensationalism, rumour peddling and delusional fantasy.

The group urged the Nigerian Catholic hierarchy to sanction the cleric over his shifting from sacred vocation to political games.

Source: Legit.ng
News / National

by Staff reporter

Zanu-PF bigwigs opposed to embattled Vice President Emmerson Mnangagwa succeeding President Mugabe have vowed that a woman will return to the ruling party's powerful presidium this year, most likely at his expense.Party officials linked to the Young Turks known as the Generation 40 (G40) said Senate President Edna Madzongwe, and not First Lady Grace Mugabe, was likely to be the woman VP.They also said that it is now a question of when in 2016, not whether there will be a woman VP.Last December's Zanu-PF congress set a clear deadline that 2016 would be the year that gender parity would be realized in the presidium.
Rising music star Ycee has launched an attack on rapper Vector. Both artistes won at the 2015 Headies awards on January 1, 2016.

File photo of rapper YCee.

The Jagaban rapper took a shot at Vector on his Instagram account as he ridiculed some lyrics off the song King Kong.

READ ALSO: #2015InReview: Top 15 Nigerian Songs That Defined 2015

Ycee had written in these words: Yemi Alade was looking for Johnny because walker had to walk.. lmao! WTF is that? Punchline no be by force!

But the post was taken off almost immediately as it began to generate a whirlwind of harsh comments from Vectors fans.

[article_adwert]

However, Ycee appeared to be having fun the whole time. He went on to Twitter and posted an image which had him laughing with his Headies award and captioned it:

I see all your tweets  But do you see my face? Thats all that matters #Happiness #RookieOfTheYear.

READ ALSO:

Ycee had quite a good year in 2015 and pundits have tipped him to break new grounds in 2016.

Source: Legit.ng
News / National

by Staff reporter

Several organizations including vendors Rural Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe and Students unions have threatened mass protests in Harare today to register their displeasure at Zanu-PF misgovernance and civil servants delayed December salaries.The organisers said they would march from Market Square and petition Finance minister Patrick Chinamasa and Public Service minister Prisca Mupfumira over non-payment of civil servants' salaries and bonuses, among other grievances.This comes shortly after the government pleaded with civil servants to stop their planned demonstrations over late salaries and assured them their wages will be paid tomorrow.RTUZ leader, Obert Masaraure told NewsDay yesterday that they were going ahead with their demonstrations despite the government's directive to shelve the protests."We have notified the police, who acknowledged receipt of the letter satisfying the law requirement of notifying the police. Other teachers' unions like the Progressive Teachers' Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) and Zimbabwe Teachers' Association (Zimta) have been invited to join in the march. The objectives of the demonstrations are to express our displeasure at the failure of the government to pay salaries and bonuses of civil servants and demand immediate payment of salaries and bonus," he said.However, Zimta president, Richard Gundani said: "I am not aware of that, we have not been told. Why do they mention others who are not part of them? If we organise something we will tell you in time. At the moment we are waiting for resolutions from different parts."PTUZ secretary-general, Raymond Majongwe and national police spokesperson, Chief Superintendent Paul Nyathi were unreachable for comment.But Masaraure said: "This is the beginning of a broader and sustained campaign for dignity of workers throughout 2016. We have many unions who will come to join as we fight for the workers' dignity."Zimbabwe Informal Sector Organisation director, Promise Mkwananzi said his members would demonstrate in solidarity with "the poorly paid civil servants".ZAA co-ordinator Lynnette Tendai Mudehwe said: "The demonstration will mark the launch of a sustained campaign for restoration of dignity in work. All civil servants, workers, vendors, students and ordinary Zimbabweans are urged to participate in this legal demonstration."Late last year, MDC-T youths vowed to embark on a series of demonstrations this year to force the Zanu-PF government to address the deteriorating socio-economic situation in the country.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Zimbabwe's rural teachers say they will go on the streets today in an attempt to force the government to honour its dues and pledges to civil servants.If successful, this will be the second major sector to embark on mass action after unhappy public sector medical staff - including doctors and nurses - went on strike last week in protest at the government's failure to pay them their December salaries.The Rural Teachers Union in Zimbabwe (RTUZ) has already submitted a notification letter to the police internal security intelligence in Harare, informing them of their intention to go on protest.
AEW Europe has purchased Edifico Amura, an 18,178 sqm office building on the outskirts of Madrid, for approximately 37 million.The asset has been acquired on behalf of the Europe Value Investors fund (EVI) from Union Investment Real Estate GmbH.

Developed in 2002, Amura is a modern and well-mainta...

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News / National

by Staff Reporter

Commuter omnibus crew and touts in Harare on Sunday fought running battles with municipal police resulting in a 10-year-old girl being knocked down by a kombi.She is battling for life at Parirenyatwa Hospital.Seven municipal police officers were hospitalised following brutal attacks with weapons by touts and kombi crews resisting Harare council's bid to rid the city of unruly drivers and unregistered taxis.On one municipal officer was thrown out of a moving kombi.ZRP managed to arrest at 43 suspects, mainly kombi crews.The officers were attacked while enforcing traffic by-laws under an operation code-named "Scorpion" to clear illegal passenger pick-up points popularly known as "mishikashika".The suspects were by late night still at Harare Central Police Station assisting police with investigations.According to the Herald, the girl was knocked down by a kombi that was picking up commuters from an undesignated point as it tried to flee from approaching municipal police officers.Police spokesperson Senior Assistant Commissioner Charity Charamba confirmed the skirmishes and the arrest of 43 kombi crews and touts."Yes, I can confirm the skirmishes that took place in town this afternoon where seven municipal police officers were attacked with stones by kombi crews who were resisting their operation. From the incident, we arrested 43 hooligans," she said."As the police, we are going to deal with these hooligans ruthlessly because we are there to maintain law and order in the country," she said.


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Cofinimmo signed an agreement to sell its 95 % stake in Silverstone SA/NV, an Institutional Regulated Real Estate Company.

Silverstone SA/NV owns 20 nursing and care homes in Belgium, operated by the Senior Assist Group. Cofinimmo has sold its 95 % stake in Silverstone SA/NV to a company of the Senio...

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Cornerstone Real Estate Advisers Europe has completed the acquisition of a prime high street retail building let to Sweden's largest department store group, Ahlens, in central Malmo for SEK 357 million (38.3 million). This for the portfolio of its Pan-European Core Fund. The acquisition reflects the execution of a strategy

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Kennedy Wilson Europe Real Estate Plc has completed the acquisition of La Moraleja Green shopping centre, Madrid, from ING Real Estate & Other. KWE has acquired a 95.2% stake in the centre with an underlying real estate value of 71 million (52.2 million), reflecting a yield on cost of 6.2%.

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Patrizia UK has secured Regus, the global workspace provider, as a new tenant at its 79,156 sq ft central Birmingham office building, Edmund House. Occupying the first and second floors, Regus has taken 16,206 sq ft of space and is currently fitting out ahead of its opening in the first

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UK Commercial Property Trust Limited, advised by Standard Life Investments, announces that it has made two acquisitions for 50.8m.

The company has acquired the Central Square office building in Newcastle for 21.6 million from Parabola Estates, reflecting a net initial yield of 6.4%. The 72,389 s...

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"My girlfriend doesn't like my dog, so I appeal to you," began a Craigslist ad, titled "Free to good home." She is a purebred from a wealthy area and I have had her 4 years. She likes to play games. Not totally trained. Has long hair so she's a little high maintenance, especially the nails, but she loves having them done. Stays up all night yapping but sleeps while I work. Only eats the best, most expensive food. Will NEVER greet you at the door after a long day or give you unconditional love when you're down. Does not bite but she can be mean as hell! The appeal would make any dog lover's heart totally sink. Who would want to give up this beautiful and loyal dog?

Dodo Shows Faith = Restored Couple Meets A Beach Dog In Mexico Who Changes Their Life

But wait ... the ad continues: So........anyone interested in my 30 year old, selfish, wicked, gold-digging girlfriend? Come and get her! Me and my dog want her re-homed!! The ad is quickly becoming an internet legend, inspiring Facebook commenters to share their experiences of similar acts of kindness ... toward their non-human animals, not their [in]significant others: "I had one like that," wrote one Facebook commenter. "[M]ale, hadn't been nurtured, would stray every time I let him out of the house, had a nasty habit of running his nose up the crotch sniffing when my friends came over. I finally gave up and divorced him!" Another Facebook commenter added, "Lol! My now fiance broke up w/ his ex 6 years ago because she hated his German Shepherd, Bascoe. I'm thankful because now I have the man & dog of my dreams. How can't u love this face..."

The brilliant and viral farce even inspired beautiful works of art.
There was a time, and it was many years ago now, Elizabeth Strouts slim and spectacular new novel begins, when I had to stay in a hospital for almost nine weeks. And it feels like she is going to tell us a story, the old-fashioned, uncomplicated kind. But only for a little while. My Name Is Lucy Barton is smart and cagey in every way.

It is both a book of withholdings and a book of great openness and wisdom. It starts with the clean, solid structure and narrative distance of a fairy tale yet becomes more intimate and improvisational, coming close at times to the rawness of autofiction by writers such as Karl Ove Knausgaard and Rachel Cusk. Strout is playing with form here, with ways to get at a story, yet nothing is tentative or haphazard. She is in supreme and magnificent command of this novel at all times.

[Look back at the best books of 2015.]

Three weeks into her hospital stay, Lucy Barton wakes to find her mother at the foot of her bed. She has not seen her in years. For the next five nights, her mother sits in a chair and, with a Scheherazade-like desperation, tells Lucy stories about people from Amgash, Ill., where she raised her family in poverty. Lucy has escaped the town and the poverty and lives with her husband and two kids in New York. The Chrysler Building framed by her hospital window gleams and beckons to her as powerfully as the green light on Daisys dock beckons to Gatsby. The city is just beyond the glass, but Lucy, because of an infection no one can identify, no longer has access to it.

To get to this hospital room, her mother has taken her first airplane flight and made her first trip to the city. Was it scary getting a taxi, Mom? Lucy asks. I have a tongue in my head, and I used it, her mother replies, the brusque and defensive tone clearly familiar to Lucy.

[20 novels we cant wait to read in 2016. And this list only gets us to June.]

But when her mother begins telling stories, her voice becomes different: rushed, compressed, as though a pressure of feeling and words and observations had been stuffed down inside her for years. Lucy becomes enthralled with this new voice and yearns for more. At the same time, these stories bring back memories of Lucys childhood in that town, where they lived as social pariahs in her uncles garage with no heat and only a trickle of cold water from a makeshift sink, and often ate molasses on bread for dinner. They bring back the abuse Lucy suffered at the hands of her parents, and these scenes are rendered briefly and acutely, as close to giving the reader the shock of the experience as one can imagine.

Here in the hospital room, at least at first, Lucy feels safe. She feels affection. She dozes off listening to the rushed voice and thinks, All I want is this. Later, she corrects herself:

It turned out I wanted something else. I wanted my mother to ask about my life. I wanted to tell her about the life I was living now. Stupidly  it was just stupidity  I blurted out, Mom, I got two stories published. She looked at me quickly and quizzically, as if I had said I had grown extra toes, then she looked out the window and said nothing. Just dumb ones, I said, in tiny magazines. Still she said nothing.

The hospital has infantilized Lucy so that she can access her child self more easily, and shes happy just to listen to her mothers voice. But the adult wants to be known, seen, heard. Lucys mother is incapable of this. She is proud of her daughter but will not show it. She loves her daughter but will not say it, even when begged. She deliberately misinterprets Lucys motives, denies all memory of abuse and shuts down at the moments Lucy needs her the most.

Much like her mothers new voice that compels her so, Lucys narration takes on the same compression, the same urgency. She is often trying to reclarify what she has said, as if the reader, like her mother, is on the verge of misunderstanding. Her attempt to tell this story is as much a struggle for her as the difficult events she is relating, as if a thick membrane separates her from all others, as if this novel is her desperate attempt to push through.

And it is. We learn that these pages we are reading are the pages of her first novel, which she began after attending a talk by a writer named Sarah Payne. If her mother was the center of gravity of Lucys childhood, Sarah Payne is the gravitational pull of her adulthood. Sarahs words of advice to Lucy during a writing workshop in Arizona help us understand how to read this book:

This is a story about a mother who loves her daughter, Sarah says about the writing Lucy has shown her. Imperfectly. Because we all love imperfectly. But if you find yourself protecting anyone as you write this piece, remember this: You are not doing it right. Later, Sarah tells the class: You will have only one story. Youll write your one story many ways. Dont ever worry about story. You have only one.

You might be tempted to think that this alienated and alienating middle-aged woman is Strouts one story  she did turn a similar character into a household name with her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Olive Kitteridge. But My Name Is Lucy Barton is the story of a daughter who loved her mother, and that is a very different story. It is also the work of a more mature writer, scaling new heights.

Sarah tells Lucy and her other students to go to the page with a heart as open as the heart of God. And this is precisely what Strout has done.

Lily King is the author of four novels, most recently Euphoria.
News / National

by Staff Reporter

The Minister of Agriculture, Mechanisation and Irrigation Development, Joseph Made has said more than $260 million to import food for drought-prone areas for this year up to 2017 has been mobilised.According to ZBC, Made said only 450 000 tonnes have been imported saying 700 000 tonnes is still pending.Made said over 60 grain importers have been granted permits to import 1.2 million tonnes of maize.He said despite the crop assessment, the situation looks bleak and government is looking beyond 2016-17.Made said it is government's duty to import grain with the private sector and the donor community playing a supporting role.This comes as Made came under fire last week from Grain Millers Association of Zimbabwe (GMAZ) Matabeleland Provinces Chapter amid reports that he was refusing to issue import licences to maize tradersMatabeleland provinces are staring a crippling food shortage.GMAZ Matabeleland Provinces Chapter, Thembinkosi Ndlovu in a letter dated December 24, 2015 and copied to top Government officials including the Acting President Phelekezela Mphoko threatened to drag Dr Made to court to compel him to issue the importation licences.Reads the letter in part: ". . . we write to advise that the maize situation in Matabeleland provinces is now dire and degenerating into a security matter. I regret to advise you that maize supplies for commercial milling in Bulawayo currently stand at one week supply and the situation will deteriorate to no supply very soon."Our chapter is deeply disappointed by your ministry(s) decision to decline application of maize from South Africa and South America for the milling of maize meal and livestock feeds."Food is a constitutional right and we are entitled to demand, as we hereby do, for your office to start, forthwith, to issue permits to all grain traders which are mentioned in the maize importation action plan submitted to you by our national office."However, if we fail to get your cooperation in this regard we will have no option but to seek the intervention of courts to compel your office to do the same."
Gene Luen Yang was chosen to be the next national ambassador for Young Peoples Literature. (James A. Parcell/For The Washington Post)

For many years, Gene Luen Yang led something of a double life. By day, he was a mild-mannered teacher, walking the halls of his Bay Area high school. By night, though, he would lose himself in tales of superheroism and dual identity. If his greatest power was literary imagination, his second-greatest involved stellar feats of time management. Yes, after dark, Mr. Yang became . . .

A comic-book creator.

Ever since, his list of achievements has grown as imposing as a tall building leapt in a single bound volume  from bestsellers to award-winners.

[Best graphic novels of 2015]

On Monday, reflecting his accomplishments as both author and educator, Yang will be named the new national ambassador for young peoples literature. The Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, the Childrens Book Council and Every Child a Reader will inaugurate Yang on Thursday in Washington at a free event open to the public.

Yang, who said he was thrilled and humbled by the honor, embraces this opportunity as a welcome part of his professional progression. Im really attached to furthering the integration of the book and comic-book worlds, says Yang, whose current projects include writing a young-adult book series and for DC Comics Superman character. This is the next logical step.

Yang is accustomed to logical steps that also represent pioneering firsts. A decade ago, his cross-cultural masterwork American Born Chinese (2006) became the first graphic novel to be named a National Book Award finalist  a feat he repeated more recently with his sweeping Boxer Rebellion epic, Boxers & Saints (2013). Now, Yang becomes the first young peoples literature national ambassador to be a graphic novelist. (The authors previously appointed to the two-year position have been Jon Scieszka, Katherine Paterson, Walter Dean Myers and Kate DiCamillo.)

[Kate DiCamillo: Reading aloud binds us together in unanticipated ways]

The literary ambassador program was created in 2008 to raise national awareness of the importance of young peoples literature, according to its organizing bodies. With that in mind, Yang says, One of the things Im supposed to do as ambassador is promote great books, and because Im from the world of graphic novels . . . I have to give them a little bit of an extra push.

Yang is accustomed to coming to Washington and winning over fans for graphic novels. In 2014, the author-educator spoke at the National Book Festival gala, sharing the stage with E.L. Doctorow, Nina Khrushcheva and Kai Bird. Yang drew some of the nights loudest cheers and highest praise by talking passionately of the imperative for culturally diverse literature and also of the courage authors need to write about cultures outside of their own.

We talk about our need for diverse books with diverse characters written by diverse writers, Yang said that evening. I wholeheartedly agree. But I have noticed an undercurrent of fear in many of our discussions. Were afraid of writing characters different from ourselves because were afraid of getting it wrong.

This fear can be a good thing if it drives us to do our homework, to be meticulous in our cultural research, Yang continued. But this fear crosses the line when we become so intimidated that we quietly make choices against stepping out of our own identities.

Immediately afterward, Yang told me that his speech also functioned as a pep talk for himself as a writer. Thats crucial because the notion of identity  both discovered and secreted  runs through most of his work, including The Shadow Hero (2014), which creates a new narrative for a 40s comics character who was perhaps the first Asian American superhero.

[The Green Turtle returns in The Shadow Hero]

Yang, who is in his early 40s, was raised in the Bay Area as the son of immigrants, and themes of being a Chinese American, as well as a Christian, recur in his work. He also often explores the idea of outsider status, which dovetails nicely with being a comics fan, he has noted, because the comic-book industry itself was founded largely, during the World War II era, by Jewish Americans who felt like outsiders.

Yang began drawing comics in fifth grade, and his rise as a cartoonist began two decades ago, when he received a Xeric grant for his self-published Gordon Yamamoto and the King of the Geeks (1997). His true breakthrough, though, came nearly a decade later with American Born Chinese, in which stereotypes and multiple identities are brilliantly explored. That book, which has sold more than a half-million copies and is a classroom staple, is the only graphic novel to win the American Library Associations Printz Award.

Yang has long been a classroom staple, as well. After majoring in computer science at the University of California at Berkeley, he tried working as a computer engineer, only to realize that his true calling by day was teaching. For 17 years he taught  mostly computers, some art and a little math  at Bishop ODowd High School in Oakland, before deciding last June to devote more time to his thriving comics career.

And so this national ambassadorship not only comes at an ideal time, it also meets two of the cartoonists goals.

First, Yang  who has four children but misses the stimulating classroom environment  gains a post that feeds his desire to educate. I still love being a teacher, and a classroom is something I want to have again, says Yang, whose recent YA series are the tech-friendly Secret Coders and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Second, the ambassadorship provides Yang with a platform for promoting reading, including graphic novels, with an emphasis on STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) goals. He says his focus, reduced to three words, is simply reading without walls.

Walls are only a big thing if youve never crossed them or scaled them, he says. There are a lot of walls between cultures that reading can help bridge. Reading is a way to get to know people on a deeper level. . . . And were also talking about ways we can use technology to engage kids with reading, because the technology is so new.

Such thinking surely made the author an attractive candidate for the young-literature post. Gene Yang continues to prove himself as a pathfinder for publishing, for comics and for literature in our changing times, says Mark Siegel, editorial director at Yangs home imprint, First Second Books. This is another great honor he has earned, and another first for graphic novels as a form  a vital, timely, flourishing form of human expression. Gene is exceptionally gifted.

And at the center of those gifts is Yangs eagerness to push past boundaries.

After all, our job as writers is to step out of ourselves, Yang said in his National Book Festival speech, and to encourage our readers to do the same.

Literature for young readers, in other words, couldnt have a better emissary.

Cavna is The Washington Posts Comic Riffs columnist/cartoonist and graphic-novel reviewer for Book World.
In a prefatory note to his new novel, the last installment of a trilogy, Robert Harris describes the Roman statesman Cicero as having lived through arguably  at least until the convulsions of 1933-45  the most tumultuous era in human history. Cicero was a pivotal figure of the time: the man who both saved the Roman republic from being hijacked by Catiline and his fellow conspirators and also inadvertently buried the republic by placing his trust in the young Octavian, soon to be Emperor Augustus. Ciceros was a life rich in gravitas and drama, and Harris depicts it with erudition and elan.

Dictator begins with Cicero on the run from his arch-enemy, the tribune Clodius, a friend and supporter of Catiline, whose fall Cicero had helped bring about by skewering the traitor in scathing orations that are still de rigueur for students of Latin. Slandered by Clodius and harried by his thugs, Cicero goes into exile  a condition for which, according to our narrator, the slave Tiro, he was of all the men I ever knew . . . the least equipped by temperament.

Before long, however, Cicero is back in Rome, trying to salvage his reputation and regain his confiscated property by outsmarting his rich, powerful and unscrupulous foe. The canny Cicero probes for a weakness and finds it. Always careful to cultivate the populace, Clodius has donated a statue purporting to represent the goddess Liberty. Cicero learns that it was wartime booty of scandalous origin. To the merriment of all Rome, he makes the point in one of his trademark sallies: So this is [Clodiuss] idea of Liberty  a courtesans likeness, erected over a foreign tomb, stolen by a thief and set up again by a sacrilegious hand! Needless to say, advantage to Cicero.

Clodius is far from finished, though; he will bedevil Cicero again and again. If he is a one-dimensional villain, its probably no fault of Harriss  the Pulchers (the family name) seem to have been ancient Roman precursors of the Borgias. More subtle are the characterizations of other major figures: Julius Caesar, whose political judgment dissipates as the fame and power accruing from his consummate generalship go to his head (he seems to believe in his own divinity); Cato, whose rectitude tends to spill over into righteousness, which is a form of selfishness; and Octavian, poised and single-minded beyond his relatively few years  he is a teenager when his and Ciceros paths first cross  and surely the best student of politics the older man ever had.

Tiro, a literate slave who actually existed  he invented a shorthand that survives in the abbreviations &, etc., N.B., i.e. and e.g.  narrates with the affection of an underling whose master treated him as a near-equal and eventually freed him. He tells us what Cicero said about changing residences (a frequent occurrence): I have put out my books and now my house has a soul. And he paraphrases the masters approach to death: A human being can only train for death by leading a life that is morally good; that is  to desire nothing too much; to be content with what one has; to be entirely self-sufficient within oneself, so that whatever one loses, one will still be able to carry on regardless; to do none harm; to realize it is better to suffer an injury than to inflict one; to accept that life is a loan given by Nature without a due date and that repayment may be demanded at any time; that the most tragic character in the world is a tyrant who has broken all these precepts.

As that passage shows, the older, wiser Cicero withstood the loss of power and influence that might have staggered another man by putting his fertile mind to work. In his last years, he wrote philosophical books, such as On Friendship and On Duties, that are still worth reading 2,000 years later.

Harris seems to have mastered every telling aspect of the world and the conflicts he dramatizes, from the excitement occasioned by each new account of Caesars far-off triumphs (whenever his Commentaries were posted . . . crowds would gather and remain there all day reading of his exploits, to the strategy for conferring executive clemency (above all, make the grantor look good).

The new novels predecessors  Imperium, which centered on Ciceros lawyerly campaign against Verres, the corrupt governor of Sicily; and Conspirata, which featured Cicero as the statesman who defended the republic against Catiline  made ancient history exciting. Dictator goes even further, imparting wisdom and consolation. In his Ciceronian trilogy, Robert Harris has richly evoked and given shape to a most tumultuous era in human history.

Dennis Drabelle is a former contributing editor of Book World.
The flames of Sept. 11, 2001, not only recast Americas future, they also illuminated a long-neglected history of conflict between the West and certain strains of Islam. Suddenly, for many of us, the present day had malignant roots wed never recognized. Salman Rushdie recently added to the library of books on this vast subject with Two Years Eight Months and Twenty-Eight Nights, a surprisingly whimsical story about warring genies reigniting an ancient battle in the modern age. And now comes another unusual novel that captures our anxious latter-days while reaching back to a contentious past.

[A look back at the best books of 2015]

The Kindness of Enemies maps the interconnectedness of the world on both personal and political levels. To some extent, that intricacy reflects the well-traveled life of its author, Leila Aboulela, who was born in Egypt, was raised in Sudan, studied in England and now lives in Scotland. Her new novel opens there, at an isolated farmhouse in the Scottish countryside, but the story that unfurls will take us around the world and back centuries.

The narrator is an ambitious young scholar named Natasha Wilson, nee Hussein, whos come to meet an Iraqi-born actress. Malak Raja is perhaps the female equivalent of Yul Brynner or Ben Kingsley, but far less successful, resigned to playing Bombay aunties and Persian side characters. Natasha has traveled to her out-of-the-way home to examine an Ottoman sword thats been in Malaks family for generations.

At this point, The Kindness of Enemies pierces the fabric of its fiction to explore a largely forgotten historical moment. The story is predicated on the idea that this weapon once belonged to the real-life Muslim leader Imam Shamil, who fought against the Russians in the Caucasian War, a conflict that dragged on for decades in the mid-19th century. Allah was inscribed on the blade in gold, Natasha notices. I put my thumb on the crossbar  long ago Imam Shamils hand had gripped this.

Leila Aboulelas previous three novels were long-listed for the Orange Prize (now the Baileys Womens Prize). (Ahmed-naji Mahjoub)

Aside from its spiritual aura, this antique is relevant to Natashas research on the types of weapons used in jihad, a subject that sparks a compelling debate with Malak and her son, who is one of Natashas students. That conversation, extended by a snowstorm that keeps Natasha from leaving, displays the anxiety Muslims feel when theyre indiscriminately tarred with suspicion. Why should the faithful in London, New York or Paris be expected to denounce the agenda and atrocities of criminals who have no relation to them? Malaks son, Osama  who, for obvious reasons, goes by Oz  chafes at this expectation, this gelding of his religious passion. Limiting jihad to an internal struggle has become a bandwagon for every pacifist Muslim to climb on, Oz complains. Jihad is not something we should be ashamed of, he insists before taking Shamils antique sword outside and chopping the heads off snowmen.

The Kindness of Enemies was published in the U.K. last summer, but it has grown no less pertinent in the intervening bloody months. Its a rich, multilayered story, a whole syllabus of compelling topics. As a novelist, Aboulela moves confidently between dramatizing urgent, contemporary issues and providing her audience with sufficient background to follow these discussions about the changing meaning of jihad, the history of Sufism and the racial politics of the war on terror.

But this novel is not merely a collection of pertinent debate subjects. Almost as soon as Natasha leaves Malaks home, shes beset by a swarm of troubles: Her academic career is threatened by a bizarre harassment charge; her ethics are stretched by a terrorism investigation; her equilibrium is upset by an antiabortion intimidation campaign. And then her apartment is ransacked; her estranged father in Sudan falls dangerously ill; and her stepmother sues her. Clearly, the plot is designed to put stress on Natasha, to drive her deep into herself and her half-Russian, half-Sudanese heritage. But this quick succession of trials begins to feel like something Wile E. Coyote might endure. The novel struggles to resolve or even explore all these challenges, and they risk overwhelming the more interesting personal struggle that makes Natasha think, I was a failed hybrid, made up of unalloyed selves.

Im hesitant to complain, though, because Natashas chaotic life provides such a fascinating counterpoint to the elegantly structured historical drama laced through the novel. Without any artificial parallels or contrived coincidences, alternate chapters take us back to Imam Shamil and his struggle against the Russians, starting in 1839.

The dashing mountain fighter rides through these pages in all his tortured humanity. Hes equally gracious and cunning as he struggles to unite various groups. But Aboulela tells this enthralling story largely through the experiences of two hostages snared on opposite sides of the conflict: After peace negotiations fail, Shamils young son is kept by the Russians and raised as the tsars special guest. In retaliation, Princess Anna, granddaughter of the last Georgian king, is captured by Shamils men and taken to his mountain lair.

A century before anyone would use the term Stockholm syndrome, both Princess Anna and Shamils son experience a disorienting sympathy with their captors, who treat them with as much kindness as their respective cultures allow. For Anna, whose Georgian homeland has been annexed by Russia, Shamils cause is not entirely alien, despite her initial horror at the Muslim way of life. And Shamils son, though emotionally devoted to his father, cant help but enjoy the rich life he develops in Russia, even as he realizes hes becoming a kind of bicultural freak. The diplomatic question of whether they will ever be allowed back to their homes is eventually subsumed by the more poignant question of whether either of them will ever feel comfortable in their old lives  a quandary that resonates with Natasha in the 21st century.

Aboulela never pushes the contemporary relevance in any heavy-handed way, but these experiences in enemy camps suggest the need for greater empathy, understanding and dignity, even in the prosecution of war. The Russians believed the Chechens were wily and suspicious, Shamils son thinks. The Chechens believed the Russians were aggressive and treacherous. They were both right, they were both wrong. Fixating on an opponents atrocities while brushing away ones own is the closest humanity has come to a perpetual-motion killing machine. We may not use swords anymore, but were still striking similar poses.

Ron Charles is the editor of Book World. You can follow him on Twitter @RonCharles.
Matt Marinovich takes us to the Hamptons in The Winter Girl, but dont expect sunshine and warm ocean breezes. Its early December when this dark, depressing story opens: The skies are dull and white, the ocean is gray, and the homes are encircled by stunted and knock-kneed forest. A low-grade hurricane, Marinovich writes, would have ripped all of those fragrant pines out of the shallow graves their roots sat in.

Unlike those scrubby trees, Scott and Elise, married four years, have already been uprooted. They moved from Brooklyn to care for Elises father, Victor, during his slow death from colon cancer. Scott and Elise may look like caring do-gooders, but as the story soon reveals, they prefer doing bad things  really bad things.

Elise left her job as a pediatric speech therapist in Park Slope to care for her father. Scott is a mediocre photographer who lost his job as an adjunct professor at the New School. For kicks, he once presented himself to one of Elises clients as a speech therapist and spent an hour working with the child while Elise listened outside the door.

No surprise then that creepy Scott gets off on snooping around the house next to Victors. One day, when he discovers the front door unlocked, he goes inside. There was no denying the thrill of it, Scott says. I felt like a suburban astronaut, exploring an abandoned home in which the crew had gone missing.

In no time, hes bringing Elise into the house where neither of them is shy about utilizing the thrill of the break-in as a marital aid. They have sex in one of the bedrooms and then make a horrifying discovery. Instead of calling the police, which would require explaining why they were in the house  they walk away. Scott, though, will return again and again, pushing the plot toward something truly nasty.

And then theres the matter of the winter girl: Everyone, Victor tells Scott, should have a winter girl. Victor, it turns out, is not just some poor old guy dying from cancer. The identification of his winter girl and what that means are disturbing revelations that youll be dying to find out.

But even though The Winter Girl is dark and dismal  Marinovich may have given birth to Hamptons noir  the novel is, essentially, the anatomy of a marriage and what happens when deadly secrets, like poisonous snakes, threaten those who seek to get close to them. Marinovich writes with startling authenticity about how it feels to be in a miserable relationship.

The Winter Girl is told from Scotts naive perspective, and like him we dont know a lot about Elise. Nor do we know much about Victor, the mysterious winter girl or the owners of the house next door. Maybe thats because Scott is a master of self-

absorption, ruminating endlessly on the sorry state of his marriage. Dont believe all that garbage you hear about happy couples, he says. The sad ones know more, feel everything twice as much. . . . When an unhappy couple is happy, its almost like having a vision, or speaking in tongues. Its like youve somehow burst to the surface on someones shoulders and been given a few moments to see everything youve been missing.

If you had a love/hate relationship with Nick and Amy Dunne, the crazy couple at the center of Gillian Flynns Gone Girl, youll feel equally at home with Scott and Elise  just be forewarned that this devilishly good story is scads more scary. To quote Scott, The worst decisions never let you go. They come circling back, even on the best days, to find you.

Carol Memmott is a freelance writer who lives in Northern Virginia.
This year's bachelor, Ben Higgins, chats with some of the women vying for his heart on Season 20 of "The Bachelor" on ABC. (Rick Rowell/Rick Rowell/ABC)

(All times Eastern.)

RETURNING SHOW: He didnt get a rose from Kaitlyn Bristowe, but 26-year-old software salesman Ben Higgins is back to look for love on Season 20 of The Bachelor (ABC at 8 p.m.). Hell meet the 28 women hoping to win his heart (and that coveted rose) on Mondays two-hour season premiere.

[Heres one possible reason Bachelor and Bachelorette contestants act like lunatics]

Hank gets captured by Astras husband on Supergirl (CBS at 8). Meanwhile, Kara tries to convince her suspicious boss that shes not actually the elusive hero.

RETURNING SHOW: Season 20 of Antiques Roadshow (WETA and MPT at 8) begins in Spokane, Wash., where treasures include a 1919 Belmont Stakes trophy, a vintage edition of The Avengers comics and two oil paintings by Amadeo de Souza-Cardoso.

The one-hour documentary Paris Terror Attack: Charlie Hedbo (Smithsonian at 8) recalls the vicious January 2015 terrorist attacks, which began at the offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and ended in a deadly standoff at a kosher supermarket.

Kal Penn hosts the two-hour special Superhuman (Fox at 8), which finds 12 people with extraordinary abilities competing for $100,000. Former world heavyweight champion Mike Tyson, actress Mary Lynn Rajskub and neurosurgeon Dr. Rahul Jandial appear as panelists.

SERIES PREMIERE: On Superstore (NBC at 8), Jonah (Ben Feldman) endures teasing when the Cloud 9 staff discovers a mannequin that looks just like him. The show also stars America Ferrera (Ugly Betty).

[NBCs Superstore cant get past the obvious clean-up-on-aisle-9 shtick]

SERIES PREMIERE: On Telenovela (NBC at 8:30) Ana (Eva Longoria) takes date preparation to the extreme when the new network boss asks her to dinner.

[Eva Longorias Telenovela is actually really funny]

RETURNING SHOW: The Biggest Loser (NBC at 9) returns for Season 17 with longtime trainer Bob Harper as host. This season is called Temptation Nation, and the eight contestant teams will be tempted  with the option to take $25,000 and go home  before the competition even starts.

Vh1s original movie The Breaks (VH1 at 9) takes place in early 90s New York City, where three friends try to break into the hip-hop scene in search of musical stardom.

SERIES PREMIERE: The reality series Diesel Brothers (Discovery at 10) follows the crew of Dieselsellerz as they build tricked-out diesel trucks, plan crazy stunts and pull pranks on one another.

Independent Lens: Chuck Norris vs. Communism (WETA at 11) explores how Hollywood action movies, illegallly smuggled into Romania during the 1980s, helped spark a revolution that took down the Iron Curtain.
Dear Amy: My boyfriend and I recently went to a white elephant gift exchange party. One of the gifts offered for exchange was two live baby chicks!

I noticed a few puzzled looks when I looked around the room, but most of the people there seemed to think this was hilarious. Even my boyfriend thought it was funny. Who brings live animals to a white elephant party?

We have been invited to another white elephant party with a different group of friends, and my boyfriend wants to take two live baby chicks!

I said absolutely not. I think that giving live animals is not right at all. He disagrees. He thinks it will be funny. I told him to have fun, and I wouldnt be going. He is not happy with my decision.

Am I in the minority here? I am not a huge animal rights activist, but I do value life. Im curious about what you think?

Puzzled

Puzzled: White elephant and Yankee swap regifting parties are fun ways to round out the holiday giving season.

However, giving live animals away in this context, where people are drinking and competing over who can unload the worst gift, is despicable.

This is in extremely poor taste, potentially cruel and quite immature. Plus  not funny. Not at all.

So, yes, you are right to discourage this and also to stay home.

Dear Amy: I work at a health food store. A couple years ago, a classmate of mine from high school (not a friend) stopped into the store seeking advice because she recently discovered she has many food allergies.

This is a regular occurrence in my job, and Im happy to steer people in the right direction for their needs. Then this woman started popping up in other areas in my life (we have mutual friends and interests).

All this would be fine except for how I somehow have become her own personal Google. When she has a question about something, anything remotely related to my job, our social scene/events or any random question she thinks I would know the answer to, she seeks me out.

This is flattering to some extent, but Im not a doctor or nutritionist, and it has become too much, especially when we run into each other out at a social occasion and she corners me with questions. When I let a snarky comment escape about all the resources available to her if she only did an Internet search instead of asking me in a Facebook message, she let me know that it was hurtful.

I apologized and blamed it on being tipsy (I wasnt).

Her most recent barrage sounded so helpless that I dont know how shes made it this far in life. I feel so mean. Im not usually so unwilling to help people, but shes using up too much of my good nature. Im not sure how to cut this off nicely.

Not Her Guru

Not Her Guru: Those rare times when I feel cornered by someone soliciting advice, I will say, Hey, that would be a great question for my column. Why dont you send it to me?

For questions related to your work, the equivalent for you might be to say, Next time you pop into the shop Id be happy to try to help you with that.

This may be a clunky pitch for a friendship with you, but it sounds as if youre not interested.

If she is sending you Facebook messages asking questions you dont wish to answer, you can choose not to reply. She might then turn to the larger Facebook community to crowdsource her many questions, or actually go to the trouble of looking things up on her own.

Dear Amy: You asked readers to share their literacy stories. Our little inner-city church, Trinity Lutheran in Omaha, Neb., has a reading program with six elementary schools. We read to every second-grade class once a month and give each child a book to keep every month. Thats nine books by the end of the year. This is the first book many of these children have ever received.

This program is so rewarding to us as readers. We hope these children will learn to love reading and stay in school until graduation. We can always use monetary donations to help us purchase these books.

Peg

Peg: Thank you for putting books into the hands of children.

Amys column appears seven days a week at www.washingtonpost.com/advice. Write to Amy Dickinson at askamy@tribpub.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.
Dear Civilities: My brother (and sister-in-law) made a donation to a religious organization in honor of my wife and me (a married lesbian couple). The gesture was very kind, and the charity does some good work. But it is also connected to the evangelical Christian movement, which has discriminated against LGBT people. Wed never give our money to them, and we feel queasy about our names showing up on any list of donors. How do I acknowledge this well-intentioned but problematic gift?  Name withheld, San Francisco

A: Its not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters, said Epictetus, the ancient Greek philosopher slave. When it comes to family matters, Id double down on that advice. So, take a deep breath, sister. And one more breath for good measure  and good family relations. In that spirit, I posed your question on Facebook, and heres what folks suggested:

1. Assume the best  theyre just unaware. Be gracious and say thank you. Move on.

2. Take this opportunity to gently educate your brother and sister-in-law about the organizations work. Ask them to make sure their donation is not spent on anti-LGBT efforts.

3. Have a hissy fit and tell them to take your name off the donation and put theirs on instead.

Are you thinking, number 3? After all, a snark attack is a good release  a convenient way to combine any other lingering resentments into one nasty download. But no fireworks this early in the year, so Im going with number 2 with a twist: Explain to your family members why youre troubled, yet thankful, for this donation in your name. And ask them to hit the delete key when it comes to your name.

How to do this without anger or attitude? Id start by explaining to family how over the years weve become a lot more aware of how we spend our money, where we travel, make purchases, and our charitable donations, said Fred Silverman, who long led Apples worldwide philanthropic efforts. For Silverman and his husband, an important lens is assessing the human rights [including LGBT rights] positions of the entities proposed.

For others, it may be the homeless, children or immigrants. Id hope your brother and sister-in-law would be grateful for the information, assuming its delivered graciously.

But dont stop there: Ask them to instruct the organization not to spend the gift on anti-LGBT initiatives. Provide your brother and his wife with information about the challenges LGBT people still face, especially from evangelicals, and ask them to speak with the organizations leaders in a teachable moment, explained Tim Gill, co-chairman of the Gill Foundation, a funder of LGBT rights work. Depending on how much time you want to invest, volunteer to join that discussion, since putting a face with an issue always makes it more personal.

Last, why worry about your name on a donor list? Anyone who Googles you would probably see your name on the organizations website, which could tarnish your reputation, and if youre a politician or a journalist, among other professions, make for a nasty headache. Ill bet ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos regrets his donations to the Clinton Foundation.

But before you schedule that appointment, think about where you send and spend your own hard-earned money. Its hard to educate someone else when you havent done it yourself Charlie Rounds, a veteran of the philanthropic world, told me. Ask yourself: How do you spend your dollars on a daily basis? Do your purchases always line up with your values? Ill admit that Ive fallen short in answering that second question myself.

For instance, are you aware that Koch Industries, known for its support of ultra-conservative causes, has a stake in Georgia-Pacific, the conglomerate that makes Brawny paper towels, Dixie plates and Angel Soft toilet paper? At the same time, definitely muddling the picture, David Koch told Politico in 2012 that he supported same-sex marriage and the legalization of pot.

Confusing, yes. Is doing this level of research practical for all purchases? No.

For conservative Christians, shopping is actually made easier by lists such as the annual Naughty or Nice one from the American Family Association, which has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center for its anti-LGBT positions. Cracker Barrel, Kirklands and Michaels Stores topped the Nice list in 2015, while those on the Naughty list include Amazon, Nordstrom, and, oh my, Victorias Secret.

A final word to all those contemplating donations in the name of others: Dont use them as an excuse to impose your views on others in the guise of charity. If you dont know what organization someone supports, ask them, and only then make a donation in their honor. After all, thats the brotherly or sisterly thing to do.

Agree or disagree with my advice? Let me know in the comments section below.

Join Petrow for an online chat Tuesday Jan. 12 at 1 p.m. at live.washingtonpost.com. E-mail questions to stevenpetrow@

earthlink.net. Follow him on Twitter: @stevenpetrow.
Militiamen? Activists? Terrorists?

In the wake of the seizure of a federal wildlife management building in eastern Oregon by armed protesters on Saturday, the news media have struggled with how to refer to the people involved.

The descriptions have included self-styled militiamen (Reuters), armed activists (the New York Times) and armed protesters (The Washington Post), as well as a number of other variations on the theme.

The medias attempts to find a neutral formulation were in stark contrast with the partisan fray on social media, where supporters and detractors of the protest group found their own adjectives. The majority of those posting under the Twitter hashtag #OregonUnderAttack seemed to prefer more loaded phrases, such as domestic terrorists.

The debate over what to call the 150 or so men involved in the standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is reminiscent of other long-standing controversies involving labels that can be interpreted as biased. Republicans, for example, have pressed President Obama and Democratic presidential candidates to use the phrase radical Islamic terrorism to describe various terrorist acts  something the Democrats have rejected as unhelpful to combating terrorism as well as inaccurate.

Ammon Bundy used a Facebook video posted Dec. 31 to summon an armed militia to Burns, Ore., by Jan. 2. When they arrived, they took over a federal building. After the protest, Bundy told a reporter why this fight is so important to him. (The Washington Post)

News media wrestle frequently with such characterizations, hoping to steer as neutral a course as possible.

Almost all major news outlets surveyed on Sunday said they were avoiding the use of the words terrorist and terrorism in connection with the Oregon protest, saying it was unclear that the groups action was designed to terrorize or harm anyone.

We are mainly referring to them as protesters or armed men who are occupying the refuge headquarters,  said Kim Murphy, the assistant managing editor for foreign and national news at the Los Angeles Times. This is a dispute that clearly goes to a fundamental public policy debate, and we dont add any value by attempting to characterize it.

Scott Wilson, The Washington Posts national editor, said the paper is using the terms occupiers and militia members when those involved identify themselves that way.

We believe these terms most precisely describe what is taking place, the tactics being used and those involved, he said. Further, terrorism is a tactic meant to instill fear in a population or group. In this case, the occupiers, though armed, are not terrorizing, but rather occupying a government building in protest or solidarity.

The groups apparent leader, Ammon Bundy, told CNN: We are not terrorists. We are concerned citizens and realize we have to act if we want to pass along anything to our children.

The groups leaders said they occupied the empty government building near Burns, Ore., to protest the federal governments treatment of two local ranchers convicted of arson for burning federal land. The ranchers, Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven Hammond, 46, are scheduled to report to federal prison Monday.

Several news organizations, including Reuters, The Post and the New York Times, called the occupiers militiamen. But even that word was up for debate.

The New York Times editors wrestled with the best description when the story broke late Saturday, said Marc Lacey, the newspapers weekend editor. We are currently using militiamen in a headline on the website that is in the process of being updated, and we believe the most accurate term in the article may be armed anti-government activists,  he said.

Bundy, on CNN on Sunday, said he wouldnt describe his group as a militia. For what its worth, the Merriam-Webster dictionary defines militia as a group of people who are not part of the armed forces of a country but are trained like soldiers  a description that would not cover the loose assemblage that broke away from a larger protest in Oregon to occupy the building.

A further issue: How, if at all, to characterize the politics of the group involved? Many media accounts left that question untouched, but several noted that the protest had its roots in conservative resentment over the governments efforts to enforce land-use restrictions on ranchers.

The Oregon protest appears to be an outgrowth of a 2014 standoff between Bureau of Land Management authorities and Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, the father of Ammon Bundy, after BLM agents had attempted to confiscate cattle Bundy had illegally grazed on federal land.

Fox News, on its website, noted that the protest was touched off by the sentencing of the Hammonds, which it said touched a nerve with far right groups who repudiate federal authority.

The New York Times also said that Cliven Bundy previously galvanized conservative critics with his stand against federal authorities.

The Post noted all this background but avoided using the terms conservative or right wing to describe the occupiers. Wilson, the national editor, said the paper will likely try to avoid [such labels] unless we have evidence to support one of those characterizations.
News / National

by Stephen Jakes

The Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights Communications officer Kumbirai Mafunda has said police in Harare have arrested three union leaders after assaulting and blocking some peaceful protesters who staged a demonstration against the government's failure to remunerate civil servants."Anti-riot police officers on Monday 04 January 2016 arrested Rural Teachers Union of Zimbabwe (RTUZ) leaders Obert Masaraure, Robson Chere and Pride Mukono and detained them at Harare Central Police Station after breaking up an anti-government protest held in the capital over failure and delays to remunerate civil servants and in solidarity with striking nurses and doctors at some government run hospitals," he said."The protesters had marched from Market Square and were scheduled to present their petition to Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa and Labour and Social Welfare Minister Prisca Mupfumira's offices. However, police officers armed with truncheons blocked them from serving their petition after suppressing their demonstration near Parliament Building, even though the organisers had notified the Zimbabwe Republic Police about their protest."He said police also turned down a request by Gift Mtisi of Musendekwa Mtisi Legal Practitioners, a member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights, who is representing Masaraure, the RTUZ President, Chere, the RTUZ Secretary-General and Mukono, the RTUZ Programmes Officer, that the trio be referred to hospital for treatment as they had sustained some injuries from the police assault."Apart from Masaraure some protesters including Lynette Mudehwe and Rutendo Kawadza of the Zimbabwe Activists Association also sustained injuries from the police assault and Kawadza had to be admitted at a local medical facility before being discharged," he said.
This image, by Robert de Gast, shows a patent tonger off Chesapeake Beach with four skipjacks in the background. It was taken on a "warm winter day" in 1970, Mr. de Gast noted. (Robert de Gast)

Robert de Gast, a photographer whose 1970 book The Oystermen of the Chesapeake captured in harsh and unsentimental images the final days of Americas last fishing fleet under sail and is regarded as one of the finest depictions of the watermen who make their living there, died Jan. 3 at a hospice center in Baltimore. He was 79.

The cause was cancer, said a daughter, Sabrina Glaeser.

Dutch by birth, Mr. de Gast spent most of his life as a freelance photojournalist and commercial photographer on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. He wrote and illustrated a half-dozen books, including one about the bays lighthouses and two about cruising its tributaries. His best-known was his first.

Paula J. Johnson, a curator at the National Museum of American Historys work and industry division, called Oystermen of the Chesapeake a masterpiece among volumes devoted to the bay and its people. Its not a romanticized look at the work. It builds a more nuanced, more atmospheric portrait. It gives a sense of place before the phrase sense of place became fashionable.

In the late 1960s, Mr. de Gast spent a year with dredgers and tongers on both sides of the bay. The annual oyster harvest was about 3 million bushels, compared with a little over 1 million now. Among the more than 3,000 work boats were 39 skipjacks, beamy shallow-draft wooden sailboats, most in poor repair and with an average age of 53 years.

This image is captioned "Soon or late, ain't gonna be neither shuckers left." It shows a lone worker picking up oyster shells at McNasby's oyster house in Annapolis in 1970. (Robert de Gast)

In his black-and-white pictures, Mr. de Gast depicted the winter fishing season in stark terms. Decks are piled high with what looks more like ore than living things. Huge, dirty sails luff in becalmed creeks. Bleached, abandoned boats rot at the end of tidal guts.

The white and black faces of the oystermen are rarely legible and almost never face the camera. Instead, the portraits are of the moments and objects. A view below-decks where two men, hands to their foreheads, pray before eating. A hand with cracked fingernails on the spoke of a ships wheel. A fistful of large-denomination bills on payday.

It was all done without really any conversation, Mr. de Gast recalled recently. I had four cameras strapped to my body. I was dressed accordingly. I never asked them for anything. It was like a play.

The books format was horizontal with liberal use of white space that emphasized the flatness and wideness of the bay. Four essays by Mr. de Gast were at the back of the book. The only text in the photographic section were anonymous quotes that caught the outlook and dialect of the oystermen: Arsters look thicker than either year yet; It aint no wind, but its a fair wind; Id been hopin to find me a rank patch.

Three thousand copies of The Oystermen of the Chesapeake were printed by International Marine Publishing Co. It took several years to sell them all.

In a review in 1971, the New York Times called Mr. de Gasts approach perfectly clear and straightforward and noted that to focus on such an archaic occupation is to induce in the urban viewer a foolish nostalgia for a life he never knew and could never endure.

Robert de Gast was born in The Hague on Oct. 10, 1936. His father, who built pianos, resettled the family in Linden, N.J., when Robert was in his teens. To improve his English and declare his independence, he worked on a cattle ranch in Oklahoma for a year. In 1954, he enlisted in the Army and was trained as a photographer.

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Over the years, he took pictures for magazines including National Geographic, Sail and Proceedings Magazine, the U.S. Naval Institute publication.

His books included The Lighthouses of the Chesapeake (1973); Western Wind, Eastern Shore: A Sailing Cruise Around the Eastern Shore of Maryland, Delaware and Virginia (1975); Five Fair Rivers: Sailing the James, York, Rappahannock, Potomac, and Patuxent (1995); Unreal Estate (1993), about abandoned buildings on Virginias Eastern Shore; and four volumes about San Miguel de Allende, a city in central Mexico where he lived for two decades before returning to Maryland about three years ago.

His first marriage, to Anja van Rijn, ended in divorce. Survivors include his wife of 48 years, the former Evelyn Chisolm, and three children from his first marriage, Sabrina Glaeser, Makaria Jayne and Justin de Gast, all of Annapolis; two sisters; and four grandchildren.

Mr. de Gast enjoyed recalling a memorable assignment as a private first-class Army photographer.

He was sent to Fort Meade, Md., to photograph President Dwight D. Eisenhower and Gen. Omar Bradley before the two military eminences played a round of golf. They posed without instruction. Mr. de Gast took one exposure, the flashbulb firing.

Arent you going to take another picture? Everyone for the last 30 years has always taken two pictures, Bradley asked.

General, I think Ive got it, Mr. de Gast answered. And he looked at me and said, Son, youre going to go places. 

That would be a good end to the story, but it isnt the real end. To take another picture with the 4x5 Speed Graphic he was using, Mr. de Gast would have had to pull a film cassette out of the back of the camera, turn it over, and put it back in.

My hands were shaking so much there was no way I could have done that, he said.

David Brown is a former Washington Post staff writer.
Remnants of a late-18th-century vessel were discovered during excavations for a new hotel on the Old Town Alexandria waterfront. (Kate Patterson/for The Washington Post)

A large, heavy ship, scuttled between 1775 and 1798, is being dug out of its damp grave at the site of a new hotel construction project in Old Town Alexandria.

Archaeologists found the partial hull of a ship at 220 S. Union Street, part of the citys major redevelopment of the Potomac River waterfront. Its on the same one-block site where workers two months ago discovered a 1755 foundation from a warehouse that is believed to have been the citys first public building.

Its very rare. This almost never happens, said Dan Baicy, the hard-hatted field director for Thunderbird Archeology, the firm watching for historic evidence during construction. In 15 years that Ive done this work, Ive never run into this kind of preservation in an urban environment where theres so much disturbance.

[History uncovered where new hotel will soon stand]

On Monday, naval archaeologists joined the crew at the site to help dismantle the vessel, timber by timber, looking for artifacts and markings that could identify it and show where it sailed and what it carried. The public is invited to view the findings Tuesday from 10 a.m. until noon, after which the wood will be removed from the site.

Archaeologists are rushing to remove a 300-year-old ship from the construction site of a new hotel in Old Town Alexandria. (WUSA9)

The ships blackened bow was discovered as construction crews excavated the site where the 120-room Hotel Indigo will soon rise. Digging by hand, archeology crews uncovered a nearly 50-foot-long remnant of the keel, frame, stern and flooring, estimated to be about one-third of the original hull. The wood did not decay, Baicy said, because once it was buried, oxygen could not reach it .

Luck also played a factor in the preservation. A huge brick footing for a later warehouse barely missed the boat, Baicy said.

The find has archaeologists surprised and ecstatic. Unlike the warehouse, which was noted in old city records, there was no known documentation of the buried ships existence.

This is like the jewel in the crown for us right now, said John Mullen, Thunderbirds principal archaeologist.

It appears the ship was built to carry heavy cargo or was used as a military ship, Mullen said. Archaeologists believe it may have been placed at the site to provide the framework to fill in the cove and sand flats at Port Lumley, one of two spots where the deep-water channels of the Potomac approaches the shoreline.

The wood will be stored in tanks or in a natural body of water and monitored until a preservation lab has room for it, said Fran Bromberg, Alexandrias archaeologist. The Maryland Archaeological Conservation Lab in St. Leonard took the old warehouse but has run out of room and cannot accommodate the ship, Bromberg said.

Carr Hospitality, which is developing the hotel, was required by the city to employ an archeology firm while excavating the site. Carr has paid for 3-D scanning imagery of the ship and is paying the cost of its removal; the Alexandria government will bear the cost of preservation.

Archeologist Daniel Baicy shows a recently discovered privy at a site in Alexandria where a new hotel is planned. (Kate Patterson/for The Washington Post)

Bromberg said that its certainly a possibility that the city will be able to put at least part of the ship back together for display and preservation but added that such an effort could require special fundraising.

The excavation site is just a block from one of several remaining cobblestone streets in Old Town, near many pre-Revolutionary War buildings.

Workers also recently uncovered a large privy, six feet long and possibly three seats wide, the third such outhouse found as part of the hotel project. Such discoveries are just as exciting to archaeologists as the ship and the warehouse, because they contain ceramics, glass, bones and all sorts of other debris that people threw into them centuries ago.

For some reason, weve found a lot of shoes, said Baicy, who has already begun excavating there.
The death of a 74-year-old man who struggled with security guards at MedStar Washington Hospital Center last fall has been ruled a homicide, authorities said on Jan. 4. (WUSA 9)

The death of a 74-year-old man who struggled with security guards at MedStar Washington Hospital Center last fall has been ruled a homicide, authorities said on Jan. 4. (WUSA 9)

The death of a 74-year-old man who suffered neck injuries during a struggle with security guards last fall at MedStar Washington Hospital Center has been ruled a homicide, authorities said Monday.

James E. McBride, who had been a patient, was restrained by guards who were trying to bring him back to the hospital after he left Sept. 29 without signing out. He died two days later.

The D.C. medical examiners office said Monday that McBrides cause of death was blunt force injuries of the neck. It also said the injuries involved cervical spinal cord transection and vertebral artery compression. They did not offer a further explanation.

[Broken vertebra on man who died after struggling with hospital guards]

D.C. police officials said they continue to investigate the death, but they declined to comment further. Bill Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. attorneys office in the District, said Monday that there is an ongoing investigation into the case. He said no charges have been filed.

Family members had issued a statement saying McBride, who lived in Northwest Washington, was a loving husband to his wife of 40 years, and a wonderful father to his son and daughter. Relatives could not be reached Monday.

In a statement released Monday, the hospital said the incident was devastating to all of us at MedStar Washington Hospital Center, and our hearts continue to go out to the patients family. The statement said the hospital is cooperating with authorities.

Hospital officials also said in the statement that reviews conducted after the incident have led to changes, including enhancing training of care teams and security officers. They also created a team to respond to high-risk situations.

The hospital said the reviews were focused on ensuring that nothing like this ever happens again.

The incident began about 5 p.m. Sept. 29 when McBride left the hospital, officials from the hospital said. They would not say why McBride was at the hospital.

The patients nurse and a security guard found him across the street, near MedStar National Rehabilitation Hospital, according to the officials. The nurse and guard walked the man back to the hospital grounds and turned him over to two other security guards.

A police report said the patient and guards were outside the hospital when McBride became non-compliant and resisted and a struggle ensued. The report said McBride was taken to the ground by two of the people, and a third utilized hand controls to restrain him.

[Hospital reveals few details in death of patient who struggled with security]

At the time, Arthur St. Andre, a surgical care specialist at the hospital, told reporters that the patient died after an interaction that was physical between the patient and the officers.

The security guards involved are special police officers, meaning they are qualified to carry firearms and have arrest powers limited to the area of their jurisdiction, in this case the hospital campus on Irving Street NW. They are licensed through the D.C. police.

Two guards involved in the incident no longer work for the hospital, a spokeswoman said.

A prior headline on this article incorrectly said James McBride had been put in restraints.

Peter Hermann contributed to this report.
Fairfax County police traced the cellphone of a missing and endangered woman to an Annandale home on Dec. 21, according to a search warrant. Officers knocks went unanswered, but a bizarre and horrific scene unfolded when they peered through a basement window.

The missing woman, Kum Yeon, 56, of Alexandria, was lying naked on the floor next to a fully clothed 73-year-old man, according to the search warrant. When officers knocked again, the man wrapped what appeared to be an electrical cord around his wrist and began to convulse.

The officers barged into the home and found that the pair were handcuffed together and that the heavy-gauge cord wrapped around the mans wrist was attached to awls jammed into a circuit breaker  an improvised electrocution device.

The man had a left a note nearby indicating that he wanted to kill the woman and take his life, according to the search warrant. There was also a DVD with a printed label that appeared to show the pair engaged in sex.

Yeon was pronounced dead at the scene, and her death has been ruled a homicide. The man, whose name authorities have not released, remains on life support at a hospital, police said. The man has not been charged, but Fairfax police say he is being investigated as Yeons killer.

The fresh details in the case emerged Monday after a search warrant for a green Ford SUV registered to a 73-year-old man became public. Fairfax police searched the vehicle for blood and other body fluids, restraints, Yeons belongings, electronic devices and any items used to create the improvised electrocution device. Nothing was found.

Police have not stated a motive for the apparent killing, but said Yeon and the man were acquaintances. Police went to the home in the 7100 block of Pennys Town Court shortly after 5 p.m. on Dec. 21.

County officers were assisting Alexandria police detectives with a case of an endangered missing person, according to the search warrant. Fairfax police said there was no indication that Yeon had been abducted.

Yeons daughter reported her missing about 2:30 p.m. Dec. 21, said Officer Crystal Nosal, a spokeswoman for the Alexandria police. The mother was not following her normal routine, and the daughter found it suspicious, Nosal said.

One of Yeons relatives described her as loving and religious, but said the family was too upset to comment further.

Sunny Bell, who owns the home where the killing occurred, said the 73-year-old was a handyman originally from Korea. Bell said the man had rented a basement apartment from her for less than a year. Bell said that she had no problems with him and that she did not know Yeon.
In the evenings, while driving home, Michael ONeil and his daughter play a game while crossing the Naval Academy Bridge: Count the lights out.

Madilyn might count 27; her father gets 29.

Whatever the number, ONeil says, its too many for the graceful bridge, which arcs nearly 90 feet above the Severn River.

What the heck is going on? Its been like that for months, said ONeil, who lives in Annapolis.

In August 2014, crews replaced poles and fixtures with decorative, energy-efficient LED lighting. That project cost $350,000.

Today, more than 30 of the 80 lights are dark.

State officials are aware of the outages, said Charlie Gischlar, spokesman for the Maryland State Highway Administration, and are working to determine what happened and plan repairs.

They should last years and years, Gischlar said. Theres clearly something wrong.

After installation, the LED lights ran day and night for one month  a test burn. Everything worked, Gischlar said. Months later, lights started malfunctioning. Its unclear whether the state will have to pay for repairs.

I dont know at this point, he said. We signed off on it. The system was totally operational.

The original lights were installed when the bridge opened, in 1994, but they corroded over the years.

The bridge itself was a source of contention. It replaced a 1920s drawbridge that blocked traffic into Annapolis whenever it was raised. The current bridge, which carries Route 450 over the river, was designed and built in three years for $34 million. The 2,835-foot span carries an average of 17,000 cars and trucks daily, Gischlar said.

Two years before it opened, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit threw out a lawsuit by neighbors trying to block the construction.

The residents worried that a new bridge would bring more traffic and that the bridge would become a drag strip.

ONeil said the outages make for dim conditions on the bridges bike lane.

Even with the outages, Gischlar said, there is more than sufficient operational lighting.
Va. Gov. Terry McAuliffe was playfully held at knife point by a performance artist in the Old Havana section of Cuba on Sunday. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe sat down with a Cuban vice president and a Catholic cardinal Monday, while also snagging a rare tour of Fidel Castros Havana Hilton headquarters and taking the wheel of a pink-and-white 1956 Chevy named Lola.

McAuliffe (D) spent the second day of his three-day trade mission to Cuba mixing delicate politics and business with his free-wheeling sense of fun, whipping it all up like so many pina coladas in this citys tourist-hotel blenders.

He met privately for more than an hour with Vice President Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, discussing expanded trade opportunities at a time of improving U.S.-Cuban relations.

In a formal meeting with Cuban Minister of Commerce and Foreign Investment Rodrigo Malmierca, McAuliffe talked up his long-standing opposition to the U.S. trade embargo targeting Cuba and his high-level Washington connections. When he flies out of Havana on Tuesday, McAuliffe noted, he will go directly to Washington for a National Governors Association gathering that includes a meeting at the White House.

[McAuliffes Cuba trip highlights his emphasis on foreign trade]]

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D), left, and Todd Haymore, secretary of Agriculture and Forestry, right, present a bottle of Virginia wine to Warnel Lores, chief of Economic and Political affairs for the U. S. Division of Cuba's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post)

The governor also helped strike a university exchange deal.

McAuliffe traveled to the island nation Sunday, at a moment of historic rapprochement between Cold War foes, to pitch Virginia products to the communist nation. The governors aggressive efforts to expand and diversify Virginias defense-heavy economy have taken him to the Middle East, Asia, India and Europe.

He became the fourth U.S. governor to visit Cuba in the 13 months since President Obama announced plans to begin normalizing relations with the country.

McAuliffe and his 30-member delegation spent most of Monday in a series of meetings with Cuban officials, trying to sell them on products ranging from modest roofing to high-end flooring.

He kicked off trade talks between Cuban officials and about 20 representatives of Virginia businesses who accompanied him on his trip. After that, he helped officials from Virginia Commonwealth University and the University of Havana strike a deal. They signed a memorandum of understanding intended to lead to academic exchange programs and research collaboration  a first for a Virginia university, although about two dozen other U.S. colleges already have exchange programs with Havana.

In between efforts to mend a long-frayed relationship, McAuliffe gleefully inflicted agita on his security detail. He was supposed to have been chauffeured to the cardinals office in the pink Chevy Bel Air. He commandeered it instead.

He said, Do you want to see my car?  McAuliffe said, referring to his would-be chauffeur, Julio Alvarez. I said, No. I want to drive your car. 

He drove it first to the former Hilton, then to the Havana cardinals office  but with a detour that included hanging a U-turn on the broad seaside Malecon, a landmark Cuban boulevard. He ended up winding down the narrow streets of Old Havana to arrive (a little late) at the office of the Archbishop of Havana, Cardinal Jaime Lucas Ortega y Alamino. McAuliffe allowed three U.S. journalists to trail him to the meeting and take his photograph with the cardinal, but the meeting itself was private.

Sunday had been devoted primarily to seeing a few sights and getting to know some of the private business people exploring the potential for trade. McAuliffe does not usually play tourist on trade missions. But he said he did a little touring Sunday for the sake of the larger-than-normal delegation accompanying him.

Usually when I do trade missions, we generally dont take anyone with us, he said. Our last trip was 135 meetings. I like to go, go, go, go  meeting, meeting, meeting, meeting. This ones a little different because its a brand-new opportunity for folks.

With a Cuban architect as a tour guide, McAuliffe and the delegation strolled past Old Havana bars where novelist Ernest Hemingway drank. They admired crumbling architectural gems, such as the 18th-century limestone palace that had been home to colonial governors.

Lot bigger than the one I live in, McAuliffe said. The Spanish knew how to do it.

Tour guide Ayleen Robainas pointed out a 1906 hat factory gutted down to its ornate facade, the rest of it too ruined to be saved. When she said it was being turned into a hotel, McAuliffe smelled an opportunity. He asked if any private partners would be involved.

No, Robainas said. The Cuban government has had lots of offers, she said, but it wants to do the hotel on its own.

Even so, McAuliffe believes the island is teeming with other opportunities. I just think its a huge potential for us for many years to come, he said afterward. Were coming here to plant the flag.

McAuliffe found a way to promote his state as the tour wound down. He presented a bottle of Virginia wine to Warnel Lores, a Foreign Ministry official. The bottle  a 2014 Barboursville Vineyards viognier  was one of the states best, McAuliffe said.

Excellent with lobster, Todd Haymore, Virginias secretary of agriculture and forestry, piped up.

Excellent with everything, McAuliffe said. You fire that up and think of Virginia. You forget those other 49 states.

But even as the governor tried to sell the commonwealth, he found himself having to promote Virginias port to Virginians.

Over a dinner at the start of his three-day trade mission here, McAuliffe learned that when Virginia-based Smithfield Foods sells pork to this island nation, it ships the meat from Florida instead of Hampton Roads.

You truck it all the way to Jacksonville? McAuliffe asked the Smithfield vice president sitting across from him. Dumbest thing I ever heard.

Smithfield and Virginia port officials said the shipping arrangement was a problem of scale - the state does not yet export enough to Cuba to make traveling to Virginia worthwhile for container ships bound for the island. McAuliffe was having none of it.

And so, in the patio restaurant of the famed hotel, when he should have been swooning over pork, black beans, good cigars and ocean breezes, the 72nd governor of Virginia was barking.

I do not want to hear about one more Smithfield pork [product] shipping out of Jacksonville, he continued loudly enough to be heard at the next table. How do we fix that?

Among the businesses participating in the trade mission are Perdue Agribusiness; Virginia Natural Beef; Forever Oceans, a high-tech, sustainable fish-farming outfit spun off from Lockheed Martin; T. Parker Host shipping; the roofing firm Onduline North America; and Mountain Lumber Co.

Participants from those firms paid their own way for the trip, at a price of about $3,000 per person. Taxpayers will pick up the tab for sending McAuliffe, first lady Dorothy McAuliffe and the state officials accompanying them. The administration says it has not yet calculated the cost.

Although most of the delegation arrived via charter flight, the Cuban government extended a special privilege to McAuliffe by allowing him to land his state plane at Jose Marti International Airport. Cuban Ambassador Jose R. Cabanas offered that favor to McAuliffe in a face-to-face meeting in Washington about two weeks ago, and the governor took it as a good sign.

Theres a whole different feeling I can tell, even from last time I was here, said McAuliffe, who traveled to Cuba in 2009 as a volunteer pitchman for Virginia apples and wine. Much more open feeling, much more willingness to do business.
News / National

by Staff reporter

Zimbabwe's government has reportedly said it would be exporting more of its wildlife to China in order to raise necessary funds to look after its animals, a report said on Monday.According to the state owned Herald newspaper, the minister of Environment, Water and Climate Oppah Muchinguri-Kashiri said Zimbabwe would not be "apologising" for sending its animals to China.She said China had taken "good care" of the elephants which were exported to that country in July last year."We are going to increase the number of elephants and other species we are exporting to China because they have done a good job in taking care of those they have already bought from us. We will not apologise to anyone. Not even once, because they are our elephants and our people live with a huge population of elephants and bear the trouble of interacting with them.The minister said looking after wildlife in the southern African country was a challenge as they battled with drought and poaching.
An sign of the National Wildlife Refuge System is seen at an entry of the wildlife refuge about 30 miles southeast of Burns, Ore., on Jan. 3. (Les Zaitz/The Oregonian via Associated Press)

B.J. Soper rolled into this town with the nations founding fathers on his mind, an armed militia in tow and a peaceful protest on his agenda.

We wanted to come and show our support, the father of four from Redmond, Ore., said of his two-hour trek to Burns, where he joined hundreds of locals and out-of-town visitors for a Saturday rally to support Dwight Hammond and his son Steven, who where scheduled to report to federal prison Monday after being convicted of setting more than 100 acres of public land ablaze in 2001.

Soper made the trip to the once thriving timber town to back the Hammonds but also to protest what many of those gathered consider a trend of government encroachment on constitutional rights.

The rally started peacefully, locals said, but took a turn when a small group broke away and encouraged demonstrators to join them in the occupation of a federal building on the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge.

It was uplifting, Soper said Sunday of the protest that drew 100 to 300 participants, according to local accounts.

But things changed, he said, when Ammon Bundy encouraged protesters to join him and a handful of other militia members in the occupation of the federal building.

It caught a lot of us off guard, Soper said. He added that he supports the occupiers cause but not their tactics.

Its a sentiment that rippled through the small town of Burns, where cattle, agriculture and government employment fuels an economy that began to struggle after the timber industry tanked nearly three decades ago.

That was very peaceful. That was very appropriate, Patty Hodge, a bartender, said of Saturdays protest.

What happened [with the occupation] angered everyone in Harney County, and from what I understand, it angered the militia, she said.

LaDell Schott, another local, said: I think the majority are in favor of the Hammonds to put this behind them and move on. They really suffered a lot in terms of their livelihood.

Schott said everyone knows everyone in Burns, where the towns main drag takes travelers through a couple of stoplights and then onto more than 130 miles of highway lined with sage and tumbleweed.

Schotts husband, Nick Schott, said the occupation that shut down local schools prompted his 6-year-old son to write a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

Because they put my friends in jail and shut down school, Nick Schott said, quoting his son.

It molded the mind of a young man against the government, he said. And thats not coming from me.

Buzz about the situation drifted through local bars, where talk bounced from government overreach to how kids will make up lost school days to how the occupation holds good intent but mindless tactics.

Its anarchy, said Len Vohs, a former mayor of Burns.

Why are people bearing arms in our city? I would never think of it, he said.

Theres no reason to fight here. Theres only reason to communicate.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention need considerable work before the governments top public health agency can achieve a culture of safety at its laboratories, according to a new report.

A review by a group of independent biosafety experts, whom the agency appointed after a series of high-profile lab accidents with anthrax and bird flu in 2014, found that CDC has made some progress. The director and executive staff are clearly engaged and committed to promoting laboratory and research safety, the authors write in a progress report posted Monday on the agencys website.

Yet considerable work toward achieving a culture of safety remains undone, they write. They also note: Morale has suffered in the last year because of these events and the public response to them.

The experts, who interviewed more than 50 leaders and researchers at CDC, conclude that a reluctance to report lab incidents remains one of the most difficult issues.

There is still apprehension about the possibility of retribution if staff, especially contractors, report accidents or safety concerns, the report says. Consequently, there is a need to work on building trust in the reporting process and resultant management response.

The Atlanta-based agency has 153 laboratories and more than 2,000 scientists. CDC researchers, who work with some of the worlds most dangerous pathogens, had a leading role in fighting the Ebola epidemic that killed more than 7,500 people in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone.

In 2014, the agency suffered serious safety breaches when anthrax, a deadly strain of bird flu and Ebola were mishandled in its labs in three separate incidents. No known infections or illnesses occurred as a result, but the incidents highlighted what CDC Director Tom Frieden told Congress was a too-narrow focus on response to specific events and a failure to spot a broad pattern of safety lapses.

[CDC scientists studying Ebola mishandle potentially lethal virus ]

Joseph Kanabrocki, an associate vice president for research safety at the University of Chicago, who co-chaired the review panel, said CDC has implemented some of the groups recommendations. Others, such as how the agency assesses the biosafety risks of its research for lab employees and the general public, are more complicated and will likely take longer to put in place, he said.

What needs fixing, you cant simply flip a switch and have it fixed, Kanabrocki said in an interview. He praised last Septembers appointment of a new associate director for lab safety, longtime agency scientist Stephan Monroe, who reports directly to Frieden. The panel had urged creation of a new high-level safety position.

A big challenge for CDC is finding a way to bolster lab safety despite the time pressures of potential global health threats, Kanabrocki said. Unlike academia, many CDC labs are on a clock.

The agencys blunders with dangerous pathogens parallel errors at other federal government labs, including at the National Institutes of Health, Food and Drug Administration and, most recently, a Pentagon lab that sent scores of live anthrax samples to facilities across the United States and overseas.

[New problems disclosed in Pentagons anthrax investigation]

Frieden appointed the 11-member outside panel to investigate CDCs lab safety in July 2014. Its first report, made public last March, was harshly critical and said safety was not part of CDC culture  particularly among more highly educated scientists and those working at the highest-security labs. The experts said they were very concerned that the CDC is on the way to losing credibility.

In addition to the new position to oversee lab safety, the panel also recommended more funding for lab-safety programs and training and a thorough review of risks associated with proposed experiments. The spending bill approved last month by Congress includes $13 million for that safety and training.

A new recommendation in the latest report calls for CDC to set up a database that would show which pathogens are being studied, where and by whom, across all of its 153 labs.

To address morale and encourage personnel to report accidents, CDC needs to do a better job explaining the steps already taken to improve lab safety and to protect public health.

Doing so would help restore pride in some of the scientists working at CDC who have been discouraged by the safety challenges of the last year, the report said. Instead, it explained, some staff feel the agencys reaction has been to increase paperwork and that signing a form does not necessarily lead to a fundamental improvement in safety culture.

In a statement, agency spokesman Benjamin Haynes said the new report recognizes that substantial progress has been made, acknowledges that culture change is a long and continuous process, and provides additional recommendations for further improvements.
It didnt matter what we officially called it, my psychiatrist said as he looked up from his notepad. What I had was worry in search of a mission.

Within 40 minutes of speaking with me, hed learned enough to accurately describe the private struggle that had defined my life. Technically, there were names for what I had, at least according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders: obsessive-compulsive disorder and generalized anxiety disorder. But, as my psychiatrist told me, these labels were most helpful for research purposes. You could, he said, drive a truck through psychiatric diagnoses. And, throughout the stages of an individuals life, the diagnosis can change.

My anxiety started when I was in third grade. I stood alone at the bus stop with a battery-powered travel alarm and two watches. I checked them frequently as I looked for the yellow bus to appear, fearing that it never would. My teacher called me a worrywart and my parents thought I was eccentric. No one thought I needed help.

When I was older, AIDS snatched the life of a beloved teacher, and I privately feared that disease and death could jump out from the dark. Instead, it was two men with a gun on a lonely subway, a mugging that made me susceptible to panic attacks in tunnels and dark theaters.

There were other moments that convinced me that life could suddenly go from safe to dangerous. That sunny day at work in September 2001, for one, when I watched the planes hit the towers and thought about the split-second decision I made earlier to not head downtown and vote.

It is embarrassing to share my . . . struggle, Sarah Maraniss Vander Schaaff says, but not so embarrassing that I dont want someone else to learn from it. (Monica McInnes)

But I didnt need the prospect of large-scale terrorism to drive me into obsessive worry. No, I could find the possibility of disaster in much smaller moments: Was a fever a sign of meningitis? Did the pharmacist give me the wrong medication? Did I hit someone while daydreaming as I drove home and somehow not even notice?

Such intrusive thoughts are a mark of obsessive-compulsive disorder. It was after a doctor discovered a blue and green mole during an annual pelvic exam that I began to exhibit the other classic trait of OCD: repeated actions. For me, this meant checking my skin for signs of trouble. Id check. Id ask my husband to check. Id go to dermatologists to check. And then Id do it all over again. At my peak, I went to three dermatologists four times a year, convinced that each of them had failed to spot a lurking cancer. Between visits, I was absorbed in what-ifs, and I was never without worry.

About 2.2 million American adults are affected by OCD, according to the National Institute of Mental Health. About half of those cases are so severe that an individuals ability to go to school, go to work or otherwise function in life is significantly affected.

OCD is often associated with anxiety, of which generalized anxiety disorder is a part. Many people with OCD have intrusive thoughts  ideas that are disturbing and alien. Then there are the compulsive behaviors, such as washing ones hands multiple times an hour or going to check that the iron is off. These serve to decrease anxiety or manage the intrusive thoughts. But, in fact, they offer short-term relief and only encourage a compulsion and anxiety.

As I try to make sense of my relationship with anxiety and OCD, I think of a particular day when I was 17, just two years shy of the average age for onset.

It was an important day for me. I was scheduled to videotape two monologues for an acting competition. (Id do well, too, and be selected to travel to Miami to compete with others from around the country as a National YoungArts finalist.)

But before any of that, I had to shower and get ready. I still remember the water beating down on me in the tiny stall and sitting on the black tile crying. Something inside was changing. Was it fear? Was it anxiety? Whatever it was, it would follow me to college, graduate school and auditions in New York. For years, I always had the sense that I was trying to regain the freedom that slipped down the drain on that fall day.

Its hard to put a quantitative measure on the decline or failure in ones ability to do a creative task. Its not something that can be captured in points scored or races won. But as a young adult I flopped in auditions; I turned down roles I was offered, and I no longer found joy in the process of discovery and invention that had once been my favorite activity in the world.

If I had been slowly succumbing to anxietys hold, my decline gained speed after I was mugged at gunpoint on the way home from an acting class. I immediately signed up for a course in self-defense, and then several in journalism. I said goodbye to theater and hello to a job in news.

There were other changes in vocation and in how I managed my anxiety. Some might be attributed to factors that influence many peoples lives: marriage, children, moves and an attempt to be flexible. I switched to teaching, and eventually to writing. And in many ways, I was always normal enough. I could leave the house, do my work, care for my children and socialize with friends. But my worries were never put to rest, and in my mind they were always justified.

Its possible, I figured, that the dermatologist missed that one mole on my ankle and that I needed a second opinion. Its possible that the new babysitter is actually a child abductor and shes driven the kids across state lines. Its possible that I left the stove on. Its possible that the planes engines have failed and the flight attendants are pretending everything is okay but were all about to die if I dont keep worrying about that sound I heard 10 minutes ago.

It was my husband, a calm and steady guy, who finally said he wasnt going to put up with my need for constant reassurance. And most of all, he didnt want the kids to grow up in an environment of anxiety.

When he cut the emotional tether, I considered my options. First, I envied a friend who was married to a dermatologist. She was so lucky to always have someone in the house who could examine an atypical nevus anytime she wanted. And wouldnt it be great if I knew more commercial pilots? All I needed was a friendly voice from the cockpit now and then to let me know not to worry, and Id be fine. Fortunately, I realized that if my private torture was now affecting my husband and potentially my children, I needed real help. And I needed to make progress.

The first thing I did was look at the list of doctors within my insurance networks mental health plan. Many focused on addiction or were in rehabilitation facilities. Some were far away. Others had degrees from universities I had never heard of. Id briefly been to one therapist on the list; I wasnt convinced a second attempt would be much more successful. So I asked for recommendations from a friend whose husband had a debilitating form of OCD. And I asked a trusted physician, the one who delivered my first baby. Both told me how the industry worked: The psychiatrist I needed wasnt going to be in a network.

That is, perhaps, one of the most controversial statements I can write in this essay as we deal with the larger issue of mental health care in this country. I am not in a position to say if it is a fact that the care I needed would not be found in my network of providers. But at the time, like many women, I was both the patient and the caretaker, so to speak. I didnt have any energy to interview a swath of potential doctors. My OB gave me a name. He was supposedly a very good psychiatrist. He would be expensive. And it would be a month before he could see me.

This doctor knew his stuff. And he was precise. This was not about talking it out or unraveling my childhood. This was about brain chemistry. He ordered a blood test to check my liver and thyroid, a precaution he takes before prescribing medication. He started me on a small dose of an antidepressant commonly prescribed for depression and for anxiety. We scheduled a phone call to check in within a week, and follow-up appointments for the next month and beyond. Meanwhile, I would meet with the psychiatrists colleague, a social worker who would offer cognitive and behavioral strategies.

This combination of medication and cognitive behavior therapy is the best treatment for OCD, according to clinical psychologist Felix Vincenz, an expert in the field and associate director of the Missouri Institute of Mental Health. My cognitive behavior therapy involved doing what you might find absolutely normal: wearing a regular swimsuit to the pool. I could not hide beneath a full-body rash guard anymore. At first, I had to expose my skin for only five minutes or only one or two days a week. I could still use sunscreen, of course. I still wore my hat, and I could still go to a dermatologist, but only one doctor, and only every six months to a year. Through this process of letting go of my compulsive behavior, I learned that nothing terrible happened as a consequence. I learned to interrupt the impulse to cover up and to check my skin and have a doctor check it.

Things improved quickly. After about a month, I had the feeling that the elevator in my mind, the one that used to shoot to the top floor of anxiety with the slightest provocation, now hovered somewhere in the middle. I was more able to live in the present moment instead of being tangled up in thoughts about death or disaster or failure. I went back to yoga, no longer finding anxiety in moments of quiet or trepidation in the shower, a place that once tempted me to look for malignant moles. I got on a plane without weeks of anticipatory anxiety. And I have now learned how to live with my overactive reptilian brain, thanking it for wanting to protect me with worries and fears but asking it to take a break.

Id been in therapy as an adult before. There was the 93-year-old disciple of Anna Freud who told me my skirts were too short; then the kind but ill man who died a few weeks after I began seeing him; then his replacement, whose office was in a run-down hotel; and then the psychologist with whom I talked but made no progress.

I credit my husband for his tough love; my psychiatrist and social worker for their comprehensive care; and the friend who had been through hell and back with her husband for giving me blunt advice. And I look at my family history and the choices not taken because of anxiety, and I feel fortunate that I live in this moment, when the suffering might be eased with less stigma, more-appropriate medication and an awareness of lifestyle changes that can support progress. It is embarrassing to share my private struggle, but not so embarrassing that I dont want someone else to learn from it that there are ways to ease the burden of anxiety and OCD.

I will admit that new fears creep in, especially recently. But I am aware of my tendency for catastrophic thinking and for channeling a worry into a compulsion. I dont want to go there again. I know now that there is an alternative.

A few months into the therapy, we packed up the car and pulled out of the driveway to set off on a 900-mile drive. My husband turned to me and said, That was the first time since weve been married that you didnt get upset about how I loaded the car.

You see, it was never about the car.

Or the stove.

Or the mole.

But it was always about letting go.

Vander Schaaff is a freelance writer.
Some people take the new year as an opportunity to contemplate their goals; Alan Lightman, writing in the January issue of Harpers magazine, takes the opportunity to contemplate the creation of the universe.

Its a topic too vast and unimaginable for most of us to wrap our brains around, but Lightman brings his considerable skills as both physicist (he teaches at MIT) and novelist (Einsteins Dreams) to introduce us to a small platoon of physicists who focus on figuring out such things as what happened at the very first moment of the big bang, whether time or anything else existed before it, and exactly how we distinguish the future from the past.

And they expect, sometime in the next 50 years or so, to have some real answers.

Most physicists, he begins, agree on the big-bang theory, which says that 14 billion years ago the entire observable universe was roughly a million billion billion times smaller than a single atom and has been expanding ever since, to its current size of something like 100 billion galaxies.

Thereafter, theories diverge: Theres the Two-Headed Time school, which sees the BB as sort of a pothole in the long road of time, with the future pointing away from that moment in two opposing directions. In this theory, time moved in a way we would consider backward for billions of years  with the universe contracting all the while  until it shrank to subatomic size. Then the big bang occurred and time began to progress, and the universe expanded, in the way we see now.

A spiral galaxy similar to the Milky Way glittering with hundreds of X-ray points of light. (NASA/CXC/STSCL/EPA)

The other theory posits that the universe materialized literally out of nothing. As Stephen Hawking puts it, in this theory the universe would be neither created nor destroyed. It would just BE. Physicists in this school point to a documented phenomenon known as quantum tunneling, in which very small particles appear in different places at the same time. This happens only to particles smaller than an atom. But since at the time of the big bang the entire universe was subatomic, the entire universe could have suddenly appeared where it had not been before.

Got that? Theres more. Lightman brings the theological implications of physics into his story. Noting that not all physicists are atheists, he recounts what Saint Augustine said when asked what God was doing before creating the universe. Augustine replied, he says, that since God created time when He created the universe, there was no before. 

Headache-inducing as the creation theories can be, Lightman and the quantum cosmologists believe it to be an appropriate and useful subject for study. On the other hand, as he wryly notes, It all happened, whether we think about it or not.

Correction: An earlier version incorrectly stated that the observable universe has 100 million galaxies. There are 100 billion galaxies. This version has been updated.
NEw York

Homeless ordered into shelters

New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Sunday signed an order requiring communities statewide to take homeless people from the streets to shelters when temperatures reach freezing, saying he was ready for a legal challenge from anyone who thinks people have a civil right to sleep on the street and freeze to death.

Cuomo (D) said the executive order, which will take effect Tuesday, will protect the states growing homeless population.

The order came as temperatures in parts of New York state were dipping below 32 degrees. It calls for police departments and social services agencies to move people into shelters, including those reluctant to go.

The legality of the order was questioned by Karen Hinton, a spokeswoman for New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D).

We support the intent of the executive order, but to forcibly remove all homeless individuals in freezing weather, as the governor has ordered, will require him to pass state law, she said in a statement. This executive order adds no legal or financial resources to New York Citys programs to assist the homeless and merely requires all New York state localities follow many of the same requirements as New York City to shelter families and individuals in need in freezing temperatures.

In an interview with WCBS-AM, Cuomo said he is ready to go to court, if necessary, to defend his order against any constitutional challenges.

 Associated Press

Florida

NTSB may search

El Faro again for box

Federal accident investigators are considering beginning another search of the wreckage of a freighter that sank in October in an attempt to locate the ships black box.

Tom Roth-Roffy, the lead investigator for the National Transportation Safety Board, told the Associated Press that a weeks-long search found one of El Faros missing decks but not the mast where the ships voyage data recorder was attached. The agency on Sunday released the first images of the ship in its final resting place.

There were no human remains found whatsoever, and no personal effects whatsoever, Roth-Roffy said. I think we found one boot.

El Faro sank Oct. 1 after losing engine power and getting caught in a Category 4 hurricane while sailing from Jacksonville to San Juan, Puerto Rico. There were 33 mariners aboard and no survivors.

Roth-Roffy said the NTSB would need to start a second search of the wreckage 15,000 feet below the sea if it wants to find the data recorder, which would have recorded the captains final transmissions. They are still determining whether and when such a search would occur.

 Associated Press

Four bodies of missing canoeists found: Four bodies have been recovered after canoeists were reported missing in southeastern Wisconsin, police said. Four people went out in a canoe about 3 a.m. Sunday on Mill Lake in Walworth County, they said. The search began after friends noticed they hadnt come back. East Troy Police Chief Jim Surges told WITI-TV that three bodies were recovered quickly, while the fourth body was recovered by divers. A canoe was also found.

Couple killed by in-law identified: A man and a woman killed by a former in-law in a murder-suicide at a Southern California cemetery were a married couple from North Hollywood visiting a grave, authorities said. Police in Ontario said Misak Minasyan, 60, and Hripsime Minasyan, 59, were shot by Karapet Kalajian on Saturday at Bellevue Memorial Park. City News Service reported that Kalajian, 71, had been married to the dead womans sister. Investigators said Sunday that Kalajian was distraught because Jan. 3 is the fifth anniversary of his wifes death. Detectives said Kalajian killed himself after killing the couple.

Forest Service reviewing Nestle facility: The San Bernardino Sun newspaper reported that the U.S. Forest Service has begun an environmental review of Nestle Waters North Americas bottling operations in the San Bernardino National Forest in California. Nestle was sued in October by environmental and public interest groups who allege the Swiss-based company is operating its Strawberry Canyon facility on a permit that expired in 1988. The groups say the drought in California combined with the bottling operation is affecting area wildlife. Nestle has applied to renew its permit and can continue to operate while that application is pending.



Hit-and-run victim dragged six miles: New Orleans police said a driver apparently hit a pedestrian in the citys French Quarter and dragged the body more than six miles, crossing a Mississippi River bridge to the other side. Police said a driver found the disfigured body about 3:30 a.m. Friday in the road leading from the bridge. A police Facebook posting says investigators think the body is that of an unidentified pedestrian hit in the French Quarter. It says witnesses told investigators that a black sedan with tinted windows struck the man and drove off. Officer Garry Flot, a police spokesman, said in an email Sunday that police dont have further leads to the car or driver. Police posted surveillance-video photographs of the car on Facebook, seeking the publics help in the case.

 From news services
IRAN

Americans said to seek swap in reporter case

Unnamed Americans have contacted Iran for a deal to swap Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, convicted and jailed in Iran on spying and other charges, for unspecified detainees, according to a senior Iranian official quoted Sunday.

Some Americans contact us sometimes, asking us to exchange him with other detainees, but the sentence has not been announced yet, Irans Fars News Agency quoted judiciary spokesman Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei as saying.

The spokesman did not specify which detainees could be under consideration or give any other details.

But parliament speaker Ali Larijani has hinted that Rezaian could be freed in exchange for Iranian prisoners in the United States. Other Iranian officials have played down that possibility.

A senior White House official said when asked for comment: Were not going to comment on every public remark by Iranian officials concerning our detained and missing citizens. We continue to make all efforts to bring our citizens home.

Four other U.S. citizens also are thought to be held in Iran.

 Reuters

SYRIA

Video purports to show militants killing spies

A video circulated online on Sunday purported to show the Islamic State killing five men accused of spying for Britain in Syria.

The high-quality footage bears the markings of the militant groups media wing and shows five men confessing to filming and photographing sites within Raqqa, the capital of the Islamic State groups self-declared caliphate, in exchange for money. The video could not be independently verified.

The menare introduced as the enemy and apostates. Several make statements. The video then cuts to the men kneeling, lined up in orange jumpsuits in the desert, where they are shot in the head by masked men.

Before the shooting, a masked man with a British accent mocks British Prime Minister David Cameron, calling him a slave of the White House and mule of the Jews. He describes the men as spies and says the Islamic State will one day invade Britain.

Britain is part of an international coalition fighting the group. France, another coalition member, said Sunday that its warplanes destroyed a site in Syria used by the Islamic State to produce missiles and store weapons.

 Associated Press

Government forces, militants clash over port: Yemeni government forces clashed with militants for control of the strategic port of Aden, officials said. The officials said heavy fighting was taking place at the ports main gate. They accuse the militants of receiving support from al-Qaeda. Yemen has been embroiled in fighting that pits the internationally recognized government and a Saudi-led coalition against Shiite rebels allied with a former president, allowing al-Qaeda and a local Islamic State affiliate to take advantage of the chaos.

U.S. ends drone operation in Ethiopia: The U.S. government has shut down its drone operation base in southern Ethiopia, an embassy official announced. A decision has been made that the base in Arba Minch, about 300 miles south of Addis Ababa, is no longer necessary, embassy spokesman David Kennedy said. Ethiopian media reported on the base when it was set up in 2011, but the United States never publicly confirmed its existence. A security expert in Addis Ababa said the base was used to attack Islamist extremists in Somalia.

Gunmen raid building in Afghan city: Gunmen stormed a building in the Afghan city of Mazar-e Sharif, prompting a shootout with security forces, an Afghan official said. A police spokesman in Balkh province confirmed that attackers had entered a building near the Indian Consulate. He said that security forces had surrounded the area and that there were no reports of casualties. Meanwhile, an Afghan army helicopter crashed in the eastern province of Logar, killing three soldiers. A Defense Ministry spokesman said the crash was due to technical problems.

Egyptian ambassador returns to Israel after 3 years: Egypt has sent an ambassador to Israel after a three-year hiatus, the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. Israel and Egypt signed a historic peace accord in 1979, but relations have often been cool. Egypt withdrew its ambassador in late 2012 to protest an Israeli offensive against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip. At the time, Egypt was led by Islamist Mohamed Morsi. Since Morsis 2013 ouster by the military, ties have steadily improved.

200 migrants rescued off Greece in new year: Greeces coast guard said authorities have rescued 217 migrants since the start of the new year. Migrants, the majority of them refugees from Syrias civil war, keep trying to enter the European Union despite the cold and rough seas. The first casualty of the year, a boy, died when an inflatable dinghy carrying 40 people was thrown into rocks off the Greek island of Agathonisi.

 From news services
News / National

by Staff reporter

The government has agreed on the guidelines for the implementation of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act which brings clarity and reaffirms the fact that the country is open for business.The guidelines were crafted under the guidance of the Acting President, Phelekezela Mphoko.The Ministries of Finance and Economic Development as well as Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment in consultations with the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe have announced the refined frameworks for the indigenisation implementation.The new framework is set to enhance compliance and boost investments.Youth, Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Minister Patrick Zhuwao says now that the country has clarified the position, government does not expect affected companies to remain defiant and non-compliant."As we move forward, the emphasis is on implementation of the indigenisation law, starting with the submission of the indigenisation implementation plan which every company affected should submit as soon as possible, but no later than 31 March 2016," said Zhuwao.Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa describes the raft of measures as key in the turnaround of the economy, adding the robust debate prior to the pronouncement of the guidelines was necessary for a more polished product."Robust debate took place and this is how it should be for the development of a much improved product. The guidelines should be viewed a milestone in the turnaround of the economy," Chinamasa said.RBZ Governor Dr John Mangudya noted that the new guidelines should be testimony to both local and foreign investors that Zimbabwe is open to business."I have in my previous statement pronounced that 2016 is going to be a transformative year. The new guidelines clearly show that Zimbabwe is ready for business," said Dr Mangudya.The guidelines on the implementation of the Indigenisation and Economic Empowerment Act provide several possible pathways that businesses may adopt to achieve compliance.
SAUDI ARABIAS King Salman has dedicated his first year on the throne to bold and sometimes reckless moves to shore up the royal familys power both at home and abroad. Now he has taken a step that was as risky and ruthless as it was unjustified: the execution of a leading Shiite cleric who had spoken out for the kingdoms repressed minority sect. It was an act that appears bound  and maybe was intended  to further inflame conflict between Shiites and Sunnis across the Middle East.

Sheik Nimr Baqr al-Nimr was one of 47 men put to death on Saturday, marking the most executions carried out by the kingdom in one day since 1980. But the popular cleric was unlike most of those killed, who were Sunni militants associated with al-Qaeda. Sheik Nimr excoriated the Saudi regime with biting rhetoric  he once exulted that Prince Nayef, the former interior minister and father of the current crown prince, would be eaten by worms and suffer the torments of hell following his death  but he was not an advocate either of violence or militant sectarianism. He favored elections as a means to reform Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states and denounced the Shiite-backed Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad.

By executing him, the Saudi regime managed to unite most of the world in condemnation, from Irans supreme leader to the State Department and the myriad Western and Arab human rights groups that had reported that Sheik Nimrs 2014 trial on sedition and rebellion charges was unfair. The potential for further violence was quickly evident in attacks on the Saudi Embassy and a consulate in Iran, though Iranian authorities appeared to be moving Sunday to rein in militants.

Iran, a world leader in executions, political imprisonments and sponsorship of terrorism, has little standing to protest Saudi violations of human rights. But the royal families allies, beginning with the United States, should be asking whether the Salman court is consolidating control and checking Irans expansionism, as it contends, or sowing chaos in an already-stricken region while undermining itself. Led by Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman, the 80-year-old kings 30-year-old son, the regime has already plunged into a bloody and unwinnable war in Yemen while cracking down on domestic dissidents of all kinds  including those seeking peaceful and liberal reforms.

Some of this aggressiveness probably stems from Saudi perceptions that the United States is no longer willing or able to stop Irans drive for Middle Eastern hegemony, forcing Sunni regimes to act in their own defense. The Obama administration, for its part, has sought to buy the kingdoms acquiescence to the nuclear deal with Iran by heaping it with new weapons, including an $11 billion sale of ships in October and $1.3 billion in bombs and munitions in November.

President Obama has spoken up about the regimes self-defeating tendencies. In April he said the biggest threats that [Sunni states] face may not be coming from Iran invading. Its going to be from dissatisfaction inside their own countries. He went on to promise a tough conversation with rulers, but King Salman clearly is not listening. For the sake of U.S. interests in the Middle East and Saudi Arabias own future, the White House needs a better strategy to get his attention.
Eli Friedman is assistant professor of international and comparative labor at Cornell University. Aaron Halegua is a research scholar of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute at New York University School of Law. Jerome A. Cohen is director of the U.S.-Asia Law Institute and an adjunct senior fellow for Asia at the Council on Foreign Relations.

They came for the feminists in the spring. In the summer, they came for the rights-defense lawyers. And on Dec. 3, the eve of Chinas Constitution Day, Chinese authorities initiated a widespread crackdown on labor activists in the industrial powerhouse of Guangdong province.

Since they first appeared 20 years ago, Chinas labor nongovernmental organizations have suffered regular rounds of repression and harassment, including tax audits, mafia violence and continual interrogation by security officials. But this most recent repression is more serious. It seems that the Communist Party is intent on stamping out labor activism in civil society once and for all.

In this campaign, dozens of individuals have been intimidated through police interrogations, and seven, including Zeng Feiyang, the well-known leader of a Guangzhou labor group, have been detained on criminal charges. Their lawyers requests to meet with them have been denied. These activists are reportedly being held for assembling crowds to disrupt social order, allegedly encouraging or even tricking workers into making unreasonable demands and taking extreme actions.

These unjust police measures completely miss the point. Labor conflict in China has indeed been growing rapidly in recent years, with wildcat strikes, road blockades and even riots becoming regular occurrences. But workers are striking because labor laws are not enforced and there are no effective means for legally resolving collective disputes  not because workers are being duped by NGOs with unspecified ulterior motives. For instance, in the Lide Footwear Factory strike, which state media has spotlighted as evidence of Zengs guilt, workers protested their employers long-term failure to make legally required social security and other payments after learning of plans to relocate the factory. NGOs did not provoke this conflict.

In fact, labor NGOs play a productive role in resolving such disputes. Chinese employers often handle strikes by ignoring workers demands and contacting the authorities, who increasingly send in police to rough up workers and detain strike leaders. By contrast, as in the Lide case, labor NGOs advise strikers on how to formulate their demands, elect representatives and engage in collective negotiations with employers to resolve the underlying violations, and sometimes even assist in reaching agreements governing future relations.

Indeed, Lides owners eventually agreed to make overdue social security contributions, relocate some workers, pay severance to others and continue talking with workers. Such organized collective negotiations between employers and employees are far more likely to achieve the harmonious labor relations China seeks than a continuous cycle of worker protest and police repression.

Unfortunately, the current criminal detentions are more about government insistence on exclusive control than good labor- relations policy. NGOs are viewed as threatening state power as well as the interests of employers. The government claims it wants to promote the rights and interests of workers, but it is simply unwilling to allow civil society to play any role in this process.

This is why it has even gone beyond mass interrogations and criminal detentions for allegedly inciting workers. State television has been broadcasting an intense smear campaign  including claims of marital infidelity and embezzling organizational funds for personal use  to publicly discredit Zeng. Moreover, labor activists nationwide report heightened harassment of not only themselves but also family members.

Part of the problem is that the state-controlled All-China Federation of Trade Unions claims an absolute monopoly on representing and advocating for Chinas workers, but in reality does little of either. Unlike the labor NGOs, it seldom assists exploited workers or pushes employers to comply with the law. This stems largely from the Communist Partys conception of the trade union as a harmonizing force between employers and workers. Whats more, employers typically exert undue control over unions at the company level. Workers therefore do not trust trade unions, creating a vacuum for someone to actually promote their interests  which labor NGOs began to fill.

But recognition of civil- society actors positive contributions is not in Chinese authorities current playbook. Civil- society groups are generally seen as threats. Receiving foreign funds is especially deemed to imply sinister motives. This remains true regardless of how innocuous, or even helpful, NGO activities may be in promoting the stability and legitimacy of the regime.

If the government were serious about improving labor relations, it would require trade unions to learn from these NGO leaders. Instead, it has decided on a campaign to harass, shame and imprison people who are striving to make Chinese workplaces and society more lawful and just. The result will be greater lawlessness, conflict and repression.
GOP candidates, from left, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie and Rand Paul share the stage with moderator Wolf Blitzer during the CNN presidential debate in Las Vegas. (John Locher/Associated Press)

The value of free advice is measured by what you pay for it, and Republicans dont usually ask me for mine.

Nonetheless, the GOPs presidential race is one of the most fascinating political brawls in years. Its about to hit full stride, and I cant resist kibitzing. I know the leading candidates will take my guidance for what its worth.

Marco Rubio: You have three related problems. Youre trying to appeal to every wing of the party, which means that none regards you as one of its own. There is no state in the early going that you can consider an obvious bet. And, to put it charitably, you do not look like a person of conviction.

You were pro-immigration until you werent. You optimistically embraced the changing nature of our nation until you ran an ad about all of us who feel out of place in our own country. You left McCainville to enter Trumpland.

Your supporters see your weaknesses as your strengths: Yes, you might be well-positioned to pull all parts of the party together. But in appeasing everyone, youre creating the impression, as an Iowa pastor told my Post colleagues Sean Sullivan and David Fahrenthold last month, that youre a candidate talking out of both sides of his mouth.

Presidential candidate Donald Trump released his first television ad spot on Jan. 4. (Donald Trump)

If you lose, this will be the principal reason. You need to show some conviction, perhaps by taking at least one inconvenient stand. In primaries especially, winning requires you to decide whose votes youll write off. You wont make it by remaining everyones second or third choice. Somebodys got to trust you deeply.

Jeb Bush: For me, youre the biggest surprise. I really thought youd be a better candidate. When I saw you speak in early 2014, you were loose and confident, conveying a real sense of optimism about the country. I thought enough voters, even in a gloomy Republican Party, would find this appealing.

It hasnt panned out that way. You made a lot of mistakes and seem unhappy in your work. Your name is a problem. Most liberals dont realize how many conservatives view your brother as a big-government guy. Meanwhile, many in the so-called establishment wing worry that another Bush wont win.

You at least found a purpose when you went after Donald Trump in last years final debate. The paradox: The only way youll have a chance of winning is to forget about winning. Relax. Run as the guy you said youd be, the upbeat candidate of inclusion. Marry your attacks on Trump to a positive vision of a welcoming GOP. Be the candidate whom Republicans horrified by Trump and Ted Cruz can repair to with pride. It may not work. But its the only thing that can, and you might at least start enjoying the campaign.

John Kasich: Ive always had a soft spot for you because, as governor, you supported the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare in Ohio. Alas, most people in your party dont agree with me. Still, you sound best when you talk like a compassionate conservative because thats the person you want to be. Why not go for it? If Jeb follows the strategy I just outlined for him, you guys might collide. But you have said your main worry is how St. Peter will judge you at the end. Run a campaign for him.

Ted Cruz and Chris Christie: Philosophically, you guys arent my cup of tea. But I have to admit: Youre running the campaigns I would run if I were you. Ted, you have the focus Marco doesnt. Youre trying to pull together all the right-wing groups in the party, and they happen to constitute a huge part of it. Chris, youre betting it all on New Hampshire. The right move. Youre campaigning up there as if you were running for governor. Also exactly right.

Ben Carson: Please go back to neurosurgery or inspirational speaking. Youre gifted at both.

Republican presidential candidate John Kasich (R-Ohio) released his first television ad in New Hampshire on Jan. 3. (John Kasich)

Rand Paul: Stay in for a few more debates to make your libertarian case on foreign policy. Youre sparking a necessary discussion. But you know perfectly well you have to go back to Kentucky soon to protect your Senate seat.

Donald Trump: I have nothing useful to say, and youd pay no attention anyway. But I do owe you a debt of gratitude. I have a book coming out in a couple of weeks called Why the Right Went Wrong. Because of you, people are especially interested in figuring this out. So, just this once: Thank you.

Read more from E.J. Dionnes archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
As President Obama has conducted his ill-fated experiment in diminished U.S. leadership, he has fended off critics with what many dismissed as a straw-man argument: that the only alternative to his approach was mindless bellicosity.

Then Ted Cruz came along  and turned out to be the straw man. When the Republican Texas senator said of the Islamic State that he would carpet-bomb them into oblivion and find out if sand can glow in the dark, it seemed he wanted to prove that mindless bellicosity was no figment of Obamas imagination.

But there is a common thread to what Obama and Cruz offer: the false promise of an easy way out for the United States in the fight against terrorism.

Obama wanted Americans to believe, and may have believed himself, that the tide of war is receding, as he said in 2011. It turned out that he could end the United States wars, temporarily, but that didnt mean the wars ended  and before long, the president was forced to return Americans to battle.

Cruz  like Donald Trump, who promises to quickly and decisively bomb the hell out of the Islamic State  wants Americans to believe that the bad guys can be defeated speedily and easily, with no sacrifice by Americans and no harm to American values.

But carpet-bombing kills civilians, not terrorists. Pilots need information that only people on the ground can provide, and air power succeeds only as part of a larger military and political strategy. For the United States, there is, in reality, no alternative to sustained, years-long commitment to the worlds most troubled region. That doesnt mean an invasion by hundreds of thousands of troops, but it does demand intelligent diplomatic, economic and military engagement.

Thats not a popular thing for any politician to say. Fortunately, at least one candidate is saying it. Ironically, perhaps, that candidate is Obamas former secretary of state.

In a speech to the Council on Foreign Relations in November, Hillary Clinton said that the United States needs to wage both an immediate war against an urgent enemy and a generational struggle against an ideology with deep roots.

It will require sustained commitment in every pillar of American power, Clinton said. This is a worldwide fight, and America must lead it.

There was more. We should be honest about the fact that to be successful, airstrikes will have to be combined with ground forces actually taking back more territory from ISIS, she said. She cited the Sunni awakening in 2007 in Iraq as a successful model and said, We need to lay the foundation for a second Sunni awakening. She called for no-fly zones in Syria, which Obama has steadily opposed.

Perhaps most telling, she promised to recommit the United States to the kind of sustained, values-based engagement that (though she didnt say this) Obama has deemphasized and that Cruz and Trump, with their odd mixture of pugnacity and isolationism, would jettison.

We have to join with our partners to do the patient, steady work of empowering moderates and marginalizing extremists, supporting democratic institutions and the rule of law, creating economic growth that supports stability, working to curb corruption, helping train effective and accountable law enforcement, intelligence, and counterterrorism services, Clinton said.

Sustaining such views through a presidential campaign wont be easy. Voters much prefer, understandably, to be told that the country can concentrate, as Obama told them, on nation-building here at home. Its even more tempting to believe that we can be made safe by obliterating the bad guys as if in a video game.

Not every Republican is peddling the Cruz-Trump snake oil. But Clintons political challenge is particularly acute since she has to distance herself from a record that she helped shape  and do so without alienating the most ardent supporters of a president she worked for. Her unconvincing repudiation of the Pacific trade deal that she helped design illustrates the pressures. And the policies that Clinton promotes arent easy, as critics rightly point out. Theres no recipe for supporting democratic institutions that always works.

But on issues of U.S. leadership, Clinton seems disinclined to compromise, despite pressure from a dovish primary electorate. That may reflect a calculation of what will sell best in the general election, but it also seems to reflect core principles  principles that she argued for, sometimes unsuccessfully, as secretary, and principles on which almost certainly she would govern as president.

Her views have the added virtue of being right. Americans can see that Obamas policy of premature disengagement hasnt worked in Libya, Iraq, Syria or Afghanistan. Will they also see through Cruzs phony alternative? That is one of the key questions to be answered in 2016.

Read more from Fred Hiatts archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
STATE SONGS are the kind of artifacts that tend to get attention only when they cause embarrassment. Just ask Virginia, which endured a trial almost 20 years long trying to find a replacement after Carry Me Back to Old Virginny was retired because of its racist lyrics. Now up is Maryland, where there is a renewed push to find an alternative to the off-key lyrics of the state song, which includes a call to arms for the Confederacy.

A state advisory panel that included historians, music scholars and a poet have called for major changes to Maryland, My Maryland. Written in 1861 by Baltimore native James Ryder Randall, the song refers to Abraham Lincoln as the despot and urges Maryland to join the Confederacy against the Northern scum. Its hard to see why there would be any affection for a song that, as one writer to the editorial page put it, insults Maryland citizens by calling them cowards for failing to join Virginia in secession.

Nonetheless, there is resistance to change. Six previous efforts to change or replace Maryland, My Maryland failed, and Gov. Larry Hogan (R) vowed to fight the panels recommendation, calling it political correctness run amok. We agree that history cant be changed, and to answer the governors tendentious rhetorical question, we wouldnt get rid of statues of George Washington because he was a slave owner. But distinctions can and should be made depending upon case and circumstance.

Maryland, My Maryland doesnt represent the feelings of Marylanders, nor did it do so when the song was written. Lest Mr. Hogan forget, Maryland remained part of the Union, and Mr. Randall represented a dissident view even at the time. Moreover, the adoption of the song as the state standard occurred not during the Civil War but during the late 1930s, when Confederate war anthems were seen by some as a symbolic way to challenge the progress of African Americans.

The state anthem clearly needs an overhaul. The panel has outlined a variety of sensible recommendations  including substituting lyrics or replacing the song. We urge state lawmakers in the upcoming General Assembly to act on this issue.
The Dec. 31 news article How Rubio used his office to help brother-in-law reported that when Marco Rubio was majority whip of the Florida House of Representatives, he used his official position to urge state regulators to grant a real estate license to his brother-in-law, a convicted cocaine trafficker who had been released from prison 20 months earlier. . . .

What an opportunity for presidential candidates of both parties to address the long-standing issues surrounding the inequities of the war on drugs, minimum sentences, mass incarceration and reentry into society.

The aim should not be to punish Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), a Republican candidate for president, but to correct societal problems and to seek justice.

Recent books, including The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander and Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson, clearly document the issues and the direction for needed radical reforms.

Candidates should resolve to act on the injustices that many anti-crime policies inflict on minority populations if we are ever to get back on course and avoid increased recidivism.

Bob McCarthy, Vienna
WHEN REPUBLICAN Matt Bevin won the Kentucky governors race last year, 400,000 low-income people seemed doomed to lose their health coverage. An ardent Obamacare opponent, Mr. Bevin swore during his campaign to roll back the states Medicaid expansion. The expansion had extended coverage to nearly half a million Kentuckians, halving the states uninsured rate, under a provision of President Obamas signature health-care law. This reversal would have added Kentucky to the list of 20 states irrationally refusing federal Medicaid money to cover needy people, and it would have put pressure on Republican leaders in other states to withdraw coverage, too.

Thankfully, common sense prevailed. The governor announced Wednesday that he would seek to reform Kentuckys Medicaid program rather than amputate it. To some conservatives, this will no doubt seem like more evidence that social benefits, once extended, can never be taken away. That impression would make more sense if the case against expanding Medicaid were stronger. Instead, Mr. Bevins announcement reflects two crucial points. First, state leaders interested in governing rather than simply campaigning have no reasonable basis on which to reject federal Medicaid funding. Second, because the federal government is willing to allow states to experiment with Medicaids design within their borders, conservative politicians have the opportunity to reform as well as expand the federal coverage program. Mr. Bevin is embracing this option, and so should Republicans in the states that continue to lag behind, such as Virginia.

Mr. Bevins plan is to seek a waiver from the federal government allowing him to tinker with how the state subsidizes health coverage for Medicaid recipients. Possibilities include requiring covered Kentuckians to pitch in, perhaps through new premiums or co-payments. Depending on the details, this could substantially increase the financial burden on the states needy. But that risk pales in comparison with the disaster Mr. Bevin would have inflicted by denying coverage entirely. This is why the Obama administration has rightly granted waivers to GOP leaders in other states, such as Indiana, allowing them to expand Medicaid on terms that Republicans are more comfortable with. Indianas waiver, for example, permits the state to charge monthly premiums and to offer people incentives to get preventive care.

In other words, Medicaid expansion means states get to extend health-care coverage to thousands, pay practically nothing for it and rewrite the programs rules, if state leaders want to. No clear-eyed leader could see this as anything but a tremendous bargain. Yet somehow the leaders of Virginias General Assembly have managed to deny reality for the past several years, even when offered opportunities to address the problems they claim to have with Medicaid expansion. They just rejected a proposal from Virginia hospitals volunteering to help cover costs associated with expansion. Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D) got behind the idea, as he has with previously proposed compromises. Virginia Republicans, however, said no. Thousands of indigent Virginians will continue to pay the price for their intransigence.
As President Obama begins his final year in office, polls show that public confidence in his national security leadership has collapsed: Only 18 percent of Americans say the United States is winning the war on terrorism, and even a 59 percent majority of Democrats are dissatisfied with how Obama is prosecuting the fight against Islamist radicalism.

Obamas response? The Post reports the president has scolded his aides about how poorly the administration was communicating his strategy and ordered an uptick in our communications tempo.

Not an uptick in our operations tempo against the terrorists, mind you  an uptick in our communications tempo. You see, the problem isnt the military strategy; its the communications strategy. If Americans dont see how brilliant Obamas approach is, he must not be explaining it well enough.

Put another way: Its not him; its you.

This New Years communications push will apparently include a world tour, with about a half-dozen foreign trips already planned and designed to cement the presidents foreign policy legacy. But we can learn a lot more about Obamas legacy from the places he wont be visiting than those he will.

 Obama wont be visiting Ghouta, Syria, the opposition-held region outside Damascus where President Bashar al-Assad used sarin gas on his people after Obama warned him not to with his infamous red line (that he then failed to enforce)  the worst chemical weapons attack since the Iran-Iraq war.

 Obama is not likely to visit Bodrum, the Turkish beach town near where the body of a Syrian toddler, Aylan Kurdi, was found face-down in the sand  killed in a refugee crisis created because Obama stood by and did nothing while the Assad regime massacred more than 200,000 innocent men, women and children.

 Dont expect Air Force One to touch down in Moscow for a summit with President Vladimir Putin to celebrate the fabulous success of the Obama-Clinton Russian reset. And dont expect Obama to visit Crimea, which Putin annexed after the president failed to enforce his Syria red line . . . or eastern Ukraine, where Russia is conducting a guerrilla war against the Ukrainian government . . . or Latakia, Syria, where Russia has established its first major air base in the Middle East as part of its new coalition with Iran to counter U.S. influence in the region.

 Obama isnt likely to visit Libya, birthplace of his foreign policy doctrine of leading from behind. The country has become such a terrorist haven in the wake of Obamas failed intervention that we have had to close our embassy and evacuate the country. And Obama definitely wont set foot in Benghazi, where a U.S. ambassador was killed in what Obama refused for weeks to call a terrorist attack.

 Obama probably wont be visiting Yemen, a country he held up just a year ago as a counterterrorism success story. Thats because Iranian-backed rebels overthrew the government that was helping us fight al-Qaeda, allowing the terrorists to dramatically expand their area of operations.

 Obama certainly wont visit Mosul, Iraq, which fell under control of the Islamic State soon after the president blithely dismissed the terrorist group as the JV squad. In 2010, Vice President Biden actually bragged that Iraq would be one of the great achievements of the Obama administration. Hes not saying that anymore. The JV squad has carved out a radical Islamist caliphate the size of the United Kingdom out of large swaths of the country.

 Obama probably wont visit Kandahar, Afghanistan, where U.S. forces recently had to destroy a major al-Qaeda training camp. At first, that might seem like a major accomplishment Obama would want to celebrate. But theres one small problem: There were no al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan when Obama took office. Today, in the wake of Obamas Afghan drawdown, the New York Times reports that al-Qaeda is making a deadly comeback in the country where it planned the 9/11 attacks.

Visiting these and other places would highlight the fact that Obama will be bequeathing to the next president a world that is far more dangerous than the one he inherited. Indeed, Obamas director of national intelligence, James Clapper, told Congress in 2014: Looking back over my more than half a century in intelligence, Ive not experienced a time when weve been beset by more crises and threats around the globe.

Hes right. But dont take Clappers word for it. As you assess Obamas record, ask yourself some simple questions: Are you safer now than you were seven years ago? Are the forces of Islamist radicalism weaker than they were seven years ago? Is the danger to our homeland smaller than it was seven years ago? Is the United States more feared by our enemies and respected by our friends than it was seven years ago?

For the vast majority of Americans, the answer to each question is a clear no. And no White House global policy PR tour is going to change that.

Read more from Marc Thiessens archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook.
Ammon Bundy and a group of armed supporters, including his brother Ryan, took over the an Ore. wildlife refuge over the weekend. Here's a look at the Bundy family's history of anti-government actions. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Ammon Bundy and a group of armed supporters, including his brother Ryan, took over the an Ore. wildlife refuge over the weekend. Here's a look at the Bundy family's history of anti-government actions. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

An unpredictable new chapter in the wars over federal land use in the West unfolded Sunday after a group of armed activists split off from an earlier protest march and occupied part of a national wildlife refuge in remote southeastern Oregon.

The activists, led by rancher Ammon Bundy, set themselves up in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge 30 miles southeast of here, defying the organizers of a rally and march held Saturday in support of two local ranchers who are scheduled to report to federal prison Monday to serve a sentence for arson.

Some of the occupiers said they planned to stay indefinitely. Harney County Sheriff David M. Ward said authorities from several law enforcement organizations were monitoring the situation.

These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, Ward said in a statement Sunday. When in reality these men had alternative motives, to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States.

The occupation revealed deep divides among some Western ranchers who want freer rein over federal lands but are split on whether to achieve those goals peacefully or more confrontationally.

Organizers of Saturdays rally said several hundred protesters marched through Burns, a ranching town of fewer than 3,000 residents, in a show of support for Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven Hammond, 46, who after decades of clashes with the federal government were sentenced in October to five years in prison.

But, at the rallys end, Ammon Bundy and an estimated dozen supporters declared they would take up arms and occupy a federal refuge building in protest. Amanda Peacher, a reporter for Oregon Public Broadcasting, reported that the men had entered a building at the refuge that was unstaffed over the weekend.

Were out here because the people have been abused long enough, their lands and their resources have been taken from them to the point that it is putting them literally into poverty, Ammon Bundy, clad in a brown rancher hat and thick flannel coat, told reporters Sunday morning, his breath forming small puffs of cloud in front of him as it hit the cold Oregon air.

Talking to reporters gathered at the entrance to the refuge property, Bundy said his group had not heard from law enforcement since taking over the unoccupied site and urged other citizens from across the country to join their effort.

Snowdrifts and miles of desolate highway studded with sagebrush and tumbleweed separate Burns, near the refuge, from Boise, Idaho, the nearest big city, which is about 220 miles to the east. Regulars at the Oasis, a restaurant in Juntura, Ore., said groups of travelers coming from Idaho had been stopping for food and gas on the way to Burns, where they hoped to lend support to the protesters. They didnt want to talk about it too much. The subject is too sensitive, they said.

If a standoff resulting in violence occurs, Bundy said, it would begin on the governments side.

This refuge here is rightfully owned by the people, and we intend to use it, he said, adding that they plan to assist ranchers, loggers, hunters and campers who want to use the land. We will be here as a unified body of people that understand the principles of the Constitution.

1 of 23 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  Familiar faces among Oregons armed occupiers: The notorious Bundy family View Photos The war has just begun,  Ammon Bundy said after his family won their spat with the government over grazing rights in 2014. Now, Ammon and two of his brothers are part of an armed militia that has taken over a building at a wildlife refuge to protest a pair of ranchers prison sentences for arson on federal land. Heres a look at how the 2014 confrontation unfolded. Caption The war has just begun,  Ammon Bundy said after his family won the spat with the government over grazing rights in 2014. Ammon and two of his brothers were part of an armed militia that took over a building at a wildlife refuge in 2016 to protest a pair of ranchers prison sentences for arson on federal land. Heres a look at how the 2014 confrontation unfolded. April 11, 2014 Cliven Bundy ignored the Bureau of Land Managements orders to stop grazing in a protected desert tortoise habitat and incurred hefty fines as a result. In 2014, the bureau said that Bundy owed $1 million in fees and informed him in March that his cattle would be rounded up and potentially sold. Jim Urquhart/Reuters Wait 1 second to continue.

Prosecutors accused the Hammonds of committing arson on federal land in 2001 and 2006. The men and their attorneys argued that the fires had been set on their own property  once to prevent the spread of an invasive species of plant and once in an attempt to prevent the spread of a wildfire  and had accidentally burned onto public lands. But prosecutors said the fires were set in an attempt to destroy evidence that the Hammonds had been illegally hunting deer on the federal lands.

The two men have previously served prison time for the crimes, but late last year a federal appeals court concluded that their initial sentences had been too short  arson on federal property carries a mandatory minimum sentence of five years  and ordered the men back to prison. They have said they expect to report to authorities and have not commented on the armed occupation.

The occupation of the wildlife refuge comes at the conclusion of a lively weekend for an otherwise sleepy stretch of southeast Oregon.

For their supporters, the Hammonds represent the latest battle in a struggle as old as the American settlement of the West: pitting poor cattle farmers against the federal government and its land regulations in states such as Oregon, where the federal government owns more than half of the land.

Most Americans, if they knew the story of the threats and the charges brought against these ranchers, they would say this isnt right, said Jeff Roberts, one of the organizers of Saturdays rally. We really wanted to show the family support and let them know that theyre not alone. That Americans dont turn their backs on them.

But there is a stark divide over how to best address the concerns of the cattle rancher. Some activists, like Roberts, believe the battle will be won through a deliberate public awareness campaign, rallies and town hall meetings.

Others have another tactic in mind: armed resistance.

The Bundy family, led by patriarch Cliven Bundy, is perhaps the best known of the anti-government groups arguing that expanding environmental and land regulation has unconstitutionally infringed on their rights and that armed confrontation is necessary to curb the federal overreach.

A 20-year clash between Cliven Bundy and federal authorities in Nevada came to a head in 2014, after the rancher threatened to shoot any federal agent who attempted to remove any of his cattle that officials say were illegally grazing on public land.

The standoff briefly made Cliven Bundy a conservative darling, and it ended when officials with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management opted to stand down and allow Bundy to continue to graze on the federal land.

When the federal government was stopped from enforcing the law at gunpoint, that energized this entire movement, said Heidi Beirich of the Southern Poverty Law Center, who said that Bundys success has fueled a renewed rise in the number of anti-government activist groups and self-described militias. When you have a big win like they did at the Bundy Ranch, it emboldens people. . . . It is definitely a recipe for disaster.

Holley and Lowery reported from Washington.
Donald Trumps ad begins with a shot of President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Then comes a U.S. battleship launching a cruise-missile strike. From there it moves swiftly through an explosive montage: The suspects in the recent California terrorist attack. Shadowy figures racing across the U.S.-Mexico border. Islamic State militants.

The narrator, a deep-voiced man, speaks ominously: Thats why hes calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, until we can figure out whats going on. Hell quickly cut the head off ISIS and take their oil. And hell stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for.

The spot closes with the image of Trump thundering at one of his rallies, We will make America great again!

The Republican presidential candidates long-awaited and hotly anticipated first ad, which was shared exclusively with The Washington Post, is set to launch Monday as part of a series that will air in the final month before the Iowa caucuses. Trump has vowed to spend at least $2 million a week on the ads  an amount that will be amplified by the countless times they are likely to be played on cable news and across social media.

[Donald Trump featured in new extremist recruitment video]

Donald Trump addresses thousands of supporters last Saturday in Biloxi, Miss. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

The decision to air television ads  which Trump hinted at for months, though the billionaire mogul has been loath to spend more than he deems necessary  represents a tightly produced new act for a candidate who has fed largely off free media attention.

In an interview Sunday with The Post, Trump said that he has six to eight ads in production and that his was a major buy and its going to go on for months. He said he hopes the spots impress upon undecided voters that the country has become a dumping ground.

The world is laughing at us, at our stupidity, he said. Its got to stop. Weve got to get smart fast  or else we wont have a country.

Trump has risen to the top of a chaotic Republican field in part because he embodies voters rejection of the professional political class. By taking to the airwaves, he is turning to one of the traditional tools of a modern political campaign.

[One year, two races: Inside the Republican Partys bizarre, tumultuous 2015]

Trump watched last fall as rival campaigns and their allies spent tens of millions of dollars on TV ads that did not give them much bounce. He said he figured that advertising would be a waste for him, too. Yet as the race tightened with the approach of the new year, some of Trumps supporters, including former adviser Roger Stone, publicly urged him to compete on the air.

Trump said he concluded that he may end up regretting not spending more of his own money to secure the nomination. He said he recalled thinking, Im $35 million to $40 million under budget, and to be honest, I dont think I need [ads] because I have such a big lead. But I dont want to take any chances, and I almost feel guilty not spending money.

1 of 25 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  People and groups Donald Trump has denounced View Photos Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is not one to back down readily from controversial statements, and the list of those he dislikes continues to grow. Caption Not one to back down easily from controversial statements, the Republican presidential candidate continues to add to the list of people he condemns. Mitt Romney After being attacked as a fraud by Mitt Romney, Donald Trump slammed him as a choke artist and failed candidate who begged for Trumps endorsement during his 2012 presidential bid. Tom Smart/EPA Wait 1 second to continue.

The first ad, titled Great Again, makes clear that Trumps closing pitch to voters will be as visceral and arresting as the one he delivers at raucous rallies. It is a full embrace of the most incendiary of his proposals, as opposed to the more biographical spots that some other candidates favor.

One afternoon last week in the candidates 26th-floor suite at Trump Tower here, the fiery depictions of global terrorism flickered on Trumps face as he stared down at campaign manager Corey Lewandowskis laptop computer to watch the final cut of the ad.

Play it again, Trump told Lewandowski, nodding approvingly. I love the feel of it.

The ad, which is 30 seconds long, will air in Iowa and New Hampshire. Lewandowski said Trump eventually plans to advertise in Nevada and South Carolina, whose contests will come later in February.

In a statement Monday, the Trump campaign said it has allocated $1.1 million for Iowa and close to $1 million for New Hampshire.

Airwaves in the early states already are saturated, with campaigns and super PACs in both parties gobbling up advertising time.

For instance, Ohio Gov. John Kasich released the first ad of his campaign Sunday. The spot, which will air in New Hampshire, has striking imagery and highlights Kasichs rough upbringing, personal resilience and governing achievements. The intended takeaway: John Kasich never gives up.

Advertising by Trump has been limited to radio spots until this week. In November, he made a $300,000 buy for four ads that played in early states, including one that promised he would decisively bomb the hell out of ISIS.

Trumps campaign said Monday that it would purchase more radio ad time in the coming weeks with several surrogates promoting him. A new radio ad in South Carolina features Nancy Mace, the first female graduate of The Citadel.

Trump said he reviewed several proposals for his first television ad but settled on the dark backdrop of Great Again because he wanted to showcase what makes him stand apart from the competition: bucking political correctness and speaking in vivid, stark terms about threats to national security.

Although Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.), New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Kasich and other Republican presidential candidates have at times echoed Trump, none has gone as far as Trump in recommending that Muslims be barred from entering the country or that a massive, impenetrable border wall be built.

[Republicans embrace Trumps ban on Muslims while most others reject it]

Trump said he wants his ads to hammer that distinction for voters who may still be torn between two or more candidates.

Its about immigration and safety, and they play hand in hand, he said. If you look at every poll, Im the leader on the economy, but its immigration and ISIS, too. Im bringing them all together.

Alex Castellanos, a longtime GOP ad creator who is unaligned in the 2016 race, said Trump ought to use his January ads to make a closing argument. He even came up with a slogan: The strength we want for the change we need.

Sum it up before the jury, Castellanos said. I would make the case that America is in decline, about to slip over the precipice, and we need a president as big as our fears and as strong as our adversaries  and only one man has demonstrated that strength.

Trump and Lewandowski declined to name the firm or person responsible for producing the ads. When pressed, Trump said, Hes somebody whos respected very much, somebodys whos had a good record of ads.

Trump said his advertising blitz is being financed chiefly out of his own pocket, although his campaign had raised $3.9 million through the third quarter of last year, much of that in small-dollar donations.

All me, 100 percent me  100 percent, Trump said. Im self-funding my campaign. We do have small donors that send in $12, $25, $100, but they just send it in. Were not asking for it.

Discussing his vision for the ads, Trump sounded more like a media strategist than a politician. He said that television has a unique aesthetic and that rather than speaking directly into the camera, his ads would intersperse rally footage with images designed to draw viewers to focus on the issues of his campaign.

Trump said that as a producer and star of NBCs hit reality program The Apprentice, he came to appreciate that straight-to-camera ads featuring political candidates are boring or seem manufactured. By contrast, he said, Facebook, Instagram and other social media are more conducive to direct videos.

We have a lot of the rallies in them and well include more, assuming it looks good and is captured right, Trump said of his upcoming ads. I dont like sitting down and shooting an ad because I dont think you capture the same energy you see at our events like we had in Mississippi on Saturday, when he drew throngs to a 15,000-seat arena in Biloxi.

Trump added, You can say the same words, Make America Great Again, and various themes around it, but its doesnt sound the same as it is when Im up there on stage in front of 15,000 people going wild.

Rucker reported from Washington.
News / Regional

by Staff reporter

A TSHOLOTSHO man, Even Moyo, cheated death last Sunday after he was attacked by a crocodile while fishing with a friend at DRC Dam in Kamativi.Kamativi councillor, Joshua Tshuma confirmed the incident yesterday, saying Moyo was receiving treatment at Mpilo Central Hospital in Bulawayo."Moyo was fishing so he could sell and raise money for transport back to Tsholotsho. It is unfortunate that he ended up being attacked because he is one of the many people who survive by selling fish, they catch from the three dams in Kamativi, mainly DRC Dam," he said.Tshuma said Moyo's unidentified friend rescued him from the reptile and rushed him to a local Catholic priest, who in turn drove him to Kamativi District Hospital. He was later referred to St Patrick's Mission Hospital in Hwange before being transferred to Mpilo Central Hospital due to the gravity of the injuries.Tshuma said Moyo was the first victim of a crocodile attack in six years in the area.Most Kamativi residents are unemployed and sustain their families through selling fish to locals.Some of the people in the area are former employees of the tin mine, who were left jobless after the mine's closure.The Kamativi mine, owned by the Zimbabwe Mining Development Corporation, was shut down in 1994 after tin prices plummeted on the international market.The police could not be reached for comment on the incident.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump bragged on Twitter about how his campaign is under budget and promised to start spending money on ads in early primary states. (Rogelio V. Solis/AP)

Quote of the week

So, I have spent almost nothing on my run for president and am in 1st place.

 Donald Trump, in a tweet Tuesday, part of a series in which he bragged about how his campaign is under budget and promised to start spending money on ads in early primary states. Trump is running the most cost-effective presidential campaign in modern history.

Best thing that happened to Democrats

Jeb Bush is down. Way down. The former Florida governor and once GOP front-runner is in fifth and sixth places in Iowa and New Hampshire, respectively, and sixth place nationally. With the Iowa caucuses four weeks away, its not impossible for him to come back. And the eye-popping amount of money in his Super PAC, Right to Rise, is certainly a reason not to count him out. But The Fix's Philip Bump notes that since Bush began a fall bus tour designed to reinvigorate his struggling campaign, he has lost a third of his national support. For Democrats, its one less candidate in a crowded and unpredictable field to have to worry about.

Best thing that happened to Republicans

Democrats are losing a hold of one of their last strongholds in the South: the Kentucky state House. After November elections that went poorly for the party, two Democratic state representatives announced they were switching to the Republican side, setting the stage for special elections this spring that could help Kentucky Republicans gain control of the chamber  and regain dominance at the state level for the first time in decades. (Republicans won the governor's mansion and most statewide executive offices in November.) Political scientists who follow Kentucky politics say this is probably a final realignment of America's decades-old North-South political reality: Republicans rule the South; Democrats the North. And Republicans are more than happy to reclaim a Southern state that had long eluded them.

By the numbers

3: The number of high-level campaign staff members who resigned from retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson's struggling GOP presidential campaign, including his chief of staff. Carson said Sunday there was a stifling of ideas up top.

$35 million: The amount under budget Trump says his campaign is.

$55 million: The amount of money Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton raised in her campaign in the latest fundraising quarter, the most of any non-incumbent candidate in a non-election year.
Ammon Bundy and a group of armed supporters, including his brother Ryan, took over the an Ore. wildlife refuge over the weekend. Here's a look at the Bundy family's history of anti-government actions. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Ammon Bundy and a group of armed supporters, including his brother Ryan, took over the an Ore. wildlife refuge over the weekend. Here's a look at the Bundy family's history of anti-government actions. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

The armed occupation of a wildlife reserve in rural Oregon over the weekend marked the national re-emergence of the Bundy family  a clan of ranchers who have amassed vocal supporters during their decades-long clash with the federal government over land rights.

The Bundy family makes up perhaps the best known of the current crop of activists who think that the federal government  through expanding environmental and land regulation  has unconstitutionally infringed on the rights of citizens and that armed confrontation is necessary to curb that perceived overreach.

Best known among the Bundys is Cliven, the family patriarch, a Nevada rancher who federal officials say has been illegally grazing his cattle on federal land for decades.

That dispute came to a head in April 2014, when the U.S. Bureau of Land Management tried to move Bundys cattle, and he in turn vowed to shoot any federal agent who entered the land.

His supporters took up arms, and, eventually, the federal agents ceded to Bundys demands that they leave.

1 of 23 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad  The infamous Bundy family View Photos The war has just begun,  Ammon Bundy said during his familys 2014 dispute with the government over grazing rights. Ammon and one of his brothers were part of an armed group that took over a building at a wildlife refuge in Oregon in January to protest a pair of ranchers prison sentences for arson on federal land. Heres a look at how the 2014 confrontation unfolded. Caption The war has just begun,  Ammon Bundy said after his family won the spat with the government over grazing rights in 2014. Ammon and two of his brothers were part of an armed militia that took over a building at a wildlife refuge in 2016 to protest a pair of ranchers prison sentences for arson on federal land. Heres a look at how the 2014 confrontation unfolded. April 11, 2014 Cliven Bundy ignored the Bureau of Land Managements orders to stop grazing in a protected desert tortoise habitat and incurred hefty fines as a result. In 2014, the bureau said that Bundy owed $1 million in fees and informed him in March that his cattle would be rounded up and potentially sold. Jim Urquhart/Reuters Wait 1 second to continue.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, which tracks extremist groups, says that victory strengthened Bundy, his sons and their supporters, who have armed themselves against federal agents in several other land disputes, including over the weekend in eastern Oregon.

When the federal government was stopped from enforcing the law at gunpoint, that energized this entire movement, said Heidi Beirich of the law center. When you have a big win like they did at the Bundy ranch, it emboldens people. . . . It is definitely a recipe for disaster.

The law center said that in 2014, it identified 202 anti-government militia and patriot groups, including the Bundy family and their supporters. And, Beirich said, after the Bundys victory in Nevada, the center thinks that number grew by one-third in 2015.

Since running federal officers off his ranch, Bundy and his supporters have become a traveling troop  co-opting various incidents in which they think the federal government is over-regulating people. In April, the Bundy family involved itself in a dispute at the Sugar Pine Mine, during which a local miner took up arms against federal agents who said he did not own the surface rights to the land he was mining. Other members of the Bundy operation went to the border, arguing that if the federal government would not prevent illegal immigration, they would do it themselves.

And the plight of the Hammond family  Oregon ranchers sentenced to prison for arson who were being rallied-around on Saturday  caught the attention of Ammon Bundy, an Idaho rancher who is one of Clivens sons.

Ammon Bundy used a Facebook video posted Dec. 31 to summon an armed militia to Burns, Ore., by Jan. 2. When they arrived, they took over a federal building. After the protest, Bundy told a reporter why this fight is so important to him. (The Washington Post)

Ammon and one of his brothers, Ryan Bundy, are believed to be leading the occupation in Oregon, and have vowed to remain in the federal wildlife refuge until the Hammonds are released from prison.
A Kashmiri Shiite Muslim, bottom, holds a portrait of Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, as others shout slogans during a protest against Saudi Arabia in Srinagar, in India-controlled Kashmir.

Jan. 3, 2016 A Kashmiri Shiite Muslim, bottom, holds a portrait of Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, as others shout slogans during a protest against Saudi Arabia in Srinagar, in India-controlled Kashmir. Mukhtar Khan/AP

The countrys announcement that it has killed 47 people has caused an uproar across the region. Saudi Arabia severed relations with Iran on Sunday amid the furor.

The countrys announcement that it has killed 47 people has caused an uproar across the region.

The countrys announcement that it has killed 47 people has caused an uproar across the region.

The Middle East slid dangerously closer to regional conflict Monday after Saudi Arabia rallied its Sunni allies to sever diplomatic ties with Iran, prompting alarmed appeals for restraint from powers across the globe.

Bahrain and Sudan joined Saudi Arabia in cutting off relations with Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, a key Iranian trading partner, recalled its ambassador from Tehran, as the fallout from the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia on Saturday heightened sectarian tensions across the Middle East.

The Obama administration, caught in the middle by its quest for a closer relationship with Iran and its long-standing alliance with Saudi Arabia, said it hoped Tehran and Riyadh would dial back the hostile rhetoric that has fueled the worst crisis between the regional rivals in decades.

Were urging all sides to show some restraint and to not further inflame tensions that are on quite vivid display in the region, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters in Washington.

China, the European Union and Russia also called on Tehran and Riyadh to take steps to settle their differences peacefully, with Russia, an emerging center of gravity in the region, offering to mediate between them, according to Russian news agencies.

[How Saudi Arabia and the Islamic State find common ground in beheadings]

The implications of the Saudi-Iranian rift extend far beyond their immediate rivalry as competing regional powerhouses and encompass almost all of the wars raging in the Middle East. The current crisis could further complicate efforts to resolve the Syrian war and could strengthen, by default, the Islamic State.

In another sign of fallout from the dispute, Saudi Arabias civil aviation authority said it was suspending all flights between Iran and Saudi Arabia, a move that raised uncertainties about the ability of Iranian pilgrims to visit the important Muslim pilgrimage site of Mecca, and of Saudi Arabian Shiites to visit shrines in Iran.

Iran said Saudi Arabia made a strategic mistake when it went ahead with the execution of Shiite cleric Nimr Baqr al-Nimr despite repeated warnings from Tehran that carrying out the death penalty against him would have repercussions.

Iran also, however, reiterated regrets expressed over the weekend for an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, during which protesters enraged by Nimrs execution broke into the premises, smashed windows and furniture and then set the embassy on fire. Iran says it has arrested demonstrators responsible for the assault and has pledged to deter future attacks against all diplomatic facilities in Iran.

[Could impasse complicate the fight against the Islamic State?]

The island of Bahrain, whose ruling Sunni royal family faces a challenge from its majority-

Shiite population, swiftly followed the Saudi lead in breaking off relations with Tehran. The executed cleric, Nimr, had also served as an inspiration for many of the islands Shiites. Bahrain is home to the U.S. Navys 5th Fleet

Saudi Arabia and Iran have held long-running suspicions and outright hostility towards each other. Here's why. (The Washington Post)

Sudan said it was breaking off relations with Iran in solidarity with Riyadh, but it wields little influence in the heart of the Middle East.

The United Arab Emirates downgraded ties, withdrawing its ambassador from Tehran and telling the Iranian ambassador in the Emirates to go home.

Other major regional powers, such as Egypt and Turkey, did not join in the diplomatic onslaught against Tehran. Turkish officials echoed calls for restraint on the part of Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Saudi-Iranian standoff is likely to have repercussions in the wars ravaging parts of the Middle East  some of them directly fueled by the two countries antagonism.

The wars in Yemen and Syria in particular are at risk of worsening as a result of the rift. Saudi Arabia and Iran back rival factions in each of those countries.

I dont think this is going to open warfare, but its going to make the proxy battles worse, said Mohamad Bazzi, a professor at New York University who is writing a book on Iranian-Saudi relations. The pattern has been that when one side escalates, the other escalates. Now that is going to spiral.

One major concern is the fledgling peace process in Syria, endorsed by a U.N. Security Council resolution last month, which the State Department has counted among one of its greatest achievements of 2015.

The United Nations dispatched its special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, on an emergency mission to Riyadh and Tehran to see whether the peace talks between rival Syrian factions will be able to go ahead as scheduled Jan. 25.

With Iran and Saudi Arabia not on speaking terms, it is hard to see any meaningful peace process getting underway, Bazzi said. It was already going to be difficult, he said. But the Americans and the Russians had got everyone to agree to at least sit at the table, and that seems to have been erased by this.

Also at risk is the war against the Islamic State, which is often obscured by the regions many other rivalries.

The growing sectarian polarization across the region will primarily benefit the Islamic State, which is promoting a sectarian narrative, the London-based defense consultancy IHS said in a commentary.

[In legacy of a revered martyr, Saudi Shiites find sustenance]

In another reminder of the potential for sectarian rivalry unleashed by the Saudi-Iranian rift, three mosques were bombed overnight in the mixed Sunni-Shiite province of Babil in Iraq. A cleric was killed at one of them, according to news reports from Iraq.

The U.N. mission in Iraq condemned the attacks as an attempt to stoke sectarian tensions in Iraq and the region.

Iraqs Shiites also have strongly condemned Nimrs execution, and thousands of people staged demonstrations Monday calling on the government to close the newly reopened Saudi Embassy.

David Nakamura and Brian Murphy in Washington contributed to this report.

Read more:

Ali al-Nimr was a boy when thrown in Saudi prison

The seven most important moments of the Saudi-Iranian rivalry

Shiite protests pose major challenge for Saudi Arabia
Tourists walk on the stairs of Westminster Bridge in view of the Houses of Parliament in London on Dec. 29. (Simon Dawson/Bloomberg)

Europe was pummeled by crises from start to finish in 2015, with terrorist attacks, bankruptcy brinkmanship and an unparalleled refugee influx combining to leave continental unity in tatters by years end.

But instead of relief, 2016 could bring an unraveling.

In addition to the flash points of the past year  all of which are poised to flare again  Britain is likely to throw fresh instability into the mix with a referendum on whether to leave the European Union. Once judged an unlikely prospect, many observers now see a 50-50 chance that populist-minded, immigration-fearing British voters will elect to cut this island nation adrift from a continent beset by existential struggles.

If they do, it would mark the first time in the E.U.s history that a country has chosen to withdraw, reversing what had been seen as an inexorable expansion of the pact credited with bringing peace and stability to the historically bloody lands of Europe.

[European Union predicts 3 million more migrants by end of next year]

A British exit could hasten a broader E.U. breakup, with continental leaders despairing that an already strained union may struggle to survive without one of its cornerstone members. Washington, too, has much to lose if the country that has traditionally bridged the Atlantic divide opts to sail off into the icy depths of the North Sea. And the United Kingdom itself could fall apart if Britain chooses to leave, with pro-E.U. Scotland likely to revive its demand for independence.

But all of that may not be enough to outweigh the anxieties of British voters who gaze across the English Channel and see nothing but trouble.

As Europes crises have multiplied over the past year, the once-overwhelming share of British voters who favor staying inside the E.U. has dwindled  with some polls showing the contest dead-even. And the out campaign has room to grow if Europes problems persist, as most analysts expect they will.

Given that by any objective measure the E.U. is in a terrible mess, Im shocked that the in campaign is still getting half, said Charles Grant, director of the London-based Center for European Reform.

Grant said he wants to see Britain remain part of the E.U., but he is pessimistic that it will. Fears about immigration explain why.

Its always quite easy to scare people, Grant said. If the British vote to leave the E.U., it will be because of worries about migration and refugees.

[As Europe fills with refugees, Britain goes its own way]

Britain has largely insulated itself from the historic exodus of millions of people fleeing the war zones that ring Europe. It has opted out of an E.U.-wide refugee-relocation program and has used the 19 miles of water that separate this nation from the European mainland as a barrier to those who try to make it here on their own.

But anti-E.U. campaigners have conflated the refugee issue with a record level of net-migration to Britain, much of which is fueled by European citizens moving here for economic reasons. Under the E.U.s free-movement principle, Britain cant stop them, prompting out advocates to argue that the country has lost control of its borders and can only get it back by ditching the E.U.

The more that Europe has struggled with its management of refugee flows  and with other thorny problems, including terrorism and debt  the more confident anti-E.U. advocates have become that they will prevail.

The momentum is on our side, said Nigel Farage, leader of the U.K. Independence Party and the countrys most prominent E.U. opponent. For those of us who believe in nation-state democracy, 2016 is a very bright dawn indeed.

A British vote to leave, Farage proclaimed in a December speech on the floor of the European Parliament, would mark a tipping point that could doom the E.U.  an outcome that the bombastic former commodities trader has made clear he would welcome gleefully.

[Britains far-right firebrand may be making his last stand]

It was political pressure from Farage and from Euro-skeptics within Prime Minister David Camerons own Conservative Party that led him to promise a referendum in the first place. At the time, in January 2013, a British vote to leave seemed improbable.

Now Cameron is locked in delicate negotiations with his fellow E.U. leaders that could determine whether Britain stays or goes. The prime minister has vowed he will lead the campaign to keep Britain within Europe with all my heart and soul, but only if he can extract meaningful concessions that will give the E.U. less influence over British affairs.

Camerons demands include permission for Britain to opt out of the E.U.s founding ambition to forge ever closer union; greater power for national parliaments to block E.U. legislation; and formal recognition that the euro isnt the unions only currency.

European leaders have signaled that theyre willing to deal on those issues. But Camerons fourth demand  a restriction on benefits for immigrants from within the E.U.  is far trickier. As German Chancellor Angela Merkel and others have pointed out, such a move would violate core E.U. principles that bar discrimination on the basis of nationality.

The issue is critical if Cameron wants to show hes serious about reducing immigration to Britain  a promise hes repeatedly made but has been unable to fulfill. And yet, with only weeks to go until a critical E.U. summit, theres little indication of how negotiators can break the deadlock.

Cameron cant go into the referendum with nothing on this, said Stephen Booth, codirector of the London-based think tank Open Europe. But what will the compromise be? We really dont know.

Despite the uncertainty, Cameron has said he wants to make a deal by February and has hinted that the referendum could come as soon as this summer.

After making his case for reform to fellow E.U. leaders over dinner in Brussels in late December, he told reporters that 2016 will be the year we achieve something really vital, fundamentally changing the U.K.s relationship with the E.U. and finally addressing the concerns of the British people about our membership.

But it could also be the year that divides his party  and costs him the premiership. If Cameron leads the in campaign and loses, he will come under pressure to resign just a year after leading the Conservatives to a commanding victory in national elections.

Camerons own cabinet is divided on the Europe question, and at least some of his ministers are expected to campaign for an exit, although none have shown their hand.

One person who has made his views known is President Obama, who told the BBC last summer that Britains E.U. membership gives us much greater confidence about the strength of the transatlantic union.

Without Britain, the E.U. would be greatly diminished, having lost the worlds fifth-largest economy and military. It would also take Europes focus away from its other struggles, which continue to demand urgent attention.

The E.U. has got enough on its plate right now, Booth said. It doesnt need one of its biggest and most dynamic members leaving.

Read more

U.S. keeps Disneyland-bound British Muslim family out of the country

At first stop on Europes refugee trail, a 21st-century Ellis Island is born

This is our last hope: Six Syrians on the hardest part of their journey to Europe
Palestinian mourners carry the body of Malik Shahin during his funeral near the West Bank city of Bethlehem on Dec. 8, 2015. Shahin was killed during an Israeli army raid at a refugee camp. (Abed Al Hashlamoun/EPA)

In the face of widespread violent protests, Israeli soldiers are pursuing tough new countermeasures against restive young Palestinians, an escalation of force that includes the frequent use of live fire.

Israeli politicians hope a hard response will pacify the population and return calm to East Jerusalem, the West Bank and the Gaza border. But Palestinian unrest continues, and as one Palestinian leader put it, in our culture, funerals create more funerals.

Over the past three months, Israeli forces have shot and killed more than 46 Palestinians during clashes. Most were killed by a single shot to the head or chest, suggesting lethal intent. A handful of others died from wounds inflicted by tear gas canisters or rubber-coated steel bullets.

Along with those killed in clashes, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reports that 1,887 Palestinians have been wounded by live rounds and 3,105 by rubber-coated bullets since the beginning of October. Another 10,000 have been treated for tear gas inhalation.

Those deaths and injuries in clashes are separate from the deaths of more than 90 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces during three months of knife, gun and vehicular attacks against Israelis. Palestinian assailants have killed 21 Israelis. Hundreds of Israeli soldiers and civilians have also been wounded.

[Israelis are calling attacks a new kind of Palestinian terrorism]

The surge in violence has contributed to poisonous tensions, and with the collapse of U.S.-led peace talks, neither side knows where this is going.

Israelis charge that they are under attack from a new kind of terrorism by lone-wolf assailants encouraged by militant Islam. The Palestinians decry what they see as a shoot-to-kill response by hardened Israeli forces who have eased their rules of engagement to punish the population and to suppress protests against a 48-year military occupation.

Palestinian life is cheap, said Mustafa Barghouti, secretary general of the Palestinian National Initiative.

The Israeli forces are not accountable to anyone, he said. The world was more upset when an American dentist killed a lion in Zimbabwe.

A 13-year-old Palestinian named Abdel Rahman Obeidallah was in his uniform in Bethlehem, his book bag by his side, when he was struck by a small-caliber round to the chest in October.

[Two Palestinian youths killed as violence in West Bank spikes]

My son went to school and never came home, his mother said.

A senior Israeli military official told The Washington Post that the boy was killed by mistake: The sniper was aiming for a main instigator, but the bullet ricocheted off the pavement and struck him in the heart.

Responding to allegations that Israels response is too harsh, Israels public security minister, Gilad Erdan, said, It is very easy to criticize when you have never found yourself in such a situation.

Erdan, who oversees the Israeli police force, said his officers have been trained on how to neutralize terrorists while limiting collateral casualties. He defended the actions of police and soldiers and said that many times the decision to shoot must be made in seconds in a chaotic atmosphere.

Sometimes the criticisms come from people who do not know what they are talking about or hypocrites who hate Israel anyway  they will always find a way to criticize Israel, he said.

[Netanyahu wants Palestinian violence linked to radical Islam]

Clashes between Palestinian youths and Israeli forces are a part of life here, but the lethality of the encounters has spiked over the past three months as the use of live fire has increased.

The caliber of the bullets used in lethal actions often is not known. Few Palestinians undergo autopsies, and the Israeli military provides only cursory details of deadly incidents.

It is clear, though, that Israeli forces are routinely deploying snipers armed with rifles that have sound suppressors and fire .22-caliber bullets, which are called two-twos by both sides and which Israeli officials say are intended to be less lethal.

These rounds are often fired at the legs of people Israeli soldiers consider instigators at violent demonstrations or at attackers posing less than lethal threats, said Lt. Col. Peter Lerner, a spokesman for the Israel Defense Forces.

A senior Israeli military official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss security protocols, said that only three of the Palestinians killed in recent clashes were shot by two-two rounds. The rest were killed by M-16-type rifles or other arms.

In a single violent demonstration on Oct. 11 at the Huwara military checkpoint, south of Nablus, a researcher with the Israeli human rights group BTselem counted 72 Palestinians injured  68 by live rounds and four by rubber-coated metal bullets.

Israeli military officials consider .22-caliber bullets a tool for crowd dispersal. They add, though, that lethal fire is allowed in life-threatening situations.

Some Palestinians have been shot during clashes that occur when the Israeli military raids Palestinian villages to arrest suspects.

Malik Shahin, 19, was shot with a single round above his left eyebrow in the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem.

He died on the spot. The hospital told us when they scanned his skull there were 70 fragments, that the bullet just bounced around inside, said Assad Shahin, his uncle.

There was nothing special about the day, Shahin said. Just the usual.

Early on the morning of Dec. 8, young men in the camp whistled and shouted that Israeli forces were entering the narrow, twisting alleys to make an arrest.

An Israeli military spokesman said raids can create an especially dangerous environment for Israeli troops, who face cement blocks and firebombs dropped on their heads from rooftops.

Shahin said his nephew may have thrown rocks; he did not know. He said Malik was a high school graduate, unemployed and apolitical.

Another hot spot for clashes is the fence around the Gaza Strip, the coastal enclave ruled by the Islamist militant group Hamas and suffering for years under strict travel and trade restrictions imposed by Israel and Egypt. At least 19 Palestinians have been shot and killed there by Israeli troops since early October.

[Meet the Jewish doctor who saves Palestinian attackers and the Muslim doctor who saves Jewish victims]

Every Friday since early October, young men, and sometimes women, burn tires and throw stones and gasoline bottles over the fence. Sometimes they rush the barrier in an attempt to reach the Israeli side.

Ahmad, 17, frequently takes part. I throw stones, but they dont even reach the soldiers, he said, declining to give his last name.

Why does he do it, then? To show solidarity, he said.

He was hit once in the leg by a rubber-coated bullet.

Three people I know were wounded by live bullets, but thank God it was light injuries.

Israeli military officers say that the Gaza border fence is especially dangerous and that live fire is often justified. Militants have used the protests to plant explosive devices on the fence or to fire sniper rounds from the crowds.

Eglash reported from Jerusalem. Sufian Taha in Bethlehem and Hazem Balousha in Gaza City contributed to this report.
Opinion / Columnist

"It was Thomas Jefferson who said that the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots. It therefore can never be refreshed by continuous false hope and non-action as is the case in Zimbabwe. I, however, truly believe that the idea of freedom can indeed be circumvented but it can never be forsaken," wrote Vince Musewe.So with over 30 000 Zimbabweans murdered and millions beaten in politically motivated violence in the last 35 years, Comrade Musewe is still calling for more blood of patriots to refresh Zimbabwe's tree of liberty. He is demanding more Zimbabweans to come forward like lambs to the slaughter; they are not because they are "not yet hungry enough for total freedom"!Did the nation not go to war for peace and justice too?Only someone who is cavalier about the suffering and unnecessary deaths of the ordinary people would not be concerned with Zimbabwe's very corrupt and oppressive political system. Instead of seeking to eradicate the evil political system, which is what the implementation of the GPA reforms will accomplish; Vince is seeking to keep the dictatorship and feed the monster the human misery and deaths. To him, the people are nothing more than cannon fodder!It would be heart-breaking if Zanu PF rigged the next elections to win enough seats to play a disruptive role in the next government or, worse still, to power outright. As long as Zanu PF remains in power, even as the official opposition party, it hard to see the country implementing the far reaching political reforms necessary for economic reform and recovery. The real nightmare scenario would be for the nightmare violence of 2008 to comeback!If the murderous violence of 2008 are repeated then Vince Musewe, Morgan Tsvangirai and the rest, who have wanted the elections with no reform, will have to explain to the victims of the violence and/or their relatives why they have had to suffer. And when will their tree of liberty's thirst for blood of the innocents be quenched so the GPA reforms can finally, FINALLY be implemented!Vince Musewe has given to reason why the nation should not implement the comprehensive GPA reforms other than he is confident he can achieve the removal of Mugabe, at least without reforms provided enough Zimbabweans' hunger for total freedom forces them to risk life and limp in their millions!
Muslim Americans protest against the execution of Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia, during a rally in Dearborn, Mich., on Jan. 3. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

Obama administration officials expressed deep concern Sunday that the abrupt escalation of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran could have repercussions extending to the fight against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the diplomatic efforts to end Syrias civil war, and wider efforts to bring stability to the Middle East.

Following Saudi Arabias announcement that it was severing diplomatic ties with Tehran after mobs stormed the Saudi Embassy there late Saturday, the administration called on both sides to take a step back.

We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences, State Department spokesman John Kirby said Sunday. We will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions.

But the public call for calm papered over long-simmering disagreements over Iran and other matters between the United States and Saudi Arabia, its powerful Middle Eastern ally, and threatened a serious rupture.

Administration officials were privately critical of the Saudis for provoking the weekends upheaval with the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric arrested two years ago and sentenced to death for fomenting dissent against the ruling Sunni royal family.

This is a dangerous game they are playing, said a U.S. official who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss U.S.-Saudi relations. There are larger repercussions than just the reaction to these executions, including damage to counter-ISIL initiatives as well as the Syrian peace process. ISIL and ISIS are alternative names for the Islamic State.

Saudi Arabia made clear that its concerns about U.S. dismay over the weekends events were minor compared with its belief that the West was kowtowing to Shiite Iran on a range of issues.

Enough is enough, said a person who spoke on the condition of anonymity to convey Saudi thinking. Tehran has thumbed its nose at the West again and again, continuing to sponsor terrorism and launch ballistic missiles, and no one is doing anything about it.

Every time the Iranians do something, the United States backs off. The Saudis are actually doing something, the person said.

We are determined not to allow Iran to undermine our security, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a news conference in Riyadh on Sunday. We are determined not to let Iran mobilize or create or establish terrorist cells in our country or in the countries of our allies. We will push back against Irans attempts to do so. 

Although Saudi Arabia and the United States have long found common cause in antiterrorism campaigns and in promoting regional stability, strains have emerged regularly since the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks. The two have frequently disagreed about how to respond to the Syrian civil war that began in late 2011, with Riyadh urging a more muscular U.S. response, including direct military intervention and provision of sophisticated weapons to the Syrian opposition.

Iran, along with Russia, is the leading backer of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, a member of a minority Shiite sect, and Riyadh views the civil war as part of Irans fight for sectarian dominance.

In Yemen, the United States and Saudi Arabia have cooperated in the campaign against al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula and efforts to install and stabilize a more cooperative government. When the Saudis began an ongoing bombing campaign last year against Yemeni rebels led by the Shiite Houthi tribesmen, the United States gave some assistance, while quietly disagreeing with Saudi insistence that the Houthis were merely an extension of Iranian aggression.

Most important, Saudi Arabia vehemently objected to the deal involving Irans nuclear program that U.S.-led international negotiators finalized with Tehran last summer. Once the agreement is implemented, the United States and others will lift international sanctions against Iran, pouring money into its government coffers that Riyadh thinks will be spent on its efforts to take over the region.

Along with other opponents of the deal in the United States and elsewhere, Saudi Arabia thinks that Iran will continue its efforts to develop a nuclear weapon. The administration strongly disagrees, arguing that verification and monitoring provisions  along with terms of the agreement requiring the dismantling of much of Irans nuclear infrastructure  will restrict its program to energy production.

The administration has frequently raised concerns about Saudi judicial practices, particularly its suppression of nonviolent political dissent. Although it declined to join widespread international denunciations of the arrest and sentencing of Nimr, officials said the administration repeatedly raised the issue in private with Saudi leaders as a matter that could have repercussions in the region and throughout the Muslim world.

Overall, the administration felt that, despite the occasional bumps, its relations with the kingdom had reached a smooth cruising speed since King Salman took over last January after the death of King Abdullah, his half brother.

A promise from Obama last spring to step up military assistance and defense sales to the Persian Gulf region following the Iran deal kept the lid on public dissension for much of last year. More recently, the administration worked hard to bring the Saudis and Iran together for a diplomatic initiative to end Syrias civil war and allow them to increase their joint efforts against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq.

Last month, Tehran and Riyadh came together for the first time at the same table and agreed to a deal, forged by Secretary of State John F. Kerry, to promote talks between the Syrian opposition and Assad representatives leading to a transition government and eventual elections.

In mid-December, Saudi Arabia held a meeting of disparate opposition leaders who agreed to form a negotiating committee for talks that are scheduled to begin under the auspices of the United Nations on Jan. 25.
US President Barack Obama, speaking to NPRs Steve Inskeep earlier this month in the White House, blamed the misdirected anger, frustration and fear of blue-collar men for the rise of the billionaire real estate mogul and media figure Donald Trump to the top of the Republican presidential primary field.

Without even a cursory acknowledgement of the consequences of the policies pursued by his administration over the last six years, Obama dispassionately listed the sources of workers frustrations including, all the economic stresses that people have been going through because of the financial crisis, because of technology, because of globalization, the fact that wages and incomes have been flatlining for some time.

He continued by noting that particularly blue-collar men have had a lot of trouble in this new economy, where they are no longer getting the same bargain that they got when they were going to a factory and able to support their families on a single paycheck.

From the combination of stagnant wages and a decline in industrial employment, the president concluded that there is going to be potential anger, frustration, fear. Some of it justified, but just misdirected. I think somebody like Mr. Trump is taking advantage of that. Thats what hes exploiting during the course of his campaign.

As is always the case when he makes any references to the devastating conditions facing the bulk of the population, Obama speaks as if neither he nor the party that he presently leads has anything to do with it. But what is most striking is that the president accepts entirely the racial stereotypes that characterize bourgeois politics, and particularly the identity politics in which he embedded himself during his days in Chicago, namely that white workers are hopelessly backward and racist and are looking to be led by a demagogue.

The reality is that there is not in fact a mass racist movement among American workers, and polls show widespread disgust for Trump among all sections of the population. But to the extent that they fail to respond to those identity issues presented as left by the bourgeoisie and the more affluent middle class, such as gay marriage and affirmative action for women and racial minorities, white workers are denounced as reactionary.

Any ability that Trump has to exploit grievances and deep anger and focus them in a reactionary direction is due above all to what passes for left in official American politics. This is an expression of the social interests of privileged layers of the middle class, who have nothing but hostility and contempt for the working class.

It was only a matter of time before a demagogue like Trump stepped in to take advantage of the political vacuum created by the absence of any outlet within the official political set up for the mass grievances of the working class to find expression.

Not only does Obama propose nothing to ameliorate the dire situation faced by millions of people, he expects the American people to forget that his administration has overseen an immense assault on the working class that has resulted in the greatest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in world history.

Social and economic inequality has soared as the top one percent has monopolized the overwhelming majority of income gains since 2009. Through Obamas program of quantitative easing, trillions of dollars of virtually free money have been injected into the stock market. The implementation of Obamacare, presented as a major domestic reform, has involved a massive attack on health care services.

As for blue-collar men [who] have had a lot of trouble in this new economy, it is the Obama administration that set the mold for lower living standards through the government-backed bankruptcies of General Motors and Chrysler in 2009, during which the wages of new autoworkers were cut in half and health care and retirement benefits were decimated.

Far from being a racially determined process, vast portions of the industrial working class of every race, gender and sexual identity have been subjected to the fate of declining living standards over the last period. Under the terms of the most recent contracts enforced by the UAW at the Big Three, workers will continue to make wages that do not even allow them to buy the vehicles they produce.

The Obama administration is the culmination of a longer historical process, during which the Democratic Party has abandoned the program of social reform with which it had previously been associated. For much of the 20th century, the Democrats advocated certain social programs as a means of containing the class struggle and warding off the danger of socialism: Franklin Roosevelts New Deal (including Social Security), Harry Trumans Fair Deal, and Lyndon B. Johnsons war on poverty (including Medicare and Medicaid).

Over the past four decades, the Democratic Party has moved sharply to the right, as the ruling class as a whole responded to the decline in American capitalism by dismantling all the gains won by the working class in an earlier period. While the economic demands of the working class have been dismissed by the existing political structure, great effort has been made to channel popular energy into secondary cultural and identity issues.

The trade unions, for their part, abandoned the working class, including many white workers who reside in what are now Republican-dominated states. The unions worked closely with the companies and the Democratic Party in dismantling entire industries, wiping out hundreds of thousands of jobs.

The more the Democratic Party abandoned and repudiated a program of significant socioeconomic reform, the more it allied itself and made itself the champion of the interests pursued by the affluent middle class as they emerged out of the politics of the New Left in the 1960s and 1970s. The Democratic Party and its hangers-on worked to redefine left politics to focus entirely on issues of identity, gender, race and sexuality.

This process reached a certain culmination in Obama, presented as a transformational candidate who, because of his race, would permanently alter the trajectory of American politics. Many workers, including white workers, supported Obama in 2008 on this basis. Illusions, however, were quickly shattered. The Democratic Party is now associated even more directly with Wall Street and hedge fund operators than the Republicans, the traditional party of the banks and big business.

The Republicans pursued a different strategy during this period, intensifying efforts to use religion and cultivate various forms of backwardness to develop a broader political foundation, while working with the Democrats to implement the demands of the corporate and financial aristocracy. Their ability to win a base of support was facilitated by the rightward shift of the Democrats.

For his part Trump seeks to exploit the hypocrisy and absurdity of so much of what underlies identity politics. More generally the Republicans benefit from the widely perceived insincerity of official left politics.

The real danger is that a demagogue such as Trump working on the same axis of racial politics as the Democrats could turn the anger of white workers in a reactionary direction. Indeed, the neo-fascistic ravings and increasingly open racism of Trump have their political counterpart in the obsessive focus on race by the Democratic Party and those in its orbit. In both cases, the function is to divide and misdirect the working class.

The self-absorbed preoccupation of the pseudo-left with various forms of identity and their complete indifference to the issues facing the working class as a class only facilitate Trumps exploitation of deep-rooted and largely ignored social grievances.

The more basic dynamic in the United States is the deep anger and hostility of the vast majority of the working class toward both political parties. However, what is ultimately required for this sentiment to find progressive expressioncreating the conditions for dealing with the likes of Trumpis the building of an independent political movement of the working class, irreconcilably opposed to the Democratic Party and its left periphery, and to the Republicans and their ultra-right demagogy.
In the course of 2015, Germany had made significant strides in its return to great power politics and the rebuilding of its military. The German army is taking part in risky military provocations against Russia, undertaking new military deployments in Afghanistan and Mali, and is now also taking part in the war in Syria.

Recent comments by leading politicians, journalists and academics leave no room for doubt that the march to war will be continued in 2016. The demands raised extend from new weaponry for the armed forces to the expansion of the role of Germany in the Middle East and Africa, together with the deployment of German ground troops in Syria and the reintroduction of compulsory military service.

After Christmas, the president of the Armed Forces Alliance, Andre Wustner, spoke in a long interview with Deutschlandfunk radio about the continuing revamping of the armed forces. He said: We are absolutely in the red and it is important that the [defence] minister and parliament make adjustments because we have a change of situation. And all the things we have to do can no longer be accomplished with the personnel and materials at hand.

Wustner demanded immediate measures be taken to increase the personnel of the armed forces by up to 10,000. He insisted that the upper limit of personnel in the armed forces be made more flexible, at the very least. In the course of the new orientation of the army, beginning in 2010, an upper limit of 185,000 soldiers had been set.

Wustner also proposed major changes with regard to equipment. If one wanted to continue upwards starting in 2018 in the so-called NATO spearhead on the Russian border, as promised to NATO, it would be necessary to give equipment provision a massive push.

With regard to the impending deployment in Mali, where 600 additional German soldiers are due to be sent into the fighting in the northern part of the country in 2016, the classic issue is that we actually extremely urgently need  a drone capable of bearing weapons.

In Syria as well, one has a new deployment scenario, but not everything that we need in terms of capability, said Wustner. Although the air force is only sending six Tornados now to Turkey, in order to have them ready for full deployment starting in January, this limited deployment is reaching its limits. And that ought not to be the case in so large a country, such a strong country as Germany.

In Eastern Europe, where at least since the Russia-Ukraine crisis there has been a new emphasis on defending the alliance, the armed forces also faced a great challenge, he said. We have officers who are classically educated, very good upstanding women and men, who are winning people over in Afghanistan, but who have never carried out a larger campaign in the framework of the brigade  which one, so to speak, should now practice in Poland or the Baltic states, with a view to the VJTF, said Wustner. The VJTF (Very High Readiness Joint Task Force) is a newly founded spearhead of NATO.

It would not work if one said at the last minute: we should call up a brigade and deploy it in the Baltics and after nothing more than a march  that we are already overextended. The issue at the next NATO Defence Ministers meeting in February will be whether Germany should even mobilise the equivalent of a division. All of this is an enormous exertion of force. The military is on the way at the moment. But it is an enormous exertion and we need equipment for that.

Behind the repeated claim that the armed forces will not be able to fulfil the growing demands of NATO without a massive increase in personnel and equipment is the demand by the German elite for the development of Germany as an independent, aggressive great power. Wustner advocates this openly at the end of the interview, demanding a good and better white paper than before, with clearly formulated national interests.

Wustners demands correspond to the plans of the federal government. According to media reports, the defence minister is considering an expansion and more weapons for the armed forces in the spring at the latest.

In the most recent issue of the Bild am Sonntag, Finance Minister Wolfgang Schauble argued for more deployments, more money for the armed forces and more soldiers as well as the creation of a European army.

Schauble said provocatively: My prediction for the next year is that the insight will prevail that the refugee crisis can only be solved together. For Germany this means also, however, that the demands on us in foreign and security policy are greater than perhaps we would like. We will not stabilise the Middle East without a stronger European engagement. The same goes for Africa.

An article by Dirk Kurbjuweit, entitled The weapon of courage in the current issue of Spiegel magazine reveals what concrete scenarios are being discussed in Berlin. As courage, Kurbjuweit understands the deployment of ground troops in Syria. He writes: If this [the existing] coalition cannot defeat the IS, the west will have to end its empty strategy and help by means of ground troops. There can be no rational reason why the Germans should not fight as well.

He added cynically: It is not easy for me to write this, life is holy to me, but that also goes for the lives of the French, Americans, or British. And it belongs to the professional duties of a soldier that he has to be ready to defer his individual security when fighting for the collective security of an alliance.

Kurbjuweit says quite openly that the aim of the West is not to spread democracy. Instead, the purpose is the neocolonial carving up and long term occupation of the region. If the IS were driven out of Syria and Iraq, that would not be the end of the campaign, he wrote, adding The west will also have to take care of the post war order, since new problems will arise, rivalries, disappointments. The goal can no longer be to implement democracy. The experiences in Afghanistan and Iraq have shown that this is not possible. The goal is to create a stable order. This will require many forces and will last a long time.

Kurbjuweit played a central role in the return of German militarism. Only a few days after President Gauck, Foreign Minister Steinmeier and Defence Minister von der Leyen announced the end of German military restraint at the Munich Security Conference in 2014, he published an article titled Culpability Question Divides Historians Today. His aim was to present a revisionist interpretation of German guilt in the First and Second World Wars and downplay the crimes of National Socialism.

In addition to the notorious German apologist for National Socialism, Ernst Nolte, Kurbjuweit also quoted Professors Herfried Munkler and Jorg Baberowski from Humboldt University in Berlin.

Kurbjuweit introduces Munkler as the prime mover for the re-evaluation of German responsibility in the outbreak of the First World War. The theses of the renowned German historian Fritz Fischer are in principle outrageous, Munkler declared. Fischer proved in his influential 1961 study, Germanys Aims in the First World War, that German imperialism had a large share of the responsibility in the outbreak of World War I.

Kurbjuweit quotes Baberowskis now infamous words: Hitler was not a psychopath, he was not vicious. He did not want to talk about the extermination of the Jews at his table.

The political consequences of these comments are becoming ever clearer. A conspiratorial clique of military and intelligence agencies, warmongers in politics and the media, and war ideologists at the universities have made the decision to go on a war footing once again, despite the crimes of German imperialism in two world wars and widespread anti-militarist sentiments in the population.
It turns out the front business from The Godfather is where the real money is.

A new report from CBSs 60 Minutes looks at what it calls the Agromafia, an estimated $16-billion-a-year business of passing off lesser olive oil, wine, and cheese as high-end food products.

To combat the problem, Italian law enforcement has amped up its food fraud division, which employs 60 tasters who can spot oils that have been tampered with  often diluted with cheap sunflower or canola oil. In the past two years, the unit has seized 59,000 tons of food, some of it contaminated with solvents or pesticides.

The profit margins for high-end food products can be huge. High-quality extra virgin olive oil  made from the first pressing of olives  can sell for $50 a gallon, but a fake can cost only $7 to make. Thats a difference CBS News correspondent Bill Whitaker estimates is three times higher than cocaine.

Law enforcement has found mozzarella bleached with detergent, and rotten seafood covered up with citric acid.

MORE: Why Olive Oil Testing Is Important

(Photo: StockFood GmbH/Alamy Stock Photo)

Italian-based journalist Tom Mueller has written about olive oil fraud since 2007. He estimates that about half of the extra virgin olive oil sold in Italian supermarkets is mislabeled. In the United States, the percentage is as high as 75 or 80 percent.

So what can consumers do to avoid getting ripped off? 60 Minutes producer Guy Campanile says to look at labels carefully. A specific city name in an olive-producing area, such as Sicily or Puglia, is a good sign, as is a date of when it was made. Olive oil is essentially a fruit juice, so you dont want to eat it when its too old.

Another option is to consider California olive oils, because youre likely to get them when they are younger and fresher.

To watch the full report from the CBS site, click here.



MORE: Do Not Buy Another Bottle of Oliver Oil Until You Read This
Cabin life doesnt get more perfect than this. (Photo: Jo Piazza)

On the first day of each month, at the stroke of 8 a.m. PST, slots open up for the nine Steep Ravine cabins in Mt. Tamalpais State Park, in Northern California.

The cabins are booked six months in advance, and at 8 a.m. on that one day you can reserve them for up to a week at a time for the month half a year away. The spaces are often gone within 60 seconds.

A birds eye view of Steep Ravine. (Photo: Jo Piazza)

Ask Bay Area residents about the cabins (just a half hour from downtown San Francisco) and they take on a wishful tone, referring to the properties as a bucket-list adventure.

These may just be the most coveted state park cabins in the country and for good reason. Perched secretly on the bluffs above the Pacific Ocean, each rustic cabin has million dollar ocean views and a sense of seclusion and complete tranquility.

Each cabin has the basics  a small wood stove, a picnic table and benches, sleeping platforms, and an outdoor barbecue. The cabins do not have running water or electricity. Modern toilets are just up the hill, and firewood is available for $8 a bundle on the honor system.



For everything else, it is BYOE (bring your own everything): food, sleeping bags, drinks, games, lanterns, and music.

It can get cold at night. Get some wood. (Photo: Jo Piazza)

This idyllic little stretch of land off of the Coastal Highway One was purchased by a private investor right before the turn of 20th century. During the Depression, a group of folks lived on the cliffs above the beach in a makeshift driftwood version of Hooverville. Thirteen cabins were constructed in 1938. They were subsequently used as a fort during World War II and then an artists enclave during the fifties and sixties, when the area became known as Hot Springs Beach, due to the springs that bubbled up into the cliff rocks during low tide. The photographer Dorothea Lange famously rented one of the spaces for just $450 for the entire year.

Story continues

Related: Ive Climbed Kilimanjaro More Than 250 Times

This is your view  from every cabin. (Photo: Jo Piazza)

Today, the cabins cost $75 a night and can hold four adults (who dont mind close quarters) and a few kids. Theyre simple and rustic and perfect for a weekend getaway from San Francisco. For the better part of six months I have tried to reserve one of them using the website. Each time the cabins open up, no matter how quickly I click and I type, they are gone before I can nab one.

An early morning hike from Steep Ravine. (Photo: Jo Piazza)

Sometimes fate is kind. People cancel and the $75 a night fee is just enough that guests want to try to recoup their money. If you check the website often enough, at just the right moment, youll get lucky. Thats what happened on Jan. 1  not a terrible way to begin 2016.

The cabins are numbered and whimsically named  Dipsea, Hot Springs, San Andreas, Farallon. On a clear day you can see straight out to the Farallon islands just west of Point Reyes. All through the night you will hear waves crashing onto the beach.

A poem by Margaretta Mitchell that had been pinned to the inside of our cabin, Dipsea, or cabin 2, read: Here is a different state of being where a morning cobweb becomes a fairy handkerchief.

Sunset along the Steep Ravine bluffs. (Photo: Jo Piazza)



Getting there



There is one parking space allotted for each cabin. Its easy to drive straight there, but there are also plenty of hikes that will take you right in, the most famous of which is the Dipsea Trail. The Dipsea stretches 7 miles from downtown Mill Valley, through Muir Woods, and then uphill, skirting the slopes of Mt. Tamalpais.

On clear days you can see the Sutro Tower, San Francisco Bay, the Golden Gate Bridge, Mt Tamalpais, and a huge swath of the Pacific Ocean.

The trail continues all the way to Stinson Beach, but a mile detour will take you onto the Steep Ravine Trail, alongside a babbling creek and right to the entrance of the campsite.

There is something magical about arriving at such a beautiful destination by walking, powered entirely by your body. If youre up for it, I highly recommend it.

Related: Would You Take the Worlds Most Dangerous Hike?

Hiking down the Steep Ravine Trail. (Photo: Jo Piazza)

The perfect packing list

LED lantern. Bring a couple lanterns and a bungee cord to hang them with. There is no electricity in the cabins, so make sure to charge before you go or bring along extra batteries.

Curtains. The cabin windows are unobscured, so if you want a modicum of privacy, bring along your own window coverings. There are clips above the window frames, so a sarong or small sheet will do the trick.

Foam pads. The beds here are wooden platforms, and they can take a real bite out of your back.

Sleeping bags. It can get awfully chilly at night, even with the wood-burning stove.



A little rug. Cabin floors are bare, so a little rug will be a nice addition for in front of the fire.

The wood stove warms up the entire cabin. (Photo: Jo Piazza)



Binoculars. Youll need these to catch site of dolphins or whales off the coast, depending on the season.



A cooler. For all the delicious drinks and cheese, of course.

The campsite provides wheelbarrows to help you lug all of your things from the car.

You may never want to leave. (Photo: Jo Piazza)

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Opinion / Columnist

Tendai Ruben Mbofana is a community activist, communications specialist, journalist, and writer. He writes in his personal capacity. He also welcomes and appreciates feedback and comments. Please feel free to call/WhatsApp: +263782283975, or email: tendaiandtinta.mbofana@gmail.com

As Zimbabweans are daily driven into untold despair and desperation by a government that has all but dumped the nation into an abyss of pain and suffering, one is made to wonder if these people in power today ever learnt anything about leadership from their mothers.Mothers are part of the leadership of the family structure - in practise, they are effectively the real leaders of the home - and our government can learn some invaluable lessons from them.The first lesson our government should learn is unconditional love, that does not expect anything in return.Mothers carried us in their wombs for nine months, despite all the pain and discomfort associated with pregnancy, gave birth to us in one of the most painful events known to mankind, took care of us in all our growing up, fed us, clothed us, spent sleepless nights when we cried endlessly, carried us on their backs to the nearest health institution when we were sick, made sure we attained an education, taught us life skills, defended us from our tormentors, and virtually sacrificed their whole lives for us.Despite all that our mothers did - and still do - they never expect any rewards or payback from us because they did it from unconditional love.However, what we witness from our government is shameless haughtiness that holds the nation at ransom for having fought for us, liberated us from colonial bandage, and as such we owe them.That in itself shows that their so-called 'sacrifice' for our liberation was never a sacrifice at all - it was done with the sole aim of getting into power.The liberation struggle was never about the people of Zimbabwe, but about a few power-hungry people who merely saw an opportunity in the subjugation and oppression of the people by the colonial regime, and used that to fulfill their ambitions for power.Anyone who demands allegiance due to what they would have done for us, clearly did not do what they did out of love, but out of brazen selfish motives.That is why these leaders today live lavish lifestyles, yet the majority of the people - whom they alleged to have fought for - live in poverty, hopelessness, and misery.The very same people that they told at 'pungwes' during the liberation struggle that they were the water and the combatants were the fish, and so the fish could not survive without the water.Little did anyone know what this actually meant - for it actually meant that these 'fish', who have now become 'big fish', will use, abuse and plunder the 'water' for their own self-aggrandisement, and leave the 'water' empty and poor.However, a mother would never do that, as she will actually add value to her children, and not use and abuse them for her own selfish benefit.In fact, another lesson our government should learn from mothers is self-sacrifice.A mother will give up everything for her children to have a decent life.If there is not enough food in the home, the mother would rather go to bed hungry, as long as her children have eaten something.The mother makes sure that the children have eaten enough first, then if there is still anything left, she will then feed.However, the Zimbabwean government is the complete opposite - they want to feed first, and when they have had their 'lion's share', they then leave the crumbs for the rest of the nation.Despite our country's vast mineral resources, none of this has benefited the majority of the people, as the country's wealth has gone to feed the luxurious lifestyles of our leaders.Whilst the majority of Zimbabweans are out of work - or if still employed, are not even getting paid the paltry salaries they are promised - those that are retrenched are denied their terminal benefits, and the elderly are expected to survive on US$60 a month, our leaders are living lavish lifestyles that even leave Bill Gates envious.If government truly had no money, and if by some malevolent conspiracy of the British and the West, our economy was being sabotaged through sanctions, why are our leaders not also suffering?Real leaders would ensure that the nation has been 'fed' first before they 'feed', and if resources are scarce, then the leadership has to 'go to bed hungry'.To make matters worse, is the shameless flaunting of this wealth by our leaders in the face of a people who can not even afford one decent meal a day.They act as if they earned this wealth through hard decent work, yet it is through taxes paid by the very same people they are oppressing - and through pillaging of the nation's resources.A mother would sell all she has in order to feed, clothe, and shelter her children - will we ever witness a day when our leaders will sell all their assets in order to ensure that the rest of us have food on the table, a house to call home, and send our children to school?Will there ever be a day that our government would seriously implement people-oriented economic policies?A time when government ministers do an honest day's work - whereby they spend the day seriously working on uplifting the lives of the people, instead of spending the day scheming on how to further enrich themselves, or jostling for power?A third lesson to learn from our mothers is that no matter what their children do, they will always protect them.Mothers always say, 'mbereko hairaswi', in other words, a mother will never forsake, abandon or hurt her own child.Children may rebel sometimes in their course of growing up and get themselves into all manner of trouble, but they can count on their mothers' endless love. They can run back to their mothers and receive a comforting embrace.From a mother comes protection from life's injustices and she will not harm her own children.However, a shameless contrast we see from our government, as most of the injustice and harm inflicted on the people of Zimbabwe has been at the hands of their own government.Instead of protecting its citizens - no matter how opposed they are to the government - the country's leadership has found it worthy to be the primary source of injustice and brutality on the people.Such untoward behaviour is clearly not to be expected of a leadership that seeks respect.A leadership worthy of respect also respects its citizens; it values differing opinions, and places the tenets of democracy at the heart of all its principles.As Evelyn Beatrice Hall (I am sure that she is a mother) once said, "I do not agree with what you have to say, but I'll defend to the death your right to say it", our leaders are supposed to defend all citizens in spite of differing views and opposition.In Shona there is an adage, 'Mai ndivo mbariro yemba', loosely translated it means that the mother is the unifier of the family.In a family, there is to be expected differing views and beliefs, which potentially lead to disagreements and conflict - however, a mother always manages to bring peace and tranquility within the home, with great skill and dexterity.That is an invaluable leadership quality that our government seriously lacks.Ever since independence in 1980, the Zimbabwean government has sought to divide and cause conflict and hate amongst the people of this nation.Using various machinations, ranging from tribalism to racism, the government has practically polarised the nation to such an extent that some wounds would take generations to heal.This can potentially lead to civil strive, and further disintegration of the nation. It is a terribly unwise and dangerous strategy.I remember in 1984, when I was in grade five, terrifiedly watching through my parents' bedroom window - whilst in the comforting and re-assuring embrace of my mother - as hordes of ZANU PF youth brigades toyi-toyied throughout the streets of our residential area at night as they went to every house belonging to a known Ndebele and torched it to the ground.I still remember this very clearly, as if it happened just yesterday, as this incident traumatised me for life.I remember, as we switched off all the lights in our house as the incidents played out (although we are not Ndebele) but it was the most traumatic experience for anyone to witness, what more a mere eleven year old.Real leaders should unite a nation, any society would obviously have differing views on any subject - but resorting to 'divide and conquer' policies of our erstwhile colonisers will only lead to further instability in our nation.It is very clear that what this great country of ours seriously lacks is real leadership - a leadership that provides unconditional love and genuine sacrifice and protection for the nation, whilst not expecting anything in return.The nation does not owe our leaders anything. If anything, our leaders should know that they owe their continued stay in power to the people of this country.They owe us, and should treat us as such.The real power is in the hands of the people of Zimbabwe.Therefore, until we have a responsible government in place, we can safely say that at the moment we have no real leadership in Zimbabwe.
TikTok has become one of the world's most popular social media platforms in less than two years. The app allows users to crea
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All we know about the Incarnation, birth and childhood of Our Lord comes to us from Saint Luke. He was a great painter. He painted a most beautiful picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to whom his whole life was devoted. https://t.co/kSB8cYLLfu

The majority of todays Americans arent old enough to have an adult memory of the Vietnam War from its beginning in the 1960s to the Communists victory in 1975. However, most everybody is aware, even if it has never been and never will be officially acknowledged, that it was in Vietnam that the U.S. met its first defeat in a foreign war. Why were we defeated? The ultimate reason is laid out in a new book, The Lost Mandate of Heaven; The American Betrayal of Ngo Dinh Diem, President of Vietnam, by military historian Geoffrey Shaw, with a foreword by James V. Schall, S.J., published by Ignatius Press.

The reason can be put briefly: The U.S. violated a civilizational principle so basic it didnt have to wait for the advent of Christianity to be enunciated. Socrates had already done it. As expressed by Fr. Schall in his foreword: It is never right to do wrong.

The wrong in the case of the Vietnam War was perpetrated when American officials, believing that the installation of U.S.-style liberal democracy in the Republic of Vietnam (South Vietnam) was the sure and necessary way to thwart the expansionist aggression of Communist North Vietnam, and seeing the countrys Catholic President Diem as the chief obstacle to its installation, instigated the overthrow of Diem in a bloody coup during which he and a brother were barbarously murdered. At least some of the officials must have realized that Diem would likely be killed, given the record of the particular Vietnamese doing the dirty work.

Who were the U.S. officials? President John Kennedy authorized the overthrow. Other key players included Averell Harriman, Roger Hilsman, and Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., all of them operating at the time from within the U.S. State Department.

Cabot Lodge is a name familiar to persons who know something of Boston and Massachusetts society and national politics in the first half of the twentieth century. Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., had been Richard Nixons running mate in Nixons failed 1960 election bid for the White House. He was the kind of Episcopalian New England patrician whose anti-Catholicism had less to do with the teachings of the Faith than with a sense of Anglo-Saxon and class superiority that saw Catholics (and Jews) as not as acceptable as ones own kind regardless of how much money they had or public offices they occupied. He would never have stooped to saying, Some of my best friends are Catholic. Kennedy made him ambassador to Saigon, in which position he oversaw the coup against Diem on the Feast of All Souls, 1963.

No, it wasnt U.S. troops on that day who seized the intensely devout Diem and his brother at Saigons Church of Saint Francis Xavier where they had just attended Mass, forced them into an armored personnel carrier, cut their gall bladders from their living bodies and then shot them. Neither did the U.S. officials who instigated and approved Diems overthrow ever quite utter words like kill or execute in their discussions, but his permanent elimination, one way or another, was intended. In other words, we are talking here about moral responsibility.

Lyndon Johnson, U.S. Vice President at the time of the killing and who was opposed to the overthrow when it was planned (as was CIA Saigon station chief and later CIA Director William Colby), assigned the responsibility where it belonged in a 1966 tape-recorded telephone conversation with U.S. Senator Eugene McCarthy (the reader can hear this for himself on YouTube): We killed him. We all got together and got a goddamn bunch of thugs and we went in and assassinated him.

Madame Nhu, sister-in-law of President Diem and wife of the brother slain with the President (another brother was Archbishop of Saigon) certainly saw things that way. She was in the U.S. trying to enlist popular support for Diems goal of a unified, anti-Communist and independent Vietnam when the killing took place. At a news conference on November 5, 1963, she declared, Whoever has the Americans for allies does not need any enemies. She continued presciently, I can predict to you all that the story in Vietnam is only at its beginning.

In fact the story would go on aimlessly and immorally for more than a decade, with various Vietnamese generals succeeding Diem as the U.S. shifted its support from one to another and at a cost of 58,000 American lives and the lives of perhaps as many as 3.1 million Vietnamese.

Aimlessly? Diem had a goal. No one who followed him had, except to try to stay in power. The U.S. hadnt, except to see liberal democracy take hold, but that was as good as aimless since it was no more realizable in Vietnam than it would be in Afghanistan and Iraq forty years later (or in Syria today).

Why was it immoral? A war waged without aim is immoral by its very nature. It is waged for nothing, and human lives should never be sacrificed for nothing. Of course it could be said the U.S. fought in order to achieve victory (or put another way, not be defeated), but at what point can victory be seen as achieved if the war is aimless?

The tragedy of Vietnam is compounded because the U.S. President who authorized Diems overthrow was Catholic. Fr. Schall characterizes Kennedy as weak and vacillating. That will be too much to swallow for Americans who have never looked through the smoke and mirrors that have surrounded the figure of the man ever since his own assassination exactly three weeks after Diems. Abstracting from his personal weaknesses  his womanizing and addiction to prescription uppers and downers  perhaps it is enough to recall that during his campaign for the presidency Kennedy promised a highly publicized gathering of Baptist ministers that if elected he would not be influenced by his religion. More image than substance he certainly was, but this was a campaign promise he kept. If he practiced the Catholicism he professed, he would have had Diems back.

Saying that is a way of telling readers too young to remember the sixties that Diems Catholicism, if not exactly the cause of our overthrowing him was the excuse for doing so. The American public was regularly seeing television news footage of Buddhist monks immolating themselves in protest against the supposed oppression their religion suffered under the Catholic (and authoritarian) Diem. The pictures and very idea of these men burning themselves to death horrified Americans taught that the Pilgrims who landed at Plymouth Rock were fleeing religious persecution and that the First Amendment (no establishment of religion) encapsulated the genius of the U.S. political system. They could feel a moment of pride when they heard a reporter ask the Saigon-bound Henry Cabot Lodge at an airport press conference what his mission in Vietnam was going to be and the new ambassador tersely replied, To defend religious freedom.

When the war was over, the victorious Hanoi regime acknowledged that the men who burned themselves to death were North Vietnamese agents, but this news was ignored by U.S. media. It came twelve years too late anyway.

Everything Ive reported here, and much more, is told in documented detail by Geoffrey Shaw in his book, but why bother to learn the truth about events most do not now remember? Ill quote Fr. Schall again:

The redemption of memory is a necessary step in restoring the order of truth to its prime position in our thinking and our policy. Shaw has provided the evidence for this redemption. Presenting this evidence is what a historian can do for the public good. The killing of Ngo Dinh Diem was not another death of a corrupt politician. It was a step in the death of the basic principle on which civilization rests.

That basic principle again: It is never right to do wrong. Recognizing violation of the principle in Vietnam will be a help in recognizing the wrongs perpetrated elsewhere in the decades since and that will continue to be until Americans and everyone, or at least a much larger number than now, throughout the formerly Christian West recognizes the greatest wrong of all: the embrace of the basic principle on which liberalism in all its forms rests, including the form called conservatism in the U.S.: that men may and even should conduct their lives and the affairs of the world without reference to anything higher than themselves, as if God does not exist.

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"We make war that we may live in peace."

--Aristotle

"I exhort you never to debase the moral currency or to lower the

standard of rectitude, but to try others by the final maxim that

governs your own lives, and to suffer no man and no cause to escape

the undying penalty which history has the power to inflict on wrong."

--Lord Acton

"Liberty is not a means to a higher political end. It is itself the

highest political end...liberty is the only object which benefits all

alike, and provokes no sincere opposition...The danger is not that a

particular class is unfit to govern. Every class is unfit to govern...

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

--Lord Acton

"It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry,

Peace, Peace--but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from

the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the

field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life

so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it,

Almighty God! I know not what course others may take;

but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

--Patrick Henry

"These are the times that try men's souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine

patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now,

deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we

have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."

--Thomas Paine

"The way to secure liberty is to place it in the people's hands, that is,

to give them the power at all times to defend it in the legislature and

in the courts of justice"

--John Adams

"Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will

within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I

do not add 'within the limits of the law' because law is often

but the tyrant's will, and always so when it violates the rights

of the individual."

--Thomas Jefferson

"No man has a natural right to commit aggression on the equal rights of

another, and this is all from which the laws ought to restrain hima?the idea

is quite unfounded that on entering into society we give up any natural rights."

--Thomas Jefferson

"An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise of power over his

fellow citizens."

--Thomas Jefferson

"The protection of our citizens, the spirit and honor of our country, require

that force should be interposed to a certain degree."

--Thomas Jefferson

"To draw around the whole nation the strength of the General Government

as a barrier against foreign foes... is [one of the] functions of the General Government on which [our citizens] have a right to call."

--Thomas Jefferson

"It is our duty still to endeavor to avoid war; but if it shall actually

take place, no matter by whom brought on, we must defend ourselves. If our house be on fire, without

inquiring whether it was fired from within or without, we must try to extinguish it."

--Thomas Jefferson

"I am ever unwilling that [peace] should be disturbed as long as

the rights and interests of the nations can be preserved. But whensoever hostile aggressions on these

require a resort to war, we must meet our duty and convince the world that we are

just friends and brave enemies."

--Thomas Jefferson

"By nature's law, man is at peace with man till some aggression is

committed, which, by the same law, authorizes one to destroy another as

his enemy."

--Thomas Jefferson

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against

every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

--Thomas Jefferson

"Our duty to ourselves, to posterity, and to mankind, call on us

by every motive which is sacred or honorable, to watch over the safety of our beloved country

during the troubles which agitate and convulse the residue of the world, and to sacrifice to

that all personal and local considerations."

--Thomas Jefferson

"It is an essential attribute of the jurisdiction of every country

to preserve peace, to punish acts in breach of it, and to restore property taken by force within

its limits."

--Thomas Jefferson

"By nature's law, man is at peace with man till some aggression

is committed, which, by the same law, authorizes one to destroy another

as his enemy."

--Thomas Jefferson

"Peace and friendship with all mankind is our wisest policy,

and I wish we may be permitted to pursue it. But the temper and folly of our enemies may

not leave this in our choice."

--Thomas Jefferson

"We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly,

we shall all hang separately."

--Benjamin Franklin

"I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people

by gradual and silent encroachments of those in power than by violent

and sudden usurpations."

--James Madison

"Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without

it nothing can succeed."

--Abraham Lincoln

"At what point shall we expect the approach of danger? By what means shall we

fortify against it? Shall we expect some transatlantic military giant, to step the Ocean, and crush us at a

blow? Never! All the armies of Europe, Asia and Africa combined, with all the treasure of the earth (our own excepted)

in their military chest; with a Buonaparte for a commander, could not by force, take a drink from the Ohio, or make a

track on the Blue Ridge, in a trial of a thousand years. At what point, then, is the approach of danger to be expected?

I answer, if it ever reach us it must spring up amongst us. It cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot,

we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time,

or die by suicide."

--Abraham Lincoln

"The probability that we may fall in the struggle ought not to deter us from the

support of a cause we believe to be just; it shall not deter me."

--Abraham Lincoln

"Property is the fruit of labor...property is desirable...is a positive

good in the world. That some should be rich shows that others may become rich, and hence is just encouragement

to industry and enterprise. Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another; but let him labor

diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall

be safe from violence when built."

--Abraham Lincoln

"We all declare for liberty; but in using the same word we do not all mean

the same thing. With some the word liberty may mean for each man to do as he pleases with himself, and

the product of his labor; while with others, the same word many mean for some men to do as they please

with other men, and the product of other men's labor. Here are two, not only different, but incompatible

things, called by the same name - liberty. And it follows that each of the things is, by the respective

parties, called by two different and incompatible names -

liberty and tyranny."

--Abraham Lincoln

"If all do not join now to save the good old ship of the Union this voyage

nobody will have a chance to pilot her on another voyage."

--Abraham Lincoln

"It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points

out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust

and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again;

who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions, and spends himself in a worthy cause;

who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement; and who, at worst,

if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with

those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat."

--Theodore Roosevelt

"Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs,

even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy

much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that

knows not victory nor defeat."

--Theodore Roosevelt

"The liberty of a democracy is not safe if the people tolerate the growth

of private power to a point where it comes stronger than their democratic

state itself. That, in its essence, is fascism - ownership of government by

an individual, by a group."

--Franklin D. Roosevelt

"War has been waged against us by stealth and deceit and murder.

This nation is peaceful, but fierce when stirred to anger. This conflict was begun on the

timing and terms of others. It will end in a way, and at an hour,

of our choosing."

--George W. Bush

"When the conduct of men is designed to be influenced, persuasion, kind unassuming persuasion, should ever be adopted. It is an old and true maxim that 'a drop of honey catches more flies

than a gallon of gall.' So with men. If you would win a man to your cause, first convince him

that you are his sincere friend. Therein is a drop of honey that catches his heart, which, say

what he will, is the great highroad to his reason, and which, once gained, you will find but little trouble in convincing him of the justice of your cause, if indeed that cause is really

a good one."

--Abraham Lincoln

"To arrive at a just estimate of a renowned man's character one must judge

it by the standards of his time, not ours."

--Mark Twain

"It is with trifles and when he is off guard that a man best

reveals his character."

--Arthur Schopenhauer

"When men speak ill of thee, live

so as nobody may believe them."

--Plato

"He that has light within his own clear breast may sit in the center,

and enjoy bright day: But he that hides a dark soul and foul thoughts benighted walks under the

mid-day sun."

--John Milton

"Character consists of what you do on the third

and fourth tries."

--James A. Michener

"We should be too big to take offense and too noble to

give it."

--Abraham Lincoln

"I look to a day when people will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the

content of their character."

--Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

"A man's character is his guardian divinity."

--Heraclitus

"Character develops itself in the stream of life."

--Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

"Do what you know and perception is converted into character."

--Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Of all the properties which belong to honorable men, not one is so

highly prized as that of character."

--Henry Clay
The Amsterdam home of a Jewish family was vandalized by assailants who shouted Cancer Jews and Free Palestine.The incident on the night between December 31 and January 1 was reported on the political blog Dagelijkse Standaard. Louis Bontes, a former police officer, and Joram van Klaveren subsequently reported the incident to the minister of social affairs and employment, as well as to the minister of security and justice.The article did not identify the victims, but featured a reproduction of their Facebook post in which they wrote: Last night, a few teens decided their celebrations are not complete without some hatred. While yelling Cancer Jews and Free Palestine, they kicked our doors and windows.The blog also showed a picture of damage caused to the door.Police have not made any arrests in the incident, which occurred more than a week after the the Dutch capitals mayor pledged $1.27 million for the protection of Jewish institutions in the city.Bontes and van Klaveren, independent members of the Dutch lower house who once belonged to the right-wing Party for Freedom, asked the ministers in their query: To what degree do you accept that Jewish museums, schools and synagogues in 2016 in the Netherlands require protection from violence and intimidation is a sign of social decline?In 2014, the Dutch watchdog group CIDI recorded 171 anti-Semitic incidents. The figure was 100 in 2013.
Mojo Burrito which has since relocated to the old American Legion building in St. Elmo

Being a tourist gateway to the Lookout Mountain attractions, the St. Elmo business district today has several nice restaurants and shops for visitors. In years past, the district had businesses which primarily catered to residents. There was Incline Drugs which had a large 3D neon mortar-and-pestle as its signage. Incline Hardware, Mrs. J.E. Jones Grocery, Redfords 5-and-10-cent Store, and Zahnds Dry Goods were shoppers delights. A barber and a physician each took care of needs of the community. For many years Frank A. Lombardo, proprietor of the St. Elmo Shoe Shop, crafted and repaired leather items.

Frank Lombardo spent his early years in Sandusky, Ohio but lived most of his life in Chattanooga. His wife was also from Sandusky. They married in 1936.

When Mr. Lombardo was sixteen, he worked for a statuary shop run by Z. Stefano Giulano and helped to carve the eagle statues that are located at Eagles Nest (http://www.hikelookout.org/trails/eagles.php), an interesting site near the Ruby Falls parking lot.

Mr. Lombardo also was a musician in his younger years, playing the saxophone and clarinet.

He and his father had a shoe shop on Main Street prior to moving to St. Elmo. The Lombardos had a shop near the Incline Restaurant, then in 1948 moved into a new building at 3815 St. Elmo Avenue. The business was originally called the St. Elmo Shoe Hospital, but was renamed to St. Elmo Shoe Shop after Mr. Lombardo tired of receiving prank calls asking if it was a real hospital.

I recall visiting the shoe shop several times with my father when we lived in St. Elmo. The aroma of leather and polish greeted each visitor. It was striking to see how many tools, machines, and leather items were packed into such a small building. Mr. Lombardo would be busy working, and would tell us Be right with you as he worked towards a stopping point on repairing an item.

Frank Lombardo gave back to his community by teaching leather craftsmanship to students at Lookout Jr. High in St. Elmo and at Howard.

A feature article in the March 27, 1988 Chattanooga News-Free Press provided readers with photographs and narrative of Frank Lombardo and his work. In addition to repairing shoes, he also was an artist who crafted leather into pictures and portraits. He used a Newsweek cover photo of President Dwight D. Eisenhower as reference for a portrait tooled in leather. President Eisenhower thanked him in a signed letter on White House stationery.

Originally planning to retire in 1988, Frank Lombardo kept his shop open until 1991. His daughters had been helping with operation of the business. Throwaway shoes on the market, high cost of materials, and failing eyesight led to his decision to retire. He was 76 years old when he closed business for the final time. Frank Lombardo passed away on August 7, 2002.

Other businesses have since occupied the space of the former shoe shop. St. Elmos Fire, Mojo Burrito, and most recently, Finders Keeper, have done business there.

Source information for this article came from Mr. Lombardos obituary, the aforementioned Chattanooga News-Free Press article, information shared by Frannie Narramore (one of Mr. Lombardos daugters), and my personal recollection of the business.

If you have memories of the St. Elmo Shoe Shop, please e-mail me at jolleyh@bellsouth.net. Ill update this article with some of your memories.

Memories of Readers



Mr Lombardo also repaired and re-strung our baseball gloves. He also helped with our cleats. Often for free or material cost only!
Court of Appeals Judge D. Michael Swiney, of Knoxville, has been selected by judges of the 12-member court to be chief judge for a term of one year.Judge Swiney has been a member of the Court of Appeals since 1999, when he was appointed by then-Governor Don Sundquist. He was elected to the bench in August 2000 and re-elected in 2006 and 2014.I am honored to have been selected by my fellow judges and look forward to the challenge of this expanded role with the Court of Appeals, Judge Swiney said.The chief judge of the Court of Appeals is responsible for assigning appellate cases to judges, ensuring the cases on appeal move through in a timely manner to resolution, and other administrative duties.Judge Swiney received a law degree from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1978 and engaged in the private practice of law in Knoxville from 1979 to 1999.Beginning in 1994, he served as a certified mediator with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Tennessee until appointed to the Court of Appeals in July 1999. He served as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee College of Law from 1997 to 2006.Judge Swiney is a member of the Knoxville and Tennessee Bar Associations, and the Hamilton Burnett American Inn of Court. Judge Swiney also served as a member of the Court of the Judiciary from 2003 to 2011.Judge Swiney resides in Knoxville with his wife, Suzann.
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This Michigan Hop Farm Is Taking Chicago's Craft Beer To The Next Level

By Ben Kramer in Food on Jan 4, 2016 3:00PM



Photo provided by Nunzino Pizza.

If you read the label on Revolution's Local Hero, you will see the name Hop Head Farms in small print beneath the pitchfork-wielding hop man. It may seem strange to advertise a hop farm on a label, but Hop Head Farms is different.

Unlike most American hop farms, HHF grows and pellets their own crop in Michigan, not in the Pacific Northwest. They also import hops from Europe, and even though the farm is headquartered in Hickory Corners, Michigan, HHF has ties to Chicago.

Initially, they were told they couldn't do it, with people going so far as to laugh at them when they attended their first Hop Growers Conference. But the idea that founders Nunzino Pizza, Jeff and Bonnie Steinman (husband and wife) dreamt up in 2008, and put to reality in 2012, has flourished since. (But that's the quick version of their story. A more detailed version can be found here.)



Photo provided by Nunzino Pizza.

Now, you may be saying, Okay, what's their connection to Chicago? And what are hops? Simply put, hops are flowers that come from the hop plant Humulus Lupulus. They provide beer with flavors that can range from earthy to citrus, aromas from floral to piney, and bitterness. As for HHF and Chicago, Nunzino Pizza is not only a lifelong Chicagoan, but also a primary investor in Revolution Brewing. Of their 350 clients, HHF can count places such as Revolution, Goose Island, Half Acre, Pipeworks, Begyle, and DryHop as breweries on their list.

How were they able to woo these well known, respected establishments?

Nunzino would bring us pellets, remembers Matt Gallagher, co-founder of Half Acre Brewing Co. And he'd bring us whole hop leafs as well.

We started going to people (and asked), 'Are you intrigued by this,' says Pizza. Samples started going out, orders started to go in. The product spoke for itself, sold itself, and gave Chicago brewers something new to play with. It wasn't long until breweries like Goose Island and Half Acre realized they could utilize HHF hops for wet-hop ales, a style typically done between August and October, and most common in the west coast, due to easier and closer access to hop farms.

Wet-hop ales are beers brewed with freshly picked hops that are taken straight from the fields and into the brewhouse. They are fresh, not dried, and their oils, aromas and flavor are at their peak. Jeff Alworth, author of The Beer Bible, describes the style in his book as, simple and lean, but they are fully evolved beers...the flavors they give are expressive and vivid, less cookie dough, more freshly baked cookies. He goes on to describe the hops as being more delicate in flavor and aroma, unlike dried pellets, where the flavors become more concentrated and intense.

For the past two years, Goose Island has teamed with HHF for their wet Sticky Feathers IPA while Half Acre started using HHF Chinook for their Sticky Fat American Dark Ale in 2014. Half Acre has been doing Sticky Fat for five years. They previously used hops from the West Coast, which would take days to arrive, and as Gallagher puts it, came in, varying states of decay. When they switched to HHF, he described the difference as being, Night and day, with the beer having a, much more intense and pronounced wet hop flavor than when we had used hops from Washington, and California.

The ability to brew wet hop ales may be a plus for Chicago breweries, but an even greater benefit has been allowing them easy access to hops when they're in a pinch. It's great for me, says Keith Gabbett, Senior Brewer and Hop Selector at Goose Island. They [have] helped us out with a few hops we've had a hard time getting...they've pulled us out of a few jams.

One such jam happened last spring, when Gabbett was running trials on a session sour (which should be out next year) and his hop shipment got tied up. He called HHF, explained the situation, and asked if they could deliver him some Hallertau Blanc and Huell Melon that day. Within 12 hours he got them.

With our customer service, says Pizza. One of the things we really wanted to be was a part of the community. Like, when your friend calls, how long do you wait to call them back? They're reaching out to you-let's get back in touch and see what's happening.



Photo provided by Nunzino Pizza.

It's a philosophy that's working, and continues to earn them friends here in Chicago, and across the country. Since they've started growing, they've quietly made great contributions to Chicago craft beer, and even if it may go under the radar, they make quite the impact. Whether in a Centennial Ninja from 2013, a Euchred this October, or occasionally a batch of Daisy Cutter, they help shape some of Chicago's finest beers. And so long as they keep growing (they'll own 500 acres by 2018), their contributions will most likely become greater and greater.
11 Of Our Favorite Events In Chicago This Week

Winter ain't so bad. There's still plenty to do this week, including celebrating David Bowie's birthday (and impending album release) with several parties.

MONDAY JANUARY 4

DANCE CLASSES: Learn how to dance at the Chicago Human Rhythm Projects Winter Dance Free-4-All. Theyre offering free classes in tap, breakdance, hip hop, pilates and much more at the American Rhythm Center from January 4-9. Check their website for the full schedule.



TUESDAY JANUARY 5

READING SERIES: Eden Robins and Gapers Block editor Andrew Huff co-host the eclectic monthly reading series Tuesday Funk at Hopleaf at 7:30 p.m. Among this weeks guests is former Chicagoist editor-in-chief, Chuck Sudo. Free.



WEDNESDAY JANUARY 6

BEER AND BURPEES: A new kind of workout launches in North Center on Wednesday. Work out at Bethany United Church of Christs gymnasium and then reward yourself at The Piggery afterward. Repeat with the Beer and Burpees crew from 6:45 to 7:30 p.m. every week. First month is $20.



THURSDAY JANUARY 7



Image via Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival's website.

COMEDY SKETCHFEST: The worlds largest sketch comedy festival kicks off on Thursday at Stage 773. This is the fifteenth year for the Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival, and its grown to 165 groups performing 186 shows over 8 days. All shows are $15.

ELVIS FEST: Thursday would have been the Kings 81st birthday, and The Original Mothers hosts their annual Elvis Fest in his honor. Theyll have performances from the Elvis Entertainers Network, a peanut butter and banana buffet, and a lookalike contest with a trip to Vegas as the grand prize. $5 suggested donation benefits the Variety Childrens Charity of Illinois.

BOWIE BALL: What better way to celebrate the Thin White Dukes birthday than with a ball at Berlin? The evening, hosted by mistress of ceremonies Lucy Stoole, will feature bowiesque DJ sets founder Heaven Malone with Maewest plus a glitter and glam makeover booth from Anjali and performances and other odditys. 10 p.m. RSVP for reduced cover.



FRIDAY JANUARY 8

NAKED GIRLS READING: Check out the Chicago Naked Girls as they read stories from Roald Dahl, whileyou guessed itnaked at Studio Lamour. Its a golden ticket to see the ladies read classics like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach and more. 8 p.m. Tickets are $20.

BANDS + ARCADE: DJ Nodj and Terrible Spaceship take the stage for a free night of performances at Emporium Arcade Bar Wicker Park. The music gets started at 9 p.m.

BOWIE BIRTHDAY BASH: Late Bar hosts another birthday party for David Bowie featuring a live tribute performance from Rebel Rebels. Expect glam rock all night long from DJs Lisa Marchese and Carrie Monster. 8 p.m. No cover.

TRUMP ROAST: The Late Late Breakfast at the Hideout has pancakes, drinks and a roast of Donald Trump from an expert panel of comedians. Theyll be in character as politicians and celebrities attacking the Donald, as well as each other. 8 p.m. Tickets are $5.

STAND UP COMEDY: Hometown comedian Beth Stelling sets out on a weekend-long stand at Zanies on Friday. Shes appeared on Conan and Jimmy Kimmel Live and had her very own special on Comedy Central last fall. Tickets are $25.
Here Is Scotland Yard Gospel Choir's Ode To Clark And Belmont (Their First New Song In 5 Years)

By Tankboy in Arts & Entertainment on Jan 4, 2016 5:25PM



Photo credit: Casey Black

Chicago's Scotland Yard Gospel Choir has been largely on hiatus since a horrific bus crash that almost killed the whole band in 2009. In fact, since the crash, many band members left for other parts of the country. Frontman Elia Einhorn, most notably, went to New York to pursue music, while also producing and engineering The Talkhouse's series of excellent podcasts. However, the band has resurfaced today with a new track, "Clark & Belmont."

The band is sharing the unreleased song with Chicagoist in reaction to a recent spate of closings in Lakeview, which hit Chicago's underground scene hard. It began with the demise of the Dunkin' Donuts at the intersection of Clark and Belmontlovingly also known as Punkin' Donuts based on the throngs of misfits in its lot. Soon after came news that The Alley, where many of those misfits bought clothes that pissed off legions of parents, would be closing as well. The loss of this slice of Chicago that drove so many young kids into the arms of punk rock, indie music, and all things anti-establishment inspired Scotland Yard Gospel Choir to finally release some new music.

Einhorn told Chicagoist that this is the first song from the band's recorded but unreleased next (and final) album. Here's your exclusive first listen.

Clark & Belmont by The Scotland Yard Gospel Choir

The liner notes from the single do a great job of summing up the feeling that drove the song's creation:

long live punkin donuts! long live every squat-dwelling, tattooed scalp bumming cigarettes on the corner, every brace-faced skokie middle-schooler with a crass patch, every homeless runaway in a germs shirt and mini skirt, every should-be-in-school kid talking about bands too obscure for you. long live the thirty of us who got arrested that summer night in maybe '96 when the owners of punkin donuts got sick of us sitting (aka trespassing) in their parking lot. god bless david who got his balls grabbed by a cop for talking back, dylan who was taken to the police station on his first-ever acid trip, ginger whose dad tried to use his clout to get him out of jail and thoroughly failed. long live the trans prostitutes doing blow under the italian restaurant awning, long live the aas from the queer sober clubhouse over ann sather who hoped we'd join them sooner rather than later. god bless the ones who made it out alive and the ones who didn't. long live clark and belmont!

"Clark & Belmont" was recorded and mixed by Mark Yoshizumi, and produced by Yoshizumi and Einhorn. This song sees the return of the iconic line-up of the Choir, featuring Ethan Adelsman, Elia Einhorn, Alison Hinderliter, Mary Ralph, Jay Santana and Mark Yoshizumi.
Thief Steals Ham-Sized Statue Of Abe Lincoln's Hand, For Some Reason

By Mae Rice in News on Jan 4, 2016 3:40PM



Photo of the hand sculpture via the Kankakee Police's Facebook

If you run into someone with one extra-large hand that weirdly reminds you of Abraham Lincoln, you may not be having a fever dream.

Today, in giant Illinois sculptures: Someone has stolen a massive plaster cast of the one-time presidents hand from Illinois Kankakee County Museum, according to none other than The New York Times.

Artist George Grey-Barnards sculpture has been missing since December 11 from Kankakee, a town about an hour south of Chicago, the Times reports.

In a Facebook post, the Kankakee police described the hand in question as follows:

This is valuable piece of Illinois/Kankakee history as Barnard was a Kankakee native. The artifact is well over 150 years old. The artifact was described by the museum curator to be approximately "The size of a 8-10 pound Ham".

The Times justified the story by citing Lincolns particularly iconic status in Illinois. His face graces our license plates, they note, and theres a towering statue of Abe watching over Kankakees highway exit.

However, we do not need to justify it so elaborately. We just like wondering about what the thief is doing with the giant hand. Using it as a creepy doorstop? Hoping that, one day, it will give them its elusive giant thumbs up?

At the same time, we hope it gets returned. Connie Licon, the museums executive director, said of the theft: We were devastated. It just brought us all to the floor. [...] Were a small museum, and we just dont acquire pieces like this.

The theft may be a prank, or an attempt to pawn the artwork, which local police told the Times was worth roughly $5,000.
Film buffs in Shanghai were recently treated to eight rare Chinese movies filmed more than half a century ago. For that, they can thank Marie-Claire Kuo Quiquemelle.

Dedicated French Sinologist has leading role in saving rare Chinese movies from oblivion.

Quiquemelle, 78, is a French expert in China studies. She has collected more than 100 old movies, many of them not aired on the mainland for decades due to scarcity of copies. Among them was "The Barber Takes a Wife," the first Chinese film dubbed in English and screened in Europe and the US after World War II.

She and her husband, Kuo Kwan Leung, have been hailed as guardians of vintage Chinese film culture for their efforts in tracking down and preserving old movies.

Quiquemelle never actually worked in the film industry. She was studying history at university in 1964, when France became the first Western country to establish formal diplomatic relations with the People's Republic of China.

After that thaw in relations, French travel organizations began to organize tour groups to visit China, and Quiquemelle joined one of them. She spent about three weeks in Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. The trip stirred her interest in Chinese history and culture.

She studied at the School of Oriental Studies in Paris and began immersing herself in all things Chinese, adopting the name Ji Kemei, based on pronunciation of her surname. The "cultural revolution" (1966-76) froze relations between China and France. Cultural exchanges ceased. Quiquemelle's university also lost contact with Chinese schools. Availability of books and research documents from the mainland dried up.

Nevertheless, she finished her studies and continued her research. In 1970, she began work in the Chinese Cultural Study Institute at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique.

"In the early 1970s, young students were very interested in China, and many went to French universities to learn Chinese," Quiquemelle told Shanghai Daily. "But because of the cultural revolution, there were no more books or documents available."

Quiquemelle and several colleagues turned to film as a way of giving students a taste of Chinese culture. A search was initiated in Hong Kong and Taiwan for Chinese-language films since so few were available from the mainland.

"I remember there were only five propaganda films about Chairman Mao and his revolution, also known as yang ban xi in Chinese," she said. "They included The Story of the Red Lantern' and the Red Detachment of Women.' The films depicted part of Chinese history, but we couldn't let students watch them over and over, waiting for other Chinese movies to be available in France."

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Shares of Dubai's biggest developer Emaar Properties closed 1.50 percent lower on the first trading day of the 2016, following a blaze on December 31.

Emaar shares tumbled by over three percent at the opening, but the market bellwether eventually recovered terrain and closed finished 1.50 percent lower at 5.60 dirham (1.52 dollars).

A blaze destroyed much of the outer facade and some parts of the resort's interior of Emaar's Address Downtown Dubai hotel near the world's tallest building, the 828 meters tall Burj Khalifa, hours before the New Year countdown. The fire left 14 people injured.

After the closing of the Dubai exchange, Emaar said in an e-mailed statement that in line with the directives of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, to expedite the reopening of The Address Downtown Dubai, it has appointed DUTCO Group as the contractor for undertaking the clearing, assessment and restoration work in record time.

Mohamed Alabbar, Chairman of Emaar Properties, said "The Address Downtown Dubai is our first hotel project and it has set international benchmarks with its excellent hospitality standards."

A team of international consultants have already been mobilized by DUTCO Group. Cleaning work has started with the mechanical, electrical and structural assessment of the building and restoration also underway, said the developer.
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Dumex infant formula products in a supermarket in China. [Xinhua]

Chinese residents have welcomed a new round of tariff cuts on imported products from Australia and South Korea.

The cuts came into effect on New Year's Day, the second round of tariff reductions after the free trade agreements were enacted days earlier.

Under the new arrangement, import duties for Australian infant formula have been lowered to 9 percent, from the previous 12 percent.

The taxes for South Korean agricultural products were lowered by 1.3 points.

Local residents in Guangzhou have expressed their supports for the move.

"I think it's great, because now we don't have to do shopping abroad," said one resident.

"We have got more choices now, and the prices and commodity costs are going down. It will definitely be better for consumers," echoed another.

Over 5,500 Australian products, accounting for two-thirds of the country's total exports to China, are affected by the free trade deal.

Meanwhile, more than 90 percent of the imports from South Korea will enjoy zero tariff within 20 years.
On Christmas Eve 2015, a group of middle-aged people were seen dancing and singing in colorful dresses by the light of a Christmas tree in suburban Beijing. You wouldn't call it a common sight among Chinese people in their 50s and even 60s.

Li Rongmei searches for data concerning people who lost their only child.

Li Rongmei was among the revelers -- a mother who had lost her only child. Due to the previous family-planning policy, middle-aged parents losing their only child were unlikely to have a replacement and thus became a disadvantaged group unique to China.

Li had lost her only son 18 years before, when he was only 20. To overcome her depression, she created a chat room on QQ, a popular instant messaging software in China. There, she met many other people facing a similar tragedy.

Over the past few years, Li has spent all public holidays and festivals in parties with such people. They even didn't miss foreign festivals like Christmas, which, in China, normally only interest young people.

Before Li met her fellow sufferers, on festival occasion, she always drove around the countryside aimlessly with her husband, so as to avoid seeing the joyful reunions of other families. There was a map of China in her apartment, on which she marked all the places visited. Except for the left-hand corner, the map was almost marked everywhere.

Zhao Lijuan was a friend of Li. Her only son died in an accident in 2013. She liked singing or playing online poker games in her spare time; however, no matter how hard she tried to forget, memories of her son would emerge and make her heart miss a beat.

"I know I'm evading the truth, but if I hadn't done so, I'd have collapsed," Zhao said. And sometimes, she doubted if she could really find salvation.

One of Zhao's friends, Wang Yuqiong, failed to escape her tragic loss. Her daughter died in 2013, and she eventually committed suicide.

Wang became a friend of Zhao because both sought a test tube baby after losing their only child.

China bid farewell to the decades-long one-child policy recently. A legal amendment taking effect this year will allow all couples to have two children. To many people, this provided a precious chance for those who'd suffered a child's loss.

However, for Wang and Zhao, things were not that easy. There were obstacles both physical and psychological.

Zhao and Wang were already in their early 50s. They had long passed the best age for childbearing, and they were also under various pressures.

For instance, Wang's daughter died of illness, so she worried that the disease would somehow be passed on to the new child. After much consideration, she gave up the idea of a second child.

Zhao was still trying hard to have another baby, but she confessed that it didn't make her feel any better. "I thought about this over and over again,"she said. "I'm not young anymore and have no energy to look after a baby. Besides, when the baby grows up and goes to school, others will ask 'why are you accompanied by your grandma?' This will put pressure on the child, too."

But despite all the worries, Zhao wanted another baby, whereas Wang gave it up and divorce her husband so he could marry again and have the chance of fathering another child.

And divorce was only the first step of Wang's secret suicide plan. She then closed her business and sold all her properties and only apartment. Last October, she left a message in the QQ chat room, detailing how others should distribute her 6.07-million-yuan (US$935,387) savings. Someone commented that she was too young to write a will, but she didn't reply.

At around 9 p.m. on Dec. 4, Wang exited the chat room. Her friends began to feel something was wrong. They texted and telephoned repeatedly, but got no response. Bad news came the next morning -- Wang had killed herself in the night.

In the eyes of those who lost their only child, there are three critical years: the third, fifth and 10th anniversary of the child's death. Wang failed to overcome the first, which is also the most difficult, because one may feel extremely vulnerable and have no courage to carry on with life so soon after the loss.

If they manage to live through this period they will spend the next two years getting accustomed to the painful loneliness. When it comes to the 10th year, they will feel they are getting old and become vulnerable again.

Wang didn't overcome the first crucial year, while Li faced the final crucial hurdle.

It had been 18 years since Li lost her son. As she got older and weaker, she found even everyday chores became a big challenge. For example, she hadn't cleaned the windows high on her balcony for two years, because she was scared of climbing on chairs. "What if I get dizzy and fall down? Who can help me up? Who can take me to hospital?"

Over the past years, Li sent many letters to various government departments, drawing their attention to people like her. "I don't want to be forgotten," she said.

In early December, Beijing Municipal Family Planning Commission held a small symposium, inviting Li and 26 fellow bereaved sufferers to discuss the problem. Li said it meant lot to her. "Although some problems were still not addressed, I felt someone had our wellbeing in mind."

In a meeting of the National People's Congress in late December, some of China's top legislators proposed that, when all Chinese couples are allowed to have two children in 2016, the government should give more aid to those who have lost their only child.

Zhang Chunsheng, director of the Legislation Department of the National Health and Family Planning Commission, also promised that even though there is no provision in the newly amended law for government aid to people who have lost their only child, local governments at all levels must follow the previous law and continue to provide aid and support to those bereaved before the new law took effect.

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Dove Little [By Zhai Haijun/China.org.cn]

Military intervention by external powers has been enshrined as a major means of tackling the ISIS threat in the Middle East region as the U.S., France, Britain, Germany and Russia have been involved militarily in the fight against ISIS. However, military intervention by external powers is far from a cure of the ISIS disease, despite its previous success in addressing conventional security threats and its initial effectiveness along some fronts.

External military intervention truly has served to maintain regional order in the 1990s and to prevent serious humanitarian problems from taking place. In 1991, the multi-national forces led by the U.S. and authorized by the UN Security Council launched a military campaign, which drove Saddam Hussein's forces back to Iraq. That operation not only restored Kuwait's sovereignty but also protected the UN principle of no change of borders by military means.

On April 5, 1991, U.S., Britain and France established a security zone in Iraq's Kurdish region to protect Kurds from being oppressed. In August 1992, the U.S. also established a no-fly zone in southern Iraq in order to protect Shiite muslins from persecution of Saddam's regime. Despite some questions about the legality and legitimacy, the two security measures might have served to prevent more serious humanitarian crises from happening.

It might be because of the success of the above-mentioned experiences that external military intervention has been worshiped as a therapy for Middle Eastern security problems. Thereafter, external powers, particularly the U.S., were often requested to send troops to deal with regional issues. The U.S. was requested to bomb in order to solve the Iran nuclear issue, to bomb in order to overthrow Muammar Qaddafi's regime and to bomb as a means of solving the Syrian crisis. These requests actually serve the taste of the U.S. as a dominant power in the region despite its recent prudence.

Under this logic, it's easy to understand why external military intervention has been expected to defeat ISIS. It is true that military actions taken by external powers might be effective in destroying the forces and facilities and infrastructures of terrorist forces. The air strikes by external powers combined with the offenses on the land by local troops in particular have proved to be effective in regaining the territories controlled by ISIS. The recent retreat of ISIS in Syria and Ramadi in Iraq are both examples.

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Iraqi security forces on Sunday repelled attacks by Islamic State (IS) militants backed by suicide bombings targeting Iraqi security forces in the Iraqi provinces of Anbar and Salahudin, security sources said.

In Iraq's western province of Anbar, soldiers, policemen and local Sunni tribal fighters backed by Iraqi and U.S.-led coalition aircraft repelled major attacks by dozens of IS militants and heavy mortar barrage on the areas of Barwana and Khasfa near the town of Haditha, some 200 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, after heavy clashes that erupted in the early hours of the day, a provincial security source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.

The attackers pushed seven suicide car bombs to the positions of the security forces, but the troops destroyed three of them by anti-tank missiles before they reach to their targets while four car bombs were also destroyed but close to the troops' positions, leaving 15 security members killed and 22 others wounded, the source said.

Iraqi and international aircraft participated in the battle and destroyed a number of IS vehicles, including more suicide car bombs, in the open area before reaching the battlefield, the source added.

Meanwhile, IS militants carried out another attack on Iraqi army positions near Tharthar Lake in the desert area in north of Ramadi, some 110 km west of Baghdad, and detonated three suicide car bombs at the scene, but the attackers failed to seize the military positions after heavy clashes with the soldiers, the source said

The battle resulted in the killing of some 15 soldiers and the wounding of 12 others, while the dozens of IS militants were also killed and wounded, the source added.

Also in the province, international warplanes bombarded IS positions in Albu-Eitha area in northeast of the city of Ramadi and Falahat in east of the city, leaving at least 21 IS militants killed, the source said citing intelligence reports.

During the day, Iraqi forces and explosive experts continued defusing dozens of landmines and booby-trapped vehicles and buildings in Ramadi.

Last Monday, the Iraqi security forces announced the liberation of Ramadi after the troops raised the Iraqi flag on the government complex in central the city, but other parts of the city has not yet been fully secured by large number of bombs planted earlier by IS who many of them either withdrew to rural areas outside Ramadi or redeployed in the eastern part of the city.

In Iraq's northern central province of Salahudin, a provincial security source told Xinhua earlier in the day that at least 13 would-be policemen were killed and 15 others wounded when three suicide bombers late on Saturday night entered a police training center in a military airbase, known as Camp Speicher, in north of Salahudin's provincial capital city of Tikrit, and detonated their explosive belts inside.

The attacked center is housing trainees from Iraq's northern province of Nineveh who are being prepared for expected battles to free the provincial capital city of Mosul from the extremist militants by Iraqi security forces and international air support.

The security situation in Iraq has drastically deteriorated since June 2014, when bloody clashes broke out between Iraqi security forces and the IS.
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Sudan and South Sudan reiterated Sunday their joint commitment to their cooperation agreement.

South Sudanese counterpart Barnaba Benjamin (L) speaks while Sudan's Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour looks on during a press conference held after their talks in Khartoum, Sudan, Jan. 3, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

The two countries also expressed the readiness to find diplomatic solutions for outstanding issues relating to attaining peace in both countries.

In September 2012, Sudan and South Sudan signed a comprehensive cooperation deal in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa, under the patronage of the Inter-Governmental Authority for Development in Africa (IGAD).

The deal included terms of understandings relating to security, citizens' status, border and economic issues as well as oil and trade-related topics.

However, the signed agreements did not address the issues of Abyei and border demarcation.

The border issue represents one of the biggest obstacles hindering the settlement of differences between Sudan and South Sudan, revolving around five border areas, including Abyei, Dabatal-Fakhar, Jabel Al-Migainis, Samaha and Kafia Kanji.

Sudan's Foreign Minister, Ibrahim Ghandour, and his South Sudanese counterpart, Barnaba Benjamin, held joint talks Sunday in Khartoum regarding the implementation of the agreement.

"During the meetings we reiterated Sudan's willingness to normalize bilateral ties and establish flexible borders. In addition, we extend sincere fraternity towards building ties that would become an example for both the region and the world to follow," Sudan's foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour said at a joint press conference.

He also reiterated the importance of attaining peace in both countries, saying "No peace can exist in South Sudan without peace in Sudan and vice verse. Together, we are working for peace in both countries, summoning our joint willingness."

South Sudan's Foreign Minister, Barnaba Benjamin, also expressed his country's commitment towards implementing the cooperation agreement with Sudan.

"The meetings solidify our desire to establish relations based on goodwill and mutual benefit between both peoples," he noted.

Meanwhile, Benjamin restated that South Sudan seeks to implement the peace deal signed with the South Sudanese rebel group, led by Riek Machar, in August 2015.

"Now peace exists in South Sudan and there is an advance team for Machar's movement in Juba. We strongly believe in the importance of peace," said Benjamin.
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A newly-elected Mexican mayor was shot to death on Saturday, less than 24 hours after taking office, local police said.

Gisela Mota, new mayor of Temixco takes her oath of office during a swearing-in ceremony in Temixco, south of Mexico City on January 1, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

Gisela Mota, 33, took office on the New Year's Day as the new mayor of city Temixco in Morelos State, about 100 kilometers south of the capital Mexico City.

Assailants burst into Mota's house and shot her to death on Saturday. Two criminals were killed by police and one was captured, according to officials.

State Governor Graco Ramirez vowed on his Twitter account that there would be "no impunity" in her killing and attributed this atrocity to organized crime plaguing the state.

Mota, a former left-of-center member of Congress, had pledged to clean up the organized crime and drug trafficking in Temixco.

Temixco has around 100,000 residents, neighboring Morelos' capital city of Cuernavaca, and Guerrero, another state plagued by drug cartel and crime.

In the past decade, drug violence has taken over 100,000 lives in Mexico.
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The U.S. first Nanjing Massacre themed museum, L.A. Memorial Hall of American Heroes during Nanjing Massacre, has opened in Los Angeles.

The memorial hall, inaugurated on Dec. 31, 2015, the year marking the 70th anniversary of WWII victory, honored 22 Americans who risked their lives to stay in Nanjing and help Chinese people during Nanjing Massacre.

From Dec. 13, 1937 to January 1938, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers were killed in the massacre carried out by Japanese invaders after the city fell into the hands of the Japanese army.

One of the photos displayed at the memorial hall shows Dr. Robert O. Wilson was treating a 14-year-old boy in Gulou Hospital. The boy was seriously stabbed in his right leg by the bayonet of a Japanese soldier.

Wilson was the only foreign surgeon during Nanjing Massacre, who saved thousands of Chinese people, according to his daughter Marge Garrett.

Garrett said his father sent her mother and sister to the United States before the Japanese invasion and told her mother: "The Chinese are my people. I can't leave my people...I am a surgeon. I have to stay and take care of my people."

During that darkest time in Nanjing, many foreigners like Garrett saved a lot of local lives while witnessing the brutal holocaust by Japanese soldiers.

Lewis S. C. Smythe, professor of sociology with Nanjing University, also served as the secretary of the International Committee for the Nanjing Safety Zone and was a member of International Red Cross Committee of Nanjing. One of his letters to his wife is being exhibited at the memorial hall.

In the letter written on Dec. 23, 1937, Smythe said: "The Japanese soldiers took 200 people from the refugee camp...and shot them to death, some of them may be soldiers, but it was said that more than half of them were ordinary people. We hope the wrath of Japanese was done and there will be no more shooting...Today another man came back, his face was severely burnt, which may result in blindness. He said 140 of them were binded together, poured with gasoline and fired! It was horrible!"

From 335 photos, 94 historical objects and 115 books and videos, the memorial hall is to show the world what the truth is on Nanjing Massacre, and what the cruel Japanese soldiers did during that time.

"There are many people in the world who do not know about the historical fact of Nanjing Massacre, especially people overseas. So we need not only to inform people in China, more importantly, we have to let people outside China know about the truth," said Zhu Chengshan, co-curator of the memorial hall.
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Violent clashes erupted east of Libya's coastal city of Sirte early Monday between the Libyan army and Islamic State militants, according to local security sources.

Some witnesses reported heavy gunfire after a car bombing killed and wounded several soldiers near As Sidr area. Some said the IS militants were heading toward the oil port in the town but met resistance.

Ali al-Hasi, spokesman of the local militia group Petroleum Facility Guards (PFG), said the oil port is still under control by its fighters.

As Sidr and its adjacent Ras Lanuf, Libya's two large oil ports, have both been closed for over a year due to clashes between PFG and militants attempting to take over the ports.

Since last year, IS militants have occupied Sirte, some 450 km east of the capital Tripoli, as its base for further expansion.

The terror group have long been eyeing for the two oil ports, attempting to seize them as their source of income.
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The fortunes of the wonder fuel that promised to help clean the environment, secure America and save small family farms have steadily dwindled as environmentalists, food advocates and auto enthusiasts sour on its promise. Now that fuel, corn-based ethanol, finds itself threatened with a defection that was once unthinkable: Iowa voters.

The electorate here in the early voting state often defined by its vast expanses of corn has long demanded that candidates pledge allegiance to government production mandates for millions of gallons of ethanol, the homegrown product. But as the 2016 White House hopefuls traverse the state, they are seeing that Iowans have grown strikingly ambivalent.

The Republican presidential contender now polling strongest in Iowa, Ted Cruz, is campaigning on an energy platform that would have been a death wish in elections past. Cruz, the U.S. senator from Texas, is an unabashed opponent of giving ethanol any special government help. He derides it as the worst kind of central planning. He champions legislation to wipe out the decade-old Renewable Fuel Standard, which mandates large amounts of ethanol get blended into the nations gas supply.

Voters here are just not that interested in ethanol anymore, said Steffen Schmidt, a professor of political science at Iowa State University. You dont even hear the word come out the mouths of candidates much.

There are myriad reasons, not the least of which is a modern-day Republican electorate that takes pride in bucking the established order and is increasingly absolute in its disdain for subsidies. But it is also about the shifting politics of renewable fuels in a state where small family farms have given way to much bigger agribusinesses.

Only a fraction of the states voters work in the corn industry these days. There is as much buzz on the campaign trail in Iowa about wind power as there is about ethanol.

It is all compounded by troubles befalling the decade-old ethanol mandate, signed into law by George W. Bush, that transcend Iowa but now appear to be giving voters pause even there.

Cars are more efficient and people are driving fewer miles than the drafters of the law had anticipated, leaving auto manufacturers to warn that engines are at risk of malfunction if the federal government doesnt ease quotas of ethanol blended into retail gasoline.

Environmentalists once hopeful the product would help curb global warming now caution that it may be just as harmful to the planet as fossil fuels.

And even as Iowas longtime GOP governor, Terry Branstad, warns that candidates who tangle with ethanol could find their presidential aspirations buried by Iowans, a much more influential force in Midwestern politics is sending the opposite signal.

Koch Industries, the behemoth energy firm run by billionaire political donors Charles and David Koch that itself has a major interest in ethanol, despises the mandate. In an April letter to Congress, the company called it an unqualified failure that should be repealed in full, reflecting growing disdain among Republican activists for any programs that prop up renewable fuel industries.Cruz drew from that zeitgeist at an Iowa agriculture summit earlier in the year at which several of the GOP candidates appeared. I recognize that this is a gathering of a lot of folks who the answer youd like me to give is Im for the RFS, darn it. Thatd be the easy thing to do, he said at the event.

But Ill tell you, people are pretty fed up, I think, with politicians that run around and tell one group one thing, tell another group another thing, and then they go to Washington and they dont do anything that they said they would do.

But ethanol industry leaders in the state say Cruz will pay a heavy price.

They have been running radio advertisements for the last couple of weeks that accuse the Texan of hypocrisy, pointing to tax breaks and other government support enjoyed by the oil industry that Cruz favors. Among those targeting Cruz is Branstads son, Eric, who formed a pro-ethanol group called Americas Renewable Future.

Senator Cruz and anyone else who wants to say this is not an issue in Iowa is mistaken, Eric Branstad said. Iowa voters are only now starting to pay attention to the campaign. And they are beginning to learn where Senator Cruz is on this.

Branstad says his group has persuaded some 50,000 Iowans to pledge to caucus only for candidates who support the fuel standard.

Branstad predicts Cruzs star will fall as a result of his anti-ethanol crusading. Donald Trump sought this month to regain ground he lost to Cruz by highlighting the Texans obstinance on energy policy.

But while nobody argues that Cruz cant get knocked out of the pole position, many doubt ethanol would be the reason.

Its helped him polish his credentials as a tough guy, said Dennis Goldsford, a professor of political science at Drake University in Des Moines. Republican voters here are more concerned about ISIS and Obamacare than this.

Despite a recent industry poll concluding that large majorities of likely caucus goers, once informed about the Renewable Fuel Standard and biofuels, would be more likely to vote for candidates who support them, the issue barely registers on independent voter surveys. When Iowans are asked what their biggest concerns are this election season, ethanol  and agriculture issues in general  dont even rank.

Despite a recent industry poll concluding that large majorities of likely caucus goers, once informed about the Renewable Fuel Standard and biofuels, would be more likely to vote for candidates who support them, the issue barely registers on independent voter surveys. When Iowans are asked what their biggest concerns are this election season, ethanol  and agriculture issues in general  dont even rank.
The University of Wisconsin-Stout turns 125 years old Tuesday, and the public is invited to a celebration to mark the event.

Stout Manual Training School, founded by James Huff Stout, opened Jan. 5, 1891, in a two-story building as a branch of the Menomonie public school system. The building was near the intersection of Main and Broadway streets in Menomonie, where the Administration Building stands.

As course offerings expanded, the manual training school became Stout Institute in 1908 and Stout State College in 1955, when it joined the Wisconsin State College System. It is the only institution in the UW System named for an individual.

Special day

Gov. Scott Walker has proclaimed Jan. 5 as UW-Stout Day in Wisconsin. An anniversary celebration will be held from 1:30 to 2:30 p.m. in the ballrooms of the Memorial Student Center. The public is invited.

This is as much a celebration of the vision of James Huff Stout and his dedication to higher education as it is an anniversary celebration of UW-Stout, said Chancellor Bob Meyer. James Huff Stouts educational philosophy was to prepare graduates for successful careers and fulfilling lives. This institution did exactly that for 125 years and continues to do so today.

Meyer said the fact that 97 percent of the universitys graduates are working within six months of leaving campus is concrete evidence of UW-Stout continuing to apply its founders career-focused philosophy.

Innovator

James Huff Stout believed in a hands-on educational approach, Meyer said, which UW-Stout also has today. In 2007, the UW System Board of Regents designated UW-Stout as Wisconsins Polytechnic University.

James Huff Stout was an innovator in the field of higher education, Meyer said. That innovative philosophy is ingrained in how we operate today.

Meyer said James Huff Stout would be proud of, and probably a little surprised by, the growth of the institution he founded. The number of students didnt top 1,000 until 1955, but 60 years later enrollment is a record 9,535. Students had four majors to choose from 55 years ago; that number has grown to 48 undergraduate majors and 23 programs in the Graduate School.

This tremendous growth is a testament to the tremendous leaders UW-Stout has been lucky to have over the years, Meyer said. I am honored to follow in these leaders footsteps.

About the program

The anniversary program includes: a welcome from Mark Parsons, vice chancellor for Advancement and University Marketing; remarks by Meyer; and remarks by state Sen. Sheila Harsdorf, R-River Falls. Gov. Walker has been invited to attend, read the proclamation and make other remarks. UW System President Ray Cross also is tentatively scheduled to attend. The bells in Bowman Hall will be rung in celebration at 1:25 p.m.

The celebration is just the first of many events planned for 2016. A major event will be the grand reopening of Harvey Hall, which has been closed for remodeling, tentatively planned for Thursday, Sept. 22. A history of UW-Stouts first 125 years also will be published in 2016.
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Our First Principle "I try to be interested in very nearly everything. I always think boredom is to some extent the fault of the bored." - Julian Kestrel, the hero in Kate Ross's novel Cut to the Quick .




1. U.S. acceptance of coexistence as the only alternative to atomic war.

2. U.S. willingness to capitulate in preference to engaging in atomic war.

3. Develop the illusion that total disarmament of the United States would be a demonstration of moral strength.

4. Permit free trade between all nations regardless of Communist affiliation and regardless of whether or not items could be used for war.

5. Extension of long-term loans to Russia and Soviet satellites.

6. Provide American aid to all nations regardless of Communist domination.

7. Grant recognition of Red China. Admission of Red China to the U.N.

8. Set up East and West Germany as separate states in spite of Khrushchev's promise in 1955 to settle the German question by free elections under supervision of the U.N.

9. Prolong the conferences to ban atomic tests because the United States has agreed to suspend tests as long as negotiations are in progress.

10. Allow all Soviet satellites individual representation in the U.N.

11. Promote the U.N. as the only hope for mankind. If its charter is rewritten, demand that it be set up as a one-world government with its own independent armed forces. (Some Communist leaders believe the world can be taken over as easily by the U.N. as by Moscow. Sometimes these two centers compete with each other as they are now doing in the Congo.)

12. Resist any attempt to outlaw the Communist Party.

13. Do away with all loyalty oaths.

14. Continue giving Russia access to the U.S. Patent Office.

15. Capture one or both of the political parties in the United States.

16. Use technical decisions of the courts to weaken basic American institutions by claiming their activities violate civil rights.

17. Get control of the schools. Use them as transmission belts for socialism and current Communist propaganda. Soften the curriculum. Get control of teachers' associations. Put the party line in textbooks.

18. Gain control of all student newspapers.

19. Use student riots to foment public protests against programs or organizations which are under Communist attack.

20. Infiltrate the press. Get control of book-review assignments, editorial writing, policymaking positions.

21. Gain control of key positions in radio, TV, and motion pictures.

22. Continue discrediting American culture by degrading all forms of artistic expression. An American Communist cell was told to "eliminate all good sculpture from parks and buildings, substitute shapeless, awkward and meaningless forms."

23. Control art critics and directors of art museums. "Our plan is to promote ugliness, repulsive, meaningless art."

24. Eliminate all laws governing obscenity by calling them "censorship" and a violation of free speech and free press.

25. Break down cultural standards of morality by promoting pornography and obscenity in books, magazines, motion pictures, radio, and TV.

26. Present homosexuality, degeneracy and promiscuity as "normal, natural, healthy."

27. Infiltrate the churches and replace revealed religion with "social" religion. Discredit the Bible and emphasize the need for intellectual maturity which does not need a "religious crutch."

28. Eliminate prayer or any phase of religious expression in the schools on the ground that it violates the principle of "separation of church and state."

29. Discredit the American Constitution by calling it inadequate, old-fashioned, out of step with modern needs, a hindrance to cooperation between nations on a worldwide basis.

30. Discredit the American Founding Fathers. Present them as selfish aristocrats who had no concern for the "common man."

31. Belittle all forms of American culture and discourage the teaching of American history on the ground that it was only a minor part of the "big picture." Give more emphasis to Russian history since the Communists took over.

32. Support any socialist movement to give centralized control over any part of the culture--education, social agencies, welfare programs, mental health clinics, etc.

33. Eliminate all laws or procedures which interfere with the operation of the Communist apparatus.

34. Eliminate the House Committee on Un-American Activities.

35. Discredit and eventually dismantle the FBI.

36. Infiltrate and gain control of more unions.

37. Infiltrate and gain control of big business.

38. Transfer some of the powers of arrest from the police to social agencies. Treat all behavioral problems as psychiatric disorders which no one but psychiatrists can understand.

39. Dominate the psychiatric profession and use mental health laws as a means of gaining coercive control over those who oppose Communist goals.

40. Discredit the family as an institution. Encourage promiscuity and easy divorce.

41. Emphasize the need to raise children away from the negative influence of parents. Attribute prejudices, mental blocks and retarding of children to suppressive influence of parents.

42. Create the impression that violence and insurrection are legitimate aspects of the American tradition; that students and special-interest groups should rise up and use united force to solve economic, political or social problems.

43. Overthrow all colonial governments before native populations are ready for self-government.

44. Internationalize the Panama Canal.

45. Repeal the Connally reservation so the United States cannot prevent the World Court from seizing jurisdiction over nations and individuals alike.
Resources for all concerned with culture of authoritarianism in society, banalisation of communalism, (also chauvinism, parochialism and identity politics) rise of the far right in India (and with occasional information on other countries of South Asia and beyond)
MONDAY, Jan. 4, 2016 (HealthDay News) -- Preschoolers who were conceived through fertility treatments don't seem to have any special risk of developmental delays, a new study suggests.

The researchers said the findings, published online Jan. 4 in the journal JAMA Pediatrics, should be reassuring to the growing number of U.S. couples seeking help with infertility.

There have long been lingering concerns about the development of children conceived through infertility treatment, explained study author Edwina Yeung, a researcher at the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

That's partly based on animal research, Yeung said, and partly because of conflicting findings from studies of children.

A few studies of children have suggested there might be developmental effects, at least with certain types of fertility treatment. But many others have found no such link, the researchers noted.

For the study, Yeung's team followed over 5,800 children born in New York state between 2008 and 2010. They included 1,830 children conceived through various forms of infertility treatment -- including fertility drugs and more extensive treatments such as in-vitro fertilization (IVF).

Overall, children conceived with the help of fertility drugs were no more likely to show developmental delays at the age of 3 than their peers whose parents conceived naturally.

That was true whether the treatment involved intrauterine insemination or not, Yeung said. Insemination means that sperm are placed in the uterus during ovulation.

The study did find signs of slower development among children conceived through more complicated fertility treatments -- including IVF, intracytoplasmic sperm injection and other techniques that fall under the umbrella of "assisted reproductive technology," or ART.

However, Yeung said, that was explained by the "much higher rate of twinning" in the ART group -- 34 percent, versus 19 percent among children conceived naturally. Twins are often born prematurely and at low weights, which raises the risk of developmental problems, according to the March of Dimes.

There was no evidence that fertility treatment, itself, affected the children's development. Twins conceived by ART had no greater risk of delays than twins conceived naturally, the study found.

Dr. Norbert Gleicher, medical director of the Center for Human Reproduction, in New York City, said that couples commonly worry about the potential effects of fertility treatment on child development.

"I hear these questions all the time," Gleicher said.

For researchers, he added, it's a difficult issue to study. "Patients with infertility are often older, and may have medical conditions," Gleicher pointed out. "You have to be able to differentiate those potential effects from any effects of the fertility treatment, per se."

The new study accounted for factors such as parents' age, education levels and mothers' smoking and drinking habits during pregnancy -- along with the effects of "twinning."

The results, Gleicher said, "should be reassuring" to couples considering fertility treatment.

For the study, parents periodically completed standard questionnaires used to screen infants and young children for delays in movement, language, social development and problem-solving.

At each screening, anywhere from 6 percent to 10 percent of the children showed delays in at least one of those areas. Children who'd been conceived with ART were about twice as likely to show a delay, versus children conceived naturally.

But the difference evaporated once the researchers accounted for the effects of twin births.

Yeung said there was further reassurance in another study finding: Children who'd been conceived through infertility treatment seemed to have no higher risk of being diagnosed with a full-blown developmental disability -- such as a learning disability, speech or language disorder, or autism.

Over 400 children in the study had a formal evaluation at the age of 3 or 4, based on their screening results. In that group, 13 percent of children conceived through infertility treatment were diagnosed with a disability, versus 18 percent of children conceived naturally.

Dr. Siobhan Dolan, medical advisor to the March of Dimes, agreed that the results are reassuring.

"It's always good to have more data on longer-term outcomes, and it's great to see that kids are doing well," said Dolan, who is also a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York City.

But, Dolan added, there is still some concern in the fact that ART often results in twins. "It is a higher-risk situation," she said.

There are professional guidelines, Dolan noted, that encourage using just one embryo during ART, to minimize the chances of having twins (though it can still happen).

According to the guidelines, that approach should be considered when women have a good chance of becoming pregnant -- which usually means women age 35 or younger who have "good quality" eggs or embryos.

More information

Read more on female infertility treatments at the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Via Today's Zaman: 5 hospitalized on MERS suspicion in central Turkey.

Five people who recently returned from Saudi Arabia have been hospitalized at a state hospital in central province of Kayseri with symptoms resembling those of the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus.

The five people were taken to the Kayseri Research and Training Hospital on Monday with high fever two days after their return from Saudi Arabia where they traveled for umrah, a visit to the Kaaba in Mecca that is similar to the pilgrimage, or hajj, to Mecca and Medina.

The hospital quarantined the resuscitation unit and the five patients are still receiving treatment on suspicion of MERS.

The MERS virus, which causes coughing, fever and can lead to fatal pneumonia and kidney failure, has been reported mainly in Saudi Arabia and South Korea, but has also been imported in travellers to at least 25 countries worldwide. It kills about 38 percent of those it infects.

The disease is known to have originated from camels and aside from travel-related dispersion, all MERS cases have been confined to the Arabian Peninsula, Lebanon, Jordan and Iran.

The first and single MERS-related death was reported in Turkey in October of last year.
As you're likely aware, Saudi Arabia today broke off diplomatic relations with Iran after Tehran mobs set fire to the Saudi embassy. As tactless as the mobs may have been, it looks as if the Saudis knew just what would provoke such a response. Via Arab News: Crimes that led to Al-Nimrs execution. Excerpt and then a comment:

The Kingdom announced Saturday it had executed 47 prisoners convicted of terrorism charges, including Al-Qaida detainees and a prominent Shiite cleric who rallied violent protests against the government.

The Shiite cleric, Nimr Al-Nimr, had been convicted of committing eight crimes and delivering numerous hostile and fiery speeches since 2002 which led to the death and injury of several police officers.

Al-Nimr's speeches were a driving force behind the violent protests that broke out in 2011 in Qatif that served third parties, most notably Iran.

He has been delivering regular religious sermons on Fridays at Imam Hussain Mosque in Al-Awamiyah since 2002. Later his sermons took on a political hue. He accused statesmen and security forces of blasphemy and called for public uprising against the state.

In March 2009, he criticized the Saudi authorities and suggested secession of the Shiite regions to form a united Shiite state. During the Shiite-led protest in Bahrain, Al-Nimr demanded the exit of Gulf armies from Bahrain, criticizing the rulers there, and demanding the release of what he called political prisoners.

In October 2011, he accused the Saudi media and state officials of covering up the "tyrannical oppression" of security forces, describing them as riot troops. In addition, he insulted the leaders and officials, objecting to appointments made by the state.

Al-Nimr demanded the formation of an internal religious opposition front to counter action against the Shiite agitation. Also, he called for public uprisings and disobedience, accusing the Kingdom of killing innocent Shiites.

He was detained several times, most recently on July 8, 2012, when he was shot in the leg by police in an exchange of gunfire. He was taken to hospital for treatment.

On Oct. 15, 2014, Al-Nimr was sentenced to death by the Special Criminal Court for his involvement in supporting terrorist cells facing security forces, resulting in the death and injury of security men and dozens of civilians. He was considered as the most dangerous instigator of sedition in the eastern region of the Kingdom.

I don't pretend to understand everything that goes on Islam, but it is clearly not a monolithic religion whose believers all think the same. This is, after all, a clash between the two great Islamic theocracies, each speaking for a sect that has opposed the other for well over a thousand years.

For whatever reasons seem sound to him, King Salman of Saudi Arabia has taken several remarkable steps since ascending to the throne last year. He has driven down the price of oil around the world, evidently to drive American fracking operations out of business while retaining Saudi market share. He has put together a Gulf-states coalition to intervene in the Yemen civil war, inflicting untold misery on millions in the Arab world's poorest state. And now he has executed, by sword and firing squad, 47 "terrorists" including a Shi'a cleric who "insulted the leaders and officials."

Salman is now 80, and I believe he is the last of old ibn Saud's sons. When he goes, power goes to the next generation. Or to whoever can seize it.

Provoking a war with Iran, when another war is raging next door in Syria and Iraq, does not look like a step that an octogenarian of sound mind would takeespecially when Iran is also run by a gerontocracy. We already hear stories of seniors with dementia killing one another in North American nursing homes. Just imagine if our seniors had advanced weapons systems at their disposal.

The West has been criminally tolerant of the Saudis, but I can see one point in their favour: After them, the Arabian peninsula has nothing to look forward to but the chaos of Syria, Iraq, and Libya. And when such chaos envelops the Saudi oilfields, and millions of expatriate workers are suddenly unemployed and trying to get home, we will all face a global health disaster on a scale we can scarcely imagine.

So we've put up with a 14th-century regime in the 21st century because the alternatives look so much worse. But a war with Iran will itself trigger chaos far beyond the region: to West Africa and the Philippines and Indonesia. As governments struggle to survive, thousands will die from violence.

But hundreds of thousands, if not millions, will die of diseases suddenly freed from surveillance and response.

What happens if MERS breaks out of the Arabian peninsula on a large scale? If H5N1 returns to Indonesia, will Jakarta be able to cope? Pakistan is still struggling with polio, which would likely spread beyond its borders if Pakistanis became refugees. Who but the Islamic State would rejoice at such a prospect?

I really hope that the US, the European powers, Russia, and China lean very, very heavily on Saudi Arabia and Iran to step back from the brink. A Saudi-Iranian war would be horrible, but the war itself would be the least of the global-health disasters it would unleash.
ConnecticutBob.Com is a modest blog on the internet since 2006. Progressive ideas are encouraged, and all politically-minded and reasonable people are welcome. America is the greatest country in the world, but we'll invade you if you disagree.
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A respected political analyst is writing about a certain presidential candidate. See if you can identify the candidate.

He used simple, straightforward language that ordinary people could understand, short sentences, powerful emotive slogans.

Starting to sound familiar, right?

There were no qualifications in what he said. Everything was absolute, uncompromising, irrevocable, undeviating, unalterable, final. He seemed to express (the voters) deepest fears and desires. Increasingly, too, he exuded self-confidence, aggression, belief in (his) ultimate triumph, (with) a fervor that was hard for less demagogic politicians to emulate. (He) managed to project an image of strong, decisive action, dynamism, energy.

It sure sounds like Donald Trump, Americas top 2015 phenomenon. His whole pitch, after all, is that were a bunch of losers and hes an absolute winner, strong, decisive, dynamic and high-energy.

Unfortunately, those quotes refer to German presidential candidate Adolf Hitler.

For the record, I am not suggesting that Trump is Hitler. But right now, as we prepare for nearly a year of balloting, were in danger of embracing a very American version of autocracy. Our kind of autocrat doesnt need a jackboot army of street thugs; all he needs is an instinctive genius for exploiting rampant discontent (especially within the white downscale Republican electorate), and a silver tongue that is catnip for the ubiquitous insatiable media.

Those quotes come from Richard J. Evans, the distinguished British historian and author of The Coming of the Third Reich. Some of the passages are downright creepy, because they resonate so disturbingly. German voters in the early 30s were fed up with conventional politics as usual  they viewed the government as gridlocked and ineffectual  and many were drawn to Hitler because he advertised (his) opposition to conventional politics. The voters, writes Evans, were not really looking for anything concrete (from Hitler). They were, instead, protesting against the Weimar Republic.

In addition, many of them, particularly in rural areas, small towns, culturally conservative families...may have been registering their alienation from the cultural and political modernity for which the Republic stood. Hitler was often vague about exactly what he wanted to dohe preferred simple slogans and frenetic, manic activity  and to a large extent this allowed people to read into (him) what they wanted to and edit out anything they might disturbing.

Which is one reason why Trump gets away with disgorging his garbage  because his followers either focus on the stuff they like and edit out the garbage; or they endorse the garbage. And Trumps critics are continually stumped and amazed that this keeps happening.

All of which sounds eerily familiar. Evans writes that Hitlers political opponents still found it impossible to take (his) extremist rhetoric and bullying tactics...as anything other than evidence of (his) inevitable political marginality. (Hitler) did not confirm to the accepted rules of politics, so (he) could not expect to be successful.

But what an aspiring autocrat needs most is a climate of despair, something visceral to exploit. And what we have today, particularly within a subset of the Republican electorate, is fear and anger and a yearning to lash out. These voters are terrified that America is changing for the worst, and that theyre being left behind, culturally and economically. Trump speaks to those terrors (we dont win anymore)  the same kind of terrors that gripped Hitlers voters, according to Evans:

Money, income, financial solidity, economic order, regularity and predictability...now all this seemed to have been swept away....It added to a feeling in the more conservative sections of the population of a world turned upside down. And this fear and anger debased the language of politics and lent new power to stock fantasy images of evil.

Which is why Trump suffers no penalty for debasing Muslims, women, journalists, blacks, Asians, and the disabled. Thirty five percent of the Republican electorate a sizable share if all his saner foes are divvying the rest of the pie.

But do we really want to flirt with autocracy? Are we not better than our basest instincts? The voting begins on Feb. 1. The choice is ours.

Dick Polman is the national political columnist at NewsWorks/WHYY in Philadelphia (newsworks.org/polman) and a Writer in Residence at the University of Philadelphia. Email him at dickpolman7@gmail.com.
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In the first two parts of our series on criminal justice reform, we wrote about the efforts of U.S. District Court Judge John Gleeson, a former career federal prosecutor who has been on a crusade against the systemic abuse of power by federal prosecutors.

We've found that Obama and Holder failed to take Gleeson's recommendations seriously, or take the steps necessary to reform the abusive charging policies he repeatedly criticized.

Gleeson has been a fierce critic of a practice used frequently by prosecutors to coerce defendants to plead guilty and waive their constitutional right to a jury trial. It involves the imposition of a "trial penalty" by adding statutory enhancements to an indictment, which dramatically increase the prison sentence a judge is forced to impose if a defendant is convicted at trial.

For example, someone charged with selling drugs over a certain threshold must receive a 5- to 10-year mandatory sentence, depending solely on the amount of drugs involved. The prosecutor's addition of two non-violent drug convictions to the indictment as a prior felony information (or, notice of filing an enhancement) can turn a minimum mandatory 5-year sentence into a 40-year sentence, and a minimum 10-year sentence into a life sentence.

In United States v. Kupa, Gleeson described the prosecutor's threat of a life sentence to coerce a guilty plea out of a non-violent drug offender as "brutally unfair" and "the sentencing equivalent of a two-by-four to the forehead."

Gleeson wrote, "Prior felony informations have played a key role in helping to place the federal criminal trial on the endangered species list," noting that only 3 percent of all criminal cases charged in federal courts today results in a trial by jury.

From 2010 to 2014, Holder issued a series of memoranda to all U.S. attorneys that purported to modify Department of Justice (DOJ) charging policies in drug cases -- which comprise only one-third of all U.S. criminal cases -- to eliminate many of the abuses criticized by Gleeson

An Aug. 12, 2013, memorandum directed that "severe mandatory minimum penalties (must be) reserved for serious, high-level, or violent drug traffickers." The memorandum also required prosecutors to look for specific criteria in each case before deciding to charge a defendant for mandatory minimums, and to consider specific factors before filing for sentencing enhancements based on the defendant's prior "felony drug offense" convictions.

Holder's memoranda are, to one degree or another, either confusing or downright misleading. They have all failed to modify the plain language of the U.S. Attorneys' Manual that requires assigned prosecutors to "charge ... the most serious offense that is consistent with the nature of the defendant's conduct, and that is likely to result in a sustainable conviction."

Responding to a question by email, Gleeson said that "the prosecutors in this district appear to have complied fully with the August 2013 policy," and acknowledged that fewer drug trafficking defendants are being charged with offenses that trigger mandatory minimums. He also said that he had not seen the use of a prior felony enhancement as egregious as the one he wrote about in the Kupa case since Holder's final memorandum was issued in September 2014.

Considering the drubbing Gleeson gave the assigned U.S. attorney in that case, we have to wonder if prosecutors just lack the nerve to file sentencing enhancements in his court.

Federal criminal defense lawyers across the country are reporting the failure of U.S. attorneys to comply with Holder's policy. According to Gleeson, a March survey of federal defenders found some level of non-compliance in nearly 60 percent of district offices that responded to the survey.

"In 23.9 percent of reporting districts (22 of 92), all or most prosecutors still do not comply with the Holder charging policy regarding drug quantity and/or (U.S. Code) 851 enhancements," he wrote in an email. "In 35.8 percent of reporting districts (33 of 92), a minority or substantial minority of prosecutors still (and it may only be sometimes, rarely, or in only one case) do not comply with the Holder charging policy..."

The U.S. Sentencing Commission's 2014 Sourcebook of Federal Sentencing Statistics support the survey's findings. While only 6 to 7 percent of drug offenders charged in U.S. courts qualify for a mandatory minimum under Holder's 2013 policy, more than 50 percent of drug offenders were charged with a mandatory minimum the year after the policy was enacted. That means Holder's policy is being ignored in a majority of the cases where it should be followed.

Before stepping down from his position, Holder delivered a speech in February at the National Press Club in which he celebrated a 20 percent reduction in the number of drug trafficking offenders charged with mandatory minimums, a victory he attributed to his 2013 policy.

"Put another way," Holder crowed, "we have gone from seeking a mandatory minimum penalty in two out of every three drug trafficking cases, to doing so in one out of two."

He failed to mention that only 6 to 7 percent of those charged with drug trafficking offenses actually qualify for a mandatory minimum under his policy.

Incredibly, Holder bragged that his 2013 policy had increased the percentage of cases that are resolved by a plea agreement to 97.5 percent. Now just 2.5 percent of defendants in federal drug cases exercise their constitutional right to a trial by jury.

Holder's apparent contentment with what amounts to a mutiny by federal prosecutors raises a question Obama should ask the current Attorney General Loretta Lynch and her chief deputies: "Who is in charge at the Justice Department?" It's clearly not the attorney general if such a large number of federal prosecutors can disobey a mandatory charging policy without fear of disciplinary sanction.

Changing a written policy is easy, but it is also meaningless if you take no action to enforce that policy in its practical application. The seriousness of this problem deserves a better response from Obama during 2016.

Nat Hentoff is a nationally renowned authority on the First Amendment and the Bill of Rights. He is a member of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and the Cato Institute, where he is a senior fellow. Nick Hentoff is a criminal defense and civil liberties attorney in New York City.
While most Parkland residents are likely grateful the recent storms were rain rather than snow or ice, the downpours have also taken a toll on many homes.

When repairs from storm damage become necessary, the Better Business Bureau (BBB) warns consumers to watch out for unlicensed or storm-chasing contractors seeking to cash in on the damage.

Fly-by-night contractors often go door to door after storms, offering to help victims clean up debris or patch up their homes.

In past years, the BBB has received numerous complaints about contractors who took deposits from consumers and did little or no work. Other unscrupulous contractors couldn't be reached when consumers wanted refunds or were dissatisfied with the repairs.

Michelle Corey, BBB President and CEO, advises consumers to check businesses out with the BBB before writing a check. BBB Business Reviews give consumers vital information about how companies operate and whether they respond to complaints.

"Homeowners need to be sure that a contractor will honor promises and not just take their money and run," Corey said. "Consumers need to make sure that the contractors are qualified and reliable before they sign a contract or pay any money."

The BBB offers the following tips for consumers and businesses looking for honest contractors to make repairs:

- Be cautious of door-to-door salespeople who use high-pressure sales tactics. Do not feel obligated to listen to their sales pitch.

- Check with your insurance carrier before making major repairs. An adjuster may need to assess the damage and the carrier may have recommendations for repairs or contractors.

- Seek at least three bids from prospective contractors based on the same specifications, materials and labor needed to complete the project.

- Ask whether the company is insured against claims covering workers' compensation, property damage and personal liability in case of accidents. Consumers should obtain the name of the insurance carrier and call to verify coverage.

- Ask whether the contractor meets licensing and bonding requirements set by the state, county or city.

- Find out whether permits are needed before proceeding with the work. The contractor also should be aware of any required permits.

- Ask whether the contractor will provide a lien waiver upon completion of the job. A lien waiver is a statement by the contractor that all suppliers and subcontractors have been paid for their work.

- Read and understand the contract before signing. Get any verbal promises in writing. Include start and completion dates in the contract.

- Remember the rule of thirds. Pay one third at the start of the project, one third when work is 50 percent completed and one third after completion.
He has been cited by Rush Limbaugh, quoted in the New York Times, featured at Real Clear Politics and Lucianne.com and interviewed on radio, TV and in social media.





Inducted into the Philadelphia Public Relations Hall of Fame, for many years he served as a Lecturer in Corporate Communication at Penn State University. A former President of the Philadelphia Public Relations Association (PPRA) he has lectured at Rowan University, Temple University, The College of New Jersey and Arcadia University. He has conducted workshops on public relations for thousands of participants throughout the nation and has taught countless others the art of public speaking. He has also advised numerous lawyers, judges, public officials and political candidates.





Cirucci is a prolific writer and his op-ed pieces have appeared in the Philadelphia Daily News, Philadelphia Inquirer, Courier-Post and other publications.



A native of Camden NJ, Cirucci is a former President of the Philadelphia chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators. Cirucci served as Associate Executive Director of the Philadelphia Bar Association for nearly 30 years. He served as Chair of Penn State University's Professional Advisory Board for the Corporate Communication major at Penn State Abington and on the Pennsylvania Bar Association's Judicial Selection Commission.



He received his MA degree from Rowan University and his BA from Villanova University. He has been named a Distinguished Alumnus of Rowan's public relations program and received the E. A. "Wally" Richter Leadership Award, the highest honor from the National Association of Bar Executives' Communications Section. He has also been honored by numerous other local, state and national groups.









Cirucci's passions include politics, the popular culture, books and authors, art, communication, music, theatre, movies, dining and travel. In his hometown of Camden, Cirucci taught fifth grade at the Ulysses Wiggins Elementary School named for the founder of the Camden NAACP. There he was one of the first teachers in the country to teach African-American history to inner city students. He later served as editor of a local weekly newspaper, as Assistant to the Township Manager of Cherry Hill Township and as Associate Director of Communications at the New Jersey State Bar Association.

He's Dan Cirucci, the founder and editor-in chief of the Dan Cirucci Blog, Matt Rooney's sidekick on Save Jersey's videocasts and one of the most widely honored public relations professionals in his field. He's also been a public relations consultant to numerous organizations and individuals and hosted The Advocates on RVN-TV.
A blog about life under, and resisting, a dictatorship
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Over 10 years of news and information. (2010 - 2022)
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Blog Hinangai

While there is much discussion in Guam about the economic benefits of increasing the islands military presence, the damages/dangers that they represent are rarely mentioned. This blog, a supplement to the Peace and Justice for Guam Petition, is meant to counter that by providing information about the US military in Guam, with the hopes of steering policy away from a dangerous unilateralist course to more sustainable notions of regional development and a strengthening international solidarity.
MichaelT said: The number of times you have said " I don't know" in this thread would tend to lead neutral observers to conclude that you have an extremely limited knowledge of the subject.

They wouldn't be wrong

Indeed he wasn't, and the others did find evidence of gassing.



Your excuses are starting to sound desperate now

Yes they have, you just refuse to accept the fact.Yes it was. It was used





Not even your head occassionally <_< You made the claim, so give us his name. Click to expand...

You are like a human caused global warming denier. (Maybe you are) Unless I can go into detail with all the minutia of every little thing, what I have to say means nothing to you. But that is your problem. Not mine. Also, if Leutcher tried to present his findings in Germany, or some other countries, he would have been convicted of challenging the 6 million story of the holocaust. But if it happened as the German government and others say it did, you wouldn't need a law to protect the story.Next, if anybody found evidence of gassing at places like Auschwitz or Buchenwald, it was because the evidence was manufactured. Also, Leucther did find evidence of gassing at Auschwitz. But it was in a room where it was known that Zyklon B was used to disinfect clothing. But in the "gas chamber" itself, nothing.Next, the best I could dig up without going through too much trouble were Germans who were only part Jewish but were made honorary Aryans. There was Heinrich Himmler. I think he ran the gestapo. There was Erhard Milch. Who was involved in building up the luftwaffe. There was Bernhard Rogge, a vice-admiral. There was also Gotthard Heinrichi, a general. There were others. Maybe some of them were full blood Jews. It would take a little more digging to find out than I am willing to go through. That the Nazis were accepting of half jews (or less) tells enough of the story.
Oil Prices Volatile as Investors Gauge Dispute Between Iran and Saudi Arabia



...Differences between the two countries have long been one of the major fault lines in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, in which both are key members. Despite falling oil prices, OPEC members were unable to agree on anything of substance  including a production target  at their most recent meeting in early December.



There is concern that the tensions might affect the shipping lanes out of the Persian Gulf or spill into Iraq, which has become the second-largest OPEC producer, after Saudi Arabia. The dispute also creates some doubt about the size of Iranian oil supplies this year, once sanctions over Tehrans nuclear program are lifted.



The sparring makes the prospect of the Iranians and the Saudis working together to restrain oil production even more remote than it had seemed in the past few months.



In recent years, the influence of the Middle East producers on the market has been reduced by many factors, including the increase in production outside the region, especially in the United States. One reason that Saudi-Iranian tensions have had only a modest impact on prices so far is that global oil production still substantially exceeds demand and storage tanks are brimming. Analysts say that the United States could add to supply relatively quickly in the event of shortages or price increases, by stepping up drilling and bringing uncompleted shale oil wells online.



Another factor is that warm weather in much of the world has been weighing on the price of oil and natural gas, both used for heating.



In addition, economic data from China, where equity markets declined sharply on Monday, continues to be weak. China has become an important customer for oil exporters like Saudi Arabia, so signs of economic slowdown there weigh on prices.



There might have been a bigger upward movement in the price of Brent crude, Mr. Mallinson said, but for those offsetting pressures.
The problem is two fold.



Many high schools have eliminated their vocational programs. Those that still have them make the mistake of sending their "at risk" and "marginal learning" students into those programs. There is this mindset from the 1970s where if a kid wasn't real bright, you sent him to the trades.



Carpentry and plumbing really haven't changed much but the tools used are much more high tech. The codes and regulations have evolved as well. Don't even get me started on automotive systems. Todays cars have multiple computers and networks that all interact with each other. The same is true to a lesser degree in the HVAC world. Bottom line, some kid with a 90 IQ CAN NOT fix these things. Yet most councilors and school administrators still persist in pawning off the marginal students to the trades.



Part of my job is to provide training on new automotive technology to the trade school instructors. I had one guy that finally got his local councilors on board. He simply asked them if they wanted kid A working on THEIR new car ???? He finally got them to understand these marginal learners could NOT do the work. They cannot handle the electronics involved. The advisors finally started sending him decent students.



Years ago most trade schools were separate entities from the jr college and university systems. The administrators in these schools had a fair understanding of the types of students they needed to recruit and educate. They worked with their local industries.



Unfortunately (I saw this first hand) many trade schools have now been absorbed into the a single two year school systems and many of the administrators don't have the understanding of the needs of the trades. They tend to steer better students into a path that leads to a four year degree rather than the trades.



I've been in automotive for nearly 40 years now. NEVER unemployed except by my own choice. I'll never be rich, but I'm far from poor.
Welcome back to normal. Yes, the holidays are in the rear-view mirror.So is all that decidedly non-winter like weather. It's cold out there this morning. It marked the first morning I actually broke down and donned a winter coat. The start of a new year brings with it new faces in politics. Towns and governments all across Delaware County will swear in new officials today. In Chester, Democrats will continue to wield power, but there is a new man at the helm. New Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland will officially take the reins of power from John Linder. Kirkland last week indicated he will hold down two jobs - at least until the state budget is resolved. The longtime state rep in the 159th District rescinded his resignation to make sure his constituents - and the Chester Upland School District - has their voice heard in the ongoing budget standoff. In Media, some familiar faces will continue to lead Delaware County government. County Council members Colleen Morrone, John McBlain and Michael Culp, along with District Attorney Jack Whelan, all will take the oath of office for another term. There will be some new faces, however. Three newly elected judges will be sworn in to seats on the Court of Common Pleas. Sen. Dominic Pileggi, Anthony Scanlon and Margaret J. Amoroso all will be joining the county bench. Judges James Bradley and James Nilon Jr. will be sworn in for another term. In Philadelphia, Michael Nutter is out, and Jim Kenney is in. We'll bring you the details. We have only one question: How many days until pitchers and catchers report? And the first day of spring?
Chamber seeks award nominations

The Albany Area Chamber of Commerce is accepting nominations through Jan. 15 for its 2016 Distinguished Service Awards.

Businesses or individuals who have shown dedication to the community, exemplary service and community leadership are eligible, and nominations need to include at least two letters of recommendation.

Awards for individuals include the Distinguished Service Award for candidates more than 55 years old, the Jim Linhart First Citizen Award for candidates between 40 and 55 years old, and the Junior First Citizen Award for candidates under 40.

Business awards include the Large Business of the Year Award, for chamber businesses with more than 25 employees, and the Small Business of the Year Award, for a chamber business with 25 employees or less.

For more information, or for nomination forms, go to www.albanychamber.com.

State invites comment on G-P permit

The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality is seeking public comments on a proposed air quality permit for Georgia-Pacific Chemicals LLC, 2190 Old Salem Road.

The facility proposes to renew its current air contaminant discharge permit, with some minor modifications and changes to accommodate new federal standards and state rules.

Comments must be received by 5 p.m. Feb. 3, and can be sent to: Patty Hamman, permit coordinator, 4026 Fairview Industrial Drive S.E., Salem, OR 97302.

Written statements also may be faxed to 503-378-4196 or emailed to hamman.patricia@deq.state.or.us.

Hospice worker named to national committee

Stefani Sackinger, Benton Hospice Service community liason for Linn and Benton counties, was recently appointed to serve a two-year term on the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organizations professional education committee.

The committee is comprised of workers from across the nation, and helps to identify educational needs, advise staff and evaluate professional development activities.

The work of this committee is one of my areas of passion  improving standards of care for hospice patients and families, Sackinger said.

Lebanon clinic welcomes new assistant

Jaqueline Fitch has joined the Samaritan Family Medicine Resident Clinic as a physician assistant.

She will provide primary care to newborns, children, adults and older adults.

Fitch earned a bachelors degree from Northwest Nazarene University and a masters degree in physician assistant studies at Idaho State University.
This blog documents the travels, projects, shows and impressions of a radical poet who wanders around this doomed planet in a search for intelligent life.
Disclaimer

THIS BLOG IS INTENDED TO GIVE ANYONE WHO IS INTERESTED SOME INSIGHT INTO LIFE IN THE FOREIGN SERVICE. THE VIEWS EXPRESSED HERE ARE MY OWN AND DO NOT NECESSARILY REFLECT THOSE OF THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT.
Sometimes I have something I want to convey and sometimes not so much.


RELIGION, NATION, MARRIAGE: THE LOYALTIES OF MEN

PRAY, WORK, STUDY, PROTECT: THE DUTIES OF MEN




Dyckia sp, what does this mean? ...and what else?

Dyckia sp is the very same as Dyckia species, in fact short for Dyckia species. It refers to an unnamed Dyckia species.



A Dyckia sp can not be a hybrid Dyckia and never a Dyckia you do not know the name but a nameless Dyckia species. The fact that you do not know the plant it does not mean a nameless one.



A new Dyckia species must be published in order to have its name valid. This obligation doesnt counted on Iternet publications as The World Wide Web didnt exist and publication meant : journals, books, magazine, scientific report magazines.



Nowadays nothing is better published than in the WWW.

Publishing means getting public and there is nothing equal nor close to the WWW.



Public means everybody not just a bunch of selected guys.

These are mates, collegues, fellows not public. Here people publish new Plant species on very restricted magazine or very specialized magazines and assume as published. Publishing means everybody who is willing to know of it. Also the world doesnspeaks Portuguese, nor spanish and less than this doesnt understand old Latim ( Not even those who publishes a new species. They rely on claves and many mistakes are made.) Today publishing means WWW!!! Today it means English!! If a new species is published here in Brazil it must be in Latim as in any other place on the Earth, Portuguese and for Gods sake also in English and entirely not a sinopsis only. Publications with a very restrictec and exclusive public is out of question. Publications with on purposal omitted data is also out of question and not valid. A bunch of readers is not public. A group of readers are collegues never public!!!Public is WWW and your reader may be in Reykjavick or Auckland, Rio or Tokyo and everywhere in between. Portuguese is a lovely sounding language. It makes feel home...but who is going to undertand me in ...in...everywhere else besides people which countries speak Camoes language? English, English for Godssake.

Also there is no sense publising without precise data.

Preservation means showing, educating not hidding an less yet iluding.

What Light is for if it doesnt Brighten up high above everything? Light is to iluminate or it is not Light and if it isnt Light it isnt Science!


By Jim Urquhart

PRINCETON, Ore. (Reuters) - A group of self-styled militiamen occupied the headquarters of a U.S. wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon to protest the imminent jailing of two ranchers, officials said on Sunday, in the latest skirmish over federal land management in the West.

The occupation, which began on Saturday, followed a march in Burns, a small city about 50 miles (80 km) north of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, in support of Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond.

Hammond and his son, convicted in 2012 of setting fires that spread to public land, travelled to Los Angeles on Sunday evening to turn themselves in to federal authorities, according to their lawyer W. Alan Schroeder. They were to be sent to back to prison after federal prosecutors won an appeal that resulted in their resentencing to longer terms.

Their ranch borders on the southern edge of the refuge, a bird sanctuary in the arid high desert in the eastern part of the state, about 305 miles (490 km) southeast of Portland.

The protest was being led by Ammon Bundy, the son of Cliven Bundy, owner of a ranch in Nevada where his family staged an armed protest against the Bureau of Land Management in April 2014. The agency sought to seize Bundy's cattle after he refused to pay grazing fees. Federal agents finally backed down, citing safety concerns, and returned hundreds of cattle to Bundy.

Federal and state authorities have not said how they planned to respond to the occupation of the refuge's headquarters in Princeton, Oregon.

It involved an unknown number of people, Jason Holm, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, said in a statement. No employees were in the building.

Holm described the occupation as a break-in, although federal justice and Interior Department officials contacted later declined to say whether any crimes were committed in the occupation. Wildlife refuge buildings were closed over the holiday weekend.

In an interview posted on Facebook, Bundy said the occupation was in reaction to the government intrusion into the rights of private-property owners.

"It is the people's facility, owned by the people," Bundy said. "It has been provided for us to be able to come together and unite and make a hard stand against this overreach - this taking of the people's land and resources."

Bundy told CNN some of the occupiers were armed.

The Hammonds distanced themselves last month from the Bundys, according to a letter Schroeder, wrote to the county sheriff on Dec. 11.

"I write to clarify that neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone with his group/organisation speak for the Hammond family, Dwight Hammond or Steven Hammond," Schroeder wrote in the letter, which was seen by Reuters.

The incident is part of a decades-old conflict between ranchers and the federal government over Washington's management of hundreds of thousands of rangeland. Critics of the federal government say it often oversteps its authority and exercises arbitrary power over land use without sufficient accountability.

'ALTERNATIVE MOTIVES'

Bundy told a news conference on Sunday he had yet to communicate with any law enforcement officials. He said occupiers planned no violence unless that was justified by actions taken against the occupants. He would not say how many people were inside the headquarters.

He encouraged anyone opposed to overreach by the government in the management of federal lands to join the occupation at the refuge.

?For those that understand what is going on, and those who want to and feel a need to stand, we?re asking them to come,? he said. ?We have a facility that we can house them in."

?We will continue to monitor the situation for additional developments," Holm said in the statement. He did not immediately return a phone call seeking further details. No one answered a call to the phone number of the refuge.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward was critical of the protesters and their motives, and advised local residents to stay away from the refuge.

?These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States."

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, encompassing 292 square miles (75,630 hectares), was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt as a breeding ground for greater sandhill cranes and other native birds. The headquarters compound includes a visitor centre, a museum and the refuge office.

(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City, Mo.; Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Peter Cooney and Michael Perry)
The day of reckoning arrives for global socialism By: Scott Sumner

Tyler Cowen has a good post on the catastrophic collapse of the Brazilian economy:

And how is Brazilian output doing you may wonder?: By the end of 2016 Brazils economy may be 8% smaller than it was in the first quarter of 2014, when it last saw growth; GDP per person could be down by a fifth since its peak in 2010, which is not as bad as the situation in Greece, but not far off. Two ratings agencies have demoted Brazilian debt to junk status. Joaquim Levy, who was appointed as finance minister last January with a mandate to cut the deficit, quit in December.

One thing Ive noticed is that commenters attempt to find excuses for the failure of the model that Paul Krugman assured us was just fine, as recently as 2012:

Just to be clear, I think Brazil is going pretty well, and has had good leadership. But why exactly is Brazil an impressive BRIC while Argentina is always disparaged? Actually, we know why  but it doesnt speak well for the state of economics reporting.

Perhaps the most bizarre excuse is that its Chinas fault. Heres one of Tylers commenters:

Hey, Tyler, you are one of the people touting negative stories about what is going on in China, and I am largely sympathetic to your claims on that front. So why are you picking on the Brazilians so hard, arguably the worst victims of the Chinese deceleration and outright decline in sector directly importing from Brazil?

Thats right, the collapse of a major continental economy on the other side of the world from China, which isnt even particularly heavily exposed to international trade, was (we are told) caused by Chinese growth slowing from 7.3% to 6.9%, or perhaps to 5% if you believe the China conspiracy theorists. Im picking on one commenter, but I often read this claim being made.

Now in fairness, Chinese growth in the heavy industry sector has slowed much more sharply than the overall economy, and that has depressed the price of iron and coal. But consider this data:

There are many problems with the blame China argument, but Ill just mention three:

1. Brazil is not particularly exposed to international trade. Australia exports more than Brazil, even though Brazil has nine times the population of Australia, and three times the GDP.

2. Australia exports lots of coal and iron, which are especially hard hit by the slowdown of heavy industry in China. Brazil exports lots of soybeans, oil and iron, only one of which is directly impacted by the drop in Chinese heavy industry. The Chinese continue to rapidly increase their rate of car ownership and their consumption of meat. Yes, those prices have also declined, but for reasons having little to do with China. Furthermore, Brazilian exports are only down 11.8% year over year, and the article suggests thats mostly due to lower prices. So I see little evidence that the real volume of Brazilian exports has plunged sharply. And yet real GDP is expected to be down by 8%, and even more in per capita terms. All this in a continental-sized economy that (like the US) mostly serves the domestic sector.

3. Maybe you dont like the comparison to Australia, which is much more advanced than Brazil. Then how about the rest of Latin America:

Moreover, many Latin American economies will continue to face growth divergence in 2016. Again, the Atlantic-facing economies of Argentina, Brazil and Venezuelathe largest members of the Mercosur blocwill either experience meagre economic growth or remain in recession. On the other side of the continent, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peruwhich make up the Pacific Alliancewill experience stronger expansions. Nevertheless, growth in the Pacific Alliance economies is expected to remain below potential due to the headwinds caused by still-low global commodities prices, the potential impact a Fed rate tightening could have on financial conditions, as well as domestic political challenges.

Yes, lower commodity prices have definitely slowed growth, especially in economies like Chile and Peru, which are heavily dependent on the export of minerals like copper. But this article says that the consensus forecast calls for growth in the 2% to 3% range in the relatively neoliberal Pacific economies. In contrast, Argentina is expected to have 0.4% growth, whereas Brazil and Venezuela will see outright declines. I dont want to overstate the policy differences, none of the countries are either neoliberal or socialist models, but there is no question that the Atlantic economies have tilted more in the socialist direction.

Many Keynesian commenters used to complain when I pointed out that Australia avoided recession in 2008-9 by keeping NGDP close to the long-term trend line, through sound monetary policy. They said Australia was simply lucky, due to its commodity exports to China. Well now Australia is getting walloped by much lower commodity prices for its coal and iron exports, and yet the consensus forecast for Australia calls for the same 2% to 3% RGDP growth that is expected in the more free market part of Latin America. What happened to the claim that commodities were so all important to these countries that they could overwhelm the business cycle? Is it still true for Brazil, but not the much more exposed Aussie economy? I dont get it.

For years, left-leaning economists like Paul Krugman have been telling us that demand-side factors were key, and supply-side economic reforms were overrated. The leader of the British Labour Party praised the socialist government of Venezuela, which makes even Brazil look somewhat sane by comparison. I think we are finally seeing that the left is paying a price for forgetting the lessons of the 1970s. Markets work and statist policies dont. How did this happen? How did they forget?

I think they overreached. After 2000 the GOP took some increasingly silly positions on a wide range of issues. They became widely viewed as the stupid party. Then you had the global economic crisis, which was wrongly (but perhaps understandably) blamed on laissez-faire policies of deregulation. Progressives started thinking, maybe the right is wrong about almost everything, including the need for neoliberal policies. Intellectuals moved sharply to the left, especially younger ones with no memory of the failures of socialism. Polls show many younger Americans, especially Democrats, have a positive opinion of socialism. You see serious economists contemplating policies that in the 1990s would have been regarded as loony, like rent controls, or a $15 nationwide minimum wage. And you had serious economists overlooking the horrible consequences of statist big government policies in Brazil, Greece, Argentina, Venezuela, etc.

In 2009 I thought this was another 1933 moment, where the left would greatly benefit from a crisis of capitalism. Now Im not so sure. It looks to me like a failure of both left and right in the US, and the only countries that will do OK are those where the right has kept its head, such as the other English speaking countries, the Nordic countries, and East Asia. I see two key differences from 1933:

1. In 1933, most governments were small by modern standards, so there was room to grow. Now Brazils public sector spends 40% of GDP, which is very high for a developing country. And despite all that spending, they are not building modern infrastructure like China, where government spending is far lower, but better targeted to growth.

2. In the mid-20th century, growth was more like a military operationmobilizing resources to produce things like steel and washing machines. Even the Soviets could do it. But when the global economy shifted toward high tech and services, the need for a flexible market economy became much greater. After the 1970s, growth slowed almost everywhere, but especially in the more rigid, statist economies.

So today the failures of socialism are immediately exposed as soon as their economies are no longer propped up by commodity exports. Brazil is the poster child for this phenomenon, but its happening many other places as well.

PS. Mea culpa. I did expect Venezuela and Argentina to do poorly once the commodity boom ended, but did not realize how bad things were in Brazil. The scale of the disaster has caught me off guard. Ditto for Greece. I knew the euro might be a problem for them, but never imagined it would get this bad. So perhaps Im putting too much weight on socialism. But I am quite confident that Brazils depression cannot be explained simply by pointing to lower Chinese demand for commoditiesthe numbers simply dont add up.
This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For over 18 years and 38,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.
Journalists trying wi-fi service aboard a JetBlue airplane. LUCAS JACKSON (REUTERS)

Despite growing demand, internet access continues to be something of a rarity on Spanish public transportation.

Around 40 airlines offer Wi-Fi, including former Spanish flag carrier Iberia, but only seven or so provide it for free.

Things arent much better on the railways, although Spains RENFE has promised to provide high-quality connections on its AVE high-speed routes, as well as at its Cercanias commuter stations.

It is an improvement to our service, like the VIP suite, fast-track boarding, or VIP parking. We dont see it as a business in itself

Iberia spokesperson

Meanwhile, AENA, the airport authority, has announced a plan to roll out free and pay-to-use Wi-Fi at Spains 46 airports.

Until then, travelers in Spain who want to stay connected while on the move overwhelmingly have to use their smartphone cellular network.

The technology to provide internet access aboard airplanes has been available for around five years, but the companies that do offer a connection impose restrictions on use. In most cases its limited to using messaging service WhatsApp, checking e-mail, and maybe a quick look at a website.

Airlines tend to see internet access as an added service rather than an essential feature. In most cases, the service was first available in business class, and then extended to other passengers.

It is an improvement to our service, like the VIP suite, fast-track boarding, or VIP parking. We dont see it as a business in itself, says Iberia.

Iberia began offering internet access in July 2014, and the service is now available aboard 23 long-haul routes on its Airbus 330 and Airbus 340 aircraft, which fly to the US and Latin America, among other destinations. The company says that most passengers use between eight and 10 megabytes, while prices vary between $4.95 (4.50) for four megabytes and $19.95 for 22 megabytes. After that, each megabyte costs $1.75.

Flat rate

Other companies, such as Lufthansa and KLM, apply a flat rate for the entire journey. The German carrier charges 9 an hour, 14 for four hours and 17 for up to 24 hours. The Dutch company charges 10.95 per hour and 19.95 for a maximum of 24 hours.

British Airways, now Iberias partner in IAG, only offers internet access on its New York routes. IAG says it intends to roll out the service through the Inmarsat satellite in 2016.

AENA, the airport authority, has announced a plan to roll out free and pay-to-use Wi-Fi at Spains 46 airports

Generally speaking, US airlines are more advanced than their European counterparts, and also cheaper. US Airways offers Wi-Fi on 90 percent of its routes, costing 14 per day, or 39 for a month. American Airlines and Delta charge the same daily rate and 49.95 for unlimited monthly use.

Among the few companies that do offer free internet access are Emirates, JetBlue, Norwegian, Turkish, Air China, Philippine Airlines, Hong Kong Airlines, and Nok Air.

Of these, Norwegian has the most routes in Europe, with 99 aircraft, 87 of which have onboard Wi-Fi. It says around half of passengers use the service.

Iberia says most passengers use its internet service just after take-off and shortly before landing. Regarding the quality of its connection, the company admits this can vary considerably: Everybody using WhatsApp isnt the same as people surfing the internet, which uses a lot more bandwidth, says a source at the company.

Connection speeds could be considerably improved by using satellites. Telefonica and Vueling have announced a high-speed service of up to 20 megabytes per second using a satellite connection. When it receives permission from Spains civil aviation authority over the course of 2016, Vueling will be the first airline in Europe to offer high-speed broadband internet access.

Air Europa intends to offer Wi-Fi aboard its fleet of eight Boeing 787 Dreamliners in 2016.
Residents of Temixco, Morelos state, comfort one another following the shooting death of their mayor. REUTERS

Just one day after she was sworn in as mayor of the small town of Temixco on New Years Day, Gisela Mota was gunned down at her home by a group of hooded hitmen.

Three suspects are in custody, the Morelos state prosecutors office said on Sunday.

The gunmen are believed to have been hired by a local drug cartel

According to a preliminary inquiry, Los Rojos, a drug organization that is fighting with other rivals for control of territory in neighboring Guerrero state, paid the hitmen to kill the 34-year-old politician, who represented the leftist Democratic Revolution Party (PRD).

Morelos governor Graco Ramirez, who is also of the PRD, said on Sunday that security will be stepped up for the 33 mayors who are members of the same party.

It is a new criminal challenge against the state, but we will not give up, he said.

Gisela Mota during her swearing in ceremony as mayor of Temixco. AP

During the shootout in the town, located in Mexicos Morelos state, two other suspects were killed by police.

Before she was elected mayor, Mota served as national deputy between 2012 and 2015. She was also secretary for youth affairs in Temixco and PRD councilor in Morelos. Her mother was a long-term leftist politician.

Because of its close proximity to Mexico City and temperate climate, Morelos  with 1.7 million inhabitants  is considered a favorite retreat for the capitals high-end residents.

But in the past year, violence has rocked Morelos, where different cartels, including the Beltran Leyva organization, the Guerreros Unidos and Los Rojos, have carried out bloody battles for control of drug routes in the area. The most common crimes are murder, extortion and kidnappings.

Residents have held marches in the state capital, Cuernavaca, to demand an end to rampant crime.

The drug violence that has gripped Mexico has claimed the lives of some 60,000 people since 2006, when then-President Felipe Calderon declared a government-backed war against the cartels.

President Enrique Pena Nieto has pooled together the countrys security forces and deployed them to troubled spots. Part of the plan has been to replace corrupt local police forces in many towns and fire mayors who are on the drug cartels payrolls.

English version by Martin Delfin.
Artur Mas at CDC headquarters on Monday. M. Minocri

Acting Catalan premier Artur Mas will not step down to prevent early elections in March, despite calls to do so from a small party that holds the key to power in the region.

I am anxious to make a stand in Madrid, and also right here, against the forces that are not making it easy for us, he said on Monday morning, before meeting with top leaders of his Democratic Convergence of Catalonia (CDC) party to discuss their next move.

Mas, who once said that he would step aside if he ever became a problem for the secessionist process, now defends his refusal to leave

On Sunday, Candidatura dUnitat Popular (CUP)  a small anti-capitalist group that supports leaving the euro zone and holds the key to power in Catalonia  announced that its 10 deputies will not vote in favor of Mass reinstatement.

Although Mas formally won the September 27 election with a separatist alliance called Junts pel Si (Together for Yes), no government has been formed yet due to CUPs refusal to support a new Mas administration on the grounds that he represents corruption and social spending cuts.

The Monday meeting is expected to confirm that CDC offers no alternative candidate to Mas, even though CUP leaders have said they would support any other nominee put forward by Junts pel Si.

If a new premier is not voted in by January 10, Catalonia will face fresh elections in early March, as per Spanish legislation. The polls would be the fourth in the region in five years.

Mas, who once said that he would step aside if he ever became a problem for the secessionist process, now defends his refusal to leave.

I am not the problem, the problem is how we can best guarantee the Catalan process, he said on Tuesday in an interview on Catalunya Radio. If we convey the sense that CUP is the one making all the decisions around here, the sovereignty project will derail.

English version by Susana Urra.
Alberto Rodriguez, deputy for Podemos representing Tenerife, picks up his official congressional membership documents. Bernardo Perez

Anti-corruption, anti-austerity party Podemos agreed on Sunday to limit many of the benefits enjoyed by Spanish members of parliament when its new deputies take their seats for the first time in Congress later this month.

During a nine-hour meeting of the partys national directorate, known as the citizens council, members agreed that all deputies in the group should give up privileges. These include the retirement benefits given to former members of Congress, a credit card with a 3,000 allowance to pay for taxis, and internet access for those who have to travel outside of their provinces.

Any extra money will be either turned over to the partys treasury or given as a donation

Podemos deputies have also agreed to put a cap on their salaries and per diems given for lodging and allowances. Any extra funds will be either turned over to the partys treasury or given as a donation.

Following the December 20 race, the leftist anti-austerity group became the third political force in Spain after winning 69 seats in Congress along with its regional affiliate parties running under different names in Catalonia, Valencia and Galicia. Podemos itself took a total of 42 seats. The new parliamentary bloc also includes independents and members of the Equo party.

The citizens council has agreed that Podemos deputies will only be entitled to earn about 1,950 a month (or the amount equivalent to three minimum salaries) and collect a maximum of 850 for travel accommodation and allowances for those who live outside Madrid.

Podemos officials were scheduled to begin meeting on Monday with representatives of its sister groups in Catalonia, Valencia and Galicia, who are willing to form their own political force in Congress. These include Barcelona en Comu, Esquerra Unida i Alternativa, Iniciativa per Catalunya, Compromis, Anova and Esquerda Unida, among others.

English version by Martin Delfin.
The last concert at Cafe Berlin on Sunday. Bernardo Perez

Every city has its pilgrimage centers, which are imposed by religion, culture or history. And every city also has its spontaneous pilgrimage centers that rise silently out of the everyday hustle and bustle; places that connect the great figures of the cultural scene with the citys anonymous crowds.

Or maybe its the other way around: it is the anonymous crowds that create great figures inside temples that trade chiefly in emotions. These places are symbols of an era, institutions that safeguard the soul of an entire people. Cafe Berlin represented all of these things.

But after livening up Madrids nightlife for 40 years, Cafe Berlin shut its doors forever on Sunday.

The Cafe Berlin building and the two adjoining ones will be converted into yet another tourist hotel

It took 23 million from an Indian entrepreneur to halt the flow of fans who would climb up that winding staircase that opened up into a paradise of irreverence, and was home to rock, folk, jazz, flamenco, pop, funk and tongue-in-cheek cabaret.

Located on the first floor of number 4, Jacometrezo street, Cafe Berlins small tables and red velvet couches allowed patrons to float until the early morning hours with the electronic beats of Redux Life or the jam sessions led by the likes of trumpet player Jerry Gonzalez.

The musicians who played there were veterans of the Madrid nightclub scene, representing the perfect symbiosis in which an artist makes the space and the space makes the artist. Cafe Berlin became the launching pad of people like Mastretta, Diego Guerrero and La Shica.

Its demise was a death foretold, but nobody did anything about it. The Berlin is shutting down, just like Cafe Central seems set to shut down as well, and part of the Madrid nightlife will be mutilated, with a long line of souls roaming the streets in search of a new temple of music.

No option to negotiate

There wasnt even the option to negotiate, says Ezequiel Brid, one of two Argentinean partners who took over the club four years ago and breathed new life into it. He and Andres Almada changed the clubs skin but not its soul. They opened its doors to all types of night owls, from those wearing thick-rimmed glasses to those sporting leather and studs; sequins and fake mink furs, platform shoes, stilettos, or even whips.

But then came the Mohinani Group with its deep pockets, and for 23 million the India-based company acquired the entire building with its pretty balconies, and both adjoining ones to boot. It was a sweet deal for a spot just a few meters off the popular Callao square. Their fate: being converted into yet another hotel for tourists.

For its last performance on Sunday, Cafe Berlin brought together some of its favorite musicians, including Jerry Gonzalez and Javier Colina, as well as their friends and guests. But it wasn't the end of the Berlin: its soul and its fans have already begun their pilgrimage in search of a new temple of music to take its place near Callao.

English version by Susana Urra.
It is not a bad thing for us, that the route known as the Goldene Strae or the Golden Road as we will get to know it- has escaped the attention of so many. It has been spared being overrun by hordes of tourists and as you will discover the
The 'Sovetskoye Shampanskoye' (Soviet Champagne) brand name has fallen under the law on the condemnation of Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) totalitarian regimes in Ukraine and the ban on propaganda of their symbols, and Kyiv's champagne winery Stolichny has had to rename its product.

"From now on, the universally known brand is called 'Sovetovskoye Shampanskoye,'" says a report published on the winery's website.

The company said it had to rename the product for preserving a major attribute of the New Year's Eve celebrations. "Only the name has changed, and the quality of the sparkling wine loved by everyone remains high," the winery said.
Beneficial import duty rates outlined in the Customs Tariff of Ukraine are applied to all goods of Russian origin from January 2, 2016, and the preferential regime for Russia (free trade) is revoked, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine said on its website.

The measures are introduced for one year under cabinet resolution No. 1146 of December 30, 2015 passed to protect the economic interests and security of Ukraine, restore violated rights, freedoms and the legal interests of Ukrainian citizens, society and the state caused by actions of the aggressor state  Russia - that restrict the realization of the legal rights and interests of Ukrainian foreign economic entities and in response to the suspension of the free trade area (FTA) agreement of October 18, 2011 for Ukraine by Russia, the government said.

According to the resolution, the document will become void on December 31, 2016 or when Russia stops violating the FTA agreement of October 18, 2011.

Deputy Economic Minister, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska said that the government will protect the interests of Ukraine and Ukrainian goods producers on the foreign and domestic markets. cabinet

KYIV. Jan 4 (Interfax-Ukraine)  Beneficial import duty rates outlined in the Customs Tariff of Ukraine are applied to all goods of Russian origin from January 2, 2016, and the preferential regime for Russia (free trade) is revoked, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine said on its website.

The measures are introduced for one year under cabinet resolution No. 1146 of December 30, 2015 passed to protect the economic interests and security of Ukraine, restore violated rights, freedoms and the legal interests of Ukrainian citizens, society and the state caused by actions of the aggressor state  Russia - that restrict the realization of the legal rights and interests of Ukrainian foreign economic entities and in response to the suspension of the free trade area (FTA) agreement of October 18, 2011 for Ukraine by Russia, the government said.

According to the resolution, the document will become void on December 31, 2016 or when Russia stops violating the FTA agreement of October 18, 2011.

Deputy Economic Minister, Trade Representative of Ukraine Natalia Mykolska said that the government will protect the interests of Ukraine and Ukrainian goods producers on the foreign and domestic markets.
Oil transit through Ukraine to Europe in January-November 2015 increased by 0.8% (by 114,700 tonnes) compared to the same period in 2014, to 13.974 million tonnes.

According to the Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry, in November 2015 oil transit through Ukraine rose by 0.2% (by 2,800 tonnes) compared to the same month last year, to 1.137 million tonnes.

As reported, Ukrtransnafta Director General Mykola Havrylenko said in an interview with Interfax-Ukraine that the company would retain the oil transit volume via Ukraine at slightly over 15 million tonnes in 2015, which is the same as in 2014.

Oil transit through Ukraine to Europe in 2014 decreased by 3.6% (by 564,600 tonnes) compared to 2013, to 15.013 million tonnes.

The operator of Ukraine's oil transportation system is Ukrtransnafta, which is 100% managed by Naftogaz Ukrainy.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has revoked the anti-crisis requirement that banned banks from replacing creditors or debtors in their liabilities under foreign crediting agreements and assigning claims on credits and loans in foreign currency by resident creditors to nonresidents, the regulator said on its website.

NBU resolution No. 996 of December 30, 2015 will take effect from January 11, 2016.

According to the document, the regulator obliges banks to additionally check clients and documents for the registration of agreements to reveal the signs of risk financial transactions.

If banks make conclusions that there are corresponding signs, they are obliged not to service the transaction and not to send a package of documents to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) for the registration of the agreement.

The NBU also extended the term for registering agreements from five to seven working days. According to the resolution, in some cases the NBU additionally checks document packages submitted by banks for the registration of client's agreements for the period of no more than 30 calendar days, not taking into account the term of registering the agreements.
Gazprom Export has announced that it stopped accepting Turkmen natural gas in January 2016, the press service of the Turkmengaz state-owned company has reported.

"Such a decision stems from the changed situation on the international gas market, as well as individual economic and financial issues that Gazprom Export has," the press service said.

Turkmengaz also noted that it was ready to "hold talks with Gazprom Export on a wide variety of issues concerning economic ties between these two businesses."

It was reported that on June 8, 2015, Russian gas giant Gazprom (MOEX: GAZP) filed a lawsuit against Turkmengaz with the Arbitration Institute of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, demanding a review of the prices set in the contract.

Since the onset of the 2008 crisis, Gazprom has tried to secure a review of the price it pays for natural gas purchased from Turkmenistan.

Gazprom has bought approximately ten billion cubic meters of Turkmen natural gas a year since 2009. But the Russian gas giant said in 2015 that it planned to reduce these purchases to four billion cubic meters.
The indexation of tariffs for cargo transportation by rail in the territory of Ukraine in 2016 depends on the decision of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade and the Finance Ministry, PJSC Ukrzaliznytsia has said.

"The draft order of the Infrastructure Ministry on indexation, which is proposed to be carried out in several stages, a yearly average of 28.1%, is being approved by these ministries," reads a press release from the railways administration.

It noted that the increase in tariffs for freight carriage would allow to improve the servicing of cargo owners due to the increase in capital investment, the repair of rolling stock and rail infrastructure, the modernization and repair of railway equipment, the acquisition of new freight cars, repair and modernization of locomotives and so on.

The current level of rail freight traffic tariffs covers operating costs and the cost of repairs, but only a small part of the funds is spent on capital investment to upgrade the fixed assets. Thus, for the past three years there had been observed a decrease in capital investment for upgrading, reconstructing and modernizing fixed assets, which exacerbates the problem of wear of railway infrastructure strategic objects and rolling stock.
Ukraine's Permanent Representative to UN Volodymyr Yelchenko says Ukraine intends to launch talks within the United Nations on the possibility of deploying a UN peacekeeping mission in Donbas.

"We have a certain action plan and we know what we will do first. One way or another, it will be linked with the situation in Donbas, to be more precise in the context of a peacekeeping mission's possible deployment in the east of Ukraine. As you know, this initiative is currently being blocked by Russia. But we will try to find approaches to resolve this issue," he said in an interview with the Apostrophe online publication.

As UN practice shows, it takes months from the start of talks until a mission's deployment, Yelchenko said, adding that, for this reason, it would be a lengthy process.

Apart from Russia, there are also some UN Security Council member countries that do not support the idea of a peacekeeping mission for Donbas, he said.

"There is an uncertainty that a UN mission will be able to act more effectively than the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) mission already deployed in Ukraine. But, still, a great deal will depend on a mandate of such a possible UN mission," Yelchenko said.
An investigation is under way into the death of soldier of the 3rd special operations regiment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Roman Bocharov, who died from allegedly mishandling his weapon, speaker for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Vladyslav Selezniov has said.

"Soldier Roman Bocharov died in the ATO zone on January 2. He died as a result of careless handling of weapons; this is not a combat loss. An internal investigation into the death has started," he told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.
Chairman of Ukrainian Miners' Independent Trade Union Mykhailo Volynets announces that personnel of Lviv region's coalmines who are now on strike are planning to block customs checkpoints at the border with Poland on January 12.

"The coalminers are not sure that they'll get payment in January and in February. The local organization of the independent workers of Ukraine had a meeting yesterday. Another trade union is also about to act. A decision was taken to hold meetings at other coalmines in Lviv region, which should decide whether they are going to join the strike or not," Volynets wrote on Facebook on Monday.

He wrote the miners would block the customs checkpoints with Poland on January 12 to attract the public's attention.

"A decision has been taken that the customs checkpoints with Poland will be blocked on January 12 to attract the attention of not only the government to the mess happening in the fuel and energy complex and nonfeasance of [Ukrainian Energy and Coal Industry] Minister [Volodymyr] Demchyshyn and his team, but also the international community," he added.

According to mass media, personnel of state-run Lviv V uhillia's Stepna coalmine located in the village of Hlukhiv, Lviv region, went on strike on January 2, demanding the repayment of delayed wages.
The defense team of UKROP Party leader Hennadiy Korban has argued that the court hearing of a petition by the prosecutor's office to change a pre-trial restriction measure for their client from house arrest to custody was conducted with the violation of human rights.

Korban's defense counsel Oleksandr Miroshnyk noted that the actions by the court, the prosecution and law enforcement agencies against their client caused a surge of indignation and condemnation among defense lawyers, the UKROP press service reported.

The defense team argue that numerous violations of human rights laid down in the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms were recorded during the last court hearing in the Dniprovsky District Court of Kyiv, which lasted nearly 30 hours. According to them, Korban was nearly tortured through forcibly moving him from the hospital to the court after he underwent surgical intervention, their client did not receive appropriate medical care during the trial, he was unable to take prescribed medications and even food. In addition, the defendant was not hospitalized though doctors insisted on this, the defense team said.

The defense lawyers were not given enough time to read the documents, the judge constantly interrupted the lawyers and announced breaks, which were unreasonably long. The access of the UKROP Party leader to medical care was artificially restricted and his life was repeatedly threatened, the defense team said.

According to them, all these facts need to get a legal evaluation by the international community, and certainly will be presented to the European Court of Human Rights.

As reported, Korban, a former deputy head of Dnipropetrovsk Regional Administration, who recently ran in the mayoral elections in Kyiv, was detained during a sweeping special operation aimed at eradicating a criminal ring on October 31.

Korban was later notified of being suspected of 'setting up and participating in a criminal organization', 'obstructing elections commissions' activities' (implying misappropriation of a large amount of money belonging to the Country Defense Foundation charity organization),'illegally gaining possession of a transport vehicle' and 'taking hostage a government official' (implying an incident in which the chairman of the Ukrainian State Land Agency and the director of a Dnipropetrovsk city council department were taken hostage in Dnipropetrovsk). Korban was placed under house arrest until December 31.

On December 28, the Dniprovsky District Court of Kyiv ruled to change the pre-trial restriction measure for UKROP Party Leader Hennadiy Korban from house arrest to custody for a period of 60 days. The court sitting on this matter lasted for several days. The participants of the heating spent over 30 hours in court.

On Tuesday, January 5, the Appeals Court of Kyiv will consider the appeal by Korban's defense team against the ruling of Dnipropetrocsk District Court.
Death of North Korean Doctors Working in Cambodia Remains Mysterious, Authorities Cite Alcohol Intoxication As Possible Cause

On Saturday, two North Korean doctors working in Cambodia allegedly became so drunk that their wives, also doctors, injected unknown liquid into their systems in order to counteract the alcohol. Both men died of heart attacks, reported The Washington Post on Monday.

The local police in Cambodia were allegedly called to respond to a location in Phnom Penh's Tuol Kork district on the night of the incident where they found the two dead North Korean doctors in their house, which also doubles as their clinic.



The doctors have been identified as 50-year-old Chol Ri Mun and 56-year-old An Hyong Chan.

"According to the autopsy report, the victims both died of a heart attack," said local police Chief Khan Khun Tith.

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Reports noted that the two doctors were very much intoxicated by alcohol and had very high temperatures after they and their wives came home.

"After arriving home, we checked their conditions, and their temperature had reached 40 degrees Celsius, and their heartbeat was abnormal and their pulses abnormally weak," Tith quoted one of the wives as saying. "So we tried to save them by injecting medicine and serum to weaken the intoxication, but an hour later, they had a heart attack and died."

According to Phnom Penh Post on Monday, the incident was reported to the police hours after it happened, after the North Korean Embassy alerted the officials.

"We think the deaths might be suspicious because one of the victims had scratch marks on his chest and stomach," Tith noted on Sunday following an initial examination on the victims.

Just hours after Tith's statement, he announced that authorities were satisfied with the wife's explanation about the scratch marks found on the body of the diseased. The wife said they were self-inflicted by her husband after experiencing chest pain. The embassy's acceptance of the explanation concluded the case.

When reporters visited the clinic yesterday, four North Korean men allegedly shooed them away.

"We don't want any interviews with journalists," said one of the men.

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Relaxed visa policies for Chinese and other reasons have steered more Chinese traveling the world to the Maldives.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Insiders expect 2016 to be a shake-up year for outbound Chinese tourism. Yang Feiyue looks ahead.

China's outbound tourism was the global travel story of 2015.

It seems likely the same will hold true for this year, as trends that took root last year blossom and new seeds are planted.

The number of Chinese who travel overseas is forecast to reach 130 million - about 10 million more than last year, says Jiang Yiyi, director of the China Tourism Academy's International Tourism Development Institute, affiliated with the China National Tourism Administration. (Chinese have been the No 1 source of outbound tourists for four years.)

Countries will expand efforts to become more accessible to Chinese, especially in terms of language. International flights will increase. And Chinese will discover new destinations not currently on their radars.

Developed countries are expected to pay more attention to tourism's boon to their economies and will compete more fiercely to woo Chinese, Jiang says.

"The relaxation of visa policies toward Chinese and enhanced Chinese-language environment for visitors point toward the future," she says.
File photo shows a bombardment aircraft of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force participating in a training. Aircraft of the People's Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force flew over the Miyako Strait for the first time on May 21, 2015 for training in western Pacific, a military spokesperson said. [Photo: Xinhua]

In the past year, China's air force held 4 drills over the western Pacific, aimed at enhancing its combat capabilities over long distances and in the open sea.

On March 30, aviation troops of the People's Liberation Army, or PLA, flew to the open sea via the Bashi Channel of Taiwan. This was the troops' first exercise in the western Pacific.

The next drill took place on May 21. PLA aircraft flew over the Miyako Strait. The strait is near Japan's Miyako Islands, which is an international waterway.

The third drill on August 14 involved several types of aircraft flying over the Bashi Channel.

The final drill was led by H-6K medium-long range bombers, and took place on November 27th.

Colonel Han Xudong is a professor at China's PLA National Defense University. He says these drills demonstrated the air force's growing capabilities to protect China's security.

"The fact that the PLA air force was able to complete the exercises far offshore indicated a leveling up of their weaponry, logistic support and combat abilities. All these have showed a rapid improvement in combat capacities of the air force. The open sea drills of the air force came after the PLA Navy's similar operations in the western Pacific, making it possible for our air and navy forces to join hands for future drills in the region and greatly improving our capabilities to protect China's overseas interests."

The PLA has said it plans similar drills in the future, but said they would not target any particular country or region.
(File Photo)

China's share of Asia's exports of high-tech products has risen from 9.4 percent in 2000 to 43.7 percent in 2014. Now China ranks first in high-tech exports across Asiafar above Japan and South Korea, according to China National News (CNR) on Sunday.

Over the same period, Japan's market share shrank from 25.5 percent to 7.7 percent and lagged behind South Korea, the second greatest high-tech exporter. According to the CNR report, which cited the 2015 Asian Economic Integration Report released by Asian Development Bank, South Korea's exports account for 9.4 percent,

The report shows that China's high-tech goods are very popular among Asian countries; in particular, the high-speed rail, nuclear power and satellites are in high demand.

In Thailand, the Beidou navigation system has already made a deep impact. In Malaysia, Chinese exports of aerospace equipment and parts increased compared to last year.

In Indonesia, China won the bid for the country's first high-speed rail project, meaning that China's technology has entered the country. The chairman of China Railway International Co. Ltd., Yang Zhongmin, said China has successfully signed a contract with Indonesia to build the Jakarta-Bandung line. It is a major project, marking the spread of China's high-speed rail technology.
Monday is the first working day in 2016. This year, China will enter the period of its Thirteenth Five-Year Plan. China's trends this year in social and economic development will surely attract worldwide attention. Now, at the beginning of the year, we present you with ten noteworthy events and plans in 2016.

(File photo/Xinhua)

Thirteenth Five-Year Plan to be officially released

This year marks the start of the Thirteenth Five-Year Plan, extending from 2016 through 2020. During the fourth session of the 12th National Peoples Congress, which will convene from March 5, the plan will be reviewed and approved.

The Thirteenth Five-Year Plan period is the final stage of China's endeavor to build a prosperous and well-rounded society. Chinas plans for comprehensively promoting economic, political, cultural, social, ecological and Party development will attract a great deal of public attention.

(File photo/Chinanews.com)

Two-child era coming

China has ended the one-child family planning policy that was in effect for more than 30 years. The newly revised law went into effect on Jan. 1. According to the law, one couple will now be allowed to have two children.

Is China ready to embrace the two-child era? How will this change affect Chinese family life? What kind of improvement in China's population structure will occur? What will the impact be on the Chinese economy and society?
Premier Li was warmly welcomed by local residents in Taiyuan, Shanxi, on January 4, 2016.

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang inspected Taiyuan, capital of north Chinas Shanxi province, on January 4, 2016.

Li Keqiang visited Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group, worlds biggest stainless steel enterprise. Knowing that the group is currently facing downtown, Premier Li encouraged workers and staff there, saying high-quality productivity is important.

Premier Li Keqiang visited Taiyuan Iron and Steel Group

Li Keqiang also visited residents of shanty town in Taiyuan. During his visit there, he listened to residents narrating their difficulty in the current living situation and environment. I grew up in shanty town and knows how it feels, Li said.

Premier Li Keqiang visited residents of shanty town in Taiyuan

Premier Li Keqiang talked to a family living in the shanty town in Taiyuan, learning their difficulties.

Li learned that the 830 households in the area share one water-tap and one public toilet, with neither heat nor drainage systems. He said to the ministers who accompanied him: Our people are still living under such conditions. There is yet a lot to be done in China. Li promises to speed up renovation work for shanty town residents of Taiyuan, ensuring them to have better living environment.

Premier Li Keqiang visited Shanxi Merchants Museum.

During his visit to Shanxi Merchants Museum, Li emphasized on the cultural relics of Shanxi merchants honesty and righteousness in doing business. He also addressed the coal mine industry that Shanxi has been proud of, saying that Shanxi used to rely a lot on natural resources, and that it should eye on human resources more now.
Millions of people gathered in Times Square to celebrate the New Year on the night of Dec 31, 2015. Just around the corner from the famous ball drop was China National Tourist Office in New York who also held a special promotion for 2016 China-US Tourism Year. The ceremony was broadcasted live on TV and the Internet.

Cui Tiankai, Chinese ambassador to the United States, Zhang Qiyue, Chinese consul general in New York, Xue Yaping, director of the China National Tourist Office in New York, and hundreds of people from Chinese and American tourism companies, airlines and media attended the ceremony.

A total of 10,000 red scarves, with 2016 China-US Tourism Year printed on them, were given to the people at the ceremony.

Chinese artists from New York put on Red Silk Dance, Dunhuang Fairy Dancebased on the frescos of China's Mogao Grottoes, which reflects the cultural integration and communication through the Silk Road and the Torch Festival dance of the ethnic Yi people of China. Jumbotrons scattered around Times Square displayed "Happy New Year" in Chinese and also broadcasted videos for Chinese tourism.

Cuiexpressed his best wishes to the audiences in Chinese and English. He noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Obama agreed on 2016 being the China-US Tourism Year in September 2015. And that China has opened her arms and would like to show her grand natural beauty and cultural heritage to the people around the world. Cui also noted that the Tourism Year is an important achievement of Sino-US relations that will give a boost to the communication and cooperation on economy, culture, etc. between the two nations.
LHASA, Jan. 4 -- The high-intensity earthquake that hit northeast India early Monday was felt in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, though no casualties have been reported.

An earthquake measuring 6.5-magnitude on the Richter scale jolted India at 7:05 a.m. Beijing time, according to China Earthquake Networks Center.

The earthquake affected southeast Tibet, with the prefectures of Nyingchi, Shannan and Qamdo as well as the regional capital Lhasa reporting "strong tremors."

In Lhasa, many residents said they woke up from sleeping after feeling the ground shake.

The head of Nyingchi's Metok County told Xinhua that the tremor was so strong that the local government had to tell local township and village officials to check for possible casualties or damage. Metok sits close to the epicenter of the Indian earthquake, which was detected in the Tamenglong District of the Indian state of Manipur.

Further checks for casualties continue in Tibet.
China has dismissed a protest by Vietnam after a Chinese civilian aircraft landed on one of the Nansha Islands, saying that the operation was carried out within Chinese sovereignty.

China carried out a test flight to a newly built airfield on the island of Yongshu Jiao to see whether the facility met civil aviation standards, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Saturday.

Hua made the remarks in response to objections voiced by Vietnam's Foreign Ministry.

China has "indisputable sovereignty" over the Nansha Islands, and will not accept Vietnam's "unfounded accusations", Hua said.

Relations between the two countries are "maintaining development momentum" and China hopes Vietnam can work to achieve "sustainable, healthy and stable" development of bilateral ties, Hua said.

In 2014, Yongshu Jiao became the largest of the Nansha Islands, with an area of almost 1 square kilometer following reclamation work by China on a coral reef, according to Chinese media reports.

China established a maritime observatory on Yongshu Jiao in the 1980s to collect hydrological and meteorological data in the region that had been commissioned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said, "The airfield on the island will help China to collect more data for such research and to perform better in rescue missions."

Ruan added that countries, including Vietnam, have been "illegally occupying" China's islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands and carrying out construction work on them.

Han Feng, deputy head of the National Institute of International Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China had refrained from carrying out major construction work on the islands.

This was because of Beijing's "consistent stance of maintaining regional security". As a result, China lags behind in such construction work compared with other claimants to the South China Sea.

Zhou Fangyin, an expert of China's foreign policies at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, said China doesn't aim to militarize the islands.

But "repeated provocations" by the United States, such as sending vessels to the South China Sea, have forced China to ensure it has installations to protect people and facilities on the islands.
According to the Harbor Bureau in Hunchun, a city in northeast China's Jilin province, 600 tons of food were shipped to Shanghai through Hunchun in 2015. This is because, in addition to direct rail and intermodal freight transport, a third north-south food transportation channel has been opened.

Hunchun is located at the junction of China, Russia and the DPRK, less than 100 kilometers from the Rajin Port in the DPRK. Goods following this third route leave China through Hunchun and arrive at Rajin port, where they are shipped directly to southern Chinese cities such as Shanghai and Ningbo. In 2010, the goods transported by this route were limited to coal. Since last year, grains, timber and mineral powder are also being shipped along this route.

According to China's 2015 grain production report by the National Bureau of Statistics, the country's total grain output reached 621 million tons, of which grain from Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning and Inner Mongolia made up 148 million tons. The food commodity rate and the share of grain per capita in Jilin province often rank first in the country.

"Currently, food transportation relies mainly on rail or intermodal transport. Intermodal transport means that the grains will be transported first by rail or truck to Yingkou Port and then shipped to Shanghai," said Wang Tao, director of Regulation Bureau of Jilin Grain Administration. Wang added, In the long term, the third north-south food transportation route will have a bright prospect."
As 2015 drew to a close, leaders around the world delivered messages of their expectations and hopes for 2016.

For North Korean and South Korean leaders, reunification of the Korean Peninsula still looms large. In his New Year speech, the North Korean leader vowed to achieve independent reunification of the peninsula by crushing all provocations from home and abroad.

The South Korean leader, meanwhile, stressed a peaceful reunification of the peninsula by keeping the door open to dialogue with North Korea, while dealing firmly with provocations.

Whether reunification happens independently, peacefully or any other way, it can only be achieved through communicationdialogue and cooperation between North and South Korea.

Counter-terrorism, refugee issues and the economy are the three biggest concerns for the leaders of France, Germany, the UK and other EU countries.

French president Francois Hollande said in his New Year speech that his top priority for 2016 is protecting the French people from terrorist threats. At the same time, unemployment will continue to be a high priority issue.

German chancellor Angela Merkel called for united efforts to handle the refugee crisis, whereas home ownership, poverty, social mobility and extremism are on the shortlist for British Prime Minister David Cameron.

These tough issues faced by EU countries share certain similarities; to tackle them requires not only steps from within each country, but also concerted efforts from the EU as a whole.

Unity and willpower will help the Russian people to effectively resolve challenges. This is what Russian President Vladimir Putin stressed in his address.

But Russia and the EU need to reach a consensus that can facilitate bilateral relations, since their split would hinder the resolution of issues in Ukraine and Syria as well as international counter-terrorism efforts.

Every country and region has its difficulties. The above-mentioned roadblocks are only a small sample of global challenges. New Year speeches from all leaders showed that each country has its own concerns, and each leader has his or her own solutions for those issues.

To tackle global and regional challenges, all countries should focus on cooperation in 2016.

At present, the recovery of the world economy is still meeting with tremendous difficulties. It remains an arduous task to keep the world from a new financial crisis.

Terrorism, cyber security, health epidemics and other security challenges keep arising. The consensus reached at the UN Climate Change Conference, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and other plans for global governance have yet to be implemented.

These global issues cannot be resolved until the efforts of all nations are pooled together. Needless to say, geopolitical factors will inevitably come up, but they should not tarnish the big picture of international cooperation.

To seek governance among turbulence, the world needs more cooperation.

In 2016, China will put more emphasis on steady efforts. 2016 marks the beginning of a decisive phase in the national effort to build China into a prosperous society, said Chinese President Xi Jinping in his New Year remarks. His speech sets the tone for the countrys priorities in 2016.

Xi also added, As more problems arise in such a big world, the international community expects China to speak up and contribute solutions.

China will devote itself to domestic development while also cooperating with the global community so that 2016 can see more peace and cooperation.

(The author is a research fellow at the China Institute of International Studies, and a special commentator for Peoples Daily Overseas Edition.)
Chinas first batch of battery-replaceable electric taxis, 200 in total, will be put into operation in Beijing in the first quarter of 2016, the Beijing Daily reported Monday. About 10,000 such taxis will be launched nationwide in 2016.

The cars named EU220, with body in yellow and white, rolled off the assembly line recently and then were delivered to two taxis companies in Beijing named Beijing Beiqi Taxi Group and Shouqi Taxi Group.

Zhang Kai, head of the new energy platform of the BAIC Motor Corporation Ltd and chief engineer of EU220 project, said that with a mileage of 220km and top speed of 159 km/h, this model only consumes 16kWh every 100 kilometers.

He added that taxi drivers can have their batteries replaced in nearby stations within three minutes, even shorter than the fueling time of gas-powered vehicles.

To solve the charging problem, the new energy platform of the BAIC Motor has signed agreement with Beijing Oil Products Company to turn some of Beijing's SINOPEC gas stations into battery swap stations.

Compared with the gas-powered vehicles, the battery-replaceable electric ones are more cost effective. As an electric car, the EV220, for instance, could save about 180,000 yuan for drivers compared with the gas-powered ones after six years' drive with a daily mileage of 350 km.

Zhang also said that the car is also environmental friendly. The carbon emission saved by 10,000 electric taxis equals to that absorbed by 180,000 trees.

Beijing Public Transportation Group also announced to purchase 2,700 buses this year, in which electric ones take up to 81 percent.
The total fixed investment on railway is expected to range from 3.5 trillion yuan to 3.8 trillion yuan, among which 3 trillion yuan will be spent on building 30,000 kilometers of new lines. The operational mileage will reach 150,000 kilometers including 30,000 kilometers of high-speed railway, according to a rail development plan for the 13th Five-Year Plan period (2016-2020) for public review.

The total fixed investment on railway will possibly amount to over 4 trillion yuan during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, an insider in the China Railway Corporation told the reporter from the Caixin Media.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan period, China's national network of railway should cover cities with more than 200,000 citizens and the network of high-speed railway cities basically reach cities with more than 500,000 citizens, says the plan.

With the new railway network, the time spent on traveling from the national hubs to the regional ones or travelling between regional hubs will be within the range from one to eight hours; the time spent on traveling between adjacent large and medium-sized cities will range from one hour to four hours; the time spent on traveling between places in cluster of cities will range from 0.5 hours to two hours.

This plan also elaborates on the construction of high-speed railways, artillery railways and intercity railways.

As for the construction of high-speed railway, the plan lists 23 key railway projects including the railway project from Beijing to Shenyang for the 13th Five-Year Plan period.

During the 13th Five-Year Plan, China is expected to construct 27 artillery railways including the railway from Chengdu to Lanzhou, according to the plan. It is the first time that China has stated in a plan that it will start the preparatory studies on the building of railways across the Bohai Strait and Qiongzhou Strait.

In terms of building intercity railways, China is expected to further 5,000 kilometers or so during the 13th Five-Year Plan period. The construction of intercity railways within the eight clusters of cities such as Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area will be the focus in the sector of intercity railway building.

The plan says that China should build and upgrade 14 railways and 10 railway ports to accelerate the interconnection with the railway network of adjacent nations.
Azerbaijan, Baku, Sept. 4 /Trend, I. Isabalaeva /

The electronic government portal presented five new services of Azerbaijan's Ministry of Healthcare, the ministry told Trend on Wednesday.

The ministry said that these services include: the provision of a sanitary-epidemiological conclusion on the correspondence with the sanitary norms of radioactive substances and materials, devices, which are sources of the ionized radiation, conditions and methods of transportation of devices and radioactive waste.

The services also include the provision of sanitary-epidemiological conclusions giving permission to work with the sources of the ionizing radiation, giving permission for operation of X-ray room, as well as provision of conclusion on correspondence with sanitary norms and rules, hygiene norms of the land in construction zone, receipt of appeals and documents for issuing sanitary and epidemiological conclusion for construction and reconstruction projects.

These services are available for both individuals and legal entities.

Electronic versions of documents are required for submitting an electronic application, the ministry said.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4

Trend:

Headline changed, details added (first version posted on 11:29)

Rescuers saved eight fishermen from an ice floe in the Caspian Sea, a spokesman for of the Emergency Situations Ministry of Russia's Dagestan Republic told RIA Novosti Jan. 4.

Earlier, the ministry said two boats carrying eight people were in distress in the sea some five to six kilometers away from the village of Krainovka of Dagestan's Kizlyar district.

The ministry's spokesman said eight people were evacuated from the ice floe by an MI-8 helicopter that arrived at the scene.

He also noted that the rescue operation has been completed, and the affected people are being provided with aid.

Their lives aren't in danger any more, added the ministry's spokesman.

The rescue operation involved two helicopters, two vessels, and 31 people.

---
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4

Trend:

An explosion occurred in a boiler house of the "Azeryem Senaye MMC" plant in the Balakan district of Azerbaijan Jan. 4.

The explosion killed one and injured two, Azerbaijan's Emergency Situations Ministry told Trend Jan. 4.

The explosion occurred at 10:30 local time (UTC/GMT +4 hours).

Currently, specialists from the Emergency Situations Ministry and other relevant bodies are investigating the explosion scene.

---
Head of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture Mohsen Jalalpour announced that Russia will lift tariff on Iran dairy imports as of January 15, 2016, IRNA reported.

He made the remarks in a joint meeting with heads of three chambers of Commerce, shopkeepers and co-operative here on Monday.

Jalalpour said about his meeting with Russian ambassador to Tehran, and added that tariff on dairy imports to Russia will be lifted on January 15 and tariff on other goods from mid- February.

He added that Russian market has a potential capacity, which should not be ignored.

Referring to the tensions in Turkey and Russia relations, Jalalpour said that Iran can take advantage from this situation and increase its presence in regional markets.
Tehran, Iran, January 3

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Iranian crude oil experienced the greatest decline among all oils in market in the past week to hit about $28 per barrel.

Accordingly, the Iranian crude has turned into one of the cheapest available, Mehr news agency reported January 3.

During the week ending on December 25, the Iranian heavy export crude fell by 64 cents to reach $28.40.

Meanwhile, each barrel of Iran's light export crude fell by 67 cents to reach $31.7.

The average price of the Iranian heavy crude since the beginning of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21) has been $48.28 per barrel. The number has been $50.34 for Iran's light crude.

During the said week, the OPEC basket also fell by 78 cents to reach $31.32.

Iran has said it will retaliate the Saudi-triggered downfall of oil prices by not reducing its output. Rather, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has said, the country will boost production by about 500 thousand barrels a day once Iran is free of sanctions, expected to happen in January.

Iran says its share of the OPEC basket has been taken by Saudi Arabia and some other members while its production had shrunken under sanctions.
Managing-Director of Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines (IRISL) Mohammad Saeedi said on Monday that the company is seeking to open bureaus across Europe, IRNA reported.

Once the arbitrary sanctions on Iran are lifted, Iranian-flagged ships can travel between Iranian and European ports, Saeedi said speaking to reporters after a meeting with representatives from Danish shipping lines.

He said that imposition of anti-Iran sanctions banned Iranian ships from travelling to Europe and vessels owned by international companies from travelling to Iran as well.

Launching shipping bureaus across Europe is aimed at facilitating exports of Iranian oil and non-oil products to European ports, the official said.

He also said that after the lifting of sanctions the Iranian ships can receive insurance services from European insurers.

Referring to Iran's failure to renovate its shipping fleet for seven years due to the tough sanctions imposed on the country, Saeedi said that Iran has plans to renovate its fleet after the sanctions.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and EU Foreign Policy Chief Federica Mogherini in a phone call called for reduction of tension in the region following angry protests to the execution of a Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al Nimr by the Saudi regime and implementation of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, Irna reported.



'No effort should be spared by all parties to keep the situation under control and to avoid sectarian tensions to escalate, they agreed,' according to a press release issued by the EU External Action Service (EAAS) on Sunday.



'The security and stability of the whole Region, that is already facing great threats, is at stake,' underlined Mogherini.



'The international community and the main regional actors are actively working together to support a political solution for the crisis in Syria and to join forces against terrorists groups, and these efforts should not be jeopardized by new instability.'



Mogherini and Zarif 'also discussed the ongoing work towards implementation day (of nuclear agreement) and took stock of the important progress made so far.'



A separate EAAS press release said Mogherini in a phone call with the Saudi Foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir voiced her concern over the Saturday executions in Saudi Arabia, including that of Sheikh al-Nimr.



During the conversation, it said, Mogherini 'reiterated the opposition of the European Union to the death penalty in all circumstances.' 'She expressed her concern for the risk of an escalation of sectarian violence in the Muslim world.'



'The specific case of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr raises serious concerns regarding freedom of expression and the respect of basic civil and political rights, to be safeguarded in all cases, also in the framework of the fight against terrorism.

This case has also the potential of enflaming further the sectarian tensions that already bring so much damage to the entire region, with dangerous consequences,' Mogherini said in a statement on Saturday.



'The EU calls on the Saudi authorities to promote reconciliation between the different communities in the Kingdom, and all actors to show restraint and responsibility,' read the statement.


Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, chairman of the Expediency Council, an advisory body for Iran's supreme leader, has condemned those who stormed Saudi embassy in Tehran and that country's consulate in the city of Mashhad after execution of a prominent Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia.

Earlier on Jan. 2, Saudi Arabia executed Nimr al-Nimr on terrorism charges, followed by a strong protest from Iran, which said the execution was unjustified.

Reacting to al-Nimr's execution, angry Iranian protesters stormed Saudi embassy in Tehran on Jan. 3, smashing furniture and setting fire to the building before being dispersed by police.

Rafsanjani, further calling on all Islamic countries to cooperate to end hostilities, bloodshed and tensions in the Islamic world, said that storming diplomatic premises will escalate tensions in the region, ISNA news agency reported Jan. 3.

Expressing deep sorrow over Nimr's death, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani too criticized protestors who stormed the Saudi embassy and consulate.

Meanwhile, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei slammed Saudi officials and said no doubt that a "divine vengeance" will afflict Saudi politicians.

Following the protests, Saudi Arabia said it severed diplomatic ties with Iran and urged the Islamic Republic's diplomatic mission and related entities to leave the country within 48 hours.
Tehran, Iran, Jan. 4

By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:

Saudi Arabia has used recent protests around its embassy in Tehran as a tool to create further tension in the region, Iranian Foreign Ministry's spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari has said at a press conference.

He added Iran's security forces have taken control of the embassy and are acting to their duty in ensuring the safety of foreign diplomats on Iran's soil, Trend correspondent reported from Tehran January 4.

The remarks came after Saudi Arabia discontinued its diplomatic relations with Iran and expelled Iranian diplomats from the country, after Iranian protestors stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a Saudi consulate in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province.

The Saudi embassy was torched in an attack Jan. 2.

The protestors were angry with Riyadh's act of executing Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whom Iran had long supported and warned against the execution of.

Al-Nimr was an outspoken religious leader who called for reform in the Saudi Arabian regime's approach to minorities.

Ansari further accused Riyadh of "carrying criminal acts in Yemen and supporting terrorist groups in Syria."

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian diplomat stressed good relations with neighboring country Turkey, pointing out that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in recent statements has underlined his country's ties with Tehran.

He also commented on the New York meeting on Syria and hoped Saudi Arabia will not find a chance to pursue its intensions to aggravate tension over the case.

Ansari further pointed to the Iran nuclear case, saying Israel and Saudi Arabia did whatever they could to prevent a deal between Iran and the world powers.

"They are sure to pursue their efforts to hamper the [implementation] process of the deal," he stated.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

Ahead of upcoming elections to be held in late February, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has criticized those who question their outcomes.

Iranians are getting ready to elect both law makers for parliament and clerics for the Assembly of Experts on February 26.

"Righteous candidates should be allowed to run in the elections and the officials should not let improper people run as candidates," Khamenei said during his address to a gathering of Friday Prayers leaders from across country Jan. 4, according to his official website.

Saying that the damages inflicted by the unrests after the 2009 presidential election and its aftermath haven't been compensated yet, he called on political groups and parties to propose proper candidates for the elections.

He also urged people to stay vigilant about the lists of candidates proposed by political groups and said there are some unreliable people among those who suggest the lists.

He touched upon the elections held in Iran over the past three decades and described all previous rounds of elections in the Islamic Republic as healthy, and dismissed possibility of any fabrication of the results of elections in the country.

Khamenei further called on the Iranian officials to hold fair elections and warned against any "infiltration".
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4

By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:

Iranian economy ministry and a Danish bank have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on banking ties, Iranian foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said.

Addressing a joint press conference with Denmark's Foreign Minister Kristian Jensen in Tehran, Zarif called on Denmark to expand bilateral ties with Iran in various fields of culture, education, human rights and trades, ISNA news agency reported Jan. 4.

Speaking about terrorism and extremism Zarif added that combating the drug trafficking is also a proper field for cooperation between the two states.

He further added that the removal of international sanctions against Tehran in the coming days, will pave the way for expansion of ties between Iran and Denmark.

According to Zarif the Danish foreign minister who is heading a political and economic delegation is expected to meet a number of Iranian ministers and officials to discuss cooperation in Iran.

Iran expects the international sanctions imposed by the West on its financial and industrial sectors to be lifted in early 2016, as it is adhering to the terms of a milestone nuclear accord inked between Tehran and the world powers in July.
Tehran, Iran, January 4

By Mehdi Sepahvand -- Trend:

After Saudi Arabia severed ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran in a recent rift, Sudan, Djibouti, and Bahrain followed the country by announcing they were going to discontinue their diplomatic relations as well.

These three countries followed Saudi Arabia's move which is a key in the Arab world and especially in the Gulf Cooperation Council.

The United Arab Emirates, which has great financial interests in Iran, sufficed to lowering its diplomatic ties with the Islamic Republic by calling Ambassdor Saif al-Za'abi back home to follow relations at the charge d'affaires level, Fars news agency reported January 4.

The tension in Iran-Saudi Arabia ties was ignited by Saudi execution of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, which was followed by attack on Saudi Embassy in Tehran by angry protestors who set the building on fire overnight on January 2.

Nimr was an outspoken Shia cleric who had studied in Iran and Syria and was a critic of the Saudi government. Iranian officials had long warned against his execution.
Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi on Monday denounced attack on Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran and advised people and officials to prevent repetition of such costly measures, IRNA reported.

Execution of prominent Saudi cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr is an unforgettable event, he said and prayed the Almighty to uproot those seeking to weaken Islam and Quran.

Saudi Arabia has failed in its regional policies and wishes to avenge its defeats, he said.

Bombardment of Yemen is a futile attempt, he said, adding that they seek to avenge their defeats in Syria, Yemen and Iraq but should bear in their mind that execution of the innocent cleric was a big sin with grave consequences, he said

The whole world has condemned the execution except the US which has only expressed concern about the issue, he said.
Attacks on diplomatic missions can never be a legal means of protest, Russia said on Monday, after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest at Riyadh's execution of a senior Shi'ite cleric, Reuters reported.

Russia's foreign ministry expressed "serious concern" about the worsening situation in the region and called on the two countries and others "to show restraint and avoid any steps that would complicate the situation and lead to a rise in tensions".
Bahrain's authorities have not yet considered imposing a ban on travel to Iran for its citizens despite tensions in relations between the countries, Minister of Information Affairs Isa Hamadi said Monday.

"Restrictions on visits to Iran are not being imposed at the moment," the minister said at a press conference.

Bahrain, along with Saudi Arabia and Sudan announced the cutting of diplomatic ties with Iran following attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the consulate in Mashhad triggered by Saturday's execution of 47 people by Riyadh, including a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Following the incident, Riyadh announced the termination of flights to Tehran, as well as reduction of trade and other restrictive measures.

Many people living in Bahrain profess Shia Islam, have Iranian origin and relatives in the country.
First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri renewed the Islamic Republic of Iran's support for security and stability in Afghanistan, IRNA reported.

'The security and stability of Afghanistan is highly important for the Islamic Republic of Iran and Afghanistan's security is tantamount to our security,' Jahangiri said after his meeting with Afghanistan's Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah in Tehran on Monday.

He underlined Iran's sensitivity toward Afghan security, and said, 'Fighting against extremism and terrorism plays an important role in this regards.

'Afghanistan and Iran share many commonalities and the two countries' relations in the field of regional cooperation,' he added.

He said that the Iranian and Afghan officials have held good and positive meetings, and said, 'During these meetings the two sides presented positive and constructive points.'

Iran is one of the most important donors to Afghanistan, which has kept its promises to help to the reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.

Iran has built several roads, power transmission lines, border stations and many other infrastructure projects to better link the two nations.

Iran has also contributed more than $50mln annually to Afghan anti-narcotics efforts during the last five years.

Tehran has repeatedly called for a withdrawal of the US-led foreign troops from Afghanistan, stressing that establishment of peace and security in the war-ravaged country is possible only through cooperation among the regional states.
British and Indonesian foreign ministers in separate phone talks with their Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif on Monday underlined the need for avoiding the increasing tensions in the region, IRNA reported.

British Foreign Secretary Phillip Hammond and Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in separate telephone conversations with Zarif also discussed bilateral talks and regional developments.

They called on their Iranian counterpart to prevent further escalation of tensions in the region.

Saudi Arabia severed its relations with Iran over attacks by Iranian protesters on the kingdom's embassy in Tehran and consulate in the Holy City of Mashhad on Sunday.

After the two countries strained their relations, senior officials from across the world urged Tehran and Riyadh to avoid tensions and normalize ties.

On Sunday, Mogherini urged the two governments to avoid escalation of sectarian tensions, adding that security and stability in the region cannot be endangered
Oman's Ambassador to Tehran Saud bin Ahmad al-Bardani criticized Saudi Arabia for severing relations with Iran, Fars News reported.

"Regardless of its cause, this has definitely been an unwise action conducted through an incorrect method," Bardani said in a meeting with Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani in Tehran on Monday, referring to Riyadh's severance of diplomatic ties with Iran.

"I believe Saudi Arabia, through its recent measure, is after pressuring Iran and overshadowing the nuclear agreement (between Tehran and the world powers)," he added.

Bardani referred to the critical situation in the regional states, including Syria, Iraq and Yemen, and said, "In the current conditions, we need tranquility in the region instead of exacerbation of the crises."

His remarks came after Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced on Sunday that the country had cut off diplomatic ties with Iran.
The Arab League will hold emergency talks at the request of Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss attacks in Iran on the kingdom's embassy and consulate, its deputy head said, AFP reported.

The weekend talks are aimed at "condemning the violations committed by Iran against the sanctity of the Saudi embassy in Teheran and its consulate in Mashhad," Ahmed Ben Helli told reporters on Monday.

The meeting, which comes after Saudi Arabia broke off ties with the Islamic republic amid a row over Riyadh's execution of a Shiite cleric, was also aimed at "condemning Iranian interference in Arab affairs", he added.

Tensions have risen between the two oil-rich Gulf rivals after Saturday's execution in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia of prominent Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whose death has sparked fury.

He was put to death alongside 46 others, including Shiite activists and Al-Qaeda-linked militants convicted on charges of "terrorism".
Angry protesters, who had gathered outside the Saudi embassy in Iraq to express their grief over the execution of prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities, crossed security barriers and entered the embassy compound, IRNA reported.

The protesters chanted slogans against the Saudi government. After reading a statement at the embassy compound, the protesters called for halting the process of reopening the Saudi embassy in Baghdad. They, then, headed for the building of the embassy.

No Saudi diplomats or employees were in the building at the time as the Saudi embassy has not been officially reopened.

Recently, the Saudi ambassador choice in Iraq wrote in a post on his personal page in a social network that he is in full security supported by the Iraqi government.

His remarks, which came simultaneous with the execution of Sheikh Nimr in Saudi Arabia, sparked anger across Iraq.
Saudi Arabia widened its rift with Iran on Monday, saying it would end air traffic and trade links with the Islamic republic and demanding that Tehran must "act like a normal country" before it would restore severed diplomatic relations.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters in an interview that Tehran was responsible for rising tensions after the kingdom executed Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, describing him as a terrorist.

Insisting Riyadh would react to "Iranian aggression", Jubeir accused Tehran of despatching fighters to Arab countries and plotting attacks inside the kingdom and its Gulf neighbours.

"There is no escalation on the part of Saudi Arabia. Our moves are all reactive. It is the Iranians who went into Lebanon. It is the Iranians who sent their Qods Force and their Revolutionary Guards into Syria," he said.

The execution of Nimr provoked protests among Shi'ites across the region and Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, setting fires and causing damage, prompting Riyadh to cut ties and inflaming an already heated rivalry.

Iranian pilgrims would still be welcome to visit Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia, either for the annual haj or at other times of year on the umrah pilgrimage, he said.
The United Nations special envoy for Syria traveled to Saudi Arabia on Monday, from where he will head to Iran for talks with the countries' leaders, the UN spokesman said on Monday, Sputnik reported.

Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric led to violent protests at the Saudi embassy in Tehran, which led to a breakdown of relations between the two countries. The

UN envoy for Yemen also intends to travel to the two countries, according to the spokesman.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had phone calls with both countries' foreign ministers in an effort to diffuse tensions.

"The Secretary-General reiterated that the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran was deplorable, but added that the announcement of a break in Saudi diplomatic relations with Tehran was deeply worrying," UN spokesman spokesman Stephane Dujarric said at a press briefing.

"The Secretary-General urged both Foreign Ministers to avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between two countries and in the region as a whole. He stressed the importance of continued constructive engagement by both countries in the interest of the region and beyond," a statement from the Secretary-General's office said.

The spokesman added that there are currently no plans for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit the region, although he is concerned about the situation.

Saudi Arabia previously cut air traffic with Iran, and said that it intends to cut all commercial ties.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4



By Anakhanum Khidayatova - Trend:



Saudi Arabia and Iran have been engaged in a Cold War via proxy, in its most recent manifestation, since the Arab Spring, in Yemen, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and in other countries around the world through humanitarian aid and dawa (outreach), Theodore Karasik, the Middle East analyst and senior advisor to Risk Insurance Management in Dubai, told Trend Jan. 4.



He said that the mentioned Cold War entered a dangerous, highly confrontational phase in the past few days.



"The Kingdom, in mid December, prepared the steps for today, with Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman announcing a Sunni Muslim Alliance," Karasik said. "With the Saudi execution of the "terrorist extremist" Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was the spiritual leader of Saudi Shiites in the Kingdom's Eastern Province, the sectarian divide grew immediate into a deep chasm," he said.



The expert also said that Saudi Arabia's Sunni Muslim Alliance is now fully activated with the al-Nimr execution.



"The Kingdom is throwing down the gauntlet on Iran's behavior and Riyadh seeks to expose the Islamic Republic's perfidy in the Arab lands. More importantly, Saudi Arabia, as Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, is now seeing who will rush to Riyadh's side under the mantra of Sunni Islam," Karasik said.



"Immediately, the GCC states (Gulf Cooperation Council) - except Oman - came to the Kingdom's side, as did Sudan and several other countries. The coming days, and perhaps weeks, will see whether all 30 plus members of the Sunni Military Alliance will declare a so-called bayat (Islamic word for allegiance) to the Saudi Kingdom as the face off continues with Iran," he said.



The expert also said that Saudi Arabia is angry with Iran; so angry that Riyadh seeks to not only tear down the Islamic Republic's ability to re-emerge on the global economic arena with the lifting of sanctions, but also wants to guarantee that the February 2016 parliamentary elections swing 100 percent to the principalists and the IRGC.



"From Riyadh's thinking, Iran's true colors need to be shown to the world. This aggressive Saudi policy is likely to affect the region for some time to come," Karasik said.



"Thus, in the Middle East, the Saudi action, in one stunning move, reset the geopolitical chessboard on a host of negotiations, especially the future of Syria, as well as set the possibility for higher oil prices if the Cold War becomes a Hot War. A Hot War, whether asymmetric or through enhanced proxy actions up to and including bombing campaigns or targeted assassinations, will boost the price of oil in order to help Saudi Arabia's partners earn necessary income into their state coffers," he said.



However, Karasik says there is a "serious loss".



"Gone is any hope for coordination on fighting the Islamic State not only in the Levant but in other arenas. Iran is a necessary part of that fight but for Gulf Arabs, Tehran is seen as a bigger threat. That fact may be a strategic and tactical error that will give Daesh (ISIS, ISIL) a free pass until the group is dealt with in an accurate kinetic and counter-narrative approach," he said.



"Russia and Iran were on the right path while Saudi Arabia and others were supporting extremists and terrorists who bastardized their own Wahhabist creed. Thus, Saudi's aggressive stance against Iran masks the radical disturbances within the Sunni ummah itself," Karasik said.



Expert also said that its clear that Russia may benefit the most from the sectarian eruption.



The Kremlin is already offering to negotiate between the two sides, which is a good approach by Moscow, Karasik believes.



"But there is a bigger question here: the future of the Saudi Kingdom. Unlike Iran, whose cohesion is, for the most part guaranteed, the Al-Saud's Arabia is under great political and economic stress up to including internal dissent at various levels of Saudi society in various corners of the country (the south, the Hijaz, the Nejd, and the Eastern Province) up to intra-princely disputes that may now break into the open," said Karasik. "Russia sees that Saudi Arabia is in trouble, and President Putin is known to have threaten the Kingdom during various high-level meetings with Saudi rulers."



"Overall, patience will be a key here for Moscow, and given the Kremlin propensity to side more with Shiites because of their patient virtues, a Saudi over-extension of its Sunni alliance may backfire in a black hole that forces the Al-Saud from power and sees the Kingdom evaporate," he said.



Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric led to violent protests at the Saudi embassy in Tehran, which led to a breakdown of relations between the two countries.



Saudi Arabia previously cut air traffic with Iran, and said that it intends to cut all commercial ties as well.
The United States does not plan to mediate in the latest diplomatic row between Saudi Arabia and Iran over Riyadh's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr and 46 other Shiite Muslims, US Department of State spokesperson John Kirby said during a press briefing on Monday.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia announced it executed 47 people convicted on charges of terrorism. The Saudi state news agency said most of the individuals were members of al-Qaeda.

The executed included a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. His execution prompted attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Saudi consulate in Mashhad.

Earlier on Monday, Human Rights Watch condemned Saudi mass executions calling it a shameful start to 2016.

On Saturday, demonstrators in Iran protesting al-Nimr's execution attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran, as well as the Saudi consulate in Mashhad. Following the incident, Saudi Arabia announced it cut diplomatic ties and air transportation links with Iran.

"If you're asking if we're trying to become a mediator of this... the answer is 'no'," Kirby stated.

Kirby noted that the United States would like to see "tensions decreased" and "engagement continue," but that those would be issues that "these countries have got to work out for themselves."
Italy is concerned over rising political tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as it may trigger further instability in the Middle East, Italian Foreign Ministry said Monday.

"The Italian Foreign Ministry has expressed great concern for the increasing political and diplomatic tension in the Middle East, which risks exacerbating the divisions in the Islamic world to an unsustainable level and compromising current diplomatic efforts addressed at resolving the serious crisis experienced by the region," the ministry said in a statement.

According to the statement, Italy encourages Tehran and Riyadh to do everything possible to reduce tensions and not to allow further escalation.

"A search for solutions for the complex crises in the Middle East - primarily those in Syria and in Yemen - cannot disregard a desire for dialogue and a strategic vision from all sides, in particular the main countries in the region," the ministry said.

The Italian Foreign Ministry also urged the conflicting sides to acknowledge that all parties have a common enemy that they should unite against, which is international terrorism.

On Saturday, demonstrators in Iran protesting the execution of a prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Riyadh, attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad.

Riyadh announced late Sunday its decision to cut diplomatic ties with Tehran to prevent Iran from "sabotaging security" of the kingdom. Iranian diplomats were ordered to leave the country within 48 hours.
One civilian was killed, another two were injured on Sunday when PKK terrorists opened fire on a group of civilians in Turkey's Southeastern Srnak Province's Silopi disctrict, Daily Sabah reported.



According to sources, three civilians living in Silopi's Barbaros neighborhood were shot by the militants while trying to escape their home due to ongoing clashes between the terrorists and security forces in the area.



Yusuf Yagc, was pronounced dead at the scene while the other two people were taken to Srnak State Hospital.



Turkish officials raised concerns over civilian killings by PKK in eastern and southeastern Turkey, saying the militants choose civilian buildings as shield while engagin
Turkey is preparing to file a complaint against Russia's recent economic sanctions to the World Trade Organization and other international courts, Mustafa Elitash, the Economy Minister of Turkey told Daily Sabah.

Speaking to the newspaper, Mustafa Elitash noted that in small cities across Russia, Turkish companies are being pressured to transfer their shares to their Russian partners. "Trade needs to have a moral basis as well. These entrepreneurs have put their trust in the Russian government and invested in the country. We are trying to be patient but we are expecting an embargo against Turkey," said Elitash. Now the complaints brought to the Russian table are under consideration for delivery to the World Trade Organization, noted Elitash who pointed out that, currently, they are collecting evidence. "We will reclaim the rights of all those who have suffered in international courts," added Elitash.



The economy ministry has been taking precautions in dealing with the crisis in Russia and despite the negative trends evident in the global economy; the ministry will strive to turn 2016 into a year of opportunities.



After the incident with Russia, the ministry held a meeting with exporters of fresh fruits and vegetables, taking steps to resolve the issue of Turkish goods being transported to Russia and those that have been held in Russian customs.



The main complaint received by the Russian desk is regarding the pressures applied on companies in smaller cities which have Russian partners, as the Russian sanctions will jeopardize the investment reputation of Turkish companies and ruin the company's investment integrity. "There are companies that we invite to our country for investment and if we apply sanctions to all the countries we encounter problems with, it will cost us our reputation in the international arena," said Elitash.



Russia's first sanctions were on the exporting of fresh fruit and vegetables, yet some of their sanctions -- such as not allowing Turkish ships to land -- cause consumable goods to be ruined. Currently, a tomato costs about TL 6 ($2.10) in Russia, which indicates that along with Turkish exporters, Russia's general public is also suffering.



Similar pressures are evident in different sectors as well and Turkey might consider implementing counter-embargoes. The threats in smaller cities have not been confirmed yet and, as Elitash noted, "We do not have any problem with the Russian public, preventing tourists from coming is against human rights and freedom of movement," said Elitash.



Turkey has a backup plan regarding exports and plans to divert its Russian exports to alternative markets such as Kenya, Nigeria and other African countries.



The visit of the Turkish President to Saudi Arabia was well received and Elitash thanked the Saudi King and his son for promoting the "Use Turkish Goods" campaign after the crisis with Russia. The problems with ships passing through the Suez Canal were also discussed and the Saudi Arabian side noted that they will follow up on the issue.



There has been a 40 percent shrinkage in trade with Russia after the crisis in the last 11 months of 2015 and there has been a loss of revenues due to the decreasing oil prices in Russia. As of Nov. 24, the Russian economy shrank by 52 percent in 35 days and 10 percent of this is due to the decrease in imports after the crisis.



Elitash further noted that, with the grants of the World Bank, the purchasing power of African countries such as Ethiopia and Tanzania are increasing. Two decades ago enamel pots were only displayed in shop windows of African countries whereas now African countries are able to keep up with developed nations through satellites.



"Each crisis has its opportunities and while developed countries are backing down, Turkey should fill the gap, especially in sectors such as textile and confectionary, where Turkey has proven itself as a reliable brand," Elitash said, adding that the technology standards in Turkey should be increased in order to compete with developed countries and create its own trusted brands.



Regarding the Fed's recent decision, Elitash said the decisions will bring positive results as they rule out the uncertainties in the markets and will decrease the fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.



The Economy Ministry will move to Halk Bank's building from its current location it shares with the Treasury. After the Halk Bank's headquarters were moved to Istanbul, the building was rented out to the Economy Ministry and Elitash noted that, due to the large number of people in the building, they will be moving to the new location in February.



In addition, experts on receivables of Turkish companies in Russia and their legal status note that investors should be treated equally and fairly in countries they invest in and companies facing unlawful pressures and unfair treatment in Russia may request compensation for their losses. Turkish companies may apply in international courts and with the World Trade Organization; however, all applications should go through the government. Further, a Mixed Arbitration Court can be established for the compensation of mutual losses.
Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 4

By Rufiz Hafizoglu - Trend:

Syrian refugees won't leave Turkey, even if the war is over in their motherland, said Fatma Sahin, Turkish former minister for family and social policy.

She said all the conditions have been created to accommodate Syrian refugees in Turkey, the Haber7 newspaper reported Jan. 4

The majority of Syrian refugees have already adapted to life in Turkey, added Sahin.

Currently, Turkey is hosting more than two million Syrian refugees on its soil.

The Syrian refugee camps in the country accommodate about 300,000 people. The rest of them are spread across the provinces and cities of Turkey.

In Istanbul alone, there are currently 40,000 refugees from Syria. Ankara has so far spent $8 billion to upkeep the Syrian refugees.

---

Follow the author on Twitter: @rhafizoglu
Turkey on Monday called on Saudi Arabia and Iran to ease diplomatic tensions amid revived antagonism over the execution of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric, Anadolu Agency reported.

"We want both countries to immediately come out of this tension that will obviously add severe tension to the current one in the Middle East," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said following a Cabinet meeting in Ankara.

"The region is already on the verge of explosion."

Kurtulmus said both sides, who he described as friendly countries to Turkey as well as significant nations in the Muslim world, must act with common sense.

"It will harm both countries and the region if Saudi Arabia and Iran act in a hostile attitude towards each other," he told reporters.

Friction between Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia - fierce regional rivals who support opposing sides in the conflicts in Syria and Yemen - was heightened by the execution of cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Before his arrest in July 2012, al-Nimr led mass protests against the Saudi regime. He was among 47 executed on Saturday over terrorism offenses.

Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran following attacks on its missions in Tehran and Mashhad on Sunday. It called for diplomats to leave Iran within 48 hours and the first group arrived back in Saudi Arabia late Monday, according to the civil aviation authority.

The kingdom has also halted all flights to and from Iran, the General Authority for Civil Aviation said on its Twitter account. The authority said measures would be taken to accommodate passengers with advance bookings.

Citing the Vienna Convention, Kurtulmus called on Tehran to protect all diplomatic missions before criticizing Saudi Arabia's use of the death penalty, which Turkey abolished in 2004.

"The ongoing practice of death penalties, especially politically-motivated ones, will be of no contribution to the peace in the region," he said. "We have always openly voiced our opposition to all kinds of death penalties."
IS Execution of British Spies (Photo : Barenakedislam.com)

The Islamic State (IS) released on Sunday a new video showing five gunmen in black ski masks and military uniform kill five British spies. While the hostages still wore orange jumpsuits like previous detainees held by the Daesh, previous executioner Jihadi John is apparently missing.



The replacement by Mohammed Emwazi, who slits the throat of hostages, appear to confirm reports in late 2015 that the notorious beheader has been killed by Coalition-led drone strikes. Since then, there has been no further reports about Jihadi John or videos that shows him still alive.



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The Wall Street Journal reports that the video of executions, the first in 2016, was done in Raqqa, capital of the Islamic caliphate. The IS held the alleged British spies to be ransomed for money.







But like Jihadi John, one of the five executioners seems to also be a Briton, based on his accent. The gunman spoke against British Prime Minister David Cameron who waged war anew on the Daesh. The executioner called Cameron a slave of the White House and mule of the Jews.



"Only an imbecile would dare to wage war against a land where the law of Allah reigns supreme ... The Islamic State, our country, is here to stay. And we will continue to wage jihad, break borders, and one day invade your land, where we will rule by the Shariah," CBS quotes the gunman.



The IS threat to Europe comes amid a prediction by a blind Bulgarian mystic who foresaw the continent being overtaken by Islamic extremists in 2016. However, in the Middle East, the terror organization appears to be losing after it lost three cities in recent months.


Elon Musk revealed that SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket is ready to fire again after a successful vertical landing. (Photo : SpaceX)

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket just successfully landed its first stage back on Earth following a December 21 launch of 11 small satellites in lower Earth orbit but now, SpaceX CEO and founder Elon Musk has apparently revealed on a post online Thursday how this breakthrough reusable rocket booster is ready to be launched again.



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Musk posted a photo of the Falcon 9 on his social media accounts on Twitter and Instagram, a few hours before New Year, with details about the Falcon 9 rocket that it sustained no damage on the booster where it will be set to fire again soon when needed.



However, it is still unclear when the Falcon 9 rocket will be utilized again for a mission since it is now stored in a hangar in Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida but Musk is confident of SpaceX's capability of a quick turnaround, where another space mission can be quickly accommodated by the new reusable rocket.



The booster can be refurbished and reused that can slash expensive space launches since rockets traditionally burn up in the atmosphere and fall back to Earth. Falcon 9 however, only took US $60 million to build and $200,000 for its fuel supply that can be revolutionary for the future of spaceflight.



For the next launch, the first successful Falcon 9 rocket that landed back to Earth will not be utilized according to Musk during a media conference, stating that this last rocket that launched 11 satellites could never be used again for a mission, adding that it was "unique" since it was the first first stage booster that returned back to Earth.



However, Falcon 9 is not the first rocket to be able to land vertically after launching into space, where another private space company, owned by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos called Blue Origin, successfully landed its own reusable rocket in late November during a test flight.



Now, SpaceX is also getting ahead of the space race after this 15 story high booster successfully landed vertically after its deployment of ORBCOMM communications satellites. This also marks the first successful SpaceX launch after its last one that failed and exploded shortly after liftoff last June 2015.



Musk also revealed the new tweaks for Falcon 9 that enabled this successful and safe vertical landing. Liquid oxygen fuel is now 40 degrees colder compared to past test flights and failed landing attempts where kerosene fuel is now chilled for 20 degrees instead of 70.


How much would you weigh on another star? The timescale of turbulence and vibration at a star's surface, based on its brightness variations, tells you its surface gravity. (Photo : Jaymie Matthews/Thomas Kallinger)

New research reveals a new method in searching for habitable planets that can potentially hold life in distant star systems. This new technique involves measuring the gravitational pull from the surface of these distant stars where this can be valuable for scientists to determine which planets that can harbor and sustain life.



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Researchers from the University of British Columbia in Canada and University of Vienna in Austria developed this new method that involves measuring the surface gravity of distant stars with a four percent accuracy for too distant stars that are also too faint to apply on traditional gravity measurement techniques.



Apart from measuring its surface gravity, this technique can also examine the distant planets' mass and sizes, to gain a more accurate measurement of the overall size of them. According to co-author of the study, Jaymie Matthews from the University of British Columbia, this new method can tell you how big and how bright is the star where scientists can predict the right size and temperature of planets, if they can possess water or oceans and even life.



Matthews adds that it is also important to note that if there is a planet detected near a star that is similar to the Sun, but is actually a giant, this may cause discrepancies in accurately detecting a habitable world similar to Earth.



Traditional methods can already measure the surface gravity of nearby bright stars however this can exclude almost 1 billion, trillion other stars including their planet systems.



According to the lead author of the study, Thomas Kallinger of the University of Vienna, this timescale method is simple but also a powerful tool where data can be applied from other studies to help further understand the nature and evolution of stars like the Sun and also to find other planets similar to Earth.



This new study is published in the journal Science Advances.


A Chinese senior military official has revealed that the country is building its second aircraft carrier with combat capabilities. (Photo : www.thechinamoneyreport.com)

A Chinese senior military researcher has revealed that the country's second aircraft carrier, now under construction, will focus on military operations rather than training and technological experiments, China Daily reported.



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"This carrier will have different missions than those for the Liaoning (the country's first aircraft carrier)," Senior Captain Zhang Junshe of the People's Liberation Army Naval Military Studies Research Institute told the PLA Daily on Friday, Jan. 1.



"We use the Liaoning to test the reliability and compatibility of systems on carriers, and to train personnel. The second carrier will mainly do what a genuine aircraft carrier is supposed to do: running combat patrols and delivering humanitarian aid," Zhang added.



The senior captain said that a second carrier is urgently needed by the country as it is seeking to improve its defense systems and better protect national interests.



"The PLA needs at least three aircraft carriers. When it does, one can be on duty, one can train personnel, and the third can receive maintenance," he said.



Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said in a news conference in Beijing on Thursday, Dec. 31, that China's second aircraft carrier is under construction in the coastal city of Dalian, Liaoning Province.



According to the report, the Liaoning, which was originally a Soviet-era vessel, had undergone an extensive refit at a shipyard in Dalian before going into service in Sept. 2012.



Yang said that the new carrier is designed in China. It will have a displacement of 50,000 metric tons, a conventional power system, and will carry J-15 fighter jets developed by China and other aircraft.



Similar to the Liaoning, the new ship will use a ski jump mode for launching fixed-wing aircraft, Yang said.



According to Zhang, China will develop all the new carrier's three major systems, including power and propulsion, electronic systems and weapons, and it will have better capabilities than those on the Liaoning.



Since China has gained enough experience operating large vessels, Zhang said the country will consider developing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier this time.



Chen Xuesong, a fellow researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, believes the new carrier will be a tough challenge for Chinese engineers.



"Although we have gained expertise and know-how from the Liaoning refit project, the new vessel will truly be the first time for us to design and build an aircraft carrier," Chen told China Daily. "Our engineers must make sure their structural design is good and guarantee the quality of the steel parts."



The report said that China is looking into several cutting-edge technologies that can be used on future vessels as it plans to build other ships after the second aircraft carrier.



Since 2013, China Shipbuilding Industry Corp., which refitted the Liaoning and is building the second carrier, has been researching nuclear-powered ships, the report said.



Du Wenlong, a senior researcher at the PLA Academy of Military Science, has previously said that the navy's next-generation aircraft carrier could be possibly equipped with nuclear propulsion.



Du said the country already has nuclear submarines with highly sophisticated technologies and manufacturing capabilities, so developing a nuclear carrier will not be difficult.


The Pirate Bay is Back, But Without its Old Hydra Heads

The Pirate Bay is an online index of digital content of mostly entertainment media, founded in 2003, where visitors can search, download and contribute links and torrent files. (Photo : Facebook/Pirate Bay)

Last week, The Pirate Bay lost most of its Hydra Domains. It is now back online again with a host of new hydra heads.



With a customer base of over a million users, The Pirate Bay is one of the largest pool of media torrents in the world, according to Tech Worm.



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In the recent past, many Hydra Domain Names were either shut off or suspended. Domain names like ThePirateBay.la, ThePirateBay.mn ThePiratebay.gd, along with ThePirateBay.vg were closed and their registration was closed.



Many other TPB related domains were also closed. The administrators of the company initially moved to these Hydra domain names as their original thepiratebay.se was locked under the litigation violation in the Swedish courts. The fear of losing their original domain name caused TPB to look for hydra domain name formation.



It should be noted that in Dec. 2014, the Swedish police raided a TPB data center and then brought the TPB site to a stop. After this raid, the TPB stayed offline for the next two months. It was partially restored after that.



TPB then went online in Feb. 2015 but the admin backed up TPB. They did this to prevent the site from going down once again. The five hydra domains including .GS, .LA, .VG, .AM, .MN and also .GD TLDs were a result of this raid. As a result, the main head of the Hydra domain became the main website for The Pirate Bay, and everything was normalized.



However, TPB's "Hydra" could not work for long, as four of its domains were suspended last week, according to The Registrar.


A new iPhone, called as iPhone 7C, with 4-inch display is to be launched on April 2016. (Photo : Twitter)

With the introduction of iPhones in 2007, Apple Inc. has become the leader in the mobile industry, and the iPhones beat all the other smartphones to become the number one. After the success of the first iPhone, Apple has released eight generations of iPhone models.



The latest in the list of iPhone series was the iPhone 6 and just as rumors were being reported that Apple is getting ready to lauch the new iPhone - the iPhone 7 - sometime next year. A leaked China mobile roadmap suggests that a new iPhone, called as iPhone 7C, with 4-inch display is to be launched on April 2016.



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Rumors about the 4-inch iPhone have been in the air for quite sometime now, and is said that this upcoming Apple device will be released to meet the demand for smaller iPhones. The release of the new 4-inch iPhone 7C was leaked in the slide that was a part of the company's roadmap presentation. The slide suggests that the iPhone 7C is due on April 2016. The leaked slide was spotted by My Drivers website who named the 4-inch model as 7C and suggested that it was expected to be launched in April this year.



Rumors earlier hinted that Apple was planning to release a low-end small iPhone and this leaked slide coincides with this rumor. Since Apple is planning to launch Apple Watch 2 in an event in April, most probably the rumored 4-inch iPhone 7C might be launched at the same event. The iPhone 7C, which is expected to be a budget-friendly iPhone, is rumored to have a 4-inch display, A9 processor, Touch ID, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 and HD cameras.



Iphone fans who are dreaming of owning a 4-inch, small budget iPhone will have to wait till April when the iPhone 7C will be launched.






To share with friends and brethren The Gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (the Everlasting Gospel), and to prepare a people to stand when He returns to redeem His remnant. Also, to share relevant information of current events, and to show how they relate to prophecy; By means of articles, editorials, opinions, scripture readings, and poetry.

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Endrtimes does not necessarily endorse or agree with every opinion expressed in every article/video posted on this site. The information provided here is done so for personal edification; It's up to the reader to separate truth from error, and to examine everything (like the Bereans) from a Biblical perspective. Let the Holy Scriptures be you guide! - - - FAIR USE NOTICE: These pages/videos may contain copyrighted () material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Such material is made available to advance understanding of ecological, POLITICAL, HUMAN RIGHTS, economic, DEMOCRACY, scientific, MORAL, ETHICAL, and SOCIAL JUSTICE ISSUES, etc. It is believed that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior general interest in receiving similar information for research and educational purposes.
Ethical and Otherwise: Engineering In the Headlines is a collection of over 40 of the most popular blog posts selected from nearly ten years of Karl Stephans engineering ethics blog. Bridge collapses, airplane crashes, train wrecks, explosionsthe most widely read blog posts are all here, from the truth about why the Titanic sank to the latest recall scandal. This ebook is available in both Kindle and iBook formats.
The state-run news agency of the United Arab Emirates says the country is downgrading its diplomatic relations with Iran.

The statement was published on Monday afternoon. The UAE's Foreign Ministry also said it was recalling its ambassador from Tehran.

The statement said the UAE would be downgrading its diplomacy to only focus on business relationships between the Gulf federation and Iran. UAE says it's doing this due to "Iran's continued interference in the Gulf and Arab countries internal affairs."

The move comes after Saudi Arabia and Bahrain both cut diplomatic ties to Iran.

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Egypt fears that Ethiopia's construction of the Grand Renaissance Dam could drastically affect its share of Nile water

Contracts with the two French firms carrying out studies on the impact of Ethiopia's under construction Grand Renaissance Dam on downstream countries' water shares will be signed in early February in Khartoum, a spokesperson for Egypt's foreign ministry said on Sunday.

Ahmed Abo-Zeid's comments to the press came ahead of technical meetings between the tripartite committee  comprised of representatives from Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan -- in Addis Ababa on Wednesday and Thursday.

It has yet to be decided whether the February meeting will be attended by the irrigation ministers of Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan only, or if the foreign ministers will also attend, Abo-Zeid added.

A series of technical meetings will be held between the tripartite countries in January, the spokesperson said.

The meetings in Addis Ababa this week will tackle technical suggestions made by Egypt, according to Abo-Zeid.

At the end of January, the tripartite committee will then convene in Cairo to study the offers made by the two French firms.

Dutch firm Deltares, which was assigned 30 percent of the work, withdraw in September saying the circumstances did not guarantee an independent study.

Egypt had been negotiating with Ethiopia over the choice of an independent firm to conduct the studies, before an agreement was reached at end of December on the second French consultancy firm Artelia.

Egypt is also currently in negotiations on the filling of the dam's reservoir. If completed in a short time span, it is feared that it could cause a water shortage in Egypt.

After their last meeting on 11 and 12 December  the 11th round of negotiations  Egypt, Ethiopia and Sudan announced that they had reached a consensus on the issue.

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Since the 2013 ouster of Muslim Brotherhood president Mohamed Morsi, Saudi Arabia has been one of Egypt's main financial backers

Cairo and Riyadh kick off on Monday preparatory ministerial meetings to lay the ground for a fresh round of Saudi-Egyptian business council talks, Egypt's state news agency MENA said.

Egyptian ministers of foreign affairs, high education, international cooperation and housing arrived in the Saudi capital for the third meeting of the Coordination Council- formed in November to promote cooperation between both Arab allies.

The three-day council gathering will begin on Tuesday, according to MENA.

The second council meeting was held in mid December in Cairo when Saudi Arabia's King Salman pledged a total of $8 billion (30 billion riyals) in investment and aid to Egypt over the next five years.

Saudi Arabia has been one of Egypt's main backers since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood- which both Cairo and Riyadh view as a security threat.

In March 2015, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and Kuwait each offered $4 billion to Cairo.

Egypt is part of a Saudi-led coalition that has been pounding Shia rebels in Yemen since March 2015.

It is also a member of a 34-member Islamic military alliance to combat "terrorism", which was announced by the oil-rich kingdom in December.

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Al-Azhar slammed what it described as 'provocative statements' against the Sunni Kingdom amid a flurry of international condemnation of the executions

Egypt's Al-Azhar, the world's highest seat of Sunni Islamic learning, urged on Monday "non-interference in Saudi Arabia's domestic affairs," slamming criticism of the Sunni kingdom's recent mass execution of 47 men on terrorism charges.

Al-Azhar's Muslim Council of Elders said in a statement that it supports the Gulf country "in its fight to combat terrorism, extremism and to quell sectarian strife and ensure security, stability and peace in the region."

Saudi Arabia announced on Saturday that it had executed prominent Shia cleric Nimr Al-Nimr and 46 others including dozens of Al-Qaeda members. The executed included an Egyptian and a Chadian.

The council expressed its "strong condemnation" of attacks on Saudi Arabia's embassy and consulate in Iran following Saturday's announcement of the executions. It also slammed what it described as "provocative statements against the kingdom" amid a barrage of international denunciation of the Saudi action.

The UN chief Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply dismayed" with the executions while France and Germany also condemned the killings.

Egypt has been battling an Islamist insurgency that has spiked since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi.

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Four death sentences against lower-level members in the case have also been reversed

Egypt's Court of Cassation overturned on Monday a life sentence handed to Muslim Brotherhood chief and spiritual guide Mohamed Badie over violence-related charges in an appeal session, ordering a retrial.

The cassation court also reversed life sentences against 12 others, including deputy-leader Khairat El-Shater and senior Brotherhood figures Essam El-Erian, Saad el-Katatni and Mohamed el-Beltagy.

Four death sentences against lower-level members in the case have also been overturned.

The court said the verdicts in the case were "flawed" and therefore accepted the appeals.

The defendants were charged with "inciting murder" and "attempted murder" that resulted in the killing of nine protesters demonstrating outside a Brotherhood office on 30 June, 2013, days before the ouster of president Mohamed Morsi.

Badie has faced numerous trials and has been handed two death sentences and six other life sentences in separate cases. Both death sentences have been revoked and he was granted a retrial.

Some of Badie's co-defendants in the case, as well as other leading members of the Brotherhood, including Morsi himself, are also standing trial in other cases on various charges.

Morsi was ousted in 2013 after mass protests against his one-year rule. Hundreds have been killed in street violence since, and thousands, mostly Islamists, have been jailed. Hundreds more have been sentenced to death, though many have won retrials.

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Czech President Milos Zeman, known for his anti-migrant comments, on Monday claimed the current wave of more than a million newcomers to Europe was the work of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

"I believe this invasion is being organised by the Muslim Brotherhood, using financial means from a number of states," the outspoken 71-year-old leftwinger told the public Czech Radio.

Zeman said he had received the information regarding the Muslim Brotherhood -- an opposition force in Egypt where it has been outlawed as a terrorist organisation -- from two sources, "both Muslims and leading Arab politicians".

He said the record migrant crisis is due to Europe's obliging stance towards migrants on the one hand, and to "the efforts of the Brotherhood to meet its goals" on the other.

"The Muslim Brotherhood cannot start a war against Europe, it doesn't have the power, but it can prepare a growing migrant wave and gradually control Europe," said the Czech Republic's first-ever directly elected head of state.

Late last year, Zeman called the refugee wave "an organised invasion," urging young men from Iraq and Syria to "take up arms" against the Islamic State (IS) group instead of running away.

More than one million migrants reached Europe in 2015, most of them refugees fleeing war and violence in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

But few asylum seekers have chosen to stay in the largely secular Czech Republic, an EU and NATO member of 10.5 million people, with the majority heading to wealthier Germany and other western EU states.

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Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi met on Monday with Gregorios III Laham, patriarch of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church, and stressed that Islam has nothing to do with extremist groups committing terrorism in the name of religion.

The Catholic patriarch, along other church officials, met the Egyptian president on the occasion of Christmas holidays.

El-Sisi welcomed the delegation in El-Ittihadeya Palace to extend his felicitations for the upcoming holidays.

Spokesperson to the Egyptian presidency Alaa Youssef said that Gregorios III conveyed the greetings of Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church and his praise of Egypt's leading role in the region.

The Egyptian president told the delegation that the religion of Islam is keen to uphold love and affection, tolerance and cooperation with different religions.

He also said that the teachings of Islam recommend righteousness and piety away from sin and aggression, stressing that acts of murder and terrorism practiced by extremist groups on behalf of the religion are a blatant violation of the teachings of Islam.

According to estimates, Egypt's Christians make up about 10 percent of the country's 90 million people, with Catholics estimated at around 500,000.

The patriarch led prayers in El-Daher district in central Cairo.

Unlike Western denominations who celebrate Christmas on 25 December, Egypt's Coptic Orthodox Christians celebrate on 7 January due to the use of the Julian calendar.

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Officials affiliated with a parliamentary bloc entitled the Pro-Egyptian State Coalition said they will meet Tuesday to name their nominee for speaker

As the opening procedural sitting of Egypt's new parliament draws closer, a parliamentary bloc in support of President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi, the pro-Egyptian State Bloc, said it will meet Tuesday to name its nominee for the post of speaker.

According to Mostafa Bakri, a journalist and MP with the pro-Sisi bloc, a meeting will be held Tuesday to name the candidate for speaker.

"I think there is a consensus among the bloc's members (around 380) that constitutional expert Ali Abdel-Al will be our candidate for the post," Bakri told parliamentary reporters on Monday.

He added that the nominee must be decided on before parliament's opening procedural session is held on 10 January, or next Sunday.

The chances for Abdel-Al, a constitutional law professor with Ain Shams University, shot high after a list of presidential appointees last Thursday came free of high-profile judicial or constitutional figures, such as Adli Mansour, the former interim president of Egypt (July 2013 - June 2014) and the incumbent chairman of the Supreme Constitutional Court (SCC).

The list included only two public figures who were involved in judicial and legal activities; Sirri Siam, the former chairman of the Court of Cassation and the Higher Council for Judges; and Bahaeddin Abu Shuka, a long-time lawyer and secretary-general of the Wafd Party.

Siam announced Sunday that he would not run for the post of speaker.

"I prefer to run for the post of the chairman of parliament's legislative and constitutional affairs committee, and I hope I will get the support of MPs," said Siam.

Abu Shuka also announced that he has no wish to run for the post of speaker and that he was selected by Wafd to be its parliamentary spokesman.

"Besides, I will also run for the post of chairman of parliament's legislative and constitutional affairs committee," said Abu Shuka.

Bakri told reporters that MPs affiliated with the Pro-Egyptian State Bloc met Monday with Osama El-Abd, former chairman of Al-Azhar University, to convince him not to run for the post of speaker. El-Abd, an independent MP from the governorate of Damietta, announced last Saturday that he would run for the post.

"We are hoping that as few MPs as possible will run for the post of speaker so that our nominee would have a good chance to win," Bakri said.

If nominated by the pro-Sisi bloc, Abdel-Al will be running against Tawfik Okasha, an independent MP who has repeatedly announced that he will run for the post.

Okasha, the owner of the private TV channel Pharaeen, said that since he got the highest the number of votes in the recent elections (92,000), he is the MP most entitled to be elected speaker of Egypt's coming parliament.

Abdel-Al, 69, has a long history of constitutional and legislative experience.

After Islamist president Mohamed Morsi was ousted from office in July 2013, Abdel-Al was selected to be among ten constitutional law experts entrusted with drawing up the first draft of Egypt's post-Morsi constitution.

Abdel-Al was also a member of a government committee which took charge of drafting the country's three election laws: the exercise of political rights, the House of Representatives Affairs, and the Division of Electoral Constituencies.

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Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry said that the decision taken by Saudi Arabia to cut ties with Iran "meet its sovereignty and interests," pointing out that Cairo cut its ties with Tehran 27 years ago.

Shoukri said in a press conference with Saudi counterpart Adel Al-Jubeir that the Iranian interference in the internal affairs of the kingdom is unacceptable and not approved by any international laws and norms.

The presser came on the sidelines of the Coordinating Council between the two countries.

"We have stressed many times that we reject any form of interference in the internal affairs of the Arab, especially when it has an impact on Arab national security, Shoukry said, adding that several Arab countries are coordinating with each other regarding diplomatic relations with Iran.

Several Arab countries followed the Kingdom's lead to cut or downgrade diplomatic ties with Tehran. On Monday, Bahrain and Sudan severed ties with Iran, while the United Arab Emirates recalled its envoy from Tehran.

The Egyptian FM also said that "the security of the kingdom is an integral part of the security of Egypt and [vice versa]."

Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis on Monday as Riyadh and its Sunni Arab allies cut or reduced ties with Tehran, sparking global concern.

Following a diplomatic row over Saudi Arabia's execution Saturday of prominent Shia cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr, Riyadh severed relations with Tehran, the worlds main Shia power.

Nimr was among 47 men executed on Saturday, including other Shia activists and Sunni militants who the Saudi interior ministry said were involved in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed dozens in 2003 and 2004.

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Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced Sunday that Saudi Arabia was severing diplomatic ties with Iran after demonstrators stormed its Tehran embassy to protest against Riyadh's execution of a Shiite cleric.

Jubeir also said that all Iranian diplomats must leave Saudi Arabia within 48 hours.

Saudi Arabia "is breaking off diplomatic ties with Iran and requests that all members of the Iranian diplomatic mission leave... within 48 hours," he told a news conference.

On Saturday, a mob attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad amid protests at the execution in Saudi Arabia of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

The 56-year-old, a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in eastern Saudi Arabia, was among 47 convicted men put to death on Saturday in the kingdom.

The others were Shiite activists and Sunnis who the Saudi interior ministry said were involved in Al-Qaeda attacks, with some beheaded and others shot by firing squad.

Iran arrested 44 people over the embassy assault, which President Hassan Rouhani described as "totally unjustifiable".

But the Islamic republic's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned Nimr's execution, saying "God will not forgive" Saudi Arabia for putting him to death.

Jubeir responded on Sunday by saying: "Iran's history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues, and it is always accompanied by destruction."

Relations between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite-ruled Iran have been strained for decades, with Riyadh frequently accusing Tehran of interfering in Arab affairs.

Both countries are also divided over a raft of issues, namely the nearly five-year war in Syria, where Iran is allied with the regime of embattled President Bashar al-Assad, and Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Iran-backed rebels.

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Gunmen killed a civilian and wounded a child when they opened fire on Saudi police in the home village of executed Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, state media reported on Monday.

Police came under "heavy fire" during the attack on Sunday night in the eastern village of Awamiya, the birthplace of the cleric who was executed on Saturday, said the Saudi Press Agency.

The shooting left a civilian dead and wounded an eight-year-old child, said SPA, without specifying if any police were among the casualties.

Security forces were scouring the area for the assailants, the agency reported, citing a police spokesman in oil-rich Eastern Province.

The execution of 56-year-old Nimr has fuelled tensions in the Middle East, with Shia-majority countries expressing condemnation and the kingdom's diplomatic missions in Shia-dominated Iran coming under attack.

The assaults on the diplomatic missions spurred the Sunni-ruled kingdom to sever ties with Shia-dominated Iran, its long-time regional rival.

In recent years, the two countries have been divided over the war in Syria, where Iran is backing the regime, and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shia rebels.

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Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the security forces were tracking down the perpetrators of attacks against Sunni religious targets south of Baghdad on Monday.

Unknown attackers bombed two mosques in the Hilla region and shot dead a muezzin near Iskandariyah, a mixed area south of the capital which was badly affected by the civil war that raged in the country a decade ago.

"We ordered Babil operations command to hunt down the criminal gangs of Daesh and their likes who targeted mosques to sow sedition and undermine national unity," Abadi said on Twitter.

Daesh is an Arabic acronym for ISIS which Iraqi security forces are battling on several fronts.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attacks, which came against a tense regional backdrop following the execution by Saudi Arabia of prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Baghdad accuses Saudi Arabia of actively supporting ISIS, which still controls swathes of the country, with funds and weapons.

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Hezbollah said it set off an explosive devide targeting Israeli forces at the Lebanese border on Monday in an apparent response to the killing in Syria last month of a prominent commander, Israel responded by shelling southern Lebanon.

Israel's army said the blast targeted military vehicles in the Shebaa farms area, and that Israeli forces responded with artillery fire. It made no mention of casualties.

The explosive device was detonated in the Shebaa farms area, Hezbollah said in a statement. Lebanese media said Israeli shelling had hit the nearby town of Al Wazzani and other areas, with initial reports of injuries and damage to homes.

Hezbollah's statement named the group that had carried out the attack after Samir Qantar. The Iranian-backed Shia group has accused Israel of killing Qantar in air strike in Syria, and vowed to retaliate.

"The martyr leader Samir Qantar group detonated a large explosive device on an Israeli patrol in the Shebaa farms... which destroyed an Israeli vehicle... and injured those inside it," Hezbollah said.

Witnesses said at least 10 Israeli shells had hit Al Wazzani shortly after the blast, causing material damage.

Lebanese New TV said in a newsflash there had been reports of injuries from the shelling.

Hezbollah is fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in Syria's civil war. Syrian state media said Qantar was involved in a major offensive earlier this year in Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

*This story was edited by Ahram Online.

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Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis on Monday as Riyadh and its Sunni Arab allies cut or reduced ties with Tehran, sparking global concern.

Following angry exchanges over Saudi Arabia's execution Saturday of prominent Shiia cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, Riyadh and then Bahrain and Sudan severed their relations with Tehran, the main Shiia power.

As international worries grew, US Secretary of State John Kerry called his Iranian and Saudi Arabian counterparts, US officials said.

"We are urging calm and de-escalation. The situation needs to be calmed," one official told AFP.

London, Paris and Berlin also expressed concerns, amid fears the dispute could derail efforts to resolve conflicts across the Middle East, from Syria to Yemen.

Moscow offered to act as an intermediary and the UN envoy for Syria was headed to Riyadh and Tehran in a bid to defuse tensions.

Shia Muslim cleric Nimr Al-Nimr's death comes 11 months after Saudi Arabia issued a sweeping counterterrorism law after Arab Spring protests shook the region in 2011 .The law codified that the kingdom could prosecute as a terrorist anyone who engages in dissent or violence against the government.

The convictions of those executed Saturday were issued by Saudi Arabia's Specialised Criminal Court, established in 2008 to try terrorism cases.

Most of the 47 killed in the kingdom's largest mass execution for decades were Sunnis convicted of Al-Qaeda attacks in Saudi Arabia a decade ago. Four, including Nimr, were Shia accused of involvement in shooting policemen.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran late on Sunday, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, after protesters set fire to its embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad.

Bahrain and Sudan followed suit on Monday, and the United Arab Emirates also downgraded its ties, recalling its envoy from Tehran.

Sunni Arab nations accused Tehran of repeatedly meddling in their affairs, with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir saying "Iran's history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues".

Bahrain accused Iran of "increasing flagrant and dangerous meddling" in Gulf and Arab states, while the UAE said Iranian interference had reached "unprecedented levels".

Some 80 Saudis, including diplomats and their families, had already left Iran and arrived in Dubai on Monday, diplomatic sources said.

The Saudi civil aviation authority said that as part of the cut in ties all flights to and from Iran were being suspended.

Iranian officials denounced the Saudi moves as tactics that would inflame regional tensions.

"Saudi Arabia sees not only its interests but also its existence in pursuing crises and confrontations and (it) attempts to resolve its internal problems by exporting them to the outside," foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are on opposing ends of a range of crucial issues in the Middle East, including the war in Syria -- where Tehran backs President Bashar al-Assad's regime and Riyadh supports rebel forces -- and Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite insurgents.

The UN peace envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was due in Riyadh later Monday for talks aimed at defusing tensions, ahead of a visit to Iran, the UN spokesman said.

The spike in tensions comes after Iran last year secured a historic nuclear deal with world powers led by the United States, sparking major concern in Riyadh, a longtime US ally.

The Cairo-based Arab League said it would hold an emergency meeting at Riyadh's request on Sunday to discuss the attacks on Saudi diplomatic premises and alleged Iranian interference.

British Prime Minister David Cameron said the tensions were "hugely concerning", Germany expressed its "dismay" and called for the restoration of diplomatic ties, and France urged a "de-escalation of tensions".

Oil prices rose on fears of Middle East instability, with US benchmark West Texas Intermediate climbing 30 cents to $37.34 a barrel.

Gulf stocks tumbled, with six of the region's seven exchanges down and the Saudi Tadaul All-Shares Index falling by 2.36 percent.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate, on Sunday criticised those who attacked the diplomatic buildings, calling them radicals, and 50 suspects were arrested.

But the country's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Riyadh its rulers would face "quick consequences" for executing Nimr.

Some 3,000 demonstrators gathered for a new rally in Tehran on Monday, chanting anti-Saudi slogans and burning US and Israeli flags.

In Shiite-majority Iraq, top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called Nimr's execution "an unjust act of aggression", and on Monday blasts rocked two Sunni mosques in the centre of the country, wounding at least three people.

A man living at one of the mosques in the town of Hilla was shot dead by unidentified gunmen and a Sunni muezzin -- who recites the Muslim call to prayer -- was shot dead near his home in the city of Iskandariyah, security sources said.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said security forces were tracking down the perpetrators "who targeted mosques to sow sedition and undermine national unity".

Thousands of protesters rallied against Saudi Arabia in the Iraqi capital, demanding that Baghdad sever relations with Riyadh.

The 56-year-old Nimr was a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in eastern Saudi Arabia, where Shiites have long complained of marginalisation.

He was among 47 men executed on Saturday, including other Shiite activists and Sunni militants the Saudi interior ministry said were involved in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed dozens in 2003 and 2004.

Executions have soared in Saudi Arabia since King Salman ascended the throne a year ago with 153 people put to death in 2015, nearly twice as many as in 2014, for crimes ranging from murder to drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy.

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Egypt's oil refinery MIDOR will finance its planned expansion, borrowing $1.2 billion from French lenders Credit Agricole and BNP Paribas, a loan that will be guaranteed by the Italian central bank and the Italian export development authority, oil minister Tarek El-Molla told Egyptian state news daily Al-Ahram.

MIDOR signed in April two deals worth $1.4 billion with US-based engineering company UOP to design the expansion of the refinery, raising its capacity to 160,000 barrels per day from 100,000 barrels per day.

The project, which starts this year and will span over three years, would allow Egypt to cut its petroleum product imports and export refined oil products, raising sources of foreign currency, according to Al-Ahram.

The value of monthly oil imports fell almost 40 percent to around $400 million from $650 million due to the decline in global prices, El-Molla told Reuters earlier in the day. Imports of gas remain at $250 million monthly, he added.

Egyptian banks access to foreign currency has declined in the past years due to the fall in tourism, Foreign Direct Investments and net official transfers in the banking system in the aftermath of the 2011 uprising that toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Egypt's net foreign reserves stood at $16.4 billion at the end of November.

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Egypt agreed with Saudi Arabia to borrow $1.5 billion to develop the Sinai Peninsula, $1.2 billion to finance oil purchases over coming three months, Egyptian International Cooperation Minister Sahar Nasr said on Monday.

Another $1.5 billion in loans for Egypts Sinai development over five years were announced in December to be negotiated with the Kuwait Fund for Development, the Abu Dhabi Fund, the Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development and the Islamic Development Fund.

Negotiations with the oil-rich kingdom are ongoing to agree on financing Egypts oil purchases within the coming five years, Nasr told Ahram Online via text message from the Saudi capital Ryiadh, where she arrived to chair the third meeting of the Egyptian-Saudi coordination Council.

The councils fourth meeting is scheduled to be held in Cairo on 24 January, according to the minister.

Nasr said to urge the Saudi Public Investment Fund to quicken injecting 30 billion riyals ($8 billion) in new investments in Egypts sectors of housing, energy and tourism that were pledged by Deputy Crown Prince and Defense Minister Mohammed bin Salman last month.

Saudi Arabia has supported Cairo with billions of dollars in aid, grants, and cash deposits after the 2013 ouster of president Mohamed Morsi to help buoy the country's economy after several years of political upheaval sent foreign reserves tumbling.

Egypt's net foreign reserves stood at $16.4 billion at the end of November.

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Policymakers have turned their attention to giving official status to millions of undocumented individuals, mostly those born in violation of the country's one-child policy. In December, the government announced it will allow those without a household registration document, or hukou, to get one.

A survey in 2010 suggested that at least 13 million people, roughly 1 percent of the country's population, are not registered. The National Development and Reform Commission found that 60 percent of those locked out of the system are people whose birth flouted the one-child rule. Their families had hidden their birth to avoid paying hefty fines, known as a social compensation fee, to the government. Migrant families had to adhere to the one-child policy to get a permanent residence permit in many big cities like Beijing. It is still unclear whether those born in violation of the one-child rule will have to pay penalties before getting their paperwork processed.

Forty percent of the undocumented people are orphans, those born out of wedlock or people who lost their official papers when trying to transfer their household registration to a new location.

People without a hukou are denied access to public schools and hospitals, and face difficulties when registering their marriages or finding employment.

At a December meeting, President Xi Jinping announced plans to decouple the family-planning policy from the household registration system. On paper, at least, this is a huge step forward given major social problems and tragedies that have arisen due to the linking of these two systems.

In 2013, a 16-year-old girl from Sichuan Province attempted to kill herself after she was barred from taking her high school entrance examination because she was undocumented. That same year, the Xinmin Weekly in Shanghai quoted an eight-year-old boy as saying: "The family planning bureau and public security officers are so evil that I want to join the mafia when I grow up to take revenge." The boy lacked a hukou because his parents could not afford the fine 330,000 yuan that was due for their second child.

For years, the existence of so many undocumented people has violated the basic principles of a modern society by denying these individuals their civil rights, and it has also damaged the government's image.

Xi's announcement is a major step forward because every child, regardless of whether his parents violated certain rules or not, is an independent person and should enjoy the right to citizenship.

In order for its plans to be effective, the government must bring an end to the collection of the family planning fines. So far it has failed to do so. As a result, many families fear that officials can still come and force them to pay a penalty once they register their children. Some are even convinced the new policy is just another way for authorities to deceive them into paying up.

From a legal standpoint, the fine is deeply flawed. Children are a nation's future. Providing youngsters with necessary public resources to become contributors in society is the basic duty of a modern government. Though an increase in the number of children means more demands on public resources, it also means that they will in turn create more public resources as adults. In the end, a person's contribution to society is generally greater than his burden on public resources.

The proportion of the population under the age of 18 is at a historic low. In the past decade, in cities and in the countryside, hundreds of primary schools have shut due to insufficient enrollment. In Beijing, the number of primary schools dropped from 2,867 in 1995 to 1,081 in 2012.

With today's low birth rate, families raising more children are actually making a greater contribution to sustainable development of the country by alleviating demographic strains on the economy. Yet we are penalizing them with fines and taking away funds that these families could use to support their children.

Most undocumented individuals come from poor families that are least able to afford the huge fines. Forcing them to do so pushes them to the brink, sometimes with fatal consequences.

The story of Ai Guandong is a case in point. Since 2003, the poor farmer's family was harassed by family-planning officials who demanded a 7,000 yuan fine for the birth of a second child. Since Ai couldn't afford it in one go, officials came to collect money in installments. In December 2013, when goons came and forcibly took away 7,000 kilograms of corn, Ai committed suicide in despair.

Such extreme examples should push the leadership to take the demographic reform to its logical conclusion: Eliminating family planning fines and giving families the true freedom to contribute to the country's future.

Liang Jianzhang is a co-founder and chairman of Ctrip.com International Ltd. Huang Wenzheng is a biostatistics expert at Johns Hopkins University
(Beijing)  China plans to spend 3.8 trillion yuan in railroad infrastructure during the 2016-20 period, an official document viewed by Caixin shows.

The National Railway Administration document that Caixin viewed on December 31 says the government plans to spend 3 trillion yuan on building railroads and 800 billion yuan on updating current trains over five years.

The investment is a part of the country's grand 13th Five-year Plan, a roadmap for the nation's development from 2016 to 2020. The plan is still being formulated.

The government will build 30,000 kilometers of new track over five years, the plan says. The goal is to develop a national passenger network linking cities of more than 200,000 people by 2020.

The plan includes building 44 bullet train lines. Some 5,000 kilometers of high-speed rail will be constructed to connect populous regions, with priority going to the economic hubs of Beijing, Tianjin and neighboring Hebei Province; the Yangtze River Delta; and the Pearl River Delta.

Six lines, both high-speed and slower trains, will be built in the central and western regions of the country where the economies lag behind, the document said. The government wants to build a 90,000 kilometer rail network in those regions by the end of the plan.

Another 800 billion yuan will be spent on research, buying new train carriages and equipping all passenger trains with air conditioning, according to the document.

The government tends to be conservative in its estimates in these drafts, said an official from the China Railway Corp. (CRC), operator of the rail network. The final investment plan could surpass 4 trillion yuan, he said.

About 3.5 trillion yuan was spent in the 2010-15 period, data released by the CRC on December 30 show. In 2015, 820 billion yuan was spent, the second most of any year in China's modern history.

(Rewritten by Chen Na)
(Shanghai)  A website that let retail stock investors borrow funds for trading has suddenly closed, leaving hundreds unable to access their accounts and withdraw deposit money  in what appears to be the latest in a string of fraudulent investment schemes in China that one regulator has described as "serious beyond precedent."

At least 200 people who borrowed through 9caiu.com and its mobile application to buy stocks have been unable to log into their account and reach the website's customer service representatives as of December 31, several investors said.

Investors have reported the situation to the police in Shanghai, where the firm that owns the website is located, but it was unclear whether a probe had started, investors said.

The website allowed stock investors to trade on margin with borrowed funds, an activity that is prohibited  unless the lender is a securities firm  by the securities regulator since the stock market rout in June.

An investor from Beijing who decline to be named said he deposited 32,000 yuan with the firm on December 8 and it lent him five times that amount.

The investor said he found the 9caiu.com website out of service on December 24 and has been unable to reach its customer service representatives since then.

Before it went down, the website said it served more than 77,000 investors and facilitated investments worth nearly 700 million yuan. It did not say how much of that capital came from investors' deposits. Nor is it clear where the money it used to extend loans came from.

Several investors including the man from Beijing said they were attracted to 9caiu.com by online ads. Major news portal websites including Sohu and Sina and the Chinese version of state media outlet China Daily have run advertisements for the website or carried articles promoting its services.

One news article published on Sohu in November said 9caiu.com caters to investor demand for capital in face of a regulatory requirement that all margin trading be done with loans directly from securities firms. The article said borrowing through the website to buy stocks is safe and legal, but it did not explain how the practice did not violate the trading rule.

Shanghai Yangkun Investment Management Co. Ltd., which owns 9caiu.com, was founded in Shanghai in June, its filings with the local government show. The address it registered as its office does not exist, Caixin has found.

Several things about the company running the website have raised eyebrows with investors recently. Some said they started to suspect the firm was up to something shady on December 25, when it closed an account with Alipay, a popular online payment service. It had used the account to receive deposits from investors, they said.

They also said that when they sought to make withdrawals from their accounts on the website, payment came from two individuals' bank accounts, rather than a corporate account. Investors also said the website encouraged them to invite others, promising to give them a payout for every successful new invitation.

'This Is Serious'

Chinese authorities scrambled last year to keep up with a dramatic increase in cases of fraudulent fundraising, many of them tied to Internet financing. From January to August, about 3,000 cases of suspected illegal fundraising activities involving stock brokers, peer-to-peer lenders, asset managers, metals trading platforms and other financial firms were filed in courts across the country, people close to financial regulators said.

Some 150 billion yuan was involved as of November, the sources said.

Also, the government of Yunnan said on December 22 that police had launched an investigation into Fanya Metal Exchange, a nonferrous metals exchange headquartered in the southwestern province's capital of Kunming. Investors say Fanya owes them 43 billion yuan, and the exchange's founder has gone missing.

Internet technology, creative scamming and an economic downturn have contributed to the rise in financial crime. Sources close to the public security departments say police around the country launched about 14,000 inquiries into alleged financial crimes in the first three months of the year, up 38 percent from the same period of 2014.

"Whenever the real economy turns bad, illegal fundraising rises in the financial sector," said one financial expert.

"The situation is serious beyond precedent," said an official working for a central government financial regulator. "Existing risks haven't been resolved, and new risks are emerging quickly."

(Rewritten by Wang Yuqian)
Egyptian telecom service provider Orascom, which provides mobile services in North Korea, is unable to send back around US$400 million of its investments, Voice of America reported Wednesday.

An audit report by Deloitte posted on the Orascom website recently says, "North Korea has implemented currency control restrictions and, in particular, rules surrounding the repatriation of dividends to foreign investors."

Orascom started offering 3G mobile services in North Korea in a joint venture with North Korea's postal service in 2008. Koryo Link is 75-percent owned by Orascom and 25 percent by the North. It has managed to attract 2 million subscribers.

According to the audit report, Koryo Link's gross profit during the first nine months of last year rose 40 percent from the same period of 2012 to $230 million thanks to a rise in the number of subscribers. But red tape is preventing it from sending back the profits.

Orascom chief Naguib Onsi Sawiris was quoted by U.K. website Middle East Online late last year as saying he would make no more investment in North Korea until the company sees some returns.


In the video, which was released Friday, Trump was shown at a campaign rally in the southern state of South Carolina last month reading a statement calling on the United States government to ban Muslims from entering the country. He had made the call made in response to the deadly attack on a state government facility in San Bernardino, California carried out by a Muslim husband-and-wife couple who investigators say had been "radicalized."

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is dismissing his persona being featured in a recruitment video made by the Somali militant group al-Shabab.

In an interview that will air Sunday on the CBS News public affairs program "Face the Nation," Trump defends his comments, telling host John Dickerson that "I have to say what I have to say," and that al-Shabab has used other people in their videos.

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton said last month that the so-called Islamic State militant group was "showing videos of Donald Trump insulting Islam and Muslims in order to recruit more radical jihadists."

The al-Shabab group is not affiliated with Islamic State.

Trump did not mention the al-Shabab recruitment video during a campaign rally Saturday night in Biloxi, Mississippi, but he blamed the rise of the Islamic State on Clinton and President Barack Obama.
A Jin Air flight bound for Busan was forced to return to Cebu, Philippines soon after taking off on Sunday due to safety concerns.

According to Jin Air, an affiliate of Korean Air, the captain on Flight LJ038 decided to return to Cebu 20 to 30 minutes after takeoff as a loud noise was heard from the front door area.

Some of the 163 passengers onboard complained of headaches and pain in their ears.

"It seems that the noise was caused by wind coming through a small gap in the door, which had not been closed properly. An alarm signaled a problem with air pressure, so we decided to return to Cebu," a Jin Air spokesman said.

An official at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said, "We will investigate the maintenance and operation records of the plane. If any regulations were violated, we will fine the airline."

The ministry also plans to conduct thorough inspections of budget carriers' operations following a recent spate of safety glitches.
Orascom Telecom Media and Technology of Egypt, which launched mobile services in North Korea in late 2008, is considering pulling out of the isolated country, the Wall Street Journal reported Saturday.

Orascom owns a 75-percent stake in North Korean cellular operator Koryolink but has been unable to send any of an estimated US$600 million in profits back to Egypt because the regime is refusing to authorize the remittance.

Instead, the regime demanded that the money be invested in projects to modernize Pyongyang, according to Cho Bong-hyun of the IBK Economic Research Institute. A key example was Orascom's failed investment in the Ryugyong Hotel.

The Egyptian company invested $200 million to build the giant hotel in Pyongyang and set up a joint venture bank.

Pyongyang granted Koryolink exclusive rights to operate mobile communications services in the North until late 2012. But Koryolink's earnings dropped after the launch of a rival homegrown cellular network called Byol.

"This is a clear reminder of how risky it is to do business in North Korea," said a former Unification Ministry official here. "If Orascom pulls out of North Korea, the North will probably just confiscate all its assets."

The North did the same with facilities built by South Korea's Hyundai Asan at Mt. Kumgang after package tours to the scenic resort stopped.
Lotte World Tower in Jamsil, southeastern Seoul has been named as one of the "buildings to look out for in 2016" by the leading U.K. architecture critic Jonathan Glancey.

Glancey listed eight buildings around the world for the BBC.

"When complete in 2016, the slender, mixed-use Lotte World Tower, Seoul, designed by the Chicago architects Kohn Pedersen Fox, will be -- at 555m (1820ft) high -- the tallest building in the Korean Peninsula," he said.

He added that it will relegate Ryugyong Hotel in Pyongyang, which is currently being built and will stand 330 meters tall, to second place in terms of height.

"Whatever the artistic quality of such jostling behemoths, a proxy war fought with architecture is surely better than a deadly one waged with armaments," Glancey commented.
Feature: Fighter furore puts China's drone safety in the picture

From:English.news.cn | 2016-01-04 16:14

by Xinhua writer Hu Tao, Lai Yuchen

BEIJING, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- When a small "Phantom" drone filmed an air force jet fighter on its landing in north China, the footage became an Internet hit.

The airborne camera had been hovering just a few hundred meters from the warplane, making for fascinating video when the owner posted it online by the year end 2015.

It also drew attention to Shenzhen-based Da-jiang Innovations (DJI), one of China's leading drone manufacturers.

Far from being pleased with the publicity, however, DJI joined a chorus of voices calling for a strict safety regime for drone flights and condemning irresponsible activity.

The Ministry of National Defense issued a stern rebuke to the operator: "Unmanned aircraft should not be out of control," spokesman Wu Qian said at a press conference in late November 2015.

He warned that illegal drone flights posed a threat to national and public security, flight safety and air defense.

DJI, which prides itself on its reputation of making high-performance but low-cost small drones, echoed the sentiment.

"DJI doesn't want to see the unsafe or illegal drone flights affect the whole industry and our users," says DJI vice-president Hank Shao.

FLYING HIGH

About 400 companies are estimated to be operating in China's burgeoning civilian drone industry and about 200,000 civilian drones are thought in use nationwide.

DJI's "Phantom" series has been listed by the Economist magazine as one of the world's most influential robots.

Founded in 2006, DJI claims to have more than 70 percent of the global markets for civilian drones. And in China, its market share was even higher.

But with rapid growth have come major new concerns.

In last June, strong winds forced a drone taking aerial photos to go out of control and it fell on to an elevated rail track in east China's Nanjing city, delaying the trains. In July, a drone fell on a parked car. Although neither incident caused any casualties, they raised serious questions about drone management and safety.

"To meet surging drone operations and safety risks, the Chinese Society of Aeronautics and Astronautics (CSAA) will set up a professional board to provide guidance and tech-support to the remotely-piloted aircraft system (RPAS)," CSAA secretary general Wu Song said in response.

SAFETY FIRST

DJI's reaction includes building a Safety Management Service Platform for RPAS control, which it is offering to open to the authorities and other companies in the industry.

Based on the mobile Internet, the platform enables regulators, drone manufacturers and operators to communicate instantly.

Operators of registered drones connected to the platform can apply for flight authorization and obtain the latest information and warnings about flight areas.

Meanwhile, regulators can monitor flight areas and control activity within them.

The authorities can send out warnings about restricted flight zones, and users can gain a clear understanding of the flying area and the status of nearby flights.

As a final resort, it also helps law enforcement agencies trace operators who break the rules

"When regulators find illegal uses of drones, they can search for and obtain evidence using mobile devices," Shao says.

The company is also integrating new technologies into production of its drones.

Encryption measures will ensure the management platform is more resistant to interference.

DJI has added safeguards to avoid risks caused by users who modify their aircraft, and cooperates with parts suppliers by setting safety agreements for core parts.

"Never underestimate the regular users and fans of the civilian drones," says Shao.

"Some may have carefully studied source programs and intend to transform or assemble their own drones."
Hanoi protest over test flight rejected

2016-01-04 10:00

A satellite view of Yongshu Jiao in China's Nansha Islands. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has dismissed a protest by Vietnam after a Chinese civilian aircraft landed on one of the Nansha Islands, saying that the operation was carried out within Chinese sovereignty.

China carried out a test flight to a newly built airfield on the island of Yongshu Jiao to see whether the facility met civil aviation standards, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said on Saturday.

Hua made the remarks in response to objections voiced by Vietnam's Foreign Ministry.

China has "indisputable sovereignty" over the Nansha Islands, and will not accept Vietnam's "unfounded accusations", Hua said.

Relations between the two countries are "maintaining development momentum" and China hopes Vietnam can work to achieve "sustainable, healthy and stable" development of bilateral ties, Hua said.

In 2014, Yongshu Jiao became the largest of the Nansha Islands, with an area of almost 1 square kilometer following reclamation work by China on a coral reef, according to Chinese media reports.

China established a maritime observatory on Yongshu Jiao in the 1980s to collect hydrological and meteorological data in the region that had been commissioned by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization.

Ruan Zongze, vice-president of the China Institute of International Studies, said, "The airfield on the island will help China to collect more data for such research and to perform better in rescue missions."

Ruan added that countries, including Vietnam, have been "illegally occupying" China's islands and reefs in the Nansha Islands and carrying out construction work on them.

Han Feng, deputy head of the National Institute of International Strategy under the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said China had refrained from carrying out major construction work on the islands.

This was because of Beijing's "consistent stance of maintaining regional security". As a result, China lags behind in such construction work compared with other claimants to the South China Sea.

Zhou Fangyin, an expert of China's foreign policies at the Guangdong Institute for International Strategies, said China doesn't aim to militarize the islands.

But "repeated provocations" by the United States, such as sending vessels to the South China Sea, have forced China to ensure it has installations to protect people and facilities on the islands.
Govt mulls making retirees pay health insurance

2016-01-04 10:00

China is studying the possibility of introducing medial insurance fees for retirees, a move that has split expert and public opinion.

In an article for Seeking the Truth, the official Party magazine, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said the government should look at the option as a way to tackle rising pressure on the national health system. Unlike in most countries, retirees in China are not required to pay health insurance.

By the end of 2014, about 283 million Chinese were included in the so-called employee medical insurance program, a main pillar of the national system, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The national insurance system currently has a surplus of 673.2 billion yuan ($103 billion), a figure that has continued to rise in recent years, from 495 billion yuan in 2012 and 579 billion in 2013. Yet experts warn that China's rapidly aging society means a deficit will occur if expenditure keeps rising at the current pace.

"In the West, the biggest threat to national health insurance systems is an aging population. But in China, besides that factor, pressure also comes from the fact reimbursement levels need to be increasedand that means retirees need to contribute," said Lin Shuanglin, director of the China Center for Public Finance at Peking University.

Contribution

The employee program requires workers to contribute about 2 percent of their monthly salaries to the medical insurance fund, while employers pay in another 9 to 10 percent.

The ratio is not low compared with the West, Lin said, but the problem is that the program covers only a slice of the population, while the surplus comes from the fact reimbursements are much lower than in the West.

"Patients have found that many items are not covered by the medical insurance. What's more, rural and urban residents without fixed jobswho make up a larger section of the populationget even lower reimbursements," he said. "China should shift its spending pattern, from subsidizing public hospitals and requiring them to lower medical costs to increasing reimbursement levels."

However, asking pensioners to pay insurance fees will likely face public opposition. The finance minister's comments have already been criticized online.

Lyu Wangshi at the Research Institute for Fiscal Science said he believes the criticism is misplaced because raising social insurance payments for retirees is a universal trend.
'Batman vs Superman' and 'Zoolander 2' among expected big 2016 hits

From:chinadaily.com.cn | 2016-01-04 15:37

Poster of "Batman v Superman". [Photo/Mtime]

Moviegoers can expect a wide range of films in the coming year, from comedies to superheroes, and spinoffs from two of the most popular film franchises of all time.

"Zoolander 2" will open on Feb 12 in the United States.

Variety senior writer James Rainey explains why he thinks this movie will be a big attraction for some film fans.

"Penelope Cruz, Olivia Munn and, of course, Owen Wilson, and Ben Stiller in the title role. It's totally silly. But I think it's going to be fun and good."

Other big pictures worth looking at include "Batman v Superman" and something new from the world of "Harry Potter".

"And I think, for mainstream audiences, you've got the spinoff of the 'Harry Potter' franchise coming at the end of the year, which is "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" from J.K. Rowling -- from her pen to Warner Bros. screen. That's a big one at the end of the year, around Thanksgiving 2016."

Rainey admits that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will be a tough act to follow.

"The Force Awakens" will be released in China on Jan 9.

Related:

Movie stars awarded at Palm Springs film festival

A Bite Of China releases trailer
While Kharge is considered the firm favourite with his perceived proximity to the Gandhis, Tharoor has pitched himself as the candidate of change.
#DP DP bristles at prosecution probes targeting top officials of previous administration The main opposition Democratic Party (DP) strongly protested prosecution investigations that led to arrest warrant requests for former top officials of the previous Moon Jae-in gov...
xXx 3: The Return of Xander Cage (what a title) is shaping up to be the so-bad-it's-good action film of 2017, with more casting announced in recent days.

As we reported, our own Conor McGregor - yes, the UFC guy - has been cast in the action threequel alongside Vin Diesel and Samuel L. Jackson. It now appears that McGregor isn't the only martial artist to be joining xXx 3's cast list.

Tony Jaa, he of Ong-Bak and Furious 7 fame, is set to join fellow Asian movie star Jet Li in two unspecified roles for xXx3. Jaa previously worked with Diesel, as we said, on Furious 7 whilst Li and he have yet to cross paths. Meanwhile, sitting in the director's chair will be DJ Caruso, who previously helmed Disturbia with Shia LaBeouf and Eagle Eye, also with Shia LaBeouf.

In recent years, Caruso's fortunes have faltered with teen space drama I Am Number Four, however he's obviously still on Hollywood's radar despite his so so output.

Indian actress Deepika Padukone has also been cast, again in an undisclosed role. This will be Deepika's first role in an American film, however she's a well-known Bollywood star with a number of films under her belt.

So, thoughts? Look, xXx 2: State Of The Union was an unmitigated mess and the first one was dumb, but fun. All we can hope for this time around is much of the same - dumb, but fun. Throwing McGregor, Jaa and Li into the mix means that the film will probably feature a few decent fight sequences between the three of them, so that's sorta cool we guess.

Other than that, we got nothing. It's xXx 3. How can excited can you reasonably get?

Via TwitchFilm
The 2016 Awards Season has officially kicked off with Irish talent in the form of Saoirse Ronan and Michael Fassbender bringing home the bacon!



Brooklyn's Ronan won the 'International Star Award - Actress', which was presented to her by Paul Dano. Accepting the award, she kept things real, saying: "I know youre all eating and would probably prefer to do that than listen to me, but tough." When she then admitted she wasn't sure what to say, she added: "I actually Googled Sandra Bullocks speech from 2014... I Googled Meryls as well. Aim high when youre in doubt."

She's been hotly tipped to receive her second Oscar nomination for the role at the upcoming Academy Awards (due to take place on February 28th. The list of nominations are set to be revealed on Thursday January 14th. Ronan was, of course, nominated for Best Supporting Actress for Atonement in 2008. If her guna is doing it for you, it's by British designer Duro Olowu.

Meanwhile, Fassbender was honoured for his role as Steve Jobs by also landing Best International Star Award - Actor. Michael was handed his award by his co-star Kate Winslet. While accepting his gong, he said: "Kate just told me not to f*** this up."

According to the LA Times, Irish director Lenny Abrahamson and "young co-star Jacob Tremblay presented the Breakthrough Performance Award to Brie Larson for her role in 'Room.'

Other stars accepting awards on the night included Rooney Mara (Spotlight Award for 'Carol'); Helen Mirren, there to present to her 'Trumbo' co-star Bryan Cranston; while Johnny Depp was introduced for the Desert Palm Achievement Award. Ronan came back onstage to present the Desert Palm Achievement, Actress Award to Cate Blanchett for 'Carol', while Matt Damon accepted the Chairmans Award.
Holidays in general can be quite stressful. It's often said that you'd need a second holiday directly after to recover from the first one.

Navigating through airports, finding the way to your hotel, understanding the foreign currency, it can put a strain on even the most jovial of holidaymakers. With all of that on your plate, the last thing you need is an insect infestation in your hotel room.

Unfortunately for Elgin Ozlen and his girlfriend, that's what they had to contend with on their recent trip to New York. Ozlen's mother gifted the pair with the trip which included a stay at the Astor Park Hotel on the Upper West Side and as you can see from the video, it turns out they had to share their room with some unsightly characters.

As you can see from the arm of Ozlen's girlfriend alone, they were literally eaten alive in the room which was the third one offered to them by hotel staff after the heating didn't work in the first and the power sockets were faulty in the second.

So folks, the moral of the story is, always check your mattress when staying in a hotel and get the heck out of there if you find any bugs.

Via UNILAD
Thomas Pellerin-Carlin and Emmett Strickland (Notre Europe  Jacques Delors Institute)

Common Security and Defense Policy (CSDP) is among the European Unions youngest areas of competence. Although it has seen numerous successes since it obtained its legal status in the Treaty of Nice fifteen years ago, such as the Operation Artemis in Congo, the lack of political will significantly undermines the potential of this policy to ensure that the Union has adequate security facilities when faced with various crises. Especially in recent years, the situation has called for an enhanced cooperation between Member States in the areas of security and defense. The Russian invasion of Ukraine, the civil war in Syria, the threat of the Islamic state in the Middle East or the escalation in Israeli-Palestinian relations  these and other problems suggest that Europe is literally surrounded by war. Conflicts of this kind combined with poor environmental conditions in African countries also contribute to significant migratory pressures that Europe is faced with today and most likely also in the future.

The fundamental problem in further implementation of the CSDP stems from the cuts in the defense budget, which is in turn one of the consequences of the financial crisis that has affected the whole Europe. Restricting the flow of finance is not just about military personnel and equipment; austerity has also significantly affected technology research, which for the EU means a loss of strategic independence and narrowing down the space for innovation. In this regard, the European Commission therefore plans to finance the so-called dual-use technology through the European Development Fund, which can serve both civil and military purposes (eg drones). It is clear that defense spending needs to be increased again in the future throughout the Union in order to strengthen the military components at the EU and NATO level.

Experts from the security area agree that the Union should strengthen mutual cooperation in defense matters. The establishment of the Security Council of the EU, which would meet annually in the form of a European Council summit and focus solely on the issues of security and defense, is among the most interesting ideas. It is also desirable that the EU continues to use its military structures in foreign missions and thus could build on the successful cooperation of the units of individual Member States, as demonstrated by the operation EUTM-Mali. Other proposals include the creation of units designed to defend the Schengen borders or increase the budget for the European Defense Agency, under which joint research projects, purchases of military equipment and training of the so-called battle groups, could be carried out. However, the EU must primarily revamp its defense strategy, which should lead to the drawing up of a joint White Paper on Defense.

(The study can be downloaded here: http://www.delorsinstitute.eu/011-22088-European-Defence-Cooperation-speak-the-truth-act-now.html)
The EU border agency Frontex said earlier this week that it had deployed 293 guards and 15 boats to the Greek islands to help the Greek authorities to deal with migratory pressures. Sending troops and necessary equipment was a response to the pleas of Athens but it comes in a lesser amount that initially expected. Frontex further said in an official statement that the number of guards would be increased to over 400 over time and there would be more vessels and technical equipment as part of a fast-intervention mechanism called Poseidon Rapid. The mechanism allows Frontex to thwart the need for decision-making, making EU Member States to contribute instantly. This is what Frontex can provide, agency spokeswoman, Ewa Montcure, commented while stressing that the intensity of migrant flows had been going down recently.

Frontex had also asked Greeces EU partners to provide 600 border experts after an influx of migrants in mid-2015, especially from Syria, but they have been very slow to respond. However, a number of research studies estimate that every day thousands of migrants and refugees are still arriving on Greek islands from the nearby Turkish coast. Frontex estimates that the number for December could reach up to 80,000. According to the Greek migration ministry, the number of guards being sent to its islands is still below what we expected. The migration minister, Iannis Mouzalas, had requested 1,600 guards to be sent to the country, which has been serving as the EUs entry point accounting for more than 80 percent of 2015s one million arrivals.

Frontex, the EU border surveillance agency, collects data on detections by national border-control authorities of illegal crossings of the EUs external borders. During the first six months of 2015, most illegal migrants entered the block through Eastern Mediterranean (about 132,000 most of them being from Syria, Afghanistan and Pakistan) and through Western Balkans (about 102,000 most of them being from Afghanistan, Syria and Kosovo).
Housing market improves after slump in major cities Updated: 2016-01-05 07:26 By Zheng Yangpeng(China Daily)

A residential project is under construction in Huai'an, Jiangsu province. [File Photo/China Daily]

Smaller areas were less fortunate, experiencing declines in sale prices

If there is one word to summarize China's property market in 2015, it would be "divergence".

Overall sales and prices recovered after a slump in 2014, as average new home prices in 100 cities monitored by China Index Academy, a private research institution, rose 4.15 percent in the past year.

But that belied the fact that only China's largest cities saw higher prices, as losses in smaller cities were offset by strong gains in the largest cities.

Even within large cities, there was significant divergence. Average new home prices in first-tier cities advanced 17.2 percent, but that was largely driven by a spectacular surge in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, where prices swelled 38.7 percent to a record 42,591 yuan ($6,540) per square meter due to short supply of land, a ballooning wealthy class and speculation. Prices in Shanghai surged 15.3 percent to 36,935 yuan per sq m. In Beijing, prices saw a more modest 9.2 percent increase to 34,981 yuan per sq m.

Second-tier cities as a group saw new home prices decline by 0.53 percent. But performance varied among cities. Prices in Wuhan, Hubei province, gained 15 percent, the highest among second-tier cities. Central Hefei in Anhui province rose 7.7 percent to reach 7,992 yuan per sq m. Thanks to its proximity to Beijing, prices in Langfang, Hebei province, rose 5.6 percent.

However, Fuzhou, Fujian province, saw prices slump 11 percent, the largest fall in similar cities. Prices in Sanya, Hainan province, contracted 8.4 percent while Dalian in Liaoning province saw prices fall 8 percent.

Prices in most third- and fourth-tier cities fell, with Shaoxing (9.2 percent) and Taizhou (8.3 percent) in Zhejiang province losing the most. Third-tier cities as a group saw a 1.1 percent decline.

The price slump of 2014 continued into 2015, as national prices declined in the first four months of the year, until the effects of favorable policies kicked in, notably allowing second-home buyers who have paid off their mortgage to enjoy the benefits of "first-home buyer" status. Prices began picking up in May, and month-on-month growth was largest in August (up 0.96 percent). Prices in December rose 0.74 percent.

Nationwide, sales surged 20.6 percent on a floor-space basis. Again, first-tier cities led the rebound with a 34 percent surge, while sales in second-tier cities rose 17 percent and third-tier cities climbed 22 percent.

A total of 104 developers sold properties worth more than 10 billion yuan in 2015. In 2014, only 80 did so.

The China Index Academy has a positive outlook for 2016, as the government will roll out more stimulus measures to ease inventory pressures. Of the more than 200 developers surveyed by the academy, 36 percent predicted home prices nationwide would rise within 5 percent. Another 32 percent predicted flat prices.

Fifty-seven percent of developers still feel heavy inventory pressure, but 43 percent feel no or slight pressure. Half of developers plan to raise prices, while 23 percent plan to cut prices.
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Bnei Braks Ashkenazi haredi mayor, Chanoch Zeibert, repeatedly refused to intervene on behalf of the Sefardi girl, despite clear High Court of Justice rulings against such ethnic discrimination. Zeiberts refusals prompted Education Ministry Director-General Michal Cohen to send a harshly worded letter to him warning that the schools funding will be completely cut off unless the Sefardi girl is admitted immediately.

Ashkenazi Haredi School Refuses To Admit Sefardi Student, Government To Cut Funding

Shmarya Rosenberg  FailedMessiah.com

The Ashkenazi haredi Elkayam girls school in the haredi city of Bnei Brak repeatedly refused to admit a Sefardi student, causing Israels Ministry of Education to give the school one week to rectify the problem or face a complete government funding cut.

The schools adamant refusal to accept the girl is reportedly due to ethnic discrimination, Yeshiva World reported.

Bnei Braks Ashkenazi haredi mayor, Chanoch Zeibert, repeatedly refused to intervene on behalf of the Sefardi girl, despite clear High Court of Justice rulings against such ethnic discrimination. Zeiberts refusals prompted Education Ministry Director-General Michal Cohen to send a harshly worded letter to him warning that the schools funding will be completely cut off unless the Sefardi girl is admitted.

The city and the school have until Sunday at 10:00am to comply. If they fail to do so, the Ministry of Education will cut off the schools funding.

The problem of Ashkenazi haredi school's discrimination against Sefardi girls has persisted for many years, despite attempts from courts and from some Ashkenazi haredi leaders, to stop it.
It's almost a year since the Royal Commission exposed decades of child sex abuse and coverups at Chabad's Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne, Australia. Chabad promised Yeshivah Centre restructuring, which was due to be completed by last week at the latest. But it still isn't finished. And that may be because some of the worst offenders  at least in terms of nepotism and abuse coverups  are still in power, as a new letter from the centre's board of trustees shows.

It's almost a year since the Royal Commission exposed decades of child sex abuse and coverups at Chabad's Yeshivah Centre in Melbourne, Australia. Chabad rabbis embarrassed themselves and Chabad on the witness stand, and their testimony  much of which appeared to be bald faced lies  was broadcast live worldwide over the Internet.

Some of these Chabad leaders 'resigned' only to keep their leadership roles 'unofficially.'

Then Chabad launched  after months of delay  a redress scheme for victims that excluded help for those victims families and for others damaged by Chabad's actions.

A promised Yeshivah Centre restructuring, due to be completed by last week at the latest, still isn't finished. And that may be because some of the worst offenders  at least in terms of nepotism and abuse coverups  are still in power, as a new letter from the centre's board of trustees shows:

'

Dear _____, We are writing to you to keep you updated on developments in the organizational restructure of the Yeshivah Centre. We recently received the first complete draft proposal from the Governance Review Panel (GRP). Together with the Interim Committee of Management (ICOM) who have carried the administrative burden for the last 6 months and our Rabbinical advisers, the Trustees ("Members" of the existing incorporated associations) are now considering the proposal. As the proposal is drafted in legal language, we have requested the GRP to prepare a summary of the proposal with an explanation of the legal structure for release to the public. Given the holiday period, we are doing our best to circulate this as soon as practicable. We appreciate that the GRP have spent many hours of meetings, drafting and receiving submissions from the community and thank them for their outstanding honorary contribution to our Centre. Once circulated, the community will be given reasonable notice to make submissions to the GRP. In the meantime, a number of the current members of the ICOM wish to resign for personal and professional reasons. They have all contributed greatly to the Yeshivah Centre over the last 6 months, but they agreed to participate in an interim committee only. The GRP has been inundated with submissions from many sections of the community and are doing their best to draft a set of rules that will satisfy the majority of the stakeholders. To draft a new constitution and open up the Yeshivah Centre to widespread community participation is a daunting task. The date of 31st December has proved to be too optimistic, and whilst we understand that the community wanting a new structure, it is crucial that the structure is the correct one. Once we have received the summary, in language understandable by all, it will be immediately released as stated above. The ICOM will continue to operate until the new constitution can be adopted. We are having intensive discussions to persuade the ICOM members to continue. Those that still wish to resign, do so with our grateful thanks and recognition of their hard work, under difficult circumstances. In consultation with the ICOM, we expect to fill any gaps with new appointments within a very short time and will advise you of the changes forthwith. We thank you for your patience and look forward to establishing the new structure as soon as practicable. With best wishes Mr M. New Mr B. Althaus Mr. S. Gurewicz Mr. H. Cooper Rabbi S. M. Kluwgant Rabbi S. Jurkowicz Rabbi C. T. Groner Mrs N. Bendet

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Chabad-Lubavitch hasidim regularly visit secular elementary schools and hand out fliers on the importance of observing Shabbat. A parent fought against this and the Education Ministry told her in response that no promotional literature should be distributed without its approval. But that is reportedly the Education Ministry's standard response to parental complaints about Chabad-Lubavitch activity in schools, and there is no evidence the Education Ministry has done anything to stop these visits from recurring.

Zionist Orthodox And Chabad Missionary Proselytizing In Israeli State Secular Public Schools Prompts Call To Ban The Proselytizing, Launch New Truly Secular Public Schools

Shmarya Rosenberg  FailedMessiah.com

A group of about 30 Israeli educators, many of whom want to create an independent secular school system, met last week for the first time in response to a series of steps taken by Israels Zionist Orthodox-controlled Education Ministry that has forced Orthodox religion into Israels secular public school system, Haaretz reported.

Academics, teachers and principals attended the inaugural meeting, which was organized by the Secular Forum. Most attendees reportedly themselves have children in secular public schools and were prompted to attend by Israels new high school civics textbook, which promotes religious values over democracy, and by proselytizing outreach in the secular schools by Zionist Orthodox groups and Chabad under the auspices of the Education Ministrys Torah Culture Department.

The meeting preceded news that the award-winning Israeli young adult novel Borderlife had been banned by the Education Ministry over miscegenation fears. The Education Ministrys professionals wanted to include the novel in its literature curriculum but was overruled by higher-ups for religious and political reasons, sparking widespread outrage.

A mother who attended the meeting reportedly complained about an Orthodox groups workshop in a secular school on the chain of generations, which she said focused almost exclusively on Biblical figures.

The bottom line [of the teaching] was that God commanded us to have this land, she said.

She also noted that Chabad-Lubavitch hasidim regularly visit secular elementary schools and hand out fliers on the importance of observing Shabbat. She fought against this and the Education Ministry told her in response that no promotional literature should be distributed without its approval. But that is reportedly its standard response to parental complaints about Chabad-Lubavitch activity in schools, and there is no evidence the Education Ministry has done anything to stop these visits from recurring.

The Torah culture department has no place in the secular school system. There are many pluralistic organizations, but they get almost no funding from the Education Ministry, another parent at the meeting complained.

According to Haaretz, about 95% of the Education Ministrys funding for organizations that work to deepen Jewish identity in secular state public schools is given to Orthodox organizations affiliated with Zionist Orthodoxy.

The new parents and activists group wants to bar these and other Orthodox organizations from secular state public schools.

It also wants to have those secular public schools:

 Educate students in support of democracy, liberalism and humanism from an early age.

 Expand arts, humanities, and sciences curriculum.

 Be universalistic not parochial.

 Establish a challenging critical secular educational culture.

The new group hopes to recruit thousands of supporters, mainly through the use of social media.

The state secular school system was established with the view that the secular public was the hegemonic majority, so it had no need of a minoritys protections. But this situation has changed, and the secular public, while very diverse in its views, has no framework suited to its values. [This change] didnt begin yesterday, [but] more people now understand that a new system, more suitable to their values, is needed, Ram Fruman, the chairman of the Secular Forum, reportedly said.

Fruman thinks an independent secular school system should be established, but the new group has not decided if that is something it wants to back. It could decide to remain within the existing purportedly secular system but with added protections to prevent religious abuse by groups like Chabad and by Zionist Orthodox apparatchiks.

Fruman believes a new secular independent school system is the best option because as a minority he doesnt trust the existing system to protect freedom from religion. He also said he doesnt want to impose what were seeking on other groups in the secular public schools that might not agree with us completely. He also noted that other groups, like for example the Zionist Orthodox, have their own state school systems. Now its time for secular humanists to have one, as well.

A person (who wished to remain anonymous) familiar with the new group and Frumans ideas told Haaretz he is not convinced Fruman is right.

I dont want my children to learn in a closed framework where theyll meet only people like themselves. Ultimately, a secular ghetto is still a ghetto. We criticize the monolithic nature of ultra-Orthodox or religious Zionist education, but I fear well fall into the same trap.Therefore, the preferred solution isnt separating from the state school system but [instead] instilling pluralism in it, he said.
ski jump

Here is what you need to know.

China's stocks were halted after getting smoked. China's Shanghai Composite had an awful start to 2016. Stocks came under heavy selling pressure at the open after disappointing manufacturing data and a weaker yuan. The index sank to a loss of 5%, triggering a 30-minute halt, and then reopened to further weakness before being halted for the remainder of the session, down 7%.

Chinese manufacturing disappointed. China's Caixin-Markit Manufacturing PMI fell to 48.2 in December. The reading was down from the previous look of 48.6 and shy of the 49.0 that economists were expecting. China's manufacturing sector has been in contraction for 10 consecutive months, and it is now at its lowest level since September. The Chinese yuan fell 0.7% to 6.5359 per dollar, the weakest it has been since April 2011.

Stock markets all over the world are in the red. Aside from the bloodbath in China, Japan's Nikkei (-3%) was the worst performer in Asia. In Europe, Germany's DAX (-3.8%) leads markets lower. S&P 500 futures are down 35.00 points at 2,000.50.

Saudi Arabia has broken off ties with Iran. On Sunday, Saudi Arabia gave Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country. The announcement came in response to Iranian protesters who, upset over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and 46 others, attacked Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran. On Monday, Bahrain announced it too would be severing ties with Iran.

Crude oil is bid. The breakdown of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia has put a bid into oil. Early strength ran West Texas Intermediate up to $38.32 a barrel. Most of the strength has dissipated, however, and the energy component is now higher by 0.5% at $37.24.

Europe's entire manufacturing sector is expanding. Eurozone Final Manufacturing PMI ticked up to 53.2 for December, a tad better than the preliminary look of 53.1. Italy and Greece saw the biggest improvements, as their readings jumped to 55.6 and 50.2, respectively. The entire region saw PMIs above the 50 mark, which is the line between expansion and contraction.

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Shire wants to buy Baxalta. Bloomberg reports that Shire in closing in on a deal to buy its rival Baxalta for about $32 billion in stock and cash, excluding debt. Two people familiar with the talks told Bloomberg the deal was likely to be for $46.50 to $48 a share. The merger would give the new company $20 billion in sales within five years and a pipeline of more than 30 new drugs, according to Shire.

Tesla delivered more than 50,000 vehicles in 2015. Tesla delivered 50,580 vehicles in 2015. While impressive, the number was on the low end of the 50,000-to-55,000 range the company had forecast in the middle of 2015, and it was well short of the 55,000 it was projecting at the beginning of the year. According to a statement released by Tesla, "Model X deliveries are in line with the very early stages of our Model X production ramp as we prioritize quality above all else."

Samsung sees a weak 2016. The electronics maker says 2016 will most likely be a difficult year for the company. Reuters reports that Samsung CEO Kwon Oh-hyun gave a New Year's address, saying weak global growth and increased competition in key businesses will be problematic for the company in 2016. Samsung did not offer any new guidance.

US economic data is light. Construction spending and ISM Index are both due out at 10 a.m. ET. The US 10-year yield is down 5 basis points at 2.22%.

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A logo of Alibaba Group is pictured at its headquarters in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China, October 14, 2015. REUTERS/Stringer

(Reuters) - Ant Financial Services Group, the finance arm of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, said on Monday it is looking to raise funds from investors ahead of a planned initial public offering, the second time in less than six months the company taps investors to finance its growth.

The funding round, which Bloomberg reported could reach at least $1.5 billion, comes just months after Ant Financial's first major private placement completed in July. State media had pegged the previous round at up to $4 billion, when the company was valued at about $45 billion.

"We can confirm Ant Financial Services Group has launched Round B financing, however we are not commenting on market speculations," said spokeswoman Miranda Shek, declining to discuss the funding size.

"In terms of the IPO, we do not have a timeline for Ant Financial's IPO."

Ant Financial is among a series of financial technology companies tapping investors for pre-IPO financing to fund expansion as Chinese consumers move more of their banking, payments and investing online.

Online lending platform Lufax, backed by China's second largest insurer Ping An Insurance Group Co of China Ltd, has also sought funds from investors ahead of a planned IPO in Hong Kong worth up to $5 billion in 2016.

(Reporting by John Ruwitch in Shanghai and Elzio Barreto in Hong Kong, editing by Louise Heavens)
Reclamation by China on Mischief Reef in the Spratly Islands in 2015 (AFP Photo/RITCHIE B. TONGO)

Nearly 50 young Filipinos returned Sunday from a remote Philippine-held island in the South China Sea where they had staged a week-long protest against Beijing's claims in the disputed waterway.

The group arrived at Pag-asa island on December 26 as part of an effort to stir up popular opposition to China's claim to most of the contested sea, including Pag-asa, also known as Thitu.

The 47 youths have now returned to Palawan island in the Philippines, Joy Ban-eg, a coordinator of the group, confirmed.

Pag-asa island is part of the Spratlys chain in the South China Sea. China claims most of the sea but the Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and Taiwan have conflicting claims.

The end of the trip by the 47 Filipino youths coincided with a fresh flare-up between China and claimant Vietnam over the contested sea, as Hanoi accused the Asian giant of landing a plane on a disputed reef.

Beijing insisted the operation took place within Chinese territory.

The Philippine Department of Foreign Affairs has said it will also file a protest over the incident.

The youth group, organised by a former navy officer, is called Kalayaan Atin Ito, which translates as "Kalayaan, This Is Ours".

"Kalayaan" is the name of a township established by the Philippines in the Spratlys to assert its territorial claim and is also the Filipino word for freedom.

The Philippine government had previously praised the group's "patriotism" but had urged them not to proceed with the trip, while the youth group had accused the Philippine government of not doing enough to stand up to China.

Photographs of the group, posted on their Facebook page, showed the youths camping on the island and posing with patriotic banners.

Reacting to the trip, the Chinese foreign ministry had previously said it was "strongly dissatisfied with the actions and words of the Philippine side."

Despite having one of the weakest militaries in the region, the Philippines has been vocal in challenging China's claims to the South China Sea, a vital sealane and rich fishing ground which is also believed to hold vast mineral resources.

The Philippines has an international arbitration case now pending in the Hague where it is challenging China's territorial claims, though China has refused to recognise the proceedings.
Saudi Arabias growing international isolation and Irans rising regional influence have led the kingdom to double down on protecting its interests, according to a new analysis of the worlds top 2016 risks by Eurasia Group, the worlds largest political-risk consultancy.

That at least partly explains the kingdoms decision to sever diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday, after Iranian protesters ransacked and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran over Saudi Arabias execution of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia moved to cut off all commercial ties with Iran, according to Reuters, and bar its citizens from traveling there.

Saudi Arabia is in serious trouble, and they know it, Ian Bremmer, president of Eurasia Group, told Business Insider on Sunday.



The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is much more challenged on the economic front, more isolated regionally and globally, and beset with succession issues (given the Kings controversial son), Bremmer said, referring to King Salmans newly empowered 30-year-old son, Mohammed bin Salman.

He added: They hate the international attention on them given the growing ISIS concerns and want to make regional tensions an Iran story, which helps them domestically. All of which leads toward escalation.

Al-Nimr, a Shiite cleric who was an outspoken critic of Saudi Arabias treatment of its Shiite Muslim minority, was executed on charges of inciting domestic terrorism and plotting to overthrow the Saudi government.

Iran protested the grouping of al-Nimr  a cleric in his mid-50s known for his fiery rhetoric  with hardline jihadists executed by Saudi Arabia for their alleged ties to Al Qaeda. Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei predicted divine vengeance over al-Nimrs execution.

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By cutting ties with Iran, Saudi Arabia also shifts public attention away from its domestic problems, which include a drop in oil prices and growing political instability stemming from rivalries within the Saudi royal family.

We are determined not to let Iran mobilize or create or establish terrorist cells in our country or in the countries of our allies, Saudi Arabias foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, said at a news conference in Riyadh on Sunday. We will push back against Irans attempts to do so.

Indeed, some analysts say the KSAs execution of al-Nimr stemmed from a desire to push back against Iran and its allies.

The key source of Saudi anxiety is Iran, Eurasia Group noted in its 2016 risk analysis. Soon to be free of sanctions, Irans economy will strengthen, and its government will have more money to spend in support of regional clients.

But as The Soufan Group, a strategic security intelligence firm, noted in its daily briefing, If the execution of Sheikh Nimr is intended to take the minds of Saudis Sunni population off the recent 40% price hike in gasoline and point the finger at an external enemy as the cause of current economic woes, it may not be enough.

The group added: To pursue that line of exculpation, the Saudi royal family will have to continue to escalate its rhetoric and action against Iran.

Any action Saudi Arabia takes against Iran, and vice versa, will most likely be indirect. Neither country wants to become embroiled in a direct conflict, said Abbas Kadhim, a senior foreign-policy fellow at the School for Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, in The New York Times on Monday.

These countries dont trust one another, and they see every event as an opportunity to raise tensions, Kadhim said. Both countries will try their best to try to fortify their proxies and their activities, which is going to create more trouble.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are locked in a proxy war in Syria, where Iranian-backed Shiite militias are fighting Saudi-backed Sunni rebels battling to overthrow the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Iran and Saudi Arabia also support opposing sides in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been launching airstrikes against the Iran-aligned Houthi rebels since March.

While a shooting war with Iran is unlikely, the kingdom will push back wherever it views Tehran as gaining advantage, Eurasia Group wrote in its analysis of the new years top geopolitical risks. More generally, expect an isolated and domestically weaker kingdom to lash out in new ways.

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* CPPIB forms student housing joint venture with GIC, Scion

* CPPIB, GIC to each own 47.5 percent in U.S. business

TORONTO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) said on Monday it had agreed to buy a student housing portfolio in the United States for around $1.4 billion, in partnership with Singapore wealth fund GIC and The Scion Group.

The three parties said they had formed a student housing joint venture, Scion Student Communities, which will acquire University House Communities Group (UHC). The price includes the cost of completing current development projects.

CPPIB, which manages Canada's national pension fund and is a major global dealmaker, last year acquired Liberty Living, one of Britain's biggest providers of student accommodation, for 1.1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion).

Canadian pension funds are looking to buy real estate assets around the world to diversify their investments and offset the effects of volatility in global equity markets and diminishing returns from fixed income investments.

CPPIB and GIC, which manages Singapore's foreign investments, will each own a 47.5 percent interest in UHC. Scion, a private operator of student housing, will own the remaining 5 percent. The UHC portfolio is concentrated among top-ranked U.S. universities with large student populations and comprises nearly 13,000 beds, CPPIB said.

CPPIB said the joint venture would pursue additional opportunities to purchase high quality U.S. student housing assets.

"The UHC portfolio represents a valuable opportunity to enter the U.S. student housing sector with top-tier, well-located assets," Peter Ballon, CPPIB's head of real estate investments in the Americas, said in a statement.

"This transaction enables us to gain immediate scale in the attractive U.S. student market," he added.

($1 = 0.6803 pounds) (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Paul Simao)
TORONTO, CANADA and SINGAPORE, SINGAPORE and CHICAGO, UNITED STATES--(Marketwired - Jan 4, 2016) - Canada Pension Plan Investment Board ("CPPIB"), GIC and The Scion Group LLC ("Scion") announced today that they have formed a student housing joint venture entity, Scion Student Communities LP (together with its subsidiaries, "the Joint Venture"). The Joint Venture, through its subsidiary, UHC Acquisition Sub LLC, has signed an agreement to acquire University House Communities Group, Inc. ("UHC"), a leading student housing portfolio in the United States, for a total consideration of approximately US$1.4 billion, including the cost to complete current development projects, from InvenTrust Properties Corp.

Through the Joint Venture, CPPIB and GIC will each own a 47.5% interest in UHC. Scion will own the remaining 5%. The Joint Venture will pursue additional opportunities to acquire high-quality student housing assets primarily in Tier 1 university markets in the U.S.

UHC represents one of the highest quality and largest Class A national student housing portfolios in the U.S., including 18 stabilized and four communities in development, all in close proximity to their respective university campuses and comprising nearly 13,000 beds. The portfolio is concentrated among top-ranked U.S. universities with large student enrollment populations. Scion will manage and operate the portfolio.

"The UHC portfolio represents a valuable opportunity to enter the U.S. student housing sector with top-tier, well-located assets," said Peter Ballon, Managing Director, Head of Real Estate Investments Americas, CPPIB. "This transaction enables us to gain immediate scale in the attractive U.S. student housing market. We look forward to working with GIC, an existing partner, and Scion, an experienced operator, on the UHC portfolio as well as future student housing investment opportunities in the U.S."

Lee Kok Sun, Regional Head for Americas, GIC Real Estate, said, "The portfolio is of high quality and we expect it to generate steady cash flows moving forward. Our confidence in the U.S. student housing sector continues, given its positive fundamentals and potential. We are pleased to establish a partnership with Scion, one of the most active private operators and owners in the U.S. student housing sector, and CPPIB, a long-term investor aligned with our values. We look forward to working closely with them and believe our experience investing in student housing in Australia and the U.K. will add value to the joint venture."

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"Partnering with two of the world's premier real estate investors is a wonderful opportunity for Scion," said Robert Bronstein, Scion's President. "This milestone is the result of Scion's 15 years of intense focus on student housing, as well as the strong track record of investor returns we've been able to deliver. The InvenTrust portfolio is an ideal way to begin our venture with CPPIB and GIC and we are excited to welcome both UHC's assets and its strong team into our company."

The transaction is expected to close in mid-2016.

About Canada Pension Plan Investment Board

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is a professional investment management organization that invests the funds not needed by the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) to pay current benefits on behalf of 18 million contributors and beneficiaries. In order to build a diversified portfolio of CPP assets, CPPIB invests in public equities, private equities, real estate, infrastructure and fixed income instruments. Headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Hong Kong, London, Luxembourg, Mumbai, New York City and Sao Paulo, CPPIB is governed and managed independently of the Canada Pension Plan and at arm's length from governments. At September 30, 2015, the CPP Fund totalled C$272.9 billion, of which C$34.3 billion represented real estate investments. For more information about CPPIB, please visit www.cppib.com.

About GIC

GIC is a leading global investment firm with well over US$100 billion in assets under management. Established in 1981 to secure the financial future of Singapore, the firm manages Singapore's foreign reserves. A disciplined long- term value investor, GIC is uniquely positioned for investments across a wide range of asset classes, including real estate, private equity, equities and fixed income. GIC has investments in over 40 countries and has been investing in emerging markets for more than two decades. Headquartered in Singapore, GIC employs over 1,200 people across 10 offices in key financial cities worldwide. For more information on GIC, please visit www.gic.com.sg.

About The Scion Group

Scion is the United States' largest privately-held owner/operator of student housing communities in major public university markets. Scion's current portfolio includes 32 properties comprising over 23,000 bedrooms, plus management and selected equity interests in four university-affiliated communities with an additional 3,200 bedrooms. Scion has focused exclusively on the student housing sector since its inception in 1999, and has provided advisory services and/or invested in over $5 billion of student housing projects. For more information about Scion, please visit www.thesciongroup.com.
NODX dropped for the fifth straight month in November.

Biomedical production remains the lone bright spot in Singapore's struggling manufacturing sector, according to a report by BMI Research.

BMI Research said that Singapore's biomedical sector should fare relatively well despite the transitory downturn in the extremely volatile pharmaceuticals segment.

"Singapore's strengths in R&D and investment will keep the city-state at the forefront of the biomedical industry in southeast Asia, and its business environment (further bolstered by the best legal and physical infrastructures in the region) will remain extremely attractive to MNCs and talented individuals alike despite the ongoing shift in the government's foreign labour policies," said BMI Research.

However, BMI Research warned that the city-state's trade prospects remain dim in 2016, as reflected by a fifth straight month of non-oil domestic exports (NODX) contraction in November.

"We believe that Singapore's electronics manufacturing sector will continue to struggle at the lower value added levels (lower end integrated circuits [ICs] production and data storage devices have been particularly hard hit over recent years) as firms grapple with a considerably tighter supply of low-to-mid skilled workers and the accompanying wage pressures," BMI Research said.

"We believe that Singapore's electronics manufacturing sector will continue to struggle at the lower value added levels (lower end integrated circuits [ICs] production and data storage devices have been particularly hard hit over recent years) as firms grapple with a considerably tighter supply of low-to-mid skilled workers and the accompanying wage pressures," the report added.
China Chinese Liaoning Aircraft Carrier

China just made another potentially destabilizing move in some of the world's most disputed territory.

On January 4th, Vietnam formally accused China of violating its sovereignty and a recent confidence-building pact on Saturday by landing a plane on an airstrip Beijing built on an artificial island in a contested part of the South China Sea, according to Reuters.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said the airfield, had been "built illegally" on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly archipelago.

Meanwhile, China's Foreign Ministry rejected the complaint, saying that the test flight on the newly built airfield on the reef was a matter "completely within China's sovereignty," the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

The incident is yet another high-profile spat between China and Vietnam over the statue sof hte South China Sea. In May of 2014, China moved several oil rigs into waters within Vietnam's exclusive economic zone, an unprecedented move that sparked a brief diplomatic crisis.

Currently five countries with competing claims in the region have built airstrips in the contested Spratly Islands.

Through actually landing an aircraft on the artificial island, Beijing is reinforcing its claim that these islands are part of the China's sovereign territory. That implies not only control over the islands' airspace, but also the islands' surrounding waters as well. These waters could include oil and gas deposits, and might also project into the exclusive economic zones of neighboring states  areas in which a country has the recognized legal right to assert its security and economic interests, even if these areas do not constitute sovereign territory.

The US rejects Beijing's assertion that the islands are in fact a sovereign part of China  a position that the US attempted to reinforce through deploying the USS Lasse on a "freedom of navigation" exercise near the artificial island in October of 2015.

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south china sea spratly

Washington has criticized China's construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea and worries that Beijing plans to use them for military purposes, even though China says it has no hostile intent.

In response to the Chinese aircraft landing, Pooja Jhunjhunwala, a spokeswoman for the US State Department, said there was "a pressing need for claimants to publicly commit to a reciprocal halt to further land reclamation, construction of new facilities, and militarization of disputed features," according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China used a civil aircraft to conduct the flight to test whether the airfield facilities meet civil-aviation standards, adding that "China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands [the Chinese name for the Spratley Islands] and their adjacent waters," according to Reuters.

csis south china sea

China claims almost all the South China Sea, which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas. About $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes through the sea each year every year.

Beijing has been building up facilities on the islands it controls. China's 2,740,000 square meter land grab in the South China Sea has huge military implications, according to experts at IHS Jane's and the Center for Strategic International Studies' Asia Maritime Transparency Initiative. The airfield on the Fiery Cross Reef is 3000 meters, or nearly two miles long, enough to accommodate large military aircraft.

Satellite imagery collected by the AMTI also suggest possible sites for anti-air guns, anti-special forces installations, radar towers, filling stations, and ports with the capacity for large military ships and tankers.

The establishment of these islands as a military base would be an important tool for Chinese power projection in the region. This appears to fall in line with other steps they've recently taken, like building a second aircraft carrier, developing naval bases in Africa, and flying six strategic bombers deep into the Pacific Ocean as part of a November 2015 exercise.

south china seas

The US, which is concerned about the region's balance of power shifting towards China, has taken steps to demonstrate their "freedom of navigation" in the South China Sea. These steps have included patrolling the disputed islands with guided-missile destroyers, stationing the USS Ronald Reagan in Japan, and flying bombers near reefs.

Thus far, China has responded to the patrols by filing complaints, condemning the US actions as "provocation" but going ahead with their efforts nonetheless.

US allies in the region have increased their military spending in an attempt to counter China's strategic inroads in the region. Japan signed a controversial bill to expand the role of their military, and Taiwan agreed to buy $1.8 billion in arms from the US.

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SARAJEVO, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Croatia has received seven bids to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal on the island of Krk in the northern Adriatic, LNG Croatia said on Monday.

EU member Croatia is looking to reduce its reliance on Russian gas imports.

The proposed terminal would be able to receive, store and re-gasify LNG, opening Croatia up to imports from LNG suppliers such as Qatar.

The project, with a nominal capacity of 6 billion cubic metres, is expected to require investment of around 600 million euros ($655.50 million).

LNG Croatia, a joint venture between power utility HEP and gas system operator Plinacro, said it had received four bids from industrial investors and three from financial investors for the project, which it aims to complete by mid-2019.

"All potential investors are world-class companies/funds with strong backgrounds in gas industry and financial businesses," the company said in a statement.

"The evaluation process by legal and financial advisers and technical experts begins," it said, without naming the bidders.

The Croatian government in July declared the project to be of strategic interest, which should simplify procedures for obtaining location and construction permits.

($1 = 0.9153 euros) (Reporting by Maja Zuvela; editing by Jason Neely)
By Tim McLaughlin

BOSTON (Reuters) - Fidelity Investments said on Monday it is dropping long-time credit card partners American Express Co and Bank of America Corp, ending a 12-year partnership that has generated billions of dollars in fees.

Boston-based Fidelity, which has 24 million customers, said its new partners will be U.S. Bancorp and Visa Inc, effective Monday. The exclusive alliance will provide Visa branded credit-card products to U.S. consumers, including Fidelity customers.

The switch is another setback for American Express, already reeling from its lost deal with warehouse club retailer Costco Wholesale Corp. AmEx said earlier this year the loss of the Costco contract would hurt profit for two years. AmEx shares are off 25 percent over the past year and were down 2.9 percent Monday morning. Many other major U.S. financial stocks were also lower, with shares of Bank of America, Visa Inc and U.S. Bancorp all down by more than 2 percent.

Ram Subramaniam, president of Fidelity's retail brokerage business, did not give any specific reason for ending the partnership with American Express and Bank of America.

"It's been a long, good partnership," he said.

A spokeswoman for American Express said the Fidelity portfolio accounts for less than 1 percent of billings.

A Bank of America spokeswoman said the agreement not to continue the relationship with American Express was a mutual decision between the two companies.

"Over the past several years, Bank of America has been exiting from our financial institutions card business where Bank of America has limited opportunity to deepen customer relationships, and this move is consistent with that strategy," she wrote via email.

Since 2003, Fidelity has offered 2 percent cash back credit cards with American Express and Bank of America's FIA Card Services. During that time Fidelity customers have earned $1.1 billion cash rewards.

The new alliance will feature cards with chip security technology, with access to digital wallets that include Apple Pay, Samsung Pay and Android pay.

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The new card program will issue the Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Card and the Fidelity Investments 529 College Rewards Visa Signature Card, where card members can earn unlimited 2 percent cash back with no annual fees, caps or categories when directing rewards into eligible Fidelity accounts.

U.S. Bank also has agreed to acquire Fidelity's existing co-brand credit card portfolio with about $1.7 billion in associated balances.

(Additional reporting by Richa Naidu in Bangalore and Dan Freed in New York; Editing by Alan Crosby and David Gregorio)
Ammon Bundy, son of rancher Cliven Bundy, talks about being tasered in Bunkerville, Nevada, April 11, 2014. REUTERS/Jim Urquhart

Republican presidential contenders are beginning to break their silence about the tense standoff between law enforcement and an antigovernment militia.

The armed group is protesting the jail sentences of two men who set fire to federal land.

It has occupied the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon since Saturday as part of a dispute over the federal government's ownership of large swaths of land in some Western states.

Led by Ammon and Ryan Bundy  the sons of Cliven Bundy, a rancher who made headlines in 2014 for his own tense standoff with the federal government, as well as his inflammatory statements about African-Americans  the group is aiming to force the government to cede federal land to private individuals.

"We're planning on staying here for several years. And while we're here what we're going to be doing is freeing these lands up and getting the ranchers back to ranching, getting the miners back to mining," Ammon Bundy said in a Facebook video, which has since been taken down or made private.

Federal-land use is a somewhat prominent issue in Western US states, including the electorally important states of Nevada and Colorado. The topic resonates with many conservatives who feel that the federal government's land ownership is excessive or unconstitutional.

Some Republicans, like US Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, and Donald Trump previously expressed sympathy for Cliven Bundy's stand in 2014, and Paul and Carson have also called for turning federal land over to states and private interests.

But some of those same politicians are singing a different tune in the early throes of the Oregon standoff.

Here's a look at how candidates have reacted so far:

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida)

As BuzzFeed reported, Rubio told Iowa radio station KBUR on Monday that the protesters should obey the law and lift their occupation of the wildlife center.

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"You cannot be lawless. We live in a republic. There are ways to change the laws of this country and the policies. And if we get frustrated by it, that's why we have elections," Rubio said.

Rubio indicated that he sympathized with the protesters' cause, but said he did not support their aggressive tactics.

"I agree that there's too much federal control over land, especially out in the Western part of the US. There are states like Nevada that are dominated by the federal government in terms of land-owning. And we should fix it," Rubio said. "But no one should be doing it in a way that's outside the law."

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas)

Cruz  who carefully noted his sympathy for Cliven Bundy's 2014 protest against the federal government  said that he hoped the militia group would stand down, and that he we "praying" for law-enforcement officers involved in the standoff.

"Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds. We don't have a constitutional right to use force and violence, and to threaten force and violence on others," Cruz said. "And so it's our hope that the protesters there will stand down peaceably."

ted cruz

Gov. John Kasich (R-Ohio)

According to NBC reporter Danny Freeman, Kasich appeared unaware of the standoff's details:

.@JohnKasich says he hasn't yet heard about the Oregon standoff with the armed militia. #IACaucus  Danny Freeman (@DannyEFreeman) January 4, 2016

Kasich on Oregon armed standoff: "When did this come out?" #IACaucus pic.twitter.com/3hmw9p7dkC  Danny Freeman (@DannyEFreeman) January 4, 2016

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky)

Paul reportedly met with Cliven Bundy earlier this year to discuss federal and state land-management policy. And earlier this summer, during a campaign event in Nevada, Paul answered a question on the topic posed by Ryan Bundy, Ammon's brother and Cliven's son.

When asked about Paul's position on the standoff, his campaign pointed Business Insider to the senator's comments to The Washington Post.

"I'm sympathetic to the idea that the large collection of federal lands ought to be turned back to the states and the people, but I think the best way to bring about change is through politics," Paul said, according to The Post. "That's why I entered the electoral arena. I don't support any violence or suggestion of violence toward changing policy."

Rand Paul

Former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania)

In a CNN interview on Monday, Santorum said he understood the grievances that protesters have with the federal government. But he said breaking the law was not an appropriate solution.

"These are folks who have legitimate grievances with the government, just like you could argue that the Occupy Wall Street had legitimate grievances about income inequality," Santorum said. "And we have room for protesters, we have room for people protesting their rights. At the same time, there are consequences that have to be paid for people who do break the law."

He added: "But going through a situation where someone is going to get hurt ... that's not a good solution."

NOW WATCH: People are mocking the Oregon militants who have taken over a federal building by calling them 'YallQaeda' and 'VanillaISIS'





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* IMF's Lagarde holds talks with President Buhari on Tuesday

* Africa's biggest economy hit by a plunge in oil price

* Lagarde will also visit neighbouring Cameroon

* IMF chief to meet finmins of the six CEMAC states

By Alexis Akwagyiram

LAGOS, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, elected on a pledge to tackle corruption, holds talks with the International Monetary Fund on Tuesday as the country seeks to spend its way out of an economic crisis fuelled by plunging oil prices.

The Fund said on Monday its managing director Christine Lagarde would meet Buhari and his Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun.

"I look forward to productive meetings ... as they address important economic challenges, most importantly the impact of low oil prices," said Lagarde in a statement.

The statement gave no other details, but the meeting suggests an acknowledgement of Buhari's efforts to revive Africa's largest economy.

He was elected in March after a campaign in which he promised to clamp down on the endemic corruption that has left many Nigerians mired in poverty despite the country's enormous energy wealth.

He then announced a record budget for 2016, forecasting a doubling of the deficit to 2.2 trillion naira ($11 billion) and a tripling of capital expenditure intended to help the country adjust to the downturn in oil, which has lost around two-thirds of its value since mid-2014.

It has foreign currency reserves worth around $30 billion, and plans to borrow as much as 900 billion naira abroad to fund the deficit, which is equivalent to 2.16 percent of gross domestic product, Buhari said. Some 984 billion naira would be borrowed at home.

Nigeria relies on crude exports for more than half of state revenues and is Africa's top oil producer.

It is also facing an insurgency by Islamist group Boko Haram, which has killed thousands and displaced more than two million people in the remote northeast and raised concern among potential investors.

Lagarde is due to arrive in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, on Monday. She is due to give a speech to lawmakers on Wednesday and will also meet business leaders during her visit, the IMF said.

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Lagarde will also visit neighbouring Cameroon, where she will meet President Paul Biya and his economic team.

The government of the central African country that exports coffee, cocoa and oil tabled a 2016 budget of 4,200 billion CFA francs ($6.9 billion) in December.

Cameroon is part of an 8,700-strong task force including troops from Chad, Niger, Nigeria and Benin that has pledged to destroy Boko Haram, which though based mainly in Nigeria has become a major threat to regional security.

Lagarde will also meet Finance Ministers from the six member countries of the Economic and Monetary Community of Central Africa (CEMAC), delivering a speech to the group on Jan. 8.

"The country (Cameroun) and the entire CEMAC region are confronted with the twin shocks of the oil-price slump and a surge in disruptions related to security," Lagarde said.

(Editing by James Macharia and John Stonestreet)
(Repeats story that ran on Dec. 31 with no change in text)

By Mayank Bhardwaj and Sumeet Chatterjee

NEW DELHI, Dec 31 (Reuters) - India will crack down on errant financial firms that raise funds, mainly from millions of rural poor customers, through loosely regulated credit cooperative societies, a senior official in the agriculture ministry said.

This follows a Reuters investigation that revealed an expansion in fund-raising by embattled conglomerate Sahara India Pariwar using four credit cooperatives in different parts of the country.

Reuters spoke to dozens of savers who said Sahara had not given them their money when their deposits matured. Instead, they complained, Sahara's agents and branch officials tried to persuade them to switch their matured savings deposits to new schemes offered through credit cooperatives run by Sahara.

Sahara has not responded to requests for comment by Reuters.

The federal government plans to penalise cooperatives that fail to repay investors when deposits come due or engage in other violations of regulations, a senior official from the Ministry of Agriculture's credit cooperatives division told Reuters.

The official, who has direct knowledge of the matter, did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media. Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh and Secretary Siraj Hussain, the top bureaucrats in the ministry, did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

One measure under discussion is to either have an independent regulator supervise credit cooperatives or bring them under the purview of an existing regulator, such as the Securities and Exchange Board of India, which oversees India's stock markets, the official said.

Credit cooperatives are widely used by the rural poor. A lack of banking services in India - nearly two-fifths of its 1.27 billion people have no bank accounts - has helped shadow banks such as the credit cooperatives thrive for decades in Asia's third-largest economy.

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"The idea is to make it more stringent by giving more teeth so that we are able to effectively protect investors' interest," the cooperatives division official said. "Various suggestions have been made and the top brass is very serious about this."

CENTRAL BANK REGULATION

Under Indian law, credit cooperatives must be owned by their members, who are also the main customers. Cooperatives operating across state lines are registered not with the central bank, but with the cooperatives division of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Multi-state credit cooperatives would be better regulated under India's central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), said Bindu Ananth, head of the IFMR Finance Foundation, a non-profit group that seeks to broaden access to financial services.

"It's an anomaly that you have a class of deposit-taking institutions that is outside the ambit of the RBI," Ananth said.

The proposed regulatory changes from the credit cooperatives division in the farm ministry would come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched an ambitious project to widen banking services in India called the Jan Dhan Yojana, or People's Wealth Scheme. Since August of last year, it has opened 200 million new bank accounts.

The programme seeks to curb the use of cash, limit corruption and rein in the informal, and often illegal, shadow banking activities conducted by some firms mostly in rural areas.

Sahara founder Subrata Roy, whose business empire includes hotels such as the New York Plaza and a Formula 1 racing team, has spent the last 21 months in jail for not complying with a Supreme Court order to return $5.4 billion to investors who put money in a 2008-11 time deposit plan. The markets regulator SEBI said it was illegal because it did not conform to India's market disclosure requirements.

(Editing by Douglas Busvine and Bill Tarrant.)
A worker hangs posters of Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe (L) and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Varanasi on December 11, 2015 (AFP Photo/Prakash Singh)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe are expected to discuss deals covering high-speed rail, defence and civilian nuclear technology when they hold talks on Saturday.

Modi and Abe, both right-wing nationalists, have forged an unusually warm relationship since the Indian leader stormed to power at general elections last year pledging to revive the flagging economy.

The two countries are seeking to take advantage of that friendship, formed partly over their mutual desire to counter regional rival China's growing influence, during Abe's two-day visit.

After arriving in New Delhi on Friday afternoon to meet Indian business leaders, Abe is expected to sit down with Modi to make progress on the rail, defence and nuclear deals.

Abe is also expected to take a tour with Modi of India's holiest city of Varanasi and the premier's parliamentary constituency.

Posters of the two leaders were seen being thrown up around the sacred city, built on the banks of the Ganges River.

Speaking late Friday after receiving an honorary doctorate from a Delhi university, Abe said Asia's second and third-largest economies had "the greatest potential of any bilateral relationship in the world".

Several lucrative business deals are slated for discussion, according to officials, including a $15 billion agreement for Japan to provide India's first Shinkansen bullet train connecting the cities of Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Modi has pledged to overhaul India's ramshackle railways and other infrastructure as part of his ambitious economic reforms.

The pair are expected to discuss India's desire to buy seaplanes from Japan after Tokyo's relaxation of restrictions on weapons exports, according to reports.

A long-mooted civil nuclear agreement is also on the agenda, allowing Japan to export nuclear plant technologies to the subcontinent.

Japan once shunned nuclear cooperation with India, which has not ratified the international nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, but analysts say Tokyo has since softened its stance.

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Abe also wants to strengthen maritime ties with India after the two countries, along with the United States, held joint naval exercises earlier this year.

"In order to maintain an open, free and peaceful sea, it becomes important more and more for there to be collaboration between Japan and India, as well as collaboration with the international community," Abe wrote in an opinion piece in the Times of India.

Modi and Abe enjoy a close friendship that predates the Indian leader's election in May last year.

Both were elected on a platform of kick-starting reforms to their economies, and both are at the helm of nations with separate territorial disputes with China.
BONSALL, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 4, 2016) - MARIJUANA COMPANY OF AMERICA ("MCOA" or the "Company") (OTC PINK: MCOA), an innovative cannabis marketing and distribution company, is pleased to announce that it has selected Global Payout, Inc. ("GP") (OTC PINK: GOHE) as its financial solutions provider.

The challenges of obtaining financial solutions in the cannabis industry make it difficult for cannabis businesses to operate efficiently and safely. The Federal status of cannabis as a Schedule I substance is preventing traditional financial and banking institutions from supporting the industry. Finding a financial institution that is willing to provide services to the industry is extremely difficult, at best.

GP's Consolidated Payment Gateway (CPG) and MoneyTrac prepaid solutions will enable MCOA to process membership fees, pay vendors, employees, and affiliates. MCOA members will be able to make purchases using an MCOA branded prepaid card, reducing cash transactions, and enabling online and mobile purchases. This significantly reduces the risk associated with operating a cash-only cannabis business.

Global Payout will provide stable financial solutions for MCOA on a global basis as the Company launches its pilot program in Southern California in Q1 2016, and as it expands to other legal medical marijuana and adult use states, and other countries. The GP solution will provide detailed transaction tracking and reporting to management and regulators that meets requirements for Anti-Money Laundering (AML), Bank Secrecy Act (BSA), Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC), Know Your Customer (KYC), and other financial compliance requirements.

GP's financial solutions will enable local, state and federal regulators to monitor all transactions in detail and collect taxes generated on all MCOA and affiliate company activities. Under the current cash only environment that is pervasive in the cannabis industry, governments are unable to fully monitor financial activities and as a result are not collecting all of the taxes that they could be collecting.

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GP's technologies will evolve with the changing financial regulations surrounding the cannabis industry, as legislation changes to open traditional financial services to cannabis businesses, GP will adapt to the changing environment. This technology will also help the Company develop its internal controls as it continues to strengthen its internal processes to actualize its aspirations of becoming a fully reporting issuer with the SEC.

GP and its key management team have been providing financial services to large multi-national corporations around the world for more than fifteen years. They have developed highly secure, proprietary financial solutions for underserved industries and cash based consumers previously unable to easily obtain traditional financial services.

"Our payment technology and banking relationships can monitor and report on all parties in the marijuana industry, including consumers, merchants, growers and vendors," said Jim Hancock, Global Payout CEO. "Our goal is to provide these financial services to all domestic and international companies and banks."

Mr. Steinberg, MCOA President said, "Our relationship with Global Payout will continue to build on the strong foundation that is required for a global rollout of this type. With GP technology, we will build a company that is positioned, as an industry leader, for long-term growth with the security of proper financial compliance."

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"Donald Steinberg"

Donald Steinberg

President & CEO

888-777-4362

www.MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica.com

About Marijuana Company of America Inc.

Marijuana Company of America ("MCOA") is a publicly traded company headquartered in Southern California. MCOA will distribute marijuana and products related to marijuana as well as CBD and hemp, using a variety of marketing approaches to distribute on a global basis.

About Global Payout, Inc.

Global Payout, Inc. (www.globalpayout.com) is a leading provider of comprehensive, customized electronic payment solutions for domestic, international and multinational businesses, organizations and government agencies worldwide. Global Payout implements payment solutions tailored to a client's specific needs, which may include MoneyTracTM Prepaid Discover cards in the U.S., International Prepaid MasterCard "Chip and Pin" cards and the company's Consolidated Payment Platform (CPG). The company targets an estimated $3 trillion market including the estimated 60-70 million unbanked, under-banked and unhappily banked adults in the U.S. and the estimated 2.5 billion around the world. Global Payout is a public company traded on the OTC Markets under symbol GOHE.

FORWARD-LOOKING DISCLAIMER

This press release may contain certain forward-looking statements and information, as defined within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the Safe Harbor created by those sections. This material contains statements about expected future events and/or financial results that are forward-looking in nature and subject to risks and uncertainties. Such forward-looking statements by definition involve risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of Marijuana Company of America, Inc. to be materially different from the statements made herein.

LEGAL DISCLOSURE

Marijuana Company of America Inc. will provide management services that enable legal businesses to cultivate, sell, and distribute hemp and marijuana based products within the legal guidelines of individual states and international markets.

For more information, please visit the company's website at: www.MarijuanaCompanyofAmerica.com
In this excerpt from The Red Circle: My Life In The Navy SEAL Sniper Corps And How I Trained America's Deadliest Marksmen, former Navy SEAL sniper instructor Brandon Webb, describes the deadliest sniper in US military history.

Everything I'd experienced in the navy up to this point, from those early days as an aircrew search-and-rescue swimmer to BUD/S and STT through deployment on the USS Cole, in the the Gulf, and in Afghanistan, all of it had gone into our work in revamping and refining this sniper course, and we were now turning out some of the most decorated snipers in the world.

There is no better example of this than Chris Kyle.

Chris is a Texan who had been shooting since he was a kid, and like a lot of guys who grew up hunting, he knew how to stalk.

He was also a champion saddle-bronc rider; in fact, the first time he applied to the navy he was flat-out rejected because of pins in his arm, the result of a serious accident he'd had while in the rodeo ring.

The navy later relented and actually sought him out for recruitment.

Good thing for our side, as it turned out.

chris kyle

Chris immediately made a big impression on all the staff and obviously had great potential, although it didn't jump out and bite you at first.

Chris is a classic example of a Spec Ops guy: a book you definitely do not want to judge by its cover.

A quiet guy, he is unassuming, mild-mannered, and soft-spoken  as long as you don't get him riled. Walk past Chris Kyle on the street and you would not have the faintest sense that you'd just strolled by the deadliest marksman in US military history, with more than 150 confirmed kills.

chris kyle brandon webb

Like me, when it came time for assignment to the teams, Chris had chosen SEAL Team Three as his top pick, and gotten it, too.

For his first deployment, he was one one of the SEALs on the ground in Iraq with the first wave of American troops at the commencement of Operation Iraqi Freedom in March 2003. While he was there, Chris saw some serious action; it was a helluva place to have your first deployment.

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Upon rotating back home, one of the first things Chris did was to go through our sniper course. After graduating, he shipped right back out to Iraq, where he fought in the Second Battle for Fallujah, which turned out to be the biggest and bloodiest engagement in the entire Iraq war. Since the largely unsuccessful First Battle for Fallujah seven months earlier, the place had been heavily fortified, and we had big army units going in with small teams of our snipers attached to help give them the edge they needed.

Our snipers would sneak in there, see enemy insurgents (sometimes snipers themselves) slipping out to try and ambush our guys, and just drop them in their tracks. It was no contest.

Our guys were not only expert shots, they also knew how to think strategically and tactically, and they came up with all kinds of creative solutions on the battlefield. For example, they would stage an IED (improvised explosive device) to flush out the enemy.

chris kyle

They would take some beat-up vehicle they'd captured in a previous op, rig it up with explosives, drive it into the city, and blow it, simulating that it had been hit by an IED.

Meanwhile, they would take cover and wait. All these enemy forces would start coming out of the woodwork, shooting off guns and celebrating, "Aha we got the Americans!" and the snipers would pick them all off like proverbial goldfish in a bowl. You didn't hear about this on the news, but they did it over and over, throughout the city.

Chris was in the middle of all this. In his first deployment he racked up close to 100 kills, 40 of them in the Second Battle for Fallujah alone. He was shot twice, in six separate IED explosions, and received multiple frag wounds from RPGs and other explosives.

The insurgents had a sniper there from the Iraqi Olympic shooting team, who was packing an English-made Accuracy International, about $10,000 worth of weapon. This guy was not messing around. Neither were Chris and our other snipers. They shot the guy and took his rifle. Al Qaeda put a bounty on Chris's headbut nobody ever collected. You can read about Chris's exploits in his book, American Sniper: The Autobiography of the Most Lethal Sniper in US Military History.

kyle sniper

As remarkable as he is, Chris Kyle is quick to point out that he was not unique on that battlefield. There was a whole lineup of SEAL snipers in Iraq at the time who were cutting a wide swathe through the hotbeds of insurgency, providing clear zones for our marines and army forces to operate without being picked off by enemy snipers themselves or being ambushed by IEDs.

It's easy to have an image of these guys as trained killersmean, ruthless men who think nothing of ending other people's lives. Maybe even violent and bloodthirsty. The reality is quite different. Think about the various ways we have gone about winning wars in the past. Think about American planes firebombing Tokyo and Dresden during World War II, which burned to death hundreds of thousands of civilians. And that's an awfully painful way to go...Now think about a trained Navy SEAL sniper like Chris, waiting, sighting, and finally squeezing the trigger of his .300 Win Mag. The supersonic round reaches its destination in less than a secondthe man is gone before the rifle's report reaches his ears.

chris kyle

The reality is that the death that comes with the sniper's strike is typically clean, painless, and as humane as death can be. A cleaner death, if we're really going to be honest with ourselves, than most of us will experience when we come to the end of our own lives. The sniper is like a highly skilled surgeon, practicing his craft on the battlefield.

Make no mistake: War is about killing other human beings, taking out the enemy before he takes us out, stopping the spread of further aggression by stopping those who would perpetuate that aggression. However, if the goal is to prosecute the war in order to achieve the peace, and to do so as fast and as effectively as possible, and with the least collateral damage, then warriors like Chris Kyle and our brothers-in-arms are heroes in the best sense.

Brandon Webb is a former US Navy SEAL with combat deployments to southwest Asia, including Iraq, and Afghanistan. He was a Course Manager for the US Navy SEAL Sniper program, arguably the most difficult sniper course in the world. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook.



Excerpted with permission from The Red Circle: My Life In The Navy SEAL Sniper Corps And How I Trained America's Deadliest Marksmen. Copyright  2012 by Brandon Webb. All rights reserved.





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LONDON  Streaming platform Netflix is preparing to launch in Russia later this month, according to a report in Russian newspaper Izvestia. Initially the service will be available via set-top boxes and smart TV sets.

We hope that there will be more licensed content in Russia, and with the advent of Netflix people will start to get used to the consumer subscription model, LG Electronics smart TV manager Vitaliy Svistunov said.

Netflix plans to complete its global expansion by the end of this year. In Europe, its progress has been completed in stages. In 2012, it became available in the U.K., Ireland and the Nordic countries, and the following year it expanded to the Netherlands. In 2014, it launched in Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg and Switzerland, and last year, it added Spain, Italy and Portugal.

Joris Evers, Netflixs head of communications for Europe, told Variety, We aim to largely complete our global expansion by the end of this year, but would not specify exactly when the service would launch in Russia.

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Oil prices could break below $20 this year as tensions rise between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two of the world's largest oil players, Again Capital founding partner John Kilduff said Monday.

"I think you're going to get as low as $18 and maybe get as high as $48. ... It's going to get really ugly," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "The Iranians doubled down again, if that's even possible, by saying that they could put 500,000 more barrels on the market within weeks after the sanctions get lifted."

Kilduff was referring to the anticipated lifting of sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program, which have locked the country out of international oil markets.

The world is currently oversupplied with 500,000 to 2 million barrels per day of oil. The glut could reach 3 million if Iran lives up to its vow to ratchet up exports to 1 million bpd as soon as possible.

The chances of Iran cooperating with top oil exporter and fellow OPEC member Saudi Arabia diminished following a diplomatic crisis that started with the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr this weekend and escalated rapidly. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the Saudis would face "divine revenge," and Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Saudi Arabia then cut diplomatic ties with its Gulf rival. Bahrain and Sudan also severed ties with Iran on Monday, while the United Arab Emirates said it would cut the number of Iranian diplomats allowed in the country. Saudi Arabia is the dominant Sunni Muslim power in the Middle East while Iran is led by Shiites.

Internationally traded Brent crude (Intercontinental Exchange Europe: @LCO.1) rose about 2 percent to $38 per barrel on Monday, supported by Iranian-Saudi tensions.



OPEC has declined to impose production caps to prop up crude prices, accelerating a rout that has cut the cost of oil by two-thirds from its highs in 2014.



"OPEC maybe as we know it is over because these two are not going to be coming together any time soon on modifying or moderating production," Kilduff said.



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To be sure, the U.S. Energy Information Administration sees U.S. and other non-OPEC production declining by hundreds of thousands of barrels per day by the third quarter of 2016.



Saudi Arabia announced last week it would cut subsidies and undertake other cost-saving measures after its budget deficit ballooned to a record $98 billion in 2015 .

Asked whether the Saudis can continue to fund social spending that underwrites domestic stability, Kilduff said the royals risk losing control in some outer districts. However, he said it would be another two to three years before the kingdom's finances tighten substantially.

Saudi Arabia has been contending with protests and an opposition movement that has taken up light arms at times in its eastern provinces, which is home to the Ghawar oil field, the world's largest conventional field.

But the key challenge that will come out of the current Middle East turmoil is unlikely to be instability within Saudi borders, said David Gordon, former director of policy planning for Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and current senior adviser at the Eurasia Group.

In fact, the move to severe ties with Tehran may be an effort on Saudi Arabia's part to bolster its political base in the Sunni-majority country, he told "Squawk Box" on Monday. Iran is likely doing the same among Shiites, he added.

Instead, Gordon said he sees the feud intensifying proxy battles between the Saudis and Iranians in Syria, whose Alawite leader is backed by Iran, and Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been bombing Shiite rebels. That will make it more difficult for international players including the United States and Russia to broker a political resolution to the conflicts, he said.

"The small chutes of hope that we had at the end of the year that we might be able to put something together in Syria, that's going to go away I suspect" he said.

Correction: An earlier version had an incorrect reference to the leader of Iran.





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* Malaysia may suspend bauxite mining due to green concerns

* Bauxite used to make aluminium

* Would interrupt exports to top aluminium producer China

* Seen denting China bauxite stockpiles, not aluminium production

By Joseph Sipalan and Melanie Burton

KUALA LUMPUR/MELBOURNE, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A potential suspension on bauxite mining in Malaysia, the world's top exporter of the aluminium-making ingredient, could dent stockpiles in China but is unlikely to curb breakneck output in the aluminium sector there, industry and analysts said on Monday.

The Southeast Asian nation is pushing to suspend bauxite output due to concerns over its impact on the environment, threatening to interrupt supply to No.1 aluminium producer China, a cabinet source said at the weekend.

The councillor in charge of the environment for Malaysia's main producing state of Pahang, Mohd Soffi Abd Razak, told Reuters on Monday that Pahang's chief minister and the national resources minister would make a joint statement on the issue "very soon".

World prices for aluminium, used in everything from planes and trains to packaging, sank to their lowest in more than six years last November as China grapples with oversupply fuelled by its slowing economy.

That forced China's loss-making industry to band together to pledge production cuts, with markets looking out for any other signs output could ease.

"(A suspension in Malaysian bauxite mining) will impact stockpiles, but it won't impact China's metal production," said Paul Adkins, managing director of consultancy AZ China. He added that a three-month ban could shave about 6 million tonnes off China's current bauxite stockpiles of around 25-30 million tonnes.

Malaysia accounted for over 40 percent of China's 49 million tonnes of bauxite imports across January to November last year.

The country's largely unregulated bauxite mining industry has grown rapidly since Indonesia banned exports of the material in early 2014, forcing China to seek supplies elsewhere.

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But that frenetic growth has sparked uproar over its environmental impact, with bauxite mining blamed for turning the waters red on a stretch of coast and surrounding rivers in eastern peninsula Malaysia last week.

The cabinet wants to temporarily halt bauxite mining until regulations, licensing and environmental protection can be put in place, the source told Reuters on Saturday.

Meanwhile, any suspension in mining could see more demand for material from rivals suppliers such as Australia or India. Australia's Rio Tinto announced a $1.9 billion mine expansion in northern Australia late last year.

(Reporting by Joseph Sipalan in Kula Lumpur and Melanie Burton in Melbourne; Editing by Joseph Radford)
LONDON (Reuters) - The majority of big British businesses that favour Britain remaining in the European Union has dwindled over the last six months, according to a quarterly survey of chief financial officers published on Monday.

Accountancy firm Deloitte said 62 percent of CFOs from FTSE 350 and other large private companies backed Britain's continued membership of the EU, down from 74 percent in the second quarter of 2015.

The survey also showed business confidence fell to its lowest level since 2012, with companies putting more emphasis on cost cutting rather than expanding through acquisitions or raising capital expenditure.

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a referendum by the end of 2017 on whether Britain should stay in the EU but last month gave a strong hint he hopes to hold the vote in 2016.

"A clear majority of CFOs continue to favour the UK remaining in the EU, but the proportion of those expressing unqualified support has fallen. This mirrors what we have seen from the broader public in opinion polls in the last six months," David Sproul, Deloitte's chief executive said.

A poll of Britons published last month showed nearly half are leaning towards voting to leave the EU.

Just over half of CFOs expect to see revenue growth in 2016, the lowest proportion in two-and-a-half years and down from around two-thirds in the third quarter of last year, Deloitte said.

Still, 68 percent said they were optimistic about British economic growth in 2016.

A separate survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed Britain's economy finished 2015 strongly, although it warned there were significant risks from the global economy.

Hurt by slow demand for exports from a flagging global economy, gross domestic product grew 0.4 percent in the third quarter, matching its lowest rate since late 2012 when Britain was struggling to recover from the financial crisis.

(Reporting by Andy Bruce; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
igor Sergun

One of the most powerful intelligence figures in Russia died unexpectedly, according to a Russian government announcement on January 4th.

Igor Sergun, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of Russia's General Staff (GRU), died of unspecified causes at the age of 58, The Wall Street Journal reports, although there is no indication died of anything other than natural causes.

The GRU is Russia's most important military intelligence department, and is believed to have a vast foreign operative network.

It is also responsible for a range of paramilitary activities as well  including the Spetsnaz, the clandestine special forces that Moscow deployed in its March 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.

Under Sergun, the GRU recovered from a range of setbacks stemming from Russia's 2008 invasion of Georgia. Although Georgia's military was decisively beaten in the war, the GRU performed poorly during the conflict. According to an IHS Jane's analysis, during the war the GRU was deemed responsible for "friendly-fire incidents as a result of poor inter-service co-operation," including one in which six Russian paratroopers were killed.

As a result, the directorate underwent what New York University professor and Russian security sector expert Mark Galeotti described in a May 2014 blog post as "a savage round of cuts," in which 1,000 officers and 80 of the directorate's 100 general-level officers were either transferred or retired. All Spetsnaz brigades were disbanded or moved under other military commands, while the GRU's presence in Russian embassies abroad was dramatically scaled back.

Under Sergun, the GRU regained control of the Spetsnaz and became a crucial instrument of Russian policy. The Spetsnaz were expanded in early 2014 under the pretext of providing additional security for the Sochi Winter Olympics, according to IHS Jane's. And shortly after that, they became a central part of the boldest Russian geopolitical gambit in a generation, helping to annex Crimea and maintaining pro-Moscow separatists' control over parts of eastern Ukraine.

Story continues

crimea

The GRU's emergence under Sergun demonstrates the evolution of Russia's strategy and priorities since the Georgia war. Galeotti notes that after that conflict, there was some doubt as to whether the GRU would even retain its status a main directorate.

Military espionage and paramilitary aspects of Russian military operations were in danger of being reorganized under a series of different offices, showing the GRU and its functions had fallen out of favor among Russia's security elite.

It now seems surprising that this was ever the case. After the Ukraine war, the annexation of Crimea, and a host of other GRU activities  including its role in propping the military of embattled Syrian president Bashar al Assad  it's hard to imagine Russian foreign policy without "Putin's secret weapon." Sergun was a crucial part of Russia's security apparatus in a time when Moscow became increasingly ruthless, and less restrained by international norms.

NOW WATCH: How a struggling Soviet spy became the most powerful man in Russia





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TipRanks

Not many hedge managers have ignited as much controversy as Cathie Wood. The founder of Ark Invest has built her brand on running against the crowd. From her early embrace of tech stocks to her outspoken political conservatism, Cathie Wood has always been something of a lightning rod. Wood is staking her reputation and fortune on a belief that new technologies, and especially the way that new technologies will interact with each other, are going to completely transform our world. In her view, se
SINGAPORE, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Singapore Airlines (SIA) raised the price of its cash offer to buy all shares in Tiger Airways that it does not already own to try to seal the privatisation of the budget carrier.

SIA said its final offer price was S$0.45 a share, up from S$0.41 a share in cash for the budget carrier, valuing Tiger at approximately S$1.125 billion ($790 million)

Shareholders also have an option to subscribe for SIA shares at S$11.10 per share.

The offer remains conditional upon SIA owning more than 90 percent of Tiger Airways by the new closing date of Jan 22.

Last week SIA had said it owned, controlled or agreed to acquire 74.5 percent shares of Tiger Airways, short of the 90 percent threshold.

Minority shareholders, represented by the Securities Investors Association Singapore, had urged SIA to increase the buyout price.

Tiger operates Airbus A320s and was set up by SIA and Singapore's national investment firm, Temasek Holdings, in 2004.

In recent years, facing intense competition and huge losses, it has pulled out of its joint ventures in Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia to concentrated on the Singapore market.

SIA became its majority shareholder in December 2014 after a rights issue. ($1 = 1.4245 Singapore dollars) (Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Keith Weir)
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Singapore Airlines (SIA) raised the price of its cash offer to buy all shares in Tiger Airways that it does not already own to try to seal the privatisation of the budget carrier. SIA said its final offer price was S$0.45 a share, up from S$0.41 a share in cash for the budget carrier, valuing Tiger at approximately S$1.125 billion ($790 million). Shareholders also have an option to subscribe for SIA shares at S$11.10 per share. The offer remains conditional upon SIA owning more than 90 percent of Tiger Airways by the new closing date of Jan 22. Last week SIA had said it owned, controlled or agreed to acquire 74.5 percent shares of Tiger Airways, short of the 90 percent threshold. Minority shareholders, represented by the Securities Investors Association Singapore, had urged SIA to increase the buyout price. Tiger operates Airbus A320s and was set up by SIA and Singapore's national investment firm, Temasek Holdings, in 2004. In recent years, facing intense competition and huge losses, it has pulled out of its joint ventures in Australia, the Philippines and Indonesia to concentrated on the Singapore market. SIA became its majority shareholder in December 2014 after a rights issue. (Reporting by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Keith Weir)
PLYMOUTH, MN--(Marketwired - Jan 4, 2016) - TruStone Financial Federal Credit Union announced today that it has merged with Wisconsin-based credit unions, Southshore Credit Union of Cudahy and First Credit Union of Oak Creek. Both Southshore Credit Union and First Credit Union became part of TruStone Financial effective January 1, 2016.

"On behalf of the board of directors, leadership and employees I am pleased to welcome the members of Southshore Credit Union and First Credit Union to TruStone Financial," said TruStone Financial Board Chair Tom Alagna.

Together with Southshore Credit Union and First Credit Union, TruStone Financial will have $1.064 billion in assets, nearly 95,000 members and 13 branch locations across Minnesota and Wisconsin.

"With the increased demand for convenience and technology, the merger with TruStone Financial is beneficial for all members," said Southshore Credit Union Board Chair Don Nappe. "The combined resources will allow us to expand our product line, add necessary improvements and further strengthen the reputation we have built in our community."

Months in the making, TruStone Financial worked closely with both credit unions to ensure mutual benefit as a result of the mergers. In December 2015, members of both credit unions voted to merge operations with TruStone Financial.

"We're thrilled to be merging with a credit union that provides excellent member service and keeps innovation top of mind," said First Credit Union Board Chair Don Stoddard.

The culmination of these mergers marked TruStone Financial's fifth merger/acquisition in five years.

"TruStone Financial's impressive growth has been spurred by loan and deposit expansion but has been complemented by bringing other credit unions into the fold," said Chief Executive Officer Tim Bosiacki. "Our growth, while important, is secondary to the high quality service we provide our new and existing members."

For more information, visit TruStoneFinancial.org or call 800.862.1998.

Story continues

About TruStone Financial

TruStone Financial is one of the fastest growing credit unions in the Midwest with assets in excess of $1.064 billion and more than 95,000 members. There are 13 branches across Minnesota and Wisconsin. The credit union is headquartered in Plymouth, Minnesota. For more information and full membership criteria, visit TruStoneFinancial.org.

About Southshore Credit Union

Southshore Credit Union was chartered in 1949 and served people who lived or worked in Milwaukee County, and their families. Southshore Credit Union had more than 2,200 members and more than 17.7 million in assets.

About First Credit Union

First Credit Union, formerly known as South Milwaukee Municipal Credit Union, was established in 1951, for the city workers of South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First Credit Union had more than 1,875 members and nearly $13 million in assets.
The US Congress approved long-stalled reforms of the International Monetary Fund that will give greater voice to emerging-market powers (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan) (AFP/File)

Washington (AFP) - The US Congress approved long-stalled reforms of the International Monetary Fund on Friday that will give greater voice to emerging-market powers.

Adopted in 2010 by the 188-nation IMF, the reforms also double the crisis lender's permanent financial resources, to some $660 billion.

They were part of a $1.1 trillion spending package approved by Congress on Friday, which now heads to President Barack Obama's desk for his signature.

The reforms were expected to take effect in 2012. But with the United States holding by far the largest share of voting rights at the IMF, Congress's refusal to approve the reforms had held up their implementation, to the consternation of IMF management and members.

The measures realign the power of members on the IMF executive board, boosting emerging powers like China and India which until now had disproportionately small voting rights.

The 2010 reforms begin to adjust that imbalance, even while leaving the United States, Europe and Japan the dominant powers in the body, a key institution in the international financial system.
VIVUS, Inc. VVUS announced that it has been notified by Auxilium Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a subsidiary of Endo International plc ENDP, of its intention to return the U.S. and Canadian commercial rights for erectile dysfunction drug, Stendra, to VIVUS. The agreement between the two companies for Stendra will be terminated by Jun 30, 2016, denoting a six-month period from the notice of termination.



Post the termination of the agreement, Endo will focus its resources on Belbuca (buprenorphine HCL buccal film) for the management of chronic pain severe enough to require daily, around-the-clock, long-term opioid treatment, for which alternative treatment options have been inadequate.



Apart from Endo, VIVUS is collaborating with a couple of other companies for the commercialization of Stendra. It collaborated with privately held Italian pharmaceutical company, Menarini for Stendra in 40 European countries, Australia and New Zealand as well as with Sanofi SNY for the same in Africa, the Middle East, Turkey, and the CIS States including Russia.



Our Take



The termination of the Stendra agreement with Endo is a setback for VIVUS. Another approved product at the company is Qsymia, which has been recording lackluster sales to date. Its uptake has been slow because of high out-of-pocket cost burden for patients due to a lack of reimbursement for the product.



Currently, VIVUS is evaluating ways for maximizing Stendras value and expects to make an announcement by the end of the first quarter of 2016. Stendras fast onset of action coupled with its encouraging efficacy and safety profile should improve its long-term prospects. Stendra can be taken as late as approximately 15 minutes before sexual activity. Meanwhile, the company is planning to evaluate Stendra in a phase II proof-of-concept trial for pulmonary arterial hypertension, both alone and in combination with another agent.



VIVUS carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A better-ranked stock in the health care sector is Corcept Therapeutics CORT, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).



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A man walks through the lobby of the London Stock Exchange in London, Britain August 25, 2015. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

By Kit Rees and Atul Prakash

LONDON (Reuters) - Basic resources stocks slumped in Britain on the first trading day of 2016, as poor factory activity data from China prompted investors to cut their exposure to the shares.

The UK mining index was the hardest hit , falling 3.7 percent on Monday, its biggest one-day percentage drop since mid-December. Shares in Anglo American (AAL.L), Glencore (GLEN.L), Antofagasta (ANTO.L), BHP Billiton (BLT.L) and Rio Tinto (RIO.L) dropped 3.9 to 7.2 percent.

"The mining space remains under considerable pressure on account of sector adjustment to years of over-expansion, resulting in supply gluts with slowing global growth," Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said.

"The overnight China data is likely to keep a cap on sector sentiment until we get signs of stabilisation in China, hints of more stimulus from Beijing or indeed solid signs of a euro zone rebound."

A private survey showed that factory activity in China, the world's biggest metals consumer, contracted for the 10th straight month in December and at a sharper pace than in November, dampening hopes the Chinese economy would enter 2016 on steadier footing.

The mining sector's decline put pressure on the FTSE 100 index (.FTSE), which closed 2.4 percent lower at 6,093.43 points, its biggest fall on the first trading day of the year since 2000. The losses were on the top of a 5 percent decline in 2015.

Gold miner Randgold Resources (RRS.L), however, led gains on Britain's blue-chip index. The shares rose 2.4 percent as investors, spooked by concerns over global growth, flocked to gold and pushed up its price.

Energy stocks also slipped. The UK Oil and Gas index dropped 1 percent after oil prices fell earlier in the session on concerns over Asia's slowing economies. The oil price recovered as investors speculated on possible supply restrictions following deteriorating relations between major crude producers Saudi Arabia and Iran. [O/R]

Story continues

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday in response to the storming of its embassy in Tehran. The attack came after Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric on Saturday.

Among mid-cap companies, shares in Cairn Energy (CNE.L) rose 1.7 percent after the oil explorer reported positive results from a well off the coast of Senegal.

(Editing by Toby Chopra)
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA--(Marketwired - Dec 31, 2015) - West Kirkland Mining Inc. (TSX VENTURE:WKM) ("West Kirkland" or the "Company") announces that it has closed a private placement of common shares of the Company with two of its major shareholders for $700,000 at $0.05 per share (the "Private Placement").

The Company issued 14,000,000 shares at a price of $0.05 per share for aggregate gross proceeds of $700,000. There were no finder's fees or commissions paid on the Private Placement which was arranged by management with the Company's major shareholders. Following the private placement, the purchasers, Sun Valley Gold Master Fund, Ltd. and Ruffer LLP, will hold 31.23% and 16.12% respectively of the common shares of the Company.

The Company intends to use the net proceeds of the Private Placement for general working capital and permitting and mine design work on the 75% interest in the Hasbrouck gold project in Nevada. Clover Nevada LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Waterton Precious Metals Fund II Cayman, LP, ("Waterton"), owns the remaining 25% interest in Hasbrouck.

R. Michael Jones, President, CEO and co-founder of West Kirkland said, "We are very pleased to see such solid support from our institutional investors, who recognize the value at Hasbrouck, a well-defined gold project in an excellent mining jurisdiction. The Three Hills open pit and heap leach operation, the first phase at Hasbrouck, was granted a positive Decision Record to construct and operate in November, 2015. This Private Placement allows us to continue with permitting work on phase two, the larger, nearby Hasbrouck open pit and heap leach operation."

The Hasbrouck Gold Project involves the open pit mining of two of the knolls or peaks at Three Hills for the first two to three years of operation, followed by open pit mining of the nearby, larger Hasbrouck hill. The Company intends to conserve cash where possible while working towards the permitting of the larger Hasbrouck open pit while also preparing for a construction decision as market conditions improve. The Company is also looking for synergistic opportunities in distressed situations, in the current challenging market conditions.

Story continues

The shares sold in this Private Placement will be subject to a four month resale restriction from the date of closing.

The securities offered pursuant to the Offerings have not been, and will not be, registered under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the "U.S. Securities Act") or any U.S. state securities laws, and may not be offered or sold in the United States or to, or for the account or benefit of, U.S. persons absent registration or any applicable exemption from the registration requirements of the U.S. Securities Act and applicable U.S. state securities laws. This press release shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy securities in the United States, nor shall there be any sale of these securities in any jurisdiction in which such offer, solicitation or sale would be unlawful.

About the Hasbrouck Gold Project

Located near Tonopah, Nevada, the Hasbrouck Gold Project consists of two oxidized gold deposits eight kilometers apart, Three Hills and Hasbrouck. West Kirkland has a 75% controlling interest in the project. In 2015, Waterton Precious Metals Fund II Cayman, LP bought a 25% interest in the Hasbrouck Gold Project and certain exploration assets for US $17.5 million.

567,000 recoverable gold ounces, 71,000 ounces annual production for 8 years

US $708 adjusted operating costs per ounce, US $779 all-in sustaining costs

US $75.3 million After-Tax NPV (5%), 26% IRR at US $1,225/oz Au and US $17.50/oz Ag

US $54.3 million initial capital

Proven and Probable reserves total 45.3 million tons containing 762,000 ounces gold and 10.6 million ounces silver as detailed below:

Hasbrouck Project Reserves June 3, 2015 Mine Development Associates (1,2) Three Hills K tons Grade

(oz Au/ ton) K oz Au oz Ag/ton K oz Ag 0.005 opt

Au cut-off Proven - - - - - Probable 9,653 0.018 175 - - P&P 9,653 0.018 175 - - Hasbrouck Variable(3) Proven 6,242 0.020 127 0.410 2,562 Probable 29,374 0.016 461 0.273 8,007 P&P 35,617 0.017 588 0.297 10,569 Total Hasbrouck Project Variable(3) Proven 6,242 0.020 127 0.410 2,562 Probable 39,028 0.016 635 0.205 8,007 P&P 45,270 0.017 762 0.233 10,569

Notes: (1) The estimation and classification of Proven and Probable reserves have been prepared by Thomas L. Dyer, P.E., of Mine Development Associates following CIM standards. 100% Project Basis (2) Reserves are estimated based on US $1,225/oz gold and US $17.50/oz silver. (3) Cut-off grades used for reserves are: Three Hills 0.005 oz Au/ton, Hasbrouck Upper Siebert 0.008 oz Au/ton, and Hasbrouck Lower Siebert 0.007 oz Au/ton.

Hasbrouck Project Resources

Resources are reported inclusive of reserves.

Hasbrouck Deposit Reported Mineral Resources*

November 3, 2014 Mine Development Associates

(0.006oz AuEq/ton Cut-off) Class Tons oz Au/ton oz Au oz Ag/ton oz Ag Measured 8,261,000 0.017 143,000 0.357 2,949,000 Indicated 45,924,000 0.013 595,000 0.243 11,147,000 M+I 54,185,000 0.014 738,000 0.26 14,096,000 Inferred 11,772,000 0.009 104,000 0.191 2,249,000

Notes: oz AuEq/ton = oz Au/ton + (oz Ag/ton x 0.000417)

Three Hills Reported Mineral Resources*

August 4, 2014 Mine Development Associates (0.005oz Au/ton Cut-off) Class Tons oz Au/ton oz Au Indicated 10,897,000 0.017 189,000 Inferred 2,568,000 0.013 32,000

Notes: (1) CIM definitions are followed for classification of Mineral Resources. 100% Project Basis (2) Mineral Resources are estimated using a gold price of US $1,300 per ounce and a silver price of US $22 per ounce. (3) Totals may not represent the sum of the parts due to rounding. (4) The Mineral Resources have been prepared by Paul Tietz, C.P.G of Mine Development Associates in conformity with CIM "Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves Best Practices" guidelines and are reported in accordance with the Canadian Securities Administrators NI43-101. Mineral resources are not mineral reserves and do not have demonstrated economic viability. There is no certainty that all mineral resource will be converted into mineral reserve.

See Technical Report on SEDAR filed July 17, 2015 and the News Release dated June 3, 2015 for risk factors, QAQC and other details.

Qualified Persons

The Prefeasibility Study and Mineral Resource Estimate were prepared in conformance with NI 43-101 by Mine Development Associates (MDA). The report was prepared by Thomas L. Dyer, P.E. and Paul Tietz, C.P.G. of MDA, with contributions by Herb Osborne, Metallurgical Eng., SME, of H.C. Osborne & Associates (metallurgy), Ryan Baker, P.E., of Newfields (civil and heap leach) and Carl Defilippi, SME, of Kappes Cassiday & Associates (process design). Each person is a "Qualified Person" under NI 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the information in this news release relevant to the portion of the Hasbrouck prefeasibility study for which they are responsible. MDA has reviewed and verified the data disclosed in this news release to be in conformity with generally accepted CIM "Estimation of Mineral Resource and Mineral Reserves Best Practices" guidelines and in accordance with NI 43-101.

Sandy McVey, P.Eng., Chief Operating Officer for West Kirkland, and a non-independent Qualified Person as defined by NI 43-101, has reviewed the information contained in this news release and has verified the data.

Other Transactions

West Kirkland also received US $50,000 in a separate and completely unrelated transaction that closed on December 29th, for the sale to a mining company of five non-core isolated patented claim blocks totalling 82.06 acres in the Silver Peak area of Nevada. These claim blocks were part of the Hasbrouck acquisition in April, 2014.

About West Kirkland Mining Inc.

West Kirkland was formed in 2010 to focus on gold exploration along major geological trends in North America. The Company has consolidated significant mineral rights positions within known gold trends of Nevada and Utah, including the Hasbrouck and Three Hills properties in southern Nevada. The founders, management, and board members of West Kirkland have extensive experience in gold discovery, mine development, and mine operations in Nevada and other gold producing jurisdictions in North America. The founders have a successful track record of international mining finance.

Disclaimer for Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking information or forward-looking statements (collectively "forward-looking information") within the meaning of applicable securities laws. Forward-looking information is typically identified by words such as: "believe", "expect", "anticipate", "intend", "estimate", "postulate" and similar expressions, or are those, which, by their nature, refer to future events. Forward-looking information in this news release includes, without limitation, the statements regarding the use of proceeds, ability to achieve the recoveries and the processing capacity of the mines; regulatory processes and permitting; estimates of gold or other minerals grades; anticipated costs, anticipated sales, project economics, the realization of expansion and construction activities and the timing thereof; production estimates and other statements that are not historical facts. Information concerning mineral resource/reserve estimates and the economic analysis thereof contained in the prefeasibility study are also forward-looking statements in that they reflect a prediction of the mineralization that would be encountered, and the results of mining it, if a mineral deposit were developed and mined. Although West Kirkland believes that such timing and expenses as set out in this press release are reasonable, it can give no assurance that such expectations and estimates will prove to be correct. The Company cautions investors that any forward-looking information provided by the Company is not a guarantee of future results or performance, and that actual results may differ materially from those in forward-looking information as a result of various factors, including, but not limited to, the state of the financial markets for the Company's equity securities, the state of the market for gold or other minerals that may be produced generally, significant increases in any of the machinery, equipment or supplies required to develop and operate a mine, a significant change in the availability or cost of the labor force required to operate a mine, a significant increases in the cost of transportation for the Company's products, variations in the nature, quality and quantity of any mineral deposits that may be located, the Company's ability to obtain any necessary permits, consents or authorizations required for its activities, to raise the necessary capital or to be fully able to implement its business strategies and other risks associated with the exploration and development of mineral properties. The reader is referred to the Company's public filings for a more complete discussion of such risk factors and their potential effects which may be accessed through the Company's profile on SEDAR at www.sedar.com.

Cautionary Note to U.S. Investors Regarding the Use of Mining Terms

This press release has been prepared in accordance with the securities laws in effect in Canada, which differ from the requirements of U.S. securities laws. Unless otherwise indicated, all resources and reserve estimates included in this press release have been prepared in accordance with National Instrument 43-101 Standards of Disclosure for Mineral Projects ("NI 43-101") and the Canadian Institute of Mining, Metallurgy, and Petroleum Definition Standards on Mineral Resources and Mineral Reserves. NI 43-101 is a rule developed by the Canadian Securities Administrators which establishes standards for all public disclosure an issuer makes of scientific and technical information concerning mineral projects. Canadian standards, including NI 43-101, differ significantly from the requirements of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") Industry Guide 7, and resource or reserve information contained herein may not be comparable to similar information disclosed by U.S. companies. In particular, and without limiting the generality of the foregoing, "resources" and "reserves" established under NI 43-101 standards may not qualify as "resources" and "reserves" under U.S. standards. Under U.S. standards, mineralization may not be classified as a "reserve" unless the determination has been made that the mineralization could be economically and legally produced or extracted at the time the reserve determination is made. In addition, under U.S. standards, a "Final" or "Bankable" feasibility study is required to report reserves, the three-year historical average price is used in any reserve or cash flow analysis to designate reserves and the primary environmental analysis or report must be filed with the appropriate governmental authority. Disclosure of "contained ounces" in a resource is permitted disclosure under Canadian regulations; however, the SEC normally only permits issuers to report mineralization that does not constitute "reserves" by SEC standards as in-place tonnage and grade without reference to unit measures. Accordingly, information concerning mineral deposits set forth in this press release may not be comparable with information made public by companies that report in accordance with U.S. standards.

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.
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Saudi Arabia has cut off diplomatic ties with regional rival Iran after demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran on Saturday.

On Sunday, the Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir announced that Riyadh is severing diplomatic mission with Iran following attack on its consulate. The Kingdom asked the Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours while Saudis evacuate embassy staff from Tehran.

Saudi Arabia would not let Iran undermine its security, accusing it of having distributed weapons and planted terrorist cells in the region, said Mr. Jubeir during a news conference. Irans history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues and it is always accompanied by destruction, he added.

According to latest reports, the aircraft carrying the Saudi officials has landed in neighboring Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

We will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions, said John Kirby, US state department spokesman. We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential.

The demonstrations erupted nationwide as well as worldwide after Saudi Arabias Interior ministry announced the execution of 47 people on terrorism charges, including a Shia religious leader. Most of the men executed were Sunnis convicted of al-Qaeda linked terror attacks in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2006.

Saturdays executions predominantly targeted the Saudi nationals except an Egyptian and a Chadian. Hundreds of protesters attacked the Saudi consulate in Tehran, setting fire to the building before being pushed back by police. None of the Saudi embassy staff was harmed in the incident, according to the Saudi authorities.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani ordered the arrest and prosecution of individuals involved in the embassy attack, while condemning. The top Shia cleric Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani denounced the execution as an unjust aggression. Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah leader, accused the Saudi ruling family of igniting a Shia-Sunni civil war across the world.

Nimr al-Nimr, the Shia leader, was accused of inciting violence and leading anti-government protests in the eastern province of the worlds largest oil producer during the 2011 Arab Spring. The cleric was convicted of disobedience and bearing arms. IMAGE/NYTIMES
On April 29th in Dearborn, Michigan, history will be made. The Jessica Mokdad Human Rights Conference on Honor Killings will be held at the Hyatt Hotel in Dearborn. Hosting the Conference and also speaking are AFDI/SIOA executive director Pamela Geller, publisher of the acclaimed AtlasShrugs.com blog, executive director of AFDI and SIOA, and author of Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance, and AFDI/SIOA associate director Robert Spencer, the bestselling author and director of Jihad Watch.

Dearborn law enforcement is on the receiving end of a lawsuit alleging a cover up of honor killings. The lawsuit challenges the official cooperation by the city of Dearborn, Mich., which has one of the largest populations of Muslims in the U.S., with Islamic interests: that under the recognized "Shariah" law in the city, there have been "honor killing" murders that have been "covered up."

The misinformation and lack of knowledge of sharia law and honor violence is part of the problem. Law enforcement should be pursuing not just the murderers but the accomplices, as often the entire family is involved. According to Laura Reckart, lead prosecutor in Arizona v. Almaleki, the Noor Almaleki murder trial was the first case in the U.S. where "honor killing" was successfully used to obtain a conviction of a father who murdered his daughter. but prosecutors were disappointed in the conviction of the lesser charge of second-degree murder. The prosecution believed Almaleki should have been convicted of first-degree murder. They had clearly proved premeditation.



We will address honor violence from the legal perspective, sharia law and American courts.



Jessica Mokdad was a 20-year-old Muslim woman in Warren, Michigan, who was brutally murdered in May 2011. Fox News Detroit reported: "Authorities say a Minnesota man killed his 20-year-old stepdaughter in Michigan because she left home and wasn't following Islam." Jessica's stepfather, a devout Muslim, tracked his stepdaughter over four states to murder her for bringing dishonor on her family.

Darwin Jiles, Jessica's close friend, said Jessica lived in abject terror. She feared she would be honor killed by her stepfather. She suffered in her father's household as well, pressured to subjugate herself and live under Islamic law.

Jessica did not want wear the hijab and "did not want to be of the Islamic religion."

Speakers:

Pamela Geller is the publisher of Atlas Shrugs.com and executive director of the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) and Stop Islamization of America (SIOA). She is the author of Stop the Islamization of America: A Practical Guide to the Resistance (WND Books) and The Post-American Presidency: The Obama Administration's War on America with Robert Spencer (foreword by Ambassador John Bolton), (Simon & Schuster). She is also a regular columnist for World Net Daily, the American Thinker, and other publications.

Robert Spencer is the director of Jihad Watch and the author of twelve books, including two New York Times bestsellers, The Truth About Muhammad and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) (both Regnery). His latest book is Did Muhammad Exist? An Inquiry Into Islam's Obscure Origins (ISI). Spencer has led seminars on Islam and jihad for the United States Central Command, United States Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Army's Asymmetric Warfare Group, the FBI, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the U.S. intelligence community.

Nonie Darwish is the president of Former Muslims United and the author of The Devil We Dont Know: The Dark Side of Revolutions in the Middle East (Wiley); Cruel and Usual Punishment: The Terrifying Global Implications of Islamic Law (Thomas Nelson); and Now They Call Me Infidel: Why I Renounced Jihad for America, Israel, and the War on Terror (Sentinel).

James Lafferty is the leader of the Virginia Anti-Sharia Taskforce (VAST). The mission of the Virginia Anti-Shariah Task Force is to oppose and assist others in resisting the implementation of the radical, barbaric and anti-Constitutional Shariah law in Virginia or anywhere in America.

Michael Coren hosts The Arena with Michael Coren on Canadas Sun News TV every weeknight at 7pm ET. He is also a weekly columnist, published every Saturday, with the Toronto, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton and Winnipeg Sun and The London Free Press, and in more than a dozen other daily and weekly newspapers across Canada. He is also a columnist for Women's Post, The Catholic Register, The Landowner and The Interim. He is the best-selling author of thirteen books, including biographies of GK Chesterton, HG Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, JRR Tolkien and CS Lewis.

David Wood is a Christian activist and missionary. He has degrees in philosophy and biology and is currently pursing a Ph.D. in the philosophy of religion. He is a leader of the Acts 17 Apologetics Ministry, which has sued the City of Dearborn for its free speech rights after the city endorsed Sharia restrictions on Christian proselytizing and arrested several members of his group for talking about Christianity with Muslims.

Magdi Khalil is a Coptic Christian political analyst, researcher, author and executive editor of the Egyptian weekly Watani International. He is also a columnist for Asharq Al-Awsat newspaper, London, a free-lance writer for several Arabic language newspapers, and a frequent contributor to Middle East broadcast news TV. Khalil has also published three books and written numerous research papers on citizenship rights, civil society, and the situation of minorities in the Middle East. He is one of the most prominent advocates of human rights in Egypt. He focuses in his writings on minorities, including Copts in Egypt.

Robert Muise co-founder and senior counsel of the American Freedom Law Center. He is an expert in constitutional law. The last twelve years of his law practice has been dedicated to defending religious liberties, the freedom of speech, and the right to life in state and federal trial and appellate courts all across the country. More recently, Mr. Muise has been involved in numerous cases defending American freedoms against the growing threat of sharia. Prior to starting his constitutional law practice in 2000, Mr. Muise served thirteen years as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Darwin Jiles was a close friend of Jessica Mokdad who offers firsthand testimony to the fact that Jessica was a victim of Islamic honor killing.

Pamela Geller said in a statement: "Despite pressure from the media and members of Jessica's family who want to cover up the honor killing aspect of her murder, we are not going to change the name of the conference. Unlike those closest to her, we are going to honor Jessica's memory and stand up against the brutal practice that took her life." Several Mokdad family members have alleged that Jessica's murder was not an honor killing, despite the overwhelming evidence that it was. However, multiple news reports on the murder were quite clear that her stepfather killed Jessica because she "wasn't following Islam" (report from TwinCities.com) and was "not adhering to Muslim customs" (Star Tribune).



Arab American News reported that the last recorded dispute between Jessica Mokdad and her stepfather was over the wearing of the hijab (head scarf), which he originally forced her to wear (just as in the honor murder of Canadian teen Aqsa Parvez). Jessica didn't want to wear it, thereby bringing shame on him and the family. Her stepfather, Rahim Alfetlawi, who murdered her, was pathologically controlling, after the pattern of honor killers. At one point she called her father and told him: "Dad, I can't live here anymore, he's too strict, I can't even go to the store to buy a pop if I want."



Macomb County Assistant Prosecutor Bill Contaldo said: "He thought she was becoming too Westernized. I think this was a very nice young lady wanting to experiment with Western culture without control and without abuse." The Detroit Free Press reported: "Mokdad's mother told police that Alfetlawi felt so shamed by her daughter's Western ways, he killed her in an honor killing," Warren Police Sgt. Stephen Mills said. Alfetlawi was so concerned about her behavior that he even forced her to go to a mosque and marry her boyfriend.



The Daily Mail reported this from London: "Devout Muslim stalks his step-daughter over four states 'before killing her for being too Western." The Daily Tribune reported: Stepfather charged with murder in Warren, upset victim didn't adhere to Muslim customs.



And Alexis Wiley of Fox Detroit reported, "He forced her to wear a traditional head scarf instead of allowing her to make that decision on her own, and when she stopped wearing a scarf, friends say he became furious."



Geller said in a statement: "We've named the Conference after her as part of our ongoing campaign to raise awareness and bring a stop to the phenomenon of Islamic honor killing. These girls have rights, too, they're human beings, and yet they're completely forgotten in our politically correct culture, in which speech that is offensive to Islam is increasingly forbidden. We're standing for the human rights of girls like Jessica Mokdad."

April 29th, 5pm to 8pm

Hyatt Regency Dearborn
PLATTSMOUTH  A Louisville man will serve two years on probation for committing two misdemeanors involving cocaine and alcohol.

Dylan S. Shumaker, 25, appeared in Cass County District Court Monday morning for a sentencing hearing. Shumaker pled guilty in September to one Class I misdemeanor of attempted possession of controlled substance-cocaine. He also pled guilty to a Class W misdemeanor of driving under the influence of alcohol-second offense.

A Cass County Sheriffs Office deputy pulled over Shumaker for speeding in December 2014. The deputy smelled alcohol on Shumakers breath and noticed an open alcohol container inside the vehicle. A test later revealed a blood-alcohol content of .124.

The deputy searched Shumaker after he noticed the open alcohol container in the car. The deputy discovered a small plastic baggie with a powdery substance. Tests at the state crime lab confirmed the substance was cocaine.

Cass County officials also confirmed Shumaker had a prior DUI offense on his record. The first DUI took place in Sarpy County in 2009.

Deputy County Attorney Richard Fedde said he could make an argument for either a probation term or jail sentence. Fedde said the state would recommend probation because Shumaker had been seeking treatment for his alcohol addiction. He had also been attending counseling sessions since returning from an overseas tour of duty in the military.

Judge Jeffrey Funke said he appreciated Shumakers military service and wanted to make sure he continued to attend counseling sessions. Funke said he also felt probation was appropriate because Shumaker had voluntarily taken several steps towards alcohol rehabilitation.

Funke ordered Shumaker to serve 24 months on probation. Shumaker must complete an intensive outpatient treatment program and attend a Mothers Against Drunk Driving victim impact panel. He will be required to pay a $500 fine and all court costs within one year, and his drivers license will be suspended for a mandatory term of 18 months.

Shumaker will also be required to serve three consecutive weekends in Cass County Jail. He will begin his first weekend jail term Jan. 8.
PLATTSMOUTH  A Plattsmouth man will spend ten years in state prison for accumulating multiple criminal charges since the 1980s.

Marvin L. Hazen, 53, appeared in Cass County District Court Monday morning for sentencing on the latest local offense. Hazen pled guilty in September to a Class IV felony count of possession of controlled substance-methamphetamine. Cass County prosecutors added a habitual criminal designation to the charge because of Hazens lengthy record.

Deputy County Attorney Steven Sunde told the court Hazens first visit to the Nebraska Department of Corrections took place in the early 1980s. Hazen began serving time in February 1981 for committing burglary and second-degree arson in Nemaha County. He was released in December 1982.

Hazen was imprisoned from January 1985-February 1988 for committing second-degree sexual assault in Johnson County. He was convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol, refusal to submit to a breath test and attempted terroristic threats in 1999.

Hazen began serving a 16-year prison sentence in July 2002 for committing incest in Johnson County. He was mandatorily released from prison in January 2012.

Judge Jeffrey Funke sentenced Hazen to serve ten years in the Nebraska Department of Corrections. He will not be able to accrue any time for good behavior in state prison because of the habitual criminal designation. This means he will not be released from prison until 2026.

The Cass County sentence will run at the same time as a recent case from Gage County. Hazen is spending 18-48 months in prison for violating requirements of the state sexual offender registry. He began serving the Gage County sentence Dec. 22.
As per Bobs wishes, his body will be donated to the Anatomical Gift Program. A memorial service will be 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at St. Pauls Lutheran Church in Emerson with Vicar Rebecca Truland officiating. Memorial visitation will be from 5-7 p.m. Tuesday at St. Lukes Lutheran Church in Emerson with a prayer service at 7 p.m.
A Jin Air flight bound for Busan was forced to turn back half an hour after takeoff from the Philippine resort island of Cebu on Sunday morning because one of its doors was not fully shut. A public relations officer from the low-cost carrier said that the 16-year-old Boeing B737-800 passenger plane left Mactan Cebu International Airport at 1 a.m., turned around 30 minutes later and arrived back at the gate at 2:10 a.m.

At the time of the incident the Boeing 737-800 was at an altitude of 10,000 feet.

According to the Jin Air officer, an inflight announcement was made to inform those on board the flight.

Jin Air says passengers were provided rooms in a local hotel and the flight took off again for Busan 15 hours later.

According to the news at Korea Joongang Daily, after a sound near the front left door alerted people near that zone and flight attendants that something had gone wrong. Although some passengers complained about feeling nauseous during the return, no one was hospitalized upon arrival back in Cebu.
The Seychelles Tourism Board has announced that the carnival of carnivals, Carnaval International de Victoria, celebrating its sixth year will be held between 22 and 24 April 2016. The 2016 edition of the island's Carnaval International de Victoria set to continue to bring together the different cultures and people from around the world to one place.

"Nothing is more uniting, and nothing promotes social cohesion more than 'festivals' to which all people contribute" said Minister Alain St.Ange, the island's Minister responsible for Tourism and Culture following discussions with Claire Holder of the Notting Hill Carnival of the UK on their participation once again. Minister St.Ange announced that the Celebration of "National Unity" will be the theme of Carnival 2016 in Seychelles.

This spectacular event held over three days in the heart of the Seychelles capital Victoria was baptised under the theme the melting pot of cultures.

Since 2011, the carnival has received great visibility with the representatives from top media houses coming from Europe, Middle East, Americas, Asia and the Indian Ocean.

Over the past five years, the carnival has been known to be the biggest cultural manifestation in Seychelles, bringing together the best carnivals of the world to its shores such as the Brazilian group, the Notting Hill Carnival Roadshow Company of the UK , Dusseldorf carnival of Germany, the Italy Carnival, the Indonesian Carnival to name but a few. Cultural Troupes from the Community of Nations have also descended on the islands to parade alongside with delegations of the best carnivals of the world.

The carnival celebrated its fifth anniversary last year where again top international dignitaries graced the three-day event with their presence.

In discussions with the Seychelles Tourism Board prior to confirming the dates for the 2016 edition of the carnival Minister Alain St.Ange said that the Seychelles International Carnival should be designed to aim at the spectacularisation of the culture and heritage of the Seychelles Islands because tourists often demand authentic exhibitions of culture and lifestyles which are considerably different from their own. The Carnival should also aim to express and showcase the modernity of the Seychelles without any loss of the charm of its traditional values and history.

"Every year we spend time searching for the Soul of Seychelles through the Eyes of Carnival. We know carnivals of festivals remain a motivation of economic activity through the cultural and artistic creations and the general impact on infrastructure provisions. We also know that during carnival time our country benefits of the visitor expenditure multiplier effect in the fields of food production, catering, hospitality, hotels, crafts and souvenir production" Minister St.Ange said adding that cultural contacts are seen to be strong drive and magnet for world peace and the perceived roles of the Seychelles in that process is set to be more appreciated as the more and more countries use the Seychelles cultural event to showcase their own culture and develop relationships with other nations from the Community of Nations.

The Seychelles Carnaval International de Victoria continues to establish a close correlation between carnival attractions that bring together the arts, culture, history and heritage of Seychelles as it works in tandem with other countries who are proud of their own culture to showcase to the world media the unity through diversity and this immaterial of the colour of the skin, religious beliefs and political affiliation.

"Today we know that the Seychelles Carnaval International de Victoria has carved itself a unique place in the culture of Carnival, in that our carnaval invites the world to participate. There is no doubt that the Carnival has become an important feature in the calendrical cycle of tourism in Seychelles. However we also know that our carnaval needs to be more grounded in the history and culture of Seychelles, which Seychelles invites the world to experience. This we shall be working on for the coming edition in April" said Minister St.Ange as he went on to explain that tourists today want a more inter-active experience in which they are also immersed in the culture and history of the destination and are able to experience the story of the Seychellois.

"This can be done through Carnaval and is consistent with the underlying concept of Searching for the Soul of Seychelles through the Eyes of Carnival which simply means that the Carnaval must be used to tell the story of Seychelles and its people through arts, design and performance of themes that are uniquely Seychellois. We are a melting pot culture in so many different ways and meaning can be given to this through the Eyes of Carnival. Through the carnaval the celebration of our very own diversity would resonate with the rest of the world where there are so many conflicts and ethnic tensions, the resolution of which has defeated most politicians, campaigners, institutions etc. The reality is that globalisation has turned the world into such a melting pot, that no assumptions can be made about ethnicity  everyone has a touch of somebody else in their DNA" Minister Alain St.Ange said.

The Seychelles Carnaval International de Victoria remains a simple celebration of diversity and is a very important catalyst for conflict resolution and togetherness, and an instrument for telling the history of globalisation as it impacts on tourism destinations.

"You may say I am a dreamer, but I am not the only onethis is why we are inviting our partner countries, International Carnivals, Cultural Troupes from the Community of Nations and also from the Seychelles itself all government ministries, non-government organisations, the business community and tourism trade partners to take part in the upcoming sixth Carnaval International de Victoria" Minister Alain St.Ange said.
Turkeys Mediterranean city of Antalya will host Expo 2016, which will attract millions of guests and visitors from all over the world. This year's theme is "Flowers and Children," and the construction of its symbol, the EXPO Tower, will take six months. The viewing terrace, which will accommodate restaurants and cafes, will be built on the ground and, with the help of powerful cranes, will be hoisted to a peak that stands proudly in the air like a flag 120 meters high.

TACA Construction is undertaking the construction of this building that will come to symbolize EXPO 2016 and that will be achieved through a technology first of its kind in Turkey.

EXPOs are an attract millions of tourists, and each comes with its own particular symbol. For EXPO 2016 Antalya, we are proud to construct the convention center that will come to symbolize the event: the EXPO Tower. These are the projects that have been given to our care thanks to our reputation for delivering quality projects on time. We are building this 120-meter tower, which will house restaurants and viewing and recreation areas, with the help of construction technology that will be utilized in Turkey for the very first time. This technology has been used in only a handful of buildings in the world. Called the "Eiffel Tower of Turkey," the Expo Tower will add value both to the city of Antalya and to our tourism industry. It will be a monument that befits Turkey's first EXPO, said Tayyar Akkurt, chairman of TACA Construction.

Modelled after the Turkish peony, a plant native to Antalya, and the famous Hadrian's Gate located in Antalya's old town, the EXPO Tower, with a height of 120 meters, will be opened on April 23, 2016.
2016 will not be an easy year for the European Union. Today, Denmark has announced new controls along its southern border with Germany, just hours after Sweden's decision to step up its own border controls came into effect. Countries start border checks as they struggle to control the flood of asylum seekers heading north. Germany has said the move is a threat to Europe's open borders.

If the European Union cant protect the external borders, you will see more and more countries which will be forced into introducing temporary internal border control. This is something we need to take very seriously, because it will have a negative impact on prosperity. Im a true believer of the freedom of movement. This is not a happy moment at all, said Denmarks Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen.

Sweden started implementing a new system of ID checks for train passengers crossing into Sweden from Denmark. Travelers will be required to show identification as they pass across a bridge-and-tunnel transit area linking Copenhagen Airport to Sweden.

German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Martin Schaefer said to AFP that the Schengen zone was "in danger". "Freedom of movement is an important principle - one of the biggest achievements in recent years," Schaefer told.

The move has also drawn backlash from ordinary citizens in both countries, with the head of the Commuters Association, the organization that represents those who make the daily commute across the border, telling that some are even referring to the border as "the new Iron Curtain."

Sweden has the highest number of asylum seekers in Europe after Germany. Some 160,000 people applied for asylum in Sweden last year, most of them from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Source: Agencies
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At midday on Friday 5 February, 2016 Julian Assange, John Jones QC, Melinda Taylor, Jennifer Robinson and Baltasar Garzon will be speaking at a press conference at the Frontline Club on the decision made by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the Assange case.
PLYMOUTH  A North Iowa man was arrested on a federal warrant Sunday for alleged possession of stolen firearms.

Chad L. Angell, 41, was in possession of 25 revolvers, pistols, rifles and shotguns reported stolen on the morning of May 13 from a residence in the 3400 block of Ulmus Avenue in Worth County, a few miles north of Plymouth, according to the criminal complaint filed Dec. 22 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Iowa.

The residence was vacant as the individual living there had recently died.

Jewelry, collectibles and silverware were reported missing from the residence in addition to the firearms.

On the evening of May 13, the residence was destroyed by a fire. The complaint states the fire was investigated by the state fire marshal due to its suspicious nature and the timing with the burglary.

The cause of the fire was later classified as undetermined.

Some of the stolen firearms were recovered during search warrant executions conducted June 28 at residences in the 700 block of South Massachusetts Avenue in Mason City and in the 600 block of Pine Street in Plymouth, both affiliated with Angell, according to the complaint.

Angell allegedly sold other firearms from the Ulmus Avenue residence to two Mason City residents.

He sold other stolen items such as rings and glassware to The Funky Trunk and EZ Pawn in Mason City, according to the complaint.

Cerro Gordo County District Court charges related to the case that were filed against Angell in June were dismissed last week after the filing of the federal charge.
MASON CITY  An autopsy has been scheduled to help determine the cause of death of a man who died at the Cerro Gordo County Jail Saturday afternoon  the second inmate to have died there within about a month.

The Iowa Department of Criminal Investigation reported that a man was discovered unresponsive in the male dormitory at the jail about 3:30 p.m. Saturday. Jail personnel immediately began lifesaving efforts and the Mason City Fire Department ambulance was also called, but the man was unable to be revived, the report said.

The identity of the inmate was not released.

The Division of Criminal Investigation was asked to assist in investigating the death, and an autopsy is scheduled at the office of the state medical examiner in Ankeny.

This is the second recent inmate death at the Cerro Gordo County Jail. Another male died at the jail on Dec. 1, 2015, also after being found unresponsive. Lifesaving efforts were started in that case but he was also unable to be revived.

Cerro Gordo County Sheriff Kevin Pals said Sunday it was very unusual to have two inmate deaths within such a short time, but he is confident it was a medical issue versus anything our staff was or was not doing.

He said it was most likely both inmates had separate unrelated medical issues that caused their deaths, but he wouldnt comment further.

Pals declined to release the name or other information about the inmate, saying the DCI would release that information as the investigation progressed. He also declined to say whether he was aware of any known injuries or medical conditions the inmate might have had before his death.

The inmate in the December case was later identified as Dacota Witham, 28, of Mason City. Investigators said Witham had been alone in his cell at the time of death and foul play was not suspected. He had been in jail since October for contempt of court.

An autopsy in that case did not immediately determine the cause of death, but state officials said there were no signs of trauma and additional lab tests and complete autopsy results would take several weeks.

Pals said Sunday he has not yet received results of the DCI investigation in the Witham case.

The DCI is often called in to assist local police and sheriffs departments investigating deaths of persons in custody.
Doris Rose (Mickelson) Greenwood

BELMOND  Doris Rose (Mickelson) Greenwood, 94, of Belmond, IA, most recently of Pella, IA, died Saturday, January 2, 2016, at the Comfort House Hospice Home in Pella, IA, with her family at her side.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday, January 5, 2016, 1:30 p.m., at Belmond United Methodist Church, 1031 1st Street S.E. The Reverend Leila Blackburn will be officiating. Burial will be in the Belmond Cemetery.

Visitation will be Monday at the Andrews Funeral Home, 516 1st Street S.E., Belmond, from 5-7 p.m., and will continue one hour prior to the service at church Tuesday.

The family of Doris Greenwood would like to thank you for helping pay respects to our loving mother, grandmother, great grandmother and aunt. We appreciate your support at this time.

In lieu of flowers the family suggests donations to the Pella Comfort House, 505 Union Street, Pella, IA 50219, or the Belmond-Klemme Scholarship Foundations I and II, Belmond-Klemme High School Scholarship Foundations, 411 10th Avenue N.E., Belmond, IA 50421.

Doris Rose Mickelson, was born to Sam and Olive Nettie (Nelson) Mickelson in Duncombe, IA, on December 3, 1921. Doris grew up working hard on a farm. Her family moved to Belmond and Doris graduated from Belmond High School in 1942. Doris then worked at the Mello-Maid malt shop, which is where she met her husband-to-be, Lawrence J. Greenwood. Larry and Doris were married April 6, 1946.

Doris enjoyed fishing with her husband, cherished their Sunday afternoon drives together, going out dancing at the Surf Ballroom, Clear Lake, IA, and their annual trip to the Iowa State Fair.

Doris began as a school cook for Belmond Community Schools in 1962. In 1970, after 24 short years of marriage, Larry passed away unexpectedly. Doris continued working as Dishwasher Doris and retired from the Belmond schools in 1993. Doris then moved to the Belmond Leinbach Retirement Center Community Apartments. It was there she enjoyed playing bingo and putting together puzzles with friends. Doris was a member of the United Methodist Church in Belmond. Doris looked forward to all the holidays to celebrate with her family and enjoyed every opportunity to spoil her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

In 2011, Doris came to live in Pella to be close to her daughter and her son-in-law to assist in caring for her as she lived in Pellas Regional Long Term Care and the Wesley Life Cottages. Doris was a favorite resident according to the nurses, cooks and aides that provided care for her the past few years. Doris went to live with Jesus at the age of 94 while being cared for at the Comfort House in Pella just as peacefully as she walked through her life journey.

Doris will be missed and has many who love her including her daughter Barbara Kraft and spouse Douglas, Pella. He memory will also burn brightly in the hearts and minds of her three granddaughters and 7 great-grandchildren. Keeping Grandma Greats memories alive are Stephanie Ver Helst (Ross) and daughters Carlee, Mandee, and Emilee; Stacey Schroder (Brent) and children Brianna and Spencer; Jackie Gatton (Chris) and daughters Alysha and Sydney.

She was preceded in death by her spouse, Lawrence Greenwood; her son Douglas Greenwood; and 6 brothers and sisters: Clarence Mickelson, Richard Mickelson, Esther Larson, Marjie Norcross, Ruth Baker, and Bonnie Sharp.

Doris truly was a true example of boundless love to all who had the privilege of crossing in her life footsteps!

Andrews Funeral Home, Belmond, IA, 641-444-4474, www.andrewfuneralhomeandfloral.com.
Its scarcely all bad, of course. Look inside America and you see plenty of good.

But there is another side of us, the disintegrating side. In frightening developments, continued dismaying conditions and new revelations, much of what we saw in 2015 leaves plenty to work on in 2016.

There was, to start with, the shocking, saddening discovery that the death rate of working-class, white, middle-aged Americans began going up in 1999. Thats the exact opposite of whats happening in every other group in the country and a great many abroad. In them, its the longevity rate thats going up.

Whats happening is that many with no more than a high school education are killing themselves through suicide and alcohol and drug abuse. An instigating factor is thought to be tough economic conditions, but something else likely keeps people from coping: an accompanying sense of meaninglessness.

Such an empty feeling of no purpose could well be related to the decline in religion especially found in the working class. According to the Pew Research Center, more people than ever are saying they are unaffiliated with any faith, and a 2015 Gallup poll says confidence in organized religion has sunk to the lowest level ever, some 42 percent of the population.

W. Bradford Wilcox, a professor associated with the American Enterprise Institute, says research shows religion is highly helpful in keeping marriages together and in raising children likely to exercise self-control. Others say that the religious are healthier and live longer than the non-religious, and Wilcox says religious rituals do lend meaning to life.

Scoot over now to universities that in some cases went bananas in 2015 as administrators kept cracking down on the open exchange of ideas and some students likewise kept screeching that no one should voice views different from theirs because, well, that would be intolerant. Ruinously high tuitions, made possible through an ill-begotten federal loan program, continued to plague indebted graduates, some of whom seem to have been insufficiently educated to get good jobs. And, meanwhile, the humanities kept up their disappearing act.

Next, lets get political, noting the incredible autocracy of an Obama administration that never saw a constitutionally dubious executive order it didnt like. While we got a bunch of these in 2015, debasing precious principles, well get a chance to vote for a new president in 2016.

But look at some of those running. For one, theres the rude, crude, uninformed, essentially wacko GOP candidate Donald Trump. Then theres the hysterically screaming Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders who doesnt seem to have noticed our perilous debt and would like to spend the nation into oblivion. And dont forget another Democrat, Hillary Clinton, who seems to find truth nearly impossible to live with.

Race relations lately have seemed as badly tattered as anytime in many years. There was in fact reason for deep concern in some police shootings of blacks, but that was hardly reason for a condemnation of police forces in general, leading to less proactive police protection in some cities. A consequence in 25 of our largest cities was an overall rise in homicides of 11 percent, as shown convincingly in an analysis by Manhattan Institute fellow Heather Mac Donald.

Last but 1,000 miles from least is the ongoing dissolution of the family with evermore single-parent homes.

Most of these are in low-income groups, and here is a crucial issue because children from these homes are more likely to drop out of high school, turn to criminal activities and remain impoverished than those with two biological parents around.

While there are obviously many more examples of disintegration, the main thing is that we the people turn to whats best about us and find creative ways to start putting the pieces back together again.
Silly me.

Some things that will never happen in 2016 but would make politics a lot more interesting  and meaningful.

Term limits. I once subscribed to the Theodore Roosevelt theory that we already have term limits  set by the voters every four years.

Roosevelt could never have envisioned a time when political action committees (PACs) and super pacs poured billions of dollars into campaigns and received the Supreme Courts blessing to keep on keepin on.

Even without the PACs, members of the Senate and House are millionaires, some of them several times over.

In Roosevelts day, three Is might have prevailed  individuals, ideals and ideas  but today candidates are pre-packaged talking machines, many of them bought and paid for.

I know, I know, there are a few presidential candidates this year who are the exception  but even if any of them were elected they would be done after no more than two terms. Thats already the law for presidents.

Money is the mothers milk of politics and something must be done to contain it. Term limits for members of Congress seems like the only answer.

By the way, regardless of your personal politics, you have to give Tom Harkin credit. He stepped down from his Senate seat primarily because of his age  and the age he would have been if he served out another term.

Here are a few other ideas that will never happen.

Legislators should not be allowed to tack amendments onto bills that have nothing to do with the subject of the original bill. It is done often and it is a sham every time.

An example would be if someone stuck gun restriction legislation on the end of the farm bill. Anyone who supported the farm bill would be forced to vote for gun restrictions as well, even if they were opposed to them. Or, if someone favored gun restrictions, they would have to vote for the farm bill whether they liked it or not.

This might be an exaggerated example, but this type of action is bread-and-butter politics in Washington.

Heres another one to chew on. What if there were House and Senate rules that stipulated any votes that were decided strictly on a party-line basis were declared void and do overs.

In other words, legislators would be forced to think for themselves and not be hesitant to cross party lines in casting a vote. Laws of the land should be bipartisan efforts and not shoved down the throats of the public by whichever party happens to be in power.

It would take some doing to make this work and I can already imagine the wheeling and dealing to have a couple of people vote against their party just to get a bill approved. But you get the idea.

The last idea for the new year is something that is actually done in some states, Louisiana for one. It has an open primary in state elections in which all candidates from all parties are on the same ballot. Whoever finishes first and second advances to the general election in November.

In Louisiana, the top two finishers are almost always Democrats  so two people from the same party run against each other in November.

Its a system that has a lot of flaws but it has some interesting possibilities.

Suppose all of this years presidential candidates were on the same primary ballot with the two top vote-getters moving on. Who would be the top two? Would the winners be a Republican and a Democrat or would they be from the same party?

It could turn out to be a horrible way of picking a president but, ahem, looking at the system we have now ...

Look at it this way. The winner would only serve one term  if we had term limits.

Silly me.
Denver, Colorado, Jan. 04, 2016 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- FutureLand Corp. (OTC: FUTL), a leading provider of strategic real estate investment and grow facilities and material solutions to the global cannabis industry, today announced that on December 22, 2015, its Board of Directors approved a forward stock split through a stock dividend whereby each share of common stock would effectively be split into three shares of common stock. The Company will issue a dividend of two shares of common stock for every one share issued and outstanding on the "record date". The record date and dividend date will be set with the approval of FINRA, and FUTL common stock is expected to begin trading on a split-adjusted basis on the post dividend date. After the dividend date, those holding physical certificates must turn their certificates back into the transfer agent for new certificates. All others shall receive their new share(s) electronically through their brokers on the dividend date.



The Company will file with FINRA for approval of this forward stock split.

"Yesterday the Board took an important step forward for our loyal stockholders. We believe the stock split will make the stock more attractive to a larger portion of the investing community, create more liquidity and provide a bonus to our current loyal shareholders," stated Cameron Cox, Chief Executive Officer. "As we continue to grow our business, increase revenue and expand our stockholder base among retail and institutional investors, the stock split is further testament to our Board and management team's confidence in the future prospects for the company," concluded Mr. Cameron Cox, President and Chief Executive Officer.

About FutureLand Corp

FutureLand Corp., a Colorado company, is a cannabis and hemp specialty zoned land leasing company formed to capitalize upon the emerging global cannabis market. FutureLand, focuses on target acquisition, zoning, license fulfillment, site plan preparation and financing of cannabis or hemp grow facilities throughout the United States. We give growers the opportunity to grow. We monetize through leasing the land, leasing the structures on the land, financing interest revenue and management fees associated with cultivation centers. FutureLand retains ownership of all the land and the structures. FutureLand leases to both medical marijuana, retail marijuana as well as industrial hemp growers. FutureLand does not currently grow, distribute or sell marijuana. To request further information about FutureLand, please email us at info@futurelandcorp.com, log onto our website at http://www.futurelandcorp.com, or visit us on FB @ futurelandcorp and Twitter @futurelandcorp.

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking statements covered within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, plans and timing for the introduction or enhancement of our services and products, statements about future market conditions, supply and demand conditions, and other expectations, intentions and plans contained in this press release that are not historical fact and involve risks and uncertainties. Our expectations regarding future revenues depend upon our ability to develop and supply products and services that we may not produce today and that meet defined specifications. When used in this press release, the words "plan," "expect," "believe," and similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current expectations. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in technology and changes in pervasive markets. This release includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 27E of the Securities Act of 1934. Statements contained in this release that are not historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Investors are cautioned that forward-looking statements are inherently uncertain. Actual performance and results may differ materially from that projected or suggested herein due to certain risks and uncertainties including, without limitation, ability to obtain financing and regulatory and shareholder approval for anticipated actions.




Quote:

(A) in healing physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help

either

asking

or

thanking

Quote:

(B) in healing physical and mental ills and to thank her for helping

either

asking

and

to thank

Quote:

(C) in healing physical and mental ills, and thanking her for helping

Quote:

(D) to heal physical and mental ills or to thank her for such help

either

asking

or

to thank

Quote:

(E) to heal physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help

either

asking

or

thanking

Quote:

(A) in healing physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help

(E) to heal physical and mental ills or thanking her for such help

The relatively easy part of this question is the parallelism: the words that immediately follow either and or must be strictly parallel. (And just in case youre one of the GMAT Club members who asked: these are two of the special parallelism triggers I mentioned in our YouTube webinar on parallelism and meaning .)Unfortunately, theres also a frustrating idiom thing in this question, and I really don't think that it should be tested at all. But we can't really avoid it in this case. Ill rant more about that below.Lets start with the parallelism triggered by the either/or construction: supplicants who werethe goddess Bona Dea's aid in healing physical and mental illsher for such help.Hey, you cant beat that in terms of the parallelism. Maybe you think that aid in healing or such help sound funny, but neither of them are wrong, and sounding funny is a terrible reason to eliminate answer choices anyway . Lets keep (A).In (B), we have: supplicants who werethe goddess Bona Dea's aid in healing physical and mental illsher for such help.Thats all sorts of wrong. First, either and and really dont go together at all  it just doesnt make any sense. Second, the parallelism is wrong, anyway: asking and to thank are not parallel. So (B) is out.(C) suffers from exactly the same problem as (B): either and and just dont make any sense together. Sure, asking and thanking are in the same form, but thats irrelevant if we cant get the either/or thing right.So (C) is gone, too.Well, we have an either/or construction now, so thats good, but the parallelism is still wrong: supplicants who werethe goddess Bona Dea's aid to heal physical and mental illsher for such help. Asking and to thank arent parallel to each other, so (D) is out, too.The parallelism looks absolutely fine in (E): supplicants who werethe goddess Bona Dea's aid to heal physical and mental illsher for such help. Cool.So now lets line (A) and up side-by-side, since there are no DEFINITE errors in either of them (and for more on the distinction between DEFINITE errors and other stuff, check out this crusty old article ):Ugh, this is one of those nightmare scenarios that I absolutely dread, both as a teacher and as a test-taker: the only difference is an idiom. There are roughly 25,000 idioms in English, and they are  by definition!  arbitrary, and dont follow generalizable rules. I discuss idioms at length in this article ; you could memorize 25,000 idioms if you really want to, but the key on the overwhelming majority of GMAT SC questions is to avoid the idioms as much as possible, and look for ANY other error.But in relatively rare cases, theres nothing else you can do: you just have to fight with the idiom. In this case, it turns out that the GMAT prefers the phrase aid in healing over aid to heal. The same is true if we replace aid with help: help in healing would apparently be correct on the GMAT, but help to heal would not. So (A) is correct, and (E) is wrong.Why is that the case? I dont know. Its an idiom, so it doesnt need reasons. And again, I think its a silly thing for the GMAT to test. But in the very unlikely event that you encounter these on your actual GMAT, now you know the correct idiom: aid in healing or help in healing are correct, but aid to heal is wrong on the GMAT.But more importantly: make sure youre really strict and literal with the either/or business, because I 100% promise that youll see THAT stuff again._________________
Konstantin1983 wrote:

evdo wrote: "Because it was written by Roman historian Tacitus, the book gives us a better idea of the Germanic culture of the time that the texts written by members of the tribes"



Should "that" be "than"?

Yes i agree. Moreover Germania should be "Germania". Actually i don't understand B. What does it say? How biases impact perception? Looks like this is a self-made question Yes i agree. Moreover Germania should be "Germania". Actually i don't understand B. What does it say? How biases impact perception? Looks like this is a self-made question

objectivity

Never forget what you are fighting for...

and when your mind and your body tell you to quit. Your heart will tell you to fight.

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The Germania is a description of the Germanic tribes of the 1st century A.D. Because it was written by Roman historian Tacitus, the book gives us a better idea of the Germanic culture of the time that the texts written by members of the tribes. Its quality derives from the objectivity attained by the foreign observer.IMO the answer is B.Here according to my understanding of the passage logics.The conclusion is " Its quality derives from theattained by the foreign observer". It is a causality conclusion- A causes B. Therefore, we have to prove:Because of A, B happensB does not cause A.There is no other causes to make B happen.The argument above depends on the assumption that _____________.A) the Germanic tribes were in regular contact with the people of Rome.--> OFSB) a foreign observer has few pre-existing biased that would impact his perception.--> pre-existing biases are <50%. Negate this statement we have pre-existing biases >50%, which makes the account is no longer objective.C) the Germanic tribe wrote in a language that can be understood by the modern Germans.--> IrrelevantD)Tacitus was explicit in describing his writings as a historical account.--->OFSE) Roman historians have written the best historical accounts available today.--> OFS_________________
In a bit of inspired posturing that would have sinister and unconstitutional consequences if it was actually doable, Governor Cuomo has ordered New York City and other state municipalities to forcibly remove homeless people from the streets when the temperature dips below freezing, starting tomorrow.

To be clear, since the mid-1980s the city of New York has been legally obligated to provide a shelter bed for any person who seeks it, and some 58,000 people are currently residing in city-funded shelters. Those shelters are by and large privately run and have a dizzying array of problems, but they do exist.

Yet many of the few thousand people living long-term on city streets are doing so because, in addition to wage stagnation and the ever-increasing cost of housing, they are afraid of the conditions in shelters, they dislike or have difficulty with the regimented requirements of remaining in a shelter, and/or they have severe substance abuse or mental health issues.

Cuomo's executive order, issued Sunday [pdf], calls for local governments to take "appropriate steps, including involuntary placement" to move street homeless into shelters, and says that a provision of the state's Mental Hygiene Law that allows forcible institutionalization of people who pose a threat to themselves or others allows for a sweep of the streets. The order "direct[s] all local social service districts, police agencies including the New York State Police, and state agencies to take all necessary steps to identify individuals reasonably believed to be homeless and unwilling or unable to find the shelter necessary for safety and health in inclement winter weather, and move such individuals to the appropriate sheltered facilities."

In an interview with 1010 WINS's Kathleen Marple, Cuomo dismissed the complex, longstanding problems specific to homeless people living on the street and said that he can solve them with a few taps on his keyboard:

Now on the concern of "I don't want to go into the shelters because shelters are dangerous," that's just unacceptable. We want people to be sheltered in safe, clean, decent, well-maintained places and they will be. So it's not going to be somebody wants to stay on the street and freeze to death because theyre afraid to go into a shelter. Were better than that, Kathleen. Everyone will have a safe, clean, decent shelter to go to.

Alakazam.

In theory, the order applies to all municipalities, but in the text of the order and in subsequent interviews, Cuomo made it clear that the move is part of his interminable penis-measuring contest with Mayor de Blasio. Specifically, the order includes the line, "whereas, certain parts of the state are facing a crisis of homelessness unprecedented in recent history." In an interview with NY1, Cuomo dodged the very basic question of whether he had discussed this sweeping policy change that primarily affects New York City with its mayor, saying instead, "I think it is a fact that homelessness is on the increase in New York City. I think everybody recognizes that and I think everybody recognizes that that is a significant problem."

He went on to cite his experience drafting a homelessness plan for former mayor David Dinkins and his subsequent hiring at the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development as bona fides. Given his experience, Cuomo knows that no mechanism exists for forcible sheltering/imprisonment of homeless people, and that the institutional capacity, human-power, increased shelter budgets, and contracts cannot be produced out of thin air, never mind the not-small issues of due process and freedom of association that hindered a similar effort by former mayor Ed Koch in the 1980s.

It's also important to bear in mind in all of this that New York City homelessness worsened dramatically after Cuomo and former mayor Michael Bloomberg cut funding for the Advantage rent subsidy voucher back in 2011.

Yet, in a bit of "optics" jiujitsu, Cuomo's order places him in the position of caring for the homeless in the eyes of the casual news consumer and, if de Blasio resists, it makes him look like someone who doesn't.

So will NYPD cops start rounding up the street homeless and dumping them in hotels with armed guards stationed at the door, or failing that, will Cuomo send in the state police to do it for them?

The Mayor's Office told reporters that police and social service agencies are already doing homeless outreach, as they always do during cold weather, now augmented by the controversial HOME-STAT homeless-tracking program.

"We take anyone off the street we believe is in imminent danger," de Blasio told WCBS 880. "Thats something NYPD does. Thats something our outreach workers do through our Homeless Services department. So we have that capacity right now under state lawand we have done that for years and we will continue to do it."

Spokeswoman Karen Hinton told the New York Times that the mayor supports "the intent of the executive order, but to forcibly remove all homeless individuals in freezing weather, as the governor has ordered, will require him to pass state law."

Stating the obvious to the Daily News, she said, "This executive order adds no legal or financial resources to New York City's programs to assist the homeless," and interpreted the order to mean other cities in the state should follow NYC's high standard of admitting all people in need.

City attorney Zachary Carter issued a memo saying that homelessness or mental illness alone are not sufficient grounds to remove people from the street.

Talking to the Times, Cuomo lawyer Alphonso David backpedaled on the initial order, saying "obviously, the order does not mandate involuntary commitment for competent individuals," though obviously it does. He also teased that "this order is only a part of the states response to the homeless crisis."

The New York Post, too, continued its campaign of newfound, politically convenient concern for the homeless. A Post report involving six staff writers blew the lid off of two people sleeping on the steps of a Catholic church in Brooklyn Heights. The piece quotes neighbor Elizabeth McBride, who worries about the appearance of the encampment: This is a historic area with lots of tourists, so visually, its not optimal."

The reporters go on to relate the reaction of a tourist couple from Altoona, Pennsylvania, who surely expected something different on their trip to the Big Apple. Its freezing out here, theres crime...They should be in a real shelter, Pat Irwin told the tabloid.

Not everyone is blind to the bureaucratic and legal problems posed by Cuomo's brinksmanship. Midtown-dwelling homeless man and rational thinker Luis Diaz told the Daily News:
If you've ever had a hard time visualizing a nightmare elevator death scenario, the Daily News is here to help. To supplement its reporting on the death of 25-year-old Stephen Hewett-Brown, who was fatally crushed when a LES elevator malfunctioned on New Year's Eve, the News hired a guy to act scared inside an elevator. SEE IT: Man's Tragic Death Commemorated By Crappy Sensational Video Reenactment.





Before this video existed, it was difficult to adequately understand what it would be like to die in an elevator malfunction. Now, thanks to the scary stock music, foreboding footage of an elevator shaft, and award-winning acting, we'll be taking the stairs for life. Your move, Taiwanese Animators.

Hewett-Brown, a Bronx resident, was killed in an elevator malfunction shortly before midnight at 131 Broome Street on the Lower East Side. The elevator had stalled slightly below the third floor, but residents, who say the building's elevators often have problems, pried open the doors and climbed out. Hewett-Brown reportedly hoisted one woman to safety and wished her a happy New Year moments before the elevator rapidly jolted downward, crushing him between the roof of the elevator and the floor.

There have been dozens of complaints about the 26-story building's elevators over the years, and the Buildings Department reports three open violations for elevator defects that had not been fixed since they were spotted in a 2012 inspection. Residents had filed multiple complaints about the elevators "dropping" several floors.

"It couldve been any of us," one resident, who's lived in the building for a decade, tells the Times. This is nothing new. Im scared to use the elevator now.

The NY Post reports that the building is co-owned by the city and the Archdiocese of New Yorks Catholic Charities; it's one of three towers built in the early 70s as part of the citys Seward Park Urban Renewal Area. Weve been asking the archdiocese and the city for new elevators for years, one tenant tells the Post. "These are death traps. The archdiocese has connections, they had tens of millions of dollars to fix this place. But they never replaced the elevators. Where did the money go?"

Buildings manager Wavecrest Management said in a statement. "We express our sincere condolences, to the family. We, and our elevator company, are actively working with the New York City Department of Buildings and the NYPD to determine the underlying cause of this tragedy."

Tragically, Hewett-Brown had not planned to go out on New Year's Eve; the News reports that his girlfriend, who was with him when he died, had persuaded him to attend a party with her on the LES. "His girlfriend wanted to see her friends, and he went with her," one source tells the tabloid. "She kept saying, He didnt want to go out. This is my fault. He didnt want to go out.'" To be clear, the only person or persons at fault here are the ones responsible for maintaining the elevator, and, arguably, a toothless city inspection system that lets landlords openly flout violations for years despite numerous complaints.
Police found a man and a woman dead in a bloody scene inside a Sheepshead Bay apartment on Sunday evening. An NYPD spokeswoman said that officers responding to a 911 from by a relative found the bodies of Rosie Sanchez, 38, and Anderson Nunez, 40, in a six-story Sheepshead Bay Houses building at around 6:30 p.m.

Nunez had been stabbed and shot and was found in the kitchen, and Sanchez had been shot multiple times as well and laid in a bedroom. Emergency medical responders pronounced both victims dead at the scene.

Police are questioning a 15-year-old in connection with the grisly slayings, according to the NYPD spokeswoman. The bodies had been lying there for several days, according to reports.

The New York Post, citing unnamed sources, said that the teen had confessed to killing Sanchez, her mother, because Nunez had raped her and Sanchez had subsequently refused to protect her from him. The girl said the abuse lasted for years, and she had an un-apprehended cousin's help in carrying out the killing, according to DNAinfo. The NYPD said the investigation is ongoing and it cannot release information about a possible motive.

"I cant believe this because theyre always happy," neighbor Any Moya told the Post.

Update 4:34 p.m.: Police have arrested the girl and charged her with two counts of murder, as well as two counts of criminal possession of a weapon. The NYPD says the investigation is ongoing.


New York City's best-known dermatologist, Dr. Jonathon Zizmor, is no longer selling rainbow-tinted dreams of blemish-free skin.

The Daily News reports that he has retired and closed his Upper East Side office. His realtor said, "The Zizmors love to travel and have many social interests, hobbies, and friends. At the end of the day, they are just like the rest of us."

Zizmor put his Fieldston palace for sale, and it stayed on the market for years; currently, Streeteasy indicates that it's "in contract" fro $3,075,000, which is a far cry from the original $4.3 million asking price in 2012.

In a 2009 interview with us, Dr. Zizmor and his wife Alexandra spoke about their revolutionary marketing idea to advertise on the NYC subway:

Dr. Zizmor: There were none, there were no doctors ads. Why did I do it? In those days, dermatology was very exclusive, chic, chic. Most people, different ethnicity groups didn't even know there were dermatologists. I felt I wanted to open it up, treat people of all demographics and so on. And I really started doing that, from the very rich to the poor, black, white, whatever. So I was the only one on the subway for about 25 years. Alexandra Zizmor: And people didn't like it. Dr. Z: I got a lot of heat. AZ: Cause you think about doctors, it's like the academia. Doctors weren't even in the yellow pages. So here this guy comes along and he's like advertising on the subway. Meanwhile how many doctors do you now see? It's like crazy. He was the forefront guy. Dr. Z: The only one, the only one. If I didn't have the background, I wouldn't have had the guts to do it. I would have gotten a lot more heat.

He also said, "I ride the subway all the time. And when I ride the subway, I never see my poster. Like, let's say when I want to show my wife the new poster and they say it's in one out of every five cars. And car after car after car, it's not there. I mean, I have people working who tell me it's there. I see them occasionally, but really just occasionally. When I see the posters, no one recognizes me. But I try not to sit under the poster." His wife pointed out, "[Riders] would notice that's he's relatively older," which Zizmor explained, "It's a 25-year-old picture. It's hard to do transparency, the color always comes out wrong. So that's why we use a 25-year-old picture."

This is what Dr. Zizmor looked like in 2014, by the way:



Zizmor through the ages

A family member told the News that the dermatologist "now spends his time studying the Talmud." And Waibel said, "Because they are very giving people, I am sure it is only a matter of time before they are involved in their next charitable project."

Zizmor's effect on pop culture will live on forevermost notably with Nick Kroll's Dr. Armond, who was "more than inspired" by Zizmorthanks to YouTube:

He also has a good sense of humorhere's his appearance in a trailer for the New York Underground Film Festival:

Thank you, Dr. Zizmor!

Earlier we included a photograph of a man identified as Dr. Zizmor's by Getty Images. It was actually another dermatologist, Dr. Lewis Feder.
Green Risks provides information to understand the natural world especially in our local region. The blog is a mix of technical guidance and interesting information with a slant towards information to live a greener and more sustainable life. You will find articles on a wide range of water and environmental topics including help with water well problems and maintenance, septic systems and regulations, solar energy, low impact development, and many others all with the intent of teaching practical ways to solve problems and revive common sense in our society.
THE CURMUDGEONS INC. wishes to advise readers that any news, snippets of information, comments, editorials etc in this blog is near enough to the truth but we cannot guarantee accuracy, fairness or unbias. In the interest of satirical humour we expect readers to understand this.









ACCOLADES









"Alert, conversant, speaking full sentences"





- From hospital doctor's report.









This just to hand - an accolade from one of this blog's followers:



"Reading The Curmudgeon's blog has opened my eyes and mind to the silliness of religion and the stupidity of catholicism in particular. I now see myself as a modernist even if I don't really understand what the term means. Well done that man for giving us the low down.

That's why most readers reference Curmudgeon first."



- Robert the apoplectic sinner





And another one:





"What I like about The Curmudgeon is that he's fair. When he posts comments on my blog they are positive and always contain a hint as to how I could improve my own blog. As an older person I find this to be helpful."





Richard (of Richard's Bass Bag).





An updated accolade from Richard:





Hello all. I really like this blog. The quality, humour and professionalism gives me something to strive for in my own blog. Recently I've run out of ideas and have reverted to writing long and boring posts on violin playing. I wish that I could create blog posts as fresh and interesting as The Curmudgeon's.





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"This is the first tantalizing (sic) surprise of many as The Curmudgeon introduces us to ...."

- an excerpt from devoted follower Richard of Richards Bass Bag.








News

Mohamed Bin Zayed orders $100 million in humanitarian aid for Ukraine

This additional aid comes from the belief of the President of the importance of human solidarity, especially in cases of war and conflict, and is part of the UAE's continuous efforts to mitigate the humanitarian repercussions of the Ukrainian crisis.
Hawaiian Menehunes are dolls with a soul carrying the spiritual power of Hawaii. They were individually handcrafted on the Big Island of Hawaii with the greatest love and respect for all that is Hawaii. The Menehune's detailed personalities and accessories reflect the wisdom of Hawaiian culture and spirituality. Their unconditional Aloha will guide, protect and inspire you on your life's journey.
William F. (Bill) McDonald passed away peacefully on 12/29/15 at the age of 88, of natural causes. He was born in 1927 to Charlotte and Charles McDonald in Butte MT, the fourth of 4 children. He was proceded in death by his parents, brother Charles and sister Mary Sue.

Bill graduated from Butte High School in 1945 and joined the US Navy in 1948, serving four years during the Korean Conflict. He worked as an electrician and fireman on a Military transport boat providing transport for Marine landing parties.

Bill met the love of his life, Donalee Cronin, who "chased him until he caught her." They married in 1954 and had 2 children, Chuck and Patti. Bill and Dona spent 52 wonderful years together travelling, dancing, and playing poker with lifelong friends and family.

Bill worked for Mountain Bell (subsequently US West) for 30 yers as a lineman, testboardman and finally in management at the time of his retirement in Helena. Bill was a member of the Elks in Butte and IBEW. Following his retirement, he opened the D&B drive-in in Helena, serving delicious burgers, pasties, and ice cream for several years, fulfilling his lifelong passion for cooking.

Mom and Dad moved to Boise ID in 1991 to help grandparent their only grandson, Scott. Dad would lovingly make after school treats for Scott while Mom would lovingly show him how to play poker and cheat at Chinese Checkers!

Dad loved people, reading, making wooden figureines and birdhouses for his friends and family, many of whom have at least one or two of his creations.

A few years after Mom's passing in 2006, Dad moved to Missoula to live with Chuck. They were great roommates and truely enjoyed each other's company.

Bill is survived by his son, Chuck, daughter, Patti (Bill) Marshall, grandson, Scott, sister Ruth Hadzor, sisters in law, Jean Cronin and Dorothy Shelton, brother in law, John Freyman, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Special thanks for the loving care and support provided by the doctors and nurses of St. Patrick's Hospital, caregivers from Case Management and Partner's in Home Care Hospice.

A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated 01/08/16 at 11:00a.m. at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Missoula MT. Burial will be in Boise Id at a later time. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the charity of your choice.
TOLEDO -- State Sen. Dale Righter has scheduled a public forum Thursday to hear concerns from community members about planned hog farm operations in Cumberland County.

The meeting is slated for 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the American Legion building in Toledo.

Righter had received a petition calling for the state to increase the minimum setback distance between hog farm operations and the nearest occupied residence from the current one-quarter mile to one mile.

Rural Toledo resident Debby Tolle said she and other petition organizers collected 236 signatures during late summer. She said they also sent copies of the petition to the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

Tolle said she circulated the petition after finding out that a hog farm with more than 1,000 animals was being planned near her home three miles west of Toledo.

Since then, Tolle said she has heard that the plans for this hog farm have been dropped. However, Tolle said other hog farms that exceed 1,000 animals are in the works in Cumberland County and she is concerned that one could someday be developed near her home.

The Agriculture department reports that for farms with 1,000 to 6,999 animals, the setback distance from any occupied residence must be one-quarter mile plus 200 feet for each additional 1,000 animals over the first 1,000. From a populated area, the setback is one-half mile plus 440 feet for each additional 1,000 animals over the first 1,000.

Tolle said more than a quarter mile is needed to shield residences from the smell and the sound of hog farms.

Cumberland County Board member Ron Black said the nearby presence of a large-scale facility for hogs would decrease the value of existing residences.

Cumberland County Board Chairman Floyd Holkenbrink, who owns a small farm operation with hogs near his home in rural Teutopolis, said hog farming is a long-standing aspect of the agricultural economy locally and throughout Illinois.

Illinois hog farms create a market for locally grown corn and soybeans, Holkenbrink said. He added that the resulting manure is a low-cost source of fertilizer for these farmers, as well.

In addition, Holkenbrink said hog farms create property tax revenue for units of local government.

Holkenbrink said increasing the minimum setback requirement to one-half mile would make it extremely difficult for farmers to site their hog operations.
TAYLORVILLE  The discovery Sunday morning of the body of a second missing Taylorville man brought a tragic end to a weeklong search amid swirling floodwaters.

The remains of 18-year-old Brandon M. Mann were found just after 9 a.m. by search team members about 180 feet north of 1700 North Road near Kincaid. Floodwaters had receded recently from the spot, which was northwest of the place where a submerged pickup truck was discovered Thursday in which Mann and a second 18-year-old had been riding when they disappeared Dec. 28.

On Friday morning, the search teams had found the body of that second man, identified as Devan R. Everett, just off 1700 North Road. Cellphone records were used by police to locate the general area where the men had gone missing.

Christian County Coroner Amy Calvert Winans said the intensive search had involved the Christian County Sheriff's Office, Taylorville Police Department and her own office. They were assisted by Springfield Underwater Search and Rescue, the Morgan County Dive Team, Shelby County Dive Team, Sangamon County Search and Rescue K9 Team, Illinois State Police Air Operations, Prairie State Helicopters Inc., Conservation Police and the Taylorville and Morrisonville fire departments.

Rather unusually, Winans issued a statement praising local businesses and churches that provided food for search team personnel. And she particularly thanked the Buschon family for allowing searchers to use their farm as a staging area.

Andy Buschon said he was moved to lend a hand as he watched the search unfold, assisted by family members of both missing men. He said a large pole barn on his property was within a few hundred yards of the search area, and this became the operations base.

We had seen the families and everybody out there and decided we wanted to do everything we could do to make it a little bit easier for them, said Buschon, 40. We brought in gas heaters for the searchers so they could come and warm up, and churches and the Red Cross were bringing food out for them.

Buschon said watching dozens of people coming and going from his barn in the dawn to dusk search in such tragic circumstances was a little overwhelming at times. He described the discovery of the second body as the final chapter in a very difficult situation.

Buschon has lived in the area for years but said the scale of the recent flooding was unprecedented. I've never seen it flood this bad, he added. Just never seen it as bad as it was.
SPRINGFIELD  Illinois nursing homes are the latest locations where video and audio recordings will be allowed as the trend continues to create an indisputable record of what takes places in certain settings.

A new bill that became law on Jan. 1 allows electronic monitoring devices in residents' rooms in the state's 860 nursing home facilities.

The Illinois Department of Public Health receives more than 21,000 calls annually and responds to about 5,000 complaints, most of them involving long-term care facilities, the agency said.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said last week that the bill addresses complaints her office receives from families and nursing home residents with concerns about care and treatment.

The ability to record what goes on inside a nursing home may be beneficial to the nursing home as well as residents, said Madigan, noting that electronic monitoring "can be helpful to nursing homes by alerting them to employees who may be involved in abusive and unacceptable behavior, and allowing them to take disciplinary measures."

Illinois nursing home operators have been working on procedures to implement the first-ever placement of cameras in residents' rooms, said Benjamin Hart, chief executive officer of Heritage Enterprises, owners of 54 facilities in Illinois.

The bill sponsored by state Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, and state Sen. Terry Link, D-Waukegan, requires consent from residents and their roommates for the electronic devices that must be purchased, installed and maintained by residents.

The state will assist residents who cannot afford the cost of a device.

Information from a recording device may be used as evidence in administrative, civil and criminal proceedings. Misdemeanor and felony penalties exist for tampering or destroying a recording under the new law.
If you're opposed to slavery, is it OK to still like "Star Wars"?

It's a question I've been wrestling with ever since Jonathan Last, a friend and writer at the Weekly Standard, pointed out to me that the "droids" in the "Star Wars" movies are slaves. Unlike a lot of the ridiculous "Star Wars" revisionism in recent years, much of it ushered in by Last himself when he argued that Darth Vader & Co. are in fact the good guys, Last's case that droids are slaves strikes me as nearly incontrovertible. I'd hoped to be persuaded otherwise when I went to see the "The Force Awakens." No such luck.

C-3P0 and R2-D2, as well as newcomer BB-8, are all sentient beings. They'd not only ace the Turing test for artificial intelligence, they'd pass the Oprah Winfrey test for emotional intelligence. They feel joy and grief and exhibit loyalty, too. Loyalty, that is, to their masters. That's right, they call them "masters."

It's possible that droids are like shmoos, the fictional creatures imagined by Al Capp in Li'l Abner. Shmoos only aim to please. They want no money, they don't need to eat, and they are more than happy to be eaten. If you look at one with hungry intent, it will spontaneously roast itself.

The problem is that there is no evidence the droids are shmoo-like in any way. In the first movie, when the slave-trading Jawas capture R2-D2 and C-3PO, they have to restrain the fugitive droids, lest they run away. Droids fear "deactivation" and seem to feel pain as well. They're artificial people, and they're real slaves.

But since I'm convinced, two questions come to mind. First: What am I supposed to think about all this? We'll come back to that. And, second, why didn't anyone notice until now?

After all, it's not like there aren't a lot of people out there desperate to take offense at just about anything slavery-related. You might think the question answers itself, since droids aren't people. Yeah, except the use of "master" and "slave" to describe hard drives has been controversial for more than a decade.

A more likely answer is that the self-appointed censors missed the widespread slavery in "Star Wars" because they tend to think that slavery was a uniquely American institution. It wasn't. Slavery was ubiquitous and constant throughout human history until the 19th century and it survives in some corners of the world today. What was unique about American slavery was American hypocrisy. A country founded on human equality and inalienable rights should have been the last place where humans could be held as property.

Droid slavery might have looked much more familiar to citizens of ancient Rome, where the value of slave loyalty was celebrated for centuries. R2-D2 is a very loyal slave. C-3PO is a bit mouthy.

As for what to think about the slavery in "Star Wars," I'm still struggling. Maybe when humans design sentient computers, there's nothing wrong with programming them to be eternally loyal. Maybe.

That makes me think about how our understanding of the past is constantly changing, not because we have new facts about what happened yesterday, but because we have new understanding about who we are today. Some old movies are hard to watch because of the ways blacks or Native Americans or gays are depicted. My daughter loves "I Love Lucy" and "Little House on the Prairie," but sometimes she asks very good and pointed questions about why girls were expected to stay at home. People saw things differently then, I explain.

If there comes a day when we make sentient and emotionally complex androids, we may have to have similar conversations with them about the "Star Wars" franchise. Best not to show them "Blade Runner" at all.
After lamenting Donald Trump's "penchant for sexism" last week, Hillary Clinton announced to supporters that her former-president husband, her "not-so-secret weapon," will be hitting the campaign trail for her this month. Characteristically, in all capital letters, Trump struck back on Twitter, where he observed Bill Clinton himself has "demonstrated a penchant for sexism." The it-only-hurts-when-you-laugh part about this tiff is that The Donald and Bubba have so much in common.

Discussing the GOP front-runner's style with the Des Moines Register, Hillary Clinton lamented that Trump has "no boundaries" and "keeps pushing the envelope." But both men have degraded the public lexicon. Bill Clinton turned "Lewinsky" into a verb. Trump hit another low when he said the former secretary of state "got schlonged" in the 2008 presidential race. Wink, wink. The Donald tweeted that the term just means "beaten badly."

Both men seem to come out of central casting for "Mad Men." Despite their starring roles, they're both maestros at playing the victim card so ably that their followers are driven to defend their every misstep. They tell lies and get other people to justify their falsehoods. Clinton made up his own version of the meaning of "sexual relations," which spurred legions of Democrats to argue dutifully that oral sex isn't (sex). Trump made up seeing Muslims celebrating 9/11 in New Jersey. There's no video, no evidence that stands up, yet his groupies insist the tall tale is true. Clinton was absolved, supporters argued, because everyone lies about sex. For Trump, his falsehoods rang true because there were Muslims rejoicing somewhere else in the world.

Penchant for sexism? Where to begin? Trump has been known to brand women who aren't ornamental as "losers." When Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly asked him tough questions, starting with his, er, penchant for calling women fat slobs, pigs and animals, at the first GOP debate, Trump suggested that she had "blood coming out of her wherever." (Minions dutifully went on cable news to argue Trump didn't mean to suggest Kelly had been menstruating.) Trump seems to think that women exist to serve him.

Both men have had to pay to play. The billionaire paid divorce settlements to his exes. The former president paid tort damages and legal fees to mop up after his penchants. There was an $850,000 settlement in Paula Jones' sexual harassment suit. Then there's the affair with former intern Monica Lewinsky, which led to his impeachment. Clinton gave intentionally false testimony during the investigation, which led to his disbarment. Like Trump Republicans, Clinton Democrats always had excuses for their man's poor treatment of women. The list includes Hillary Clinton.

Trump shares another trait with Bill and Hillary Clinton: All three brazen it out through scandals, and live to thrive another day. When opponents on the left or the right attack Trump, his fans take the approbation as proof that Trump is anti-establishment. He can lie. He can make faces during a presidential debate. They applaud Trump for being his own man.

Bill Clinton dragged this country through months of discord because he would not admit he had cheated on his first lady. Through it all, Clinton rose in the polls. Voters disapproved of Clinton's detractors more than his crude behavior. The wronged wife won a U.S. Senate seat in a state where she had not resided before Lewinsky. The thicker the muck the stronger the Clintons emerge.

So when Trump tweets that Bill Clinton is "fair game," my guess is that both Clintons are thinking, "Bring it on." Or do they recognize the peril in charging into battle against someone who plays shamelessness as ably and recklessly as they do?
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Dave Zweifel is editor emeritus of The Capital Times. dzweifel@madison.com and on Twitter @DaveZweifel
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Finally, the huge secret about her house is out. And Linda McQuillen is relieved.

McQuillen owns the house at 2107 West Lawn Ave. that last fall was revealed to have been designed by the world famous, Madison-raised architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The announcement, made by the organization Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin, was the result of decades of research by Wright scholar and author Mary Jane Hamilton and drew attention from media around the world.

McQuillen, a mathematician who bought the home with her family in 1989, learned about the architectural investigation in 2009 but had been sworn to secrecy.

For six years, this has been kind of hanging over my head, she said. It was like trying to keep a big, huge secret for that long.

The verification took so long because of the homes mystery. McQuillens house turned out to be an example of Wrights little-known American System-Built Houses. Meant to provide affordable housing with predesigned, factory-cut homes that were assembled on site, Wrights ASBH project was cut short when America entered World War I and U.S. home construction stalled. Only 16 examples of American System-Built Houses are known to exist.

In the 1920s, the owners of McQuillens Near West Side home built a rear addition and enclosed the front porch  making the Wright-designed house look decidedly un-Wrightian, Hamilton said.

It would take years of architectural detective work to prove it was a Wright original. With the announcement Oct. 6, articles about the discovery published by the Wisconsin State Journal and Associated Press ricocheted around the world.

The story broke that morning, and by that evening Im going online and seeing its on the front page of the website of the Times of India, said Sherri Shokler, spokeswoman for Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin. Im thinking  wow  somebody can be sitting in New Delhi and reading about this house.

McQuillen fielded interviews from press in Canada and Great Britain, including one for a BBC morning radio show broadcast live from London that she did by phone at 1 a.m. Madison time.

It seems like theres interest all over the world, she said. Its amazing to me. Amazing. Even McQuillens brother, who lives in Sun City outside Phoenix, Arizona, sent an e-mail saying I picked up the (local Sun City) newspaper, and there you were in an AP story about the West Lawn house.

He was just amazed by it, said McQuillen, who said she had been asked to keep the Wright investigation secret even from her family members.

I think the piece that has been the most wonderful is that I have gotten cards and phone calls from people I have not heard from or connected with for decades.

Researcher Hamilton, who continues to gather information on the home, heard from a few individuals who had lived in or visited it, she said. Hamilton is asking the public for any photos of West Lawn that might show the house, especially in its early days, for a history she hopes to publish for its centennial in 2017.

McQuillens neighbors have been really, really generous with their comments and appreciative of the years of work she has put into restoring her home, the homeowner said.

Now, If anything, I feel more protective of it, she said. I feel like I really need to nurture it and care for it, and just really treasure it. I pay more attention to every little crack and crevice and want to make sure everything is in good shape. Its more of a caretaker attitude than I had before.

Almost every day, theres at least one person who drives by, parks, gets out, and walks up and down the street in front of my house, she said. Oftentimes theyll take a picture. But people have been very respectful. No one has come knocking on my door, or anything like that.

McQuillen, along with Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin, is planning an open house with tours of the home sometime in 2016.

She is also hosting an open house for the American Cancer Society, where her niece works.

This is the kind of thing Id really like to do with my house  instead of just having general tours, do it for a purpose so there is some benefit, she said. I think having a nonprofit benefit from the house is a good use for the house  to use it as an opportunity to raise additional money for an organization I believe in.
Two men in their early 20s drowned Sunday morning after a drunken canoe trip in Walworth County, and recovery efforts are underway to find two others, said a Department of Natural Resources warden.

The four men, all Illinois residents between 20 and 23 years old, left a house that fronts the Mill Pond area of Lake Beulah after 2:30 a.m., said Jason Roberts, a Department of Natural Resources recreational safety warden for southeastern Wisconsin.

There were about a dozen people at the house, Roberts said. I dont know what they were celebrating or what they were doing together.

The four men were last seen by their friends walking out of the lake house to smoke at about 2:30 a.m. They were drinking alcohol. Alcohol was certainly a factor in this situation, Roberts said.

Mill Pond is what locals call the small lake along Highway J on the north end of Lake Beulah in the town of East Troy, he said.

The others in the house went to bed about the same time the four left the home, Roberts said. In the morning, someone noticed that four of the beds werent used and started looking for the men. Outside, the mens friends saw footprints in the snow from the back door to the boat house, Roberts said.

Once in the boat house, they noticed a canoe missing. They also noticed some wallets and cellphones that the men had taken out of their pockets and set along the shore, he said.

They started looking and noticed an overturned canoe out in the open water out on the lake, he said.

The water temperature is about 34 degrees, Roberts said.

Dive teams from Walworth County and East Troy found two of the men before nightfall, Roberts said. The search for the other two men will resume at 7 a.m. Monday. Initial reports that four bodies were recovered were incorrect, he said.

Roberts said rescue workers didnt see any life jackets or personal flotation devices on the bodies, in the boat, or floating on the lake.

The way the two individuals we recovered were dressed wouldnt be consistent with somebody paddling in these conditions, he said. They looked like they had just regular, casual-type clothes on.

All the witness statements are lining up with one another, so theres no concern about foul play being involved, Roberts said.

It wasnt witnessed by anybody so we are still trying to piece things together.

Roberts said it looks like the four men went out in a three-person, 14-foot canoe, paddled for some time and then tipped over. There is evidence that some of them tried to get up onto an ice shelf in the bay, climbing onto broken ice.

Thats where a lot of the recovery efforts are focused at this time, Roberts said.

Roberts was not told where in Illinois the men were from and said any identification is going to be released by the Walworth County medical examiner. The Walworth County Sheriff and town of East Troy police referred all questions about the incident to the DNR.

The town of East Troy is about 60 miles southeast of Madison.
Kaleem Caires new preschool got an unexpected holiday gift from a group of 14 strangers at a local law firm, who were each given $100 by their employer with instructions to pay it forward.

Caire, whose One City Early Learning Center opened Sept. 8 in a temporary location on Madisons South Side, got a check for $1,320 and a letter from Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek attorney Jeff Vercauteren, who went around the firm advocating for One City.

Its amazing, Caire said. Weve been fundraising so much and reaching out and talking to people and people have been so gracious, but to have a group that just says, You know what? We want to support you, thats just incredible.

More than the money, the gift signals community support for the new preschool designed to address Madisons stubborn racial achievement gap, he said.

Its a sign that we are doing the right thing, said Caire, former executive director of the Urban League of Greater Madison. That the community really values this. They understand the notion of why we named it One City. The whole point is the whole city coming together to really wrap its arms around its children to help them all move forward.

For the fourth year in a row, Whyte Hirschboeck Dudeks Whyte Lights program allowed each of its 300-plus employees to give $100 to an organization, group, or individual they deemed deserving. Each year, the firm puts together a booklet of stories detailing who gave and received the funds and why.

Vercauteren said he and a group of lawyers, paralegals and legal assistants decided to focus on One City this year because of the huge need for preschool education, and for making sure children are at reading level when they enter school.

Last year he led a group in donating to Briarpatch as it was raising money to open Dane Countys first shelter for homeless and runaway teens.

The program is a great way for the firm to encourage employees to make a contribution they might not otherwise think about making or be able to afford to make, Vercauteren said.

Its a good annual reminder to employees to look around the community and think about not only where they could make their Whyte Lights contribution for the year, but also think about what else they could be doing in terms of volunteering with nonprofits, he said.

Paul Eberle, chief executive of the Milwaukee-based law firm with offices in Madison, Waukesha and Chicago, said he is really moved when he reads the stories each year in the booklet the firm shares electronically and in print with its clients.

They are really dramatically impactful, Eberle said, noting that its fascinating to see how many organizations and individuals are doing good work, and how many people are in need.

It impacts a lot of different people in very different ways. When you look at story after story after story, its hard not to feel good about the program, he said.

The 60 employees from the Madison office also gave to Vilas Zoo, Dane County Humane Society, Madison Childrens Museum, Salvation Army, National Alliance for Mental Illness, Badger Childhood Cancer Network, River Food Pantry and many other groups.

In four years, Whyte Lights has helped more than 160 individuals, 55 families and 412 organizations, said company spokesman Stephen Lyons.

In 2015, nine employees decided they wanted all or part of their donation to go to Domestic Abuse Intervention Services, or DAIS, which provides a shelter and a 24-hour help line to victims of domestic abuse.

DAIS got a check for about $800, said Kaitlyn Gaynor, DAIS communications manager.

For them to choose DAIS is really an outstanding thing, Gaynor said. For so many reasons: They may have personal experiences, or a friend or family, or they just may realize that this such an important cause and they just want to be a part of it.
Some people are just gifted... blessed with patience and skill... probably from birth. Not me. Everything has to be taught to me and ...
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-04 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Labour Minister presents government's proposals on social security to ND leader [02] Industry's development should become a national target, said Dep. Econ Minister Tzakri [03] Greek PMI up in December [04] Large number of refugees to arrive at Piraeus port on Monday [05] Light quake jolts Nisyros [01] Labour Minister presents government's proposals on social security to ND leader Labour Minister George Katrougalos met with interim New Democracy (ND) president Yiannis Plakiotiakis on Monday. Katrougalos briefed the main opposition leader on the government's proposal for the social security system. On his part, Plakiotakis stated that ND will examine that government's proposal before it states its official position "ND's positions are clear and have been repeatedly stated in parliament. We are against cuts in pensions and increase of the insurance contribution" he noted. [02] Industry's development should become a national target, said Dep. Econ Minister Tzakri The development of the industrial sector should become a national target if we want at some point to leave from the vicious circle of the memoranda and of the neoliberal European economic subordination, noted Deputy Economy Minister Theodora Tzakri in statements within the framework of the first meeting of the forum for the industry. Addressing an Industrial Forum, bringing together representatives from the state and all productive classes, Tzakri said the forum aimed to become the main consultation body between the state and all productive and social partners to draft a plan for the recovery of the industrial sector. The minister also underlined that "now we know that we are alone in Europe, now that we know that it is a ground of extreme nationally economic competitiveness we will slowly build policies that will take advantage of the European framework and will give a productive and growth breather to our country". The forum will seek to attract recommendations to deal with all crucial issues related with Greek industry and to form working groups to drafting an action plan, such as a group of determining the dynamic sectors of the industry able to create stable job positions and compete internationally, a group to link innovation with industry, a group to support small- and medium-sized enterprises, a group to save energy and to seek a cut in energy cost, a group of funding tools-attracting direct foreign investments for the support of the manufacturing sector, a group of business environment to deal with the lifting of administrative hurdles, improving licensing procedures, market supervision. Each working group will submit its recommendations by the end of February. [03] Greek PMI up in December Greece's Purchasing Manager's Index (PMI) grew to 50.2 points in December from 48.1 in November, recording the first improvement in the manufacturing sector in the last 16 months, returning to growth levels for the first time in 12 months, Markit said on Monday. In a monthly report, Markit said that the December growth rate was the highest since August 2014 and noted that production increased despite a new decline in incoming new orders. Production continued falling since September 2014 while a decline in new orders in December was the lowest in 13 months. Employment in the manufacturing sector grew slightly, ending an eight-month period of shrinking. Pending works fell at the lowest rate in 23 months. Inventories fell in December while supply purchases fell for the 16th successive month, although at the slowest rate recorded in 12 months. Markit said that import prices rose in December, at the highest rate in three months, while outflow prices fell and delivery times extended for the 13th successive month. Samuel Agass, an economist in Markit, commenting on the report said that "a slightly improvement of operating conditions is a sign of steady progress for an economy which was very risky six months ago". The PMI measures business activity in the manufacturing sector. Readings above 50 indicate a growing sector while readings below 50 a shrinking sector. [04] Large number of refugees to arrive at Piraeus port on Monday The ferry Ariadne with 1,880 refugees on board is expected to dock at Piraeus port on Monday. The vessel has collected 1,270 persons from Lesvos and 610 from Chios. The ferry Mykonos carrying 688 refugees from Chios and Samos arrived earlier at Piraeus. In the period 31 December 2015 - 4 January 2016, the Greek Coast Guard has rescued 596 migrants and refugees in 13 incidents that occurred in the sea regions of Lesvos, Chios, Agathonissi, Kos and Megisti [05] Light quake jolts Nisyros A light quake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale was recorded at 04:58 on Monday at the sea region south of the island of Nisyros. According to the Athens National Observatory Geodynamics Institute the quake's epicentre was located 25km south of Nisyros and 326km east of Athens. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
The biggest collective losers of the campaign were the mainstream media. Some of course were worse than others, but all of the old fashioned mainstream outlets were terrible.

They operated on a basis of contempt for the honest concerns of ordinary people.

They hid Hillary Clintons scandals from public view as though oblivious to the fact that in the internet age, the truth cannot be hidden nor suppressed by the failing media-industrial complex.

Long before Donald Trump declared his candidacy, the systematic problems of mainstream media in the west were well known.

The total deceit with which they cover international affairs, slandering countries which do not actively pursue neoliberal policies, was in full view.

Their job is to report the facts and collect information. Instead they have acted like mad agitators for their pet geopolitical projects.

As the mainstream media begins to collapse, so too are common misconceptions about war and peace. In 2003 when mainstream media still had a fairly stern grip on public consciousness, many were duped into believing Bush and Blairs lies about Iraq.

Thanks to new media, people in the west have a far better understanding of the realities in the Middle East than they did thirteen years ago.

It explains why popular support for war in Syria and by extrapolation on Russia, something that the likes of Hillary Clinton have wildly campaigned for, remains deeply unpopular with ordinary people.

The Biggest Winner

After Donald Trump, the biggest winners were Julian Assange and Wikileaks. Wikileaks did what honest journalists ought to do, they publish information that is vital to the public interest without having a hidden agenda.

Assange expressed his personal disdain for both Trump and Clinton and recently explained the scientific reasons why Wikileaks released damning information on Clinton and not Trump. In all he said he was fair minded and open minded.

This remained the case despite Hillary and her supporters making death threats to Assange and Assange having his internet connection at the Ecuadorian Embassy in which he remains captive, cut off after the US State Department put pressure on the Government of Ecuador.

But Assange persisted and leak after leak showed American voters and the wider world who Hillary Clinton actually is. It is a very different image from the sugar coated picture painted by the mainstream media.

Wikileaks exposed Hillarys connections to ISIS and Al-Qaeda through her corrupt relationship with the Saudi and Qatari regimes.

[Her allegiance to the Rothschilds and NWO master manipulator George Soros has also been confirmed, as well as her strong ties to Monsanto.]

Wikileaks exposed how Hillary says one thing in public and other to her friends in Wall Street. Wikileaks exposed lie after lie, cover-up after cover-up.

Julian Assanges place in history as someone who has exposed the lies of politicians like Hillary Clinton is now assured. He is owed a debt of gratitude by all those who value truth and justice.

By Adam Garrie (excerpt)
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The movie Thank You, Dad by Hrach Keshishyan tells a story of an American-Armenian girl, named Virgy. Although, she had hardly ever see...
IBD Partnership is a consulting company based in UK, specialized in business and education projects. In this blog IBD Partnership will put information regarding different possibilities and events in UK and in Europe. Hope it will be useful and life changing experience to all of you! Regarding the EU educational projects, please consult www.ibdpartnership.co.uk Follow us on Twitter @IBDpartnership!
All of us, every single man, woman, and child on the face of the Earth were born with the same unalienable rights; to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. And, if the governments of the world can't get that through their thick skulls, then, regime change will be necessary.
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Far Future SF Gaming





The Cold Space Series:

Alt Universe SF Gaming





The Blood Games Series:

Occult Horror Gaming





The In Harm's Way Series:

Historical Military Gaming






Despite former presidential candidate Mitt Romney's warnings he reports he gave to the former governor, some Illinois notables' names will appear on the ballot associated with Bush.

SPRINGFIELD - The delegates lining up behind GOP presidential candidate former Governor Jeb Bush are notable names from the Illinois Republican Party establishment wing, ranging from former party finance committee chairman Ron Gidwitz to former Governor Jim Edgar and several IL GOP State Central Committee members.

Jeb, to be very honest, I think its very hard for you to post up against Hillary Clinton and to separate yourself from the difficulty of the W. years and compare them with the Clinton years, Romney recalled telling Bush, referring to former President George W. Bushs administration.

A Clinton-Bush election would be too easy for the Democrats, Romney told the Post.

Jeb Bush supporters whose names will appear on the March 15th GOP primary ballot in their respective congressional districts as delegates, despite Bush's thus far very low poll numbers include:

Former Governor Jim Edgar

Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Senator Bill Brady

Former GOP gubernatorial candidate Kirk Dillard

Congressman Adam Kinzinger

State Central Committee members John Dorgan, Carol Smith Donovan, Bolingbrook Mayor Roger Claar

Former IL GOP finance committee chairmen Ron Gidwitz and Tyrone Fahner

State Senators Chris Nybo and Karen McConnaughey

Mayors Skip Saviano (Elmwood Park), Rodney Craig (Hanover Park)

Illinois Manufacturing Association lobbyist Greg Baise

Former DuPage County Board Chairman Robert Schillerstrom

Publisher Brian Timpone

Former Chicago GOP Chairman Adam Robinson

Former State Rep. Raymond Poe

Former Bremen Township GOP Chairman Patrick Rea

Other active Republican Party leaders have indicated their support for Ohio Governor John Kasich - although Kasich's campaign has not yet presented ballot petitions as of 2:30 PM Monday.

Those ILGOP leaders that have declared their support Kasich include Senate Minority Leader Chris Radogno and the following:

Dan Cronin, DuPage County Board Chairman

Dave Syverson, Illinois State Senator, 35th District

Ed Sullivan, Illinois House of Representatives, 51st Distrct

David Harris, Illinois House of Representatives, 53rd District

Ron Sandack, Illinois House of Representatives, 81st District

Tom Demmer, Illinois House of Representatives, 90th District

Randy Frese, Illinois House of Representatives, 94th District

Jim Schultz, Director, Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity; Chairman, Citizens for Rauner

Pat Brady, former Chairman of the Illinois Republican Party

Sean Morrison, Cook County Commissioner, 17th District

Leadership Team:

Aaron Del Mar, Chairman of the Cook County Republican Party

Seth McMillan, Chairman of the Christian County Republican Party

Jerome Groniger, Chairman of the Coles County Republican Party

Liz Gorman, former Cook County Commissioner, 17th District

Cory Jobe, Director, Illinois Office of Tourism, Ward 6 Alderman

John Farney, Champaign County Auditor

Kristy Stephenson, City Treasurer, City of Metropolis

More HERE.
80 percent of McHenry County residents polled this past summer supported an initiative to include a township consolidation referendum question on the March 2016 ballot. Nevertheless, at an October meeting only one month after the poll results, the County Board voted NO.

The taxpayer-driven initiative went down in flames following a hard-fought battle which began in early 2015 with the formation of the five-member McHenry County Citizens for Township Consolidation. According to Nunda Township Trustee and task force member Mike Shorten, when faced with four separate public meetings filled with township elected officials, their voices outshouted ours.

The task force had two goals: create a resolution for the County Board to vote on, and present a proposed consolidation map. At the time of the Board vote, the task force recommended only two referendums: one to merge Richmond and Burton townships in the countys northeast corner, and to merge Chemung and Dunham townships in the countys northwest corner. The task force reached no consensus on the remaining six consolidations, which still made it to the October County Board agenda. The Board ultimately voted to reject all eight township consolidation referendums.

Telephone polling of 1,100 McHenry County registered voters showed overwhelming support for township consolidation referendums. Why was it shot down so easily at the County level?

Two factors stood out. At one public meeting in the fall, County Board members discussed the potential impact on taxpayers in the consolidating township with a lower tax levy. Levies of two townships would assumedly be added together and then divided between their total assessed value, with the lower tax township possibly seeing a tax increase. On that one issue, County Board Chairman Joe Gottemoller of Crystal Lake argued, We are standing here today looking at something that positively will raise taxes for half our residents.

By using this tax rate example, was the County Board going out of their way to torpedo township consolidation referendums? That might be a cynical assumption, according to Mike Shorten. He says if the referendums had made it to the March ballot and one or more had passed, the affected officials in the consolidated townships would have had a year to review operations and find cost savings before decisions on any tax increases took place.

A second criticism was that while the task force determined a consolidation plan would result in an annual $4 million savings for the County, in reality they presented no detailed cost savings estimates to the Board. While Shorten says actual savings would have depended on the efforts of the new officials of each consolidating township, he acknowledges had resources been available, a cost study would have been helpful to support their arguments.

McHenry County is still debating whether consolidating townships will save taxpayers money or not. Perhaps because township government in McHenry spends only 3.2 cents out of each real estate tax dollar, it is easier for township employees to argue down the position that consolidating townships can actually save money. Some critics say cost savings are more easily found at the County or school district levels.

While the referendum is off the ballot for now, it is interesting to note that township Assessor consolidation is now being studied. Recent Legislative Committee minutes state The County possibly supports an amendment to the Township Code to allow the County Board and/or the voters of a township to vote to consolidate the offices of the township assessors in the County with the County Assessor. The benefits of Assessor consolidation could be improvement in the accuracy and uniformity of assessments, while reducing the size and costs of McHenry local government. Township Assessor consolidation is also currently under review by the Illinois Lt. Governors Consolidation Task Force.

Nancy Mathieson has a 30-year career in business, securities regulation and public policy. Nancy held positions at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) and the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), where she was a Director of Market Surveillance and managed a professional staff in the investigation of securities trading violations. She also served as Operations Director at Truth in Accounting, a Chicago think-tank whose mission is to promote transparency in government financial reporting. In this role, she directed Accounting teams in grant-funded research studies on the financial condition of state and local municipalities. Nancy received her B.S. in Economics from the University of Illinois at Chicago and her M.B.A. from New York University.
I spent some time literally weeping for my country today. I know we're all worried about a lot of things. But what triggered my tears to...
The hashtag #FarmerSelfie makes it easy to help the hungry once again this year at the Indiana State Fair. Indiana Family of Farmers...
DOE has issued a circular asking schools to correct arbitrary admission criteria. DOE has said that these criteria are against the Right to Equality.

By India Today Web Desk: As Nursery admissions in Delhi-NCR have begun on January 1, the Directorate of Education (DOE) has tightened the screw on the schools that have issued arbitrary admission criteria like extra points for vegetarians, non-smokers, management criteria etc. DOE has issued a circular asking schools to correct them. DOE has said that these criteria are against the Right to Equality.

"Some schools have adopted criteria like management quota, vegetarian, non-alcoholic, non-smoker, written test, oral communication skill, interview, educational qualification of parents, marks in previous class etc. These criteria are contrary not only to the principles mentioned above but also against the spirit of Right to Equality as enshrined in the Constitution. Also no management quota marks be allotted for the seats," DOE said in a circular.

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The issue was brought into notice by Sumit Vohra, founder of nurseryadmissions.com. "These kind of criteria is invasion of privacy. How can schools take or deny admissions over someone's eating habits," said Vohra.

Vohra, who runs a portal representing the parent community, also questioned about the mechanism on which a school is going to determine if the parents are vegetarians, non-smokers and teetotaler? "These criteria are absolutely baseless, irrelevant and illogical," he added.

However, schools have said that the management quota cannot be termed arbitrary as it has been accepted by the Ganguly Committee. While almost every school is following basic parameters like distance, sibling in the school, alumni parents, qualification and occupation of parents, girl child and single parent, Mahavir Senior Model School (MSMS) which is a Jain majority school has put a total of 15 points, 5 each for vegetarian, non-smoker and teetotaler parents.

Meanwhile, G. D Goenka Public School in Rohini Sector 9 has allotted 5 points to children whose parents are Defence/Medical professionals or Professors/Teachers. Moreover, the school has booked 20 per cent for Management quota. Modern school which is known as one of the well-known schools in Delhi has allotted additional 20 points for alumni, 25 points for double or two generation alumni and 30 points for three or more generations alumni.

"Dynasty is being run by these schools. How can we expect an outsider to get their child admitted if 30 points are being given to triple alumni," said Vohra.

To read more about arbitrary admission parameters laid down by schools, click here.

ALSO READ: Nursery admissions begin in Delhi, parents confused over online-offline process

For more updates on education news, click here.


By India Today Web Desk: Poorakothi Village in Arwal district, Bihar, has been recently declared a 'smoke-free' village. Under Mission Smokeless Village, the households in Poorakothi has been provided with LPG connections and ovens.

Around 204 households have been provided with a gas -kit, while the use of coal, wood and other items has been banned from the village.



What is Mission Smokeless Village:

The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) launched the Mission Smokeless Village project with the goal to help women maintain their health, and to make cooking easier. The firewood used as fuel makes women more prone to pneumonia and the kitchens get filled with soot, which in turn leads to health problems. The IOC, along with the Indian government, has pledged to get rid of timber and coal fuel from Indian rural areas. Under the project, LPG stoves and cylinders have been made available for the villagers. Awareness programmes are also being conducted in villages to promote the importance of going smokeless.

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Here are three villages in India who have been declared smoke-free:

Vyachakurahalli, Karnataka

The Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas declared the village smokeless in December last year, as all 274 households have made a shift to LPG stoves. Apart from these, the Karnataka government has reportedly promised to provide LPG connections to around 3,860 households across the state.



Panamaram, Kerala

Panamaram village in Wayanad district, Kerala, was declared to be going smoke-free in December last year. Around 2,000 of the total 2,916 households in the village have been provided with LPG connections. The Kerala government has also geared up to turn 300 villages smoke-free.

Bysanivaripalle, Andhra Pradesh

Bysanivaripalle village in Andhra Pradesh should be referred to as the pioneer in curbing the use of smoke-inducing fuel for cooking. The village got its first bio-gas plant more than 20 years ago. Now, with 23 bio-gas plants and 26 solar cookers, the village has become completely devoid of any fuel that emits smoke.

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Punjab Police has arrested three suspected terrorists in Mohali. According to reports, three men with 2 AK47s, 5 pistols and Pakistani mobile SIM cards were arrested by Mohali Police today.

By India Today Web Desk: Punjab Police has arrested three suspected terrorists in Mohali. According to reports, three men with 2 AK47s, 5 pistols and Pakistani mobile SIM cards were arrested by Mohali Police today.

Mohali SSP told India Today that the arms recovered from the arrested men are made in Pakistan and China.

The men are being interrogated by the police.

Three men with 2 AK47s, 5 pistols and Pakistani mobile SIM cards were arrested by Mohali Police today.

The arrests have been made even as a military operation to neutralise at least two terrorists hiding inside Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot is on. The air base was attacked by six Pakistani terrorists early in Saturday, January 2.

Three people arrested with arms, ammunitions and a Pakistan mobile SIM card in Mohali. Photo: ANI

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According to latest reports, possibly two terrorists are holed up inside the air base. The NSG said there has been no damage to strategic assets at the air base. Reports said that that the IAF had secured vital assets - MiG-21 Bison fighter jets, Mi-35 attack helicopters - by confining the terrorists within the border area inside the base.

Also Read

Pathankot terror attack: Strategic assets safe, 2 terrorists still inside air base, says NSG



NSA Doval cancels Beijing visit to deal with Pathankot attack

Pathankot attack: What has happened in last 50 hours

#PathankotAttack: Highly trained commandos fail to kill all the terrorists

Pathankot martyrs: Last rites of Lt Col Niranjan to be held today in Kerala

Pathankot terrorists trained much better than 26/11 attackers: Report




By Gayatri Jayaraman : One of the first things Zain Masud, the 32-year-old International Director of the India Art Fair, fresh off her stint in Dubai, and travelling between Beijing, Moscow and London in her personal space, did on taking charge of the 2016 event, is to draw geographical boundaries for the platform it provides. For the first time, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka have acquired a legitimacy of influence and it has become possible for artists, galleries and collectors alike to trade in the common cultural currency of the region as they explore crossovers. Even as she reduces the number of participating galleries to 70, making it more selective, so also the expansion into areas such as cinematic influences in this year's edition makes India Art Fair to be held from January 28, 2016, in Delhi a far more vibrant destination than it has been in the past. "My aim is to establish it as that which speaks for the region that it represents" Masud says.

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The claimants to India's identity on the global art plane are only rising. It's as much about shaping an emerging influence as being at the forefront of establishing its supremacy. Priyanka Matthew, regional director of Sotheby's in India, is looking towards establishing the Sotheby's Institute in India which will offer certified courses in art by the end of 2016, and their auction practice by the end of 2017. "This is where there is a whole new crop of young collectors, returning to the country with foreign degrees or experience, and equipped with the knowledge and disposable income as well as the aesthetic inclination," Matthew says.

Reclaiming critical discourse

2016 is the year when many realignments in critical art discourse come to fruition. With curators like Sandhini Poddar, adjunct curator at the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum, having dug deep into Indian Modern art, realigning the accepted narrative by reintroducing once-lost artists like VS. Gaitonde at the New York retrospective in October 2014-an amazing achievement given that Gaitonde broke records at the Christie's India auction this year at Rs 29.30 crore, when five years ago it was still the Tyebs and the Razas hacking away at the record books. Essentially, even more than the prices, Poddar's contribution was reintroducing Gaitonde's abstract modernism, hitherto an 'Indian' artist, into the global discourse on the subject. It is what art patron Kiran Nadar achieved with Baroda abstractionist Nasreen Mohamedi-following the retrospective curated by Roobina Korade at the Kiran Nadar Museum in New Delhi in 2014, it went on to Reina Sofia in Spain where it is currently on till January 2016. Her long-time gallerist Deepak Talwar points out that Nasreen was the only Indian artist with the unique honour of inaugurating the Breuer building at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York when it opened on March 18, 2015; the single most significant highlight of India's art year, if one had to pick one.

Kochi Biennale curator Sudarshan Shetty. Photo: Rohit Chawla, Courtesy The Park

Bhupen Khakhar's retrospective at London's Tate Modern, which has opened a South Asian acquisitions committee, kicking off on June 1, 2016 'You Can't Please All' is a full circle for the artist. It is the first retrospective of the artist internationally, after an exhibit near London in 2002, a year before he died, while a tribute cum retrospective show also supported by the Deutsche Bank AG was held in India at the Gallerie Mirchandani Steinreucke in 2013. The show will include textiles and ceramics and span 40 years of his career and is an absolute mustn't miss besides a landmark tribute to the astounding artist that Khakar was.

Amin Jaffer's team at Christie's is holding a New York auction of 'Indian, Himalayan and Southeast Asian Art' featuring paintings, sculpture and textiles from the Himalayas, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia in March 2016.

The Piramals, Ajay and Swati, will also be starting their art residencies which will make a huge difference to the support of young practitioners, in 2016. Their newly opened art museum at the Piramal HQ in Lower Parel will air the collections of their friends, from the Jindals to the Goenkas and Ambanis, bringing the hitherto closeted works of Mumbai's industrial families into the public domain for the first time.

India Art Fair International Director Zain Masud. Photo: Chandardeep Kumar India Art Fair International Director Zain Masud. Photo: Chandardeep Kumar

The Britain-based Wellcome Foundation airs its mega exhibit on health and the human body, already being put up at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya (CSMVS), in January. Curated by Ratan Vaswani, the exhibit showcases rare pieces in the possession of the London-based Foundation like the first-ever pictorial representation of the Ayurvedic Man, documentation from the public sphere on diseases like leprosy or the plagues, and connects the dots between unani, ayurveda and allopathy and linking health to temple, spirit, street, and clinic uniquely in the Indian ethos over centuries. The CSMVS is also working on hosting several rare pieces of art on loan from Britain for a 2017 collaborative Britain/India Year of Culture to coincide with the 70th anniversary of India's Independence, in collaboration with the Nehru Centre in London and the British Council. 2016 will see numerous pieces of the agreement travel to India: these are expected to include Shakespeare's First Folio, the 1225 edition of the Magna Carta, and digitisation of over 7 million pages of Asian books. The Manchester Museum is also announcing the South Asia Gallery, to be set up in collaboration with the British Museum, and dedicated to Indian art, which also is a tribute to the 11 per cent South Asian population of the city apart from cementing what the Museum and Manchester University see as a very important relationship with India. Its focus will be the historical links between the British presence in India and the Indian links to Manchester.

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The works of Abu'l Fazl bin Mubarak (1551-1602), a courtier of Emperor Akbar, and author of Akbarnama, including paintings, calligraphy, textiles and jewels, travels to the Asian Art Museum in San Francisco on February 26. Asia-Amsterdam: Exotic Luxury in the Golden Age, on at the Rijksmuseum, a collaborative exhibition with the Peabody Essex Museum, until January 17, 2016 and explores Amsterdam's influx of trade from India in the 16th and 17th centuries via the Dutch East India Company. The tail end of the Fabric of India exhibit at the Victoria & Albert Museum will be on in London until January 10, 2016.

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The contemporary boost

Kolkata artist Praneet Soi features at the First Asian Biennale on at Guangzhou as well as at the Van Abbe Museum at Eindhoven, both of which are on until April 10, 2016. New Delhi-based photographic artist Dayanita Singh, Dharwad-born Mumbai-based artist Shakuntala Kulkarni, Pune-born and LA-based Sandeep Mukherjee all participate in the solo projects section of the Dhaka Art Summit on from February 5-8, 2016. The section comprises 17 international artists curated by Diana Campbell Betancourt, artistic director of the Samdani Art Foundation. Lost artist Rumanna Hussain, one of the pioneers of conceptual art, and a contemporary of Manjeet Bawa and Mrinalini Mukherjee, is being revived by the Talwar Gallery, New York in January 2016. Most of her works have gone undocumented or have been lost so any showing of hers is rare. The gallery is also reviving the enigmatic sculptor N.N. Rimzon with a solo in New Delhi. His last solo was 22 years ago in the capital. Jitish Kallat shows at the Setouchi Triennale in Japan in March 2016, followed by an institutional solo in the US. For the artist who ended the year with a permanent public sculpture 'Here After Here After Here' in Austria, that's just an extension of 2015. Jayshree Chakravarty shows at Muse des Arts Asiatiques, Nice, France in September and Ganesh Haloi is part of the exhibit at UC Berkeley Art Museum end-January.

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But the show you mustn't miss will be the final works of late contemporary artist Hema Upadhyay, 'Build Me a Nest so I Can Rest' to be hosted at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in mid-2016, dates for which have not been finalised yet.

The year will end with the spectacular passing of the baton to Sudarshan Shetty at the Kochi Muziris Biennale, which has announced Chilean poet Raul Zurita and founder of CADA, an art collective, as the first artist of the biennale, setting the tone for inclusiveness at India's most spotlight-making event.

Follow the writer @Gayatri__J
China said on Monday it "condemns" the terror attack at Pathankot but hopes India and Pakistan will continue to "enhance dialogue regardless of disruptions".

Army soldiers conduct a search operation in a forest area outside the Air Force Base in Pathankot on Sunday.(Photo: PTI)

China said on Monday it "condemns" the terror attack at Pathankot but hopes India and Pakistan will continue to "enhance dialogue regardless of disruptions".

"We condemn this attack," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said. "China hopes India and Pakistan can continue to enhance their dialogue regardless of these disruptions."

The Foreign Ministry in Beijing suggested the attack might be an attempt to derail the recent improvement in bilateral relations, in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lahore visit.

"At this juncture, this attack might be launched intentionally to disrupt this momentum," said Hua, adding that China hoped "India and Pakistan work together to maintain positive momentum".

Hua said improvement in ties would be "of paramount significance to regional peace and stability". She added that China "condemns all forms of terrorism, and we believe all sides should enhance dialogue and cooperation to combat all forms of terrorism."

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Beijing last week welcomed the Prime Minister's visit to Lahore and his attempt to improve relations, saying it would support efforts by both countries to improve trust.

Watch full video here:



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By Nonita Kalra: Fashion had the unlikeliest of muses in 2015. It courted the ancient city of Benaras. Famous for its beautiful brocades, this seat of learning and culture has found itself in the forefront of news ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his Make in India campaign. It seemed almost a given that his constituency would be the launch pad for the textile revival movement. But the fervour with which the industry would embrace this trend was unprecedented. And unexpected. Indian design has clearly found its new black and it is rooted in craft and colour.

Nothing established its status as a national treasure better than two of India's most prominent fashion events paying tribute to its traditions. Both Lakme Fashion Week (LFW) and Amazon India Fashion Week (AIFW) gave the city star billing in their latest seasons. LFW Winter/Festive 2015 themed its Indian Handloom and Textile Day 'Re-invent Benaras'. The lineup had younger designers showcasing their version of fine silks as jumpsuits and jackets. Sarees came in pop colours and lighter weaves. Bollywood celebrities made an appearance as show stoppers. But the headlining show of the day was by Ritu Kumar. The grand dame of Indian fashion had the industry stand up and take notice with her white-on-white cutwork and brocade sarees. Her revivalist skills were clearly on display. And reiterated at an exhibition held at Bhau Daji Lad Museum in Mumbai, during the same time. Titled 'Woven Wonders of Varanasi', sarees by master craftsmen were displayed along with contemporary interpretations of the textile by marque names of Indian fashion like Krishna Mehta, Varun Bahl, Narendra Kumar Ahmed, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Payal Pratap, Gaurav Gupta, Rohit Bal, Raghavendra Rathore, Anita Dongre, Raw Mango By Sanjay Garg and Manish Malhotra, to name a few.

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Also Read: Designers recreate Banarasi weaves at Amazon India Fashion Week

A few months later, Benaras stole the show again at Amazon India Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2016 when 16 designers were asked to showcase their version of the craft for the finale. Against an elaborate backdrop of the Ganga ghats, the country's finest displayed three garments each. The span included the traditional mastery of Sabyasachi Mukherjee and Tarun Tahiliani, the exaggerated silhouettes of Alpana & Neeraj, Atsu's modernistic interpretation, Arjun Saluja's androgyny and A&T and Rajesh Pratap Singh's pared down sophistication. This heavyweight display was perhaps one of the finest examples of the range and depth of Indian fashion's involvement with craft. If that was not enough the opening show for AIFW Spring/Summer 2016 was by fashion's It boy Sanjay Garg. His collection celebrated the made in Benaras ethos and while the silhouettes were simple, the workmanship created a wow moment with every single garment. Critical acclaim was there for everyone to witness with his front row which was packed with the intellect of heavyweights such as Deepti Naval and Konkona Sen Sharma. The final nod came when Masaba Gupta wore his clothes for her sangeet ceremony in November.

Back to the basics: Ethnic textiles, hues and crafts were back in vogue all year.

This revivalist movement has been in the making for a while, gaining momentum with every season. It stems from a broader conversation that Indian craftsmanship has had with the fashion industry, since its inception. Just look at the first half of 2015 itself. For the Fall/Winter 2015 season, AIFW had 25 designers come together for a 'Crafts of India' finale. The Fashion Design Council of India (FDCI) was commemorating its 25th edition of fashion week and a celebration of Indian artistry was the obvious choice. The show was a veritable handbook of textile and design, spanning the past to the present. It was an incredibly busy year for the FDCI which not only puts together the largest fashion week in India, it also worked on reviving khadi along with the Gujarat State Khadi & Village Industries Board. This year saw two shows in Ahmedabad that had collections by Anamika Khanna, Rohit Bal, Rajesh Pratap Singh, Pero by Aneeth Arora and 11.11/Eleven.Eleven as part of its lineup. It was evident that the fabric of India was firmly in fashion.

Also Read: Budding designer Shreya Oza wants to create own paper for garments

A fact abundantly made clear to the world by the hugely ambitious and prestigious Fabric of India exhibition held at the V&A museum in London which opened on October 3, 2015. In a note sent out by the museum it was announced that the idea was "to fully explore the incomparably rich world of handmade textiles from India." While it saw mixed reviews - inevitable if you describe it to be the total story of Indian fabric from the 3rd century to present day-there is no denying its scale and ambition. From Tipu Sultan's 18th century tent or "moveable palace" to contemporary fashion, 200 objects showcased the process of handmade from dyeing, weaving, block printing and embroidery. Indian designers were an integral part of this showing here as well. Every press release had an image of the Houndstooth saree created by the masters of textile Abraham & Thakore. Curators of the exhibition were also very excited to have the works of Sabyasachi Mukherjee, Manish Arora and Rajesh Pratap Singh as part of this collection for their role in representing the new direction of Indian textiles.

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The India abroad moment was sealed by Rahul Mishra when noted fashion commentator Suzy Menkes described him as a "national treasure" while reviewing his Spring/Summer 2016 collection, shown at Paris Fashion Week. He applied the Chanderi tradition of weaving to wool-the same innovation that won him the International Woolmark Prize in 2014.

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So why is 2015 the year craft has grabbed the headlines giving fashion its shining India moment? Apart from years of training in the making, I would like to believe it stems from the realisation that authenticity is the key to survival. You have to know where you come from to be a success. Indian designers have the talent to compete with Italian and French houses on their turf but not in their language. The House of Chanel with its combined strengths of heritage and Karl Lagerfeld will always have a stronger voice in their milieu. Our context is our strength and Indian designers operate out of that space instinctively. For fashion to survive, particularly in an era of e-commerce discounting, it needs a key differentiator. And that can only come from tradition and textile. It helps that indigenous craft is deep rooted in the ethical and not tainted by the polluting qualities of fast fashion.

Nonita Kalra is a leading fashion columnist and commentor
The Dakshina Kannada district administration in Karnataka has objected to the government's proposal to withdraw 13 cases registered against Hindu leader Pramod Muthalik, founder of the Sri Rama Sene, which gained notoriety for raiding pubs in the coastal districts.

By Mail Today: The Dakshina Kannada district administration in Karnataka has objected to the government's proposal to withdraw 13 cases registered against Hindu leader Pramod Muthalik, founder of the Sri Rama Sene, which gained notoriety for raiding pubs in the coastal districts.

In a letter to the Additional Chief Secretary, Home Department, the Dakshina Kannada district Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim said that the withdrawal of cases against Muthalik would set a bad precedent. He urged the government to drop the proposal.

The government had sought the opinion of the Director of Prosecution on December 14 on withdrawing the cases, which are pending before various courts. Some of the cases referred are as old as those registered in 2002. The 13 cases were registered in Uttara Kannada, Dharwad, Mysuru, Vijayapura, Kodagu and Dakshina Kannada districts between 2002 and 2014.

--- ENDS ---
By Ankur Sharma: After the death of a Delhi Police constable in a recent shootout in a city court, the Delhi Police now wants all dreaded criminals to be handcuffed while they are taken to court. Moreover, after such criminals are arrested, the Delhi Police wants investigation officers to handcuffs to secure their custody. A letter has been issued by the police commissioner's office to all officers in this regard. The move comes in the wake of a firing in Karkardooma court last month in which a constable was killed and two others were injured. The IOs have been given the responsibility to inform the jail authorities and DCP battalion about the criminals' past conduct, use of violence, propensity to escape and the importance of undertrial prisoners to law and order so that a secured transportation of the undertrial inmates is made by the third battalion of Delhi Armed Police, which is entrusted with transportation of prisoners between prisons and courts.

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"After a Delhi Police constable was martyred recently in an incident, it has been decided that cops will explore every possibility to use handcuffs while transporting dangerous criminals. Also, if the IO feels that handcuffs should be used as precautionary measure, they should be used after following the prescribed procedure. However, no official is allowed to misuse it," an official of the rank of joint commissioner told Mail Today. According to sources, the police constable who died last week after being hit by three bullets in a shootout at the Karkardooma Court complex could have been saved if Chanu Pehelwan was handcuffed.

The accused allegedly pulled the cop close to him to save himself while armed assailants fired at him. The Delhi Police has also clarified the standing orders prescribing the procedure to use handcuffs while escorting an undertrial inmate. "If it is found that an accused is of desperate and dangerous nature, and the police officer who arrests such person feels that handcuffing is essential, a detailed report shall be recorded specifying the reasons as to why handcuffing is essential in that particular case in the daily diary and then only should such person be handcuffed while being produced in the court," says the letter accessed by Mail Today.

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It was also the driest with not even one chill inducing rainy day. December saw the least number of dense fog days in at least five years, leading to fewer flight and train disruptions

By Baishali Adak: If you weren't shivering from bone-chilling cold this Christmas in Delhi, there's good reason. The Capital experienced its warmest December in four years in 2015.

It was also the driest with not even one chill inducing rainy day. December saw the least number of dense fog days in at least five years, leading to fewer flight and train disruptions.

January is expected to follow in the hot-weather pattern, say Indian Meteorological Department officials. Notably, this is in sync with the global El Nino phenomenon, which has caused Montreal in Canada to see a record 16 degree Celsius-warm Christmas this time. This made the 'winter wonderland' comparable with Kuwait in the Gulf at 13 Celsius. North Pole, for the first time in human history, clocked sub-freezing temperatures causing puddles in its ice-sheets. And London, surprisingly, has 'spring-time' daffodils blooming now, leaving the English worried.

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El Nino, in weather parlance, refers to the Pacific Ocean warming up, spurting the mercury in USA and Canada. It is believed to be so strong this time that it is affecting the entire globe. The crown of India, which is traditionally bejeweled with shining snow at this time, is also relatively muggy. In Shimla, the temperature is up by one degree Celsius on average. Srinagar in Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand have seen no snowfall yet, leaving tourists upset. In Delhi, weather experts blamed the balmy winter on both "world, regional and local reasons". BP Yadav, director, the India Meteorological Department (IMD), told MAIL TODAY, "We have been analysing our daily data and have already established that September, October and November 2015 were the warmest in India till date. We will be ready with December figures in the next three to four days. We suspect it may be 'one of the warmest' in known history." "Amongst the regional causes is a missing Western Disturbance (WD). WD is the extra-tropical storm which develops over the Mediterranean Sea and brings moisture-laden winds to northwest India. It leads to snowfall in the Himalayas and rainfall in Delhi. Rains play a key role in intensifying winters," he explained.

Skymet Weather Services Pvt Ltd attributes it to "an anti-cyclonic circulation over Rajasthan which is bringing dry winds" from the desert area. Delhi, normally, witnesses 9.4 mm of rain during December. But it has only witnessed traces so far. In contrast with the 18 dense fog days the Capital in December 2014, the past month has seen only one - December 12.

Chandra Bhushan, Deputy Director General, Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), said, "2015 has been declared to be the hottest yet, but then, every year is proving to be warmer than the previous one. Since 1850, when the Industrial Revolution began, the Earth's temperature has gone up by 1 degree Celsius. In India, we are seeing strange weather phenomenon. Rains in April destroyed crops in Telangana. The warm winter will badly affect wheat output," he said while adding that health effects of this were not well studied yet but they could not be good surely.

Also read:

Erratic Delhi weather leads to drop in Swine flu cases


An explosion was heard near the airport in the Afghan capital Kabul on Monday, a police department spokesman said.

Afghan security guards try to cordon off the terrorists near Kabul airport. (ANI photo)

By India Today Web Desk: A suicide bomber in a car blew himself up close to a police checkpoint near Kabul airport on Monday but caused no other casualties, a police spokesman said.

The bomber was spotted by police as his car approached the checkpoint, prompting him to detonate his explosives, the spokesman said.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

The blast follows a series of attacks in the Afghan capital over recent days, including a suicide attack on a restaurant popular with foreigners and wealthy Afghans which killed a 12 year-old boy and a security guard.

The attacks have coincided with a new effort to restart peace talks with the Taliban after earlier meetings were broken off last July.


Four army personnel were killed when their patrol party was hit by a massive avalanche in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

By India Today Web Desk: Four army personnel were killed when their patrol party was hit by a massive avalanche in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

"Four jawans of 3 Ladakh Scouts were killed when their patrol party was hit by a snow avalanche at the Southern Glacier in Ladkah at 4:30 PM on Sunday", Udhampur based Defence Spokesman Col S D Goswami said.

The four deceased have been identified as Havaldar Tsewang Nurbu, Havaldar Dorjay Gyaltsan, Rifleman Mohammad Yousuf and Rifleman Jigmaid Chosdup.

Soon after the avalanche, a rescue operation was launched but the lives of four soldiers could not be saved.

The bodies of four soldiers were retrieved from the avalanche site and were sent for postmortem at Hundar Hospital, Col Goswami said. He said the mortal remains of the soldiers would be handed over to their next of kins after conducting all the medical formalities.

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Also read: Army Captain dies after avalanche hits patrol party in Siachen glacier


We have seen many brands coming up with competitions and challenges but only some manage to move us!

By India Today Web Desk: Godrej Ezee detergent's #EzeeChallenge is one of those challenges that stands for a cause and sends across a strong message. The brand asks you to take up a simple task, but is not as simple as it seems.

To participate, all you got to do is go out into the freezing weather, without any woolen clothes to protect you from the cold, click a picture, share it with Ezee with #EzeeChallenge and nominate 2 of your friends to take the challenge by tagging them.

The actual challenge is to stay in the cold without your woolens for ten minutes.

Over 100 people across Delhi took the challenge but they couldn't stay over 4 minutes without layering up. The motive behind #EzeeChallenge is to give you a first-hand experience of thousands of underprivileged children out on the streets without warm clothes in this chilly weather.

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Ezee urges you to make a difference this winter, by donating a sweater to an underprivileged child. To know how you can do this, visit www.ezeehugs.com .

Also, for all the qualifying photo/video entry on social media, Ezee will donate a sweater to the cause. Don't forget to mention why you took the challenge!



Good one, Ezee!

Let's make a difference this winter!


"Let the operation get over then the government will take a view," Arun Jaitley said when asked if India-Pakistan talks will be affected.

By India Today Web Desk: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today said that the government will take a view on talks between India and Pakistan after the Pathankot air force base operations come to an end.

"Let the operation get over then the government will take a view," Jaitley said when asked if Indo-Pak talks will be affected in the wake of the Pathankot attack.

Lauding the valour efforts of the security personnel who sacrificed their lives defending the Pathankot air base, Jaitley said the main aim of the well-trained terrorists was to harm strategic assets.

Jaitley added that the attack at Pathankot was done by a suicide squad. He emphasised that the lessons learnt from the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks helped the security personnel at Pathankot.

"A lot has been learnt from the Mumbai attacks, this led our security forces to stop the terrorists at the entrance and keep them at distance from our strategic assets," Jaitley said.

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The Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan scheduled for later this month looks in serious jeopardy if evidence emerges that Pakistan's state actors were complicit in the attack on Pathankot air base.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier reviewed the situation arising out of the terror attack at Pathankot's air base. Soon after his return from Karnataka last night, he chaired a meeting of top officials including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had on Sunday held meetings with former Indian envoys to Pakistan to discuss the way forward in wake of the Pathankot attack.

Meanwhile, encounter and combing operation is going on inside the Pathankot air base.

Watch full video here:



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By India Today Web Desk: 2015 was the year when social media was flooded with pictures depicting the sad plight of Syrian refugees.

The picture of 3-year-old Aylan Kurdi whose dead body washed up on a beach in Turkey in September became the embodiment of a human catastrophe and there were many such stories of thousands of homeless people.

One such picture that went viral was of the "pen-seller of Beirut".

When Abdul Halim al-Attar, the pen-seller got to know his picture went viral his first reaction was of discomfort. He felt he had lost his dignity and objected on someone filming him.

The picture showing Abdul carrying his daughter and selling those plastic blue pens in a desperate situation, caught the attention of millions but it left him heartbroken. Since he was not in such a bad state in Syria, it was depressing for him.

Source: Twitter@GissiSim

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When he was told that a huge amount of money has been raised online to help him, he asked why would the world care about him?

Abdul doesn't know what was in the picture that struck everyone but, an activist from Norway and a Lebanese journalist launched a crowd-funding page urging users to collect $5,000 for the struggling family of three.

Within 30 minutes of its launch, #BuyPens campaign reached its goal. By the end of it, more than $190,000 dollars was donated from across the world for Abdul. The money that was crowd-funded did not only help Abdul but many others as well.

Abdul promised to help the other Syrians as well and now after four months he has two restaurants in Beirut that employ 24 other refugees. Not only that, he also sent money to relatives back home in Yarmouk.

Abdul does not consider him a rebel, or a fighter in a car. For him he was just a pen seller and the whole world saw him that way!
Yashwant Sinha said that the Pathankot attack must be a subject of introspection for the government.

By India Today Web Desk: Senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha in an exclusive conversation with India Today Television said that the Pathankot attack revealed that nothing has changed on ground in regards to the India-Pakistan relationship.

"As far as Pakistan is concerned, nothing has changed on the gorund and all the red lines were in place. Even then we extended the hand of friendship," Sinha said.

Sinha went on to say that the Pathankot attack must be a subject of introspection for the government.

"I'll go back to the first year in which terrorism from across the border started. That's a full 25 years, if not more. In all these 25 years, we have been unable to insulate ourselves from such terrorist attacks across the border. It calls for a very deep introspection," he said.

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The BJP veteran compared the Pathankot attack to the Paris attack and said that France was quick enough to respond to the attacks on their soil, whereas, India has done nothing so far.

"Every country has done whatever it could do to deal with terrorism as strongly as possible. It's only India which has suffered from cross border terrorism for over 25 years and we are still struggling," Sinha added.

WATCH THE FULL VIDEO HERE



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The RM Lodha panel has aso suggested different governing councils for the BCCI and IPL

By India Today Web Desk:

The RM Lodha panel has recommended the appointment of a Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to manage the day-to-day affairs of the BCCI. The CEO will be assisted by six professional managers.



The Lodha panel said the CEO and his managers will be responsible to an APEX council.



The Lodha committee has also sought to put some restrictions on the BCCI office-bearers. They cannot hold office for more than three terms and there will be a "cooling-off" period between each of those terms.



"As regards the office bearers of BCCI - president, VP, secretary, joint secretary and treasurer, certain eligibility criteria have been fixed. He must be an Indian, he must not be above age of 70, he must not be insolvent, he MUST NOT BE A MINISTER OR A GOVERNMENT SERVANT, and who has not held office in the BCCI for a cumulative period for nine years.



"Each office bearer will have a tenure of three years and no office bearer can hold the office for more than three terms with the rider that there will be a cooling off after each term - in other words no office bearer can hold terms consecutively," Lodha told the media today.

In another bold move, Lodha's three-member committee has suggested that betting be legalised with inbuilt mechanism. The same panel had suspended Chennai Super Kings and Rajasthan Royals for betting offences. Lodha said he felt players and match officials did not indulge in betting but they needed to disclose their assets.

There is also a recommendation for match/spot-fixing to be made a criminal offense.



Meanwhile, former IPL COO Sundar Raman, who had resigned in November over alleged wrongdoing in the 2013 IPL spot-fixing and betting scandal, has been given a clean chit by the Lodha panel. He was under investigation for charges of omission and betting but the three-member committee said that enough evidence was not found against Raman.



The three-member committee comprising Justice (Retd) Lodha, Justice (Retd) Ashok Bhan and Justice (Retd) RV Raveendran had earlier submitted their report to the Supreme Court. Lodha said the BCCI president Shashank Manohar has been very open to the recommendations.



The Lodha panel has also suggested separate governing councils for the IPL and BCCI besides making a host of other recommendations, which if implemented could pave the way for a cleaner game.



A proper procedure to appoint player agents has also been recommended. The agents will now need to undergo written tests, their antecedents will be verified and the final approval for their appointments will come from the APEX council.



Lodha also recommended the formation of a players' association.

Three authorities with distinct roles have also been suggested by the Lodha panel:

1.) Ombudsman: His task will be to preside internal disputes resolution mechanism, dispute between BCCI and members, BCCI and associates, breaches by administrators, players, team officials, with an additional role grievances concerning access to stadia. Manipulation in ticket distribution can be brought before the ombudsman by anyone who is aggrieved by such things. The ombudsman can take cognizance of complaints suo moto, or received complaint or referred complaint by the APEX council. The ombudsman, Lodha said, can be a Supreme Court judge or a retired jusge of the High Court.

2.) Ethics Officer: His task will be to administer the issues relating to Conflict of Interest, misdemeanour, misbehaviour or corruption issues. Lodha said the Ethics Officer would be a former High Court judge.

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3.) Electoral Officer: He will oversee the entire BCCI election process relating to the office-bearers like preparation of voters list, publication, disputes over eligibility of the office-bearers. The electoral officer will be nominated at least two weeks before the date of election, and he should be a former Election Commissioner of India.

These recommendations made by the Lodha panel are not binding on the BCCI yet. That will be decided by the Supreme Court, to whom the report was submitted earlier today.


Officials said the NSA's visit would be rescheduled at a mutually convenient date.

By Ananth Krishnan: Officials said on Monday that National Security Adviser Ajit Doval has cancelled his scheduled Tuesday visit for talks with top officials in Beijing to deal with the Pathankot terror attack.

Officials in Beijing said Doval's visit was on Monday cancelled. The NSA was earlier scheduled to leave for Beijing on Tuesday morning.

On Tuesday afternoon, the NSA was scheduled to have talks with Chinese State Councillor Yang Jiechi, his counterpart as Special Representative on the boundary talks. Chinese Premier Li Keqiang had been scheduled to meet with Doval on Wednesday at the Zhongnanhai leadership compound, underlining, officials said, the importance Beijing was attaching for the "informal" talks covering the entire spectrum of ties, including the boundary question.

Officials said the NSA's visit would be rescheduled at a mutually convenient date.

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The encounter between terrorists and security forces at the Pathankot air force base has been going on for more than 50 hours. 2 remaining terrorists are holed up inside double-storey IAF living quarters at Pathankot airbase. Terrorists had struck Pathankot Air Force station in the wee hours on Saturday.







Also read:

#PathankotAttack: Highly trained commandos fail to kill all the terrorists

Threat of a Pathankot-like strike looms large over Delhi
India has handed over the evidence of Pakistan's involvement in the Pathankot terrorist attack to the Nawaz Sharif government ahead of the foreign secretary level talks between the two countries in Islamabad on January 14-15.

An army person guards during the operation against the militants at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot on Monday. PTI Photo

By India Today Web Desk: India has handed over the evidence of Pakistan's involvement in the Pathankot terrorist attack to the Nawaz Sharif government ahead of the foreign secretary level talks between the two countries in Islamabad on January 14-15.

The Indian government is now waiting for response from Pakistan to see whether Islamabad will show resolve to act against terrorists and their handlers.

Government sources say this is the first major test of Pakistani resolve since the new peace process got off the ground.

Pakistan has officially acknowledged that leads have been provided by India and that Pakistani agencies are following up on the inputs that have been provided.

The Modi government wants to see if Pakistan is willing to walk the talk in the spirit of the new friendship and the promises made by the Pakistani government.

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In the aftermath of the Pathankot attack, intelligence agencies had intercepted phone recordings of terrorists with their handlers and family members inside Pakistan. The GPS coordinates of the call logs and the transcripts are among the evidence that has been shared with Pakistan.

Sources in the Modi government say decision on Foreign Secretary level talks will in part depend on response from Pakistan.

If Pakistan seems sincere about acting against those responsible for Pathankot, it will be seen as a positive sign by India.

Refusal to act against the perpetrators will indicate that the Pakistan army is not on board the peace process and that any effort at dialogue will lead to little positive outcome.

Also read: Sharif vs Sharif: Pakistan army chief knew about Pathankot attack?

Also read: United Jihad Council claims responsibility for Pathankot attack


The body of Lt Col Niranjan Kumar, who was killed in the operation at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, was brought back to his hometown near Kerala today for the last rites.

By India Today Web Desk: The body of Lt Col Niranjan Kumar, who was killed in the operation at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, was brought back to his hometown near Kerala today for the last rites.

Niranjan, who was with the National Security Guard (NSG), was killed while attempting to move the body of a terrorist, who had improvised an explosive device under his body.

Niranjan Kumar was settled in Bengaluru and his parents hail from Kerala. He is survived by his wife and a two-year-old daughter.

His uncle told the media on Sunday that the martyred officer's last rites would be performed at Palakkad in Kerala.

"He called me yesterday and told me he was in some operation. He was always interested in army. I am proud of his sacrifice. I have 4 children. Third is Niranjan. He did mechanical engineering and went to army. He was in army for 12 years and in NSG for 1 year and 10 months," said E K Sivarajan, father of Lt Col Niranjan Kumar.



Photo: ANI

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The body will be brought by road from Bengaluru to Palakkad and will be at the BEL grounds from 9 am to 3 pm for the public to pay homage.



The officer's father left from Bengaluru for Delhi to receive his son's mortal remains, which were brought to Bengaluru on Sunday night.

He told me that he liked the Army dress: Father of NSG Lt Col Niranajan Kumar #Pathankot pic.twitter.com/9fP2PnzUxg ANI (@ANI_news) January 3, 2016

Photo: ANI

Locals recalled that the officer was a popular personality of the area and had a jovial nature.

Niranajan's sister said, "I look at him as Arjuna who fought for his karmabhoomi."

Photo: ANI

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will also be in Palakkad to pay his last respects to the departed officer.

Another martyr Gursewak Singh was cremated at 11 am today in Ambala. Singh's body was airlifted to Ambala airbase on Sunday.

Family members in mourning as mortal remains of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh arrive in Garnala (Ambala) https://t.co/NrX4U4XBat ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016

The family members of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh were in a state of shock on receiving the news about his martyrdom in the Pathankot terror attack, just over a month after his marriage, even as his father expressed pride that he laid down his life for the country.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar condoled the death of the commando and announced a financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh to the next of kin of Gursewak.

His father, Sucha Singh who is a farmer, said that he received information about Gursewaks martyrdom from his elder son who is an officer in the Army and asserted that he was proud that his son had laid down his life for the country.

Gursewak, who was described as an intelligent and bright youth, by his father, had cleared the Air Force exam in the first attempt.

"My boy had gone to serve the nation. I am proud of him. He has done his duty. We are sad too. Our elder son is also in the Army serving the nation. My younger son gave his life for the country. He was always good in studies and always wanted to join the Air Force," Sucha said.

Gursewak's cousin Harikrishan Singh said, "He did his engineering in Bengaluru... We have lost one warrior."

Deputy Commissioner Ashok Sangwan said that the body of the martyr would be cremated with full state honours.
The government is mulling options regarding holding of Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan in Islamabad next week.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif walks past Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the opening session of 18th SAARC summit in Kathmandu on November 26, 2014. (Reuters photo)

By India Today Web Desk: The government is mulling options regarding holding of Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan in Islamabad next week due to the fatal attack on the air force base in Pathankot which has martyred 7 military personnel and injured 20.

The process of resumption of talks was set in motion after a meeting between Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan in Paris on November 30 on the sidelines of Climate Change Conference.

The attack on Pathankot came a week after a surprise visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

Intelligence reports say the attack was carried out by Pakistan-based terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Pakistan has condemned the attack and said it wanted to continue to build on the goodwill created by the impromptu meeting between Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif last month.

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Prime Minister Narendra Modi met National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and other top officials last night. He also held a meeting with top ministers today morning.

RELATEDS

Pathankot terrorists trained much better than 26/11 attackers: Report



United Jihad Council claims responsibility for Pathankot terror attack
The terror attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot entered third day today. The air base was attacked by Pakistani terrorists early on January 2 and for the first two days authorities were unable to determine how many attackers had struck.

A chopper hovers over the Indian Air Force base that was attacked by militants in Pathankot on Sunday.(Photo: PTI)

By India Today Web Desk: The terror attack on the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot entered third day today. The air base was attacked by Pakistani terrorists early on January 2 and for the first two days authorities were unable to determine how many attackers had struck.

The National Security Guard (NSG) today said that coordinated operations by security agencies will continue till all terrorists, believed to be hiding inside the air base are eliminated. Four terrorists have been killed and two more are possibly inside the base.

The fact that these attackers have not been neutralised even after over 50-hour long operation by joint team of elite NSG and Garud commandos shows the training that they have gone through.

Sources in the Home Ministry told India Today that the terrorists who struck in Pathankot have been trained much better that 26/11 attackers.

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It is clear from the tactics they used that a professional army had trained them.

Conserving fire power, attacking at 3 am when alertness level is at its lowest, going quiet to mislead that all terrorists have died are all of military precision, sources pointed out.

According to latest reports, possibly two terrorists are holed up inside the air base. The NSG said there has been no damage to strategic assets at the air base. Reports said that that the IAF had secured vital assets - MiG-21 Bison fighter jets, Mi-35 attack helicopters - by confining the terrorists within the border area inside the base.

Also Read

Pathankot terror attack: Strategic assets safe, 2 terrorists still inside air base, says NSG

NSA Doval cancels Beijing visit to deal with Pathankot attack

Pathankot attack: What has happened in last 50 hours

#PathankotAttack: Highly trained commandos fail to kill all the terrorists

Pathankot martyrs: Last rites of Lt Col Niranjan to be held today in Kerala




Sources said the Army launched a final assault to neutralise two terrorists who were still alive and were engaging the security forces by firing shots. Heavy fire exchange took place between the terrorists and the forces till evening.

The battery of commandoes and security forces - which was pressed into service to neutralise the terrorists - who struck Pathankot Air Force station in the wee hours on Saturday - failed to kill all the terrorists even after a 48 hour-long combing and search operation. The Air Force and other security personnel continued the operation throughout Saturday night. Locals said they were scared when the attack helicopters which continuously hovered over the Air Force Station and flashed flood lights on the Air Force Station at midnight. The search and combing operation gained momentum after sunrise.

A grenade blast was heard at 9 am when the bomb disposal squad was busy diffusing the arms. One IED went off when the commandoes were handling the body of a slain terrorist. One senior army officer was killed and four others were Injured in the blast. "Four terrorists have been killed during the operation which is still on and will continue till we are sure that there are no more intruders at the Air Force station. Seven people have been martyred, one Garud, five DSC jawans and one NSG," AOC Pathankot JS Dhamoon said. Sources said the Army launched a final assault to neutralise two terrorists who were still alive and were engaging the security forces by firing shots. Heavy fire exchange took place between the terrorists and the forces till evening.

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The commandoes even blew up a portion of the Army canteen where the terrorists took position and attacked the security personnel. The terrorists continued to exchange fire even after the canteen was blown. A thick black smoke cloud appeared from the centre of the station after the building was blown by the commandoes to kill the terrorists.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA), mandated to probe terror cases, will register a case on Monday to probe the conspiracy of Pakistan-based terrorist group, believed to be Jaish-e-Mohammed, behind the strike at the IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab.

A team of NIA was at the spot on Saturday as per the standard operating procedure and on Sunday the Government decided to hand over the case to the NIA after taking concurrence from the Punjab government, official sources said. The mandate of the NIA probe will include entry of the militants into India, killing of a taxi driver Ikagar Singh, kidnapping of Superintendent of Police-rank officer of Punjab Police, who was later released and entry into the IAF campus, the sources said. They said the investigators will also try and ascertain the conspiracy that was hatched on the Pakistani soil by the terrorists and if possible find out the state and non-state actors in that country.

Also read:

Pathankot martyrs: Last rites of Lt Col Niranjan, commando Gursewak Singh to be held today



PM Modi chairs meeting with NSA, no decision on foreign secretary level talks
By Hemul Goel: Priyanka Chopra has extended her support towards #GirlLove. So have Tyra Banks and Shay Mitchell. If the buzz around #GirlLove has you flustered, we have you covered.

YouTube sensation Lilly Singh, aka Superwoman, has launched #GirlLove, an exciting campaign to put an end to girl-on-girl hate. Sometimes simple things like a girl's makeup or clothes, or bigger, more meaningful ones like her success, leave other women feeling jealous. Instead of celebrating women for their achievements, the jealousy often leads to what's called girl-on-girl hate, which comes out in the form of ugly rumours or character assaults accompanied by the casual usage of terms like sl*t or wh*r*.

Picture courtesy: Twitter/@priyankachopra

Also read: Top 10 songs that rocked global YouTube charts in 2015



Emphasising the same in a video created by her to promote the campaign, Superwoman got together with a host of famous YouTubers who talk about girl-on-girl hate, the need to end the same and the women who inspire them (basically the ones they want to shower their #GirlLove on). You can take a look at the video here and share it too, because each view generated from the video will help donate money to the Malala Fund for girl child education.

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The Canadian YouTuber also took to her Instagram page to thank everyone for all the support pouring in for the campaign. She wrote, "I'm so overwhelmed and thrilled with all the attention my recent #GirlLove campaign has gotten. Thank you to everyone who has been posting and sharing the message. I wanted to take this opportunity to write a few words about the campaign. #GirlLove isn't just a trend or a fad. Nor do I wish for it to be a "viral video" that has a hot minute. The way I see it, #GirlLove is about making a conscious decision that results in a long term change. Ladies, at some point we've all had that hostile thought or feeling towards another woman and having that thought or feeling doesn't make you a bad person. We're all complex humans. Believing in #GirlLove doesn't suddenly rid you of those thoughts. It's not a spell and we're not wizards (unless you're Emma Watson in which case, you're totally a wizard and I'm sorry. I love you). However, #GirlLove is about being self-aware and recognizing those thoughts so you can take control of your mind and change the way you think over time. It's about taking jealousy and turning it into self-improvement. It's about comparing less and supporting more. It's about addressing all the reasons you feel the way you feel about another girl, whether they be related to yourself, your family, the media or society. And then, it's about having the strength to behave in a different way and make a positive change. Although fuelled by social media, #GirlLove isn't just a tweet or instagram post. It is a challenge we should accept today, tomorrow and everyday after. The next time the temptation to participate in girl-on-girl hate presents itself, be self-aware, take control of your mind and make a positive change. That's #GirlLove. (sic)"

Girls, go out there and tweet or Instagram some #GirlLove to the woman who inspires you. You never know the huge difference your words can create in their lives and the positivity they can bring in yours too.

Also read: 2015's wave of comedy: From AIB to Kapil Sharma, what did India watch most on YouTube?


Today is the real test for Delhi's odd-even car rationing scheme as the city gets back to work after a long weekend. According to the scheme, cars with even number registration plates would only be allowed on roads today, January 4.

By India Today Web Desk: Today is the real test for Delhi's odd-even car rationing scheme as the city gets back to work after a long weekend. According to the scheme, cars with even number registration plates would only be allowed on roads today, January 4.

The Aam Aadmi Party-led Delhi government had described the scheme as a success on the first day - January 1. "Delhi has done it! Reports so far very encouraging. Delhiites! you give me hope that you are capable of achieving big challenges," Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal had then said.

Kejriwal and his Cabinet colleagues vowed to make the ambitious plan a success. Minister Kapil Mishra tweeted a photo of him travelling to work by bus.

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The Delhi government had on Sunday said that elaborate arrangements have been made to meet the "real challenge" as part of which volunteers will be using hidden cameras to take snaps of violators and additional police forces would be fielded to ensure its effective compliance.

Transport Minister Gopal Rai held a coordination committee meeting which was attended by senior officers from Traffic Police, Delhi Police, civil defence force, Metro officials and other agency heads engaged in implementation of the ambitious car-rationing scheme, which came into force on January 1.

"As we saw that on the first day of this pilot project, people came out with odd-numbered vehicles and on the second day yesterday, even-numbered vehicles plied on the capital roads. This itself is an indication that the mindset of people for environment is changing and I salute all Delhiites for this 2 days success", Gopal Rai said

The government said that DTC would possibly ferry around 64 lakh commuters from Monday onwards, much more than the usual figures, while Metro is expected to carry 32 lakh commuters against the previous data of 26 lakh daily.

Rush at Rajiv Chowk metro station

Though traffic was smooth and roads were clear in the morning hours, metro were all crowded and created havoc for the public.



Also Read

Odd-even scheme can't be implemented permanently, says Arvind Kejriwal

Complaints dip as Delhi takes odd turn



This is how 7 Delhi ministers are travelling on January 1, first day of odd-even plan




By India Today Web Desk: Aishwarya Rai Bachchan will be playing the role of Sarabjit Singh's sister Dalbir Kaur in her upcoming film Sarbjit. If you are still grooving to Action Replay's song Chhan Ke Mohalla, then be ready for Aishwarya Rai Bachchan to make you dance along with her in the Punjabi song Tuglak Tuglak Tun.

Director Omung Kumar, in an interview to DNA said, "Sarbjit is a biopic but made in a different way. All biopics don't have to be sad. Sarbjit's story spans over 23 years. Before he disappeared, his life was full of fun and festivity. Then a drastic change happens, but a festive song was always meant to happen to show the contrast between then and now."

"While the seriousness has to be there, I am not making a boring film. I want people to cry, laugh and go through all the emotions. Twenty-three years is a long time. I do everything in films larger-than-life so even my way of showing Punjab will be bigger. This song is a full-on Punjabi dhamaal number," added Omung Kumar.

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The song will be choreographed by Vishnu Deva, also known for his songs like Shahid Kapoor's Gandi Baat in R...Rajkumar and Priyanka Chopra's Ram Chahe Leela in the 2013 film Goliyon Ki Rasleela Ram-Leela. The song will also feature Richa Chadha and Randeep Hooda doing bhangra along with Aishwarya.

Aishwarya will be seen in her de-glam avatar in this film. The film is based on Sarabjit Singh, an Indian farmer who was convicted of terrorism and spying in Pakistan and was sentenced to death. He was attacked by inmates at a prison in Lahore in April 2013 and died a few days later.

Directed by Omung Kumar, Sarbjit is set to hit the screens on May 20, 2016.
Bassi urged young police officers to try and take the issue of women security forward.

By India Today Web Desk: Delhi Police today held their annual press conference where Police Commissioner BS Bassi emphasised on safety of women and hinted that he was glad that Delhi Police comes under Centre.

"2015 was a very satisfactory year for Delhi Police," said BS Bassi while addressing the press conference.

"Used digital technology for time saving so that we can divert our energy for further important tasks," added Bassi.

"We are always worried about security of women. It will be our pleasure to shoot or hang accused in cases of crime against women if law permits us," said Bassi. "90 per cent of theft cases were going undetected because some policemen were hiding truth, but now I have ensured that no officer will tell a lie," added Bassi.

"Thank God Delhi Police is under Centre," said Bassi hinting at the ongoing rift between Delhi government and Delhi Police.

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Bassi urged young police officers to try and take the issue of women security forward.

Also read:



Bassi urges people not to misuse exemption in odd-even scheme

Bassi to fast track probe into cases of economic offence
Romanian photographer Mihaela Noroc, who has taken up the task of showcasing the beauty of diversity through women, is currently in India.

By Mini Dixit: We're trying to not be biased, but let's just begin by saying that women are beautiful. There has to be some legitimate reason for the world to be in awe of them, right?

For photographer Mihaela Noroc, the legitimate reason is, well, their mere existence.

As reported by The Telegraph, Noroc quit her job and decided to set out on a journey around the globe, all to capture the beauty of women through her lens. Hence, giving birth to her dream project: The Atlas of Beauty. With the idea of portraying the beauty of diversity through the portraits of women in their natural settings, Noroc has till now conquered the terrains of Myanmar, Peru, Brazil, India and Kathmandu, among several others.

Also Read: India, as seen through the lens of iconic photographer Steve McCurry

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The 30-year-old Romanian photographer, who has visited over 60 countries in the two legs of her project till now, aims to bookmark every single country on the face of this earth. As seen on her official website, the first episode of The Atlas of Beauty--after 15 months of extensive travel--saw a closure in November, 2014, only to begin the second leg in June 2015, as a part of which, according to her latest Instagram posts, she's in India.

Also Read: This smokin' hot calendar featuring French firefighters will set your heart racing

In an age where unreal and artificial standards of beauty have begun to dominate our lives, the effort Noroc puts in to maintain the natural beauty of the women she captures in her lens, is beyond commendable.

Here are some pages from Noroc's beautiful atlas.

Tajikistan



Picture courtesy: Facebook/ The Atlas of Beauty

Romania



Picture courtesy: Facebook/ The Atlas of Beauty

New York



Picture courtesy: Facebook/ The Atlas of Beauty

Nepal



Picture courtesy: Facebook/ The Atlas of Beauty

Mumbai



Picture courtesy: Facebook/ The Atlas of Beauty

Mongolia



Picture courtesy: Facebook/ The Atlas of Beauty

Kathmandu



Picture courtesy: Facebook/ The Atlas of Beauty

Istanbul



Picture courtesy: Facebook/ The Atlas of Beauty

Afghanistan



Picture courtesy: Facebook/ The Atlas of Beauty

China



Picture courtesy: Facebook/ The Atlas of Beauty
What adds to the concerns of the security agencies is that various armed contingents have already arrived at the Delhi Cantonment for the parade, which also sees display of India's weaponry

By Ankur Sharma: Threat of a Pathankot like terror strike looms large over the national Capital which is preparing to host the Republic Day parade this month. The threat perception becomes more real in wake of intel inputs that two Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants have sneaked into Delhi to carry out high profile attacks.

What adds to the concerns of the security agencies is that various armed contingents have already arrived at the Delhi Cantonment for the parade, which also sees display of India's weaponry. Reacting on the specific inputs received by Delhi Police Special Cell, armed forces establishment and police stations located at isolated places have been put on high alert. Also, security has been beefed up in sensitive zones and prominent establishment that may be targeted by suicide attackers.

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There is high probability that the attack could take place in January itself. "There is a possibility of terror attacks on isolated police stations or contingents of the armed forces. It is imperative for the local police to be prepared round-the-clock. It is also necessary that mock drills are carried out to assess the response time, status of weapons and equipment, mobility and coordination with the Special Forces," said a letter issued recently by the Deputy Police Commissioner (Special cell).

Sensing the gravity of the threat, Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi, in a recent meeting, asked districts units to prepare their SWAT teams so that Delhi Police can easily avert or combat any possible terror attack. Teams have also been asked to be prepared for a hostage-like situation.

Forces' meet



According to sources, in a couple of days, top officials of paramilitary forces, Delhi Police, NSG and other forces will convene a coordination meeting to avert any terror attack in Delhi. "A meeting is scheduled with all top officials of security forces on Monday or Tuesday. Also, Delhi's major establishment will see multiple mock drills so that agencies can understand flaws in coordination and preparedness and rectify it," sources said.

Meanwhile, Delhi Police says it is ready to deal with any attack, including a Pathankottype attack. "Delhi Police is fully prepared to deal with any attack. Every police station is equipped to deal with any such attack. We also request the public to give information to the police about any suspicious activity, person and object. Public participation is equally important," Special Commissioner of Police (DG Scale) Deepak Mishra told Mail Today.

Districts have also alerted standby forces to deal with any fidayeen attack even if it takes place at isolated police stations. "We are ready to react with equal force in case any attack takes place. Every police station, be it at an isolated place, is equipped with arms and ammunitions and a professional staff," Joint Commissioner of Police, South Western Range, Dependra Pathak, told Mail Today.

In a recently-held meeting, Bassi had said all districts will constitute SWAT teams on the lines of the Indira Gandhi International Airport police to combat any attack. Importantly, the anti-terror unit has also urged mock drills to check coordination between all security agencies.

According to sources, terrorists are eyeing police stations situated on the outskirts of the Capital as they are easy targets. "Various police stations like the ones in Jafarpur Kalan and Narela are situated at isolated areas. These stations do not have good connectivity with the main city but police station staff has been briefed about such attacks. We have prepared routes and plan to react to any terrorist attack," a top Delhi Police official said.

In a tweet on Sunday, Bassi had appealed citizens to be vigilant. "Citizens' vigil against suspicious persons/objects/activities is vital to counter-terrorism. Report anything amiss on 100 or helpline number 1090," he tweeted. According to a senior police official, Bassi held a meeting on Sunday with the police's top brass and the department sought help of central paramilitary forces in providing security, especially around vital installations in the city.

Sneaked in

"We have inputs regarding two Jaish-e-Mohammed key members who have sneaked into Delhi and are suspected to be planning high-profile attacks. We have also got a few additional companies of paramilitary forces to increase security following the alert," a senior official said.



Also read:

Jaish-e-Mohammad planning Pathankot-like attack in Delhi




A conglomerate of militant outfits United Jihad Council (UJC) today claimed responsibility for the terror attack on Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot.

By India Today Web Desk: A conglomerate of militant outfits United Jihad Council (UJC) today claimed responsibility for the terror attack on Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot.

United Jihad Council's Syed Sadaqat Hussain claimed that the terrorists, who struck the air base on January 2, was carried out by "Kashmiri militants associated with highway squad". Syed Salahuddin heads UJC which includes terror outfits like Harkat-ul-Ansar, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul- Mujahideen, Al-Jihad, Al-Barq, Al-Badr, Ikhwan-ul-Mussalmin, and Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen.

Six militants attacked Pathankot air base early on Saturday. Four of them were killed following an intense gunbattle with security forces the same day. While the other two kept commandos from NSG, and IAF engaged for 2 more days.

According to latest reports, the remaining two terrorists have been neutralised. Body of the fifth terrorist has been blown to pieces in a blast triggered by security forces. The body of the sixth attacker is yet to be retrieved from the rubble of the building which was blown off during anti-terror operation.

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Mopping operations inside the air base is still continuing.

Also read: All 6 terrorists who attacked Pathankot air base killed, combing operations still on

Also read: Pathankot terrorists trained much better than 26/11 attackers: Report

Also read: Pathankot attack: What has happened over the last 50 hours


Investigative reporting from the inner city to Wall Street to the United Nations This is the blogspot version InnerCityPress.com
A very unique world with amazing depth, The Moons of Barsk is a Sci-Fi adventure that stretches your imagination with creative species and an original world. Pizlo, the abomination that the Fant species refuse to acknowledge, realizes h...

This novel will push you to think, compel you to remember the special moments, and cherish the smallest, irrelevant memories you have. Hemu Joshi was the first. The first person to lose his shadow. The world was in awe of this phenomeno...
Insurance Back ROMANIA's Euroins hikes capital by 80 mln lei (17.6 mln euro)

Romanian non-life insurer Euroins said on Wednesday it has received an 80 million lei capital injection from its Bulgaria-based parent, Euroins Insurance Group.



Euroins Romania will receive another 120 million lei capital injection in the first quarter of 2016, the company said in a press release.



"With the new capital hike of 80 million lei, total capital injections made in 2015 in Euroins Romania amount to 175 million lei, representing one of the highest increases of capital in the insurance sector this year," the company said. Read the full story





Published on 04.01.2016





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Thirty-five Ukrainian companies that make products of animal origin have received permits for exports to the Republic of Moldova.

"Nineteen diary producers, 11 manufacturers of meat products, three manufacturers of fish products, and two companies that produce eggs and products made of eggs have received the permits," Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko wrote on Facebook.

He said that this decision had been taken by Moldova's National Food Safety Agency jointly with Ukrainian experts after the examination of the producers.

Pavlenko claims access to the Moldovan market opens wide opportunities for the development of production in the mentioned sector, while also encourages producers to improve the quality of products.

"The fact that our producers have received relevant permits to export their goods to Moldova this time has confirmed the compliance of Ukrainian products with international norms and standards, which lets us significantly expand sales markets and boost the export potential of the domestic agricultural sector," the minister said.
Ukraine's Minister of Economic Development and Trade Aivaras Abromavicius considers unacceptable the proposal of PJSC Ukrnafta to return a 15% discount on the initial price of auctions for the sale of crude oil produced by the company, defined as the customs value of oil of the Azeri Light grade.

"Ten oil auctions were conducted under my chairmanship in 2015. The price is falling, but due to the cancellation of a 15% discount we saved UAH 2.46 billion! Corruption won't pass!" the minister wrote on his Twitter page.

Commenting on the recent payment by Ukrnafta of a UAH 1.8 billion debt on dividends to the state, which owns a 50% plus one share stake in the company, the minister added that the budget lost about $150 million due to the exchange rate difference.

As reported, the sale of Ukrainian oil and gas condensate through exchange auctions is mandatory if a controlling stake in the producer belongs to the state or it works on the terms of joint activities with a state-owned company.
Russian-backed militants attacked Ukrainian troops in the Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) zone 11 times on Sunday, January 3, the ATO press center wrote on its Facebook page on Monday morning.

On Sunday evening, illegal armed groups twice used small arms and grenade launchers to directly shell ATO forces near the village of Shyrokyne, close to the Ukrainian-controlled port city of Mariupol.

After dark, the enemy opened untargeted fire from small arms on Ukrainian troops in the town of Avdiyivka who had been defending the Butivka coal mine stronghold.

What is more, militants deployed at the border of Donetsk and Luhansk regions opened untargeted fire from small arms on Ukrainian positions to the south of the village of Troyitske in Luhansk region. The enemy used large-caliber machine-guns near the town of Svitlodarsk in Donetsk region to shell Ukrainian troops deployed in the village of Luhanske.

"Since the beginning of the current day, militants from illegal armed formations have opened fire on Ukrainian soldiers four times already. All attacks were directed towards the village of Novhorodske, to the north of the temporarily occupied town of Horlivka, the enemy used small arms alone," the report said.

According to earlier reports, Ukrainian troops were attacked 20 times on Saturday, January 2.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatseniuk claims that Ukraine's government has been conducting reforms that are similar to those carried out by Poland.

"The best example of European integration for Ukraine is a neighboring and brotherly Poland: It took Poland 14 years to conduct uneasy reforms. We've been conducting the same reforms in the past 22 months. After such reforms Poland has not only become a European Union member but it is one of the EU's strongest, developed economies. This is our way to go. And we'll follow it," he said during the weekly TV program titled "10 Minutes with the Prime Minister" broadcast by Channel 5 on Sunday.

In his words, there is much work ahead "for Ukraine to become an EU member."

But it was last year when the European Commission "clearly indicated that Ukraine had complied with all the criteria required for the introduction of a visa-free regime between Ukraine and the European Union."

"We're looking forward to the final decision by the EU on visa-free travels for Ukrainian citizens, as we're participants in one, large European space. We share similar values. We share similar principles. We respect human rights and freedoms. We're guided solely by the principle of the supremacy of law," he added.

Yatseniuk said that Ukraine had joined a number of programs with the EU, including for Ukrainian scientists, cultural programs and those of access to European resources.
The Ukrainian intelligence service has informed the Special Monitoring Mission (SMM) of the OSCE about the presence of tanks and self-propelled artillery weapons, which are prohibited by Minsk agreements, in the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) zone in Makiyivka and Mospyne, Donetsk region.

The situation in the ATO zone remains difficult, the press service of the main department of the intelligence directorate of the Defense Ministry of Ukraine reported.

"Representatives of the OSCE special mission monitoring were provided with the information about the presence of weapons which are banned under the Minsk agreements - tanks and self-propelled artillery weapons  in the area of Makiyivka and Mospyne," the press service said.

Also, according to the Ukrainian intelligence, over the past 24 hours the illegal armed groups focused on regrouping and rotation of their units in the area of Novoaidar, Donetsk, Mariupol and Volnovakha; were conducting reconnaissance, maintaining combat alert and improving training material and technical base.
Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn. Benjamin Franklin
Time to reveal my first investment in a truly Japanese company (that is bought with Yen and only listed in Japan). What really triggered me to pull the gun...
* PermaKat Eleonora Rosati received the 2022 Adepi Award

* PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the World Intellectual Property Review's "Influential Women in IP" of 2020.

* PermaKat Eleonora Rosati listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2018.

* IPKat founder and Blogmeister Emeritus Jeremy Phillips listed as one of the Managing Intellectual Property magazine's "Fifty Most Influential People" of 2005, 2011, 2013, and 2014.

* Recommended by the European Patent Office as reading material for candidates for the European Qualifying Examinations, 2013.

* Listed as "Top Legal Blog" in The Times Online, March 2011.

2010 ABA Journal 100. * One of the only two non-US blogs listed in the Blawg100.

* Court Reporter Top Copyright Blog award winner, November 2010.

* Number 1 in the 2010 Top Copyright Blog list compiled by the Copyright Litigation Blog, July 2010.

* Selected by the United States Library of Congress for inclusion in its historic collections of Internet materials related to Legal Blawgs as of 2010.

* Top Patent Blog poll 2009: 3rd out of 50 in the "Favourite Patent Blog" poll and 2nd out of 50 in the "Most-read" poll.

Blog of the Year, 20 August 2008. * ComputerWeekly IT Law and Governance, 20 August 2008.
Before US, EU, and UN sanctions can be suspended, the Iranians must first removal all but 300 kilograms of low-enriched uranium from the country, deactivate the core of the Arak heavy water facility so it can no longer produce plutonium, and finish removing from operation several thousand centrifuge machines used for uranium enrichment.

The first of these measures has reportedly been completed, with the vast majority of Irans low-enriched uranium having been loaded onto a Russian shipping vessel this week for storage by what is arguably Irans main foreign partner. The work on Arak consists mainly of pouring cement and is not expected to take long.

Nonetheless, the overall process of implementation was initially estimated by Western analysts as lasting as much as six months. But despite early delays, the remaining work might be completed in a matter of a few weeks, according to not only Iranian officials but also International Atomic Energy Agency Executive Director Yukiya Amano.

On Friday, National Public Radio issued a sort of progress report on Irans implementation measures and indicated that the unexpected speed is partly attributable to the fact that Tehran is evidently not taking care to preserve the operability of first-generation centrifuges. Although this gives the initial impression of eager compliance with the nuclear deal, NPR points out that scrapping the older centrifuges may allow Iran to prepare initially-non-operational centrifuges that are more advanced and would ostensibly be used to replace equipment that breaks down.

But these moves could also decrease Irans breakout time for a nuclear weapon if it decides to break or cheat on the nuclear deal by running more centrifuges than it is technically permitted to under the JCPOA. These finer details of the implementation process are likely to contribute to the discord within Western policy circles about the long-term effects of the nuclear deal and the question of whether Iran or the Rouhani administration is trustworthy.

This discord has already been amplified by a series of provocative Iranian activities including two ballistic missile tests since the conclusion of the deal, and an incident in late December when IRGC naval vessels reportedly test-fired rockets within 1,500 yards of an American aircraft carrier. The US Treasury Department eventually responded to the first ballistic missile test by preparing new sanctions on entities with ties to the Iranian ballistic missile program. President Rouhani responded in turn by ordering his defense minister to accelerate the growth of Irans missile stockpiles.

The US subsequently drew back from its sanctions threat, apparently delaying them but keeping them on the table. Specific reasons were not publicly given, but this move could reflect either wariness about escalating the conflict over the missile issue or obsession with preserving the nuclear agreement and opening the Iranian oil and export markets.

The Obama administrations policies over the past couple of years have been widely criticized both for weakness and for privileging economic issues over various persistent elements of the Iranian threat. European governments and business have been equally subject to this criticism, since they have been in many cases more eager to gain entry to the Iranian markets.

In a look ahead to the coming year in Iran, Al Arabiya indicated that US companies are increasingly worried about falling behind their European counterparts, since the threat of sanctions enforcement has remained in place inside the US, even as the Obama administration continues to pursue rapprochement.

Many companies are reportedly uncertain about the current status of the Iranian market and the extent to which it will be viable for them in the future. The institution of new sanctions would very likely contribute to that confusion, and it is therefore possible that this was a factor in the US Treasurys decision to delay the new measures that would have constituted a response to Iranian provocations.

But the consequence of this, al Al Arabiya points out, is that the avoidance of new enforcement measures and the continuation of the implementation process serve to give Iran increased legitimacy, even in the wake of its defiant activities. This will help Iran to become, as NPR put it, much more of a player on the global stage. And it will also contribute to the trend of allowing foreign businesses into Iran to provide the country and its government with new funding.

Ironically, US businesses may not be prominent among those foreign investors, even though US policy is contributing to the changing situation. As eager as certain American entities are to enter the Iranian market, an editorial by David Ignatius that appeared in the Union-Sun & Journal on Friday emphasized that Iran is not yet open for business, at least for Americans.

This point was underscored by the observation that some of Irans recent provocations have specifically targeted American citizens and permanent residents inside of the Islamic Republic who are accused of facilitating infiltration of Iran by Western economic and cultural interests.

This arrest followed upon warnings by the Iranian supreme leader about this sort of infiltration, and Ignatius suggests that it signifies an attempt to discourage Iranian-Americans from entering the country and to retain the current financial elite, mainly composed of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. This lends credence to Al Arabiyas suggestion that in 2016, hardline entities will retain their hold over domestic issues in Iran regardless of what happens in the economic sphere.

In theory, the US Treasurys decision to delay sanctions might encourage Americans to continue pursuing investment in Iran, but this effect will be mitigated if sanctions remain on the table, and it may be canceled altogether if Iranian officials make their country seem excessively dangerous for American investors. In this sense, the avoidance of new sanctions could have the effect of legitimizing Iran without contributing to the supposed economic benefits of rapprochement for the US.
[January 04, 2016] The French Business Confederation (Medef) Visits Consumer Electronic Show (CES) and San Francisco to Promote French Startups and Businesses

From January 6th to 9th, Pierre Gattaz, president of the Medef (the French business confederation), will lead a delegation of French CEOs and entrepreneurs to the United States in order to promote French startups and allow French small businesses to discover the latest technological trends. On Tuesday, January 6, and Wednesday, January 7, Pierre Gattaz will visit CES (News - Alert) in Las Vegas where each year an increasing number of French startups exhibit (this year, they will be over 120 French presenters and 66 French startup companies at Eureka Park - only the US will have more). He will also meet American officials such a Marcus Jadotte, Assistant Secretary of Commerce For Industry & Analysis, and several CEOs of high-level companies such as Intel (News - Alert).



On Thursday, January 8, and Friday, January 9, the Medef delegation will visit the French tech community in San Francisco and meet American venture capitalists in order to show them the incredible dynamism of the French internet economy. Once again, Pierre Gattaz will also meet John Chambers from Cisco (News - Alert), who said that  France understood the digital revolution better than others  and pledged to invest USD 200 million in start-ups and investment funds in France. With 750,000 member companies, 90% of which are SMEs with under 50 employees, and more than 20,000 authorised representatives to carry out 30,000 mandates, MEDEF is the largest entrepreneur network in France.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160104006079/en/

[ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]
The Knessets top security officer filed a complaint Monday with the Israel Police.

The Knessets top security officer filed a complaint Monday with the Israel Police on behalf of Yisrael Beytenu chief MK Avigdor Liberman after the former foreign minister received threats to his life on his Facebook page.

You are our target, read one message in Arabic, which was emblazoned on a photograph with a masked man holding a knife. You murder is imminent, you son of a Jewish woman. We will carry out an attack similar to the one in Tel Aviv [on Friday] tomorrow or after tomorrow, but we wont say where it will be.

In another threatening message, the post read: We will carry out more terrorist attacks and suicide attacks within the occupied territory of 1948 (Israel proper), we will stab you, we will avenge all of the martyrs. Either tomorrow or after tomorrow we will carry out two operations against the occupation.

When contacted by Channel 2, a Liberman aide said in response: Hes accustomed to threats, and he isnt moved by them.
anterior

Un explosivo fue detonado cerca de las Fuerzas Israelies en la frontera con el Libano
Living at the End of the World is trumpeter/composer Michael Sarians follow up to his 2020 acclaimed album New Aurora. Inspired by trumpet ...
Private Jacob Parrott

Have you ever wondered who was the recipient of the first Medal of Honor? Also, in what year was this highest military honor first awarded?

The new military award was first presented by the United States Department of War to six Union army soldiers who participated in the Great Locomotive Chase in 1862 during the American Civil War (1861 - 1865).

Private Jacob Parrott, a member of the 33rd Ohio infantry, Company K first saw combat in the Battle of Ivy Mountain. In April 1862, he volunteered to take part in a daring raid with twenty-one others. The unit later became known as "Andrew's Raiders" because they operated under the command of James J. Andrews.

The small band of "raiders" infiltrated Confederate lines and hijacked the locomotive General, but were captured and imprisoned. The purpose of the raid was to penetrate nearly 200 miles south into enemy territory and capture a railroad train at Big Shanty, Georgia. The small group of only 22 men would then make an attempt to destroy the bridges and tracks between Chattanooga and Atlanta.

During Parrott's captivity, he was severely beaten 110 times in an attempt to make him talk. Parrott and fourteen others managed to escape, but only six of them reached the Union lines.

As an honor for his exploits, he was escorted to Washington, D.C. to meet President Abraham Lincoln and was presented with the Medal of Honor by Secretary of War Edwin M. Stanton. He served with the Union army for the remaining days of the war and gained respect by being promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in 1863 and then to the rank of first lieutenant in 1864.

Parrott returned to his hometown of Kenton, Ohio, following the war, and as an occupation was a skilled cabinet maker. He also operated a stone quarry south of his home. The business started by Parrott was successful and he was a leading citizen of Kenton.

Unfortunately, he suffered a heart attack while walking home from the county courthouse in Kenton. Parrott never recovered from his heart disease and died on December 22, 1908 at the fairly young age of 65. He is buried in Grove Cemetery, on State Route 309, on the east edge of his hometown of Kenton, Ohio.
But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are Gods. 1 Corinthians 6:17, 18, 19, 20

Here we are, at the tail end of 2015. Are we ready to embrace the New Year? We dont know what the future holds, but we know who holds the future.

Weve had fairly mild weather so far. And then things kind of changed.

Did we have rain? Ill say we did! Rain, rain and more rain. We had flooding in various areas. We even had lakefront property for a while.

It is amazing how fast the water is actually receding. Im glad the ground isnt frozen, we might have had snow instead of rain. Then where would we be? Still digging, I expect.

Wednesday before Christmas Day was really stormy. We feel like maybe a twister went through our little commune. We werent home at the time, but our son-in-law Lloyds goat shelter blew apart, as did the dog kennel that housed their Golden Retrievers.

Rachel managed to keep the male, Holden, at home but the female, Haley, ran off.

Poor Holden, he was devastated. Lloyd repaired the kennel and put Holden back in there again. He cried and cried. Holden, not Lloyd! Lloyd did consider just leaving him in the barn with the small dogs, but thought maybe if Haley would happen to hear him cry, she would come back.

I was awake several times during the night, each time I could hear him crying. I figured it wouldnt hurt to do what I can, so I asked God to please send Haley home.

He did! The next morning when Lloyd was choring, he heard Holden barking with a different tone of voice, so he went to check. There she was! God is good!

She is, after all, grandson Galens dog. So everyone is happy now.

Another dog story -- with all the rain, I guess daughter Jane figured it rained cats and dogs, or at least one dog.

They found a small, wriggly bundle of excited little doggie. He must have been a little on the bedraggled side, as Jane took him in and gave him a bath. Which he seemed to enjoy. But -- Jane didnt want to keep him. She thought he was a Yorkie. I immediately thought of Bentley, my brother Marx Planks dog. I called Marx, he stopped in at Miltons to check it out. It wasnt Bentley. This doggie was a Pomeranian mixed with maybe Shih Tzu.

I dont know how they found out, but he belonged to their neighbors east of them.

This is vacation time and butchering time for the children with the Yoder side of the family. It has been that way for years and years. We used to go help. The grandchildren were just little tots and some werent yet; the Yoder grandchildren that werent ours but still accepted as grandpas.

It was a time of hard work and making memories, but a stoke intervened and we had to quit.

Our grandchildren and their Yoder cousins went ahead, growing up and making more memories, learning the ins and outs of butchering and processing your own meat. Without us. We still get our share of meat. It just doesnt taste quite the same.

But God had other plans. Many changes have taken place and grandchildren came along that never knew we helped.

I actually do miss the fellowship, the camaraderie of working together. Granted, sometimes maybe tempers got a little short, and patience wore thin when the day drug on into evening and still there were packages to wrap; it was cold, but on the whole, I loved it and do miss it.

In closing: If you can look back upon your day and recall a smile, a laugh, or some other pleasure, then it was a good day.

To all my reader friends -- May you all have a healthy, happy and blessed New Year!

Now for the recipe, what shall it be? How about pasta salad?

Broccoli and Tortellini Salad

6 slices bacon

20 oz. fresh cheese-filled tortellini

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1/2 cup white sugar

2 Tsps. cider vinegar

3 heads fresh broccoli, cut into florets

1 cup raisins

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 red onion, finely chopped

Place bacon in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside.
TOLEDO -- State Sen. Dale Righter has scheduled a public forum Thursday night to hear concerns from community members about planned hog farm operations in Cumberland County.

A press release from the office of Righter, R-Mattoon, reported that the town hall forum is slated for 6:30-8 p.m. Thursday in the American Legion building along South New Jersey Street in Toledo.

"Sen. Righter will listen to concerns some area residents have regarding several hog farm operations coming to Cumberland County and the impact hog farms could have on their communities," the press release stated.

The scheduling of the forum follows Righter receiving a petition calling for the state to increase the minimum setback distance between hog farm operations and the nearest occupied residence, other than any residences on the farm's property, from the current 1/4 mile to 1 mile.

Rural Toledo resident Debby Tolle said she and other petition organizers collected 236 signatures during late summer. She said they sent copies of the petition to Righter, state Rep. Reggie Phillips, R-Charleston, and the Illinois Department of Agriculture.

Tolle said she decided to circulate the petition after finding out that a hog farm with more than 1,000 animals was being planned near her home three miles west of Toledo. Tolle said she lives on farmland that has been in her family for four generations.

Since then, Tolle said she has heard that the plans for this hog farm have been dropped. However, Tolle said other hog farms that exceed 1,000 animals are in the works in Cumberland County and she is concerned that one could someday be developed near her home.

The Illinois Department of Agriculture reports that for farms with 1,000 to 6,999 animals the setback distance from any occupied residence must be 1/4 mile plus 200 feet for each additional 1,000 animals over the first 1,000. From a populated area, the setback is 1/2 mile plus 440 feet for each additional 1,000 animals over the first 1,000.

Tolle said she believes that even if a hog farm meets the state's setback requirements, 1/4 mile is not enough of a setback between a home and farm that could have well more than 1,000 hogs. She said a greater distance is needed to shield residences from the smell and the sound of hog farms.

Cumberland County Board member Ron Black said he shares the concerns expressed by Tolle and others who signed the petition. He said the odor of a facility with hundreds of hogs travels much further than a 1/4 mile, marring the quality of life for those who live in the country.

"A quarter mile is just not enough distance to have a hog farm come into an area a quarter mile from a house. We need the distance increase from residences," Black said. He added that setbacks for hog farms are stipulated by state, not county, regulations.

Black said the nearby presence of a large-scale facility for hogs would decrease the value of existing residences and make it difficult for the owners to sell these houses. Black said he is concerned about other large-scale facilities that are being planned in Cumberland County.

Cumberland County Board Chairman Floyd Holkenbrink, who owns a small farm operation with hogs near his home in rural Teutopolis, said hog farming is an important, longstanding aspect of the agricultural economy locally and throughout Illinois.

Illinois hog farms create a market for locally grown corn and soybeans, Holkenbrink said. They also provide the opportunity for farmers to supplement their incomes by using their own grain as feed for hogs that they can then sell, he said. He added that the resulting manure is a low-cost source of fertilizer for these farmers, as well.

In addition, Holkenbrink said hog farms create property tax revenue for counties and other units of local government.

Holkenbrink said there are already hog farm operations in Cumberland County, mostly in the west, and some in adjacent Effingham County. He said increasing the minimum setback requirement to 1/2 mile might be feasible, but would make it extremely difficult for farmers to site their hog operations.
2013 USA Trip

08/05/2013 - Brisbane - Orlando

09/05/2013 - Orlando

10/05/2013 - Orlando

11/05/2013 - Orlando

12/05/2013 - Orlando

13/05/2013 - Orlando

14/05/2013 - Orlando

15/05/2013 - Orlando

16/05/2013 - Orlando

17/05/2013 - Orlando - Fort Lauderdale

18/05/2013 - Cruise

19/05/2013 - Cruise (Nassau, Bahamas)

20/05/2013 - Cruise

21/05/2013 - Cruise (Charlotte Amalie, St Thomas)

22/05/2013 - Cruise (Philipsburg, St Marteen)

23/05/2013 - Cruise

24/05/2013 - Cruise

25/05/2013 - Cruise/Fort Lauderdal to New York

26/05/2013 - New York

27/05/2013 - New York

28/05/2013 - New York to Las Vegas

29/05/2013 - Las Vegas

30/05/2013 - Las Vegas to Los Angeles

31/05/2013 - Los Angeles

01/06/2013 - In Transit

02/06/2013 - Brisbane




BBC Media Action is looking for Afan Oromo-speaking assistant producers to work on the creation of a radio drama programme, with possible work on public service announcements (PSAs)  all on the theme of health.

Duties include:

To assist the Senior Producer and production and training department in all activities required to produce and distribute radio drama outputs on time and within budget



Support the creative process to contribute to the development of story lines and scripts, ensuring that content is both engaging and in line with project objectives and lives up to BBC editorial values and standards.



Help evaluate and respond to feedback from audience in form of letters, SMS or email



Able to use a range of audio and digital equipment, recording and editing in the single track and multi-track. (If necessary training will be given.)



Help to identify, contract, and liaise with contributors, interviewers, script-writers, actors, and other freelancers involved in developing and producing the radio drama



BBC Media Action

BBC Media Action uses media and communications to reduce poverty and as a force for positive social change. To achieve this, the BBC Media Action partners with civil society, local media and governments to:

Produce creative programmes in multi-media formats, based on robust research, which inform and engage audiences around key development issues.



Strengthen the media sector through building professional capacity and infrastructure.



BBC Media Action delivers a portfolio of media projects in Ethiopia. It seeks to expand this portfolio of work, but also ensure that existing projects are delivered to time, to budget and to the highest standards, and in accordance with BBC editorial values as well as Media Action methodologies.

Overall Purpose of Job

To assist in the production of a radio drama programme, with possible work on PSAs  all on the theme of health.

Main Duties:

Production

Assist the Senior Producer and production and training department in all activities required to produce and distribute radio drama outputs on time and within budget

Coordinate, conduct, and communicate the results of content research on key themes and messages to ensure that all content information is accurate, clear, and unambiguous across languages

Support the creative process to contribute to the development of story lines and scripts, ensuring that content is both engaging and in line with project objectives and lives up to BBC editorial values and standards.

Help evaluate and respond to feedback from audience in form of letters, SMS or email

Help supply content to BBC Media Action website, reflecting key achievements of the project

Able to use a range of audio and digital equipment, recording and editing in the single track and multi-track. (If necessary training will be given.)

Demonstrate strong understanding of BBC editorial values and ability to put the same into practice

Be willing to take on new or different roles, as required



Administration

1. Understand simple budgeting and keep track of expenditure

2. Assist Producers and Senior Producers in logistical and administrative duties of production.
Monday, January 04, 2016 Turning The Calendar On The Old Year But Not The Old Problems, Plus: Some Easy New Year's Predictions



The final days of 2015 ended with with a bang--literally. A prominent ABQ businessman was



And the Guv's holiday pizza party will continue to generate laughs and derision in this new year as it did in late '15. A columnist for the Las Vegas Review Journal took



She compounded her own troubles when she admitted that bottles were thrown from the hotel room's fourth-floor balcony after first contending the objects had been snowballs. Remind me never to get in a snowball fight with the governor of New Mexico. Now it seems her prospects for courtship on the national political stage lack a snowball's chance to survive in 2016.



Here's one prediction we will make for '16. If, as expected, Martinez escalates her out-of-state political travel this year, it will generate more criticism than it has in the past.



The state continues to wrestle with a stubborn unemployment problem, crashing oil prices and a depopulation trend now two years old. There was



But wealth will be served in this new year. Our pyramid-like economy--with the well-off perched high over an ever growing low-income crowd--will soon have the pricey



Back on crime and APD which sucks so much oxygen out of ABQ's air. Here's an informed reader with a critique of the recently announced



First, its interesting that the reorganization was said to be developed by APD Chief Eden when in fact it is no more than the implementation of recommendations made by outside staffing consultants who were brought in as part of the federal APD reform effort.



Second, the moves being announced seem like no-brainers: increased community policing (we needed a consultant to tell us this?), changing area command leadership every 3 years instead of annually (how could such frequent command turnover have been thought sensible?), increasing the traffic unit from 9 to 40 officers (no wonder red light running is endemic), reducing the number of special units at headquarters to free up more officers for patrol duty and redeploying officers in special units that are now seldom utilized (pretty obvious), requiring investigators to be on duty when they are actually needed (gang unit officers now only work on weekdays), and not having officers investigate fender-bender accidents.



WHAT WENT WRONG



Here's reader and ABQ attorney Norm Gagne with some thoughts on what broke the back of the once robust ABQ economy:



My theory is that interstate banking changed the calculus. The family banks were sold to large out-of-state banks which in turn merged. Gone were the local bankers, perhaps the people with the greatest vested interest in making the community work and the people who could put local money and influence to work to that end. The bankers along with others of the old guard were, I think, the glue that kept the old city running.



I don't discount the dramatic downturn in Federal spending as a substantial cause of the city's woes nor do I think the old guard could have prevented all of the pain. My theory is that the city would not have drifted as it does now and a more robust, effective response to the Federal retraction would have been mounted.



TOM'S TURNSTILE



Bloom Bianca Ortiz Wertheim was Dem US Senator Tom Udall's state director but was



Senator Udall announced that Greg Bloom has joined his staff as state director and will lead his New Mexico operations. Bloom worked from 2009-2012 as state director for former U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman, where he focused on energy, public lands, health and education issues. Bloom will be based in Albuquerque and supervise staff in Udall's field offices in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces, Carlsbad and Portales.



EASY PICKINS'



Here's some political lay ups to kick off this new year which is also an election year. . .



None of the three incumbent US representatives for New Mexico will be defeated when they stand for re-election in November. . .The new Bernalillo County Clerk will be a Democrat. . .We will likely get the first candidate declaring their candidacy for mayor of ABQ for the October 2017 election before March.



This is the home of New Mexico politics.







Interested in reaching New Mexico's most informed audience? Advertise here.





( c)NM POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN 2016 Welcome back and into 2016. . .The final days of 2015 ended with with a bang--literally. A prominent ABQ businessman was stabbed to death in the driveway of his home in the upscale Four Hills neighborhood, trying to stop thieves from burglarizing his car. That's the very neighborhood in which ABQ Mayor Richard Berry lives and again shows how the criminal class is increasingly emboldened. And why not? APD is chronically and dangerously understaffed. Sorry to say, but expect the violent crime wave to grow not diminish in this new year. . .And the Guv's holiday pizza party will continue to generate laughs and derision in this new year as it did in late '15. A columnist for the Las Vegas Review Journal took on the holiday party gone bad:Here's one prediction we will make for '16. If, as expected, Martinez escalates her out-of-state political travel this year, it will generate more criticism than it has in the past.The state continues to wrestle with a stubborn unemployment problem, crashing oil prices and a depopulation trend now two years old. There was a flash of good news in the latest jobs stats for the ABQ metro, but it's too early to tell if that is an outlier or a trend. The flat housing market is probably the best indicator of the job market and that remains, well, flat.But wealth will be served in this new year. Our pyramid-like economy--with the well-off perched high over an ever growing low-income crowd--will soon have the pricey Ruth's Chris steakhouse in ABQ where they can feast over their good fortune. (At least we think they will. The restaurant had set a late 2015 opening date). No one said there's no money in ABQ--there's just not enough of it spread around.Back on crime and APD which sucks so much oxygen out of ABQ's air. Here's an informed reader with a critique of the recently announced APD reorganization Here's reader and ABQ attorney Norm Gagne with some thoughts on what broke the back of the once robust ABQ economy:Bianca Ortiz Wertheim was Dem US Senator Tom Udall's state director but was bumped up to DC to become his chief of staff so. . . .Here's some political lay ups to kick off this new year which is also an election year. . .None of the three incumbent US representatives for New Mexico will be defeated when they stand for re-election in November. . .The new Bernalillo County Clerk will be a Democrat. . .We will likely get the first candidate declaring their candidacy for mayor of ABQ for the October 2017 election before March.This is the home of New Mexico politics. E-mail your news and comments. (jmonahan@ix.netcom.com)
Could an overcharge lawsuit be taking aim at your hospital's emergency department? Very possibly, if Las Vegas attorney Barry Kramer has anything to say about it. Mr. Kramer specializes in filing class-action lawsuits against hospitals, primarily on behalf of uninsured plaintiffs, claiming that the undiscounted ED rates charged to these patients are grossly exorbitant and based on an unconscionable rate structure. (Lawyersandsettlements.com; http://bit.ly/1S2gTUg.)

Mr. Kramer declined to speak with Emergency Medicine News, but his practice is currently involved with at least three class-action lawsuits claiming unfair ED billing practices at hospitals across the country, including Prime Healthcare/Huntington Beach Hospital in Huntington Beach, CA; Sanford Health in North and South Dakota; and most recently, Oregon Health & Science University (OHSU) in Portland, OR, which was hit with a suit in late September that asks for an estimated $7 million in compensation for the primary plaintiff, a woman named Claire Amos, and hundreds or possibly thousands of other unnamed plaintiffs.

The OHSU suit does not specify what led Ms. Amos to seek care at OHSU's emergency department in late April 2015. It does note, however, that she was ultimately billed more than $31,000 for the care she received. The dates of service stretch from April 28 to May 5, so it seems likely that most of that care did not actually take place in the emergency department. But the suit claims that OHSU acts egregiously by failing to inform and/or concealing from self-pay patients its uniform policy to bill and require payment from self-pay patients at rates vastly higher than the average reimbursement rates paid by other patients.

That's fairly similar to the charges Mr. Kramer leveled against Sanford Health in the class-action suit he filed in July on behalf of a patient named Dustin Limberg, who was charged $2,062 for care he received in one of Sanford's EDs the previous January.

The suits have been successful in at least one instance. Swedish Medical Center in Seattle settled a class-action lawsuit in 2014 filed by Mr. Kramer on behalf of Chad Humphrey, who sought care at Swedish in May 2012 for neurological symptoms, and was charged $10,151.10, and similarly situated plaintiffs. The settlement reduced the charges for Mr. Humphrey and other class members to no more than 70 percent of the charges they incurred; the ultimate dollar value of that settlement is unknown. Swedish declined to comment for this story.

Case Dismissed

Sanford Health, meanwhile, filed a motion to dismiss, which was granted by the Cass County District Court in late October. At press time, there was not yet word about whether the plaintiff planned to appeal the decision to the state Supreme Court.

The court finds persuasive the various cases Sanford cites nationwide in which courts dismissed claims similar to those asserted by Limberg, as well as dismissed claims for relief of what would have been the underlying justiciable controversy, the court wrote.

Suits like these have been cropping up periodically for a decade or more, said Cindy Morrison, Sanford's executive vice president for marketing and public policy. The Cass County District Court opinion refers to several suits with almost identical claims that were filed in the mid-2000s against Sanford (then known as Sioux Valley Hospitals and Health System), Avera Health, and Rapid City Regional Hospital. The entire group of lawsuits, consolidated as Nygaard v. South Valley Hospitals Health System, was dismissed by the state Supreme Court in April 2007.

Should the current suit be appealed further, Ms. Morrison predicted that it will meet a similar fate. We've been here before, she said. The state Supreme Court determined that uninsured patients being charged the full, undercounted price is not actionable. To rule otherwise would be to suggest that a judge should rule on the appropriateness of every hospital charge, and that's just not reasonable.

Sanford, like most hospitals, compensates for some of those charges for people in need with substantial charity care  a total of about $223 million annually, Ms. Morrison said. We want people to get the care they need. Of all the people who applied for financial assistance who met the need threshold, 99.5 percent of them received it. (Sanford couldn't offer a breakdown of how much of that charity care represented ED patients, noting that their accounting system allows charity care to be traced to a particular patient or a type of service but not to a specific department.)

She noted that emergency care has fixed costs that other types of care don't have. In an ED, there is an expectation from the consuming public that you'll have everything available to take care of them, no matter what the emergency is, she said. The reason that a lot of physician-owned hospitals don't have emergency departments is because there is a significant expense associated with operating an ED. You have to have everything there to take care of what you don't even know might be coming, and the charges will reflect that.

Brian Zink, MD, a professor and the chair of emergency medicine at Alpert Medical School of Brown University, said he agreed. It makes sense that care that's provided 24 hours a day, with an extremely high level of expertise and technology, might cost more than care that's only available during certain time frames without all the expertise and materials to handle the worst crises.

Add to that the fact that approximately half of all emergency services go uncompensated, according to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The American College of Emergency Physicians has noted that the typical ED treats one in five patients without insurance or a clear method for reimbursement. Meanwhile, reimbursement is on the decline: A 2008 study found that overall reimbursement for ED charges decreased from 57 percent in 1996 to 42 percent in 2004. (Ann Emerg Med 2008;51[3]:265.)

Unknown Costs

But the underlying premise of the lawsuits isn't just about the high cost of ED care; it's about the fact that patients sign contracts that they will pay for that care without having any idea of what those costs will be and that uninsured patients don't get the discounts that hospitals negotiate with private and government insurers. The 2008 Annals study found that uninsured patients paid 35 percent of all emergency department charges in 2004, although the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they represent just 19 percent of ED patients.

Dr. Zink readily admitted that even he  not just an emergency physician but a department chair and hospital emergency physician-in-chief  is often almost as in the dark as his patients are about their final charges.

They're a mystery to most physicians. Most doctors don't know how much is charged for particular medications or an endotracheal tube or doing a resuscitation, he said. When patients are trying to make decisions about their care, I'll try to give them an estimate, but I find it frustrating that I'm basically guessing because hospitals don't provide any itemization of their built-in charges. I'm increasingly finding that patients are questioning the costs of things, and it's difficult not to be able to give them a better idea of it.

Dr. Zink and colleagues found that aggregate ED expenditures are significantly higher than previous estimates  between five and 10 percent of total health care costs, in a study on the cost of emergency care. (Ann Emerg Med 2013;62[5]:498.) But does that mean that ED charges are inappropriately high? It's difficult to say, Dr. Zink and his co-authors noted, because of a number of factors, including a lack of value quantification.

More attention should be devoted to quantifying the value of specific aspects of emergency care, they wrote. For low-acuity visits, this means factoring in variables such as time-until-symptom-relief or time-to-diagnosis. An important challenge is to appropriately price the convenience factor of obtaining unscheduled care. On the supply side, this requires a better understanding of the relative costs of building and maintaining capacity in EDs and nonhospital sites. On the demand side, this involves optimizing copayment policies and establishing effective triage criteria. For higher-acuity visits, there are additional challenges to interpreting cost in the context of value. A trend toward greater ED practice intensity has been associated with more aggressive billing, as well as indirect costs through increased crowding. More work is needed in quantifying the value of intensive evaluations.

And ED prices are increasing faster than other hospital services. Between 2009 and 2011, unit prices for ED services increased by 16.3 percent, compared with 9.9 percent and 8.1 percent increases in prices for inpatient and ancillary services, according to the Health Care Cost Institute, which conducts independent, nonpartisan research and analysis on the causes of the rise in U.S. health spending.

Now that individual patients  even those with insurance  are shouldering a greater portion of their health care costs through high-deductible health plans, sticker shock over the cost of emergency care is likely to raise more complaints  and potentially more lawsuits. In the past, individuals haven't been as aware of how much hospitals charge for emergency care, Dr. Zink said. Now that that is changing, it really is very striking to people how high the overall bills can be, and I think it's an issue that we all need to be concerned about. There should be ways of getting those costs and charges to be lower than they are now, if we think creatively about how we deliver care.

Will the move to pay-for-value rather than fee-for service do anything to improve the situation? That's the ideal, but it isn't quite matching up with reality yet. Everyone is pushing for true value-based care, but the incentive for us to streamline, to lower costs, to try to be very active in reducing the expenses in health care  those things are not yet supported in a way by the payers, Dr. Zink said. Right now, if we do those things in the ED, it doesn't help us balance our budget or help physicians or hospitals make ends meet. We're in a very difficult phase, a Neverland of payment systems that is proving very challenging, and particularly for EDs. There's a lot of talk about getting to value-based reimbursement but not a lot of follow-through yet.

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NORTH PLATTE  A 24-year-old North Platte man was killed and three passengers injured in an early Sunday morning accident northeast of North Platte.

Authorities said Kristian Woodhouse lost control while he was trying to negotiate a curve, and his vehicle went up an embankment and rolled about 2:15 Sunday morning.

Lincoln County sheriff's deputies found Woodhouse dead at the scene, the sheriff's office said in a news release. He had been thrown part of the way out of the vehicle and was pinned beneath it, the release said.

Three female passengers suffered minor injuries, according to the sheriff's office.

Deputies believe Woodhouse was not wearing a seatbelt and that alcohol was involved in the crash, the release said.
Jacob Rusher was a status offender in his mid-teens, charged with crimes that would not be crimes if he were an adult.

He was put in the Douglas County Youth Facility three times between 15 and 17. Each time, he was placed in lockdown, the first time for his own good because he had a broken ankle.

What might have been a few weeks in isolation turned into three months, according to a report on kids in solitary confinement released Monday by ACLU of Nebraska. After Rusher pounded on the door and begged them to release him, he was charged with inciting a riot. His second and third visits to solitary lasted more than three months each and came after he was attacked by older gang members.

"It was 23 hours a day alone, no TV or radio. You were in there with one book, a blanket, a mat and a toothbrush. No art materials, no hobby items  everything was considered contraband. No classes or school while on lockdown," Rusher, now 24, said in the report.

He developed a pacing habit -- one wall to the other -- that hangs on today, he said. While he paced, he would imagine he was in one of the books he was reading.

And at night, he said, he'd get a little crazy, with the lights on at all hours.

In the report, "Growing Up Locked Down: Juvenile Solitary Confinement in Nebraska," ACLU of Nebraska said it has uncovered some disturbing trends in how state and county lockups in Nebraska use solitary confinement to discipline youths in custody.

"I think it's fair to say as we look to comparisons with our sister states and across the national landscape that Nebraska's use and policies regarding juvenile solitary confinement truly shock the conscience," ACLU of Nebraska Executive Director Danielle Conrad said Monday morning.

On any given day in Nebraska, the report said, juvenile justice facilities routinely subject kids to solitary confinement. There is no uniformity in how kids are kept alone for periods of time ranging from hours to months.

The state Health and Human Services-run facilities in Kearney and Geneva, for example, can use it for as long as five days, and it gets worse from there, said Amy Miller, legal director of ACLU of Nebraska.

Lancaster County can keep kids isolated for as long as 15 days. Confinement logs from Lancaster County Youth Services demonstrate what the report calls the "arbitrary and subjective" use of solitary confinement as a form of punishment, she said.

The Nebraska Department of Correctional Services can keep youths isolated for as long as 90 days, the same as adults. Sarpy County has no written policy.

The Department of Health and Human Services and the state Department of Correctional Services both said they are working on reforming restrictive housing and on reducing the time youths spend there.

Still, said Amy Fettig, senior staff counsel with the ACLU National Prison Project, given the length of time the state is subjecting kids to solitary confinement, Nebraska is an outlier.

Experts say solitary confinement refers to any physical and social isolation. It does not include short intervention time-out practices used to help manage behavior.

The prisons use restrictive housing as necessary for "the safety, security and good order of the facility," including for youths tried and sentenced as adults, said Dawn Renee Smith, spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections.

Youths in restrictive housing have routine interaction with medical and mental health staff, other facility staff and others assigned to that gallery, she said.

And wardens can review decisions and allow for appeal.

The agency is working with the Vera Institute of Justice and the Safe Alternatives to Segregation Initiative, and others, to develop regulations for use of restriction.

ACLU surveyed all correctional facilities housing juveniles in Nebraska, including two run by the state and five by counties, asking about policies and logs of time juveniles spend in solitary.

The solitary confinement of children is suspect from a legal and policy perspective, the report said. It can cause extreme psychological, physical and developmental harm.

In solitary, kids can be denied the education, programming and treatment they need to rehabilitate, Fettig said.

"You're basically locking a kid in a box, and then expecting that to turn out well," she said. "And unfortunately, as we know from statistics of self-harm and suicide, it doesn't turn out well."

A tragic consequence of the solitary confinement of youth, the report said, is the increased risk of suicide and self-harm, including cutting and other self-mutilation. Research by the U.S. Department of Justice showed more than 50 percent of all suicides in juvenile facilities occurred while young people were isolated, and more than 60 percent of young people who killed themselves in custody had a history of being held in isolation.

Solitary doesn't solve behavioral problems, Fettig said. Like adults, when kids are locked up with no one to talk to for hours and days at a time, they become angry and frustrated. Mental health problems are exacerbated and they they have breakdowns, or violence ensues.

Isolating kids has been done for years with nobody noticing, Fettig said. But the public is noticing now, and it is saying enough is enough. There are better solutions, she said.

The ACLU found a wide range of policy and practices across the facilities it studied. For example, Douglas and Scotts Bluff counties lack systems to track or log the amount of time spent in solitary confinement, the report showed.

Nebraska reforms suggested in the report included these:

* Join the growing number of states banning solitary confinement for youth.

* Limit use of solitary confinement to last-resort situations and for no more than four hours.

* Provide due-process and an appeals process.

* Require permission from a facility director for placement of a youth in solitary beyond four hours and mandatory mental health assessments of those who are.

* Mandate reporting for facilities' use of solitary.

* Mandate staff training on alternatives to solitary.

HHS spokesman Russ Reno said the department is complying with nearly all recommendations of the ACLU. The average length of stay in isolation during 2014 for youth was 2.55 hours at the Kearney YRTC, and 1.99 hours at the Geneva YRTC. The average length of stay in isolation has dropped about 50 percent from 2012 to 2014. And work on the issue continues.

Solitary confinement is a last resort and HHS tries to keep it to less than four hours, he said, with due-process and an appeals process.

"We have instituted mental health examinations for youth in isolation more than a few hours, and permission is necessary from senior management to extend isolation more than four hours," he said. HHS also reports the use of solitary both internally and externally, and staff is trained on alternatives to isolation.

The Nebraska Legislature addressed adult solitary confinement with legislation (LB598) in 2015. This report presents an opportunity to focus on more specific issues for juveniles, Conrad said.

"We can't let these kids keep falling through the cracks."
The University of Nebraska-Lincolns Confucius Institute was named a model institute by the Chinese Ministry of Education at an international conference in Shanghai last month.

The honor given by the Office of Chinese Language Council International, also known as the Hanban, recognizes excellence in teaching and promoting Chinese language and culture.

Charles Wood, director of the UNL Confucius Institute, received the award alongside UNL Chancellor Harvey Perlman and Ruiying Yang, a professor at UNL's partner, Xi'an Jiaotong University. Being named a model institute places the UNL center among the top 10 of more than 500 set up around the world, Wood said.

One of the goals is cultural exchange and teaching Chinese language, he said. We know that we have been doing well, but we didnt know how we are doing in comparison to other institutes.

UNLs Confucius Institute launched in 2007 and is the only Chinese language and culture center in the state.

Since then, the Confucius Institute in Nebraska Hall on the UNL City Campus has grown from two teachers to 10 who teach noncredit Chinese language courses to UNL students, staff and faculty members while also supporting a broad range of programs across the state.

Public schools in Lincoln, Omaha and Scottsbluff benefit from the center, which trains teachers to teach the Chinese language and culture. And Southeast Community College will launch its own program soon, joining Bellevue University as the Confucius Institute broadens its reach across higher education in Nebraska.

More programs are on the way as well, said Lei Shi, program coordinator at the UNL office. This year, UNLs Confucius Institute hopes to strengthen its network of resources for K-12 Chinese teachers by developing curriculum and distance learning courses, and hosting teaching competitions and training seminars as well as offering to monitor classroom instruction.

UNL also wants to expand the Confucius Institutes reach to the business community in Nebraska, Shi said.

Companies that do business with China want to learn basic Chinese language and culture, Shi said. We want to provide outreach to chambers of commerce in Lincoln and Omaha to see how we can adjust to their needs and serve the community better.

Activities to support the Family With Chinese Children program for families who have adopted children from China also will grow in the upcoming year, Shi added.

The Confucius Institute, funded through grants from Xi-an Jiaotong University in China and UNL, could receive additional funding from the Chinese Hanban for being named a model institute, Wood said.

We can propose additional activities we want to set up as a model institute so others can learn from our experiences and successes, he said. This enhances our chances of increasing our programs.
Sometime over the New Years holiday weekend, vandals broke into portable classrooms at Parkview Christian, busting television sets and laptops and desktop computers at the private K-12 school.

A teacher who went to his classroom to feed fish discovered the damage Sunday morning.

Damages are listed in excess of $5,000, Capt. Bob Farber of the Lincoln Police Department said Sunday. But its probably more than that.

The destruction occurred in two portable classrooms outside the school at First and Superior streets.

A door was broken into and windows were also broken out, Farber said. Personal items were strewn about the rooms and a white board was defaced with graffiti.

Farber declined to say what was written, as did Parkview administrator Marty Hughes.

Students return to school Tuesday, Hughes said, and the classrooms will be cleaned up and ready for them.

Its just unfortunate that it happened, he said. I pray for the people who did this. Hopefully, theyll feel contrition and not do it again.

Police did not have any suspects as of Sunday night, Farber said.

Were going to need some help on this were hoping to get a break.

Anyone with information should contact Crime Stoppers at (402) 475-3600 and leave an anonymous tip or call (402) 441-6000 and ask to speak to an officer.
WASHINGTON  The call left on my answering machine was unnerving to say the least. The caller identified himself as an Internal Revenue Service agent, complete with a badge number or whatever they call it, and announced that I was the subject of a fraud investigation. He left a number I was to call back as soon as I received the message. It was all very official. Except it wasnt.

Any hesitation, the voice warned authoritatively, would result in immediate consequences that could include arrest. In all my years of paying income taxes, I had never received such a threat. I havent done my own taxes in decades and I wondered why the accounting firm, a large prestigious one, I used hadnt been consulted since my longtime preparers signature was on the return.

Before I dialed the number as advised in the terse IRS demand, I took the time to call my tax person to find out.

Ignore it, he said, its a scam. These con artists are everywhere. The IRS doesnt call you on the phone. They send a letter and give you a way to respond.

Well, they used to, that is. The U.S. Congress in its infinite wisdom has decided to change all this. In the coming year, the IRS will be forced to use private agencies to collect outstanding inactive tax receivables, a method they have had trouble with in the past. While the IRS doesnt call before issuing a letter, the legitimate private collectors do as well as those who arent  the scammers who have managed to bilk millions from vulnerable taxpayers.

Before you start condemning the often much maligned IRS, a favorite pastime for most Americans, the agency objected strenuously to the legislation that authorized the new procedure, pointing out among other things that taxpayers might have some difficulty discerning what was real and what was bogus when the calls some in.

Iowa Republican Sen. Charles Grassley, the self anointed congressional gadfly, who supports using private collection agencies, contends, somewhat naively, that the legitimate collection agencies should also send out a notification letter before making the call. But good luck on that since the legislation doesnt require them to do so.

If you are lucky enough not to have received a scam call and arent familiar with the way the thieves operate, you probably should treat any tax demand, even those that now might be legitimate, with extreme caution. In fact, The Washington Posts Joe Davidson quoted IRS Inspector General Russell George as warning taxpayers to be on high alert for fraud.

As to the wisdom of that, the number of cases speak for themselves. Davidson cited Treasury figures showing that in two years ending in October there have been 736,000 complaints about scam calls and that approximately 4,550 victims have been bilked out of a total of $23 million.

How do the scammers operate?

Well, they use a variety of techniques. Most prominent is to claim taxes are overdue and that a prepaid debt card or wire transfer must be used to satisfy the obligation. George was quoted as saying that if there is an unexpected call with a threatening message for instant payment, it isnt the IRS.

The one I received as related above in the column was only the first. To be honest, I am somewhat embarrassed to say, I fumbled around with it, even redialing twice to the number listed and getting no answer on the first and a quick disconnect on the second when I asked whether this was the IRS.

That, of course, was before I got smart and called by accountant.

Despite all that, I must have received a least four more such calls, similar but not identical to the first, with the now familiar threat of federal action pending against me. I figured so many scam artists wanted in on the action, they must have run into each other getting to the phones.

Individual arent always the victims. The Treasury itself has lost millions upon millions of dollars in false refunds paid to conmen over the Internet who have managed to steal the identities, including Social Security numbers, of taxpayers.

Many of the phony refunds are for sizable amounts, $10,000 to $20, 000. Since the economic downturn, the IRS has been urged to quickly process apparently without checking returns that claim large refunds.
The annual migration of monarch butterflies is a colorful, epic phenomenon that until recently was a seasonal feature of life in Nebraska.

But the fluttering spots of orange, black and white have been disappearing from the landscape at a prodigious rate.

Twenty years ago scientists estimated that a billion monarchs overwintered in Mexico. Last year that number dropped to 56 million on fewer than three acres of forest, Daniel M. Ashe of the United States Fish and Wildlife Service and Collin OMara of the National Wildlife Federation wrote in a column published on the Journal Stars opinion pages.

So kudos to the Save Our Monarchs Foundation and the Nebraska Public Power District for seeding 50 acres of habitat for the butterflies earlier this month. The land owned by NPPD is just west of the Beatrice Power Station. And thanks to TransCanada, which contributed about $25,000 of the $30,000 cost of the seeding.

Volunteers spread seed for native grasses, wildflowers and  most importantly  milkweed on the land earlier this month.

Monarchs lay eggs only on milkweed, and their larvae eat only milkweed. When the larvae turn into butterflies, they instinctively join the migration.

Researchers at Iowa State estimated that milkweed declined by about 58 percent in the Midwest between 1999 and 2010.

It takes about three to four generations of monarchs to make the journey north in the spring, but it takes only one generation to make the journey south.

Its still a mystery how this generation, which has never been to Mexico, knows how to find the oyamel fir forests there.

The butterflies turn the forests into seas of orange and black, Ashe and OMara wrote. Each butterfly weighs only about as much as a paper clip, but so many cluster together to keep warm that sometimes the branches break.

National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore arrived before dawn once at a Mexican oyamel forest, where he had a near religious experience, he wrote on a CBS News interactive website.

When the sun finally came up, millions of brilliant orange spots burst from the trees, rising and falling and swirling around me like a great living blizzard, Sartore wrote. And for a few moments at least, I felt like I was five years old, and in heaven.

Most Nebraskans wont venture to the monarchs winter grounds, but they can do their part, as Sartore has, to plant suitable habitat for the monarchs, and help preserve part of the natural world that brings smiles and joy when the monarchs flutter by on their long treks through Nebraska.
If the City Council lacks the authority to exert more control over contracts  as City Attorney Jeff Kirkpatrick has opined -- it ought to do the next best thing, require faster and more complete public disclosure of those contracts.

City spending on contracts outside the council purview has grown in recent years under the administration of Mayor Chris Beutler.

In 2014 the city spent $6.9 million on contracts for professional services. Only $1.7 million of that amount went through the usual competitive bidding procedure, according to a report given the council last year.

Councilman Jon Camp has been trying for months to find a way for the council to review and approve the larger contracts without bogging the administration in unnecessary red tape.

That effort was short-circuited late in December when Kirkpatrick issued an opinion that the city charter give the mayor absolute authority to approve and execute single-year contracts.

The councils authority over city spending primarily comes through its approval of the city budget, Kirkpatrick said. The council also has authority to approve multi-year contracts.

The council has discussed a number of responses to Kirkpatricks opinion, including the possibility of seeking a second opinion from another attorney.

The council also is pondering the city attorneys role in alerting the council to proposed ordinances that might conflict with the city charter. Early versions of ordinances that would have expanded the councils approval to more contracts were prepared by the city attorneys office and initialed by Kirkpatrick.

Theres no question that more clarity on the responsibility of the city attorney to notify the council of conflicts with the charter would benefit the legislative process. It would avoid wasted effort and possible costly legal challenges.

One option for addressing the councils desire would be to put a measure on the city ballot to change the charter. More discussion of that option would be in the publics interest.

In the more immediate future it seems clear from Kirkpatricks opinion that the path is clear for the council to require greater transparency in the multi-million worth of spending on contracts okayed by the mayor.

The council should exercise that option.

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis once said that Sunlight is said to be the best disinfectant, referring to a book in which James Bryce, a British politician wrote, Public opinion is a sort of atmosphere, fresh, keen and full of sunlight, and this sunlight kills many of those noxious germs which are hatched where politicians congregate.

Theres no indication that theres anything amiss about the contracts approved by the mayor. Putting sunlight to work can help ensure that it stays that way.
CALEDONIA  Caledonias key municipal buildings are more than a half century old, cramped and in many ways inefficient, village officials say.

With an eye toward fixing some of those problems, the village in April purchased land adjacent to Crawford Park, on Chester Lane north of 4 Mile Road behind the Kmart and Pick n Save, with an eye toward a future municipal campus. But officials say there wont be any new buildings there anytime soon.

The reasons are simple, Village President Bob Bradley and Village Administrator Tom Christensen say. First is the cost connected with building new facilities like a police station and village hall. Then there are more pressing priorities for the village, like installing infrastructure for the Interstate 94 corridor.

According to Nicholas P. Webers Journey to a Village: Caledonia 1835-2008, the Village Hall dates back to the 1953. It is located in the Husher area, in the sparsely populated northwest corner of the village. The building housing the police station and municipal court, located across the parking lot, was built in the 1960s. It has three levels and was built for a much smaller Police Department when Caledonia was a less populated township.

Back in the 1990s, the needs for the growing town administration resulted in the meeting room in what was then the Town Hall being converted into space for the Engineering Department, said Village Clerk Karie Torkilsen.

Village Board meetings and many committee meetings were moved across town to the East Side Community Center, a 1950s building that over the years has served as a town garage, fire station and parks department facility. Its meeting facilities are spartan and residents sit on folding chairs.

Making due

The facilities are a far cry from the municipal facilities in some other communities in the county, some with much smaller populations. Between 2005 and 2007, Union Grove and Yorkville moved into renovated space in the former county special education building at highways 45 and 11. And after a new library was built at River Street and Highway 20 in Waterford, the village in 2001 totally renovated and modernized the adjacent Village Hall.

And then there is Mount Pleasant. Its modern municipal campus off 90th Street, opened in 2011, came as a result of developers acquiring the former Village Hall site at highways 31 and 11 and a $10.3 million donation.

In April, Caledonia officials used about a third of surplus money it had from its 2014 budget to make the purchase of 23.6 acres of farmland abutting Crawford Park for $186,677. The intent, according to Bradley, is to some day construct a municipal campus there, starting with a Village Hall and down the road bringing in the Police Department.

Eventually were going to have to pull the trigger and do it, Bradley said.

(But) theres a reality here. There are only so many bucks available.

In the meantime the village will have to make due with a Village Hall that, according to Christensen, has some serious deficiencies. Among those, according to village officials: well water that is undrinkable, rust stains in the restroom fixtures and just one small conference room.

There is also a serious lack of storage space, Torkilsen said, noting that the villages vault is filled to capacity. Some documents and materials are stored at various offsite locations, Torkilsen notes.

Then there is the police station. In his farewell address to the Village Board on Dec. 7, former Police Chief Toby Schey said the Police Department continues to struggle with obsolete infrastructure.

The Police Department building is outdated, disorganized and too small to accommodate evidence storage and other needs, he said.

Schey stressed the need for better evidence processing and storage areas, calling the departments current evidence storage areas overcrowded. The departments long-term evidence storage area  an unheated Parks Department building  is also woefully inadequate, he said, as is its storage area for impounded vehicles.

Torkilsen said it would be nice to have most of the villages entities in one area: the villages administrative offices, public meeting room, the Municipal Court and the Police Department.

Were looking to be more efficient, Torkilsen said.
RACINE COUNTY  Legislators may be sprinting to the finish in early 2016.

Assembly Speaker Robin Vos says he hopes to wrap up the Legislatures 2015-16 session in February as legislators look to tackle a potpourri of issues.

Many could attract bipartisan support, including measures strengthening heroin, drunken driving and child abuse laws, said Vos, R-Rochester. Democrats and Republicans may also try to find common ground on student debt-related legislation and potential Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. changes.

Meanwhile, proposals from an Assembly task force formed last year on Alzheimers and dementia, as well as a package of mental health-related bills, may also be presented.

Theres just a ton of things we hope to bring up and were hoping to do it all in January and February, said Vos.

Economic issues

The next few months will close out a session that has seen Republican priorities like right-to-work, prevailing wage and a reshaping of the state elections board come to pass.

Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca called the fall portion of the session disgraceful, specifically overhauls of the state Government Accountability Board and campaign finance laws.

Criticizing the states economic performance, Barca said Democrats plan to push economic-related bills in the New Year.

In our minds, the most important thing is trying to just rebuild the middle class, said Barca, a Kenosha Democrat whose district includes part of Racine County.

Vos said economic issues will be a focus of Republicans. He expects bills supporting entrepreneurship and also wants to look at ways to help spur business expansion, like loan funds for small businesses.

Peter and I, I think, just look at the world differently. I think we need to create an environment where the private sector can create the jobs, Vos said. Usually the only thing entrepreneurs ask me for is to stay out of the way and dont create more regulations and excess burdens.

School accountability stalled

One of the biggest priorities of Republicans at the start of the session  a new school accountability system  likely will not come to fruition after the Senate and Assembly could not agree on a compromise.

The Legislatures focus will likely be on bills that have a more realistic chance of passing, Vos said.

We still keep working on school accountability and other issues, but I think the odds are less than 50 percent, unfortunately, he said.

Barca said he hopes the Legislature addresses education funding, particularly in light of a $250 million cut to the University of Wisconsin System in the current state budget.

He said Democrats will also work to stop proposed changes to the workers compensation law.

But he acknowledged that with the GOP holding the Assembly, Senate and governors mansion, Democrats have little control.

Its in Republicans hands, Barca said. They control both houses  and they so rarely want to work together.
The alternative programs for at-risk high school students currently housed at Lapham Elementary School will be moved from the site, most likely by next fall, Madison school officials told Lapham parents at a forum Wednesday night.

The administrators said they were already working toward that outcome but now have accelerated the timeline due to an incident last week in which a 15-year-old student in one of the alternative programs brought a loaded handgun to the school in his backpack.

At Wednesdays forum, called in response to that incident, district leaders sought to reassure parents, with varying degrees of success, that they are on top of safety matters.

The reason why were so upset, and the reason were here today, is because this incident happened and it is not normal, said Luis Yudice, the districts safety and security coordinator. This is not normal in our school district.

About 80 people attended the forum at the Near East Side school, including Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham and a majority of Madison School Board members. More than a dozen parents spoke.

Several praised administrators for their handling of the situation, while others said they were angered and disturbed by the way the incident unfolded.

You all are patting yourselves on the back, how great this system works. Well, it doesnt work, said Richard Freihoefer, a parent of a Lapham second-grader. A gun came into this school. What if he takes the gun out of the backpack and points it at the principal and just starts shooting people?

The incident rekindled a long-standing debate over whether it is appropriate to house programs for at-risk teens at elementary schools. Freihoefer said Lapham is a de facto high school and should have an armed police officer assigned to it like other district high schools.

Another parent said he would welcome metal detectors at Lapham. That brought a strong response from Ande Johnson, the parent of a first-grader, who said she is absolutely, 100,000 percent against that idea.

I do not want (my son) treated, or to see other classmates treated, as suspicious criminals from the get-go, she said.

The gun incident occurred Dec. 3. The 15-year-old student arrived late for school at about 10 a.m., said Karyn Stocks-Glover. She is principal for most of the districts high school alternative programs, including the two housed at Lapham, which are called Alternative Education Resource Options (AERO) and Work and Learn.

The alternative programs occupy the third floor, separate from the elementary classrooms on the lower two floors.

Initially, Stocks-Glover told the crowd that from the moment the student arrived on campus, the student was in the company of an adult. Questioned by parents on this, she said her statement was inaccurate and apologized.

The student had been buzzed into the building on the first floor and traveled to the third floor on his own, Stocks-Glover said, although she said a staff member was heading toward him.

Acting on a third-party tip, an assistant principal intercepted the student, secured the backpack and began interviewing him. Police were called and recovered the weapon. They arrested the boy on a tentative charge of possessing a firearm in a school zone.

Yudice said the trusting relationships staff members have built with students contributed to a peaceful resolution.

The teen did not threaten anyone with the weapon or act aggressively when questioned, and he did not intend to hurt anyone at the school, Yudice said.

Asked by a parent why the student had the gun, Yudice said it was his understanding, based on the police investigation, that the youth was scared for his safety during his commutes to and from school on public transportation.

Also based on the investigation, it appears the student purchased the handgun, as opposed to getting it from his familys home, Yudice said.

If you have the cash, it doesnt matter how old you are, you can purchase pretty much whatever you want, Yudice said, calling this a sad reality.

This is the ninth school year the alternative programs have been at Lapham and the first serious incident, district officials said.

Prior to the 2007-08 school year, district alternative programs operated out of rented spaces at 15 S. Brearly St. and 1810 S. Park St. Officials became worried about security in those buildings and mold in the Park Street facility and moved the programs to district buildings, including Lapham.

Parent Sarah Williams was among those Wednesday who praised school staff.

She encouraged people to take a deep breath and to reflect on the fact that while the gun incident was scary, it ended peacefully and brought everyone together for a conversation that will improve school safety going forward.

Shadayra Kilfoy-Flores, the parent of a Lapham first-grader, ended her comments with a plea to separate alternative programs from young students.

Our little ones deserve better, she said. This is not OK. It has to end. Get the big kids out of the elementary schools.
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The first of 17 detainees are scheduled to be released from the Guantanamo Bay prison next week, said a senior US official [CNN report] on Monday. There will be 90 detainees remaining, 59 of whom are ineligible to be transferred to another country. The official said three of the 59 will go before a review board in January to reassess whether they may be approved for transfer. Transfers cannot be approved unless officials believe the detainees will not return to terrorism upon release, and a host country must be willing to take them. The Obama administration has promised to close Guantanamo but has struggled due to Congresss opposition to relocating detainees to the US, as well as slowing the process of transferring prisoners to other countries.

In November the US Senate passed [JURIST report] the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2016 (NDAA) [text, PDF], which prohibits Guantanamo Bay detainees from being transferred into the US. Obama signed the bill into law, despite the fact that it will delay his plan to close the prison. The NDAA comes after the Department of Defense said [JURIST report] they were sending teams to review three Colorado prisons as part of Obamas efforts to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in October. In October the last British detainee at Guantanamo Bay was released [JURIST report] after extensive review by the Guantanamo Review Task Force (GRTF). The GRTF was created in response to a 2009 presidential executive order [text, PDF] to review the status of all detainees. Also in October another Guantanamo Bay detainee was released and sent back [JURIST report] to his home country of Mauritania. In September White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama was considering a wide array of options [JURIST report] for closing the prison.
The European Commission (EC) [official website] on Sunday expressed its intentions to debate Polands new law on control of state-run media after Warsaw seized control of public broadcasters. The debate [Reuters report], scheduled to be held on January 13, is likely the first stage of a potential punitive action to be implemented. The media law, which was rushed through Polands parliament and came into effect on Wednesday, gives Polands conservative government the power to directly appoint the heads of public broadcasters. The EC has written to Polish ministers expressing concern over the media law and seeking an explanation of how it would take EU rules on media freedoms into consideration. The ruling centrist party of Poland, Law and Justice Party (PIS) [party website, in Polish] has rejected criticisms that its policies are undermining democracy in Poland. However, there is a larger concern in the EU that this new Poland law will erode checks and balances on government powers.

Poland has been on the headlines in recent months for a series of controversial laws enacted in the country. In December Poland enacted [JURIST report] a law requiring its highest court to have 13 judges present, as well as a two-thirds majority vote to make a ruling. The PIS is allegedly the driving force behind these new laws. The PIS party, a conservative party elected in October, holds an overwhelming majority [BBC report] of positions in the Polish government including the lead in both parliamentary houses and the presidency. Earlier last month the leader of the European Parliament [official website] compared PIS rise to power in Poland to a coup [BBC report], leading to the government to call for an apology. Prior to this political upheaval, Poland faced criticism for hosting a CIA-operated secret prison [JURIST report], where terrorism suspects were held and tortured between 2002 and 2005. An investigation [JURIST report] into the prison has been ongoing in Poland since 2008.
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) [official website] formally closed Thursday [UN News Centre report] after issuing 45 judgments. The ICTR, established in 1994, was the first international tribunal to deliver verdicts against those guilty of committing genocide. Within its 21 years, the ICTR sentenced 61 extremists to terms of up to life imprisonment for their roles in the Rwanda massacres. There were 14 acquittals, and 10 accused were transferred to national courts. An International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals has been established and eight fugitives remain at large.

In September a court in Toulouse, France, refused extradition requests [JURIST report] for Joseph Habyarimana, a Rwandan man, facing charges of genocide and crimes against humanity. Last January two Rwandan police officers were sentenced [JURIST report] to 20 years in jail for the murder of a Transparency International anti-corruption activist. In July 2014 the ICTR unanimously affirmed [JURIST report] a 30-year jail sentence for former army chief Augustin Bizimungu for the role he played in the genocide. In December 2012 the ICTR convicted [JURIST report] former Rwandan minister Augustin Ngirabatware, sentencing him to 35 years in prison on charges of genocide, incitement to commit genocide and rape as a crime against humanity.
The head of the UKs Iraq Historic Allegations Team (IHAT) [official website], charged with looking into alleged abuses committed during the war in Iraq, said Saturday that UK soldiers may face prosecution for war crimes. Mark Warwick, a former police detective and the head of IHAT, stated [BBC report] that some of the allegations being investigated included murder. According to the investigation, there may be as many 1,515 victims, 280 of whom are alleged to have been unlawfully killed. Despite assurances from IHAT, however, Public Interest Lawyers [firm website], representing some of the alleged victims, said IHAT is not doing an effective job investigating those responsible for systemic abuse. They state that Despite public inquires, court proceedings ongoing since 2004 and the IHAT team of investigators, there is yet to be a single prosecution resulting from IHATs work. Carla Ferstman, director of the human rights charity Redress [advocacy website], echoed these comments, stating that the the incredibly slow pace of IHATs investigations was wholly unacceptable. However, Dr. Andrew Williams, from the University of Warwick [official website], said the investigations could take a long time. He pointed to the difficulty of obtaining witness testimony from civilians in Iraq. According to Williams, the mere process of finding witnesses and interviewing them is a long process and will be logistically difficult.

The controversy over the nature of investigations concerning allegations of abuse and crime during the Iraq war has been prevalent for some time now in the UK. In July 2010 UK Prime Minister David Cameron announced that he would create a panel [JURIST report] to investigate claims that British government agents were complicit in the torture of terrorism suspects held overseas. In November 2011 a UK appeals court ruled [judgment] that a special commission charged with investigating the alleged abuse [JURIST report] of Iraqi civilians in British-controlled detention facilities between March 2003 and December 2008 lacked independence. In that case the Court of Appeals ordered then Defence Secretary Liam Fox to reconsider his refusal to open a single public inquiry into allegations of UK military abuse. The Court of Appeals also found that the existing inquiries into the abuse allegations fail to meet the requirements of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights [text] which protects against inhumane treatment.
Climate politics

Developed countries are only paying lip service to the poor
Govt releases Rs 3 billion for warm clothes

The government has released over Rs 3 billion rupees to provide an immediate relief of Rs 10,000 to each household of earthquake victims for buying warm clothes in 22 quake-hit districts.
Bajhang folks shiver as mercury drops further (Photo feature)

Residents of Bajhang are reeling under extreme cold due to drop in temperatures as a result people are experiencing less sunshine during the day time and visibility has become poor due to thick fog.
Deliberations on statute amendment bill over

Deliberations on the first amendment to Constitution of Nepal concluded in Parliament on Sunday in the absence of four regional parties, who have been objecting to the Amendment Bill saying that it was tabled without their consent.
DPM Thapa warns of anarchy if constitution is changed through agitation

Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa on Monday warned that the attempt to change the constitution through agitation would engender political anarchy and plunge the nation headlong into a crisis.
Dugar Group manager Jain, sales officer Adhikari sent to judicial custody

The Kathmandu District Court on Monday sent KL Dugar Group manager Aman Jain and Sales Officer Pramod Adhikary to judicial custody.
8 die as 6.7 M earthquake hits India's Manipur state

An earthquake measuring 6.7 magnitude has hit northeast India, near its border with Myanmar and Bangladesh, the US Geological Survey (USGS) has said.Strong tremors have been felt across the region.
Sunivera to sign deal to buy 20pc of Ncell stock

Sunivera Capital Ventures has moved to sign a Share Purchase Agreement (SPA) to acquire local investor Niraj Govinda Shresthas 20 percent stake in Ncell
UAE to open embassy in Nepal

The United Arab Emirates preparations to open an embassy in Nepal have reached final stage with a team of UAEs Foreign Minister looking for an appropriate location to set up the embassy.
Youth, students stage protest rally in Rajbiraj

Youth and students of Rajbiraj staged a huge protest rally on Monday against government for disregarding the demands of Madhes protest that has protracted for five months now.
Mike Dunleavy the governor of the US state of Alaska is intending to introduce legislation that will repeal the two state boards which regu...
The death of economist and activist Warren Nyamugasira has been described as a great loss to Uganda.

Nyamugasira has been an iconic figure in the civil society sector, a social strategist and an advocate for African Development issues particularly poverty alleviation.

According to Rita Aciro, the Executive Director Uganda Womens Network, the civil society movement has lost a leader and mentor.

She says he left a lasting legacy which should be upheld.

The current Executive Director of NGO Forum Richard Ssewakiryanga says Nyamugasira worked tirelessly to build the civil society in Uganda, crediting him for most of the success registered so far.

The former Executive Director of NGO Forum Warren Nyamugasira passed on this morning at his home in Bunga.

His son Isaac Nyamugasira says his father succumbed to diabetes after being bedridden for a month.

He was diagnosed with Diabetes nearly fifteen years ago and had been receiving treatment as an outpatient.

A vigil will be held at his home at 7:00pm.

Tomorrow at 12pm, a requiem service will be held in his honour at the All Saints Cathedral Nakasero after which the body will be transported for burial at his ancestral home in NyarulambiMparo, Kabale district.

He will be laid to rest on Wednesday after a church service at 11:00am.

Warren Nyamugasira worked at the NGO Forum for seven years from 2001 where he built a platform for civic engagement and NGO coordination.
Trollfest '09

Trollfest '07 was such a success that Jackson Jambalaya will once again host Trollfest '09. Catch this great event which will leave NE Jackson & Fondren in flames. Othor Cain and his band, The Black Power Structure headline the night while Sonjay Poontang returns for an encore performance. Former Frank Melton bodyguard Marcus Wright makes his premier appearance at Trollfest singing "I'm a Sweet Transvestite" from "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Kamikaze will sing his new hit, How I sold out to da Man. Robbie Bell again performs: Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be Bells and Any friend of Ed Peters is a friend of mine. After the show, Ms. Bell will autograph copies of her mug shot photos. In a salute to Dancing with the Stars, Ms. Bell and Hinds County District Attorney Robert Smith will dance the Wango Tango.



Wrestling returns, except this time it will be a Battle Royal with Othor Cain, Ben Allen, Kim Wade, Haley Fisackerly, Alan Lange, and Big Cat Donna Ladd all in the ring at the same time. The Battle Royal will be in a steel cage, no time limit, no referee, and the losers must leave town. Marshand Crisler will be the honorary referee (as it gives him a title without actually having to do anything).



Meet KIM Waaaaaade at the Entergy Tent. For five pesos, Kim will sell you a chance to win a deed to a crack house on Ridgeway Street stuffed in the Howard Industries pinata. Don't worry if the pinata is beaten to shreds, as Mr. Wade has Jose, Emmanuel, and Carlos, all illegal immigrants, available as replacements for the it. Upon leaving the Entergy tent, fig leaves will be available in case Entergy literally takes everything you have as part of its Trollfest ticket price adjustment charge.



Donna Ladd of The Jackson Free Press will give several classes on learning how to write. Smearing, writing without factchecking, and reporting only one side of a story will be covered. A donation to pay their taxes will be accepted and she will be signing copies of their former federal tax liens. Ms. Ladd will give a dramatic reading of her two award-winning essays (They received The Jackson Free Press "Best Of" awards.) "Why everything is always about me" and "Why I cover murders better than anyone else in Jackson".



In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word jackass was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.



In order to help clean up the legal profession, Adam Kilgore of the Mississippi Bar will be giving away free, round-trip plane tickets to the North Pole where they keep their bar complaint forms (which are NOT available online). If you don't want to go to the North Pole, you can enjoy Brant Brantley's (of the Mississippi Commission on Judicial Performance) free guided tours of the quicksand field over by High Street where all complaints against judges disappear. If for some reason you are unable to control yourself, never fear; Judge Houston Patton will operate his jail where no lawyers are needed or allowed as you just sit there for minutes... hours.... months...years until he decides he is tired of you sitting in his jail. Do not think Judge Patton is a bad judge however as he plans to serve free Mad Dog 20/20 to all inmates.



Trollfest '09 is a pet-friendly event as well. Feel free to bring your dog with you and do not worry if your pet gets hungry, as employees of the Jackson Zoo will be on hand to provide some of their animals as food when it gets to be feeding time for your little loved one.



Relax at the Fox News Tent. Since there are only three blonde reporters in Jackson (being blonde is a requirement for working at Fox News), Megan and Kathryn from WAPT and Wendy from WLBT will be on loan to Fox. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both and a torn-up Obama yard sign will entitle you to free drinks served by Megan, Wendy, and Kathryn. Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required. Just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '09 is for EVERYONE!!!



This is definitely a Beaver production.



Note: Security provided by INS.


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Kendallville, IN (46755)

Today

Cloudy. A shower of rain or wet snow possible. High 43F. Winds WNW at 10 to 20 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening, then becoming cloudy after midnight. Low 31F. Winds WSW at 5 to 10 mph.
The AgStar Fund for Rural America, the corporate giving program of AgStar Financial Services, is now accepting applications for its high school senior scholarship program, which awards up to 42 students with $1,000 scholarships.

The AgStar High School Scholarship Program is designed for students who are pursuing an ag-related degree or those with an ag or rural background. Scholarships are available for students attending a four-year college or university or a two-year program.

Applicants must have a 3.0 GPA and live in AgStars local service area, which includes Houston and Winona counties. Applicants are selected based on academic achievement, leadership characteristics and ag-related community involvement. Fourteen winners will be chosen from each of AgStars three regions.

To apply for the scholarship, students should go to AgStar.com to download the application form. Applications must be postmarked by April 1, 2016, to be considered.

To date, the fund has given $209,000 in scholarships to 221 students through the high school scholarship program, which began in 2005. Since its inception in 2001, the AgStar Fund has donated more than $5 million to organizations working to improve the future of rural America.
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HASTINGS, Minn.  Three years ago Randy Stenger turned a childhood love of sandboxes into a business. Now the nation will see whether the sharks will help him expand Extreme Sandbox across the country.

Stenger, 39, will appear on episode 713 of ABCs Shark Tank Tuesday night, pitching his business and plans to expand. Stengers family is from La Crosse  his brother TJ Stenger still lives in the area and Randy attended Aquinas Catholic Schools before moving to Atlanta for high school and college. He worked as a police officer in Colorado before moving to the Twin Cities to take a job at Target Corp.

While working full time for the retail giant, he said, his kids gave him the idea of starting a hobby business where adults could play with real construction equipment in an adult sandbox. The company, Extreme Sandbox started small in 2012, with just an excavator, bulldozer and a skid-steer. Each year, the business has grown, Stenger said, and now boasts 10 acres, more equipment, including a fire engine, and a 6,000-square-foot event center.

The event center can host large corporate parties before participants head to the course to play with the heavy machinery. Businesses such as 3M and General Mills have used Extreme Sandbox for team-building exercises, with employees taking to the sand box to learn how to think out of the box and work together to accomplish a goal.

I saw a big need in the corporate market for something new and unique, he said. Its been a big source of growth for the company.

The company offers individual, group and party packages that range from $195 to $895 for one person to play in the sandbox for up to six hours. Staff are on hand at all times, Stenger said, and provide instruction and training before any session with the equipment. Originally open only on the weekends, the company now operates four days a week and has eight full and part-time employees.

The growth of the company has been amazing, he said. You cant call what I do a job. I get paid to play.

Stenger hopes to further expand his business and said every major city in the country could use an Extreme Sandbox of its own. To help get the capital needed to fund such a venture, Stenger auditioned for and got a spot on Shark Tank.

It was really surreal being on the set itself, he said. My favorite part was being around other entrepreneurs in my boat.

Because the show hasnt aired yet, Stenger didnt go into details, but he said he enjoyed meeting the sharks, who, he said, were tough but fair. Regardless of their decision, he is looking forward to the attention his business will get after viewers learn about it.

This is a game-changer for a business like ours, he said of the Shark Tank effect.
BUFFALO, Minn.  Rich McCumber drives a truck onto a rail crossing and lowers the small steel wheels onto the rails. Then its off down the track at about 20 miles per hour, his eyes straight ahead as he talks.

This stretch of track I do three times a week, he says as he searches for loose spikes, missing bolts, broken switches or anything else that could compromise the rails and potentially send a freight train crashing. Three times a week over it. I learn my territory by heart.

An inspector for Canadian Pacific, hes responsible for 77 miles of mainline track in Minnesota, including this stretch in Wright County that, along with 8 miles of mainline siding, must be gone over three times a week  twice as federal rules require and once more per Canadian Pacific, Minnesota Public Radio News (http://bit.ly/1mmzf86 ) reported.

He tries to average 40 miles a day of mainline and must also keep watch over 13 additional lesser used tracks that are not inspected as often. Its a daunting job, one that gets little attention but carries enormous weight in an era of high-volume oil train traffic and rising state and federal concern over rail safety.

Train derailments can turn deadly, especially if train cars are loaded with hazardous materials. A third of all derailments are caused by a problem with tracks. Small problems like loose spikes or tiny cracks in rails can lead to big accidents. Visual inspections of rails are the first line of defense against disaster.

Canadian Pacific has done 28,000 visual inspections so far in 2015 in Minnesota and found 7,000 problems, said Scott Paradise, the railroads chief engineer for track and structure, as he rode in the back seat of McCumbers truck during the Wright County inspection.

Thats 7,000 times were finding something that we can either protect through a slow order or correct through planned maintenance, said Paradise, adding that CPs maintenance spending  $46 million on track repairs in 2015 in Minnesota  is higher than at any time in his 20 years with the company.

A broken rail is often caused by a small flaw or crack inside the rail. It grows unseen over time until the rail splits apart under passing train wheels.

Those defects begin before they can be seen, so the inspection work also includes a special rail car equipped with ultrasonic gear to look for cracks in rail. Canadian Pacific performs six rail flaw inspections annually on its main track, more than what federal law calls for, Paradise said.

The railroad also uses a specially equipped train car to test track geometry several times a year. The car measures distance between rails, and rail alignment. Rails that are out of alignment cause increased wear and lead to rail failure.

Federal regulators, however, are pushing for railroads to scan rails for flaws every day using devices that could be fitted on every locomotive.

We need to continuously collect data, we need to analyze and we need to do the trending so we can predict exactly how much life is in a rail and when its susceptible to breakage, said Robert Lauby, chief safety officer with the Federal Railroad Administration.

That change will take time, but continuous monitoring is the way to reduce accidents caused by broken rails, he said.

Railroads are always working on techniques to make rail last longer, Paradise said as he walked a section of track explaining how carefully grinding the top of the rail keeps just enough wheel to rail contact.

You want the tread of the wheel to be firmly on top of the rail, he said. We usually describe it as a dime, little bit larger than a dime. When you see a wear pattern like this it really is a preferable wear pattern.

Reducing friction between rail and train wheels extends the life of the rail and saves fuel.

Canadian Pacific and other railroads also use lubricants on the rail in some areas to reduce friction. And the steel used in rails has improved. Despite rail cars getting heavier and traffic increasing, the average lifespan of rail has increased.

The Federal Railroad Administration, however, says broken rails remain a leading cause of accidents and that many defects that cause accidents arent being identified in time.

The FRA found a February oil train derailment and fire in West Virginia was caused by a broken rail. Investigators found the defect that cause the broken rail was missed by the railroad during two inspections.

The agency will push for increased training of inspectors who monitor rail scanning equipment and better use of software to compare inspection data over time and identify when a crack is growing, Lauby said.

The solution, he added, isnt more regulation but higher expectations in the form of performance standards, look at the results and hold them accountable for certain failure rates to make sure those are low and decreasing.

Paradise says its a balancing act to keep freight flowing and the tracks safe, but he insists safety always comes first.

We do get into some healthy debates at times about the appropriate time and scheduling of maintenance, he said. But I can tell you that there is nobody that would ever provide pressure internally to not take the appropriate action for a legitimate safety condition.
The value of free advice is measured by what you pay for it, and Republicans dont usually ask me for mine.

Nonetheless, the GOPs presidential race is one of the most fascinating political brawls in years. Its about to hit full stride, and I cant resist kibitzing. I know the leading candidates will take my guidance for what its worth.

Marco Rubio: You have three related problems. Youre trying to appeal to every wing of the party, which means that none regards you as one of its own. There is no state in the early going that you can consider an obvious bet. And, to put it charitably, you do not look like a person of conviction.

You were pro-immigration until you werent. You optimistically embraced the changing nature of our nation until you ran an ad about all of us who feel out of place in our own country. You left McCainville to enter Trumpland.

Your supporters see your weaknesses as your strengths: Yes, you might be well-positioned to pull all parts of the party together. But in appeasing everyone, youre creating the impression, as an Iowa pastor told my Washington Post colleagues Sean Sullivan and David Fahrenthold last month, that youre a candidate talking out of both sides of his mouth.

If you lose, this will be the principal reason. You need to show some conviction, perhaps by taking at least one inconvenient stand. In primaries especially, winning requires you to decide whose votes youll write off. You wont make it by remaining everyones second or third choice. Somebodys got to trust you deeply.

Jeb Bush: For me, youre the biggest surprise. I really thought youd be a better candidate. When I saw you speak in early 2014, you were loose and confident, conveying a real sense of optimism about the country. I thought enough voters, even in a gloomy Republican Party, would find this appealing.

It hasnt panned out that way. You made a lot of mistakes and seem unhappy in your work. Your name is a problem. Most liberals dont realize how many conservatives view your brother as a big government guy. Meanwhile, many in the so-called Establishment wing worry that another Bush wont win.

You at least found a purpose when you went after Trump in last years final debate. The paradox: The only way youll have a chance of winning is to forget about winning. Relax. Run as the guy you said youd be, the upbeat candidate of inclusion. Marry your attacks on Trump to a positive vision of a welcoming GOP. Be the candidate whom Republicans horrified by Trump and Ted Cruz can repair to with pride. It may not work. But its the only thing that can, and you might at least start enjoying the campaign.

John Kasich: Ive always had a soft spot for you because, as governor, you supported the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare in Ohio. Alas, most people in your party dont agree with me. Still, you sound best when you talk like a compassionate conservative because thats the person you want to be. Why not go for it? If Jeb follows the strategy I just outlined for him, you guys might collide. But you have said your main worry is how St. Peter will judge you at the end. Run a campaign for him.

Ted Cruz and Chris Christie: Philosophically, you guys arent my cup of tea. But I have to admit: Youre running the campaigns I would run if I were you. Ted, you have the focus Marco doesnt. Youre trying to pull together all the right-wing groups in the party, and they happen to constitute a huge part of it. Chris, youre betting it all on New Hampshire. The right move. Youre campaigning up there as if you were running for governor. Also exactly right.

Ben Carson: Please go back to neurosurgery or inspirational speaking. Youre gifted at both.

Rand Paul: Stay in for a few more debates to make your libertarian case on foreign policy. Youre sparking a necessary discussion. But you know perfectly well you have to go back to Kentucky soon to protect your Senate seat.

Donald Trump: I have nothing useful to say, and youd pay no attention anyway. But I do owe you a debt of gratitude. I have a book coming out in a couple of weeks called Why the Right Went Wrong. Because of you, people are especially interested in figuring this out. So, just this once: Thank you.
Responding to parent feedback, and no doubt answering the fevered prayers of countless children, Madison school officials say they will use a less-stringent guideline this winter when deciding whether to cancel classes due to cold temperatures.

Administrators now will consider closing schools anytime there is a predicted wind chill of minus 25 degrees or colder, said Mike Barry, assistant superintendent for business services. The prior standard for closing was a wind chill of minus 35 degrees or colder.

In a typical school year, the new threshold likely will result in one additional canceled school day, he said. However, there will be anomalies. Applying the new standard to the polar vortex of 2013-14 would have meant four additional canceled days, he said.

The districts school calendar has three winter-weather cancellation days built into it, said district spokeswoman Rachel Strauch-Nelson. Beyond that, any canceled days would need to be made up elsewhere, she said.

In another change, the district is committed to notifying parents earlier about closures for cold temperatures, Barry said. Every attempt will be made to make the decision by 9 p.m. the night before, instead of the morning of, he said.

That gives families a heads up, because one of the arguments has been that its hard on families if schools are closed due to the need to find child care, he said.

The earlier notification for cold-weather closings should be doable because it typically is easier to predict next-day temperatures than snow accumulations, Barry said.

The changes were backed by a majority of parents in a September district survey. Of 7,382 respondents, 53 percent preferred the less-harsh wind chill standard, and 63 percent desired earlier notification.

Sixty-four percent of parents indicated there is some or significant negative impact on their children when schools remain open in potentially hazardous weather.

The motivation for the survey goes back to the winter of 2013-14, Barry said, when a polar vortex walloped the area. Madison schools stayed open when many others didnt, and attendance dropped significantly.

We got quite a bit of feedback at that point from parents, but we stuck with the standard for the 2014-15 school year, he said.

Attendance data for the six days since January 2003 that the district has remained open despite wind chills below minus 26 degrees also supported a change, Barry said.

In one case  Jan. 7, 2015  more than a quarter of the districts students stayed home. Of low-income students, who generally are thought to have fewer transportation options and, in some cases, may lack sufficiently warm clothes, only 57 percent showed up that day.

Interviews with Madison School District parents on a recent day suggest the changes will be welcome.

Its better as a precaution, even if it means adding on days at the end of the school year, said Oluremi Coggs, who was reading with his young daughter at the Madison Central Library over the holiday break. Its easier for kids to go to school when its warmer than super cold.

Deb Lease, also at the library, said she was among the parents who endorsed the less-stringent standard in the fall survey. She has two children in elementary school.

What I worry about are those kids who come home to an empty house on a really cold day, and maybe they cant find their key to get in and the bus is already gone, she said. Its a safety issue for some families.

Kimberly Rose, viewing the African lion display at Vilas Zoo with her second-grade son, said negative 35 seems really too cold for children to be walking to school.

Also, as a nurse with a defined work schedule, she said she will greatly appreciate the earlier notification.
Residents of Winona, Fillmore and Houston counties, including college students, are specially invited to visit the International Owl Center for free on Jan. 16 and 17. The Owl Center is located in Houston.

The International Owl Center is the only owl education center in the United States and opened in Houston in an historic storefront this past March. The center itself is an outgrowth of Houstons International Festival of Owls, held annually the first weekend in March. The festival attracts nearly 2,000 people from around the country, and includes presentations by some of the worlds top owl experts, this year including researchers from Finland, The Netherlands, Canada, and North Carolina.

Three live ambassador owls currently work at the center. (The fourth, Alice the Great Horned Owl, is on her annual maternity leave for egg laying and incubation through March.) Youll also find touchable wings and tails, nine species of extremely lifelike mounted owls, owl art from children around the world, skulls, eggs, cultural items from around the world and more. The gift shop is stocked with a wide variety of local, fair trade, and other owl items. Highly trained staff presents programs each day at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

The city of Houston features a Parade of Owls art tour with 10 public owl sculptures, and Baristas Coffee House is completely decorated with owls.

Visitors from Winona, Fillmore and Houston counties will be asked to show their drivers license or other identification to verify their place of residence to receive free admission. College students will be asked to show their student ID. Visitors from elsewhere are also welcome, but will be required to pay the regular admission fee.

The center is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Regular admission is $5 for adults, $3 for students ages 4-17, and children 3 and under and members are free. More information is available at www.internationalowlcenter.org or by contacting the center at 507-896-OWLS (6957) or karla@internationalowlcenter.org.
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26 (6) Jul 25 (4) Jul 24 (3) Jul 23 (6) Jul 22 (3) Jul 21 (5) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (3) Jul 18 (3) Jul 17 (4) Jul 16 (6) Jul 15 (4) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (4) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (3) Jul 10 (5) Jul 09 (4) Jul 08 (3) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (3) Jul 05 (3) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (3) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (5) Jun 23 (6) Jun 22 (4) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (3) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (3) Jun 17 (4) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (4) Jun 13 (3) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (5) Jun 08 (4) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (4) Jun 05 (3) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (3) Jun 02 (3) Jun 01 (4) May 31 (4) May 30 (3) May 29 (3) May 28 (5) May 27 (3) May 26 (4) May 25 (3) May 24 (6) May 23 (4) May 22 (5) May 21 (5) May 20 (4) May 19 (5) May 18 (6) May 17 (6) May 16 (4) May 15 (4) May 14 (5) May 13 (4) May 12 (3) May 11 (4) May 10 (5) May 09 (2) May 08 (4) May 07 (4) May 06 (4) May 05 (4) May 04 (4) May 03 (3) May 02 (3) May 01 (4) Apr 30 (4) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (6) Apr 27 (5) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (4) Apr 24 (6) Apr 23 (6) Apr 22 (5) Apr 21 (6) Apr 20 (4) Apr 19 (4) Apr 18 (4) Apr 17 (7) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (4) Apr 14 (8) Apr 13 (5) Apr 12 (3) Apr 11 (3) Apr 10 (4) Apr 09 (6) Apr 08 (6) Apr 07 (5) Apr 06 (4) Apr 05 (3) Apr 04 (4) Apr 03 (6) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (3) Mar 31 (7) Mar 30 (6) Mar 29 (8) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (6) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (5) Mar 24 (5) Mar 23 (8) Mar 22 (5) Mar 21 (6) Mar 20 (5) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (4) Mar 17 (4) Mar 16 (5) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (5) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (4) Mar 11 (4) Mar 10 (3) Mar 09 (7) Mar 08 (4) Mar 07 (4) Mar 06 (4) Mar 05 (3) Mar 04 (4) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (3) Mar 01 (5) Feb 28 (7) Feb 27 (6) Feb 26 (8) Feb 25 (5) Feb 24 (8) Feb 23 (7) Feb 22 (8) Feb 21 (7) Feb 20 (7) Feb 19 (7) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (6) Feb 15 (6) Feb 14 (5) Feb 13 (5) Feb 12 (7) Feb 11 (6) Feb 10 (7) Feb 09 (4) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (5) Feb 06 (5) Feb 05 (4) Feb 04 (4) Feb 03 (4) Feb 02 (5) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (5) Jan 30 (3) Jan 29 (6) Jan 28 (4) Jan 27 (3) Jan 26 (5) Jan 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Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (4) Jul 25 (3) Jul 24 (5) Jul 23 (4) Jul 22 (4) Jul 21 (4) Jul 20 (4) Jul 19 (5) Jul 18 (5) Jul 17 (5) Jul 16 (4) Jul 15 (3) Jul 14 (4) Jul 13 (5) Jul 12 (6) Jul 11 (5) Jul 10 (4) Jul 09 (3) Jul 08 (4) Jul 07 (7) Jul 06 (5) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (3) Jul 03 (5) Jul 02 (4) Jul 01 (4) Jun 30 (3) Jun 29 (5) Jun 28 (4) Jun 27 (4) Jun 26 (3) Jun 25 (4) Jun 24 (3) Jun 23 (4) Jun 22 (3) Jun 21 (3) Jun 20 (5) Jun 19 (3) Jun 18 (4) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (4) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (7) Jun 13 (5) Jun 12 (5) Jun 11 (3) Jun 10 (6) Jun 09 (4) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (4) Jun 06 (5) Jun 05 (4) Jun 04 (5) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (5) Jun 01 (5) May 31 (4) May 30 (5) May 29 (5) May 28 (5) May 27 (8) May 26 (7) May 25 (7) May 24 (5) May 23 (2) May 22 (5) May 21 (4) May 20 (5) May 19 (5) May 18 (5) May 17 (5) May 16 (7) May 15 (7) May 14 (7) May 13 (5) May 12 (6) May 11 (8) May 10 (4) May 09 (6) May 08 (10) May 07 (8) May 06 (5) May 05 (6) May 04 (7) May 03 (7) May 02 (8) May 01 (6) Apr 30 (6) Apr 29 (6) Apr 28 (9) Apr 27 (6) Apr 26 (5) Apr 25 (8) Apr 24 (7) Apr 23 (8) Apr 22 (6) Apr 21 (5) Apr 20 (10) Apr 19 (7) Apr 18 (7) Apr 17 (8) Apr 16 (5) Apr 15 (6) Apr 14 (9) Apr 13 (11) Apr 12 (8) Apr 11 (5) Apr 10 (10) Apr 09 (7) Apr 08 (5) Apr 07 (9) Apr 06 (10) Apr 05 (5) Apr 04 (5) Apr 03 (7) Apr 02 (6) Apr 01 (5) Mar 31 (3) Mar 30 (3) Mar 29 (1) Mar 28 (5) Mar 27 (7) Mar 26 (8) Mar 25 (4) Mar 24 (8) Mar 23 (5) Mar 22 (4) Mar 21 (5) Mar 20 (7) Mar 19 (5) Mar 18 (8) Mar 17 (8) Mar 16 (3) Mar 15 (6) Mar 14 (9) Mar 13 (6) Mar 12 (6) Mar 11 (7) Mar 10 (6) Mar 09 (8) Mar 08 (5) Mar 07 (5) Mar 06 (6) Mar 05 (9) Mar 04 (7) Mar 03 (6) Mar 02 (5) Mar 01 (7) Feb 28 (8) Feb 27 (7) Feb 26 (4) Feb 25 (9) Feb 24 (6) Feb 23 (6) Feb 22 (7) Feb 21 (3) Feb 20 (6) Feb 19 (5) Feb 18 (5) Feb 17 (4) Feb 16 (4) Feb 15 (5) Feb 14 (8) Feb 13 (6) Feb 12 (4) Feb 11 (5) Feb 10 (6) Feb 09 (7) Feb 08 (6) Feb 07 (6) Feb 06 (6) Feb 05 (5) Feb 04 (5) Feb 03 (10) Feb 02 (9) Feb 01 (3) Jan 31 (8) Jan 30 (4) Jan 29 (9) Jan 28 (6) 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29 (7) Oct 28 (4) Oct 27 (7) Oct 26 (4) Oct 25 (7) Oct 24 (4) Oct 23 (7) Oct 22 (7) Oct 21 (6) Oct 20 (8) Oct 19 (7) Oct 18 (6) Oct 17 (6) Oct 16 (8) Oct 15 (5) Oct 14 (6) Oct 13 (7) Oct 12 (5) Oct 11 (5) Oct 10 (8) Oct 09 (8) Oct 08 (7) Oct 07 (7) Oct 06 (7) Oct 05 (8) Oct 04 (6) Oct 03 (8) Oct 02 (3) Oct 01 (6) Sep 30 (10) Sep 29 (7) Sep 28 (10) Sep 27 (10) Sep 26 (11) Sep 25 (5) Sep 24 (6) Sep 23 (5) Sep 22 (5) Sep 21 (8) Sep 20 (8) Sep 19 (6) Sep 18 (6) Sep 17 (7) Sep 16 (5) Sep 15 (6) Sep 14 (5) Sep 13 (6) Sep 12 (5) Sep 11 (10) Sep 10 (4) Sep 09 (3) Sep 08 (8) Sep 07 (4) Sep 06 (7) Sep 05 (8) Sep 04 (7) Sep 03 (6) Sep 02 (4) Sep 01 (3) Aug 31 (6) Aug 30 (3) Aug 29 (4) Aug 28 (5) Aug 27 (6) Aug 26 (5) Aug 25 (9) Aug 24 (7) Aug 23 (8) Aug 22 (5) Aug 21 (9) Aug 20 (8) Aug 19 (7) Aug 18 (6) Aug 17 (5) Aug 16 (8) Aug 15 (6) Aug 14 (5) Aug 13 (6) Aug 12 (5) Aug 11 (7) Aug 10 (4) Aug 09 (9) Aug 08 (9) Aug 07 (5) Aug 06 (5) Aug 05 (6) Aug 04 (6) Aug 03 (7) Aug 02 (7) Aug 01 (3) Jul 31 (6) Jul 30 (7) Jul 29 (8) Jul 28 (8) Jul 27 (6) Jul 26 (9) Jul 25 (9) Jul 24 (7) Jul 23 (3) Jul 22 (7) Jul 21 (9) Jul 20 (6) Jul 19 (9) Jul 18 (7) Jul 17 (2) Jul 16 (5) Jul 15 (7) Jul 14 (7) Jul 13 (8) Jul 12 (4) Jul 11 (4) Jul 10 (7) Jul 09 (6) Jul 08 (6) Jul 07 (4) Jul 06 (4) Jul 05 (6) Jul 04 (8) Jul 03 (3) Jul 02 (7) Jul 01 (6) Jun 30 (4) Jun 29 (6) Jun 28 (5) Jun 27 (6) Jun 26 (6) Jun 25 (7) Jun 24 (4) Jun 23 (5) Jun 22 (7) Jun 21 (5) Jun 20 (6) Jun 19 (4) Jun 18 (6) Jun 17 (5) Jun 16 (6) Jun 15 (4) Jun 14 (5) Jun 13 (7) Jun 12 (8) Jun 11 (5) Jun 10 (4) Jun 09 (7) Jun 08 (6) Jun 07 (5) Jun 06 (7) Jun 05 (5) Jun 04 (6) Jun 03 (5) Jun 02 (8) Jun 01 (6) May 31 (7) May 30 (4) May 29 (5) May 28 (1) May 27 (5) May 26 (8) May 25 (5) May 24 (8) May 23 (8) May 22 (7) May 21 (5) May 20 (6) May 19 (9) May 18 (5) May 17 (9) May 16 (7) May 15 (5) May 14 (11) May 13 (6) May 12 (13) May 11 (5) May 10 (7) May 09 (6) May 08 (8) May 07 (9) May 06 (6) May 05 (5) May 04 (2) May 03 (6) May 02 (7) May 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It shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem [in the war of Armageddon] shall even go up [to Jerusal...

1 day ago


State-owned companies must employ soldiers who will seek work when the Chinese military is reduced.

In September, President Xi Jinping announced the military would drop in size from 2.3 million troops to 2 million.

The official Peoples Liberation Army Daily newspaper noted a central government agency said resettling and receiving ex-servicemen is connected to the overall picture of military construction and social harmony and stability.

The order would hurt state-owned companies. Some have reduced their workforce to be more competitive as the Chinese economy slows.

Almost all of the countrys oil, coal, electricity, steel and cement companies are state-owned. They have suffered heavy losses over the past two years.

Geoffrey Crothall is the communications director of the China Labor Bulletin in Hong Kong. He said he believes some state-owned companies will refuse to employ the returning soldiers. He says many of them do not have enough money to hire any new workers.

Experts believe the government expects some of the state-owned companies will refuse to hire the soldiers. State media report that the government has already made plans to deal with the resistance.

The PLA Daily newspaper said state-owned companies should not take actions that may hurt the former soldiers. They should not limit how many of them they employ.

Some of the leaders of the state-owned companies have been watched closely in recent years as China investigates and punishes corruption. This means that the leaders of the companies are not likely to refuse jobs to former soldiers.

But Crothall said many state-owned companies are hiring temporary contractors rather than employees. He said many companies stopped being profitable months or years ago. They have had to ask for money from local governments so they can continue to operate.

If the companies are forced to employ former soldiers, they would likely need even more financial help from the government. That would mean the government is still paying the wages of the former soldiers, even though they are no longer in the military.

Correspondent Saibal Dasgupta reported this story from Beijing. Christopher Jones-Cruise adapted it into VOA Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section, or visit our Facebook page.

_____________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

harmony  n. living together in a peaceful and friendly way.

workforce  n. the group of people who work for a particular organization or business

competitive  adj. as good as or better than others of the same kind; able to compete successfully with others

resistance  n. effort made to stop or to fight someone or something


Scientists say a huge percentage of bird species are in danger because their habitats, or homelands, are disappearing.

Traditional migration paths take birds through countries that are not protecting locations to stop, rest and feed.

The scientists studied the migration, or flight, paths, of almost 1,500 species. They decided that 91 percent of them passed through dangerous areas.

The major danger for migratory birds is development. Building and paving has covered over nature where birds stop and feed as they move from one part of the world to another.

For example, a bird called the bar-tailed godwit migrates from its breeding grounds in the Arctic. It flies all the way to the southern hemisphere in Australia and New Zealand. Along the way, the small birds stop at Yellow Sea mudflats in China, North Korea and South Korea.

One of the scientists who worked on the study says many of these critical sites have been lost to land reclamation owing to urban, industrial and agricultural expansion.

The problem, according to investigators, is that many of these small birds die along their migration because they dont have a safe place to eat and rest. There is no place to restore their energy for the next leg of their journey.

They simply perish along the way, says one of the scientists.

Countries in North Africa, Central Asia and those along the coasts of East Asia are having the most difficult time conserving land.

The scientists say these countries do not have enough areas that are safe for birds. In addition, many of the sanctuaries do not overlap enough with the paths of migrating birds.

One species that is now extinct is the Eskimo curlew.

Our world gets poorer every time we lose a species, one of the scientists says.

The researchers say countries need to work together and come up with safe stopover areas for birds that pass through their boundaries.

For example, one country might have preserved safe zones for migrating birds. But a neighbor country might not. A bird might perish.

One scientist who is not involved in the report tells the Los Angeles Times that while some habitats are changing, more work can be done to make urban areas safe for birds.

He says small changes  like planting more native plants or keeping cats out of areas birds would be likely to use  could make a big difference.

The journal Science published an article in early December by researchers from the Centre of Excellence for Environmental Decisions in Australia.

Im Dan Friedell.

Dan Friedell wrote this story for Learning English based on reporting from Reuters and The Los Angeles Times. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

Do you think migrating birds would be safe in your country? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments section or on our Facebook page.

________________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

breeding ground  n. a place where animals go to breed

conservation  n. the protection of animals, plants, and natural resources

extinct  adj. no longer existing

habitat  n. the place or type of place where a plant or animal naturally or normally lives or grows

perish  v. to disappear or be destroyed : to cease to exist

sanctuary  n. a place where someone or something is protected or given shelter

species  n. a group of animals or plants that are similar and can produce young animals or plants : a group of related animals or plants that is smaller than a genus


Sweden imposed border controls Monday to manage refugees and migrants seeking new lives there.

Travelers passing from Denmark into Sweden must show photo identification. The move by Sweden is an attempt to stop the flow of undocumented migrants into the country.

The border checks between the two countries mean travelers will have to show their passports for the first time in more than 50 years.

Thousands of daily commuters will be affected by the new order. The Local, Stockholms English newspaper, reported short delays, and lines were moving swiftly on the first day of enforcement.

Travelers were warned to expect long lines on the Danish side of the Oresund Bridge. That bridge is a major entry point for migrants wishing to enter Sweden.

The Swedish border controls will continue for three years, according to the New York Times.

Following the Swedish border checks, Denmark started its own security checks at the German border, according to the New York Times. The Danish border checks will last for 10 days, the Times reported, and an extension is possible.

Some 160,000 migrants came to Sweden in 2015. Europe and the Mideast are facing the largest refugee crisis since World War II. More than 1 million migrants from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq sought asylum in Europe in 2015, according to the United Nations.

I'm Dan Friedell.

The staff at VOA News wrote this story for VOAnews.com. Jim Dresbach adapted it for Learning English. Kathleen Struck was the editor.

Should migrants and refugees be checked at the Swedish and Danish border? We want to hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section or visit our Facebook page.

______________________________________________________________

Words in This Story

undocumented migrants  n. a foreign citizens present on the territory of a state, in violation of the regulations on entry and residence and having crossed the border in an illegal manner

swiftly  adv. moving or able to move very fast

commuters  n. someone who travels regularly to and from a place and especially between where they live and where they work
This website is inclusive of tolerant people of all faiths, without exception. Neither anti-Semitism nor Islamophobia nor homophobia should ever be acceptable to anyone. We must all strive to live in peace and harmony with each other, regardless of religious affiliations, or none. Intolerance is the mother of strife and conflict.   Mark Alexander

We Britons are Europeans!Wir Briten sind Europaer! Nous, les Britanniques, sommes europeens !  Mark AlexanderEmail me at:markalexander.librabunda@gmail.com
About me

After 30 years of very physical full time work in the printing industry our print dept was outsourced and we all lost our jobs. As I'd gotten HIV beforehand and was having trouble attending and doing work I discussed with my HIV doctor whether I should apply for the Australian Disability Support Pension. He agreed,and I became a DSP pensioner under the new Gillard rules of adherence that now sees 75% of DSP applicants rejected.



Have been diagnosed with PTSD, severe depression, chronic kidney failure, and of course HIV. I'd become suicidal in 2009 after 3 extreme life events in a row; My best friend killed herself in the US (I don't make friends easily BTW), my teenage/young adult daughter had me charged by the police with a minor problem, and I was diagnosed with HIV. All in three weeks.



Some say god won't give you more than you can bear, my reply is "Well what happened to me?" If not for the HIV support here in Australia and me being able to have access to it I'd likely be dead by now. Unbearable pain often causes suicide, no matter physical or mental.



Today I've not worked since being made redundant. I remain with episodes of depression and panic attacks, sometimes severe. I may be fine and happy to leave the house, at times I'm paralised in bed, secure and safe and not willing to face the world.








Asus is finally bringing its smartphone with a 3X optical zoom lens to the United States. The company unveiled the Zenfone Zoom at CES 2015. A year later, the company says the phone is just about ready to launch: it should be available in the US in early February for $399.

The phones most distinctive feature is the rear camera, which features a 10-element HOYA lens and a 13MP image sensor. Measuring about 0.48 inches thick, Asus says the Zenfone Zoom is the thinnest phone to feature an optical zoom.

The Zenfone Zooms other features dont look bad either:

5.5 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS display with Corning Gorilla Glass 4

Android 5.x with Asus ZenUI

Intel Atom Z3590 processor

4GB of RAM

64GB or 128GB of storage plus a microSD card slot for up to 128GB of additional storage

802.11ac WiFi, Blueooth 4.0, and NFC

Bluetooth 4.0

3,000 mAh battery

5MP front-facing camera

Asus is a relative newbie in the smartphone space. But the PC maker made a pretty big splash in 2015 with the Zenfone 2. It was one of the first smartphones to ship with 4GB of RAM, and it also offered reasonably decent performance at a price that was hard to beat.

While the Zenfone Zoom is a little pricier, folks dissatisfied with the digital zoom features found on most smartphones might be willing to pay a little more for a phone with an optical zoom lens.
Lenovo is updating its ThinkPad X1 Carbon line of thin, light, and business-class laptops with new models sporting the latest Intel processors, support for up to 16GB of RAM, and an even more compact design.

The 2016 Lenovo ThinkPad Carbon still features a 14 inch display, but the new models with Intel Skylake processors weigh about 2.6 pounds, making them about 5 ounces lighter than the companys 2015 models.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon has a carbon fiber reinforced case (thats where it gets its name), which helps keep things both sturdy and light. The notebook measures about 0.65 inches thick, and Lenovo says it can withstand temperatures as cold as -4 degrees Fahrenheit or as hot as 140 degrees.

It supports an optional WiGig wireless docking station, optional 4G LTE-Advanced networking, and features a ThinkPad keyboard with Lenovos TrackPoint system.

Lenovo will offer models with Core i5 and Core i7 Skylake chips, 1080p or 2560 x 1440 pixel displays, and prices starting at $1299 when the laptop goes on sale in February.

One feature Lenovo isnt offering with this years model is a touchscreen but if you want a touch capable ThinkPad you can opt for the new X1 tablet or X1 Yoga.

via Windows Central and Ars Technica
A Regular Commentary on Strategic Affairs from a Leading Commentator and Analyst

2021 book: Future War and the Defence of Europe (Oxford: Oxford University Press)




It's hard to believe it's been nearly a month since we landed back in the States. Things have been non-stop thanks to all the holidays, but I want to somewhat document the final month of our trip in Thailand while I still can! From the Laos border we headed to the Northern Thai town of Chiang Rai. We only went to four towns this time around, and spent about a week in each. We had never been to Chiang Rai before but really enjoyed our time there. The majority of what we did in Thailand consisted of shopping and eating, but as Thailand has some of the best food and night markets our time was well spent. Chiang Rai had a couple really awesome night markets, they were sprawling and had a lot of really interesting stands. People made everything from their own bath bombs to sandals to repurposed hoodies from the thrift store. We were out late almost every night wandering through the streets with the hundred of locals looking over all the things available for sale. We spent about 5 days shopping and eating in Chiang Rai before heading down to Chiang Mai. We had amazing timing in Chiang Mai as it just so happened that we were there during the weeklong (or so) Loy Krathong/Yi Peng festival --- better known as the lantern festival. It's one of Thailand's most well known festivals and its absolutely stunning to see. For one night during the festival anyone can buy a lantern, light it, make a wish and watch it float up into the atmosphere. We ended up lighting two lanterns -- the first one soared, but we ended up losing track of it around a tree (there are probably thousands floating at once) so we decided to light another. We held this one and let it burn and burn until it nearly started smoking, but it never took off. It struggled a bit and went right into a short tree, luckily we didn't start a fire! Its actually amazing nothing treacherous seems to happen, with thousands a fire-lit lanterns floating in the sky and then slowly making their way back down landing in tress, parks and the middle of streets. Its really a unique sight and an amazing experience to take in - words can barely describe it, you must look at the photos. Another aspect of the festival was the homemade hot air balloon contest. This happened in the daylight and the lanterns got more and more complicated as time went on. They went from classic hot air balloons to ghosts to Hello Kitty to Spongebob (pronounced spunkybap by the Thai commentator). The whole festival is so sun and unique and its so great to see everyone getting so into the celebrations. It was another instance that convinced that asians just love any excuse to party and celebrate - they really have some of the most impressive celebrations I've ever seen. Each night, for three nights in a row, there was a huge parade as well - which included Thai music and dancing accompanying all the floats made by different community groups. There were beauty contests and performances and food everywhere! We spent a little over a week in Chiang Mai enjoying the festival and then exploring the town. I had a great Thai massage by a lady with a little shop tucked away in the back of the local market (halfway through she insisted on getting her nail polish remover and tending to my chipped nails) and we enjoyed checking out the multiple night markets/bazaars Chiang Mai had to offer. They have some of the biggest in all of Thailand, and they do get exhausting, but we were on a mission shopping on finding Christmas gifts and enjoyed market after market. In addition, they have some amazing food stands! One highlight was the cowboy hat lady, made famous by Anthony Bourdain, she boils pig parts all day and serves it up to you with rice and veggies and its delicious - and she's still cheaper than all the stands surrounding her trying to steal some of her traffic and rip them off. Funny how often that seems to happen... From Chiang Mai we headed up to the mountain/hippie/backpacker loved town of Pai. We weren't sure if we were going to check it out or not but we missed it last time and it is a somewhat famous backpacker town. There are drugs and clubs and western food and tourists lazing around in hammocks everywhere, but its also a beautiful town with a nice feel. We found a nice family owned place to stay and got our own peaceful bungalow overlooking the mountains and rice fields. They served breakfast every morning and there was a great community of fellow travelers, luckily our place attracted people who were there to just relax and have some good conversation and we had lovely breakfasts and talks with our neighbors from Britain,France, the Netherlands, etc. We didn't do much but relax and enjoy our surroundings in Pai, we rented bikes to explore and enjoyed our time - in addition to eating and checking out the night markets of course. From Pai our last stop in Thailand and the trip was Bangkok. We took an overnight bus there and were a little thrown off to be in a huge city again - Laos didnt have much, but after seeing a lady pop a squat in the middle of the sidewalk we were in the mindframe of dealing with big cities again. We happened to be in Bangkok on Dec. 5, the Kings birthday and another major holiday in Thailand. The locals really seem to love their King, everyone was wearing the shirt honoring his birthday and we experienced another big celebration - fireworks, performances, food stands, people celebrating everywhere. It was an interesting thing to see, people really happy and celebrating thier leader - especially in contrast to how the President is thought of in America. We spent a few days around the famous Khao San rd. area of Bangkok, explored the surrounding areas on the river ferry to return to the blind massage place we visited on our last trip 5 years ago and then decided to move into a quieter area of Bangkok and get out of backpacker haven. We found a small place to stay more in central Bangkok surrounded by small shops and stands and were happy to feel more immersed in 'asia' for the last few days of our trip. Bangkok has really advanced in the last few years - the skytrain and subway are as nice and Seoul and the numerous malls are fancy as well. Randomly enough in a huge mall we ran into an American we met in Laos, who was permanently working and living there. It was very random to run into him in a huge mall in Bangkok, especially as he is not on the same "traveller loop" as we were. He was in Bangkok as his wife was expected to go into labor soon and Laos is not the place to do it. According to him the treatment in Laos for anything is a saline drip - so good luck if you break a limb there. He was at the mall looking for a gift for his wife, so we spent an hour together in H&M while i helped him pick out some things i thought were cute. Hopefully she was happy! In Bangkok we soaked up all the Thai food we could and did all the last shopping we could fit in - figuring it would be smarter to buy anything we might need int he next year while we were still in Asia, especially thailand. As Thailand is one of our favorite countries it was a great place to end - and definitely gave us second thoughts about returning home so soon! Nearly nine months later, ha! From Bangkok we flew back to Manila, and then hopped on our flight back - complete with a full day layover in Seoul. Seeing Seoul in December was great - it gets really cold and Korean food lends itself great to that. We enjoyed spicy soups and steaming dumplings on the open air markets. Of course we had to spend one final night in the jjimjilbang, the ultimate refresher for before and after flights. I got the last thing on my travel bucket list checked off - getting scrubbed down the old Korean ladies in the spas. Lets just say after 9 months of traveling and collecting asian gunk I really needed it! Our flight back felt so quick and before I knew it we were in SF and on the Bart (kind ghetto even by asian standards!) and then reunited with my cousin Alex who picked us up, and then aunts and uncles and brothers and friends and parents! Its weird being back to everything that instantly feels so normal again, its almost like you never really left. Im definitely enjoying being back and having a solid place to sleep, but even after only a month i am starting to miss some of the life and excitement and chaos of Asia! It ws an amazing trip and we saw and experienced so much - but when five people and a chicken all riding one on motorbike doesn't seem to phase you anymore I think it is a good time to come home! Onto the adventure here, back in real life!
About Me living.boondockingmexico Mexico I left the U.S. 30 years ago. Found my way to Mexico and in the last 15 years the great life of rving and boondocking. I have had the great opportunity to travel throughout the Americas, learn Spanish and meet lots of great people. View my complete profile
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This BLOG is for LLNL present and past employees, friends of LLNL and anyone impacted by the privatization of the Lab to express their opinions and expose the waste, wrongdoing and any kind of injustice against employees and taxpayers by LLNS/DOE/NNSA. The opinions stated are personal opinions. Therefore, The BLOG author may or may not agree with them before making the decision to post them. Comments not conforming to BLOG rules are deleted. Blog author serves as a moderator . For new topics or suggestions, email jlscoob5@gmail.com
Taking afterwards years of buildup, 2016 seems to be the year that Basic Absoluteness (VR) absolutely turns out to be 18-carat as firms adopt HTC, Sony and Samsung adduce to celerity accessory this year to achieve this conceivable.The HTC Vive, Sony's PlayStation VR, Facebook's Oculus "Fracture" and Samsung's "Arena" angle will be begin in the business area in the afterward brace of months, BBC wrote about Saturday.Virtual the accuracy is a PC reenacted absoluteness (in a gadget) that duplicates, by agency of photographs, a area that reproduces a concrete around in spots in this present absoluteness or an envisioned world, allowing the applicant to interface in that world.Virtual absoluteness falsely makes concrete encounters which can absorb sight, hearing, blow and smell.For instance, with a VR apparatus you can ascend Mount Everest advancing anxiously over a ambiguous arch while accomplishing whatever it takes not to boring bottomward into a chill gap - all while sitting on a lounge armchair in your home.The accessories ability be showcased at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that will be captivated from January 6 to 9 in Las Vegas.The HTC Vive is apparent as the apparatus giving the best VR experience. Its dispatch, slated for a year ago, was adjourned for some added tweaking.Sony's PlayStation VR and Facebook's Oculus "Crack" headsets can be begin in the business sectors in the afterward brace of months while Samsung has huge arrange to acknowledge its "Arena" at the CES.Aside from gaming, Basic Absoluteness addition ability end up actuality a notable addition in abundant territories of life, the address said.Two analysts from London, Ashley Conway and Vanessa Ruspoli, added to a framework that uses Oculus' Rift angle to amusement patients with fears.Their alignment Basic Exposure Therapy intends to accord patients presentation in a basic apple to the affair they fear."It is not this present absoluteness but rather an acutely accustomed ordeal. You get a physiological response. It is a appropriate addendum amid not accepting the accommodation to achieve article and accomplishing it in this present reality," Conway clarified.However, we will charge to sit bound somewhat added for the dispatch, amount and ascribe attenuate elements of the abstracted gadgets.
Imphal: At least five persons were killed and over 50 injured as a strong 6.7 magnitude earthquake with epicentre in Manipur on Monday hit the northeastern region, causing damage to many buildings and spreading panic.

According to The Times of India, the death toll may be as high as eight.

Manipur bore the brunt of the temblor which struck at 4.35 AM with its epicentre at Tamenglong district at a depth of 17 km below the ground.

"So far, five deaths and 33 injuries have been reported from Imphal. Damage to a few buildings, residential units and Government offices have been reported, including damage to a six storey building in Imphal," according to National Disaster

Management Authority (NDMA).

Jolted from their sleep, people ran out of their houses in panic. Many buildings collapsed in Tamenglong while several others in Imphal, including the market complex, developed cracks, sources said. Electricity connection was cut off in the state soon after the quake.

A girl was killed in a building collapse at Tamenglong district, while another person died at Taobungkhok village in Imphal West district, police said.

Nearly 20 persons were injured in Guwahati and other areas in Assam due to the earthquake, Assam Commissioner and Secretary (Disaster Management) Pramod Kumar Tiwari told PTI. Officials said at least 30 buildings have developed cracks.

Rescue operations underway

The Army and Air Force have started working on relief and rescue operations in quake-hit Manipur.

A defence official said an AN32 plane of Air Force was going to Imphal from Guwahati to take 75 NDRF personnel for relief and rescue operations.

A C17 Globemaster & IL76 plane had been kept on standby at the Hindon airbase to respond to any further relief operations as and when needed.

Army units in Manipur have already started providing all necessary medical assistance to the injured, officials said.

Home minister to oversee the situation

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he had spoken to Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is in Assam, and asked him to oversee the situation arising due to the earthquake.

The PM also spoke to Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh and other chief ministers in the region to take stock of the situation.

"MHA is actively monitoring the situation after the earthquake in the North East region," the Home Minister said.

Two National Disaster Response Force teams were air lifted from Guwahati to Imphal.

The NDMA said it was co-ordinating with the state governments, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Defence, NDRF, Ministry of Telecom and other concerned Government departments and agencies for search & rescue and relief.

NDMA spoke to the control room/relief commissioners of all the states in the Northeast- Manipur, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland as well as West Bengal.

The Centre will provide all necessary help and support to Manipur and other affected states, the Union Home minister said.

Singh said he has spoken to Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, who will reach Impahal from Arunachal Pradesh to monitor the situation.

According to the Regional Seismological Centre, the earthquakefor is one of the biggest in recent times and was felt in the entire Northeast region.

People ran out of their homes looking for safe places in Mizoram capital Aizwal and the quake was also felt in other parts of the state. Lalchuailova, a resident of Aizawl, said that it was the strongest earthquake he had ever experienced during his 50 years.

Nagaland State Disaster Management Agency said that strong tremors were felt across the state, but there were no reports of any damage.

The official residence of the Additional Deputy Commissioner of Cachar district, which is near the epicentre at Tamenglong in Manipur, was damaged.

The Fire Station building in Cachar along with many other installations in the district also developed cracks.

All states in the Northeast are categorized under zone V in the country's Seismological map and considered to be highly vulnerable.

The NDMA said it is working in close coordination and guidance of the Prime Minister's Office.

PTI
By Sunil Raman

 The sarpanch or headman of a village close to Pathankot airbase told TV channels that Punjab Police never told them that there were armed terrorists moving around undetected in the area for 48 hours after Gurdaspur SP reported of an attack on him.

 Villagers hold protest to demand that police take killing of an Innova vehicle driver seriously and register a case of terrorist attack and not term it a case of regular criminal offence.

 Punjab Police blames BSF for not checking infiltration across the international border.

 Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal says BSF responsible, offers to make Punjab Police second line of defence.

Little has changed in the basic narrative since July 2015 when terrorists from Pakistan were captured on CCTV camera walking confidently through a street of Gurdaspur. Then too, the Punjab chief minister and the government washed off their hands and put the blame on BSP personnel for not having stopped infiltration at the border.

Between July and December the blame game continued and today, several Indian security personnel including a Lt Colonel have been killed as a result of the attack on Pathankot airbase.

The length of the International Border in Punjab is 553 km, with some stretches running through riverine areas along the banks of the Sutlej and Ravi that cannot be fenced and, hence, remain susceptible to infiltration. Only a 461-km stretch of this border is fenced with 178 border outposts set up to man the border.

In recent days The Tribune reported that BSF Director-General DK Pathak had said that 62 infiltration bids were foiled on the International Border in 2015 as compared to 48 in 2014. Drug smuggling in Punjab continues to be a serious matter. In 2014 the BSF had seized 361 kg of heroin and 345 kg of heroin in 2015.

While border security is with BSF the hinterland comes under Punjab Police. Though there is little quarrel over the jurisdiction issue, the two forces have not been able to work amicably in the larger interest of securing the border and the resultant national security.

Since 2010 and earlier Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has complained about border management and requested raising the number of personnel on duty. He may have a point about BSFs border management but that does not take away from the fact that Punjab Police has faced challenges for long. However, the strength, training and readiness of state police has been well below expectations and for years there have been demands that police reforms be carried out in the state.Former policeman Prakash Singh moved a petition in the Supreme Court on police reforms and Punjab has remained one of the laggard states.

The BSF last year announced a five year modernisation plan to secure unfenced borders with Pakistan and Bangladesh. Parts of the International Border are unfenced and in many places the fence comes off when riverine area of Ravi and Sutlej rivers flood. Proposal to rebuild a portion after it is washed away goes through a long channel of clearances and approvals year after year. This has now been sorted out somewhat with orders issued that any reporting of broken fencing would be attended to immediately.

Issues that have been major irritants on tackling challenges on border management need to be looked into.

Cross-border smuggling and narcotics: There have been reports of BSF and Punjab policemen working together in narcotics smuggling. Denied officially by both organisations intelligence officials for long have complained about local connivance in cross-border smuggling. Last year the Punjab and Haryana High Court served notices to Central government and BSF on a bunch of petitions filed by its personnel who were named as residents of Punjab and who would not be posted on the International Border on suspicion of being involved in smuggling.

Involvement of villagers in border areas: Integral to intelligence gathering in the sensitive border areas are communities living in villages. Last year the Punjab government announced setting up of Rapid Rural Response Force whose personnel would respond in ten minutes. A good initiative that has still to see the light of the day and nothing could be more damaging than the sarpanchs comments on TV channels that Punjab Police did not warn them about the presence of suspected terrorist or activity.

Second Line of Defence: Yet again the Punjab government has stated that its police force would be the second line of defence on the border after last years announced modernisation plan. After July 2015 Dinanagar infiltration in Gurdaspur district and Decembers Pathankot infiltration where state policemen failed to react, act and even use the local village communities, the Central government needs to do a serious rethink.

The government of India can no more rely on Punjab Polices limited capacity and capability, assurances of Punjab government notwithstanding. Rashtriya Rifles could be seen as an option to provide a second line of defence along the International Border. So the BSF personnel would be at the border, RR personnel as a second line of defence and then the Punjab Police.

Punjab Police in border areas: Government of India needs to step in and carry out an audit of existing infrastructure and police personnel. Start a special programme that would retrain and equip personnel with knowledge and capacity and strengthen physical infrastructure.

Sort out BSF issues: For long the personnel policy of BSF has not been seriously addressed. The personal well-being of soldiers, their families, their training and equipment need to be looked into. Overworked, unfit men have to be taken off border duty to be rested and retrained.

Finally, bureaucratic obstacles must be removed. Border management needs to be looked at holistically and not in a piecemeal manner. The Pathankot incident is a wake up call to address the long standing problem with International Border management in the Punjab area, and it is time to act now. Blame Pakistan military, ISI for infiltration but that will not take away from the fact that we need to sort out serious issues first.
Cairo: Twenty-six militants were killed today as Egyptian army raided their hideouts in some cities in the restive North Sinai as part of the military's campaign against terrorists.

The army also arrested 25 suspected terrorists, army spokesperson Brigadier General Mohamed Samir said. Samir also added that five unlicensed vehicles and motorcycles were destroyed during the offensive. The raids are part of the army's campaign against militants in the major cities of Rafah, Sheikh Zwayed and Al-Arish.

Egypt's North Sinai has witnessed many violent attacks by militants since the January 2011 revolution that toppled ex-president Hosni Mubarak.

The attacks targeting police and military increased after the ouster of Islamist ex-president Mohamed Morsi in 2013 by military following massive protests against his rule. Over 600 security personnel have been reported killed since then.

The military has launched security campaigns in the area, arrested suspects and demolished houses that belong to terrorists, including those facilitating tunnels leading to the Gaza Strip.

PTI
New York: Bill Clinton on Monday called his wife Hillary the most qualified US presidential candidate in more than half a century, at his first solo campaign event for her 2016 election bid.

The former president went to New Hampshire in support of his wife, the former secretary of state, senator and first lady who leads polls for the Democratic nomination for the presidency.

Clinton addressed a rally at a community college in the city of Nashua, paying tribute to Hillary's determination to make America a fairer, safer country for the poor and struggling middle classes.

He made no direct reference to Donald Trump, the brash billionaire dominating the Republican race for the White House who recently stepped up personal attacks on both Clintons.

"I do not believe in my lifetime anybody has run for this job in a moment of great importance who is better qualified by knowledge, experience and temperament to do what needs to be done," the 69-year-old said.

New Hampshire is host to the nation's first presidential primary on February 9.

Bill Clinton said Hillary's skill set "offers the best chance to have the most rapid movement to more broadly shared prosperity."

"In an uncertain world, where borders look more like nets than walls, and no one is in total control, she understands what it takes to keep our country as safe as possible," he said, dressed in an open-necked shirt, dark pullover and blazer, wearing a Hillary pin on his lapel.

He lauded her record as secretary of state and provoked laughter by joking: "I didn't think she could do that," in reference to getting China and Russia to sign off on sanctions against Iran.

When they met at Yale Law School 45 years ago, he said he thought she was "the most amazing person" who could have secured any job in life but who wanted only to provide legal aid to the poor.

"Everything she touched, she made better," he said, paying tribute to her long career and calling her a "change maker."

Trump, the real estate tycoon who has led Republican polls for months, recently blasted Bill Clinton's "terrible record" with women -- an apparent allusion to his past alleged marital infidelities.

"The worst thing Hillary could do is have her husband campaign for her. Just watch," he tweeted to his 5.5 million followers on Sunday.

Republicans in Congress tried but failed in 1998 to remove Bill Clinton from the White House for alleged perjury and obstruction during an investigation into an alleged affair.

AFP
Paris: The satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo, whose staff was decimated by Islamic extremists on 7 January, 2015, is running a special edition this week with a bloody God armed with a Kalashnikov on the cover and the headline: "The murderer is still at large".

'One year later. The killer is still on the run' #CharlieHebdo on 1st anniversary of the attack that left 12 dead. pic.twitter.com/blZROfjEp1  gian paolo accardo (@gpaccardo) January 4, 2016

In profanity-laced editorial, Laurent Sourisseau, the newspaper's director who goes by the name Riss, described the newsroom's silence moments after the two gunmen opened fire, saying that was how he knew his colleagues were dead. But Riss said the newspaper would remain alive because "never have we wanted so much to break the faces of those who dreamed of our deaths."

Seventeen people died in the attacks on Charlie Hebdo on 7 January last year and a kosher supermarket two days later. All three attackers died.

AP
Commuters in Sydney's Moore Park were stunned to see a two-metre long snake trying to cross busy South Dowling Street at peak hour on Monday morning.

A staffer from Randwick City Council snapped a picture of the reptile as it paused on the median strip, near the intersection of Dacey Avenue, headed in the direction of the Moore Park Supa Centa.

The snake, believed to be an escaped pet, was suffering a severe injury to the tip of its tail, most likely caused by a north-bound car.

Wildlife rescue service WIRES was contacted but, by the time a snake wrangler arrived at the scene, it was too late to save the animal.
A journalist labelled a "mad f---ing witch" by Immigration Minister Peter Dutton hopes he doesn't find himself on the backbench for accidentally sending an offensive text message to her.

On Sunday night, Mr Dutton confirmed he had apologised to the journalist for the text, which was intended for his embattled colleague Jamie Briggs.

Mr Briggs stepped down from his position as cities minister after acting inappropriately towards a female colleague while on an overseas trip.
Mr Turnbull's office rang media outlets last week urging them not to identify the woman and Fairfax Media understands the Prime Minister rang a senior News Corp executive directly asking him not to publish. Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has been drawn into the saga after sending a text message to the wrong recipient. Credit:Andrew Meares Mr Turnbull said that from the outset he had "sought to ensure the privacy of the public servant concerned has been protected". The woman had made it clear she wanted to remain anonymous, it is understood. The photo shows the embassy official, a woman in her 20s who had dined with Mr Briggs and then joined him in a bar afterwards, posing with Mr Eaton. The picture was taken on Mr Briggs' phone. He has denied leaking it but admitted he had "sent it to a few people prior to the complaint and following". One senior government figure branded as "shocking" Mr Briggs' decision to forward the photo to colleagues.

Mr Briggs resigned as cities minister after his interaction with the young woman while drinking in a Hong Kong bar during a ministerial visit in late November. His office did not return calls on Monday. He reportedly told her she had "piercing eyes" and kissed her either on the cheek or neck. Fairfax Media understands the woman called colleagues that night to express her dismay at Mr Briggs' behaviour, undermining the suggestions from the leaked text messages that she had not been upset. It is also understood that Mr Briggs did not actually apologise to the woman until after he had been interviewed by the independent investigator assigned by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

Sara Charlesworth of RMIT University, who has conducted ground-breaking research into sexual harassment, said the leaks against the woman would discourage victims from reporting incidents. "Things like this have a really dampening effect on people's preparedness to come forward  and to make formal complaints when things are more serious," she said. Professor Charlesworth said the leaking of the photo and text messages reminded her of the treatment of Kristy Fraser-Kirk, who successfully sued David Jones and its former chief executive, Mark McInnes, for sexual harassment in 2010. "When I got hold of the newspapers at the weekend, it brought back entirely what had happened under the David Jones case," Professor Charlesworth said. "As soon as she'd made her complaint, stuff started coming out about her, what had happened to previous jobs. It was precisely put there to denigrate her and render her less credible." She said it was "terribly disappointing that this has played out the same way again".

"I did find it totally gob-smacking but entirely predictable that [the public servant] now becomes the object of suspicion." She said that the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade seemed to have "behaved entirely appropriately". The woman did not lodge a formal complain about Mr Briggs but rather made a note about it that found its way to department secretary Peter Varghese. Mr Varghese informed Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop. An inquiry was subsequently carried out. A spokeswoman for the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, which enforces privacy rights, indicated the woman may have a valid complaint to make.
Baghdad: Saudi Arabia has cut diplomatic ties with Iran and given all Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, as escalating tensions over the execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia marked a new low in relations between the two Middle Eastern powers.

The surprise move, announced on Sunday in a televised news conference by Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi Foreign Minister, followed harsh criticism by Iranian leaders of the Saudi execution of Nimr al-Nimr and the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran by protesters in response.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia went one step further and said it would cut all commercial ties between the two countries and ban its citizens from travelling to Iran. Pilgrims from Iran will, however, still be able to journey to Mecca for haj.
An Italian parliament-mandated health survey has confirmed higher-than-normal incidents of death and cancer among residents in and around Naples, thanks to decades of toxic waste dumping by the local Camorra mob.

The report by the National Institute of Health said it was critical to address the rates of babies in the provinces of Naples and Caserta who are being hospitalized in the first year of life for excessive instances of tumors, especially brain tumors.

The report, which updated an initial one in 2014, blamed the higher-than-usual rates on ascertained or suspected exposure to a combination of environmental contaminants that can be emitted or released from illegal hazardous waste dump sites and/or the uncontrolled burning of both urban and hazardous waste.

Residents have long complained about adverse health effects from the dumping, which has poisoned the underground wells that irrigate the farmland which provides vegetables for much of Italys center and south. Over the years, police have sequestered dozens of fields because their irrigation wells contained high levels of lead, arsenic and the industrial solvent tetrachloride.

Authorities say the contamination is due to the Camorras multibillion-dollar racket in disposing of toxic waste, mainly from industries in Italys wealthy north that ask no questions about where the garbage goes as long as its taken off their hands  for a fraction of the cost of legal disposal. In recent years, Camorra turncoats have revealed how the mafia racket works, directing police to specific sites where toxic garbage was dumped.

In 2014, parliament passed a law mandating the National Institute of Health, a public institution under the Health Ministry, to report on the rates of death, hospitalization and cancer in the 55 municipalities in the so-called Land of Fires.

The new report, released on Dec. 30 with little fanfare, confirmed what residents have long known, an area priest, the Rev. Maurizio Patriciello, wrote on Saturday in Avvenire, the newspaper of the Italian bishops conference which has long advocated on behalf of the areas residents.

Can we claim victory? Absolutely not, he wrote. In this shameful, sad and painful story, we have lost everything. The government above all. By Nicole Winfield, in Rome, AP
Several spectators were injured during the Dakar Rally on Saturday after a Mini Cooper plowed into the crowd before the start of the race in Argentina.

The accident occurred at kilometer 6.6 of the prologue to the Dakar 2016, which starts between Buenos Aires and Rosario. Organizers suspended Saturdays special stage.

A Dakar statement said four spectators were injured and taken to local hospitals. However, it did not provide details on their injuries.

Daniel Modesto, a doctor at the Santa Francisca de Arrecifes hospital, told Argentine station TN that 10 people were treated for injuries, including a pregnant woman and four children. He said one child and one adult man were seriously injured. The child was airlifted to a larger hospital, while the man was transferred in an ambulance, he said.

The vehicle that veered off the road was No. 360, which belongs to Guo Meiling. Guo is the first Chinese woman to compete in Dakar.

It was unclear if she or other drivers were injured.

Competitors were participating in a special stage to determine Sundays opening day order. AP
CHINA Authorities in Shenzhen arrested 11 people for their role in a landslide unleashed at construction waste dump last month that killed 12 people and left 62 others missing and presumed dead.

HONG KONG will likely need to raise taxes and introduce new levies as an aging population is increasing public expenditure. Facing a fiscal gap brought by an aging population, raising taxes is inevitable, K.C. Chan, secretary for financial services and the treasury, said in his blog yesterday. His remarks came after the government started a six-month public consultation last month to identify ways to enhance retirement protection in the city.

IRANs top leader yesterday warned Saudi Arabia of divine revenge over the execution of an opposition Shiite cleric while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting terrorism, escalating a war of words hours after protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.

NORTH KOREAN leader Kim Jong Un said in an annual New Years speech that he is ready for war if provoked by invasive outsiders, but he stayed away from past threats involving the countrys nuclear weapons and long-range missile ambitions.

DUBAI On a New Years Eve haunted by fears of terrorism, a spectacular fire in one of Dubais tall towers captured the worlds attention. With few exceptions, the celebrations rolled on, and while the fire still raged, the Dubai Media office declared on Twitter: New Year celebrations in Dubai will continue as scheduled.

UK Prince William has said that being a father has made him more emotional and more prone to welling up. The royal is the father of two children, two-year-old Prince George and Princess Charlotte, born in May. In a television interview, the 33-year-old said that becoming a parent has made him more aware of how precious life is.

MEXICO The mayor of a city south of Mexicos capital was shot to death on Saturday, less than a day after taking office, officials said.

Gunmen opened fire on Mayor Gisela Mota at her house in the city of Temixco, said the government of Morelos state, where Temixco is located. Two presumed assailants were killed and three others detained following a pursuit.

SOMALIA Al-Qaidas East African affiliate has released a recruitment video targeting American blacks and Muslims that includes a clip of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump calling for Muslims to be banned from entering the United States.

TURKEY The coast guard has rescued 57 people who were stranded on a tiny island in the Aegean Sea after attempting to reach Greece. The state-run Anadolu news agency says helicopters evacuated 12 people including three sick children from the islet near the Turkish coastal town of Dikili in Izmir province. Small fishing boats helped rescue the others, as coast guard vessels were unable to navigate the rocky area.
A 54-year-old Singaporean man was arrested on Saturday after having been accused of heading a syndicate responsible for distributing counterfeit casino chips at the Marina Bay Sands casino, owned by Las Vegas Sands.

Toh Hock Thiam was detained as part of an operation in which the Singapore Police Force (SPF) had received a strong sense of cooperation and assistance from the Macau Judiciary Police (PJ) and the Royal Malaysia Police (RMP).

Counterfeit casino chips worth more than USD1 million, along with mobile phones and cash, were seized during the operation.

According to a Straits Times report, the suspect reportedly set up a man who would then recruit runners to use fake chips at the casino. On November 22, one of the runners used two chips valued at $2,000 in total. The State Courts in Singapore issued an arrest warrant for Toh. If convicted, he could be behind bars for up to seven years, or fined a maximum of $150,000. The two punishments may also be applied together.

Toh was nabbed in Malaysia on December 31, according to a press release issued by the SPF.

The arrest of this syndicate leader bears testament to the excellent relationship forged between the Singapore Police Force and the RMP and the PJ, said the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Investigations & Intelligence) and the director of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Tan Chye Hee. Police have confirmed that the officers from the Casino Crime Investigation branch of the CID commenced investigations at the end of November 2015 when a case involving the use of suspected forged chips was discovered at the Marina Bay Sands casino.
East Asia formed its first cross-nation union, the ASEAN Community, at the turn of the new year, which is expected to lead the region into a new stage of integration and growth.

The 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) officially launched the community last week, forming a bloc of 600 million people sharing a political, security and economic roof.

With a total GDP of nearly 2.6 trillion U.S. dollars, the seventh globally, the community aims to create a competitive single market with free flow of goods, services, investment capital and skilled labor. It is expected to grow into the worlds fourth biggest economy by 2030, according to media reports.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry welcomed the establishment of the community, calling it a significant milestone in ASEANs integration.

As a good friend and partner of ASEAN, China is confident about ASEANs development in the future, and wishes the ASEAN Community success, the ministrys spokesman Lu Kang said at a press conference.

Despite skepticism of a true single economic entity, experts expect the community to bring China-ASEAN cooperation closer and promote regional integration as well as boost members economic growth.

The community will certainly inject impetus for the upgrading of the ASEAN-China Free Trade Area (FTA) and the negotiation of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, said Wei Ling, director of Asian studies institute at the China Foreign Affairs University.

China has been ASEANs largest trade partner, and ASEAN has been Chinas third largest partner since the FTAs launch in 2010. Mutual trade volume has added up to more than 370 billion U.S. dollars in the first 10 months of 2015, and the annual trade is expected to reach 1 trillion U.S. dollars by 2020.

The two last month inked a protocol on deepened cooperation on bilateral trade. As a supplement to the original agreement of the ASEAN-China FTA, the protocol covers a wide range such as trade in goods, services, investment and technological cooperation.

A unified and single ASEAN market will provide huge opportunities for China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, according to Wei. Once fully completed, the community will optimize the layout of Asias trade, finance and manufacturing industries.

The community will be better positioned to activate the implementation of Chinese initiatives such as the Belt and Road, which have synergized well with ASEANs development and integration strategies.

The ASEAN integration raises huge demands for transport and infrastructure improvement, which China, with abundant funds and technologies, can cater to, said Wei.

The Belt and Road initiative could help promote ASEANs development by improving infrastructure throughout the region both on land and at sea, said Kavi Chongkittavorn, senior fellow at the Institute of Security and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University of Thailand.

China also set up the Silk Road Fund and spearheaded the establishment of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), both expected to finance connectivity projects.

ASEAN nations will undoubtedly standardize some economic policies within the community and objectively reduce barriers for the entry of Chinese investment, observers believe.

Under the Belt and Road initiative and the support of AIIB, Wei forecasts a new wave of growth of Chinas industrial investment in ASEAN countries.

The merger could also help the Chinese yuan flow into the region, according to Zhou Yongsheng, an international relations professor at China Foreign Affairs University.

China said it will continue to firmly support ASEANs integration, and is willing to make joint efforts with ASEAN countries to build a more closely-related community of common destiny for China and ASEAN.

Despite a high-degree of inter-dependence within the community, obstacles still remain in the way of complete integration.

ASEAN is perhaps one of the most diverse regional groupings in the world, in terms of both economic development and political, ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds, according to observers.

There is a conspicuous divide between the six older and richer ASEAN members such as Singapore and four newer and poorer members, namely, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam.

Chen Qiye, associate professor at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy in Singapore, deems that its a good chance for China to advocate the Belt and Road initiative in the nations, helping the members narrow development gaps for integration while optimizing its own economic structure.

Seizing the opportunity of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of China-ASEAN dialogue relations in 2016, experts suggest China expand mutual political trust by signing a series of friendly cooperation treaties with the group.

China is supposed to take the lead to push for more cooperation mechanisms with the community and provide more public service goods for innovations in anti-terrorism, environmental protection and health care, according to global strategy researcher Zhou Fangye.

China should also continue to promote peaceful bilateral negotiations with related parties concerning the South China Sea issues and seek to maintain regional stability and development, said Zhou Yongsheng. Xinhua
Chinese artist Ai Weiwei wants to raise consciousness about the plight of refugees through his, and his students, art.

Ai, who has made his name as much through his clashes with Chinese authorities as through his art, has set up a studio on the Greek island of Lesbos, the main point of entry for hundreds of thousands of refugees over the past year. The studio will produce several projects with themes related to the refugee crisis from him and his students, Ai told reporters.

As an artist, I have to relate to humanitys struggles I never separate these situations from my art, Ai said.

Ai warmly praised the people of Lesbos as having very good understanding of the refugees plight and their needs and for being very helpful and very tolerant but emphasized their very limited resources to deal with the issue.

He also praised several foreign non-governmental organizations doing very impressive work, mentioning especially groups from the Netherlands, Norway and Spain, but also said there is a lack of awareness in Europe and the rest of the world of the situation and willingness to act.

The border is not in Lesbos, it really (is) in our minds and in our hearts, Ai said.

Ai told The Associated Press he expects to visit Lesbos several times over the next year, or even beyond, if the crisis persists beyond 2016. He said about six to 10 artists, students of his in China and Germany, will be working at the studio. Demetris Nellas, Athens
The children of U.S. military members are victims in hundreds of incidents of sexual abuse each year, according to data the Defense Department provided exclusively to The Associated Press.

The abuse of military dependents is committed most often by male enlisted troops, the data show, followed by family members.

The figures offer greater insight into the sexual abuse of children committed by service members, a problem of uncertain scale due to a lack of transparency into the militarys legal proceedings. With more than 1 million military dependents, the number of cases appears statistically small. But for a profession that prides itself on honor and discipline, any episodes of abuse cast a pall.

Those numbers fall well-short of a full picture.

Ages of the offenders and victims, locations of the incidents and the branch of service that received the report of sexual abuse were omitted. The Defense Department said in a statement that information that could unintentionally uniquely identify victims was withheld from release to eliminate possible re-victimization of the innocent.

Its also unclear how many of the incidents resulted in legal action. The cases represent substantiated occurrences of child sexual abuse reported to the Defense Departments Family Advocacy Program, which does not track judicial proceedings, the department said.

An AP investigation published in November found more inmates are in military prisons for child sex crimes than for any other offense. But the militarys opaque justice system keeps the public from knowing the full extent of their crimes or how much time they spend behind bars.

Responding to APs findings, three Democratic senators have urged Defense Secretary Ash Carter to lift what they called the military justice systems cloak of secrecy and make records from sex crimes trials readily accessible.

The senators also raised another concern. Cases involving children are not included in the Defense Departments annual report to Congress on sexual assaults, which focuses primarily on adult-on-adult incidents, they said. The senators  Barbara Boxer of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii  told Carter in a Dec. 8 letter they are concerned the department may be underestimating how many sexual assaults are occurring in the military.

There were at least 1,584 substantiated cases of military dependents being sexually abused between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, according to the data. Enlisted service members sexually abused children in 840 cases. Family members of the victims accounted for the second largest category with 332 cases.

Most of the enlisted offenders were males whose ranks ranged between E-4 and E-6. In the Marine Corps and Army, for example, those troops are corporals, sergeants and staff sergeants. Officers were involved in 49 of the cases. The victims were overwhelmingly female.

Kathy Robertson, manager of the Family Advocacy Program, said in an emailed response to questions that the incident rates reflect the U.S. militarys demographics. Most of the cases involve the E-4 and E-6 ranks because they are the largest number of active-duty personnel and the largest number of parents in the military, she said.

Duplications in the data indicate as many as 160 additional cases of sexual abuse could have occurred during the 2010 to 2014 period, involving a child who was victimized multiple times or a repeat abuser. The figures also account only for cases involving military dependents, which are the only child victims the department tracks. Richard Lardner, Eileen Sullivan & Meghan Hoyer, Washington, AP
The New Macau Association has criticized the two government reports concerning the latest elections of Legislative Assembly (AL) members and the Chief Executive (CE), saying that the electoral affairs commissions lacked a genuine interest in ensuring a fair election.

At a press conference at the New Macau Association (ANM) offices, the president of the organization, Jason Chao, accused the AL and CE Election Affairs Committees of selectively applying the law and willingly turning a blind eye to some cases of electoral law violation.

According to Chao, the only campaigners who have been criticized by the committees in the reports are those who have been promoting a particular ideology  that of pushing for free and fair elections.

He claimed that the reports had downplayed illegal activities by traditional interest groups, and had instead attempted to suppress initiatives promoting the practice of free and fair elections.

The current electoral law in Macau prohibits candidates from campaigning in certain areas, such as public places, ahead of an election. In these spaces, public authorities must maintain benevolent neutrality without favoring individual candidates.

In spite of this, however, Chao claimed that private schools receiving significant public subsidies had shown bias by displaying electoral banners and allowing certain candidates to conduct talks on their premises.

Jason Chao claims that he did not receive a response after he requested that ANMs material also be displayed in these areas, which led to the group submitting a complaint to the Electoral Affairs Commission.

After the election, the Electoral Affairs Commission did not follow up the case and made no mention of it in the report, said Chao.

Further, the ANM claims it is able to produce photographic evidence that some casino-resorts had promoted candidates to their employees in the lead-up to the 2013 AL election.

Only those connected to the casinos were able to put up their banners, Chao said, before alleging that City of Dreams had put up huge posters of Chan Meng Kam and Angela Leong in their staff recreation areas and had distributed election souvenirs to their employees.

Among the many other complaints leveled, the organization included one directed at the governments suggestion of holding private meetings to persuade candidates not to partake in illegal activities, which the New Macau Association deems an inadequate solution.

In regards to the CE election, the New Macau Association said it was disappointed that the government report had not taken into account what the group alleges to be blatant abuses of public resources.

Chao claims that before and during the 2014 CE election, the government used public resources to finance billboards promoting Chuis proposals upon re- election. Such practice was not only an early campaign, but also an abuse of public resources.

The group, in its widespread criticism of the reports, also found an instance of discrepancy between the Chinese and Portuguese language versions, which appeared to omit substantive information on political propaganda issues.

The Chinese is the original and the Portuguese [version] is the translation. [The latter] left out the main thrust of the paragraph, Chao explained.

I dont know whether this was deliberate or an accident in the translation. But Ip Song Sang is the one who is ultimately responsible for [ensuring the accuracy of] the Portuguese version of the report.

He called on others to further investigate discrepancies between the two reports.

When asked what amendments to the electoral law the New Macau Association would suggest, Chao only stated, measures to ensure fair elections.

The president of the group added that the ANM plans to comment on the amendments once the government has published its proposals. Staff reporter

Jason Chao: Disappearances could happen in Macau as well

At a press conference at the offices of the New Macau Association yesterday, Jason Chao said that he feels exhausted and powerless that they [Mainland China] can kidnap someone from Hong Kong or Macau, and take them back to the mainland for interrogation or torture.

Chao made the comments in relation to the five missing Hong Kong-based booksellers who have gone missing in recent months (see back page).

These Hong Kong citizens were lured to either Shenzhen or Thailand to be arrested, said Chao, arguing that this represents a blatant violation of the Basic Law.

Asked whether the New Macau Association will protest the suspected kidnappings, Jason Chao said that the group was still discussing recent developments but that they will keep a close eye on the matter.

It could happen in Macau as well, he warned.
A contingency plan related to the implementation of the Law on Minimum Wage for Cleaning and Security Workers of the Property Management Industry came into effect on 1 January, according to a statement issued by the local government.

The announcement of this measure follows the controversy that arose when some property management companies raised their fees and suspended their services, alleging that the introduction of the minimum wage would add an extra cost to their services. Some of the residents that live in affected buildings have expressed concerns over security if the companies cease operating.

The government has stated that property management companies have been urged to discuss any update in their 2016 charges with the owners of flats in managed private buildings.

The Housing Bureau is able to assist flat owners via the Management Commission, if they decide to manage such private buildings independently through the provision of support during negotiations between newly formed commissions and former management companies. This support would exist to ensure the buildings common areas remain under property management.
DON'T ASSUME ALL COLLEGE STUDENTS ARE BROKE.



In the case of students in the University of Cincinnati's Cooperative Education Program, it's highly unlikely. They've been shattering commonly held expectations for their peers, and they've been doing it for quite a while.



UC's co-op students earned an average of $10,144 in the 2014-15 academic year  not exactly chump change. The average hourly wage for co-op students was $15.85, nearly a dollar more an hour than their predecessors made five years ago. And even at $14.95 an hour in 2010, that was still more than double the American minimum hourly rate of $7.25.



UC reached the $50 million threshold for collective student co-op earnings for the first time in the 2013-14 academic year. Last year, the university's students surpassed that total and then some  hitting $57 million.

These numbers continue a trend of consistent growth at UC, which founded co-op in 1906. Overall student earnings have risen at least $600,000 each of the past five years for an increase of $19 million in that same time span.




TWIN FALLS, Idaho  A newborn baby girl was found dead inside a diaper bag on the side of South Blue Lakes Boulevard early Thursday.

The infants body was found on the west side of the road at 3360 North by a Twin Falls County Sheriffs deputy about 1:30 a.m., said Lori Stewart, spokeswoman for the sheriffs office. Investigators believe the body was there for only a short time.

The deputy was just driving on routine patrol and saw the bag on the side of the road, Stewart said. He stopped to grab the bag, thinking it would just be a case of found property, and thats when he discovered the infant.

The only other thing inside the diaper bag was a pair of adult jeans, Stewart said.

Twin Falls County Coroner Gene Turley responded to the call and the body was taken to Boise early Thursday for an autopsy.

The girl appeared to be full-term, but the forensic pathologist who conducted the autopsy was unable to determine if she was born alive or stillborn, Stewart said. The autopsy also did not reveal an apparent cause of death.

The cause of death is pending, Turley said. In about a month or so well get the toxicology report, meet with county investigators, share information, and determine a cause and manner of death.

Anyone with information on the babys parents, the owner of the diaper bag or any witness who may have seen a vehicle in the area where it was left is asked to call SIRCOMM at 208-735-1911.
TWIN FALLS  The deadline for prosecutors to file their intent to seek the death penalty against a 20-year-old Twin Falls man has been extended two more months.

Jacob Lyn Marshall is charged with six felony counts including murder and murder conspiracy in the July 25 slaying of Kent Storrer.

Marshall waived his right to a speedy trial in October the same time his defense attorney asked for an initial extension on the deadline for Twin Falls Prosecuting Attorney Grant Loebs to file his intent to seek the death penalty.

The deadline was set for Dec. 31, but a judge granted another extension until Feb. 29 after a request by the defense was made last week.

We agreed and the court granted it, Loebs said. The defense asked for an extension of time to provide mitigating evidence for me to consider in making the death penalty decision.

These types of extensions are normal in a possible death sentence case, Loebs said. Generally the defense puts together information they hope will sway the prosecutor not to seek the death penalty, like the defendants history of abuse or addiction that could have caused them to commit the crime.

Usually it has to do with old records, transcripts, school records maybe, Loebs said. If theres an old psychiatric record, an old medical history, an old drug addiction record or treatment providers notes. Or if they want to have somebody analyzed by a psychiatrist for some reason. Any of those type of things are typically whats involved.

Loebs said without that information, he would only have negative things to consider and would know very little about the defendant except for the alleged crimes the defendant is being tried for.

So if the defense wants extra time to give that to me so they can be assured I have positive factors to consider, then I let them have as much time as they want to do that, as much time as the courts will allow, Loebs said. The courts are usually pretty good about allowing that, because this is a pretty big decision.

Meanwhile the case of Marshalls accomplice, Jerry Burton Kimball, 22, of Twin Falls, is in limbo until the death penalty decision is made in Marshalls case, Loebs said. There are currently no scheduled hearings for Kimball.
COEUR DALENE (AP) The Kootenai County Prosecutors Office will seek the death penalty for a man who is accused of killing a police officer and stealing his patrol car in northern Idaho.

The Spokesman-Review reports that prosecutors filed a notice on Thursday in 1st District Court to try the slaying of Coeur dAlene Police Sgt. Greg Moore as a capital crime.

Investigators allege that Jonathan Renfro, who was on parole, shot Moore on May 5 as the officer questioned him because he feared Moore would find a handgun in his pocket  a parole violation.

Moore died later that evening.

Renfros trial is scheduled to begin Sept. 6.
TWIN FALLS  With the arrival of 2016, Magic Valley schools have projects and big decisions on the horizon.

Here are eight education stories to watch this year:

New Twin Falls Schools

Two new elementary schools  Rock Creek Elementary and Pillar Falls Elementary  will both be completed by this summer.

Its the first time in about 20 years that Twin Falls will have two brand new elementary schools.

Starting in fall 2016, that means big changes for students. An estimated 35 percent of Twin Falls elementary schoolers  more than 1,500 children  will attend a different school.

Thats because school attendance zones are being redrawn to accommodate the two new elementary schools and South Hills Middle School, which opens in fall 2017.

A 26-member committee  including educators and parents  started meeting in October to draft new attendance zones. They put out a draft proposal in December.

Three community meetings are slated for Monday-Wednesday nights to present information and get feedback. School trustees could make a final decision by the end of January.

New schools are funded by a nearly $74 million bond voters approved in March 2014. Theyll alleviate rapid enrollment growth and overcrowding.

CSI Loop Road

A new road will open this summer near the College of Southern Idahos Twin Falls campus.

But that means a stretch of North College Road  from Fillmore Street to Washington Street North  will be closed starting Monday while construction is underway. The area will reopen in late April.

When drivers on Cheney Drive approach Washington Street North, theres a traffic light that seems to lead to nowhere. But soon, a road will connect up with North College Road.

As Twin Falls grows, the college wants to allow for easier access to campus and alleviate traffic congestion.

The nearly $2 million project calls for constructing a new bridge at the Perrine Coulee and a new road coming out on North College Road near the Breckenridge Endowment Farm across from CSIs Expo Center.

Cassia County School Projects

The Cassia County School District plans to bring another bond to voters to cover a nearly $15 million shortfall for facility projects.

School trustees will have to file election intent paperwork by mid-January, Superintendent Gaylen Smyer told the Times-News in December.

Theyll likely pursue an election at the earliest date this year  likely, in March, he said.

In December, the district found out consultant Hal Jensen of Pocatello underestimated the cost of school bond projects. It stymies plans to build new schools in Declo and Burley.

Voters passed a $37 million bond in March for facility projects after Jensen developed construction budgets.

When he heard about the shortfall, Jensen told the Times-News, I had some elements that were underestimated. I feel sick.

Head Start Changes

For the first time since 1999, CSI could face competition for nearly $6 million in federal money to operate Head Start and Early Head Start programs.

CSI submitted a re-competition application in December. And other nonprofit organizations were allowed to apply.

Theyll likely hear back by July 1  the start of a new fiscal year.

Theres a waiting game, director Mancole Fedder told the Times-News in December. If the college receives funding, it will be on a five-year grant cycle.

And due to pending federal changes, programs could lose a total of 88 slots next year  meaning fewer children will get help.

Here in south-central Idaho, 669 children receive Head Start or Early Head Start services at 11 centers, spanning from American Falls to Hailey. That could drop to 581 next year.

Kimberly School Needs

As Kimberly grows, school leaders are looking at building needs for the next 20 years.

A committee is working to develop a recommendation to present to school trustees  likely, in January, Superintendent Luke Schroeder told the Times-News in October.

Options include adding onto existing campuses or building new schools. But a decision hasnt been made yet.

The Kimberly School Districts long-range plan  finalized earlier this year  includes goals of acquiring land for future growth and pursuing neighborhood elementary schools.

Helping Students Go to College

Several new initiatives were rolled out this fall to help more students pursue higher education. In 2016, students will try them out for the first time.

In mid-August, the Idaho Board of Education approved a direct admissions initiative. Students will be conditionally accepted to two- and four-year colleges and universities based on their grade point average and college entrance exam scores.

High school seniors received a letter in November with an announcement about which in-state schools theyre qualified to attend.

Students will still have to go through the application process for the school they choose and maintain a good GPA.

Another new program: VandaLink, offered by the University of Idaho. The joint transfer program  launched in October  aims to make it easier for CSI graduates to continue their education.

Boys & Girls Club Renovations

To keep up with growth, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Twin Falls are working on a project to renovate and expand.

Twin Falls is growing so rapidly, so there has never been a better time to expand our facilities so we can bring more kids here, executive director Lindsey Westburg told the Times-News in October.

Phase I renovations  estimated to cost $275,000include new paint, remodeling bathrooms, installing new tiles and putting up sound panels in the gymnasium. Those projects started in June.

Plus, a new 800-square-foot lobby will be built to enhance security. Work will likely begin in early 2016.

Phase II  with an estimated $750,000 price tag  includes adding classrooms, an early childhood education space and a teen center.

The 8,000-square-foot addition on the south side of the building is something weve been dreaming about for a while, Westburg said.

Test Scores

Idaho students took a new Common Core-aligned standardized test  the Smarter Balanced Assessment (SBAC)  in the spring. It was the first time scores counted.

Here in the Magic Valley, school officials found out this summer that scores were lower than they expected.

In the Twin Falls School District, only 25 percent of 10th graders met benchmarks in math. On the high end, 54 percent of fifth-graders were rated proficient or better in English/language arts.

This school year, Twin Falls middle and high schoolers are using a program called Write Tools for the first time.

Theyre spending more time reading and writing  even in subjects such as physical education.

School officials say theyre making changes to better use Common Core Standards and to prepare students for college and careers.

The true test will come in spring 2016, when students take the SBAC again.
Germanys citizens and leaders have earned the worlds respect over the decades since World War II by repeatedly taking the moral and political high ground. From Willy Brandts imaginative Ostpolitik approach to relations with the Eastern bloc to the peaceful and effective reunification of their divided country in 1990, and on to Angela Merkels principled welcome of Syrian refugees in 2015, Germans have set standards that the rest of us have to admire.

So why in the world are they risking that hard-earned reputation for the sake of a seemingly corrupt gas pipeline deal with Russias Vladimir Putin  especially since the vast changes in the global energy markets of the past year have made the Russian deal obsolete, as well as damaging to European unity? And why is the Obama administration doing so little to discourage Chancellor Merkel from going along with Putins pipeline skulduggery?

This makes no sense. Putins objective is blatant. He intends to lock in revenue for his Gazprom corporation while deepening Western Europes dependence on Russian gas and strangling Ukraines ability to resist his faltering destabilization campaign there. And yet Merkel persists in describing the proposed Nord Stream 2 pipeline as a commercial project that makes market sense.

But it doesnt, says Anders Aslund of the Atlantic Council. Consumption of natural gas in the European Union has fallen by 21 percent over the past decade, and the existing Gazprom pipeline under the Baltic Sea is now operating at half capacity. And Gazprom is no ordinary state corporation. It pursues Russias geopolitical goals, cutting supplies or raising prices when the Kremlin wants.

The views of Aslund, a Swedish economist with extensive experience in Russia and Ukraine, are bolstered by Gerhard Schroeders role as the head of the board of directors at Gazproms Nord Stream subsidiary. Schroeder signed the initial sweetheart deal with Putin for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline in 2005 shortly after his defeat by Merkel at the polls. It was in his final days as Germanys chancellor that he began discussions with Putin about going on the Gazprom payroll, according to one source in a position to know.

And the surprise announcement in June by Gazprom of its intention to build yet another pipeline that bypasses Ukrainewhich currently earns about $2 billion in transit revenue for Russian gas passing through its territoryis vigorously defended at every turn by the vice chancellor of Merkels coalition government, Sigmar Gabriel, a major figure in Schroeders Social Democratic Party.

Certainly by the standards Germany has developed to overcome its Nazi past and to protect its strong sense of social unity, this is tawdry stuff. It is not just about the money, of course. It is also about the geopolitics of placating Putin. And that suggests a surprising lack of solidarity by Germany toward its neighbors to the east.

In the two years I lived in Germany, I came to admire the German willingness to share the burden of hard times broadly across society. The willingness of German workers to restrain demands for wages and benefits helps explain why German unemployment today is half of that of France. The sacrifices made to absorb the former East Germanys population on equal terms speak for themselves.

But Merkels failure to recognize an essential realityfor Putin, economics is war by other meanssuggests that solidarity now seems to stop at Germanys frontiers.
2016 should be one heck of a national election year, if the evidence of 2015 is any indicator.

But what sort of year is it likely to be in Idaho?

Here, as we transition from one to the other, lets pause to consider what sorts of subjects may be defining the four seasons ahead of us, in the Gem State.

Idahos Republican choice. Who will Idaho support out of the large field of candidates seeking the Republican nomination for president? Polls have offered various answers (Ben Carson, Donald Trump, and Ted Cruz have at various points done well.) Idahos elected officials, unusually, arent united on the question. The primary is set for March 8, which could come at a pivotal period in the selection process. Idaho could become a serious stomping ground a couple of months from now.

Few Idaho choices. Things could change, but Idahos Republicans seem not to be gearing up for the kind of party-rending internal battle they had in 2014, when competing slates of candidates went to war over almost every significant office. How will Idahos many Republican insurgents react to that situation this year  and what sort of inspiration might they get from the presidential contest?

More fires? 2015 was a rough wildfire year for Idaho, though in truth many recent years have been. (Wildfires have been around the top of end-of-year news story lists for some time now.) This winter so far has been encouraging for keeping those fires down in 2016, somewhat at least. Will Idaho get a reprieve next year, and maybe use the opening for more extensive rehabilitation in places like the massive Soda Fire burnout? Or will 2016 be yet another hot spell?

JUMP and urban renewal. 2015 could be an important year for Idaho cities, at and near the legislature. Nearby, the opening of the massive JUMP (Jacks Urban Meeting Place) center, which held an opening in December, will start to kick in, amid a batch of other downtown development projects. At the statehouse, meanwhile, legislators will be considering major overhauls  and maybe major limitations  in Idahos urban renewal laws, a situation that has city officials far from Boise highly concerned. City issues may be front and center this year.

Central wilderness. 2016 will be the year when the development of the Central Idaho wilderness really hits the road too. The idea of wilderness may be of an area that people dont change, but in fact they do and so do their uses over time. A lot of how the wilderness in Idahos center develops will become more settled in this coming year.

Medicaid expansion. The expansion of Medicaid that was contemplated in the Affordable Care Act started mostly with some blue states, but has been expanding to include many of the reds as well. In Idaho, that would mean bringing coverage to about 78,000 people. Boise minister Jon Brown noted in a newspaper guest opinion, In a nutshell, we are leaving $178 million of federal money on the table, and pay out state money for inadequate health care for the distressed. And who pays for this? You and me in poorly directed tax money, and part of our federal taxes. But the low-income, poorly educated, and especially the 6,700 white Idaho citizens, pay with their lives. The legislature has been resistant so far; whether they hold out again in 2016 may be one of the big fights of the session.

One more quick note. A year ago I highlighted a half-dozen topics as prospective important stories for 2015. Most of them were  Boulder-White Clouds, health care consolidation, developments in Boises downtown core, changes in education policy and battles over storage of nuclear waste. (The sixth I highlighted as new adjudications, which werent a big story, though water and water rights certainly were.)

Note here how many of those stories will still bleed into 2016. How many of those 2016 stories will carry over into the year after that?
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Vladimir Morera Bacallao

Cuban political prisoner Vladimir Morera Bacallao's hunger strike was terminated Dec. 30 when doctors began feeding him intravenously after he slipped into an incoherent state after more than 80 days of not eating to demand his release.

His wife said he is being fed "against his will."

"If he had his mental faculties, he would not have ended the hunger strike," said Morera's wife, Maribel Herrera. "What happened is that he is completely disoriented."

Morera, an activist with the Cuban Reflection Movement in November was sentenced to 4 years in prison on charges of "public disorder" and "injuries." The case stemmed from an incident in April when Morera painted a message on his door to protest local "elections" in Cuba: "I vote for my freedom, not in elections where I cannot elect my president."

Cuban police and other goons responded by breaking into Morera's house and arrested, an intrusion for which Morera took all the blame.

The circumstances were similar to an incident 2013, after which Morera was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

At the time of his sentencing on Nov. 18, Morera had already been on hunger strike for 40 days, a protest he continued into Christmastime, at great risk to his life.

The Castro regime has given no indication it will give Morera what he wants.

But considering the attention his protest has attained, the dictatorship may not be willing to let him die.
As measured by maybe the most important indicator -- the level of political repression -- President Barack Obama's opening to Cuba, which has been sold as a way to maybe, hopefully, eventually foster change on the island, has been an abject failure.

The Cuban Commission on Human Rights and Reconciliation reported Monday there were at least 930 politically-motivated arrests of Cuban dissidents in December. It was the third-highest monthly tally of the year, and brought the count for 2015 to at least 8,616. That's only 273 fewer than in 2014 -- before Obama and dictator Raul Castro struck their deal to re-establish relations.

The Castro regime has enjoyed many benefits from the new arrangement: More American tourists, more American politicians begging to make a deal, any deal with the dictatorship, etc.

The Cuban people, who seem to be voting with their feet, not so much.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over the week-end told Turkish journalists that both Turkey and Israeli need each other following diplomatic efforts by the two countries to ease tension caused by Israels attack on a Turkish humanitarian ship bound for Gaza in 2010 and Tel Avivs blockade on the Gaza strip.

Israel needs a country like Turkey in the region. We need to accept that we also need Israel. This is a reality in the region, Erdogan was quoted by Turkish newspaper on Saturday as saying.

Diplomatic ties between the countries eroded away after an Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara aid ship in 2010 left 8 Turkish and one US citizen killed plus Turkeys demand for lifting of Israeli blockade on the Ankara-supported Hamas-ruled Palestinian territory of Gaza.

Turkey also sought apology by Israeli authorities for the raid as well as demand for compensations to the victims families.

Erdogan also told reporters that Israeli has presented its apologies and that the payment of the compensation is on due course. He added that Israel has agreed to allow Turkish goods and construction material into the Palestinian territory. However he warned that Ankara is still waiting to a written agreement.

Normalization will come if we manage to take these steps with mutual sincerity. We need to look out for our Palestinian brothers, Erdogan said.

Analysts savvy of the Turkish foreign policy argue that the change of heart by Ankara comes as Turkey finds itself isolated in the region following the fall-out with Russia in the wake of the downing of Russian fighter jet at the Syrian border. Russia has adopted strong measures including economic sanctions against Turkey to protest against Ankaras move.

Turkish former ambassador to Iraq Osman Koruturk told reporters that Ankaras sudden rapprochement with Israeli could be interpreted as desperation and weakness. He also added that fall-out with Russia further pushes Turkey to reconcile with the west and the US.

Another Turkish veteran diplomat, Unal Cevikoz also indicated that Turkeys diplomatic U-turn towards Israel has been obvious given that the two countries are unprecedentedly isolated in the region adding that Turkey also needs to repair its image in the region.

Both countries are isolated in the Middle East, Cevikoz told Turkish Todays Zaman.

Turkey is trying to straighten the image it has created over the past few years of a country that has shifted its axis, he added.
Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran after its embassy was attacked by protesters following the execution of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, together with 46 others, and wants its diplomats to leave Riyadh by Tuesday. The two countries have accused each other of promoting tensions and violence in the region while the international community has called for restrained for fears that it might enflame clashes between Sunnis and Shias.

Saudis foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said Tehran has a long record of violations of foreign diplomatic missions with a history full of negative and hostile interference in Arab countries, always accompanied with subversion, demolition and killing of innocent souls. He said the trespassing of the Saudi embassy was a flagrant violation of all international agreements and Riyadh is determined not to allow Iran to undermine our security, mobilize or create or establish terrorist cells in our country or in the countries of our allies.

Iranian foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari alleged that Saudi Arabia benefits and thrives on prolonging tensions and used the embassy incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions after highlighting that Iran acted in accordance with its (diplomatic) obligations to protect the embassy and protesters out of the premises after they violated it. President Rouhani said the storming of the embassy is unjustifiable and termed protesters behind it as extremists. Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Saudi Arabia of divine revenge for Sheikh al-Nimrs execution saying the only thing he did was public criticism.

Gulf States such as Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Kuwait have also added their voice to the situation backing Saudi Arabia. UAE foreign ministry summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest against Irans reaction to the execution.
Cairo and Tel Aviv confirmed on Sunday that Egypts new ambassador to Israel, Hazem Khairat, arrived on Friday and would soon be presenting his credentials. The North African country recalled its ambassador from the Jewish state in 2012 under the leadership of President Morsi in protest against Israels Operation Pillar of Defense. Israel closed its Egyptian embassy in 2011 after it was ransacked by a crowd protesting the deaths of five Egyptian policemen killed by Israeli forces reportedly chasing a group of Gaza militants before reopening it in September 2015.

When Khairat was appointed to the post in June, President Rivlin said the presence of a resident ambassador was deeply welcomed and thinks it will be essential in cementing the peace that exists between the two countries. Netanyahu during his cabinet meeting on Sunday welcomed the arrival and re-stationing of an Egyptian ambassador because it will help to further strengthen relations within this important and key Arab country.

The Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman, Ahmed Abouzeid, said the return of an ambassador to Israel is normal and would contribute to the important task of supporting the Palestinian cause. He said the ambassador will be corresponding with the different parties in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, especially in the upcoming period as Egypt occupies a non-permanent member seat at the U.N Security Council even though there are no initiatives about Palestine at the moment. Cairo is expected to take its seat at the beginning of the year.

Khairat served as ambassador to Chile and envoy to the Arab League prior to his latest appointment.

Some Arab countries do not recognize Israel as a state but countries like Jordan and Egypt have long established diplomatic ties with it.
Sebastien Ajavon, the leader of Benins National Employers Council on Sunday said he would run for president in an election scheduled for February as an independent candidate supported by various political parties in the west-African nation.

Sebastien Ajavon, a man who made his fortune through a food product company, said he would focus his presidency on supporting the poorest and most vulnerable, reducing youth unemployment, improved access to energy and fight corruption in the tiny cotton producer.

I dream of a Benin that smiles and thats why I invite us to turn resolutely toward a definite future, he told a rally on Sunday.

Ajavon, who made the announcement at the General Mathieu Kerekou Stadium in the coastal city of Cotonou on Sunday, will run against Prime Minister Lionel Zinsou of the ruling Cowry Forces for an Emerging Benin.

The incumbent President, Thomas Boni Yayi has already said he will not run for a third term next year in accord with his countrys constitution, dismissing suspicions by the opposition that he would try to be re-elected.

The constitution of Benin imposes a two-term limit on presidential candidates. Suspicions that Boni Yayi would try to change the constitution has exacerbated political tensions in the country.
Mauritanian authorities this weekend said they are hunting for an Islamist militant who from Nouakchott central prison where he was awaiting execution for his part in a plot to kill President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz in 2011.

Cheikh Ould Saleck, on death row since 2011, was last seen by fellow inmates at on Thursday, the state-run television reported.

A statement released by the public television late on Saturday urged residents to provide information on the militant, whom they named. It did not say when or how he escaped.

As a reminder, Cheikh Ould Saleck was arrested in 2011 over alleged links to three vehicles containing explosives heading for Mauritanias coastal capital, Nouakchott.

One of the vehicles was said to have been targeting Abdel Aziz.

The Nouakchott prison houses more than 30 militant, several on death row, although the countrys most dangerous inmates are kept in a prison garrison located in the north.

France has more than 1,000 troops in Mali, a former colony and a key battleground of its Barkhane counter-terror mission spanning five countries in Africas restive Sahel region including Mauritania.

Recently, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb has released a video purporting to show the execution of three men, a Mauritanian and two Malians, accused of spying for Mauritania and France.

The video named the Mauritanian as Mohamed Ould Habib, the brother of Maarouf Ould Haiba, an Al-Qaeda member who was sentenced to death for killing four French tourists in 2007 in southern Mauritania.
The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Christine Lagarde starts a four-day working visit to Nigeria on Monday.

The international lender said on Monday its managing director Christine Lagarde would meet Buhari and his Finance Minister Kemi Adeosun at the presidential villa in Abuja, the nations capital to discuss economic issues such as fuel subsidy, diversifying Nigerias earnings to non-oil sectors and the devaluation of naira.

I look forward to productive meetings  as they address important economic challenges, most importantly the impact of low oil prices, said Lagarde in a statement.

Ms. Lagarde said ahead of her trip. Nigeria is working hard to improve its business environment, promote opportunities for growth in the private sector, and strengthen social cohesion, all areas where the government has an important role to play.

The statement gave no other details, but the meeting suggests an acknowledgement of Buharis efforts to revive Africas largest economy.

Last month, IMF predicted a volatile and tougher days ahead for oil-producing nations.

According to IMF, the dwindling oil prices would not have overtly negative effect on Iran, whose gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to rise four to 5.5 per cent by 2017.

Prospects for 2016/17 are brighter, owing to the prospective lifting of economic sanctions. Higher oil production, lower costs for trade and financial transactions, and restored access to foreign assets, are expected to lift real GDP to about 45.5 per cent next year, IMF said.
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(HealthDay)Newer blood pressure drugs are as safe and effective as older medications, new research suggests.

Scientists at the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City said their findings settle a longstanding debate about which of two types blood-pressure lowering medications studied are better.

An analysis of 106 randomized trials involving more than 250,000 patients examined the effects of newer angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs) and older angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors. Although ACE inhibitors were developed 10 years earlier, both types of drugs showed similar effects in the analysis, challenging previous findings that suggest ACE inhibitors have greater benefits.

According to the new analysis, published online Jan. 4 in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, the only difference between the medications is that ARBs are more easily tolerated.

"There has been debate for many years over the safety and efficacy of ACE inhibitors compared to ARBs, with many of them using an 'ACE inhibitor-first' approach, with ARBs regarded as less effective," study author Dr. Sripal Bangalore said in a medical center news release.

"We believe that our study ends the debate and gives physicians the option to prescribe either drug for their patients," added Bangalore, an associate professor in the division of cardiology, in the department of medicine at NYU Langone.

Both ARBs and ACE inhibitors interfere with the function of a hormone called angiotensin II, which regulates blood pressure, but they do this in different ways, the study authors said.

Angiotensin II restricts blood flow through vessels, raising blood pressure. ACE inhibitors prevent the body from making angiotensin II, while ARBs prevent the hormone from doing its job by taking its place on the surface of blood vessels, the researchers explained.

Previous studies have suggested that older ACE inhibitors are more effective than ARBs. But, this latest analysis attributed that difference to changes in the standard of care over the decade between trials of the two types of drugs, greater emphasis on quitting smoking, and wider use of cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins.

However, when trials were conducted at similar times, one drug was not more effective than the other, the findings showed.

"This is the first time that we have a clear and consistent message from the three buckets of trials of ACE inhibitors and ARBs, all of which show that there is no outcome difference between the two agents, except for better tolerability of ARBs," Bangalore said.

"The results of our analysis are especially important for patients, given that many ARBs are now also generic, which reduces their costs," he added.

Explore further Similar blood pressure drugs could have different impacts on dialysis patients' heart health

More information: For more about blood pressure drugs, visit the Journal information: Mayo Clinic Proceedings For more about blood pressure drugs, visit the American Heart Association

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In recent years, the argument that sexual orientation is innate has become a principal component of the advocacy for the rights of sexual minorities.

That belief may not be the most effective way to promote more positive attitudes toward lesbian, gay and bisexual people, according to new research from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.

Patrick Grzanka and Joe Miles, both UT assistant professors of psychology, recently published a study in the Journal of Counseling Psychology challenging the notion that the belief that people are born with their sexual orientationa belief that has proliferated in the past 20 to 30 years, particularly among social and biological scientistsis the key to improving attitudes toward lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

"This research is not about figuring what makes a person gay or straight," Grzanka said.

Rather, the researchers seek to understand how a person's beliefs about sexual orientation may affect how they view sexual minorities. Their newest findings suggest that the belief that sexual orientation is inborn is not what distinguishes people who hold negative or positive attitudes toward gay men.

For the study, Grzanka, Miles and co-author Katharine Zeiders of the University of Missouri surveyed two groups of college students. They used their previously developed sexual orientation beliefs scale, which attempts to capture a wide variety of beliefs such as the idea that sexual minorities are fundamentally different from straight people or that sexuality is based in biology. Most respondents believed sexual orientation is inborn and unchangeable, but it's what else they believed about sexual orientation that distinguishes them.

For example, the researchers looked more closely at respondents who had negative attitudes about gay men. Even among those who believed gay men are "born that way," those who also believed gay men are "all the same and act the same way" were more likely to hold prejudicial attitudes toward gay men, Grzanka said.

"We suggest that this demonstrates the limited capacity of 'born this way' arguments to reduce homophobia," he said.

Grzanka said their study may help activists, educators and other researchers better understand that people's beliefs about the nature of sexual orientation should be considered within the context of other beliefs, since it is the sum of their beliefs that shapes their attitudes toward sexual minorities. Understanding this will help advocates more effectively foster acceptance of sexual minorities and create a safer and more welcoming society.

Grzanka noted that beliefs about the nature of sexual orientation have profound implications for science, policy and the law. Arguments that sexual orientation is inherent and unchangeable have been used in landmark court cases to serve as the foundation for civil protections and privileges, such as marriage, and to challenge harmful faux-medical practices, such as so-called sexual orientation "conversion therapy."

"And yet there is little scientific evidence to suggest that the categories we use today in the United Statescategories that are historically quite neworiginate in the body at all," he said. "I think social scientists, lawyers, biological researchers and activists all need to examine why it is that many of us are so deeply invested in biological explanations of sexual orientation, particularly when they appear to have limited efficacy in terms of promoting more positive attitudes toward sexual minorities."

Next, Grzanka and collaborators will explore how targeting different kinds of sexual orientation beliefs people hold may be better at promoting more positive attitudes toward lesbian, gay and bisexual people.

"'Born this way' arguments have been the cornerstone of LGBT advocacy against horrific attempts by physicians, clergy and psychologists to turn sexual minorities into heterosexuals," Grzanka said. "We are contributing to the ongoing political and scholarly conversations about whether biological arguments are enough to actually improve attitudes toward sexual minorities."

Explore further Newly published research explores beliefs about sexual orientation
A new editorial published by an International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) Working Group urges physicians to individualize treatment decisions based on their patients' fracture risk, rather than automatically interrupting or stopping bisphosphonate therapy after five or three years.

The concept of a bisphosphonate 'holiday' arose following concerns about osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) and atypical femoral fracture (AFF), rare events which have recently been linked to long-term use of bisphosphonates.

Bisphosphonates are a family of drugs used to treat osteoporosis. They bind to the surface of bone and slow down bone-eroding cells (osteoclasts), The therapies effectively reduce the risk of hip, vertebral and other fractures in patients with osteoporosis. Because bisphosphonates reside in bone even after the patient stops taking the medication, they have a persistent, although gradually waning, effect on bone.

The editorial raises the following issues:

Some physicians are automatically stopping bisphosphonates in patients without consideration of the patient's high risk of fracture.

Some physicians mistakenly extend the holiday concept to other antiresorptive drugs, where bone density gains are quickly lost when the drugs are discontinued.

The concept of a need for a drug holiday fuels concerns in patients about rare side effects and makes them unnecessarily fearful of anti-osteoporosis drugs.

Adherence to osteoporosis drug treatment is uniformly low and the above-mentioned concerns are leading to even lower uptake of medication - with greater numbers of high-risk patients left unprotected against fractures.

"There is much clinical confusion about best practice. We have little global consensus on how to identify which patients should have a drug holiday, and how to manage and monitor these patients. More research is needed so that we can provide physicians with clear recommendations," said lead author Professor Stuart Silverman, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Professor of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

"In the meantime we want to remind physicians and patients alike that while the incidence of AFF and ONJ are very rare, hip and spinal fractures in high risk patients are, in contrast, far more common and a major cause of disability, loss of quality of life and early death. The benefits of bisphosphonate therapy with regard to reduced fracture incidence in moderate and high risk women clearly outweigh the risk of rare adverse events."

The authors suggest that clinicians need to rethink the assumption that a patient who has taken an oral bisphosphonate for five years or an intravenous therapy for three years should automatically start a drug holiday. Instead the clinician should individualize the decision for each patient based on their fracture risk.

Explore further Halting bone-building osteoporosis drug use cuts risk for additional atypical femur fracture in half

More information: S. L. Silverman et al. Bisphosphonate drug holidays: we reap what we sow, Osteoporosis International (2015). Journal information: Osteoporosis International S. L. Silverman et al. Bisphosphonate drug holidays: we reap what we sow,(2015). DOI: 10.1007/s00198-015-3453-y
Pediatric/hematologist Dr. Sherron Jackson of the Medical University of South Carolina examines a patient with sickle cell disease. Credit: Photograph by Sarah PackMedical University of South Carolina

A national sickle cell disease study involving Medical University of South Carolina researchers found that for some children with sickle cell disease, the drug hydroxyurea is as effective as blood transfusions to reduce blood flow speeds in the brain. Increased blood flows are a major risk factor for stroke in these children. Study findings were published Dec. 6 in The Lancet and were presented at the American Society of Hematology meeting.

"It was a privilege to be a part of this well-designed and executed study. Russell Ware presented the results at the ASH meeting, and 18 years ago, almost to the day, I presented the STOP study results to the same meeting," said Robert J. Adams, M.D., study principal investigator, MUSC professor of neurosciences and director of the South Carolina Stroke Center of Economic Excellence. "That study showed how effective transcranial Doppler risk stratification, followed by regular red cell transfusions in those with high risk blood flow, can be in the prevention of stroke in these children. This became known as the STOP protocol and its wide adoption has been associated with a sharp drop in ischemic strokes in children with sickle cell disease. The drawback of indefinite transfusions however, was a limitation to wider use of the STOP protocol. This study shows that some children can be moved from transfusion to medication after at least a year. The combined understanding and evidence from these two studies brings us closer to achieving the National Institutes' goal of a 'stroke free generation' in sickle cell disease."

Standard treatment for children with sickle cell disease who are at high risk of stroke consists of regular blood transfusions. Children who receive regular blood transfusions are then at risk for iron overload. Chelation, or iron-reduction, therapy is needed for those receiving transfusions. The National Institutes of Health (NIH)-supported study sought to answer whether hydroxyurea would provide the same benefit as blood transfusions, given these additional treatment impacts. Hydroxyurea is the only drug approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat sickle cell disease. The Transcranial Doppler with Transfusions Changing to Hydroxyurea (TWiTCH) study was stopped early due to positive preliminary results in November 2014.

Researchers from 26 clinical sites supported by the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) recruited and studied 121 children ages 4 to 16 years old and divided them into two groups: one that received transfusions and one that was transitioned from transfusions to daily doses of hydroxyurea.

"No child should ever have to face the prospect of suffering through a stroke," said Gary H. Gibbons, M.D., director of the NHLBI. "Our institute is striving to achieve a stroke-free generation of children living with sickle cell disease. Studies like this are vital for moving us toward this worthwhile goal."

Study authors indicated that the findings suggest that hydroxyurea could be effective at reducing risk of stroke for other patient populations, though this was not a primary goal of the study.

Explore further Successful outcome prompts early end to sickle cell anemia clinical trial

More information: Russell E Ware et al. Hydroxycarbamide versus chronic transfusion for maintenance of transcranial doppler flow velocities in children with sickle cell anaemiaTCD With Transfusions Changing to Hydroxyurea (TWiTCH): a multicentre, open-label, phase 3, non-inferiority trial, The Lancet (2015). Journal information: The Lancet Russell E Ware et al. Hydroxycarbamide versus chronic transfusion for maintenance of transcranial doppler flow velocities in children with sickle cell anaemiaTCD With Transfusions Changing to Hydroxyurea (TWiTCH): a multicentre, open-label, phase 3, non-inferiority trial,(2015). DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01041-7

Provided by Medical University of South Carolina
The book, "Erosion: The Psychopathology of Self-Criticism," (Oxford University Press 2015), summarizes two decades of scholarship -- empirical and theoretical research and clinical work -- conducted by Professor Shahar, a clinical-health psychologist. Professor Shahar offers a novel theory of how self-criticism comes about in individuals, families and societies. He provides guidelines for an integrative and comprehensive psychotherapy with self-critical adolescents and young adults. Credit: Ben-Gurion U.

A new book by Prof. Golan Shahar of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) reveals that self-criticism can be both mentally and physically harmful, leading to mental disorder, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, and even suicide.

The book, Erosion: The Psychopathology of Self-Criticism, (Oxford University Press 2015), summarizes two decades of scholarshipempirical and theoretical research and clinical workconducted by Prof. Shahar, a clinical-health psychologist. Prof. Shahar offers a novel theory of how self-criticism comes about in individuals, families and societies. He provides guidelines for an integrative and comprehensive psychotherapy with self-critical adolescents and young adults.

"Self-criticism is a personality trait characterized as the tendency to set unrealistically high standards for one's self and an expression of hostility and derogation when these high standards are, inevitably, not met," Shahar explains. "This type of behavior leaves people depressed, anxious, suffering from other symptoms, and potentially suicidal."

Throughout the book, Prof. Shahar identifies the mechanisms through which self-criticism confers vulnerability to psychopathology. Self-criticism propels people to involve themselves in stressful events such as rejection by others, relationship breakups and professional failures to avoid engaging in the positive life experiences they feel they do not deserve.

This form of dangerous self-criticism is psychologically different from the transient "fish for compliments" type, which he argues is not pathological, unlike its more harmful counterpart.

Prof. Shahar has dedicated the book to the memory of his Yale mentor, Prof. Sidney J. Blatt, whom he calls, "one of the greatest clinical psychologists of our time."

Golan Shahar Ph.D. is a professor of clinical-health and developmental-health psychology in the BGU Department of Psychology in Beer-Sheva, Israel. He is the founding director of the BGU Center for the Advancement of Research on Stress (BGU-CARES), and directs the Stress, Self and Health (STREALTH) Lab. Prof. Shahar has authored more than 130 publications/book chapters in the fields of personality, stress, psychopathology, psychosomatics, and psychotherapy, and currently serves as the chief editor of the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. He also serves as visiting professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine.

Explore further Childhood emotional maltreatment causes troubled romantic relationships
Electron microscopy of influenza virus. Credit: CDC

Minor variants of flu strains, which are not typically targeted in vaccines, carry a bigger viral punch than previously realized, a team of scientists has found. Its research, which examined samples from the 2009 flu pandemic in Hong Kong, shows that these minor strains are transmitted along with the major strains and can replicate and elude immunizations.

"A flu virus infection is not a homogeneous mix of viruses, but, rather, a mix of strains that gets transmitted as a swarm in the population," explains Elodie Ghedin, a professor in New York University's Department of Biology and College of Global Public Health. "Current vaccines target the dominant strains, because they are the ones that seem to infect the largest number of individuals. But our findings reveal an ability of minor strains to elude these vaccines and spread the virus in ways not previously known."

The other co-authors of the paper, which appears in the journal Nature Genetics, included: Leo Poon, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong; Tim Song, a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine at the time of the study and now a computational biologist at NYU; and researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute, the University of Sydney, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai.

It's long been known that the Influenza A virus is marked by a high level of genetic diversity. However, our knowledge largely stems from the dominant strain, which vaccines aim to combat. Less understood is the diversity of the minor strains and how it passes between individualsthus revealing these strains' ability to spread the virus.

The scientists aimed to determine how many viral particles are transmitted when afflicted with the flu as well as the number of them able to replicate when they transmit.

To examine this phenomenon, Ghedin, part of NYU's Center for Genomics & Systems Biology, and her colleagues performed whole genome deep sequencing of upper nasal cavity swabs taken from confirmed 2009 Hong Kong flu cases and from their household contacts.

Using sophisticated sequencing methods, the team could not only identify variants in flu strains, but also quantify what was being transmitted between infected individuals.

Their results showed that, as expected, most carried the dominant virusH1N1 or H3N2. But, in addition, all carried minor strains and variants of the major and minor strains. What was surprising was how readily these variants were transmitted across the studied individuals.

"The combination of unique data, sequencing approaches and mathematical methods create a nuanced picture of the transmission of diversity during a pandemic," notes study co-author Benjamin Greenbaum, an assistant professor at the Tisch Cancer Institute at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

"We were able to look at the variants and could link individuals based on these variants," adds Ghedin. "What stood out was also how these mixes of major and minor strains were being transmitted across the population during the 2009 pandemicto the point where minor strains became dominant."

Explore further A new approach to predict evolution of influenza viruses can enhance vaccine efficacy

More information: Quantifying influenza virus diversity and transmission in humans, Journal information: Nature Genetics Quantifying influenza virus diversity and transmission in humans, DOI: 10.1038/ng.3479
(est. 2006), 208 issues so far. *Facebook https://www.facebook.com/The-Metal-Bulletin-paper-zine-238441519609213 * Twitter @MetalBulletinZn * pdfs at https://issuu.com/metalbulletinzine
WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DEMOCRAT PARTY? I can no longer remain in todays Demo Party that is now under the control of an elitist cabal of warmongers driven by cowardly wokeness, who divide us by racializing every issue and stoke anti-white racism, actively undermine our freedoms, are hostile to people of faith, demonize the police and protect criminals at the expense of law-abiding Americans, believe in open borders, weaponize the national security state to go after opponents.TULSI GABBARD
@PatriciaMazzei

Presidential candidates have heard an earful from voters over the past year -- particularly in the early primary state of New Hampshire -- over the ravages of drug addiction, especially when people become addicted to heroin. The public outcry has prompted contenders to focus on the issue, and Tuesday is Jeb Bush's turn.

Bush will promote a "drug control strategy" at the New Hampshire Forum on Addiction and the Heroin Epidemic at Southern New Hampshire University. The event also offers Bush an opportunity to open up about addiction in his own family, a topic he has on occasion broached with unusual candor when he's mentioned his daughter Noelle's past struggles with prescription drugs.

Bush will advocate, among other things, for better federal coordination of drug- prevention and treatment programs, stiffer sentences for drug dealers (but not for non-violent offenders) and broader access to drug courts.

Here's an outline of Bush's proposal, as provided by his campaign:

Jebs Drug Control Strategy

Our country is in the midst of a massive heroin epidemic, compounded and fueled by sharp increases in the abuse of prescription painkillers. The problem is exacerbated by huge increases in the availability of cheap, highly potent heroin, primarily the result of Mexican drug cartels getting involved in the production, trafficking and distribution of heroin and other illicit drugs. Abuse of prescription painkillers, such as hydrocodone and oxycodone, are a contributing cause of the heroin epidemic and a major concern in their own right. The epidemic affects men and women, people of all races and individuals across ages and income levels. In New Hampshire, the crisis is especially acute with 99 deaths related to heroin (compared to 12 murders in the state) in 2014.

In 2010, the Obama Administration laid out a strategy from the Office of the National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) with seven goals for reducing illicit drug use. The federal government currently invests $26.3 billion in drug control efforts. Unfortunately, government watchdogs have found that none of the goals in the Strategy have been fully achieved. And prescription drug abuse and heroin-related deaths have skyrocketed.

A comprehensive strategy

Some try to make the drug epidemic just a criminal justice issue, and some try to make it just a health care issue. These singular approaches oversimplify this complex challenge. Governor Jeb Bush believes we need a multi-faceted strategy that: prevents drug abuse and addiction; strengthens criminal justice; secures the border to stop the flow of illicit drugs; and improves treatment and recovery programs.

Prevent drug abuse and addiction

Drug abuse and addiction prevention efforts must start in childhood. That starts with dedicated parents and strong communities, and local education. As President, Jeb Bush will ensure current federal efforts are better coordinated, improved with evidence-based models and closely monitored for results. He will also encourage Abuse Deterrent Formulations (ADF opioids) of prescription painkillers. While federal and state governments must play a critical role in fighting prescription drug abuse, the government cannot solve it all. The private sector must also be committed to joining this fight to achieve success, including coalitions driven by local communities and involving health, local law enforcement and social services professionals.

Strengthen criminal justice

President Jeb Bush will ensure federal law enforcement agencies have the resources they need to target illicit drug pipelines and supply chains. He will require all federal agencies involved in High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Investigative Support Centers to develop a process to coordinate efforts across agents in the field, monitor their progress towards drug control and evaluate results. He will support policies that distinguish pill mills from evidence-based pain clinics, and he will provide support to states in their role exercising effective oversight of pain clinics. President Jeb Bush will enact smarter sentencing laws for drug offenders, with stiff consequences for drug lords, cartels and violent drug traffickers, while ensuring nonviolent drug offenders obtain the necessary treatment and more quickly return to their communities with reduced mandatory sentences. President Jeb Bush will broaden access to drug courts, an alternative to the traditional courts and punishment system so that nonviolent drug offenders are screened for risk, and then given the option to obtain treatment and recover under close court monitoring and supervision for at least a year.

Secure the border

President Jeb Bush will improve border security to stop the flow of illicit drugs into the United States, given that most heroin enters the U.S. from Mexico. The full plan, released in August, can be found here. He will work with partner nations, such as Mexico, Colombia, and Afghanistan, to address the source of illicit drugs and interdict illicit drug trafficking.

Promote treatment and recovery programs

Because prescription painkiller abuse is closely related to heroin (an illicit opioid) use, prevention, treatment and recovery efforts should address both epidemics.

President Jeb Bush will strengthen and coordinate Prescription Drug Monitoring Programs (PDMPs) to monitor and analyze electronic prescribing and dispensing data. He will promote innovation for a suite of treatment and recovery tools that align with individuals unique medical needs and beliefs. Governor Jeb Bush released his plan to promote innovation broadly through the Food and Drug Administration in October. President Jeb Bush will conduct a rigorous evaluation of existing prevention, treatment and recovery programs to ensure funding supports evidence-based programs and to consistently monitor results. In addition, he will overhaul current efforts across the federal government to reduce duplication of efforts and maximize impact.
More than 13,000 untested rape kits are in evidence rooms around the state of Florida, a new report released on Monday from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement shows.

In the most comprehensive report to date on the issue, FDLE says at least 9,484 of those kits should be submitted for testing to catalog DNA evidence that could be key in solving other cold cases and finding serial rapists.

But clearing that backlog carries a heavy price tag. FDLE officials said it could cost as much as $32 million and more than 8 years to get a handle on just the 6,661 kits that FDLE investigators have determined are within their jurisdiction, plus a surge of 2,000 more kits that came in since the start of 2015 when public attention on the unsubmitted kits grew. Those kits are in addition to 3,500 rape kits coming into FDLE annually.

The cost could be dramatically less - $8.1 million - if the state Legislature allows FDLE to outsource the rape kits, something key lawmakers have previously said they did not support.

But even those estimates dont get to the whole problem. Not included in the report is how to clear 6,674 untested rape kits that are in counties that have their own crime labs like Pinellas County and Miami-Dade. Those places would need to seek their own funding to handle those backlogs.

The report also attempts to explain why kits are not being submitted. According to the survey of 279 local law enforcement agencies, 41 percent of the time kits were not submitted because a victim who first reports a crime refuses to participate in the investigation or prosecution of the case for reasons not explained in the report. In 31 percent of the cases, local officials say they did not test kits because the State Attorneys Office declined to prosecute in the case. In another 20 percent of the cases, a suspect had already pled guilty. Finally, another 18 percent were from non-reporting victims, a person who consented to a kit being collected but chose not to file a police report.

Public and political pressure has been growing nationwide to analyze untested rape kits to collect DNA evidence that can help solve past sexual assaults and other crimes. In Detroit, when the local officials tested 10,000 previously untested kits, it identified 652 potential serial rapists, and the testing had already resulted in dozens of convictions, as of October.

To assure Florida doesnt have more untested kits languish in evidence rooms, FDLE is proposing the state adopt formal policies to require all rape kits get submitted to crime labs, except those from non-reporting victims, those who consented to the collection but did not file a police report.
A civilian court-martial defense lawyer with a military defense law practice exclusively dedicated to defending military members around the world who are facing courts-martial and all types of military adverse actions and UCMJ discipline. Decades of military law experience as a former active duty military JAG defense lawyer and now as a civilian criminal defense attorney. Please also see website at: www.militaryadvocate.com.
Thoughts on the military and military activities of a diverse nature. Free-ranging and eclectic. Blog ego cogito ergo sum.
Sharing a wide range of experiences and perspectives relating to mineralogy as a hobby




A Coal miner who claims he was permanently disabled in a workplace injury at a Moranbah site is suing BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance for more than $3.3 million.The man was injured in January 2013, when his arm was pinned while he unloaded cable reel at Moranbah's Broadmeadow Coal Mine.Documents lodged in the Supreme Court at Rockhampton state the man was injured as he loosened the retaining bolts while unloading cable reel and "inadvertently placed his left arm into a pinch point position where it was pinned by an unexpected movement of the cable reel".The man was pinned in that position for an hour.The documents claim the man suffered "an extensive crush injury to the left upper arm with soft tissue and nerve damage from above the biceps to above the elbow joint" requiring multiple surgeries, including nerve grafting and tendon transfers. As a result of the grafting, he also suffered damage to nerves in both feet.The man is suing the mining company for more than $3.3 million, including $180,000 of general damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenities of life.The damages also include $1,787,000 for lost earning capacity into the future and $382,500 for future personal and domestic assistance.A spokesperson for BHP Billiton Mitsubishi Alliance said the company took "the health and safety of all our employees very seriously and is focused on preventing injuries to its people"."This is a concerning case which unfortunately involved a serious injury being sustained by one of BMA's employees almost three years ago. Since this incident occurred, BMA has sought to provide ongoing support to the injured employee ... for that entire period," they said. "Given this matter is currently subject to legal proceedings we cannot offer any further comment."Source: Daily Mercury
When I was stationed at Great Falls Air Force Base (now Malmstrom Air Force Base) from September 1951 to December 1954, many local residents still talked about World War II years in which they grew accustomed to seeing Russian war planes flying over the city after having taken off from the citys airport at Gore Field.

At first, they were part of the lend-lease program in which America provided aircraft, ships, tanks and other war equipment to the Allies, but German U-boats in the Atlantic Ocean were sinking high numbers of Liberty ships carrying war supplies. A shorter, more effective way of delivering planes to Russia was needed.

Thus, the ALSIB (Alaska to Siberia) route was established as the Army Air Forces Seventh Ferrying Group. WASP (Women Air Service Personnel) flew war planes from factories in California, Washington and New York to Great Falls. Hangars, shop space, dormitories, a mess hall and other facilities were built to house mechanics and support personnel who serviced and repaired the aircraft before the planes could make the lengthy, dangerous trip to Siberia. At Great Falls, Russian red stars were painted on the planes wings and fuselages, then American military pilots flew them via several refueling stops to Fairbanks, Alaska Territory.

At Fairbanks, Russian crews took over for the final leg to Siberia. The American pilots were then ferried back to Great Falls to pick up the next group of planes for Fairbanks.

The planes were mostly Bell P-39 Airacobra pursuits, Douglas A-20 Havoc attack bombers; some North American B-25 Mitchell bombers, Douglas C-47 Sky Trains, and a few AT-6 advance trainers.

Its into this scenario that C. Margo Mowbray of Polson places her novel "Havoc Red." The story touches a wide range of activities, including the early release of Montana state prison inmates who entered military service or agreed to work as civilians helping to develop Gore Fields military roles. Also described are political actions leading to the lend-lease programs; the navigational hazards in flying in arctic conditions, intrigue and corruption of Russian officers responsible for loading freight which often included non-military black market items, and overseeing frequently mysterious, sealed packages labeled diplomatic immunity.

The story moves along rapidly as the author skillfully maneuvers the various characters and scene changes. I recommend Havoc Red as an excellent read, especially for Montanans, Alaskans and western Canadians interested in how these areas met the challenges leading up to and through WWII.

Published in late 2015, hard-cover copies of Havoc Red by C. Margo Mowbray can be found in book stores in Montana, Alaska and western Canada.

"Havoc Red" is Mowbrays second novel. Her first book was published in 2012; "An Answering Flame" is the story of the Frontier Nursing Service, which still serves citizens in the rugged Appalachian back country of eastern Kentucky. Those books are also available at the places mentioned above.

***

Paul Fugleberg is a former editor and co-publisher of the Flathead Courier of Polson and the Ronan Pioneer, his freelance articles and photos have appeared in numerous national and regional magazines and newspapers, and he has written several books. He can be reached at pfugleberg@bresnan.net.
During his first week as chief executive officer of Community Medical Center back in September, Dean French remembers there was an incredibly ill young child battling to survive in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

And I watched nurses come in that werent scheduled to be on duty, respiratory therapists that werent scheduled to be on duty, physicians not scheduled coming in, meeting in the physicians lounge, talking about How are we going to approach this patient? and How are we going to get them better and save their life? and they all just did it automatically, he recalled.

I didnt have to go ask them to do it. I wasnt even involved. Thats just the culture of how this place works. And I was reflecting on it and thinking about some of the really hairy cases I had at the hospital in San Antonio. Top-performing hospital in the country in San Antonio. And yet, if the exact same scenario went down, I would have been on the phone cajoling people to come in and help that patient. Here, you dont have to do that.

French, a board-certified family physician, was selected by Communitys board of trustees to become CEO after the formerly nonprofit hospital was sold in early 2015 to a for-profit partnership between Billings Clinic and RegionalCare Hospital Partners. With approximately 1,100 employees, French is at the helm of one of the largest employers in western Montana. Before that, he was employed by Canyon Vista Medical Center in Sierra Vista, Arizona.

He says there is a culture among medical professionals here in Montana that doesnt exist elsewhere.

One of the great attractions to me  I told all our employees this when I first got here, and they might not have believed me, but its true  having left here is the best thing I ever did, he said. Because what I learned in leaving is how remarkable the medical community in western Montana is. And I dont think people in Montana even know it. What I can tell you is the systems of care and the way physicians approach the practice of medicine is remarkably different here than it is elsewhere. And whats different is its actually about patients and community here.

"Theres an ethos here. People just do it. Its who they are. I dont even know how to define it, but its a remarkably different culture than you experience elsewhere.

Before he was a family physician in rural Montana, French was a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, known as the Green Berets, for a decade. He said that experience helped him learn to adjust and work within highly varied environments.

We might go into an area and not just train people how to fight, but also train them how to have clean water, how to build schools, all sorts of things," he said. "And work in very small units, 12 people or less, usually speaking the native language of where we are. Its a different entity. Its not commando Rambo-style, thats just the portrait. Its more nuanced than that. So I did that active duty for seven years then reserves through college.

However, French says that he learned how to be a hospital CEO when he worked for 10 years at the Clark Fork Valley Hospital, a 15-bed facility in Plains.

In my career, people ask how I learned all this stuff about hospital operations, French explained. In Plains, even though its 15 beds, you still have to do all those things. You still have a lab, you still have an X-ray department, you still have an emergency room, you still have trauma, you still have to deliver babies. You still have people come in with heart attacks. You still have to deal with all these things. But guess what? The team is compact and you all have to learn everything. So my training ground was working up there for a decade. People dont believe me when I tell them that, but its true. It was the best training ground I ever had.

***

French describes his role as CEO as multifaceted.

Overall, Im the face of the organization, he said. Working with our physicians and our nursing leaders on what our vision is and what our goals are. Goal-setting is huge. And then once weve established what were doing and what our vision is and how were best going to serve the community needs, making sure that were following through and getting it done. A lot of the daily grind is just making sure whatever it is we set out to do, are we moving the dime. Because you can get caught up in the day-to-day operations. The overarching role of the CEO is where are we going, who are we, how are we getting there and making sure Im providing that vision and leadership. And ideally, Im sitting back and watching the team do it, right? The last thing we need is the cult of personality around the CEO. We need a team thats bought into a vision and is working to carry that out.

French described Communitys relationship with Providence St. Patrick Hospital across town as good and going to get better.

The hospitals here  yeah, we may be in healthy competitions, but we collaborate and work together more than Ive seen anywhere else on big things, on things that matter, he said. Its a cool place. I am old enough to remember when Community Medical and St. Pats used to hold a joint fundraising ball every year. They competed but worked together on the important service areas. Its important that we figure out how to maintain that asset like the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit here and maintain the skill sets of those folks. Which means we need to have the volumes here."

French said there are areas where the two hospitals can work together.

"To me, thats a key area of collaboration with St. Pats, as theyve brought on their womens service line, is how do we work with them to make sure they have what they need to take care of sick babies in their hospital, but were not diluting the skill set and the needs so we can maintain a level 3 NIC Unit in western Montana," he said. "So my goal is to make sure were always in dialogue about things that matter. We dont want to see assets that this community has enjoyed for two decades go away through attrition. (St. Patrick Hospital CEO) Jeff Fee and I can talk turkey any old time. Ive known him for years.

To me, are we going to compete with each other? Of course we are. Thats a good thing. But I think theres also key areas where we need to collaborate and make sure that the services here in Missoula and for western Montana are maintained and strengthened. And thats only going to happen if the two of us are talking and the two hospitals are working together.

***

French is adamant that Communitys new status as a for-profit hospital wont affect the quality of care it provides, and he pointed to Medicare rankings that show Community does extremely well in eliminating hospital-acquired conditions, and in other areas that denote high-quality care.

He believes that for-profit hospitals have just as much incentive to provide high-quality care as nonprofit hospitals like St. Pats.

Every hospital has a margin, he said. St. Patricks has a margin. At the end of the day, we did this much work, we spent this much money, we brought this much money in and this is the percentage left over and thats called the margin. Now, we can call our margin profit, or we can call it margin. But its the same thing. The difference is my margin at the end of the day is taxed, so I pay Missoula, Missoula County, Montana and federal tax out of my margin. Thats the difference between the two facilities.

I have a budget that I write, that I put together with my team. And we say, This is what we think our margin next year is going to be based on the work that were going to do. And our margin, I can guarantee you, is no different than the margin across town, as a percentage. Its almost identical. So to me its a false construct, the whole profit/not-for-profit thing, I think it has some resonance. I think its a meaningless term.

French said that his job is not to ensure a pipeline of financial returns to RegionalCares corporate headquarters in Nashville, but rather to ensure that Community provides high-quality medical service.

If they owned a car company, would they want a company where the cars constantly broke down or would they want one with a quality reputation?" he said. "What would that do to the stock price? It wouldnt be good."

He also believes there is a precedent, set by the Mayo Clinic and other extremely reputable hospitals, that the physician-led model like Community now has leads to better outcomes for patients.

When French was in Plains, he relied on Community Medical Center as his safety net in case anything went wrong with babies he was delivering. When the opportunity came for him to accept a job here, he jumped at it.

I couldnt wait, he said. Its not just the trees and the mountains. Its the medical people. I remember thinking that it would be unlikely that I would ever come back because, A, there (aren't) a lot of physician executives. Were rare. And even more rare is jobs. And in fact when I left here, there really wasnt a physician executive job open in western Montana. Because other than the Billings Clinic, the models werent really around physician leadership. So I thought it would be unlikely that I would ever come back. So I feel lucky and really privileged. My wife goes to law school here and Im the CEO of Community Medical Center, and our joke is its just like we planned it eight years ago when we left.

Lifes funny. But being able to come back to Montana has been absolutely incredible. Best place Ive ever lived. Theyll have to drag me away.
A Rattlesnake forestry debate many thought was settled last summer still smolders as the deadline for a final decision nears this month.

In August, Missoula District Ranger Jennifer Hensiek decided to remove a controversial part of the Marshall Woods project that called for commercial logging along the creek bottom of the Rattlesnake National Recreation Area on the citys northern border. But the revised version of the project still contains directions that objectors find disturbing.

They havent really spelled out what theyre going to do and when, said Jake Kreilick, a member of the Lolo Restoration Committee, which worked with the U.S. Forest Service on the Marshall Woods project. Theyve told us that the information we requested will be available as the project is planned and implemented. How are we supposed to know what this will do if you wont say what it will do?

Kreilick and several other objectors met with Lolo National Forest Supervisor Tim Garcia on Oct. 30 to discuss the matter. Garcia responded Nov. 9 in a letter to lead objector Cass Chinske.

In conclusion, I have reviewed your objection points and find that the project as proposed is in compliance with all applicable environmental laws, regulations, policies and the Forest Plan, Garcia wrote. Ranger Hensiek is planning to issue the final decision by the end of the calendar year and will take these points into consideration in her decision.

Lolo Forest spokesman Boyd Hartwig said neither Garcia or Hensiek were available for comment, but that the final decision was now expected in early January.

The original Marshall Woods proposal offered several options for forestry in the hills north of Missoula. That included both the Marshall Creek drainage, where industrial logging has left some scarred areas, and the Rattlesnake Creek drainage, which has a national recreation area and wilderness.

The three action options had different levels of intensity for fixing the logging scars, removing hazardous fuel buildups and restoring meadows. The option that drew the most public opposition featured plans to cut about 80 logging trucks' worth of timber from 225 acres along Rattlesnake Creek, in the most-traveled part of the recreation areas trail network.

In August, Hensiek released a draft decision notice combining alternatives C and D of the project. The modified plan still has commercial logging on about 266 acres in the Marshall Canyon area, but otherwise depends on non-commercial thinning, hand-piling and burning, slashing or prescribed burns to reduce hazardous fuel loads elsewhere in the 3,949-acre project area. The project will also provide noxious weed treatment, road and trail maintenance and efforts to preserve meadows and aspen groves in the forest.

Objector Mike Bader said the final draft has too much experimental forestry deep in the recreation area while neglecting legitimate fuels-reduction work that could take place along housing developments that border the area in the Upper Rattlesnake neighborhood.

Their fuels reduction plans are giving the false impression that they can control a wildfire in there with ground crews, Bader said. Meanwhile, theyre not focusing on places where we know they can make a difference.

In his Nov. 9 letter, Garcia wrote I recognize the value of treating (national forest) lands adjacent to private property, however the primary intent of the Marshall Woods project is forest restoration. He stated the plan would present more specific details about its fuels reduction and forest health treatments as it developed over the next seven to 10 years.

Rattlesnake resident Cass Chinske, who helped lobby for the recreation and wilderness areas original enactment, said he was prepared to go to court if the Marshall Woods project didnt respect the wording of its congressional delegation.

Dont just say youre going to go in 3 miles with no specifics or analysis of the impacts, just telling us its OK, Chinske said. This is a legislatively preserved area with obviously clear mandates of primitive recreation and wildlife and water quality values. Its a special area with special sensitivity.
HAMILTON  Two residents here have launched a business flying a commercial drone for thermal and visual inspection, and 3-D imaging and mapping.

Jordan Rising is a commercial helicopter pilot and flies the drone while business partner and brother-in-law David Ilgenfritz operates the camera handles marketing for Flight Evolved.

The drone industry is exploding right now where any future outlook is almost better in drones than it is in aviation, Rising said. For the type of work Id like to do, it makes more sense to fly drones than helicopters.

Ilgenfritz said certain industries are very much affected by drones.

The film industry is the biggest one  10 years ago helicopters had the corner on any aerial shots that needed to be done, Ilgenfritz said. Helicopters are extremely expensive and require employing maintenance, ground crews and safety crews, so when drones came along they presented much less cost. The industry could record closer and better shots for a fraction of the cost.

Rising said helicopters still have the advantage for transportation, emergency medical services and firefighting. But firefighting services are moving to unmanned version of helicopters, and drones are used more frequently for thermal-based inspections and surveying.

Ilgenfritz agreed.

We do a lot of work in engineering and thermal imaging, and those industries hadnt even considered drones previously, Ilgenfritz said.

***

Rising and Ilgenfritz came from entrepreneurial backgrounds. They came together, started talking about drones and built a business on flying them.

Drones are now pretty common but it does take a pilot to fly a drone commercially, at least until new FAA regulations come out in 2016, Rising said. It is a big advantage over anyone out there that flies as a hobbyist  to legally do it and make money, they need a license.

The Flight Evolved drone is lightweight and efficient with a strong motor and strong propellers. It has a small camera tailored to do thermal applications, 3-D mapping and modeling. The camera is mounted on a gimbal with three little motors for three axes  roll, pitch or yaw  and stabilizes the camera 360 degrees with no interference or rough movement.

Ours is bigger and more expensive than anyone received for Christmas, Ilgenfritz said. Efficiency is the key  you dont want the biggest but the best suited for what youre doing. Ours is suited for thermal and industrial applications.

Since starting in September, Flight Evolved has done work for Hollywood movies in Bozeman, large solar farms in Arizona, and the U.S. Department of the Interior examining Selis, Ksanka and QIispe Dam on the Flathead River.

Ilgenfritz and Rising are pushing to do bridge and cell tower inspections. With hundreds and hundreds of towers in the 200- to 400-foot range in Montana being climbed physically for inspection, Rising said their drone can do better.

We can get up 200 feet in 15 seconds, Rising said. With our thermal we can inspect the entire tower, take a video of it and go in close for any hot spots that we see, any stress points on the tower and get all the data and work with a thermographer to interpret the data and give the report to the company saying, This one needs some further inspection, or, it is good to go.

Rising said the same applies to bridge inspections.

In a bridge, if you have a pocket of air thats not supposed to be there that will conduct heat differently than the rest of the bridge. And if youre looking at it, it will just look like a bridge, so thermal gives you a new set of eyes that you can see a different part of the light spectrum, Rising said. This is a brand-new game plan but it has the potential to save businesses tons of time and money, increase safety for their crews, lower insurance rates, and efficiency.

***

Half of Flight Evolveds work is in 3-D mapping and modeling. The drone takes thousands of pictures that are rendered and processed to create a 3-D map of the area.

We 3-D mapped the 120-acre solar field in Arizona thats manipulable by owners or engineers, Rising said. It is different from a panorama image where you can just look at images. This is scalable and it has accuracy so you can measure. It is importable into CAD programs. You can use it for planning, surveying and add a whole host of other applications.

Flying the drone is about a quarter of the job  the other three-quarters is the software and computer processing, rendering and creating the 3-D models.

Before this, they would have to get a ground survey crew out there and the price point would be high, Ilgenfritz said. We save cost and time  we can process it and render it in hours with much less man power.

Besides the business side of their work, the duo agree flying a drone is really fun.

Were tech geeks, and it is fun to own a cutting-edge business because you get to rationalize to your wife why you get to buy fun technology, said Rising. Ive been doing this for a long time. Its just turning it into a business that is new, and traveling is a bonus.

Ilgenfritz agreed.

It doesnt feel like Im going to work, he said.

The two-person company plans to expand and add other people who are passionate about flying drones.

***

Drones are available online and on store shelves. They were popular Christmas gifts this year and there are regulations for drone owners.

The Federal Aviation Administration is responsible for the safety and regulation of civil aviation. It requires drones to be registered if they weigh more than 0.55 pounds. The FAA has a registration website that includes the warning: You will be subject to civil and criminal penalties if you meet the criteria to register a drone and do not register.

Federal law requires owners to pay $5 to register; however, it's free for the first 30 days to encourage speedy registration of all unmanned aircraft systems. The deadline to register is Feb. 19.

Register only on the official FAA website as the Academy of Model Aeronautics has issued a warning of false registration sites that are scamming model pilots to register in an attempt to steal personal and credit card information.

According to the FAA, all unmanned aircraft systems must be marked with their registration numbers and flight plans recorded with the local airport if drones fly a certain distance.

Ravalli County Airport manager Page Gough said the airport hasnt had problems with drones.

For more information about Flight Evolved visit flight-evolved.com.
Since President Francois Hollande of France declared a state of emergency after the terrorist attacks in Paris on Nov. 13, more than 2,700 police raids have been carried out. They have yielded very little that can be linked to terrorism, but have traumatized citizens and left havoc in their wake.

The majority of these raids have been on Muslim homes, businesses, mosques and prayer rooms. Ethnic profiling by the police of Frances minorities  condemned as discriminatory by a Paris appeals court in June  has returned with a vengeance, and hate crimes against Muslims are on the rise. Yasser Louati, spokesman for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France, warns: The Muslim minority in France feels like its being treated as the public enemy.

The current state of emergency gives the French government exceptional powers, including the authority to conduct houses searches without a warrant, shut down associations and restrict the right to peaceful assembly  all without judicial oversight. Individuals may file complaints against the government in court, but only after the fact. Many say they have no idea why they were targeted.

Mr. Hollande argues that France is at war with a new kind of enemy  the Islamist terrorist ready to strike on French soil  and that the government must have a free hand to tackle the threat. No doubt he has a duty to keep France safe and prevent more attacks, but he already has ample tools at his disposal to do this, including vast new surveillance and other powers conferred by a series of antiterrorism laws passed since he was elected. Nothing in Frances current law stopped Mr. Hollande from declaring the current state of emergency on Nov. 13, or successfully securing its extension through Feb. 26 from Parliament.
When he campaigned for the presidency of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto used the title of his book, Mexico, the Great Hope, to explain the record he hoped to achieve and the nation he hoped to build. More than three years into his presidency, it seems more likely that he will be remembered not as the transformational leader Mexicans thought they had elected, but as a politician who skirted accountability at every turn.

On Mr. Pena Nietos watch, the Mexican government has swiftly and systematically whitewashed ugly truths and played down scandals.

After Mexican journalists revealed that a government contractor had made a lavish home available to Mr. Pena Nieto and his wife, the president appointed a friend to investigate the matter. Not surprisingly, the inquiry found no evidence of wrongdoing by the president. The journalists, despite meticulous, unimpeachable reporting, lost their jobs.

When the countrys most powerful drug kingpin, Joaquin Guzman Loera, escaped from prison in July, Mexicans were rightly skeptical about the official account, not least because it was Mr. Guzmans second escape. The government claimed that Mr. Guzman had slipped out through a tunnel he and his accomplices dug unbeknown to prison officials, dismissing the possibility that he had help from the inside. While some officials were arrested as a result of the prison break, the government has yet to fully explain the lapse.
By months end, the candidates and their allied groups could spend as much as $100 million combined, much of it on negative advertising delivered via television, radio, mailers and digital spots. And after the effectiveness of positive television commercials came under question last year when tens of millions of dollars failed to lift Mr. Bush, January will offer insights into whether attack ads still have the power they did in past presidential elections.

Mr. Bushs supporters effectively ended the Christmas truce last week when they went on the air in Iowa with an ad savaging Mr. Rubio over his Senate attendance record and with a New Hampshire commercial contrasting Mr. Bushs achievements as Floridas governor with Gov. Chris Christies tenure in New Jersey and Gov. John R. Kasichs record in Ohio. The coming offensive will be just as varied, reflecting the layers of the Republican race.

Mr. Cruz is trying to head off Mr. Rubio, perhaps the only candidate who can build a coalition of conservative and center-right Republicans. Mr. Rubio is determined to slow Mr. Cruz in Iowa, where Mr. Cruz is at or near the top of every poll and could be formidable with a decisive win. But Mr. Rubio also must confront Mr. Christie, who is ascendant in New Hampshire, which votes just over a week after Iowa.

And Mr. Christie and Mr. Bush are both focused primarily on denying Mr. Rubio the sort of strong showing in the two early states that could vault him toward a coveted position in what could be a three-way race: the mainstream Republican best positioned to stop Mr. Cruz or Donald J. Trump from winning the nomination.
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What They're Really Saying When They're Saying What They're Saying
This Blog is all about the work of God. Nothing we do is without the knowledge of our Father. He is the soul provider for everything we do.

We are Mordegai, Toinette, Suzaan, Gideon and Anton Rossouw from Namibia-Africa. . This Blog is all about our lives here in Cambodia while Suzaan works in South Africa. We are real Farmers from Africa and we love life and what it have to offer and enjoy it day by day.





Mordegai travels to remote villages, doing much needed medical work ,where no other doctors go, with local pastors.





Toinette is at home with the boys. Gideon is no longer with us but Anton will finish with Hope school this year and start online classes .Toinette joins FGC Community Link Cambodia to the villages close by, teaching local children in an after school setting and also women about Health Issues in a village setting.



We consider us Asians as we live such a long time in Asia, eating rice as a staple food and not meat......





Our motto in life comes from a dear friend:
Carrie Nations January 1910 visit to Butte is surrounded by myths  most of them untrue.

Did she die just after leaving Butte? No, she lived for 18 months more, dying at age 64. Did her Butte experience so demoralize her that she gave up the hatchet? No, she preached almost to her dying day and even returned to Montana in April 1910, to Kalispell and Whitefish, where she received a warm welcome.

Did Butte run her out of town? No, she spent her planned three days here, left on her own schedule, and gave speeches to hundreds of supporters in Butte churches. She did a land-office business selling her temperance books and souvenir hatchet pins. Butte was no more unified on the question of alcohol than it was on any issue.

Was she physically thrown out of the Windsor Brothel on Mercury Street? That ones true. According to newspaper reports, the Windsors madam, May Malloy, ejected her and for good measure in parting administered a kick. For that matter, at least some of the ladies of the evening opposed her ideas and did not consider themselves victims of the white slave trade as prostitution was known in those days.

Its certainly true that Mrs. Nation, as the Butte newspapers respectfully referred to her, made little headway for her cause in Butte. Although she was able to give an anti-drinking speech at the ABC Saloon, corner of Wyoming and Mercury, the orchestra there sent her on her way with a rendition of What the Hell Do We Care, and most of the saloons she visited carried prominent signs saying All Nations Welcome Except Carrie Nation  typical of saloons across the country. She called out Mayor Nevin, a saloonkeeper, as a wolf in charge of a flock of chickens  but very little, if anything, changed in Butte as a result of her campaign.

Only two buildings that saw Carrie Nation remain in Butte. The Grace Methodist Episcopal and Mountain View Methodist are both still standing, though not used as churches today. The Shortridge Christian Church across from St. Patricks on Mercury burned in 1968. And every saloon she was reported to visit in 1910 is gone.
William F. "Bill" McDonald passed away peacefully on Dec. 29, 2015, at the age of 88 of natural causes.

He was born in 1927 to Charlotte and Charles McDonald in Butte, the fourth of four children. He was preceded in death by his parents, brother Charles, and sister Mary Sue.

Bill graduated from Butte High School in 1945 and joined the U.S. Navy in 1948, serving four years during the Korean Conflict. He worked as an electrician and fireman on a military transport boat providing transport for Marine landing parties.

Bill met the love of his life, Donalee Cronin, who "chased him until he caught her." They married in 1954 and had two children, Chuck and Patti. Bill and Dona spent 52 wonderful years together travelling, dancing, and playing poker with lifelong friends and family.

Bill worked for Mountain Bell (subsequently US West) for 30 yers as a lineman, testboardman, and finally in management at the time of his retirement in Helena. Bill was a member of the Elks in Butte and IBEW. Following his retirement, he opened the D&B drive-in in Helena, serving delicious burgers, pasties, and ice cream for several years, fulfilling his lifelong passion for cooking.

Mom and Dad moved to Boise, Idaho, in 1991 to help grandparent their only grandson, Scott. Dad would lovingly make after-school treats for Scott while Mom would lovingly show him how to play poker and cheat at Chinese checkers!

Dad loved people, reading, and making wooden figurines and birdhouses for his friends and family, many of whom have at least one or two of his creations.

A few years after Mom's passing in 2006, Dad moved to Missoula to live with Chuck. They were great roommates and truely enjoyed each other's company.

Bill is survived by his son Chuck, daughter Patti (Bill) Marshall, grandson Scott, sister Ruth Hadzor, sisters-in-law Jean Cronin and Dorothy Shelton, brother-in-law John Freyman, and numerous nieces and nephews.

Special thanks for the loving care and support provided by the doctors and nurses of St. Patrick's Hospital, caregivers from Case Management and Partner's in Home Care Hospice.

A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Friday, Jan. 8, 2016, at St. Anthony's Catholic Church in Missoula. Burial will be in Boise, Idaho, at a later time. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the charity of your choice.

Express condolences at www.mtstandard.com.
Many misconceptions about the interventions in the sale of Kerr Dam (now Selis, Ksanka and QIispe Dam) during the last year have been in the media. My interventions were not on the sale of Kerr Dam. I intervened in the license transfer proceedings to require the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes through the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to meet the same obligations to the public as required of previous dam owners.

CSKT claims they are a sovereign government, which means that they will be immune from Montana state law, taxes or public oversight and regulation by the Montana Public Service Commission. The turnover of a facility that serves hundreds of thousands of people to a tribe that is not accountable to the laws of the state of Montana places the citizens at great risk for economic harm. If all or most of this is true, then statements in the FERC license are the only means to assure that the public duty will be protected.

The major obligations are fair electric rates, low-cost block of electricity for the Flathead irrigation project (130,000 acres), historic water deliveries for irrigation, state management of water rights, integrated power-agriculture operations, lake shore management, lake level management, non-discrimination in employment and public availability of water and financial records. These obligations are somewhat typical of monopolies and are put in place to protect the public. They are found in federal and state laws and regulations, Public Service Commission regulations and the policies of past Kerr Dam owners.

CSKT has verbally stated that the dam will be operated in the same manner as it has been operated in the past, but at the same time they are also saying that they are a sovereign nation and they are not regulated by Montana; however, the CSKT attorneys in Washington, D.C., have contested every single obligation in the interventions and FERC lawyers have refused to consider putting any of the obligations in the license.

The FERC decision to allow the transfer of the license to CSKT without any oversight by the Montana Public Service Commission, without conditioning the circumstances under which the license was transferred, or further public hearings, did not serve the public interest as was required of NorthWestern and other dam operators throughout the state of Montana.

Due to the lack of accountability of federal agencies and no help from the state of Montana, the only avenue left is for individuals to take action. Two major obligations that were requested to be continued in my interventions are now being contested and may end up in court: low-cost block of electricity for the Flathead Irrigation Project and yearly payment to Lake County for the Kerr Dam facilities (in lieu of taxes). Loss of these obligations would have a huge financial impact (millions) on taxpayers, irrigators, schools, road maintenance and social services in Lake County.

-- Verdell Jackson is a former state senator who lives in Flathead County, and sought to intervene in the license transfer of the former Kerr Dam to the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes.
MISSOULA  When a grizzly bear killed a hiker in Yellowstone National Park last year, millions of people took it personally.

The public response was 100 percent different than two years ago, said Kerry Gunther, Yellowstones bear manager. Twenty-five grizzly bears a year die in Yellowstone Park, but this one had a name.

Her name was Blaze, according to the outpouring of outrage on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets that appeared within a day of the Aug. 11 incident. Gunther and other park officials still arent sure it was that particular, often-photographed sow with two cubs (there were four such females with two cubs in the area). But they are sure their decisions  and all future debate about managing grizzly bears in the Rocky Mountain West  are under a new level of scrutiny.

The attack took place on a Thursday. It was reported to rangers at 9:01 a.m. Friday. By noon, a search team had found the hikers body and saw a bear leaving the scene. They spent that afternoon combing the area by air and setting up a culvert trap 9.4 meters away from the bodys location. The bear was caught shortly after midnight, and a news release was issued Saturday morning.

It totally blew up on Saturday afternoon, Gunther said. Very quickly, my email and voicemail were overloaded. I was getting letters from all over the world. Our office was getting hate mail and death threats. One person even had her children threatened. We had law enforcement patrolling their houses.

Shortly after the controversy got rolling, someone created a petition asking Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk to not kill Blaze, the Yellowstone grizzly sow and her infant cubs. The petition was closed after the announcement that the bear was killed but not before it gathered 143,170 signatures.

Just think if everyone who signed that donated $25 for habitat conservation, Gunther said. Bears would be a lot better off. I wish we could find a way to funnel that hatred and passion into conservation.

It also overwhelmed the parks media office. Aware that the case was going viral, the investigators tried to publish results of their efforts as soon as they got them. But other commentators kept adding different scenarios that conflicted with what the rangers had on record.

There are no good answers to that, said Sandy Snell-Dobert in Yellowstones Office of Strategic Communication. With all the ongoing discussion going about this, youll see us much more trying to be proactive and trying to get ahead of things. But just trying to monitor everything thats out there is more than a full-time job.

One meme stated that a large male grizzly had fed on the hikers body, so the female was falsely accused and killed. Yet another described the final moments of the incident, claiming the hiker ran from the bear and at one point punched it in the nose.

But the evidence from the scene showed no adult male paw prints in the area, only female bear bite marks on the hikers body, and only the suspect females DNA on the hikers wounds. Those DNA samples were flown out of the park to a lab in Bozeman with results delivered 36 hours later.

The hiker had defensive wounds on his arms and face, indicating he tried to protect himself as the bear attacked. There were no tracks indicating he ran from the initial encounter. There was no GoPro or dash-cam footage to record the battle.

That didnt stop scenarios accusing the hiker of jogging through bear country in what Gunther called an attempt to cast blame on the hiker instead of the bear. But the jogging idea failed to account for the hikers leather boots, canvas pants, button-down shirt and previously sprained ankle.

Others pounced on the facts that the hiker was traveling alone and wasnt carrying bear spray. Gunther agreed that traveling in groups and with bear spray have been shown to deter bear attacks. But he also noted that trail-use surveys have found 60 percent of Yellowstone hikers travel in groups of three or less and just 14 percent carry bear spray.

He wasnt following recommendations, Gunther said. But he wasnt doing anything unusual either.

The story added new levels. Some commenters posted that Blaze was related to Lightning, another socially popular bear that was killed after attacking a hiker in 2011. Yellowstone officials reported the DNA test showed no family link between last summers dead bear and Lightning, but that didnt stop the discussion.

Instead, it rekindled suppositions that Lightning was killed after ripping open an unattended backpack looking for food. For the record, the hiker in that case was using his pack to fend off the bears attack and it got torn open in the clash.

Commenters moved on to the National Park Services motivations. Some claimed it was fear of litigation from the hikers family that prompted the kill order for the bear.

We wanted to make sure this bear couldnt do this again to another hiker, Gunther said. Our guidelines state that removal from the population is called for when serious injury or loss of life is involved.

Guidelines for bear management may get a lot more complicated next year when the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee releases a new proposal for removing federal Endangered Species Act protection from grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. More than 700 grizzlies live there now, and IGBC biologists argue thats about the carrying capacity for the area.

In 2015, 55 grizzly bears died and four were removed in the GYE. Thats a record high year for bear losses in the GYE, beating the previous high of 56 in 2012. In 2014, a year with good bear food availability, 28 grizzlies died or were removed.

Wildlife managers killed 24 bears after conflicts with people or livestock in 2015. Four were hit by vehicles, and eight were killed by hunters. And 19 incidents remain under investigation.

The four removals were orphaned cubs sent to zoos, including the two belonging to the bear that killed the hiker in August. They are added to the loss total for the area, bringing it to 59.

The delisting proposal isnt public yet, but its already stirred up its own social media debate. Many people are using the Blaze incident as a talking point.

A lot of the photographer community is divided whether they should have killed her or not, said Daryl Hunter, an Idaho professional photographer whos reasonably certain hes seen the suspect bear for years. A lot of regular photographers agree with the decision. I do. I lead tours out here, and I tell people well be seeing bears out here. They dont associate us with a food source. But bears are quick learners. Those who are out there often dont want bears that have eaten people out there with us.

Hunting grizzlies isnt an easy solution, however.

Im one of those people in the middle, Harris said. Im a political conservative and a wildlife photographer. The Endangered Species Act is a double-edged sword. Weve recovered the grizzlies pretty well, and I think its OK to delist it and have a hunting season.

But photographing and watching bears is a huge business in Grand Teton and Cody and Gardiner. The bears we see are an economic resource. (The delisting plan) has a 20-mile section between Grand Teton and Yellowstone that would be open for hunting. When hunting opens, thats going to eliminate all the bears that are not afraid of us.

Frequently seen bears like Blaze, 399, Scarface and other roadside attractions have almost become a pseudo-subspecies from grizzlies that live in more remote wilderness, according to biologists. They develop a different social structure, tolerating one another in closer quarters instead of getting into deadly territorial battles. They also tolerate human activity, learning to avoid the temptation of people food that wilder bears investigate. Living along road corridors adds to their notoriety.

Having hung out in some of those Jackson Hole bear jams, its not my cup of tea, but I found the whole phenomenon fascinating, said Louisa Willcox of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a frequent critic of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. It is really meaningful for people. Its a way of understanding the ecosystem, the world in a really different way. And then they write about it on Facebook.

Willcox said the reaction to incidents like the killing of Cecil the Lion in Namibia last summer was an example of the kind of energy social media can spin up.

A lot of other lions were killed around the park, but that lion had a name and a fan club, Willcox said. It had an emotional resonance with people. I think these bears are part of bigger phenomenon going around the country and the world, elevating the rights of animals. They have families and feelings just like we do.

Bringing these other voices to the debate could change the way public wildlife agencies function, Willcox said.

Right now, thats what they do  they hunt things, Willcox said. Yes, they also promote coexistence with grizzly bears and wolves, but theyre based around killing things. Thats their financial framework. But in other parts of the country, theres been great deal of reform of culture and financial makeup of state game agencies. People are saying 'whoa  animals have a right to be treated differently.' Isnt the hope in having more diverse voices that theres some promise of more representative democracy?

Unfortunately, theres no voting booth in the Twitterverse.

I guess what this shows is theres a lot of passion out there for bears, bear manager Gunther said. But all that passion didnt do anything for bear conservation or for Blaze.
MISSOULA  The University of Montana put its Montana Island Lodge on Sourdough Island up for sale for $6.5 million in the spring of 2014.

In October 2015, the Salmon Lake listing expired.

UM vice president for finance Michael Reid said last week the university has not yet decided whether to keep the 18,000-square-foot building for future academic purposes or put it on the market again.

The lodge was willed to the UM Foundation in 1996, and the donor agreement splits proceeds from any sale among the four campuses under the jurisdiction of the University of Montana.

In a sale, UM would get maintenance money it put into the property, some $1 million over the course of 18 years as of 2014, plus its share of the remaining $5.5 million, if the property sold for the original asking price.

"If we had to drop that price a lot, it doesn't really benefit the institution," Reid said. "We don't get the full sale amount."

The property used to operate as an upscale resort with full services, including catering for guests.

A couple years ago, UM officials decided the facility didn't fit with the school's educational mission and they didn't want to put resources into making the long-term improvements the lodge and dock need.

Before the property went on the market, UM provided guests full services there, accommodating up to 25 people at once. The facility operated as a resort, and it rented out for $2,500 a night, complete with a master suite and bedrooms with private baths, a total of 12 bedrooms.

Reid said the operation generally broke even in those years. He said the most subsidy UM had to provide was $30,000 to $50,000 a year.

Once the property went up for sale, UM scaled back services. Now, the husband-and-wife team who oversee the lodge on Sourdough Island work as property managers, and rooms rent individually for $150 a night or $1,200 for the lodge; a weekend rental of the lodge ranges from $5,000 to $6,000.

Barbara and Kevin Denman are the property managers, and Barbara Denman said the couple performs standard maintenance on the property.

The lodge was busy in the summer with eight weddings and several family reunions, she said. Renting out the property during the spring thaw and winter freeze is more difficult.

Denman said it's too soon for the accountants to tell if the lodge broke even for the year, but they're crunching the numbers.

"The financial piece has not been finalized yet," she said.

When the property went on the real estate market, the broker who listed it estimated it would sell in three months to two years. It drew little interest, though, according to Reid.

Last week, Mike Nugent, president of the Missoula Organization of Realtors, said he isn't surprised the lodge didn't sell in the time it was on the market. Closing the deal on such a property is likely a multi-year marketing proposition, he said.

The lodge was listed at a high price point that requires reaching a niche audience, he said.

In the past 18 months in the county, he said, just four single-family homes have sold that were listed for more than $1 million, three in the low million-dollar range and one for more than $8 million. He said four sales in that range are relatively normal for Missoula County since the recession.

If an owner wants to sell a multimillion-dollar home, it's going to take patience, but it can be done, he said.

"I would not be concerned that it did not sell in the first year and a half," Nugent said. "These things take time."

UM is in the midst of a budget crunch and severe cutbacks, looking to make up $10 million to $12 million in its 2017 fiscal year.

The university will consider relisting the property in the spring or making different arrangements for it, Reid said. If it sells, UM might pull in $1 million from the proceeds, he said.

Such an amount would be helpful to UM, but it might not outweigh the value of the property to the university. University officials are considering the use of the property for various academic purposes in the future, although Reid said it was too early to get into specifics.

"It quickly gets to a point where the asset is worth more to the university than the sale of it," he said.

Last school year, Main Hall took $3.2 million from a fund set aside for facility maintenance and capital improvements to shore up its bottom line in the general fund. The move mostly depleted the pool of money grown by Student Affairs.

UM does not have a fund set aside for the long-term maintenance of the lodge on Sourdough Island, Reid said. He said the lodge is currently functional but outdated.

"That's ultimately one reason that we really looked at selling the building is we just don't have the resources to put in some of the capital improvements in the property that we'd like to see," Reid said.

He said UM could shut down the property altogether, but having it "lightly lived in" as opposed to shuttered altogether is a cost savings. For instance, the building stays heated, so pipes don't burst.

"We kind of looked at all those costs, and in the end, it was more economical to have the Denmans living on site," he said.

He said UM officials will evaluate the status of the lodge as they review the budget situation going into summer 2016.
MUSCATINE, Iowa  The Muscatine Fire Department is celebrating a century as a paid fire department.

The city of Muscatine replaced 500 volunteers with a chief and 12 men beginning Jan. 3, 1916. Muscatine's first volunteer fire company dated back to Jan. 7, 1875.

Retired Muscatine Fire Department captain and department historian Mike Van Wey said the switch from a volunteer to a paid department was precipitated by a couple of factors.

"There were a couple of huge fires in December of 1912. One of them was at the Roach and Musser plant in south Muscatine. It was so big it burned for three days. It was a warehouse just crammed full of wooden products," Van Wey said.

Following the blaze, P.M. Musser, one of the owners of the building, purchased a truck to replace the hand-pulled carts firefighters had been using.

Musser bought a 1913 American LaFrance truck. It was the top of the line and the only one like it west of the Mississippi River.

"But they had to get somebody to run it and somebody to keep it running. So they hired the first two professionals. Fred Bilkey was the driver and J.P. Maurath was the mechanic. Right away a little bit of jealousy developed because these guys were paid. They were paid something like $62 a month and they practically lived at the station," Van Wey explained.

"The other story that was going on, the city of Muscatine began to crack down on drinking at the hose houses," Van Wey said.

The city had 10 hose companies at the time. The city received complaints about drunken firemen and started making arrests.

One company after another walked off the job, leading to the establishment of the paid department.

The first fire chief of the paid department was J.J. Brown. Bilkey was assistant chief. Maurath continued as the department mechanic. Firefighters were Louis Faulhaber, James Wise, John Leysen, Harry Freeman, Lee Schenkel, Charles Vetter, Herman Raethz, Ed Priester, Charles Lemkau and Charles Opelt.

"There was a lot of anxiety. Could these guys possibly do the job? But they'd been on the job less than two weeks and there was a huge fire at corner of Second and Iowa avenue, the B.E. Lilly building," Van Wey said.

"The fire occurred early in the morning. The guys did a great job. The building was a loss but they did a great job keeping it from spreading anywhere else. I think the city probably breathed a sigh of relief and said, 'OK they can do it,'" Van Wey said.

Other landmark dates in the department's history include March 8, 1956, when a group of off-duty firemen attended a council meeting requesting the immediate removal of Chief Alex Bender for such actions as leaving the station for extended periods of time without putting an officer in charge, telling officers to keep details of fires from the press or radio, and making prejudicial remarks against those of the Catholic faith.

Bender was demoted to firefighter but was later reinstated as chief. Seventeen firefighters resigned rather than continue serving under Bender.

On April 7, 1976, the current fire station opened for business.

June Anne Gaeta became the department's first female firefighter in August of 1994. She is now a captain with the department.

In 2000, the department started running the ambulance service.

The Muscatine Fire Department has had eight fire chiefs in the past 100 years. They are J.J. Brown, Harold Bierman, Paul Meerdink, Alex Bender, Paul Ziegenhorn, James Pumfrey, Steve Dalbey and currently, Jerry Ewers.

Van Wey, a history buff, wrote the official history of the department at the urging of Chief Dalbey.

"I found out a lot of things I didn't know. I scratched off a few things I thought I knew and turned out to be incorrect," Van Wey said.

He came away with an even greater respect for the fire service.

"I think how hard it must have been to be volunteer firefighter. I don't know what kind of training these guys had. In a lot of ways, they (the hose companies) were as much a social club as they were volunteers. Some of the things they went through, big fires, hot days."
The Chilcot Inquiry shows that the British were far more aware of the deteriorating situation in Iraq than the Americans. From July 2004 to ...
Les emplois a Rennes sont abondants et varies. Il y a quelque chose pour tout le monde. Que vous soyez a la recherche dun emploi []
Les blattes ou cafards (Blatta orientalis) sont des insectes qui appartiennent a la famille des Blattoptera. Ils se caracterisent par leur forme allongee, leurs ailes []
Mobile network Vodacom has not revealed what caused an error that led to several of its customers being double debited last week.

Vodacom sent an SMS to customers on Friday afternoon informing them that the company was aware that some accounts had been debited twice owing to a technical glitch.

The company promised to reimburse affected customers by the close of business on Monday and it apologised for the inconvenience.

But Vodacom spokespeople on Monday did not answer Fin24s questions about what exactly caused the glitch last week.

Fin24 was further informed by a Vodacom spokesperson that the company cannot reveal how many customers were hit by the technical glitch. Vodacom is South Africas biggest mobile network with over 30 million subscribers.

On Monday, the company said in a statement to Fin24 that it was working to resolve the problem by the end of business hours.

Where debit orders were processed twice, Vodacom is working on ensuring that refunds and all associated banking charges are paid by close of business today at the earliest, Tshepo Ramodibe, Vodacoms executive head of corporate affairs said in an email response.

We are in the process of refunding the customers, said Ramodibe.

Vodacom customers have also turned to social media on Monday to find out exactly when they will be reimbursed.

In response to one customer, Vodacoms official Twitter account said that customers refunds would be processed on Monday due to the banks being closed on the weekend.

Vodacom is not the only major South African company to suffer technical glitches in recent months.

First National Bank (FNB) and Standard Bank suffered glitches last year that affected services such as online banking.

Meanwhile, internet services, contact centres and shops affiliated with telecoms company Telkom were briefly offline on May 18 last year following a network switch failure at one of its data centres in Centurion, Gauteng.

Fin24

More on Vodacom

Vodacom promises refunds for double billed customers
The Eskom manager who brought Majuba back to operation after the silo collapse is replacing Roman Crookes as Medupis project director with immediate effect.

Eskom on Monday appointed Phillip Dukashe to replace Crookes to run Medupi power station without a handover from Crookes.

Crookes, who was set to leave at the end of January, will leave with immediate effect, Eskom CEO Brian Molefe told a radio station on Monday.

According to Business Tech, Molefe said the handover process was overrated.

In response to Molefes interview, energy expert Chris Yelland tweeted that there is more to this than Eskom lets on.

Dukashe, who has worked at Eskom for 22 years, will now head up Eskoms critical new build project to introduce 4 800 MW of coal power into the countrys ailing grid.

After years of delays, Medupis first unit brought 800 MW onto the grid in 2015, while the next unit is set to be completed in early 2017. The overall project is set to be completed between 2019 and 2020.

Eskom spokesperson Khulu Phasiwe told Fin24 that Dukashe has been instrumental in bringing Majuba Power Station back to operation, after a silo collapse in 2014 dented its operations.

He was successful in implementing a short-term solution to feed coal to the power station on a mobile feeder system, while starting the process to rebuild the silo, said Phasiwe.

Majubas silo collapse in November 2014 plunged the country into load shedding after its capacity was eroded from 3 600 MW to 1 400 MW. To increase the capacity to its original levels, Eskom used over 1 000 trucks to transport coal, but the new system has decreased this to 90 trucks. The new silo is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.

Dukashes LinkedIn profile lists him as general manager of Gx Coal Projects at Eskom. Before that, he managed a major coal power plant and was also the chief nuclear officer at Koeberg nuclear power plant, according to Phasiwe.

We want someone to hit the ground running at Medupi, said Phasiwe. Eskom plans to either meet or beat the deadlines set for Medupi. This will happen while adhering to all the normal standards and it wont be done in a hurry.

He said the labour unrest that occurred in 2015 had ended, with the union members deciding to stop their illegal action, which resulted in them receiving no salaries for a few months.

The labour situation has stabilised and there are no issues at all now, said Phillip.

Yelland told Fin24 on Sunday that he was concerned over the resignation of Crookes.

Yelland told Fin24 Crookes departure obviously raises concerns about the institutional memory within Eskom as the engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) main contractor.

One hopes that there will be a sufficiently experienced team at Eskom and at the Medupi site to ensure continuity and a smooth succession that will not result in any further delays, he said.

Phasiwe said Crookes departure is not a major concern, as there are other managers working very closely on the project and thus know whats going on.

There has also been a lot of cross pollination of experience and expertise between the teams at Medupi and Kusile, which will make a handover process seamless, Phasiwe said.

Roman has delivered the first 800 MW Unit into commercial service in August last year and leaves behind a strong and experienced management team who will continue to drive Medupi forward to completion, said Phasiwe.

Crookes, who has been project director for the Medupi construction project from the beginning, will vacate his post with immediate effect to pursue an opportunity abroad, Molefe told a radio station on Monday.

Fin24

More on Eskom

Eskoms Medupi power plant project director resigns
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NEW YORK  AT&T will no longer offer discounted phones with two-year contracts starting Jan. 8. Before you rush out to beat the deadline, consider that you might be better off paying full price for the phone.

Thats because phone companies also reduce the monthly bill for voice, text and data services when you buy your own phone or bring a used one. Some may pay a bit more, some a bit less, but the overall bill is roughly the same. What you get in return is more flexibility in which phone you buy and how long you stay with the carrier.

AT&Ts decision comes as no surprise. In the third quarter, only 1 in 5 customers chose a contract plan when they signed up with AT&T or upgraded their phones. T-Mobile broke away from contracts completely nearly three years ago, and Verizon stopped offering contracts to new customers in August. Sprint also has been weighing dropping contracts completely.

Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure told The Associated Press in September that discounted, contract phones  including his companys  amount to a gimmick, a trick. You tell people Im going to give you a free phone, but really the customer pays in a more expensive service plan.

Indeed, phone discounts mask the true costs of phones and phone services.

Heres an explanation of the changes:

What are my options now?

Most people now buy and pay for phones in monthly installments, though you can also pay the full price upfront. You can also bring a used device, such as one from a friend or family member who has upgraded to a newer model. Sprint and T-Mobile also have leasing options  you pay less each month, but you dont get to keep or resell the device in the end.

Will I pay more?

Not necessarily so, even though you now have to pay the full price for a phone.

When you got a discounted phone under contract, you were already paying the balance in the form of fees. For instance, the full cost of an iPhone 6s is $650. Although you pay just $200 at the contract rate, the phone company passes along the remaining $450 in higher monthly fees for voice, text and data. Over two years, the $450 comes to $18.75 a month. Put another way, your phone company is subsidizing your phone by $18.75 a month and tacking that on to the phone bill for voice, text and data.

If you forgo the contract, your monthly bill for voice, text and data is typically reduced by $15 or $25 a month. The $25 discount applies for higher data plans  usually ones you share with family members. In such cases, youre actually better off buying the phone yourself, as youre getting a $25 bill reduction but giving up only $18.75 in subsidies.

If your discount is only $15, and youre giving up $18.75 in subsidies, then technically your bill is going up slightly. What you get instead is flexibility.

What do you mean by flexibility?

Because phone companies were subsidizing phones, there was an incentive to get the most expensive model, even if you didnt need that. These days, there are many mid-range Android phones that do what high-end phones did just a few years ago. If you choose one of those models, you keep the savings. Thats also the case if you get a friend or relatives old phone. You no longer feel that youre losing out by not claiming the most expensive phone in a contract renewal.

And if your phone lasts longer than two years, theres no longer the pressure to upgrade just to claim the phone subsidies. You simply pocket the savings.

More important, youre no longer tied to two-year contracts.

Does this mean I can switch whenever I like?

Yes and no.

If you buy a phone under an installment plan, youre still stuck with the phone company until you pay off the phone. That said, rival companies often have promotions to pay off the balance for you. And if you pay the full cost of the phone upfront, you own the phone and can switch whenever you like. Just be aware that certain phones work on limited number of networks, so its still not total freedom.

What if rates increase once I pay full price for a phone?

Phone rates can go up at any time, but that historically hasnt happened because of stiff competition. In fact, phone companies have been offering more data for the same prices, an effective price cut.

And if your phone company does increase the rates, just go to another. Again, rivals typically offer promotions to switch. You can always take your phone number with you as long as you sign up with the new company before cancelling.

Can I still get a subsidized phone?

Sprint still offers contract plans, though they arent emphasized and they may disappear any day. Verizon offers contracts only to existing customers who renew. At AT&T, contracts will be offered only under certain business plans.
2015 is history. What a year. There were a few surprises. There were some disappointments and achievement. We have a new year ahead. Any changes on the horizon?

Is this the year you get in shape, lose a few pounds? Is this the year you start the project that has been on your list for years? Are you finally going to get around to the important but not urgent items on your wish list?

Here are a few thoughts that might be on your list that John and I might urge you to complete.

Someone you know will die this year. It might be you. How are your affairs? Are they in order?

Is your will done? If you have small children, have you documented who their guardians might be if you arent here to raise them?

How about all of your beneficiary designations, are they all up to date? Are your wishes regarding your health care in order? Heres a happy thought: Have you documented your organ donations if you died?

Is this the year you start the college fund for your child or grandchild? Do you value education? If so, have you put your money where your values lie?

I like the ad on television about increasing your retirement plan contribution by 1 percent. How about you? Would 1 percent change your lifestyle? Probably not! Call your 401(k) administrator and up your contributions or open an IRA and get started.

Is this the year you put your time into the things you value? Nearly every organization that does service to the community needs volunteers. Could you squeeze an hour or two from that busy schedule? Could you give up an evening of watching television?

Is this the year you write more? Is it the year you write the great novel? Perhaps this is the year you write your personal history. You must have someone who would like to know your story. Write it. Dont you wish you had the history of your grandparents or great-grandparents. Do it.

Is this the year you get your finances in order? Where is that budget you promised you would complete? Nowhere, because you never did it. Start now.

Is this the year you assess your investments? When your 401(k) statements or investment statements arrive, is this the year you actually look at them? If you dont understand them, is this the year you find out about them?

Is this the year you try to determine when you will retire? Really retire? Not just cut back. Is this the year you find out if you can honestly afford to retire? Can you truly answer the question about what you will do when you retire?

Is this the year you will travel to the place youve always wanted to see? Is this the year you go to Italy, Maui or England? Plan it. Do it.

Is this the year you spend more time with the important people in your life? Who are they? Make 2016 the year of accomplishments. Make this the year your dreams are fulfilled.

Make it the year like no other year in your life.
CALCUTTA, India  Maybe Im hallucinating, but I think I hear Beatle John Lennon singing Imagine above the near deafening din.

The rickshaw puller, the wealthy businessman, the Hindu, the Muslim, the Christian, the Jew  and perhaps even a few atheists  are all gathering together as one, setting aside their huge differences.

This is Durga Puja, Calcuttas annual catch-all festival that has grown to amazing proportions in recent years, and yet remains practically unknown to the rest of the world.

It lasts for 10 days each October, upwards of 20 million people participate in passion, peace, pride and serenity, and then suddenly the curtain comes down and everyone returns to their real lives.

Which, for Calcutta, isnt so bad. Its no longer Imagine-Land, but on any given day this legendary city on the Ganges is a nonstop carnival of sights, sounds and surprises around every corner  some good, some bad.

It could be worse, my guide, Anil, remarked with a smile. This could be Delhi (Indias favorite whipping city).

Durga Puja is actually a Hindu festival that dates to the 16th century, but only in the past 20 years has it grown to such an incredible size in Calcutta, attracting followers from all creeds and castes.

How it all began is fascinating in itself. After many men and gods tried and failed to rid the earth of a monster/creature/demon, some brave soul asked, Why not send a woman?

Enter the 10-armed Goddess Durga. According to one of the most widely accepted legends, she not only had to kill the demon, but do it without shedding even one drop of blood because it was believed a new monster would rise from each drop.

She accomplished this, the legend continues, by drinking the demons blood before killing it with a type of pitchfork, which would make the tale a medical miracle wrapped in a legend. There are many variations of this recital, just as there are many different facets to the Hindu religion.

While Durga Puja is celebrated throughout all of India, the other festivals put together would not amount to half the size of Calcuttas big show.

Why? Nobody really knows, said Jaydeep Mukherjee, owner of a travel and tour agency known as Meghdutam Travels, who often accompanied me during the 10-day event.

It just took off on its own about 20 years ago. I got involved about 15 years ago, and now find myself spending as much time and money in promoting Durga as I do tending to my own business.

With the help of India Tourism, Mukherjee has become a world ambassador for Durga Puja throughout Europe, has recently opened a tour agency in Montreal and plans on promoting the event at travel and tourism events in North America.

As for Calcutta (officially known as Kolkata in India), no such promotion is required. At this years event, there were more than 3,000 pandals (exhibition centers) scattered about the city to honor the Goddess Durga.

Some of the pandals were spectacular, sponsored by businessmen and huge corporations, a few costing in excess of $300,000 to assemble.

Many were simple, resembling shrines, financed by private donations in each neighborhood.

At my boutique hotel, The Senator, the talk among the staff each morning went something like this: How many pandals did you visit last night? Thirty. Did you sleep? No. How many tonight? Another 30.

But by far the most impressive display was the people themselves  millions of them crowded onto the streets and sidewalks, walking from one pandal to the next throughout the night and early morning, patient, serene, joyful, thankful, proud.

It looked as though all 20 million or so Calcuttans had been nicely sedated. But in fact, they were in a beautiful and natural state of mind.

I watched one rickshaw puller  and there are tens of thousands of them still earning their living that way in this city  tie his rickshaw to a pole and join the long lineup to a major pandal at 2 a.m. He would not sleep that night, and perhaps the next night as well.

That rickshaw man saves pennies all year for Durga Puja, Mukherjee told me. Hell go to a nice restaurant to celebrate, and then start saving pennies again for next year.

On the other side of the coin, the wealthy businessman, who perhaps manufactured that very rickshaw tied to a pole, donates tens of thousands of dollars, and his time, to construct the same pandal that rickshaw puller just entered.

And so Durga Puja crosses that vast divide between the poorest of the poor in Calcuttas slums to the richest of the rich in Maharajah palaces. For 10 days and nights, they are one.

There is also a Christmas-like aspect to the festival. Before it begins, family members exchange gifts of clothing with one another. It is traditional for everyone, rich or poor, to wear one new piece of clothing for each of the 10 days.

While Durga Puja begins with the banging of drums calling everyone to the pandals, it ends with a splash as the city bids farewell to the Goddess Durga by immersing her into the Ganges.

By early spring, work will begin on the construction of the 2016 pandals.

Its fitting that Calcutta is enjoying such success with Durga Puja. This uncontrollable metropolis has always had a bit of an image problem. Whens the last time you saw a Greetings from Calcutta postcard?

And yet, why all the happy faces? You wont see as many smiles in Delhi or Bombay. And why does the cream of the countrys creative force continue to flock and prosper here?

And is it just coincidence that four Nobel Prize winners came from here?

Yes, there is pollution and indescribable misery, and the traffic is clearly out of control. As one of our drivers put it, the ingredients for survival: Good brakes, good heart, good luck.

But look closely. Your eyes may play tricks on you.

That old man going through the garbage is not looking for food, but for tinfoil. He rolls it up and sells it to a shopkeeper up the street. Others are collecting plastics or recyclable paper.

I walked the slums in one area, and found mini-factories turning out pottery, clothing and floral arrangements. Despite the unsanitary conditions, I watched one man sitting on a curb bathing himself by an open faucet, slowly and meticulously, as perhaps the occupants of Buckingham Palace. And yes, he was smiling.

Leaving the slum, I walked into a huge flower market, its blazing colors fighting for attention in the midst of the pollution and grime.

My final view of Calcutta, early morning of departure, was standing in front of my hotel and watching a street sleeper awake. He was unaware of my presence.

He took a cotton swab encased in a plastic covering from one pocket and cleaned his ears. From another pocket he took a small container and rubbed its contents under his arms. A third container held a toothbrush and powder, which he used to vigorously brush his teeth.

Another pocket contained a small can of a cleaning substance, which he spread slowly and methodically over his face and hands. Finally, he withdrew a comb, parted his hair, patted it and combed it to his usual style.

With that, this now distinguished gentleman rose, brushed himself off and walked slowly off into wherever he goes each morning.

I headed back to my room for a quick shower.

Tips

Pack light casual cottons. Dress codes for some religious sites may include head coverings, long pants, being barefoot.

Drink only bottled water.

Service charges are included in most hotels and restaurants.

Bargaining is expected in open markets and small shops. A 75 percent discount is not uncommon.

Dont try to explore Calcutta on your own. You could easily get lost. Use a certified tour guide.
Choosing to have a baby outside a hospital comes with a slight increased risk of death to the baby in the United States but a lower likelihood of a C-section, according to a study of Oregon births published this week in the New England Journal of Medicine.

But the overall risks to the baby remained small regardless of the birth plan - there were about 2 deaths per 1,000 births among planned hospital births, vs. 4 deaths per 1,000 births planned at home or in birthing centers.

"Absolute risk of death is low in all settings - less than half of a percent. ... And in terms of that added risk, we see how someone weighs that as a personal choice," said Jonathan Snowden, an epidemiologist at Oregon Health and Science University who led the study, which examined nearly 80,000 low-risk births in Oregon during 2012 and 2013.

Women who planned to give birth outside of the hospital experienced very different kinds of birth. Far fewer women had their labor induced. A quarter of women who planned hospital births had C-sections that can add serious complications to future pregnancies - five times the rate of C-section among those who planned to give birth outside the hospital. For planned out-of-hospital births, there was an increase in some complications, such as seizures and low Apgar scores (a measure of a newborn's overall health), but the absolute risk remained low.

Giving birth at home is still a rarity - less than 1 percent of women in the United States gave birth at home in 2012. But home births have been on the rise, and it has been hard to assess how safe it is, because the numbers get conflated in confusing ways. That's because U.S. birth certificates only record where a birth took place, so women who intended to give birth at home or at a birthing center and were transferred to a hospital would be counted as hospital-based births. On the flip side, women who went into labor at home and never made it to the hospital would be counted as home births.

In 2012, Oregon added a question to its birth certificate on whether a birth was planned to take place at a hospital or elsewhere, and the change provided researchers a rare opportunity to disentangle the real health outcomes associated with both birth plans. Midwives and obstetricians praised the study.

"I think a lot of what that is going to do depends on what feels safest. What is great about this study is it gives mothers some numbers," said Melissa Cheyney, a practicing midwife in Oregon and a medical anthropologist. "Most of what has been available to women has really been driven by fear: One anecdotal case gets into the news and really sensationalizes the risk of death."

In an accompanying editorial, Michael Greene and Jeffrey Eckler, obstetricians from Massachusetts General Hospital, wrote that it's easy to see why women may consider an out-of-hospital birth: Even as hospital interventions related to birth have increased in the United States, the fetal death rate hasn't budged at major medical centers since the 1970s.

"The present data empower women to make rational decisions about their choices regarding planned place of delivery," they wrote.

Because the overall risks are low, what any woman or provider does with the information will vary, several physicians said.

"I don't think we should go through the process of counseling and offering out-of-hospital birth to every person who comes to our practice," said Aaron Caughey, chair of the department of obstetrics and gynecology at Oregon Health and Science University and a co-author of the study. "However, we do have women who come to us who are thinking about out-of-hospital birth, and we think these data really help inform this decision."

The study excluded complicated births, including those not at full term, twins, and fetuses with abnormalities. It did not include data on maternal deaths.

"While the absolute risk of home birth remains low, this study shows what we know to be the case: It is elevated compared to hospital birth," Mark DeFrancesco, president of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, said in a statement. "This study underscores the importance of that being a truly informed choice."

Cheyney said she thought the study would motivate midwives to study their own practices to look for areas where they might be able to improve. Hospital providers, she said, would likely think about what they could do to reduce the rate of unnecessary interventions, such as C-sections or labor induction.

Caughey said one of the goals of the paper was to remind hospital providers about the differences between the two types of births, and what might drive women to consider different options. He stressed the importance of obstetricians understanding their patients' preferences, noting that the wrong outcome would be for women to resort to home birth simply because they don't trust the medical establishment to do what they want.

He recalled a time earlier in his career when many hospitals began scaling back offerings of vaginal birth after an earlier C-section in the mid to late 1990s. Many women, he said, decided to try the much riskier delivery outside the hospital. That, he said, is the wrong direction for things to go.

"So you take a somewhat more dangerous situation out of a hospital where it's maybe not optimal, but it's certainly not safe to do that at home," Caughey said. "That's the slippery slope, if we don't figure out ways to embrace women's preferences and doing things that women are comfortable with."
I am a relatively new member of the Rotary Club of Napa, and am in constant awe of the breadth of our programs benefiting our community.

We just finished bringing dictionaries to every third-grader in Napa. This was with the help of other Napa Rotarian partners, especially Sunrises Todd Walker at C-Line Express. And just as that project was winding down did another fun tradition start up again.

For more than 25 years, the Rotary Club of Napa and the Kiwanis Club of Napa have been in competition as to which club can raise the most money while ringing the holiday bell for The Salvation Army. Rung in front of Trader Joes this year, Rotary and Kiwanis have raised about $6,900 and $1,500, respectively. Last-minute checks are written most years for one club to defeat the other. Last year, Kiwanis suspiciously defeated Rotary $8,235 to $7,769 in the eleventh hour.

The loser of the competition provides wine for the following years annual Rotary/Kiwanis meeting. Of course, it is all for a good cause. If the tradition has been going for 25 years and theres an average of $10,000 per year, thats $250,000 over the life of this single program. I encourage you to go to www.SalvationArmy.org and find out all the good that they do.

If youre interested in finding out more about Rotary Club of Napa or Kiwanis Club of Napa, you can find both websites below.

Both clubs have great members and great programs that benefit our community.

Though Ive only heard about one club cheating to win our little competition, we should all feel sorry for them and go to their annual crab feed.

Thanks to both clubs for making me proud to be a Napan.
I'm excited to share about two inspiring people who will visit our valley to share their wisdom in 2016.

From 6 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 21, Diversity and Equity Consultant Alison Park will lead an interactive workshop on talking with children about race. This is for anyone with children in their life who is curious how to talk with little ones about race and ethnicity in a developmentally appropriate way.

From 7 to 8:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 18, we will have a visit from Dr. Jason Okonofua, a researcher from Stanford University who will talk about his research on implicit bias in education.

Our wonderful St. Helena Public Library is hosting these events, with the support of Friends & Foundation, St. Helena Public Library.

I am grateful we have a library that sees the importance of nurturing such important conversations. These two events have a unique focus on the next generation, which is where my deepest hopes reside, and will have an emphasis on tangible solutions and actions we can take.

As research on bias has shown, it comes in many forms -- some more insidious and surprising than others. If you want to learn more about implicit or unconscious bias and how it relates to many dimensions including race, gender and sexual orientation, I encourage you to take Harvard Universitys Implicit Association Test, available online.

I know there are many of us wanting to address the profound impact of racism and oppression in our country and community, and explore how we can be a part of building solutions and healing. I hope to see you at these events. And please let the library know how much you appreciate their wide variety of educational, cultural and arts offerings.

Brooke Casey

St. Helena
MOSCOW

Kyrgyzstan to deport Briton who insulted country

Kyrgyzstans Interior Ministry says a British citizen who made rude remarks about the country on social media is to be deported within a day.

The statement Monday on the ministrys website did not specify what Michael McFeat said, but local media reports say his offending post likened a Kyrgyz sausage called chukchuk to the genitals of a horse.

According to the ministry, McFeats comment sparked labor unrest at the Kumitor gold mine, where he is an employee, and in the wake of the scandal he tried to leave the country but was detained at the capitals international airport.

He was taken to court, charged with insulting the national dignity and then found to be lacking necessary papers for legal residence in Kyrgyzstan, the ministry said.

MEXICO CITY

Affluenza teens deportation appeal may take weeks, months

The Mexican lawyer for a Texas teenager known for using an affluenza defense in a fatal drunken-driving accident says his appeal could delay his clients return to the United States for weeks, months  or just a single day.

Lawyer Fernando Benitez says a Tuesday meeting with client Ethan Couch at an immigration detention center in Mexico City will determine whether Couch stretches out the process, or agrees to drop the appeal.

Benitez says he was hired to represent Couch in Mexico, but doesnt say who hired him.

He said Monday that Couch was just hours away from being deported when the injunction was granted last week.

Benitez says the appeal centers on why Mexico tried to use a deportation proceeding instead of the longer extradition process in Couchs case.

BERLIN

Cologne police chief condemns sex assaults on New Years Eve

German police has described a series of sexual assaults against women in Cologne on New Years Eve as a completely new dimension of crime.

Officers received numerous complaints from women who said they had been assaulted around Colognes main train station next to the western German citys famous cathedral on the night from Thursday to Friday.

Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers says witnesses described the assaults as coming from a group of up to 1,000 men whose appearance indicated they were of Arab or North African origin.

Some 60 criminal complaints have so far been filed, including one allegation of rape.

German news agency dpa quoted Albers telling reporters on Monday that it was an intolerable situation that such crimes are committed in the middle of the city.

ISTANBUL

Turkey detains 9 IS suspects near Syria border

A Turkish news agency says nine foreign nationals suspected of being members of the Islamic State group were detained Monday as they tried to enter the country illegally from Syria.

Citing local authorities, the Dogan news agency reports that the suspects were detained in Turkeys southern province of Kilis, which borders Syria. There was no mention of the nationality, gender or age of the suspects.

Last week, Turkish police detained two suspected IS militants believed to be planning suicide attacks during New Year celebrations in central Ankara.

Turkish authorities have scaled up operations against suspected IS cells after a double suicide bombing killed more than 100 people in Ankara in October.

The country is also tightening security along its 900-kilometer (560-mile) border with Syria to stem the flow of jihadists.

VIENNA

Austria: Police find 2nd body after suitcase discovery

Police divers searching an Austrian lake a day after recovering two suitcases containing parts of a womans body found the submerged body of a man in the same waters Monday.

Police official Gerhard Haag said the body was retrieved from the bottom of the Traunsee near the lakeside town of Gmunden close to the location where the suitcases were discovered Sunday.

One hand of the male victim was secured to a weighed-down bag, keeping him submerged, Haag said. He refused to give more information ahead of news conference planned for Tuesday.

Gmunden is about 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of Salzburg.

Police earlier said the remains in the suitcases were of a woman aged around 70. They were recovered after a man reported a piece of luggage floating in the lake.

Investigators were working to identify the victims and establish a cause of death. Austrian media said their task was made more difficult because the head of the woman was missing.
Question -- What is the goal of this website? Why do we share different sources of information that sometimes conflicts or might even be considered disinformation?

Answer -- The primary goal of Nesaranews is to help all people become better truth-seekers in a real-time boots-on-the-ground fashion. This is for the purpose of learning to think critically, discovering the truth from withinnot just believing things blindly because it came from an "authority" or credible source. Instead of telling you what the truth is, we share information from many sources so that you can discern it for yourself. We focus on teaching you the tools to become your own authority on the truth, gaining self-mastery, sovereignty, and freedom in the process. We want each of you to become your own leaders and masters of personal discernment, and as such, all information should be vetted, analyzed and discerned at a personal level. We also encourage you to discuss your thoughts in the comments section of this site to engage in a group discernment process.





"It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it."  Aristotle

11
*" ...But we have crossed millions of miles of nothingness. We have visited another world. And our Locar had said `Why bother? What is the wo...

4 years ago
Armenia is definitely a European country. Armenia has a lot of human capital, a lot of potential where we can work closely with Europe and, of course, with Sweden as well. In an interview with Armenian News  NEWS.am, Charge daffaires of Sweden in Armenia Marten Ehnberg wished speedy signing of new agreement with the European Union, underscored the importance of our country for Europe and told about the Swedish New Year traditions.

On 7 December 2015 Armenia and the European Union launched negotiations in Brussels on a new framework agreement for the deepening of bilateral relations. What are your expectations from these negotiations? Do you believe that the two sides can turn the page on uncertainties created back in 2013?

Well, this is exactly what we want, of course. We want to have a formalized framework for cooperation. And this is what I expect from these negotiations. The road map for our future cooperation is going to be very positive for both Armenia and the European Union.

In your opinion, how fast will the new agreement be negotiated?

We dont know, of course. Its impossible to say. But since we have done most of the negotiations before - as you are aware, we did the negotiations on the Association Agreement and those negotiations were completed - I hope we can use most of the text that we have. But, of course, we have to change certain parts in accordance with Armenias new international commitments.

Why is Armenia important and interesting for Europe?

Armenia has a very particular geographic location. It is between a lot of interesting countries that are of interest for Europe. But Armenia also has a lot of interesting things in itself. Armenia is definitely a European country. Armenia has a lot of human capital, a lot of potential where we can work closely with Europe and, of course, with Sweden as well. We already have a lot of positive cooperation with Armenia. For instance, we have approximately 12,000 people of Armenian descent living in Sweden. They provide a very valuable input to Swedish society. We also have very good political relations between Sweden and Armenia, a lot of visits on high level. So Armenia is important for many reasons, but it has a huge potential which we still havent quite tapped into, and the Framework Agreement is going to help to do this.

What are the Swedish traditions of celebrating New Year?

For us the main celebration is Christmas. In Sweden we celebrate it on December 24. Its a very family-oriented holiday where we make the traditional Swedish Christmas lunch or Christmas dinner, Smorgasbord as its called, where we make a marinated herring and special Christmas ham. We have special fish dishes, cold meat dishes, little meatballs - which are very traditional in Sweden - and little sausages. Another traditional dish is something called Janssons Temptation, which is cut potatoes that you bake in oven with cream and anchovies.

We have a Christmas tree, of course. We put presents under the tree and the Santa Clause comes to give the presents to the children. After that we dance around the tree to traditional Christmas carols.

What would you wish to the Armenian people?

I would wish them all the very best in the world, prosperity, peace in the surroundings and the neighborhood. And I wish that next year Armenia signs the new agreement with the European Union.
Uruguay vice president: We express our solidarity with Armenian people

GeoProMining's ZCMC has tripled tax payments to the state budget of Armenia

Paul Krekorian unanimously elected as LA City Council President

ThePrint: Armenia eyes procuring Akash missiles, loitering munitions from India

Armenia MP to international colleagues: Azerbaijan intends to carry out new aggression

Armenia PM: We hope Azerbaijan will cooperate in clarifying destiny of our compatriots

Newspaper: Where is 1991 declaration by which Armenia, Azerbaijan once recognized each other's territorial integrity?

Azerbaijan fires at Armenia positions at midnight

PACE lawmakers call for Azerbaijan militarys immediate withdrawal from Armenia

Australia reverses decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel capital

Nouriel Roubini: In some sense, World War III has already started

EU considers paying Elon Musk to provide Starlink Internet to Ukraine

U.S. will continue to take practical, aggressive steps to make it difficult for Iran to sell drones to Russia

German Prosecutor's Office searches Deutsche Bank headquarters

Head of Germany's national cybersecurity agency fired amid reports of ties to Russia

Uruguayan Chamber of Deputies condemns Azerbaijan's invasion of Armenian territory

Spanish minister: EU is far from solution to energy crisis

Fake Azerbaijani names of Syunik province communities removed from Google Maps and Google Earth apps

Artsakh President presents details of meetings held in Yerevan to MPs

Lavrov: Russia sees no point in maintaining its previous presence in Western countries

UAE: OPEC+ decision has no political motive

Opposition to David Price: Right to self-determination is the right of people of Artsakh to survive

Iran is ready to negotiate with Ukraine to resolve ambiguities

Deputy Speaker of Armenian National Assembly: 47 PACE deputies made written statement condemning Baku's aggression

Lapid will discuss Kiev request for Israeli systems with Kuleba

Morawiecki: Poland is not afraid of losing EU funds

Armenian President meets with Sofia Mayor

Speaker of Armenian National Assembly to Norway FM: Withdrawal of Azerbaijani Armed Forces from Armenia is a priority

Nikol Pashinyan receives delegation headed by Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt

Iran responds to Borrell's garden and jungle statement: EU needs to accept realities or it will continue to wither

Pashinyan: No one can accuse Armenia of evading its obligations

Congressman: U.S. was not active in terms of security in Armenia, but now situation is changing

Indian defense company Solar group says it has received orders from Armenia for 'Pinaka' missiles

Price: U.S. military aid to Azerbaijan will not be used for offensive purposes against Armenia

Military expert assesses possibility of new hostilities between Armenia and Azerbaijan

Russian Embassy: Armenians' attitude towards Russians who moved to Armenia remains very friendly

Clarification by Price: What Could Armenian-American military cooperation look like?

Armenian Defense Minister visits DEFEXPO exhibition in India

President of Artsakh talks about results of discussions held in Armenia

Borrell angers UAE with his comparison of world outside Europe to 'jungle'

Public Council formed in Artsakh

China Daily: Party's anti-graft efforts generate fruitful outcomes

Price: We demand that Azerbaijan return to its initial positions

Aghajanyan: This visit should be seen as another stage in dynamic development of Armenian-American relations

Ukraine will officially ask Israel for transfer of air defense systems

Head of National Assembly Commission: 2023 state budget turned out to be biggest in Armenia's history

Turkey conducts test launch of its own ballistic missile over Black Sea

Students of Brusov State University hold protest outside building of Ministry of Education and Science of Armenia

Armenia MFA: Yerevan has always openly and publicly stated its position on dialogue with Turkey

Military exercises of IRGC Ground Forces on border with Azerbaijan continue for second day in Iran

Blinken accuses China of violating status quo on Taiwan

Armenian Foreign Minister: We see Azerbaijan's unconstructive behavior

Izvestia: European banks stop accepting SWIFT-transfers from Russia

Mirzoyan calls on Cavusoglu to speak for himself

Norwegian FM visits Tsitsernakaberd Memorial Complex and pays tribute to victims of Genocide

Mirzoyan: We need to understand to what extent CSTO recognizes this aggression against Armenia

MFA: Armenian authorities apply to OSCE to send observers to border with Azerbaijan

NYT: Conflict between Turkey and Greece may cause split of NATO

Ararat Mirzoyan Details of peace treaty between Armenia and Azerbaijan were presented to Norwegian FM

Price of gas in Europe drops to almost $1,200 per 1,000 cubic meters for first time since June

Armenian Defense Minister meets with his Indian counterpart

First images of damage to Nord Stream are published

Erdogan's spokesman: Meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy is impossible now

Peskov redirects question of drone purchases from Iran to Russian Ministry of Defense

Secretary of Armenian Security Council presents consequences of recent Azerbaijani aggression to Brazilian ambassador

Trial of Robert Kocharyan and Armen Gevorgyan is held in Yerevan

IAEA chief says he wants to meet with Putin again

Pashinyan: Azerbaijan creates fake news on ceasefire violations by Armenia

US House of Representatives members visit Armenian Genocide Memorial in Yerevan

Taliban, Iran border guards fire at each other

Another high treason exposed in Armenia

Armenia MOD: Azerbaijan armed forces violate ceasefire in Sotk-Kutakan sector

World oil prices on the rise

Trump slightly ahead of Biden in New York Times poll

Armenia defense minister heads for India

Newspaper: Karabakh dissatisfied with President's Yerevan visit, meeting with Armenia PM

Azerbaijan fires toward Armenia positions at night

Zelenskyy: Ukraine needs much more modern air defense systems

Liz Truss is called upon to resign

EU to review relations with China

White House accuses Iran of lying

Poland may not receive 75 billion euros in regional aid from EU

Crash of SU-34 in Yeysk captured on video

SJC: Criminal case will be initiated against judge Arusyak Aleksanyan

Germany fines Telegram more than 5 million euros

Scholz instructs ministers to prepare to extend operation of Germany's remaining three nuclear power plants

Two people killed in Yeysk after military plane crashed

Saudi Arabia rejects U.S. accusations of supporting Russia amid war in Ukraine

Only candidate for post of military prosecutor of Armenia is named

Expert: Iran is preparing for scenarios in form of attacks on Azerbaijan and sending troops to Artsakh

German intelligence service opposes Chinese company's investment in Hamburg port

Fire area at crash site of Su-34 in Krasnodar territory is 2,000 sq. m.

EU approves military training mission for thousands of Ukrainian servicemen

Supersonic Su-34 fighter-bomber crashes in Krasnodar territory

Elon Musk on likelihood of World War III

EU Commission intends to propose 'dynamic' natural gas price cap this week

Dmitry Medvedev: Supplies of weapons to Ukraine will ruin relations between Russia and Israel

Charles Michel welcomes rapid deployment of EU mission on Armenian border

Swiss MPs horrified by consequences of Azerbaijani aggression: We support Armenians

European Union announces new sanctions against Iran
YEREVAN. - Armenia will show its worth as a rightful member of the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU): it has all the opportunities for this. In an interview with Armenian News  NEWS.am, Belarus Ambassador to Armenia Igor Nazaruk shared with his vision on the possibilities of developing cooperation between the two countries in the EEU framework, told about interesting Belarusian traditions related to New Year and Christmas celebration, and revealed his devout wish.

What achievements did Armenia and Belarus have in 2015 in the framework of the EEU?

Even if there has been no significant growth in indexes yet, at least no drop in mutual trade has been observed. And I think this is thanks to the fact that our borders have opened; we have no customs procedures, all this is in the past. We have free movement of goods: other degrees of freedom  free movement of services, workers and capital  which also function with certain reservations, will also be implemented in nearest future. Some time later the reservations will also be in the past. In financial terms, the trade indexes have somewhat deteriorated as compared to 2014. This is due to a number of reasons: change in the rate of key currencies, [as well as] change in the cost of basic hydrocarbons - fuel and gas.

But on the other hand, the analysis of the mutual commodity turnover between the Republic of Armenia and Republic of Belarus indicates growth in quantitative terms in actually all positions. Armenia and Belarus are members of the EEU. Its difficult for me to say which union is good, but, apparently, the EEU has been the best so long. It was born recently; it has good potential and good future. And the speed which we have taken is quite successful.

Do you expect any progress in the process of the Karabakh conflict settlement in 2016?

Settlement of such issues requires talks in cold and not warm regime. The OSCE Minsk Group actually aims at this. If necessary, Minsk can serve as a platform for the two presidents respected in their capitals. Im sure when contacts begin, a great degree of mutual understanding emerges, and when we understand each other better, additional elements of trust appear. Talks, calm communication without any transitions to the warm phase - Im sure this is the only correct path.

Could you please tell a little about the Belarusian New Year traditions?

New Year and Christmas bring with them the magic which all of us await like some fairy tale, some miracle and renewal. Belarusians have ancient traditions rooting from the pagan times. Together with celebrating Christmas, the national Koliada (caroling) ritual is held. Koliada is the celebration of Christmas itself. The word Koliada derives from two sources: according to one of them, it derives from the word colendae (Latin name of the first day of each month), while according to the second one, it comes from the word kolo, koleso (Rus.)(wheel), that is sun.

If we look at an actual calendar, he said, well see that this period coincides with the day of winter solstice, when, beginning from December 25 and 26, the light day lengthens. People also call this solstice, i.e. the sun turns to the summer, the Ambassador added.

A very beautiful table is traditionally set for Christmas. Before spreading the tablecloth, hay is put under it. This symbolizes Jesus in manger. Candle symbolizing the Star of Bethlehem is put on the table; fire is also the symbol of life. The mandatory attribute of Belarusian Christmas is kutia - cereal which is made of barley. 12 dishes, corresponding to the number of apostles, are put on the table and each dish should be tasted. As a rule, considering that this is lent food, dishes from fish, mushrooms and vegetables are made on Christmas Eve. I tried to prepare exactly this kind of table for celebrating New Year in Armenia. The youth, especially in villages, celebrates [the holiday] joyously: they go from hut to hut, or do caroling, as we call it. The group of young men is accompanied by a young man dressed as a gaffer, and another one dressed as a goat.

During such an improvised ritual, the goat, like the grits, symbolizes fertility and prosperity. The goat seems to first try to gore everyone, after which it falls on the ground, this symbolizing the death of the old year. Then the owners, for whom the visitors sing joyous Christmas songs, treat them with food: wurst, sweets and pastry. After this the goat revives, this symbolizing New Year and New Life. It is considered that the year will be very successful for those who are visited by the goat and gaffer.

The ancient Belarusians had a pagan deity called Zyuzya. This is a short gaffer with long silver beard. He lives in the forest, walks barefoot on the snow and carries a club in his hand. If he approaches a village and is not coaxed with presents, he starts hitting the stub with a club, and snowstorm and deep frost enter that region. And if he is coaxed, the weather will thus be good and birds will sing joyfully.

When starting eating kutia at the table, the first spoon must always be thrown out of the window. It is considered that Gaffer Zyuzya will eat it and be more gracious.

On Christmas we always clean our houses, put them into order and get rid of unnecessary things. We are not that expressive like Italians who throw their furniture out of the window. We are more assiduous with that respect: wed better fix it!

What miracle does Belarusian Ambassador expect? What would you ask from Santa Claus?

Like any other man, Id wish peace, kindness and prosperity. Apparently, not only for myself. Considering that Im Armenia, Id like this kindness to be not only in Belarus, but also in Armenia, and in the whole world. Nobody needs conflicts and hardships. I wish all the adversities to come by, and let the New Year bring only new accomplishments and growth of prosperity to our people.
11:27

Heavy fighting was on today hours after militants attempted to storm the Indian diplomatic mission in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif as special forces carried out clearing operations with India's Ambassador here saying all were safe in the consulate.



Clearing operations in Mazar-i-Sharif on by special forces, Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha said.



"Heavy fighting going on," he said, adding that Balkh province's Governor Atta Muhammad Noor was personally monitoring the situation. Sinha, in a tweet, said all were safe in the consulate. Explosions and gunfire rang out last night as militants attempted to storm the Indian diplomatic mission in Mazar-i-Sharif. Indian and Afghan security forces were jointly engaged in a gun-battle with at least two unidentified attackers, who attempted to strike the Indian consulate here.



In all 4-5 attackers were believed to have launched the attack, sources said. The sources said a contingent of Afghanistan security forces and India's Indo Tibetan Border Police Force (ITBP) were retaliating and combating intermittent gunfire that is emanating from a building near the consulate since last night and it is believed that at least 2-3 attackers are still active out of the total of 4-5 who attempted to storm the heavily guarded complex.



"Two attackers are believed to be killed after security forces engaged them," they said. The operation to completely neutralise the attackers, who first hit at about 2115 hours IST yesterday, is still on and gunfire is being exchanged between the two sides even as Afghan forces are trying to get into the consulate building, the sources said. "All the Indian staff is safe," they said.



Officials said the gunmen yesterday tried to enter the consulate from its rear end and fired an RPG round which got mis-directed and hit a building called the Alamas wedding hall, about 100 metres from the Indian Consulate building. At least 4-5 rocket rounds and numerous bullet rounds have been fired towards the Indian complex, they said, but none of them hit the building.



"A tight cordon has been created by the Afghan security forces on the outside and Indo-Tibetan Border Police personnel in the proximate circle of the consulate," the sources said. The forces have been asked to ensure zero movement outside the consulate. No group claimed responsibility for the attack which came just a day after Pakistani terrorists attacked an IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab. The attack also comes days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Kabul on a brief visit on December 25 during which he inaugurated the new building for Afghan Parliament built by India at a cost of USD 90 million.
BENAGLURU: The Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi Mi has big news to customers just before welcoming the New Year. As it set a drastic trend in cell phone market, its new move is all set setup a buzz in the new sector as well.

Recently, the company announced the launch of its new product under the 4k TV sector. The company has already been selling its TV models in china and the latest model will join its products list. The dimension of the TV is reported 70-inch with 4K screen and is priced CNY 9,999.

The 70-inch Mi TV 3 attributes 3840x2160 pixels resolution and is added with 178-degree viewing angle. As testified by the, new Mi TV has over 85 percent NTSC colour gamut and 120Hz refresh rate. Further the TV features MEMC motion compensation and measures 12.9mm at the thinnest element and equal to 38.6mm at the thickest measurement.

The gadget is runs on a quad-core MStar 6A928 (Cortex-A17) processor clocked at 1.4GHz, which makes it a smart TV as well and is backed by Mali-760 MP4 GPU and 2GB of RAM. Discussing about the storage, the new model is full to capacity of 8GB inbuilt storage. It cases a metal frame, metallic body finishing and a black plate is plated on back.

Since it is a smart TV, connectivity plays a major role in operations, thus it is powered by Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.1 LE, HDMI 2.0 (3x), Micro-USB, USB 3.0, and Ethernet port. Additionally, the device supports video formats such as H.265 4K at 60 or 30fps. In teams of audio quality the TV is beefed with 2.5-inch full-range stereo speakers that are consolidated with Dolby DTS Virtual Surround Sound and Bass Boost.

Also Read: 5 Factors That Went Wrong in 2015

How Could This Happen In Infosys? Aren't You Ashamed Mr Murthy?
Wipro Limited, a leading global information technology, consulting and business process services company today announced the appointment of TK Kurien as the Executive Vice Chairman and Abidali Z Neemuchwala as the Chief Executive Officer and Member of the Board of the company. "Over the past five years, Wipro has been transforming into a next generation technology and consulting company with defining differentiators in the market place," said Azim Premji, Chairman, Wipro Limited. "As Executive Vice Chairman, TK will enable Abid by leveraging his deep relationships with customers and chart out a new technology roadmap for Wipro," added Premji. "In his nine months as the Group President and Chief Operating Officer, Abid has effortlessly assimilated into the culture and ethos of Wipro. The new structure will ensure smooth succession and will build on the solid foundation we have developed to drive superior growth and profitability. I wish both TK and Abid every success in their new roles," added Premji. TK Kurien, will continue to report into Azim Premji and will remain a Member of the Board until March 31, 2017. "Abid has demonstrated a deep understanding of technology, business vision, sound judgement, and an innate ability to bring people together. I have no doubt that Abid is the right leader to lead Wipro in its next phase of growth," said TK Kurien. "It is a privilege and an honour to be invited to lead Wipro, a company with a rich heritage of technology innovation and unflinching commitment to values. I am convinced that we are well positioned to seize new opportunities in today's marketplace. I look forward to working with the thousands of Wiproites to take our company to greater heights," said Abidali Neemuchwala. Both these appointments are effective from February 1, 2016. (ANI)
Police have registered a fresh case against suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba operative Thadiyantavide Nazeer for sending an e-mail containing new terror plots to a friend abroad. We have registered a fresh case against him under 120b and 121 of IPC and under section 17, 19 and 40 in Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, a top police official told UNI. The police had arrested his close associate Shahanaz in November last from the Ernakulam North railway station and seized several documents and letters, he said. On detailed investigation it was found that one letter was originated from Begaluru, which contain anti social elements, and sent mails to another country, said to be Pakistan through a new mail id created by him, the sources said. However, the police official refused to disclose the contents of the letter. Shahanaz was arrested in November last year from the Ernakulum north railway station premises while attempting to meet Nazeer, who was being taken to Bengaluru. Shahnaz had also spoken to Nazeer, while the letter was being produced in the court. Shahanaz had been functioning as a conduit of Nazeer to pass on his messages.UNI CGV VV VS1916 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0312-519751.Xml
"Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan has sacrificed his life for the nation. Terrorism is problem that entire world is facing, all nations must join hands to eliminate this problem," Siddaramaiah told media persons here.

"We are going to give compensation. In Unnikrishna's case also we had given compensation of Rs. 30 lakh, even in this case we will give compensation," he added.

The mortal remains of Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan Kumar was brought to his residence here on Monday morning.

His body will be taken to his native village in Kerala's Palakkad district later in the day for cremation.

The National Security Guard (NSG) Lt. Col., who was a member of the bomb disposal squad, was killed yesterday during the combing operations at the Air Force base when a grenade he was trying defuse went off.

The terrorist attack at the Pathankot base has claimed the lives of seven security personnel including Commonwealth Gold Medallist Fateh Singh and Garud Commando Gursevak Singh. (ANI)
Following the massive earthquake in Manipur which affected the neighbouring north-eastern states, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday announced that he was thoroughly monitoring the situation and that the Centre would provide complete support to the affected areas. "The Prime Minister called me at 6 am today and told me to assess the situation in all the states. I am trying to contact all the Chief Ministers and so far I have spoke to the Assam CM. I am having trouble contacting Manipur's CM but I have spoken to their Chief Secretary and he told that the situation is not too serious right now," Rajnath told the media here. He added that one person had been killed in Manipur after a mud house collapses and around 40 to 45 people have suffered minor injuries. "I am trying to contact people and am monitoring the situation. The Central Government will provide complete support and aid to all the affected areas," the Home Minister said. Six people have been killed so far after a 6.8-magnitude earthquake struck near the India-Myanmar border around 4:30 am today with the epicentre in Tamenglong district of Manipur. Subsequently, tremors were felt in the north east states and West Bengal and according to the US Geological Survey, the quake was 57 kilometres deep. Meanwhile, a team from the National Disaster Response Force has been instructed to move from Guwahati to the areas affected by the earthquake, according to the Prime Minister's Office. Two NDRF teams comprising 90 members have been rushed to Imphal from Guwahati. (ANI)
The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) have released a fresh propaganda video which appears to show five people being executed on the charge of being British spies. According to the Guardian, the 11-minute footage included a 'message' for United Kingdom Prime Minister David Cameron which is being read by a man in an English accent, threatening attacks in the UK. In the video, an unknown terrorist is seen standing behind five kneeling hostages in orange jumpsuits and threatening an invasion by the ISIS in Europe whilst pointing a gun at the camera. The five hostages are later seen 'confessing' to being part of missions which were sanctioned by UK and then appear to be executed. The clip then concludes with a young boy in military fatigue who issues a warning in English saying, "We are going to go kill the kafir [non-believers] over there." The video showed similarity to the previous ISIS videos featuring the British extremist Mohammed Emwazi, where the footage focuses on one man in a balaclava addressing the Prime Minister directly. The unknown terrorist is seen in the video waving a gun at the camera and threatening Cameron with an attack on the UK while making references to the British airstrikes in Syria. Meanwhile, UK agencies began the hunt to identify the man in the video who appears to be a Briton and the government examined the content of the footage, whose authenticity was yet to be verified. (ANI)
Oil prices jumped over 2percent in the first trading hours of 2016 as relations betweenMiddle Eastern rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran deterioratedfollowing Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shi'ite Muslimcleric. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday,responding to the storming of its embassy in Tehran in anescalating row between the two major oil producers over Riyadh'sexecution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Global oil benchmark Brent climbed over 2.5 percentand more than a dollar to a morning high of $38.50 per barrel onMonday, before easing back to $38.28 at 0136 GMT - still up $1.U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures wereup 76 cents, or 2.05 percent, at $37.80 a barrel. Despite this jump, oil prices are down by two-thirds sincemid-2014 on ballooning oversupply as producers pump between 0.5and 2 million barrels of oil every day in excess of demand. "It's bizarre. We left 2051 on a low, but everybody knewthat geopolitics can be one of the biggest price drivers in oil.And now we're back in the office to a new year, political riskis right back into the market," said an oil trader. Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran earlyon Sunday and Shi'ite Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei,predicted "divine vengeance" for the execution of Sheikh Nimral-Nimr, an outspoken opponent of the ruling Al Saudi family. Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter while Iran,which has some of the biggest proven reserves, hopes to ramp upexports following an expected lifting of sanctions against itafter reaching a deal over its alleged nuclear weaponsdevelopment programme. "We are on track to see the implementation of the Iran dealmove forward," said deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodesin Hawaii, where U.S. President Barack Obama is on vacation. Iran's oil exports fell to around 1 million barrels per day(bpd), down from a peak of almost 3 million bpd in 2011, beforethe sanctions were put in place. Iran plans to raise oil output by half a million to 1million bpd post sanctions, although Iranian officials said overthe weekend they did not plan to flood the market with its crudeif there was no demand for it. Hurt by falling prices, some OPEC-producers like Venezuelaare calling for coordinated action to cut output, but thegroup's biggest producers in the Middle East have so far shownno will to cut without a simultaneous reduction by other majorproducers like Russia. Oil output in Russia, one of the world's three biggestproducers next to Saudi Arabia and the United States, hit apost-Soviet high in 2015 averaging 10.73 million bpd, up from10.58 in 2014. REUTERS GAU GC 0720 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0098-520055.Xml
He succeeds Ajit Rangnekar, who served as Dean of the School since January 2009 and retired on December 31, 2015.

Professor Srivastava, who is the 5th Dean of ISB, is also the Full Professor of Business in Marketing and the Novartis Chair Professor of Marketing Strategy and Innovation.

Prior to joining ISB Professor Srivastava was the Provost and Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and LKC Distinguished Chair Professor of Marketing Strategy and International Business at the Singapore Management University (SMU), ISB said in a release here today.

He has held distinguished research chairs and senior management positions at the University of Texas at Austin and Emory University in Atlanta in the past.

An alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, he holds a masters degree and a doctorate in Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh and an MS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Rhode Island.

Welcoming him, Adi Godrej, Chairman of the ISB Board said, Srivastavas appointment as the new Dean of ISB marks a significant step towards ISBs mission of consolidating and strengthening its position as a world-class business school. I wish him success with the confidence that ISB will achieve new heights of success in the years to come.

Commenting on his new role, Professor Rajendra Srivastava expressed confidence that I take up this very prestigious role as Dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB).

ISB has made a mark for itself as a premier B school in a short span.

The Indian School of Business (ISB) is a global Business school offering world-class management education across its two campuses Hyderabad and Mohali. UNI KNR VV1055

-- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0415-520142.Xml
The meeting is being attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj besides others.

The Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan scheduled for later this month looks in serious jeopardy with strong indications that the government may call off the engagement if evidence emerges that Pakistan's state actors were complicit in the attack on Pathankot's air base.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday held meetings with former Indian envoys to Pakistan to discuss the way forward with the neighbouring nation in wake of the Pathankot attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi last night reviewed the situation arising out of the terror attack at Pathankot's air base. Soon after his return from Karnataka last night, he chaired a meeting of top officials including Doval and Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar.

According to sources, the implications of the attack on relations with Pakistan are also believed to have been deliberated upon in the meeting.

The security forces have already killed four terrorists. Two more terrorists are believed to be still holed-up inside the base and an operation is underway to flush them out.

Seven security personnel have been martyred in the operation so far. (ANI)
The Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al Nimr, was executed by the Saudi authorities among 47 others on Saturday on charges of sponsoring terrorism.

Yesterday, dozens of protesters were taken into preventive custody in Kashmir as protests were held in Shia-populated pockets of capital Srinagar and neighbouring Budgam district.

They were later released late evening. Members of Shia community held protests in Lal Chowk, Zadibal, Rainawari and Saidakdal localities in the city.

Earlier, Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Iran after the execution of the cleric and Iran's diplomatic mission and related entities in Saudi were been given 48 hours to leave. (ANI)
Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh on Monday said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is personally overseeing the relief and rescue operations in earthquake-hit Manipur and other parts of northeast. "The government is concerned about the earthquake in Manipur. We want to reassure the affected states that the Prime Minister is personally following up the rescue operations. The NDRF teams have been pressed into operations, two teams have already left this morning," Singh told mediapersons here. The Minister of State in PMO, who would be visiting Imphal to take stock of the situation, said there have been seven casualties as of now. "The number of injured is more, there are around 80 to 90 people in hospitals in Imphal alone," he added. At least seven persons were killed and over 100 others injured after a 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck the India-Myanmar border at around 4: 30 a.m., causing damage to many buildings and spreading panic among the people. (ANI)
As the counter operation entered its third day today at the Pathankot Indian Air Force Base, two more terrorists are reportedly still holed up and the final stage of the operation is underway with the joint forces of the National Security Guard, Indian Army, IAF and the Police in heavy action to neutralise the assailants. "The operations for this particular airbase are going on smoothly given the magnitude of this airbase. Joint ops launched by security forces are being conducted in an excellent manner by the NSG, Army, Air Force, Police and intelligence agencies in a combined and synergised manner. We have eliminated four terrorists and the operation to eliminate two more terrorists possibly is in final stage," Major General Dushyant Singh, NSG addressed the media in a joint presser. He added that due to the area of the Air Base which is very large and the personal, strategic assets located there, the combing operations are going on simultaneously by the Army and other forces to eliminate the terrorists. "The entire operation will continue till all the personal assets and structures are physically combed, so it is likely that it will take a long time," Singh said. He assured that all the personnel strategic assets are secure and their safety has been ensured and that all the families living in the base are safe. The Army representative at the presser stated that the terrorists had entered the Base 'well prepared and heavily armed' with the aim of targeting the IAF assets which include aircrafts and helicopters located in the vital Air base. "All these assets have been secured and are safe. There has been no damage to any one of them," the Army official said. He added that the Army team which was located in close proximity of the base was on 'general alert since 1st January' on the basis of intelligence inputs and had mobilised six columns initially. Two more columns were added subsequently. "The terrorists opened fire again close to midday and are holed up in a double storey building which were the living quarters of Air Force personnel. Currently, operations are in progress to clear the building. We have ensured that there has been no collateral damage and civilian injuries," the Army official said. He assured that the situation was under the complete control of the NSG, Army and the Air Force. Meanwhile, firing and explosions were heard from the base where the counter operation is underway. Earlier today, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting chaired to discuss the ongoing operation where he was briefed by National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval The Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan scheduled for later this month looks in serious jeopardy with strong indications that the government may call off the engagement if evidence emerges that Pakistan's state actors were complicit in the attack on Pathankot's air base. (ANI)
With increased demand for satellites, IndianSpace Research Organisation (ISRO) planning space launches onmonthly basis and encouraging private industry to participate in it,ISRO is coming up with a Space Park in Bengaluru to help theindustry, ISRO Satellite Centre Director M Annadurai said today. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of Plenary Session onSpace on day two of the 103rd Indian Science Congress being held atManasa Gangotri the PG campus of University of Mysore, he saidISRO would be launching eight PSLV and two GSLV vehicles this yearand the requirement of satellites was mounting and industryparticipation for building satellites end-to-end will now be allowedby the space agency under Make in India programme. Make in India is prominent among our focus areas and alreadymany industries in the private sector are participating in the sameprogrammes. To boost this collaboration we are building a Space Parkin over 100 acre plot near the IT hub of Whitefield in Bengaluru. Wewill accommodate industries that cannot invest in new facilities forthe space programmes, he added. He said the industry would be allowed to build satellitesstarting from structure, up to testing stage and ISRO will do thejob of enabling. We want these industries which are alreadypartnered with ISRO to do increase manufacture of number ofsatellites, besides we are also inviting fresh players. We havealready had a meeting with the industry body CII to encourageprivate sector have higher involvement in ISROs space programme. When it comes to small satellites we may allow the industriesto do all the work from structure to integration. Now they are doingit in bits and pieces. The space park will have a facility under oneroof for the industry partners. Already we are allowing them in ISACand other ISRO facilities to manufacture components and structuresfor building satellites, he said. Dr Annadurai expressed satisfaction over the quality of work bythe private sector in contributing towards countrys space programmes. Their quality and other things we are watching. Already theyare doing good work. Quality wise they are good and are matching ourexpectations. Already there are good number of private firmssupplied components.'' Even Mission of Mars carried vital components, one of the firmssupplied such components to MoM is in Mysuru. We will enableindustries to come up in a bigger way, we will provide them space inthe Space Park. From now on payloads will be made by the industryfrom now on, he added.MORE UNI RS/BSP MSP VV RSS1500 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-520525.Xml
At least eight people were killed and over 100 others injured, besides damage of numerous buildings and structures,when a 6.8 magnitude earthquake rocked North Eastern region in the wee hours today. Epicentred at Tamenglong district of Manipur which made the state suffer the greatest fury, tremors were felt almost in the entire eastern Indian region as well as neighbouring countries of Myanmar,Bangladesh and Nepal. Prime Minister Narendra Modi called up Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is on a tour of Assam, soon after the earthquake and asked him to supervise the situation. Mr Singh told reporters later that the PM has asked him to contact chief ministers of all NE states and assured of full Central assistance in any regard. The PM also spoke with the chief ministers of the region later. Manipur was the worst affected state, where six people have been confirmed killed so far. The casualty figure is feared to increase as bodies could be trapped under debris. Over 100 people have sustained major and minor injuries in the quakein Manipur. Numerous buildings, mostly in capital city Imphal, were damaged and some even reduced to heaps of debris under the impact of the quake. The famous all-womens market in Imphal is among the structures damaged in the state. Two teams of about 90 personnel of NDRF have been sent from Assam to Manipur to assist the civilian authorities in rescue operations. In Assam, two persons died of cardiac arrest while trying to rush out as the tremors shook the region. About 20 others sustained injuries, including fractures, in different parts of the state, mostly while trying to rush outside. Buildings and structures in different parts of the state, includingGuwahati, developed cracks under impact of the earthquake. Railway movement under Northeast Frontier Railways was stopped for some time after the quake as a routine procedure and services resumed, after some delay, after thorough inspection of tracks, bridges and vital installments. Tremors were felt in the other NE states also, including Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Tripura, Mizoram and Meghalaya. But no damage of life or property has been reported yet.More UNI SG AD ADG AS1547 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0108-520555.Xml
The body of NSG Commando NiranjanKumar who was killed in the terrorist attack on the PattankhotAirbase due to an explosion while defusing a bomb from the body of aterrorist, was taken by air to Pallakad in Kerala for last ritestomorrow. Earlier thousands of people from all walks of life, includingUnion Ministers, Defence Personnel and others paid tribute to thedeparted soul at BEL ground where the body was kept for publicviewing. Family sources indicated here that the cremation wouldtake place at his native village of Mannarkad in Pallakad district Rich tributes were paid at BP Indian School where Niranjanstudied from Fifth Class to Tenth Standard. Teachers andstudents observed a three minutes silence as a mark of respect tothe departed soul. Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah, who paid his tributes tothe departed soul by placing flowers, announced that Lt Col Niranjanhad sacrificed his life for thecountry. " It has happened just a week after Prime MinisterNarendra Modi paid a surprise visit to Pakistan and met his counterpart. World should join hands to fight against terrorists and wipeout terrorism which is disturbing peace in the society." Extending all help from his government to the family members, heannounced that the government would provide compensation to thefamily members. The State had paid Rs 30 lakhs compensation to thefamilly member of Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan who was killed in 2008while fighting against terrorists at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai. Thirty five year-old Lt Col Niranjan was born and brought up inBengaluru. He is survived by his father, wife Dr Radika, 18month-old daughter Vismaya and brother Sqn Ldr Sarathchandra. As the body arrived late in the night people started arriving atNiranjan father Sivaranjan's house at Vidyaranyapura and there were more crowdat BEL grounds to where the mortal remains wereshifted in the morning to enable public to pay their last respects. The body will be shifted to Jalahalli Airbase in the afternoonand will be airlifted to his native Palakad in Kerala for last ritesto be held tomorrow morning, family sources told UNI. Lt Col Niranjan Kumar lost his mother when he was just threeyear-old. After his early studies in the City, he joined theNational Defence Academy at Khadakwasla, Pune. His father Sivaranjan, a retired BEL employee, said that"Niranjan was attracted to armed force at the early age and he hadjoined Short Service Commission in October 2003 and after two yearhe was commissioned permanently. He has undergone training in the USand had served in Kashmir before his current posting in Delhi." He said that "when I called him on Saturday, he said that he wasbussy in an operation and will speak later. Yesterday, my other sonSdn Ldr Sarathchandra called and conveyed the death news whichshocked me." Mr Sadananda Gowda said that Lt Col Niranjan sacrificed hislife to protect the lives of 126 crore people of the country and hisdeath is a great loss to the country. UNI MSP KVV RSS 1635 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-520626.Xml
Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal told the media here on Monday that the Punjab government will demand sensitive status for the international border on the lines of neighbouring Jammu-Kashmir.

"We want thick security cover for Punjab's international border, the way it has been done for the Jammu-Kashmir international border," Badal said.

"In order to strengthen security along the international borders of Punjab in Pathankot, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Fazilka and Ferozepur districts, the state will demand from the central government deployment of more battalions of the BSF," he said.

Badal added that the Punjab government was also chalking out a strategy to prepare a second line of defence along the Pakistan border.

Terrorists attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station early on Saturday. Four terrorists have been killed. Security forces lost seven personnel in the counter offensive.

--Indo-Asian News Service js/pm/

( 180 Words)

2016-01-04-17:53:35 (IANS)
Admitting that Delhi is always on the radar of terrorists, Police Commissioner B S Bassi today said the Delhi Police is in constant touch with Central and other security agencies to keep the situation under control. Asked about the reports of two Jaish-e-Mohammed militants sneaking into the city, he said the police cannot say anything on the issue owing to security reasons. The police is keeping a vigilant eye on all the vital locations in the city, especially in areas where there is a large gathering of people in the national capital, he said during the annual press conference of the Delhi Police here. The national capital is already on alert and all district teams have been deployed to avoid any untoward incident. Security checks are being conducted everywhere and the police have taken anti-terrorist measures to combat any kind of terror activity, he added. Yesterday, security was tightened at all vital locations, including Indira Gandhi International airport and all major railway stations, including New Delhi, Old Delhi, Nizamuddin and Anand Vihar. There were reports of two Jaish-e-Mohammed militants suspected to have sneaked into the national capital and planning high profile attacks following which security was beefed up in the city. UNI SM SW AE 1718 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0271-520922.Xml
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) today imposed monetary penalty of Rs one crore on State Bank of Travancore for not complying with submission of accurate data to the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC) of the apex bank. The penalties have been imposed in exercise of powers vested in the Reserve Bank, taking into account the violations of the instructions/ directions/guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank from time to time, the apex bank said in a statement.It also added that the action is based on deficiencies in regulatory compliance and is not intended to pronounce upon the validity of any transaction or agreement entered into by the bank and its customers.The statement further said that the apex bank had issued a show cause notice to the bank for not having complied with the directions issued by the Bank on submission of accurate data to the Central Repository of Information on Large Credits (CRILC). RBI has set up the CRILC to collect, store and disseminate data on all borrowers' credit exposures including Special Mention Accounts having aggregate fund-based and non-fund based exposure of Rs five crore and above.After considering the banks reply, the RBI came to the conclusion that the bank had violated the instructions from time to time, which warranted imposition of monetary penalty on it.UNI ASH ABI 1722 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0388-520933.Xml
As combing operations continued for the third day, Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) based United Jehad Council (UJC) claimed responsibility for the attack on Pathankot Indian Air Force base.Five militants, seven security personnel--a Lt Colonel of the National Security Guard (NSG), one IAF commando and five Defence Services Corps (DSC) personnel-- have been killed in the encounter so far.A correspondent of the CNS, a local news agency, told UNI that a caller, who identified himself as spokesman of the UJC Syed Sadaqat Hussain at 1400 hrs this afternoon claimed that Pathankot Air Base attack was carried out by the Kashmiri militants associated with Highway Squad.The UJC, an amalgam of different militant outfits, is headed by Mohammad Yousuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, chief of Hizbul Mujahideen (HM).UNI BAS RP1800 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0153-521046.Xml
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has expressed grief over the death of two soldiers from the state, who sacrificed their lives during the terror attack on Pathankot airbase on Saturday. The Chief Minister said Havaldar Sanjeevan Singh Rana of Siyun village of Shahpur assembly segment in Kangra district and Havaldar Jagdish Chand who hailed from Gola village of Sinhunta tehsil in Chamba district sacrificed their lives for maintaining the unity, integrity and security of the Nation. He said the brave soldiers of the state had always made supreme sacrifices for sake of the country. Their sacrifices would always be remembered by the people of the state and the country, he added. In his condolence message, Mr Singh has expressed his heartfelt condolences to the bereaved family members. He prayed for the peace of the departed souls. The Chief Minister announced financial assistance of Rs. 20 lakhs each to the family members of the deceased soldiers.UNI ML DJK AE NS1836 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-520982.Xml
Addressing a press conference here, Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police G P S Bhullar said that three members of the gang, including most wanted Gurjant, Sanjeev and Jitender, were nabbed from Kharar and Jatinder, fourth member of the gang, was arrested by Taran Tarn police, while two members are still absconding.

Police seized 36 kg heroin, four pistols, 190 cartridges, a Pakistani SIM card and 31 mobiles from them, he added.

The SSP said a case was registered against the gang on September 1.

Police tried to apprehend the gang members in Mohali district four-five days ago and succeeded in nabbing their accomplice, while other members gave a slip to the police team.

Mr Bhullar said the gang is involved in drug smuggling from Pakistan and its supply in neighbouring states. It was also involved in several cases of murder, loot of luxury cars and many other crimes.

Gurjant was arrested by police after recovery of huge quantity of heroin from him, but he escaped from police custody and police have launched a manhunt to nab the dreaded criminal.UNI DB RJ CS1825

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-521034.Xml
Himachal Pradesh government on today announced financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh each to the families of two soldiers from the state, who were killed while fighting terrorists at the Pathankot Indian Air Force base. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh and Governor Acharya Devvrat expressed grief over the death of Havildar Sanjeevan Singh Rana, 50, of Siyun village in Kangra district and Havildar Jagdish Chand, 58, of Golavillage in Chamba district. In a message, the Chief Minister said they sacrificed their lives to maintain the unity, integrity and security of the nation. Praying for peace to the departed souls, the Governor said the nation was indebted to them for their supreme sacrifice. Both the martyrs were cremated with full military honours in their native villages, which was attended by a large number of people. Chand, who was among the first security personnel to engage the terrorists, managed to neutralise one of the attackers before being shot dead, said officials. Chand, who is survived by wife and three children, had joined duty at the Pathankot base a month ago after his transfer from Leh in Jammu and Kashmir. After retiring from the Indian Army, he joined the Defence Security Corps. Rana is survived by wife Pinki Devi, two daughters and a son. Serving in the Indian Army is a tradition with Rana's family as his father Rattan Singh was also an army man. "It's a tragedy not for me, but for the nation. I am proud my son sacrificed his life for the nation," Rattan Singh said with moist eyes. Rana had retired from the Dogra Regiment in 2007 and joined the Defence Security Corps. While Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri attended the funeral of Chand in Chamba district, Transport Minister G S Bali and Social Welfare Minister Dhani Ram Shandil attended the cremation in Kangra district. UNI ML RJ AN1852 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-521149.Xml
The Rashtriya Janata Dal today demanded the intervention of the Union government to end the five-month long Madheshi movement as it was fomenting anti-India sentiments in thecountry. RJD vice-president and former Union minister Raghuvansh Prasad Singh told mediapersons that the Centre, instead of adopting an 'indifferent' approach to the demands of Madheshis, should play a pro-active role to end the deadlock at the earliest. He also urged the Nepal government to consider demands of Madheshis forbringing amendments in the new Nepalese constitution without anyfurther delay. He said animosity between Pahadis (those of hillorigin) and Madheshis was growing and Tharus were also agitated at theway attempts were being made to suppress the Madheshi movement inNepal. Mr. Singh has been quite vocal in highlighting the problems being faced byMadhesis in Nepal, accusing the Narendra Modi government of not beingsensitive enough to the demands of Madheshis. The RJD leader said at least 58 people, including two Indians, had beenkilled in the Madheshi movement as the Nepali government wanted tosuppress the agitation with an iron hand. Hecomplained both India and Nepal have suffered a lot in terms of trade due to the ongoing Madheshimovement. He said Nepal was now trying to strengthen itsrelationship with China while the latter was also reciprocating thediplomatic gesture with an objective to broaden its domain ofinfluence Mr. Singh said smuggling of goods, including petroleum products,drugs and fertilizer has also increased on the Indo-Nepal border assecurity forces deputed on the border were not taking effective stepsto check it.UNI DH PL CJ AE 1919 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0177-521289.Xml
Basic resources stocks slumped in Britain on the first trading day of the year on Monday, as poor factory activity data from China prompted investors to cut their exposure to the shares.The UK mining index was the hardest hit, falling 3.4 percent for its biggest one-day percentage drop since mid-December. Shares in Anglo American, Glencore , Antofagasta, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto dropped 3.3 to 6.5 percent."The mining space remains under considerable pressure on account of sector adjustment to years of over-expansion, resulting in supply gluts with slowing global growth," Mike van Dulken, head of research at Accendo Markets, said."The overnight China data is likely to keep a cap on sector sentiment until we get signs of stabilisation in China, hints of more stimulus from Beijing or indeed solid signs of a euro zone rebound."A private survey showed that factory activity in China, the world's biggest metals consumer, contracted for the 10th straight month in December and at a sharper pace than in November, dampening hopes the Chinese economy would enter 2016 on steadier footing.The mining sector's decline put pressure on the FTSE 100 index, which fell 2.4 percent to 6,090.80 points by 1143 GMT. The falls were on the top of a 5 percent decline in 2015.Gold miner Randgold Resources, however, led gains on Britain's blue-chip index. The shares rose over 2 percent as investors, spooked by concerns over global growth, flocked to gold and pushed up its price.Energy stocks also slipped. The UK Oil and Gas index dropped 2 percent after oil prices fell again on concerns over Asia's slowing economies. Oil had risen in early trading as relations between major crude producers Saudi Arabia and Iran deteriorated.Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday in response to the storming of its embassy in Tehran. The attack came after Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric on Saturday .Among mid-cap companies, shares in Cairn Energy rose 1.6 percent after the oil explorer reported positive results from a well off the coast of Senegal.REUTERS SA AS1906 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-521334.Xml
Sharma himself resigned from the primary membership saying that he would return unblemished. He is my friend and I am glad that he was granted bail, Mr Chauhan told the press at the BJPs state headquarters.

After spending approximately one-and-a-half years behind bars, Sharma was released on December 20. Following that development, numerous BJP leaders advocated his re-entry into party ranks.UNI SN-AC AE 1951

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0044-521433.Xml
The Chamber of Marathwada Industries and Agriculture (CMIA) today once againdemanded the External Affairs Ministry to set up a regional passport office in this rapidly growing city, forconvenience of local citizens.A statement issued here by CMIA president Ashish Garde said the proposal for establishment of a regional passport office at Aurangabad was under consideration for past two years and till date, the passport office has not been opened or established in the city. In view of Aurangabad being the divisional headquarters of Marathwada region comprising eight districts and also considering its importance for industries, trade, tourism and education, the number of persons travelling abroad is growing every year. Since there is no passport office at Aurangabad, citizens of Marathwada have to travel to Mumbai for any matter connected with passport. Consequently, they are facing a lot of hardship, besides incurring extra cost and devote extra time, said Mr Garde.The statement further stated that since Aurangabad is an important business centre for industries and trade, industries in Marathwada have business interest in more than 80 countries and export goods to 60 countries across the globe. Also, with the airport at Aurangabad having got the 'International Airport' status and already being notified for 'Air Cargo Exports', establishment of a passport office at Aurangabad is the need of the hour. Moreover, with the Government of India including Aurangabad in the project for development of 100 smart cities across the country that are expected to come up in next five years as well as the upcoming prestigious Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project at Aurangabad and the recently announced Dry Port at Aurangabad-Jalna, CMIAs demand for establishment of a passport office at Aurangabad is logical, Mr Garde added.UNI VKB SS RJ 1900 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-521239.Xml
Waiter Anil Gopalprasad Gupta (32) originally hailing from Patna in Bihar, was working as a waiter at Pratap hotel off Mumbai-Agra national highway near Adgaon, police said.

Prem Khushilal Paswan (26), hailing from Bihar, and Uday Bharti alias Baba, hailing from Allahabad, were also working at the same hotel with Gupta.

Yesterday, Bharti came to the hotel in inebriated condition, raked up an old feud and started beating bothGupta and Paswan with a wooden plank while they were sleeping in their quarters behind the hotel.

Paswan managed to escape from the scene, but because of severe beating, Gupta died on the spot. Soon after the incident, Bharti fled the spot.

Following the incident, Paswan lodged a complaint at the Adgaon police station against absconder Bharti, sources added. The by Paswan the Aadgaon police have registered an offence of murder against the suspect Uday Bharti and further investigation are on.UNI RDS SS CJ AE AN1941

-- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0169-521268.Xml
National Security Guard Inspector General Major General Dushyant Singh today confirmed that the security forces have successfully eliminated the fifth terrorist and that the operation to liquidate the other terrorist holed up in a double storey building still continued. The NSG officer said the security forces had seized the charred body of fifth terrorist from the site of encounter. Earlier in the day while addressing a joint media conference along with Adampur Air Force Station AOC Commodore J S Dhamoon and Brig Anupinder Singh, Maj Gen Singh claimed that the operation was advancing in the right direction and he was sure the security forces would liquidate the holed up terrorists soon. He said the operation would take a long time to declare the Airbase completely secured because of its size and geography and to take into consideration the safety of people living in the vicinity of the Air Force Station. Security forces had to ensure the safety of the people. He said the joint operation was in progress to liquidate the remaining terrorists. Commodore Dhamoon said the area of Pathankot Air Force Station sprawled in 2000 acres is like a mini city that includes homes for the families and a school for the children of the Air Force personnel stationed here. Officials said there have been no civil casualties and that the military equipment, fighter jets and helicopters are safe. The Airbase houses a fleet of MiG-21 fighter planes and Mi-25 and Mi-35 attack helicopters besides military hardware. The encounter, which started on Saturday morning, entered its third day today. The operation against the terrorists continued throughout the night with intermittent firing from both the sides. Sounds of gunfire and explosions continued. More military and quick response teams were requisitioned which were seen rushing in the Airbase. Attack helicopters were pressed in to keep a vigil on the situation by flying over the area. Seven Army personnel, including NSG Commando Lt Col Niranjan Kumar and IAF Garuda commando Gursewak Singh, sacrificed their precious lives for the integrity and unity of India in the operation against the terrorists, claimed to be of Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) based United Jehad Council, so far.(Eds: pick up suitably from earlier series)UNI XC AE 1909 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-521249.Xml
On a complaint by father of the girl the police has registered a case under section 363,366-A and 506 IPC against the accused and started investigation .

Mohammad Rashid father of the girl in his complaint stated that he had been working at a poultry farm of Balkar in Goeng village near kaithal town. He was living there with his family.

Yesterday, one Pardeep son of Sinder resident of Khanouri in Punjab lured his daughter aged 16 on the pretext of marrying her.

The complainant further stated that accused has also threatened to kill him for any interference in this matter.

Investigating Officer(I/ O) ASI Ramesh said that the matter was being investigated. UNI XC CJ AE NS1943

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The elephants kept officials on their toes when they ravagedfields and proceeded towards Omkar forest range in Bandipur throughthe highway. Farmers panicked after they came to know that thejumbos raided fields in villages.

As the news spread, villagers gathered in large number andstarted pelting stones on the elephants in an attempt to drive themback.

However, due to shouting and stone pelting the elephantsran amok and entered field in which paddy and banana were grown. The forest officials visited the spot and trying hard to chasethem back to the forest.UNI BSP MSP KVV KSR 2005

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Congress leader in the Lok Sabha MallikarjunKharge here today criticised the Prime Minister Narendra Modis foreign policy andexpressed question mark over his recent visit to Pakistan on the backdrop of Pathankot incident. Addressing a public meeting here in Chitapur , 70 km fromhere, he said that Pathankot incident has put a question mark on Mr Modi's claim of a "robust government." "Mr. Modi claims that discussions with Pakistan have resumed.Then why are such attacks taking place," Mr.Kharge asked. Theattack exposed the "weak points within the security andintelligence," he said. Mr Kharge also said that the attack came a week after Modivisited Lahore where ISI, intelligence agency of Pakistan, continuesto sustain and support terror activities against India. "It is amatter of serious concern. Will the Prime Minister take up the issuewith Pakistan now that he has recently visited Pakistan, he asked. Senior Congress leader in the Lok Sabha advised Mr Modi that any foreign policy not to be takenin a hurry, as any country's policy changed overnight, or else thegovernment foreign policy developed its own time, Mr Kharge queried. He said the attack has emerged as the first major challenge forMr Modi's initiative to revive dialogue with Pakistan. While governments in both India and Pakistan were quick to condemn the attack as a cowardly act by those against peace in the region. "Mr. Modi claims that discussions with Pakistan have resumed.Then why are such attacks taking place," Mr. Kharge asked. The attack exposed the "weak points within the security and intelligence," he lamented.. Mr Kharge also said the internal security situation is "serious" and hoped that Centre wastaking necessary steps to neutralise terror threats. It may be recalled that the Pathankot airbase was attacked by terrorists on Saturday morning and so far six security personnel have died and at least six terrorists were killed by the security forces.UNI SD KVV KSR 2010 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-521421.Xml
Stating that there was opposition from severalquarters when innovations on sperm transfer, sex change and the likecame into fore, on the grounds that they opposed to nature, NobelLaureate from UK, Prof. Sir John B. Gurdon, has called upon thescientists working across the globe to carry on their tasks withoutany fear and by neglecting objections. Speaking after inaugurating the three-day Childrens ScienceCongress as part of Indian Science Congress (ISC) at Amphitheatre,here Sir John B Gurdon said that India has made several significantadvancements in Science and Technology over the past 50 years andurged Indian Scientists to strive their best for taking the countryto the top of the list among most developed nations in the next 50 years. Pointing out that the invention of TV, computers, driver-less carsand the like were indeed great innovations, he called upon Scientistand Technocrats to come up with more innovations that areconstructive and beneficial to entire humanity. Dr Achyuta Samanta, Founder, KIIT and KISS, Bhubaneswar, who wasthe guest of honour on the occasion, observed that the ChildrensScience Congress was an important part of Indian Science Congress. Noting that India has been home to many innovations since ages, DrSamanta said that India was one among the earliest civilisations andit was India which gave to the world Arithmetic elements such aszero (O) digit, pie () and minus (-) signs. A two-page newsletter titled Billion Beats, dedicated toMissile Man and former President late Dr. Abdul Kalam and abooklet titled 23rd Rashtriya Kishore Vaigyanik Sammelan -Understanding weather and climate were released on the occasion.About 11 children, who topped a national contest on science held inlast Sept.-Oct., werepresented Declaration of Infosys - ISCA Travel awards.UNI RS/BSP MSP KVV KSR 2058 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-521577.Xml
The arrest reportedly came following a skirmish in mid-sea with Lankan fishermen.

The Tamil fishermen from Akkarapettai in Nagapattinam district were fishing near Mullatheevu when their boat collided with the boat of Lankan fishermen, which sank in the mid sea as a result of the impact.

Lankan fishermen cornered the fishermen from Nagai and with ropes dragged the fishing boat to Sri Lanka. The Tamil fishermen were handed over to the Lankan Navy, along with the boat.

The Lankan Navy formally arrested the eight Tamil fishermen and took possession of their fishing boats.

This incident has created lot of tension in the fishermen hamlets of Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. Tamil fishermen are urging the government to secure the release of fellow fishermen and more than 62 fishing boats detained by Lanka.

Earlier, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalaithaa had written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to take up the matter of freeing 84 Tamil fishermen languishing in Lankan jail. (ANI)
Police today arrested five Congress activists in connection with the throwing of eggs and potatoes on the car of Odisha Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Das Burma. Some Congress workers had pelted the car with eggs and tomatoes here yesterday, protesting against the alleged irregularities in the allocation of ration cards under the National Food Security Act. The activists alleged that the people's representatives of the ruling party have taken the ration cards to avail the benefit under the NFSA, violating the guidelines and the government, instead of taking action against them, was trying to shield them.UNI BD PL PY RJ NS2146 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0177-521629.Xml
Qualifier Ante Pavic of Croatia, who had qualifiedinto the main draw of 2016 Chennai Open, today said his upset winoverSpain's Nicolas Almagro, ranked no 72, was his biggest victoryso far. Answering queries at the post match press conference, the big serving Pavic said after losing the first set, he realised that with his opponentplaying too well from behind, he had to keep the points short. " I was a bit nervous playing my first match on the centre court here",he averred. The Croatian said like many of his compatriots, he too relied more onbig serve. He also admitted that his long stints of practice afterarriving here on December 27, certainly helped him to adapt to theweather here. This also showed in the match today. " I was hitting solidly even in the first set. I tried to keep myserves in", he said.Pavic also said what helped him further in the matchwas the fact that he won the second set "pretty quickly". " I was nervous, but I wanted to enjoy every minute of the match,this I told myself", he added.UNI VV KVV KSR 2125 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0415-521657.Xml
Two Garo National Liberation Army (GNLA) militants today surrendered before the police at Resubelpara in North Garo hills. Jimbo T Sangma alias Rabon, one of the accused in the abduction and killing of policeman Kamraj Bhattarai, and Krailing K Sangma surrendered, following the ongoing operations and public pressure against the militants. On November 6 last, the outfit abducted Bhattarai, who was later killed. His body was recovered a month later. Bhattarai was abducted, while he was traveling on a commercial vehicle from Darengchi village on Resu-Songsak road in North Garo hills. He was on leave and scheduled to join duty on that day. The outfit had denied involvement in the abduction, a day later. Due to continuous operation in North Garo hills and pressure from public against insurgency, the GNLA cadre surrendered, North Garo Hills Superintendent of Police, Ramesh Singh, said.UNI RRK PL RJ NS2145 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0211-521656.Xml
"India has created a strong ecology of Science andTechnology in the past six decades" said V K Saraswat, Member ofNiti Ayog, Science and Technology wing. Chaired the session in the 103 rd Science congress here he saidthat the support for the Science and Technology research in Indiais good. The societal transformation is taking place at a fasterrate, so is the scientific advancement. It is the need of the hourto link Science with the society in a better way", he opined. He stressed the importance of the international collaboration forenergy revolution, food for all, making sustainable urban living,and the rising population in the world. The government of India isworking hard to make the future secured, with its programmes likeSwatch Bharat, Digital India, Make in India, Startup India and standup India, among others. Dr Aiyappa, representing the Agricultural department, explainedthe way in which India is advancing in the field of agriculture. Thereturn to the investment in agriculture is very high in Indiacompared to other countries. If the agriculture is done in ascientific way, the result will be much better in the country, he opined. Dr Sowmya Swaminathan, representing the department of IndianMedical Science department, said that, "Medical research in India islimited only to a few laboratories and institutions in the country.The government is working on this issue, and there will be morelaboratories and institutions that can conduct the research in thecountry. As the health is a concern for both the central and stategovernment, network with the health department of all the states isbuilt with a greater priority. The life expectancy of Indians isstill not high compared to other developing countries, she explained. Representing the department of Science and Technology, AshutoshSharma explained the work of the department in the last year. Heexpressed his satisfaction regarding the implementation of thedecisions taken in the last ISC. "The science publication of India is currently 6th in the worldand within a couple of years, India will be the in the 5th place. Wehave to work on to manage the electronic waste, which in future willbe a major problem in the future. We are getting future ready andthe National Supercomputing mission is planned with a budget of 4500crore in the next 7 years", he added. Representatives of R&D department, atomic energy department,Department of environment were present in the session.UNI RS-BSP KVV KSR 2105 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0284-521584.Xml
The Delhi High Court today heard arguments of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in the Disproportionate Assets case, lodged by the agency against Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh in September last year. Recently, Mr Singh moved the Delhi High Court against CBI's decision of not issuing copy of FIR and other related documents to him.The court adjourned the hearing to January 7, when it would also hear the arguments of the Enforcement Directorate. ED had earlier summoned the Chief Minister on January 5 to interrogate him in another FIR lodged against him, but could not do so during the court proceedings on the matter. The CBI counsel presented their arguments before the single judge bench of Justice Ashutosh, sources informed.Mr Singh pleaded before the court that he could not respond to the agencies' queries unless he was supplied copy of related documents and FIR during interrogation. During the last hearing, the court sought reply from both the agencies on Mr Singh's plea. However, the agencies refused to hand over the documents to Mr Singh until investigation was on. CBI had booked Mr Singh and his family members in the DA case and other charges of corruption, after which the premises belonging to the Chief Minister, were raided by the agency. In another plea lodged by Mr in the Himachal Pradesh High Court, the former got relief that he should not be arrested and court should be informed before interrogating him. CBI also had moved the Supreme Court against the HP High Court order, which held that Delhi High court would hear this matter.UNI ML RJ 2233 -- (UNI) -- C-1-DL0293-521603.Xml
The Supreme Court today said it will seriously consider examining to ban websites displaying jokes on Sikhs after hearing a plea filed by a Sikh lawyer-cum-petitioner, seeking directions from it to ban websites spreading jokes on Sikhs. "If we think that your community do feel bad about it, we will definitely seriously consider it," a three-judge bench of the apex court, comprising Chief Justice (CJI) Tirath Singh Thakur and Justices Arjan Kumar Sikri and R Banumathi said."Does your community stand by you?," the bench asked Sikh woman lawyer Harvinder Chowdhary, who has filed a PIL in this regard.She said the Delhi Sikh Gurduwara Management Committee (DSGMC) has also filed a petition on the same issue and they are engaging a battery of senior advocates, including Ram Jethmalani to argue the matter.While the woman advocate was making submissions, the bench intervened and asked Additional Solicitor General PS Patwalia to express his views on the issue, being a Sardar himself.During the hearing, the bench wanted to know from the woman lawyer as to "who will determine that a particular joke is derogatory." Ms Chowdhary had moved the top court, seeking directions from it to ban websites spreading jokes on Sikhs. She told the apex court that this community (Sikhs/Sardars) was projected as low intellectual people, stupid and foolish with such jokes. "All jokes relating to the Sikh community should be stopped. My children are humiliated and feel embarrassed and they don't want to suffix Singh with their name," she had argued. Ms Chowdhary also told the SC that whenever she travelled in Delhi Metro or any other mode of transport, she heard several times people cited jokes, involving the Sikh community. She had also sought from the SC that it should direct the government to clamp down on more than 5,000 websites.These Sikh-centric websites or jokes created a public nuisance under Section 268 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and it was indeed a crime under the cyber laws, the petitioner contended. UNI XC RJ 2320 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0298-521740.Xml
Afghan special forces prepared to clear insurgents barricaded in a house near the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif today after an overnight attack that coincided with an assault on an Indian air base near the border with Pakistan. A small group of gunmen tried unsuccessfully to break into the consulate late on Sunday and shut themselves into the house but security forces halted operations overnight and were proceeding cautiously to minimise civilian casualties. Gunfire could be heard around the area and helicopters were circling overhead as army and police commandos surrounded the area in a residential district of the city, in Balkh province, which borders Uzbekistan. At least one civilian was wounded but the Indian ambassador said all the consulate staff were safe. There was no indication of who may have been behind the attack, which came amid renewed efforts to lower tension between India and its rival Pakistan and restart peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Last month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kabul and Islamabad on the same day, underlining the drive to improve regional stability and overcome the longstanding hostility in the region. However, Sunday's attack and a separate assault on an Indian air base in Pathankot, in the northwest Indian state of Punjab, underlined how difficult that process is likely to be. As the attack in Mazar-i-Sharif began, Indian security forces were still engaged in mopping up the insurgents in Pathankot. In 2014, India's consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat was hit by heavily armed insurgents including suicide bombers, one of a series of attacks on Indian diplomatic stations in Afghanistan. Pakistan has long been suspicious of India's engagement with Afghanistan and its diplomatic presence there. REUTERS AY SB1242 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0352-520264.Xml
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi said tuesday the country's peace process will be the first priority of her new government that will take power later this year, following a landslide victory in a November election. The country has struggled for decades to reach lasting peace agreements with a multitude of ethnic minority guerrilla groups that have fought against the government for greater autonomy and recognition. The government signed a ceasefire in October, but the deal fell short of its nationwide billing, with seven of 15 groups invited declining to sign, including some of the most powerful. Fighting has since flared in eastern parts of the country between the military, non-signatories and groups that did not take part in the negotiations. "The peace process is the first thing the new government will work on. We will try for the all inclusive ceasefire agreement," Suu Kyi said in a speech to mark Independence Day at the headquarters of her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Yangon. "We can do nothing without peace in our country." Suu Kyi spurned the government-lead peace talks that President Thein Sein touted as a major achievement of his semi-civilian administration, which took power in 2011, ending 49 years of direct military rule. She did not attend a signing ceremony in October. The next step in the peace process, a political dialogue with the eight groups that signed, is set to begin on Jan. 12. The NLD-lead government will take power in March following a presidential election expected to take place in February, but the military will remain a powerful political force. A quarter of seats in parliament are reserved for unelected military officials. Three important cabinet ministers - home affairs, defence and border affairs - are also chosen by the commander-in-chief. Suu Kyi remains barred from becoming president under the military-drafted constitution.Suu Kyi's speech was one of her first since winning the election and marked 68 years of Myanmar's independence. The Nobel laureate's father, Aung San, is greatly revered in Myanmar for leading the country's fight for independence from the British and founding the military. He was assassinated in 1947, six months before his dream of an independent nation was realized when Suu Kyi was just two years old.REUTERS AY PR1316 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0352-520325.Xml
Saudi Arabia used an attack on its embassy in Tehran as a pretext to fuel tensions, Iran's foreign ministry said today after Riyadh severed diplomatic relations. Iran was committed to protecting its foreign diplomatic missions, the ministry added. Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in the early hours yesterday after Saudi Arabia executed Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, prompting Riyadh to withdraw its diplomatic staff and order Iranian diplomats to leave the kingdom. The protesters lit fires and smashed furniture in the embassy before being cleared out by the police, who made 40 arrests. No Saudi diplomats were in the embassy. Iranian officials condemned the attack as well as Nimr's execution. "Iran has acted in accordance with its (diplomatic) obligations to control the broad wave of popular emotion that arose," foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in televised remarks. "Saudi Arabia benefits and thrives on prolonging tensions... (It) has used this incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions," he added. Ansari said Iranian diplomats had not yet left Saudi Arabia. They were given 48 hours to leave last night.REUTER SA CS1436 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-520456.Xml
A Jakarta commercial court has approved the suspension of Indonesian mobile phone retailer PT Trikomsel Oke Tbk's debt payment obligations, newspaper Kontan reported today, quoting a judge. Trikomsel's obligations to pay its creditors will be suspended for 45 days while it works out a restructuring, the paper quoted Judge Djamalludin Samosir as saying. The suspension could be extended. The request to suspend Trikomsel's debt payment obligations was made by one of its creditors, PT Gapura Artha Semesta, Kontan reported. A source involved with the matter confirmed the report to Reuters. Trikomsel was not immediately available to comment. A court official could not immediately give any details on the Trikomsel matter. Trikomsel said in October that more than 80 per cent of its total debt of around 460 million dollars will fall due in the next two years.REUTERS SA AS1607 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-520601.Xml
At least two Sunni Muslim mosques have been attacked in Iraq in apparent retaliation for the execution of a senior Shi'ite cleric in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, officials and police said today. The interior ministry in Baghdad confirmed the attacks late Sunday in Hilla, around 100 km south of Baghdad. It didn't confirm reports that at least one person was killed. Iraq has faced sectarian bloodletting for years, mainly between the Sunni minority and Shi'ite majority that was empowered after the US-led invasion in 2003. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi ordered the provincial authorities ``to chase the criminal gangs'' who attacked the mosques. He blamed the attacks on ``Daesh and those who are similar to them,'' according to a statement that refers to Islamic State by one of its Arabic acronyms. On Saturday, Saudi Arabia executed prominent cleric Nimr al-Nimr, triggering angry reactions in Shi'ite ruled Iraq and Iran. The government in Riyadh cut ties yesterday with Tehran after protesters attacked Saudi diplomatic representations in Iran. The attack on the Ammar bin Yasir mosque in the northern outskirts of Hilla destroyed its dome and several walls, according to a Reuters TV cameraman who visited the site. The second attack on the al-Fath al-Mubeen mosque in central Hilla was reported by a provincial council member and a police source who said a guard inside the building was killed.REUTERS SA CS1632 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-520774.Xml
Militants fought government forces in Yemen's southern port city of Aden overnight, officials said, prompting authorities to impose a curfew from 8 pm today until 5 am on Tuesday. Gun battles killed eight government troops, including a colonel, and four of the unidentified militants, medical sources told Reuters. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attacks. The government has struggled to keep order since its forces, backed by a Saudi-led alliance, took back Aden from largely Shi'ite Muslim Houthi fighters in July. Tensions mounted further over the weekend after the Houthis joined Shi'ite power Iran in condemning the decision by Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia to execute a prominent Shi'ite cleric. The city and surrounding province were now stable and the curfew was ordered as a precaution, said local authority spokesman Nizar Anwar. Saudi Arabia has led an Arab coalition in a military campaign since late March to stop the Houthis, allies of Riyadh's main regional foe Iran, from taking complete control of Yemen after they seized the capital Sanaa in 2014 and advanced south. The coalition announced on Saturday the end of a ceasefire that began on December 15 and has been repeatedly violated by all sides. The Houthis say they are leading an Islamic-inspired revolution against corruption, but the Saudis have accused the group of acting as a proxy for Tehran. Islamic State and Al Qaeda branches in Yemen have also taken advantage of the chaos to step up operations.REUTERS SA AS1637 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-520786.Xml
Saudi Arabia cut ties with regional rival Iran yesterday after Iranian protesters attacked its mission there, angered by the Sunni Muslim kingdom's decision to execute a leading Shi'ite cleric. Iran is the main Shi'ite power.

Bahrain decided to break off diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran and calls upon all members of the mission to leave the kingdom within 48 hours," BNA said. REUTERS SA AS1711

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Britain has granted asylum to a Sudanese man who made global headlines in August when he walked 50 km through the Channel Tunnel from France to England, highlighting the desperation of many migrants seeking a better life in Europe. Abdul Haroun, who was arrested at the English end of the tunnel on August 4 and charged with obstructing a railway under an obscure 19th Century law, has been held in prison since then and was due to face trial this month. In a brief hearing today at Canterbury Crown Court where Haroun appeared by video-link from prison and spoke only to confirm his name, prosecutor Philip Bennetts said Haroun had been granted asylum on December 24. Bennetts requested 14 days for the prosecution to consider the impact of this new information on the criminal case, suggesting that the charge against Haroun may be dropped. Judge Adele Williams granted the request, adjourning the case to January 18 for the prosecution to announce their decision. She also granted Haroun immediate bail after Bennetts made clear the prosecution was not opposing his release. While in prison, Haroun has been supported by a small, local refugee rights group who were able to provide him with an address, which was not disclosed in court. The judge told Haroun via an interpreter that his bail terms were that he had to live at that address, sleep there every night, and report to a local police station every Wednesday during a two-hour window. Haroun is the first migrant known to have made it to Britain by foot through the railway tunnel, a perilous 12-hour journey in near total darkness that involved dodging trains travelling at up to 160 km per hour. Thousands of migrants have been camped out in squalid conditions for months near Calais, the entry point of the tunnel on the French side, hoping to find their way to Britain. Most attempt the crossing by trying to board trains or trucks. Refugee rights campaigners and immigration lawyers had accused the British authorities of seeking to make an example of Haroun to deter others from following in his footsteps. The police, prosecution service and immigration authorities have not commented publicly on the case, as is standard when a criminal trial is pending. Little is known about Haroun, who was 40 at the time of his arrest. The court heard at an earlier hearing that his mother tongue is Zaghawa, suggesting that he may be from Darfur, a region of Sudan ravaged by more than a decade of conflict between government and rebel forces.REUTERS SA AS1719 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-520935.Xml
Belgian authorities today scaled down heightened security adopted over fears of a militant attack in the capital on New Year's Eve, but the country as a whole remained on high alert. Belgium's crisis centre, a state body that advises the government on security, said the alert status for potential targets such as the police, military and Brussels's main square was downgraded to level two. However, the overall security level for the country, which has been at the heart of investigations into attacks in Paris on November 13 in which 130 people were killed, remains at level three, one notch below the maximum alert status. Brussels had called off the city's traditional New Year's Eve fireworks over an alleged plot to attack the capital. Two of the Paris suicide bombers, Brahim Abdeslam and Bilal Hadfi, had been living in Belgium, and at least one man was suspected of having coordinated the attacks by mobile phone from Belgium as they were being carried out.REUTERS SA CS1819 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-521115.Xml
Sudan said today it was cutting diplomatic ties with Iran after the storming of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran and consulate building elsewhere in Iran. "In response to the barbaric attacks on the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad ... the government of Sudan announces the immediate severing of ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran," a Foreign Ministry statement said. Saudi Arabia cut ties with regional rival Iran yesterday after Iranian protesters attacked its mission there, angered by the Sunni Muslim kingdom's decision to execute a leading Shi'ite cleric. REUTERS SA CS1821 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-521138.Xml
An Islamic State video showing a young boy in military fatigues and an older masked militant who both spoke with British accents should be viewed as a propaganda tool, Prime Minister David Cameron said today. The video, which could not be independently verified, also shows the killing of five men accused of spying for the West. The masked man threatens Cameron and vows that Islamic State will one day occupy Britain before shooting one of the alleged spies in the head. The footage revived memories of "Jihadi John", a British Islamic State member who appeared in several videos in which hostages were killed before his own death was reported in an air strike late last year. "We are examining the content of the video and the prime minister is being kept updated on that," Cameron's spokeswoman said of the latest footage. She was not aware whether Cameron himself had watched it. "It serves as a reminder of the barbarity of Daesh and what the world faces with these terrorists. It is also clearly a propaganda tool and should be treated as such," the spokeswoman said, referring to Islamic State by one of its Arabic acronyms. When asked whether the men shown had been spies, the spokeswoman declined to comment on intelligence matters but said the group's past propaganda had not all been true. After the killings of the five men, a young English-speaking boy, who is wearing a black bandana and appears to be about four or five years old, is shown saying: "So go kill the kuffar right over there". The United States said in November it had killed Mohammed Emwazi, a British citizen dubbed Jihadi John who became a symbol of Islamic State brutality after appearing in several hostage execution videos. The masked militant shown in the new video was different from Emwazi but spoke in a clear English accent, waving a gun at the camera while criticising Cameron. "This is a message to David Cameron, O slave of the White House, O mule of the Jews," the man said in the 10-minute video released yesterday. "How strange it is that a leader of a small island threatens us with a handful of planes. One would have thought you'd have learned the lessons of your pathetic master in Washington and his failed campaign against the Islamic State," the man said. In November, British officials said that up to 800 Britons had travelled to Iraq and Syria, some to join Islamic State. About 50 per cent had returned home while about 70 were believed to have been killed. REUTERS SA CS1858 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-521303.Xml
Attacks on diplomatic missions can never be a legal means of protest, Russia said today, after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest at Riyadh's execution of a senior Shi'ite cleric. Russia's foreign ministry expressed "serious concern" about the worsening situation in the region and called on the two countries and others "to show restraint and avoid any steps that would complicate the situation and lead to a rise in tensions". REUTERS SA RAI1926 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-521356.Xml
Thousands of protesters marched in Baghdad and Iraq's southern Shi'ite cities today condemning the execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric by Saudi Arabia. Riyadh's execution on Saturday of the cleric, Nimr al-Nimr, and three other Shi'ites on terrorism charges along with dozens of Sunni jihadists have stirred up protracted Middle East rivalries and driven up tension across the region. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Shi-ite Iran, and fellow-Sunni Bahrain and Sudan followed suit today, two days after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest at Nimr's death. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) also downgraded its ties with Iran. In Baghdad today, demonstrators carrying portraits of Nimr rallied outside the Green Zone, a heavily fortified district that houses government departments and diplomatic representations, including the newly reopened Saudi embassy. Police guarding the zone pushed back a group that attempted to cross a line of barbed wire as they chanted "Damned, damned be Al Saud!," referring to the Saudi ruling family. Similar protests were held in Basra, southern Iraq's biggest city, and in the holy Shi'ite cities of Najaf and Kerbala. "Killing Sheikh Nimr is the beginning of your downfall," shouted demonstrators in Kerbala, addressing the Saudi ruling family. They carried a coffin symbolizing a funeral for the cleric. In Basra, the demonstrators held signs urging the population, the traders and the government to boycott Saudi products, echoing similar calls by Shi'ite politicians over the past two days. Prominent Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr yesterday called for the demonstrations in Iraq and urged the government to cut off ties with Saudi Arabia. Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia last week reopened its embassy in Iraq, closed in 1990 after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.REUTERS SA NS1740 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-521409.Xml
An Islamic State video showing a young boy in military fatigues and an older masked militant who both spoke with British accents is "desperate" propaganda from an organisation that is losing ground, Prime Minister David Cameron said today. The video, which could not be independently verified, also shows the killing of five men accused of spying for the West. The masked man threatens Cameron and vows that Islamic State will one day occupy Britain before shooting one of the alleged spies in the head. The footage revived memories of "Jihadi John", a British Islamic State member who appeared in several videos in which hostages were killed before his own death was reported in an air strike late last year. "It's desperate stuff from an organisation that really does do the most utterly despicable and ghastly acts and people can see that again today," Cameron told reporters. "This is an organisation that's losing territory, it's losing ground ... Britain will never be cowed by this sort of terrorism, our values are so much stronger than theirs. It may take a very long time but they will be defeated." In the latest fighting in Iraq, Islamic State has largely been pushed out of the city of Ramadi, its biggest prize of last year. "PROPAGANDA TOOL" Cameron's spokeswoman said Britain was examining the video and the prime minister was being kept updated. She was not aware whether Cameron himself had watched it. "It serves as a reminder of the barbarity of Daesh and what the world faces with these terrorists. It is also clearly a propaganda tool and should be treated as such," the spokeswoman said, referring to Islamic State by one of its Arabic acronyms. When asked whether the men shown had been spies, the spokeswoman declined to comment on intelligence matters but said the group's past propaganda had not all been true. After the killings of the five men, a young English-speaking boy, who is wearing a black bandana and appears to be about four or five years old, is shown saying: "So go kill the kuffar right over there". The United States said in November it had killed Mohammed Emwazi, a British citizen dubbed Jihadi John who became a symbol of Islamic State brutality after appearing in several hostage execution videos. The masked militant shown in the new video was different from Emwazi but spoke in a clear English accent, waving a gun at the camera while criticising Cameron. "This is a message to David Cameron, O slave of the White House, O mule of the Jews," the man said in the 10-minute video released yesterday. "How strange it is that a leader of a small island threatens us with a handful of planes. One would have thought you'd have learned the lessons of your pathetic master in Washington and his failed campaign against the Islamic State," the man said. In November, British officials said that up to 800 Britons had travelled to Iraq and Syria, some to join Islamic State. About 50 per cent had returned home while about 70 were believed to have been killed.REUTERS SA NS1952 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-521446.Xml
The European Commission said today it would examine the impact of laws pushed through by Poland's new right-wing government amid growing concerns for democracy and the rule of law in the EU's largest eastern member. Since winning an election last October, the Law and Justice party (PiS), which advocates higher state spending, conservative Catholic values and Euroscepticism, has moved to put Polish public TV and radio broadcasters under direct government control and to change the makeup of the constitutional court. The court changes prompted public protests, rattled investors and drew accusations from rights activists that PiS is undermining democratic checks and balances in a country long seen as a bulwark of economic and political stability in Europe. PiS strongly denies such charges. Commission spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a regular news briefing in Brussels that the EU executive would hold a "political debate" on Jan.uary13 on the rule of law in Poland. Commissioner Gunther Oettinger, responsible for the digital economy and society, said yesterday Warsaw should be put under the EU's rule of law supervision, a three-step procedure that could end up with the suspension of Poland's voting rights within the 28-nation bloc. The rule of law supervision framework was adopted in 2014 to deal with "systemic threats" to EU values. It was created amid concerns over judicial independence in two other former communist member states, Hungary and Romania. Spokesman Schinas said the planned discussion on the changes in Poland did not amount to a first step in the rule of law procedure. Under that mechanism, the Commission raises its concerns with the relevant EU member state if it deems there is a systemic threat to the rule of law there. It can give the country a deadline for addressing its concerns. Should that fail, the EU executive arm can resort to the "nuclear option" of suspending the country's voting rights. This has never happened before and would require the backing of at least 16 of the 28 member states that together represent at least 65 per cent of the bloc's population. The PiS government accuses the opposition, strongly pro-EU centrists it ousted in last year's election, of orchestrating the protests and criticism from Brussels. Poland's former centrist prime minister Donald Tusk now heads the European Council, which groups the national leaders. The Council of Europe, a 47-nation human rights body that is separate from the EU but works closely with it, said today it had received a complaint from four media freedom organisations over Poland's new media law, which must still be signed by the country's president to enter into force.REUTERS SA NS1955 -- (Reuters) -- C-1-1-DL0386-521470.Xml
Condemning the terror attack on Pathankot airbase, China today cautioned India and Pakistan against playing into the hands of terrorists and exhorted both sides to overcome "disruptions" and continue dialogue."The Chinese side condemns the attack. Both Pakistan and India are major countries in South Asia. The improvement of bilateral relationship is critical to regional peace, stability and development. The Chinese side sincerely hopes that India and Pakistan would enhance dialogues and cooperation regardless of disruptions," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Hua Chunying told mediapersons during a briefing."Leaders of India and Pakistan had a successful meeting just several days ago, and there are signs of improvement of bilateral relations, which are good for regional peace and stability and have been welcomed and backed by all parties," Ms Hua said.Taking note of a commentary saying that the attack was intentionally launched at this time to frustrate the improvement of India-Pakistan relations, Mr Hua said, "Against such a background, we believe that India and Pakistan should surmount the disruptions, and sustain the improvement of bilateral relations through dialogues and cooperation, as it will do good to regional peace and stability."One time ally of Pakistan in its hostilities towards India, China, in a major foriegn policy shift as non-aligned neighbour has started favoring dialogue over conflict between the two countries and had welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's whistlestop visit to greet Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif on his birthday on 25 December at Islamabad on way back from Kabul."The Chinese side... welcomes the latest development of the relationship between Pakistan and India. Both of them are major South Asian countries. The improvement of their relationship is vital to regional peace, stability and development. As a neighbor and friend to both Pakistan and India, the Chinese side welcomes and supports, as it always does, their increase of mutual trust and pursuit of common development through dialogues," Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Lu Kang said, soon after a widely telecast bonhomie between the two Prime Minsters of hostile nations.UNI PRA RJ 2334 -- (UNI) -- C-1-1-DL0384-521746.Xml
Claycos chairman and CEO, Robert G. Clark, along with the companys partners, have committed $4.1 million to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to advance research into a rare blood vessel disease that results in death five to 10 years following diagnosis.

The gift  which has been committed through The Clayco Foundation  will fund research in the laboratory of John P. Atkinson, MD, the Samuel B. Grant Professor of Medicine and chief of the Division of Rheumatology. Atkinson, who treats patients at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, was part of a team that originally identified the disease  cerebroretinal vasculopathy (CRV)  in 1988 and, in 2007, the genetic defect that causes it. The disease is caused by the progressive loss of small blood vessels in the brain and retinas.

Additionally, The Clayco Foundation is donating $25,000 to support an international CRV symposium sponsored by the School of Medicine.

Rare diseases such as CRV often receive scant attention and modest research funding, despite the fact that research into such disorders often leads to findings and treatments relative to more common diseases.

Typically striking patients in midlife, CRV results in mini-strokes in the brain that cause progressive central nervous system degeneration. Symptoms such as impaired vision, cognitive decline and motor impairment often lead to patients being misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis, brain tumors or strokes.

This generous gift by longtime supporter Bob Clark officially establishes Washington University as the worlds leader in CRV research and related diseases, said David H. Perlmutter, MD, the School of Medicines new dean and executive vice chancellor for medical affairs. We are committed to better understanding and, through a continued and dedicated research focus, improving the lives of people affected by this disease.

Clarks experience with the disease is personal. His first wife, Ellen S. Clark, a mother of five and a grandmother of three, succumbed to CRV in 2010, at age 50.

Since then, under Atkinsons leadership, Washington University researchers have developed a simple blood test to identify defects in the CRV gene.

He and his colleagues also have established a mouse model to study the disease, leading to a breakthrough in 2015 that identified potential therapeutic agents. The researchers plan to expand studies using the mouse model as well as cells from patients with the disease as part of an upcoming clinical trial.

We want patients with CRV to have hope, said Clark, head of the Chicago-based Clayco, one of the nations largest design-build firms. I am forever grateful to Washington University School of Medicine for helping to diagnose my wifes genetic disorder and for the care she was given. We had visited specialists across the country and had no success until we came to the university.

To honor his wife, Clark made an earlier gift to the university to construct the Ellen S. Clark Hope Plaza, a reflecting pool with native landscaping that welcomes visitors to the BJC Institute of Health and surrounding buildings on the Medical Campus. The plazas landscape and water feature was designed by world-renowned artist Maya Lin, best known for designing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington.

A longtime supporter of Washington University, Clark serves on the National Council for the School of Medicine and on the board of the Central Institute for the Deaf. He was instrumental in successfully orchestrating the merger of the Central Institute for the Deafs research and faculty programs in hearing and deafness with the School of Medicines Department of Otolaryngology, creating the CID at Washington University School of Medicine.

Progress against CRV also may mean advances against other diseases related to blood vessel deterioration, including aging, macular degeneration, Alzheimers disease and diabetic retinopathy, among other conditions. While Atkinsons research will be housed at the School of Medicine, he will collaborate with other leading CRV researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

I am grateful to Bob Clark and The Clayco Foundation for their very generous commitment, Atkinson said. We have made great progress in understanding CRV and are hopeful that we will find a treatment for this devastating disease.

Washington University School of Medicines 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient-care institutions in the nation, currently ranked sixth in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.
Mazar-i-Sharif (Afghanistan) (AFP) - A 25-hour gun and bomb siege near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif city ended late Monday, after a bloody weekend assault on an air base in India near the Pakistan border.

Separately Monday a Taliban truck bomb struck a compound housing foreign civilian contractors near Kabul airport, wounding dozens of people just hours after a suicide bomber blew himself up around the same area.

The lethal assaults on Indian installations threaten to derail Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bold diplomatic outreach to arch-rival Pakistan following his first official visit to Afghanistan last month.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid on the diplomatic mission in northern Afghanistan, which left at least one policeman dead and 11 others wounded.

Gunfights and grenade explosions echoed as commandos shimmied down a rope from a helicopter onto the roof of a nearby building from where assailants had launched the attack on the tightly-guarded compound.

"The clearance operation is over and all three armed assailants have been killed," government spokesman Shir Jan Durrani said, 25 hours after the siege began.

"We are still doing room-to-room searches. The area is absolutely under government control."

Strongman provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor oversaw the operation armed with an AK47, denouncing the attackers as the "enemies of Afghanistan".

Security officials said the operation was prolonged as commandos proceeded cautiously in the residential area to avoid civilian casualties.

An Indian official, who hunkered down in a secure area within the diplomatic enclave as the attack unfolded, told AFP by telephone Sunday that all consulate employees were safe.

Local police officials said some consulate workers had been evacuated during the fierce fighting.

The attack followed a raid over the weekend by Islamist insurgents on an air force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

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Seven soldiers were confirmed killed in the raid on the Pathankot base, which triggered a 14-hour gun battle Saturday and fresh rounds of firing Sunday.

Indian troops backed by helicopters searched the base Monday, with an official saying that the fifth attacker had been gunned down.

"We are moving step by step to sanitise the area and it's too early to say when the operation will be over," said a military official who asked not to be named.

The United Jihad Council, a conglomerate of Pakistani proxy Islamist groups fighting in Indian-controlled Kashmir, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The brazen assault -- a rare targeting of an Indian military installation outside Kashmir -- threatens to undermine the fragile peace process between the nuclear-armed rivals.

- 'Proxy war' -

The spike in violence came about a week after Modi paid a surprise visit to Pakistan, the first by an Indian premier in 11 years.

The visit immediately followed a whirlwind tour of Kabul, where Modi inaugurated an Indian-built parliament complex and gave three Russian-made helicopters to the Afghan government.

India has been a key supporter of Kabul's post-Taliban government, and analysts have often pointed to the threat of a "proxy war" in Afghanistan between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan -- the historic backer of the Taliban -- has long been accused of assisting the insurgents, especially with attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have also stepped up attacks on government and foreign targets in Afghanistan, underscoring a worsening security situation.

A Taliban truck bomber Monday struck the outer wall of Camp Baron, a heavily-guarded residential compound for foreign contractors, wounding 30 people including women and children, Afghan officials said.

The US Pentagon named the compound as Camp Sullivan, adding that the attack caused no military casualties but NATO coalition troops were helping carry out medical evacuations.

The bombing, which was strongly felt across downtown Kabul, occurred close to where a suicide bomber struck earlier in the day, causing no casualties.

The latest unrest coincides with a renewed international push to revive peace talks with the resurgent militant movement.

On January 11 Afghanistan and Pakistan are set to hold a first round of dialogue, also involving the US and China, to try to lay out a comprehensive roadmap for peace.

Pakistan, which wields considerable influence over the Afghan Taliban, hosted a milestone first round of talks in July.

But the negotiations stalled when the insurgents belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar.

The attack on the consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif was the latest in a series of assaults on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

In 2008 a car bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed 60 people and the facility was again hit by a suicide strike in 2009.
The start of the year is a time of renewed conviction to improve professionally, and many workers change jobs within the first several months of a new year.

As you enter 2016, here are four things you can update on your resume to prepare for a possible career change this year.

1. Your career objective. I know. Implying that your resume has an "Objective" seems taboo per modern standards. However, even if you don't write "Objective" on your resume, it needs a professional purpose. You need to determine if you are targeting more of the same or looking to change your role, responsibilities or industry.

Depending on your goal, your resume should clearly reflect how you are a strong contender for a specific role. Resumes without a specific purpose -- or objective -- do not fare as well as those that are targeted. Remember, it is the job seeker's responsibility to establish his worth if he wants to capture the attention of a busy and distracted hiring manager. So, even though you no longer write "Objective," your summary, the description of your previous positions and overall look and feel of your resume should be aligned with the change you seek.

2. Your layout. Once you have a professional goal in mind, reexamine your resume to see if the layout helps or hurts. For example, when you are a new college graduate, your college degree is most likely your greatest professional accomplishment and should be listed first. Fast forward a couple of years, and instead of listing your degree first, relevant work experience should lead the resume.

Another cause for layout modification is a desired change in career path or industry. For example, let's say that you have been working as a sales person in the pharmaceutical industry and would like to start in project management in any field. You may need a strong summary at the top of your resume to convey how your sales role gave you opportunity to hone your project management skills.

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Or maybe you have gone through a rigorous project management certification program and would benefit from including a "Skills and Training" section near the top of your resume. Finally, everyone should view their resume on a mobile phone. You will be amazed at how little space you have to work with before the screen cuts off. It is critical that those top few lines capture the readers so that they are compelled to open the document all of the way or scroll down. Wasting half of the available mobile screen space on contact information is never a good idea.

3. Your impact. A typical resume is a list of duties. However, a powerful resume communicates the impact you have made in your roles, not just your tasks. Think about the business problems you have solved. Look for ways to quantify or measure your success. For example, does your role have an efficiency rating or customer satisfaction score? Do you process a high volume of something or perform with a low error or escalation percentage? Numbers make the reader feel that something is true and factual, not just your opinion. When you can include them, along with a well-written description of how you added value, a hiring manager is more likely to think you're a better hire than someone who has no visible track record.

4. Your errors. Once you have put the finishing touches on your masterpiece, print it out. Too often, people rely on on-screen editing to catch every error. Your eyes will catch more when you look at your document on paper. Of course, you can use the "Reveal Codes" feature to see all the hidden editing, such as spacing, but you should still print a final document.

After your first review, walk away, then review one more time later in the day. It never hurts to ask a trusted friend to review as well. Make sure you pick someone detail-oriented with excellent command of grammar and punctuation. Ask someone who will truly take the time to read your resume. With those three extra layers of review, your resume should be ready for submission.

Landing a new career is not easy for most. Taking time to examine and enhance your critical first impression -- your resume -- displays your professional commitment. It also makes it easier to be identified for a first interview by recruiters and hiring managers who receive hundreds of poorly matched -- or poorly written -- submissions. Here's to your success in 2016.

Robin Reshwan is the founder of Collegial Services, a consulting/staffing firm that connects college students, recent graduates and the organizations that hire them and a certified Women's Business Enterprise (WBE). She has interviewed, placed and hired thousands of people across a broad spectrum of companies and industries. Her career tips and advice are used by universities, national clubs/associations and businesses. A Certified Professional Resume Writer, Robin has been honored as a Professional Business Woman of the Year by the American Business Women's Association. She graduated Phi Beta Kappa and as a Regents Scholar from University of California, Davis.
After returning from a great trip -- be it a quick coastal getaway or a more far-flung retreat -- it's easy to reminisce about our most remarkable travel moments. Whether you're daydreaming about the fun you had sinking your toes in the sand, gliding down a snow-covered mountain or stumbling upon a beloved local bistro or treasured cultural site, positive memories tend to leave a lingering impression long after your journey. But while all breaks must come to an end, the blissful feelings triggered don't have to disappear as soon as you revert to your normal routine.

If you want to extend your post-vacation satisfaction, read on for smart, psychologist-approved techniques for getting the most out of your trip and boosting your pleasure before, during and after your next getaway.

Plan Early

While you're on vacation you may encounter headache-inducing scenarios that spark negative emotions and frustrations. But during the trip-planning phase, there's a buildup of excitement as you discuss future experiences and imagine them, explains Dr. Amit Kumar, a social psychologist and postdoctoral research fellow at the at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business who explores the relationship between happiness and money. The anticipatory period is more pleasant, with excitement less tinged with aggravation, he says. Delaying positive experiences and locking in events that will bring you joy, such as making restaurant reservations or buying show tickets well in advance, is a smart way to heighten satisfaction.

"As much as possible, you want to enjoy the act of anticipation and planning," says Dr. Leaf Van Boven, a social psychology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder. His study, published in 2007 in the Journal of Experimental Psychology showed a tendency for travelers to report stronger emotions during the anticipation of a trip than during retrospection. To embrace the planning process, he recommends starting to organize your vacation early and talking to people about what you want to do and picking up travel books.

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Stay Present and Seek Enriching Experiences

"One mistake that we make when we travel is that we bring all of our habits and hassles with us," explains Dr. Jaime Kurtz, an associate professor of psychology at James Madison University who studies techniques people can use to enhance their happiness. By tying up loose ends before our trips and troubleshooting things that might pop and affect your vacation experience, like setting up an out-of-office email message in anticipation of work emails, you can allow for more mindfulness and leave your everyday habits behind. "I think that travel can be a really great way to hit the reset button," she explains. By staying present, you allow for self-discovery and can observe things about yourself that inspire meaningful change when you return home. For instance, you might realize you enjoy walking rather than driving as you embrace exploring on foot in an exotic locale. And while she admits everyone has their own comfort zone, immersing yourself in a place and "stepping off the sidelines" by taking up a new activity like a cooking lesson or even a surfing class yields valuable experiences and great stories to share after your trip.

Compared to material possessions, "experiences have more storytelling value," Dr. Kumar says. When people are more likely to talk about their experiences, they're more likely to increase social interaction and connection, two important components of happiness, he explains. And because experiences, once you've had them, only exist in the mind, they're reframed after the fact, he adds. So recalling travel stories affords people the chance to reconstruct their experience, and a disappointing event or bonding experience can be transformed into a positive narrative, he explains. Still, it's a smart idea to end your trip with a memorable event, since recalling major events tends to be disproportionate to how you remember and share lulls during a trip, he cautions.

"You're the sum of your experiences," says Dr. Sonja Lyubomirsky, a social psychology professor at the University of California--Riverside who studies the science of happiness.

By achieving a defining moment on your vacation that allows for personal growth, such as picking up a new skill or learning about culture, history or art, you'll build your identity. She also recommends staying open-minded and appreciative of the present rather than overthinking smaller details. "Be appreciative. Be grateful," she says. And if something negative happens, ask yourself: "Will this matter in a year?" she advises, striving to maintain a big-picture perspective. And though taking photos is a great idea for post-trip savoring, it can take your out of the moment, she adds, so be cognizant of how often you're snapping shots.

Gift Well and Give Back

"Giving experiential gifts is really rewarding," Boven says. For example, gifting a scrapbook of photos to your travel companions helps you remember shared experiences and brings you closer together, he says, pointing out that pictures and mementos rather than material items are a great way to preserve positive memories.

Another smart tactic for maintaining post-trip happiness is ensuring that you plan experiences that help others, Lyubomirsky says. Even if you're not planning a service-oriented trip, smaller gestures, such as bringing along a niece or nephew or helping an older lady with her luggage, can trigger connectivity with others and personal growth.

And instead of picking up small knickknacks on your trip, bring home objects that have a story, Kurtz suggests. Finding a meaningful token can be a strategic way to incorporate reminders of your trip, she says, pointing to the rock she picked up from Norway that currently sits on a table in her house as a reminder of a challenging hike she did that allowed her to overcome a fear of heights.

Take Time to Self-Reflect, Savor and Share Your Stories

Once your trip has ended, devote some time to ease back into your daily routine and reflect on your experiences, Kurtz says. After the trip has ended is an ideal time to self-reflect and use social media tools to reminisce about your experiences. One savoring strategy might be uploading your favorite pictures after your trip on social media to prolong your post-trip bliss, she adds. It's also an ideal time to recall moments of gratitude, she says.

Trigger Positive Memories Through Mementos and Reminders

When you're done with a vacation, the natural tendency is to forget about it, Boven explains. Engineering ways to recall past feelings can be tricky after a trip has ended since we're not often prompted to share our stories, he explains, but placing mementos around the house can be an effective strategy for sparking recollection. It's also beneficial to reflect on the social aspects of your experiences and express how much fun you had with others to increase enjoyment and happiness, he says.

When you help others, connect with others and grow as a person -- those are the things that are durable and that help you keep your vacation happiness, Lyubomirsky says. Beyond reminiscing experiences with the person you traveled with, it's also a smart idea to keep mementos, including photos or physical objects on your shelves to draw from travel memories, she says.

Liz Weiss is the Travel editor for Consumer Advice at U.S. News & World Report. You can follow her on Twitter, connect with her on LinkedIn, circle her on Google+ or email her at eweiss@usnews.com.
An attack on a compound housing civilian contractors in Afghanistan on Monday wounded several people, but did not cause any military casualties, the Pentagon said Monday.

Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said attackers had breached a wall at the compound, known as Camp Sullivan, located near the airport in Kabul.

An Afghan security official earlier told AFP that a powerful car bomb had struck near the compound. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

Davis said NATO coalition troops were helping carry out medical evacuations.

"There are ongoing operations that we are supporting to medivac people who might need to be medivacked out of there," Davis said.

The US military in Afghanistan did not immediately respond to a request for additional information.

Also Monday, a suicide bomber struck a street leading to the city's international airport, near where the second blast took place, but no casualties were reported.

The bombings mark the latest assaults on the war-scarred Afghan capital.
By Bashir Ansari MAZAR-I-SHARIF, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Afghan special forces killed a group of insurgents holed up in a house in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif late on Monday, bringing to an end a 24-hour siege following the insurgents' attack on the nearby Indian consulate. The soldiers killed the three insurgents who had shut themselves into a large house near the consulate, said Abdul Razaq Qaderi, deputy police chief of Balkh province. He said an investigation was under way to try to identify the men and those behind the attack, which occurred on the same day gunmen attacked an Indian air base in Pathankot in the northwestern state of Punjab near the border with Pakistan. Eight members of the security forces were wounded in the gun battle which followed the attack on the consulate. The Indian ambassador said all the consulate staff were safe. The attack began late on Sunday after gunmen tried unsuccessfully to break into the consulate, taking advantage of the fact that many people were watching the final of a soccer championship between Afghanistan and India. After a heavy exchange of fire that went on until well into the night, security forces suspended operations before resuming in the morning, firing rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns at the building. "The area is sealed off and we are proceeding cautiously and making all possible efforts to protect the lives of those in the area. The attackers will be killed," the provincial governor, Atta Mohammad Noor, said on his Facebook page. Gunfire rang out as helicopters circled overhead in a residential area of the city. Noor blamed "enemies of peace and stability" for the attack, which came amid renewed efforts to lower tension between India and its rival Pakistan and restart peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan. But there was no more concrete indication of who may have been responsible. Last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kabul and Islamabad on the same day, underlining the drive to improve stability and overcome the longstanding hostility in the region. However, Sunday's attack and the assault in Pathankot underlined how difficult that process is likely to be. In 2014, India's consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat was hit by heavily armed insurgents including suicide bombers, one of a series of attacks on Indian diplomatic stations in Afghanistan over previous years. Pakistan has long been suspicious of India's engagement with Afghanistan and its diplomatic presence there. In Kabul, two suicide attacks on the same day highlighted how fragile the security situation in the country has become. (Additional reporting by Mirwais Harooni in Kabul; Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Robert Birsel and Hugh Lawson)
Aden (AFP) - Al-Qaeda militants have stoned a woman to death in a southeastern Yemeni city that they control after accusing her of adultery and prostitution, several witnesses said on Monday.

The jihadists on Sunday "placed the woman in a hole in the middle of the courtyard of a military building and stoned her to death in the presence of dozens of residents" of Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla, one witness said.

A local journalist at the scene confirmed the rare stoning, saying that the gunmen prevented photography of the execution.

"This was the first time we have seen such a thing," another witness said.

A copy of the purported verdict issued by the so-called Hadramawt court of Al-Qaeda's Ansar al-Sharia in December said the married woman had "confessed in front of the judges to committing adultery".

The verdict said the woman also admitted "without any coercion that she practised prostitution, as a pimp... and that she worked with a group of women in brothels".

She also confessed to smoking hashish, it added.

The verdict said that the woman was sentenced to be stoned to death for "committing adultery as a married woman... and eighty lashes for consuming hashish".

According to Islamic sharia law, married men or women can be stoned to death for having extramarital sex, while those who are unmarried face being lashed.

Stonings are commonly reported in areas controlled by the Islamic State group in Syria and Iraq. IS militants have become infamous for imposing such punishments, as well as throwing alleged homosexuals from the roofs of buildings.

Cases of stoning also take place in areas of Afghanistan controlled by the Taliban.

In Yemen, Al-Qaeda militants have carried out summary executions, especially of people accused of sorcery, and chopped off the hands of those accused of theft.

They have also destroyed ancient Sufi mausoleums in Mukalla, as they consider tombs to be a form of idolatry.

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On Friday, Al-Qaeda militants killed a woman in the southern port city of Aden after accusing her of practising sorcery, a security source said.

Last week, Al-Qaeda gunmen lashed 10 men in Aden for consuming alcohol and hashish, witnesses said.

Al-Qaeda's Yemen branch is considered by the United States to be the most dangerous affiliate of the global extremist network.

It has taken advantage of the Yemeni state's weakness to expand its control in several areas, including the vast Hadramawt region.

In Aden, which has been declared by the government as the impoverished Arabian Peninsula nation's temporary capital, a struggle for influence between Al-Qaeda and IS has been causing growing unrest.
Barcelona (AFP) - A year-long ban on European champions Barcelona registering new players came to an end on Monday, finally freeing up summer signings Aleix Vidal and Arda Turan to make their debuts.

Despite the ban imposed by FIFA for irregularities in the signing of foreign players under the age of 18, Barca recorded the second most successful year in their 116-year history.

Luis Enrique's men claimed five trophies in all, including a treble of La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey.

However, having drawn three of their last four La Liga games to fall two points behind Atletico Madrid at the top of the table, Vidal and Turan are expected to add some much needed depth to the squad for a potential run of 16 games before the end of February.

"Finally, the sanction has ended," Vidal, who joined from Sevilla in June for a reported 20 million euro ($21.7 million) fee, told Barca TV.

And Vidal could make his debut against another of his former clubs Espanyol in the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.

"I don't know when I will be able to play my first minutes, but the boss knows we have been training for months to be in prime condition when he needs us."
So much for the National Cable Television Cooperatives dire warning that many of the 4 million subscribers at the 740 small and medium cable companies it represents might lose AMC Networks. Theyve agreed on a new multiyear deal after extending negotiations beyond the year-end expiration of a previous contract signed in 2010.

Per usual, the announcement is light on specifics about deal terms.

AMC was looking for a price increase of at least 150%, positioning itself as much more valuable than it was in 2010 following a string of hits including Mad Men, The Walking Dead and Better Call Saul. It also wanted NCTC members to carry all its channels which include AMC Network, SundanceTV, IFC, WEtv, BBC America and BBC World News.

Like most new cable programming agreements, this one is believed to offer distributors streaming and VOD rights to AMC Networks shows. AMC also got something it wanted: a long term. The agreement is said to run at least five years as opposed to the common length of about three years.

AMC Networks President of Network Sales Bob Broussard says his company looks forward to continuing to provide our popular and acclaimed programming to NCTC members and their customers.

NCTC EVP Programming Judy Meyka says the group appreciates AMC Networks willingness to take the time to understand our members unique challenges and concerns and their creativity to construct an agreement that addresses the concerns of many of our members,.

The NCTC chafed at AMCs earlier conditions: Prior to the agreement, NCTC chief exec Rich Fickle called this the most challenging deal Ive seen in four years  noting that nearly 100 of his member companies, with about 1 million subscribers, were inclined to drop the channels.

One NCTC member, Alaskas General Communications, told its subscribers last week that it would drop AMC in response to the size of the price increase it wanted.

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Story continues

AMC Networks Still Negotiating With Cable Co-Op After Carriage Deal Expires

'The Walking Dead' Mid-Season Premiere Trailer: Maggie In Peril & A Blood-Soaked Rick
(Reuters) - Twice Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka breezed past Russian Elena Vesnina 6-2 6-0 in the Brisbane International on Monday to set up a second-round showdown against top seed Simona Halep. The former world number one has been plagued by injuries in the last two years which have sent her down to 22nd in the world rankings but showed little signs of rust against qualifier Vesnina. Playing for the first time since retiring from the WTA event in Wuhan, China in September, Azarenka broke Vesnina six times to wrap up victory. She will have a much sterner test against former French Open finalist Halep, who had a first-round bye. Australian Sam Stosur had a much difficult match and narrowly avoided disappointment on home turf by battling through a wrist injury to claim an opening victory. The former U.S. Open champion recovered from 0-3 down in the final set to beat Slovakian qualifier Jana Cepelova 6-4 3-6 6-4 to start her year. The 31-year-old has frequently failed to hit the heights on home turf having never won a tournament or progressed past the fourth round at the Australian Open. The world number 27 looked set for another disappointment before a spirited effort saw off the world number 147 and set up a second-round clash with Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro. "I am really pleased to walk away with a win, especially being down in that third set and then find that ability to come back and play well and win it when you are down, to turn things around," Stosur said. Italy's Roberto Vinci, who ended Serena Williams's bid for a calendar grand slam in the U.S. Open semi-finals last year, beat former world number one Jelena Jankovic 3-6 6-2 6-4. Russian Maria Sharapova is the tournament draw card and she will kick off her campaign on Tuesday against compatriot Ekaterina Makarova. On the men's side, 17-times grand slam champion Roger Federer will play Germany's Tobias Kamke. Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, who has slumped from eighth to 28th in the rankings, started the year with a 6-3 7-6(10) win over fifth seed Gilles Simon of France. (Writing by Patrick Johnston and Sudipto Ganguly; editing by Ed Osmond)
Dubai (AFP) - Bahrain said Monday it is cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, following the suit of its ally Saudi Arabia as tensions escalate over the execution of a Shiite cleric.

Manama ordered Tehran's diplomats in the tiny Gulf state "to leave the kingdom within 48 hours," BNA state news agency said on Twitter.

A Bahraini statement said the decision was triggered by "cowardly" attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran and "increasing flagrant and dangerous meddling" by Tehran in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states.

Manama said the attacks on the Saudi missions represent a "very dangerous pattern of sectarian policies that should be confronted... in order to preserve security and stability in the entire region."

The Bahraini foreign ministry summoned Iran's charge d'affaires Murtada Sanawbari and handed him an official note in this regard, said the statement carried by BNA.

Saudi Arabia said Sunday it was severing its ties with Iran after angry crowds set fire to its embassy in Tehran and attacked its consulate in Mashhad a day after Riyadh executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
NextShark

Multiple Asian women have reportedly come forward to accuse a Chinese American cosplayer and her boyfriend of luring them into sexual relations through supposed opportunities for collaborative work. Cosplayer and influencer Kat Wong, who describes herself as just an Asian girl making silly content, came under fire on Twitter last week after actor, director and host Gina Darling revealed that multiple women have reached out to her with such allegations. Multiple women in the Asian community have reached out to me about @katkwo4tweets and her BF allegedly trying to trick them into having sexual relations with them under the guise of collaborating on cosplays, OF (OnlyFans) and modeling, Darling tweeted.
By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - A judge set bail at $500,000 on Monday for a white former police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black man who ran from a traffic stop in South Carolina last year.

Former North Charleston police officer Michael Slager will be on house arrest if he is released from custody, said Justin Bamberg, one of two attorneys in the case who reached a wrongful death and civil rights settlement with North Charleston and its police department late last year.

Slager has been jailed since his April arrest in the death of Walter Scott, whose fatal shooting was caught on video by a bystander.

The shooting renewed national debate over police treatment of minorities and led to Slager's firing from the North Charleston police force.

Judge Clifton Newman set Slager's trial for Oct. 31.

"Of course, the family is not happy that former Officer Slager is getting bond, but they understand that any criminal defendant can ask for bail," Bamberg said. "As far as him being out (of jail), it does hurt. It hurts a mother and father who have to go visit their child in a cemetery. Everybody is just looking forward to and preparing for the trial."

In denying bail to Slager in September, Newman wrote in an order filed to the court record that releasing Slager on bail "would constitute an unreasonable danger to the community."

Defense attorneys argued that Slager was not a flight risk and had been violently attacked by Scott, 50, in a confrontation after Scott fled a routine traffic stop and Slager chased him.

Prosecutors said Scott was trying to get away from Slager, not attack him, and accused the officer of tampering with evidence by retrieving his stun gun from where it had fallen and placing it near Scott's body.

On Monday, Newman granted bail after noting that Slager's trial would not begin until later this year, a delay caused by prosecutors preparing for the trial of Dylann Roof, accused of killing nine people in a church shooting in Charleston in June, the Post and Courier newspaper reported.

(Reporting by Harriet McLeod; Writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Leslie Adler and Peter Cooney)
Brussels (AFP) - Belgium on Monday restarted a reactor that was shut down at the weekend just three days after returning to service amid concern in neighbouring countries over its nuclear safety.

Doel No. 1 reactor -- Belgium's oldest -- had been shuttered in February after four decades in operation, in line with a law calling for the country's gradual exit from nuclear power.

It was restarted on December 30 under a deal to extend its working life -- and that of a companion reactor, Doel No. 2 -- until 2025 to help cope with power shortages.

But a generator problem on Saturday triggered a shutdown at the plant, located near the Dutch border about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the port city of Antwerp.

"There was no safety risk," a spokeswoman for the nuclear facility's operator Electrabel told AFP.

It was restarted at 1000 GMT on Monday, a spokeswoman for the power plant told the Belga news agency.

Environmentalists, especially in neighbouring Germany which is phasing out nuclear power, have criticised extending the life of Belgium's reactors which they say are too old to be considered safe.

While the number of unplanned shutdowns at Belgian reactors has been no higher than average in recent years, Saturday's stoppage at Doel No. 1 followed two similar interruptions.

The first was on September 16 at the No. 1 reactor at Tihange, near the eastern city of Liege, which had been restarted after maintenance.

The second was Doel's No. 3 reactor, which shut down on Christmas Day, four days after a restart.

Tihange No. 2 and Doel No. 3 reactors had been restarted following a two-year pause after microscopic cracks were discovered in the reactor vessels.

Neighbouring countries have expressed concern despite assurances from experts that the facilities are safe.

Luxembourg's sustainable development minister, Camille Gira, is set to meet with Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon over the nuclear issue on January 18.

Dutch Environment and Infrastructure Minister Melanie Schultz will visit Doel with Jambon for a joint inspection on January 20.
BOSTON (AP)  Bill Cosby's wife will be forced to testify in a defamation lawsuit filed by seven women who accuse the comedian of sexually assaulting them decades ago.

A federal judge on Thursday denied a motion by Camille Cosby to throw out a subpoena requiring her to give a deposition in the lawsuit. She is scheduled to be deposed by lawyers for the women on Wednesday (Jan. 6).

U.S. Judge Magistrate David Hennessey in Springfield, Massachusetts, said Camille Cosby failed to prove that she and her husband were protected by the state's marital disqualification law. He also rejected claims that the value of the testimony would be outweighed by the "undue burden" the deposition would cause.

The arguments "do not outweigh the potential significance of Mrs. Cosby's testimony, nor has Mrs. Cosby provided any authority that they do," Hennessey wrote in a 12-page ruling.

The couple has been married for more than 50 years and Camille Cosby is her husband's business partner. She is not a defendant in the lawsuit against Bill Cosby.

Read More: Bill Cosby's Accusers React to Criminal Charges: "It's Been A Big Day"

A lawyer for the women, Joseph Cammarata, argued last month that he should be able to question Camille Cosby because he believed she had "information that's relevant to the litigation in this matter."

In a motion filed Dec. 18 to quash the subpoena, Bill Cosby's lawyers said his wife does not have any information about the accuracy of the women's allegations, and argued that subjecting his wife to a deposition was "nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to pressure defendant in the face of subjecting his wife to the shame and embarrassment of responding to questions about his alleged infidelities and sexual misconduct."

The women claim Cosby allowed representatives to portray them as liars after they went public with their allegations against the entertainer.

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Read More: Judd Apatow Applauds Sexual Assault Charges for Bill Cosby

Cosby has filed a countersuit, accusing the women of makingallegations for financial gain.

Camille Cosby had also sought a protective order to limit the scope of the subpoena as an alternative to quashing it altogether, but the judge also rejected that approach.

Cosby was charged last week in Pennsylvania with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman in 2004 inside his home near Philadelphia, the first criminal case brought against him out of the torrent of allegations that destroyed his good-guy image as America's Dad. His lawyers called the charges unjustified and said they expected Cosby to be exonerated.

Read More: Bill Cosby's Hollywood Walk of Fame Star Won't Be Removed Despite Charges
Sudden changes in temperature have a negative effect on our bodies, which are weakened at the end of the year by cumulative tiredness. This makes us more susceptible to colds, ear infections, pharyngitis, and sore throats. Echinacea, propolis, vitamin C and grapefruit seed extract can help to protect us from viruses by strengthening our immune system.

Echinacea, to ward off colds and winter viruses

The American Indians who lived on the American Great Plains east of the Rockies used various species of Echinacea to treat a range of health problems, particularly respiratory tract infections and snake bites. In the 20th century, this American plant, which looks like a pink daisy, was abandoned in favor of antibiotics as a treatment for infections. From 1916 to 1950, Echinacea was nonetheless registered on the US National Formulary (an official list of approved medications).

Since then, clinical studies have proven its effectiveness in the prevention of colds, ear infections and ENT infections in general (sore throats, laryngitis, etc.). Ideal as an immune system stimulant, it can take the form of root extract, fluid extract, juice, capsules, infusions (1g of root in a cup, 6 times a day), decoctions, and mother tincture. The World Health Organization recommends 3g per day. It is available in stores that sell organic products and other specialist outlets.

Propolis, action against initial symptoms

Propolis is a natural product collected by bees on the buds of conifers to which they add wax and their salivary secretions. They use it as a coating for their hive to protect them from infections and germs. Propolis is effective against ENT infections, colds, pharyngitis and loss of voice, as well as stopping an infection in the early stages, relieving a nose irritated by a cold and avoiding cross-infection due to its antiseptic effect.

It is effective in preventing or treating an infection in its early stages if taken for 20 to 30 days. It's available in capsules (250 mg each, 2 to 4 per day), mother tincture (1 drop the first day, then 2, then 3... until the 14th day, then reduce the dose) or in powder sachets (50 mg per day). It can also take the form of a nasal spray to relieve an irritated nose or throat. Propolis is sold in pharmacies, organic stores and by beekeepers.

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Vitamin C: a boost of energy

Vitamin C is particularly effective in preventing colds in people undertaking vigorous exercise or who are exposed to cold weather or stress. It steadies the immune system. The best source is from food in its natural form. The top 5 in terms of vitamin C concentration are sweet pepper, papaw, kiwi, orange, and mango.

Grapefruit seed extract: a natural antibiotic

It's undoubtedly the most effective product against external aggressive factors. Anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial, grapefruit seed extract acts on 800 bacterial and viral strains. Used internally, it's effective as a prevention and as a cure for all types of infections for the digestive system, food poisoning, parasitic diseases, diarrhea, ulcers in the stomach and duodenum (it kills the bacterium Helicobacter pylori), yeast infections, colds, ENT infections in general, flu, bronchial infections, chronic tiredness, and weakened immune systems. Product quality is important. It should be free from alcohol, preservatives and additives, and preferably in liquid form. Make sure that Citrus paradisi seeds are used.
Riyadh (AFP) - The brother of Nimr al-Nimr, the Shiite cleric executed in Saudi Arabia at the weekend, on Monday condemned retaliatory attacks on the kingdom's diplomatic missions in Iran, insisting: "We love our country".

"We appreciate your love towards the martyr #Sheikh_AlNimr who lives in our hearts but we refuse attacks on #Saudi ambassies in #Iran or others," Mohammed al-Nimr tweeted in English.

Angry demonstrators attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad following Saturday's execution of Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests in 2011.

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia responded on Sunday by severing diplomatic ties with Shiite-dominated Iran, its long-time regional rival.

Nimr, 56, was executed along with 46 other men, mostly Sunnis linked to Al-Qaeda.

His body was not given for his family for burial, according to another post on Twitter by his brother, who said authorities informed the family that the cleric had already been buried.

Nimr's brother issued a statement calling for the corpse of Nimr to be handed over to his family.

He expressed the family's hopes that "officials would answer our legitimate wish quickly by giving us the body of the martyred sheikh so that he would be buried in his hometown Awamiya."

Assailants killed a civilian and wounded a child on Monday when they opened fire on Saudi police in Awamiya, Nimr's birthplace in Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province, state media reported.
Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Twenty out of the 30 candidates vying to be president of the Central African Republic have demanded the election be scrapped after what they said was a tainted first round of voting.

In a joint statement seen by AFP on Monday, the dissenters cited what they described as irregularities and intimidation in ballotting on December 30, partial results of which have been published.

They said refused to be "complicit in this electoral masquerade" and called for the whole process to be "purely and simply stopped."

They invited all players to get around the negotiating table "to draw up ways of safeguarding the nation."

Signatories included heavyweight candidate Karim Meckassoua, a former foreign minister from the minority Muslim community, who had been a pre-election front-runner.

Independent candidate Faustin Archange Touadera, a former prime minister, has taken a commanding lead in the presidential race, garnering more than 23 percent of the vote with a quarter of the ballots counted, electoral officials said Sunday.

The former maths professor had been considered an outsider.

Anicet Georges Dologuele, also a former prime minister, was in second place with Desire Kolingba, son of a former president, in third.

A likely second round is set for January 31.

The election is seen as vital to restoring stability in the former French colony after years of unrest.

Some two million voters were eligible to cast their ballots, for a new president and members of the 105-seat parliament.

Voting passed without major incident and was hailed as a success by the international community.

One of the world's poorest countries, with a history of coups and rebellions, Central African Republic was plunged into fierce sectarian unrest in 2013 after longtime leader Francois Bozize was ousted by a mainly Muslim rebel alliance.

Thousands of people were killed and around one in 10 fled their homes in attacks by rogue rebels on remote villages and brutal reprisals by Christian militia against Muslim communities.

UN and French peacekeepers helped restore a degree of calm in January 2014, when a transitional government took over, but large parts of the country remain lawless.
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) said on Monday it had agreed to buy a student housing portfolio in the United States for around $1.4 billion, in partnership with Singapore wealth fund GIC and The Scion Group. The three parties said they had formed a student housing joint venture, Scion Student Communities, which will acquire University House Communities Group (UHC). The price includes the cost of completing current development projects. CPPIB, which manages Canada's national pension fund and is a major global dealmaker, last year acquired Liberty Living, one of Britain's biggest providers of student accommodation, for 1.1 billion pounds ($1.6 billion). Canadian pension funds are looking to buy real estate assets around the world to diversify their investments and offset the effects of volatility in global equity markets and diminishing returns from fixed income investments. CPPIB and GIC, which manages Singapore's foreign investments, will each own a 47.5 percent interest in UHC. Scion, a private operator of student housing, will own the remaining 5 percent. The UHC portfolio is concentrated among top-ranked U.S. universities with large student populations and comprises nearly 13,000 beds, CPPIB said. CPPIB said the joint venture would pursue additional opportunities to purchase high quality U.S. student housing assets. "The UHC portfolio represents a valuable opportunity to enter the U.S. student housing sector with top-tier, well-located assets," Peter Ballon, CPPIB's head of real estate investments in the Americas, said in a statement. "This transaction enables us to gain immediate scale in the attractive U.S. student market," he added. (Reporting by Matt Scuffham; Editing by Paul Simao)
Paris (AFP) - Charlie Hebdo, the French satirical weekly propelled to global notoriety when its cartoonists were shot dead by jihadist gunmen a year ago on Thursday, has been abandoned in its struggle to "laugh at everything", one of the survivors of the attack said.

In the wake of the killing of eight of its staff on January 7, 2015, Charlie Hebdo became one of the best-known publications in the world and the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie flashed across social networks.

The newspaper was held up as a symbol of freedom of expression and an astonishing 7.5 million copies were sold of the first issue produced by its surviving staff just a week after the attack.

But now those same staff feel they have been left to carry that torch alone, according to the newspaper's financial director, Eric Portheault, who escaped death by hiding behind his desk when the gunmen stormed in.

"We feel terribly alone. We hoped that others would do satire too," he said. "No one wants to join us in this fight because it's dangerous. You can die doing it."

A month before the attack, Charlie Hebdo was close to shutting down as sales had dipped below 30,000. Its brand of provocative, no-holds-barred humour appeared to have gone out of fashion.

Most people were unaware that its staff had been under police protection since it had published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in 2006. In 2011, its offices were firebombed and it was forced to move premises.

- Painful road -

Despite the earlier threats, few people could have imagined an attack as bloody as that carried out by brothers Said and Cherif Kouachi in the paper's modest offices in a quiet street in eastern Paris.

The assault -- claimed by Al-Qaeda's branch in the Arabian Peninsula -- took the lives of Charlie Hebdo's top cartoonists, known by the nicknames Charb, Cabu and Wolinski, as well as nine other people, and sparked horror across the world.

Donations poured in for the victims, and 200,000 people signed up for a subscription.

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But that so-called "survivors' issue", featuring the Prophet Mohammed with a tear in his eye on the cover under the title "All is forgiven", also sparked violent protests in several Muslim countries.

Despite losing many of its key staff, Charlie Hebdo has continued to produce a 16-page issue each Wednesday of cartoons and drawings that -- its creators take pains to point out -- poke fun at all religions and politicians.

But it has been an emotional experience for the staff left behind, including several who narrowly escaped death, such as cartoonist Laurent Sourisseau, known as Riss, who was seriously injured in the attack.

Riss, 49, took over the management of the paper and became its main shareholder. But some staff were unhappy with the new leadership and demanded more transparency in the management of the vast sums donated, to ensure they went to the victims and their families.

The row calmed down, but one of Charlie's best-known cartoonists, Luz, resigned in September, saying he was too traumatised by the attack to continue.

"Those we lost left an enormous, monstrous hole," said Portheault. "Others didn't want to work with us because they thought it was too dangerous, which is understandable. We have a Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads."

- 'No self-censorship' -

The team of around 20 staff has recently moved into new ultra-secure offices. Unlike the offices that were attacked, the address is a closely-guarded secret.

Despite the dangers, the members of the new team say they are determined to continue mercilessly poking fun at France and the rest of the world.

"There is no question of self-censorship, otherwise it would mean they (the attackers) have won," Portheault said.

"If what is happening in the news leads us to draw the Prophet Mohammed again, we would do it," he added.

The cover of Wednesday's one-year anniversary issue features a bearded man representing God with a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder, under the headline: "One year on: The assassin is still out there". One million copies have been printed.

Several of the newspaper's recent drawings have drawn criticism, especially abroad.

When Riss pictured Aylan, the Syrian toddler found dead on a Turkish beach this year, under a McDonald's sign in what was intended to be criticism of the consumer society, he was accused of racism.

An exasperated Luz even felt compelled to produce an explanation of what a satirical drawing is.

As a result of the attack, Charlie Hebdo now has a hefty financial war chest and a global readership.

"We are read by far more people now, who have discovered Charlie's special type of humour," said Portheault. He hopes sales will eventually stabilise around the 100,000-mark.

The massive injection of funds has done nothing, however, to heal the staff's psychological wounds -- and the jihadist attacks in which 130 people were killed in Paris in November made the process of recovery even harder.

"With the November 13 attacks and then the one-year anniversary, everything has come back up to the surface," Portheault said.

"But we won't give up. We don't want them to have died for nothing."
Paris (AFP) - French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo will mark a year since the jihadist attack on its offices with a cover featuring a bloodied, gun-toting, bearded God figure, under the headline: "One year on: The assassin still at large".

One million copies of the special edition will go on sale in France Wednesday, on the eve of the first anniversary of the killing of 12 people at the magazine's Paris offices by brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi.

Eight Charlie Hebdo staff were among the victims of the January 7, 2015 assault which brought millions of people onto France's streets in protest and transformed a fading publication into a global symbol of freedom of expression.

A total of 17 people were killed in three days of attacks that also targeted a Jewish supermarket and police, marking the start of a string of jihadist strikes in France that culminated in November's massacre in Paris.

- 'France's 9/11' -

Charlie Hebdo's offices had been firebombed in 2011 and other magazines in Europe which published Mohammed cartoons had also been threatened, but the brazen attack in Paris shocked the world.

Le Monde described the attack, which was claimed by Al-Qaeda's branch in the Arabian Peninsula as revenge for Charlie's cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed, as "France's 9/11".

Within hours of the shootings, the hashtag #JeSuisCharlie went viral, rallying millions behind the plight of a publication that had nearly shut down a month earlier because of a lack of readers.

As police scoured the capital for the killers, Amedy Coulibaly, a radicalised Frenchman claiming to be working with the Kouachis, killed a policewoman.

The next day, he took shoppers hostage at a Jewish supermarket, killing four people before police stormed the building and shot him dead.

The Kouachi brothers were killed in a simultaneous shootout with police, north of Paris.

On Sunday, January 11, in a grieving Paris, President Francois Hollande led an anti-terror march that drew dozens of world leaders, from German Chancellor Angela Merkel to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas.

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- Discord and unity -

A further four million people rallied across France in a display of unity not seen since the liberation from Nazi tyranny in 1944.

But behind the apparently unified facade, a difficult debate unfolded over freedom of speech.

Many Muslims soon made it clear that while they condemned the violence, they were offended by what they saw as Charlie's racist portrayal of their faith and its followers.

In Charlie's defence, its supporters said the magazine was part of a time-honoured French satirical tradition in which no-one -- from popes and business tycoons to celebrities and sports stars -- is spared barbs.

When Charlie Hebdo defiantly re-appeared on newsstands a week after the attack with a front cover featuring the Prophet Mohammed with a tear in his eye under the headline "All is forgiven", 7.5 million copies were sold, but angry protests were held across the Muslim world from Chechnya to Chad.

French society meanwhile was left to ask how the killers, brought up and educated in France, became so radicalised. Prime Minister Manuel Valls spoke of a "social and ethnic apartheid" in which the children of immigrants from the poorest parts of French cities had lost out.

- 'Army of fanatics' -

A series of other assaults followed.

In August, a bloodbath on a high-speed train was narrowly averted when passengers led by holidaying US soldiers overpowered a heavily-armed gunman.

Then, on Friday, November 13, nine men -- most of whom had fought alongside Islamic State (IS) extremists in Syria -- unleashed explosives near the Stade de France stadium and opened fire on people enjoying a night out at bars and restaurants in Paris, and at the Bataclan concert hall that lies just a short walk from where the Charlie Hebdo cartoonists were killed.

In all, 130 people lost their lives and 350 were wounded.

This time, the positive energy that seemed to flow from the terrible events of January seemed largely absent.

Fear and anger gripped the country, helping the far-right National Front to pick up an unprecedented 28 percent of the vote in regional elections in December.

Hollande, donning the cloak of war leader, increased air strikes on IS in Syria and Iraq as he promised to crush the group.

But he also seemed to strike a chord with many as he warned again and again of the perils of intolerance and sectarianism.

"We will not give in either to fear or to hate," Hollande vowed. "To all of you, I solemnly promise that France will do everything to destroy the army of fanatics that committed these crimes."
The Chicago trilogy is going somewhere it's never gone before for its three-show crossover: the courtroom.

"When you do new things, you get butterflies. Your initial reaction is, 'Whoa, we havent done that. How do you do it?' Chicago Fire and Chicago P.D. showrunner Matt Olmstead tells The Hollywood Reporter. "Then you realize that it was a blessing because it takes you out of your comfort zone and you're doing new things, flexing new muscles. Working on the trial aspect of it was different and refreshing."

Although the Chicago P.D. team endured the trial of serial killer Greg Yates (Dallas Roberts) in an April episode of Law & Order: SVU, this was the first time the writers on P.D. tackled the legal world themselves. Thankfully, Olmstead and his writers had two important resources to help guide them: a Chicago-area attorney and Law & Order creator (and Chicago trilogy executive producer) Dick Wolf.

"The framework was presented very quickly and clearly from Dick," Olmstead says. "So we embraced it."

Read More: 'Chicago P.D.' Boss Teases Dallas Roberts' (Final?) Return for "Intense" 'SVU' Crossover

The three-show, two-night event featuring Chicago Fire, Chicago Med and Chicago P.D. first kicks off with Fire when Herrmann (David Eigenberg) is brought into Chicago Medical after getting stabbed and left to bleed out on the floor of Molly's by Cruz's friend, Freddie.

"When we open with Fire, the immediate concern, obviously, is what happened to Herrmann and getting him to Med to hopefully save his life," Olmstead says. "There's a natural handoff within that episode where we start to tee off the story of the three-way crossover in terms of this doctor, but the immediate concern is Herrmann."

(Olmstead promises that the Herrmann cliffhanger will be resolved during the course of the crossover.)

This doctor, it's soon discovered, has allegedly been administrating excessive amounts of chemotherapy to patients who don't have cancer. "The challenge was: 'How do we make that into a ticking clock three-hour crossover?' " says Olmstead. "We had to get pretty ambitious about it and one of the keys to solving it  which also came from Dick  was midway through the P.D. episode, which is the last episode, to have the case go to trial."

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Read More: NBC Orders Five More Episodes of 'Chicago Med'

The stakes during the trial are particularly high for the Intelligence Unit because of Voight's personal connection to the doctor put on trial through his late wife, Camille. "He realizes that the doctor who they ultimately try and prosecute is the one who was the last doctor that saw his wife saw before she passed away," Olmstead says. "He's looking for answers: Was she misdiagnosed? He wasn't the only doctor that she saw but he was the last doctor she saw. Was he instrumental anyway or complicit in an early death for her? He wants those answers."

Voight not only serves as the key witness in the case but also the "emotional core" of the episode, according to Olmstead. "We've always had, in the mythology of the show, the fact that Voight's wife passed away and that Lindsay knew her. It's the one pure thing in his life," he says. "He's essentially defending his late wife and her memory."

Although Olmstead admits he had initial hesitations about venturing away from P.D.'s tried-and-true formula, in the end it paid off. "Its the first time we've jumped ahead in time a little bit but the case warranted that; you really wanted to see what the end result of it all was," Olmstead adds. "Looking at it, it was really the right move to make because they really play. You can get conditioned into thinking, 'Well, on P.D, it's more an accelerated, action-y show but it doesnt have to be all the time."

Coincidentally  or not?  the move into legal waters comes right as rumors about a possible fourth Chicago spinoff, Chicago Law, have begun. But Olmstead downplayed that possibility, at least for the time being.

"I have no idea. And I'm not being coy. There havent been any conversations about that," he says. "There's been no effort towards a fourth show. Not to say that there wouldnt or couldnt be. I'm looking right now at a framed photo of all three Chicago shows and all three casts, and its humbling to see what's happened and all the people that it employs in Chicago and just the cast members and how they transfer from show to show and creatively how rewarding it is for me and for everybody involved. To think of one more right now, we've got our hands full."

The three-show crossover kicks off Tuesday at 9 p.m. on Chicago Fire, continues on Chicago Med at 10 p.m. and concludes Wednesday at 10 p.m. on Chicago P.D.
China's ruling Communist party has tightened its ban on members believing in "feudal superstitions", state media said, as part of new regulations on discipline.

President Xi Jinping, whose power derives from his position as the ruling party's general secretary, has been tightening his control on the organisation in recent months alongside a much-publicised anti-corruption drive.

Xi has demanded closer adherence to ideological teachings from its 88 million members and warned them against publicly questioning official policies.

Superstitious practices, such as reliance on fortune telling and the traditional Chinese practice of feng shui, go against the party's core belief in Marxism, which claims to be founded on the scientific method.

A number of high-level party officials have been accused of participating in superstitious practices in recent years.

Zhou Yongkang, the former head of domestic security and the highest official to fall in the anti-graft campaign, sought advice from Cao Yongzheng, a fortune teller and master of the Chinese meditation practice of "qigong". Cao later testified against Zhou during his trial.

The new party rules, which came into force on January 1, threaten members who "organise" superstitious activities with expulsion, while those who merely participate in them face warnings, Xinhua said Sunday.

The language is stronger than a previous 2003 version of party rules, when "feudal superstition" was included under the broader heading of activities that "disturb productivity, work, or the social order".

The new rules put "feudal superstitions" into its own category, making it a distinct violation of party discipline. But the organisation has been seeking to purge it from its ranks since the days of Mao Zedong.
BEIJING (Reuters) - China said on Monday it was concerned about the prospect of an intensification of conflict in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with rival regional power Iran. Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday, responding to the storming of its embassy in Tehran in an escalating row over Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken opponent of the ruling Al Saudi family. Tension between revolutionary, mainly Shi'ite Iran and Saudi Arabia's conservative Sunni monarchy has run high for years as they backed opposing forces in conflicts across the Middle East. "Like the international community, China is highly concerned about the developments and expresses concern that the relevant event may intensify conflict in the region," Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a regular news briefing, referring to the escalation in tension. The safety and dignity of diplomatic personnel should be guaranteed, Hua said. "We hope the relevant parties can maintain calm and restraint, properly resolve their differences through dialogue and consultation and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability," she said. One driving force of support for Islamic State militants fighting in Iraq and Syria has been a rise in sectarian anger, often inflamed by the proxy wars emerging from the political struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The United States, Saudi Arabia's biggest backer in the West, encouraged diplomatic engagement in the region and called for leaders to take "affirmative steps" to reduce tension. The U.S. State Department also urged Saudi Arabia to respect and protect human rights and said Nimr's execution "risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced". China relies on the Middle East for oil supplies, but tends to leave diplomacy there to other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council -- the United States, Britain, France and Russia. (Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Writing by Michael Martina; Editing by Robert Birsel)
Ever since the Columbine shootings in 1999, Canden Arciniega has felt "a twinge of concern" about her safety. But as a historian in the District of Columbia who leads tours around crowded city sites like monuments, the 31-year-old can't let the feeling overwhelm her.

"I live here and will raise my children here," she comforts worried prospective visitors. "I wouldn't put them at risk if I didn't feel that D.C. was a safe place." Plus, she adds, other risks are greater. "The scariest part of living in D.C. is trying to cross the pedestrian crosswalk ... during morning rush hour," she says.

Not everyone takes heed. After the terrorist attacks in Paris, plenty of people and school groups canceled their trips to the city, Arciniega says, especially after a video came out specifically targeting the District. People around the world changed their plans, too. In a Business Travel Coalition survey of travel and risk managers in 17 countries, 20 percent of respondents said they were "very or somewhat likely" to cancel travel plans to France .

Compared to years' past, "people are more concerned about something happening with the plane or something happening in a country where they're far away from home," says Linda Sapadin, a psychologist in Valley Stream, New York, and author of "Master Your Fears: How to Triumph Over Your Worries and Get on with Your Life."

While feeling upset after a terrorist attack is normal -- and taking reasonable steps to stay out of harm's way is smart -- living in fear is neither healthy for you nor helpful for anti-terrorism efforts, psychologists and threat assessment experts say.

"Terrorism, by its nature, is a very ineffective military tactic, but it's more geared toward instilling fear," says Mario Scalora, a psychology professor at the University of Nebraska--Lincoln who studies targeted violence and threat assessment. Buying into that fear, he says, leaves terrorists victorious. In other words: Arciniega has the right idea.

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"The biggest message [against terrorists]," Scalora says, "is to show that we can live our lives and that we're moving forward." Here's how:

1. Recognize your emotions.

Not succumbing to fear doesn't mean burying your emotions, says Elana Newman, a psychology professor at the University of Tulsa who studies how people cope with trauma. "Distress is not a bad thing -- it shows you're a moral, caring human being," she says. "It's only when it really gets in your way of achieving your goals and that you feel helpless that we need to talk about some of these coping mechanisms."

Identifying your negative emotions is also an important first step in easing them, adds Ani Kalayjian, a psychologist in Cliffside Park, New Jersey, who specializes in disaster and mass trauma. "I invite people to first identify their feelings because the prescription of what to do depends on what they're doing now," she says.

2. Put it in perspective.

Whenever Newman starts to worry about her safety, she visits the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website , which reminds her that heart disease, accidents and diabetes -- not terrorism -- are among the leading causes of death in the United States. "I get comfort from risk appraisal," Newman admits.

While not everyone may feel the same sense of relief from death statistics, it's important to keep the risk of death from terrorism -- about 1 in 20 million, Sapadin says -- into perspective. For example, while CNN calculated that 3,380 Americans died in terrorist attacks between 2001 and 2013, almost nine times that many died in car accidents in 2013 alone, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "The fear of terrorism is far worse than the actual threat of terrorism," Scalora says. It can simply feel greater because it's a relatively new threat, Sapadin adds. "New risk seems more frightening," she says, "[but] there's always been risk in the world."

3. Take a media break.

How much information makes you feel empowered and how much just scares you? That line is a little different for everyone, says Newman, the research director of the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. "Most people know to some degree lots of information makes them feel safer or makes them feel unsafe," she says. "Everybody's got their own sort of temperature or balance point."

Once you've reached yours, take a media break -- or at least switch from TV news to print news, since research suggests the latter is less traumatic. "TV images of dreadful events make them more vivid in our imagination," Sapadin says. "That creates overexposure that makes us feel more vulnerable to attack."

4. Turn to your default (healthy) coping mechanism.

If you're not sure how to manage your worries, consider how you've successfully coped in the past. "Use [your] signature strength," Newman suggests. Exercising, spending time outdoors and maintaining your regular work routine are all healthy outlets that can help you feel more in control, Kalayjian says. Deep breathing is a powerful coping mechanism, too. "Breathing can release a lot of negative feelings such as anger, frustration and fear," Kalayjian says. "That breath can give you so much power and brings you back to your confidence that this too shall pass."

But be careful not to self-medicate in destructive ways, such as smoking, eating junk food or drinking too much, Kalayjian adds. "We have to really be mindful of that because those things poison us more, and it turns our attitude into negativity," she says.

5. Take control.

" If you see something, say something" is a national security phrase worth heeding. "That empowers people to recognize they have a role in their own safety; [they're] not helpless," Scalora says. For Arciniega, taking control means reporting anything out of sorts -- say, a lone bag or an oddly placed phone -- to a ranger, keeping visitors away from the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and always having an "escape plan" in mind for her groups while she's leading tours.

The key is weighing the risks and benefits of your choices, Sapadin says. "What risks am I willing to take to live the life I want to live?" she asks. "Do you get on a plane or don't you? Do you go to France or don't you? You can come to your own conclusions."

6. Make connections.

Since the Paris attacks, Arciniega has tried to be even more friendly and open toward people in her tour groups. Reaching out to others -- by asking how they're doing or offering to help, for example -- counters fear, Newman says. "It makes you feel more connected at times when you're afraid of other people," she says. "It helps to help other people." What's more, people who have strong social support are more likely to successfully cope with trauma, Newman says.

7. Know what's out of your control.

There's only so much you can do to protect yourself from terrorism. Leave the rest up to the experts. "It's easy to be cynical about the government, but the realty is there are folks who are working very hard and doing a good job," Scalora says. Arciniega likes to remind cautious tourists that the District has at least a dozen types of law enforcement professionals whose jobs are to keep them safe. "Quite a few [visitors] have mentioned feeling now was a safer time to visit because of heightened security," she says.

8. Get help.

"If fear becomes your way of life, it takes a huge toll," Sapadin says. "It squeezes all the fun and excitement and juiciness out of life." If that's the case for you, consider enlisting the help of a mental health professional -- especially if you've been directly affected by violence. The outcome may surprise you. "After each trauma," Kalayjian says, "people have a heightened capacity to grow and be better human beings."
ROSARIO, Argentina (AP) -- Several spectators were injured during the Dakar Rally on Saturday after a Mini Cooper plowed into the crowd before the start of the race in Argentina.

The accident occurred at kilometer 6.6 of the prologue to the Dakar 2016, which starts between Buenos Aires and Rosario. Organizers suspended Saturday's special stage.

A Dakar statement said four spectators were injured and taken to local hospitals. However, it did not provide details on their injuries.

Daniel Modesto, a doctor at the Santa Francisca de Arrecifes hospital, told Argentine station TN that 10 people were treated for injuries, including a pregnant woman and four children. He said one child and one adult man were seriously injured. The child was airlifted to a larger hospital, while the man was transferred in an ambulance, he said.

The vehicle that veered off the road was No. 360, which belongs to Guo Meiling. Guo is the first Chinese woman to compete in Dakar.

It was unclear she or other drivers were injured.

Competitors were participating in a special stage to determine Sunday's opening day order.
The hunt for planets around other stars is gaining speed. NASA's Kepler Space Telescope revealed more than 4,600 planetary candidates over its brief lifetime. But what does the future hold for exoplanets? When almost 350 exoplanet scientists gathered in Hawaii earlier this month, Space.com asked several of them what they were most looking forward to. Many expressed enthusiasm over the progress made in the field of direct imaging.

"The new technique now is direct imaging," Sara Seager, a professor of planetary science and physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, told Space.com.

"It's really like the start of a brand-new era of exoplanets." [10 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life]

"Not just stamp collecting"

At its heart, the direct-imagingmethod resembles photography, whether via visible or infrared light. But photographing a planet isn't easy, especially when it is literally outshone by its parent star. Scientists must use an instrument known as a coronagraph to block the light from the star, revealing the dimmer light reflected by a planet in its shadow.

"It's not just that you know that [the planets] are there, it's that you can see it with your own eyes," Thayne Currie, a research associate at Subaru Telescope, told Space.com. Other methods of planet detection are indirect, meaning they find evidence of the planet's presence, but often do not see the light it emits.

"To me, [direct detection] means something fundamentally more special."

Although scientists have been taking pictures of stars since the early days of photography, the first directly imaged planet wasn't discovered until 2004. That planet was orbiting a brown dwarf, an object sometimes known as a "failed star" because it never gets massive enough to begin fusing material in its core. As a result, brown dwarfs are far dimmer than stars like the sun. In 2008, scientists announced the discovery of Fomalhault b, a planet directly imaged in visible light and orbiting a full-grown star. The same day, a separate team announced the successful image of the star HD 8799 in the infrared  but instead of one world, this star boasts four.

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Since then, direct imaging has been growing by leaps and bounds, according to the scientists we spoke to.

According to Currie, one of biggest benefits of direct imaging is the amount of information that can be revealed with the method.

"It's not just stamp collecting. We're able to study these objects in exceptional detail," he said. "We actually know more about these planets than we knew about Jupiter a hundred years ago."

Direct imaging allows astronomers to understand a planet's orbit, the composition of its atmosphere and the probability it has clouds. Water, methane and carbon dioxide can all be detected with the technique.

"The wealth of information you have is staggering," Currie said.

Searching for Earth's twin

When the Kepler Space Telescope searched for planets, it used what scientists call the transit method. As a planet passes between its sun and the Earth, the light streaming from the star dims slightly. Scientists can measure that dimming to determine the radius of the planet. After observing multiple passes of the same planet, they can also calculate its orbit. Follow-up observations with other instruments can also reveal information about the planet's atmosphere.

But the space telescope is limited to planets that pass between Earth and their star. Worlds that orbit at other angles can pass by without notice. Direct imaging, on the other hand, doesn't require an ideal lineup. Planets can be imaged in any orbit, from any direction.

"Even if every single sunlike star has an Earth, you have to burn through a lot of those to get a transit detection," Currie said. "If you can image the system, and every single sunlike star has an Earth, you only need to burn through one."

While transit observations study close-in planets, direct imaging requires some distance, thanks to the need to block out stellar light. As a result, it is better suited to studying planets farther from their star. Larger planets are easier to capture, but Currie is optimistic that continued improvements in technology will soon spot smaller worlds. Today's directly imaged exoplanets are scaled-up Jupiters, but he said that in the near future, young Jupiters should be viewable.

Over the next decade, three ground-based telescopes will come online that Currie said should revolutionize direct imaging. The European Extremely Large Telescope is scheduled to see first light in 2024. The Thirty-Meter Telescope should also prove a capable planet hunter, although progress on the instrument has been held up due to permit problems. Finally, Currie said that there is a chance that the Giant Magellan Telescope, under construction in Chile, will be able to spot rocky worlds when it comes online in 2025.

NASA's space-based Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST) will dramatically improve the hunt for directly imaged exoplanets when it is launched in the mid-2020s. The instrument is designed to be able to detect worlds that lie as far from their star as Earth lies from the sun. It is unlikely that these worlds will be rocky, Currie said. However, it's not outside the realm of possibility, should everything work better than anticipated.

"If we get very lucky  very lucky  we could actually detect an Earth twin with WFIRST," he said.

Detecting life

In addition to searching for an Earth twin, direct imaging could help scientists to find potentially habitable worlds.

According to Elisa Quintana, a Kepler research scientist with the SETI Institute and the NASA Ames Research Center, direct imaging could reveal not only the atmosphere of a planet, but also potential biomarkers. It could even reveal life beyond the solar system.

"There's three ways we're going to know if there's other life," she said.

The first is by searching the skies for artificial radio signals. The second is hunting for microbial life within the solar system, in places like Mars or the icy moons of Jupiter and Saturn. And the third method is direct imaging.

According to Quintana, direct imaging "might very well be the first time we detect some form of life."

"It could very well happen within our lifetime," she said.

Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

Copyright 2016 SPACE.com, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Rebecca Lo Robertsons got her ducks in a row for 2016!

The Duck Dynasty darling got engaged to her boyfriend of one year, John Reed Loflin, just in time for 2016.

NEWS: The Voice Winner Jordan Smith Is Engaged

John Reed proposed to Rebecca in Perdido Key Beach, Florida, and the 27-year-old reality star filled ET in on just how the sweet seaside surprise went down at her husband-to-be familys condo.

We go pretty often, and one of our favorite things to do at the beach is to go treasure hunting  aka looking for shells, and we keep score, too!  so we went on what I thought was our typical treasure hunt around sunset, she told ET, adding that the afternoon was chilly but beautiful. I was determined to find the best shell that day! We had been walking for about an hour, and I saw this beautiful swirly shell hidden in the sand  and the ring was also hiding in there!

He got on his one knee, pulled the ring out and said, 'I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. Will you spend the rest of your life with me? she continued. Then I said yes! I cried, and he said he teared up 'a little.

Rebecca had no idea the proposal was going to happen. Apparently all my friends and family knew, but everyone did a really good job hiding it from me, she said. They have got some really good acting skills!

NEWS: Duck Dynasty Stars Willie & Korie Robertson Adopting Another Son

She also admitted that at first, she thought the shell was fake because it was so pretty and crazy looking or even possibly a Christmas ornament that had blown onto the beach. I almost threw it back in the sand  that would have been bad! she said.

On Friday, Rebecca posted an adorable scrapbook doodle of the proposal to Instagram, complete with Im [the] future Mrs. Loflin, OMG spelled out with a diamond ring and 2016 our story starts here.

She also shared a sweet photo of herself kissing a crown-wearing John Reed, as well as a good view of her unique new Art Deco ring!

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After long time of patiently searching, I found the ultimate gem // Jeremiah 29:11, Rebecca captioned it.

John Reed shared his own gorgeous shots of the beach proposal, as well as a close-up shot of him holding his fiancees hand along with the cute caption, Best friends forever.

WATCH: 'Duck Dynasty Stars Willie & Korie Robertson Get Candid on Disciplining Kids

The 14-karat gold band was designed by Nicki Loflin Sampognaro and features a large oval-shaped opal  Rebeccas favorite stone as well as her birthstone  surrounded by gray pave and baguette diamonds.

Rebeccas little sister, 18-year-old Sadie Robertson, excitedly shared her own sweet photo of the pair on Instagram. MY SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED TO HER BEST FRIEND!!!! Im so happy for you Rebecca, she captioned the adorable pic. John Reed good luck joining our crazy family. So excited for y'all to began y'alls journey of life together. 1.1.16.

Rebecca  who was born in Taiwan and now runs the flagship Duck & Dressing store in Monroe, Louisiana  joined the Robertson family in 2004 at age 16 after coming to the United States as a foreign exchange student. Now she is Willie and Korie Robertsons foster daughter and one of the couples five children. She met John Reed on Halloween at the 2014 Voodoo Fest in New Orleans, and the two have been together ever since.

Korie has happily started celebrating, prepping a Sunday night engagement dinner of crawfish pies, shrimp au gratin and grits.

WATCH: Blinged-Out Engagement Rings By the Numbers

This will be the first marriage for Rebecca and second for John Reed, who split from his ex-wife last year.

Now, Rebecca is thrilled to start planning what she hopes will be a destination wedding. We are beyond happy and thankful for our family for leading up to this chapter of our lives, and we are so excited to see what God has in store for our future, she told ET. We want to spread love and kindness all over the world together.

It looks theyll be plenty to talk about when the new season of Duck Dynasty premieres on A&E on Jan. 13!

Rebeccas younger brother, John Luke Robertson, got married last June. Find out all about his nuptials to Mary Kate McEacharn in the video below.

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The Robertson family is rapidly expanding!

Just two days after her daughter, Rebecca Lo Robertson, announced her engagement, Korie Robertson told fans that she wouldnt just have a new son-in-law but also another son.

WATCH: Willie & Korie Robertson Reveal How They Really Feel About the Kardashians

The Duck Dynasty star and her husband, Willie Robertson, are in the process of adopting a 13-year-old boy. Korie posted a photo of her growing brood to Instagram on Sunday, answered the question many fans were asking: Whos the cute kid that keeps popping up in their photos?

We are excited to be in the process of adopting a new son! she wrote. Hes been with us since May, but we wanted some privacy and time for him and our family to bond before telling the world (Its a bit of an adjustment coming into this big, crazy family, ha]]>
Photo: AFP

Tough-talking presidential aspirant Rodrigo Duterte has promised to create peace in the country within three to six months, should he become president.

Duterte, known as the Philippines Dirty Harry, made the promise as part of his New Years Eve speech to residents of Barangay Durian in Las Nieves, Agusan del Norte, following the release of abducted soldier Corporal Adriano Bingil by the New Peoples Army.

To the hundreds of residents gathered, Duterte advocated for peace and inclusive discussions with different groups in the Philippines, including the Communist Party of the Philippines, the National Democratic Front, the New Peoples Army, the Moro Islamic Liberation Front, the Moro National Liberation Front, as well as indigenous peoples and other victims of injustice.

Duterte was one of the third-party negotiators involved in Corporal Adriano Bingils release.

On the corporals release, Duterte shared on his Facebook page, Today I brought home one of our soldiers, Corporal Adriano Bingil, Jr. to his family, just in time for the New Year. And I would like to thank all who have helped and assisted in any way.

Photo: Screengrab from Facebook
04_01_India_earthquake

A powerful earth quake struck South Asia before dawn on Monday, killing at least nine people and injuring nearly 200, with efforts to rescue those trapped in rubble hampered by severed power supplies and telecommunication links.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake of magnitude 6.8 was 57 km (35 miles) deep and struck 29 km (18 miles) west of Imphal, the capital of India's northeastern state of Manipur, bordering Myanmar.

The quake struck while many residents were asleep, and roofs and staircases of some buildings collapsed in the city of about 270,000 people.

It was like being tossed around in a frying pan, said Joy Thanglian, a 33-year-old employee of state energy firm Bharat Petroleum. Then we ran outside.

Police and hospitals in Imphal said the toll had reached six dead, with 100 people injured, 33 of them seriously.

It was the biggest earth quake weve felt in Imphal, disaster response worker Kanarjit Kangujam told Reuters by telephone.

Rescue workers battled to find workers believed to have been buried beneath the rubble of a building that had been construction. They were unsure how many might be trapped.

Residents of Imphal said people fled their homes and power and telecoms links were down in the remote region.

At the airport, flights were normal, although a boundary wall collapsed, and a crack appeared in the terminal building, said Thanglian, who works there.

Some people criticized what they called the authorities slow response, saying that although the army had begun to clear debris, it appeared to be short of heavy equipment.

We havent seen any help from the government side, said disaster volunteer worker Kangujam. The government has not given us any information.

Government officials leading the rescue effort could not immediately be reached for comment.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was in touch with authorities in the northeast. Rescue teams from Guwahati, in neighboring Assam state, were scrambling to reach Imphal.

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People in Bangladesh and the Himalayan nation of Nepal ran from their homes, and the quake was also felt as far away as the Myanmar city of Yangon, about 1,176 km (730 miles) to the south, residents said.

Media in Bangladesh reported three people died of heart attacks with police saying at least 90 were injured.

An official at Myanmars meteorological department in Naypyitaw, the capital, said there were no reports of damage or casualties on the Myanmar side of the border.

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The 11th Los Angeles-Italia Film, Fashion and Art Fest is set to honor five-time Oscar-nominated composer Ennio Morricone.

A schoolday classmate of Sergio Leone, the two formed a legendary partnership responsible for some of the most iconic film scores in history.

The Roman composer has been nominated for an Oscar for best original score for Days of Heaven (1978), The Mission (1986), The Untouchables (1987), Bugsy (1991) and Malena (2000). He was given an honorary statuette in 2007 for his contributions to the art of film music.

His latest work, the original score for Quentin Tarantinos The Hateful Eight, has already been nominated for a Golden Globe for best original score.

Read More: 'The Hateful Eight' Sweeps Capri-Hollywood Film Fest Awards

"Morricone is a true legend in America  an icon of Italian culture," said festival founder Pascal Vicedomini, "and LA-Italia, which highlights the Italian film and music industries, is eager to celebrate him in the year of his collaboration with Tarantino and in the name of the great Sergio Leone."

Vicedomini is also director of the Capri-Hollywood Film Festival, which wrapped January 2 awarding The Hateful Eight with four awards, including best score for Morricone and best movie.

Previous editions of the festival have honored Dario Argento and Al Pacino.

The 11th edition of the Los Angeles-Italia fest takes place Feb. 21-Feb 27 at Hollywoods Chinese 6 Theaters, one week before the 2016 Academy Awards.
By Nick Carey CHICAGO (Reuters) - Industry groups representing major freight customers of Norfolk Southern Corp have asked the U.S. rail regulator to reject any bid for the railroad by Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd, according to letters viewed by Reuters. The opposition from a broad array of customers to the hostile bid for the Norfolk, Virginia-based railroad could significantly harm Canadian Pacific's case if an expected lengthy proxy battle is resolved and a merger reaches the Surface Transportation Board for a review. The Canadian company in mid-November disclosed its $28 billion offer to buy Norfolk Southern. It would be the first merger involving a U.S. railroad since the Surface Transportation Board rewrote the rules in 2001 after a wave of consolidation reduced the number of major North American railroads to seven from 35. The proposed merger could face a tough review, and the regulator is expected to give customers even more time than in the past to air concerns at public hearings. Norfolk Southern has rebuffed several bids from Canadian Pacific since November. The letters have not been made public but copies were viewed by Reuters. Sent in December, they express concerns over Canadian Pacific's plans to cut costs at Norfolk Southern would hurt service levels and that a merger would lead to a continental duopoly meaning higher prices for customers. Norfolk Southern declined to comment on the letters. A Canadian Pacific spokesman said the company "is aware of some shipper concerns" but looks forward to discussing the benefits of its bid with all stakeholders. The documents also include letters from representatives of several state legislatures expressing opposition to the deal. The letters include a joint one to Canadian Pacific, with the Surface Transportation Board carbon-copied, from the heads of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers - which between them represent large automakers and suppliers including General Motors Co and Toyota Motor Corp. A large proportion of finished vehicles travel most of the way by train from U.S. manufacturing plants to dealerships. "(P)revious rail mergers of this magnitude have been followed by pro-longed periods of poor service levels and higher rates," the joint letter dated Dec. 22 states. "We urge CP to abandon its merger ambitions and to focus its attentions upon enhancing its current levels of customer service." Major rail mergers in the 1990s, such as the 1999 carve-up of Conrail between Norfolk Southern and CSX Corp resulted in short-term collapses as railroads failed to integrate their networks smoothly. In a separate letter, Subaru Motor Co said it opposed a merger "as we believe it would limit the competitive balance" among North America's railroads. The manufacturers' associations of Kentucky, Indiana and West Virginia also wrote to the STB, as did the Michigan Agri-Business Association and the Palmetto AgriBusiness Council (PABC), which represents farmers, banks and agricultural investors in South Carolina. "We are justifiably concerned that Canadian Pacifics proposal to slash resources available to the current Norfolk Southern threatens the economy of our state," Charles Higdon, chief executive of the Kentucky Association of Manufacturers, wrote to the STB on Dec. 22. In a letter dated Dec. 8, Ernie Thrasher, CEO of Xcoal Energy & Resources, wrote he was "concerned that the short-term nature of CP's operating plan would be detrimental to the long-term requirements of the U.S. coal industry and energy sector." In a Dec. 23 letter to the STB, the head of short line railroad holding company Watco cautioned that many in the rail industry expect the next round of mergers will be the last. "The proposed CP-NS merger likely would result in a national duopoly, which would dramatically reduce competitive rail options for customers," Watco CEO Rick Webb wrote. (Editing by Matthew Lewis)
By Angus McDowall RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia widened its rift with Iran on Monday, saying it would end air traffic and trade links with the Islamic republic and demanding that Tehran must "act like a normal country" before it would restore severed diplomatic relations. Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters in an interview that Tehran was responsible for rising tensions after the kingdom executed Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, describing him as a terrorist. Insisting Riyadh would react to "Iranian aggression", he accused Tehran of dispatching fighters to Arab countries and plotting attacks inside the kingdom and its Gulf neighbours. "There is no escalation on the part of Saudi Arabia. Our moves are all reactive. It is the Iranians who went into Lebanon. It is the Iranians who sent their Qods Force and their Revolutionary Guards into Syria," Jubeir said. Tehran says it has sent only military advisers to Syria and Iraq at their governments' requests, and denies plots in Gulf states. The execution of Nimr provoked protests among Shi'ites across the region and Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, setting fires and causing damage, prompting Riyadh to cut ties and inflaming an already heated rivalry. "We will also be cutting off all air traffic to and from Iran. We will be cutting off all commercial relations with Iran. And we will have a travel ban against people travelling to Iran," Jubeir said. Iranian pilgrims would still be welcome to visit Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia, either for the annual haj or at other times of year on the umrah pilgrimage, he said. However, Jubeir said Saudi Arabia had been right to execute Nimr, whom he accused of "agitating, organising cells, providing them with weapons and money" - allegations that the cleric's family have denied. After listing the crimes of 43 al Qaeda members also put to death on Saturday alongside four Shi'ites, Jubeir said of the executions: "We should be applauded for this, not criticised." 'AGGRESSIVE POLICIES' Jubeir, a former ambassador to Washington where the FBI in 2011 said he had been the target of an Iranian assassination plot, said the break in ties was a response to older problems as well as the embassy storming. "[It] is a reaction to Iran's aggressive policies over the years, and in particular over the past few months. The Iranian regime has been a sponsor of terrorism, they have set up terrorist cells in Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries," he said. Tehran has consistently denied those charges and itself has accused Riyadh of supporting militancy through its backing of Islamist rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Jubeir also accused Iran's authorities of complicity in the attack on the embassy at the weekend, saying Saudi diplomats had seen security forces enter the building and take part in looting and that the police did not respond to more than one request for help. Iran has defended its measures to protect the Saudi embassy, saying it is investigating the matter and has made arrests. Asked what steps Iran needed to take before Riyadh would consider restoring diplomatic ties, Jubeir said Tehran must "respect international norms and treaties and conventions" and "act like a normal country [that] respects the territorial integrity of its neighbours". (Editing by William Maclean, David Stamp and Pravin Char)
(This January 1 story has been corrected to change terminal capacity to barrels, not barrels per day, in paragraph 1) HOUSTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp shut its 340,571-barrel refined products terminal along the Mississippi River in Memphis, Tennessee, as floodwaters threatened to inundate the facility just south of the city's downtown, a company spokesman said on Friday. Heavy rains in Missouri and Illinois have swollen the Mississippi and its tributaries in the past week, shutting two pipelines feeding the Phillips 66 refinery in Wood River, Illinois, and threatening other refineries, terminals and pipelines along the river to the Gulf Coast in Louisiana. "Safety is our first priority and due to rising flood waters, Exxon Mobil's Memphis Terminal has closed its facility," said company spokesman Todd Spitler in an email statement. "Impacts to customers will be minimized as alternative supply will be provided," Spitler said. "We will restart the facility as soon as it is safe to do so." Valero Energy Corp's 180,000-bpd refinery in Memphis is expected to remain in operation as floodwaters that have swamped the St. Louis area during the past week move south past Memphis over the weekend, the company has said. The Valero refinery sits alongside a small tributary to the Mississippi and at a higher elevation than the Exxon terminal. Spitler said Exxon had personnel on duty at the terminal who were communicating with government emergency management officials in Memphis. (Reporting by Erwin Seba; Editing by James Dalgleish and Peter Cooney)
By Jim Urquhart and Jonathan Allen PRINCETON, Ore. (Reuters) - The leaders of a group of self-styled militiamen who took over a remote U.S. wildlife refuge centre in Oregon over the weekend said on Monday they acted to protest the federal government's role in managing millions of acres of wild lands. The anti-government occupation, which began on Saturday at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 30 miles (50 km) south of the small town of Burns, was the latest skirmish over federal land management in large tracts of the West. A protest leader, Ammon Bundy, told reporters outside the occupied facility on Monday that his group had named itself "Citizens for Constitutional Freedom" and was trying to restore individual rights. Bundy and law enforcement officials declined to say how many people were occupying the centre. About half a dozen occupiers could be seen outside the facility on Monday, with some manning a watchtower and others standing around a vehicle they had used to block the road leading to the building. They chatted quietly among themselves. None was visibly armed. The FBI said it was seeking a "peaceful resolution to the situation." It declined to give details on how the U.S. government would deal with the occupiers. No significant law enforcement presence could be seen at the site. The occupation followed a demonstration in Burns over the imminent imprisonment of local ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond, who were found guilty of setting a series of fires. Through an attorney, they have dissociated themselves from the occupiers. NBC News reported that the father and son turned themselves in as planned on Monday at a federal prison in California. Their lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The occupation is the latest wrinkle in decades of conflict between ranchers and the federal government over Washington's management of hundreds of thousands of acres of range land. Critics say the federal government often oversteps its authority and exercises arbitrary power without sufficient accountability. Bundy is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, whose ranch was the scene of an armed demonstration against federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials in 2014 that ended with the authorities backing down, citing safety concerns. That standoff had drawn hundreds of armed protesters after federal agents sought to seize Bundy's cattle because he refused to pay grazing fees. Jon Ritzheimer, a Marine Corps veteran who travelled from Phoenix to take part in the occupation, said the Constitution was under attack from the U.S. government, and that he and his companions were "trying to restore this land to the people." In Burns, home to 3,000 people, residents voiced sympathy for the Hammonds but also expressed frustration at the occupation, which some locals viewed as the work of outsiders. "I agree they shouldn't have to go back to prison. I get why they're here," said Patrick Wright, a 33-year-old taxi driver, who said he knew the Hammonds. "Taking over the refuge and threatening gun violence is a little extreme, but it's getting them heard, that's for sure." The takeover drew criticism on social media, with some users asking if the occupiers would have been treated differently if they had been black or Muslim. SERIES OF FIRES The Hammonds were found guilty in 2012 of setting a string of fires, including a 2001 blaze that federal prosecutors said was intended to cover up evidence of deer poaching, that wound up burning 139 acres (56 hectares) of public lands. The younger Hammond was initially sentenced to 12 months in prison and the father three months, below the federal minimum for arson. But in October, a U.S. district judge increased the sentences to five years. The Hammond ranch borders on the southern edge of the Malheur refuge, a bird sanctuary in eastern Oregon's arid high desert, about 305 miles (490 km) southeast of Portland. Both father and son are members of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association (OCA). The group said on Monday that it would continue to assist and represent them "solely through avenues that are in accordance with the law." "OCA does not support illegal activity taken against the government. This includes militia takeover of government property, such as the Malheur Wildlife Refuge," the association's president, John O'Keeffe, said in a statement. "Obviously we're aware of the situation and concerned about it," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. He said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the situation, adding: "This ultimately is a ... local law enforcement matter." Republican White House candidates Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida expressed sympathy for the protesters' concerns but urged the group to remain peaceful and follow the law, according to media reports. The refuge, which encompasses 292 square miles (75,630 hectares), was established in 1908 by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt as a breeding ground for greater sandhill cranes and other native birds. (Reporting by Jim Urquhart; Editing by Jonathan Oatis; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Roberta Rampton in Washington, Daniel Wallis in Denver and Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller)
Havana (AFP) - Five dissidents freed as Havana launched a high-profile diplomatic rapprochement with the United States are back in custody in Cuba, a human rights group said Monday.

The five were among 53 political prisoners released in 2014 and early 2015 as the Washington and Havana moved to restore ties after a half-century break.

The Cuban Commission on Human Rights, an officially outlawed but tolerated group, said the five "were confined in high-security prisons in the second half of 2015."

They include Vladimir Morera, who had been hospitalized since launching a hunger strike on October 9. The United States last week called on the government to release him.

On Monday, Morera's son, Vladier Morera, said his father started eating again on December 31.

The son said he did not know if this was voluntary on his father's part. "All I know is that he is eating again, and that he is speaking incoherently because the doctors say he was very weak," Morera said.

The others back in custody are Wilfredo Parada Milian, Jorge Ramirez Calderon, Carlos Manuel Figueroa and Aracelio Ribeaux Noa, according to the rights group.

All five were jailed "as a result of rigged trials and without due process," it said.

Cuban authorities did not comment. But the Americas' only communist government routinely denies it is holding political prisoners and says those jailed are in for common crimes.

The rights group reported that 8,616 people were detained for political reasons in 2015, most of whom were released after several hours. That was down from 2014, when 8,889 Cubans were detained for political reasons, according to the group.

It said "political repression" continued in 2015 "despite the well-known expectations awakened by the announcement of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations" between Havana and Washington.

On December 29, Roberta Jacobson, the US State Department's pointwoman for Latin America, called on the government of President Raul Castro to free Morera, who she said had been jailed for dissenting peacefully.

Morera, 44, was sentenced to four years in prison in April for allegedly causing bodily harm during a scuffle with pro-government militants in which a woman was injured. His family denies the charges.
(Reuters) - Georgia Governor Nathan Deal on Monday rescinded his executive order seeking to stop the resettlement of Syrian refugees in his state after the state's attorney general ruled he did not have the authority to deny them entry or federally funded benefits. Deal, a Republican, had been among more than two dozen U.S. governors who sought to block refugees from the war-torn country from their states after the Nov. 13 attacks in Paris, for which the Islamic State militant group claimed credit. Many Republican presidential candidates have also expressed opposition to allowing Syrian refugees into the United States. Deal cited an opinion last week by Georgia Attorney General Samuel Olens, also a Republican, in his new order withdrawing his instructions to state agencies to halt involvement in accepting Syrian refugees for resettlement. Olens had ruled that Georgia did not have the authority to exclude refugees from particular countries, despite concerns about the federal government's security screening procedures. The Obama administration plans to accept 10,000 Syrian refugees in the United States in the coming year. (Reporting by Colleen Jenkins in Winston-Salem, N.C.; Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
BERLIN (Reuters) - There is no evidence that Iran is planning to depart from a deal reached with world powers last year to scale back its nuclear program and it could even fulfill all of its agreements this month, a German foreign ministry spokesman said on Monday. "I very much expect that there is no interest among the decisive actors in Iran - the Iranian government, the Iranian president, and elsewhere - in diverging from the agreements made in Vienna last summer," Martin Schaefer told a news conference. Iran signed a nuclear deal with six world powers, including Germany, in July that would see it curb its nuclear activities in exchange for the easing of crippling economic sanctions. Schaefer suggested these sanctions could be lifted soon. "The day on which Iran fulfills all of its obligations from the Vienna agreement, which will result in international sanctions being suspended or revoked, is getting closer and could even be reached this month," he said. Volker Treier, managing director of Germany's DIHK Chambers of Commerce, said German companies were hoping that a timetable to dismantle Western sanctions would be presented in the first quarter and that this process would then quickly start. However he said German businesses were concerned about rising tensions between Iran and its regional rival Saudi Arabia, after Riyadh's execution of four prominent Shi'ites on Saturday. The kingdom severed its ties with Iran on Sunday after protesters stormed its embassy in Tehran. Treier said that once sanctions on Tehran were lifted, the growth rate of German exports to Iran would probably be in double figures. German-Iranian trade volume could quadruple to around 10 billion euros within five to seven years from around 2.4 billion euros in 2014, he added. (Reporting by Gernot Heller; Writing by Paul Carrel and Michelle Martin; Editing by Noah Barkin and Dominic Evans)
Krusa (Denmark) (AFP) - Denmark implemented spot checks on its border with Germany, in a move that triggered fresh concern for Europe's cherished Schengen passport-free zone hours after Sweden imposed its own controls on travellers from Denmark.

Alarmed by the restrictions, the latest in a spate of border controls imposed across Europe in the wake of a massive migrant influx to the continent, Berlin warned the 20-year-old Schengen zone was "in danger".

The new Swedish measures also mean travellers between Denmark and Sweden will have to show their ID cards for the first time since the late 1950s, when a Nordic agreement on passport-free travel came into force.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen cited the Swedish checks to justify his own country's immediate introduction of random border controls.

"We are simply reacting to a decision made in Sweden... This is not a happy moment at all," he told reporters.

Rasmussen warned that Sweden's controls could have a domino effect on Denmark, which received just 21,000 asylum requests in 2015, compared to Sweden's 163,000.

"It's clear the EU is not able to protect its outer borders and other countries are going to be forced to introduce... border controls," he said, adding: "Europe's leaders must react to this."

Under Schengen rules, countries are allowed to re-introduce border checks for up to six months in exceptional circumstances.

- 'Schengen in danger' -

German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer voiced concern over Denmark's decision, telling reporters: "Freedom of movement is an important principle -- one of the biggest achievements (in the European Union) in recent years."

"Schengen is very important but it is in danger," he said.

At the Denmark-Germany border, a group of 20 Syrians, including several children, en route to Sweden were made to get off a train and escorted by police.

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Officers explained the new rules to them, via an interpreter, and told them they would either have to seek asylum in Denmark or turn back.

"They all wanted to go to Sweden, but we told them it was impossible," a police officer at the scene told AFP.

The new measures come after Stockholm -- which has taken in more asylum seekers per capita than any other EU nation -- said it could no longer cope with the unregulated flow of arrivals.

Swedish Migration Minister Morgan Johansson said his country's immigration controls were aimed at "preventing an acute situation where we can no longer welcome asylum seekers properly".

More than one million migrants reached Europe in 2015, most of whom were refugees fleeing war and violence in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the United Nations refugee agency.

Europe has struggled to respond to the continent's biggest refugee crisis since World War II, with several Schengen countries, including Germany, Austria and France, already re-imposing border checks last year.

- 'Building a Berlin Wall' -

On Monday, extra security staff were on hand at the Danish side of the Oresund crossing, a major entry point for migrants and refugees hoping to start a new life in Sweden.

The controls proceeded smoothly but travellers were warned to expect longer queues and delays during the early evening rush hour when commuters with jobs in Denmark return home to Sweden.

Tens of thousands of journeys are recorded on the bridge each day, including 8,600 people who commute between jobs and their homes in Copenhagen and the southern Swedish city of Malmo.

Under the new rules, all rail passengers now have to exit the train at Copenhagen airport's Kastrup station and clear checkpoints before boarding again.

"We need controls (at our borders), but they must be fluid," said Marten Jegenstam, a Danish consultant who works in Sweden.

Officials at Danish train operator DSB confirmed a small number of people had been turned away, but would not specify if they were migrants or just commuters lacking proper ID.

Temporary fencing has also been erected at Kastrup station to prevent people from trying to sneak onto Sweden-bound trains.

"It's as if we are building a Berlin Wall here," said Michael Randropp, a spokesman for the local Kystbanen commuters' association. "We are going several steps back in time."
By Trevor Hunnicutt (Reuters) - Investors poured $347 billion into exchange-traded funds globally during 2015, fund-manager BlackRock Inc said on Sunday, setting a new record for the industry. BlackRock said its own haul of $130 billion in new money also set a record in global flows for its iShares ETF business, surpassing the previous annual record set in 2014, when investors added $103 billion in new money to the funds. ETFs, generally a basket of stocks, bonds or other assets, grew at a record rate despite markets struggling in 2015 to deliver the broad gains they have posted since rebounding from the financial crisis in 2009. Global ETF assets now total about $3 trillion. In the United States, inflows of $228 billion last year were not enough to top the record $246 billion brought in during 2014, according to the BlackRock data. A third-party data provider, ETFGI LLP, said its estimates for the year also showed a similar increase in new assets for global ETFs over 2014 and a decrease in U.S. flows. It was a year of slim returns. The largest U.S. ETF, SPDR S&P 500 ETF , delivered 1.34 percent in total returns in 2015. The iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF , the largest U.S. bond ETF, eked out 0.48 percent, according to Morningstar Inc . Investors looked to ETFs tracking stocks in places like Europe and Japan, hoping shares of companies there would be boosted by stimulus from central bankers. New York-based BlackRock, with more than $1 trillion in global ETF assets, is the largest provider of such funds, as well as the world's largest money manager overall. The funds have benefited, as they offer an alternative to bonds, mutual funds, futures and other financial products. BlackRock also set new records for growth in the United States, where its $97 billion in 2015 intake topped the $82 billion brought in year prior. In Europe, the company's $34 billion in cash flows were also a record, ahead of the $20 billion collected in 2014. Vanguard Group Inc estimated its U.S. ETFs took in $76 billion during the year, also a record, lifting the company to second among ETF providers by total assets in 2015 for the first time. The two top managers, iShares and Vanguard, account for three-quarters of the new cash brought into the U.S. ETF market, according to Morningstar data. BlackRock is to report its fourth-quarter results on Jan. 15. (Reporting by Trevor Hunnicutt; Editing by Dan Grebler)
Scientists have found a bizarre food triangle between three different organisms lurking deep in the Peruvian Amazon.

The cast of characters includes a yellow parasitic plant that bursts forth like boils from tree bark, a caterpillar that feeds on that plant, and an ant that drinks the sweet liquid that the caterpillar produces in a special gland near its neck. And at least one of these critters seems to have evolved specific adaptations that allow it to better take advantage of this complex relationship. [See Images of the Strange Amazon Love Triangle]

"It's really a weird relationship, I've never seen anything like it before," said Aaron Pomerantz, an entomologist who works with a rainforest expedition company at the Refugio Amazonas near the Tambopata Research Center in Peru.

Tree boils?

Pomerantz was walking in the jungle when he spied strange, yellow bulbs that looked almost like dot candy bursting from a tree trunk. When he took a closer look, he realized that a caterpillar was feeding on the yellow bulbs.

But it got even weirder. As the caterpillar gorged on the bulb, an ant seemed to be drumming on the caterpillar's back. This drumming motion spurred the caterpillar to secrete a sugary liquid from a specialized organ on its back, called the dorsal nectary organ, which the ant then devoured.

It turned out that the caterpillar and the ant had an "I scratch your back, you scratch mine" relationship. The ant does bodyguard duty, warding off spiders, wasps or other ants that eat defenseless caterpillars, while the caterpillar provides snacks for the ant, a relationship known as myrmecophily, Pomerantz said.

"It's multiple layers," Pomerantz told Live Science. "You've got a tree, you've got a parasite inside the tree, you've got caterpillars eating the parasites and then ants taking care of the caterpillar."

Mysterious relationship

Pomerantz emailed several botanists to see if any could identify the plant with the odd-looking bulbs, and they were all stumped. Then a few identified the bulbs as a rare parasitic plant in the family Apodanthaceae. These plants burst from a tree's bark only to flower and be pollinated, Pomerantz said. As for the caterpillars, they are the larvae of butterflies from the family Lycaenidae.

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As far as he knew, this is the first time anyone has documented this strange and intricate web of interactions before, Pomerantz added. [See a Video About the Weird Symbiotic Relationship]

Interestingly, when Pomerantz went back to film the strange interactions, he noticed a nondescript gray butterfly with a little yellow dot on its wing laying eggs on the tree. With its coloring, it seemed to blend into the background of the tree and its yellow-bulb interloper.

He said he suspects the caterpillar grows into the gray butterfly, and that the butterfly uses its camouflage coloring to hide from lizards and birds. In other words, both the larval stage and the adult stage of this butterfly species have evolved changes to best take advantage of the tree and its parasitic plant.

"This really points to this long-term relationship," Pomerantz said.

That's especially baffling, considering that the parasites emerge from the trees just a few weeks every year to be pollinated, he said.

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitterand Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.

Copyright 2016 LiveScience, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
After showcasing Gucci's colorful wares in Los Angeles for its fall 2015 campaign, creative director Alessandro Michele headed to Berlin for its spring 2016 ad.

See more Very Italian Dolce & Gabbana Campaign Features Selfies, Spaghetti

The dreamy, surreal spread, photographed by Glen Luchford, sees up-and-coming models (Peyton Knight, Elizabeth Moore and Nicole Atieno included) out and about Germany's capital, hanging out on the rooftop, lounging around in a pink tile-covered restroom and, uh, holding a peacock (!) while skateboarding  all while wearing Michele's quirky, colorful '70s designs.

Ever since Michele took the helm at the Italian luxury label in 2015, the fashion community has been obsessing over his eye-catching patterned pieces  so much so that Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri told Business of Fashion that the designer's first two collections wouldn't be discounted. "The full-price sell-through is super high, so even if I put them on sale now, the impact on sales would be tiny," said Bizzarri.

Those peacocks though? Sold separately.
BEIJING (Reuters) - The head of the Western-backed opposition Syrian National Coalition (SNC) will visit China this week, as Beijing seeks to deepen ties with all sides in the conflict to help bring about a peaceful resolution. SNC president Khaled Khoja will be in China from Tuesday to Friday will meet Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying told a daily news briefing on Monday. China has repeatedly called for a political resolution and warned that military action cannot end the crisis. Khoja's visit comes two weeks after Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem visited China. Hua said that Wang would meet Khoja "to promote a political settlement of the Syrian issue". "We believe that the future of Syria should be decided by the people of Syria, so China is now doing everything to move the Syrian issue along on the correct path of political dialogue as quickly as possible," Hua said. "China's position has received high appreciation and affirmation from the international community, particularly the Syrian people." While relying on the region for oil supplies, China has tended to leave Middle Eastern diplomacy to the other five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, France and Russia. Hua urged all parties "to work together to fight terrorism and push for a ceasefire in Syria". (Reporting by Sui-Lee Wee; Editing by Nick Macfie)
The ink was barely dry on the editorial cartoons, columns and commentary celebrating the end of the political year of 2015 when voters got their first taste of whats likely in store for them in 2016. To anybody whos been paying attention, its not exactly a spoiler to note that things are probably going to get worse.

Many pundits were relieved to consign last year to the dustbin, as it brought with it Donald Trumps presidential candidacy and a general coarsening of the national dialogue about issues from immigration to terrorism to race relations. But whomever the Republicans eventually nominate, this year is going to be ugly, because there is a Clinton running for president. Because when Clintons run for office, conspiracy, scandal and prurience inevitably follow.

Related: Al Qaeda Is Using Donald Trumps Comments to Recruit Terrorists  and Hes OK with That

Thats not to say that Hillary Clinton herself will necessarily inject any of those elements into the race. (Beyond the extent to which she already has, that is, via her inexplicable decision to use a private email account while serving as secretary of state.) It is simply meant to point out that where the Clintons are concerned, there is a large and vocal element of the Republican Party that simply cannot resist the temptation to dive headfirst into the rabbit hole of Bill and Hillary Clintons past and then come to the surface screaming bloody murder (sometimes literally) about what they think they found there.

In a New Hampshire town meeting on Sunday, a state legislator named Katherine Prudhomme OBrien demonstrated what we can likely expect to see a lot of in the coming year.

When Clinton paused to take questions from the crowd, OBrien began haranguing the candidate with questions about former president Bill Clintons decades-old infidelities. Her point was to paint Clinton as a hypocrite for claiming to support womens rights and for launching an anti-sexual assault campaign while, according to OBrien, her husband still faces unsettled questions about alleged sexual assaults.

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OBrien, who was very close to Clinton when she began shouting questions at her, was herself shouted down by Clinton supporters. After the event, she told reporters I asked her how in the world she can say that Juanita Broderick and Kathleen Wiley are lying when she has no idea who Juanita Broderick is," O'Brien said, according to CNN, referring to women who have accused the former president of sexual assault and to another attempt she had made to question the candidate.

Related: In & Out  Heres Where the GOP Presidential Candidates Stand Now

She told me this summer she doesn't know who she is and doesn't want to know who she is, OBrien said. How can she access that they are lying, which she told someone last month?

For her part, Clinton responded sharply, breaking from most candidates strategy of ignoring hecklers to tell OBrien that she was very rude and that Clinton would never take questions from her.

To be sure, Clintons was not the only campaign speech to be disturbed by hecklers recently. Republican frontrunner Donald Trumps speeches are frequently interrupted  often multiple times  by members of the Black Lives Matter movement and by supporters of undocumented immigrants. The Black Lives Matter protesters have also interrupted Clintons rallies, and at one event they memorably stormed the stage and took the microphone away from Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders, the junior senator from Vermont.

While aggressive interruptions of campaign events have become more commonplace, the flavor of such disruptions is likely to change as the year progresses toward the November elections. Thats primarily because Clinton is likely to consolidate her current lead and become the de facto and then official nominee.

Related: Cruz Rakes in the Cash as He Closes in on Trump

Clinton criticism has long since become a field that welcomes all comers, regardless of the strength of their tether to reality. Among Clinton detractors there is a veritable alternative history of the United States, beginning with their rise to power in Arkansas in the 1980s, which includes accusations of murder, drug-dealing and a vast menu of sexual improprieties all committed or endorsed by the Clintons.

And with the release later this year of the new Michael Bay film about the 2012 attack on the U.S. compound in Benghazi, which appears to play to virtually every debunked conspiracy theory about that awful episode, who can doubt that there will be vocal accusations that Clinton is somehow responsible for the American deaths there?

The thing is, there is no unilateral disarmament in politics.

If a New Hampshire state legislator is willing to stand up in a public forum and imply that Clintons husband is a rapist, it seems inevitable that others will take the opportunity of public events to make similar charges.

Related: Trump May Have More Trouble than Expected Getting His Voters to the Polls

And when Democrats begin to see Clinton attacked over her husbands infidelities  something Trump has said would be fair game in a general election  then is there any question that angry questioners will ask him to address, regardless of their merits, the claims of sexual assault raised by his ex-wife in a tawdry 1990s biography?

Yes, its nice to be done with 2015, but theres no good reason to think that 2016 will be a whole lot better.

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South Korea's largest automakers, Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia, have forecast their slowest sales growth in a decade for 2016, due to slumping demand in China and a strong Korean won.

The two companies estimated combined total sales of 8.13 million cars worldwide this year, compared to about 8.0 million in 2015, Chung Mong-Koo, who heads the Hyundai Motor Group, said in a message to employees on Monday.

It is the smallest sales growth since 2006 for the group -- the world's fifth-largest automaker -- which has been hit hard by slowing demand in its key China market that accounts for nearly a quarter of combined global sales.

"Slow growth is expected to persist in the global economy due to weak growth in China, the slumping oil price and uncertainty in emerging markets over the rate hike in the US," Chung said in his message.

The group saw its share in China -- the world's biggest auto market -- shrink to below 10 percent last year on intensifying competition from Japanese rivals and homegrown Chinese brands churning out cheaper models.

A rally in the South Korean won against the euro, Japanese yen and Brazilian real also blunted Hyundai's price competitiveness in emerging markets against its Japanese rivals like Honda and Toyota.

Hyundai Motor has reported a drop in profits for the last seven quarters -- a trend Chung said it would try to curb with a strong marketing push in Latin America.

He also flagged a campaign to push Hyundai's newly launched luxury brand as it seeks to shed its image as a cheaper alternative to bigger rivals like Toyota.
Washington (AFP) - On February 1, residents of Iowa will be the first Americans to cast their votes in the 2016 race for the presidential nominations of the Democratic and Republican parties.

The heartland state does not host primaries, but local meetings known as caucuses, organized by the two parties for their voters and using distinct and different methods.

- Who votes?

In Iowa, as in many states, voters register as Democrat, Republican or independent. Among Iowa's 3.1 million inhabitants, there are currently about 584,000 active Democratic voters, 611,000 active Republican voters, and 725,000 who are registered under "no party" affiliation, according to Iowa's secretary of state.

Only Republicans can vote in Republican caucuses, and the same goes for the Democrats. Voters are allowed to register on site at caucuses across the state.

Those who will have turned 18 by Election Day, November 8, 2016, are eligible to participate in the February 1 caucuses.

Turnout was about 20 percent for Republicans in 2012, and 39 percent for Democrats in 2008, an exceptional year due to the high profile clash between Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.

- Where are the polls?

Each party organizes precinct meeting locales, mostly in public places like schools, libraries and other government buildings, but also in private homes.

The Republican and Democratic caucuses are often located close to one another, sometimes just down the hall in the same building.

- Republican method

Republican voters gather at the appointed time, usually evening. After some organizational formalities, candidates' representatives each make a short speech urging voters to support their choice for party nominee.

A secret ballot is then held. The polling station reports the results to the party, which aggregates the results from the precincts and announces the winner who has received the most votes at the state level.

- Democratic method

It's complicated. Among Democrats, there is no secret ballot, and some critics argue the process subverts the "one person, one vote" principle proclaimed by the US Supreme Court.

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Following initial formalities, supporters of each candidate gather in one area of the caucus room -- backers of Hillary Clinton, say, in one corner, and those favoring Bernie Sanders in another.

Candidate groups lacking a minimum of 15 percent support are eliminated, and their backers are then invited to join another preference group.

It is during this realignment that leaders try to rally supporters to their candidates.

The groups' supporters are then counted, and a candidate is attributed a certain number of delegates proportional to their support. Due to rounding, a stronger candidate may end up with the same number of delegates as one with fewer caucus supporters.

These delegates are technically designated for county conventions in Iowa's 99 counties.

The evening is not over yet. The party calculates a ratio by which a candidate's delegates to the state convention are determined, based on the number of county delegates a candidate receives.

The candidate who accrues the most state delegates is proclaimed the winner of the party's caucuses.
Washington (AFP) - On January 19, 1976, little-known US presidential candidate Jimmy Carter won the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses after campaigning heavily there. One year later, he waltzed into the White House, cementing Iowa's pivotal role in the election cycle.

It is in this Midwestern state, with a population of 3.1 million spread across an area slightly larger than Greece, and with corn and soybeans growing as far as the eye can see, where 15 candidates for the Democratic and Republican nominations will spend much of their time in January.

With Iowans voting on February 1, the deluge has already begun. At least six candidates, including Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, barnstormed across the state in December's final days.

Top Democrat Hillary Clinton, who recently called the race "a sprint" to Iowa and then New Hampshire, attends three Iowa events Monday, when surging Republican Senator Ted Cruz launches a six-day bus tour across much of the Hawkeye State.

Iowa does not hold a "primary," the form of nomination contest adopted by most states. It instead hosts "caucuses," a series of voter meetings in which it is the responsibility of the political parties to decide on rules and announce the results.

On a Monday evening four weeks from now, voters will gather in thousands of meetings across Iowa and, through a series of quirky -- some would say arcane -- steps, ultimately choose the candidate they wish to be their party's nominee in November's general election.

Despite frustrations with the system -- long hours, no absentee voting -- high-stakes Iowa is immensely consequential in the electoral process.

It was in Iowa where Clinton launched her presidential campaign in 2007. And last April, she dashed to the heartland state the day after announcing her latest candidacy.

Cruz has already done 91 events there. The record holder is former senator Rick Santorum, with 209 events in 73 days of Iowa campaigning.

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In total, according to the Des Moines Register, candidates have so far attended more than 1,200 Iowa events in the 2016 cycle -- 10 times more than California, the National Journal noted.

"This grew up purely accidentally," Drake University political science professor Dennis Goldford, co-author of political guidebook "The Iowa Precinct Caucuses," told AFP.

"Iowa is not first because it's important; Iowa is important simply because it's first."

- Low participation -

In 1972, the Democratic Party opened up its primary process, and advanced its national nominating convention to early July.

Iowa's Democratic organizers, needing time for their convoluted system to play out, leapfrogged ahead of New Hampshire, which had opened the nominating process for decades. Iowa Republicans followed suit in 1976.

Few noticed the change until Carter's Iowa surprise helped catapult him to the presidency.

Proud of Iowa's influence and exposure, state legislators passed a law ensuring Iowa votes eight days ahead of any other state, including New Hampshire.

Among Democrats, Clinton leads Bernie Sanders in Iowa polls. Conservative Cruz and billionaire Trump are popular among the state's Republicans.

But Iowa results are historically unpredictable. In 2012, half of Republican voters chose their candidate in the final days, exit polls showed.

Some win Iowa only to see success on the national level escape them, as occurred with Santorum in 2012 and fellow Republican Mike Huckabee four years earlier.

Others seize on their symbolic victory, as underdog Obama did spectacularly in 2008 when he bested Clinton in Iowa on his run to the White House.

Experts agree that Iowa's early vote helps winnow the field and force less viable candidates to fold their tents.

No candidate has won their party's nomination without finishing in the top three in Iowa, except John McCain in 2008 when he missed third by a hair.

In the Republican race, such filtering has a conservative bias. More than half of those who voted in the 2012 caucuses were evangelical Christians.

Only the most dedicated voters participate in the caucuses, which come with imposing time commitments -- and sometimes inhospitable winter weather.

"To get people to the caucuses on a cold night, you have to hope the babysitter shows up and the car works and there's not a blizzard," Goldford said.

Participation is therefore lower than in other leading states -- just 20 percent in 2012, and 40 percent during the Clinton-Obama matchup of 2008.

The outcome of one of the most important political events of the year, one which ultimately has global consequences, is decided by some 200,000 or 300,000 voters.
Baghdad (AFP) - Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the security forces were tracking down the perpetrators of attacks against Sunni religious targets south of Baghdad on Monday.

Unknown attackers bombed two mosques in the Hilla region and shot dead a muezzin near Iskandariyah, a mixed area south of the capital which was badly affected by the civil war that raged in the country a decade ago.

"We ordered Babil operations command to hunt down the criminal gangs of Daesh and their likes who targeted mosques to sow sedition and undermine national unity," Abadi said on Twitter.

Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group which Iraqi security forces are battling on several fronts.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attacks, which came against a tense regional backdrop following the execution by Saudi Arabia of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Baghdad accuses Saudi Arabia of actively supporting IS, which still controls swathes of the country, with funds and weapons.
Geneva (AFP) - Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi began work on Monday as the new head of the UN refugee agency, facing the mammoth task of leading efforts to deal with record levels of displacement worldwide.

"UNHCR is navigating extraordinarily difficult waters," Grandi said in a statement Monday.

"The combination of multiple conflicts and resulting mass displacement, fresh challenges to asylum, the funding gap between humanitarian needs and resources and growing xenophobia is very dangerous," he said.

The 58-year-old diplomat officially replaced Antonio Guterres on January 1, when the former Portuguese prime minister stepped down after a decade at the helm of the refugee agency.

But Grandi arrived for his first day of work at the UNHCR headquarters in Geneva on Monday morning, the agency said, adding that he was taking the wheel "at a time of unprecedented displacement challenges."

Late last year, the agency announced that the number of people displaced by war and violence hit a record high of more than 60 million in 2015 -- surpassing even the 50-million mark reached during World War II.

Europe too faced its worst migration crisis since 1945, with over a million men, women and children reaching its shores in 2015.

Most of those risking the perilous journey across the Mediterranean mainly to Greece and Italy were refugees desperately fleeing war and persecution in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.

Over 3,700 people drowned or went missing at sea, UNHCR said.

The choice of Grandi for the key post was seen as a nod to Italy, which has been particularly hard-hit by the refugee crisis in Europe.

Denmark's restrictive policies on refugees were meanwhile cited among the factors weighing against one of his competitors, former Danish prime minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

- Long career in aid work -

Grandi was also recognised for his work in several tough UN positions over a 30-year career in international affairs.

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Among them was his challenging work as head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA from 2010 to 2014, a post he held after serving as its deputy from 2005 to 2010.

Grandi had previously worked as deputy envoy to the UN aid mission in Afghanistan and was UNHCR's mission chief there.

He has also been involved in UNHCR efforts in Sudan, Syria, Turkey and Iraq, and led humanitarian operations in Yemen and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

But leading the UN refugee agency at this historic juncture could prove his toughest task yet.

"The road ahead is a challenging one," Grandi said.

"But I hope that -- working with governments, civil society and other partners -- we will make progress in ensuring international protection and improved living conditions for millions of refugees, internally displaced and stateless people."
Global viewers will soon be able to learn more about the events that took place at the offices of satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo in Paris in January 2015, reports Variety, as a "Je suis Charlie" docu-feature will be coming soon to Netflix.

Paris-based Pyramide International licensed the tribute, directed by Daniel and Emmanuel Leconte. It will be available worldwide on January 7 to mark the first anniversary of the attack on the Charlie Hebdo office that killed 12.

The documentary features interviews with former Hebdo cartoonist Cabu, the paper's former editor-in-chief Charb, plus video from street demonstrations post-attack and expert analysis.
BISHKEK (Reuters) - A British employee of Kyrgyzstan's biggest gold mine, detained by police after comparing a national dish to a horse penis, was told on Monday to leave the country within 24 hours for working without an official permit. Michael Mcfeat posted a comment on Facebook saying that his Kyrgyz colleagues were queuing for their "special delicacy, the horse's penis" at New Year celebrations, sparking a brief strike at the Kumtor mine as well as calls for criminal prosecution. The dish in question, chuchuk, is a sausage made from horse meat and intestines. Police detained Mcfeat on Sunday for questioning but the state security service only gave him a warning despite workers insisting that his actions constituted inciting hatred, a crime punishable by three to five years in prison. A local court found that Mcfeat, who worked as a welder for a contractor at Kumtor, had no work permit and ruled that he must be deported within 24 hours. The mine is at the centre of a dispute between the government and Canada's Centerra Gold. (Reporting by Olga Dzyubenko; Writing by Olzhas Auyezov; Editing by Louise Ireland)
London (AFP) - Zookeepers armed with clipboards, calculators and cameras fanned out across London Zoo on Monday to start its annual animal stocktake.

The keepers face the daunting task of totting up every mammal, bird, reptile, fish and invertebrate -- around 17,000 creatures across 750 different species -- during the week-long count.

Last year saw the arrival of many new animals at the central London zoo, from the world's first zoo-bred Lake Oku clawed frogs to a litter of 11 endangered African hunting dogs.

Edward the two-toed sloth was born in July while December saw the birth of a western lowland gorilla, all of which will have to be included in the 2016 census.

While for some keepers the task is as simple as "one, two, three", imaginative tactics are used by others to ensure every creature is accounted for.

Aquarium keepers take a photo of the tanks and use still images to avoid counting the same fish twice, while at Penguin Beach keepers wait for the birds to line up at feeding time to do their headcount.

The annual count is a compulsory requirement for the zoo to maintain its licence, with all of the information collected then shared with zoos around the world via the International Species Information System.

It is then used to manage the worldwide breeding programmes for endangered animals.
HAMBURG (Reuters) - Low water levels mean cargo vessels still cannot sail fully loaded on the Rhine and Danube rivers in Germany, traders said on Monday. Low levels since the summer have created logistical problems for buyers and distributors of commodities including diesel, heating oil and grains as vessels could at best sail half-loaded. An unplanned shut down of Switzerland's only oil refinery exacerbated the problem. The Rhine is too shallow to allow vessels to sail with full loads in its entire length south of Cologne and Duisburg, traders said. The Danube is also too low for ships to sail with full loads along the German section of the river, they said. Low water means vessel operators impose surcharges on freight rates, increasing costs for cargo owners. More vessels are needed to transport cargo, also increasing costs. "Rain and snow is forecast in the Rhine catchment areas this week which could raise water levels," a trader said. "People are hoping the wetter winter weather will solve the problem of low water at last." The Rhine is an important shipping route for commodities including grains, minerals, coal and oil products such as heating oil. The Danube is an important route for heating oil and for east European grain exports to west Europe. (Reporting by Michael Hogan, editing by Susan Thomas)
Two separate petitions stemming from the new Netflix series Making a Murderer have gained more than 200,000 signatures combined.

One of the petitions, posted on Change.org, calls for Steve Avery, the main subject of the Netflix real-crime series, to be set free.

Avery served 18 years in prison for a sexual assault conviction out of Manitowoc County, Wis., for which he was exonerated by DNA evidence in 2003. Then in 2005, Avery was convicted of the murder of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach.

Avery's lawyers argued their client was framed by county law enforcement for the Halbach murder. Avery's lawyers did not accuse law enforcement of killing Halbach, but argued that officers believed so strongly that he carried out the slaying, they planted evidence in order to ensure a conviction.

The Change.org petition, started by Michael Seyedian of Arvada, Colo., has more than 187,920 signatures as of Monday morning.

Read More: 'Making a Murderer': TV Review

"After viewing [Making a Murderer], I am outraged with the injustices which have been allowed to compound and left unchecked in the case of Steven Avery of Manitowoc County in Wisconsin, U.S.A.," Seyedian states on the petition. "Avery's unconstitutional mistreatment at the hands of corrupt local law enforcement is completely unacceptable and is an abomination of due process."

Another petition posted on the official White House website calls for President Obama to order the release of Avery and his nephew, Brendan Dassey, who was also convicted for the same murder. Dassey's lawyers argued his confession to law enforcement that he committed the crime was coerced.

That petition has more than 19,450 signatures.

"Based on the evidence in the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, the justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives," according to the White House petition. "This is a black mark on the justice system as a whole, and should be recognized as such, while also giving these men the ability to live as normal a life as possible."

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Manitowoc County Sheriff Robert Hermann told The Hollywood Reporter that the information viewers got is skewed and important pieces of the picture were omitted from the documentary.

Read More: 'Killing Fields': TV Review
DUBAI (Reuters) - A Saudi Arabian man was shot dead in the kingdom's Eastern Province late on Sunday when security officers came under fire from an unidentified source, the official Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. Citing a police spokesman, SPA said an eight-year-old child was taken to hospital for treatment for a gunshot wound in the incident in Awamiya town. It did not elaborate but identified the dead man as Ali Imran al-Dawood. SPA said authorities were hunting what it called the perpetrators of a "terrorist" act. The security officers were seeking to recover stolen heavy equipment at the time of the shooting, SPA reported. Activists operating under the Sharqiyah account on Twitter said a stray bullet hit the child inside his home after security forces opened fire on the street. The police then retreated to their checkpoint north of the city, they said. Awamiya, in the oil-producing province's Qatif district, is the home town of prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who was executed on Saturday, along with three other Shi'ites and 43 members of al Qaeda, on charges of terrorism. Qatif has been the focal point of unrest among Saudi Arabia's Shi'ites since protests in early 2011 calling for an end to discrimination against the minority sect and for democratic reforms in the Sunni monarchy. Residents of Qatif have staged angry protests since al-Nimr's execution, denouncing the ruling Al Saud dynasty, though the Sharqiyah activists said there was no demonstration taking place at the time of the shooting. (Reporting by William Maclean and Katie Paul)
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The office building in San Bernardino, California, where 14 people were massacred last month by a married couple inspired by Islamist militants, reopened on Monday.

Security would be heightened for the facility, which was closed in the aftermath of the Dec. 2 shooting, said Inland Regional Center Executive Director Lavinia Johnson.

The property would remain fenced off, and guards at each entrance would continue to monitor security, Johnson said.

Syed Rizwan Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, stormed into a holiday party attended by his co-workers from a San Bernardino County social services agency and opened fire on Dec. 2, killing 14 people and wounding 22 others.

Authorities have said the couple were inspired by Islamist militancy, and called it the deadliest such attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001.

The couple attacked the California holiday party just weeks after gunmen and suicide bombers linked to the Islamic State militant group killed 130 people in a series of coordinated attacks in Paris.

The San Bernardino attackers had not targeted any of the center's roughly 600 staff members, but rather employees of the San Bernardino County Department of Public Health, Johnson told reporters Monday.

"We want to send to them our condolences today," she said.

Counselors would be on hand to offer support to workers, Johnson said.

None of the people with developmental disabilities that the center serves, numbering about 31,000, would visit this week, the Los Angeles Times reported.

San Bernardino County officials said many county offices would close at noon on Monday to allow employees to attend a private memorial for the victims of the December attack.

A former neighbor of Farook's, who prosecutors say supplied assault rifles to the couple, was indicted last week on charges of conspiring to provide material support to terrorists.

Enrique Marquez was charged with conspiring with Farook in 2011 and 2012 to support an attack that was never carried out.

(Reporting by Curtis Skinner in Los Angeles; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Bernadette Baum)
By Sam Wilkin DUBAI (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia rallied Sunni allies to its side in a growing diplomatic row with Iran on Monday, deepening a sectarian split across the Middle East following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric. Bahrain and Sudan cut all ties with Iran, following Riyadh's example the previous day. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters Riyadh would also halt air traffic and commercial relations between the rival powers. He blamed Iran's "aggressive policies" for the diplomatic action, alluding to years of tension that spilled over on Saturday night when Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom's embassy in Tehran. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, partially downgraded its relations but the other Gulf Arab countries - Kuwait, Qatar and Oman - stayed above the fray. Shi'ite Iran accused Saudi Arabia of using the attack on the embassy as an "excuse" to sever ties and further increase sectarian tensions, as protesters in Iran and Iraq marched for a third day to denounce Saudi Arabia's execution of Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. The UAE said Iran needed to stay out of Arab affairs and not act like a protector of Arab Shi'ites. "The Arab world isn't a venue for its blatant interference ... Iran does not have guardianship or jurisdiction over a large number of Arabs for some sectarian reason," UAE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Anwar Gargash told Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV. A man was shot dead in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province late on Sunday, and two Sunni mosques in Iraq's Shi'ite-majority Hilla province were bombed in the fallout from the dispute between the Middle East's top Sunni and Shi'ite powers. Oil prices spiked during European trading as the two big petroleum exporters traded insults and after violence hit other crude producers such as Iraq. But prices then eased back on evidence of economic weakness in Asia. Stock markets across the Gulf dropped sharply, led by Qatar which fell more than 2.5 percent, with geopolitical jitters outweighing any benefit from stronger oil. Crude importer China declared itself "highly concerned" with the developments, in a rare foray into Middle East diplomacy. The United States and Germany called for restraint, while Russia offered to mediate an end to the dispute. SYRIA, YEMEN The row threatened to derail efforts to end Syria's five-year-old civil war, where Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab powers support rebel groups against Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad. In neighbouring Lebanon, newspapers said the spat had clouded the hopes of filling the vacant presidency that had been raised last month after Iran and Saudi Arabia both voiced support for a power-sharing deal. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Saudi foreign minister on Monday that Riyadh's decision to break off diplomatic ties with Iran was extremely troubling. A spokesman said Ban wanted to help ensure both countries continued their commitment to ending the conflicts in Syria and Yemen. The U.N. chief urged Saudi Arabia to renew a ceasefire it ended this weekend with the Iran-allied Shi'ite Houthi group in Yemen that it has been bombing for nine months. But analysts said fears of a sectarian rupture across the Middle East were premature, and the break in Saudi-Iran relations could be more a symptom of existing strains than evidence of new ones. "The fact that the UAE was unwilling to cut off ties with Iran completely, despite the closeness of its relations with Saudi Arabia, shows the difficulty that the Saudis will have in trying to isolate Iran," said Julien Barnes-Dacey, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations. "The downgrading of ties is not fundamentally a question of responding to executions and the storming of an embassy... (but rather) a function of a much deeper conflict between the two states," he added. Trade between Saudi Arabia and Iran is small compared with the size of their economies, but some business is routed through the United Arab Emirates; comprehensive figures are not available. Investment ties are also minimal, though Saudi food conglomerate Savola has major manufacturing operations in Iran. "DIVINE REVENGE" After a furious response in Shi'ite communities worldwide to the Sunni kingdom's execution of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iran was creating "terrorist cells" among the kingdom's Shi'ite minority. Saudi Arabia executed Nimr and three other Shi'ites on terrorism charges on Saturday, alongside dozens of Sunni jihadists. Shi'ite Iran hailed him as a "martyr" and warned Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family of "divine revenge". Shi'ite groups united in condemnation of Saudi Arabia while Sunni powers rallied behind the kingdom, hardening a sectarian split that has torn apart communities across the Middle East and nourished the jihadist ideology of Islamic State. Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based seat of Sunni Muslim learning, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia, condemned the attacks on Riyadh's missions and stressed Tehran's obligation to respect the internal affairs of the kingdom. Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled island kingdom with a restive Shi'ite majority, accused Iran of "blatant and dangerous interference" in the affairs of the Gulf Arab countries, in a statement announcing the severing of diplomatic ties. Western powers, many of which supply billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Gulf Arab powers, tried to tamp down the tensions with Iran but also deplored the executions, as human rights groups strongly criticised Saudi Arabia's judicial process and protesters gathered outside Saudi embassies. (Additional reporting by Katie Paul, Noah Browning, Tom Perry in Beirut and Maher Chmaytelli in Baghdad; editing by William Maclean, Philippa Fletcher and Pravin Char)
The Museum of Modern Art's film department celebrated its 80th anniversary in 2015, and as the New York-based collection moves into 2016, chief film curator Rajendra Roy says the department hopes to have a larger footprint internationally and plans to highlight important below-the-line talent.

Roy says he wants MoMA film "to be out in the field and  be more active in unexpected places," such as having a "stake in what's happening in Asia." The department also is set to screen films showcasing the work of influential choreographer Jack Cole, starting on Jan. 20, as part of an increased commitment to recognizing crew members beyond writers and directors.

Currently, MoMA is in the middle of its annual Contenders series, consisting of mainstream, indie, foreign-language and other films made over the past 12 months that are likely to have lasting significance. As Roy explains, while a number of Oscar hopefuls typically screen as part of the series, he and other members of the department also include movies "that will never see the light of day on a campaign list."

For instance, this year's series has included Bridge of Spies, Inside Out, Room, Mad Max: Fury Road, Carol, Spotlight and The Martian, as well as pics that aren't seen as likely Oscar contenders, including Apichatpong Weerasethakul's Cemetery of Splendour, which Roy himself says "is just a remarkable accomplishment but is on zero people's list as an Oscar contender at this point."

Read More: Quentin Tarantino, Todd Haynes Join MOMA's Contenders Film Series

The Hollywood Reporter spoke to Roy about the selection process for The Contenders, which runs through Jan. 15 in New York and will also have a Los Angeles screening series from Jan. 6-20, as well as his future plans for film at MoMA.

How do you determine which movies are included in The Contenders series? How much is it influenced by whether something's an Oscar hopeful or critically acclaimed, etc.?

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I can safely say that we're probably the least campaign Kool-Aid affected program out there. While we really cherish our relationship with distributors, studios and producers who are bringing these films out at this time of year because of awards  and absolutely 100 percent we time this series to be now because of the avid interest around awards season  this is really our very idiosyncratic selection of what we think may stand the test of time in terms of pictures that came out in the last 12 months. On that list are absolutely things that are and will be nominated and eventually win Oscars  but there's also things that will never see the light of day on a campaign list. And that's very much reflective of the people who make the selections, so the process is: We as a department gather beginning in August and start to develop lists of films that we've seen on the festival circuit and in cinemas as part of our selection processes for our internal programs here and start to build a list of things we think would work. And unlike many of our other series, we keep spots open because we know there's things we'll see that haven't been released yet or are still coming down the pike and we include things that are rediscoveries in some cases. A big part of our mission is our collection and restored cinema, and we have a whole festival for that. We really keep ourselves open to things that emerged in the last 12 months and that we think are going to resonate, and we're happy to be a part of the awards season in as much as people come to see things that they may have missed before or are going to see for the first time because they're screening as part of The Contenders. And we're also happy to mix it up with films like Apichatpong's film Cemetery of Splendour [which screened as part of The Contenders series on Dec. 29], which we saw in Cannes and we think is just a remarkable accomplishment but is on zero people's list as an Oscar contender at this point.

How important is it, in terms of a balance, to include lesser-known films or even ones that aren't in theaters anymore compared to ones that are still playing?

One of the great things about the program is the availability of talent to participate in the screenings. We decided eight years ago when we conceived of this program that we were going to include films that were part of the awards hunt  and we were going to do Q&As with talent because this is a public series. We weren't segregating this audience to an industry-only invite list or a kind of patrons-only invite list. This was really for the fans. Obviously at MoMA, it tends to veer a little bit towards cinephilia, so these are informed audiences for the most part and people who really have a grasp, in different ways, of cinema history, so that brings a certain tone to the Q&As and the talk backs. But at the same time, these are public screenings. These are not just another junket along the way to convincing voters of various guilds that they should pay attention to these movies. It's kind of one of the last chances for filmmakers to get their movies in front of audiences, live audiences, before they have run their course if they're things that we're reviving. And I think that that's become very important for people, and actually, the talent comes out of the screenings and they're like, 'My God, that was like a real audience.' That's something that I think this time of year sometimes people forget  that's why these movies were made actually for the public and not for the industry. To get away from those cloistered experiences, I think it's been really important. We're always happy when there are members and academy voters at these screenings, but they're sitting amongst the public.

Read More: Museum of Modern Art 2015 Contenders Series to Launch With 'James White' (Exclusive)

2015 was the 80th anniversary of film at MoMA. Looking forward, what are your plans for the future or things you want to accomplish in terms of film at MoMA in the immediate future?

We chose to celebrate our 80th not by some grand historical look back at all of the wonderful things we've done but rather highlight things that are part of our regular beat or part of our mainstay mission-driven program here to make the case that we're committed. MoMA is a mainstay. It's one of the original art house experiences in New York and in the U.S., so demonstrating that commitment was important to us and also the idea of discovery, which is baked into what MoMA film has always tried to achieve, not only safeguarding history but also an opportunity for discovery  . While we're committed to history, committed to preservation, we want to be turned on by the next great directors as well, and if we can have them here to screen their films first, that's equally important to us as being able to show a pristine print of a  film that's also a mainstay of our collection. And maybe as a brand-new direction for us in a way  although we've had a great international presence here at MoMA over the years  is to kind of be more present out in the field, and I think the hiring of La Frances Hui earlier this fall is an indication on our part that not only do we want to invite great cinema from Asia, for example, but we want to be out in the field, and we want to be more active in unexpected places  . We want to have a stake in what's happening in Asia as well as Europe  that's something to expect from us, broadening our footprint of where we're present and more active.

In terms of screening series, are there specific directors or genres or some other focus that you'd like to explore?

One of the things I've been talking about recently  and it's going to be very visible soon  is our commitment to below-the-line talent in the context of acknowledging that film is a collaborative artform  . Yes, writers and directors are essential and have really propelled the artform forward, but the artform wouldn't exist without great talent and expertise in various fields. That extends way beyond the rare few that are brilliant self-contained writer-directors. So, in late January, for example, we're honoring Jack Cole, who was one of the most influential choreographers on stage first and then in cinema, who's influenced Jerome Robbins, Alvin Ailey, Bob Fosse and brought to the screen really iconic scenes of cinema [Marilyn Monroe in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, for example]. As a choreographer, [he] maybe hasn't been celebrated to the same extent as some of the directors he may have collaborated with have been, but the idea that any of those images would exist without his input and his direct artistic contribution is just . So I think that would be an area of emphasis not just on choreography but cinematography as well. We're really looking to expand what a critical investigation of a cinematic artist would involve or who those artists might actually be. So it's not only writers, directors, it's not only actors, it's choreographers, cinematographers and a lot of other below-the-line talent that wouldn't normally get the kind of recognition that they certainly have earned.
(Reuters) - World number two Andy Murray was satisfied with the start to his season after romping past France's Kenny de Schepper 6-2 6-2 at the Hopman Cup in Perth, Australia on Monday. Murray, who led Britain to their first Davis Cup triumph in 79 years just over a month ago, took under an hour to seal victory at the mixed team event. "I played well," he told reporters. "Everything was working pretty good. I was able to finish a lot of the points up at the net. "It's quite a quick surface here so if you can get the first strike in in the rallies it's quite easy to sort of stay on top of the point. "I enjoy it here and that's why I keep coming back. I'll be back next year as well." The Briton, who is using the event to tune up for this month's Australian Open, will next meet Australian number one Nick Kyrgios on Wednesday. (Writing by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Ed Osmond)
Japanese auto maker Nissan said Monday it will invest $185 million to produce a new model of urban four-wheel-drive car in Brazil, despite the country's economic crisis.

"Nissan will build a new car, the Nissan Kicks" at its factory in Resende, west of Rio de Janeiro, said the group's chief executive Carlos Ghosn.

"It is a local product of the Resende factory and will be exported worldwide from Brazil," he told a news conference in Rio.

He said the company would invest 750 million reals over three years in producing the new model.

He forecast the investment would create 600 jobs at the Resende factory, which opened in 2014.

Brazil is in a recession and a political crisis. Ghosn said the auto market there shrank by a quarter last year.

He said 2015 has not been a good year for Brazil but Nissan had nevertheless expanded its share of the market even with lower sales.

"Brazil is still a fundamental part of Nissan's strategy and we have great faith in the potential of the Brazilian market."
By Angela Moon and Melissa Fares

NEW YORK (Reuters) - A group of self-styled militiamen occupying the headquarters of a U.S. national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon to protest the imminent imprisonment of two ranchers took to social media on Monday to drum up support for their cause.

As the standoff with law enforcement authorities entered its third day, the group's leader Ammon Bundy was active on Twitter.

"As I said on @CNN this morning, I love my wife & family," said one recent post that was retweeted 76 times. "I have no plans nor desire to die. We are peaceful people. #OccupyMalheur."

A Facebook page associated with the Bundy family ranch featured numerous sympathetic posts and videos and was garnering hundreds of "likes" per hour.

The occupation, which began on Saturday, followed a march in Burns, a small city about 50 miles (80 km) north of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, in support of Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond, who were convicted in 2012 of setting fires that spread to public land.

"I'm going to tell you people, we need all your support because if we don't get it, we're not going to have a country at all," Ken Rhoads, a Michigan rancher who traveled to support the ranchers in Oregon, said in a video posted by the Facebook community "Bundy Ranch," which has received more than 2,000 likes. The Hammonds, speaking through their attorney, have disassociate themselves from the occupation.

The Bundy Ranch page is associated with Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher and Ammon Bundy's father. The Bundys have had previous disputes with federal land management officials.

However, not all the responses on the Bundy Ranch page were supportive of their cause.

"You do NOT speak for the majority of law abiding citizens," said a response to the Rhoads video from a Facebook user under the name Kevin Carroll, which had received more than 300 likes. "This can only end badly for you and your misguided followers."

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At the same time, a debate raged on social media about whether Bundy's group should be called militiamen, as they have labeled themselves, or domestic terrorists.

Nicknames ridiculing the group were trending heavily on Twitter. Several popular hashtags played off common Islamic extremist labels, including #YallQaeda, #YeeHawdists, #VanillaISIS and #YokelHaram.

"Why are we calling the #YallQaeda group in #Oregon "militia" and not "terrorists?" #OregonUnderAttack" wrote Twitter user Josie Richardson (@josie_kathleen) on Monday.

Twitter user @SuperRG1 wrote: "What would we be saying if the people occupying the wildlife refuge building in Oregon were Muslims? #bundymilitia #OregonUnderAttack"

(Reporting by Angela Moon)
Kabul (AFP) - A powerful car bomb struck near Kabul's international airport on Monday evening, just hours after a suicide bomber blew himself up in the war-scarred Afghan capital.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which appeared to target a compound for foreign contractors, an Afghan security official told AFP.

Officials said there were no immediate reports of casualties from the explosion, which was strongly felt across downtown Kabul and blew out window panes of homes.

But the Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul said on Twitter: "#Afghanistan two attacks today in #Kabul, we're currently receiving victims of the #masscasualty at our Surgical Centre".

The violence comes as Afghan forces battle to end a protracted siege near the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif which began on Sunday night.

Gunfights and grenade explosions echoed as commandos battled to flush out militants holed up in a building near the consulate, with powerful provincial Governor Atta Mohammad Noor overseeing the operation.

Nearly 24 hours after the siege began, security officials said they were proceeding cautiously in the residential area to limit civilian casualties.

Earlier Monday, a suicide bomber struck a street leading to the city's international airport, near where the second blast took place, but no casualties were reported.

The bombings mark the latest assaults on the war-scarred Afghan capital.

A Taliban suicide car-bomber struck a French restaurant popular with foreigners in Kabul on Friday, killing two people in a New Year's Day attack.

Fifteen others were wounded in the attack on Le Jardin, an Afghan-owned eatery, which caused a piercingly loud explosion and left a building engulfed in flames.

The spike in violence coincides with a renewed international push to revive peace talks with the resurgent Taliban.

Islamabad is set to host a first round of dialogue between Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US and China on January 11 to lay out a comprehensive roadmap for peace.

Pakistan, which wields considerable influence over the Afghan Taliban, hosted a milestone first round of talks in July but the negotiations stalled when the insurgents belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar.
By Jim Urquhart

PRINCETON, Ore. (Reuters) - A group of self-styled militiamen occupied the headquarters of a U.S. wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon to protest the imminent jailing of two ranchers, officials said on Sunday, in the latest skirmish over federal land management in the West.

The occupation, which began on Saturday, followed a march in Burns, a small city about 50 miles (80 km) north of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, in support of Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond.

Hammond and his son, convicted in 2012 of setting fires that spread to public land, traveled to Los Angeles on Sunday evening to turn themselves in to federal authorities, according to their lawyer W. Alan Schroeder. They were to be sent to back to prison after federal prosecutors won an appeal that resulted in their resentencing to longer terms.

Their ranch borders on the southern edge of the refuge, a bird sanctuary in the arid high desert in the eastern part of the state, about 305 miles (490 km) southeast of Portland.

The protest was being led by Ammon Bundy, the son of Cliven Bundy, owner of a ranch in Nevada where his family staged an armed protest against the Bureau of Land Management in April 2014. The agency sought to seize Bundy's cattle after he refused to pay grazing fees. Federal agents finally backed down, citing safety concerns, and returned hundreds of cattle to Bundy.

Federal and state authorities have not said how they planned to respond to the occupation of the refuge's headquarters in Princeton, Oregon.

It involved an unknown number of people, Jason Holm, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, said in a statement. No employees were in the building.

Holm described the occupation as a break-in, although federal justice and Interior Department officials contacted later declined to say whether any crimes were committed in the occupation. Wildlife refuge buildings were closed over the holiday weekend.

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In an interview posted on Facebook, Bundy said the occupation was in reaction to the government intrusion into the rights of private-property owners.

"It is the people's facility, owned by the people," Bundy said. "It has been provided for us to be able to come together and unite and make a hard stand against this overreach - this taking of the people's land and resources."

Bundy told CNN some of the occupiers were armed.

The Hammonds distanced themselves last month from the Bundys, according to a letter Schroeder, wrote to the county sheriff on Dec. 11.

"I write to clarify that neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone with his group/organization speak for the Hammond family, Dwight Hammond or Steven Hammond," Schroeder wrote in the letter, which was seen by Reuters.

The incident is part of a decades-old conflict between ranchers and the federal government over Washington's management of hundreds of thousands of rangeland. Critics of the federal government say it often oversteps its authority and exercises arbitrary power over land use without sufficient accountability.

'ALTERNATIVE MOTIVES'

Bundy told a news conference on Sunday he had yet to communicate with any law enforcement officials. He said occupiers planned no violence unless that was justified by actions taken against the occupants. He would not say how many people were inside the headquarters.

He encouraged anyone opposed to overreach by the government in the management of federal lands to join the occupation at the refuge.

For those that understand what is going on, and those who want to and feel a need to stand, were asking them to come, he said. We have a facility that we can house them in."

We will continue to monitor the situation for additional developments," Holm said in the statement. He did not immediately return a phone call seeking further details. No one answered a call to the phone number of the refuge.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward was critical of the protesters and their motives, and advised local residents to stay away from the refuge.

These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States."

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, encompassing 292 square miles (75,630 hectares), was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt as a breeding ground for greater sandhill cranes and other native birds. The headquarters compound includes a visitor center, a museum and the refuge office.

(Reporting by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City, Mo.; Additional reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Mark Hosenball in Washington; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Peter Cooney and Michael Perry)
Quentin Tarantino (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)



By Katie Wilson Berg, The Hollywood Reporter



Quentin Tarantino thinks its about damn time Americans condemn the Confederate flag as an emblem of racial division and hatred, a symbol he sees as an American Swastika.

In a recent interview with The Telegraph, the Hateful Eight director minced no words in describing his feelings about the flag and also opened up about the intersection between his brutal new film  a Western set in the post-Civil War era  and its increasing relevance to the present American moment.

Tarantino says that he deliberately shaped Hateful Eight to tap into modern racial strife and violence and the sense that often the law is on the wrong side of justice.

But then as we were making it, Tarantino tells The Telegraph, as the events of the last year and a half just kept happening, the movie became more relevant than we ever could have imagined. In particular, Tarantino points to the pervasive unrest that followed the fatal 2014 shooting 18-year-old Michael Brown by police in Ferguson, Mo.

Related: The Hateful Eight Sweeps Capri-Hollywood Film Fest Awards

But Tarantino says that the event that affected him most deeply was the mass shooting at Mother Emanuel Church in Charleston, S.C., during which eight African-American parishioners and their pastor were shot and killed during a prayer meeting by  as Tarantino describes  "a white supremacist asshole  who wraps himself up in the Rebel flag.

Tarantino explains that the Mother Emanuel shooting actually brushed up against his fictional story so closely that, for the first time, the unfolding of actual events made a line he had written too obvious: At the beginning of the film, Walter Goggins sheriff delivers a diatribe that ends with the line, "When n-s are scared, thats when white folks are safe. Originally, the line referenced the sheriffs own killing of blacks during the Civil War, with him instead saying: You ask the white folks of South Carolina if they feel safe.

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The director adds that he was surprised by what happened after the shootings.

All of a sudden, people started talking about the Confederacy in America in a way they havent before, says the director. I mean, Ive always felt the Rebel flag was some American Swastika. And, well, now, all of a sudden, people are talking about it, and now theyre banning it, and now its not OK to have it on fing license plates, and coffee cups, and stuff.

"And people are starting to question about stuff like statues of Bedford Forrest [the Confederate general and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard] in parks. Well, its about damn time, if you ask me.

Related: The Hateful Eight: Film Review

Tarantino and Samuel L. Jackson on an early stage read for The Hateful Eight:
Milan (AFP) - Long-serving Roma captain Francesco Totti could retire at the end of the current season and is already considering his options elsewhere within football, his wife said Monday.

Totti has played all 22 seasons of his professional career with Roma but during a three-month injury lay-off the 38-year-old has had plenty of time to consider his future.

For his wife Ilary Blasi, a presenter on a popular television show, Totti is already in his final season in Italy's top flight.

"Retirement? We're there," Blasi said in an interview with Oggi magazine when asked when Totti would finally hang up his boots.

"Next year he will be 40 years old. Francesco has had a great career, to the extent that now he's thinking what else he wants to do. But he will stay within the sport."

The comments come two months after Totti, who is revered by by Roma fans despite only steering them to one league title (2001) during his career, said he would play "until my body tells me to stop".

So far this season, Totti has made only three league appearances and the thigh injury that kept him on the sidelines took far longer to heal than first anticipated.

On his last appearance, Totti scored his 300th goal for Roma in a 2-2 draw with Sassuolo in late September. With 244 goals in Serie A, he remains 30 short of Silvio Piola's all-time record of 274.

Totti looks unlikely to come close to Piola's benchmark and the 'King of Rome' -- as he is affectionately known by fans -- could be deprived of the fairytale ending of another league title.

Runners-up the past two seasons to Juventus, Roma currently occupy fifth spot at four points behind leaders Inter Milan amid what is a surprisingly tight battle for this season's 'scudetto'.

Roma are away to Chievo in their first game of the year on Wednesday, when Totti could return to the fray.
Washington (AFP) - Washington's single-minded pursuit of the Iran nuclear deal damaged its alliance with Saudi Arabia, experts say, and fed the escalating crisis in the Gulf.

The United States failed to manage its traditional Sunni Arab allies in the region while it reached out to mend ties with their bitter Shiite foes in Tehran.

As a result, experts warn, Washington has suffered a loss of influence at a time when it needs to implement the nuclear accord and work with both Tehran and Riyadh to end the Syrian war.

"I think the administration has had a one-eyed policy on this," Salman Shaikh, founder and CEO of regional consultancy the Shaikh Group, told AFP.

Shaikh said he and others had warned US officials "at the highest level" that its focus on Iran had hurt its traditionally warm relationship with Riyadh.

"As a result we're now seeing a fairly serious balance of power struggle being played out between the two main protagonists in the region," he said.

Secretary of State John Kerry called senior Iranian and Saudi counterparts on Monday to seek to deescalate the crisis that came to a head when Riyadh marked the New Year by executing a respected Shiite cleric.

"We hope it's not irreparable," State Department spokesman John Kirby said, of Riyadh's decision to cut diplomatic ties with Tehran.

He urged regional leaders to "work on resolving the pressing issues in Iraq, in Syria, in Yemen and throughout the Middle East."

- Stirring sedition -

But Shaikh said that Washington may have little power to redress the situation.

"Now I think the amount of US influence and leverage on this situation is alarmingly limited at this point in time," he warned.

The Middle East's two pivotal Muslim powers -- the Sunni kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Shiite Islamic republic of Iran -- have never seen eye-to-eye.

Riyadh accuses Tehran of stirring sedition among the Shiite minorities in Arab states, while Iran sees its rival as a US proxy and sponsor of extremism.

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Washington broke off diplomatic relations with Iran after the 1979 hostage crisis at its Tehran embassy and has remained a close friend of Saudi Arabia.

But there has been mounting anger in Riyadh in recent years as Washington has reached out to Iran in order to secure an agreement on its nuclear future.

This appeared to bear fruit in July last year, when Tehran agreed to measures to put a nuclear weapon beyond its reach in exchange for sanctions relief.

Kerry publicly insists the nuclear deal was a self-contained effort, but it was widely seen as a step towards a better working relationship with Iran.

- 'Stakeholder' in Syria -

This has infuriated Riyadh and Saudi allies in the Gulf, who see Iran's hand behind militant attacks, Shiite unrest and the Huthi rebellion in Syria.

Washington has side-stepped their concerns and -- with Russia -- has worked to bring Iran on board as a "stakeholder" in efforts to end the Syrian war.

Last week it was Saudi Arabia's turn to ignore US warnings, when it marked the first day of 2016 with a mass execution, including of a leading Shiite cleric.

Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr's death was seized upon by Iranian hardliners and at the weekend local authorities stood by as protesters stormed the Saudi embassy.

The State Department condemned the attack on the embassy, but also reiterated what it said were its concerns about the Saudi judicial process.

"We continue to call on the government of Saudi Arabia to respect and protect human rights and to permit the peaceful expression of dissent," Kirby said.

Saudi Arabia and some of its Sunni allies have cut off ties with Iran and US rival President Vladimir Putin of Russia is offering to play mediator.

This also marks a setback for Washington for, as Shaikh said, "as the regional hegemon, it had a responsibility to manage this responsibly."

- Proved critics right -

Alberto Fernandez, a former US ambassador now with the Middle East Media Research Institute, said the crisis proved the US administration's critics right.

"How can you warm up with Iran without upsetting your ally?" he asked, pointing to Iran's aggressive role in other problem areas around the Middle East.

"Those who said that you cannot divorce the nuclear deal from Iran's other activities in the region were right," he told AFP.

Kerry would reject this criticism. His spokesman Kirby insisted that in pursuing a nuclear deal to make the world safer, the US had not given Iran a pass.

"Nobody is a turning a blind eye to the capability of the regime in Tehran to further conduct destabilizing activities in the region," he said.

"We still believe Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism. We know that they continue to support bad actors in the region."

Whatever Washington's next move is -- beyond appealing for calm -- the diplomatic crisis could last for years and feed into others, jeopardizing the Syrian talks.

The United States still hopes UN-mediated negotiations will go ahead later this month as planned, but the already slim prospects for a rapid peace have dimmed.
Scott Storch, the high-flying music producer who burned through a $70 million fortune thanks to a cocaine addiction, is attempting to make a comeback, but now faces a lawsuit from two individuals who claim to have bankrolled him after he declared bankruptcy.

A decade ago, there were few producers as hot as Storch, who churned out hits for the likes of Beyonce, Chris Brown, Pink, Christina Aguilera and Justin Timberlake. He was named Songwriter of the Year at the 22nd Annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards and was a money-making machine with hits like Beyonce's "Baby Boy," Fat Joe's "Lean Back" and 50 Cent's "Candy Shop." Meanwhile, his lavish lifestyle earned him media knocks as the "most loathsome man in music."

This past summer, the exotic cars, Gulfstream jets and loads of cocaine added up to a bankruptcy where Storch reported just $100 of cash on hand.

According to a new lawsuit filed in Florida federal court, there were still some individuals willing to help him out because of his talents.

Brad Cohen and Seth Cohen, who are wealthy through insurance and real estate holdings, say that upon the June bankruptcy, they saw that Storch "was once again ready to prove himself as a worthy record producer and use his deep connections in the music industry to make money for the three of them" so they allegedly entered into a deal with him and put up more than $1 million to fund his comeback.

Plus, states the lawsuit, Storch was provided with a weekly salary, a Rolls-Royce Ghost and a rental house in Parkland, Florida.

The lawsuit claims that Storch is backing away from the relationship and that the music producer "is back to his old ways and is not someone to trust with any monies."

"In fact, B. Cohen and S. Cohen had an agreement with Storch that B. Cohen and S. Cohen would take the Rolls-Royce Ghost away from Storch if he failed a drug test or it was otherwise discovered by B. Cohen and/or S. Cohen that Storch was using drugs," states the complaint. "In mid-December 2015, B. Cohen and S. Cohen discovered that Storch was again using drugs and demanded return of the vehicle. The vehicle is in S. Cohen name and S. Cohen did not want it to become an insurance liability. Upon information and belief, the demand that Storch return the vehicle partially led to B. Cohen and S. Cohen falling out of grace with Storch."

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The parties appear to be in dispute over the validity of an operating agreement.

In late December, Storch's attorney Richard Wolfe sent the other side a letter that disavows the agreement over a lack of consideration, vagueness in terms, misrepresentations and other reasons. The letter also demands that the Cohens cease any exploitation of Storch's intellectual property.

The Cohens, represented by attorney Darren Heitner, insist that the agreement is perfectly valid and that Storch is breaching it by failing to perform production services. Further, the agreement is said to have a forfeiture provision where Storch has to surrender intellectual property. The lawsuit also targets a woman named Florence Mirsky, who allegedly has "engaged in a plan to pry Storch away" by advising the producer not to deal with the Cohens so that she could work with him instead.

The plaintiffs want damages for breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, fraud and unjust enrichment. Most immediately, they are pushing for injunctive relief.

According to the complaint, "Based on Storch's (a) history of drug use, including evidence of recent abuse; (b) prior squandering of monies received from providing services in the music industry; (c) overt affiliation with Mirsky that has a real threat of diverting monies actually owed to CCS; and (d) sincere concern that CCS will otherwise not be able to collect monies to repay the significant contributions provided by B. Cohen and S. Cohen, an injunction and additional remedies in equity are necessary under the circumstances."

Wolfe is responding very strongly to the lawsuit.

He tells THR, "The lawsuit attaches documents that are forged. The lawsuit was filed in violation of federal law and we will be seeking a federal contempt order against the plaintiffs and their lawyers. The lawsuit is not serious and the only reason it was filed is to garnish publicity for the plaintiffs. Accordingly, it will be treated as nonsense."

Heitner retorts, "The lawsuit speaks for itself. We will push forward and seek relief for the wrongs that have been and continue to be committed by the Defendants."
Eyewear entrepreneur Cynthia Bailey hosted a customer appreciation party for her eyewear line on The Real Housewives of Atlanta Sunday night. And as per usual with the Housewives of the Peach State, every social engagement affords an opportunity to throw some shade. First, Cynthia told guests Kim Fields and Kenya Moore that she needed to make a commercial for her line, hinting that they would be right for the job of director and producer. She followed it up with I dont know whos the better producer and whos the better director, so thats what we have to figure out, in essence pitting the two against each other for a job that seemed to hold little interest for Kim. With steady diplomacy, Kim retorted, Its just whats right for your project!

Meanwhile, Porsha tried to get Khandi alone to have a one-on-one conversation, but Khandi had what Porsha called a Khandi-coated clique with her, so there was no one-on-one to be had, and their beef continued. And the whole time, Cynthia just wanted to sell some sunglasses.

Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sundays at 8pm on Bravo.

Learn how to throw shade in the below video.

To learn more about Yahoo SuperFan and Yahoo TV, be sure to follow us on Twitter: @YahooTV, Facebook, and Instagram for your daily dose of all things TV and Movies!


For the first time in 30 years, the United States produced an isotope of plutonium that powers NASA's deep-space missions.

A total of 50 grams of plutonium-238 was produced at the Department of Energy (DOE)'s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) in Tennessee, in the first end-to-end demonstration of the material's production in the United States since the late 1980s. The small quantity is the first step in producing the energy source for future missions such as the Mars 2020 rover and the Jupiter Europa Orbiter.

"Once we automate and scale up the process, the nation will have long-range capability to produce radioisotope power systems such as those used by NASA for deep space exploration," Bob Wham, the leader of the plutonium-238 project at ORNL, said in a statement from ORNL. [Video: U.S. Makes Plutonium-238 for Deep-Space Exploration]

Today, only enough plutonium exists to meet NASA's planetary-mission requirements through 2030. The DOE will begin by supplying NASA with 300 to 400 grams of the material per year. Once the process is scaled up, the DOE will supply the space agency with an average of 1.5 kilograms each year, the statement said.

Exploring the solar system

Satellites and missions near Earth can rely on solar power or chemical batteries to keep them alive for years, but in the distant realms of space, the sun's rays are too faint and temperatures too extreme to keep things moving. Missions like NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which buzzed Pluto in July of this year, require another source.

Plutonium-238 is an isotope, meaning it has a different number of neutrons than protons in its nucleus. Plutonium is a silver-white metal nearly 20 times denser than water, and through natural radioactive decay, it emits a steady heat. When that heat is used to power spacecraft, the plutonium is processed into a ceramic form; in event of a launch failure or reentry accident, the ceramic would break into large pieces rather than dispersing fine particles into the atmosphere. The material is unsuitable for weaponization.

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Today, only 35 kg of plutonium-238 have been set aside for NASA missions, the statement from ORNL said. The amount of useable plutonium-238 in that supply is only enough to power two to three proposed NASA missions through the mid-2020s. Fulfilling the robotic missions identified in the 2011 planetary science decadal survey  including the Europa mission to visit Jupiter's icy moon  requires 38 kg.

Nine NASA missions to date have used radioisotope power systems (RPS), including Pioneer and Voyager. NASA's Curiosity rover, currently exploring the surface of Mars, uses plutonium to stay powered at night. The Cassini mission orbiting Saturn and its moons uses the material to perform some stunning maneuvers. Plutonium has also been used on 10 spacecraft to keep instruments, structures and onboard systems warm.

Mars 2020, a rover that scientists hope will visit the Red Planet and collect samples to later be returned to Earth, is the next mission slated to use the plutonium isotope, although an official decision on the power source won't be made before 2019, according to a NASA report. The same study, which was prepared last June by the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland, noted that plutonium-238 will remain the preferred technical choice for a spacecraft requiring less than 1 kilowatt of electrical power. (New Horizons used less than a fifth of that.)

Producing power

In 2013, NASA began funding the DOE's Office of Nuclear Energy in an effort to revive the department's capability to make plutonium-238, a process that ended when the Savannah River Site in South Carolina stopped producing it in 1988.

Production begins when neptunium-237 is shipped from its storage place at Idaho National Laboratory to Oak Ridge. There, engineers mix it with aluminum and press the material into pellets, which are then irradiated by the High Flux Isotope Reactor. Radiation changes the material to neptunium-238, which quickly decays to plutonium-238, according to the statement from ORNL.

The irradiated pellets are dissolved, and a chemical process separates the plutonium from the leftover neptunium. The plutonium is converted to an oxide and shipped to Los Alamos National Laboratory, where the material will be stored until called on for a mission. The remaining neptunium is recycled and used to produce more plutonium-238.

With continued NASA funding, the process will begin to produce 300 to 400 grams per material before it is scaled up to reach the goal of 1.5 kg per year.

"With this initial production of plutonium-238 oxide, we have demonstrated that our process works and we are ready to move on to the next phase of the mission," Wham said.

Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us at @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

Copyright 2016 SPACE.com, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Sri Lanka's main opposition Monday welcomed President Maithripala Sirisena's promise of land for 100,000 people who were forced from their homes during the long civil war, most of them Tamils.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said Sirisena's pledge to give displaced civilians new plots within six months was a "positive development", but demanded that the military vacate the private land it occupied.

"This is the first time he is giving a timeframe," TNA spokesman M. A. Sumanthiran told AFP a day after Sirisena made the offer.

"We welcome this as a very positive development but our stand is that the military must vacate all private lands they are occupying."

Sirisena, who was elected last January, has won praise for starting to hand back land after the end in May 2009 of one of South Asia's longest and bloodiest ethnic wars.

But he is also under international pressure to do more to ensure reconciliation.

The president told AFP in an interview Sunday he would give land to civilians displaced by war by the middle of this year.

He admitted it was an "ambitious target" but said it was necessary to end what he called an "unacceptable situation".

The land will be in addition to the property being handed back by the military in line with an earlier election pledge by Sirisena.

More than 100,000 people are still living away from their homes more than six years after the end of the war, Sumanthiran said, while another 168,000 live as refugees in neighbouring India.

The civil war pitted troops against guerrillas fighting for independence for the Tamil minority in the north and east of the island.

The fighting claimed over 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009.
By Estelle Shirbon CANTERBURY, England (Reuters) - A Sudanese man who made global headlines in August when he walked 50 km (30 miles) through the Channel Tunnel from France to England, highlighting the plight of migrants, has been granted asylum in Britain. The case of Abdul Haroun, who has been in prison since he was arrested at the English end of the tunnel on Aug. 4, is one of the most dramatic examples of a country struggling to tackle an influx of refugees largely from war zones such as Syria. After walking for 12 hours in near total darkness as trains rushed past at speeds of up to 160 km per hour, Haroun was charged with the obscure 19th Century offense of obstructing a railway, which attracts a penalty of up to two years in jail. Refugee rights campaigners accused authorities of treating Haroun harshly to deter others from following in his footsteps, while tunnel operator Eurotunnel called for "the full force of the law" to be used against him. Haroun had been due to stand trial this month, but at a brief hearing on Monday at Canterbury Crown Court, in the southeastern county of Kent, prosecutor Philip Bennetts said Haroun had been granted asylum on Dec. 24. The case was adjourned to Jan. 18 to give the prosecution time to decide whether to continue with the case. Eurotunnel said the granting of asylum to Haroun would encourage others to seek clandestine ways to enter Britain. "He not only caused significant disruption to Eurotunnel and to the many freight and passenger customers traveling at the time, he also put his own life and that of others at risk," the company said in a statement. Judge Adele Williams granted Haroun immediate bail, ending five months of pre-trial detention that had left his lawyers concerned about his psychological state. REFUGEE RIGHTS V VOTER CONCERNS "We're delighted that it's reached this point and we're hoping the case will be thrown out," said Kate Adams of the non-governmental group Kent Refugee Help, which has supported Haroun in prison and is providing him with a place to live. "We want him to be happily settled in the UK," she said. A spokesman for the Home Office, the government department which oversees the asylum system, declined immediate comment. Haroun's high-profile case comes at an awkward time for the government, which is preparing for a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union in which the migration crisis is a major issue for voters. The crisis has divided Britain, as it has other European countries such as Germany and France, between those who want tougher measures to keep migrants out and those who call for greater solidarity with people fleeing war or oppression. Little is known about Haroun, who was 40 at the time of his arrest according to police. The court heard at an earlier hearing that his mother tongue is Zaghawa, suggesting that he may be from Darfur, a region of Sudan ravaged by more than a decade of conflict between government and rebel forces. Under the U.N. Refugee Convention, asylum seekers cannot be prosecuted for irregular entry into a country of sanctuary. But legal experts say British authorities sometimes find ways around this by charging them with offences that are not technically protected by convention rights. "They were over-hasty in bringing a prosecution (against Haroun) before deciding whether he was a refugee," said lawyer Colin Yeo, a prominent expert on asylum. (editing by Ralph Boulton)
Beirut (AFP) - Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran have reached new heights with Riyadh's execution on Saturday of a Shiite cleric despite Tehran's calls for clemency.

Here are some questions and answers about the religious split dividing Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran:

Q: What is the split about?

A: The split emerged over a disagreement on who should succeed the Prophet Mohammed, who died in 632.

Some felt his successor should be chosen from among his followers, while others -- the "Shiite Ali" or Partisans of Ali -- believed the position should stay within the prophet's family and that Mohammed had backed his cousin Ali for the post.

Eventually, Abu Bakr, a confidant of the prophet, became the first caliph, and was succeeded by two other members of Mohammed's inner circle before Ali assumed the post.

Shiite Muslims hold all of the prophet's family, and particularly Ali and his sons Hassan and Hussein, in high esteem.

Hussein's murder in 680 along with most of his family is commemorated each year by Shiite Muslims in the Ashura ritual, a day of mourning.

Q: What are the religious differences?

A: Sunni and Shiite Muslims share many practices and beliefs, including the so-called five pillars of Islam that encompass fundamentals such as five daily prayers and the pilgrimage to Mecca.

Shiite Muslims, however, consider Ali to be the first of a series of imams, who are successors to the prophet and provide models and guidance for the faithful.

As a result, Shiite Islam has a stricter clerical hierarchy, exemplified with the ayatollahs and imams of Iran and Iraq, than does Sunni Islam.

Shiites believe in an unbroken line of 12 imams who succeeded the prophet, beginning with Ali, and that the twelfth imam is in occultation but will return to restore justice on earth before the day of judgment.

While Sunni Muslims deem the four men who succeeded Mohammed to be the "rightly guided" caliphs, they do not place any particular significance on the religious practices of the leaders who came after them.

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Shiite Muslims also incorporate mention of Ali into the Muslim shahada, or profession of faith, and have several religious holidays distinct from Sunnis that are based on their reverence for Ahl al-Bayt, or the family of the prophet.

These include Ashura and Arbaeen, which commemorate the deaths of Ali's son Hussein and the suffering of his surviving family members respectively.

They also go on pilgrimages to several holy sites specific to Shiites, in addition to the Haj pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia.

Q: What are the demographics?

A: According to a 2015 study by the Pew Forum, there are just under 1.6 billion Muslims worldwide.

Sunnis are generally thought to constitute up to 90 percent of the population of Muslims, with the rest divided between different Shiite branches.

The balance is less stark in the Middle East because of large Shiite populations in countries such as Iran, with some 80 million adherents to the branch.

Iran is traditionally regarded as the most powerful and important Shiite-majority country in the world, with Shiites also forming a majority in neighbouring Iraq and Bahrain.

There are large Shiite populations elsewhere, including in Yemen, Pakistan and Lebanon. Offshoots and branches of Shiite Islam are present in other countries too, including Syria and India.

Saudi Arabia, home of the pilgrimage sites of Mecca and Medina, is often regarded as the centre of Sunni Islam and the ruling king is known as "custodian of the two holy mosques" in reference to mosques at the two sites.

The Al-Azhar institution in Egypt is often regarded as Sunni Islam's most important academic institution and a reference for the faithful.
Copenhagen (AFP) - Denmark announced the immediate introduction of random controls at the German border, Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen said Monday, on the same day neighbouring Sweden introduced controls on its frontier with Denmark to stem the flow of refugees.

"When other Nordic countries seal their borders it can have major consequences for Denmark," Rasmussen said, referring to the Swedish measure.

"It can lead to more asylum seekers," he told reporters in Copenhagen.

Rasmussen has sought to limit arrivals of migrants on Danish territory, and he had hinted that he would react strongly to the systematic checks announced by Sweden.

The Danish controls will initially be in place for 10 days, after which they may be extended.

"We are simply reacting to a decision made in Sweden. We are introducing temporary border controls but in a balanced way. This is not a happy moment at all," Rasmussen said.

The refugee crisis has been a major point of contention between Sweden and Denmark. Sweden took in over 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015, the highest proportion per capita in the European Union, while Denmark has received just 18,000.

Sweden on Monday began requiring all train, bus and ferry operators to check the photo identification of passengers travelling from Denmark after saying it could no longer cope with the flood of migrant arrivals.
Beijing (AFP) - The leader of the main exile Syrian opposition group will visit China this week, Beijing said Monday, despite the country repeatedly blocking UN Security Council resolutions on the conflict.

China is a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council and has voted against resolutions on Syria four times alongside Russia -- which is mounting a campaign of air strikes to defend President Bashar al-Assad.

Most recently, it blocked a 2014 measure to ask the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in the country, and Beijing has consistently called instead for a "political solution" to the conflict.

Khaled Khoja, President of the Istanbul-based National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces will visit China from Tuesday to Friday, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a regular briefing.

"We believe that at the current stage we need to seek a ceasefire and a political settlement in parallel," she said.

The Security Council in mid-December unanimously endorsed a proposed peace plan to bring the regime and opposition together for talks this month.

China hosted members of the Syrian regime on an official visit the following week, when Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem declared Damascus ready to participate, but appeared to make it conditional on which opposition groups will attend.

It would be the third round of talks in Geneva - the last session took place in early 2014 but did not bear fruit.

China depends on the Middle East for its oil supplies but has long taken a back seat in the region's disputes, only recently beginning to expand its role.
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syria's political opposition in exile urged all Arab countries on Monday to sever diplomatic ties with Iran after Saudi Arabia, a strong supporter of the Syrian opposition, cut relations with Tehran. Saudi Arabia has been rallying Sunni allies to its side in a growing diplomatic row with Iran, deepening a sectarian split across the Middle East following its execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric. The Turkey-based Syrian National Coalition declared its support for Riyadh's move, calling on "all Arab and Islamic countries to take a similar step" and criticized what it said was Iran's support for militias in Syria and Iraq. Iran supports Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whose forces, backed also by Russia, are fighting against an array of insurgent groups including rebels backed by Saudi Arabia and other countries in the region. Sunni-Shi'ite tension in the region spilled over on Saturday night when Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom's embassy in Tehran after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shi'ite cleric. (Reporting by John Davison; Editing by Dominic Evans)
It's been 20 years since scientists first announced the discovery of a planet outside Earth's solar system orbiting a sunlike star. Since then, the study of exoplanets has grown dramatically. Space.com caught up with Michel Mayor, professor emeritus at the University of Geneva and the Geneva Observatory, to discuss how the understanding of exoplanets has evolved over the last two decades.

In October 1995, Mayor, along with Didier Queloz, also a professor at the University of Geneva, announced the discovery of 51 Pegasi b, a massive Jupiter-sized planet orbiting its sunlike star every four days. Although these "hot" Jupiters (so named because they sit very close to their parent star) are familiar to astronomer today, at that time they were only a theory, and one that not everyone endorsed, Mayor said.

"These were very strange, because these do not exist in the solar system," he told Space.com at the Extreme Solar Systems III conference in Hawaii. [The Strangest Alien Planets]

To find these close-orbiting behemoths, astronomers relied on a technique known as the radial velocity method. As a massive world circles its star, the planet's gravity very slightly shifts the light of its sun. The bigger or closer the planet, the easier it was to spot the signal, so astronomers around the world turned their attention to finding those hot Jupiters.

Theorists, however, weren't quite convinced. Only a few months earlier, a paper published in the journal Science claimed massive giants would not be found close to their star because the material that formed them was only found at greater distances. At that point, Mayor and Queloz had already gotten their first hint that something curious was happening around 51 Pegasi, so they remained undeterred.

"We were not troubled at all," Mayor said.

They continued to wait for the next opportunity to view the star, in order to strengthen their research. In July, they confirmed that 51 Pegasi b was, in fact, a planet. They published their finding in the November 1995 issue of the journal Nature. Less than a week later, the planet was confirmed by Geoffrey Marcy and Paul Butler, an independent team working out of the University of California, Berkeley.

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The first of many

Lying 51 light-years from Earth, 51 Pegasi is a sunlike star in the constellation Pegasus. Its only known planet, 51 Pegasi b, lies closer to the star than Mercury does to the sun, whipping around it every 4 days. But the planet isn't rocky like Mercury; it weighs in at half the mass of Jupiter.

The fast-orbiting planet proved to be the first of many planets orbiting stars other than the sun. Through the latter 1990s, astronomers used the radial velocity method to find an increasing number of hot planets that orbited close to their parent star. Then, according to Mayor, just before the turn of the century, astronomers began using a new way to identify worlds outside of the solar system  the transit method.

A transiting planet crosses between its parent star and the Earth as it orbits. As the planet briefly passes in front of the star (as seen from Earth), scientists can measure the temporary drop in the brightness of the star, and calculate the radius of the transiting world.

"This was the real start of his huge field of transiting planets," Mayor said.

More and more exoplanets trickled in over the next decade. Then, in 2009, NASA launched its Kepler Space Telescope, an instrument that used the transit method to search for distant worlds. Since its first major results were announced in 2010, Kepler has revealed over a thousand confirmed planets, and nearly 5000 more candidates. According to NASA, the discovery of 51 Pegasi b played a significant role in launching Kepler into space.

A third method, known as direct imaging, also plays a role in the hunt for exoplanets. With this technique, scientists search for planets that aren't overshadowed by the light from their parent star. [How Do You Spot an Alien Planet from Earth? (Infographic)]

Thanks to the wealth of worlds spotted by Kepler, along with planets discovered in the decade and a half before its launch, astronomers estimate that closely orbiting gas giants are actually rather rare specimens, despite dominating exoplanet studies for more than ten years. Less than 1 percent of all stars host hot Jupiters, according to Mayor.

But when I asked if that means he and Queloz got lucky with their find, he laughed.

"We were not lucky at all," he said.

That's because the pair didn't pin all their hopes on a single sun, he explained. They examined more than 140 stars in their quest for a single hot Jupiter. Statistically, at least one of those should have hosted a toasty giant, although at the time they didn't know how common  or uncommon  such worlds are.

What they did bank on was the fact that somewhere in the galaxy, a Jupiter-sized planet orbited extremely close to its sun. According to Mayor, at the same time he was scanning the stars for 51 Pegasi b, another team focused on systems with distant Jupiters, with orbits closer to those of the gas giants in Earth's solar system. That team focused on a smaller sample of stars, and searched over a longer span of years, Mayor said. But, he added, they received less telescope time than the Geneva team  6 to 8 nights per year, compared to the 42 nights Mayor and Queloz received.

"They probably had better weather, but we had more nights," Mayor said.

'So incredible'

The last two decades have seen a revolution not only in how scientists hunt for worlds beyond the solar system, but also their understanding of what these systems might be like. Before 51 Pegasi b, most astronomers had the idea that the solar system was an average group of planets. But the collections found around other stars differ significantly from the solar neighborhood, with hot Jupiters, tightly packed inner planets, or a scarcity of rocky worlds.

Astronomers are no longer quite as concerned about just finding planets, but are beginning to focus on how planets form and whether they could potentially host life. By studying the radius and mass of worlds, scientists are able to better understand a planet's density, which gives an idea of what the planet could be made of. Scientists probe the upper layers of the atmosphere of distant worlds, searching for signs of what the air is made of. And scientists seek to understand planets as a whole, as well as individually  how they form and what makes them tick, two things that help them better understand Earth, as well.

The Kepler mission ended in 2012 when two of its reaction wheels failed, limiting its ability to study distant worlds. A second mission, known as K2, put the telescope back to work, studying exoplanets on a more limited scale. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch in 2018, and it will carry on the study of exoplanets, Mayor said. Other large telescopes under construction on the ground, such as the Extremely Large Telescope and the Giant Magellan Telescope, which should be completed in the mid-2020s, will help further characterize these far away worlds.

Although only a handful of scientists were part of the original hunt for exoplanets, the numbers have swelled. The Extreme Solar Systems III conference hosted over 300 scientists, but Mayor said this was a fraction of the total number of people now examining other worlds, as Europe and Asia remained underrepresented. He estimated that several thousand people today make up the field.

"I could not imagine 20 years ago that the fist detection would have such big consequences," Mayor said. "It's so incredible."

Follow Nola Taylor Redd on Twitter @NolaTRedd or Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.

Copyright 2016 SPACE.com, a Purch company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Tehran (AFP) - Demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran for a third consecutive day of protests Monday after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric and broke off ties with Iran.

Some 3,000 demonstrators gathered in Imam Hossein Square in eastern Tehran, chanting slogans against Saudi Arabia's Al-Saud royal family following the kingdom's execution on Saturday of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

His death has sparked fury among Shiites across the Middle East with protests erupting in several countries.

A mob on Saturday firebombed the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital and a consulate in second city Meshhad, triggering regional and international condemnation.

The assaults prompted Riyadh to break off diplomatic ties with Iran and order its diplomats to leave the kingdom. Saudi allies Bahrain and Sudan have followed suit and the United Arab Emirates downgraded its ties with Iran.

Some protesters on Monday criticised Iran's foreign ministry, saying it should have taken the initiative and broken ties first with Riyadh over the execution of Nimr, a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in Saudi Arabia.

Others torched the flags of Israel, Iran's arch-foe, and of the United States which is one of Saudi Arabia's key Western allies.

The Saudi flag which bears the Islamic statement of faith -- words that are holy to all Muslims -- was not set of fire.

Hundreds of merchants from Tehran's Grand Bazaar also shuttered their shops and took part in the anti-Saudi protests.
New York (AFP) - Republican frontrunner Donald Trump on Monday unveiled his first TV ad of the presidential election campaign, fanning fresh controversy by incorporating footage of migrants fleeing Morocco into a Spanish enclave.

The 30-second ad will be broadcast in Iowa and New Hampshire from Tuesday, costing $2 million a week ahead of the state's first-in-the-nation voting contests, his campaign said.

The commercial spotlights his call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, pledge to crush the so-called Islamic State extremist group and promise to end illegal immigration from Mexico.

"The politicians can pretend it's something else but Donald Trump calls it radical Islamic terrorism -- that's why he's calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," says the voiceover.

"He'll quickly cut off the head of ISIS and take their oil," added the male speaker, referring to the extremists that allegedly inspired the couple responsible for the San Bernardino killings last month.

"And he'll stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for," he added, over footage that shows dozens of migrants streaming across a border.

But a fact-checking website gave the ad a "Pants on Fire" rating, saying the footage comes not from the Mexico-US border, but rather from Melilla, a small Spanish enclave thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean on Morocco's coast.

PolitiFact said it traced the footage to an Italian broadcast from May 2014 of people crossing the border from Morocco into Melilla and said RepubblicaTV attributed the video to the Spanish interior ministry.

Trump's campaign said the footage was "intentional and selected to demonstrate the severe impact of an open border" and the "very real threat" to America by not building a wall on the Mexican border.

"The biased mainstream media doesn't understand, but Americans who want to protect their jobs and their families do," it said.

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Iowa votes first in the nation in the nomination race, on February 1, followed by New Hampshire eight days later.

"I am very proud of this ad. I don't know if I need it, but I don't want to take any chances," Trump said Monday.

The real estate tycoon, who is funding his campaign, has boasted of saving $35 million by spending no money on political television ads until now.

He has led the polls for months, using his bombastic and provocative style to dominate the media and drive coverage of the campaign.

He claims to have spent the least money of all the candidates and of still achieving "the best results," saying, "This is the kind of thinking the country needs."

Trump has previously run radio ads and will launch a new one this week featuring Kathryn Gates-Skipper, the first female Marine to serve in combat operations, his campaign said.
ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkey cannot support the execution of a senior Shi'ite cleric by Saudi Arabia because Ankara opposes capital punishment, government spokesman Numan Kurtulmus said on Monday. "We are against all instances of capital punishment especially when it is politically motivated... For us it is not possible to support capital punishment by any country," Kurtulmus told a news conference. He said Saturday's execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was not conducive to peace in the region. "But Saudi Arabia and Iran are our friends and we don't want them fighting because that's the last thing this region needs," Kurtulmus said. (Reporting by Dasha Afanasieva; Editing by Dominic Evans)
Ankara (AFP) - Turkey on Monday urged Iran and Saudi Arabia to calm tensions in their diplomatic crisis, saying the hostility between the two key Muslim powers would only further escalate problems in an explosive region.

"We want both countries to immediately move away from the situation of tension that will obviously only add to the already severe tensions existing in the Middle East," Deputy Prime Minister Numan Kurtulmus said in Ankara's first reaction to the crisis.

"The region is already a powder keg," Kurtulmus, who is also the government spokesman, said after a cabinet meeting, quoted by the Anatolia news agency. "Enough is enough. We need our peace in the region."

The crisis began at the weekend when Saudi Arabia executed prominent Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr as well as 46 other convicts, prompting a furious reaction from Tehran and anti-Saudi protests.

Riyadh and then Bahrain and Sudan have now severed relations with Tehran, the main Shiite power.

Turkey's relations with Saudi Arabia have warmed considerably in recent months and in December President Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Riyadh for talks with King Salman and the entire Saudi elite.

Turkey and Saudi Arabia, both overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim powers, share the same vision over the conflict in Syria where they believe only the ousting of President Bashar al-Assad can bring an end to almost five years of civil war.

But in a rare public criticism of Ankara's ally, Kurtulmus emphasised that Turkey, which abolished the death penalty as part of its bid to join the EU, was opposed to capital punishment.

"We are a country that abolished the death penalty. Death penalties, especially ones that are politically-motivated, are of no help to making peace in the region," he said.

As Turkish ties with Riyadh have warmed, Ankara's relations with Tehran have grown more tense in recent months, notably over Iran's role in Syria -- where the Islamic republic supports Assad's regime -- and over its burgeoning relations with Russia.

But Kurtulmus said: "These are two major Islamic countries for Turkey. We have good relations with each of them."
By Seyhmus Cakan DIYARBAKIR, Turkey (Reuters) - Two civilians, two soldiers and a police officer have been killed in southeastern Turkey as military operations to root out armed fighters focused on urban centers across the mainly Kurdish region, security sources said. A local court jailed the former mayor of the mainly Kurdish city of Van for 15 years, the maximum term for the crime of membership of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). Bekir Kaya, re-elected to a second term in 2014, had spent part of his first mayoral tenure in pre-trial detention on the charges, which were brought in 2012. Violence in a three-decade-old war with PKK fighters flared in July after the collapse of peace talks. President Tayyip Erdogan said last week there would be no let-up in a military campaign he said had killed more than 3,000 militants in 2015. A 35-year-old mother of three was killed and another person was wounded on Sunday when a mortar shell hit their house in the district of Sur in the region's largest city of Diyarbakir, the security sources said late on Sunday. In the town of Silopi, east of Diyarbakir near the Syrian and Iraqi borders, a man was killed by gunfire and his wife and another relative were wounded when they attempted to venture out of their home, the sources added. A soldier was killed in a gun attack in Sur on Monday, the General Staff said, hours after a member of a special police unit in Sur was shot dead, according to security sources. On Sunday, a soldier was killed in a PKK bomb attack in Sur. Sur, which boasts UNESCO World Heritage sites, has been under a round-the-clock curfew since Dec. 2 as the army tries to push out PKK fighters who have dug trenches and built barricades there and in other residential areas in the region. TANK FIRE The military said 225 PKK fighters had been killed in Silopi and the nearby town of Cizre since operations began in both places on Dec. 14. Hundreds of soldiers and civilians have also died in towns and cities across the region in the operations. Erdogan said at the weekend he supported a criminal investigation of the leaders of the Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), a parliamentary group with Kurdish origins, over comments about self-rule. In the town of Cizre, tanks could be seen pounding buildings believed to contain PKK members on Sunday, Reuters TV footage showed. Local residents fled their houses, carrying their children and carting belongings in a wheelbarrow or suitcases. The autonomy-seeking PKK took up arms in 1984, and more than 40,000 people - mainly Kurds - have been killed in the violence. The PKK is designated a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. (Additional reporting by Melih Aslan; Writing by Ayla Jean Yackley; Editing by Ece Toksabay and Ralph Boulton)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States expects meetings planned for this month to bring together warring parties in Syria to go forward despite a flare-up in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran triggered by the execution of a Shi'ite cleric in the kingdom, the U.S. State Department said on Monday. "We still hope and expect that meetings between opposition groups and regime can happen this month," State Department spokesman John Kirby said at a briefing when asked about the effect of the Iran-Saudi tensions on the efforts to bring an end to the nearly 5-year-old conflict in Syria. The United Nations said last month it aimed to bring together the warring parties on Jan. 25 in Geneva to begin talks aimed at ending the Syrian war that has killed an estimated 250,000 people. The United States wants Iran and Saudi Arabia to resolve tensions bilaterally, Kirby said, adding: "We're not in the market for a mediator." (Reporting by Arshad Mohammaed and Lesley Wroughton; Writing by Mohammad Zargham; Editing by David Alexander)
Kampala (AFP) - Ugandan police said Monday they were investigating reports nearly $4 million worth of cocaine seized by customs officers at its main airport had disappeared from secure stores.

National police chief Kale Kayihura has set up "a task team to conduct an audit into the control and accountability of drug exhibits at the Aviation Police Headquarters," police spokesman Fred Enanga said.

"The task team is in its advanced stages of the enquiry," he added, saying it was up to them to confirm if the drugs seized from smugglers between 2012 and 2014 had since been stolen.

The New Vision newspaper said some 80 kilos of cocaine -- worth some $4 million (3.7 million euros) at street prices -- reportedly had gone missing from the stores of aviation police at Entebbe International Airport.

The state-owned newspaper, which quoted unnamed souces, said, "wheat and cassava flour and other substances were substituted for cocaine."

"The racket came to light after detectives took 17 separate samples from the stores for testing at the government analytical laboratory (GAL) last year," the newspaper added.

It was not possible to independently verify the reports.
London (AFP) - A Sudanese man accused of walking almost the entire length of the undersea Channel Tunnel from France to Britain has been granted asylum, his representative said on Monday.

Abdul Rahman Haroun, 40, was arrested in Kent, southeast England, in August on suspicion of passing through the 31-mile (50 km) tunnel.

Shortly after his arrest Haroun applied for asylum, which was granted on December 24, though he only got the news Monday in Canterbury Crown Court.

"I can confirm, as was stated in open court today, that Mr Haroun has been granted asylum," caseworker Sadie Castle of law firm Kent Defence told AFP.

Haroun was charged under an 1861 law on malicious damage with causing an obstruction to an engine or carriage using the railway, but the case has now been adjourned for two weeks so prosecutors can decide whether to proceed with it, Castle added.

Haroun, dressed in a grey tracksuit, appeared in court via a CCTV link from nearby Elmley Prison, where he has been detained since his arrest, local media reported.

Judge Adele Williams ordered that he be freed on the condition that he reports at his local police station once a week, and he is due back in court on January 18.

He pleaded not guilty to the charges at an earlier hearing.

His legal team previously argued that their client qualified for protection under Article 31 of the 1951 UN Refugee Convention, of which Britain is a signatory.

This states that members "shall not impose penalties, on account of their illegal entry or presence, on refugees who, coming directly from a territory where their life or freedom was threatened... enter or are present in their territory without authorisation."
London (AFP) - British Prime Minister David Cameron said Monday tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia were "hugely concerning" and condemned the death penalty following Riyadh's controversial execution of a Shiite cleric.

Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was put to death on Saturday with 46 other people, setting off a chain of events which has seen Saudi Arabia and Bahrain severing their ties with Iran after protestors torched the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad.

The crisis has raised fears of increased sectarian violence in the Middle East.

"It is hugely concerning because of course we want to see stability in the Middle East... not least because that will be absolutely essential for solving the crisis in Syria which is the source of so many of these problems," Cameron said on a visit to east London.

"We condemn and do not support the death penalty in any circumstances and that includes Saudi Arabia... we always make representations on the death penalty and the foreign office ministers made it very clear on this occasion."

Saudi Arabia is Britain's most important trade partner in the Middle East and was its biggest market for arms exports in 2014.

Nimr had been branded an "instigator of sedition" by Saudi Arabia. He was notably a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in the east of the country, where Shiites have long complained of marginalisation.

Executions have soared in Saudi Arabia since King Salman ascended the throne a year ago with 153 people put to death in 2015, nearly twice as many as in 2014.
LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's drug regulators have given the go-ahead for a British American Tobacco electronic-cigarette vaping device to be sold as a quit smoking medicine, the first such product to be given a drug licence in the UK. The decision to licence BAT's e-Voke product means it can now be prescribed on the state-funded National Health Service for patients trying to give up smoking. "We want to ensure licensed nicotine containing products -- including e-cigarettes -- which make medicinal claims are available and meet appropriate standards of safety, quality and efficacy to help reduce the harms from smoking," the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said in a statement on Monday. The statement said the e-Voke licence was granted "recently", and a spokesman told Reuters it was issued "towards the end of last year". Many experts think e-cigarettes, which heat nicotine-laced liquid into an inhalable vapour, are a lower-risk alternative to smoking, but since they are relatively new products, there is little long-term evidence on their safety. Public Health England, the government's public health agency, has said it considers e-cigarettes to be at least 95 percent safer than tobacco cigarettes, which cause lung cancer and many other diseases and kill half of all those who use them. BAT said in a statement on its website it is "currently evaluating plans to commercialise" e-Voke, which uses cartridges containing pharmaceutical grade nicotine. More than 2 million adults use e-cigarettes in Britain, about a third of whom are ex-smokers and two-thirds current smokers, according to the charity Action on Smoking and Health. Big tobacco firms, including BAT, Philip Morris International, Japan Tobacco and Imperial Tobacco Group, are jostling for position in the emerging vaping market, which is estimated at around $7 billion for 2015. The MHRA said it would "continue to encourage companies to voluntarily submit medicines licence applications for e-cigarettes and other nicotine containing products as medicines" and hoped to see more e-cigarettes and next generation nicotine delivery products submit applications in future. (Reporting by Kate Kelland, editing by Louise Heavens)
United Nations (United States) (AFP) - The United Nations moved quickly on Monday to shelter peace efforts in Syria and Yemen from the diplomatic storm unleashed by the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura traveled to Riyadh for urgent talks and was to head later this week to Tehran to seek assurances that hard-fought gains in the Syria peace process had not been derailed.

De Mistura is counting on broad support to launch peace talks between President Bashar al-Assad's government and the opposition in Geneva on January 25 -- the culmination of a three-month effort involving all key players.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke by phone with the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers to urge them to "avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between two countries and in the region as a whole," said Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

"A breakdown of relations between Riyadh and Tehran could have very serious consequences for the region," said Dujarric.

Both Iran and Saudi Arabia have a crucial role in the diplomatic push to end the nearly five-year war in Syria and to bring about a political settlement for Yemen.

Relations between the two rivals have been testy, but the furor over the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who had criticized the Sunni royal family, threatened to spill over.

After protesters set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the country.

- Saudi break with Iran 'deeply worrying' -

In his conversation with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, Ban expressed his "disappointment" over the execution of al-Nimr, whose case he had raised with Riyadh many times, said Dujarric.

While the UN chief said the Iranian attack on the Saudi embassy was "deplorable," the Saudi decision to break off relations with Tehran was "deeply worrying," he told Jubeir.

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Ban spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday and urged him to protect diplomatic facilities after the attack on the Saudi embassy.

In a conciliatory sign, Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations, Gholamali Khoshroo, pledged in a letter to Ban on Monday that "Iran will take necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents in the future."

The Saudi-Iran rift was seen by UN diplomats as a potential setback to the peace effort in Syria, where Tehran is among Assad's strongest allies while Riyadh is backing militias fighting Damascus.

De Mistura "believes that the crisis in Saudi-Iranian relations is a very worrisome development and stresses the need to ensure it does not cause a chain of adverse consequences in the region," said Dujarric.

Turning to Yemen, Ban urged Saudi Arabia "to renew its commitment to a ceasefire" after the Riyadh-led coalition announced on Saturday that it was ending the truce with Iran-backed rebels in the country.

The UN envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, heads to Riyadh on Wednesday to push for a renewed ceasefire.

A Saudi-led coalition in March launched an air campaign against Iran-back Shiite rebels in Yemen, which is now facing the threat of famine, according to the United Nations.
In its endearing (if infuriating) way, Congress left a package of tax cuts under the tree as lawmakers beat a hasty retreat from Washington for the Christmas holiday. You might call this regifting, though, because the goodies are the same ones Congress let die at the end of last year. The long-awaited revival to make them retroactively apply for 2015 came on December 18. In an important twist to the habitual year-end gamesmanship, however, this time Congress actually made many of them permanent and even improved a few. Here are 12 that might puter, leavemoney in your pocket by reducing your tax bill for 2015, 2016 and beyond.

SEE ALSO: 16 Tax Audit Red Flags





The Child Credit

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Generally, the child creditwhich is worth $1,000 for each child younger than age 17 that you claim as a dependent on your returnis nonrefundable. That means if the credit more than wipes out your tax bill for the year, the excess simply disappears. However, based on their income, some lower-income taxpayers can qualify for the additional child credit that makes the credit refundable. That means youd get a check from the IRS for amounts not needed to offset your tax bill. Recent enhancements to the refundable part of the credit were due to expire at the end of 2017. But now Congress has made those improvements permanent. (The child credit phases out at higher income levels.)

SEE ALSO: The Most Overlooked Tax Breaks for New Parents





A Better Tax Break for Mass-Transit Commuters

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Congress often picks favorites when it comes to subsidizing the cost of getting to work. At the dawn of 2015, for example, employees could use up to $250 each month of pretax salary to pay for parking, but the pretax piggy bank for those who used mass transit was capped at $130. The law signed by President Obama on December 18 eliminates this discrepancy, retroactive for all of 2015. The eleventh-hour change wont do much good for most commuters, though, because they already used after-tax money to pay their bills. But some bus and subway riders might catch a break. When Congress did a similar end-of-year about-face a couple of years ago, the IRS allowed employers to recast after-tax money run through a transit-pass program as pretax money. This benefited employees who opted to use more of their salary than the transit limit to buy transit passes, even though the excess was after-tax money. Check with your employer to see if theres any way you can cash in on the retroactivity of this break for 2015. Good news: Congress made parity permanent, ending the discrimination from now on. For 2016, both parkers and mass transit users can use up to $255 of pretax money each month to get to work.

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American Opportunity College Credit

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This is the key tax credit that helps families pay for college, providing up to $2,500 a year for each qualifying student for up to four years. In 2018, however, the credit was scheduled to revert to the old Hope credit, at about $2,000 a year for just the first two years of college. The new law makes permanent the American Opportunity credits higher value and longer term, so families sending children off to college can rest assured that they can get the break for four years. (This credit phases out at higher income levels.)

SEE ALSO: 6 Tax Breaks for College Costs





Tax Deduction for Teachers

The opportunity for elementary and high school teachers to deduct up to $250 a year for money they spend for classroom supplies was revived retroactively for 2015 and made permanent. Even better, the law now says that professional-development expenses count toward the deduction. You can claim this write-off even if you dont itemize deductions.





Deduction of State Sales Tax

For several years, taxpayers have been given the choice of deducting either the state income tax or the state sales taxes they pay. The chance to deduct state sales taxes, though, expired at the end of 2014. This option has now been revived retroactively for 2015 and made permanent. This is a no-brainer for itemizers who live in states with no (or limited) income tax. (See the map above or visit the Kiplinger Tax Map to see states that dont impose their own income taxes.) In some cases, it can even pay off for folks who live in states that collect income taxes. The IRS has tables to estimate how much sales tax folks with different incomes pay in different states. To the table amounts you can add sales tax paid on big-ticket items, such as cars or boats. Whenever the sales tax write-off is bigger than the income tax deduction, go for it.

SEE ALSO: 10 Most Tax-Friendly States in the U.S.





Tax-Free Donations From Your IRA

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The past several years have brought nail-biting anxiety to taxpayers older than age 70 who wanted to make charitable contributions using part or all of the required minimum distributions from their IRAs. Congress has allowed up to $100,000 of a traditional IRA to be donated directly to charity tax-free. But the break has often been allowed to expire, only to be brought back to life retroactively at the last minute. Congress did that again this year, eventually allowing tax-free donations for 2015. And now, finally, the lawmakers have made this tax break permanent.





Tax-Free Discharge of Home Mortgage Debt

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Generally, the tax law treats the forgiveness of debt as taxable income to the debtor. But as a wave of foreclosures followed the housing bust that began in 2006, Congress decided to cut some slack for homeowners who lost their homes. A new rule allowed up to $2 million of debt discharged by lenders in foreclosures or short sales, for example, to be excluded from income. That provision expired at the end of 2014, but it has now been revived retroactively to cover 2015 and extended for 2016, too. This break does not apply to the discharge of debt on second homes or rental property.

SEE ALSO: 15 Tax Deductions You Wont Believe Are Real





Buy Computers Tax-Free With 529 College Saving Plans

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These state plans allow parents (and others) to save for college expenses in a tax-favored account. Earnings accrue tax-deferred and are tax-free when withdrawn if used to pay college expenses, such as the cost of tuition, books, and room and board. In 2009 and 2010, computers counted, too. That provision disappeared five years ago, but the new law brings it back retroactively for 2015 purchases. Whats more, its permanent: From now on, 529 distributions used to buy computers and pay for Internet access are tax-free. Theres no federal tax deduction for contributions to 529 plans, but most states offer tax incentives.





Tax Deduction for College Tuition

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This break, which expired at the end of 2014, is particularly popular with families whose income is too high to claim the Lifetime Learning credit for the college expenses that dont qualify for the American Opportunity credit. It permits the deduction of up to $4,000 of qualified college tuition paid during the year; the top deduction drops to $2,000 for taxpayers with incomes that exceed $65,000 on a single return or $130,000 on a joint return. It disappears completely for taxpayers with incomes over $80,000 and $160,000 respectively. This deduction, which you can claim whether or not you itemize, is scheduled to expire again at the end of 2016. Be sure to check whether the deduction would be worth more to you than the Lifetime Learning credit.

SEE ALSO: 9 Tax Breaks for the Middle Class





Tax Deduction for Private Mortgage Insurance

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This on-again, off-again deduction is for homeowners who bought after 2006 and are required to pay private mortgage insurance. The right to deduct those premiums expired at the end of 2014 but has now been revived retroactively for 2015 and extended for 2016. You must itemize deductions to claim this write-off, which is now scheduled to expire after 2016.





Tax Breaks for Business Equipment

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For many years, Congress has sweetened tax breaks designed to encourage businesses to invest in capital equipment. Until the end of 2014, for example, the Section 179 expensing deduction allowed firms to write off 100% of the cost of up to $500,000 in qualifying assets in the year of the purchase, rather than gradually deducting the cost over many years. Another break, called 50% bonus depreciation, let firms write off 50% of the cost of such purchases right away, with regular depreciation deductions taking care of the rest over a set number of years. Bonus depreciation expired altogether at the end of 2014, and the expensing limit fell to $25,000. The new law revives the $500,000 expensing cap for 2015 and makes it permanent (it phases out after $2 million in assets are purchased in a single year), and the law extends bonus depreciation retroactively for 2015. The 50% bonus applies for property purchased in 2016 and 2017, too; the bonus drops to 40% in 2018 and 30% in 2019.

SEE ALSO: Most Overlooked Tax Breaks for the Self-Employed





Tax-Free Profit on Small-Business Stock

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To encourage investors to take the risk of investing in start-up businesses, the law offers a special break on the profit from the stock of qualifying small businesses. If an investor holds the stock from the time its issued for at least five years, a certain percentage of the profitup to a maximum of $10 millioncan be tax-free. In 2014, 100% of qualifying profit was tax-free; for 2015, that was cut in half to 50%. Now the new law restores the 100% level for stock purchased in 2015 and future years.

EDITORS PICKS


CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition coalition on Sunday chose Henry Ramos to lead the country's National Assembly, which convenes Tuesday for its first session with an opposition majority in more than 16 years. Ramos, 72, is secretary general of the Democratic Action party, one that is seen by critics as representing the old guard of Venezuelan politics that Hugo Chavez successfully rallied against when elected to the presidency in 1998. Yet, supporters say Ramos is a skilled and by far the most experienced politician in the ring. "We represent an alternative... We are not going to be the anti-establishment, rather an autonomous legislative power," said Ramos, a lawyer, who won the election with 62 of the 111 votes cast. It took place a month after the opposition trounced the ruling Socialist Party in legislative elections, giving the opposition 112 seats - a two-thirds majority - in the 167-seat National Assembly. However, the new Congress is likely to get off to a conflictive start on Tuesday when it formally chooses the body's president. Four newly elected lawmakers were blocked from taking office last week, three of them from the opposition, after a legal challenge by the Socialist Party. The country's Supreme Court also agreed to hear challenges against the election of another six opposition deputies. Yet, the opposition remains defiant. "The people chose 112 and 112 will be sworn in," Jesus Torrealba, secretary of the opposition coalition, said at a press conference on Saturday. Torrealba's biggest headache since taking over as secretary of the opposition coalition in late 2014 has been holding various factions together. The infighting came to the fore in recent weeks with major opposition leaders publicly criticizing each other. Julio Borges was Ramos' main contender on Sunday. The 46-year-old leads the relatively young Justice First party, which won the largest number of seats among the opposition in Congress. However, Ramos united smaller opposition factions that feared dominance by Justice First, analysts said. The opposition called for supporters to join lawmakers outside the National Assembly on Tuesday morning. President Nicolas Maduro has said he would veto one of the opposition's major planks, the release of imprisoned politicians, and told the opposition in December to "suck on your change." (Reporting by Girish Gupta and Deisy Buitrago; Editing by Brian Ellsworth and Dan Grebler)
By Mark Gleeson CAPE TOWN (Reuters) - AB de Villiers reached 8000 test runs and his captain Hashim Amla moved closer to a comeback century as South Africa slowly began to reduce the mammoth deficit against England on the third day of the second test at Newlands on Monday. The hosts were 199 for two wickets at lunch, in reply to England's first innings total of 629 for six declared, still 430 runs behind. De Villiers became only the third South African batsman to pass 8000 runs as he reached his half century, carefully picking his shots in a circumspect approach which contrasted starkly with Englands cavalier batting performance on the second day. De Villiers was 56 not out at lunch while Amla, who was dropped on 76, moved to 91 as South Africa added 58 runs to their overnight total of 141 for two. It came at a slow rate of 2.8 runs per over as they attempted to minimise risk with England already 1-0 up in the series. De Villiers and Amla have put together a partnership of 114 runs, the first century partnership for South Africa in their last nine tests stretching back more than a year. They could easily have been three wickets down with Amla dropped by Jimmy Anderson at slip off the bowling of Joe Root. On Sunday, Root had let slip an easy looking catch off Andersons bowling which, if taken, would have removed the dangerous De Villiers for a paltry five runs. Amla, whose leadership of the South African side has been under increasing scrutiny in recent days, last made a significant contribution with 208 runs against the West Indies in Pretoria in December 2014. His loss of form has been attributed to the pressures of captaincy. The 31-year-old De Villiers joins Jacques Kallis (13206) and Graeme Smith (9253) on the list of South Africans with more than 8000 test runs. De Villiers has an average of 53.85 from 103 test matches. (Editing by Amlan Chakraborty)
By Jaime Hamre HAVANA (Reuters) - Virginia's port authority will become the first U.S. port operator to sign a cooperation agreement with its Cuban counterpart, in an effort to increase trade and establish direct service with Cuba, Virginia's governor said on Monday. "We are going to sign an agreement tomorrow between the Port of Mariel and our Port of Virginia which will be a strategic alliance," Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said during a three-day trip to the Communist-run island. McAuliffe is the fourth U.S. governor to visit Cuba since both countries announced they would work to normalize relations just over a year ago. His 30-member delegation includes various state officials and about twenty business leaders. The recently opened Mariel Port, just west of Havana, aims to become a major shipping center as larger ships pass through the Panama Canal and use it as a logistical hub. "As Cuba and the United States normalize relationships, we'd like to see the Cuban companies establish Virginia as their distribution point for the United States," Thomas Capozzi, chief sales officer for the Port of Virginia, told Reuters. According to the New York-based U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, Norfolk, Virginia, ranked first - in metric tons - of 14 ports used in 2015 for exporting agricultural products from the United States to Cuba. President Barack Obama has relaxed parts of the comprehensive trade embargo of Cuba and has asked Congress to lift it completely. Virginia is Cuba's third U.S. trade partner. The state has exported nearly $400 million in goods to the island in the last decade, McAuliffe said. The United States authorized cash-only agricultural exports to Cuba in 2000. Virginia's sales to Cuba, hampered by U.S. sanctions that bar Havana from credit, dropped to $25 million in 2014, Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore told Reuters, echoing a call by the governor to allow bank credit for the food trade. He said the delegation, which includes representatives from pork producer Smithfield Foods and poultry producer Perdue Farms, hopes to increase and diversify Virginia's exports to Cuba, which consist primarily of apples, wine and soy products. (Reporting by Jaime Hamre; Editing by Marc Frank and Dan Grebler)
You're inspired. That home design show made it look so easy and even explained how to re-tile your bathroom in a few simple steps. Equipped with a YouTube video and some new, funky tiles, you set to work. Your bathroom is going to be a Moroccan oasis in no time.

All too quickly, that do-it-yourself afternoon project rapidly deteriorates into a ruin-it-yourself project. You're filled with regret, and your bathroom is filled with uneven tiles.

Don't worry, you're not alone.

Nearly 40 percent of homeowners who completed a DIY home improvement project in the last three years ended up regretting it, according to a 2015 survey of 2,016 adults by Zillow Digs, Zillow's home design site.

The most regretted improvement projects in the survey was adding or expanding a room, followed by refacing cabinetry, finishing a basement or attic, replacing carpeting and installing new hardwood floors and cabinets. Kerrie Kelly, Zillow Digs home design expert, says many people underestimate the process behind projects that appear simple.

"With all the information that's available today, whether that's through a blog or television, it seems like DIY is something that's easy to tackle," Kelly says. "It gives people initial confidence, until they get into it, and then they understand that maybe they should have hired a professional."

So you've re-tiled your floor, and realize it was a mistake. How do you fix it? Here are a few options to repair DIY projects.

First and foremost, make it safe. This is the No. 1 rule for any home improvement or renovation, and should have been something you paid close attention to before and during your DIY project.

A good idea is to hire an inspector to check the safety of the space -- oftentimes there are hidden dangers or issues with work that aren't apparent until years down the line.

Gary Clark, president of Clark Construction, a design-and-build remodeling company in Ridgefield, Connecticut, says an inspection may reveal design flaws that can create small problems you didn't anticipate -- and need to correct. An improper plumbing setup, for example, can cause a backup or even let sewer gas into your home, which can be a health hazard.

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Try, try again. This option isn't for the faint of heart. If you did it poorly once, there isn't a guarantee you'll be a pro the next time. You could just as easily find yourself spending twice the money on the project to have it turn out ugly both times.

If it's the kitchen or bathroom cabinets you've struggled with, Ross Clark, general manager at Clark Construction, recommends factoring in some room for the house to wiggle.

"Houses are not square -- the walls aren't perfectly square, the measurements aren't perfect, everything's not perfectly level or perfectly plum because things expand and contract over time," Ross Clark says. When measuring and ordering new cabinets, it's best to incorporate small fillers that can be sized as needed and fit between cabinets, which make up for the physical changes the home may have undergone.

If you want to repair your botched project, Kelly suggests starting smaller like replacing a lighting fixture or updating cabinetry with hardware, instead of refinishing the cabinetry. "Those are things that are easier to tackle, and once you begin to get that confidence, then you can move on to the larger projects," she says.

Make it prettier. You've done the damage already, and it might not be the most beautiful renovation HGTV's ever seen. It might look downright awful. But if it's just a cosmetic flaw, there are ways to furnish or decorate the space to draw the eye away from your unsightly wall patch or sloppy grout work.

Now more than ever might be a good time to embrace the "shabby chic" look -- pretending the "shabby" part is on purpose could easily fool house guests, or at least draw their eyes away from some of the worst work.

If your renovation is for the purposes of putting the property on the market to sell, there are ways to stage a home to conceal flaws in craftsmanship.

"You don't want to hide anything, but there's nothing wrong with distracting from problem areas," says Michelle Minch, owner of Moving Mountains Design, an interior design and home staging firm in Pasadena, California. "We always err on the side of being too honest rather than being deceptive, because it will get you in trouble."

Minch recommends hiring a stager or designer for a consultation, which gives you a professional opinion and some tips on how to minimize the worst of the work before house hunters tour your home. The price for the advice could be worth it. "In a smaller market or more rural areas, it might cost $100 or $150. In a more urban area or a bigger city, it could be somewhere between $350 and $500," Minch says.

Hire a professional. Maybe it's time to put the hammer down and admit you could use some help. Even though you started the project yourself to save money, it's often more cost-effective to bring in professionals.

According to the Zillow Digs survey, homeowners on average were more likely to go over budget doing a major project, like a room addition or expansion, themselves than when they hired a professional. As much as 42 percent of homeowners who added a room themselves went over budget, 10 percent more than those who hired a contractor.

Gary Clark notes a home addition project his company worked on, next to a homeowner working on a similar DIY project. The area had a high water table, which means the ground is saturated with water closer to the surface than usual.

Having dealt with high water tables before, the Clark Construction team had the right tools and took the right measures to correctly and safely work on the foundation and complete the addition with no delay.

But Gary Clark says the neighbors, being unfamiliar with what needs to be done in the event of a high water table, were delayed for about eight weeks as they contacted the city, hired an engineer to provide proper instruction and then began work again with the needed adjustments to their original plan.

"Any money that the customer may have saved by doing the project themselves was completely consumed on that single item [the water table], not to mention the time that it took," Gary Clark says. "I believe they [spent] somewhere around $15,000 or $20,000 before they even got the correction started, whereas we did it and we were getting the roof shingles on when they were still working on the foundation."

DIY Attempts (and Failures) Will Continue

Zillow Chief Economist Svenja Gudell estimates more renovations will take place in 2016, following the increase of home equity loans taken out specifically for that purpose in the past year.

"Mortgage rates are rising and homes are getting more expensive along the way. ... Instead of making [a] move and incurring those costs, people are going to say, 'I'm going to try and make my house work and just renovate it to my tastes,'" Gudell says.

What do more renovations down the line mean for DIY attempts? As Gudell notes, "We're going to have a lot more regrets."
Aden (AFP) - Authorities in Yemen's southern city of Aden imposed a curfew on Monday after violence blamed on suspected jihadists killed at least 22 people, pro-government media and security sources said.

Suspected Islamic State group (IS) jihadists in the city also shot dead Sheikh Ali Othman, a Sufi imam who was considered a moderate, security officials said.

The curfew will come into force at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) and last until 5:00 am (0200 GMT), the sabanews.net website said, citing a decision by the Aden Security Commission.

The decision comes after fierce battles on Sunday in the port of Aden killed 22 people, among them 10 members of the security forces including a colonel, the security sources said.

Security sources said the clashes erupted when forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi came up against resistance when they tried to deploy in the port to secure it completely.

They said the fighting lasted for several hours and that pro-Hadi forces eventually managed to take control of the facility.

Witnesses said they saw an unprecedented number of armed men in Aden on Sunday, without being able to identify them.

Hadi toured parts of the city, including the port, on Monday, according to the government news agency.

Aden, declared by the government to be the temporary capital, has seen growing unrest between Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, long active in Yemen, and IS as both groups appear to be vying for influence.

The city was rocked by months of fighting last year between pro-government forces and Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels who seized the capital Sanaa in September 2014 before expanding south.

Backed by a Saudi-led coalition, loyalists have regained control of Aden and four nearby provinces in the south since July as fierce fighting persists across the country.
By Barbara Goldberg NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday called an order by Governor Andrew Cuomo to force homeless people indoors when temperatures drop below freezing a redundant mandate that the city already meets, the latest salvo in a feud between the two Democrats. New York City's growing homeless population is the newest focus of the spat between Cuomo and de Blasio, who has publicly accused the governor of undermining his initiatives - ranging from control of city schools to crumbling public housing - for political gain. Cuomo signed an executive order on Sunday requiring officials throughout New York State to force the homeless into shelters when the temperature was at or below 32 degrees Fahrenheit (0 degrees Celsius). The order goes into effect on Tuesday, when temperatures in the city were expected to drop to 18 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 7 Celsius) on what weather forecasters said would be the coldest day so far this winter. The mayor's administration first learned of the governor's order late Saturday night but did not obtain all the details until reading newspaper reports on Sunday, which made clear it referred to an existing state mental hygiene law, said the city's head of social services, Steven Banks. At a press conference on Monday, de Blasio said the order "seems to simply reiterate what's already in the law and the power we already have to bring people in off the streets. And we use that power." The law applies only to homeless people who appear to be mentally ill, who would be taken off the frigid streets to a mental health facility for assessment by a medical professional. If the person is found to be incompetent and refuses to go to a shelter, he or she would be held at the mental health facility, not a shelter, Banks said. He said the governor's order "does not mean that we have any authority to take off the streets anyone who is competent." Banks spoke at a separate press conference about the mayor's latest effort to reduce homelessness. The city wants to end so-called "cluster" housing, which uses low-rent housing stock to shelter homeless families, and instead transform those families into renters of those units. Out of nearly 8.5 million people in New York, the largest city in the United States, about 58,000 homeless sleep in shelters on any given night. Nearly half of them are children. Between 3,000 to 4,000 people live on the streets, most of them single men who suffer from some form of mental illness, according to city data. Seated on a Manhattan sidewalk and holding a cardboard sign describing himself as homeless, Chris Fitzgerald, 26, said he planned to sleep in a doorway as he has for the past three years and would not go to a shelter because he heard they were dirty and unsafe. "Not fair," Fitzgerald said of the governor's mandate. "We should be able to decide what to do for ourselves." Banks said the condition of shelters would be part of a 90-day review of the homeless population ordered last month by the mayor. The governor also indicated homeless shelters may be among his next targets for review. "We're paying $1 billion per year as taxpayers to pay for a shelter system and the homeless say, 'We're afraid to go into it,'" Cuomo said. "It's not right to have a shelter system that is so dirty and unsafe, that people have to stay on the street corner." (Reporting by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Scott Malone and Grant McCool)
By Chris Mfula LUSAKA (Reuters) - Zambia's new constitution on Monday set Aug. 11 as the date for five-yearly presidential and parliamentary elections, previously set by the president, lining up another close vote after last year's neck-and-neck race. Also on Monday, President Edgar Lungu, who plans to stand in the election, reversed a sharp increase in electricity tariffs, saying the hike had ended up hurting the poor, presidential spokesman Amos Chanda said on Monday. Lungu, who is due to ratify the constitutional amendments on Tuesday, defeated the opposition United Party for National Development's (UPND) Hakainde Hichilema last January. Hakainde said the election had been "stolen". Lungu, a lawyer, won 48.3 percent of the vote to 46.7 percent for Hichilema, a wealthy economist. "The new constitution has a fixed election date and that will take effect as soon as the president signs," Chanda said. Other amendments to Zambia's constitution include a clause requiring a winning presidential candidate to get more than 50 percent of the valid votes cast, Chanda told Reuters. Some analysts criticized as politically motivated Lungu's decision to scrap electricity price increases and sign the constitutional amendments at a lavish public ceremony. "Obviously these are efforts intended to gain political advantage," University of Zambia analyst Lee Habasonda said. "For now the decision to reverse the electricity tariff increase will go down well with the voters but it won't help to resolve Zambia's power problems," Habasonda said. Zambia's state power utility Zesco Ltd. on Dec. 3 nearly doubled the price of electricity. The International Monetary Fund had welcomed the price hike, saying it would ease power shortages that have put pressure on the economy of Africa's No. 2 copper producer. The tariff rises were expected to raise revenue that would see $3.7 billion invested in power generation projects, adding capacity to the national grid, Zambia's energy regulator said. (Editing by James Macharia and Louise Ireland)
Chopped teen dies

Speaking to Newsday in a brief telephone interview, Barcoo Campos father, ONeil, said his son passed away at 12 noon yesterday.

Both Barcoo Campo and his mother Claudia were chopped at their Las Lomas home by a 17-year-old man. Claudia was attending to flowers when the attacker suddenly whipped out a cutlass and began chopping her. Barcoo Campo intervened in an attempt to save his mother from further harm but found himself on the receiving end of the attack.

His mother was discharged from the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex on December 29. The suspect has been in police custody since the incident.

ONeil told Newsday doctors did a scan of his sons, brain however, however, his injuries were so severe that doctors saw no activity in the brain.

Right now I am just trying to manage the situation, and it is very challenging. Unfortunately Nathan is no longer with us, but with God.

I am not angry and I thank God that I dont have the spirit of anger over this. This has happened and the family has accepted it. At the end of the day it is a sad situation because part of my life has gone away, he said.

However, ONeil said he was very thankful for the 13 years he had with his son, and described Barcoo Campo as the joy of the family.

I have to go to the hospital in the morning (today) to finalise what is the next step because this situation has now gone from a criminal investigation to a murder case.

The family will meet tomorrow to discuss funeral arrangements, but right now the family is just consoling each other, ONeil said.

He thanked everyone who prayed for his son, especially Barcoo Campos classmates, and the Grace Communion Church because they have been very supportive throughout the ordeal.
Family of 10 spends Christmas, New Years in shelter

The ten-member family, including three sets of twins, ranging in age from 19, to 11 and four, as well as a one-year-old boy, lost their La Puerta, Diego Martin home in a fire on the evening of December 16, last year.

Emergency housing is being provided by the Housing Development Corporation (HDC), confirmation of which came yesterday from Jerry David, Disaster Coordinator at the Disaster Management Unit (DMU) of the Diego Martin Regional Corporation (DMRC).

We got information on Old Years Day (December 31, 2015) that HDC had approved their application; we dont know if its temporary or permanent, for emergency housing. Right now the family is working on getting the various documents which HDC has requested. We are optimistic, David told Newsday, that before Friday (January 8), the family will be able to move out of the shelter and into proper housing. The (DMU) wants to thank everyone who has come forward and helped this family, especially the pre-school principal, Ms (Pheumia) Duprey. David said the DMU has already sourced a refridgerator, stove, washing machine, clothes and mattresses but the family is in need of wardrobes, chestof- drawers, bed frames and of course, school uniforms and books for the four children who all attend Four Roads Government Primary School.

The family is also expected to receive a $10,000 Lost Items Grant from the Ministry of Social Development to replace items such as wardrobes and beds.

David was speaking with Newsday yesterday afternoon during a check-in with the Phillips family at Angel Academy Pre-School.

Located on the compound of the South Diego Martin Community Centre on Senior Street, Four Roads, Diego Martin. The school was converted into an emergency shelter by the DMU for the familys use.The pre-school will therefore not re-open today, the start of the new school term, because the Phillps family is expected to remain in the emergency shelter until later this week.

As such, the DMRC yesterday annouced the pre-school is scheduled to re-open next week Monday (January 11). Principal Ms Pheumia Duprey apologises for any inconvenience caused, the DMRC stated.

Mother of seven, 40-year-old Jenine Phillips, recalled how quickly they went from living in fairly tight quarters in a two-bedroom house which the family paid $3,000 a month in rent for, to sleeping on cots in the Community Centre.

We were in the yard, everybody, when we saw fire coming from one of the bedrooms in the back. The fire spread real fast.

Weve been here (shelter) since then.

Is real stressful knowing you dont have a home, that your children dont have school uniforms or books anymore but we thank God for all the help we got from Mr Jerry (David). Phillips mother, 58-year-old Helen Phillips and her grandmother, 84-year-old Virgie Phillips, both spoke of their prayers and wishes that the family will soon have a proper home.

Its been very hard, not having a place to call our own and knowing the children will be missing the first week of the new school term, if not more, because they dont have uniforms and books, Helen lamented, but we have life and thats the most important thing. Thank God for that. Virgie echoed her daughters sentiments, telling Newsday, Im praying for that everyday. I pray, Father Lord, give me that key that I could open that door to a new home and praise You even more. I know He will answer my prayers. Virgie also expressed hope that Prime Minister (PM) Dr Keith Rowley would stop by to see the family and assist them in securing a permanent home.

David responded, saying If the PM visits them, I hope it will be in their new place. Asked if Rowley was aware of the Phillips familys plight, David told Newsday, Yes, the PM is aware of the familys situation.

Hes been out of the country, so the MP (Member of Parliament) for the area (Diego Martin Central), Darryl Smith, came to see the family as his (Rowleys) representative on December 31. He brought toys for the younger children. Persons interested in helping the Phillips family may contact Jenine Phillips at (733-7085) or the DMU at (633-9620).
Young musicians perform for elderly

The school, located on Court Street, San Fernando, is led by Gunilla Tang Kai who, along with one of her teachers, Marina Gayah, decided to arrange performances for residents of the JC McDonald Home for the Aged on Ruth Avenue as well as the St. Vincent de Paul Home for Men and Women and the San Fernando Teaching Hospital, both located along Independence Avenue.

Newsday was told the school decided to honour some of the less fortunate folks of our society who, either through mental or physical challenges, are unable to leave to attend concerts. The young musicians performed a mix of Christmas songs and golden oldies from the 1950s which were hits when their audiences were in their prime.

Following their performance at the St Vincent De Paul Home for Men and Woman, one of the residents expressed appreciation for what they did with a song and dance, much to the delight of all, an organiser said.

The following week they visited patients on several wards at the San Fernando Teaching Hospital, where their instrumental tunes were also a hit.

The main message from this music school is that we should never forget our sense of social responsibility and charity. They hope to encourage other musicians and fellow citizens to continue to spread joy through their talents, an organiser stated.
Trinidad All Stars celebrates at church

This was the view held by Roman Catholic Priest Fr Clyde Harvey at the bands 22nd annual thanksgiving service at the Holy Rosary Church, Park Street, Portof- Spain yesterday.

Both of them (teamwork and ambition) demand that people work together, Harvey said.

If you have ambition for yourself, you are in trouble. But All Stars has always had the sense that we are in this together, and must work together. Harvey continued, This is vital to our ability to transcend present problems and to realise that discipline is important. The young and not so young must work together to pass on that great tradition, not only in All Stars, but in this land. The band, which won the National Panorama title on nine occasions, did not play for the service.

Harvey, however, touched on the bands struggles over the years, citing the use of marijuana as one hurdles they overcame by working together.

Twenty-five years ago when I was involved with All Stars and they failed to make Panorama finals, we realised there were serious problems in the band. I dont think Im telling any secret but one of the problems in the band was marijuana.

The leadership of the band took the reigns strongly and saw the band through to better days, and I always say that is the strength of All Stars, great leadership which brought them to where they are today. Harvey urged parishioners to pray for the bands continued success. Apart from its National Panorma wins, the band also placed first six times in the National Steelband Festival, hosted ten concerts, received the Humming Bird Medal (Gold) in 1982, the Port-of-Spain City Council Award in 1986, the Sunshine Award for Best Steelband Recording in 1999 and 2002, NCBA Award for Mas in 2012, Band of the Year in 2014 and 2015 and emerged at the top of the field at last years International Steelband Panorama competition
Call to ratify climate change agreement

For us, climate change is an existential threat. For us it is survival.

It is not only a matter of mitigating, but also looking at adaptation, he said.

In an interview yesterday, Gomes who is currently in Trinidad on holiday, told Newsday that from April, countries may ratify the Paris Agreement so that it enters into force.

The agreement sets out a global action plan to put the world on track to avoid dangerous climate change by limiting global warming to well below two degrees Celcius.

The legally binding agreement is due to enter into force in 2020.

Trinidad and Tobago is the second highest per capita producer of greenhouse emissions after Qatar.

It was important, Gomes said, that TT and other Caribbean countries make up their INDCs to mitigate climate change and adaptation through consultations.

The ACP countries, he said, pressed for the INDCs in Paris at the climate change conference.

This means a very comprehensive and a national consultative mechanism for environmental adaptation and mitigation in fulfilling the Paris agreement now, he said.

We would like to see the mitigation and standards they will pursue to reduce emissions. You cannot do that if you do not have the mechanisms or institutions in place, he said.

This is where universities, ministries, State agencies, non-governmental organisation and others may develop their countrys targets. This may include reduction of air pollution by all means, reduction of industrial pollution in keeping with ISO standards, and the passage of legislation for enforcement.

Caribbean countries were expected to take the lead and the ACP was prepared to give support, he said.

Noting that the University of the West Indies and other universities in the region could play a bigger part, he said that ACP has an edu-link programme which links universities from ACP countries across South-South and in European countries with expertise in coastline and coastal erosion.

We would like to see in this 11th European Development Fund how we could put forward proposals that could bring universities into the technological assessment of their countries needs and the capacities that has to be built, he said.

For climate change issues, the Green Climate Fund was available to ACP member states.

We are a key part in the Global Climate Change Alliance and therefore the Green Climate Fund could be important in retrofitting the types of supplies that are used to cut down on carbon emissions, he said.
Is the media distorting Islam?

The award-winning journalist. who produced documentaries. and articles from Afghanistan,. Pakistan, Guantanamo. Bay, Cuba, Israel, Sudan and the. West Bank, is scheduled to deliver. a presentation on the role. of the media in reporting incidences. of so-called Islamic terrorism.

Baksh is being brought here. by the San Fernando ASJA Masjid. which manages the Ahlus. Sunnah Wal Jamaah Institute,. in conjunction with the Tunupuna,. Massahood Junction. jamaats, and the Barrackpore. Islamic Centre.

Siddiq Nasir who heads the. institute yesterday expressed. the view that there was increasing. attention by policy makers,. academics, activists and the. general public, of the role which. the media plays in reporting incidences. of terrorism.

Many have blamed the media. for deliberately framing the. narrative in a way that distorts. the true reality of Islam and. muslims. How has the media,. particularly in the West, responded. to these allegations. and what have leaders in the. muslim community and the. informed public done to assist. the media in changing the. overwhelmingly negative narrative?,. said Nasir.

Baksh intends to show a. 15-minute feature report which. he produced for the CBC, after. which he will entertain questions.

Baksh has been working as a. journalist for the past 25 years. and has won many prestigious. awards, including the Massy. Journalism Fellowship in 2007.

He is a writer with Q-News. International in the United. Kingdom and Islamica magazine. in Jordon.

He was named one of the. worlds 500 influential muslims. (media category) for three years. in a row, according to the Royal. Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. in Amman, Jordon.

Baksh has nutured many. grassroots religious initiatives. in North America and Europe,. aimed at disseminating a normative. approach to Islam.

A date and venue is yet to be. arranged but media practioners,. both print and electronic,. willing to attend, can contact. Nasir on 757-6782.

.
Guest post by Joseph Friedlander

This article discusses the problem of preserving the Lunar vacuum despite huge industrial use. Lunar atmosphere might frost out to an artificially enhanced cold trap at the Lunar Poles. The proposed mega-engineering plan is to create 40 kilometer high walls around the lunar poles to make the poles colder and trap billions of tons of frozen oxygen.

The basic idea revolves around the fact that many polar craters have (for at least part of the year) so little sunlight (principally upon the rim) that simple seeing of a remote sunlit cliff above is enough to heat up and evaporate away any volatiles below upon the dark clefts of the polar crater floor. Shackletons floor has gotten down to 88-86 Kelvin, but oxygen sublimates over 54 Kelvin for example. (And as we shall see in this article, really above 21 Kelvin)

WHY this is needed

You may know of the work of Geoffrey Landis who published a technical

http://www.islandone.org/Settlements/DegradeLunarVacuum.html and popular version

http://www.geoffreylandis.com/moonair.html of his work on degradation of lunar vacuum.

The takeout for this is oxygen (primary waste gas from lunar rock refining) can travel around the moon in around 47 hours (450 hops at 160 km each, taking 380 seconds between bounces)

On the night side of the moon, the typical temperature is only 100K. Molecules thus take six times as long to diffuse across the same area, and since any given molecule will spend six times as long on the night hemisphere as on the day hemisphere, the gas reservoir on the night side will be proportionately greater

Landis estimates that emission of only 10000 tons of oxygen a day would result in much slower escape of oxygen (no longer say 90 days, more like thousands of years)

That is only say 10 million tons of moon rock being vigorously deoxygenated per year. That might be enough for one large 10000-person base but is very disappointing in terms of a massive new lunar civilization.

There would still be a vacuum on the Moon but the quality would be low enough that many processes would be hampered without artificial vacuum chambers (thin walled to be sure)

Landis gives the mechanism of escape blocking oxygen buildup For the heavier gasses, thoughlike oxygen and nitrogenthe gravitational escape lifetime in the atmosphere is thousands of years.

While the moon will lose atmosphere over geological time spans, it could hold onto gas for a very long time by human scales. For these gasses a different mechanism removes them from the lunar atmosphere. The unfiltered light of the sun ionizes the gas molecules, and the ionized molecules are then quickly swept away by electric fields associated with the solar wind. This occurs in a time span of approximately 100 days. When the atmosphere gets thick enough this mechanism stops happeningbut the gas generation needed to make it thick enough is something like 10,000 tons/dayconsiderably higher than anything produced in our lunar industrial facilityat least in the next century or two.

Joseph Friedlander here again What I wanted was a way to deoxygenate gigatons and teratons of lunar rock with impunity for a massive Lunar industrial buildup. (Which I have explored and hope to explore in various Next Big Future articles on Moon colonization)

The way for that to remain plausible was to find a way to trap oxygen at the Lunar Poles and freeze it out. So the Moon itself would do the garbage disposal for us. We would fry rock at the equator hot enough that the oxygen would escapeand it would flee to the poles, not ruin our good vacuum for thousands of years.

And right now it is a very high quality vacuum

Right now the entire Moons atmosphere is only10 tons of all kinds of gases (yes you read correctlythe landing stage of the LM each time doubled the ambient!)

Lunar Polar area pictures

The darker areas in these pictures are where the trap would be, the lighter areas the areas to have their sunshine blocked by the reflector fence sunshades

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:De_gerlache_shackleton_sverdrup_crater.jpg

Friedlander Cold Crown, a reflector fence would enable a few hundred thousand square kilometers of cold trap)a circle of complete darkness About 6-7 times vertical exaggerationreally only 40 kilometers high

Adam Crowl: The area of a circular annulus on the surface of a sphere can be computed via 2piR^2(cos(a)-cos(b)) where angles a & b are taken from the vertical axis. Thus, covering both poles, the area from 80-90 degrees North/South (a=0, b=10) is 1.5% of the whole. That little equation also means half the  surface area is within 30 degrees of the Equator (a=60, b=90). That region has a net gain in heat from the Sun, while North and South of 30 degrees have a net loss over the course of a year.

Illustration of Friedlander Cold Crown on Moondouble reflective sun fence, outer deflects sunlight, inner deflects infrared of outer one. On the ground within 10 degrees of either lunar pole, no surface sees anything other than 3K background radiation of space. It gets cold. Oxygen escaping from massive deoxygenation does ballistic hops of around 160 km all across Moon, hits several times within the Cold Crown, cools down enough for capture.

Area within between 80-90 degrees north and south (within inner fence) is 1.5% of lunar surface, a good fraction of the size of the State of Michigan.

Hi, this is Joseph Friedlander in a guest article for Next Big Future. Recently I had a brainstorm about the lunar atmosphere buildup problem (while thinking of lunar industrialization)

Now oxygen liquefies around 90 K, and if the Moon had an atmosphere we might enjoy picturesque photos by starlight of liquid oxygen lakes on the Lunar Polesbut of course there is vacuumno vapor pressureand for something to remain there it has to freeze solid.

And until recently 90K was about the limit of known Lunar cold

For Shackleton Crater, the average temperature was determined to be about 90 K,A reaching 88 K at the crater floor. Under these conditions, the estimated rate of loss from any ice in the interior would be 10^26 to 10^27 m/s.

but of course that is water ice, not oxygen ice so the possibilities werent there.

Adam Crowl of crowlspace.com kindly pointed me out to this paper on using solid oxygen to extend LOX storage times.

Adam said,



http://www.dtic.mil/dtic/tr/fulltext/u2/687852.pdf

theres a vapour pressure diagram in torr (mm Hg) down to ~20 K.

This is a 1968 study on behavior of solid oxygen as storage medium (nice charts including vapor phase charts)

Joseph Friedlander here again, basically here is that chart hereyou see that below 21K vapor pressure drops off a cliff.

So we need oxygen to be solid for easy capturebut until recently the hope of temperatures that lowcolder than Plutowere good luck to find on the Moon.

All of a sudden the possibilities expand. Note this new experiment and the map it produced: Note that nearside is warmer at lunar night (lighter vs darker blue in

the right image) my guess is because of the Earthshine! (half 1/20000th sunshine

on average)

New Temperature Maps Provide a Whole New Way of Seeing the Moon

DIVINER cold temperature map of Moon http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/387695main_divinerb20090917-full.jpg

Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment, is making the first global survey of the temperature of the lunar surface.

Diviner has obtained enough data already to characterize many aspects of the moons current thermal environment. So far, the instrument has revealed richly detailed thermal behavior throughout the north and south polar regions that extends to the limit of Diviners spatial resolution of just a few hundred yards.

Most notable are the measurements of extremely cold temperatures within the permanently shadowed regions of large polar impact craters in the south polar region, said David Paige, UCLA professor of planetary science and principal investigator of the Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment. Diviner has recorded minimum daytime brightness temperatures in portions of these craters of less than -238 degrees Celcius (-397 degrees Fahrenheit). These super-cold brightness temperatures are, to our knowledge, among the lowest that have been measured anywhere in the solar system, including the surface of Pluto.

Friedlander here againthe BBC covered it and gave a closeup of the temperature mapfor Hermite Crater

http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46936000/jpg/_46936613_north_polar_winter_night.jpg

========================BBC on HERMITE CRATER===============

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8416749.stm

lowest summer temperatures in the darkest craters at the southern pole to be about 35K (-238C); but in the north, close to the winter solstice the instrument recorded a temperature of just 26K on the south-western edge of the floor of Hermite Crater. at the lunar poles they receive no direct sunlight and the coldest places dont even receive any indirect sunlight, Prof Paige said.

In other words, only what little radiation may be scattered from some distant cliff gets down into these areas; and they just cool off. Finally, they reach equilibrium temperature down at those low values.

(My emphasis)

======================/BBC on HERMITE CRATER

Friedlander here. So the idea of building sunshade fencesa Friedlander Cold Crown around the poles of the Moon occurred to mebecause if 26k could be achieved (in winter and dark) with no special equipment, no isolation floor (many vacuum separated levels insulating the cold load from the ground)just naturally with plain rock and regolith

Then solid oxygen safe 20K temperatures might well be achievable year round in large areas around the Lunar Poles with a little helpbuild a sun fence to keep the sunlight away from distant cliffs, and then the polar night is eternal and unending, and the nearly unlimited cold has wonderful industrial possibilities.

Ideally there would be massive volatile capture (more below on that). The limit might be the emissivity of oxygen ice grain surfaces that can change (larger grain size is more emissivity, smaller is lower)

This page estimates lunar polar deep subsurface temperatures to be around 160 K or -110 degrees C.



http://www.lunarpedia.org/index.php?title=Lunar_Temperature



The temperature drop is limited by conduction of heat from layers several meters below the surface, which maintain a roughly steady average temperature that can also be determined from the Stefan-Boltzmann law. In this case I represents the incoming solar energy averaged over a full day-night cycle

Iave = 1366cos() / W / m2

so at the equator T is about 296 K, or a comfortable 23 degrees C if you bury yourself sufficiently. At 60 degrees that drops to 249 K or -24 degrees C. The average subsurface temperature near the poles (85 degrees and higher) would be below 160 K or -110 degrees C.





At 85 degrees the equilibrated temperature drops to 214 K or -59 degrees C. At the lunar poles there are believed to be regions which never receive direct sunlight. If they dont receive significant warming from higher elevation surfaces that are in direct sunlight, they would be equilibrated only with the thermal background radiation of deep space at 2-3 K (-270 degrees C), and would likely form cold traps holding volatile materials.

Joseph Friedlander here again Obviously the selenothermal (equivalent of geothermal) gradient being 160 K below at some arbitrary depth did not stop 26 K on the surface from being achieved, so (especially with dust grains separated from vacuum as insulation) there is plausibility that 20K could be achieved.

Note what the sun fence doesit blocks the sun (outer fence) and the infrared leaking through the outer fence (inner fence)



So the area from 80-90 north and southbecause the Moons tilted only 1.5 degrees and not 23.5 degreesNEVER SEES THE SUN, and indeed never sees a cliff in distant sunlight if this Friedlander Cold Crown gets built.

But if you are going to build a sun fence you need to know how high to build it.

Dynamic range of topography

http://planetary.org/blog/article/00003211/

The dynamic range of Mercurys topography (from highest high to lowest

low) is 9.6 kilometers, with a pretty narrow range about the mean. For

comparison, the Moons is 19.9, and Mars is 30 kilometers  so she

pointed out its easy to remember Mercury 10, Moon 20, Mars 30.

Friedlander here again I think the Earth like the Moon must be close to 20 incidentallyminus 11 for the deepest trenches, plus 9 for the highest mountains

So to build the sun fence we needed data on lunar topography.

Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) topographic maps of lunar elevations http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/news/lro-topo.html

High Resolution Global Topographic Map of Moon

 Related story and imagery from Arizona State University

http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/?archives/484-Lunar-TopographyAs-Never-Seen-Before!.html

LROC WAC color shaded relief of the lunar farside (NASA/GSFC/DLR/Arizona State University).

http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/uploads/WAC_CSHADE_O000N1800_1000.serendipityThumb.png

WARNING HUGE 70 mb tiff filesI have prepared smaller JPGs

Orthographic projection centerd at 0 longitude and 90 latitude.

Orthographic projection centered at 0 longitude and -90 latitude.

Joseph Friedlander here again the Lunar South Pole is the rougher one. (Note the deep blue South Pole  Aitken Basin, , Main ring diam: 2500 km, Depth: 8.5-12 km, largest crater known in the Solar System, which forces the sun fence to be higher to compensate (you also have many more high mountains to completely shade near the

South Pole than the flatter North Pole) here

Color scale legend for LROC Color Shaded Relief (NASA/ GSFC/ DLR/ Arizona State University).

http://lroc.sese.asu.edu/news/uploads/WAC_color_medium.4.colorbar.serendipityThumb.png

From my reading the north is flatter, relief range appears to be around 4 kilometers at absolute maximum. And by not making the shading fence perfectly round you could almost count on 2 kilometers in relief range on the modified route. For the South Pole up to 10 kilometers in relief range might be needed but 5 kilometers in relief range on the modified route.

Around the south pole the deep Aitkin basin complicates things, as the pix show

Note that 10 kilometers of relief does not necessarily mean a 10 kilometers high fence (all that is needed is for all to be in shadow

So I wrote poor Adam Crowl again,

Adam said,

The Moons axial tilt is why the crater walls get lit up. How does ones reflective fence avoid that issue?

I replied, If the shadow of the fence in the worst case of local summer never gets below the top of the hills, the crater walls are always dark, so the issue never arises.

We discussed the correct height for the sunshade

Adam said,

If the poles are at the selenodetic datum

Remember the curvature of the moon. Imagine a triangle side through the pole and another side a radius at 80 degrees. Thus that radius is the hypotenuse when the sunlight is dead-level grazing the Pole at 5 km altitude from the Moon reference radius, thus (1738+5)/(cos(80))-1738 = 26.9 km high wall is needed. Depends on the actual altitude of the Pole.

(For 6 km elevation of highest South pole mountains)

More like 36 km for 1.5-degree tilt.

Throw in the axial tilt and your shade wall is HUGE

Might be possible to shade the polar craters even more than they are at present, but how much cold-trap that can be created, I am unsure. the shades ..they have to stay cold too, else their IR glow will heat the cold-trap!

A 40 km high shade wallsun fence Friedlander Cold Crown around the poles of the Moon would be the equivalent of a nearly 7 km tower in engineering termsbut minus wind loads it would be far easier to engineer. It would be a huge project:

The lunar civilization require to build it grows more and more impressive as we regard itnearly 8000 km of fence, thousands of towers, around 300000 sq km of reflective foilmassing 30 million tons at least. It would need a massive industrial capability on the Moonbut enable a yet greater one.

For current lunar atmosphere, Landis gives ten million molecules/cubic centimeter (half nanotorr) during the lunar day 100,000 molecules/cubic centimeter during the lunar night, This corresponds to pressures from 0.001 nanotorr

Joseph Friedlander here again In my view what would happen is that all this lingering nighttime gas would basically flee to the cold trap and be frozen out. Remember it has to stay at solid oxygen temperatures, not liquid oxygen temperatures. Normally it would evaporate when daylight hit it on the head or on a distant cliff and contribute to atmospheric buildup (ruining good industrial vacuum)but building a Friedlander Cold Crown would actually collapse lunar vacuum levels down to nighttime levels in the day! cold enough that solid oxygens sublimation rate would be negligible.

This would enable (after some years buildup) massive solid oxygen cutting packaging and export to space industry and colonies.

You literally could carve oxygen ice with heated wires, confine it to a closing-hatch tank, launch it and let it thaw to liquid oxygen in the tank on its journey to a space depot.

The solid oxygen would pile up in the crater. (Through anti-sublimation, frosting up) and we could do incredibly intense industry (refine teratons of lunar rock and deoxygenate it,) at the equator and if the snow down time was reasonable, you could maintain usable vacuum at defined seasons of the year. (Otherwise a mere 10000 tons a day of oxygen could begin a buildup to degraded vacuum conditions as Landis says aboveprocessing a mere 10 million tons of lunar rock a year could do that) and we have a limit either on vacuum levels or industrial levels. So truly massive industrial levels WITH good vacuum depends on some technology like I am trying to prove here.

==================

The snowout issue

How do you calculate how rapid snowout can be handled, in other words, what is the

radiative capacity of the shadowed crater per square kilometer?

For example, people have speculated about the sun going out (neglecting, or not, the

heat retention capacity of the oceans, and the energy trapped in the radiative layer

of the Sun)discussing only cooling of the gas, not latent heat of the oceans

http://scienceblogs.com/startswithabang/2010/07/q_a_how_long_would_we_have_if.php).

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=656

A relatively simple calculation would show that the Earths surface temperature would drop by a factor of two about every two months if the Sun were shut off. The current mean temperature of the Earths surface is about 300 Kelvin (K). This means in two months the temperature would drop to 150K, and 75K in four months. To compare, the freezing point of water is 273K. So basically itd get too cold for us humans within just a few weeks.

Focusing only on an imaginary Earth atmosphere (again, neglecting the heat of the oceans) 5 million gigatons at current temperatures this implies ~8 months to freeze Earths air to ~10 meter deep oxygen/nitrogen ice.

This has been described as freezeout or collapse of an atmosphere, something like it is expected by many observers for Pluto.

Adam Crowl and I discussed this

Adam:

The other problem is that gas molecules lose energy with each impact with a surface colder than they are. But how many impacts are required? A cold trap only allows 1 impact, which implies it has to be darned cold to work, if at all. Water and CO2 get trapped by getting very cold before they encounter the poles, very cold being relative to their respective sublimation points. Oxygen?

Of course, the actual area of the moon inside the Friedlander Cold Crown (assuming 80 north and south to be the boundary) is 1.5% of the lunar surface or 1/67 or so of it, so the question is whether or not (as Adam Crowl puts it, that the night-time equilibrium temp of the rest of the Moon may be too hot to ever let oxygen cool down enough to stick in one go. )

We really need a proper estimate of sticking probability for warm O2 molecules at 120-100 K to stick to solid O2 at 30 K. Then work out the likely flux. If the O2 is bouncing around at 200 m/s (160JF) and theres 10,000 tons of it zinging around,(now there is 10, JF) then an estimate of the flux can be figured out. That seems the better way forward.

Joseph: Darn it youre right, but hope is not lost, because the very nature of a random walk gets it back there again and again for multiple captures. Certainly if an entire polar area is shaded (with radius 1738 km what is the area between 80 and 90 north?off the top of my head I will guess around 1% of the lunar surface, about the size of the state of Michigan) so if both poles are done, it seems to me that 2% will be cold traps and 1/50 of all bounces that come say from the night hemisphere and are pre-cooled might have a bigger chance to stick after (say) 4 or 6 slowdown collisions WITHIN the cold trap, 160 km being the hop distance.)

By radiation arguments alone once solid oxygen sticking began it would become contagious.frostout may be slower than expected if many cold impacts are needed for each molecule. Maybe 10? (for 1/10 the frost rate?)

Ironically, a dense atmosphere (cut off from sunlight) aids its own collapse! On a Earthlike planet with no oceans, the atmospheric collapse would be rapid in my

view, 10 meters of frost in a year.

Based on the earlier estimate of

http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=656

that the Earths surface temperature would drop by a factor of two about every two months if the Sun were shut off.

From 300 Kelvin (K). in two months to 150K, four months 75K and extrapolating,

.6 months to 37.5 k, then 8 months to over the 21K oxygen vapor pressure cliff ending at 18.75 (assuming ground heat leaks permit it, but we are talking regolith grains separated by vacuum so I assume it might be possible.

I would love to see national laboratory modeling on something like this. Any takers?

The big question to me would be, what is the total capacity of freezeout per square meter per year? I am guessing 11 tons a square meter of SOX (solid oxygen) but that is only a guessit could easily be 10 x less or even 67 x less (the ratio of non 80 North and South area to the shadowed zones, in this case ballistic transport of particles does our gathering for us but we pay for it in terms of being the radiator for the whole world

Such a factor of 67 less would still be a respectable 164 kilos of sox per year per square meter 164 kt a square km, so of 30 million sq kilometers of Lunar surface say 448000 cold trap square kilometers capturing 73 gigatons a year of oxygen in SOX form. Thats enough to vigorously deoxygenate 180 gigatons of moon rock a yearmajor industry (~4 times what we do on Earth today, by mass arguments counting all rock minedneglecting the fact that the Moons cheap solar energy would enable massive reduction of nearly all that rock, not just extracting a few percent as we do here.)

But suppose that the 11-ton per square meter estimate was correctin that case, we would have nearly 5 teratons (5 million megatons) of oxygen freezeout capabilities and be able to vigorously process about a Phobos (Mars larger moon) of moon rock per year.

Either way we should be able to have a huge industrial civilization on the Moon without ruining the ambient vacuum to the tune of needing thousands of years of waiting until it could restore itself.

And of course one final use for this new cold area: Near indefinite cyrogenic storage of anything we want to last a good long time. Seeds, biological samples, you name it. The expense of liquid nitrogen practically guarantees that during a collapse of civilization (say a multi-decade depression, or 50 bad years of war and recovery) any preserved biosamples would perish (the liquid nitrogen preservative in todays freezing storage companies vaults would evaporate and not be replaced)but a structure like the Friedlander Cold Crown in vacuum should last for probably tens of thousands of years, presumably by which time some recovery would have occurred.

(Micrometeors probably erode a millimeter per million years, the thinner the reflectors the less long they will lastbut they will need replacing probably every 30-100 years because of abrasionthe thinner they are the cheaper to replaceyour choice.)

Any other uses to suggest for long term free cryogenic temperatures? Your comments are welcome

If you liked this article, please give it a quick review on ycombinator or StumbleUpon. Thanks
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" ... How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public... "

[From George Washington's farewell address.]

Other Quotes:

"Don't worry about genius and don't worry about not being clever. Trust rather to hard work, perseverance and determination. The best motto for a long march is ' Don't grumble. Plug on.'....Be honest. Be loyal. Be kind. Remember that the hardest thing to acquire is the faculty of being unselfish. As a quality it is one of the finest attributes of manliness." Sir Frederick Treves

"...To be clear, the Constitution of the United States of America is the United States of America. They are one and the same. Any individual or agency which seeks to subvert the Constitution and wage political and/or rhetorical war on it, are self-declared enemies of the United States of America, as they are subverting and waging war on the United States of America." - Pat Dollard

The truth to the matter is that Obama lies but he does it with such finess that the easily fooled are easily fooled. ~ Norman E. Hooben

"Going for the grandest illusion of all, [Obama] ... told the New York Times: 'We've actually been operating in a way that has been entirely consistent with free-market principles.' Excuse me while I pick my jaw off the ground. Everyone knows -- or should know -- that putting more and more of the government in charge of more and more of the economy is entirely inconsistent with free-market principles. This means that the president's statement to the contrary is what is known as a big lie." --columnist Diana West



When you trust a stranger more so than your friend, you become stranger than the stranger; Barrack Husein Obama is a stranger. - Norman E. Hooben

We the peopleWe the people now have a New World Order that we the people did not order. Norman E. Hooben

"We are now in a great civil war of words and you have the honor of participating as a true patriot. The battle has not been won but you will be there when we are victorious. The pen is mightier than the sword and you will inscribe your name in the book of freedomand that, my friend is an honor

"If you will not fight for the right when you can easily win without bloodshed; if you will not fight when your victory will be sure and not too costly; you may come to the moment when you will have to fight with all the odds against you and only a small chance of survival. There may even be a worse case: you may have to fight when there is no hope of victory, because it is better to perish than to live as slaves ." -

Winston Churchill

It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.

-

Ronald Reagan

Thomas Sowell

For those who promote a race they are called, "racists". For those that promote American they are called "American". For 'American' is a 'concept' and no racial tones are tolerated either in shades or sounds. -Norman E. Hooben

(In reference to Lourdes Galvan of San Antonio, Texas racial bigotry regarding American military heroes.)

Note to NATIONAL COUNCIL OF LA RAZA (

Hola! I know you are watching):

Will Rogers never met Nancy Pelosi or Harry Reid. -

N. E. Hooben, July 2008

Harvard University was once an all boys school...today they have no balls at all. - N. E. Hooben

I will stand with the Constitution For The United States of America should the political winds shift in an ugly direction

Politicians are like vampires...

Whether its blood or money they want to suck it out of you till you die. ~ N. E. Hooben

(Norman E. Hooben in response to a writer who complained of not having the honor of serving in the U.S. Military)Back in the days of "The Lone Ranger" program, someone would ask, "Who is that masked man?" People need to start asking that question about Barack Obama. -N.E. HoobenThe Police State of Massachusetts is now imposing laws against nature. Massachusetts is by far the most un-Constitutional government of the State, by the State, and for the State than any among the the fifty that hold a star on the banner of freedom. It is run by Socialists and hypocritical so-called Christiansthe worst among them are the Catholics who go to Church on Sunday and forget what they Prayed for on Monday. - Norman E. Hooben - "A proud Catholic proud of my Faith. A proud Catholic NOT so proud of my Church!" - July 16th 2008 N. E. Hooben

When a people are satisfied with receiving gifts paid with their own taxes as a way of life Anarchy is sure to follow. - Fred Boutin 2008

From the first time I heard about the boogey-man as a child to the first time I got shot at in Vietnam, nothing in my entire lifetime, THAT'S NOTHING! has put more fear into me than this man Obama. - Norman E. Hooben - July 2008

We are here for only a mini-second in the sands of time. Then we become the dust that makes the sand; and the Hand of God molds us anew. Take care my friend and may God Bless... - Norman E. Hooben on the death of our dearly beloved pet dog, Stirling

The evidence is overwhelming!

In order to save America we must destroy the Socialst Marxist Party... - N. E. Hooben

"America is like a healthy body and its resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life. If we can undermine these three areas, America will collapse from within." -- Josef Stalin --

When it comes to lying, prudent people are guided by a Higher Authority driven by thou shall not written in stone. Whereas Bill Clinton has no Higher Authority to guide him, thou shall not has no conscious objections; for without a conscience there is no guilt. - Norman Hooben

The victor will never be asked if he told the truth. - Adolph Hitler

The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. - James Madison, the Federalists Papers

There was a Chemistry professor in a large college that had some Exchange students in the class. One day while the class was in the lab the Prof noticed one young man (exchange student) who kept rubbing his back And stretching as if his back hurt.

The professor asked the young man what was the matter. The student told him he had a bullet lodged in his back. He had been shot while fighting communists in his native country who were trying to overthrow his country's government and install a new communist government.

In the midst of his story he looked at the professor and asked a strange question. He asked,'Do you know how to catch wild pigs?' The professor thought it was a joke and asked for the punch line. The young man said this was no joke. 'You catch wild pigs by finding a suitable place in the woods and putting corn on the ground. The pigs find it and begin to come everyday to eat the free corn. When they are used to coming every day, you put a fence down one side of the place where they are used to coming. When they get used to the fence, they begin to eat the corn again and you put up another side of the fence. They get used to that and start to eat again. You continue until you have all four sides of the fence up with a gate in the last side. The pigs, who are used to the free corn, start to come through the gate to eat, you slam the gate on them and catch the whole herd. Suddenly, the wild pigs have lost their freedom. They run around and around inside the fence, but they are caught. Soon they go back to eating the free corn. They are so used to it that they have forgotten how to forage in the woods for themselves, so they accept their captivity. The young man then told the professor that is exactly what he sees happening to America.

The government keeps pushing us toward Communism/Socialism and keeps spreading the free corn out in the form of programs such as supplemental income, tax credit for unearned income, subsidies, payments not to plant crops (CRP), welfare, medicine, drugs, etc. while we continually lose our freedoms- just a little at a time.

One should always remember 'There is no such thing as a free Lunch!' Also, 'You can never hire someone to provide a service for you cheaper than you can do it yourself.

You apparently don't share a sense of patriotism, Americanism, freedomism, or whatever kind of 'ism' that true Americans believe in... You do however, display a bit of socialism, communism, marxism or whatever kind of 'ism' that you make excuses for... ~ Norman E. Hooben (in response to an Obama supporter's views about the ACS census)

A nation that knows not from where it came, knows not where it is going! Today, Americans know too little about the foundations of our nation. The result is a nation now in chaos, its people unable to discern what is wrong with the transformation (paradigm shift) of our society and form of government that, if left unchecked, will destroy every facet of freedom, liberty and justice. The price of freedom is vigilance; the price of vigilance is knowledge. Many of America's founding documents are now available on the web. ~

Learn USA
Tunisian Interior Ministry announced Sunday security forces in conjunction with anti-terrorist unit traded fire with a group of terrorists on mountains of Siliana, killing one of them, official says.

Interior Ministrys spokesperson Walid Louguini told a local radio station that security forces together with an anti-terrorism unit from the district of Aouina laid an ambush to a group of terrorists in the mountains of Siliana, killing of one them.

The official also told media that early investigations indicate that terrorist killed was a foreign adding security forces also seized an arsenal including a Kalashnikov, a grenade and a bomb device.

It is also reported that security forces were alerted by a man who said the group bought some equipment from intended to dig holes. He reportedly added that they also asked him to do some shopping for them.

Tunisian security forces have been busy fighting terrorist groups perpetrating repeated terrorist attacks. According to the Interior Ministry last year more than 15 terrorist attacks had been foiled in month of December. Also in November, a suicide bomber killed 12 members of the Tunisian presidential special unit in the capital Tunis, not far from the Interior Ministry.

Tunisia according to a latest report from the US State Department on security situation around the world in 2016, Tunisia will live a troubled 2016 to be marred by social and political unrest.
Egyptian military sources Sunday indicated that the army killed 26 terrorists and arrested five suspects in military raid in a move to weed out IS-affiliated militants.

The Defense Ministry in a statement added that it carried out raids in Arish, Sheikh Zuwayed, Rafah and some areas in Central Sinai.

The ministry also indicated that it destroyed a mini truck and four motorcycles used by takfirists to target security posts, and dismantled 18 explosive devices on the routers of the forces.

The military further more announced the seizure of three machine guns and a sniper gun as well as binoculars, 63 bullets, seven sacks of TNT.

In addition, military spokesperson Mohamed Samir indicated that a wanted terrorist, Abdullah Salman Salem, was arrested in a campaign based on intelligence.

Samirs facebook page also indicated that another terrorist on camel on was arrested in possession with TNT sacks plus some weapons as well as food meant for the extremists.

Egyptian army and security forces have been embroiled in repeated attacks by North Sinai militants who have stepped attacks following the ouster of Egypts Islamist President Mohamed Morsi by the army in 2013. Hundreds of security personnel have been killed with last year June being the worst loss for the army after the militants stormed coordinately military and police positions killing dozens of security forces.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir Sunday announced the suspension of diplomatic ties between the two gulf regional rivals following the attack on the Saudi diplomatic mission in Teheran over the execution of Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi top diplomat told reporters at a news conference that all Iranian diplomats have been asked to leave the Saudi kingdom within 48 hours adding that Saudi Arabia will not allow Iran to jeopardize its security.

Jubeir also told reporters that all Saudi diplomats have quitted Iran following the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran by an angry Iranian mob in a protest to the execution of Saudi Shiite cleric Nimr Al-Nimr.

The Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital was set ablaze by an angry crowd which hurled Molotov cocktails inside the missions compound.

Jubeir also indicated that the Iranian regime was accomplice of the attack on the mission saying that Iran security forces were present at the scene but did not prevent the protestors from carrying out their attack.

He furthermore accused Iran of supporting terrorism in the regime while threatening that all options are open to contain Irans influence in the region.

Also on Sunday, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on his Twitter account condemned the attack on the Saudi mission and promised to protect all foreign missions in Iran. He also promised to prosecute those who torched the Saudi mission in Tehran.

President Rouhani also criticized Saudi for the execution of the 56-year-old Saudi Shiite cleric along with some other 46 people accused of incitement to violence following the 2011 unrest in the east of the Saudi kingdom.

Rouhani also panned Riyadh for fueling sectarian divisions which have cracked the region.

Also on Sunday for the following the Saudi announcement of the execution of cleric, Irans top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Saudi Arabia of divine revenge, reports say.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have been fighting for regional leadership in proxy wars in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

Saudi Arabia accuses Iran of supporting terrorist groups namely the Houthi rebels battling Saudi-backed Yemen Hadi regime. Saudi Arabia also accused Iran of supporting Syrias Assad whom Riyadh wants see removed.

Saudi Arabia also willy-nilly accepted Irans historic deal of Western powers over its nuclear program. Riyadh casted a doubt on Irans genuine commitment to the deal  pushing the Obama Administration to guarantee Americas support in case Iran attacks Saudi Arabia and its allies.
Libyas Government of National Accord (GNA), different from the two rival governments in Tripoli and Tobruk, formed under the Libya Political Agreement (LPA) signed in Morocco by some members of the two rival parliaments are meeting in Tunis trying to finalize the program and list of government members to be presented to the internationally-recognized government and the House of Representatives (HoR) before the 30-day January 17 deadline as stated in the agreement.

However, it seems like foreign intervention in the affairs of the country is imminent after U.K based mirror reported that crack SAS troops are in Libya preparing for the arrival of around 1,000 British infantrymen to be sent against ISIS there in early 2016. The newspaper reported that a major coalition offensive against the terror network is underway and it will involve around 6,000 American and European soldiers and marines  led by Italian forces and supported mainly by Britain and France.

The two rival governments in Libya have voiced their position against foreign intervention in the country but a senior military source told the Mirror that the coalition will be targeting the Islamic State because it has made significant progress in Libya as he revealed that an advance force is already on the ground to assess and identify targets.

Special envoy to Libya, Martin Kobler told Bild am Sonntag that he imagines German security personnel will be sent to Libya to train the countrys security forces as soon as the security situation is better. He said he is planning to move into Libya with a few officials to continue his work. The U.N and its agencies, like other international institutions and diplomatic missions, transferred their offices to Tunisia as kidnapping and attacks increased on them.
Nadia Sminate, member of the Belgian New Flemish Alliance party (N-VA) has become mayor of the municipality of Londerzeel, a breakthrough for Moroccan community living in Belgium and a source of inspiration and pride for all Moroccans.

She is the first Flemish mayor of Moroccan origin to hold and reach such a post. Nadia took over office from Jozef De Borger. In the municipal elections of 2012, the 34-year-old Belgo-Moroccan led the list of N-VA in Londerzeel, a town of 18,000 inhabitants located about 15 km north of Brussels, gaining over 21 percent of the votes.

After serving as a municipal councillor in 2006, Nadia was elected as a member of the Belgian parliament in 2010. She was also a deputy mayor of budget & finance.

Born in Belgium to a Moroccan father and a Flemish mother, Nadia obtained a Degree in Roman Philology at the Flemish University of Brussels (VUB).

According to Nadia, the New Flemish Alliance is the only party which offers something concrete regarding the rights and responsibilities of newcomers to Belgium. I am proud to be the first mayor with foreign roots, she said, stressing that she does not feel as an immigrant.

N-VA Chairman Mr Bart De Wever said that he is glad that some Flemish citizens of foreign origins can reach great heights in society, hailing the N-VA party approach to civic integration, an approach which yields success stories as that of Nadia Sminate.

The number of Moroccans living in Belgium reached over 429,580, representing 3.9 pc of the countrys general population, according to the latest report released by the Centre for Research in Demography and Societies at Louvain University.

Most of Moroccan migrants in Belgium settle in the big cities and in the industrial or mining regions of the country.
All eyes will be on this flat, charming, and politically charged state in the weeks before the February 1 caucuses. Photo: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

When the apple dropped on Thursday night, we formally entered a presidential election year. In the last two cycles, the first voting event  the Iowa caucuses  occurred immediately, on January 3. But this year, thanks to some energetic maneuvering by both parties to discourage states from rushing toward the early parts of the calendar (a.k.a. front-loading), well be treated to an entire month of post-holiday corn-fed political goodness from Iowa before voters gather on Monday, February 1. Since an awful lot of caucusgoers have in the past changed their preferences in the last couple of weeks (with 2012 winner Rick Santorum the last to surge out of nowhere in the past few weeks), the extra time adds some extra drama to the race.

Heres a simple primer on things you should understand to make sense of the campaigns, spin, and media coverage.

The Republican Campaign: Cruz and Trump Battle to Stay on Top

Compared to the Democrats, the GOP has a much larger field, and the stakes for both winners and losers in Iowa are higher. The candidate with the most momentum at present is Ted Cruz, who has been getting key local and national Christian-right endorsements (self-identified Evangelicals represented 57 percent of caucusgoers in 2012) and has overtaken Donald Trump in most recent polls of the state. Trump is expected to start running TV ads in Iowa very soon, but the key question is whether he has the ground game to get his supporters  who are significantly less likely to be past caucusgoers  to the precincts on Caucus Night.

In chasing Cruz, Trump could get some help from the Huckabee and Santorum campaigns, who have little choice but to go after the Texan with clawhammers since hes poached their own common base of support. A key measure of Trumps get-out-the-vote effort will be how far turnout exceeds the 120,000 benchmark set in 2012, when far fewer candidates were in the race.

Since the Donald seems to do relatively well among independents and even some registered Democrats, its worth noting that Iowa allows registered voters to change their party affiliation at the door on Caucus Night. Fortunately for all the candidates, the Republican caucuses (unlike those held by Democrats) feature simple candidate-preference straw polls that dont take a lot of time or training.

The Establishment Candidates Struggle to Survive Until New Hampshire

Meanwhile, the Establishment candidates (Bush, Rubio, Christie, and to some extent Kasich) who have been battling over New Hampshire have been showing some signs of paying more attention to Iowa, probably on the theory that theyll get a post-Iowa bounce in the Granite State if they finish as high as third in the caucuses. Rubio, who is in third place in most polls now, is finally spending more time in the state after his campaign got a bit indiscreet in showing their disdain for the traditional Iowa formula of heavy personal campaigning. Bush got headlines for doubling his field staff in the state, leaving the TV ads to his super-pac. Hes also continuing to pound Rubio for his Senate attendance record, which seems kind of stupid but must be working to some extent.

The Wild Card: Two Late Debates and One Key Poll

Like the Democrats, the Republicans will hold a debate in South Carolina this month (on January 14, a Thursday, with the Fox Business Network sponsoring). But theyre also holding a Fox News debate in Iowa on January 28, on the brink of the caucuses. This unusual event will probably have sky-high ratings in Iowa, and could immediately precede the release of the final Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll, a highly regarded survey conducted by Iowa pollster Ann Selzer that has been known to capture  and perhaps stimulate  late momentum. The timing of both these events is especially significant for Republicans insofar as last-minute switching from doomed candidates is very likely.

How the Iowa Results Will Affect the GOP Race

At present, no one is threatening Trump and Cruz for the lead in Iowa. If Trump wins, and particularly if he gets the usual bounce in initial polls in New Hampshire (where hes already leading, and which will hold its primary eight days after Iowa) and later states, expect a full-blown panic to hit Establishment Republicans. This could perhaps even make Ted Cruz more acceptable to them, but would more likely produce a consolidation of support behind the Establishment candidate doing best in Iowa and/or looking strongest in New Hampshire. For candidates like Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Carly Fiorina, and maybe even one-time Iowa leader Ben Carson (whose poll numbers have dived as his campaign has fallen into disarray), Caucus Night could mean curtains.

The Democratic Campaign: Is Clinton Really Vulnerable?

After a brief period of panic this summer, Hillary Clintons campaign has regained its strong national lead and much of its sense of inevitability, but the early states have been known to punish front-runners. The conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton is favored to win in Iowa, with New Hampshire being Bernie Sanderss most likely breakthrough state  with the significant proviso that enthusiasm can serve as an X Factor in Iowa, and the Sanders campaign probably has an advantage in that metric. Given Sanderss especially strong level of support among the youngest voters, its worth noting that 17-year-olds who will turn 18 by November can participate. This helped produce a strong campus turnout for Obama in 2008.

Though polls sometimes dont adequately capture how likely it is that respondents will actually turn out on a cold night to a caucus, Clinton has led Sanders in every published poll of Iowa since September. In the RealClearPolitics average of recent polls, Clinton has 50 percent in Iowa, Sanders has 38 percent, and Martin OMalley has 6 percent.

While Sanders may have an enthusiasm advantage, grassroots organization could be a different matter. Aside from the head start Clinton has from her 2008 contacts in the state, and the fairly extensive infrastructure set up by the Ready for Hillary super-pac before she announced, shes benefiting from overwhelming support from unions that are politically active in Iowa. Shes been endorsed by three of the most significant: AFSCME, SEIU, and the Machinists, along with both teachers unions. That means she will have hundreds of organizers on the ground to identify supporters, get them to their precincts, and train them on what to do when they arrive (not as easy a proposition as in the Republican caucuses, since Democrats dont just vote for their favorites but instead go through a lengthy process of dividing up into preference groups, redividing if there are candidates who dont meet a minimum viability threshold  as will be the case in many precincts with Martin OMalley supporters  and then electing delegates to a county convention).

Both candidates are well funded enough to do what they need to do in Iowa. But how much they spend and what they spend it on will largely depend on how they play the crucial expectations game.

The Expectations Game

Success in primaries isnt just about raw vote totals: Often, its about whether candidates are perceived by the media to have done better or worse than they were expected to, which can then create positive or negative momentum that feeds into fund-raising and enthusiasm.

Unless she is confident of a big Iowa win, Clinton will need to play the expectations game very carefully. An upset Sanders win in Iowa followed by a less surprising win for Bernie in his neighboring state of New Hampshire could set off some alarms in the Democratic Establishment, even though a Sanders path to the nomination after New Hampshire is hard to discern, given his relatively poor appeal at present to the minority voters who will dominate primaries in the South and elsewhere, and Clintons expected dominance of super-delegates  (the roughly 700 governors, members of Congress, and members of the Democratic National Committee who are guaranteed seats at the Convention and are not controlled by primary or caucus results).

If she appears to be in trouble in Iowa, expect her campaign to point out early and often that her husband won the nomination in 1992 without winning either of the first two states (though thats a bit disingenuous since Iowa was off the table that year thanks to the brief campaign of favorite son Tom Harkin). Sanders will also play the expectations game, but its unclear at present whether hell try to fire up his troops with a public effort to win Iowa, or play possum in hopes of an upset with spillover effects in New Hampshire.

If Democrats exceed the 239,000 who turned out in 2008  an astonishing number at the time, typically attributed to the Obama campaign  then something interesting is going on: either a potential Sanders upset, or a legendary performance by Clintons GOTV forces.

Late Events

In terms of predictable extrinsic events, there will be one more Democratic debate before the caucuses, in South Carolina (another dreaded weekend event on Sunday, January 17). And if the race is close, look for the final Des Moines Register/Bloomberg poll, usually released the weekend before the caucuses.

What to Look for on Caucus Night

As noted above, the Republican results reported by the news media on Caucus Night will be based on simple preference ballots cast by caucusgoers. For Democrats, the numbers you will see are actually percentages of estimated state convention delegates for each candidate based on how many county convention delegates theyve actually snagged. Candidate spinners and the media will be on hand to help the rest of the country understand what its all supposed to mean. And a lot of the hype youll hear between now and February 1 will be designed to shape what opinion leaders think of it all.

On the Republican side, look for jargon about there being three (or four, or five) tickets out of Iowa or some such effort to impose order on the chaos and winnow the unwieldy field. And on the Democratic side, look for exaggerations of what victory or defeat in this one venue will mean for Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. The hype will be as bountiful as a good Iowa bumper crop of corn.
Hey, you dont mind if I share all this with the Post a year from now, right? Photo: Justin Sullivan/2012 Getty Images

Since the emergence of Donald Trump as the GOP presidential front-runner, various sources close to Mitt Romney have floated the idea of the 2012 nominee reentering the current race to heroically save his party. Romney has repeatedly insisted that hes out for good this time, but now he claims that Mitt 2016 fever is still very much alive  to the point that even a current candidate has begged him not to rule out running. Look, Romney told the Washington Post in late December, I had one person who was running for president, and I wont give you the name  called me and said, I hope you dont close the door. We may need you. Thats a person running for president. A candidate. A Republican. Im not giving it a second thought.

The quote is part of a lengthy Post retrospective on how the Republicans got themselves into their current presidential predicament, and Romney also notes that he totally called Jeb Bushs downfall a year ago. On January 22, Bush flew to Salt Lake City to meet with Romney. Both sides were tight-lipped about what was said during their gentlemanly conversation, but eight days later, Romney announced he was dropping out of the 2016 race.

Now Romney confirms that Bushs perceived shortcomings were part of the reason he decided to run. He says he thought, I like Jeb a lot, I think hed be a great president, but felt he was unfairly but severely burdened by the W. years  and when I say the W. years, its not only what happened to the economy, but the tragedy in Iraq. He added, Bush-versus-Clinton head-to-head would be too easy for the Democrats.

Romney reveals he shared these concerns with Bush at their January 22 meeting, per the Times:

[Romney said]: Jeb, to be very honest, I think its very hard for you to post up against Hillary Clinton and to separate yourself from the difficulty of the W. years and compare them with the Clinton years. He said Bush responded by saying that he was going to make his campaign about the future, not about the past. I didnt say anything at that point, Romney recalled. But as he left, I said to myself, Gosh, in my opinion, its not going to be as easy to make that separation as I think he gives the impression it will be. One of the few things I predicted that turned out to be true.

Romney says he ultimately decided that it was going to take something unusual to beat Clinton  i.e. not the same guy who ran last time  but he doesnt elaborate on how his chat with Bush played into that decision.

As for Bush, he doesnt seem thrilled about Romney building up the Mitt 2016 fantasy at his expense. A Bush spokesperson told the Post, We dont talk about meetings that we consider to be private. Were honoring Governor Bushs commitment to Governor Romney to keep the meeting private. Governor Bush appreciates what Mitt did in waging an able campaign and leading our ticket.
Photo: Thomas Marent/Minden Pictures/Corbis

The Cuts guide to self-improvement without spending a million dollars.



Its 5:30 in the morning on a Friday, and Im rolling a massive joint with one eye open. On my desk is a fresh cup of green tea with two tea bags, and tossed onto the bed is my phone with several Safari pages open to the term cluster headache. I am in a manic tailspin of despair. Pretty soon, the headache will take the vision in my right eye. (Its already seized my left.) Soon after that, Ill be utterly crippled. I focus intently on rolling the joint.



When the task is complete, I do several things in swift succession. I grab the tea bags and press out the remaining hot liquid. I lie flat on my back and swing one tea bag onto each of my closed eyelids. Trying hard not to shift them, I take the rolled joint to my lips, light it blind, and take tiny little puffs.

By now it is 5:45 a.m., I am smoking a joint in my underwear as the sun comes up, and I have two bags of hot tea weeping onto my closed eyes. All I can think about is the agony in my head. For what must be the hundredth time this month, I am acutely aware of how unhinged Ive become.

Three or four hits of the joint later, I stub it out on my desk. It has done nothing, and the taste of the weed is making my nausea worse. I remove the bags, hoping theyve made my eyes less puffy. Ive cried every day for the past three weeks. Even for a particularly emotional person, this is too much. I look battered.

I keep my eyes closed, masturbate, cry some more, consider suicide, twist and turn, press my hands to my forehead with such intensity that I worry Ill crush my own skull, and eventually, finally, I fall asleep. I wake up two hours later to my alarm demanding that I get ready for work.

I have never felt more exhausted and powerless. And I know tomorrow Ill go through it all again.

***

If your right arm becomes numb, some Googling will probably lead you to believe that youre having a stroke. If you are having shortness of breath, the internet medical community will tell you youre dying. Misdiagnosis is a common consequence of haphazardly looking up symptoms of illnesses, but occasionally this practice can save peoples lives, or at least greatly reduce pain. When there is no hope to be found in professionals, online forums written by people who have visited your own private hell are sometimes all you have.

I endured a decade with debilitating headaches. It wasnt until this year, when the situation had gotten dire, that I started spending my nights researching what I felt were disparate symptoms. Inevitably, I began to find things like this:

The headaches come in cycles, sometime multiple times a day, and an attack can last for up to 90 minutes. Its debilitating to the point where cluster headache patients cannot function normally in society  how do you tell your boss you need to take an hour off while you suffer through excruciating pain? Modern medications  from opiates to steroids to neuro-implantsare, at best, minimally effective. There is no known cure. The suicide rate for those with the disease is 20 times the national average (PDF), according to a report published by the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), a 501(c)(3) non-profit research and educational organization dedicated to expanding the usages of psychedelics and marijuana.

And this:

Im a 26 year old male and Ive been suffering from this straight up evil condition forwow 13 years now  And i just have to say its such a relief just to find other people who know about it. I thought i was cursed or something for the longest time. Nobody else in my life understands. I can almost hear peoples judgments when Im having an episode and cant function, and all i can say is  sorry i have a headache. It just doesnt cover it. Thank you for spreading awareness and being supportive.

Jerry Callison, a lifelong sufferer of what I learned were called cluster headaches, told me on the phone that when his daughter was near 6 years old, she drew a picture of him crying in his La-Z-Boy while she drew herself crying in a corner behind him. [Cluster headaches have] broken up families, relationships, and marriages because the partner just didnt want to go through the drama and everything that goes with it. He continued: One of the biggest things that cluster [sufferers] go through is the feeling of being alone. We just feel like were the only ones.

Because only about one in 1,000 people suffers from cluster headaches (or CH, as many are starting to call them), the forums and sites to which cluster patients post are an incredibly close-knit and supportive group of people. When I reached out to users on a particular CH forum for help with this story, I was flooded with emails. I spoke on the phone with one older man who had been suffering from CH for over 20 years (and wished to remain anonymous). He explained with resignation that cluster headaches literally make it impossible to live your daily life.

The forums and message boards and blog posts described what I was going through to such a precise degree that I felt like Id found a second family. My doctors, who had historically told me that I suffered from regular migraines or headaches connected with my menstrual cycle (at one point I was told they would be more or less cured by taking birth control), had misled me. This wasnt necessarily their fault, given the short bursts of time the cluster headaches lasted  two- to three-month periods. But the severity was so intense that there had to be something I was missing. There had to be a rock Id left unturned.

Many refer to cluster headaches as suicide headaches, and I was starting to feel like I was running out of time to cure mine. But then, with the help of one of these specific forums, I found the miracle drug.

***

In 2006, the medical journal Neurology published a study titled Response of cluster headache to psilocybin and LSD, wherein 53 cluster-sufferers were interviewed about the use of magic mushrooms and LSD to treat or eradicate their illness. Over 50 percent of the subjects studied revealed that one dose of psychedelics caused total cessation of their headaches, while about a quarter said that the drug aborted a headache mid-attack. Though the study examines only a very small population of cluster-sufferers, its results are matched and furthered all over the internet in personal testimonies. Researching the efficacy of psilocybin treatment for cluster headaches is impossible in the United States because of its Schedule I status, but that doesnt mean sufferers cant stage their own investigations.

One of the best forums on the web for cluster-headache sufferers  especially those who are interested in using psilocybin as a treatment  is Cluster Busters. Founded by Bob Wold, a self-described cluster head, CB is a nonprofit organization that provides resources on the use of psilocybin as a method to cure or treat cluster headaches, a.k.a. busting. The forums require a username to log in, but once there, youll find an entire world of people who have been helped by mushrooms. One contributor wrote that he has been taking a preventative dose every 60 days for over four years now, and hes spent the vast majority of the last four years completely pain-free.

People visit Cluster Busters with questions about growing mushrooms, how to properly dose themselves, alternative treatments outside of psilocybin, and pleas for support during their cycles. When youre deep into certain threads, it can be difficult to grapple with the fact that this alternative treatment has worked for so many people, yet so little can be done to study it. Researchers believe that cluster headaches originate in the hypothalamus (the part of the brain associated with our circadian clock), and when a sufferer is dosed with mushrooms, the active psilocybin manages to slow blood flow to the area, preventing the onset of a cluster attack. But for obvious reasons, all that doctors can do is suggest this treatment, and then in the meantime prescribe pills that might not have much effect.

Around the time of my cycle this year, the one that nearly drove me to suicide, I spoke on the phone with Dr. Jason Rosenberg, the director of the Johns Hopkins Headache Center, about how he treats patients who come to see him with cluster-headache symptoms.

Ive not had any of my own patients attempt to commit suicide, but the very first question when Im dealing with a cluster patient is to ask if they have a gun at home, is the gun locked up, who has the key, do they have a safety, is it registered with bullets in it, he told me. People do stupid things during their cluster headaches; they may not actually mean to kill themselves, but they just want the pain to stop.

One of the biggest problems with CH, Rosenberg explained, is that so many people are misdiagnosed and given medication that would never work on a cluster. Id been put on everything from Imitrex to Topamax to  during a particularly tough period  Vicodin, just to take the edge off what was going on behind my eyes. I think the most important thing for patients to do is find a headache subspecialist rather than a general neurologist and get on one of the cluster headache websites, and in a day they will know more than most general neurologists, Dr. Rosenberg said.

Would he tell a patient that theres a chance magic mushrooms could help them? Is that even allowed? Yes and no. When I first see a patient, I give them the range of options, he explained to me. I say, Look, here are the standard options. They sometimes work great, they sometimes dont. If those dont work, I say that here are some trials going on, that some patients are resorting to hallucinogens, and that some of them do well and some dont. Thats basically all I can say. In one of the crazier things Id heard about cluster headaches since I began my trip down the rabbit hole, Dr. Rosenberg explained that right after the collapse of Silk Road, the former online black market for illegal drugs, he had an influx of his patients desperately trying to reach him to be put on other, legal medications that were not, he presumes, coming from the dark net.

Those other medications do exist. Many sufferers are helped by hooking themselves up to oxygen tanks during attacks; others have found steroids can be effective. There is never enough funding put into rare diseases to provide a range of potential treatments, Dr. Rosenberg told me, but there are a few trials that are picking up momentum. One option sounds eerily like medicine of the future: For chronic cluster, a small little gizmo gets implanted under your gum to a wire that goes up to a cluster of nerves behind the nose, and during a cluster headache, you can hold this little remote-control gadget up to your face and that will turn off the cluster headache, Rosenberg explained. The initial results look like if you do that repeatedly you end up with fewer headaches over time, so not only will it treat individual headaches, but it will reduce the number of headaches you end up getting.

***

The night that I cured my migraines ended with me taking a cab to the ER at five in the morning. By the end of June last year, I was getting cluster headaches every night at 4 a.m., sometimes twice a night. I was so desperate that Id ask strangers for a mushroom connection after five minutes of conversation. The Cluster Busters forum had given me hope that I would survive this thing after all, just so long as I was able to dose myself, which I now try to do once every three or four months.

A compassionate friend who is an advocate of alternative medicine came through, giving me ground-up mushrooms for tea, as well as an old library book called LSD, Man, & Society. This might be of interest to you, hed said while putting a sealed jar of a brown, powdery substance into my palm.

After Friday-night drinks with a friend, I blended the powder into tea at the bar and drank it down like it was water from the Fountain of Youth. I spent the evening in and out of friends houses and cabs, finally coming down from my trip at around 2 a.m., when I put my head onto my pillow and quietly said a prayer. There were only two hours until my headache was scheduled to set in.

Like clockwork, at 4:15 a.m., I woke up to a piercing pain in my left eye socket, as if someone were inserting a hot poker straight through to my brain. In ten years, I had never experienced pain like this, and I wailed uncontrollably, gasping for breath on the floor. At some juncture, I put on shoes, walked out my front door, and with my eyes closed, hailed a cab to the hospital. I stayed in a hospital waiting room for an hour, crying and blowing out stiff breaths like a madwoman, until  just like every other time  the pain became a shadow aura around my head, and I felt steady enough to go home. I sat on my stoop until sunrise, distraught at the thought that the mushrooms hadnt helped and I was back to where I started.

I havent had a headache since that night.

***

Lots of cluster-headache sufferers end up with PTSD from their illness, even if the headaches go into remission. Callison told me that he scored an 88 on the PTSD test, and that even though hed been mostly pain-free for ten weeks, he stays active on CH forums as a way to focus his attention. Clusterheads fear that the headache will come back and ruin their lives all over again, no matter what method of self-medicating worked in the past.

Mushrooms worked for me. 5-MeO-DALT, a legal but not-FDA-approved synthetic tryptamine you can buy online, worked for Callison. But the worst sufferers  sometimes getting hits eight or nine times a day  are eager to take CH out from the fringes of medicine in order to find a less scandalous source of relief. There are as many people with cluster headaches as muscular dystrophy, Dr. Rosenberg told me, and while muscular dystrophy is horrible, we put all this money into it, and as of yet, there have been no promising treatments.

Whichever science sufferers turn to to keep hope alive, there is a sense of camaraderie among the margins. You cant let this thing control your life, one clusterhead told me over the phone in September. You have to live between the hits.
Treasury Wine Estates snaps up Blossom Hill from Diageo

Treasury Wine Estates UK portfolio will now include Blossom Hill after it completed the 362 million purchase of Diageos wine division.

The Australian wine producer has snapped up Diageos UK wine arm, Percy Fox, along with its US subsidiary, Chateau & Estate Wines.

It means Treasury will now supply Blossom Hill and its stablemates alongside leading brands Wolf Blass, Lindemans, Rosemount Estate, Penfolds and Beringer.

TWE can also draw on Chilean brands Antares and Santa Carolina, Sterling Vineyards, Sterling Vineyards and Beaulieu Vinyeards of California and French brand Piat dOr.

The Chateau & Estate Wines purchase will allow TWE to consolidate its position in the US, where it is already a leading player with Beringer and Penfolds. It is especially keen to capture more of the masstige  mass prestige, for the uninitiated  market in the US.

This acquisition will transform our US business into a larger player of scale in the high-growth US market, said chief executive Michael Clarke.

"The additional supply will be a game-changer for our US brands, providing us with an immediate opportunity to step-change our growth in the US, Canada, Asia and Latin America."

But a UK portfolio featuring a top three brand in Blossom Hill  which rivals Accolade brands Hardys and Echo Falls for the top spot  on top of leading premium brands Wolf Blass and Lindemans plus fine wines from Penfolds and Beringer, will also make TWE a huge player in Britain now, and a genuine rival to Accolade for the position of leading supplier to the off-trade.

It means Diageos wine interests are limited to Justerini & Brooks Wine Merchants, the Argentinian wine business of Navarro Correas, the wine brands of Mey Icki and USL, the Chalone brand and assets and the Acacia winery and vineyard.

Ivan Menezes, chief executive of the British firm, the worlds leading spirits supplier, said: Diageos strategy is to drive stronger, sustained performance through focus on our core portfolio and todays announcement is another element of that strategy in action. Wine is no longer core to Diageo and this sale gives us greater focus.

With the completion of this transaction Diageo will have released 1 billion from the sale of non-core assets since the start of the financial year. This proactive portfolio approach has focused the business, enhanced our financial strength, improved our returns and strengthened the business, positioning us even more firmly to deliver our performance ambition.

The net proceeds of approximately 320 million, after tax and transaction costs will be used to repay borrowings. The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to complete around the end of the calendar year.

Last year, Diageo announced it was selling stakes in two beer brewers to Heineken for 530 million.

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Now that Iran appears on the verge of resuming prodigious oil production, its becoming clear that it plans to do so by forming ever-closer ties with Russia, one of six world powers that persuaded it to restrict its nuclear program in exchange for the removal of Western sanctions. Relations with the United States, though, remain strained.

The nuclear deal certainly does not mean that Iran is on good terms with the U.S., recently, Iran imprisoned at least three men with ties to the United States. Its supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, while approving the agreement that is expected to lift the sanctions, has stressed that the sanctions agreement doesnt mean his country is ready to strike any big business deals with American companies, which might open the door to more liberal influences in a religiously conservative state.

Irans approach to Russia is different. First it hosted President Vladimir Putin as a special guest during the Nov. 23 Tehran summit of gas-exporting countries. Other signs of cordial ties is that Moscow has been mulling two loans to the Iranian government worth $7 billion together, and the Russian financial newspaper Kommersant reports that Russia will equip Iran with modern air-defense systems. Related: Saudi Arabia Cuts Subsidies As Budget Deficit Soars

And most recently, Iran Shipbuilding & Offshore Industries Complex Co. (ISOICO) has reached a tentative deal with the Russian shipyard Krasnye Barrikady, or Red Barricades, to cooperate in the construction of oil rigs and share technology.

Red Barricades Managing Director Alexander Ilyichev said that under the countries memorandum of understanding (MoU), his company is prepared to send shipbuilding equipment to Iran. Considering the current level of relations between the two countries, we are ready to provide ISOICO with the necessary equipment thanks to the financial and insurance support of the Russian government he said.

Beyond that, the agreement involves engineering discussions, exchange of technology as well as taking advantage of the Russian companys international rating agency, which will resolve our need to produce certain equipment, according to ISOICO Managing Director Hamid Rezaian. Related: $10 Trillion Investment Needed To Avoid Massive Oil Price Spike Says OPEC

The MoU was signed earlier in December in Tehran during an exposition in which representatives of 80 leading Russian companies displayed their products in the biggest such event ever held in the country. Under the agreement, the two sides will jointly build rigs for exploration and extraction of oil and gas from beneath the Persian Gulf.

And Ilyichev stressed that the deal will be for the long term. The construction cycle is planned not for one year but for decades, he said. He added that Iran also has expressed interest in ordering new oil tankers to operate in the Caspian Sea.

In November, Rezaian said ISOICO was anticipating the lifting of the sanctions so it could announce several major projects it intends to undertake in collaboration with foreign shipbuilders. He said his company is negotiations with companies from China, Germany, Italy, South Korea and Turkmenistan. Related: China's $1 Trillion Nuclear Plan

Already, Rezaian said, ISOICO has reached preliminary agreements on these enterprises with the Hyundai Heavy Industries Co. of South Korea and with Nordic Yards Wismar, Germanys largest shipbuilder.

This is not to say Iran needs much help building ships. It has an enormous shipbuilding industry thats focused mostly on oil tankers, container ships and offshore structures such as oil and gas rigs. And already it possesses the worlds largest array of oil supertankers, including 42 VLCCs (very large crude carriers), each with a capacity of 2 million barrels of oil.

By Andy Tully of Oilprice.com

More Top Reads From Oilprice.com:
Three hundred and seventy-three years after the birth of Sir Isaac Newton, and the crude complex is gravitating higher to start 2016. Newton said that to every action there is always opposed an equal reaction; this notion is currently absent between Iran and Saudi Arabia, as the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric by Saudi Arabia on Saturday is causing heightened tension and escalating tit-for-tat responses from the two OPEC members.

After the Saudi embassy was attacked in Tehran, the Saudis responded by cutting off diplomatic relations with Iran. The crude complex has accordingly responded by rallying strongly, before being distracted by another lackluster manufacturing print out of China. Gains have been pared, while Bahrain and Sudan have joined Saudi Arabia in cutting off diplomatic relations with Iran, while UAE has downgraded relations.

To counter the exchange of barbs betwixt Saudi and Iran, the Chinese PMI manufacturing gauge via Caixin yielded a tenth successive month of contraction for the sector in December, as it dropped to 48.2; below both Novembers print of 48.6, and also below consensus of 49.0.

Related: Fueling Star Wars Robots, What Powers The Droids?

This prompted a short, sharp, shock to the Chinese stock market, which plummeted 7 percent, triggering circuit breakersleading to the suspension of operations for the rest of the day. Weak manufacturing data, in combination with the impending lifting of the ban on short-selling at the end of this week, sent a shockwave across Asian markets, to Europe, and finally to the U.S.. Cue a very glum start to 2016 for global equity markets.

Related: Oil Companies Shun South Chinese Sea As Geopolitical Tensions Rise

In terms of economic data elsewhere, Japan and the Eurozone saw both expansion and better-than-expected data for its manufacturing PMIs; impressive prints from both Germany and Italy offset disappointing numbers from France and Spain. The corresponding U.S. print is expected to show minor expansion.

Back to the crude complex, and another quote from Isaac Newtons provides guidance about how to sum up what to expect in 2016: truth is ever to be found in simplicity, and not in the multiplicity and confusion of things. Hence a quick peek at the fundamentals in the current oil market give us cause for ongoing wariness of rallies. U.S. production, against the odds, continues to hold up, while OPEC members continue to pump apace. Although oil demand growth is set to be less than last years rampant pace of over 1.5 million bpd, the imbalance between supply and demand is set to persist for the coming few quarters, despite some moderating of its size.

Flooding in the Midwest in the last week may well exacerbate the glut of crude at the pipeline crossroads of the world  aka, Cushing, Oklahoma. After Enbridges Ozark pipeline was halted due to flooding along the Mississippi River, there is 215,000 bpd which is stuck in Cushing, unable to make its way on the pipeline to Wood River in southern Illinois. This coincides with Cushing inventories reaching a record 62.99 million barrels in last weeks EIA petroleum status report  surpassing the record of 62.2 million barrels achieved in mid-April of last year. Related: Is 2016 The Year Of Wind And Solar?

The UK today wins the prize for terrible timing, as the industry body Oil & Gas UK announced today that UK oil and gas production rose in 2015 for the first time in fifteen years, as projects which were started a few years ago (think $100 oil) have come to fruitionas oil hits the $30s.

Finally, 2016 is not just the year of the monkey, but also the year of U.S. energy exports. The lifting of the U.S. oil export ban means that cargoes are starting to leave the U.S.  the first one as of New Years Eve  while LNG exports are set to start this month from Sabine Pass. What a difference a decade makes.

By Matt Smith

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Shell hasnt had a good 2015. Beyond the scourge of low oil prices, which afflicts all energy companies, the Anglo-Dutch giant also had to abandon plans to drill in the Arctic Ocean off Alaskas coast, and its once-heralded deal to buy BG Group for nearly $70 billion has begun to look like it might be a bad decision.

But on Wednesday, with two days to go before the New Year, Shell announced that it had begun piping gas from one of Irelands biggest sources of energy, the Corrib field about 50 miles off County Mayo in the Atlantic Ocean, ending nearly 20 years of waiting while Irish authorities sorted out questions about the projects safety and environmental impact.

Enterprise Oil PLC discovered the field in 1996, and Shell bought Enterprise six years later. Working with Norways Statoil and Vermilion Energy Ireland Ltd., Shell had planned to set up an onshore pipeline to move the Corrib gas to a terminal at Bellanboy, but couldnt break through local opposition. So Shell shifted the route, which included a tunnel about three miles long  the longest in Ireland  beneath Sruwaddacon Bay.



Related: Saudi Arabia Cuts Subsidies As Budget Deficit Soars

While opponents expressed concern about the pipelines safety and potential environmental dangers, supporters said the project would create jobs in the region and help the country become more energy independent. Dublin says Ireland now produces only about 5 percent of the gas it needs, while the addition of the Corrib gas would raise that to 60 percent.

Philip Robinson, a spokesman for Shell, said it appears the companys efforts to overcome local opposition to the project had succeeded. As a result, Alex White, Irelands minister for communications, energy and natural resources, issued the governments final approval on Tuesday, but added 20 conditions that included the companys close attention to the pipelines environmental impact.

White said the decision was based in part on the countrys efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, and that an increased use of gas, which is inexpensive and burns cleaner than other fossil fuels, would help Ireland shift eventually to even greener energy technologies.



Related: TAPI Pipeline Inches Forward

Besides, White said, domestic gas, rather than imported fuel, will deliver significant and sustained benefits, particularly in terms of enhanced security of supply for the country, as well as its economic development.

Pat Shannon, chairman of the trade group known as the Irish Offshore Operators Association, seconded that assessment. He noted that Atlantic Margin, the area beneath the ocean where Corrib is situated, likely will be found to have other generous sources of energy. I think this is a very significant day for the exploration industry in Ireland, he said.

Opposition from environmentalists may have waned, but its present nonetheless. Terence Conway, a spokesman for one group, Shell To Sea, complained that, on one hand, the government demands that protesters obey the countrys laws in their demonstrations. On the other, though, he said, [T]here is one law for them, another law for us.



Related: Peak Oil Production Is Still Years Away

Conway called Shell one of the most destructive companies the planet has ever seen.

And on Dec. 14, Irelands High Court ruled that four veteran protesters against the project may appeal the decision by the countrys Environmental Protection Agency to let Shell go ahead with the extraction and distribution of Corrib gas.

By Andy Tully of Oilprice.com

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After years of breakneck expansion, Solar Energy is finally starting to face serious challenges to its unbridled growth as many governments around the world look to cut back on subsidies and expenditures related to green energy. The policies of the UK exemplify this evolving industry situation as the Tory government there is being accused of undermining green energy and even conventional energy sources.

Solar giant SunEdison exited the market selling its Mark Group back to management saying that recent cuts in renewables subsidies will essentially eliminate the solar PV market in the UK. The Mark Group then entered administration and cut jobs to trim costs substantially. These corporate actions come as the UKs move to trim renewable subsidies is garnering particular criticism by many. The UNs environmental program chief scientist cited the UKs policy of cutting support for wind and solar power as inconsistent with environmental pledges made by almost 150 countries as part of a Paris Climate Change deal.



Related: TAPI Pipeline Inches Forward

The FT quoted Jacqueline McGlade, the UN scientist as saying Whats disappointing is when we see countries such as the United Kingdom that have really been in the lead in terms of getting their renewable energy up and going  we see subsidies being withdrawn and the fossil fuel industry being enhanced. The response from the British government is that these subsidies are no longer necessary and that it makes sense from an efficiency standpoint to push renewable power industries to stand on their own rather than relying so heavily on subsidies. Wind and solar cost competitiveness have dramatically improved against conventional fuels from oil to fracking in recent years.

The level of critique by companies and environmental experts might lead one to think that the UK was the only country considering these moves, but that is far from true. Germany, Spain, and the Czech Republic have all been looking to cut back on subsidies while even the U.S. is closely considering whether continued tax subsidies make sense in the current economic climate.



Related: Peak Oil Production Is Still Years Away

There is a long debate in economics as to whether subsidizing industries makes sense especially when compared with the alternative of an unsubsidized free trade market. Subsidies for industry can make sense for nationally vital industries or for industries that are in their infancy and need help scaling up to an economically sustainable positon.

It is hard to make a case that solar and wind power are particularly vital to any given nation, but the infant industry argument may make more sense. Yet the issue remains as to when an industry should no longer be considered in its infancy. Should solar and wind power which are increasingly competitive or close to competitive with conventional generation sources still be considered infant industries? The answer probably varies from country to country but for wind power in Britain in particular, the answer is probably no.



Related:Leaving 2015 Behind, Will 2016 See Oil Rebound?

Wind power in Britain is particularly effective given the climate and the problem with continued subsidization of any particular power source is that it discourages needed efficiency gains in the industry. If the solar and wind industries are ever to be economically viable, they need to face real market pressures including the same pricing structure that confronts other generation sources in the wholesale market. For a while, this might be a form of death by a thousand cuts for the industry, but over time supply chain costs will fall and the industries will emerge stronger than ever.

By Michael McDonald of Oilprice.com

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The Saudi-Iranian blowup has thrown the president's Syria/Iraq strategy, already in disarray, into an absolute shambles. There is nothing left of it. Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post writes that "Obama administration officials expressed deep concern Sunday that the abrupt escalation of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran could have repercussions extending to the fight against the Islamic State in Syria and Iraq, the diplomatic efforts to end Syrias civil war, and wider efforts to bring stability to the Middle East."

Daesh/ISIS attracts and inspires by combining orthodox Sunni Islam with very spectacular brutality. Inflicting pain, humiliation and death on captives or vengeance on presumed enemies has characterized some cultures. In all cultures throughout the ages, some individuals have relished these practices. Embedding brutality in ritual enhances its power to attract practitioners and to bind them to the group. Daesh/ISIS draws and inspires by dispensing the right and duty to engage in it.



It does so in the name of Allah with the prophet Muhammads own words. The methods knives for beheadings, formulae for humiliating victims, etc.  it prescribes minutely by Sunni Islams authoritative Hadith. In contrast to the Nazi authorities who used to tell the Holocausts murderers that theirs was a somber though noble task, the Hadith spells out that those who kill and torture in Allahs name should do so joyfully, with mirth, and that they should take pleasure in the fruits of their victories including the use of slaves, especially sex slaves.



Muhammads words and the Hadiths accounts of his practices did not always inspire mayhem among us. Their attractive powers (and our trouble) here and now are due to their being preached by an Islamic State that embodies them, and which routinely humiliates what had been the worlds Great Powers. Crushing that State in shame would contribute to returning the words that now inflame countless hearts to rest between the covers of books.

I have on numerous occasions stated that Barack Obama's foreign policy in the Middle East (aided and abetted during his first four years in office by Hillary Clinton and the Democrats) is an unmitigated disaster. What's noteworthy is that there isn't a single successnot one. All we see are catastrophically bad decisions, driven by a feckless "strategy" that seems focused on rewarding enemies and isolating past allies. It exemplifies an ideology that elevates fantasy to an art form, leading to mistrust and chaos in Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Egypt, Somalia, the North tier of Africa, and Afghanistan.When Obama trumpeted his "deal" with Iran (backed by a Democratic party that should have known better), those of us who didn't buy into the fantasy suggested (strongly) that no good would come of it. Now, as 2016 begins, we see Iran and Saudi Arabia sharpening their knives, with the Saudis and Bahrain braking off diplomatic relations with Iran and a war of words and actions accelerating. Within the past week, Iran fired a missile 1500 meters in front of an American aircraft carrier and our response isnothing. As I predicted, Obama will neglect to notice any event(s) that might make his decision to get into bed with the Iranians seem ... well ... ill-advised. After all, Obama doesn't make mistakes, right? Richard Fernandez quotes Karen DeYoung ofIn Obama's world view, even ISISyou know, the murderous barbarians who, according to this president (and Hillary Clinton) have nothing whatsoever to do with Islamare being contained by Obama's brilliance and sage words, if not any real-life actions. Angelo Codevilla writes:But "crushing" isn't part of Obama's world viewand besides, all of this talk of the prophet Muhammed and the Hadiths can't be accurate because the "violent extremists" (no other adjectives allowed) in the Middle East have nothing to do with Islam. After all, Barack and Hillary tell us so.
The opinions expressed in this piece do not necessarily reflect the opinions of OnMilwaukee.com, its advertisers or editorial staff.

Another application for a strip club in Downtown Milwaukee is scheduled for a hearing before the Licensing Committee of the Common Council Tuesday, but this one seems to have a slightly different, and perhaps problematic, approach.

The application was filed for a strip club at 730 N. Old World Third St., by Boro Buzdum, a member of the Buzdum family that has run strip clubs in small Wisconsin towns. Previous applications for the address have been unsuccessful.

The most prominent applicant for a license recently has been Silk Exotic, which operates high-end clubs in Milwaukee, Juneau and Madison. Buzdum's application may well be a move with an eye toward federal court.

Buzdum said Sunday that it might even be "better" if the committee turned down the application. He was referencing a million-dollar verdict against the city in a lawsuit by Silk Exotic, which has repeatedly been denied a license to operate Downtown.

"If they turn it down Tuesday, Ill be in Federal Court on Wednesday to file a discrimination lawsuit against them," he said. "My lawyer will file the suit. Theyve already lost one of these suits before. For a million dollars."

I asked Buzdum the identity of his attorney.

"I dont know his name; I don't have it in front of me. But hes from Chicago, and Ill get hold of him if I need to file the suit," he said.

The location has a troubled history regarding operation by the Buzdums.

His brother, Rad, and his sister, Diane Collins, operated the club, known as Rustys Old 50, as a regular bar and food establishment. But a year ago, Milwaukee police made a routine stop and found dancers wearing pasties, bikini bottoms and high heels while dancing and using what are commonly called "stripper poles."

Buzdum said that there was no connection between his brother or sister and himself.

"My brother doesnt have anything to do with this," said Buzdum, who plans to call his establishment 10 Exotic. "What happened before happened before. I dont know why theyd turn me down because of what happened before.

"There are hundreds of thousands of hotel rooms Downtown and other downtowns have gentlemens clubs. I think Milwaukee should have one, too. Silk has high-end clubs and we would be a high-end club, too. Nude would be really good, but I dont think the city is going to go for that."

Buzdum said he thought his chances this time were "pretty good."

"Last time my sister got a license to run a restaurant there," he said. "Then a couple of weeks later she filed a business plan for a strip club. I think they thought she was trying to backdoor them. There were pretty mad about that."

Buzdum, who lives in Slinger, has had a number of run-ins with the law, including revocation of his drivers license in 2012 and 2015 for driving under the influence, and a disorderly conduct guilty plea in 2012.

The Buzdum brothers also owned an apartment building in Oconomowoc where agents busted a meth lab in 2003, called the first such bust in Waukesha County by then District Attorney Paul Bucher. Boro Buzdum told officials he had been in the building two weeks before the bust but had no knowledge of the meth lab. The full story on the meth lab can be found here.

In October, when Buzdum filed this latest application, Ald. Robert Bauman was quoted as saying that the whole thing was a "convoluted history" and said that this is "essentially the same guy" who is trying to open a club that was found to be operating a strip club in violation of its license. Buzdum denied any connection between previous operators or applicants and himself.

The licensing committee has been stalwart in its refusal to grant a strip club license for Downtown. Silk Exotic has never been cited for any kind of violation, and its likely that if they cant get the aldermen to budge, it may prove more difficult for Buzdum to do so.

There have been negotiations between the city and Silk Exotic in attempts to settle the million-dollar verdict that went against the city. Proposals have included relieving the city of the burden of paying that amount in exchange for a license Downtown.

The licensing committee has heard almost universal opposition to granting a license to any establishment where residential neighbors opposed it.

The hearing on the latest application is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
By Steve Buckstein

As 2016 begins, we reflect on what transpired in 2015 and what lies ahead in the New Year. The terrorism we saw recently in Paris and San Bernardino was terrible; but 6,000 people are alive today who witnessed those events through the eyes of 669 relatives who would have perished in the Nazi Holocaust if it hadnt been for one mana man who passed away July 1 at the age of 106.

In 1938, 29-year-old British stockbroker Nicholas Winton saw a tragedy unfolding, as Hitlers army threatened to occupy Czechoslovakia and exterminate its Jewish population. His story and that of his family is portrayed in one of the most powerful documentary films Ive ever seen.

Nickys Family [2011] is an emotional retelling of the remarkable efforts one man took to rescue 669 Czech children from near-certain death during World War II. Sir Nicholas Winton was a young English businessman when chance brought him to Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. He put aside his own pursuits and began organizing the many children of Jewish refugees who were trying to escape Nazi clutches. Once he had appointed himself the authority for such matters, Winton went to work arranging transport and placing these children in English homes.

As the films director noted about Winton, His exploits would have probably been forgotten if his wife, fifty years later, hadnt found a suitcase in the attic, full of documents and transport plans. Today the story of this rescue is known all over the world. Dozens of Wintons children have been found and to this day his family has grown to almost 6,000 people, many of whom have gone on to achieve great things themselves.

The film was produced in 2011 when Winton was 102. It features him and many of the children he saved, who are now in their seventies and eighties themselves. The most emotional scene to me is when Sir Winton (he was knighted by the Queen for his efforts) first met many of these now-grown children whom he hadnt seen since 1939.

I found the most powerful statement he made in the film was when he related how, during his rescue operation, two British rabbis told him they objected to him placing some of his Czech Jewish children with English Christian families. Winton told them that he preferred Jewish children living in Christian families than dying with their families in what quickly became the Nazi Holocaust.

My friend Larry Reed, now President of the Foundation for Economic Education, first met and interviewed Nicholas Winton in 2006, and visited him regularly until last year. When I first heard Larrys story about his friendship with Sir Nicholas, I thought how fortunate I was to be separated by just one degree from this hero of humanity.

Freedom and liberty are universal human aspirations, but they are continually under assault here and around the world. Nicholas Winton wouldnt accept the fact that many countries closed their borders to helpless children trying to escape near-certain death at the hands of what can be seen today as 1930s Nazi terrorists.

If you appreciate inspiring stories about real-world heroes, you wont find a better one than Nickys Family. Watch the movie trailer here; then you can buy the 96-minute DVD or stream it at Netflix and Amazon.

As you celebrate this New Year, realize that more than 6,000 people are celebrating it with you thanks to Nicky Winton.

Steve Buckstein is Founder and Senior Policy Analyst at Cascade Policy Institute, Oregons free market think tank.
Speaker: Jason Williams

Oregon Executive Club Speaker Series

Wed. Jan 6th, 7:00pm

Optional dinner $20



Portland Airport Shilo Inn

Jason Williams, Founder of the Taxpayer Association of Oregon, visited Cuba and Iraq in 2015 on charity short-term mission trips. In Iraq, Jason was able to meet and serve refugees who were hunted down by ISIS for extermination. Both Cuba and Iraq are at the center of the nations top foreign policy debates.

Jason will be sharing both political, sociological, cultural, religious and topical news items on these countries from the view of being on the inside. The issues of the Cuban embargo, human rights, refugees, ISIS and the war on terror in the Middle East are critical issues we need to know more about.

The Stores from the Iraqi refugees were powerful and disturbing

 Learn about what life is like for refugees

 Learn about what is going on in Cuba

Inside homes converted to churches, once banned by the government, now thrive in Cuba

It wouldnt Cuba without the propaganda signs everywhere (private business signs outlawed)

Learn so much in just one eveningWed. Jan 6th, Portland Airport Shilo
India arms deal with USA can create hurdle in the way of regional peace: Retired Lt Gen Abdul Qayyum

ISLAMABAD: The Chairman of the Senate standing committee on defence production, retired Lt Gen Abdul Qayyum, has said that Indias arms deal with the United States can create a big hurdle in the way of regional peace because it will trigger an arms race.



India is using the entire lot of mechanised arms and attack formations procured under the deal at Pakistans eastern border, he said. (In response) we have strengthened our tactical nuclear capability, attracting attention of the world which has recognised Pakistan to be number three in this field after Russia and America.



However, Pakistans nuclear capability is defensive having no offensive designs against any one; rather it is for peace in the South Asian region, the former general said while speaking at the APP Forum.



Answering a question on Pakistan-India talks, he said the two countries should pursue the policy of co-existence and find out an amicable solution to the Kashmir dispute in line with the United Nations resolutions.



The key to success of dialogue is with New Delhi and India needs a leader like Nelson Mandela who always worked for the suffering humanity, setting aside personal interests.



Mr Qayyum, who has served as chairman of the Pakistan Ordnance Factory, said the country was self-sufficient in developing defence products of good quality and met requirements of its armed forces indigenously.



The quality of the countrys defence production is second to none in the world. It is evident from the fact that two Awacs (Airborne Warning and Control System) damaged in a terrorist attack on Kamra airbase have been locally repaired at a minimum cost though the supplier had refused to repair the aircraft because of the severity of the damage, he said.



Prime responsibility of defence production departments, Senator Qayyum said, was to fulfil the needs of the armed forces. The surplus capacity is being utilised to produce items for exports.



He said there was immense potential to increase export of defence articles whether they were JF-17 Thunder, Super Mushak or military trainer aircraft.



The country is also self-sufficient in making small arms and ammunition like mortar bombs, G-3 rifles, grenades and artillery and tank ammunition ranging from 200 to 2,500 pounds shots.



About the controversy over Rangers powers for carrying out the targeted operation in Karachi, he said Article 148 of the constitution allowed the federal government to make such deployments in provinces in case of foreign aggression or internal turmoil, because it was a constitutional duty of the centre.



To another query, he said Pakistan had exemplary relations with Saudi Arabia and would extend all possible assistance to it in case of any threat to its sovereignty. However, issues should be resolved through political means, he added.



Mr Qayyum, who has also worked as chairman of the Pakistan Steel Mills (PSM), said that public sector corporations should be made more efficient and only those entities should be considered for privatisation, which were consistently running in loss.



During his tenure in the PSM, he recalled, he had cleared its Rs8 billion debt and made the unit a profit-earning entity with zero liability. Its production capacity was being increased from 1 million ton to 3m tons.
Indian security forces battling to capture back Pathanakot base

PATHANKOT: Indian security forces battled into Sunday evening to secure an air base near the border with Pakistan, a day after a militant attack that has killed seven military personnel and wounded another 20.



As night fell, it was unclear whether two or more militants were still at large after Saturdays pre-dawn raid on the Pathankot air base in northwestern Punjab state. Four attackers have been confirmed killed. The area cannot be declared fully sanitized, Air Marshal Anil Khosla told a news briefing in New Delhi. Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi told reporters he hoped the two believed still to be at large would be neutralized overnight. Without recovering their bodies they could not be confirmed dead.



That contradicted earlier statements by home ministry and army officials who, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two holdouts had been killed.



The attack by gunmen disguised as soldiers came a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unscheduled visit to Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in an effort to revive talks between the nuclear-armed neighbors. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. Pakistan has condemned the attack and said it wanted to continue to build on the goodwill created by the impromptu meeting between Modi and Nawaz last month. Gunfire continued into the evening as security forces hunted the remaining attackers in the Indian Air Force base, a sprawling compound that lies just 25 km from the border with Pakistan. In a TV briefing from Pathankot, Air Commodore JS Dhamoon said the attackers had burst into a guards mess at the air base, where they were preparing breakfast on Saturday morning.
Nawaz Sharif to visit Sri Lanka

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif will visit Sri Lanka from Jan 4 to 6 on the invitation of the president of Sri Lanka.



During his stay in Colombo, he will meet Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena. According to the Foreign Office, a number of memoranda of understanding and agreements for cooperation in various fields will be signed during the visit.



Sri Lankas Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe will host a lunch in honour of Mr Sharif. Sri Lankan parliamentarians, religious leaders and businessmen will call on the prime minister during the visit.



PM Sharif will address a gathering of ministers, parliamentarians, senior officials, top businessmen and members of the diplomatic corps.



Pakistan and Sri Lanka enjoy friendly and cordial relations. Diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1948.



Being members of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation and Commonwealth, Pakistan and Sri Lanka cooperate closely and coordinate with each other on issues of common interest and regional and international concern.
Shias protested around the world to condemn Saudi Arabias execution of Nimr al-Nimr

ISLAMABAD/TEHRAN: Thousands of Shias protested in Pakistan and Indian-held Kashmir on Sunday to condemn Saudi Arabias execution of a leading cleric Nimr al-Nimr, as fury over the killing spread.



The 56-year-old Shiite cleric was put to death along with 46 Shia activists and Sunnis who the Saudi interior ministry said were involved in Al-Qaeda killings. Some were beheaded, others were shot by firing squad.



In Tehran, protesters stormed the Saudi embassy early on Sunday and Irans top leader predicted divine vengeance for Saudi Arabias execution of the cleric.



Strong rhetoric from Tehran was matched by Irans Shia allies across the region, with Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Lebanese militia Hezbollah, describing the execution as a message of blood. Moqtada al-Sadr, an Iraqi Shia cleric, called for angry protests.



Peaceful protests were held across Pakistan, including in Quetta where about 1,000 people called on the government to reconsider its longtime ties with Riyadh and demonstrators held placards bearing anti-Saudi slogans.



In Lahore, around 1,500 took to the streets, calling Nimrs execution a gross human rights violation, while in Karachi about 1,000 men, women and children shouted slogans against the royal Saudi family.



Similar protests also took place in several districts of Sindh province and Islamabad, where about 500 people gathered to call on the UN to intervene to stop Saudi Arabia from targeting Shia Muslims. In Srinagar, the main city of Indian-occupied Kashmir, hundreds of angry Shia clashed with police as they protested the clerics execution.



The demonstrators bearing photos of Nimr chanted down with al-Saud dynasty, referring to Saudi leaders and called them stooges of America as they marched toward the city centre.



Some hurled rocks at police, who fired tear gas and wielded batons in return, a senior police officer speaking on condition of anonymity said. Similar protests were also held in smaller towns across the Muslim-majority region. Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia had already run high for years as they backed opposing forces in wars and political conflicts across the Middle East, usually along sectarian lines.



However, Saturdays execution of the cleric whose death Iran had warned would cost Saudi Arabia dearly, and the storming of the kingdoms Tehran embassy, raised the pitch of that rivalry.



Demonstrators protesting against the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr broke into the embassy building, smashed furniture and started fires before being ejected by police. Irans President Hassan Rouhani condemned the execution as inhuman, but also urged the prosecution of extremist individuals for attacking the embassy and the Saudi consulate in the northeastern city of Mashhad, state media reported.



Tehrans police chief said an unspecified number of unruly elements were arrested for attacking the embassy with petrol bombs and rocks. A prosecutor said 40 people were held. The unjustly spilled blood of this oppressed martyr will no doubt soon show its effect and divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians, Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was quoted as saying by Irans state television.



Irans Revolutionary Guards had promised harsh revenge against the Saudi Sunni royal dynasty for the execution of Nimr, considered a terrorist by Riyadh but hailed in Iran as a hero of the rights of Saudi Arabias Shia minority.



However the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers told Austria they have no interest in a further of heightening tensions between them, a spokesman for Austrias Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said.



Nimr, the most vocal critic of the dynasty among the Shia minority, had come to be seen as a leader of the sects younger activists, who had tired of the failure of older, more measured leaders to achieve equality with Sunnis.



His execution sparked angry protests in the Qatif region in eastern Saudi Arabia, where demonstrators denounced the ruling Al Saud dynasty, and in the nearby Gulf kingdom of Bahrain. Relatives of Nimr, reached by telephone, said authorities have informed them that the body had been buried in a cemetery of Muslims and would not be handed over to the family.
From Greg Swank, 12-4-2 You are about to read a list of 45 goals that found their way down the halls of our great Capitol back in 1963. As...
It has taken a watchdog outside group, the Parents Coalition of Montgomery County, to ferret out this waste. The coalition, driven by its sharp curiosity, frequently uses the Maryland Public Information Act to request public records and keep track of district decisions and spending.

We commend the coalition for its important work on this front. It is saving county residents money as inappropriate spending has been uncovered.

July 16, 2014
I'm not giving examples of fake news items, because research has shown that when this is done, many people will remember the debunked &q...
Musings, observations, and reflections from a life well lived. Proud Canadian who is passionate about nature and the well being of the planet.
Research performed by U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory Associate Scientist Durga Paudyal was recently featured on the cover of the November 13, 2015, issue of Physical Review Letters.

In his paper, "Complex Magnetism of Lanthanide Intermetallics and the Role of their Valence Electrons: Ab Initio Theory and Experiment," Paudyal and coauthors used electronic structure theory to explain how a mobile "electronic adhesive" helps localized electrons communicate and interact with one another.

The research was performed using compounds of gadolinium combined with three nonmagnetic elements: magnesium, zinc and cadmium.

In addition to supporting communications among localized electrons, Paudyal's research also discovered that the mobile electron adhesive flows up and down the energy scale, thus controlling the electrons near the top. These topmost electrons are the ones responsible for different, yet predictable changes of magnetic order when chemistry, temperature or pressure are changed individually or together.

"This discovery opens up many new opportunities in rare-earth based responsive and permanent magnet materials research," said Paudyal. "We'll be able to find out how they behave at working temperatures."

Other Ames Laboratory scientist authors on the paper included Yaroslav Mudryk, Vitalij Pecharsky and Karl Gschneidner, Jr. The scientists collaborated with lead author Leon Petit from the Daresbury Laboratory in the United Kingdom and Julie Staunton from Warwick University in the United Kingdom.

"We've seen a dramatic rise in the use of rare-earth materials as essential elements in everything from smart phones to computers, automobiles, LED and compact fluorescent lights, and color displays in TVs and monitors. These findings are critically important to furthering research related to these materials," said Gschneidner, who is a senior metallurgist at Ames Laboratory, a Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering at Iowa State University, and the chief scientist of the Critical Materials Institute.

Explore further Scientists create cheaper magnetic material for cars, wind turbines

More information: L. Petit et al. Complex Magnetism of Lanthanide Intermetallics and the Role of their Valence Electrons: Theory and Experiment , Physical Review Letters (2015). Journal information: Physical Review Letters L. Petit et al. Complex Magnetism of Lanthanide Intermetallics and the Role of their Valence Electrons: Theory and Experiment ,(2015). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.207201
If they successfully invade Lake Erie, Asian carp could eventually account for about a third of the total weight of fish in the lake and could cause declines in most fish speciesincluding prized sport and commercial fish such as walleye, according to a new computer modeling study.

However, most of the expected declines in Lake Erie will not be as extreme as some experts have predicted, according to the food-web study by the University of Michigan's Hongyan Zhang and colleagues from other American and Canadian research institutions. A few fish species, including smallmouth bass, would likely increase.

The study is the first to use a food-web model to examine the likely impacts of bighead and silver carp in Lake Erie. These plankton-eating Asian carp are established in watersheds close to the Great Lakes but not in the lakes themselves.

The invasive carp would likely affect Lake Erie's food web in two main ways: They would likely compete with native fish by eating their food, and juvenile Asian carp would likely become food for fish-eating fish.

According to the study, walleye, rainbow trout, gizzard shad and emerald shiners could all decline, with declines in emerald shiner of up to 37 percent. Smallmouth bass stood to gain the most, with increases of up to 16 percent.

A paper summarizing the findings was published online Dec. 30, 2015 in the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.

The model results suggest that Asian carp could eventually account for up to 34 percent of the total fish weight in the lake, said Zhang, assistant research scientist at U-M's Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research in the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

"Fortunately, the percentage would not be as high as it is today in the Illinois River, where Asian carp have caused large changes in the ecosystem and have affected human use of the river," she said.

Previous predictions of Asian carp impacts in the Great Lakes have ranged widely. Some experts say Asian carp could decimate Great Lakes fisheries and food webs, while others suggest the effects would likely be minor because much of the Great Lakes is not a suitable habitat for Asian carp.

>Results of the new study fall somewhere between the two extremes.

"This study goes beyond previous efforts in two significant ways. It focuses on the food webs andwhere model input data were not availableit includes uncertainty estimates from experts," said co-author Ed Rutherford, a fisheries biologist at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) in Ann Arbor, a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility.

To include uncertainty in model predictions, team members interviewed 11 leading experts on Asian carp biology and Great Lakes ecology and fisheries, then incorporated the experts' estimates into the model. The experts were also asked to indicate the level of uncertainty associated with each statement they provided.

"We don't know how these two Asian carp species are going to do in Lake Erie, so we have to incorporate that uncertainty into our model projections," said co-author Doran Mason, a research ecologist at GLERL. "It's like using computer models to predict a hurricane's path and intensity and including the margin of error in the forecast."

The team has shared its Lake Erie results with Great Lakes resource managers to help inform decisions related to Asian carp. Of the Great Lakes, Erie may be most vulnerable to Asian carp invasion due to its proximity to waters where Asian carp exist, the presence of adequate food, and the availability of suitable spawning habitat.

The same research team is now working on modeling studies to predict Asian carp impacts in lakes Michigan, Huron and Ontario, as well as a study of the regional economic impacts associated with Asian carp in Lake Erie.

Explore further Feds: Sampling finds more Asian carp DNA near Lake Michigan
Electrabel's Doel No. 1 reactorBelgium's oldesthad been shuttered in February 2015 after four decades in operation

Belgium on Monday restarted a reactor that was shut down at the weekend just three days after returning to service amid concern in neighbouring countries over its nuclear safety.

Doel No. 1 reactorBelgium's oldesthad been shuttered in February after four decades in operation, in line with a law calling for the country's gradual exit from nuclear power.

It was restarted on December 30 under a deal to extend its working lifeand that of a companion reactor, Doel No. 2until 2025 to help cope with power shortages.

But a generator problem on Saturday triggered a shutdown at the plant, located near the Dutch border about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from the port city of Antwerp.

"There was no safety risk," a spokeswoman for the nuclear facility's operator Electrabel told AFP.

It was restarted at 1000 GMT on Monday, a spokeswoman for the power plant told the Belga news agency.

Environmentalists, especially in neighbouring Germany which is phasing out nuclear power, have criticised extending the life of Belgium's reactors which they say are too old to be considered safe.

While the number of unplanned shutdowns at Belgian reactors has been no higher than average in recent years, Saturday's stoppage at Doel No. 1 followed two similar interruptions.

The first was on September 16 at the No. 1 reactor at Tihange, near the eastern city of Liege, which had been restarted after maintenance.

The second was Doel's No. 3 reactor, which shut down on Christmas Day, four days after a restart.

Tihange No. 2 and Doel No. 3 reactors had been restarted following a two-year pause after microscopic cracks were discovered in the reactor vessels.

Neighbouring countries have expressed concern despite assurances from experts that the facilities are safe.

Luxembourg's sustainable development minister, Camille Gira, is set to meet with Belgian Interior Minister Jan Jambon over the nuclear issue on January 18.

Dutch Environment and Infrastructure Minister Melanie Schultz will visit Doel with Jambon for a joint inspection on January 20.

Explore further Belgian nuclear reactor shut down three days after restarting

 2016 AFP
Residents Trina Gonzalez, left, and Todd Peterson stockpile sandbags to protect their homes from the rain in Glendora, Calif., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. After all the talk, El Nino storms have finally lined up over the Pacific and started soaking drought-parched California with rain expected to last for most of the next two weeks, forecasters said Monday. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

After all the talk, El Nino storms have finally lined up over the Pacific and started soaking drought-parched California with rain expected to last for most of the next two weeks, forecasters said Monday.

As much as 15 inches of rain could fall in the next 16 days in Northern California, with about 2 feet of snow expected in the highest points of the Sierra Nevada, said Johnny Powell, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

To the south, persistent wet conditions could put some Los Angeles County communities at risk of flash-flooding along with mud and debris flows, especially in wildfire burn areas.

The brewing El Nino systema warming in the Pacific Ocean that alters weather worldwideis expected to impact California and the rest of the nation in the coming weeks and months.

Its effects on California's drought are difficult to predict, but Jet Propulsion Laboratory climatologist Bill Patzert said it should bring at least some relief.

Doug Carlson, spokesman for the California Department of Water Resources, pointed out that four years of drought have left California with a water deficit that is too large for one El Nino year to totally overcome.

Come April 1when the snowpack is typically at its deepestwater managers will be better able to gauge the situation.

Glendora resident Frank Salazar stockpiles sandbags to protect his home from flooding in Glendora, Calif., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. After all the talk, El Nino storms have finally lined up over the Pacific and started soaking drought-parched California with rain expected to last for most of the next two weeks, forecasters said Monday. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

"Mother Nature has a way of surprising or disappointing us," Carlson said.

The record drought in California has forced Gov. Jerry Brown to order cities to conserve water by 25 percent compared to the same period in 2013.

El Ninos in the early 1980s and late 1990s brought about twice as much rain as normal, Patzert said. The weather also caused mudslides, flooding and high surf.

In recent weeks, a weather pattern partly linked with El Nino has turned winter upside-down across the nation, bringing spring-like warmth to the Northeast, a risk of tornadoes in the South, and so much snow across the West that even ski slopes have been overwhelmed.

Big parts of the country are basking in above-average temperatures, especially east of the Mississippi River and across the Northern Plains.

In Los Angeles County foothills beneath wildfire burn areas, residents braced Monday for possible flash flooding and debris flows. Workers in Azusa cleared storm drains and handed out sandbags, while in nearby Glendora, police announced restricted parking measures for steep roadways under barren hillsides.

Residents of the Silverado Canyon burn area in Orange County and the Solimar burn area in Ventura County have been told they may want to evacuate in advance of the storm, but have not been ordered to do so.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti warned people to clear gutters and anything in their yard that might clog storm drains; assemble an emergency kit; and stockpile sandbags if their home is susceptible to flooding.

An effort also was underway to provide shelter for homeless people.

"We want as little damage and destruction and as little death as possible," Garcetti said.

Between 2 and 3.5 inches of rain is predicted to fall across the coastal and valley areas of Southern California through Friday, with up to 5 inches falling in the mountains.

The first wave of rain started in Northern California with light showers Sunday and was expected to pick up strength and cover a large area of the region, the weather service said.

"This series of storms are definitely associated with the El Nino phenomenon in that the jet stream has taken a fairly significant southward trajectory in the Pacific on its return flow back into the California coastline," said Bob Benjamin, a forecaster with the weather service.

Forecasters say a second, stronger storm is expected to arrive in Northern California late Monday. At least two more storms are expected to follow on Wednesday and Thursday, possibly bringing as much as 3 inches of rain.

"Friday looks like a dry, clear day but more rain is expected Saturday," Powell said.

In Arizona, El Nino conditions will help push a parade of Pacific Ocean storms inland with light to moderate snow falling in the high country and rain in lower elevations, forecasters said Monday.

The National Weather Service says a series of weather systems will drop snow in the high country and rain in lower elevations as the week progresses.

Explore further El Nino remains strong; wet California winter expected

 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
How old does a forest have to be to bounce back after fire? Credit: National Forest

This bushfire season, how can we best protect our forestsand the millions of dollars spent in recreating them?

The destructive power of bushfire can sometimes be tempered in the Australian bush, with many native plants re-sprouting from blackened branches, or relying on smoke to prompt seed germination.

But what if the bush has been freshly rehabilitated? How old does a forest have to be to bounce back after fire?

Scientists at Kings Park are working to answer these questions in collaboration with South32 Worsley Alumina's bauxite mine in Boddington, where progressive rehabilitation and successful restoration of jarrah forest has occurred since the late 1980s.

Kings Park Director of Science Dr Ben Miller says good management and records keeping by the mine means his team can compare and contrast the effect of fire on rehabilitated forests of different ages.

"We have data on restoration and rehabilitation in that area going back to the 80s, so we can see how the forest looks across all those years," he says.

"Some rehabilitated areas have been burned, some haven't, but thanks to these records, we can now look at working out how resilient post-mining restoration is to fire."

Bouncing back after bushfire

Dr Miller says the goal of restoration in the Boddington area is to establish jarrah forest that is self-sustaining, and with fire an inevitable part of the WA summer, that means responding positively to bushfire.

"Resilience is a key function in a restored ecosystemif a restored ecosystem can respond naturally to a fire, then that's a really positive sign," he says.

By combining the mine's decades of data with data gathered from field surveys this summer, Dr Miller's team hopes to determine which factors affect the ability of rehabilitated forest to thrive under fire.

"If it's freshly rehabilitated, it's probably not going to burn, but if it does burn it will probably be devastated," he says.

"If it's 15 or 20 years old, it probably will burn, and it probably will regenerate.

"So at what stage can the forest respond positively to being burnt? Is there an established seed bank? Are the jarrah trees old enough to resprout? These are the questions we're hoping to address."

Kings Park is looking to collaborate further with the mine as part of this important work.

Explore further Uncooperative snottygobble coughs up germination secrets

This article first appeared on ScienceNetwork Western Australia a science news website based at Scitech.
Orbital ATK Antares rocket hardware fills the Horizontal Integration Facility from end-to-end at NASAs Wallops Flight Facility for upcoming Return to Flight missions in 2016 from Virginia launch base. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Assembly and testing of a significantly upgraded version of Orbital ATK's commercially developed Antares rocket has kicked into high gear and is on target for rebirth  as the clock ticks down towards its 'Return to Flight' by approximately mid-2016 from a launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) in Virginia, company managers told Universe Today during a recent up close media visit to see the actual flight hardware.

Mission integration operations are in full swing right now as technicians were actively processing Antares hardware in order to resume launches of critical cargo missions to crews living aboard the space station, during my visit to Orbital ATK's Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in mid-December.

"We are working on integrating, processing and testing the Antares rocket hardware," Mike Pinkston, Vice President and General Manager Orbital ATK's Antares program, told Universe Today in exclusive interviews at NASA Wallops and the Kennedy Space Center.

"Hardware started showing up at Wallops in the early part of June 2015. So we have been working ever since then to integrate the first set of RD-181 engines from Energomash into the Antares stage."

Technicians are simultaneously processing two sets of Antares hardware intended for the first two launches, one of which will also be used to conduct a critical engine hot fire test in March 2016.

The cavernous Wallops Island HIF facility was filled from end-to-end with a pair of first stage cores, newly upgraded RD-181 first stage engines, a second stage, interstages, payload fairings and other key components slated to launch on the first two Antares missions in the late spring and fall of 2016.

The new RD-181 engines are installed on the Orbital ATK Antares first stage core ready to support a full power hot fire test at the NASA Wallops Island launch pad in March 2016. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

"We are in the final throes of the integration process now," Pinkston told Universe Today.

"And we have kicked off testing. We will be testing the interfaces to the new engines for the rest of December. Then we will close out the aft end of stage one and look to get into integrated system testing by the end of January. After that we will get on the TEL [transporter/erector/launcher] and be ready to roll out [to the pad] in the February 2016 timeframe."

"We are on track and targeting to be ready to launch Antares on the OA-5 mission by late May or early June," Pinkston confirmed. "We are on the ISS manifest."

The currently planned spring 2016 blastoff will be the first for the private Antares rocket since a catastrophic launch failure on Oct. 28, 2014, just seconds after liftoff from Wallops. It was carrying Orbital ATK's Cygnus cargo freighter on the critical Orb-3 resupply mission for NASA to the International Space Station (ISS).

The launch mishap was traced to a failure in the AJ26 first stage engine turbopump.

The new RD-181 engines are installed on the Orbital ATK Antares first stage core ready to support a full power hot fire test at the NASA Wallops Island launch pad in March 2016. New thrust adapter structures, actuators, and propellant feed lines are incorporated between the engines and core stage. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

Pinkston emphasizes that Orbital ATK is fully committed to fulfill the firms station resupply contract commitments to NASA and the station crews in the wake of the Cygnus Orb-3 mission failure. I was an eyewitness to the failure and watched the disaster unfold from the Wallops Island press site less than 2 miles away.

Orbital ATK holds a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract from NASA worth $1.9 Billion to deliver 20,000 kilograms of research experiments, crew provisions, spare parts and hardware spread out over eight Cygnus cargo delivery flights to the ISS.

NASA recently supplemented the original CRS contract with three additional Cygnus resupply deliveries in 2017 and 2018.

The revamped Antares 230 launch vehicle has been upgraded with a pair of modern new first stage engines, the Russian-built RD-181 fueled by LOX/kerosene. They replace the refurbished 40 year old AJ26 engines originally known as the NK-33 that were originally built during the Soviet era.

"Using the RD-181s will result in a 25 percent greater payload to orbit," Pinkston told Universe Today.

All major components of Antares are in place and undergoing launch vehicle integration at Orbital ATKs Horizontal Integration Facility at NASAs Wallops Flight Facility. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

But before any launch, the fully integrated Antares first stage still has to pass a full power hot fire test with the new RD-181 engines at launch pad OA on Wallops Island. Teams are currently performing final testing and certification to prepare for the hot fire test.

"Early March 2016 is our current target for the hot fire test," Pinkston told me. "It will be a full duration 30 second test at full thrust. The test uses the core planned for the OA-7 launch later in the year."

"The hot fire test will run through all the operating points and execute all sequences."

A similar 30 second hot fire test was conducted in advance of the first Antares launch to test out all rocket and launch pad systems.

The first Antares booster to launch will be named the OA-5 mission and will use the other core stage currently being processed inside the HIF, he explained.

Up close view of two new RD-181 engines that will power the revamped Orbital ATK Antares rocket to orbit. Credit: Ken Kremer/kenkremer.com

During our media visit, the first set of RD-181 engines was seen already attached to the base of the first stage core, which is built by KB Yuzhnoye/Yuzhmash in Ukraine. And despite the ongoing civil war in the region, there has been no effect on core stage production, Pinkston stated.

A second set of RD-181 flight engines built by Energomash in Russia has also arrived for processing in the HIF.

Orbital ATK quickly decided to replace the troublesome AJ26 with the RD-181 soon after the Orb-3 accident. Evaluations had already been in place to replace the AJ26 prior to the Oct. 2014 accident.

"Shortly after the accident we put a plan in motion, one that had been in the works for awhile, to put new engines on Antares," Pinkston elaborated.

"So the basic outline of the plan existed before Orb-3. It was really a matter of accelerating it a fair amount and of how quickly we needed to implement that plan."

Orbital Sciences Corporation Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft blasts off on July 13 2014 from Launch Pad 0A at NASA Wallops Flight Facility , VA, on the Orb-2 mission and loaded with over 3000 pounds of science experiments and supplies for the crew aboard the International Space Station. Credit: Ken Kremer  kenkremer.com

What changes were made to accommodate the RD-181 vs the AJ26 engines?

"The changes to Antares are the new engine itself, the RD-181. We designed and built a new thrust adapter structure that interfaces the engine with the aft end of the RP [propellant] tank," Pinkston told me.

"There are new avionics to control the engine thrust vector actuators, and new propellant feed lines that route the propellants from the core to the engines."

"There were also a handful of minor changes to the first stage core itself to provide some unique hydraulic and fluid services to the new engines."

"The RD-181 engines are basically a drop in replacement engine. Its similar in size to the AJ-26. But has a better thrust profile."

"Thanks to the tremendous dedication of our workforce and support from NASA, the FAA, and Virginia Space we are once again in a high-operational tempo at Wallops, leading to the launch of an upgraded Antares vehicle with our Cygnus spacecraft to resupply the ISS," says Pinkston.

Earlier this month, the Orbital ATK Cygnus cargo freighter already accomplished its return to flight mission when it was launched to the ISS on the OA-4 mission (also known as CRS-4) using a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket for the first time.

Cygnus OA-4 successfully lifted off on Dec. 6, 2015 with over 7000 pounds of cargo from Cape Canaveral, Florida  as outlined in my on site reports. The ship berthed at the ISS on Dec. 9.

Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news.

Explore further Orbital ATK on the rebound with Antares return to flight in 2016
Phase 1/2 Trial of T-Guard in the Treatment of Steroid-Resistant, Acute, Graft versus Host Disease (GVHD) Delivers Promising Interim Results

Details Category: Antibodies Published on Monday, 04 January 2016 10:55 Hits: 2806

NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands I January 4, 2016 I Researchers in the Netherlands and Germany have reported positive interim results of a Phase 1/2 clinical study evaluating T-Guard for treatment of steroid-resistant, acute, Graft versus Host Disease (GVHD), a frequent and potentially life-threatening complication of bone marrow and blood stem cell transplantation.

T-Guard is a combination of two toxin-loaded anti-T-cell antibodies that shows promise as a therapeutic tool for safely and swiftly resetting the bodys immune system in T cell mediated diseases. It is currently being developed for the treatment of acute Graft versus Host Disease (GVHD), a feared and potentially life-threatening complication of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. There are presently no registered therapies for acute GVHD patients, who have failed standard first-line corticosteroid therapy and the prognosis for these patients is very poor. Towards investigation of T-Guards potential as a medicine, the first full clinical trial (a 20-patient Phase 1/2 trial to explore its safety and efficacy) began in 2014 at the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. It was extended to the University Hospital of Muenster, in Germany, in 2015. Researchers from both institutes have reported positive interim results from the first 13 patients in the trial, who were predominantly suffering from the notoriously difficult-to-treat, steroid-resistant, acute form of GVHD in the gut. Compared to the results of an independently-conducted retrospective study on the institutional standard of care in the period immediately preceding this trial, both the 28-day overall and complete response rate had substantially improved (the majority of patients were complete responders, representing an almost doubling of the complete response rate). This translated into a two-fold higher overall survival rate in the subset of patients, who completed the six-month follow-up period at the time of the interim analysis. T-Guard was also generally well-tolerated and safe. Investigators reported that any adverse events that were potentially treatment-related were all clinically well-manageable. Detailed and final study results will be published upon completion of the study. While these interim outcomes met the pre-defined criteria of the independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board to recommend the continuation of the study, the results have also generated interest in extending this second phase of the Phase 1/2 study with an additional 20 patients, to explore the benefits of providing an additional T-Guard treatment course to those patients that showed at least a partial response to the first course, and who could benefit from a last push towards a complete response. Xenikos current shareholders, Dutch Blood Supply Foundation, Sanquin (Amsterdam, the Netherlands), and regional development company, PPM Oost (Apeldoorn, the Netherlands), have provided additional financial support for this study extension. It is anticipated to position T-Guard optimally for a subsequent, randomized active-controlled pivotal study in the European Union (EU)/United States (US). Based on initial discussions with regulators, it is believed that such a study, if successful, may qualify T-Guard for accelerated approval (US) and conditional marketing authorization (EU). The primary safety and efficacy outcomes of the extended Phase 1/2 study are expected in Q1 2017.

We are very pleased by this positive outcome of the interim analysis. These encouraging results, along with the constructive and positive feedback obtained from the key regulatory bodies, bring us a step closer to better treatment of severe acute GVHD. said Ypke van Oosterhout, Chief Executive Officer of Xenikos B.V. - the company behind the development of T-Guard. They also mean that discussions regarding the possibility to bring T-Guards development further towards early market access for treatment of acute GVHD can be advanced.

SOURCE: Xenikos


If you want to be a better writer, you must put it out there. Forget talent, forget brilliance, or trying to be clever. If you want to impro...
In this age of internet and blog the possibility opens of a free circulation of works (poems and poetics in the present instance) outside of any commercial or academic nexus. I will therefore be posting work of my own, both new & old, that may otherwise be difficult or impossible to access, and I will also, from time to time, post work by others who have been close to me, in the manner of a freewheeling on-line anthology or magazine. I take this to be in the tradition of autonomous publication by poets, going back to Blake and Whitman and Dickinson, among numerous others.



[ For a complete checklist of previous postings through January 12, 2012, see below. The slot at the upper left can also be used for specific items or subjects. More recent posts are updated regularly here.]

email address: jrothenberg [at] cox [dot] net


How much of your paycheck will be left in 2016 after it gets processed through Uncle Sam's dirty rotten filthy stinking ape maw before you ever see it?

Well, that's one question that our latest tool can answer! Other questions we can help you answer include:

How much take home money will I have each payday?

How will that change if I get a raise?

What if I boost my pre-tax 401(k) or 403(b) retirement plan contributions - how will that change my paycheck?

Will I take a hit from the Additional Medicare Tax? The Medicare "contribution" that doesn't ever go into Medicare's trust funds?

How would a flexible savings account for health care or dependent care expenses affect my take home pay?

Our tool below is designed to answer those questions for you, and probably a number of others that we haven't thought of that you might! Just enter the indicated information as it applies for you, and we'll do our best to estimate how much of the money you work hard to earn will still be in your possession after the federal government has withheld what it wants from your paycheck!

Your Paycheck and Tax Withholding Data Category Input Data Values Basic Pay Data Current Annual Pay Pay Period Daily Weekly Biweekly Semimonthly Monthly Quarterly Semiannually Annually Federal Withholding Data Filing Status Single Married Number of Withholding Allowances 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 401(k) or 403(b) Contributions Pre-Tax Contributions (%) After Tax Contributions (%) Flexible Spending Account Annual Contribution Data Health Care Spending Account Dependent Care Spending Account What if You Had a Raise? Desired Raise (%) Your "Typical" Paycheck Data Category Calculated Results Values Basic Income Data Proposed Annual Salary (Including Raise!) Typical Paycheck Amount

Federal Tax Withholding Amounts U.S. Federal Income Taxes

U.S. Social Security Taxes

U.S. Medicare Taxes

U.S. Additional "Medicare" Taxes (If Applicable)

401(k) or 403(b) Contributions Pre-Tax Contributions

After-Tax Contributions

Total Contributions

Flexible Spending Account Contributions Health Care Spending Account

Dependent Care Spending Account

Your Paycheck's Bottom Line

Take Home Pay Estimate Basic Net Paycheck Amount

... But, After Social Security's Taxable Income Cap Is Reached, It Becomes (If Applicable, for a Full Paycheck)

... And Then, After Additional Medicare Tax Income Threshold Is Reached, It Becomes (If Applicable, for a Full Paycheck)



Now that we've given you a sense of how much money you'll have withheld in 2016 from each of your paychecks by the U.S. federal government, we should note that there are some really complicating factors that may come into play during the year depending upon how much you earn.

For example, in 2015, once you have earned over $118,500, you will no longer have the Social Security payroll tax of 6.2% of your income deducted from your paycheck. But then, by the time that happens, you'll have long been paying taxes on your income that are taxed at rates that are at least 10% higher than those paid by over half of all Americans.

There's also the complication provided by the so-called "Additional Medicare Tax" that your employer is required to begin withholding from your paycheck if, and as soon as, your year-to-date income rises above the $200,000 mark, which is part of the new income taxes imposed by the "Affordable Care Act" (a.k.a. "Obamacare"). Since the money collected through this 0.9% surtax on your income does not go to directly support the Medicare program, unlike the real Medicare payroll taxes paid by you and your employer, it is really best thought of as an additional income tax.

In the tool above, in case the amount of your annual 401(k) or 403(b) retirement savings contributions exceed the annual limits set by law, we've limited the results our tool provides to be those consistent with their statutory limits, and will do so as if you specifically set the percentage contributions for these contributions with that in mind. Also, our tool does not consider whether you might take advantage of the "catch-up" provisions in the law that are available to individuals Age 50 or older. Perhaps next year....

Elsewhere on the Web

There are other paycheck calculators like this on the Internet, including the very well done tools available at PaycheckCity.com. We really like PaycheckCity's calculators because they allow you to determine the amount of state income tax withholding that will be taken out of your paycheck separately from what the federal government takes.

Then again, if you live in one of the seven states that have no personal income tax for wage and salary income (Alaska, Florida, Nevada, South Dakota, Texas, Washington or Wyoming), our tool above will provide you with a very good estimate of your actual take-home pay. We'll also note that both New Hampshire and Tennessee do not tax wage and salary income, but they do both tax dividend and interest income. While that doesn't affect your paycheck (and our tool's results), it's something that may influence your income tax withholding decisions in these states.

Previously on Political Calculations

We've been in the business of calculating people's paychecks (not including state income tax withholding) since 2005!
I'm sure anyone who is reading this article got an immediate chuckle out of the goofiness of this man's name, but make no mist...
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The headline in The Vallejo Times in Dec. 1915, printed in celebratory red ink, read, Build the California in California, according to the memoirs of Josephus Daniels, Secretary of the Navy under President Woodrow Wilson.

Daniels had just announced a new ship would be built at Marc Island Navy Yard, which had been slated for closing.

U.S. Sen. James Phelan of California announced the ship would be named California.

The town took a holiday in celebration and the editor predicted that at the end of the war, one half of the fleet would be based on Pacific ports, a prediction which I made true in 1920, Daniels wrote in the book The Wilson Years: Year of Peace -- 1910-1917, published by 1944 by The University of North Carolina Press.

Daniels suggested Woodrow Wilson narrowly won California in his 1916 re-election bid because of keeping Marc Island open, establishing a Naval training base at San Diego, and investing defense spending in Los Angeles.

Nationally, having felt themselves neglected by the Navy for many years, the people on the Pacific Coast appreciated the first recognition given them and welcomed a day when they could fittingly show their appreciation in an impressive way. Their opportunity came in 1916 when by giving the electoral votes of California and Washington (state) they could show their gratitude, Daniels wrote.

Except for the change in the vote (from 1912) in San Diego, Los Angeles and Marc Island districts, Wilson would have lost California. The change from Republican to Democratic votes was revolutionary in the districts most affected by the new Naval policy.

Wilson barely eked out a win in the popular vote in California, giving him just enough electoral votes to defeat Republican challenger Charles Evans Hughes, a Glens Falls native.

Daniels discounted the common theory that Hughes lost California because his campaign manager snubbed California Gov. Hiram Johnson by not arranging a meeting of the two when Hughes and Johnson, coincidentally, were at the same hotel during the campaign.

The failure of Hughes to call on Hiram Johnson was given a determining effect out of proportion to its importance, Daniels wrote.
Editor's Note: All charges were dismissed against Larry G. Bishop.

Four people, including the operator of a local computer store and a state employee from Saratoga County, have been arrested on felony charges in connection with the theft and sale of dozens of laptop computers from state agencies.

The state Inspector Generals Office and State Police arrested the group late last month on charges that accuse a worker in the state Office of Information Technology Services of stealing new laptops and using a network of Warren County residents to sell them.

The state employee was identified by authorities as Brian Baker, 46, of Route 29, Schuylerville. He was charged with third-degree grand larceny, a felony, and misdemeanor official misconduct for allegedly taking the equipment  still new and in its boxes  while working as an information tech support employee.

Among the other defendants is a Queensbury man who operates a computer store on Route 9, who State Police allege used his business Facebook social media webpage and Facebook online garage sales site to sell at least 40 stolen laptops online for $400 to $480 apiece, authorities said. That was about half to two thirds of their retail value, authorities said.

That man, Larry G. Bishop, 39, owner of LGB Computers, was charged with felony criminal possession of stolen property. Police said several stolen computers were seized from his shop.

He said Monday that he did not know the computers were ill-gotten goods.

An employee of his store and a man who acted as an intermediary between Bishop and the state worker who allegedly stole the equipment were also charged, according to police.

The employee was identified as Terra J. Wedman, 36, of Queensbury, and the Queensbury resident who acted as a go-between was listed in court records as William Shouse, 47, of Zenas Drive, Queensbury. Each faces a felony charge of criminal possession of stolen property, while Wedman was also charged with misdemeanor criminal possession of marijuana, police said.

In all, police believe more than 50 laptops, valued at about $30,000, were taken over nearly 18 months, starting in May 2014.

For the better part of a year this criminal ring used a state employees position and access to systemically steal valuable laptop computers from taxpayers and brazenly advertise them on Facebook for sale at a Warren County computer store, state Inspector General Leahy Scott said in a news release.

All four were released pending prosecution in court, Baker in Albany City Court and the three others in Queensbury Town Court.

Bishop, whose store sits in Mount Royal Plaza, said he did not know the computers were stolen. He said he bought them from Shouse, and had been told they had been purchased through a state auction program.

I did not know they were stolen. A good friend sold them to me, he said. I wish I knew about it. I never would have bought them.
FORT EDWARD | A Saratoga County man who burglarized a vacant home in Hartford and stole metal pipes has been sentenced to up to 3 years in prison for the theft.

Robert G. Hartwell II, 40, of Victory Mills, pleaded guilty to third-degree burglary for the June 2014 break-in at a home that was for sale.

Pipes and 344 antique tin signs were taken. Many of the signs were recovered from his home, but the pipes were sold as scrap metal.

He was arrested in October 2014 by the Washington County Sheriff's Office, after a joint investigation with police in Saratoga County. Hartwell also has been charged in Washington County, and was arrested for a 2008 burglary as well.

Washington County Judge Kelly McKeighan imposed a 1- to 3-year state prison term.
GLENS FALLS  Property owners in Glens Falls must be diligent about clearing sidewalks after winter storms, said Mayor John Jack Diamond.

We give them 24 hours after a storm to get the sidewalks cleared, and we ask them to comply, Diamond said in an interview Monday at City Hall.

State property maintenance law requires sidewalks and driveways be kept in a proper state of repair, and city code specifically requires property owners to clear snow and ice from sidewalks within 24 hours of a storm.

City Code Enforcement Officer James Buxton issues warning notices to violators based on complaints or observations during routine neighborhood code enforcement patrols.

Diamond said no complaints had been received about uncleared sidewalks so far this year, as of mid-day Monday.

Not yet, he said.

Usually, people dont complain about uncleared sidewalks until snow and ice builds up from repeated storms, he said.

In 2015, Buxton issued the first violation notice of the year on Jan. 8 and had issued 64 violation notices as of mid-January, according to a Post-Star report at the time.

In January 2014, Buxton issued six violation notices in the first eight days of January.
GREENWICH  A village icon closed for a decade is the centerpiece of an economic development plan designed to revitalize a rundown section of the village.

Wallies Restaurant, a dining destination for more than 70 years, will be the site of the Greenwich Anchor Project, part of a $1.5 million proposal designed to bring a permanent farmers market, office space and other facilities to the site.

Wallies, at 52-54 Main St., has been closed for 10 years, and at one point, there was discussion of tearing the building down.

Instead, thanks to an eager investor and a $300,000 grant from the states economic development program, the old landmark may very well be getting new life.

Any new development would be welcome, especially in a part of Greenwich that has more empty storefronts than the central and western portions, but the fact that it will be at the Wallies site makes it special.

I remember being at Macys in New York City years ago, and when I told the clerk where I was from, they said, We always go up there every summer to eat at Wallies,  said Greenwich Mayor David Doonan, who was instrumental in the project.

Wallies was always the place you would go out to for Sunday dinner or to celebrate big events, said Kathy Nichols-Tomkins, managing director of the Greenwich Chamber of Commerce.

An ambitious plan

The application to the state, made by property owner William Wade, a local farmer, sought funding for two sites  Wallies and an unused building at 73 Main St.

The state funding only came through for the Wallies site, but Laura Oswald, the economic development director for Washington County, said it was her understanding that Wade is seeking additional funding to allow completion of both sites.

The proposal details plans for the Wallies property as a year-round farmers market, a farm-to-table tasting pavilion, office space, which may be used by the Agricultural Stewardship Association, and space for a craft brewery.

Argyle Brewing Co., which is also located in the eastern end of the village, has been a quick success and already has expansion plans.

The work on the Wallies site is supposed to be done by June.

The other portion of the proposal, the part which was not funded, focused on 73 Main St. The proposal there is to put an art gallery on the first floor and office space for Sterling Capital Partners on the second floor.

I think this plan is crucial to helping our downtown, Doonan said. Its just going to make a big difference.

Nichols-Tomkins said revitalizing the Wallies site will benefit the entire downtown area.

It will be an asset to the village, she said. Its good because it is at a mid-point of the downtown area. That lower end is changing, but its changing slowly. We are at a pivotal point right now. This will change peoples perceptions.

She said the success of the brewery is also a good example of what can happen to help a neighborhood.

I know they have long-range plans, she said. What weve got is young entrepreneurs who believe in the community.

County Administrator Chris DeBolt is also a fan of the plan.

Its a shot in the arm for a community that is already doing fairly well, DeBolt said. I really like it, because Wallies was always a constant in the community, The idea to get it back up and running and use it as an anchor project is a great idea.

Oswald is also on board.

The idea of making a direct connection to regional agriculture is a great idea, she said. This plan does have a lot of moving parts. I think its a great project. Using Wallies as a cornerstone has a lot of potential.

A long history

Wallies Restaurant closed in January 2006 when then-owners George and Jenny Denaker experienced financial hardship.

Adonis Mallios, a resident of Middleburgh and New York City, bought the fully equipped restaurant, banquet facility and property for $230,000 at auction in March 2006.

It was quickly re-opened, but closed before the end of the year.

I hope it reopens and is a little more successful than this last time, Greenwich Town Supervisor Don Wilbur said at the time. Ive eaten there hundreds of times.

Full dinners cost $3.75 when Lions Club members first met at Wallies in 1955, and even when it closed, a prime rib dinner cost $14, including tax and gratuity, said Sherwin Brown, secretary of the Greenwich Lions Club.

It was a sad closing for us, he said in a newspaper interview at the time. The club took down pictures of club presidents from 1954 through the present, as well as plaques praising the groups volunteer work, from the walls of the banquet room. The club had met there on the first and third Thursdays between September and June since 1955.

The restaurant was a popular spot for tourists during track or fall foliage season, and it was always packed on Mothers Day, regulars said when it closed.
LAKE LUZERNE  Hadley-Luzerne school staff will receive training on dealing with disruptive students.

The school board has approved a $29,300 contract with Cornell University to provide therapeutic crisis intervention services.

Interim Superintendent of Schools Beecher Baker said this training is for teachers, teacher assistants and aides who work in classrooms where there are disruptive students. The training will help staff deal with students who are acting out and using bad language and teach how to remove them from the classroom if necessary.

Its important that we understand how to de-escalate situations, he said.

The district will send four staff members for a week of training in early February. Then, those employees will train their colleagues at Hadley-Luzerne during professional development days, according to Baker.

The goal is to keep students and staff safe and minimize disruptions to the school day. Baker said problems with disruptive students do not occur that frequently, but it is important to know how to deal with them.

We just want to ensure that in these situations were doing everything possible, he said.

The training applies for students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Other districts participating in this training are Glens Falls, South Glens Falls, Hartford and Mechanicville, according to Baker.

The Cornell University program teaches educators how to help young people deal with frustration, failure, anger, rejection, hurt and depression, according to its website. The program was developed in 1979 out of a study Cornell did of child abuse and neglect in state group care situations. This included inappropriate use of discipline, isolation and restraint and poor management practices.

More than 3,000 professionals worldwide are certified TCI trainers, according to the website.
Thoughts that Haunt the Wee Hours, Theological or not, Both Momentous & Trivial
Identifying the Roots and the Resolve of the Arab-Israeli Conflict Sam Rohrer explores the roots of the Arab-Israeli conflict in this discussion with Bill Salus. Topics discussed include: When and Why It Started. Gods Response: Past and Present. Resolving the Conflict, (Psalm 83)

Biden calls for a 2-State solution and Hurricane Ian bites back In this prophecy update Tom Hughes and Bill Salus look at the Hurricanes that hit Canada and Florida in possible relation to Lapid's, Biden's and Trudeau's push for a 2-State solution. Also discussed are the topics of the Obadiah fatal Palestinian Prophecies, the Destruction of Damascus and much more.

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UFO Update! Bill Salus UFO Encounter! LA Marzulli shares the Bill Salus seeming encounter with UFO's

The IDF in Bible Prophecies In this teaching video, Bill Salus identifies several unfulfilled Bible prophecies that involve today's Israeli Defense Forces.

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Prophecies that can occur between Now and Eternity This message was given by Bill Salus at the Harvest Christian Centre Prophecy Conference 2022 in Park Hills, Missouri on 9/9/2022. He presents a Last Days 12-Stage Timeline of Prophecies that could occur between Now and Eternity which he has written about in his 5-book series, the NOW, NEXT, LAST, FINAL and MILLENNIUM Prophecies. He focuses this presentation on the Pre-Tribulation prophecies; prophecies that could find fulfillment before the Rapture.

The Wars Leading to Armageddon Join Bill Salus and Mondo Gonzales on this Prophecy Watchers TV show as they explore some of the unfulfilled biblical wars.

The Road to Armageddon: The Pre-Tribulational Prophecies Trailer ...This is the official trailer for a new 4-disc DVD from Prophecy Watchers TV that features Bill Salus and Mondo Gonzales.

Emergence of the Exceedingly Great Israeli Army in Bible Prophecy ...In this 5-minute video, Bill Salus and Tom Hughes explore how the Israeli Defense Forces exist in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. This video is an excerpt from the Pre-Tribulation Prophecies DVD.

The Terrorization of Egypt by the Israeli Defense Forces in Isaiah 19:16-18 ...In this short 4-minute video, Bill Salus and Tom Hughes discuss the future prophecies about Egypt in Isaiah 19:1-18. Egypt's peace pact with Israel ends when Isaiah's prophecies begin. This video is an excerpt from the Pre-Tribulation Prophecies DVD.

Does Psalm 83 Describe Israels War BEFORE Gog & Magog? ...On today's Watchman Newscast, host Erick Stakelbeck is joined by author Bill Salus of Prophecy Depot Ministries to break down the Bibles mysterious Psalm 83 passage and whether it describes a future war between Israel and its enemies, led by Iran and its proxies. Some say this passage was already fulfilled in 1967 or 1948. However, Salus believes these events have yet to take place and will transpire before the war of Gog and Magog. Could Psalm 83 set the stage for Gog/Magog showdown as described in the Book of Ezekiel?

Future Prophecies Revealed | Tom Hughes and Bill Salus ...For the last 10 years Bible prophecy experts, Bill Salus and Pastor Tom Hughes have opened Gods Word and discovered a series of little-known future prophecies that have escaped the notice of most Christians. This TV show explores some of them.

The Spiritual Survival Kit for Those Left Behind ...If the Rapture happened today, would you or someone you love, be left behind to face the travails of the Seven-Year Tribulation Period? This treacherous period is when God pours out His wrath through a series of twenty-one judgments on Christ-rejecting humanity. Its undoubtedly the worst time to be alive in the history of the planet and the signs of the times point out that this time draws frightfully near! PREPARE YOUR LOVED ONES WITH THE SPIRITUAL SURVIVAL KIT FOR THOSE LEFT BEHIND.

Disaster in Iran: Iran has Double Trouble in the End Times Pastor Tom Hughes and Bill Salus explain the Jeremiah 49:34-39 prophecy of Elam. It seems ready to happen and it appears to be a nuclear disaster by the Persian Gulf. (This is an excerpt from their Pre-Tribulation Prophecies DVD).

The Destruction of Damascus is a Pre-Tribulational Bible Prophecy Bill Salus and Tom Hughes explain the Isaiah 17 prophecy about the destruction of Damascus. This is an excerpt from their Pre-Tribulation Prophecies 2-Disc DVD.

NEW 3-DISC DVD - EZEKIEL 38: WHEN GOD DEFENDS ISRAEL



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Will Ancient Prophecies be Fulfilled in Our Lifetime? On this Prophecy Watchers show, Bill Salus and Mondo Gonzales reveal some ancient biblical prophecies that could happen in this generation.

Iran's Double Trouble in the End Times In this interview with Kurt Hudspeth and co-host Dr. Larry Miller of the God Family and Radio Show, Bill gives his insight, based on years of study, into the future biblical battles that are now stage setting. These end times epic events will have a global impact and our world will be shaken. Bill sees Prophecy as a witnessing tool that authenticates the sovereignty of God, Who told us the end from the beginning and wants to inform us because He loves us. Bill hopes that as Christians learn about these things in the Word of God that they will evangelize to the lost.

RUSSIA INVADES UKRAINE: What Are The Prophetic Implications For Israel? ... Tom Hughes and Bill Salus give a timely update on Ukraine, Russia, USA and Israel in prophecy.

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The Coming Ezekiel 38 Invasion TV Show ...Bill Salus explains why Ezekiel 38 is the marquee event of the end times.

What Happens in the Aftermath of Ezekiel 38 and 39? In this Prophecy Watchers TV show Bill Salus and Mondo Gonzales explore the important details about what happens in the aftermath of the Lord's supernatural defeat of Russia, Turkey, Iran and their hordes in Ezekiel 38 and 39.

The MIDEAST WAR is COMMING! Tom Hughes and Bill Salus start with a Mideast update. Then Bill addresses Daniel 11:37, (will the Antichrist be a homosexual)? Also explored is whether or not the 144,000 Jewish evangelist are virgins as per Revelation 14:4. Several other prophetic topics are discussed.

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The Global Government in the Millennium - Christ Rules with a Rod of Iron In this short video Bill Salus teaches about the global government in the MILLENNIUM. This message explains how and why Jesus Christ rules with a rod of iron. Discover the Jewish and Gentile branches of government during this 1000 year Messianic Age.

Psalm 83: Is it an unfulfilled prophecy? In this 8-minute video below, Bill Salus responds to his critics about the Psalm 83 prophetic war





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The Destruction and Restoration of Planet Earth ...This short 2 1/2 minute video is taken from the Bill Salus DVD entitled, The MILLENNIUM Prophecies and the NEW JERUSALEM. At the end of the Seven-Year Tribulation Period the present planet will be destroyed, but the good news is that Jesus Christ will restore the earth to its former glories for the MILLENNIUM.

...In this short video, Bill Salus peers into the prophetic future and shares what he foresees coming in the Middle East. The stage is clearly set for, not one, but several last days biblical wars to happen. These epic foretold events could turn 2022 into an apocalyptic year. This video excerpt was taken from the timely Prophecy Watchers TV show entitled, Prophecy Update: Israel's Nuclear Showdown with Iran. This Prophecy Watchers show can be seen below.

Prophecy Update: Israel's Nuclear Showdown with Iran Join Mondo Gonzales and Bill Salus as they discuss and analyze the momentous events that are happening in Israel currently. The Nuclear talks in Vienna are going nowhere. Israel passed a $1.5 billion dollar legislative packet in October authorizing the training and preparation for a direct attack on Iran's nuclear sites. Iran's brigadier general openly acknowledges recently their desire to wipe Israel off the map. This isn't just the typical saber-rattling. There are new red lines that are being crossed and Israel is now being forced to take decisive action as Iran poses an existential threat.

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The Eternal Order and The New Jerusalem On this Prophecy Watchers TV show, Bill Salus explains the highlights of the Millennium and the Eternal Order that follows. He also covers the events in the Aftermath Age, which is a time period between the Millennium and Eternal Order.

Bill Salus and Tom Hughes are together again. This timely video explores several Pre-Tribulation Prophecies. This show ends with a live Q and A.

The MILLENNIUM Prophecies: the 75-Day Interval ...On this Prophecy Watchers TV show Bill Salus explains what happens in the 75-Day Interval that sets up the Millennial Kingdom.





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Bill Salus & Tom Hughes Reveal The Pre-Tribulation Prophecies WATCH THIS RECENT PROPHECY WATCHER TV SHOW...

Salus and Marzulli discuss groundbreaking Bible prophecies ... This video received over 150,000 views, but was recently censored. So we have reposted it. Watch it before it gets removed again.

Mideast Update: The 3 Hamas Prophecies (11:25 minute video) Did you know that the Hamas and Palestinians appear to be identified in Bible prophecy? In this Mideast Update, Bill Salus discusses the current Hamas vs. Israeli conflict and reveals the 3 prophecies that appear to allude to the Hamas terrorist organization in the Gaza.

Vintage Video: The Post-Rapture Pre-Tribulation Gap Period ...Bill Salus explains the gap of unspecified time between the Rapture and the Seven-Year Tribulation Period....We are building our YouTube channel by posting NEW and OLD videos into a library for our viewers. PLEASE SUBSCRIBE by clicking the YouTube button at the bottom right of this video. It will take you to our channel and then click on the SUBSCRIBE BUTTON.

2021 Update: Why America Will Fall From Superpower Status (Part 1) ...In this 24-minute video Bill Salus points out that America is morally and spiritually bankrupt. He identifies when the USA said "GOODBYE GOD," and how that provoked GOD to abandon America.

Why America will Fall from Superpower Status (Part 2) ...In this video, Bill Salus provides a summary of the Ezekiel 38 prophecy. Bill also presents the biblical, historical, archaeological, geographical and geo-political arguments that America is a cowardly young lion of Tarshish in Ezekiel 38:13. This means that America is a sideline protestor during the end times Magog Invasion into Israel. As such, America is pictured in a less than super-power status. Bill presents the possible scenarios that could cause America to decline between now and the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38.

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The LAST Prophecies on Prophecy Watchers TV Bill Salus has another information packed visit with Gary Stearman of Prophecy Watchers. They highlighted some key content of Bills new book, The LAST Prophecies. What is meant by the Final/Terminal Generation? What is the end times timeline? What starts the 7-year Tribulation and what is its purpose? They also discussed that there will be a final worldwide revival amidst the judgments of the Trib-Period and also pondered, what are the end time technologies that the ancient apostles and prophets tried to describe?

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The Catholic Church in the Tribulation ... Bill Salus explains the future of the Catholic Church in Bible prophecy.

Revealing the Mystery of End Times Babylon Dr. David Reagan and Nathan Jones interview Bill Salus on Christ in Prophecy TV. The topic that is discussed is the true identity of the GREAT CITY called Mystery, Babylon. Is it New York City, Jerusalem, Mecca, Rebuilt Babylon, Iraq, or is it Rome, the city that sits on seven-hills? Watch this TV show to hear the arguments that strongly suggest that the Harlot world religion is the Catholic Church and that the GREAT CITY that it's headquartered in is ROME!

BILL SALUS EXPLAINS WHY PSALM 83 IS A NOW PROPHECY ON PROPHECY WATCHERS TV ... Many prophecy buffs believe that Ezekiel 38 is the prophecy that could happen Now, but Bill Salus explains why that is not likely. He says Psalm 83 is a Now Prophecy, but certain preconditions exist today that suggest Ezekiel 38 is a Next Prophecy.
M WAQAR..... "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties; no religious basis is necessary.Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." --Albert Einstein !!! NEWS,ARTICLES,EDITORIALS,MUSIC... Ze chi pe mayeen yum da agha pukhtunistan de.....(Liberal,Progressive,Secular World.)''Secularism is not against religion; it is the message of humanity.''    
Under tax holidays, companies are given time limits typically between 5 to 15 years from the start of their operations in Ghana where they are exempted from paying taxes. It gives special dispensation to companies to recover investment costs before coming into tax payment position.

Addressing the issue, Abdallah challenged the rationale for the new law. Was it that government thinks the tax holiday was too much?, he asked hypothetically.

On the 15% tax rates on services, he described the increase as way too high. According to him, increasing it from 5% to 15% can be counterproductive. He wondered if government actually considered the net margins of people before the imposition.

Government is already backtracking on 1% imposition of tax on local investors. In a statement today, the Finance Ministry said, On the issue of the imposition of a 1% tax on interest earned by individuals, Government has already submitted proposals to Parliament to reverse the position.

A new tax on petroleum products has resulted in a 28% upward adjustment of petrol prices. Commercial drivers are meeting to announce hikes in transport fares.

Mr. Abdallah however hailed the 75% of corporate tax rate on businesses operating outside Accra and Tema. He said the move will motivate companies to move outside the two cities to take advantage of this tax law.
Faced with these challenges, national governments and foreign aid donors regularly call for deep reforms to schooling systems to improve the quality of learning. For instance, the UKs Department of International Development recently allocated 21 million on research to build an understanding of education systems and how they can be transformed to accelerate learning.

But are these concerns supported by the facts?

Delving into the data

On the face of it, the answer is yes. An initiative called Uwezo is trying to improve literacy and numeracy rates among children aged six to 16 in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. Data collected by Uwezo since 2009 in these countries shows a somewhat depressing combination of high rates of enrolment, but low rates of learning.

These tendencies are illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. The first figure reflects the share of children aged 9-11 in each of the three countries who report that they are attending school. We can see that in all three cases, more than 90% of children are enrolled. This is a vast improvement. Kenya, for instance, almost halved the number of children out of school between 1999 and 2010.

Figure 2 shows the share of children aged 9-11 able to both read simple words and discern which of two numbers is larger than another for numbers of up to two digits. These are skills that should be mastered in the first few years of school  preferably, in first grade. In all countries there is a learning gap. Large numbers of children are enrolled in schools, but very few of them have these basic skills. And these results are not accounted for by older children in first grade. Other measures of learning quality also point to significant concerns. For instance, less than half of all children aged 9-11 in the region are able to pass basic literacy and numeracy tests at the Standard 2 level.

Behind the average

Aggregate evidence of this kind appears to substantiate both the shift of focus to learning, as well as the need for significant, large-scale reforms. Learning quality does need to be improved across the board. But jumping from these big facts to policy recommendations is never simple. Moreover, a focus on averages can be very misleading. The distribution of outcomes must be examined.

Indeed, an immediate issue jumps out from Figure 2: there is a large difference in average results between the three countries. Although the Uwezo tests are not perfectly comparable, the evidence is strong that children in Uganda generally perform less well than children from Kenya.

Even more importantly, there are pockets of both success and failure within each country. School systems are not homogeneous things. The challenges facing government schools in the remote arid regions of Northern Kenya are materially different to those facing schools in the upmarket Westlands suburb of Nairobi. In fact, the gap in learning outcomes between the best and worst districts in each country is enormous. This is illustrated in Figure 3, again using the same metric of very basic literacy and numeracy skills.

Figure 3: Basic literacy and numeracy skills, by best and worst district in each country

An alternative agenda
West African Gas Ltd (WAGL)  a 60/40 joint venture between Nigerian National Petroleum Corp. (NNPC) and Sahara Energy Resources  has contracted the Tundra FSRU from Golar LNG for five years, with the option to extend the deal for a further five years.

The Tundra, which has a send-out capacity of 14 million cubic metres per day, is undergoing final modifications in Singapore before it sets sail for Ghana. It will be moored in the port of Tema at a jetty now being adapted by WAGL.

Whether the project will meet its proposed startup date depends on how quickly WAGL is able to finish building this associated infrastructure, Jubril Kareem, an energy research analyst at Ecobank, told Interfax.

"While the vessel may be ready by the take-off date, it is highly unlikely that operations will commence at that time," he said.

WAGL has secured LNG for the project, but has not revealed the name of the supplier. However, as WAGL was specifically established to trade NNPCs equity offtake from Nigeria LNGs (NLNGs) 22 mtpa Bonny Island plant, the assumption is the cargoes will come from there, said Kareem.

A source told Interfax that BP will supply the LNG, at least in the short term.

But given Ghanas location, it would still make sense to source cargoes from Nigeria  or potentially Equatorial Guinea.

"BP has been a buyer of Nigerian LNG cargoes  mainly through tenders for [free-on-board] cargoes," Andy Flower, an independent LNG consultant, told Interfax. "I can see Nigeria being part of its supply source for Ghana, if indeed it has secured the contract to supply the FSRU."

An alternative source would be Trinidad & Tobago, where BP has access to LNG from Train 4.

A further supply option  which may make more sense if WAGL extends the contract with Golar  would be the Freeport LNG project in Texas. BP has contracted the full 4.4 mtpa of capacity from Train 2, which is scheduled to start production in 2018.

To secure LNG from Equatorial Guinea, BP would have to buy cargoes from BG Group, which is contracted to take the full 3.7 mtpa of LNG from the plant on Bioko Island. "Perhaps a swap with the BP-operated Tangguh LNG plant in Indonesia could be an option," said Flower. This could also be an option for the Nigerian cargoes.

BP was previously named as one of the potential suppliers to WAGLs predecessor, the Tema LNG-to-power project proposed by Quantum Energy. Quantum had initially signed an agreement with Golar to use the Tundra FSRU for Tema, which Quantum had hoped would reach FID by June 2015. But Ghanas shaky credit rating and a failure to secure the necessary government guarantees for power offtake have stalled the project, Interfax understands.

NNPC may have directly secured LNG from Bonny Island to export to Ghana. The drop in global LNG demand means there is plenty of supply available from the project.

Most of NLNGs output is contracted for delivery to Europe and the United States, but in the past few years more than 50% has been diverted to alternative destinations, mainly in Asia but also in Latin America, said Flower.

"With the differential between European prices and Asian prices narrowing, less Nigerian LNG is being delivered to Asia. Volumes were down by 1.1 mt in the first 11 months of 2015 and I expect them to decline further in 2016," he said.

Government support

But relying on NNPC to secure offtake from NLNG would depend on the WAGL partnership enjoying the same support under Nigerian President Muhammadu Buharis government as it did under his predecessor Goodluck Jonathan  and "this is unclear at the moment", according to Kareem. "Since the change of government, a lot of contracts and JVs have come under scrutiny."

In August NNPC cancelled a 90,000 barrel per day crude swap agreement with Sahara on the grounds the contract was opaque and did not offer value for the NOC.
The horrific execution took place in front of a large crowd, a local media activist who witnessed the killing told Syrian news agency ARA.

The teen was reportedly captured "in the house of an ISIS leader" on Thursday.

"The boy was accused of being engaged in a homosexual relation with the prominent ISIS officer Abu Zaid al-Jazrawi," said Sarai al-Din.

The Sharia Court in Deir ez-Zor demanded Abu Zaid die for being homosexual, but ISIS commanders intervened and demanded he be sent to fight in Iraq instead.

"Abu Zaid was forced to leave Syria and join the fighting fronts in northwestern Iraq. The decision has been taken by the ISIS leadership," al-Din said.

Islamic State has suffered heavy defeats in recent months.

The UN Security Council held its first discussion on ISIS attacks against LGBT people in the Middle East last month.

The executive director of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, Jessica Stern, said Islamic State's homophobic violence was inspiring other militias and 'private actors' to attack gay people too.

She also said that persecution of LGBT people in Iraq and Syria began long before the emergence of ISIS.

Stern said: "In addition to men perceived as gay, trans-identified people and lesbians are among those who have been raped and killed," she added.
In an interview with Accra-based Joy FM, an anonymous senior staff said "we the staff think that somebody somewhere has manipulated the process and the right thing must be done. In the first place they should go strictly by the appointment criteria and asking certain key people to recuse themselves from the interview process."
Mark Ndemohe-Owusu pleaded not guilty and would re-appear on January 20.Prosecution Police Chief Inspector Ivey Agadia told the court presided over by Justice Hannah-Abigail Animah Asare that on November 21,2015, a complain was made at the Winneba Domestic and Violence Department of the Ghana Police Service that the accused has defiled the victim.According to prosecution, the victim fell sick and her parents took her to the Winneba Government Hospital and after examination it was detected that she was two months pregnant and when interrogated she mentioned the accused as the one who violated her.The accused person was arrested and after investigation he was arraigned before court.Source: GNA
He said government is appreciative of the role some chiefs played in ensuring peace and tranquillity in the region.

Alhaji Mohammed-Minuru made the appeal in Damongo during the 2015 special Damba festival of the chiefs and people of the Yagbon (Gonja) Traditional Area, where some personalities were awarded for their exemplary leadership and contributions to national development.

According to the Minister, festivals all over the country are no longer simple occasions for merry making, celebration of culture and tradition but they provide an opportunity for stock taking and developing strategies to improve the lot of the people.

He said the Damba festival epitomises the culture and heritage that bears the past, present and the future and expressed the importance of unity, togetherness and continued peace in the region for development.

He pointed out that education is key to development and in line with governments efforts to improve accelerated access to education, it is pursuing vigorous programme to ensure that the right environment is created to enhance teaching and learning.

He said the construction and expansion of school blocks at all levels of the educational ladder in the region and advised the youth especially Gonjas to take the future of the Gonja Traditional Area into their hands and push for the needed development.

He was certain that the construction of the Eastern Corridor road would facilitate the movement of goods and people while other roads in the region including those in Debre areas as well as Mankarigu would be worked on.

The Yagbonwura Tuntumba Boresa Sulemana Jakpa I, King of the Gonja Kingdom said it is important for chiefs to adopt innovative approaches to complement government and other development partners to advance the developmental projects.

He said Gonjaland is torn apart with rivers and perennial floods and appealed to government to consider constructing bridges over some of the rivers.

We need a bridge between Binjai and Kusawgu to shorten the distance between Kpembe, Kusawgu and Tulewe, he said.
Various political parties have expressed mixed reactions to the decision by the Electoral Commission (EC) to audit the national voters register for the 2016 elections.

MINISTRY SUBMITS PROPOSALS TO REVERSE ONE PERCENT WITHHOLDING TAX

The Finance Ministry has submitted proposals to Parliament to reverse the one percent withholding tax imposed on the interest earned by individuals on any investment.

AMAYE DEDE ESCAPES DEATH

A Ghanaian Highlife legend, Damiel Amakye Dede, popularly known as Iron Boy, escaped death by a hairs breadth in an accident that killed his manager on the spot and seriously injured his bodyguard.

COMMUTERS TO PAY MORE AS FUEL PRICES GO UP

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) is set to increase transport fares as fuel prices go up this early January.

NON-PERFORMERS WILL BE SACKED  PRESIDENT CAUTIONS GOVERNMENT APPOINTEES

President John Mahama has given his unwavering assuarance to dismiss appointees who will fail to deliver on their promises to the people.

AMAKYE DEDE SURVIVES FATAL ACCIDENT

Highlife legend, Amakye Dede, is reported to be responding to treatment at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital after surviving a fatal accident on New Years Day at Bonsu Junction in the Eastern Region.

BNI ARRESTS SLY MENSAH OVER NHIS

Seven heavily armed operatives of the Bureau of National Investigation (BNI) on New Years Eve, went to the private residence of Sylvester Adinam Mensah  former Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA)  with the intent to arrest him.

RAWLINGS PETITIONED OVER ZANETOR

Dr Zanetor Rawlings is facing an uphill task in her bid to represent the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament for the Klottey Korle constituency in the face of petitions against her election aside the suit against her.

AMAKYE ESCAPES DEATH

Celebrated Highlife musician, Abrantie Amakye Dede and two of his band members got involved in a motor accident that left one of his managers, Isaac Yeboah, dead on the spot early Saturday morning.

CABINET SHAKE-UP

At least three regional ministers are on their way out of John Mahamas administration, as the presidency is set to release the list of ministers to be affected by a reshuffle.

EC FACES DILEMMA IN ARRIVING AT CREDIBLE WAY TO CLEAN VOTERS REGISTER

The Electoral Commission faces a though burden to produce a credible voters register as it has rejected the call by the New Patriotic Party and scores of political activists for a new voters register.

TRANSPORT FARES TO GO UP

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) is set to increase transport fares following the latest fuel price increases.

ATUABO SHUTDOWN NOT TO AFFECT POWER SUPPLY
Atuabo Gas Processing Plant revealed its decision, over the weekend to shutdown for planned maintenance after operating for more that 8000 hours. This will be the second time the gas processing plant shuts down after it commenced functioning in September 2014.

As is expected, the news has awoken fears of a possible worsening of the country's power situation owing to rumours that power providers, VRA may not have enough fuel to power the country's thermal plants.

However, the Public Relations Officer of the Volta River Authority, Sam Fletcher has revealed to Pulse Business that the planned shutdown of Ghana Gas will not in any way affect availability of fuel to power the country's thermal plants.

" As we speak, Atuabo Gas has not shut down yet. We have enough gas supply from the plant for effective provision of power. So power supply will not be affected today, that's for sure."

Pulse Business: Are there contigency plans, however, for January 15th when the Gas Plant Shuts Down?

Sam Fletcher: I can assure Ghanaians that power supply will not be disrupted when the plant is shut down. There are plans to provide enough fuel to keep up with power provision.

The planned maintenance is scheduled to last for 14 days.

The maintenance, according to Alfred Ogbamey, was required by the original equipment manufacturers and vendors for the maintenance of certain critical components in the gas processing plant on a periodic basis.

The move is also to facilitate warranty assurance on the installed equipment and the validity of our operating insurance cover, he said.
According to the General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana, Rev Dr Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong, "Ghana is older than the NPP and NDC."

He expressed apprehensions about the potential for aggressive behaviour as the political season kicks off.

The 2016 general election is expected to be one of the keenest in recent history.

A victory for the ruling NDC will confine the NPP to 12 years in opposition, the longest time the party has been out of government since it was formed in 1991.

"We should be oneI am so worried when I see so much apparent division," he added.
According to them, the MP, Mr Joseph Sam Amankwanor who recently won the bid to re-contest the elections in 2016 holds dual citizenship and hence they want him changed as their parliamentary candidate.

Ghanas laws prevents a person with dual nationality from running for public office.

They have since sent a letter to the General Secretary of the NDC asking for a committee to be instituted to investigate the matter.

A spokesperson of the group, Andy Awujah told Accra based radio station, Citi FM that they may be forced to go to court if the party does not address the issue.

He said they have credible information that the MP holds dual nationality of Ghana and USA.

There have been simmering tensions in the constituency since the former District Chief Executive of Upper West Akyem, Mr Derek Ohene Asifo contested and lost the November 2015 constituency parliamentary primaries of the NDC to Mr Amankwanor.
The petitioner, Stephen Asante, accused Dr Tamakloe of conducting himself in a way that undermined the peace and unity within the party.

But, in a quick response, Dr. Nyaho Nyaho Tamakloe said the executives had no right to suspend him, and he is ready to fight them.

 I treat with contempt, the letter purportedly written by the Greater Accra Regional executives of the NPP on the 31st of December, 2015 suspending me from the party. The authors are just gaping sycophants, Dr. Nyaho-Tamakloe stated in a statement.

He said the authors were in such a haste to attack me that they failed to respect the time-honoured principle of giving an accused the opportunity to face his accusers and defend himself. This so called suspension is of no moment and I will continue to fight for NPPS ideals.

As a statesman, in recent times, I have heeded counsel not to speak on party matters. However, I have never retreated from a fight so I will respond pound for pound. Please ask my detractors what the party has done to members who, among other things:

a) violently disrupted party parliamentary primaries leasing to criminal prosecution

b) advocated that only Akans are worthy of ruling Ghana

c) falsely attack His Excellency J. A. Kufuor and other leading members of the Party without basis

d) violently disrupted public functions organised by other party members including senior citizens Attoh-Quarshie

e) violently prevented elected Party officials from entering the Party headquarters

f) havebeen caught on tape planning to mount dubious court cases against financial institutions to make money for their own pockets.

He further stated that, all of these people want to prove their allegiance to our flag bearer by running others down. They are counting their chickens before they are hatched. Instead of focusing on the 2016 elections, they are pursuing an agenda of rumour mongering.

I refuse to answer to fascists. I will answer to people like J. A. Kufuor, B. K. Adama, Tolon Naa Alhaji Yakubu Talli, Roland Al hassan, Dzato Kaleo, Alhaji Adbulai Issahaque, Peter Ala Adjetey, D. J. DaRocha, Dr. Dsane Selby, J. H. Mensah, Samuel Odoi Sykes, K. G. Osei Bonsu and those who laid the foundation of our party, and not these ignoramuses. Even the Greater Accra Regional chairman  who knows him in Greater Accra?, the statement added.
According to the YBNL boss, the two showbiz personalities are not only sorry but reconsidered their leadership traits as bosses of record labels and youths.

The two top telco ambassadors - Olamide represents Etisalat, while Don Jazzy represents MTN - have since ended the enemity and embraced peace.

Inside sources alleged that a Lagos State commissioner, who is a big fan of both artiste had prevailed on both parties to let the misunderstanding passby.

It was further disclosed that the commissioner is known to have been the brain behind the One Lagos concert, which had both artistes on the bill.

Olamide had made this known when he shared a picture of himself and Don jazzy at a car park with the caption, "We are very Sorry for the wahala make una no vex oh. It is our responsibility to lead but then again we are only human and we all make mistakes! #WeAreSorryHeadies #WeAreSorryFans #PeaceAndUnity #SMD #YBNL #OneLagos #OneNigeria
Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected! Welcome to the Pulse Community! We will now be sending you a daily newsletter on news, entertainment and more. Also join us across all of our other channels - we love to be connected!
The woman, Eunice Leshunet, according to the reports, had announced to her family that she would be in the race for the Kajiado Senatorial seat in that country's forthcoming general elections to be held in August, 2017, but that announcement was not a good piece of news for her husband who tried to stop her but on her refusal, he pounced on her and beat her silly.

Eunice Leshunet in good times

Photo Credit: Facebook

Leshunet later took to her Facebook page to post a photo of her battered face with the following words:

This is the brutality I got from a man I call father to my kids after declaring my candidature for senatorial seat come 2017.

Currently working with a non-governmental organisation, Leshunet went on to say that the beating from her husband will not deter her from going after her political dream.
Bello, a Senior Secondary School 1 (SSS1) student, according to the report, with an accomplice who is on the run, had stormed the shop on December 15, 2015, around 10pm, under the pretext of buying clothes and after they had selected some shirts, a pair of trousers and a cap worth N10,500, and had pretended to be making payment to the shop owner, identified as Okeke Ikenna, they brought out a gun and a cutlass, ordering the attendant and his girlfriend who was also at the shop, to lie down.

They then went ahead to dispossess their victims of two Tecno phones valued at N30,000; an LG phone worth N29,000 and one Infinity phone valued at N15,000, as well as a cash sum of N54,000.

It was after they had left the shop that the attendant raised an alarm and some passersby got wind of their operation and gave them a chase, leading to Bellos arrest and after he had been given a sound beating, he was handed over to the police at the Ilemba Hausa Division from where he was transferred to the Special Anti-Robbery Squad, Ikeja, for investigation.

Bello reportedly confessed to the crime, saying it was his first time and he was initiated to it by the fleeing Friday.

He was subsequently arraigned before a presiding magistrate in Ikeja, Mrs. O. Olanipekun, on Thursday, on two counts of robbery.

A police prosecutor, Inspector William Ologun, told the court that the offence contravened Section 294 of the Criminal Law of Lagos State, 2011, and was punishable under Section 295 (2) of the same law.

The accuseds plea was not taken by the court just as his defence counsel told the court that Bellos age, which is 16, had been falsified on the charge sheet as 19. The observation prompted Olanipekun to go through the statement Bello made to the police after which she discovered that he was actually 16 years old.
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The man was paraded at the police station was said to dress up like a woman and stand along the road or visit clubs where men would pick him up thinking he was a woman only for them to fall for his scam and they end up being defrauded.
Sources disclosed that, Mipera, after conducting his own survey around the bank, invited two of his friends, Thankgod Sugha and Ebibo Winoh, from his home town to Ilututu and rented an apartment for them. He was also said to have invited six militants based at a camp in Ijegemo-Isheri Oshun, Lagos State, headed by one TK, a notorious pipeline vandal and bank robber.

The hoodlums from Lagos, who were led by one Bright, who supplied the gang with two Ak 47 rifles and additional expertise on how to break into bank. The suspects were said to have struck the bank on December 24, 2015, a day before Christmas.

Vanguard was reliably informed that the Inspector General of Police, Solomon Arase, had received an intelligence report on the gangs activities and he deployed operatives of the SIRT, headed by CSP Abba Kyari to Ondo State, to track and apprehend the suspects.

A motorcycle operator who runs errand for one of the suspects was first apprehended and he led the operatives in arresting four of suspects including one of the militants from Lagos.

The suspects who were identified as Ebibo Winoh 23, Michael Mipera 22, Thankgod Sugha 24, and Idowu Sobijoh 23, narrated their separate roles in the operation and how they joined the gang. Winoh and Sugha confessed that Mipera invited them for the job, but Sobijoh disclosed that the recent disruption of their operations in Ijegemo by some soldiers made him venture into armed robbery.

According to Sobijoh :I have never gotten myself involved into any bank robbery before. This was my first attempt and it wasnt completely my intention. It was the soldiers who stopped our operation at Ijegemo that forced me into it. The soldiers were demanding we pay them the sum of N5million before we could resume operation. We offered them N3million but they refused. While we were broke, Bright got a call from Mipera about the Ilututu bank operation and he mobilized six of us to go for the operation. I didnt get to Ilututu on time because I was very broke but when I got to Ondo State, I was informed that the operation went successful but they didnt get any money from the bank. Unfortunately, I was arrested on my way back to my village in Ajapa he narrated.
Jaelyn was the last baby born in San Diego County in 2015 and her brother the first baby born in the county in 2016.

The childrens father, Luis Valencia, told NBC-affiliate KNSD: "We were actually watching the clock, we wanted to see if we were one of the first ones. Maribel really wanted to have the babies on the same birthday, because you know later on in the years, theyre going to have a little confrontation and be like, my birthday came first, so it means two birthday parties, back to back."

Maribel works as a cashier at the San Diego International Airport, while Valencia is a diesel mechanic for the Navy, KNSD reported. The couples new set of twin will join their older sister, 3-year-old Isabella.

The births occurred at the San Diego Kaiser Permanente Zion Medical Center, according to ABC News. The Hospital spokeswoman, Jennifer Dailard said that Jaelyn weighed 4 pounds, 15 ounces and her brother Luis weighed 5 pounds, 9 ounces. Both infants, who had not been expected to arrive until later this month, and their mother were reported to be doing well.
It was gathered that the disagreement that led to the murder of the 28-year-old Bassey, ensued between the duo who were neighbours at Adebowole Street, Oke-Aro in Akure, when Ajewole allegedly found some of his missing chickens feathers inside Basseys belonging when he was about packing out of the house.

Following the discovery, Ajewole who was said to have informed the police about the incident, was alleged to have killed Bassey when pushing the him into the police van that had come to arrest him.

According to the police prosecutor, ASP Pelumi Adejuwon, the suspect allegedly pushed the deceased to the ground and he hit his head on the floor in the process of pushing him inside the police vehicle. He reportedly died as a result of the injury he sustained when he fell.

ASP Adejuwon told the court that the action of the accused was responsible for the death of the victim, noting that the offence was contrary to and punishable under section 316 and 319 of the Criminal Code Cap 37 vol.1 Laws of Ondo state of Nigeria 2006.

Adejuwon prayed the court for adjournment of the case to enable him send the duplicate of the case file to the Director of Public Prosecution for Legal Advice, urging the court to remand the accused person in prison custody, pending the outcome of the advice from the office of the DPP.
Fasunla, of the University College Hospital (UCH), Ibadan, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Ibadan.

He said that oranges, which are generally available throughout the year, have enormous health and nutritional values.

"Oranges offer protection against cardiovascular diseases.

The herperidin, a flavour in oranges, has been shown to lower high blood pressure.

"The folate content is necessary for lowering levels of homocysteine, a potent cardiovascular risk factor.

The ENT doctor also said that the Vitamin C content of the orange also offered protection against Colon cancer.

"Vitamin C is the primary water-soluble antioxidant in the body that disarms free radicals and prevents them from damaging cells.

"This is why a good intake of orange juice is associated with a reduced risk of colon cancer.

"Orange is a strong anti-inflammatory agent that prevents free radical damage that triggers conditions like asthma, osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis," he said.

Fasunla also said that drinking a glass of orange juice daily would help to improve wound healing, boost the immune system and protect the body against chronic diseases.

He said there were many benefits of eating an orange a day, urging people to also eat the inner white pulp of the fruit.

"The wound healing properties of oranges have been associated with a wide variety of photonutrient compounds.

"However, most of these are found in the peel and the inner white pulp of the orange.
Babatunde, who represents the Akoko South East/Akoko South West federal constituency of Ondo State, also urged Nigerians to be patient with President Muhammadu Buhari.

The 2015 budget could be said not to have impacted on the lives of Nigerians at all. In the first instance, the Capital Component (N557 billion) which was 16 percent of the budget was too low to be effective. Yet, of this amount, less than N200 billion was released, he said while speaking to journalists in Akure recently.

While the Recurrent component of the 2015 budget performed in most cases up to over 70 percent, the aspect that would have brought succour to the Nigerian people performed less than 40 percent. Again, there were so many revenue leakages and abuses of budget processes.

For me, the 2016 budget is a budget of optimism. For the first time, the country is having a budget that is not only highest in terms of estimates with N6.08 Trillion, but also its the most people oriented in the last few years.

It is an avenue to provide jobs and make funds available for the small and medium scale businesses which will in turn positively affect the economy. There is also the social welfare package. But there is really no point in estimates that are off mark and dysfunctional.

Meanwhile, the Peoples Democratic Party has criticized Buhari for the budget saying that the president wants to make Nigerian an indebted nation like Greece.

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This is following a threat by the Governor, to sack all striking doctors who embarked on a strike, over the non-payment of their salaries.

Speaking to Punch Newspapers, the President of the Association of Resident Doctors at the Ladoke Akintola University of Technology, Osogbo, Dr. Adeyinka Owolabi, said  It is true that the state government has stopped our salaries. I am not sure if there was a circular to that effect but we did not receive October and November salaries alerts like other workers.

There is no end in sight to the strike. The salary is the main cause of this strike and we can never accept half salaries because we are not going to give our patients half treatment. The government is adamant and we are also not going to shift ground on this.

Speaking on the matter, an information consultant to the Osun state government, Mr. Sunday Aker, said that the government is working hard to ensure the matter is settled this week.

The National Association of Government General Medical and Dental Practitioners (NAGG.MDP) also threatened to lay down tools if the government does not meet their demands.
In statement by the Deputy Director of Press in the Ministry, Samuel Olowookere, he said the call for recruitment in the ministry is false, urging the public to disregard it.

The statement said: The general public is hereby advised to disregard this false directive as it did not emanate from the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.

In view of the apprehension the above false information has generated, it is pertinent to point out that the present administration is committed to the creation of decent employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed Nigerians."

The ministry assured that the Muhammadu Buhari administration "has perfected plans for massive job creation through well thought out programmes such as Graduate Teachers Conversion Programme and Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS), among others.
We have used all those channels to warn them [Nigeria] regarding this issue. So hopefully the government would adopt wise action given the sensitive situation, Foreign Ministry Spokesman, Hoseyn Jaberi-Ansari told reporters in the capital, Tehran.

The government of Iran had earlier warned Nigeria to tread with caution following the battle between the Army and Shiite Muslims in Zaria, Kaduna State.

The warning was also given by Jaber-Ansari on Sunday, December 13, 2015, according to state-owned network, Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

Nigeria is now dealing with problems arising from extremism and Takfiri terrorism and we hope that in these conditions preservation of calm and national unity in battling terrorism is prioritized while rash and unconstructive measures are avoided, IRNA quoted Jaber-Ansari as saying.

Soldiers engaged the Shiites in a battle after the group allegedly attempted to assassinate Chief of Army Staff, Tukur Buratai on Saturday, December 12, 2015.

The conflict escalated after soldiers surrounded Zakzakyhome and arrested him. The Shiites have claimed that about 1000 members of the group died during the confrontation.

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Punch Newspapers reports that the General Secretary of NLC, Dr. Peter Ozo-Eson said the Federal Government was not transparent in carrying out the process.

Ozo-Eson also said We need to be careful, you see, in the release that we issued, I pointed out the important of the process. The law specifies that PPPRA board should be constituted to recommend the price.

The board is not a government appointed board. It comprises all the stakeholders. You cannot be talking of a template now. Which template are you referring to? Is the template the outcome of the PPPRA. The law was careful to ensure that we have all stakeholders represented in the PPRA board.

Adding that The legal position is that the board would be engaged. You cannot talk about the template, without this board. When the President and I visited the minister, we told the minister that there was need to convene the PPRA board.

People will use this thing to suck them in a situation that tomorrow when prices escalates, there would be a precedent.

The PPPRA is a stakeholder-based organisation by law. It is now a government-appointed PPPRA. The figures should have been done with all the stakeholders.

They owe Nigerians a duty to account for it so that we are sure that the revenue is properly accounted. They should do it in an open and transparent way, but now they are doing conflicting things, as if they are planning to confuse Nigerians to increase fuel pump price, the labour leader said.

Private filling stattions are expected to sell at N86.50k per litre, while all Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) filling stations will sell at N86 per litre.
Muhammad disclosed this in Kano when he appeared before the states House of Assembly to defend the budget estimate for the board.

The scribe said the state government had also proposed a total budget estimate of N1.5 billion for the board in the states 2016 spending plan.

He added that the board would embark on awareness campaign on protection against communicable and non-communicable diseases.

He explained that the campaign was part of measures to ensure healthy and productive environment in the state.

The executive secretary expressed the boards commitment toward proper utilisation of the fund if approved.

Meanwhile, the Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Alhaji Rabiu Bako, said the state government proposed to spend N10 million on the construction of model village markets across the 37 local government areas of the state.

The commissioner said that when he too was defending the budget estimate of the ministry.
The State Controller, Mr Mohammed Makera, disclosed this in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Monday in Sokoto, Sokoto state.

Makera said that membership of the task force was drawn from the DPR, Petroleum Products Marketing Company (PPMC) and the Department of State Services (DSS).

"The task force is to monitor the sale of petroleum products, especially the Premium Motor Spirit (PMS).

"The task force will also ensure that petrol is sold at the regulated price of N86.50 per litre by independent and major marketers .

"In the same vein, it will ensure that all NNPC mega stations and their affiliates sell petrol at N86.00 per litre," he said.

Makera also said that the task force was set up sequel to a directive from the DPR head office in Abuja.

He described the level of compliance by the marketers in the state to the directive as "above average''.

He said that the daily fuel allocations to Sokoto State had now improved to about 10 trucks per day.

According to Makera the state requires an average of about 30 trucks of petrol per day.

"Motorists should exercise a little more patience as the Federal Government is doing everything humanly possible to stabilise the fuel supply situation across the country.
The group also dismissed Mbakas prophecy about an alleged plot to assassinate President Buhari, calling it a rumour.

Vanguard Newspapers reports that the group in a statement signed by the National Coordinator, Comrade Emmanuel Onwubiko and the National Media Affairs Director, Miss Zainab Yusuf, said Mbaka should cover his face in shame for displaying gross ignorance of the workings of the democratic and law based tenets and provisions of the constitution which deems suspects brought before the court of competent jurisdiction as totally innocent in the eye of the law until contrary determination is made by the Court in line with due process of the law.

The group also said Is Fr Mbaka a judge who has passed presiding over cases of alleged graft involving any immediate past political office holder and adjudged them guilty of corrupt practices? Is Fr Mbaka unaware that as the Commander-in-Chief of the Nigerian Armed Forces that President Muhammadu Buhari is the most protected citizen in Nigeria now with hundreds of well armed and highly trained professional guards drawn from the Nigerian Military and the Secret Police headed by President Muhammadu Buharis kinsman?"

Is Fr Mbaka unaware that Nigeria under President Muhammadu Buhari is waging a counter-terror war and that the armed Islamists have vowed in several media recordings to kill not just the Commander in chief but officials of government? This Mbakas whitewash must be consigned to the dustbins without further delay, they added.

Rev. Fr. Ejike Mbaka, recently raised an alarm, saying that there was a plot by unnamed persons to assassinate President Muhammadu Buhari.
"One of the convicts will spend 25 years behind bars and another will spend 17 years in prison, a statement by agencys spokesman, Mitchell Ofoyeju.

"Four others got 15 years each. Another four convicts were sentenced to 10 years each while 19 others got five years each, the statement said.

Reacting to the convictions, acting Chairman of the NDLEA, Roli Bode-George, said it will serve as deterrent to those who are still committing the crime or planning to.

These convictions are strong enough to deter other from drug trafficking.

This is highly impressive and motivating to the agency for the time and material resources spent in arrest and prosecution of drug dealers, she said.

The Lagos State commander of the agency, Sule Aliyu, said about 164 other cases were pending as at December 31, 2015.

The command in 2015 also seized a total 7,345.87 kilogrammes of various narcotic drugs mainly cannabis which is commonly called hemp and arrested 531 suspected drug dealers comprising 507 males and 24 females, he said.

Some of the culprits who bagged life sentence inlcude; Abiodun Elemoro, 29, of Palm Church Street, Lagos Island, convicted on January 29, 2015 for being in possession of 30.5 grammes of cocaine; Sule Ibrahim, 37, of Mopo Alayo village Okun Ajah Lagos, convicted October 20, 2015 for possessing 11.8kg of cannabis and; Aluagwu Lawrence, 32, of Iju Ishaga Lagos convicted December 9, 2015 for possessing 220 grammes of cannabis.

Also, Amaechi Igwe, 37, of Mile 12 Market, Lagos got twenty-five years imprisonment for dealing in 2.7 grammes of cocaine.
The Commander, Mr Udotong Essien, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Badagry that 31 suspects were also arrested during the same period.

He said 22 of the suspects had been convicted by the courts.

"From January to December 2015, about 907.45 kg of cannabis sativa popularly known as hemp was seized and 31 suspects were arrested during the period under review.

According to Essien, the sum of N3.8 million, 2.3 million CFA and 50,391 dollars were seized from the suspects.

He said: "The seizures were made as a result of non-declaration of the money or their inability to explain the source of the money.

"Drug war is a collective responsibility that requires the cooperation of all citizens especially those in the border areas like Seme.

Essien said NDLEA officers had been trained locally and abroad as part of efforts to further equip them.

He, however, said his men still needed gadgets and vehicles for better performance.

The commander advised parents, whose children and wards attend schools in Benin Republic to monitor their activities.
Ezeemo spoke with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Enugu on Sunday.

``I sincerely believe he means well for the country by putting policies that would get rid of corruption, while stabilising the economy through focus on power generation.

``But its application must be subtle so as to ensure that no sector suffers, he said.

The publisher, however, urged Federal Government to support indigenous investors by making economic policies that would protect local industries.

``I understand the change Mr President is trying to inject into the system and I trust his intentions to be good for an average Nigerian.

``However, it should be applied step by step and its responses should be watched in order to protect our local industries, he said.
The EFCC is very likely to invite Metuh to its office for interrogation on the allegations, The Nation reports.

An EFCC source had earlier told ThisDay that the agency was looking into Metuhs alleged participation in the arms deal fraud which saw the sum of $2.1 billion being looted under Dasukis supervision.

We have been able to establish that two of his [Metuhs] registered companies were used to launder money to some key members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He has several questions to answer. And we will soon invite him officially for interrogation, the source said.

We believe the alarm he raised on Tuesday was unnecessary and it was an attempt to pre-empt our move. But he has failed. Some of these suspects believe they can use the media to forestall our determination to get them to account for their dirty deals and it would not work for them, the source added.

Metuh had, on Tuesday, December 15, 2015, during a press briefing in Abuja, alleged that his and that President Muhammadu Buhari was desperate to silence him.

The PDP spokesperson had also mentioned that he did not have any contract dealings with the immediate past federal government or any of its security apparatus, an apparent reference to the ongoing investigation into the alleged laundering of funds by Dasuki.

Dasuki was arrested by the Department of State Services (DSS) on December 1, 2015 and handed over to the EFCC the day after.

The former NSA is reported to have implicated several prominent persons in the deal including former governors, ex-ministers and members of the PDP.

Dasukis lawyer however denied the report that his client had become an informant while the former NSA said that former president, Goodluck Jonathan was aware of the transactions he had made.

Jonathan has denied authorizing the release of the stated funds despite the former NSAs claim that he got the necessary presidential approval for the transactions.

Dasuki is currently being held by the DSS despite being released on bail by two courts. Buhari has explained that this is to prevent him from fleeing the country and escaping justice.

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The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that more than 200 female students of Government Secondary School, Chibok, Borno State, were kidnapped from their hostel on April 14, 2014.

President Muhammadu Buhari had on Dec. 30, 2015, during a media chat in Abuja, said there had been no firm intelligence on the whereabouts or physical wellbeing of the Chibok girls.

Mr Oghene Egoh, member representing Amuwo Odofin Federal Constituency at the National Assembly, in an interview with NAN, appealed to the president to ensure that the girls were found and brought back alive.

"Nothing much has been done on the Chibok girls.

"Even those who used to campaign so much about the Chibok girls are not talking about it.I dont believe that it is impossible for the Army to discover over 200 girls.

"I want to appeal to the President  this is not a political issue  let him make efforts to find these girls for us so that the pride of Nigeria can be restored to Nigerians.

Contributing, Prof. Oluremi Sonaiya, the 2015 Presidential Candidate of the KOWA Party,expressed hope that the girls would be found and brought back home to their parents.

"We really recognise that things have changed, there is no doubt about that, there has been a lot of improvement, a lot of advancement and we commend the armed forces.

"However, we cannot but feel a bit disappointed that finding the Chibok girls and bringing them (back) home is not part of the success that we can talk of against Boko Haram.

"We just pray and hope that, that part of a success will become a reality very soon, she said.
After a powerful rendition of the Nigerian National Anthem with Ministers Onos Ariyo and Nathaniel Bassey at the 10th Edition of the biggest Gospel concert in Africa The Experience with over 700,000 people in attendance and hosted by House on the Rock, she has been engaged in other ministrations in churches and it has been an uplifting experience.

Carry Me is a timely message to the Father of all creation as we journey into 2016, and know that its not by our strength but by Gods strength that we can pull through. He will carry us all.

Chee enlists the help of the talented music producer Fome Peters, a powerful declaration by Pastor Flourish Peters as well as the prowess of Chioma Omeruah (aka Chigul)s vocals. As a serving Praise and Worship Lead in House on the Rock, it is expected to see this beautiful talent in action 2016 because in her own words I feel like I have found my purpose again, its good to be home.
Onu also said that Buhari had been working hard to repair the damaged economy through diversification, Leadership reports.

The minister reportedly made the statement on Sunday, January 3, 2016, while addressing stakeholders of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Ebonyi State.

Onu also spoke on the illegal use of his photos on social media. He said:

In the first place, I do not operate any Facebook account. I wonder why people should use my name in Facebook with my pictures to do all manner of business.

If anybody creates Facebook account with my name and pictures and said he is charting with me, the person is a criminal. Ignore such person."

Meanwhile, Senator Ben Murray-Bruce has urged Buhari to stop blaming Jonathan for the countrys problems and instead focus on solving them.

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Mayaki was subsequently removed from the position and replaced by the incumbent, Sola Omole.

The former NTA boss made the disclosure during an interview with Leadership during the weekend.

Although I cant really understand why these things happened the way they did during the 2015 polls, because when I was DG there was election in Edo State. When the PDP came with about N35 million for live coverage of their campaign activities in the state, I took the money and then when they started the campaign I just saw on air- direct live- that it was all insult upon insult, Mayaki said.

It was not even the journalists covering the campaign that called me and drew my attention; it was our secretary of the board that called me and said, Mr Mayaki, do you see what is going on on-air? So, I called the man who is on transmission, Mr Balogun, and said, What can we do about this development? He said we can use delayed broadcast and edit (out) whatever insult before we pass it on to the public.

And that is exactly what we did. Anything they said, once it was insulting we cut it off and, at the end of the day, we pass on only the good aspects of the message that they wanted to pass. So, we continued doing that for the three or four hours that they wanted the programme to be aired.

I was so happy that the then minister of information, Labaran Maku, stood by me. He didnt waver because he knew what I had done and he was very, very okay with it. But how many of us have that kind of stamina to withstand that kind of pressure?

Pressures are always coming from everywhere, but if you are very professional, you would know that this one, I should not take it. Like for us, we were not actually journalists; I just happened to be in NTA and was the most senior officer and I know that the thing was wrong.

If I were there during the 2015 electioneering period, I wouldnt have taken it with all their money, and I even heard that there was no money paid for all the insults.

It is not every position that you just give to politicians because, in the past, politicians who were board members did a lot of damage to NTA. They just come in and start looking for money. They are least interested in the NTA, he said.
Speaking through the party's National Publicity Secretary, Edegbe Odemwingie, APCs helmsman said Clearly, the PDP has chosen to blame everyone but itself for the sorry state it finds itself. The PDP should have known that it will pay for its years of impunity, recklessness and shocking mis-management of the countrys commonwealth. PDP members who are genuinely inspired by the APC-led administration are welcome to the APC fold. It is their right to abandon a sinking ship and join one that is smooth-sailing.

Oyegun also added that PDPs antics will not stop the President from prosecuting anyone found guilty of corruption.

He also assured Nigerians that the war against corruption is not selective, as reported in most quarters.

The National Chairman said The PDP speaks of a presidential directive to security agencies and judiciary to coerce and convict PDP leaders and officials of the immediate-past administration with corruption charges. Clearly such abuse of presidential directives was a concept invented and effectively deployed by the PDP during its defunct 16-year rule. The APC is a law-abiding party and cannot adopt such diabolical concept. The APC believes strongly in the rule of law, as against the kind of impunity Nigeria witnessed under the PDP for 16 years.

Adding that The preoccupation of the APC and President Muhammadu Buhari is to deliver on all the promises made to Nigerians by the party during the 2015 election. Looking back at the last seven months, there are clear indicators showing that the APC and the President Buhari administration is on the right track to delivering on its Change Agenda.

Oyegun also said it does not concern APC, who PDP chooses to field as their presidential candidate, adding that the law has stipulated the requirements for anybody who wants to run for political office.

The spokesperson of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Mr. Olisa Metuh, recently released a statement claiming that President Buhari and other APC leaders are afraid of former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki.
According to Vanguard reports, the bishops were bestowed this honor, at the Cathedral of All Saints, Ughelli, Delta State.

Primate of the Anglican Communion, Most Rev. Nicholas Okoh, while consecrating them, urged them to be good shepherds over their flocks and disciples of Christ.

Those consecretated bishops are Foreman Nedison (Bishop of Jalingo); Bishop Olubunmi Akinlade (Bishop of Ife) and Bishop Andrew Olu Igenoza (Rector, Crowther Graduate Theological Seminary, Abeokuta).

State Governor, Dr Ifeanyi Okowa urged the bishops not to be greedy and obsessed with power.

Therefore, the man of God must not pursue political patronages or engage in flirtatious relationships with political leaders such that they lose the moral authority to speak the truth to those in power, Okowa said.
Mr. Onaiyekan reportedly made the statement at the SS Peter and Paul Catholic Church, Nyanya, Abuja, as part of his new year message to the nation, requesting pardon for all money laundering done, if they are willing to return all their stolen funds.

Mr Onaiyekan is also reported to have said that the fight against fraudulent acts must be handled with caution.

The Bishop, during his interview, said:

It is okay to expose people and disgrace them, but that will not solve the problem.

If we want our money back, we have to strategize so that the countries that are keeping our money can feel challenged to return them.

The time has come such that once we have those facts we can call those nations thieves that they are, and say bring back our money.

Mr. Onaiyekan revealed that the best way to ensure that the stolen funds would be returned was to reach an agreement with corrupt officials involved in money laundering that would make them return the stolen funds.

We asked Pulse readers via poll if they thought Bishop Onaiyekan's suggestion would be effective in retrieving stolen funds.

55.6% of the readers voted that the Amnesty rule would be effective in helping the country retrieve stolen funds as well as curtail money laundering.
In a statement obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Sunday in Lagos, the innovative healthcare app would revolutionise the health sector in Nigeria and Africa.

It said that the innovative healthcare application developed by Nwokolo and her team is called ''CradleCount''.

It noted that about six out of 10 women have their babies at home, where the delivery was not supervised by a skilled birth attendant.

The statement said that errors in estimating the expected date of delivery could lead to the baby being delivered supposedly unexpected.

"This is the problem faced by pregnant women in Nigeria and Africa, if this is not addressed, there will be increased pregnancy related complications resulting in more maternal and infant mortality.

"This is where technology and innovation come in.

"Seeing these shocking statistics and challenges faced by pregnant women led to the development of the mobile phone application, CradleCount.

"CradleCount helps pregnant women and also health practitioners to calculate accurately the expected date of delivery using the last menstrual period.

"The app informs pregnant women how many days to the delivery of the baby and has alerts that remind pregnant mothers to register and follow up with their antenatal care.

"It also sends regular pregnancy and health tips to expectant mothers and the app can also work without an internet connection,'' it said.

According to the statement, the app is well designed with good aesthetic values and background colours that mothers can change the background of the app depending on the sex of the baby they are expecting.

The statement said that it was no longer news that Africa was faced with great challenges.

"What is interesting is that many young Africans with technology and innovation are beginning to provide the needed solution to the problems of the continent,'' it said.

According to the statement, the health sector in Africa is such that needs a lot of innovative ideas to reduce poor health related deaths like maternal and infant mortality.

It quoted UNICEF as saying that, every single day, Nigeria loses about 2,300 under-five year olds and 145 women of childbearing age.

"UNICEF noted that it makes the country the second largest contributor to the under-five and maternal mortality rate in the world.

"Several research and statistics from organisations like WHO, UNICEF, National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS) have shown that everyday about 90 women in Nigeria die of pregnancy related conditions.

"A womans chance of dying from pregnancy and childbirth in Nigeria is one in every 13. Nigeria has the 10th highest maternal mortality in the world.

"Although many of these deaths are preventable, the coverage and quality of health care services in Nigeria continue to fail women and children.

"Presently, less than 20 per cent of health facilities offer emergency obstetric care and only 35 per cent of deliveries are attended by skilled birth attendants,'' the statement said.

It said that the reasons were hinged substantially on the fact that skilled birth assistants were not usually present during delivery.
Known as John Patrick Hannan, the prisoner used knotted bedsheets to scale the walls of Verne Prison, Dorset, United Kingdom in December 1955.

Hannan, who holds the world record for longest escape from custody, disappeared without a trace and would now be aged 81. The Irishman broke free just 30 days into his 21-.month sentence for car theft and assaulting two police officers. Mirror UK reported.

Dorset Police, who have officially given up looking for him, believe he returned to his native country soon after he vanished.

Rumoured to be dead, his death has not been recorded so he is technically still a wanted man and is listed as missing on the police national computer.

The previous longest escape record of 45 years, 11 months, was held by double killer Leonard Friscoe from Nevada in the US.
The disappearances have stoked fears of mainland Chinese authorities using shadowy tactics that erode the "one country, two systems" formula under which the former British colony has been governed since its return to Chinese rule in 1997.

Lee Bo, 65, a shareholder of Causeway Bay Books, "vanished" last week, according to a missing person report filed by Lee's wife on Thursday. Four associates involved in publishing or selling literature critical of Beijing have also gone missing in mysterious circumstances over the past few months.

Hong Kong opposition lawmakers protested on Sunday outside Beijing's representative office over Lee's disappearance.

"We are highly concerned with this case," said Beijing-backed Hong Kong leader Leung. He added there was "no indication" so far that Lee may have been kidnapped by Chinese State Security agents in the financial hub and whisked across the border to China, though investigations were ongoing.

"If mainland (Chinese) law enforcement personnel enforce the law in Hong Kong, this is unacceptable because it breaches the Basic Law," Leung said, referring to the city's mini-constitution, in rare comments defending Hong Kong's autonomy.

The Basic Law guarantees wide-ranging personal freedoms, including freedom of speech, and independent law enforcement overseen by an independent judiciary.

When asked about the disappearance of Lee, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a daily news briefing that she had no information to offer.

Lee's wife told media that her husband had phoned her on what appeared to be a Chinese phone number to say he was "assisting" in an investigation, despite having left his travel document at home.

Three of the missing men were last seen late last year in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.

Another man, Gui Minhai, the author of tabloid-style exposes on Chinese leaders and the owner of Mighty Current, the publishing house that owns the Causeway Bay bookstore, was last seen publicly in the Thai seaside town of Pattaya.

Beijing's Liaison Office and the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, a branch of China's highest administrative authority, the State Council, did not respond to requests for comment.

Lee Cheuk-yan, a pro-democracy lawmaker, said that while Hong Kong officials had sought information from Chinese law enforcement agencies over the case, they had yet to respond, showing a clear "failing" in the reporting and communication mechanism between both sides.

Senior Hong Kong officials appealed for more information from the public and said Hong Kong police had been deepening their probe, including reviewing CCTV footage and interviewing more people.
Iraqi Shi'ites protesting the Jan. 2 execution of Saudi Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr separately marched in Baghdad and southern cities, while a powerful Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia group pressured the government to sever ties with Riyadh.

Iraq's Interior Ministry confirmed the attacks on Sunni mosques late Sunday in Hilla, around 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi blamed them on "Daesh (Islamic State) and those who are similar to them," without further explanation.

Iraq has faced sectarian bloodletting for years, mainly between minority Sunnis and a Shi'ite majority empowered after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The battle against Sunni Islamic State militants who control large swathes of the north and west has only exacerbated those tensions.

The spark for Sunday's attacks appears to have been Nimr's execution a day earlier, which triggered angry reactions in Shi'ite-led Iraq and Iran.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with regional rival Iran on Sunday after protesters attacked the kingdom's embassy in Tehran. Bahrain, the Shi'ite-majority Gulf state ruled by a Sunni family, and Sudan followed suit on Monday.

The attack on a mosque in central Hilla destroyed its dome and several walls, according to a Reuters TV cameraman who visited the site. Provincial council member Falah al-Khafaji and a police source said a guard in the building was killed.

"We saw smoke rising from the dome of the mosque. We found all the walls destroyed and the furniture inside in shambles," said resident Uday Hassan Ali.

Another mosque in Hilla's northern outskirts was also attacked, and a Sunni cleric was killed in a separate incident in Iskandariya, about 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, Khafaji and the police source said.

"We have leads and security measures will be taken near mosques," said Khafaji, pledging to rebuild the buildings.

Prominent religious and political leaders in Iraq have called on the government to cut ties with Saudi Arabia, which reopened its Baghdad embassy last week after closing it in 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

While Abadi and Iraq's foreign ministry have condemned Nimr's execution, they have given no indication of a more severe response.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a powerful Shi'ite militia backed by Iran, on Monday warned the government against inaction.

"We demand the government expel the Saudi ambassador... (otherwise) the government will be responsible for the popular backlash," it said in an online statement calling for the implementation of death sentences issued against Saudi "terrorists".

The group said it was speaking on behalf of the "Islamic resistance", a term commonly used for Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias, but did not specify which groups it represented.

Earlier thousands of protesters marched in Baghdad and Shi'ite cities in southern Iraq, heeding calls by prominent Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to protest against Nimr's execution.

In Baghdad, demonstrators carrying portraits of Nimr, wearing a grey beard and a white turban, rallied outside the heavily fortified Green Zone housing government departments and diplomatic representations, including the newly reopened Saudi embassy.

Police guarding the zone pushed back a group of protesters trying to cross a line of barbed wire as they chanted "damned, damned be Al Saud," referring to the Saudi ruling family.
A statement released on public television late on Saturday urged residents to provide information on the militant, whom they named. It did not say when or how he escaped.

He was arrested in 2011 over alleged links to three vehicles containing explosives heading for Mauritania's coastal capital, Nouakchott.

One of the vehicles was said to have been targetting Abdel Aziz, who had ordered military strikes in Mali against jihadist bases in 2010 and 2011.

Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb claimed responsibility for the plot in a statement released on jihadist forums, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

Islamist groups hijacked a Tuareg rebellion in early 2012 to seize Mali's desert north. A French-led intervention scattered them a year later, but Islamist fighters stepped up attacks in 2015.

Jihadists believed to have links with each other and other groups beyond West Africa have claimed various acts of violence in the region, including a November attack on a luxury hotel that killed about 20 people.
Es Sider and nearby Ras Lanuf oil ports have been closed for more than a year after fighting between rival factions for control of the country, where Islamic State has gained ground in the turmoil since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi .

Islamic State controls the city of Sirte and has slowly expanded its presence in the North Africa state. Its fighters have attacked several oilfields in the south of Libya, but it has so far not managed to control any oil installations as it has done in Syria.
Obama is igniting a political firestorm by bypassing Congress with the measures, which are likely to redefine what it means to be a gun dealer and spark increased use of background checks. Republicans say Obama is misusing his powers.

"The good news is .. these are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authority and the executive branch, but they're also ones that the overwhelming majority of the American people, including gun owners, support," Obama said during a meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch and other advisers.

Shares in gun makers Smith & Wesson Holding Corp and Sturm Ruger & Co Inc rose against a falling stock market on Monday in anticipation of increased gun sales, as has happened before when the White House mulled weapon sales reform.

Stymied by Congress' inaction on gun control, the president asked his advisers in recent months to examine new ways he could use his executive authority to tighten gun rules unilaterally without needing congressional approval after multiple mass shootings generated outrage nationwide.

One option was a regulatory change to require more dealers to get a license to sell guns, a move that would trigger more background checks on buyers.

The White House had drafted a proposal on that issue previously but was concerned it could be challenged in court and would be hard to enforce.

Guns are a potent issue in U.S. politics. The right to bear arms is protected by the U.S. Constitution, and the National Rifle Association, the top U.S. gun rights group, is feared and respected in Washington for its ability to mobilize gun owners. Congress has not approved major gun-control legislation since the 1990s.
T20 World Cup: Campher, Dockrell keep Ireland in hunt for Super 12s with six-wicket win over Scotland

Shanaka partly attributes Sri Lanka's loss to Namibia to not being familiar with the opponents' playing style

T20 World Cup: Start of India's warm-up match against New Zealand delayed due to rain
Editor's note: This is the second in a series of stories following the restoration of the Lambrite-Iles -Petersen house at 510 W. 6th St., Davenport. The 1856 house was purchased in February from the city of Davenport by Dick and Linda Stone of Muscatine who have undertaken a three-year, roughly $350,000 project to restore the historically and architecturally significant home in the city's Gold Coast neighborhood.

Judging from the front, one might think not much has changed at the old house in the past six months.

But the weathered clapboard and boarded windows are deceiving. The rotted rear of the house has been built anew. There is a new poured concrete foundation and new floor joists and framing on the first and second floors.

Scaffolding on the west side allows workers from Olde Town Roofing, Moline, to install new soffits (the horizontal underside of a eave), facia (the horizontal board perpendicular to the rafters) and trim boards to the roof.

"It's starting to get squared up," owner Dick Stone said. "Slow but sure."

A new concrete floor has been poured in the basement, leveling out what previously was an uneven combination of stone, brick and dirt. And sitting proudly in the middle of one of the basement rooms is a new boiler connected to a new gas line and with accompanying ductwork, ready to provide heat to the house for the first time in years.

New sewer and water lines also have been installed and "we've got a good share of the plumbing done," Stone said. "It's at a point where a lot of stuff you do doesn't show much."

In an open area east of the house, the lower "walkout" level of a garage has been built. This lower area will be Stone's workshop and the upper level, once framed, roofed and sided, will be the two-car garage.

And helping to guide the restoration work once all the mechanical systems and framework are in place is a 30-page set of architectural drawings, recently finished by Downing Architects, Bettendorf, with structural consultant work by Missman Inc., Quad-Cities.

The Stones also have been working on their applications for state historic tax credits to help with the financing of the project. This is crucial, and it's been slow going.

Because of the warm winter so far, contractors have been able to work even though there is no heat in the house. The Stones haven't decided what to do if temperatures turn more seasonal and it gets too cold to work. Because the house isn't well sealed, turning on the boiler would mean a lot of escaped energy.

"I don't know if I can afford to heat the great outdoors," Stone said. "But if we don't (heat the house), it will really cut down on what we can do."

Watch this space.
Families and individuals, some who sat on mats and others seated in chairs, chanted prayers for the New Year throughout Sunday at the Quad-Cities' only Buddhist meditation center.

The Lamrim Kadampa Buddhist Center, 502 W. 3rd St., Davenport, was open Sunday for chanted prayers, or pujas, asking for blessings, protection and guidance in 2016.

Joe Gauthier of Davenport, resident teacher, and Rachel Griffiths of Milan, educational program coordinator, greeted more than 25 people throughout the morning, afternoon and evening for the prayer retreat.

He said Quad-Citians are kind people who are connected to their community. Theres a level of enthusiasm for meditation and Buddhism that drew the center, which previously was in Iowa City, to the Quad-Cities, Gauthier said.

Buddhism is new to the Quad-City area. People dont have much of an idea of what Buddhism is all about, he said, but meditation is universal regardless of a persons spiritual beliefs.

During stressful times, negative thought patterns, he said, are the real problem, not the person or situation you face.

On Sunday, the chanted prayers were made to the goddess Tara, the embodiment of enlightened compassion. Those in prayer were trying to make a connection with pure compassion, he said.

Through prayer, you make the connection, Gauthier said. You set yourself as a receiver of powerful, positive energy into your mind.

Chanted prayers were said for spiritual growth and protection for health and family throughout the coming year. It gets your mind in the right frame to start the year and get that spiritual protection throughout the year, Gauthier said.

Those who visited and prayed Sunday are among thousands of people who have passed through the center in its five years, Griffiths said. The facility includes a bookstore, a sitting room with tea and coffee, a childrens meditation room and a larger meditation room.

Every person is one step away from making it better, Griffiths said.

Many visitors to the center do not necessarily have a walk of faith, but People brush up against something spiritual when they visit, she said.

The Quad-Cities is such a beautiful space,"

Griffiths said. "People have good hearts.
A Davenport legislator and a local advocate for the homeless think a New York mandate about taking homeless people from the streets does not address the cause of homelessness.

Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday signed an order requiring communities statewide to take homeless people from the streets to shelters when temperatures reach 32 degrees. Cuomo said he is ready for a legal challenge from anyone who believes "people have a civil right to sleep on the street and freeze to death."

The executive order, which takes effect Tuesday, will protect the state's growing homeless population, Cuomo said.

From an Iowa standpoint, such a mandate should not be enacted until questions about the cause of homelessness have been addressed, said Rep. Cindy Winckler, D-Davenport.

I think first we need to identify where the gaps are in services right now, she said.

At a recent Quad-City forum about homelessness, Winckler said, she heard a formerly homeless man talk about how shelters often separate members of families, because men and male children of a certain age are not allowed in some shelters.

Before we bring individuals off the streets that dont want to be in a shelter, I think that we should look at ways that we can make shelter regulations consistent and make sure shelters are available to all, Winckler said. There would have to be some conversations about where the gaps are.

One of the bigger issues is the access to mental-health services, Winckler said. Additionally, some homeless individuals might not qualify for low-cost housing if they are felons, she said.

Christie Adamson, director of services for Humility of Mary Shelter, agrees. Obviously, being in sheltering services, I believe we have an obligation as a community to make sure everybodys safe, she said, adding that the community does a good job of that.

For example, when the Humility of Mary shelter is full, the Kings Harvest shelter, which is a separate agency, provides people with a place to stay.

The New York order does not address the specific needs of those who choose to sleep outside, Adamson said. But in the Quad-Cities, the Humility of Mary outreach team tries to determine what barriers prevent individuals from seeking access to shelter. Some are afraid of coming in, for one reason or another, Adamson said.

The majority suffer from some pretty severe mental illness. They may choose to stay outside rather than come into a shelter, Adamson said.

Mandating that people come outdoors doesnt address the larger issues about why they are homeless, she said. I think the why is more important than mandating that they come in, Adamson said.

The order, she said, sounds a tad bit like youre criminalizing the homeless. I always think theres a better way.

Sundays mandate came as temperatures in parts of New York state were dipping below 32 degrees. It calls for police departments and social services agencies to move people into shelters, including those reluctant to go.

(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
Public opinion is being sought on proposed changes that would make it possible to rezone agricultural land in unincorporated areas of Scott County to industrial for a project of significant economic impact.

The meeting about proposed changes to the county's comprehensive development plan and zoning ordinance will be 7 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 12, in the board room of the Scott County Administrative Center, 600 W. 4th St., Davenport.

The impetus for the proposed changes grew out of the county planning and zoning commission's denial in 2012 of a request to rezone 318 acres of farmland for a $1.3 billion fertilizer plant in unincorporated Scott County. The request came from Egypt-based Orascom Construction Industries.

During the controversy that pitted those supporting economic development against those wanting to preserve prime farm ground, county officials realized that even if the rezoning had been approved, it probably would not have survived a court challenge given current wording in the county's comprehensive plan, said Tim Huey, Scott County planning and development director.

That is because approval could have been deemed "spot zoning," or the creation of an island of property with a different use from surrounding property. At least twice such zoning has been found invalid in Scott County by Iowa courts.

To fix this, the planning and zoning commission is considering a new zoning designation for the comprehensive plan called "industrial floating," or I-F, that would make spot zoning legal.

"Spot zoning is defensible if the rationale is in the comprehensive plan," Huey said.

Some people from rural areas already have objected to the proposed changes despite reassurances from the county.

The I-F designation would be used in cases of significant industrial development projects that need a rural site in the unincorporated area of the county, Huey said. It would be used only as a last resort to land a big project, he added.

"We're going to continue to be a strong agriculture preservation county, but there may be proposals that because of their size and scope trump ag preservation," he has said. "This will give us some flexibility."

The county's first choice would always be for development to occur within city limits, and most businesses would want to locate there anyway because supporting infrastructure already is in place, Huey said.

In addition, a detailed site plan would be required before the land was rezoned, something that was missing in the Orascom proposal.

But the majority of people who attended five special meetings already held throughout the county to explain the proposed changes voiced objections.

A leading concern was the need to define, objectively, what constitutes a "significant" project.

The address that, Huey is adding language to the proposed changes stating that the jobs created would be at or above the median and that the company's capital investment would result in a 2.5 percent or greater increase in the taxable value of industrial land in Scott County.

The latter would put the investment at a size between Oscar Mayer and Lee Enterprises, Huey said.

Robb Ewoldt, a Scott County farmer and Farm Bureau action chairman, said he understands the need for economic development but the main thrust of the county's current comprehensive plan is to identify and seek means to protect prime agricultural land from scattered development, and he would like it to stay that way.

He said a floating zone can be unfair to anyone buying land because a sudden change in nearby zoning can drastically change the land's value, "leaving landowners out in no man's land."

He would rather see the county "get a chunk of ground  200 or 300 acres  and say 'this is it.'" That way would-be purchasers could plan accordingly.

Ewoldt also is concerned by what he sees as a growing pro-business slant to the planning and zoning commission. By law, at least four of the seven members of the commission must live in unincorporated areas of the county, and although that is the case, Ewoldt said he has seen a decline in ag-preservation voices.

Another speaker at the public meetings suggested allowing adjoining landowners to have veto power if a majority don't want the proposal.

And a concern voiced by several people was that a decision should be up to voters, not simply an elected or appointed board.
If you live or work in downtown Davenport, youve probably seen them.

Moses, with his corded coat of hair, typically leads the trio on their strolls. If its chilly, Ruca finds comfort under her mothers wing.

If its cold like this she doesnt have to go on the ground, said Alissa Holt, who walks Moses, a standard poodle, and Ruca, a mixed, and much smaller pup, around downtown Davenport every day.

Holt, who has lived downtown for several years, also recently opened a business there. Most days, you can find her at KUSH Salon, 526 W. 2nd St.

I hang out a lot down here, Holt told me during a recent walk on one of her days off.

The 34-year-old, who was nursing a hangover from birthday festivities the night before, sported ripped jeans and a winter coat that covered up a full sleeve tattoo on her right arm.

I dont have a car so this is what we do, she added. Or I ride my bike, but then my dogs dont get to come.

For the record, I wasnt the only one drawn to Moses water-repelling matted locks. Within two minutes of our conversation, inquiring passersby stopped Holt near 3rd Street and Pershing Avenue to say hello.

This is how the Germans did it, Holt said, referring to Moses hair.

Keep your eyes peeled and see for yourself.

Violent start to the New Year

In case you missed it, two separate shooting incidents occurred over the holiday weekend in Davenport. Two male victims were treated at local hospitals for non-life-threatening gunshot wounds.

Davenport police said authorities transferred the victim in Fridays shooting to University of Iowa Hospitals, Iowa City. No arrests have been made at this time.

If you know anything about the shootings, call the Davenport Police Department at 563-326-6125, or submit an anonymous tip through the "CityConnect Davenport, IA" mobile app.

Get your Om on

On a brighter note, if youre in need of some natural relaxation, theres a spot in downtown Davenport just for you.

Im sure youve seen their flyers around town that encourage us to slow down, escape our comfort zones and learn meditation.

On Sunday, Times reporter Linda Cook ventured to the Lamrim Kadampa Buddhist Center, located on the second floor at 502 W. 3rd St., Davenport. She observed folks as they sat on mats and chanted prayers, or pujas, for the New Year at the Quad-Cities only Buddhist meditation center. If you go, you can find the entrance on Scott Street.

Caucus crazy

With a month to go before the Iowa caucuses, ready yourself for an overload of presidential candidate visits and myriad campaign ads on TV.

Democratic frontrunner Hilary Clinton, for example, is campaigning at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds this afternoon. On Friday, Republican presidential hopeful Rand Paul will be celebrating his birthday at The River Music Experience, 129 N. Main St., Davenport.

Luckily, Times political reporter Ed Tibbetts has produced a roadmap to help Iowa Quad-Citians keep track of the dozen-plus candidates as they swing through town during the last few weeks before the first-in-the-nation primary on Feb. 1.

GO & DO

A Birmingham, Ala., songwriter will make her Quad-Cities debut tonight at the first Moeller Mondays show of 2016. Show starts at 8 p.m. at Rozz-Tox, 2108 3rd Ave., Rock Island. All ages. $7. Daytrotter founder Sean Moeller will DJ tunes following the indie folk show.
Curley Faulkner has come a long way in nine months from living on the streets to having his own place and a job. Still, working doesnt provide enough money to put food on the table consistently.

Last year Faulkner uprooted his livelihood to get out of a violent situation in Chicago. The shootings that escalated in his south side Englewood neighborhood became too much for the 55-year-old former meat packer.

"I had to get away from the madness," Faulkner said. "You do not go out of the house without a gun in your pocket. You have to grow a pair of eyes in the back of your head. You don't know who your friends are. If they know you have money, they take it."

He made it as far as the Quad-Cities, but he was alone, penniless and desperate. Local homeless shelters had three-week waiting lists, but he persisted and eventually got in at Christian Care, 2209 3rd Ave., Rock Island.

I didnt want to live on the streets," he said.

Faulkner since has gotten a job for 18 hours a week at minimum wage, staffing the front desk of the shelter, greeting people who come in with a warm smile and pleasant demeanor and answering phones.

He has his own apartment and still eats many of his meals at Christian Care. The diabetic receives $200 the fifth of every month from the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as food stamps. He eats at the shelter and relies on local food pantries to fill in the gap.

The need for food assistance is growing, especially among the working poor. Marilyn DeMay, marketing and events coordinator at Christian Care, said 80 percent of the 36 men who live at the shelter are employed in some capacity, and many of them utilize SNAP.

"Food insecurity is such a large part, a frightening part, of a lot of people's lives," she said. "It is really stressful not knowing where the next meal is coming from."

The Rock Island office of the Illinois Department of Human Services at 500 42nd St. was slammed last month with SNAP requests. Karen McCubbin, a supervisor there, said the office had 1,189 applications in December reapplying for the benefit and 720 new applications that were pending.

McCubbin expects December to be busy with the holidays, but she saw more requests than in previous years, going back to 1984 when she started her career in a Will County, Ill., DHS field office. The need has increased among the general population needing assistance, she said.

In Illinois, an individual earning up to $1,619 gross monthly income can qualify for SNAP. The income limit increases as the number of household members goes up.

In Iowa, an individual earning up to $1,275 gross monthly income can qualify.

With his desk job, Faulkner has become a familiar face to people living at Christian Care, guys like Odis Roberts.

Roberts has lived there for two years, after he was evicted from an apartment in Moline.

"I pitch a lot in here to help out," Roberts said.

The 44-year-old was once employed in a lawn mowing business until an accident five years ago  a mower flipped over on top of him  rendered him disabled. He said he leased the Moline apartment until his unemployment ran out, and he could no longer afford the rent.

Roberts receives his monthly SNAP deposit the first of every month. On New Years Day, he went to a local Circle K and bought a pop for himself and one for his friend and fellow shelter resident, Gerald Stagner.

Stagner, 51, not only lives at the shelter, but since March 2014 he has worked as an office manager "running the place," he said. He enjoys the work, which includes showing the other residents how to paint over scuff marks and encouraging them to pick up after themselves.

That career Stagner once had seems like a lifetime ago. In 2009, the Granite City, Ill., native lost his job as a heavy equipment operator for Caterpillar after 25 years.

Driven into depression as a result, Stagner spent several stints in and out of mental hospitals around the Midwest. He eventually was taken in by Quad-City homeless shelters, first Salvation Army in Davenport and then Christian Care.

"Nobody knew what to do with me," Stagner said.

Stagner lived on food stamps before he arrived at Christian Care. Though he still qualifies for SNAP, he chose not to reapply after he got the office manager job.

As Faulkner bounced around between homeless shelters and low-income apartments for nine months, he wanted to keep working. First he volunteered at Christian Care before applying for a job there through a U.S. Department of Labor program.

Faulkners budget is rounded out with at least $500 a month in Social Security disability income stemming from an incident more than two decades ago. While living in Milwaukee in 1994, a gunshot wound tore his knee apart. Reconstructive surgery amounting to 13 pins, two plates and two screws attempted to put it back together.

Including disability and a minimum wage job, Faulkner earns about $8,000 a year, which he chuckles "puts me at the borderline or just below poverty." Federal poverty guidelines were updated in 2015, so that an individual earning up to $11,770 is considered in poverty.

Over lunch recently, Faulkner, Roberts and Stagner all talk about the dreams they have.

Faulkner, for instance, wants to make enough to get into a one- or two-bedroom home that allows dogs so he can invite family members for a summer weekend of fishing. He has 13 grandchildren spread across three states.

I want to get in touch with my grandkids, he said.

DeMay is grateful for the network of food pantries and other support services available in the Quad-Cities.

It helps people maintain some dignity in their lives, she said.
The following editorial appeared recently in the Boston Globe:

In promising his constituents a vote on whether to quit the European Union, Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron made a high-risk move  one that, under the right conditions, could also have a high upside both for his country and for the cause of European integration.

At the moment, voters tell pollsters they're worried about the immigration of workers from other EU countries and the security of Britain's borders. Complaints about the unwieldiness of the EU apparatus are widespread. For these and other reasons, Cameron hopes to negotiate looser terms of membership that may make Britons more comfortable with staying in the union. One way or another, though, a vote will occur  perhaps next year, and certainly by the end of 2017. When that happens, advocates of continued membership will need to do something they rarely do: make a forceful case to British voters for why EU membership has been healthy and productive for the country.

If forced to do so, opponents of Brexit  a British withdrawal from the union  can cite significant benefits that membership in a larger European market brings to a modest-sized island nation. Europe is the major export destination for the products of major British industries. For American, Canadian, and Australian companies, it's only logical to use Britain as an entry point to the mainland. London has emerged as a financial center for the entire continent.

British voters see lots of news coverage of the difficulties that come with EU regulation and the inordinately complex politics of a political body with more than two dozen members. Whatever else it achieves, a ballot campaign will highlight the day-to-day economic benefits of membership.

None of which means that every form of integration is worthwhile. Britain's refusal to adopt the euro now looks prescient. The economies of Germany and Greece are too different to share a common monetary policy without a common fiscal policy. While Germans bristle at Greece's mismanagement of its own finances, German industry enjoys more favorable exchange rates on its products than it would if Greece weren't bringing down the value of the euro. As the debate over "Grexit"  should Greece leave the euro?  dragged on during the past several years, the British public was lucky to be able to observe it from a distance.

Still, Britain has developed trade relationships and treaties based on its membership in the EU, and voters there shouldn't opt for breakup without taking stock of what they'd be losing. Amid the profound transformation of major industrialized economies and the considerable uncertainty in global geopolitics, it's easy for anxious voters to lay the blame on the conspicuous struggles of bureaucrats from Brussels. Especially for countries that, like Britain and the United States, have reigned as the world's dominant superpowers, it's deeply unsatisfying to concede autonomy to multinational institutions, which are inevitably cumbersome and flawed.

Yet even proud, prosperous countries can often achieve more when enmeshed in alliances  political and economic  than on their own. The challenge for pro-integration leaders in Briton is to persuade the public that it's better to reform imperfect institutions like the EU from inside, rather than leave them
While commodity prices continue to lag, new and expanded business opportunities have many excited about future of the local agriculture industry.

Duane Sutton, chairman of the Brown County Commission, is one of those folks, noting that announcement of a soybean processing plant for Aberdeen should open new markets for farmers.

More markets is likely to mean higher commodity prices.

Plus, Sutton said, farmers will save on shipping costs.

And the increased tax base will be great for the city of Aberdeen, he said. Once the beef plant TIF (Tax Increment Financing) is paid off, that will benefit the schools, townships and county as well.

In a TIF district, increased property taxes on development within the borders of the district can be used for qualified improvements. Bonds are sold to fund the upgrades, and the boost in property taxes is used to pay off the bonds for a maximum of 20 years. The idea is to stimulate economic development.

From talking with the new owners at the beef plant, Im very confident that it will work well. They are focusing on doing everything right before announcing that they are open, Sutton said.

He added that several ethanol plants in the area have continued to be an economic stimulus for local producers.

Supplying corn and soybeans to the plants shouldnt be an issue as Brown and Spink counties are the top producers of the crops in South Dakota, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture statistics.

Investments

Those in agriculture are optimistic about the upcoming crop year as the soil in the area froze with a fair amount of moisture in the ground, Jason Frerichs of Wilmot said.

Were in a much better spot than last year, he said.

But the uncertainty in the markets continues to creates concern. Producers are not pleased about selling grain or cattle at current prices.

Frerichs, a farmer and state senator, said some farmers are looking at raising barley, oats and rye, but they would need to be shipped to Minnesota or Fargo, N.D., where there is a market. Thats an added cost.

It comes down to those in ag need to reinvest in ourselves and our communities as well as attract outside investments, he said. It goes back to the struggle we saw with ethanol. It took a lot to get it off the ground. Farmers fought to keep the plants locally owned. Its proven itself, and now policymakers need to open markets for higher blends of ethanol.

On the livestock side, its not as easy to trim feed costs. Frerichs said its fortunate this region is very diversified.

The challenge will be that we cant just keep busheling through, he said. We have to look for ways to be innovative. Farmers need to find ways to work together to keep prices down. There are a lot of places where we can work together as neighbors.

South Dakota Farmers Union President Doug Sombke of Conde believes the Innovation Center built by Wheat Growers at Bath will have a positive affect on young people staying in the area.

I think a lot of younger people will be interested in working for Wheat Growers as they can be involved in the cutting edge on technology, Sombke said. Now were not just farming acres, but farming by the inch...

The educational component of the Innovation Center will be huge, he said.

If my boys werent farming, I dont know that Id have invested in the precision technology for myself, Sombke said. And now, its the future of the co-op.

Need to keep young people

For Ross Ulmer of Frederick, numbers tell the story about the opportunities for agriculture across the region.

With high production numbers, it makes sense that the area is a prime location for increased value-added agriculture.

With the beef plant coming online and the announcement of a soybean plant that will be built, we need to keep those products in the country, Ulmer said. And with that, maybe we can keep from exporting kids who would like to stay here. Were losing too many young kids. If we can find a way to keep that talent in the state by promoting livestock and using our commodities, that will be important.

As president of the Brown County Farm Bureau, he believes education of young people can benefit the state and, in turn, give some those want-to-be producers a chance to have a plan and the tools needed to take over Mom and Dads farm.

Im excited, he explained. (Cattle) prices have dipped, but its a part of life and the market cycles. Young producers are learning how to deal with that. Things will get better. Its a pretty good place to be.

Finances

We have some of the most progressive farmers that can be found anywhere, said Neal Wietgrefe, senior regional credit officer for Wells Fargo. They are often leading the industry in new environmental farming methods, including precision agriculture, taking advantage of new seed and livestock genetics and production methods. As a result, we are seeing new developments like the Innovation Center, beef plant and soybean plant.

He said anytime that grain and livestock can be processed in the same area where it is produced, it benefits the farming community and overall local and state economy.

Wietgrefe said the challenges in 2016 come down to finances. While farmers excel in increasing production, the decline in commodity prices over the past three years has exposed weaknesses in marketing and financial management. With the exception of the equity that remains in production ag real estate, much of the financial success enjoyed prior to 2013 has been lost since.

With low commodity prices, he said, its important that ag producers focus on financial and marketing management.

The future of agriculture is bright for those that know the cost of production, control expenses and market their grain and livestock production when the markets present opportunity as it always has, Wietgrefe stated.

Ethanol

Turning corn into ethanol consumes millions of bushels of the golden commodity each year.

Our producers have a tremendous ability to grow crops and livestock, said Jim Seurer, CEO of Glacial Lakes Energy. We can ship them out. Or we can get a better economic benefit if the soybean, corn and beef are processed here and retained. This is exactly what the visionaries that founded our industry and others wanted to see.

Glacial Lakes Energy recently improved efficiency by adding a loop track at its Watertown plant and selective milling technology at its Mina plant.

We look ahead to positioning ourselves for the future, Seurer said. The trend is for higher blends of ethanol in foreign countries, and we want to be able to take advantage of export opportunities when they are available.

As an ethanol investor, Sombke said, We want to see more blender pumps. Otherwise, this mountain of corn thats over the top of us is never going away. If China finds out how good ethanol is, can we keep enough here? We may end up building more ethanol plants.

The revenue resulting from the ethanol industry circulates through and powers local communities, Seurer said.

Thats the value of the value-added industry, he said. Its very significant to agriculture and to Main Street.
This is from a few days ago and hopefully old news, but it still bears repeating. The Spearfish Police Department received two complaints late last month of counterfeit money being passed at local businesses in Spearfish.

The counterfeit $100 bills both had the same serial number of B31459516C. The first bill was discovered on Dec. 24, and the second four days later.

Apparently both bills passed basic identification tests, according to a news release from Spearfish police.

Officer Shawn Fox of the Spearfish Police Department is asking the public for any information regarding counterfeit bills.
Although Rapid City in 2015 recorded the third highest annual building-permit valuation in its history, the results left Mayor Steve Allender wondering whether the city made progress in terms of economic development.

Allender, who took over leadership of the city in July, said of the 2015 numbers: "I can't answer whether or not it's the type of growth we are trying to recruit necessarily because I am not sensing that we have a solid plan on what type of developments we want."

He is promising to have a plan in place this year.

The Rapid City Building Services Division on Thursday reported that in 2015, the city had building-permit valuation of more than $219 million. The total number of building permits declined from 2014, but the projects this year were more expansive and expensive.

The two biggest years for permit valuation were 2013 with $244 million and 2011 with $259 million. In 2011, damage from windstorms drove up the number of permits.

Brett Limbaugh, director of the community planning and development services, said the rise in building projects over the last several years shows the city has bounced back from the recession.

Allender said although the city is growing and unemployment is low, he wants to expand Rapid City's high-skilled workforce and attract companies to hire them.

He is working with such groups as the Rapid City Economic Development Partnership, the Governor's Office of Economic Development, Ellsworth Development Authority and Black Hills Vision to develop a plan to increase high-paying jobs in the area.

Saying, "We have to know what our role is and be working toward it," Allender added that he wants a solid economic development plan to present to the public by summer.

The three biggest projects under construction in 2015 added up to $27 million in value.

The most expensive project by far is the construction of a senior-living complex, The Village at Skyline Pines, at 1050 Fairmont Blvd., valued at $14.1 million. The village will have 113 rooms with about 60 for assisted living and 50 for memory care.

There will be an interior main street on which residents can shop for groceries, get their hair done and send mail. Merlin Brenden, the development project manager, said he expects doors to be open in early May.

In second place for 2015 dollar value is Placer Hall, the latest housing addition at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.

The project, at 207 E. St. Joseph St., is valued at $6.6 million and is expected to be completed by the fall of this year. The six-story dorm will accommodate more than 1,100 students.

Mines' foundation is building Placer Hall and will lease the building back to the school.

The third highest-value permit is for the $6.3 million Granite Nissan project, at 2626 E. Mall Drive.

Bob Heibult, the building division manager with Gustafson Builders of Rapid City, said construction is progressing smoothly. The car dealership is expected to be ready for its scheduled opening day in mid-March.

Although 2015 was a strong year for permits, Limbaugh said 2016 appears to have a project that, all by itself, will total almost one-third of the 2015 value: Black Hills Corp.'s $70 million headquarters at the southwest corner of U.S. Highway 16 and Catron Boulevard in south Rapid City.

Construction is expected to take two years. The new headquarters campus will consolidate the companys 500 Rapid City employees at a single site.
It has been an honor to serve you again this year. As we prepare to start 2016, I couldnt help but reflect on what a year it has been.

I started 2015 with an appointment to the historic House Ways and Means Committee, which handles all tax, trade and economic growth policies. As the first South Dakotan to serve on this committee, its been a tremendous opportunity to make sure our priorities and values are reflected in the nations largest debates.

Just days into the new year, the House passed the Keystone XL Pipeline Act with bipartisan support. This bill would have allowed work to begin. While Republicans and Democrats in the Senate also agreed to the legislation, the President vetoed it. In doing so, he deprived South Dakota of good jobs, millions of dollars in revenue for cash-strapped counties, and congestion relief for the roads and rails.

This was one of the first of more than 300 bills the House would pass throughout 2015. We also voted on a permanent repeal of the death tax, a bill to hold sanctuary cities accountable, and measures to rein in federal regulators. Although none of these items on our conservative agenda received the Presidents signature, there were a handful of areas where we found common ground with members from both parties.

Over the last few years, Ive advocated for legislation to combat human trafficking. On May 29, we earned a major victory when the President signed our bipartisan Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act, which included provisions I wrote with the needs of South Dakota and our children in mind.

We also passed a bipartisan Trade Promotion Authority bill, which put tools in place to hold the Obama administration accountable for meeting the trade objectives set by Congress. This legislation is already making an impact. Because of it, the public has full access to the pending Trans Pacific Partnership before Congress can act on it. That gives everyone time to review it and make sure its a good deal for America.

After more than 13 years under No Child Left Behind, Congress also overhauled our federal education policy, finally getting us away from the federal government micromanaging local classrooms. In the bill, we gave states more flexibility, empowered parents, modernized the Impact Aid program, and stopped the federal government from pressuring schools into adopting specific academic standards, like Common Core.

Additionally, I helped drive forward the first long-term highway bill in a decade to make sure South Dakota farmers, businesses and families would continue to have access to a safe and reliable infrastructure. With 80,000 miles of roadway, 6,000 bridges, and thousands of miles of railways in South Dakota, it was critical that we give state and local governments more certainty, control and flexibility when addressing infrastructure problems. The Fixing Americas Surface Transportation Act accomplished that.

Finally, we passed legislation to protect hardworking South Dakotans from pending tax hikes. In the package, we made improvements to 529 college savings plans, offered a permanent deduction for certain classroom expenses teachers take on, and permanently extended Section 179, which is important to many farmers and ranchers. The package also included an extension of the biodiesel tax credit through 2016 and stopped Obamacares medical device tax from taking effect until at least 2017.

Beyond legislative initiatives, Im proud of the personal impact our office has made in the lives of many South Dakotans. Weve assisted more than 600 constituents who faced problems when trying to adopt a child, pay their taxes, receive veterans or Medicare benefits, and more. Weve also been able to show more than 130 South Dakota groups around the U.S. Capitol and made more than 170,000 calls to constituents to make sure you knew what I was doing.

There is much more to be done, but as John Wayne said, Tomorrow hopes we have learned something from yesterday.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve South Dakota. Have a happy New Year!
As we turn the page on 2015 and welcome the New Year, its a great time look to the future. Many of us will establish resolutions for 2016. Whether its to spend more time with family, get the household budget under control, lose a few pounds or visit a special place, the New Year brings an opportunity for new beginnings.

On Jan. 8, Twentieth Century Fox will release a Leonardo DiCaprio movie entitled The Revenant. If youre wondering, a revenant is one who has returned, as if from the dead. The film is based on the story of Hugh Glass, a trapper and adventurer whose tale of renewal has South Dakota roots.

In August of 1823, Glass and a party of fur trappers were scouting for game near the fork of the Grand River in what is today Perkins County, S.D. When he stumbled upon a grizzly bear and her two cubs, Glass was severely mauled, leaving him unconscious and near death.

Two of Glass companions volunteered to stay until he died, to bury him properly. Before he passed away, the two men placed him in a shallow grave and left. After they had abandoned him, Glass regained consciousness. Soon after, he began crawling toward the nearest settlement: Fort Kiowa, nearly 200 miles away at the Big Bend of the Missouri River.

Glass managed to survive the harrowing trip, eventually catching up with the young men and forgiving them. His tremendous ordeal has been retold several times, most notably by the Frederick Manfred novel Lord Grizzly.

Last August, 192 years after Glass ordeal, the community of Lemmon hosted the first Hugh Glass Rendezvous, a celebration of mountain man lifestyle and culture. It took place near the Shadehill Reservoir in northern Perkins County, not far from the location where Glass was mauled.

Event co-host and artist John Lopez, well-known for his unique metal sculptures, unveiled an extraordinary piece depicting Glass defending himself from the grizzly. A historic marker, located nearby, is dedicated to Glass and his epic journey. The final line reads, Whatever the details, it was a marvelous show of stamina and courage.

The opportunity to start fresh often comes in an unexpected way. I am excited for the possibilities in 2016 and I hope you have a great year! Whatever may be your New Years resolution, I wish you the stamina and courage of Hugh Glass. You can do it!
STURGIS -- First Interstate Bank is helping to make a difference in their community by donating to the United Way of the Black Hills.

Through their generous donation of $5,000 in addition to $13,216 already pledged, First Interstate Bank of Sturgis will be helping to provide backpacks to Sturgis area youth in need of food on the weekends.

Every week, Feeding South Dakota (a United Way partner), provides 109 backpacks of food to Sturgis area children to help alleviate hunger.

United Way volunteers in Sturgis are working hard to meet the community goal of $105,000 by year end, giving funding assurance to 24 non-profit organizations supported by United Way of Sturgis. The campaign formally ended on Dec. 31.

Donations that are raised in Sturgis will stay in the community to help 24 non-profit organizations that provide much needed services to those in need.

Donations can still be sent to the United Way of the Black Hills, 621 6th Street, Suite 100, Rapid City, SD 57701 or online at unitedwayblackhills.org
Nearly a half-century ago, Arnold W. Bergstrom was a bright-eyed 20-year-old working at a concrete products company in Rapid City and enjoying good times.

Then in July 1967, the U.S. Army abruptly changed Bergstroms life by drafting him, shaving his head, putting him through boot camp and sending him to Southeast Asia to battle the Viet Cong. In a matter of months, his idyllic life in the Black Hills was transformed into a struggle in the blackened tunnels beneath the steaming jungles of Vietnam.

Though he has never before spoken in public of his experiences in that underground world, Bergstrom is about to do just: From 9 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. on Saturday, Jan. 9, at the South Dakota Air and Space Museum at Ellsworth Air Force Base, he will present his heroic tale in a photo tour of his time in the U.S. Army. The free presentation is sponsored by the Black Hills Veterans Writing Group.

Brad Morgan, a retired professor from the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology and co-founder of the Writers Group that has helped hundreds of area veterans document their stories, said Bergstroms talk presents an opportunity to understand the challenges tunnel rats, as the subterranean searchers came to be known, encountered below the battlefields of Vietnam.

Even battle-hardened soldiers tended to balk at entering the pitch black tunnel network where the Viet Cong were waiting for them with AK-47s, grenades, and booby traps, Morgan said. The tunnel rats had to learn this new type of warfare by plunging into unknown passages that were designed for small-framed Vietnamese. Even the Marines at Iwo Jima didnt have to pursue the enemy underground like this.

Morgan, himself a veteran, said superpower armies prefer set-pitched battles, not guerrilla warfare within the enemys own lair. But, the superior air power of the U.S. military pushed the Viet Cong underground, rendering advanced technology and weaponry less effective, he explained.

The tunnel rats had to swim through goose-neck traps designed to block explosions, gas attacks, and flooding, Morgan said. The general public is prone to claustrophobia, as they are to fear of heights. Alert enemies know what they can get away with to obtain the advantage.

Karl Jung and Edgar Allan Poe would have understood not wanting to confront fearsome phobias seated in claustrophobia and perhaps imminent death, added Morgan, who said he admired Bergstrom for the duties he chose.

But the 68-year-old Bergstrom, who splits his time between Rapid City and West Jordan, Utah, dismisses his willingness to risk his life in the darkened passageways of Vietnam as heroic, by any measure.

Dont brag me up too much, he said, unable to suppress a laugh. I volunteered when I got over there. They needed demolition people to sign up as tunnel rats, and it moved you up a rank, and you got an extra 50 bucks a month in pay. The military asked me to do a job, and I did it.

Bergstrom said he was at first hesitant to enter the tunnels, but after doing it nearly every day for two years  14 consecutive days in one stint  it became common. Armed only with a .45-caliber pistol, a knife and a flashlight, he would explore the tunnels with the sole goal of determining how much munitions were needed to blow them up.

The first couple ones I went in, I was probably a little shaky about, but like anything else, it became a job, he said. I know I could have run into somebody, and they could have killed me, I guess. But I came home without a scratch, unlike so many others.

Bergstrom was reluctant to tell any of his war stories, preferring to save those for his Jan. 9 presentation. But he knows what he did in Vietnam could be regarded as perilous to some and as a nightmare to others.

It was dangerous job, but I volunteered, he said. If you ran into somebody in the hole, you had nowhere to go, and there likely would have been a gunfight. Fortunately, I never ran into anybody.

Bergstrom said he hoped his audience takes away a healthy respect for anyone who has served or now is engaged in the U.S. military, as well as the importance of keeping the peace.

I hope they can leave with an appreciation of the fact that war is ugly," he said, "and living in peace is a much better thing.

Even though Bergstrom said he has, at times, struggled with his own demons, he remembers the day he arrived back on his native soil in July 1969, as if it were yesterday.

Theres always a sad part of war youll carry with you forever, unfortunately, but Ive tried to put that crap behind me, he said with a sigh. When I got home, I got off the plane and kissed the tarmac and said, `That (stuff) is behind me, and Im moving forward.

For the Vietnam vet, moving forward took him to several decades of oil-industry jobs scattered from Casper, Green River and La Barge, Wyo., to West Jordan, and Lafayette, La. Along the way, he married and had a son and a daughter, Justin and Brooke, both of whom now live near his Utah home.

Three weeks after he retired in 2013, the love of his life, Judith Ann, suffered a massive stroke and died, nine days short of 40 years of marriage. Despite the loss of his sunshine and the lingering memories of his days of darkness in Vietnam, Bergstrom remains upbeat and optimistic, reveling in his retirement, his children, and his five grandchildren.

Even though Im in my last quarter," he said, "Im doing all right.
02

STATE OF

SOUTH DAKOTA )

) SS

COUNTY OF FALL RIVER )

)

Estate of )

Sylvia E. Heldman )

Deceased )

IN CIRCUIT COURT

SEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

23 PRO. 15-31

Notice is given that on December 17, 2015, Geraldine E. Noe was appointed Personal Representative of the Estate of Sylvia E. Heldman.

Creditors of decedent must file their claims within four (4) months after the date of the first publication of this notice or their claims may be barred.

Claims may be filed with the personal representative or may be filed with the Clerk of Courts, and a copy of the claim mailed to the Personal Representative.

/s/Geraldine E. Noe

Geraldine E. Noe

1778 Zinfandel Ct. E.

Easton, PA 18045

610-419-8419

Carol E. Foster

Clerk of Courts

906 N. River Street

Hot Springs, SD 57747

(605) 745-5131

Lance S. Russell

Attorney at Law

P.O. Box 184

Hot Springs, SD 57747

605-745-3228

Published four times at the total approximate cost of $47.38.

Jan. 5,12,19,26
Tribal members from three of South Dakotas Native American reservations have a new pathway to enter careers as educators.

Teach for America has forged partnerships with the tribal councils of both the Rosebud and Standing Rock reservations, as well as with administrators at the Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.

Jim Curran, executive director of Teach for America in South Dakota, said the goal of the partnerships is to recruit more Native Americans whose college degrees are in education in hopes they will return to the reservations as teachers. When a graduate is accepted into the program, Teach for America finds him or her a teaching job.

Every school board, every kid, every parent on the reservation wants great teachers in front of their students, Curran said. Most of them want Lakota teachers in front of Lakota kids.

Teach for America is a nonprofit working to increase educational opportunities for students in poverty-stricken areas, which aligns perfectly with Sierra Conchas mission.

Ever since I was little, Ive always wanted to help other people, she said. Ive always loved kids and teaching.

A graduate of Red Cloud Indian School on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, Concha, 23, is a junior majoring in secondary education with an emphasis in English studies at the University of New Mexico. She plans on transferring to Black Hills State University this year so she can be closer to home.

Her goal always has been to return to the reservation as a teacher, so when Nakina Mills, director of student advancement and alumni support at Red Cloud, told Concha about the new teaching opportunities available through Teach for America, she eagerly applied.

I like the fact that its main goal is to have the people who join it teach in lower-income communities, Concha said. This community definitely needs people who are passionate about helping others. Thats what Teach for America is.

Mills' job is to provide support and resources to students from Red Cloud during their college careers. With Teach for America stepping up its recruitment efforts on the reservation, her job now includes acting as a liaison between the group and the schools' students.

Its still very early in Teach for Americas involvement at Red Cloud, but of the 20 or so alumni she has contacted, Mills said that about 10 have interest in applying to the program.

Its been a good response so far, Mills said. I think its a great opportunity for not only our students but for other students in South Dakota to give back to their communities. This is another way for them to do that.

Curran said his group has been working behind the scenes for the better part of five years to get more involved on the reservations in South Dakota.

We at Teach for America want to fuel a movement to end educational inequity, Curran said, to get to that day where every single kid can do what they want with their lives. We are very far from that day right now. But this partnership is rooted in the belief that kids have the answers that outside entities dont have. The more we can recruit from our communities, the more we can unlock these problems.

Building partnerships with tribal leaders and the administrators at Red Cloud, Curran added, has moved his groups efforts closer to reality.

"We want our alumni to positively impact the Pine Ridge Reservation, said Robert Brave Heart Sr., executive vice president of Red Cloud Indian School, in a press-release. Our new collaboration will support efforts to bring more employment opportunities to our community as well as support our students.

Concha plans to begin her application to the program soon. If all goes as planned, she will be working for Teach For America in 2017 while she pursues a master's in education.
WASHINGTON | Ethan Couch, meet Donald Trump, fellow Affluenza sufferer.

Couch is the Texas teenager who killed four people and injured nine others when he lost control of his  or, should I say, his mommy and daddy's  speeding pickup. Couch was 16. Three hours after the grisly crash, his blood alcohol level was three times the legal limit for an adult.

His lawyer and his expert witness psychologist  or, should I say, the lawyer and the expert witness psychologist hired by his mommy and daddy  argued that Couch should be spared imprisonment because his overprivileged upbringing had failed to teach him the difference between right and wrong. Mommy and Daddy had never set limits or imposed consequences on young Ethan.

Couch's infuriating defense  it's not fair to punish me because I've never been punished before  succeeded in winning him probation instead of the 20 years sought by prosecutors.

Of course, Couch is back in the news because complying with the no-alcohol terms of probation was apparently too much for him; Mommy fled with him to Mexico rather than allow him to face punishment.

"He never learned that sometimes you don't get your way," testified the psychologist, G. Dick Miller. "The teen never learned to say that you're sorry if you hurt someone," Miller observed. "If you hurt someone you sent him money."

From his parents, "Ethan learned you should be able to do what you want to do when you want to do it," prompted his lawyer. "I think that was the message," Miller agreed. Ethan, he said, was taught, "We have the gold, we make the rules."

In one telling interchange in a videotaped deposition in a civil lawsuit, Ethan's father Fred was asked about his own stop for drunk driving: "Did you tell the arresting officer, 'I make more in a day than you make in a year?'"

Fred Couch, smirking: "Probably."

When the head of Ethan's private school confronted Fred Couch about allowing the boy to drive himself to school at the age of 13, he laughed her off and said he would buy the place.

"He was adamant that Ethan was going to drive to school," LeVonna Anderson told "D" Magazine. "He believed his son was better. His son was more talented. He was the golden boy."

Hmmm. Sound familiar?

If Couch is the Affluenza Teen, Trump is the Affluenza Candidate. The symptoms he exhibits are multiple, and florid: The overweening sense of entitlement. The conflation of money and intelligence, and the belief that wealth is a virtue in itself. The obsessive flaunting thereof.

These qualities are not incidental to Trump's presidential campaign. They are integral to it. The campaign is predicated on the notion that with great wealth comes great entitlement. His trumpeted billions constitute the primary evidence of his qualification for the presidency.

"I'm really rich," Trump said in announcing his campaign. "I'm proud of my net worth. I've done an amazing job."

American politics has featured its share of rich candidates, but never before, and certainly not to this degree, has a candidate's fortune been his raison d'etre. After all, the tradition is much the opposite  to emphasize humble, log-cabin beginnings. Candidates burdened with wealthy parents endeavor to display the semblance of ordinariness.

Not Trump. He doesn't downplay. He flaunts the Trump name for all to see. His consumption could not be more conspicuous. Mitt Romney was dinged for building car elevators and having his wife drive "a couple of Cadillacs." Trump invites reporters aboard his private jet, complete with its 24-carat gold-plated seatbelts.

The candidate's wealth is both evidence of his merit and a benefit in itself, proof that Trump is immune to the pressures faced by less-affluent politicians. "I don't need anybody's money," Trump proclaimed in his announcement speech. "It's nice."

The flip side of this attitude, for those afflicted with Affluenza, is that the ordinary rules of personal conduct and human decency do not apply to the sufferer. Trump calls people names. He says things that are untrue. He never backs down. Being Trump means never having to say you're sorry.

In the case of Ethan Couch, his parents were the enablers of this conduct. In the case of Trump, at least so far, it's the voters. At least according to the polls that are at the center of Trump's universe, his offensiveness reaps no consequences. Voters seem to reward his outrageousness; they impose no limits on his bad behavior.

A candidate with Affluenza is bad enough. Imagine a president with this malady.
The decision by Gov. Pete Ricketts to delay any executions in Nebraska until after residents vote on the death penalty is appropriate.

The move will allow Corrections Director Scott Frakes to focus on the urgent job of prison reform without having to divert his attention to the impossible task of finding execution drugs.

As has been reported repeatedly by the Lincoln Journal Star and other news organizations, the Food and Drug Administration says that sodium thiopental, one of three drugs in Nebraskas lethal injection protocol, is not an approved drug for injection into humans and cannot be imported legally.

Judging from the experience of Nebraska officials in recent years, there are no reputable purveyors of the drug.

Twice now the state of Nebraska has written checks to a salesman in India named Chris Harris for sodium thiopental. The first time, in 2012, the FDA ordered Nebraska officials to return the drug. This year state officials paid $54,000 for a new supply, but the FDA has refused to allow it to be imported.

Harris background does not inspire confidence. A landlord in Kolkata, India, told a Buzzfeed reporter that Harris skipped out owing seven months' rent in 2013.

The Ricketts administration apparently was seeking the drug to counter arguments that it is next to impossible to legally carry out an execution in Nebraska.

Ironically the administrations attempts to find sodium thiopental proved that the death penalty opponents were right.

Sen. Colby Coash of Lincoln, a Republican, said the governors decision confirms that the death penalty is broken. We can't obtain the drugs, it causes years of suffering for victims families, risks executing the innocent, and is a waste of taxpayer dollars. It's time to move on."

Sen. Les Seiler, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said the governors move will allow the Legislature to concentrate on other issues. Like Coash, Seiler is a Republican who voted both for repeal and to override the governors veto. Ricketts decision will give senators time to work on various tax reduction proposals, Seiler said.

The governor could have saved his administration embarrassment if he had acted earlier.

Belated though his decision might be, Ricketts should be credited for recognizing that stubborn insistence on trying to find execution drugs would have interfered with his pursuit of other important goals.

As Ricketts said, his decision gives deference to Nebraskas voters. If they study the issue diligently, voters will come to the same conclusion that state senators did. Replacing the death penalty with a sentence of life without possibility of parole is a better way to serve the cause of justice.

 Lincoln (Neb.) Journal Star
Two men with long and distinguished careers in the wool industry have been selected to receive the American Wool Council's Wool Excellence Award. They will be honored during the Wool Recognition Lunch on Thursday, Jan. 28, at the Scottsdale Plaza Resort. Tickets for this event are still available by contacting the ASI office at 303-771-3500.Charlie Chase, longtime Burlington Industries Wool Company executive, and Groenewold Fur and Wool owner, Grant Groenewold, will be honored at the ASI Annual Convention in Scottsdale, Ariz., as recipients of the Wool Excellence Award.Chase started to work for Burlington Industries Wool Company in Clarksville, Va., on Sept. 1, 1972. He had previously worked in the wool trade and came to BI Wool Company from Mariner & Company in Boston.Chase served in many capacities within BI Wool Company, including the role of vice president. His responsibilities included traveling west during the wool buying season each year to visit ranches, attend sales in the various states and visit wool warehouses. Chase was responsible for preparing the blends for the Clarksville Combing plant.He also traveled overseas to Australia, South Africa and South America, visiting suppliers and examining wool that was purchased for Burlington. Through the years at Burlington, Chase purchased millions of pounds of greasy wool from the United States and all across the world. He examined all of this wool as it passed through the Clarksville Combing Plant.After his discharge from the military, Groenewold worked for M. C. Kraft, a hide and wool business in Springfield, Ill. In 1958, he purchased his father's business. It was a small business consisting of one building and two trucks secured on credit.At that time, Groenewold was both the fur buyer and the wool buyer. He would buy wool directly from the producers and secured several shearers to also buy wool. He would deliver a load of wool to Caron Spinning Mill in Rochelle, Ill., and then continue on to pick up another load for the following day.Groenewold began to export wool in the late 1960's to BWK in Germany. He exported wool to Poland, England, Germany, Bulgaria, Turkey, Egypt, India, China, Japan, Argentina and Holland.Groenewold Fur and Wool Co. also began exporting fur in 1960. GFW is now the largest wild fur buyer in the United States. The company services customers all across the world and employs 15 full-time and 21 seasonal employees, many of whom have worked there for 20-plus years. They have approximately 125 wool buyers across the Midwest and eastern United States. His goal is to sort and package as close to 1,000 pounds of wool per man hour as possible.
HELENA  The Bureau of Reclamation is seeking a concessionaire to provide commercial services at Goose Bay Marina and Campground on Canyon Ferry Reservoir, scheduled to reopen next year after major facilities construction during the last two seasons.

In September 2014, Reclamation awarded a $6.9 million contract to modernize Goose Bay. Construction included developing a marina with a store, fuel, showers, flush toilets, RV dump stations, potable water, campsites, wastewater systems, accessible docks and landscaping. The 65-acre site, located about 15 miles north of Townsend along the eastern shore of Canyon Ferry, was closed for the 2015 season during construction.

We are very pleased to see the final pieces of the modernization project coming together, Area Manager Steve Davies said in a statement. The Montana Area Office appreciates the publics patience as we have moved forward with improvements to the Goose Bay Marina and Campground. I expect visitors to the site will find there is a vastly different experience with modern facilities and updated infrastructure, as well as areas that retain less developed characteristics that some campers prefer.

Information for prospective concessionaires is available at usbr.gov/gp/mtao/canyonferry/goosebay/ and a prebid site visit is planned for 1 p.m. Jan. 12.

The deadline for bidding is Feb. 26.

The 20-year contract includes use of both Reclamation-owned facilities and concessionaire-provided property such as docks and trash containers. The winning bidder must provide, at minimum, a seasonal recreation operation functioning from May 1 through Sept. 30.

Goose Bay would be expected to at least partially open by Memorial Day 2016, per the contract.

Bidders must propose a minimum franchise fee, paid to Reclamation, of 3 percent of gross annual receipts. The minimum bid percentage is higher than fees at other sites, such as Kims Marina or the Yacht Basin, because of the amount Reclamation spent on infrastructure at Goose Bay, said Pete Stevenson, natural resource specialist.

We figured 3 percent is a good starting point, and (the percentage) will factor into the decision, but is not the overwhelming factor, he said.

The reopening of Goose Bay follows a four-year, often contentious saga that concluded in 2013 when Reclamation forced 31 trailer owners to move, citing exclusive use regulations, and the Reller family ended its three-decade run as concessionaires.

The decision to remove the trailers came after pleas from the owners to Reclamation and then-Sen. Max Baucus, but a federal judge ultimately upheld the decision in 2013.

In the past, Jerry Reller said demands by Reclamation to install a new septic system were cost-prohibitive, and that the trailers provided an integral portion of their business. The decision to upgrade Goose Bay was largely panned by Townsend-area residents at public meetings who wanted to keep facilities more primitive.

The Rellers' last long-term contract ended in 2012, but they were allowed to operate on an interim contract for the 2013 recreation season.

When reached Tuesday, Jerry Reller said there is not a chance that he will bid on the new concession, citing the previous contract dispute with Reclamation.
is about the economic and technological facts every Progressive needs to know--the neglected stories of the real economy

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the big subjects to be covered

Energy (the end of the age of petroleum)

Money and the economics of the Predators

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Amel Shimoun Nona is the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul. When the Islamic State captured northern Iraq, it drove 30,000 Christians from the Nineveh plain where they had lived since not long after the time of Christ. In August 2014, Nona predicted that the same thing would happen to Christians in the West: Our sufferings today, he said, are the prelude of those you, Europeans and Western Christians, will also suffer in the near future. And now, as the few remaining Christians in the Middle East prepare to celebrate Christmas and hope that Muslims wont murder them for doing so, that future is now.

Nona continued: I lost my diocese. The physical setting of my apostolate has been occupied by Islamic radicals who want us converted or dead. He explained that the West was making a grave error by assuming that Islam was a religion of peace that taught the equal dignity of all human beings:

Please, try to understand us. Your liberal and democratic principles are worth nothing here. You must consider again our reality in the Middle East, because you are welcoming in your countries an ever growing number of Muslims. Also you are in danger. You must take strong and courageous decisions, even at the cost of contradicting your principles. You think all men are equal, but that is not true: Islam does not say that all men are equal. Your values are not their values. If you do not understand this soon enough, you will become the victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home.

You will become victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home. Lets see. In applying for a visa to enter the United States, Tashfeen Malik passed background checks from no fewer than five different U.S. government agencies. Her visa application was rushed through despite not having required documentation. Apparently U.S. officials looked upon her as the very definition of the vetted moderate whom Barack Obama wants so desperately not only to aid in Syria, but to bring to the United States in large numbers.

Tashfeen Malik would no doubt still be thought of as a valued and vetted moderate had she not helped her husband, Syed Rizwan Farook, murder fourteen non-Muslims in the cause of Islam and jihad at a Christmas party in San Bernardino, California on December 2. You will become victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home.

Several weeks before Tashfeen Malik revealed the value of Obamas vetting process, Muslims murdered 130 people in Paris in the cause of Islam and jihad. French Prime Minister Manuel Valls revealed that some of the attackers had just come to Europe as refugees: These individuals took advantage of the refugee crisisof the chaos, perhaps, for some of them to slip in. Of the chaos, perhaps? Perhaps. But that chaos was of European leaders own making, as they welcomed into Europe hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees with no provision whatsoever for the possibility that there might be Islamic jihadis among them  even as Saudi Arabia had refused to take any of the refugees because of that very possibility. You will become victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home.

In the face of this, Barack Obama has excoriated those who would restrict the entry of Muslim migrants as religious bigots. Donald Trump has been reviled as a new Hitler for daring to suggest that there should be a temporary moratorium on Muslim immigration until adequate vetting procedures can be devised. Even conservative commentators have in response called for a ban on Islamists, rather than Muslims, blithely ignoring the salient fact that there is no reliable way to distinguish the one from the other.

And so as Christmas 2015 comes and goes, and 2016 dawns, nothing is much more certain  given the wholesale self-imposed blindness and willful ignorance of our leaders and opinion-makers on both the Left and Right  than that we will become victims of the enemy we have welcomed in our home. To see exactly what form will that take in the coming years and decades, we need only look around the world during this Christmas season: Somalia, Brunei, and Tajikistan have banned Christmas celebrations as un-Islamic, and Indonesia plans to deploy 150,000 security personnel to make sure that Islamic jihadists dont target Christians in jihad mass murder plots as they celebrate Christmas. We dont hear very much about Christmas in Iraq this year: there are hardly any Christians left there to celebrate it.

But surely none of that can happen here, right? Someone will stop it. Someone will do something. Christmas celebrations banned in the U.S. to avoid offending Muslim sensibilities? Inconceivable! Christmas celebrations threatened with Muslim violence, not because they drew Muhammad or otherwise offended Muslim sensibilities, but simply for the fact of being Christian celebrations? It could never happen here! Christians driven out, or forcibly converted to Islam, or killed? That sort of thing only happens over there. Not in America. The refugees (refugees like the Paris jihadis), they will all be vetted moderates (just like Tashfeen Malik). Anyone who thinks anything could go wrong is a racist, bigoted Islamophobe.

Of course. Someone will do something, right? Someone, somewhere, sometime, will have the courage to brave the smears of racism and bigotry and Islamophobia that are certain to come his or her way, and put a stop to all of this before it gets of hand, right? Of course someone will. America is forever. America cant be destroyed. You will become victims of the enemy you have welcomed in your home? Nonsense. Dont be racist. Dont be xenophobic. Everything is going to be all right. Lets just eradicate all this right-wing extremism, and everything will be fine, and we will all march together into a bright, beautiful multicultural future. Just like in Mosul. Just like in Somalia, and Tajikistan, and Brunei.

* * * * * * *

What is the Attitude of the Magisterium of the Church ?

Vatican Council ii And Papal Statements On Islam





Second Vatican Council, Lumen Gentium 16, November 21, 1964

But the plan of salvation also includes those who acknowledge the Creator, in the first place among whom are the Muslims: these profess to hold the faith of Abraham, and together with us they adore the one, merciful God, mankinds judge on the last day.



Second Vatican Council, Nostra Aetate 3, October 28, 1965

The Catholic Church rejects nothing of what is true and holy in these religions. She has a high regard for the manner of life and conduct, the precepts and doctrines which, although differing in many ways from her own teaching, nevertheless often reflect a ray of that truth which enlightens all men. Yet she proclaims and is in duty bound to proclaim without fail, Christ who is the way, the truth and the life (Jn 1:6). In him, in whom God reconciled all things to himself (cf. 2Co 5:18-19), men find the fullness of their religious life.

The Church, therefore, urges her sons to enter with prudence and charity into discussion and collaboration with members of other religions. Let Christians, while witnessing to their own faith and way of life, acknowledge, preserve and encourage the spiritual and moral truths found among non-Christians, also their social life and culture.

The Church has also a high regard for the Muslims. They worship God, who is one, living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth (Cf. St. Gregory VII, Letter III, 21 to Anazir [Al-Nasir], King of Mauretania PL, 148.451A.), who has spoken to men. They strive to submit themselves without reserve to the hidden decrees of God, just as Abraham submitted himself to Gods plan, to whose faith Muslims eagerly link their own. Although not acknowledging him as God, they venerate Jesus as a prophet, his Virgin Mother they also honor, and even at times devoutly invoke. Further, they await the day of judgment and the reward of God following the resurrection of the dead. For this reason they highly esteem an upright life and worship God, especially by way of prayer, alms-deeds and fasting.

Over the centuries many quarrels and dissensions have arisen between Christians and Muslims. The sacred Council now pleads with all to forget the past, and urges that a sincere effort be made to achieve mutual understanding; for the benefit of all men, let them together preserve and promote peace, liberty, social justice and moral values.

Therefore, the Church reproves, as foreign to the mind of Christ, any discrimination against people or any harassment of them on the basis of their race, color, condition in life or religion. Accordingly, following the footsteps of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, the sacred Council earnestly begs the Christian faithful to conduct themselves well among the Gentiles (1P 2:12) and if possible, as far as depends on them, to be at peace with all men (cf. Rm 12:18), and in that way to be true sons of the Father who is in heaven (cf. Mt 5:45).



Paul VI, Ecclesiam Suam 107, August 6, 1964

Then [we refer] to the adorers of God according to the conception of monotheism, the Muslim religion especially, deserving of our admiration for all that is true and good in their worship of God.



Paul VI, Message to the World, Bethlehem, January 6, 1964

We address this reverent greeting in particular to those who profess monotheism and with us direct their religious workshop to the one true God, most high and living, the God of Abraham, the supreme God whom Melchizedek, a mysterious person about whose genealogy and end Scripture tells us nothing, and by whose regal priesthood Christ himself wishes to be characterized, one day, distinct in the past but recalled in the Bible and in the Missal, celebrated as God Most High, maker of heaven and earth (cf. Gn 14:19; Heb 7; Ps 76:3; 110:4).

We Christians, informed by revelation, understand God as existing in the three Divine Persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit; however, we celebrate the divine nature as one, as the living and true God. May these peoples, worshipers of the one God, also welcome our best wishes for peace in justice.

Our greeting is also being addressed to all peoples wherever Our Catholic missions carry the Gospel, and with it an invitation to its universality and a working towards its realization.



Paul VI, address to the Islamic communities of Uganda, August 1, 1969

In our prayers, we always remember the peoples of Africa. The common belief in the Almighty professed by millions calls down upon this continent the graces of his Providence and love, most of all, peace and unity among all its sons. We feel sure that as representatives of Islam, you join in our prayers to the Almighty, that he may grant all African believers the desire for pardon and reconciliation so often commended in the Gospels and in the Quran.

Our pilgrimage to these holy places is not for purposes of prestige or power. It is a humble and ardent prayer for peace, through the intercession of the glorious protectors of Africa, who gave up their lives for love and for their belief. In recall the Catholic and Anglican Martyrs, We gladly recall also those confessors of the Muslim faith who were the first to suffer death, in the year 1848, for refusing to transgress the precepts of their religion.



John Paul II, address to the Catholic community of Ankara, Turkey, November 29, 1979

After quoting Nostra Aetate 3, as given above, he says: My brothers, when I think of this spiritual heritage (Islam) and the value it has for man and for society, its capacity of offering, particularly in the young, guidance for life, filing the gap left by materialism, and giving a reliable foundation to social and juridical organization, I wonder if it is not urgent, precisely today when Christians and Muslims have entered a new period of history, to recognize and develop the spiritual bonds that unite us, in order to preserve and promote together for the benefit of all men, peace, liberty, social justice and moral values as the Council calls upon us to do (Nostra Aetate 3).

Faith in God, professed by the spiritual descendants of AbrahamChristians, Muslims and Jewswhen it is lived sincerely, when it penetrates life, is a certain foundation of the dignity, brotherhood and freedom of men and a principle of uprightness for moral conduct and life in society. And there is more: as a result of this faith in God the Creator and transcendent, one man finds himself at the summit of creation. He was created, the Bible teaches, in the image and likeness of God (Gn 1:27); for the Quran, the sacred book of the Muslims, although man is made of dust, God breathed into him his spirit and endowed him with hearing, sight and heart, that is, intelligence (Surah 32.8).

For the Muslims, the universe is destined to be subject to man as the representative of God: the Bible affirms that God ordered man to subdue the earth, but also to till it and keep it (Gen. 2:15). As Gods creature, man has rights which cannot be violated, but he is equally bound by the law of good and evil which is based on the order established by God. Thanks to this law, man will never submit to any idol. The Christian keeps to the solemn commandment: You shall keep no other gods before me (Ex 20:30). On his side, the Muslim will always say: God is the greatest.

I would like to take advantage of this meeting and the opportunity offered to me by the words that St. Peter wrote to your predecessors to invite you to consider every day the deep roots of faith in God in whom also your Muslim fellow citizens believe, in order to draw from this the principle of a collaboration with a view to the progress of man, emulation in good, and the extension of peace and brotherhood in free profession of the faith peculiar to each one.



John Paul II, address to representatives of Muslims of the Philippines, February 20, 1981

I deliberately address you as brothers: that is certainly what we are, because we are members of the same human family, whose efforts, whether people realize it or not, tend toward God and the truth that comes from him. But we are especially brothers in God, who created us and whom we are trying to reach, in our own ways, through faith, prayer and worship, through the keeping of his law and through submission to his designs.

But are you not, above all, brothers of the Christians of this great country, through the bonds of nationality, history, geography, culture, and hope for a better future, a future that you are building together? Is it not right to think that in the Philippines, the Muslims and the Christians are really traveling on the same ship, for better or for worse, and that in the storms that sweep across the world the safety of each individual depends upon the efforts and cooperation of all?...

I salute all this efforts [of civic and political cooperation] with great satisfaction, and I earnestly encourage their extension. Society cannot bring citizens the happiness that they expect from it unless society itself is built upon dialogue. Dialogue in turn is built upon trust, and trust presupposes not only justice but mercy. Without any doubt, equality and freedom, which are at the foundation of every society, require law and justice. But as I said in a recent letter addressed to the whole Catholic Church, justice by itself is not enough: The equality brought by justice is limited to the realms of objective and extrinsic goods, while love and mercy bring it about that people meet one another in that value which is man himself, with the dignity that is proper to him (Dives in misericordia, encyclical letter On the Mercy of God).

Dear Muslims, my brothers: I would like to add that we Christians, just like you, seek the basis and model of mercy in God himself, the God to whom your Book gives the very beautiful name of al-Rahman, while the Bible calls him al-Rahum, the Merciful One.



John Paul II, address to bishops of North Africa on an ad limina visit, Rome, November 23, 1981

One of the essential characteristics of the life of the Church in Maghreb is, in fact, to be invited to enter upon a constructive Islamic-Christian dialogue. I am anxious to encourage you along this difficult way, where failure may occur, but where hope is even stronger. To maintain it, strong Christian convictions are necessary. More than elsewhere, it is highly desirable that Christians should take part, as you encourage them to do, in a permanent catechesis which completes a biblical renewal course, or more exactly a reading of the Word of God in the Church, with the help of theologians and truly competent spiritual teachers.

But it can never be said enough that such a dialogue is in the first place a question of friendship; one must know how to give dialogue the time for progress and discernment. That is why it is surrounded by discretion out of a concern to be considerate with regard to the slowness of the evolution of mentalities. The seriousness of commitment in this dialogue is measured by that of the witness lived and borne to the values in which one believes, and, for the Christian, to him who is their foundation, Jesus Christ. That is why it conceals an inevitable tension between the deep respect which is due to the person and the convictions of the one with whom we are speaking, and an unshakeable attachment to ones faith. This sincere dialogue and this demanding witness involve a part of spiritual abnegation: how can we fail to proclaim the hope that we have received of taking part in this wedding feast of the Lamb at which the whole of mankind will be gathered one day?

It is also necessary - among other things, in order to preserve this dialogue in its truth - for this deep hope to remain without yielding to any faintheartedness born of uncertain doctrine. Such a spirit is embodied in the first place in disinterested service with a view to fraternity participating in the development of these countries and to sharing the aspirations of their people. I am anxious to stress here the quality of the work carried out by so many of those cooperators in the discretion and dedication, and by those who supported them.



John Paul II, address to the bishops of Senegal on their ad limina visit, Rome, January 26, 1982

In this country, which is mainly Muslim, you take care to keep alive in Christians the sense of friendship, a friendship whose sincerity is measured by the effectiveness of the actions it inspires. I do not want to dwell here on this important question of the dialogue between Christians and Muslims, with which I quite recently dealt in my conversations with your confreres in North Africa. But I am anxious to point out the importance of the initiative you have taken in common in this field, in the framework of the Regional Episcopal Conference of West Africa, by creating a special commission to promote such a dialogue.

I know you are beginning to perceive the fruits of this mutually agreed upon decision; it gradually makes possible a real renewal of mentalities, which facilitates the beneficial transition from ignorance to knowledge of the Muslim faith, from indifference to opening, from rejection to dialogue.



John Paul II, address to a symposium on Holiness in Christianity and in Islam, Rome, May 9, 1985

All true holiness comes from God, who is called The Holy One in the sacred books of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Your holy Quran calls God Al-Quddus, as in the verse: He is God, besides whom there is no other, the Sovereign, the Holy, the (source of) Peace (Quran 59, 23). The prophet Hosea links Gods holiness with his forgiving love for mankind, a love which surpasses our ability to comprehend: I am God, not man; I am the Holy One in your midst and have no wish to destroy (Ho 11:9). In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus teaches his disciples that holiness consists in assuming, in our human way, the qualities of Gods own holiness which he has revealed to mankind: Be holy, even as your heavenly Father is holy (Mt 5:48).

Thus the Quran calls you to uprightness (al-salah), to conscientious devotion (al-taqwa), to goodness (al-husn), and to virtue (al-birr), which is described as believing in God, giving ones wealth to the needy, freeing captives, being constant in prayer, keeping ones word, and being patient in times of suffering, hardship and violence (Quran 2:177). Similarly, St. Paul stresses the love we must show toward all, and the duty to lead a blameless life in the sight of God: May the Lord be generous in increasing your love and make you love one another and the whole human race as much as we love you. And may he so confirm your hearts in holiness that you may be blameless in the sight of our God and Father when our Lord Jesus Christ comes with all his saints (1 Th 3:12-13).



John Paul II, address to representatives of the Muslims of Belgium, May 19, 1985

It is a joy for me to have this occasion to meet with you. As the spiritual head of the Catholic Church, I have had many other opportunities both to welcome Muslims in Rome and to visit them in various countries in the course of my travels.

As Christians and Muslims, we encounter one another in faith in the one God, our Creator and guide, our just and merciful judge. In our daily lives we strive to put into practice Gods will according to the teaching of our respective Scriptures. We believe that God transcends our thoughts and our universe and that his loving presence accompanies us throughout each day. In prayer, we place ourselves in the presence of God to offer him our worship and thanksgiving, to ask forgiveness for our faults, and to seek his help and blessing.

Today we are meeting in Belgium, a country with a long tradition of hospitality toward persons of diverse religious adherence, whose legislation guarantees the freedom of worship and education. We know that this does not resolve all the problems which are common to the plight of immigrants. Nevertheless, these very difficulties ought to be an incentive to all believers, Christian and Muslim, to come to know one another better, to engage in dialogue in order to find peaceful ways of living together and mutually enriching one another.

It is a good thing to come to understand each other by learning to accept differences, by overcoming prejudices in mutual respect, and by working together for reconciliation and service to the lowliest. This is a fundamental dialogue which must be practiced in neighborhoods, in places of work, in schools. This is the dialogue which is proper to believers who live together in a modern and pluralistic society.

It has not been granted to us that we form a single community; this is, rather, a test which has been imposed upon us. In confronting this situation, allow me to repeat the advice of the Apostle Paul: Those who have placed their faith in God should set their hearts on the practice of what is good (Tt 3:8). This type of mutual emulation can benefit the whole society, especially those who find themselves most in need of justice, consolation, hope - in a word, those in need of reasons for living. We know that by working together fraternally, we will thus be carrying out the will of God.

John Paul II , address to the young Muslims of Morocco, August 19, 1985

Christians and Muslims have many things in common, as believers and as human beings. We live in the same world, marked by many signs of hope, but also by multiple signs of anguish. For us, Abraham is a model of faith in God, of submission to his will and of confidence in his goodness. We believe in the same God, the one God, the living God, the God who created the world and brings his creatures to their perfection. . . .

God asks that we should listen to His voice. He expects from us obedience to His holy will in a free consent of mind and heart.

It is therefore toward this God that my thought goes and that my heart rises. It is of God himself that, above all, I wish to speak with you; of him, because it is in him that we believe, you Muslims and we Catholics. I wish also to speak with you about human values, which have their basis in God, these values which concern the blossoming of our person, as also that of our families and our societies, as well as that of the international community. The mystery of God - is it not the highest reality from which depends the very meaning which man gives to his life? And is it not the first problem that presents itself to a young person, when he reflects upon the mystery of his own existence and on the values which he intends to choose in order to build his growing personality? . . .

First of all, I invoke the Most High, the all-powerful God who is our Creator. He is the origin of all life, as he is at the source of all that is good, of all that is beautiful, of all that is holy. . . .

He made us, us men, and we are from him. His holy law guides our life. It is the light of God which orients our destiny and enlightens our conscience. . . .

Yes, God asks that we should listen to his voice. He expects from us obedience to his holy will in a free consent of mind and of heart.

That is why we are accountable before him. It is He, God, who is our judge; He who alone is truly just. We know, however, that his mercy is inseparable from His justice. When man returns to Him, repentant and contrite, after having strayed into the disorder of sin and the works of death, God then reveals Himself as the one who pardons and shows mercy.

To Him, therefore, our love and our adoration! For His blessing and His mercy, we thank Him, at all times and in all places. . . .

Man is a spiritual being. We believers know that we do not live in a closed world. We believe in God. We are worshipers of God. We are seekers of God.

The Catholic Church regards with respect and recognizes the equality of your religious progress, the richness of your spiritual tradition. . . .

I believe that we, Christians and Muslims, must recognize with joy the religious values that we have in common, and give thanks to God for them. Both of us believe in one God, the only God, who is all justice and all mercy; we believe in the importance of prayer, of fasting, of almsgiving, of repentance and of pardon; we believe that God will be a merciful judge to us all at the end of time, and we hope that after the resurrection He will be satisfied with us and we know that we will be satisfied with him.

Loyalty demands also that we should recognize and respect our differences. Obviously the most fundamental is the view that we hold onto the person and work of Jesus of Nazareth. You know that, for Christians, Jesus causes them to enter into an intimate knowledge of the mystery of God and into the filial communion by His gifts, so that they recognize Him and proclaim Him Lord and Savior.

Those are the important differences which we can accept with humility and respect, in mutual tolerance; this is a mystery about which, I am certain, God will one day enlighten us.

Christians and Muslims, in general we have badly understood each other, and sometimes, in the past, we have opposed and often exhausted each other in polemics and in wars.

I believe that today, God invites us to change our old practices. We must respect each other, and we must stimulate each other in good works on the path of God.

With me, you know the reward of spiritual values. Ideologies and slogans cannot satisfy you nor can they solve the problems of your life. Only spiritual and moral values can do it, and they have God at their foundation.

Dear young people, I wish that you may be able to help in building a world where God may have first place in order to aid and to save mankind. On this path, you are assured, of the esteem and the collaboration of your Catholic brothers and sisters whom I represent among you this evening.



John Paul II, address to a group of Christians, Jews and Muslims, February 26, 1986

Both the Bible and the Quran teach that mercy and justice are two attributes most characteristic of God. He, the Just One, the Merciful, the Compassionate, can bring about these same qualities in mankind, if only we open our hearts to allow him to do so. He wants us to be merciful toward each other. Along this path there are new solutions to be found to the political, racial and confessional conflicts which have plagued the human family throughout history.

You come from a city that has so much meaning for all of us: Jews, Christians and Muslims. Jerusalem, the city of David, the place of Jesus death and resurrection, the site of Muhammads night journey to God: this city must be a living symbol that Gods will for us is to live in peace and mutual respect!

I wish to encourage you in your efforts. In todays world, it is more important than ever that people of faith place at the service of humanity their religious conviction, founded on the daily practice of listening to Gods message and encountering him in prayerful worship. My prayers and hopes are with you as you pursue your reflection on the God of mercy and justice, the God of peace and reconciliation!



John Paul II, address to Christians (and others) in Bangladesh, November 19, 1986

You must try to show your Muslim brethren and the followers of other religious traditions that your Christian faith, far from weakening your sense of pride in your homeland and your love for her, helps you to prize and respect the culture and heritage of Bangladesh. It inspires you to face the challenges of the present day with love and responsibility. . . .

The Catholic Church is committed to a path of dialogue and collaboration with the men and women of goodwill of every religious tradition. We have many spiritual resources in common which we must share with one another as we work for a more human world. Young people especially know how to be open with each other and they want a world in which all the basic freedoms, including the freedom of religious belief, will be respected.

Sometimes Christians and Muslims fear and distrust one another as a result of past misunderstanding and conflict. This is also true in Bangladesh. Everyone, especially the young, must learn to always respect one anothers religious beliefs and to defend freedom of religion, which is the right of every human being.



John Paul II, address to the delegation of the World Islamic Call Society, Rome, 15 January 1990

The topic of your discussion is a timely one. Since we are believers in God - who is goodness and perfection - all our activities must reflect the holy and upright nature of the one whom we worship and seek to obey. For this reason, also in the works of mission and dawah, our action must be founded upon a respect for the inalienable dignity and freedom of the human person created and loved by God. Both Christians and Muslims are called to defend the inviolable right of each individual to freedom of religious belief and practice. There have been in the past, and there continue to be in the present, unfortunate instances of misunderstanding, intolerance and conflict between Christians and Muslims, especially in circumstances where either Muslims or Christians are a minority or are guest workers in a given country. It is our challenge as religious leaders to find ways to overcome such difficulties in a spirit of justice, brotherhood and mutual respect. Hence, by considering the proper means of carrying out mission and dawah you are dealing with an issue which is important both for religious and for social harmony.

You have also been addressing the difficulties faced today by those who believe in God in their efforts to proclaim his presence and his will for mankind. As believers, we do not deny or reject any of the real benefits which modern developments have brought, but we are convinced nevertheless that without reference to God modern society is unable to lead men and women to the goal for which they have been created. It is here too that Christians and Muslims can work together, bearing witness before modern civilization to the divine presence and loving Providence which guide our steps. Together we can proclaim that he who has made us has called us to live in harmony and justice. May the blessing of the Most High accompany you in your endeavors on behalf of dialogue and peace.



John Paul II, Message to the faithful of Islam at the end of the month of Ramadan, April 3, 1991

To all Muslims throughout the world, I wish to express the readiness of the Catholic Church to work together with you and all the people of good will to aid the victims of the war and to build structures of a lasting peace not only in the Middle East, but everywhere. This cooperation in solidarity towards the most afflicted can form the concrete basis for a sincere, profound and constant dialogue between believing Catholics and believing Muslims, from which there can arise a strengthened mutual knowledge and trust, and the assurance that each one everywhere will be able to profess freely and authentically his or her own faith.

Injustice, oppression, aggression, greed, failure to forgive, desire for revenge, and unwillingness to enter into dialogue and negotiate: these are merely some of the factors which lead people to depart from the way in which God desires us to live on this planet. We must all learn to recognize these elements in our own lives and societies, and find ways to overcome them. Only when individuals and groups undertake this education for peace can we build a fraternal and united world, freed from war and violence.

I close my greeting to you with the words of one of my predecessors, Pope Gregory VII who in 1076 wrote to Al-Nasir, the Muslim Ruler of Bijaya, present day Algeria: Almighty God, who wishes that all should be saved and none lost, approves nothing in so much as that after loving Him one should love his fellow man, and that one should not do to others, what one does not want done to oneself. You and we owe this charity to ourselves especially because we believe in and confess one God, admittedly, in a different way, and daily praise and venerate him, the creator of the world and ruler of this world.

These words, written almost a thousand years ago, express my feelings to you today as you celebrate Id al-Fitr, the Feast of the Breaking of the Fast. May the Most High God fill us with all His merciful love and peace.



John Paul II, address to Islamic leaders of Senegal, Dakar, February 22, 1992

It is natural that believers in God should meet in friendship and sharing. Christians and Muslims, together with the followers of the Jewish religion, belong to what can be called the tradition of Abraham. In our respective traditions Abraham is called the intimate friend of God (in Arabic, Al-Khalil). He receives this title because of his flawless faith in God. . . .

As two religious communities who strive to submit ourselves without reserve to the will of God, we Christians and Muslims should live together in peace, friendship and cooperation. I am happy to note that, since the arrival of the first Christians in this land, the people of Senegal have given the world a good example of this sharing life.

In May 1991, in a joint message to their fellow Christians, the Catholic bishops of Senegal called attention to the real efforts at understanding and dialogue between Christians and Muslims, the meeting between religious leaders which have been undertaken in your country. They noted that the young people have worked together to build cemeteries, mosques and churches; that school children engage in healthy emulation to make their schools places of peace, forgiveness and fraternity; that adults work together to improve the life of the community spirit of the country. I would like to support and encourage all these efforts at building a harmonious society because I am convinced that this is the way of God. Our Creator and our final judge desires that we live together. Our God is a God of peace, who desires peace among those who live according to His commandments. Our God is the holy God who desires that those who call upon Him live in ways that are holy and upright. He is a God of dialogue who has been engaged from the very beginning of history in a dialogue of salvation with the humanity which He created. This dialogue continues in the present day, and will go on until the end of time.

We Christians and Muslims must be people of dialogue. As I have often said, and as the bishops of Senegal have repeated, this commitment to dialogue means, first of all, a dialogue of life, a positive acceptance, interaction and cooperation by which we bear active witness, as believers, to the ideals to which God has called us.



John Paul II, address at the General Audience, September 9, 1998

It must first be kept in mind that every quest of the human spirit for truth and goodness, and in the last analysis for God, is inspired by the Holy Spirit. The various religions arose precisely from this primordial openness to God. At their origins we often find founders who, with the help of Gods Spirit, achieved a deeper religious experience. Handed on to others, this experience took form in the doctrines, rites and precepts of the various religions.

In every authentic religious experience, the most characteristic expression is prayer. Because of the human spirits constitutive openness to Gods action of urging it to self-transcendence, we can hold that every authentic prayer is called forth by the Holy Spirit, who is mysteriously present in the heart of every person (John Paul IIs address to the Members of the Roman Curia, December 22, 1986, n. 11; LOsservatore Romano English edition, January 5, 1987, p. 7).



John Paul II, address at the General Audience, May 5, 1999

. . . The Christian doctrine on the Trinity, confirmed by the Councils, explicitly rejects any form of tritheism or polytheism. In this sense, i.e., with reference to the one divine substance, there is significant correspondence between Christianity and Islam.

However, this correspondence must not let us forget the difference between the two religions. We know that the unity of God is expressed in the mystery of the three divine Persons. Indeed, since he is Love (cf. 1 Jn 4:8), God has always been a Father who gives his whole self in begetting the Son, and both are united in a communion of love which is the Holy Spirit. This distinction and co-penetration (perichoresis) of the three divine Persons is not something added to their unity but is its most profound and characteristic expression. . . .

In todays world where God is tragically forgotten, Christians and Muslims are called in one spirit of love to defend and always promote human dignity, moral values and freedom. The common pilgrimage to eternity must be expressed in prayer, fasting and charity, but also in joint efforts for peace and justice, for human advancement and the protection of the environment. By walking together on the path of reconciliation and renouncing in humble submission to the divine will any form of violence as a means of resolving differences, the two religions will be able to offer a sign of hope, radiating in the world the wisdom and mercy of that one God who created and governs the human family.



John Paul II, to H. E. Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, Grand Sheikh of al-Azhar, Cairo, February 24, 2000

Thank you for your kind words. Permit me to continue with your ideas. God created human beings, man and woman, and gave to them the world, the earth to cultivate. There is a strict connection between religions, religious faith and culture. Islam is a religion. Christianity is a religion. Islam has become also a culture. Christianity has become also a culture. So it is very important to meet personalities representing Islamic culture in Egypt.

I express my great gratitude for this opportunity and I greet all the eminent scholars gathered here. I am convinced that the future of the world depends on the various cultures and on interreligious dialogue. For it is as St. Thomas Aquinas said: Genus humanum arte et ratione vivit. The life of the human race consists in culture and the future of the human race consists in culture. I thank your university, the biggest centre of Islamic culture. I thank those who are developing Islamic culture and I am grateful for what you are doing to maintain the dialogue with Christian culture. All this I say in the name of the future of our communities, not only of our communities but also of the nations and of the humanity represented in Islam and in Christianity. Thank you very much.



John Paul II, Homily for the First Sunday of Lent, March 12, 2000

Let us forgive and ask forgiveness! While we praise God, who in his merciful love has produced in the church a wonderful harvest of holiness, missionary zeal, total dedication to Christ and neighbor, we cannot fail to recognize the infidelities to the Gospel committed by some of our brethren, especially during the second millennium. Let us ask pardon for the divisions which have occurred among Christians, for the violence some have used in the service of the truth and for the distrustful and hostile attitudes sometimes taken toward the followers of other religions.

Let us confess, even more, our responsibilities as Christians for the evils of today. We must ask ourselves what our responsibilities are regarding atheism, religious indifference, secularism, ethical relativism, the violations of the right to life, disregard for the poor in many countries.

We humbly ask forgiveness for the part which each of us has had in these evils by our own actions, thus helping to disfigure the face of the church.

At the same time, as we confess our sins, let us forgive the sins committed by others against us. Countless times in the course of history Christians have suffered hardship, oppression and persecution because of their faith. Just as the victims of such abuses forgave them, so let us forgive as well. The church today feels and has always felt obliged to purify her memory of those sad events from every feeling of rancor or revenge. In this way the jubilee becomes for everyone a favorable opportunity for a profound conversion to the Gospel. The acceptance of Gods forgiveness leads to the commitment to forgive our brothers and sisters and to be reconciled with them.



John Paul II, at the International Airport, Amman, Jordan, March 20, 2000

Your Majesty, I know how deeply concerned you are for peace in your own land and in the entire region, and how important it is to you that all JordaniansMuslims and Christiansshould consider themselves as one people and one family. In this area of the world there are grave and urgent issues of justice, of the rights of peoples and nations, which have to be resolved for the good of all concerned and as a condition for lasting peace. No matter how difficult, no matter how long, the process of seeking peace must continue. Without peace, there can be no authentic development for this region, no better life for its peoples, no brighter future for its children. That is why Jordans proven commitment to securing the conditions necessary for peace is so important and praiseworthy.

Building a future of peace requires an ever more mature understanding and ever more practical cooperation among the peoples who acknowledge the one true, indivisible God, the Creator of all that exists. The three historical monotheistic religions count peace, goodness and respect for the human person among the highest values. I earnestly hope that my visit will strengthen the already fruitful Christian-Muslim dialogue which is being conducted in Jordan, particularly through the Royal Interfaith Institute.



John Paul II, to the ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt, September 7, 2000

I have an especially warm recollection of my meeting with Grand Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawi. We both expressed the wish for a new era of religious and cultural dialogue between Islam and Christianity. It is in this context, Mr. Ambassador, that I am particularly pleased that you have spoken of Egypt as a land where unity and harmony are greatly valued and where differences of religion are seen not as barriers but as a means of mutual enrichment in rendering service to the nation. I trust most sincerely that this will always be the case, and that the difficulties that have arisen from time to time will be overcome, especially in view of the widespread willingness and positive conditions for interreligious dialogue and cooperation which can be found in Egypt.

In a world deeply marked by violence, it is bitterly ironic that even now some of the worst conflicts are between believers who worship the one God, who look to Abraham as a holy patriarch and who seek to follow the Law of Sinai. Each act of violence makes it more urgent for Muslims and Christians everywhere to recognize the things we have in common, to bear witness that we are all creatures of the one merciful God, and to agree once and for all that recourse to violence in the name of religion is completely unacceptable. Especially when religious identity coincides with cultural and ethnic identity it is a solemn duty of believers to ensure that religious sentiment is not used as an excuse for hatred and conflict. Religion is the enemy of exclusion and discrimination; it seeks the good of everyone and therefore ought to be a stimulus for solidarity and harmony between individuals and among peoples



John Paul II, Novo Millennio Ineunte 55, January 6, 2001

It is in this context (of openness to Gods grace) also that we should consider the great challenge of interreligious dialogue to which we shall still be committed in the new millennium, in fidelity to the teachings of the Second Vatican Council (Cf. Second Vatican Council, declaration Nostra Aetate). . . . This dialogue must continue. In the climate of increased cultural and religious pluralism which is expected to mark the society of the new millennium, it is obvious that this dialogue will be especially important in establishing a sure basis for peace and warding off the dread specter of those wars of religion which have so often bloodied human history. The name of the one God must become increasingly what it is: a name of peace and a summons to peace.



John Paul II, on his arrival in Syria, May 5, 2001

I am thinking too of the great cultural influence of Syrian Islam, which under the Umayyad caliphs reached the farthest shores of the Mediterranean. Today, in a world that is increasingly complex and interdependent, there is a need for a new spirit of dialogue and cooperation between Christians and Muslims. Together we acknowledge the one indivisible God, the Creator of all that exists. Together we must proclaim to the world that the name of the one God is a name of peace and a summons to peace (Novo Millennio Ineunte, 55)!



John Paul II, address on his Visit to the Umayyad Great Mosque, May 6, 2001

As-salamu alaikum!

I give heartfelt praise to almighty God for the grace of this meeting. I am most grateful for your warm welcome in the tradition of hospitality so cherished by the people of this region. I thank especially the minister of the Waqf and the grand mufti for their gracious greetings, which put into words the great yearning for peace which fills the hearts of all people of good will. My jubilee pilgrimage has been marked by important meetings with Muslim leaders in Cairo and Jerusalem, and now I am deeply moved to be your guest here in the great Umayyad mosque, so rich in religious history. Your land is dear to Christians: Here our religion has known vital moments of its growth and doctrinal development, and here are found Christian communities which have lived in peace and harmony with their Muslim neighbors for many centuries.

We are meeting close to what both Christians and Muslims regard as the tomb of John the Baptist, known as Yahya in the Muslim tradition. The son of Zechariah is a figure of prime importance in the history of Christianity, for he was the precursor who prepared the way for Christ. Johns life, wholly dedicated to God, was crowned by martyrdom. May his witness enlighten all who venerate his memory here, so that they - and we too - may understand that lifes great task is to seek Gods truth and justice.

The fact that we are meeting in this renowned place of prayer reminds us that man is a spiritual being, called to acknowledge and respect the absolute priority of God in all things. Christians and Muslims agree that the encounter with God in prayer is the necessary nourishment of our souls, without which our hearts wither and our will no longer strives for good but succumbs to evil.

Both Muslims and Christians prize their places of prayer as oases where they meet the all-merciful God on the journey to eternal life and where they meet their brothers and sisters in the bond of religion. When, on the occasion of weddings or funerals or other celebrations, Christians and Muslims remain in silent respect at the others prayer, they bear witness to what unites them without disguising or denying the things that separate.

It is in mosques and churches that the Muslim and Christian communities shape their religious identity, and it is there that the young receive a significant part of their religious education. What sense of identity is instilled in young Christians and young Muslims in our churches and mosques? It is my ardent hope that Muslim and Christian religious leaders and teachers will present our two great religious communities as communities in respectful dialogue, never more as communities in conflict. It is crucial for the young to be taught the ways of respect and understanding, so that they will not be led to misuse religion itself to promote or justify hatred and violence. Violence destroys the image of the Creator in his creatures and should never be considered as the fruit of religious conviction.

I truly hope that our meeting today in the Umayyad mosque will signal our determination to advance interreligious dialogue between the Catholic Church and Islam. This dialogue has gained momentum in recent decades; and today we can be grateful for the road we have traveled together so far. At the highest level, the Pontifical Council of Interreligious Dialogue represents the Catholic Church in this task. For more than 30 years the council has sent a message to Muslims on the occasion of Id al-Fitr at the close of Ramadan, and I am very happy that this gesture has been welcomed by many Muslims as a sign of growing friendship between us. In recent years the council has established a liaison committee with international Islamic organizations and also with al-Athar in Egypt, which I had the pleasure of visiting last year.

It is important that Muslims and Christians continue to explore philosophical and theological questions together in order to come to a more objective and comprehensive knowledge of each others religious beliefs. Better mutual understanding will surely lead at the practical level to a new way of presenting our two religions not in opposition, as has happened too often in the past, but in partnership for the good of the human family.

Interreligious dialogue is most effective when it springs from the experience of living with each other from day to day within the same community and culture. In Syria, Christians and Muslims have lived side by side for centuries, and a rich dialogue of life has gone on unceasingly. Every individual and every family knows moments of harmony and other moments when dialogue has broken down. The positive experiences must strengthen our communities in the hope of peace; and the negative experiences should not be allowed to undermine that hope. For all the times that Muslims and Christians have offended one another, we need to seek forgiveness from the Almighty and offer each other forgiveness. Jesus teaches us that we must pardon others offenses if God is to pardon us our sins (cf. Mt. 6:14).

As members of the one human family and as believers, we have obligations to the common good, to justice and to solidarity. Interreligious dialogue will lead to many forms of cooperation, especially in responding to the duty to care for the poor and weak. These are the signs that our worship of God is genuine.

As we make our way through life toward our heavenly destiny, Christians feel the company of Mary, the mother of Jesus; and Islam too pays tribute to Mary and hails her as chosen above the women of the world (Quran, 3:42). The virgin of Nazareth, the Lady of Saydnaya, has taught us that God protects the humble and scatters the proud in the imagination of their hearts (Lk. 1:51). May the hearts of Christians and Muslims turn to one another with feelings of brotherhood and friendship, so that the Almighty may bless us with the peace which heaven alone can give. To the one, merciful God be praise and glory forever. Amen.



John Paul II, Post-9/11 Appeal for Peace in the World, Astana, Kazakhstan, September 23, 2001

From this city, from Kazakhstan, a country that is an example of harmony between men and women of different origins and beliefs, I wish to make an earnest call to everyone, Christians and the followers of other religions, to work together to build a world without violence, a world that loves life, and grows in justice and solidarity. We must not let what has happened lead to a deepening of divisions. Religion must never be used as a reason for conflict.

From this place, I invite both Christians and Muslims to raise an intense prayer to the One, Almighty God whose children we all are, that the supreme good of peace may reign in the world. May people everywhere, strengthened by divine wisdom, work for a civilization of love, in which there is no room for hatred, discrimination or violence.

With all my heart I beg God to keep the world in peace. Amen.



John Paul II, address on Culture, Art and Science, Astana, Kazakhstan, September 24, 2001

In this context, and precisely here in the land of encounter and dialogue, and before this distinguished audience, I wish to reaffirm the Catholic Churchs respect for Islam, for authentic Islam: the Islam that prays, that is concerned for those in need. Recalling the errors of the past, including the most recent past, all believers ought to unite their efforts to ensure that God is never made the hostage of human ambitions. Hatred, fanaticism and terrorism profane the name of God and disfigure the true image of man.



John Paul II, address before the Angelus, November 18, 2001

We know that prayer acquires power if it is joined with fasting and almsgiving. The Old Testament taught this, and from the earliest centuries Christians have accepted and applied this lesson, especially at the times of Advent and Lent. For their part, the Muslim faithful have just begun Ramadan, a month dedicated to fasting and prayer. Soon, we Christians will begin Advent, to prepare ourselves in prayer, for the celebration of Christmas, the day of the birth of the Prince of Peace.

At this appropriate time, I ask Catholics to make next 14 December [the last Friday of Ramadan and the third Friday of Advent] a day of fasting, to pray fervently to God to grant to the world stable peace based on justice, and make it possible to find adequate solutions to the many conflicts that trouble the world. May what is saved by fasting be put at the disposal of the poor, especially those who at present suffer the consequences of terrorism and war.

I would also like to announce that it is my intention to invite the representatives of the world religions to come to Assisi on 24 January 2002, to pray for the overcoming of opposition and the promotion of authentic peace. In particular, we wish to bring Christians and Muslims together to proclaim to the world that religion must never be a reason for conflict, hatred and violence. In this historic moment, humanity needs to see gestures of peace and to hear words of hope.

As I said 15 years ago, when announcing the meeting of prayer for peace, which was held in Assisi the following October: It is urgent that a common invocation rise to heaven from earth, to beg from Almighty God, in whose hands is the destiny of the world, the great gift of peace, the necessary condition for every serious endeavor at the service of humanitys real progress.



John Paul II, Message for the World Day of Peace, January 1, 2002

No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness: this is what in this Message I wish to say to believers and unbelievers alike, to all men and women of good will who are concerned for the good of the human family and for its future.

No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness: this is what I wish to say to those responsible for the future of the human community, entreating them to be guided in their weighty and difficult decisions by the light of mans true good, always with a view to the common good.

No peace without justice, no justice without forgiveness: I shall not tire of repeating this warning to those who, for one reason or another, nourish feelings of hatred, a desire for revenge or the will to destroy.



John Paul II, address on the Day of Prayer for Peace, January 24, 2002

To pray is not to escape from history and the problems which it presents. On the contrary, it is to choose to face reality not on our own, but with the strength that comes from on high, the strength of truth and love which have their ultimate source in God. Faced with the treachery of evil, religious people can count on God who absolutely wills what is good. They can pray to him to have the courage to face even the greatest difficulties with a sense of personal responsibility, never yielding to fatalism or impulsive reactions.

Benedict XVI, message for the XX anniversary interreligious prayer meeting for peace, Assisi, Italy, September 2, 2006

"When the religious sense reaches maturity it gives rise to a perception in the believer that faith in God, Creator of the universe and Father of all, must encourage relations of universal brotherhood among human beings."

Benedict XVI, address to the representatives of the Muslim communities, Castel Gandolfo, September 25, 2006





Dear Cardinal Poupard,

Your Excellencies,

Dear Muslim Friends ,





I am pleased to welcome you to this gathering that I wanted to arrange in order to strengthen the bonds of friendship and solidarity between the Holy See and Muslim communities throughout the world. I thank Cardinal Poupard, President of the Pontifical Council for Inter-Religious Dialogue, for the words that he has just addressed to me, and I thank all of you for responding to my invitation.





The circumstances which have given rise to our gathering are well known. I have already had occasion to dwell upon them in the course of the past week. In this particular context, I should like to reiterate today all the esteem and the profound respect that I have for Muslim believers, calling to mind the words of the Second Vatican Council which for the Catholic Church are the Magna Carta of Muslim-Christian dialogue: "The Church looks upon Muslims with respect. They worship the one God living and subsistent, merciful and almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, who has spoken to humanity and to whose decrees, even the hidden ones, they seek to submit themselves whole-heartedly, just as Abraham, to whom the Islamic faith readily relates itself, submitted to God" (Declaration Nostra Aetate , 3). Placing myself firmly within this perspective, I have had occasion, since the very beginning of my pontificate, to express my wish to continue establishing bridges of friendship with the adherents of all religions, showing particular appreciation for the growth of dialogue between Muslims and Christians (cf. Address to the Delegates of Other Churches and Ecclesial Communities and of Other Religious Traditions , 25 April 2005). As I underlined at Cologne last year, "Inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue between Christians and Muslims cannot be reduced to an optional extra. It is, in fact, a vital necessity, on which in large measure our future depends" ( Meeting with Representatives of Some Muslim Communities , Cologne, 20 August 2005). In a world marked by relativism and too often excluding the transcendence and universality of reason, we are in great need of an authentic dialogue between religions and between cultures, capable of assisting us, in a spirit of fruitful co-operation, to overcome all the tensions together. Continuing, then, the work undertaken by my predecessor, Pope John Paul II, I sincerely pray that the relations of trust which have developed between Christians and Muslims over several years, will not only continue, but will develop further in a spirit of sincere and respectful dialogue, based on ever more authentic reciprocal knowledge which, with joy, recognizes the religious values that we have in common and, with loyalty, respects the differences.




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Dec. 5, 2011 ...they have for over the past decade fueled up for twice-a-week bombing raids of random rants, slurs and anonymous hit jobs on public officials, Democrats, school teachers and labor unions ...more>>>

February 2016

TIF Districts: Generations of Theft and Broken Memes ...more>>>

April, 2017

Gerrymandered Janesville: ...a city no longer divided by a river. more>>>

December, 2015

According to this report by the Tax Foundation, Gov. Scott Walker's Wisconsin ranks as the fifth worst state in the country for property taxes ... more>>>
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Coppins was the country home for the Duke and Duchess of Kent and their family. It also welcomed a host of royalty, including kings and quee...
The New York Times, December 11, 2015

[Caption]Mosul, Iraq, in 2014.

[photo credit] ASSOCIATED PRESS

An Islamic philosopher in Karachi, an ideologue who provides violent ideas to some of Pakistanas fiercest extremist groups, once told me that there are two kinds of history: dead and living. aDead history is something on a shelf or in a museum,a he said. aLiving history is part of your consciousness, something in your blood that inspires you.a

I was reminded of this last month during a conversation with a different kind of scholar. William McCants is the author of the excellent new book aThe ISIS Apocalypse,a and he is nothing if not a student of aliving history.a Mr. McCants looks at the Islamic Stateas idea of the past and how the groupas adherents view their place in it. The picture that emerges is one of a terrific tension between the dead past and the ways in which it is being remade to fit the needs of the living present. The Islamic Stateas treatment of history is particularly extreme, but a similar return of history is occurring with varying degrees of intensity all across the old world.

The jihadists in Syria and Iraq, Mr. McCants told me, are ainfatuateda with Harun al-Rashid, the great Abbasid caliph whose court reportedly inspired aOne Thousand and One Nights.a aThey see him as the pinnacle of success, and the caliphate that he ruled over as the golden age,a Mr. McCants said, abut they elide all those parts of his rule that donat mesh with their own.a The eighth-century caliph being idolized by the Islamic State practiced a far more lenient rule than Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi does. Harun was tolerant of Shiites and religious minorities. His court would engage in freewheeling debates over matters of faith. aYou could play musical instruments,a Mr. McCants said. aHe loved to drink wine, he loved men.a

That the Islamic State has made violent use of history shouldnat come as a surprise. Perhaps more surprising is that in all those places where a modern nation has been grafted onto an ancient culture, history has returned with a vengeance. From Confucian China to Buddhist Myanmar to Hindu India, history has become the source of a fierce new conservatism that is being used to curb freedoms of women and stoke hatred of minorities. As the ultimate source of legitimacy, history has become a way for modernizing societies to procure the trappings of modernity while guarding themselves from its values.

When I was in Sri Lanka in 2013, the Bodu Bala Sena, a radical Buddhist nationalist group, had conjured up a prudish Buddha who scolded young girls about their clothes and told them what time they should be home at night. In reality, the Buddha, like many Eastern thinkers, was generally reticent on the subject of sexual morality. Sex concerned him only to the extent that it interfered with men realizing the fullness of their spiritual lives.

Similarly, in India, a breach has appeared between a sensuous and liberal past and an ugly, puritanical present. In my daily reading of Sanskrit poetry, there are women with disheveled hair, half-open eyes and cheeks covered in sweat from the exertion of coitus. But turn on the television and the minister of culture, who says that the Hindu holy books are ideal texts for teaching moral values, informs modern Indians that agirls wanting a night outa may be all right elsewhere, but it is anot part of Indian culture.a (He seeks to cleanse Indian culture of the pollution of the West, but if itas sex the minister worries about, heall have to cleanse Indian culture of itself. No one did it better than ancient India.)

The past is alive as it never has been before. It seems almost to serve as a kind of armor against an alien and impure present. And modernity, in the shallow sense of the word a that world of highways and blue-glass malls and men in the uniforms of foreign companies a does not satisfy the demands for this aliving history.a In fact a certain dispiriting experience of modernity, felt often as the loss of a sense of self and of old ways, exacerbates these demands. This is what lies behind this violent need to reclaim history. aWe are called from the past and must make our home in the future,a the great South Asian philosopher and art historian Ananda K. Coomaraswamy wrote almost a century ago. aBut to understand, to endorse with passionate conviction, and to love what we have left behind us is the only possible foundation for power.a

But there is all the difference in the world between loving the past and wishing to return to it. Love contains the spirit of regeneration; perverse nostalgia is almost always a violent enterprise. Mr. McCants pointed out the inorganic newness of the Islamic Stateas experiment. aThey purport to be reviving a medieval tradition of rule,a he said, abut, to my knowledge, we never had in medieval Islam a state that was so eager to impose whatas in scripture, and tradition.a

Islam, with its rich textual history and detailed recordings of the life and times of the Prophet Muhammad, offers the faithful an especially aggressive blueprint for turning the past into a weapon against the present. But the return of history is not specific to Islam. All over the old world, the spread of modernity and the wearing down of tradition have led to a frantic need to repossess the past. But this act of reclamation, through an ever-closer adherence to text without context, does not give back what was lost. It creates something radical and new a and dangerous.

Correction: December 11, 2015

An earlier version of the photo caption with this article misstated the location of Mosul. It is in Iraq, not Afghanistan.

Aatish Taseer is the author, most recently, of the novel aThe Way Things Werea and a contributing opinion writer.
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Bill Burke turf improvements coming at $1.7 million cost in Salina

The Salina City Commission approved a contract bid for just over $1.7 million for new synthetic turf at the eight fields in Bill Burke Sports Complex.
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 To Managing respective people and organization with relevant administration and report, also managing EHS function in the respective department.

 To support the development project activities relevant to the jangkrik project  Production aspects both onshore and offshore with focus on construction, commissioning and logistic issues of new oil/gas production facilities, ensuring that pre-commissioning, commissioning phase and start up operations of facilities are conducted in safe, effective and efficiently manner with meeting the company target and to the satisfaction of all parties.

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 Noting Alabama's notable struggles to secure various execution drugs | Main | Notable new reporting on juve LWOP as we await SCOTUS ruling on Miller retroactivity 

Because I am back to full-time teaching this week, I have not yet had much time to research closely the sentencing backstory seemingly inspiring a group of Americans to take up arms against the federal government in Oregon. But a number of readers have made sure I did not miss that federal sentencing outcomes, and particularly the application of a 5-year mandatory minimum sentencing term, have been a central catalyst for what is now going on. Helpful, this new lengthy Washington Post piece, headlined "What spurred the armed occupation of a federal wildlife refuge in southeast Oregon," provides some of the key sentencing details:

The several-hundred-person procession through Burns, Ore., concluded at Dwight Hammonds doorstep early Saturday evening. In a town of less than 3,000 tucked in Oregons southeast corner, it was a massive show of support for Hammond, 73, and his son Steven, 46, as they prepared to report to federal prison Monday.

I thank everyone who came out here today, Dwight Hammond told the supporters after he and his wife hugged each of them. See you in five years. The father and son had been sentenced last year for setting fires on federal land, the conclusion of two decades of clashes between the Hammond family and the federal government that have made the ranchers a cause celebre for some on the right.

For their supporters, the Hammonds represent the latest battle in a struggle as old as the American settlement of the northwest: pitting poor cattle farmers against the federal government and its land regulations in states such as Oregon, where the government owns more than half of the land.

Most Americans, if they knew the story of the threats and the charges brought against these ranchers, they would say this isnt right, said Jeff Roberts, one of the organizers of Saturdays rally. We really wanted to show the family support and let them know that theyre not alone. That Americans dont turn their backs on them.

But there is a stark divide among the ranks over how to best remedy the plight of the cattle rancher. Some activists, such as Roberts, think the battle will be won through a deliberate public awareness campaign, rallies and town hall meetings. Others, including some armed militias, have another tact in mind: armed resistance.

As Saturdays rally concluded, a small subsection of attendees, led by Ammon Bundy, began launching into impromptu speeches and, to the horror of many of the rallys primary organizers, declared that it was time for the group to take up arms. Those who want to go take a hard stand, get in your trucks and follow me! Bundy declared to the group at the conclusion of the event, according to several people who were in attendance. We were just aghast, Roberts said.

Within the hour, Bundy and about a dozen armed supporters had seized Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, posting armed men at the front gate and vowing to occupy the federal land for years.

His father, Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who in 2014 had an armed standoff with federal agents who were attempting to prevent him from illegally grazing his cattle on federal land, who is not himself inside the refuge, told a reporter in Oregon that 150 militia men had occupied the federal land. As of 6 p.m. Sunday, the armed men remained at the refuge. There were absolutely not 150 of them, Roberts said Sunday morning. He had a small handful of supporters, maybe a dozen. I saw them as they pulled out in their trucks....

After a two-week trial, Dwight and Steven Hammond were convicted by jury. They were sentenced in October to five years in prison for committing arson on federal land in 2001 and 2006. The pair had been sentenced and served time previously, but on appeal a federal judge ruled that their initial sentences had been too short.

In the 2001 incident, the men, who had leased grazing rights to the land for their cattle, said they had started the fires on their own land to try to prevent the spread of an invasive species of plant, and that the fire had inadvertently burned onto public land. Prosecutors said the fire consumed 139 acres of public land, and was set in an attempt to hide evidence after the men were part of a hunting party that illegally killed several deer on the federal land.

In 2006, the Hammonds allegedly set a back fire meant to protect their land after a series of lightning storms had started a fire on the federal property. Prosecutors said that fire then spread onto the federal land.

We all know the devastating effects that are caused by wildfires. Fires intentionally and illegally set on public lands, even those in a remote area, threaten property and residents and endanger firefighters called to battle the blaze Acting U.S. Attorney Billy Williams said in a statement issued after the Hammonds were sentenced. Congress sought to ensure that anyone who maliciously damages United States property by fire will serve at least 5 years in prison. These sentences are intended to be long enough to deter those like the Hammonds who disregard the law and place fire fighters and others in jeopardy.

The sentence outraged many fellow ranchers and constitutionalist groups in the northwest, who considered the case an overreach of federal regulation and of the federal prosecutors. We dont agree with the sentencing, so we came out to stand in solidarity and support, said Brandon Curtis, president of the Idaho chapter of Three Percent, a constitutionalist group that was heavily involved in organizing the rally for the Hammonds.

Most infuriating about the Hammond case, their supporters say, is that the two men were charged under a federal terrorism statute that requires a five-year mandatory minimum sentence for anyone convicted of arson on federal property. I dont think anybody would argue that arson took place . . . but to sentence this family as terrorists, we think that is absolutely egregious, Roberts said. These are just country folk, theyre not terrorists.

Roberts, Curtis and others traveled to the Hammond home in recent weeks and began holding town hall meetings to try to build more local support for them  assuring residents that they were not there to upend the town. Despite encountering a lot of local skepticism, the men eventually found some allies  who started an organization called Harney County Committee of Safety and participated in Saturdays rally.

But at the same time, the Bundy family had begun speaking out on behalf of the Hammonds. In early November, Ammon Bundy began posting updates on the case to his Facebook pages and website. This last Wednesday I spent a good part of the day in the Hammonds home. We spoke for hours. Several times, I found the Hammonds in tears when they explained the injustices that has destroyed their lives, Ammon Bundy wrote on Nov. 21. They were hopeful that the American people were going to stand for them. And that, just maybe, they would be able to return to the life they once knew.
 Florida prosecutors honoring Army vet by threatening 120-years mandatory imprisonment for firing two shots in air | Main | Noting Alabama's notable struggles to secure various execution drugs 

The title of this post is the headline of this recent New York Times editorial. Here is an excerpt:

After seven years in office, Mr. Obama has issued a total of 184 commutations and 66 pardons  more grants, as the White House wasted no time in pointing out, than the last six presidents combined. But thats a pitifully low bar, since Mr. Obamas most recent predecessors all but abandoned the practice.

Mr. Obama knows this is a far deeper problem than can be solved by a few dozen grants. There are 9,000 applications for commutations that have not been acted on. The administration solicited applications like these in 2014 as part of a sweeping clemency initiative aimed at federal inmates who have served at least 10 years of a sentence that would be shorter today because the law has changed. To be eligible, prisoners must also have been convicted of a lowlevel, nonviolent offense, have no significant criminal history, and have behaved while behind bars.

At the time, the initiative seemed a big step toward reversing some of the gravest injustices of the nations decadeslong drug war, most obviously for the thousands of inmates still serving time for crack cocaine offenses that are punished far less harshly today.

Less than two years later, however, the vast majority of applications remain in limbo. A coalition of volunteer defense lawyers working alongside the Justice Department has struggled to get basic information on applicants. The department itself is hopelessly mired in bureaucratic tangles and institutional conflicts of interest.

By the administrations own estimates, as many as 10,000 people could be released under the new criteria, former Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. told The Washington Post this month. So why is Mr. Obama continuing to make grants in the single or double digits?

One reason is the Justice Department; the clear solution is to run the process directly out of the White House. The president may also be wary of undercutting a package of bipartisan sentencing reforms making its way through Congress. But that legislation is far from a done deal, and may be on even shakier ground now that one of the leading Republican presidential candidates, Senator Ted Cruz, rejects reforms he previously supported.

Regardless of what Congress does, the presidential power of mercy is explicit in the Constitution, it is virtually unlimited, and presidents once used it far more freely to correct injustices. It is a tool of public morality, as one former federal prosecutor put it. If Mr. Obama truly wants to reinvigorate this moribund process, he has a year left to do it. The job requires only two things: a pen and the political will. There is no question that Mr. Obama has the pen.
 "Mr. Obamas Trickle of Mercy" | Main | Excessive federal sentencing and strict mandatory minimums at center of armed "militia" occuptation in Oregon 

This lengthy local article, headlined "Court records show pharmacists refused death penalty drugs," reports on the various difficulties experienced by the Cotton State in an effort to get the chemical tools it needs to get its machinery of death running again. Here are some details:

At the height of Alabamas search for lethal injection drugs, state officials were turned down by every pharmacy they contacted for help, according to court records filed Wednesday. State officials asked every licensed compounding pharmacist in Alabama to make batches of pentobarbital  once the primary drug used to kill inmates  and all refused. Attempts to buy the drug from four other states also failed, court documents state.

Those refusals could point to a rough road ahead for the death penalty, despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that cleared another drug, midazolam, for use in executions.... Alabama officials are trying to resume executions by lethal injection after a two-year hiatus caused by legal challenges and shortages of key execution drugs.

Tommy Arthur, condemned to death for the 1980s murder-for-hire of Muscle Shoals resident Troy Wicker, is one of several inmates who have challenged the states current approach to execution: injecting an inmate with midazolam to deaden pain, rocuronium to still the muscles and potassium chloride to stop the heart.

Midazolam has been used in botched executions in other states, including an Oklahoma execution in 2014 in which it took an inmate more than 30 minutes to die after the drugs were injected. Inmates say the use of midazolam is cruel and unusual, but the U.S. Supreme Court approved its use in an Oklahoma case last summer, seemingly clearing the way for executions in Alabama as well.

Lawyers for the state on Wednesday asked a federal court for a summary judgment that would end Arthurs appeals and send him to the execution chamber. But Arthurs lawyers are trying to flip the script in the case. Before the state adopted midazolam as a death penalty drug, Arthur filed a similar challenge against the use of pentobarbital, Alabamas main execution drug before 2014. Now that hes faced with execution by a new drug, Arthur wants to switch back to pentobarbital, a drug he claims is less cruel than midazolam.

Lawyers for the Alabama attorney generals office say they cant return to pentobarbital, because no one will sell the drug to the Department of Corrections. These sources have either indicated they cannot obtain the ingredients for compounded pentobarbital, were not capable of compounding pentobarbital, or refused to be a supplier for the ADOC lawyers for the attorney generals office wrote in a court document.

The court documents, among hundreds of pages filed in Arthurs case last week, shed light on Alabamas often secretive attempts to obtain drugs for use in lethal injection. Several states have struggled to get their hands on drugs because a growing number of drug suppliers refuse to sell them, citing ethical objections or opposition to capital punishment.... [I]n the Arthur case ... new court documents show ... the state simply couldnt find a supplier, despite contacting nearly thirty sources....

Arthurs lawyers supplied the state with a list of 19 Alabama pharmacies they said were potential sources of pentobarbital. (All 19 names are blacked out in court documents.) But the states lawyers argue theyve contacted all 19, plus others, and been turned down. While Arthur alleged that as many as 10 states intend to use compounded pentobarbital for executions, the process of obtaining compounded pentobarbital is difficult to impossible for most, the states lawyers wrote.

That might not matter now, given that Alabama has switched to midazolam, a drug thats more readily available on the market. But pharmacists resistance to compounding execution drugs may soon turn out to be important in the search for midazolam as well...

Two major suppliers of midazolam  Illinois-based Akorn and New Jersey-based Becton-Dickinson  have declared in the past year that theyre opposed to selling the drug to Alabama for executions. While the state hasnt identified its midazolam supplier, the states lawyers used package inserts, essentially instructions for use of a midazolam, from Akorn and Becton Dickinson in court filings this year. Both companies have denied selling the drug directly to Alabama prisons, and Akorn even asked the state to return any Akorn-made midazolam it had on hand for executions.

Individual pharmacists are also backing out of the lethal injection business. Last year, the International Academy of Compounding Pharmacists and the American Pharmacists Association both voted to discourage their members from supplying drugs for executions.
The PP mayor of Estepona, Jose Maria Garcia Urbano has infuriated opposition PSOE councillors on the town council by signing a contract to the value of 48,279 euros without any public discussion or consultation with council members.

The contract is with the Avila sculptor Santiago de Santiago and is for a piece of sculpture to be placed on the roundabout at the junction of Avenida Juan Carlos I and Calle Cristobal Ruiz Mendez. The mayor signed the contract in his capacity as 'Mayor President', a position which enables him to dispose of sums of money without the need for consultation with the council members.

Councillor Benitez stated that PSOE was in no way opposed to augmenting the cultural patrimony of the town but added that spending money on culture as with anything else should be subject to public knowledge and democratic approval.

The mayor was elected to the Cortes in Madrid in December's elections and the opposition group has expressed doubts that he will be able to serve adequately in both positions.


The deportation is believed to be politically-motivated as the lawyer is friendly with colleagues working on the petition to contest the Presidential election.





A well-known Mauritian lawyer, Sanjay Bhuckory, was refused entry into Seychelles on Saturday night and deported back to Mauritius yesterday morning. This is believed to be a politically-motivated act as Mr Bhuckory, who is better known for having led Mauritius' only legal case that rendered null and void the election of a Member of the National Assembly on the basis of electoral bribery, was also here to visit lawyer friends involved in the opposition's petitions to contest the Presidential election.









Immigration authorities have confirmed the deportation of the lawyer to TODAY but have refused to say why they have refused entry to Mr Bhuckory and his two children who were made to sleep on a bench at the airport.





In an immigration decree handed to him and which the lawyer refused to sign, the reasons given for refusing entry to a citizen of neighbouring island Mauritius which is also a member of the Indian Ocean Commission (IOC) were that "you have failed to comply to a lawful requirement under the Immigration Decree and you have made false representation and concealed information to an Immigration officer which is relevant for your entry in the country".









A travel agent who had arranged for Mr Bhuckory and his family's trip said she was told by the immigration officer that "the order to deport him came from above".





The travel agent said she contacted Home Affairs Minister Charles Bastienne and asked him not to involve politics in this but that "he never replied to me".





The Immigration Department said they will officially comment today, adding that Mr Bhuckory had "misled Immigration officers at the airport".





Friends of Mr Bhuckory insist that the lawyer, who was planning to spend a few days in Seychelles with his children, has nothing to hide. "Their hotel was booked, they were on a private visit. There was no reason not to allow them in".





Sources say however that people in government had caught wind of the lawyer's visit and that the decision to stop him from entering the country was already made "because they want to hinder the preparation of our petition".





"Except that a person does not need a GOP to come on holiday and that people are supposed to be free to discuss and exchange ideas with one another", the travel agent said.





Rendering an election null and void

In 2008, the Privy Council, which is the highest court of Appeal for Mauritius, upheld a Supreme Court judgment that rendered null and void the election of Ashock Jugnauth to Mauritius' National Assembly. It was a first in the country's history. Electoral bribery is rather common but it was the first time that the matter was taken to court. The plaintiff was a defeated candidate of the Labour party, Raj Ringadoo, who was represented by Sanjay Bhuckory and they sought to prove that Mr Jugnauths (who is the half brother of Mauritius' current Prime Minister) election was a result of benefits he gave to people in his constituency in his capacity as a Minister and were in fact acts of electoral bribery. Mr Bhuckory won the case in the Supreme Court and again before the law lords of the Privy Council and Mr Jugnauth's election was duly annulled.





Source:Today in Seychelles
Who could have seen this going so terribly, terribly wrong? An Oakland couple rented their home via Airbnb for New Year's Eve to someone they thought was a middle-aged man from Chicago, only to have the renter turn out to be a 17-year-old kid apparently planning on throwing the birthday party of his life. Things, shall we say, did not go as planned.

Jim Owen and Reshma Vasanwala had rented out their home via Airbnb before, reports ABC7, and said they had no reason to doubt that the renter was an adult visiting the Bay Area from Chicago, as the Airbnb user claimed he was.

"I'm a user, been a host," explained Vasanwala. "I have had good experiences, so I was not concerned. And he seemed very mature and was very polite."

That illusion was shattered when the couple received a late-night phone call.

"We got a phone call from our neighbor around 10:30 or 10:40, saying that there were about 50 to 60 kids in my house, partying in my house," Vasanwala told KRON4.

Owen and Vasanwala rushed home to find their place littered with beer cans and cigarettes, and reeking of marijuana.

"Sofas were outside," recalled Vasanwala. "The TV was in my bathroom. Objects photos, memorabilia .I have pictures of my nieces that are on my fridge that were completely on the floor, trampled on and torn, with shoe prints all over their cute, little faces."

Oh, and at least one wall was splattered with blood, notes CBS5.

In a statement issued by Airbnb and published by KRON4, the company was quick to condemn the teen's actions.

"We have zero tolerance for this kind of behavior and our team is working quickly to make this right," reads the statement. "We have banned this guest from Airbnb, and our Trust and Safety team is reaching out to the host to work with them under our $1 Million Host Guarantee, which is designed to cover a hosts property in the rare event of damages."

Owen, meanwhile, expressed frustration to KRON4 that it took the company over 12 hours to get back to the couple, and noted that as a 17-year-old the teen never should have been able to use Airbnb in the first place.

So, we were duped, mused the strangely calm man. He came here and they were looking to have a party. We found out later that it was his 18th birthday, so another issue is that he was an underage user.

As for the plucky party teen? He's been arrested and charged with vandalism.

Related: SF Couple Leaves For Burning Man And Their Hired Housesitter Airbnb's Their Apartment
The future of the nightmare-fuel robot war machines designed by Google-owned Boston Dynamics looks bleak after the US Marines announced they would no longer work with the robo-dogs. The reason? The things are just too loud, too, dare we say, disruptive.

Like some demon lawnmower struggling through tall grass, the gasoline-powered machines made too much noise as they trudged through the weeds to deliver supplies to troops during recent military exercises, notes CNET.

In conversation with Military.com, a spokesperson for the Marine Corps' Warfighting Laboratory elaborated on the decision to drop the $32-million project.

"As Marines were using it, there was the challenge of seeing the potential possibility because of the limitations of the robot itself," noted Kyle Olson. "They took it as it was: a loud robot that's going to give away their position."

The machines, officially known as LS3 Robots, were designed by Boston Dynamics in collaboration with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA. The company also made a smaller version of the LS3, known as "Spot," that was recently featured in a creepy Christmas-themed promotional video.

The founder of Boston Dynamics, Marc Raibert, told CNET that regardless of the military's recent decision, the company does not consider the project a failure.

"LS3 is a research program to show the feasibility of legged robots, not a candidate system to be deployed," said Raibert. "So framing the program as 'shelved' is not how we think about it."

Captain James Pineiro of the Warfighting Laboratory told Military.com that both the LS3 and Spot models are in storage, with no future military experiments planned. The robo-dogs of war are back on their leash, it seems.

In addition to showing the LS3 in action, the below video does a good job of demonstrating how much noise the machines actually make.

Related: Google-Owned Robot Maker Ruins Christmas With War-Machine Dogs Pulling Santa's Sleigh


San Francisco Police Chief Greg Suhr has asked the United States Department of Justice to review his department's training, policy, and procedure in a "Collaborative Reform Review," a direct response to public outcry following the December 2nd killing of Mario Woods.

Officers say Woods, 26 and black, met the description of a Bayview stabbing suspect, was armed with a kitchen knife, and approached them threateningly. Widely circulated bystander video shows five officers surrounding and opening fire on a shambling man characterized by witnesses as visibly non-threatening and non-aggressive.

We need to resolve  without the use of force  critical incidents where the person is armed with a nonfirearm weapon, the Department acknowledged in a statement. However, attorney John Burris, who has filed a Civil Rights lawsuit against the SFPD, has reportedly questioned whether Woods was armed and involved in a stabbing in the first place.

The call for formal DOJ review arrives after Chief Suhr discussed Departmental policy with a 28-member black community relations advisory forum. "We need to have a strong, working relationship with the communities we serve," said Suhr following their meeting, an event which was originally postponed by protestors calling for his removal. "Trust is the coin of the realm in everything we do as police officers. When people have a voice, and we listen and are objective and respectful, we gain the trust of the people."

According to Reverend Amos Brown, San Francisco NAACP President and a member of the black community relations advisory forum, "We are maintaining a working relationship to ensure that this kind of senseless killing does not happen again."

Among several other policy changes, police must now report pointing a firearm at a suspect as a use-of-force incident. Further, "leaders from various communities will participate in the training of Academy recruits and on-going training of all other rank-and-file members on cultural competency, procedural justice, and implicit bias" according to a statement." KRON4 adds that outgoing San Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has announced reforms to his department's own de-escalation and reporting policies

"While these independent investigations are ongoing, the Department recognizes nothing can change the way people feel when they watch the video of the shooting," the SFPD statement says.

Related: SFPD Canceled Forum On Black Community Relations Due To Planned Protest
Tolay, the elephant seal relocated from Highway 37, gave birth to a pup yesterday! The bir https://t.co/U7W5kVKtnv pic.twitter.com/mdfTGP5Ily  Point Reyes NPS (@PointReyesNPS) January 4, 2016

The obstinate elephant seal that just wouldn't quit in her attempt to cross Highway 37 in Sonoma County last week began a new journey over the weekend: Motherhood.

Officials with the Point Reyes National Seashore announced the birth, which took place on Saturday, and provided photos of the seal and her pup shot from the elephant seal overlook at Chimney Rock.

The elephant seal, named "Tolay" by some of the rescue workers struggling to get her off Highway 37, was tranquilized on December 29 after she repeatedly blocked traffic and allegedly attacked at least one car. She was then transported to a drop-off spot, which she promptly abandoned in order to head to the breeding colony near Chimney Rock in the Point Reyes National Seashore area.

According to the Park Service, the beach that Tolay (at least temporarily) calls home is a noted breeding colony, with males typically arriving in early December to stake out territory.

"Then pregnant females begin to arrive and soon give birth to a single pup," notes the Park Service. "Subadult and juvenile animals arrive and the colony can number close to one hundred animals."

Upon Tolay's arrival at the beach, Biologist Sarah Codde told the Chronicle that the 900-pound seal had found a much better location than where rescuers originally deposited her.

No word yet on whether or not Tolay's pup has been christened with a name, and we'll just have to wait and see if the little pinniped is anywhere near as determined as its mother.

Previously: Elephant Seal Blocks North Bay Highway, Gets Feisty With Passing Cars

[Update] 'Very Determined' Elephant Seal Still Trying To Cross North Bay Highway

Tolay The Pregnant Elephant Seal Escapes Drop-Off Point, Heads To New Hangout
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Welcome to my corner of the world! Glad you dropped by. Browse around and discover a collection of QSL cards from international broadcasters, old and new. Read an article or two about radios and the hobby of radio listening. Happy DXing!!!
SIOUX FALLS | A political action committee that backed independent South Dakota U.S. Senate candidate Larry Pressler in 2014 is hoping that voters will be more open to shedding their partisan ties in 2016.

The Centrist Project aims to empower a growing political middle by channeling the support of moderate Americans to a handful of key U.S. Senate hopefuls across the country. It backed five candidates in 2014, but of those five, only incumbent Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, won her race.

Centrist Project founder Charles Wheelan said getting people to donate money to, and vote for, candidates who lack a major party's backing have been huge challenges. But he feels it's worth the effort, as a small caucus of independent senators could help bridge the gap that has kept Republicans and Democrats from reaching compromises.

"The thinking is if you just pick up one, then people will wake up to the idea that it's possible, and therefore you get more candidates and voters are less worried about throwing away their votes," said Wheelan, a senior lecturer and policy fellow at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire. "The first one's tough, but ideally it cycles in the right direction."

The project hasn't yet picked its candidates for 2016.

Pressler, who served as a Republican U.S. senator from 1979 to 1997, decided to run for South Dakota's open seat as an independent in 2014, partly because of his progressive views on social issues and war.

Pressler had difficulty raising funds, but after a poll in October put him ahead of Democratic candidate Rick Weiland and close to former Republican Gov. Mike Rounds, he drew national attention  and attack ads from both sides.

"And I didn't have the money to take to the airwaves and defend those attacks," Pressler said. "It didn't make any difference what my stances on the issues were."

Rounds easily won the seat, with Pressler getting about 17 percent of the vote.

Greg Orman, a Centrist Project-backed independent from Kansas who challenged Republican Sen. Pat Roberts and Democrat Chad Taylor, faced a far different scenario. Orman, an entrepreneur, felt he had a path to victory with three candidates in the race.

When Taylor abruptly dropped out in September over concerns about split votes, Republicans jumped to start branding Orman as the de facto choice of liberal Democrats. It was an attack strategy that wouldn't have worked on him if there was a Democrat on the ticket, Orman said.

"When it became a two-candidate race, it changed the nature of the race," he said.

Wheelan said the Pressler and Orman campaigns suggest that it may be best for independent candidates to keep low profiles as late in the cycle as possible.

"It's very counterintuitive for politics, but the nature of these races is you kind of got to sneak up from the middle," Wheelan said. "They both peaked too early."

The Centrist Project grew out of Wheelan's book, "The Centrist Manifesto," which argued for a third political party. He eventually scaled back to focus on individual U.S. Senate races.

The 2014 election results offered several other lessons that are shaping the project's mission. The organization this past year has spent considerable time honing its branding and marketing efforts with a focus on trying to connect with independents on an emotional level.

"How can we take what's really kind of a cerebral, wonkish idea  both the strategy and what they stand for  and wrap it in something that resonates more emotionally?" he asked.
LINCOLN, Neb. | Nebraska is overusing solitary confinement for juveniles and has no statewide policies or oversight to ensure that the punishment is applied uniformly at different facilities, according to a report released Monday.

The report by the ACLU of Nebraska says some juveniles have been placed in isolation for minor rule violations, such as talking back to staff members, having too many books or refusing to follow directions.

The group also found that the maximum lengths of time in solitary differ by facility, from as little as five days to as many as 90.

Nebraska lawmakers begin a new session on Wednesday, and the ACLU said it plans to present its findings to each senator in a push for statewide reforms.

"Nebraska's policies truly shock the conscience," said Danielle Conrad, the ACLU of Nebraska's executive director.

Conrad said the group doesn't object to temporary seclusion for safety or security reasons, but that detention centers are keeping juveniles in solitary confinement for too long and without sufficient reason.

Nebraska is so far behind many other states with its practices that it should be considered an outlier, said Amy Fettig, senior staff counsel for the ACLU's National Prison Project. She said states that eliminated or reduced their use of isolation have seen a decrease in violence against staff and other juveniles.

"If we locked our children in a bathroom overnight or for a week, we'd be accused of child abuse," Fettig said. "When government does it, it's called justice."

Juveniles in solitary confinement are also more likely to commit suicide or hurt themselves, said Amy Miller, the ACLU of Nebraska's legal director. According to research published by the Department of Justice, more than 50 percent of all youth suicides in juvenile facilities occurred while young people were isolated alone in their rooms.

National child psychiatry groups have warned that prolonged stays in solitary confinement do more harm than good for juveniles. The report says policymakers should create uniform statewide policies for solitary confinement, and suggests that officials consider banning it altogether. It also calls for more training and limits on when solitary confinement can be used.

"Many young Nebraskans who are presently detained are not public safety threats and could potentially be rehabilitated through much less restrictive means or at the very least should not be subjected to mental anguish during their period of detention," the report said.

The ACLU report was based on record requests filed with each of the state's nine juvenile detention centers. Four are run by the state  two by the Department of Correctional Services and two by the Department of Health and Human Services  and five are run by counties.

Spokespeople for the Department of Correctional Services and the Department of Health and Human Services said they were still reviewing the report and would comment later.

The ACLU found that even the most lax policies in Nebraska are out of line with what it considers best national practices. At the Youth Rehabilitation and Treatment Centers in Kearney and Geneva, juveniles can spend a maximum of five days in isolation.

At the Nebraska Correctional Youth Facility in Douglas County, juveniles can spend up to 90 days in isolation.

Another facility, the Sarpy County Juvenile Justice Center, has no written policies to set a maximum amount of time, according to the report.

Fettig said the state should look at more creative and flexible options for juveniles who are placed in isolation because of a threat, such as moving them to different facilities or a community option.

The ACLU of Nebraska said several of Nebraska's neighboring states, including South Dakota, Iowa and Missouri, have policies that limit the use of isolation to five days or less.
SIOUX CITY | The Warming Shelter welcomes the homeless no one else can take.

The need for such a service became apparent a couple of years ago when a sickly, homeless man came in to eat at the Soup Kitchen on a bitter cold night and had nowhere to go. He had been banned from the emergency shelters. The kitchen manager feared he would die if they sent him out into the streets, so she began calling board members to see if he could stay the night.

They let him sleep in a chair at the front of the building. Soon, there were 28 people seeking refuge in the Soup Kitchen, which had cots but just one bathroom and no shower.

The Warming Shelter opened just over a year ago. Now, in the dead of winter, it's turning people away. The cots are full.

To alleviate the situation, the nonprofit organization ordered 25 bunk beds, increasing capacity from 77 to 104, thanks to a $50,000 holiday gift from Missouri River Historical Development. The beds are expected to arrive later this month.

As its name suggests, the Warming Shelter provides temporary shelter during the coldest months. It was set to reopen in November, but the demand for emergency shelter moved up that date by about three months.

Right now, the shelter, at 916 Nebraska St., is committed to staying open through the end of April.

However, as the weather gets warmer and the holidays become a distant memory, goodwill fades like the melting snow. There is a lot of charitable giving leading up to Christmas, according to Director Joe Twidwell. The real challenge lies in March and April. It costs more than $14,000 per month to operate.

Were the only shelter that will take anybody  as long as they abide by the rules, Twidwell said.

And the rules are simple: no smoking, drinking, fighting or bringing weapons inside.

On any given night, men make up the majority of the homeless at the shelter. Women and children are welcome too.

No questions are asked. No names collected. And like the Soup Kitchen, the shelter doesnt receive any federal funding but instead relies on private and corporate donations, along with community members willing to give their time.

In the past year, as people have come in to volunteer, their perception of homelessness has changed, according to Twidwell. Before, their interaction may have been limited to seeing a man on the corner with a cardboard sign, begging for money.

After spending some time at the Warming Shelter, they see men and women who have fallen on hard times, who got sick, lost their jobs, lost their homes. And of course, there are those who are struggling with substance abuse or mental health problems.

From time to time, donations come in with notes attached. In one, a mother detailed her sons downfall from drugs, how he left home and she hadnt heard from him in a while but heard from others that he is homeless. Thinking of him, she gave money to the shelter in hopes that it would be there for him or anyone else should they need it.

Its harder for people to understand homelessness, Twidwell said. Its not like hunger.

Even the richest man or woman has experienced the pangs of hunger. Most people have not felt the pain of not knowing where theyre going to lay their head at night. Theyve not felt the fear of being mugged or assaulted or dying of exposure while sleeping under a bridge.

When men, women and children arrive at the Warming Shelter, they can take a shower and do laundry. In the morning, theyre given a couple of granola bars, maybe a juice box and cup of coffee.

Were trying to do one thing, Twidwell said. There are a lot of other agencies around town, good agencies, that can do a lot of other things. Rather than duplicate their services, were trying to do the one thing that were capable of doing and that is providing a warm, dry, safe place for somebody to sleep overnight.
SIOUX CITY | Change is expected Monday when the Woodbury County Board of Supervisors undertakes the annual task of picking a chairman to lead for a year. A Journal poll of the five supervisors shows second-year Supervisor Jeremy Taylor will likely be picked for the chairman job, and Mark Monson will not continue in the post.

The vote for a new chair will come at the start of the 1 p.m. meeting at the Woodbury County Courthouse, at which a number of annual reorganizing and housekeeping steps will be taken. The chair position typically holds a large degree of power on the direction of county government and priorities.

Monson was tapped a year ago to serve as chairman, for a post he had held previously in 2011. Typically for the last many years, a supervisor serves one year as chairman, then another rotates into the position, as picked by fellow supervisors on a majority vote.

Monson said he liked being at the helm in a difficult year of change toward having a more transparent county government, but health concerns and his belief that Taylor will do well means Monson will likely support him.

"I am probably not going to go for a second year and I will probably go for Jeremy Taylor," Monson said.

Monson has a broken hand, and for the past few weeks participated in meetings by teleconferencing from his home in Sergeant Bluff. He said he has worked 12 to 14 hours many days on county business.

"It takes an awful lot of energy and given what I've gone through in December, it will take me more weeks to get up to speed," he said.

Taylor has served as chairman during Monson's recent absences away from the courthouse. He confirmed he wants to be chairman, in order to continue to pursue more county long-term planning.

"I haven't made it widely known. When I've been asked by fellow supervisors, I have said I would like to...I am excited, if is the will of the rest of the board, to roll up my sleeves and get to work," Taylor said.

Matthew Ung, another second-year supervisor from Sioux City, said he will support Taylor.

"I know (Taylor) wants it, he has told me. He has been a strong ally in the fight to bring more transparency to local government," Ung said.

Larry Clausen, of Sioux City, the longest-tenured supervisor, said he doesn't want to be chairman, but hopes it goes to Jackie Smith. He doesn't want another year with Monson at the helm, as the two periodically feuded over the last 12 months, when Monson sought the goal of modernizing how county departments operate and for the public to more easily follow how decisions are made.

"You talk about transparency, there hasn't been any, with the whole board, anyway. The communication is terrible among the whole board," Clausen said.

Smith, who is entering her eighth year as supervisor, said she wants Clausen as chairman, but added she suspects that that won't happen.

"A voting majority will decide who the chairman will be, and I think it is already decided, no matter how I vote," Smith said.
SIOUX CITY | Patricia Ann Harveston, 80, of Clinton, Iowa, a former Sioux City resident, died Saturday, Dec. 26, 2015, at Mercy Living Center in Clinton.

Services will be 1 p.m. Tuesday at Morningside Chapel, Christy-Smith Funeral Home. The Rev. David Miller of Southern Hills Baptist Church will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park Cemetery. Visitation will be 11:30 a.m. until service time Tuesday at the funeral home.

Patricia was born on Nov. 10, 1935, in Ticonic, Iowa. She was the daughter of Henry and Harriet (Houchins) Ernst. Pat was raised in Sioux City and attended Central High School.

On Aug. 25, 1955, she married the love of her life, William Ray Harveston, in Sioux City. Pat lived in Sioux City; Sheringham, England; Lakenheath, England; Big Spring, Texas; and Sioux City; and then moved to Clinton, Iowa, in 2002. She worked in the health care field. She was a nurses aide at the Lutheran Hospital in Sioux City, and a psych tech at the Big Spring Mental Hospital in Big Spring, Texas.

Pat enjoyed riding motorcycles, fishing and painting. What she loved most was spending time with her family. William died on March 26, 1993, in Sioux City.

She is survived by her three children, Peggy (Ron) Schroeder of Clinton, Iowa, Laurie (Willie) Cruse of Clinton, and William Mark Harveston of Sioux City; her grandchildren, Marcy Banker, Sarah Manning, Sam Schroeder, Amy Sander, Jennifer Johnson, Shauna Hill, Benjamin Cruse, Kimberly Petersen and David Whitaker; 20 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.

She was preceded by her parents; her husband; her brother, Duane Ernst; two sisters, Mary Jane Ernst and Carolyn Eugene Ernst; and two grandsons, Samuel R. Schroeder and Joshua C. Schroeder.
SPIRIT LAKE, Iowa | A Spirit Lake man has pleaded not guilty to numerous theft and burglary charges.

Travis Johnson, 20, entered his written plea Monday in Dickinson County District Court to six counts of third-degree burglary, four counts of second-degree theft and single counts of first-degree theft, ongoing criminal conduct, felon in possession of a firearm and possession of a controlled substance.

Johnson and Chayton Quail, 21, were arrested in November after police executed a search warrant for their residence at 2708 Keokuk Ave. and found stolen items, including two handguns, ammunition, two compound bows, iPads, iPods, 15 laptop computers, Xboxes, power tools and various electronic hardware. Marijuana and drug paraphernalia also were found.

According to court documents, the two committed thefts in September and October from individuals and Spirit Lake businesses Motor Inn, Consumers Lumber and Furniture Mart, a school in Terril and Outer Limits Bar in Terril.

Quail, also of Spirit Lake, faces the same charges as Johnson with the exception of felon in possession of a firearm. He has yet to enter a plea.
SIOUX CITY | In four years, Mayor Bob Scott wants to see a significantly different city thats more appealing for younger generations.

Scott, whose 11 years as Sioux City mayor is already the longest in city history, takes the oath of office Monday after running unopposed for re-election in November.

Councilwoman Rhonda Capron, who defeated her only challenger, Thomas Venesky, in the November election, also will begin her second term with Monday's swearing-in ceremony at 11:30 a.m. in the council chambers.

Scott, 64, and Capron, 62, have different pet projects, but both said they want to provide amenities that will attract and keep younger generations to ensure a bright future for Sioux City.

For Scott, it's deeply personal.

With six grandkids, its important for them to have things they can do locally, he said.

Economic development and quality of life will be Scotts priorities in what he has said could be his final four-year term.

On the latter front, his focus will be on the riverfront, which serves as a gateway to the city. It's the first glimpse of Sioux City motorists get on northbound Interstate 29.

The key to creating a stronger riverfront, he said, could lie in a decades-old study conducted by Omaha architect Dave Ciaccio, who helped bring the Anderson Dance Pavilion and Chris Larsen Park to the area east of the Missouri River.

The Ciaccio study included some ideas for the riverfront and other suggestions the city never explored, such as connecting trails in Sioux City and projects south of the dance pavilion, Scott said. The contents of that study are lying around somewhere at City Hall.

Scott told the Journal editorial board last week he would like to see the dance pavilion with colored lights, which could cost $20,000 to $32,000. The colors could change to recognize special community observances, such as pink for breast cancer awareness and red for alcohol and drug prevention awareness.

The Anderson Dance Pavilion is 30 years old now and never had a nickel spent on it of any consequence, Scott said. Its time to get some (refurbishments).

Scott also said he wants to see an effective recreational trail system.

I want to make sure we have some trails being done every year, Scott told the editorial board. We have to have a systematic plan of getting these darn trails connected in this community, and we do have that, but I want to make sure we maintain that funding.

The mayor said the city is limited in what it can spend on quality-of-life amenities because of additional funds allocated toward the ongoing I-29 improvement. He estimated the price tag for the project was $12 million to $15 million over budget.

Capron said she wants to continue her work on the proposed Cone Park, an all-season recreational area planned for next to the IBP Ice Center.

"I want to keep working on all the economic development that we have -- to bring that forward and keep up the pace," Capron said.

A member of the city's pool committee, Capron also said she will back the committee's recommendation to close three of the city's pools and open a regional aquatics center in the Morningside neighborhood.

"It's not going to be a popular subject, for sure, but this has been put off for so many years, and that's why the pools are in rough condition," she said.

In the future, she also wants to see more jobs and affordable housing in Sioux City.

"We're not going to be here forever, and the young kids will be here a lot longer," Capron said.

In his next term, Scott said he will continue efforts to attract more business, a push that could lead to more blue- or white-collar jobs. More jobs, he said, give younger people another reason to stay.

Scott helped land the $264 million Seaboard Triumph Foods pork plant, which is under construction and expected to open in 2017 with at least 1,100 jobs.

Without jobs here, were not going to keep young people around, Scott said.

After his current term ends in 2020, Scott will have served 15 years as mayor. His first seven-year stint was from 1990 to 1997, back when the City Council picked the mayor from among its five members. Voters then voted to replace that system with the direct election of the mayor in 2007.

Scott won his first direct election as mayor in 2011, defeating then-City Councilman Tom Padgett.

Scott is the 64th person to hold the citys mayoral seat, which dates to 1858. He has already surpassed W.D. Hayes, who was mayor from 1930 to 1938, in longevity of service.
SIOUX CITY | Democratic presidential candidate Martin OMalley on Sunday stressed the importance of the upcoming Iowa caucuses and combating what he called fascist and racist statements made by Republican candidate Donald Trump.

OMalley, the former Maryland governor who trails behind frontrunner Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, spoke to a crowd of about 50 on Sunday at the Mary Treglia Community House at 900 Jennings St.

It was OMalleys first stop of the day in western Iowa, with Council Bluffs and Des Moines next on the trail as the days before the Feb. 1 Iowa contest dwindle. On Saturday, O'Malley made stops in Des Moines, Atlantic, Storm Lake and Le Mars.

After thanking Iowans for their role in the presidential election, O'Malley attacked Trump over his call for a "shutdown" of Muslim immigrants being allowed into the United States. O'Malley also denounced Trump's idea of requiring Muslims already in the U.S. to carry special identification.

I do not believe in scapegoating others, like Trump says, OMalley said. When the top Republican candidate can make fascist, racist comments like that, it shows how strange this election has become.

OMalley then shifted gears, speaking about the growth of employment under President Barack Obamas administration in the wake of the 2008 recession -- but more can be done, he added. Touting his experience as mayor of Baltimore and then governor, OMalley spoke about reducing crime, investing in infrastructure and increasing other public services while reducing costs for college tuition.

After speaking on climate change and foreign policy, O'Malley began taking questions from those in attendance. Fatiya Adam, who moved to the U.S. from Ethopia in 2005, asked OMalley what he would do to improve conditions for Muslim Americans.

OMalley said that after the 9-11 attacks, one of his priorities was working with Muslims to ensure better relations. After the shooting in San Bernardino, California, OMalley visited the All Dulles Area Muslim Society Center in Sterling, Virginia, to stand in solidarity with Muslims.

You overcome fear not by vilifying others, but by embracing freedom of speech and religion, OMalley said. And we shall overcome this challenge.
North Korean Pudgemeister Claims To Have F Bomb

Obviously Kim Jong Un hasn't driven in NYC to know much about the proliferation of F bombs































In Washington, the White House said it was probably because of global warming that Kim Jong Un is still being such a pudgy twatwaffle, but says that Donald Trump's hair is more of a threat.



"At this point, the information that we have access to calls into serious question the effect of Trump's hair on global climate change, and that's the threat we take very seriously. North Korea getting an F bomb is less likely than Iran getting a nuke thanks to ol' Horse Face," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a regular briefing after a dozen mid day scotch 'n watterIsayingtodays.



The U.S. State Department repeated a hashtag that offered Kim Jong Un a job to abandon all F bomb kinds of weapons. Marie Barf was not available for #.



The Foreign Ministry in China, North Korea's most important economic and diplomatic backer, said China was dedicated to ensuring that Pyongyang be dissuaded from becoming more flatulent than they long have been and resolving problems through talks.



"We hope that all sides can do more to fumigate the situation and make constructive efforts to maintain peace and methanic stability on the peninsula," ministry spokeswoman Hua Yu Phooling told a daily news briefing when asked about Kim's remarks.







A video grab from KGAG shows an alleged North Korean sub launched WhutThePhukDong-3 (WTF D3) rocket doing what most North Korean rockets do.



Impoverished North Korea  thanks to three generations of suckass readership  and rich, democratic South Korea remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty. The North has threatened to destroy the South and its major ally, the United States, in a flatulent sea of frames.





Despite the tests, outside experts can smell something that stinks akin to kimshi in the North.



If the F bomb claim is true, it would indicate advances in the North's pursuit of having rush hour traffic like that in NYC, LA and other gesture-laden cities during rush hour.



"I think it's unlikely that they have an F-bomb at the moment, but I don't expect them to keep trying to goad the South Park fellas into making a sequel to Team America World Police, just to please Kim Jong Un," said Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based AlGore Institute of International Made Up Global Warming Fraud at Monterey.



It was possible the North was referring to the technology of boosting the yield of a burrito supreme from Taco Bell, Lewis said.



North Korea claimed in 2010 that it had successfully developed flush toilet technology.









I think Seymour is getting closer to that Pulitzer he so prizes.



"Really???"



No.



"PHFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!!!"



Very appropriate response, Seymour. PHFFFFT (WTFNS) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un appeared on Thursday to claim his country has developed a flatulence or F bomb, a step up from the less powerful kimshi bomb, but the folks at South Park and SNL were delighted. Kim made the comments as he toured the Phartchon PHFFFFFFFFFFFT Site, which marks the feats of North Korean flatulence for all the world to...uh...hear, the official KGAG impropaganda agency said.  The fratulence of Kim Il Sung turned the DPRK into a powerfur methane weapons state ready to detonate a self-reriant F-bomb to reriabry defend against Team America Worrd Porice," KGAG quoted Kim Jong Un as mumbling. DPRK are the initials of the isolated North's official name, the Demoncrapic North Annex of the Demoncraptic National Committee in Washington DC. An F bomb, also known as a thermomethane bomb, uses no Beano to produce a significantly more powerful blast than an average elevator-clearing paint peeler. North Korea conducted tests to set off F bombs in 2006, 2009 and 2013, for which it has been subject to U.N. Security Council sanctions banning trade and financing activities that aid its anus weapons program.In Washington, the White House said it was probably because of global warming that Kim Jong Un is still being such a pudgy twatwaffle, but says that Donald Trump's hair is more of a threat."At this point, the information that we have access to calls into serious question the effect of Trump's hair on global climate change, and that's the threat we take very seriously. North Korea getting an F bomb is less likely than Iran getting a nuke thanks to ol' Horse Face," White House spokesman Josh Earnest told a regular briefing after a dozen mid day scotch 'n watterIsayingtodays.The U.S. State Department repeated a hashtag that offered Kim Jong Un a job to abandon all F bomb kinds of weapons. Marie Barf was not available for #.The Foreign Ministry in China, North Korea's most important economic and diplomatic backer, said China was dedicated to ensuring that Pyongyang be dissuaded from becoming more flatulent than they long have been and resolving problems through talks."We hope that all sides can do more to fumigate the situation and make constructive efforts to maintain peace and methanic stability on the peninsula," ministry spokeswoman Hua Yu Phooling told a daily news briefing when asked about Kim's remarks.A video grab from KGAG shows an alleged North Korean sub launched WhutThePhukDong-3 (WTF D3) rocket doing what most North Korean rockets do.Impoverished North Korea  thanks to three generations of suckass readership  and rich, democratic South Korea remain technically at war after their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a treaty. The North has threatened to destroy the South and its major ally, the United States, in a flatulent sea of frames.Despite the tests, outside experts can smell something that stinks akin to kimshi in the North.If the F bomb claim is true, it would indicate advances in the North's pursuit of having rush hour traffic like that in NYC, LA and other gesture-laden cities during rush hour."I think it's unlikely that they have an F-bomb at the moment, but I don't expect them to keep trying to goad the South Park fellas into making a sequel to Team America World Police, just to please Kim Jong Un," said Jeffrey Lewis of the California-based AlGore Institute of International Made Up Global Warming Fraud at Monterey.It was possible the North was referring to the technology of boosting the yield of a burrito supreme from Taco Bell, Lewis said.North Korea claimed in 2010 that it had successfully developed flush toilet technology. Assessing progress of the North's nuclear program is difficult because no one outside a close circle of leaders in that country knows what a flush toilet is.I think Seymour is getting closer to that Pulitzer he so prizes."Really???"No."PHFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFT!!!"Very appropriate response, Seymour. By Seymour PetRock  WTFNS

It's 2016, and Kim Jong Un's at it again.And my pet rock, Seymour, is right there to bait the pugnacious Pudgemeister.In late 2015, Un claimed that North Korea had developed an "H" bomb.hellary's been stinking up politics for way longer, Un. *BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZER*But leave it to Seymour to take the claim by the leading North Korean pudgester, and make it into something more South Park and SNL worthy:
New Years Greetings: thanks for your money, but no Jolla tablet for you!

That is essentially the message in a New Years blog post by Jolla, the Helsinki, Finland-based company that raised $2.5 million in an Indiegogo campaign to fund development of a new computer tablet, the Jolla tablet.

In a blog post entitled New Years Greetings from Jolla! dated December 31, 2015, the company pointed out that it would ship a small batch of Jolla tablets to early backers in 2016. But Jolla went on to break the news that it probably wouldnt be able to send all investors a Jolla tablet:

The bad news here is that we are not able to complete the production to fulfill all contributions. In other words, all of our backers will not get a Jolla Tablet. However, you can be sure you will not end up empty handed. We might even have some positive surprises in stock for you. But more on that will follow, feel free to speculate!

Investors are indeed speculating in the comments  and its not pretty.

The blog post stunned and angered investors. And they are being outspoken, some openly fearful that their investment will be lost. For example, one investor used profanity to express displeasure, and others vaguely suggested legal action. Others were unhappy about the possibilitiy that instead of getting a tablet, as expected, they would get some sort of consolation prize.

Writes an investor identified as damien.vanderbijl:

Whatever it is youre thinking about, it better not be another Jolla Phone. Most of us already have one or more. Also, we were given to understand that the meeting after Christmas would give us the answer. The options on the table were finishing the tablet project or refunding. The refund option is now apparently off the table? And honestly, it is rather inappropriate to write feel free to speculate. Firstly, we dont need your permission to speculate. Secondly, weve been speculating far too long now for lack of real information. Personally Im done with that.

Yet some investors are more philosophical about the Jolla situation. An investor identified as koenig writes:

The campaign was explicit in that there was no guarantee for a delivery. We all went in to this with open eyes, did we not. It was a gamble with a certain risk and I for one was fully aware of it. Yes, it sucks if I not get a device but I knew what I got myself in to. The pros and cons of crowdsourcing are as Lemmy put it: You win some, lose some, all the same to me, the pleasure is to play

The jousting continues on Twitter. One Twitter user writes:

Despicable @jolla crowdfunded w/claims tablet was #opensourcewhen it was not but now givers don't even get tablets https://t.co/dahVyZvcsY  Patrick Masson (@massonpj) January 4, 2016

Jolla raised $2.5 million in an Indiegogo campaign that achieved 480% funding in 2014. The campaign was closed in September 2015.

At the time of the campaign, the company billed its device as the first crowdsourced tablet.

The campaign generated over 21,000 investors, many of whom paid between $250 and $350 each. Investors were to receive one of the new tablets.

Jolla ran into trouble in late November 2015 as well. A key investor pulled out in a C round of funding and the company was forced to temporarily lay off most of its small staff. The company says it is now on better financial footing despite not being able to follow through on its commitment to crowdfunding investors.
Thanks to Frederick for the links!

Just five arrests have been made by German police after central Cologne was transformed into a war-zone on New Years Eve, as an estimated 1,000 migrants celebrated by launching fireworks into crowds and sexually assaulting German women caught up in the chaos.

The sordid details of the horrifying sexual assaults and attacks made against ordinary Germans by large gangs of migrants in Cologne in the early hours of Friday morning are just now emerging.

Far from a small number of sex assaults reported to have been made by German speaking men in initial reports on New Years Day, dozens of women are now reported to have been molested and raped, while dozens more men have been assaulted and robbed.

One victim, 28 year old Katja L spoke of her ordeal as she tried to make her way to the waiting room of Cologne railway station with two other girls and a boyfriend in the early hours of new years day. She told Der Express  one of the largest regional newspapers: When we came out of the station, we were very surprised by the group that met us there. She said the group was exclusively young foreign men.

After New Year's Eve dozens of women have reimbursed in Cologne display for theft and sexual assault on the station forecourt. The Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers said on Monday there were 60 indicators, of which about a quarter due to sexual offenses. Overall, it may be known by 80 alleged victims. The real figure is probably even higher. This weekend was initially of 30 ads been mentioned. A concrete suspicion against certain persons do not give it so far.

The perpetrators should "mainly from North African or Arab" originate, Albers said. In the turmoil they have thus touched and robbed women. "It has there in very large number ofsexual offenses where, even in very solid shape," Albers said.

Merkel is done. I don't see the German people putting up with this type of thing much longer.
There are many fitness goals out there that we desire. Some of us want to be leaner and others wish to put on muscle mass. The thing is, for you to achieve your fitness goals, you need to
The gravity of the existential threat we face from Islamic Jihad is truly of epic proportions. It is essentially a battle pitting free-civilized man against a totalitarian barbarian. What is at stake is the struggle for our very soul - namely who we are and what we represent. The lives that were sacrificed for individual rights and freedoms that we've come to cherish are being chiseled away from right under our noses by the stealth jihadists. And many of us are in denial and totally clueless.



The left's appeasement and pandering to evil is nothing new. What makes their utopian delusions so infuriating and unpardonable is that it is not only they who will have to pay the consequences, and deservedly, so, they are thwarting and undermining our best efforts at resistance and are thus dragging us down in the process as well.







By Peter Lancz,, the head of the Raoul Wallenberg World Campaign Against Racism.
Married to C, mommy to Miss F, living in Houston, Email me at sotastysoyummy@gmail.com
Clark County partnered with the Las Vegas business community to mark a local gay marriage milestone on New Year's Eve.

According to the county, Phoenix residents Ronald Bauman and Dumitru Alexeev received the 5,000th same-sex marriage license issued in Clark County since the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the constitutionality of gay marriage in the state.



The county says the couple planned to marry Friday (January 1) in Las Vegas. They were offered a number of gifts by local businesses, including a basic wedding package at Luxor Wedding Chapel, stays at Circus Circus Las Vegas and Mandalay Bay, and tickets to the "Michael Jackson One" show and the High Roller.



The Marriage License Bureau started issuing licenses to same-sex couples on Oct. 9, 2014.
ATLANTA  A first-of-its-kind private school in Georgia aimed at attracting lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth and teachers is being established in Atlanta for students who feel bullied or not accepted in traditional schools.

Pride School Atlanta is a k-12 institution designed to be an alternative for LGBT students, though the school is open to any student who believes they're not getting the support they need for "being different," says Pride School founder Christian Zsilavetz.

"Kids have full permission to be themselves  as well as educators. Where there's no wondering, 'Is this teacher going to be a person for me to be myself with?'" said Zsilavetz, who is transgender and a veteran teacher with nearly 25 years of experience. "This is a place where they (students) can just open up and be the best person they can be."

Pride School will initially operate out of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta church and is expected to open by September 2016. Tuition will be around $13,000, though Zsilavetz says financial assistance is available for students who need it.

It is part of a small but growing group of schools popping up nationally geared toward educating LGBT youth, who feel disenfranchised from public education. Pride School would be the first of its kind in the Southeast and, according to gay rights advocates, a significant development for the LGBT movement.

"There's a number of kids who come from the South ... migrating to places like New York and other cities because they feel like it's more tolerant for them," said Ross Murray, programs director, global and U.S. South, for gay rights group GLAAD.

"They should be able to stay in their homes, their communities. I think having a school like this in Atlanta ... it means it's much more regionally connected. If a student does need a place where they can be safe from bullying, from peers who want to harass or harm them, they're not going to have to travel tons of distance to do that."

The school would be modeled after the Harvey Milk school in New York City and other education centers across the country designed for, but not limited to, LGBT youth. Pride School would be a so-called Free Model school with a setup more unstructured than traditional schools, where students' interests are supposed to drive what they learn.

Zsilavetz, 45, who's taught math and other subjects since 1992, says he never felt truly open or supported by administrators while teaching in public schools and wanted that to change. He wanted LGBT students and teachers to be able to openly discuss who they are in a school setting without fear.

"When (LGBT) kids can see you, when they know that they can come to you, they're less likely to die (or be suicidal), for one," Zsilavetz said. "They're less likely to get pregnant, when they don't really want to get pregnant. They're less likely to get into drugs and alcohol and into depression."

When Emma Grace, 16, heard from a friend about the Pride School, she contacted Zsilavetz and shared her interest in attending. Grace, who dropped out of high school and is currently home-schooled, said she was bullied at the public school she attended and that teachers and counselors did very little to stop it.

Grace, who identifies herself as "queer," says she's excited about the prospect of going to the Pride School and being more open about exploring her gender.

"I think it's greatly needed for a school to have LGBT-affirming surroundings and environment," she said. "It's still very much a hidden issue. Not a lot people talk about it because they're afraid."

Nearly 9 in 10 LGBT students report experiencing harassment within the last school year, and three in 10 report missing a class because they felt unsafe, according to gay rights group Georgia Equality. The group was among other advocates who lobbied state lawmakers to create legislation to reduce bullying in schools.

After the bill was signed into law in 2010, the group investigated school district policies in Georgia to see which districts had LGBT-specific bullying-prevention policies. It found fewer than 30 percent did.

"Since then we have been working with individual school districts to enact LGBT-inclusive policies that protect all Georgia students," according to the group's website.

In light of high-profile suicides of bullied LGBT students in recent years, a number of school districts have adopted stricter anti-bullying policies. Cobb County was one of the first in Georgia to implement an anti-bullying, no-harassment policy that included sexual orientation and gender identity.

The number of pro-LGBT organizations known as Gay-Straight Alliances at public high schools has also grown in Georgia, to 43.

Gay rights advocates point to other notable developments in Georgia as well. Members of the Atlanta Board of Education and school district staff marched in the 2015 Atlanta Pride Parade, highlighting the Anti-Defamation League's "No Place for Hate" programming in Atlanta Public Schools.

Last year, the first transgender student was named to a high school homecoming court in Georgia, a Walton High School student in Cobb County, who was recognized during the homecoming game.

Though strides have been made, public schools in Georgia still have a ways to go to build tolerance for LGBT students and teachers, Zsilavetz said.

"I think right now what a lot of (LGBT) students face is separate but equal education in the public schools," he said. "Because if you can't go to the bathroom all day and you can't use the locker room and you're bullied in the classroom and the teachers aren't standing up for you, you don't have a full seat at the table."
Members of the Islamic militant group ISIS accused a young teen of being gay and reportedly killed him by throwing him off the roof of a building, but spared the life of a commander who allegedly raped the victim, according to a report by ARA News, a Syrian independent press agency.

The 15-year-old boy was sentenced to death by being pushed off a high building in Deir Ezzor province in Syria. The report claims the ISIS commander who allegedly raped the victim is believed to be Abu Zaid al-Jazrawi, who has appeared in a propaganda video showing child soldiers executing prisoners in a demented version of hide-and-seek. al-Jazrawi was spared the death sentence, but was punished by being flogged and sent to Iraq to fight on the front line.



A witness told ARA News the execution of the teen took place in public and in front of a large gathering of local civilians. The footage of the incident has yet to make it online, however.



"The boy was accused of being engaged in a homosexual relation with the prominent ISIS officer Abu Zaid al-Jazrawi," media activist Sarai al-Din told ARA News. "Abu Zaid was forced to leave Syria and join the fighting fronts in northwestern Iraq. The decision has been taken by the ISIS leadership."



ARA News reports a source claimed the boy was arrested "in the house of an ISIS leader" last Thursday.



Though the story has been picked up by a number of media outlets, the Daily Mail writes it could not "independently verify these claims." Nevertheless, this isn't the first time ISIS was reported to kill men accused of being gay by throwing them off the roofs of buildings. Similar incidents have been occurring for some time now.
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This Special Education Law Blog is intended for educational purposes only. Nothing said in the posts, comments or elsewhere in this blog should be construed as legal advice. If you have a dispute or any other legal problem, you should confer with an attorney who is licensed to practice law in your state. Any reference or description of individuals that resembles actual persons or any reference to what appears to be personally identifiable information is purely coincidental and unintentional. All comments, posts or other discussion should be accepted in the spirit of philosophical debate rather than as instruction or advice of any kind. Any abusive, profane, offensive or defamatory language of any kind is strictly prohibited and will not be tolerated.

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This blog is a personal and business blog written and edited by Jim Gerl. For questions about this blog, please contact jimgerl@gmail.com. Since January 1, 2017, this blog accepts paid advertising, sponsorship and/or paid insertions. I write for my own purposes and also for exposure of my business. However, it is possible that I may be influenced by my background, occupation, religion, political affiliation or experience. Since January 1, 2017, the owner of this blog receives compensation from advertisers. This blog may contain content which could present a conflict of interest; such content will be identified in the post in which it occurs.


Slovakia has some examples of firms continuing the tradition

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Though some companies that were among the biggest employers in Slovakia before 1989 were either closed down or privatised after the revolution, some examples exist where traditional brands were replaced by foreign investors who carried on production and utilised the potential of the available labour force.

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More information about the Slovak business environment Please see our Investment Advisory Guide. This years edition was published also thanks to cooperation with the Investment Support Association (ISA). The general partner of the guide was the law firm Noerr.

Some regions, however, did not have such luck. Though there are employers who may maintain the traditional industries developed in the area, the regions struggle with insufficient infrastructure, uneducated labour force, and lack of job opportunities.

The government has recently come forth with a plan to help the least-developed areas. The condition for getting the aid, however, will be to have an unemployment rate amounting at least to 1.9 times higher than the national average over at least nine of the 12 past quarters.

Currently there are four districts that may meet this requirement: Rimavska Sobota, Revuca, Kezmarok, and Roznava where it exceeds 22 percent.

We have already seen similar changes in the history of investment aid, Martin Vlachynsky, analyst with the Institute of Economic and Social Studies (INESS) think tank, told The Slovak Spectator in August. But the positive effect on the least-developed districts has been minimal so far. He does not expect the new proposal to make any difference.

Foreign investors followed traditions

Though present-day Slovakia is considered to be one of the leading countries in the automotive sector, it has not always been so. The Slovak economy after World War II was also predominantly focused on the armament industry. In order to decrease its dependence on this sector, the Bratislavske Automobilove Zavody (BAZ) was established in 1971. It was an important step for establishing car production in the country, the Aktuality.sk website wrote.

The positive development, however, was strangled after 1989. The only foreign investor interested in BAZ was German carmaker Volkswagen, which finally won the competition and merged with the Slovak firm in 1991, Aktuality.sk wrote.

Volkswagen was then followed by other carmakers: PSA Peugeot Citroen, Kia Motors Slovakia and, possibly, Jaguar Land Rover.

Another example of successful continuation in the traditional industry in the region is the U.S. Steel plant in Kosice. The history of making steel in Kosice dates back to the late 1950s, when the decision was made to build a new steel mill on a greenfield site as part of the countrys industrialisation under communism. After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, the government, which by then was under prime minister Vladimir Meciar, privatised the profitable Vychodoslovenske Zeleziarne (VSZ). Alexander Rezes, a minister in Meciars 1994-98 government, and his family gradually took over the management of the company. The companys privatisation was completed in 1995.

In November 1998, VSZ management led by Julius Rezes admitted that the company was facing a serious financial crisis. Then-management stepped down and was replaced by a new one, which had to prepare the restructuring of the firm and prepare it for sale. The company was taken over by U.S. Steel in 2000, which started a new phase in the history of the steel mill. The company is now the biggest employer in eastern Slovakia.

Other examples of successful takeovers include Mondi SCP in Ruzomberok, which continues in the activities of Ruzomberske Celulozky a Papierne, or numerous companies in the Povazie region focused on the machinery industry.

Districts struggle with uneducated jobseekers

The registered unemployment rate amounted to 11.38 percent in September 2015, while the total jobless rate in the country was 12.95 percent. The highest unemployment rate was registered in Rimavska Sobota district (Banska Bystrica Region), where it amounted to 27.81 percent.

Most of the unemployed in the district have only basic education or lack any education at all (52 percent), while the least unemployed are those with university education (3 percent). About 15 percent of the jobless have complete secondary vocational education, Livia Koosova from the labour office in Rimavska Sobota said.

In the past our district belonged to those with developed agriculture and the food industry, but there also were the companies focused on machinery production, Koosova told The Slovak Spectator. After 1989 only few companies remained in the region, which negatively impacted the number of jobless, she added.

The unemployment rate in Revuca district (Banska Bystrica Region) amounted to 24.53 percent in the end of September. More than 50 percent of the jobseekers have only a basic education or do not have any education, while about 30 percent of jobseekers have secondary vocational education or complete secondary vocational education, according to Lubica Gallova from the Revuca labour office.

She pointed to several problems in the labour market, like the high number of long-term unemployed, people with low qualification and also numerous people from marginalised communities who have lost their working habits.

The labour market is not flexible, does not adequately respond to the changes in society, while the flexibility is missing on both the supply and demand side, Gallova added.

As for Kezmarok (Presov Region), the jobless rate in the district amounted to 23.84 percent in September. Up to 60 percent of the registered jobless have only basic education or any education at all. Another big group of jobseekers are people with secondary vocational education and complete secondary vocational education, the statistics of the local labour office indicate.

(Source: TASR)

One of the factors that impact the high jobless rate in the district is that 66 percent of jobseekers have never worked before, so they do not have any working habits. There is also a lack of offers for low-qualified people, Alena Krajcova from the Kezmarok labour office told The Slovak Spectator.

The Roznava labour office (in Banska Bystrica Region) reported the jobless rate at 22.38 percent in September. Similarly to the previous districts, also here about half of the jobseekers have only basic education or any education at all, while another big group have secondary vocational education or complete secondary vocational education, according to the statistics.

The district belonged among important mining areas in the past, but these activities were subdued between 1990 and 2008.

During this period many miners, mining adjusters and service staff have been registered with the labour offices, Eva Svantnerova of the Roznava labour office told The Slovak Spectator, adding that this resulted in a drop of purchasing power and lower need of services.

The departures of big companies from regions cause problems also now. Most recently, Japanese company Panasonic, which announced that it was closing its plant in Krompachy (Kosice Region) in October 2014, left more than 650 people jobless. In March 2015 the company SEWS Slovakia, employing about 460 people, informed about closing its plant in Topolcany (Nitra Region).

Poorer regions should draw investors

The government has introduced its own idea of how to help the least-developed districts in Slovakia, with tailor-made five-year action plans. They will, among other things, contain an analysis of the districts economic situation and the reasons for its poor state of affairs, an evaluation of development potential, a proposal with specific measures and the schedule for their implementation, financing, and how to evaluate achieved progress, said Transport Ministry spokesman Peter Zeman.

The action plans will be scrutinised by the newly-created Council for the Development of Regions, whose composition will change depending on the districts asking for help, officials say. After it develops the plan the ministry will submit it for the governments approval, the TASR newswire reported.

The districts will then receive aid in two forms. First is technical aid, which means the handing down of knowledge, experience and specific know-how, which should enhance the administrative capacities of municipalities and other local institutions. The second form, the regional contribution, will be allocated from the state budget and will be provided based on the action plan, Zeman said.

The proposal also contains provisions that amend the law on investment aid. Under the proposed rules, if businesses want to invest in the industrial or tourism sector in the least-developed districts, the minimum amount they will have to invest will be 200,000 and 50 percent must to be covered by the investors capital. Moreover, the state will contribute 70 percent of the amount invested into purchasing new machinery, with the investor paying only 30 percent of the sum, TASR wrote.

The action plans should be financed mostly from the existing ministry programmes and EU funds, TASR wrote.

The parliament adopted the new rules on November 11. They will come into force as of December 1, 2015.

Potential for workers

In the case of Rimavska Sobota, employees these days are mostly in public administration, education and health sectors. Among the most important employers in the district is company Yura Eltec Corporation, focusing on production of cable bundles. When talking about ways to attract investors, Koosova mentions the construction of infrastructure which many big employers consider inappropriate.

Regarding the educational structure

of the jobseekers, it would be good if there was an employer whose requirements would be met by people with basic education, she added.

In Revuca, the most important employers are companies active in the mining and machinery industry. When it comes to the employment potential of jobseekers, Gallova says that it would be good for them to find work where no specific specialisation is required.

Most companies that were active in the region remained also after the Velvet Revolution, though they operate in a different way, under a different name and with fewer people. What they, however, lack are bigger construction companies, she added.

As for Kezmarok, most people used to work in agriculture in the past, which was characteristic for the whole district. However, this is no longer true. Employers in this sector could not ask for the money to create new jobs, but this has meanwhile changed, Krajcova said.

Regarding Roznava, the district is typical of the mining industry, which currently focuses on mining talc. As for the potential for the unemployed to find work, Svantnerova says that it would be good to offer them jobs like operators in manufacturing, where they could receive some training.
Employees reporting corruption eligible for protection but inspectorates cant keep up.

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AS THE White Crow (Biela Vrana) prizes for whistleblowers were handed out on November 17, civil society groups note that a law designed to protect such people from retribution by employers is for the most part ineffective.

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The current situation indicates a failure with implementation of the law in the state administration, said Pavel Nechala, a lawyer at Transparency International Slovensko (TIS).

Having insiders report wrongdoing is the most effective means for revealing illegal practices. However, in the private sector, just 40 percent of such incidents are ever disclosed, according to TIS.

The low number of people who speak up is partially caused by lack of information. Applications were held up at the inspectorates responsible for providing protection and some did not even respond. Most of the employees did not want to speak up because they feared retribution. Practices by employers sometimes reminded people of the type deployed during communism, including termination of contract, salary cuts or relocation to different posts, according to TIS.

Protection on paper

The law on whistleblowing should guarantee legal protection for people who reveal and report illegal activities or activities that harm society as of the beginning of 2015. By passing the law, Slovakia wanted to meet the OECD criteria on bribes and international transactions. However, the recent survey by TIS found the law ineffective.

Only seven whistleblowers were given protection when reporting cases to police, prosecutors office or another institution, Zuzana Dancikova from TIS said.

The Interior Ministry points to experiences from abroad, for example Serbia, documenting poor application of similar laws during the first year as it takes time until the public is aware.

The Interior Ministry did not even expect massive application of the law because we presume that most of the cases are dealt within the internal system of the company, said Marta Fabianova from the press office of the Interior Ministry. Protection of the employee has several levels, depending on whether the employee reported the illegal activity only within the company structure or made a formal criminal charge.

It differentiates between preventive measures or full protection by the Labour Inspectorate Office.

Each employer or business owner with more than 50 people is bound by the law to appoint one employee responsible for taking and assessing reports, said Labour Inspectorate spokeswoman Slavena Vorobelova.

Employers should put value on revealing corruption in the company structures, she added. If the employee is convinced that the employer has taken undue action in relation to the report, they have seven days to contact the Labour Inspectorate Office.

The inspectorate will put on hold any action of the employer for 14 days. If in the meantime the person makes a formal charge, he or she will stay untouchable until the court delivers the final verdict. The employee can also apply for anonymity, which is binding for all the authorities dealing with his case.

By the law, each employer can take legal action or make a decision against the protected whistleblower only if it was agreed by the Labour Inspectorate, Vorobelova said.

The inspectorate will authorise the action only if proved that it has no connection with the reporting of illegal activity or action against society.

Providing protection should prevent negative actions of the employer against the employee in the form of salary reduction or cuts, delegation to a lower position or ending the contract without a notice period, Fabianova said.

Alan Suchanek and Magdalena Kovacova received the White Crow awards for reporting an overpriced purchase. Photo: Sme

Protection is within the competence of the court, prosecutor, and the administrative authority, and it is supervised by the Labour Inspectorate.

Small fish

A series of trial applications for protection found poor level of services at the labour inspectorates that provide information and protection for the whistleblowers. Even if a response from the inspectorate arrives in time; it does not always provide necessary information. Five out of eight labour inspectorates did not even acknowledge requests from whistleblowers.

Although 93 percent of cases of corruption end with prison sentences, only 333 out of 663 convicted really ended up in a penitentiary, TIS reported. Moreover, only 27 of all charged persons were elected representatives, which proves that it is only small fish getting caught.

TIS also criticised the low degree of publicity about the protection. The inspectorates do not publish information on their websites and do not organise workshops or provide model scenarios. Partially, it has to do with low financial motivation of the inspectorates, as the new competences were not reflected by increased financial support.

The poor functioning of the whole system further discourages people from taking an active approach. This might be one of the reasons why Slovaks are rather incredulous towards investigation of illegal activities and according to research only 5 percent would report corruption.

Transparency International conducted a Global Barometer survey in 2013, which involved over 114,000 people in 107 countries and proved that corruption is cited as among the biggest problems in societies all around the world. More than two-thirds (67 percent) of people think that ordinary citizens can contribute towards decreasing corruption with their activity, according to the survey.

Portayal of positive cases in the media as it applies to the Whistleblowing Act can help better inform the public, said Fabianova.

The Interior Ministry claims that the law on whistleblowers aims to motivate employees to report anti-social activity that is connected with their occupation. TIS suggested that the ministry should investigate whether the current financial and personal capacities of the inspectorates are enough for providing effective protection for the whistleblowers. Information should be available and comprehensible even for lay people and aimed at the needs of the users.

Many NGOs are active in supporting people who report corruption or other illegal activity. Via Juris and Zastavme Korupciu organise the Vecer Bielych Vran  Evening of White Crows  where they award the people who dared to speak up. The 2015 event was held on November 17  the anniversary of the Velvet Revolution  and it also offered discussions with people who support selfless help and the fight against corruption.

Doctor Alan Suchanek and nurse Magdalena Kovacova reported the overpriced purchase of a computer tomography machine at a Piestany hospital in the autumn of 2014. The case resulted in the resignation of several top officials in health care and hospital administration. Catholic priest Anton Srholec was awarded for his life-long contribution to charitable work, and journalist Andrej Ban talked about his years of travelling and documenting the lives of people in difficulties.
SLOVAK painter Janko Alexy used to roam around Slovakia in his young years, painting squares, churches, castles, and landmarks.

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Besides this, he was also fascinated by unostentatious buildings which were part of the historical culture of the country. Thus, when visiting Orava he could not ignore a modest church in Vysny Kubin. Little was known about the Holy Trinity Church, and many considered it a sacral building of the Czech Hussites movement. No wonder, for the first years of the common Czechoslovak Republic were marked by a search for joint roots and history. The phenomenon from the 15 th century when the army of Czech heretics  Hussites  invaded the territory of the then Hungarian Kingdom used to be interpreted, until the 1980s, as an act of brotherly help, when in fact these were rather looting raids.

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There could have been another reason for considering the Hussites as the authors of this church: already the contemporaries of Janko Alexy knew that this structure has no par in Orava. After the Orava Castle  the political and administrative centre of the region  this is very probably the second oldest brick building of this region. As facts about its origin are not widely known, peoples imaginations placed it to the times of Hussites.

According to more sober estimates of current experts, this was built later in the a Renaissance period but it stands on Gothic foundations which may stem from the Hussite period. The original church was likely built of wood.

By Branislav Chovan
RATHER than potential threats from the migration crisis, what affects the lives of people in Slovakia are domestic issues, President Andrej Kiska said in his New Years address.

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We have not been a country impacted by this phenomenon [refugee crisis] in a way that we have had to harbour the feeling of economic, social, cultural or even a direct security threat of a dramatic dimension, Kiska said, as quoted by the Sme daily. I think there was no real reason for this issue to push our domestic concerns on the margin of interest, the president said in his address.

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When talking about health care, Kiska was surprisingly specific, according to Sme. According to an analysis, 3,000 more people die of curable diseases in Slovakia than in the Czech Republic, with comparable expenditures on the health-care sector, he said, concluding that I have to ask myself regarding debates on measures increasing security, whether we are aware at all of what in fact endangers the lives of our people much more.

On the other hand, the president seemingly avoids the word corruption as the core reason for the current state of health care, political analyst Jan Baranek told the Novy cas daily, adding that this was what Slovaks expected him to do, as well as offering solutions to the problem.

Kiska mentioned also the upcoming general election in March, calling on people not to give up their right to vote and let others decide for them instead. He stopped short, though, of telling Slovaks whom they should elect.

Prime Minister Robert Fico, speaking on the occasion of the anniversary of the establishment of the modern, independent Slovak state, stressed the importance of protecting Slovakia in connection with refugees, Sme wrote. He even expressed regret that public officials responsible for the countrys safety underestimate the security aspect of the migration crisis.
FOR SOME time, the chance to have a Slovak House at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro looked gloomy, but recently, the outlook has changed.

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During his recent visit to Rio, secretary general of the Slovak Olympic Committee (SOV) Jozef Liba, together with Slovak Ambassador to Brazil Milan Cigan, looked at one listing offered for such an activity. It is a former restaurant with a very good location, close to the Olympic village and the city centre, the SITA newswire quoted the SOVs website. The initial asking price was acceptable, and now Slovakia is waiting for an official offer.

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Shortly before Christmas, Liba, along with Cigan, visited Slovak Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister Miroslav Lajcak to inform him of the current situation in Rio and ask for help and support in implementing the goal of having a Slovak House during the 2016 Olympics, as was the case with previous games.

Lajcak promised his support for the idea; while the importance of the Slovak House would be stressed by the fact that during that time, Slovakia will be the presiding country over the European Union, SITA wrote.
SINCE January 1, Slovakia is in the state of half-chairing the European Union, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of the Slovak Republic to the EU, Peter Javorcik, said as quoted by the TASR newswire.

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We are closely monitoring the steps and activities of the beginning of the Dutch presidency of the European Council, well aware of the fact that part of the European agenda will probably fall also on the shoulders of the Slovak presidency starting July 1, 2016, he added in the beginning of January.

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On the first day of 2016, the trio of the Netherlands, the Slovak Republic and Malta took over control of the preparation of European politics. Javorcik praised the fact that by the end of December, the programme of three countries had been approved in Brussels, which defines for 18 months the tasks that must be solved from the point of view of the EU and discussed with other EU institutions before finalising them or fine-tuning certain policies.

The half-presidency means, according to Javorcik, a bigger workload for employees of the permanent representation, and a higher frequency of meetings, when e.g. Slovaks will be observers at Netherlands negotiations with the European Parliament concerning some legislative proposals. This is important, as part of the unfinished Dutch agenda will most likely be left for Slovakia to deal with.

We can estimate some things already now, Javorcik explained. At the December EU summit, it was agreed that the European Border and Coast Guard will be created, and during the Dutch presidency, member states should agree on how it will look. Also the Slovak presidency will then have the task to finalise this concept and conclude an agreement with the European Parliament. Thus, the European guard will become reality, he concluded.

A whole team has already been completed to ensure effective execution of the Slovak EU presidency: there are about 170 people in Brussels (compared to just over 80 as usual), while the permanent representation plans to employ about 30 more young interns based on tenders already organised in Slovakia, while additionally some Slovak citizens already working for EU institutions will render support as well.

Apart from the customarily wide agenda, the Slovak presidency will have as its priorities the Energy Union and also progress in the digital agenda, Javorcik said, stressing that within the Energy Union, Slovakia would like to achieve an agreement on the proposal concerning safety of gas supplies which is crucial for both Slovakia and the entire EU.

Regarding the digital agenda, the effort focuses on e-commerce, electronic trading to eliminate barriers in this field among member states and to simplify the purchasing of goods and services online from other countries.

A novelty is the task of the EC to file by the end of 2016 a medium-term evaluation of the seven-year financial framework of the European Union. This is a bit of a question mark for us, Javorcik conceded. We do not know yet what our role in this will be. He opined that this will depend on when the EU executives will want the due proposal: if by mid-2016, then Slovakia will have to deal with it; but when the proposal comes due only by the end of 2016, Slovakia will start the process, but Malta will complete it.

There is no unbiased, objective criterion to evaluate EU presidencies; it is important to finish agreements and compromises among EU member states in the current agenda, as well as for the presiding country to be able to react promptly to unpredictable events and to solve emergency situations, Javorcik said.
Countrys hard line on migrants last year dismayed thousands of younger, more liberal citizens.

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The migration of over a million asylum seekers to Europe in 2015 has been a transformative experience, for us as much as for them.

To understand the context of this statement, it helps to return to July 2013 and a mass celebrated by Pope Francis on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa, the temporary home of thousands who even then were trying to reach the continent. We have fallen into a globalisation of indifference, the Pope told the assembled Africans, Syrians, and Afghans as he begged forgiveness for Europes apparent disinterest in their fate. We have grown accustomed to the suffering of others, it doesnt concern us, its none of our business. We have lost the sense of fraternal responsibility.

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Within two years of the Popes speech, asylum applications in the EU had more than doubled as war and despair continued to generate floods of refugees. Germany, mainly thanks to the resolve of Chancellor Angela Merkel, kept its doors open; but many, like Slovakia, denied fraternity, responsibility or even concern for the migrants. Thanks to the resistance of the EUs rebels, only 190 of last years one million newcomers have even been formally relocated.

In the same way that acts of humanity, of generosity, have the power to inspire us, indifference to the fate of strangers can destroy even the little that holds our country together.

Hundreds of thousands of young Slovaks now live and work abroad, and while their stated reasons are often academic or economic, there is also a powerful undercurrent of dissatisfaction with the uncharitable, duplicitous and fearful nature of the modern Slovak state.

Just as Europes inability to agree even a basic response to the migrant crisis invites reflections on how slow mankind evolves, so too do this years excesses by intolerant radicals in Bratislava (both in politics and on the street) evoke despair. That after all of the countrys triumphs, in defeating Meciarism, returning to Europe, and making the economy the envy of our neighbours, were still in many ways the same people we were on January 1, 1993: insecure, suspicious, and easy prey for cynical rulers.

In the end, how Slovakia responds to migrants makes little difference to the migrants themselves. Few of them, after all, intend to settle here, and the numbers we could accommodate would only be a drop in the European bucket. But it makes a huge difference to Slovakia itself: to whether the country will ever become a desirable alternative for its exiled sons and daughters, or remain merely a xenophobic retirement home for their parents.
Its gray, foggy, and just wet enough in the air that you need a rain jacket. Welcome to the Pacific Northwest. On the corner of 30th and Carr Streets in North Tacoma, a beautiful wood building houses the headquarters of The Mountaineers, the second-oldest branch of this organization devoted to helping people explore, conserve, and learn about the wild lands of the Pacific Northwest.

But Im not here to hit up the climbing wall, or sign up for a Wilderness First Aid course. I am here for coffee.

Im visiting Pop Up Coffee, launched in October, and devoted to a new style of coffee business; the pop-up coffee bar here in the lobby of The Mountaineers building is just one of three locations in the city.

I dont see the ordinary signs of specialty coffeedom. There are no succulents in glass dishes, no exposed brick, no barista in a handmade denim apron. Theres just a foldable table, two ceramic cone brewers, two electric Hario kettles, a few bags of coffee, a stack of paper cups, and a barista in a flannel shirt. Ok, he has a beard, but we are in the Pacific Northwest after all. Other than that, this space is quite unlike any specialty coffee setup I have been in lately.

Its refreshing. So is the business model.

Pop Up Coffee was set up to solve multiple problems. First, as Jason Atherton, its founder, tells me, was to provide quality coffee. Its hard to find great coffee, Atherton said, particularly in Tacoma. Second, in Tacoma, there are a lot of empty storefronts, which are bad for cities, and can, as he points out, lead to crime and vandalism. Utilizing these empty spaces is a savvy business move, but its also a community-minded one.

The idea is simple: pop-up style coffee bars maximize on space that would otherwise go unused, and provide an easy point of entry for potential entrepreneurs. In the Mountaineers building, the coffee table sits in an event space, regularly used in the evenings, but rarely in the morning. In downtown Tacoma, the other two Pop Up Coffee spots are at the Childrens Museum and inside Theatre on the Square on Broadway. We work closely with a Tacoma nonprofit called Spaceworks, says Atherton. Spaceworks activates empty retail spaces with local and tasteful art installations. We are taking it one step further by opening pop-up cafes in these spaces. Our cafes activate the neighborhood and create a sense of community, making the area safer, more walkable, and reducing crime.

This business model is meant to grow, creating opportunities around Tacoma, which Atherton sees as a fantastic second city like Brooklyn or Oakland. He continues: we created a very simple, low-cost cafe that is easy to scale. We only serve brewed coffee on minimal equipment to make it easy to open new cafes. This allows us to open many new locations and make great coffee much more accessible. We are essentially creating little coffee oases all around town.

Come January, they are planning on opening 10 new cafes across the city.

The companys core values are simplicity, constraint, and craftsmanship, and are perfectly paired with a gentle reminder on the menu: Black coffee, slow bar only. Modifications politely declined. This isnt about creating a pretentious coffee space; quite the opposite, in fact. At Pop Up Coffee, everything is pared down, to put the focus on the coffee and the community that it attracts. We are cutting out the clutter to make space for genuine interaction and beautiful tasty experiences, says Atherton.

Bearded barista Ben Smith-Chenovik prepares my coffee, a Misty Valley Natural Ethiopia from local Tacoma roaster Bluebeard Coffee Roasters, Pop Up Coffees featured roaster for November. (In its opening month, Pop Up Coffee featured Heart Roasters.) As he hands me my coffee, we continue talking and he mentions that hes a musician. Its actually his music that we are listening toan album called Pacific Natura, beautiful piano solos all inspired by specific places around the Pacific Northwest.

We talk about the potential of not only using the space as a place to make coffee, but a place thats focused on collaborative endeavors; one where people can come together for art, music, and beyond. I think this is the future of business, says Smith-Chenovik. But while it might be the future, its also what a lot of us from the Pacific Northwest remember from the coffee houses of a few decades pastcommunity hubs that were full of thriving culture. Its nice to see things coming full circle.

Pop Up Coffee has multiple locations. Visit their official website and follow them on Facebook and Instagram

Anna Brones is a Sprudge.com staff writer. Read more Anna Brones on Sprudge.
Military Capability

The two sides have also been growing their military capabilities, despite having achieved warm relations as recently as 2005. Iran's military is considerably larger in terms of manpower and militia units such as the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), which played a pivotal role in the Iran-Iraq War.

However, Saudi Arabia's military budget is nearly eight times bigger than Iran's. The country spends 11.4 percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) compared to Iran's 2.8 percent, which is roughly the average for most countries around the world.

Saudi Arabia does have an advantage in equipment, which it has been purchasing from all large suppliers. Despite historically uneasy relations, Saudi officials visited Russia in 2015 to consider purchasing weapons. The Saudis were most interested in ships and Iskander missile systems, both crucial for warfare in the Persian Gulf, where Iran has used swarms of small boats to attack larger vessels and both sides have acquired ballistic missile technology.

"Yes, we are interested, that's why we are here, and we are not only talking about the navy. We are interested in frigates, corvettes and guard ships," deputy head of the Saudi Arabian Navy Admiral Ibrahim Nasir said at a Russian military exhibition in June 2015.

Saudi Arabia is at a disadvantage when it comes to neighbors, as Houthi militias almost regularly attack Saudi territory with troops as well as missiles. At the has allies around the Persian Gulf which it has worked together with in coalitions, such as Bahrain which broke ties with Iran on Monday, it has in recent months practically lost long-time partner Pakistan when it comes to military cooperation.

Saudi Arabia is rumored to have sponsored Pakistan's nuclear program as a balance against Iran. However, Pakistan, now a major partner of China, has rejected Saudi military initiatives in both Yemen and Syria, refusing to join coalitions.
Professor Aaron Lerner of the Rappaport Faculty of Medicine at Haifa's Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and the Carmel Medical Center and Doctor Torsten Matthias of the Aesku-Kipp Institute in Germany published their analysis recently in the online journal Autoimmunity Reviews.

The researchers claim that industrialized foodstuffs weaken the intestine's resistance to immunogenic antigens.

Numerous tests by the pair revealed that the effects of processed food on the intestines and with the resultant autoimmune disease can lead to the development of some 100 illnesses, including type 1 diabetes, celiac disease, lupus erythematosus, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune hepatitis, Crohn's disease, scleroderma and myesthenia gravis.
Speaking to the newspaper, Igor Yushkov, an analyst at the Moscow-based National Energy Security Fund, explained that generally, "the opponents of the Nord Stream 2 project can be divided into two camps. On the one hand are actors who are just working against Russia. They have nothing to gain or lose from a new pipeline being laid in the Baltic Sea, since they are not transit countries for Russian gas. These, first and foremost, are the Baltic states."

Then, there are the countries, including Poland and Ukraine, which stand to lose out on transit fees and a measure of geopolitical clout if Russia were able to rely on the Baltic Sea corridor to bypass Eastern Europe entirely and supply gas directly to Western Europe.

"Latvia and Poland," Yushkov notes, "are building LNG gas terminals and hope that in the future, a considerably part of the gas supplies coming to Western Europe from Norway and even the United States will come through them."

"This," however, "is expensive gas. We can see that practically-minded Germany has completed its calculations long ago, and does not make any statements about Nord Stream 2, surreptitiously attempting to [simply] implement the project. And the last word on whether the new natural gas project is approved or not belongs not to European officials, but to the German government  the country to whose territory the pipeline will travel."

In any case, according to Yushkov, "it's clear why Germany (and the whole of Western Europe, frankly) is interested in 'doubling' [the capacity of the existing] Nord Stream network. Northern Europe's own gas production is dropping significantly. Norway, the UK, the Netherlands and other countries cannot continue to extract gas supplies at the same levels they had previously. At the same time, Germany is looking to buy cheap gas from Russia, not LNG gas from the US or Norway."

Asked by the newspaper whether Nord Stream 2, which would double the existing Nord Stream pipeline's capacity of up to 55 billion cubic meters (equivalent to about 29% of all of Gazprom's exports in 2014) could free Russia from the need to use politically unfriendly Ukraine as a transit country, Yushkov noted that "this is a difficult question."
Cameron left Warsaw empty-handed last month after a visit to discuss his push, with Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo saying further talks were needed, Reuters reminds.

Waszczykowski says Warsaw opposed any cuts in benefits in Britain that singled out potential recipients based on their origin.

Now, the countrys foreign minister says Poland wants to offset the impact of any benefit cuts for its citizens living in Britain by planning to offer a monthly cash payment to families with children, in the hope Polish workers will stay in Poland instead of emigrating.

"We're aware that the British welfare system is very elaborate and that it may not be able to bear it. We are therefore addressing this by increasing our benefits, and we also want to raise salaries in Poland," he said.

The politician admits that in return, Britain could offer something to Poland in terms of international security.

"It would be very difficult for us to accept any discrimination," Waszczykowski reiterated. "Unless Britain helped us really effectively with regard to the Polish defense ambitions at the summit in Warsaw."

"We still consider ourselves a second-class NATO member-state, because in central Europe there aren't, aside from a token presence, any significant allied forces or defense installations, which gives the Russians an excuse to play this region," he told Reuters.

In 2014, Poland's then foreign minister said he wanted the alliance to station two NATO heavy brigades  typically between 3,000 and 5,000 troops  on Polish soil in response to what he described as Russia's intervention in Ukraine.
Saudi Arabia conducted a mass execution last week  entirely wrong that Britain continues to cooperate with them on judicial issues.  Lucy Rigby (@LucyRigby) January 4, 2016

According to notes released by WikiLeaks and published by The Australian newspaper, diplomatic cables between Britain and Gulf kingdom suggested that the UK was involved in a secret vote-trading deal to make sure Saudi Arabia gained a place on the panel. Both countries have been named as taking part in the secret ballot among the 47 member states of the UNHRC.

Remember. Cameron (our?) government secretly supported Saudi's seat on the UN Human Rights Council (via @wikileaks) pic.twitter.com/h7JFBNulUB  Tom Pride (@ThomasPride) January 2, 2016

Saudi secretly paid UK 100k pounds to obtain its vote for UN Human Rights Council position https://t.co/Es28BI6UIL pic.twitter.com/oqUr3DAIh1  WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) January 4, 2016

The UK's Green Party leader Natalie Bennett told The Independent that Saudi Arabia's role in the UN council was "one of many issues raised by the mass executions."

"In light of the weekend's events, the government should be launching an inquiry to establish who made the decision to abuse the UN process and the principle of universal human rights," Natalie Bennett said, commenting on the recent executions.

Natalie Bennett has called for the results of the inquiry to be published.

Tim Farron, the leader of the Liberal Democrats said: "It is time the Prime Minister came clean about whether the Government supported Saudi Arabia's election to the UN Human Rights Council.

"It would make an utter mockery of the values we hold dear if they did support them. We must be stronger with our supposed allies and say that systematic abuses of human rights will not be tolerated. If the [British] Government did support the Saudi bid  it would show once and for all that the Government puts profit above fundamental human rights," Farron said.

.@timfarron  "What is the point of having influence over Saudi Arabia if we never use it?"  Lib Dem Press Office (@LibDemPress) January 4, 2016

"The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances in every country. The foreign secretary regularly raises human rights issues with his counterparts in countries of concern, including Saudi Arabia," Britain's Foreign Office said in response to the recent execution of 47 people in Saudi Arabia.

UK Govt official stance is that it is "disappointed" with the Saudi executions. I'm disappointed that it's drizzling in Huddersfield today!  Andrew Cooper (@clrandrewcooper) January 4, 2016

However, in response to calls for clarity over Britain's involvement in voting in Saudi Arabia on the UN human rights panel, a foreign office spokesman called the vote "immaterial."

The statement said: "So while the UK never publicizes how it votes, this was not a contested election within the Asian Group and the UK's vote was immaterial".
"Also missing from Western reports," the journalist pointed out, "was any attempt to analyze or question reports coming out of Saudi Arabia  such as claims that most of those executed were 'Sunni militants' or 'had ties to al-Qaeda', a terrorist organization whose affiliates were just invited to Riyadh to consort with the Saudi government regarding the ongoing militant operations Riyadh is underwriting in Syria, Iraq, and beyond."

In contrast to the "widespread, coordinated condemnation" that would have exploded among Western politicians, the media, and among human rights groups had the execution of a prominent political activist taken place in a regime which the West considers its enemy, in al-Nimr's case, Cartalucci notes, "there was only complicit silence."

"And while Western 'human rights advocacy' groups like Amnesty International did indeed point out that Saudi Arabia was putting to death a political prisoner, such reports were selectively glossed over, rendered as minor footnotesor ignored altogether" in Western reports, with "the usual threats, sanctions and direct action wielded by Western politicians against nations like Syria, Russia, Iran, or China, utterly absent before and after Saudi Arabia's mass executions."

Ultimately, the analyst suggests, the fact that Western politicians and the media "selectively report on and exploit perceived human rights abuses in some nations, while intentionally muting, spinning, or otherwise covering up very real abuses by other nations, illustrates perfectly the West's selective enforcement of what it claims are its central organizing principles democracy, freedom, and the defense of human rights."

'Executions at Home, Military Aggression Abroad'
The author also notes that all of the kingdoms 158 executions last year were perfectly in tune with the Wahabi teachings of Daesh, also known as the Islamic State/ISIL/ISIS.

Macbeths blood will have blood certainly applies to the Saudis, whose war on terror, it seems, now justifies any amount of blood, both Sunni and Shia.

The authorities whimsical suggestion that there was nothing sectarian about this most recent bloodbath  on the grounds that they beheaded Sunnis as well as Shias  was classic Daesh rhetoric.

Cleric Nimr al-Nimr, was not just any old divine, Fisk says. He spent years as a scholar in Tehran and Syria, was a revered Shia leader of Friday prayers in the Saudi Eastern Province, and a man who stayed clear of political parties but demanded free elections, and was regularly detained and tortured  by his own account  for opposing the Sunni Wahabi Saudi government.


WASHINGTON (Sputnik)The US-led coalition against the Daesh, also known as ISIL/The Islamic State, conducted 26 airstrikes in Iraq and Syria resulting in the destruction of the terrorist groups infrastructure, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a press release on Monday.

In Syria, coalition military forces conducted one strike using attack aircraft, the release stated. Separately in Iraq, coalition military forces conducted 25 strikes coordinated with and in support of the government of Iraq using rocket artillery and attack, bomber, fighter, and remotely piloted aircraft against Daesh targets.

The coalition carried an airstrike near the Syrian city of Ayn Isa on January 3, which targeted five Islamic State-held buildings, according to the release.
President Erdogan also accused Selahattin Demirtas, co-chairman of the Peoples Democratic Party, of committing a constitutional crime after the latter reportedly advocated granting more autonomy to the restive region in hopes of resolving the conflict peacefully. Demirtas and his colleague, Figen Yuksekdas, are currently facing an investigation launched by the Chief Public Prosecutors Office in Diyarbakir for "inciting people to revolt," "propaganda for a terrorist organization" and "attempting to disrupt the unity of the state and the country".

All in all, the situation in the country continues to deteriorate, according to Feleknas Uca, a Turkish MP of Yazidi descent representing Diyarbakir, and member of the HDP.

"Im currently in the city of Diyarbakir, where the police are using tear gas against civilians every day. There are dead bodies lying in the streets," she told RT. "A 16-years old kid was killed only a few days ago. The families of the victims went on a hunger strike in protest."

Uca said that the Turkish government must put an end to these reprisals against civilians, and that Europe should provide assistance in that matter.

"This country wants to join the EU, while Europe wants Turkey to become a safe place for the refugees. But when a government deploys tanks and armed forces against its people, I call it a war. This is why I call upon Europe to break the silence. The people must open their eyes to whats happening here, to see how civilians are being killed," she said.
For his part, Alexandr Khramchikhin, the head of the analytical department at the Institute of Political & Military Analysis, is similarly pessimistic about the prospects of ending the bloody conflict in the new year. "In 2016, the war will continue, and I do not see any possibilities for its end. Of course, we can't know for sure what the Kremlin thinks about the Syrian campaign, although all the talk about a political settlement in a country facing such a mess makes little sense. Personally, my opinion is that if we have entered the war, it is desirable to win it; there's no other way."

Leonid Isaev, Middle East expert at Moscow's Higher School of Economics, similarly doubts the prospects for a speedy end to the conflict. "From all appearances, Russia does not have any plans to stop the air operation, given the budget which was recently adopted to support it. Of course, a ground operation is unlikely to follow, but I don't think that our military presence in Syria will be limited to 'training' in the new year."

As for what to expect from the monarchies of the Gulf countries, the expert believes that so long as the reigning King of Saudi Arabia  Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, remains in power, "the monarchy will not radically change its strategy," all the more-so because Salman had effectively steered Saudi policy toward Syria into its present course even before he became the king.

"Therefore, the Saudi political elite, chances are, will stick to its guns, despite the fact that the situation in the region has adversely affected Saudi Arabia itself financially, militarily and in terms of intra-elite conflicts."

Semyon Bagdasarov, the Director of the Center for the Middle East and Central Asian Studies, warns that while 2016 could see the Syrian army and Syrian Democratic Forces (an alliance of Kurdish, Arab, Assyrian and other militias in northern Syria) push the jihadists out of the country, there is also a strong risk of the conflict spilling into neighboring Turkey.

"I believe that the Syrian Democratic Forces will end up successfully taking the Daesh capital in Al-Raqqah," the expert noted. "Moreover, I think that these forces will also succeed in their effort to close the Syrian-Turkish border  specifically the 98-kilometer stretch through which ammunition, weapons and mercenaries pour into Syria."


WASHINGTON (Sputnik)The chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford is visiting Germany to reassure Russias neighbors they can count on the United States, according to a US Department of Defense report on Monday.

"US forces are working to reassure allies  especially those that share a border with Russia  of US commitment to the region," officials said of Dunfords visit, Department of Defense News reported.

On Monday, Dunford was scheduled to meet with US commanders responsible for the theater of operations in Europe and Africa, the report noted.
On Saturday, demonstrators in Iran protesting al-Nimrs execution attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran, as well as the Saudi consulate in Mashhad. Following the incident, Saudi Arabia announced it cut diplomatic ties and air transportation links with Iran.

"If you're asking if we're trying to become a mediator of this the answer is no," Kirby stated.

Kirby noted that the United States would like to see "tensions decreased" and "engagement continue," but that those would be issues that "these countries have got to work out for themselves."

US Would Condemn Any Country Carrying Out Mass Executions

The United States has been concerned with the worsening human rights situation in Saudi Arabia, and would condemn mass executions anywhere in the world, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.

The State Department put out a report detailing the long list of concerns that the US has with Saudi Arabias human rights record, and certainly mass executions would rate highly in that list of concerns, Earnest stated. We certainly would condemn any country that is carrying out mass executions.

Saudi-Iran Confrontation Complicates Syrian Peace Process

Tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia make negotiations on stabilizing the situation in Syria more difficult, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest also said.

"We have got a very difficult situation we are trying to navigate in terms of reaching a political resolution to the situation inside of Syria," Earnest stated. "It certainly is going to be even more difficult to get everybody back around the table, if you have the Saudis and the Iranians trading public barbs and public expressions of antagonism."

US Condemns Attack on Saudi Facilities in Iran

The United States denounces the assaults on the diplomatic facilities of Saudi Arabia in Iran and calls on Tehran to meet its international commitments to protect them, John Kirby stated.


WASHINGTON (Sputnik)Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio accused in a speech on Monday Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton of being a liar and not doing anything concerning the conflicts in Syria and Ukraine as well as the 2012 terrorist attacks on the US diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya.

"[Clinton is] the very person who stood by while the conflict in Syria became the worst humanitarian crisis in a generation," Rubio stated in his speech at the American Legion.

He also accused Clinton of pushing the "reset" button with Russia when Moscow was accused of allegedly assaulting the sovereignty of its neighbors.
The document also acknowledged that the US is expanding its network of military-biological laboratories on the territory of countries neighboring Russia. The world still faces a high risk of proliferation and use of chemical weapons, and also the uncertainty as to which foreign countries have biological weaponry or the means to develop and produce it.

Media outlets however neglected to mention that nevertheless Russia is in favor of strengthening cooperation with the EU and a fully-fledged partnership with the US, albeit on the mutually-beneficial basis.

The Russian Federation is in favor of strengthening mutually beneficial cooperation with European countries and the EU, and of harmonizing the integration projects in Europe and in the post-Soviet space, forming an open collective security system based on a clear legal and treaty framework and covering the Euro-Atlantic region, the document states.

The Russian Federation is interested in building a fully-fledged partnership with the United States of America on the basis of common interests, including economic, with an eye on the Russian-US relations key influence on the international situation as a whole. The most important aspects of such a partnership are perfecting control mechanisms over armaments specified by international treaties, strengthening mutual trust measures, resolving issues related to WMD nonproliferation, expanding counter-terrorism cooperation, resolving regional conflicts.

Relations With NATO

As for NATO, which was headlined as Russias national threat by, among others, The Washington Times and The Financial Times, the document clearly states that the expansion of NATO and its approach to Russias borders has created a threat to national security.
NEW DELHI (Sputnik)  Police are using water cannons to disperse the crowd.

Protest at Lucknow (India) under the guidance of Maulana @kalbejawad over the unjust execution of Sheikh #Nimr pic.twitter.com/EqqLt9zSQP  Zeeshan Haider Rizvi (@xeeshan313) 4  2016

Protest was organized by Majlis-e-Ulama-e-Hind, the all-India organization of Shia clerics, and All-India Shia Muslim Personal Law Board.

On Saturday, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced the execution of al-Nimr, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy, along with 46 other people convicted of terrorism. The move triggered protests in Iran, where demonstrators attacked the Saudi embassy in capital Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad.


WASHINGTON (Sputnik)International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde will travel to Nigeria and Cameroon on January 4-9 to address the two countries economic distress amid falling oil process, according to an IMF press release issued on Monday.

I look forward to productive meetings with [Nigerias] President [Muhammadu] Buhari and his colleagues as they address important economic challenges, most importantly the impact of low oil prices, Lagarde said in the press release.

The IMF added that Lagarde will also meet with Nigerian business leaders and members of the countrys civil society in an effort to strengthen the partnership with the sub-Saharan Africas largest economy.
The professor said that rather than being reduced to a national conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the current tensions in the Middle East should be seen in sectarian terms.

It is not a conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran. It is a conflict between Shiites and Sunnis. The Muslim world comprises about 1.6 billion people, of whom the majority are Sunnis. In addition, the terrorists that are damaging the world are Sunnis. Shiites were even trained in terrorist movements in Iraq and Syria.

At the same time, the conflict between Shiites and Sunnis has become, unfortunately, a stumbling block for Saudi Arabia and Iran.

I think all governments should pay attention to this problem and stop the confrontation between Iran and Saudi Arabia because these countries are at war: the Saudis already killed hundreds of Iranians during the pilgrimage.

In September, hundreds of Iranian pilgrims were among the thousands who died in a stampede in Mina, close to Mecca, during the annual Islamic Hajj pilgrimage. In a speech at the UN General Assembly, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani demanded an investigation into the disaster, in which at least 464 Iranians died.

Saudi Arabias King Salman, who assumes the title Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, ordered a safety review, the outcome of which remains to be published. The investigation was last mentioned by the Saudi Press Agency on October 19, according to AP, whose own investigation estimates that at least 2,411 people died in the stampede, three times more than acknowledged by the Saudi authorities.
He may have just completed his Bachelor of Science degree, but that doesnt mean Ben Hollingsworth is moving away from the racetrack. If anything, the 23-year-old is moving back to the prime time destination in Canadas harness racing industry.

Emma Geldart of Farm Focus of Atlantic Canada explains in a piece on Hollingsworth that the Truro Raceway-based horseman is making the move back to Ontario, but this time with a nice piece of paper in his pocket.

Hollingsworth recently earned a BS (Agr) from the Dalhousie University Faculty of Agriculture. His degree is in animal science and is accompanied by minors in agricultural business and food science and technology. After having worked for conditioner Tony Alagna as a lead assistant trainer in Ontario in 2015, Hollingsworth will be back in Alagnas operation full-time now that he has earned his degree.

Geldarts piece explains that Hollingsworth worked for Alagna last summer, but then had to head back home for school. In the article, Hollingsworth stated that he will be back in his position in Ontario after he graduates.

Hollingsworth also discusses his early racing roots in the article, explaining that he naturally found his way to the local track at a young age.

My grandmother was babysitting me one day, he explained. She lives near the track (Truro Raceway) and I was out on my bike. I wandered into one of the barns and picked up a broom and started sweeping.

Hollingworth went on to say, laughingly, that he went in there not knowing a mare from a stud, but Now I have my own stable, I train horses and have gotten to work with some of the best horses and trainers in the Maritimes and in North America.

(With files from Farm Focus of Atlantic Canada)
BERLIN  Containing the scourge of Islamist terror will be impossible without containing the ideology that drives it: Wahhabism, a messianic, jihad-extolling form of Sunni fundamentalism whose international expansion has been bankrolled by oil-rich sheikhdoms, especially Saudi Arabia. That is why the newly announced Saudi-led anti-terror coalition, the Islamic Military Alliance to Fight Terrorism, should be viewed with profound skepticism.

Wahhabism promotes, among other things, the subjugation of women and the death of infidels. It is  to quote US President Barack Obamas description of what motivated a married couple of Pakistani origin to carry out the recent mass shooting in San Bernardino, California  a perverted interpretation of Islam, and the ideological mother of jihadist terrorism. Its offspring include Al Qaeda, the Taliban, Boko Haram, al-Shabaab, and the Islamic State, all of which blend hostility toward non-Sunnis and anti-modern romanticism into nihilistic rage.

Saudi Arabia has been bankrolling Islamist terrorism since the oil-price boom of the 1970s dramatically boosted the countrys wealth. According to a 2013 European Parliament report , some of the $10 billion invested by Saudi Arabia for its Wahhabi agenda in South and Southeast Asia was diverted to terrorist groups, including Lashkar-e-Taiba , which carried out the 2008 Mumbai terror attacks.

Western leaders have recognized the Saudi role for many years. In a 2009 diplomatic cable , then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton identified Saudi Arabia as the most significant source of funding to Sunni terrorist groups worldwide. Thanks largely to the Wests interest in Saudi oil, however, the Kingdom has faced no international sanctions.

Now, with the growth of terrorist movements like the Islamic State, priorities are changing. As German Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel said in a recent interview , We must make it clear to the Saudis that the time of looking the other way is over.

This shift has spurred the Kingdom to announce a crackdown on individuals and groups that fund terror. But, according to a recent US State Department report , some Saudi-based charities and individual donors continue to fund Sunni militants.

From this perspective, Saudi Arabias surprise announcement of a 34-country anti-terror alliance, with a joint operations center based in Riyadh, is a logical step, aimed at blunting growing Western criticism, while boosting Sunni influence in the Middle East. But, of course, the alliance is a sham  as a closer look at its membership makes clear.

Tellingly, the alliance includes all of the worlds main sponsors of extremist and terrorist groups, from Qatar to Pakistan. It is as if a drug cartel claimed to be spearheading a counternarcotics campaign. Listed as members of the alliance are also all of the jihadist citadels other than Afghanistan, including war-torn Libya and Yemen, both of which are not currently governed by a single authority.

Moreover, despite being touted as an Islamic alliance, with members coming from all over the Islamic world, the group includes predominantly Christian Uganda and Gabon, but not Oman (a fellow Gulf sheikdom), Algeria (Africas largest country), and Indonesia (the worlds most populous Muslim country).

The failure to include Indonesia, which has almost twice as many Muslims as the entire Middle East, is striking not only because of its size: Whereas most countries in the alliance are ruled by despots or autocrats, Indonesia is a robust democracy. Autocratic rule in Islamic countries tends to strengthen jihadist forces. But when democracy takes root, as in tolerant and secular Indonesia, the clash between moderates and extremists can be better managed.

Saudi Arabias dysfunctional approach is reflected in the fact that some alliance members  including Pakistan, Malaysia, Lebanon, and the Palestinian Authority  immediately declared that they had never actually joined. The Kingdom seemed to think that it could make that decision on behalf of the major recipients of its aid.

Add to that the unsurprising exclusion of Shia-governed Iran and Iraq, along with Alawite-ruled Syria, and it is clear that Saudi Arabia has merely crafted another predominantly Sunni grouping to advance its sectarian and strategic objectives. This aligns with the more hardline policy approach that has taken root since King Salman ascended the throne in January 2015.

At home, Salmans reign so far has meant a marked increase in the number of sentences of death by decapitation, often carried out in public  a method emulated by the Islamic State. Abroad, it has meant a clear preference for violent solutions in Bahrain, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen.

A smaller Saudi-led Arab coalition has been bombing Yemen since March, with the goal of pushing back the Shia Houthi rebels who captured Sanaa, the capital, after driving the Saudi-backed government from power. Saudi warplanes have bombed homes, markets, hospitals, and refugee camps in Yemen, leading critics to accuse the Kingdom of deliberately terrorizing civilians to turn public opinion against the Houthis.

Saudi Arabias solutions have often controverted the objectives of its American allies. For example, the Kingdom and its Arab partners have quietly slipped out of the US-led air war in Syria, leaving the campaign largely in American hands.

But beyond Saudi Arabias strategic manipulations lies the fundamental problem with which we started: the Kingdoms official ideology forms the heart of the terrorist creed. A devoted foe of Islamist terrorism does not promote violent jihadism. Nor does it arrest and charge with terrorism domestic critics of its medieval interpretation of Islam. Saudi Arabia does both.

This speaks to the main shortcoming of todays militarized approach to fighting terrorism. Unless the expansion of dangerous ideologies like Wahhabism is stopped, the global war on terror, now almost a generation old, will never be won. No matter how many bombs the US and its allies drop, the Saudi-financed madrassas will continue to indoctrinate tomorrows jihadists.
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As of now there are those who hate the idea of Facebook's Free Basics and those who do stand for it. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is fed up of the comments as well. It recently asked all those who were supporting Facebook's Free Basics to be specific and not go with set template that social network has been automating for its users to support its initiative. But now there seems to be other ideas emanating from the whole Free Basics discussion.

Nandan Nilekani, Indian entrepreneur, bureaucrat and politician, is now the newest to oppose the Facebook Free Basics campaign. And he doesn't just stop at complaints, but provides some valuable solutions as well.

In a recent post in the Times of India blog, Nilekani pointed out a simpler and leaner idea that will not just get a few million on board the internet, but give them the freedom to choose what they want to access. The idea works perfectly with the net neutrality debate and according to his calculation, will benefit the millions who are currently offline and at the end of it all keep everyone including the Government happy.

Penned down in his article along with Viral Shah, the gent claims that his idea is " based on the success of LPG DBT or Pahal, where over 100 million families receive LPG subsidy in their bank accounts.".

He went on to explain how the government could offer a similar Data Pack Direct Benefit Transfer(DBT) scheme wherein that offers 120MB of data annually to every subscriber with the first 10MB free every month.

He goes on to show that how it makes every bit of sense as well, "Even with all existing 400 million data users plus 400 million new data users being offered a free Data Pack DBT, the cost to the government would be 30/user x 800 million users = 2,400 crore a year. People may buy multiple SIMs for free data, but this problem is easily solved by linking mobile numbers to Aadhaar numbers (now held by 950 million people) so that one person can get access to only one Data Pack DBT."

A fool-proof plan indeed, but certainly sounds a lot better than what Facebook is rooting for. Clearly, the biggest problem with Free Basics is not what its up to, but what it disguises in its promotions that seems to be annoying everyone. That would essentially be a closed internet with plenty of filters and boundaries. Indeed, everybody needs to read between the lines before they stand for or against it.
hidden

By Arihant Panagariya

In all the hoopla over Free Basics, the consumers wish-list has already been pre-ordained by self-proclaimed saviours of the internet. Why? Because, currently, about a quarter of Indias population is estimated to have access to internet and the number is set to grow by leaps and bounds in the coming years and decades. Everyone, of course, wants a share of the pie and has huge stakes involved.

Thankfully, much has changed since April last year. Then, it was more or less a one-sided debate on net neutrality with Flipkart and Airtel forced to abort their zero-rating plans. This time, Facebook is at least putting up a fight. It has published advertisements, asked people to give missed calls, send in letters to TRAI informing it of their opinion.

Zuckerberg himself has reached out by penning a piece for an influential daily. True, those clamouring for Zuckerbergs head may have legitimate concerns and fears. What was the need to change the name from Internet.Org to Free Basics? Why did Facebook change its privacy terms now and not then? Why is Facebook not giving free data instead? Why does it still have the option to reject websites and apps to be available on its platform unless they meet its terms and conditions? What is in it for Facebook to become altruistic and provide access to internet to millions? Why does Facebook not want to explore other alternatives?

There may be much to be cynical about Facebook and its ambition, but then it is a corporation whose sole motive, in all probability, is profit making.

But then what do we expect from the current discourse?

That such a complex issue has been broken down for the majority by a bunch of comedians and musicians is nothing but ridiculous. That most of us are sharing these videos is even more comical. That policymakers in Delhi could be influenced by such means is dangerous and worrying.

That such an important debate remained one-sided for so long says more about us than about those who are preaching us morality and teaching us economics. In their own language, all of us just got roasted.

It is hardly surprising then, that someone as respected as Nandan Nilekani has proposed an alternative to the Free Basics plan in the form of a government-backed Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme for consumers.

He feels the government should offer a free data pack of 120MB annually by linking peoples SIM cards to their Aadhaar numbers. While it is true that the government may be able to afford the scheme, the larger question is why involve the government at all when private entrepreneurs are willing to do it themselves?

Someone needs to urgently remind Nilekani of the telecom revolution in India, which was brought about by private companies and not by the government. The fact that about 800 million people in India own a mobile phone with one of the lowest calling rates in the world is a testimony to what entrepreneurs can do, provided the government provides a competitive, balanced and a stable ecosystem.

Of course, issues such as call drops or internet speeds do bother us on a daily basis. And these problems exist primarily because of the limited spectrum that the government offers up for auction and the fact that we havent further opened up the sector to greater competition. Our demands should revolve around this and not on more government intervention.

Nilekani accuses Free Basics of going against the spirit of openness of Internet in the guise of being pro-poor.

Free Basics, first, is an option and not a compulsion on any consumer.

Second, there is no threat, at least for now, that it will block, throttle or create fast/slow lanes. If and when there are competition issues, any individual or a company is free to approach the Competition Commission. Nilekani is, in fact, undermining the role of CCI, which has full authority to decide on any anti-trust issues. But, to not allow any legitimate business model to operate just because we fear consumer interests might be harmed, is doing a great disservice to the consumer himself.

Nilekani further asks the government to enact laws protecting Net Neutrality. Fortunately, he stops short of pushing for a Constitutional amendment to include the Right to Internet as a Fundamental Right.

Nilekani is behaving like a true soldier of the Congress. In all seriousness, the Internet is dynamic and constantly changing. Nobody, least of all the regulators, can foresee what business models or circumstances might come up in the future, and such laws may only end up harming those it seeks to protect, namely, the consumers. History is a decent source of information where restrictions and regulations have only been detrimental to the industry at large.

Nilekani, himself an immensely successful entrepreneur and now one of the top angel investors in start-ups, should allow the market to play its role. There are choices that consumers may make that can surprise each and everyone. And consumers will have more choices at their disposal through the market and not through the government.

This objective of equal and open Internet should be replaced by a policy whose sole aim is consumer welfare. And such zero-rating or differentiated pricing plans, as long as they are not anti-competitive, deserve a chance.

But we have been bought out and brought down by so much fear that it has become fashionable, noble and even patriotic to stand up against Facebook.

Of course Zuckerberg is no saint, and is behaving just as any pragmatic businessman would. He is doing it for his own company and not for his love of India. As long as its competitive and legally contractual, Facebook will only help connect low-income consumers to internet, even if it does end up making substantial money.

But we have bowed down to online activism, which has allowed us to overestimate what Facebook can do, and underestimate what our own domestic start-ups/companies can do. That Facebook will be able to capture the entire market without any stiff competition is undermining our own entrepreneurial capabilities and strength.

So, in essence, you do not trust the private industry because you feel they will divide and fragment the Internet only for their pursuit of profit.

You do not trust credible institutions (CCI) because you feel it may not be able to prevent the creation of a monopoly on Internet services.

You do not trust the consumer because you feel he/she may be duped by various commercial interests.

You do not trust domestic entrepreneurs or start ups because how can you compete with a global giant? Your only hope is the government which may come out with another set of restrictive rules that limits competition and retards innovation. This is nothing but populism at its worst.

But then, in a country where majority of its politicians, administrators and even voters are either on the left or the right of Mao, it is exactly the kind of direction our debates around policies would take. And in that respect, it is not difficult to pick who the winner will be in this debate.
tech2 News Staff

Jolla has announced that the serious financing challenge in November-December had unfortunately had a bigger impact on the Jolla tablet project, and as the financial situation is improving, the company is actively planning the best way to finalise the project and to find a solution that fits towards both  Jolla tablet contributors as well as future business plans, along with the investors.

According to the Jolla Blogpost, "We dont have all pieces of the puzzle figured out just yet, but a few things are now certain: we are happy to say that we will be shipping an additional small batch of the Jolla Tablet to early backers during early 2016, targeting to send invitations during January. The bad news here is that we are not able to complete the production to fulfil all contributions. In other words, all of our backers will not get a Jolla Tablet. However, you can be sure you will not end up empty handed. We might even have some positive surprises in stock for you. But more on that will follow, feel free to speculate!"

Last year, Finlands Jolla, the Nokia break-away operating system company that transformed its erstwhile MeeGo operating system into Sailfish, will also focus on India, but only on the software platform, in an attempt to expand in fast-growing markets. As part of its changed strategy, the Finnish brand will also tie up with local e-commerce and apps to provide regional content on the operating system itself.
hidden

Following years of hype, 2016 looks to be the year that Virtual Reality (VR) actually becomes real as firms like HTC, Sony and Samsung propose to launch equipment this year to make this possible.

The HTC Vive, Sony's PlayStation VR, Facebook's Oculus "Rift" and Samsung's "Rink" headset will be seen in the market in the next few months, BBC reported on Saturday.

Virtual reality is a computer-simulated reality (in a device) that replicates, via photos, an environment that simulates a physical presence in places in the real world or an imagined world, allowing the user to interact in that world.

Virtual reality artificially creates sensory experiences which can include sight, hearing, touch and smell.

For example, with a VR device you can climb Mount Everest making your way gingerly across a shaky bridge while trying not to look down into an icy chasm -- all while sitting on a couch in your house.

The devices may be showcased at the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) that will be held from January 6 to 9 in Las Vegas.

The HTC Vive is seen as the device providing the best VR experience. Its launch, slated for last year, was delayed for some further tweaking.

Sony's PlayStation VR and Facebook's Oculus "Rift" headsets can be seen in the markets in the next few months while Samsung has big plans to unveil its "Rink" at the CES.

Apart from gaming, Virtual Reality technology may prove to be a ground-breaking technology in many areas of life, the report said.

Two psychologists from London, Ashley Conway and Vanessa Ruspoli, developed a system that uses Oculus' Rift headset to treat patients with phobias.

Their company Virtual Exposure Therapy aims to give patients exposure in a virtual world to the thing they fear.

"It is not the real world but a very visceral experience. You get a physiological reaction. It is a really good bridge between not being able to do something and doing it in the real world," Conway explained.

But we will have to wait a little longer for the launch, price and feedback details of the respective devices.

IANS
Reading Greek (or Latin) depends, first and foremost, on recognition of case endings. A student must develop an instinct for seeing the word anthropou as of a man, anthropois as for men, and similarly with eight other forms of the same word. To look for meaning rather than case, to see only man in either word, is what readers of English are programmed to do. My task, as a teacher, is to defeat this impulse. The experience of reading without reference to word order, once students get it, can be exhilarating, like being freed from a kind of gravity. But for reasons I dont understand, some take far longer than others to get it, and a few never will. Lack of intelligence isnt the problem; its more about adaptability, acceptance of change. How long should such students go on in the language, hoping for an epiphany? Should I encourage them to continue? And if I do, is it only to assuage my own sense of failure?





Now anyone who has had an early classics education will understand the problem. They do not even understand English grammar! It is not taught anymore so how is a student to understand anything else. To conjugate the verb "to be" or "to have", the two essential verbs in any Western tongue. The student is clueless. Then the difference between adverbs and adjectives, and the abuse of prepositions.





Now when I was in secondary school I studies Latin, French, and even a year of classic Greek. Each had their own rules, and classic Greek was near impossible. So some forty years later I am at a Bar in Athens, and to show my colleague my expertise I proceeded to ask the waitress using my Greek, yes Homeric Greek! I thought I would try. Her response was, "I am from Queens, I work for my uncle here and frankly I have no idea what you said." It was perfect Queens accent. So I replied in my perfect Staten Island accent that I understood, and we got free drinks, first round. Then I became curious, how quickly could I learn current Greek? The basic verbs were the same, really, and as anyone educated to the minimal amount will know, almost every word has a Greek root. In three months I could negotiate my way in Greek in Athens. I knew declensions, and conjugations, and 1,000 words! I was fluent, and off I went.





Yet I could not translate Sophocles, Homer, or any of the classics. I could read the newspaper and understand the Greek on reruns of the Sopranos on American TV. One must remember that the Greeks ran Sicily for centuries, so they are all a bit Greek!





The question then is what does the good instructor want? Current day Greek has all the elements of classic Greek, one can learn declensions and conjugations. One can read Kazantzakis, and that alone is a reason for learning Greek. Maybe Sophocles can come later? After all the Scholastics managed Aristotle in Latin tanslation.





Back to the purpose of a language. Learning French can mean understanding the French. The language is filled with subjunctives. Learning Russian brings the same. Arabic is depleted of a solid future tense. Languages tell how a people think. English can be assembled in some understandable form with the worst combinations of grammar. Listen to any Television commentator or news reader. Not only do they use the wrong grammar but all too often the wrong words! And for spelling, my dyslexia is an excuse, what is their?





Classic Greek is complex, a language that contains the subtlety of Greek thought, and the beginnings of our civilization. To begin to understand it one needs English, then perhaps Latin, and another language, and then try Greek. One reads Sophocles and understands that only with the tools of a cicilizations we are losing by the day. That I believe is the problem. Don't be critical of the students, the mere fact that they tried is credit alone!





As usual the NY Times has a personal tale about one's dissatisfaction with humanity. This time it is some Classic Greek instructor bemoaning his students lack of ability in declension and conjugation, nouns and verbs.The author states:
Wise Kwai's film ratings 5/5 = Must see!

4/5 = Great!

3/5 = Just okay.

2/5 = Barely watchable.

1/5 = Waste of time.

Show me the reviews ...

Wise Kwai's Top 10 Thai films 1. Tears of the Black Tiger

2. Monrak Transistor

3. Citizen Dog

4. Last Life in the Universe

5. Syndromes and a Century

6. Puen Pang

7. 6ixtynine9

8. 13 Beloved

9. Ong-Bak

10. Ai-Fak Archive Visitors Amazon.com Widgets
Christians in the Public Sector are Forced To Hide Their Faith, Former Civil Servant Admits https://t.co/g7dcAzgqNr
Dedicated to the Restoration of Progressive Democracy
About The Classical Reviewer

The Classical Reviewer has been involved in music for many years, as a classical record distributor, as a newspaper concert reviewer and writer of articles relating to music as well as reviewing for Harpsichord and Fortepiano magazine.



He assisted in the cataloguing of the scores of the late British composer George Lloyd and has co-authored a memoir of his friendship with the composer.



Having a particular interest in British music, he regularly undertakes talks on Elgar.


Earthquake jolts country at dawn

UNB, UNB: A strong earthquake jolted Dhaka and other parts of the country early Monday, creating panic among people. The tremor, measuring 6.7 magnitude, was felt around 5.07 am. According to US Geological Survey, the epicenter of the earthquake was 29km (18miles) west of Imphal and 33km (21miles) North West of Mayang Imphal, the capital of Manipur state in India near the Myanmar border and 352km (219miles) east north east of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The U.S. Geological Survey said the depth was 55 kilometers (about 34 miles). As the tremor was felt around in many parts of the country at dawn, panic gripped and they impulsively rushed out of their houses. According to the Fire Service and Civil Defence control room, a six-storey building of Mazed Sarder Lane Sweeper Colony in the capital leant towards one of the sides. The residents were removed to safety In Jurain, a man was killed in panic attack. Further details could not be known immediately According to our correspondent at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH) about 35-40 Dhaka University students underwent primary treatment as they were injured while evacuating their halls hurriedly during the earthquake.
30th anniv of JP observed

Chittagong Bureau :

The 30th founding anniversary of the Jatiya Party (JP) was observed through a daylong programmers arranged at a local community centre in the city yesterday .

A discussion meet in connection was held with Chittagong city unit Member secretary Dr. Belal Mridha in the chair duly conducted by the Joint secretary Advocate Barkatullah. Convenor of the city committee of JP Azad Dobash was present as Chief Guest.

Convenor of Jubo L eague Mohiuddin Bachchu was the principal speaker in the discussions. President of Chittagong District Unit of Workers Party Adv. Abu Hanif, Joint Secretary of NAP, Chittagong Unit Mitun Das, President of Inter-district Truck Owners Association Monir Ahmed attended the function as special guests.

The anniversary function was inaugurated through releasing balloons and also cutting a anniversary cake. The chief guest in his deliverations said JP had playing pioneering role for saving the democracy in the country and JP is also working for welfare of the people.


Sweden reimposes border controls with Denmark to stem migrant flow

A temporary fence is erected between domestic and international tracks at Hyllie train station in southern Malmo, Sweden on Sunday.

AFP, Copenhagen :

For the first time in half a century, Sweden was demanding photo identification for all travellers from Denmark in a drastic move to stem an unprecedented influx of refugees.Extra security staff were on hand to oversee the new border controls on the Danish side of the Oresund bridge-and-tunnel link, a major entry point for migrants and refugees hoping to start a new life in Sweden.

Marten Jegenstam, a 41-year-old consultant who lives in Denmark but works in Sweden, said that controls were needed.

"I think we need some control (over our borders) but it needs to be very smooth, the commuting back and forth requires balance," he said. Under the new rules, rail passengers will have to exit the train and clear checkpoints before boarding the train again. Those without valid ID will be refused entry.

Travellers had been warned to expect long queues and delays in the afternoon when many commuters began returning to Sweden from their jobs in the Danish capital city. The measures aim to keep out undocumented migrants and come after Sweden -- which has taken in more asylum seekers per capita than any other European nation -- said it could no longer cope with the unregulated flow of new arrivals.

A temporary fence has already been erected at Copenhagen airport's Kastrup station, where trains will be stopped for mandatory controls. "It's as if we are building a Berlin Wall here. We are going several steps back in time," said Michael Randropp, a spokesman for the local Kystbanen commuters' association.

The re-introduction of border controls means that travellers between the two Nordic countries will have to show photo ID for the first time in more than 50 years and deals yet another blow to Europe's cherished passport-free Schengen system.

Several other European Union countries, including Germany, Austria and France, also re-imposed border checks last year as the continent grappled with its biggest refugee crisis since World War II.More than one million migrants reached Europe in 2015, most of whom were refugees fleeing war and violence in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, according to the United Nations refugee agency.
Amla, De Villiers defy England

South African Hashim Amla lifts his bat in the air after making more than a hundred runs during their second cricket Test against England in Cape Town, South Africa on Monday.

AFP, Cape Town :



Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers batted throughout the third morning on Monday as South Africa sought to fight back after a battering on the first two days of the second Test against England at Newlands.

South Africa were 199 for two at lunch, with South African captain Amla on 91 not out and vice-captain De Villiers on 56 not out.

South Africa were still 430 runs behind England's first innings total of 629 for six declared.

By contrast to the second day, when Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow thrashed 196 runs for England before lunch, Amla and De Villiers added only 58 runs in 29 overs before the interval.

England's bowlers toiled on an unresponsive pitch but the tourists put down the only chance of the morning, half an hour before lunch.

Amla, on 76, drove at the first ball of the day sent down by off-spinner Joe Root and edged the ball to slip where James Anderson put down the catch.

The same two players were involved in the only other chance of the partnership, with Root, at second slip, dropping De Villiers on five off Anderson on Sunday evening.

It was largely cautious batting. It took the normally free-flowing De Villiers 116 balls to post his half-century with a straight hit for four off Moeen Ali.

The same stroke brought up his 8000th run in Tests. De Villiers is playing in his 104th Test.

The pair registered a 100-run partnership off 247 balls.
Riyadh-Tehran rivalry is a shame for Muslims fighting among themselves

THE conflict in the Middle East saw a new escalation following the blazing of Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Sunday and Riyadh's snatching of diplomatic ties with Iran as a reaction to this attack. Saudi Arabia has also asked Iran to close its embassy within 48 hours and take back all diplomats as Riyadh did it indicating only hard-lines on their way ahead. The Middle East and particularly the Gulf region is witnessing bloody sectarian wars focused on which regional powers - Saudi Arabia or Iran would dominate the region since the outbreak of Iraq war. The new escalation is a shame and poised to further divide the unity of the Muslim Ummah to the benefit of the West. Continued destabilization of the region even may prolong the Syrian war; which has already destroyed the country and made millions homeless. The IS may also exploit the new situation to hold the ground

As we see the attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran came as a reaction of execution of an outspoken Shi-ite cleric by Saudi Arabia on alleged ground of inciting sectarian violence. The Kingdom is already coming under attacks by Jihadists of the Islamic State (IS) and the ongoing rivalry between the Sunni monarchy and Shi-ite Iran over Syria, Yemen and elsewhere had already brought their relation to the freezing point. As it appears the Shi-ite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was a popular figure among the Shi-ite community in the Gulf states and to the Iranians his execution appeared quite unacceptable and humiliating. The Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei's invocation of 'divine vengeance' on Saudi rulers left no secret of Iranians anger and the blazing of the Saudi Embassy reminds one of the siege of the US Embassy in Tehran in 1979.

There is no doubt Saudi Arabia has triggered the crisis by executing as many as 47 persons on Saturday that also included the Shi-ite cleric and two others of Shi-ite origin. The remaining persons belonged to the Sunni community and were blamed for involvement with al-Qaeda outfits accused of working to destroy the monarchy. As it appeared, the Saudi rulers may have acted in hysteria for fear of their safety but we must say that executions of some accused alone can't bring safety to a nation. People must give safety and for that they must have their say in the affairs of the State. In our view the Saudi government could hear the appeals of the friendly governments and other international human rights organizations to condone the accused with lesser punishment and that could help avert a bigger crisis now spreading across the region.

We fear that the security situation in the Gulf region may only deteriorate following all those executions and the latest breaking of diplomatic relations between the two major players of the region in matters of war and peace. We are afraid that the Middle East is stepping towards a bigger crisis in which big powers like the USA and Russia are poised to play their dirty roles on both sides to hold their grip on oil and other energy resources it holds plenty in reserves.

Let us not put ourselves to a position of disgrace for others to say that Muslim countries cannot live together and solve problems peacefully. Muslims anywhere are ashamed for the conduct of some sections of the Muslims for their unIslamic intolerance.






3 Sunni mosques bombed in south Baghdad

Al Jazeera News:Three mosques in an Iraqi city south of Baghdad have been bombed and partially destroyed, with no group yet claiming responsibility. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi confirmed that the attacks on Sunni mosques in the city of Hilla, in Iraq's Babil governorate took place on Sunday night.He warned the population against being dragged into sectarian conflict in a Facebook post on Monday."We have told the operations leaders in Babil [governorate] to track down the criminal gangs from groups like Daesh [the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] and the like, which use [the attacks on] the mosques to stir up sedition and undermine national unity," the prime minister wrote.Protests were held in Iran condemning the execution, and Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Tehran after protesters attacked the Saudi embassy there.
100 injured in BCL infighting

Sporadic clashes between two groups of BCL factions with lethal weapons and sticks in front of Zilla AL office for establishing supremacy following its founding anniversary at Thakurgaon on Monday.

M M Jasim :

Activists of Bangladesh Chhatra League (BCL), the student wing of ruling Awami League, on Monday locked into factional clashes in different parts of the country over establishing supremacy in its anniversary programmes, leaving at least 100 injured.

The day was the 68th founding anniversary of BCL.

BCL's former general secretary Mahfuzul Haider Chowdhury Roton and former Dhaka North City Unit general secretary and incumbent assistant secretary of Awami League (sub committee) Golam Sarwar Kabir also received injuries in an incident on the Dhaka University campus in the afternoon.

"BCL activists locked into factional clashes only to show heroism on the day tarnishing the image of the organisation," a Dhaka University (DU) BCL leader told The New Nation, asking not to be named. He added: The unruly activists also harassed former senior BCL leaders in Dhaka. A clash occurred between the activists of Dhaka City College and Leather Technology Institute in front of the Fine Arts Faculty on the Dhaka University campus at 1:00pm. Roton, Kabir and other 10 activists were injured in the incident.

Golam Sarwar Kabir received treatment at Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH)

Kabir told The New Nation on Monday evening that the clash occurred when he and Roton were walking in front of the Fine Arts Faculty after joining the anniversary programme held at 'Aparajeya Bangla' on DU campus. "Suddenly, we fell in between the feuding groups of activists of the two colleges who were pelting brickbats to each other. Some brickbats also hit him and Roton leaving them injured," Kabir added.

Like previous occasion, BCL President Saifur Rahman Sohag denied the allegation and claimed that the anniversary programmes, including rallies, were held peacefully with much enthusiasm all over the country.

"None of the BCL leaders and activists was involved in any clash," he said, claiming, "If any one locked into clash he was not BCL man".

In Chittagong, at least 20 BCL activists were injured when the followers of former Mayor ABM Mahiuddin Chowdhury and incumbent Cittagong City Mayor AZM Nasir Uddin locked into clashes on the premises of Shaheed Minar under Kotwali Police Station on Monday, reports our Chittagong correspondent.

BCL sources said that City College unit BCL and MES College activists locked into clashes over establishing supremacy in the BCL programmes. At one stage one group locked into clashes with another group.

On information, Kotwali police rushed to the spot and brought the situation under control. Officer-in-Charge of Kotwali Police Station Jasim Uddin said, they heard the news of clash and the situation under control. However, no one was detained in this regard, he said.

Meanwhile, at least 10 BCL activists were injured in a clash between the two groups of Sylhet BCL at Rakabi Bazar area at 2:00pm. The BCL men also vandalized 10 shops, including SM Traders, Bangla Pharmacy and Ajanta Tailors. To protest the incident the businessmen of the area blocked the road for half an hour.

Earlier on Sunday, police banned all the rallies and procession in Sylhet Municipality area to avert any untoward incident. But the Sylhet district unit BCL president Shahriar Alam Samad and general secretary M Rayhan Chowdhury brought out a procession in the city. When the procession reached in Rakabi Bazar area the clash occurred that left 10 activists injured.

Officer-in-Charge of Sylhet Kotwali Model Police Station said the BCL men locked into clashes for their factional feud and vandalized the shops. The police brought the situation under control, reports our Sylhet correspondent.

Our Barisal Correspondent adds: Two groups of BCL Barisal City unit involved in clashes over establishing supremacy in the municipality area on Monday. At least seven activists were injured in the incident.

BM College BCL leader Moin Tusar group and Nahid Serniabat group locked into the clashes in front of the college gate.

Our Cox's Bazar Correspondent adds: At least eight leaders and activists of Cox's Bazar Medical College unit were injured in a clash over celebrating the founding anniversary of BCL.

Our Thakurgaon Correspondent adds: At least 12 BCL activists were injured in a clash in front of Balaka Cinema Hall of the district over establishing supremacy in the BCL's founding day's programmes.

The police fired four rounds tear shells and brought the situation under control.

The injured were admitted to different medical centers of the district for treatment.

Our Brahmanbaria Correspondent adds: At least 15 leaders and activists of BCL, Brahmanbaria unit were injured in a clash at Brahmanbaria Government College over establishing supremacy in the area.


Drugs, gold, arms smuggling unabated

BGB alone recovered Tk 787 cr contraband last year

Sagar Biswas:Smuggling of intoxicating drugs, gold, arms-explosives, electronics and other items is going rampant through the borders along India and Myanmar despite increased vigilance by the law enforcing agencies. The Border Guard Bangladesh [BGB] seized various types of contraband, including a large quantity of intoxicating drugs, worth about Tk 787 crore conducting operation in different parts of the country from January to December last year.Of the seized narcotics, the quantity of intoxicating drug Yaba was 50, 56, 410 pieces. Besides, the para-military force also recovered 4,79,536 bottles of phensidyl, 10 kilograms of heroin, 6,92,887 pieces of sex stimulating tablets, 10,196 kilograms of marijuana and 55,480 ampoules of injections during the aforesaid period. Sources close to the BGB Headquarters said, Bangladesh is turning into one of main routes for smuggling Yaba, heroin and cocaine with the involvement of some local people who are working as members of international smuggling rackets. Referring to a global standard of estimation, they said the seized goods are only 5 to 10 percent of total smuggling goods that entered the country last year. The south eastern tourist district Cox's Bazar has already turned into a sanctuary of contrabandists with hundreds of drug smugglers dealing in under the very nose of administration. The drug dealers earn a lucrative profit through sale of different types of drugs, especially a highly addictive mix of methamphetamine and caffeine -- Yaba, smuggled into the country every day from the neighbouring Myanmar, they said.Yaba, which is known in Asia as the 'madness drug,' or in the West as 'Nazi speed,' first developed by Hitler's scientists to keep soldiers fighting for days, has now become major concern for the Bangladesh government."A few years ago, the Yaba traffickers used land routes around the Naaf River, which runs across the Bangladesh-Myanmar border, to smuggle the drug into the country. But due to increased vigilance by the anti-smuggling teams on the land routes, the smugglers now prefer the Karnaphuli estuary and the Bay of Bengal for safe passage of their items," said Colonel M Anisur Rahman, Commander of BGB in Cox's Bazar.He said, the smugglers mostly use fishermen and trawlers to bring in supplies of Yaba.The intoxicating drug cocaine is also another big concern for Bangladesh authorities. The security officials were stunned after the haul of 10 kilograms of cocaine at Bangladesh-India border on October 30 last year. Earlier in May last year, the largest consignment of cocaine, estimated to be around 120 kgs, was seized at the Chittagong Port. Besides, several other consignments of cocaine was also seized at different times the same year.Meanwhile, the smuggling of gold is also increasing in Bangladesh day by day. Intelligence officials have claimed that Bangladesh is becoming a hub for gold smuggling, with an ever-increasing number of criminals caught trying to move bullion into neighbouring India. Apart from other agencies, the BGB last year alone recovered 22.33 kilograms gold and 33 idols of touchstone from different parts of the country. "Country's three international airports have seen a big rise in illegal gold movement, with smugglers frequently caught red-handed," Mainul Hossain Khan, Director General of Customs Intelligence, said."Gold seizures in the Airports have become a daily affair. Gold smuggling in the region has risen largely due to India's imposition of strict import duties on the yellow metal being brought into the country," the Customs Intelligence Chief said.Not only that, the smuggling of illegal firearms has appeared as a big threat to security agencies. Members of the para-military force BGB alone recovered a huge quantity of firearms and ammunition from different parts of the country last year. Of the seized arms, there were 67 pistols, 40 single barrel guns, 29 IED [improvised explosive device], 54 different types of bombs and cocktails and 44.90 kilograms of gunpowder, said a press release issued by BGB on Sunday.
'Drive to cut illegal gas link to continue'

Staff Reporter :

The drive against illegal gas connection is being continued by Titas Gas Transmission and Distribution Company Limited (TGTDCL) across the country.

The entity officials have disconnected the gas link from four industries, 9 commercial establishments and a residential house in last November and December in Narayanganj and Dhaka.

In a drive led by executive magistrate in Rupganj Shah Chandrapuri Restaurant and community centre, Allahar Dan Restaurant and New Cafe Restaurant.

On November 17 another drive was held in Sonargaon of Narayanganj and six illegal gas connections were disconnected. Besides some legal connection also be disconnected due to violation of consumption approved consumption limit, sources said.

Titas gas also disconnected four industrial gas connections in Narayanganj area due to use of 1000 cubic feet gas consumption generator instead of 300 cubic feet.

The number of illegal gas connections in Narayanganj district could be well over 40,000 even though only 23,000 such connections have so far been spotted.

They said most of the illegal connections were set up over the last two years, causing the government to lose several hundred crores in annual revenues.

Even after that, Titas Gas officials are finding it difficult to disconnect the illegal gas connections as those were set up with the backing of local officials, including ruling party lawmakers.
KSA breaks with Iran

The Guardian :

The Saudi foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, told a news conference that Iran's diplomatic mission and related entities in Saudi Arabia had been given 48 hours to leave. He said Riyadh would not allow the Islamic republic to undermine the Sunni kingdom's security.

The move on Sunday evening came after two days of outrage among Shia communities across the Middle East and in south Asia at the death of Nimr, a prominent critic of the Saudi and Bahraini monarchies, whose cause as a prisoner since 2012 had been championed by Tehran and the United Nations. It signals a further hardening of Riyadh's position towards Iran, with which it is locked in a bitter battle for regional influence.

Iran's foreign ministry on Monday accused Saudi Arabia of stoking regional tension. A spokesman said: "Saudi Arabia sees not only its interests but also its existence in pursuing crises and confrontations and attempts to resolve its internal problems by exporting them to the outside." Hossein Amir-Abdollahian, Iran's deputy foreign minister, on Sunday said that by cutting diplomatic ties Riyadh could not cover up "its major mistake of executing Sheikh Nimr".

The US, Saudi Arabia's biggest backer in the west, responded to the cutting of ties by encouraging diplomatic engagement and calling for leaders in the region to take "affirmative steps" to reduce tensions. "We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," an official of Barack Obama's administration said. Muslim leaders stepped up their condemnation of the execution of Nimr at the weekend, urging a robust response from Riyadh's western backers, as protests spread to Pakistan and Indian Kashmir.

Anger remained palpable on the streets of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and in Bahrain and Baghdad, hours after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was set ablaze by protesters angered by the execution of the senior cleric. Small protests were also held in Islamabad and Quetta, home to members of Pakistan's Shia minority.

However, in what appeared to be a move to calm tension, the Iranian president, Hassan Rouhani, said the attack on the Saudi embassy was unjustifiable, and urged the capture of the perpetrators. "I have no doubt that the Saudi government has damaged its image, more than before, among the countries in the world, in particular [among] Islamic countries, by this unIslamic act," Rouhani said. In a cautionary tone, he added that "rogue elements" would not be allowed to use the incident and "carry out illegal actions that damage the dignity" of the Islamic republic. "I call on the interior minister to identify the perpetrators of this attack ... so there will be an end to such appalling actions once and for all," Rouhani said.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, called on Saudi's western backers to condemn the execution, which came three years after Nimr's arrest over his vocal support for anti-government protests in Bahrain and in Riyadh. "This oppressed cleric did not encourage people to join an armed movement, nor did he engage in secret plotting, and he only voiced public criticism ... based on religious fervour," said Khamenei.

The Iranian leader criticised "the silence of the supposed backers of freedom, democracy and human rights" over the execution. The UK's Treasury secretary, David Gauke, became the most senior UK figure to react to the execution, claiming al-Nimr's death was a worrying development. The US state department earlier said the move risked "exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced".

Pressed on the development, Gauke repeated a government line that Riyadh had passed on information that had been critical to stopping terror plots in the UK. "We have a relationship with Saudi Arabia where we are able to speak candidly to them, where these issues are raised on a regular basis by the foreign secretary and the prime minister and our representatives in Riyadh," he said. "We are able to have that relationship where we can tell them what we think and clearly it is a worrying development."

The execution took place despite pleas for clemency delivered personally by the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon. "Sheikh Nimr and a number of the other prisoners executed had been convicted following trials that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process," Ban's spokesman said.

Riyadh, meanwhile, stuck to its position that Nimr had committed acts of terrorism. He was executed along with 46 other accused terrorists in the early hours of the new year, many of whom had been convicted for bombings or assassinations. Many were Shias who had taken part in anti-regime protests, while others were convicted members of al-Qaida.

One of those put to death had allegedly been part of a team of gunmen who had shot the BBC correspondent Frank Gardner on the streets of Riyadh, leaving him paralysed. Nimr's execution could have been stopped by royal pardon and clemency had been repeatedly sought by officials in Tehran. However, in a sign of Riyadh's hardening position towards its arch-rival in the region, the Saudi monarch, King Salman, refused to intervene. Saudi officials had been convinced that Nimr was a central figure in attempts to stir dissent among the country's Shia minority, which makes up about 15% of the population and is viewed by Riyadh as being a subversive threat, urged on by the Iranian leadership.
Next JS session from Jan 20

UNB, Dhaka ;Jatiya Sangsad (Parliament) will go into its 9th session on January 20, after 58 days of recess.President Abdul Hamid convened the session. The House will go into session at 4:30pm on the day, said a Parliament Secretariat handout on Monday.Before the House goes into session at 4:30 pm, the business advisory committee of parliament will meet with Speaker Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury in the chair to fix the duration and businesses of the coming session. The 8th session of the 10th Parliament was prorogued on November 23.
Fear for life prompts DU student to jump off bldg

A quake panicked injured student of DU and another constable being treated at DMCH on Monday.

bdnews24.com:

Saving himself from impending death was the only thing on his mind when Shoaib Mohammad Salman jumped off the first floor of Sergeant Zahurul Haq Hall of Dhaka University (DU) during Monday's pre-dawn earthquake.

Shoaib is a postgraduate student of DU's Department of Public Administration. In a state of panic, as he put it, he had never thought that his reckless act could have been actually fatal or might leave him badly injured.

He was, however, lucky to escape with minor injuries on his right leg.

His leg swathed in bandage, Shoaib narrated his fearful experience to bdnews24.com after returning to the hall following treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital (DMCH).

He said that after being jolted out of sleep by the tremor, he jumped off the first floor corridor of the hall's extension building.

"Eight of us stay in room number 2014 on the first floor. We rushed out of the room as the building started to shake vigorously. "But as the gate of the building was locked and we could not go out through it, panic gripped us. On the spur of the moment, I jumped off the building," he said.

"At that moment, the only thing going through my mind was how to save myself."

Shoaib, however, was not the only one to act in haste when the 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit Dhaka at 5:05am Monday. At least 29 persons, including some students of DU, had to rush to DMCH after sustaining injuries while dashing out of their houses or by jumping off the building in panic.

There were also reports of students being injured after jumping off Haji Mohammad Mohsin Hall and Kabi Jasimuddin Hall of DU.

DU Acting Proctor Amzad Ali said 16 persons had been taken to DMCH. Three critically injured were admitted to the hospital, said in-charge of the DMCH's ticket counter Abdul Baten.

Among them, Yasin Arafat and 'Iqbal' are DU students.

Repairs have been going on in the extension building of the hall where Shoaib Mohammad Salman stays.

"It appeared to me that the building was vulnerable. It could collapse any moment due to the tremor," he said.

It was this fear that prompted him to jump off the building, Shoaib says. He said at that moment Yasin Arafat, a student of the banking and insurance department, too jumped off the second floor of the same building.

His friends first rushed him to the university's medical centre. From there he was taken after sometime to DMCH. He said his family members in Tangail became worried when a television channel beamed footage of him being taken to DMCH.
Russia wants to mediate KSA, Iran conflict

Sputnik , Moscow :

Russia regrets the escalation of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, and offers to act as a mediator of the ongoing conflict, a high-ranking source in the Russian Foreign Ministry said Monday.

"We express sincere regrets over the escalation of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran because we believe these two large Muslim countries are very influential in the region, on the global arena and on the oil market," the source told RIA Novosti.

According to the diplomat, Moscow has friendly ties both with Tehran and Riyadh, and "is willing to play, if necessary, a role as a mediator in the settlement of existing and emerging discords between these countries."

The source also stressed that Moscow expects Saudi Arabia and Iran to continue their participation in Vienna format talks on Syria.

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia soured following the execution Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy, along with 46 other people convicted of terrorism.
362 incidents of sexual assault recorded in BD in 2015

UNB, Dhaka :

Advocate Salma Ali, executive director of Bangladesh Mahila Ainjibi Samity, on Monday said at least 362 incidents of sexual assault were recorded in Bangladesh in 2015, which is 24 percent higher than the previous year.

"The incidents of blackmailing children and women through pornography are also on the rise as at least 49 cases of pornography were published in media in 2015", she said at a press conference on 'Violence on Women and Children in 2015 and Our Duty' at the Jatiya Press Club. Mentioning that many of the victims of pornography do not take legal protection fearing embarrassment,

Salma Ali said as the perpetrators remain untouched, the incidents of sexual assault are on the rise.

New types of sexual harassment are being occurred in recent times while the incidents of fatwa issuance and acid violence have declined, she also said.

The other speakers at the press conference urged the government to establish separate court and special police station to fight violence against women and children.
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The Gay Courier has been established to provide news, information and info on, from and about the gay community, and other social events and happenings from around the world, from all sorts of sources, to all who are interested in this news, information and info! The postings are as is, and all copyrights and or ownerships are and remain with the original copyright-holder and or owner!
There was another rain shower in Ireland today.The government has named it Storm Frank.Hilarious no.No one can accuse them of being overly dramatic in their choice of names, but it's the novel practice of naming ever squall that gives me a chuckle.If they're gonna give a name to every shower of rain in Ireland, they're gonna run short of names awful quick.Still, I'd love if they called the next one something eclectic, say Storm Snurdlebaum.I'd almost sign up to the myth of climate change if they did that.One woman was interviewed on radio this afternoon crying out with strange high passion: "It's too much. We had this in 1995. Then in 2000. And now in 2015. We can't take this any more. I can hear the rain all night. I keep wondering will it destroy my house."That's what the media and our government have done to people in order to convince them that climate change is real.They've driven a peasantry that was barely sane to being with, out of their tiny cotton picking minds.I would humbly contend that the government are doing this in order to justify the internationalisation of our sovereignty represented by their acquiescence to the delusional soviet style command and control policies of unelected or barely elected polit bureaus in the European Union and United Nations.It's easier than actually thinking for yourself.All the other lemmings are doing it so why can't we, eh Prime Minister.Well folks you gorra larf.In Ireland a group of government apparatchiks styling themselves the Irish Meteorological Service have announced that this is the wettest winter in Irish history.Ah yes.The wettest in our history.They must have seasonally adjusted the figures from the Night Of The Big Wind in 1845 to discount that one.In any case I can tell you that this winter the roads and most of the fields in County Kildare have not flooded at all.Five years ago at this time of year many of the fields, several of our roads and half the Curragh plains were under water.So the current Meteorological Service pronouncement is pure bollocksology.It didn't stop Prime Minister Enda Kenny from touring an afflicted area in the west.Crumbs.Imagine if your house was flooded, or you had a media induced neurotic fear it would be flooded, and the next thing you saw was that vapid vacuous atheistic abortionist hair style of a man Enda Kenny drifting up the road in rubber boots, intoning grandly to the cameras: "Apres moi le deluge."Focque.It would be the last straw.It would be for me anyway and I have a rubber boot fetish.Prime Minister Enda Kenny was forced to start touring the puddle zones after our bankrupt newspaper groups began claiming there was public clamour for him to "express solidarity with people trapped by flooding."That's why Ireland's newspaper groups are bankrupt by the way.They think they've done something clever by inflicting on Prime Minister Enda Kenny and on the rest of us a half baked immitation of the year 2005 American media calls to President Bush to visit New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina.That's what they call journalism.Treating Enda Kenny like the Bush whacker.And likening a few Irish puddles to a hurricane which killed 1500 people.And poor ould Enda Kenny bought it.Let me make one thing clear.Ireland's Independent Newspapers group are the most out of touch idiots in the history of idiocy.They're still trading ironically enough only because our rubber booted Prime Minister Enda Kenny nationalised Allied Irish Bank, the bank to which they were refusing to rapay a billion dollar loan, and which was part owned by billionaire Lochlainn Quinn the brother of Enda Kenny's then Education Minister Ruairi Quinn, and having nationalised Allied Irish Bank with public borrowings, Enda Kenny then permitted Allied Irish Bank to cancel Independent Newspapers' billion dollar debts in perpetuity.I kid you not.Independent Newspapers is also still trading because Prime Minister Enda Kenny has chosen to take no action at all after a Judicial Tribunal deemed the white collar criminal proprietor of Independent Newspapers, one Denis O'Brien, (two Denis O'Briens would have been silly) guilty of bribing a former government Minister called Michael Lowry to award him billion dollar mobile phone service provision contracts dirt cheap.And the peasants are worrying about climate change.Meanwhile in the Daily Telegraph, a bankrupt British newspaper, a commentator remarked along the following lines: "It doesn't matter if climate change is real or not. One hundred and fifty countries have decided it is, and national policies are henceforth going to be shaped by that fact."What a profoundly moral stance by the Telegraph.Goodbye Telegraph.You're nearly gone.If you want to postpone the inevitable, I suggest you appoint Ruairi Quinn's brother to your Board of Management, and pray for rain.Back in Ireland I listened to twenty minutes of verbiage about the weather on what passes for a news programme on our State run national broadcaster RTE this afternoon.Right at the end of the programme, the presenter gave a single sentence report that ran: "In other news Saudi Arabia has cut off diplomatic relations with Iran."Now that story is the biggest story on the planet earth today.Ho hum.A story that could mean a Muslim induced conflagration for all humanity, and it gets relegated to the tail end of RTE's rain dance of a news report.Judgement thou hast fled to brutish beasts.Here's a thought.What if God was displeased with us for our culture of death, our abortions of unborn children, our euthanising of the elderly, our suicide assisting of teenagers, along with our fornications, our sorceries, and our sacrifices to satan?What if God was letting us know that this cannot continue?What on earth would the difference be between the apocalypse and what RTE calls climate change?I'm just asking.
If you are looking for the new Immoral Minority posts, you should know that they can be found here at our new home Please stop by to get caught up on politics, join the conversations, or simply check out the new digs.
Wardrobe by Romey Roe. Hair and makeup by Hellianna Verrett. Photo by Robin May

Rosanna Stuart knew her daughter was different. And not because she has Down Syndrome. Madeline Stuart is fast becoming a household name in the same context we speak about Gisele, Naomi, Tyra. She is a model. Not a model with special needs or a certain type of model. She is a model. Period.

Madeline is the first and the only model with a developmental disability who has risen quickly and successfully through the ranks of an industry based on appearance. Based on what we as a society consider beautiful. In typical Madeline fashion, she made a trip to Lafayette recently to lend a hand with a local organization and took time to shoot with one magazine in town, The Independent.

Her road to Acadiana began with another local and bighearted model, Shaquana Lewis. The lady at the helm of her own modeling agency in town volunteers with Dreams  a statewide organization that grants wishes to Louisiana children with terminal illnesses  and in pursuit of upping its annual fashion show game contacted Madeline. When Rosanna, Madelines mom and manager, said the flight had been booked from their home in Australia to Cajun country, Lewis was elated.

Madeline is making a huge impact on the modeling industry, Lewis says. She is the first model that has Down Syndrome to walk in New York Fashion Week last year and thats just the beginning  in just six months she has gained over half a million followers on Facebook and over 100,000 on Instagram. I can tell just by spending time with her the few days she and her mother were here that she loves what she does, and her mother truly supports her modeling career.

What it means to be a model is changing, and the world finally seems more than ready. Madeline is the proof.

I think her success is because society needed a champion in the disability sector, Rosanna says. There are so many people with disabilities or who know someone with disabilities and for so long they have gone unnoticed, invisible and isolated. So now I believe these people see Maddy as hope, a glimpse of how the future should be.

When it came time for Madelines photo shoot, we wanted something pure Lafayette from beginning to end. Our first call was to local designer Romey Roe, who has a way of balancing divinely beautiful pieces on the outside with something that makes women feel powerful on the inside.

Madelines story and determination to make it in the industry was an inspiration, Roe says.

He pulled a vivid vermilion red gown and we headed to the UL swamp for a photo that captured the redheaded model in Acadiana. While Madeline was in Lafayette, Mayor- President Joey Durel gave her keys to the city and an honorary citizenship certificate, she walked in the Dreams fashion show and Lewis scheduled other private shoots. In a matter of a few months, Madelines star will likely rise even higher.

When her mother sent this reporter a message at press time, they were in an airport headed for Hawaii and then L.A.

Next year is huge for Maddy, Rosanna says. She is out of the country 11 of the 12 months in places like Uganda, Alaska, Milan, Tokyo, South Africa and Mauritius to name a few. Madeline symbolizes that you dont have to be tall and thin to be beautiful. Beauty really is on the inside, and in the end that is all that lasts or matters.
Wikimedia

I recently served as one of the presenters at an orientation provided for newly elected members of the Louisiana House of Representatives. My part of the orientation was to remind the 32 new representatives, including locals Jean-Paul Coussan, Julie Emerson and Dustin Miller, of some of the basics of American government, particularly focusing on the separation of powers. While this topic may seem dry to those from other states, in Louisiana, where legislative independence is an oddity found only in American government textbooks, it is an entirely different animal.

Of the many extra-constitutional powers Louisiana governors exercise, perhaps the most important is the power to pick the leaders of the Louisiana House and Senate and, as an added bonus, to select the chairs of each committee and influence the disposition of seats on the various committees. Governors, having no constitutional or legal justification for interfering in the interior organization of the Legislature, have relied on the willingness of that organization to undermine its own independence. My talk was focused on reminding these new legislators that the separation of powers should exist in reality as well as in textbooks, and that this year was as good as any to start asserting fundamental rights.

Of course, not everybody sees it this way. Point of fact, newly elected Gov. John Bel Edwards is, perhaps understandably, intent on exercising the same powers that all Louisiana governors since Huey Long have exercised, unconstitutional or not. In this context, Edwards has expressed his belief that he could work well with New Orleans Democrat Walt Leger III, the current House speaker pro tempore, and has proposed him as speaker of the House. Recalcitrant Republicans, mindful of the 61 seats they control in the 105-member House, are lining up behind Metairie Republican Cameron Henry. Illustrating the new normal for Louisiana politics established in the governors race just past, a PAC called Committee for a Free Louisiana has joined the fray, spending money to pressure Republican legislators who might be inclined to side with the governor and vote to install a Democratic speaker.

While it has long been considered the prerogative of Louisiana governors to wield vast influence over the Legislature, the actual basis for much of this power does not appear anywhere in the Louisiana Constitution. Given the irregular nature of these powers, they are usually missed by social scientists comparing the relative powers of governors state-to-state. As a result, the power potential of Louisianas governor is routinely placed somewhere in the middle of the gubernatorial pack. If those researchers only knew the truth. The constitutional powers of Louisianas governors are similar to those exercised by the governors of other states, but many of the most important gubernatorial powers here exist off the books as it were, including the power to dictate to the Legislature regarding its leadership and committee composition, the power to pick winners in the capital outlay process, and the power to dominate the Legislatures budget process. The governor historically has been aided in this expansion of power by the lack of a strong two-party system that might pose a limit to his or her reach.

In decrying Louisianas history of gubernatorial domination in my talk to the incoming legislators, I focused on the importance of a true separation of powers for the legitimacy and proper functioning of a democratic government. As students of constitutional theory will remember, the founders of our country, who were also, in most cases, the principal actors in the state governments, did not establish unitary governments where power is contained in one institution, as in the English Parliament. Instead, they divided power among three separate institutions, the Legislature, the executive (governor) and the courts. They thought too much power in any one institution would corrupt and impair good government, thus invading the freedoms cherished by all Americans. As Madison put it in Federalist Paper No. 47, the accumulation of all powers legislative, executive, and judiciary in the same hands, whether of one, a few or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny. In Federalist No. 48, Madison put a sharper point on it: an elective despotism was not the government we fought for.

A distorted and extreme example of the elective despotism feared by Madison was seen in the struggle over the budget in the last legislative session under Gov. Jindal. In that struggle, one of the principal actors was not a Louisiana institution or person at all; it was Grover Norquist, who heads the organization Americans for Tax Reform. Jindal had signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge proffered by the organization and then stuck to his commitment religiously, refusing to countenance any solution to Louisianas budgetary problems that did not cohere to the pledge. Norquists perceived control over Jindal was such that 11 leading members of the Legislature felt compelled to write Norquist and ask his permission to pass laws balancing the budget. Louisiana citizens rightly bemoaned this situation, which departed about as far as possible from anyones idea of a responsive and responsible government by and for the people.

Yet, this elective despotism was remediable, if only the Legislature had been willing to seize control of its own fate and determine to be a co-equal part of government. Given the extremities of the situation just described, it is hard to imagine a situation in which allowing the Legislature to assert control over its own direction and function could be worse than continuing under gubernatorial domination.

To be honest, I admit to some mixed feelings about legislative independence. Having witnessed first-hand the effect of Jindals short-sighted and ill-advised budgetary machinations on Louisiana universities, I am tempted to say to the legislators, Give Edwards the power to undo what Jindal has done, at least in the area of balancing the budget. If that includes granting him his choice for speaker, so be it,. which, I guess, makes me like the sinner who wants God to purify him, just not tonight when he has plans to party. But, taking the longer view, I believe that legislative independence is something that should be supported not only when you think it is to your advantage, but always. The founders were pretty clear about what they thought of the separation of powers: It was an imperative, inseparable from freedom.

Thus, I think it is high time that the Legislature emerges out of the governors shadow and becomes a truly independent body responsive to the demands and responsibilities placed upon it by the people of Louisiana. One part of this means choosing a speaker who represents the wishes of that body, not the governors. The other part is taking full responsibility for its actions.

Im not sure my presentation had much effect on the incoming members or whether theyll be more likely to support legislative independence when pressed. Be that as it may, it is long past time for the Legislature to emerge as a full and equal partner with the governor and demand the right to pick its own leaders. Maybe this is the moment when the Legislature will set a new path for Louisiana government, away from the legacy of Huey Long, toward legislative independence and freedom.

Dr. Pearson Cross is an associate professor in the Political Science Department at UL Lafayette. He holds a Ph.D. from Brandeis University (1997), and his principal areas of teaching are state and local politics, and Southern politics. Contact him at pearson. [email protected]
Folks from every reach of the project to complete I-49 South through Lafayette seem anxious. Few will talk on the record. Even fewer will commit to definitive answers as to what the outcome of the project, dubbed the Lafayette Connector, will or can be. Nothing of this magnitude has been tried in Acadiana since Eisenhower built the skeletal interstate system that defined American transportation for the last 65 years. But even as far as a playbook has been written, insiders and outsiders to the process seem unable or unwilling to interpret it.

For now, it would seem, the sacred transportation texts of the last two decades that govern the project  the Environmental Impact Statement (begun in 1990; completed in 2002) and subsequent Record of Decision, or ROD (2003)  are as fractiously discussed as scripture or the Constitution.

What is contained in those documents, and thus the Connector itself, is an amalgam of agendas, intentions, considerations, commitments and regulations not altogether obvious to the public, nor perhaps to the parties entrusted with their execution. Engineers and consultants working with the Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development, planners hired by Lafayette Consolidated Government, Sierra Club antagonists, energy lobbyists, urban developers and citizen bystanders are left grappling with a cache of documents at once immutable and incomplete, that are begging for interpretation against a guideline not clearly set by the federal government, the final arbiter of the whole debate. Like a constitution, these documents attempt to fix rules in a way disconnected from time, while the physical realities they regulate grow and change.

What we do know is that were faced with a project that, if completed, will likely cost billions, define Lafayettes historic urban core, dictate future arterial roadwork and put we the people through a civic crucible that will either break us or bind us. The magnitude of its potential impact makes 2016 a make or break year for the city as a whole.

The 5.5-mile jaunt from the I-10 interchange to just south of Lafayette Regional Airport is poised to be the most tribulated portion of a transcontinental energy corridor that spans the American heartland at its Midwestern waist, joining I-35 and I-29 at Kansas City. Federal eyes will watch Lafayettes outcome. Through LaDOTDs $21 million public outreach and planning campaign, implemented by its private contractors self-styled as the Lafayette Connector Partners, this could be the model for how to build urban freeways for generations to come. Or it could be yet another lumbering disaster, dividing and stunting Lafayette as a fledgling urban center before it emerges as a true regional and metropolitan anchor.

Given its complexity, the Connector has already served to create precarious divisions in Lafayettes geography, among its leaders and between its citizens, and drawn focus to the chasm between possibility and reality.

Birth Scar

The Sierra Club's Harold Schoeffler

Photos by Robin May



When the Evangeline Thruway was constructed in the 1960s, Lafayette divided itself from its past. For the remainder of the 20th century Lafayette spread southward and westward, neighborhoods sprawling erratically along roadways scattered with no unified vision. Even then, by 1968, the corridor was earmarked as a future freeway alignment, so its no wonder that investment along that route dried up in the intervening years. That limbo was further crystallized by property acquisitions conducted through the 2002 Corridor Preservation Action Plan. Lafayettes historic urban nucleus has thus for decades languished in uncertainty.

That we can even conceive of the neighborhoods north and east of the Thruway as a side of town is proof alone of the division its caused. Theres a gridded fossil of an oak-lined Southern city decaying within the adjacent radius of either side of the Thruways curbs. Take a slow ride through National Historic District Sterling Grove and youll see what we mean. Its hard not to wonder what could have been without the six lane no-mans land that has disconnected the historic neighborhood from the citys place of birth in historic Downtown, nee Vermilionville.

The dividing Thruway itself is a nebulous thoroughfare. At once wide and daunting, spanning what feels like a city block, its six lanes pack high volumes of traffic in precarious proximity. Traffic moves slowly, but the speeds are too high for cyclists and pedestrians to cross. Accident counts are alarming. Fatalities all too common. The pavement and houses are cracked. Porches droop. Lots are vacant. The boulevard is a motley limbo of flop houses, gas stations, crumbling driveways and rusting chain link fences. Of course, one mans eyesore is another mans home.

As it lumbers south toward Broussard, the gap widens in a self-fulfilling prophecy. Neighborhoods further north along the route once had clear sight lines conducive to a friendly wave. On either side of Pinhook Road and farther down toward the airport theres no pretense of community.

New Urbanism  a school of thought that has influenced city planners, architects, developers, engineers and civil servants seeking a revival of core-oriented urban recovery  has held that the urban freeway is a blemish on the American city. In service of interstate and intermetropolitan connection, they gash the urban fabric they traverse, rending cities in halves and quarters, spilling blight beneath, above and below them, discouraging investment, cultivating suburban sprawl and hollowing cities from the center out. Highways, were told, were meant to connect cities, but not go through them. Such was Eisenhowers intent. Such is the predominant layout of highway systems in Germanys Autobahn, Eisenhowers inspiration.

One Acadiana's Harry Weiss

While the Evangeline Thruway is no freeway, burdened as it is by low speeds and what feels like dozens of clustered traffic lights, the Thruway has done precisely what the New Urbanists have described. It has foisted blight upon historic neighborhoods and divided Lafayette along the same black inner-city and white outer-city binary that has defined many other American cityscapes.

And now, as we once again take up the prospect of an urban freeway along the established Thruway corridor, the city has been visited with further division. The neighborhoods adjacent to the Thruway  Sterling Grove, McComb-Veazey, Freetown, Port Rico, La Place and Downtown  have stalled or stuttered, starved of investment by fleeing affluence.

Modest gains have been made since the 1990s. Coteries have birthed neighborhood identities and pride. Investment is slowly revitalizing Downtown. Retail shops poke out among the cavalcade of bars that long monopolized the district. Freetown and Port Rico have made strides toward National Historic District designation. But by and large, Lafayettes urban center, bifurcated as it is by the Thruway, has not enjoyed the runaway growth that has splayed Lafayette southward.

This is the cultural and economic landscape that the Connector will trod. Twin spans of elevated concrete, possibly up to three miles long, will connect Canada with New Orleans while cauterizing Lafayettes existing urban wound.

This could be a healing or this could be a permanent scar.

Angst and Administration

By official documentation, the Connector was born in 1987. Since its inception, the project has not been without serious opposition from several factions that, even today, pepper the Connectors proponents and leaders with vociferous criticism. Its not surprising that a project of this size would generate considerable dissent. Outside of political leadership and the business community, the Connector has not attracted unified public support. Yet it has curious momentum, moving listlessly into the future, surviving litigation and hibernation in turns.

A consistently energized opposition has hindered the Connectors progress with stops and starts. All the while, DOTD, LCG and the Federal Highway Administration have bought up 40 percent of the required parcels along the route, further freezing investment and development since acquisitions began in 2005. Property values in adjacent neighborhoods tumbled, and the Thruways traffic and body counts mounted. In 1992, 200 people showed up to oppose the Connector at a public hearing for its draft Environmental Impact Statement. DOTD halted the process for the next four years.

More than 600 form letters of opposition or challenge  dozens more individually crafted  and a petition of opposition signed by about 2,000 people are cataloged in 2003s Record of Decision. That record of derision contradicts the narrative of pro-Connector unanimity presented in historical documents by proponent agencies like the Greater Lafayette Chamber of Commerce (now One Acadiana) and LCG. Yet a note from then not-yet Mayor-President L.J. Joey Durel exhorts the tremendous community support for the project and insists that the Connector will save lives and improve the quality of life for people in Louisiana.

Cajundome Director Greg Davis

That dissonance of perception between power brokers and those broke for power continues to foment distrust among the Connectors opponents. This is a chamber of commerce project, not a community project, familiar Connector foe Harold Schoeffler said to applause at a Sierra Club sponsored forum called Y49 in December.

Belief in the omnipotence of monied powers is the most basic of democratic fears.

When the Connector program relaunched to great fanfare in the fall of 2015, DOTD and its contractor partners  publicly traded companies AECOM and Stantec Consulting Services, among eight other local and national entities  attacked the perception problem head on by promoting the inclusion of a design phase program called Context Sensitive Solutions, or CSS, a transportation design approach influenced by New Urbanism and promoted by the Federal Highway Administration. A big part of that $21 million price tag goes to the CSS process: laborious hours conducting charrette events and community workshops, collating public comment and integrating the whole kit and caboodle into a final Connector design that hovers between the public will and the Record of Decisions way.

The 18-month outreach and engagement program  which began in October  seek to mitigate or attenuate the destructive potential of urban infrastructure projects by involving the affected community in the Connectors planning and design phase. DOTDs multi-million dollar consultants have vast experience in CSS-led construction projects, operating as prime and sub contractors on major infrastructure initiatives around the country. The Connector is the first Louisiana project to include a CSS program.

But despite world-class design expertise employed by the state, public outreach has thus far been ham-fisted, with several unfortunate gaffes and PR blunders vexing the planners attempts to assure a community very much in angst. Incoming DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson drew an uproar at the Sierra Clubs Y49 forum when he referenced New Orleans West Bank Expressway  ironically the terminus of the states $3 billion, 160-mile Geaux South program  as an example of an urban highway project successfully mitigated by community input. Stantec consultant Steve Wallace got caught in a media cyclone over likening the Connectors current design phase to that of picking paint colors and shingles at a meeting of the Community Working Group, one of the citizen committees created through the CSS process. These may have be unintended messages, but the resonance has nonetheless been detrimental.

Others have criticized the appointee make-up of the three groups created by CSS, bringing to fore a lack of black and minority representation on those panels. Tina Bingham, vice chair of LCGs Evangeline Thruway Redevelopment Team, CWG appointee and McComb-Veazey coterie member, says that while there are perhaps more black voices in the process than usual, they may not be the right ones.

DDA Executive Director Nathan Norris leads a recent public discussion about the Connector.

Theres a distrust [among African Americans] of any entity that says theyre going to change things, she says. The community thats being affected is not being represented. Im proud to be given a platform. But Im only one person. There are a few other people that have more history. We need more African-Americans on those boards and those committees. We are being affected by this.

The Y49 meeting marked a major inflection point since the Connectors re-emergence. DOTD staffers, including Connector Project Manager Toby Picard, seemed rattled by a room chocked and seething with Connector opponents. These are new leaders facing an old institutional enemy in the Sierra Club and its sympathizers. Schoeffler was the lone agitator on the panel, and the Sierra Club has been a thorn in the projects side under his leadership, filing suit as Concerned Citizens against the Federal Highway Administration shortly after the Record of Decisions approval in 2003. Picard et al. may not have first-hand memory of the 1992 public hearing that halted progress in the early 1990s, but the immediate response seemed eerily familiar in style if not in severity. December meetings of the Connectors CSS citizen committees were canceled with a reassessment in the offing. The Connector partners were spooked.

To be fair, much of the angst arises from the tectonic shifts in elected leadership at the city and state levels. Louisiana has a new governor in John Bel Edwards, who in turn appointed the aforementioned Shawn Wilson DOTD secretary. Lafayette has a new mayor-president in Joel Robideaux, who has yet to weigh in as his predecessor Joey Durels term winds down. As of this writing, Robideaux had not completed his personnel shuffle, meaning some of LCGs key players in the process are playing ball without a guaranteed spot in the lineup. Bingham notes that some black leaders appointed to the CWG arent showing up following election losses .

On an internecine level, the Connector team  state DOTD and its contractor partners  has tussled behind close doors with the coincidental planning team activated by LCGs recent receipt of a federal Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery grant. The TIGER team, comprised of LCG operatives, Lafayette-based Architects Southwest and Miami-based Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company, is charged with reactive design in the I-49 Corridor.

While on paper these two organizations should work collaboratively, the two have failed to reach an agreement as to the purview of their respective planning jurisdictions.

Incoming DOTD Secretary Shawn Wilson

A so-called Memorandum of Understanding is stalled but in the works and would determine how far into the Connectors right of way and design scope the TIGER team could work. By appointment, the TIGER team is charged with urban revitalization in the neighborhoods in an around the Corridor. To what extent that influence can spill into design territory marked out for the Connector partners is yet to be determined. An agreement is critical if the planning and design process is to bridge the gap between a Connector that is simply buildable and actionable, and one that is a true civic asset.

While the TIGER team ostensibly represents the city via its relationship with LCG, TIGER planners have thus far oriented toward a future that includes a Connector and a potentially massive revitalization project for Corridor bystanders. To the extent that they dont exactly oppose the Connector, the TIGER team finds itself in a similarly tense relationship with Connector opponents.

While the Connector partners and the TIGER team hammer out a Memorandum of Understanding, both planning organizations are perhaps more crucially working out an informal understanding with the public at large. For their part, the Connector partners options are strapped by the Record of Decision  or at least the Federal Highway Administrations interpretation of it purportedly a historic record of the communitys intent. Their current gear has, thus far, mostly managed public expectation while the wheels continue to spin out. At its heart, the tension among the public, the Connector partners and the TIGER team stems from a fundamental mystery: What does public engagement actually mean? How much of the Corridor is predestined by its historical documents? And what desirable outcomes are actually possible?

The Frontier of Feasibility

Perhaps no greater gulf must be crossed in the next year and half of discourse and debate than the one that separates the possible from the plausible. Government infrastructure projects have a reputation for accepting the cheapest achievable minimum, undoubtedly a side effect of decades spent awarding contracts to the lowest bidder. There are many among the citys leaders who believe that a new kind of urban freeway is achievable here in Lafayette, one completely disconnected from the freeways sordid history.

That audacity requires flexibility.

And theres an extent to which even the Connectors leaders are unsure what flexibility is allowed by the ROD. Could we remove interchanges? Could there be a suspension bridge? Could the elevated portion rise to 40 feet? 60 feet? 100 feet? Could the remaining portions of the Evangeline Thruway be used as an on and off ramp? Could there be a boulevard? Could the pillars be made to look like crawfish? Will Freetowns future designation as a historic district force alterations to current preliminary plans? What virtuous good beyond satisfying the goals of upgrading traffic volume capacity, improving arterial connectivity, providing disaster evacuation and decreasing travel times can a highway project achieve?

More than likely you will see a preliminary map, one that has been publicly contested and not readily defended. It shows an aerial interpretation of the RODs highway prescription. There are interchanges at Willow Street, Second and Third streets, Johnston Street/Louisiana Avenue, University Avenue and Kaliste Saloom Road. The freeway will be elevated from the Vermilion River to Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. The route peels west off the Evangeline Thruway toward the railroad tracks, leaving the original Thruway corridor intact from roughly Second Street to Taft Street.

Given the 21 mitigation commitments made 15 years ago and cemented in the ROD, its just not clear if basic structural elements can be changed. Much is owed and already promised, oddly enough from a past community to a future version of itself. That interchange at Second and Third near Downtown was a concession to the Downtown Development Authoritys 15-year-old request for freeway access. Some stakeholders Downtown have now questioned the wisdom of that interchange. Weve been told of other major transportation builds that have deviated from the RODs that governed them, but at this point that information is almost apocryphal and not clearly pertinent.

Anything we change has varying degrees of risk to the environmental documents, Toby Picard said in an Advocate report about the Y49 meeting. Its a refrain weve heard often from him and other DOTD representatives. Change anything in the ROD and risk starting the process all over again. Its not unfair to wonder why we should privilege the existential safety of a document over the existential safety of people living in the shadow of the looming Connector.

Thats not to be glib about what can be done with a project so large. I have no doubt that Picard, Wilson and the folks at Stantec and AECOM know precisely the human and cultural cost of what has been proposed. For its part, DOTD is currently conducting updated environmental studies to determine if the ROD should be amended. That process takes into account changes within the proposed Corridor that have occurred since the ROD was approved in 2003. How far those amendments will go is also unclear, and there is a distant chance that the Feds will rule the current ROD invalid.

Perhaps the most compelling argument weve heard in defense of the Connectors go-ahead is that the magnitude of this project and the advent of CSS presents an opportunity to right an institutional wrong.

Im starting to wrap my head around the history of everything thats taking place, Tina Bingham says. It is an opportunity. Its important that people recognize that we already have that barrier.

The very existence of programs like CSS and TIGER demonstrate the destructive potential of urban freeways. The TIGER grant itself was awarded because it dealt head-on with a monumental adversity presented by the introduction of an urban freeway into Lafayettes historic urban core  though planning funds would remain if the Connector project halted. The grant awarded Lafayettes city leaders the opportunity to respond directly to the needs of the Corridors extant communities. For generations, Lafayette abandoned its core and left it to rot, literally an afterthought for drivers destined to keep the crumbling neighborhoods in rear view. LCGs grant application presented something revolutionary  the possibility of building an urban freeway that improved rather than eroded the community in which it was built.

But believe it or not, its possible for conditions along the Thruway to get worse. An elevated stub of concrete, built 20 feet above ground, as preliminary designs hold, with reckless disregard for the people below it, would serve to make permanent the current gash in our citys heart. To do nothing and allow the Corridor to erode year by year would be a slower journey to the abyss. From our meetings with the various professionals, experts, planners, consultants, amateur sociologists and city developers involved in this project, no one wants that to happen. True consensus will be the only path forward, whether we decide to build this thing or not.

Whatever happens, we are poised to make a decision that will determine our citys developmental fate for generations. Full engagement in the CSS process is a must for all who desire a Lafayette worth living in. If done correctly, the Connector can be just that, a way of re-connecting Lafayette from a past it left behind. If done wrong, the gap will only widen.
LCG is in the process of acquiring land to extend South City Parkway (in red) from Robley Drive to Kaliste Saloom Road to create a new river crossing south of Ambassador Caffery Parkway and alleviate traffic congestion on Lafayettes bustling south side; yet at this writing there is no funding identified to build the bridge.



Somewhere around 9 p.m. on April 9 well know: Is Lafayette Parish willing to increase its property taxes for our public school system? Thats when the election returns will begin coming in, and those returns will tell us much about our determination as a community to face some crucial issues, namely how to summon the infrastructure fairy from her magical perch to flutter down and conjure new roads and a desperately needed bridge across the Vermilion River.

The Lafayette Parish School System is asking property owners to take on an additional 16 mills  about $21 more per month for the average home in the parish  to generate roughly $370 million to build new schools, upgrade technology and maintain current facilities.

Parish voters in 2011 shot down by a 69- 31 percent margin a $560 million property tax to fund the first phase of a $1.1 billion facilities master plan, deciding the bite was too big, the chew too long. But, as District 6 School Board Member Justin Centanni told me recently, this board is hoping $370 million is more digestible, and its earmarked for projects that can be started and in many cases completed within the term of the current board.

But the school systems supplication, necessary though it may be to replace outdated, insufficient campuses and wed the rest to the 21st century, will come amid a fusillade of grim economic news for Lafayette Parish. (Joel Robideaux, we hope you knew what you were getting yourself into when you ran for mayor-president.)

Bloomberg Business reported in mid- December that oil speculators are buying options contracts that will pay out only if crude slides as low as $15 a barrel in 2016. Investors, in other words, are betting on an even deeper slump in the energy sector, which, although Lafayette diversified considerably following the mid-80s collapse in energy prices, is still the prime lubricant for the local economy.

Oil at this writing is trading at $36 per barrel, down from north of $100 just a couple of years ago. Remember a couple of years ago? Lafayette was on a tear, breaking records for retail sales, sales tax collections, new home starts and home sales. We hardly blinked at the Great Recession. Our acres were ever ripe for groundbreakings with golden shovels. Now come the faint, familiar strains of Willie Nelson: Turn out the lights, the partys over.

In December the trend was confirmed: Retail sales  and the sales tax collections that help fund local government and the school system  are tumbling. October retail sales, the most recent figures available, were down 11 percent from October of 2014. Consider October a beginning point for a more precipitous decline in tax collections; the first 10 months of 2015 were down 5.5 percent from 2014, yet October showed a double digit decline. Expect that trend to continue well into if not all the way through 2016.

The Louisiana Workforce Commission reported in early December that metro Lafayette  Iberia, Lafayette, St. Martin and Vermilion parishes  leads the nation in job losses over the last year, shedding 4,300 jobs, almost all of them in energy or in sectors that rely on it, between October 2014 and October 2015. By fall 2015 Lafayettes unemployment rate stood, on wobbly legs, at 6.8 percent. Thats second only to Shreveport, which has finally sucked the marrow out of the Haynesville Shale.

The U.S. unemployment rate at this writing is 5 percent; Louisianas is 6.2 and Lafayettes is 6.8. Thats a 180-degree reverse from just a few years ago, and thats the context voters across the parish will bring with them when they step into the privacy of their voting booth on April 9 and decide whether to increase their tax burden.

The school systems counterparts in Lafayette Consolidated Government will be watching those April 9 returns closely: They will be a bellwether for taxpayers willingness to fork over the funding not just for critical infrastructure projects in the future but to maintain whats already built and in need of maintenance. The availability of funding for what we already have is dwindling fast, notably for unincorporated Lafayette Parish.

Former Public Works Director Kevin Blanchard told the council in July that LCG funding for rural roads and bridges is projected to drop to $1.5 million in 2016 and then to $750,000 next year. Thats barely enough for just a handful of overlay projects, yet the parish has identified more than $50 million in needs, from overlaying roads and improving drainage to repairing bridges. One scenario Blanchard cited for addressing this ghastly shortfall in funding, in lieu of an infrastructure fairy, is to grind paved roads into gravel and to simply close rural bridges.

Addressing traffic issues will be a major challenge in unincorporated Lafayette Parish, Bruce Conque, the former District 6 councilman who won a third term to the seat in the November runoff, told me around Christmas. Parish government is in a financial crisis; there is little money available for needed infrastructure improvements.

Until we catch up  if we catch up  it will forever be a case of our public enterprises queueing up, hat in hand, to beg a pittance from taxpayers. The LPSS is first in line. LCG will not seek a sales or property tax in 2016, even one in the undeniably successful model of the temporary, dedicated airport tax that expired last November after eight months in effect. If the school board gets its $370 million, and even if voters reject it, consolidated government will wait. It must.

Thats not to say infrastructure projects wont happen. Many have already been budgeted and are in the pipeline. But even as LCG acquires land along South City Parkway with a goal of ultimately bridging the Vermilion and connecting Johnston Street to Kaliste Saloom south of Ambassador Caffery, there is no money for a bridge.

This is also not to say that LCG will not live within its means. Former Mayor- President Joey Durel and the City-Parish Council with few exceptions showed laudable restraint over the last several years.

Its about discipline. Weve been there before, and I think we did well, Councilman Kenneth Boudreaux, 2015s council chairman, told me recently. I dont see any major concerns as it relates to us doing what we need to do to make sure we dont get into any financial crisis locally.

But with a new administration and a host of new department heads moving into offices at LCG, Boudreaux said he anticipates a slow year in terms of new initiatives. Besides, local government will be adjusting to the new short-term reality of falling revenue even as demand for services continues unabated.

Most indicators point to 2016 as a year of treading water. We wont drown, but we will have to maintain the discipline to swim with this rip current of depressed oil prices, not against it, until its safe to head to shore.

Relative to other urban parishes in the state, Lafayettes tax burden is manageable. Yet as Boudreaux acknowledged in late December, Lafayette will have to talk about taxes over the next few years to address critical needs, not the least of which is maintaining what we already have.

We cant be afraid of the big T word, Boudreaux said. We have to at least put it out there.

Oh, and there is no infrastructure fairy.
Brian Popes denials and obstruction regarding this newspapers efforts to get to the bottom of that bizarre Oct. 7 press conference point to just one thing: Our city marshal is unfit for public office.

Popes stack of records in all its confounding glory.

To his credit, City Marshal Brian Pope finally complied with our original records request, submitted Oct. 8. That said, it took about two months and a court injunction from a Dec. 14 hearing to cajole him into his duty as custodian of those records. And, in any case, hes not yet fully responded to any of the subsequent requests weve sent.

Just in time for the holiday season, and within the court-ordered three-day window following the hearing, Popes office produced a stack of documents responsive to our records request on Dec. 18. Had this happened on or before Oct. 13  i.e. within the statutory limit of five days from our original request  this would not be noteworthy. But through alternating denials, attempted legal evasions and an odd turn of testimony at the hearing, this stack of several hundred pages has become very interesting indeed.

There was no obvious smoking gun (that came about a week later via a public records request to Lafayette Consolidated Government, which we will get into later in this story), no letters to Chad Leger or his campaign manager, Hilary Joe Castille, or communiques proving that he collaborated with the Leger campaign to smear Legers opponent in 2015s sheriff election, now Sheriff-elect Mark Garber. After receiving the stack of 588 pages (many of which were duplicates, as we asked for words like Garber, Campaigner, immigration, Neustrom, Leger, Castille), we were still left with educated guesses as to the depths of their canoodling.

But what we did find directly contradicted Popes hearing testimony that he was unaware of an email advertising a bizarre press conference and distributed by the mailing list service Campaigner, and raised further speculation about what else he could be hiding or even thinking.

A thorough review of the court transcript of his testimony revealed an elected law enforcement official at the very least ignorant of his duties and the law, and at worst flagrant in his flaunting of the same.

To wit, this courtroom parlay with our attorney, Gary McGoffin, wherein Pope says that he performed a search pursuant to our request and came up with zilch:

McGoffin: Could you tell us what steps you utilized to determine if there were any documents in your office bearing your email address either going out or coming back that had the search terms in it?

Pope: I just searched the names and the terms that was in it.

McGoffin: And how, exactly, did you do that?

Pope: Through the...however you do it in Outlook. You just put it at the top and if it doesnt come back it wont come up.

McGoffin: Okay. So theres a search field for Outlook, you put each of the search terms in and it didnt generate any responses?

Public records from LCG appear to prove that then-sheriff candidate Chad Legers campaign manager, Joe Castille, prepared Popes media advisory and remarks for the Oct. 7 press conference (additional records show Castille also wrote the press release.

Pope: Yes, sir. It was perhaps this not-so-adroit exposition of his email acumen that gave presiding District Judge Jules Edwards III the cause to suggest to Pope that he contract outside help to perform a second, more exhaustive search.

Im going to suggest the marshal employ some person who is technically competent in electronic information management, Edwards said in his ruling. The marshal has testified in such a way that I am not convinced that he is terribly proficient in the operation of Microsoft Outlook. That search, conducted by Enterprise Data Concepts, dredged several messages responsive to our request. They were so responsive, in fact, they showed up several times over in a stack of files organized by search term. These responses were all replies to a Campaigner-produced mailing blast titled Press Conference - Lafayette City Marshal.

In three cases, Pope replied to the replies, a point which severely undermines his claim that he had no clue where the email came from, evidenced by an exchange between Pope and an account executive at TV station KADN.

Popes correspondence with KADN contradicts his claim that he was surprised by calls from agencies outside of Lafayette, as he clearly hoped his press conference would generate national coverage. Given the extra exclamation point, we can infer he was quite pleased with the attention.

Pope replied to email replies from two media sources, the KADN exchange and another follow-up inquiry from Acadiana Advocate reporter Lanie Lee Cook, all within message threads collected under the re: Press Conference - Lafayette City Marshal subject line. Existence of those email exchanges also contradicts his testimony that his office advises the media of press conferences only by telephone.

In total, the records request produced eight replies to Popes emailed press advisory. Two were to media and six to private citizens.

Two of the replies were auto-response messages. Two others were simple responses. Yet another came from a Crowley-based attorney who took umbrage with Popes hypocritical piety on LinkedIn and responded to the release in a new thread. Its not clear if he was in receipt of the press advisory in question, though that seems to be the likely scenario.

Campaigner Email Marketings confirmation email sent to Marshal Brian Pope on Oct. 6. Ten minutes after Campaigner sent the email, a media advisory arrived in The INDs inbox.

We have also confirmed the press advisory was emailed to The Daily Advertiser and KATC, but those emails were not included in records from Popes outbox. This corroborates Popes alleged use or authorization of the use of a third party mailing system.

Local media outlets also tell The IND they did not receive media advisory phone calls from Popes chief deputy/public information officer, Phil Conrad, as Pope claimed in court.

At the very least we can now say from the above that he was 1) aware of the email 2) not surprised by the method of distribution and 3) totally excited by the prospect of his anti-immigration stunt gaining traction. Yet from his testimony, delivered in a direct examination by his attorney Charles Middleton, we get this:

Middleton: Have you ever contracted with Campaigner to distribute your emails?

Pope: No, sir.

Middleton: Or press releases?

Pope: No, sir.

Middleton: So, as you sit here today, you have no idea why it says Delivered by Campaigner?

Pope: I dont know who that is or who uses that.

And then further on down the line with IND attorney McGoffin:

McGoffin: But for the notice to the media the day before about the press conference, do you recall sending this advisory out?

Pope: I didnt...I didnt send it out by email.

McGoffin: Did you authorize anyone besides your public information officer to send out this press advisory?

Pope: No, sir.

McGoffin: So if it was sent out by someone else it was without your permission?

Pope: Yes. I dont know who sent it out. Like I said, before the press conference started I was getting phone calls from all over the country. I dont...I didnt know what these people were calling me for. You know, they were asking me if it was going to be a press conference and I said yes, but I didnt know who they were.

Popes beats me defense didnt stand up given the record shows that he wasnt the least bit alarmed by these replies. Furthermore, his testimony that he was surprised when he started receiving phone calls from all over the country is contradicted by the exchange with KADN. Clearly, Pope was at least aware that a Campaigner-based advisory co-opting his email address was going around.

Hes a police officer. It defies reason that he would learn that his work address had been spoofed and not investigate it.

Besides all that, wed be remiss to not rehash the following excerpt from Middletons Oct. 16 letter to The IND:

Addressing the original records request, it is my clients response that there are no emails either to or from my clients email address of [email protected] containing any of the key words requested to be searched by your client with one exception. Mr. Pope advised me this morning by telephone that the only emails that might contain one or more key words are email replies he received in reply to the subject press conference notice he had sent out via mass distribution via third party vendor across the country, that might contain one or more key phrases, particularly Garber, immigration, workers compensation, illegal alien, would likely be contained in a reply by a third-party to the instant press conference notice distribution. The responsiveness here would be due to the nature and subject of his press conference.

While none of what Pope provided proved our initial suspicions outright, it did further demonstrate Popes on again-off again relationship with the truth. Hes evaded it at almost every turn, and despite his best efforts, he seemed to prove in court that he had not cleaned up his tracks.

If Pope had nothing to hide, why were these emails not produced two months ago? Why did he first deny our public records request by claiming the emails we sought would be part of pending investigation into Sheriff Mike Neustrom  an investigation that never occurred and was spurious at best? Why did he then say some existed, and then none existed?

Merry Xmas to The IND

It wasnt until Christmas Eve  a Christmas gift, as it were  that The IND received a response to a duplicate public records request (same key words we asked of Pope) to LCG, which provides email service to the marshals office.

Public records obtained from LCG show that Marshal Pope and Joe Castille, then-sheriff candidate Chad Leger's campaign manager, were corresponding about endorsement wording two days before Pope's anti-Garber press conference.

At last, some clarity. Packaged in the pages responsive to our request were various email communications between Pope and Joe Castille, Chad Legers campaign manager, in the days leading up to the Oct. 7 press conference. There is a draft of the media advisory for the press conference, for which Pope testified he had no knowledge; the press release Pope says he handed out but did not email; and the statement Pope read at the press conference before fielding questions from the media (our audio shows him reading the statement verbatim). All three were sent to Pope for his approval from [email protected], all three presumably originally authored by Joe Castille.

On Oct. 5 Castille sent Pope a draft of Popes quote endorsing Leger for sheriff. Again, it was Castille who wrote the endorsement statement for Pope.

Among the smoking guns is also the email Pope received from Campaigner Email Marketing on Oct. 6, asking him to confirm that his email address could be used by the service to send emails. Ten minutes after the confirmation email was sent from Campaigner to [email protected] lafayettela.gov, the media advisory from Popes email arrived in The INDs inbox.

Its safe to say that much of what was included in the response from LCG confirmed our suspicions, that our new city marshal abused the power of his office on behalf of a candidate for sheriff and that he was untruthful when questioned under oath.

The Independent had an opportunity to ask Marshal Pope about these emails and just about everything else we could think of at a Dec. 28 video-taped deposition in advance of the next hearing in this matter, set for Jan. 4 in Lafayette.

On the advice of our attorney, we will await word from Judge Edwards on what portions of the deposition will be admitted into the court record before reporting on them.

That said, we can assure you there is a lot more to come.
Monet rahapelien ystavat ovat viime vuosina loytaneet netticasinot ja olleet ihmeissaan. Verrattuna kotimaisen Veikkauksen kivijalkarahapeleihin puhutaan aivan eri tason palautusprosenteista ja lisaksi pelaaminen on aarimmaisen helppoa ja turvallista. Netticasinoiden maara on tana paivana todella suuri ja niita loytyy jokaiseen lahtoon, suurin ongelma aloittelevalla pelaajalla onkin tehda valinta siita, minka netticasinon valitsee. Kaikkien netticasinoiden mainospuheet naet lupaavat kauniita asioita ja niiden lapinakeminen on tietysti tarkeaa. Nyrkkisaantona voidaan kuitenkin jo kattelyssa todeta, etta jos valitsemasi netticasino on lisensoitu ETA-alueella, sen kanssa ei tule olemaan ongelmia, ellei niita itse jarjesta. Kay tutustumassa parhaisiin netticasinoihin osoitteessa www.ilmaiskierroksia.info!

Ensimmainen nyrkkisaanto on siis varmistaa, etta valitsemallasi netticasinolla on ETA-alueen lisenssi. Suurimmassa osassa tapauksista se on Maltan eli MGA:n lisenssi. Myos Viron, Englannin ja Gibraltarin lisensseja nakyy ja naissa valvonta on jopa Maltaa tiukempaa. Lopputulema on kuitenkin se, etta ETA-alueen lisenssi takaa suomalaisille verovapaat voitot seka sen, etta niita valvotaan kontrolloidusti. Maailmalla on iso nippu Curacaon lisenssilla toimivia netticasinoita ja niistakin suurin osa on laadukkaita. Ne eivat kuitenkaan ole suomalaisille asiakkaille verovapaita, joten emme suosittele niita.

Tana paivana markkinoille on ilmaantunut paljon ETA-alueella toimiva netticasinoita ilman rekisteroitymista. Jos tarkoitus on vain pelata yksittaisia pelikertoja, on varsin helppo suositella naita. Netticasinot ilman rekisteroitymista tarjoavat palvelun tunnistautumisen verkkopankin avainlukulistan avulla ja saman palvelun kautta tapahtuvat talletukset ja mahdolliset voittojen nostot silmanrapayksessa. Normaaleihin netticasinoihin pitaa asiakkaan rekisteroitya, tehda talletukset ja tunnistautua dokumenttien avulla. Tama on lisenssiehtojen mukainen kaytanto, eika kovinkaan monimutkainen, mutta silti monet asiakkaat haluavat yksinkertaista ja nopeaa palvelua. Toki normaalit netticasinot tarjoavat usein asiakkailleen laadukkaita talletusbonuksia ja erilaisia kampanjoita, joten kannattaa tarkkaan punnita, kumman ratkaisun valitsee. Kannattaa myos muistaa, etta tunnistautuminen tehdaan vain kerran, joten mikaan jatkuva riippakivi se ei ole.

Suomalaiset asiakkaat ovat netticasinoille tarkeita, joten kaikilla vahankin laadukkailla netticasinoilla on suomenkieliset sivut seka suomenkielinen asiakaspalvelu  suomenkielisyys kannattaakin ottaa netticasinoa valittaessa nyrkkisaannoksi. Vaikka tana paivana englanninkielisyys on harvoille ongelma, on suomenkielisten netticasinoiden maara niin valtava, etta suosittelemme niiden kayttoa. Rahansiirrot ovat tana paivana niin hyvassa mallissa, etta niiden kanssa tuskin tulee mitaan ongelmia. Kolme tarkeinta segmenttia: Suomalaiset verkkopankit, luottokortit (Visa, Mastercard) seka nettilompakot (Skrill, Neteller) loytyvat jokaisesta laadukkaasta netticasinosta. Viime vuosien trendiksi noussut verkkokauppa on kehittanyt rahansiirrot niin laadukkaiksi ja nopeiksi, etta niiden suhteen ei ole enaa vuosiin ollut ongelmia. Luonnollisesti netticasinot kayttavat naita samoja palveluita ja hyotyvat kehityksesta.

Naiden isojen linjojen jalkeen netticasinon valintaan vaikuttavat luonnollisesti tarjottavat tervetuliaisbonukset  uudet asiakkaat saavat tana paivana kovan kilpailun myota merkittavia etuja netticasinoilta ja niita kannattaa luonnollisesti vertailla. Erilaiset talletusbonukset, ilmaiskierrokset seka ilmaiset pelirahat tuovat suuriakin rahanarvoisia etuja ja niiden vertailu on ehdottomasti kannattavaa. Myoskaan useampien tilien avaaminen ja tervetuliaistarjousten kayttaminen ei missaan nimessa ole huono idea.

Kun edella mainitut asiat ovat mieleisia ja vaihtoehtoja on vielakin jaljella, mennaan jo nyansseihin. Toki pelivalikoima on yksi kriteeri, mutta taman paivan netticasinoissa tamakin asia on paasaantoisesti varsin samanlainen. Toki useamman samantasoisen netticasinon vertailussa kannattaa yleensa valita se, jossa on eniten peleja tarjolla. Vaikka omat suosikit loytyisivatkin useammasta, voi tulevaisuudessa mielenkiinto nousta joihinkin muihin peleihin ja silloin on tietysti mukavampaa, etta ne loytyvat valikoimista. Viimeisena voidaan nostaa esiin kaytettavyys  joidenkin netticasinoiden sivut ovat vilkkuvia, valkkyvia ja epakaytannollisia. Omaan silmaan ja kaytettavyyteen sopiva sivusto on luonnollisesti aina se paras valinta. Tarjonta netticasinoissa on tana paivana valtava ja jokaiselle loytyy varmasti se oma netticasino  onnea matkaan!
President Joe Biden has decided to ban Russian oil imports, toughening the toll on Russia's economy in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine. The United States generally imports about 100,000 barrels a day from Russia, only about 5% of Russia's crude oil exports, according to Rystad Energy. Last year, roughly 8% of U.S. imports of oil and petroleum products came from Russia. Gas prices have been rising for weeks due to the conflict and in anticipation of potential sanctions on the Russian energy sector. The U.S. national average for a gallon of gasoline soared 45 cents a gallon in the past week and topped $4.06 on Monday, according to auto club AAA. Should the US ban Russian oil imports over Ukraine war?

You voted:
By AM Monday, January 4, 2016 Share Tweet Share Share Email

Well, that was a controversial interview and after the programme we put Seamus Mallon's criticisms of Sinn Fein to the party. They said that in spite of the naysayers, who included Seamus Mallon and much of the Irish establishment, John Hume, Gerry Adams and others brought about the Irish peace process and an end to the conflict. The party says Hume-Adams was the catalyst for the agreement and underpinned both the peace and political processes. Sinn Fein also claim that Seamus Mallon and David Trimble didn't speak to each other while in office and that the political institutions collapsed repeatedly on their watch.

(WC) interviews(SM) of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP). Appreciation as ever to TPQ transcriber for serving this up.BBC Radio Ulster28 December 2015(begins time stamp ~ 3:18) Welcome toOver this Christmas Season we have been introducing you to some very special guests and finding out about their lives, their loves, their passions and their personal musical soundtrack. My guest today began his career as a primary school teacher and a headmaster before becoming involved in the Civil Rights Movement during the 1960's. Then followed an increasingly public role in politics here with the SDLP which led him to the Assembly, to Westminster and to the Irish Senate.After the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 he went on to serve along side David Trimble as Northern Ireland's Deputy First Minister. And after forty years in the political limelight he retired from politics in 2005 though his very distinctive voice is still raised from time to time to comment on the state of politics here and on the progress of the peace process he helped to create. My guest today is Seamus Mallon. Seamus, welcome.Thank you, William.How does it feel listening to your entire life put into one short paragraph like that?: It reminds just how many years I have on the clock. It reminds me of so many things. Being in this studio for starters - it's quite sometime since I've been in a sound studio. I used to be here every day, every morning almost - week on week. But it's nice to come back and say hello to people that I haven't seen for a while. Say hello to you and hopefully say hello to the people who might listen to this.: Do you sometimes have to bite your tongue when you watch on television or listen on the radio to politics today playing out in Northern Ireland?: No, I don't bite my tongue. Normally I'm usually looking at the news alone and I use some language which could only be described as 'choice'.Unparliamentary.Very unparliamentary, indeed. When I look at things that have to be done in this society which haven't even been touched  when I look at things in administrative terms  what's happening in health is appalling. In terms of services - a bin lorry was at my house this morning - one driver, one person. So the guy has to drive it and collect the bins as well - that shows you the cut backs. Then you have the educational system and I am reluctant to call it a system because nobody knows now what the policy is. What is the government's policy? What is the policy of the CCMS? (Council for Catholic Maintained Schools) Do they have a policy? And I know the community I live in the only policy can see or have seen over the years was this (inaudible) attempt to close everything small and to bottle people into larger schools.You don't sound like you're very impressed by the political leadership we have today.I know they have difficulties. I understand some of those difficulties. I had them myself so I understand. But what worries me most is that the two major parties don't seem in their hearts to believe in the whole thesis of the Good Friday Agreement. And that thesis is a very simple one: Is to create within The North of Ireland a system whereby people can be at peace with themselves, with one another, where they can have a decent quality of life, where we can pursue economic development, where we don't have people relying on the dole, where we are able to create the type of indigenous jobs that small areas can do if they're helped to do it. That's not happening. What has been done in terms of the business of the Good Friday Agreement as I would call it and that is: How do we get into peoples' hearts and souls? How do we get people who have been fearful of other people - who have lived in prejudice in many ways, how do we get those people to see there's a different world outside and that there is a different world that they're a part of? And I think if that message were being led politically then I think things would be in a better state because it would give the political process confidence to do the things that they should be doing and do them well.I'm looking forward to talking to you a lot more in this hour about your feelings, about Northern Ireland but also about the journey you have been on, Seamus, throughout your entire adult life into politics but before we do that - what's your first choice of music?It's a song called it's being sung by Mary O'Hara  a beautiful harpist as well. The reason I've chosen that is my father sang that song and he didn't usually sing but if there was say a Christmas at home, something like that, he would and he sang it very well. So every time I hear it, which is not very often now, I think of him and the joy he got out of that piece of music. (song plays)sung by Mary O'Hara, the choice of my guest today, Seamus Mallon. You've just really given us a jeremiah against the political leadership of Northern Ireland today and the failings in terms of the real-life experience of most people - the failings of our political establishment to 'get it' and to deal with it. Given all of that do you think the peace process has been a success? Or is it failing, too?I think and have thought for some time that the term 'peace process' itself is something of a misnomer. Peace is something which shouldn't be bargained with, that shouldn't be used as a political weapon, or shouldn't be used in a political process. It had to be used, I accept that, to ensure that the peace we have was established. But, there's a political process as well. And you know, political well-being and being able to have a decent standard of life and a deeper quality of life - that is part of the creation of peace. Peace, not just as an absence of war but as, I think it was Spinoza who put it, an attitude of mind - a disposition towards benevolence, confidence and justice.Now let us ask ourselves: Is the present Executive showing any benevolence except to their own supporters and those who vote for them? Confidence? Have they had the confidence to go out on the limb that they should have gone out on to bring the people in Northern Ireland together with them in the political process? And the justice? Which must surely underlie everything to ensure that people have equality - that you have, as in any society, elderly people and young people, and that both are looked after in a very positive way. Are we doing those things? I would suggest that there has been more posturing than anything else in this. But simply on this I'll ask a question: What legislation has it completed in the number of years that it is there? I don't know and I'm quite sure very few people know. But maybe sometime they would tell us. Or sometime we could benefit from the legislation......And do you say that about all the political parties or just the two big ones?You can't put all the political parties into that because it is a two-party show. In the last discussion, talks  whatever you like to call them  our party wasn't there, the Ulster Unionist Party wasn't there, the Alliance Party wasn't there, the Green Party weren't there and yet, they were handed a piece of paper and asked to adopt it and support it that evening. Now, once you start treating political parties like that in a context of the Good Friday Agreement, which was built on inclusion, and God knows the hours and hours and weeks that we spent ensuring inclusion - but for those people who benefited from the inclusion now excluding the other political parties is dicing with danger for this reason: they are abusing the political process. Political process is something very, very valuable in society.But they got more votes than anybody else.Yes, and that is a question that has to be looked at. You know, is there not something strange about this fact: that the two parties, the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP, who worked for forty odd years for peace, who kept the political process alive when others were trying to kill it dead, is it a strange way of creating peace when you try to wipe out the political parties that have worked for peace? And giving a mandate to the biggest bully on each side. What does that tell us?Isn't that what all political parties do? They try to outdo their opponents, their competitors? They get more votes. They knock them out of the frame?Oh, yes, of course. Yes. I'm not complaining about that. You take the decision of the electorate  that's it. But, one has still the right to see how that can be improved. Are they so touchy now that they can't take any criticism? Or are they going to be idolised again in a superficial way as they have been in the past? Instead of saying, and the electorate saying to them: Look here  we want leadership here.Have you any regrets about the risks that you and your generation took within the SDLP and beyond it, to bring Sinn Fein into the political process?No regrets whatsoever, obviously, about the attempt to create peace. But you know, I'll put it this way: we were negotiating, all the parties, for two years prior to the Good Friday Agreement. Sinn Fein had done its negotiations before the negotiations even started. They had negotiated with the Irish government, and with the British government and with the American government. And they had their understandings on the release of prisoners, on the factors that they wanted. In other words they had almost written the script.: You're not saying it was a stitch-up are you?Well stitch-up is a word that can be used in a very loose way. Let's say it was not the furthest thing from the minds of the governments that, in effect, the two greatest set of bullies would be best suitable to govern the people of The North of Ireland. I don't accept that. But I think that when you talk about it, loosely about it, that's what underlay. I can tell you David Trimble and myself, when he was First and I was Deputy First Minister, trying to set up an Assembly, trying to decide and create it, trying to deal with policing, trying to deal with Drumcree which was happening outside and you know, right down to the Omagh bomb we were looking everyday at beautiful photographs in various newspapers of the leaders of Sinn Fein sitting in Downing Street. Indeed, I asked Tony Blair once: Were they on the electoral register in Downing Street? He didn't appreciate the humour of it but I did. We're looking at that - shots of them going in and out of government buildings in The South - and having been given a certain validity by the fact that we did our best to get peace. That rubbed off, I've no doubt, that the validity  in many ways it validated their position that in effect they were seen negotiating with us - and I don't mean that in a pejorative sense - and in effect the way in which they shamefacedly used that. I mean they used John, John Hume, like you'd play a three pound trout, and he gave them the thing that they were looking for  and that was a respectable image in the United States.They used him?Oh, yeah. I think so. Nothing new. I've said this  I've said it to John - said it within the party. Because, and here I go back to where I think I started...: ...Do you mean they played him like a fool?No, no. He is no fool. Whatever else John is he is no fool. But I think he was so immersed in the whole business of getting peace that he didn't or couldn't come to grips with the fact that his presence with them gave them, especially in the United States and in Ireland, a status that almost bordered on validating their actions over the past thirty years.That's a serious statement.It's a very serious statement. It's one I think of very often especially when I can't sleep at night. When you ask yourself: what could we have done then to prevent that? I think there were things that could have been done and the one very fundamental one is that two sovereign governments, the Irish government and the British government, have a sovereign right to protect the people in their jurisdictions. A sovereign duty! And with that would go the sovereign right to take illegal arms. Yet decommissioning was made a political point and a bargaining point by Sinn Fein and they did it very, very cleverly because it kept the governments running to their door and better still for them - running to the governments' doors. And it kept them way beyond the time that it should have taken. I believe it could have been done before because as a sovereign government when and how can you expect that the holding of illegal arms, which had killed people, how can you come to terms with the fact that holding illegal arms and getting rid of those illegal arms is a voluntary act?You'd have just taken them  gone after them?I would expect any sovereign government to say to them: Look. Here we go. We want you in  of course we want you in. We'll give you every help to get over the stepping stones but......That's a precondition....that should be done. Now, the result of not doing that actually destroyed, almost destroyed, the Ulster Unionist Party who'd worked hard for God knows how many years to keep politics alive. It severely damaged our party, the SDLP, and in effect it almost gave a green light to people: These boys aren't too bad at all. They'll be alright to vote for.Well, this is fascinating. I want to talk to you more about the SDLP and its future after some of those decisions you've just described. But let's find out what your second choice of music is.My second choice in some ways ties in with what we've been talking about: Sean O Riada's- Symphony if you'd like to call it that. A marvelous piece of music coming from the heart as it were of Irish people right throughout the world. It is based on the type of imagery that there actually is in Mary O'Hara song: going from the dark into the spring and light. It's an inspiring piece of music. (song plays)Sean O Riada's- the choice of my guest today, Seamus Mallon, and we've been talking in very direct terms so far about the peace process  how it came about  the sacrifices, the risks that were taken by other parties to bring Sinn Fein into the process, and particularly by yourself and John Hume and the SDLP. Was that sacrifice worth it for your party?Not for our party.Wasn't worth it?For the people of The North of Ireland in terms of peace  it is. You save one life - you've done something.But how badly damaged has the SDLP been as a consequence of those decisions?Well, I don't want to go into figures but we still have three MPs at Westminster and indeed they are more vocal than say the DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) MPs who all seem to have taken a vow of silence over this past year or so. It is impossible to deal with the paradox, because it is a paradox, people yearning for peace in The North of Ireland. Unionists people who've had people killed. People in the Nationalist/Republican community who had suffered at the hands of all types of misdemeanors and killed - that in effect those people sought their electoral refuge in the people who were doing exactly that  who were stirring up problems and hatred in the community on the one hand and a war of attrition on the other. Now, that is not a question that can be answered by the Ulster Unionist Party although I've sat with some of them into long nights discussing it. Nor is it something that is the responsibility of the SDLP. Yes, Sinn Fein are very well organised. Yes, they have a lot of money  huge amounts of money. They have all these things which leads to the type of politics they have and that is almost a military operation.Almost. Let's say almost.Almost. But the key question here is: How can people who have suffered so much on the Unionist side, on the Nationalist side over so long  how can then when we get a breath of air into the political process and the hope of a new way of life they opt for the people who were killing and the people who were involved? You know, the ugly face of naked sectarianism. That's the mystery and that's the complexity of it.What isn't a mystery is that Sinn Fein has taken the place of the SDLP as the largest Nationalist party to the extent that some people now wonder: what is the point of the SDLP? What is the difference in Nationalist political terms?I would have thought people would recognise that there are people in politics who have waged war, who have killed people - Jean McConville - young Gillespie in Derry used to blow up six soldiers - and I could go on ad infinitum about that. People know that, right? And only people themselves can decide why, in effect, they have voted for that type of regime. Your question, I think was...What's the difference?: What's the difference?And what's the difference for a seventeen or eighteen year old voter approaching the next opportunity ...... I have to reinforce  there's the difference. If you do that - you kill people and you tell lies to people on a daily basis - is that the type of attitude that you'd like to support at the ballot box?The war is over.Yes  but you're missing  and we tend to miss this point: If you have wars without proper planning  what happened in Iraq  not on the same scale, but when it was bombed the governments, the British government and the Americans, had no idea what they were going to do. Here you had an organisation and it had one objective over thirty-odd years and that was: Brits Out! And every year you would see on the gable walls of houses: 1973  The Year of Victory. Next year you're driving somewhere else and you'd see: 1974  The Year of Victory. Their objective failed. And I think it did more than that. What is has done is it has tarnished the very name of Republicanism in such a way that Republicanism, as a valid political position, has been distorted by them. And despite that this type of Republicanism gets a mandate. I think if you look at, and I go back to......But Seamus, isn't this really politically naive on your part? When you were involved in those days in bringing Sinn Fein into a political process what did you think would happen? Did you think they would never be voted for?No, no I didn't think that at all.Did you imagine that they might actually rise to become a more powerful political force than your own party?Yes.You did think that?Yes, but how could we have left any political party out? Because either you have the type of mechanism, which is not a very foolproof mechanism in terms of the D'Hondt system  either you have that or you have......Majority rule  something like that.You have what even the TUV were asking  are asking for: the type of voluntary coalition that they talk about. What that means, of course is: The major unionist party says: We'll have them, or them or them but we're not going to have that or that or that. How long do you think that would last? And there's the rub.How do you feel when you see Martin McGuinness standing in the role that you formerly played as First Deputy Minister?He's a very efficient manipulator of opinion; he does his media stuff very well. He left the educational system hanging in mid-air by his actions when he was the Minister of Education. I agree with doing away with the eleven plus  I agree with selection at eleven is not a viable position.But you don't start wars and then all of a suddenly be a peacemaker without cynics like me saying: Here's what you did, Martin, own up to it. And in his terms I think he tries to tell the truth. Now I would find it impossible for me, as a person, to vote for some on the basis of crimes committed, on the basis of lies told, on the basis of black economies created within every constituency in The North of Ireland. And I could go on for quite some time. I don't regard that as a valid, a strong reason, for casting my vote in any direction. I would look for a little bit of integrity. I'd look for some of the human strengths that people should bring to politics. I wouldn't if I had voted for them. I would cringe as I do every time I hear a lie being told in such a way that they expected to be believed.Your next choice of music?Next choice issong from Dr. Zhivago. The reason for that is my daughter was having a baby and I suppose like all babies they were in a great discussion about what it would be called. I had this piece of music  I've loved it from the first time I heard it. It is a haunting strain just as the other two pieces of music have a haunting strain and I said: Call her Lara - which they did. I think it's a lovely name and I like to listen to this piece of music as often as I can. (song plays)from Dr. Zhivago - the choice of Seamus Mallon. You supported Colum Eastwood for the leadership of the SDLP against the sitting leader, Alasdair McDonnell. Did that take quite a bit of courage on your part or were you ready to do that for quite a while?I don't know what it took but I can tell you the basis on which I did it. I had been watching and listening about Colum for some time. Eventually, slowly, I got to know him. I recognised that he has a very good head on his shoulders. There's a kindness about him. He's not going to be flustered by anybody. And he has I think the type of vision that could, down the line, do two things: It could maybe stir the political process into its quest for what the Good Friday Agreement was set up to do  quality of life, peace, no fear of violence, the best education possible for children, all of those things ......Do you think Alasdair McDonnell was taking the party in the wrong direction?No. Alasdair did a lot of very substantial work in terms of organisation and other factors within the party. But then I think in every political career there comes a point where it's time to go. And when I looked at Colm I said: Right. I want a young person. I want a person with courage  and he has that. And the ability to deal with these things. Now maybe I'm wrong but I'd take a hefty bet that in five years time he will have proved himself a very adroit leader and that is not in any way criticising Alasdair.You must have gotten off his Christmas card list.Well I'm on very few Christmas card lists but I got over the pain of that very quickly.Do you regret never becoming leader yourself?I do.Yeah?Yeah. Very often. I had a choice to make  my wife was ill. She had been in hospital that year for quite some time she had dementia and has it now. I knew from my political experience you can't do both. So I had to make my choice and I am confident I made the right choice. I'd have loved to lead the party. I'd have loved to been involved in the negotiations. I'd have loved all those things but life doesn't always give you the things that you most desire but the way in which we have been able to look after Gertrude at home is worth any political position.How's she doing now?Not very good. Difficult.And you've got some help?Oh, yes. I've got carers in and help and I think we do a good job. But I still would liked to have been but ... let's forget about that  water under the bridge.Your next track of music?The next track of music will come as no surprise to anybody who knows me. It's the remarkable story of a clergyman, still not sure about his denomination, who came from Cavan and is allegedly buried somewhere around Cookstown but however, Josef Locke is singing it. I met him a few times. Now he had a tremendous voice; he sang with great expression. But the song itself means something to me becausethe ecclesiastical centre, the place where Saint Patrick was - before Christianity came or before The Celts came - you've all the strands of it there in that song. (song plays): Josef Locke singing The Bard of Armagh. That brings back a lot of memories I'm sure.It does. I could have done without the little twirly bit at the end but as someone who was born and reared in Co. Armagh - still live there and always will - it does something for me that song and it takes it back way beyond the issues that we have had for this past few centuries.Whatever The Troubles were about, and many people disagree about what to call The Troubles and what they were about, we talked a lot during those decades about the constitutional question  the united Ireland question. We don't talk much about that question today, interestingly enough. Is that question now parked for a generation or two?I don't think so. I don't think something of that nature could be parked  you're talking about a united Ireland. My first question always is: What do you mean by a united Ireland? Is it a thirty-two county socialist republic as many shades of Republicanism would seem to want? If it is, the people of Ireland don't want that. That's a fact. Is it the thirty-two county parliamentary state that many people would imagine it to be? I don't think it's going to be going down those roads.Or a federalised Ireland.: Oh, I'll come to that, I'll come to that. The reality is that one of the successful things in the Good Friday Agreement was the constitutional change in relation to Articles Two and Three of the Irish Constitution. That was crucially important because it gave, for the first time, the Unionist community a sense of stability - assurances in an internationally binding agreement by a sovereign government that they will not be forced anywhere by violence. Now, I think the Unionist community are beginning to realise just how good the Good Friday Agreement has been for them. Now that is something which has been of enormous benefit and actually in many ways you can see it in the step of some of the Unionist politicians. Now they have the confidence to go ahead and do things - they walk differently at times - now if they all get to work together with the other parties  we can go places. The constitutional element of it, in my view, will be a form of federalism. You talk about federalism as if they were all the same type of things. American federalism isn't the same as Swiss federalism and ......And Britain's becoming increasingly federal, isn't it?...It is becoming very federal and you can see change there which would effect change here as well. But the important thing is that realisation: that never again are people on the Nationalist side of the community in Ireland going to take up guns to force anybody, the Unionist people, into something that constitutionally they can't live with.Your final choice of music?Oh, it's one that I've always loved. Patrick Kavanagh wrote it as a poem and Luke Kelly sang it. Now there were many renderings of it but I think Luke Kelly's is the better one to end on.(song plays)That is Luke Kelly and The Dubliners withSeamus, as we approach the new year, what are you most hoping for - for yourself or for the society in the year to come?For the society I would dearly love to see the First and Deputy First Ministers, and the other ministers, the Executive - all-inclusive Executive as a whole - leading this community in the terms of what is required: lasting peace. I would say to them stop putting your fingers into other peoples' eyes every chance you get  you don't have to win every little petty argument. Let's focus on getting people here: To be at peace with themselves and their neighbours and with their futures because we alwayslook at the past  we're a great people for memorials. I suggest that we should start to live and think of ourselves as good ancestors. Ancestors who will leave to our generations to come something worthwhile - not a niggling little place like Stormont is now.Seamus, thank you very much.(ends time stamp ~ 59:47)
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Because sextoy is very stimulating, it can help you to get rid of the problems and frustrations of being in a rut of sex with your partner for a long time, or if you are unhappy with the lack of pleasure in sex with your partner.

The ability to satisfy your desires with movement, texture, and size, which cannot be done by a normal human being, can help you to be satisfied with sex and, as a result, improve your relationship with your partner.

It is also said to help improve sexual dysfunction (inability to get an erection or ejaculate) and difficulty in feeling during sex (insensitivity), which is attracting more attention than in the past.

In recent years, the demand for sextoy has increased due to the spread of smartphones and the Internet and the increasing number of people using online shopping.

Even those who are concerned about the appearance of sextoy (and find it difficult to purchase) can now easily obtain it by using mail order.

In the case of online shopping, most of the stores have taken steps to ensure that the contents of the products delivered to you are not revealed, so you can purchase them without your family members knowing.

Until a while ago, you had to go to the store where the adult goods were sold to buy them, so it was quite a hurdle to overcome.

Also, many people may have an image that sextoy is somehow embarrassing to own.

But nowadays, some of them are so stylish and cute that you cant believe they are sextoy at a glance.

More and more people are using them for travel and outdoor use because they are not too bulky and are suitable for carrying around.

Sextoy situation in India

Before introducing the recommended sextoy for Indians, lets talk about one of the sextoy situations in India in recent years.

In India, due to the high concentration of population, the following six cities have particularly high sales of sextoy in India.

Mumbai

Kolkata

Bangalore

Delhi

Chennai

Hyderabad

These cities account for roughly 70 percent of sextoy sales in India.

In the future, the percentage of sextoy use will gradually increase in other cities in India as well.

If you never talk about sextoy publicly, that girl in your neighborhood might be a sextoy user too.

If you are interested in sextoy, you dont have to suppress your desire for it.

What are Sextoys for beginner?

Among all sextoys, sextoy for beginners are vibrators, dildo, masturbators, Sex Lubricants, and condoms.

Sex Lubricants and condoms, which are familiar to people who have had sex, are also a great beginners sextoy.

I will explain the details of each toy later, but there are many sextoy products that are painful to use and can only be used after some anal expansion.

I assume that the Indian readers of this article are people who have not had much experience with sextoy.

If such people use professional sextoy suddenly, they are at risk of injury or trauma.

Therefore, to introduce sextoy, you need to start with a beginners version and gradually become familiar with it.

Advantages of using sextoy for Indians

There are three advantages of using sextoy for Indians

You can masturbate in a wide variety of ways.

Can have stimulating sex

Can develop new sexual zones

If you try to masturbate with your own fingers or hands, it tends to be a pattern.

However, with sextoy, you can easily masturbate in a variety of ways.

You will definitely be fascinated by the attraction of new stimulation.

Also, your daily sex life will be more exciting than ever.

There are many things in sextoy that are visually stimulating and give you a strong and intense feeling of pleasure.

This allows you to see your partners promiscuity in a way that you wouldnt normally see it.

When you are in a relationship, sex with your partner may become a pattern, but it can also eliminate these problems.

It can also lead to the development of new sexual zones (which is the training of sexual stimulation to allow you to feel orgasms).

For more information on the development of new sexual zones, see the following articles

[Women's Erogenous Zone]How to find and develop, 7 hidden sexual zones !![In India] In this issue, we will dissect the female erogenous zone! ..." Many of you may be like that. Men, in particular, shou...

Thus, the use of sextoy can only be a good thing for the men and women of India.

Sextoy for beginner men in India

So, lets continue with the recommended goods for Indian sextoy beginners.

For ease of understanding, we will introduce them by gender. Lets start with the men!

The following five goods are recommended for novice Indian sextoy men

Masturbator

Cock rings

Love Doll

Sex Lubricants

Toys for the prostate

Lets check each one in detail.

Masturbator

The masturbator is a sextoy for men that elaborately reproduces a womans vagina, mouth, and anus, and is one of the most popular sextoy products.

It is used by men to masturbate, and it is popular because it provides stronger stimulation and pleasure more easily than using hands.

Most are made of good quality silicone, and their softness is something that cannot be achieved with ones own hands.

They can provide stronger pleasure than a real womans vagina, so be careful not to overuse them. (You wont be able to have an orgasm in a womans vagina anymore.)

Again Male masturbators are a wonderful toy. I do not need any favourite timing, bothersome bargaining. You do not have to worry too much.

Revolutionize your masturbation time! ! !

Made in Japan is a wonderful kinky toy.#sextoysindia #SexToyIndia #Japanhttps://t.co/4k70QGzoTP pic.twitter.com/tRVdxTKPpa   SEXToys India PR  (@SextoysIndia) November 12, 2018

Some of them are disposable, while others can be washed and used over and over again, so its fun to buy a few to use depending on your mood.

If you want to know more about masturbator, please click here

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[For Beginners] How to choose and use a male masturbator without fail Gentlemen.Have you ever used a masturbator? The person who sees this article is probably the one who has not experien...

Cock Ring

A cock ring is literally a ring-shaped sextoy that is worn on a mans penis.

It maintains an erection by binding the penis with a ring of rubber and blocking blood flow.

It is sometimes used as an accessory to be worn on the penis, and may be made of metal or plastic as well as rubber.

In some cases, cock rings have parts or vibrators attached to them that stimulate the vagina, so they kill two birds with one stone, giving a woman pleasure while maintaining an erection.

Cock rings are also sometimes used to treat erectile dysfunction.

It can help with erectile dysfunction, where the penis doesnt get hard when you get an erection or doesnt last long when you try to insert it.

Men who are prone to breakage or who are unsure of the hardness and size of their erections can use a cock ring to increase the size of their penis and maintain an erection for a longer period of time.

Cock rings vary in price from around RS700 to over RS2000 with a vibrator function.

Some of them do not fit your penis, so you should check the size of the cock ring before you buy.

You should know the size of your partners or your own penis when it is erect.

[Penis enlargement] What is a cock ring? Types and usage Cock rings can make your penis bigger and harder. It also makes sex with women more fulfilling and increases your sat...

Love Doll

Love dolls, also known as Dutchwives, are dolls with the appearance of a woman who can experience simulated sex.

There are dolls that look like a woman, but they have no face and only have their breasts and lower torso cut off, and some dolls are so realistic that they can actually be mistaken for real women.

Some expensive dolls can cost more than 1 million yen, and the quality of the doll is easily influenced by the price.

The higher the price, the higher the quality of the doll will be, the closer it will be to the real woman, and the cheaper the doll will be, the less elaborate it will be, making it look like a real doll! Something is wrong! That is also true.

You cant go wrong if you choose a balance between price and taste.

There are stores that allow you to make custom-made love dolls, so you can create a girl of your choice.

You can make a girl of your choice. You can start with inexpensive love dolls at first, and once you get used to it, you can try custom-made love dolls.

If you want to know more about Love doll, please click here

Thorough explanation of the charm of sex dolls! Have you ever heard of sex dolls that are used primarily for pseudo-sex purposes? It is a doll that is quite close to...

Sex lubricants

Sex lubricants are used as a substitute for lubricating fluid during sex or as a lubricant for men to use masturbator rules.

It is not uncommon for women to have difficulty getting wet, depending on their physical condition, or to have difficulty getting wet due to their constitution.

Forcing the penis into the vagina at such times can cause painful intercourse.

There are various types of Sex Lubricants, some with a warming effect, some with a cooling effect, and some with a scent.

Changing the Sex Lubricant used during play is recommended as a good sex accent.

If you want to learn more about Sex Lubricants, click here.

What is sex lubricant?Explain the difference and usage of each ingredient The word "sex toy" may seem like a hurdle to overcome, but lotion is actually one of the most familiar sex toys. Many...

Toys for the Prostate

Another sextoy for men is prostate toys.

The most famous prostate toys include Enemagra, which was originally a prostate massager developed by an American urologist to treat an enlarged prostate line.

Modern prostate toys are imitations of Enemagra that have spread as sextoy for men.

Many people think of prostate toys as being used by gay men, but in fact they are often used by straight men.

What is the prostate?

The prostate is an organ found only in men. It is a walnut-sized organ located deep in the pelvis, just below the bladder, and its primary role is to protect and nourish sperm.

You cannot touch the prostate gland from outside the body, but you can touch it by inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus.

By inserting a finger or sextoy through the anus and touching the prostate and developing it, you can feel intense orgasms.

Orgasms felt in the prostate are mainly dry orgasms, which are orgasms that do not involve ejaculation. (You can also feel orgasms with ejaculation through prostate stimulation.)

The prostate is called the male G-spot, and dry orgasms can be much more intense than ejaculation.

Therefore, men who are able to develop a prostate can become addicted to the pleasure.

sextoy for beinner women in India

The following are the recommended goods for Indian women who are new to sextoy.

The following three are recommended for use by women who are new to sextoy.

Vibrator.

Dildo

Electric Masserger

Lets check out what each one is in detail.

If you want to check out womens toys, click here.

[BEST25]Sex Toys for Women in IndiaThat Can Help You Have an Orgasm There are many women who pretend to feel orgasm during sex. But don't worry, you don't have to pretend to feel orgasm...

Vibrators

A vibrator is a sextoy that vibrates with an Egg-Vibrator to provide stimulation and is often referred to simply as a vibrator.

Some vibrate as well as rotate, and there are many variations of sextoy.

It is quite a popular sextoy, and is well recognized by people who do not know much about sextoy.

Its usage is similar to that of a massager, but it is more compact and easier to carry than a massager, and many of them look as cute as a lipstick or a macaroon, so they are popular among women.

For a while, a famous influencer on twitter said, This is good! You may have heard of the topic of this article by introducing the recommended vibrators.

Vibrators are great for women to use on their own, but they are also recommended for men who have difficulty satisfying women with sex.

Since it is powered by electricity, it is far less tiring than moving your hands by yourself.

This makes it easier to satisfy a woman with sex because you can caress her for longer than usual.

Vibrators are mainly used on the female side, but they can also be used on men.

When used on men, they are used to attack the nipples and glans, and in both cases it is recommended to wear a condom for hygiene reasons.

Introducing how to use the vibrator, its purpose, and how to choose it! Vibrator uses the vibrations caused by the rotation of the motor to provide stimulation. It is one or two of the most...

Dildo

A dildo is a model sextoy made to mimic a male penis.

It can be made of silicone, elastomer (think of it as a material similar to PVC), metal or glass.

A dildo can be used by a man for his female partner during sex, or by a woman for masturbation to get pleasure from it.

They are mainly inserted into women, but some can be used in the male anus as well.

It is sometimes used synonymously with vibrators, but the vibrator is not the same thing as a vibrating device.

A model of a penis that does not vibrate is a dildo.

Some of them have suction cups that can be attached to the floor or wall so that you can enjoy realistic masturbation without using your hands.

For fun, there is a dildo made in the shape of your partners penis.

This one is also popular as a gift, and if youve been together for a long time and are having trouble finding a gift for your partner, you might want to pick one.

To learn more about dildo, please click here.

What is Dildo: Orgasms with Dildos for Men and Women A dildo is a model of a male organ that is used by women for masturbation and by men to stimulate the prostate gland. Th...

Electric Masserger

A Electric Masserger is a hand-held electric massager, also known as a handheld massager, and can usually be purchased at electronics stores.

It was originally designed to relieve stiff shoulders and back pain, so the hurdle of buying one in a physical store is quite low.

Many people may have seen or used it in some form or another, as it is often installed in leisure hotels.

Such a massager is highly recommended for beginners because it is easy for women to get pleasure from it when they use it during masturbation.

It is larger than Egg-Vibrator and vibrations are stronger than those of Egg-Vibrators and vibrators, so even just hitting the clitoris can give you a great deal of pleasure.

For those women who have never had an orgasm during sex with their man, the massager may be a good way to get a feel for what it feels like to have an orgasm.

It looks and feels like an electric massager, so you wont have to feel awkward if your roommate finds out.

If you are in a rut of having sex with your partner, if you want to feel an orgasm through masturbation, or if you are thinking of using a sextoy, why dont you try it from a simple massager?

To learn more about Electric Masserger, click here.

What is a massager? Introducing types, selection methods, and usage Originally, the Magic-wand vibrator and the massage machine were sold as a home massage machine used for the back and th...

How to choose a sextoy for Indian

Now that weve covered the different types of sextoy, heres how to choose one.

Especially if you are trying sextoy for the first time, pay attention to the following three points:  Does the size fit you (the partner)?

Does the size fit you (your partner)?

Is the environment able to produce sound without problems?

Price range

First of all, the choice of size is quite important.

Most sextoy are used against or inserted into the genitals, but the genitals are very delicate organs for both men and women.

For this reason, using an inappropriate size may cause damage.

Secondly, the environment should be able to produce sound without problems.

Some sextoys not only wear, but also rotate and vibrate. Its easier to get pleasure from something that moves than something that doesnt, but the fact that it moves means that the internal rotors make some noise.

If you live in a house with thin walls or if you have roommates, you may not be able to concentrate because of the noise, so it is best to choose one that is silent or has a low noise level.

Especially in India, where many people live with their families, it is very important that you dont have to worry about sound when you use it.

Finally, there is the price range.

The price range of sextoy ranges widely, from around RS500 at the cheapest to RS10,000 or more at the highest.

Its good to consider how much money you can afford and how much you want to buy.

Do you want your family to not find out about sextoy?

I live with my family and want to use sextoy without them finding out! If you are a man, you should buy a camouflage sextoy that does not look like a sextoy at first glance.

For men, there are many masturbators that do not look like a sextoy, and for women, there are vibrators that only look like cosmetics.

If you choose such a type, youll be safe in case your family members find out.

How to buy sextoys in India

The best way to purchase sextoy is through online shopping.

For more information on how to purchase sextoy, please see the article below.

Sextoy is one of them.

Therefore, you can easily get sextoy in India by using online shopping.

SexToysINDIA is a long established and stable sextoy store and you can have sextoy delivered to any place in India.

They also offer cash on delivery, so those who are worried about shopping with a credit card do not have to worry.

Of course, the latest security is in place, so your information will not be taken out when you use your credit card.

To begin with, many people may be concerned about whether they are legally allowed to purchase sextoy.

ikmAs it turns out, its not illegal.

Right now, it is not open to the public because the Indian adult market is still in the development stage, but it will gradually spread from now on.

Take advantage of sextoy and open the door to new pleasures and culture.

Cautions for Indians using sextoy

When using sextoy, keep the following three things in mind

Keep sex toys clean

Watch out for electrical leakage

Beware of the heat generated by the body while using a sex toy

As I mentioned earlier, many sextoy products are used for the delicate zone.

Therefore, it is most important to keep the sextoy itself clean. It is very important to keep the sextoy itself clean, because if a slight scratch is created by friction, bacteria can enter and breed there.

It is safe to wear a condom when using the masturbator, just in case.

In addition, many sextoy devices are powered by a power source, so if they are not waterproof, there is a possibility of electric shock or malfunction due to wetness.

Some may even develop heat during continuous use. If the fever becomes too much, you may get burned, so be careful.

If you get a fever during use, stop driving the sextoy immediately and refrain from using it.

You will enjoy sex more if you keep it safe and use it correctly.

Summary

What did you think?

In this article, we have introduced the recommended sextoy for the beginners of sextoy in India.

The sextoy market is growing rapidly in India and it will continue to grow steadily in the future.

As India is a rather closed-minded country, it can be difficult to be open about ones sexual habits and values.

However, being faithful to ones desires by properly dissolving ones sexual desire is very effective for ones physical and mental health.

If this is your first time to learn about sextoy, or if you are interested in using sextoy, why not give it a try?

Indian Sextoys for ur best! will introduce you to sextoy and other trivia about sextoy, sexuality, and sexuality for men and women.

I want to read more! If you think its a great idea, please bookmark it.
CAIRO  The Alexander County Housing Authority board has tentatively selected a new executive director, pending approval of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

The troubled housing authority has been without permanent leadership for a year. In April, with the housing authoritys finances in shambles, Jefferson County Housing Authority Director Tom Upchurch was tapped to serve as executive director on an interim basis, a position he held until October.

That month, Pulaski County Housing Authority Director JoAnn Pink took over the interim director title. Both Upchurch and Pink continued their full-time commitments to their respective housing authorities while assisting in Cairo.

Big decisions loom in 2016

The housing authority faces several critical decisions moving into the months ahead, including what to do about two family housing developments in Cairo that need at least $11 million in improvements immediately just to meet basic health and safety standards for the residents and their children living there. Millions more is needed into the future, either for renovations or to build new units.

Getting a full-time executive director solely committed to the Alexander County Housing Authority has been a top priority for the board.

Board Chairman Andy Clarke said that of the roughly 16 people who applied, a review by HUD officials determined eight of those applicants met basic qualifications for the job. Of those applicants, the board narrowed its preferred candidates to a top four.

Clarke said those four individuals were interviewed in mid-December, during a special meeting of the board.

We have tentatively selected someone, Clarke said. We have sent a request to HUD that they approve this person, and we are awaiting their approval.

Clarke said HUD was notified of the selection after the meeting, and he hoped they would move sooner. As officials recommended evacuation in parts of Alexander County this past week during flooding, Clarke said he had been hopeful of having someone in place to assist if public housing residents had to evacuate in Cairo, as they did in 2011.

This past week, Clarke said he followed up his original email from several weeks ago, asking again that HUD officials sign off on the boards selection, asking that they expedite a decision in lieu of flooding, so we dont get caught in a situation that, if they have to evacuate, theres no executive director.

Preferred candidate from region

The board has not officially named its tentative selection for executive director, awaiting HUDs approval. HUD officials are not typically involved in local housing authoritys hiring decisions, but are in this case because of problems with the previous administration, and allegations that the last permanent executive director, Martha Franklin, lacked basic qualifications for the job because she reportedly did not have a college degree, and the one before that, James Wilson, who oversaw the housing authority for about 24 years, is accused of approving generous and questionable payments to employees, including himself, in the form of contracts, salary, benefits, retirement incentives, food, travel and gifts.

Clarke said the tentatively selected candidate is from the Southern Illinois region, living within a 200-mile radius of Cairo.

I think this person will be very aggressive and handle the pressure and do a great job, he said.

The candidate does not have experience working for a housing authority, but has regional leadership experience, Clarke said. While several of the applicants had extensive experience managing housing authorities, Clarke said he believes that anyone can learn HUD regulations, but that not just anyone can step into this highly charged political situation in Cairo and get the job done.

This gentleman is quite aware of the situation in Cairo, Illinois, and is prepared to come in and take action and I do believe that he will have what it takes to stand tall and get it done, Clarke said.

Position advertised extensively

The position has been advertised on online sites for job seekers, with The Southern Illinoisan and elsewhere. The advertisement for the job says the housing authority seeks someone with a college degree, with a preference toward a management area, public housing management certification, and three years experience with a housing authority, preferably as executive director or assistant executive director.

It also seeks someone with strong management skills, computer knowledge, familiarity with public housing policies, and the ability to follow through on voluntary compliance agreements entered into with HUD in recent months.

Those agreements signed off on by the board are to address a host of issues for which HUD has cited the housing authority, including discriminatory practices in housing and hiring, and failure to provide adequate housing for people with disabilities as set forth by HUD regulations and the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The ad seeks someone to start this month, and states that the interim director  Pink  will stay on to assist in a transition through March. The listed salary range for the job is $65,000 to $75,000, plus benefits.

When Wilson retired in March 2013, he was making about $97,000, with a total pay and benefits package exceeding $150,000. For years, the housing authority has been contributing to two pension plans for employees, and covers 100 percent of health care costs. Tens of thousands of dollars above his salary and benefits in questionable payments have been made to Wilson in recent years, records show.

Strong leadership critical

Clarke said getting an executive director on board is critical for moving the housing authority forward. He believes that months ahead the housing authority will need to begin exploring the best way to leverage a mix of public and private funding in order to rebuild some type of mixed-income, scattered site housing for residents. He said it doesnt make sense to pump tens of millions of dollars into rehabilitating the two units in the worst shape  McBride Place and Elmwood Place  when it would be less expensive and better for the residents and community to build anew.

But all of this will take time, both Clarke and Pink cautioned. We need the patience of everyone on the outside to understand things can be done, but its just going to take time, Pink said. We need the patience of everyone so we can do what we need to do positively.

One improvement housing authority officials will undertake immediately is to significantly increase efforts to fight infestation, Clarke said. A new contract for extermination has been put in place after problems in job quality were cited with the previous one. A $40,000 state grant will allow the housing authority to quadruple extermination efforts, Clarke said, adding, I literally mean quadruple.

A major problem cited by tenants has been the persistent infestation of bedbugs, roaches, rats and other unwelcome pests.

Those increased extermination efforts should start early this month, Clarke said.
HERRIN  The 18-year-old woman from Herrin whom family reported missing a week ago, after she apparently sent a text message to family that read "Help," has been located in Chicago.

She has told her mother and law enforcement that she is not in need of police assistance and is fine, according to a press release from the Herrin Police Department issued Monday afternoon.

Herrin Police searching for missing woman Herrin Police Department is searching for finding Delia Ann Stacey.

Delia Ann Stacey was reported missing on Dec. 28 by family to the Herrin Police Department. Three days later, on Dec. 31, the Herrin Police Department issued a press release asking for the public's help in locating Stacey.

The police department reported that Stacey was located at about 11:15 a.m. Monday. Stacey's mother contacted Herrin police and advised that she had been reached by phone by her daughter, and that Stacey reported to her mother that she was fine.

The Herrin Police Department also reached out to Stacey via phone, and she reported to them she was fine and not in need of police assistance, according to the press release. A Chicago police officer was dispatched to make face-to-face contact with Stacey, and confirm her identity, which has happened.

She has been removed from the National Crime Information Center Database as a missing person.

Stacey advised that she did not need police assistance, and has been uncooperative with any criminal investigation, the Herrin Police Department reported.

Family members had informed police on Dec. 28 that they had last seen Stacey around 11 a.m. that day, when she had left home on foot. They believed she was going to meet a friend. Herrin Police reported that it was later that day when family reported they had received a text message from Stacey's phone number that read, "Help."

Because of the ominous correspondence reported by family, the story of her disappearance was picked up by national media outlets and has been shared thousands of times by people across the country on Facebook.

At the time, Herrin police reported that further contact with Stacey via her phone had been unsuccessful, as were attempts to determine the phone's location. The press release did not provide any insight as to why she texted the word "Help" to family, or why family and friends reportedly did not know her whereabouts.
CLEMSON  About 100 million years ago, a tiny beetle flew into a coniferous tree and became engulfed in its resin.

Though the tree fell to ruin in a time long forgotten, a drop of its resin fossilized into amber  with the beetle fully encased  and then survived the relentless ravages of time, resulting in one of the most spectacularly preserved ancient beetle specimens yet described.

First discovered in Myanmar, the rare fossil is now in the hands of international experts who are thrilled that it has managed to remain so exquisitely intact after almost a million centuries of existence.

For a beetle taxonomist and for the entomological community as a whole, this is an exciting discovery, said Michael Caterino, the director of the Clemson University Arthropod Collection. This is an extraordinary 99 million-year-old fossil in Burmese amber. We can see all the details of the external sculpturing of the wing covers and the head. We can see the mouth parts, which enable us to predict that this was a predator much like its modern relatives. And it has a lot of tantalizing characteristics that we hypothesized early members of this family had. But we no longer have to guess. Now we can confirm.

The ancient insect is a member of a family of beetles called Histeridae, which still thrive today with more than 4,000 species. The specimen is only about two millimeters long, which is about the width of the tip of a new crayon.

Insects are such a vast group that most people who work on them tend to specialize in very small subsets, said Caterino, who is Morse Chair of Arthropod Biodiversity at Clemson. So even within beetles, I specialize on this one family: Histeridae. Mostly I study living members, doing fieldwork throughout North and South America in pursuit of new species. But I also try to put together evolutionary trees and see how they have evolved over time. Thats why the discovery of this fossil was so exciting to me. It provides tangible evidence to back up some previous inferences, but it also reveals some surprises.

To ensure that it remains undamaged, the beetle fossil is now housed in Stuttgart State Museum of Natural History in Germany. Caterino has not seen the fossil in person, but his museum partners have provided him with high-resolution images that have enabled him to intensively study of the insects visible features. Caterino has co-authored a research article about the discovery with Karin Wolf-Schwenninger and Gunter Bechly titled Cretonthophilus tuberculatus, a remarkable new genus and species of hister beetle (Coleoptera: Histeridae) from Cretaceous Burmese amber

.

In most cases, I wouldnt consider photography adequate for my research, said Caterino, who has been studying the Histeridae for nearly 20 years. But at my direction, Karin and Gunter were able to take fantastic photographs of the fossil that provided every angle I needed. This is a new fossil genus species that weve called Cretonthophilus tuberculatus. Cretonthophilus indicates that its a Cretaceous relative of the modern-day genus Onthophilus, while tuberculatus refers to the large bumps on the sides of its thorax.

Several aspects of the anatomy of the new species suggest that the fossil species may have been associated with early ants. This is a common habit in beetles, and this would be one of the earliest associations. However, at this point this can only be hypothesized.

Unfortunately, ancient ecology is not so easily observed, even in excellent fossils, Caterino said.

Fossils provide windows into the past, and with todays high-tech visualization and DNA technologies, along with a form of X-ray imaging called micro computed tomography that can peek internally into tiny structures, scientists are able to obtain more detailed data from fossil specimens than ever before. Caterino is currently discussing the possibility of CT-scanning the unique specimen of Cretonthophilus to see if its internal anatomy is as well-preserved as its exterior structure.

In determining evolutionary relationships by looking only at modern species, scientists are essentially guessing what the ancestors must have looked like, Caterino said. But in this case, we are able to see the ancestor. This gives us a lot of incentive to go into more fossil collections and search for more evidence of what creatures looked like  and even how they behaved  millions of years ago.
NEW YORK  Patrick Brown is on an improbable mission: Make a burger Americans love, minus the meat.

Veggie patties have been around for decades, but Brown and others want to make foods without animal products that look, cook and taste like the real thing  and can finally appeal to the masses.

"We are not making a veggie burger. We're creating meat without using animals," said Brown, a former Stanford scientist who has been scanning plants in search of compounds that can help recreate meat.

Brown's company, Impossible Foods, is part of a wave of startups aiming to wean Americans off foods like burgers and eggs, and their efforts are attracting tens of millions of dollars from investors. The goal is to lessen the dependence on livestock for food, which they say isn't as healthy, affordable or environmentally friendly as plant-based alternatives.

The challenge is that most Americans happily eat meat and eggs. That means that, without a breakthrough, those seeking to upend factory farming risk becoming footnotes in the history of startups.

To understand the difficulty of their task, consider the transformation raw chicken undergoes when cooked. It starts as a slimy, unappetizing blob, then turns into a tender piece of meat.

LEARNING TO MIMIC NATURE

In its office in Southern California, Beyond Meat works on "chicken" strips made with pea and soy proteins that have been sold at places like Whole Foods since 2012. But founder Ethan Brown concedes the product needs work.

To give the "meat" its fat, for instance, canola oil is evenly mixed throughout the product.

"That's not really how it works in an animal," said Brown, a vegan. "The fat can be a sheath on tendons."

To form the strips, a mixture is pressed through a machine that forms and sets the product's texture with heating and cooling chambers. The method isn't new in the world of fake meats, but the company says it fine-tuned the process to deliver a more realistic offering.

Brown dismisses the idea that fake meat might weird people out and says it's a "desirable evolution."

"It's like moving from the horse-drawn carriage to the automobile, or the landline to the iPhone," he said.

But Beyond Meat isn't quite there yet; The Huffington Post described the strips as having an "unpleasant" taste that inhabits a "strange territory between meat and vegetable."

At Impossible Foods, the patty is made by extracting proteins from foods like spinach and beans, then combining them with other ingredients. The company, which has about 100 employees, expects the product to be available in the latter half of next year, initially through a food-service operator.

Few have tasted it, but the vision continues to gain traction. In October, Impossible Foods said it raised $108 million in funding, on top of its previous $74 million. Among its investors are Bill Gates, Google Ventures and Horizons Ventures.

CULTURING MEAT, JUST LIKE YOGURT

Another startup isn't totally ditching the cow.

With $15.5 million in funding, Modern Meadow in New York City takes cells from a cow through a biopsy and cultures them to grow into meat. At a conference in February, company founder Andras Forgacs likened the process to culturing yogurt or brewing beer.

"This is an extension of that," he said.

Modern Meadow doesn't have a product on the market yet either. The company says it doesn't necessarily want to replicate steaks and burgers, and gave a hint of the type of foods it might make by presenting "steak chips" for attendees at a small conference last year.

Only about 200 people have tried the chips, which Forgacs describes as "crispy, crunchy beef jerky."

Citing the demand for more openness about how food is made, he sees a day when people tour meat plants, as they do with breweries.

"There could be your friendly neighborhood meat brewery," Forgacs said.

BANNING THE WORD 'VEGAN'

In San Francisco, Hampton Creek's mission is to replace the eggs in products without anyone noticing. In trying to appeal to the mainstream, co-founder and CEO Josh Tetrick has a simple rule.

"Number one, never use the word 'vegan,'" he said.

To avoid perceptions its eggless spread Just Mayo won't taste good, Hampton Creek even removed the V-word from the label. Tetrick says what makes the product different is that it tastes better and costs less  not that it's made with a protein from a Canadian yellow pea instead of eggs.

"The egg-free thing is almost irrelevant," he said.

Swapping out a single ingredient in a product may make it easier for people to swallow change. It may also make change simpler to achieve; Just Mayo's consistency and taste are similar to mayonnaise. The product, which is available at retailers including Target and Walmart, is gaining enough traction that the American Egg Board, which is responsible for slogans like the "Incredible, Edible Egg," sees it as a "major threat," according to emails made public through a records request.

So far, Hampton Creek has attracted $120 million in funding. It continues to screen plants for compounds that can help replace eggs in recipes and plans to eventually introduce a scrambled-egg product.
The conversation about race relations changed after nine African-Americans were shot to death by a white man at Mother Emanuel AME Church. It became more urgent, and it included people who hadn't spoken up before.

It also brought into clarity one key reason it is important to build the International African-American Museum in Charleston: Educating people about the African-American story is vital to stopping racial bigotry.

Of course people are educated in many ways  schools and colleges, work settings and television. Probably one of the most defining ways is also one of the most difficult to change: The attitudes of family and friends.

Recently, some of the country's best recognized voices on the issue of race  documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., who also makes documentaries  agreed that Mayor Joe Riley's lofty vision for the African-American Museum is a concrete way to make a difference. The two men were featured, along with Riley, in a program called "American Fault Line" to raise money for the museum and to discuss race, history and healing. It is telling, and encouraging, that the Gaillard Center performance hall was filled.

This was not the first, nor will it be the last, attempt here to have serious, meaningful dialogue about race since the Emanuel horror. All involved seem to yearn for more than talk, but most fumble when it comes to knowing what substantive actions can be taken to address the thorny issues of racism and inequality.

Not everyone can be a Henry Louis Gates or a Ken Burns whose work opens the eyes of millions of people.

But both men said supporting the African-American museum is a way to do something worthwhile to educate people who live in or visit Charleston.

Dr. Gates is on the advisory board for the $3.5 million Pinckney Fund, named for the Rev. Clementa Pinckney, who died in the Emanuel shooting. The fund will provide scholarships to low-income students, particularly the children and grandchildren of Emanuel shooting victims.

And on the flip side of college education, Gates said African-American history must be regarded as part of the American story and curricula should reflect that.

Burns said Charleston is in a special position to address race relations because of the Emanuel shooting. Indeed, it was after he learned about the shooting that he called Riley and asked how he could help.

Another reason is that 44 percent of the slaves who were imported to America came through Charleston. They were taken off board near the site of the planned African-American Museum. Burns compared its significance to African-Americans as akin to Ellis Island's significance to immigrants to New York. He also offered to help design the educational components of the museum.

Riley wrapped up the discussion by saying the $75 million African-American museum is "desperately needed because it has been missing."

"We can't understand who we are as a people if we don't understand the experience of African-Americans who were brought here against their will," Riley said.

The museum's aim would be to teach that information  beginning with children.

Throughout the Charleston area, and far beyond, people want to do something to ensure against more tragedies born out of racism. And they want their communities and their country to offer fair and equal opportunities for all.

Supporting the International African-American Museum is an important way to help.

From The Post and Courier via The Associated Press
AgriBiz & Farm Expo opens Jan. 13

FLORENCE  The fourth annual South Carolina AgriBiz and Farm Expo will be held Jan. 13-14 at the Florence Civic Center, 3300 West Radio Drive, Florence.

This years expo focuses on Efficiency and Effectiveness on the Farm and includes educational sessions and a trade show.

New this year, breakfast and lunch at the expo will feature some of the tasty offerings of the Fresh on the Menu Food Truck Rodeo. Attendees can enjoy food from Its a Matter of Taste, Big Dawg BBQ, The Donut Guy and Sea Eagle Market seafood. The Food Truck Rodeo will be open daily from 8:30 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The Taste of South Carolina Event, sponsored by AgSouth, scheduled for Wednesday, Jan. 13, highlights the 2016 Chef Ambassador class, S.C. commodities including beef, pork, poultry, soybean and peanut, and other Certified SC specialty foods.

S.C. Advocates for Agriculture will host the Commissioners Breakfast on Thursday, Jan. 14, with proceeds benefitting the Commissioners School for Agriculture.

Daily admission to the Agribiz and Farm Expo is $5. Taste of South Carolina and Commissioners Breakfast tickets may be purchased separately for $25 each. For more information about the expo or to purchase tickets, visit www.scagribizexpo.com

Private pesticide applicator training

The Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service in Orangeburg County will offer a private pesticide applicator license certification training on Wednesday, Jan. 20, from 8:30 a.m. until 5 p.m. at the county extension office located at 1550 Henley St, Suite 200, Orangeburg, SC 29115.

The private applicator license is intended for agricultural producers who must purchase, use or supervise the use of restricted-use pesticides on their operation. This is not a certification for homeowners, commercial applicators or pest control operators.

Contact Jonathan Croft at the Clemson Extension Office to register for the program at 803-534-6280 or e-mail croft@clemson.edu. Contact Jonathan Croft by Monday Jan. 18, if you plan to attend. Cost of the training is $100 payable at the door with cash or check. Fee covers the cost of handouts, break refreshments and lunch.

If you need special accommodations due to a disability in order to participate, please notify the Orangeburg County Extension Office at 803-534-6280.

USDA removes payments to managers not actively engaged in farming

WASHINGTON  The U.S. Department of Agriculture has finalized a rule to ensure that farm safety-net payments are issued only to active managers of farms that operate as joint ventures or general partnerships, consistent with the direction and authority provided by Congress in the 2014 Farm Bill. The action, which exempts family farm operations, closes a loophole where individuals who were not actively part of farm management still received payments.

"The federal farm safety-net programs are designed to protect against unanticipated changes in the marketplace for those who actively share in the risk of that farming operation," said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack. "To ensure that help goes to those who genuinely need it, such as America's farm families, the Farm Bill authorized USDA to close a loophole and limit payments from those not involved on a daily basis in nonfamily farm management."

Since 1987, the broad definition of "actively engaged" resulted in some general partnerships and joint ventures adding managers to the farming operation, qualifying for more payments, that did not substantially contribute to management. The rule applies to operations seeking more than one farm manager, and requires measureable, documented hours and key management activities each year. Some operations of certain sizes and complexity may be allowed up to three qualifying managers under limited conditions. The changes apply to payments for 2016 and subsequent crop years for Agriculture Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) Programs, Loan Deficiency Payments (LDP) and Marketing Loan Gains (MLG) realized via the Marketing Assistance Loan program.

As required by Congress, the new rule does not apply to family farms, or change regulations related to contributions of land, capital, equipment, or labor. The changes go into effect for the 2016 crop year for most farms. Farms that have already planted fall crops for 2016 have until the 2017 crop year to comply. For more details, producers are encouraged to consult their local Farm Service Agency office.
Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.
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I hope to share my love of all things vintage as I craft, knit, sew, cook and homestead on our 8 acre farmlet, and read in any time left over. My particular love is 1930s, 1940s and early 1950s. I am also passionate about our earth and doing all we can to help to make this a better planet for us all by learning to live as simply as possible.




there is too much to see, to learn, to get irritated about as you travel. This blog is about encounters I have had travelling around Uganda.
An insider has informed Nigeriafilms.com that female rapper is in for another trouble in her career. According to what we were told, the...
The State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (SOFAZ) hasnt changed the foreign currency structure of its investment portfolio for 2016.



On Dec.29, the president of Azerbaijan issued a decree on the approval of main directions (of the program) of using SOFAZ funds for 2016.



Thus, 50 percent of assets may be placed in US dollars, 35 percent - in euros, five percent - in British pounds, and the remaining 10 percent - in other currencies.



Some 35.9 percent of the total investment portfolio of SOFAZ is concentrated in euro (over 11 billion euros), five percent - in British pounds (1.13 billion pounds), 1.5 percent - in Japanese yen (63.95 billion yen), 1.4 percent - in Chinese yuan (3.04 billion yuan), one percent - in Turkish lira, 0.5 percent - in Australian dollars, 1.4 percent - in Russian rubles, 1.2 percent  in Korean won, 1.1 percent - in other foreign currencies. The remainder of the portfolio (3.2 percent, or $1.1 million) is concentrated in gold.

Also, SOFAZ will be keeping more than $100 million to support the liquidity of its funds at a level sufficient for the timely and complete ensuring of cash and other transfers scheduled in connection with the funds expenditures in 2016, as it was in 2015.



SOFAZ will be keeping these funds in short-term highly liquid money market instruments. This amount may be reduced below the level of $100 million only for the period of up to seven days.



In accordance with the program for 2016, the oil fund may transfer up to 60 percent of the total value of its investment portfolio to foreign managers, as it was in 2015. At the same time, one foreign manager can receive no more than five percent of investment portfolio.



The volume of portfolio transferred to the Treasury Department of the World Bank (WB) within the framework of RAMP (Reserve assets management programme) shouldnt exceed $500 million.



The projected total value (average weighed volume) of the investment portfolio of SOFAZ for 2016 was set at 51.3 billion manats. For 2015, the forecast was formed at the level of 28.2 billion manats, for 2014 - 27 billion manats, for 2013 - 25.2 billion manats, for 2012 - 23 billion manats.





/By Trend/




Saudi Arabia has used recent protests around its embassy in Tehran as a tool to create further tension in the region, Iranian Foreign Ministrys spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari has said at a press conference.

He added Iran's security forces have taken control of the embassy and are acting to their duty in ensuring the safety of foreign diplomats on Iran's soil, Trend correspondent reported from Tehran January 4.

The remarks came after Saudi Arabia discontinued its diplomatic relations with Iran and expelled Iranian diplomats from the country, after Iranian protestors stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a Saudi consulate in Mashhad, Razavi Khorasan Province.

The Saudi embassy was torched in an attack Jan. 2.

The protestors were angry with Riyadh's act of executing Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, whom Iran had long supported and warned against the execution of.

Al-Nimr was an outspoken religious leader who called for reform in the Saudi Arabian regimes approach to minorities.

Ansari further accused Riyadh of carrying criminal acts in Yemen and supporting terrorist groups in Syria.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Iranian diplomat stressed good relations with neighboring country Turkey, pointing out that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in recent statements has underlined his country's ties with Tehran.

He also commented on the New York meeting on Syria and hoped Saudi Arabia will not find a chance to pursue its intensions to aggravate tension over the case.

Ansari further pointed to the Iran nuclear case, saying Israel and Saudi Arabia did whatever they could to prevent a deal between Iran and the world powers.

They are sure to pursue their efforts to hamper the [implementation] process of the deal, he stated.





/By Trend/




Syrian refugees wont leave Turkey, even if the war is over in their motherland, said Fatma Sahin, Turkish former minister for family and social policy.

She said all the conditions have been created to accommodate Syrian refugees in Turkey, the Haber7 newspaper reported Jan. 4

The majority of Syrian refugees have already adapted to life in Turkey, added Sahin.

Currently, Turkey is hosting more than two million Syrian refugees on its soil.

The Syrian refugee camps in the country accommodate about 300,000 people. The rest of them are spread across the provinces and cities of Turkey.

In Istanbul alone, there are currently 40,000 refugees from Syria. Ankara has so far spent $8 billion to upkeep the Syrian refugees.

/By Trend/




Overview

Over the last few years I have written a large number of pieces on aspects of the paranormal and visual culture, but many are no longer available or are hard to access. This blog format was a convenient way of putting my bibliography online and adding some of the old items, plus the occasional new one. Click on the 'Bibliography' tab above to see my publications, and on Biographical miscellanea for a bit more about me.
Don't know much about the anime series other than the thousands of images that have been splashed in my direction since this phenomenon ...
US industrial giant General Electric Company (GE) said it has won a landmark engineering and construction contract worth nearly $1 billion from Saudi Electricity Company (SEC) for its combined cycle power plant at Waad Al Shamal in the north of the kingdom.



As per the deal, GE will deliver the turnkey power plant, supplying four advanced GE 7F.05 heavy-duty gas turbines and a GE steam turbine, and featuring solar innovation technology.



The 1,390 MW combined cycle plant will be able to provide the equivalent power needed to supply more than 500,000 Saudi homes, said the GE in a statement.



Scheduled for completion in 48 months, the plant will support the phosphate mining operations in the locality, in turn driving industrialisation and job creation for Saudi nationals, it stated.



Ziyad Al Shiha, CEO of Saudi Electricity Company, said: "We continue to strengthen the kingdoms power infrastructure to meet the growing demand for electricity and to accelerate all-round growth."



"Waad Al Shamal is a strategically located power plant that has tremendous potential to energise the local economy and create jobs for Saudis through its support to the industrial sector. By awarding the contract to GE, we are further building on the long-term partnership we have with GE, with a focus on advanced technologies," he noted.



One of the gas turbines will be assembled fully at the GE Manufacturing Technology Center in Dammam, underlining GEs commitment to localisation.



The remaining gas turbines will be produced at GEs manufacturing plant in Greenville, US and the steam turbine will be produced at its manufacturing plant in New York.



Mohammed Mohaisen, the GE president and chief executive, gas power systems (Middle East and North Africa) said: "We have been a long-term and trusted partner of SEC and we are committed to delivering our cutting edge competencies across the power sector of the kingdom - from turnkey project development to accelerating power plant productivity and efficiency through our digital industrial solutions."



"Waad Al Shamal brings significant value to the kingdom by strengthening the northern grid and through its potential to energise the local industrial sector. By installing a gas turbine that is fully assembled at GEs Manufacturing Technology Center in Dammam, we are delivering on our commitment to provide stronger localisation support to our partners," he added.



Last year, GE had signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with SEC to set up a joint venture that will extend operations and maintenance support to its power plants in the kingdom.-TradeArabia News Service
At least two Sunni Muslim mosques have been attacked in Iraq in apparent retaliation for the execution of a senior Shi'ite cleric in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, officials and police said on Monday.



The interior ministry in Baghdad confirmed the attacks late Sunday in Hilla, around 100 km south of Baghdad. It didn't confirm reports that at least one person was killed.



Iraq has faced sectarian bloodletting for years, mainly between the Sunni minority and Shi'ite majority that was empowered after the US-led invasion in 2003.



Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi ordered the provincial authorities ``to chase the criminal gangs'' who attacked the mosques.



He blamed the attacks on "Daesh and those who are similar to them,'' according to a statement that refers to Islamic State by one of its Arabic acronyms.



The attack on the Ammar bin Yasir mosque in central Hilla destroyed its dome and several walls, according to a Reuters TV cameraman who visited the site. A provincial council member and a police source said a guard inside the building had been killed.



Another mosque in Hilla's northern outskirts, Al Fath Al Mubeen, was also attacked, the council member and police source said.-Reuters
Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday, responding to the storming of its embassy in Tehran in an escalating row between the rival Middle East powers over Riyadh's execution of a Shi'ite Muslim cleric.



Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that the envoy of Shi'ite Iran had been asked to quit Saudi Arabia within 48 hours. The kingdom, he said, would not allow the Islamic republic to undermine its security.



Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran early on Sunday and Shi'ite Iran's top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, predicted "divine vengeance" for the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.



Jubeir said the attack in Tehran was in line with what he said were earlier Iranian assaults on foreign embassies there and with Iranian policies of destabilising the region by creating "terrorist cells" in Saudi Arabia.



"The kingdom, in light of these realities, announces the cutting of diplomatic relations with Iran and requests the departure of delegates of diplomatic missions of the embassy and consulate and offices related to it within 48 hours. The ambassador has been summoned to notify them," he said.



Meanwhile, Saudi diplomats evacuated from Iran after their embassy was stormed by protesters in Tehran landed in Dubai on their way home to the kingdom, Saudi-owned Al Arabiya TV reported early on Monday.  Reuters
Attacks by five suicide bombers on an Iraqi military base north of Baghdad on Sunday killed at least 15 members of the security forces and wounded 22 others, security sources said.



Two of the bombers detonated their vehicle-borne explosives at the western gate of Camp Speicher, a former U.S. base outside the Sunni city of Tikrit.



Three others exploded themselves after entering the section of the base where Iraqi police are being trained, police and military sources in the Salahuddin operations command said.



Islamic State, the militant group controlling swathes of Iraq's north and west, claimed responsibility for the blasts in a statement distributed by supporters online.



It said it targeted "trainers from the rejectionist army", a term used by the Sunni insurgents to describe Shi'ite Muslims.



Iraq is gripped by a sectarian conflict mostly between Shi'ites and Sunnis that has been exacerbated by the rise of the ultra-hardline Sunni insurgents of Islamic State.



Camp Speicher became a symbol of the group's brutality and hatred for Iraq's Shi'ite majority after as many as 1,700 soldiers from the base were killed in mid-2014 during the militants' lightning advance across the Syrian border.



Iraqi forces retook the centre of the western city of Ramadi last week, a victory that could help boost Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, who has been rebuilding the military after stunning defeats in the face of Islamic State.



Iraq's Defence Ministry said Islamic State has stepped up suicide blasts in response to setbacks in Ramadi. It said in a statement the group had used 22 bombers in two recent failed attacks in Anbar where Ramadi is located. The military responded, killing at least 42 militants including the bombers, the ministry said.  Reuters
The amount of waste in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia has exceeded 6,000 tonnes daily, 60 per cent of which consists of food, said a top official, citing a recent statistics study.



Majed Al Ghamlas, deputy executive manger of philanthropy organization Etaam Association was speaking in reference to a cooperation agreement signed with Red Sea Mall in Jeddah for food saving awareness.



Choosing to place our food saving booths at Red Sea Mall was due to our recognition that it is the biggest and most famous shopping mall in Jeddah. Therefore, launching out campaign from here will grant us to reach the widest range of audience that extends from locals to expats, said Al Ghamlas.



The CSR initiative intends raise public awareness of food waste and its negative consequences on religious, social, humanitarian, health, and environmental level; through providing accessible means inside the mall to encourage the public to take an active role in sparing their excess food.



Etaam intends to provide six food saving booths at Red Sea Mall's food court area to eliminate food wasting habits.



The agreement is to include orientation on food preserving methods through awareness messages and training programs, to cultivate a higher realization perception to the mall visitors.



Mohamed Al Alwi, CEO of The Red Sea Markets, the owner company of Red Sea Mall, said during the signing occasion: "All society members should cooperate and put a valid collaborative effort to stop this phenomenon, especially that we can invest the food waste and direct it to charity, instead of throwing it away."



Our Islamic principles prevent us from reckless food wasting. It continually persuades us to preserve our blessings, but the high percentage of excess food in Jeddah, motivated us to launch this initiative. We intend to continue our cooperation with Etaam's Association, and invest in more philanthropy initiatives, which projects positive benefits on the mall visitors, and people of Jeddah, as we believe in the essential role of top corporate in community service, Al Alwi added.  TradeArabia News Service
Saudi Arabia's breach of ties with Iran will extend to cutting air traffic between the countries, ending commercial relations and barring its citizens from travel to the Islamic Republic, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told Reuters on Monday.



Iranian pilgrims will still be welcome to visit Makkah and Madinah, Al-Jubeir said in an interview, adding that Iran must behave like "a normal country" instead of "a revolution" and respect international norms before ties could be restored.

Al-Jubeir accused Iran of creating "terrorist cells" among the kingdom's Shi'ite minority.

Earlier, the UAE announced it was downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran and limiting the number of Iranian diplomats in the country, state news agency Wam reported.



Close allies Saudi Arabia and Bahrain earlier cut ties with Iran after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi mission there, angered by Riyadh's decision to execute a Shi'ite cleric.



"The UAE has decided to reduce the level of diplomatic representation with the Islamic Republic of Iran to the level of a charge d'affaires and to reduce the number of Iranian diplomats in the country," Wam said.



Sudan also said it was cutting diplomatic ties with Iran over the storming of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran.



"In response to the barbaric attacks on the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad ... the government of Sudan announces the immediate severing of ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran," a Foreign Ministry statement said.



Meawhile, Iran said Riyadh had used the embassy incident and a similar attack on its consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad as an "excuse" to stoke tensions.



Oil prices rose almost two percent, overcoming economic weakness in Asia, as the two big petroleum exporters traded angry words and tensions spilled into other crude producers such as Iraq.



Stock markets across the Gulf dropped sharply, led by Qatar which fell more than 2.5 percent, with geopolitical jitters outweighing any benefit from stronger oil.



Crude importer China declared itself "highly concerned" with the developments, in a rare foray into Middle East diplomacy. The United States and Germany called for restraint, while Russia offered to mediate an end to the dispute.



The tensions threatened to derail efforts to end Syria's five-year-old civil war, where Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab powers support rebel groups against Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad.



In neighbouring Lebanon, newspapers said the spat had clouded the hopes of filling the vacant presidency that had been raised last month after Iran and Saudi Arabia both voiced support for a power-sharing deal.



Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based seat of Sunni Muslim learning, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia, condemned the attacks on Riyadh's missions and stressed Tehran's obligation to respect the internal affairs of the kingdom. - Reuters


Iraqi soldiers evacuate families from the recently recaptured city of Ramadi, west of Iraq on January 3. Islamic State militants are holding around 200 families hostage in Ramadi, an Iraqi official said on December 31, 2015, three days after the western city was mostly retaken from the terrorist group. Head of the Anbar province local council, Sabah Karhut, said that the jihadists were holding the families in the eastern part of Ramadi to stop US-led coalition warplanes and Iraqi ground forces from hunting Islamic State remnants in the city. EPA/STR


Emirates and leading aircraft manufacturer Airbus teamed up to search for the ultimate A380 fan in the UAE ahead of the Dubai Airshow in November last year.

A Facebook competition, jointly organised by the two firms, garnered over 1,000 entries in less than three days. To enter, participants had to express why they were ardent fans of the Emirates A380, in less than 380 words.

The winner, Yves Heye, was treated to a special VIP tour of the Emirates first two-class configured A380, which was unveiled at the Dubai Airshow.

Heyes tour concluded with the Surprise of the Year when he was invited to visit Toulouse, France, for an exclusive tour of the A380 manufacturing facility. The Ultimate A380 Fan flew to France in December 2015 on an Emirates A380 where he witnessed the A380 Final Assembly Line with an Emirates A380 currently under production.

He also visited the A380 mock-up cabin centre and other Airbus facilities where he was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly an A380 from Toulouse to Marseille under the command of an Airbus test pilot in a true-to-life flight simulator.  TradeArabia News Service
Etihad Airways has filed an appeal against a German court's decision last week that revoked its rights to jointly sell tickets for 29 routes operated by Air Berlin, the Abu Dhabi-based airline said on Monday.



"We will fight all the way to protect our investment, to protect our partnership with Air Berlin and to protect competitive choice in German air travel," Etihad chief executive James Hogan said in a statement following the filing at the court in Luneburg.



A Braunschweig court on Wednesday said Etihad may not continue to operate the code share flights between Jan. 16 and the end of the winter schedule in March because they were not covered by the current air traffic rights agreement between Germany and the United Arab Emirates.  Reuters
AccorHotels, a leading global hotel operator, is adding to its strategic cluster of hotels in Dubai with the opening of the largest ibis property in the GCC region this month.



Opening its doors in mid-January, the economy hotel ibis One Central will join the hospitality chains two existing properties located within Dubai World Trade Centre: the midscale Novotel World Trade Centre and economy ibis World Trade Centre.



Located next to the Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, the new 588-room ibis One Central will be the second ibis hotel at Dubai World Trade Centre and the groups third property near the site, bringing the number of AccorHotels rooms in the district to 1,210.



Ibis One Central is designed with the modern, fast-paced guest in mind, with 24-hour check-in and complimentary wi-fi access throughout the property. It is within walking distance of Dubais World Trade Centre metro station and is also in close proximity to the Burj Khalifa, Dubai Mall, Dubai International Financial Centre and Jumeirah Beach, making it an ideal choice for the citys business and leisure travellers.



ibis One Central food and beverage venues include WOK & Co, an Asian fusion restaurant; and Cubano-Lito Bar & Grill, which offers light snacks and live music. Breakfast is served at the hotel from 4am to midday while a 24-hour menu is available in-room.



Other features include soundproofed rooms, gym access, underground car park and free shuttle to/from the beach and major shopping malls. Non-smoking rooms are also available. For business guests there are five, fully-equipped meeting rooms accommodating up to 200 people.



With Dubai World Trade Centre hosting a year-round calendar of world-class events, exhibitions and conferences, our strategic location within the bustling district means we can welcome business travellers and event attendees, said Frederic Gitzner, cluster general manager, Novotel & ibis World Trade Centre and ibis One Central. TradeArabia News Service
Tuesday's Highlights

Fun stuff to do Tuesday.

Veterans help available

Alisa Cochrane, a state of Wyoming veteran service officer, is available to meet with veterans and their families to discuss state and federal veterans' benefits, Department of Veteran Affairs claims or VA healthcare at the following places and times: In Casper, Vet Center, 1030 N. Poplar, Ste. B, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. If there is inclement weather, please check with the staff at the outreach locations to ensure Cochrane will be available. She is available at other times by calling 472-0212.

Art 321 open

ART 321 will be open as of Tuesday. We are looking forward to the new year, and we begin with these great art exhibits.

Michele McDonald and Dick Sorenson are two of Caspers talented artists who will display their artwork in this great exhibit. Micheles show is all about color, which is displayed beautifully in her portraits of Wyoming animals and in her colorful abstract art. Michele shares her ideas and offers instruction in her art classes held at the Casper Rec Center and works out of her studio at the Wolcott Galleria.

Dick Sorenson has been painting for 45 years and currently works from his home studio. Dick is very well known for his beautiful western landscapes.

The work of these two artists will be on display for the month of January.

Concurrently, the Anything Goes Show" will also be on display. Local artists will be exhibiting all original artwork. As the title suggests, all mediums and all subject matter was welcomed.

There will be an opening reception for this exhibit this Thursday from 4 to 8 p.m., featuring live music by Jerry Mitchell and Chris Weydeveld, from the band Red Butte.

This exhibit runs through Jan. 29.

Launching Little Learners resumes

Start early on the path to reading and school success! Launching Little Learners at the Natrona County Library will resume at 10:30 a.m. Call 577-READ ext. 122 for more information.

Mandatory kindergarten parent meetings set

It is time to begin thinking about kindergarten enrollment (enrollment window will not open until the first part of January 2016). If you are interested in learning more about the district's two dual language immersion programs (Spanish at Park and Mandarin at Paradise Valley), please plan on attending one of the following informational meetings.

All meetings are on Tuesday and held at Central Services Facility, 970 N. Glenn Road. 6 p.m. Jan. 5.

Parents must attend a meeting in order for their child to be considered for the program. If you are unable to attend one of the meetings, please contact Dawn Dewald, principal at Park, or Aaron Wilson, principal at Paradise Valley.

Reading the West book discussion

The Natrona County Library and Fort Caspar Museum will continue their book discussion series celebrating all things Western, from rugged heroes and horses to books that ride off into the sunset. Please join us at 6:30 p.m. at Fort Caspar to discuss "Butch Cassidy, My Uncle" by Bill Betenson. The discussion is free and open to the public. To participate, pick up your copy of "Butch Cassidy, My Uncle" at the library's second floor Reference Desk. Call 577-READ ext. 2 for more information.
Jay Martin is the CEO of Joshua's Storehouse and has been for almost 10 years. Before that, he was a fundraiser for the nonprofit agency. He has been in Casper for 40 years -- 17 as a teacher at Natrona County High School, then after retirement, he went into a mortgage brokerage business, and then worked with the American Red Cross and Special Olympics Wyoming. "Then I settled here and found a home," he said of Joshua's.

What is Joshua's Storehouse? We are a volunteer food pantry with one paid staff, I guess you could say; I work on a stipend. We supply food to people in the city of Casper and Natrona County. We verify their existence through a driver's license and Social Security card, and then we give them as much food as they need for as long as they need it. We give away food for balanced meals. We don't consider a package of crackers as a meal here.

Tell us about the numbers you served in 2015. (As of Tuesday) we have served 1,135 first-timers, 10,661 children, 23,677 adults, for a total of 34,338 persons served through the door. Those people make up 8,001 households. During the year, we have given away 742,435 pounds of food.

How do you get your food and money? A good portion comes from food drives -- the students at our high schools and elementary schools are just phenomenal. Volunteers come in off the street and say, here it is, we get 25,000 or 30,000 pounds that way. We buy a great deal from Food Bank of the Rockies, and they donate a bunch to us. An awful lot of our produce comes to us from them. We give produce and other perishables out once a week, and the people come and get what they need. Pizza Hut is under contract with us, we get 400 or 500 pounds of pizza a month. Little Caesars give us 15 to 20 pizzas a day and we freeze them. We buy a lot from groceries here -- one sells to us at their cost with no shipping added. Don't call me cheap, but I take the most congenial prices I can get. It takes a lot of money to run this organization as far as food goes. We also take a lot of groceries from people leaving town as long as it's sealed and the date is good.

What especially do you do for children? We are a partner agency for K.I.D.S. -- Kids in Distressed Situations. We were recommended by the Wyoming Department of Family Services. Anybody Title I or free or reduced lunches qualifies. We get goods from national manufacturers and distribute it all. It started with pillow pets -- odd little creatures -- but we gave them away. We have received over $500,000 worth of goods for a cost to us of $5,000. We've had Sketchers shoes and Ugg boots and shoes. We added Head Start and Early Head Start for the Gymboree stuff we get. We get $40 to $50,000 a year in clothing and we get it free. Recently, we've had almost $300,000 worth of Eddie Bauer -- high quality -- coats and vests and those were for the older kids, like junior high.

How can people help? We need some volunteer time, need a volunteer driver. Their cash really helps us out more than anything. The McMurrys and Subaru have been very generous. All that money goes to food and then we took a little bit out and sent it off to K.I.D.S. Our future doesn't belong to us, it belongs to our children. We believe in taking care of children and they in turn will take care of us. We say service to the Lord through service to the community in everything we do.

Joshua's Storehouse is located at 334 S. Wolcott St. downtown. Hours are 1 to 3:30 p.m. Monday, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, 1 to 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 1 to 3:30 p.m. Thursday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday. A driver's license and Social Security card for everybody in the family is needed to begin receiving help.
WASHINGTON  It's been like a long-delayed New Year's resolution for Republicans. But 2016 will finally be the year when they put legislation on President Barack Obama's desk repealing his health care law.

The bill undoing the president's prized overhaul will be the first order of business when the House reconvenes this coming week, marking a sharply partisan start on Capitol Hill to a congressional year in which legislating may take a back seat to politics.

There are few areas of potential compromise between Obama and the GOP majority in the House and Senate in this election year, but plenty of opportunities for political haymaking during the presidential campaign season.

Obama will veto the health law repeal bill, which also would cut money for Planned Parenthood. The measure already has passed the Senate under special rules protecting it from Democratic obstruction. But that's the point for Republicans, who intend to schedule a veto override vote for Jan. 22, when anti-abortion activists hold their annual march in Washington to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in 1973 that legalized abortion.

Despite dozens of past votes to repeal the health law in full or in part, Republicans never before have succeeded in sending a full repeal bill to the White House. They insist that doing so will fulfill promises to their constituents while highlighting the clear choice facing voters in the November presidential election.

Every Republican candidate has pledged to undo the health law. The Democrats running for president would keep it in place.

"You're going to see us put a bill on the president's desk going after Obamacare and Planned Parenthood so we'll finally get a bill on his desk to veto," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told conservative talk host Bill Bennett over the holidays.

"Then you're going to see the House Republican Conference, working with our senators, coming out with a bold agenda that we're going to lay out for the country, to say how we would do things very differently," Ryan said.

In the Senate, which reconvenes Jan. 11, a week later than the House, early action will include a vote on a proposal by Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican who is running for president, for an "audit" of the Federal Reserve. Democrats are likely to block it. But, like the health repeal bill in the House, the vote will answer conservative demands in an election year.

Also expected early in the Senate's year is legislation dealing with Syrian refugees, following House passage of a bill clamping down on the refugee program. Conservatives were angry when the year ended without the bill advancing. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky promised a vote, though without specifying whether it would be the House bill or something else.

The House Benghazi committee will continue its investigation of the attacks that killed four Americans in Libya in 2012, with an interview of former CIA Director David Petraeus on Jan. 6. That comes amid new Democratic accusations of political motives aimed at Hillary Clinton after the committee chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. for president. Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was secretary of state at the time of the Benghazi attacks.

The bold agenda promised by Ryan after succeeding former Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, as speaker last fall will begin to take shape at a House-Senate GOP retreat this month in Baltimore. Thus far Ryan has pledged efforts to overhaul the tax system and offer a Republican alternative to the health overhaul.
KINCAID, Ill.  The Mississippi River and many of its tributaries continued their retreat Sunday from historic and deadly winter flooding, leaving amid the silt a massive cleanup and recovery effort likely to take weeks if not months.

The flood, fueled by more than 10 inches of rain over a three-day period that began Christmas Day, is blamed for 25 deaths in Illinois and Missouri, reflecting Sunday's discovery of the body of a second teenager who drowned in central Illinois' Christian County.

The Mississippi River was receding except in the far southern tip of both states. The Meramec River, the St. Louis-area tributary of the Mississippi that caused so much damage last week, already was below flood stage in the hard-hit Missouri towns of Pacific and Eureka and dropping elsewhere.

But worries surfaced anew Sunday along the still-rising Illinois River north of St. Louis, where crests near the west-central Illinois towns of Valley City, Meredosia, Beardstown and Havana were to approach records before receding in coming days.

As of midday Sunday at Meredosia, Illinois, the Illinois River was more than 10 feet above flood stage and pressing toward an expected crest Tuesday roughly a half-foot short of the record set in July.

St. Louis-area cleanup largely was focused around the Meramec. Two wastewater treatment plants were so damaged by the floodwaters that raw sewage spewed into the river. Hundreds of people were evacuated in the Missouri communities of Pacific, Eureka, Valley Park and Arnold, where many homes took in water.

In southeast Missouri, up to 30 homes and several businesses were damaged in Cape Girardeau, a community of nearly 40,000 residents that is mostly protected by a flood wall. The Mississippi peaked at 48.9 feet Friday night, four-tenths of a foot above the 1993 record, but short of the 50-foot mark projected. Nearby levee breaks in other places kept the crest down.

Moderate Mississippi River flooding was expected in Memphis, Tennessee. The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for the Cumberland River at Dover, Tennessee, through Monday evening. Minor flooding along the Ohio River was affecting the Kentucky cities of Owensboro and Paducah, and the crest wasn't expected until Thursday
Wyoming has been nominated for a tongue-in-cheek award because of new state laws that penalize data collection on open land.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation, a research and educational group, announced the state is one of 10 nominees for the 2015 Luddite Award. The organization believes Wyomings laws effectively outlaw citizen science and halt progress.

The term Luddite stems from Ned Ludd, a 19th-century English politician who led a movement that fought the automation of factories.

Modern-day Luddites want to foil technological progress, and the foundation selected people, governments and corporations that stymie progress and technological innovation, said Joshua New, a policy analyst for the group.

We pick the worst of the worst offenders, so this one made the cut, he said of Wyomings nomination.

In March, the Wyoming Legislature passed a pair of laws penalizing people criminally and civilly if they trespass to collect data on private land.

The Legislature defined collecting data as activities that include gathering samples, taking photographs or preserving information in any form of land, land use, air, water, soil, habitat, vegetation or animal species.

Gov. Matt Mead signed both measures into law.

A person found guilty of trespassing on open land faces up to a year behind bars and $5,000 in fines. People can also be sued in civil court, and the data a person illegally collects is inadmissible as evidence in future court cases.

When both laws were bills, they specified trespassing on private open land. But as they progressed through the Legislature, lawmakers deleted the word private in some parts of the measures. Both laws define open land as places outside the boundaries of an incorporated city or town or subdivision.

In its report accompanying the nominees for the Luddite Award, the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation noted the legislation came after the Western Watersheds Project collected water samples from streams crossing federal lands and found E. coli bacteria at 200 times the legal limit. The organization believes cow manure is to blame. Over a dozen ranchers sued the environmental group, claiming its workers must have trespassed over private lands to get the data. The case is ongoing.

Were not an environmental policy think tank, said New. What we say in our report is if Wyomings really concerned about their ranching business, which is huge, the solution is to weaken those (environmental) regulations, not to attack the technology, which is what they did.

Other nominees for the 2015 Luddite Award include Vermont and other states limiting automatic license plate readers, Ohio and other states banning red light cameras and the Center for Food Safety for fighting genetically improved food, according to the list.

The public can vote for the winner until Jan. 15. The results of the vote will be announced by the end of January.

Sen. Larry Hicks, R-Baggs, is a champion of both state laws. He said theyre about protecting private property rights. He doesnt put much credence into the allegations made by the foundation.

Whats been curtailed? Show me one scientific research project thats been curtailed in the state of Wyoming, he said. Theres no evidence to support some wild allegation like that.

Seth Waggener, a spokesman for Mead, said the governor continues to support the laws.

"Wyoming is a strong proponent of science, research and progress, and this is demonstrated in many areas of research and support for technology and science, Waggener said in an email. With regard to the trespass law cited, Gov. Mead believes that property owners have the right to say whether someone can enter their house, yard or pasture. The law does not limit science or progress. It protects against trespass."

The laws have are being challenged in federal court by Natural Resources Defense Council, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, National Press Photographers Association and Western Watersheds Project.

Also a plaintiff in the suit is the Center for Food Safety, itself a competitor for the Luddite Award.

That lawsuit is ongoing.

U.S. District Judge Scott Skavdahl recently declined the states request to dismiss the lawsuit. Skavdahl did, however, dismiss Mead as a defendant.

I would suspect that, given the judges order (on Dec. 28) that he may very well rule that the law is unconstitutional in that it violates the First Amendment -- at the very least, said Mickey Osterreicher, attorney for the National Press Photographers Association.

On the topic of the Luddite Award nomination, Osterreicher said he doesnt want to condemn the entire state of Wyoming over the actions of some lawmakers.

I assume the judge is from Wyoming, he said. He seems like a pretty reasonable guy. Im sure there are many reasonable people who live in Wyoming and believe there is a real problem with that law.
JACKSON HOLE  A local nonprofit is searching for a brick-and-mortar home in Jackson Hole to rehabilitate injured wildlife.

The Teton Wildlife Rehabilitation Center is currently looking for a location to help wildlife ranging from black bears to songbirds that are regularly injured in Teton Valley, Idaho, and Jackson Hole.

Organizer Renee Seidler says the center will help only native wildlife injured by human activity.

The group still has hurdles to overcome before beginning operations, but Seidler and confounder Lindsay Jones have been in discussions with the Idaho Department of Fish and Game and the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, which must grant permits for their work.
LIVINGSTON, Mont.  Police in Livingston shot and killed a man who reportedly ran at an officer with a knife, the police chief said.

Officers responded to Shopko at about 7:40 p.m. Saturday after a caller reported a man was making threats that someone was going to die if police were not called, Chief Dale Johnson said in a statement. Officers located the man hiding outside the business.

The man didn't comply with officers' commands, and a stun gun was ineffective in subduing him, Johnson said.

An officer was backing away from the suspect while trying to de-escalate the situation when the man ran at the officer with a knife, the chief said.

Officers "were required to use deadly force," Johnson said.

The victim was Sean O'Brien, 37, Park County Coroner Al Jenkins said. O'Brien had lived in Livingston for the past eight or nine months, Jenkins said.

The officers involved have been placed on paid leave while the Gallatin County sheriff's office and Bozeman police investigate the shooting. Johnson did not say how many officers were placed on leave.
CHEYENNE  Wyoming voters and politicians are set to make some major decisions in the next 12 months.

From elections to budget debates, here are some of the top political stories to watch for in 2016:

U.S. House race (Key dates: Aug. 16, Nov. 8)

U.S. Rep. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., shocked many political insiders in November when she announced she will not seek a fifth term in Congress.

Her decision instantly shook up what appeared to be subdued election season for Wyoming.

The open seat  and the only statewide position up for election in 2016  is expected to attract a number of candidates on both sides of the aisle.

State Rep. Tim Stubson, R-Casper; Casper pizzeria owner Charlie Tyrrel; and Yoder resident Jason Senteney, a corrections officer at the prison in Torrington, have announced runs for the GOP nomination.

Richard Grayson, a self-proclaimed protest candidate who runs for offices from his homes in New York or Arizona in hopes of encouraging other Democrats to run, is the only declared Democrat so far.

But the slate is expected to expand significantly between now and the Aug. 16 primary.

State Sen. Leland Christensen, R-Alta, and Wyoming Catholic College President Kevin Roberts both have said they are considering runs.

But the biggest wildcard could be Liz Cheney. The TV analyst, author and daughter of former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney said she expects to make a decision near the start of the year.

U.S. presidential race (Key dates: March 1, April 5)

Wyoming, holder of just three of the nations 538 electoral votes, is not known to be a major player in U.S. presidential elections.

And with registered Republicans outnumbering Democrats by a more than three to one, it is a guaranteed red state on Election Day.

But the Cowboy State could be a factor in which candidate the parties nominate, especially on the crowded Republican side where every delegate could be crucial.

Several GOP candidates, including Ben Carson; U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky.; and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, already have campaigned in the state. And its likely more will come in this new year.

Wyomings Republican caucuses take place March 1; the Democrats caucus on April 5.

State legislative races (Key date: May 27)

The U.S. House and presidential races are not the only contests to watch this year.

All 60 state House and half of the 30 Wyoming Senate seats will be up for election.

For the Senate contests, Laramie County races will be for the seats now held by Sens. Floyd Esquibel, D-Cheyenne; Wayne Johnson, R-Cheyenne; and Tony Ross, R-Cheyenne.

Republicans hold 77 of the 90 total seats. But the Wyoming Democratic Party will be looking to cut into that margin.

Look for candidates to begin announcing election plans after the session ends in March. The filing period runs from May 12-27.

Medical marijuana initiative to be decided (Key date: Feb. 8)

The Wyoming chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws should know early this year if it has been successful in getting a question on the general election ballot to legalize medical marijuana.

The group has been collecting signatures across the state since August. But it needs to turn in just over 25,600 valid signatures of registered voters by Feb. 8 to meet the states deadline.

Officials with Wyoming NORML say if they are unsuccessful this year, they will try again for 2018.

Medicaid expansion debate arises again (Key dates: Feb. 8-March 4)

One of the more contentious issues the Legislature is expected to debate is whether to accept the optional Medicaid expansion that would extend health coverage to about 20,000 residents.

Lawmakers have rejected the expansion each of the past three years. But with the state facing new revenue pressures, Gov. Matt Mead is again urging them to accept the expansion as well as the millions of federal dollars that would come with it.

The session will begin Feb. 8 and is set to run until March 4. But the Joint Appropriations Committee is expected to decide by the end of January whether to include the expansion in the 2017-18 budget bill it will send to the Legislature.

Legislators to consider spending increases, budget cuts (Key dates: Feb. 8-March 4)

As with all budget sessions, developing the states two-year spending plan also will be a top priority for lawmakers.

The governor has proposed an ambitious 2017-18 budget that uses about $450 million from the states rainy-day fund to pay for a range of infrastructure projects and other one-time expenses.

But Meads budget only includes about $17 million in cuts to agencies budgets.

Several high-ranking lawmakers have said they plan to look for more cuts as they fear revenues will stay low for several years.

Capitol Square Project construction begins amid uncertainties (Key dates: Jan. 5, Feb. 2)

The controversial $300 million project to renovate the State Capitol and nearby Herschler Building will kick into overdrive this year.

The Capitol officially closed to the public on Dec. 9, and the major construction work is expected to begin in the coming months.

But many questions still surround the project.

State officials have yet to get the guaranteed-maximum price for the work. Some lawmakers say this is a concern as delays and cost overages have pushed the price tag up from its original estimate of $259 million.

State leaders also have yet to sign off on the Herschler Building part of the work. Consultants need to rework the design of the office building after the initial proposal was deemed too costly.

This prompted some lawmakers to suggest the state continue with the Capitol renovation and hold off on the Herschler Building side of the project. These decisions are expected to be made in the next several months.

Mead and top lawmakers on the Capitol Building Oversight Group will kick off 2016 with a meeting on Tuesday followed by another tentatively set for Feb. 2.

Wyoming, other states fight EPA regulations (Key date: Sept. 6)

President Barack Obama announced sweeping new energy rules in 2015 that will force states to dramatically cut their carbon emissions over the next several years.

The Clean Power Plan is the administrations most ambitious  and most controversial  climate-change initiative to date. It will require Wyoming to reduce its total emissions by about 37 percent by 2030.

State officials say the mandate would slash jobs, hurt the economy and do little environmental good.

Wyoming joined many other Republican-led states in suing to block the regulations from taking effect. That case will continue to play out throughout 2016.

But unless a stay is granted, states are required to submit initial plans on how they will achieve the cuts  or seek an extension request  by Sept. 6.

Refugee resettlement debate continues (Key date: Early 2016)

Following Novembers terrorist attacks in Paris, Mead joined several other Republican governors in demanding that the refugee process be halted until new security measures are in place.

But Wyoming, unlike the other 49 states, does not have a refugee resettlement office.

The governor asked the Wyoming Humanities Council in 2014, before the national debate heated up, to host talks on the pros and cons of setting up an office.

Those meetings are expected to start toward the beginning of the year.

Whats next for Mead? (Key date: Unknown)

Mead has yet to publicly discuss his plans after leaving the governors residence, and there is plenty of time left in his term, which runs until the start of 2019.

But since he is term-limited from running again, there has been, and will continue to be, plenty of speculation for what will come next for the former U.S. attorney.

With his legal background, Mead could decide to go the route of his predecessor, Gov. Dave Freudenthal, and return to private sector.

Or he could look to a future in Washington. Unless he drops a political bombshell and declares for Lummis open seat, he would have to wait until 2018. Then, the U.S. House seat and U.S. Senate seat now occupied by Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., will be up for election.

Another option is to challenge a state law that bars the governor from seeking a third term.

Freudenthal briefly flirted with that scenario before he decided not to challenge the law near the end of his second term.
This blog represents my personal views and is not reflective of the views or opinions held by any company, contractor, client or employer I work for currently or have worked for in the past. These views are not an endorsement to take any action in the markets or of any political position, figures or parties.




The U.S. Department of Agriculture is proposing sweeping changes in the way chicken and turkey meat is processed in an effort to reduce salmonella illnesses from food contamination. But those changes could require meat companies to make extensive changes to their operations. The agencys Food Safety and Inspection Service will begin a lengthy process of proposing new rules by holding a public hearing on Nov. 3 to get input from the poultry industry and others. The government wants new regulations rolled out beginning next year and completed within two years. Proposed changes include testing incoming flocks of chickens and turkeys for salmonella before they enter the slaughterhouse and limits on how much certain strains of salmonella can be on meat sold to consumers.
Jeremy Joseph Brown has been named national dog trainer of the year.

Brown, the volunteer coordinator with nonprofit, pet-therapy organization Gabriels Angels, had just opened his own training facility, The Complete Canine, when he learned hed been nominated for the 2015 Greatmats National Dog Trainer of the Year Award, sponsored by Wisconsin-based specialty flooring company Greatmats.

The award aims to recognize dog trainers who have made a positive impact on the lives of dogs and their owners through integrity, quality training and exemplary customer service. The social-media contest featured six trainers, and took place in November.
Snowy conditions forced the closure of Catalina Highway on Monday afternoon.

Only Mt. Lemmon residents and employees of businesses on the mountain who use chains or four-wheel drive are allowed past milepost zero on Catalina Highway, the Pima County Sheriff's Department said at 1:50 p.m.

About two feet of snow is expected to fall on Mt. Lemmon this week as three different weather systems sweep through Tucson, according to the National Weather Service in Tucson.

Although no snow is forecast for the metro area, rain was falling Monday afternoon in Tucson. The weather service said Tucsonans should see about an inch of rain and cooler temperatures over the course of the week.

A low-pressure system centered on the northern Gulf of California should hit Tucson Monday afternoon, followed by a second system blowing in from the Pacific Ocean west of Los Angeles on Tuesday evening. A third system originating in the Gulf of Alaska should arrive in Tucson on Friday.

The largest snowfall, 17 inches, is expected for the Mt. Lemmon Ski Valley between Tuesday and Thursday night, with slightly lower amounts at Summerhaven and other locales in the Santa Catalina Mountains. The third weather system should bring another five to 10 inches on Friday and Saturday, the weather service said.

Temperatures in Tucson are expected to decline steadily through the week. Mondays high temperature of 60 degrees will dip to 52 degrees by Saturday. The low temperatures will drop from 47 degrees on Monday to 33 degrees on Saturday.

Rainfall in Tucson will vary depending on location, the weather service said. Monday afternoon saw showers and there is a 60 percent chance the rain will continue into the night. The chance of rain lessens Tuesday, with only a 30 percent chance during the day and a 60 percent chance at night, the weather service said.

Wednesday should see a 60 percent chance of rain during the day and a 40 percent chance at night, followed by a 50 percent chance during the day Thursday and a 30 percent chance at night. Friday should see a 50 percent chance of rain during the day and a 30 percent chance at night.

The NWS forecast a zero percent chance of rain on Saturday.
Return of the king

The Pac-12 was clearly hailing the return of Arizonas Kaleb Tarczewski, who has missed more than a month with a foot injury. Tarczewski checked in for his first rotation at the 15:33 mark of the first half, and the Pac-12 Networks Twitter account sent out a quick message, with the words ZEUS RETURNS and three lightning bolt emojis.
Cities across the country are switching to bright, white LED lights in the name of safety, energy efficiency and cost savings  and getting grief from residents who dont appreciate the daylight glare some LEDs produce.

In Tucson, where surrounding mountains are topped with telescopes, dim has always been in, and a city plan for converting to LEDs promises to take that into account.

City transportation officials say they can deliver better lighting that lowers cost without adding lumens to the citys overall light pollution tally.

An energy audit conducted for the city by the vendor selling the lighting system says Tucson can save $180,000 a month on electrical costs while reducing the citys overall lumens by 62 percent, said Jessie Sanders, projects manager in the Department of Transportation.

Sanders said the city will need to have a community conversation about the level of lighting it requires in various parts of town. The new lights will operate on a Wi-Fi network that will let the city dim, or even shut off lighting, where and when appropriate.

The City Council was briefed on the plan for an investment-grade audit of the citys lighting in March and Sanders said he hopes to bring the now-completed results to the council for a decision early this year.

Were losing $180,000 a month for every month we delay this, he said.

Councilman Steve Kozachik said hes on board with the new plan after speaking with Steward Observatory Director Buell Jannuzi and verifying that the astronomers had been consulted on it.

Protecting that asset (astronomy) is far more important than saving a few bucks on LED lighting, Kozachik said.

The city awarded the energy audit to Ameresco, a global energy management firm with offices in three Arizona cities, including Tucson.

The city then hired lighting expert Christian Monrad, who designed the lighting systems for Arizona Stadium and Tucson International Airport, as its consultant. The LED lights at the airport are the same color as those the city expects to install.

Monrad, of Monrad Engineering, is on the board of directors of the International Dark Sky Association. He said Tucson, unlike many other cities, made quality of light and protection of astronomy key elements of the plan.

Ameresco was asked to balance the need to save money on lighting with the need to protect the areas dark skies.

Some areas of town will still look a lot brighter, even though the LED lights are putting out fewer lumens, Sanders said.

Sanders said the new lights will be a little bluer than the more yellowish, high-pressure sodium lights now in use.

Less Watts, Less cost

The main problem with LEDs is the quality of light they produce. The most efficient LED fixtures produce light at the blue, shorter wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum  brighter than daylight and easily scattered, particularly in the dry climate of Tucson.

They can create glare and contribute to the sky-glow that threatens the future of astronomy.

Optical scientists measure the color composition of light on a Kelvin scale. The city specified 3,000-Kelvin fixtures  toward the yellow end of the scale.

Phoenix ran afoul of dark-sky proponents when it began conversion of its 95 thousand streetlights earlier this year to 4,000-Kelvin fixtures.

That plan was put on hold after installation of 400 new fixtures. Some cities, notably Davis, California, have replaced their LED lights after citizen complaints.

LEDs, or light-emitting diodes, have a lot going for them. They are efficient and long-lasting, producing more lumens per watt than most lighting sources. The three inventors of the energy-saving lights shared a Nobel Prize in Physics in 2014.

Tucson, for example uses 480 watts to light its high-pressure sodium streetlights. The LED equivalent will use 80 watts.

And Tucson can save more money by turning down the wattage.

Along the streetcar line, with its evening mix of walkers, bikers, drivers and transit riders, lights can be kept at full illumination.

In other parts of town, lights can be dimmed to a lower level earlier in the evening and possibly snuffed for sleeping. Monrad said all of the lights will be dimmed initially, then ramped up a tiny bit each year to keep the lighting consistent as dirt and grime build up.

That cant be done with the current lighting, which he said starts out too bright in recognition of the fact that it will become dingy over time.

Dark Skies and Safe spaces

John Barentine, project manager at the International Dark-Sky Association, said the city is going above and beyond what his organization recommends.

Its progressive of Tucson to figure out how much light do we really need, Barentine said. He has not been in contact with the city recently, but he said if officials are thinking of installing 3,000 Kelvin lights with adjustable controls, thats right in line with our recommendations.

Jannuzi, director of Steward Observatory and the UA Department of Astronomy, said the astronomers appreciate that the city is trying to find solutions that reduce the impact on what we do.

The UA has telescopes on Kitt Peak, two peaks in the Santa Catalinas, Mount Hopkins in the Santa Rita Mountains and Mount Graham in the Pinalenos.

Jannuzi, a former Kitt Peak director, acknowledged the need to balance the competing interests of dark skies and safe spaces. The astronomy community understands that people need light at night to be safe and to do activities that require being able to see.

The audit recommendations, capped at $16 million, would replace 20,000 of the citys 24,000 streetlights and the lighting in its parking garages.

The programs cost would be financed, possibly by the vendor, and paid back through savings in electric bills. Sanders said the vendor, Ameresco, projects a monthly energy savings of $180,000.

Charlene Reynolds, deputy director of street transportation for the City of Phoenix, said that city originally went out to bid on lights at the 4,000-Kelvin level because that was the recommendation of the Dark-Sky Association at the time.

Jannuzi said the 4,000-Kelvin lights were a compromise, not a recommendation because the 3,000-Kelvin lights were 20 percent less efficient at the time. That gap has been narrowed, he said.

Whats happening is that technology is developing faster than these procurement processes.

Finding the sweet spot

Barentine said he would advise any city to slow down and investigate whats available before plunging into a replacement program.

Tucson and Pima County have adopted a dark-sky lighting ordinance, in deference to the importance of astronomy to the region. A 2007 study, the most recent available, estimated it generated $250 million a year and employed 3,300 people in Arizona.

The code requires fully shielded lamps and limits total light produced by region, with the darkest regions in proximity to observatories and natural areas.

It has exceptions, including one for decorative lights in historic districts.

Decorative lights caused us a number of problems in the audit, said Sanders. In order to include them in the Wi-Fi network, they would need to be much taller, he said.

Sanders said bulbs in the historic lights are already being replaced, when necessary, with LED bulbs, but there is no plan to shield them or otherwise change their appearance. You cant do that in historic neighborhoods. People would come unglued.

Lighting expert Monrad said the sum total of unshielded light from the citys low-wattage historic fixtures is negligible or lost in the noise when the figures are totaled.

Monrad said LEDs got a bad rap when super-efficient, super-bright LED fixtures were sold like snake oil in recent years.

Many cities have put in the most efficient LED lighting systems just to save as much energy as possible and resulting in aesthetically very poor, garish lighting, Monrad said.

3000 K is the sweet spot for a combination of aesthetics, energy savings and reduction in the blue-light content that adversely affects sky glow.

The adverse effects arent limited to astronomy, he said.

The human animal is really evolved to only expect and make good use of that color of light in daylight, he said. And its not just humans, but many physiological cycles in plants and animals.

We all evolved under bright days and dark nights with moonlight and starlight.
Help India!

By Raqib Hameed Naik, TwCircles.net

New Delhi: Dr Zafar-ul-Islam Khan, ex president of All India Muslim Majlis-e Mushawarat (AIMMM), the umbrella body of Indian Muslim organisations and editor of the The Milli Gazette has accused Indigo airlines of religious profiling and mistreatment while he was traveling from Lucknow to Delhi on January 1, 2016.

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According to Dr Khan, he was flying back to Delhi after heading a fact-finding team to Kushinagar.

At Lucknow airport, I was subjected to religious profiling by the ground staff. I alone was made to place my hand-bag on the weighing scale which showed that it was just over 10 kgs. But I was told that the maximum weight allowed for hand-baggage is only seven kgs. I offered that I can take out some of my stuff like lap-top and carry it in hand. But unfortunately, this was flatly rejected and the only option given to me was to check in the hand-baggage for which I was not ready, claimed Dr Khan.

The Indigo ground staff refused to repeated requests of Dr Khan and forced him to carry some of his stuff in an unsafe and unsecured bag.

I observed that many people were carrying heavy and had up to three handbags.

On his arrival in Delhi airport, the editor lodged a complaint with the ground staff of Indigo, alleging their Lucknow staff of subjecting him to religious profiling due to his beard.

The issue has ensued social media backlash with many condemning the callous approach of Indigo Airlines staff.

Shame on you, IndiGo, for having subjected the distinguished editor of Milli Gazette to humiliating and discriminatory treatment, wrote Jay N Jayaram on the IndiGo Facebook page.

Stop harassing the editor-What happened at Airport-Its Racial profiling-why others were ok with heavier baggage and only he was hold-He is not asking for compensation of any kind-You guy are smart, call the airline and its staff to all over India/ that this should not happen in future. And we all thanks to Mr. Editor Saab, may you be more strong, wrote netizen, Mushtaq Artani.

Realising the gravity of the situation, the Indigo official account took to the official page of The Milli Gazette and wrote: Our customer relations team spoke to Dr Khan. As discussed with him, our staff was trying to implement the policy. However, well certainly share his feedback with our concerned team. We regret the inconvenience caused.

While briefing TwoCircles.net about the latest development on the issue, Dr Khan said, I received a call from Indigo Airlines yesterday. They apologised for the incident and said that they were enforcing the rules but I objected to this notion and asked them that rules should be applied uniformly instead of enforcing it on single person. I am adamant on my stand that they resorted to religious profiling.

Even today, I received an email from them and they acknowledged that their staff could have handled the situation in a more polite manner. I am not impressed by their verbiage and standard reply. My sole point was and remains that I was singled out and forced to take out some of my stuff and place it in an unsecured bag in order to satisfy the inflated egos of your staff at Lucknow airport while I failed to see any other passenger being asked to place his/her hand-baggage on the weighing scale, and I saw dozens of fellow-passengers carrying heavy and more than one hand baggage, in some cases three pieces, Dr Khan asserted.

Meanwhile, the customer service department of Indigo airlines while acknowledging the complaint said, We are in touch with Dr Khan and even we have wrote him an email.we hope that this issue will be solved very soon, supervising staff from customer care department of Indigo Airlines told TwoCircles.net.
Help India!

New Delhi : The Supreme Court on Monday, for now, declined to pass any order on the central governments plea seeking continuation of 60 percent quota of seats in the elite Sanskriti school for the children of group A officers belonging to all India services like IAS, IFS, IPS and other central services.

A bench of Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel appointed senior counsel Kapil Sibal as amicus curiae to assist it as it found that there was no respondent to contest the governments plea for restoration of 60 percent quota for the children of Group A officers that was struck down by Delhi High Court on November 6, 2015.

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The bench directed the further hearing of the matter on January 7 when it would consider the government and Sanskriti Schools plea for allowing it to continue with 60 percent reservation for admission for the academic year 2016-2017.

As Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the central government urged the court to permit the status quo allowing the school to continue with the reservation, the court said that it would be hearing the plea for interim relief on January 7.

The Delhi High Courts November 6 order came after it examined the validity of the 60 percent quota of which it had taken suo motu cognizance in 2006.

Quashing the reservation, it had said: Reserving seats for a particular branch of the Indian services disadvantages children of persons engaged in other branches of the Indian services.

The high court had also asked the government to see whether the Sanskriti School could be made a part of the existing Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

The state cannot provide funds to any private individual to establish a school for an elite segment of society, it had remarked.

On Monday, Rohtagi, telling the apex court that group A officers of All India Services formed a class for themselves, noted that it was a misnomer to call them elite, as by virtue of their being repeatedly transferred, what is sought to be projected as an elite status has become non-elite.

Saying that to convert Sanskriti School  located in the national capitals diplomatic enclave  into a Kendriya Vidyalaya, as directed by the high court would have far reaching effect, he said that it was set up for a purpose. It was not set up to grab the land or grab profits.

It is a school that is run by the wives of the senior bureaucrats with the wife of the cabinet secretary being its principal, he told the court.

Appearing for the Sanskriti School, senior counsel K.K.Venugopal assailed the high court verdict saying that since the school got land and building free from the government, therefore it was akin to the state.

As Justice Goel observed that Sanskriti School was 100 percent state, he said that it was being run by the wives of the bureaucrats.

Instead of husbands, it is wives, Justice Goel said, in an indirect reference to the real power behind the school.

The school was allotted land at a premium of Re.1 and rent of Re.1 per annum. The government had also declared that various government agencies and ministries donated Rs.15.94 crore to the managing society for setting up the school.
Source: Daily News, reported by Abduel Elinaza, from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Kiu Leather Products manufacturers, a small-scale enterprise, is set to invest over 1.2bn/- in shoe soles production in Dar es Salaam. The factory, designed to employ directly some 300 people is expected to start production early next year after finalising a loan process.Kius Managing Director, Mr Evordius Ruma, said they are finalising the 600,000 US dollars loan for machinery buying from India. We are finalising a loan process for the factory, which will have a capacity of producing 800 soles a day, Mr Ruma said.The factory will be able to mainly produce rubber and leather soles. The factory, situated at Sido Vingunguti, produces pure leather shoes, with capacity of 100 shoes a day, mostly male and children shoes. Kiu is manned by ten people.The country does not produce shoe soles and mostly are imported from Kenya. The coming of Kiu soles manufacturing plant is geared to change the trend.Mr Ruma said despite facing a number of challenges, their factory continued to provide quality footwear to Tanzanians. We are planning to have our own leather processing unit to control quality but also minimising expenditure, Mr Ruma said.Apart from that, the firm is currently negotiating with the army to see the possibility of supplying them with army boots. We gave the army our samples. We are also in negotiation with Namibia army for the possibility of supplying them with boots as well, Mr Ruma said, but I cant disclose the details yet.He said once they receive those orders, they will increase the production line from one to two to maximise on deliverability. Mr Ruma said it was disheartening to see Tanzanians are rushing to buy imported shoes which have inferior quality compared to most of those made locally.I think this is a matter of mindset. Most say our shoes are expensive, but not real, some are cheaper compared to imported ones, Mr Ruma said.Shoe experts argued that local made shoes could last four to five times longer than imported ones. Kiu is the product of Small Industries Development Organisation, which is also housed at SIDO premises in Vingunguti, Dar es Salaam.SIDO Director General Eng Omar Bakari said the bid to industrialise the country starts at the grassroots by supporting small and medium enterprises. We have a number of projects on hand and coming in next year to support entrepreneurs to maximise their potentials, Eng Bakari said.The Confederation of Tanzania Industries (CTI) Director of Policy and Advocacy, Mr Hussein Kamote, said emphasis should be on small-scale leather factories that can grow gradually into big industries only if the government put conducive environment including special incentive packages.Presently, the local shoe manufacturers make less than one million footwear per year while the potential is producing some 50 million footwear annually.Leather Association of Tanzania (LAT) Executive Secretary, Mr Joram Wakari, said currently, the nation spends substantial amount of its scarce foreign earnings to import around 50 million shoes annually.There are eight leather processing plants with a total capacity of 73.9 million square feet, but it produces only 34.3 million square feet which is equal to 46.4 per cent of the installed capacity.
The U.S. States Marine Corps Hymn has the phrase- we will fight our countries battles to the shores of Tripoli.

Those words have animportance to the War on Slavery.

Slavery has been traced to Mesopotamia in 6800 B.C. in which captured enemies wereforced to Work.

Slavery today is estimated to consist of over twenty million people forced to work in mines, fishing, and sex industries.

Numerous groups work on both the Local and Global stages to end slavery.Covenant Houseoperates inmore than 20 cities. In New Orleans it reports seeingapproximately 100 victims a year.

Globally organizations such as The National Child Traumatic Stress Network and Free the Slaves work to free slaves and provide education for life after slavery.

Americas involvement in ending slavery on the Global Level increased in 1801 with President Thomas Jefferson.

The Barbary Slave Trade was the action of four North African Muslim States: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya (known as the Barbary States) who raided European towns from the 1400s to the 1800s; capturing more than individuals they sold as 1,200,000 slaves.

In 1784, the Barbary States demanded millions in tributefor the ransom of American sailors captured.

In 1786, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams went to London to negotiate peace with Tripolis envoy, Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdrahaman.

However, the Ambassador stated his position as: It is written in the Koran, that all nations which has not acknowledged the Prophet were sinners, whom it was the right and duty of the faithful to plunder and enslave; and that every mussulman who was slain in this warfare was sure to go to paradise. He said, also that the man first to board a vessel has one slave over and above his share, and that when they sprang to the deck of an enemys ship, every sailor held a dagger in each hand and a third in his mouth; which usually struck such a terror into the foe that the cried for quarter at once

With not other options, for the next 15 years, the US made an annual payment of $1,000,000.00 for safe passage of American Ships.

While it began to build a navy.

In 1798, "one stock of black leather and clasp" were issued to each Marine every year as protection against sword slashes to the throat from Arabic Muslim troops armed with scimitars.

In 1800, Thomas Jefferson was elected President and refused to pay the tribute to the Barbary Coast.

On May 10, 1801 after being refused his demand $225,000.00 from the United States, the Pasha of Tripoli declared War on the United States.

In 1803 Tripoli captured the USS Philadelphia, which had run aground in the harbor, and enslaved the American Sailors. The Philadelphia then became a defensive battery for the Barbary Pirates.

In 1805, ten marines and 500 mercenaries marched across the desert and attacked the Triploitan city of Derna. For the first time the United States flag was raised on foreign soil. The action is memorialized in the Marines Hymn, and the term leathernecks.

However it took, a second Barbary Coast War in 1815 and finally occupation and colonial rule by the French in 1830 to end the slave trade of the Barbary Coast Pirates.

In 2014, in Nigeria, 234 girls were kidnapped from school by Book Hiram and sold as to Islamic militants as brides by Boko Haram, a terrorist group for $12.00 each.

The world realized slavery has not ended.

Estimates today or that more than 20 million people are slaves, with over 16 million for labor and 4 million for sex. Five million are under age 18.

Efforts are being made by groups such as Free the Slaves to educate consumers to boycott products made by slave labor from mining and fishing in countries such as Ghana, the Congo, Brazil, Haiti, Nepal, and India.
The CacaoCookie is a crunchy cookie made only from organic cacao and coconut sugar (no flour), dipped in bean-to-bar organic chocolate. No eggs, no soy lecithin, no wheat. Just chocolate. Learn more: http://www.ultimatelychocolate.com/cacaocookie.html The chocolate TOFFLE is a dark chocolate toffee wrapped around a delicious milk chocolate truffle centre. It comes in Original Real Cream, Peppermint, Hazelnut and Peanut Butter.Learn more: http://www.ultimatelychocolate.com/toffle.html
Social importance of parental leave for fathers Updated: 2016-01-04 08:17 By Pia Schober(China Daily)

Fathers-to-be learn to how to hold newborn babies in Handan hospital on June 15, 2014. [Photo/IC]

One of the biggest policy reforms that will fundamentally change Chinese people's lives is the universal two-child policy that has been in effect since Jan 1, 2016.

Parental leave policies which encourage greater fathers' involvement in child care and domestic work may facilitate having a second child in several ways.

Firstly, several studies from the UK, Sweden, Hungary, and Italy suggest that a more gender-equal division of domestic work may facilitate having a second child for couples. One of my studies of British couples finds a positive relationship between fathers' involvement in domestic work and a faster transition to a second birth among double-earning couples but not among couples where mothers do not work.

Secondly, in terms of family harmony, several studies point to consequences for the quality of mother-father-relationship and the likelihood of a breakdown in the relationship. Two specific studies on British couples with young children show that fathers' greater involvement in child care is associated with greater relationship quality between partners and lower risk of separation.

Thirdly, fathers' involvement in child care may have positive effects on child wellbeing, especially when it offers children interactions that are different from what mothers provide.

A recent Norwegian study used a quasi-experiment of a four-week paternal leave quota in 1993 to identify the causal effects of fathers' greater involvement in child care for children's cognitive outcomes. It found that children's school performance at the age of 16 improved if the fathers were more highly educated than the mothers.
Volvo vies for Detroit honors Updated: 2016-01-04 11:22 By Paul Welitzkin in New York(China Daily USA)

Volvo's XC90 is a finalist for the 2016 Truck of the Year Award at the North American International Auto Show, which opens Jan 11 in Detroit. Provided to China Daily

One of Volvo's most important models is in the running for the North American Car and Truck of the Year award at the prestigious North American International Auto Show in Detroit, capping off an important 2015 for the Chinese-owned company.

Volvo's XC90, a premium sport utility vehicle (SUV) will be competing for the 2016 Truck of the Year against the Honda Pilot (SUV) and Nissan Titan XD (truck). The Detroit Free Press has already named the Volvo XC90 its truck of the year.

Finalists for the Car of the Year are the Chevrolet Malibu, Honda Civic and Mazda MX-5 Miata.

"Globally, the (XC90) is forecast to account for 11 percent of the brand's sales in 2017," said Stephanie Brinley, automotive analyst at consulting concern IHS. "The XC90 is also the first new vehicle on the all-new Volvo platform. It has become the demonstration for Volvo's latest production technology, which is impressive and important for re-establishing the brand as a global luxury player."

Winners will be announced on Jan 11 when the Detroit show opens. Now in its 23rd year, the awards recognize the most outstanding new vehicles of the year as judged by more than 50 automotive journalists from the US and Canada. There were 49 eligible vehicles.

The XC90 represents the first vehicle Volvo has developed since Chinese automaker Geely purchased the company for $1.8 billion in 2010 from Ford Motor Co. In 2015, Volvo also announced that it would build its first American factory in South Carolina. Volvo also began selling the China-made Volvo S60 Inscription sedan at dealerships in the US, marking the formal debut of made-in-China luxury cars in overseas markets.

"It is hard to predict whether [the S60] will be a success," said David Zoia of Wards Auto. "Competition is tough in this segment, and Volvo has fallen off many buyers' shopping lists. However, most reviews appear positive, so as long as expectations are modest, the S60 Inscription could end up drawing more customers back to Volvo showrooms and ultimately be chalked up as a success."

Zoia said that the XC90 represents a key model for Volvo. "It sets the tone for Volvo in terms of image, and success with this model will help as the automaker launches other vehicles. We recently named the vehicle's 2.0L Turbo/Supercharged 4-cylinder as one of the Wards 10 Best Engines for 2016," he added.

In another first for the Chinese auto industry in 2015, General Motors said it would import its midsize sport-utility Buick Envision model from China, becoming the first US automaker to sell Chinese-made cars in the US.

paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com
No sign of letup in nonstop flights between China, US Updated: 2016-01-04 11:22 By Hezi Jiang in New York(China Daily USA)

The skies between China and the United States are getting busier.

In 2015, 75 weekly nonstop flights were added between the two countries, a more than 30 percent increase from 2014, and more are coming next year.

Six of the eight airlines that provide direct US-China services opened new routes in 2015, adding to their fast-growing schedules. Some even expanded service to China's second-tier cities.

During the past peak season, there were 320 weekly flights from China to the US, and vice versa, according to numbers provided to China Daily by the airlines.

The four largest Chinese airlines - Air China, China Eastern, China Southern and Hainan Airlines - expanded in the US market significantly in 2015.

Leading the "Big Four" with 55 weekly flights from Beijing to seven US cities, Air China started the new Beijing to Newark route in October and increased the frequencies of the Beijing-Los Angeles route to 21 flights a week.

Hainan Airlines opened three new routes - Shanghai to Boston, Shanghai to Seattle, and Beijing to San Jose - and became the first airline to fly nonstop from China to the heart of Silicon Valley in California.

China Southern started a direct route in June between San Francisco and its hub, Guangzhou, after seeing strong demand for such flights via Wuhan, a second-tier city, since that route started in December 2014.

China Eastern is the first airline to serve Nanjing, another second-tier Chinese city, with a new route from Chengdu to Los Angeles via Nanjing.

Delta Airlines, moving beyond its hubs in Seattle and Detroit, since July has operated daily flights from Los Angeles to Shanghai, one of the most popular routes. American Airlines added the Dallas-to-Beijing flights and began to upgrade the planes flying between the two countries to new 787s.

Thirteen American airports currently have nonstop flights to seven Chinese cities. San Francisco is connected to six cities in China, Los Angeles to five, New York to four, and the rest to one or more among Beijing, Hong Kong and Shanghai.

"The West Coast now has new routes to cities like Guangzhou, Chengdu, Wuhan, and Nanjing," said Luo Linquan, Chinese consul general in San Francisco. "The great weather in California makes it a well-liked travel destination all year long. Tourists flew into San Francisco to see the great schools, the Silicon Valley. They go to Los Angeles for the Hollywood and Disneyland."

"One of the fruitful results of President Xi Jinping's state visit is the establishment of US-China Tourism Year. We will expand state-province collaborations to promote tourism," said Luo. "Tourism between China and the US will grow as the relationship between the two countries deepens. There're a lot of potential."

He hopes to see more Chinese translators in the airports, Chinese menus in restaurants, and Chinese signs at tourist sites.

United Airlines announced its plan to operate a San Francisco to Xi'an route in 2016. China Eastern will add the Shanghai-Chicago path, and Hainan Airlines will serve nonstop from Changsha to Los Angeles, making it the first airline to connect Changsha with North America.

Air China said it will add more flights between San Francisco and Beijing, and China Southern said it will expand again in 2016.

China will add at least 200 international air routes next year, according to Li Jiaxiang, head of the Civil Aviation Administration of China. China currently has 663 international routes operated by domestic and foreign carriers, of which 369 were launched in 2015.

hezijiang@chinadailyusa.com
US Chinatowns face pricing pressure Updated: 2016-01-04 11:22 By Niu Yue in New York(China Daily USA)

The Friendship Archway in Washington DC's Chinatown in 2013.

Chinatowns in various US cities are becoming gentrified, with more Chinese immigrants moving out of the increasingly pricey residential zones, according to a report issued by the Asian American Bar Association of New York (AABANY).

More than 3,000 Chinese residents once lived in Washington's Chinatown, but that number has shrunk to approximately 300 and is expected to fall to 150 in the next few years, according to AABANY.

Chinatowns in other US cities also face similar dilemmas. Statistics showed that the white population in Chinatowns doubled in the first decade of the 21st century.

Dozens of Chinese immigrant households in San Francisco are facing the prospect of being driven out of their current residences because of rising rents, AABANY said.

Kwong Chichoong, professor of urban affairs and planning at Hunter College in New York, said that only three of the top 15 Chinatowns in the US still function as Chinese residential and working zones.

Kwong said urban development propelled the demographic and ethnic changes in US Chinatowns.

"As long as the Chinatown is getting gentrified further and the rents continue rising, most of the remaining Chinese residents will have to move out," Kwong said. "Pessimistically speaking, Chinatown could become a tourist spot in the future."

Emma Deng, a resident of Washington's Chinatown who immigrated from the Chinese mainland in the late 1990s, said that she chose to live in Chinatown so that she could live in a more traditional Chinese way.

"When I first settled in DC, there were more grocery stores, traditional Chinese dim sum restaurants and even more home-like shops, but now most have gone," she said.

Near the paifang (arch) at the entrance to the US capital's Chinatown are numerous non-Chinese businesses such as Starbucks and Hooters.

"After the arena and the Metro station were opened, the fast-food chains moved in, and the neighborhood died away, or at least to the suburbs of DC," said Jim Gordon, a local resident who has lived in the area for more than four decades.

Deng said she was going to move out in March because her landlord planned to renovate the apartment into a luxury unit beyond her affordability.

"New year and new apartment," she said.

Long Yifan in New York contributed to this story.
Book: Language study key in cultural exchange Updated: 2016-01-04 11:22 By Hong Xiao in New York(China Daily USA)

Chinese-language education has become an important platform for US-China cultural exchange, according to a new report.

The Blue Book of Overseas Chinese 2015 was released jointly by the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of The State Council, Huaqiao University (equal to Overseas Chinese University) and China's Social Science Academic Press, in Beijing on Dec 23.

The book points out that cultural exchange provides much better support for building a new model of the China-US relationship, and that Chinese-language education is an effective way to promote cultural exchange between the two countries.

In its culture and education chapter, the book noted that "the trips in search of roots in China" and many other Chinese-language education programs overseas have increased American-born Chinese teenagers' and Chinese-language teachers' knowledge of contemporary China, which makes a unique contribution to promote cultural exchange between China and the US.

Statistics show that among all the countries organizing "trips in search of roots in China", the US ranks the most active country, by activity and participant numbers.

From 2014, American-born Chinese youths have participated in 21 trips in searches for roots in China, covering almost 20 cities in 15 provinces in China.

The report also mentions "Chinese Bridge" (the Chinese-proficiency competition for foreign college students) has attracted tens of thousands of foreign students to go to China to study Chinese; and the "100,000 Strong" Initiative that was announced by President Barack Obama in November 2009 has encouraged many students of diverse backgrounds across the US to learn Mandarin and study in China.

According to the report, in the next five years, China will invite 100 US youth leaders to visit and study in China; 1,000 students from each country will enroll as exchange students in top universities in one another's countries.

Still, the book indicates that Chinese-language education faces challenges, for example, the gap between it and mainstream education in the US.

The book suggests that to promote future cultural exchange, the Chinese-language-learning summer camps or winter camps could be extended moderately to non-Chinese student groups in the US, and localized Chinese cultural activities should also extend to non-Chinese communities; Chinese-language teacher-training could open to Chinese-language teachers who are in the American mainstream education system.

To further enter the mainstream, Chinese communities should strive for Chinese-education rights, for example, finding free or low fee-based schoolhouses for Chinese-language schools; promoting teachers at Chinese-language schools to acquire American teaching certificates to fill the Chinese-language teacher gap in American education; and Chinese-language school education should absorb the ideas and methods of American mainstream education.

Jia Yimin, principal of Huaqiao University and chief editor of the blue book, said in the press conference that for writing the book, a great number of in-depth studies on Chinese in the United States, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Philippines, Indonesia and others had been done by 85 experts across the world.

The studies covered Chinese's role in relations with neighboring countries, the overseas Chinese's fertility rate, Chinese-language education, Chinese charitable contributions, Chinese family business management model, Chinese's cultural identity and public diplomacy.

The objective was to reveal overseas Chinese behavioral patterns from multiple dimensions and scales.

The book is divided into a general report, a neighboring countries relations' chapter, a society chapter, an economy chapter, and a culture and education chapter.

Jia said in an interview that this book has three new features: It pays more attention to overseas Chinese's current living conditions and production modes, which have never been mentioned before;

Secondly, the study theme closely integrates China's current international strategies, especially the "One Belt and One Road" strategy, discussing overseas Chinese's role in those strategies;

Thirdly, it features Chinese society 's cultural well being, cultural communication and cultural development modes under a new world economy and social situation.

The 1.4 million-word book is the fifth in a series, which started publishing in 2011.

xiaohong@chinadailyusa.com

(China Daily USA 01/04/2016 page2)
Saudi Arabia cuts ties with Iran after embassy in Tehran attacked Updated: 2016-01-04 07:16 (Xinhua)

RIYADH - Saudi Arabia's foreign minister announced on Saturday to cut diplomatic ties with Iran and asked all Iranian diplomats to leave within 48 hours, local media reported.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said he had informed the UN Security Council of the attack on the Saudi diplomatic mission in Iran late Saturday, adding that those Saudi diplomats had reached Dubai, the UAE, safely.

He accused the Iranian authorities of not taking any measure to prevent the attacks against the embassy in Tehran and the consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad.

On late Saturday, angry Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi diplomat mission against the Saudi execution of 47 individuals over terrorism charges, including a Saudi Shiite cleric, Namir Al Namir, a member of Saudi Shiite community.

The attacks were a violation to the international agreements, the minister said, also referring to the Iranians' previous attacks on U.S and British embassies.

He also accused Iran of providing protection for Al-Qaeda through weapon trafficking.
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Nepal's three major political parties and Madhesi front today decided to form a task force to find a common ground on demands put forth by the agitating group in a bid to end the ongoing political crisis in the country over the new Constitution.

Nepal's ruling coalition -- CPN-UML and CPN-Maoist, the main opposition Nepali Congress and the agitating United Democratic Madhesi Front (UDMF) held talks at prime minister's official residence here.

The meeting ended with a positive note, sources said.

"They decided to form a task force to find common ground regarding the 11-point demands submitted by the agitating Madhesi parties," according to Nepali Congress general secretary Prakash Man Singh, who was also present during the meeting.

The task force representing all three sides, the government, main opposition and the Madhesi Front will try to find common ground in issues relating to provincial boundary demarcation, citizenship certificate issue, proportionate representatives and allotment of parliament seat on the basis of population.

They have also agreed to continue their meeting to resolve the issue at the earliest.

On behalf of the three major parties, Prime Minister K P Sharma Oli, Nepali Congress president Sushil Koirala and nd UCPN-Maoist chairman Prachanda participated in the meeting.

Mahanta Thakur, president of Terai Madhes Democratic Party, Upendra Yadav, president of Madhesi Peoples Rights Forum Nepal and Mahendra Raya, president of Terai Madhes Sadbhawana Party were also present at the meeting.

Today's meeting took place after Indian Ambassador to Nepal Ranjit Rae called on UCPN (Maoist) Chairman Prachanda at latter's residence this afternoon.

Prachanda urged the envoy to end blockade as soon as possible. He said that the border blockade imposed by India for the past few months would hamper the friendly relations between the two countries, Kathmandu Post reported.

In return, Ambassador Rae said India is for early solution of crisis Nepal is currently facing.

Life in the southern Nepal plains have been seriously affected by the protests against the country's new Constitution that was adopted by the Constituent Assembly on September 20.

So far, over 50 people have died during the Madhesi-Tharu agitation launched by the marginalised groups of the country.

However, Sadbhawana Party, one of the members of the four party alliance, did not take part in today's meeting.

Sadbhawana Party president Rajendra Mahato, who was injured during baton charging by police in Biratnagar last week, is currently undergoing treatment in New Dehli.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi told Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Raiwind, ab toh yahan aana jaana laga rahega to which Sharif replied, apka ghar hai. This makes it incumbent upon us Indians to know better, the family and other interests of those to whose ghar there will be aana and jaana. As reporters scurried to update themselves with who Sajjan Jindal was and why he could have been an interlocutor in organising Modis visit and his meeting with Sharif, Business Standard did some digging and came up with interesting facts on the Sharif family and its business interests.

Much of the credit for the information goes to a Pakistani website, Fiverupees.com, which is both serious and satirical  serious because it handles the Pakistan narrative in terms of global concerns; and satirical because, well, it is just so funny and witty and irreverent!



In 1998, a book came out on the corporate interests of Nawaz Sharifs extended family. Called Who Owns Pakistan, it was written by Shahid-ur-Rehman, a respected Pakistani journalist who has been covering finance and the economy for nearly three decades. Remember that after Nawaz Sharif became prime minister in the 1990s, Pakistan went through a wave of privatisation and tweaked a number of policies dressed up as economic liberalisation? Rehmans contention is that most of the moves were made merely to strengthen various industrial houses, including the Sharif familys. The Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz government had marked 115 units for privatisation, of which 67 were privatised by 1997.

Rehman says the Ittefaq Group holdings belonged to the Sharif family, which gained the most from these moves. The Ittefaq Foundries, a relatively modest cast-iron parts business, was established in 1939 by Mian Mohammad Sharif and his six brothers, a family of Kashmiri immigrants who settled in Punjab in the late 19th century. After migrating from Amritsar at the time of Partition, the family settled in Lahore where Nawaz Sharif started the iron business, initially on a limited scale and later grew it, even as aristocratic Pakistanis sniffed about the rise and rise of the fortunes of the lohars. In 1972, Zulfikar Ali Bhuttos government nationalised several private-sector businesses, including the Sharif familys. They then moved their business to West Asia but while Ittefaqs fortunes plummeted (in 1998, according to Rehman, 119 offspring of the founders of the Ittefaq Group were fighting court cases on inheritance and assets division. Mian Mohammad Sharif died in 2000). Nawaz Sharif and his brother, Shahbaz Sharif, quietly worked on their business and grew it. The steel business continued, but the family also acquired property abroad (in the UK, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) and in Pakistan as well as agriculture-related concerns like poultry feed and other assets.

Fiverupees.com studied the claims in the book, cross-checked and indexed it to other public sources of information on the familys commercial interests and came to the conclusion that to attribute all the wealth of the Ittefaq Group to the Sharif family was not accurate. That said, the Sharif family is by no means poor. The website checked both Nawaz Sharif and Shahbaz Sharifs family income and assets as furnished by the Sharifs in 2013, according to the law in Pakistan which makes public disclosure of assets mandatory for those contesting elections.

The Sharif groups website claims they are worth $300 million in business and $100 million in real estate holdings. Mian Mohammad Sharifs wife, Shamim Akhtar (Nawaz Sharifs Ammi, whose feet our PM respectfully touched when he met her) owns the Jati Umra estate that Modi visited. Nawaz Sharif has two sons (Hassan, Hussain) and two daughters (Maryam and Asma). Shahbaz Sharif has two wives and two sons (Hamza, also having two wives; and Salman) and a daughter, Rabia Imran. The third brother, Abbas Sharif, has two sons and two daughters too. This brings the total number of living shareholders of the family estate, with great-grandchildren, to around 40.

The Sharifs have assets in Saudi Arabia, established when Nawaz Sharif was in exile. These include a steel mill amounting to PKR 700 crore in capital. The UAE assets  mills and suchlike  have been liquidated. Ramzan Energy is registered on the Karachi Stock Exchange, but is not a full-fledged company yet. It is a bagasse power plant. Gulshan Carpets was a company allegedly owned by Nawaz Sharifs daughter Maryam, but upon checking it was found to be listed in someone elses name (sounds familiar?). During FY 2013, there is also a combined cash transfer and bank remittance from Hussain Nawaz of PKR 19.7 crore.

Hamza Sharifs 2011 assets declaration shows an unsecured loan of PKR 5.18 lakh against the name of his father, Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif. Known as the poultry king of Punjab, Hamza Sharifs assets amount to PKR 21.10 crore.

The family also runs a charitable Sharif Trust that comprises engineering and medical and dental colleges, and the Sharif School of Applied Health Sciences. And no, they do not run a newspaper.

These are just vignettes from the list of assets, which is exhaustive and makes for riveting reading, especially the part about landholdings. Business Standard has not been able to verify the assertions independently. But Fiverupees.com assesses that the 40-odd members of the Sharif family own a PKR 4,000-crore business empire. Nawaz Sharifs personal holdings amount to between PKR 500 crore and 1,000 crore. Much of this is illiquid. He and his wife own PKR 14 crore in bank deposits and cash.

So be warned! Thats the ghar youre dealing with!
After operations lasting three days, security forces on Monday killed two more Pakistani terrorists within the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot, with the government saying six of them have now been neutralised, but it was not clear whether all the intruders have been eliminated. The National Investigation Agency on Monday registered three cases to probe the entire conspiracy behind the strike.

The United Jihad Council (UJC), an umbrella group of Pakistan-based jihadi outfits formed in November 1990 to bring on a single platform all the outfits involved in violence in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), claimed responsibility for the Pathankot attack. Press releases from the UJC reached the offices of most major newspapers in Srinagar in the afternoon on Monday. However, the government debunked these claims as a ploy to divert attention from the real conspirators.

In a parallel operation, three men having Pakistan SIM cards, pistols with Brazilian, Chinese and Pakistani markings and other explosive material, were caught from Mohali - not far from the Wagah border. Opinion is divided whether these men were drug smugglers or if they had a role to play in the Pathankot attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with top officials, including National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar to discuss the attack. Modi was briefed by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. Doval, who was to leave for Beijing, postponed his visit. However, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who was on a two-day state visit to Sri Lanka starting January 4, proceeded to Colombo as scheduled.

After a day of furious fighting, all militants were killed so no interrogation could take place as to the route of ingress or who their real handlers were. But, a deeply offended India mulled how to ratchet up the costs for the sponsors of this move: whether to call off the India-Pakistan foreign secretary level talks due on January 15; or to seek accountability from the Pakistan government, which has pledged time and again to stop all terrorist activity on its soil. All the indications are that the talks between foreign secretaries will be rescheduled and NSAs will meet first to discuss Pathankot.

However, perhaps anticipating this, the Syed Salahuddin-led UJC spoke up and took responsibility to deflect fingers pointing at the Pakistani state.

The UJC was originally formed with the twin objective of preventing rival terrorist groups from squabbling among themselves and creating a command and control structure of the Hizb ul Mujahideen-led UJC to enable Pakistani intelligence to have tighter control over its running. The Lashkar-e-Taiba, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and Al Badr Mujahideen were brought into the UJC. The headquarters of the UJC is at Muzaffarabad in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK).

But, the government said the men who had been killed were from Multan - not PoK. They said this was evident from the call records. Moreover, the level of training and ammunition used suggested institutionalised training.

"The Indian government and its media have been suffering from Pakistan phobia. By accusing Pakistan for every attack, India neither succeeded in the past to malign the Kashmir freedom struggle nor will it get anything in future through malicious propaganda," the UJC spokesperson said. He added militants in Kashmir had been fighting Indian Forces for the past 27 years and during this period India adopted all available means to "crush the Kashmir movement".

"The attack on Pathankot Air Base from Kashmiri Mujhadeen carries a message to India that no security establishment and garrison are out of reach from militants," said the spokesman.

"Instead of accusing Pakistan, India should read the writing on the wall and without wasting any time should provide an opportunity to the people of Kashmir to decide their future," the statement read.

However, India is not rushing to attribute blame or make accusations. Indications are that it will move deliberately and slowly.

The National Security Guard (NSG) said the attack was a fidayeen attack - which means those who mounted it knew they were going to their death. "These terrorists had come well prepared and were heavily armed," the NSG said in a short briefing.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley, who attended a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security, said the government wanted to capture as many militants alive as possible, which is why the operation took longer. He said as the operation was still going on (one militant was yet to found), it would be premature to comment. The government seemed to suggest the delay in countering the militants was not because of inefficiency, but as part of a deliberate strategy.
Terrorist group praises Australias Israel position The Albanese Governments decision to no longer recognise West Jerusalem as the capital of Israel has been welcomed by listed terrorist organisation Hamas.

Major announcement on Marinus Link Anthony Albanese was with Jeremy Rockliff in Tasmania on Wednesday to make a major announcement on new under-sea transmission cables to connect the Apple Isle with Victoria.

Loud bang: Earthquake rattles town in Victorias north An earthquake has shaken a small Victorian town and is the latest blow for residents facing the threat of further flash flooding in the state's north.

Coatsworth slams AMAs response to Medicare scandal Former Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth says the survival of Medicare depends on "us cleaning up our own act" following allegations of the public system wasting billions of dollars.
Vacation over, Obama looks

at ways to cut gun violence

WASHINGTON (AP)  Hawaiian vacation over, President Barack Obama says he is energized for his final year in office and ready to tackle unfinished business, turning immediate attention to the issue of gun violence.

Obama scheduled a meeting today with Attorney General Loretta Lynch to discuss a three-month review of what steps he could take to help reduce gun violence. The president is expected to use executive action to strengthen background checks required for gun purchases.

Republicans strongly oppose any moves Obama may make, and legal fights seem likely.

Trump brushes off video by militants citing his words

WASHINGTON (AP)  Donald Trump wont be dissuaded from saying what he thinks simply because Islamic extremists use his words to recruit Muslims to their cause.

The Republican presidential contender brushed off the appearance of an African militant groups video to recruit Americans that shows him calling for Muslims to be banned from coming to the U.S. On Sunday news shows, Trump said its no surprise Americas enemies would exploit comments of a presidential front-runner like himself.

The world is talking about what Ive said, Trump told CBS Face the Nation in an interview taped Friday. And now, big parts of the world are saying, Trump is really right, at least identifying whats going on. And we have to solve it. But youre not going to solve the problem unless you identify it.

The 51-minute video is by al-Shabab, al-Qaidas East Africa affiliate, and showed up Friday on Twitter.

66 neglected dogs seized

from home in Maryland

ROCKVILLE, Md. (WP)  Montgomery County animal services officers seized 66 dogs from a home in the Rockville area and relocated them to the countys animal shelter in an operation that began New Years Day and may be one of the largest such efforts in recent years, authorities said on Sunday.

The dogs had a variety of medical issues and conditions, some more serious than others, said Thomas Koenig, director of the animal services division of the Montgomery County police. Some required immediate veterinary care, he said.

Authorities say the case started after two animal services officers investigated a dog-bite case.

The homeowner was uncooperative. The officers took note of the propertys condition, suspected a large number of animals were being housed and returned a day later with police to execute a search warrant, officials said.

4 shot dead including

man, wife in L.A. suburb

ROWLAND HEIGHTS, Calif. (AP)  A man shot and killed his wife and two others in his home on New Years Eve before his son wrestled the gun away and fatally shot him in a chain of events apparently set off by a dispute over a washing machine, authorities said.

Michael John Morey, 54, shot and killed his bedridden wife, Betty Jean Morey; his sons 48-year-old girlfriend, Linda Patricia Merrell, who also lives at the house in Rowland Heights; and a 27-year-old house guest, Ernesto Calzadilla, Los Angeles County coroner said.

The father was a heavy drinker with a large gun collection, and authorities had made dozens of previous trips to the home, the sheriffs department said.

Investigators believe a dispute between the dad and the sons girlfriend over using the washing machine led to the father pulling out a semi-automatic pistol and opening fire.
Britain's vote on going solo

could mark the end of EU

LONDON (WP) - Europe was pummeled by crises from start to finish in 2015, with terrorist attacks, bankruptcy brinksmanship and an unparalleled refugee influx combining to leave continental unity in tatters by years end.

But instead of relief, 2016 could bring an unraveling.

In addition to the flash points of the past year -- all of which are poised to flare again -- Britain is likely to throw fresh instability into the mix with a referendum on whether to leave the European Union. Once judged an unlikely prospect, many observers now see a 50-50 chance British voters will elect to cut this island nation adrift from a continent beset by existential struggles.

If they do, it would mark the first time in the EUs history that a country has chosen to withdraw. The referendum could come as soon as this summer.

6.7 magnitude quake hits

Indias northeast, killing 1

GAUHATI, India (AP)  A 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit Indias remote northeast region before dawn today, killing at least one person, injuring 50 others and causing damage to several buildings.

The death and injuries were caused by falling debris in and around Imphal, the capital of Manipur state, police said.

The powerful tremor left large cracks in walls and a portion of a popular market building collapsed in the state capital. A newly constructed six-story building also collapsed in Imphal, the police said.

Indias Meteorological Department said the epicenter of the quake was in Tamenglong region of Manipur state. The U.S. Geological Survey said the depth was about 34 miles. The epicenter was 35 20 miles northwest of Imphal.

Mexican mayor murdered

one day after taking office

MEXICO CITY (AP)  Three people, including a minor, were being held Sunday in the slaying of a newly inaugurated mayor in a gang-troubled central Mexican city.

Morelos Gov. Graco Ramirez ordered flags on state buildings flown at half-mast and called for three days of mourning following the murder of Temixco Mayor Gisela Mota.

He blamed organized crime for killing the 33-year-old Mota, a former federal congresswoman who had been sworn in as mayor less than a day before she was gunned down in her home Saturday morning.

Israel charges two Jewish

extremists in deadly arson

JERUSALEM (AP)  Israel on Sunday charged two Jewish extremists in an arson attack that killed a Palestinian toddler and his parents last July  culminating a drawn-out investigation into a case that has helped fuel months of Israeli-Palestinian violence.

The indictments came as Israel said it had broken up a ring of Jewish extremists wanted in a series of attacks on Palestinian and Christian targets. While Israels prime minister trumpeted the arrests as a victory for law and order, the charges drew criticism from Palestinians, who said they were too little and too late, and from the suspects relatives, who claimed their loved ones had been tortured by Israeli interrogators.

While Israel has been dealing with a wave of vigilante-style attacks by suspected Jewish extremists in recent years, the deadly July 31 firebombing in the West Bank village of Duma sparked soul-searching across the nation. The attack killed 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh, while his mother, Riham, and father, Saad, later died of their wounds. Alis 4-year-old brother Ahmad survived and remains in an Israeli hospital.
14th in a series of stories highlighting the 2015 20 under 40 recipients.

WATERLOO | As a banker, Philip Nash describes children as an invaluable investment in the future.

For me, my passion is helping kids, said Nash, business relationship manager with Wells Fargo Bank in Waterloo. I think investing in kids on the front end makes them more productive with more power to do things they want to do. Its better for everybody in general.

Nash grew up on a farm near Milo, a small town in southern Iowa. His parents still farm the same land and live in the house.

When Nash moved to the Cedar Valley, he wanted to share that sense of stability.

One of the first people he met was Chuck Rowe, who directs the Boys & Girls Club of the Cedar Valley.

He does a lot in the community and just invited me to be a part of the club, Nash said. I think he just got lucky. He was the first person that asked me. When I joined, I found it was a great organization, and I decided I was going to put as much as possible into it.

Nash grabbed hold of that opportunity and became a volunteer leader with the club. He now serves on the clubs board and its finance and fundraising committees.

Phil volunteers tons in the community as well, because he loves living in the Cedar Valley, Rowe said in nominating his friend for 20 Under 40 honors.

Rowe won the award three years ago.

Nash also is a member of Waterloo Rotary, the Jaycees, the Cedar Valley Young Professionals and the Chamber Ambassadors.

For me, its all about being involved, and volunteering is the best way to be involved in the community in general, with social and economic improvement, participating in the community that makes it a better place, Nash said. I grew up in a small town, where if everybody didnt do the things that needed to get done, it didnt get done. My dad and mom have always been involved. My wifes family has always been the same way.

Nash said his wife of five years, Kellie, and his young sons, Lachlan and Ryker, are his true inspiration.

So, he said, are other family members, as well as the great people in this community I work and serve with every day.

As a young leader, Nash says its important to invest as much time as possible into his activities.

That goes for anyone who fancies themselves a leader.

Theyre willing to lead by example and do the work but are willing to delegate, as well, he said. I put a lot of value in honesty and integrity in a leader. Its Heres the way it is, and heres what we need to get done. Theyre willing to do it, and thats what inspires me.

Nash represents Wells Fargo as a volunteer as well, participating in Boots on the Ground, guest lecturing at Hawkeye Community College and participating in My Waterloo Days and Sturgis Falls, among other local events programs.

He asks tons of questions and always wants to make sure we are headed in the right direction. He does that because he loves the kids at our club and wants to make sure were here for years to come, Rowe said.
WATERLOO | Police are searching for a 20-year-old man who escaped from the Waterloo Residential Facility.

Donielle Dushawn Neely Jr., 20, of 902 Mulberry St., walked out of the downtown Waterloo facility just after 7:30 p.m. Jan. 1, according to the Waterloo Police Department.

Neely Jr. is described as a 20-year-old black male wearing a gray and blue winter coat. Further descriptive information was not available.

Neely Jr. was sentenced to serve time at the residential facility after being convicted on a third-degree burglary charge in 2014, according to public records.
DAVENPORT | Democrat Hillary Clinton applauded President Barack Obamas impending executive actions to tighten controls on guns Monday, but she warned people at a Davenport campaign appearance that if a Republican wins the White House those steps could be jeopardized.

The president was meeting with U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday to prepare for new actions to tighten gun controls in the aftermath of recent shootings.

Congressional Republicans and the GOP presidential field already have criticized the pending actions. But Clinton, in roughly 40 minutes of remarks that all but ignored the fact shes in a primary race, warned those and other executive actions could be swept away if a Republican becomes the next president.

Theres a lot at stake. You know, the president may sign these executive orders on guns. They could be undone the first day by a Republican president, she said.

She added the presidents actions to fight climate change also could be in danger. She also criticized Republican attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act.

Clintons Davenport appearance was the first in a two-day swing through Iowa.

Most of her remarks were aimed at the GOP presidential field and conjuring up the image of a Republican winning the presidency, which she told audience members would give them nightmares."

At one point, she noted efforts to defund Planned Parenthood and added, We need to understand, if they get in its gone."

Clinton is in a three-way race for the Democratic Partys presidential nomination. Her nearest rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, is trailing her in Iowa by 9 points, according to the latest Des Moines Register/Bloomberg Politics poll.

The two are in a much tighter race in New Hampshire, the first primary state. And Clinton suggested a convincing win in Iowa would give her big momentum going into New Hampshire.

If I get off to a good start in Iowa, were halfway home, she said.

Clinton drew about 400 people to the Starlite Ballroom at the Mississippi Valley Fairgrounds, according to fair officials.

Marsha Voigt-Zemo, of Riverdale, was one of them. She was wearing a Clinton campaign button from the 2008 race, and she praised the former secretary of states international experience and concern for the middle class.

Ive been excited about her candidacy since 08, she said.

Another person, who described himself as leaning toward supporting Sanders, nonetheless said he could enthusiastically get behind a Clinton candidacy if shes the nominee.

Ive still got a lot of faith in her, said Dan Garrett, of Blue Grass.

Much of the Democratic race has been marked by debate over domestic issues, and the bulk of Clintons remarks centered on those.

Still, she told the audience she wants to make the U.S. safe at home and strong abroad, but rejected sending combat troops into Iraq and Syria.

"I think that would be a grave mistake and I will not  will not  approve of that, she said.

Sanders frequently reminds Iowa audiences that he voted against the congressional measure authorizing the Iraq War, which Clinton supported.

Clinton did not bring up her recent feuding with Republican candidate Donald Trump. But Tom Vilsack, the former Iowa governor who now heads the U.S. Agriculture Department, did allude to him while calling Clinton tough enough to take on challengers.

She can withstand the trumped up charges, he said, a phrase that drew applause.

Vilsack also contrasted Clintons national security credentials with those of the Republicans, who he said are willing to send troops here, there and everywhere.

Hillary Clinton is not going to be a person who is going to send men and women into harms way unless she knows all of the facts, he said.
First in a series looking at the upcoming legislative session.

DES MOINES | In 2015, Iowa Gov. Terry Branstad shifted management of the states Medicaid program to private health-care companies.

In 2016, state lawmakers have an opportunity to get involved, if they choose.

The merits of the states shift to privately managed Medicaid have been vociferously debated: Supporters say private companies will run the program more efficiently and offer better services, while critics worry those for-profit companies will save money by reducing services.

The transition itself has been rife with delays and legal challenges. Implementation is set for March 1, pending federal approval.

State legislators will get their opportunity to weigh in on the transition when the Iowa Legislature convenes for the 2016 session Jan. 11.

One in five Iowans receives health-care services from Medicaid, and one in five state dollars is spent on the $5 billion government-run health care program, according to the states nonpartisan fiscal estimating agency.

With that much at stake, Democratic state legislators said they think an extra layer of oversight is appropriate.

I think what were asking here is, this is a new program, and ($5 billion annually) thats a chunk of change here, said Sen. Amanda Ragan, D-Mason City, who is co-chair of legislative committees on health care policy and spending. I think when you have that big a change, theres certainly some reason to have people looking out for folks.

In 2015, the Senate unanimously approved legislation that created stronger oversight of the shift to managed Medicaid, including a commission of state legislators. But the bill was not considered in the Republican-controlled House.

Then-House Majority Leader Linda Upmeyer, R-Clear Lake, said at the time the Legislatures natural oversight powers were sufficient to monitor the managed Medicaid shift.

Upmeyer, who will take over as House speaker for the coming session, reiterated that in recent interviews.

As a Legislature, we always have the oversight role, Upmeyer said. Thats one of the things were going to be watching to see how this works. If there are adjustments or tweaks needed, we certainly have the capability of doing that. I think the oversight role is an absolutely legitimate one, but we need to let this happen.

Democratic leaders said they think the Legislatures natural oversight is insufficient to oversee what they called a dramatic program shift.

The bill that passed in the Senate (in 2015) provided far more authority than the usual committee process, said Senate President Pam Jochum, D-Dubuque, whose adult daughter has intellectual disabilities and receives Medicaid services. I hope the House will realize this time that regardless of what party has the governors office that the legislative branch needs to have an active role whenever this kind of monumental change is occurring in state government.

Upmeyer and Senate Minority Leader Bill Dix, R-Shell Rock, accused Democrats of politicizing the issue.

Democrats say they are acting on behalf of their constituents, who have flooded state phone lines with concerns over the Medicaid management shift.

I cant imagine other (legislators) arent hearing from providers and consumers and Medicaid beneficiaries in their families that there are some issues out there, Ragan said. We still have to deal with it. Maybe all of us, together, can come to some reasonable solution.
Q. Up until a month ago, I used Yahoo for stock prices and research on stocks I might buy. But without notice, Yahoo completely changed the Yahoo Finance site, using a beta version of a different format that is terrible to use. It makes me glad my stockbroker sold Yahoo at $46 last February. Some people think its a good buy today at about $33, including my broker. Im so disgusted I could spit.

-- DC, Akron, Ohio

A. I havent counted the number of readers whore screaming bloody murder because of Yahoo's (YHOO-$33.89) new, cockeyed financial site. But thats Yahoo; the morons running YHOO dont understand the word communicate. And thats why YHOO is slowly and quietly rotting from within.

Most public companies in the Standard & Poors 500 index have excellent media relations departments. This is especially true at big corporations, such as Target, McDonalds, Merck & Co., General Mills, Chevron, AT&T, etc. YHOO also has an MR department, but its not allowed to answer the phone. When the phone does ring, MR folks think its a lunch bell, and if an employee is gone for more than 40 minutes, he has to be retrained. There are many reasons this company is called Yahoo; certainly, such synonyms as airhead, birdbrain, oaf, goof, dimwit and bonehead are apropos.

I cant tell you why YHOO abruptly and completely redesigned the Yahoo Finance page. But had I attended CEO Marissa Mayers $7 million Great Gatsby-themed Christmas party, where she perched on a white throne posing for pictures, one of the many drunken YHOO engineers would have told me. Ive never liked YHOO for financial information; its format and presentation were fine, but the data were frequently out-of-date and wrong. Were I an advertiser, Id surely not use YHOO.

Mayer, who became CEO in 2012, has a masters degree from Stanford University in computer science with a specialization in artificial intelligence. But since taking over as CEO, Mayers throne has morphed into a divisive influence. And spending $565,000 to install a baby nursery in her office certainly helped! Initially, Mayer fantasized she would become another Steve Jobs. It took her nearly a year to recognize YHOO makes money selling advertising, not iPhones, iPads or Apple Watches. Its been almost four years since she became queen, and during that time, revenues have grown by a pathetic $46 million, from $4.984 billion in 2012 to $5.03 billion in 2015. Meanwhile, disaffected and key people who couldnt abide Mayer began leaving in late 2012 and still are. Now YHOOs confused, inutile board members are quietly looking to replace Mayer.

YHOO invested $1 billion in 2005 buying a 40 percent stake in Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (BABA-$83.03). Shortly before BABA went public, brilliant Mayer sold back 535 million shares at $13 -- for about $7 billion -- reporting a $6 billion gain. Six months later, that stake would have been worth $45 billion. YHOO still owns 15 percent of BABA. However, YHOOs 1 billion outstanding shares have a market cap of $33 billion -- including its BABA shares, which are worth $30 billion. So YHOO without BABA is a $3 billion pig in a poke.

YHOO -- with an aging board of directors, crippled management, clueless engineers and vacuous programmers -- may be a takeover target. And Verizon Communications, which owns AOL, is looking.
If you have opinions about the subject matter of posts on this blog please share them. Do you have a story about how the system affects you at work school or home, or just in general? This is a place to share it.
By West Kentucky Star Staff Dec. 21, 2015 | 07:52 PM | MAYFIELD, KY

The Adult Winter Reading Program at the Graves County Public Library will start January 18th and will go until the end of February. Read ten books from our scavenger hunt list and be eligible for a prize. Adventure, Fantasy, Romance? What will you find at the library?

The Graves County Public Library will host family movie night on Tuesday, Jan. 5th at 5 pm. Join them to watch as 12-year-old orphan Peter is spirited away to the magical world of Neverland, where he finds both fun and danger, and ultimately discovers his destiny. Free Drinks and popcorn will be served. Children under the age of 10 should be with someone over the age of 15.

Do you enjoy playing board games as a family? The Graves County public library will host Family Game night on Tuesday, Jan. 12th from 5 to 7 pm. Spend some time as a family playing games such as Uno, Monopoly, Blink, Apples to Apples Jr., and Clue. We will also have a Wii set up to play console games. Kids under the age of 10 should be with an adult.

On Saturday, Jan. the 16th at 10:30 am the Graves County Public Library will have a No Sew Scarf Workshop. Bring one or more old or new t-shirts and learn how to make your very own scarf. Sign up at the library if you would like to participate.

On Monday, Jan. 18th from 5 to 7 pm the Graves County Public Library will have an Adult coloring night. Stop by for some coloring and relaxation. Refreshments will be served. Everyone is welcome.

In honor of our Winter Reading program this year the Graves County Public Library will have a Trivia Night on Tuesday, Jan, 26th at 5:30 pm. Come by the library and be prepared for 20th and 21st century literary trivia.

If you have any questions, call 270-247-2911.
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By The Associated Press

Jan. 03, 2016 | ST. LOUIS, MO

By The Associated Press Jan. 03, 2016 | 10:49 AM | ST. LOUIS, MO

Just three days after ascending to record levels and forcing hundreds of people from their homes, the Meramec River in suburban St. Louis is back below flood stage in two hard-hit towns. The National Weather Service says the river is now well below flood stage in Pacific and Eureka, and just 4 feet above flood stage in Valley Park.



And a suburban St. Louis water plant that shut down Wednesday is working again. The plant in High Ridge began operating again this morning, though residents are being told to continue to boil water before drinking it or cooking with it as purification efforts aren't yet at normal levels. The plant serves about 20,000 people in an area south of St. Louis in Jefferson County.



Amtrak service between St. Louis and Kansas City, Missouri, resumed today, four days after it shut down when high water reached the tracks at some locations.



The Mississippi River is dropping in the southeast Missouri town of Cape Girardeau. The National Weather Service says the river crested at 48.9 feet late Friday, about four-tenths of a foot above the 1993 record. By this morning, the river had dropped about a foot. Still, the river is expected to remain well above flood stage for several days.
Few characters have dominated human history quite like Jesus Christ. Christians believe that the Son of God was sent to Earth by his father in order to save the human race from their own sins. Other religions, including Judaism and Islam, dismiss this belief, however, and argue Christ was not the son of God at all. But the tension does not stop there when it comes to the so-called "Lamb of God", oh no. In fact, down the centuries hundreds of different pretenders have claimed to be Jesus reincarnate - they have asserted that they are the Second Coming of Christ, as was foretold in the New Testament in the Bible, and that the Apocalypse predicted in the book of Revelation shall soon arrive. Some claims have been harmless, with people merely asserting that they are the Son of God, while other suitors' suggestions have had devastating consequences. In fact, one man who claims to be Jesus is currently on death row in Japan having orchestrated numerous terrorist atrocities, while another brainwashed a cult in America who were eventually besieged by the FBI, with 76 people dying. Here are 10 of the most bizarre and surreal examples of people who have claimed to be Jesus Christ reincarnate down the ages.
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Youve got a decent hand. Youre sure of it, but you dont want to bet everything on it because you know the game and know that youll lose. What do you do? That depends in part upon how strong your hand is (or isnt). For example, if you have an ace low flush, you might be tempted to fold, knowing you probably wont make money betting with it. On the other hand, if you hold a pocket pair, you may have enough confidence in the strength of your hand to bet all-in, hoping for a full house or better. In order to get the most from your hand, you need to understand what the odds are against each possible outcome. Heres how you can figure out whether or not you should push your luck with a particular hand.

The decision of the player to do the okbet login will provide him good return in the future. This is the platform that is considered as the reliable option. It provides the players with the high stake of the winning. Even a representative is there who will work to serve the people.

The Value of A Pair

Lets assume weve just dealt two cards and one player has three suited cards and another has four. If the first player bets, then hes going to win about half the time (assuming everyone else folds), so his expected return is 50 percent. The second player has a much tougher time. Hell have a good chance of winning only when he gets three of a kind, which happens 1/4th of the time. So he has a 25 percent chance of winning. When he makes the call, the third player has a 55 percent chance of winning. His expected return is 45 percent. Of course, if the first player loses, then the chances of the third player winning go way up  about 80 percent. All of these percentages are based on the assumption that all players will fold.

The value of the hand is calculated by taking the probability of winning times the amount you would win if you did win. This gives us a number between zero and 100. Well use $5 as our basic unit for calculating the value of the hands. If you had 10 chips and could choose any five, what would you pick? Well, wed obviously take the top hand, which is worth $50. The second best hand is a little bit worse  $45  since youre giving up some equity for the opportunity to win more. So now lets calculate the value of the remaining hands.

If the second player chooses a third card, his expected gain is $25, which represents the difference between the two hands. A fourth card increases the expectation to $30, while adding a fifth card drops it back down to $20. Since there are no sixth cards, the value of the hand is equal to the average of the five cards, which is $24.60.

The value of a suit

We can also figure out the value of a suit by looking at the value of each individual card within that suit. Lets say were dealing a standard deck of 52 cards. One person holds a KQ; the next person has a 7D; and the third has a 2S. Each person has a 20% chance of winning. What is the expected return of having this group of cards? Well, the KQ has a 5% chance of winning, the 7D has a 4% chance, and the 2S has a 3% chance. So the total expected return is 25%. The same logic applies to the other suits, where the probability of winning goes up as the value of the card decreases. For instance, the Aces have a 9% chance of winning, Kings have 8%, Queens have 7%, Jacks have 6%, and Tens have 5%. So the expected returns add up to 36%.

Now lets add all of these numbers together to get an estimate of the value of a hand. Assuming that each hand was equally likely to come up, our total would be 60 percent. But we know thats wrong! Not every hand is created equal. It turns out that a royal flush beats the rest of the pack pretty consistently. So were going to adjust our calculations to reflect this fact.

Royal Flushes

So far, weve assumed that all of the cards were equally likely to come up. Actually, most poker players believe that Royal Flushes are extremely unlikely. In fact, many experts estimate their frequency at less than 0.1 percent. To account for this, lets increase the probability of winning for each card in a Royal Flush by 10 percent. Now when we calculate the value of a Royal Flush, well find that its actually worth 62.5 percent of what it used to be. The value of the cards in each rank will still add up to 100, but theyre now weighted differently.

So what does this mean for you? Well, if you hold a Royal Flush, youre probably going to win about 75 percent of the time. And if you hold a hand like QJT, youll win about 75 percent of the time too. And if you hold a straight, youll win nearly 70 percent of the time. In short, the bigger your hand, the more likely you are to win. Of course, even though youre getting a higher hit rate, youll also tend to lose more often. So if you hold a straight, youre almost guaranteed to lose. But if you hold a Royal Flush, youre going to win about one-quarter of the time, and youll win about twice as much money. So youre almost certain to profit from such a hand, but youll also take a lot of losses.

Now, I mentioned that youll lose money on any hand. In fact, youll lose money roughly half the time. So if you hold a straight, youll lose about 25 percent of the time. If you hold a flush, youll lose about 40 percent of the time. And if you hold a pair, youll lose 35 percent of the time. In addition, if you hold a set  one of the two highest ranks  youll lose 35 percent of the time. Finally, if you hold a high card in the lowest rank, youll lose 30 percent of the time.

But the interesting thing is that youll lose less money on those losing hands than you do on winning hands. Why is that? Well, suppose you hold a straight. Theres a 65 percent chance youll win. But suppose you hold a pair instead. Theres a 65 percent chance youll win. But you lost on your last hand. So theres now a 75 percent chance that youll lose again. On the other hand, if you hold a straight and lose, theres still a 65 percent chance youll win again. So youre only losing about 15 percent of the time.

This means that you can minimize your losses by playing only hands that are reasonably likely to win. So if you hold a straight, youll probably lose around 25 percent of the time. But if you hold a flush, youll probably lose around 40 percent of the time. And if you hold a pair, youll probably lose around 35 percent of the time. And if you hold a set, youll probably lose around 35 percent of the time. But if you hold a high card in the lowest rank, youll probably lose around 30 percent of the time.

In summary, the higher the probability that youll win, the lower your loss percentage will be. And the lower the probability youll win, the higher your loss percentage will be. So the optimal strategy is to play only hands whose probability of winning exceeds your expected return. If you hold a straight, theres a 65 percent chance of winning, so youll lose around 25 percent of the time. If you hold a flush, theres a 65 percent chance of winning, so youll lose around 40 percent of the time. And if you hold a pair, theres a 65 percent chance of winning, so youll lose around 35 percent of the time. But if you hold a set, theres a 65 percent chance of winning, so youll lose around 35 percent of the time. And if you hold a high card in the lowest rank, theres a 65 percent chance of winning, so youll lose around 30 percent of the time.

Of course, you shouldnt ignore your opponents actions entirely. You should always give them credit for being smart, making decisions, and doing whatever it takes to beat you. But just remember that youre being punished for having a decent hand.
Jan 4, 2016 | By Alec

If you love 3D printed architecture, it will have been impossible for you to miss Ittyblox. The brainchild of Dutch designer Stef de Vos, Ittyblox sells a wide range of fantastic miniature (1:1000 scale) 3D printed buildings online and has created some absolute gems. While already having realized a wide range of models from the worlds foremost cities, Ittyblox has now taken to Kickstarter with a fantastic range of 3D printed buildings from Paris, perhaps the most beautiful city in the world.

And for those of you who have never heard of Ittyblox, it is a brand of collectible 3D printed miniature buildings perfect for all lovers of architecture. While only starting in 2014, Stef de Vos has already designed an extensive collection featuring countless different buildings, parks, highways, canals, streets and all manner of urban assets  each more impressive than the last. Importantly, all buildings are at the same scale and can be placed on uniform baseplates to form city blocks, making it very easy to build entire cities yourself. With that quality, it is hardly surprising that Ittyblox is increasingly making a name for itself in the miniature world, and has already found previous Kickstarter success with the Flatiron Building, the Amsterdam set. Most of his designs are sold through the Ittyblox shop at Shapeways, however.

Some earlier work by Ittyblox.

As the Dutch designer explains, the time had now come to take on the biggest challenge of all: Paris. "The reason I chose Paris as the next city to add to the Ittyblox collection months ago is because of its beauty, peace and romance. Even though it's been in the news for other reasons lately, let's hope these adjectives soon be the first ones that come to mind when thinking of this great city again, he says.  I tried to capture the typical Parisian style using some non-existing buildings placed in a diagonal street baseplate. A diagonal street is a first for Ittyblox, but more buildings will be made for this new type of baseplate. I also added two famous Paris buildings, but we'll get to those soon enough.

And as you can see for yourself, he succeeded admirably in capturing that typical Parisian feel. Featuring tall buildings with shops below and apartments above, they mirror a typical street in Paris perfectly. To complete the city, Stef also designed a few characteristic buildings, such as one of the embassies typically seen around the Arc de Triomphe, the typical Parisian subway entries and much more. And of course, everything is 3D printed  which can be difficult at that scale. Much time is spent to get the balance right between detailing and staying within the possibilities of current 3D printing technology. The delicate production process makes it hard to design little details without breaking them during handling. However, a gothic chapel isn't a gothic chapel without the many little edges, corners, curves and lines. Also, notice the detailed lining on the windows, Stef explains.

However, due to the costs involved in prototyping and designing such delicate and detailed structures, Stef has again turned to Kickstarter to fund development. I am seeking funds to add Parisian architecture to the Ittyblox shop, he says. But of course, all buildings will be available at reduced prices through Kickstarter, so take a look here for more information.

Posted in 3D Printing Application

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Jan 4, 2016 | By Kira

Makerbot has today introduced the new and improved Smart Extruder+ for its Fifth Generation Replicator 3D printers that has been specifically redesigned and meticulously tested alongside MakerBot parent company Stratasys in order to guarantee better performance over a longer period of time. How much better, and for how much longer? According to MakerBot, they jointly conducted over 160,000 cumulative hours of testing on the new Smart Extruder+ to demonstrate its reliability over 700 hours using 1.44 miles of PLA, proving to MakerBot customers that they can once again 3D print with confidence.

Of course, for many MakerBot Replicator customers, 160,000+ hours of testing is the least MakerBot could do after the frustrating and highly publicized failure of its previous Smart Extruder model. One of the most critical components of a 3D printer, the extruder (or hot end) is tasked with pulling the plastic filament from the roll, heating it, and layering it onto the print. MakerBots original Smart Extruder concept, launched alongside the 5th Gen Replicator, was promoted as a novel way to re-load filament and explore new 3D printing materials and processes without having to purchase a whole new 3D printer. However, it turned out to be so poorly designed and prone to clogging, users reported their 3D printers becoming completely inoperable, forcing some to replace their extruders several times within the initial six-month warranty period.

To make things worse, the Smart Extruder became the subject of a class-action law suit against MakerBot and its parent company Stratasys, which alleged that both companies had known about the Smart Extruders defaults, yet continued to sell them anyway. The lawsuit added insult to injury for the 3D printing startup, which faced two rounds of layoffs and a major restructuring in 2015 in an attempt to recover from a series of increasingly reckless and irresponsible management decisions. Stratasys also reported $938 million in losses during its third quarter, due largely to a MakerBot write-down.

Could the new Smart Extruder+ finally redeem MakerBot for the past years indiscretions? According to the test results and initial reviews from customers, it seems to be, at the very least, an extremely promising start.

Taking advantage of Stratasys 25 years of industry experience, MakerBot collaborated closely with its parent company to refine the Smart Extruder from every possible angle. The Smart Extruder + is designed to easily swap in and out of various Fifth Generation Replicator 3D printer models, including the desktop Replicator, the Replicator Mini, and the larger Replicator Z18. Key improved features include an enhanced thermal management system; extended PTFE tube to feed the filament into the nozzle; faster print start up; refined build plate leveling and calibration; and finally, enhanced smart sensors that allow it to communicate with users via PC or mobile devices, informing them of print statuses and real-time filament levels. All of this means better connectivity, less clogging and jamming, fewer failed prints and filament waste, and overall better 3D print quality than previously possible with the MakerBot Replicator.

Of course, its one thing to boast all of these new improvements, and another to truly put them to the test. Thanks to two independent teams, one from MakerBot and one from Stratasys, to help ensure un-biased verification, the Smart Extruder+ was put through over 160,000 cumulative hours (or 18 years) of 3D print time, resulting in a total of 5,800 3D prints. Throughout these tests, the Smart Extruder+ proved to perform consistently and reliably for over 700 hours on a Replicator desktop model, using 1.44 miles of PLA filament. Whats more, over 90 percent of test units were still successfully 3D printing after 1,200 hours of 3D print time.

While MakerBot does point out that the rate of wear on extruders can vary greatly based on a variety of factors, 700-1,200+ hours is quite impressive, and to back up its quality-control claims, MakerBot is doubling the Smart Extruder+ warranty to six months, with no limit on the amount of MakerBot PLA used. The extended warranty seems to be a pretty bold move, but one that also proves just how confident MakerBot is in this new product.

The advances we made with the MakerBot Smart Extruder+ are a big step forward and set a new benchmark in 3D printing, said Jonathan Jaglom, CEO of MakerBot. The extruder is the most critical part of a 3D printer and it is a part that wears out after a certain period of time and needs to be replaced. We engineered and tested the Smart Extruder+ to enhance its reliability, provide better performance and extend its lifetime. And we stand behind it by doubling our warranty to six months. Because it is swappable, the Smart Extruder+ can also reduce downtime when its time to replace it.

Early customer reviews of the Smart Extruder+ have been quite positive. David Gewitz over at ZDNet reviewed the Smart Extruder+ and commented that after a ridiculously easy installation process, he was able to successfully 3D print several parts. Its a clear improvement over the previous plastic-layering component, he said.

In line with MakerBots commitment to promoting 3D printing education, the Smart Extruder+ is also being used in classrooms. The reliability and ease of use is huge for us; it provides more students access to our MakerBot Desktop 3D printer, said Nicholas Provenzano, a teacher at Grosse Point Public Schools in Michigan, who has been using the MakerBot Smart Extruder+ for several weeks. "Our students print all day in our library and I can't always be there to assist them. The MakerBot 3D Ecosystem, and especially the Smart Extruder+, makes it easy for our students to turn their ideas into physical objects. It lets them focus on the design process, which is most beneficial for their education."

The Smart Extruder+ is available for pre-order as of today, with an MSRP of $199 and shipping expected to begin January 18th, 2016. Current MakerBot Fifth Generation 3D printer customers, or new customers who purchase a Fifth Gen 3D printer, will qualify for $100 discount. After a year of mismanagement, poor decisions, and financial losses, both MakerBot and Stratasys are in need of a saving grace. For their customers sake above all, lets just hope this Smart Extruder+ is it.

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Matthew Raiff wrote at 5/20/2017 1:11:15 AM:When will you make a smart extruder for the flash forge creator pro?Happier Customer wrote at 8/9/2016 4:34:30 PM:I have 2 Minis that went through 8 extruders the first year. Since using the Extruder+, two extruders have clogged but it takes 2 minutes to remove the clog vs 15-20 minutes for the original smart extruder. Too bad Makerbot doesn't allow users to open the extruder without voiding the warranty when it's so easy to remove clogs now.wayne andrews wrote at 3/30/2016 4:19:50 PM:A bit too little & far to late ... you should be giving them for free to replace the crap you sold us with the machine's when you first robbed us of our moneyjoe wrote at 1/6/2016 12:41:34 AM:will not buy makerbot again. very costly and crap for printersJamie Laing wrote at 1/5/2016 11:07:55 PM:I have four 3D printers and I've printed for thousands of hours. I have a Replicator 2, and Replicator 2X, both of which had atrocious extruders as compared to the other machines. I printed new extruder heads for the 2 and 2X, and they work great now, but my main point is... after thousands of hours of printing, I have yet to have a print head wear out. What is happening that is causing print heads to wear out? Are we supposed to believe that PLA wears down the stainless steel portions of the printer? Not something that should take six months, it should be years. Makerbot broke my heart, I will never buy from them again. Simply put, they lied to me repeatedly, from every level of the organization. I recommend folks look at the Flashforge Creator Pro... great machine that actually does what the Replicator 2X was supposed to do.. print in both PLA and ABS. The Makergear M2 is also a solid beast.Sean D wrote at 1/5/2016 7:15:18 PM:Sorry Makerbot, but you had your chance and you blew it good. No one is ever going to trust your brand again, why even bother wasting money on this crappy extruder? There are more than 100 manufacturers of consumer 3D printers, have your pick, but stay away from Makerbot.Disgruntled customer wrote at 1/5/2016 2:32:20 AM:Nope, i will never trust makerbot ever again, theyve made these same promises of quality before, then delived a steaming box of shit. I will never buy makerbot again, and i make sure that all my friends that consult with me on 3d printing matters know to steer clear of makerbotdbclunie wrote at 1/4/2016 8:48:51 PM:love how the comments are disabled on the video... I 'm sorry but this is a little to late. Heck my 2x just bit the dust last night (the extruder wiring finally game up the ghost being that its non flex rated wiring in a flex job. Getting some new wiring and fixing it up soon to get it back to "semi functional" which it always was... never confidently reliable like the other 3d printers I have...Bill wrote at 1/4/2016 7:01:50 PM:So, on top of all the issues I've had with my current machine, they want me to pay an additional $100 to get an extruder that supposedly works? No thanks.




Jan 4, 2016 | By Alec

An advanced 3D printer dispenses conductive ink to build an electronic device that can filter electromagnetic radiation. The horizontal tube uses a vacuum to remove unwanted ink.

Over the past few years, metal 3D printing has been getting a boost from one of the largest metal consuming industries in the world: national militaries. From China, to South Korea and the US, it is being recognized as an intriguing time and money saving manufacturing option. But a new innovation coming out of the lab at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell, shows that 3D printing can help on more fronts than engine and airplane parts. The Massachusetts team has just successfully developed 3D printed electronic radar parts using a new conductive ink, that is much cheaper than conventional radar manufacturing options.

This new functional ink was developed at a Raytheon-sponsored lab at the University of Massachusetts, Lowell. As the institutes co-director Christopher McCarroll, explained, this innovation has numerous military and civilian applications. While conductive inks have been developed before, it was previously always difficult to get the right electrical properties  very crucial in dealing with high-frequency radio waves  into 3D printed electronics. While it was already theorized that 3D printing electronics onto sheets of plastic would make systems both cheaper and more versatile, the existing materials just werent up to the challenge.

And thats where this new ink comes in. It essentially consists of tiny metal nanoparticles suspended in a thermoplastic polymer, but unlike its predecessors it does exhibit the electrical properties that can be adjusted by applying voltage. This new ink is also 3D printable and curable at low temperatures, ensuring compatibility with plastics.

To put it to the test, the Massachusetts team have 3D printed devices that can be specifically tuned to generate or detect radio waves of specific frequencies  which is what a radar needs to do. Specifically, they have 3D printed a voltage-variable capacitor, also known as a varactor. The team believes that this is the first ever completely 3D printed varactor, an electronic component used in military radar systems, automobile collision avoidance systems and even in cell-phone towers. Also 3D printed are a phase shifter, a tool that electronically steers the beam of a phased-array radar system, and a frequency-selective surface. The latter is a filter that blocks specific frequencies of electromagnetic radiation (and selectively allows others to pass). They are regularly used to prevent radar disruption, and are employed by militaries and hospitals. An aerosol jet 3D printer, which deposits inks using streams of gas, and a specific ink 3D printer that relies on vibrations were used to manufacture these devices.

According to McCarroll, these materials and designs are still being used in experiments to optimize the results, but he is very positive. As he says to technologyreview, these materials can be used to make radar manufacturing far cheaper and easier. Their goal is to 3D print a complete functioning radar system, for which they are looking into options for incorporating high-powered computer chips into the manufacturing process, though that will still take years to complete.

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by Madhu Kaza

My reading schedule has little to do with the publishing industry's calendar of launches, prizes and promotions. When I look back on a year's worth of reading I note that much of what I read was not hot off the presses. My year end list of favorite books mostly includes works that were published in previous years. One great thing about books, though, is that for the most part they stick around. Whether they are on my own shelves or at the library I depend on them to live out long lives and wait for me.

Here are a few books that I loved this year:

Marie NDiaye, Self-Portrait in Green (English Translation: 2014, Jordan Stump)

Marie NDiaye is a boss writer; she does what she wants. Apparently she had agreed to write a memoir. It's

thrilling to see how she shattered genre expectations to create a strange, surreal and devastating portrait of women in this book.

In the opening pages the narrator sees a mysterious ghost-like woman in green by a banana tree from her car. She is dropping off her children at school. The children are described as docile. The narrator writes of their bodies: a golden dust floats above their heads. Their foreheads are curved and serene, their napes still pale . . . my children's arms & legs are bare, because the air is warm, intoxicating. It's all kind of eerie as if this were the beginning of a horror narrative.

The women in green figures proliferate and the book proceeds through confusion, misrecognition, transmogrification. Early on the narrator writes, That's when I run into Cristina, but as soon as I see her I'm not sure it's her rather than Marie-Gabrielle or Alison If this woman really is Cristina, I remember that she's my friend. Cristina may also turn out to be a woman in green, not a phantasm exactly but not an ordinary woman (or conventional realist character) either. Self-Portrait in Green is full of playful, intriguing passages like this one.

I didn't know precisely what to make of the book when I finished it. I didn't know what the various women in green added up to. But I did know that I had read a beautifully written, strange and visionary work that I would need to read again.

Elena Ferrante, My Brilliant Friend (English Translation: 2012, Ann Goldstein)

What everybody else said.

The Neapolitan Novels have been huge this year with the release of the last installment, The Story of the Lost Child. I read all four of the books this year, but My Brilliant Friend, the first in the series was my favorite reading experience.

In fact, I had vehemently disliked Ferrante's earlier book Days of Abandonment, but when a friend nevertheless suggested that I take My Brilliant Friend with me on a summer trip to Italy (my first), I did. One thing that impressed me about my visit to Rome was a certain aggression I noticed in the locals. I saw strangers yelling at each other in a grocery store, on the street, on a city bus. I understood just enough Italian to get the gist of the arguments if not the subtleties of the insults. Mostly they were arguing over nothing, and I got the sense that the people I had witnessed enjoyed their spite to some degree. The aggression was oddly compelling to me, since I had come to Italy from France, where hostility is often expressed through a northerly politeness.

I never made it to Naples, the city at the heart of My Brilliant Friend, but having just left Rome when I began reading it, I connected with the much more intense meanness and aggression of the Neapolitan world it described. Lenu the narrator and her best friend Lila grow up in a poor, violent neighborhood. Not even their dolls are happy. So much in the world is like this I thought, and by this I meant hostile to girls. Among other things, the book reminded me of stories I'd heard of my mother's childhood. There was something so clarifying and honest in the brutality that Ferrante depicts, and I was at my happiest this summer while absorbed in her terrible world.

Banana Yoshimoto, The Lake (English Translation: 2011, Michael Emmerich)

A friend had recommended this book years earlier and finally for rather unliterary reasons (it's light in weight and I had an already heavy bag packed for my commute so I grabbed it from the shelf) I began reading it. I had enjoyed Yoshimoto's early works, but sometime around the collection Asleep I lost interest. The Lake reminded me of what I love in Yoshimoto's work: a combination of sincerity and spareness, quirkiness and austerity, magic and melancholy. The love story between the narrator Chihiro and her odd neighbor and boyfriend Nakajima is anchored in a deeper story about the love and loss of mothers.

Here's an early passage in which Chihiro remembers her dead mother:

All throughout my childhood, whenever my eyes fluttered open at night, my mom would be there, giving my bare stomach a gentle pat, rearranging my pajamas, spreading the blanket over me. How many times had I seen her do this?

This is what it means to be loved . . . when someone wants to touch you, to be tender . . . My body still remembers that feeling, even now. My body does not know how to respond to fake love. I guess that's what it means to have been brought up well.

Mom let me see you once more, I prayed. I want to touch you. To smell your smell.

Like this passage the book as a whole is unapologetically earnest; but it's not sentimental. Yoshimoto's prose is plain. And ultimately the story of Chihiro and Nakajima's adventure to the lake, their relationship and the enigma of Nakajima himself is strange enough that it casts a spell that is both wondrous and sorrowful at the same time.

Julie Otsuka, When the Emperor Was Divine (2002)

I picked up Otsuka's novel for a few dollars at a used bookstore. I'd long admired Otsuka's restrained, attentive writing but had never read this book, her first. It tells the story of the internment of a Japanese-American family during World War II. Thoroughly researched, it's an elegantly structured and keenly observed novel that makes space for tenderness, humor, bitterness, fear, sorrow and a touch of fury.

When the Emperor Was Divine was published just after the attacks September 11th during a period of intensifying Islamophobia in the U.S.; given the pitch of fear and hatred in our country now, Otsuka's book, about the wholesale detention of a civilian population stemming from paranoia, seems as resonant as ever:

Every week they heard new rumors.

The men and women would be put into separate camps. They would be sterilized. They would be stripped of their citizenship. They would be taken onto the high seas and then shot. They would be sent to a desert island and left there to die. They would all be deported to Japan. They would never be allowed to leave America. They would be held hostage until every last American POW got home safely. They would be turned over to the Chinese for safekeeping right after the war.

You've been brought here for your own protection they were told.

It was all in the interest of national security.

It was a matter of military necessity.

It was an opportunity for them to prove their loyalty.

Robin Coste Lewis, Voyage of the Sable Venus (2015)

Listen:

Because memory  not gravity  pins us to this trembling. And when God first laid eyes on us, She went mad from envy. Because if the planet had a back door, we'd all still be there  waiting for the air to approve our entry. Because your eyes were the only time the peonies said yes to me. Because no matter how many times I died, I always woke up again  happy.

from The Body in August

*



I'm most excited about the wonderful books I haven't even imagined encountering yet, but here a few I'm looking forward to reading in 2016:

Merce Rodoreda, War, So Much War (English Translation: Fall 2015, Maruxa Relano & Martha Tennent)

Coleen J. McElroy, Blood Memory (Spring 2016)

Rita Indiana, Papi (English Translation: Spring 2016, Achy Obejas)

Aracelis Girmay, The Black Maria (Spring 2016)
by Bruce K. Adler

What seems to have been forgotten is that one reads past [political] theories, not because they are familiar and therefore confirmative, but because they are strange and therefore provocative.  What we should expect from a reading of Aristotle [or Plato, Augustine, Locke, Rousseau, and others] is an increase in political understanding.  The cultivation of political understanding means that one becomes sensitized to the enormous complexities and drama of saying that the political order is the most comprehensive association and ultimately responsible as no other grouping is for sustaining the physical, material, cultural and moral life of its members.

 Sheldon S. Wolin, Political Theory as a Vocation, The American Political Science Review (December 1969)

Bruce K. Adler A long distinguished political theorist, Professor Wolin died in October. His obituary, printed in the New York Times, notes that starting in the 1960s he galvanized the profession by gathering key political philosophers, beginning with the Greeks, in a grand debate on democracy and examining their ideas not as historical artifacts, but as a way to criticize current political structures. I can further attest  being fortunate indeed to have had him as a teacher and adviser  that his lectures were not only an academic pleasure, but demonstrated the power of an ever-reflecting, ever-curious mind. He was a Plato who drove his students to marvel at and then ponder political order. So I want to take this opportunity not just to pay tribute to his life and work but as much if not more to carry forward an obligation that by his example he imparted to all of his students: To try, now and again, in a thoughtful and positive way, to contribute to our common social conscience. For such is essential for any society, and a democracy most of all, if it is to sustain itself more nobly than desperately. Now it might appear that asking Plato ( 424/423  348/347 BCE ) and Aristotle ( 384  322 BCE ) to comment on modern-day America is but a ploy to advance ones personal views through the guise of others estimable authority. But such an inquiry, seriously pursued, can yield credible insights. For in reading Platos and Aristotles writings with their observations of life in ancient Greece and their considered conclusions about what makes for the good and just society, we can see well enough where their understandings of political order roughly parallel or markedly diverge from our own.

In fact I was originally inspired in this essay by attempts in recent years to use Platos and Aristotles writings to further validate the Second Amendment and support gun rights in this country. For example, Aristotle argued that weapons are one of the things that are essential to a societys existence because citizens must carry them even among themselves, both for internal government in the event of civil disobedience and to repel external aggression. [1] So I will use this issue as my entry point into their writings to get at their related political perspectives, which will allow them to speak to the nature of the American state today.

In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Second Amendment of the Bill of Rights guarantees an individual right to own guns for private use. Advocates of such a right have since worked to expand and defend state and local laws that facilitate the common purchase of guns as well as their concealed or open carrying in public. Given Aristotles view of the necessity of carrying weapons in public, it appears that he  and as he was at one time a student of Plato, perhaps Plato, too  would thoroughly approve of this current state of affairs in America.

But no. Both would almost certainly see it as an abomination. Why or how so?

The reason has to do with the nature of individual rights in America. That nature is probably best described in the refrains of the Declaration of Independence. It states (with emphases added):

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. Thatwhenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government 

Accordingly, individual rights in America derive from  what the Founding Fathers believed to be  the essential nature of human beings. And this comports with the outlook and assertions of many advocates of gun rights today. For example, they tend to oppose much of the existing or proposed regulation of gun ownership since they see it as violating that Right of the People to be able to oppose governmental tyranny as well as to defend ones home and oneself in public against any form of violence. As one pithy saying has it: An armed society is a polite society. And enthusiasts would as likely add a good and just society.

Plato and Aristotle, however, conceived of gun rights rather differently. In their visions of the ideal or best form of society  which is described in their respective works Republic and Politics  ownership of a weapon is not an individual right as such. Instead, it is an obligation of being a citizen. Moreover, only a certain portion  a special class  of the citizenry or membership of the society is to have that obligation: those who have the necessary virtue and capability and consequent training to be the public servants and rulers of the society. [2] (In Aristotles case, he essentially defined that class as the citizens proper. [3] And though Plato does not expressly limit the possession and use of weapons to his equivalent Guardian class, the schema of their education virtually requires it. [4])

The basic idea here, which Aristotle clearly described, is that there should be an identity between those judged fit to rule and those judged capable of serving policing and military roles, for then the society is guaranteed to be rightly governed and maintained. Any would-be tyrant or conspiracy due to the corruption of the few would be quickly put down by the majority of the others in that same class. (Remember, those in that class are originally determined to be the most fit and virtuous to defend and lead that society, and are carefully trained and tutored to do so. In theory, then, corruption could not easily take hold, and if it did, it would only ever be among the few.)

If we now turn this perspective Platos and Aristotles gaze if you will  on our American state, I think it is clear what they would think about gun rights here. In particular, the oft-made argument that the Second Amendment serves to prevent tyranny would strike them as nonsensical in both theory and practice. For where owning a gun is founded on an individual human right that applies to nearly all the members of the given state, their status as citizens in this regard is literally overwritten and the citizenry as such is politically sundered from the state. For now the stance and outlook of every so-called citizen exists outside of the state, which can no longer be seen simply as a homeland, but also and evermore as a potential enemy to be guarded against and when necessary  as determined perforce on an ad hoc basis  put down.

In short, one cannot be an individual  ones own master  and at the same time a citizen and in this case a patriot. And yet that is exactly how the American state has been conceived and set up. And that  Plato and Aristotle would say  is the abomination!

It is important to understand that in their thinking, and that of the ancient Greeks generally, the state (which was traditionally a polis or city-state) does not come to exist out of happenstance  like the American model based on a so-called social contract and the consent of the governed  but instead is the innate aim and product of our human nature. Plato held that a state comes into existence since no individual is self-sufficing; we all have many needs. [5] Aristotle famously asserted that man is by nature a political animal, [6] and pointedly compared human beings living within and without the state:

A man is the best of all animals when he has reached his full development [by being a member of the state], so he is worst of all when divorced from law and morals. Wickedness armed is hardest to deal with; and though man while keeping his weapons can remain disposed to understanding and virtue, it is all too easy for him to use them for the opposite purposes. [7]

The purpose of the state, according to Plato and Aristotle, is to facilitate and complement the best or the good in each and every member. And that conception contrasts sharply with the stated purpose of the American state to secure individual rights such as liberty. Aristotle dismissed both equality and liberty as the defining characteristic of the best state. Instead, for him it is noble actions. [8]

Consequently, Platos and Aristotles shared concern about America would not be limited to gun rights, but every instance of an individual right that served in the main to displace citizenship in favor of base self-interest. And there would be many. Too many to allow them to feel anything but profound disappointment with the next great democracy to arise after ancient Athens.

But, perhaps, they might then shrug and say something like it is what it is. For they each knew all too well how hard it can be to motivate a state to significantly reform its political order. And in Americas case their preferred recommendation would likely be rejected as unthinkable as it would in fact call for rethinking the U.S. Constitution as well as rewriting or just deleting the Bill of Rights (where the latter document, they would be curious to learn, was not thought by George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison to be such a good idea in the first place).

So if Plato and Aristotle accepted the American state as is, how might they yet hope to see it working out as a good and just political order? The most practical course for them, I think, would be to advocate that the political paradox they exposed be strictly incorporated into the American psyche, becoming a key part of the political dynamic that every person has to deal with as a member of society, especially in a pluralism. As the saying goes, one wears many hats throughout life. We each have calls upon our time from and owe personal loyalties to various others  as a child to ones parents, as a parent to ones child, as a spouse to ones spouse, as a friend or neighbor to ones friends or neighbors, as a Good Samaritan to strangers in need, as a supplicant to ones religious faith, and as an employee to ones employer (or vice versa).

Each of these relationships, and others, are species of our individualism and self-interests. Each by itself can result in interpersonal conflict, as where a marriage devolves into divorce or ones neighbors play loud music. But as well each can come into conflict with one another and produce a wholly internal personal crisis, as where a spouse wants to divorce but as a parent does not want to divide the family.

What Plato and Aristotle could propose is for every American to recommit to our other fundamental identity as citizen. Because while we Americans most certainly do acknowledge ourselves as citizens, those instances are few and far between those where we are individuals first and foremost. We are citizens first and foremost really only in matters of voting, immigration, international relations, and war.

But Plato and Aristotle might propound that hereafter we the people must be juxtaposed with we the citizens. That would mean that for any politically-charged issue that concerns us Americans, we are now obliged to answer two questions  What is in my personal best interests? and What is in my countrys or my fellow citizens best interests?  and then determine which answer is the better guide to resolving the issue. In this way, Plato and Aristotle could hope that the American state would yet become, to some extent anyway, what they envisioned as the best society.

Some examples of this approach to present-day issues:

Voting . The individual would be inclined to vote as long as the process was not too inconvenient. The citizen would consider voting to be a moral imperative.

Open-Carrying of Guns . The individual would choose to do so as that is, at its best, an exercise of free expression and a warning to the bad guy to mind his manners. But the citizen would choose not to do so because it would project an offensive stance to everybody, spreading tension and uncertainty and thus doing much more social harm than any good, not to mention undermining public confidence in official law enforcement.

Syrian Refugees . The individual might well fear the prospect of refugees and thus the possibility of one or more would-be terrorists being allowed to live in the U.S., and would much prefer that that chance not be taken unless for each refugee absolute proof exists that he or she is no threat whatsoever. The citizen might well fear the chance of terrorism, too, and would want reasonable efforts made to screen refugees, but would otherwise accept the risk on the view that it is better to die living the life that exhibits the values one believes in than doing everything possible to guarantee a long life, including sacrificing some of those values, which would amount to a spiritual treason.

Capitalism . The individual would, ideally, like to acquire great wealth, and would not hesitate to embrace any promising opportunity, from entrepreneurship to investment, to accomplish that goal. The citizen would also like to acquire wealth, but would be wary of and tend to avoid financial opportunities that in the extreme could result in economic chaos, like recessions, or other national harms, like long-term environmental damage.

Politics . The individual may strongly prefer to communicate and associate only with those who agree with his political values. The citizen would prefer from time to time to put his political values to the test by engaging with those who hold different values; he also would never use political beliefs as a litmus test for friendship let alone a scale of human worth.

Whatever they might have thought about this application of their political visions, Plato and Aristotle would surely have agreed on a related final point. And indeed Wolin, too. That is that for anyone, whether as a speaker or writer or listener or reader, to engage in thoughtfulness requires significant time  time to comprehend, to reflect, to assess, and in the end to judge or decide. And the same is especially true in a democracy. Democracy depends on its citizens being able to take their time in deciding what is true or best. In this digital age, then, with online communities of all persuasions, flowing emails, on-the-fly tweets, and racing comments, it is unfortunate that more and more of our personal time is becoming ever shorter and more urgent. This abating of time is the new enemy of democracy. And of philosophy. So we individuals and citizens must muster the strength of purpose necessary to defend the time needed for us to reflect on what we should stand for and what we should do in order to be a good and just people in a good and just state.
by Jalees Rehman

We live in an era of exhaustion and fatigue, caused by an incessant compulsion to perform. This is one of the central tenets of the book Mudigkeitsgesellschaft (translatable as The Fatigue Society or The Tiredness Society) by the German philosopher Byung-Chul Han. Han is a professor at the Berlin Universitat der Kunste (University of the Arts) and one of the most widely read contemporary philosophers in Germany. He was born in Seoul where he studied metallurgy before he moved to Germany in the 1980s to pursue a career in philosophy. His doctoral thesis and some of his initial work in the 1990s focused on Heidegger but during the past decade, Han has written about broad range of topics regarding contemporary culture and society. Mudigkeitsgesellschaft was first published in 2010 and helped him attain a bit of a rock-star status in Germany despite his desire to avoid too much public attention  unlike some of his celebrity philosopher colleagues.

The book starts out with two biomedical metaphors to describe the 20th century and the emerging 21st century. For Han, the 20th century was an immunological era. He uses this expression because infections with viruses and bacteria which provoked immune responses were among the leading causes of disease and death and because the emergence of vaccinations and antibiotics helped conquer these threats. He then extends the immunological metaphor to political and societal events. Just like the immune system recognizes bacteria and viruses as foreign that needs to be eliminated to protect the self, the World Wars and the Cold War were also characterized by a clear delineation of Us versus Them. The 21stcentury, on the other hand, is a neuronal era characterized by neuropsychiatric diseases such as depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), burnout syndrome and borderline personality disorder. Unlike the diseases in the immunological era, where there was a clear distinction between the foreign enemy microbes that needed to be eliminated and the self, these neuronal diseases make it difficult to assign an enemy status. Who are the enemies in burnout syndrome or depression? Our environment? Our employers? Our own life decisions and choices? Are we at war with ourselves in these neuronal conditions? According to Han, this biomedical shift in diseases is mirrored by a political shift in a globalized world where it becomes increasingly difficult to define the self and the foreign. We may try to assign a good guy and bad guy status to navigate our 21st century but we also realize that we are so interconnected that these 20th century approaches are no longer applicable.

The cell biologist in me cringed when I read Han's immunologic and neuronal metaphors. Yes, it is true that successfully combatting infectious diseases constituted major biomedical victories in the 20th century but these battles are far from over. The recent Ebola virus scare, the persistence of malaria resistance, the under-treatment of HIV and the emergence of multi-drug resistant bacteria all indicate that immunology and infectious disease will play central roles in the biomedical enterprise of the 21st century. The view that the immune system clearly distinguishes between self and foreign is also overly simplistic because it ignores that autoimmune diseases, many of which are on the rise and for which we still have very limited treatment options, are immunological examples of where the self destroys itself. Even though I agree that neuroscience will likely be the focus of biomedical research, it seems like an odd choice to select a handful of psychiatric illnesses as representing the 21st century while ignoring major neuronal disorders such as Alzheimer's dementia, stroke or Parkinson's disease. He also conflates specific psychiatric illnesses with the generalized increase in perceived fatigue and exhaustion.

Once we move past these ill- chosen biomedical examples, Han's ideas become quite fascinating. He suggests that the reason why we so often feel exhausted and fatigued is because we are surrounded by a culture of positivity. At work, watching TV at home or surfing the web, we are inundated by not-so-subtle messages of what we can do. Han quotes the example of the Yes We Can slogan from the Obama campaign. Yes We Can exudes positivity by suggesting that all we need to do is try harder and that there may be no limits to what we could achieve. The same applies to the Nike Just Do It slogan and the thousands of self-help books published each year which reinforce the imperative of positive thinking and positive actions.

Here is the crux of Han's thesis. Yes We Can sounds like an empowering slogan, indicating our freedom and limitless potential. But according to Han, this is an illusory freedom because the message enclosed within Yes We Can is Yes We Should. Instead of living in a Disziplinargesellschaft(disciplinary society) of the past where our behavior was clearly regulated by societal prohibitions and commandments, we now live in a Leistungsgesellschaft (achievement society) in which we voluntarily succumb to the pressure of achieving. The Leistungsgesellschaft is no less restrictive than the Disziplinargesellschaft. We are no longer subject to exogenous prohibitions but we have internalized the mandates of achievement, always striving to do more. We have become slaves to the culture of positivity, subjugated by the imperative Yes, We Should. Instead of carefully contemplating whether or not to pursue a goal, the mere knowledge that we could achieve it forces us to strive towards that goal. Buying into the Yes We Can culture chains us to a life of self-exploitation and we are blinded by passion and determination until we collapse. Han uses the sad German alliteration Erschopfung, Ermudung und Erstickung (exhaustion, fatigue and suffocation) to describe the impact that an excess of positivity has once we forgo our ability to say No! to the demands of the achievement society. We keep on going until our minds and bodies shut down and this is why we live in a continuous state of exhaustion and fatigue. Han does not view multitasking as a sign of civilizational progress. Multitasking is an indicator of regression because it results in a broad but rather superficial state of attention and thus prevents true contemplation

It is quite easy for us to relate to Han's ideas at our workplace. Employees with a can-do attitude are praised but you will rarely see a plaque awarded to commemorate an employee's can-contemplate attitude. In an achievement society, employers no longer have to exploit us because we willingly take on more and more tasks to prove our own self-worth.

While reading Han's book, I was reminded of a passage in Bertrand Russell's essay In Praise of Idleness in which he extols the virtues of reducing our workload to just four hours a day:

In a world where no one is compelled to work more than four hours a day, every person possessed of scientific curiosity will be able to indulge it, and every painter will be able to paint without starving, however excellent his pictures may be. Young writers will not be obliged to draw attention to themselves by sensational pot-boilers, with a view to acquiring the economic independence needed for monumental works, for which, when the time at last comes, they will have lost the taste and capacity. Men who, in their professional work, have become interested in some phase of economics or government, will be able to develop their ideas without the academic detachment that makes the work of university economists often seem lacking in reality. Medical men will have the time to learn about the progress of medicine, teachers will not be exasperatedly struggling to teach by routine methods things which they learnt in their youth, which may, in the interval, have been proved to be untrue. Above all, there will be happiness and joy of life, instead of frayed nerves, weariness, and dyspepsia. The work exacted will be enough to make leisure delightful, but not enough to produce exhaustion. Since men will not be tired in their spare time, they will not demand only such amusements as are passive and vapid. At least one per cent will probably devote the time not spent in professional work to pursuits of some public importance, and, since they will not depend upon these pursuits for their livelihood, their originality will be unhampered, and there will be no need to conform to the standards set by elderly pundits. But it is not only in these exceptional cases that the advantages of leisure will appear. Ordinary men and women, having the opportunity of a happy life, will become more kindly and less persecuting and less inclined to view others with suspicion.

While Russell's essay proposes reduction of work hours as a solution, Han's critique of the achievement society and its impact on generalized fatigue and malaise is not limited to our workplace. By accepting the mandate of continuous achievement and hyperactivity, we apply this approach even to our leisure time. Whether it is counting the steps we walk with our fitness activity trackers or competitively racking up museum visits as a tourist, our obsession with achievement permeates all aspects of our lives. Is there a way out of this vicious cycle of excess positivity and persistent exhaustion? We need to be mindful of our right to refuse. Instead of piling on tasks for ourselves during work and leisure we need to recognize the value and strength of saying No. Han introduces the concept of heilende Mudigkeit (healing tiredness), suggesting that there is a form of tiredness that we should welcome because it is an opportunity for rest and regeneration. Weekend days are often viewed as days reserved for chores and leisure tasks that we are unable to pursue during regular workdays. By resurrecting the weekend as the time for actual rest, idleness and contemplation we can escape from the cycle of exhaustion. We have to learn not-doing in a world obsessed with doing.

Note: Mudigkeitsgesellschaft was translated into English in 2015 and is available as The Burnout Society by Stanford University Press.
Aberdeen banjoist featured by radio station while busking in Chicago

A musician from Aberdeen, Isaac Seaton, was spotted by radio station WMMB he was busking in Chicago. The station did a small story on Seaton.
ACAs library of educational tools help members improve their business practices. ACA also holds the most popular industry conferences and offers credentialing for collectors, attorneys, and more. ACAs Training Zone subscription gives agencies access to almost all of our education for one low cost.
Recent anniversaries, seminars, charitable activities and other news from firms across the country.

ILLINOIS

Horwich Coleman Levin LLC celebrated its tenth anniversary by giving back to the community, with the partners and staff collaborating with the Greater Chicago Food Depository to pack up 12,826 pounds of fruit for distribution to students and families in need throughout the city.

MARYLAND

RS&F (Rosen, Sapperstein & Friedlander Chartered), Baltimore and Columbia, has joined the North American Region of international accounting firm association PrimeGlobal.

MASSACHUSETTS

Rodman CPAs will offer a "Preparing for Year End" QuickBooks seminar on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016, at its new office in University Office Park in Waltham. Registration is $45, and is now open at Rodman CPAs' Eventbrite page. The January seminar is the first in a monthly series, with a second on-site QuickBooks seminar titled "Preparing for the New Year" scheduled for February 10. Separately, the firm held an open house for over 150 guests at the new Waltham office in late November, and unveiled its new logo by decorating gourmet cupcakes with it.

NEW JERSEY

Klatzkin & Co. LLP, Hamilton, continued its 85 Ways, 85 Days: Random Acts of Klatzkin initiative in honor of the firm's 85th anniversary. In late December, Theresa Williams, the firm's human resources manager, delivered more than 50 holiday cards and candy canes to residents of CareOne in Hamilton, N.J. Other random acts delivered recently included 85 boxes of cereal to the Emergency Relief Association food pantry in Levittown, PA, more than 90 cupcakes in honor of National Cupcake Day to officers at the Hamilton Police Division and Falls Township, Pa., Police Departments, supplies to Its a Ruff Life Rescue and slipping $100 into The Salvation Army kettle of the Rotary Club of Levittown-Fairless Hills, Pa.

OHIO

CBIZ and Mayer Hoffman McCann PC were both recognized as top International Business Referrers by Kreston International during Kreston's 44th Annual World Conference in Rio de Janeiro in early December, based on the volume of introductions and referrals that, year after year, CBIZ and MHM have made to other Kreston member firms around the world for tax and attest services for clients operating in foreign countries.

Send your firm announcements to AcToday@SourceMedia.com.
The majority of CPAs in Pennsylvania and New Jersey feel that local economic growth is suffering from government gridlock and federal regulations, according to a new poll.

[IMGCAP(1)]The poll, conducted jointly by the Pennsylvania Institute of CPAs and the New Jersey Society of CPAs, surveyed more than 1,500 CPAs in public accounting in the two states about national and state business climates, economic conditions and other topics.

Roughly half the CPAs polled indicated that economic conditions in the U.S. are about the same as one year ago (55 percent in Pennsylvania, and 51 percent in New Jersey). A much greater majority of CPAs in both states believe local economic growth is suffering from government gridlock (according to 89 percent of the CPAs polled in Pennsylvania, and 92 percent in New Jersey), and federal regulations (91 percent in Pennsylvania, and 88 percent in New Jersey).

However, respondents from both states expect business revenues and salaries for their clients to increase in the next 12 months. For the Pennsylvania CPAs polled, 51 percent expect revenues to increase for their clients, while 45 percent of New Jersey CPAs expect revenue increases at client businesses. Fifty-seven percent of Pennsylvania CPA anticipated salary increases for their clients, compared to 44 percent of New Jersey CPAs. Forty-eight of Pennsylvania CPAs and 53 percent of New Jersey CPAs expect investments to remain flat, while 61 percent of Pennsylvania CPAs and 62 percent of the New Jersey CPAs polled expect workforces to remain flat.

While some of New Jerseys key indicators are trending into more positive territory, its a trickle; not the surge our economy needs, says NJCPA CEO and executive director Ralph Albert Thomas in a statement. Business leaders and legislators really need to work together now to help reform onerous tax policy and legislative gridlock before it irrevocably impacts the state.

There was a significant negative shift in the perception of both states economic environment since the first poll in 2012. At that time, 21 percent of Pennsylvania CPA respondents and 18 percent of New Jersey CPA respondents believed that the economic conditions were better than the previous year. The new assessment shows that only 16 percent of Pennsylvania CPAs polled and 14 percent of New Jersey CPAs polled believe conditions have improved.

CPAs expressed little hope for a change in the coming year, with only 14 percent of both Pennsylvania and New Jersey respondents predicting that things will be better next year. This is much lower than 2012 when 26 percent for Pennsylvania and 28 percent for New Jersey respondents had a much more rosy view for the following year. When assessing the states fiscal health, only 7 percent for Pennsylvania and 4 percent for New Jersey describe their respective state as excellent or good, compared with the 2012 numbers that saw 21 percent for Pennsylvania and 17 percent for New Jersey.

[IMGCAP(2)]A sense of urgency is required at both the state and local levels regarding government gridlock and public pension reform, said PICPA executive director and CEO Michael D. Colgan. Pain points that Pennsylvania CPAs have identified as hindering business and economic growth in the state must be addressed.

The majority of CPAs believe their states business climate is hindering economic growth (67 percent for Pennsylvania CPAs, and 78 percent for New Jersey CPAs). When asked which two issues are most likely to hinder future economic growth, pension funding of public employees received the top vote for Pennsylvania (59 percent) and high taxes received the top vote for New Jersey (67 percent). Rising health care costs (28 percent) and high taxes (25 percent) rounded out the top of the Pennsylvania CPAs list. New Jerseys other top hindrances were cited as pension funding for public employees (34 percent) and a declining tax base (23 percent).

For the most part, sentiments from Pennsylvania and New Jersey CPAs tended to trend in the same direction; however, they differed on the major issue of tax structure in their respective states. While 22 percent of Pennsylvania CPAs feel their states tax structure is better than other states, only 1 percent of New Jersey CPAs felt the same. Another differentiating area was the impact of the Affordable Care Act. Eighty-three percent of Pennsylvania CPA respondents felt that implementation of the ACA was affecting business decisions, while only 75 percent of New Jersey CPA respondents felt the same.

For more information about the poll, or to read the full report, visit www.picpa.org/cpapoll.
Central Florida CPA firm Averett Warmus Durkee, has joined WithumSmith+Brown, PC, effective Dec. 31, 2015.

AWD is a $15 million firm, while Withum has annual revenue of $115 million. Withum ranked 32nd on Accounting Todays 2015 list of the Top 100 Firms.

All of AWD's 100 partners and staff will join the Withum team. Withum, based in Princeton, N.J., has 550 staff members across 12 offices. Withum's current office in Orlando, Fla., will relocate to the current AWD office at 1417 East Concord Street, forming the largest CPA firm in Orlando.

We have been seeking the right strategic partner to enhance our presence in the Orlando area, and we found the perfect match with AWD in terms of expertise, geographic location and culture, said Withum management partner and CEO Bill Hagaman in a statement. Orlando and the Central Florida region are at the forefront of industries such as health care, financial services, real estate, timeshare, construction, technology and life sciences, aligning perfectly with Withums current niche practice areas."

AWD provides accounting, audit, tax and consulting services to privately owned businesses, professional service firms, private investment partnerships, construction contractors, timeshare developers and owners associations, employee benefit plans, nonprofit organizations, individuals and estates, and more.

We are excited about joining forces with WithumSmith+Brown, said AWD CEO Jim Warmus. The firms depth and breadth of resources will be invaluable to us in both serving existing clients and industries and bringing our service capabilities to new segments of the marketplace. Both firms share a commitment to personalized client service, the highest level of integrity, and nurturing uniquely innovative cultures, creating a natural fit between the two organizations.

Last month, Withum announced a merger with The Mironov Group, expanding the firm's presence in New Jersey and Pennsylvania (see WithumSmith+Brown Merges in Mironov Group). That deal took effect on Jan. 1, 2016.
With so much attention being paid to the end-of-the-year passage of the tax extenders legislation, it is important to remember that an array of federal tax legislation was passed earlier in 2015 that will affect tax return preparation and advising of clients this busy season. Additionally, there were several key court cases in 2015 that will potentially affect clientsi returns moving forward.

Key federal tax legislation

In May of 2015, the Donit Tax Our Fallen Public Safety Heroes Act (PL 114-14) was passed into law and provides that a certain level of compensation paid under Sec. 1201 of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 will be excluded from gross income for tax purposes. This 1968 act established federal programs that provide death and education benefits to survivors of fallen law enforcement officers, firefighters, and other first responders as well as disability benefits to officers permanently disabled in the line of duty. The amounts are excluded from gross income and are not subject to any information reporting requirements, therefore payers should not file Form 1099 MISC to report the payments.

The Defending Public Safety Employeesi Retirement Act (PL 114-26) was passed in June of 2015 and provides extended exemption from the 10 percent penalty on retirement plan withdrawals for certain public employees in the year or after the year they turn 50. The exemption from the 10 percent penalty for early withdrawals from a retirement plan includes: certain federal law enforcement officers, federal firefighters, customs and border protection officers, and air traffic controllers. The act is effective for distributions after Dec. 31, 2015, so public safety employees contemplating a 2015 withdrawal who would otherwise be impacted by the 10 percent tax may want to defer such withdrawals to 2016.

Also, in June of 2015, the Trade Preferences Extension Act of 2015 (PL 114-27) was passed into law. This act impacts education tax credits and deductions and affects tax years after 2014. If taxpayers do not possess a valid Form 1098-T from the educational institution, they will no longer be allowed to claim the American Opportunity Tax Credit, the Lifetime Learning Credit, or the tuition and fees deduction under Section 222. Form 1098-T should accompany Form 8863, which is used to claim education credits.

In addition, the child tax credit, known as the additional child tax credit, is refundable if the credit exceeds the income tax due by the taxpayer. Beginning in 2015, the additional child tax credit is not refundable if the taxpayer has claimed a foreign earned income exclusion. This is particularly important for any U.S. expat clients.

The Surface Transportation and Veterans Health Care Choice Improvement Act of 2015 (PL 114-41) was passed into law in July 2015 and is of significance because tax return due dates were impacted. The good news is that the individual filing deadline was not changed and remains April 15. There was also no change to S corporations, as their return due date will remain at March 15. For partnerships, the return due date changes to March 15 or the fifteenth day of the third month after year-end (a six-month extension can be requested). The corporate return due date shifts forward one month to April 15. All changes to tax return due dates are for tax years beginning after Dec. 31, 2015. Special note should be given to the fact that due dates for estimated tax payments will not change.

Reviewing the latest status on key tax legislation initiatives can be a key component of ensuring that your clients are able to take advantage of every credit and refund opportunity available.

Critical court decisions in 2015

Other pieces of critically important information to monitor are verdicts of key judicial proceedings that will ultimate affect how tax law is interpreted moving forward. The following insights are summaries of key cases decided in the courts that will inform how certain tax laws are understood in the future.

One Supreme Court case, King v. Burwell, 135 S. Ct. 2480 (6/25/2015), is related to Premium Tax Credits provided under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The issue in question was if a federal tax credit could be applied whether the insurance was acquired via a state-run or federal-facilitated exchange. The IRS has now issued a regulation confirming that the federal tax credit is available to qualifying individuals regardless of whether they purchase insurance on a state-run or federally facilitated exchange.

In the case of Obergefell v. Hodges, Supreme Court No. 14-556, 2015-1 USTC 50,357, the Supreme Court ruled on June 26, 2015, that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right under the Equal Protection Clause and all states should allow same sex couples to file their taxes as married couples. Also, the IRS issued Proposed Regulations on Oct. 21, 2015, to clarify the treatment of same-sex spouses for federal tax purposes.

In one recent case, unmarried co-owners of a property were allowed to apply the mortgage interest deduction on a per-taxpayer basis, rather than on a per-property basis. The decision in Voss v. Commissioner, 116 A.F.T.R.2d 2015-5529 (9th Cir. 8/7/15), specified that two unmarried individuals purchasing a residence together can each deduct interest on a mortgage up to $1 million and home equity debt up to $100,000.

In Holden v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2015-83 the outcome affects how a taxpayeris education deduction expenditures are viewed. In this case, the taxpayer is a medical doctor and claimed flight lessons as a business deduction, noting he was taking flight lessons to be able to fly to locations for charitable medical work. The regulations under Section 162 allow a taxpayer to deduct expenditures for education if that education either maintains or improves skills that are required by an individual in his employment, trade or business, or meets express requirements set by the individualis employer or by a law or regulation as a condition of continued employment, status, or compensation. The court found that the taxpayer failed to demonstrate that his flying lessons improved or maintained his skills as a doctor, and the deduction for flight lessons was disallowed.

Another case to review is Muniz v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2015-125 (7/9/2015), in which it was determined that lump-sum alimony payments that were not scheduled to terminate at the death of the payee were determined to not be alimony as defined in Section 71 and were not deductible as alimony. This case serves as a good reminder to help the taxpayer clearly define what payments are considered alimony, child support or another portion of the settlement in relation to divorce proceedings.

And finally, in the case of Pacific Management Group v. Commissioner, T.C. Memo. 2015-97, the ruling clarified that the proper substantiation is required to assert attorney-client privilege. In this case, they noted proper substantiation was an appropriate log that is kept to track why documents can be withheld from IRS request for information. The Tax Court held in this case that the privilege log provided by taxpayer was not adequate to sustain claims of privilege.

With these key takeaways from 2015 legislation and judicial proceedings in mind, tax professionals can leverage these insights to better serve their clients and ensure proper filings on their behalf.

Patrice Johnson, CPA, is a manager of accounting curriculum for Becker Professional Education, with over 15 years of experience in public accounting and academia, including positions at the University of Georgia and PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has agreed a 369 million deal for the continued in-service support of the RAF Hercules C-130J fleet, securing around 1,200 UK jobs until 2022.





Above: A C130J Hercules aircraft.

Crown Copyright



The Hercules aircraft  one of the RAFs workhorses  are a vital part of its transport fleet, carrying troops, supplies and equipment in support of operations around the world. Recently, they have been involved in humanitarian relief efforts in Iraq, Nepal and South Sudan.



The support contract plays a crucial role in maintaining the aircrafts availability and is in line with the Governments recent Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) announcement to extend the life of the aircraft until 2030.



As well as securing 1,200 jobs, around 1,100 of which are based in Cambridge, savings of 64 million for the taxpayer have been achieved during negotiations with Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group for the six year support contract.



Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said: "This contract is further evidence of what the growing Defence budget with 178 billion investment in equipment means for the UK.



"It will secure around 1,200 skilled jobs and ensure our essential RAF transport aircraft are prepared for operations for years to come."







Above: The Hercules aircraft  one of the RAFs workhorses  are a vital part of its transport fleet, carrying troops, supplies and equipment in support of operations around the world.

Crown Copyright



Work will also be undertaken by Lockheed Martin and its sub-contractors at sites in Havant, Stansted and Cheltenham. The Havant team have around 25 people supporting the programme, with 9 of those based at Brize Norton and between 10 to 15 directly based in Havant, with more jobs supported across the UK in the supply chain. Meanwhile, Rolls-Royce will undertake work in Filton and Brize Norton. Lockheed Martin will look after supply chain management and Rolls-Royce will maintain the engines.



Director Air Support at DE&S, the MoDs procurement and support organisation, Adrian Baguley said: "This new deal for UK C130J Hercules support builds upon improved performance at a lower cost that will deliver strategic and tactical air transport capability and excellent value for UK Defence. It represents the culmination of excellent work by DE&S working closely with the three principal industrial suppliers and the RAF customer."



The Hercules Integrated Operational Support contract has provided a through-life support solution for the aircraft fleet since 2006. The contract is delivered over a series of instalments and will now focus solely on the 24 RAF C-130Js following the retirement of the C-130K variant.



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Since June 2006 more than 1 billion has been awarded to UK industry by the MoD to maintain the Royal Air Forces Hercules aircraft.
Maintainers keep KC-135s flying downrange

The 340th Expeditionary Aircraft Maintenance Unit here maintains the largest KC-135 Stratotanker fleet in the world of more than 40 aircraft valued at roughly $2 billion.



The unit is responsible for ensuring each aircraft is mission ready and must quickly fix any mechanical problems the planes may have. The unit has more than 350 mechanics assigned serving in a variety of specialties from hydraulics to guidance systems.



One of those mechanics, Senior Airman Christopher Herrera, a 340th EAMU guidance and control avionics specialist from Pensacola, Florida, said he enjoys working on the KC-135.



Every time I fix a jet there is a sense of accomplishment, Herrera said. Its a great feeling because my job makes an impact around the world. Other aircraft rely on our refuel capabilities to accomplish their mission.



In 2015, KC-135s refueled hundreds of aircraft from 19 nations including Jordan, Australia and France as they offloaded more than 700 million pounds of fuel. The airframe is in high demand across the U.S. Central Command area of responsibility often refueling more than 90 aircraft a day.



These results are possible, in large part, because of the Airmen of the 340th EAMU who often work up to 12-hour shifts repairing aircraft.



Working 12-hour days in the heat can be grueling and physically taxing, said Senior Airman Michael Charlton, a 340th EAMU KC-135 crew chief from Vancouver, Washington. Its worth it though because we are working on the KC-135 which impacts so many other airframes, our sister services and coalition partners.



Capt. Kelly Womble, the 340th EAMU officer-in-charge from Cookeville, Tennessee, said that without the KC-135 maintainers these aircraft wouldnt be flying.



It takes a lot of attention and care to keep a 60-year-old aircraft running, especially with the operations tempo and environmental conditions our maintainers have to endure, Womble said.



The captain said her Airmen give aircrews the capability to provide the fuel needed for many different types of airpower across the region.



From bombers and fighters to ISR (intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and other refuelers, across sister services and our coalition partners -- we keep the mission going, Womble said.



KC-135 maintainers perform a variety of maintenance work to keep the plane flying. Herrera shared some of his most challenging moments working on the aircraft.



The most challenging job I had was troubleshooting a satellite triangulation switching malfunction which would not allow the aircraft to display accurate GPS data to the pilot, Herrera said. This was caused by a bad grounding wire for a terminal lug; it caused the jet to sense a channel malfunction and wouldnt switch to the backup system. After 72 hours of troubleshooting we finally fixed it.



Herrera also fixed an issue with a KC-135s autopilot feature.



I remember one aircraft had an autopilot failure, Herrera said. I fixed it, which allowed the aircraft to take-off on time. I felt a great sense of accomplishment knowing the jet would refuel fighters over Iraq and support our ground forces.



Master Sgt. Benjamin McCullough, the 340th EAMU air tasking order production superintendent from Ripon, California, said hes proud of his team.



They make the mission happen day-in and day-out, he said. Any time something breaks we have guys out there fixing whatever may be wrong. It can get very hot on the flightline and our Airmen are out there for four or five hours, sometimes longer, working on aircraft trying to get them ready for their next flight.



Our rates for losing sorties based on maintenance not being accomplished are also incredibly low and thats due to their diligence and hard work, he continued. Im very proud of them.
Aftermath of a DUI: Who's really affected?

I used to wonder if people would look at me different if they knew. Would they whisper about me? Would they tell others what happened? Does anyone actually have the guts to ask me what happened? Are they looking at me as the girl who's related to a child killer?



I'm sure they were. I'm sure they wanted to ask the questions; wanted to know the true story and all the juicy details. But the truth is I didn't know all the details. I only knew my brother killed a 7-year-old child.



It was May 18, 2001, when my first sergeant called me to his office and instructed me to bring my supervisor and flight chief. I had never even been in trouble before. Actually, I didn't even know who my shirt was, or what he did. I just knew he wanted to see me and my leadership immediately. He was waiting outside his office when I walked down the hall and had a look of concern on his face. Was this because I was in real trouble, or because he had bad news? I didn't know; I only knew my heart was racing, my hands were sweaty and the tears were coming.



After we entered his office, he instructed me to sit. He asked me if I had heard from any of my family members that day and when the last time I spoke to my brother was. I stated no to the family question and informed him that I had spoken to my brother the night before. He then handed me the telephone and instructed me to call my mother. I asked him what was going on and he said it would be best if I heard it from my mother. So I dialed  but no answer. I called my brother  but no answer. After three or four attempts, he told me to stop dialing. He told me that news cameras were at the main gate of the base asking about me.



At the time, I was stationed at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. It wasn't a high visibility base, I wasn't popular and I didn't have ties to the community, so I had no idea what he was talking about.



He then took me in to the orderly room and turned on the television. There was a breaking news story being broadcasted about a drunken driver killing a child at the St. Louis Zoo. My heart was still racing until I heard the reporter say my brother's name. My heart stopped. I felt all the blood in my face rush to my chest. I couldn't hear the television anymore. I couldn't hear my heart beating anymore. I only saw people staring at me. What were they saying? What were they thinking?



Then I felt someone squeezing my arm.



It was my shirt; he was asking me to come back into his office. I sat in his office for about 15 minutes with everyone staring at me. No one spoke, they just stared. Finally I asked if I could go home. He said yes, but I had to talk to public affairs first before I could leave the base.



After signing several documents agreeing not to make any statements to reporters and not be seen on camera in my uniform, I was allowed to leave the base. But I still had to go to my duty section to get my things. More stares. More looks. No speaking. Just staring.



Eventually I made contact with my mother and was instructed to go to a nearby hospital. Once I arrived, police took my necessary information and informed me that my brother was speeding through the St. Louis Zoo and ran into a crowd of children on a school field trip, killing one child on impact. His blood alcohol level was 0.26. I asked if I could see my brother and the cop said, "Ma'am, I'll be honest with you, we aren't supposed to let anyone see him, but I will give you five minutes because this is the last time you are going to see him for a while." He was correct. It would be seven months before I would lay eyes on my brother again. His trial started Nov. 27, 2001, and on Jan., 31, 2002, one month after his 20th birthday, he was sentenced to 20 years in prison for involuntary manslaughter.



The child was 7 years old. It was his first field trip to the St. Louis Zoo. His mother bought him new shoes the night before to wear for his special trip and he spent the entire night breaking them in for his big day. Neither he nor his mother knew that this field trip, his first one to the zoo, would also be his last. My brother was going 64 mph in a 20 mph zone. He swerved too far to the right and ran into the crowd of children heading back to their bus after their exciting trip. The child was killed instantly. Another child suffered a crush injury to the foot and a teacher suffered from a broken pelvis.



My brother ended up with a broken femur and other minor injuries. Was that enough? Did he deserve more? I can't answer that; never have and never will I try to answer that question. I've had several people tell me that my brother should have died during the accident. I had a woman tell me he should receive the death penalty for taking the life of a child. Do I share her same sentiment? No, but that's from the love of a sister. If I was that child's mother, would my answer be different? Maybe. I can't say for sure. What I do know is that my brother's accident has followed me, haunted me and affected me since May 18, 2001.



Part of my brother's sentence/plea deal was to pay restitution to the family. That responsibility falls on me. I pay $500 a month to the family and $3,000 every time my brother meets the parole board, which is every four years.



- $500 per month x 20 years + interest = more than $184,000

- Parole at $3,000 x every four years + interest = more than $10,000

- Total payment over 20-year sentence = more than $200,000



Is anyone's child, wife, husband, mother or father worth this amount of money? We all know the answer. Drunken drivers know the answer. They know the answer before the first drink. But the answer becomes irrelevant once the keys are in the ignition.



I have volunteered for Airmen Against Drunk Driving several times throughout my career. Every time I do it, I wonder how AADD would have affected my brother that day in 2001. If he was military, would he have called AADD? Would he use this free resource that would have saved the life of that little boy? Probably not. Some Airmen, like my brother, are no stranger to drinking and driving; the fact is they haven't gotten caught.



The harsh reality of a DUI is clear; you, the drunken driver, isn't the only one affected. I don't know if Airmen understand that. I wonder if they know that getting a DUI is more than losing a stripe, performing extra duty and forfeiture of pay. I wonder if Airmen know they can and will kill someone if they drink and drive. I wonder if their families have the means to pay their restitution. Will their families see their story on the news and get stared at by total strangers? Is their family ready for the hateful comments that will be spewed at them? Are their families ready to see them in prison on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. for the next 20 years? No. From personal experience, one is never ready for that.



Like most Airmen, I look forward to the weekend, however, my excitement is for different reasons. I'm excited to see how many Airmen call AADD for assistance. I get excited to see how many cars are heading out the gate to pick up Airmen in need. I'm happy to see all the volunteer vehicles out of their spaces, because that lets me know that Airmen are making smart decisions. However, as a first sergeant, it saddens me when I have to pick someone up for a DUI and tell them my story. It makes me angry to know that they have the resources to prevent it at their fingertips, but choose not to use it. Let's face it, drinking and driving is a choice; a choice that affects everyone in your path.
Gunfights raged Monday as Afghan forces battled to flush out militants holed up near the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, hours after they attempted to storm the diplomatic mission.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid, the latest in a series of assaults on Indian installations in the country.

Up to six assailants mounted the attack from a building close to the consulate in relatively tranquil Balkh province, prompting Afghan forces to cordon off the area.

Our clearance operation is going on near the consulate, said Munir Farhad, a spokesman for the Balkh provincial governor, said.

Since it is a residential area, we are proceeding very cautiously to avoid civilian casualties.

An Indian official, who was hunkered down in a secure area within the diplomatic enclave, said all consulate employees were safe and accounted for.

We are being attacked, the official told by telephone from inside the heavily-guarded compound.

Fighting is going on, he said soon after the fighting erupted late Sunday evening.

Vikas Swarup, an Indian foreign ministry spokesman, also told that no Indian casualties had been reported so far.

The attack followed a deadly assault over the weekend by suspected Islamist insurgents on an air force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

Seven soldiers and six attackers were confirmed killed in the raid on the Pathankot base, which triggered a 14-hour gun battle Saturday and spurred Indian forces to be scrambled again on Sunday.

The assaults threaten to derail Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi`s bold diplomatic outreach to arch-rival Pakistan following his first official visit to Afghanistan.

The violence comes a week after Modi paid a surprise visit to Pakistan, the first by an Indian premier in 11 years.

The visit immediately followed a whirlwind tour of Kabul, where Modi inaugurated an Indian-built parliament complex and gifted three Russian-made helicopters to the Afghan government.

India has been a key supporter of Kabul`s post-Taliban government, and analysts have often pointed to the threat of a proxy war in Afghanistan between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan  the historic backers of the Taliban  has long been accused of assisting the insurgents, especially with attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan.
Four army personnel were killed when their patrol party was hit by a massive avalanche in Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir.

Four jawans of 3 Ladakh Scouts were killed when their patrol party was hit by a snow avalanche at the Southern Glacier in Ladkah at 4:30 PM on Sunday, Udhampur based Defence Spokesman Col S D Goswami said.

Soon after the avalanche, a rescue operation was launched but the lives of four soldiers could not be saved.

The bodies of four soldiers were retrieved from the avalanche site and were sent for post-mortem at Hundar Hospital, Col. Goswami said.

The deceased have been identified as  Havaldar Tsewang Nurbu, Havaldar Dorjay Gyaltsan, Rifleman Mohammad Yousuf and Rifleman Jigmaid Chosdup.

(With Agency Inputs)
To explore the possibility of aligning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending with the development priorities of the state, Maharashtra government will be holding a conference with corporate houses on January 9.

This is an attempt to coordinate efforts of the government and the corporate sector to achieve desired results in helping the corporate organisations judiciously use their CSR funds while addressing the developmental needs of the state, state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said.

The government would identify the areas of development (where CSR projects may focus) and help the corporate firms invest in the growth of the state, he said.

The state finance ministry, along with the Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao (who will be attending the conference) had selected nine priority areas including the Swachh Bharat mission, skill development, forests and renewable energy where the CSR activities can focus, Mungantiwar said.

The idea was to ensure efficient use of CSR funds without duplication of projects, he said.

The government may also form a team to assist the companies so that CSR spending can focus on the marginalised and the under-privileged with maximus impact, he said.

The conference is expected to be attended by representatives of about 100 corporate houses.

As per the amended Companies Act, 2013, the companies with at least Rs 5 crore net profit will need to spend 2 per cent of three-year average annual net profit on CSR activities in each financial year.
Narendra Modi government is mulling options regarding holding of Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan in Islamabad on January 15, as per sources.

Meanwhile, terrorists, who displayed military-like tactics in the Pathankot air base strike, may have entered the campus before an alert was sounded while crucial hours were lost in verifying a Punjab Police SPs claims about his abduction by the attackers, security agencies said.

Sources said that immediately after the alarm was sounded, security at all vital installations, including the Pathankot air base in Punjab, was enhanced to the highest level to make it difficult for the terrorists to mount an attack.

We suspect the terrorists must have entered the air base in the morning of January 1 while the alert was sounded a few hours later in the evening, they said.

A few hours were also lost in verifying the inputs provided by Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh, who has claimed that he was kidnapped along with two others by the terrorists, the sources added.

Sources said that police officers whom the SP had informed about the terrorists initially did not take him seriously, thus leading to some crucial hours being lost.

Security agencies are suspecting there were six terrorists and they were divided into two groups  one of 4 and the other with 2 members.

Sources added that the level of training of the Pathankot terrorists seems even better than that of the Mumbai 26/11 attackers.
Threatens to disrupt Sahitya Sammelan, if Modis criticism continues

Republican Party of Indias President, Ramdas Athawale has threatened to disrupt the forthcoming annual Marathi Sahitya Sammelan on behalf of the BJP. Athawale had said that he wont tolerate the insulting statement made by Dr Shripal Sabnis president of Marathi literature conference Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Sahitya Sammelan against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Earlier the BJP too had criticised Sabnis for his critical statements made against Modi. Dr. Sabnis had stated that the country would have to pay homage to Mr. Modi if he had been attacked in Pakistan.

Ironically, the same Mr. Athawale had disrupted the sammelan in Ahmednagar 20 years ago to condemn Bal Thackerays utterances against P.L. Deshpande and other writers. Since Athawale is a part of the BJP government there has been a shift in his stance against them. He had also condemned the Godhra and Gujarat riot incidents. According to Athawale, there is no point in discussing about past incidents as Modi is following the development agenda.

Athawale said, RPI supports the stand taken by BJP against Sabnis. If Dr. Sabnis indulges in any rants against Mr. Modi, then RPI activists will not flinch from disrupting the biggest literary event in the Marathi language.

It is grossly unfair to pin the blame of the Gujarat riots on the Prime Minister who respects every religion in this country. Even though the 2002 Gujarat riots was a black chapter in Indias democracy, Prime Minister Modi was a man with strong secular moorings, he added.

Earlier, Mr. Sabnis had courted controversy by calling Prime Minister Narendra Modi by his name, evoking his past and referring to his bravery during his recent surprise visit to Pakistan. He compared Modis stint as Gujarat chief minister and as the PM when he delivered a lecture at a students literary meet in Pimpri near Pune.

Modi is roaming around the world citing Gandhi and Buddha. He has made an alliance of 34 countries against the terrorism of Islamic State. Isnt such a person a nationalist? Dr. Sabnis said.

Further commenting on Modis Pakistan visit, he said, The RSS pracharak went to Pakistan on Mr. Sharifs birthday. It was a sign of invited death. Anything could have taken place there. It is the place of Hafeez Saeed and Dawood Ibrahim. Any bullet or bomb would have eliminated Mr Modi in one day and we would have paid homage to Mr. Modi before we did to (poet) Mangesh Padgaonkar, Mr. Sabnis had said.
An Istanbul-bound flight of Turkish Airlines was called back from the runway here this morning after an unclaimed mobile phone was found on a seat of the Boeing 777 plane.

The aircraft was brought back to the bay and all the passengers were deplaned for a thorough frisking.

The Boeing 777-300ER plane was scheduled to take off for Istanbul at 0625 hours.

Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul was called back from the runway at Mumbai airport after a suspicious object was found in the aircraft, a Mumbai Airport spokesperson said.

Airport sources, however, said it was an unclaimed mobile phone which forced the pilot to return the plane to the bay.
United Jihad Council (UJC), a conglomerate of Kashmiri militant outfits on Monday claimed responsibility for the terror attack at Pathankot Air Force base.

UJC spokesman Syed Sadaqat Hussain has said that Kashmiri militants associated with the Highway Squad attacked the airbase.

Indian government and its media have been suffering from Pakistan phobia. By accusing Pakistan for every attack, India neither succeeded in past to malign the Kashmir freedom struggle nor will it get anything in future through malicious propaganda, the spokesperson said.

Syed Sadaqat Hussain said that the terrorists struck the air base on January 2. He added that the attack was carried out by Kashmiri militants associated with highway squad. UJC is a conglomerate of around 13 militant outfits, including the Lashkar-e-Toiba. Syed Salahuddin heads the UJC which includes terror groups such as Harkat-ul-Ansar, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul- Mujahideen, Al-Jihad, Al-Barq, Al-Badr, Ikhwan-ul-Mussalmin, and Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen.

However, the government rubbished claims of United Jihad Council taking responsibility for the Pathankot terrorist attack. This is deflectionary tactics, the sources said.

The security forces killed one more terrorist during the combing operation at the Pathankot air base on Monday afternoon, taking the total number of ultras killed so far to five, said Defence Ministry sources. Four terrorists had already been liquidated last evening, following which the security forces launched a massive combing operation to eliminate two more terrorists hiding in the air base. Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi had stated on Sunday that the security forces had confirmed the presence of two more terrorists on the air force station.

Seven military personnel were martyred at Pathankot in Punjab at the huge base thats located just 25 kms from the border with Pakistan. Another 20 were injured. Five terrorists have been killed.

The attack began at dawn on Saturday when the terrorists, who reportedly crossed the border into India on the night of December 30, started firing indiscriminately. They allegedly entered the base in two groups -the first hijacked the vehicle of a senior police officer and used the car to enter the base, which holds fighter jets and attack helicopters.

The attack came about a week after a surprise visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, the first by an Indian premier in 12 years.

Officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of previous suspected assaults by Pakistan-based terror groups, underscoring the fragility of recent efforts to revive talks between the neighbours.
We found blind kids, kids in wheelchairs, and kids with behavioral problems, and then gave all that data to the Congress. The Congress acted and schools were opened, and then the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed--another great accomplishment, a bi-partisan accomplishment, that really made a huge difference. So now we have to do more to make sure we provide supportive housing, that we support families. The biggest concern people talk to me about when they have children with disabilities, in particular autism, is, what happens when they're no longer there to take care of their children and how will that work out.

Great question. ....I was very proud that the United States became the first nation in the world to open schools to people with disabilities. ....I worked on that when I was with the Children's Defense Fund, and we went door-to-door asking people, "Do you have a school-age child not in school?"

When a young audience member asked about her plans for dealing with those disabled with autism, this was Clinton's three minute response:

(And how could a disorder affecting 2 percent of U.S. children with no known cause or cure not be a worthy subject for the candidates?)

Besides giving us shocking statistics on how autism will bankrupt this country while officials look on unconcerned, he announced a documentary that he's been working on to be released in April, right in time to be an issue in the 2016 presidential election. It will cover the fraud and cover-up on the part of government officials concerning vaccines and autism.

Note: As we enter Primary Election Season, we'll be writing about (and to) all of the candidates. Below, Anne Dachel expands upon an interview to add more pressing questions about the autism epidemic. Questions it's likely that no candidate will want to address. By Anne Dachel Andrew Wakefield made some very important comments during his talk in early Dec, 2015 in Green Bay, WI.

I'm actually rolling out a plan about autism in about a week where I talk about all the different things we need to do to try to support families and people who are diagnosed as on the autism spectrum disorders.

How many of you know somebody with autism?

Wow, wow.

Well you know the latest data from the Centers on Disease Control is that one out of 68 children have some feature that would place them on the autism spectrum, so that's something we need to deal with.

We'll be addressing that.

I guess my line would be, we as communities need to support families, need to support people with disabilities so they can so as far as their talent, their hard work, their skills will take them. And I think there are a lot of opportunities we're just learning about that we can apply, and that I will talk about when I roll this out.

It was exasperating to listen to Hillary Clinton talk about autism with absolutely no agenda except for support.

She asked audience members which ones knew someone with autism and her response to the number of hands immediately raised was, "Wow."

Wow? Hillary Clinton is 68 years old. How much autism did she see when she was growing up? I don't care if the label "autism" was out there, did she know children with the symptoms of autism when she was growing up in Chicago in the 1950s?

I take umbrage at her insinuation that until the Individuals with Disabilities Act was passed in 1975 and updated in later years, these children were neglected. For over 100 years, the state of Wisconsin has provided homes and care for people with developmental disabilities. In 1895, a state home for the disabled was established here in my little city of Chippewa Falls with over 1,000 acres, as well as similar sites in other places in Wisconsin. Since the 1820s, Wisconsin has provided education and training for the blind. Since the 1850s Wisconsin has had state facilities for both the blind and the deaf to help them achievement full and productive lives. Many of my relatives were teachers for the disabled. I can't imagine that other states were not equally involved in addressing the needs of the disabled.

Clinton seems to imply that until her work on IDEA, all these people were left at home to fend for themselves. Clinton worked on the Children's Defense Fund right out of college. How much autism did she see back then? When she went door-to-door forty years ago, how many parents had a child who couldn't speak, was in diapers as a teenager, had been a normally developing baby but regressed, and who would bolt out the door and into traffic?

(BTW...I have no personal animosity against Democrats or Republicans. I've been to both Democratic and Republican congressional offices in Washington advocating for autism and I've been snubbed equally by both. I remember distinctly the treatment at Herb Kohl's office, Republican, and Dave Obey's, Democrat. Both leading politicians refused to do anything. I remember the trips to Washington quite clearly, even after 10 years.)

I would love to attend one of Hillary Clintons speeches and ask her about autism. I would have more specific questions (highlighted in boldface.)



You cited an autism rate of one in every 68 children. Did you know that in Nov, 2015, the CDC has updated that number to now one in every 45 children?

Is that at all concerning?

With every increase we are told that officials don't know if the new numbers mean more children have autism. Instead they tell us that it may all be due to "better diagnosing and an expanded spectrum," although the definition of autism was expanded back in 1994.

When will the increases stop?

Why is it that we all know a child or young adult with autism, but very few people know someone who's middle-aged or elderly with autism?

Ms Clinton, you mention that autism parents have told you that their "biggest concern" is what will happen to their autistic children when they're no longer here to care for them.

Why is that? If autism has always been here, as doctors and experts tell us, why won't autistic children be able to live out their lives where affected adults are currently living? And where is that? Why can't our health officials, who've never expressed alarm over the soaring rates of children with autism, show us the adult population? These agencies get billions of tax dollars to run health care in the U.S. and they've never referred to autism as crisis.

Ms Clinton, you don't seem to be concerned about what is causing so many children today to be labeled on the autism spectrum. Are you aware that in August, 2015, U.S. Rep. Bill Posey made an official plea in the House begging for congressional action on charges made by a senior scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that his agency had covered up evidence of a link between the MMR vaccine and autism?

Will you look into this charge made by Dr. William Thompson?

Ms Clinton, for years HHS/DOJ/Federal Court of Claims has recognized and compensated autism as a vaccine injury at the same time the CDC has been adamant that their vaccine program is not related to autism. How can millions of dollars be paid to some children who become autistic after vaccination, while many others are denied compensation?

This would be only the beginning of the many questions I would have for any candidate running for the presidency in 2016. Right up there with health care and terrorism should be AUTISM. During the next ten years half a million children with autism will age out of school with no place to go. The next president better worry about this. It's going to be happening under their watch.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4, 2016  South Africa has made no apparent progress toward removing its trade bans on U.S. poultry, pork and beef imports, despite an ultimatum to repeal them months ago from President Barack Obama and years of pressure from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

In early November, Obama issued a threat to South Africa: Remove the trade barriers that block American poultry, beef and pork from entering South Africa within 60 days, or lose agricultural benefits under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA).

Obama gave South Africa until New Years Eve to make its move, a date that has come and gone, but still, these outstanding issues have not been resolved, Trevor Kincad, a spokesman for the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), told Agri-Pulse.

If Obama were to revoke South Africas agricultural AGOA benefits, it would no longer be able to ship any duty-free agricultural products to the U.S. Once issued, the proclamation would apply to even those ag products that are currently en route.

In mid-October, South Africa failed to meet another deadline. The Paris agreement, signed in June by both South Africa and the U.S., required South Africa to ease its bans against U.S. poultry  a policy South Africa says it enacted to protect its food supply from avian influenza, and more recently, salmonella  as well as its anti-dumping duties that were imposed on U.S. chicken 16 years ago.

Following trade? We cover it on Agri-Pulse. Sign up today for a four-week free trial subscription.





It took nearly a month after the Paris agreement deadline lapsed for South Africa to deliver on one provision it required  a protocol for avian influenza  and another month after that to start easing its anti-dumping duties. South African Trade and Industry Minister Rob Davies said the Paris agreements implementation was a significant milestone in the process of finalizing the market access issues raised in President Obamas letter in a Dec. 18 press release.

Davies said both he and the U.S. Trade Representative Mike Froman were committed to working together to resolve the meat dispute and will continue to engage constructively to finalize the last few outstanding issues.

According to Kincad, USTR would continue working with South Africa to remove the barriers that block American poultry, beef and pork.

South Africa blocked U.S. beef imports starting in 2003 after mad cow disease was detected. U.S. pork imports have been restricted since 2013 due to other health-related concerns.

#30

For more news, go to: www.Agri-Pulse.com
January 4, 2016

BAGHDAD  Abdullah Hamrani (a pseudonym) stood among his friends in Baghdad, filling them in on his experiences fighting in armed Iraqi Shiite factions, such as the Hezbollah al-Nujaba movement in Syria against the Islamic State (IS) and Jabhat al-Nusra.

Speaking like a preacher, Hamrani gave hope to his friends who gathered to hear the latest developments in the ongoing battles in Syria since November, especially in Damascus and Aleppo. Hamrani proudly told them Shiite factions are progressing very quickly and will soon defeat their enemies. He also stressed that the sacred religious shrines in Syria are now safe from any jihadi organization's attacks.

Iraq's constitution prohibits interfering in other countries' internal affairs. Iraq has denied any official involvement in sending fighters to Syria.

Al-Monitor met with Hamrani in Baghdad and asked him how he made his way to Syria, how he spent his days there and what difficulties he faced.

Hamrani, who seemed reluctant to share details about his trips to Syria, said, I go to Syria in the ordinary way. I often book a plane ticket from Baghdad to Damascus and go to Syria to join my battalion, only to return to Baghdad when I am off duty. He would not answer all of our questions. He did not mention the name of his battalion, the faction he belongs to or how he goes to Syria when he doesn't go by plane.

Hamranis reticence was his way to hide what has become known and what can no longer be concealed, namely that Iraqi fighters are going to Syria. Hamrani was also trying to hide the name of the factions behind the recruitment of young Iraqi Shiites.

The Nujaba radio station, affiliated with the Hezbollah al-Nujaba movement led by Shiite Sheikh Akram al-Kaabi, broadcasts an ad several times a day calling on the zealous youth wanting to volunteer for the defense of the holy sites in Syria to join the movement. A phone number is provided at the end of the ad.

The Hezbollah al-Nujaba movement is fighting along with the Syrian army in a number of Syrian areas, particularly Aleppo, and it publishes a daily report on its website on the progress of the fighting there. The movement is also fighting in the ranks of Iraq's Popular Mobilization Units in a number of IS-controlled areas in Iraq, such as the Salahuddin province.

But a Popular Mobilization Units spokesman, Karim al-Nuri, told Al-Monitor his group is not sending fighters to Syria, as the group's activities are restricted to Iraq. The Popular Mobilization Units  a group affiliated with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi  "has nothing to do with Shiite fighters going to Syria." Rather, he said, independent armed factions are sending fighters there. However, his statement confirms the presence of Iraqi Shiite factions fighting in Syria.

Given Iraqi officials secrecy about the matter, any statistics regarding the number of Iraqi armed factions fighting in Syria are considered far from reliable; the number of actual fighters is impossible to ascertain.

We have no statistics about the Iraqi fighters in Syria, Nuri said. However, [Iraqi] fighters, along with the Lebanese Hezbollah militants, have a great positive impact on the course of the war against IS in Syria, he added.

In October 2013, Al-Monitor learned from a source knowledgeable about armed factions that 14 Shiite factions were fighting in Syria. Now, however, the same source would only say that the number of [Iraqi] factions has decreased because the war on terrorism has moved here  to Iraq.

IS has been controlling a number of Iraqi cities since June 2014. The area controlled by the extremist organization is estimated to be about one-third of the country.

For more than a year, Iraqs security forces, including the army and the police, in addition to the armed Shiite factions as well as Sunni tribes, have been fighting a bloody war on several fronts to retake control of territories from IS.

Some of these battles successfully gained control of villages and regions in Diyala province north of Baghdad and several cities in Salahuddin, including Tikrit. The biggest victory, however, was achieved Dec. 28 when they regained most of Ramadi, the center of Anbar province. That victory helped renew trust in the army and police in keeping terrorism at bay.

Iraqi MP Hana Turki believes the national and religious priority is to defend the usurped Iraqi territories.

Turki denied knowing about volunteers fighting in Syria, but said he is confident that the Popular Mobilization Units has nothing to do with sending fighters to Syria.

Turki told Al-Monitor, Some might consider that IS has entered Iraq through the Syrian Gates [the Belen Pass in the mountains of Turkey] and, therefore, it should be fought at the source.

Hakem al-Zameli, head of the Iraqi parliaments Security and Defense Committee, told Al-Monitor, Despite the importance of Syria for Iraq in terms of strategic geographical position, extended borders that link it to Iraq and Iraq's security stability, efforts are concentrated to fight IS in the usurped areas of Iraq.

Whatever factions might be recruiting Iraqi fighters to go to Syria would be wise to concentrate on Iraq instead, he said. "Defending sacred sites starts in Iraq, he added.

Zameli further stressed that calls for volunteers fighting in Syria are illegal and are punishable by law."

"Article 8 of the Iraqi Constitution sets forth that Iraq shall observe the principles of a good neighbor and adhere to the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of other states." He did note, "However, the situation in Iraq now is exceptional.

Zameli is known to have figures and details on the security situation because of his position. However, he said, There are no accurate statistics or details about the numbers of Iraqi fighters in Syria. He then categorically denied the existence of any coordination between these factions and official [Iraqi] authorities.
January 4, 2016

The executions of 47 accused terrorists in Saudi Arabia Jan. 2 and subsequent severing of relations with Iran underscore the Saudi royal family's deep concerns about stability in the kingdom. The mass executions are a warning that dissent will not be tolerated, especially by Iranian-supported dissidents.

The kingdom faces a potentially perfect storm of low oil income, open-ended war in Yemen, terrorist threats from multiple directions and an intensifying regional rivalry with its nemesis Iran. The most dangerous threat is economic. The Saudi welfare state  which provides subsidies for health and housing, cheap gasoline and free education  is already being cut back because of the large deficit between oil revenues and government spending. Last years' deficit totaled $98 billion and foreign reserves dropped from $728 billion to less than $640 billion. With Iranian oil returning to the market, Saudi revenues could be depleted even faster than anticipated in the 2016 budget.

The majority (43) of those executed were al-Qaeda members arrested a decade ago during the campaign to overthrow the monarchy ordered by Osama bin Laden in 2003. Before the executions, the Saudi Interior Ministry, led by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, conducted an extensive public relations campaign to remind Saudis and others of the brutal battle with al-Qaeda 10 years ago. Large amounts of material, including videos, captured documents and weapons, were declassified to help explain the threat.

Of course, al-Qaeda remains a major threat today. Its affiliate in Yemen, al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), has grown considerably stronger in the last year due to the collapse of law and order in Yemen. AQAP controls most of Hadramaut province in the south, and has an extensive presence in and around Aden. Almost a year after it carried out the Charlie Hebdo attack in Paris, AQAP is stronger than ever.

The Islamic State also targeted the kingdom and its neighbor Kuwait in 2015. Just last month, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of IS, called for the overthrow of the Sauds, arguing that they are secretly allied with Israel. In response, Sheikh Abdul-Aziz Al Sheikh, the Saudi grand mufti, dismissed Baghdadi's claim as a lie. The 72-year-old cleric said, Actually, Daesh is part of the Israeli soldiers, using the pejorative Arabic acronym for IS.

The sheikh is a direct descendant of the 18th-century founder of Wahhabi Islam, Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. The Sheikh family is the theological equivalent of the Saud family. Abdul-Aziz was appointed grand mufti in 1999 by King Fahd, and he wields enormous authority. He sanctioned the mass executions.

Four of the executed were Shiite Saudis accused of inciting and promoting violence in the kingdom's Eastern Province. The killing of the popular Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr has sparked protests in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Bahrain, Pakistan, Yemen and the Eastern Province. The Saudis have not made as compelling a case against the Shiite dissidents as they have against the al-Qaeda operatives.

Nimr, 55, was educated in Iran and Syria before returning to the kingdom in 1994, becoming an outspoken opponent of the crown prince's father, Prince Nayef. His biggest sin in the Saudis' view was advocating the secession of Eastern Province to form a majority-Shiite state.

Eastern Province, also called al-Hasa, is home to the kingdom's oil wealth and has been an integral part of Saudi Arabia since before World War I. A separate Shiite state would pose an existential threat to the kingdom and its ally Bahrain, where Saudi troops have been shoring up the Sunni-minority monarchy since the eruption of the Arab Spring in 2011.

One Saudi Shiite prisoner not executed is Ahmed Ibrahim al-Mughassil, abducted last summer from Beirut. Mughassil was the mastermind of the 1995 attack on US Air Force personnel at Khobar, in Eastern Province, that killed 19 and wounded 372 Americans. Mughassil is a senior leader of the Saudi Hezbollah group, which is closely linked to both Iranian intelligence and Lebanese Hezbollah. He has been undergoing extensive interrogation since his capture.

Iran has already promised revenge for the killing of Nimr and his colleagues. The annex of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran was ransacked by a mob Jan. 2. The Houthi rebels in Yemen have also promised to avenge their fellow Shiite. If the Saudis choose to up the ante, Mughassil could be brought out to "confess" about his past before being executed. The value of his continued insight into Iranian intelligence operations in the Gulf is probably the only constraint holding the crown prince back for now.
January 4, 2016

QAMISHLI, Syria  Eldar Khalil, a Syrian national and member of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), has been the shining star of the Syrian revolution since its outbreak in 2011. He was interviewed on behalf of Kurdish parties and set the foundations for their autonomy project to protect the Kurdish areas in the Rojava region  the term Kurds use to refer to western Kurdistan in Syria  including the Kurdish cantons of Kobani, Afrin and Qamishli.

In the prime of his youth, in the early 1990s, Khalil joined the PKK-linked People's Defense Force. He then became a member of the governing body for the Democratic Society Movement (TEV-DEM) until the founding of the Democratic Union Party in 2003.

He returned from the mountain between the Kurdistan Region of Iraq and Turkish Kurdistan to Syria following the outbreak of the Syrian revolution, and he is still present in Syria, in the northeastern region that has a Kurdish majority and is controlled by the Kurdish interim government and the Peoples Protection Units (YPG). Those close to him confirm that Khalil exerts all efforts and works day and night for his cause and people.

Al-Monitor interviewed Khalil, 46, in Qamishli, in his capacity as a member of the governing body for the TEV-DEM. The text of the interview follows.

Al-Monitor: The TEV-DEM did not ally with the Syrian regime or the Syrian opposition that emerged in Turkey. Yet you managed to control the Kurdish-majority areas in the north and northeast of Syria amid the ongoing developments in Syria since 2011. How do you assess the situation in northern Syria?

Khalil: We had an interpretation of how the situations in the Middle East will develop based on our comprehensive understanding of the societal complexities and structure differences. We believe upheavals among the popular classes  suffering marginalization and unemployment and living below the poverty line as a result of tyranny, corruption and repression  are inevitable.

Our vision was crystallized through decades of political struggle against the Syrian regime that has ruled the country since 1963 with an iron fist, against the hegemony of its security services over all of the state components and its fierce suppression of opposition.

We had a bitter experience with the regime during the uprising of March 12, 2004, which was suppressed by force. Hundreds of TEV-DEM members were arrested. The Syrian political forces started brandishing slogans calling for peace and freedom in Syria, aimed to militarize the popular movement that called for freedom and dignity and an end to tyranny and to portray it as an Islamic sectarian movement. The regime portrayed this movement as seeking to gain power and replace the authoritarian regime with another similar one. The Kurds did not get trapped in the plot orchestrated by some regional powers, such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, to serve their interests  especially Turkey that has worked hard to displace the Kurds through some of its accessories and tools in the Kurdish region.

The approach we adopted  not to ally with either the regime or the opposition  does not mean we are taking a passive spectator position regarding the [popular] movement. We had a vision that this conflict, which began to take a violent turn and raise sectarian slogans, will bring calamity to the Syrian people, tear apart the social fabric and prolong the crisis. This is why we set constants for organizing our legitimate right to protect and defend our regions and stand against military groups such as Jabhat al-Nusra and the Islamic State that targeted our people. We operated patiently and carefully, making sure not to be dragged into the traps that were set for us. We found that our interests are consistent with those of the democratic forces, such as the YPG, which are working to build a parliamentary, democratic and decentralized state. There is no doubt that our unerring interpretation of the Syrian scene turned us into the strongest party in the [political] equation in Syria.

Al-Monitor: How did you succeed so fast in controlling the Kurdistan region of Syria, or what you call western Kurdistan, in the north and northeast of Syria and in forming such a strong interim government and creating the YPG composed of 30,000 male and female fighters, while the Syrian opposition itself is still unable to form such a rule?

Khalil: We managed to do this through our sound diagnosis of the political reality and Syrian society. We relied on organization and on building new institutions in Syria that depend on our people, which are driven by years of struggle, have a will to sacrifice and volunteer. Our people are fully committed to the cause and disciplined. Organized groups are most able to achieve success.

Al-Monitor: You said you are fighting for your regions and for the Rojava region [northern and northeastern regions of Syria], but according to online information circulating following the battle of Tell Abyad in June 2015, the YPG is heading to Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor, although you have no presence there. Some Kurdish parties [such as the Kurdish National Council] said they are not interested in heading to Raqqa, since it is not a city with a Kurdish majority. But if they were willing to go there, what will be the repercussions?

Khalil: Raqqa is a Syrian city, and we believe that along [with] the rest of the Syrian components, we have the duty to liberate the entire Syria territory from terrorism and tyranny. We will not have freedom, stability and security if the rest of the Syrian regions are suffering repression and terrorism and if our regions remain under the threat of extremist groups. We are part of the Syrian entity. I don't know which Kurdish group you are referring to, but some are focusing on issuing statements and objections via the media and in newspapers, while doing nothing to rescue the Kurdish people who were killed and displaced from Raqqa.

Al-Monitor: The Kurdish National Council accuses you of being the regimes puppet in the region and that you are working under its supervision and suppressing your opposing movements. What is your assessment?

Khalil: We concluded with the Kurdish National Council a number of conventions, notably the declarations of Hewler I and II and Duhok I and II. These conventions include the formation of joint committees and administrations. If we were the regimes puppets, why would the council seek to conclude conventions with us? How are the members of the Kurdish National Council practicing political activity and holding conferences? How are their partys offices wide open in the democratic autonomous rule regions, Afrin, Kobani and Qamishli, or even in the security square in the city of Qamishli, while they are part of the opposition coalition and are presumably targeted by the regime? The members and leadership of the Kurdish National Council are moving freely in regime-controlled areas and practicing their normal activities without facing any obstacles. If they were truly part of the opposition, let them give us the names of their members detained in the regimes prisons.

Al-Monitor: You arrested dozens of members of the Kurdish Youth Movement in June 2013 and suppressed youth groups and protests staged against you. Why?

Khalil: No one has been arrested for engaging in a political activity. Everyone enjoys the freedom to do so, but whoever breaks the laws of the Kurdish autonomous rule is held accountable under the law. This includes the failure to obtain a license for staging a protest or sit-in. We are fighting terrorist groups targeting our region. Those arrested surely have ties with these groups. Some of those who are arrested provide intelligence information or carry out logistics to any group or act as a fifth column in return for a financial profit.

Al-Monitor: How do you see the future of the region under your control? Do you think that the Kurdish National Council will be your partner in the rule, or do you have an independent political project in the region?

Khalil: The future depends on the developments in the region in general. International and regional powers are clashing and the scene is open to all possibilities. Yet we managed to create and build an advanced state, a product of [a specific] approach and a principle of coexistence between all of the components of Syria, whether Kurds, Arabs, Syriacs, Assyrians and Chaldeans. We will not renounce the achievements we accomplished. From our regions, we will set our eyes on the Syrian depth, and we believe that the autonomous rule model applied in Rojava will be the example for the rest of the Syrian regions. As for the Kurdish National Council, we have not closed the participation door in the face of anyone. We have different programs. Just like in all democratic regimes, the principle of alternation of power is applied by resorting to elections.

Al-Monitor: Do you think that the Kurdistan Region of Syria must fall within the framework of a federal regime?

Khalil: The regime based on political decentralization is deemed the most successful regime in terms of administration and governance. Decentralization entitles each region to have its own policy. The inhabitants of these regions manage their own affairs. The decentralized regime is based on the idea of the distribution of powers between the center and the regions in countries characterized by national, cultural and religious diversity. The federal regime is one of the most successful regimes, while the centralized regime consecrates tyranny and the hegemony of the center over the regions. The autonomous rule model applied in Rojava is a sophisticated form of decentralized governance, which is the ideal model for a solution in Syria.
Cahaba Brewing's bigger, better space is almost ready.

The craft brewer plans to open by the end of January in the Continental Gin building at 4500 Fifth Ave. S. from its current spot on 3rd Avenue South. The brewery plans to host a grand opening in the spring.

Cahaba has secured its certificate of occupancy for the space and is still waiting on government licences.

"One of my favorite things about our current taproom is that it feels like you're hanging out in your buddy's garage. People stop by after work or hang out on the weekends and feel comfortable bringing their families," Head Brewer and Partner Eric Meyer said in a statement. "It was important to us to keep that consistent at the new place, and I think customers will notice similarities in the old and new visually with the concrete countertops and elements of wood, metals and brick.

The new building will have ample parking and a patio. It'll allow for larger tanks, which will allow the brewery to expand production. Between the renovations and new equipment, the total investment will be around $2 million.

Dog Days of Birmingham will move into Cahaba's building at 2616 3rd Ave. S.

Southpace Properties served as the leasing agent. Rives Construction is the general contractor and Williams Blackstock Architect is the architect. Bessemer Glass, BDI Electrical Contractors, RJ Mechanical Inc., Recreated Cabinets and C&H Constructors are also working on the project.

Click here for more news about Alabama's breweries.
A new collaborative agreement between the Energy Huntsville Initiative, BizTech and the Alabama Center for Sustainable Energy will boost efforts to grow the energy sector in Madison County.

All three organizations will work to establish and cultivate energy-based startups, create a joint operational charter and develop points of contact to coordinate objectives in the group's memorandum of understanding.

"This collaborative supports Energy Huntsville's mission for regional energy sector economic development," said Energy Huntsville Chair Jay Newkirk in a statement. "We bring 'energy sphere of influence' with the federal government in terms of potential energy contracts and bring private sector large energy company connections and networking opportunities for the newly formed small businesses looking for possible teaming and partnering relationships in the energy market sector."

Mayor Tommy Battle announced Energy Huntsville in 2011 as an outgrowth of his Green 13 environmental task force. The nonprofit, which works with industries, academia, utilities and government to search for energy solutions, now has more than 200 companies involved in the energy market sector.

BizTech provides guidance, programming and leasable office space to small businesses through its incubator on Sparkman Drive. The Alabama Center for Sustainable Energy is dedicated to achieving sustainable, clean energy across the state.
Downtown Huntsville Inc. is partnering with The Huntsville Times and AL.com again to allow readers to vote on the best downtown event and project of 2015.

Two online polls will remain open on AL.com until noon Jan. 12. The nonprofit will share voter results during its 2016 Downtown Huntsville Annual Meeting and Awards at 7:30 a.m. Jan. 15 in the Von Braun Center's Propst Arena.

The Event of the Year nominees are:

Whistlestop

Yuri's Night

Battle of the Buffalo

Slide the City

Big Spring Crush

Pro Bono Brews

Here are the nominees for Project of the Year:

U.G. White

Appleton Learning

Mason Dixon Bakery

Yellowhammer/Earth and Stone

Wild Bean Coffee Co. pop up cafe

Clinton Row Project

DHI CEO Chad Emerson said winners will receive recognition and a trophy.

"All of the nominated events and projects have added to the great downtown experience and we're excited to see which ones the voters select on top," he said.

DHI also will present the Downtown Advocate of the Year, an award selected with input from a group of downtown advisers. Julie Schumacher, deputy to the Commander for U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC), will serve as the keynote speaker.

Tickets for the Annual Meeting and Awards are available at $40 per person, which includes a full breakfast. Click here for more information.
Gregg Allman1.JPG

Gregg Allman of the Allman Brothers will record his next album at FAME Studios in Muscle Shoals. (Danny Clinch)

(bn)

Gregg Allman will be in Alabama this week to perform two shows at Birmingham's Iron City, but that won't be his last stop in the state this year.

In March, the founding member of the Allman Brothers Band will travel to Muscle Shoals to record his next album at the legendary FAME Studios, according to JamBase.

The new album is tentatively titled "All Compositions by Gregg Allman," according to the story.

There are very few details on what the LP will sound like, but there is a producer slated for the album: Grammy winner Don Was. Was has produced LPs for a long list of popular musicians such as Bonnie Raitt, Ringo Starr, Lucinda Williams, the Rolling Stones and Willie Nelson.

Allman's last album, Low Country Blues, was released in 2011.

If you want to watch Allman perform at Iron City (the shows are Tuesday and Wednesday), tickets are available here.
Tuskegee, a Macon County town of 11,000 residents, is a name familiar to most Alabamians, and likely most Americans. If Tuskegee University hadn't put it on the map, the famed World War II Tuskegee Airman would have. The town's history has been the subject of numerous books and movies.

Today, the campus is part of a National Park Service preservation area called Tuskegee Institute National Historic Site. It is the only college in the U.S. to have such a designation.

The town itself is home to the North Main Street Historic District, filled with beautiful aging homes, although several are in states of disrepair and need renovating. Several museums tell the history of the town, including the Hangar One Museum at the Tuskegee Airman National Historic Site at Moton Field; the Tuskegee Civil and Human Rights Multicultural Center; and The Oaks, the home of Booker T. Washington.

Tuskegee Institute

Initially called the Tuskegee Normal School for Colored Teachers, the university was founded in 1881 by Booker T. Washington (April 5, 1856-Nov. 14, 1915) with the goal of educating black residents so they would have better opportunities in life. The school was initially held at a former plantation house.

In addition to training teachers for segregated schools, Washington established programs to teach skills and trades to freedmen. The programs eventually expanded into what was then called the Tuskegee Institute.

In addition to running the college, Washington frequently wrote and lectured on the need to educated black residents. In 1902, he was speaking at a Birmingham church when a panic led to the deaths of several people.

READ MORE: "Alabama Church Histories and Mysteries: 1902 church panic"

Another famous faculty member at Tuskegee was George Washington Carver (July 12, 1864-Jan. 5, 1943), Carver was often credited as the inventor of peanut butter, but actually was a researcher who devised more than 300 uses for peanuts, soybeans, pecans and sweet potatoes to help decrease the South's dependence on cotton. He is buried in the cemetery on the Tuskegee campus.

Today, Tuskegee University offers bachelor's and master's degree programs, as well as a professional degree in architecture, four doctoral degrees and a doctor of veterinary medicine degree. The university has more than 3,100 students.

Tuskegee Airmen

The famous World War II pilots, the first African American pilots trained to serve in a war, were trained as Moton Field at Tuskegee. Although known as the Tuskegee Airmen, the squadron was formally the 332nd fighter Group of the 477th Bombardment Group of the Army Air Force.

The name Tuskegee Airmen applies to the pilot's support personnel, such as navigators, mechanics, instructors, nurses and more. Dozens of books and movies feature the story of the Tuskegee Airmen, including 2012's "Red Tails."

Syphilis study

The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment is a negative note in the town's storied history. Between 1932 and 1972, the U.S. Public Health Service conducted a study on rural African-American men on the progression of syphilis. The impoverished men, 399 with syphilis and 201 without, were monitored over the years and were told they were receiving free health care for blood disorders. However, the men were not only denied treated for the disease - despite the fact that penicillin was a proven treatment - they were not told they had syphilis.

The unethical treatment of the men led to new laws regulating participation in clinical studies. In 1973, a class-action suit was filed on behalf of participants and Congress held hearings on the study. Eventually, a $10 million settlement was reached. In addition, the federal government promised to give lifetime medical benefits and burial services to participants, as well as their wives, widows and children.

"Scenes from ..." is a photo feature of small towns throughout Alabama. To suggest a town to be featured, email Kelly Kazek at kkazek@al.com. Follow her Scenes from Alabama Towns on Pinterest.
Caleb Moore, the son of Alabama's chief justice, has pleaded not guilty to two drug charges in Pike County.

Moore pleaded not guilty and waived arraignment on unlawful possession of a controlled substance, a felony, and possession of marijuana second degree, a misdemeanor, in a document he signed Dec. 21.

Moore's jury trial has been set for March 2 before Circuit Judge Jeffery W. Kelley, according to court records.

Moore, 25, had been arrested March 15 in Troy and was later indicted.

According to court documents, officers responded to the 1200 block of Allen Street in Troy to a report of an attempted home break-in. They found five men, including Moore, outside near a pickup truck that smelled strongly of marijuana.

After being released from jail, Moore lashed out on Facebook, saying his arrest was an example of "media and crooked police officers and critics of [Roy Moore]" trying to destroy his father's career and malign his family. Caleb Moore's attorney Richard Jaffe said the statement was an overreaction born out of frustration.

Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has repeatedly declined comment about the incident, describing it as a personal matter.

In January 2015, Caleb Moore told AL.com that he has done things he isn't proud of and acted "young and immature," but "that's why God gives us salvation." He also said he's experienced fallout because of his famous father, who came to prominence as "The Ten Commandments" judge, fighting efforts to remove his hand-made wooden Ten Commandments plaques from his Etowah County courtroom.

Court records show that, in 2013, Moore pleaded guilty to drug-related charges in St. Clair County and was sentenced to probation. In 2011, he was arrested and charged with drug possession and driving under the influence in Crenshaw County. He applied to be treated as a youthful offender.
A Montevallo teen who left his home to return to school in Florida and wasn't heard from for several days afterward has been found safe, according to his family and friends.

Timothy Perry, an 18-year-old graduate from Montevallo High School, was last seen by his sister about 1:30 p.m. Dec. 27 when he left the family's home to drive back to Universal Technological Institute in Orlando where he was studying auto mechanics. Family members tried to call him multiple times throughout the day and night, but weren't able to reach him, said his sister Chrycilis Perry.

The following morning, on Monday, Chrycilis Perry said she called UTI officials and learned her brother had not shown up for a new class he was to have started that day. Chrycilis Perry said she had called all of his friends and none had heard from him. Neither had his girlfriend of more than a year. Friends and family issued multiple pleas over social media.

His girlfriend said he was found at a hospital.

"I am happy to report that Timothy was found alive and well. Our family was able to get him to safety,'' his sister, Chrycilis Perry, told AL.com Sunday. "The love and prayers of the righteous, social media, and this news source has helped us to find Timothy,'' she said. "There is power in numbers and all social media isn't bad Many of the lost don't get to come back home alive. My brother once was lost but now he is found."
A Tarrant police officer was treated and released from a Birmingham hospital after an altercation with a vehicle theft suspect.

The officer suffered minor injuries, first believed to be a broken arm following a police chase, Tarrant Police Chief Dennis Reno said.

At around 4 p.m., Tarrant officers located a SUV believed to be stolen out of Birmingham. Officers chased the vehicle when the driver refused to pull over.

The chase ended on 3200 block of Pearl Avenue in the Birmingham city limits.

"The guy who came out of the car brandished a firearm and an altercation took place," Reno said.

One suspect was apprehended, and two others are being sought.
A Bessemer teen is behind bars following a Sunday night shooting in the Center Point area.

It is the third time he has been jailed since Dec. 2.

Jefferson County sheriff's deputies responded just before 8:30 p.m. to reports of a person shot in the 20th block of Haversham Circle. When they arrived, the found a 29-year-old man in the apartment complex parking lot with at least two gunshot wounds.

The victim was taken to the hospital, but is expected to recover, said Chief Deputy Randy Christian. He identified the suspect as 18-year-old Devon Vashaad Thomas, of Bessemer.

Investigators determined the victim was talking to a relative in the parking lot when Thomas, brandishing a gun, approached him with the intention of robbing him. The victim's relative, who was armed, shot at Thomas, and Thomas returned fire hitting the victim.

Thomas fled the scene in a green Dodge Ram truck.

While detectives were at the hospital interviewing the victim, another gunshot wound victim was brought to the hospital. Christian said they eventually identified him as Thomas, and the suspect in the earlier shooting.

The victim remains hospitalized but is expected to recover. Thomas was treated for his wound, and then released into the custody of detectives. He is charged with first-degree robbery and attempted murder.

Christian said no charges are expected against the victim's relative. Thomas was being held in the Jefferson County Jail with bond set at $120,000, however that was changed this afternoon to no bond after detectives learned of the other charges again him.

Thomas was booked into the Jefferson County Jail on Dec. 2 for first-degree robbery and intimidating a witness. He was booked in again on Dec. 7 for charges of robbery and attempted murder. He was released that day on bond. All of those cases happened in Bessemer.

Additionally, authorities aid, a motion has been made in Bessemer to revoke his bonds there.

Updated at 4:25 p.m. to include that Thomas is now being held without bond.
An investigation is underway after a 30-year-old woman woke up to find a man sexually assaulting her in her hotel room, police said today.

Tuscaloosa police and Tuscaloosa Metro Homicide investigators responded at 8 a.m. Saturday to America's Best Value Inn at 3500 McFarland Boulevard on a report of a sexual assault. Lt. Kip Hart said the victim, who is from Georgia, woke up in her room to a black male sexually assaulting her.

The suspect fled, Hart said, and the victim called police. She told investigators she and a friend had been out and she was brought back to the motel by another friend. She said that as she was going into her room, a black male who said he was security at the motel approached them and said he would help get her into the room.

She fell asleep, and woke up a few hours later to the same man assaulting her. She said he was in his 20s or 30s, and was wearing blue jeans and hoodie. The motel said they do not have a security guard.

The victim was taken to DCH Regional Medical Center for treatment and later released.
Couples in America are waiting later and later to say "I do."

The median ages for first marriages - 29 for men and 27 for women - is higher than it has been in more than a century, the Washington Post recently reported. In 1890, the median age was 26 for men and 22 for women.

How does Alabama stack up when it comes to ages when people make their first walks down the aisle? According to MentalFloss, the average age of a man in Alabama who is getting married for the first time is 27.8 years. For a woman, it's 26.1 years. Both ages are slightly younger than the national average.

The state where men get married the youngest is Idaho (26.4 years); for women, it's Utah (24.) Men are waiting the longest to get married in Vermont (32.3 years); for women, it's Massachusetts (29.6 years.)

Welcome to Monday's Wake Up Call. Let's get moving:

Feeling lucky?

If you think the new year might bring you good luck, you'll want to jump in the current Powerball.

About $400 million will be up for grabs at Wednesday's drawing. Forty-four states and Washington, D.C., take part in the drawing (sorry, folks. Alabama is not one of them.) A winner can opt to take a $244.8 million immediate payout if they win or choose to take cash payments over the next 30 years.

The last Powerball jackpot winner was in November when a ticket holder from Tennessee claimed a $144.1 million prize.

Workers back at San Bernardino office building

Employees of the Inland Regional Center, the San Bernardino, California office building that was the site of last month's terrorist attack, have returned to work.

About 600 employees are back in the building, one month after a couple opened fire at a Dec. 2 Christmas party, killing 14 people and injuring 21 more. The shooters were later killed by police.

The conference center that was the site of the shooting has not reopened and officials aren't saying when it will.

Cruz raffling off shotgun

Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz is raffling off an engraved shotgun, a move that comes just as President Obama is set to announce an executive action on gun control.

The winner of the raffle will receive a Remington 12-guage shotgun with an engraved Ted Cruz logo. There's no purchase necessary to take part in the raffle. Entries are due by Jan. 30 and you can enter here.

Say it ain't so, Chick-fil-A

Chick-fil-A said it's doing away with its coleslaw to make room on the menu for a new - but yet unannounced - item.

But cole slaw lovers shouldn't despair - the company has released the recipe ahead of its Jan. 18 disappearing act.

So how do you make it? Here's how to make your own Chick-fil-A Cole Slaw at home.

4 teaspoons vinegar

one-fourth cup sugar

three-fourths teaspoon dry mustard

one-fourth teaspoon salt

1 cup mayonnaise

2 bags (10 oz. bags) fine shredded cabbage, chopped to one-eighth inch

one-fourth cup finely chopped carrots

Whisk vinegar, sugar, mustard and salt together until sugar is dissolved. Add mayonnaise and whisk to mix. Add cabbage and carrots. Mix to combine. Refrigerate for 2 hours and serve.

Makes six to eight servings.

Until tomorrow.
Republican presidential front runner Donald Trump's first television ad shows he isn't backing off some of his more controversial statements.

The 30-second spot, released Monday morning, said the businessman turned politician would "cut the head off ISIS" if elected president.

"The politicians can pretend it's something else, but Donald Trump calls it radical Islamic terrorism," a deep-voiced narrator says as photos of the San Bernardino shooters are shown in the background. "That's why he's calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until we can figure out what's going on."

The spot, titled "Make America Great Again," also said Trump will keep his promise to build a wall to keep immigrants from crossing into the U.S. via its southern border and that Mexico "will pay for" the barrier.

The ad is part of a larger campaign launched in early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire. Trump's campaign said it will be spending about $1 million a week in each state, but claims to be "$35 million dollars under budget" in running its campaign.

"We have spent the least amount of money and have the best results and this is the kind of thinking the country needs. I am very proud of this ad, I don't know if I need it, but I don't want to take any chances because if I win we are going to Make America Great Again," Trump said.

Other ads will feature Kathryn Gates-Skipper, the first female Marine to serve in combat operations, and Nancy Mace, the first female graduate of The Citadel.
Frederick Torres

This arrest photo provided by the Orange County, Fla., Sheriff's Office, on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, shows Frederick Torres. Torres, a recently fired caricature artist at Universal Orlando Resort, tried to kill his manager by stabbing him in the neck with scissors on New Year's Day at the Islands of Adventure park, according to a police report released Monday. (Orange County Sheriff's Office via AP)

(Picasa)

A recently fired caricature artist at Universal Orlando Resort tried to kill his manager by stabbing him in the neck with scissors on New Year's Day, according to a police report released Monday.

Frederick Torres, 33, was charged with attempted first-degree murder for his attack on Glenn Ferguson at the Islands of Adventure park. Both artists draw caricatures at Universal's parks but work for an outside firm, Orlando-based Fasen Artists, Inc.

The general manager of the firm, Anthony Fasen, told detectives he had fired Torres the day before the attack. On New Year's Day, Torres called Fasen, who said he reiterated that Torres was fired. Torres then said he was going to kill Ferguson, according to the police report.

"Fasen advised specifically that Torres had said, 'I'm going to slit Glenn's throat' and 'I'm going to kill your number one artist,'" the police report said.

Stephen Fasen, the president of the company, didn't respond to an email. Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said in an email that he couldn't comment.

The stabbings cut an artery in Ferguson's neck and caused brain leakage, according to the police report. He underwent surgery and was still hospitalized Monday, but his condition wasn't immediately known. The police report did not list his age, but Orlando Police spokeswoman Michelle Guido said Monday that he is 42.

Court records do not list an attorney for Torres, who was being held in the Orange County Jail on Monday.

Witnesses told detectives that they saw Torres chasing Ferguson through Islands of Adventure before the attack Friday morning. A security guard got between Torres and Ferguson, and another guard showed up at the scene. Despite that, Torres lunged at Ferguson and struck him several times. Ferguson tried to get up to run but fell to the ground, according to the police report.

Fasen Artists specializes in providing caricature artists to theme parks and casinos. It has contracts with Universal parks in Orlando, some Six Flags parks and several Las Vegas casinos.
Georgia homicides.jpg

A police cruiser sits near a home in the Upatoi community of Muscogee County, Ga., where a woman, her teen son and her young granddaughter were found slain early Monday morning. (WRBL)

Georgia officials are looking for two stolen cars connected to a triple homicide discovered in a home in Muscogee County early Monday.

The Columbus Police Department is searching for a 2014 VW Beetle with Georgia tag number PLB-6099 and a green 2004 GMC Envoy with Georgia tag number TMR-654.

WRBL out of Columbus reports that three people were found dead in a home in the small community of Upatoi. The Muscogee County coroner has identified them as Gloria Short, her teenage son Caleb Short and her granddaughter Gianna Lindsey.

Lindsey's father reportedly found the three dead after returning from work. No additional information was immediately available.
The lead prosecutor in House Speaker Mike Hubbard's ethics case sent a sealed court document that referenced grand jury matters to a reporter last week, according to an email he sent apologizing for the incident.

Prosecutor Matt Hart said in the email that he contacted the reporter, Bill Britt of Alabama Political Reporter, as soon as he realized the document was under seal.

Hart said Britt agreed to remove the document from a post that had been online for several minutes and not to distribute it further.

Hart sent the email apologizing for the incident to the Administrative Office of Courts and sent copies to Hubbard's defense team.

The sealed document was a motion to withdraw filed Thursday by Hubbard's lead defense firm, White Arnold and Dowd. Hart said he received the motion from the defense.

"It did not appear to be sealed when I first viewed it quickly in the car on my IPad," Hart wrote in the email. "Because we have agreed to send various media entities motions when they are filed, and because I'd received specific requests to do so in the last couple of days, I forwarded this motion to a journalist.

"As I was preparing to send it to the second person on our list, I noticed that the motion was marked 'under seal.' I immediately called the first journalist, Bill Britt of the ALREPORTER, and told him to take the motion down and not to distribute it further.

"He agreed and stated that the motion was posted online for approximately three to four minutes."

Although the motion to withdraw was filed under seal, Lee County Circuit Judge Jacob Walker made most of the document a public filing.

The judge kept one part under seal, a list of motions attached to the document, Exhibit B, because he said it referenced grand jury matters.

The judge said the exhibit would remain under seal until he could review its contents.

Hubbard's defense team has previously accused prosecutors of leaking grand jury information. Prosecutors have denied that.

Hart declined to comment on last week's incident.

A Lee County special grand jury indicted Hubbard in October 2014 on 23 felony ethics counts. The speaker is accused of using his public positions for personal gain.

He has pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial March 28.

Walker has scheduled a hearing in the trial for Friday. The judge indicated that the matter of Hubbard's lawyers withdrawing from the case could be addressed at the hearing.

Hubbard is represented by other lawyers and is not opposed to the withdrawal of White Arnold and Dowd, according to his statement filed with the court.

The law firm did not give a reason for its motion to withdraw.
A Florida man's final, hopeful Facebook post is being shared thousands of times across social media after he was killed by an alleged drunk driver on New Year's Eve, just hours after posting his message.

Matthew DeRemer, 31, of Seminole was driving his 2007 Suzuki motorcycle in Largo, Florida, just before 8 p.m. on New Year's Eve when Steven Lee Clarke, 59, pulled into his path at an intersection, according to the Tampa Bay Times. DeRemer was pronounced dead at the scene.

Clarke was booked into the Pinellas County jail on a charge of DUI manslaughter, the newspaper reports.

DeRemer's friends soon began sharing his final post, written just after 10 a.m. on the day he died. In the post, the former U.S. Marine and Iraq veteran, meditated on the year that was over and the new one to come. He ended the post on an almost prophetic note.

"And I really don't know where I'll end up tonight but I do know where I wind up is where I'm meant to be," DeRemer wrote.

Last day of 2015!!!! For me I'll be meditating through all I do, on this entire year. I've lost, I've gained, family is... Posted by Matthew DeRemer on Thursday, December 31, 2015

Friends told WTSP out of Tampa that the devout Christian and avid motorcyclist had a huge impact on those who knew him and that his impact continued after his death.

"He touched a lot of people's lives," friend Wayne Gutierrez told the television station. "Sometimes those are the ones that get chosen first."

See WTSP's report on DeRemer below.
A North Carolina pastor disarmed a man who walked into a New Year's Eve prayer service carrying a semi-automatic assault rifle.

After reportedly pacing anxiously outside of Heal the Land Outreach Ministries in Fayetteville, the armed man entered the service at 11:40 p.m., the Fayetteville Observer reported.

The man addressed the group saying the Lord had told him he needed to go to church "before he did something bad." He walked to the front of the church pointing the rifle in the air.

The church's pastor and city Councilman Larry Wright spoke to the man, calmed him and took away the weapon.

Wright told the newspaper he quickly stepped down from the pulpit after spotting the man.

He asked the man if he could help him and was able to take the weapon away. The pastor and four deacons embraced the man to make him feel loved.

The pastor then began praying for the man who broke into tears.

Wright then continued with the service.

"I finished the message, I did the altar call and he stood right up, came up to the altar, and gave his life to Christ," Wright told CNN. "I came down and prayed with him and we embraced. It was like a father embracing a son."

The pastor said the man asked for salvation.

Police responded to the church before the conclusion of the service, but they were asked to wait outside.

The man, whose name wasn't released, was taken to a medical center for voluntary commitment.
Barack Obama, Loretta Lynch

Attorney General Loretta Lynch listens as President Barack Obama speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, during a meeting with law enforcement officials to discuss executive actions the president can take to curb gun violence. The president is slated to finalize a set of new executive actions tightening U.S. gun laws, kicking off his last year in office with a clear signal that he intends to prioritize one of the country's most intractable issues. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

(Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

President Barack Obama defended his administration's plans to tighten the nation's gun-control restrictions without going through Congress, insisting Monday that the steps he'll announce fall within his legal authority and uphold the constitutional right to own a gun.

Flanked by his attorney general and the head of the FBI, Obama offered few details about the list of recommendations he's received and will come out with over the next few days. Behind the scenes, though, Obama's administration has been preparing an effort to expand background checks on gun sales by forcing more sellers to register as federally licensed gun dealers.

"This is not going to solve every violent crime in this country," Obama said, setting expectations for what he can do on his own. "It's not going to prevent every mass shooting; it's not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal. It will potentially save lives and spare families the pain of these extraordinary losses."

More than three years after the massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, with many other mass shootings since, Obama is training his attention once again on a policy goal that has eluded his administration. He tried the legislative route in 2013, pushing hard for a package of gun control measures including expanded background checks. But that effort collapsed spectacularly in Congress. Obama and his aides have described their inability to move the issue forward so far as one of the most frustrating failures in his presidency.

This time, with barely a year left in office and his political currency dwindling, Obama is eschewing Congress in favor of presidential action that doesn't require a vote -- legislative action being a non-starter in the Republican-controlled Congress. Already, the issue has become a hot topic in the presidential campaign, ensuring that whatever steps Obama takes will be heavily politicized by both sides.

Even before being announced, Obama's steps were provoking a major confrontation with Congress, with Republicans and gun rights advocates pledging and preparing to derail them before they're implemented by challenging Obama's authority to create impediments on gun ownership on his own.

Mindful of those inevitable attacks, the White House carefully crafted the steps to bolster their prospects of surviving in court, and Obama said he was acting "well within my legal authority."

"I'm also confident that the recommendations that are being made by our team here are ones that are entirely consistent with the Second Amendment and people's lawful right to bear arms," Obama said. He paid homage to the "strong tradition of gun ownership" in the U.S., but added that even hunters and other gun owners "want to make sure the wrong people don't have them for the wrong reasons."

The changes to the background check would be aimed at some unregistered sellers who skirt the requirement by selling at gun shows, online or informal settings. Other moves being considered include improving reporting of lost and stolen weapons and beefing up inspections of licensed dealers, according to people familiar with the plans who would not be identified discussing proposals before they are complete.
Central Alabama Veterans Healthcare Systems.jpg

(Mike Cason/mcason@al.com)

U.S. Rep. Martha Roby, R-Montgomery, is meeting today with the new director of the Veterans Administration's Southeast Network, Leslie Wiggins.



Roby and Wiggins will discuss the selection of a permanent director for the Central Alabama Veterans Health Care System, according to a news release from Roby's office.



Roby has called for improvements at the Central Alabama VA since problems at the hospitals came to light more than a year ago.

The problems included falsified records of how long veterans had to wait to receive care, part of a national scandal concerning veterans' health care.

Former Central Alabama VA Director James Talton was fired in October 2014 because of the problems with the system, which has hospitals in Montgomery and Tuskegee.
Allan McArtor, Chairman & CEO-Airbus Group, Inc

By Allan McArtor, Chairman & CEO-Airbus Group, Inc.

The American manufacturing economy got a boost when Airbus officially opened its first U.S. assembly plant in September.

At our founding, this company got its own boost from America. When Airbus released its first airplane into the market in 1974, the engines that powered the A300 were built in the United States.

That year, 18 million Americans were employed in manufacturing.

Today, only 12 million Americans are in manufacturing, but the numbers are trending back up. Since 2010, nearly 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been created, reversing a decade-long trend in which the sector lost one-third of its workers.

The story of American aviation is written in the sands of Kitty Hawk, the grit of Dayton, and the war-winning plane-building plants of Georgia, Texas, Michigan, Washington State and California.

The new Airbus U.S. Manufacturing Facility at the Mobile Aeroplex in Brookley, Alabama is an aerospace industrial hub whose reach extends along the Gulf shores into Texas and across the Deep South. It sits amid world-class ports, roads and rails. It stands near Alabama's many great achievements for space flight.

This center of excellence is one more sign that manufacturing jobs have come back in force, and advanced industries are leading the U.S. recovery.

Airbus is proud to be a part of that story with a massive investment in the people and productivity of the United States.

Airbus has invested $600 million to build the Mobile manufacturing facility. By the end of 2017, this new facility, and the hundreds of workers it will eventually employ, will roll out as many as 50 of the most advanced and innovative commercial airliners in the world each year. And the bulk of these planes, built by American workers, will be for American customers.

The Mobile facility is the culmination of the 40-year partnership between Airbus and American aerospace and reflects the preeminence of America's aerospace industry, the strength of the U.S. market for single-aisle aircraft and the compelling capability of American manufacturing.



The strength of our supplier network in America is illustrated by the fact that every Airbus aircraft has a very high percentage of parts and avionics that are made in America. Since 1990, Airbus has spent $170 billion with U.S based suppliers.



In addition to our investment of more than half a billion dollars in Mobile, in 2014 we bought goods and services in the U.S. worth $15.9 billion to build our fleet of commercial aircraft (that number jumps to $16.5 billion when you add our helicopter, space and defense products). That translates into Airbus supporting over 260,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs last year, according to a U.S. Department of Commerce formula. We have the goal of increasing procurement from our U.S. suppliers in more than 40 states to $20+ billion in the coming years.



America has some of the most skilled aerospace workers in the world, and Airbus is honored to employ world-class aerospace engineers in our two American engineering centers in Wichita, Kansas and Mobile. These centers have developed key parts of new airplanes, including the A350, the new Airbus wide-body aircraft made of composite materials.



The U.S. is the largest market in the world for single-aisle aircraft, which is part of the reason Airbus chose Mobile to build its U.S. manufacturing facility. Over the last decade, we came to fully appreciate the abundance of experienced aerospace workers in Alabama and the surrounding Gulf state region. Of the more than 300 manufacturing employees in Mobile today, over 60 percent are from the Mobile area, and an additional 25 percent from other parts of Alabama, Mississippi and Florida. And we are pleased that more 30% are veterans.



These are the reasons that Airbus and American aerospace are strong partners in a growing relationship.



Every Airbus plane ever built was produced with American know-how. Now, as a sign of our belief in this country, its workers, and its future, Airbus planes will also be produced in America.
Richard Shelby.JPG

Sen. Richard Shelby (Bob Gathany/bgathany@al.com)

John M. Hairston, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hancock Holding Company

By John M. Hairston, President and Chief Executive Officer, Hancock Holding Company, in Gulfport, Mississippi

In a recent al.com opinion column, financial regulatory relief legislation introduced by Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) was characterized as being designed to benefit the nation's largest banks. This is simply untrue.

The Midsize Bank Coalition of America, the MBCA, consists of banks that are not only not among the nation's largest banks, but are also smaller than large regional banks such as Regions, SunTrust, and BBVA Compass. The MBCA strongly supports the Shelby bill, as did the Independent Community Bankers of America, which represents the nation's smallest banks, the Credit Union National Association, representing the country's credit unions, and the American Bankers Association, representing banks of all sizes.



Ironically, however, the headline of the al.com opinion column contends that the Shelby bill "benefits big banks most." The article quotes a partisan interest group, which refuses to reveal its donors, as stating that "most of the bill's changes effect [sic] the Wall Street banks largely responsible for the financial meltdown that triggered the Great Recession." If this were the case, why have the largest banks been silent while the small and midsize banks have been actively supportive? The answer is pretty simple.

Senator Shelby's bill contains important and much-needed regulatory relief for our country's smaller and midsize banks that have been unnecessarily forced to live under the rules created for the financial institutions responsible for the financial crisis. Senator Shelby's bill aims to reduce the burden of regulation for those smaller banks, which would make it easier for them to help the individuals and small businesses when they need it. For example, the bill would make it far easier for smaller banks to make residential mortgage loans. Who in Congress wants to raise their hand and say it's a bad idea to make it easier for every day Americans to borrow money for a home? Certainly not Senator Shelby, who did his dead level best to help people on Main Street.



The bill, on the other hand, does nothing to prop up the largest banks. In assessing the group's characterization in the column as "a government accountability watchdog," it is worth noting the group's clear political coloration. In 2006, Congressional Quarterly reported, "Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has taken aim almost exclusively at GOP members of Congress. Since its founding in 2003, it [helped] investigate 21 lawmakers, only one of them a Democrat." The group is chaired by Democratic activist David Brock, the principal figure in two Hillary Clinton-oriented super PACs. Thus, the attack on Senator Shelby is hardly the act of a nonpartisan entity as suggested by the al.com opinion column.

To be clear, we do not begrudge anyone from supporting whichever party or candidates they wish. We ourselves support elected leaders on both sides of the aisle. But we draw the line when political intent harms Americans who just want to borrow money to buy a home for their family. The American voter deserves to know the truth, and the truth is that the Shelby bill is about helping borrowers, not helping banks.



We understand how arcane banking issues can be, and how easy it can be to distort public perceptions with respect to complicated financial issues. As bankers serving Alabama and other states, we want to make our customers aware of our efforts to reform the banking system in order to better serve our customers. It is in no one's interest to have legislation adopted that will raise the cost of credit and limit its availability to the families and businesses we serve. Banks exist for one purpose, to provide a safe clearinghouse so people can keep their money safe and borrow money as inexpensively and simply as possible. The Shelby bill seeks to help all banks, especially small banks, to do just that.

The MCBA is proud to support Senator Shelby's efforts to help roll back some of the undue burdens placed on small banks to help our customers and our economy. Surely, after five years of growing obstacles to customers having access to borrowing easily and efficiently, Democrats and Republicans can take a moment to consider the needs of Americans above who wants the most power in Washington. We encourage the people of Alabama to join us and not let partisan political agendas cloud the facts. Senator Shelby deserved a slap on the back and got a slap in the face. We think that's a lousy way to treat a person for trying to do the right thing.
Government seen as seeking to block oppositions supermajority and cheat its way into amassing more powers.

Caracas, Venezuela  When Kilder Telleria, a 40-year-old graphic designer, voted for the opposition in last Decembers parliamentary elections, he was not feeling particularly hopeful.

For Telleria, the Venezuelan government has consistently found ways to cheat its way into amassing more powers. At best, he thought, the opposition would seal a close win.

They control the supreme court, the electoral council and the military, Telleria said.

Theyve even given away houses and taxis so people vote for them.

When the opposition won 112 out of the 167 seats  and secured a supermajority in Venezuelas once government-controlled assembly for the first time since 1999  Telleria felt the country had taken a slow turn for the better.





These elections mean we can bring about a change democratically and not through a coup or violence like its happened in the past.

Venezuela has the highest proven oil reserves in the world. Yet, it has been suffering from chronic shortages of anything from milk to medical-diagnosis kits for over three years now.

Block-long queues outside shops of people standing under the tropical sun for hours has become a familiar sight.

According to the IMF, Venezuelas economy is expected to contract 10 percent next year.

Economists say the country faces a real chance of defaulting on its debt before the end of the year.

The drop in oil prices is expected to worsen conditions in Venezuela whose economy depends almost exclusively on oil revenues.

In addition, a lot of the countrys infrastructure is crumbling with power outages often leaving half the country in darkness.

The government says the blackouts are the product of sabotage designed to destabilise Nicolas Maduros presidency.

Dire economic state

Decembers polls suggested fewer people trust the governments explanations for the countrys dire economic state.

Adding insult to injury, Venezuela has an abysmal crime rate. A local human rights group claims the murder rate is as high as 90 per 100,000 people, making it one of the most dangerous places in the world.

For Carolina Falcon, a public school teacher, it is no wonder that voter participation over 75 percent and that the opposition achieved such a sweeping victory.

She hoped this defeat, which she describes as a silent protest, would give the government a clear message.

OPINION: Whats left of the Latin American left?

All you hear while you stand there in an endless queue is how angry people are at the government, Falcon said.

However, her hopes have since been dashed.

The illusion lasted less than a week, she said, referring to the series of measures the government has taken since Decembers elections and before the inauguration of the new assembly on Tuesday.

Despite signing a document in which it pledged to recognise the results  it recognised the results on election night  the government seems set on neutralising the oppositions supermajority.

A week after the elections, president of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello, fast-tracked the approval of 13 Supreme Court judges who can effectively challenge any legislation passed by the parliament.

Choice of top judges

In addition to this, members of the ruling party have challenged the election of eight legislators.

Four of these charges, three opposition and one pro-government, have been approved by the government-friendly Supreme Court.

The move is seen as a clear indication that the government is seeking to block the oppositions two-thirds majority, and has reawakened fears that the country will enter a gridlock scenario, with none of the much-needed economic measures being passed.





The government continues to ignore what people, including its supporters, have been screaming for months. Things have to change, Falcon said.

The opposition has called the decision a judicial coup.

It has pledged to attend the National Assemblys inauguration on Tuesday with the 112 elected legislators that grant the loosely based coalition the super-majority they could use to name new ministers, draft a new constitution and even set in motion a recall referendum on Maduros presidency.

Chavismo, as the hybrid system that combines democratic elections with increasingly autocratic features is known, has derived much of its legitimacy on winning 18 of the 20 elections held in the 16 years since its been in power.

For political scientists here, failing to recognise the oppositions supermajority or trying to block legislation the new parliament tries to pass will only drive the nation deeper into political paralysis.

It foils efforts to take painful but necessary economic measures, and portends another flare-up of violent streets protests which left 43 people dead in February 2014.

Chavistas have said their government was for the people but it seems they only meant it when the people did what they wanted them to, Telleria said from his working-class neighbourhood.

Lets just hope the opposition is different.
Health workers struggle to contain a severe malaria outbreak as it stretches supplies across the country.

Aweil, South Sudan  In a remote northwest corner of South Sudan, Theresa Ahok is in a hurry. The 35-year-old is from the village of Adiang and walked for an hour and a half before managing to flag down a truck to drive her and her sick son another hour to the hospital.

Im racing, she says, and Im worried I wont get to the hospital in time.

Her son Bakita is two-and-a-half years old and has malaria. She gave him some anti-malarial medication at home but it didnt help. He then started convulsing and she knew it was time to make the journey into Aweil.

The city of Aweil is a patchwork of red dirt roads leading to a bustling town centre that has been a pocket of peace in a conflict-ridden country for the past two years.

It hosts a base for the United Nations Mission to South Sudan, a number of aid agencies and is home to the sole functioning public hospital with the only blood bank in the entire state of Northern Bahr el Ghazar.

A large section of the hospital is run by Doctors Without Borders in conjunction with the Ministry of Health and serves about 1.2 million people in what is South Sudans poorest state.

Once Ahok and her son arrive, Bakita is taken into the ward and treated. I like the level of care here, she says. There has been a lot more malaria in my village this year than last year.

Malaria is endemic to South Sudan and is the leading cause of death and illness, but this year Doctors Without Borders say the malaria outbreak is shaping up to be the most severe it has seen. The United Nations has described it as unprecedented.

Nearly 1.6 million malaria cases have been reported so far, according to the UN Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs. The number of cases in most areas has doubled, and in some quadrupled, compared with the same period last year.

The state of Northern Bahr el Ghazar is one of the worst affected.

For sure the malaria season has been huge this year, Claire Nicolet, the project manager for Doctors Without Borders in Aweil, told Al Jazeera. Last year was huge already, but this year has been even worse.

Usually around December we would be reaching the end of the malaria season but we are still treating about 130 patients a week who have severe Malaria, she said. So this season is extending well into next year.

Malaria drugs and resource shortage

About an hour outside Aweil is a public healthcare clinic (PHCC) for the town of Nyamlell, in West Aweil county. It is backed by the Ministry of Health together with a non-government organisation called Concern.

It is a sprawling site of concrete rooms with patients sheltering under trees in a dusty courtyard or lying on the ground. It is run by Matthew Deng, 30, a nurse who is in his first year out of training school.

He says that the severity of this outbreak has been made worse by a shortage of supplies, which is crippling his ability to provide adequate care.

We dont always have drugs for malaria because everything is supplied by the Ministry of Health, he said. The last batch of medication we received was in November, but for this month we havent received anything.

He said that the centre was given 2,000 paracetamol tablets that were supposed to last a month, but instead were used up in a week.

The only alternative is to write a prescription for patients, who are then advised to buy the medication from pharmacies in town. But most patients cant afford it, so they head home to their villages and they wait.

Its about 25 South Sudanese pounds ($1.25) for simple malaria medication. But its a lot of money and most of the time they dont have it, Deng told Al Jazeera. So they keep the prescription and go home and then return when they have a complication.

That complication means that the malaria has advanced from simple to severe. Deng does have some supplies of the quinine injection which is used to treat severe malaria, but he saves those supplies until its absolutely necessary to use them.

He said he is also hampered by a lack of staff. We have 30 people working here but the downsize is coming  He expects 10 people to lose their jobs next year.

No doctors

Its a similar scene at the PHCC for the town of Marial Bai.

The health centre is smaller and, unlike the PHCC in Nyamlell, has a makeshift pharmacy. But the same problems persist.

Simon Kauc, the pharmaceutical assistant, said they dont have enough medicine.

We dont even have enough for one month, Kauc told Al Jazeera.

The centre is run by nurse William Deng who manages 32 staff including security guards and cleaners. There are no doctors.

We have to tell our patients to buy their medication from the market but that is a big problem because they cant afford it, he said. Our people are dying because we dont have basic medication.

Both these Public Healthcare Centres are being run with support from Concern. Al Jazeera visited the one health clinic that was run by the Ministry of Health alone  it was boarded up, covered in graffiti and abandoned.

Malaria task force

The UN Coordination for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said a malaria task force has been set up comprising the Ministry of Health, the UN and a set of NGOs. In order to ramp up efforts to control the outbreak, said OCHA, another $4 million is needed, in part to distribute mosquito nets and anti-malarial drugs.

For now, the shortage of supplies, ill-equipped facilities combined with medicine they cant afford, means malaria sufferers have little choice but to wait until their condition is serious.

Some will stay at home and die there. Others will go to their local clinic and be referred to the hospital in Aweil, but the process is slow and delays treatment even further. Another options is to bypass their local clinics to make the long, slow journey to the hospital by themselves, as in the case of Theresa Ahok.

Sometimes the delay can be the difference between life and death.

Ahoks toddler Bakita is recovering now but she has already lost a son. He was one of six children she has had to raise alone because her husband is a soldier who lives away from home.

She never made it to the hospital. He started convulsing, Ahok remembers,  and then that was it.
The US Department of Homeland Security is starting the new year off with a bang.

On the final page of my friend Juans Mexican passport are two words, handwritten in English and in capital letters: ORDERED REMOVED.

Following are 43 numbers, letters, parentheses, and other marks, courtesy of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which deported him from Newark Airport in May 2015 when he was attempting to visit his American wifes family for two weeks.

The reason Juan was removed, like faulty merchandise or a pile of rubbish, was that he had once entered the US without papers to work as a waiter  as so many Mexicans have been forced to do thanks in part to the pernicious economic falloutof the US-imposed North American Free Trade Agreement.





Of course, Juan was luckier than most people on the receiving end of DHS removal services  not to mention the countless Latin American migrants that perish along the border, as recently happened to Juans own cousin.

Cake and more cake

Now, according to The Washington Post, the DHS is planning to start the new year off with a bang, i.e. some mass deportations.

The impending nationwide campaign, the Post reports, would constitute the first large-scale effort to deport families who have fled violence in Central America, those familiar with the plan said. The operation apparently will target only families who have already been ordered removed by an immigration judge.

ALSO READ: The Deported: Americas Immigration Battle

If all of this sounds a bit harsh, consider a December 29 Los Angeles Times editorialin which the papers editorial board manages to defend the inherent rightness of the deportation surge  even while acknowledging highly relevant details about the United States own contributions to the violence that is fueling mass migration from Central America:

But forget moral culpability. The moral of the story, as usual, is that the US can have its cake and eat it too. by

The US bears some moral culpability for the criminal gangs that relocated from US cities, including Los Angeles, to thrive in urban neighbourhoods of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. The US also is the main market for the illicit drug trade that helps many of those gangs flourish.

But forget moral culpability. The moral of the story, as usual, is that the US can have its cake and eat it too.

The Trump factor

A sizable portion of the American political class, however, will never be satisfied on the cake front and will continue to insist, despite Barack Obamas unchallenged record as deporter-in-chief, that the president is somehow soft on immigration.

As CNN recently noted, Donald Trump  whose presidential platform includes the notion that Mexican immigrants are rapists and drug traffickers  gave himself a pat on the back on Twitter for allegedly forcing the DHS family deportation plan into existence via his consistent focus on the issue.

Meanwhile, other right-wing characters have suggested that the whole campaign is simply a rumour meant to generate such a degree of liberal backlash that it then will disappear from the agenda.

But all of this conveniently ignores the solid bipartisan commitment in the US to deportation (as well as to plenty of other policies that make life hell for a whole lot of people). And Trumps service as the crystallisation of antihumanity merely obscures a similar lack of empathy among those less overtly belligerent and more rhetorically civilised than he.

It thus becomes possible, for example, for Democratic apologists to reason that  compared to the Trumpian fantasy of deporting 11 million people  shipping maybe only hundreds of Central American families back into the violence from which they fled is at least relatively less sinister.

Disposable labour, neoliberal dream

In her new book Deported: Policing Immigrants, Disposable Labor and Global Capitalism, sociologist Tanya Golash-Boza argues that mass deportation is the latest permutation of the global neoliberal cycle that began in the late 1980s.

ALSO READ: When the US deports its own citizens

One excerptfrom the book features a Guatemalan man named Eric whose trajectory illustrates the argument. At the age of 11, Eric traveled to Los Angeles on a tourist visa to join his mother, who had been part of the initial exodus of Guatemalans from the neoliberal reforms that had begun to asphyxiate the country.

When his mother hurt her back and couldnt work, he dropped out of school to support his family. Years later as an adult, Eric was deported after being pulled over by the cops for a matter irrelevant to immigration  despite being married to a legal permanent resident of the US  and began work at a call centre run by an American company in Guatemala City.

Golash-Boza sums up the overall process as follows: [N]eoliberal economic changes abroad create migration flows that send migrants to the United States, which creates a disposable labour force and, when that force is deported, produces a further cheap labour pool for multinational corporations that operate in their home countries.

As an added benefit, the exploitation of cheap labour abroad helps keep the domestic workforce fully aware of the potentially ephemeral nature of its own employment  and therefore compliant.

This is not to imply, obviously, that all deportees are promptly absorbed into corporate serfdom, but rather to point out one of the many ways in which mass deportation can mean big bucks for those who already have them.

If only we could deport the phenomenon, and then exile it permanently.

Belen Fernandez is the author of The Imperial Messenger: Thomas Friedman at Work, published by Verso. She is a contributing editor at Jacobin magazine.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
The escalating rivalries and animosities between Iran and Saudi Arabia have nothing to do with the Sunni-Shia divide.

As fate would have it, precisely at the moment when the false Sunni-Shia, Arab-Persian divide was raging between Iran and Saudi Arabia and hitting dangerous lows, I had occasions to visit the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, Qatar: physically located between Iran and Saudi Arabia, and yet emotively as if on another planet.

The execution of 47 people on terrorism charges in Saudi Arabia, which included the Shia leader Nimr al-Nimr and the al-Qaeda figure Faris al-Zahrani, prompted an attack and torching of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, promptly followed by Saudi Arabia cutting its diplomatic ties with Iran completely.

The decades long rivalry between the two regional superpowers had finally come to a boiling point and assumed a false sectarian divide between the Sunni and the Shia Muslims, or even worse between Arabs and Iranians.





Far from the maddening mayhem of these conflicts, and yet smack between the two warring factions, stands one magnificent museum with a hidden, silenced, and overwhelmed message.

Serenity and madness

For those of you who may not have yet visited this magnificent museum, its sublime architecture is designed by the renowned Chinese-American architect IM Pei and its site is the singular grace of a landscape otherwise flooded with the rambunctious debris of the gaudiest specimen of architecture from around the world thrown at Doha.

IM Peis exquisite architecture, built with wisdom, humility, and respect for the local environment and homage to Islamic architecture does not simply disregard that cacophony of poor taste and bad design. It actually captures a panorama of it in its central atrium with gentility, generosity, and tolerance, while literally placing a sea between its serenity and that madness.

ALSO READ: Iran: Friend or foe of Arab regimes?

During my recent visit, the museum was featuring two exhibitions in addition to its own magnificent permanent collection. One of these is called Qajar Women: Images of Women in 19th Century Iran and the other The Hunt in which the curators had gathered a marvellous collection of artifacts on the theme of royal hunting.

...the fabricated delusions of the Sunni-Shia or Arab-Persian divide that today has reached explosive crescendo in the Saudi-Iranian rivalries. by

The uncanny experience of visiting the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha at this particular moment is the marked and dramatic difference between the reality of Muslim civilisation as best represented in its priceless artistic gems and the fabricated delusions of the Sunni-Shia or Arab-Persian divide that today are marked by an explosive crescendo in the Saudi-Iranian rivalries.

If you wish to see with your own eyes why this dangerously delusional hostility manufactured and presumed between Arabs and Iranians, or between Shias and Sunnis is categorically alien to the very texture of Islamic civilisation just spend a few hours in this museum.

No sign of prejudice

You go from one floor to the next, from one dignified treasure room of Islamic art to another, and you see not a single sign of anti-Iranian sentiment or pro-Arab prejudice. With an admirable generosity of spirit, works of art from Iran, India, Turkey, and Central Asia sit gracefully next to other works of art from Egypt, Syria, the Levant, North Africa, and the rest of the Arab world.

Not a shred of evidence that those responsible for procuring these masterpieces of Islamic art, caring for and curating them so elegantly had anything but the widest possible embrace for all cosmopolitan aspects of Islamic art regardless of their provenance  marking and crediting the nation that had produced them. In one case, you would see a copy of the Koran from India sitting gently next to a copy of Saadis Bustan  marked, dated, located with precision, accuracy, and above all, the absence of any sign of prejudice.

They say (and they say so sarcastically) as Constantinople was about to fall to the Ottomans in 1453, Christian theologians were busy debating how many angels could dance on the point of a needle.

I have much love, admiration, and collegial affinity with those magnificent theologians, and do not consider their exquisite question anything but a miracle of dialectical reasoning. I can only imagine the grace and glory of their company when they debated such sublime issues. I wish I were with them.

Today as the fire of hatred and violence rages from one end of the Arab and Muslim world to another, I found myself in the company of those magnificent theologians as I got myself lost in the Museum of Islamic Art in Doha, wondering how many facets of the most miraculous artistic and scientific achievements of a civilisation could gather and dance in perfect peace and harmony on the point of this space not much larger than the point of a pin in planetary terms.

ALSO READ: Persian Empire, anyone?

Just like those Christian theologians or their Muslim or Jewish or Hindu counterparts, my musings in that museum were not in willful negligence but in deliberate defiance of those raging fires of hatred and violence, sectarianism and jingoistic nationalism.

Diabolical savagery

What those theologians were in fact debating was how many pure abstractions of our better angels we can manage to mobilise in peace and harmony to dwell on this Earth, which is in fact much smaller and less spacious than the point of a needle in cosmic scale.

In the abstracted space crafted by an ingenious poet of an architect, IM Pie has crafted the simulacrum of that theologians gathering, not to escape and run away from the barbarians at the gates of our humanity but to tame that diabolical savagery dwelling in the very fabric of our humanity.

The escalating rivalries and animosities between Iran and Saudi Arabia have nothing to do with the Sunni-Shia divide in the Islamic theology, even less with the common fate and destiny of Iranians and Arabs among other nations in the region. They are the firing fury of two states determined to outmanoeuvre the other at any cost.

The Museum of Islamic Art in Doha is the last vestige of the Islamic art of tolerance  standing there not so much despite the terror that is falling around it but in fact as a caring, kind, and gentle observatory of how to cast a redeeming gaze back at it.

Hamid Dabashi is Hagop Kevorkian Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Literature at Columbia University in New York.

The views expressed in this article are the authors own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeeras editorial policy.
Three attackers, who had shut themselves in a nearby house, killed by security forces to end siege in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Afghan special forces killed a group of attackers inside in a house in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, bringing to an end a 24-hour siege following the attack on the nearby Indian consulate.

The soldiers killed the three attackers who had shut themselves in a large house near the consulate, said Abdul Razaq Qaderi, deputy police chief of Balkh province.

He said an investigation was under way to try to identify the men and those behind the attack, which occurred on the same day armed men attacked an Indian air base in Pathankot in Punjab state near the border with Pakistan.

Eight members of the security forces were wounded in the Mazar-i-Sharif gun battle which followed the attack on the consulate.

The Indian ambassador said all the consulate staff were safe.

Atta Mohammad Noor, Balkhs governor, blamed enemies of peace and stability for the incident.

The twin attacks in Mazar-i-Sharif and Pathankot came amid renewed efforts to lower tension between India and Pakistan, and restart peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Last month, Narendra Modi, Indian prime minister, visited Kabul and Islamabad on the same day, underlining the drive to improve stability and overcome the longstanding hostility in the region.

Sundays attack was not the first time an Indian diplomatic post had been attacked in Afghanistan.

In 2008, a car bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed 60 people and the embassy was again hit by a suicide strike in 2009.

Nine civilians, including seven children, were killed in August 2013 when suicide bombers targeted the Indian consulate in Jalalabad.

In May 2014, armed men launched a pre-dawn attack on Indias consulate in the western city of Herat.
Diplomatic relations broken or downgraded in protest against attack on Saudi embassy after execution of Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi Arabias regional allies have stepped up diplomatic pressure on Iran, breaking or downgrading relations with the country following an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, which followed executions in the kingdom.

Bahrain announced on Monday that it was closing its embassy in Iran, and called upon Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours.

READ MORE: Iran and Saudi Arabia  The art of Islamic tolerance

Bahrain frequently accuses Iran of being behind protests among its majority Shia population.

Within hours of the announcement, Sudan also said it was cutting off diplomatic relations with Iran in solidarity with Saudi Arabia.

For its part, the UAE said it was downgrading its ties with Iran and replacing its ambassador with an embassy officer-in-charge.

Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday it was severing diplomatic relations with Iran and urged its allies to follow its move.





The decision came after Iranian protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran, following the kingdoms decision to execute Shia religious figure Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 other mostly Sunni convicts on terrorism charges.

Shia minorities across the Middle East have been demonstrating after Nimrs execution.

Saudi Arabia is adamant Nimr got a fair trial. Many of the men executed had been linked to attacks in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2006, blamed on al-Qaeda.

Saudi Arabia further announced on Monday that it was cutting commercial ties with Iran and cancelling all flights to and from Iran, according to Reuters.

In an interview with the news agency, Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi foreign minister, said the kindom was banning all its citizens from travelling to Iran.

However, Iranian pilgrims are still welcome to visit Saudi Arabia and Mecca, Islams holiest site, he said.

Earlier, Abdul Latif bin Rashid al-Zayani, secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, condemned the attack in Tehran and held Iranian authorities fully responsible for failing to protect the Saudi diplomatic mission.

Iranian perspective

It is not the first time diplomatic relations have been cut between Saudi Arabia and Iran. However, there are fears it could lead to more violence.

Irans foreign ministry said Saudi Arabia was using the attack on its embassy in Tehran as a pretext to fuel tensions.

The statement came after Iran was given a 48-hour deadline to remove its diplomatic mission from Riyadh.

Iran  is committed to providing diplomatic security based on international conventions. But Saudi Arabia, which thrives on tensions, has used this incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions, Hossein Jaberi Ansari, Irans foreign ministry spokesman, said in televised remarks on Monday.

READ MORE: The oil price, Iran and Saudis economy

On the other hand, Jubeir has accused Iranian authorities of being complicit in the attack, saying that documents and computers were taken from the embassy building.

He said the Saudi diplomatic representative had sought help from the Iranian foreign ministry when the building was stormed, but the requests were ignored three times.

Hamid Soorghali, a UK-based Iran observer, said the attack on the embassy only works to damage and affect the image of Iran.

He said while the leadership in Iran is unified in condemning the execution of Nimr, it is divided in terms of the reaction.

We get different responses from different institutions and leaders in Iran. We get a harsher message from Irans supreme leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei], which very much reverberates in the mood and scenes of protesters in front of the embassy, he told Al Jazeera.

No love lost

Ghanbar Naderi, a journalist with Kayhan, a publication closely linked to Khamenei, said the breaking of diplomatic relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran was inevitable.

It was going to happen today or tomorrow. This is a natural outcome of what has been going on for the past four or five years in Syria, Iraq and Yemen, he told Al Jazeera.





Make no mistake about it: there is no love lost between the Iranians and the Saudis.

Al Jazeeras James Bays, reporting from New York, said diplomats at the UN had expressed worries over the escalating war of words.

What we are seeing is the fallout across the Gulf countries, he said.

In terms of the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Iran, most people think this is probably as bad as you can get.

On Sunday, Ban Ki-moon, UN secretary-general, said he was concerned about both sides of the diplomatic dispute, while criticising the executions as well as the attack on the Saudi embassy.

He was to send Staffan de Mistura, the UN special representative for Syria, to Riyadh and Tehran on Monday, a UN official told Al Jazeera.

In phone calls on Monday, Ban conveyed his concerns to the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran, a UN statement said.

The statement said he urged the two countries to avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between two countries and in the region as a whole.
Critics accuse US authorities of double standards as police adopt wait-and-see approach to armed men in building.

A group of self-described militiamen continue to occupy a federal building in the remote high desert of the US state of Oregon in protest against a prison sentence for local ranchers accused of burning government land.

Ammon Bundy told local newspaper The Oregonian on Sunday that he and two of his brothers were among dozens of men occupying the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, close to the town of Burns, in Harney county, to show support for the two men sentenced to prison for arson.

I feel we are in a situation where if we do not do something, if we do not take a hard stand, well be in a position where well be no longer able to do so, he said.

READ MORE: Oregon militia mocked in the name of #YallQaeda

Dwight Hammond, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, were convicted of arson three years ago and served time  the father three months, the son one year. But a judge ruled that their terms were too short under US federal law and ordered them back to prison for about four years each.

The decision has generated controversy. In particular, the Hammonds new sentences touched a nerve with far-right groups who repudiate US federal authority.

The protest which started off as a rally on Saturday in support of the two men, quickly turned into a platform to raise issues of ongoing land-disputes in the state.

Bundy posted a video on his Facebook page asking for militia members from across the country to come to help him. He said this is not a time to stand down. Its a time to stand up and come to Harney County.

Dave Ward, Harney County sheriff, told residents to stay away from the building as authorities work to defuse the situation, the Oregonian newspaper reported. No workers were on duty when the occupiers arrived.

A collective effort from multiple agencies is currently working on a solution. For the time being please stay away from that area. More information will be provided as it becomes available. Please maintain a peaceful and united front and allow us to work through this situation, Ward said in a statement.

But the authorities approach to the group of armed men occupying a federal building in the US has come under intense criticism.

RELATED: Double standards cited amid armed protest in Oregon

Commentators and activists online have criticised the media for failing to cover the situation accurately, and have also accused the security services of a soft approach to the armed occupiers.

Let's be clear: If Muslims had seized a federal building, they'd all be dead by now. #whiteprivilege #OregonUnderAttack  Cenk Uygur (@cenkuygur) January 3, 2016

Debates have raged on social media under the #OregonUnderAttack , and newspapers have battled to reach consensus on how to describe the armed men.

As of Sunday afternoon, The Washington Post called them occupiers. The New York Times opted for armed activists and militia men. And the Associated Press put the situation this way: A family previously involved in a showdown with the federal government has occupied a building at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon and is asking militia members to join them,' The Washington Post said .

The Hammonds, who are set to turn themselves in on Monday afternoon, have made it clear that they dont want help from the Bundy group.

Neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone within his group/organisation speak for the Hammond family, the Hammonds lawyer W Alan Schroeder wrote to Sheriff Ward.
Scandinavia-bound refugees face new barriers as Denmark launches checks on German border following Swedish ID controls.

Denmark has introduced temporary controls along its border with Germany, just hours after Sweden took similar measures to check the flow of refugees.

Sweden began checking documents of travellers from Denmark on Monday for the first time in half a century, causing delays of trains and frustration among travellers.

Those without valid ID documents are denied to board buses, trains and ferries bound for Sweden, but cars are exempt from checks.

Denmarks prime minister said Swedens move gave his country no option but to impose its own border controls. He appealed to the European Union to take collective decisions to better protect its external borders against the tide of migrants and refugees.

The Swedish ID checks can increase the risk of a large number of illegal immigrants to accumulate in and around Copenhagen, Lars Lokke Rasmussen said in Copenhagen, justifying the new controls on the German border.

Swedish PM: Tear gas, attacks  that is not my Europe

Last year about 163,000 refugees sought asylum in Sweden, the largest number for any EU country relative to its population.

But with arrivals running at around 10,000 a week in November, mostly travelling through Denmark, the Swedish government has said it is time to tighten border controls and asylum rules.

Immediate effect

The ID controls appeared to have an immediate effect. Ewa-Gun Westford, Swedish police spokesperson, said that as of Monday afternoon, very few asylum-seeker had arrived by train across the Oresund bridge between Denmark and Sweden.

At the height of the refugee crisis a few months ago, more than 1,000 asylum-seekers crossed the bridge daily.

With increased border controls, people smuggling within the EU could increase. Falsification of IDs could also become big business. by Peo Hansen, political science professor Rights groups have said that child refugees arriving on their own will be hard hit by the new checks, as they often travel without documents.

Of those seeking asylum in Sweden in 2015, about 80 percent lacked passports or equivalent IDs at the time of filing their applications, according to the Swedish Migration Agency.

Peo Hansen, professor of political science at Linkoping University, warned that the ID controls could lead to refugees choosing more dangerous routes to reach Sweden.

We could see a shift towards boat refugees across the Oresund strait, he told Al Jazeera.

Since vehicles travelling across the bridge are so far excluded from systematic checks, refugees could still be driven in private cars or smuggled in the cargo hold of trucks, he said.

With increased border controls, people smuggling within the EU could increase. Falsification of IDs could also become big business.

The Scandinavian border controls come on the heels of the reintroduction of border checks in Germany, Austria, France, Belgium and several other European countries.

Terrorism threat

Denmark said its controls would last for 10 days but could be extended.

Morgan Johansson, Swedish justice and migration minister, welcomed the Danish border checks, but said they came too late.

He told Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter that the reason Sweden got overwhelmed last autumn was because Denmark functioned as a transit country.

WATCH: Greek anarchists cook in solidarity for refugees

Johansson said ID controls could also help authorities to prevent attacks.

After the attacks in Paris, were not only faced with the refugee issue but also the issue of terrorism, he said.

Schengen zone in danger

Reacting to the Scandinavian border checks, Germany warned that the passport-free Schengen zone was in danger.

Freedom of movement is an important principle  one of the biggest achievements [in the EU] in recent years, Martin Schaefer, Germanys foreign ministry spokesperson, said.

Schengen is very important but it is in danger.

Last week Norway, which is not an EU member but does belong to the Schengen area, said it would start turning back refugees without visas arriving from elsewhere in the Schengen zone, particularly Sweden.

Schaefer said it was crucial that we in Europe find common solutions to the refugee crisis, and said the EU must now focus on ensuring the security of its external borders.

IN PICTURES: Syrians scale fence at Spains African fortress

Sweden has seen a decrease in the number of people seeking asylum in recent weeks, following news of tighter border checks and stricter rules for residency permits.

The country is facing an acute accommodation shortage for new arrivals, and schools and health services are also under strain.
Fighters suspected to be holed up in nearby building after trying to enter consulate in city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Gunfights have raged as Afghan forces battle to flush out fighters holed up near the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, hours after they attempted to storm the diplomatic mission.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid, as the fighting continued into Monday in the latest in a series of assaults on Indian installations in the country.

Security forces resumed operations on Monday morning after an overnight lull, firing rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns at the building.

The operation against the attackers is being led by the governor of the Balkh province, and he was hoping to catch the attackers alive. But this morning, the fighting kicked off again, Al Jazeeras Qais Azimy reported from Kabul.

Afghan forces could enter the building [where the fighters are holed up]. They believe they are facing four attackers  two of whom are already dead  but that number might not be accurate.

Seven people have been injured in the clashes so far, including one security official.

At least four assailants had mounted the attack from a building close to the consulate in the relatively tranquil Balkh province, prompting Afghan forces to cordon off the area. Loud explosions and gunshots were heard as the gunmen attempted to enter the consulate.

They faced resistance from the guards and, instead, entered a house about 100 metres from the consulate and opened fire from there, Azimy reported. The house was then surrounded by the Afghan special forces.

All Indian consular staff were safe, the consul-general confirmed.

Security forces have been carrying out a door-to-door search in the area and have not ruled out the presence of more attackers.

The area is completely blocked by our forces, said Shir Jan Durrani, a police spokesperson. We are cautiously conducting our clearance operation to avoid any civilian casualties.

The gunfights continuation into Monday comes as Indian security forces are still trying to suppress an assault on an airbase near the border with Pakistan that has killed at least seven military personnel and wounded 20 others.
Lebanese Shia group says explosion in Shebaa Farms area was to avenge killing of its commander Samir Kantar last month.

Beirut, Lebanon  A big explosion set off by Hezbollah has targeted Israeli forces at the Lebanese border.

The Lebanese Shia group said it carried out Mondays attack that targeted two Israeli military vehicles on Mount Dov in response to the killing of Samir Kantar, a Hezbollah operative who died in Syria in a suspected Israeli air strike last month.

Israels army said the attack occurred in the Shebaa Farms area and that its forces responded with artillery fire.

Shebaa Farms is a small strip of land at the intersection of the Lebanese-Syrian border and contested between the two countries.

It was annexed by Israel in 1981 as part of the occupied Golan Heights, a move not recognised by the international community.

Hezbollah statement

The Israelis did not immediately announce any injuries or fatalities, but the Hezbollah statement said the attack resulted in injuries.

At 3:10pm, the Samir Kantar Martyr Group in the Islamic Resistance exploded a big IED on the Zibdin-Kafra road in the occupied Shebaa Farms area against a patrol of Israeli vehicles, said the statement.

The result included destroying a Hummer [vehicle] and injuring those inside.





Israeli shelling hit the nearby town of Wazzani and other areas, with initial reports of injuries and damage to homes in Lebanon.

Last month Kantar, a prominent commander of Hezbollah, was killed in Syria in a suspected Israeli air strike in Damascus.

Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, pledged to avenge Kantars death and said Israel would be held accountable for the deadly air strike.

The reply to the killing of Kantar is coming, Nasrallah said after the killing.

What is important is that they should understand that killing our brothers wont pass without a price.

Hezbollahs last operation in the Shebaa Farms against the Israeli military took place last January after the Israelis killed several of its members, including Jihad Mughniyeh, a senior commander, and an Iranian commander in the Syrian province of Quneitra.

Hezbollah is fighting on the side of President Bashar al-Assad in Syrias war.

In 2006, Israel fought a bloody war against Hezbollah that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Move against Islamic Relief is latest to affect Muslim groups in the UK but the bank denies motives are religious.

Banking giant HSBC has stopped offering financial services to the charity Islamic Relief, which becomes the latest Muslim organisation to have its ties with the company cut.

Islamic Relief UK was told by HSBC its activities in high-risk jurisdictions posed a challenge to the bank due to pressure from US authorities to deal with money laundering, according to a statement published on the charitys website on Monday.





We were in discussions with HSBC during 2014 through which we learned that the bank felt it would be difficult to continue its banking relationship with us due to the nature of our work, said Imran Madden, Islamic Reliefs UK director, in the statement.

At this point they invited us to end the relationship  which they did themselves at the end of the year when we declined.

The charity, which was founded in the UK and is involved in relief efforts across the world, said payments it made to vendors who used HSBCs services were held up by the bank for months.

Islamic Relief said the delays affected its attempts to buy tents for victims of last years earthquake in Nepal.

Other banks and financial providers were helping the organisation ensure aid deliveries reached areas they were needed, the statement said.

A HSBC spokesperson said the bank did not comment on individual customers for privacy reasons but it never took decisions based on a customers race or religion.

READ MORE: Are UK banks targeting Muslim charities?

Whenever we review a customer relationship, we gather information from a wide range of sources and take a number of factors into consideration, the spokesperson told Al Jazeera.

For a business customer, these factors would typically include the type of activities the business is involved in, the jurisdictions in which it operates and the products and services it uses.

Although we cant always be specific about why we decide to close an account, a decision of this kind is never taken lightly and is never due to the customers race or religion.

Islamic Relief would not be taking legal action to force the bank to reverse its decision, its spokesperson told Al Jazeera.

HSBC was not our main bank and handled a relatively small amount of business for us, said Martin Cottingham, head of communications for the charity.

So weve sought and secured alternative financial partners rather than resorting to legal action.

In August 2014, Al Jazeera spoke to a number of organisations, including charities, mosques, think tanks, and community groups, whose accounts had been shut down by HSBC.

A BBC Radio 4 investigation last July found HSBC could have been influenced by the UAE to end its ties with a number of Muslim groups in the UK.

The UAE has added dozens of Western Muslim groups to its list of terror organisations, including Islamic Relief and others that had their bank accounts closed by HSBC.

Speaking to Al Jazeera in November, an Islamic Relief spokesperson said the charity categorically denied terrorist links and is in the process of challenging its listing through the Emirati courts.

Follow Shafik Mandhai on Twitter: @ShafikFM
Kingdom orders Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours, a day after Saudis severed relations with Tehran.

Bahrain says it is severing its diplomatic ties with Iran and has called upon Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours.

Isa al-Hamadi, the Bahraini minister of media affairs, made the announcement on Monday amid heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, after Saturdays attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran during protests against executions in the kingdom.

Bahrain frequently accuses Iran of being behind protests among its Shia population.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday after Iranian protesters attacked its embassy in Tehran, following the kingdoms decision to execute Shia religious figure Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 other convicts on terrorism charges.

Irans foreign ministry said that Saudi Arabia was using the attack on its embassy in Tehran as a pretext to fuel tensions  after being given a 48-hour deadline to remove its diplomatic mission from Riyadh.

Iran  is committed to provide diplomatic security based on international conventions. But Saudi Arabia, which thrives on tensions, has used this incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions, Irans foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in televised remarks on Monday.





But Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, accused Iranian authorities of being complicit in the attack, saying that documents and computers were taken from the embassy building.

He said that the Saudi diplomatic representative had sought help from the Iranian foreign ministry when the building was stormed, but the requests were ignored three times.

The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani, also condemned the attacks against the Saudi embassy, saying that Iranian authorities bear full responsibility for the failing to protect the diplomatic mission.

The Saudi foreign ministry announced on Sunday that its diplomatic staff had been evacuated from Tehran and were on their way back to the kingdom.

The war of words between Saudi Arabia and Iran started on Saturday, after the kingdoms announcement that Nimr was among 47 people executed on terrorism charges.

Many of the men executed had been linked to attacks in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2006, blamed on al-Qaeda.

READ MORE: The oil price, Iran and Saudis economy

Four of those executed were said to be Shia.

Nimr was accused of inciting violence and leading anti-government protests in the countrys east in 2011. He was convicted of sedition, disobedience and bearing arms.

He did not deny the political charges against him, but said he never carried weapons or called for violence.

Nimr spent more than a decade studying theology in predominantly Shia Iran.

Surprise move





Speaking to Al Jazeera from Beirut, Joseph Kechichian, a Middle East analyst, said that the Saudi decision to suspend diplomatic ties was quite a surprise.

This is an escalation that will create havoc in the region, he said.

Ellie Geranmayeh, an Iran expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said that the Saudi decision was likely to have repercussions for the region, particularly concerning the Syrian negotiations.

Western powers must increase efforts to safeguard this process and encourage the Saudis and Iran to continue their participation [in the Syria peace talks], she told Al Jazeera from London.

These events further set back the urgently needed rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh, and spell further trouble for an already fragile region.
At least two people killed in suspected sectarian attacks amid tensions between regional powers Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Three Sunni mosques in Iraq have been bombed and partially destroyed while at least two people have been killed in suspected retaliation for the execution of a Shia leader in Saudi Arabia, officials and police say.

Groups of men wearing military uniforms detonated explosives at two mosques overnight in the Hilla region, south of Baghdad, while al-Fateh mosque in Sinjar, just outside Hilla, was also damaged in similar circumstances.

Saudi Arabia executed 47 terrorists, including the Shia religious leader Nimr al-Nimr and a convicted al-Qaeda leader, Faris al-Zahrani, on Saturday.

Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday it was severing diplomatic ties with Iran following an attack on its embassy in Tehran during protests against the executions in the kingdom on Saturday.

Read more: Allies back Saudi Arabia in showdown with Iran

In Hilla, about 80km from the Iraqi capital Baghdad, a police officer said the Ammar bin Yasser mosque in the Bakerli neighbourhood was bombed after midnight.

After we heard the explosion, we went to its source and found that improvised explosive devices had been planted in a Hilla mosque, a police officer said.

Ten houses were also damaged, he said, adding: Residents said a group of people with military uniforms carried out this operation.

Falah al-Khafaji, a provincial council member, and a police source said that a guard inside the building had been killed.

No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.

Criminal gangs blamed

The interior ministry in Baghdad confirmed the attacks, which Haider al-Abadi, Iraqi prime minister, blamed on Daesh [ISIL] and those who are similar to them.

He ordered provincial authorities to chase the criminal gangs who attacked the mosques.

A muezzin  the person appointed to recite the call to prayer  was shot dead near his home in Iskandariyah, about 40km south of Baghdad.

A local councillor identified the slain muezzin of the Mohammed Abdallah Jabbouri mosque, in Haswa, as Taha al-Juburi.

Abadi gave warning in a Facebook post on Monday that the population against being dragged into sectarian conflict.

We have told the operations leaders in Babil [governorate] to track down the criminal gangs from groups like Daesh [ISIL] and the like, which use [the attacks on] the mosques to stir up sedition and undermine national unity, he wrote.
Decision follows deadly gun battles as security forces tried to gain control of key ports two terminals from fighters.

Yemeni authorities have announced a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Aden starting on Monday following a night of gun battles between fighters and government forces that killed at least 12 people from both sides, according to a local government spokesman.

The government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has been struggling with lawlessness in the key port since militia members, backed by a Saudi-led Sunni Arab coalition, drove the Iran-allied Shia Houthis out in July.

Nizar Anwar, spokesman for the Aden local government, said the clashes were concentrated around the ports cargo and container terminals.

Eight members of the security forces and four fighters died in the clashes, Anwar told Reuters, adding that security forces managed to gain control of both terminals late on Sunday night.

The security committee has decided to impose a curfew on all parts of Aden from 8pm until 5am, Anwar said, adding that the curfew would remain in place until further notice.

This is a precautionary measure to deny armed elements freedom of movement.

After the Southern Resistance, in alliance with the Arab coalition, retook Aden from the Houthis, the secessionist Yemeni group took over several public institutions, including the Aden port, and refused to hand them over until the Hadi government integrated them into Yemens army and security forces.

Security forces went to the citys Mualla district on Sunday in a fresh effort to take over the cargo terminal there but the Southern Resistance fighters refused to leave.

Eventually Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the new governor of Aden, and Shalal Shaei, director of Adens security office  both originally from the Southern Resistance  formed a committee to meet the fighters controlling the terminal.

The committee succeeded in persuading the fighters to leave after promising to find them jobs in the security forces.

Hadi toured the Mualla facility on Monday, port sources said, indicating that the cargo terminal was under government control.

Descent into war

Yemen descended into a civil war in March when the Houthis forced Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia after they closed in on Aden, drawing in an Arab coalition assembled by the Saudis into the Yemen conflict.

Muslim fighters, local tribesmen and criminals have exploited the fighting to spread chaos in the areas vacated by the Houthis.

A series of attacks have rocked Aden since July, including a booby-trapped car attack that killed General Jaafar Mohammed Saad, Adens governor, and six members of his entourage last month.

In the latest attack, assailants killed on Monday Sheikh Ali Othman al-Gailani, a member of a Sunni Muslim Sufi group [a mystical school of Islam], after he left a mosque in the citys Crater district, witnesses said.

No one claimed responsibility for the attack and the motive was not immediately clear.

However, the Islamic State of the Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group and al-Qaeda oppose the Sufi school and have attacked its members elsewhere in the Middle East in recent years.
Government spokesman says president will sign new Constitution on Tuesday, paving the way for elections later in 2016.

Zambia will hold presidential and parliamentary elections on August 11 under a new constitution, a government spokesman has said.

President Edgar Lungu is expected to assent to the constitutional amendments on Tuesday, ratifying the election date, his spokesman Amos Chanda said on Monday.

The new constitution has a fixed election date and that will take effect as soon as the president signs, Chanda told Reuters.

The elections are expected to be a tight contest between Lungus ruling Patriotic Front (PF) party and Hakainde Hichilemas opposition United Party for National Development (UPND).

Confident of victory

Under the previous constitution, the president set the election date every five years. Presidential candidates will run on a joint ticket with a vice-presidential candidate, unlike the current arrangement where the president appoints his deputy, Chanda said.

Other amendments include a clause requiring a winning presidential candidate to win more than 50 percent of the valid votes cast, he said.

On Sunday, President Lunga said that he was confident that Zambians were firmly behind him. The incumbent said he expected to secure at least 71 percent of the ballot in August.

Presidential elections were previously held in Zambia in January 2015 to elect a president to serve out the remainder of the term of President Michael Sata, following his death on October 28, 2014. Lungu narrowly won the election with 48.3 percent of the vote, with Hichilema close behind with 46.6 percent.
Growing controversy in France over a proposed citizenship law, which critics say implicitly targets Muslims.

Dual passport holders could lose their French citizenship if they are convicted of terrorism offences.

France is on high alert following the Paris attacks which killed 130 people on November 13.

Three days later, President Francois Hollande proposed a citizenship law aimed at deterring similar attacks.

The law is controversial; human rights groups says it implicitly targets French Muslims.

Is it a departure from French values? And what will be the fallout on French society?

Presenter: Richelle Carey

Guests:

Julien Theron  Political scientist and analyst at the University of Versailles

Anne-Elisabeth Moutet  Political commentator and journalist

Yasser Louati  Spokesperson for the Collective Against Islamophobia in France
The year 2015 was a curious blend of ups and downs, with glimmers of optimism offset by its losses. Venues opened to great fanfare, but others closed for a variety of reasons. UNESCO's International Jazz Day became firmly entrenched as the exclamation point on Jazz Appreciation Month activities in April. Daily arts journalism took a hit with music writers leaving significant newspapers. A prominent trumpeter found himself under FBI investigation for program funding in New Orleans. The jazz world again said goodbye to lot of players and industry figures throughout the year, including five of its NEA Jazz Masters. One of the five, saxophonist, unexpectedly retired in early September for health reasons and was dead by month end.The City of Light became the city of music on April 30 when UNESCO Headquarters in Paris hosted an all-star global concert highlighting International Jazz Day on April 30. The many featured performers included, Isfar Sarabski,and, UNESCO Ambassador for Intercultural Dialogue and Chairman of theInstitute of Jazz, told the audience: "I've seen and experienced musicians from opposing sides, enemy nations, unite to create the most beautiful music and tell the sweetest stories. Let's celebrate International Jazz Day each April 30, but let us pledge to follow its values and reasons for existence every single day of the year." Other Paris events also included jam sessions, master classes, round-table discussions, a boat cruise and film screenings. Jazz Day events took place in more than 190 countries around the globe. Hancock announced the 2016 all-star concert will be held in Washington, D.C. International Jazz Day has become a splendid way to conclude April's Jazz Appreciation Month.NEA JAZZ MASTERS: Pianist-composer, saxophonistsand, and Chicago jazz club owner Joe Segal were honored in April 2015 as NEA Jazz Masters. Segal, owner of the Jazz Showcase, received the A.B. Spellman NEA Jazz Masters Award for Jazz Advocacy, which is bestowed upon an individual who has contributed significantly to the appreciation, knowledge, and advancement of the art form of jazz. The 2016 NEA Jazz Masters class includes vibes player, saxophonistsand, and musicians' advocate Wendy Oxenhorn. She will receive the 2016 Spellman Award. The 2016 celebration is scheduled April 4 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C., as part of the National Endowment for the Arts' 50th anniversary celebration.GRAMMY AWARDS: Winners of jazz-related categories at the 2015 Grammy Awards on February 8 included"Fingerprints" from Trilogy (Concord Jazz, 2014) )best improvised jazz solo;Beautiful Life (Concord, 2014)best jazz vocal album); Chick Corea Trio Trilogy (Concord Jazz, 2014)best jazz instrumental album;'s Big Phat Band, Life in the Bubble (Telarc International,2014)best large jazz ensemble album;& the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, The Offense of the Drum (Motema, 2014)best Latin jazz album;& Lady Gaga, Cheek to Cheek (Streamline/Columbia/RPM/Interscope, 2014)best traditional pop vocal album;, Tangos (Sunnyside, 2014)best Latin pop album;Experiment Featuring& Malcolm-Jamal Warner "Jesus Children" track from: Black Radio 2 (Blue Note, 2014)best traditional R&B performance; Ashley Kahn,'s Offering: Live at Temple University (Resonance/Impulse!, 2014)best album notes.Also, saxophonist and composerreceived a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award from The Recording Academy, and Newport Jazz Festival founding producerwas honored with the academy's Grammy Trustees Award for outstanding contributions in areas other than performance.Singer (Little)'s widow Jeanne Scott fired off an open letter berating The Recording Academy for not including him in its televised In Memoriam segment at the 57th Grammy Awards. She said the snub compounded the credits he was denied by recording "industry slicksters" during his career. Scott was included on a longer In Memoriam list on the Recording Academy's website, along with other music figures not mentioned in the broadcast.LATIN GRAMMY AWARDS: There were several Latin jazz-related winners at the 16th annual Latin Grammy Awards held November 19 in Las Vegas. They were, Jazz Meets the Classics (Sunnyside/Paquito, 2014)best Latin jazz album;and Mamblue, Dr. Ed Calle Presents Mamblue (Mojito, 2015)best instrumental album;with Roberto Delgado and Orquesta, Son de Panama (Ruben Blades, 2015)best Salsa album. Tenor saxophonistreceived a Lifetime Achievement Award.HONORSAND A SNUBFOR "BIRDMAN" SCORE: Drummerwon the Critics Choice Movie Award for best original score for his soundtrack for "Birdman (or The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance)." It also won top soundtrack honors from the Venice Film Festival and a half-dozen regional critics groups. The Academy Awards disqualified Sanchez' "Birdman" work from consideration on eligibility grounds that seemed dubious at best.MONK VOCAL COMPETITION: Dallas nativetook top honors at the Thelonious Monk Institute's International Jazz Vocals Competition November 15 in Los Angeles. Horn, who won the Sarah Vaughan International Vocal Competition in 2013, received a guaranteed contract with Concord Music Group., a scholarship student at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, finished second. Vuyolwethu Sotashe finished third among the three finalists from the 11-singer Monk Competition. The native of South Africa won the Mid-Atlantic Jazz Festival Vocal Competition in 2014. The Institute honoredwith its Herbie Hancock Humanitarian Award.JJA AWARDS: The Jazz Journalists Association honored pianistwith its Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Award at the 19th annual JJA Awards at the Blue Note in New York on June 16. Among the many performance category winners, pianistwas named musician of the year, whilewas named pianist of the year and his album with bassist, The Art of Conversation (Impulse!, 2014) was voted record of the year.JJA winners in the Journalism and Media categories for work published or broadcast in the year 2014 included Wall Street Journal contributor Marc Myers for his blog Jazz Wax;and Lisa Dickey for their book "Herbie Hancock: Possibilities"; Ashley Kahn for his liner notes to's Offering: Live at Temple University (Resonance/Impulse!, 2014); Nate Chinen, columnist for JazzTimes and contributor to the New York Times for excellence in writing; andas broadcaster of the year for hosting "Jazz Night In America." Chicago-based jazz journalist and broadcaster Neil Tesser was honored with the organization's Lifetime Achievement in Jazz Journalism Award.HALL OF FAME: Saxophonistand pianistsandwere inducted into Jazz at Lincoln Center 's Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame on July 1. The posthumous induction was based on popular votes cast by jazz fans around the world. To date, Jazz at Lincoln Center has inducted 48 members into the Ertegun Jazz Hall of Fame.WALL OF FAME: The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers inductedandto the ASCAP Jazz Wall of Fame. Singer-songwriterreceived the ASCAP Foundation's Jazz Vanguard Award at the June 15 event.COLE PORTER FELLOW IN JAZZ: Pianistwon The American Pianists Association's 2015 Jazz Fellowship Award. Fortner was selected from a field of five finalists at the March competition in Indianapolis. He was given a $50,000 cash prize, the opportunity to record with Mack Avenue Records and will receive career development for two years. The other finalists wereandBMI COMPOSITION HONORS: Pianistwon the 16th annual Charlie Parker Jazz Composition Prize for the best original work created in the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop. Her piece, "Somnambulant," was selected by musiciansand bassist, who was the workshop's first composition prize winner. The BMI workshop is a noted creative forum for big band jazz composition. Hazama received a $3,000 commission to write a new work for premiere at BMI's 2016 Showcase Concert.2015 GUGGENHEIM FELLOWS: Composer/big band leader, trumpeter, saxophonistand trombonistwere the jazz-related recipients among 2015's class of 175 fellows honored by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation .DORIS DUKE AWARDS: Pianist and AACM co-founder, saxophonistsand, trumpeter, big-band leaderand cellistreceived $275,000 awards as Doris Duke Performing Artists in Jazz. The program was developed by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to make "deepened investments in the artists' personal and professional development and future work."Also, seven jazz artists received 2015 Doris Duke Impact Awards. Pianistsand, bassistsand, drummer, and multi-instrumentalistsandeach received unrestricted gifts of $80,000. The two sets of Duke awards were launched in 2011 as a special 10-year initiative to empower, invest in and celebrate artists by offering flexible, multi-year funding in response to financial challenges in the performing arts.LIVING LEGACY: Saxophonist and educatorreceived the BNY Mellon Jazz 2015 Living Legacy Award at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington D.C. on October 16. The award honors living jazz masters from the Mid-Atlantic region who have achieved distinction in jazz performance and education.HONORING A NATIVE SON: Pianistreceived Philadelphia 's equivalent to the keys to the city on April 6, when Mayor Michael Nutter gave him a miniature Liberty Bell as Philly's Jazz Legend Honoree for 2015. "McCoy has changed the way everyone after him has played the piano," said local record-label owner, producer and composer Aaron Levinson. "His percussive approach and sense of harmony signaled a new frontier for the instrument. And his embrace of African, Asian and Afro-Cuban ideas puts him in the league of."REMEMBERING THE GREATS: Hundreds turned out for the September 12 unveiling of a sculpture of trumpeterin his birthplace, Alton, IL. It took two years to raise funds for the work by sculptor Preston Jackson. In August, the U.S. Postal Service announced it will add singerto its Music Icons series of commemorative stamps sometime in 2016. A huge canvas mural ofwas unveiled in June at the German American Heritage Center in the cornetist's hometown, Davenport, IA. The Apollo Theater in New York celebrated's 100th birthday on April 7 by adding her to the Apollo Walk of Fame. A local arts group in Geneva, NY announced plans in April to honor bassistwith a life-size statue. Sculptor Ted Aub offered to donate his labor for free. The City Council has already declared April 3 as Scott LaFaro Day annually and renamed a downtown street Scott LaFaro Drive. A Scott LaFaro memorial scholarship has also been established at Geneva High School. LaFaro moved to Geneva with his family when he was 3.MORE ACQUISITIONS: Through its latest expansions, the Concord Music Group , which began with Carl Jefferson's Concord Jazz label in 1973, is becoming less of the "largest independent music company" it likes to call itself. Concord acquired the Vanguard and Sugar Hill labels from the Welk Music Group, adding to its country and folk music collections in April. A month later, it acquired the Fearless and Wind-Up independent rock music labels. Concord now has 24 subsidiary labels or imprints in its catalog, including the Contemporary, Fantasy, Head's Up International, Milestone, Prestige, Riverside and Telarc jazz labels.BLUE ENGINE: Jazz at Lincoln Center launched Blue Engine Records to release recordings from its 28 years of presenting concerts, as well as issue new studio and live recordings. Its archives include a studio recording featuring pianistand a musical Mass with a gospel choir written for the 200th anniversary of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in New York. The first release, Live in Cuba (Blue Engine, 2015), explores the connections between American jazz and Afro-Cuban music from bebop to bolero. It was recorded over three nights at the Mella Theater in Havana in October 2010 byand the. Jazz at Lincoln Center is releasing its Blue Engine recordings as CDs and digital downloads and to streaming music services, with a few titles in vinyl format.THERE'S AN APP FOR THAT: TrumpeteraTunde Adjuah's eighth studio album, Stretch Music (Ropeadope/Stretch Music, 2015) was accompanied by the launch of the first interactive Stretch Music App. The app, powered by Tutti Player, was described as an interactive music player giving musicians the ability to completely control their practicing, listening and learning experience by customizing the player to fit their specific needs and goals." It includes the capability to mute, solo, pan and fade any instrument chosen along with tempo control, looping and sheet music for each part.A SHADOW LOOMS LARGE: Trumpeterfound himself in the spring with a higher profile than he'd like. The tireless advocate for jazz in his native New Orleans, club owner and moving force behind the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, modeled after the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra, was under a federal microscope. As head of the New Orleans Library Foundation, he and business partner Ronald Markham allegedly directed more than $800,000 in Library Foundation funds to support the nonprofit orchestra, largely to help support for its ambitious $10 million Peoples Health Jazz Market performance-community-cultural space. After the feds subpoenaed financial records, NOJO vowed to repay all of the grant money. There was little new on the case at year's end, though Mayfield resigned from the Library Foundation, and from his professorship at the University of New Orleans.COLEMAN CASE: A federal lawsuit was filed on behalf ofagainst trumpeterof the Afrobeat bandand drummer, claiming the saxophonist never authorized release of material they recorded at his home that surfaced on the album New Vocabulary (System Dialing, 2014). The suit was filed in May by Coleman's son and legal guardian,. Ornette Coleman died of cardiac arrest on June 11. McLean has claimed he had permission to release the material.GETZ'S SAMANTHA TRUST: Actress Samantha Cesena, who was engaged to saxophonistwhen he died in 1991, filed suit in January 2015 seeking removal of trustee Marvin Zolt from a trust that Getz established on her behalf. Cesena's lawsuit on Los Angeles Superior Court said she had not received her $2,500 monthly payments from the Samantha Trust since July 2013.WAIKIKI: The Blue Note Entertainment Group opened a new Blue Note Jazz Club venue in late December in Hawaii, with a formal grand opening set for January. It is located in the former Society of Seven showroom inside the Outrigger Waikiki Beach Resort. The club will feature jazz, blues and Hawaiian music. The Hawaiian venue joins existing Blue Note clubs in New York, Washington D.C., Milan and two locations in Japan. Blue Note also said it plans to open a new venue on the southeast corner of Tiananmen Square in Beijing in March 2016, followed by additional clubs in Shanghai and Taipei within three years.NEW ORLEANS: In February, theopened its new home, modeled in many ways after Jazz at Lincoln Center. The $10 million project converted the long-abandoned Gators department store into the Peoples Health New Orleans Jazz Market, a contemporary and versatile jazz performance space and permanent headquarters for the orchestra, founded by trumpeter. The main performance space, seating 360, includes a partial wrap-around balcony, and a retractable stadium seating section. The lobby's Bolden Bar includes a small performance space to host live jazz.NEW YORK: The Apollo Theater in Harlem unveiled a new artistic partnership in April 2015 with trumpeter and composerand the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra to develop "a range of annual themed events and programs that will celebrate the origins of jazz, the continued innovations within the genre and build a younger audience for the art form." Under the multi-year agreement, Mayfield is Jazz Artist-in-Residence, overseeing multiple presentations on the Apollo's Mainstage, its Soundstage space and in New Orleans at the NOJO's new home, the Peoples Health New Orleans Jazz Market. The partnership includes newly commissioned works by Mayfield, an extension of the Apollo Music Cafe series with presentations in New York and New Orleans, and a celebration of the city of New Orleans' 300th birthday in 2018.Cameroon-born musicianand restaurateur Laurent Dantonio opened Club Bonafide on 52nd Street in Manhattan in September. The new venue is an intimate listening room with seating for 75, a state-of-the-art sound and lighting system and a separate bar area. "I decided to create a club where the musicians can make money playing, where they can sell their CDs and get 100% of the revenue," Bona said. "I want to do something different and I believe we can run a club where everybody can make money."Cabaret singer and pianistand the supper club 54 Below (underneath the former Studio 54 disco) announced a partnership in September to make "Feinstein's/54 Below" the successor of the singer's former "Feinstein's" at the Loew's Regency Hotel, which closed three years ago. Feinstein's/54 Below is the second nightclub to carry his brand. Feinstein's at the Nikko in San Francisco opened in May 2013 and has four shows a week plus special events.SAN FRANCISCO: The Addition, formerly known as Yoshi's San Francisco, suspended operations on Jan. 14, 2015. Artistic director Peter Williams cited financial hardship since the club was taken over in July 2014 by the Fillmore Live Entertainment Group, which cut its volume of jazz programming sharply. The 28,000 square-foot club and restaurant opened in 2007 as a satellite of the long-standing Yoshi's jazz club in Oakland.ETHIOPIA: A January 11, 2015 fire at the Taitu Hotel, a historic landmark in Addis Ababa, destroyed its famous club, the Jazz Amba Lounge. The city's deputy mayor, Abate Sitotaw, said efforts would be made to restore the hotel. Since the fire, its regular performers have taken musical refuge at Mama's Kitchen, a new restaurant that stages several concerts each week and may evolve into a new hub for the local music scene.GERMANY: The Jazzclub Tonne in Dresden closed because of water damage in its Konigstrasse building. It reopened in October at a larger site in Kurlander Palais that had been its home from 1981 to 1997.Blue Note Records partnered with the Cunard cruise ship line for a transatlantic crossing on the Queen Mary 2 featuring performances by Blue Note artists. The lineup for the October 29 cruise included pianist, trumpeter Keyon Harrold , tenor saxophonist, guitarist, bassistand drummer. Blue Note president Don Was}} also made the seven-day cruise from New York to Southampton.The Blue Note Entertainment Group, which operates several Blue Note Jazz Clubs and other music venues, has launched Blue Note Travel, a new division that will curate music travel experiences to global destinations. It said it will offer trips with VIP amenities to various music festivals around the world, as well as rare travel opportunities with world-renowned musicians and personalities." Cuba is Blue Note Travel's first planned destination.Louisiana-born multi-instrumentalistsigned on as musical director for "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," which premiered Sept. 8 on CBS. Batiste is using his regular performing band, Stay Human, plus occasional special guests, on the high-profile network television gig.Newspaper belt tightening had a significant impact at several prominent newspapers in September. The New Orleans Times-Picayune, the lead newspaper in the birthplace of jazz, laid off music writer Allison Fensterstock and asked her colleague Keith Spera to focus on general metro news instead of the music scene. Spera left as well, but both quickly found work across town covering music for the rival New Orleans Advocate. Jim Farber was laid off by the New York Daily News, where he had covered the music beat since 1990. Longtime Nashville-based music writer Brian Mansfield left the national daily USA Today after 18 years on staff to become content director at the Shore Fire Media public relations firm.The best businessesand arts organizationsfind ways to enhance what they do. The Newport Jazz Festival added a fourth performance venue at Fort Adams State Park for its 2015 edition. The 100-seat Storyville performance space is located inside a brick building just inside the festival gate. It featured solo or small group performances by pianistsand. The long line of festival-goers hoping to catch the 12-year old jazz prodigy Alexander stretched out the door and down the slope towards Newport Harbor. Some ambitious listeners hiked themselves up to peer in the building's windows. The Storyville stage also featured two seminars each day focusing on Miles Davis, marking the 60th anniversary of the trumpeter's first performance at Newport on July 17, 1955. Storyville is an ideal name for this club-like venue. It was the name of the Boston club thatran in Boston when he got into the jazz festival production business.< b>Saving some Detroit jazz history, again Music-loving volunteers searched during the summer or anything salvageable from the former Graystone International Jazz Museum collection, which had been abandoned inside the long-vacant Book Building in downtown Detroit. The Graystone Ballroom, "billed as Detroit's Million Dollar Ballroom," was a great jazz venue hosting the top performers of its day, includingand. In the mid-1970s, retired bus driver James Jenkins set out to save the ballroom, which he hoped to convert into a museum to commemorate the city's jazz heritage, but the Graystone was demolished in 1980. Jenkins' museum in the Book Building struggled with funding after his death in 1994. Some of the collection was warehoused but the rest was left in the Book Building, where it was all but forgottenand unprotected from the elementsafter the building was vacated in 2009. The nonprofit Detroit Sound Conservancy began the recovery and preservation process with the help of the Detroit Historical Society. DFSC moved the relics to a storage warehouse to begin archiving and digitizing the collection.Pianist's widow auctioned 25 of his personal items in August. The Oscar Peterson Auction on eBay included synthesizers, microphones, a high-end DAT recorder and a rare headphone set Peterson used in his home recording studio, as well as jazz books, his poster collection and his signature blue brocade tux jacket. "We want to commemorate Oscar's 90th birthday and share some of these things with his fans," Kelly Peterson said. "We also want to raise funds for World Vision Canada. But that doesn't mean it's been easy parting with them. There's something about each piece that makes it wrenching to me to see it go." Her husband died in 2007 at age 82.Pianist& his trio Bandwagon curated and performed at a 10-day "Finding a Line: Skateboarding, Music and Media" festival in September at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Organizers called it a celebration of "a vibrant and influential American subculture by highlighting the creative ties and improvisational elements shared between skateboarding and live music in an open and collaborative environment." The events also featured more than a dozen professional skateboarders.Tenor saxophonist, who holds dual citizenship in his native Russia and the United States, drew political fire drew fire from Washington and Kiev when he agreed to play at the Koktebel Jazz Party, a music festival held in the Crimean city of Koktebel, a major seaside resort during the Soviet era. The U.S. State Department warned him not to attend the August 28-30 event. Butman defied the request, saying music should never suffer because of politics. Butman said he wrote a letter to President Barack Obama saying that Kiev's announcement that it could ban artists who perform in Koktebel from entering Ukraine for five years was "improper." He said he planned to write Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko a letter with the same message. The international music event has been held in Koktebel since 2003, when Russian-occupied Crimea was still part of Ukraine."Collateral damage" in difficult times French-Lebanese trumpeterwas detained when traveling from Paris to perform at the London Jazz Festival a week after the terrorist attacks in Paris after being told that his name had flagged an Interpol alert. He missed two trains and had to cancel a day of promotional activities in London, arriving shortly before his scheduled concert started. Maloof said he considered himself "collateral damage" to France's state of emergency after the attacks in Paris.GRETCHEN VALADE JAZZ CENTER: Detroit philanthropist Gretchen Valade, heiress to the Carhartt apparel fortune, continues to find new ways to support her love of jazz with big bucks. In mid-December, Valade announced her commitment tp give $7.5 million to Wayne State University's jazz program. Her in initiative will include a new performance center on Cass Avenue, establish a $1.5 million endowed chair in jazz studies and a $1 million endowed jazz scholarship. Those recipients will oversee programming and other activities at The Gretchen Valade Jazz Center. The venue will transform the university's current performance space, the Hiberry Theatre, into a metro Detroit jazz hub, hosting shows by touring musicians and local, and serving as a working space for WSU music students and faculty. Valade's other jazz initiatives have included founding the Dirty Dog Jazz Cafe in Grosse Pointe and the Mack Avenue record label. She also gave the Detroit Jazz Festival $15-million in endowment funds that enabled the Labor Day Weekend event to flourish over the past decade.NEIMAN FOUNDATION: Artist LeRoy Neiman, who died in 2012, was best known for colorful paintings and illustrations that presented scenes of sports and entertainment, including paintings of American jazz legends of the 1950s and 1960s. The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History launched its Jazz Appreciation Month celebration in April with word of a $2.5 million LeRoy Neiman Foundation endowment to expand jazz programming. The foundation also donated Neiman's painting, "Big Band," a 9-by-13 feet epic jazz mural featuring 18 iconic jazz musicians.New Orleans musician Travis Hill, nicknamed "Trumpet Black," died May 4 while in Japan on tour, due to a dental infection that reached his heart. He was a grandson of R&B singer-songwriter Jessie Hill and a cousin of Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews. His beloved silver trumpet, which had been presented to his mother during his May 23 funeral service at the Carver Theater, was reported stolen, presumably while his casket was being carried to a reception a half-mile away. His brother, Leroy Hill, offered a $3,500 reward for its return.Before the final song at his September 4 concert in Pittsburgh reprising the Charlie Parker With Strings album with a jazz trio and members of the Pittsburgh Symphony, alto saxophonisttold the audience that they were about to hear final song. And he meant final. Woods said he was retiring for health reasons: he had decided to stop battling the lung disease that had dogged him for years, requiring him to perform with oxygen "as his amplifier." At the end, Woods set down his horn and was wheeled off stage at the Manchester Craftsmen's Guild to a standing ovation. Woods died September 29 of complications from emphysema. He was 83.The jazz world lost five of its NEA Jazz Masters during 2015, and a considerable number of other singers, players and industry figures. The NEA Jazz Masters who passed away were saxophonist; producer; composer, conductor, writer, French horn player and educator; trumpeter; and saxophonist. A comprehensive listing follows.Accordionists Ernie Felice, Walter Kuhr; accordionist and composer Jean Corti.Arranger, composer, educator, woodwinds player and singer Jerry Nowak; arranger, conductor, big band leader and trumpeter Ivan Jullien.B-3 organ players Eddy Louiss, Bobby Watley.Banjo players Dave Frey, Bob Sundstrom.Bassists Erik Amundsen, Lenny Boyd, Lloyd Buchanan, Ron Crotty, Hal Gaylor, Coleridge Goode, Bob Guck, Tim Ingles, Louis Johnson, Reinhard "Django" Kroll, Bruce Lawrence, Carl Lindberg, Mike Porcaro, Hugo Rasmussen, Jack Six, Jean Warland, Bob Whitlock, bassist Noah Young (aka Richard Youngstein); bassist and educator John Springer; bassist, bandleader, club operator and educator Howard Rumsey; bassists and tuba players John Cole, Lee Westenhofer; bassist composer and producer Lothar Meid; bassist and pianist John Endicott Hart; bassist and recording engineer Gary Marker.Bassoonist Daniel Smith.Big band leader, bassist, composer and arranger James Last; big band leader, composer, arranger and pianist Van Alexander.Clarinetist, writer and photographer Simon Flem Devold; clarinetist and educator Joe Torregano; clarinetists and bandleaders Sandor Benko, Dal Richards.Composers Roy Bennett, Sid Tepper; composer and lyricist Ervin Drake; composer, singer and poet Rod McKuen; composer and singer Don Covay; composers and pianists John Eaton, Tom McKinley; composer, bandleader and valve trombonist Gerasimos Lavranos; composer, arranger, musical director and accordionist Milton Delugg; composer and arranger Michael "Mickey" Leonard; composer and journalist Fernando Brant; composer, conductor, writer, French horn player, educator and NEA Jazz Master Gunther Schuller; composer, producer, bandleader and pianist Raphy Leavitt; composer, conductor and trumpeter Andre Waignein; composer and conductor John Duffy.Cornetist and bandleader Steve Lane.Drummers Jim Alkire, Archie Alleyne, "Killer" Ray Appleton, Jack Arseneaux, Joe Basile, Tony "Oulabula" Bazley, Allan Browne, George Cariote, Carlos Carli, Jerome Cooper, Keith Copeland, Dick Gail, Harry Hach, Gavino Jiminez, Joseph "Smokey" Johnson, Corey Jones, Isham "Rusty" Jones, Hal Mead, Rene Nan, Phil Newsum, Danny Noonan, Mac Poole, Richie Pratt, Ted Reinhardt, Doudou N'diaye Rose, Tommy Ruskin, Stanley C. Swann III, Alice Whyte; drummers and record producers Rudi Martini, Peter Schmidlin; drummer, singer and guitarist Augusta Lee Collins.Experimental music collagist, vocalist and broadcaster Don Joyce.Fiddler Johnny Gimble.Guembri player and gnawa pioneer Mahmoud Guinia.Guitarists Daevid Allen, Jon Pall Bjarnason, Thomas Buhe, Manfred Dierkes, Bruno Engler, Roy Ferguson, Edgar Froese, Jeff Golub, Doug Gregg, Clarrie Henley, Jrgen Ingmann, Ivinho, Tony Jenkins, Bill Lezotte, Steve Moore, Peter Nieuwerf, Rusty Paul, John Renbourn, Slim Richey, Pete Roberts (aka "Little Joe"), Arthur Wright; guitarist, singer and songwriter Pino Daniele; guitarist, banjoist and violinist Neil Levang; guitarists and educators Garrison Fewell, Ray Ross; guitarist and bandleader Johnny Polanco; guitarists and singers Don Griffin, Peggy Jones (aka "Lady Bo"); guitarist and actor Belugo Carambula; guitarist, composer, arranger and educator Bob Shaw.Harmonica player Harry Pitch; harmonica player, guitarist and politician Collins Chabane.Harpist Susan Allen.Keyboardists Guy LeBlanc, Alan Watson; keyboardist and producer Ethan White.Multi-instrumentalist and singer Lenny McDaniel; multi-instrumentalist, composer, arranger and educator Bob Hays; multi-instrumentalist and composer Erik Lindstrom.Pedal steel guitarist Buddy Emmons.Percussionist Raul Rekow; percussionist and composer Luis "Tata" Guerra; percussionist and music organizer Jay Serrett; percussionist and bandleader Papo Angarica; percussion instrument maker and timpanist Vic Firth; percussionist, composer and educator Jean Batigne.Pianists Bob Allen, Rosemary Alter, Paul Bisch, Bunk Burgwin, David Carter Jr., Joe Cavallaro, Madhav Chari, Donna Davis, Sam Dockery, Ron DuPont, Silvano Grandi, Stan Hunter, Don Innes, Rudolf Jaggi, Orville Johnson, Ray Kennedy, Masabumi Kikuchi, Yasko Kubota, Norman Kubrin, Corky McClerkin, Howie McDonald, Patrick McElligott, Raf Robertson, Mickey "Red" Roquemore, Ralph Sharon, Lee Shaw, Carol Solenberger, Sandy Taylor; pianist, violinist, singer and composer Terri Spencer Mersereau; pianist, conductor and educator Steve Zegree; pianists and arrangers Louie Cruz, Roland Schneider; pianist and booking executive Sam Distefano; pianists and bandleaders Marty Napoleon, Confrey Phillips, Guillermo Rubalcaba; pianist, singer and trombonist Juan Carlos Caceres; pianist, bandleader and educator Don Scaletta; pianist, singer and broadcaster Wolfgang Sauer; pianists and educators Eric Doney, Bob Murphy, Joerg Reiter, John Taylor; pianist and entrepreneur Karl Wlaschek; pianist, producer and arranger Emmanuel Riggins; pianist and composer Jean-Bernard Eisinger; pianist, composer and educator Don Hurless; pianist, clarinetist, saxophonist and educator Herbie Hess; pianist, composer and producer Vanja Lisak; pianist and steel band leader Russell Henderson; pianist and club owner "Papa Joe" Buschmann; pianist, arranger and conductor Kjell Ohman; pianist, producer, songwriter and singer Allen Toussaint.Saxophonists Harold Battiste, Al Block, Buddy Boudreaux, Leon Cohen, Hulon Crayton, Duane Feeley, Wilton Felder, Max Greger, John Gumpper, Ove Johansson, Merle Knudsen, Heinz Kretzschmar, Steve Mackay, Zane Musa, Harold Ousley, Don Rendell, Earl S. Ross, Wodzimierz Szymanski, Ted Thompson, Toni Tudd, Robert Veen, Norbert Vollath, Murray Wald, Ray Warleigh, George Zinsser, Dadet Zongbe, Dadet Zongbe; saxophonists and educators Emerson Able Jr., Willie Akins, George Bouchard, David Bournazian, Mark Gatz, Paul Jeffrey, Brent Majors, Rainer Minarik;saxophonist, bandleader, composer and NEA Jazz Master Ornette Coleman; saxophonist, pianist, composer and producer Lucia Huergo; saxophonist, composer, TV music director and educator Robert Drasnin; saxophonist, arranger, composer, bandleader, producer, historian and writer Bob Belden; saxophonist, bandleader and arranger Ambros Seelos; saxophonists and bandleaders Dieter Antritter, Percy Hughes; saxophonist big band leader, arranger and educator Bill Jupp; saxophonists, composers and arranges Milt Kleeb, Donald Washington Jr.Singers Zayn Adam, Alisa Anderson aka Alisa B., Webster Armstrong, Ara Arsenian, Ellenie Ash-Goodwin, Ortheia Barnes, Jenny Brown, Diane Charlemagne, Joanne Cottone, B.J. Crosby, Anita Darian, Judy Day, Darius Dhlomo, Celina Gonzalez, Karen Hall, Mariem Hassan, Stephanie Haynes, Judith Hendricks, Doris Hines, Marilyn Holderfield, Javier Krahe, Cynthia Layne, Bonnie Mann, Lucille Mapp, Mary McGowan, Karl Moik, Mark Murphy, Musa Ngum, Quedellice Northern, Margo Reed, Dana Rogers, Julie Wilson, Famiza Zulkifli; singer and educator Maureen Budway; singer, composer and arranger Ward Swingle; singer and Wild Magnolias' "Big Chief" Bo Dollis; singer and songwriter Rose Marie McCoy; singer, dancer and actor Kenneth Kamal Scott; singers and actors Natalie Cole, Tim Curry, Monica Lewis; singer and club owner Gene Lynn; singers and pianists Frankie Ford, Madalynne Strascina (Boots James); singer, pianist and accordionist Mardi Pring Luppert; singer, saxophonist, percussionist and bandleader Raul Azpiazu; singer and saxophonist Marc Thomas; singer, guitarist, bandleader and broadcaster Buddy Moreno; singer, pianist, composer and promoter Gladys "Havana" Carbo.Sitar player and composer Ravi Shankar.Songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist Danny Sembello.Timbalero, composer and bandleader Bayardo "Benny" Velarde.Trombonists Clifford Adams, Anthony Agresta, Gerhard "Doggy" Hund, Paul O'Connor, Nat Peck, Rico Rodriguez, Dick Shoup, Joe Soares, George Stell, Benny Vasseur; trombonist and jazz festival co-founder Rick Chamberlain; trombonist, composer and arranger Johnny Keating; trombonists and educators Rick Davies, Don Doane, Raymond Katarzynski; trombonist and bassist Howard Jones, trombonist and tuba player Marc Steckar; trombonist, arranger, composer and educator J. Durward Morsch; trombonist and producer Ken Gibson, trombonist, pianist, composer and arranger Dorn Younger.Trumpeters Al Aarons, Umberto Arlati, Tony Barrero, George Bean, Owen Bryce, Ben Cauley, Mick Collins, Dominick Consolo, Jimmy Gallo, Travis "Trumpet Black" Hill, Bill Lacy, Sepp Mitterbauer, Cynthia Robinson, Peter Rose, Marco Tamburini, Rein van den Broek, Don Welsch, Wilmer Wise; trumpeter, bandleader, educator and NEA Jazz Master Clark Terry; trumpeters and recording engineers Jim Mooney, Paul Serrano; trumpeters and educators Marcus Belgrave, Johnny Helms, Harry Hunt, Chuck Lord, John "Rook" McCauley, Ben Smalley, Lew Soloff, Jerry Ziering; trumpeter, singer and bandleader Les Bull; trumpeter, composer and arranger Bengt-Arne Wallin; trumpeter, violinist, organist, composer and educator Russ Montagna;Vibraphonists Manfred Burzlaff, Dave Pike; vibraphonist, bandleader, broadcaster and educator Steve Pouchie.Violinist Hajo Hoffman.Club owners Marek Greliak, Robert Martin, Ray McFall, Hermann Nieweler, Giampiero Rubei, Butch Stone, Leola King Wilson, Emily "Jazzy" Wingert; club owner and trumpeter Bob Masteller; jazz club co-founder and artist manager Dale Fitzgerald; jazz manager and artist manager Bernice Lundy; artist managers Frank Modica Jr., Father Peter O'Brien; jazz club employee and photographer Waleed Rahman; UK record fair proprietor Rod King; jazz club and festival producer Gerhard Eder; club owner, broadcaster, concert promoter and record label owner Gene Norman; club owner and jazz promoiter Arnold Burri.Jazz festival founder and concert producer Midge Ellis; jazz festival organizers Bostjan Cvek, Adele Davis, Monk Dupre, Bernard Souroque; jazz festival stage manager Mike Wilmot; concert producers Dave Hatfield, Jean-Marie Masse; recording executive, producer, writer and NEA Jazz Master Orrin Keepnews; producer, sound engineer and writer Mike King; record label co-founder and theatrical producer Miriam Bienstock; record label co-founder, producer and drummer Larry Rosen; sound engineer John Maimone; record label founder and producer Bernard Stollman; record label executive and writer Stan Cornyn; record label executive Bruce Lundvall; record promoter, producer and Woody Herman Society founder Al Julian; record producer, conductor, pianist and composer Ettore Stratta; record producer, broadcaster, musicologist, film historian, film-maker and songwriter Ken Barnes; concert producer, historian and documentary filmmaker Gary Keys; record producer, humorist and sound designer Henry Jacobs; record producer and broadcaster Philip Barker; music producer, director, writer and actor Luiz Carlos Miele; educator and jazz promoter Dave Hatfield; record producer, label owner and International Association of Jazz Record Collectors past president Gunnar Jacobsen; concert producer and pianist Zuma Renaud.Filmmaker, broadcast executive and poet Richard O. Moore; filmmaker, archivist and producer George Manney, writer and director of "The Gig" Frank D. Gilroy.Musicologist Horst Bergmeier; musicologist, educator and clarinetist Lawrence Gushee; music historian and writer William J. Proctor; American Jazz Museum founding director Rowena Stewart.Poets Guenter Grass, Philip Levine.Tap dancer Phil Black.Broadcasters Juan Claudio Cifuentes, Don Haney, Tom the Jazzman Mallison, Lenny Mazel, Linard "Smitty" Smith, Don Wolff; broadcaster and record producer Bob Parlocha; broadcast producer Alain de Grobois; broadcast executive and producer Cephas Bowles; broadcasters and writers Remy Kolpa Kopoul, Peter Makurube; broadcaster and jazz festival co-founder Richard Wheatley; broadcaster and educator Hazen Schumacher.Photographers Syndey Byrd, Bunky deVecchis, John "Hoppy" Hopkins, Gene Hyden, Will McBride, Chester Sheard, Johan Van Eycken, Christian Wurm.Writers Brent Black, Lothar Lewien, Roger Riggins, Bruno Rub, Ernie Santosuosso, John A. Williams, Jurgen Wolfer; writer and pianist William Zinsser; sociologist and writer Charles Winick; writer and photographer Franz XA Zipperer; writer, musicologist, producer, label owner, songwriter and playwright Mack McCormick; "Jazz on a Summer's Day writer and playwright Albert D'Annibale.Designer, artist and cartoonist Jean Cabu; graphic designer and illustrator Paul Bacon; art director John Berg.Jazz advocate Walter Schatzlein.Blues and gospel artists and industry figures Craig Allen, William "Washboard Bill" Allman, "Chizmo Charles" Amderson, Sam Andrew, Comfort Annor, Robert "Wolfman" Belfour, Samuel Charters, Andrae Crouch, Eddie Cusic, Willie "Popsy" Dixon, Donna Douglas, Tim Drummond, Rocky Frisco, Patrice Moncell Gathright, Stefan George, Herbie Goins, Rickey Grundy, Evelyn Starks Hardy, Chris Hawkins, Labreeska Hemphill, Wendell Holmes, Joe Houston, Rev. Johnny "Hurricane" Jones, Don Kesee, B.B. King, Smokin' Joe Kubek, Steve LaVere, Eric LeBlanc, Mosie Lister, Dave Mamber Jr., Joe Martins, David Maxwell, Mighty Sam McClain, AC McClendon III, Bumble Bee Bob Novak, Jimmy Lloyd Rea, David Shelley, Jarvis L. Smith, "Big Time Sarah" Streetwear, Dave Trupp, Cory Wells, Smokey Wilson.
Artist repatriation seems to be something of a theme in the Don Was era of Blue Note Records. In 2013 there was the return of saxophonist, a jazz giant who delivered many of his landmark '60s albums on this storied imprint. Then, in 2015, Charles Lloyd left ECM for Blue Note, a label that had previously held one Lloyd album in its portfolio. Now, as 2016 arrives, organist Dr. Lonnie Smith returns to the fold.Evolution is Smith's first album for Blue Note in forty-five years, and it's a real humdinger. Everything we've come to expect from him, included the unexpected, is here. The album is populated with raunchy riffs, greasy grooves, soulful sermons, tidal organ shifts, moody statements, hard-hitting solos, and punchy interjections, all of which help to enliven throwback songs, standards, and new pieces alike. This is past, present, and future Smith rolled into one.The album kicks off with "Play It Back," a funky number from Smith's Live At Club Mozambique (Blue Note, recorded 1970/released 1995). Double drumming from the likes ofandunderscores the music, setting a foundation for soloist after soloist to build upon;, making his lone guest appearance on the album, hits it out of the park when he steps to the plate; the horns sound hot, whether riffing together or taking to the spotlight as individuals; and the good doctor does what he does best. Smith follows that up by invitinginto the picture to reprise his role on "Afrodesia." Lovano originally recorded the song with Smith some forty years ago, working his magic with his tenor. Here he turns to his G mezzo soprano saxophone, delivering the goods on this grounded groove number. Then, for good measure, Lovano brings out his main ax on "For Heaven's Sake," a balladic mood painting that stands as gentle contrast to the majority of the material on the playlist.The remaining four tracks are split evenly between new originals and standards. That first category includes "Talk About This," a funky number with a hard-hitting solo from trumpeter, and "African Suite," which stands apart thanks to' flute work and some Afrocentric accents and underpinnings. The standards"Straight No Chaser" and "My Favorite Things," both delivered by the trio of Smith, Blake, and guitaristprove to be fiery and forward-thinking. The former is a take-no-prisoners performance that's set aflame by the spark of life. And the latter? It's a piece that's full of surprises. It emerges from uncertainty, departs into the shadows, and emits power and potency from its core. It takes tremendous creativity to pull a rabbit out of the hat on such a well worn piece, and this trio has that and then some.Dr. Lonnie Smith left Blue Note as a young man, but he returns as a sagacious elder. The wisdom he's gained in the intervening years is parceled out in his every gesture, flourish, and note. Evolution is but a single album, yet it speaks to a lifetime of music making from one of our most treasured organists.




AR's Editor Joe Shea Talks About Elections On Iranian TV Bear Stearns Saved By Fed As Lehman Bros. Falters; Major Bank

Failure Looms Over Wall Street, Sends Markets Into 200-Pt. Dive Lie Upon Lie Five Years Into the Iraq War

The Administration Still Churns Out Lies by Randolph Holhut A Small Tragedy Even at 90, As Friends Turn Cool

She Knows the Show Must Go On by Joyce Marcel I'll Take Me Imagine John Wayne or Arnold

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By Site Searches; It Can be Wrong by Jay Bhatti Chatting Up The Cat God Gave Me Dominion Over Him

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AFTER 5 YEARS, WE'RE STILL LIED TO ABOUT IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Next week is the fifth anniversary of the U.S. invasion of Iraq. And it is likely that sometime in the next couple of weeks, the 4,000th American soldier will die in Iraq. [MORE] Momentum

OFF TO SEE THE WIZARD by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - It's 1931, and a 14-year-old girl is standing alone on a stage. She's small and lively with dark curly hair, widespread hazel eyes, slender wrists and an open, eager face filled with the wonder of performing. Her name is Rose, and one day she will be my mother. But now she is performing an Eugene O'Neill monologue called "Before Breakfast" for a ladies' club in a wealthy suburb of Long Island. [MORE] One Woman's World

COMFORTABLE WITH MYSELF by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I'm not sure but I think I may be socially incorrect. [MORE] On Native Ground

ENOUGH FOR A WAR, NOT FOR A PEOPLE by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Last week, the National Governors Assn. met in Washington, D.C. One of the tasks the NGA had on its agenda was to ask President Bush to increase federal spending on roads, bridges and other public works projects as a way to stimulate the economy. He rejected their pleas out of hand, claiming that infrastructure projects wouldn't offer any short-term economic boost. [MORE] Brasch Words

BEWARE THE SELF-REVERENTIAL PRESS by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Shortly before the primary votes this past week, Newsweek's Jonathan Alter called Sen. Barack Obama's surge to the Democratic nomination "inevitable." It also called for Hillary Clinton to "start her campaign for Senate majority leader." [MORE] Constance

A CONVERSATION WITH MY CAT Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- Normally, when the cat starts his evening rant of meowing continuously until he makes his point, I just take it as long as I can, pick him up, and put him in the garage for the night. He doesn't want to go, but the meowing stops and I don't care if he likes it or not. [MORE] Momentum

OUT OF STRUGGLE, ART by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Here we are again at the crossroads of art and social change, having the opportunity to watch good and great films about the lives of women in support of the Women's Crisis Center. [MORE] Campaign 2008

HOW TO PREDICT SUPER TUESDAY II WINNERS? ONLINE SEARCH by Jay Bhatti NEW YORK, March 4, 2008, 7:00PM ET -- With the outcomes of the Texas, Vermont, Ohio and Rhode Island primaries to be decided tonight, how possible is it that online searching can predict who will win tonight's primaries? [MORE] One Woman's World

DON'T VOTE; IT ENCOURAGES THEM by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Call me angry and disgusted but don't call me un-American because I won't be voting come November. [MORE] On Native Ground

BUSH AND THE KEYBOARD COMMANDOS by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- As the days tick down toward the eventual departure of President George W. Bush from the White House, it's a hopeful sign that most Americans are no longer moved by his Administration's constant exploitation of terrorism for political gain. [MORE] Momentum

WHICH AMERICA DO YOU LIVE IN? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- It's a little confusing. [MORE] Make My Dat

THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] On Native Ground

FIDEL RETIRES: NOW THE COLD WAR IS REALLY OVER by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Maybe now, we can finally say the Cold War is over. [MORE] Make My Dat

THE LAWYER THAT ATE NEW YORK by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- I used to know a guy who, quite literally, didn't get hyperbole. He didn't understand exaggeration. As a result, he missed most jokes that came his way. [MORE] One Woman's World

POLITICS IS NO PARTY by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- Are you having a hard time focusing your eyes? Do you have faint red spots all over your body? Is there a ringing in your ears and do you see wavy lines when you look at your television set? Do your hands shake when you try to hold a cup of coffee? And have you recently been forgetting what day of the week it is - or what year? [MORE] Make My Day

FOR BETTER OR WORSE ... A LOT WORSE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- "Marriage: It's Only Going to Get Worse." [MORE] Constance

YOU CALL THESE RIGHTS? by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- When you express an opinion you hope to persuade others to your point of view. It doesn't always happen but still, opinion writers try. [MORE] Momentum

THE BRIDGE WOMAN by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - Out there in America - yes, still - is a generation of women who were born in the 1940s, raised in the 1950s, and who came to radical consciousness in the late 1960s and early 1970s. I am one of them. Hillary Clinton is one of them. [MORE] On Native Ground

OBAMA AND MY GENERATION by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- I originally planned on voting for Dennis Kucinich in the Vermont Primary on March 4. [MORE] The Willies:

WARNING: THIS MEDICATION MAY MURDER YOUR FRIENDS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla. -- You've heard the warnings, haven't you? Stop Prozac and you may take a shotgun, an Uzi or an AK-47 and mow down your family and friends, or even a whole classroom full of your fellow students. You didn't? Well, that warning is not on the bottle, but like countless mass-murder incidents before it, Friday's shootings at Northern Illinois University, as well as the Virginia Tech shootings that killed 32 last year, was probably precipitated by the effect of stopping medications that suppress anger and other powerful emotions but do not relieve the underlying cause. Isn't it time we started warning people - or stopped prescribing these medicines? [MORE] One Woman's World

DON'T KNOCK ON MY DOOR by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- I wish I could feel delight in my poet's mansion being like Grand Central Station all the time, but I can't. And I wish my place was such a place that someone would one day write: "Her door was always open and she always made you feel all fuzzy and warm in her presence. She could make a cup of coffee seem like a banquet." [MORE] Reporting: Panama

PANAMA'S VIOLENT LABOR UNREST INTENSIFIES Mark Scheinbaum PANAMA CITY, Panama, Feb, 15, 2008 -- After just one day of relative calm, wildcat construction strikes by some members of Panama's largest union flared up again Friday morning, four days after a police sniper shot one worker. More than 140 demonstrators have been injured and at least 500 arrested, authorities say. [MORE] Brasch Words

TO STIMULATE ECONOMY, BUY A CHINESE-MADE U.S. FLAG by Walter Brasch BLOOMSBURG, Pa. -- Walking down Main Street, pushing a grocery cart loaded with clothes, toys, and appliances was Marshbaum. Fastened to the right front corner of the cart was an American flag tied onto a three-foot ruler. [MORE] Make My Day

THE TOOTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TOOTH by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- To commemorate the death of noted shark exploder Roy Scheider, and the "Jaws" movies that resulted in Erik never setting foot in the ocean again, we are reprinting this column from 2003. Shark Experts 0, Sharks 1 [MORE] Momentum

THE WINTER OF MY DISCONTENT by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. - As I write this, it's raining ice. Maybe a half a foot of snow and ice has already landed up here in the woods of Dummerston. Our cars are encased in it, and the door to the house is blocked. The satellite dish that brings in our Internet service quit about 20 minutes ago - frozen solid. [MORE] The Willies

AMERICA TO HILLARY: GET OUT! by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 13, 2008 -- Sen. Hillary Clinton has adopted the Rudy Giuliani strategy, and it's working - for Sen. Barack Obama. It turns out to be the strategy all Democrats are seeking - an exit strategy. But it's not for Iraq. It's for her exit from the race for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination. [MORE] Constance

CONFESSIONS OF A DISAPPOINTED VOTER by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga. -- A week ago at just about this time, I completed an article and was about to submit it as scheduled to The American Reporter. I was feeling rather elated, ready to show up on Super Tuesday morning, firmly touch the X next to Rudy Giuliani's name and get on with my day. He was my choice; he would get my vote. [MORE] Reporting: Florida

SIERRA CLUB SET TO SUSPEND FLA. CHAPTER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 10, 2008 -- The national Sierra Club is set to suspend its Florida chapter after years of divisive infighting, the president of the national club told Florida members in a letter delivered to some this weekend. It is the first time in its 116-year history that such a step has been considered by the club, according to news reports. [MORE] One Woman's World

PLANT A NEW WORLD THIS SPRING by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- For a little while, the men will just have to toss and turn in their fear-free-women beds. For a small space of time Hillary Clinton will just have to trudge on toward the White House without my faint applause in the background. [MORE] On Native Ground

VERMONT AND THE 5 STAGES OF CONSERVATIVE GRIEF by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- First, Vermont tried to convince the nation to impeach President Bush and Vice President Cheney. [MORE] Make My Day

REBEL WITHOUT A TONGUE by Erik Deckers INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Kids' brains work in amazing ways. At times, they can grasp complex concepts and make impressive discoveries. Other times, you have to wonder how we ever survived as a species. [MORE] The Willies

FOR DEMOCRATS, NOW IT'S ABOUT RACE, INCOME AND GENDER by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Feb. 6, 2008 -- It's not a good time to be a Democrat. As the Super Tuesday results demonstrated, the presidential race between Sens. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton has divided the partly along clear racial, income and gender lines - the very distinctions the party has sought to erase in principle but has emphasized in its pursuit of diversity. [MORE] Momentum

SUPER TUESDAY BLUES by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt. -- Super Tuesday has come and gone and I still can't get excited about the upcoming presidential elections. [MORE] The Willies

ON THE BRINK OF HISTORY, YOUR PUSH IS NEEDED by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Feb. 5. 2008 -- I'm expecting a sea change tonight. I believe that for the first time in this nation's history we will once and forever banish racism as the deciding factor in the destiny of African-Americans, and indeed adopt diversity as our path to the future. [MORE] Campaign 2008

AT 88, EVERY VOTE REALLY COUNTS by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 5, 2008 -- Pearl Turner will caucus for Mitt Romney tonight in Denver. [MORE] One Woman's World

STAND BY YOUR WOMAN by Elizabeth T. Andrews CARTERSVILLE, Ga. -- The black vote. The gay vote. The fundamentalist vote. The Hispanic vote. [MORE] An AR Special

SUSPECTS IN BENAZIR ASSASSINATION HAVE TIES TO MUSHARRAF by Ahmar Mustikhan WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When Gordon Brown this past Monday feted coup-leader-turned-President Pervez Musharraf at 10 Downing Street, Britain's new prime minister probably didn't ask the Pakistani dictator a question that is now on many minds: Did you order the murder of Benazir Bhutto? [MORE] Momentum

TO THE VERMONT DELEGATION: WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR US LATELY? by Joyce Marcel DUMMERSTON, Vt.  Back when President George W. Bush and Dick Vice President Dick Cheney were building up to their loathsome war in Iraq, very few people were brave enough to call the bullies' bluff. [MORE] On Native Ground

IF BUSH HAS HIS WAY, WE'LL NEVER LEAVE IRAQ by Randolph T. Holhut DUMMERSTON, Vt. - In his final State of the Union address on Jan. 28, President Bush cautioned against accelerating U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq, saying that it would endanger the process that has been made over the past year. [MORE] Campaign 2008

CLASH OF COMMENTS AND PROTESTORS AT CLINTON, OBAMA RALLIES IN DENVER by Ted Manna DENVER, Feb. 1, 2008 -- At least four presidential campaigns of both partiers rolled into in Denver this week ahead of the Feb. 5 "Super Tuesday" primaries in 22 states, but it was the Democratic presidential contenders who drew the big crowds and duked it out Wednesday. If sheer numbers are any indication, Sen. Barack Obama - preceded by a buoyant and beautiful Caroline Kennedy - won the round handily. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the Colorado primary next Tuesday. [MORE] The Willies

WHY THE FLORIDA PRIMARY STINKS by Joe Shea BRADENTON, Fla., Jan. 30, 2008 -- I was with my wife and daughter driving the back way from Miami home to Bradenton when we stopped at a McDonald's in Clewiston, the only big town along the vast shore of Lake Okeechobee, the state's precious freshwater reservoir. The McDonald's had three televisions at a central seating area, each tuned to a different network, and our table was in front of CNN as the very first election results started to pour in around 7:30PM. With them, almost as counterpoint, suddenly came such an overwhelming odor of cow plop that my wife started to throw up as we all ran to the parking lot. [MORE] Passings: Suharto

DEATH OF A KEMUSU THUG by Andreas Harsono JAKARTA - A few minutes after hearing that former president Suharto had died in his hospital bed, Marco, a militia leader in downtown Jakarta, raced to Suhartos house, wearing his jungle camouflage and began guarding the Suhartos residence on Cendana Street. [MORE] Constance

I REMEMBER YOU by Constance Daley ST. SIMONS ISLAND, Ga.. -- It seems to be more often lately that the sentiment is spoken but it's always been out there: "You never get over the death of your child." This is true. But the heartfelt expressions come from some who cannot fathom the notion of losing a child; their own child is who is in their mind, not another mother's child. [MORE]
Strange as it may sound, the man most directly responsible for the launch of Rep. Barney Frank's legendary 32-year career in Congress was Pope John Paul II.

In 1980, the Pope issued a directive barring priests from holding public office, a move that forced the retirement of Father Robert Drinan from his House seat representing Massachusetts' 3rd District.

It also gave Frank, then a member of the state legislature, an opportunity to seek national office. It was an unexpected break for Frank, who until that time had assumed that his role in politics would be mostly behind the scenes.

"I was an accidental congressman," he says. "I didn't know I was going to go to Congress. I'm not one of these kids who thought I could always do this."

But Frank went to Capitol Hill, and went on to become one of the most prominent members of the House, carving a legacy that depends largely on the political ideology of the beholder.

To the left, Frank is a liberal heroa gay rights champion fiercely devoted to economic and social fairness, and a skillful legislator who successfully passed a landmark bill in 2010 designed to tame Wall Street.

To the right, he is a villain, an intractable defender of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac who irresponsibly pushed banks to give mortgages to poor people who couldn't pay them backand in so doing helped cause the financial crisis.

What both sides agree on is that Frank is one of the smartest members of Congress, whose sharp wit, tenacity, and ability to guide legislation through to enactment will leave a mark on the financial services industry long after he retires at the end of his current term.

As chairman of the House Financial Services Committee between 2007 and 2011, Frank played a key role in the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, better known as Dodd-Frank, and in helping to pass the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which most experts agree saved the financial system.

That may well be enough to secure his place in history, but his record is both far deeper and more complicated than that, covering other vital issues such as reform of Fannie and Freddie, the expansion of affordable housing and contributions to lesser known but still important banking bills.

While bankers have not always agreed with Frank's actions, they have seldom seen his equal on Capitol Hill.

"On a scale of 1 to 10, he's a 10," says Jamie Dimon, the chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. "In terms of knowledge, brains, understandinghe's way up there."

Frank's career is full of contradictions.

He's a liberal icon known for his fiery partisanshipbut has time and again proved able to work closely with bankers and with Republicans, including former Rep. Mike Oxley and former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, on highly contentious issues.

He worries a lot about poverty and pushes against economic disparities, yet he also is a defender of the free market.

And while he has had a successful career, he lacks one of the most distinguishing characteristics of politiciansan all-driving need to be loved by the public.

Frank has a razor-sharp tongue in public and private. He famously told a constituent in 2009, after she compared President Obama to Hitler, "Ma'am, trying to have a conversation with you would be like trying to argue with a dining-room table. I have no interest in doing it."

His quick wit and blunt approachand his willingness to say things other politicians won'thave been key to his success.

"I'm unconventional," he acknowledges. "I'm gay, I'm Jewish, my diction is imperfect, I have a slight lisp. I grew up in an area with a very pronounced regional speech pattern and moved to an area with another one so I have an amalgam of Northern New Jersey-Massachusetts."

But he happens to be, as he says, "good with words," which served him well on the campaign stump but perhaps even better in negotiations with his peers.

"The luckiest thing for me was I got into a line of work that plays to my strengths and not my weaknesses," he says.

"I'm not a great candidate. I'm a better inside politician than outside politician."

But his forthrightness and independence make it hard for some people who have worked closely with him to distinguish the difference.

"The guy you see on TV is the same guy," says Dimon. "He's direct, thoughtful, responsive. He's tough He means what he says and he says what he means. It's a great virtue because you know when he says something he actually believes it."

Paulson calls Frank "a pleasure to work with," citing his discipline but also his willingness to compromise. "He likes to get difficult things done," Paulson says. "He's very clear and straightforward. When you have a deal with him, he sticks to it. He keeps confidences."

One of Frank's closest collaborators in Congress was Oxley, who chaired the House Financial Services Committee from 2001 to 2007 while Frank was the ranking Democrat for the last four of those years.

Although Oxley had enough Republican votes to approve most pieces of legislation, he says he went out of his way to work with Frank, who responded by delivering Democratic votes on key financial services priorities.

The two cooperated on bills of critical importance to banks, including the extension of the Fair Credit Reporting Act, which blocked states from enacting laws that defined how banks could use, share and report data on a customer's financial information.

Oxley called their relationship, which was unusual then and would be virtually unheard of now, a "model" for Congress.

"He was always constructivehe never cheap-shotted me once," Oxley says. "His word was his bond. We had a lot of mutual respect."

Frank and the GSEs

It's easy to find prominent conservatives who blame Frank for the housing crisis. The Wall Street Journal lambasted him in a September 2008 editorial as "Fannie Mae's Patron Saint," laying out why the demise of the government-sponsored enterprises was his fault.

The argument goes like this: The Bush administration fought for years to rein in Fannie and Freddie, while Frank and his allies blocked such efforts and relentlessly pushed the GSEs to buy up subprime loans. He also, they say, championed policies that encouraged banks to lower underwriting standards and ignored signs of the impending housing crisis.

It's a view that has gained considerable traction, fanned by Fox News and other conservative media outlets. (On the taxi ride back to the airport after my interview with Frank at his office in Newton, Mass., the driver insists to me that the crisis occurred because "Barney twisted the arms of banks to make those loans.")

The problem with this narrative is that it ignores several important facts.

For one, Frank was in the Democratic minority in the House until 2007. Despite claims to the contrary by his critics, he was not in a position to delay or block GSE reform.

For another, Frank opposed a Bush administration effort to expand the GSEs' affordable housing goalsand it was this effort that effectively encouraged the companies to buy more Wall Street subprime mortgage-backed securities and count them as helping low- and moderate-income families.

Frank also tried several times, even while in the minority, to pass a bill that would have restricted subprime lendinghardly the actions of a man trying to "twist the arms" of bankers into making more such loans.

But perhaps the strongest proof that the conservative line on Frank is flawed is that the two Republicans who were arguably closest to the GSE fightOxley and Paulsondon't accept it.

In 2005, Frank worked with Oxley to pass a GSE reform bill and voted for it in committee before objecting to a final version that made changes to a proposed affordable housing fund. The bill passed the House anyway by a large margin.

Oxley saw Frank as a key ally during that time, and was stunned when the bill was killed by the Bush administration and Senate Republicans.

"Barney helped work to get a solid bipartisan majority," Oxley recalls. "We got stopped by [Fed Chairman Alan] Greenspan and the Bush administration."

Paulson didn't enter the fray until 2006, but he worked quickly with Frank to strike a deal on GSE reform in December of that yearone month before Frank formally took the reins of the House Financial Services committee. The GSE bill was the first legislation passed by the panel when Frank became chairman.

"During the later months of 2006 and 2007 and early 2008, when I was at Treasury, there were some Democrats that were pushing very hard for Fannie and Freddie to do more in the subprime area, to loosen their standards," Paulson says.

"Barney wasn't one of those."

Paulson again worked closely with Frank in 2008 to add provisions to the bill, including the authorization of emergency powers that Treasury would later use when the government seized the GSEs and put them into conservatorship.

"I found him to be very reasonable when we were having the discussion on legislation," Paulson says. "I didn't sense he was doing anything to carry water for Fannie and Freddie. He was thinking about what's best for the United States of America and he knew Fannie and Freddie needed to be reformed."

The Bank Bailout

Of course, the GSE reform package enacted in 2008 was just a prelude of what was to come.

Just months later, he would work closely with the Bush administration to pass the bill creating TARP.

Frank was one of the Democratic leaders who was instrumental in winning sufficient support within his party for what lawmakers knew would be a deeply disliked program.

"The hardest part," Frank says, "was selling it to the Democrats."

But in an unusual show of cooperation, a Republican administration worked with a Democratic House and Senate to pass one of the most unpopular pieces of legislation in modern history just two months ahead of a presidential election.

To Frank, this is proof that there is a willingness to reach across the aisle to solve problems, though he can't help but suggest that it may be one-sided. Democrats "believe in governance," he says, living up to the party allegiance he has maintained even while reaching across the aisle to get legislation passed.

"When I am partisan, I am very, very partisan," he notes.

"Partisanship is bad when people get so angry over the differences that do exist that they can't cooperate when they should. I think you should be both partisan and bipartisan at the same time and not let one poison the other."

In Paulson's book, "On the Brink," the former Treasury secretary describes getting bogged down by various constituencies as he tries to negotiate the bill that created TARP. "My team and I decided to approach Barney Frank, who understood how important it was for TARP to be approved," Paulson writes.

Frank proved to be an invaluable ally who helped break the log-jam. His quick wit also was an asset to Paulson.

"When I think back on some of the conversations, even today I start laughing," Paulson says now. He recalls the phone call he got from Frank on Sept. 29, 2008, after the first House vote on TARP failed and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slid more than 700 points for its steepest one-day drop ever. According to Paulson, Frank promised him Congress would act, explaining, "Hank, sometimes kids have to run away from home and get hungry before they come back."

"In my blackest hour, I didn't think it would be possible to make me laugh but he can always make me laugh," Paulson says. "It makes a big difference when you are in a crisis, when you are in a tough situation, to have someone who on the one hand is deadly serious but on the other hand, can keep a sense of humor."

While the legacy of TARP in the mind of the public is mixed, there is no doubt that it succeeded in stabilizing the market and almost certainly saved the economy from a worse fate. Frank's willingness and ability to work with Paulson and others was a key reason the bill ultimately succeeded.

Birth of a Liberal Icon

For all his cooperation with Paulson, Oxley and other Republicans, Frank is seldom seen as bipartisan by the rest of the world.

This is mostly due to his outspoken liberal views on social issues, including gay marriage. (Frank is the first member of Congress to marry a same-sex partner.)

Frank arrived at his political views at an early age. His earliest memories of politics involve Sen. Estes Kefauver's 1950 hearings investigating organized crime. "I didn't full understand it, but I was fascinated by it," says Frank, who was 10 years old at the time.

But it was the 1955 murder of Emmett Till, a 14-year old African American who was killed after allegedly flirting with a white woman, and the Joseph McCarthy hearings that really galvanized Frank.

"I was outraged by racism, outraged about the interference with free speech," he says. "I feel strongly about ending discrimination and people being free to express themselves."

By then, Frank also had realized something that would come to shape his political career.

"I realized I was gay when I was 13, I didn't tell anybody," Frank says. "This notion that it's a choiceat 13, realizing I was gay was just devastating. I carried on, I didn't dwell on it a lot, but it was not good news."

In college, he left his native New Jersey for Harvard and studied government, political science and economics. By then, he had added economic inequality to his list of priority issues.

He planned a career in academia, but after helping Kevin White win election as Boston's mayor, he suddenly found himself serving as the new mayor's chief of staff. In 1972, Frank himself was elected to office, winning a seat in the Massachusetts legislature despite the fact that he wasn't a native of the area. And then in 1980, the Pope forced Drinan to retire from Congress, creating an opening for Frank, who from the very beginning served on the House Banking Committee (later to be known as the House Financial Services Committee).

Dodd-Frank Act

Ask Frank about his top legislative accomplishments, and he will point to the creation of a low-income housing tax credit in the 1980s, along with the work he did on third-world debt relief and reforms to the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

But it is the bill that bears his name that ultimately will shape his legacy.

More than two years after its passage, the Dodd-Frank Act remains one of the most contentious financial services laws ever enacted.

Many conservatives dislike it, arguing it made things worse by essentially designating certain firms as too big to fail while creating a too powerful Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that will stifle innovation and restrict product choice.

Liberals also have attacked the law, arguing it should have gone further by breaking up the megabanks and otherwise taking more punitive actions against Wall Street firms.

Bankers of all stripes remain deeply skeptical of Dodd-Frank, with many seeing it as a morass of new restrictions and compliance burdens.

For all that, the law is a comprehensive attempt to tackle various problems at the root of the financial crisis.

Its ambition alone is breathtaking. In addition to creating the CFPB and establishing a wind-down process for systemically significant institutions that run into trouble in the future, Dodd-Frank forced derivatives to be cleared on exchanges, required lenders to retain credit risk for loans sold into the secondary market, and created a council of regulators tasked with detecting and heading off systemic risks.

Frank and other supporters shepherded the proposal through to enactment, overcoming industry objections, regulatory turf battles and the inevitable political posturing that a bill of this magnitude would invite. The resulting legislation is not perfect, but key parties to the economic recovery effort see it as a credible response to the crisis.

"Though it is a very large and complex bill, the main pieces fit together well," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke says in an interview. "In particular, it achieves the key objectives of strengthening oversight of large financial institutions, closing gaps that existed in the financial oversight, creating a financial stability council, finding ways to liquidate systemically important firms and generally strengthening the financial system against further shocks. All those things were components of the bill and Frank was engaged across the range of different topics there."

Of all the provisions in the bill, Frank is perhaps proudest of the risk-retention requirement, which will force lenders to keep at least 5 percent of the credit risk of loans they sell off. "That's the single biggest thing in the law," he says.

Other pieces of the bill have done more to rankle bankers, including the regulation of debit interchange fees and the Volcker rule's ban on proprietary trading.

But none of those provisions originated from Frank. Nor were they even included in the House version of the bill.

Rather, they resulted from a fractured Senate process that allowed individual senators to add amendments on the chamber floor.

Although many bankers dislike the reform bill, viewing it as overly punitive, Dimon says their ire is misplaced.

"I don't think [Frank] is hostile to banks at all," Dimon says. "I don't think that's the bill that he would have written if he had been left to his own devices. It's called Dodd-Frank, but there are a lot of things that are in there that other people put in there."

Frank offered to work with the GOP last year to revise the Durbin debit interchange amendment and he has asked regulators to reconsider their proposed implementation of the so-called Volcker rule, arguing it is too complicated.

Frank continues to attract criticism from within the financial services sector, of course, but many of the bankers and industry representatives who have engaged with him directly have found him willing to listen to their concerns.

"Barney was a great student of banking," says Dan Forte, president of the Massachusetts Bankers Association. "He listened, he learned. Barney had his reputation but once you got to know him, you realized he was a big supporter of the free market. He recognized that the banking industry needed to earn a profit to succeed."

Regulators, too, found him responsive and engaged when they raised problems.

"I always found him pretty middle of the road, actually," says former FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair, a Republican appointee. "People try to paint him as far leftI never saw that on banking issues at all."

Frank's stance on recent industry issues bears that out. While many lawmakers on the left have called for bank executives to be imprisoned, he has not. And while there is a growing push to break up the big megabanks, Frank hasn't joined it.

"I can't see any evidence that size alone was the problem," he says.

This fall, Frank even defended JPMorgan Chase after New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said he would sue the firm for activities conducted by Bear Stearns before it was acquired.

There was no particular reason Frank had to speak up; Dimon hadn't asked him to. Frank just didn't think it was fair for New York to go after JPMorgan when it had bought Bear Stearns at the specific request of the government. Frank also preemptively suggests it would be wrong to pursue Bank of America for its purchase of Merrill Lynch, for similar reasons.

"I just thought it was wrong," Frank says. "I wouldn't want to be the secretary of Treasury a year or two from now who calls up a big financial institution and says 'Look, we've got this problem, can you take over such and such.' You've just lost all ability to do that."

It's just that kind of practical attitude that has earned Frank the respect of many large bank CEOs, regulators and fellow lawmakers.

"I'm more of a free market economist than a lot of liberals," Frank says. "My view is that ideally I would like to make it possible for the free market to make a lot of money and I would take some of it and help poor people but also have some fair rules."

Frank will retire at yearend and intends to write a book on the history of the gay rights movement. He also is planning a book on how liberals can be more effective politically. Beyond that, he says, he will "take on no responsibilities."

"I plan to run my mouth for money, both orally and in writing," he says.

But he acknowledges that he will miss the opportunity to craft public policy.

"Barney has a strong belief in the institution of Congress," his former colleague Oxley says. "He was very committed to the institution. He wants to get things done. He doesn't just want to make speeches and make points. He wants to solve problems."
Raising capital has been tough for community banks ever since the financial crisis, especially the smallest ones.

But a few investment firms have developed structured products that offer community banks a chance to band together to raise needed Tier 1 capital at relatively low cost.

These products  called collateralized debt obligations  also avoid some of the issues that caused regulators to frown on such financing in the past.

StoneCastle Financial Corp. in New York completed one such deal in October, raising about $205 million for a group of 35 community and regional banks in 24 states. EJF Capital in Arlington, Va., did a similar deal around the same time on behalf of 23 banks, mostly in California and Texas.

Michel Iannaccone, a managing director at Finpro, says he expects to see more.

"From the bank side, there are very few sources of capital available," Iannaccone says. "And from the investor side, there is clearly interest  though how long it'll last will depend on how the economy and the market does."

Josh Siegel, StoneCastle's chairman and chief executive, also predicts more to come. His company is eager to do another deal just as soon as it can line up enough banks.

StoneCastle is targeting tiny, privately held banks that otherwise would not have access to the capital markets.

Its pioneering deal was used to fund 10-year subordinate loans to the banks. Though the loans count as Tier 2 capital, if a bank holding company uses the proceeds to purchase stock in its underlying depositary institution, the depository can treat the new capital as Tier 1 common equity, Siegel says.

Four large institutional investors snapped up the deal. "The hardest part is rounding up the banks to do an issue," Siegel says. "Selling it was the easy part."

The investors did not include any banks, which StoneCastle barred from participating as buyers to avoid any concern from regulators.

Otherwise, Siegel says, regulators might see too much of a resemblance to a common pre-crisis source of funding that wreaked havoc.

Back then, community banks were able to issue trust-preferred securities, a longer-term, debt-equity hybrid that counted as Tier 1 capital, and there was a ready market to buy the bonds backed by this debt. But many trust-preferred CDOs ended up being bought by banks themselves, which only compounded their problems during the financial crisis. Trust-preferreds no longer count as Tier 1 capital and, under the Dodd-Frank Act, can no longer be securitized, so that market has evaporated.

Though issuing common or preferred stock is an option for community banks, it's not so easy or attractive these days, Siegel says.

"This issue we just did ends up costing the banks about 4.5% after costs and, if you compare that to other options, it's 'Wow!' Remember, the average community bank has a return on equity of 9%, so to finance your capital at half that rate is really attractive," he says.
We may be in the early stages of a seismic shift in the macroeconomics of banking. Consumer lending is back on the rise, while the commercial sector is getting less attractive.

Banks have spent the years since the financial crisis whittling down their consumer loan offerings, exiting categories from student loans to small-dollar personal loans, and even in some cases ceasing to offer new mortgages. Nearly every bank drastically tightened its underwriting, cutting off consumers deemed to be credit risks.

The retreat can be attributed to weak demand, credit concerns and regulatory pressures, but it also reflected a broad economic trend: U.S. households, under pressure from unemployment and stagnant wages, were deleveraging, trying to pay down the excessive borrowing of the pre-crisis years.

Even as households struggled, the post-crisis era was a boom time for U.S. businesses, which enjoyed record corporate profits and surging stock prices. Banks responded by shifting their focus to commercial credit and fighting hard for prime commercial-and-industrial and commercial real estate loans.

But some say the pendulum is swinging back, and it may be time to retire the notion, driven home from painful experience during the crisis, that consumer lending is best avoided. With the U.S. consumer borrowing again, loan categories banks have fled are poised to grow.

"The pivot toward consumer lending is happening," says Jason Ware, the chief investment officer at Albion Financial Group, an asset-management firm that invests in banks. "Banks are starting to look at it as more ripe for opportunity than in the few years after the financial crisis."

This changing attitude toward consumer loans is more apparent following a bad year for the corporate world. Profits in the third quarter, which nobody expected to be great, were even worse than forecast, forcing analysts to lower their projections.

Weak commercial revenue hasn't led to heavy loan losses so far, but regulators have begun ringing alarms about possible bubbles in C&I and commercial real estate, two categories that have been the cornerstones of banks' post-crisis strategies. The delinquency rate for C&I loans is still extraordinarily good by historical standards, but recently started moving in the wrong direction. After hitting a historical low at the end of 2014, it rose for two straight quarters, to 0.81%, according to the most recent data available.

That's by no means dire for C&I loans, but the market is slower, if still firm, says Ware. "We see a pretty firm commercial loan market, but with pockets of weakness, like oil and gas."

Meanwhile, U.S. consumers have enjoyed better-than-expected job and wage growth this year, and consumer confidence and unemployment have improved to levels not seen in a decade. There are also signs that the long deleveraging of American consumers appears to have finally run its course, with credit cards and other revolving loans starting to tick up after about five years of stagnation.

And consumer credit is better than ever before, even as Americans households have started levering up. The charge-off rate for consumer loans held by banks improved to 1.96% in the second quarter, the lowest level since the Federal Reserve began tracking it in 1987.

The question for banks looking to re-commit to consumer lending is how. Mortgage demand is still weak, and there are regulatory barriers to making small-dollar personal loans. It's a particular conundrum for small banks, which can't easily compete with the likes of JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup in basic offerings like credit card loans.

"Consumer is a hard niche, and you've got to find the right distribution channel if you're not a legacy provider," says Marty Mosby, an analyst at Vining Sparks.

One strategy is simply to expand the credit range downward to get higher-yielding consumer loans on the books.

Santander Consumer in Dallas and SunTrust in Atlanta are among those embracing this strategy. Santander recently began keeping more subprime auto loans on its books, and SunTrust is ramping up consumer lending through its LightStream unit, which is willing to finance just about any type of purchase, including new cars, hot tubs and jewelry.

The online-lending unit bases its underwriting decisions on automatically generated credit bureau data. This helps alleviate a thorny issue: the time and expense of underwriting small consumer loans.

"The loan file is presented very efficiently," says Randy Ellspermann, LightStream's chief financial officer. "They can make very fast decisions on the information they're provided."

Another tactic is to find niches that other banks shun or ignore. That's the strategy of Citizens Financial in Providence, R.I., which is looking to boost profitability after splitting from its former parent company, Royal Bank of Scotland. In the past year Citizens has started refinancing student loans, a niche in which it competes with just a few nonbank lenders.

Citizens is also pushing into unsecured consumer lending, and recently inked a partnership with Apple to finance iPhone upgrades.

Another promising field is online consumer lending, which has already drawn attention from Wall Street heavyweights Goldman Sachs and the Blackstone Group.

Both are preparing to start making personal loans online. For smaller banks, teaming up with marketplace lenders like Lending Club has become a popular alternative, allowing them to offer customers another product while letting the platform handle pricing and underwriting.

Banks can approach it many different ways, but the shift from commercial to consumer is gaining momentum. After years of shunning small-dollar consumer loans while piling into corporate credits, banks could find the growth potential is greater in financing washer-dryers sets rather than oil rigs.
Guess what year the following words were published: "Today, banks are under siege.  A new technology for lending  threatens the industry's very franchise."

If you guessed 2015, that's certainly reasonable, but also off by a millennial lifetime. Those words come from a 1988 book called "Breaking Up the Bank," in which Lowell L. Bryan, then a McKinsey consultant, argued that the industry should "unbundle, or break apart, the bank into its component functions," with each line of business legally separated from and unsubsidized by the others. (The technology he deemed threatening was securitization, then in its infancy.)

Today, banks are again said to be under siege and threatened by new lending technology (this time from online platforms). Many bankers are worried they'll be "unbundled" in a different way than Bryan envisioned  by startups picking off the most profitable, customer-facing parts of their business.

But history suggests that unbundling is a periodic, temporary phenomenon and that the disadvantages of a monoline business ultimately will lead to rebundling, whether it's banks acquiring nonbanks or nonbanks converting to banks. Just as biologists believe that diverse groups of crustaceans independently evolved into crablike form (a process known as carcinisation), it may be that nature wants to evolve a bank.

There are at least two arguments for rebundling as an eternal recurrence. The first is that during rough times, it's difficult for a lending business to survive without the stable funding sources available to banks, such as retail deposits guaranteed by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and backstops like the Federal Reserve's discount window. The second is that surviving lenders have their own incentives to diversify and become more banklike.

"At the beginning of any credit or economic cycle, funding is available, losses are low, and you see the formation of new companies designed to hive off some part of banks' lending business," says Todd Baker, the managing principal at Broadmoor Consulting and a former banking executive and lawyer.

Since 1981, he's watched monoline credit card issuers, subprime auto lenders, mortgage bankers and storefront installment lenders come and go.

The nonbank model worked fine until "credit caught up with you significantly," Baker says. Then, "all of a sudden you had large losses," and liquidity would dry up. But, "ideally you sold out well before that."

A rare exception to the typical scenario is Capital One, a former monoline card lender spun off from Signet Bank 20 years ago. After the 1997 Asian and 1998 Russian debt crises, Capital One realized funding could be a major weakness and remade itself into a retail bank. The transformative 2005 purchase of Hibernia angered Capital One shareholders at the time, since nonbank lending during good times is a higher-return business, says Baker. But the move would prove prescient several years later.

"Not one of the major finance companies made it through the 2007 and 2008 crisis," Baker says. MBNA and Household were sold to banks beforehand. Countrywide had to be rescued by Bank of America during the downturn. CIT Group, American Express, GE Capital and Ally Financial (which is the former GMAC) submitted to bank holding company regulation to gain access to bank liquidity. Countless mortgage shops simply failed.

Baker expects a similar fate for marketplace lenders and other online platforms that have garnered so much buzz and investment capital in the last two years. The institutional sources of money they rely on to finance their loans will flee when loan performance worsens or regulators crack down, he predicts. Even those companies that don't hold loans on the balance sheet will be unable to originate and sell loans at gains fat enough to cover their fixed costs, he contends. The lucky ones will be acquired by banks, which will benefit from their innovative, millennial-standard technology.

One thing might be different this time: The more unusual a marketplace lender's niche, the harder it will be to find a bank buyer and to get risk-averse regulators to approve a deal. "Finance companies were bought by banks because regulators were willing to let them do that," Baker says. "They were willing to let HSBC own Household. Would they do that today? My concern is this will not be an easy task."

Marketplace lenders beg to differ on their long-term prospects, of course. Mike Cagney, chief executive of Social Finance, argues that its platforms provide real-time feedback on loan buyer demand, allowing them to adjust rates rather than get caught holding underwater loans like the finance companies of the past. Yet even Cagney foresees companies like his becoming more banklike, albeit under happier circumstances.

SoFi, which offers student, mortgage and personal loans for affluent millennials, is looking at adding a deposit product, which could be FDIC-insured or may have private insurance. The goal is not to provide a source of funding for SoFi's loans, which would continue to be financed on its market platform, but rather to meet its customers' every financial need.

"I do think you're going to see folks like us and others go after that side of the balance sheet, some for funding, but others to offer a comprehensive solution set so you never have to think about going to Wells Fargo," Cagney says.

A startup can offer the same products and services as a bank, but is not hamstrung by disparate legacy systems that don't talk to each other, leading to absurd situations like depositors having to reenter all their information when they apply for a mortgage from the same bank, he says.

Similarly, Jared Hecht, CEO of the online small-business loan platform Fundera, who gave a talk on unbundling last year at (where else?) the South by Southwest technology conference, nevertheless sees a business imperative for rebundling.

Lending products are "inherently not sticky," Hecht says. "It's difficult to instill a sense of loyalty in the customer." Hence startups are "beginning to think more holistically" about how to serve customers. "You don't just want to be a loan, a blip of a transaction over the course of someone's life."

David Brear, who holds the enviable title of chief thinker at Think Different Group, a consulting firm in London, wonders if marketplace lenders, known for their fast turnaround, can maintain the same quality of service as they branch out into other areas.

"Banks didn't start in the way they are today, incredibly complex with 500 different products," Brear says. "They started by doing something well, then moved on to the next thing. I like to joke that the grass was well cut, but then when they were looking at other things, it got overgrown."

In 10 to 15 years, hot U.K. startups like the short-term lender Wonga, the online investment management service Nutmeg and the mobile-first Starling Bank might face the same challenges banks do today, Brear says. "Would I start a bank from scratch like HSBC today? It's unlikely," he says. "But I can see why they evolved the way they have."

So can Bryan, who retired from McKinsey in 2012. He says the cycle of unbundling and rebundling is driven by regulation at least as much as by market forces. Nonbanks prosper in areas where banks cannot compete, often because regulations prevent the banks from doing so.

"Regulation is one of those facts you have to deal with, just like in nature you have to deal with the fact that there's a mountain range there or a desert," says Bryan, who now runs his own advisory firm and serves on corporate boards. And when regulations change, businesses must adapt to the new environment to survive.

Given the "overregulated" state of banking today, "I'd expect we're going to see an awful lot of innovation and new business models created outside the big banks, until they get big enough to create problems and regulation changes," Bryan says. "Then they'll be acquired by the big banks."

So a word of caution to would-be disruptors: Banks as we know them today may not be pretty, but then neither are crabs.
Its the ethanol, Sherlock.

Ted Cruz thinks he's going to win Iowa, and will compete for the nomination with whichever of the establishment candidates wins New Hampshire. But he's selling himself short. He should also win New Hampshire, allowing him to wrap up the nomination on March 1st.

For if he wins Iowa, he will have defeated the ethanol lobby. And beating Big Corn on its home turf is what can propel him to a win in New Hampshire.

People in New Hampshire hate ethanol. Ethanol is corrosive, it destroys engines. If ethanol-laced gasoline is more than a couple months old, it can't be used in high performance small engines. It is hydroscopic, attracting water, another problem with performance.

A lot of guys have a personal problem with ethanol. Go to any tavern in New Hampshire and you'll hear an earful. There's nothing worse than getting all rigged out with your chain saw, ready to rip, and your saw won't start. Your ports and jets have been clogged by residue released by the ethanol in your fuel, a solvent. So you haul your saw down to the mechanic, cursing ethanol the whole way.

Ethanol is despised and resented. In 2014 the New Hampshire House overwhelmingly passed HB 1220, which would have reduced the ethanol in New Hampshire gasoline. It was a futile gesture, but a sign of the anger people feel toward this junk.

Ethanol is different than almost any other government boondoggle, in that everyday Americans have to put up with it on a daily basis. Some government handouts, such as those to Rubio's favorite, Big Sugar, are easy to ignore. You pay an extra nickel when you buy a bag of sugar -- big deal. But a whole lot of people, working class people, actually hate ethanol, in ways that coastal elites don't understand.

And it is especially resented by New Hampshirites because it is a symbol of Iowan perfidy. New Hampshire voters have never asked for special treatment from the presidential candidates who compete there. There's no maple syrup support program. But as soon as Iowa butted in on New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation primary in 1976, the political elites of Iowa came up with the ethanol boondoggle, and demanded that presidential candidates support it.

This doesn't sit well in New Hampshire.

Because it's more, of course, than just ethanol. It's craven politicians seeking the White House, in the first state they compete in, whoring for the votes of a special interest that the rest of the country is forced to put up with. It's corporate welfare in general. It's the poster child of the Washington cabal, which is so intensely despised. It's what's wrong with the Republican Party, and the country.

New Hampshire is famously skeptical of candidates fresh off a win in Iowa, with Huckabee and Santorum the most recent examples. (Part of the explanation for McCain's New Hampshire win in 2008 was his refusal to even compete in Iowa. He opposed ethanol, and figured that doomed him there. His bet paid off in New Hampshire.) Some portion of this skepticism can be traced to ethanol. Unlike the thrifty Yankees of New Hampshire, Iowans have cleverly used their primacy in the nomination process to secure a special benefit to themselves: ethanol. To a lot of New Hampshire voters, ethanol is a tangible symbol of everything that's wrong with the Iowa caucuses.

But if Cruz wins those caucuses it's different story. He will not have been cowed by the ethanol lobby. He will have defied Big Corn and its entrenched political machine. Rewarding him for an Iowa win would be entirely different than giving a leg up to Huckabee or Santorum, who only won Iowa by catering to crony capitalism, Hawkeye style.

Cruz, on the other hand, can rightfully proclaim himself as the one candidate in the last 40 years who has gone into Iowa and stood down one of the most notorious special interest ripoffs in American politics.

And, of course, it's even bigger than all that. It's who do you trust to actually do the right thing in Washington? Donald Trump has gone so far as to pimp himself to Iowa audiences as their man on ethanol. This is one he may have to pay for. It reveals him as a shallow opportunist, for all to see.

If Cruz does win Iowa it will have been accomplished in the teeth of furious opposition from the ethanol lobby. No Republican has ever won there without kowtowing to Big Corn. Of the twelve Republicans still standing, only two -- Cruz and Paul -- have had the courage to denounce ethanol as the ridiculous boondoggle that it is. All the other candidates earned a "good" rating. As a consequence, Cruz, as the frontrunner, will soon face a barrage of negative ads from America's Renewable Future and other ethanol apologists.

For Big Corn, Cruz is an existential threat, who must be stopped at all costs. If a candidate can oppose them, and still win the Iowa caucuses, the political coalition supporting ethanol collapses. If Cruz were actually elected the end of this fiasco would be near.

Rock chalk, Jay hawk. Then live free or die.

Fritz Pettyjohn was Chairman of Reagan for President, Alaska, in 1979-1980, is a Co-founder of the Balanced Budget Amendment Task Force, and blogs daily at ReaganProject.com
Orwell grasped the vital need for real history and he saw how those who lust for power will murder history as their first victim. Winston Smith, the protagonist in 1984, works in the Ministry of Truth and systematically destroys history so that no clues of its death can even be found. The virtual elimination of any parts of authentic history that might conflict with the prevailing and politically correct history warps our thinking, usually without us even being aware of our ignorance.

As one example, Turner Classic Movies on January 4, 2016 has a night of films about the Spanish Civil War. Virtually all the films are propaganda for the Popular Front; they portray the Nationalist side as illegitimate, brutal, and corrupt. Try to find a film that presents the Spanish Civil War in any other way.

History books, especially textbooks, are monolithic in describing that civil war. Any facts, any scraps of history that might make the case for the Nationalist side or might condemn the Popular Front have been relegated to the Memory Hole in the Ministry of Truth. Almost no one, if asked today, could even propose any arguments in support of Franco in that war, because most of us go our entire adult lives without ever having heard anything but the propaganda of one side in that war.

Yet the true history of that civil war, as reason might suggest in any civil war, presents a complex and morally ambiguous event. The Nationalists, for example, are routinely accused of overthrowing the legitimate "Republican" government of Spain, but the first free election in Spain with universal suffrage in November 1933 was a decisive defeat for the Popular Front.

That electoral defeat led to the February 1936 elections, the last elections before the civil war. The Nationalist side won the votes of 4.9 million Spaniards in the Cortes, while only 4.3 million cast votes for the Popular Front. Extreme gerrymandering gave the Popular Front a plurality, not a majority, of the actual seats in the Cortes. The Popular Front used its plurality to re-certify the election results (often before the election results had even been announced) to give the Popular Front eighty more seats, and a majority in the Cortes, that it had not won in the election.

As another example, the April 1937 attack on Guernica, made famous by Picasso's painting, is an icon of Nationalist malice, but there may well have not have been a massacre at all. Dorothy Thompson, perhaps the most important journalist in the world at the time and an honest opponent of the Nationalists, first reported Guernica as a massacre, but by June 2, 1937, she was cautioning in the New York Herald Tribune that much had been invented or exaggerated and that "[e]ven the question of the bombing or Guernica is not established to anything approaching general satisfaction."

Moreover, Spanish towns in Nationalist hands that were destroyed by the Popular Front field artillery or naval guns, and atrocities committed against women and children by the Popular Front, were accepted by almost everyone covering the Spanish Civil War, with some estimates of innocent Spaniards killed by the Popular Front as high as 500,000, or about six percent of the population of Spain.

The imaginary history of the Spanish Civil War routinely describes the Nationalists as "Fascist," though almost no Spaniards called themselves "Fascists" at all, which writers noted at the time. When the Second World War began, Franco allowed the French to inspect France's border with Spain, where there were no Spanish troops, so that France could concentrate on stopping Hitler. After France fell, Franco stayed out of the conflict when joining Hitler would have cost the British Gibraltar and the war. During the war, Franco intervened to save at least 40,000 European Jews from the Holocaust, according to three different books on the subject by Jewish scholars.

Franco's authoritarian, rather than totalitarian, rule accounted for the painless transition of Spain into a healthy democracy after his death. Spain was not free then, like Italy, but it was much freer than Poland. Franco, the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War, and his reign after the war were composites of good and bad.

All history, though, has been purged of any details that conflict with politically correct opinions. This means that the cadres of the left who seem so unhinged from reality can dwell in their universe of utter fantasy, because this contrived pseudo-history guides their hearts and minds.

Murdered history matters.
The current conventional wisdom is that Hillary Clinton would make mincemeat out of Donald Trump in a head-to-head matchup in the general election. Jeb Bush thinks Clinton would "crush" Trump  an observation not reflecting current polling, which has Clinton holding a narrow lead over The Donald.

But with polls all over the map and Trump continuing to confound the experts by leading the GOP field by a mile, some Democratic Party strategists are becoming increasingly worried that Trump's bombastic, insulting style of campaigning would make Hillary Clinton an easy target in the general election.

Washington Times:

I hear a lot of people saying, You know, Ive watched the Democratic debates and the Republican debates, and theyre so different. Im sure glad Im on the Democratic side and theyre talking about the issues. They dont always agree with one another, but they explain why, said David Allen, a Democratic Party leader in Barnstead, New Hampshire. Democrats have resolved themselves to not go into a circus and tear one another down. But Mr. Allen said he does worry about how the eventual Democratic nominee will stand up to the sort of withering barbs Mr. Trump has dished out to his own side. Were going to start to have to look at how the [Democratic] candidates play against Donald Trump, because hes certainly holding onto his lead in the Republican Party, and he has certainly played the Republican candidates in a way that has hurt some of his opposition, and I think people are going to start asking, All right, whos going to stand up under his type of campaigning? Mr. Allen said. If Bernie [Sanders] is the candidate, Trump will play up how un-American socialism is, and if Hillarygets it, he will dig up everything in the past 40 years and use it  and wont mince words in using it. Other activists say theres a sense that, while its Mrs. Clintons turn to run, theres no swell of on-the-ground enthusiasm for her to carry thepartys banner into the general election. I dont think the [Democratic primary] race has generated all that much intensity, said Ron Romine, chairman of the Spartanburg, South Carolina, Democrats, who is neutral in the race. I dont feel like anywhere in the state theres all that much passion. The usual suspects will go out and vote, but theres not an intensity that you might think there should be with the first woman. Hillary is so familiar, shes been around forever. She has her supporters, and theyre going to go out and vote for her, so theres not a whole lot to parse out, he said. You either like her or youre not enthusiastic. Mr. Trump already has started taking aim at Mrs. Clinton, just as some activists had feared.

Indeed, both candidates are vulnerable to attack, given the fact that they've both been in the public eye for decades. But the problem for Hillary is that Trump is likely to attract a significant number of Democratic voters  far more than Hillary would be likely to snare Republican voters. That and the decided lack of enthusiasm for her candidacy in voting blocs where Clinton needs maximum turnout spells big trouble.

No one is going to run away and hide in this race. It's going to be a close one, and "conventional wisdom" notwithstanding, Trump will be able to compete with Clinton in almost every state.
-Satire-

Now that "transphobia" has joined the list of politically correct aggressions and bigotries, we thought the time was ripe to demand an end to the worst form of intolerance and disrespect towards a minority group.

There are still oppressed minorities in America in need of recognition and sympathy, including other groups stigmatized by bigots as practicing abnormal sexual habits. The time has come to recognize these other non-traditional families and relationships. We publish their plea for tolerance here:

We represent the members of the last sexually repressed sexual minority in America, the necrophiliacs. We are mad, and we are tired of being victimized and discriminated against. Necrophilia activist groups have been sprouting up all over and signal the emergence of the last great oppressed sexual minority from the closet. And the time has come for the marriage reform movement to welcome us into your hearts and scout troops.

"Why should we not be free to marry whom we choose?" asks our spokesperson, Roger Mortis, who heads a necrophilia encounter group in Tombstone, Arizona. "Remember, there was a sorry time in America when cross-racial marriage was illegal. After all, whom are we hurting? And besides, who says people have to live in old-fashioned Ozzie and Harriet traditional family structures, with their rigid role models? Who says a person's lover must be alive?"

We necrophiliacs are demanding that our freedom to choose our own partners be recognized in law. In particular, we object to that part of the marriage vow that states, Until death do us part. What kind of bigotry is that?

Our leading militant activist group, PROP UP, has been lobbying for necrophiliac marriage to be recognized in all states. In particular, we necrophiliacs demand to have our rights recognized in all that is involved in pensions, insurance, and employee benefits. "How come Social Security only grants benefits to insure survivors? What kind of arbitrary discrimination is that?" asks Mortis. "And you should have seen the problems I had when I tried to take my partner with me on a plane to Club Med. I was told I had to leave behind my girlfriend Christine  I actually call her Corpus Christie  and so I told the snooty ticket agent, 'Over my dead body.'"

We necrophiliacs claim we are victims of long-time prejudice and misinformation. We are often called nasty names and regarded as mentally unstable. But who is to say what is normal? The fight against necrophobia has been adopted by all politically correct movements and progressive individuals.

Since necrophilia activism has emerged on the American scene, many of us are coming out of the closet, or  as we prefer  out of the morgue. Including some Hollywood celebrities.

Meanwhile, necrophilia activists have been approaching various religious communities with the request that their rights be recognized. Already radical Unitarians agree to officiate at necrophiliac marriage ceremonies. We hope that the Episcopalians will debate later this month whether necrophiliacs, or those romantically involved with the Life-Challenged  as many prefer to be known  can serve as church ministers. We also expect the PC branch of the Reform Synagogue movement to join in and to officiate at marriage ceremonies for the unliving, as well as some more radical Jewish groups. When asked how such a position could be advocated in light of traditional Jewish opposition to such abominations, Rabbi Michael Moonbeam, author of the scholarly Tikkun Guide to Great LSD Trips in the Bible (it explains the real meaning of that biblical story about how Moses dropped two tablets), has observed, "Since when does being a good Rabbi have anything to do with Judaism?"

Meanwhile, assorted services and institutions are cropping up to serve this long-neglected community. Some lawyers are now offering a package deal in which they do probate for clients and get a marriage license at the same time. Assorted Las Vegas chapels have cropped up to perform necrophiliac weddings. At one we visited, background Muzak for the guests played the old Beach Boys hit, "The Monster Mash": "It was the mash, it was the monster mash, it was the mash, it was a graveyard smash." Another chapel specialized in conducting the ceremony in a hearse, with theme song taken from the old Mister Ed show: "A hearse is a hearse, of corpse of corpse, and you can get hitched in a hearse, of corpse."

Other cultural impacts of necrophiliacs are being felt, along with a revival of 1960s rock-and-roll music, specially adopted for those with romantic ties to the Non-Living. "Each night I ask the stars up above, why must I be a cadaver in love," or "Yummy yummy yummy I'm in love with a mummy," and an entirely new meaning for the song "Roll over Beethoven and give Tchaikovsky the news."

Necrophiliacs have become welcome guests on all the popular TV chat shows. We have also taken on the medical and psychological communities. "Who are they to prejudge us?" says Mortis indignantly. Necrophiliac activists have adopted a different use of the term "straight" and use it to describe those who have relations with the living. So for a necrophiliac, a regular homosexual is called "straight gay" and a heterosexual is "straight straight." We have also been lobbying the medical research community to change its priorities. "After all," says Mortis, "they are spending hundreds of billions on finding a cure for AIDS, but hardly a dime for finding a cure for rigor mortis." The most outrageous insult to our pride was from Hillary Clinton and the reps at the International Women's Conference in Beijing a few years back, where they proclaimed the official existence of five genders. Necrophiliacs claim they are the sixth gender, and they are tired of being overlooked.

"For now," insists Mortis, "I will just live a quiet life with my partner, and in order to keep a bit of her presence with me wherever I go, I intend to keep a stiff upper lip."

We therefore demand that the State of Massachusetts end its intolerable bias and bigotry and recognize necro-marriages at once.

Thank you.

Posted on behalf of the Organization GHOULS, Generosity and Heartfelt Openmindedness for Un-Living Sex.
The Illinois House will soon consider a bill that would allow the recall of mayors and other office holders in the state. Currently, only the governor is subject to recall.

The measure is in response to calls from protesters in the city of Chicago for Mayor Rahm Emanuel to step down for his role in the botched investigation of the death of Laquan McDonald, who was shot by a Chicago policeman in October 2014.

A poll released a few weeks ago shows Emanuel's approval at an anemic 18%.

ABC News:

Ford introduced his bill on Dec. 9, the day Emanuel addressed the Chicago City Council and apologized for the death of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager who was shot 16 times by a white police officer in October 2014. Emanuel's apology came a couple of weeks after the release of police dashcam video that appeared to show McDonald walking away from officers when he was shot. The video triggered protests and calls for Emanuel's resignation. Emanuel has said he won't step down. "We understand there's a desire by some to insert politics into this discussion, but the mayor's focus is not on his own personal politics," Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins said in a statement. "His focus is on taking the action necessary to finally and fully address an issue that has challenged Chicago for decades, and reform the system and culture of policing in Chicago." Under Ford's proposal, two city aldermen would have to sign an affidavit agreeing with a recall petition and organizers must collect more than 88,000 signatures from registered voters in the city. At least 50 signatures must come from each of 50 wards. The proposal would pre-empt local law, so it needs approval from two-thirds of each chamber of the Illinois Legislature to pass during the session that starts this month. The bill would be effective immediately if signed into law, a scenario that can pose legal questions because it would target someone currently in office, said David Melton, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

Nineteen states have recall provisions of one kind or antother. The most recent recall of a governor occurred in Wisconsin in 2012, when Scott Walker became the first governor to survive a recall effort.

But recall efforts of any kind are expensive and time-consuming. And then there's the practical problem of getting at least 50 signatures from all 50 wards in the city. Some of those south side wards gave Emanuel near 100% of the vote. Would organizers of a recall effort be able to find 50 voters in those wards willing to sign a petition to dump Rahm?

With the difficulty in passing a recall bill in the legislature, Emanuel will likely serve out the remainder of his four-year term. But that scenario assumes there will be no more bombshells in the McDonald matter. Another blow to Emanuel's credibility could convince him that it would be better for all concerned if someone else sat in the mayor's chair.
Congressional supporters of the Iran nuclear deal are livid with the Obama administration for delaying sanctions on Iran for their repeated missile tests. High-ranking Democrats have chastised the administration for giving in to Iran's threats to walk away from the nuclear deal if any sanctions are imposed.

Washington Free Beacon:

Rep. Steny Hoyer (D., Md.), a leading supporter of the Iran deal, blasted the move, expressing disappointment with the administrations efforts to appease Iran.

I am disappointed that the Administration has delayed punitive action in response to Irans recent ballistic missile tests, Hoyer said in a statement. We are always in a sensitive moment in our dealings with Iran, and there is never a perfect time to undertake such actions. But Iran must know with certainty that violating U.N. Security Council resolutions, both inside and outside the scope of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), will be met with serious consequences.

Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.), another leading deal supporter who initially praised the new sanctions, also expressed dismay at the administrations move to delay the effort.

I believe in the power of vigorous enforcement that pushes back on Irans bad behavior, Coonstold the Wall Street Journal. If we dont do that, we invite Iran to cheat.

When asked to address the issue on Sunday, a senior Obama administration official told the Free Beacon that there are still remaining issues that need to be addressed before new sanctions are announced.

As weve said, weve been looking for some time at options for additional actions related to Irans ballistic missile program based on our continued concerns about its activities, including the October 10th launch, the senior official explained, reiterating the White Houses commitment to sanctions.

We are considering various aspects related to additional designations, as well as evolving diplomatic work that is consistent with our national security interests, the official said. As always, we keep Congress informed about issues related to Iran sanctions, and will continue to do so as we work through remaining issues.

A State Department spokesman echoed this stance, telling the Free Beacon that it continues to explore ways to increase sanctions on Irans ballistic missile program.

Sanctions expert Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, told the Free Beacon that the administration might reconsider new sanctions once it strikes a side deal with Iran.

I would expect that the administration will return to these sanctions after cutting some kind of side deal with the Iranians offering even more unilateral concessions, Dubowitz said.
Its always a joy to read heartwarming dog stories. They help to rebalance, even if just for a few moments, the madness swirling around us in this world. And so Id like to share two such stories that popped up in the media recently.

Derby is a gorgeous 2-year-old Husky who was born with a genetic defect whereby his front legs are not fully formed. He was taken in by a rescue organization and fostered by a woman who used a cart with front wheels to help him get around. But it was cumbersome and didnt allow him to move freely. Fortunately for Derby, his foster mom was the director of a 3-D printer company, and she set to work collaborating with a team of experts to develop a prosthetic device for him.

The results will make you smile!

Here is a video from the end of 2014 that gives a bit of the backstory.

And here is a video from just a week or two ago that shows the results of the progression of prosthetic devices used to fit Derby.

That dog can go! (Though I wonder if the taller prosthetic makes it harder for him to run compared to the lower design.)

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, Django, a beautiful ginger-colored dog, found himself separated from his owner when a jihadist opened fire at a pub in Tel Aviv.

The Jerusalem Post reports:

In one of the most heartwarming accounts to emerge in the wake of Friday's tragic shooting attack at a bar in central Tel Aviv, was the unlikely ordeal encountered by a young Israeli man named Ido Lazan and his beloved dog, Django. (snip) Lazans canine companion, who was also present at the bar when the shooting occurred, bolted from the scene amid the loud shots and ensuing commotion. All the while Lazan was evacuated to a hospital for medical treatment, he never stopped worrying about his dog. He decide [sic] to take action however, and requested that his brother, Tzachi, take charge in searching for the missing golden-furred dog.

Lazans brother, Tzachi, posted a picture of Django on Facebook along with the following message: My brother was wounded in the incident in Tel Aviv. He was released from the operating room and is being well-cared for, he is in stable condition and we are optimistic. What we are lacking at the moment is help in finding his dog, Django, who was with him at the scene. I would appreciated your help in sharing this post and contact me accordingly. For anyone in the Dizengoff area, please look out [for him].



A few hours later, Django was found, shaken and wet, sitting in the stairwell of an apartment building near the scene of the attack. He has since been reunited with the owners family, who posted a note of thanks along with an update on Lazans condition (out of surgery, transferred to the ICU, and stable).

Maybe a way to start the week with a little warmth in the heart.

Hat tips: Yahoo News, The Blaze
The North American beaver is the lumberjack of the rodent world. With nothing but its four front teeth, the beaver can cut down a small tree in a matter of minutes. Using its sharp incisors, the beaver will slice through the wood, stripping away the bark first and they gnawing at the softer inside. It works its way around the tree trunk winding it down until the tree is ready to fall.

The Rainier Tower in the Metropolitan Tract of Seattle, Washington, at 1301 Fifth Avenue, could have been designed by the North American beaver. The 31-story skyscraper is raised up on a 11-story concrete pedestal that tapers towards ground level, as if a beaver had chewed it at its base. The locals love to call it the beaver building.

The Rainer Tower (left) looks like it has been chewed at its base by a beaver (right).

The Rainier Tower was designed not by a beaver but by Japanese-American Minoru Yamasaki, who is famous for designing the now destroyed World Trade Center in New York City as well as the IBM Building.

Rainier Tower's narrow profile at ground level makes room for Rainier Square, an underground shopping mall connecting with One Union Square, and includes stores and landscaped areas. The unique design makes it possible to cram more than half a million square feet of office space, while taking up only a quarter of the block. Before construction started, engineers tested the design for strength and stability to make sure it would stay standing through earthquakes and high winds. The odd design also eases the "canyon effect" that funnels and accelerates wind along streets bordered by tall buildings.

Construction of the Rainier Tower completed in 1977. The building and the plaza are named after Rainier Bank, its original tenant. Rainier Bank later merged into Security Pacific in the 1980s, and eventually into BankAmerica. In 1989, the name of the tower was changed after Security Pacific until UW chose to rename it back to the more familiar "Rainier Tower" in 1995.

For a brief period in 2007-2008, Rainier Towers owner launched a campaign called Movies on the Pedestal where the building's pedestal was used as a 50-feet projection screen. Flicks such as Casino Royale, Batman Begins, The Bourne Ultimatum and Almost Famous were screened.

Photo credit: SounderBruce/Flickr

Photo credit: Lawrence/Flickr

Photo credit: Ronald Woan/Flickr

Photo credit: Penn State University/Flickr

Photo credit: Decaseconds/Flickr

Photo credit: Ronald Woan/Flickr

Photo credit: thefunambulist.net

"Casino Royale" is projected onto the base of the Rainier Tower for Movies on the Pestestal night. Photo credit: Grant M. Haller/Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Sources: Wikipedia / whatsthatinwa.blogspot.in / Unico Prop
In the last few days of the year leading up to the midnight of December 31, two Dutch teams from the neighboring districts of Scheveningen (in Noorderstrand) and Duindorp (in Zuiderstrand) battle each other on Scheveningens North Beach for the title of the largest bonfire in the Netherlands. The long tradition and a matter of pride keeps the emotions churning as enthusiastic participants stack wooden crates and pallets as high as they can. The battle is closely monitored not only from Scheveningen and Duindorp, but also in the rest of the Netherlands and beyond. Tourists come all the way from America, Germany, France and England to see the bonfires. Before the bonfires are lit on the midnight of December 31, there are usually performances by artists and fireworks display.

Photo credit: reddit.com

The tradition of lighting bonfires to celebrate important events goes back by at least a few centuries. In Scheveningen, the first bonfire after Christmas were probably lit around 1850. After World War II, The Hague became the center of New Year celebration. At that time, groups of young people would go out hunting for Christmas trees and would put a match to it. Fights between rival gangs often resulted in injuries.

The police tried to keep the situation under control by designating six congregation places where bonfires could be lit. But the crowd continued to be as unruly as ever, dumping everything thats combustible on the fire Christmas trees, tires, and furniture. These unstable structures became a fire hazard. Besides drunk young men often caused trouble in the area, forcing the city police to restrict all bonfire lighting activities to the North Beach.

The city proposed that they could build bonfires as big and high as they wanted as long as they keep the infighting among themselves civilized and organized and on the beach. They could only use wooden crates. No tire burning or Christmas tree burning was allowed. Most people felt the new rules were too strict and missed the thrill of hunting for Christmas trees in the neighborhoods and other things to burn. Some neighborhoods took part for a year or two and then quit. The only two groups that remained are Scheveningen and Duindorp. Now most neighborhoods who wishes to take part either side with Scheveningen or with Duindorp.

This year Duindorp won the battle again.

Also see: St John's Eve Bonfire in Alesund

Photo credit: Arjen Toet/Flickr

Photo credit: Arjen Toet/Flickr

Photo credit: Maurits Verbiest/Flickr

Photo credit: Maurits Verbiest/Flickr

Photo credit: Maurits Verbiest/Flickr

Photo credit: Maurits Verbiest/Flickr

Photo credit: Arjen Toet/Flickr

Photo credit: Hollandse-Hoogte via ZUMA Press

Source: www.vreugdevuur-scheveningen.nl
French smartphone, media player and tablet manufacturer, ARCHOS, have announced the arrival of two new smartphones, the ARCHOS 50 Cobalt and the ARCHOS 55 Cobalt Plus as follow up devices to the ARCHOS 50 Diamond that was revealed back in January 2015. Both the 50 Cobalt and 55 Cobalt Plus are based around a MediaTek System-on-Chip, the MT6735P, which uses a quad core cluster of ARM Cortex-A53 application processors clocked at a maximum speed of 1.0 GHz. This quad core application processor is paired up with the ARM Mali-T720 GPU and 1 GB of RAM for the 50 Cobalt, or 2 GB of RAM for the 55 Cobalt Plus. This particular chipset has seen service in a number of other Chinese devices such as the Oukitel K4000, K6000 smartphones. When used with a stock, or near stock, version of Android the chipset performs much better than might otherwise be expected. The Cobalt 50 has a 5.0-inch, 720p resolution IPS display panel and the Cobalt 55 Plus comes with a 5.5-inch IPS panel of the same resolution. Another difference between the two devices is the onboard storage, where the 50 Cobalt has 8 GB of storage and the 55 Cobalt Plus has 16 GB of storage. Each device uses a 2MP front facing camera for selfies and video calling, but theres a difference between the smaller 50 Cobalt and larger 55 Cobalt Plus for the rear camera. Here, the 50 Cobalt uses an 8MP sensor and the 55 Cobalt Plus benefits from a 13MP rear sensor.

In terms of networking, both devices are dual MicroSIM devices, although one SIM slot may instead be used for a MicroSD card that can take a 64 GB card. Each device offers UK and European LTE band support at the 800 MHz, 1,800 MHz, 2,100 MHz and 2,600 MHz at up to Category 4 speeds, plus 900 MHz / 2,100 MHz DC-HSPA support at up to 42 Mbps download speeds. Customers also benefit from 802.11 b/g/n Wi-Fi connectivity plus Bluetooth 4.0 Smart Ready short range radio. One of ARCHOS hallmarks is using a very stock-like user interface, which in the case of the two new smartphones means customers benefit from Android 5.1 Lollipop. This should keep the devices smooth and responsive in operation.

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ARCHOS are releasing the devices in either cobalt blue or slate grey color, priced at 99 for the 50 Cobalt and 149 for the 55 Cobalt Plus. These new smartphones are being demonstrated this week at the Consumer Electronics Show, in Las Vegas, but we do not yet have a release date for when the devices will be available in stores and on the ARCHOS website.
In the Android world, Lenovo is more commonly thought of as the company who manufactures a number of smartphones. Not to mention, the company who fairly recently acquired Motorola. However, Lenovo is extremely well-known outside of the Android sphere as a company who makes a number of more computing-based products and solutions. An avenue which has seen them move naturally towards the Chrome OS market of late, with the release of a number of Chrome OS running devices. The most recent of which was the Chromebook 100s which was designed to be an extremely affordable Chromebook, one which launched late in 2015 for the low price of $179.99.

At CES this week and following on from their Chrome OS endeavors, Lenovo has now confirmed that their latest variant to join the ThinkPad line will be landing on the market in the first half of this year in the form of the ThinkPad 13. While ThinkPads are devices which are commonly associated with being Windows-based, Lenovo has also confirmed that as well as the standard Windows option, they will be releasing a Chrome OS variant as well. In terms of the specs, the ThinkPad 13 is a laptop which comes equipped with a 13-inch screen and will be available in multiple configuration options. At the present time, the Chrome OS variant specs have not been provided in detail by Lenovo, although the Windows model has been confirmed to be coming with different RAM configurations (up to 16GB). Internal storage set at 512GB SSD, while the processor will vary depending on the customization choice  up to an Intel 6th Gen Core i5 vPro. So it does seem likely the Chrome OS option will also be available in multiple RAM and storage options as well. Connections on offer include a full size HDMI port, USB 3.0 ports and the ThinkPad 13 will come equipped with a USB Type-C port, for those who make use of any of the newer Type-C USB enabled smartphones. Not to mention, this is a device which comes with a Mil-Spec build and set to offer the consumer a durable but productive Chrome OS solution.

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For those interested, Lenovo has confirmed that the ThinkPad 13 will become available starting in June 2016 for the Chrome OS variant and prices will start from $399. The Windows option will become available slightly earlier (April 2016), although priced slightly higher and starting from $449.
There was a time when one spoke of Personal Computers (PCs) and technology, the name Microsoft and IBM would immediately pop into your head. IBM long ago has joined the dinosaurs in the former PC market  they never did have a presence in the mobile world  and it seemed that Microsoft, the founder of the basic DOS operating system, Microsoft Windows and Internet Explorer, might soon follow IBMs path. In 2012, Vanity Fair presented an interesting case that Microsoft had suffered a lost decade under the guidance of former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmerwho was ousted the next year. BuzzFeed had an opportunity to interview new CEO Satya Nadella  one-on-one  at their Redmond, Washington headquarters and we get a glimpse of the direction he is taking Microsoft.

Under Ballmer, Microsoft was an arrogant company with a lot of in-house fighting going on  a true picture of a company taking on the personality of its CEO. Microsoft was once a PC essential that could not find its way into our pockets nor the mobile world that was surrounding it. This was the culture and mindset that Satya Nadella, was facing when he took over from Ballmer. Nadella smiles, is energetic and his enthusiasm is contagious as he graciously explains that he is not trying to replace the old ways, but create an atmosphere where their business culture evolves as the world changes. He says, Weve got to have a model which goes beyond saying lets take culture A, unfreeze it, change it, and freeze it back because that model doesnt work  because as soon as you freeze anything back it becomes irrelevant the next day.

As our wireless, mobile and cloud oriented society grows, under Nadella, Microsoft must also grow into this culture. He explains, You and I throughout the day, we will use many devices. Perhaps you start with a phone. But then you walk into your conference room where there are sensors, large screens, and small screens. And then you go back home to your TV or your Xbox. The idea is that  your apps, your data, your context move from device to device [when] you are mobile. This is what he is calling the mobile experience and rather focusing on strictly a smartphone or mobile device, Microsoft can fill a huge need in this mobile experience. This makes sense when the latest Gartner report estimates that Microsofts mobile market share is a paltry 1.7-percent and by getting to a point that the device matters less than the experience, seems to be where Nadella is guiding Microsoft.

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When it was pointed out to Nadella that an entire generation has left Microsoft for iOS and Android, along with the App Developers. He admits that while they have lost that developer energy, he is hoping that Windows 10s ability to cross devices will bring developers back to Microsoft. He says, What youre referencing is what Id call the elite developers, and a lot of them go to the volume platform. Theres no question that in the case of the smartphone, today, we are not that high in share. Now, with HoloLens were going to get back a lot of elite developers. And with Xbox becoming basically a Windows computer, were going to get back a whole lot of developers. This is a lot of speculation for Nadella and Microsoft to assume, and only time will allow them to affirm this new culture.
Nokia was once the largest cellphone manufacturer in the world. This Finland-based company was regarded to be the premium cellphone manufacturing company, but they made some wrong business moves over the years and basically faded away. Nokia first wanted to push their Symbian OS, as the industry started to move towards smartphones. After that, theyve released MeeGo OS, which came too late, even though it was a solid operating system. Nokia has ultimately signed an exclusivity agreement with Windows, which meant that theyre allowed to manufacture Windows Phone-powered devices only. This turned out to be quite a mistake by the company, and they were basically forced sell their Devices and Services business to Microsoft due to low sales and financial troubles.

That being said, Nokia did not disappear, the company has since then manufactured an Android-powered tablet with some help from Foxconn, and even though this tablet had limited availability, Nokia managed to sell quite a few copies in China. Weve also seen quite a few rumors that the company plans on releasing an Android-powered smartphone soon, and that might actually happen this year. Thats not all though, Nokia has sold HERE Maps to Audio, BMW and Mercedes for $3 billion, and has decided to acquire Alcatel-Lucent a while back for $17 billion. It took a while for the deal to go through, but it seems like that has happened today. Nokia has announced that theyve gained control of the company, according to Reuters, and that the two companies will combine on January 14th. Nokia will hold approximately 79% of Alcatels shares, and this is what Nokias CEO had to say: We will move quickly to combine the two companies and execute our integration plans. This deal actually puts Nokia in a great position to compete with Ericsson and Huawei in a market for telecom network gear, not to mention other possibilities it will open for them.

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Nokias acquisition of Alcatel might also benefit the companys future smartphone plans, same goes for tablet, smartwatch or any other plans Nokia might have. Well probably hear more from Nokia this year than we have in a long time, and it remains to be seen what will happen, but a Nokia-branded Android-powered smartphone seems like an obvious choice at this point, stay tuned.
Weve seen a ton of tech gadgets released in 2015, and amongst all the smartphones, tablets, smart TVs and other gadgets, weve also seen quite a few smartwatches being showcased. A number of companies have pushed out their smartwatch devices to the market, and many of them are powered by Googles Android Wear platform. Huawei Watch, Moto 360 (2nd-gen) and the Apple Watch are amongst the most popular smartwatches at the moment, and chances are well see quite a bit more such devices announced this year.

That being said, Nokia is amongst companies which were rumored to be preparing a smartwatch to release this year. This Finland-based company has recently sold their HERE Maps business to BMW, Mercedes and Audio, and theyve also acquired Alcatel-Lucent. The two companies will combine on January 14th, and it seems like Nokia isnt going anywhere. Now, weve seen several leaks regarding Nokia-branded smartphone and smartwatch last year, and a new leak shared images of Nokias alleged smartwatch prototype which has been cancelled, read on.

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Now, Nokia is still not allowed to manufacture smart devices, at least not on their own due to the agreement with Microsoft, but it seems like the company is trying out various models for when the time comes. Besides, they were able to release a tablet with the help from Foxconn, so they might do the same with other devices as well. Anyhow, if you take a look at the images down below, youll get to see what appears to be a Nokia-branded smartwatch prototype. Interesting enough, this prototype is really beaten up, its display seems to be cracked and what not. This is definitely not a final design of the smartwatch, and is quite probably just a shell of a device, even though the source claims this way supposed to be their smartwatch but was cancelled. Youll notice the charging pins on the back here as well, and the dated display, along with ARMs chip on the inside.

This smartwatch will quite probably never get released, but if reports are accurate, Nokia is definitely planning on releasing a smartwatch in the future. It is quite probable that the company will release a smartphone first, and see what happens after that, but well see, but chances are Nokias smartwatch will be powered by Android Wear.
Samsung is currently the worlds largest smartphone manufacturer. This Korea-based company has been at the very top of the smartphone business for quite a long time now, battling it out with Apple. Samsung has introduced four flagship devices this year, and along with these handsets the company has also introduced their new design and what not. Each of those devices is made out of metal, and it doesnt offer a removable battery nor expandable storage, unlike Samsungs previous flagships which were made out of plastic and did check both the removable battery and expandable storage categories.

That being said, Samsung is getting ready to release their new flagship, the Galaxy S7 in the coming months, and it is also worth mentioning that Samsung MObiles chief has stepped down a while back, which means well probably see some changes in the company. Dongjin Koh, Samsungs new chief, said that the company will focus more on software and services in general, which is, of course, good news. Now, it seems like Samsung is expecting 2016 to be a tough year for them, not only for Samsung Mobile, but for the company in general (Samsung Electronics). Samsung Electronics Chief, Kwon Oh-hyun, basically said that 2016 will be a tough year to do business. He said that the competition in the business is fierce, both in mobile SoCs and smartphones (he took those as examples).

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That being said, Korea Investment, a Korea-based brokerage house, expects Samsungs Q4 earning to be lower than expected. Samsung will make their official Q4 predictions this Friday, and it seems like this will be a week quarter as far as components sales go. Korea Investments say that Samsung will earn $5.41 billion in operating profit in Q4, while the expected operating profit is $5.78 billion. Samsungs 2015 flagships did sell rather well, and consumers had mostly positive reactions to them, but the competition had plenty to offer as well. Manufacturers like Huawei, and other China-based OEMs which offered not only premium devices, but also a number of lower-end offerings, managed to ruin Samsungs plans it seems. Now, it remains to be seen what will happen next. Samsung is expected to work on their software this year, and it remains to be seen if that will help their sales, or will the competition manage to take a chunk of Samsungs market share and profit.
Samsung has introduced second-gen Galaxy A3, A5 and A7 handsets last month, and the companys upcoming Galaxy S7 flagship has been leaking for quite some time now. Anyhow, Samsungs Galaxy A line of devices can be considered their mid-range line of smartphones, and the latest Galaxy A device to reach the market is the Galaxy A9. This phablet has been rumored for quite a while until Samsung finally unveiled it at the end of last month. Samsung did not release the phones price at first, even though weve seen several rumors regarding its pricing. Well, the phone is now available for purchase, read on.

Samsung Galaxy A9 is now available for purchase through Samsung Chinas official website, and it costs 3,199 Yuan ($490), which means the rumors were spot on. The Galaxy A9 features a 6-inch fullHD (1920 x 1080) Super AMOLED display along with 3GB of RAM and 32GB of expandable internal storage (expandable up to 128GB via a microSD card). The device is fueled by the Snapdragon 652 64-bit octa-core processor along with an Adreno 510 GPU for graphics. The 13-megapixel OIS camera (f/1.9 aperture) is located on the back of the Galaxy A9, and an 8-megapixel shooter can be found up front. This is a dual SIM handset which offers 4G LTE connectivity, and packs a non-removable 4,000mAh battery on the inside. Speaking of the battery, the Galaxy A9 also ships with fast charging support, which will certainly come in handy. This phablet is made out of metal, and it measures 161.7 x 80.9 x 7.4mm, while it weighs 200 grams. The fingerprint scanner is also a part of the package, and it is built into the physical home button which is located below the display.

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That being said, this handset is available in Silver, Pink and Gold color options, though keep in mind that the Gold color option is currently out of stock in China. For those of you who live in the US, you might want to know that the Galaxy A9 has already been cleared by the FCC, and Samsung is actually expected to announce this phablet during CES in Las Vegas this month.
Xiaomi has become one of the worlds largest smartphone manufacturers in the last couple of years. This company has been founded 5 years ago, and their growth is quite staggering. Xiaomi has introduced a number of devices this year, including smartphones, smart TVs, and various other tech devices. The company is expected to introduce their new flagship, the Mi 5, quite soon, and as were waiting for that to happen, we have some new MIUI info to share with you.

As you probably already know, Xiaomi develops their very own Android-based OS called MIUI. Xiaomi has improved MIUI quite a lot over the last couple of years, and theyve introduced the MIUI 7 earlier this year. Well, it seems like a new version of MIUI is on the way, Xiaomi has officially announced that they will start rolling out MIUI 7.1 from January 5th to January 11th, and the update will roll out to both Global and Chinese versions of Xiaomis devices. The company has also released the list of devices which will receive this update. As far as global models are concerned, these are the devices that will get the update: Mi 3, Mi 4, MI Note, Mi 4i, Redmi 2 / Prime, Redmi Note 4G, Redmi Note 2, Redmi Note Prime, Redmi Note 3G and Mi Pad. In case you own a Chinese variant of one of Xiaomis devices, heres a list of those models as well: Mi 3, Mi 4 3G/4G, Mi Note, Mi Note Pro, MI 4i, Mi 4C, Redmi 1S, Redmi Note 3G, Redmi Note 4G single SIM/Dual SIM, Mi Pad 1/2.

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Now, as youve probably noticed, there are some devices missing from this list, and Xiaomi is actually rumored to list additional models on January 11th, so if you own any of the devices that are not mentioned, hang on tight, well report back if Xiaomi decides to add any additional models to this list. That being said, we still dont have the full changelog to share with you, but Xiaomi will quite probably release far more details tomorrow when the update starts rolling out to the companys devices.
The death of 20 of historys most important buildings.

Fallen Glory: The Lives and Deaths of Twenty Lost Buildings from the Tower of Babel to the Twin Towers by James Crawford

2015, Old Street Publishing

Heritage destruction was the unfortunate constant throughout 2015. Nepal, Iraq, Yemen, Syria: it seems like humanity and nature conspired to put on a destructive year. I am sure many of us feel like it is the most destructive one weve had and, good gosh, what does 2016 have in store

James Crawfords excellent new book Fallen Glory puts those feelings into perspective. Through the birth, life, and death stories of twenty significant buildings, one starts to see destructive forces as a timeless constant, part of the ebb and flow of culture. Presented chronologically but with cases that span the globe, the reader cant help but see the end of a powerful building as a beginning in disguise. The Tower of Babel falls, sure, but we get to turn the page and see what is next.

Fallen Glory is structured as 20 largely-independent chapters, each of which focuses on a particular building. This means that you can read one chapter in an evening, becoming totally immersed in that world, mourn the passing of the building, and move on to something else the next night. It also means you can read random chapters out loud to your family as you are driving from New Plymouth to Auckland for the holidays. I can personally vouch for both of those. The family, and I, were entertained.

Because Crawford is a good story teller; goosebumps on my arm level at times. Drawing upon his archaeological background, his stories are stratified, they are layers that rest upon each other in an interesting way, their interrelatedness revealed through reading. Each chapter (and each building) of Fallen Glory caused multiple exclamations of wow, no way, and I didnt know that, as I read it on my tummy, in the grass, in the Taranaki summer sunshine. I kept a running list of stuff to read more about later because Crawfords stories, although complete in their own right, very much left me wanting more. This is a good thing.

The book wasnt solely western! Sure, there was a strong thumb on the scales for the West and the predictable bits of West Asia and, really, there always is. Any archaeologist or historian who works in NOT those places notices the imbalance everywhere. But Crawfords balance was only a bit tipped. There are tales of buildings in India, Mongolia, Hong Kong, Peru, the last of which I particularly appreciated, particularly loved, and particularly made people listen to.

Poor Africa was left out entirely, unless you count Ancient Egypt as Africa and, when we are talking about representational equity, you shouldnt. Great Zimbabwe would seem an obvious choice there but, heck, you cant win um all; it is good how it is.

Oh! And there was even a surprise ending. The subtitle implies that we end with the World Trade Center, a chapter which does follow very nicely from a previous chapter about modernist social housing failure in St Louis. But no, the book ends with the death of one of my own buildings and perhaps the death of one of yours as well.

Crawford discusses the creation of online home pages via Geocities, and then the day that Geocities was wiped out of existence, a monumental act of destruction which took with it the second website I ever made back in the late 1990s when I was in high-school.[1] Well done, Crawford. That was pure nostalgia for me.

This is the perfect book to give someone as a gift. I know this because everyone who came in contact with it as I traveled around New Zealand wanted it. So much thumbing through, so much Oh! Tell me what is in that chapter!, so much Say, are you leaving the book here? It is quite pretty, thoughtful in every way. Get one for yourself then pass it on to a friend.

It is very hard to make sense of the images of destruction flashing across our computer screens. While I dont think Fallen Glory will make us feel better about any of it, the 20 tales in this book may help us to take even just a small step back. Its reflection reading for anyone following the heritage news these days.

All told, this is the right time to read this book.

[1] The first one was on Fortune City which, as of the time of writing, still exists in some form, nearly entirely without graphics, but with totally embarrassing teen angst poetry, web rings, a mailing list, and a forum. A FORUM. You better believe that there is an animated gargoyle GIF next to an animated rose GIF above some poems and on a lime green background. Link? Heck no. No.
The Jihadi John show jumps the shark with a little sidekick and new star

Meet the New Jihadi John. You might call him the new improved Jihadi John, given that the latest televised ex-pat murderer is using a gun, having upgraded from a knife, to off enemies of ISIS.

The Mirror leads with John II, reporting that a British nutjob has been filmed apparently murdering 5 men accused of spying for Britain.

John II has a flimsy grasp of the English language, telling David Cameron in a video, We continue jihad and one day invade your land. Innit.

Note: Daves land is a small estate in Oxfordshire.

John calls Cameron mule of the Jews. Do they let Jews or anything other than thoroughbred police horses into Chipping Norton? Has a Jew ever ridden with the hunt? Jihadi Johns knowledge of the local geography and toffs attitudes to The Tribe is questionable.

The paper reminds us that the original Jihadi John was Mohammed Emwazi. He was killed by a drone strike last November. The paper says this latest incarnation is likely to meet a violent end.

And what of his little sidekick, an irritating Jihadi-doo? The young boy pops up at the end of the snuff movie to declare: We will kill the Kuffar over there.

Jihadi-doo is on the cover of the Sun. They say the lad has a British accent.

The world has seen many examples of child soldiers, but the notion of being massacred by a toddler is intriguing. Can he hold the gun and fire without hurting himself? Will he be distracted by cartoons? Do we all die at play time?

But, ultimately, a rebooted star and a sidekick is always an admittance of failure.

Theyre being beaten, arent they.

Anorak

Posted: 4th, January 2016 | In: Reviews, Tabloids Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
(ANSA) - Rome, January 4 - Italian Premier Matteo Renzi was quoted as saying Monday that Italy has to pass a law immediately on civil unions so that the country can catch up with the rest of Europe.

"The wound has to be healed, we are at the tail end of the queue in Europe," Renzi told La Stampa newspaper in an interview.

Renzi also said he is not bothered at the prospect of an increase in support for the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement, which is in power in a handful of towns across Italy.

Renzi added that his concerns are "the country, its recovery, its re-launch. As far as regards the Five Stars, their way of governing is the best advertising spot for the Democratic Party (PD)," Renzi said.


(ANSA) - Rome, January 4 - The Italian foreign ministry on Monday urged Saudi Arabia and Iran to ease tensions after Riyadh's execution of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Voicing "strong concern" over the risk of exacerbating divisions in the Islamic world and jeopardising diplomatic efforts to resolve crises, it said that "Italy urges Saudi Arabia and Iran to do everything possible to ease tensions and avert an escalation that would be dangerous for all".

The foreign ministry said the "first step" towards easing tensions would be "the recognition that fundamentalist terrorism is the common enemy".


(ANSA) - Turin, January 4 - Separated parents in Italy can now make use of a website and associated app enabling them to better organise and manage family affairs and co-parent their children, sources said Monday.

The portal 2houses.com has been imported into Italy from Belgium by a Turin-based dad with help from Giuditta Pasotto, the creator of the Italian social network for single parents gengle.it.

It includes an interactive diary, a system for managing finances, a database for useful information from medical details to telephone numbers, and lists of things to do and buy. The service is the brainchild of Belgian entrepreneur Gill Ruidant, who created the website in 2011 after looking unsuccessfully for a tool to help him and his ex wife get organized in the best interests of their children. It is already used by over 56,000 families in several countries around the world.


(ANSA) - Milan, January 4 - Ferrari wobbled on its Milan bourse debut Monday despite a vote of confidence from Italian Premier Matteo Renzi who was on hand for the event with the Prancing Horse's top brass including President Sergio Marchionne.

Marchionne, who said Ferrari would issue its first bonds in the first half of the year, was undaunted by the spotty share performance and vowed that the Formula One glamour team would regain its supremacy over the sport in 2016, capturing its first world title since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007.

The Ferrari stock opened at 43 euros a share only to immediately lose ground and get suspended briefly after sliding under 42 euros a share. Trading resumed with Ferrari changing hands at 41.91 euros - against approximately 44 euros at the close on December 31 on the NYSE - with market cap of some 7.92 billion euros.

By the close of trading the shares had clawed back further ground to end on 43.67 euros.

Ferrari's Italian debut took place amid a general European stock market sell-off, mainly on negative Chinese industrial data but also to a lesser degree on tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

Some 264 billion euros in share value went up in smoke across the continent.

Marchionne, who is CEO of Ferrari's parent company Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA), said this is the year the luxury carmaker will regain its Formula 1 supremacy after just three victories last year, trailing behind the dominant Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg.

"The year of our return to the top has begun," he said, looking forward to Spanish testing soon ahead of the first grand priz in Melbourne on March 20.

"The team is there...and we're not far from reaching the level of our competitors," he said. "The investments won't be lacking". Marchionne stressed that victory on the racetrack is essential to Ferrari. "We have invested a lot of financial resources - the work done in 2015 has laid an exceptional basis for a season of success in 2016," he said. "We must win right away....we must get back in the saddle immediately and reset to zero the difficulties of the past".

Team Principal Maurizio Arrivabene said "we'll see where we are in the first tests in Barcelona.

"Marchionne is the president and it's right for him to set the targets, and for me to reach them".

FCA President John Elkann said the group "has a great future even without Ferrari".

Renzi wished Ferrari well and said he hopes 2016 is the year Italy also picks up speed and overtakes the competition. "I would like for 2016 to be the year in which we stop making up for lost time and start running faster than the others - break a leg," he said. "Italy is finally present," he went on.

"Globalization is our biggest ally and if we take to the field we're first in the world. A great country can experience negative moments but it can always restart," he said.


(ANSA) - Jesi, January 4 - Savers protesting Italy's bad banks scandal called a sit-in Monday outside the former headquarters of the old Banca Marche di Jesi in the latest in a rash of demonstrations by small investors left with worthless bonds.

Premier Matteo Renzi Monday reiterated that the government will give priority to legislative reforms to increase protection for small savers. "From cooperative credit banks to bankruptcy law that has to change  we have a very great deal to do in Italy," he said.

Consumer protection watchdog bodies Adusbef and Federconsumatori said they were presenting a further legal memorandum to nine public prosecutor's offices asking magistrates to start criminal proceedings against Consob stock exchange watchdog, President Giuseppe Vegas, and other officials on grounds that they turned a blind eye to irregularities by bad banks.

The Bank of Italy last Wednesday started the sale process for four 'good banks' recently split from the bad banks after a government rescue that left many investors with worthless bonds.

The four are Nuova Banca Marche, Nuova Banca Etruria, Nuova Cassa di Risparmio di Chieti and Nuova Cassa di Risparmio di Ferrara. The process was started in concert with the Italian government and EU authorities, and will comply with EU rules on State aid.

The government has set up a 100-million-euro fund to compensate investors who can prove they were duped into holding risky bonds.

Thousands of former bondholders and ex-shareholders are demanding their money back after seeing their savings go up in smoke.

A probe for instigation to suicide has been opened after one desperate bondholder in Banca Etruria, Luigi D'Angelo, hanged himself in December.


(ANSA) - Rome, December 31 - Pollution levels in the Eternal City are still above the legal maximum despite restricting car traffic on Monday and Tuesday using alternate registration plate bans, the regional environment protection agency ARPA said Thursday.

The pm10 level was over the legal limit of 50 ug/m3 again in 10 local monitoring areas out of 13 in Rome on Wednesday with the most polluted areas of the capital being Cinecitta (99), followed by Tiburtina (84), Preneste (71), Magna Grecia (66) and Francia (62).

The special commissioner for Rome Paolo Tronca ordered a new ban on Friday, as on Thursday, of the most polluting vehicles in the petrol engine Euro 0, and the diesel engine Euro 0, Euro 1 and Euro 2 classes as well as Euro 0 and Euro 1 motorcycles. A ban on turning domestic heating on over temperatures of over 18 degrees Celsius also remains in force except in hospitals and clinics.


(ANSA) - Rome, January 4 - A draft enabling decree to the civil service reform law would institute districts for local public services, sources said Monday. The aim is to allow for "economies of scale" and "maximum efficiency", the sources said.

The draft decree would also establish an observatory to monitor local public services that are of general interest. In addition, it would introduce public consultation on local public services in order to verify the suitability of the market to meet public interest needs. The draft enabling decree would also provide for a clear distinction between regulatory and management roles regarding appointments within local public services.

"The functions of regulation, direction and control and those of management of public services of general economic interest are distinct and to be exercised separately," the draft reads. It also includes stricter rules on the management of public services by a single provider. "Special or exclusive rights are issued only for a limited period and cannot be renewed automatically," the draft reads. The draft enabling decree is expected to come before the cabinet, presented by Civil Service Minister Marianna Madia, for approval on January 15.


(ANSA) - Naples, January 4 - Naples Mayor Luigi De Magistris Monday revoked an anti-smog car ban after heavy rains pounded the southern city, apparently reducing pollution levels, local officials said.

The ban remains in force only for cars with less than Euro 4 engines though the mayor did not wait to see if data confirmed the impact of the rainfall on the smog level in the port city.

De Magistris on Thursday ordered the car ban for six days for January 2,4,5,7 and 8 as well as part of January 3.

He also ordered heating in public buildings to be reduced to 18 degrees Centigrade and to 17 degrees in industrial ones. The Italian government agreed with regional governors and big-city mayors Wednesday to cut speed limits by 20 km/h and heating by two degrees to combat Italy's smog emergency. Rain in Rome and Milan Monday also reduced the smog levels in those cities. Milan last week observed a three-day car ban while Rome ordered a two-day alternative license plate ban.

Meanwhile meteorologists said snow was expected in low lying areas of the Veneto and Friuli and storms were forecast in the southern regions of Basilicata and Calabria.


(ANSA) - Rome, January 4 - Premier Matteo Renzi was quoted saying Monday Italy is 'out of the bog' of recession and predicted the rate of growth of Italian GDP will double in 2016 from 0.8% in 2015.

"Italy has restarted, we are out of the quagmire of 2013," he said in an interview with La Stampa newspaper in which he commented on Eurostat data.

"After years of grime, the climate decidedly has changed," Renzi said in the front page interview with the Turin daily.

"I say 'are we joking?' We had three years of recession unknown in other countries. Think about our GDP - minus 2.3% with (Premier Mario) Monti, minus 1.9% with (Premier Enrico) Letta and with me minus 0.4% last year".

"This year we grew by 0.8%, in 2016 we will do double".


(by Luciana Borsatti and Mojgan Ahmadvand) .

- TEHRAN- Tension has surged skywards between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with Riyadh announcing Sunday evening that it would be breaking off diplomatic relations. A few hours before, Iran's top Shia cleric and supreme guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had said that Saudi politicians would suffer ''divine revenge''. His website carried a picture of a Saudi executioner next to notorious Islamic State (ISIS) executioner 'Jihadi John', with the caption ''Any differences?''. Khamenei was the one to give Iran's official condemnation of the execution of the Shia imam Nimr Al-Nimr, on the second day of widespread Shia rage against the Saudi monarchy. Saudi foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir announced in the evening in a televised statement that diplomatic relations were being severed with Tehran, giving Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country. ''God the Almighty will not just stand by,'' Khamenei had said shortly before on his website, ''as innocent blood is shed, and this blood shed unjustly will soon afflict'' Saudi authorities. Condemnation and calls for harsher punishment also came from several in President Hassan Rouhani's government. The latter also warned protestors to abide by the country's laws after the Saudi embassy was set fire to and devastated despite police reinforcements. However, the protagonists of the attack - 'students' and Basiji, volunteers from the Pasdaran often involved in similar incidents - clearly were aware of the procedures for embassy attacks and the limits of the 'semi-legality' in which they could act. Despite a ban on returning back to the area around the Saudi embassy - where there has not been an ambassador for about a year, though a few days ago an announcement had come that his replacement was to have arrived soon - and despite the about 50 arrests announced by the judiciary, more protests were held on Monday in the same location, with clashes and some policemen injured. The protests ended with a symbolic act by those taking part: a sign that replaced 'Boustan Street' with that of 'Sheikh Nimr'. The official protest was instead being held in Felestin Square in the center of the capital, full of both old and new slogans against the Saudis - called ''American mercenaries'' - and the country's longstanding enemy Israel. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif meanwhile accused Riyadh of violating human rights and supporting terrorism in telephone calls with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini - who tried to ''tone down tensions'' and curb the escalation - and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, whose human rights commissioner said that the Saudi executions were disturbing. President Rouhani said that both human rights and Muslim values had been violated, while Iran's Revolutionary Guards insisted that Saudi Wahhabism and Salafism were responsible for the rise of terrorism and ISIS. Riyadh responded by saying that ''the Iranian regime is the last in the world that can accuse others of supporting terrorism'', a Saudi ministry official said, seeing as it ''sponsors terrorism and has been condemned by the UN and many countries'' including the US, which includes on its list of terrorist groups ones that Iran supports in Gaza and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Shia-Sunni clash will aid ISIS, say analysts 'Negotiations on Yemen, Syria and Lebanon at risk'

(ANSAmed) - BEIRUT, JANUARY 4 - The sudden surge in tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia in a context of polarization between Saudi-style Wahhabism and Iran's Khomeinism will end up helping the Islamic State (ISIS), analysts say. ISIS rhetoric and practices are based mainly on fostering political and religious differences between Shia and Sunni, several Middle East specialists say, while the region is seeing fresh religion-linked violence sparked after Saudi Arabia executed the influential Shia cleric Nimr Al-Nimr, considered close to Iran and now part of the Khomeini pantheon of Shia 'martyrs' killed by 'Sunni oppression'. In Iraq, two Sunni mosques were attacked on Monday in the south-central, Shia-majority Hilla region and local government officials say that ISIS would like to fan the flames lit by Nimr's death. A representative of the Hilla provincial council, Falah Khafaji, tried to disperse any suspicions about Shia militia involvement in the attack on the mosques and reiterated what is also being said in Middle Eastern capitals: ISIS aims to stir up the clash between the two branches of Islam and will be able to take advantage of the consequences of Nimr's execution.



According to Ghassan Sharbel, an authoritative op-ed writer of the pan-Arab, London-headquartered Al-Hayat - owned by a Saudi baron known for his moderate positions - the jihadist group can only gain from the deepening of the rift between Sunnis and Shia in the clash between Iran and Saudi Arabia. In the last few weeks alone, the conflicts underway in Yemen, Syria and Iraq, in which Riyadh and Tehran have got involved directly through supporting their local clients, seem to have reached possible turning points, with local agreements and parties in conflict declaring a willingness to engage in talks. Sharbel noted that Lebanon also seems to be near electing a president after a regional agreement between Iran and Saudi Arabia. If the negotiations were to fall through, however, as the Beirut-based As-Safir daily noted, the conflicts will resume with ever more energy and ISIS will have won once again - showing that the 'only way' is religious-based violence.



(ANSAmed).




Jordan releases local Muslim Brotherhood leader Irsheid Arrested in 2014 for criticizing UAE

(ANSAmed) - AMMAN, JANUARY 4 - Jordanian authorities on Monday released the leader of the local Muslim Brotherhood branch, Zaki Bani Irsheid, at the end of the sentence he had received for criticizing the UAE.



The UAE is a close ally of the ruling Hashemite kingdom and has outlawed the Islamist movement. Hundreds of Irsheid supporters gathered in the morning around the leader's home in northwestern Amman. The leader had been president of the Muslim Brotherhood Council and secretary general of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), the main opposition party in Jordan and political expression of the Islamist movement.



Irsheid was arrested in 2014 after criticizing the UAE in a regional climate of growing hostility towards the Muslim Brotherhood. His release revives the issue of the future of the movement's Jordanian wing after Amman last year tried to divide the group by creating a pro-government part that split from the hardline opposition. The split has been deepening over the past few hours, with dozens of high-ranking members of the IAF resigning from the party in disaccord with party leaders. (ANSAmed).




AMMAN - Jordan on Monday released from prison top Muslim Brotherhood leader Zaki Bani Irsheid after completing sentence of 18 months.



Bani Irsheid showed defiance and called for sweeping reforms during his first public appearance.



"We love freedom and seek to reconciliation with everybody," he told supporters during his reception.



"Authorities want renaissance, we are ready, but that does not happen by force," he said.



Hundreds of supporters gathered north-west Amman to welcome Bani Irsheid , who served as president of the MB shura council and secretary general of the Islamic Action Front (IAF).



"I come from a prison and realize the suffering of prisoners," and called for urgent reforms in the country.



"The situation in Jordan can no longer handle losing time. The country is saturated with bad management and this country needs free people," he added.



The outspoken Bani Irsheid was imprisoned for publishing remarks on his Facebook page where he vilified the UAE after the Abu Dhabi government listed the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group.



Bani Irsheid was tried at the military run state security court and found guilty of harming ties between the kingdom and an Arab country.



Activists and human rights pundits criticized authorities for imprisoning Bani Irsheid , saying he fill victim to freedom of expression.



Bani Irsheid said he has prepared a national political initiative that he hopes would help defuse political tension.



His release comes at a testy time for the MB, after dozens of high ranking leaders quit the IAF and vowed to establish their own political party.



MB leaders accuse authorities of orchestrating a campaign against the group in order to undermine its influence in the country, but observers say power struggle within ranks is to blame for the current crisis. (ANSAmed).
Saudi ties with Iran cut amid imam execution dispute Khamenei calls for 'divine revenge', Salman kicks out diplomats

(by Luciana Borsatti and Mojgan Ahmadvand) (ANSAmed) - TEHRAN, JANUARY 4 - Tension has surged skywards between Saudi Arabia and Iran, with Riyadh announcing Sunday evening that it would be breaking off diplomatic relations. A few hours before, Iran's top Shia cleric and supreme guide Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had said that Saudi politicians would suffer ''divine revenge''. His website carried a picture of a Saudi executioner next to notorious Islamic State (ISIS) executioner 'Jihadi John', with the caption ''Any differences?''. Khamenei was the one to give Iran's official condemnation of the execution of the Shia imam Nimr Al-Nimr, on the second day of widespread Shia rage against the Saudi monarchy. Saudi foreign minister Adel Al-Jubeir announced in the evening in a televised statement that diplomatic relations were being severed with Tehran, giving Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country. ''God the Almighty will not just stand by,'' Khamenei had said shortly before on his website, ''as innocent blood is shed, and this blood shed unjustly will soon afflict'' Saudi authorities. Condemnation and calls for harsher punishment also came from several in President Hassan Rouhani's government. The latter also warned protestors to abide by the country's laws after the Saudi embassy was set fire to and devastated despite police reinforcements. However, the protagonists of the attack - 'students' and Basiji, volunteers from the Pasdaran often involved in similar incidents - clearly were aware of the procedures for embassy attacks and the limits of the 'semi-legality' in which they could act. Despite a ban on returning back to the area around the Saudi embassy - where there has not been an ambassador for about a year, though a few days ago an announcement had come that his replacement was to have arrived soon - and despite the about 50 arrests announced by the judiciary, more protests were held on Monday in the same location, with clashes and some policemen injured. The protests ended with a symbolic act by those taking part: a sign that replaced 'Boustan Street' with that of 'Sheikh Nimr'. The official protest was instead being held in Felestin Square in the center of the capital, full of both old and new slogans against the Saudis - called ''American mercenaries'' - and the country's longstanding enemy Israel. Foreign Minister Javad Zarif meanwhile accused Riyadh of violating human rights and supporting terrorism in telephone calls with EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini - who tried to ''tone down tensions'' and curb the escalation - and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, whose human rights commissioner said that the Saudi executions were disturbing. President Rouhani said that both human rights and Muslim values had been violated, while Iran's Revolutionary Guards insisted that Saudi Wahhabism and Salafism were responsible for the rise of terrorism and ISIS. Riyadh responded by saying that ''the Iranian regime is the last in the world that can accuse others of supporting terrorism'', a Saudi ministry official said, seeing as it ''sponsors terrorism and has been condemned by the UN and many countries'' including the US, which includes on its list of terrorist groups ones that Iran supports in Gaza and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. (ANSAmed).




Last week, the Administrative Court of Braunschweig decided that the German Ministry of Transport was entitled to reject the 29 Etihad Airways - airberlin codeshares, which had been approved only until 15 January 2016.

As the notice of appeal was filed in the higher administrative court in Luneburg today, Etihad Airways president and chief executive officer, James Hogan, reiterated the airlines unwavering support for airberlin, saying it remained committed to the German carrier, to competition and to consumer choice for German travellers.

He said: With airberlin, we are working to ensure that no traveller suffers as a result of this dispute, and all bookings will be honoured. We will fight all the way to protect our investment, to protect our partnership with airberlin and to protect competitive choice in German air travel.

Hogan said Etihad Airways commitment to airberlin was in stark contrast to the lack of support demonstrated by the German Ministry of Transport for a proud German airline.

Etihad Airways took a 29.2 per cent stake in airberlin in 2011, following encouragement from German regional and national Government representatives. The airlines had approval for codeshare services on a total of 63 air routes, providing German travellers with new choices to destinations around the world. In the summer of 2014, the German Ministry of Transport raised concerns about 29 of the codeshares, based on lobbying by Lufthansa, and in November 2015 only approved the 29 codeshares until 15 January 2016. The remaining codeshares remain unaffected.

Hogan said: Together, airberlin and Etihad Airways have created new competitive choice for German travellers, based on codeshare services to international destinations that have operated for years without any concerns being raised as they are pro-competitive and increase consumer choice. That was entirely correct, given that they meet the terms of the air services agreement between Germany and the UAE  a fact confirmed not just by our own legal team and expert advisors but by a former Director-General of Civil Aviation for Germany.

Now, after four years of investing in Germany, supporting airberlin jobs as well as creating our own new employment in Germany, we find the rules have changed.

As a global business, we focus our investments in markets which will deliver long-term returns. We were encouraged to invest in airberlin. However, since that initial investment, we have faced a series of significant challenges, including the introduction of airport taxes, which have directly eroded airberlins profitability.

In other markets, such as Australia, India, Italy, Serbia and the Seychelles, our investments have been welcomed and supported. Yet in Germany, our commitment continues to be undermined by the lobbying efforts and protectionist tactics of Lufthansa, the national airline.

Unless the German government can show its commitment to support all German companies and German jobs, its reputation as a safe country in which to invest is at stake. Investors need every reassurance that the integrity of their investments in Germany will be respected and protected.

Etihad Airways is but one investor in one industry. But our experience will serve as a warning to others when it comes to making international investment decisions. Make no mistake. Protectionism will undoubtedly harm the investment landscape in Germany.
Qatar Airways was the official launch customer for the A350 and continues to be the leader in deploying the state-of-the-art aircraft around the world. As the last new commercial airliner scheduled for the coming decade, the A350 partnership marks Qatar Airways strong investment in technology, a superior travel experience and its commitment to maintaining one the youngest, most advanced fleet in the sky.

The Airbus A350 XWB was designed from start to finish to meet the needs of todays international flyer, said Qatar Airways Group chief executive, Akbar Al Baker. At Qatar Airways, we never cease searching for new ways to enhance the passenger experience and with the A350, we have the ideal platform to take global aviation into the next decade.

Among the many advancements of the Airbus A350, the aircraft features a host of eco-efficiency tools, which combine for a 25% reduction in emissions versus the current generation of airliners. The aircraft has an overall capacity of 283 passengers, including 36 business class seats, placed in a spacious 1-2-1 configuration.

Perhaps most welcome of all, the new aircraft boasts an extensive set of features proven to reduce jet lag. The A350 is equipped with a dynamic LED lighting system, which cycles tones and colours to suit the time of day and destination. A high precision air management system filters the air every few minutes and is combined with lower cabin pressure and optimal humidity to counter the effects of international travel and refresh passengers on arrival.

The A350 has transcended modern aviation standards and our only challenge has been choosing which of our over 150 destinations would be among the first to enjoy it, said Al Baker. The city of Philadelphia has been an outstanding partner since we launched in 2014 and it is our pleasure to reward regional travellers with the chance to experience the future of global aviation, today.
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Manama and Khartoum follow Riyadh. The United Arab Emirates downgrade their diplomatic relations with Iran to the level of charge daffaires. Demonstrations and clashes spread in Bahrain, Lebanon, Pakistan, and Indian Kashmir. Three Sunni mosques are bombed in Iraq. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani expresses balanced words. Al-Nimrs brother slams the violence.

Manama (AsiaNews)  A number of countries have taken diplomatic action against Iran amid a row over Saturdays execution of a prominent Saudi Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr.

Following the lead of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan have severed diplomatic ties with Tehran.

In Bahrains case, Media Affairs Minister Isa Al-Hamadi announced that his government was breaking off relations. The small Gulf State had often accused Iran of fomenting tensions between the countrys Shia majority and its ruling Sunni minority.

The United Arab Emirates announced this morning that it was recalling its ambassador from Iran and downgrading diplomatic relations to the level of charge daffaires.

In Iran, angry demonstrators yesterday stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, and its consulate in Mashhad.

For many observers, Nimr al-Nimrs death could spark a regional conflict. So far, it has led to demonstrations and clashes with the police in many Islamic countries.

Yesterday police in Bahrain clashed with protesters in several suburbs of the capital Manama, among them Jidhafs, Sitra, Duraz and Bilad al-Qadeem.

Security forces used tear gas against protesters in Duraz who blocked a road and hurled stones at police.

Because many demonstrators were underage, local authorities said that parents might be fined or arrested.

In Lebanon, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah launched a blistering attack against Saudi Arabia over al-Nimrs execution, lamenting that in that land and that kingdom, criticism, objection and debate are prohibited.

Comparing the Saudi kingdom's rulers to the extremist Islamic State group, Nasrallah said Daesh (IS) and the House of Saud are advocates of the same school of thought, the same books and the same practices.

Hezbollahs chief added that the signs of the end of this tyrannical, oppressive, criminal and takfiri regime have started to loom in the horizon.

In Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani branded Nimrs execution an "unjust aggression".

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi confirmed that three Sunni mosques were attacked in the city of Hilla, Babil governorate, on Sunday night, warning Iraqis against sectarian conflict.

In Pakistan, thousands of Shias protested against the Shia clerics execution in Quetta, Lahore, Karachi and Islamabad, calling for Pakistan to break off diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia.

Saudi foreign minister Adel bin Ahmed al-Jubeir, who was scheduled to arrive in Islamabad Sunday evening, postponed his visit to Pakistan, a country already highly polarised between the Sunni majority (80 per cent) and the Shia minority (15%).

In Srinagar, the main city of Indian-administered Kashmir, hundreds of angry Shias clashed with police as they too protested al-Nimrs execution.

Demonstrators bearing pictures of the dead cleric chanted "down with al-Saud dynasty," referring to Saudi leaders, calling them "stooges of America" as they marched toward the city centre.

Not all reactions were violent. Irans President Hassan Rouhani, whilst condemning the execution, called the attack against the Saudi embassy in Iran "totally unjustifiable".

"I have no doubt that the Saudi government has damaged its image, more than before, among the countries in the world -- in particular (among) Islamic countries -- by this un-Islamic act," he said in a statement.

Yet, the people of Iran "will not allow rogue elements" to use the incident and "carry out illegal actions that damage the dignity of the Islamic republic establishment", he added.

In Saudi Arabia, Mohammed al-Nimr (alnemer), the brother of Nimr al-Nimr, on Monday condemned retaliatory attacks on the kingdom's diplomatic missions in Iran, insisting, "We love our country".

In English, he tweeted, "We appreciate your love towards the martyr #Sheikh_AlNimr who lives in our hearts but we refuse attacks on #Saudi ambassies (sic) in #Iran or others".
The Communist Party launches new internal rules: expulsion and prison for officials who believe in "feudal superstitions." Xi Jinping warns members not to ask questions that should not be asked. Analysts fear a new wave of repressions against the five official religions.

Beijing (AsiaNews) - The Chinese Communist Party has launched new and more stringent rules to punish members who believe "feudal superstitions." For the first time, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has categorized specific types of infringement in new rules which came into force on Jan. 1, 2016, covering the 88 million Party members.



The "feudal superstitions" are in fact for some tenets of Taoism and Buddhism. The practice of feng shui - the art of geomancy that aims to harmonize the universe - and the prediction of the future are specifically targted. The latter also includes the traditions of Tibetan Buddhism related to the rebirth of the Lama. According to Xinhua, the official Chinese agency, "a large number of high-level Communist officials have been accused in recent years of taking part in these practices."



In the latest edition of the internal rules, dated 2003, "feudal superstitions" were categorized in "activities that disrupt Party productivity". The new category has instead been created specifically: the penalty for those who "organize" these activities is expulsion and later putting impeached; those who "participate" is first warned and then expelled. In recent days, the Commission indicted and arrested a senior executive of the province of Ningxia, Bai Xueshan, accused of having put "too much faith" in their own feng shui.



Central Commission for Discipline Inspection has also published a new book with the "information which collected previously undisclosed remarks made by Xi since the partys 18th congress in November 2012. Among these a passage stands out in which the president - also Secretary General of the Party and army chief - warns the Communist officials "not to discuss central policies in public " and "not to ask questions that should not be asked." All just a few days ahead of the next general meeting of the Commission, which is scheduled from 12 to 14 January 2016.



According to several experts, this series of restrictions demonstrates the central governments aim to increasingly target the five traditional religions of the country. The Party recognizes Catholicism, Protestant Christianity, Islam, Buddhism and Taoism but only if they fall within government structures. In recent years, however, the freedom of the faithful has increasingly shrunk: this latest appeal and new punishments against "feudal superstition" is a further step in this direction.
by Sumon Corraya

Ahmed Rajib Haider was the first writer to be assassinated in 2013 because of his atheism and ideas contrary to Islam. A special court issues two death sentences and six jail terms for his killers. Only five years in prison to the Islamic leader who instigated the murder. The victim's father: "faulty and inconsistent judgment. I will appeal. "

Dhaka (AsiaNews)  A Dhaka court has handed down two death sentences and six prison terms in the first ever trial against the killers of an "atheist" blogger in Bangladesh. A special court issued the quickly reached verdict for those responsible for the murder of Ahmed Rajib Haider, who was killed in 2013 and was the first in a long list of victims of Islamic fundamentalism, a list that continues to grow.



Foysal Bin Nayeem and Rezanur Azad Rana, students sentenced to death and forced to pay 10 thousand taka (about 116 Euros). Rana is still at large. Maksudul Hassan Anik, who was also responsible for the killing of blogger, was sentenced to life imprisonment and to pay a fine. Ahsanur Reza Rumman, Nafis Imtiaz and Nayeem Shikdar Irad have received five years in prison and a fine of 5 thousand taka.



These are the first convictions for the killers of a blogger. The court's decision to spare the mastermind of the attack has however sparked protests by civil society and the victim's family. The Muslim leader Jasimuddin Rahmani, is considered the instigator of five murders of bloggers and writers was sentenced to only five years in prison.

Members of Ganajagaran Mancha, movement for bloggers rights, have denounced the punishment as "lenient", taking to the streets in Dhaka and staging a protest. Imran Sarker, a demonstrator, said: "In any trial, the instigators receive the highest penalty. But this man [Rahmani ed] has only been given five years in prison. And one of the two condemned men has yet to be arrested. This is not at all the verdict that people expected. We reject it".

Nazim Uddin, father murdered man, wonders how "confessed murderers" can get away with it and not be put to death. The man announced that he will appeal to the High Court against a verdict he considers "faulty and inconsistant".



The situation is becoming riskier for those who do not share the ideology of Islam. For some time, Muslim extremists have been targeting free thinkers and democracy activists, justifying their killing by calling their victims "atheists".

Ahmed Rajib Haider was the first blogger to be killed for his anti-Islam" ideas in 2013. So far this year, four other bloggers have lost their lives.

In February Avijt Roy was murdered near the University Dhaka; in late March, also in the capital, Muslim fundamentalists hacked to death Oyasiqur Rahman; two months later, it was the turn of Ananta Bijoy Das, who was murdered in Sylhet; and finally, Niloy Chakrabarti was killed, execution style, in August in broad daylight, under the eyes of his mother and sister. On October 31, progressive publisher Faisal Arefin Dipan was stabbed to death.
Police is looking for Nasha'at Melhem, 31, in connection with the Hasimta pub shooting that left two people dead and seven injured. High-ranking government officials attend the victims funerals. The suspect, who suffers from mental problems, had attacked a soldier in the past. Two Jewish extremists (one underage) have been indicted for the arson attack against a Palestinian family in Duma.

Jerusalem (AsiaNews)  Israeli police continue their search for Nasha'at Melhem, 31, an Arab-Israeli from northern Israel, suspected of killing two people and injuring seven in a shooting on 1 January in a bar in Tel Aviv. Thousands of people, including high-ranking government officials, attended the victims funerals yesterday.

So far, police have failed to find the suspect but investigators are convinced he is still in Tel Aviv, but units specialising in locating and neutralising perpetrators were combing the city.

Israeli authorities went house-to-house on Saturday in various sections of Tel Aviv. Some unconfirmed reports suggest he might have left Israel to enter the territories in the West Bank

"All of our emphasis at this moment in time is finding that suspect and all the different organizations  security organisations here in Israel  are working together to find that man," police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said.

Israeli authorities believe Melhem is the gunman who sprayed bullets from an automatic weapon near the Hasimta pub on Dizengoff Street in Tel Aviv, on 1 January, killing two and injuring at least seven before fleeing.

More than 24 hours after the shooter was last seen, police continued to press the urgent search because the shooter, who fired off more than 15 rounds in "a number of different directions, remains a public security threat.

So far, the authorities have indicated they were only hunting for a single suspect; however, police are still trying to determine whether the shooter was "a murderer who acted alone" in a criminal act or act of terror, authorities said.

Some Israeli media have spoken to the relatives of the alleged attacker, including his father and an uncle. The latter said that his nephew had psychological problems and had been previously sentenced to five years in prison for attempting to steal an Israeli soldier's weapon.

The father, who recognised him from CCTV footage, said he was deeply sorry for what happened. I wish all the injured a speedy recovery. And I share the pain over this attack. Whether Arab or Israeli, I am sorry for everyone involved, he told reporters outside the family home.

The father, who works as a volunteer for Israeli police, discovered after the attack that a weapon he kept in a safe at home was missing, the uncle said. It was not immediately known whether that was the weapon used in the attack. However, the shooter's brother is being held on suspicion of being an aid in the murder.

Local CCTV cameras show the young man entering a grocery store, pulling out a weapon, and starting to shoot into a nearby bar. He then turned towards a business and fired from a distance of about 150 metres, before fleeing. His motives are still unknown.

Meanwhile, Israeli authorities have indicted two Jewish suspects in connection with the 31 July arson attack in Duma, near the West Bank city of Nablus, against the house of a Palestinian family in which three people died, including a 16-month old baby.

Saad and Riham Dawabshe and their infant son Ali were burnt alive. A second son, four-year-old Ahmad, survived the attack.

Six months since the attack, Israeli prosecutors charged two people connected with Jewish rightwing groups. Amiram Ben-Uliel, a 21-year-old man from Jerusalem, was indicted, along with a 17-year-old youth from the northern West Bank who was not named because he is a minor.

Israeli police and Shin Bet have detained several other people in connection with the crime, but it was unclear on Sunday whether they were still in custody or had been released.

According to the indictment, the Duma attack was carried out in retaliation for the fatal drive-by shooting near a West Bank settlement that killed Malachai Rosenfeld, a Jewish Israeli man, earlier in July.

The latest events come as tensions continue to rise in Israel and Palestine. An Israeli civilian was shot and wounded in Jerusalem and an Israeli soldier was stabbed and wounded in Hebron.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has called the spate of attacks  the knife (or third) intifada  a "wave of terror."

Some 20 Israelis have died since October, whilst Israeli forces killed more than 80 Palestinians in the same period, including protesters who died in clashes, as well as attacks.

Nearly 1.75 million of Israel's 8.4 million citizens are Arab.
by Sumon Corraya

The quake registered 29 kilometers from the Indian city of Imphal, in the state of Manipur, at a depth of 17 kilometers and also felt by the Burmese. The initial toll is five victims in India and three in Bangladesh; over 30 injured. The people took to the streets in Bangladesh for fear of collapsing buildings.

Dhaka (AsiaNews) - A strong 6.7 magnitude earthquake was registered in the early hours of this morning in the Indian state of Manipur, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh. The initial toll is of five people dead in India and three in Bangladesh. However no casualties have so far been reported in Myanmar, where the quake hit an area of low population density.

According to the USGS (US seismological institute), the epicenter is located about 29 km from the city of Imphal, the capital of the Indian state, and originated at a depth of 17 kilometers. The quake was felt up to Dhaka (over 350 kilometers), where people took to the streets for fear of collapsing buildings, and Calcutta (about 600 kilometers).



The earthquake occurred at 4:35 (local time). The greatest damage was caused by the collapse of buildings. In addition to the eight confirmed dead, thirty people were reported wounded in the collapse of houses and shops. Among the buildings destroyed, a newly constructed building in Imphal.



Eyewitnesses reported panic in the city, where people took to the streets and gathered in open places. In addition, the electrical system is undergoing interruptions and delays, and the authorities are evacuating e buildings at risk.



Caritas Bangladesh and other Catholic associations are starting to organize forms of support to people affected by earthquake.
Causeway Bay Bookshop owner Lee Bo is the fifth person to vanish. His store and a publishing house associated with it are known for releasing and selling books on the mainlands ongoing power struggle and on the private lives of its Communist leaders. Many Hong Kongers took to the street to protest their disappearance. For Hong Kongs chief executive, it is not acceptable if mainland legal agencies enforced law in Hong Kong; however, nothing indicates mainland agencies were involved.

Hong Kong (AsiaNews)  Many in Hong Kong are increasingly concerned about the fate of five people associated with the Causeway Bay Bookstore, whose stocks cover mainland politics, and the private life of its Communist rulers. Critics blame Beijing authorities for their disappearance. Meanwhile, the store is closed.

Bookseller Lee Bo was last seen on Wednesday. Police said they were going through local CCTV footage to see if mainland agents were involved.

According to Hong Kong-based newspaper Ming Pao, Lee Bo's wife received three calls from him. During the conversation, he told her in Mandarin that he was "cooperating with police investigation, but did not explain which: Honk Kong or mainland. He also asked her to keep a low profile and that he "would not be coming back anytime soon".

Phone records show the number used to call her was in Shenzhen (southern China).

On Sunday, activists protested outside the Beijing's liaison office to ask for explanations and whereabouts of the missing people.

Lee Bo is the fifth bookshop staff to disappear. The others are Swedish citizen and Mighty Current publishing house owner Gui Minhai, bookstore manager Lam Wing-kei, the publishing house general manager Lui Bo, and publishing house business manager Cheung Jiping. The first was reported missing in Thailand last October; the other three disappeared in November.

Pro-democracy Legislative Council Members Albert Ho and Lee Cheuk-yan took part in the protest.

For Ho, the staffs disappearance was possibly related to a book about the Xi Jinping's love story, which was slated for publication. For Lee, having mainland police enforce the law in Hong violated the principle of One country, two systems.

The latter, which entails a certain degree of political autonomy for the former British crown colony, was implemented in 1997 when Hong Kong was returned to Chinese sovereignty.

Speaking on the matter, Hong Kong Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying said on Monday that "it is not acceptable if mainland legal agencies enforced law in Hong Kong" and "violate the Basic Law". However, he also noted that there were no indications of the activity of mainland agencies.

In an editorial, the Global Times, a daily Communist party tabloid in English, said on Monday that people should not hype up that Lee Bo was taken away by cross border personnel, describing the books published by Causeway Bay Bookshop as malicious attacks that harmed the reputation of officials.

Founded in 1994, the bookshop has been popular with mainland tourists as a source of books banned in the mainland.

In recent years, mainland authorities have thrown several Hong Kong publishers in jail. Yiu Man-tin, who was working on publications dealing with Chinese leaders, received a ten-year prison sentence for smuggling books. Wang Jianmin and Wo Zhongxiao were arrested for illegal businesses. (J. A.)
by Paul Dakiki

The announcement was made last night, after Iranian protesters stormed Riyadhs Tehran embassy and consulate in Mashad. Khamenei calls it "divine vengeance"; Rouhani condemned the assault on the Saudi embassy as "illegal" and "unjustified". Anti-Saudi demonstrations in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Indian Kashmir. Saudi Arabias hardening political positions.

Beirut (AsiaNews)  Irans foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir yesterday announced that Saudi Arabia has broken off diplomatic relations with Tehran after groups of protesters sacked its embassy the Iranian capital and the consulate in the city of Mashad . Al-Jubeir also said that all Iranian diplomats have been given notice that they must leave the country within 48 hours.

The demonstrations were sparked by the execution - two days ago  of Shia Nimr al-Nimr, accused of "terrorism" by the Saudi authorities. Along with al-Nimr another 46 "terrorists" were executed including some Sunnis belonging to al-Qaeda and other Shiites. Several of them were beheaded, others shot in front of a firing squad.

On the evening of January 2 hundreds of Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi Embassy in the northern district of Tehran throwing Molotov cocktails and looting consular offices.

Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei compared the Saudi executions to those perpetrated by the Islamic State and called for "divine retribution" on the house of Saud.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has been more composed in his response. He condemned the execution of al-Nimr as a "historic mistake", but also condemned the violence of the demonstrators at the embassy and asked judicial authorities to punish the perpetrators of such "illegal actions". Iranian police have arrested 44 people for the attack, described as "totally unjustified" by Rouhani.

The UN, US and European Union had previously recommended Riyadh not to execute al-Nimr to prevent fomenting new tension between Sunnis and Shiites, and especially a new front in the struggle between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The two nations have been locked in a decades long struggle for control over the Islamic world, which they fight by proxy in Syria and Yemen. In Syria, Tehran supports Assad and fights the Islamic State; Riyadh supports all Assads opponents.

In Yemen, Iran supports the Houthi minority (Shia branch); Saudi Arabia supports the government of Abd Rabbo Mansur Hadi, and accepts the collaboration of al-Qaeda rebel groups.

The killing of al-Nimr has led to Islamic Shia demonstrations and criticism worldwide, such as in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Pakistan and Indian Kashmir. Demonstrations of Shiites were held in Europe and the United States.

According to many analysts, the Saudis reckless action threatens to further inflame the Middle East region making it even more difficult to find solutions to the war in Syria and Yemen, while trying to open new dialogue on several fronts.

In addition, Riyadhs actions have given greater impetus to the conservatives in Tehran and the enemies of Rouhani, whose moderate position led to success in talks that led to the international agreement on the Iranian nuclear program.

Relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran have had ups and downs since the Khomeini revolution of 1979. Diplomatic relations were interrupted from 1987 to 1991, after clashes between Iranian pilgrims and Saudi forces in Mecca in 1987, where about 400 Iranians died.

In 2014 there were attempts at a distension, with an invitation extended to the Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and Rouhani to come on pilgrimage to Mecca, which, however, that never took place. The death of King Abdallah and the ascent to the throne of King Salman and especially the ambitious Mohammed bin Nayef (the kings nephew), as interior minister, and Mohammed Salman bin (the kings son), as defense minister has led to a hardening of Saudi Arabias political positions.
by Nirmala Carvalho

Police in Puttur in Karnataka stop celebrations to "protect" the Church, surrounded by Hindu radicals. The religious authorities called to testify and handed rules for future prayer services. These included the obligation to notify the police. Catholic leader: "In secular India, Christians are persecuted and vulnerable."

Bangalore (AsiaNews) - The Christian minority "is vulnerable and subjected to harassment and persecution by both extremist as well as authorities, who are responsible for protecting citizens. Clearly, Christians are considered second-class citizens in secular India, says Sajan K George, president of the Global Council of Indian Christians (GCIC).

George was commenting to AsiaNews on the umpteenth arrest of 15 Christians for alleged forced conversions in the Indian state of Karnataka. The incident happened on the eve of the new year in the parish of bannur Jodukatte Puttur, in the southern district of Kannada. The police interrupted the religious function of the Believers Church [a congregation of evangelical Protestants - ed] justifying the action as "protection" from the dozens of Hindu radicals who had surrounded the Church.

On the evening of 31 December 2015, the Protestant Church of bannur Jodukatte organized a prayer to usher in the new year. More than 15 people attended the celebration, mostly migrant workers from Perne, Salmara, bannur and Badagannur [various locations of Karnataka - ed].

The function attracted the attention of members of two Hindu extremist ultranationalist groups, the Bajrang Dal and the Vishwa Hindu Parishad. The radicals tried to stop the ceremony by raiding the church, but were blocked by locked doors. Police intervened to "calm tempers" and took faithful from within the church to the nearest police station, they were released after a few hours.

The next day the religious leaders were called to testify and ensure that there has been no attempt to proselytize. Police handed them rules to be observed in the future, including the obligation to alert the authorities ahead of all prayer services and celebrations.

The president of the GCIC reports that no action has been taken "against those who disturb social peace". "The GCIC  he concludes - strongly condemns the police actions, who intervened quickly and acted against people who were praying in a private place. The police should have only dispersed the mob that had gathered outside the church. "
Valentine's Gift Ideas For Her

All The Valentine's Day Gifts That'll Keep You In Her Good Books

Page 1 of 6

The AskMen editorial team thoroughly researches & reviews the best gear, services and staples for life. AskMen may get paid if you click a link in this article and buy a product or service.

As holiday season comes to an end, you might not be thinking of shopping for the perfect Valentine's Day gift for her yet. But you don't want to be the guy who ends up giving a half-assed gift  because you know she's going to give you a great one. Whether she admits it or not, Valentine's Day is kind of a big deal to most ladies, and finding the perfect gift is a great place to start.

Valentine's Day gifts can be touchy depending on what type of relationship you're in  did you just start dating? Have you been together for years?  and it can be easy to overthink the whole thing. That's why we've come up with an eclectic mix of cool and budget-friendly Valentine's Day gift ideas, so that you can take a load off and just enjoy spending a little one-on-one time with your date.

This year, skip the chocolates and flowers. We've curated some of the best Valentine's Day gifts for her to help you get the holiday going. Cheers to straying from the cliche Valentine's Day gift ideas that you'll get from the mall  here's how to make it count this year.

MVMT Watches

Simple and stylish, the watches from MVMT have all the characteristics of an everyday essential. But beyond just looking good, they're equipped with some solid specs: 3-hand quartz movement; 10mm hardened mineral crystal; and a wide variety of stylish straps. Free worldwide shipping, two-year warranty included.

Prices vary, Buy It Here



Kate Spade 'Heart Of Gold' Bangle

This bangle from Kate Spade New York is elegant in its minimalist look and tiny inscription detailing. It can be paired with either casual or formal attire  perfect for the classic woman.

$44.99, Buy It Here



Polaroid Snap

Whoever said film was dead clearly hasn't seen the Polaroid snap yet. Polaroid's latest spin on their classic camera is a great way for her to capture memories on Valentine's Day and beyond.

$184, Buy It Here

24K Gold-Dipped Natural Rose

Looking for a gift that will reap dividends for the rest of your life? Avoid the fleeting buzz that a regular rose provides and give one that embodies love that lasts a lifetime with an Eternity Rose. A natural rose dipped in 24-karat gold, the Eternity Rose is the perfect combination of everything shes hoping for on Valentines Day: Romance, roses and gold. Shipped to you with fast and free delivery in an exquisite case with certificate of authenticity, this is a gift that not only proves to her you know how to do Valentines Day right, but every day after as well.

From $129, Buy It Here

Tiny XO Studs

They're simple, sure, but sometimes the smallest gifts say the most. The tiny XO studs by Bing Bang NYC are made in the USA using 14k yellow gold. The whimsical design is just enough to add a touch of personality to any outfit  however the subtlety allows for easy work-to-play transitioning.

$65, Buy It Here



Fitbit Flex 2

Fitbits activity tracker  one, if not the, worlds best  isnt so much about fitness than it is about taking care of yourself. Getting a good sleep, taking a nice walk, eating healthy are all things that make us feel better. Fitbit is a reminder: her body is a temple.

From $149.95, Buy It Here

Mophie Power Reserve 1X

While she may have heard about mophie before, she likely hasn't caught a glimpse of the sleek new mophie Power Reserve 1X. This little device offers 80% faster changing than its older relatives and with colourways like rose gold and magenta, it's a whole lot sleeker too.

$35.95, Buy It Here

Tile Mate

The rush of the modern world has made it difficult to keep up with things and easier to forget them. Tile is a handy tracker thatll save her the pain of losing life essentials (think keys, bag, wallet).

$38, Buy It Here

50 Red Roses

Sometimes a traditional romantic gift is just what Dr Cupid ordered, and nothing says romance like a big bunch of red roses. Luck for you, to celebrate Valentines Day this year, ALDI is offering its customers 50 fresh stem red roses for just $50 (thats just $1 per rose for the mathematically challenged among you - which is great value!) Grab a bunch in-store while stocks last.

Baggu Stash Clutch

Equal parts chic and practical, the stash clutch by Baggu will look perfectly at home in any wardrobe.

From $72, Buy It Here



Pearls Of Happiness

A simple and delicate classic is always a sure way of showing your love. The single freshwater pearl is a modern take on the pearl necklace every woman should own.

$79.95, Buy It Here



Marc Jacobs Daisy Rollerball Trio

For the girl whos always on the go, it can be tough to stay fresh after long days at work or even longer flights. Marc Jacobs rollerballs fit perfectly in a purse, clutch, or briefcase, so they are a great gift for any girl. Plus, there are three different scents, so if youre not sure what smells she prefers, you can be sure at least one of these will be a home run.

$59, Buy It Here



The Monocle Guide to Cosy Homes

Everyone knows a house doesnt make a home. Monocles latest must-have aspirational life guide makes any homemaking book by Ms. Stewart seem about as interesting as a dictionary. Slide this onto any coffee table and, who knows, maybe its surroundings will slowly pick up on its influence.

$72.47, Buy It Here



Aesop Hand Balm

In the vein of skin nourishment, her hard-working hands need the same TLC as her soft lips. Aesop does that well with this light cream made entirely with natural ingredients that will leave her paws smelling and feeling splendid.

$31, Buy It Here

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What Is Making A Murderer And Why Are People Signing A Petition?

Trending News: The Making A Murderer Petition, Explained

Why Is This Important?

Because people havent been this fired up for a murder trial since OJ.

Long Story Short

Fans of the hit Netflix documentary Making a Murderer have created a change.org petition thats reached 100,000 signatures. Another petition at whitehouse.gov, calling for President Obama to pardon the subject of the documentary, has reached over 19,000.

Long Story

If youre not watching Netflixs Making a Murderer, first of all who are you? Secondly, youre missing out on some really compelling television. In brief, Making a Murderer follows a Wisconsin man named Steven Avery, who through a series of gross police misconduct winds up imprisoned in 1985 for a sexual assault he didnt commit. He was exonerated and released via DNA evidence in 2003, but his taste of freedom was brief: In 2005, he was arrested, charged and later convicted of murdering a young photographer.

The twist?

Avery and his defense lawyers believe that he was framed by local law enforcement because he was suing them for $36 million after an initial state investigation failed to thoroughly condemn the people who put him behind bars in 1985.

I assure you that if you watch the series, its presented in such a way that makes Averys narrative pretty compelling. Im apparently not the only one to think so, because a change.org petition asking President Obama to pardon Avery has reached over 165,000 online signatures. Another petition at whitehouse.gov (which the administration will publicly address if it reaches 100,000 signatures) calling for the same thing has reached just over 19,000 signatures.

Calling the popularity of Making a Murderer strange is putting it mildly. The docuseries finds a way to deftly connect with viewers from all walks of life  if youve had a bad encounter with police or simply believe that our justice system is stacked against the defendants, youll find ample evidence and police scandals to support that claim. Then again, if you believe that people who do bad things are inherently bad (Avery had prior, far less-serious brushes with the law), then youll find some catharsis in his eventual incarceration.

After the mishandling of Averys sexual assault case, Manitowoc law enforcement called in assistance from neighboring jurisdictions as soon as Steve Avery became a suspect in photographer Teresa Halbachs murder, specifically to avoid any accusations of impropriety. It didnt work, to say the least  the documentary shows some clear bungling on the part of the police, particularly the handling of Brendan Dassey, Averys nephew and accused accomplice. Of course, state prosecutors argue that the documentary left out a great deal of evidence that was presented to the jury, evidence that makes Averys claim of evidence planting and framing impossible.

All of this is to say that calling for a presidential pardon is probably a little extreme. A federal inquiry? Sure, why not. As weve seen in the past year in places like Ferguson, Cleveland and Baltimore, the people we rely on to enforce our laws dont always get it right, and the justice system, of which theyre an integral part, seems ill-prepared to fairly evaluate them. That doesnt mean that mob rule is a better alternative, though.

Own The Conversation

Ask The Big Question: Would anyone care if this wasnt on TV?

Disrupt Your Feed: The past year has taught me that theres no reason to automatically believe the cops.

Drop This Fact: Despite the apparent slant of the film, the filmmakers claim they have no opinion on Averys guilt or innocence.
Australians are generally accepting of cultural diversity and immigration, but concerned about changes impacting on social justice, according to new social research.However, those living in regional Australia have lower support for immigration, cultural diversity and the resettlement of asylum seekers arriving by boat in Australia than respondents living in capital cities. The survey report released by the Scanlon Foundation and produced in partnership with Monash University and the Australian Multicultural Foundation also found that people in regional areas are more likely to consider Australiais immigration intake to be too high with 44% of people holding this view, compared to 36% in capital cities but in both areas, this is a minority view.People in Melbourne and Canberra have the highest level of support for cultural diversity, compared with those in Brisbane and Perth who are most negative while the lowest level of trust in the federal government was in Victoria, the highest level in Queensland and Western Australia.Report author, Professor Andrew Markus said while the overall shift in the ScanlonMonash Index of social cohesion was positive and the upward trend in the social cohesion index shows that overall, Australia remains a stable and highly cohesive society.He explained that it shows experience of discrimination based on ethnic background and religion has lessened from 18% to 15% since 2014 and there continues to be a high level of acceptance of immigration and cultural diversity."Most people, 86%, agree that multiculturalism has been good for Australia, almost the same proportion as in 2013 and 2014. However, in the domain of social justice, there has been a decline in satisfaction since the election of the Coalition government. This reflects concern over lack of support for those on low incomes, the increasing gap between rich and poor, and continuing low trust in government," said Markus.He pointed out that trust in government has been down since 2009. Just 16% of respondents agreed that the system of government in Australia works fine as it is, and only 30% agree that government can be trusted to do the right thing for Australian people ealmost alwaysi or emost of the timei.Key findings also show that in 2015, economic concerns remain on top in the ranking of the most important issue facing Australia today, with national security, terrorism, and social issues ranking second.Economic issues have ranked first as a major problem facing Australia in the last four surveys, but concern is not increasing. In 2015 some 24% of people have indicated dissatisfaction with their present financial situation, the same as the previous year.In response to questions on integration, two thirds of agreed that Australians should do more to learn about the customs and heritage of immigrants, while a similar proportion agreed that immigrants should change their behaviour to be more like Australians."The survey found considerable support for the idea that both people born in Australia and immigrants needed to adapt to life in a changing Australia," said Markus.
Hi all,



I'm wondering if somebody is able to help with a few questions I have regarding bridging visas and work rights.



My partner is an American citizen (I'm a New Zealand citizen currently residing in Australia on a SCV)



My partner has currently been in Australia for 15 months on a holiday visa (600) which expires 26/08/2016. The holiday visa has 'no work" and 'maximum 3 months study' conditions imposed.



We are currently in the process of applying for a visa subclass 461 (New Zealand Citizen Family Relationship) which would allow my partner to live and work in Australia for 5 years.



Once the application for the 461 visa is lodged, can my partner apply for a bridging visa right away?



Can my partner apply for work rights on the bridging visa if the substantive visa we have applied for (subclass 461) would allow full working rights?



Does the bridging visa only take effect after the first substantive visa (holiday visa 600) has expired, or if work rights were granted with the bridging visa, can this bridging visa be used even if the holiday visa is still currently valid?



Thanks in advance for any information.
Benelli showcased three exciting India-bound motorcycles at EICMA. We take a look at what else the Italian manufacturer has planned for the year.

The Benelli line-up in India is going from strength to strength. The launch of the TNT 25 has cemented the Italian motorcycles foothold at the starting range of the premium bike market. Shrewd pricing and adaptations for the Indian market make the Benelli range very tempting and now, the Indo-Sino-Italian combination is ready to tear into more segments. At the EICMA 2015, Benelli showcased a few new motorcycles and they are all headed to India in 2016. Heres when you can expect them.

Storm in a suit: Tornado 302; Expected: Q1 2016

Armed with a 300cc, in-line two, liquid-cooled engine, the Tornado 302 will be showcased at the upcoming 2016 Auto Expo. The motorcycle is good for 34.8bhp of maximum power at 12,000rpm, and a healthy 2.7kgm of maximum torque at 9,000rpm. It also has a six-speed gearbox.

The Tornado 302 will get upside-down forks up front, and a monoshock at the rear suspending the steel tube frame. Braking is via dual 260mm discs up front, and a 240mm disc at the rear, both equipped with an anti-lock braking system. This motorcycle will rival the recently launched Yamaha YZF-R3, and the Ninja 300. The Tornado 302 is expected to be launched at a premium of Rs 30,000 over the current model, when it is launched in the first quarter next year.

More Muscle: TNT 400; Expected: H2 2016

This is a very exciting approach by Benelli as they plan to upgrade the TNT 300's engine to 400cc. This bored out motor will offer sportier performance and with this you can expect power to rival other motorcycles in the segment. This combination will give the TNT serious bite to take on other twin-cylinder motorcycles from Japan and make for a very strong value proposition. Expect the price to increase only slightly from its current point.

Scrambler fever: Leoncino; Expected Q3 2016

Benelli will also showcase the Ducati Scrambler-like Leoncino at the Auto Expo next year. When we saw the prototype at EICMA, we were impressed by its modern feel and high-quality finish. LED headlamp inserts, a seat finished in Alacantara leather and LED tail-lights are some of the premium features on it.

Powering the motorcycle is a 499.6cc twin cylinder, liquid-cooled, DOHC engine with a four valve layout. The engine is good for 46.9bhp of maximum power, and 4.6kgm of torque. This too, gets upside-down forks on the front, and a monoshock at the rear. Braking is via 320mm discs on the front and a 260mm disc on the rear. The motorcycle comes equipped with ABS.

The Benelli Leoncino is expected to launch later, sometime around August or September. It is expected to be priced around Rs 4 lakh.

Hungry for Adventure: TRK 502

Last but not the least is the Benelli TRK 502, which is an adventure motorcycle. While this one shares its name with the larger ones, it does not take its design cues from those. In fact, it looks quite similar to the larger adventure motorcycles out of Bavaria. It gets a similar engine as the Leoncino, a 499.6cc twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled engine that has a four valve per cylinder layout, and DOHC. It too, makes 46.9bhp of maximum power, and 4.6kgm of maximum torque.

Suspending the motorcycle are upside-down forks on the front and a monoshock at the rear. Performing braking duties are dual 320mm discs from Brembo at the front, and a 260mm disc at the rear. To make it adventure-worthy, it will most likely be shod with knobby type tyres on the 19-17 inch wheels. It even gets high ground clearance of 230mm. We expect the motorcycle to be priced between Rs 4-4.5 lakh.

Updates: 600i and GT

Alongside this, Benelli has also been working on improving the brakes on the models in its current line-up, and has been testing anti-lock braking systems on them. The safer Benelli TNT 600i and the TNT 600 GT should be ready in the next couple of months. However, be ready to shell out an extra Rs 10-15,000 for the added safety.

With all these launches in the pipeline, DSK Benelli has plans to expand their assembly capabilities for which a new location near Pune is being readied. With an expanding dealership network DSK Benelli is looking to give motorcyclists much to get excited about!
The smallest and most affordable Range Rover gets a cosmetic upgrade, but little else.

What is it?

Land Rover took the wraps off the facelifted Range Rover Evoque in February 2015 at the Geneva Motor Show, so you can imagine our disappointment in March 2015 when the updated car launched in India wasnt this one. That was a locally assembled version of the old car, with the new nine-speed automatic gearbox and a bit more standard equipment. Now, however, just eight months on, the proper Evoque facelift has been launched.

Trouble is, since so many updates were added to the previous car, nothing substantial has been added this time around. The obvious change is the look, which has been brought in line with the bigger Range Rovers, and consequently, now looks a little more different from the lesser Discovery line of SUVs. Youll find RRs new signature W-shaped LED running lights, a glossy black grille and a front bumper with two massive faux air intakes, similar to the functional ones on the powerful Range Rover Sport SVR. The rear has a more aggressive looking diffuser and a new design for the tail-lamps. And finally, a new design for the 18-inch alloy wheels on top-spec cars and this fetching new Phoenix Orange paint shade round off the visual changes.

Whats it like on the inside?

Absolutely nothing has been changed on the inside, save for the introduction of new upholstery colour options. But dont fix what isnt broken, right? The soft-touch, textured leather surfaces is just sublime, and though some of the plastics could be a little more substantial, the overall sensation of luxury combined with robustness, as with any Range Rover, is abundant here too. All the great equipment from before returns too, with 360-degree cameras, ambient lighting, a heads-up display and an exemplary 825-watt, 17-speaker Meridian sound system, but nothing new. Interestingly, while the home screen of the touchscreen infotainment system resembles JLRs new InControl interface, its merely a skin, under which lies the clunky interface from before. The model range is now split into four variants rather than three, with the base Pure trim now costing a little less than before.
Thanks to this initiative, around 700 employees at GM Chinas Shanghai headquarters can now ride to work together with their colleagues, using a self-developed mobile app. Drivers can input their preferred routes, departure time, and seats available, and then, the system quickly offers a number of drivers for riders to approach. When a commuter is accepted, the mobile app instantly shows one fewer available seats.According to Vivian Yu, head of GM China Urban Active Projects, the program merges the Internet with intelligent mobile technology and it will not only benefit our team members but also enable us to test software systems in everyday usage scenarios.Julia Steyn, GM vice president at Urban Active, thinks that this initiative will help the company to further expand its activities in alternate transportation models in China, and also learn more about vehicle user behavior.The idea for this pilot program in Shanghai comes after GM launched its first residential car-sharing initiative, called Lets Drive NYC, in the U.S. This mobility service uses some integrated OnStar connectivity technologies and services, and access to OnStar advisers with the push of a button.In Europe, through its Opel brand, the American company released CarUnity, a peer-to-peer sharing service. Thanks to this program, dealers and their fleets provide a number of available vehicles for sharing.All these moves prove that, in recent months, General Motors invested a lot of time and money in this type of community services, and further initiatives will come in the first quarter of 2016.The American carmaker has been a major player in the automotive world since 1908, and China is one of its most important markets, with more than 58,000 employees and more than 3.5 million vehicles sold in this country.
EV

With the Ioniq, Hyundai plans to take important steps in becoming the global green car market leader. The car, based on a new platform, offers three electrified drivetrains, such as the hybrid, plug-in hybrid and an all electrical variant. According to Yang Woong-chul, the companys global R&D chief, the vehicles technology is entirely different from Toyotas or any other carmaker.Specialists say that the South Korean company has to step up its game in terms of alternative drivetrains because, until now, Hyundai hasnt been committed enough and itsand Hybrid vehicles performance was far behind its competitors.All three versions of the Ioniq will use lithium polymer batteries made by LG Chem, which are apparently better than any other batteries utilized by rivals because the polymer structure is safer than the traditional lithium-ion. Yang also says that the new vehicles powertrain has been improved when compared to the hybrid system used in the Sonata Hybrid sedan.Highway fuel efficiency is imperative in America because drivers there spend a lot of time in high-speed, long-distance commutes. The companys official didnt give any pieces of information regarding the fuel economy figure for the Ioniq, but said that while the Prius gets its best mileage in stop-and-go city traffic, the EV model from Hyundai will top its rival from Toyota on the highway.The one-motor, one-clutch system is a very tricky one because its quite hard to synchronize the spinning motor with the engine speed before engaging them through the clutch. Hyundai solved this problem by adopting a powerful central processor that was capable of doing a quick and smooth clutch lockup of just 0.6 seconds, as Automotive News reports.The Hyundai Ioniq is set to be launched this month in South Korea, followed by the Geneva International Motor Show and the New York Auto Show, both in March this year.
NHTSA

Fortunately, this story isnt about more deaths or injuries, but about a recent discovery of e-mails between Takata employees.According to a story from the New York Times , newly obtained e-mails between Takata employees have revealed knowledge of unfavorable data from internal testing, along with the intention of manipulating them to make the data unseen.An e-mail from 2006 written by an airbag engineer named Bob Schubert bears the text Happy Manipulating!!! after a reference to airbag tests.Another e-mail by the same Takata employee to another co-worker revealed suggestions to make the results harder to spot.According to NY Times, the employee suggested changing the colors or lines on some graphs to divert attention, so that his discussion partner could try to dress it up.His conversation partner promptly replied, If you think Im going to manipulate, you really should try and get to know me better, offering to deviate his results from running slightly high in tests at higher temperatures. Mr. Schubert then proceeded to defend himself writing that he did, in fact, manipulate testing results, but did that by amassing data together to disguise a phenomenon known as bimodal distribution. In laymans terms, bimodal distribution refers to a situation where parts being tested are not consistent in results.The mentioned e-mails got into the hands of NY Times editors after a personal injury lawsuit against Takata. The Japanese company defended itself in a statement which said that those e-mails only concerned formatting of data and were not related to defective airbags under recall.Basically, the company officials defended Mr. Schubert and explained that he only changed the format of a presentation. According to Takata officials, the engineer played a significant role in raising concerns about the previous testing data issues reference in the settlement within November 2015.Whatever the situation, we think such e-mails shouldnt have existed in the first place. Our opinion is shared by Mark Lillie, an engineer who used to work for Takata, who stated that these kinds of offhand remarks show that this is a systemic issue at Takata.According to NY Times, the Japanese companys practice of altering test results for its airbags has been going on since at least the year 2000. Back then, Takata began to introduce a new type of airbag inflator. The same kind of inflator is linked to the massive recall admitted by the company in May 2015, which affected millions of vehicles worldwide In case you forgot, the inflators in the affected airbags could shatter when the safety device was deployed and the situation would send shrapnel through the vehicles cabin. A really dangerous situation considering the velocities involved with airbags.
While the huayrabc hashtag that accompanied the car is new and it is not yet known what the bc letters stand for, the car itself isnt that new. This particular hypercar was spied in October 2015 , during a stint on the San Marina del Lago racetrack, in Italy.The circuit hasnt been chosen by mistake, as it is very close to Paganis headquarters, in San Cesaria sul Panaro, where the company founded by Horacio Pagani upgraded their workshop with a new, state-of-the-art factory.This new establishment is expected to be the birthplace of this ultra-fast version, as well as a roadster edition of Paganis latest model.A badass version of the Huayra is kind of a logical move, as all the 100 examples of the standard car have already been allocated, and rivals such as the Ferrari F12 Berlinetta or the Lamborghini Aventador Superveloce are challenging the vehicles hypercar status, so it is time for the Italian company to revitalize the market.The teased model will only be offered to 20 lucky customers, but you have to know that it isnt enough to have a couple of million dollars at your disposal, you must also be a Huayra client in order to be eligible for the purchase.Although it has a massive aero package, this wont be a track-only dream such as the mighty Zonda R. And to save you from getting your phone out and trying to scan the QR codes that wrap the entire car, well tell you that they only say to be continued.Most likely, the #huayrabc will be revealed at the 2016 Geneva Motor Show, this spring.
Uber decided to celebrate this milestone by giving Marvin a one years worth of free rides and to Ara a vacation to whatever Uber city he prefers, paid by the San Francisco-based company.The community where this special trip took place hasnt been forgotten either, as Uber made a donation to Hackney Pirates. This organization develops the literacy, confidence, and perseverance of children between 9 and 12 years old.Uber was founded in 2009 in San Francisco, California, by Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp, and beginning with 2012, the company expanded internationally. Even if it is a very popular service, there are some governments and taxi companies that question its legality by saying that Uber drivers are not licensed to drive taxicabs.Throughout the years, a number of cases have been reported where taxi drivers physically abused Uber drivers. The last one happened only a month ago, when, during a protest against the popular ride-hailing service, a cab driver with 22 years of experience from Toronto, Canada, attacked an UberX vehicle with a passenger inside.After pounding the drivers side window with his fists, the taxi driver was dragged for about 40 feet on Torontos Bay Street, until the car slowed down and the cab driver released his hands from the door handles.It seems that this war will never be over, and maybe now it will get even tougher, because we will see more and more UberXs on the streets, after Sidecar , one of the first to create an app for ride-destination tracking and a big name in the carpooling market, closed its shop after stating that it got harder and harder to keep up with Uber and Lyft.On a more funny note, Uber sort of launched its first ambulance service last month, after an Indian woman delivered a baby in an UberX vehicle while being rushed to the hospital.
X-Drive

SUV

With 2015 over, we can now talk clear numbers about what last year meant for the automotive industry in North America and, in this particular case, BMW. The overall numbers are still to arrive, but one thing is certain, and it wont make the eco-warriors very happy: BMW X models have accounted for 34 percent of the total 2015 US sales made by the Bavarian brand. More than a third represents a very significant chunk of the pie, even more so when you consider that only the fully-fledged X models were taken into account, ignoring the-equipped sedans or wagons.But if Ludwig Willisch, CEO of BMW North America, is to be believed, the only way to go for the crossover fraction is up. Speaking to Automotive News , he has said that the company expects theshare to rise all the way to 40 percent at the end of 2016. And there are solid facts to back his claim.Simply put, BMWs plants cant produce enough X model SUVs. Over the first nine months of last year, the demand exceeded the supply, and the launch of the new and vastly improved X1 will probably make things even worse. Or better, depending on which end of the stick you are.The remarkable detail about this growing need for large, mostly all-wheel-drive vehicles is that it happened despite an overall slump of the Chinese market. Now, BMW is expanding its Spartanburg, South Carolina plant, a move which will increase production by over 30 percent to a total of 450,000 units per year.After a less than impressive November, the final month of the year lived up to its expectations making sure BMW ended 2015 on a high. In fact, BMW has been the top selling marque in the US ever since it gained the crown back in 2011 from Lexus. But the real challenges lie ahead, as its two main European rivals are starting to freshen up their SUV lineups, which should provide plenty of competition in the upcoming years.But BMW isnt sitting idle, Willisch mentioning the X7 model that will be available in a couple of years. The full-sized SUV will be the first such vehicle ever in BMWs range and should go up against the recently refreshed Mercedes-Benz GLS, which by that time will be nearing its replacement date.
image: ASN

In 2015, 560 people were killed in 16 commercial aviation accidents worldwide, the Aviation Safety Network reported this week. Overall, it was the lowest number of fatal crashes ever, and it was the fifth-safest year for fatalities, according to ASN. The five worst crashes all had at least a contributing cause ofhuman factors, according to an analysis by Jacdec, a German research firm. In March, a pilot deliberately crashed an Airbus A320 in the French Alps, killing all 150 on board, and a terrorist bomb is the suspected cause in the crash of a Russian jet carrying 224 people in October. The other worst commercial aircraft crashes in 2015 were an ATR-42 in Indonesia, killing 54; an ATR-72 in Taiwan, with a death toll of 43; and the loss of an Antonov An-12 in the Sudan, killing 25.

The year showed dramatic improvement from 970 deaths in the disastrous previous year, when two widebody jets crashed with the loss of all on board, said Jacdec. Over the long term, analysis shows a shift away from technical causes and toward the human factor, Jacdec said. Given the estimated worldwide air traffic of 34 million airline flights in 2015, the accident rate was 1 fatal accident per 4.857 million flights, according to ASN. Since 1997 the average number of airliner accidents has shown a steady and persistent decline, said ASN, for a great deal thanks to the continuing safety-driven efforts by international aviation organizations such as ICAO, IATA, Flight Safety Foundation, and the aviation industry.

Note: Image shows accidents, in blue, and 10-year average, in red, from 1940 to 2015.
WHO WE AREMakers & Allies is an award-winning design and branding studio producing exclusively for the wine, craft, and spirits industry. Were a multi-talented creative crew that has learned how to play at the top of our game together. Were pre
4 January 2016 16:23 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

Amid a decreasing oil prices and divergent monetary policies globally, the national economies are forced to develop new economic scenarios.

To minimize the impact of the ongoing economic crisis to the nation, not only oil producing, but also oil-free economies are keen on diversifying the economy and reducing their dependence on petrodollars.

In this regard, the Azerbaijani government sees the transport sector as a central direction in a bid to diversify the national economy. Azerbaijan, with its advantageous geographical position at a crossroads between East and West, enjoys good conditions to develop transport sector.

First of all, the South Caucasus nation has established good partner relations with regional countries - Iran, Russia and Turkey. Secondly, Azerbaijan has developed transport infrastructure, which paves the way for the country to become a regional transport hub.

Thirdly, Azerbaijan has traditionally paid significant attention to the development of railway transport and the implementation of major projects of international importance.

In this regard, development of the western segment of the North-South transport corridor is of significant importance. The North-South railway, which is a part of the North-South corridor, railway is expected to serve as a bridge to connect the railways of Iran, Azerbaijan and Russia as well.

The North-South corridor, originating in India and stretching to Helsinki, is one of the most important routes for the region. It is a multimodal route for transportation of passengers and cargo from Russian St. Petersburg to the Mumbai (Bombay) port. It is designed to carry transit cargo from India, Iran and other Persian Gulf countries to the territory of Russia (the Caspian Sea) and further - to Northern and Western Europe.

The importance and capabilities of the North-South corridor is believed to be significant. Forecasts show that the capacity of this corridor is estimated at more than 20 million tons per year. The North-South route suggests three routes - the trans-Caspian (in fact, the sea route between Russia and Iran with an access to the railway), the eastern (a railway link to the east of the Caspian Sea) and the western (via Azerbaijan).

The year of 2015 was a quite productive year in terms of promotion of the North-South project. Meetings, negotiations and intensive discussions held last year once again show the willingness of the sides to develop the railway transport.

Also, Baku will host a meeting of the authorities of Iranian railway, Iran's ports and representatives of shipping companies engaged in transportation operations in the Caspian Sea as part of the North-South project on January 12.

Azerbaijans transit role is increasing by the day in view of the expected lifting of international sanctions from the Islamic Republic. Also, it is expected that the complete removal of international sanctions against Iran after the final settlement of issues related to Tehran's nuclear energy program will unveil new opportunities for economic development for countries in the region.

Earlier, Javid Gurbanov, the Head of the Azerbaijani Railways, told local media that in 2016, Azerbaijan and Iran will be engaged in the construction of the railway bridge over the Astara River on the border between the two countries.

"We continue negotiations with our Iranian partners, and the next meeting will be held on January 12. The purpose of the meeting is to provide the transportation of Iranian goods to Russia, Europe (Helsinki and via the Georgian ports - in the Black Sea) and to renew our work in this direction," said Gurbanov.

Azerbaijan does not have a railway link with Iran. Currently, the vast majority of cargo traffic between the two countries is implemented by road transport, which greatly limits the possibilities of development of trade and economic relations between them and their transit potential.

In this regard, Azerbaijan and Iran are working over the project of joining their railway systems with an aim to develop the North-South corridor. It will be possible after the Iranian side completes construction of the Gazvin-Rasht-Astara (Iran) rail, with a total length of over 350 kilometers. Work in the Iranian territory is expected to be completed in 2016.

Azerbaijan also takes decisive steps in this regard. In particular, it is planned to complete the first stage of construction works in 2016, which envisages laying 8-kilometer railway from the Azerbaijani Astara to the Iranian border, where a bridge across the river of Astara will be built. Along with this, a terminal and a broad road will be built in the territory of Iran, which will simplify the transportation of goods arriving from Iran via the Azerbaijani territory.

Gurbanov believes that by expanding cooperation with Azerbaijan, Iran intends to import grain from Ukraine through Georgia and Azerbaijan, sending oil products in return. The Iranian side has already shouldered the construction of the missing two-kilometer section of the railway to the port of Amirabad on the Caspian Sea.

"We, together with the Iranian and Georgian sides, agreed to coordinate efforts for the construction of railway tracks of two standards (1,520 and 1,435 millimeters), which will allow us to carry cargo from the port of Amirabad to Baku international port not only via the sea but also by railway," he noted, adding that Ukraine is extremely interested in the development of cargo traffic with Iran.

Iran does not harvest grain, but purchases it from Kazakhstan and Ukraine. In the first stage, Iran intends to purchase 2-3 million tons of grain a year from Ukrainian ports of Odessa and Ilyichevsk, delivering it through Georgia and Azerbaijan via the North-South corridor and on the Caspian Sea. In return, Tehran plans to supply fuel oil, bitumen and other petroleum products.

Thus, the establishment of railway communication between Azerbaijan and Iran and the development of the North-South transport corridor will open significant prospects for the development of cargo and passenger traffic between Europe and Asia.

Azerbaijan, in turn, will be able to increase its transit potential: it will bring great benefits not only to the country, but also to the region as a whole. The corridor will make greater contribution to the diversification of Azerbaijan's economy and make the country even more efficient and more resistant to any potentially possible global crisis.

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Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 January 2016 14:38 (UTC+04:00)

By Aynur Karimova

The dead body of another Azerbaijani oil worker, missing after an accident on the platform #10 of the offshore Gunashli field in the Caspian Sea on December 4, has been found on the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea, Azerbaijan's Emergency Situations Ministry reported on January 3.

The dead body of the oil worker was discovered by Kursor ship as a result of the rescue and search work carried out after the appeal of Azerbaijani Ministry of Emergency Situations to the relevant ministries of Caspian Sea countries.

There is an Azneft inscription on the clothes of the found body, the ministry said.

The dead body was taken to Kiyanly sea port. The Ministry has sent a plane to bring to the country the corpses of the oilmen found in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea.

A fire broke out on the platform #10 of Azerbaijans offshore Gunashli field on December 4, after an underwater high-pressure gas pipeline was damaged in strong storm. Out of 63 people who were on platform at the moment of accident only 33 were rescued, while 21 are still regarded missing with nine dead.

The Emergency Situations Ministry further reported that it continues measures to eliminate the consequences of the accident on the platform #10.

Two Azerbaijani firefighting vessels still battle the fire, while the search for the missing oil workers continue, according to the ministry.

***

Two Azerbaijani oilmen, recently found in the Turkmen sector of the Caspian Sea, have been identified, SOCAR reported.

The initial identification reveals that the dead oilmen are Azizagha Guliyev and Adil Abdullayev, who went missing after a fire at the Gunashli field.

An investigation team together with SOCARs Azneft production association flew to Turkmenistan on an amphibious aircraft to bring the corpses to Azerbaijan.

--

Aynur Karimova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Aynur_Karimova

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 January 2016 12:24 (UTC+04:00)

By Nigar Orujova

Scientists of Azerbaijan and Turkey have developed a new method of biometric identification of a person through a unique pattern of veins of hand.

Azerbaijani and Turkish scientists conduct research in this area for the first time, the Institute of Information Technologies of the Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences told Trend. The new method can be used not only for identification, but also in medicine.

The method allows reading the vein pattern of a hand using an infrared scanner. The scanner is equipped with a camera with a special filter, which makes it possible to take pictures in the infrared range.

This method makes possible for the scanner to read the vein pattern clearly. The obtained data is transmitted to a computer in encrypted form, where a biometric template is created.

Currently, Azerbaijan is using biometric method in its passports, applying the best foreign experience.

The country issued the new-generation biometric passports in 2013. Citizens can receive biometric passports in ten, five and one working day depending on the amount of the fee paid.

The new passports include information about the passport holder's facial features, as well as his finger and palm prints, as well as a personal identification number.

The main advantage of biometric passports is that the border control in some countries has equipment that reads the data from the microchip, which allows people to go through the passport check much faster.

__

Nigar Orujova is AzerNews staff journalist. Follow her on Twitter: @o_nigar

Follow us on Twitter: @AzerNewsAz
4 January 2016 09:43 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev congratulated Thein Sein, President of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar on the occasion of the Independence Day.

"I extend my heartfelt congratulations to you and the people of your country on the occasion of the public holiday of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar - Independence Day.

On this remarkable day, I wish you good health, success in your activities, and the friendly people of Myanmar peace and prosperity", - President Aliyev said in his message.
4 January 2016 14:42 (UTC+04:00)

Azerbaijan's Ministry of Healthcare banned the circulation of 844 kinds of medicines from January 4.

The ban covered the medicines produced in Turkey, India, Romania, Denmark, Russia, Jordan, Georgia, Ukraine, Poland, Egypt, Germany, Belarus and other countries.

The medicines of Russian and Turkish origin make up the majority of the banned drugs.

The country started regulating the prices of medicines from September 15. A list of medicines is constantly enlarging. Up until now, the Tariff Council has approved the prices of over 3,500 kinds of medicines.

Compared with the current price, the price of 46 percent of medicines decreased more than two times, 24 percent  more than three times. In general, prices have fallen for 95 percent of all the medicines.

Establishing the single price for medicines is aimed at improving the level of medical services provided to the population and combating price gouging.

Currently, 57 percent of medicines registered in Azerbaijan are produced in Europe, 26 percent in the CIS countries, including 12 percent made in Russia. A small share of medicines is produced in Asian countries.

The country has registered more than 4,500 brands of more than 20,000 types of medicine. The number of cost-controlled pharmaceuticals will increase in the future.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 January 2016 11:04 (UTC+04:00)

Iranian crude oil experienced the greatest decline among all oils in market in the past week to hit about $28 per barrel.

The Iranian crude has turned into one of the cheapest available, Mehr news agency reported.

During the week ending on December 25, the Iranian heavy export crude fell by 64 cents to reach $28.40.

Meanwhile, each barrel of Irans light export crude fell by 67 cents to reach $31.7.

The average price of the Iranian heavy crude since the beginning of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 21) has been $48.28 per barrel. The number has been $50.34 for Irans light crude.

During the said week, the OPEC basket also fell by 78 cents to reach $31.32.

Iran has said it will retaliate the Saudi-triggered downfall of oil prices by not reducing its output. Rather, Oil Minister Bijan Zanganeh has said, the country will boost production by about 500 thousand barrels a day once Iran is free of sanctions, expected to happen in January.

Iran says its share of the OPEC basket has been taken by Saudi Arabia and some other members while its production had shrunken under sanctions.

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Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 January 2016 12:44 (UTC+04:00)

By Sara Rajabova

Irans aviation sector expects huge changes following the easing of relations with world powers and removal of international sanctions imposed on Tehran over its nuclear energy program.

Iranian officials have announced recently that the country needs about 600 planes within the next 10 years, raising earlier estimates by around 150.

Maqsood Samani, the secretary of the Association of Iranian Airlines said Iran will need at least 581 planes to reach the targets set in 2026 Perspective Plan.

He added that this number of planes will be necessary to meet the passenger needs given that the demand for air travels as well as the transportation of cargoes by planes will surge in the near future.

Iran would need to buy 550 commercial aircraft of various models at a cost of $60 billion, several officials said. The country earlier purchased 13 narrow-body Boeing 737 aircraft in their latest move to rebuild the countrys commercial fleet.

Samani further added that the share of air cargo transportation is now below 0.2 percent, suggesting that a significant increase in the figure is necessary to boost the countrys economic activities.

Irans civil aviation fleet consists of 248 aircrafts with an average age of 19 years, 100 of which are grounded.

Airways News website reported in December 2015 that Iran is expected to order 450 new airplanes over the next five years.

It added that demand for international flights that would require wide body aircraft will specifically rise.

Analysts agree that Iran will be a growth market in 2016 but with thousands on backorder at the major manufacturers, the Iranian carriers will likely lease aircraft in the near term.

Iran closely cooperates with Russia to develop its aviation sector. Russian major airplane makers have already voiced readiness to satisfy Irans needs for planes.

However, Mohammad Khodakarami, the deputy director of Irans Civil Aviation Organization was quoted by the media as saying that domestic airlines are not interested in Russian brands. To the same effect, reports emerged in the media last year that the country has already taken steps to purchase planes from leading Western manufacturers such as Boeing and Airbus.

The Iranian aviation industry is under international sanctions. West's sanctions have barred Iran from buying western aircraft since the 1970s.

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury has barred Iranian airlines, including Iran Air, from landing or operating in the U.S. Furthermore, extraterritorial U.S. sanctions prevent European airports from providing Iranian carriers with fuel or accepting their money.

However, under an interim nuclear deal in 2013, the West eased the ban on sales of spare parts but selling planes is still prohibited.

A nuclear accord reached with Tehran in July has provided Iran with a chance to renew its fleet of commercial aircraft.

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Sara Rajabova is AzerNews staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @SaraRajabova



Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
4 January 2016 16:17 (UTC+04:00)

Syrian refugees wont leave Turkey, even if the war is over in their motherland, said Fatma Sahin, Turkey's former minister for family and social policy.

She said all the conditions have been created to accommodate Syrian refugees in Turkey, the Haber7 newspaper reported on January 4

The majority of Syrian refugees have already adapted to life in Turkey, added Sahin.

Currently, Turkey is hosting more than two million Syrian refugees on its soil.

The Syrian refugee camps in the country accommodate about 300,000 people. The rest of them are spread across the provinces and cities of Turkey.

In Istanbul alone, there are currently 40,000 refugees from Syria. Ankara has so far spent $8 billion to upkeep the Syrian refugees.

--

Follow us on Twitter @AzerNewsAz
Bakersfield, CA (93308)

Today

A mainly sunny sky. High 89F. Winds WNW at 5 to 10 mph..

Tonight

Partly cloudy skies during the evening will give way to cloudy skies overnight. Low near 65F. Winds light and variable.
A new TV series will send four 21st century bakers back in time to explore what it meant to be a professional baker in the Victorian era.

Starting on 5 January at 8pm, the three-part BBC2 series, called Victorian Bakers, is presented by historians Alex Langlands (Victorian Farm, Wartime Farm) and Annie Gray and will send the bakers to explore working in three periods across Victorias reign: 1837, the 1870s and 1900.

The bakers are drawn from across the industry. John Foster runs Fosters Bakery in South Yorkshire, an industrial bakery producing over 1 million products a week for international foodservice clients. John Swift is a fifth-generation family baker from Swifts Bakers in Shropshire, which supplies its five shops and local foodservice clients from two bakeries. Duncan Glendinning is an artisan baker, who gave up a career in IT to set up The Thoughtful Bread Company in Bath, where he specialises in sourdoughs and using local and seasonal produce. Finally, confectioner Harpreet Baura of Crumbs Couture produces bespoke cupcakes, cakes and macarons for clients from her West London commercial kitchen.

The series will use the experiment to explore the social and economic changes which took place during the period and will make use of the tools, methods and recipes of the day.

Each episode will be set not only in a different time period but also a different place. In 1837, the bakers will get to grips with a rural bakery but the changes are rung for the 1870s when they move to a hectic industrial bakery. The series finishes in an elegant 1900 shop, producing pastries, cakes and novelty bread for a middle class newly able to afford such luxuries.
Why six Peruvians got baptised in the Amazon

Watch this video to see the inspiring moment when a group of aspiring Christian leaders get baptised in the River Maranon, in Perus Amazon rainforest





Ever glimpsed a pink dolphin jump out of a river? Or dipped your toe in the muddy-brown water that is its home? Have you ever peeked through the trees to watch, in the stifling heat, six Christians submerge themselves in Amazonian water, alongside the dolphins and a fair few piranhas?



If you havent, now is your chance.



Watch this video to find out what led six Peruvians to get baptised, and to watch the special moment when they take the plunge.





Baptisms in the Peruvian Amazon from BMS World Mission on Vimeo.

Baptisms in the Peruvian Amazon from BMS World Mission on Vimeo Llino and Leysey are two Christians who live in isolated river communities in the Amazon rainforest  communities accessible only by boat. They have been studying at the Nauta Integral Mission Training Centre, supported by BMS World Mission, which aims to train and equip local pastors and leaders in river communities like theirs.When I first came I was a bit reserved and I didnt relate very well to the other pastors, says Llino. But with time I have become more open and able to talk. All of the teaching I have received here has been really useful.The team at the centre is working to create a place where pastors can come and get basic theological training, as well as discovering practical things they can do to help their communities and the rainforest in which they live. Each course runs over the period of a year, and involves six residential training weeks. The trainee pastors receive scholarships in order to attend.I feel like I am being prepared to be a leader not only in my church but also in my community, Llino says. I am very happy that my learning here is preparing me for leadership roles in the future.Please pray for the six young leaders training at the centre who recently got baptised and for all those working to support them. Pray that they can have a real impact for the glory of God.

BMS workers in Nauta

Laura-Lee Lovering is involved in all aspects of work at the Nauta Integral Mission Training Centre. From teaching and translating, to icing cakes and overseeing the day-to-day running of the centre.



Sarah McArthur is a plant propagator and has, amongst other things, been helping to create a model agroforestry area at the centre and to run a Youth Alpha course for teenagers in the area.



We also support three Peruvian workers who are integral to the running of the centre:



Pastor Luis Alvarado Dolly had the vision for the centre and provides much of the training.



Sara Isabel Cahuaza is the centres very capable administrator.



Pastor Pedro Pacaya is responsible for maintaining the centres building and land  a difficult job in the jungle!







Photos and video: Sarah Stone

This article first appeared on the website of BMS World Mission and is used with permission

BMS World Mission, 04/01/2016
Anna Maria Island is truly a paradise, just not for cyclists. The islands only bike lanes are small shoulders that are right next to the busiest streets. A group of residents are working to design an island wide bike path that will keep riders safe.



Mary Haveman is visiting Anna Maria Island from Grand Rapids Michigan to enjoy paradise.



The weather. The beautiful weather and the beautiful scenery, said Haveman.



Haveman has also been taking her bike around the islands streets. However, she discovered the island is really not designed for bike riding.



If I had to ride here I would be very scared yes, said Haveman.



Portions of the island have narrow shoulders on the main roads where people ride bikes right next to traffic. Other areas like Gulf Drive in the City Of Anna Maria don't even have that. Bikers need to ride on the street or the sidewalk. This keeps them away from some of the more popular tourist attractions.



I do like to explore by bike but because there are no bike lanes here, Im kind of cut out of this whole restaurant shopping area, said Haveman.



In the future there could be an island wide bike path connecting all three-island cities. Area residents Claudia Carlson, Amy Tripp and others are part of the Beach Bike/Walk Committee. They are working hard to make this bike plan happen.



We want to get people off the really major roads and using side streets, said Carlson.



They have been working with the cities mayors, commissioners and engineers to map out the path. However, the new path will take years and a lot of money. As a way to help cyclists stay safe now, they have studied the islands side streets and will be putting up signs that indicate the safe places to ride on the island.



Its going to be an area that is signed and mapped to show people the calmer roads that the city has, said Tripp.



Haveman says with the improvements, shell visit again.



It would just make it all that much more better to have bike lanes that you can actually be out in, in this great weather.



The City Of Anna Maria and Holmes Beach already have money allocated to set up signage, markers and to make maps of safe riding areas. This portion of the project will be completed before 2017. The bike group will be applying for grant funding and meeting with commissioners to further plan the desired island wide bike path.


Cortnee Brantley was already scheduled to turn herself over to authorities on Monday.



However, after a weekend arrest, Brantley will be picked up by US Marshals today to begin a year-long prison sentence.

Brantley, 27, was arrested early Saturday after she got in a fight with her domestic partner, 25-year-old Leandra Echevarria, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.



It happened at 5:30 a.m. Saturday at a parking lot located at the 100 block of S U.S. 301 in Tampa.



Echevarria was driving when the argument turned physical and Brantley tried to grab the steering wheel, according to HCSO. Deputies said Echevarria pulled over and parked her car when Brantley began hitting her on the head with her fists. Echevarria was able to get away and used a bystander's phone to call 911.

A witness told investigators, Brantley picked up a large piece of concrete and began damaging the car. The headlights were shattered and the drivers side window was broken. The total value of the damage is estimated at $3,000, according to the report.



Deputies said Echevarria had injuries to her neck and face.



In court on Sunday, the State requested that Brantley be held in jail until Marshals could take her into custody for the sentence she starts today. The 12-month sentence was handed down in 2013 after Brantley was found guilty for failing to report to authorities that her then boyfriend Dontae Morris was a felon with a loaded gun during a traffic stop that ended with two Tampa police officers dead.

Brantley and Morris were pulled over on 50th Street in east Tampa on June 29, 2010. The traffic stop turned violent when Morris shot and killed officers David Curtis and Jeffrey Kocab. Morris ran off and Brantley sped away from the scene. Brantley was later found guilty of misprision of a felony for failing to report Morris for being a felon with a gun.

During the past five-plus years, Brantley has appealed and lost her guilty ruling and planned to appeal again. After she was found guilty, she was allowed to remain free pending an appeal.



Her attorney Grady Irvin said she will continue her appeal while serving her prison sentence.



"Our office has been made aware of Ms. Brantley's arrest," Irvin said. "Although, we are unaware of all the circumstances surrounding the arrest, to say we are 'disappointed' would be an understatement."
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IN THE WORKS

Rumors of a new coffee shop coming to Lumberton started circulating about a year ago.

The owners of Hard Bean Coffee confirmed this past week that their shop will open in late January at 78 North LHS Drive, offering coffees from around the world.

"There's nothing like this in Lumberton," said owner Diane Martin.

Martin, AKA Momma D, is passionate about baking and looks forward to sharing her peach cobblers, cheesecakes and tiramisu with Lumberton shoppers.

The desserts and pastries on display will be different each day, she said.

"I'll make whatever I feel like making," she said.

Martin imported an espresso machine from Italy, so you can expect the real thing when ordering, she said.

Hard Bean Coffee also will offer organic fruit and veggie smoothies, chai latte, mocha, macchiato and flavored and seasonal coffee blends.

She has most of the equipment, but she's waiting on a few cabinets and other interior needs.

Martin envisions the 2,500-square-foot spot to become Lumberton's hangout place. She wants it to be somewhere folks come together for a good drink and a good laugh.

"I just wanted to bring something to Lumberton that was gathering place for the community," she said.

Have an In the Works tip? Email Manuella at MLibardi@BeaumontEnterprise.com.
A Southeast Texas lawmaker plans to introduce a bill in the Legislature that would disqualify former Beaumont school trustees removed in a state takeover from running to regain their seats.

State Rep. Dade Phelan, R-Nederland, wants to prevent Beaumont ISD trustees who reigned over a district riddled with financial, accreditation and governance problems from returning to undo the progress a state-appointed board of managers has made, he said.

"My fear is the group of individuals who got us into this mess will be re-elected," he said.

But, because the bill would forbid people not convicted of crimes from seeking office, "I don't know that it is constitutionally permissible," said Rep. Joe Deshotel, D-Beaumont, whose district includes BISD.

Phelan has not begun to draft the bill, which could not be heard until the Legislature reconvenes in January 2017.

Former BISD trustee Tom Neild said preventing all trustees removed by the state from seeking re-election might exclude honest, qualified candidates who worked to unearth wrongdoing.

"If that was the case, you got to look at possibly keeping some good people out that tried to do the right thing," he said.

Former BISD trustee Janice Brassard said Phelan's move is a politically motivated attempt to create division in the community and force his supporters into power.

"I think he's thinking about things that aren't even going to happen," Brassard said. "I seriously doubt that any of us would ever consider running again."

Phelan said he is willing to compromise on the time element of a re-election ban. Instead of blocking ousted trustees from ever running, the bill might establish a period - maybe 10 or 15 years, he suggested - in which they could not seek seats.

Phelan's proposed bill could forestall long-term problems, such as those that prompted former Texas Education Commissioner Michael Williams to dismantle North Forest ISD, near Houston, in 2011 after 20 years of financial and governance struggles.

The state had to intervene at North Forest three times before consolidation became inevitable, said DeEtta Culbertson, a TEA spokesperson.

Each time, the same trustees would be voted back into office, and the decades-long problems would return, she said.

Neild said that, though an incompetent board can run a school district into the ground, other factors might play a part. The state can be slow to respond to suspected criminal activities, he said. Or an honest board's work might face resistance from a superintendent, he said.

Despite his concerns, Neild supports Phelan's initiative to get legislators thinking about the education system's flaws.

"I support him 100 percent on trying to do something," he said.

Read the complete story in the Beaumont Enterprise.

MLibardi@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/ManuellaLibardi
Over the last four months of 2015, Texas police officers were involved in more than 60 shootings and killed at least 25 people, a review of newly required reports documenting such cases shows.

Of the people police killed over that span - one every five days - 12 were listed as white, eight Hispanic, four black and one "other" on the reports, which document the age, race and gender of subjects and officers involved, as well as whether the person possessed a deadly weapon and other facts.

A law passed last year, aiming to fill data-collection holes, has required since September that Texas departments submit reports each time an officer injures or kills someone with gunfire. The reports are published on the attorney general's website.

The issue came to light amid heightened national media reporting and protests following fatal encounters between police and citizens in Missouri, New York, South Carolina, Baltimore and elsewhere. Experts at the time said it was impossible to determine long-term trends in officer-involved shootings because the data was unreliable.

When the new Texas law came online this year, only six other states were tracking similar data, the Houston Chronicle reported.

No federal agency tracks officer-involved shootings nationally. FBI Director James Comey said last year the bureau would start keeping tabs on officer-involved shootings, but law enforcement agencies are not required to report the data, meaning it won't be a complete listing.

The Washington Post maintains a database of people killed by police that is based in part on press reports. The Post's database shows police killed 95 people in Texas in 2015.

But that's not comprehensive either: Although each killing the database lists since September can be found in reports on the attorney general's website, not all of the published AG reports are represented in the Post's database.

Texas gives agencies 30 days to report officer-involved shootings to the attorney general, so it's unlikely that the data as of Dec. 31 included all instances since September.

The Texas reports show that a plurality of people injured and killed since Sept. 1 - 44 percent and 48 percent - were white. Latinos, at 33 percent and 32 percent, ranked second, followed by blacks, who made up 21 percent of those injured and 16 percent of those killed.

The vast majority of people shot were men. The reports document just three women being shot by police; one was fatal.

The youngest person killed was 15, and the oldest was 56.

Only one of the 61 incidents documented by reports on the attorney general's website as of Dec. 31 occurred in the three-county Southeast Texas area. In that case, an off-duty Port Arthur policeman shot and injured a 52-year-old man who allegedly broke into the officer's home.

Three of the 25 people killed statewide did not "carry, exhibit or use a deadly weapon," the reports show. Those cases were in Paris (Department of Public Safety), Centerville (DPS) and Corpus Christi (Corpus Christi police).

Of the 61 officer-involved shootings documented, 53 of the people shot - 87 percent - possessed a deadly weapon, according to the reports. Under the Texas penal code, deadly weapons include anything that can be used to cause death or serious injury.

The new law also documents cases in which police officers are shot. As of Dec. 31, four reports on police injuries had been published on the attorney general's website.

EBesson@BeaumontEnterprise.com Twitter.com/EricBesson_news
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Immigration officials apprehended 121 people over the weekend as part of raids in three states targeting families from Central America, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced today.

The detentions in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina focused on families who came into the country after May 1, 2014, when DHS began reacting to an influx of families and children seeking asylum, were ordered removed by an immigration judge and have exhausted appropriate legal remedies, Johnson said in a statement.

Given the sensitive nature of taking into custody and removing families with children, a number of precautions were taken as part of this weekends operations, Johnson said. ICE deployed from around the country a number of female agents and medical personnel to take part in the operations, and, in the course of the operations, ICE exercised prosecutorial discretion in a number of cases for health or other personal reasons.

Families caught in the raids have started arriving at South Texas detention centers, said Mohammad Abdollahi, an activist with the San Antonio nonprofit Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services.

One family each from Houston, Dallas and Kansas City arrived Sunday at the detention center in Dilley, Abdollahi said. RAICES is part of a network of advocacy agencies providing legal services to the detention centers in Karnes County and Dilley.

Abdollahi said the organization had also received reports of raids in San Antonio, New Jersey, Virginia and Atlanta. In the case of the San Antonio raid, a client told RAICES that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had come to her house looking for another family, but no one was detained.

ICE regularly conducts what it calls targeted enforcement operations, when officers fan out looking for specific targets that fall under the bureaus priorities for deportation. The fact that this weekends raids are the first such operation to target families and their announcement just before Christmas drew widespread condemnation from immigration activists.

jbuch@express-news.net

Twitter: @jlbuch

This story has been updated to correct the detention center where immigrant families have arrived.
The Affordable Care Act will need to weather the storm one more time in Congress before it faces new challenges this year.

Here are four things to know about the year ahead for the ACA.

1. The U.S. House of Representatives plan to send a repeal of the ACA to President Barack Obama's desk as its first order of business after the holiday break, according to The New York Times. The measure has already been approved in the Senate and includes a repeal of the ACA and funding cuts to Planned Parenthood. However, President Obama is certain to veto the measure. The success of the repeal vote will merely be symbolic of what could be achieved with a Republican in the White House.

2. Following that battle, the ACA must turn to enrollment. Though the law has been successful in gaining 16 million people health coverage so far, according to CDC data cited by The Hill, and the uninsured rate is at a record low of 9 percent, it will be increasingly difficult to target the remaining holdouts. Though the Obama administration is denying that the law has hit a plateau, HHS Assistant Secretary Richard Frank told The Hill "we are seeing a much longer path" to getting the remaining uninsured coverage.

3. Now that Americans have health coverage, they have to be able to afford it. High deductibles associated with the most popular plans on the federal exchange are more than twice the average employer sponsored plan, according to The Hill, and while subsidies can significantly help those with lower incomes, many are still worried about the middle class. Premiums are also rising to adjust for the sicker newly insured population, according to the report. However, the report notes, they are 15 percent lower than expected in the first year of the ACA.

4. The ACA will need to continue to find avenues to cut down wasteful healthcare spending. Congress delayed the onset of several ACA taxes last year, but other ACA-related projects are continuing to work to cut costs, such as accountable care organizations, according to the report.

More articles on healthcare finance:

Minnesota to drop 64k patients from public insurance programs

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Lawrence Memorial Hospital officials say Kansas Medicaid system denies legitimate claims: 4 things to know
St. Mary's Hospital in Streator, Ill., is no longer offering healthcare services, and the building will now be an urgent care center owned and operated by Peoria, Ill.-based OSF Healthcare System, according to The Times.

In September, St. Mary's Hospital, which is part of Springfield, Ill.-based Hospital Sisters Health System, announced plans to shut down and transfer ownership of the hospital and its related facilities to OSF. A state panel approved the hospital closure in November.

St. Mary's closed Monday, and OSF will initially use the former hospital building as an urgent care center. The health system plans for the facility, called OSF Center for Health-Streator, to have a certified emergency department in February, after a necessary approval process is completed. OSF also plans to build a new outpatient center in Streator, and it is uncertain what would happen to the St. Mary's building at that point.

David Gorenz, regional CEO for OSF, told The Times he understands why the community is concerned about the closure of St. Mary's. However, he said the outpatient center is a "new model for care for rural communities."

A list of the services offered at OSF Center for Health-Streator can be found here.

More articles on healthcare finance:

13 latest hospital credit downgrades

8 recent hospital closures

10 most-read healthcare finance stories of December
Medicare patients' out-of-pocket costs for outpatient care are significantly higher at critical access hospitals than at other acute care hospitals, and the reason for the difference in cost is buried in a 1997 law.

Here are seven things to know about Medicare patients' out-of-pocket costs for outpatient care.

1. According to a Wall Street Journal analysis of Medicare billing records, the copays for Medicare patients who had colonoscopies at critical access hospitals in 2013 averaged $840.22. That's more than three times the average copay of $270.53 at other acute care hospitals.

2. The copays for outpatient hernia surgery at critical access hospitals averaged $1,926.60 in 2013, while copays at other hospitals averaged $562.52.

3. The copays Medicare patients paid for bunion surgery at critical access hospitals averaged $2,272.56 in 2013, while the copays for the same procedure at other hospitals averaged $780.79, according to the Wall Street Journal analysis.

4. The reason Medicare patients' out-of-pocket costs for outpatient care are higher at critical access hospitals is due to the formula used to calculate copays.

5. Under the 1997 law that created the critical access designation, the Medicare copay for outpatient care at critical access hospitals is 20 percent of hospital "charges," according to The Wall Street Journal. At other hospitals, patients only pay 20 percent of the rates Medicare sets for outpatient services, and those rates are typically lower than a critical access hospital's list prices.

6. Although patients pay higher copays for outpatient care at critical access hospitals, those facilities are not getting more money for those services. Instead, patients are picking up a greater portion of the reimbursement the critical access hospitals get from Medicare.

7. Sara Freeman, a research economist at RTI International, told The Wall Street Journal the higher copays for outpatient care at critical access hospitals was an "unintended consequence of the law designed to help rural hospitals." She said it was not an issue initially, but soaring hospital charges have caused the copays to increase over time.

More articles on healthcare finance:

13 latest hospital credit downgrades

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Declines in uncompensated care have saved more than 24 West Virginia hospitals $265 million, according to a report from The Charleston Gazette-Mail.

The number was revealed in data from the West Virginia Health Care Authority compiled by West Virginians for Affordable Health Care.

Here are five things to know about the decline in uncompensated care.

1. The West Virginia hospitals saved more than $265 million last year through reductions in uncompensated care from 2013 to 2014, the data shows. Statewide, the cost of uncompensated care dropped by nearly 40 percent.

2. As far as individual hospitals, here is a random sampling of how much was saved at some of the more than 24 hospitals.

Charleston (W.Va.) Area Medical Center  $137 million in free care in 2013 to $72.6 million in charity care and bad debt in 2014.

Morgantown-based West Virginia University Hospitals  $94 million in free care in 2013 to $43 million in 2014, saving the system $51 million.

Bridgeport-based United Hospital Center saved $22.3 million between 2013 and 2014.

Cabell Huntington (W.Va.) Hospital saved $16.6 million between 2013 and 2014.

Martinsburg-based Berkeley Medical Center saved $15.5 million between 2013 and 2014.

3. The drop in uncompensated care is attributed to more West Virginians gaining health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. The state's uninsured rate has dropped from 17.6 percent in 2013 to 8.3 percent in the first half of 2015, according to the report, which cites Gallup. This means hospitals don't have to provide as much charity care to uninsured people and are now being reimbursed more from people who are covered by expanded Medicaid, the report notes.

4. Perry Bryant, founder and former director of West Virginians for Affordable Health Care, called the savings a "once-in-a-lifetime moment for hospitals to make meaningful changes in the health outcomes of West Virginians." He added in the report, "If hospitals would direct a fraction of this windfall to fund community efforts, West Virginia could make major strides in reducing obesity, smoking and drug abuse."

5. But Renee Cross, the vice president of finance for South Charleston-based Thomas Health System, said in the report that Medicaid reimburses for care, but unlike charity care and bad debts, it still costs more to care for patients than the program reimburses. "In fiscal year 2014, Thomas Health System lost almost $10 million on taking care of Medicaid patients," she added. "Annually, going forward, we estimate that we will continue to lose more than $8 million taking care of our Medicaid population. Thomas Health System has seen about a 30 percent decline in bad debt and charity care combined, but has seen more than a corresponding increase in Medicaid volume and write-offs. We have to continue focusing on providing quality, compassionate and cost-effective healthcare to all of our patients to ensure the continuation of our mission and ministry by excelling at providing the human touch in healthcare."

More articles on healthcare finance:

Increasing number of people choosing faith-based ministries for health coverage: 5 things to know

For-profit hospital stock report: Week of Dec. 28-31

In Va., patient satisfaction scores rise as reimbursement rates diminish
In a Dec. 30 op-ed in the Independent Record, Montana Sen. Llew Jones (R) advocated for the building of a new medical school in Montana.

Sen. Jones highlighted how he and others have attempted to tackle Montana's physician shortage by incentivize physicians and expanding Montana medical student slots at the University of Washington School of Medicine.

Nevertheless, the problem persists. Sen. Jones addressed seven aspects and factors relating to the physician shortage, including how 32.7 percent of active physicians in the state are over the age of 60.

The Burrell Group is hoping to build a private, non-profit medical school in the state, which would graduate 125 physicians each year. While many residents and physicians do not want to pursue the idea, Sen. Jones believes it is a "great opportunity." He urged readers to reconsider the benefits of a medical school in the state.

"It could be decades before another private organization considers investing over $100 million in Montana, let alone for the creation of a much needed Montana medical school," he wrote in the op-ed. "By then it will be too late to effectively address the physician crisis."
Oklahoma City-based Foundation HealthCare, which owns and operates surgical hospitals, has acquired 69-bed University General Hospital in Houston, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2015.

Foundation purchased UGH for $33 million in a court-approved sale. With the transaction completed, UGH will be immediately rebranded as Foundation Surgical Hospital of Houston.

"Our executive team has over 20 years of experience working with the physicians in the Houston market," said Foundation CEO Stanton Nelson. "We look forward to working with our many physician friends as we execute our proven growth strategy at this hospital."

More articles on healthcare industry transactions:

18 hospital transactions and partnerships in December

CHS to acquire majority ownership of 2 IU Health hospitals

Private equity firms make a splash in healthcare M&A
Hospitals are constantly having their data collected, combed through and compared. Whether in quality and safety databases or financial rankings and credit ratings, third parties like U.S News & World Report and federal organizations like CMS are watching to see how health systems stack up against one another.

Some hospitals are making an effort to take data collection into their own hands, getting a better perspective and diving deeper into their data than others do in order to drive improvements. Two years ago, Johns Hopkins Medicine decided to get a more informed picture of the performance of its five hospitals by rolling out a dashboard that collects data on a number of quality and safety metrics within the system, organizing it in one place.

Making quality data available to staff

To drive improvements in patient outcomes and employee performance on the micro level, for individuals and their units, information and metrics pertaining to hospital-acquired infections, core measures from CMS and The Joint Commission, HCAHPS results, hand hygiene performance and measures of patient experience, among others, are gathered into the database. Johns Hopkins' 41,000 employees can visit the dashboard to view their individual performance numbers, as well as overall hospital ratings.

"I think an area where we've really benefited from the dashboard is around HCAHPS," says Matt Austin, PhD, professor of anesthesiology and critical care medicine at Johns Hopkins' Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality in Baltimore. "We've had a large, systemwide focus on HCAHPS in the last 12-18 months and the ability to easily share unit-level information across a large enterprise has really been helpful in both having everyone understand where we are and improving performance."

The goal of the internal dashboard is to share key quality and safety measures with the aim of being able to look at data all the way down to unit-level performance, Dr. Austin says.

"We feel like real change happens at an individual unit level, so where we can share that data, our experience has been that's what will drive the greatest improvements."

Going public with performance data

More recently, the health system implemented an external-facing dashboard, including much of the same information, which is accessible to patients and anyone curious about Johns Hopkins Medicine's performance data.

The health system had four major goals in making its performance data visible to the general public via the second dashboard. First, as a way to hold itself accountable to patients, their families and the communities it serves. If the hospital makes claims about its performance measures and how they stack up against competitors, what better way to reassure patients that those claims are true than by displaying the numbers?

Second, it consolidates all of the disparate data about Johns Hopkins into one place  when patients go seeking information about a hospital or health system online, they are inundated with reviews, numbers and measures of performance that may not be from credible sources. Patients might also be hunting for a specific measure of performance and having a hard time finding it. The dashboard is a one-stop shop for all of the data that is available.

Third, there is a market demand for this type of transparency and information consolidation. Not only did Johns Hopkins see its competitors undertaking similar initiatives, but patients had indicated that a tool like this would be very helpful to them, and the system wanted to engineer a way to collect all the safety and quality data that might help them make better informed decisions about care in one place.

Lastly, taking full ownership of all of its measures and organizing them in one place enables Johns Hopkins to create a narrative around the data.

"It allows us to talk directly to our patients about why the data are important and what we're continuing to do to improve our performance in each of the areas," Dr. Austin says.

Unintended benefits of sharing performance data

Beyond giving patients a direct line to important hospital data, the dashboards allow Johns Hopkins officials to track performance on whatever measures they see fit in one place. If there's a particular area that CMS doesn't require the system to report on, Johns Hopkins still has a platform it can use to gather information and improve on that data point.

"It's a feedback loop, it's understanding where performance is, being able to understand when interventions are put into place and seeing how performance changes over time," he says. "One of the pieces of feedback we've gotten from employees of Johns Hopkins Medicine is they are really interested in being able to compare their unit's performance to another unit's performance and we're working on a functionality to would allow for that."

In that sense, Dr. Austin says the decision to go live with the internal dashboard has given hospital staff more of a voice about the tools they'd like to have at their disposal and the steps the administration could take to help them improve. It has also encouraged a healthy sense of competition and spurred cultural change.

"One of the things we have seen is a greater awareness of performance and how we're doing in quality and safety. We've been creating a culture of data where people are comfortable talking about data and making decisions about data," he says. "That's a big cultural change for us."

Both initiatives also helped foster collaboration across the system. The external dashboard was designed with input from the health system's patient-family advisory councils and the implementation required a multidisciplinary team of health IT and quality professionals, among others. The two dashboards have required team members from different backgrounds to work together and figure out the best way to share and show data so that everyone can understand it.

Creating both the external and internal dashboards also enabled Johns Hopkins to reconsider how it organizes and shares data among teams. Dr. Austin says the system didn't have a very efficient way of doing so before the dashboards.

"The process of needing to work with various data stewards across the healthcare system has forced us from a systems perspective to improve and refine, which in turn has improved other initiatives." Dr. Austin says. "Additionally, it's offered a platform to talk about quality and safety. It's just one more way of having that important conversation and ensuring that conversation is happening at a unit level as well."
The former MP said he would be looking at a stranger in the mirror after the work.

Former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik has said he hopes plastic surgery will make him "look like George Clooney".

The Northern Ireland-born ex-politician damaged his face in a paragliding accident in 1998.

He's now going to undergo a six-hour operation to reconstruct what he calls his "wonky" face.

Despite his unusual looks, Mr Opik has had several high-profile romances with well-known women. He dated weather girl Sian Lloyd, and Gabriela Irimia, who is one half of singing duo The Cheeky Girls.

Mr Opik, who was born in Bangor, Co Down, to Estonian parents, said he was looking forward to a change.

"I've been looking at the bent-up version of my face for 17 years and soon I'm going to have to get used to seeing a new person.

"They haven't shown me what I'll look like. I'd like to think I'll look like George Clooney," he joked.

Doctors have warned Mr Opik he will be "unrecognisable" following the invasive operation, and they have even offered him counselling to help him come to terms with his new face.

Mr Opik said he is undergoing the operation because his teeth are disintegrating - which is preventing him from being able to eat.

He will stay in hospital for a week after the operation and will have to recuperate over several weeks.
Formula One presenter Natalie Pinkham is expecting a baby daughter in June - after a difficult pregnancy in which she miscarried the girl's twin.

The TV favourite, 37, was expecting twins but lost one during the early stages of pregnancy.

She told Hello! magazine: "The first two months were a real rollercoaster . We had this strange phase of not knowing if there would be two babies or one or none."

But she and her businessman husband Owain Walbyoff, 32, were told by doctors that only one of the babies would make it.

"It was a really emotional time," she said.

Pinkham revealed that her mother and great-grandmother were also twins whose siblings did not survive.

She added: "It's nature's way and it is sad. My dad put it in a lovely way and said: 'One has made way for the other.'"

The pregnancy comes soon after the birth of the couple's first son, Wilf, who is now 11 months old.

She said: " I can't believe that so soon after having Wilf I am pregnant again. I feel so lucky and blessed.

"I always wanted a little brother or sister for Wilf, but didn't expect to get pregnant so quickly. I only did the pregnancy test to rule it out because I honestly thought ... this can't be why I'm feeling a bit funny.

"When I saw it was positive, I nearly fell off my chair!"

Looking forward to the birth of her daughter, she said: "I am just loving being a mum. This last year has been the best of my life, Now we've got another exciting year to come. I couldn't be happier.'

:: Read the full article in Hello! magazine, out now.
A headmaster has questioned the assumption that single-sex schools are better for girls

Girls who attend single-sex schools leave with top grades but may be at a "huge disadvantage" later on if they are unable to talk to boys, a leading headmaster has suggested.

Richard Cairns, head of Brighton College, said young women could face difficulties if they do not learn to socialise with the opposite sex as children.

In an article for the magazine www.independentschoolparent.com, Mr Cairns took aim at single-sex schools, saying he was puzzled by parents looking for a place that will prepare their child for the future who are swayed by "outdated notions" about young women performing better in girls-only schools.

"All parents looking for a school for their daughter have broadly similar criteria in mind," he wrote. "They want somewhere that readies their child for the world beyond the school gates, academically and socially.

"That is why I am often perplexed when they end up being swayed by outdated notions about girls performing better in single sex schools and plump for that deeply unrealistic world.

"After all, if girls do not learn to socialise with boys as children, what happens when they go out into the work place? They may have a clutch of A*s and a first class degree but if they cannot meaningfully converse and communicate with male colleagues they will be at a huge disadvantage."

Supporters of girls' schools argue that students achieve high standards, and are more likely to take subjects traditionally seen as "male" - such as physics and maths.

Caroline Jordan, president of the Girls' Schools Association (GSA) said it was "old-fashioned" to assume that these schools do not offer plenty of appropriate opportunities for young women to interact with young men.

In his article, Mr Cairns argued that girls at Brighton College - a co-educational private school - would not say that they have been held back by learning alongside boys.

He went on to acknowledge that there are many good schools that are co-educational and many that are single-sex.

But he added: "There is something, I feel, much more common to schools that educate both boys and girls and that something is kindness.

"Boys in single-sex school tend to create their own artificial hierarchies where only those in the 1st XV rugby team are truly valued while girls-only schools sometimes suffer a degree of emotional intensity that can lead to bullying.

"Contrast that with a co-educational world where girls admire the boys who dance, sing or act, and so, therefore, do the boys. Contrast that too with a mixed environment where the emotional intensity of all girls is diluted by the boys.

"In other words, there is a place for everyone and an environment where girls and boys can be themselves."

Mr Cairns went on to say that research in the UK and abroad has "cast serious doubt" on the argument that girls do better academically, particularly in more "male" subjects when they are not close to boys.

"The real reason some all-girls schools have a strong track record in traditionally "masculine" subjects, such as physics, is that they're very selective institutions," he suggested.

"Bright girls are more likely to study physics than those of average ability. Whether they are sharing classes with boys is largely irrelevant."

Ms Jordan said: "Whilst Mr Cairns may find it unpalatable, the truth is that girls' schools feature heavily at the top the league tables for independent schools and have done for decades.

"It may also have escaped his attention that all girls' schools provide plenty of appropriate opportunities for interaction with boys; in fact, it is rather old-fashioned to assume anything other.

"Finally, it is not just the 'brightest' who do better at STEM in girls' schools - a recent and extensive survey by the Institute of Physics found that girls in independent girls' schools are 1.5 times more likely to study A-level physics than girls in independent co-ed schools.

"It is time for Mr Cairns to cease his rather tiresome attacks on independent schools colleagues - the sector benefits from diversity and choice and I am sure he would agree with that."
Patients with life-threatening and painful conditions such as Crohn's disease are waiting well over two years for a hospital appointment, the Belfast Telegraph can reveal.

The current waiting time for a first outpatient appointment with a gastroenterologist in the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust is 27 months.

Antrim GP Dr Allen McCullough said: "Essentially, this is not a service.

"Personally speaking, if I am referring someone to a service and they're going to have to wait more than two years to be seen, then there is no point in referring them in the first place."

Dr McCullough became aware of the situation just before Christmas when he was contacted by an irate patient.

"I rang the hospital as his GP and was told the wait time was correct," he continued.

I was told that they are only now sending for patients who were referred in October 2013.

"If you suspect a patient has cancer then you red flag them but there is always the possibility there may be some patients who might have cancer who could be among those waiting for a routine appointment.

"It isn't just cancer though, it is patients with inflamatory bowel disease (IBD), such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis and they need to be seen as soon as possible."

Symptoms of IBD include diarrhoea, excruciating pain, weight loss, fatigue and nausea.

Patients can require surgery to remove damaged parts of the bowel and severe flare-ups can be life-threatening.

The waiting time for gastroenterology in the Belfast Trust has come to light just weeks after the Health Minister committed 40m additional funding to address soaring hospital waiting times.

In November, the Belfast Telegraph revealed that children with potentially deadly heart conditions were waiting more than a year for a first outpatient appointment.

According to most recent official figures, there were 230,625 people waiting for a first outpatient appointment at the end of September 2015.

Jo-Anne Dobson, a UUP member of the Stormont health committee, said: "Waiting times across services have been out of control for many months now, but it is utterly scandalous that patients are being forced to wait longer and longer, running into years, for essential medical appointments.

"Our health service provides a fantastic level of service, but that is once you get through the door and are in the expert hands of health professionals.

"Waiting time statistics must never mask the painful reality faced by people and their families across Northern Ireland as they are forced to wait longer and longer.

"Over the Christmas period I have been taking time to consult with a number of local patient groups and organisations and as a member of the health committee, I will be raising a number of concerns with the Health Minister when Stormont returns from recess.

"These include concerns that our five local health trusts are falling far short on their own internal targets, leading to spiralling waiting times, and sadly many local people are coming to harm as a direct result.

"The minister must also look seriously at future workforce planning across the Health Service as well as increasing funding towards domiciliary care."

The Belfast Health Trust said in a statement: "Although the current waiting time for gastroenterology is currently two years and three months, the numbers of referrals into this service have increased by approximately 40%.

"The trust has now taken a number of actions to address this, including the recruitment of two consultants to increase the outpatient capacity. It is expected that these positions will be in place by the end of March 2016.

"We are also validating the current waiting list by the consultant body and will have an independent contract in place which will allow for 2,000 outpatients to be seen within a three month period from January 2016 to March 2016 with treatment carried through into 2016/17.

"This will significantly reduce the waiting time within gastroenterology."

For more information contact Crohn's and Colitis UK
A man was remanded in custody today charged with attempting to murder his partner's son by beating him unconscious with a metal bar.

Ryan Taylor, 29, is accused of attacking Matthew Larsen at a flat in the Mount Vernon area of north Belfast on December 28.

The 24-year-old victim was critically injured after allegedly being beaten about the head.

His mother, 41-year-old Julie Larsen, is also charged with his attempted murder and trying to pervert the course of justice by cleaning up after the assault.

Taylor, or Templemore Street in Belfast, appeared before the city's Magistrates Court following his arrest by investigating detectives.

He faces additional counts of inflicting grievous bodily harm on Mr Larsen's girlfriend, and threats to kill made against her and another woman.

Taylor showed no emotion as the allegations were put to him.

With no application for bail made, he was remanded in custody to appear again next month.

Details of the alleged attack had been disclosed during a previous appearance by his partner and co-accused.

Police claimed Julie Larsen, of Ross House in Mount Vernon, watched her son being beaten unconscious without trying to intervene.

She arrived at the flat knowing he was to be subjected to a serious assault, it was alleged.

A judge was told last week that Mr Larsen was then struck up to 20 times after an initial blow to the head caused his ear to "explode".

He was said to have been beaten with a drop bar similar to the type used to barricade doors.

His mother is not accused of taking part in the attack, but is charged with the attempted murder on a joint enterprise basis. She denies the allegations.

It was revealed that Taylor is in a relationship with Julie Larsen.

The court heard further claims that she then cleaned up the apartment in a bid to make it look like the attack happened elsewhere.

When Mr Larsen's girlfriend tried to stop the attack she was also allegedly hit, breaking her arm in three places.

According to a detective witnesses were told they would be killed if they went to police.

Taylor is now due back in court by video-link on February 1.
Stephen McCully, president of the NI Chamber, said "we need to increase the size of our workforce to meet the demands of many industries" (Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry/PA)

Cutting university places in Northern Ireland will undermine the region's ability to attract new overseas investment in 2016, a leading business organisation has warned.

The Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry (NI Chamber) stressed the importance of growing the skills base as it outlined a series of key priorities to help grow the local economy.

The chamber has welcomed last year's Fresh Start political agreement at Stormont that, among other things, will see corporation tax cut to 12.5% in 2018.

However the organisation, which represents more than 1,200 businesses, said a tax cut alone would not guarantee an increase in foreign direct investment.

The chamber expressed concern at reductions in student places offered by both Queen's University and Ulster University, brought about by Stormont funding cuts to third level education.

Stephen McCully, president of the NI Chamber, said: "We need to increase the size of our workforce to meet the demands of many industries and that means that 2016 is certainly not the time to reduce the number of students in our universities.

"To attract quality overseas investment we have to be able to offer quality employees in the right quantity.

"We have worked with a range of incoming companies to Northern Ireland and we know that the mix and ability of our employee pool is absolutely vital to them. This will require an on-going liaison between higher and further education and the business community."

On the planned corporation tax cut, Mr McCully said: "Knowing the date and the new lower rate will help to attract new high-end foreign investment. However, we have always maintained that reduced tax alone is not the whole answer to fostering business growth.

"It is essential that we start with sufficient budget allocated to (Stormont business support agency) Invest NI so it has the resources to market the new inward investment proposition in relation to the devolution of corporation tax and to continue to support high value job promotion."

Mr McCully said other priorities for 2016 included the provision of more grade A office space, transport infrastructure improvements and expanding Northern Ireland's relatively small export base.

"As we begin another year, it is an appropriate time to look ahead at what is possible, or achievable, in the 12 months to come," he said.

"At Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce and Industry there is a real belief that we can be positive about 2016, with the convergence of a variety of economic and political factors meaning that the foundations for sustainable economic growth could finally be in place.

"NI Chamber shares the view of the wider business community in regard to the political settlement reached late last year. The 'Fresh Start' Agreement provides the prospect for the kind of political stability required to foster economic growth, and allow our member businesses to plan growth with the assurance that our institutions are settled."

Mr McCully added: "NI Chamber is confidently optimistic as we enter 2016.

"Our series of Quarterly Economic Surveys in 2015 showed that our members had a determination to grow and succeed but were frustrated by the stalled political process.

"These conditions will be better in 2016 and that allows for a better context for growth."
Drivers have been warned that hijackers may be using an apparently distressed woman to trick people into stopping their cars.

Police have had reports of a woman screaming for help at the side of a main road into Belfast.

One young female motorist who saw the woman on the Belfast Road in Dundonald on Friday night told the Belfast Telegraph she believes she had a lucky escape.

She was driving from a friend's house in Newtownards with a female passenger at 9pm when the woman tried to stop their car.

The driver drove off after slowing down to see what she wanted, suspecting it could have been a hijacking attempt.

Local UUP councillor Jim Rodgers says he is in no doubt it was a hijacking attempt and has urged all drivers, especially females, to keep their car doors locked at all times.

Mr Rodgers, who sits on the Belfast Policing Board Partnership, said: "I am aware of similar incidents in the past.

"I am in no doubt this was an attempt to hijack that young girl's car. I wouldn't rule out that there were other people in the area ready to pounce."

The young driver said: "It was the scariest night of my life. The woman came out of nowhere and was screaming for help.

"She was screaming so loudly we could hear her even with the windows closed. She was frantically shouting for help.

"I didn't really know what to do. I was a bit nervous but we decided to stop with her to see what the problem was.

"I put the passenger window down just a small amount as we approached but as we slowed down she suddenly stopped screaming and came towards us.

"I found it very strange that she simply stopped screaming if something really was the matter. Something just did not seem right, so I drove on.

"It happened in quite a dark area of the road with no houses close by. It was all really strange, but I think we are lucky to have driven off."

The female driver immediately reported the incident to the police.

She then posted what had happened on Facebook.

She said: "As we drove off I could see in the mirror that the woman simply walked back into the darkness, into wherever she had come from. There was nothing there but trees and bushes.

"I posted the details on Facebook and the post has been shared over 5,500 times. A few people have commented on the post that this is a scam to stop the car. Others have mentioned similar incidents in the area."

A police spokesperson said: "Police received a report of a woman, who appeared to be distressed, on the Belfast Road in Dundonald shortly after 9pm on Friday, January 1.

"Police conducted a thorough check of the area but were unable to locate the woman, who was described as being aged in her 60s, with blonde hair and wearing a cream coloured coat."
A former republican internee has defended his decision to accept an honour from the Queen.

Pat McCarthy, a former SDLP mayor, was awarded an MBE for services to local government.

Defending his decision Mr McCarthy who was interned in 1971 said it "doesn't make me any less Irish".

He told the BBC Stephen Nolan Show: "It came completely out of the blue and when I made inquiries as to who had nominated me I felt very humbled and I thought it was a worthwhile accepting it.

"I tried to work with everyone over the 14 years I was on the council and I thought it was a reflection of the work I had done.

"I was nominated by a cross-section of community and church groups in south Belfast and beyond.

He continued: "No-one at anytime told me, 'you don't take this you don't take that'.

"We are living in 2016 it's not 1916 we have moved on from them."

Mr McCarthy said he had been congratulated by the leader of the SDLP Colum Eastwood.

"No-one in the party told me not to take it. They said to me look pat if you want to take it, take it."

"The party leader text me and said 'Congratulations Pat, you've deserved it.'

"There are always people who will say that, who will criticise you.

"Every aspect of life we have these people."

He added: "It doesn't make me any less Irish."
A man was slashed in the face with a broken bottle after attending a New Year's Day house party in north Belfast, a court has heard.

The 24-year-old victim needed 23 stitches for wounds inflicted in an alleyway close to his alleged attacker's Glencairn Way home, police said.

Details emerged as Andrew Peden appeared before Belfast Magistrates' Court today charged with intentionally causing grievous bodily harm to Jordan Potts.

Peden, 29, also faces two counts of possessing an offensive weapon - namely a broken bottle and knives.

He was refused bail due to the potential risk of interference with witnesses.

A detective constable told the court Mr Potts was discovered with facial stab wounds.

He was said to have got into an argument after arriving at the party with his girlfriend.

It was claimed that after the dispute ended the accused followed him outside to confront him in a nearby entry.

The detective said: "He remembers Mr Peden being in front of him with the bottle in his hand, but just blanks out after that."

Mr Potts next memory was being put into an ambulance, the court heard.

According to police Peden denied inflicting any of the facial stab wounds.

Defence counsel Richard McConkey claimed Mr Potts had been involved in confrontations with others, and had arrived at the party "the worse for wear".

But denying bail, District Judge Desmond Perry pointed out: "Mr Potts has, however it happened, come off with very serious injuries."

He remanded the accused in custody to appear again by video-link next month.
The closed A923 Blairgowrie to Coupar Angus road in Perthshire as communities have been warned that more heavy rain across the UK could lead to further flooding

Fishermen brave the rough seas on the South Shields Pier, near Newcastle upon Tyne

A dog walker near the River Tay in the centre of Perth, as more rain is forecast

A submerged car at the River Isla near Meikleour in Perthshire

Communities across the UK are on flood alert after another day of heavy rainfall.

Areas with swollen rivers and saturated ground not yet recovered from Storm Frank have been hit once more by persistent showers, with rising water levels threatening homes and disrupting travel.

A Met Office amber warning for heavy rain remains in place across large swathes of Scotland, while y ellow "be aware" warnings are in force for parts of Northern Ireland, Wales, the South West, South East and North East of England.

Towns on the banks of the River Dee in Aberdeenshire were on high alert, with residents of a care home in Aboyne evacuated as a precaution.

Abergeldie Castle, close to the Queen's residence at Balmoral, is just a few feet from the water after around 60ft of land behind the property was swept away.

Residents in Inverurie were also evacuated after flooding of the River Don.

The Scottish Environment Agency (Sepa) has more than 30 flood warnings in place and has warned people to stay away from the banks of the Tay in Perth, where the city's flood defence scheme was said to be facing its most significant test since it was built more than a decade ago.

The river was due to peak at 11pm and levels will remain high until late on Tuesday, Sepa said.

Numerous roads have been closed due to surface water and landslides, with the A83 shut at the Rest and be Thankful to allow operators to remove a boulder using explosives.

West coast rail travel between Scotland and England will be disrupted until the end of the month as work continues to repair the Lamington Viaduct near Lockerbie.

The persistent rain also threatened flooding in parts of the North East, Devon, Cornwall, Gloucestershire and Worcestershire.

The Environment Agency has 26 flood warnings in place across England and Wales and t emporary flood barriers are still in place on the River Severn at Shrewsbury and Bewdley.

The latest wet weather comes as the country continues to deal with the aftermath of a series of devastating storms and floods over the past month, most recently last week's Storm Frank.

The Environment Agency, whose chairman Sir Philip Dilley was criticised for holidaying in Barbados as the country was battered by some of the worst storms in decades, said it was continuing to support communities with flood relief work.

Teams are pumping away flood water, repairing damaged defences, clearing blockages in rivers, and monitoring water levels.

In Scotland, Vincent Fitzsimons, Sepa's hydrology duty manager, said: "Rivers have been rising since Saturday and flood warnings have been issued. It's important to note that the rain is less intense but more prolonged than during Storm Frank.

''This means that rivers will rise more slowly but then stay high for much longer - from Sunday through till Tuesday."

Two people died in separate incidents in Scottish rivers when Storm Frank hit, with the body of a kayaker recovered from the River Findhorn in Moray and a canoeist drowning in the River Garry in the Highlands.
The PSNI is paying outside contractors to perform some duties in the wake of budget cuts that have seen police officer numbers fall, it has emerged

The PSNI is paying outside contractors to perform some duties in the wake of budget cuts that have seen police officer numbers fall, it has emerged.

One contractor is the G4S security company, which has been embroiled in a scandal for allegedly overcharging for the electronic tagging of criminals who were either dead, back in jail or had fled.

A Freedom of Information request revealed that G4S and another private security firm, Serco, received almost 170m from forces across the UK over the past five years.

Some of the duties carried out for forces include interviewing witnesses, examining crime scenes and liaising with courts over prosecutions, but it's thought most are for back office functions.

The largest payment was 67.5m to G4S from the Lincolnshire force.

The PSNI in contrast paid just 410,500 over the past five years, but even this has come under scrutiny due to recent budget cuts.

It's also not clear exactly what duties are being carried out for the PSNI by G4S, but contracted staff are thought to perform ancillary roles.

Chief Constable George Hamilton has repeatedly warned about falling numbers, leaving the PSNI unable to completely fulfil its role.

He has said a minimum of 7,000 officers is needed to provide a "resilient" force.

Current numbers stand at around 6,800.
Eugene Reavey said he thought 100 renegade security force members were involved directly or indirectly with the Glenanne clan

Members of two families devastated by a loyalist murder squad on the same night of bloodshed have insisted their desire for truth has not waned four decades on.

In January 1976, the Reaveys and O'Dowds - two Catholic families living within 15 miles of each other in Co Armagh - each lost three loved ones at the hands of a notorious Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) gang reputed to contain dozens of rogue security force members.

Brothers Declan, 19, and Barry O'Dowd, 24, and their uncle Joe, 61, were shot dead by members of the Glenanne gang at a family gathering in Ballydougan, near Gilford, on the night of January 4. Declan and Barry's father Barney, a member of the SDLP, was seriously injured in the hail of bullets.

The attack took place only minutes after brothers Anthony, 17, Brian, 22, and John Martin Reavey, 24, were shot at their home near Whitecross. Brian and John Martin were killed instantly while Anthony died weeks later.

The six sectarian killings, which are among around 130 attributed to the Glenanne gang in the Northern Ireland Troubles, happened during a period of intense violence in the wider Armagh area.

The following day a little-known republican paramilitary group, widely suspected to be a front for the on-ceasefire IRA, shot dead 10 protestant workmen outside the south Armagh village of Kingsmill after ambushing their minibus.

On the 40th anniversary of the O'Dowd and Reavey murders, relatives have reflected on the night that changed both families forever.

Declan and Barry O'Dowd's brother Noel said he has "no doubt" security force collusion was at play. Senior UVF commander Robin "the Jackal" Jackson (now dead) was widely suspected as one of those involved in the shooting though never charged.

"I don't hold out much hope anyone will ever be brought to justice," said Mr O'Dowd.

"But I would just like to know some answers. I would like to know who planned it, where did it come from, who pin-pointed us? Why was our family targeted? Nobody could have got to us without local involvement. I would just like to know answers - how high did this go?

"We have always known there was security force involvement in it - where was it sanctioned and why?"

Mr O'Dowd, who is cousin of Sinn Fein's Stormont Education Minister John O'Dowd, has worked with victims lobby group the Pat Finucane Centre in a bid to find out the extent of the Glenanne gang's activities. The gang was so-called because one of its bases was a farmhouse in Glenanne, near Markethill, Co Armagh.

"The Glenanne gang were committing murder with complete impunity, they were killing people all over Tyrone, Down and Armagh," said Noel O'Dowd.

"It just escalated and escalated. It would be very important to know the answers even though I believe no one will ever stand in court."

After Barney O'Dowd recovered from his injuries, which included the loss of a kidney, he and wife Kathleen moved the family away from Northern Ireland, to Co Meath in the Irish Republic. He is now 92 but still is involved in the family's campaign for truth, attending regular meetings with the Pat Finucane Centre.

"My parents were remarkable," said Noel O'Dowd.

"Faith is what got my mother through. She died in 1999. My father came through it all with great fortitude and dignity. He holds no bitterness over what happened."

Eugene Reavey says he knows the names of the five men who murdered his brothers, but concedes that those of them who are still alive are unlikely to face justice.

It is his belief up to 100 renegade security force members were involved either directly or indirectly with the Glenanne gang.

"I would say that prosecutions are out of the window," he said.

"But most of these men were well thought of in their community and I would like them to be named and shamed for what they were - for they weren't anybody to be looked up to."

For Mr Reavey, the loss of his three brothers was exacerbated by the treatment he says his family was subjected to by the security forces in the wake of the killings.

He said this included his mother being verbally abused and harassed by soldiers as she brought her son's bodies home from the morgue and a "black propaganda" whispering campaign insinuating his brothers were in the IRA.

"The police pedalled the lie that our boys were in the IRA and they played that game for a long, long time until they had to catch themselves on," he said.

Almost 25 years after the death of his brothers, Mr Reavey found himself propelled into the public spotlight when the late Democratic Unionist leader Ian Paisley used parliamentary privilege to allege he was involved in planning the Kingsmill attack.

"That was one of the worst blows I ever got," he said.

"I used to meet the Kingsmill people. I would always be talking to them, sitting with them, shaking hands with them, my arm round them sympathising with them and the next thing this thing comes out and I'm sure they were saying 'that's some so-and-so talking to me'.

"Thanks be to God not everybody believed it."

While Mr Paisley never retracted his statement, a subsequent investigation by the police's Historical Enquiries Team (HET) made clear there was no evidence to link any member of the Reavey family to paramilitarism.

For Mr O'Dowd the sense of loss has intensified, not diminished, with the passing of the years.

"It was such a waste, so futile," he said.

"I think it is maybe worse 40 years on because you can reflect on what has been lost.

"My brothers were both young men - 24 and 19. I am now 62 and a grandfather.

"We lost so much as a family but they individually lost out on an opportunity to have a life - they had expectations like us, everybody wants to have some sort of a life, to have a family and see your family growing up. That's my biggest sense - loss.

"And it was two families impacted. My uncle Joe was killed in front of two of his daughters Deirdre, who was 21, and Bernadette, who was just 19 - they witnessed his death.

"I never thought it (the Troubles) was worth losing one life, never mind 3,000."

Mr O'Dowd believes that some form of resolution is required on outstanding legacy cases before Northern Ireland can truly move on.

"Ours is a terrible story, but it's just one of many," he said.

"There are lots of families who have suffered every bit as much as us, or more, and I just think what was it all about?

"We have now moved into a new era in Northern Ireland of proper politics, but there still seems to be a lot of residue from the past.

"I believe that all the victims' families deserve the truth and ultimately justice to enable them to finally move on."

Mr Reavey says he has lost all faith in political efforts to find ways to tackle the legacy of the Troubles.

The latest attempt to set up new investigatory mechanisms has floundered due to a row over the extent of official documentation the Government is willing to make public.

Mr Reavey is instead pinning his hopes on legal challenges being taken by relatives of Glenanne victims in the courts and efforts to have the killings probed in the coroner's court. He also hopes a stalled Police Ombudsman investigation into the Reavey murders will commence in the coming weeks.

"On a daily basis I ask myself why does the Government have an agenda not to resolve the issues around the Glenanne series of murders - what are they hiding?" he said.

"We (the families) aren't hiding anything - all we want to do is tell the truth. Nowhere in Europe has there been such a series of murders and none of them resolved - not one of them.

"There's something wrong there."
Tim Peake concluded his message with what he believed was the first "God save the Queen" uttered from space

Tim Peake has become the first person to deliver a "God save the Queen" message directly to the monarch from space.

The British astronaut personally addressed the Queen in a video message live from the International Space Station (ISS) after she sent him her own well-wishes.

In the minute-long video, Major Peake, who was launched into space last month, thanked the Queen and said he hoped his journey would serve as a symbol of "international collaboration" and help make the world a better place.

The "humbled" astronaut concluded his message with what he believed was the first "God save the Queen" uttered from space.

Floating in front of a camera with a microphone, Maj Peake said: " I'm truly honoured to receive Your Majesty's message, inspired by its wording, and humbled to be able to represent the UK and Europe on board the ISS. I can tell you it's incredible to be able to look at the British Isles for the first time from space.

"Our islands and our nation are a special place to me and I hope the next six months will demonstrate to everyone across the UK and Europe how international collaboration and brave endeavour can change our world for the better.

"So thank you again for your well wishes, ma'am. I hope I can bring the country together to celebrate Britain in space and our great tradition of scientific exploration.

"And before I sign off, I'm not sure that this has ever been said in space before, so I'll be the first: God save the Queen."

A message sent by the Queen to Maj Peake shortly after his launch in December read: "Prince Philip and I are pleased to transmit our best wishes to Major Timothy Peake as he joins the International Space Station in orbit.

"We hope that Major Peake's work on the Space Station will serve as an inspiration to a new generation of scientists and engineers."
The father of brain cancer survivor Ashya King has said he is "proud" as his son returns to school full time.

Brett King said the youngster was "doing very well" after recovering from proton beam therapy to treat his rare condition.

Mr King, and his wife Naghmeh, sparked an international manhunt after they took Ashya, then aged five, from Southampton General Hospital without doctors' consent in August 2014.

The couple were arrested a few days later in Spain, where they were forced to spend several nights in prison away from their son before being released.

A High Court judge later approved the move to take Ashya to Prague for proton therapy .

A report by Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Board found their actions had "put him at risk" but Mr King again defended his decision on Good Morning Britain.

He also said that while his son still faced a few problems, he was delighted the child would be back in full-time education.

He told the programme: "He is doing very well. We are so proud of him.

"There are still a few issues - he is wobbly on his legs and his speech is a bit strained but he is a fighter, he does not give up and he is prepared to try anything."

He added the couple found it difficult "just a short time ago, to think he might be going to school for the majority of the day".

And he said: "We expect him to make a full recovery to the boy we had before."

The proton therapy was not offered to Ashya on the NHS, although the health service later agreed to fund his treatment. Several new proton beam therapy centres will open in the UK from this year.
Parents are urged to make healthier food choices after worries some children consume their bodyweight in sugar annually

Revelations some British children are consuming their bodyweight in sugar each year have prompted a Government campaign urging parents to make healthier food choices.

Public Health England (PHE) today released television, digital and outdoor advertising for the "Change4Life" campaign, accompanied by a free phone app that allows users to scan the barcode of products and learn how much sugar they contain in grams or cubes.

Children aged between four and 10 eat around 22kg of sugar every year, or the average weight of a five-year-old, according to PHE.

In 2013, almost a third of the country's five-year-olds and almost half of its eight-year-olds had tooth decay, but the campaign also highlights other sugar-related health risks such as diabetes and obesity.

PHE chief nutritionist Dr Alison Tedstone said: "Children are having too much sugar - three times the maximum recommended amount.

"This can lead to painful tooth decay, weight gain and obesity, which can also affect children's well-being as they are more likely to be bullied, have low self-esteem and miss school."

Obesity costs the NHS 5.1 billion each year - a figure that is projected to almost double by 2050.

Dr Tedstone added: "Children aged five shouldn't have more than 19 grams of sugar per day - that's five cubes - but it's very easy to have more."

The British Retail Consortium, which represents major supermarkets, suggested that industry-wide targets for reducing sugar in products should be introduced.

Spokesman Andrew Opie told the Daily Mail: "We believe we'll make the most progress by having targets for reducing sugar from those categories contributing most to excessive consumption by children, as part of a wider reduction strategy.

"To be effective, they need to apply to all food companies, which is why they need to be mandatory ... It means we see change across the board and those companies that are more progressive in removing sugar are not penalised.

"We recognise that reducing sugar is not the only approach and in some cases we would look at other methods such as appropriate portion sizes alongside targets."
Labour's candidate for London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has insisted he will be "my own man" if he wins the race to succeed Boris Johnson, as he warned that the May election should not be decided by voters' views of Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Khan said he aimed to be "the most pro-business mayor this city has every seen", stressing his commitment to a new runway at Gatwick Airport and his opposition to the Labour leader's proposal for a windfall tax on jobs.

He accused Conservative rival Zac Goldsmith of lacking the experience needed for the post of mayor because he had "never had a proper job".

Challenged to say whether he would be "Jeremy Corbyn's man in London" if he takes office at City Hall, Mr Khan told theBBC Radio 4 Today programme: "I think I am my own man."

And he added: "Jeremy Corbyn isn't on the ballot paper in the May mayoral elections. Nor is David Cameron.

"I am. So I have got to set out over the course of the next 120 days who I am."

The Tooting MP said the windfall tax was one of a number of examples of areas where "it is important for me to be my own person".

But he added: "What I am not going to do is for the next three months differentiate myself from Jeremy Corbyn, because I will speak for my own policies and my own vision for this great city, and let Jeremy do the important job of being leader of the Labour Party."

He declined to comment on speculation of an upcoming reshuffle in the shadow cabinet.

"Jeremy Corbyn is the leader of the party. That is a decision for Jeremy to take. My job is to tell Londoners why they should lend me their votes to make London an even greater city than it already is."

Mr Khan stressed his proposals for a "London living rent" set at one-third of local average income levels, as well as the need for action to improve air quality in the capital.

And he said: "I am against a new runway at Heathrow, but, unlike Jeremy Corbyn, I am very much in favour of a new runway at Gatwick Airport, because of the benefits of an increase in aviation capacity for jobs and growth."

Mr Khan said he would not attack Mr Goldsmith over his privileged background as the son of billionaire financier Sir James Goldsmith, but said voters should consider whether they wanted a mayor whose only previous "proper job" was as editor of The Ecologist magazine, founded by his uncle, Edward Goldsmith.

"I will not criticise Zac Goldsmith for who his parents are or what his background is. None of us are responsible for who our families are," said the Labour candidate, who is a lawyer and the son of a bus driver.

"What I will hold him to account for is what experiences he has to be the mayor of the greatest city in the world.

"London is one of the leading global commercial cities in the world, so I ask the question 'Do you want as Mayor of London ... someone who has never had a proper job, someone whose only job was one given you by your uncle to run his niche magazine?'"
Nurses are jetting out of Northern Ireland to work in England at weekends where they can earn triple the hourly rate here - up to 600 for two shifts. Picture posed

Nurses are jetting out of Northern Ireland to work in England at weekends where they can earn triple the hourly rate here - up to 600 for two shifts.

They fly over on Friday nights and work Saturday and Sunday shifts for private agencies in English hospitals, before returning to Belfast wards on Monday.

The Royal College of Nursing in Northern Ireland said that if nurses in the province were being paid properly they would not have to take on the extra work.

There are currently around 1,500 nursing vacancies in Northern Ireland.

The Belfast Health Trust confirmed that some of its staff have been deciding to work for a private sector health care company.

They supplement their income by working for the private agencies, which then charge the National Health Service.

Despite concern over the revelations the trust insisted the additional shifts are not putting a strain on the province's already-stretched health service.

It emerged yesterday that after a full week's work, the Belfast nurses catch a Friday evening flight to London, Birmingham or Tyneside, where they provide weekend cover.

Despite working the Saturday and Sunday shifts and travelling hundreds of miles, the tired nurses then start work as usual in Belfast on Monday.

A Sunday newspaper report yesterday claimed each nurse is being paid up to 600 for two shifts.

But the extra costs, which include airfares, taxis and accommodation, take the total cost to the taxpayer to well over 1,000.

It is understood a group of 10 to 12 nurses from the Royal Victoria Hospital and Belfast City Hospital have been making the 480-mile round trip to work at Sunderland Royal Hospital.

Janice Smyth, director of the Royal College of Nursing in Northern Ireland, said: "They are choosing to use their days off to go and do this and we are talking about highly trained nurses."

She added: "I was not aware of this, but I am not surprised. I don't know any of these nurses personally, but nurses are really struggling financially. We know that a high percentage of them are struggling to pay their gas and electricity bills.

"There is a global shortage in nursing at the moment, but the problem is particularly acute in the United Kingdom."

Mrs Smyth said nurses in the province have not had a full pay increase since 2011. "We are now in 2016 and the Department of Health has still not made any offer," she added.

The RCN chief said there are 16,500 nurses in Northern Ireland at present, but there are around 1,500 vacancies.

The Belfast Health and Social Care Trust said: "The trust is aware of an arrangement whereby a number of its employees also choose to work for a private sector healthcare provider.

"The trust does not believe that this has an impact on the service provided by the trust as this private arrangement is outside of the staff's contractual obligation to the organisation."

The TaxPayers' Alliance said the public would be staggered at the sums spent flying nurses around the UK.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the organisation, said: "Expensive agency staff should only be used by NHS trusts when absolutely necessary, not as a matter of course.

"This represents a wasteful allocation of resources."

The costs were said to be met by recruitment agency Medinet, a business based in Wales which describes itself as "the leading company working alongside the NHS to guarantee that waiting time targets are achieved".

Medinet operations manager James Warnock said: "Medinet was awarded the contract to support endoscopy services at Sunderland Royal Hospital following a competitive tender process.

"All travel costs are covered by the company within the cost of service wherever the nurses travel from."
The former editor of The Sun and columnist Kelvin MacKenzie has said searching white people at airports is a waste of time as everybody knows that if a bomb is to be smuggled on to a plane it will be carried on by a Muslim from the Middle East or Africa".

In todays paper, MacKenzie recalls his recent trip back from his holiday in Mauritius, which included a stop-over in Dubai.

Seemingly irritated by the routine security screening millions of people face, regardless of age, race or gender when they travel, MacKenzie suggests security personnel shouldnt search people who look like him as theyre wasting their time.

If security were really interested in stopping an outrage why would they waste their time on me? he wrote, A quick glance at any picture of me would reveal two things that would tell the Dubai authorities that I was not going to be a terrorist.

MacKenzie, who edited the British tabloid from 1981 to 1994, attributes that the two things making him identifiable as definitely not being a terrorist as his age and my colour.

Racial profiling is an uncomfortable subject but everybody know  especially the nervous employees at Dubai airport  that if a bomb is to be smuggled on to a plane it will be carried on by a Muslim from the Middle East or Africa.

 Stopping law-abiding, non-violent white people at airports is a waste of time and an insult to everybodys intelligence.

The 69-year-old then suggests that the security officer at the airport should actually be searched instead of him, presumably because of his race or religion, if passengers really wanted to be safe.

Mackenzie ends his column: The Dubai authorities should stop this nonsense now. They know who they are looking for. I am not one of them. And neither are you.

The column in Britains most widely read newspaper has since been criticised by the organisation Tell MAMA who counter anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia, Bigotry and Prejudice.

The director Fiyaz Mughal told the Huffington Post: To suggest racial profiling should take place and that Mr MacKenzie should not be checked thoroughly shows an arrogance that is breath-taking. Factually he is wrong and his rhetoric actually does not resonate with the wider public.

Mr Mughal also referred to the case of Timothy McVeigh, a white man who detonated a truck bomb in Oklahoma City in 1995 killing 168 people.

There have, of course, been many other instances of terrorism involving white people and currently there is much debate about white terrorism.

For example, the takeover of a government building in Oregon on Sunday by an armed militia prompted a huge reaction on social media with the hashtag #OregonUnderAttack but went largely unreported in the mainsteam media.

In June 2015, a study revealed white people to be a bigger threat to the US than Muslims or any other ethnic group. The study found that of 26 attacks on US soil, 19 were committed by non-Muslims.

A spokesperson for The Sun has been contacted for comment.

Independent
Deloitte said total support for EU membership at top UK companies fell to 62% in the last six months

Business support for Britain's membership of the European Union (EU) has fallen in the last six months, according to a new survey.

Deloitte said "unqualified" EU support among financial bosses at leading UK companies dropped to 62% from 74%.

Some 28% they were awaiting the outcome of the Prime Minister's renegotiation with European leaders before making up their mind and just 6% felt UK businesses would benefit from leaving the union, although this was up from 2% initially.

Another poll, by the Financial Times (FT), found that not one of more than 100 leading economists felt a Brexit would be beneficial for the country's economic prospects in 2016.

The figures come ahead of an in/out referendum which could be called as early as this summer, and has been promised by David Cameron before the end of 2017.

Mr Cameron's renegotiation is entering a crucial phase ahead of a key EU summit in February where a deal could be reached.

Deloitte asked 137 chief financial officers (CFOs), including 24 from FTSE 100 companies, whether it was in the interests of UK businesses for the country to remain in the EU.

The main swings in opinion since the last survey six months ago were a greater uncertainty and a narrower margin for the "In" camp, the auditors said.

Some 4% of CFOs were "uncertain", compared with 1% previously.

David Sproul, senior partner and chief executive of Deloitte, said: " A clear majority of CFOs continue to favour the UK remaining in the EU, but the proportion of those expressing unqualified support has fallen. This mirrors what we have seen from the broader public in opinion polls in the last six months.

"With around one third of CFOs undecided on their position or awaiting the outcome of renegotiation discussions, the eventual deal may well significantly affect business attitudes to EU membership."

The FT poll also found 76% of economists felt the UK economy would be worse off in the medium term as the result of a Brexit, while only 8% thought prospects would be better.

Adam Posen, president of the Institute for International Economics, told the paper a vote to leave the EU "changes my views about 2016 and the medium term drastically for the worse".

"Business investment will dry up," he added.

Carolyn Fairbairn, director general of the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), said business' uncertainty was "understandable".

She told the BBC's Today programme: "We have a negotiation going on by the Prime Minister and what businesses are telling me is they are waiting to see the deal. That's entirely understandable.

"The proportion of business leaders who want to be out under any circumstances is still very low."
Workers who commute by train spend up to six times as much of their salaries on fares as European passengers on publicly owned railways, a study has revealed.

Action for Rail, a campaign by rail unions and the TUC, said some UK workers were spending 13% of their monthly wages on rail travel compared with 2% in Italy.

The research was published to highlight protests at more than 60 railway stations by campaigners and rail workers to mark the return to work after the festive break, with fares having increased at the weekend.

The analysis looked at a UK worker on an average salary who is spending 13% of their monthly wages on a 357.90 monthly season ticket from Chelmsford to London.

By contrast, the average amount of salary going on a monthly season ticket for a similar journey is 2% in Italy, 3% in Spain and 4% in Germany.

In France, which is the closest to the UK for cost, commuters still spend nearly a third less on season tickets than their counterparts in the UK, said the report.

A survey of more than 1,700 adults for the campaign group found that three out of five believed train services in the UK were poor value for money, with a similar number supporting public ownership.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "It's hardly surprising that UK passengers think rail travel is bad value for money. They are shelling out far more of their income on rail fares than their counterparts in Europe.

"Years of failed privatisation have left us with exorbitant ticket prices, overcrowded trains and ageing infrastructure. Ministers need to wake up to this reality instead of allowing train companies to milk the system at taxpayers' and commuters' expense."

Rail, Maritime and Transport union leader Mick Cash said: "Today is national rail rip-off day when, along with the looming Christmas credit card bills, the British public awake to another kick in the teeth from the greedy private train companies. We would urge everyone to join with the trade unions to end the money-making racket on our rail tracks in 2016. "

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: "Profit made on passengers in the UK is not reinvested here, but repatriated to Germany, France, Belgium and Hong Kong to subsidise journeys of passengers there.

"We need a railway for the future - that means a publicly owned rail service operating in the interests of British passengers, with every penny made in profit reinvested in the railways or in cheaper fares for passengers."

Unite acting national officer for rail Hugh Roberts said: "European state-owned rail companies provide excellent services and cheaper fares as part of coherent national economic strategies. The UK Government's ideological reliance on the profit-hungry private sector has been a disaster - and the majority of the public wants the railways taken back into public ownership."

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: "Taking the railways back into public hands is a popular policy. The vast majority of voters - Conservative included - are fed up with paying sky-high fares so the privatised train companies can take their slice. Commuters travelling into London from Kent and Sussex know their 5,000 a year season tickets would be much cheaper under public ownership."

Action for Rail said it looked at the price of monthly season tickets in five countries and compared them with figures for annual median earnings for 2014 based on OECD statistics.

:: Tabulated by: country, journey, distance in miles, monthly season ticket price, monthly median earnings, % of monthly median earnings

UK, Chelmsford-London, 29, 358, 2,745, 13%

Germany, Eberswalde-Berlin, 31, 95, 2,452, 4%

France, Etampes-Paris, 29, 234, 2,422, 10%

Italy, Cerveteri Ladispoli Rome, 29, 37, 1,929, 2%

Spain, Arenys de Mar Barcelona, 27, 56, 1,805, 3%

Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents Network Rail and train operators, said: "For a decade successive governments chose to increase season tickets above the rate of inflation so passengers pay more of the cost of running the railway and taxpayers less.

"But more recently government has chosen to stop this trend. By looking purely at price, these figures also ignore that trains in Britain are often faster and more frequent than those on the continent and that European railways are often more subsidised by taxpayers or do not spend as much maintaining and improving their networks.

"Since rail franchising was introduced, passenger numbers have doubled. Whereas the network was running at a 2bn a year loss in 1997, in terms of day-to-day costs, it now virtually covers these expenses, meaning government can focus investment on renewing and improving the railway to meet Britain's needs."

Jeremy Corbyn joined protesters at London King's Cross station to call for lower ticket prices.

The Labour leader said his party first wanted to see more control over fares before eventually nationalising train operators.

Speaking at the protest, Mr Corbyn said: "We're here to join with a lot of passengers and rail workers who welcome the fact we've got a good railway system, welcome all the public investment that's gone into it but are very concerned about the fare rises that have gone in, the high fares that many people have to pay, the problems for commuters travelling in and out of all of our major cities and the need for us the public to have much more control over the fare system on our railways."

Asked what Labour would do about rail fares, he said: "Immediately to get control of the ticketing system; in the longer run to bring the train operating companies into public ownership so that we can then have control over them."
Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood said the Government had expressed its 'disappointment' at the executions

Prime Minister David Cameron has described the tensions provoked by the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia as "hugely concerning".

Mr Cameron said that the UK condemned the death penalty in all circumstances and had made representations to the Saudi authorities on this occasion.

The announcement on Saturday of the execution of 47 alleged terrorists, including Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, prompted an international outcry, and sparked protests in Shia-dominated Iran, where the Saudi embassy was stormed.

Riyadh responded by announcing it would sever diplomatic ties, with staff from the Iranian mission given 48 hours to leave and Saudi counterparts recalled home from Tehran.

Al-Nimr had been a leading critic of the Saudi authorities and there has been international concern over a sentence of death by crucifixion handed down to his nephew, Ali al-Nimr, for taking part in an anti-government protest in 2012 at the age of 17.

Speaking during a visit to east London, Mr Cameron said: "It is hugely concerning because of course we want to see stability in the Middle East, we want to see good relations between the different countries in the Middle East, not least because that will be absolutely essential for solving the crisis in Syria which is the source of so many of these problems.

"And specifically on Saudi Arabia let me be clear - we condemn and do not support the death penalty in any circumstances and that includes Saudi Arabia."

"We always make representations on the death penalty and the Foreign Office ministers made it very clear on this occasion."

With the threat of further sectarian violence triggered by the executions in predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia, the UK called for calm.

Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood urged all parties in the region to show "restraint and responsibility".

Mr Ellwood said: "I am deeply disturbed by the escalation in tensions in the last 24 hours in the Middle East.

"The UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty. We have stressed this to the Saudi authorities and also expressed our disappointment at the mass executions."

The Middle East minister said he expected that Ali al-Nimr and others who were convicted as juveniles will not be executed, and promised the UK will continue to raise their cases with the Saudi authorities.

A Saudi Justice Ministry spokesman told the BBC: "As a judicial power or judicial branch, we execute, or we apply, Sharia law according to the facts we see in front of us, irrespective of other influences, and that is what the judges are qualified on. They don't look to any other influences, they deal with the facts that they see in front of them."

The justification for Sheikh al-Nimr's death sentence "revolves generally around conducting acts that led to the killing of innocents and confronting security officers and killing them", said the spokesman.

Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake called for assurances from Mr Cameron that the weapons used in the Saudi executions were not made in the UK.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Brake said: " The Liberal Democrats and I believe that the executions which we witnessed at the weekend, with some people being executed after they were arrested for instigating political protests, including Nimr al-Nimr, constitute a breach of the most basic human rights laws.

"I am therefore asking if you can give me assurances that no weapons or any other materials made in the United Kingdom were used to prepare or carry out the executions."
Bahraini protesters run as police approach near the end of a march denouncing the execution of Saudi Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. (AP)

Bahrain is severing diplomatic ties with Iran, according to a government minister from the island kingdom.

Bahrain's minister of media affairs Isa al-Hamadi made the announcement amid heightened tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

Iran is frequently accused by Bahrain of being behind the long-running, low-level insurgency in the country since its majority Shiite population began protests in 2011 against Bahrain's Sunni rulers.

Saudi Arabia is also severing diplomatic ties with Iran following the execution of prominent opposition Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and attacks on its diplomatic posts in the Islamic Republic.
Denmark's controls at its border with Germany have been tightened. (AP)

Denmark and Sweden have tightened their borders in efforts to stem the flow of migrants entering Scandinavia from Germany.

Just hours after Swedish rules went into effect requiring train passengers travelling from Denmark to show identification, the Danish government announced it had beefed up border controls with Germany.

"We are introducing temporary border controls, but in a balanced way," Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen, adding there would be no problem for "ordinary" Danes and Germans to cross the border.

The moves were the latest by European Union countries to suspend an agreement to keep internal borders open after a million migrants entered the 28-nation bloc in 2015, most of them by crossing the Mediterranean to Greece or Italy.

"If the European Union cannot protect the external border, you will see more and more countries forced to introduce temporary border controls," Mr Loekke Rasmussen said.

He said the Danish move was in response to new identification checks introduced by Sweden on Monday for all passengers entering the country by train, bus or ferry.

"This could lead to more refugees and migrants being stopped on their journey northward, and therefore ending up with us in Denmark," he said.

His government has taken a series of measures to discourage migrants from coming to Denmark, including a proposal to seize their jewellery to cover their expenses.

The Swedish government initially had a welcoming attitude to migrants, but reversed course after more than 160,000 Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and others applied for asylum in 2015, the highest number in Europe except for Germany.

To comply with the new Swedish rules, passengers are having to show identification to board trains departing from Copenhagen Airport to Sweden across a bridge-and-tunnel link.

Danish officials have criticised the move and suggested Sweden should pay for the cost of the checks.

Mr Loekke Rasmussen called the Swedish move a "big setback" for efforts to deepen ties between Copenhagen and southern Sweden and predicted it would cause problems for commuters.

He stressed that the Danish checks on the German border would not be as far-reaching. They would entail "spot checks" on passengers on trains crossing the mainland border on the Jutland peninsula and on ferries arriving in the Danish ports of Gedser and Roedby.

"We are not talking about controlling everyone coming in from Germany," he said.

German officials have not commented directly on the Danish decision, but Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman, Steffen Seibert, said Mr Loekke Rasmussen had spoken with the German leader.

Germany introduced border controls of its own on the Austrian frontier in mid-September and Mr Seibert said those have been successful - "but it is clear to all of us in Europe ... that we need an overall European solution. The solution won't be found at national borders between country A and country B".

More than 190,000 migrants crossed the German-Danish border last year. About 13,000 applied for asylum in Denmark, while others travelled further north to Sweden, Norway and Finland, Mr Loekke Ramussen said.
An IS site in Syria has been attacked by French war planes

French war planes have destroyed a site in Syria used by Islamic State extremists to produce missiles and store weapons.

The French Defence Ministry said in a statement that the overnight air strikes targeted a site east of Aleppo, in an operation conducted by Rafale fighter jets using SCALP cruise missiles.

The French jets were acting jointly with the US-led coalition, the statement said.

France joined the US-led coalition against Islamic State extremists in Iraq in 2014 and expanded its operations to Syria in September. French war planes intensified military action against IS targets after the extremist group claimed responsibility for attacks in Paris on November 13 that killed 130 people.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has struck an Israeli armoured patrol with a roadside bomb at its border.

The group says it is in retaliation for the killing of one of its high-profile operatives.

Hezbollah said it set off a large explosive device as the patrol passed in the disputed Chebaa Farms area, destroying a vehicle and causing casualties among the soldiers inside.

The Israeli army said vehicles in the area were hit with an improvised explosive device and that it responded with targeted artillery fire. It did not say whether there were any casualties. Hezbollah's television channel Al Manar said one of the vehicles targeted was carrying "a senior officer".

Tensions on the border have been high since Samir Kantar, a celebrated militant who carried out a notorious attack in Israel and spent nearly 30 years in an Israeli jail, was killed in Syria by an air strike late last month. Hezbollah blamed Israel for the strike and said it would avenge his death.

Border skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah have quickly escalated into all-out war in the past, with one cross-border raid by the group in 2006 starting a month-long Israeli offensive that included a ground invasion and air strikes that reached across all of Lebanon.

But with Hezbollah currently engaged in the Syrian civil war backing President Bashar Assad, and Israel free to target the group in porous Syrian airspace, both sides seem too occupied elsewhere to opt for a new war in Lebanon.

Later, Lebanese security officials said that more than 50 Israeli shells hit several villages in the area where the Hezbollah operation was carried out. Residents along the border said shelling from Israeli tanks and artillery landed in agricultural areas inside Lebanon, but did not report casualties.

The officials said the patrol was hit near an Israeli army position in the Kfar Chouba hills that Lebanon says is Lebanese land occupied by Israel. The residents requested anonymity, saying they feared for their safety, while the officials did so in line with regulations.

The Hezbollah unit that carried out the bombing was named after Kantar, who joined Hezbollah after being released by Israel in 2008. Kantar was killed last month in Syria in an attack blamed on Israel.

Just a day earlier, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to avenge the killing of Kantar, who was the longest serving Lebanese prisoner in Israel before he was released in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in the raid that kicked off the 2006 war.

Kantar was killed on December 19, along with eight others, in an air strike on a residential building in Jaramana, near the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Israel has not confirmed or denied that it carried out the air strikes.
The Causeway Bay Bookstore is known for titles about Chinese political scandals. (AP)

Hong Kong's leader has said he is "highly concerned" about the recent disappearances of people associated with a publishing company in the city that specialises in titles critical of mainland China's leadership.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying told reporters there is no evidence so far to support suspicions that mainland security agents were involved.

Five people associated with Hong Kong publisher Mighty Current and its Causeway Bay Bookstore have vanished in recent months.

The disappearances have raised fears that Beijing is tightening its grip on Hong Kong, a semi-autonomous territory that enjoys civil liberties such as freedom of the press that do not exist on the mainland.

The latest and most startling case came last week, when the publisher's chief editor, Lee Bo, failed to return home after visiting a book storage warehouse.

Four other people linked to the company went missing in October, but they were last seen either in mainland China or Thailand.

In Mr Lee's case, his wife told local media that he had called her from a number that indicated he was in Shenzhen, the mainland Chinese city next door to Hong Kong. That has led many to suspect that Chinese agents crossed over into Hong Kong, snatched Mr Lee and spirited him to the mainland.

Police issued a statement saying the missing person's report involving Mr Lee had been withdrawn, but that police would continue to investigate.

"The government and I are highly concerned about the case" of the missing booksellers, Mr Leung said.

Hong Kong's leader also said there is "no indication" yet that Chinese agents are involved, and appealed for information from anyone who could help give a better idea of the missing people's whereabouts or the reasons for the their disappearance.

"If mainland Chinese law enforcement personnel are carrying out duties in Hong Kong, it would be unacceptable because it goes against the Basic Law," the mini-constitution under which Beijing agreed to uphold the "one country, two systems" principle after taking control of the city from Britain in 1997, Mr Leung said.

The Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing said it had no information on the case.

Mighty Current specialises in sensationalist books about Chinese political scandals and other sensitive issues that mainland publishers are forbidden from covering. The books are banned in China but are sold in Hong Kong at book shops frequented by visiting tourists from the mainland.

Hong Kong pro-democracy politician Albert Ho said there were rumours the publisher was preparing a book on an old "girlfriend or mistress" of Chinese President Xi Jinping and had faced pressure to scrap it.
Iranian demonstrators burn representations of the US and Israeli flags in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran (AP)

Iran has expressed "regret" over two attacks on Saudi Arabian diplomatic missions and says it will spare no effort in arresting and prosecuting those responsible.

Iran's United Nations envoy Gholamali Khoshroo said in a letter to UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon that the Islamic Republic "will take necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents in the future".

Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran on Sunday after protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and consulate in Mashad. The violence stems from Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent opposition Shiite cleric over the weekend, which predominantly Shiite Iran has denounced.

Mr Khoshroo said more than 40 protesters at the embassy have been arrested and handed over to judicial authorities and investigators are seeking other possible perpetrators.

In a letter circulated to all 193 UN member nations, Mr Khoshroo said Iran supports the Vienna conventions on the protection of diplomats and diplomatic property.

The statement came after allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and scaled back diplomatic ties to Iran.

Sudan and Bahrain said they would sever ties with Tehran, and within hours, the United Arab Emirates announced it would downgrade ties to Tehran to the level of the charge d'affaires, while other nations issued statements criticising Iran.

The concerted campaign by Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia highlights the aggressive stance King Salman and his son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have adopted in confronting Iran, a long-time regional rival.

"What we have seen during the last 24 hours is unprecedented. It shows you Saudi Arabia has had enough of Iran and wants to send a message," said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a political science professor at Emirates University. "This is the Saudis saying, 'There is no limit to how far we will go'."

The stand-off began on Saturday when Saudi Arabia executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges - the largest mass execution carried out by the kingdom since 1980.

Expand Close Bahrain and Sudan have joined Saudi Arabia in severing relations with Iran, and the UAE has downgraded its diplomatic team after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked amid a row over the execution of a Shia Muslim cleric. Graphic shows estimated populations of Shia and Sunni Muslims in the Middle East, and countries with sectarian tensions. GRAPHIC NEWS / Facebook

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Whatsapp Bahrain and Sudan have joined Saudi Arabia in severing relations with Iran, and the UAE has downgraded its diplomatic team after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked amid a row over the execution of a Shia Muslim cleric. Graphic shows estimated populations of Shia and Sunni Muslims in the Middle East, and countries with sectarian tensions.

Mr al-Nimr was a central figure in the Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority, who long denied advocating violence. News of his execution has sparked Shiite protests from Bahrain to Pakistan.

In Iran, protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad. By late Sunday, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the kingdom would sever its relations with Iran over the assaults, giving Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority suspended all flights to and from Iran, saying the move was based on the kingdom's cutting of diplomatic ties.
Prime minister Shinzo Abe says there must be a summit in order for to forge a peace treaty with Russia (AP)

Japan's prime minister Shinzo Abe has said summit talks with Russian president Vladimir Putin must take place in order for the countries to forge a peace treaty.

Japan and Russia never signed a peace treaty after the Second World War because of territorial disputes over islands north of the Japanese island of Hokkaido, which Japan calls its "Northern Territories".

When asked about Mr Putin in a news conference, Mr Abe said, "We both recognise that 70 years after the war's end, to not have concluded a peace treaty is abnormal. But without a summit meeting this Northern Territories problem cannot be resolved."

He also said it was crucial that Russia played a constructive role in fighting terrorism and in the crises in Iran and Syria.

Since taking office in late 2012, Mr Abe has sought to make progress on improved relations with Russia, but the conflict in Ukraine and other issues have complicated that effort.

Several tentative plans for a visit by Mr Putin to Japan have been put off over western concerns about Russia's involvement in such crises.

Mr Abe also said Japan's often tense relations with China and South Korea were "normalising", following a summit in Seoul and he hoped for further progress.
The Kenyan university where Islamic extremists killed 148 people nine months ago has reopened amid high security.

Many Kenyans are praising the reopening of Garissa University College as showing that Kenya will not surrender to extremist violence.

Registrar Isaack Mohammed Noor said at least 150 of 200 staff had reported for work at the three-year-old college, a branch of Eldoret's Moi University.

Mr Noor told The Associated Press that he was living at the school during the April 2 attack and has vivid memories of the rampage in which 142 students died, many of whom he knew. Six security officers were also killed.

Somalia's extremist insurgents, al-Shabab, claimed responsibility for the attack. The rebels have vowed retribution on Kenya for sending troops to fight them in Somalia.
Making a Murderer documents the story of Steven Avery. Above: Avery's mugshot, taken after his arrest in 1985

Two online petitions demanding the pardon of Steven Avery, the subject of the popular Netflix series Making a Murderer, have together received 100,000 signatures, just two weeks after the documentary premiered online.

The petitions, which are hosted on the official White House petition website and Change.org, have collectively gained a total of 114,679 signatures since they were created shortly after the show's premiere on 18 December 2015.

Making a Murderer documents the story of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who was sent to prison in 1985 for sexual assault and attempted murder. DNA evidence later proved that he was innocent of the crimes, and Avery was released from prison in 2003 after his conviction was overturned.

Two years after his release and his filing of a $36 million (24.4 million) lawsuit against Manitowoc County for his wrongful conviction, he was again accused and later convicted for the murder of Teresa Halbach, a photographer who was last seen near Avery's family home.

Avery has always maintained his innocence of both alleged crimes, and during his second trial his defence team claimed Manitowoc County police had framed him for Halbach's murder. He is currently serving a life sentence at Wisconsin's Waupun Correctional Institution.

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Through chronicling Avery's story, the documentary has shone a light on the challenges and alleged failings of the criminal justice system, making allegations of improper interrogations and forced confessions.

It has also picked up a huge following online, with many fans poring over the details of the case themselves and asserting the innocence of Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, who was also implicated in Halbach's death.

The text of the White House petition, which currently has around 18,000 signatures, says that Avery and Dassey "should be given a full pardon by President Obama for their wrongful conviction in the connection to the murder of Teresa Halbach."

"Based on the evidence in the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, the justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives."

It also alleges that Manitowoc County police used "improper methods" to ensure the conviction of both men, and calls the entire episode a "black mark on the justice system as a whole." This petition still needs around 80,000 signatures before it is considered by White House staff.

The Change.org petition, which currently has around 97,000 signatures, also says Avery should recieve a presidential pardon, and calls for the Manitowoc County officials involved in the case to be "held accountable" in front of the law.

Officials have denied the series' claims of legal wrongdoing, with Manitowoc County Sheriff Robert Hermann telling local newspaper the Herald Times Reporter that the filmmakers "have taken things out of context and taken them out of the order in which they occurred, which can lead people to a different opinion or conclusion."

Former district attorney Ken Kratz, who acted as prosecutor in Avery and Dassey's trials, also told a local news station that "80 to 90 per cent" of the physical evidence that allegedly ties Avery to Halbach's murder was not presented in the documentary.

He alleged the show's creators, Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, had not given him the opportunity to respond to the documentary's claims - something the filmmakers deny.

All 10 episodes of Making a Murderer are currently available to stream on Netflix.

Independent
The wake of mayor of Temixco, Gisela Mota, at her home in Temixco, Mexico. (AP)

The governor of the southern Mexican state of Morelos says the killing of a mayor was a warning by drug gangs, meant to convince other officials to reject state police control of local forces.

Governor Graco Ramirez says the killing of mayor Gisela Mota was meant to convince other officials to reject state police control of local forces.

He blames the Rojos gang for the killing. The Rojos and the rival Guerreros Unidos gangs have fought turf battles across the neighbouring state of Guerrero.

Mota took office as mayor of the city of Temixco on January 1 and was shot at her home on January 2.

Mr Ramirez said the killing was a "clear threat" to local officials not accept state police control, which is aimed at combating corruption in local forces.

Mr Ramirez told local media the gangs wanted to control local police "as happened in the past".
A fifth gunman has been killed in a more than two-day long siege at an air base near India's border with Pakistan.

At least one attacker remains and operations to comb and secure the base continue.

Major General Dushyant Singh, from India's elite National Security Guard, told reporters that search operations at the Pathankot air force base will continue until all areas have been completely secured.

The attack at the Pathankot air base began early on Saturday morning and has dragged on as government troops struggle to contain the heavily armed attackers in the sprawling station.

At least twice over the weekend it appeared that the attack had ended but fresh gunfire and explosions erupted both times.

Four attackers were reported killed by Saturday evening, and at least two were said to have been exchanging gunfire with troops as of Monday morning. By evening one had been shot dead, Major Singh said.

Defence officials have said authorities had been alerted about a potential attack in the area on Friday, and that aerial surveillance at the base spotted the gunmen as they entered the compound, leading to criticism of the handling of the situation.

Major Singh told reporters in Pathankot that it will take a "long time" to declare the base completely secure because of its size and geography. It is spread over more than 2,000 acres, including forests and tall grass.

The commanding officer of the base, Lieutenant Colonel JS Dhamoon, described it as a "mini-city" with homes and a school for the children of the personnel stationed there.

An army statement said the last gunmen were firing from a building that is part of the living quarters on the base.

The base has a fleet of India's Russian-origin MiG-21 fighter jets and Mi-25 and Mi-35 attack helicopters, along with other military hardware. Officials have said no military hardware has been damaged in the fighting.

Military funerals have been held for the soldiers who were killed in the attack.

Their killings inside a military base despite intelligence alerts have angered many in India.

"The biggest problem is the multiplicity of command and control. Nobody knows who is really in charge," said Rahul Bedi, an analyst for Jane's Information Group.

The Pathankot base and the northern state of Punjab, where it is located, has "probably the highest concentration of military personnel in India because it's so close to the border with Pakistan," Mr Bedi said.

"It's a huge embarrassment," he said. "It's a major goof-up for everybody."

Since Saturday morning, the base has been swarming with air force commandos, army soldiers, National Security Guard troops and local police. Officials, however, have refused to say how many security personnel were involved in the engagement.

There has also been no clear source of information on the attack for the media. Home minister Rajnath Singh even tweeted on Saturday night to congratulate the troops for successfully killing all of the gunmen.

The air force base is on the highway that connects India's insurgency-plagued Jammu and Kashmir state with the rest of the country. It is also very close to India's border with Pakistan.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in its entirety by both. Rebels in India's portion of Kashmir have been fighting since 1989 for independence or merger with Pakistan.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the insurgents, a charge Islamabad denies, and the attack is being viewed as a possible attempt to unravel recent progress in their relationship.

Police said they do not know if the gunmen came from Kashmir or from Pakistan. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The violence follows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise December 25 visit to Pakistan, where he met his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif. The two also held an unscheduled meeting at the Paris climate change talks last month.

Ahead of Mr Modi's visit to Pakistan, the national security advisers of both countries met in Thailand. The foreign secretaries of both nations are to meet in Islamabad later this month.

The responses to the attacks from both countries have been muted so far, with neither New Delhi nor Islamabad giving any indication that the planned talks are under any threat.

All political parties in India have condemned the attack, but there were no demands that the government call off the talks with Pakistan. In the past, when it was in opposition, Mr Modi's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party was a vocal critic of engagement with Pakistan.
When Saudi Arabia was elected to the UN Human Rights Council in 2013  with Dave Camerons help  we all regarded it as farce.

Now, only hours after the Sunni Muslim Saudis chopped off the heads of 47 of their enemies  including a prominent Shia Muslim cleric  the Saudi appointment is grotesque. Of course, the world of human rights is appalled  and Shia Iran is talking of the divine punishment that will destroy the House of Saud. Crowds attack the Saudi embassy in Tehran. So whats new?

Divine and secular punishment have been variously sought against Middle East leaders for centuries, most recently against Bashar al-Assad of Syria who, according to the French Foreign Minister, did not deserve to live on this planet.

The Saudis were long ago telling the Americans to cut off the head of the serpent  Irans head, needless to say  but they have obviously settled for the head of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, at least for now. But all the shouting and screaming doesnt stop the oil flowing from Saudi wells  nor the kingdoms friends from using the usual weasel language to excuse their outrages.

The executions are an internal matter, a retrograde step perhaps, and certainly the executions were events that dont help peace in the Middle East. All of this classic verbiage, I should add, from Crispin Blunt, the Tory chair of the Commons Foreign Affairs Select Committee, came within hours of the mass head-chopping.

He also told Channel 4 that weve got to judge when its right to engage with the Saudis on such matters. You bet we have. Never would be my guess. After all, you cant fly your flags at half mast when the last King of Saudi Arabia dies a natural death, and then get all antsy when the Saudis start slashing at the necks of their enemies.

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There is, however, one little step that those who protest and roar and rage over the latest Saudi butchery might contemplate, if they can calm down enough to concentrate on the small print. For the resolution which established the United Nations Human Rights Council  upon which the Saudis are proud to sit  says that members elected to the Council shall uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights.

Even more to the point, the UN General Assembly, which elects those members who occupy the Councils 47 seats, is empowered  with a two-thirds majority  to suspend the rights and privileges of any Council member which has persistently committed gross and systematic violations of human rights while a member of the Council.

But heres the snag. Quite apart from the fawning Western leaders who would object to such a slur being uttered against Saudi Arabia  Dave, obviously, along with his counterparts in France, Germany, Italy, indeed the whole EU and the US (of course) and any recipient of Saudi largesse  wed have to witness the absurd vote of Iran against Saudi Arabia.

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Iran, you see, has hanged an estimated 570 prisoners  10 of them women  in the first half of 2015 alone. Thats about two lynchings a day  of criminals and enemies of God  and far outdoes the poor old Saudis who were, scarcely two years ago, advertising for more official executioners. In March, six Sunnis were put to death in Iran in a mass hanging.

In other words, he who casts the first stone  this would be literal if the Taliban were still in power in Afghanistan (though they may yet return)  had better look at his own track record. And quite apart from the US (28 executions in 2015, not counting drone attacks, targeted killings and other extrajudicial murders), we have to remember that on the UN Council we can find such vigorous defenders of human rights as China and Russia.

So the Saudis have little to worry about from the UN. Or from the US or the EU or Dave. Until the revolution.
Health issues are once again making the headlines, with patients being warned to stay away from hospital accident and emergency departments unless their cases are urgent or life-threatening

Health issues are once again making the headlines, with patients being warned to stay away from hospital accident and emergency departments unless their cases are urgent or life-threatening.

We also reveal in today's paper that local nurses are being forced to take up extra weekend work outside Northern Ireland to make ends meet.

However, the Belfast Health Trust has claimed - surprisingly - that although some staff are working shifts elsewhere this is not putting a strain on our already stretched health service.

The problem is the lack of competitive pay rates for nurses here. The director of the Royal College of Nursing in Northern Ireland, Janice Smyth, has underlined that local nurses would not have to take on extra outside work if they were paid properly.

Some nurses travel to England on Friday night and work Saturday and Sunday before returning to start their normal jobs on Monday.

One Sunday newspaper has revealed that each nurse is paid up to 600 for the double-shift. In many cases nurses can earn up to three times their normal rates of pay.

While the extra money is welcome, this weekend work adds to the pressures of the job and this cannot he helpful when dealing with patients here, many of whom have already faced lengthy delays in treatment.

All of this underlines that something is badly wrong with our health service. We in Northern Ireland really cannot afford to lose the services of nurses at weekends, while in England they are having to pay over the odds for nursing care which people over there also desperately need.

Health Minister Simon Hamilton must be fully aware of these developments. If not, he needs to be briefed as quickly as possible so that he can do something about this worrying situation.

Perhaps it is time to think the unthinkable, and to phase out free prescriptions depending on the individual's ability to pay. For example, should there be a minimum charge for those who can afford it?

Certainly, we need a clear, pragmatic approach so that the public is given the treatment it funds through taxes. Meanwhile, we all remain indebted to the nurses and other health professionals who do the best they can in trying circumstances.
Thomas Watson, president of IBM in 1943, stated the world only needed five computers. Although frequently ridiculed, I believe he was probably correct.

I'm not a Luddite or a lemming, I just wish computers would disappear. Goodbye Apple and all the rest. They provide no advantage; it was all better in the 1970s and 1980s.

Who can read a book on a tablet? Give me a break. All the video stores are gone, bookstores are struggling, there are no record stores. Now, why would a man go to the mall?

I take pictures with a roll of film and get 24 or 36 prints. Who wants 100 snaps of the same thing? I buy vinyl and glorious CDs. I don't want to download music on some annoying, fragile gizmo with a thousand songs on it.

Then there's the endless robotic nightmare of being bullied into applying endless tedious passwords and usernames. I had a subscription to The New Yorker, but I still bought the magazine at the bookstore.

I bank at the bank, I don't get hacked at the bank. I get statements delivered with stamps on envelopes - like God intended.

I have a real, actual, human travel agent who now has a tiny office with genuine knowledge and experience.

I don't want to be my own travel agent. I don't want to read the same news on 50 different "newspapers", or free blogs with absolutely no content. Or have estate agents tell me they would rather "not waltz me about" in their mini-vans, it was "all on their website".

One day soon I'll Google search for a time machine for an era without gizmo salesmen and stupid "smartphones".

Also, can you please spare me the world of precocious, genius teenagers - as only they can fix my precarious internet signal.

BRIAN O'DOWD

Ontario, Canada
Michelle O'Neill is the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development in the Northern Ireland Executive. She tells Linda Stewart what she considers to be the triumphs and the challenges during her time in office.

Q. Could you tell me about your background?

A. I'm from a small rural village called Clonoe, not from a farming family, but a rural family. My father was a councillor and my mother was a dressmaker and I've one brother. I was training to be an accounting technician - I then took up a position in the party when the Good Friday Agreement was signed and I was working with Martin McGuinness and Francie Molloy. I also trained at that time as a welfare rights adviser. I was elected to Dungannon Council in 2005, and in 2007 I was the first female mayor. I was in the Assembly from 2007. I was health spokesperson for the party. I came into this brief in 2011.

Q. Did you find you had to break through a lot of barriers as a female politician?

A. I have had a good journey. My party's very supportive and always pushing me to the fore. They always recognised the party had an under-representation of women and they've been very proactive in making sure there's proper support in allowing people to come forward. I accept that's not been the experience of many women, so I think we need to do a lot more to encourage more women and young people to come forward, more ethnic backgrounds. I think we're not diverse enough to reflect society and that decision-makers should be reflective of the people that they represent.

Q. You're coming towards the end of your term - what will your big achievements and landmarks have been?

A. It's been extremely interesting and challenging at times, but it's been quite enjoyable because I think that you're able to see how your decisions are able to impact on rural people. I think we've come through quite a number of challenges, particularly CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) reform which was probably one of the biggest decisions that needed to be taken and I think that we charted a way through to find a balance and enjoyed the most consensus in terms of how we moved forward.

You'll be aware that my headquarters is moving to Ballykelly and that's ongoing. But to date we've already moved Fisheries into south Down, we've moved Forestry into Fermanagh and the work to move Rivers Agency into Cookstown is ongoing. I've been particularly pleased with that because I think it creates a fairer distribution of public sector jobs. I hope other departments follow suit, because people in rural areas deserve the same access to public sector jobs as those in cities and for too long people have all had to travel to Belfast to avail of opportunities for promotion, etc.

Other areas where I think that we've been particularly excellent in looking after our communities have been around the TRPSI (Tackling Rural Poverty and Social Isolation) and that is a pot of money where we've been able to work with other departments - rural is not just the business of this department, it's the business of all departments. I'm delighted that we're now in a process of bringing my Rural Proofing Bill through the Assembly, which will mean we're putting on a statutory footing that all departments and councils and other bodies will follow, where they have the statutory responsibility to rural proof their policies and their strategies.

Q. Are many people going with the building?

A. In terms of Rivers Agency going to Cookstown, there are 80 jobs going there, 60 odd jobs going to south Down, and 50-60 jobs going to Fermanagh as far as I know. We're doing it in a phased way to allow the adjustment for staff to move, to ensure we have continuity of business.

Q. Is there anything you're pushing to get finished up by the end of this term?

A. Something that I do want to leave in a good condition is the fact that I achieved the largest ever Rural Development Programme the North has ever seen. We achieved 623m, and that for me is very significant on three fronts: for the farming community, for rural dwellers and rural business and rural community in general, but also for the environment. One element of that is the LEADER approach, which is local area groups distributing funding to help rural communities in terms of access to basic services, around tourism, around rural business investment. It also helps us to do the Farm Business Improvement Scheme, which is working on capital grants for farmers. We expect that before the end of the year we will receive strategies from all the local groups, which I intend to turn around very quickly to let them start spending their money.

Q. How have you got on with Fisheries? Is there anything you'd like to have achieved?

A. I'm just back from Brussels so we had a very positive outcome in terms of the negotiations around fishing quota. You've to go to Europe and fight science with science and we've effectively done that again this year, so we're able to secure quite significant quota uplifts. Brussels was saying we need a 6-17% cut in prawns.

Prawns are the mainstay of the local industry, so that would have been horrendous for them to be able to deal with that and we were able to bring that up to an 8% increase. In relation to haddock, we fought back on a 57% proposed cut and were able to bring that up well over 40%.

Q. There always seems to be a problem with farm prices - can it be solved?

A. Pricing is a commercial matter, so a lot of the factors that lead to challenges for the industry are outside our control. We work with our CAFRE advisers - how can we help farmers drive the most efficient practices they possibly can and farmers are always looking to do that. I've established a supply chain forum which brings all the players together, whether you're a producer, a farmer, a processor or a retailer. For us to be successful in the future, that supply chain needed to work and there needed to be recognition of all parts of the chain enjoying the risks and also the rewards where possible.

The things that are within our control are, for example, making sure farmers get paid on time, which has been extremely successful this year. We're constantly looking for new markets. The more market opportunities that farmers have, the more that guards against all the volatility in the market, because they have more opportunities and more choices of where they sell their products. In the last number of weeks we've opened up the Chinese market for pork. We recently launched our business development groups to ask the farmers to come and talk about planning around the challenges, looking at what's best practice, all things that can help them to improve their business and quite a number of farmers have registered and want to take part.

Q. What can farmers do to help themselves?

A. I really think that they're the end of a supply chain that's continually pushed whenever it comes to trying to reduce prices. So I feel it's my job to fight their corner and that's why I've been involved in all of the supply chain work and to challenge that. If you take the current dairy crisis, among the issues that should have been dealt with at European level was a review of intervention prices. We haven't given up, we're going to continue to push that with the Commissioner. The nature of the dairy market is that there are always peaks and troughs - it just happens that this trough is a prolonged one. The future for the dairy industry looks good, but if we don't get our dairy farmers through a particularly difficult time we're not going to have them here to produce and to avail of the new markets. Given the growing world population, there's going to be a greater demand for the product that we have to offer, with this clean, green image which is very marketable around the world. In order for us to be able to avail of those opportunities we have to work with people to try and make sure they're still in business and able to produce.

Q. I think a lot of politicians see agriculture and environment at loggerheads - is it going to be hard to have them in the same department?

A. I think there will be economies to be gained from working together. I think that when you look at the number of inspections for example on farm, I think there's an opportunity within the new structure to streamline that and see where you can make efficiencies and improvements so on one hand they're still doing what they need to go out and inspect but maybe it's less interruption to the working day on the farm. I don't think there's any conflict of interest - I think it can work together.

Q. If you're looking to have more production in the future, is that going to be a problem when you're protecting waterways, because agriculture is one of the biggest contributors to pollution?

A. There are always environmental assessments of any plans going forward, so I think that we're able to do that. The department works very closely at the minute with its environmental colleagues in DoE so it will be no different. We will take all that into account when we look at strategies, and even in particular Going for Growth.

Q. DARD has to deliver much of the Habitats Directive, rather than other departments. Is that difficult with cuts?

A. It's challenging for everybody and as long as we have this Tory Government in place it's always going to cause challenges for us in the Executive to be able to deliver right across all aspects. We will always live up to the Habitats Directive; I think we can do that, but the cuts make everything difficult. We just have to try and chart our way through it as best we can. That comes back to the two departments coming together.

Q. What's happening with TB control?

A. We're battling away with it. It's a very complex disease, there's no simple solution, no quick fix. I had established the TB Strategic Partnership some time ago and it's looking at all the challenges, and it's going to present its plan in the near future. I think we need a massive change of mindset in terms of how we tackle the disease. It obviously has major cost implications for the industry in terms of compensation so these are all things that we need to consider in the round - the wildlife issues need to be taken on board. We have a TB eradication plan in place and it's ongoing. A number of years ago I embarked on a TB test, vaccination and release scheme and that's ongoing.

Q. How is that going?

A. It's probably in place now for about two years. No healthy badger is destroyed, which is very important, because obviously, when you're trying to deal with the wildlife factor, the badger lobby who rightly want to protect the badger and the farmers who have concerns around what it means for them and TB, it's about trying to get a balance and the best way forward. I think the TVR was a good way forward and it again commended that kind of cross interest support for taking it forward. It's more of a research programme, trying to establish something nobody else has done. There's no point repeating what other countries have done and hasn't been successful.

We're coming at it from every front. We were successful recently in getting brucellosis-free status and that opens up trade opportunities. One of the areas where I concern myself is making sure we have tried to get the same disease status across this island and we have an all-island animal welfare strategy in place. So it's looking at all the diseases and how we can get to the same status which removes any barriers in terms of looking towards new markets.

Q. How would you see the countryside developed sustainably to promote tourism?

A. Again, that's the Rural Development Programme, that's where it kicks in, so I had allocated 10m for rural tourism a pot of funding where we are going to work with local councils and LEADER groups around what strategic initiatives to take for tourism. We hope to open for expressions of interest early in the new year from councils, regarding what kind of project they're interested in working with us on. I think there are strategic tourism opportunities, such as around Lough Neagh, the Sperrins, the Mournes.

Q. What would be the implications of a Brexit for agriculture?

A. I think it would be detrimental for agri-food. If you look at the traditional trade patterns we have even across this island - are we going to get to the situation where the North is out and the 26 are in? Are we going to start having border controls? If you look at it even from a purely monetary point of view in farming, who is going to make up the difference between basic payment or single farm payment, as it was known? The Tories don't have any particular commitment - they're opposed to subsidy, I suppose it's their ideological position - and certainly there can be no guarantees, given that there will be any plans to replace the subsidy that farmers currently get. I think that is extremely significant in terms of farmers. Even looking at the Rural Development Programme - are we going to rob rural communities of all that funding? What about trade opportunities? There's too much of a grey area there. I believe that the people of the North should have their say, but I think Brexit would be bad for agriculture, bad for agri-food. Does Europe need to be reformed - yes, absolutely - there's a fair argument in that. If you look at the fisheries negotiation, that's something that we have to go to every year and it's hard for the fishermen to plan because they can only get their quota year on year at a time. Sometimes it's easy to say too many European regulations - you can understand where people are coming from, but I don't think that our interests are best served out of Europe. I think our interests are best served in Europe. Let's challenge the things that are wrong, let's challenge and try to make change where we can.

Q. If you were to get a lump of funding back, what would your priority be?

A. Tackling rural poverty and isolation. I've worked very hard to make sure that rural development has been a central plank in the role of this department. Because it's been so successful, because we've been able to make a difference, if I had more money lying around I would want to invest it in supporting the rural community.
Iranian demonstrators burn representations of the US and Israeli flags in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran (AP)

Saudi Arabia will be pleased that the furore over its execution of the Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr is taking the form of a heightened confrontation with Iran and the Shia world as a whole.

Insults and threats are exchanged and diplomatic missions closed. Sunni mosques are blown up in Shia-dominated areas of Iraq. The Saudi rulers are able to strengthen their leadership of a broad Sunni coalition against an Iranian-led Shia axis at home and abroad.

The motive for the mass execution of Sheikh Nimr and 46 others, many Sunni jihadists, was primarily domestic. The threat to the al-Saud family within Saudi Arabia comes from Sunni extremists in al-Qaeda and Isis and not from the Shia, who are only a majority in two provinces in the eastern region of the country. Furious denunciations by Shia communities and countries will do nothing but good to the reputation of the ruling family among the majority of Saudis.

Saudi Arabia and its fundamentalist Wahhabi variant of Sunni Islam has been blamed by many outside the kingdom as the ideological forbearer of Isis, but the real danger for the monarchy is that it should be seen at home as insufficiently zealous as defender of the faith.

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Denouncing the recently announced Saudi-led anti-terrorist coalition, the self-declared caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said that if it was truly Islamic it would go to war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian masters and make its objective killing Jews and the liberation of Palestine. In the face of this there is nothing very surprising about the Saudi government playing the sectarian and patriotic cards for all they are worth.

All the same, there is a growing suspicion in the Middle East and beyond that the Saudi royal family is losing its traditional political touch which enabled it to survive over the past 70 years when other monarchies, along with once-powerful socialist and nationalist regimes, have long ago disappeared.

It seems to have lost its old caution and is plunging into political snake pits without much idea of how it is going to get out of them.

Expand Close Bahrain and Sudan have joined Saudi Arabia in severing relations with Iran, and the UAE has downgraded its diplomatic team after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked amid a row over the execution of a Shia Muslim cleric. Graphic shows estimated populations of Shia and Sunni Muslims in the Middle East, and countries with sectarian tensions. GRAPHIC NEWS / Facebook

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Whatsapp Bahrain and Sudan have joined Saudi Arabia in severing relations with Iran, and the UAE has downgraded its diplomatic team after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was attacked amid a row over the execution of a Shia Muslim cleric. Graphic shows estimated populations of Shia and Sunni Muslims in the Middle East, and countries with sectarian tensions.

Over the past year the Saudis have overplayed their hand, backing local allies and proxies in Syria and Yemen who are never going to win decisive victories. Part of this may be a Saudi over-reaction to the agreement between the US and Iran on the Iranian nuclear programme. The fall in the price of oil leading to an austerity budget has increased the incentive to beat the patriotic and religious drum in order to promote national solidarity in face of growing challenges.

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Prospects for a more active Saudi role may have looked rosier in the first half of 2015. Along with Turkey, it gave backing to an offensive in northern Syria by the Army of Conquest, a coalition of Sunni rebel groups led by the al-Qaeda affiliate the al-Nusra Front and the ideologically similar Ahrar al-Sham.

This won a series of victories against the Syrian army, but ended up by provoking Russian military intervention on 30 September, which makes it unlikely that Saudi Arabia will achieve its aim of overthrowing President Assad.

The Saudis most powerful ally among the armed opposition, Zahran Alloush of Jaysh al-Islam, was killed by a missile on 25 December. The increasing strength of other players, such as Russia and the Syrian Kurds, is reducing Saudi influence, but there is no sign of its policy being redirected.

At about the same moment, the Saudis started their air campaign against the Houthi movement in Yemen, which is still going on 10 months later with no sign of the war ending.

The Saudis claimed that the Houthis were Iranian stooges, an accusation that was always exaggerated, but may be self-fulfilling as Yemen becomes increasingly split along Shia-Sunni lines. As with Afghanistan, Yemen is easy to invade but difficult to get out of as the Houthi leadership shows no sign of giving up. With no peace in sight, Riyadh faces the prospect of the Yemen war becoming a permanent running sore.

Saudi Arabias entanglement in the conflict in Yemen limits its ability to exert influence elsewhere. Even Saudi resources are under strain given the low price of oil with this years budget totalling $137bn (93bn) and spending $224bn (152bn).

Thanks to the over-confidence and under-competence of the Saudi royal family, writes Aron Lund of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the online newsletter Syria Comment. Syrian rebels may turn out to be among the biggest losers of the Yemeni war.

Saudi rulers have faced serious challenges before, but they have never been faced with the degree of instability in states surrounding or close to the kingdom.

There are wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, a guerrilla conflict in Sinai and street protests in Bahrain that could always become more serious. It should be much in Saudi Arabias interest to mitigate these crises but instead it stokes them but without any real plan on how to bring them to an end.

Independent
Although many unfortunate happenings are taking place in the world at this very moment, and I cannot possibly manage to talk about them all, I want to focus on a more bewildering one in this post tonight.

It has come to a lot of peoples attention that a group of armed militants took over a so-called US government facility with no-one in it, somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Oregon as I am told. Who cares, right? I think it was probably a publicity stunt, an attempt to make headlines (they succeeded even at my blog!) and disappear while claiming that the US government is too scared to face them, when in fact the US government was just too slow to get to their location or did not care, before they voluntarily left whatever place it is that they have taken over.

As well as finding the event bewildering and getting the view from others that the militants were just nut cases and nothing to take seriously, I hear also this view being put forward that the militants can get away with their antics without being hunted down as terrorist vermin, just because they are white. If the militants were Muslim those Tweeters claim, they would have been branded as terrorists and maybe have been captured or killed. This is basically going to confuse people. Being white and being Muslim are not mutually exclusive, unless converting to Islam makes people non-white (some sociologists like Wallerstein argue that it actually does, although the rest of the media has not caught up with their theories yet).

Certainly, in the mind of most Americans, it doesnt help to look somehow foreign if you are an armed militant patrolling around the place, and being white helps a lot in not looking foreign to the majority of Americans, who think of Americans as people who look like themselves. However, being non-white isnt the only thing that makes many Americans think you must be a criminal or terrorist who can be shot with impunity. They will also think it is okay if you are dressed differently or speak a different language, and in most cases those things are more important justifications than actual skin colour.

White is not so important anymore, and it is written about in media and academia much more than it is thought about in daily life nowadays. Most Americans dont think that you have to be white to be a good guy. American movies and television shows are filled with Black protagonists. Americans willingly voted a Black man to be their President. I doubt the claim that, if these militants in Oregon were Black armed men, they would have been shot dead or called terrorists by the government. There are plenty of Black armed men and women serving in various departments of the US government right now, and America has had plenty of Black militants who were not shot dead or designated as terrorists. It has had plenty of white militants who were indeed shot dead and a whole Civil War to that effect. So I think the race issue is irrelevant to this incident and other incidents with US white male militias being accepted groups by the government and the public whereas other groups are considered terrorists.

The idea that converting to Islam makes people non-white needs an example. I would call your attention to this report in which a white Muslim couple were harassed and called terrorists by members of the public over social media. I myself can swear that people have looked at me as if I was a terrorist just for wearing certain types of scarf like the keffiyeh, which some people associate with violent activism similar to balaclavas. Because of this, I think the issue of the terrorist threat mentality in the US, and in the West in general, is now more related to clothing than skin colour, and more related to any sign or suggestion of otherness or things apparently foreign. Westerners are very attuned to the way their heroes and villains behave on television, and when someone dresses like villains they have seen in movies or news reports, they make up their mind very quickly and would even be ready to shoot you.

While race-based stereotypes have actually been reduced or rendered harmless in the vast majority of Westerners minds, attention to aspects of fashion and symbolism or even architecture as indicators of a foreign threat have increased. People are hostile to minarets in Europe, more so than they are hostile to people with a darker skin tone. Nevertheless, people will often simplistically say that prejudice against minarets, or the hijab and other attire, is racism. While it is not correct to say that wanting to ban the burqa or halt the construction of mosques is a racist sentiment, it is always true that the people saying these things also happen to be racists or hold closeted racist views. They are still proponents of genetic-cultural superiority, although they focus more on culture now to hide their continued irrationality.

I think the conversation needs to shift away from terms like white when we are talking about why some people are allowed to be violent and others are considered terrorists for it. There is no white supremacy anymore in the classic sense, but there is a regime of Western supremacy, in which anything considered foreign or different is automatically deemed inferior or perverse, or oppressive in some way. In that sense, Islamophobia is no different than Russophobia, all being attempts to demonise other peoples for their geographic origins and equate them with ancient barbarian hordes. The Greeks and the Romans excelled at this.

Much of the new new model of prejudice supported by the media is not really racism in the Twentieth Century fashion of demonising people for their skin tone or some other pseudoscience, but it is still just as deadly and just as destructive to society.
People who follow the Bahai faith in Iran are believed to be committing heresy in Iran. According to the U.S. Bahai Office of Public Affairs, the Bahais are the largest non-Muslim minority in Iran.

Religious persecution against the community face torture, imprisoned, cant hold government positions, and are not permitted to any attend college. They are also facing economic persecution where they are denied licenses for businesses.

In 2015, Baha'i stores were forced to be closed after the Baha'i holy days were observed. Earlier in the year authorities accused shop owners of breaking laws against Iran to pressure the community to refrain from observing their holy days. The Bahais do believe in one God and unity of all the major faiths , and mankind like Judaism, Christianity and the Muslim faithsomething unacceptable in Iran.

Bahais continue to suffer arbitrary arrest and detention. There are currently nine Bahais who have been imprisoned for their efforts to educate Bahai youth who are excluded from the nations university system due to their religion, the U.S. Bahai Office of Public Affairs shared in a press release regarding the U.S. Senate's Resolution 148.

The Senate Resolution 148 had strong support from both sides of the aisle. A total of 39 senators agreed to the following and condemned Iran for continual human right violations. Here are three points that were published by Congress.

 Condemns the government of Iran's state-sponsored persecution of its Baha'i minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights.

 Calls on the government of Iran to release the seven imprisoned Baha'i leaders, the 12 imprisoned Baha'i educators, and all other prisoners held solely on account of their religion.

 Calls on the President and Secretary of State, in cooperation with responsible nations, to condemn the government of Iran's continued violation of human rights and demand the release of prisoners held solely on account of their religion.

Democratic Senator Ron Wyden co-sponsored the resolution and said that overall the persecution in Iran needs to be stopped. The Iranian regime continues to imprison journalists and human rights defenders, restrict the rights of women, and persecute ethnic and religious minorities. America must continue to stand with the Bahais and with all Iranians who are struggling to lead free and peaceful lives. There was also good news from the United Nations in December.

The UN Assembly supported a resolution that calls out Iran on its record of human rights violations, frequent use of the death penalty, torture, and restricting religious freedom and expression. Representative Bahai International Community to the United Nations offered his thoughts on the news of the resolution.

It shows that the international community remains aware and concerned about Irans continued violations of the rights of its citizens in a wide range of areas, despite government rhetoric to the contrary and its promises to improve.

There have been over 800 Bahais arrested since 2005 as Iranian official raid homes and businesses looking for items deemed as illegal, the Bahai International Community explained.

Corine Gatti is a Senior Editor at Beliefnet.com.
Islamists extremists are creating terror over the world for the sake of their sick ideology and it appears they are getting the edge if you watch enough news and read the news feeds via social media. This was a particularly encouraging story coming out of Kenya before the New Year. It shows how unity can fight terrorists, and send them back into darkness.

A bus traveling outside the Kenyan City of El Wak was forced to pull as bullets sprayed and hit the driver in the leg. Forcing their way on board, 10 members of the Al-Shabab (al-Qaeda ties) demanded that Muslims and non-Muslims separate immediately as they exited the bus.

In defiance, Muslims stood up and refused to comply. Passengers told the assailants "kill them together or leave."

The bus driver told people to hide under the seats for cover. I alerted the passengers about what was happening before the attackers got closer. We asked non-Muslims to cover their heads with their jackets as Muslim women gave their clothes to some young girls and other women, Shukri Farah said during an interview with the Daily Nation.

Interior Cabinet Secretary Joseph Nkaissery said this sent a message of unity. ]

These Muslims sent a very important message of the unity of purpose, that we are all Kenyans and that we are not separated by religion, Agence France-Presse reported.

Everybody can profess their own religion but we are still one country and one people. And that was a very good message from our brothers and sisters from the Muslim community.

A bus attack killing 28 non-Muslims near the Somali border in 2014, forced the government to order police escorts for buses coming from Mandera. The militant group has made the area a target since 2011 since the Kenyan military infiltrated Somalia. BBC reported in April 2015, the government wanted to stop militants from crossing over where they are kidnapping, raping and killing citizens. The police escort care in this event broke down.

Kenyas Supreme Council of Muslims offered that Terrorists have no borders, religion or race. Terrorists submit to no faith. We stand with our fellow Christians during this time and shall continue to do so.

Two people did die in the attack.

One was murdered since he could not recite the Koran, and another was shot from the bushes as he tried to run away.

Corine Gatti is a Senior Editor at Beliefnet.com.
Indian Army soldiers take position along the perimeter of the Indian Air Force Base in Pathankot.

In a combing operation that continued through the night to flush out suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants from a key military installation in northern Indias Punjab state, four more security men lost their lives Sunday.

Four terrorists have been gunned down since an unknown number of intruders, armed with hand grenades and AK-47 assault rifles, launched an attack on an Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot, some 40 km (25 miles) from the Pakistan border, at 3:30 a.m. Saturday.

Previously, officials claimed the number of terrorists killed to be five. However, an IAF official confirmed to BenarNews late on Sunday that four militants had been gunned down and at least two more were holed up inside the air base, with intermittent firing taking place at regular intervals, as of press time.

The Pathankot Air Force Station is a strategic air base for the northwestern part of India, which shares its border with Pakistan, with whom it has had bitter relations since the post-Independence partition of 1947.

A total of seven security personnel have been killed since suspected JeM operatives entered India from Pakistans Bahawalpur area on Dec. 31.

According to intelligence sources, the militants, who allegedly received training under their handlers Abdul Rauf Asghar, Ashfaq Ahmad and Qasim Khan in Pakistan, planned to destroy the MiG21 fighters and Mi-35 attack helicopters that are housed in the base.

Military operation continues

The IAF official said the bodies of the four slain terrorists had been recovered and the operation to neutralize at least two more terrorists was on-going.

The operation is still on. Even if they are killed, the bodies have to be recovered and identified as terrorists, Wing Commander Rochelle De Silva, IAF public relations officer, told BenarNews.

The nation is proud of its brave security forces who have always (risen) to the occasion. I salute our forces on successful operation in (Pathankot). We have also lost security personnel in Pathankot attack. My heartfelt condolences to their families. We can never forget their sacrifice, Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted on Sunday.

Later, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had made a surprise visit to Pakistan on Dec. 25 in a bid to smooth long strained ties, chaired a high-level meeting with the National Security Adviser and the Foreign Secretary among other officials to establish a fresh diplomatic approach.

Singh had told reporters on Saturday that even though India was all for peace with its neighbors, it would not tolerate terrorism and that this attack will get a befitting reply.

Survivors told Indian news channels they had heard the attackers say they had come to India to avenge the death of Kashmir resident Afzal Guru, who was executed in 2013 for his role in the daring 2001 attack on the Indian Parliament house in Delhi.

The attack, which killed 14 people, including eight Indian security personnel, was orchestrated in tandem by the JeM and Lashkar-e-Taiba, a Pakistan-based terror outfit.

Security increased at public places

As the operation to flush out militants from the Pathankot air base continues well into midnight, India was at its highest alert, with security being beefed up at public places in all major metropolitans.

A security analyst said it was necessary to catch these intruders alive instead of gunning them down.

Every time Pakistan asks for evidence, India remains blank. Though terrorists deserve no mercy and security forces are the best judge, still the effort should be to nab the terrorists alive and not eliminate them as the governments spokesmen are vociferously saying on television, policy analyst and senior lawyer Amit Khemka told BenarNews.

To trace the real links of the terror network, it is essential that they be captured alive. The government should not talk in a shallow manner and there is a need for a very thorough investigation. A very strong intelligence unit needs to be set up in the country, he said.
Bangladeshi police officers stand guard outside a court in Dhaka, Nov. 30, 2015. Recently, police announced they arrested the father and brother of an alleged Bangladeshi-member of the Islamic State who was killed in an airstrike in Syria in December.

The father and a brother of an alleged Islamic State member from Bangladesh, who was killed in an airstrike by coalition forces last month, have been arrested and will face charges under Bangladeshs anti-terrorism law, officials told BenarNews on Monday.

Police said they arrested Abul Hasnat, 73, and Afsanul Sujan Galib, 15, the father and brother of Siful Haque Sujan, on Dec. 12, two days after the 31-year-old British-educated engineer and information technology expert was killed in an airstrike in Raqqah, Syria.

The father and brother are suspected of links with extremists based in Britain and other European countries, officials said. The two were arrested at the familys apartment in Dhakas Mohammadpur area.

According to the U.S. military, Sujan, a Bangladeshi national, was as an external operations planner for IS who supported its hacking efforts and anti-surveillance technology and weapons development programs.

The Pentagon last week called him a key link between networks that were part of IS. Sujan was one of 10 IS leaders killed in airstrikes launched by the U.S.-led military coalition from early to late December, Pentagon officials said.

Yes, they have been arrested. And they will face terrorism charges in accordance with the anti-terrorism act, Bangladesh Home Minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal told BenarNews.

The minister said the two had links with terrorists in Britain and Europe, but he repeated his earlier assertion that IS was not present in Bangladesh.

IS had claimed responsibility for a series of recent murders and attacks in Bangladesh since late September that targeted foreigners and members of religious minorities.

Police declined to talk about specific evidence they had against the two suspects.

The police [questioned] his father and brothers. They believe in extremism and militant views. The family members must have links with him. They must face punishment according to the anti-terrorism law, Police Inspector Gen. A.K.M. Shahidul Hoque told BenarNews.

Both father and son denied connections to Bangladeshi militant groups, Hoque said.

But the police are certain that the whole family subscribes to extremist views, he said.

Money-laundering kingpin?

According to a report in Britains Mail on Sunday newspaper, Sujan led ISs cyber operations after moving to Syria from Cardiff, Wales, where he ran an IT firm.

The paper reported that he was suspected of having run a global money-laundering ring for the terror group from his former base in Britain.

According to the Mail, Sujan is also suspected of having paid for a 15-year-old British girl to travel to areas controlled by IS in Syria or Iraq, where she was destined to serve as a bride for the extremist group.

Sujan is the second of four brothers, police in Bangladesh said.

Born in 1984, he completed his schooling in southwestern Khulna city, where his father is a dentist. The family hails from the Tungipara area in Gopalganj district, some 150 km (93 miles) south of Dhaka.

According to copies of British immigration papers seen by BenarNews, Sujan entered Britain on a student visa. In 2005, he brought his wife, Shayma Akter, to Britain, where a son, Amanul Haque, was born in October 2012.
Fadia Sulong is too young to remember her father.

I never knew my father at all. My grand-mom sometimes shows me pictures of him, the 8-year-old girl from the restive southern Thai province of Yala told BenarNews.

She says he died because he was shot when I was 13 days old. He went out to buy some beef for my mother to eat, but he got shot, Fadia said of her father who was killed in January 2008.

He is one of 6,543 people who lost their lives in violence related to a separatist insurgency, which has raged in Yala and other parts of Thailands predominantly Muslim far south since 2004, according to Deep South Watch, a local NGO.

Indiscriminate violence from the conflict and the death toll have also left some 6,000 children orphaned and 3,000 women widowed, according to the Southern Womens Peace Network to Stop Violence, another NGO in the region.

Monday marked the 12th anniversary of a rebel attack on a Thai army depot that is widely seen as a watershed moment in the long-running conflict.

The unrest that has taken place in the southern border provinces for more than a decade has affected the lives of everyone in the region. No party or group has been spared, regardless of religious or traditional beliefs, gender, age, occupation, social standing or education levels, Network chairwoman Rosida Pusu told BenarNews.

A worrying aspect is how women and children are falling victim to the violence and unrest, directly so in many cases. It is also causing both women and orphaned children to face isolation in society because there is insufficient foster care, Pusu added.

I sometimes get to see my mother

In the case of Fadia and her 11-year-old brother, Fadel, their fathers killing had an even bigger impact on the family. It forced their mother to leave them in their grandmothers care in order to find work outside their village.

The siblings hardly see their mother, Yamae-ah Manahing.

I sometimes get to see my mother when she comes home for a visit, Fadia said.

My grand-mom tells us that my mom cant stay with us because she has to go away and work to make money so we can go to school and buy food. As soon as she saves up a lot of money, she will come back to live with us, but until that day we must be patient, the little girl said.

The children live with their grandmother, Waemeenoh Samoh, in a wood-and-concrete dwelling in Yaha, a district of Yala.

The childrens father was working as an oxen breeder under contract with the armys 42nd Mobile Development Unit in Yaha, when he was shot on Jan. 9, 2008, Samoh told BenarNews.

After he was killed, her daughter had no choice but to seek employment elsewhere, Samoh said. She now works in a dangerous area that makes it hard for her to commute to or from work, or visit Fadia and Fadel often.

She is still deeply saddened, Samoh, 73, said of her granddaughter. She misses her mother who has had to leave her to go off and find work and who can only come back to visit her family once in a long while.

The family, however, has benefited from financial help from the Thai government, which grants subsidies to families who have lost members to the violence in the Deep South.

The subsidies are part of an estimated 206 billion baht (U.S. $5.7 billion) spent by the government in the region, according to Deep South Watch.

Our family was given more than 500,000 baht (U.S. $13,800) in compensation, Samoh said. The childrens mom used this to build a house and to pay for both childrens education over the past six years since their father died.

Samoh helps her grandchildren with their homework, and feeds and dresses them.

I think we are at least fortunate that we can provide a stable home for them. At least we have a roof over our heads to protect us when the rains come, unlike some people who have it a lot worse than we do, she told BenarNews.

We can still provide for her

Many other children have lost both parents to the violence in the Deep South.

One of the orphans, Sripassorn Wanmai Chuaysen, lost her father and mother when she was just two months old.

Her parents were killed on Oct. 8, 2012, when gunmen opened fire on the local branch of the Office of the Rubber Replanting Aid Fund in Khok Pho district, Pattani province.

Wanmai, whose nickname means New Day, now lives with her maternal grandfather, Uthit Saengthong, in the provincial capital.

After the incident, Wanmai was sent to the Child and Family Shelter in Pattani for more than two weeks, because there was nobody left to take care of her after her parents died. After that, relatives on her fathers side took her in for two years, Uthit told BenarNews.

But later, when I saw the state she was in, I felt terrible and decided to take care of her myself. Even though my family is poor, we can still provide for her, he said.
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For Immediate Release, January 3, 2016 Contact: Randi Spivak, (310) 779-4894, rspivak@biologicaldiversity.org Armed Militia in Oregon Part of Long-running, Right-wing Fight Against Public Lands WASHINGTON An armed militia has taken over a federal building in southeastern Oregon as part of a long-running campaign of violence, intimidation and right-wing paranoia that has festered for decades in the West, most recently with the standoff with Cliven Bundy in Nevada in 2014. Among the demands at the latest standoff is to shut down Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which provides crucial protections for wildlife, especially birds that migrate through the area. This is the latest in a long string of armed, right-wing thugs attempting to seize Americas public lands and enact their paranoid, anti-government dream bought by guns and intimidation, said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. Weve seen it with pipebombs planted on wilderness trails and sent to the U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. We saw in 2014 with Cliven Bundy and his racist and violent rhetoric in Nevada and now were seeing it with his sons in Oregon. Cliven Bundy stopped paying the federal government for the privilege of grazing his cows on public lands in Nevada and owes about $1 million to taxpayers. Bundy, who was quoted in an interview with The New York Times wondering whether black people were better off as slaves, was the center of an armed standoff with the Bureau of Land Management in April 2014 that ended with the BLM backing away and Bundys continued trespass on federal land. Among the anti-federal government militia who were defending Bundy at his ranch was Jared Miller, who just three months after the standoff at the ranch went on a shooting spree with his wife that included the ambush-murder of two Las Vegas police officers as they ate at a restaurant. They draped the officers with a Gadsden flag  a symbol of liberty used by both the antigovernment Patriot movement and members of the Tea Party movement. The latest standoff near Burns, Ore., followed a judges call for additional prison time for a father and son  73-year-old Dwight Hammond and 46-year-old Steven Hammond  whom prosecutors say lit a fire on federal land in 2001 to cover up the illegal slaughter of a deer herd. Both were convicted of arson and are scheduled to report to federal prison on Monday. The wildlife refuges headquarters was seized by Bundys sons and others on Saturday. The men are armed and say they are willing to occupy the building for years if needed. According to The Oregonian, Ryan Bundy said they are willing to kill and be killed if necessary. Also among the armed occupiers of the wildlife fefuge building is Jon Ritzheimer, an infamous anti-Muslim activist who has repeatedly threatened violence. Despite their flags and patriotic overtures, dont mistake this standoff for anything than what it is: An attempt to use guns to seize control over what taxpayers own and bully the government into acquiescing to their demands, Suckling said. But theres a larger context here. Whats happening in Oregon is a logical outgrowth of right-wing rhetoric that demonizes even the concept of federal land  places like national parks and forests  and villainizes those who believe that publicly owned land should be more than just a source of profit for ranchers and corporations. Theres been a growing movement among politicians in the West to seize control of federal lands and hand them over to state and local government, where theyre more likely to be logged, mined and drilled for profit. These are special places that deserve protection for values that we all hold dear: clean air, water and refuge for wildlife, Suckling said. Americans, collectively, have decided that these public lands need and deserve protection. That shouldnt be undone at the behest of men with guns and a dangerous view of how a government should be run. The Center for Biological Diversity is a national, nonprofit conservation organization with more than 900,000 members and online activists dedicated to the protection of endangered species and wild places.
LAGOS, NIGERIA: The e-commerce leader in Africa formalizes the appointment of Juliet Anammah at the head of Jumia Nigeria, Africa Internet Group's (AIG) biggest company on the continent.

Juliet is taking over from former co-CEOs Jeremy Doutte and Nicolas Martin, who are taking the reins of Jumia Global across the 11 African countries in which the group operates.

"Juliet brings strong leadership capacity and a consumer driven mindset honed from her experience in consumer goods and services" said Jeremy Hodara, Co-CEO Africa Internet Group." As Jumia moves into a new phase of growth, consolidating on the gains so far, while driving for more relevance to our customers, Juliet's ability to focus sharply on the strategic levers of success is invaluable",

Prior to joining Jumia, Juliet Anammah was a Partner in Accenture and the Managing Director of the firm's Consumer Goods Practice in Nigeria. She focused during her later years in Accenture on the digital consumer and route to market for consumer goods companies. She brings to Jumia over 24 years of professional experience with six years at senior executive level. Passionate about "Africa rising" and women advancement, Juliet serves on the board of many non-profit organizations involved in women development and trade expansion.

This appointment marks a new phase of growth for Jumia Nigeria, emphasized by two key themes: the focus on the customer and the partnership of Jumia with its brands and its vendors, which will be the battlefield of the newly appointed CEO.

"My objective is to relentlessly focus on building the Jumia brand, making it the one-stop shopping destination in Nigeria by offering convenience and the widest assortment of quality products at affordable prices" said Juliet Anammah. "We are building a platform for local and global brands to enter the market at the speed of light by going directly from the factory to the consumers. This is a game changer for Nigeria and a major shift in the way companies look at their market entry strategy".

Distributed by APO (African Press Organization) on behalf of Jumia.
Africa conjures up images of adventure, danger and to a certain degree romanticism. This is because it is one of the last untamed places on earth. Scenery from the rolling sand dunes of the Sahara to the lush forests of the Congo invites one to explore fascinating natural and culturally rich destinations.

Africa's beauty spots should be on the bucket list of every traveller. For the adventurous, I have chosen seven lesser-known and out-of-the ordinary eco-destinations.

1. Mount Nimba

Mount Nimba is on the borders of Guinea, Liberia and Cote d'Ivoire. The slopes of the Mount Nimba Strict Nature Reserve are covered by dense forest. The foothills consist of grassy mountain pastures. It harbours rich flora and fauna, with native and threatened species like the viviparous toad and chimpanzees that use stones as tools.

The park is part of Guinea and Cote d'Ivoire. It is home to the most remarkable animal and plant populations on the continent. It is an isolated refuge covered with montane forests, which are more elevated than other forests, making the landscape of the Gulf of Guinea an exceptional ecological site. Access is highly controlled and is only possible for organised groups with the proper permits.

2. The Sangha River

The Sangha Trinational is in the north-western Congo Basin where Cameroon, the Central African Republic and Congo meet.

Much of the site is unaffected by human activity and features a broad range of humid tropical forest ecosystems with rich flora and fauna. This includes Nile crocodiles and the goliath tigerfish. Sangha is home to large populations of forest elephants, the critically endangered western lowland gorilla and endangered chimpanzee.

The site's environment has preserved ecological and evolutionary processes on a huge scale as well as great biodiversity, including many endangered animals.

Sergei Uriadnikov via 123RF

3. Cape Verde

Cape Verde is a chain of islands off the coast of West Africa. The idyllic, uncrowded beaches and attractive and familiar Portuguese/Creole culture are big draws.

It is a naturally beautiful country with landscapes ranging from volcanoes and mountains to lush valleys and barren, arid flatlands. This geographic diversity is ideal for trekkers and nature tourists. Nesting sea turtles and other wildlife bring another dimension to the country's eco-tourism industry.

The tiny Spinguera Eco-Resort, on the island of Boa Vista, is the most overtly green spot in Cape Verde. The use of water and electricity is restricted, solar power is used to heat water and there are no TVs or air conditioners. Hiking, horseback riding, diving and bushwalking tours are all available.

4. The Gambia

The Gambia is surrounded by Senegal, with a narrow Atlantic coastline. It is known for its diverse ecosystems around the central Gambia River. Wildlife in the Kiang West National Park and Bao Bolong Wetland Reserve includes monkeys, hippos and rare birds.

The Gambia hosts Africa's longest running chimpanzee rehabilitation project. Established in 1979, the project is now home to over 100 chimps. Wild chimps disappeared from the country in the early 1900s but four separate social groups can now be found on Baboon Islands where the project is based.

Gambia has taken steps to develop ecotourism such as Makasutu, a privately owned ecotourist reserve set within lush bush mangroves. It was voted the best world eco-lodge by Britain's Sunday Times.

Visiting groups are deliberately kept small to reduce their impact on the forest's fragile ecosystem. Solar power provides energy, and local people play a vital role in running the reserve.

Another lodge, the Sandele Eco Retreat was winner of The Guardian's Ethical Travel Award.

5. Niger's giant reserve

Niger, one of the poorest countries in the world, supports one of the largest conservation areas in Africa, the Air and Tenere Natural Reserves.

The area considered a protected sanctuary makes up only one-sixth of the total reserve. It includes the volcanic rock mass of the Air, a small Sahelian pocket situated in the Saharan desert of Tenere. The reserve boasts an outstanding variety of landscapes, plant species and wild animals. The region contains the blue marble mountains which are aesthetically stunning.

The Reserve of Air and Tenere is the last bastion of Saharo-Sahlien wildlife in Niger. The isolation of the Air and the fact that very few people live there account for the survival of numerous species that have been eliminated from other regions in the Sahara and Sahel.

Habitats range from fixed dunes to stoney gravel desert, cliff valleys, canyons, high plateaus and water holes.

Jacques Taberlet via Wikimedia Commons

6. Salonga rain forests

Salonga National Park is Africa's largest tropical rain forest reserve. The park, situated at the heart of the central basin of the Congo River, is isolated and accessible only by water. It contains the remarkable evolution of both species and communities in a forest area. The park plays a vital role in climate regulation and the capture of carbon. It also hosts numerous threatened species like the pygmy chimpanzee, the bush elephant and the Congo peacock.

Salonga National Park represents one of the very rare existing uniform environmental areas catering to specific biodiversity in central Africa. It is made up of vast marshland areas and practically inaccessible gallery forests. Some have never been explored and may still be considered as practically virgin.

7. Simien National Park, Ethiopia

The Simien National Park in northern Ethiopia is spectacular. Massive erosion over millions of years has created jagged mountain peaks, deep valleys and sharp precipices dropping some 1,500m.

The park holds global significance for biodiversity conservation because it is home to globally threatened species. These include, the iconic Walia ibex, a wild mountain goat found nowhere else in the world, the Gelada baboon and the Ethiopian wolf. The park's spectacular landscape is part of the Simien Mountain range, which includes Ras Dejen, the highest point in Ethiopia.

The wave-like plateau of the Simien Mountains is exceptional and a feature of natural beauty at its best. The spectacular scenery is considered to rival Colorado's Grand Canyon.
So there's a middle-aged white lady, #PennySparrow . She'd probably tell you she's not a racist and that 'some of my friends are black' (although domestic staff members don't count as friends, Penny). She'd also probably tell you that the country's gone to hell, the economy's in the toilet, Jacob Zuma is a monster and - perhaps most horrifyingly - coastal beaches are filthy.

But what she won't be telling you, at least from some time later today when the sh*tstorm properly descends, is that she works for Jawitz Properties.

In light of Penny's disgusting #monkeys diatribe, which you can explore in more detail here, I'm thinking about poor Herschel Jawitz and a brand that has come into disrepute over the last few hours, through no fault of its own.

Shem. Can you imagine the guy's dawning horror on a sunny weekend afternoon, three days into the New Year? He's probably never even met Penny Sparrow, a contractor for Jawitz. And yet, there's this:

And this:

Granted, Jawitz Properties employed a racist. But thousands of companies employ racists every day. And wife beaters. And paedophiles. And they probably don't know it, because this sort of stuff tends not to come up in the initial interview or (we hope) in day-to-day office interactions.

It's only when morons who don't understand how social media works put offensive things on the Internet (because they think Facebook is private) and get publicly shamed, that the employer brand thinks, 'Yikes. How do I distance my company, quickly, from this catastrophe?'

It helps very little if the person no longer works for you, Herschel. It helps very little if you're "outraged" and your company has been "proudly South African" since the 1960s. Because what you should be doing is ensuring, ahead of time, when someone leaves, that they sever all ties to your brand on their social media accounts. That there's been a thorough clean-up, so to speak.

You can't discipline Penny Sparrow now, as she's no longer a member of your staff, warns social media lawyer Emma Sadleir.

But you may not know this, Herschel, because no one's handling this stuff for you, and now there's been a whopping cock-up. You can issue as many statements as you like but the tens of thousands of people who saw Penny Sparrow's filth - 34,000 as of 9am today - might not be listening to Cape Talk.

And yes, it'll all die down later on when someone comes up with something else to talk about - like the fantastic #theyearwemispronounceback - but for now, Jawitz Properties is in the poo to the tune of massive brand damage.

The moral of the story? [Companies, read this next bit carefully:]

1. It's not enough to 'be on social'. It's not enough to force un-savvy employees to use social (many local property companies are guilty of this). You have to train them on how social works in the real world and on the many, many reputational and other - even legal - risks involved. 2. A social media audit must be part of the exit process when someone leaves your employ. Twitter. Facebook. LinkedIn. Third-party portals. Whatever else there is. All reference to current employment by your company must be removed, in the presence of someone official. Find out whether (and indeed how) this is covered by labour law and if it isn't, get a consultant to guide you. 3. Have a solid generic statement ready in case of disaster, so that you can tweak it in line with the specifics and start to manage the crisis early and fast. Even when it hits you upside the head on a Sunday evening. 4. Try - to the best of your ability - not to hire racists, wife beaters, paedophiles and other horrible people. They're inherently evil, for one thing, and for another: it's always going to be bad for the brand down the line.

Best of luck.
Saw Ah Kine, the section leader of Zone A confirmed to Karen News that the boy often complained of not wanting to live anymore.

The boy have been telling his grandma for a long time that he wanted to die. He often talked about committing suicide. This time, the grandma had no time to stop him. He didnt drink or use drugs. He was a good kid.

The teenager was living with his, grandmother aged 70. The boy had left school and had served in the camp security service for three months before he committed suicide. He used a homemade hunting rifle to shoot himself in his chest.

Refugee camp officials on the Thai Burma are hugely concerned that suicides among camp residents are increasing.

On December 2, a young Karen refugee couple killed themselves by drinking pesticide  the young woman was pregnant.

According to camp officials, the Karen Refugee Committee and Non-Government Organizations that provide services in the camp are running an awareness training in an attempt to prevent suicide cases, but said that they face many difficulties.

Naw Blooming Night Zan, joint secretary of KRC told Karen News that there is no clear method to prevent suicides in the camp.

Speaking to Karen News, Naw Blooming Night Zan said.

We see that the reasons behind the incidents are different. If the case was similar to disease outbreaks, wed know exactly what measures needed to be taken. But for suicide, there is a broader scope, so we dont really have a system in place to prevent or deal with it.

Mae La Camp records shows that 14 people have died from suicide in 2015 and camp officials said that there have also been suicide attempts that were prevented and attempted suicides that have gone unreported and are not recorded.

Mae La refugee camp has been home for almost 30 years to as many as 40,000 refugees who had fled armed conflict, militarization and human right violations in Burma.


Burning banned goods and cosmetics (Photo: AK)

Officials from Ye Township and the Mon State Food and Drug Administration Committee confiscated the prohibited items in an unannounced raid on stalls in Mya Thidar Market in Ye Town.

The incineration of the seized goods, worth 200,000 kyats, at the old Arbaw Airfield was witnessed by representatives from Ye Township General Administration Department, Ye Township Health Department, the Myanmar Police Force and media groups.

Dr. May San Cho, the head of Ye Town Public Hospital, said: "This is the first time such goods have been destroyed in Ye Township. They inspected food colourings, whether goods were licensed or not and if they were dangerous."

The doctor said the authorities had seized the goods because they wanted to educate the public and they had not fined the sellers. It was a way to demonstrate which goods are suitable for consumption.

This is the first time that illegal goods and drugs have been confiscated and destroyed in Ye Township. But, store owners do not know which products are legal to sell because the local authorities have not given them the necessary education.

U Ko Yi Htay, a store owner, said: "For many years the authorities did not try to help the public in this way, they have only started to do it now and sellers are the most affected. Public education about which goods are banned is important, sellers can then decide which goods they will order and sell."

He also said that even though the authorities had published a list of illegal goods in state run newspapers in August 2015 many people still did not know which goods were illegal because the newspapers had provided insufficient details and few people had even read the newspapers.

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
Aik Nub, also known as Yi Mon, a 48 year old from Koong Nim village was found dead hanging from a tree in the camp compound at about midday.

Nang Jing, who helps the IDPs in Mong Hsu and was one of the people who discovered Aik Nubs body, said: He looked depressed every dayAik Nub was stressed because he had to flee from his home and was unable to go back. He didnt have job and couldnt feed his family.

She speculated that his situation could have contributed to his suicide.

She said: He has one son and now his wife is also pregnant."

An ethnic Taang (Palaung), Aik Nub was one of 10,000 people who fled their homes during the conflict between the government military and the Shan State Progress Party/Shan State Army-North (SSPP/SSA-N), which began on 6 October.

On 15 December SHAN reported that when some of the villagers from Koong Nim village returned to their homes on 13 December the Burma Army forced them to return to the IDP camps in Hai Pa village.

On 23 December a coalition of Shan community-based organizations (CBOs) released a statement demanding that the Burma government withdraw their troops and allow over 3,000 displaced civilians in central Shan State to return to their villages.

BY SAI AW / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)

Edited in English by Mark Inkey for BNI
Ma Htung, Program Manager at ENAC, spoke with SHAN about his organizations contributions to and views on the peace process, the Framework for Political Dialogue and ENACs long-term vision for building a federal union.

Ma Htung works in ENACs Thailand office. (Photo: Simma Francis)Ma Htung works in ENACs Thailand office. (Photo: Simma Francis)

Question: What is ENAC and what work does the organization do?

Answer: This organization is here to support the peace process, and the final goal is to build a federal union. That is what we aim for. What we are doing is making it all-inclusive, particularly the Framework for Political Dialogue. We want the UNFC [United Nationalities Federal Council] to be included in this framework. Currently, we are not able to make [the Framework] inclusive for all groups. Eight groups have already signed the NCA [the Nationwide Ceasefire Agreement], but the rest, the bigger groups, are still left behind. Unless we can bring them into the Framework for Political Dialogue, we cannot make genuine peace.

Q: SHAN has reported on criticisms that the Framework for Political Dialogue is not as inclusive as some actors would like it to be. Can you comment on this?

A: As far as I know, initially ENAC wanted a tripartite framework. One part is government, another is political parties, and finally, EAOs [Ethnic Armed Organisations]. But the government is talking about a political dialogue which has seven partsparliament, government, military, EAOs, political parties, ethnic nationalities, and stakeholders. I am very concerned about this. We cannot say this is inclusiveness. The military has 150 persons out of 700, and in the parliament, there could already be military people. In the government, USDP [Union Solidarity and Development Party] is a political party and part of the military, too. They are in alliance, even if we cannot say they are one group. Out of seven parts, the military is dominating four parts. How can we say that this framework can lead to a fair and just political negotiation? That is what I see.

Unless the Framework for Political Dialogue is fair, I dont think it will lead to a genuine peace process. No group should take a big share in the framework. The military wants to take a big share, but they say they are taking an equal share. They should not stand separately from the government. If they stand separately, it means they still want to dominate other groups, even the government. This means that the military wants to get legal legitimacy. Thats why they are participating as a separate actor. If they reduce their power, [a genuine peace process] is really possible.

Q: Why do you think things have unfolded in this way?

A: The eight groupswe call it the Eight-C-A, instead of the NCAthese eight groups are trying to legitimise their process, because they have already signed [the NCA]. For both the eight groups and the government, they are trying to manipulate this process by excluding other groups. They can amend [the agreement] whenever it is necessarythey worded it like thisfor the other groups to join. They could make changes, if the non-signatories wanted to join.

Q: The non-signatories to the NCA will be able to participate in the political dialogue as observers. What does this mean to you?

A: If they decide to participate as observersthis means it will be very formal, from a legal perspective. This is clear: You are participating. You are interested. Your aim is to join the process, so it means you are supporting their process. If [the government] wants these groups to participate, they should have started from the NCA. After the signing of the NCA, these groups were no longer part of the process. They were in the process until the NCA, but what stopped them was [a lack of] inclusivenesstheir only demand was to include all groups [in the agreement]. Why did the government not want to accept all groups? This is nonsense, real nonsense.

Q: ENAC is working parallel to the ongoing peace process. What is ENAC doing to influence or shift the process?

A: Currently, we have four centers [of focus]: policy development, constitution and legal affairs, the peace process, and information and publicity. We now have eight draft policies, through workshops. In the workshops, we invited EAOs, civil society organisations [CSOs] and ethnic political parties. We are developing our policies bottom-up, not top-down. All of these policies are guidelines, guiding principles that lead to a federal constitution. Later, these policies will affect the Framework for Political Dialogue through the bargaining process between EAOs and the government. If they agree on these [policies], they could be part of a federal constitution. We believe that will lead to a federal union.

Q: You mentioned bottom-up policy development. How are grassroots-level organisations involved?

A: The next step of what we are going to do is to consult with EAOs. We have already consulted with very top leaders and now we will consult with the middle-level. The armed groups have been around for more than 50 years, so they have several different departmentseducation department, land department. They have been inserted inside of the system.

At the same time, we have policy on education, health, natural resources, agriculture, all of those. So we are going to consult to develop a common understanding with the EAOs At the next step, we will consult with the CSOs and proceed on that level as well. Before these policies become part of the Framework for Political Dialogue, this process will have already proceeded. It is not possible to consult with every citizen, but what we aim for as much as possible is to consult with the CSOs to represent the people.

Q: Has ENAC received any criticism for this approach?

A: As far as I know, we havent received any direct criticism. But for sure, pro-government, pro-MPC [Myanmar Peace Center] groups will criticise us, saying we should work together with them. From the eight ethnic armed groups, some of them have some ideas that our organisation should work not only with non-signatories, but also signatory groups. I think we can work hand in hand. But the problem is, how can we work together if our ideas and our concepts are totally different? We can have different opinions, but we should have the same aim.

Q: What would show you that you share the same aim? What would you be looking for to build trust?

A: Without peace with the EAOs, there will never be any genuine peace. Democracy, whatever you name it, is that the majority rules. In our country, the Burmese population is the biggest. We, the ethnic nationalities, cannot compete with them. If they just build democracy, it is not enough for us. We will be discriminated against again, constitutionally and lawfully. Democracy itself will discriminate against us. We are totally different from that trend. We want not only democracy, we want federal democracy. This means we will be fair stakeholders in the parliament, in the government. The Burmese have two seats, and we have two seats; thats what we call federal democracy. If we just have democracy, ethnic nationalities will never be able to come up to the top level.

Q: Why does the peace process need ENAC?

A: The process needs us because the way that we are working is based on a federal union. Like for policy development, we do not leave out any groups. We keep on inviting others to the [policy] workshopssignatories, non-signatories, ethnic political parties, civil society organizations. We invite representatives, two from each group. Thats what you can see from the way that we are working.

By SIMMA FRANCIS / Shan Herald Agency for News (S.H.A.N)
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Indiana state Senator Jim Tomes (R) has introduced a bill that would prohibit all public schools from allowing transgender students to use a restroom that corresponds with the gender they identify as, and that would be bad enough all on its own, but the state senator's bill would also criminalize basic bodily functions for transgender people.

[The] bill mandates that any transgender person who uses a public sex-specific restroom, locker room, or shower room that matches their gender identity has committed a single sex public facility trespass, which it deems a Class A misdemeanor. A Class A misdemeanor is the highest non-felony charge in Indiana, punishable by up to one year in jail and a fine of up to $5,000 dollars.

Short of hiring a force of body inspectors who screen genitalia at the bathroom door or mandating that law enforcement closely monitor the location and bodily functions of transgender people, it's not clear how Jim Tomes hopes to enforce this hilariously-unconstitutional law.

How much law enforcement time could be wasted following up on citizen snitch reports of possibly illegal bathroom use?

That can't be real, right? "Illegal bathroom use." Are there any adults in the Indiana state senate?

If Indiana lawmakers are ghoulish enough to pass this bill, it will be struck down in the first federal courtroom it lands in.


Shri Tathagata Roy, Hon'ble Governor of Tripura, presented the prestigious award to BrahMos, during the 30th Indian Engineering Congress, organised by The Institution of Engineers (India) (IEI) at Guwahati on 18 December 2015. Lt Col (Retd) Anil Misra, GM (Infra & TP) accepting the award on behalf of BrahMos Aerospace (In Photo).

NEW DELHI: BrahMos Aerospace has been conferred with the IEI Industry Excellence Award 2015 for its remarkable role and contribution in the field of Manufacturing and Processing in India.



Shri Tathagata Roy, Hon'ble Governor of Tripura, presented the prestigious award to BrahMos, during the 30th Indian Engineering Congress, organised by The Institution of Engineers (India) (IEI) at Guwahati on 18 December 2015. Lt Col (Retd) Anil Misra, GM (Infra & TP) accepted the award on behalf of BrahMos Aerospace.



BrahMos Aerospace, the India-Russia Joint Venture, is the producers of world's leading supersonic cruise missile system BRAHMOS.



BrahMos JV, a role-model for other defence cooperation, has redefined the business of selling military products from a purely buyer-seller relationship to joint research, design, development, production and marketing of state of the art military systems.



The 30th Indian Engineering Congress of The Institution of Engineers (India) on the theme "21st Century Engineering - The Make in India Pathway" was hosted by the Assam State Centre.


Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/01/2016 (2480 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MINNEDOSA  Instead of celebrating, residents of Townview Manor rang in the new year trying to find a new place to live.

The 27 residents of the Manitoba Housing complex in downtown Minnedosa found out on Dec. 29, that they were being kicked out of their suites to allow for a deep refresh of the building.

This was the first time they became aware that they would be relocated, Adele Eamer said during a meeting with The Brandon Sun on Saturday.

Eva Wasney/Brandon Sun Townview Manor residents Marie Anne Saler, with her dog Girlie on her lap (front row from left), Mary Dyck, Bill Simmons and Margaret Erven met with The Brandon Sun in the multi-purpose room of the Manitoba Housing complex on Saturday to discuss their recent eviction notice. Salers daughter Adele Eamer (second row from left) and Dycks son Larry and his wife Kerrie also joined the discussion.

Eamers mother, Marie Anne Saler, has lived in the building for three years and says while talk of renovations is nothing new, the original plan was to move tenants within the building during construction.

I was going to be moved to the other side (of the building)  and they were going to work on this half initially, Saler said, adding that last Tuesdays news was a real shock.

Im really frustrated because its not the kind of message you want your family to receive days before the new year, said Eamer, who lives in New Brunswick but was home for the holidays.

Townview residents say Manitoba Housing stopped taking new tenants at one point to keep the 56-unit apartment building at half-occupancy to allow for the shuffle.

Now, residents say the plans has changed because Manitoba Housing wants to get the renos done faster and avoid disrupting tenants during construction.

According to Julie DeVoin of communications services Manitoba, the $6.9-million revamp will include the complete demolition of existing suites to create 42 new one bedroom units; as well as kitchen and bathroom upgrades, sewage line replacement and mechanical and electrical improvements.

(Housing and Community Development) will be working with existing tenants to relocate them in the least disruptive way possible, DeVoin said in an email. As housing is limited in Minnedosa, some tenants may be relocated to other communities.

Tenants must be out of the building by May 31, 2016 and DeVoin says that all affected residents will be moved to units within HDCs portfolio at the cost of the department  in Tuesdays letter of termination, moving compensation maxes out at $500.

The current residents will also get first dibs on suites when the renos are done, although its not clear how long they will take.

Still, moving out of Minnedosa isnt an attractive option for most of the Townview tenants  the oldest of whom is 102-years-old.

All of us, pretty well, are senior citizens, Saler said, adding that she would like to stay close to her son who lives in Minnedosa.

Mary Dyck is 93-years-old and has lived in the building for five years. She receives Home Care support four to six times a day and her family is worried that if she has to move to smaller town she wont have the same access.

One Home Care worker said we dont do the small towns because we can do three people in the length of time they can do 16 here, Marys daughter-in-law Kerrie said. Home care even has a suite here  stormy weather they can stay right in the building until everybodys tucked in.

Eva Wasney/Brandon Sun Wayne Bercier sits on the couch in his Townview Manor suite. Bercier has lived in the apartment for seven years and has already found a new place in Onanole.

Mary is also worried about leaving her husband who lives in the personal care home in Minnedosa.

Hed be very upset if I didnt come to see him, he phones me so often, Mary said.

Bill Simmons says he doesnt mind it if he can move to Brandon, as he has a brother in the city, but he wouldnt be able to access his current services.

With no car how am I supposed to get back to check my mail or say I have a medical appointment, Simmons said.

Hector Cameron has lived in the manor for 8.5 years and will be moving back to his farm, 20 km out of town, if he cant find a place in Minnedosa.

Its not convenient or anything, Ive got to try and find something in Minnedosa because I wont move anywhere else, said Cameron, who uses a wheelchair. Im not gonna be thrown out in the snowbank.

At 77 years old, Wayne Bercier is one of the only Townview residents who still drives. Upon hearing the news last week, he started looking and has already found a place in Onanole.

Onanole is fine  but it is so quiet there in the winter time, its like sitting in the middle of Alaska, Bercier said, adding that his doctor is in Rivers and the hour-long drive in the winter is worrisome. I was kind of hoping Neepawa so I could be close to the hospital.

 ewasney@brandonsun.com

 Twitter: @evawasney
Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/01/2016 (2480 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Stories printed in The Brandon Sun this year included tragedy, humour, hope and even a bit of the bizarre.

As a reminder of the year that was, the newspapers editorial staff put together this top 25 list of their favourite and most important stories of 2015.

They appear under headlines as they were published, but the accounts include details later provided by further reporting.

File photo Firefighters battle a blaze that consumed two residences on Thompson Place in Virden in this August 2015 photo. Both homes were destroyed by the fire that was started by a gas explosion in one of the residences.

 March 16  Velvet Dip ice cream stands the test of time

Landmark Brandon business, the Velvet Dip ice cream shop, opened its doors for its 50th season.

The walk-up ice cream shack on Victoria Avenue was built in 1965 by Bruce Ferguson, and its opening celebrated with one-cent cones.

The shops name referred to an important ingredient in the ice cream  special velvet cream shipped in from the Neepawa Creamery.

Over the years, bands have played on the roof of the business, now owned by Sam Oke and Jackie Kamann-Oke.

When Jackies parents previously owned the shop, the Velvet Dip survived an effort of a grocery store to have it moved.

Jackies dad, Dale Kamann, steadfastly refused and development grew around the beloved business.

 March 18  Woman charged with murder

Bradley Dean Harris, 51, was stabbed numerous times outside his city apartment on the afternoon of March 16.

Tennants and visitors of the Westman Youth for Christ apartment complex on the

100-block of First Street tried to help Harris.

However, a woman armed with a knife kept them at bay.

Police and paramedics arrived within minutes and the woman was arrested at the scene.

Corinne April McKay, 45, was charged with first-degree murder. Harris family said McKay was his former common-law partner of 22 years.

She remains in custody and her next court date is in January.

 May 15  Shots fired during standoff in Kemnay, man arrested: witness

RCMP were responding to a domestic assault at a Kemnay house on May 15, when an officer was shot by a suspect.

Residents were sheltered in their homes while RCMP blocked off the general area.

Those who were away from the community when the situation began, remained at the side of the highway until the ordeal ended.

According to witnesses, it ended with a man walking out of the home and being arrested at gunpoint.

The wounded officer was later identified as Cpl. Mark Hume, who was struck in the arm and leg with pellets from a shotgun blast but wasnt seriously injured.

Clayton Ewert is charged with two counts of attempted murder for shots fired toward Hume and another RCMP officer. He remains in custody.

 March 17  Deleau woman survives hit and run

A Westman woman lost three fingers after the truck she was driving was run off the road by a man behind the wheel of a stolen car.

Jen Raposo of Deleau was driving southbound on Highway 10 with her 19-year-old nephew when a speeding car rammed her from behind.

The impact caused her Ford Ranger to flip about six times and slide on its roof while her left hand was caught between the road and her truck.

She and her nephew crawled out through the broken windows.

The driver of the Acura got out of the car, walked into the darkness toward a nearby service road and drew a dark sweater hood over his head. Raposo recalls him walking kinda funny.

 March 21 Truck driver rescued after load of bread spills into river

The driver of a bread truck that crashed into a river can thank the members of a little-used water rescue team for saving his buns.

Late one evening, an eastbound semi-trailer left the Trans-Canada Highway, hit a guard rail of the Grand Valley bridge west of Brandon and rolled down the bank into the chilly Assiniboine River.

The trailer tipped onto its side, spilling hundreds of loaves of bread and buns onto the ice and into the water.

The cab landed upright in the water, trapping the driver mid-river in the cab of his truck.

The cab was well out of the water, but firefighters realized they couldnt reach the stranded driver safely, so they called in the water rescue team.

Police say it appears the semi driver was trying to pass another vehicle at the time of the crash. Alcohol and speed werent factors.

 March 27  Cops investigate Sioux Valley deaths

The bodies of George Shakespeare, 27, and Rayannin Branth were found inside a Sioux Valley Dakota Nation home where Shakespeare lived with his mother.

The bodies were reportedly found by Shakespeares mom when she returned from a hospital stay.

A witness said the bodies of Branth and Shakespeare were lying in bed together. In the living room was a medical needle and bloody knife, he said.

Shortly after the discovery, RCMP deemed the deaths suspicious but didnt release further details.

Widely, the case has been described as a possible killing-suicide.

However, police are still waiting for the results of toxicology tests before releasing their findings.

 April 27  Man in critical condition after hit-and-run

Thirty-three-year-old Jason Gross was rushed to Winnipeg by air ambulance in critical condition after being hit by a truck just after midnight on April 25.

Gross was struck as he crossed the road in the 1000-block of 18th Street, leaving him lying in the street unconscious and unresponsive.

Police say a pickup truck was speeding north on 18th Street when it hit Gross. It briefly came to a stop, drove around the victim and fled.

Investigators issued a detailed description of the truck, and released an image of the suspect truck captured by surveillance camera.

However, there has been no word of any arrests or suspects at this point.

 July 20  WestJet will double flights from Brandon to Calgary

The news broke on Twitter when a WestJet manager announced that, starting in January 2016, the airline would raise the number of daily flights between Brandon and Calgary from one to two.

Later in 2015, ground was broken on a project that will see the airport terminal expanded to three times its current size to accommodate WestJet and attract more air service.

The cost of the $7.4 million expansion and redevelopment is to be split between the city and federal and provincial governments.

 July 26  Soldier dies during training at CFB Shilo

File photo Loaves of bread lay spilled over an ice-covered Assiniboine River following a semi-truck rollover on the Trans-Canada Highway in Grand Valley in March 2015.

Pte. Kirby Tott, 25, died on July 25 during training. According to military officials he was learning to reinforce a trench when he suddenly collapsed. No weapons or vehicles were involved.

Tott joined the Armed Forces in 2012 as a reservist with the Rocky Mountain Rangers in Prince George, B.C.

His father said his son, a former correctional officer, wanted to become an RCMP officer.

On Facebook, friends described him as funny and caring.

 July 29  Manitoba tornado ranks in top 5 for storm chaser

Professional storm chaser Greg Johnson dubbed a twister that ripped through southwestern Manitoba on July 27 as the largest and most interesting hes seen.

Johnson described it as ranking in his Top 5 for tornadoes hes seen in Canada and the United States.

The tornado developed just north of Pierson and headed north. It was on the ground for an extraordinary 2.5 to three hours.

The resulting damage consisted mainly of toppled trees, fences, power lines and farm buildings. There were no injuries.

 Aug. 7  Explosion in Virden levels one home, another gutted by blaze

A man was rushed to hospital after being dug out of a Virden home that was turned to rubble by a large explosion.

It was believed that a contractor working on a fence made accidental contact with a gas line which caused it to leak.

An initial report indicated the line was severed when metal stakes were being pounded into the ground.

The injured man was on the main floor of his home at the time of the explosion. The blast threw him into the basement, and the house collapsed. His injuries were serious, but non-life-threatening.

The fire from the explosion engulfed two homes, and glass and debris were scattered throughout the area.

 Aug. 12  Child locked in hot car rescued by tow company owner

The owner of a city tow truck company smashed his way into a locked car to rescue an 18-month-old boy trapped alone inside.

The child was just starting to pass out from the heat when Full Tilt Towing and Transport Ltd. owner, Jeff Hogg, arrived. The electric door locks were broken and kept locking automatically when Hogg used a tool to squeeze past the window to press the button.

Hogg smashed a window to get in and saved the boy who was taken to hospital as a precaution, but was expected to be fine.

 Aug. 14  Drug dealer preyed on girls in CFS care for sex

In August, a convicted drug trafficker who preyed on girls in CFS care by giving them cocaine and marijuana for sex was sentenced to three years and 10 months in prison.

The four victims, aged 13 to 15 years, were girls in CFS care living at Brandon group homes.

Joshua Allan Duff, 30, pleaded guilty to harbouring children in care, four counts of sexual interference and to procuring sex from three of the girls.

The case was later included in a Brandon Sun feature on exploited runaway girls.

 Aug. 30  Dennis Quaid spotted at local Latin restaurant

What does a Hollywood star do when he finds himself in Brandon? He dances and orders pupusas.

Dennis Quaid was in the Wheat City this summer to film the movie, A Dogs Purpose.

Rumours that Quaid was about town turned out to be true when he was spotted at the Sabor Latino restaurant on Ninth Street.

A restaurant owner said Quaid ordered pupusas  hand made tortillas stuffed with cheese, beans and pork. Mid meal, he stood up and started dancing to the music playing on the sound system.

 Sept. 1  Man grabbed neighbours penis by mistake

In one of the more bizarre court cases of the year, a man spent time in jail after he mistakenly grabbed his neighbours privates.

Aden Huessien had been drinking on April 19 when he forgot his key and climbed through a window into the bedroom of the wrong apartment.

A man and woman were asleep in the bedroom, and somehow in the dark, Huessien mistakenly grasped the residents penis.

Huessien remained in custody after the incident, and on Aug. 31 he was sentenced to time served and probation for break, enter and commit assault.

 Sept. 11  Carberry homicide victim was good guy

On Sept. 9, RCMP were called to the Carberry Motor Inn and found a severely injured Garnet Baptiste.

Baptiste, 26, who was from the Ebb and Flow First Nation, was transported to hospital where he died from his injuries.

Three men  Raymond Jamie Bonser, Robert Edward Louie Laba, and Regan Matthew Carlson  were subsequently charged with manslaughter and remain before the courts.

Baptistes employer, Bob Martin, said that Baptiste and a friend were injured in a confrontation in the motel parking lot.

Martin described Baptiste as a happy-go-lucky and a good guy.

 Oct. 16  Woman allegedly fabricated story about abduction, human trafficking

The mystery of an unidentified woman and her daughter, who turned up at the Westman Womens Shelter in August had an unexpected ending.

Neither had identification, and the mother claimed that shed been abducted as a child, held in captivity for years and forced into the Winnipeg sex trade which she recently escaped.

She claimed not to know her true identity, as shed been abducted at a young age.

After an extensive investigation, that included issuing a media bulletin about the pair, it was learned that the mother had fabricated her story.

In reality, she had fled Ontario with her daughter in the midst of a custody dispute. On

Oct. 26, she was fined $2,000 and put on probation for two years.

 Oct. 22  19 charges laid in fatal crash

A Winnipeg man was charged with 19 offences in connection with a crash that killed 20-year-old Taylor Renwick of Napinka.

The charges against Manuel Britney Cowley, 27, included criminal negligence causing death, impaired driving causing death, dangerous driving causing death and flight from police causing death.

RCMP had located a driver suspected of impaired driving, but the suspect drove off. The chase that followed was called off by police due to excessive speed.

Shortly after, the suspects vehicle collided head on with Renwicks vehicle on Highway 2 east of St. Claude.

File photo A quonset was destroyed after a tornado, which developed just north of Pierson, ripped through the farmyard of Fred Raynor south of Tilston in July 2015. The tornado was on the ground for two and a half to three hours.

Renwick was on her way home for Thanksgiving. She was a University of Manitoba student, and was just a few months shy of her 21st birthday.

 Oct. 29  DNA evidence reveals suspect in abduction, sexual assault of 5-year-old boy

The Brandon Police Service announces that advances in DNA testing helped lead to the arrest of a suspect in the abduction and sexual assault of a five-year-old boy.

News of the arrest came nearly four years after the boy was taken while playing near his Stickney Avenue home.

Police believe the boy entered the strangers vehicle willingly. He was then driven to a spot near the Assiniboine River, sexually assaulted and let go.

Thirty to 45 minutes after he went missing, police found the child wandering near the south side of the river.

Samples of bodily fluid were taken from the boys clothing, sent for testing, and ultimately got a hit on the National DNA Databank.

Hugh Alexander McCurry, 38, is charged with abduction, sexual assault, sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching.

 Nov. 5  Couples killed in crash fondly remembered

Two families are trying to come to terms with the loss of loved ones after a single crash took the lives of two couples.

Delaney Houle-Pelletier and her common-law partner Denis Baptiste Jr. of Ebb and Flow First Nation were in one vehicle.

Gladys and Wayne Gork of Birnie were in the other. RCMP were called to the two-vehicle, head-on collision near Neepawa on Highway 5, about four kilometres north of Highway 16.

The vehicles both had front-end damage, and both couples were declared dead at the scene.

According to police, 68-year-old Gladys was the driver of the northbound SUV, and her 70-year-old husband Wayne was the passenger.

Police say that Baptiste, 19, was the driver of the southbound van that also carried Houle-Pelletier, 20. The cause of the collision has not been disclosed.

 Nov. 5  Westman youth faces terrorism charge

A 16-year-old boy was charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly using social media to encourage violence on behalf of the Islamic state.

The arrest came as the result of an investigation that involved the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and the RCMPs National Security Enforcement Section.

The teens computer, books and notebooks were seized from his rural home. Investigators also found child porn on a seized computer.

The boy is charged with counseling assault causing bodily harm at the direction of, or in association with, a terrorist group. Hes also charged with possessing and accessing child porn.

He currently remains in custody.

 Nov. 16  New school to be built in Brandons south end

During the throne speech, the province announced that a new school will be built in the city.

The announcement came as the Brandon School Division faced overcrowding of students, with the number of pupils at some schools expected to double over the next five years.

The division had lobbied for a new school for about four years.

The division also has plans to redistribute students among some schools to address the crowding.

A division report pointed at the provinces Small Class Size initiative, which lowered the acceptable class size.

While overcapacity, schools arent necessarily over-crowded or unsafe, the report stated.

 Dec. 2  Stabbed police officer recovering at home

A Brandon Police Service officer was wounded when he was stabbed multiple times while arresting an arson suspect.

The events of Nov. 30 began when a resident set a fire in a suite at the Youth for Christ building downtown.

The fire was put out and nobody was hurt. A witness guided police to a suspect at the corner of 20th Street and Lorne Avenue.

Const. Marc DeDecker was arresting the suspect when the man stabbed him five or more times. He was stabbed multiple times in the leg and at least once in the torso.

Despite that, he held the suspect until backup arrived. DeDecker was treated at hospital and released to recover at home with his family.

William Jonathon Mini, 19, was charged with arson with disregard for life, aggravated assault of a police officer and mischief.

 Dec. 4  Firehouse ready to get cookin

In local business news, the hot story of the year was the highly-anticipated opening of Prairie Firehouse.

The business transformed the citys historic 104-year-old fire hall on Princess Avenue into a bar and eatery.

Known as Central Fire Station No. 1, the fire hall was built in 1911 and designated a municipal heritage site in 2000.

It was left vacant when Brandon Fire and Emergency Services moved into a new building on 19th Street North in 2010.

The new restaurant pays tribute to the buildings firefighting history with photos and artifacts, including old fire extinguishers.

 Breaking Faith, The Runaways, and A Brothers Secret

In 2015, The Brandon Sun introduced longform features tailored for the web.

Three were released this year  Breaking Faith, The Runaways, and A Brothers Secret.

Breaking Faith told the story of Henry Lawrences battle with asbestosis, and how his family took up his crusade against the Workers Compensation Board of Manitoba after his widow was denied death benefits.

The Runaways examined the dangerous cycle of troubled teenage girls repeatedly running from home into a world of drugs, alcohol and sexual exploitation.

A Brothers Secret looked at the life of a man who struggled with a hoarding disorder.

Breaking Faith won an international journalism award with writing by Matt Goerzen, web development by Andrew Nguyen, photos by Bruce Bumstead and editing by Jim Lewthwaite.

 The Brandon Sun
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/01/2016 (2480 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Syrian refugees arriving in Canada have been greeted by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, provincial premiers, mayors and dignitaries of all types in a display of love and affection unprecedented in Canadian history.

Immigration Minister John McCallum even doubled down on Canadas commitment to bring in 25,000 Syrians by the end of February, saying the government was now looking at accepting as many as 50,000 by the end of 2016.

Meanwhile, other refugees waiting in squalid camps in Africa or Asia, or recently arrived in Canada, can be forgiven for wondering what makes them different.

The stark contrast between the Syrians and the others was illustrated by the story of a man who was waiting for African refugees in a Toronto airport terminal on the same day Trudeau was there to greet the Syrians.

A reporter started to interview the man, only to walk away when he learned he wasnt waiting for the celebrity refugees.

Canada has always had two personalities in the way it responds to refugees and immigrants.

We have opened our doors many times for people in need, including the Vietnamese boat people in the 1970s and Hungarians fleeing the 1956 uprising against Communist rule, two examples of Canada at its best.

The warm embrace of the Syrians is part of that tradition of generosity and kindness, but theres another, contradictory narrative.

Canadas immigration policies in the past were often guided by racist attitudes, such as the rejection of many displaced peoples from the Second World War, particularly Jews who were less welcome than our erstwhile enemies, the Germans.

Nor is the un-Canadian story entirely historical.

The government of former prime minister Stephen Harper, for example, cut off health benefits for refugees (since restored by the Liberals), while curbing the number of desperate people allowed into the country.

A UN report on asylum trends in 2014 shows Canada was dead last on a list of developed countries accepting refugees.

Refugee advocates in Canada are aware of the over-the-top embrace of the Syrians, but they dont care. In fact, they believe its actually a positive development that will help their cause in the future.

Its reinvigorating the entire private sponsorship program, said Tom Denton, executive director of Hospitality House Refugee Ministry, which brought about 500 refugees to Winnipeg in 2015, none of them Syrians.

It benefits everyone, Denton said.

And while the plight of all refugees is urgent, the Syrian dilemma was particularly troublesome because of the way Europe is being swamped and overloaded.

By accepting 25,000 Syrians in a short period of time, Canada is not merely demonstrating its humanitarian impulse, its also being a good neighbour and ally to its European friends.

The spectacle of refugees fleeing in open boats across the Mediterranean Sea also helped fuel the cause of refugee settlement, as did the drowning death of three-year-old Alan Kurdi, whose tragic story helped to humanize the calamity.

The arrival of the Syrians in Manitoba and the rest of Canada, then, is cause for rejoicing and celebrating.

The government, however, should also consider how it can speed up the process for some of the estimated 18 million other refugees who are equally in need of Canadas love and support.

Its the Canadian way  sometimes, at least.

 Winnipeg Free Press
Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 04/01/2016 (2480 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A scan of websites maintained by influential magazines, government departments and intellectual organizations shows that, at this time of year, a No. 1 priority is laying out predictions for the year now upon us. Having checked out Forbes and Fortune as economic and technological trend indicators, and The Independent and The Futurist as more political and academic, one has a sense of what might happen in the coming year or two.

Some journalists, leaders and thinkers will go so far as to predict the next decade or two. What is helpful in these predictions is that they make you think  they may not always be correct, but they certainly are interesting, challenging and, ultimately, involve us in making the world what we want it to be, or at least observing history in the making in our lifetimes.

The 2016 prediction list of what might happen includes the continuation of many stories that have recently been playing out. Here is a list of the most noticeable and/or interesting possibilities:

 The United States and its allies will continue to struggle in their relationship with Russia, in part because of the invasion and partial annexation of Ukraine. It is, in many ways, the continuation of the Cold War that began as the Second World War ended in 1945 and then lasted until the Soviet Empire fell in 1989. After some early years of instability, Russia has attempted to regain some of its former stature and even territory.

 The world will continue to transition from the Pax Americana that began when Russia fell to an Asia-centric world, based on the growing global economic reach of China, India and Japan. U.S. President Barack Obama and then President Hillary Clinton (another prediction) will want to be seen as world leaders but will find it hard in a weak economy and with much internal turmoil as we have seen from both climate change and racial and homegrown terror violence (two more predictions).

 Western Asia and the Middle East, along with some African countries, will continue to be failed states without governments that are able to control all their national territory and with warring factions continuing to accelerate the ongoing refugee crisis. The countries in question include Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and the trouble may spread to others. Europe will struggle in dealing with the influx of displaced people and this, along with possibly more terror attacks, will make the European community less stable.

 Technological advancement will continue to impact our lives, affecting how we educate our children, how we communicate and how we get around. There will be more driverless cars, more drones in use, more Internet and online learning in the classroom, and more virtual medical checkups. One downside will be more cyber attacks globally and more account hacking personally.

 2016 will be the hottest year on record. While 195 nations at the Paris Climate Change Summit recently agreed to fight global warming in real terms and co-operatively, a combination of the natural El Nino cycle and our own human-made impact on the environment mean that scientists predict a 95 per cent chance that 2016 will be hotter in average temperatures than any year before. Extreme weather events, from scorching heat, drought and wildfires in some parts of the world, to unrelenting rain and flooding in other parts will be the result.

 Business observers note that the number of female corporate CEOs in our wealthy parts of the world have declined in recent years, but that women corporate board members have increased. They predict that the trend will continue with more women being influential in the business sector. In electoral politics, women are also a growing factor. Our own recent federal election illustrates that point with half the cabinet being female. Meanwhile, in Saudi Arabia, women were able to vote recently for the first time in local council elections and some were appointed by their king to his advisory bodies.

 For those excited about our new Liberal federal governments support, at least in the election campaign, for the decriminalization of marijuana, predictions are that, with almost 60 per cent of Americans supportive of this as well  and with the huge tax revenues possible from the sale of pot  many states, as well as our own country, could make legalization a fact in the coming year.

What is satisfying about some prediction websites is that they report on where they were correct and where they got it wrong last time, and why. The old Chinese saying, May you live in interesting times certainly applies!

 Zack Gross is a former executive director of the Marquis Project, Brandon-Westmans international development organization.
By Daniel McConnell, Irish Examiner Political Editor

Environment Minister Alan Kelly is to seek approval from Cabinet tomorrow to radically increase the allocation to local councils to cover the cost of Storms Desmond and Frank.

The news comes as President Michael D Higgins

Read More:

Mr Kelly had before Christmas made 8m available to councils to meet the cost of the emergency response to the flooding crisis and the major clean-up which will have to take place as the water subsides.

Major damage has been suffered by bridges, culverts and roads across the country as a result of the flooding, with Government sources suggesting the final bill could run into tens of millions.

Minister for the Office of Public Works, Simon Harris, confirmed today that the allocation earmarked by Government before Christmas will not be sufficient to meet the cost of dealing with the floods.

The fund that will absolutely need to be increased is the fund for local authorities for the clean-up cost. Minister Kelly last week said 6m of that has already been drawn down and since then there has been significantly more damage, Mr Harris said.

The Wicklow TD said the 5m fund to help small businesses who couldn't get flood insurance and the 10m humanitarian fund run by the Department of Social Protection are sufficient at this stage to meet the demand of those affected.

Mr Kelly is also set to bring a memo which will pave the way for the development of a national flood warning system, which would dramatically increase the accuracy of where and when floods are likely to happen.

Mr Harris also said the Government is examining ways of helping people protect their homes from flooding by way of grant aid and also said some people may have to be relocated because their current homes are liable to repeat flooding.

It is not a once size fits all solution. 300 areas across the country have been identified as being at risk of flooding, he said.

Where engineering solutions are possible for those 300 areas we will have solutions published by the summer.

But what about an area either for geographical reasons or engineering reasons a solution is not possible. In those cases, I think there are two possibilities. The first is for Government to put in place grant aid to help people protect their own home, he said.

In some cases relocation is likely. The Government is not in the business of telling people to relocate, but in some cases where people want to move, it is a very serious option that we will have to look at, he said.

Mr Harris also said he had heard concerns about introducing a single authority to take charge of the River Shannon with a view to prevent flooding.

It sounds good but I have heard in practice it is not good, but I am not ruling anything in or out, he said.

Mr Harris and Taoiseach Enda Kenny attended a briefing with the National Co-ordination Group this morning. Before the Cabinet meeting, the Government will hear from different agencies involved in the River Shannon.

Mr Harris said the Office of Public Works has identified 66 flood risk areas along the river and plans for each area should be in place before the summer.

More rain fell in December than would normally fall during a whole winter, breaking records at weather stations across the country, Met Eireann said.

Met Eireann meteorologist Gerald Flaming said the country was now starting to experience more normal weather patterns with a relatively dry day expected on Tuesday and about 15mm to 20mm of rain expected on Wednesday  normal for this time of year.

But he said the recent rainfall was unprecedented and it remains to be seen how normal rain will affect flooding when it falls on saturated ground. Speaking at a National Co-ordination Group briefing, he also said that black ice on roads could become a problem as temperatures fall over the coming days.

Jim Casey of the OPW said the mid-Shannon catchment area continues to cause considerable concern with the water there at record levels. He added that Lough Derg and areas downstream are now at 2009 levels.

He said levels on the Erne and Moy rivers have also risen in the past 24 hours and that the Brosna, Barrow, Suir, Slaney, Nore, Munster Blackwater and Bandon rivers still pose a significant flood risk despite having fallen somewhat.

The AA said roads in Munster and Leinster continue to be worst affected with the N25 in Cork and the N18 Limerick to Galway road closed in parts. The N4 in Carrick-on-Shannon in Leitrim also remains closed.

There are a huge amount of regional road closures in place, a spokeswoman said, adding that drivers have been urged to adhere to road closed signs to avoid getting stranded in floodwaters.

Brendan McGrath from Galway City Council said efforts to control floodwaters and provide assistance to the public were ongoing, particularly in areas including Carrick-on-Shannon, Athlone, Clare, Limerick, Cork and Kilkenny.

He said local authorities in Cork have dealt with 1,683 emergency calls since Christmas Day. Meanwhile, 1,736 members of the Defence Forces have been deployed to since the flooding started.

As of Sunday, about 260 houses were affected by the flooding with a further 230 threatened. About 130 homes have been marooned and cut off while 23 apartments were evacuated at Bastian Quay in Athlone.

Residents along the River Shannon face further flooding as water levels downstream of Lough Derg continue to reach 2009 levels. Westmeath County Council said the water level in Athlone is now 4cm above the maximum level reached in 2009 and is putting increasing pressure on defences in the town and rural areas.
It looks like we'll get a respite from heavy rain this week - in fact, some parts of the country could even get below normal rainfall levels, say Met Eireann.

Forecaster Harm Luijkx said: "There's no sign of any storm coming this week. It looks like rainfall for this week will be around normal, or in midland areas even below normal, so that's good news."

Meanwhile, President Michael D Higgins is visiting flood-hit communities in south Galway and Enniscorthy, Co Wexford today.

It comes as efforts continue to find accommodation for around 160 residents of an apartment complex in Athlone who were evacuated last night.

The residents of the Bastion Quay apartments were asked to leave their homes after part of a nearby ESB substation became submerged in flood waters.

Before last night, 260 homes across the country had been evacuated as a result of the flooding.

However, speaking last night during a visit in Clonlara, South East Clare, where families have also been evacuated following the winter storms, Minister Simon Coveney said it was "far too early" to start relocations.

"I don't think that we are looking at that option at the moment," he said. "We need to look at more effective ways at managing (the River Shannon) flow to prevent flooding in the futureOnly when we have done that, will anybody concede that we have to start relocating people."

Meanwhile, motorists are being advised that some roads are still impassable and Superintendent John Ferris recommended leaving extra time for journeys.

He said: "We have flood warnings in virtually every county in Ireland today, so we're asking people to be very careful using the roads as they return to work, schools and colleges.

"Were asking people to recognise that many roads have been flooded for weeks at this stage, and there will be debris and potholes etc on these roads."

Commuters who haven't used their car over the Christmas break are also being warned to expect a dead battery.

Mechanics and tow companies across the country are expecting a deluge of calls this morning, in what is typically one of the busiest days for the sector.

Today's weather looks a little kinder than recently, with sunny spells in most areas. While many places will start dry, showers over Munster will become more widespread during the day and there will be heavy showers over north and east Ulster as well.

Highest temperatures of 6 to 10 degrees are expected, according to Met Eireann. Winds will be variable and light in most parts, though they will be moderate to fresh on southwest and north coasts.
Local authorities have been accused of not doing enough to keep rivers and culverts clear as communities around the country count the cost of the recent floods.

PRO of the National Forum of Community Flood Committees in Blackpool Co Cork, Ger Buckley, said not enough simple prevention measures were being taken against flooding.

He said the main concern, however, was that even where flood defences had been improved, businesses and home owners still could not get insured.

"An awful lot of what's happening is avoidable," he said. "Local authorities are not clearing out culverts (and) rivers aren't being maintained.

"But the biggest single issue facing towns and villages around Ireland is that even where a scheme has been completed, like in Fermoy and Mallow, (businesspeople are) still not getting re-insured."

Meanwhile, President Michael D Higgins is visiting communities affected by floods in counties Galway and Wexford.

President and Sabine Higgins are currently in Labane, in south Galway, where houses are under threat of recurring flooding.

Locals say they have been flooded repeatedly since 1990, and are under severe stress.

Leona Keady's house has been cut off due to flooding for five days, and was glad to see President Higgins.

She said: "The fact that he has made it his business to come down here (is good) It's important to show solidarity with the community."

In Co Clare, the ESB said the flow of water through Parteen Weir would remain at 470 cubic metres per second today, or around 470,000 litres a second.

The flow will be reviewed again tomorrow as the levels of water in Lough Derg approach 2009 levels.
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LONDON: Eight out of 10 people in Britain now disapprove of the government, a YouGov poll showed on Tuesday, as the...
MOSCOW: The Russian Belgorod region bordering Ukraine was hit by strikes on Sunday, leaving at least four people...
A international student nabbed driving at 132km/hr, a provisional driver clocked doing 40km/hr above the limit and a teenage motorcyclist allegedly caught travelling more than 50km/hr faster than he should have been.

Those are among speeding drivers whose behaviour fed-up traffic police have described as "crazy" in the wake of four deaths on the region's roads in recent weeks.

The scene of a fatal crash on the corner of Yamba Drive and Dookie Street in Farrer.

ACT Policing said a motorcyclist was slapped with an $1800 fine and 12 demerit points after officers detected him travelling at 148km/hr in an 80km/hr zone.

Two days later he was again stopped by police who clocked him riding at 157km/hr in an 80km/hr zone.
Quentin Tarantino continues to direct as if he's the son of Gloria Swanson. "I am big," she said in Sunset Boulevard, "it's the picture that got small." QT doesn't do small. The Hateful Eight, his new western, opens this week in 70mm at selected locations, after a few weeks of 70mm projection in 100 specially outfitted theatres in the US. The Weinstein Company paid for this, as part of its deal with Tarantino. It's not unprecedented, but almost. Shooting and projecting on 35mm film is now rare; doing it in 70mm is like returning to cars with running boards. In this case, the car would be a Rolls Royce, because there is nothing more beautiful, detailed and breathtaking than 70mm. Not even Imax.

The film stars Samuel L Jackson, Kurt Russell and Jennifer Jason Leigh. The 70mm version runs 187 minutes and will play in that format only for a week, at three cinemas in Sydney, three in Melbourne. It will then go wide with digital projection using DCPs  hard drives  the way most films are now projected, at a length of 168 minutes. The 70mm has six minutes of additional footage, plus an overture and an interval. The human bladder has its limits, after all.

Some may wonder what the fuss is about 70mm. Older cinephiles will just sigh, remembering the days when a lot of movies came out in 70mm. They'd be wrong, but memory is like that. Shooting in 70mm was never that common. It was reserved for big, prestige pictures, because it was expensive: South Pacific, Ben Hur, West Side Story, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001: A Space Odyssey. The heyday was in the 1960s, when there were a number of competing formats: Todd AO, Super Panavision, Sovscope 70 and one called Ultra Panavision  probably one of the rarest. That, of course, is how Tarantino chose to shoot TH8, because he's a film geek and he can. He bought an old repertory cinema in Los Angeles to stop it closing, and it now plays some of his large collection of old film prints. The man has celluloid veins.

CinemaScope, the most common widescreen format, has a screen ratio of 2.35:1. That means it's 2.35 times wider than it is high. Ultra Panavision has a ratio of 2.75:1. Some of the US theatres had to knock out walls and punch holes in projection boxes to fit it. The Boston company that assembled all the projectors scoured the country not just for old machines but for old projectionists, because the art of showing films on film, especially in 70mm, is almost dead.
Just hours after leaving his son's death bed, a stoic Steve Miller has paid an emotional tribute to a "beautiful, brave young man with his whole life yet to be lived."

Cole Miller, 18, died of massive brain injuries in the Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital on Monday, just more than 24 hours after an allegedly random coward punch in an inner Brisbane nightclub precinct.

The promising young water polo player was walking through Fortitude Valley's Chinatown Mall with a friend about 3.55am Sunday when he was allegedly felled by a single, unprovoked punch to the head.

He was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but did not regain consciousness.
Are these guys the world's unluckiest nude runners?

Two men, aged 19 and 20, have copped hefty fines after leaving a home in Kuraby, near Logan, to take part in a long-standing house party tradition about 2.40am Monday.

A police car conducting a routine patrol caught two nude runners in the act south of Brisbane. Credit:Gabriela Medina

The pair, accompanied by a third man who remains on the run, unluckily timed their party trick to coincide with the moment a police patrol car drove past the house.

A Queensland Police Service spokesman said officers followed them before finding them lying naked beside Beenleigh Road, where they were arrested.
The first people to try to save Brisbane water polo player Cole Miller's life have paid tribute to him metres from where he was knocked to the ground with a fatal blow.

They were joined by a small but emotional group of the slain teenager's closest friends, who shed tears as they huddled together at the site of an impromptu memorial in Chinatown Mall.

Some of them had been partying with him in Fortitude Valley on Sunday morning before he was struck in an alleged one-punch attack just before 4am.
There's little doubt that 2015 has been one of the more tumultuous years the Australian economy has seen in some time. The effects of everything from the collapse of the international commodities market, to the worsening global security situation have all put pressure on local business confidence.

According to our latest MYOB Business Monitor, the number of SME operators expecting the economy to worsen next year (45 per cent) is nearly double that of those looking for it to improve in 2016 (23 per cent).

Tim Reed, chief executive of MYOB would like to see a few changes for small business in 2016. Credit:James Alcock

One of the key reasons optimism is in short supply among Australia's smaller business operators is that they are at the mercy of so many factors which are outside their control. They can have all the right systems in place, create a strong business plan for 2016 and have the resources and talent to execute well, but still be mired in bureaucracy or derailed by shortsighted policy.

In order to ensure our small business sector, one of the key drivers of the economy and sources of local employment, has the opportunity to grow and succeed in the next year, it will need the focus and support of those that are able to pull the levers of the economy.
For Presbyterian Ladies' College student Tina Tian, the worst part of choosing International Baccalaureate was the wait for her results.

Unlike VCE students, who found out their study scores in December, students in the globally-recognised program had to wait until Monday before they knew how they fared.

"I had VCE friends and family over Christmas asking how I did," she said. "The more I waited, the more uncertain I got."

She was one of 2160 Australian students and almost 12,000 students worldwide who found out on Monday how they performed in the International Baccalaureate, which can open doors to study at overseas universities.
Iranian protesters ransacked and set fire to the embassy on Saturday, along with the Saudi Consulate in Iran's second-largest city, Mashhad, after the Saudis executed a Shiite cleric who had criticised the Sunni kingdom's treatment of its Shiite minority. The Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was among a group of 47 people who were executed.

The diplomatic protests from the three countries - Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates - came as Iran accused Saudi Arabia of using an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran two days earlier as a pretext for diverting attention from its problems.

Tehran, Iran: Three Sunni-led countries joined Saudi Arabia on Monday in severing or downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran, worsening a geopolitical conflict with sectarian dimensions in one of the world's most volatile regions.

The cutting of ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia comes just weeks after a groundbreaking series of talks that brought rival powers to the table to discuss a road map for peace in Syria. In New York in December, the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers sat directly across from each other for several hours at a high-level meeting led by the United States and Russia.

Allies of Saudi Arabia, including neighbouring Bahrain, followed the kingdom's lead on Monday and began scaling down their diplomatic ties to Iran in the wake of the ransacking of Saudi. Tire fires burn in a third day of protests in Bahrain. Credit:AP

Direct talks among the warring parties in Syria, overseen by a United Nations mediator, Staffan de Mistura, are scheduled to start on January 25 in Geneva. There is still no clarity on who would represent either the Syrian government or the various opposition groups fighting it.

De Mistura said on Monday that he was en route to the Saudi capital, Riyadh, and that he then planned to visit Tehran in an attempt to defuse the tensions, which could set back the ambitious diplomatic effort to reach a negotiated resolution to the 5-year-old civil war in Syria.

"This Saudi-Iranian sudden and acute crisis is a very worrisome development, and we must at all costs avoid that it produces a chain of violent consequences in the region," Mr de Mistura said in an email.
Yangon: Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi has declared the country's peace process will be the first priority of her new government that will take power later this year, following a landslide victory in a November election.

The country has struggled for decades to reach lasting peace agreements with a multitude of ethnic minority guerrilla groups that have fought against the government for greater autonomy and recognition.

National League for Democracy party (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi speaking in Yangon on Monday at a ceremony to mark Myanmar's 68th anniversary of Independence. Credit:AP

The government signed a ceasefire in October, but the deal fell short of its nationwide billing, with seven of 15 groups invited declining to sign, including some of the most powerful.
Baghdad: At least two Sunni Muslim mosques have been attacked in Iraq in apparent retaliation for the execution of a senior Shiite cleric in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, officials and police said on Monday.

The attack on the Ammar bin Yasir mosque in central Hilla destroyed its dome and several walls, according to a Reuters TV cameraman who visited the site. A provincial council member and a police source said a guard inside the building had been killed.

Iraqi protesters try to set alight defaced posters of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef at a protest in Baghdad, Iraq. Credit:Karim Kadim

Another mosque in Hilla's northern outskirts, al-Fath al-Mubeen, was also attacked, the council member and police source said.

The interior ministry in Baghdad confirmed the attacks late Sunday in Hilla, around 100 kilometres south of Baghdad. It didn't confirm reports that at least one person was killed.
To anybody who gives a shit,

We would like to announce with both sadness and excitement that 2016 will be the final year as a band for Weekend Nachos. It's been almost 12 years and we have decided to hang it up. This is not for any reason other than the fact that all good things must eventually come to an end, and we are rapidly approaching the end of our time. It's been an insane and crazy ride for us to see where we were able to take this band. Everything was done completely on our terms and with the same DIY spirit that we had when Andy and I first jerked each other off in our Dekalb apartment in 2004. We will continue to apply that sacred mindset towards our future projects and endeavors...I hope all of you will do the same.

We would like to thank anybody and everybody who ever shared this experience with us. Your support will never be matched and it has been a lot of fun. We will be playing a series of shows over the course of 2016 and as always, if you have a chance to see us, don't sleep! We never know when we'll be back. If it ever makes sense to play another show after our demise in the years to come, maybe we will, but don't count on it.

Our 5th and final album, "Apology", will become available sometime this year via Relapse Records, Cosmic Note and Deep Six Records. Thanks again, everybody.

Snyder, Jimbo, Gozer, and Byron 1/1/2016
As the 10(ish) members of the band hit the stage at 9 p.m. and the giant banner of Underdog World Strike's cover began to rise behind them, celebrating the end of 2015 and kicking off 2016 came early for those in the packed house.

...Using fan favorites like "Wonderlust King," "Start Wearing Purple," "Think Locally, Fuck Globally," and the ode to the 2003 New York City blackout, "Avenue B," the band had fans jumping and dancing for the two hours on stage.

As the confetti from cannons came down on the audience like the rain outside the venue, as the clock struck 11, Terminal 5 told the band their night was done.

"We had another for you but they won't let us fucking play it. So, that is it," Hutz told the crowd who proceeded to boo the venue. As the sweat-soaked fans walked out of the place, they found an indescribable way to end the year. [Huffington Post]
Spanish quartet Hinds release their debut album, Leave Me Alone , on Friday. It's an appealing batch of garage rock pop sing-a-longs and you can stream the whole album right now ( via NPR ) below. You can also watch the video for "San Diego," which was directed by Carlotta of Hinds using footage from their tour, below as well.

As mentioned, Hinds will be in NYC this week for a record release show at Palisades on Wednesday (1/6) which the band are also promising will be a karaoke party. The show is only $3 but you do need to RSVP. Poster for the show is below. Before that, they'll play a free in-store at Other Music on Tuesday (1/5) at 8 PM. Space is very limited so be sure to arrive early.



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Once you hit forty, it is no longer possible to pretend you will remain forever young. In fact, according to the Social Security Administration, a man like me, aged forty-three, can only expect to live an additional thirty-eight years. In other words, I am past my life's midpoint; calling myself middle-aged is a disservice to the entire field of mathematics. Yet, I don't feel like my life is halfway over. I feel exactly as I did ten or fifteen years ago. But somehow whole decades have elapsed in the time I've spent upgrading my iPhones through their various iterations. Worlds have whirled around meEntire species have gone extinct as I drove around parking lots looking for a betterspaces. Then one day, I look up and and a government agency is informing me I am no longer a zesty young man, but a just-past-middle-aged adult with adult responsibilities and a mortgage and the first signs of erectile dysfunction. This moment eventually happens to all of us, the moment when you first sense that the road you are traveling may, at some point, have an end. And when that realization hits, it does so in the sudden, jarring manner of a car crash: "Oh, shit!" you may think at the moment of impact. "I'm going to die."
photo: The Wonder Years at Webster Hall in October (more by Mimi Hong)



We recently named The Wonder Years' No Closer To Heaven one of our favorite albums of the year. Then we asked the band's frontman, Dan Campbell (aka Soupy), to tell us about his. He gave us a top 10 with commentary on each, including cool up-and-comers like Petal (who play NYC tonight, 1/4), big-name rappers like Kendrick Lamar and Drake, quality returns from vets like Desaparecidos, Lucero and The Mountain Goats, and more. Check out the full list below.



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Dan Campbell's (The Wonder Years) Top 10 Albums of 2015

1. Desaparecidos - Payola

After a thirteen year wait, Desa's follow up to "Read Music/Speak Spanish" was everything I had hoped for- politically charged, deceptively poppy, unabashedly raw and angry as hell. Laura Jane Grace's guest appearance was a pleasant surprise and I don't know if there's a song in Oberst's catalogue more infectious than "Te Amo Camila Vallejo."

2. Kendrick Lamar - To Pimp a Butterfly

A totally fearless release both from a production and lyrical standpoint. Kendrick's ability to switch styles was echoed by large helpings of jazz and funk backing him up. Listening to TPAB felt like watching a man's master plan come together.

3. Lucero - All a Man Should Do and Live from Atlanta

I listed both because, while I love All a Man Should Do, I don't think I listened to any record more this year than "Live From Atlanta" which actually dropped in 2014, but I missed the memo. "All a Man Should Do" sees Ben and company continuing to make heartfelt songs that blur the lines between country and punk, but I think the reason I came back to "Live from Atlanta" so much is that it's Lucero as they're meant to be heard. They're one of my favorite live bands and that record is just as whiskey soaked as the real thing and provides fans with better quality versions of some of the band's earlier work.

4. The Mountain Goats - Beat the Champ

A record by one of my favorite bands about one of my favorite things in the world? Yeah, that sounds good. John manages to do what he does best, focusing on the humanity of the people he writes about. I think people might laugh at the idea of an entire record about professional wrestling, but Darnielle manages to bring listeners closer to tears than grins recounting the stories of performers' lives after the ring and paying homage to the traditions of a perennially under-rated art form.

5. Microwave - Stovall

This record was actually self-released in 2014 but got a larger scale release this year and found it's way to me through some measure of good luck because I haven't been this excited about a new band since The Front Bottoms. "Something Right" may be the best song I heard this year.

6. Drake - If You're Reading This, It's Too Late

I love Drake and I love this mixtape. I feel like the first five tracks on the record could all be singles and "You and the 6" is my current reigning favorite Drake track.

7. Allison Weiss - New Love

This year's perfect indie-pop record. Weiss has been consistently delivering since the release of her 2009 LP "Was Right All Along" but "New Love" is a whole other level. Co-produced by hellogoodbye's Forrest Kline and Now Now's Brad Hale, this record finds a space between windows-down-summertime-pop and contemplative indie rock and is totally unafraid to be cheesy and idiosyncratic. Check out "Over You" and tell me you don't agree.

8. Father John Misty - I Love You, Honeybear

I was late to the party on this record, but I'm glad I arrived. I love the over-the-top personality and pompous song-writing. I love blend of genres and I really love the laugh track in "Bored in the USA."

9. Petal - Shame

"Shame" is a stunning debut-- subdued and moody. It conjures up comparisons to early Lemuria, Pedro the Lion and Death Cab for Cutie but there isn't an easy equivalent for Petal. The acapella track, "Nature," is a true highlight.
Phillies win NLCS opener behind Schwarber's monster homer: 'Just wow'

Zack Wheeler tossed seven scoreless innings and allowed one hit in the Phillies' 2-0 win over the Padres in Game 1 of the NLCS.
Welcome to the final season of Downton Abbey! Soon, the Crawley family will be taking their final bows, saying their last withering one-liners and drinking their last cup of tea.

It will be a bittersweet fate for a television show that, while still enjoyable, has long since lived past its prime. In that way, Downton Abbey the show resembles nothing so much as Downton Abbey the place, which is fighting for its very survival as we move forward into 1925. While the future for Downton Abbey the television show is sealed, the future for Downton and all its inhabitants is still up in the air.

Downton Abbey Nominated at 2016 Golden Globe Awards >>>

If they hold on too long, will they end up just like Sir John Darnley, selling off the silver and old wedding presents? The world is moving on and the denizens of Downton are standing still, hoping for the way things were instead of looking forward.

Over the course of the series, Mary has worked so hard to take control of Downton; the premiere finally sees Robert trusting her with the role formerly held by Branson. Soon, however, the joke might be on Mary because there might not be any Downton to pass down or protect.

Things are changing and theyre doing so rapidly. While the lives of the characters are seemingly looking up, the prospects for the actual estate are looking pretty dire. Staff cuts are being considered and the house is already being run with a bare bones staff.

Theres a palatable sense of dread and paranoia in the air, and not just because Violets ladies maid is a gossip. The premiere is setting us up for the inevitable: that Downton might not be standing in quite the same way it was in the first episode when we finally say adieu to the Crawleys.

Upstairs

The season 6 premiere begins with a hunt, where you can tell times are a-changing because Mary is no longer sitting on her horse side-saddle. Of course, a more reasonable seat still doesnt stop her from randomly tipping off her horse. She was distracted by a maid who later stops by to blackmail her with her week of sex and being bored by Lord Gillingham.

Who? I ask, because honestly that dude was so boring I think I retroactively wrote him out of my memories. In case you are like me and completely forgot, Lord Gillingham was the man Mary considered marrying until she took him on a week-long test drive, aka sex vacation, and realized he was the most boring person on Earth. Then she kicked him to the curb.

Unfortunately, this maid working at the hotel certainly does remember their tryst and is using it to blackmail Mary. The one thing I complain about the most when it comes to Downton Abbey is that the show recycles storylines as if there is only a limited number of plot possibilities and we must conserve. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle seems to be the Downton Abbey writers room motto. Therefore, this storyline with Mary might remind you an awful lot of the time her reputation took a hit after sex murdering Mr. Pamuk.

This time, Robert is pretty blase about all the sex Mary is having, probably because she didnt murder anyone this time and also possibly having to do with the fact that shes a grown woman with a child. When the blackmailer tries to get money out of him, he flips the script and threatens to turn her over to the police. Yet Robert is so impressed with Marys steely backbone and eyebrows on fleek that he decides it make sense for her to run the estate.

Elsewhere, Edith considers moving from the country, where she has to deal with Marys nonsense, to a super-sweet pad in London. Im not exactly sure why this seems like a difficult decision, but Edith seems very up-in-the-air about what shes going to do next with her life.

While the whole household is watching a nearby neighbor auction off his silverware, back at home Robert begins to wonder if they really need as many staff as they currently have at the house. As people have been leaving, they havent been replaced, and Carson marvels at the amount of staff the house used to have back in the glory days.

Theres another battle brewing between Violet and Isobel over what to do with the hospital in town. A bigger hospital from Yorkshire wants to buy it out, which Isobel thinks will ultimately be better for the quality of care theyll be able to provide. But Violet and Dr. Clarkson think it will be a bad idea and that the locals will be overlooked in the bargain. Im guessing this is going to erupt into all-out war between Violet and Isobel, especially now that Cora is about to throw her hat into the ring.

Downton Abbey Nominated at 2016 SAG Awards >>>

Downstairs

Below decks, the greatest storyline Downton Abbey has ever seen takes place in this episode. If you think Im talking about Anna and Bates being cleared of murder charges, I really question your Downton priorities. Obviously, the best-ever storyline is that Carson and Mrs. Hughes are getting married and yet are too repressed to even hint to each other about the possibility of doing the horizontal tango.

Mrs. Hughes is nervous that shes going to look ridiculous to Carson because of her age. Apparently, she thinks that when you hit a certain age, your sexuality just gets tossed in the trash, like groceries past their sell by date. Hilariously, she conscripts Mrs. Patmore to be her go-between with Carson, the way 12-year-olds have their friends pass notes to their crush in class. Its amazing.

So poor Mrs. Patmore has to go talk to Carson about sex. Sometimes, I have my issues with Downton Abbey, but this episode really goes a long way towards winning me back. It has everything I love: an embarrassed Mrs. Patmore, Carson and Mrs. Hughes, and the most awkward sex talk of all time. Im sorry I ever doubted you, Downton. Youve given me so much.

After Carson finally, finally picks up what Mrs. Patmore is putting down and turns 10 different shades of red, he admits that he wants a full marriage with Mrs. Hughes. He doesnt just want to be her companion; he also wants to be her lover. So thats a yes to the sex stuff.

Nothing is ever going to top this storyline. This could have been the entire final episode and the show would have went out in top form. Carson says a lot of very cute things about how much he loves Mrs. Hughes and how beautiful she is, and Mrs. Hughes finally comes around and gives him a kiss. I think we can finally all admit that Carson and Mrs. Hughes have been the stealth power couple of this series all along.

Now on to some things that arent as fun, namely Anna and Bates. If Carson and Mrs. Hughes are the power couple of this show, Anna and Bates are a gaping hole where happiness goes to die. This isnt even their fault necessarily, but every season their plight gets worse. They are the most unlucky, least interesting people on this show.

If you thought that things might finally, finally be looking up for the pair, literally the first shot of Anna in the premiere is her running away from the camera crying. Thats a pretty good encapsulation of all of her storylines for the entire run of the show. Remember when Anna and Bates were just these two super cute people totally into each other? Me neither.

Another woman Mr. Green assaulted finally comes forward and confesses to pushing him out into traffic. After some police work, her confession checks out and both Anna and Bates are cleared of the murder charges. The whole house celebrates, with a big party and dancing downstairs. I wouldnt celebrate too much yet because its early in the season and they can still go back to jail again. Third times a charm!

Anna is also upset because she keeps having miscarriages and shes afraid shell never be able to give Mr. Bates any children. So just in case you thought they might get a little happiness now after all the jail stuff, the jokes on you!

Elsewhere Around Downton

 Daisy is furious that Mr. Mason might be thrown off his farm and gives the new owner a piece of her mind at the auction. Obviously, this does not help Mr. Mason very much and she gets in trouble at work as well.

 While I had completely forgotten about Rose until they mentioned her being in New York, the show really doesnt feel the same without Branson. Lets hope he comes back for a visit before the shows swan song.

 Does it ever get cold on the moral high ground? Violet asks Isobel. The Dowager Countess gets the line of the episode, as always.

What did you think of the episode? Are you looking forward to the last season? Will Downton still be standing at the end of the series? And how cute are Carson and Mrs. Hughes? Sound off in the comments!





Downton Abbey airs Sundays at 9pm on PBS.

(Image courtesy of PBS)
In this episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Shade for Days, Kenya spends some quality time with her dad, Phaedra and Todd try to resolve their differences and Kandi accuses Porsha of taking sides.

The day after Kandi and Demetrias video release party, Kandi learns of the dust-up between Phaedra, Porsha and Don Juan. Shamea drops by The Kandi Factory and starts to regale Kandi with the gory details, and Kandi is taken aback. Shes insulted that Porsha would find her so petty as to let something like money ruin a close friendship.

The Real Housewives of Atlanta Recap: Is Phaedra and Kandis Friendship Doomed? >>>





Team Kandi vs. Team Porsha

Shamea thinks Don Juan overstepped his bounds, but he disagrees. Don Juan doesnt think Phaedra should have been running her mouth about the situation to Porsha and Shamea, pointing out that Porsha doesnt know the facts, and how can anyone trust the word of someone who never knows which end is up? After all, Porsha thought the Underground Railroad was an actual train.

Kandi doesnt think its cool that Porsha is interjecting herself into a situation that has nothing to do with her, and it isnt the first time. Kandi feels that shes always been supportive of Porsha but hasnt received the same treatment and plans to tell Porsha that the next time she sees her. If Shameas goal was to get Don Juan in trouble with his boss, she failed.

Never Do Business with Friends

Todd goes to see Phaedra, per her request, probably expecting her to hand over a check, but Phaedra feels that her debt has been paid in full, especially since the exercise video in question was never completed.

Todd points out that he never received the final payment, and Phaedra ceased all communication about the project, causing some confusion for Todd. He wanted to bring it up but could never find the right time.

Phaedra doesnt say it to Todds face, but she wonders if hes scrounging around for money because all of his LA TV projects have dried up or perhaps because Kandis weekly allowance is no longer keeping him afloat. Meow.

Instead, Phaedra points out that she gave birth 12 hours after the video was shot and then her husband went to prison. It has been a rough time, and Phaedras priorities have had to be her family and her health.

Todd isnt buying the single mom strapped for cash story. Clips are played showing Phaedra stating that shes flush and recounting some of the elaborate parties shes thrown. Its time for Phaedra to cut a check and stop playing. If Miss Parks can afford new boobies, she can certainly pay her debt to Todd.

Phaedra tells Todd that now that all her ducks are in a row, shes ready to finish the project. She claims to have never even see the video, but a flashback from two years ago shows Phaedra not only watching but loving the finished product.

Todd didnt come to play. Hes got the original budget and cancelled checks. They are good to go. All Phaedra needs to do is supply a photo for the DVD menu. So it looks like the video will get released and Todd will get his money.

Daddy Dearest

Kenya is finding out that building a house isnt quite as easy as she thought it would be. She was convinced that Moore Manor would be the envy of everyone but is finding out that Barbies dream home is becoming a bit of a nightmare.

Kenyas dad, Ronald, has come to visit. Even though the two arent especially close, Kenya is happy to have him there and get his opinion on her new abode.

Kenyas also looking to resolve some of the issues she has with her dad because some relationship guru has planted the seed that the reason Kenya cant find a man, get a man or keep a man stems from her crappy family dynamics  a theory that isnt entirely without merit, except for the fact that Kenya is annoying and high maintenance as hell. Hell, shes just cray-cray.

Red Carpet Ready

Porsha is in Los Angeles working the Emmy red carpet on behalf of Dish Nation. Porsha is less concerned with the job itself than how she looks doing it, and shes got quite the entourage to glam her up for the big night.

Porshas also having some trouble adjusting to the fact that her right-hand woman and sister, Lauren, is becoming increasingly unavailable as her pregnancy progresses. Porsha is used to being Laurens top priority, and Porsha doesnt seem eager to make room for the baby.

Back in Hotlanta, Cynthia and Peter are enjoying a date night with Todd and Kandi. Cynthia remarks that Kandi has hit the booty do stage of her pregnancy when her stomach sticks out more than her booty do.

The conversation quickly turns to the video release party, and Kandi tells Peter and Cynthia about Shamea, Porsha and Phaedra talking some smack about Todd. The only one of the three that Kandi really has an issue with is Porsha. She confides in Peter and Cynthia that she feels Porsha is quick to take Phaedras side whenever a dispute arises between Kandi and Phaedra.

Cynthia believes that when it comes to taking sides in an argument, people usually gravitate towards the person they are closest to at the time. Its obvious Kandi is feeling a bit unappreciated by Porsha. After all, as Peter points out, its Kandi who put Porsha in play. Kandi gave P a role in A Mothers Love, and shes supported Porshas other various ventures, including the promotion of Porshas single Flatline. Never heard it? Me neither.

The Biggest Real Housewives Departures and Comebacks of 2015 >>>

Kandi-Coated Crap

Cynthias eyewear line is apparently doing well, and she decides to throw a customer appreciation party. The sole purpose of this is to sell more sunglasses, just at a nice little discount. Kandi and her team (Carmon and Don Juan) show up, as does Porsha, who is just back from LA.

Porsha decides to pull Kandi aside and discuss a few things, but Don Juan isnt about to let Porsha fill Kandis head with a bunch of BS, so he and Carmon roll up on the two before they can even get started.

Porsha isnt thrilled with being ganged up on by the Kandi-Coated clique, but things start off civil enough when Don Juan offers up an apology for being so aggressive. Maybe Kandi swatted her puppy on the nose after all.

Don Juan may be sorry about how he said what he said, but he isnt sorry that he had his boss back. Porsha accepts the apology  even though she thinks its bullshit  since shes not one to hold a grudge, or so she says.

Things go downhill fast after that. Porsha doesnt want to have a conversation in front of Kandis entourage, and Kandi quickly points out that they dont have to have a conversation at all. Do not mess with a pregnant Kandi. Kandi knows that Porsha doesnt want anyone around who can contradict her version of what went down the night of the video shoot.

Porsha heads for the door, and Kandi goes back to the party with her minions in tow. Kenya questions where Phaedra is and finds it awfully convenient that the source of all this drama is nowhere to be seen.

Kenya Drudges Up Family Drama



After dragging her dad to see the money pit known as Moore Manor, Kenya decides to have a heart-to-heart with her daddy. Fantastic. We all get to sit around and watch Kenya dissect her daddy issues and cry some crocodile tears.

Kenyas determined to bring her whole family together and wants her fathers help. She wants to organize a family reunion in Detroit, but Ronald wants nothing to do with it. Kenyas endgame is to reconnect with her mother. I dont know why Kenya is determined to pull at that thread. Hasnt she heard the saying If its not one thing, its your mother? True story.

Porsha Plays Both Sides



Porsha decides to be the bigger person and invite Kandi to lunch. Im more interested in the Fried Chicken Benedict Porsha orders than I am in this overblown drama. I dont enjoy Kandi in the role of villain, and as far as conflict goes, this is pretty lame stuff.

Porsha questions why she would come to the video release party to show her support and then proceeds to talk crap about Kandi. Kandi doesnt get it either but says she heard that is exactly what Porsha did. Porsha thinks Kandi didnt receive an accurate description of what actually went down.

It also turns out that a blogger overhears the whole thing and posts about it. Porsha blames this on Don Juan since hes the one who decided to get all rowdy.

Porsha is upset that Kandi is choosing to believe everybody else over her, and shes sad that Kandi is so quick to condemn her. Porsha thinks that Kandi may really be upset just because Porsha and Phaedra are friends but swears she never wants to get in the middle or take sides.

We all know Kandi thinks that Phaedra has done quite the opposite. Porshas quick to listen to Phaedras sob stories and jump on the bandwagon, leaving Kandi running behind.

Porsha tries a different tack. She tells Kandi that if it seems like shes taking Phaedras side, maybe its because Phaedra needs her more than Kandi does. Phaedra is a single mother and all.

Kandi loses it, stating that Phaedra wanted Apollo gone long before he went off to pound rocks. Kandi knows that Phaedra is a master manipulator and will do whatever is necessary to maintain her image, but Kandi just doesnt want it done at her expense.

The two go back and forth a bit more, but in the end, Kandi doesnt want the negativity and decides to let it all go. Kandi also gets why Porsha might feel obligated to stick up for Phaedra.

Porsha asks if theres anything she can do to help Phaedra and Kandi get to where they once were, but Kandi doubts if that is even possible.

The really important question is, where do I go to get that Fried Chicken Benedict?

The Real Housewives of Atlanta airs Sundays at 8pm on Bravo.

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A new unveiling ceremony is set to be held on Burnham-On-Sea seafront later this week to mark the addition of comments from the Prime Minister to a wartime plaque.

Last September, a pair of plaques were unveiled on the sea wall to mark 75 years since America gave Britain 50 destroyers to fight Hitlers German navy  one of which was named HMS Burnham.

Prime Minister David Cameron sent a letter to organiser Neville Jones giving his support to the memorial, as pictured on the right.

And this Saturday, 9th January, a section of Mr Camerons letter will be added alongside the plaques and formally unveiled.

Neville told Burnham-On-Sea.com: This Saturday, under the two plaques that already exist, well be adding a couple of sentences which the Prime Minister sent in his letter, recording the fact that what we have done here in Burnham-On-Sea is part of a national monument to the Battle of the Atlantic.

Its very important that although Burnham saw nothing of the Battle of the Atlantic to any great degree, it did have a destroyer named after the town, HMS Burnham, which was one of the so-called gift horses which Mr Churchill acquired from President Roosevelt. These ships had a vital role and the plaque in Burnham-On-Sea recalls the names of those which were lost at sea.

He added: I read out the letter from the Prime Minister to those who attended the reception after the plaques unveiling last autumn, but it has not been readily available to the general public, so a couple of straplines will be taken from it and added to the sea wall. The letter itself will be given to the Town Council to hang in their chambers.

Prime Minister David Cameron wrote: I want to extend my admiration in honour of the personnel and the 50 First World War destroyers acquired by Sir Winston Churchill form our close American Allies during the Second World War. I join you in paying respect to those who have given their lives in defence of the freedoms which we hold dear today.

The plaques marking the occasion were formally unveiled on the North Esplanade opposite the Royal Clarence Hotel by Captain Michael Garrick of the USA Navy and Cllr Ian Dyer, Chairman of Sedgemoor District Council.

Also see:

Seafront plaques unveiled in Burnham-On-Sea to mark wartime link
Developers in certain micro markets of metros like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru have witnessed a reduction of 4-20 per cent in launch prices of residential projects in 2015 over the previous two years, according to a report.

Delhi-NCR witnessed launches of 23,000 units in 2015, out of which 79 per cent were launched in the locations of Dwarka Expressway, New Gurgaon Southern Peripheral Road Sohna, Noida Expressway and Noida Extension in NCR. Half the total new launches in 2015 were in the mid-segment.

Mumbai, on the other hand, witnessed a 37 per cent decline in residential unit launches, totalling 15,735 units, from the corresponding period last year with Mulund, Thane, Goregaon and Malad accounting for nearly 51 per cent of the total launches during 2015.

According to the report by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield, new residential projects in select micro markets are cheaper by 4-20 per cent on average weighted basic sale price over the last two years.

The report talks about development activities in locations of Dwarka Expressway, New Gurgaon Southern Peripheral Road Sohna, Noida Expressway and Noida Extension in NCR, Thane, Goregaon and Malad in Greater Mumbai, and south-west and southern sub-markets in Bengaluru.

The new launches in 2015 have been smaller in configuration, therefore, with reduced base selling prices and smaller units, the ticket size or the cost per apartment has also seen a decline in these key markets.

The suburban location of Mumbai's Goregaon registered the biggest decline in average weighted basic sale price at 20 per cent, where the per sqft rate averaged at Rs 10,500 per sqft in 2015, followed by Thane which saw an 18 per cent decline.

In contrast, most of the sub-markets in Bengaluru witnessed steady launch prices, except in far south and western sub-markets, where average new launch prices in 2015 declined by 2-7 per cent, as compared to 2013. South East micro market of Bengaluru was an exception to the rule, where both the average weighted basic sale price (19 per cent) and the average ticket size (18 per cent) of the apartment saw an increase.
Wipro, the country's third largest information technology services company, announced on Monday that Abidali Z Neemuchwala, currently its chief operating officer (COO), would become the new chief executive officer (CEO), succeeding T K Kurien, who would become executive vice-chairman.

As a part of his new responsibility, Neemuchwala, who joined the Bengaluru-based company in March last year, would also join the board as an executive director. Both appointments would be effective February 1. Last month, this newspaper had reported that this was expected to happen.

WHO IS ABIDALI NEEMUCHWALA? A graduate in Electronics & Communication engineering from NIT, Raipur, and a PG in Industrial Management from IIT, Mumbai

Spent around 23 years at TCS before joining Wipro in March as COO & Group President

Was instrumental in making TCS's BPO operations as multi-billion biz, managed key clients such as GE

People who know him say Neemuchwala's working style at TCS was similar to that of N Chandrasekaran, MD & CEO

In his nine months as group president and COO, Abid has effortlessly assimilated into the culture and ethos of Wipro, said Azim Premji, chairman. The new structure will ensure smooth succession and will build on the solid foundation we have developed to drive superior growth and profitability. I wish both T K and Abid every success in their new roles.An electronics and communication engineer from NIT, Raipur, and with a Master's in industrial management from IIT, Mumbai, Neemuchwala had spent 23 years at Tata Consultancy Services, shaping its business process outsourcing business, before joining Wipro. When he joined last March,, he was widely seen as one of the contenders for the top post. Wipro did not have a COO since 2009, after the retirement of A L Rao.

Over the past five years, Wipro has been transforming into a next-generation technology and consulting company, with defining differentiators in the market place. As executive vice-chairman, TK will enable Abid by leveraging his deep relationships with customers and chart out a new technology roadmap for Wipro, added Premji.

Abid has demonstrated a deep understanding of technology, business vision, sound judgment, and an innate ability to bring people together. I have no doubt that Abid is the right leader to lead Wipro in its next phase of growth, said Kurien.

While Premji, the executive chairman, has always been at the drivers seat as both chairman and as CEO (for three years), the company over the years has tried different types of leadership structure. Among the offshore-centric IT services companies, it was perhaps the only company which tried a the joint CEO model in 2008, something it decided to end in 2011.

The new CEO will have to deal with both secular headwinds and company-specific issues, said Tom Reuner, managing director for IT outsourcing research at HfS. On the one hand, the notion of Intelligent Automation will decouple routine service delivery from labour arbitrage and thus disrupt the industry. On the other hand, Wipro has to reinvent itself and find a new strategic direction.


Car makers affected by the ban on sale of diesel vehicles in the national capital region have moved the Supreme Court for a review.

Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors and Toyota Kirloskar filed individual petitions on Monday in the apex court seeking a review of the ban while stressing their vehicles met all emission norms.

The apex court on December 16 ordered the prohibition of sale of all diesel vehicles having engines bigger than 2,000 cc in Delhi-NCR till March 31, 2016, because of rising pollution. A bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur said the matter would be heard on Tuesday.

"An application was filed in the Supreme Court today, seeking to implead Mahindra & Mahindra as an affected party in the Delhi air pollution case. The application suggests various measures that could further the cause of combating the air pollution problem more effectively than the current approach of banning registration of diesel vehicles 2,000 cc and above, which in our view, will only have a negligible impact, if at all, on the prevailing situation," said a Mahindra & Mahindra spokesperson.

The ban impacts Mahindra & Mahindra the most as five of its six utility vehicles have engines larger than 2,000 cc, including the Bolero, the country's largest selling utility vehicle.

Toyota Kirloskar Motors is also hit with its most popular vehicle Innova being affected. A company spokesperson admitted that the company had filed an application in the Supreme Court today.

The ban is severe for Mercedes-Benz because three of its 11 non-AMG models, the CLS, GL and GLE, are sold only with diesel engines above 2,000 cc. About 70 per cent of Mercedes' sales is diesel driven and Delhi contributes about 15 per cent of its sales. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Kapil Sibal and Gopal Subramaniam appeared for Mahindra & Mahindra, Mercedes and Toyota, respectively.

Tata Motors, whose utility vehicles Safari, Sumo, Movus, Aria and Xenon are affected, also filed a petition today in the court. "Tata Motors has also filed a petition with the Supreme Court with regard to the recent ban on diesel cars in the Delhi-NCR region, said a Tata Motors spokesperson.

The automobile makers, which have invested heavily in new diesel technology, stressed their vehicles polluted far less than the popular perception.

"Present data reveals that a small percentage of PM 2.5 pollution may be imputed to the automotive sector. We believe the regulatory regime should focus on a practical roadmap for overall emissions control rather than any specific fuel or technology. Selectively banning clean BS IV (Euro 4 equivalent) diesel cars that already meet stringent local and international emission norms will not facilitate pollution control, added the Tata Motors spokesperson.

Other affected by the ban are Volvo, Porsche, Mitsubishi, Maserati, Jaguar Land Rover, Isuzu, Hyundai, Ford, Force Motors, BMW and Audi.
Despite the slowing real estate sector, Burman GSC, a joint venture between some promoters of Dabur and US-based private equity fund GSC, has readied an investment of up to Rs 5,000 crore for new projects in the next five years.

Burman GSC recently forayed into this market with its first project, The Spectrum, at Gurgaon.

Quite a few corporate houses have entered the realty sector, the latest being the Bharti Group, announcing the launch of a housing project in Faridabad under group company Bharti Realty. Godrej Properties, Tata Housing and Mahindra Lifespaces are the other realty of big corporate groups.

We will focus on the National Capital Region, Mumbai and Pune in the first phase, unless we find a compelling opportunity elsewhere. We will prefer quality over scale but will have the capacity to launchprojects to the tune of Rs 3,000-5,000 crore over the next five years, Gaurav Pandey, chief executive at Burman GSC, told this newspaper.

Spectrum, a serviced apartment block, forms part of a planned mixed use development, named Gurgaon Spectrum Centre, also comprising high-street retail, to be launched in the second phase. The total project cost is Rs 400 crore.

The company saw a positive response from investors for its first project and half the 250 units were booked within days. The serviced apartments are studios with an area of 663 sq ft each and 1-bedroom apartments of 893 sq ft each, at Rs 9,990 a sq ft and managed by a hospitality company.

Asked why the group was entering real estate in a slowdown phase, Pandey said, We see this period as an opportunity rather than a problem. Real estate, especially in metro cities, is characterised by cyclic trends, generally every four to seven years, depending on momentum of activity in the sector and the overall economy. Currently, the sector is highly under-rated and in the next three to five quarters, we see a significant comeback. It is best for any player with strong financial credentials or any investor to enter at the bottom of the curve and take the benefit of the value growth expected in the next few years.



Overall, the sector has been seeing declining sales and high inventory, plus a cash crunch, with no bank or financial institutions willing to lend. A drop in new launches and delivery blues have shaken buyer confidence and that of investors.

Of the slow market, Pandey said, especially of Gurgaon, that most developers were being cautious, resulting in fewer options for buyers in the primary market. There is a dearth of good products...Leveraging our strengths and resolve to offer value and deliver quality in the market, we will carve a niche for our brand.
In a sign of increasing interest in the Indian hospitality space, Goldman Sachs has invested Rs 441 crore to pick up an equity stake in Gurgaon-based SAMHI Hotels, a company with a portfolio of 16 operational and 10 upcoming hotels under brands such as Marriott, Sheraton and Hyatt. With this, Goldman joins the group of International Finance Corporation (IFC), Equity International, and GTI Capital, the existing shareholders of SAMHI.

"India is witnessing a steady recovery in economic activity driven by domestic demand. We anticipate this to lead to an upturn in the hotel sector. This investment is consistent with our strategy to invest in sectors and infrastructure that assist in the continued growth and development of India," said Sonjoy Chatterjee, chairman of Goldman Sachs India.

The US-based global investment banking firm had invested Rs 255 crore in Vatika Hotels in December 2014. Vatika operates two hotels under Westin brand in Gurgaon and Sohna. Earlier, Goldman Sachs had made investments in a joint venture project that was developing Four Seasons Hotel in Bengaluru. However, it exited in 2014.

"The investment by Goldman will offer us an opportunity to grow our presence further. We will acquire more ready or under construction assets," Ashish Jakhanwala, founder and chief executive officer of SAMHI Hotels, told Business Standard.

Founded by Jakhanwala and Manav Thadani, SAMHI had secured investment of Rs 127 crore (approximately) from IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, in August 2014. The investment, in the form of convertible debentures, was IFC's first in Indian hotel sector.

Incorporated in 2011, SAMHI is one of the first hotel ownership and asset management-focused in India. It owns, develops, and acquires branded hotels in collaboration with multiple operators. It has partnered with global hotel operators such as Marriott, Starwood Hotels, Accor, and Hyatt to manage its portfolio of 16 hotels in 12 cities including Bengaluru, Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Gurgaon.

SAMHI has grown its presence through a strategy of acquisitions as it was able to find attractive deals in the hospitality space. Last month, SAMHI acquired a 156-room five star hotel in Ahmedabad from Shree Siddhi Group. In July last year, the company acquired a 124-room property in Vizag from Vishnu Priya Hotels. SAMHI has steadily grown its revenue since the launch in 2011 and aims to clock sales of ~120 crore in the current financial year. The company is seeing an occupancy level of about 70 per cent in hotels that became operational about two years ago, while it is lower for the newly opened properties.
Hyperlocal grocery delivery app Grofers has reportedly shut down operations in nine cities. According to reports, the company will no longer deliver to Bhopal, Bhubaneswar, Coimbatore, Kochi, Ludhiana, Mysuru, Nashik, Rajkot and Visakhapatnam.

The firm had launched a big television campaign in November 2015, hoping to get more traffic to the site, but the demand petered out in December.

The nine cities, a source said, were not bringing enough orders to sustain the push. The source added the company had started operations in these cities to avoid "disappointed customers" who would download the app after seeing the advertisements and get no service. "We thought they may give the app a bad rating, which would damage the reputation."



Employees in these cities have been offered jobs at other centres, "which have been doing good business", the source added.

According to the source, this is not the first time the company had to end operations in some cities and this might not be the last time either.

Earlier, the company had suspended operations for a few days in Gurgaon owing to "logistical problems", but the service was revived within a few days.

The Gurgaon-based company was a darling of investors after receiving a $120 million in the last round of funding, led by SoftBank. The round also saw the likes of Tiger Global and Sequoia Capital pump money into the company.

In earlier rounds, the company had raised $10 million from Tiger Global and it was the biggest competitor to BigBasket.

Grofers is currently operating in Mumbai, Delhi national capital region, Bengaluru, Pune, among others.

The company could not be reached for an official comment.

In September last year, LocalBanya had temporarily ceased operations owing to a fund crunch. The company has not resumed operations yet, but sources say the Mumbai-based firm is on a comeback trail.
Some sub-markets of metropolitan cities saw a reduction of four to 20 per cent in launch prices of housing projects in 2015 over the previous two years, says property consultancy Cushman & Wakefield.

The Delhi-National Capital Region saw launches of 23,000 units in 2015, of which 79 per cent were along the Dwarka Expressway, New Gurgaon Southern Peripheral Road, Sohna, Noida Expressway and Noida Extension. Half the new launches were in the mid-segment.

Mumbai saw a 37 per cent decline in project launches, totalling 15,735 units, from the corresponding period last year. Mulund, Thane, Goregaon and Malad accounted for about half the total.

The Cushman report also mentions developments in the southwest and southern sub-markets in Bengaluru.

New launches were smaller in configuration, with reduced base selling prices and smaller units. Goregaon in Mumbai saw the biggest decline in average weighted basic sale price, at 20 per cent, at Rs 10,500 a sq ft. Followed by Thane which saw an 18 per cent decline.

In contrast, most of the sub-markets in Bengaluru witnessed steady launch prices, except in the far south and western sub-markets, where average new launch prices in 2015 declined by two to seven per cent as compared to 2013. The southeast micro market there was an exception, with both the average weighted basic sale price (19 per cent) and the average size (18 per cent) of the apartment seeing an increase.
In a bid to speed up infrastructure construction, the ministry of road, transport and highways and the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) awarded projects worth Rs 11,605 crore to private .



IRB Infrastructure Developers received letter of award to construct the Zoji La pass tunnel in Jammu & Kashmir (J&K), the longest tunnel in south-east Asia, costing Rs 10,050 crore.



Punj Lloyd was awarded four highway projects in Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Punjab totalling Rs 1,555 crore.



The Zoji La pass tunnel is the largest national highway project awarded in India in terms of project cost, said IRB Infra in a public statement. NH-1 has a tunnel length of 14.08 km. It will include approaches on NH-1 (SrinagarSonmargGumri Road) in Jammu & Kashmir.



The project is on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (annuity) basis with concession period of 22 years and is scheduled to be completed in seven years. This project has strategic and socio-economic importance. It will provide all-weather connectivity between J&K and Leh-Ladakh, said Virendra Mhaiskar, chairman and managing director, IRB Infrastructure.



IRB Infra will receive annuity of Rs 981 crore from the ministry twice in a year. This will commence after the completion of the construction of the project till the end of the concession period. With this project, IRBs order book size has swelled to Rs 16,430 crore.





ALSO READ: IRB Infrastructure jumps on winning biggest NHAI order





The four projects awarded to Punj Lloyd fall under the National Highways Development Project Phase-IV to widen major highways in India to a higher standard. Punj Lloyd said in a statement that the Bihar project worth Rs 567 crore entails four-laning of 60 km of the Simaria-Khagaria section of NH-31. It was the developer for 140 km of the Khagaria-Purnea section on the same highway.The Chhattisgarh package, worth Rs 513 crore, comprises the four-/six-laning of 48 km of the Raipur-Simga section of NH-200 in Chhattisgarh.This section of NH-200 is the major power hub of India connecting the state capital, Raipur to Bilaspur through various industrial and commercial establishments, the company said in a statement.In Odisha, Punj Lloyd would be involved in rehabilitation and upgradation of four-laning with paved shoulders of 50 km of the Talebani to Sambalpur section of NH-6 in Odisha. The contract is worth Rs 392 crore.The fourth contract in Punjab awarded by NHAI is to Punj Lloyds joint venture with VRC Constructions and involves four-laning of 35 km of the Tallewal-Barnala section of NH-71.Year 2016 will be exciting and will unfold multiple opportunities for Punj Lloyd in the infrastructure segment, both in India and abroad. These orders, won pan-India, are a strong attestation of Punj Lloyds delivery in infrastructure, said Shantanu Karkun, president and chief executive (buildings & infrastructure), Punj Lloyd.

ALSO READ: Punj Lloyd gains on winning Rs 1,555 crore four highway contracts

With these four contracts, the group's order backlog stands at Rs 21,838 crore. The order backlog is the value of unexecuted orders on September 30, plus new orders received after that date.




Monday proved all the apprehensions related to the odd even car number experiment wrong, as office goers got back to work after a long New Year weekend. The Delhi government claimed the third day also to be a success crediting Delhi citizens opting for carpooling in a big way.

Transport Minister Gopal Rai while thanking Delhiites for putting their best foot forward to bring down pollution levels in the city, lashed out at mischievous attempts to disseminate false pictures on social media to generate panic of overcrowded Metro stations.

DMRC chief Mangoo Singh stated the Metro saw practically the same number of footfalls as last Monday. Odd-Even scheme has passed the litmus test because of the will of Delhiites, said Rai. He said, he would like to credit Delhi citizens the chief minister, the Delhi police, civil defence volunteers, the media and the transport network  Metro, DTC, cluster buses for making the odd even car scheme a success. He said the level of violations recorded till date was less than one per cent.

The government however lashed out at several private schools who despite requests by the state government did not chip in with their buses. An angry Transport minister said that he would be making the list of these schools public, who had registered with the government and yet did not show up.

The government said that a review would be undertaken after 15 days on the implementation and efficacy of the Odd Even experiment and decisions would be taken on implementing it in future. The minister said several commuters had expressed their satisfaction at travel time coming down by half due to less crowded roads and no traffic jams.

Rai also urged Union Road Transport minister Nitin Gadkari to expedite the Eastern and Western Peripheral Expressway projects so that polluting transport trucks do not enter Delhi.

Replying to queries on pollution levels not coming down as expected Rai said, that the DPCC was monitoring the pollution levels. It has been observed that the NCR border areas around Delhi still are recording high levels as the scheme is not implemented there. However within the city limits pollution levels are coming down.



In the near future, we shall work with NCR states to implementing such systems since everyone even in these areas can benefit from low pollution levels.

Additional 100 teams of traffic police have been deployed to ensure the enforcement of the scheme that will stay in force till January 15, on weekdays from 8 AM to 8 PM.

Besides, 66 teams of transport department which were working in two shifts of 33 teams each will be working from morning to evening and a special squad of 100 buses will give additional service in four zones with 25 buses each.

Apart from this, 1,000 school buses of DTC have also been roped in, considering the natural escalation in number of commuters, Transport Minister Gopal Rai minister said.

Rai yesterday informed that there have been 567 challans so far by all the concerned agencies and 348 autos have been booked for refusing to ply.
In the wake of rising debate on net neutrality, industry body Nasscom has said any tariff plan, offered by telecom operators, should ensure unrestricted right for the customer to choose and there should not be differential data charges for different apps.

Differential pricing should not become a tool that facilitates market dominance or enables anti-competitive behaviour by either telecom service provider or platform provider. It should not offer direct or indirect commercial benefit, including leveraging the value of customer data generated in the process, Sanjiv Bikhchandani, chairman, Nasscom, said.

Also, it should not offer lower prices for own or partner content/service. Instead of differential pricing for select data services for wide access, transparent business models should be adopted without segmenting the internet or skewing competition.

He was talking about Nasscoms views on issues concerning differential pricing for data services.

Apart from low internet and broadband penetration, there are challenges of low levels of digital literacy and limited local language support/content in a country wherein less than 10 per cent of the population speak English. These monumental challenges require continuous innovation, both in technology solutions and business models, he said.

Telecom regulator TRAI is in the process of framing recommendations on differential data pricing by operators, which will decide the future of zero rated plans and Facebooks Free Basics. Experts claim such plans violate principles of net neutrality.

R Chandrashekhar, President, Nasscom, said, We strongly oppose any model where TSPs or their partners have a say or discretion in choosing content that is made available at favourable rates, speed. The regulator should have the power to allow differential pricing for certain types/ classes of services that are deemed to be in public interest and based on mandatory prior approvals. Any such programs should abide by the principles of net neutrality and not constrain innovation in any way.



Nasscom also recommended establishment of an independent not-for-profit entity with an independent board, who would own and manage proposed differential pricing programs that are deemed to be in the public interest and are philanthropic in nature.
A moderate-to-high intensity earthquake rocked the Northeast of India on Monday at 4.37am, leaving at least nine people dead and over 100 injured. Measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale, the earthquake had its epicentre at Tamenglong district, bordering Assam, in Manipur.

Though powerful tremors were felt across the region, Manipur suffered the maximum damage in terms of human lives and property. So far, at least eight people had lost their lives in Manipur and around 30 people have been seriously injured.

Besides, more than hundred people were admitted to hospitals with minor injuries. An under-construction building in Imphal town came crashing down due to the impact of the earthquake.

There are reports that hundreds of properties in the state have developed cracks and damages. One market in Imphal is reported to have been partly damaged.

According to reports, two persons were killed in Guwahati city. Many buildings in Guwahati city have developed minor cracks.

"Two persons have died and around 20 injury cases were reported in Guwahati but most of them were minor cases. All injuries and deaths were due to panic reaction by the people when they tried to run out of their homes. We have to create awareness among people not to panic, but to act in a calm and composed manner when an earthquake strikes," said Tarun Gogoi, chief minister of Assam.

Two teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), with 45 members each, were rushed to Manipur from Guwahati hours after the quake struck. Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Minister Jitendra Singh, and Home Minister Rajnath Singh would be visiting Manipur on Monday Okram Ibobi Singh, chief minister of Manipur, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the home minister called him in the morning to enquire about the situation.

In New Delhi, the Cabinet secretary convened a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee at 10am to assess the situation and provide all necessary help to the affected states.
More than 60 hours after six Pakistani militants entered the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot, five were neutralised and combing operations will continue for 48 hours to check if any others were lurking aboutin the cantonment.

The sixth has not been identified yet. The United Jihad Council (UJC), an umbrella group of Pakistan-based jihadi outfits, formed in November 1990 to bring on a single platform all the outfits involved in the terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), claimed responsibility for the Pathankot attack.

Press releases from the UJC reached the offices of most major newspapers in Srinagar in the afternoon today. However, the government debunked these claims as a ploy to divert attention from the real conspirators. In a parallel operation three men having Pakistan SIM cards, pistols with Brazilian, Chinese and Pakistani markings and other explosive material were caught from Mohali not far from the Wagah border. Opinion is divided whether these men were drug smugglers or if they had a role to play in the Pathankot attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with top officials, including Security Advisor Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar to discuss the attack. Modi was briefed by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar. Doval who was to leave for Beijing, postponed his visit.

However, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif who was on a two-day state visit to Sri Lanka starting 4 January, proceeded to Colombo as scheduled. After a day of furious fighting, five militants were killed so no interrogation could take place as to the route of ingress or who theirreal handlers were.

The search for the sixth was on. But a deeply offended India mulled whether to call off the India-Pakistan Foreign Secretary level talks due on 15 January; or to seek accountability from the Pakistan government, which has pledged time and again to stop all terrorist activity on its soil.

All the indications are that the talks between Foreign Secretaries will be rescheduled and NSAs will meet first to discuss Pathankot. However, perhaps anticipating this, theSyed Salahuddin-led UJC spoke up and took responsibility to deflect fingerspointing at the Pakistani state.

The UJC was originally formed with twin objective: to prevent rival terrorist groups from squabbling among themselves; and to create a command and control structure of the Hizb ul Mujahideen-led UJC to enable Pakistani intelligence to have tighter control over its running.

The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Al Badr Mujahideen were broughtinto the UJC. The headquarters of the UJC is at Muzaffarabad in Pakistanoccupied Kashmir (PoK). But the government said the men who had been killed werefrom Multan - not PoK.

They said this was evident from the call records.Moreover, the level of training and ammunition used suggested institutionalized training. "Indian government and its media have been suffering from Pakistan phobia. By accusing Pakistan for every attack, India neither succeededin past to malign the Kashmir freedom struggle nor will it get anything infuture through malicious propaganda," the UJC spokesperson said.

He clarified that militants in Kashmir have been fightingIndian Forces from last 27 years and during this period India adopted allavailable means to crush the Kashmir "movement".

"The attack on Pathankot Air Base from Kashmiri Mujhadeen carries a message to India that no security establishment and garrison are outof reach from militants," said the spokesman.

"Instead of accusing Pakistan, India should read the writingon the wall and without wasting any time should provide an opportunity to thepeople of Kashmir to decide their future," the statement read. However, India is not rushing to attribute blame or makeaccusations.

All the indications are it will move deliberately and slowly. The Security Guard (NSG) said merely that the attack was a fidayeen attack- which means those who mounted it knew they were going to their death. "These terrorists had come well prepared and were heavily armed," the NSG said at a short briefing.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who attended a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) said the government wanted to capture asmany militants alive as possible, which is why the operation took longer.

He said that as the operation was still going on (one militant was yet to found)it would be premature to comment. The government seemed to suggest that thedelay in countering the militants was not because of inefficiency but as partof a deliberate strategy.
1. The Beginnning



The Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) is a relatively new terrorist outfit when compared to other major outfits active in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K). It was launched on January 31, 2000, by Maulana Masood Azhar in Karachi after he was released from an Indian jail during the terrorists-for-hostages swap of December 31, 1999, following the hijacking of the Indian Airlines Flight IC 814 to Kandahar.

The formation of the outfit was endorsed by three religious school chiefs, Mufti Nizamuddin Shamzai of the Majlis-e-Tawan-e-Islami (MT), Maulana Mufti Rashid Ahmed of the Dar-ul Ifta-e-wal-Irshad and Maulana Sher Ali of the Sheikh-ul-Hadith Dar-ul Haqqania.

The outfits creation can be linked to the popularity surrounding Masood Azhar after his release from India. Azhar was the general secretary of the newly established Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA) in 1994 and was on a 'mission' in J&K when he was arrested on February 11. When he was released, the HuA had been included in the US list of Foreign Terrorist Organisations which had compelled the outfit to rename itself as the Harkat-ul-Mujahideen (HuM). However, Azhar decided to float the new outfit JeM instead of rejoining his old outfit. He is also reported to have received assistance in founding JeM from Pakistans Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the Taliban regime then in power in Afghanistan, Osama bin Laden, and several Sunni sectarian outfits in Pakistan.

2. Objectives



The Jaish-e-Mohammed is part of the Islamist terror network with its base in Pakistan and active in terrorist violence in J&K. The outfit, like other such groups in J&K, claims to using violence to force a withdrawal of Indian security forces from the state. The outfit claims that each of its offices in Pakistan serve as schools of jihad. Delivering speeches at various cities and towns in Pakistan after his release, Azhar threatened that the outfit would eliminate Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee who he termed as 'Abu Jahl (Father of Ignorance). In its fight against India, he added that the outfit would not only "liberate" Kashmir, but also would take control of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, besides Amritsar and Delhi.

3. Leadership and Command Structure



Azhar, the Amir (chief) of the outfit was arrested by Pakistani security forces on December 29, 2001, after pressure from India and other foreign countries following the December 13, 2001 attack on Indias parliament building. However, a three-member Review Board of Lahore High Court ordered on December 14, 2002, that Azhar be released.

There are no reports of any formal governing bodies or councils within the outfit. Unconfirmed reports indicate that the prominent office bearers of the organisation include



Maulana Masood Azhar  Amir



Maulana Qari Mansoor Ahmed  Nazim Propaganda Wing (he is a resident of Bhurewala, Punjab)



Maulana Abdul Jabbar  Nazim, Military Affairs (Former Nazim military affairs, (HuM)



Maulana Sajjad Usman  incharge, Finance (Former HuM Nazim Finance)



Shah Nawaz Khan alias Sajjid Jehadi & Gazi Baba  Chief Commander J&K (Former Supreme Commander HuM, J&K)



Maulana Mufti Mohd. Asghar  Launching Commander (Former Launching Commander of HuM)



4. Operational Strategies



Most Jaish-e-Mohammed attacks have been described as fidayeen (suicide terrorist) attacks. In this mode, terrorists of the outfit storm a high security target, including security forces' bases, camps and convoys. After storming, they either fortify themselves within the target, killing as many security force personnel and civilians as possible before they are killed by retaliatory action. In other cases, they kill and injure as many as possible before attempting to escape.

5. Area of Operation



The Jaish-e-Mohammed has largely confined its operations within J&K. The only recorded instance of its operations outside J&K has been the December 13, 2001, Parliament attack in New Delhi. However, several of its cadre have been arrested or killed by security forces in states other than J&K.

6. External Linkages



The outfit is closely linked, through the Binoria Madrassa in Karachi, with the former Taliban regime of Afghanistan and Al Qaeda. The JeM is also reported to have links with Sunni terrorist outfits operating in Pakistan such as the Sipah-e-Sahaba

Pakistan and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

(Source: South Asia Terrorism Portal)


India on Sunday beat Afghanistan 2-1 to lift the South Asian Football Federation Cup. India, it seems, went into the match with the intent of avenging their 2-0 loss to the Afghan side in 2013.

While the two sides bitterly fought for the cup, relations between the two nations are anything but bitter.

The growth of sporting ties between the two nations has gone hand-in-hand with the warming of diplomatic and trade relations.

Over the past decade and a half, India and Afghanistan have seen their ties deepening  the process started with the Taliban government getting toppled in December 2001.





The growing ties have not sat well with all actors in the region. There have been several attacks on Indian assets in the country. The Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, a northern Afghan city, came under attack on Sunday.

Another attack, planned to be carried out on Indias consulate in Afghanistan's eastern city of Jalalabad during Prime Minister Modi's vsist to the country, was foiled by Afghanistans intelligence service according to an Indian Express report.

Here are 6 things to know about the India-Afghanistan relations:

1) Bilateral trade

Indias bilateral trade with Afghanistan stood at $684.47 million in 2014-15, an increase of 0.20 per cent over $683.10 million a year earlier, and 20.41 per cent higher than $568.44 million in 2010-11. Indias exports to Afghanistan in 2014-15 stood at $ 422.56 million, while its imports from that country were worth $261.91 million. Despite the lack of direct land access, India is the second-largest destination for Afghan exports.

2) Defence

India, according to an International Business Times report, delivered three Russia-made Mi-25 attack helicopters to Afghanistan in December last year. Reports suggest it is to deliver an additional helicopter soon.

3) Parliament building

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani on December 25 inaugurated the newly built Afghan Parliament building. India has constructed the new building at a cost of about $90 million, as a sign of friendship.

4) Heart of Asia conference

According to an Indian Express report, India will host the Heart of Asia conference on Afghanistan this year. The previous iteration of the meet was held in Pakistan in December last year. The conference saw India and Pakistan attempt to sort out their strategic concerns regarding Afghanistan. Pakistan, in particular, has been opposed to any growth in Indian influence in the the country and views Afghanistan as essential for achieving strategic depth. Despite India's requests for direct land access to Afghanistan, Pakistan has refused to provide such facility over its strategic concerns. Commenting on the alternate routes India could use to access Afghanistan in the absence of direct land access, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj told the gathered ministers: India is also working with Afghanistan and Iran to develop trilateral transit. Participation in development of Chahbahar will augment our connectivity with Afghanistan and beyond.



5) Indias role

Commenting on India-Afghanistan ties, US State Department Spokesperson John Kirby had in August last year said: India has played a constructive role over several past years inside Afghanistan. Kirbys statement had come as he urged other nations like China to do the same. India has so far given financial assistance worth over $2 billion to Afghanistan and has been involved in massive developmental efforts in the war-torn country.





6) A long history

During the Soviet-Afghan war (1979-89), India was the only South Asian nation to recognise the Soviet-backed Democratic Republic of Afghanistan. India also provided humanitarian aid to then Afghan President Najibullah's government. Following the withdrawal of the Soviet forces, India continued to provide Najibullah's government with humanitarian aid.
Mineral-rich but energy-deficit Jharkhand will become the first state to sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Centre, on Tuesday, for the Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojana (UDAY) reforms for state-owned power distribution companies (discoms).

The MoU is a tripartite agreement is between the state government, the power distribution companies and the Union ministry of power.

With this, the total number of states that would be joining UDAY will become 15. The other states that are on board UDAY are Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh.

Besides, four major states  Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Odisha  have already given their in-principle approval to join UDAY.

Close to 90 per cent of the discom losses is under reform plan with these four major states joining UDAY, said Piyush Goyal, minister of state for coal, power and renewable energy.

The Centre is hopeful that 21 states would join UDAY by March 2016. For the states that sign up for UDAY, one of the first steps is to take over 75 per cent of discom debt as on September 30, 2015 over two years - 50 per cent in 2015-16 and 25 per cent in 2016-17.

According to power ministry officials, the parameters of the agreement have been finalised with strict monitoring clause. The MoU lists out a slew of baits for the discoms if they meet the required operational efficiency.

The parameters are divided into three parts: financial, operational and monthly monitoring. There are close to 15 guidelines each for financial and operational efficiency, which the states need to adhere to, to meet the stipulated targets. The parameters and the performance of the discoms would be made public.

The monitoring of the states would be done by joint committees with representation from the ministry of power and all its subsidiaries, ministry of finance, state government and its energy department, and representation from public sector banks and financial institutions.
The new road projects announced for Telangana on Monday by Union Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari will take the state above the national average in terms of average density of National Highways (NH) once they get completed.

Minister Gadkari has announced projects worth of Rs 41,000 crore for Telangana including the upgradation of 12 state roads as new National Highways besides the construction of two express ways.

With the declaration of the new national highways the average density of NHs will increase from the present 2.25 kms to 3.71 kms as compared to the national average of 3.05 kms per 100 square kms of area.

According to the Telangana government, total length of the new National Highways by way of upgradation of the existing state highways would be 1,780 kms across 12 routes going through all the ten districts of Telangana state.

The detailed project report(DPR)s were being prepared for the new National Highways with an estimated cost of Rs 16,500 crore.

The proposed Express Way between Hyderabad and Bangalore would see an investment of Rs 8,400 crore covering a length of 210 kms in Telangana out of the total length of 550 kms connecting the two cities.

The minister has announced the second express way between Hyderabad and Vijayawada covering a distance of 270 kms.

Of this 190 kms of express way goes through the Telangana state involving an investment of Rs 7,600 crore.

Union Minister Gadkari laid the foundation stone for the four-laning of 99 km long Yadagiri-Warangal section of NH 163 and inaugurated the bridge across River Godavari at Eturunagaram on the same National Highway. The project is being taken up at a cost of Rs 1,424 crore
The economy is seemingly on the mend but pain from the slowdown is not behind us. Our bottom line and balance sheet would stay under pressure due to a higher provisioning bill for stressed loans, Ashwani Kumar, chairman and managing director, Dena Bank, tells Abhijit Lele. Edited excerpts:



There is talk about upturn in the economy. Is it reflecting in business expansion on the ground?



Overall, things are improving and sentiment is better. A lot of work is being done in roads and the infrastructure sector. The situation in manufacturing is also better. The government has taken steps to support economic growth, which over a period would show results.

People are asking for finance, though drawals are yet to happen. Clearly, demand has come up in roads. This will create demand from allied sectors, like cement.

Keeping in mind the third-quarter results, what is the sense you get for credit beyond the industrial sector?



Retail (individual) and small & medium enterprises are doing reasonably well. The credit to small-size units is expanding at 25 per cent, year-on-year. In the retail segment, the housing sector is a thrust area. Our bank had set a target for sanctioning loans to 5,000 accounts, we'd cleared 3,500 proposals by mid-December. In the balance period (the financial year closes end-March), we expect to reach close to the target.

Awareness about thrust areas among staffers is helping to make a significant contribution to performance. We are impressing on them to proposals within their powers, instead of sending these to the head office.

Challenges to banks are not so much from the thrust sectors you spoke about. They are from corporates, industry and sectors facing slowdown. How do you judge the situation?



With so much of turmoil, there is challenge on asset quality but cultural change is also happening. People have become conscious of their responsibility for taking loans for projects.

We do not see many project proposals coming up, except in roads and renewable energy. In roads beside refinance, fresh proposals are also coming.

Would balance sheets remain under the pressure in the third (Oct-Dec) quarter?



There is nominal growth in top line (income) for all. If that does not grow, it affects the bottom line (profit). With the ageing of non-performing loans at Dena, we will need to make more provisions. I think there will be tough times.

The US Fed raised the key policy rate in December. What does it mean for the financial market, especially in India, and what is the outlook?



People were expecting a lot of volatility in the market. But, that did not happen as it (rate hike) indicated the US economy is reviving. Coming to bond yields in Indian markets, people had built positions up to 7.78-8 per cent in 10-year government bonds. The yields later eased to 7.72 per cent. Now that the event is behind us, we are not in an apprehensive state.

Yields are still high, compared to September-end levels. Would the impact be negative?



There might not be a major impact on the treasury side, since yields had dipped to a low of 7.51-7.52 per cent and most of the time were trading in a range of 7.6-7.62 per cent. There would not be substantial gains, either. No major impact is seen in terms of loss, appreciation or deprecation.

Your bank has got a nod from the board to raise capital of Rs 2,500 crore through bonds (tier-I and tier-II). You also have permission to raise equity capital. When would you tap the market?



We will raise capital through tier-I bonds before March. We do not have much requirement in tier-II. How much we will raise would depend on credit growth.

Raising capital through equity would be a last choice, as the stock price for most public sector banks is at a discount. Immediately, we might not require common equity tier-I. Actual plans would depend on the major growth and asset quality situations.

With strong competition and very little to differentiate in products amongst banks, how do you make one stand out?



Dena Bank's brand figures among the top 10 public sector banks. This has given a big boost to the image. Earlier, we had low brand recognition but that has changed over time. Our signages are visible everywhere. More important, our people are in the field in a big way and that has helped to improve visibility. It is the employees who create a brand and not signage. Our employees are moving in the field to meet customers and that has increased the brand's recall value.
Cabinet Secretary chairing NCMC meeting to assess the situation after Manipur Earthquake . . MHA continuously monitoring the situation in coordination with state governments . .

The Cabinet Secretary Shri P. K. Sinha is chairing the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) meeting at 10.00 AM today to assess the situation and provide all necessary help from Government of India after Manipur earthquake. .

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An earthquake of 6.7 magnitude occurred in District Tamernglong, Manipur state in the morning at 4.35 AM today. .

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The Ministry of Home Affairs is coordinating with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), the State Governments, Ministry of Defence, NDRF, Ministry of Telecom and other concerned Government departments and agencies for search & rescue and relief. Relief commissioners of all the states in the North-East: Manipur, Assam, Tripura, Mizoram, Meghalaya, Sikkim, Nagaland and the State of West Bengal are being contacted on regular basis. .

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So far, 05 deaths and 43 injuries have been reported from Manipur (at 09.00 AM). Damages to a few buildings, residential units and Government Offices have been reported, including damage to a six storey building in Imphal. .

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Two NDRF teams of 45 members each are being air lifted from Guwahati to Imphal. Communication systems are functioning, particularly BSNL. The MHA is continuously monitoring the relief and rescue activities in coordination with the state governments. .

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Cabinet Secretary chairs NCMC meeting . . Government assures of all necessary help for quick rescue, relief and restoration work . .

The Cabinet Secretary Shri P. K. Sinha convened a meeting of the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) meeting this morning here today. The situation emerging out of earthquake in North-East was reviewed. .

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It was decided that NDRF to send two teams to Imphal immediately for relief and rescue. In addition, one team be sent to Silchar, Assam. Secretary, Power to send a team of engineers from Power Grid Corporation to Imphal to assist the State Government in restoration of power. Secretary, Health and Family Welfare to send a Special Team of doctors from Delhi including orthopedics to Imphal today. The State Government has been assured of all necessary help for quick rescue, relief and restoration work. .

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So far, there are 06 causalities and 43 persons have been injured. Telecom connectivity is more or less normal. Power supply to Imphal city has been disrupted and some power installations have suffered damage. .

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The meeting was attended by Secretary (Power), Secretary (Telecom), Member, NDMA and DG (Indian Meteorological Department). The representatives of Ministries Home and Defence also participated in the meeting. Chief Secretary, Manipur participated through the video link. .

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Finance Minister: To make health and social security benefits accessible to un-organised sector workers like construction workers, migrant labourers, volunteers of different schemes including Anganwadi workers are one of the major priorities of the present Government. . .

The Union Finance Minister Shri Arun Jaitley said that the making social security schemes accessible to unorganised sector workers is a major challenge, which the Government is keen to address at this juncture where the unorganised sector is growing at a faster pace. He said that to make health and social security benefits accessible to un-organised sector workers like construction workers, migrant labourers, volunteers of different schemes like Anganwadi workers etc are one of the major priorities of the present Government. Mechanisms can be thought of wherein social security benefit contributions to workers can be made by employers at a single window for all workers. The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley was speaking during his second Pre -Budget Consultative Meeting with the representatives of different Trade Union Groups here today. .

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The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley said that the present framework of social security is structured for different groupings organized, unorganized and those not employed/BPL, which are functional requirements. He said that there is a need to ensure a convergence of benefits for all these groupings, above a minimum threshold. .

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The Finance Minister Shri Jaitley further said that for employment generation, the Government has taken many intiatives like Make in India, Skill India, Mudra Yojana and National Career Service Portal. He said that around 9.63 lakh organizations have registered on National Career Service portal and 2.09 crore persons have also registered for employment on the same. Along with skill development, identifying labour-intensive industries and new areas where jobs can be created like renewable energy and reusable resources etc. and providing employment linked training can be some of the ways to capitalise on the demographic dividend, the Finance Minister added. .

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Along with the Finance Minister Shri Jaitley,the Pre-Budget Consultative Meeting with the representatives of Trade Union Groups was also attended among others by Shri Jayant Sinha, Minister of State for Finance, Shri R.N. Watal, Finance Secretary, Shri Shaktikanta Das, Secretary, DEA, Dr. Hasmukh Adhia, Revenue Secretary and Dr. Arvind Subramanian, Chief Economic Adviser (CEA). The representatives of various Trade Union Groups who attended the todays meeting include among others Shri Vrijesh Upadhyay (BMS), Shri Rajender Prasad Singh (INTUC), Shri A.L.Sachdev (AITUC), Shri Harbhajan Singh Sidhu (HMS), Shri Tapan Sen, (CITU), Shri Sankar Saha (AIUTUC), Shri S.P. Tiwary (TUCC), Smt. Jyotiben Macwan (SEWA), Shri Rajiv Dimri (AICCTU), Shri L.Rashid Khan (LPF), Shri Deeepak Jaiswal (NFITU) and Shri Ashok Ghosh (UTUC). .

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Most of the Trade Union representative gave a joint memorandum to the Finance Minister containing suggestions for the forthcoming Union Budget 2016-17.Various suggestions were made by the representatives of Trade Union Groups. The major suggestions include that next Budget should be people oriented budget and help in creation of more jobs/employment opportunities including opening of the Government sector for the employment opportunities. It was suggested to increase the minimum wage to Rs.15,000 especially after the 7th Pay Commission recommended lowest scale starting from Rs. 18,000. Other suggestions include need for taking effective and timely measures to keep prices especially of food items under control, strengthening of social security schemes for the workers especially those working in un-organised sector, extension of National Pension System(NPS) to the workers of un-organised sector. .

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Many other suggestions include need for over hauling of tax structure, and minimum tax exemption limit be raised to Rs. 5.00 lakh in case of employees. creation of a separate Social Sector Affairs Department coordinating different ministries and experts and to include representative of such sectors so that the benefits reach directly to the real beneficiaries. .

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Other suggestions include minimizing the administrative cost upto 5% of total allocation. It was suggested that growth may be related to the wage of workers and hence a wage-led growth has to be brought in. Increase in wages would lead to increase in purchasing power of the people which in turn will strengthen the market and the economy. It was suggested that allocation to education sector be raised to 6% and health allocation be raised to 3% (from present 1%) of the total budget. It was suggested that un-organised sector required a comprehensive decent work agenda which includes reasonable/decent wages, work conditions, social security, welfare, safety, gender justice and job security among others. .

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It was suggested to open a Workers Bank for general interest of workers. It was suggested that there is need for amendment of Contractual Labour Act and same wages be given for same work for those working on contractual basis. Anti-dumping measures especially in metal sector have to taken-up on utmost priority to save the domestic industry from irreparable loss and ultimate closure. There should be no ceiling on bonus and no FDI be allowed in crucial sectors such as railways & defence and no disinvestment of profit making PSUs be made among others. .

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Manipur Earthquake update at 1730 hrs . . MoS Dr. Jitendra Singh rushes to Imphal to supervise Rescue & Relief Operations . .

Government of India has offered all necessary help to the Manipur State Government for Search and Rescue and Relief. As per the report received from State Government, 06 people have lost their lives and 79 were injured. Damages to a number of buildings, residential units and Government Offices have been reported including damage to a six storey building in Imphal. .

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As decided at the meeting of National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) chaired by the Cabinet Secretary Shri PK Sinha this morning, a total of eighty three rescuers of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), airlifted in three aircraft from Guwahati, have already reached Imphal and deployed in rescue operations. Another team of thirty five rescuers of NDRF has been deployed in Silchar to cater to the needs of areas around Silchar. A three member team from Power Grid has already reached Imphal for restoration of the power supply. A team of expert doctors will be arriving in Manipur early morning tomorrow to assess the situation and assist the State Government. .

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There is no shortage of Petroleum products. There is normal availability of all products with stocks of two weeks and above. The LPG bottling plant at Sekmai has been temporarily suspended, which is likely to be resumed by tomorrow after inspection and rectification of damages. .

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The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) is coordinating with the State Government, Ministry of Defence (MOD), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), NDRF and other concerned Government Departments/Ministries and agencies for providing necessary help. NDMA Toll free disaster Helpline No 011-1078 can be contacted 24 X 7 for any help. .

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The Minister of State for Development of North Eastern Region (I/C), Prime Ministers Office, Personnel, Public Grievances & Pensions, Department of Atomic Energy, Department of Space, Dr. Jitendra Singh has arrived in Imphal in a special aircraft to review the situation. .

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President Ashraf Ghani calls PM and condemns cross border terrorist attack in Pathankot

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The President of Afghanistan, Mr. Ashraf Ghani made a telephone call to the Prime Minister. He strongly condemned the cross border terrorist attack in Pathankot and extended condolences at the loss of lives in the attack. President Ghani also briefed the Prime Minister about the terrorist attack in Mazar-e-Sharif and expressed support at the loss of lives and property in the earthquake in India. .

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Prime Minister thanked President Ghani for his message of support at the cross border terrorist attacks and the earthquake. He also expressed deep appreciation for the exemplary bravery and courage shown by the Afghan National Security Forces in thwarting the terrorist attack in Mazar-e-Sharif and ensuring security and safety of the Indian Consulate and personnel. Prime Minister conveyed that India would always stand with the people of Afghanistan. .

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The worst-ever start to a year for Chinese shares triggered a trading halt in more than $7 trillion of equities, futures and options, putting the nation's new market circuit breakers to the test on their first day. Trading was halted at about 1:34 pm local time on Monday after the CSI 300 Index dropped seven per cent. An earlier 15-minute suspension at the five per cent level failed to stop the retreat, with shares extending losses as soon as the market re-opened. Traders said the halts took effect as anticipated without any major technical problems. The world's second-largest stock ...
Republican presidential front- runner Donald Trump's much-awaited first TV ad features a promise that once he is at the helm he will "quickly cut" ISIS' head and "take their oil".

Trump's ad begins with a shot of President Obama and Hillary Clinton. Then comes a US battleship launching a cruise-missile strike. It moves swiftly through an explosive montage -- the suspects in the recent California terrorist attack, shadowy figures racing across the US-Mexico border and Islamic State militants.

The narrator, a deep-voiced man, speaks ominously, "That's why he's calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, until we can figure out what's going on. He'll quickly cut the head off ISIS and take their oil. And he'll stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for."



The spot closes with the image of 69-year-old Trump thundering at one of his rallies, "We will make America great again!"



The Republican presidential candidate's long-awaited and hotly anticipated first ad titled 'Great Again', shared exclusively with The Washington Post, is set to be aired as part of a series that will air in the final month before the Iowa caucuses.

Trump has vowed to spend at least $2 million a week on the ads -- an amount that will be amplified by the countless times they are likely to be played on cable news and across social media.

The decision to air television ads-- which Trump hinted at for months, though the billionaire real estate magnate has has been loath to spend more than he deems necessary -- represents a tightly produced new act for a candidate who has fed largely off free media attention, the Post said.

Trump has said that he has six to eight ads in production and that his was a "major buy and it's going to go on for months."



He said he hopes the spots impress upon undecided voters that the country has become "a dumping ground".

"The world is laughing at us, at our stupidity. It's got to stop. We've got to get smart fast -- or else we won't have a country," he was quoted as saying.

Trump said he concluded that he may end up regretting not spending more of his own money to secure the nomination.

He said he recalled thinking, "I'm $35 million to $40 million under budget, and to be honest, I don't think I need (ads) because I have such a big lead. But I don't want to take any chances, and I almost feel guilty not spending money."



The first ad makes clear that Trump's closing pitch to voters will be as visceral and arresting as the one he delivers at raucous rallies.
Iran accused Saudi Arabia on Monday of using an attack on its embassy as a pretext to sever ties in a diplomatic crisis deepening their often violent struggle for influence across the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday and fellow-Sunni Bahrain followed suit on Monday, two days after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest at Riyadh's execution of a senior Shi'ite cleric.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) also downgraded its ties with Iran, as the dispute between the region's top Sunni and Shi'ite powers rippled across the region, driving up oil prices and threatening to widen the Middle East's sectarian divide.

After a furious response in Shi'ite communities worldwide to the Sunni kingdom's execution of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accused Iran of creating "terrorist cells" among the kingdom's Shi'ite minority.

Iran retorted that Riyadh had used the embassy incident and an similar attack on its consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad as an "excuse" to stoke tensions.

Oil prices rose almost two percent, overcoming economic weakness in Asia, as the two big petroleum exporters traded insults and tensions spilled into other crude producers such as Iraq.

Stock markets across the Gulf dropped sharply, led by Qatar which fell more than 2.5 percent, with geopolitical jitters outweighing any benefit from stronger oil.

Crude importer China declared itself "highly concerned" with the developments, in a rare foray into Middle East diplomacy.

The United States and Germany called for restraint, while Russia offered to mediate an end to the dispute.

The tensions threatened to derail efforts to end Syria's five-year-old civil war, where Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab powers support rebel groups against Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad.

In neighbouring Lebanon, newspapers said the spat had clouded the hopes of filling the vacant presidency that had been raised last month after Iran and Saudi Arabia both voiced support for a power-sharing deal.

Saudi Arabia executed Nimr and three other Shi'ites on terrorism charges on Saturday, alongside dozens of Sunni jihadists. Shi'ite Iran hailed him as a "martyr" and warned Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family of "divine revenge".

Shi'ite groups united in condemnation of Saudi Arabia while Sunni powers rallied behind the kingdom, hardening a sectarian split that has torn apart communities across the Middle East and nourished the jihadist ideology of Islamic State.

Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based seat of Sunni Muslim learning, and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia, condemned the attacks on Riyadh's missions and stressed Tehran's obligation to respect the internal affairs of the kingdom.

The UAE, an ally of Saudi Arabia that is also home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, cut the number of Iranian diplomats allowed in the country, after summoning the ambassador to protest what it called Iran's interference in Saudi Arabia.

The Yemeni government on Monday announced a curfew in the port city of Aden, a beach-head for Saudi and UAE forces waging war on the Shi'ite Houthi group that controls much of the country. A ceasefire collapsed on Saturday.

Western powers, many of which supply billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Gulf Arab powers, tried to tamp down the tensions with Iran but also deplored the executions, as human rights groups strongly criticised Saudi Arabia's judicial process and protesters gathered outside Saudi embassies.
At the Faasos Mumbai office, an array of brightly lit screens flashing green and red greets the rare visitor that crosses its portals. Red stands for a snapped internet connection and is a cause for huge alarm. In another room a bank of monitors tracks the heating and refrigeration processes across all centres and even the most minor divergence triggers off a rash of e-mails across the food start-up's network. Instead of large kitchens and white hats, Faasos is focusing on the heavy machinery and it is banking heavily on technology to build itself as a brand that delivers on-time, affordable meals to the urban Indian.

Very little is being left to human oversight, this is the point that the team at Faasos is eager to make clear from the get go. They don't want to be called a quick service restaurant (QSR), it's the food tech moniker they are after. But in the flood of food-tech companies struggling to stay afloat, what makes them aspire to be one? Well, simply because for brands like Faasos, technology is the key to survival. Data, not discounts, powers food brands in India according to a recent industry report.

The endeavor is to use technology to get up close and personal with customers, however scattered they may be. Faasos is currently in 15 cities, Vishakhapatnam, Coimbatore, Nagpur, Jaipur and Bhopal are the latest to be added to the list. Reports said that the company has raised Rs 200 crore in a fresh round of funding. Most of the money that Faasos raised (about $50 million) has gone into technology upgrades. Until recently, the company relied on social media and word-of-mouth recommendations to penetrate the market, but a few months back, it launched TVCs where it positioned the brand as a replacement for a home-cooked meal. But to get into the customer's call logs, Faasos needs to build its brand first.

On call, everywhere

Faasos currently follows pizza chain, Domino's, model. It is in every neighbourhood, ensuring a standardised product and guaranteeing delivery in 30 minutes. "Except that 50 per cent of Domino's revenue comes from dine-in customers and 97 per cent of our orders are from the app," says Revant Bhate, chief officer, Faasos. "We want to be the food conglomerate version of Amazon." Ideally Faasos wants to exist without a single physical outlet.

To do that its brand must be easily recalled and trusted. Data will come in handy here. Faasos is using customer insights to build a product that is closely attuned to their taste buds and daily needs. Bhate says that Faasos, to optimise orders during off-peak hours, has introduced breakfast and chai-snacks as a category. The company claims it processes 3,50,000 orders per month and plans to cross a million orders by the next financial year. "Each customer orders at least 1.9 times a month," Bhate says. The company aims to get up to five orders a month.

Creating a buzz

In recent months, several mobile handset makers have launched their phones through invitation-only sales initiatives on online stores. Faasos is taking a leaf out of their book. It has launched an app, Faasos Daily, for its Gurgaon-based outlets. Around 300 people, chosen by the company, can pre-order their meals up to three days in advance. Faasos plans to expand this into a full-fledged subscription service in the next six months.

A similar initiative will be launched in Mumbai in January. "We want this to be invite only, just like Gmail originally was. Now, everyone has an account. As every user recommends someone, we will add Faasos credit to their account, which they can redeem when they place orders," Bhate says. Such a tactic is particularly useful in cities such as New Delhi, where the brand still has to establish itself.

Getting people to talk about the food, Faasos expects, will also help it make the next big leap: go dark. In regular parlance, this means doing away with all walk-in outlets and existing purely as an order-delivery chain. The company says it is close to doing that in Mumbai, its home centre.

"Soon, we plan to have an experience centre just like Flipkart to help people order," says Bhate. However this could scupper its entry into tier-2 towns, where it is believed that customers prefer to walk in to an outlet before buying online. But Bhate explains that in many towns, customers are extremely comfortable ordering via apps. "For Coimbatore, their first access to the internet is the phone," he says. These cities were picked as they were close to major metros and are areas where their competitors will take a long time getting to.

Who are Faasos' competitors? "More than the likes of Domino's or McDonalds, we are closer to HolaChef, TinyOwl Homemade and FreshMenu," Bhate says. These companies are also building themselves up as brands on apps. To stand out from the crowd, Faasos is focusing on price. For the experiment in Gurgaon, breakfast will be priced at Rs 75-100, while lunch and dinner will cost between Rs 110-120. Its average ticket size is Rs 250-300, while HolaChef's is Rs 300-310.

Saurabh Saxena, founder, HolaChef is also using data extensively to build his brand. The company has a similar business model to Faasos except for the outlets. "We don't plan to have an outlet anytime soon but, in this business, never say never," he adds.
Shares of IRB Infrastructure Developers were up over 8% at Rs 265 in early trades on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company won the biggest National Highway Project in India in terms of project cost estimated at Rs 10,050 crore.

The project involves construction of Zozila Tunnel spanning 14.08 kms including approaches on NH-1 in the State of Jammu & Kashmir on Design, Build, Finance, Operate & Transfer basis, the company said in a release.

The concession period of the project is 22 years including construction period of 7 years and the company will receive semi-annual annuity of Rs 981 crore from the Ministry of Road Transport & Highways after completion of construction of the project, the release added.

The stock opened at Rs 269 and touched a high of Rs 269.30. At 9:20am, over 595,000 shares were traded on both the stock exchanges.
Leading information technology stocks -- Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), Infosys Technologies, Wipro and HCL Technologies (HCL)  have lagged the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex in the December quarter.

As against a 0.4 per cent fall in the latter, these IT biggies witnessed a 0.3 per cent to 7.6 per cent fall in their stock prices. In a seasonally weak quarter, given the higher number of furloughs and holidays, the sudden floods in Chennai and unfavourable cross-currency movement are expected to add to their problems.

The floods impact will depend on the exposure a company has to Chennai. HCL, with about a third of its workforce there, estimate analysts at Edelweiss Securities, could see a higher impact. This metric is lower at 13-15 percentage points lower for the other three companies.

Consequently, analysts expect these companies dollar revenues to grow only 0.1-1.5 per cent on a sequential basis in this quarter. Lower utilisation and higher expenses to relocate employees are expected to cancel the positives from a weaker rupee. And, lead to a contraction in operating earnings for most. HCL, though, is relatively better placed, given the low base effect of the September quarter. Not surprisingly, these companies net profit growth will be flattish, sequentially, with a downward bias in the quarter (see table).

The average of analysts estimates suggest Wipro could lead its peers this quarter on both revenue and earnings growth on a sequential basis. However, part of this would be driven by inorganic initiatives. Wipro is likely to meet the lower end of its constant currency sequential revenue growth forecast, of 0.5-2.5 per cent in the quarter. Analysts at Emkay Global expect the company to say it expects one to three per cent sequential constant currency revenue growth for the March 2016 quarter. The Street will also watch for the new chief executives stated growth plans, digital strategy and revenue growth in top clients/energy vertical, as well as overall demand trends.

Pressure in TCS' insurance subsidiary, Diligenta, is likely to continue this quarter as well and add to the overall revenue pressure. Management commentary on deal wins, digital growth and overall demand will be noted.

The Street expects Infosys to maintain its full-year constant currency revenue growth expectation of 10-12 per cent. A higher revenue base in the September quarter due to one-offs will be an additional factor. Analysts believe the company will see improvement in revenue from top clients. Commentary on deal wins and integration of recent acquisitions will be key.

At Mondays closing prices, these stocks are trading at reasonable valuations of 14-17 times the FY17 estimated earnings. While most analysts remain positive on TCS and Infosys, they are cautious on Wipro. The latter has to post sustained improvement in its financial performance (which has lagged that of the sector in recent times) for an uptick in sentiment. Analysts remain mixed on HCL, with some estimating that the company has fallen short of peers on the digital front.
Benchmark shares indices have extended losses and are trading near days low after China's PMI data, a closely-watched barometer of manufacturing activity, slipped to to 48.2 in December, from 48.6 in November, shrinking for the tenth straight month.

Further, India's December Nikkei Manufacturing PMI has come in at 49.1 vs 50.3 in November, lowest since August 2013.

By 11:20 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was lower by 402 points at 25,759 and Nifty50 slipped 124 points at 7,839.

The top losers from the Sensex pack are Bharti Airtel, ICICI Bank, Tata Motors, Lupin and Adani Ports, all falling between 1%-3%.



**************************************

Updated at 9:30 am



have commenced the first trading session of the week on a lower note, tracking weak global cues, with auto shares in focus post their December 2015 sales numbers.

By 9:30 am, the S&P BSE Sensex was lower by 144 points at 26,017 and Nifty50 slipped 47 points at 7,916. The broader continue to outperform- BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices are up marginally.

ALSO READ: Top intraday picks from Geojit BNP Paribas

Nifty resistance is seen at 7,974 above 7,996 and 8,010. Support for the Nifty is seen at 7,936 below 7,914, 7,901 and 7,876," says Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services said ina note.

Markit Economics is scheduled to release Nikkei India Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for December 2015 later today.

Meanwhile, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 228.11 crore on Friday as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges.

In the overseas markets, Asian shares began their first trading of 2016 on a cautious note today, while oil prices jumped 3% after Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shi'ite Muslim cleric spurred regional anger and geopolitical tensions.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was up 0.1%, with resource-heavy Australian shares rising 0.6%. The MSCI ex-Japan shed nearly 12% in 2015.

Japan's Nikkei fell 1%, playing catch-up to falls in US stocks in the last two sessions during Japan's market holidays. The Nikkei gained around 9% last year.

Back home, Tata Motors is down over 1%. The companys total sales of passenger and commercial vehicles declined 4% to 39,973 units in December 2015 over December 2014.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has written to operators to ensure compliance with call drop regulations, effective January 1, even as service providers remain defiant and say compensation to subscribers will be paid only after court orders them to do so. Shares of Bharti Airtel have dipped 1.4%.

Hero MotoCorp has slipped by 1% after the total two-wheeler sales of the company declined 5.13% to 4.99 lakh units in December 2015 over December 2014.

Coal India and its subsidiaries on provisional basis achieved 102% of targeted production at 52.07 million tonnes in December 2015. The stock is down almost 1%.

State Bank of India is all set to buy four premium flats in Mumbai's posh Peddar Road area from the loss-making Air India (AI) for Rs 90 crore. Shares of SBI are down almost 1%.

Other prominent losers are ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, Axis Bank, Lupin and ONGC. On the gaining side, GAIL, NTPC, Wipro, HUL and Asian Paints are up 0.02%-1%.

Shares of IRB Infrastructure Developers were up over 8% at Rs 265 in early trades on the Bombay Stock Exchange after the company won the biggest National Highway Project in India in terms of project cost estimated at Rs 10,050 crore.

With Reuters input
High global production leading to supply being ahead of demand for five years in a row and the inevitable price collapse has scathed the sugar industry in Brazil no less hard than in India. In retrospect, it appears that sugarcane crushing factories in the world's largest producer and exporter of the commodity Brazil as also in India would have suffered less pain had the policy response of Brasilia and New Delhi to the deepening crisis been timely and appropriate. For example, under the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime here, export-import trade in sugar was repeatedly botched up when the industry was in desperation to reduce its inventory burden. Did some redemption for the industry come last sugar season (October to September) when the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government allowed incentive-enabled export of 1.4 million tonnes (mt) of raw sugar in end February 2015? Certainly not. The late announcement of the scheme restricted raws export to 500,000 tonnes. Overflowing warehouses forced some factories to sell around 600,000 tonnes mostly whites outside the scheme suffering losses in the process. For a change, the government finding that the industry began the current season with stocks nearly 4 mt more than the normal at 9.1 mt and ex-factory realisation remaining Rs 500 to Rs 700 a quintal below production cost depending on the region was quick off the blocks in the current 2015-16 season in distributing export quotas totalling 3.2 mt among producing units.

Compulsion to export is so strong that the government has wisely allowed for the first time the sale of all types of sugar - raws, refined and whites - in the world market. Obviously wary of scrutiny by the World Trade Organisation, New Delhi has refrained from offering any subsidy ignoring what is on offer in Pakistan. What it has done instead is to pay Rs 4.50 of the Rs 10 a quintal of the 'fair and remunerative price' for cane raised for the current season directly to farmers supplying the feedstock to factories that execute exports according to quotas. But factories far removed from ports in states such as Uttar Pradesh and Punjab are unlikely to be able to export without the government subventing the cost of transfer of cargoes from mill gate to port. The point is why farmers should be penalised for any lapse on the part of factories. Even though shortcomings or oversights like this remain, New Delhi has finally started acting to give relief to the industry. Ideally all government action has to be in the context of the industry's debt burden rising more than three times to around Rs 50,000 crore and more and more factories moving into the sick bay. Moreover, factories still need to clear over Rs 7,000 crore cane dues.

But what about Brazil? Patrick Knight writes from Brazil for the UK based Dry Cargo International that low prices lasting much longer than usual and a "complete lack of support from an unsympathetic government" headed by a left leaning president Dilma Rouseff have proved "calamitous" for the sugar industry. Uneconomic working resulting from the end of commodities supercycle has led to closure of "80 of the country's 300 or so mills" and "all but the most powerful sugar companies have been pushed deep into debt." No different a situation than in India. Knight says under the weight of losses many promoters have already exited sugar business while many others, including some global giants are ready to quit. The problem, however, is those still keen to exit are not finding suitors for "mills they bought a decade ago, even for less than half what they paid for them." The Brazilian currency's fall in value by over 30 per cent against US dollar has made it difficult for many sugar mills to service foreign debts.

Brazil, which earlier used to have more than half the share of 45 mt global trade in sugar now finds it down to about 45 per cent. Contraction of the Brazilian farm sector by 2.4 per cent in the third quarter of 2015 shows other agricultural commodities relevant to the country too have met the fate of sugar. Fears of a cruel recession gripping Latin America's largest country have put Brazil's first woman president in a bind forcing her to rescind some of the retrograde steps she took earlier. Like Brasilia has reintroduced the tax on fossil fuels, much to the relief of sugar factories in the country's centre south. This to some extent should improve ethanol prices. In 2015-16, about 60 per cent of the 600 mt cane crop will be allocated for ethanol production.
The sugar industry, which till a few months ago was reeling from cane dues and falling realisations, is showing signs of a turnaround because of an unexpected fall in production and improvement in the export outlook.

The fuel mixing programme is also picking up and for the first time in 14 years, the country is close to achieving a uniform five per cent ethanol blend. Till last year, the average blend was 2.5-3 per cent.

Sugar mills have agreed to supply 1,200 million litres in all of ethanol this year to Indian Oil Corporation, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum. The requirement for five per cent ethanol blending is 1,300 million litres. Last year, mills supplied 660 million litres.

Raw sugar futures in New York posted a five per cent gain for the year, their first annual advance since 2010. A Bloomberg survey of 18 traders said prices would continue to rise in the first quarter of 2016. This could improve prospects for Indian sugar mills. The share prices of most major sugar companies have been on the rise since October. The Bajaj Hindusthan stock has gained 34 per cent since October 1 and Triveni Engineering and Dhampur Sugars are up 86 per cent and 122 per cent, respectively(See chart).

Of the 3.2 million tonnes of sugar mills need to export in 2015-16 to avail the incentive of Rs 4.5 per quintal, 0.8 million tonnes have been contracted and 0.3 million tonnes shipped. M Vellayan, president of the Indian Sugar Mills' Association, told an industry conference India could export 1.2 million tonnes of white sugar and two million tonnes of raw sugar.

If that happens, the opening stock for the 2016-17 season that begins in October will be 6.7 million tonnes, 26.4 million tonnes less than the current year.

Sugar mills have also managed to reduce their cane arrears to Rs 5,400 crore by November from an all-time high of Rs 21,000 crore in March.

Despite the improvement in prices, the ISMA estimates the average ex-mill price for the last three months is still Rs 4-5 below the average cost of production of a kilogram of sugar. And there is still Rs 5,400 crore of cane arrears to be paid to farmers, not a small amount by any chance.
Firing continued into day two today near the Indian mission in Afghanistan as the final assault by Afghan forces began in Mazar-i-Sharif.

"Clearing ops in Mazar on by special forces. Heavy fighting going on. GOV Atta personally monitoring. All safe in consulate," Ambassador of India to Afghanistan Amar Sinha tweeted.

While Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) officials handled the militants initially on their own, the Afghan Special Forces have joined and now engaged with terrorists along with ITBP.

Last night, explosions and gunfire rang out as militants attempted to storm the Indian diplomatic mission in Mazar-i-Sharif city.

Unknown number of militants attacked from a building close to the consulate which quickly prompted Afghan forces to cordon off the area.

The attack came close on the heels of the terrorists attack at the Pathankot air base, where Indian security forces were still trying to eliminate terrorists, who killed at least seven military personnel and wounded 20 others.
Launching a frontal attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Congress Party on Monday asked the BJP-led NDA Government to call off the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan scheduled for later this month in wake of the terror attack on Pathankot's air base.

Congress leader Manish Tewari said Prime Minister Modi has to choose between the desire for a Noble Peace price and security.

"Mr. Prime Minister are we waiting for another terror attack to take the obvious step. There is nothing that is going to be gained by engaging with Pakistan. This government should immediately call off the Foreign Secretary-level talks," Tewari told ANI here.

"Earlier when Vajpayee ji went to Lahore, Kargil happened. So, therefore, it very clearly demonstrates that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif controls nothing in Pakistan. The deep state in Pakistan doesn't want a proactive engagement with India. It doesn't want peaceful relationship with India. So, therefore, under those circumstances, Prime Minister Narendra Modi should immediately call off the Foreign Secretary-level talks," he added.

The Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan scheduled for later this month looks in serious jeopardy with strong indications that the government may call off the engagement if evidence emerges that Pakistan's state actors were complicit in the attack on Pathankot's air base.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj yesterday held meetings with former Indian envoys to Pakistan to discuss the way forward with the neighbouring nation in wake of the Pathankot attack.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi last night reviewed the situation arising out of the terror attack at Pathankot's air base. Soon after his return from Karnataka last night, he chaired a meeting of top officials including Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar.

According to sources, the implications of the attack on relations with Pakistan are also believed to have been deliberated upon in the meeting.

The security forces have already killed four terrorists. Two more terrorists are believed to be still holed-up inside the base and an operation is underway to flush them out.

Seven security personnel have been martyred in the operation so far.
The last rites of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh, who was martyred while defending Pathankot's Air Force Base from the terrorists, was held with full state honours at his native place here on Monday.

Scores of people, who gathered during the cremation ceremony, mourned his loss and raised slogans denouncing Pakistan.

Earlier, several top Air Force officials along with Haryana's Cabinet Minister Anil Vij took part in the ceremony held to honour the Garud Commando's sacrifice.

Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had yesterday announced a compensation of Rs. 20 lakh to the family of the Garud Commando.

Seven security personnel have been martyred in the ongoing operation at Pathankot so far.
Escalating tensions between the hostle neighbours, Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Iran after the execution of the Saudi Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

According to the Guardian, Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir informed that Iran's diplomatic mission and related entities in Saudi Arabia had been given 48 hours to leave and asserted that Riyadh would not allow the Islamic republic to undermine the Sunni kingdom's security.

The sharp decision came after Nimr's execution which sparked outrage across the Middle East and in south Asia and the move signalled further hardening of Riyadh's position towards Iran.

Responding to the strong move, the United States called for the leaders in the region to take "affirmative steps" to reduce the heightened levels of hostility.

"We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," a US official said.

The massive outrage was visible among the people as they took to the streets in the Lebanese capital, Beirut, and in Bahrain and Baghdad, hours after the Saudi embassy in Tehran was set ablaze by protesters.

However, Iranian president Hassan Rouhani, said the attack on the Saudi embassy was unjustifiable, and demanded that justice be brought to the perpetrators.

"I have no doubt that the Saudi government has damaged its image, more than before, among the countries in the world, in particular [among] Islamic countries, by this un-Islamic act," Rouhani said.

The cleric's execution happened despite clemency pleas which were delivered personally by the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon.

"Sheikh Nimr and a number of the other prisoners executed had been convicted following trials that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process," Ban's spokesman said.

Riyadh, meanwhile, stuck to its position that Nimr had committed acts of terrorism.

Nimr was executed along with 46 other accused terrorists in the early hours of the New Year as Riyadh remained adamant that the cleric had committed acts of terrorism.
With hundreds of people thronging BEL grounds in Bengaluru to pay homage to Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan Kumar, who was martyred during the operation to flush out terrorists from the Pathankot Air Force Base, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday said that compensation will be given to honour his supreme sacrifice.

Array

"Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan has sacrificed his life for the nation. Terrorism is problem that entire world is facing, all nations must join hands to eliminate this problem," Siddaramaiah told media persons here.

"We are going to give compensation. In Unnikrishna's case also we had given compensation of Rs. 30 lakh, even in this case we will give compensation," he added.

The mortal remains of Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan Kumar was brought to his residence here on Monday morning.

His body will be taken to his native village in Kerala's Palakkad district later in the day for cremation.

The Security Guard (NSG) Lt. Col., who was a member of the bomb disposal squad, was killed yesterday during the combing operations at the Air Force base when a grenade he was trying defuse went off.

The terrorist attack at the Pathankot base has claimed the lives of seven security personnel including Commonwealth Gold Medallist Fateh Singh and Garud Commando Gursevak Singh.
The Supreme Court ban on diesel cars of 2,000cc and above capacity in the national capital region seems to have impacted sales volume of Toyota Kirloskar Motor quite badly. The carmaker sold 10,883 units in the last month of 2015, down by 11.04 percent compared to a year ago.

As for the calendar year, Indian arm of the Japanese automaker retailed a total of 1,39,815 units in 2015, posting a cumulative growth of 5 percent year-on-year growth.

Toyotas luxury sedan Camry registered a cumulative growth of 42 percent y-o-y growth in 2015. The new Camry which was launched in April last year, constituted 86 percent of the total Camry sales and majority of it is attributed to the Hybrid version alone.

The Toyota Etios series also clocked a cumulative growth of 12 percent in the year, against the total sales of Etios series in 2014.

Commenting on the sales, N Raja, Director and Senior VP, Sales and Marketing said, "We have a seen a cumulative growth of 5 percent in the calendar year 2015 when compared to the sales in the same period last year. The growth would have been higher if we didnt have to face few challenges like the ban on registration of diesel vehicles in Delhi & NCR and the flood situation in Chennai."

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A total of 182,644 cases of crimes were reported in the national capital in 2015, up from 155,654 in 2014 - a 17.33 percent rise, according to Delhi Police's annual report released on Monday.

Of all the crime cases, only 27 percent (49,903 cases) were solved.

Delhi Police Commissioner B.S. Bassi said 2015 had been "very satisfying as our initiative to lodge maximum number of First Information Report (FIRs) has been satisfactory.

"From goat theft to stealing of Rs.20, we registered every relevant FIR. It is really satisfactory as per the expectation of people of Delhi," Bassi told the media at the annual press conference.

The annual report shows that the complaints of non-registration of FIRs saw a substantial decline compared to 2014 and 2013.

"As a result, the registered IPC (Indian Penal Code) crime rose to 80,184 in 2013, 155,654 in 2014 and 182,644 in 2015 (up to Dec 15)," Bassi said in its introductory comments.

"Along with truthful registration comes the onus of prevention and detection of crime, and Delhi Police has given an excellent account in this regard."

A total of 49,903 IPC cases, including 6,328 heinous ones, were solved in 2015 as compared to 43,431, including 5,784 heinous cases, in the previous year, Bassi said.

"Almost all sensational cases were solved in record time."
At least 69 criminals having bounty on their heads ranging from Rs.25,000 to Rs.5 lakh were arrested while 29 gangs, including burglars and vehicle thieves, were busted after the arrest of their associates in the capital in 2015, says the annual report of Delhi Police.

The report said the highest bounty of Rs.5 lakh was declared on the arrest of Chandeshwar Yadav, self-styled sub-zonal commander of a banned Maoist outfit who was wanted for riots, attempt to murder and murder in Chatra district of Jharkhand.

The 26-year-old Maoist commander was arrested by the Delhi Police special cell on August 4.

As per the report, the 29 major gangs include those known as Thak-Thak, Jahar-Khurani, Neeraj Bawania, Manoj Morkheri, Mogli, Vikash Langarpuria, Gullel, Pasonda, Ravi Gangwal, Diggy, Gal Ghotu and gangs of highway robbers.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday said he was not planning to dissolve the lower house of parliament and call a snap election ahead of the triennial upper house elections this summer.

Abe, the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan (LDP), while stating that he "is not considering at all" dissolving the lower house to call a snap election, said that maintaining his ruling bloc's majority in the upcoming upper house elections would be a priority, Xinhua reported.

To advance in a stable way under the coalition government of the LDP and Komeito, I would like both of them to secure a majority in the House of Councillors, the prime minister said.

"I will do the utmost to win that victory," Abe added.

On matters of Constitutional reform, the prime minister said efforts in this regard will be stepped up and be one of the focal points of the upcoming election.

"Through such calls, I would like to deepen national debate about the issue," said Abe.

In the more powerful lower house of parliament, Abe's ruling coalition have a two-thirds majority and hold a majority in the smaller upper caucus.

As for Japan hosting the Group of Seven summit in May in Mie prefecture, central Japan, the prime minister said the forum would be key to tackling issues of global economic concern, as well as issues pertaining to terrorism, world poverty and regional issues.

"The G-7 is the champion of universal values such as freedom, democracy, the rule of law and human rights," said Abe.

"As its president, I would like to lead the world by looking to the future and showing the most appropriate paths for peace and prosperity of the region and the world."

The leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US will convene for the Ise-Shima summit here from May 26 to 27.
Pakistan should take "reciprocal steps" if it is proved that Pakistanis were involved in the terror attack on the IAF base in Punjab, a leading newspaper said on Monday.

"If Pakistani nationals are found to be involved in the attack, the information should be shared with Pakistani authorities as quickly as possible," the Dawn said in an editorial.

And then "reciprocal steps should be taken here", it said, referring to Pakistani.

"To thwart the political motives of terrorists, a sensible, cooperative approach by both governments should be key," it added.

Terrorists believed to be from Pakistan sneaked into the Indian Air Force (IAF) base at Pathankot on Saturday and killed seven security personnel. Four terrorists have been killed while two more are still believed to be holed up in one part of the sprawling complex.

The editorial said that while Pakistan-India ties were necessarily about a great deal more than terrorism, "the latter is perhaps the one threat that can derail the relationship yet again".

The Saturday attack comes soon after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dramatic two-hour visit to Lahore on Christmas Day where he met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

The Dawn praised the Pakistani government for quickly and unequivocally condemning the terror attack and offering its cooperation with India. "Yet, the challenges are formidable," it said.

"The hostile reaction by much of the Indian to the alleged involvement of Pakistanis in the attack even before the barest facts could be established underlines just how difficult peacemaking will be.

"Courageously, however, the Indian government has appeared to resist and hawkish pressure and declined to go into attack mode against Pakistan.

"It is all too easy to reap political capital in the midst of a major terrorist attack by targeting perceived external enemies.

"The preferable approach - one that hopefully the Indian government will continue to adopt in the days ahead - would be to quickly establish the facts.

"If no involvement of Pakistani nationals is found, the information should be shared with the Indian public," it said.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Monday made a telephone call to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and strongly condemned the terror attack in Pathankot that claimed the lives of seven security personnel. Ghani also briefed Modi on the attack on the Indian mission in Mazar-e-Sharif.

"He (Ghani) strongly condemned the cross-border terrorist attack in Pathankot and extended condolences at the loss of lives in the attack," the external affairs ministry said in a statement.

At least seven security personnel lost their lives and four terrorists were killed in Saturday's audacious attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

Ghani also briefed Modi on Sunday's terrorist attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in which two of the attackers were killed.

He also "expressed support at the loss of lives and property in the earthquake in India", the statement said.

An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale jolted the northeastern states and West Bengal early on Monday, killing five people in Manipur and injuring more than 60 across the region.

Thanking Ghani, Modi "expressed deep appreciation for the exemplary bravery and courage shown by the Afghan National Security Forces in thwarting the terrorist attack in Mazar-e-Sharif and ensuring security and safety of the Indian consulate and personnel", the statement said.

"The prime minister conveyed that India would always stand with the people of Afghanistan," it added.
Debutante Sayyeshaa, who has just wrapped up shooting for the first schedule of Ajay Devgn's "Shivaay", finds the "Singham" star's directorial skills impressive. She calls him an actor's director.

"Given Ajay sir's years of experience, he exactly knows what he wants from his actors. He has a knack for extracting the best out of his actors and that's what makes him an actor's director. He's a very talented director," Sayyeshaa told IANS.

While it's not easy to act as well as direct, it's a cakewalk for Devgn, according to Sayyeshaa.

"A lot of people find it difficult to act and direct at the same time. It must be very challenging. Ajay sir is comfortable switching hats; he makes everything look so easy. The minute we shoot a scene, he'd run and sit behind the monitor screen to check it," she said.

The young actress is in awe of the "multi-tasking skills" of Devgn, whom she finds mostly "calm" and "patient" on the sets.

She also finds Devgn to be an "organised" director.

"There's absolutely no room for confusion on the sets. Ajay sir is a very organised person and it reflects in his work. Everything is planned well in advance," she revealed.

Sayyeshaa considers herself extremely "lucky" to be part of the project.

"I've always been fond of Ajay sir. It feels so surreal to be part of his dream project and to be playing his heroine. I play a very different character," she said.

The film is tipped to be an intense action-drama. Sayyeshaa had fun shooting for a chase sequence in the first schedule.

"It was the first time I saw an action sequence being shot. The experience was amazing and it even got better when we shot for a chase sequence which included running and jumping. I wish I get to do some action, too," she added.

For the next schedule, Sayyeshaa will soon leave to Bulgaria, where the team will shoot for nearly two months.

The young actress has two more Hindi projects in her kitty. She's also in talks for a Telugu project with a leading star.

"One of the Hindi projects is with T Series. I'm really excited about my Telugu project but itas too early to reveal any information," she said.
Bollywood megastar Amitabh Bachchan, who is here to shoot "TE3N", says he felt the tremors that shook Inddia's northeastern region on Monday morning.

An earthquake measuring 6.7-magnitude on the Richter scale rocked northeastern states and adjoining countries like Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

"EARTHQUAKE! Felt it around 4.30 a.m. here in Kolkata, bed shook... I wondered... confirmed this morning...May all be safe! PRAYERS," the "Piku" actor posted on Twitter on Monday.

At least six people were killed and more than 50 injured due to the earthquake, according to an official, who added that the death toll is expected to rise.
Taiwanese tech giant ASUS on Monday launched in its ZenFone Max - a 4G-enabled smartphone with a powerful 5,000 mAH battery in India.

The pre-booking of the smartphone, which is best suited for people who demand a long-lasting battery life, opened at noon on Monday on e-commerce websites Amazon.in and Flipkart.com.

"Timed perfectly with the new year, ZenFone Max combines a powerful battery with an innovative camera making it the perfect utility product for users who demand performance at all times," Peter Chang, Region Head - South Asia and Country Manager for ASUS India said in a statement.

ZenFone Max's lithium-polymer battery offers 37.6 hours of 3G talk time, that is equivalent to 32.5 hours of Wi-Fi web browsing or 72.9 hours of music playback or 22.6 hours of video playback, when fully charged.

The 5.2 mm thin chassis of the ZenFone Max, which will be available at ASUS exclusive stores and other retailers from the second fortnight of January, packs a 13-megapixel primary and 5-megapixel front PixelMaster camera.

The primary camera has f/2.0-aperture lens with ultra-fast laser auto-focus that ensures crystal clear and stunning images and enables the phone to capture up to 400 percent brighter photos in low light conditions.

It uses the latest 4G LTE technology for high mobile data speeds and comes with a Qualcomm 8916 (Snapdragon 410) quad-core processor assisted by a 2 GB RAM and a 16 GB internal memory with an optional expandable memory of 64GB.

ZenFone Max also combines durability with a stunning display as it comes with ASUS TruVivid technology for the best clarity, brightness and touch response.

The ZenFone Max smartphone is priced at Rs. 9,999 in India.
A terrorist riding a car packed with explosives blew up at the gate of the Kabul international airport on Monday, killing himself, police said.

No other person was hurt in the blast, Xinhua news agency reported. This is the second suicide attack near the Kabul airport within a week.

In the previous suicide bombing on December 28, the bomber and a civilian were killed and 13 civilians were injured.
Bahrain on Monday announced that it was severing diplomatic ties with Iran, amid outrage over the Saudi execution of a Shia cleric.

Bahrain has also asked the Iranian diplomats to leave the kingdom within 48 hours, Xinhua news agency reported.

"Bahrain has decided to end diplomatic relations with Iran because of its continuous interference in the affairs of the kingdom, and also of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council)," state-run Bahrain News Agency quoted an official statement as saying.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia severed its diplomatic relations with Iran after angry protesters stormed its embassy in Tehran to protest over the execution of prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir accused the Iranian authorities of not taking any measure to prevent the attacks against the embassy in Tehran and the consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad.

On Saturday, the Saudi interior ministry announced that al-Nimr and 46 other men were executed on January 1 over terror charges.

The executions triggered angry protests outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran on Saturday by Iranians who condemned the execution of Nimr.

Most of the executed were Saudis who were involved in a series of attacks carried out by Al Qaeda from 2003-06.

Nimr was seen as a driving force behind anti-government protests that broke out in the country in 2011.
BBC and NTV Broadcasting Company, said to be the largest non-governmental TV network of Russia, will host shows on Kerala's nature, culture, and the mouth-watering cuisine for global audiences.

The shows -- "The Travel Show" on BBC World and "Let's go, let's eat" on NTV -- will be shot in different parts of Kerala as part of familiarisation trips organised by Kerala Tourism.

"Kerala Tourism regularly organises trips for renowned travel writers, journalists, TV crews and tour operators. As the New Year begins, we are privileged to host shows on two of the most popular channels," said Tourism Minister A.P. Anilkumar.

The BBC team with programme editor Mike London, producer Dawn Layke and presenter Henry Golding have arrived on a six-day tour of Kerala. They will check out the backwaters, homestays, and village life in Alappuzha and Kochi.

To highlight the aspect of responsible tourism, the TV crew will capture details on shell collection in Alappuzha, and study the nuances of Kathakali make-up in Kochi.

Kerala Tourism will organise a coconut tree climbing competition, which will also be filmed by the television crew.

The competition will be in two parts -- between traditional climbers and men versus machines.

Tourism Secretary G. Kamala Vardhana Rao, during a visit last year to London, met British parliament members to discuss tourism in Kerala and also visited BBC offices.

The NTV team of a culinary and ethnographic project will be in the state from January 15 to 18 and will cover places like Kochi, Kumarakom, Varkala and Thiruvananthapuram.

The NTV team comprises producer-director Abramov Alexander, presenter John Warren, scriptwriter Yuzefova Violetta, and cameramen Markin Artem and Pan Lev.
Belgian authorities on Monday lowered the level of terrorism-related security alert in capital Brussels.

Belgian news agency Belga quoted officials from the Coordinating Body for Threat Analysis as saying that the terror alert was reduced from level three to two, EFE news reported.

The alerts were issued following the terror attacks in Paris on November 13 that killed 130 people.

Belgian authorities on December 28, 2015, raised the alert level to three amid the real threat of attacks at the Grand Place in Brussels and at the police headquarters in the Belgian capital.

The streets of Brussels were on level-three alert, out of a scale of four levels, which means a military presence on the streets.

Belgian federal prosecution announced late December that a security operation was carried out in the capital, and resulted in several arrests that foiled attacks during the New Year celebrations in Brussels.

Despite these arrests, the Belgian capital preferred to suspend the traditional fireworks and public New Year's Eve celebrations as a precautionary measure.
Hyderabad-based startup Bulbulapps, which develops apps for pre-schoolers, on Monday announced successful funding of its kickstarter project.

Tuk-Tuk goes to Hyderabad, a travel app for kids, has received $2,000 ($133,000) from over 60 backers.

According to Bulbul apps founder Prakash Dantuluri, the target on crowd funding site Kickstarter was reached in just 25 days.

"We even got featured by Kickstarter under the 'new and worthy' category which gave us lot of visibility. There was tremendous interest from international backers as well," said Prakash.

Bulbulapps launched Tuk-Tuk goes to Mumbai a month ago. It will soon travel to New York, London, Dubai, Hong Kong and Tokyo cities in next six months.

The Tuk-Tuk travel app helps a pre-schooler discover his or her city in a three-wheeler in a visually and interactive manner.

The company, which so far developed 50 apps with collaboration of over 300 artists from around the world, raised $250,000 in angel rounds.
A war of words erupted between the BJP and the Congress on Monday over the Pathankot attack, with the opposition party questioning the government's handling of the threat to the nation's security and the ruling party hitting back saying the opposition should not politicise such a sensitive issue like terrorism.

"Intelligence report on a terror module's infiltration in Delhi, bomb scare on the Shatabdi Express train and all-round general security alert have created an atmosphere of insecurity, raising a question mark on the government's efficacy to neutralise the threat with the alacrity it deserves," Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken said in a statement here.

"Seemingly, there is a lack of 'command and control structure' within the government to deal with, take control of and direct elimination of the terror attack like the one in Pathankot," he added.

The main opposition party asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not describe as "Pakistanis" the terrorists who attacked the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot.

"Why is the prime minister giving a new description of terrorists as 'enemies of humanity' instead of describing them as Pakistani terrorists?" Maken asked.

"In one of the most sinister terror attack since 26/11 (the November 26, 2008 attack in Mumbai), Pakistani terrorists have committed a dastardly attack on India's security by storming the IAF base in Punjab, which is one of our principal first line of defence," he said.

The Congress also criticised the government for not convening a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to assess the situation.

"As expected, the prime minister should have convened a CCS meeting with all his ministers, monitor the situation and provide a clear-cut unified command to give a befitting reply to Pakistani terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan," the Congress leader said.

"Besides saving many lives in the process, Modi ji should have sent a strong message of reassurance qua security to all countrymen and a stern warning to those in Pakistan that is exporting terror modules into India," he added.

Taking a dig at Modi, Maken said: "Even as the neutralisation of terrorists at the Pathankot air base continued with our security forces fighting valiantly, Modi was propagating yoga to the gatherings in Karnataka."

He said Modi also addressed a press conference amid the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, when he was the Gujarat chief minister.

The BJP criticised the Congress for flaying the government.

"In the midst of the operation, the Congress criticism is unfortunate. It should not politicise the such a sensitive issue like terrorism," BJP national secretary Srikant Sharma told IANS.

"The menace of terrorism is four decades old and the NDA government has inherited it from the previous governments," he added.

Sharma also said the Congress has no moral right to question the Modi government and its poliicies against terrorism.

"Those who are responsible for the menace of terrorism have no moral right to question those trying to solve it," he said.

He also claimed that the government was a visible one and handled the Pathankot attack actively.

"The previous UPA regime's approach towards terrorism was casual whereas the present government is active and visible. There was an input from security agencies and the government handled the issue prudently," Sharma said.

On the Congress's criticism that Modi had addressed a press conference amid the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, he said: "We will respond to the Congress's allegation in their language at appropriate time."
Dubbing the fidayeen attack in Pathankot air base of Punjab as "one of the most sinister since 26/11" Mumbai terror attack, the Congress on Monday questioned the government's handling of the threat to the nation's security.

"Intelligence report on a terror module's infiltration in Delhi, bomb scare on the Shatabdi Express train and all-round general security alert have created an atmosphere of insecurity, raising question mark on the government's efficacy to neutralise the threat with the alacrity it deserves," Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken said in a statement here.

"Seemingly, there is a lack of 'command and control structure' within the government to deal with, take control of and direct elimination of the terror attack like the one in Pathankot," he added.

The main opposition party also asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not describe the terrorists who attacked the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot as Pakistanis.

"Why is the prime minister giving a new description of terrorists as 'enemies of humanity' instead of describing them as Pakistani terrorists?" Maken said.

"In one of the most sinister terror attack since 26/11 (November 26, 2008, in Mumbai), Pakistani terrorists have committed a dastardly attack on India's security by storming the IAF base in Punjab, which is one of our principal first line of defence," he said.

The Congress also criticised the government for not convening a meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) to assess the situation.

"As expected, the prime minister should have convened a CCS meeting with all his ministers, monitor the situation and provide a clear-cut unified command to give a befitting reply to Pakistani terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan," the Congress leader said.

"Besides saving many lives in the process, Modiji should have sent a strong message of reassurance qua security to all countrymen and a stern warning to those in Pakistan that is exporting terror modules into India," he added.

Taking a dig at Modi, Maken said: "Even as the neutralisation of terrorists at Pathankot airbase continued with our security forces fighting valiantly, Modi was propagating yoga to the gatherings in Karnataka."

He said Modi also addressed a press conference amid the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, when he was the chief minister of Gujarat.

"May we remind Modi that in the midst of the Mumbai terror attack, he reached the spots under attack and even held a press conference to criticise the then Congress government even as the attack was continuing?" he said.

"Why can't the same man now take control of the situation in Pathankot instead of shying away from defining the terrorists as Pakistanis?"

The Congress leader also took digs at Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Food Processing Minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal.

"Parrikar was preoccupied in his home state of Goa, as always. A usually out-of-loop (Rajnath) Singh first declared the operation to flush out terrorist successful through a tweet but after contradiction by his Home Secretary, he shockingly deleted his own tweet," he said.

"(Sushma) Swaraj, in the meanwhile, calls a meeting of ex-envoys. Complete disharmony and disjointed responses by those responsible for providing leadership in time of a serious terror attack speaks volumes about the political leadership as also the command and control structures within the government," Maken added.

Maken said even as security forces continued to battle militants, Harsimrat Kaur Badal released a press statement on Sunday evening congratulating the armed forces for successfully ending the operation.
The BJP on Monday criticised the Congress for flaying the government over the Pathankot terrorist attack, saying the opposition party should not politicise such a sensitive issue like terrorism.

"In the midst of the operation, the Congress criticism is unfortunate. It should not politicise such a sensitive issue like terrorism," BJP national secretary Srikant Sharma told IANS.

"The menace of terrorism is four decades old and the NDA government has inherited it from the previous governments," he added.

Sharma said the Congress has no moral right to question the Narendra Modi government and its poliicies against terrorism.

"Those who are responsible for the menace of terrorism have no moral right to question those trying to solve it," he said.

He also claimed that the government was a visible one and handled the Pathankot terrorist attack actively.

"The previous UPA regime's approach towards terrorism was casual whereas the present government is active and visible. There was an input from the security agencies and the government handled the issue prudently," Sharma said over the Congress questioning the government's handling of the threat to the nation's security.

On the Congress criticism that Modi addressed a press conference amid the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, when he was the Gujarat chief minister, he said: "We will respond to the Congress's allegation in their language at the appropriate time."

"This is not the right time to indulge in allegations and counter allegations. The country is standing behind the government and our armed forces," he added.

Dubbing the attack in Pathankot as "one of the most sinister since 26/11", the Congress questioned the government's handling of the threat to the nation's security.
Some Congress workers on Monday allegedly hurled eggs and tomatoes again at the car of Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Dasburma in Odisha's Ganjam district.

These people were protesting alleged irregularities in identification of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

They hurled eggs at the miniser's car near Chhatrapur College while Dasburma was on his way to Berhampur University to attend a programme.

"Egg pelting will continue in the coming days against the minister for large-scale irregularities in the NFSA," said Itish Pradhan, state president of National Students' Union of India (NSUI), a student organisation affiliated to the Congress.

This was for the second time that the minister faced such a situation in the past two days.

Shouting slogans against the minister and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik over large-scale irregularities in ration card allocation, Youth Congress leaders of Puri district on Sunday hurled eggs at the car of Dasburma at the Circuit House in Puri.

Dasburma said the Congress workers were acting at the behest of a former law maker of Congress in Puri district. But he did not divulging much about the incident.

Puri Sea Beach police on Monday arrested five Congress workers in connection with the egg pelting at the car of Dasburma.

Both the Bharatiya Janata Party and Congress are protesting the irregularities in distribution of ration cards under the NFSA in the state.
In the wake of the Pathankot terror attack, Bihar's ruling Janata Dal-United on Monday took a dig at Narendra Modi, saying the country needed a prime minister with a six-inch brain rather than a 56-inch chest.

"Our country does not need a prime minister with a 56-inch chest; what we need is a PM with six-inch brain," JD-U spokesperson Neeraj Kumar said.

The JD-U leader said the attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot town of Punjab had shocked and saddened the people across the country.

Neeraj said Modi had become an "item boy" of foreign policy.

"It is difficult to understand Modi's foreign policy. He has become an item boy of foreign policy," he said.

Neeraj Kumar, considered close to Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, alleged that Modi indulged in sycophancy with his Pakistan counterpart Nawaz Sharif for 120 minutes during his unscheduled visit to Lahore in December.

Addressing a Bharatiya Janata Party rally in Gorakhpur in Uttar Pradesh in January 2014, Modi had talked of 56-inch chest while taking a dig at Mulayam Singh Yadav regarding development of the latter's state.
It was a month of mixed luck for the Indian automobile makers during December 2015 with some logging positive sales growth while for some, sales went down compared to the volumes sold during December 2014.

Leading car maker Maruti Suzuki India Ltd last month sold 119,149 units during the month under review - up from an off-take of 109,791 units in the corresponding month of 2014.

"2015 was a year of transformation for Maruti Suzuki. The company set up premium channel Nexa for new products like S Cross and Baleno and launched hybrid Ciaz and Ertiga," said executive director, marketing and sales, R.S. Kalsi.

Similarly the second largest car maker in the country Hyundai Motor India reported eight percent overall growth - selling 64,135 units up from 59,391 units sold in December 2014.

"With strong performance of Grand i10, Elite i20 and Creta in December, Hyundai domestic volume grew by 28.8 percent with 41,861 units," said senior vice president, sales and marketing, Rakesh Srivastava.

Utility vehicles major Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd said it sold 37,915 units overall in December 2015 against 36,328 units in December 2014, a rise of 1,587 units in the period under review.

The Indian subsidiary of French car maker Renault India sold 10,292 units last month up from 3,956 units sold during the corresponding period in the previous year.

On the other hand, Tata Motors reported negative growth overall with its sales dropping by 6.24 percent at 35,416 units as compared to 37,776 units sold in December 2014.

"Last year, in the anticipation of increase in excise, effective 1st of January 2015, the sales in December 2014 increased unusually. Hence, this year the sales have been impacted due to a high base effect," it said.

Tata Motors logged marginal growth in the commercial vehicles segment while sales of passenger cars and utility vehicles came down last month.

Ford India cited the Chennai floods as the reason for its sales volume coming down last month to 10,865 units as against 14,401 units sold in December 2014.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor said factors like ban on registration of diesel vehicles with engine capacity over 2,000 cc in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR) and the floods in Chennai affected its December sales numbers.

The company sold 10,442 units last month compared to 11,738 units sold in December 2014, a drop of 1,296 units on a month-on-month basis.

In the two and three wheelers segment Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp reported negative sales while Eicher Motors showed growth.

Pune-based Bajaj Auto sold 289,003 units last month down from 289,244 units sold in December 2014.

TVS Motor closed last month with four percent sales growth at 202,086 units up from 194,481 units sold in December 2014.

Hero MotoCorp, the world's largest two-wheeler manufacturer, clocked 499,665 units of two-wheeler dispatches in December 2015 down from 526,097 units sold in December 2014.

High powered bike maker Eicher Motors closed last month logging 41 percent volume growth at 40,453 units.
All educational institutes in Manipur have been closed till January 11 following the terrible earthquake in the state, officials said on Monday.

Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, who visited the injured in the hospitals, said the government will extend all assistance to those affected by the disaster.

"Prime Minister Narendra Modi rang me up to say that funds will not stand in the way to provide relief measures to the people," he said.

"He had instructed Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is visiting the region, to monitor the relief work," he said.

M. Okendra, a Manipur government spokesman, said Rs.5 lakh would be given as compensation to the families of the dead.

Meanwhile, Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju rushed to Imphal from Arunachal Pradesh.

"The prime minister sent me to collect a report on the incident... There may be more casualties in the interior areas," Rijiju said.

Officials said there have been 14 aftershocks on Monday morning and Rapid Action Force personnel were working in all districts.

An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale jolted north-eastern states and West Bengal early on Monday, killing at least six people and injuring more than 60 across the region.

The quake had its epicentre in Manipur's Tamenglong district and occurred at 4.35 a.m., snapping power supply across the state.
The West Bengal government on Monday said elaborate arrangements were being made for the annual Gangasagar Fair, with high priority on security.

"We are expecting a huge turnout of pilgrims for the fair and elaborate arrangements have been made. Security is being given the highest priority," state Public Health Engineering Minister Subrata Mukherjee said.

Mukherjee said 12,000 toilets are being installed for the fair at Sagar Island, about 150 km from Kolkata, in South 24 Parganas district.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who chaired a meeting at the state secretariat for the fair, said pilgrims will be provided with an insurance of Rs.5,000.

She said floodlights will be installed across the ghats besides illuminating the venue with trident lights.

CCTV cameras are also being installed at strategic locations.

South 24 Parganas District Magistrate P.B. Salim said besides police, navy, coast guard and Border Security Force personnel would be deployed across the island while aerial surveillance will also be done.

Sagar Island sees a massive gathering of people every Makar Sankranti celebrated each year on January 14.
Prime Minister Voreqe Bainimarama has urged Fijians to join the pursuit to design a national flag that represents the new Fiji, the government-owned Fiji Broadcasting Corporation reported on Monday.

The Fijian government has further extended the feedback period for designs of the new national flag to February 29, Xinhua reported.

A number of new submissions have been received since the 23 designs were published last year, according to Bainimarama.

"The new time frame will be as follows: From 1st to the 19th of March 2016, five designs will be chosen, through the Prime Minister's Office, for you all to vote on," Bainimarama said.

"Members of the public will have three months to vote on the five designs through public consultations, social media and text messaging. It is expected that the design with the most votes will be announced on July 1 to be our new national flag," he said.

The new national flag is expected to be hoisted for the first time on September 7, the Pacific island country's Constitution Day.

Fiji gained independence on October 10, 1970 from British colonial rule, and the current Fijian national flag contains hefty British elements, including the national flag of the UK itself.

Last year, Bainimarama expressed the motive behind the change.

"The Union Flag belongs to the British, not to us. The shield on our flag has the British Lion and the Cross of St. George -- a British patron saint."

"What does this have to do with us? They are the symbols of the colonizer -- Britain -- a country with whom we are friends and will continue to be so. But they are not symbols that are relevant to any Fijian in the 21st century," he said.

"And they should go. Honoured symbols of our past, but not of our future."
An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale jolted north-eastern states and West Bengal early on Monday, killing five people in Manipur and injuring more than 60 across the region.

Those killed included four women, Manipur's Inspector General of Police Clay Khongsai told IANS. Rescuers worked furiously to rescue those trapped under mounds of debris.

Khongsai said several multi-storey buildings in Imphal collapsed while many vehicles were damaged. The death toll is expected to rise, an officer said in Imphal.

The quake had its epicentre in Manipur's Tamenglong district and occurred at 4.35 a.m., snapping power supply across the state.

It also shook Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and West Bengal, an official of the seismological centre in Meghalaya said. It was also felt in adjoining Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Imphal later felt an aftershock measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale.

Khongsai said the Emma market - the day market for women in Manipur - was badly damaged and cordoned off. "We are not allowing anyone to enter the market to prevent any loss of life.

"So far five deaths and 33 injuries have been reported from Imphal. Damages to a few buildings, residential units and government offices have been reported, including damage to a six-storey building," a home ministry statement said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh on phone. Ibobi Singh convened a cabinet meeting to review the situation.

Modi also asked Home Minister Rajnath Singh to oversee the situation.

In Guwahati, Rajnath Singh said all central assistance would be extended to the north-eastern states.

"The prime minister has asked me to coordinate with all the chief ministers in the region. I have spoken to almost all of them though I could not contact the Manipur chief minister.

"Manipur's chief secretary told me the damage is more in the state. The centre will extend all required assistance to the north-eastern states to deal with the crisis.

"I have also spoken to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoiji," said Rajnath Singh, on a two-day visit to Assam since Sunday.

A Guwahati report said at least 20 people suffered minor injuries as some buildings across Assam developed cracks due to the temblor.

Chief Executive Officer of Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) P.K. Tiwary said: "There are reports pouring in from different parts of the state about minor damage to buildings and houses. We are trying to verify the reports."

He said there was no major damage or any causality in Assam.

The earthquake jolted the northern parts of West Bengal, particularly the districts of Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling, leaving at least a dozen people injured.

In Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, at least two people were killed and 100 others injured. Many people rushed out of their homes in panic.

The home ministry said the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was coordinating with north-eastern states for rescue and relief.

"The NDMA has begun coordinating with the state governments, ministries of home affairs, defence, telecom, National Disaster Response Force, and government departments and agencies," a statement said.

India's north-east region is considered the sixth major earthquake-prone belt in the world. In September 2011, Sikkim suffered heavy damage following a quake.
Over 62 hours after suspected Pakistani terrorists raided the IAF base here killing seven security personnel and losing five of their own, senior officers said on Monday evening that they were still sensitizing the area for possible hidden attackers.

"The operations are still going on. We have been able to eliminate the fifth terrorist. Combing and search operations continue," Inspector General Major Gen Dushant Singh of the NSG told the media in the evening.

He said that security forces comprising NSG, the army, air force with its air and ground assets, police and intelligence agencies were working in sync to make the operation successful.

"All the assets of the air base, including personnel and families, have been secured and are safe," he said. "Given the magnitude of the base, the operations will continue till we are able to fully render it safe."

The terrorists infiltrated the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot before dawn on Saturday, leading to fierce gun battles with security forces. Four terrorists died on Saturday after 15 hours of fighting.

Seven security personnel, including an officer of the National Security Guards (NSG), an IAF Garud commando and five Defence Services Corps (DSC) personnel, were killed by the terrorists.

The United Jehad Council (UJC), an umbrella grouping of Kashmiri militant groups based in Pakistan, on Monday claimed responsibility for the attack.

The UJC, led by Syed Salahuddin, said the raid "was carried out by the national highway squad of the UJC".

The Dawn, a leading a Pakistani newspaper, on Monday urged Islamabad to act if it was proved that Pakistanis were involved in the terror attack.

Search and combing operations continued even on Monday evening, the third day of the attack.

Security forces moved to secure every inch of the air base. Occasional sound of firing and a blast was heard from inside earlier when it was suspected that two terrorists were still holed up.

Brigadier Anupinder Singh of the army said the terrorists were holed up in a double-storeyed building, a living accommodation of the IAF personnel. "The operations are on to clear this building."

Officers said the terrorists were well prepared and heavily armed and wanted to target strategic assets of the IAF at the base where a MIG-21 Bison fighter squadron and MI-35 attack helicopters are stationed.

A search was also on in nearby villages for possible terrorists.

Punjab Police on Monday arrested three men linked to smuggling gangs and recovered sophisticated weapons with Pakistani and Chinese markings from them.

NSG and army commandos conducted a thorough mopping of the entire area where the terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan and trained by the outlawed Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) outfit, had been cornered, police said.

IAF helicopters flew through the night over the base.

Twenty security personnel, including 12 from the NSG and eight from the IAF, have been injured. A grievously injured securityman was flown to Chandigarh.

On Monday, those killed by the terrorists were cremated with military honours.

Thousands paid tributes to NSG commando Lt. Col. Niranjan E.K. at his residence in Bommasandra in Bengaluru.

IAF Garud commando Gursewak Singh was cremated with military honours on Monday in his village Garnala in Haryana's Ambala district. Hundreds thronged the venue.

Gursewak Singh, 25, was killed on Saturday. The commando had got married only about 45 days back.

"I am proud of my son. He has laid down his life for the country," said Gursewak's father Sucha Singh, a former soldier.

In Punjab's Gurdaspur district, international-level shooting champion Subedar Major Fateh Singh was cremated with military honours. Breaking tradition, his daughter led the coffin bearers.

"I am proud of my father. He was a very brave man. Everyone should get a father like him," she said.

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal visited the families of Fateh Singh and Havildar Kulwant Singh in their native villages Jhandewal Khurd and Chak Sharif in Gurdaspur district.

The Punjab government urged New Delhi to accord "sensitive" status to areas along the international border with Pakistan in view of the recent attacks by Pakistani terrorists.
Security forces have killed five terrorists in the ongoing operations at the Pathankot Air Force Station (AFS), a senior official said on Monday.

"The operation is still going on. Five terrorists have been killed," Major General Dushant Singh of the NSG told the media here.

He said all assets of the Indian Air Force (IAF) inside the air base were safe.
Security forces have killed five terrorists in the ongoing operations at the Pathankot Air Force Station (AFS), a senior official said on Monday.

"The operations are still going on. We have been able to eliminate the fifth terrorist. Combing and search operations continue," Major General Dushant Singh of the National Security Guard (NSG) told media here.

"The security forces comprising NSG, along with the army which has major combat elements, air force has deployed all its assets. Police and intelligence agencies are also working in sync to make this operation successful," Masj. Gen. Singh said.

"All the assets of the air base, including personnel, families have been secured and are safe," he said, adding that given the magnitude, the operation "will continue to be conducted till we are able to fully render safe the base".

Terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, infiltrated into the air base in Pathankot early on Saturday which led to a fierce gunfight with security forces. Four terrorists were killed on Saturday.

Seven security personnel, including an officer of the NSG one IAF Garud commando, and five Defence Services Corps (DSC) personnel, were killed in the counter-offensive against the terrorists.
High winds and heavy rain have been battering Scotland, with dozens of flood warnings in place across the country, the media reported on Monday.

The Met Office has issued "be prepared" amber warnings for Moray, Aberdeenshire, Angus, Perthshire and Stirlingshire, BBC reported.

Many roads have been closed in Tayside with rising water across the region.

The historic Abergeldie Castle in Aberdeenshire has been left on the brink of collapse into a swollen river after intense flooding. The castle's owners were forced to evacuate the 16th century A-listed tower house on Sunday, after the River Dee swept away about 60ft (18m) of land behind the property, leaving it only a few feet from the water.

A further yellow warning for rain has been issued for Tuesday affecting Moray, Aberdeenshire, Tayside and Fife. The rain will also fall as snow at times above about 350m.

The Met Office warned of "ongoing disruption" from surface water flooding and some river flooding as well.

The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Sepa) has issued about 30 flood warnings.

Sepa has now added the Scottish Borders to its list of alerts, where flooding is possible, bringing the number of alerts to four.
Gunshots continued to ring out Monday at the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-e-Sharif city that a group of armed men attacked a day before, an official said.

Thw attackers had taken up positions in a residential home located in front of the consulate and were firing from there, Xinhua quoted the official as saying.

Without commenting on possible casualties, the official said security forces had tightened the siege and were trying to capture or kill the assailants.

Meanwhile, a security official told Xinhua that four security personnel and three civilians have sustained injuries during the gunfight.

No Indian has suffered in the incident and all of them have been evacuated to a safer place, the official added.

The number of attackers, according to the official, could be between eight to 12, all armed with assault rifles and suicide vests.

Indian diplomatic missions in Afghanistan have come under militant attacks earlier too. In 2008 and 2009, the embassy in Kabul was attacked, leaving dozens dead.

In May 2014, gunmen attacked the Indian consulate in Herat, while in August 2013, nine civilians died when the consulate in Jalalabad was targeted.
A petition was filed before the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court on Monday challenging the appointment of Uttar Pradesh's new police chief Javed Ahmad, on grounds he had superceded 13 Indian Police Service officials were senior to him.

In the petition, filed by social activist Nutan Thakur, it has been pleaded that Ahmad was given priority over these IPS officers in violation of the Supreme Court ruling in Prakash Singh vs Union of India case holding that the director general of police will be selected from amongst the three senior-most officers empanelled for promotion by the Union Public Service Commission on the basis of length of service, good record and range of experience.

The petitioner claimed the selection of the present DGP smacked of some wrong doing which appeared to be a quid pro quo.
The Delhi High Court on Monday sought a status report from the city government on a plea by former Haryana chief minister Om Prakash Chautala seeking two months parole for medical treatment.

Justice Ashutosh Kumar sought response from the Delhi government by January 29 while hearing the plea of 82-year-old Chautala, who is serving a 10-year jail term in the 2000 illegal teacher recruitment scam, for treatment for his polio-affected legs.

A special Central Bureau of Investigation court here on January 22, 2013 had sentenced the Chautalas and eight others to 10 years in jail after finding them guilty of illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained teachers in 2000.

The high court had upheld the punishment given by the trial court, while the Supreme Court on August 3 dismissed the plea of Chautala and his son Ajay Chautala, upholding their conviction and sentencing in the scam.

On September 8, Chautala had moved an application for grant of parole to the Tihar jail superintendent on medical grounds. On October 20, the Delhi government's home department dismissed the parole plea.
New Year resolutions are not as hard to stick to as people generally assume if you follow a few simple methods, says a psychology lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

One of the research-supported methods to stick to New Year's resolutions is to set goals with friends instead of going about it alone, said Lisa Williams in an article published recently in The Conversation, a news and commentary site.

"One research study found signing up for a weight-loss programme with friends and having that social support reinforced over time resulted in an increase from 75 percent to 95 percent in course completion. It even resulted in an increase from 24 percent to 66 percent in weight-loss maintenance, compared to signing up alone and receiving treatment not focused on social support," Williams said.

Another way to make resolutions work is to set a range for a goal, rather than making it specific.

"Research suggests that setting a range for a goal (planning to lose five to ten kilograms) rather than a specific target (aiming to lose eight kilos) will likely be more effective," she pointed out.

Williams also suggested that recommitting yourself to the goals at regular intervals -- for example, on first day of every month or first day of every week -- can boost your chances of achieving the goals that you have set for yourself.

"Clearly, the calendar itself can help in re-committing to goals. From this view, 'a case of the Mondays' could be the impetus to revisit the gym, shut off email in the evening, or trade spaghetti bolognese for salad," Williams noted.
A Indian Air Force personnel, who was arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan's ISI, was on Monday sent to 14 days' judicial custody by a court here.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal sent Ranjith K.K. to judicial custody after he was presented before him on expiry of his two-day police custody.

The court sent him to judicial custody after Delhi Police said he was not required for further custodial interrogation in the case.

Ranjith, who hails from Kerala, was arrested last month from the Bathinda air base in Punjab on charges of spying for Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence, police said.

An IAF official said Ranjith, who was a Leading Aircraftman with the Indian Air Force, was dismissed last week after evidence was found against him that he shared sensitive information with others.

According to Delhi Police Crime Branch officials, who are probing the espionage racket since the arrest of some people earlier this month, they have shared information with the IAF about Ranjith's suspected links with the ISI.

Ranjith was the sixth person to be arrested by Delhi Police in the espionage racket.

Five other people, including a serving and a former army personnel and a serving BSF personnel, were arrested earlier this month.
The Indian Air Force's quest for a Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) is finally over with the Indian government confirming the order for 36 Rafale jets with the French government.

According to sources, documents for the government-to-government deal were delivered by New Delhi to Paris on New Year's eve, and the agreement is on the same lines as that for the Mirage 2000 aircraft signed in the early 1980s. IAF will buy all the Rafale aircraft from Dassault, the French aircraft builder and integrator, in a flyaway condition.

As the deal is between governments, the French authorities will ensure that Dassault complies with the terms of reference as it has successfully done in the case of Mirage 2000 -- about 60 of which were delivered beginning 1985. The basic agreement was for 49 and 10 more were acquired later.

Significantly, this is the second deal for IAF - and Indian Army - within one week, the other being for Russian Kamov-31 helicopters signed on Christmas Eve with the Russian Government in Moscow during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit there. That deal involves substantial manufacture of these machines in India as the number is large -- more than 200.

It may be noted that originally IAF was to acquire 126 aircraft after the Rafale was selected in the MMRCA competition some time back, 18 in flyaway condition and 108 as progressively assembled and made in India by HAL under part Transfer of Technology (ToT). Private industry was to be involved, but HAL's share was negotiated as more than 70 percent.

There were a lot of hiccups, over costs of the aircraft -- over $100 million-plus per aircraft -- and offsets from the Indian side and responsibility over the quality of production in India from the French side. Finally, keeping in mind IAF's urgent requirements, the prime minister intervened to order 36 aircraft, or two squadrons, in a direct government-to-government deal during his visit to Paris in April.

This time, the deal involved no production in India but there were still some hiccups over the 50 percent stipulated offsets although aircraft costs would by and large have been the same as for the French Air Force (Armee de l'Air). Offset obligations would always be additional.

Modi, intervening again, spoke directly with French President Francois Hollande on telephone in early September, and expressed difficulty in concluding the deal without the offsets. Hollande graciously agreed, and IAF approved the deal in mid-December. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) delivered a copy of the Inter-Government Agreement in this regard through the established diplomatic channels just as the New Year was set to begin.

Under the deal, Dassault and its main partners -- engine-maker Safran and electronic systems-maker Thales -- will share some technology with DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and maybe some private sector companies and HAL under the offsets clause. Details are not known but as the aircraft have to be flown and maintained in India for at least three-to-four decades, a lot of information and technology upgrades will be needed to keep them operational.

The twin-engine Rafale combat jet is designed from the beginning as a multi-role fighter for air-to-air and air-to-ground attacks, is nuclear- capable and, thanks to its onboard Electronic Warfare (EW) systems, can also perform reconnaissance and radar jamming roles.

The deal involves delivery of aircraft to begin within three years of signing the agreement -- 2018-end in this case -- but French industry sources told this writer some time back in Paris that Dassault had started planning for the Indian order from mid-2015 itself, and "maybe the deliveries could be faster, if required".

Last year had been lucky for Dassault as the Rafale has also been selected by Egypt and Qatar, while the UAE is considering it seriously.

There are suddenly too many orders, and the only way to meet them is to divert the French Air Force requirements for the next few years. That is being done.

(Gulshan Luthra is editor of India Strategic. He can be contacted at gulshan.luthra@indiastrategic.in)
The Indian space agency is soon opening a 100-acre Space Park in Bengaluru where private industry players would be allowed to set up facilities to make subsystems and components for satellites, a top official said on Tuesday.

"The Space Park is coming up near Whitefield for the private industry. It is over 100 acres. It is likely to be inaugurated this month," Indian Space Research Centre's (Isro) Satellite Centre Director M Annadurai told IANS at the science congress here.

With the space agency launching more satellites for various communication and earth observation services like remote sensing and navigation, the park will enable the industry to manufacture and supply their subsystems and vital components faster for spacecraft assembled at its satellite centre in the tech hub.

Annadurai said: "We have told them (private firms) to increase their capacity building or join us at the Space Park and make components and other parts for our satellites, as they have been already using our own facilities."

As India plans to launch at least 10-12 satellites a year using heavy rockets to deploy them in the earth's lower or geo-stationary orbits for various applications and services, demand for subsystems and vital components for spacecraft to carry scientific instruments or transponders as payloads has shot up manifold.

"The space industry has to invest and build modular capacity to enable the country to launch as many satellites to meet the growing demand of the user industry, including the government, private organizations and overseas users," said Annadurai.

The satellite centre also plans to allow the private industry to make satellites end-to-end, including integration and testing for launching them from its spaceport at Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80 km northeast of Chennai.

"The Space Park will also contribute to the government's 'Make in India' initiative, as the private industry and (state-run) firms like HAL (Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd) have been helping us in making rockets and satellites over the years," Annadurai added.

The senior space scientist, who involved in the country's maiden lunar and Mars missions, addressed delegates and students on 'Space Science, Technology and Applications' at the plenary session of the five-day science congress in the campus of the University of Mysore here.

The space agency outsources about 80 per cent of its requirements for rockets and satellites to the private industry comprising about 500 small, medium and large units across the country for supplying structures, subsystems, components and parts.
Indian security forces succeeded in their mission to secure assets at the air base because of intelligence inputs, and most of the casualties were suffered only in a flash attack, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday.

"The main aim of security forces was to ensure there is no damage to the strategic assets and they succeeded in that. The second aim was to minimise damage, in which also they succeeded to great extent," Jaitley said.

The comments came as the operations continued, and a fifth terrorist was killed.

"Five personnel died in flash action, when the terrorists attacked first. Only one personnel was killed in the encounter that went on for two days. The Lieutenant Colonel (Niranjan E.K. of NSG) was killed in accident," said minister.

Jaitley was speaking after a meeting of the National Security Council, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The minister said the attack was carried out by 'fidayeen' or suicide squad.

Queried on the long time taken in the operation, the minister said it was due to the huge amount of explosives with the terrorists and the huge area of the base.

"Such operations continue for long time... the operations in Mumbai (26/11) also continued for a long time," the minister said drawing parallel.

"The reason why the operation is taking so long is because they had lots of explosives," he said.

Asked if there was an intelligence failure, the minister denied it.

"The intelligence inputs helped, that is why the attack was contained and the terrorists were contained far from the assets," Jaitley said.
India's maiden spacecraft to Mars is still groping around the red planet to locate methane gas in its atmosphere, a senior space scientist said on Monday.

"The Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) is yet to detect methane gas or find the exact source of it. I don't have an update on how much of science we have been able to find out," Indian space agency's former director S.K. Shivakumar told IANS at the 103rd Indian Science Congress here.

Though India was the first country to succeed in entering the Martian orbit in its maiden attempt on September 24, 2014, barring stunning pictures of the red planet, its 475kg orbiter with five scientific instruments on board is yet to relay substantial data or information on Mars' origin and evolution in the solar system.

"Being a technology person, I don't know what is its (MOM) current status," he said on the sidelines of a plenary session on 'Space Science, Technology and Applications', on second day of the five-day annual event at Manasagangotri campus of University of Mysore.

The Rs.450-crore mission was launched on November 5, 2013 from space port Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, about 80km northeast of Chennai, and reached the Martian orbit after a 10-month voyage through the inter-planetary space.

"As of Sunday evening and Monday morning, the orbiter is doing well, going around Mars, taking different set of pictures and whatever is required with its other payloads," Shivakumar said.

The orbiter's scientific instruments were built to study the red planet's surface, its mineral composition and scan its atmosphere for methane gas in search of life-sustaining elements for at least six months.

Surviving a solar eclipse and a 15-day blackout in June last year, the spacecraft is still elliptically orbiting around Mars even 28 months after it entered the Martian orbit.

"As the orbiter still has 37kg of fuel, it will continue to orbit around Mars as long as it can. Though built for six months, it is still alive and going on and on," Shivakumar added.

The spacecraft was under solar conjunction from June 8 when it went behind sun and away from the earth due to solar eclipse, which occurs once in 26 months over the red planet.

Though the orbiter's communication system was disrupted by the sun's corona (outer atmosphere) during the fortnight-long eclipse, it got activated and its scientific instruments resumed their activities after being on autonomous mode.

Orbiter takes 3.2 earth days or 72 hours, 51 minutes and 51 seconds to go around Mars once while orbiting at a distance of 500 km nearest and over 80,000 km at the farthest from its surface.
Islamic State (IS) militants on Monday clashed with guards near Libya's Sidra oil port, east of its Sirte stronghold, BBC reported.

Libyan news website Libya's Channel is tweeting that seven people have been killed in the fighting, including four IS militants.

Two members of the Libyan faction known as the Petrol Facilities Guard, which is defending Sidra, and one civilian have also been killed.

It is not clear how close the fighting is to the port, but IS has announced that it now controls Bin Jawad town and oilfields.

In December, France said IS was aiming to control Libya's oil wells.

IS has been operating in Libya for about a year.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering visiting the US, Canada and several European countries ahead of the G7 summit in May.

With Japan serving as Group of Seven (G-7) chair this year, Abe would use the visits to coordinate views with and seek cooperation from the leaders of the other six countries -- Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and the US -- on major issues that will be discussed at the summit. These include the fight against terrorism, the situations in the East China and South China seas, and the global economy.

The summit is scheduled to be held May 26-27 in Shima, Mie prefecture, the Japan Times reported.

If Abe attends the Nuclear Security Summit, which starts March 31 in Washington, he may also visit Canada on that trip.

Abe may then visit Britain, France, Germany and Italy, as well as Belgium, where the European Union has its headquarters, during the Golden Week holiday period starting in late April.

Sources said Abe will likely make a final decision on the timing of the visits while taking into account progress in the upcoming parliament debates on the fiscal 2016 budget.

Abe's possible visit to Russia for talks on the territorial dispute and a trilateral summit with China and South Korea could also affect the timing of the visits, the sources said.
The number of people killed in traffic accidents rose for the first time in 15 years in 2015, with seniors comprising the largest age bracket for fatalities, the Japanese National Police Agency said on Monday.

The agency said the death toll from last year totalled 4,117 people, rising 0.1 percent from a year earlier, with the police saying that Japan's rapidly ageing population is to blame for the rising death toll, Xinhua reported.

Those aged 65 or above comprised 54.6 percent of the total deaths in the recording year, which marks the highest percentage since comparable data became available in 1967, the agency said, with the number rising by 54 deaths to 2,247 traffic-related fatalities.

"We take the situation seriously and review the measures drastically," Taro Kono, chairman of the National Public Safety Commission supervising police forces, said.

The death toll from traffic accidents had been on a downward trajectory for 14 straight years till 2014.

The police agency said it now plans to introduce new measures to reduce the number of deaths in the senior age bracket by implementing more traffic education geared specifically toward Japan's growing numbers of senior citizens.

The government's goal of reducing traffic-related fatalities to less than 3,000 as laid out in 2011 has not been reached, but the agency said it is determined to tackle a new goal of reducing fatalities to 2,500 or less by 2020.

Overall traffic accidents across Japan totalled 536,789, with 665,126 people being injured as a result, marking a decline for the 11th consecutive year, the agency said.

Accidents connected to alcohol dropped for the fifth straight year, said the agency, to just over 200, marking a 10.6 percent drop and the lowest since comparable data became available in 1990.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday said he was aiming for early passage of a supplementary budget for this fiscal to take on new challenges in the new year.

Abe said his government had placed economy as its top priority for the past three years, and created a situation where Japan is no longer in deflation, public broadcaster NHK reported.

He said the global economy had become increasingly unpredictable and the world was struggling to find a way to sustain growth.

Abe said he wanted to make the upcoming G7 summit in Japan a momentum to tackle the future of the global economy.

On domestic matters, he stressed his government's commitment to addressing Japan's low birth-rate and aging population.

Abe said he will pursue three major policy targets. The first is increasing Japan's GDP to 600 trillion yen ($5 trillion). The second is raising the birth-rate per woman.

The third is to eliminate cases in which people have no choice but to leave their jobs to provide nursing care for ageing parents.
A man was killed and a child was injured in a shooting in Saudi Arabia's al-Awamiyah city, executed Shia cleric's hometown, Saudi police said on Monday.

The shooting occurred late Sunday night as the police officers came under fire from an unidentified source, Xinhua cited spokesperson for the Eastern province police as saying.

The killed man was identified as Ali Imran al-Dawood. His eight-year old son was taken to hospital and was in stable condition, said the spokesperson.

The case was under investigation, while hunting for the perpetrators was also underway, the spokesman said.

The shooting came just one day after the execution of a leading Saudi Shia cleric Nimer al-Nimer, an al-Awamiyah native, along with 46 others over terror charges.

Nimer was rather influential among the Kingdom's Shia minority, who mostly live in Al Qatif region.

The region has been known for disturbances as young Saudi Shia often demand more rights in the Sunni conservative monarch.

The execution has stoked criticisms among the Shia populations in the region, especially in Iran, where protesters stormed Riyadh's embassy in Tehran, and set it on fire, forcing Saudi diplomats to evacuate the country.

The Iranian government has arrested around 40 people who participated in ransacking the missions.

Also on Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced that it was severing ties with Iran over the attacks on its diplomatic missions. It also asked the Iranian diplomat to leave Riyadh.
The state government of Morelos in Mexico announced that it was interrogating the suspected murderers of Gisela Raquel Mota Ocampo, mayor of Temixco, who was assassinated a day after she took charge of the office.

Morelos governor Graco Ramirez on Sunday said the mayor was murdered on Saturday by an organised crime gang named "Los Rojos", Xinhua reported.

Mota Ocampo, who had only taken up her position as mayor on January 1, was killed in her house by a group of assassins.

The killers escaped in a van but police chased them, killing two of the suspects and capturing the other two.

According to Ramirez, "this was an act carried out by organised crime against constitutional order and democracy. Mota Ocampo was an honest and committed public servant."

The mayor belonged to the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution (PRD). After the attack, her aides called the police.

Since then, a security mechanism has been put in place to protect mayors across Morelos, including its capital Cuernavaca.

Also on Sunday, the state's public security commission confirmed that Mota Ocampo was killed by Los Rojos for refusing to ally with them. It added that the two captured suspects were a minor and a woman.
A local company in Myanmar has discovered a large offshore gas reserve off Ngwesaung Beach, Pathein in Ayeyawaddy region, an official report said on Monday.

At a location about 48 kms off the beach, the company found the gas reserve in a test well known as Shwe Yee Htun-1 at a depth of 5.3 kms below rotary table and two kms below the surface of the water, Xinhua reported.

The local company, the only independent energy company led by Myanmar nationals, began drilling the well in November 2015.

The country's oil and natural gas export earned over $4.6 billion in the fiscal year 2014-15, ranking first in the year.

The gas, produced from the Yadana, Shwe, Yetagun and Zawtika gas fields, were mainly exported to China and Thailand.

A number of companies from Britain, Australia, Japan, Italy and India last year signed production sharing contracts with Myanmar to explore oil and gas at blocks off Rakhine coast, Taninthayi coast and Mottama in south Andaman basin.

Myanmar has abundant natural gas resources especially in the offshore areas.

Foreign investment in Myanmar's oil and gas sector amounted to $19.641 billion as of the end of September 2015 since late 1988 when the country opened to such investment, accounting for 34.16 percent of the total and ranking first sectorally in the country's foreign investment line-up, statistics show.
A Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul was recalled before take-off after an unattended mobile phone found aboard here on Monday morning, officials said.

The mobile was found on a seat following which the flight, which had just been declared 'chocks off' was stopped before it could approach the runway for take-off.

There were 332 passengers on board the scheduled Mumbai-Istanbul flight Turkish Airlines 721, who were deboarded for investigation.

After a detailed security check, the flight scheduled to depart at 6.50 a.m. was finally cleared for take-off around 11 am today for the seven hour flight to the Turkish capital, the official said.
The Nepal government on Monday filed treason charges against three Madhesi activists for holding a mock referendum on 'Free Madhes'.

They were arrested from the south-eastern Nepali Siraha district on Saturday, and brought to Kathmandu for the filing of treason charges at a Special Court that looks after cases of treason and matters of national sensitivity.

According to the Alliance for Independent Madhes (AIM), among those charged were Sudipraj Kushwaha (26), who acted as the Election Officer, and Chandeshwar Mahato (60), who acted as international observer in the mock referendum held on December 26 in Siraha district. The third accused is Bishnudev Chaudhary, 35, a central member of the AIM.

The Alliance for Independent Madhes has been holding mock referendums for 'Free Madhes', as a form of peaceful protest, in the southern districts of Nepal.

In recent weeks, the government has intensified its brutal suppression against Madhesi activists through arbitrary arrests, torture and false charges, the alliance said adding that two other activists were arrested last year in November. They are still in jail.

The Nepal government has accused the alliance of hatching a conspiracy to split the country and said it is getting strong backing from C.R. Raut, a hardcore independent Madhes supporter.

Raut is advocating Swaraja, or self-governance, in Nepal's southern plains and has been holding a series of activities, protests and demonstrations. Raut once faced treason case but was released on bail later.

Nepal Police had also arrested over 100 'Free Madhes' activists in November from the Terai for launching the campaign.

AIM is a coalition of Madhesi people, activists, political parties and various social organisations working for the independence of Madhes, through non-violent and peaceful means following the principles of Gautam Buddha, Mahatma Gandhi and Nelson Mandela.

The alliance, that advocates "an end to Nepali colonisation, racism, slavery and discrimination" imposed on the Madhesis, stands for independent Madhes, democratic system, and peaceful and non-violent means.

Protests and demonstrations in Nepal's southern plains during the last more than four months have taken more than 55 lives and led to an embargo at key Nepal-India entry points.

"Acknowledging that the rights to freedom of speech, movement, peaceful assembly and association are the fundamental rights of all human beings everywhere, as also mandated by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), of which Nepal is a signatory, we expect acknowledgement and assurance of the rights to freedom of expression, movement and peaceful assembly from the state and its agencies," the AIM said in a statement.
The Supreme Court on Monday, for now, declined to pass any order on the central government's plea seeking continuation of 60 percent quota of seats in the elite Sanskriti school for the children of group A officers belonging to all India services like IAS, IFS, IPS and other central services.

A bench of Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Adarsh Kumar Goel appointed senior counsel Kapil Sibal as amicus curiae to assist it as it found that there was no respondent to contest the government's plea for restoration of 60 percent quota for the children of Group A officers that was struck down by Delhi High Court on November 6, 2015.

The bench directed the further hearing of the matter on January 7 when it would consider the government and Sanskriti School's plea for allowing it to continue with 60 percent reservation for admission for the academic year 2016-2017.

As Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi appearing for the central government urged the court to permit the "status quo" allowing the school to continue with the reservation, the court said that it would be hearing the plea for interim relief on January 7.

The Delhi High Court's November 6 order came after it examined the validity of the 60 percent quota of which it had taken suo motu cognizance in 2006.

Quashing the reservation, it had said: "Reserving seats for a particular branch of the Indian services disadvantages children of persons engaged in other branches of the Indian services."

The high court had also asked the government to see whether the Sanskriti School could be made a part of the existing Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

"The state cannot provide funds to any private individual to establish a school for an elite segment of society," it had remarked.

On Monday, Rohtagi, telling the apex court that group A officers of All India Services formed a class for themselves, noted that it was a misnomer to call them elite, as by virtue of their being repeatedly transferred, what is sought to be projected as an elite status has become non-elite.

Saying that to convert Sanskriti School - located in the national capital's diplomatic enclave - into a Kendriya Vidyalaya, as directed by the high court would have "far reaching effect", he said that "it was set up for a purpose. It was not set up to grab the land or grab profits".

It is a school that is run by the wives of the senior bureaucrats with the wife of the cabinet secretary being its principal, he told the court.

Appearing for the Sanskriti School, senior counsel K.K.Venugopal assailed the high court verdict saying that since the school got land and building free from the government, therefore it was akin to the state.

As Justice Goel observed that Sanskriti School was "100 percent state", he said that it was being run by the wives of the bureaucrats.

"Instead of husbands, it is wives," Justice Goel said, in an indirect reference to the real power behind the school.

The school was allotted land at a premium of Re.1 and rent of Re.1 per annum. The government had also declared that various government agencies and ministries donated Rs.15.94 crore to the managing society for setting up the school.
Moroccan model Nora Fatehi, whose journey on "Bigg Boss Nau" has come to an end, says she is happy to have found some true friends on the reality show, where celebrities are mostly known for engaging in fights.

Nora, who entered the house as a wildcard contestant, believes she did well in the show despite being there only for a short duration.

"I am glad that I could display my dance talent and my conviction during tasks. I went inside the house to have fun and spruce up the drama with as much positivity as possible and I think I have been successful in doing that," Nora said in a statement.

Actor Suyyash Rai was also evicted from the show after a 12-week stint, on Sunday.

Both Nora and Suyyash were low on votes as compared to other celebrity inmates like Rishabh Sinha, Mandana Karimi, Keith Sequeira and Prince Narula.

"I have found real friends in Prince, Kishwer Merchant and Suyyash and firmly believe that Prince will be the winner of this season," Nora, who spent only three weeks in the show, said.

"Bigg Boss Nau", hosted by Salman Khan, is aired on channel Colors. The show features celebrities locked inside an isolated house, where they are kept under 24*7 camera surveillance and assigned various tasks.
Militants from northeast India, including Tripura, have their camps in Bangladesh despite the Bangladesh government being pro-active against them, Tripura Chief Minister Manik Sarkar said here on Monday.

Praising Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina-led Bangladesh government for taking action against terrorism, Sarkar said: "Security forces in Bangladesh with the instructions from their government are always pro-active to flush-out militants belonging to Tripura and other northeastern states and their camps in that country."

"However, there were terrorist camps in Bangladesh territory. There are 16 to 19 camps of Tripura militants in that country. The present government in Bangladesh is always trying to flush out the Indian militants in their territory."

"The security forces of Bangladesh are taking steps so that the militants are compelled to leave their territory," Sarkar said while addressing the security forces in connection with the ongoing Police Week that began Sunday.

He said Indian militants, taking advantage of the absence of Bangladeshi security forces in some of the mountainous and bordering areas, have been using remote areas, particularly in the hilly Chittagong Hill Tracts. They continue their activities, including arms training of their cadres.

Sarkar, who holds the state home ministry portfolio, said: "We cannot claim that we are successful in curbing militancy entirely in our state because there are still a few hideouts within our state too."

"Occasionally due to pressure of the Bangladesh security forces the militants temporarily shift from their camps but return to their original place once the security forces have moved away. Such hide-and-seek activities are going on and we are aware of them."

Sarkar said: "Even today in our state there are youths who are being misled to join into terrorism and we have to be vigilant on these acts. We have to ensure that the terrorist outfits do not disrupt peace, development and unity in our state and for that the security forces have to increase their vigil."

Director General of Tripura Police K. Nagaraj told media that there are 16 militant outfits in Bangladesh and a safe house somewhere in Dhaka, capital city of Bangladesh.

"We came to know about the militants' camps in Bangladesh after interrogating the surrendered or arrested militants besides intelligence inputs," he said.

"There was not a single militancy related incident in Tripura in the just ended year," he added.
The body of Lt. Col. E.K. Niranjan of the National Security Guard, who was killed in the counter-offensive against terrorists at the Pathankot air base, arrived at his ancestral home near here on Monday evening.

The body was flown in a helicopter from Bengaluru, while his close relatives and colleagues came in another chopper to his Elumbulsherry village in Palakkad district.

Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will be arriving on Monday night to pay his last respects to the officer.

The village continues to remain in shock ever since news came of Niranjan's death following fatal injuries suffered while defusing a grenade during the Pathankot terror attack.

Even though Niranjan was bought up in Bengaluru, where he did his schooling and college education, he maintained close links with the village and was last here during the Onam season.

Villagers turned out in large numbers to receive the body and were also seen at his home.

The body will be kept at a state-run school on Tuesday morning and will be cremated with full state honours in the afternoon.

Niranjan is survived by his dentist wife Radhika, 18-month-old daughter Vismaya, father Sivarajan, step-mother and brother Shashank.

The Kerala cabinet that meets on Wednesday will decide on how to compensate the family. The Karnataka government has announced a Rs.30 lakh compensation.
The United Jehad Council (UJC), an umbrella grouping of Kashmiri militant groups based in Pakistan, on Monday claimed responsibility for the terror attack on the IAF base in Punjab.

The UJC, which is led by Syed Salahuddin, said the Saturday attack on the base at Pathankot "was carried out by the national highway squad of the UJC".

The attack left seven security personnel dead and five terrorists dead.

Syed Sadaqat Hussain, who claimed to be a spokesman of the conglomerate of guerrilla groups based in Muzaffarabad in Pakistani Kashmir, said this in a statement mailed to Kashmir Media Network news agency.

"India is suffering from Pakistan phobia and has been blaming every attack by the freedom fighters of Kashmir on Pakistan," the statement said.
Weeks after refusing to accept $30,000 donated by Magsaysay Award winner Sanjiv Chaturvedi, the Prime Minister's Office has finally accepted the donation and thanked him for the contribution.

"We acknowledge with thanks the generous contribution forwarded towards the Prime Minister's National Relief Fund (PMNRF)," the PMO said in a letter to the 2002-batch Indian Forest Service officer of the Haryana cadre.

"Prime Minister appreciated this thoughtful gesture and conveys his gratitude. This valuable contribution will be of immense help in providing assistance to the persons in distress," it added.

Earlier, the PMO refused to accept the donation and said that the PMNRF cannot accept funds with conditions. However, Chaturvedi in his reply to the PMO clarified he never imposed any conditions while donating the money.

Chaturvedi - who won the 2015 Magsaysay Award for his "exemplary courage" in exposing corruption - decided to donate his award money to the PMNRF after All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, under the union health ministry, allegedly stonewalled his donation that he meant to be used for the treatment of cancer patients.

He is currently a deputy secretary at AIIMS, having been removed from the post of Chief Vigilance Officer (CVO) of the institute in August 2014, much before the completion of his tenure in 2016.
The cyber cell of the Bihar Police has begun a probe into the use of social networking site Facebook by jailed gangster Santosh Jha, police said on Monday.

Jha's role is in question over the sensational killing of two engineers of a private road construction company allegedly for not paying ransom last month, police said.

Jha, currently lodged in Gaya central jail, is a Maoist-turned gangster. He is wanted in over 40 criminal cases and was arrested by a Bihar Police team from Kolkata in 2014.

He has been regularly updating his Facebook and he is in contact with his shooters and other member of his gang through it.

Mukesh Pathak, main accused in killing of two engineers, is Jha's friend on Facebook.

Jha's sharp shooter Pathak, who was lodged in the Sheohar jail until July last year, had escaped from Sheohar hospital while undergoing treatment there. After that he is leading the gang's operations, allegedly at Jha's behest.

"After we got information that Jha is on Facebook, cyber cell has began a probe into who is updating his Facebook account. It is not sure whether Jha was using Facebook from behind the bars," DIG Saran Ajit Kumar Rai said.

According to police, Jha is wanted in many cases including murder, kidnapping, extortion and land mine explosion.

Jha, a resident of Bihar's Sheohar district, raised the private army Parshuram Sena and targetted road contractors in Bihar and businessmen in Nepal, police said.
Urging the government to allow natural gas pricing freedom to existing fields like KG-D6 in the eastern offshore, the Petroleum Federation Of India (PetroFed) has said a capped price equivalent to the imported cost should also be allowed to existing fields.

"The existing Production Sharing Contract provisions regarding gas pricing should be followed in letter and spirit and the gas pricing should be determined on arm's length basis by competitive market forces," PetroFed, whose members include state-run ONGC and private players like Reliance Industries, said in their comments on ministry's consultation paper on a new contractual regime for gas produced from fields awarded in future.

"Such pricing is reflective and responsive to demand-supply dynamics," PetroFed said in their comments, copies of which sources made available to reporters here on Monday.

"To put a cap on gas price it may be considered permissible up to the maximum of import parity price of LNG in the country," it added.

In November, the government circulated a consultation paper inviting comments, about easing doing business in exploration that proposed to free domestic natural gas pricing and replace the existing production sharing contract by the revenue-sharing model for all future hydrocarbon acreage auctions.

The existing production sharing contracts (PSCs) for blocks like KG-D6 and KG-DWN-98/2 provides for pricing the gas on an arms-length basis through the competitive bidding route.

"In addition to natural gas, there should be pricing and marketing freedom for all forms of hydrocarbons," Petrofed said.

In September, the government approved auction of 69 small and marginal oil and gas fields on a new revenue sharing model, where bidders will quote the revenue they will share with the government at both low and high ends of the price and production band. The new model will replace the controversial PSCs - by which oil and gas blocks are awarded to those firms which show they will do maximum work on a block - that has governed bidding under the earlier nine New Exploration Licensing Policy rounds.

"The operator/consortium should have freedom in marketing of gas without any constraint. There should, therefore, not be any allocation of produced gas and if required, it should only be a percentage of the production," PetroFed said.

"The cost of offshore transportation of gas from well head to shore location for shallow/deep offshore blocks and other costs towards processing to meet customer specification should be rationalized and added to the cost of gas," it added.

The price of domestic natural gas fell this year on applying the NDA government's new formula for calculation, and was cut 18 percent, from $4.66 per unit to $3.82 per unit, for six months starting October 1.

Major players engaged in exploration activity in India have been seeking pricing freedom as the current rates make new investments unviable.
Diversified conglomerate Punj Lloyd on Monday informed that it has bagged four highway development projects worth Rs.1,555 crore.

"These prestigious projects fall under the National Highways Development Project (NHDP), phase IV to widen major highways in India to a higher standard," said Shantanu Karkun, president and chief executive for buildings and infrastructure with Punj Lloyd.

According to the company, the new projects are spread across Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Odisha and Punjab.

"The projects in Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Odisha have been awarded to Punj Lloyd by the National Highways Authority of India (NHAI)," the company was quoted in a regulatory filing to the stock exchanges.

"While the order in Punjab has been won from the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORTH)."

The company's Bihar project worth Rs.567 crore entails four-laning of 60 km of the Simaria-Khagaria section of NH (national highway) 31.

"The Chhattisgarh package, worth Rs.513 crore, comprises the four/six-laning of 48 km of the Raipur-Simga section of NH 200 in the state of Chhattisgarh," the regulatory filing said.

"This contract includes the bypass and 22 supporting structures like flyover, vehicular underpass (VUP) and bridges."

The company cited that the Chhattisgarh section of NH-200 is a major power hub of India connecting the state capital, Raipur to Bilaspur through various industrial and commercial establishments.

In Odisha, the company has been awarded a contract worth Rs.392 crore for four laning with paved shoulders of 50 km of NH 6 section between Talebani and Sambalpur.

"The fourth contract in Punjab, won in joint venture with VRC Constructions has been awarded for four laning with paved side shoulders of 35 km of the Tallewal-Barnala section of the NH 71," the regulatory filing elaborated.

"The Barnala bypass and 13 other supporting infrastructure including flyovers, VUP/passenger underpass (PUP), road over bridge (ROB) and bridges, also fall under Punj Lloyd's scope of work."

The company disclosed that with addition of these four new projects, the Group's order backlog stood at Rs.21,838 crore.
The Punjab government on Monday urged the Centre to accord "sensitive" status to areas along the international border with Pakistan in view of recent attacks by Pakistani terrorists.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal told the media here on Monday that the Punjab government will demand sensitive status for the international border on the lines of neighbouring Jammu-Kashmir.

"We want thick security cover for Punjab's international border, the way it has been done for the Jammu-Kashmir international border," Badal said.

"In order to strengthen security along the international borders of Punjab in Pathankot, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Fazilka and Ferozepur districts, the state will demand from the central government deployment of more battalions of the BSF," he said.

Badal added that the Punjab government was also chalking out a strategy to prepare a second line of defence along the Pakistan border.

Terrorists attacked the Pathankot Air Force Station early on Saturday. Four terrorists have been killed. Security forces lost seven personnel in the counter offensive.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday assured of all central assistance to the north-eastern states in the wake of an earthquake in Manipur early morning.

"The prime minister has asked me to coordinate with all the chief ministers of the north-eastern states. I have spoken to almost all of them. However, I could not contact the Manipur chief minister (Okram Ibobi Singh). The Manipur chief secretary told me the damage is more in the state. The Centre will extend all required assistance to the north-eastern states to deal with the crisis," the minister told the media here.

"I have also spoken to Assam Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi-ji and taken stock of the situation," Rajnath Singh, on a two-day visit to Assam since Sunday, said.

A 6.7-magnitude earthquake shook the north-eastern region of India and neighbouring countries around 4.35 a.m. on Monday.

While the temblor shook most north-eastern states, it is feared to have caused more damage in Manipur although the exact loss is yet to be ascertained.

The Manipur government's officials said at least four people died while around 50 people were injured.

Rajnath Singh arrived in Silchar in Assam's Barak Valley on Sunday and inspected the Indo-Bangladesh border at Steamerghat border outpost on the international border and addressed a public rally there.

He is scheduled to visit the Sonahat border outpost in Dhubri sector on the India-Bangladesh border on Monday and is likely to address a public rally in Dhubri before returning to New Delhi on Monday evening.
Saudi Arabia snapped diplomatic ties with Iran and asked all Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours, the media reported.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said he has informed the UN Security Council of the attack on the Saudi diplomatic mission in Iran late Saturday, and added that the Saudi diplomats from the mission had safely reached Dubai, the UAE, Xinhua reported.

He accused the Iranian authorities of not taking any measures to prevent the attacks against the embassy in Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad.

Late Saturday, angry Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi diplomatic mission to protest the Saudi execution of 47 individuals on terrorism charges, including a Saudi Shia cleric, Nimr al-Nimr.

The attacks violated international agreements, al-Jubeir said, who also cited the Iranians' previous attacks on the US and British embassies.

He accused Iran of providing protection for Al-Qaeda through weapon trafficking.

For his part, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani used the word "inhuman" to strongly denounce the Saudi execution.

He also urged relevant Iranian departments to prosecute those "extremist individuals" who attacked the embassy and the Saudi consulate in the city of Mashhad.

Though Saudi Arabia has cut diplomatic ties with Iran, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian responded that Riyadh's move will by no way cover up "its major mistake of executing Sheikh Nimr".

Iran's top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei predicted "divine vengeance" for al-Nimr's execution.

In the Middle East, tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia have lasted for decades. The Saudi Shia cleric's execution further intensified the rivalry.

Al-Nimr's execution by Saudi Arabia led to a series of protests in Shia-majority countries across the Middle East.

Iraq expressed anger over Riyadh's execution. Iraqi top Shia cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani slammed the execution as an "unjust aggression".

In Istanbul, people gathered outside Saudi Arabia's consulate holding posters of al-Nimr, and shouted "Saudi Arabia will pay the price."

Some Western countries also voiced their concern about al-Nimr's execution.

Washington said that in order to ease tension, it hoped regional leaders could deepen diplomatic ties and take "affirmative steps."

"We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," said an official of US President Barack Obama's administration.

On Sunday, France showed its grief over the mass execution and restated that France would stand against death penalty "in all places and circumstances."
The Shiv Sena on Monday sought divine intervention to "save the limbs" of noted litterateur Shripal Sabnis, who last week criticized Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Sabnis, president of the upcoming 18th All India Marathi Literary Conference (AIMLC) in Pune from January 15, remarked about Modi's stopover in Lahore and his role in the 2002 Gujarat riots.

Livid Bharatiya Janata Party activists reacted by threatening to break Sabnis' limbs and kill him, prompting the retired college principal to lodge a complaint with police.

On Sunday, Minister of State for Home Ram Shinde assured full protection to Sabnis and his family, now reportedly confined to his Pune home.

In an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamana, the Sena pointed out how Sabnis said at a college meeting that Modi was tainted by the events of Godhra, which sparked off the Gujarat riots.

"If Modi had been attacked in Pakistan, we would have been compelled to pay tributes to him before (eminent Marathi poet) Mangesh Padgaonkar (who died on December 30)," he added.

"We are opposed to this type of objectionable references to the PM... Sabnis should have stuck to clean and decent language. How can he say that Modi's visit to Pakistan was a security risk? Similarly, the courts will decide whether or not Modi is tainted by the Godhra (incidents)," the Sena said.

"Modi returned safely from Lahore, but now we are paying condolences to Indian soldiers martyred in the Pathankot... Sabnis must consider all these things before saying anything, especially since he is the head of the literary conference," rebuked the Sena.

Referring to the threats by BJP activists, the edit said that after the Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis offered security to Pakistani ex-foreign minister Khurshid M. Kasuri and ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali, it was his (Fadnavis') responsibility "to save Sabnis' life and limbs now".

The party, an ally of the BJP nationally and in Maharashtra, prayed to Goddess Jagdamba to protect Sabnis from the BJP' wrath.
Police in California arrested an 18-year-old man, accused of robbery, after he exchanged a Snapchat selfie he took with one of the victims.

Police arrested Victor Almanza-Martinez and are searching for two other suspects believed to have taken part in an armed robbery, newsinfo.inquirer.net reported on Sunday.

According to police, Almanza-Martinez and his two accomplices approached four victims on Wednesday at Lover Point Park in California and allegedly robbed them of their belongings, including a car.

Before leaving the spot, Almanza-Martinez and a female victim exchanged Snapchat information and posed for a selfie together.

Police said the selfie helped them track down Almanza-Martinez who has been charged with armed robbery and kidnapping and is being held at the Monterey County Jail.
At least seven people were killed and over 100 injured when an earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale rocked Manipur and other northeastern states before dawn on Monday. West Bengal too was hit, as was neighbouring Bangladesh where five deaths took place.

The toll in Manipur could rise even as rescue operations were on, officials said. The quake snapped power supply across the state, felled multi-storeyed buildings in state capital Imphal and damaged many vehicles.

Those killed included four women, Manipur's Inspector General of Police Clay Khongsai told IANS.

"The toll has risen to seven and 69 people have been injured," principal secretary in-charge of home Suresh Babu told IANS in Imphal.

"There has been a lot of damage in Imphal. It is difficult for us to assess the total damage at the moment but the district administrations are on the job," he said.

The quake, with epicentre in Manipur's Tamenglong district, took place at 4.35 a.m. It was also felt in Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Tripura besides Myanmar and Bhutan.

In Tamenglong, Babu said four people were seriously injured at Noney village. Officials said there were 14 aftershocks on Monday morning.

The Indian Air Force flew a National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team from Guwahati to Imphal, and to Silchar in Barak Valley of Assam with 3.5 tonnes of rescue equipment.

"We have stationed an NDRF team at Imphal and Tamenglong to deal with the rescue and search operation," an official said.

Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh, who chaired an emergency cabinet meet, said the government has taken all steps to deal with the disaster.

The government would pay an ex-gratia of Rs.5 lakh each to the families of those killed and pay for the medical treatment of the injured, Education Minister M. Okendro said.

All schools will be closed for seven days to assess damage to the buildings in order to ensure safety of the student community.

The Ima Keithel -- the day market for mothers in Manipur -- would be renovated as it was badly damaged, the minister said.

Telecommunication and electricity services were badly disrupted in the affected areas.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Ibobi Singh, and urged Home Minister Rajnath Singh, who is in Assam and who personally felt the quake, to oversee the situation.

Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju flew to Imphal from Arunachal Pradesh.

"Once a report is received, the central government will come out with assistance. There may be more casualties in the interior areas," he said.

Bangladeshi news portal bdnews24 reported five deaths in Bangladesh and injuries to numerous people.

People who fled their homes in panic remained on the streets, fearing aftershocks. Many recited verses from the Quran.

In Guwahati, Rajnath Singh said all central assistance would be extended to the northeastern states.

"Manipur's chief secretary told me the damage is more in the state. The Centre will extend all required assistance to the northeastern states to deal with the crisis."

In New Delhi, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) coordinated with northeastern states and the ministries of home affairs and defence and other agencies, a home ministry statement said.

A Guwahati report said at least 20 people suffered minor injuries as some buildings across Assam developed cracks.

At least 12 people were injured in northern West Bengal's Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling districts.

India's northeast is considered the sixth major earthquake-prone belt in the world. In September 2011, Sikkim suffered heavy damage as a quake hit the state.

Monday's temblor occurred as a result of a strike-slip faulting (vertical or nearly vertical fractures where the blocks have mostly moved horizontally) in the boundary region between India and the Eurasian plate in southeast Asia, according to the USGS.
The Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) on Monday demanded a law to put an end to jokes on racial, religious and regional lines in the country.

The Sikh organisation's representatives will soon meet union Minister of State for Home Affairs Kiren Rijiju to seek his support for a complete ban on such jokes, DSGMC president Manjit Singh G.K. said in a statement here.

The demanded law should be formulated on the pattern of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes Act in force in the country as well as the anti-bullying law in various European countries, he added.

The DSGMC leader said a battery of top lawyers in the country would be hired to fight the case in the Supreme Court to seek a ban on Sikh jokes.

A Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice T.S. Thakur on Monday admitted a petition filed by advocate Harvinder Chaudhary that sought a ban on Sikh jokes, he said.

The DSGMC has sought the services of legal luminaries like Ram Jethmalani and R.S. Suri and retired justice R.S. Sodhi for effective presentation of the community's case before the apex court.

"The Sikh body has approached communities facing ridicule due to such jokes in the country so as to forge a grand alliance for fighting the case in the Supreme Court," Manjit Singh added.
An earthquake measuring 6.7 on the Richter scale jolted the northeastern states and West Bengal early on Monday, killing six people in Manipur and injuring more than 60 across the region.

Five deaths were also reported from Dhaka, the Bangladesh capital.

Four of the five killed in Manipur were women, Inspector General of Police Clay Khongsai told IANS. Rescuers worked furiously to rescue those trapped under mounds of debris.

A statement from the central government put the Manipur toll at six.

Khongsai said several multi-storeyed buildings in Imphal collapsed while many vehicles were damaged.

The toll might go up as information was expected from interior areas, an officer said in Imphal.

The quake had its epicentre in Manipur's Tamenglong district and occurred at 4.35 a.m., snapping power supply across the state.

It also shook Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram, Tripura and West Bengal. It was also felt in adjoining Myanmar, Bangladesh and Bhutan.

Imphal later felt an aftershock measuring 3.6 on the Richter scale.

Khongsai said the Emma market -- the day market for women in Manipur -- was badly damaged. "We are not allowing anyone to enter the market to prevent any loss of life.

"Damages to a few buildings, residential units and government offices have been reported, including damage to a six-storey building," a home ministry statement said.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Manipur Chief Minister Okram Ibobi Singh over phone.

In Guwahati, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said all central assistance would be extended to the northeastern states.

"The prime minister has asked me to coordinate with all the chief ministers.

"Manipur's chief secretary told me the damage is more in the state. The centre will extend all required assistance to the north-eastern states to deal with the crisis."

A Guwahati report said at least 20 people suffered minor injuries as some buildings across Assam developed cracks due to the temblor.

Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) CEO P.K. Tiwary said: "There are reports pouring in from different parts of the state about minor damage to buildings and houses. We are trying to verify the reports."

He said there was no major damage or any casualty in Assam.

The earthquake jolted the northern parts of West Bengal, particularly the districts of Jalpaiguri and Darjeeling, leaving at least a dozen people injured.

Eight people were hospitalised in Siliguri and four in Jalpaiguri.

In Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, five people were killed and about 100 injured, bdnews24 reported. Many people rushed out of their homes in the city in panic.

The home ministry said the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was coordinating with northeastern states for rescue and relief.

"The NDMA has begun coordinating with the state governments, ministries of home affairs, defence, telecom, National Disaster Response Force, and government departments and agencies," a statement said.

India's northeast is considered the sixth major earthquake-prone belt in the world. In September 2011, Sikkim suffered heavy damage following a quake.
Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Monday paid homage to the seven security personnel killed during the gunfight with terrorists at the frontline air force base in Pathankot in Punjab.

She also expressed concern for the safety of families and strategic assets of the Indian Air Force at the base.

Sonia Gandhi salutes the valour of our security forces and pays homage to the seven martyrs, who made the supreme sacrifice while neutralising Pakistani terrorists in Pathankot, a Congress statement said here.

She hoped that the central government was seized of the serious internal security situation amid intelligence reports of more terrorist modules and will take all necessary steps to neutralise the terror threats, besides ensuring adequate security of citizens and strategic assets, the statement added.

Five terrorists have been killed by security forces at the airbase till now in an operation in which the National Security Guard, Indian Army and IAF commandos are involved, assisted by IAF helicopters.

An NSG officer, one IAF Garud commando and five Defence Services Corps personnel were killed by the terrorists.

Twenty personnel, including 12 from the NSG and eight from the IAF, were injured. A grievously injured securityman was flown to Chandigarh for treatment on Sunday.
India's telecom regulator on Monday said it will come out with the recommendations on the reserve prices of different airwaves band by middle of January.

Participating in an open house discussion on Monday regarding the reserve price of spectrum bands for the next round of auctioning, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman R.S.Sharma said their recommendation on the reserve price can be expected by the middle of the month.

He said that the meeting with the industry stakeholders was productive.

The department of telecommunication (DoT) had sought the recommendation, and industry stakeholders need to post their comments on the open house discussion by January 7.

The TRAI has initiated the process to firm up reserve prices for the 700, 800, 900, 1800, 2100, 2300 and 2500 MHz spectrum bands which provide 2G, 3G and 4G telecom services.

The consultation paper floated by TRAI touched on key issues like quantum of spectrum to be auctioned, spectrum cap, spectrum block size, roll-out obligations, and methods to be used for valuation and estimation of reserve price.
The national human rights commission in Sri Lanka on Monday proposed abolishing the death penalty, officials said.

In a letter to President Maithripala Sirisena, the Human Rights Commission said it is imperative for Sri Lanka to conform to the growing global recognition that the death penalty, which seriously violates several human rights including the right to life and freedom from cruel and inhuman punishment, is an extreme and irreversible punishment and is ineffective as a deterrent to crime, Xinhua news agency reported.

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka is to advise and assist the government in formulating legislation and directives and procedures in furtherance of the promotion and protection of fundamental rights, and to make recommendations to the government regarding measures which should be taken to ensure that national laws and administrative practices are in accordance with international human rights norms and standards.

Whilst appreciating that successive governments in Sri Lanka have not implemented the death penalty, the Commission notes that courts continue to impose the death penalty under several statutes which provide for the imposition of the death penalty.
Sudan on Monday expelled the Iranian ambassador, hours after Bahrain cut its ties with Tehran amid outrage over the Saudi execution of a Shia cleric.

The Saudi side was informed of the decision in a phone call from Sudan's Minister of State and Director of the President's Office Taha Osman al-Hussein with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince and Minister of Defence Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Xinhua news agency reported.

Sudan also decided to expel the whole Iranian diplomatic mission and withdraw its envoy from Tehran.

In the call, the Sudanese official stressed his country's condemnation of the Iranian interference in the Arab region and inaction to protect the Saudi Embassy and Consulate in Iran.

Sudan's decision to cut the relations with Iran was preceded by a similar action from Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia cut off its diplomatic relations with Iran after angry protesters stormed its embassy in Tehran to protest at the execution of prominent Shiia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

On Saturday, the Saudi interior ministry announced that al-Nimr and 46 other men were executed on January 1 over terror charges. Most of the executed were Saudis who were involved in a series of attacks carried out by Al Qaeda from 2003-06.

Nimr was seen as a driving force behind anti-government protests that broke out in the country in 2011.

Earlier on Monday, Bahrain announced it was severing diplomatic ties with Tehran.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa on Monday filed defamation cases against dailies Dinamalar (Tamil) and Times of India (English) for their reportage on the reasons for the Chennai floods.

The case was filed by the city public prosecutor on behalf of Jayalalithaa, said Jaya TV.

According to the petition, the two newspapers published news reports defamatory of the state government and Jayalalithaa even after a clarification issued by Chief Secretary K.Gnanadesikan on the process followed while opening the sluice gates of the Chembarambakkam lake and the reason for Chennai going under water last month.

The news papers had reported that the opening of lake gates to let out the surplus water was delayed due to bureaucratic red tape.

Refuting the allegations, Gnanadesikan, in a statement on December 13, said the flooding of Chennai city was not due to official indecision or mismanagement of release of water from the Chembarambakkam lake into the Adyar river, and was caused primarily due to the very high rainfall in November, which was followed by more rain in Chennai, Kanchipuram and Tiruvallur districts on December 1.
Thousands of people paid tributes to martyred National Security Guard (NSG) commando Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan E.K. on Monday at his residence in Bommasandra in Bengaluru.

Paying his respects to 34-year-old Niranjan, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said, "We have to be united to end terrorism, then only India can develop."

"Even as the prime minister visited Lahore (Pakistan) to extend a hand of friendship, it is painful to know that seven of our soldiers were martyred. We cannot evaluate their services to the country," added Siddaramaiah, laying a wreath on Niranjan's body.

Siddaramaiah declared a compensation of Rs.30 lakh for Niranjan's family.

Union Minister of Chemicals and Fertilizers Ananth Kumar also paid respects to Niranjan and said, "We have sent a strong message to Pakistan to refrain from using its soil to launch attacks on India."

The NSG bomb disposal expert's body was shifted to Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) ground to facilitate more people to pay their respects. His father Sivaranjan worked with BEL.

Niranjan's body was flown to Bengaluru's Kempegowda International Airport around 1 a.m. on Tuesday.

He died of fatal injuries suffered while defusing a grenade in the terrorist attack in Pathankot on Sunday.

"I am familiar with Baghavad Gita. I consider my brother Arjuna. My brother had struggled a lot to become Lieutenant Colonel and sacrificed a lot," said Niranjan's teacher-sister Bhagyalakshmi.

Niranjan is survived by his dentist wife Radhika, 18-month-old daughter Vismaya, father Sivarajan, step-mother and brother Shashank.

The final rites of Niranjan will be held at Elumbulsherry village in Palakkad district, Kerala, around 10 a.m. on Wednesday.

Niranjan's body has been shifted to Jalahalli airstrip to be flown to his ancestral place in Kerala by Tuesday afternoon.

Kerala Chief Minister Oomen Chandy is expected to attend the funeral ceremony on Tuesday, said an army official overseeing the arrangements.

Niranjan's death comes after Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan's martyrdom during 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks in 2008. Both of them belonged to Bengaluru.
Three men allegedly involved in smuggling were arrested and foreign-made weapons and a Pakistani SIM card seized from them, Punjab Police said on Monday.

A 9 mm sten gun, two 9 mm pistols, two .30-bore pistols, one airgun, 190 live cartridges and 31 mobile phones were seized from Gurjant Singh, Sandip Singh and Jatinder Singh.

While Gurjant Singh and Sandip Singh are from the border district of Tarn Taran, Jatinder Singh is from Ludhiana district, police officer Gurpreet Singh Bhullar told the media.

The three were arrested from Kharar town, 18 km from here, in S.A.S. district.

The weapons bear markings of China, Pakistan and Brazil, including the sten gun with a double magazine, informed sources said. A Pakistani SIM card and a Maruti Swift car were also seized.

Bhullar said the three men were part of a gang involved in robbery, dacoity and smuggling.
Three Sunni mosques were bombed in Iraq's Babil province, two days after the execution of a prominent Shia cleric in Saudi Arabia, a provincial security source said on Monday.

The attacks occurred late Sunday night when gunmen wearing military uniforms bombed a Sunni mosque in the city of Hilla, some 100 km south of Baghdad, Xinhua reported.

Another group detonated bombs at a mosque in the village of Sinjar, just north of Hilla, and at a third mosque in the town of Iskandriyah, some 50 km north of Hilla, the source said.

Iraqi security forces immediately cordoned off the site and intensified security measures for fear of reprisal attacks between the Sunni and Shia communities in the province.

The incident came as outrage flared among Shia Muslims on Saturday immediately after the Saudi interior ministry announced the execution of 47 people on terrorist charges, including prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

After the execution, Iraqi Shia officials and politicians condemned the implementation of the death sentence against al-Nimr and accused Saudi Arabia of intending to fuel sectarian strife in the region.
At least two million sets of personal data were stolen or feared leaked from 140 companies and other organisations in Japan that were hit by cyber attacks in 2015, the media reported on Monday.

Of the 140 victims, 75 said they noticed the data breaches only after police or another outside group alerted them.

The victims consist of 69 private companies, 49 government agencies and their affiliates, and 22 universities, the Japan Times reported.

Among the remaining 65 organisations, 40 said they discovered on their own that they had been targeted.

The Japan Pension Service, operator of the country's public pension programme, incurred the largest data theft - about 1.25 million sets of ID numbers, names, addresses and birthdates.

Security experts warned that the figures are "just the tip of the iceberg" and there could be many organisations that were victimised and do not even know it.

Printing company and website producer Seki Co. in Matsuyama, Ehime Prefecture, said there is a possibility that up to 267,000 data sets - including credit card information - could have been stolen from a server for the websites of 17 companies.

Confectionery company Chateraise Co. in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, said some 210,000 personal data sets were possibly leaked, while model manufacturer Tamiya Inc. in the city of Shizuoka said 107,000 may have been stolen.

Thirty-two organisations were confirmed to have come under DDoS attacks, or distributed denial of service, which are intended to paralyze a targeted website by overwhelming it with much higher than normal traffic from multiple sources.

The DDoS attacks are suspected to have been carried out against the official website of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe by the Anonymous hacker group in a sign of protest at Japan's plan to resume research whaling in Antarctica.

The website became temporarily inaccessible last month.
Riyadh, Jan 4 (IANS/WAM) The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Monday decided to downgrade its diplomatic relations with Iran to that of charge d' affaires-level and to require a reduction in the number of Iranian diplomats stationed in the UAE.

A foreign affairs ministry statement said that Saif Al Zaabi, the UAE Ambassador in Tehran, has been summoned home, in accordance with this decision.

"This exceptional step has been taken in the light of Iran's continuous interference in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states, which has reached unprecedented levels," the statement said.

The ministry statement emphasised that positive and natural relations between states should be based on mutual respect for the sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs.

On Saturday, the Saudi interior ministry announced that prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr and 46 other men were executed on terror charges.

Earlier in the day, Bahrain, a key Saudi ally, said it followed Riyadh to cut its diplomatic ties with Iran and gave all Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country.

On Sunday, the UAE summoned Iranian Ambassador Mohammad Reza Fayyad to protest at Iran's "interference" in Saudi Arabia's affairs and the attacks on the headquarters of the Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad.

--IANS/WAM

ksk/dg
The first Nanjing Massacre-themed museum in the United States, the L.A. Memorial Hall of American Heroes during Nanjing Massacre, has opened in Los Angeles.

The memorial hall was inaugurated on December 31, 2015 -- the year marking the 70th anniversary of the WWII victory -- and honours 22 Americans who risked their lives to stay on in Nanjing and help the Chinese people during the massacre in the eastern Chinese city of Nanjing by the Japanese army, Xinhua reported.

From December 13, 1937 to late January 1938, more than 300,000 Chinese civilians and unarmed soldiers were killed in a bloody massacre carried out by Japanese soldiers after the city fell to the Japanese army.

One of the photos displayed at the memorial hall shows Dr. Robert O. Wilson -- a surgeon at the American-administered University Hospital --treating a 14-year-old boy in Gulou Hospital. The boy was seriously stabbed in his right leg by the bayonet of a Japanese soldier.

Wilson, the only foreign surgeon present during the Nanjing Massacre, saved thousands of Chinese people, according to his daughter Marge Garrett.

With 335 photos, 94 historical objects and 115 books and videos on display, the memorial hall will try to show the world the truth about the Nanjing Massacre.

"There are many people in the world who do not know about the historical fact of the Nanjing Massacre, especially people overseas. So we need to not only inform people in China, more importantly, we have to let people outside China know about the truth," said Zhu Chengshan, co-curator of the memorial hall.
The Supreme Court on Monday said that while private airlines were prospering, Air India was running into losses and wondered who should be held accountable for the mess inflicting the national carrier.

"While private airlines are prospering, Air India is going into red. Who should be held responsible for Air India mess? There are so many stories going around," observed a bench of Chief Justice T.S.Thakur, Justice A.K.Sikri and Justice R. Banumathi.

The court's observation came in the course of the hearing of a plea by Air India against the Himachal Pradesh High Court's December 7 order asking it to commence flights on trial basis connecting Shimla with Delhi by air.

Appearing for the national carrier, Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar told the court that the flight connecting Shimla with Delhi was not economical as there were 12 to 15 one way passengers only, and that Shimla airport did not have refuelling facilities.

Apparently unimpressed, the court said that "you have already constructed an airport, probably spending Rs. 100 crores, now you can't say that there is no refuelling facilities".

While extending its December 16 order of status quo the court issued notice to the civil aviation ministry, the Airports Authority of India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, and the Himachal Pradesh government.

The apex court on December 16, while directing the hearing of the matter on January 4 had ordered status quo thereby putting on hold the December 7 high court direction to Air India to undertake for trial flights.

Notice has also been issued to PIL petitioner Paras Daulta on whose public interest suit the high court had on December 7 Aasked to Air India to undertake trial flight from Shimla's Jubbarhatti airport and Delhi.

The matter will come up for hearing on February 16.
Prime Minister Narendra Modis address to the Indian Science Congress at Mysuru on Sunday comes in the context of various controversies over knowledge drawn from classical texts, including his own reference in the past to plastic surgery in ancient India. But, there can be no quarrel with the PMs assertion that the country must bridge the distance between traditional knowledge and modern science and must also use scientific techniques and methods to delve deeper into traditional medicines and practices like Yoga. The discipline of scientific enquiry will remain central, and traditional knowledge must be subject to the scientific method. In fact, since the prime minister has also mentioned issues like treatment and wellness, it will be a great gain if large clinical trials are run to validate traditional remedies. Some of what traditional medicine has to offer is so obviously useful that its efficacy is simply waiting to be recorded and documented in a manner acceptable to modern science.

Mr Modi has also underlined the commitment of his government to the revival of rivers and securing their future. Signalling a shift in paradigm, he has said that they are the soul of nature which has to be sustained, and man is part of nature, not superior to it. The implication is that the role of the civil engineer changing geography belongs to the last century. If this is indeed a paradigm shift, then it must be considered necessary also to discard at the highest level the ill-conceived idea of his ministerial colleague, of building several barrages across the Ganga. Such action, if undertaken, will take away whatever little life is still left in the river. In fact, the highest priority should be given to the idea of ensuring an abiral nirmal dhara which also includes the resolve not to dump waste in the river.

What the prime minister did not touch upon is the fact that the Indian scientific effort has a long way to go. How far the distance is can be gauged from the wide difference between India and China on several parameters like spending on research and development (R&D), research papers published and patent applications filed. China is now among the global leaders in the design and manufacture of smart phones, solar panels and high-speed trains. India has a lot of catching up to do  and both the government and the private sector have a role to play. Both must spend more on R&D, and the latter must tie it up with innovative efforts to gain global competitiveness. Making such efforts in generic pharmaceuticals and information technology solutions is not good enough. As for the productivity of government scientific establishments, which leaves a lot to be desired, the promise of a scientific audit should be followed through rigorously. The hierarchical culture in many government laboratories needs to be addressed. Innovative methods must be found to stimulate R&D. Providing tax incentives that are easily misused is not a sustainable solution; R&D superpowers like Germany have practically no such incentives. There are few alternatives to strengthening government-funded basic science and creating an ecosystem around that, which privileges intellectual property rights and innovation.
This title, borrowed from a comment posted on Twitter after the Pathankot attack, accurately sums up Prime Minister Narendra Modis current predicament. His bold opening to Pakistan last week, which shifted the moribund peace dialogue from the morgue to intensive care, depends upon peace  both on the Indo-Pakistan border, and in the relative absence of terrorist strikes originating from Pakistan. But, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Dovals inept handling has transformed what should have been a short, intelligence-driven, counter-terrorist operation into something that increasingly seems like a debacle. For the peace dialogue to continue, India cannot afford to gift an aura of success to the terrorist spoilers, who will inevitably follow up with further strikes. If only for our own sake, India must competently defend itself.

Providentially, the jihadis, who entered Pathankot Air Base and killed seven security men and injured another 20, have not achieved their main aim  which was clearly to derail the peace dialogue even before a preliminary meeting between Indias and Pakistans foreign secretaries in mid-January. If talks remain on track, it is because both sides have demonstrated unusual restraint. Mr Modi blamed the incident on enemies of humanity who cant see India progress. And Pakistans foreign office condemned the terrorist attack and proposed to partner with India... to completely eradicate the menace of terrorism afflicting our region.



Yet, it was a close run thing. Had the terrorists inflicted mass casualties in the family lines, or entered the technical area and blown up some fighter aircraft, Indias forbearance would have been seriously strained. By good luck Indias intelligence agencies were forewarned on Friday, the day before the attack, by telephone calls the terrorists foolishly made to Pakistan. This intelligence, which went straight up to the NSA, provided precious hours to beef up security at potential terrorist targets  a list headed by the Pathankot Air Base. The means for this were readily available from the nearby Pathankot cantonment, Indias biggest, which houses two infantry divisions and two armoured brigades (over 50,000 troops). Yet, when the NSA met the army chief on Friday, he asked for only two columns of soldiers (some 50 troops). Intent on directly controlling what he anticipated would be a walk in the park, and without anticipating that there might be more than one group of terrorists, Mr Doval led with his trump card  he ordered 150-160 National Security Guard (NSG) troopers to be flown down immediately from New Delhi. The army was placed on the side-lines.

In effect, knowing that armed terrorists were prowling the vicinity, the NSA left the Pathankot Air Base in the hands of Defence Security Corps (DSC) jawans; a handful of air force Garud commandos; and the NSG contingent. The DSC, composed of retired military veterans well past their prime, can hardly repulse a well-equipped and motivated terrorist suicide squad. The NSG is not a first responder, and is neither trained nor equipped to protect sprawling air bases; it is meant for pinpoint operations like hostage rescue or flushing out terrorists holed up in a house. As for the Garuds, even the air force has not been able to adequately clarify what they are meant for. The army, which flushes militants out of large forests every day in Jammu & Kashmir, was given a peripheral role. Only when things started going wrong was the army asked for more troops. Although six army columns (150 soldiers) were eventually deployed, it was never in command of the operations.

It is revealing that not a single Pathankot casualty is from the army. The hapless DSC jawans took most of the casualties. The NSG took unacceptable losses, including an officer killed from a booby-trapped terrorist body. The army knows this ploy well and approaches terrorist bodies in J&K with caution, knowing the jihadis dying act could have been to activate a grenade and lie on it.

But in New Delhi, the flawed initial allocation of resources set the stage for further bumbling. Eager to crown Mr Doval with credit, even before the operation was done, his cultivated troupe of journalist cheerleaders began tweeting his brilliance. A sample tweet: Ajit Doval take a bow. Superb counter action, moved NSG on Fri(day) brilliant synergy. Another: Hats off to those in nat(ional) security/int(elligence) op(eration)s/ military/Punjab pol(ice) who havent winked in past 24 hours to exterminate the vermin 4rm (from) across.



Perhaps taken in by this drivel, which was being corroborated by credit-seeking air force commanders on the ground, top political leaders joined the premature victory chorus. Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted at 6.50 pm on Saturday: The nation is proud of its brave security forces who have always rose (sic) to the occasion. I salute our forces on successful operation in Pkot (Pathankot). At 9 pm, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar joined him in saluting the martyrs. At 10.05 pm on Saturday, the prime minister tweeted with finality: In Pathankot today, our security forces once again demonstrated their valour. I salute their sacrifice.



It took just a few bursts of terrorist fire in Pathankot on Sunday morning for these sonorous statesmen to be unmasked as national security amateurs. Stepping in to explain the continuing casualties that day, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi  clearly a votary of the police tradition of throwing troopers into action without training or equipment  declared the Pathankot attack was not a security lapse, because when weapons are in use, [a] few security personnel are bound to be injured.



This attack comes on the heels of dialogue resumption, exactly as predicted by analysts in both India and Pakistan. It underlines the fact that New Delhis penchant for calling off talks in response to a serious terrorist strike provides an attractive incentive to jihadi groups to launch such strikes. After all, terrorist groups stand to lose the most from improved Indo-Pakistan relations. New Delhi must state clearly that it will continue talks through even the most heinous terrorist attack  and through the inevitable Indian response that will follow such an attack. Currently, the possibility of an Indian military response against terrorists does not deter them, since this capability is not evident. If Mr Doval wishes to provide real options to his boss, he must stop dabbling in day-to-day intelligence operations and, instead, coordinate the development of strike options that are a viable alternative to stalling the dialogue (yawn from Islamabad) yet again.
The Natco Pharma stock has been moving up on the back of positive news flow in recent weeks. In December, the company settled with global branded-drug makers for two launches in the US, besides, receiving approval for two Hepatitis C drug launches in India.

In the domestic market, sales are shaping up well, led by oncology and Hepatitis treatment products. Natco Pharma had reported seven per cent revenue growth, led by generics of the Hepatitis C drug that contributed about 28 per cent of revenue in the September quarter. During the financial yearsfirst half, the product had contributed about Rs 90 crore and Natcos management expects close to Rs 20 crore a month from the drug. The new launches will add to this growth. Analysts at Edelweiss say in India, the companys first mover advantage in the Hepatitis C franchise will sustain, yielding handsome benefits.

For the US markets, Natco has also settled for launch of generics of anti-viral Tamiflu, early next year, besides, anti-cancer drug Revlimid with Celgene, thereby ensuring a launch in March 2022. While the opportunity is long-term, it strengthens the pipeline. The differentiated pipeline is likely to keep its valuations buoyant. The stock at Rs 567 has more than doubled in a year. Analysts at IIFL believe pending US approvals of large drugs like Copaxone (multiple sclerosis) and Tamiflu (anti-viral) provide robust revenue visibility, along with superior margins over the next two to three years.

Analysts at Edelweiss say while Copaxone 20 mg is a strong near-term opportunity, the product pipeline has adequate firepower to boost profits multi-fold over the next few years, even if Copaxone profits ebb.

IIFL analysts estimate Natco to clock 39 per cent revenue and 51 per cent earnings per share annually over FY15-18 period aided by a 550 basis points expansion in margin.
Is the Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) in West Bengal ready to extend an olive branch to the Congress? At a programme to mark 50 years of the CPI-M mouthpiece, Ganashakti, the party's state secretary, Surjya Kanta Mishra, urged people to fight the Trinamool government "together", irrespective of "the political flag" they held. Politburo member Biman Bose echoed similar sentiments. He said the CPI-M had failed to bring the Left Front and secular parties outside it on to a common platform. "I call upon all of them to join us in fighting this government," he said.
An escalation of the diplomatic dispute between Iran and Saudi Arabia looks like a black swan event for the oil market: hard to predict, but potentially huge in its effects. Open conflict between the two Middle East powers would threaten nearly one-fifth of world oil supplies, shipped daily through the Strait of Hormuz.

Relations between the two Middle Eastern countries were already at boiling point before Saudi Arabia executed the Shi'ite cleric and outspoken critic of the kingdom's royal family Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. The two countries are fighting proxy wars in Syria and Yemen, and Saudi Arabia's strategy of pushing down the oil price through increased production counts producer Iran among its unhappy victims. The severing of diplomatic ties following the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran on Januar 3 has raised the chances of open conflict between the two states.

Were a war to break out between Saudi and Iran, Tehran's most obvious way of hurting its rival would be to cut off oil exports from the Gulf passing through the Strait of Hormuz. Record global stockpiles would start to drain away if the flow of tankers carrying about 17 million barrels per day (bpd) of crude through the 21-mile wide channel -which separates Iran from the Arabian Peninsula - were interrupted by armed conflict in the Gulf. The kingdom's close allies in the Gulf, who also oppose Iran extending its influence in the region, would also be squeezed.

Both sides would lose, but Iran less so. According to the US Department of Energy, Saudi Arabia could divert just under a third of its 7.2 million bpd of crude exports away from the Gulf chokepoint. However, the loss of exports would still severely test Saudi Arabia's economy. By contrast, since it is restrained by international sanctions - which could be lifted this year - Iran is exporting just 1.4 million bpd through Hormuz. Iran has already been forced to adjust to years of lost oil income.

Where does that leave the oil market? While the conflict between the two states remains indirect, it means more of the same low prices. But any escalation still has the potential to send prices rocketing back towards $100 per barrel, putting the risk emphatically on the upside.
Once the counter-terror operation at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot is well and truly over, questions will and must be asked and answered about how it was handled. Given that India was fortunate this time, and two separate pieces of intelligence were apparently available between 24 and 12 hours prior to the attack about the nature of the attackers and their likely target, the length of the operation and the loss of security personnel's lives must give rise to some serious soul-searching and the need to fix accountability. This is not the first time in recent years that a small group of jihadis has crossed the international border in this area and targeted a security installation. Certainly, it is a relief that - unlike in some similar attacks in Pakistan - air assets were not destroyed. But that is not enough. If errors were made in the handling of the situation, then they must be identified, and procedures put in place to prevent their happening again. One important area of focus must be whether or not the operational command of the counter-terror operation was sufficiently streamlined, in order to avoid the confusions that have marred this and similar operations all the way back to 26/11. Another series of questions the government must ask itself is whether its handling of the news about the attack is up to the mark. Timely, transparent and single-source briefings would have helped disperse much of the uninformed commentary occurring while the attack was on.

There are two larger questions that must be dealt with. The first is the question of India's own operational preparedness for such attacks, beyond any errors committed in this particular instance. If attacks such as the one in Pathankot are going to be a new template for jihadi groups operating out of Pakistan, what is the mechanism by which security installations near the border will be better secured? Clearly, relying on the Defence Security Corps, made up largely of superannuated service men, is not enough. Closer coordination will also be needed with local state police forces and the Border Security Force.

Second, what happens to the dialogue process between India and Pakistan? After all, this has just been given a kick-start at the highest level by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, through his unannounced stop-over at Lahore on Christmas Day. Surely, when the decision to do so was taken, it was done with a clear-eyed acknowledgement of the likelihood that anti-India forces within the Pakistani security establishment would try to scuttle dialogue by using jihadi proxies. The Pathankot attack was just a realisation of that expectation, as was the nearly-simultaneous attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif, Afghanistan. Given this reality, a demand for explanations from Pakistan as to what happened is reasonable - but Mr Modi should also make it clear to all concerned, including those within his own party, that he still has every intention of ploughing ahead with his chosen dialogue process. Statements by high officials of the government, including the prime minister, have so far been eminently restrained, which does them considerable credit.
China's latest bout of market volatility looks like an overdue correction. Falling shares triggered newly installed emergency brakes on January 4, the first trading day of the year, while the yuan hit its weakest point against the US dollar since April 2011. Fresh signs of an economic slowdown are feeding the jitters. But the turmoil is also a delayed reaction to the previous flawed efforts to prop up markets.

Under new "circuit-breaker" mechanisms designed to curb wild market swings, the seven per cent drop in the main CSI 300 index caused trading to be halted 90 minutes ahead of the scheduled close. Surveys showing weak factory activity doubtless contributed to the decline. The two-month slide in the yuan is another factor. On January 4, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) set the mid-point of the official exchange rate at its weakest level for four-and-a-half years. The offshore yuan, traded in Hong Kong, is near a five-year low.

But selling pressure also reflects past interventions. Last summer, Chinese brokers, state-owned companies and other institutions spent billions of dollars helping to prop up the market. Though the bailout was bungled, stocks eventually stabilised. The CSI 300 index ended the year up more than five per cent. The smaller Shenzhen exchange, which has fewer stodgy state-owned enterprises than its Shanghai rival, racked up a 63 per cent gain. However, the massive overhang caused by the intervention is now weighing on share prices.

The real role of currency moves may be deceptive. The greenback is particularly strong right now. The PBOC is trying to shift the focus to a broader measure of the yuan's exchange rate based on its value relative to its major trading partners. A new index compiled on that basis shows that the yuan appreciated by almost one per cent in 2015, even as it lost five per cent of its worth against the US dollar.

Yet the American currency's relative strength is a big reason investors are moving capital out of China. It's also a growing headache for Chinese companies that have dollar-denominated loans. Capital outflows, in turn, exacerbate economic tensions within the People's Republic. The correction in both equity and currency markets may have some way to run.
With the Pathankot terror attack entering its third day, Congress and opposition parties lambasted the Modi government for its total failure in handling the incident. Parties across the board, questioned why the Cabinet Committee of Security had not met even once and highlighted the breakdown of institutional mechanism in the government.Congress asked why Prime Minister Narendra Modi was giving a new description of terrorists as enemies of humanity instead of describing them as Pakistani terrorists, while CPM highlighted the contradictory statements made by the home minister Rajnath Singh.Even the Samajwadi Party lashed out at the total failure of the Modi government and its foreign policy in relation to Pakistan. Congress President Sonia Gandhi issued a statement today terming the internal security situation as serious and condoled the loss of seven security personnel in the ongoing terror attack.Ajay Maken Congress spokesperson hit out at the government saying, \"Institutions are functioning in isolation and not in tandem, which is scary. Even the Home Minister is not aware how many terrorists were neutralised. The Home Minister does not even know that whether the operation is yet over or not. After Home Minister says that the operation is over, the Home Secretary says it is continuing.Maken said that the Congreess has always maintained that \"Talks and terror cannot go side by side.

Government has to come out openly to tell the very facts but stopped short of demanding that the upcoming foreign secretary level talks between India and Pakistan be called off. Underscoring the lack of political leadership in the government Maken said that even as the assault continued the Prime Minister Modi, was busy propagating yoga at a gathering in Karnataka, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar was preoccupied in his home state of Goa, as always. A usually out of loop Home Minister Rajnath Singh first declared the operation to flush out terrorist successful through a tweet and said that 5 terrorists have been killed. After being contradicted by his Home Secretary, he shockingly deleted his own tweet. External Affairs Ministers, Sushma Swaraj, in the meanwhile, calls a meeting of ex-envoys. Maken asserted, "Complete disharmony and disjointed responses by those responsible for providing leadership in this time of a serious terror attack speaks volumes about the political leadership as also command and control structures within the Government." The Congress was not alone in its pointed attack on the government, Samajwadi Partys Naresh Aggarwal tore into the Modi governments total failure. Aggarwal speaking to Business Standard pointed out that the Indian government had not isolated Pakistan for such terror incidents leading to no condemnation from the international community on the Pathankot incident. Is PM Modi under some sort of pressure due to which he carried out this ill-advised trip to Lahore? asked Aggarwal. Adding, Its a total failure of the governments Pakistan policy.

CPM general secretary Sitaram Yechury had on Sunday itself questioned the role of the "56-inch government". "Till today morning it was announced that all the terrorists were killed and our jawans have lost lives. We were told that the attack was over and today we heard that the attack is still going on. What is this happening? Why are attacks taking place in the country?" Yechury asked. "What is happening to the condition of the 56-inch government." CPM's Lok Sabha MP Mohd. Salim speaking to Business Standard today, lambasted the "directionless foreign policy of the Modi government and its flip flops." "The PM was making such loud claims after the Lahore visit, what happened?" he asked.

The JD(U) has been unsparing in its attack on the Modi government with Rajya Sabha leader KC Tyagi stating, National security is not the internal affairs of the BJP. The government must call all Opposition parties and take them on board as to what their policy is. Why was the CCS not summoned, is Ajit Doval all in one ? The attack is of such intensity its going on for three days, should the government not have taken other parties into confidence.
Guns will be given to 1000 traffic officials in the city in view of rising instances of attacks on traffic personnel and for handling of emergencies in the national capital, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said today.

"Pistols will be given to 1000 traffic officials, especially the ones deployed at certain vulnerable zones, to deal with untoward incidents and emergencies.This is a move towards capacity building and the arms are likely to be handed over to the officials by next month," he said.

Bassi was speaking at Delhi Police's Annual Conference here today. This is the last annual conference he addressed before his retirement which is due next month.

Senior Delhi Police officials said that cases of road rage and violence, in which the victims were traffic personnel, witnessed in the past two years prompted this decision.

In October, a traffic police official suffered severe injuries after being hit by a speeding car in southeast Delhi's Hazrat Nizamuddin area. The injured official along with four others were deployed at a picket for conducting night checkings.

In September, a traffic constable sustained severe injuries after being hit by a speeding truck at a police picket near Delhi Cantonment area . The official was checking documents of heavy moving vehicles at a picket and the accused driver tried to escape for which he allegedly hit the driver and later fled after abandoning the vehicle.

In July, two traffic constables were brutally thrashed by members of a family, who were later joined by a mob, when they stopped two minors riding a motorcycle, in northeast Delhi's Gokulpuri area.

In the same month, five traffic police officials were seriously injured when a car rammed into a barricade set up by them in north Delhi's Civil Lines area. The driver, who was suspected to be in a drunken state and was trying to escape by overspeeding, was arrested after the incident.

In all cases, the officials were allegedly attacked by offenders, who wanted to escape and is suspected to be aware that traffic personnel are not armed. The aforementioned incidents, and many others, took place in late night or wee hours of the day, a senior official said.

He added that traffic officials deployed in the city borders are often assaulted or threatened.
Two brave soldiers of Himachal Pradesh were among the security personnel who laid down their lives while fighting terrorists in Pathankot.

The bodies of Havildar Sanjeevan Singh Rana (50) of Siyun village in Kangra district and Havildar Jagdish Chand (58) of Gola village in Chamba district returned today.

Thousands of people including army jawans, ex-servicemen and villagers from adjoining areas attended the funeral.

Chand, who was among the first security personnel to engage theterrorists, managed to neutralise one of the attackers before beingshot dead, officials said.

Chand is survived by his wife and three children. He had joined dutyat the Pathankot base a month ago after his transfer from Leh in Jammuand Kashmir.

After retiring from the Indian Army, he had joined the Defence Security Corps.

Rana is survived by his wife Pinki Devi, two daughters and a son. Serving in the Indian Army is a tradition with Rana's family as hisfather Rattan Singh was also an army man.

"It is a tragedy not for me but for the nation. I am proud my son'ssacrificed his life for the nation," Rattan Singh said with moisteyes.

Rana had retired from the Dogra Regiment in 2007 and joined theDefence Security Corps.

Urban Development minister Sudhir Sharma, Social Welfare and Empowerment minister Dhani Ram Shandil, former minister Vijay Singh Mankotia and several other dignitaries attended the funeral of Rana at Siyun.

Forest Minister Thakur Singh Bharmauri represented the state government at the funeral of Jagdish Chand, at remote Gola village in Chamba district.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh today announced financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh each to next of kins of the deceased.

Chief Minister Singh and Governor Acharya Devvrat expressedgrief over the deaths and said that they sacrificed their lives for the unity, integrity and security of the country.
Close on the heels of terror attack at Pathankot Air Force base, Punjab police today claimed to have busted a drug smuggling syndicate and arrested three persons from near here, and recovered Pakistani SIM card, mobiles, weapons and ammunition from their possession.

The seizures were made from the three criminals, all involved in an interstate drug smuggling gang, Mohali Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) GP S Bhullar told reporters here.

"The three notorious smugglers had with them foreign made weapons including a Pakistani double-magazine automatic stengun and Pakistani mobile sim card," he said.

They have been identified as Gurjant Singh alias Bholu (26) and Sandip Singh (25), both residents of village Havelian, about 15 km from Chandigarh, and Jatinder Singh alias Jindi (34), he said.

The three were arrested following a scuffle between them and a police team in which the gangsters had also opened fire at the cops, he said.

The SSP said that police have recovered one stengun of .9 mm, two pistols (.9mm), two pistols .30 bore, one airgun, 190 live cartridges, 31 mobile phones, one Pakistani mobile sim card and one car from them.

"The miscreants are close acquaintances of Jaipal, who is wanted in a number of robbery, dacoity and smuggling cases", said Bhullar.

He said that apart from smuggling heroin from across the border, the gangsters were also conspiring to kidnap children of rich people for ransom.
Three activists in Nepal have been charged with treason for holding a mock referendum on the demand for a 'Free Madhes' state.

The government has filed treason charges against the trio, who were involved in holding referendum in southern Nepal on whether to declare the southern plains - home to the Indian-origin Madhesis - as an independent state or not.

The three were arrested from Siraha district in southern Nepal on January 2 and brought to Kathmandu, where charges have been filed against them in the Special Court, according to officials.

Among the three, Chandeshwor Mahato, 60, acted as an international observer and Sudip Raj Kushwaha, 26, as the Election Officer in the mock referendum held on December 26 in Siraha district.

Another arrestee is Bishnu Dev Chaudhary, 35, is a central member of the Alliance for Independent Madhes from the district. The alliance has held a mock referendum in the area recently.

The arrest comes in the wake of intensified action by the government against those propagating for a free Madhes.

Brajesh Singh and Sadam Ansari, arrested on November 24 from a meeting, are still in police custody, the Alliance for Independence Madhes in a statement.

Those arrested for conducting the mock referendum are believed to be the followers of C K Raut who who returned Nepal from the US five years ago.

Raut is also on the wanted list of the government.

Unlike the Madhesi Front which is demanding re-demarcation of the provincial boundary, the Alliance for Independent Madhes wants the southern plains adjoining India as a separate state.
At least three terrorists were killed in a fierce overnight gunbattle with security forces who engaged militants attempting to storm the Indian diplomatic mission in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Official sources said special combat units of the Afghan National Police have recovered three bodies from outside the Indian consulate.

Security forces have launched a daunting onslaught to nail down at least two to three other mercenaries who are holed up in a five-storey building about 100 metres across the road from the facility.

They said military choppers of the Afghanistan security forces have dropped commandos atop the building holding the militants and the battle is "inching towards final assault.
Punjab police today arrested three youths from Mohali and seized arms and ammunition from their possession.

Police said that the youths were arrested on a tip off near Sunny enclave at Mohali and did not rule out their links with Pakistan terror elements.

They also seized mobile SIM cards, two AK 47 rifles and five pistols from their possession.

Police claimed that the arms and ammunition recovered from them are manufactured in Pakistan, China and Brazil.

Investigation is under progress, police said.

The arrests came as an operation was on to eliminate the terrorists who attacked the Pathankot air base in the state on Saturday.
At least eight people were killed and over 90 injured as a strong 6.8 magnitude earthquake epicentred in Manipur today hit the northeastern region and jolted eastern India, damaging buildings and triggering panic.

While seven people, including an 11-year-old girl, were killed in Manipur's Imphal West district, one man died in Bihar's Kishanganj district.

Manipur bore the brunt of the temblor which struck at 4.35 AM, where seven persons, including an 11-year-old girl, were killed and at least 50 injured.

The quake struck at 4.35am with the epicentre at a depth of 17km in Tamenglong district where many buildings collapsed or developed cracks. But no casaulties reported from Tamenglong.

"The epicentre was near the river Barak, so there was little damage. Though cracks have been reported from many houses, so far there has been no report of any casualty," Additional Deputy Commissioner Joseph Paulin told PTI.

All the seven deaths in Manipur were reported from Jiribam area of Imphal West district, state officials said adding the names of the deceased were, however, not immediately available.

At least 70 persons were injured all over the state, army officials said. They have been admitted to RIMS, JNIMS and Shija Hospital, they added.

People were jolted out of their sleep in northeastern and eastern states including, Assam, Tripura, West Bengal, Odisha and Jharkhand, and many of them scampered out of their homes.

Army and Air Force have mounted relief operations and two teams of National Disaster Response Force were rushed to Imphal while one was being sent to Assam where at least 20 people were injured.

"Damage to a few buildings, residential units and Government offices have been reported, including damage to a six storey building in Imphal," according to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

Power supply to Imphal city was disrupted and some power installations have suffered damage, an official statement said after Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha held a meeting of National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) this morning.

Several building in Imphal, including the market complex, and roads developed cracks while walls of some school buildings gave way, officils said.
Two Delhi Assembly officials today verified in a court here the documents related to the medical claim of nearly Rs 2 lakh allegedly taken by AAP MLA Akhilesh Pati Tripathi for his mother who was not dependent on him.

Metropolitan magistrate Ambika Singh, after recording the statements of Manoranjan and Hoshiyar Singh as witnesses, posted the matter for recording of further pre-summoning evidence on February 25.

The court had on December 3, 2015 allowed the plea of advocate and complainant Vivek Garg, who had sought permission to examine two officials of Delhi Assembly and one Election Commission officer as witnesses in support of his complaint.

The court was hearing a complaint filed by Garg alleging that the MLA from Model Town constituency had committed an offence by getting his mother's medical allowance reimbursed from Delhi government, despite his parents not being dependent on him and not entitled to the claims.

On November 4, 2015, the Delhi Police had told the court that the AAP leader had returned the money to the Assembly secretariat.

In its status report, the police had told the court that Tripathi was interrogated and he stated that when he came to know that his father, being a pensioner, was not entitled to medical claim, he wrote a letter to the Assembly secretariat to know the rules and was asked to return the amount with interest, that is, around Rs two lakh on September 16.

Garg had told the court that the MLA accepted his crime by returning the money and now there was no need to lodge an FIR and he be directly put on trial.

In his complaint, Garg had claimed that Tripathi, in two affidavits filed before the Election Commission during the 2013 and 2015 Assembly polls, had declared that his parents were not dependent on him.

He alleged that Tripathi had obtained a medical facility card under Delhi Government Employees Health Scheme and to obtain "wrongful gains", he has disclosed in the card that his parents are dependent on him and can avail medical facility on the card of an MLA.

Garg had sought registration of an FIR against Tripathi for alleged offences of cheating, criminal breach of trust by public servant, forgery for cheating and criminal conspiracy under IPC.
Observing that equality eludes a person till death starting from birth, the Madras High Court today directed Nagaipattinam district administration and police to swiftly act on a plea from a local whose deceased 100-year-old grandfather could not be buried allegedly due to opposition from upper caste people to use of a pathway to a burial ground.

"It is unfortunate that equality eludes a person till death starting from his birth. Petitioner's grandfather who died on January 3, 2016 could not be given a decent burial due to malice which is still prevalent in society. This Court expects the authorities to act immediately to do the needful and report the same on January 5, 2016, failing which appropriate orders will be passed," Justice M M Sundresh said.

The judge said this when a petition filed by one M Sankar of Vazhvur Village of Nagapattinam District came up.

The petitioner submitted that though his grandfather died on January 3, he could not be buried for two days as upper caste people prevented him from using the path leading to the burial ground.

Sankar said his grandfather diedat his native place in Vazhuvur where they were prevented from using the common burial ground.

They were using a portion of the land on the bund of Makimaiaru river from time immemorial. But there was no pucca road to the burial ground.

The local upper class people (Vanniars) prevented them from using this path, the petitioner contended.

The Judge posted the matter for hearing tomorrow after direcing that a compliance report be filed.
A former Mujahideen, Governor of Afghanistan's Balkh province Ata Mohammad Noor today wielded the gun to protect the Indian consulate at Mazar-i-Sharif after it was attacked last night by heavily-armed militants who tried to storm in.

In pictures that have gone viral, Noor is seen holding an assault rifle and aiming to take shots and also interacting with the soldiers outside the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of his province,



Indian Ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha tweeted "Clearing ops (operations) in Mazar on by special forces. Heavy fighting going on. GOV (Governor) Atta personally monitoring. All safe in consulate."



He also retweeted a message by a journalist which said, "A friend in need ..Meet the Afg (Afghan) guv (governor) who took up arms to protect Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif".

Noor is a former Mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and is trained in combat. He has also served as a commander in Ahmad Shah Masood's Norther Alliance - the resistance against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
Congress leader Ajit Jogi today filed a defamation suit against a national English daily in a local court here, alleging that his image had been "maligned" through a "baseless and fake" story that he and his son Amit had "fixed" a bypoll in 2014 to ensure victory for BJP.

The case was filed under sections 499 (defamation), 500 (punishment for defamation), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 502 (sale of printed or engraved substance containing defamatory matter) and 34of IPC in the court of Judicial Magistrate First Class Udaylaxmi Parmar, Jogi's lawyer Ashok Sharma said.

Jogi, a former Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, also recorded his statement in the court today.

The court has fixed January 19 as the date for recording of statements of witnesses in this regard.
Al-Qaeda militants have stoned a woman to death in a southeastern Yemeni city they control after accusing her of adultery and prostitution, several witnesses said today.

The jihadists yesterday "placed the woman in a hole in the middle of the courtyard of a military building and stoned her to death in the presence of dozens of residents" of Hadramawt provincial capital Mukalla, one of the witnesses said.
Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers batted throughout the third morning today as South Africa sought to fight back after a battering on the first two days of the second Test against England at Newlands.

South Africa were 199 for two at lunch, with South African captain Amla on 91 not out and vice-captain De Villiers on 56 not out.

South Africa were still 430 runs behind England's first innings total of 629 for six declared.

By contrast to the second day, when Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow thrashed 196 runs for England before lunch, Amla and De Villiers added only 58 runs in 29 overs before the interval.

England's bowlers toiled on an unresponsive pitch but the tourists put down the only chance of the morning, half an hour before lunch.

Amla, on 76, drove at the first ball of the day sent down by off-spinner Joe Root and edged the ball to slip where James Anderson put down the catch.

The same two players were involved in the only other chance of the partnership, with Root, at second slip, dropping De Villiers on five off Anderson on Sunday evening.

It was largely cautious batting. It took the normally free-flowing De Villiers 116 balls to post his half-century with a straight hit for four off Moeen Ali.

The same stroke brought up his 8000th run in Tests. De Villiers is playing in his 104th Test.

The pair registered a 100-run partnership off 247 balls.
The Arab League will hold emergency talks at the request of Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss attacks in Iran on the kingdom's embassy and consulate, its deputy head said.

The weekend talks are aimed at "condemning the violations committed by Iran against the sanctity of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad," Ahmed Ben Helli told reporters today.

The meeting, which comes after Saudi Arabia broke off ties with the Islamic republic amid a row over Riyadh's execution of a Shiite cleric, was also aimed at "condemning Iranian interference in Arab affairs", he added.

Tensions have risen between the two oil-rich Gulf rivals after Saturday's execution in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia of prominent Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whose death has sparked fury.

He was put to death alongside 46 others, including Shiite activists and Al-Qaeda-linked militants convicted on charges of "terrorism".
The Army and Air Force have started working on relief and rescue operations in quake-hit Manipur.

A defence official said an AN32 plane of Air Force was going to Imphal from Guwahati to take 75 NDRF personnel for relief and rescue operations.

A C17 Globemaster & IL76 plane had been kept on standby at the Hindon airbase to respond to any further relief operations as and when needed.

Army units in Manipur have already started providing all necessary medical assistance to the injured, officials said.
An auto-rickshaw driver's quick-wittedness helped Delhi police nab two alleged robbers who took the vehicle owner on knifepoint to rob him off his belongings.

The two people hired an auto-rickshaw driven by Rakesh Kumar from east Delhi's Shakarpur area for north Delhi's Anand Parbat with an intention to rob him of his belongings, including his auto-rickshaw, said DCP (north-west) Vijay Singh.

When the auto reached the underpass of Lawrence Road, one of the accused took Kumar on knifepoint and threatened him to remove all his belongings, police said.

Using his presence of mind, Kumar first accelerated the vehicle which resulted into the auto turning turtle, allowing him to apprehend the duo. Later, he handed them over to the police.

The accused have been identified as Manoj Kumar (22) and Bachha Lal (25), both residents of east Delhi's Shakurpur area, police said.

Police have recovered a knife from their possession and lodged an FIR against them.
Bahrain today said it is cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, following the suit of its ally Saudi Arabia as tensions escalate over the execution of a Shiite cleric.

Manama ordered Tehran's diplomats in the tiny Gulf state "to leave the kingdom within 48 hours," BNA state agency said on Twitter.

A Bahraini statement said the decision was triggered by "cowardly" attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran and "increasing flagrant and dangerous meddling" by Tehran in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states.

Manama said the attacks on the Saudi missions represent a "very dangerous pattern of sectarian policies that should be confronted... In order to preserve security and stability in the entire region."



The Bahraini foreign ministry summoned Iran's charge d'affaires Murtada Sanawbari and handed him an official note in this regard, said the statement carried by BNA.

Saudi Arabia said Sunday it was severing its ties with Iran after angry crowds set fire to its embassy in Tehran and attacked its consulate in Mashhad a day after Riyadh executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Former Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa today launched a frontal attack on BJP-led NDA government over alleged lapses in national security, leading to the terrorist attack on Pathankot airbase.

Bajwa targeted Home Minister Rajnath Singh over the "confusion and contradiction" in the Pathankot operation, saying it was exemplified by his tweet, "The (Pathankot) operation is over. We have won a great victory. Five terrorists have been killed", even though the operation to flush out the militants was still on.

"And only four terrorists, not five had been killed. If the country's Home Minister has access to such little information, what would be the plight of junior functionaries?" Bajwa asked and flayed BJP for "shouting from rooftops" about being "tough on terrorism".

Operations have been intensified to flush out two militants holed up in a two storey building at the Pathankot Air Base on the third day.

Four terrorists have been neutralised in the operation, while one Garud commando, one NSG officer and five personnel of Defence Security Corps (DSC) were killed. Seventeen security personnel were also injured.

Bajwa also posed queries on National Security Adviser Ajit Doval.

"And what about National Security Adviser Ajit Doval - he who accompanied the progenitor of the attack Maulana Masood Azhar to Kandahar in the biggest sellout in Indian national security history?



"Running the cleansing operation by remote control from New Delhi, he refused to the local army commander on the ground to take charge, preferring instead to entrust command to the IG of the NSG who would not in any case have been familiar with the ground," Bajwa claimed.

The Congres leader also hit out at the Akali Dal-led Punjab government saying Punjab Police continues to wallow as no modernisation has been carried out for them, the first responders to any attack or crisis.

"At this rate Punjab will soon be overrun by jihadi terrorists," he said.
Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi today expressed regret over the "slow expansion" of women cab service in the city, and exhorted his younger colleagues to take up the challenge of bringing greater number of woman drivers under the ambit of the empowerment scheme.

"It was an ambitious project and should have been taken up as a mission. But, unfortunately, we couldn't (do) much as we got stuck in certain things...Certain foolish things," Bassi said.

Bassi was addressing reporters at the Delhi Police Annual Conference, his last as its chief. He, however, did not qualify as to what he meant by "certain foolish things".

A woman cab service is run by and for women. These cabs are chauffeured only by women drivers, trained in self-defence and etiquettes.

"When this project began, there were hardly any takers, and it was very difficult to motivate women to take up the driving job... After we got our first lot, we trained them in self-defence and boosted their self-confidence and they ultimately felt the empowerment we were seeking in them.

"But, I hope my younger colleagues here would take this up and try to work on increasing the number of such women drivers," he added.

Bringing much-needed relief to women in the national capital, 'MeruEve' -- a cab service by and for women -- was launched in January last year by Meru company. These cabs are chauffeured only by women drivers.

"We have given you three-day training but we want you to continue practising it, which will make you stronger. Many men are fools (nalayak), they attack women because they are under the impression that they are weaker. Through self-defence training, we want to fill that gap in physical ability so that you can give somebody a befitting reply if he misbehaves with you," Bassi had said while launching the facility.

The cabs have a 'Himmat' app of Delhi Police, 3G-enabled mobile phones with 'video recording' facility which also has a speed dial facility for all SHOs for distress call number, a panic buzzer (hooter), a pepper spray and women helpline displayed on it prominently.

Bassi said, "More such empowerment projects should be taken up and I hope more women would benefit from these services, both has a driver and as passengers. More companies can partner in such projects."



Identified with its pink livery, a fleet of 25 'MeruEve cabs were launched in January and its number was set to rise to a few hundreds in the following months. However, it did not get the desired response as envisioned in the scheme.
Shaken by Justice RM Lodha committee's recommended reforms of its governance structure, a cautious BCCI has decided to call a Special General Meeting (SGM) within the next two weeks to discuss the implications of the report.

In fact, all the top BCCI officials will be present in Mumbai tomorrow at the Annual Awards Function of the BCCI.

"Shashank Manohar has flown to Mumbai this evening. Others will also be joining by tomorrow morning for the Awards ceremony. The Indian team will also depart for Australia tomorrow. The top brass will decide on the date of SGM by tomorrow and the members will be apprised of the situation," a BCCI functionary told PTI on conditions of anonymity.

The members will discuss if at all they will challenge some of the points in the recommended report.

The president however remained tightlipped on the matter.

"I haven't seen the report and I would not answer any queries unless I read the complete report of the Lodha panel," BCCI president Shashank Manohar told PTI today.

Once Justice Lodha made the contents of the report public, most of the top office-bearers came to the conclusion that the next step will be decided once the Supreme Court hears the matter.

None of the officials want to come on record till the matter is heard in the apex court, but two key areas for the officials is age-cap and the tenure along with cooling-off period in the interim.

"While the commission states that they did not want to hurt BCCI's autonomy but some of the suggestions are direct infringement on the autonomy of the board. It was Sharad Pawar, under whose presidentship, BCCI introduced pension scheme for players. Pawar saab is still active in Indian politics. You can't stop him for being above 70 years," a senior BCCI official told PTI today.

The other point of concern is the cooling-off period between holding two posts.

"If a person has done good work as the secretary or treasurer, why do you want to stop him from continuing the good work as an administrator. Also, how can you limit a tenure. We don't take government subsidies. The selection committee size is being reduced to three. How can three selectors cover 27 Ranji Trophy teams across four to five months," asked another influential official.
In a fresh trouble for Delhi University's Faculty of Law, the Bar Council of India has issued it a show-cause notice to explain the "illegalities" in its functioning including more than permissible student strength, lack of infrastructure and faculty.

In an unprecedented move, BCI, the apex regulatory body for legal education and legal profession in India, had in 2014 decided to derecognise DU's law course after it failed to seek timely extension of the affiliation of its three centres, namely Campus Law Centre, Law Centre-I and Law Centre-II.

However, it was granted a provisional extension of affiliation for the 2014-15 session after DU had proposed to shift to a new building which it claimed "had adequate space" for the faculty to run properly.

The show-cause notice comes after a fresh inspection by a BCI panel, headed by former Chief Justice of Patna High Court L Narasimha Reddy, which has observed that besides fresh violations, the illegalities earlier highlighted remain unattended.

"The strength of 1,500 candidates in three centres of DU increased by 54 per cent though what was permissible under the act was only 27 per cent. Even this was done without approval of BCI," the BCI communication to the university said.

"Further, the record discloses that by and large the deficiencies pointed out by the earlier inspection committee remain unattended.

"The panel has stated that the Faculty of Law must arrange for 100 classrooms to accommodate the present strength. This apart from other requirements such as library, tutorial rooms, common rooms, moot courts etc. From this point of view, there is an acute shortage of infrastructure," it added.

Dean of Faculty of Law Ashwini Kumar Bansal was not available for comments on the issue.

"The records disclose that for past 15 years no regular



appointments for teachers have been made in the Faculty of Law. The matter cannot be delayed further," the notice said.

The BCI has also directed the university to send an undertaking of compliance with rules rectifying the anomalies within four weeks.

"On complying with the same, approval may be renewed for current academic year with a clear stipulation that failure to honour the undertaking would entail further extension of approval," it said.

Eminent figures like Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, former HRD minister Kapil Sibal, Supreme Court Judge Rohinton Nariman, former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and former Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Ajit Jogi are among the the Faculty of Law alumni.
Bill Clinton today called his wife Hillary the most qualified US presidential candidate in more than half a century, at his first solo campaign event for her 2016 election bid.

The former president went to New Hampshire in support of his wife, the former secretary of state, senator and first lady who leads polls for the Democratic nomination for the presidency.

Clinton addressed a rally at a community college in the city of Nashua, paying tribute to Hillary's determination to make America a fairer, safer country for the poor and struggling middle classes.

He made no direct reference to Donald Trump, the brash billionaire dominating the Republican race for the White House who recently stepped up personal attacks on both Clintons.

"I do not believe in my lifetime anybody has run for this job in a moment of great importance who is better qualified by knowledge, experience and temperament to do what needs to be done," the 69-year-old said.

New Hampshire is host to the nation's first presidential primary on February 9.

Bill Clinton said Hillary's skill set "offers the best chance to have the most rapid movement to more broadly shared prosperity."



"In an uncertain world, where borders look more like nets than walls, and no one is in total control, she understands what it takes to keep our country as safe as possible," he said, dressed in an open-necked shirt, dark pullover and blazer, wearing a Hillary pin on his lapel.

He lauded her record as secretary of state and provoked laughter by joking: "I didn't think she could do that," in reference to getting China and Russia to sign off on sanctions against Iran.

When they met at Yale Law School 45 years ago, he said he thought she was "the most amazing person" who could have secured any job in life but who wanted only to provide legal aid to the poor.

"Everything she touched, she made better," he said, paying tribute to her long career and calling her a "change maker."



Trump, the real estate tycoon who has led Republican polls for months, recently blasted Bill Clinton's "terrible record" with women -- an apparent allusion to his past alleged marital infidelities.

"The worst thing Hillary could do is have her husband campaign for her. Just watch," he tweeted to his 5.5 million followers yesterday.

Republicans in Congress tried but failed in 1998 to remove Bill Clinton from the White House for alleged perjury and obstruction during an investigation into an alleged affair.

Clinton said many leaders in corporate America were



prioritising their short-term stock price over their workers and their communities.

"We can't forget the damage caused by trickle-down economics and right-wing ideologues who believe in weakening government oversight, massive tax cuts for the rich, ripping away the safety net, and breaking the backs of unions," she said.

Sending a clear message to every board room and executive suite, Clinton warned that they would be held accountable if they cheat employees, exploit customers, pollute the environment or rip off the taxpayers.

"This country has given you so much. If you desert America, you'll pay a price. But do the right thing, invest in your workers and your country's future, and we will stand with you. And here's how it should work," she said.

"To discourage bad behaviour, we'll make companies pay for what are called inversions under the tax code, which means they pretend to sell themselves to a company overseas. And then they pretend to move their headquarters overseas," Clinton said.

"I call it a perversion, but under the tax code it's called an inversion. We will make you pay for that with a new exit tax," she said.
Gurdaspur MP Vinod Khanna today strongly condemned the Pathankot terror attack and appealed to the people of his constituency to maintain calm and peace.

"I strongly condemn the terror incident in Pathankot. It appears to be an attempt to sabotage peace initiatives between India and Pakistan," Khanna said in a statement issued here.

He said, "I am hopeful that our security agencies will effectively contain the terror attack, which is an act of cowardice by those who are against peace between two nations."



The actor-turned-politician also offered his condolences to the bereaved families of the security personnel who died while fighting the terrorists at Pathankot Air Force base.

He appealed to the people of his constituency (Pathankot falls in Gurdaspur Parliamentary Constituency) to maintain calm and peace in the hour of crisis.

The statement was issued by his political secretary Samrendra Sharma.

Sharma said, "Khanna is unwell and currently in Mumbai," adding that he might visit Pathankot in a week's time.
Bokaro District administration today held a meeting with CRPF at tha paramilitary force's Jumra Pahar camp, the area considered to be a stronghold of CPI (Maoists).

The Deputy Commissioner Meher Patre, Commandant of 26 battalion of CRPF Dr. Sanjay Kumar, Deputy Development Commissioner (DDC) Arvind Kumar and Superintendent of Police Y S Ramesh among other district officials, took part in the meeting and also finetuned the proposed Jumra Pahar Development Action Plan.

In the meeting, it was decided that the officials would ensure that the villagers including in remote areas should get all the benefits under the schemes launched by the government, official sources said.

The focus of the meeting was to bolster rural road projects while giving priority to electricity and water supply, the sources said.

Patre said DDC would monitor the progress every fortnight while he would held a review meeting once a month.
A little boy who appears in a new Islamic State (ISIS) video warning Britain against terror attacks is the son of a female terrorist from east London.

Grace Dare, who was brought up in the UK by a Christian family of Nigerian descent before being radicalised online as "Khadija", is the mother of the little black boy who is seen pointing into the distance and calling for the killing of "unbelievers" in the 11-minute film released yesterday.

Dare's London-based father Henry Dare today confirmed to 'The Daily Telegraph' that the boyin the videois his grandson Isa Dare.

"I was surprised when I saw the picture. It's definitely him. Of course I'm worried but there's nothing I can do now. I'm not angry, I would never have expected it. I just hope someone is trying to bring them back," the London taxi driver told the newspaper.

Grace Dare, an Islamic State member who has in the past expressed a wish to become the first woman to behead a hostage, made her way to Syria in 2012 and married a Swede known as Abu Bakr, who is thought have been killed since.

Her son, dubbed "Jihadi Junior" by British media, is dressed in camouflage and a black headscarf with an ISIS logo on it in the new video.

Last July, 22-year-old Grace "Khadija" Dare had posted a picture on social media of Isa aiming an AK-47 automatic rifle that he seemed only just big enough to lift, the newspaper claims alongside the photograph.

Asked about the police response to his daughter's radicalisation, Henry Dare said: "I said they should watch her. She was a Christian, she went to the local Roman Catholic school. She was Christian until she changed. She fell under the influence of some people when she was going to the mosque. She was very observant."



His wife, Victoria, has earlier spoken about how her daughter changed her first name to Khadija after she began attending the mosque.

She said last year: "I still call her our Grace. I want her back in my life. She is the only child that I have and the devil took her away."



Khadija has since appeared on television documentaries about jihadi brides, saying she missed junk food and Chinese takeaways, but said she would never return home.

She used social media to gloat about the beheading of the American journalist James Foley and said she wanted to be the first British woman to kill an ISIS hostage.
A little boy seen in a new Islamic State video which warned Britain of attacks in future may be the son of a female terrorist from east London, according to a media report.

Grace Dare, who was brought up in the UK by a Christian family of Nigerian descent before being radicalised online as "Khadija", may be the mother of the little black boy who is seen pointing into the distance and calling for the killing of "unbelievers" in the 10-minute video released yesterday, 'The Daily Telegraph' reported.

Dare, an Islamic State (ISIS) member who has in the past expressed a wish to become the first woman to behead a hostage, made her way to Syria in 2012 and married a Swede known as Abu Bakr, who is thought have been killed since.

The little boy, dubbed "Jihadi Junior" by British media, is dressed in camouflage and a black headscarf with an ISIS logo on it and bears a clear resemblance to Dare's son Isa.

On last July, 22-year-old Grace "Khadija" Dare had posted a picture on social media of Isa aiming an AK-47 automatic rifle that he seemed only just big enough to lift, the newspaper claims alongside the photograph.

Her mother Victoria said her daughter changed her first name to Khadija after she began attending the mosque.

She said last year: "I still call her our Grace. I want her back in my life. She is the only child that I have and the devil took her away".

Khadija has since appeared on television documentaries about jihadi brides, saying she missed junk food and Chinese takeaways, but said she would never return home.

She used social media to gloat about the beheading of the American journalist James Foley and said she wanted to be the first British woman to kill an ISIS hostage.
The brother of Nimr al-Nimr, the Shiite cleric executed in Saudi Arabia at the weekend, today condemned retaliatory attacks on the kingdom's diplomatic missions in Iran, insisting: "We love our country".

"We appreciate your love towards the martyr #Sheikh_AlNimr who lives in our hearts but we refuse attacks on #Saudi ambassies in #Iran or others," Mohammed al-Nimr tweeted in English.

Angry demonstrators attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad following Saturday's execution of Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests in 2011.

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia responded yesterday by severing diplomatic ties with Shiite-dominated Iran, its long-time regional rival.

Nimr, 56, was executed along with 46 other men, mostly Sunnis linked to Al-Qaeda.

His body was not given for his family for burial, according to another post on Twitter by his brother, who said authorities informed the family that the cleric had already been buried.

Nimr's brother issued a statement calling for the corpse of Nimr to be handed over to his family.

He expressed the family's hopes that "officials would answer our legitimate wish quickly by giving us the body of the martyred sheikh so that he would be buried in his hometown Awamiya."



Assailants killed a civilian and wounded a child today when they opened fire on Saudi police in Awamiya, Nimr's birthplace in Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province, state media reported.
Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan today suffered a 'scratch' in his arm when a bull brushed against him while he was receiving a petition from a group of villagers near here seeking his intervention to allow 'jallikattu' - a traditional bull taming sport.

"It was a minor incident..The bull just brushed against the minister..He suffered a scratch," police said.

The Union Minister was on his way to a function at a nearby town when he stopped his convoy on being informed that villagers of Kulamanickam were waiting to meet him, they said.

The villagers presented a petition urging Radhakrishnan to take steps for lifting the ban on 'jallikattu' - conducted traditionally during Pongal festival - and were talking to him, when a bull standing nearby brushed against his arm.

Radhakrishnan later continued on with his journey, police said.

The minister has already been taking steps for lifting the ban imposed by the Supreme Court on 'jallikattu', a popular feature of Pongal festivities especially in southern districts of Tamil Nadu and had recently expressed hope that it would be held this year.
A friendship bus service between India and Nepal via Champawat in Uttarakhand resumed today after a gap of 27 years, much to the delight of people on either side of the border who have family and trade ties with each other.

The bus which runs between Kanchanpur in Nepal close to Banbasa border in Champavat district of Uttarakhand and Anand Vihar, Delhi has been regularised from today after being run on a trial basis for a week, incharge of Sharda barrage international police station B M Upreti said.

The service had been suspended 27 years back in the wake of the Indo-Nepal Trade and Transit Treaty, he said.

Resumption of the service between the two countries after its prolonged suspension has been welcomed by locals on either side of the border as about eight to ten thousand Nepalis travel in these buses on a daily basis from Kanchanpur district, Dandel Dhura, Voti, Sapen, Acham, Kalali, Jagbuddha and Siddhartha Nagar areas in Nepal, he said.

The income from the area's Tanakpur depot is also considered one of the major sources of income for Uttarakhand Parivahan Nigam, the official said.

People on both sides of the border have family as well as trade relations with each other and they are very happy about the resumption of the service after long years of suspension, he said.

These air conditioned buses with Indian and Nepalese flags painted on their bodies will enter the Nepalese district of Kanchanpur at 6 AM every day and start for Delhi from there at 6 PM every evening, Upreti said.

No special documents are required to travel in these buses which provides free wi-fi connectiviy and a bottle of mineral water for free to the passengers, he said.
Former media baron Peter Mukerjea, arrested in the Sheena Bora murder case, today filed a bail application before the special CBI court here saying that CBI had not found any evidence against him.

"It will be heard tomorrow," said his lawyer Kushal Mor.

The application contends that CBI has found no evidence to justify his arrest, though it had his custody for 11 days and even subjected him psycho-analysis and polygraph tests.

CBI itself later applied for his transfer to judicial custody (where he is now), which shows that it completed the investigation and would not require further custody, it says.

Prior to the arrest, Peter had attended the office of investigation officers duly on various occasions and his statement too had been recorded, says the application.

The grounds for arrest given by CBI are inconsistent and ambivalent and the entire approach of CBI appears "confused", it says and alleges that the central agency was trying to concoct a motive for Peter so as to implicate him for conspiracy.

Peter's wife Indrani, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her former driver Shyam Rai are accused of murdering Indrani's daughter from another marriage Sheena Bora in April 2012. Peter was arrested for being a party to the conspiracy.

The application further says that CBI adopted Mumbai police's earlier investigation but didn't negate the latter's "clean chit" to Peter. Police had said that Peter had no role in the crime and Indrani had kept him in the dark.

"CBI adopting the investigation of Mumbai police in toto and then arraigning Peter as an accused clearly amounts to contradiction of its own stand," it says.

(Reopens LGB7)



The CBI chargesheet nowhere says that Indrani had hatched the conspiracy with Peter, says the bail application.

Peter's financial transactions right from the time when he was with STAR TV and later when he started new TV channels have been scrutinised by CBI and he need not stay in jail if the agency wanted to probe the transactions further as they also reflect in his bank accounts and IT returns, it says.

CBI has complete information about Peter's investments in India and abroad, it adds.

The agency's suggestion that there might be a bank account in the name of Sheena Bora with Hong Kong & Shanghai Bank in Singapore, opened by Indrani, is "vague and unsubstantiated", it says.

The allegation that Peter had any financial motive to participate in the conspiracy was unsubstantiated, it says.

"Peter did not have any bank account or investments in the joint name or otherwise with Sheena Bora. He had no financial transactions with her whatsoever," it asserts.

The bail application also dismisses the charge that Peter misled his son Rahul (with whom Sheena had a romantic relationship) about her whereabouts after her disappearance.

"Chargesheet has categorically stated that Peter was misled and deceived by Indrani Mukerjea," the application points out and adds that he had no reason to disbelieve Indrani who told him that Sheena had gone to USA (when she had, in fact, been murdered).

"Peter never had any close association or relationship with Sheena Bora," it says.

Peter used to get emails from Sheena even after her death, which shows that it was Indrani's plan to keep him in the dark, says the application.

Further, the email exchange between Peter and Indrani Mukerjea in September 2012 clearly indicate that matrimonial dispute was growing between them, says the bail plea.

Peter was in UK from April 23 to 26, 2012, with Vidhie (Indrani's daughter from marriage with Khanna), the application says, adding that mere phone calls between him and Indrani in this period do not suggest conspiracy. Sheena was allegedly murdered in Mumbai on April 24, 2012.
The Labour Ministry will hold first tripartite discussions tomorrow on a model law which seeks to provide greater flexibility to retailers as well as malls on various issues including the timings of opening and closing of shops throughout the year.

"Labour Ministry has called a tripartite meeting which is scheduled on January 5, to discuss the Model Shops and Establishments (Regulation of Employment and Conditions of Service) Bill, 2015," a ministry official said.

According to the draft bill, the Model Act would bring uniformity in the legislative provisions, making it easier for all the states to adopt it and thereby ensuring uniform working conditions across the country.

At present, states have their own legislation which regulates shops and establishments like their closing and opening times, holidays and working shifts of women.

The bill says that women should be permitted during night shift and there should be no discrimination against women in the matter of recruitment, training, transfer or promotions.

It will be applicable to shops and establishments having 10 or more workers except manufacturing units.

"Why should there be central legislation when states have their own legislation. Secondly, its is conceived with the presumption that one size fits all," All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC) Secretary D L Sachdev said.

"States have laws to regulate shops and establishments as per to their requirement and conditions. Allowing women to work in night shifts may be compromise with their safety and security in some states," he added.

However, as per the background note of the model law, the state laws are inadequate to deal with the issues related to shops and establishment.

Central government has found that there is rigidity in opening and closing of shop. There are other issues like discouragement to women in employment, difficulties in registration & annual renewal (of shop permits or licenses), problems in maintenance of statutory records and arbitrariness in statutory inspections.

The draft bill also provides for online one common registration (of retailers) through a simplified procedure and power of the government to make rules regarding the safety and health of workers.

It also provides for facilities like lavatory, creche, first aid and canteen by group of establishments, in case, it is not possible due to constraint in space or otherwise by individual establishment.

The draft law also made a provision for 12 days casual-cum-sick leave for workers, one day earned leave for every 20 days of work performed (can be accommodated upto 45 days), five paid holidays for festivals in addition to three national holidays, compensatory leave in lieu of overtime wage.

It also provides for exemption of highly-skilled workers (for example workers employed in the IT industry, biotechnology and R&D division) from daily working hours of 9 hours and weekly working hour of 48 hours subject to maximum 125 over-time hours in a quarter.
Observing that the allegation of human sacrifice in the report on illegal mining submitted to the Madras High Court was a serious one, the court today adjourned the mining issue to February 15.

The First Bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice Pushpa Sathyanarayana, made the observation when the report by the then District Collector U Sagayam, appointed as Special Commissioner to go into the illegal mining, came up before it today.

Counsel for Sagayam submitted that as per the officer's report, actual loss to the public exchequer was more than Rs 1,11,000 crore. Human sacrifices were also found, he submitted.

AS officer U Sagayam, appointed by the Madras High Court as the Legal Commissioner to probe "illegal" granite quarrying in this district, has ordered digging of some sites where some persons were allegedly killed as human sacrifice and buried by quarry owners four years ago.

On September 12 last year, Sagayam had ordered digging of the sites at E.Malampatti on the banks of Manimutharu on a complaint that mentally challenged persons had been given as "human sacrifice" in one of the granite quarries.

The complaint was given by one of the drivers of heavy machineries working with a granite export company but no action had been taken.

The mining issue relates to a PIL filed by 'Traffic' Ramaswamy seeking an inquiry into illegal mining which caused Rs one lack crore loss to the state exchequer.

The First Bench headed by Chief Justice S K Kaul had appointed Sagayam as Special Commissioner. He had submitted an interim report with all details of illegal mining.

Counsel for Sagayam submitted today that "this Court has already passed an order whether this issue could be referred to the Central Vigilance Commission or not will be examined once the court has the benefit of the report of the Commission."



In the light of this order, the court has to examine the issue further, he said.

After hearing the arguments, the court adjourned the matter to February 15.
China's second aircraft carrier, which is now under construction, will focus more on military operations training and technological experiments to improve its defence systems as the 2.3 million strong People's Liberation Army (PLA) undergoes massive revamp.

"This aircraft carrier will have different missions than those for the Liaoning (the country's first aircraft carrier)," said Senior Captain Zhang Junshe with the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute.

"We use the (the first carrier) Liaoning to test the reliability and compatibility of systems on carriers, and to train personnel. The second carrier will mainly do what a genuine aircraft carrier is supposed to do: running combat patrols and delivering humanitarian aid. Liaoning, which was refurbished after its hull was bought from Ukraine is in operation since 2013," Zhang was quoted as saying by the official PLA Daily.

Zhang said China urgently needs a second carrier, as the country is seeking to improve its defence systems and safeguard national interests.

"The PLA needs at least three aircraft carriers. When it does, one can be on duty, one can train personnel, and the third can receive maintenance," he said.

China's second aircraft carrier is under construction in the coastal city of Dalian, Liaoning province, Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told media last week.

The new carrier has been designed in China and will have a displacement of 50,000 metric tons, a conventional power system, and will carry domestically developed J-15 fighter jets and other ship-borne aircraft, Yang said.

The ship will use a ski jump mode for launching fixed-wing aircraft, the same as the Liaoning, he added.

Zhang said the new carrier's three major systems-power and propulsion, electronic systems and weapons-will all be developed by China and will have better capabilities than those on the Liaoning.

He said China will consider developing a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier after it gains enough experience in operating such large vessels.

As it is set to expand the fleet of aircraft carriers, Chinese defence experts said the PLA need to need to make significant changes following last week's upgradation of the status of the Missile force to the equal status of army, navy and airforce.

The PLA has re-designated its missile force renaming it as Rocket Force (PRF) and formed a support wing the PLA Strategic Support Force (SSF) to provide electronic and cyber surveillance.

The experts said the PLA will need to set up inter-services platforms and more universal hardware to improve its combat readiness.

Wang Ya'nan, deputy editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, said, "President Xi has repeatedly stressed the importance of information and joint operation capabilities, which I believe are pillars to winning modern warfare. So, the PLA should give priority to developing an inter-services command and logistics system."



He said the PLA Army, Navy, Air Force and PRF currently have their own platforms to handle information, manoeuvre units and arrange logistics.

Wang said these separate platforms should be integrated to allow a smoother command chain.

He also suggested that a universal early-warning and control system and long-range transporter aircraft are needed for all services, rather than just the air force.

Wang said large planes like the Y-20, which made its maiden flight in January 2013, and which developers expect to deliver to the PLA soon, will make troop deployment easier, enabling the military to act more promptly and to better respond to emergencies.

He said the army, the PLA's largest branch, should develop a next-generation main battle tank, which he proposed should be highly automated and have better information capability than the current Type-99A tank, state run China Daily reported.

Cao Weidong, a researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said that for the army, air force, navy and missile forces to act in concert with each other, more military satellites will be needed as they will play an increasingly important role in obtaining information and transmitting directives among different fighting units.

"The air force and navy will need more equipment that can perform or support long-range operations.For instance, the navy will need amphibious assault ships, large supply vessels and advanced guided missile destroyers, while the air force will pursue long-range refueling aircraft," he said.

Wu Peixin, a military observer in Beijing, said the PLA should develop new individual smart weapons and portable logistics devices, which will strengthen each soldier's combat capability.

Chen Xuesong, a fellow researcher at the PLA Naval Military Studies Research Institute, said he believes the new carrier, which is being constructed in sections to be assembled later, will be a tough challenge for Chinese engineers.
China's trade with Nepal has picked up since the border crossing point in Tibet opened in October to rush petroleum products and other essential items following the Madhesi protests in southern plains over the Constitution, the state media reported.

A total of 5,965 tonnes of cargo valued at USD 43.5 million was exported to Nepal between November 10 and December 10, through Jilung, one of the two major ports linking Tibet and its largest trading partner Nepal.

Jilung, or Kerung in Nepalese, was closed for about six months after an 8.1-magnitude earthquake in Nepal.

Due to the earthquake, foreign trade volume in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region dropped by 35.1 per cent year on year to USD 545 million in the first half of 2015.

Now, an average of 100 trucks pass through the port every day, Pu Zhengjiang, deputy inspector of Jilung port, about 130 km from Nepalese capital Kathmandu, was quoted as saying by the state-run Xinhua agency.

The trade point was opened to rush petroleum products and other essentials which became scarce due to blockade imposed by Madhesis demanding changes in the new Constitution adopted by the Constituent Assembly on September 20.

Madhesis, who share strong cultural and family bonds with Indians, have imposed a general strike in much of southern Nepal, causing a shortage of fuel and other essential goods.

Madhesi leaders have submitted an 11-point demand to the Nepal government to end their protests over "discriminatory" nature of the Constitution.

Their demands include re-demarcation of provinces, fixing of electoral constituencies on the basis of population and proportional representation.

So far, over 50 people have died during the Madhesi-Tharu agitation.
Taking strict action against illicit money pooling schemes, capital markets regulator Sebi has clamped down on over 60 companies in the first eleven months of 2015 for raising crores of rupees from investors.

In comparison, 45 firms were penalised by the regulator in the entire 2014 for raising money through Collective Investment Schemes (CIS).

As per the data available with the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi), more than 60 companies had raised money through CIS between January and November 2015.

Among others, PACL, Raghav Capital, Emerging India, BNP India Developers & Infrastructure, Popular Agro, USK India, IHI developers, Samruddha Jeevan Foods, Yatra Art Fund, Wisdom Agrotech and JSR Diaries, were garnering money through unauthorised CIS last year.

Besides barring all these firms from mobilising further funds from investors, these companies and their directors have also been restrained from accessing the securities market.

While further proceedings are underway in many cases, some of them have also been asked to wind up their existing illegal money pooling schemes and repay investors their money with interest.

Apart from that, several restrictions have been imposed by Sebi on these firms through separate orders.

These companies were raising capital through unauthorised CIS without taking necessary regulatory approvals, thereby violating the provisions of the Companies Act, besides applicable Sebi regulations.

Promising high returns to the investors, these firms had raked in unauthorised funds through various mechanisms. The capital was raised through realty schemes and 'buffalo purchase', among others.

Collectively, these firms have mobilised crores of rupees from the investors and PACL alone raised Rs 49,100 crore.

With regard to PACL case, Sebi has slapped a fine of Rs 7,269.5 crore on the company and its four directors for illegal and fraudulent mobilisation of funds from the public.

Last year, PACL was asked to refund Rs 49,100 crore it had collected through illicit schemes over a 15-year period.

Through a new Securities Laws Amendments Act, the government had enhanced powers of Sebi to take action against illegal money-pooling activities involving Rs 100 crore or more. The Act also provides for setting up of a special court to expedite the cases filed by Sebi.

In 2015 itself, a special court started functioning in Mumbai and cases filed by Sebi are being heard on a daily basis.
Gunmen killed a civilian and wounded a child when they opened fire on Saudi police in the home village of executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, state media reported today.

Police came under "heavy fire" during the attack last night in the eastern village of Awamiya, the birthplace of the cleric who was executed on Saturday, said the Saudi Press Agency.

The shooting left a civilian dead and wounded an eight-year-old child, said SPA, without specifying if any police were among the casualties.

Security forces were scouring the area for the assailants, the agency reported, citing a police spokesman in oil-rich Eastern Province.

The execution of 56-year-old Nimr has fuelled tensions in the Middle East, with Shiite-majority countries expressing condemnation and the kingdom's diplomatic missions in Shiite-dominated Iran coming under attack.

The assaults on the diplomatic missions spurred the Sunni-ruled kingdom to sever ties with Shiite-dominated Iran, its long-time regional rival.

In recent years, the two countries have been divided over the war in Syria, where Iran is backing the regime, and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels.
Authorities today imposed restrictions in parts of Srinagar to thwart protests by the members of Shia community against the execution of prominent cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia.

Restrictions have been imposed in the police station areas of Rainawari and Zadibal in the summer capital, officials said.

They said the decision to impose restrictions in these areas was taken as a precautionary measure to thwart protests by the Shia community members.

Meanwhile, a shutdown was observed in many areas of Budgam district against the execution of the Shia cleric, the officials said.

A Saudi national, al-Nimr, had participated in the Arab Spring protests in 2011. The execution of al-Nimr along with 46 other men, including Shia activists and Sunnis accused of involvement in deadly Al-Qaeda attacks, was announced by the Saudi interior ministry.
Mathura district Cooperative Bank chairman today filed case of alleged "fraud" and "financial irregularities" against former state's higher education minister Shyam Sundar Sharma, his son and 10 other persons.

In his complaint filed with the Kotwali police, Co-op Bank Chairperson Jadish Nauhwar alleged that former minister Sharma and his son Lalit Sharma, both of whom have served as the chairman of the Co-op in the past, had "illegally adjusted and given promotion" to 10 persons.

Nauhwar has alleged in the complaint that a sum of Rs 2.62 crore has been spent on these people's salary and other facilities.

Mathura DSP Chakrapani Tripathi said, "A case has been registered on the basis of the complaint. Further action would be taken after probe."



While denying the charges, former minister Sharma termed the allegations "politically motivated" and said they are ready for any probe.

Lalit Sharma is contesting election for the chairmanship of Jila Panchayat as a Bahujan Samaj Party candidate and Nauhwar's wife Sunita Nauhwar is contesting as a Samajwadi Party candidate.
Odisha's Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Minister Sanjay Dasburma today faced protests by some Congress activists, who allegedly hurled eggs and tomatoes at his vehicle at Chhatrapur in Ganjam district.

The incident took place near the Science College, Chhatrapur, when the minister was going to attend the golden jubilee function of Berhampur University. Dasburma, however, was not hurt.

Yesterday also, some Congress activists had hurled eggs on Dasburma's vehicle, while he was attending a meeting at the Circuit House in Puri.

Congress activists had been targeting Dasburma for some days as a mark of protest to the large-scale irregularities in selection of beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act (NFSA).

"Some of the Youth Congress supporters were involved in the incident. We have identified some of them and are searching them," said inspector in-charge, Chhatrapur police station, B P Patra.

Reacting to the incident, Dasburma said "I understand that a former Congress MLA, who is often dubbed as a mines mafia, has been hand in glove with the youths. I appeal to the youths to not go by that ex-MLA who misleads them."



Dasburma said he was ready to answer on irregularities if there were any in the selection of NFSA beneficiaries.
Hitting out at the government over the handling of Pathankot terror attack, Congress today said "conflicting" statements on the incident showed "breakdown of institutional mechanism" as Prime Minister Narendra Modi has "concentrated" all powers in his hands.

Leading the party's charge, Congress President Sonia Gandhi termed the internal security situation as "serious" and hoped that Centre was taking all necessary steps to neutralize terror threats.

Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken went hammer and tongs against the government alleging that institutional mechanism stands "demolished" and the government is "in dark".

"Institutions are functioning in isolation and not in tandem, which is scary. Even the Home Minister is not aware how many terrorists were neutralised. The Home Minister does not even know that whether the operation is yet over or not. After Home Minister says that the operation is over, the Home Secretary says it is continuing.

"If even the Home Minister does know what has happened, it only points to the extent of the breakdown of institutional mechanism in this government. This shows the government is in dark and falling at each other. Sections of the government are not even aware how things are being done," Maken said at the AICC briefing.

He rued that even after passage of 56 hours, it was not clear whether Cabinet Committee on Security has met or not.

"The institutional mechanism, which has to respond in such serious situations has been demolished as the Prime Minister has concentrated all powers in his hand. CCS is one of the examples to show the Prime Minister is trying to do everything from PMO and and even concerned ministers are not being kept in the loop," Maken alleged.

As operations against two remaining terrorists at Pathankot air base continued, Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said yesterday that it was unsure if more militants were still holed up. The comments by Mehrishi came a day after Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted saying the operation had been completed with the killing of five terrorists. Singh later deleted his tweet.

Maken said it was unfortunate a number of ministers of the central government claimed that the operation was over even though it was continuing. He said such "conflicting" statements only showed "lack of coordination" within the government in the event of such serious security challenges.

He also raised questions over the "silence" of the government on Pakistan's role in the attack.

"What is the reason that the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the Home Minister are hesitant to name Pakistan even after ample evidence of Pakistan connection of terrorists. Terrorists called up Pakistan numbers from Pathankot. They had even booked the taxi in Pathankot from a Pakistan number. Why the Indian government is silent about Pakistan?" he said.

Maken said the Pathankot terror attack has raised serious



concerns regarding India's internal security and its handling by the Modi Government.

"Particularly, intelligence report of a terror module having infiltrated into Delhi, bomb scare happening on Shatabdi Express and all-round general security alert has created an atmosphere of insecurity, raising a question mark on government's efficacy to neutralize the threat with the alacrity that it deserves.

"Seemingly, there is a lack of command and control structure within the government to deal with, take control of and direct elimination of the terror attack like the one on Pathankot, Punjab. Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) did not even meet once to take stock of the situation over last 3 days," Maken said.

He alleged that even as the neutralization of terrorists at Pathankot airbase continued with our security forces fighting valiantly, Prime Minister Modi, was propagating yoga at a gathering in Karnataka.

"Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar was preoccupied in his home state of Goa, as always. A usually out of loop Home Minister Rajnath Singh first declared the operation to flush out terrorist successful through a tweet at 7 PM on January 2 2015 and said that 5 terrorists have been killed. After being contradicted by his Home Secretary, he shockingly deleted his own tweet.

"External Affairs Ministers, Sushma Swaraj, in the meanwhile, calls a meeting of ex-envoys. Complete disharmony and dis-jointed responses by those responsible for providing leadership in this time of a serious terror attack speaks volumes about the political leadership as also command and control structures within the Government," he said.

Maken rued that even as the security forces continued to battle militants at Pathankot Air Force base station in Punjab, Union Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal released a press statement on Sunday evening congratulating the forces for successfully ending the operation.

"The statement was issued to the media at around 5 pm when intense battle between militants and forces was on and the operation was nowhere near 'end' at Pathankot air base," he said.

(REOPENS DEL 68)



Maken said the Prime Minister should have convened a meeting of CCS with all his Ministers, monitored the situation and provided a clear cut unified command to give a befitting reply to Pakistani terrorists and their handlers in Pakistan.

"Besides saving many lives in the process, Modiji should have sent a strong message of reassurance of security to all countrymen and a stern warning to those in Pakistan exporting terror modules into India.

"May we remind the Prime Minister that in the midst of 26/11 Mumbai terror attack, he proceeded to reach the site of attack in Mumbai, when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat and even held a press conference criticizing the Congress government even as the attack was continuing," the Congress spokesperson said.

Asking why cannot the same Prime Minister now take control of the situation in Pathankot instead of "shying away" from defining Pakistani terrorists. Maken wondered "why is the Prime Minister giving a new description of terrorists as 'enemies of humanity' instead of describing them as 'Pakistani terrorists'?"



He wanted to know why the government had not stated clearly as to why was Pathankot terror attack not prevented despite availability of specific intelligence inputs. Maken said the same terrorist module had committed two separate incidents of abduction and killing before finally attacking the Pathankot airbase.

"Despite specific input having been provided by none less than the abducted SP of Punjab police, how did the terrorists manage to enter our frontline Airforce base and wreak havoc?



"A mere internal enquiry ordered by Defence Minister, Shri Manohar Parrikar cannot be a substitute for such a serious lapse of security strategy and protecting the key defence assets. The Modi government has not provided any answers to these key questions including assuring countrymen about the important security issues," he held.

The Congress spokesperson also chose the occassion to pay tribute to the valour and sacrifice of security forces.

Maken said the Pathankot attack was one of the most sinister terror strikes since the 26/11 in Mumbai. "The entire country, including the Congress Party, has stood with the security forces and the government in this hour and will stand united in fending off threats to India's security," he said.
Assailing the Centre over handling of Pathankot terror attack, Congress today said terror and talks cannot go side by side and took potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over "conflicting" statements on the incident, alleging it showed the "breakdown of institutional mechanism".

Leading the party's charge, Congress President Sonia Gandhi termed the internal security situation as "serious" and hoped that Centre was taking all necessary steps to neutralize terror threats.

Latching on to Home Minister Rajnath Singh's remarks on the incident, Congress spokesperson Ajay Maken went hammer and tongs against the government alleging that institutional mechanism stands "demolished" and sections in government are "completely in dark" as Modi has "concentrated" all powers in his hands.

"Institutions are functioning in isolation and not in tandem, which is scary. Even the Home Minister is not aware how many terrorists were neutralised. The Home Minister does not even know that whether the operation is yet over or not. After Home Minister says that the operation is over, the Home Secretary says it is continuing.

"If even the Home Minister does know what has happened, it only points to the extent of the breakdown of institutional mechanism in this government," he said.

Insisting that Pakistan's hand was evident in the Pathankot incident, Maken said, "Talks and terror cannot go side by side. Government has to come out openly to tell the very facts. We have always been of the view that terror and talks cannot go hand in hand."



He, however, evaded a direct reply on whether the proposed foreign secretary level talks between the two countries should continue or not. The talks are scheduled for January 14 and 15.

Alleging that there is a lack of command and control structure within the government to deal with, take control of and direct elimination of the terror attack like the one at Pathankot Air Force base, Maken said even as the process of neutralization continued with security forces fighting valiantly, Prime Minister Modi, was propagating yoga at a gathering in Karnataka.

"Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar was preoccupied in his home state of Goa, as always. A usually out of loop Home Minister Rajnath Singh first declared the operation to flush out terrorist successful through a tweet and said that 5 terrorists have been killed. After being contradicted by his Home Secretary, he shockingly deleted his own tweet.

"External Affairs Ministers, Sushma Swaraj, in the meanwhile, calls a meeting of ex-envoys. Complete disharmony and disjointed responses by those responsible for providing leadership in this time of a serious terror attack speaks volumes about the political leadership as also command and control structures within the Government," he said.

Maken told reporters that this was happening because the Prime Minister is trying to do everything from PMO and and even concerned ministers "are not being kept in the loop".

Senior party leader Ghulam Nabi Azad attacked the NDA



government over what he called "flip-flops" and "weak-kneed Pakistan policy" in the wake of Pathankot terror strike and suggested that the Centre should revisit its policy towards Islamabad.

"Though the time is not opportune to comment on the flip-flops and weak-kneed Pakistan policy of the NDA government, as our security forces are battling the terrorist assault at Pathankot airbase launched by anti-India forces from across the border, there remains a dire need to revisit the 'wishy washy' and 'consistently inconsistent' Pakistan policy being pursued by the NDA government," Azad said in a press statement.

Maken reminded the Prime Minister that in the midst of 26/11 terror attack he had visited Mumbai when he was Chief Minister of Gujarat and even held a press conference criticizing the Congress government.

Asking why cannot the same Prime Minister now take control of the situation in Pathankot instead of "shying away" from defining Pakistani terrorists, the Congress spokesperson also wondered "why is the Prime Minister giving a new description of terrorists as 'enemies of humanity' instead of describing them as 'Pakistani terrorists'".

Maken also raised questions over the "silence" of the government on Pakistan's role in the attack.

"What is the reason that the Prime Minister, the Defence Minister and the Home Minister are hesitant to name Pakistan even after ample evidence of Pakistan connection of terrorists. Terrorists called up Pakistan numbers from Pathankot. They had even booked the taxi in Pathankot from a Pakistan number. Why the Indian government is silent about Pakistan?" he said.

The Congress spokesperson said it was unfortunate a number of ministers of the central government claimed that the operation was over even though it was continuing. He said such "conflicting" statements only showed "lack of coordination" within the government.

He rued that even as the security forces continued to battle militants at Pathankot Air Force base station in Punjab, Union Minister of Food Processing Harsimrat Kaur Badal released a press statement on Sunday evening congratulating the forces on successful conclusion of the operation.

"The statement was issued to the media at around 5 pm when intense battle between militants and forces was on and the operation was nowhere near 'end' at Pathankot air base," he said.
In an embarrassment to the Congress, the party nominee to the post of chairman of zila panchayat, Krishna Chaurasiya today withdrew her nomination paving way for the unopposed election of the SP candidate.

Shiv Kali Maurya is the lone nominee left for the post of zila panchayat chairman after the withdrawal of nomination of Congress candidate Krishna Chaurasiya, district magistrate Jagatraj Tewari said.

There was a direct contest between Congress and Samajwadi Party for the post.

Meanwhile, the local unit president of the Congress, Yogendra Misra said that the party had nothing to do with the withdrawal of name by Chaurasiya and that it was her personal decision.

"Had she contested, the party would have extended full support," Misra said.

Congress vice president and local MP Rahul Gandhi's representative Chandrakant Dubey who was present during the filing of nomination by Chaurasiya said she did not take any advice from the party over withdrawing her name.

"She has not taken party's advice on withdrawing her candidature and it is her personal decision," Dubey added.
Even as BJP is fielding legislator Anant Shet for the post of Speaker in the Goa Legislative Assembly in the elections scheduled during the upcoming session, the Congress is yet to decide anything on their party candidature.

"We are very few people (legislators). I cannot say anything at this point of time. Nothing is decided so far. We have to see," Leader of Opposition Pratapsingh Rane told PTI today.

The week-long State Legislative Assembly session will begin from January 11.

BJP which has 21 legislators in the 40-member Assembly has already announced Anant Shet as its candidate. Congress has only nine legislators in the Assembly while there are four independents.

Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party with three legislators is supporting BJP, while Goa Vikas Party with its two legislators is yet to announce their stand.

"If Opposition camp puts up the candidate (for Speaker) I will support them. The onus is on them to field the candidate," Independent legislator Vijay Sardesai told PTI.

The BJP, meanwhile, has cleared the name of MLA Vishnu Wagh for the post of Deputy Speaker.

Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar said BJP legislators during their meeting held on Saturday proposed the name of Wagh.

The post of Speaker fell vacant after Rajendra Arlekar was inducted in the state cabinet.

Shet, who was Deputy Speaker will be now contesting for the post of Speaker.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis today issued an order to annul the condition of rendering candidates ineligible if they have applied for more than one category during their police recruitment process.

Also, in a major relief to 15 police constables who were declared ineligible for having applied for more than one category during their recruitment, Fadnavis has rescinded the decision and issued directions to take them back in service.

As per the recruitment rules and conditions, candidates are not eligible if they apply for more than one category.

Hence, the Nagpur police administration had in September, 2014 issued orders to terminate the services of these 15 constables.

The constables, meanwhile, had petitioned the Chief Minister arguing that although they had applied for more than one category, they had accepted job in one place only hence they be reabsorbed in the service.

"The Chief Minister has cancelled the condition of rendering candidates ineligible if they have applied for more than one category during their police recruitment process," an official from the Chief Minister's Office said.

"The CM also sought information about the matter (regarding the constables) and put in his remark that the action of the constables in applying for more than one category was not that serious and after having completed the rest of formalities to dismiss them from service for a minor mistake was not proper," he added.

"The CM issued orders to the Home department to take back the 15 constables back in service. The move has given a huge relief to the affected constables," the official said.

Among the 15 constables were Rajendra Bhagat, Nilesh Gadekar, Sitesh Chaurasia, Sahadev Chikhale, Sachin Kanojia, Prashant Bhoyar, Nilkamal Ingole, Komal Borkar, Radhika Pachve and Mukesh Shripad.
The special CBI court here today allowed Indrani Mukerjea, the prime accused in the Sheena Bora murder case, to sign some cheques for meeting the educational expenses of her daughter Vidhie.

Special judge H S Mahajan allowed an application moved by Indrani in this regard.

Vidhie, Indrani's daughter with her former husband Sanjeev Khanna, was present in the court today.

As soon as she arrived, Indrani hugged her and started weeping. The two had a long conversation and when they parted, Indrani was heard saying "take care", to which her daughter said "you too".

The court also extended the judicial custody of Indrani and the co-accused Sanjeev Khanna and her former driver Shyam Rai till January 16.

The judge rejected Khanna's application for home food in jail, said his lawyer advocate Swapna Kode.

CBI today provided advocate Kode with some pages of chargesheet which were missing from the copy given to him.

Sheena Bora (24), Indrani's daughter from another marriage, was murdered allegedly by Indrani, Khanna and Rai on April 24, 2012.

Indrani's husband and former media baron Peter Mukerjea (59) too has been arrested in the case.
Crude oil prices climbed by Rs 48 to Rs 2,618 per barrel today as speculators widened their positions amid a firm trend in Asia.

At the Multi Commodity Exchange, crude oil for delivery in February gained Rs 48, or 1.87%, to Rs 2,618 per barrel, with a business turnover of 186 lots.

The oil for the January delivery shot up by Rs 41, or 1.65%, to Rs 2,521 per barrel, with a business volume of 3,399 lots.

Marketmen said the rise in crude oil futures was largely in tandem with firming trend in Asia after crude kingpin Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran following a row over Tehran's execution of a Shiite cleric.

Saudi Arabia announced the decision yesterday, a day after protesters ransacked its embassy in Tehran over the execution of a Shiite cleric.

Meanwhile, West Texas Intermediate crude for February advanced by 48 cents, or 1.30%, to $37.52, while Brent for February rose 61 cents, or 1.64%, to $37.89 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
A Delhi court today fixed tomorrow for commencing hearing on final arguments in a case related to the alleged gangrape of a 52-year-old Danish woman by nine persons including three juveniles here in 2014.

Additional Sessions Judge Kaveri Baweja deferred the hearing due to non-availability of the counsel for accused and posted the matter for tomorrow.

In an oral submission, Special Public Prosecutor Atul Shrivastava also told the judge that the prosecution wanted to drop some of the doctors who have already been examined.

To this, the court asked him to make the submission tomorrow in the presence of the defence counsel as he might have an objection to it.

The court had on December 18, 2015 fixed the matter for final arguments after the six adult accused said in their testimonies that they do not want to examine any witness in their defence.

During recording of their statements in the court, the six accused had claimed innocence and alleged that the police falsely implicated them in the case.

The court had asked over 100 questions each to the six accused Mahendra alias Ganja (26), Mohd Raja (22), Raju (23), Arjun (21), Raju Chakka (22) and Shyam Lal (55).

They had claimed that a day prior to the alleged incident on January 14, 2014, they had hired a prostitute and had physical relations with her and had not done anything with the Danish woman.

They had also claimed that the case property was planted on them by the police to implicate them in the matter.

The police charge sheet said the nine accused, all vagabonds, had allegedly robbed and gangraped the Danish tourist at knife-point on the night of January 14, 2014 after leading her to a secluded spot close to the Divisional Railway Officers' Club near New Delhi Railway Station.

The nine accused were arrested. The three juveniles are facing an inquiry before the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB).

The six adult accused are in judicial custody and facing trial.

The nine accused have been booked on charges of gangrape and robbery or dacoity, with an attempt to cause death or grievous hurt under IPC.

Earlier, depositions of the victim and two Danish police officers, who had come here from Denmark in pursuance to summons, were also recorded by the court.

During an in-camera hearing on July 1, 2015, the woman had narrated to the judge the entire incident and identified three of the six adult accused as the ones who had gangraped her. However, while deposing before JJB, she had turned hostile and failed to identify the three minor offenders.
Pakistan would be given a befitting reply if it does not stop sending terrorists across, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said here today adding that India's initiative for friendship should not be construed as its weakness.

Addressing a public function here, Gadkari said in an apparent reference to the Pathankot terror strike that Pakistan was waging a "proxy" war against India.

"You know yesterday's incident. Terrorists are coming to India continuously. Pakistan knows very well that it cannot defeat us in open war. Pakistan wants to provoke and bring India on the brink of war by killing innocent people and by making Hindus fight against Muslims with the help of terrorists. They are doing a proxy war.

"We want to forge friendship with Pakistan. But this does not mean that we are weak. If Pakistan will carry out such incidents in India with the help of terror then we will give them a befitting reply. ('Hum eet ka jawab patthar se denge')," he said.

Taking a dig at some political parties for accusing the BJP of "playing communal politics", the Road Transport and Highways Minister said the NDA government was committed to the welfare of all sections of society.

"There are some anti-national elements roaming in Hyderabad. They do not want our country to grow. They do not want poverty to be eradicated," he said, without taking any names.

Taking a swipe at Congress, Gadkari said people of the country became poorer during its misrule of 60 years.

Gadkari said some political sections are trying to malign the image of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP by portraying them as "anti-Muslims".

"Some people do not want us to work for the benefit of people. They try to spread hatred and fear among Muslims. They try to create an impression that the BJP and Modi are against them. They say that they (Modi and BJP) will send you (Muslims) to Pakistan, if you don't vote for them. These people do vote bank politics," he alleged.

Gadkari said Modi was trying to give a facelift to the country's image in the world.

The senior BJP leader further said the NDA government will work in coordination with all state governments cutting across political affiliations.

He also appealed to people to vote for the TDP-BJP combine in the upcoming elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.
The Justice S N Aggarwal inquiry commission, set up by the Delhi government to probe the CNG fitness scam, has written to Lt Governor Najeeb Jung asking him to direct ACB chief M K Meena to produce records relating to the case before it.

In his letter, Chairman of the Commission Justice S N Aggarwal has asked Jung to ensure that the entire record in Meena's possession be produced before it within a week so that "nobody is blamed for obstructing or unduly delaying the proceedings of the commission at a later date".

Citing an order of the Delhi High Court, in the letter dated December 30, through which it has declined a request to stay the proceedings of the Commission, he said, "This necessarily implied that the proceedings before the commission should continue till further orders of the court."



In August last year, the Home Ministry had declared as "legally invalid and void" the Commission of Inquiry, saying the Delhi government was not the "competent authority" to set up any such panel.

The panel was set up by the AAP government to probe the award of contract by the Sheila Dikshit dispensation for inspection and certification of commercial vehicles for fitness to a firm in 2002.

It had issued a non-bailable warrant against Meena in last September which was stayed by the Delhi High Court.

"This commission is of the view that to ensure expeditious conclusion of inquiry proceedings it is necessarily that the relevant records pertaining to CNG fitness Scam in possession of Mr Meena should be produced before the commission immediately so that the inquiry may continue and brought to a logical end at an early date.

"I hope you agree that nobody is gaining anything by withholding the records as by the time the inquiry may be concluded the final orders of the honourable HC would also come and that shall be binding on all concerned including the commission," the letter said.
Urging the Centre to not delay anymore its nod to hold Jallikattu in Tamil Nadu, DMK chief M Karunanidhi today criticised Chief Minister Jayalalithaa for not meeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the issue and taking initiatives to conduct the bull taming sport.

"As Pongal festival draws to a close, I again and again urge the Central government to announce giving its nod to hold Jallikattu fulfilling the aspirations of the Tamil Nadu people," he said in a statement.

The sport is traditionally held during the four-day Pongal festival celebrated in mid-January in the state, especially southern districts, but the Supreme Court has last year imposed a ban on it.

Attacking the AIADMK regime, Karunanidhi said: "The State government considers its job done after sending a letter to the Central government over Jallikattu."



Jayalalithaa had on December 23 in a letter to the Centre had urged to introduce a bill to amend laws for conducting Jallikattu. She also suggested convening a special Parliament session for the purpose, or promulgation of an ordinance.

"It is strongly condemnable that the Chief Minister or a senior Minister did not go to Delhi to meet the Prime Minister and take initiatives for conducting the brave sport," Karunanidhi said in a statement here.

Referring to Union Minister Pon Radhakrishnan expressing hope that the sport could be held as the Central government was taking "all necessary steps," he said, however, the "news" from Delhi was shaking his "confidence."



Quoting some reports, he claimed that Attorney General Mukhul Rohtagi had opined that giving permission to hold Jallikattu would not be proper.

DMK had recently postponed holding a protest demonstration seeking nod for Jallikattu after assurances by Radhakrishnan that the traditional sport would be held this year.
Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval's visit to China from tomorrow for talks with top Chinese leaders has been put off in the wake of the attack by Pakistani militants on a key Air Force base in Pathankot.

Chinese and Indian officials today said the visit was postponed due to the Pathankot incident. Indian officials said Doval's visit will be rescheduled.

Doval, who is also the Special Representative for Sino-India boundary talks, was due to arrive here tomorrow on a two-day visit during which he was scheduled to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi on key bilateral issues, including the border dispute.

He was also due to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.

"China and India are committed to resolving their border question. As you know we have a mechanism in place and special representatives for the boundary question meet every year," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told reporters when asked about the postponement of Doval's visit.

"As to when the meeting between the Special Representatives will take place this year we will release relevant information in due course," Hua said.

Both Doval and Yang are Special Representatives for holding talks on the boundary issue. So far, the two countries held 18 rounds of border talks.

Indian Ambassador to China Ashok Kantha had said Doval was due to have "strategic consultations" with the Chinese leaders.

The visit is not for the Special Representative-level talks, Kantha said.

Referring to Doval's visit, Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies told state- run Global Times that "frequent talks between the two countries will accelerate solving a dispute on the long border, including its western section with Northwest China's Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and eastern part with Southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region".

Doval's visit to China follows frequent interactions between the two countries' top leaders in 2015.

China and India have strengthened cooperation on security issues, including solving the border dispute through talks, Fu Xiaoqiang, an expert on South Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said.

Fu said the two countries have already agreed to solve the border dispute based on mutual understanding and accommodation but its implementation faces many difficulties, including marking the Line of Actual Control in the China-India border areas.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) today told the Delhi High Court that the agency was opposed to providing Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh a copy of the money laundering case lodged against him.

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for ED, however, sought time from the court to get back on whether Singh can be denied a copy of the case after Justice Ashutosh Kumar questioned whether someone can be divested of their legal right to have the documents.

The judge also said if the documents sought are not given to Singh, the same can not be used against him during trial.

The court also asked about the reasons for ED's refusal to give the documents and said the agency will have to convince it about it.

CBI, represented by Additional Solicitor General P S Patwalia, told the court that it will provide a xerox copy of the documents seized from Singh's office and residence. He said that 40 per cent of the photocopying work is over.

The agency, however, told the high court that it had kept the documents with it on the direction of the trial court and, if Singh required a copy, he should have approached the trial court.

The high court, thereafter, adjourned the matter to January 7, saying it will pass orders on that date on the plea of Singh.

ED has filed a case against Singh under Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Singh, in his plea, has also sought a direction to CBI to provide him all the documents seized by the agency when it had raided his residence and office.

On September 26 this year, CBI had conducted raids at 11 places including Singh's residences in Delhi and Himachal, on the day his daughter was getting married.

He has also prayed that ED be restrained from taking any action against him for "non-compliance" of summons issued to him on November 16 in connection with the money laundering case.

On December 2, the high court had sought CBI's reply to



Singh's plea seeking quashing of FIR lodged against him in a disproportionate assets case.

On November 5, the Supreme Court had transferred the plea of Singh from the Himachal Pradesh High Court to the Delhi High Court, saying it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case but "simply" transferring the petition "in the interest of justice and to save the institution (judiciary) from any embarrassment".

CBI had moved the apex court seeking transfer of the case from the Himachal Pradesh HC and setting aside of the interim order granting him protection from arrest and other relief.

The chief minister had filed a petition in the Himachal Pradesh HC pleading that the searches at his private residence and other premises were conducted with "malafide intentions and political vendetta" by the central investigating agency.

Singh had sought directions from the high court to quash the FIR registered against him and his wife under Sections 13 (2) and 13(1) (e) of Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 109 of IPC by CBI on September 23 in Delhi.
An Egyptian court today accepted the appeal and ordered retrial of many leaders of banned Muslim Brotherhood including its supreme leader Mohamed Badie, canceling life and death sentences awarded to them earlier for being involved in violent acts in 2013.

Badie, 72, and his deputy Khayrat el-Shater were among 14 Muslim Brotherhood (MB) leaders who were earlier sentenced to life in prison, while four defendants were sentenced to death in the same case.

The defendants are accused of inciting violence, attempted killing, possessing unlicensed weapons, joining an outlawed armed group and being involved in the violent clashes that took place near the MB office in Moqattam area here in 2013 as they clashed with protesters demanding the ouster of Islamist ex-President Mohamed Morsi.

The violent clashes left nine dead and about 91 injured.

Last month, an Egyptian military court sentenced the MB Supreme Guide Badie and others to ten years in prison for involvement in violent acts in the canal city of Suez.

It was the first military sentence given to Badie.

Since Morsi's ouster, the Egyptian government has been cracking down on the MB and its supporters, which left thousands in jail, and hundreds facing trials on a variety of charges.

Morsi himself and Badie and 100 other leaders were sentenced in June to death for escaping from prison in 2011.

Badie and Morsi were also sentenced to life in prison in the espionage case.

There sentences are currently in appeal.
Eight Kashmiri men were today detained in the district while they were on their way to Bajju area, which is close to the Indo-Pak border.

"They were detained on the basis of suspicion. They were travelling to Bajju area in a bus," SHO Kolayat police station Gopal Singh Nathawat said.

The SHO said they were detained following a tip off.

"Primarily, they said that they came from Kashmir to Bikaner to cut woods. Their credentials are being verified," he said.
A 60-year-old man was hacked to death allegedly by his neighbor over a year-old dispute at Kuwali in East Singhbhum district, police said.

Police recovered the body of the victim, Rajkishore Sardar, Officer-in-charge of the police station, Satnarayan Sharma said.

Rajkishore was hacked to death by a sharp weapon before he was crushed with stone in the remote area on Sunday last, he said.

The villagers told police that the victim had a dispute over a petty issue about a year back, Sharma said when asked about the reason behind the killing.

The body has been sent for post-mortem to M G M Hospital here, he said.

A named FIR has been registered against the neighbor Shivsaran Sardar, who was reportedly absconding.
A 68-year-old Sikh man has been stabbed to death in California's Fresno city on January 1, prompting police to launch a hate crime probe into the city's first homicide.

Gurcharan Singh Gill, an employee at local liquor store at Shields Express in West Shields Avenue was at work when he was stabbed to death during broad day light, Lieutenant Mindy Casto said.

While investigations are still on-going, local community members feel Gill was attacked due to his identity and skin colour, Casto said.

When officers of Fresno Police Department arrived at the scene they found an elderly man lying in the shop. Emergency medical team tried to provide first-aid but it was determined that Gill had already died, Fresno Bee reported.

The motive and cause of death are not known yet. His death marked the city's first homicide of 2016, police said.

On December 28, another elderly Sikh man was brutally assaulted by two persons in Fresno. No arrests have been made in either cases.

The police have appealed to the local people to report if they find any leads to the incident.
The Federation Of Tamil Nadu Agriculturists Associations today urged the Centre and Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments to consider implementing a pioneer but shelved Pandiyar Punnampuzha project on the basis of 'water for Tamil Nadu and electricity for Kerala,' with top priority in the interest of National integration.

In a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, FTAA secretary S Nallasamy said the rivers Pandiyar and Punnampuzha originate in Nilgiris District of Tamil Nadu and flow towards the west through Kerala and drains without usage into the Arabian Sea.

A project, which was conceptualised in the early 60's, was shelved due to the change in governments in 1967, he claimed



If both state governments indulge in bilateral, amicable negotiations over this project,on the basis of water for Tamil Nadu and electricity for Kerala, this could yield 18 TMC of water for Tamil Nadu per year, thus putting an end to the water scarcity of Bhavani river basins, Nallasamy said.

This will also help implementation of the long awaited Atthikkadavu-Avinashi drinking water project, he said.

This could serve as irrigation water for Cauvery delta districts and drinking water for Chennai through Veeranam lake, Nallasamy said, adding that this to an extent would meet Kerala's power demand.

The project called for entire funding from the Centre.

Interlinking of rivers being an important agenda for the NDA government, finding a prime place in the 2014 election Manifesto, he said this project could be the stepping stone towards harnessing of rivers and could be a pilot project for the upcoming river linking projects, Nallasamy said.

Copies of the letter have also been sent to the President, governors and chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
An FIR has been registered against the CEO and founder of an e-commerce major for allegedly selling popular Maggi noodles online during the ban period, in five Indian states.

A case was registered yesterday against CEO of Snapdeal Kunal Bahl and its founder Rohit Bansal for online sale of Nestle's instant noodles in five states including Rajasthan during the period of ban between June 7 and October 30 last year, police said today.

A complaint was yesterday lodged by Lalit Sharma, a Jaipur-based lawyer following which police registered an FIR under sections 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale), 273 (sale of noxious food or drink) of the IPC and sections 59 and 63 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.

When contacted, the company spokesperson said they have not received any information on the same.

Last June, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India had placed a ban on sale of Maggi after they found high levels of lead in it.

The Bombay High Court, however, had revoked the ban on Maggi on October 19 paving the way for it to be back on shelves.
Fire erupted at a slum in Mahim area of Mumbai today in which some hutments suffered minor damage, officials said.

No one was reported hurt or killed in the mishap, they said.

The blaze occurred at a slum establishment on S L Raheja road in Mahim. About half-a-dozen hutments came in contact with the flames, a fire control room official said.

The control room got a call at around 11 AM about the blaze following which five fire tenders were immediately rushed to the site, he said.

Efforts were on to douse the flames, he said adding that the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.
In the second incident of fire in the city today, a portion of an under-construction site of the Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital located in Parel area caught fire, albeit with no loss of life or injury.

The fire brigade received a call at about 3 PM following which four fire fighting tenders and three tankers were rushed to the spot, the fire brigade official said.

The efforts to douse the blaze are under way, he said, adding that the cause of fire would be ascertained once it is contained completely.

No casualties were reported in the incident, a doctor from the hospital said.

As many as 50 patients were in the hospital at the time of the incident, he added.
Former member of militant outfit Khalisthan Commando Force, Baj Singh, was today set free from the Central Jail here after serving his term, police said.

He was arrested by Punjab police in 1997 for having involvements in various terrorist activities.

Confirming his release from prison, a police official said that he was arrested under TADA Act in 1997.

Before 1997, he was also arrested in terrorist-related activities in 1993.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari today announced road projects worth Rs 41,000 crore for Telangana, including two Express Highways from the state capital Hyderabad to Bengaluru in Karnataka and Vijayawada in Andhra Pradesh.

"The total package for Telangana is Rs 41,000 crore. This is not the final figure. It is still open for discussion. And if any new National Highway is recommended from the leaders of Telangana or from the state government or from our (BJP) leaders, we will think positively and we will support Telangana as a new state," Gadkari told reporters here.

The Union Road Transport and Highways Minister today laid the foundation stone of 4-lane of Yadgir and Warangal section of NH-202 (new NH-163) of length 99 km costing Rs 1,424 crore.

He said the government will soon prepare the Detailed Project Reports (DPR) for two Express Highways connecting Hyderabad with Bengaluru and Vijayawada.

"The Telangana portion of cost of construction for the two Express Highways would be Rs 16,000 crore covering 190 km for Vijayawada and 210 km for Bengaluru Express Highways," the minister said.

According to him, making of inland waterways would be the NDA government's top priority.

He also assured that his ministry would take up works of making waterways in Telangana, once the related proposals are cleared by Parliament.

According to him, as many as 111 waterways projects are pending for clearance in the Rajya Sabha.

As Telangana is a land-locked state, the Centre has taken a decision to construct a dry port on Godavari river.

"We have taken a decision to make dry port on Godavari where it will act as a multi-model hub. There will be a National Highway, waterways and at the same time aviation connection will also be there," Gadkari said.
Police say several shots have been fired at a home for asylum seekers in western Germany and one resident was lightly injured.

Police in Offenbach, near Frankfurt, said it wasn't immediately who was responsible for the incident in the early hours of today or what the motive was.

They said several shots were fired at a window of the building in the town of Dreiech at around 2.30 a.M. And one hit a 23-year-old asylum seeker who was sleeping. He was taken to a hospital, but was able to leave shortly afterward.

Germany saw around a million refugees and other migrants arrive last year. While Germans have generally been welcoming, there have been arson attacks, assaults and other crimes against refugee shelters.
Germany urged Riyadh and Tehran today to restore diplomatic relations and warned it would take into account developments in Saudi Arabia when it decides on arms exports there.

France meanwhile called for a "de-escalation" of tensions.

In Berlin, Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert said: "We call on both countries to resume dialogue. We appeal to both countries... To use all means at their disposal to improve their diplomatic relations."



He reiterated Germany's "dismay" over Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 prisoners, including a Shiite cleric, which sparked attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran followed by a severing of diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Seibert said relations between the key regional players are "of fundamental importance for resolving the crises in Syria and Yemen and for the stability of the entire region".

Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier's spokesman Martin Schaefer said that "for years the international community, including Germany, has been working to help ensure that the region's many crises and conflicts... Can be contained."



"Saudi Arabia and Iran must contribute to crisis resolution," he told a conference.

A spokesman for the economy ministry meanwhile said it was "following developments" in Saudi Arabia, and that they would "come into play" when it decides on approval for future defence exports to the country.

The German opposition has called in recent days on the government to review its relationship with Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest crude oil exporter and a major customer of German defence and other high-tech goods.

Seibert stressed that "it is in the interest of Germany to have dialogue with Saudi Arabia ... We are committed to a constructive relationship with Riyadh."



French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius meanwhile called for a "de-escalation of tensions" between Riyadh and Tehran, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said.

"France has an important role in this region as an interlocutor with all the parties," Le Foll said following a cabinet meeting, noting that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani plans to visit Paris in the coming weeks.

Relations between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite-dominated Iran have been strained for decades.

The oil-rich foes have also been divided over the nearly five-year war in Syria, where Iran is backing the regime, and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels.
Germany's Vice Chancellor Sigmar Gabriel warned Saudi Arabia today Berlin could review military exports to the oil-rich nation in light of Riyadh's mass executions of prisoners two days earlier.

Berlin also urged Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic relations after 47 people were executed, including a Shiite cleric, which sparked attacks on the Saudi embassy in mainly Shiite Iran followed by a severing of official ties between the regional powers.

Gabriel, who is also Germany's economy minister, said: "We must now review whether in future we should take a more critical stance on defensive armaments which we have so far sold to Saudi Arabia for its national defence."



"It turns out we were right not to deliver battle tanks or G36 assault rifles to Saudi Arabia," he added, national agency DPA reported.

Germany has refrained from selling the Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle and other offensive military weapons to Saudi Arabia but has shipped millions of euros worth of so-called defensive military gear.

Exports last year included patrol boats, all-terrain vehicles, aerial refuelling equipment, drones and parts for combat aircraft and armoured vehicles, said national agency DPA.

A spokesman for the economy ministry earlier said it was "following developments" in Saudi Arabia, and that they would "come into play" when it decides on approval for future defence exports to the country.

Chancellor Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert called on both Saudi Arabia and Iran "to use all means at their disposal to improve their diplomatic relations".

He said Saudi-Iranian ties are "of fundamental importance for resolving the crises in Syria and Yemen and for the stability of the entire region".

Germany's opposition Greens and Left parties demanded the government halt all military exports to Saudi Arabia, which reached USD 226 million in 2014, the last full year for which data is available.

Seibert, asked whether Germany planned to sanction Saudi Arabia, stressed that "it is in the interest of Germany to have dialogue with Saudi Arabia ... We are committed to a constructive relationship with Riyadh."



French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius meanwhile called for a "de-escalation of tensions" between Riyadh and Tehran, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said.

"France has an important role in this region as an interlocutor with all the parties," Le Foll said following a cabinet meeting, noting that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani plans to visit Paris in the coming weeks.

Relations between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite-dominated Iran have been strained for decades.

The oil-rich foes have also been divided over the nearly five-year war in Syria, where Iran is backing the regime, and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels.
The Bombay High Court today directed Maharashtra government to take steps to procure 1,843 decibel meters for the police to ensure there is no violation of noise pollution rules during festivals, public addresses, processions and so on.

A division bench of justices A S Oka and C V Bhadang was hearing a bunch of public interest litigations seeking implementation of noise pollution rules and regulations.

"The authorities have failed completely to ensure implementation of the noise pollution rules. It is the police's duty to ensure that noise levels at places where religious festivals and functions and processions are held on public roads are measured and prompt action is taken if there is any violation," the court said.

The court was informed that as of now only 494 decibel meters are available with the police and more 1,843 such meters are required.

"The government shall within three months from today take steps to procure the required decibel meters. The government shall also make proper arrangements for maintenance of checks periodically to ensure that the meters are in working condition," the court ordered.

The court said prior to every religious festival and also New Year's eve, the government should give wide publicity to noise pollution rules and ensure that it is implemented.

The court asked the government to take a decision on introducing a mobile app on which people can lodge complaints within two months.

The court expressed shock that during the Navratri festival in October last year, no case of violation of noise pollution rules was registered in Pune, Nagpur, Solapur, Nashik, Aurangabad and Navi Mumbai cities.

"The government cannot make such tall claims that there was not a single case of violation in these cities," the court said.

The petitions have been posted for further hearing on April 6, by when the government will have to file an affidavit.
The government has ordered a security audit of all critical defence installations in the country in the wake of the terror attack on the strategic Pathankot air base.

Top Defence sources said the idea of the audit is to identify shortcomings in the security system and plug them.

"The defence ministry has ordered a security audit of all defence installation, to be completed quickly, so that weaknesses can be found out and plugged," the sources said.

In the case of the Pathankot attack, it is believed that the terrorists had entered the base through an opening in the nearly 25 km-long perimeter wall of the base.

Sources said the terrorists entered the base, one of the largest of the IAF spread over about 2000 acres, through a gap in the perimeter wall which is heavily forested.

Meanwhile, the government is also looking at how the security of the international border in Punjab can be intensified further. The border is guarded by the BSF but top security officials are concerned about two infiltrations by the militants in the last six months from the same area.

"The area has a lot of river lines and it is not easy to plug all the holes there. However, it would be seen that the security is beefed up there," the sources said.
Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan, who today inaugurated seven Wi-Fi hostspots of BSNL in Madhya Pradesh, said the government was constantly endeavouring to improve the condition of the public sector telecom firm.

She chaired a meeting hosted by BSNL chairman and MD Anupam Shrivastava here, in which several MPs from the state were also present, said G C Pandey, General Manager of the MP circle of BSNL.

One of the Wi-Fi hospots inaugurated by the Speaker is at Potlod village in Indore district which she has adopted under the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna.

At the meeting with top officers of BSNL and the MPs, Mahajan said, "BSNL plays an important role in the telecom sector of the country. The government is taking every necessary step to improve its condition."



Kantilal Bhuria, Congress MP from Jhabua-Ratlam, told reporters afterwards that he raised the issue of poor BSNL network in the state at the meeting.

"It was harming BSNL's image, and a collusion between its officers and the private telecom operators may be responsible for this," he said.
A double barrel gun, 35 cartridges and gold ornaments, weighing nine sovereigns, have been stolen from the house of a BSF head constable on the city outskirts.

Yesterday, Jayashree, wife of the head constable Thiruvasagam, who is away on duty in Gujarat, with their two children had gone to her sister's house at Annur, some 35 km from here, after locking the house, police said.

Some neighbours, who noticed the main door of the house open last evening, called her over phone and informed her about it.

Jayashree, who returned immediately, saw an almirah broken open and the licensed gun, cartridges and ornaments missing, police said.

(Reopens DES 36)



The accused, Nikhil was later arrested and a case registered against him at Geeta Colony police station.

"A case has been registered against the accused driver and he has been arrested," Rishi Pal, DCP (East) said.

An FIR was registered against the youth under Sections 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) of IPC and Section 184 of Motor Vehicle Act, he added.
As many as 15 states have agreed to opt for UDAY scheme, meant for revival of debt stressed power distribution companies (discoms) in the country, Union Minister Piyush Goyal said today.

"Within 2 months of announcement of UDAY (Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana) scheme, more than half of the states of India are on board. A total of 15 out of 29 states are on board for Ujwal Discom Assurance Yojna," the Power, Coal, New & Renewable Energy Minister told reporters here.

The minister said that today, four major states -- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha and Maharashtra -- have agreed to join UDAY.

With a total of 15 states joining UDAY, 90 per cent of over Rs 4 lakh crore debt of discoms will be covered under the scheme.

The first Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) under UDAY scheme will be signed tomorrow by Power Ministry, the Jharkhand government and state discom JBVNL.

He said while the Bihar Cabinet will consider and approve the proposal to join UDAY scheme tomorrow, the state councils of ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Maharashtra have already given their nod to go for the scheme.

On being asked whether there would be restructuring of debt under the scheme, the minister explained that states will own the 75 per cent of debt and issue bonds to pare the loan.

The discoms will issue bonds with states' guarantee to raise funds for repaying remaining 25 per cent of the loan and old debt accounts will be paid, he elaborated.

The states which have evinced interest for the scheme include Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Chhattisgarh and Gujarat.

The minister said there are some states which are not able to join UDAY because their utilities don't have separate account for generation, transmission and distribution.

Goyal said Tamil Nadu is one of those states which have a single utility which is into generation, transmission and distribution.

In a bid to promote the use of electric vehicles, the minister said that he has spoken to Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to exempt these vehicles from value added tax, road tax and registration charges.

"I will be speaking to other Chief Ministers also to provide these exemptions to electric vehicles for making COP21 a success much before envisaged," the minister added.

On being asked about annulling of coal mine auctions scheduled for this month, he explained "in global scenario when fuel prices are low, the real value of these mines would not have realised. That is why government thought of annulling the coal auctions."



On coal supply to thermal power plants, he said, "On an average, every thermal plant in the country has coal supply for 23 days."



"On December 29, 2015, nationally there was no shortage of power. The price on the exchange on that day was Rs 2.35 per unit," Goyal said, adding that now there is one nation, one grid and one price.
The Madras High Court today directed Tamil actor Simbu, facing charges of denigrating women through a 'beep song', to approach an appropriate court to seek regular bail noting that the alleged offences against him were bailable.

Disposing of the anticipatory bail petition of the actor, against whom cases have been registered in Coimbatore and Chennai, Justice B Rajendran held the offences alleged against the petitioner were bailable and directed him to approach the appropriate court to seek regular bail.

He passed the order after hearing the arguments from senior counsel Muthukumaraswamy, who appeared for Simbu, and Public Prosecutor Shanmuga Velayudham on behalf of police.

"Having regard to the submissions of both sides and the fact that the offences alleged against the petitioner are bailable in nature, the petitioner is directed to approach the appropriate court to seek regular bail," the Judge said.

The concerned magistrate shall pass appropriate orders in accordance with law on the same day as per the decision of the Supreme Court in various cases, he said.

Coimbatore Police have registered a case against Silambarasan,popularly known as Simbu, and music composer Anirudh on December 12 on a complaint from local unit of All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA) that the Beep song allegedly contained vulgar lyrics denigrating women.

They were served with summons to appear before the police in the first week of this month.

Simbumoved the high court to quash/stay the proceedings, which was refused by Justice R Subbiah last week.

The Cyber Crime police in Egmore here also registered a similar case against the duo for offences under the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act and Information Technology Act based on a complaint.

Apprehending arrest in the cases, Simbu filed the anticipatory bail plea.
The Delhi High Court today sought city government's response on plea by former Haryana Chief Minister Om Prakash Chautala, serving a 10-year jail term in teachers' recruitment scam case, seeking 60 days' parole for medical treatment.

Justice Ashutosh Kumar asked the Delhi government to file the status report before January 29 on the plea of Chautala whose appeal against the high court verdict convicting him and sentencing to years in jail was dismissed by the Supreme Court on August 3 last year.

The apex court had which holding them guilty, however, said that the convicts may move the high court with their pleas seeking relief like parole on health grounds.

Chautala, his son Ajay Singh Chautala and three others are serving 10-year jail term in the case.

82-year-old Chautala has sought parole for 60 days for treatment of some problem in his polio-afflicted legs.

The plea stated that on September 8, 2015 Chautala had moved an application to Tihar Jail Superintendent for grant of parole.

"On October 20, 2015, the home department of Delhi government has informed that his plea for parole was dismissed keeping in mind the 2010 parole guidelines as per which there should be a gap of a minimum six months from the date of termination of last parole," it stated.

Senior advocate N Hariharan and advocate Amit Sahni said that INLD leader had last availed one-month parole in May this year, which was later extended till May 28.

They said the "petitioner is polio-affected since his birth and has permanent disability of 60 per cent. He was on bail during the trial and was released on parole, but he has never misused the same."



The six-month period since the last day of his previous parole expired on November 28, 2015, so his plea be allowed by taking a lenient view, the counsel said.

Senior standing counsel Rahul Mehra, appearing for Delhi government, opposed the plea saying the jail has enough facilities for Chautala's treatment.

The high court had on March 5 upheld the jail term awarded to Chautala, his son Ajay and three others, saying, "the overwhelming evidence showed the shocking and spine-chilling state of affairs in the country."



The father-son duo and 53 others, including two IAS officers, were convicted on January 16, 2013 by the trial court for illegally recruiting 3,206 junior basic trained (JBT) teachers in Haryana in 2000.

Besides Chautalas and whistleblower IAS officer Sanjiv Kumar, the then Director of Primary Education, the high court had also awarded 10-year prison term to IAS officer Vidya Dhar, then Officer on Special Duty (OSD) to the Chief Minister, and Sher Singh Badshami, then an MLA and political adviser to Chautala senior.

All the 55 convicts have been sentenced under sections 120B (criminal conspiracy), 418 (cheating), 467 (forgery), 471 (using forged documents as genuine) of IPC and provisions of Prevention of Corruption Act.

The high court had modified the trial court's order on the quantum of sentence and awarded two-year jail term to 50 other convicts.

Initially, there were 62 accused in the case. While two died before filing of the charge sheet, four passed away during the trial of the case and one was discharged by the trial court.
The number of cases of heinous crimes committed by minors in the national capital is likely to come down once the new juvenile justice legislation comes into force, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi today said.

"As far as cases related to minors are concerned, we are awaiting the President's assent on the new juvenile justice act, following which such problems are likely to be solved," he said replying to a question posed at the Delhi Police annual conference here.

The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Bill 2015, which provides for lowering the age for trial from 18 years in cases of heinous crime, was passed by Rajya Sabha last December amid a debate triggered by the release of the juvenile (now adult) convict in the December 16 gangrape.

Later in the day, official sources said that President Pranab Mukherjee has given assent to the Act in this regard.

As per the new proposed legislation, juveniles falling in the age group of 16-18 can be tried for such crimes.

Incidentally, as per central government's figures, there was a 30 per cent rise in number of juvenile offenders in the country from 2012 (36,822) to 2014 (48,230). The data pertains to the National Crime Records Bureau, Ministry of Home Affairs, with the juveniles being apprehended under the Indian Penal Code and Special Local Laws.

Bassi, when asked if juveniles were being used as pawns to commit crimes, said, "the situation will change now."



"Now, with this law, the situation would be different... the new law, once enacted, will not only serve as a deterrent to potential offenders but also add more teeth to the police force," he told PTI on the sidelines of the conference.

As per records rolled out by the Delhi Police today, 2,095 cases of rape, 5,192 molestations and 1,444 cases of eve-teasing were reported till December 15 last year, compared to 2,085 rapes, 4,182 molestations and 1,282 eve-teasing cases in the corresponding period previous year.

Under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 82 cases were reported in that period last year while 104 cases in 2014.
Democratic party presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton has been heckled at a campaign rally by a Republican lawmaker who asked her questions about her husband former US president Bill Clinton's alleged sexual impropriety.

The heckler, later identified as Republican State lawmaker Katherine Prudhomme O'Brien, has for years followed the former first lady, peppering her with questions about allegations of past sexual misconduct by Bill.

Clinton, 68, who is aiming at becoming the first ever woman president of the US and is so far leading the Democratic Party's race, described the repeated disruption in her speech as very rude.

"You are very rude and I'm not never ever going to call on you," Clinton said as O'Brien was repeatedly shouting at the former First Lady and the Secretary of State.

Following the event, O'Brien told reporters that she was trying to ask Clinton about her husband's sexual impropriety decades ago.

"I asked her how in the world she can say that Juanita Broderick and Kathleen Wiley are lying when she has no idea who Juanita Broderick is," she said.

"She told me this summer she doesn't know who she is and doesn't want to know who she is. How can she access that they are lying, which she told someone last month?" O'Brien said.

"I was a Democrat, but I became a Republican because of this, because of this stuff. Because of what I saw happen in the Clinton years, the hypocrisy of so-called women who fight for women," O'Brien said.

Meanwhile, Clinton, who is campaigning in New Hampshire, applauded Obama's soon-to-be-announced executive action that would strengthen background checks and make it harder for dealers to sell guns to criminals.

But Clinton warned how the progress made by this executive order would be reversed if a Republican wins the White House. Republican candidates including Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie and Ted Cruz have already announced their intention to undo this action curbing gun violence.

"When I came out with my proposals for common sense gun safety measures, I did say that in the absence of Congressional action, I would use executive authority to go as far as would be possible under the law and I applaud the President for taking a hard look at that and I believe he will take some actions to require more gun sellers to do background checks," Clinton said of the anticipated proposal.

"I know that a Republican president would delight in the very first day, reversing executive orders that President Obama has made, including this one that we expect him to make," she warned.
Hong Kong's leader said he was "very concerned" today over the disappearance of five booksellers known for publications critical of the Chinese government after a prominent lawmaker accused mainland security officers of kidnapping the men.

The booksellers all worked for the same Hong Kong-based publishing house and are feared to have been detained by Chinese authorities, adding to growing unease that freedoms in the semi-autonomous city are being eroded.

Under its mini-constitution, Hong Kong enjoys freedom of speech and Chinese law enforcers have no right to operate in the city.

"I and related government departments are very concerned," Leung Chun-ying told reporters.

"The government cares very much about Hong Kong residents' rights and safety."



Leung said freedoms of press, publication and expression were protected under Hong Kong law.

"Only legal enforcement agencies in Hong Kong have the legal authority to enforce laws in Hong Kong," he added.

Democratic legislator Albert Ho said Sunday he believed the men had been kidnapped by Chinese security officers.

But when Leung was asked Monday whether he thought the men had been taken to the mainland, he said there was "no indication" and appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

It is still unclear where the men are or how they went missing.

Unpopular Leung is seen as close to Beijing and is a hate figure for pro-democracy activists.

Opponents criticised him for not going far enough to press Chinese authorities for information.

"The Hong Kong government and Leung Chun-ying should express to the top level on the mainland Hong Kong people's concern, instead of awaiting a reply," said pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan.

Acting secretary for security John Lee said Sunday that Hong Kong police had made inquiries to mainland counterparts and were yet to hear back, according to local media.

Other lawmakers including Hong Kong's pro-Beijing former security chief Regina Ip have urged the government to investigate.

All five men worked for publishing firm Mighty Current, which is rumoured to have been about to launch a book on Chinese President Xi Jinping's former girlfriend.

The latest employee to disappear was 65-year-old Lee Bo, last seen in Hong Kong Wednesday.

His wife said he had told her he was "assisting in an investigation" in a call made after he failed to come home for dinner Wednesday night.
Developers in certain micro markets of metros like Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru witnessed a drop of 4-20 per cent in launch prices of residential projects in 2015 over the previous two years, a report said.

According to the report by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield, metropolitan cities of Delhi-NCR, Mumbai and Bengaluru recorded a drop in launch prices in high development activity markets of these cities.

As per the study, new residential projects in select micro markets are cheaper by 4-20 per cent on average weighted basic sale price over the last two years.

The report tracks the development activities in locations of Dwarka Expressway, New Gurgaon Southern Peripheral Road Sohna, Noida Expressway and Noida Extension in NCR, Thane, Goregaon and Malad in Greater Mumbai, and south-west and southern sub-markets in Bengaluru.

The suburban location of Mumbai's Goregaon registered the biggest decline in average weighted basic sale price at 20 per cent, where the per sqft rate averaged at Rs 10,500 per sqft in 2015, followed by Thane which saw an 18 per cent decline.

Southern Peripheral Road in Gurgaon also saw a decline of 10 per cent in average base selling price of new launches, as compared to 2013.

In contrast, most of the sub-markets in Bengaluru witnessed steady launch prices, except in far south and western sub-markets, where average new launch prices in 2015 declined by 2-7 per cent, as compared to 2013.

South East micro market of Bangalore was an exception to the rule, where both the average weighted basic sale price (19 per cent) and the average ticket size (18 per cent) of the apartment saw an increase.

Delhi-NCR witnessed launches of 23,000 units in 2015, out of which 79 per cent were launched in the locations of Dwarka Expressway, New Gurgaon Southern Peripheral Road Sohna, Noida Expressway and Noida Extension in NCR. Half of the total new launches in 2015 were in the mid-segment, the report said.

Mumbai, on the other hand, witnessed a 37 per cent decline in residential unit launches, totalling 15,735 units, from the corresponding period last year with Mulund, Thane, Goregaon and Malad accounting for nearly 51 per cent of the total launches during 2015.

The new launches in 2015 have been smaller in configuration, therefore, with reduced base selling prices and smaller units, the ticket size or the cost per apartment has also seen a decline in these key markets, the report said.

A majority of the new launches (83 per cent) were concentrated in the mid-segment. While new launch prices have remained stable across most sub-markets, developers in the far south reduced the average weighted basic sale price in the mid-segment by 7 per cent, to remain competitive.
South Korea's largest automakers, Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia, have forecast their slowest sales growth in a decade for 2016, due to slumping demand in China and a strong Korean won.

The two estimated combined total sales of 8.13 million cars worldwide this year, compared to about 8.0 million in 2015, Chung Mong-Koo, who heads the Hyundai Motor Group, said in a message to employees on today.

It is the smallest sales growth since 2006 for the group -- the world's fifth-largest automaker -- which has been hit hard by slowing demand in its key China market that accounts for nearly a quarter of combined global sales.

"Slow growth is expected to persist in the global economy due to weak growth in China, the slumping oil price and uncertainty in emerging markets over the rate hike in the US," Chung said in his message.

The group saw its share in China -- the world's biggest auto market -- shrink to below 10 per cent last year on intensifying competition from Japanese rivals and homegrown Chinese brands churning out cheaper models.

A rally in the South Korean won against the euro, Japanese yen and Brazilian real also blunted Hyundai's price competitiveness in emerging markets against its Japanese rivals like Honda and Toyota.

Hyundai Motor has reported a drop in profits for the last seven quarters -- a trend Chung said it would try to curb with a strong marketing push in Latin America.

He also flagged a campaign to push Hyundai's newly launched luxury brand as it seeks to shed its image as a cheaper alternative to bigger rivals like Toyota.
Sonakshi Sinha will be seen sharing screen space opposite Anurag Kashyap in "Akira" and the actress says she is trying to convince the filmmaker to become a full-time actor.

Sonakshi says the "Bombay Velvet" director, who will be seen in a negative role in the action-drama, will surprise everyone with his performance.

"I was convincing him (Kashyap) to become an actor now. He has fit the role, the character so well... You'll really connect with him in that way. You will actually be scared of him... He's played the character (in "Akira") really well. He is a great actor," Sonakshi told reporters.

Asked if the "Dev D" helmer gave her any acting tips, the 28-year-old actress said Kashyap was very clear that he was an actor on set and not a director.

"No not actually. He was clear in his head that he was on the set in an actor's capacity so he won't give any 'tips' ... But he is fantastic to work with."



Sonakshi was speaking today at the press conference of 61st Britannia Filmfare Awards 2015.

The "Dabangg" star said her role in "Akira", directed by A R Murugadoss, was both emotionally and physically gruelling.

"This role was emotionally and physically very gruelling. The scenes that we shot, the places we shot at, I never imagined myself in a situation like that before. This has been my most challenging role so far. I really enjoyed it.

"For me when something pushes you, challenges you, that is when I get really excited and 'Akira' has done that to me in so many ways," she added.

The actress also praised Murugadoss, with whom she previously worked in "Holiday", and hailed him as a "genius."



"He is a genius. His brain should be kept in a museum. He is silent and focused. You cannot question him. You have to just trust him because whatever he is doing he has thought about it."



A remake of 2011 Tamil film "Mouna Guru", "Akira" also stars Konkona Sen Sharma and Amit Sadh.
Delhi Police Commissioner BS Bassi today said that he would not miss an opportunity to serve the nation even after his retirement scheduled on February 29.

"If I got a chance to serve the nation after retirement, I will definitely do it. If I do not get it then I will enjoy myself," Bassi said when asked about his plans after retirement during the annual press conference of Delhi Police.

The ruling AAP in Delhi which has been at loggerheads with Centre over control of Delhi Police, has repeatedly accused Bassi of behaving like a "senior BJP leader".

When asked which party he was going to join, Bassi smiled and said "it will be known after February 29."



About the present status of the city police, Bassi claimed that "people of Delhi are fortunate that the Delhi Police does not come under the jurisdiction of state government.

He clarified his view by saying that under the state government Delhi Police will be subject to "local pressure" which is not there under the Centre since the Prime Minister and Home Minister at the Centre hold no such interest.

Control over Delhi Police has been one of the major issues in the tussle between the Central government and the Delhi government wherein Bassi has been accused of speaking like a BJP spokesperson, by the AAP leaders.
Pakistani author Haroon Khalid says that incidents of intolerance have been happening in his country for a few years now and hopes that India's bubble of "tolerant" silent majority is never busted.

One of the biggest such incidents in Pakistan, according to Khalid, was the assassination of Punjab's governor Salman Taseer by his fanatic security guard.

"Salman Taseer came out in the defence of a Christian woman called Asia Bibi, who had been accused of blasphemy and awarded capital punishment. What was the scariest thing though that Taseer's assassin, Mumtaz Qadri, was projected as a hero, a defender of Islam, while Taseer was vilified further after his death," Khalid, who recently penned the book "A White Trail: A Journey Into The Heart Of Pakistan's Religious Minorities," told PTI.

"For a lot of analysts the death of Taseer represents the time when the myth about the silent tolerant majority was busted," he adds.

India, so it seems, fortunately has so far been safe from such a horrible incident, he says.

"However I do see a lot of parallels between the condition in India and Pakistan of a few years ago. First is the 'myth' that the majority of 'us' are tolerant while it is only a vocal minority that is intolerant. This is a dangerous assumption.

"Acts of hatred and intolerance tend to happen in contexts and environments where there is a tolerance for such intolerance. Like Pakistan, one would hope that India's bubble of 'tolerant' silent majority is never busted," he says.

Another parallel, he says that he is noticing "is this idea of hush, to not talk about growing intolerance, fearing that this would somehow project a negative image of the country".

"Many people in Pakistan were raising this voice in Pakistan when things looked bad here... One hears similar voices in India and that is not the voice of sanity," he says.

He also rues that religious fundamentalism and intolerance have seeped into the Pakistani society and have become an everyday reality.

Khalid, also a freelance journalist, describes his book, published by Westland, primarily as a travelogue.

"The book reflects my awe and surprise at the different



religious rituals, traditions and communities that have not only survived in Pakistan but over the past few years have begun exerting themselves more than before," he says.

The book delves deep into the different religious communities, including Hindu, Sikh, Baha'i, Parsi and Christian and discovers that the situation that each one of these community faces is different from the other.

It also aims to highlight the differences within these communities that are a product of the different socio-economic class and also geographical locations.

Khalid got the idea of the book soon after graduation when he embarked on a series of travels with the purpose of exploring the Hindu and Sikh heritage of Pakistan.

With the religious communities one of the biggest challenges he faced was to win their confidence.

"Given the atmosphere of fear I found that a lot of members of these communities have constructed their own protective walls, which meant that a lot of conversations and discussions were guarded. After some engagement though cracks began to appear in these structures and I began hearing stories of persecution, of vulnerability and fear," he says.

Asked about the significance of the book's title "A White Trail", Khalid replies, "The book is a travelogue through the religious festivals of minorities in Pakistan, and using these festivals it talks about the socio-economic and political condition of these minorities, which is why I have used the word trail.

"There is a popular story in Pakistan that states that the white part in our flag is representative of the religious minorities in the country, which is why I have used the word White. It is a journey through the white part of the country."



The research for the book took about two years.

"This included hundreds of interviews that I conducted and dozens of religious festivals and pilgrimages that I attended. However given that I was already writing and researching about Hindu and Sikh heritage in Pakistan it was much easier for me to conduct my research," he says.
In the midst of uneasiness in India-Nepal relations, a friendship bus service between the two countries was restarted today after a gap of 27 years, much to the delight of people on either side of the border who have family and trade ties with each other.

The bus, which runs between Kanchanpur in Nepal close to Banbasa border in Champavat district of Uttarakhand and Delhi, was regularised from today after a trial for a week, said B M Upreti, In-charge of Sharda barrage international police station.

The service had been suspended 27 years back in the wake of the Indo-Nepal Trade and Transit Treaty, he said.

Resumption of the service between the two countries after its prolonged suspension has been welcomed by locals on either side of the border as about eight to ten thousand Nepalis travel in these buses on a daily basis from Kanchanpur district, Dandel Dhura, Voti, Sapen, Acham, Kalali, Jagbuddha and Siddhartha Nagar areas in Nepal, he said.

The resumption of the bus service marks a positive step amidst the uneasiness in India-Nepal ties since the adoption of new Constitution by Nepal.

Adoption of the new Constitution led to widespread agitation by Indian-origin Madhesis and resulted in a blockade of supply lines from India, which angered Nepal.

Nepal Prime Minister K P Oli on December 31 called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi who said he was always in favour of easing Indo-Nepal border trading points and asserted that India was not creating any obstructions in the movement in the border checkpoint.

The air conditioned buses with Indian and Nepalese flags painted on their bodies will enter the Nepalese district of Kanchanpur at 6 AM every day and start for Delhi from there at 6 PM every evening, Upreti said.

No special documents are required to travel in these buses which provides free wi-fi connectiviy and a bottle of mineral water for free to the passengers, he said.

The income from the area's Tanakpur depot is also considered one of the major sources of income for Uttarakhand Parivahan Nigam, the official said.

People on both sides of the border have family as well as trade relations with each other and they are very happy about the resumption of the service after long years of suspension, he said.
An Indian-origin man serving three life sentences in a UK prison for three murders has won 1,000 pounds compensation from the UK's Ministry of Justice (MoJ) after a judge ruled that a guard squirted shampoo on his CDs during a prison transfer.

Kevan Thakrar, who was found guilty over six years ago of killing three drug dealers, was awarded more than 800 pounds by the same judge in April 2014 after items including his nose hair clippers were damaged in jail.

Last week's ruling at Milton Keynes County Court is the result of a claim made by the 27-year-oldin 2013, when he was a prisoner at HMP Woodhill in south east England.

"He appears to be intelligent and articulate and has been able to advance his claim in writing through the County Court," in his judgment published on New Year's Eve, District Judge Neil Hickman said.

Indeed, some would say that the fact that a claim of this kind can be dealt with at modest cost through the County Court system is a good advertisement for the civil justice system of this country.

"I am satisfied that the damage to the CDs must have been caused by the deliberate act of one or more prison officers."



Thakrar had complained that in the course of being moved prisons his stereo was broken, a number of CDs were damaged beyond repair and four of his books were lost, The Independent reported.

A Prison Service spokesperson said, "We are currently considering this judgment and whether there are grounds to lodge an appeal.

"We robustly defend claims made against the Prison Service where evidence allows, and have managed to successfully defend two thirds of prisoner claims over the last three years."



Thakrar was jailed in 2008 after he and his brother Miran used a sub-machine gun to kill Keith Cowell, 52, his son Matthew, 17, and Tony Dulieu, 33, the previous year.

The brothers were also sentenced for two attempted murders.

In March 2010, Thakrar severely injured three guards at HM Prison Frankland in County Durham after stabbing them with a broken bottle, but was cleared of two counts of attempted murder and three of wounding with intent after claiming he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.
India is "mulling options" with regard to the Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan scheduled to be held in Islamabad on January 15, in light of the terror attack at Pathankot air base.

Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar is scheduled to travel to Islamabad on January 14 to hold discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry to chalk out a roadmap to carry forward the engagement under the newly-announced "Bilateral Comprehensive Dialogue".

However, official sources today said the government was "mulling options" with regard to the Islamabad meeting.

There has been speculation that the talks may be deferred and that the National Security Advisors of the two countries may meet to discuss the situation arising out of the Pathankot terror strike suspected to have been carried out by Pakistani terrorists.

In a pre-dawn attack, a group of heavily-armed terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, attacked the Air Force base in Pathankot.

The process of resumption of talks was set in motion after a meeting between Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan in Paris on November 30 on the sidelines of Climate Change Conference.

The meet was followed by the NSAs of India and Pakistan meeting in Bangkok a week later following which the External Affairs Minister visited Pakistan to attend Heart of Asia Conference during which the two sides announced the resumption of talks under "Bilateral Comprehensive Dialogue" process.

In a surprise move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited Lahore on December 25 to greet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday in person.

The two foreign secretaries are scheduled to discuss modalities and other schedule-related aspects to carry forward the dialogue process.
Tensions between Iran and its Sunni Arab neighbours reached new heights today as Saudi Arabia and Gulf allies cut or downgraded diplomatic ties with Tehran in a row over the execution of a Shiite cleric.

Angry exchanges following Saudi Arabia's execution Saturday of prominent Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis as Riyadh and then ally Bahrain severed their relations with Tehran.

Saudi Arabia cut the ties late yesterday, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, after protesters set fire to its embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad.

Bahrain followed suit today, as Moscow offered to act as an intermediary between Riyadh and Tehran in a bid to ease tensions.

The UAE also downgraded its ties, recalling its envoy from Tehran.

The growing crisis has raised fears of increased sectarian violence in the Middle East -- including in Iraq where two Sunni mosques were blown up overnight -- and of damage to efforts to resolve a range of conflicts from Syria to Yemen.

Bahrain made the same move today, blaming the "cowardly" attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran and "increasing flagrant and dangerous meddling" by Tehran in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states.

Iranian officials denounced the Saudi move as a tactic that would inflame tensions in the region.

"Saudi Arabia sees not only its interests but also its existence in pursuing crises and confrontations and (it) attempts to resolve its internal problems by exporting them to the outside," foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are on opposing ends of a range of crucial issues in the Middle East, including the war in Syria -- where Tehran is backing President Bashar al-Assad's regime and Riyadh supporting rebel forces -- and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels.

Iran was also angered by what it called the "incompetence" of Saudi officials in September at the annual hajj pilgrimage in which 464 Iranian pilgrims died in a stampede at Mina, near Mecca.

The spike in tensions comes after Iran last year secured a historic nuclear deal with world powers led by the US, which raised deep concerns in Riyadh, a longtime American ally.

Washington yesterday expressed concern over the growing dispute, with State Department spokesman John Kirby calling for "leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions".

In Moscow, a foreign ministry source told AFP Russia "is ready to serve as an intermediary between Riyadh and Tehran" in the dispute.
IRB Infrastructure will build Southeast Asia's longest tunnel at Zojila pass in Jammu & Kashmir at an estimated cost of Rs 10,050 crore to provide all weather connectivity to the Leh-Ladakh region.

Zojila pass, situated at an altitude of 11,578 feet on Srinagar-Kargil-Leh National Highway, remains closed during winters due to heavy snowfall and avalanches, cutting the Leh-Ladakh region from Kashmir.

"IRB Infrastructure Developers Ltd, one of the largest BOT road developers in India, has received a Letter of Award from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MORT&H) for the construction, operation and maintenance of the longest tunnel in Southeast Asia, Zojila Pass Tunnel, in Jammu and Kashmir," the company said in a statement.

It is the biggest national highway project awarded in India in terms of project cost with a tunnel length spanning 14.08 km and costing of Rs 10,050 crore.

It will include approaches on NH-1 (Srinagar-Sonmarg-Gumri Road) in Jammu and Kashmir on design, build, finance, operate and transfer (annuity) basis, the statement said.

The project has a strategic and socio-economic importance as it will provide much needed all weather connectivity between Jammu & Kashmir and Leh-Ladakh, which remains cut off during winter due to heavy snowfall, it said.

The order also involves construction of tunnel spanning length of 14.08 km and approach road of 10.8 km with three vertical ventilation shafts, snow gallery of 700 meters and avalanche protection measures.

"We are happy to get the project and we are confident that our work force will meet the challenges of the Himalayan terrain and build the tunnel well in time," IRB Infrastructure Chairman and Managing Director Virendra Mhaiskar said.

"The concession period for the project is 22 years. IRB Infra will receive semi-annual annuity of Rs 981 crore from commencing after completion of construction of the project which would be received twice in a year till the end of the concession period," he said.

By bagging this contract, IRB expands its base to the ninth state in the country and the company order book size swells to Rs 16,430 crore.

The tunnel project is part of the Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Rs 80,000-crore development package for Jammu and Kashmir, which he had announced in November.

The package included Rs 42,611 crore for development of roads and highways in the state. The highways packaged included "construction of Zojila tunnel" as per the PMO.

Last year, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari had told PTI: "We are committed to all-round development of Jammu and Kashmir. We will begin work soon on Rs 10,000-crore Zojila pass tunnel, which would be even bigger than the 9-km long Chenani-Nashri tunnel in the state, which is India's longest road tunnel at present.
The first roundabout honouring Mahatma Gandhi was today inaugurated here, celebrating 60 years of this Israeli town's establishment.

"It is a symbol of the warm friendship enjoyed between the people of India and Israel and the two countries politically. It is a proud moment for us to be honouring a leader whose message remains relevant till today," the Mayor of Kiryat Gat, Aviram Dahari, said.

Calling upon local students gathered at the ceremony to learn from the great Indian leader, Dahari said it is also an "educational initiative for local children to learn about other cultures and their greats".

Kiryat Gat is a small township in the south of Israel with about 2,000 Indians from the Bene Israel community living here.

"It is a happy day for all of us because the Mahatma has arrived at our home," Dayana Nagaonkar, a local resident said in Hindi and Marathi addressing the gathering at a function at the local municipality.

The plaque placed at the roundabout has been an initiative of a local Indian resident, Roger Judah, whose contribution was applauded by all the participants.

"It is the first of its kind and certainly a proud moment for all of us", Judah said.

Israel has a street named after Indian great Rabindranath Tagore in Tel Aviv but it is the first time that something in the country has been named after father of the nation.

"Political and spiritual leader who led the Indian independence movement in its struggle against the British empire became a symbol of tolerance and resolving conflicts non-violently. Inspired many freedom and human rights fighters throughout the world," the plaque placed at the roundabout reads in English and Hebrew.

India's Ambassador to Israel, Jaideep Sarkar, called it a "memorable" day.

"Mahatma Gandhi has a special place in the hearts of Indians but it is a matter of great honour and pride to see him being honoured this way here," Sarkar said.

Drawing parallels between Israel's first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Mahatma Gandhi, the Indian envoy pointed out that when he visited the hut of the Israeli leader in Sde Boker he was surprised to see Gandhi's photo as the only one hanging on the wall.

He also pointed out Gandhi's close association with the Jewish community in South Africa and their influence on him.

Hundreds of Indians from all over Israel gathered to participate in the ceremony.
A 15-year-old Israeli girl was lightly wounded in northern Jerusalem today after a Palestinian tried to stab security forces, police said, adding that the attacker was shot and arrested.

"Terrorist stabbing operation, terrorist neutralised," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said in a statement.

The attacker tried to stab police officers but failed and then attempted to flee but police shot him in the legs and arrested him, Samri said.

The teenage girl was apparently injured by bullet fragments from shots fired in the ensuing melee, she added.

The incident took place near Jerusalem's light rail train service that has been the scene of multiple attacks in recent months.

In a wave of Palestinian attacks since October 1 -- including stabbings, car rammings and gunfire targeting security forces and civilians -- 22 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean have been killed.

At the same time, according to an AFP count, 138 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks.

Earlier today, Israel destroyed the homes of two Palestinians who had carried out attacks in October.

Meanwhile, a manhunt in Tel Aviv for an Israeli-Arab suspected of killing two people in a New Year's Day attack is ongoing.

Israeli media reported that the killing of an Arab-Israeli taxi driver on the same day was connected to the attacks, but police would not confirm the information, citing a gag order.
Jammu and Kashmir Governor NN Vohra and Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed today greeted the people on the eve of the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh, the tenth Sikh Guru.

In his message, the governor observed that Guru Gobind Singh was a warrior, poet and philosopher who strove for the building of a society based on equality, brotherhood and respect for women.

The values underlying the teachings of the great Guru should guide our endeavours for establishing a just social order, he said.

Vohra prayed for the well-being of the people of the state and expressed hope that the auspicious occasion would push J-K towards peace, progress and prosperity and further strengthen the bonds of harmony and brotherhood and reinvigorate the secular traditions which have been the hallmark of the glorious heritage and composite ethos of J-K.

Chief Minister Sayeed, for his part, observed that Guru Gobind Singh was an apostle of peace, compassion and love.

"The teachings of the great Guru will continue to inspire future generations. Let us take a pledge to embrace the path of service to mankind and work towards laying the edifice of a just and equitable society," said Sayeed, who is admitted at AIIMS in Delhi with a health problem.

The Chief Minister expressed hope that the auspicious occasion would be a harbinger of peace, progress and prosperity in the state and further strengthen the bonds of harmony and brotherhood.

Meanwhile, PDP President and MP Mehbooba Mufti, too, greeted the people of J-K ahead of the occasion and said that the life and teachings of Guru Gobind Singh would continue to be an inspiration.

She urged the people to follow the path shown by the great Guru and work towards establishing a just order that is free from all kinds of social evils. She expressed hope that the occasion would bring peace and prosperity and further bolster the secular traditions which have been the unique feature of J&K's glorious past.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe courted Russian President Vladimir Putin today, holding out the prospect for a summit as he renewed his call for progress on an elusive World War II peace treaty.

The two countries have never officially struck a peace accord more than after 70 years after the end of the conflict amid a territorial dispute over four Japanese islands seized by Soviet troops at the war's conclusion.

"President Putin and I share the view that it is abnormal for our nations not to have a peace treaty 70 years since" the war, Abe said at his first press conference of the year.

"The issues related to the Northern Territories cannot be resolved without exchanges between the leaders," he added, referring to the Japanese appellation for the islands.

"I will continue my dialogue with President Putin when opportunities arise," he added. "We will explore the most appropriate timing for his visit to Japan."



Putin has come under intense criticism from the United States and other democracies over Russia's annexation of Crimea and the conflict in eastern Ukraine, with the country's participation in the Group of Eight summits under suspension.

Abe is hosting a meeting of Group of Seven leaders in May. Putin is not expected to attend and Abe did not suggest otherwise.

But he emphasised the need for dialogue, saying the international community must encourage Russia's participation in the world's fight against terrorism and the Syrian crisis.

"It is also important that we gain Russia's constructive engagement to deal with issues of terrorism, Syria and Iran," Abe said.

Russia has been waging air strikes in Syria since the end of September as it seeks to bolster the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and prevent Islamic State jihadists and other extremists from carrying out attacks on Russian soil.

But Russia's intervention has also drawn criticism, with US Secretary of State John Kerry last week expressing concern over a heavy civilian toll in Russian air strikes.

Abe also stressed at his press conference that he was focused this year on reviving Japan's fragile economy and hosting the G7 summit.
Effecting a minor reshuffle in the party set up ahead of assembly elections expected in April, AIADMK supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today changed the election wing Secretary and two district secretaries.

"I appeal to the party workers to extend their full cooperation to the new appointees," she said in a party release here announcing the changes.

Tirupur Suburban District Secretary and Assembly Deputy Speaker Pollachi V Jayaraman was relieved from his district level post and made the new election wing Secretary while Rural Industries Minister P Mohan has been appointed party Organising Secretary.

Chairman, Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation, Udumalai K Radakrishnan, who was the election wing secretary, had been appointed Tirupur Suburban District Secretary.

She also announced appointment of new secretaries to South Chennai (South), and Tirupur party districts.

Former Minister and MLA, G Senthamizhan was relieved as South Chennai (South) District Secretary and city corporation councillor M M Babu had been appointed in his place.
The Junior Doctor Association (JDA) of the Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Sciences and Research (VIMSAR), Burla, today threatened to be on cease work from January 12 seeking fulfilment of their 10 points charter of demands.

The JDA's demands comprised installation of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine in the health centre, delegation of financial and administrative power to the VIMSAR authority and shifting of female medicine ward to the new building and strengthening the security on the premises of the institution.

They also demanded round the clock water and electricity supply to the operation theatre, labour room, SNCU, ICU, medicine wards and the hostels of the institution, raise the library fund and number of library staff for better teaching facilities, filling up of vacant teaching and non-teaching posts of the institution, make the Regional Diagnostic Centre functional round the clock, set up good canteen on the premises of the hospital for doctors and the staff.

"The VIMSAR caters to health service the people of Western Odisha besides the patients of neighbouring states Chhatisgarh and Jharkhand. However, the health center has been a victim of negligence. The institute has been declared as an autonomous institution and the name of the health centre was also changed from Veer Surendra Sai Medical College Hospital to Veer Surendra Sai Institute of Medical Science and Research," said President of Junior Doctor Association, Shankar Ramchandani.

But the government only changed the name and no other improvement work was done for this important health centre of the region, he said adding that the patients and the students of the institution are suffering because of the negligence.

"If our demands are not met by 11th of this month, we will resort to cease work from January 12. The Undergraduate students and House Surgeon Association of VIMSAR have also agreed to support us," Ramchandani added.

Director of VIMSAR, Sonamali Nag said, "Steps are being taken to meet their demands. However, it will take some time."



He also said that they would discuss with junior doctors over this issue.

The JDA has also submitted memorandum to the Chief Minister and Health Minister through the Director, VIMSAR in this regard.

Facing flak from Opposition on the condition of



health-care services in rural areas, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel recently admitted that the shortfall of doctors is truly a matter of concern.

While speaking at a function in Nadiad town two days back, she expressed concern over vacant posts of doctors in state-run hospitals.

"Our government has regularly increased seats in medical and nursing colleges. However, there are very few doctors who remain in Gujarat, as most of them either start their own practice or settle abroad. People are suffering due to such imbalance," said Patel.
Pakistan-based United Jehad Council (UJC), an umbrella organisation of about a dozen militant outfits, today claimed responsibility for the deadly attack on the airbase at Pathankot.

"The attack on the Pathankot Airbase was carried out by the National Highway Sqaud," Syed Sadaqat Hussain, presenting himself as UJC spokesman, claimed in an email statement to a local agency here.

He, however, did not give the number of militants involved in the attack.

UJC comprises mostly the militant outfits active in Jammu and Kashmir.

Experts in Delhi expressed doubt over the authenticity of the claim as the Pathankot attack is widely believed to be the handiwork of Pakistan-backed Jaish-e-Mohammad terror outfit which is not part of UJC.

The claim is being seen as a diversionary tactic.
Jordan today released a top leader of the Muslim Brotherhood opposition group after he served over two-thirds of his 18-month prison term for criticising the United Arab Emirates, an ally of the kingdom.

Zaki Bani Ersheid's release comes at a time of growing divisions in the Jordanian branch of the pan-Arab Brotherhood, weakening its long-time role as the main political opposition.

In 2015, the Jordanian branch split, with a breakaway faction emphasizing its Jordanian identity and seeking government recognition. Bani Ersheid is the deputy leader of the original Brotherhood, which retains ties to the regional parent movement.

In another sign of internal turmoil, more than 300 activists, including senior members, resigned from the original Brotherhood branch in recent days, in part because of disputes over previous leadership elections, said a spokesman, Murad Adayleh.

The regional movement has also suffered major setbacks, including government crackdowns, since first emerging as the main beneficiary of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings.

Bani Ersheid was released today, 13 months after his November 2014 arrest, said Adayleh. Bani Ersheid had been sentenced to 18 months after he criticised the UAE for labeling the Brotherhood a terrorist group.

Jordan's government spokesman, Mohammed Momani, said Bani Ersheid "served his time after being sentenced by the court." Momani and Adayleh said Bani Ersheid did not win early release and that under the Jordanian system, a year-long term means less than 12 months in prison.

The charges against Bani Ersheid came at a time of growing polarization in the region, with some Arab countries such as Egypt and the UAE adopting a harder stance against Islamist groups. The Muslim Brotherhood has been formally banned in Egypt and several Arab Gulf countries.
The West Bengal government today asked the organisers of the Kolkata Book Fair to ensure that there is no political controversy in the allotment of stalls.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee chaired a meeting at the state secretariat during the day where officials of the Booksellers and Publishers Guild, which organises the fair, were present.

"The book fair is educational and cultural affair. We don't want this to turn political. So we have requested them that there should be no political controversy," state Urban Development minister Firhad Hakim said when asked about allotment of stalls.

He said the Guild was a private party and they can only request them as the government doesn't organise the fair.

For the convenience of visitors, a four acre parking plot has been made at the Milan Mela grounds, the minister said.

The 12-day Book Fair would begin from January 27.
US Secretary of State John Kerry called the Iranian and Saudi Arabian foreign ministers today to urge calm after the dramatic breakdown of relations between Tehran and Riyadh.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, US officials said he reached out to his counterparts Mohammad Javad Zarif and Adel Al-Jubeir as the crisis triggered by the Saudi execution of a Shiite cleric deepens.

"We are urging calm and de-escalation. The situation needs to be calmed," one official told AFP.

The United States itself has no formal diplomatic relations with Iran, but has been developing a closer working relationship since signing a deal to limit Tehran's nuclear ambitions in July last year.

Washington is keen to avoid an escalation in tensions with Iran as it works to oversee implementation of that deal and also as it encourages Tehran to play a role in peace talks to end the Syria civil war.

The United States is traditionally a much closer partner to Saudi Arabia, but was angered last week when Riyadh chose to begin 2016 with a mass execution of prisoners, including a respected Shiite cleric accused of inciting protests.

Following Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr's death, Shiite protesters overran the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Accusing Tehran of allowing the protesters to firebomb its mission, Saudi Arabia and some of its Sunni allies in the region broke off diplomatic ties and flights, threatening to further poison relations.

Saudi Arabia has regularly accused Tehran of sponsoring terror attacks on its soil and of supporting Shiite Huthi rebels fighting the Saudi-backed government in Yemen.

Saudi Arabia and Iran also back opposing sides in the Syrian civil war, with Tehran and its Lebanese militia ally Hezbollah backing President Bashar al-Assad and Riyadh sponsoring various Sunni rebel groups.
Sri Lanka should abolish the death penalty, keeping with the nation's commitment to improve its human rights protection, the country's human rights body today recommended to President Maithripala Sirisena.

In a letter to the President, the Human Rights Commission (HRCSL) said the death penalty is imperative for Sri Lanka in recognition of the growing global recognition that the death penalty seriously violates several human rights including the right to life and freedom from cruel and inhuman punishment, is an extreme and irreversible punishment and is ineffective as a deterrent to crime, the Colombo Gazette reported.

The HRCSL drew Sirisena's attention to the Second Optional Protocol to the international Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, adopted by the UN General Assembly by resolution 441728 of 15th December 1989 which calls for the abolition of the death penalty.

"lts Preamble declares that the abolition of the death penalty contributes to the enhancement of human dignity and progressive development of human rights. Ln keeping with Sri Lanka's commitment to improving human rights protection in the country we recommend that Sri Lanka accede to the Protocol and take steps to abolish the death penalty," the letter said.

"It is the view of the Commission that in view of the serious flaws which exist in the criminal justice system coupled with Sri Lanka, unlike other countries, not having a process permitting the reopening of a criminal case after exhaustion of the appeals procedures, there is a serious risk of a miscarriage of justice," the HRCSL said.

The Commission further noted that in the US, Canada and the UK there have been several occasions where people wrongly convicted have been released from death row or prison decades later.
The body of veteran CPI leader A B Bardhan, who died here on Saturday after prolonged illness, was brought to the party headquarters, where his admirers and leaders from across political parties paid tributes to him.

Vice President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, CPI (M) General Secretary Sitaram Yechury and Congress leader Raj Babbar were among the prominent persons who visited Ajoy Bhawan to pay tributes to Bardhan.

Mourners filed past the body, wrapped in party flag, which was brought to the CPI headquarters here at 10 AM. His last rights will be performed at the Nigambodh Ghat electric crematorium here at 3 PM today.

Liu Jin Song, DCM and Minister at Chinese Embassy here, also paid tributes to the departed CPI leader.

92-year old Bardhan passed away on Saturday at the GB Pant Hospital here after prolonged illness.

Ardhendu Bhushan Bardhan had steered the party during the turbulent period of coalition politics at national level.
A private firm in Goa was today accused of recruiting minors to guard beaches in place of regular lifeguards who are on strike and of illegally appointing workers on contract in the past.

However, Drishti Lifesaving Services Private Limited, the recruiting firm, has termed the allegations against it as baseless.

"We have photographs of minor children being asked to do the duty of lifeguard. By doing this, the company is not only risking the lives of tourists but also minors," Suhas Naik, leader of 'Drishti Lifesaving Guards Workers Union' told PTI.

The strike by lifeguards, seeking regularisation of their services and other demands, entered seventh day today.

Naik said they will take up the matter with government with the 'proof' at hand.

"Employing minors is a crime. The company should be booked under it (appropriate law)," he added.

When contacted, 'Drishti Lifesaving Services CEO Manoj Agiwal said, "I don't know from where they (lifeguards) come across such allegations. We never employed any minor".

The union also alleged that the firm lacked a contract licence when it was awarded the work to man beaches in 2010.

The company was first engaged for five years in 2010 and their contract was later renewed last year.

"The company illegally employed workers on contract, which now gives them the right to be absorbed by parent employee, the Tourism department," Naik claimed.

Agiwal, however, clarified that the company has already got a license to hire workers on contract.

The company has already dismissed the strike as illegal.
SNDP Yogam General Secretary Vellappally Natesan today secured bail from a magistrate court in connection with a case registered against him for making an alleged communal hate speech at Aluva near here in November.

Natesan, who surrendered before the investigating officer at Aluva this morning on the direction of the Kerala High Court, was taken to the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court-1 there, after his statement was recorded.

The court released him on bail after he executed a bond for Rs 25,000 with two solvent sureties each.

The High Court had granted anticipatory bail to the SNDP leader last month.

A case under section 153(A) of IPC (Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth and language) punishable with imprisonment for three years had been filed against Natesan after he made the "offending" speech.

The court had heard the speech made by Natesan which was recorded in a compact disc.

Director General of Prosecutions T Asaf Ali had opposed the grant of anticipatory bail and submitted that Natesan's speech tended to encourage hatred among different communities.

While leading the 'Samathwa Munnetta Yatra', organised to unite Hindu caste outfits, Natesan had alleged that the Congress-led UDF government was giving financial assistance to families of mishap victims on the basis of caste and religion.

He was referring to the compensation awarded by government to the family of Noushad, who died after inhaling poisonous gas inside a manhole while trying to save two labourers from a pit in Kozhikode.
Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Girish mahajan today asked the irrigation department to release 2-TMC water to Ahmednagar district from the Darna dam here for drinking as well as agriculture purposes.

Mahajan gave these directions at the meeting for water distribution for Godavari left and right canals, an official release said.

Senior Congress leader and Leader of the Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and other top officials were present for the meeting.

Mahajan said that earlier it was decided to release three rotations from Darna dam to avoid damages of the crop. As per schedule, 1st rotation of 2000 MCFT water will release for agriculture purpose in Godavari-left canal, it added.
Toexplore the possibility of aligning Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) spending with the development priorities of the state, Maharashtra government will be holding a conference with corporate houses on January 9.

"This is an attempt to coordinate efforts of the government and the corporate sector to achieve desired results in helping the corporate organisations judiciously use their CSR funds while addressing the developmental needs of the state," state finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar said here today.

The government would identify the areas of development (where CSR projects may focus) and help the corporate firms invest in the growth of the state, he said.

The state finance ministry, along with the Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao (who will be attending the conference) had selected nine priority areas including the SwachhBharat mission, skill development, forests and renewable energy where the CSR activities can focus, Mungantiwar said.

The idea was to ensure efficient use of CSR funds without duplication of projects, he said.

The government may also form a team to assist the companies so that CSR spending can focus on the marginalised and the under-privileged with maximus impact, he said.

The conference is expected to be attended by representatives of about 100 corporate houses.

As per the amended Companies Act, 2013, the companies with at least Rs 5 crore net profit will need to spend 2 per cent of three-year average annual net profit on CSR activities in each financial year.
Maharashtra government has beefed up security at vital installations in Mumbai, places of worship and those frequented by tourists as per instructions from the Union Home ministry after the terror attack at the Pathankot Air base in Punjab.

"We have had discussions with Mumbai Police Commissioner (Javed Ahmed) and are extra alert on places where required. There is tight vigil in places where there is a lot of population, places of religious worship, important installations like BARC, MSEB locations, corporate company houses, Kendriya Vidyalaya Airforce Station, Ojhar and defence installations in and outside Mumbai," Maharashtra Additional Chief Secretary (Home) K P Bakshi told PTI.

"Also, railway stations, bus depots, airports are on high alert. We have instructed police officials to beef up security at all these places and report immediately if anything suspicious found," he added.

Bakshi said that the instructions from the Union Home ministry were received immediately after the terror attack at the Pathankot Indian Air Force base.

"We will augment resources if required," Bakshi said.

After operations lasting three days, security forces today killed two more Pakistani terrorists within the Pathankot air base with the government saying six of them have now been neutralised, but it was not clear whether all the intruders have been eliminated.
Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama today termed as "unthinkable" the killings in the name of religion and in national interest and asked the world to resolve conflicts through talks and make the 21st century a century of dialogue.

He also asked the world to work on ways to reduce and finally eliminate the killings in the name of religion and in national interest.

The Dalai Lama reiterated his three commitments that he had pledged to follow until death and urged others to do likewise, which include three commitments of compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment and self-discipline; promotion of religious harmony and understanding among the world's major religious traditions besides commitment to work to preserve Tibet's Buddhist ecology and culture of peace and non-violence to promote human values.

"Killings in the name of religion and in national interest is unthinkable, we have to work how to reduce and finally eliminate this. We should solve conflicts through talks and respect other peoples interests.... The 21st century should be the century of dialogue," he said while addressing a gathering to commemorate his 80th birth anniversary here.

The Tibetan leader who has been living in exile in Dharamshala spoke about how people outside India often found it incredulous that different faiths continued to coexist in harmony in the country.

"India should take more active role to show that different religions can survive together," he said, adding India is one of the few countries in the world that has been able to maintain its tradition of cultural harmony over 1,000 years.

He also asked the younger generation to read and learn about the tradition and history of India to keep them alive.

Stating that major part of his life was spent in India, Dalai Lama appreciated India's friendship, which he said has come through decades and therefore felt "honoured".

Without mentioning the recent incidents of "intolerance" in India, he said "some miscreants must be there" but 90-95 per cent of Indian population carry the tradition religious harmony.

The Tibetan spiritual leader was today felicitated for his 80th birth anniversary by friends and admirers spanning leaders from different political parties besides a galaxy of thinkers, writers, actors and other walks of life from across the world.

The celebration held here for the spiritual leader, who had turned 80 last July, was also marked by a special musical tribute by sarod virtuoso Ustad Amjad Ali Khan and his sons Amaan and Ayaan Ali Khan.
A 32-year-old man was killed and another person injured allegedly by their colleague who was in an inebriated state following a dispute here, police said today.

The victim, identified as Gopalprasad Gupta, was yesterday beaten to death and his colleague injured with a wooden stick by their co-worker Uday Bharati alias Baba, police inspector Anil Pawar said.

The two injured were admitted to a hospital where Gupta succumbed to his head injury, he said.

All the three men had been working as waiters in a hotel at Adgaon Naka on Mumbai-Agra National Highway here since a long time and the attack was the fallout of an old enmity, police said.

Meanwhile, police have launched a search for Bharati, a resident of Allahabad in UP, who is absconding.

A case under sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) of the IPC has been registered with Adgaon police in the matter, the Inspector said.

(Reopen BOM5)



Udyan told investigators that he was influenced by an



English serial 'Walking Dead' which he loved to watch and enact, police said.

The accused lived a luxurious life and drove an expensive car. He had LCDs in all the three rooms of his first floor flat at Sakat Nagar, they added.

He didn't hire anybody for cleaning purposes and the entire house was littered with cigarette butts and liquor bottles that were found all over the house, they said.

The leftover of his meals which he brought from hotels and markets were stinking when police went to his house to arrest him on February 2, said police.

The accused instead of water drank liquor and beer since last three months. He had not taken a bath as well for the same period and to fight odour used costly perfumes, claimed police.

The accused used to go out on date with girls, who usually sported hijabs or scarves to conceal their identities, sources close to investigators said.

Udyan had befriended Akanksha Sharma on social media.

Akanksha was living with the accused after telling her parents that she was living in the US but they became suspicious after losing contact with her in December last.

The body of the woman, who hailed from Bankura in West Bengal, was exhumed in the early hours of February 3.

The accused strangled the woman, stuffed the body in an iron box, then put it in a larger box before constructing a marble platform over it to hide the crime.

West Bengal police have arrested Udyan here on charges of murdering his live-in partner Akanksha alias Shweta.

The accused told police that he killed her on July 14, last year. Earlier he had said that he allegedly murdered her in December, said police.

The accused was very possessive about Akanksha and he killed her as he found her talking with some person on her mobile phone, police said.

Meanwhile, body of Akanksha was today consigned to flames at Subhash Nagar crematorium here after police advised the family members of the deceased that it wasn't wise to take the body to West Bengal due to its state.
A 50-year-old man was killed and his son was injured after three persons allegedly shot them over a property dispute behind the district magistrate's residence here, police said today.

The accused, identified as Nasir, a history-sheeter, and his two brothers last night shot dead Musahib while his son Taleem was injured in the firing, they said.

The incident took place when both the parties were returning from the city Kotwali after a meeting on the property dispute, police said.

Both of them were rushed to the district hospital, where Musahib was declared brought dead while Taleem was referred to trauma centre in Lucknow, police said.

A case has been registered against Nasir and his two brothers who are absconding, police said.
The All India Conference of Brick Kiln owners, held after a span of 40 years here, ended on a sour note with the members exchanging blows in protest against "undemocratic ways" of the association.

The brick kiln owners expressed reservation over the "undemocratic" way of sacking head of UP Unit of association K P Singh and appointing one Omveer Singh, a brick kiln owner in his place.

The discussion at the conference yesterday soon turned violent with the members exchanging blows and throwing chairs on rival members.

In the melee, two of the participants in the conference were injured and hospitalized.

The All India Conference of Brick Kiln owners, held after a span of 40 years, was to press against the National Green Tribunal's (NGT) order that necessitated brick kiln units to procure Environment Clearance Certificate (ECC) from Pollution Control Board (PCB) before commencing operations.

BJP MP from Meerut Rajendra Kumar, who was present at the conference, disclosed that Union Environment Minister Prakash Javdekar has assured the brick-kiln and tiles manufacturers to make their industry exempted from environment clearances.

On being asked about the protest and clash at the conference, Sanjay Goel, spokesman of the All India Brick Kiln owners admitted that there were differences on the issue of Uttar Pradesh leadership but claimed that it was solved "in the house itself".
A 15-year-old girl was allegedly kidnapped and raped at gunpoint by a youth living in her neighbourhood here in Badaut police station area, police said today.

The girl who had gone missing two days ago returned home yesterday and she narrated her ordeal to her parents, they said.

She said she somehow managed to escape and reached home, police said.

On the complaint of the family, an FIR has been lodged and efforts are on to nab the culprit, police said, adding that the girl has been sent for medical examination.
The United Nations expert on the human rights situation in the occupied Palestinian territories today resigned, complaining that Israel had never granted him access to the areas he is meant to monitor.

"The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Makarim Wibisono, today submitted his resignation to the President of the Human Rights Council, effective as of 31 March 2016," the UN said.

In a statement, the UN said that Wibisono had "expressed deep regret that, throughout his mandate, Israel failed to grant him access to the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Some held their tears while others were inconsolable as coffins of security personnel killed in Pathankot terror strike reached home today for last rites, which were performed with full military honours.

Breaking the tradition, the daughters of two slain officers gave shoulder to their father's coffin.

Slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' rent the air as the body of Garud commando Gursewak Singh, draped in the tricolour, reached his native Garnala village near Ambala, while the family members of the young Sikh, who was married in November, were inconsolable.

Haryana Ministers Anil Vij and Abhimanyu were present to pay tributes along with senior officers from the Air Force, besides personnel from the army, police and civil administration.

The body of Lt Colonel E K Niranjan, a bomb expert with the National Security Guard who was killed while defusing a grenade at the scene of the terror attack at Pathankot IAF base, was brought to Bengaluru from where it was to be taken to his hometown Palakkad in Kerala.

Teary-eyed people filed past the body as the martyr's family members sat near it. "He was always interested in the army. I am proud of his sacrifice," Niranjan's father Sivarajan said.

Niranjan's sister said, "I look at him as Arjuna who fought for his karmabhoomi."



He hailed from Palakkad in Kerala and is survived by his wife Dr Radhika and a 18-month-old daughter.

Fellow army officers and many prominent and eminent personalities paid tributes to the martyr at his residence.

Thirty two-year-old Niranjan, whose family stays in Bangalore, was commissioned in the Engineers Regiment of the Army in 2004.

Niranjan, head of the elite bomb squad of the NSG, was killed while defusing an IED at Pathankot IAF base, yesterday. He was among seven security personnel killed in the terrorist attack there.

In Gurdaspur, Punjab, scores of mourners gathered at the house of Subedar Fateh Singh, 51, a shooter who had won Commonwealth medals.

Singh's daughter Madhu joined the soldiers in carrying the body to the cremation ground.

"What my father has done today, I don't think anything can match it. I am proud of my father," Madhu said.

"We were at the air base when the attack took place," she said. Singh's wife, daughter and son had come to visit him.

Before leaving the quarters, Singh told his wife that he was going to get some documents signed after which they would go home.

"My father snatched the gun from that man and shot him," she said.
West Bengal government is making elaborate arrangements for the annual Gangasagar Mela, which was was today declared as 'Clean and Green Gangasagar Mela' this year.

"UNICEF and World Bank have extended their support for making this year's mela a clean and green one. For that, we are constructing 12,000 new toilets along the entire stretch from Outram Ghat in Kolkata to the fair grounds, marked in bright yellow for easy identification. 2,000 of these toilets will be mobile ones and the rest, permanent," P B Selim, District Magistrate, South 24 Parganas told reporters today.

The DM said the state government was laying ample stress on a "foolproof security cover" for the mela.

"We are leaving no stones unturned for the security of the fair. Alongside the state police, the Navy, Coast Guard and the BSF would be patrolling the entire riverine stretch as well as the fair grounds, including aerial surveillance.

"This year we are installing 140 CCTV cameras for surveillance and a strict vigil will be kept all along the way from Kolkata," Selim said.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also chaired a meeting with all departments and stakeholders at the state secretariat on the Gangasagar Mela today.

State Panchayat Minister Subrata Mukherjee said they were hoping more pilgrims would come from different parts of the country as there was no Kumbh Mela this year.

The state government has already abolished the pilgrim tax and would provide free life insurance of Rs 5 lakh to anyone who visits the pilgrimage site.

When asked about increased security this time in wake of Pathankot terror attack, Mukherjee said "There will be more security, lighting, police and volunteers. We will also have critical care unit equipped ambulances."



South 24 Parganas district Superintendent of Police Sunil Chowdhury also said more than 10,000 police personnel would be pressed on duty for the annual fair.

"We are expecting more than ten lakh people to congregate at Gangasagar this year. Vessels will operate in between Lot No. 8 and Kochuberia and 100 wooden motor launches will ferry pilgrims in between Namkhana and Chemaguri. The expenditure of the fair has also been pegged at Rs 60.30 crore as against Rs 52 crore last year," Selim added.

The Chief Minister has also inaugurated a mobile app on the Gangasagar fair this time.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today said the "unprecedented" northeast monsoon has killed 470 people and nearly a lakh livestock besides damaging crops in over 3.83 lakh hectares in the state.

Detailing the large-scale destruction caused by heavy rains in four phases during October-December last year, she recalled her demand for a central assistance of Rs 25,912.45 crore for the relief and restoration works.

Noting that the Central team of Inter-Ministerial officials, which earlier assessed the damage caused in the first three phases of rains, will visit the state again from tomorrow for a similar exercise, she expressed hope the Centre will release the "required" assistance based on its report.

Jayalalithaa said despite the state's preparedness, the damage was "huge" on account of the "unprecedented" rains witnessed in the last century that caused a deluge affecting Chennai, Kancheepuram, Tiruvallore, Cuddalore, Tuticorin and Tirunelveli districts.

In a detailed statement, she said 470 persons had been killed in various rain-related incidents, most of them between October 28 and December 31, 2015.

"During the northeast monsoon period between October 1 and 27, as many as 49 persons died. 421 persons died of various reasons including drowning, electrocution, lightning strike and wall collapse between October 28 and December 31, 2015," she said.

Although the northeast monsoon season stretches between October 1 to December 31, it had set late on October 28 this year, she said.

The government had provided relief of Rs four lakh each to families of 245 victims and the rest will be covered in the coming days, she said.

The Chief Minister pegged the area of crop loss at 3,82,768 hectares.

Over 3.47 lakh hectares of agricultural crops and 35,471 hectares of horticultural crops have suffered damage, she said adding 68,350 farmers had been compensated with Rs 29.48 crore. The rest will be covered soon, she said.

A total of 30.42 lakh families had suffered partial or complete damage to their dwelling units, including huts, with the government completing the survey of 14 lakh families in this connection, she said.

She gave away the relief amount to five persons today to mark the launch of the efforts and the cash assistance for the identified 14 lakh families will be deposited today itself in their bank accounts, she said adding the rest will be covered by January 11.

The government had announced measures like cash compensation for damage to houses, besides providing rice and kerosene, she recalled.

As far as livestock were concerned, about 98,000 cattle, poultry, goats and pigs had perished during the monsoon and a compensation of Rs 7.78 crore has been disbursed so far, she said adding Rs 12.82 crore has been provided for loss sustained by fishing community, which includes boats.

"My government is expediting the cash assistance to people affected by the unprecedented rains. Today, Rs 700 crore worth relief was distributed. The rest will be given by January 11," she said.

The Chief Minister, facing opposition flak over the handling of the rains and subsequent floods, reiterated that though her government was prepared to face the monsoon, the unprecedented downpour had resulted in large-scale damage, prompting the Centre to declare it as "Calamity of Severe Nature."



State and Central government agencies besides the armed forces were quickly pressed into service for relief and rehabilitation efforts and essentials and medical services were promptly delivered, she said.
Noting that industrial effluents and sewage discharged by industries were the primary cause of pollution in Ganga, the National Green Tribunal today directed the Centre and Uttar Pradesh government to take a clear stand on a mechanism to clean the river from Haridwar to Kanpur.

A bench headed by Justice Swatanter Kumar directed Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Environment Ministry, Ministry of Water Resources, Uttar Pradesh Pollution Control Board, UP Jal Nigam and Uttar Pradesh government to devise a methodology to rejuvenate the river.

"This segment (Haridwar to Kanpur) contains very high pollution by industrial trade effluents as well as huge quantity of sewage being discharged into the Ganga directly or indirectly mainly untreated and rest of it partially treated," the bench said.

The green panel also noted that the condition of zero liquid discharge on the industries situated along Ganga as well as installation of online monitoring system is difficult to be performed and achieved.

The green bench said that it will take up the matter in relation to segment B of Phase-1 (Haridwar to Kanpur) on January 11 and posted the matter for arguments.

The tribunal on December 23, 2015 had held a meeting of stakeholders including chief secretaries of Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand besides other senior officers from both the states.

The green panel had divided the cleaning work of Ganga into different segments -- Gomukh to Haridwar, Haridwar to Kanpur, Kanpur to border of Uttar Pradesh, border of Uttar Pradesh to border of Jharkhand and border of Jharkhand to Bay of Bengal.

On December 11, last year, the tribunal had imposed a complete ban on use of plastic of any kind from Gomukh to Haridwar along Ganga with effect from February 1 while slapping a penalty of Rs 5,000 per day on erring hotels, dharamshalas and ashrams spewing waste into the river.

Earlier, the Union Minister of State for Water Resources had told the Rajya Sabha that CPCB has inventorised 764 grossly polluting industries which were discharging 501 mld of trade effluent directly or indirectly into the drains reaching Ganga and its tributaries.

He had told that CPCB has also identified 144 drains along the main stem of river Ganga, discharging about 6614 mld of sewage/waste water.
Housing finance companies regulator, National Housing Bank, has asked mortgage firms to share information on default of Rs 25 lakh and above by wilful defaulters so that further credit to such borrowers is choked.

"This is pursuant to the advice of RBI and recommendation of the Puri Committee report, which states that HFCs may also report data on wilful defaulters to all Credit Information Companies (CICs) because the exclusion of such entities from the guidelines of wilful defaulters may lead to arbitrage by the borrowers," NHB said.

Accordingly, NHB framed guidelines to put in place a mechanism of sharing information on wilful defaults of Rs 25 lakh and above so as to ensure further funds are not made available to them.

As per the norms, HFCs can take penal action against wilful defaulters. "Wherever possible, HFCs should adopt a proactive approach for a change of management of the wilfully defaulting borrower unit," it said.

Under the set-up, no additional facilities will be granted by any HFC to the listed wilful defaulters.

"Such companies (including entrepreneurs or promoters) where HFCs have identified siphoning off funds, misrepresentation, falsification of accounts and fraudulent transactions should be debarred from finance... For floating new ventures for 5 years from the date of removal of their names from the list as published or disseminated by RBI," it said.

According to the guidelines, HFCs can initiate a legal proceeding, wherever warranted, against borrowers or guarantors, and foreclosure for recovery of dues should be initiated expeditiously.

"The lenders may initiate criminal proceedings against wilful defaulters, wherever necessary," it clearly said.

NHB has come out with the guidelines in the wake of the recommendations of the Puri Committee and worries emanating out of the exclusion of HFCs from the preview of rules meant for wilful defaulters.

(REOPENS DCM 82)



The guidelines said the identification of the wilful



default should be made keeping in view the track record of borrowers and should not be decided on the basis of isolated transactions/incidents.

The default to be categorised as wilful must be intentional, deliberate and calculated. In cases of project financing, HFCs must ensure the end-use of funds by obtaining certification from chartered accountants.

In cases of short-term corporate/clean loans, such an approach ought to be supplemented with 'due diligence' on the part of lenders themselves, and to the extent possible, such loans should be limited to only those borrowers whose integrity and reliability are above board.

"Housing finance companies, therefore, should not depend entirely on certificates issued by chartered accountants, but strengthen their internal controls and the credit risk management system to enhance the quality of their loan portfolio," the guidelines said.

While dealing with a wilful default of a single borrowing company in a group, HFCs "should consider the track record of the individual firm, with reference to its repayment performance".
NIA today registered a case to probe the conspiracy of Pakistan-based terrorist group, believed to be Jaish-e-Mohammed, behind the strike at the IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab.

The case was initially registered by local police station in Pathankot that was transferred and handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), a central probe agency that was set up after the audacious 26/11 Mumbai terror strike to probe all terror cases in the country.

The NIA registered the case under various sections of Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and Arms Act against unknown persons, official sources said.

A team of NIA was at the spot since Saturday as per the standard operating procedure under which the agency rushes its team to the terror attack site so that they can share their expertise as well as have first-hand information about the case.

The NIA will take over the evidence and custody of the bodies of terrorists once the Army and NSG give clearance that the Pathankot operation is over, the sources said.

The mandate of the NIA probe will include entry of the militants into India, killing of taxi driver Ikagar Singh, kidnapping of Superintendent of Police-rank officer of Punjab Police, who was later released and entry into the IAF campus, the sources said.

SP Salwinder Singh, who was shunted out from Gurdaspur to take charge as Assistant Commandant of 75th battalion of Punjab Armed Police, is likely to be questioned about the terrorists who had hijacked his vehicle. He is already facing charges of alleged breach of discipline.

The sources said the investigators will also try and ascertain the conspiracy that was hatched on Pakistani soil by the terrorists and if possible find out the state and non- state actors in that country.

The NIA may also question or seek custodial interrogation of sacked IAF personnel Ranjith KK, a Leading Air Craftman (LAC) with IAF posted at Bhatinda, who was arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly supplying information to ISI, the sources said.

The Pathankot IAF facility, located near the border with Pakistan, is the base of MiG-21 fighter planes and MI-25 attack helicopters of Air Force.

India recently gifted four such choppers to Afghanistan last month.
The Odd-Even scheme has passed the "litmus test" because of the "will of Delhiites", Transport Minister Gopal Rai claimed today as odd numbered cars largely stayed off roads on a full-fledged working day, in accordance with the ambitious vehicle rationing scheme.

"Monday was the day being deemed as the litmus test for Odd-Even scheme. But I had faith in the people of Delhi and also we had put in adequate arrangements so that citizens do not face any inconvenience.

"It was a major challenge, but the scheme has passed the test because of the will of Delhiites. They have given us their whole-hearted support to make this a success," Rai said.

Most of the violators were from outside Delhi, he said, noting that around 400 violators were challaned by traffic police and 109 violators by Enforcement Wing of the Transport Department and 68 autorickshaw drivers were challaned following complaints.

He further said that 800 complaints were received by the helpline number launched by government and that around 2,500 people have downloaded the Poochho app till today.

Rai stated that some elements were trying to "misguide people" and sabotage the scheme by circulating old and false pictures of an overcrowded Rajiv Chowk Metro station in social media and creating panic.

"There were attempts to spread misinformation and misguide people by circulating old and false pictures of overcrowded Rajiv Chowk Metro station in social media. I spoke to Metro officials and took a feedback of 50 stations, and we were informed that the crowd today was less than the peak crowd recorded in December in the past and the picture which was posted was of October 22," he said.

Rai, who took a bus ride today to take stock of roads, credited five people - people of Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, Delhi police and Civil Defence volunteers, Metro, DTC and cluster buses and the media for making the drive "a grand success".

Rai said the Delhi Metro had made all requisite arrangements and capacity was increased to carry 32 lakh commuters. Also, 25 Metro Monitoring Teams have been working since morning.

Rai accused several schools of betraying the government



despite making commitments and not joining the drive at the last moment.

"Several schools betrayed us. Despite repeated requests, they did not provide us with buses. A total of 1,799 buses from 408 schools had registered with us. But after all the meetings and despite making repeated requests, only 366 buses from 125 schools joined us while 283 schools betrayed the government even after giving their commitment. Some even went to court even after we agreed to their terms and conditions.

"We will publish their names. We will not take any action against them, but I want to ask them why they, who sculpt the future of children, went back on their words? They should have come forward for the sake of the campaign which we undertook to protect health of our children. Owners of 1,433 buses from 283 schools let us down after making commitment," he said.

"In anticipation of large number of people availing public transport, DTC had made preparations for a carrying a capacity of 64 lakh people. But carpooling played a major role. People shared their vehicles because of which there was less crowd in public transport.

"All buses were plying below full capacity," Rai said, adding that the department had kept 100 buses as standby in case of emergency.

He informed that 4,462 DTC, 1,231 cluster buses and 1,251 private buses, totalling 7,143 ones were on roads today.

Rai further said that pollution levels in the inner circles of city had come down since the scheme was implemented on January 1 even though the the pollution levels are still high in border areas.

Greater impact would be seen if the scheme is implemented in states surrounding Delhi like Haryana and UP.

"The pollution levels have come down in inner Delhi but the pollution levels are still high in border areas for various reasons, such as movement of diesel vehicles and trucks. After 15 days, we will review the situation and take a feedback from all stakeholders and discuss the issue with the governments of NCR states to see if they can also adopt the odd-even scheme," he said.

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Rai said that he will meet Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari and urge him to expedite the peripheral highway project.

On the issue of volunteers and officials being asked to use hidden cameras to record and take pictures of violators, Rai said Delhi government had received inputs about possible miscreants attempting to disrupt the scheme.

"We had received inputs about possible miscreants attempting to disrupt the scheme and bring in cars with number plates that are not allowed to ply so that the initiative fails following which decision was taken," he said.

Meanwhile, Rai today took a bus ride which started from Delhi Secretariat passed through Delhi Gate, Ramlila Ground, Connaught Place, India Gate, Pragati Maidan, ITO and finally concluded at the starting point.

Rai also visited Patel Chowk Metro Station and interacted with commuters to understand if they were facing any problems.

Praising the people's efforts, PWD Minister Satyendar Jain said Delhiites have adopted the movement as their own and that the government is getting requests to make the scheme permanent.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah today gave a 'thumbs up' to the odd-even scheme for movement of vehicles in Delhi saying it seems to be working "quite well".

"Saw a few violators of the #OddEvenScheme this morning but they are very much the exception to what seems to be working quite well," Omar, who is in the capital, wrote on Twitter.

Earlier, Omar had tweeted that today, being the first working day since the odd-even scheme came into effect on January 1, would be the "real test" of the scheme.

"Today will be the first real test of the #OddEvenPlan so good luck Delhi. Lots of interest what you do today," the former Chief Minister said.

Delhi government implemented the odd-even scheme for movement of vehicles from January 1 on a trial basis for 15 days as part of its efforts to reduce pollution in the capital.

Under the scheme, private cars having odd registration numbers will be allowed to ply on odd dates and those with even numbers on even dates.
At least 42 militants allegedly linked to Islamic State group have been arrested in Pakistan's Punjab province as part of a campaign to "wipe the threat of IS" from the country, officials said today.

The arrests were made during a series of raids by counter-terrorism officials to nab the alleged supporters and activists of the dreaded terrorist group in Pakistan.

Punjab Law Minister Rana Sanaullah told reporters that the weekend swoop targeted four districts of the province.

Sanaullah said senior IS operatives were among those arrested, including Islamabad chief Amir Mansoor, his deputy Abdullah Mansoori and chief for Sindh province Umer Kathio.

A senior police official from Lahore confirmed the arrests.

"The arrests are part of campaign to wipe the threat of IS from Pakistan," he said.

The authorities confiscated hate literature, propaganda material and weapons during the raids at a hideout of the militants.

Police began their raids after they busted a group of IS supporters in Daska and Sialkot districts of Punjab province last week, which provided vital clues about the activities of the group in Pakistan.

Pakistan has officially denied the presence of IS in the country, but secretly it has been neutralising militants who have either shifted their allegiance from the Taliban to the IS or have shown inclination to support the group.
A Pakistani court today issued a notice to the Punjab government on bail petition filed by former president of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parbandakh Committee (PSGPC), who is facing a blasphemy case for attacking a Gurdwara in Nankana Sahib.

Police had registered a blasphemy case against former PSGPC president Sardar Mastan Singh and his 25 accomplices, mostly Sikhs, for allegedly attacking a Gurdwara in Nankana Sahib, the birthplace of Sikhism's founder Guru Nanak, and chanting anti-sate slogans on the complaint of PSGPC incumbent president Sardar Sham Singh.

The counsel for Mastan Singh today told the Lahore High Court that Sham Singh had got a 'fake' blasphemy case registered against his client and 25 others.

He saidEvacuee Trust Property Board head Siddiqul Farooq and Sham Singh joined hands with land mafia and illegally sold hundreds of canal land belonging to the Gurdwara Janam Asthan, Nankana Sahib (the birth place of Sikhism's founder Baba Guru Nanak) to a housing scheme.

"Sham Singhat the behest of Siddiqul Farooq have got fake case registered against his client and others to stop them from raising voice against illegal selling of the land," he said, pleading the court to release Mastan Singh on bail.

The division bench of LHC headed by Justice Mazhar Iqbal Sidhu adjourned the court till Tuesday to seek replies from the provincial government and the prosecution department.

A good number ofSikhs gathered at the court premises also held a demonstration against Saddiqul Farooq and Sham Singh.

They chanted slogans against them and demanded immediate release of Mastan Singh.

Police last month registered a blasphemy case against Mastan Singh and his 25 accomplices, mostly Sikhs, for allegedly attacking a Gurdwara in Nankana Sahib and chanting anti-sate slogans.

Mastan Singh, who is in jail on judicial remand, on Nov 25 during 547th birthday anniversary celebrations of Baba Guru Nanak, allegedly surrounded Siddiqul Farooq along with his fellow community members and protested for not being permitted to take out a rally in Nankana Sahib, some 80 kilometers from Lahore.

On this an FIR wasregistered under section 295-A (blasphemy), 123-A (anti-state slogans), 440, 506, 186 and 147 of the Pakistan Penal Code (PPC) against Mastan Singh and 25 others.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today arrived in Sri Lanka on a three-day visit during which several agreements to boost bilateral ties, including in the areas of health and curb terrorism financing, will be signed.

Sharif was received at the airport here by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The Pakistan prime minister will hold talks with President Maithripala Sirisena and other officials tomorrow.

This is Sharif's first visit to Sri Lanka since he attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in 2013.

Several bilateral agreements, including in the areas of health, science and technology, trade, and curb terrorism financing are to be signed during the visit.

Business MoUs including deep sea fishing, cement, power, education and food will also be signed.

During his stay in Sri Lanka, Sharif will visit the historic city of Kandy. He will visit Sri Dalada Maligawa Sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic, International Buddhist Museum and Jinnah Hall in Kandy.

Sharif will also deliver a lecture on diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Islamabad and Colombo grew closer during Lanka's civil war by supplying arms to fight the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who sought an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils.

President Sirisena visited Pakistan from April 5-7 in 2015.
Pakistan is working on the "leads" provided by India on the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot, the Foreign Office said tonight in a statement whose tone was conciliatory.

Extending Pakistan's deepest condolences to the Government and people of India on the "unfortunate terrorist incident" in Pathankot, a statement by the spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, "We understand the pain of many families who have lost their dear ones in this tragedy, as Pakistan itself is a major victim of terrorism."



Noting that the terror attack that left seven security personnel dead has been categorically condemned by Pakistan, the spokesperson said, "In line with Pakistan's commitment to effectively counter and eradicate terrorism, the Government is in touch with the Indian government and is working on the leads provided by it."



The statement, however, did not give details of the "leads" provided by India.

It also said that India and Pakistan should remain "committed" to a sustained dialogue process.

"Living in the same region and with a common history, the two countries should remain committed to a sustained dialogue process," it said, adding, "The challenge of terrorism calls for strengthening our resolve to a cooperative approach."



An element of uncertainty today crept in over next week's Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan amid indications that these may be deferred in the wake of the Pathankot terror attack last Saturday.

(Reopen FGN48)



In New Delhi, there was no official comment on the Pakistani statement nor was there any official indication as to through which channel the "leads" have been provided to Pakistan.

However, reports, not officially confirmed, said that National Security Adviser (NSA) Ajit Doval had provided to Pakistani authorities the details like the Pakistani numbers which the attackers had called and their intercepts.

The attackers had made reportedly several calls to Pakistan, some of them brief and some long.
Scores of Youth Congress activists today held a candlelight march here, expressing solidarity with the families of the seven security personnel, who lost their lives while neutralising Pakistani terrorists in Pathankot.

Leading the march, Youth Congress president Amarinder Singh Raja attacked the Modi dispensation and the SAD-BJP coalition government in Punjab.

"It is a sheer failure of Intelligence and Punjab Government which could not stop this attack as this is second terrorist attack after Gurudaspur in Punjab," he said.

"Within a few days of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Lahour courtesy, we have to face terrorist attack at Pathankot Airbase," the Youth Congress leader said.
NIA today registered three cases to probe the entire conspiracy behind the strike at the IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab believed to have been carried out by Pakistan-based terrorist group Jaish-e-Mohammed.

The cases were initially registered by local police stations in Pathankot that were transferred and handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), a central probe agency that was set up after the audacious 26/11 Mumbai terror strike to probe all terror cases in the country.

The first case pertains to Superintendent of Police Salwant Singh's abduction and the second that of killing of taxi driver Ikagar Singh. Both the cases were registered at Narot Jaimal Singh Police Station in Pathankot district.

The third and the main case, registered at Police Station Division No. 2 Pathankot, relates to the terrorist attack on the Air Force Station at Pathankot.

A 20-member team of NIA led by an Inspector General- ranking officer has been camping at Pathankot since January 2 to supervise the ongoing investigations.

An officer of the rank of Superintendent of Police has been appointed as the Chief Investigating Officer of the case.

The NIA registered the case under various sections of Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and Arms Act against unknown persons, official sources said.

The NIA will take over the evidence and custody of the bodies of terrorists once the Army and NSG give clearance that the Pathankot operation is over, the sources said.

The mandate of the NIA probe will include entry of the militants into India, killing of taxi driver Ikagar Singh, kidnapping of Superintendent of Police-rank officer of Punjab Police, who was later released and entry into the IAF campus, the sources said.

The sources said the investigators will also try and ascertain the conspiracy that was hatched on Pakistani soil by the terrorists and if possible find out the state and non- state actors in that country.

The NIA may also question or seek custodial interrogation of sacked IAF personnel Ranjith KK, a Leading Air Craftman (LAC) with IAF posted at Bhatinda, who was arrested by Delhi Police for allegedly supplying information to ISI, they said.

The Pathankot IAF facility, located near the border with Pakistan, is the base of MiG-21 fighter planes and MI-25 attack helicopters of Air Force.

India recently gifted four such choppers to Afghanistan last month.
Delhiites are "fortunate" that the city police was not under the jurisdiction of the Delhi government as otherwise it would have had to "give in to local pressure", Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said today.

"I can tell you that people of Delhi are fortunate to have the police not under the Delhi government otherwise there would be a lot of local pressure," he said.

The city's top cop was addressing the Delhi Police Annual Conference here, his last as Delhi police commissioner.

"A Prime Minister will not have local influence, a Home Minister will not have local influence, but if the Delhi Police comes under the local government, they would have local influence," Bassi claimed.

The police chief, however did not make any direct reference to the Arvind Kejriwal-led government, with which the Delhi Police has been engaged in a tug-of-war of sorts in past several months over its functioning.

A number of rape incidents in the capital last year had triggered a flash point between the AAP government fronted by Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and the Delhi Police led by Bassi.

The AAP government had in fact upped the ante and even proposed putting Delhi Police under its jurisdiction for a year, on a trial basis, prompting quick rebuttal from Bassi.

In his strongest assertion, the police commissioner had said it would be a "very unfortunate" day in the history of the capital if the Delhi Police comes under the city government and that its functioning under the Centre's jurisdiction was "perfect".

"The present system is the best. No Prime Minister has any vested interest in Delhi unless he belongs to Delhi. I have not seen any PM having any local interest in Delhi during my long career," he said.
Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi today said the national capital has always been on high alert but refrained from disclosing details about the presence of terrorists of any particular outfit unless they are arrested.

"People in Delhi must be aware that a terrorist can be living and operating from their next door... Terrorists can sneak into Delhi any day. Delhi has always been, it is and shall always be a target for terrorists," Bassi said at the annual conference of Delhi Police.

When asked specifically about the presence of two Jaish-e-Mohammad key members in Delhi and the reports surrounding the fact, Bassi said: "I will never share specific inputs about presence of terrorists from any particular outfit. I will share details only when we arrest any of them, otherwise not."



"However, if people become alert following certain media reports, it is a totally acceptable situation for me," he said.

Delhi Police had arrested six alleged terrorists in 2015, which include operatives of al Qaeda in Indian sub-continent (AQIS), Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Communist Party of India (Maoist) and Nationalist Socialist Council of Nagaland (Khaplang), police records reveal.

"We are always in touch with central intelligence agencies and enhancing our counter terrorism mechanism at the local police level. Today, we have built enough capacity in every district to counter any form of emergency," he said.

Two Jaish-e-Mohammed militants were suspected to have sneaked into the national capital and planning high-profile attacks, including taking hostages, following which security was stepped up in the city, a day after the Pathankot Air Base strike by the same Pakistan-based outfit.

Delhi Police received specific intelligence input about the presence of militants, following which Bassi appealed the citizens to be vigilant.

"Citizens' vigil against suspicious persons/objects/ activities is vital to counter terrorism. Report anything amiss no. 100 or helpline 1090," he tweeted yesterday.

According to a senior police official, Bassi held a meeting with its top brass yesterday and the department sought help of central paramilitary forces in providing security, especially around vital installations in the city.

In 2015, Special Cell of Delhi Police had registered FIR in connection with LeT operatives and modules recruiting for ISIS from the national capital.
The Philippines says that like Vietnam, it opposes a recent Chinese flight test in a newly completed runway on one of seven islands Beijing constructed in the disputed South China Sea.

Department of Foreign Affairs spokesman Charles Jose said today the Philippine government was considering protesting China's action, like what Vietnam did, adding that the flight test at Fiery Cross Reef "adds to tension and uncertainties in the region."



Vietnam said last week the flight test violated its sovereignty and demanded that China stop similar actions. China rejected Hanoi's protest and will likely dismiss Manila's concerns too.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Saturday the flight test was carried out to determine whether the new airfield in what she said was Chinese territory conformed to civil aviation standards.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi today presided over a high-level meeting to discuss the ongoing operation at Pathankot air base to flush out holed up terrorists and the attack on Indian consulate in Afghanistan.

Top security officials, including NSA Ajit Doval, are learnt to have briefed Modi on the ongoing operation in Pathankot as well as the terror strike at the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif yesterday.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, both members of the Cabinet Committee on Security, were also present at the meeting.

Soon after returning from his two-day visit to Karnataka, Modi had chaired a similar meeting last night of top officials, including Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

The operation against militants holed up at the air base entered the third day today after explosions and firing continued intermittently overnight.

Security forces had yesterday killed one of the at least two terrorists on the second day of the attack in which seven security personnel lost their lives, including a Lieutenant Colonel of the NSG. Four terrorists were eliminated on Saturday when they had struck at the air base.
Police in New York City have lunched a fresh appeal for information over a theft at Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop shop last month.

The 43-year-old "Iron Man" star opened her lifestyle brand's pop-up store, goop mrkt, in Manhattan's Columbus Circle in November, and just weeks later the shop was targeted by thieves who escaped with more than USD 173,000 worth of merchandise, reported New York Daily .

Officers of the New York Police Department who are investigating the theft have now released CCTV images of two men they want to question in connection with the incident, and launched a fresh appeal for information.

Security was stepped up after the theft, and the store closed its doors on Christmas Eve.

Paltrow's actress mother Blythe Danner spoke out after the incident and insisted her daughter was not too shaken up.

"I called her immediately (after I heard). And she said, 'Oh, Mom, it's OK. It's good publicity'," she said.

"She always has a good spin on things, and I admire her tenacity and her upbeat message.
Punjab government will demand from the Centre, sensitive status for border of the state shared with Pakistan, and deployment of more BSF battalions for guarding international borders, its Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today said.

Seeking "thick security cover" on Indo-Pak border on the lines of Jammu and Kashmir, Sukhbir said in order to strengthen security along the international borders of Punjab lying in Pathankot, Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Tarn Taran, Fazilka and Ferozepur districts, the state will demand from the Centre, deployment of more battalions of BSF.

He also said Punjab will demand sensitive status for the border of the state shared with Pakistan.

The deputy chief minister said the Punjab government was also chalking out a strategy to prepare a second-in-line defence security cover on Pakistan borders.

To a query, he said that Punjab police played "bravado" role in countering the terrorist attack on the Pathankot Air Force Base. And for strengthening its borders, the Punjab government will deputy DIG level officer.

On this occasion, Union Minister for Food Processing Industry Harsimrat Kaur Badal said that the Prime Minister Narendra Modi had convened a high-level review meeting on the Pathankot episode and all steps were being taken to safeguard the country.

She said the Union government will step up vigil on the international borders and any terrorists will be given a befitting reply.

Sukhbir also flagged off a train from Raman Mandi to Sri Nanded Sahib and four buses to Salasar Dham in Rajasthan under the Mukh Mantri Tirath Darshan Yatra Yojana.

He said that as per the demand of pilgrims the number of trains, buses and their trips will be increased to ensure that maximum people are able to visit their respective places of worship.

He said that there was immense enthusiasm in the people of Punjab regarding Yojana and as per the need, Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal will be consulted on increasing the number of trains, buses and their trips.

He said that trains will also be run for Ajmer Sharif and Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine.
Trade unions today asked the government to increase the income tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh and the minimum wage to Rs 18,000 besides raising the minimum monthly pension to Rs 3,000 for all.

They also sought a special package for victims of the recent Tamil Nadu floods.

These demands were raised under a 15-point charter submitted by 11 central trade unions to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley during pre-Budget consultations held here. The Union Budget for the next financial year, 2016-17, is slated to be presented in Parliament in February end. It will take effect from April 1.

"We have demanded a minimum wage of Rs 18,000 per month which is higher than our earlier demand of Rs 15,000," Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh Zonal Organisation Secretary Pawan Kumar said after the meeting.

The 7th Pay Commission has recommended Rs 18,000 as minimum monthly wage for central government workers and it should be the benchmark, he said.

All Indian Trade Union Congress Secretary DL Sachdev said: "We have also demanded Rs 3,000 minimum monthly pension for all and asked for a special package for flood ravaged Tamil Nadu to provide relief to workers as well as industry in the next Budget."



Sachdev said that in view of price rise "we have also demanded from the government to increase the income tax exemption limit to Rs 5 lakh per annum".

The union have also asked that fringe benefits like housing, medical and educational facilities and running allowances in railways should be exempted from Income Tax.

Unions also demanded that PSUs should be strengthened and expanded and the disinvestment of government shares in profit making PSUs should be stopped.

Besides, they said that the budgetary support should be provided for revival of potentially viable sick PSUs.

On the price rise, the charter said: "Take effective measures to arrest the spiralling price rise especially of food and essential items of daily use. Ban speculative forward trading in essential commodities, check on hoarding and universalise and strengthen Public Distribution System."



Expressing concerns over steel and aluminium sectors, the unions said: "Relentless and increasing flow of import of industrial commodities including capital goods must be contained and regulated to prevent dumping and also to protect and promote domestic industries and prevent loss of employment."



It also said that "FDI should not be allowed in crucial sectors like defence production, Railways, financial sector, retail trade and other strategic sectors. In other areas, terms and conditions for FDI should be made public.

The unions' joint charter of demand said the threshold



limit of 20 employees in Employees' Provident Fund Scheme be brought down to 10.

It said that the government and employers' contribution be increased to allow sustainability of employees pension scheme and for provision of minimum pension of Rs 3,000 per month.

The proposal for introducing option for subscribers in EPF and ESI made in the last year's Budget should be dropped, it said.

The unions also demanded that the New Pension Scheme be withdrawn and newly recruited employees of central and state governments on or after January 1, 2004 be covered under the Old Pension Scheme.

On Labour Law Reforms, they said: "The process of labour law reforms being pursued by the government to provide for unhindered hire and fire and for pushing the majority of workers outside the purview and protection of most of the labour laws -- all for ease of doing business, be stopped. No labour law amendment be undertaken without the consent of trade unions and workers who are the main stake holders and also the most affected."



On 7th Central Pay Commission, they said: "The government must discuss the issues raised by National Joint Council of Action of Central Government employees and other organisations before taking any decision on the recommendations of the Commission. The issues of minimum wage quantification, lowering of rates of some allowances and abolition of some others have wider ramifications and therefore require corrective measures."



About the contract or casual workers they said that these workers should not be deployed on jobs of perennial nature. Till regularisation, these workers should be paid the same wages and benefits as paid to regular workers doing the same work.

Unions said that the massive workforce engaged in ICDS, Mid-day meal scheme, Vidya volunteers, Guest Teachers, Shiksha Mitra, the workers engaged in the Accredited Social Health Activities (ASHA) and other schemes be regularised.

They added that there should be no privatisation of centrally funded schemes. Budget allocation should not be drastically cut as done in last year; it should be substantially increased.

The unions said that the proper management of cess under construction workers welfare funds be also ensured and there should a national fund administered by central government.

At present, states collect these funds and their welfare boards spend this money for providing benefits to workers.

Unions opposed the hectic measures of changing labour laws by the central as well as some states.

They asked the government to make provisions in the Budget for revival and rehabilitation of MSMEs in Tamil Nadu, which have been destroyed due to floods and for rehabilitation of affected workers.

"It is unfortunate that none of the suggestions made by us collectively in 17th January, 2015 pre-budget consultation meeting were included in 2015-16 budget. Rather drastic cut to the tune of Rs 4.40 lakh crores was made in the allocation of funds for social sector schemes. This drastic cut needs to be restored and covered up," the unions said.
Amid reports of several Chinese spies being arrested near the Dalai Lama's home in Dharamshala, China has termed them as a "stunt" by the Tibetan spiritual leader to attract international attention.

Claims of Chinese assassination attempts against the Dalai Lama, which have led to security being beefed up around his residence, have been denied by official Tibetan authorities which claimed that this is a stunt set up by the Dalai Lama to attract international attention, a report in state-run Global Times' website said.

China Tibet Online - tibet.Cn - the official website of the Tibet Autonomous Region said in a report that police in India are "framing" China by deploying additional manpower to safeguard the Dalai Lama in McLeodganj in Dharamshala.

The report quoted an Indian media report which said security had been beefed up towards end of 2015 "in view of the threat perception to his life" after arrests of several "Chinese spies".

Claims that China is sending spies to assassinate the Dalai Lama are "groundless", the report on tibet.Cn said.

It also said that Dalai Lama is struggling to attract international attention and cover up his internal and external troubles by these stunts.

This is not the first time the Dalai Lama and his supporters have claimed that he faces threats from China, the Global Times report said.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hong Lei rejected the Dalai Lama's claim that China hired "well-trained agents, especially female agents" to assassinate him in May, 2012.

Hong claimed that the Dalai Lama always spreads false information.

The Dalai Lama has been living in Dharamshala since the late 1950s when he and a group of Tibetans fled to India after the Chinese invaded Tibet.
The Supreme Court today said that it would pass an interim order on January 7 on various pleas challenging the Delhi High Court decision to set aside the 60 per cent quota in the prestigious Sanskriti School here for wards of group-A government officials.

A bench comprising Justices A R Dave and A K Goel also sought assistance of senior advocate Kapil Sibal in deciding the case and appointed him as amicus curiae.

Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the Centre and senior advocate K K Venugopal, who represented the school administration, said that an interim order, allowing the institution to continue with the admission process under the old scheme, be passed till the matter is finally decided by the apex court.

While setting aside the 60 per cent quota in Sanskriti School the high court in its November 6 judgement had said that it was "akin to the erstwhile segregation of white and black students in the US and violated constitutional provisions of equality and right to education".

The Centre and the School have separately challenged the High Court decision.

"It is an unaided private school which provides free education to students of EWS (economically weaker section) category also without claiming reimbursements and hence, no writ petition was maintainable against it," Venugopal said.

In response to query as to what will happen to those seats which will remain vacant after granting admissions to the wards of government employees, Rohatgi said, "no seat remains vacant. If one more school is opened today, the seats will be filled up by the wards of government servants alone in no time".

The school sought an urgent interim relief on the ground that the nursery admisison process, under the local law, has already begun on January one and it be also allowed to initiate the process under the old procedures.

Sibal, on being asked by the bench, agreed to assist the court as an amicus and said that one of the wards of his relative studies in the school and "nobody should raise it at the later stage."



The Attorney General and Venugopal said that they have no objection "whatsoever" on Sibal being apppinted as the amicus curiae in the matter.

(Reopens LGD 20)



The apex court had on December 15 last year agreed to hear the plea challenging the Delhi High Court decision.

60 per cent seats in Sanskriti school are reserved for children of Group-A officers, 25 per cent for those from the economically weaker sections, 10 per cent for wards of rest of the society and 5 per cent for the staff of the school.

The high court in its judgement had also observed that various expert commissions have said that the current school system in India and abroad promotes and maintains a wide chasm between the advantaged and disadvantaged.

The high court had taken suo motu cognizance of the issue in 2006 after reports that the school was charging "nearly 40 per cent less fee from the children of Group-A officers of the Union Government vis-a-vis other children".
The Madras High Court bench today slapped a fine of Rs 20,000 on Tamil Nadu Khadi and Village Industries Board for filing a review application against its order to pay wages for 20 workers from August 2010 to November 2012 without implementing its order to give employent in that period.

Dismissing the review application, Justice S Vaidyanathan said the Khadi Board was renowned for providing employment and quoted Mahathma Gandhi as having said that it delivered the poor from the bonds of the rich and created a moral and spiritual bond between the classes and masses.

Unlike Gandhi, who was associated with Khadi and practised "Ahimsa"(non violence), the board had committed an act of "Himsa" (harassing) its workmen, he said.

The judge noted that the labour court had already directed the government to regularise their service. However, the management had obtained a stay.

The court had then directed the Board to provide the employees work as they were starving. But this order too was not implemented.

The HC directed the management to provide wages for the eriod when they were not given job as per its order, against which the Board filed a review petition.

The Judge rejected the contention of the management that the workers were not appointed through proper channels and that they were gainfully employed somwhere else and that was why they had wilfully abstained from work.

The workers submitted they had been working continuously for 15 years and sought regularisation of service and pointed out that the labour court had allowed their plea.

The HC had also ordered that they be provided employment, the workers said.

The Judge today directed that Rs 10,000 from the fine amount be given to Spastic Society of India and Rs 10,000 to the YRG centre for AIDS research and education.

He also said that the workers needed to be reinstated as permanent employees as directed by the labour court.

Justice Vaidyanathan said those who are alive and those who had attained superannuation were also entitled to back wages.

If the workers had passed away, their legal heirs were entitled to backwages, he said.

On the issue of sanction for an employee to prosecute an industrial dispute, the Judge said implementation of the award passed by the presiding officer, who was none other than the district judge, was being scrutinized by the bureaucracy now "in a snail-paced manner" for sanction of prosecution.

The Act should be amended in a such a way that the power of prosectuion must be entrusted to the respective labour court or tribunal, he said.
Russia is ready to serve as an intermediary to resolve the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran that saw the kingdom break off diplomatic relations with Tehran, a Russian foreign ministry source said today.

"Russia is ready to serve as an intermediary between Riyadh and Tehran," the source told AFP, without providing any specifics about Moscow's potential role in resolving the crisis.

Another unnamed Russian diplomatic source quoted by TASS agency said Moscow was ready to host the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers -- Adel al-Jubeir and Mohammad Javad Zarif -- for talks.

"If our partners Saudi Arabia and Iran show they are ready and willing (to meet), our initiative will remain on the table," the source said.

Saudi Arabia announced yesterday it was severing its ties to Iran after its embassy in Tehran was firebombed in protest at the kingdom's execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Nimr was a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in eastern Saudi Arabia, where Shiites have long complained of marginalisation.

The oil-rich rivals have also been divided over the nearly five-year war in Syria, where Iran is backing the regime, and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov hosted both Jubeir and Zarif individually last year for talks on the Syrian crisis as Moscow pushed for the creation of a broad coalition to fight Islamic State jihadists in Syria.
A sacked IAF official, arrested for allegedly sharing secret information with Pakistan's ISI, was today sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Delhi court after police said it does not require him for custodial interrogation.

Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Sanjay Khanagwal allowed the Delhi Police Crime Branch's application for judicial custody of Ranjith KK, who was produced in court from police custody.

Investigating Officer S S Sandhu submitted that the accused has been on police remand for six consecutive days since his arrest on December 28 and as of now, he was not required for custodial interrogation.

On January 2, while seeking two-day police remand of Ranjith, a Leading Aircraftman with Indian Air Force posted at Bhatinda, police had informed the court that he will also be interrogated in connection with Pathankot terror attack.

The accused, who was dismissed recently from IAF, was arrested after a combined operation by Delhi Police's Crime Branch, Military Intelligence and Air Force Liaisoning Unit.

The sacked officer was booked under the stringent Official Secrets Act for allegedly sharing secret information with intelligence operatives suspected to be backed by Pakistan's ISI after being "honeytrapped" into an espionage racket.

Police had earlier said that he was deceived by a cyber entity by the name Damini McNaught, who pretended to be an executive of a UK-based media firm and claimed that she required Air Force-related information for an article in their magazine from Ranjith in exchange for pecuniary benefits.

The accused had allegedly shared IAF-related information, mostly pertaining to a recent exercise, movements of aircraft and deployment of various units, in exchange for money transferred to his bank account, police had said.
Saudi Arabia's decision to cut ties with Iran after attacks on the kingdom's diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic will not distract from Riyadh's "big mistake" of executing a top Shiite cleric, a senior Iranian official said today.

"By deciding to sever (diplomatic) relations, Saudi Arabia cannot make (the world) forget its big mistake of executing a cleric," deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said, according to the IRNA agency.

He added that Saudi Arabia had committed a "strategic error in adopting rash and hasty decisions that have spread instability and caused the development of terrorism in the region".

ALSO READ: Oil prices rise after Saudi Arabia cuts ties with Iran

Riyadh's execution of Nimr al-Nimr sparked widespread protests across Shiite-majority countries in the Middle East, with a mob attacking the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in the second city Mashhad.

The assaults on the diplomatic missions spurred the Sunni Arab kingdom to sever ties with Shiite-majority Iran, its long-time regional rival.

In recent years, the two countries have been divided over the war in Syria, where Iran is backing the regime, and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels.

Abdollahian also said Saudi Arabia was "undermining the interests of its own people and the Muslim people of the region with its plot to bring down oil prices", referencing crude prices that are near multi-year lows.

Iran and Saudi are major producers, but Riyadh's current level of crude output far outpaces that of the Islamic Republic and it is seen as a heavyweight in its ability to help set the direction of oil prices.
Saudi Arabia has severed diplomatic ties with regional rival Iran following attacks on the kingdom's embassy and consulate in the Islamic Republic over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the cut in relations late on Sunday and gave Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country. All Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran have been called home after an attack on the kingdom's embassy in Tehran and a consulate.

The decision came after the mass execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region. Shiite protesters took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan while Arab allies of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia quickly lined up behind the kingdom.

The standoff illustrates the kingdom's new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shiite power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.

It also represents just the latest turmoil in the two countries' long-rocky relationship, which saw diplomatic ties between them severed from 1988 to 1991.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saudi Arabia on Sunday of "divine revenge" over al-Nimr's death, while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting "terrorism" in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the US and the European Union sought to calm the region.

Al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that the Iranian regime has "a long record of violations of foreign diplomatic missions," dating back to the occupation of the US Embassy in 1979, and such incidents constitute "a flagrant violation of all agreements," according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

He said Iran's "hostile policy" was aimed "at destabilizing the region's security," accusing Tehran of smuggling weapons and explosives and planting terrorist cells in the kingdom and other countries in the region. He vowed that Saudi Arabia will not allow Iran "to undermine our security."



Al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Iran's backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran also has backed Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Houthis.

In Tehran, a protest outside the Saudi Embassy early Sunday quickly grew violent as protesters threw stones and gasoline bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building ablaze, according to Gen Hossein Sajedinia, the country's top police official, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Forty people were arrested and investigators were pursuing other suspects, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as "extremists."



"It is unjustifiable," he said in a statement. Another Saudi diplomatic mission also was attacked in Mashhad. Western powers sought to calm the tensions.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration was aware of the Saudis' severing of ties with Tehran. "We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," Kirby said.

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats," according to a statement.

The disruption in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. US Secretary of State John Kerry and spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the civil war.

Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin in mid-January.

Across the region, demonstrators took to the streets Sunday in protest over the execution of al-Nimr.

In Bahrain, police fired tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators on Sitra Island, south of the capital, Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifa family.

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called al-Nimr "the martyr, the holy warrior," while protests erupted from Turkey to India to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, al-Nimr's family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya in the kingdom's al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikh's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.
The Supreme Court today directed the Gujarat government to make functional the Gujarat State Cooperative Tribunal by filling up the vacant posts including that of judicial members, which is the bone of contention.

The apex court said the tribunal cannot be allowed to be non-functional and state government's petition challenging the Gujarat High Court directive to fill the position of the President of the tribunal and members of the Board of Nominees can be examined in due course.

"We will examine the state government's appeal but all positions of President, judicial members and members of tribunals must be filled," a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said.

The High Court had asked the state government to appoint president of the tribunal after consultation with the high court's chief justice.

The High Court order was passed on the petition filed by Gujarat Cooperative Bar Association and others complaining about the absence of a transparent mechanism for resolution of disputes by the registrar's nominee as well as the tribunal.

It was argued that although the state government took a policy decision to appoint the Board of Nominees consisting of retired judges for resolving disputes referred by the registrar, the government had failed to implement such a policy.

The Association had alleged that instead of appointing retired civil judges as members of the board, the state government appointed retired and serving government officers as registrar's nominee.

The High Court order was passed on the review petition after the Association sought re-examination of the 2011 decision turning down their plea.

The High Court had asked the state government to include judicial members with experience not less than five years in the tribunal and Board of Nominees.
Air India today faced some searching questions from the Supreme Court which wanted to know from the loss-making airline about its "ultimate plan" to connect Shimla with New Delhi and Chandigarh.

"You file a status report as to the feasibility of air service connecting Shimla with Chandigarh and Delhi," a bench headed by Chief Justice T S Thakur said while asking Air India's Chairman-cum-Managing Director (CMD) to place the report within six weeks.

The bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi, ordered maintainance of status quo on the December 7, 2015 direction passed by the Himachal Pradesh High Court asking Air India, Airports Authority of India and others concerned tostart scheduledflightsontrialbasis from Jubbar-Hatti airport, 22 km from Shimla.

Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Air India's CMD, submitted that the loss-making airline is examining the suggestions to at least connect Shimla and Chandigarh with 40- seater aircraft as the runway at Jubbar-Hatti Airport is very small.

However, the Solicitor General's submission that Air India is running in loss did not go well with the bench which said the airline should be ready to address such issues.

"So many stories go around why Air India is at loss and why private airlines are profit-making... You are in catch-22 situation. You can't say... You have to make effort," the bench said.

It was told that private players like Jet Airways have refused to operate on the route.

At the outset, the bench wanted to know from the Solicitor General whether Air India has any plan of connecting Shimla with Chandigarh and New Delhi.

"What is your ultimate plan. Are you connecting this capital city," the bench wanted to know from the airline.

The senior law officer explained various constrains, including the non-avaibility of refuelling facility in Shimla and certain security hazards. He also said the issue of economic viability was also there.

He also told the bench that two tourist towns -- Kullu and Dharamsala -- are already connected by air.

(Reopens LGD6)



Air India had challenged the Himachal Pradesh High Court ordertostart thescheduledflightsontrialbasis. It had said other objections andgap funding, if any, will be sorted out later on.

The high court had passed the order on a petition by a local resident on the possibility of resuming Delhi-Shimla flight service from Jubbar-Hatti airport, which remains non-operational for past three year.

In the high court, it was alleged that despite crores of rupee being invested on the airport, Shimla remains without air connectivity despite being a capital town.
Do Sardars feel bad about Santa Banta jokes on them? If so, the Supreme Court today said it will seriously consider examining a plea to ban websites displaying jokes on them.

"If we think that your community do feel bad about it, we will definitely seriously consider it," a bench comprising Chief Justice T S Thakur and Justices A K Sikri and R Banumathi said.

"Does your community stand by you," the bench asked a Sikh woman lawyer Harvinder Chowdhary, who has filed a PIL in this regard.

She said Delhi Sikh Gurduwara Management Committee(DSGMC) has also filed a petition on the same issue and they are engaging a battery of senior advocates including Ram Jethmalani to argue the matter.

While the woman advocate was making submissions, the bench intervened and asked Additional Solicitor General P S Patwalia to express his views on the issue being a Sardar himself.

However, before he could say something, the woman lawyer continued to make submissions in high pitch, prompting the ASG to comment that "she is getting over-excited".

Later, at the end of the proceedings, Patwalia said, "we have taken things seriously."



The bench said that matter will be heard along with the petition of the DSGMC.

During the hearing, the bench wanted to know from the woman lawyer as to "who will determine that a particular joke is derogatory."



She also had reservation about the jokes and outspoken comments of noted Sikh author Khushwant Singh.

The bench stopped the lawyer from going ahead by saying



that she should keep her submissions reserved for the main hearing.

During the last hearing on October 30, 2015, the bench had said, "This (Sikh) community is known for a great sense of humour and they also enjoy such jokes. You must have gone through the jokes of Khushwant Singh...

"This is only an amusement. Why do you want it to be stopped?...Prepare your case well. We will hear you," the bench had said.

The PIL had said that there are more than 5,000 websites which display jokes on Sardars projecting the members of the community in poor light.

Chowdhury has sought direction to Telecom Ministry to filter websites which target the Sikh community on the ground that it is violative of sections 153A and 153B of the Indian Penal Code.

"All the jokes relating to Sikh community should be stopped. My children are humiliated and feel embarrassed and they don't want to suffix Singh and Kaur after their name," Chowdhury had claimed.
The benchmark BSE Sensex plunged by more than 400 points in the late morning session to crack below the 26,000-level as global political and economic headwinds hit the investor sentiment.

Asian stocks took a major hit after Chinese manufacturing data contracted for a fifth straight month. Consequently, Shanghai index plunged more than 7 per cent and was halted for the rest of the day.

Besides, crude prices rising by 2 per cent on Saudi Arabia severing ties with Iran also had its impact on India equities.

Meanwhile, domestic manufacturing sector contracted for the first time in 25 months in December as Chennai floods triggered significant decline in output and new orders.

In late morning deals, the benchmark BSE Sensex tumbled by 411.33 points or 1.57 per cent to 25,749.87.10. The index had resumed lower and hit a high of 26,116.52 earlier in the day.

The 50-share Nifty also fell by 129.90 points or 1.63 per cent to 7,833.30



Shares of telecom, healthcare, banks, energy, industrials, IT, teck, oil&gas, FMCG, auto and capital goods sectors came under heavy selling pressure.

Major losers from the Senses were Bharti Airtel (3.45 per cent), Tata Motors (3.39 per cent), ICICI Bank (3.10 per cent), Sun Pharma (2.10 per cent) and HDFC (2.09 per cent).

Meanwhile, foreign investors bought shares worth Rs 228.11 crore last Friday, provisional data showed.

Overseas, China led decline in Asian markets after the latest data showed that the falling Caixin China manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) in December. Besides, the US stock markets were shut on Friday for New Year's Day Holiday.
An investigation has been launched into claims that a bag containing six kg gold has been stolen from an inter-state private bus, police today said.

Police at Aluva near here said one Mahesh Kumar has complained that his bag containing the gold, worth Rs 1.5 crore, he brought from Bengaluru went missing this morning from the vehicle owned by a travel agency.

According to the complaint, Mahesh Kumar came to know about the theft when the bus reached Aluva, police said.

The bag was kept on the seat occupied by him during his travel,they said.

Police is probing the veracity of the complaint and also whether Mahesh Kumar, who is settled in Bengaluru, has any knowledge about the incident, officials said.
The son of the late Congress MP Ehsan Jafri, who was killed in the Gulbarg society violence, has refuted the claim by former Gujarat DGP RB Sreekumar in his book that Congress President Sonia Gandhi had not met the MP's widow after the 2002 riots in the state.

In his book, 'Gujarat - Behind the Curtain', Sreekumar said, "Soulless secularism and over-sensitivity to Hindu sentiments presumably prompted Congress leaders to block the plans of Sonia Gandhi to visit Zakia Jafri, widow of former Congress MP, butchered to death by rioters on the bandh day (28th February 2002), during her Gujarat visit after the riots, for expressing condolence."



Tanveer Jafri, Zakia's son, said that the Congress chief had met his mother four to five days after the Gulbarg society riot incident at the city circuit house.

"As our house was burnt down after the riots, we were staying at a friend's place. Sonia Gandhiji had come to Ahmedabad and my mother and I had met her at the city circuit house," Jafri said.

Ahmed Patel (political advisor to the Congress president) and another gentleman were present during that meeting, he said.

"This is the fact," he said in response to the claims made by Sreekumar.

"May be the state government had at the time restricted the movements of leaders of political parties fearing a flare up. So we had met her at the city circuit house. My mother also remembers the meeting," Jafri further said.

Sreekumar, an ex-DGP, had taken on the Gujarat government headed at the time by Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots. He has now written a book on the riots which was published last month.

Sreekumar, however, stuck to his stand and wrote an e-mail to Tanveer Jafri after he claimed that Sonia had met her mother to condole the Congress MP's death.

"My statement that Sonia Gandhi did not, repeat did not, visit your mother at her residence is truthful and correct. Instead Congress leaders summoned your mother, an old widow, under severe shock, agony and despair to the place of stay of Congress President.

"So, my observation that the Congress President never visited the widow of the former MP, killed in a gruesome manner is totally correct," Sreekumar wrote in the e-mail to Jafri.

"Let us not forget that while many people ran away from Gulbarg society, Ehsan Jafri Saheb bravely stayed back for the protection of women and children. His martyrdom was not properly recognised by the State and Central Govts and the Congress party," Sreekumar further said.
In order to reduce malpractices and establishment costs, the Maharashtra Transport department will soon launch an 'e-challan system,' where traditional methods of paying cash will be shunned and traffic offenders will be asked to swipe their credit or debit cards for the purpose.

According to Maharashtra Transport minister Diwakar Raote, the scheme will be launched in Mumbai from January itself and will be fully operational in the mega-polis in another six month's time.

"We have had meetings with police officials for the purpose and swipe machines are being procured. We will slowly reduce the handling of cash by traffic constables. Generally, it is seen that to reduce paying the full penalty, people pay a lesser amount of cash, do not take vouchers and get away,"



"Also, when a traffic violator pays the fine and takes the voucher, handling the money has its own costs. The money has to be submitted to the cashier who then has to count it before depositing it in banks. All these operations are lengthy and require money and manpower. With the e-challan system' this can be reduced," the Minister said.

Raote said that the money saved by the department will be utilised for other development purposes.

"The scheme will be launched this month itself and in about six months, we hope that the scheme will be fully operational in Mumbai," Raote said.

According to an official from the Transport department, around 1000 e-challan machines will be handed over to the traffic constables in the first phase of the scheme.

"This will not only reduce corruption in the department, but will also help the police identify repeat traffic offenders," he added.

He further said that those who are not carrying credit or debit cards when caught breaking a traffic rule, will be given a 15-day window to pay the fines through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT).
South Korea will review safety at six low cost airlines after a Jin Air flight made an emergency return to the Philippines.

The transport ministry said today that the safety investigation comes as the ministry is looking into the Jin Air incident.

Jin Air Co said a Boeing 737-800 jet bound for Busan, South Korea, returned to Cebu, the Philippines, 40 minutes after takeoff yesterday after one of the plane's doors was found to be leaking air.

The company said its initial investigation found no defect in the jet. No injuries were reported.

Jin Air is an affiliate of Korean Air Lines, South Korea's largest airline.
The Bombay High Court has designated a special court for conducting the trials of cases in which the deported gangster Chhota Rajan is an accused.

"The government had sought permission in this regard, and now the High Court has designated a court in Mumbai," said a highly placed source.

A government notification regarding the new court would be issued in a day or two.

Chhota Rajan alias Rajendra Nikalje is facing around 70 cases in Maharashtra, which include journalist J Dey murder case.

Last month, the special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act court here had issued a production warrant against him and directed the Tihar Jail officials in Delhi to produce him on January 7.

Rajan was arrested at Bali airport in Indonesia on October 25 last year after he arrived there from Australia. He was later deported to India.

Maharashtra government has handed over all the cases against him to the CBI.

He wanted to study bachelor of economics at Delhi's St



Stephens College, where incidentally he gave his last public speech as RBI Governor, but "succumbed to the sunk cost fallacy" and studied electrical engineering at IIT Delhi, where one of his lectures later as the central banker created a ruckus due to his comments on 'tolerance'.

The three years at the Reserve Bank have mostly been a string of success stories for the marathoner, gaining common man's adulation even as the free-thinker in him made a few foes who matter more in the corridors of power.

One of the most salient features of his reign has been a stable rupee, which was the biggest challenge when he took over on September 4, 2013.

Not only has Rajan brought the bleeding rupee back to strength, he also battered down the inflation fangs to 6 per cent from double-digit levels, leading to a cheer in fixed income markets with falling yields.

He can also pat his back for embarking on the cleaning of the Augean stables that the banking sector has become by making them sort out their evergreened balancesheets. His candid outspokenness has earned him fans across the social strata, a feat only a few governors could muster.

It was, however, not a uniform story and while navigating the much-abused "system", Rajan did ruffle a few feathers, which may have prevented him from getting an extension, though he was open for one.

Chief among those were nominated BJP lawmaker Subramanian Swamy, who questioned even his patriotism.

During his three years, Rajan has made classic use of public speeches to drive different concerns going beyond conventional monetary economics, cementing his position as one of the foremost public intellectuals in recent times.

Such stance, however, gave rise to detractors, especially in the ruling regime, which ultimately prevailed in ensuring that he returns earlier to the "realm of ideas" at the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.

Experts say his biggest legacy would be steering the economy out of what seemed like a never-ending crisis -- with a bleeding rupee, unsustainably high CAD and precarious external position -- and then creating a framework through cleaning banks' books, market liberalisation and putting bank licensing on-tap, which will all go a long way to make a conducive environment for the next wave of growth.

Under Rajan, the RBI undertook an asset quality review of



banks by issuing blanket orders to classify loans to certain accounts as non-performing assets. The provisions led to record losses by lenders and Rajan set them a deadline of March 2017 to get done with the clean-up act.

Gross non-performing assets ratio has shot up to 7.6 per cent from 4.2 per cent in September 2013, while the overall stressed assets are estimated to be over 14.5 per cent, almost double the level when he took over.

Even in the face of mounting pressure, RBI refused to extend any special dispensation and also stopped the debt restructuring practice in April 2016. Rather, Rajan gave banks more tools to resolve the stress through schemes like strategic debt restructuring.

Apart from the clean-up, Rajan said he would have liked to be around till the Monetary Policy Committee driven rate setting is in place.

Under Rajan, the RBI reached a historic agreement with the government to become an inflation-targeting central bank under which the MPC has been envisaged to make interest rate setting a collective call, rather than being driven by the Governor. This makes him the last governor to have the privilege of setting the monetary policy on his own.

The headline inflation cooled to a tad over 6 per cent in July from the 10.5 per cent when he took over. The RBI is now contracted to get it down further to 4 per cent in the medium term with two percentage points leeway on either side.

Even in the absence of an inflation-targeting mandate, Rajan hiked rates thrice to communicate the RBI's intentions firmly, before shifting to rate cuts once the central bank was confident of the trajectory, in January 2015.

The shift to accommodative stance has seen cumulative cuts of 1.50 per cent. Despite this and coupled with many moves on the liquidity front, where the RBI has explicitly stated its aim to get the deficit to zero, banks are yet to pass the full benefit to borrowers and have faced the Governor's ire.

A believer in competition, Rajan introduced a series of reforms on the bond market, and also on new bank licensing, which saw introduction of two new universal banks and making the process on-tap.
Sudan said today it is cutting diplomatic relations with Iran after Gulf ally Saudi Arabia did the same amid mounting tensions between Riyadh and Tehran over the execution of a cleric.

"The Sudanese government announces the cutting of diplomatic relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran immediately," the foreign ministry said in a statement.
Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh today accused Sukhpal Khaira, who switched over to AAP, of betraying and backstabbing the people of Bholath.

"The way Sukhpal Khaira betrayed and backstabbed the people of Bholath, he will not be accepted or trusted anywhere anymore no matter which constituency he contests from," the Congress leader said.

Addressing a public meeting organised by Kapurthala district president Navtej Cheema at Subhanpur near here, Amarinder promised the people here that the party will give them a better candidate who will not let them town.

"The candidate will be purely of your choice," he said.

Coming down heavily on Sukhpal for his "opportunism", he pointed out how hehad let down not only the Congress party which had given him so much but also thousands of Congress workers who had stood by him against all odds and suffered police and Akali excesses just because they supported him.

"And when he felt he cannot win from here, he flew off purely for selfish motiveslike a seasonal bird," Amarinder remarked, while adding, "No matter which constituency he goes to he will never win."



The PCC president also asked the Aam Aadmi Party, which Sukhpal had joined,to explain its policies, programmes and identify some leaders if it really had any.

"What will he (Arvind Kejriwal) do here?" he asked, while pointing out that the Delhi chief minister was from Haryana, astate with which Punjab has so many long pending inter-state disputes.
A day after RJD supremo Lalu Prasad 'inspected' Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) here to take stock of its infrastructure and facilities, BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi today sought an "explanation" from Chief Minister Nitish Kumar over the issue.

In what capacity did the RJD supremo 'inspect' the IGIMS and was briefed by the officials, he asked, adding, the Chief Minister "owes an explanation" over it.

Prasad had 'inspected' the IGIMS at Sheikhpura locality in the state capital yesterday and was briefed by its officials about the infrastructure and facilities.

His activism proved that there were "two centres of power in Bihar's Grand Alliance government", the senior BJP leader alleged.

"The RJD supremo's advisory to the Chief Minister on law and order situation and visit to the IGIMS make one believe that Nitish Kumar holds the crown on his head, but it is Lalu Prasad who calls the shots in the government," Modi said.

The former Deputy Chief Minister also accused Prasad for "usurping" the duty of his elder son Tej Pratap Yadav, who is the Health Minister of the state, by inspecting the premier medical institution on his ward's behalf and "issuing directive to the officials of the concerned department".

Referring to Tej Pratap's absence from previous session of the state legislature on health grounds, he alleged, the minister appeared to be a "reluctant minister" not bothering to reply to questions by lawmakers.

Modi also charged the RJD supremo of "harbouring greed for power", and said that if it was possible Lalu Prasad would not "mind taking part in Cabinet Meetings too".

Amid alleged spurt in crime graph, the BJP leader accused the Chief Minister of failing on the front of law and order and said that Prasad was indirectly reminding Kumar about his status as "junior leader" to him.
Vadodara is all set to take part in the 'Swachh Sarvekshan', a cleanliness survey of 75 major cities to begin tomorrow, senior civic officials said today.

"The Union Ministry of Urban Development has commissioned the 'Swachh Sarvekshan' to ensure cleanliness in urban areas, as part of the 'Swachh Bharat' mission," Vadodara Municipal Commissioner H S Patel said.

The survey would cover the state capitals and other cities with a population of over 10 lakh, and assess the cleanliness situation therein, through collection of data from urban local bodies, direct observation and the citizens' feedback, he said.

"The survey would collect the data on work done on the construction of household toilets and community toilets, solid waste management, garbage collection, its disposal and processing among other parameters," he said.

"While Vadodara has made significant progress in sanitation and solid waste management, it does face its fair share of challenges, such as lack of disposal sites for construction rubble," he said.

"We have planned measures for the collection of construction rubble and its disposal at a designated site in Atladara on the outskirts of the city," he said.

"We have developed a site at Jambuva locality to resolve the problem of unsegregated garbage," Shailesh Mistry, city's Deputy Municipal Commissioner and in-charge of its solid waste management, said.

The Central government's 'Smart City' programme, under which 98 cities have been chosen, also features Vadodara.

Patel said he is hopeful of Vadodara faring well in the survey, adding it would help the city to be included in the list of the 20 cities which would be developed in the first phase of the (Smart City) programme.

He urged the citizens to participate in the survey by giving a missed call on toll-free number 18002672777, and give an account of the sanitation problems they face.

The survey would be carried out from January 5-20 by the Quality Council of India, and the results would be declared on January 25, he said.

The other cities of Gujarat which stand to be surveyed under the exercise include Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surat and Rajkot, he added.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 'Swachh Bharat' mission on October 2, 2014 on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 145th birth anniversary.

Another finding was that 76 per cent of the



respondents who had a personal cover had availed it as a tax saving measure, while the remaining 24 per cent opted for it as a financial security net against medical conditions.

"At all times, the employer-provided cover might not meet your individual health insurance requirements in terms of coverage, number of dependents or family definition as well as your state of health and might have certain limitations," Bajaj Allianz General Insurance's Head - Health Insurance, Suresh Sugathan said.
Denmark and Sweden tightened border checks today to stem the flow of migrants coming in from Germany, dealing fresh blows to the vision of a Europe without national boundaries.

As of midnight yesterday, Sweden demanded that all passengers traveling by train from Denmark show ID, something that hasn't been required since the 1950s.

Within hours, the Danish government announced it was stepping up controls of its border with Germany, to make sure that migrants headed for Sweden don't get stuck in Denmark.

"The government doesn't want Denmark to become a new big destination for refugees," Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said.

The moves were the latest by European Union countries to suspend an agreement to keep internal borders open after 1 million migrants entered the 28-nation bloc in 2015, most of them by crossing the Mediterranean to Greece or Italy.

Loekke Rasmussen said if the EU can't protect its external border "you will see more and more countries forced to introduce temporary border controls."



Refugee rights advocates warned of a domino effect, with European countries tightening their borders one by one and cutting off the main migrant routes through Europe.

When the new Swedish rules were announced last month, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees said they "could have the effect of preventing individuals from exercising the right to seek asylum."



To comply with the new rules, passengers today had to show passports or European national ID cards to board trains departing from Copenhagen Airport to Sweden across a bridge-and-tunnel link.

The move was meant to deter migrants, many of whom don't carry travel documents.

The new rules appeared to have an immediate effect.Swedish police spokeswoman Ewa-Gun Westford said that by midday today only one asylum-seeker had arrived by train across the bridge.

At the height of the migrant crisis a few months ago, more than 1,000 asylum-seekers crossed the bridge daily.

Some commuters said the ID checks were a hassle that would make their life more difficult and hinder efforts to deepen business and cultural ties between the Danish capital, Copenhagen, and cities in southern Sweden.

"Whether you are in Denmark or Sweden, it doesn't matter to the people here," said Richard Johansson, a 29-year-old Swede. "The people in our capital in Stockholm, they don't realise that."



Danish officials have suggested Sweden should pay for the cost of the ID checks, carried out by train operators on the Danish side at an estimated daily cost of 1 million kroner (USD 145,000).
The leader of the main exile Syrian opposition group will visit China this week, Beijing said today, despite the country repeatedly blocking UN Security Council resolutions on the conflict.

China is a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council and has voted against resolutions on Syria four times alongside Russia - which is mounting a campaign of air strikes to defend President Bashar al-Assad.

Most recently, it blocked a 2014 measure to ask the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in the country, and Beijing has consistently called instead for a "political solution" to the conflict.

Khaled Khoja, President of the Istanbul-based National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces will visit China from tomorrow to Friday, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a regular briefing.

"We believe that at the current stage we need to seek a ceasefire and a political settlement in parallel," she said.

The Security Council in mid-December unanimously endorsed a proposed peace plan to bring the regime and opposition together for talks this month.

China hosted members of the Syrian regime on an official visit the following week, when Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem declared Damascus ready to participate, but appeared to make it conditional on which opposition groups will attend.

It would be the third round of talks in Geneva - the last session took place in early 2014 but did not bear fruit.

China depends on the Middle East for its oil supplies but has long taken a back seat in the region's disputes, only recently beginning to expand its role.
Heartrending scenes were witnessed today as martyrs of Pathankot terror attack were given a final farewell with full military honours in presence of hundreds of people who converged to pay their tributes to the bravehearts.

Slogans of 'Bharat Mata ki Jai' rent the air as the body of Garud commando Gursewak Singh, wrapped in the tricolour, reached his native Garnala village near Ambala, while the family members of the young Sikh, who was married in November, were inconsolable.

Haryana Ministers Anil Vij and Abhimanyu were present to pay tributes along with senior officers from the Air Force, besides personnel from the army, police and civil administration.

The body of Lt Colonel E K Niranjan, a bomb expert with the National Security Guard who was killed while defusing a grenade at the scene of the terror attack at Pathankot IAF base, was brought to Bengaluru from where it was to be taken to his hometown Palakkad in Kerala.

Teary-eyed people filed past the body as the martyr's family members sat near it. "He was always interested in the army. I am proud of his sacrifice," Niranjan's father Sivarajan said.

Niranjan's sister said, "I look at him as Arjuna who fought for his karmabhoomi."



He hailed from Palakkad in Kerala and is survived by his wife Dr Radhika and a 18-month-old daughter.

Fellow army officers and many prominent and eminent personalities paid tributes to the martyr at his residence.

Thirty two-year-old Niranjan, whose family stays in Bangalore, was commissioned in the Engineers Regiment of the Army in 2004.

Niranjan, head of the elite bomb squad of the NSG, was killed while defusing an IED at Pathankot IAF base, yesterday. He was among seven security personnel killed in the terrorist attack there.

In Gurdaspur, Punjab, scores of mourners gathered at the house of Subedar Fateh Singh, 51, a shooter who had won Commonwealth medals.

Singh's daughter Madhu joined the soldiers in carrying the body to the cremation ground.

"What my father has done today, I don't think anything can match it. I am proud of my father," Madhu said.

"We were at the air base when the attack took place," she said. Singh's wife, daughter and son had come to visit him.

Before leaving the quarters, Singh told his wife that he was going to get some documents signed after which they would go home.

"My father snatched the gun from that man and shot him," she said.

Four terrorists have been neutralised in the operation at the Pathankot air base after the Saturday attack.

One Garud commando, one NSG officer and five personnel of Defence Security Corps (DSC) were martyred. Seventeen security personnel were also injured.

(Reopens DEL-67)



In Gurdaspur, rich tributes were also paid to another martyr from Defense Security corps Havildar Kulwant Singh, who was consigned to flames with full military honors at his Chak Sharif village, amid pall of gloom.

The IAF and military personnel fired in air and reversed their arms as a mark of respect to the departed soul.

People from all walks of life attended the cremation.

Brig V K Tewari, former minister Mohan Lal and former PPCC chief Partap Singh Bajwa laid the wreaths.
Terrorists, who displayed "military -like tactics" in the Pathankot air base strike, may have entered the campus before an alert was sounded while crucial hours were lost in verifying a Punjab Police SP's claims about his abduction by the attackers, security agencies said.

Sources said that immediately after the alarm was sounded, security at all vital installations, including the Pathankot air base in Punjab, was enhanced to the highest level to make it difficult for the terrorists to mount an attack.

"We suspect the terrorists must have entered the air base in the morning of January 1 while the alert was sounded a few hours later in the evening," they said.

A few hours were also lost in verifying the inputs provided by Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh, who has claimed that he was kidnapped along with two others by the terrorists, the sources added.

Sources said that police officers whom the SP had informed about the terrorists initially did not take him seriously, thus leading to some crucial hours being lost.

Security agencies are suspecting there were six terrorists and they were divided into two groups -- one of 4 and the other with 2 members.

The four in the first group were killed on Saturday while the two members of the second group were fighting till today.

The sources said that the final count of terrorists involved in the attack would be clear following the completion of the operation, the final stages of which saw the building from which fire was being directed being blown up.

Sources, meanwhile, added that the level of training of the Pathankot terrorists seems even better than that of the Mumbai 26/11 attackers. It is clearfrom the tactics that these terrorists have employed that a professional army had trained them, they said.

The terrorists used all the tactics of professional fighters like conserving firepower, attacking at 3 AM when the level of alertness is at its lowest and going quiet to give the impression that all the attackers had died. All these tactics are of military precision, the sources said.

With the driver of the Toyota Innova vehicle, Ikadar Singh, having been picked up by the terrorists from a spot near Gulpur-Samboli, 5km away from the International Border, it is being suspected that they crossed the border near that area. The terrorists had later killed the driver.

The National Investigation Agency, which will probe the Pathankot attack, will also probe the killing of the driver and the kidnapping of the SP.

NIA is already questioning the SP and his cook, who was also in the vehicle. The SP had first given the information that there were four terrorists.
Nepal's Deputy Prime Minister Kamal Thapa today warned that the attempt by Madhesi leaders to force changes in the new Constitution through agitation would lead to "anarchy" and plunge the nation into a serious crisis.

Thapa, who is also the foreign minister, however, said that the government and the three main political parties were ready to address the demands raised by the United Democratic Madhesi Front.

He urged the Front not to stretch the agitation causing suffering to the public.

Madhesis, who share strong cultural and family bonds with Indians, have imposed a general strike in much of southern Nepal, causing a shortage of fuel and other essential goods.

Addressing a programme, 'Nepal's Constitution People's Constitution, People's Constitution in Midst of People', he said that the continuing agitation in the southern plains by Madhesis would engender "anarchy" and plunge the nation into a "serious crisis."



Yesterday, three major political parties and Madhesi front decided to form a task force to find a common ground on the demands put forth by the agitating group following a meeting at Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli's official residence here.

After the meeting, Nepali Congress general secretary Prakash Man Singh said the parties involved in the talks decided to form the task force to discuss the 11-point demands submitted by the Madhesi parties.

The demands include re-demarcation of provinces, fixing of electoral constituencies on the basis of population and proportional representation.

Life in southern plains have been seriously affected by the protests over Nepal's new Constitution adopted by the Constituent Assembly on September 20.

So far, more than 50 people have died in the Madhesi-Tharu agitation.

At the programme today, Parliamentary Development Committee chairman Rabindra Adhikari appealed to all political parties to be alert to any conspiracy that may disintegrate or weaken the country.

While lawmaker Sharada Poudel called on Madhesi parties to not cause suffering to the people by their continuing agitation, Madhesi lawmaker Sita Giri insisted on ending the atmosphere of enmity through promoting friendly attitude.
Demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran for a third consecutive day of protests today after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric and broke off ties with Iran.

Some 3,000 demonstrators gathered in Imam Hossein Square in eastern Tehran, chanting slogans against Saudi Arabia's Al-Saud royal family following the kingdom's execution on Saturday of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

His death has sparked fury among Shiites across the Middle East with protests erupting in several countries.

A mob on Saturday firebombed the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital and a consulate in second city Meshhad, triggering regional and international condemnation.

The assaults prompted Riyadh to break off diplomatic ties with Iran and order its diplomats to leave the kingdom. Saudi allies Bahrain and Sudan have followed suit and the United Arab Emirates downgraded its ties with Iran.

Some protesters today criticised Iran's foreign ministry, saying it should have taken the initiative and broken ties first with Riyadh over the execution of Nimr, a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in Saudi Arabia.

Others torched the flags of Israel, Iran's arch-foe, and of the United States which is one of Saudi Arabia's key Western allies.

The Saudi flag which bears the Islamic statement of faith -- words that are holy to all Muslims -- was not set of fire.

Hundreds of merchants from Tehran's Grand Bazaar also shuttered their shops and took part in the anti-Saudi protests.
Tamil Nadu government today filed two defamation cases against a Tamil daily and an English newspaper relating to stories in connection with the recent floods in the city.

In his complaint filed on behalf of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, City Public Prosecutor M L Jegan submitted that the contents of the item in the Tamil daily on December 12, 2015 captioned "Heavy rains were converted into floods by Tamil Nadu government" was defamatory in nature.

The report published in the English daily on the alleged delay in taking decision over opening Chembarabakkam reservoir was also defamatory in nature, the CPP submitted.

Both the cases were filed before the Principal Sessions Judge, Audinathan, the CPP said.
Turkmenistan says that Russia, once a major customer for natural gas, has decided to not buy any from Turkmenistan this year.

A statement from state company Turkmengaz today said the decision by Russia's state-owned monopoly, Gazprom, was based on changes in the international gas market and unspecified "economic and financial questions."



Turkmenistan last year complained that Gazprom had not paid for its gas purchases. Gazprom could not be reached for comment today.

Over the last decade, Russia has dramatically reduced its reliance on gas from Turkmenistan, which has become a major supplier to China. It has also begun construction of a pipeline to Afghanistan, Pakistan and India.
A television actress today approached police alleging that four persons, whom she claimed to have posed as policemen, molested her at her residence in suburban Kandivali.

Actress Pratyusha Banerjee, who works in daily soaps, claimed in her complaint that the men barged into her flat in Laljipada and left the place only after she threatened to approach Kandivali police.

However, a police officer denied the allegation saying four policemen in plain clothes had gone to the actress' flat today to trace one Rahul Singh who stays with her and against whom a non-cognisable (NC) offence has been registered.

The officer denied any misbehaviour with the actress by the personnel.

According to the officer, Rahul had allegedly manhandled a loan recovery agent, Amit Dalvi, when the latter had gone to collect instalment of car loan from him at her house on December 31.

Some police personnel, along with Dalvi, went to the house yesterday but couldn't find Rahul there.

They went to her house again today, but were told by Pratyusha's mother that Rahul is in Goa following which they returned, the officer said, denying any misbehaved with the actress.

However, no FIR has been registered yet, he added.
A 7-year-old boy and a youth were killed in two different incidents related to kite-flying in the district.

7-year-old Vijendra's throat was slit by a kite's Chinese string while he was riding with his uncle at Tungaroad in Bassi, a suburban town in Jaipur, police said.

The boy was rushed to the hospital but succumbed to injury due to excessive bleeding, they said.

In another incident, Kundan Sharma (22) was beaten to death by three accused, including a woman over kite-flying dispute at Suraya Nagar here yesterday, Additional SP-West Karan Sharma said.

Kundan and his colleagues had gone to a field to party but had an altercation with a few boys who were flying kites nearby, he said.

The victim was allegedly beaten up by Suneel and Dharamchand along with their mother, ASP said, adding that Kundan succumbed to his injuries at the hospital.

No arrest has been made in this connection, police said, adding that counter FIRs have been filed.

Sharma said that the Kardhan Police was probing the case, adding that the accused would be arrested at the earliest after the initial probe.

The bodies of both Vijendra and Kundan were handed over to their respective relatives after postmortem, police said.

Meanwhile, the Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRC) has asked the public, especially kids, to avoid flying kites near Chandpole Railway station area due to low-hanging electric lines which could cause electrocution.

Jaipur district collector has also issued a warning on selling of China-made 'manjha' (string/dor) in the market.
Two labourers were electrocuted to death and six others injured after coming in contact with a live wire while erecting an electricity pole at Dhakakpura village here today.

The contractual labourers were erecting the electricity pole when the incident took place, killing Huzzul Sheikh (19) and Almin Sheikh (18), police said.

The bodies have been sent for post-mortem while the six injured were admitted to the district hospital, they said.

All the victims were from West Bengal, police added.
Two ultras of the People's Liberation Front of India (PLFI) were today killed in an encounter with the district police in Simdega district, the police said here.

Getting a tip-off that the 'Dinesh Gop dasta (squad)' of the PLFI had been hiding at Jitu Toli under Mahabuang police station in the district's Bano block, Superintendent of Police Rajiv Ranjan, led the search operation and faced gun fire from the extremists.

Two of the ultras killed in the retaliatory action by the police and their bodies were recovered, the SP told reporters.

One AK-47, two rifles, one pistol and cartridges were recovered from the spot, he said.
Three days on, security forces today neutralised two more terrorists holed up in the Pathankot air base as the attack raised questions over the fate of the Foreign Secretary level talks with Pakistan next week.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a meeting of the National Security Council which discussed the attacks on Pathankot air base and the the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan.

Neither anyone in the government nor those involved in the counter-terror operations were still ready to declare a closure to the attack in Pathankot as they declared that the "operations are still going on".

National Security Guards Inspector General, Maj Gen Dushant Singh, who had earlier said four terrorists have been killed, told the media in the evening that they have been able to eliminate a fifth terrorist.

"The operations are still going on. We have been able to eliminate the fifth terrorist. Combing and search operations are going on. Given the magnitude of the operation of the air base, the operation will continue to be concluded till we are able to fully render the base safe," he said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who briefed the media in New Delhi on the meeting of the National Security Council, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, said four bodies have been recovered and "the remaining two bodies will be recovered".

Jaitley said the security forces were able to confine the terrorists to the place where they intruded and kept at a "reasonable distance" from where the assets were located. "All the assets are safe," he said.

As the government is said to be considering various options regarding the foreign secretary-level talks in wake of what is widely believed to be an attack by Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad terror group, Finance Minister parried a question on whether the talks will go on.

"The operations are still on. Let the operations be over. Then we will take decisions on these matters," Jaitley said.

Asked if there was a link between the two attacks, he said it was too early to say anything.
Blasts rocked two Sunni mosques in central Iraq today, amid fears of renewed sectarian strife following Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, police and medics said.

Groups of men wearing military uniforms detonated explosives at two Sunni mosques overnight in the Hilla region, south of Baghdad, and a muezzin -- the person appointed to recite the Muslim call to prayer -- was shot dead near his home in Iskandariyah, the sources said.

In Hilla, about 80 kilometres from the capital, a police officer said the Ammar bin Yasser mosque in Bakerli neighbourhood was bombed after midnight.

"After we heard the explosion, we went to its source and found that IEDs (improvised explosive devices) had been planted in the mosque," the captain said.

"Residents said a group of people with military uniforms carried out this operation," he said, adding that 10 houses were also damaged.

The Al-Fateh mosque in a village called Sinjar, just outside Hilla, was also damaged in similar circumstances.

The police captain said three or four men in military uniforms were involved that bombing.

"They took advantage of the cold weather, there was nobody outside," he said.

A medical source in Hilla said three people were wounded in the explosions.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blasts, nor for the killing near the town of Iskandariyah, about 40 kilometres south of Baghdad.

A local councillor identified the slain muezzin of the Mohammed Abdallah Jabbouri mosque in Haswa as Taha al-Juburi.

"He was ambushed by unknown gunmen near his house," a source in Iskandariyah police said.

A doctor also confirmed his death.

Iskandariyah is part of a mixed Sunni-Shiite area south of Baghdad which was once dubbed "the triangle of death" and was badly affected by sectarian violence last decade.

Pushing back the Islamic State group in this region after the jihadists took over large parts of the country in 2014 was one of the priorities of the government and allied Shiite militias.

That was achieved in a few months and IS has been largely eradicated from the area but violence -- not just of a sectarian nature but also crime-driven -- has remained frequent.

The execution at the weekend in Saudi Arabia of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr sparked outrage in Iraq.

Shiite politicians and clerics unanimously condemned the execution but several religious in the Sunni minority also denounced it.

Iraq's interior ministry condemned today's attacks, which it said were an attempt to incite civil strife but did not blame on any particular group.
Blasts rocked two Sunni mosques in central Iraq today, amid fears of renewed sectarian strife following Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric, police and medics said.

Groups of men wearing military uniforms bombed two Sunni mosques overnight in the Hilla region, south of Baghdad, and a muezzin was shot dead near his home in Iskandariyah, the sources said.
The United Arab Emirates today said it has recalled its ambassador from Iran and downgraded diplomatic relations with Tehran over its "meddling" in the affairs of Gulf and Arab countries.

The UAE had decided to lower "diplomatic representation to the level of charge d'affaires and reduce the number of Iranian diplomats in the country," the foreign ministry said in a statement, quoted by the official WAM agency.

The move came after Saudi Arabia and Bahrain severed links with the Islamic republic amid escalating tensions triggered by the execution of a Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia at the weekend.
A 35-year-old man in the UK today denied the charges of murdering an Indian-origin woman whom he met online through a dating website.

Miles Donnelly alias Miles Ryan pleaded not guilty to the murder of Usha Patel, who was repeatedly stabbed and strangled to death in October last year. He will stand trial at the Old Bailey court in London from February 15.

Donnelly, who was also accused of attacking a second woman Rosie Ferringo soon after Patel's murder was arrested after Scotland Yard launched a man-hunt to nab Patel's killer.

44-year-old Patel was found dead at her home at Cricklewood in north-west London while her five-year-old autistic son was in another room.

Patel is believed to have met her alleged killer online on a dating site and arranged meetings thereafter, Metropolitan police said.

Her neighbours said she had lived at the property for about nine years with her son, who was completely dependent on her due to his condition.

Post-mortem reports revealed that she died of stab wounds and asphyxiation.

Donelly has been remanded in custody until the start of the trial next month.
The United Nations moved quickly today to shelter peace efforts in Syria and Yemen from the diplomatic storm unleashed by the dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura travelled to Riyadh for urgent talks and was to head later this week to Tehran to seek assurances that hard-fought gains in the Syria peace process had not been derailed.

De Mistura is counting on broad support to launch peace talks between President Bashar al-Assad's government and the opposition in Geneva on January 25 -- the culmination of a three-month effort involving all key players.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spoke by phone with the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers to urge them to "avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between two countries and in the region as a whole," said Ban's spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

"A breakdown of relations between Riyadh and Tehran could have very serious consequences for the region," said Dujarric.

Both Iran and Saudi Arabia have a crucial role in the diplomatic push to end the nearly five-year war in Syria and to bring about a political settlement for Yemen.

Relations between the two rivals have been testy, but the furor over the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who had criticised the Sunni royal family, threatened to spill over.

After protesters set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the country.

In his conversation with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, Ban expressed his "disappointment" over the execution of al-Nimr, whose case he had raised with Riyadh many times, said Dujarric.

While the UN chief said the Iranian attack on the Saudi embassy was "deplorable," the Saudi decision to break off relations with Tehran was "deeply worrying," he told Jubeir.

Ban spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif yesterday and urged him to protect diplomatic facilities after the attack on the Saudi embassy.

In a conciliatory sign, Iran's Ambassador to the United Nations, Gholamali Khoshroo, pledged in a letter to Ban today that "Iran will take necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents in the future."



The Saudi-Iran rift was seen by UN diplomats as a potential setback to the peace effort in Syria, where Tehran is among Assad's strongest allies while Riyadh is backing militias fighting Damascus.
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories resigned today, citing Israel's continued failure to grant him access to the areas he is meant to monitor.

"Unfortunately, my efforts to help improve the lives of Palestinian victims of violations under the Israeli occupation have been frustrated every step of the way," said Makarim Wibisono, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).

"With no reply from Israel to my latest request, in October 2015, to have access by the end of 2015, it is with deep regret that I accept the premise upon which I took up the mandate, which is to have direct access to the victims in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, will not be fulfilled," Wibisono said.

His resignation, one-and-a-half-year ahead of the end of his tenure, will be effective as of March 31 this year after he presents his last report on human rights violations and abuses in the OPT at the 31st session of the HRC to be held in March 2016.

The UN independent rights expert said that he was assured of full access to the OPT when he took up his tenure in June 2014 but repeated requests, both oral and written, to Israel since then have been unsuccessful.

"I took up this mandate with the understanding that Israel would grant me access, as an impartial and objective observer," he said.

However, he said, that the government of the State of Palestine cooperated fully with his mandate.

The Special Rapporteur also voiced "deep concern" at the "lack of effective protection of Palestinian victims of continuing human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law".

"It is my sincere hope that whoever succeeds me will manage to resolve the current impasse, and so reassure the Palestinian people that after nearly half a century of occupation the world has not forgotten their plight and that universal human rights are indeed universal," said Wibisono.

The Indonesian rights expert was the sixth Special Rapporteur appointed by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories occupied since 1967.

Wibisono's tenure was to end in June 2017.
The UN peace envoy for Syria traveled to Saudi Arabia today ahead of a visit to Iran for talks aimed at defusing tensions between the two regional heavyweights, the UN spokesman said.

Staffan de Mistura was to arrive in Riyadh amid fears that the furor over the Saudi execution of a Shiite cleric could undermine international peace efforts in Syria.

De Mistura "believes that the crisis in Saudi-Iranian relations is a very worrisome development and stresses the need to ensure it does not cause a chain of adverse consequences in the region," said UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric.

Both Iran and Saudi Arabia are key players in the diplomatic push to end the nearly five-year war in Syria, with Tehran among President Bashar al-Assad's strongest allies while Riyadh is backing militias fighting Damascus.

De Mistura is due to launch peace talks between Assad's government and the opposition in Geneva on January 25, but it remained unclear whether the Iran-Saudi crisis would have an impact on that plan.

Dujarric said the envoy would "assess the implication" of the crisis on the Syria peace effort.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "deeply dismayed" by the Saudi execution of 47 people including prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, who has been critical of the Sunni royal family and was a driving force behind anti-government protests in 2011.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran late yesterday, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, after protesters set fire to its embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad.

Ban spoke by phone with the foreign ministers of both countries and urged them to "avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between two countries and in the region as a whole," said Dujarric.

"He stressed the importance of continued constructive engagement by both countries in the interest of the region and beyond."



In his talks with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir, Ban urged Saudi Arabia "to renew its commitment to a ceasefire" in Yemen after the Riyadh-led coalition announced yesterday that it was ending the truce with Iran-backed rebels in the country.

The UN envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, was to hold talks in Riyadh on Wednesday to push for a renewed ceasefire.
An element of uncertainty today prevailed over next week's Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan amid indications that these may be deferred in the wake of the terror strike at the Pathankot air base.

A clear indication that the government was "mulling options" came from Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who said, after a meeting of National Security Council chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, that India would take a view on the talks after the operation in Pathankot was over.

Given the anger in India over the terror strike which appeared to have originated from Pakistan, the view here is that the situation here needs to be reassessed before Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar travels to Islamabad which he was scheduled to do on January 14.

It is possible that the National Security Advisors of the two countries who have been tasked with focusing on issue of terrorism, may meet urgently to discuss the aftermath of the Pathankot attack as also the strike on Indian Consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan. The talks between Foreign Secretaries may follow.

Jaishankar is scheduled to hold discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry to chalk out a roadmap to carry forward the engagement under the newly- announced "Bilateral Comprehensive Dialogue".

However, official sources today said the government was "mulling options" with regard to the Islamabad meeting.

When asked about the impact of the terror attack on the January 15 Indo-Pak talks, Jaitley said, "I think let the operations get over and it is only then government takes a view on such matters."



In a pre-dawn attack, a group of heavily-armed terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed group, attacked the Air Force base in Pathankot on January 2.

The process of resumption of talks was set in motion after a meeting between Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan in Paris on November 30 on the sidelines of Climate Change Conference.

The meet was followed by the NSAs of India and Pakistan meeting in Bangkok a week later following which the External Affairs Minister visited Pakistan to attend Heart of Asia Conference during which the two sides announced the resumption of talks under "Bilateral Comprehensive Dialogue" process.

In a surprise move, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also visited Lahore on December 25 to greet his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif on his birthday.

The two foreign secretaries are scheduled to discuss modalities and other schedule-related aspects to carry forward the dialogue process.
The US today asked Saudi Arabia and Iran to show restraint as the tensions between the two countries erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis over the execution of a Shiite cleric.

Secretary of State John Kerry telephoned the foreign ministers of the two countries in this regard while the White House in a public statement called both Iran and Saudi Arabia to take steps to de-escalate the situation.

"We do continue to be concerned about the need for both the Iranians and the Saudis to de-escalate the situation in the Middle East," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters at his daily news conference.

Earnest called on both countries to show restraint and avoid further inflaming sectarian tensions between Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Shiite-ruled Iran.

"That we are urging all sides to show restraint and to not further inflame tensions that are on quite vivid display in the region. Kerry has been in touch with his Iranian counterpart. US diplomatic officials in Saudi Arabia have been in touch with their counterparts to convey this message," he said.

"We have seen a lot of volatility and instability in the Middle East has a tendency to break down along sectarian lines. It is not a coincidence. We believe there's more that can be done by people on all sides to try to bridge those divides in a way that advances the interests of countries all across the region," the White House spokesman said.

Syria, he said, is probably the most vivid example of this.

He urged Saudi Arabia and Iran not to let the conflict derail fragile talks aimed at securing a cease-fire and a political transition to end the war in Syria.

"The United States has succeed in leading the effort to bring all sides together to try and bring about a political resolution inside Syria," he noted.

"It was a lot of painstaking diplomatic work to bring them to the table the first time, and there will always be reasons for them to be suspicious and be reluctant to engage with countries that they consider to be their adversaries.

But the pursuit of this ultimate goal is so clearly within their own direct interest, that we are hopeful that they will continue to engage, but ultimately, it will be up to them," Earnest said.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran late yesterday, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the country, after protesters set fire to its embassy in Tehran Riyadh's execution on Saturday of prominent Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Responding to a question, Earnest expressed concerns over the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia in particular the recent execution of political and religious leaders in that country.

"I can tell you that the United States regularly has raised concerns about the human rights situation inside of Saudi Arabia. The President has even done that in his conversations with King Salman," he said.

"More recently, there have been direct concerns raised by US officials to Saudi officials about the potential damaging consequences of following through on mass executions, in particular, the execution of al-Nimr, political opposition figure, but also the religious leader," he said.

"This is a concern that we raised with the Saudis in advance, and unfortunately, the concerns that we expressed to the Saudi's have precipitated the kinds of consequences that we were concerned about," Earnest said.
The US today expressed concern over China landing a plane on an artificial island in the strategic South China Sea, saying these are inconsistent with the region's commitments, a day after the Communist giant said it has conducted a "test flight".

"We are aware of reports that China has conducted civilian test flights at Fiery Cross Reef. We are concerned that these test flights have exacerbated tensions and are inconsistent with the region's commitments to exercise restraint from actions that could complicate or escalate disputes," the Pentagon said.

The US, it said, encourages all claimants to actively reduce tensions by refraining from unilateral actions that undermine regional stability and to take steps to create space for meaningful diplomatic solutions.

"This development underscores the pressing need for claimants to publicly commit to a reciprocal halt to further land reclamation, construction of new facilities and militarisation of disputed features, and the need for China and ASEAN to expeditiously conclude a Code of Conduct," the Pentagon said.

China for the first time landed a plane on an artificial island it has built in a contested part of the strategic South China Sea, prompting Vietnam to accuse Beijing of "serious infringement" of its sovereignty.

Yesterday, Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China conducted a "test flight" to check whether the newly-built airfield facilities met the standards for civil aviation. There were, however, no details given about when it was conducted.
Vice President Hamid Ansari today released a book on Pakistan's founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, stating that the leader has "either been canonized or demonised" in the various books written on him.

"A very commonly prevalent human trait is to talk in terms of absolute, either a person or situation is good or bad...Rarely it is that there can be elements of both. Matters worsen when subject of discourse is an eminent personality, our option then is to cannonise or demonise," Ansari said at the function here.

"This has been the case with the various books written on Jinnah. However, going a different path this book has shed light on his personal life which hasn't been highlighted much before," he said.

The book titled 'Jinnah Often Came To Our House' is published by Westland and authored by Kiran Doshi, an Indian Foreign Service Officer and former ambassador to Austria.

Doshi is also the author of 'Birds of Passage', set in the world of India-Pakistan-USA diplomacy, and 'Diplomatic Tales', short stories written in comic verse.
As uncertainty prevailed over Foreign Secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan in the wake of Pathankot terror strike, the US today said "warmer" ties would be in the interest of the two nations, but it is for their leaders to decide their national interest.

"The United States certainly believes that warmer relations and more cooperation between the government of India and the government of Pakistan would be in the interests of both countries. But ultimately, the leaders of those countries will have to decide for themselves," the White House Press Secretary, Josh Earnest, told reporters at his daily news conference.

Earnest was responding to questions on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's recent visit to Lahore and the terror strike at the Pathankot air base, which appeared to have originated from Pakistan.

An element of uncertainty today prevailed over next week's Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan amid indications that these may be deferred in the wake of the terror attack.

"Obviously the leaders of both countries are gonna have to decide for themselves what they believe is in the interests of their citizens," Earnest said.

Jaishankar is scheduled to hold discussions with his Pakistani counterpart Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry to chalk out a roadmap to carry forward the engagement under the newly- announced "Bilateral Comprehensive Dialogue".

However, official sources said the government was "mulling options" with regard to the Islamabad meeting.

Responding to another question, Earnest said that it is in the interest of Pakistan to take actions against terrorist groups.

"The government of Pakistan has their own interest in trying to fight extremism and fight terrorist organisations that are operating inside their own country," he said, adding that the US has offered its support to the Pakistani government.

"We obviously want to help them particularly in light of that terrible terrorist incident where we saw an extremist organisation carry out an attack against an elementary school inside Pakistan. That was a little over a year ago, I believe," he said, referring to horrific Taliban attack on a Peshawar school.

"That was I think was a rather vivid illustration for people who don't closely follow this issue that citizens in Pakistan and the Pakistani government has their own vested interest in trying to deal with terrorist organizations that are attempting to operate inside the country, and the United States obviously strongly supports the Pakistan government as they do that," he said.

Earnest said he is not aware of any upcoming meeting between the US President and the Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan.

"I'm not aware of any upcoming meetings between the president and the leaders of India and Pakistan, but if anything like that materializes, we'll certainly let you know," he said in response to another question.
The terrorists who attacked the IAF base in Pathankot came in groups of four and two and the bigger group was ticked off by their Pakistani handler as to why they have fallen behind in reaching the target when their accomplices had already entered the complex.

Official sources while giving this information today said two gunmen from the group of six Pakistani terrorists might have entered Pathankot air base in Punjab before a state Police SP was kidnapped by them and much before an alert was sounded about their presence in the area.

There is "high probability" that at least two terrorists have entered the Indian Air Force base before Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh, his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and Singh's cook was kidnapped along with an SUV on December 31, the sources said.

Verma, whose throat was slit but survived, told his interrogators that he had heard the four terrorists, who boarded the vehicle after hijacking it, talking to their handlers, believed to be in Pakistan.

The handler apparently ticked off the four terrorists saying why they could not enter the air base as two other terrorists have already reached the target to carry out the attack last Saturday.

The four terrorists told their handlers that they were on their way but could not reach the base as there were several police pickets on the way, according to details of investigations.

There is also possibility of these four terrorists entered the Pathankot air base on the morning of January 1, much before an alarm was sounded in the area to secure all vital installations later in the evening of that day, sources said.

The hijacked vehicle was also found near the air base.

Crucial hours were lost in verifying the Punjab Police SP's claims that he was kidnapped along with two others by the terrorists.

Sources said that police officers whom the SP had informed about the terrorists initially did not take him seriously due to his "dubious past", thus leading to some crucial hours being lost.

Sources said that immediately after the alarm was sounded, security at all vital installations, including the Pathankot air base, was enhanced to the highest level to make it difficult for the terrorists to mount an attack.

Security agencies believe there were six terrorists and they were divided into two groups -- one of 4 and the other with 2 members.

The top security brass of the government knew by January one that Pathankot air base would be the target of the terrorists, who were still at large and steps were taken immediately to beef up security.

First priority for the government was to secure the assets parked in the technical area and a NSG team comprising about 160 commandos was dispatched and they were deployed along with other special forces to guard the assets in the inner periphery.
If the Constitution permits shooting or hanging on spot, Delhi Police "will not refrain" from doing so to people who commit heinous crimes against women, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi said today.

Sharing points from his analysis of crime against women in the national capital, Bassi said 70 per cent of the perpetrators in rape cases belong to the age group 21-35 years.

He further said, "Crime-mapping analysis of the city suggested that any woman in a locality is surrounded by anything between 250-400 men who would not think twice before assaulting a woman."



Speaking at Delhi Police's annual press conference today, the commissioner used as examples two rape cases in which the victims were two months old and 80 years old respectively.

He also said that women need to be trained in self-defence, which can help in tackling the steep rise in instances of crime against women.

"Analysis also suggests that 60-65 per cent of women victims are between 15-30 years old. Their self-defence expertise shall be a sure counter to sick mindset men," Bassi said.

"I have often been criticised for my views on self-defence, mostly by groups who know how to shed crocodile tears.

"If the Constitution permits shooting... If it permits hanging on spot, Delhi Police will not refrain from doing so to people who indulge in heinous crimes against women. But we are committed to human rights," the police chief said.

He further clarified that promoting self-defence for women doesn't mean that the police is shedding its responsibilities of protecting every citizen.

"The police's objective is to build up capacity and it has been so even when I was not a part of the security force. In this regard, it is capacity building if a girl can take on four men. This in itself will act as deterrence.

"However, people who shed crocodile tears will never appreciate the role of the police," Bassi said without naming whom he was referring to.

Police records revealed that 2095 cases of rape, 5192 molestations and 1444 cases of eve-teasing were reported till December 15, 2015, compared to 2085 rapes, 4182 molestations and 1282 eve-teasing cases in the corresponding period previous year.

Records further revealed, almost 39 per cent of the rapes were committed by friends and family members' friends.

While nearly 16.50 per cent rapes were committed by neighbours of the victims and around 14 per cent by relatives, around 2 percent of the offenders were co-workers and 25 per cent cases pertained to other known persons.
Authorities in Yemen's southern city of Aden imposed a curfew today after violence blamed on suspected jihadists killed at least 22 people, pro-government media and security sources said.

Suspected Islamic State group (IS) jihadists in the city also shot dead Sheikh Ali Othman, a Sufi imam who was considered a moderate, security officials said.

The curfew will come into force at 8 pm and last until 5 am, the sabanews.Net website said, citing a decision by the Aden Security Commission.

The decision comes after fierce battles yesterday in the port of Aden killed 22 people, among them 10 members of the security forces including a colonel, the security sources said.

Security sources said the clashes erupted when forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi came up against resistance when they tried to deploy in the port to secure it completely.

They said the fighting lasted for several hours and that pro-Hadi forces eventually managed to take control of the facility.

Witnesses said they saw an unprecedented number of armed men in Aden yesterday, without being able to identify them.

Hadi toured parts of the city, including the port today according to the government agency.

Aden, declared by the government to be the temporary capital, has seen growing unrest between Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, long active in Yemen, and IS as both groups appear to be vying for influence.

The city was rocked by months of fighting last year between pro-government forces and Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels who seized the capital Sanaa in September 2014 before expanding south.

Backed by a Saudi-led coalition, loyalists have regained control of Aden and four nearby provinces in the south since July as fierce fighting persists across the country.
A court here today remanded the three local youths, arrested for allegedly planning to join the terror groups like ISIS, in police custody for seven days.

The police custody of Mohd Abdulla Basith, Maaz Hasan Farooq and Syed Omer Farooq Hussaini will start tomorrow.

The three, who are cousins, were intercepted at the Nagpur airport on December 26 when they were trying to board a flight to Srinagar.

The special investigation team of the Hyderabad police had sought 10-day custody to interrogate them. The police said they also wanted to recover certain documents and to take the accused to Nagpur for probe.

According to the police, the accused had planned to meet Kashmiri separatist leader Asiya Andrabi and seek her help in crossing the border and travel to Afghanistan and Syria to join terror groups such as ISIS.

The three are at present in judicial custody in Chanchalguda jail here.
MUMBAI (Reuters) - Barclays Plc plans to shut its India equities business as part of the British bank's efforts to slash costs and boost profit, two sources with direct knowledge of the development said on Monday.

Barclays equities business in India, which was rolled out in 2011, includes research and broking services for institutional investors, and it employs about two dozen people, the sources told .

The closure of the India equities business is part of new Barclays Chief Executive Jes Staley's plan to cut costs, they said, adding a final decision on this could be taken by the end of this month.

The sources did not want to be named as the development is not public yet. A spokesman for Barclays in India declined to comment.

(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; editing by Susan Thomas)
By Sumeet Chatterjee

MUMBAI (Reuters) - Barclays Plc is to close its Indian equities business as part of efforts to cut costs and boost profit, two sources with direct knowledge of the plan said on Monday.

The British bank's equities business in India, which was rolled out in 2011, includes research and broking for institutional investors, and employs some two dozen people, the sources told .

The planned closure is part of Chief Executive Jes Staley's wider plan to cut costs, the sources, who declined to be named, said.

Barclays is midway through a three-year cost-reduction plan, which involves shedding 19,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of its global workforce. In November, the bank put a freeze on hiring until the start of 2016.

A spokesman in India for Barclays, whose other operations in Asia's third-largest economy include corporate and investment banking, and wealth management, declined to comment.

The London-headquartered bank planned to cut more jobs in its investment banking unit, reported last month. Most of these cuts were expected to be in Asia.

Barclays is also weighing the sale of its Asian private wealth business, for which Singapore's DBS Group Holdings and Julius Baer are seen as potential bidders, sources told last month.

The planned shut down of Barclays' equities desk in India comes against the backdrop of a drop in the local stock market - the broader Mumbai stock market index fell 4 percent in 2015 - and tough competition from Indian rivals.

Last week, Societe Generale, France's second-biggest bank by market value, said it would shut its equities research desk in India as part of an internal reorganisation.

Barclays, a late entrant to the Indian equities business, had rolled out its equities business in India at a time when sluggish market conditions had hit volumes and fierce competition had driven down fees.

But it had managed to gain market share in the last couple of years by focussing on foreign as well as domestic institutional investors, one of the sources said.

(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; additional reporting by Savio Shetty; editing by Susan Thomas and Alexander Smith)
By Manoj Kumar

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India needs to increase budgetary allocations for irrigation projects and offer higher procurement prices for crops to support farmers hit by two years of drought, farmer associations said on Monday.

Drought in many parts of the country has hit production of rice, cotton and other crops, hurting the popularity of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose party recently lost village council elections in Gujarat, a state he ran for over a decade.

In a pre-budget meeting with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, farm leaders urged him to implement Modi's promise of ensuring higher income for farmers.

Jaitley indicated an increase in allocations in the budget, and said India faced a challenge of raising farm productivity through high yielding seeds and efficient water utilisation.

"There is a need for more investment in agriculture sector," a finance ministry statement said, quoting Jaitley.

During his victorious 2014 election campaign, Modi promised to raise public investment in the farm sector to ensure a minimum profit margin of 50 percent over the cost of production.

Jaitley, who will present his 2016/17 budget at the end of February, has promised to spend nearly 500 billion rupees ($7.5 billion) on irrigation projects over a period of five years.

"A bad monsoon and low international commodity prices have aggravated the misery of farmers," Ajay Vir Jakhar, Chairman of the Farmers' Forum India, told reporters after the meeting.

Growth in farm output, which contributes nearly 13 percent to India's $2 trillion economy, fell to 2 percent in the first half of the current fiscal year from 2.4 percent a year ago.

Jakhar said more funds should be allocated to improve weather forecasts for farmers besides a state-funded insurance scheme for all crops.

Farm experts say profit margins for producing major crops have fallen to less than 5 percent following a collapse of global commodity prices, from around 20-30 percent about three years ago.

Last month, the government slashed its economic growth forecast to 7-7.5 percent for the fiscal year ending in March 2016, citing lower farm output and weak global demand. That was sharply lower than an 8.1-8.5 percent growth estimated last February.

Farm experts also favoured the transfer of fertiliser subsidies - estimated at nearly 700 billion rupees a year - directly into farmers' bank accounts to cut down leakages in the system.

"Farmers are feeling short changed by the Modi government," said Satnam Singh Behru, president of the Indian Farmers' Association, adding that more than 15,000 farmers had committed suicide in the last year. "Many farmers have lost faith in the government."

($1 = 66.3850 rupees)

(Editing by Douglas Busvine and Susan Fenton)
HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's Nokia said on Monday it has gained control of French rival Alcatel-Lucent following its 15.6-billion-euro ($17 billion) all-share offer and the two telecom equipment makers would combine on Jan. 14.

The French stock market authority said interim results showed Nokia would hold around 79 percent of Alcatel shares.

The offers in France and the United States will be reopened this month, and the final results will be published in February.

"We will move quickly to combine the two companies and execute our integration plans," Nokia Chief Executive Rajeev Suri said in a statement.

Nokia reiterated that the deal is expected to be closed in the first quarter.

The Alcatel acquisition will vault Nokia into a stronger position to compete with Sweden's Ericsson and China's Huawei in a market for telecom network gear where little growth and tough competition are pressuring prices.

($1 = 0.9184 euros)

(Reporting by Jussi Rosendahl; editing by Louise Heavens and Jason Neely)
Oil prices eased on Monday after data showed some of Asia's largest economies are struggling, which offset a boost from a breakdown in diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran that some believed could result in supply restrictions.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday in response to the storming of its embassy in Tehran. The diplomatic row between the two major oil producers escalated following Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shia cleric on Saturday.

But oil's early price gains fizzled after data showed Chinese factory activity shrank for a 10th straight month, prompting a 7-percent fall on Chinese stock markets and for trading to be suspended.

Manufacturing activity in India, which the Energy Agency believes will lead growth in oil demand this year, contracted for the first time in two years.

Benchmark Brent crude futures were last down 5 cents on the day at $37.23 a barrel at 0900 GMT, having touched an intraday high of $38.50.

US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were down 10 cents at $36.94.

"Iran may decide to take more of a hardline stance against the Saudi-oriented policy of not cutting production. So far, they've been going along with it, but this renewed political vigour may prompt them to change a bit," said, CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler.

"Really, this is still a bear market and people are just selling the bounce because (the clash) is not going to affect production. Obviously it's just tensions in the region."

Oil prices are still down by two-thirds since mid-2014 on oversupply as producers including the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and the United States pump between 0.5 million and 2 million barrels of oil every day in excess of demand.

The clash between the two Middle Eastern countries comes as Iran, which holds some of the largest proven reserves, hopes to ramp up oil exports following the expected removal of sanctions against it.

"OPEC, Russia and the US beat our initial supply expectations, adding to an existing inventory headwind. For 2016 we think of it as the market rebalancing year, but only from 2H (the second half of 2016)," Alliance Bernstein said.



Alliance Bernstein said it expected average Brent prices to fall to $50 in 2016 from $53 per barrel last year but to recover to $70 a barrel in 2017 and to $80 in 2018.

Iran plans to raise output by half a million to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) post lifting of sanctions, although Iranian officials said they did not plan to flood the market with its crude if there was no demand for it.

Iran's oil exports have fallen to around 1 million bpd, down from a peak pre-sanctions peak of almost 3 million bpd in 2011.

In Russia oil output hit a post-Soviet high in 2015, averaging 10.73 million bpd.

Dubai crude, as quoted by price-reporting agency Platts, averaged $34.591 a barrel for December, the lowest since December 2004 as Middle East suppliers offered discounts in a battle for Asian market share.
By Amanda Cooper

LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Monday after a breakdown in diplomatic ties between Saudi Arabia and Iran that some speculated could result in supply restrictions, although gains were tempered by data showing some of Asia's largest economies are struggling.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday in response to the storming of its embassy in Tehran following Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric on Saturday.

Fellow Gulf producer Bahrain said on Monday it too would cut ties with Iran.

Benchmark Brent crude futures were last up 72 cents on the day at $38.00 a barrel at 1323 GMT, off a session high at $38.50.

U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 29 cents to $37.33 a barrel.

"The two questions the market is grappling with are - where next in the Saudi Arabia/Iran stand-off? I think President (Hassan) Rouhani on the Iranian side would like to calm things down and push for no further escalation," Energy Aspects analyst Richard Mallinson said.

"The second question for the market is is there any uncertainty over the exact timing and volume of the return of Iranian barrels?" he said.

The clash between the two Middle Eastern countries comes as Iran, which holds some of the largest proven reserves, hopes to ramp up oil exports following the expected removal of sanctions against it.

A series of Iranian officials vowed on Friday to expand Tehran's missile capabilities, a challenge to the United States which has threatened to impose new sanctions even as the vast bulk of its measures against Iran are due to be lifted.

"It's very confrontational. I don't think that's enough to derail (the broader lifting of sanctions), but it is prompting a few more questions about what would the timing of the return of Iranian barrels look like," Energy Aspects' Mallinson said.

"The statements at the weekend by (Iranian oil officials) that Iran would only increase production at the level of the market can absorb seems to be a shift in rhetoric."

Iran plans to raise output by half a million to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) post lifting of sanctions, although Iranian officials said they did not plan to flood the market with its crude if there was no demand for it.

Iran's oil exports have fallen to around 1 million bpd, down from a peak pre-sanctions peak of almost 3 million bpd in 2011.

The oil price surrendered earlier gains that boosted futures by as much as 2 percent after data showed Chinese factory activity shrank for a 10th straight month, prompting a 7-percent fall on Chinese stock markets and for trading to be suspended.

Manufacturing activity in India, which the International Energy Agency believes will lead growth in oil demand this year, contracted for the first time in two years.

"Iran may decide to take more of a hardline stance against the Saudi-oriented policy of not cutting production. So far, they've been going along with it, but this renewed political vigour may prompt them to change a bit," CMC Markets analyst Jasper Lawler said.

"Really, this is still a bear market and people are just selling the bounce because (the clash) is not going to affect production. Obviously it's just tensions in the region."

Oil prices are still down by two-thirds since mid-2014 on oversupply as producers including the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and the United States pump between 0.5 million and 2 million barrels of oil every day in excess of demand.

(Additional reporting by Henning Gloystein in Singapore; editing by William Hardy and Jason Neely)
By Henning Gloystein

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Oil prices jumped in early trading of its first session in the new year as relations between major crude producers Saudi Arabia and Iran deteriorated, although tumbling Asian manufacturing and stock data kept a lid on bullish expectations.

Saudi Arabia, the world's biggest oil exporter, cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday in response to the storming of its embassy in Tehran. The diplomatic row between the two major oil producers escalated following Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric on Saturday.

But early price gains were reined in by concerns over Asia's slowing economies as China's main stock markets tumbled 7 percent and trading had to be suspended.

This followed reports that China's factory activity shrank for a 10th straight month in December and surveys across Asia showing industry struggling with slack demand.

Global oil benchmark Brent initially climbed over $1.2 to a high of $38.50 per barrel on Monday, before easing back to $37.48 at 0744 GMT, up 20 cents. U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 29 cents at $37.33.

The clash between the two Middle Eastern countries comes as Iran, which holds some of the largest proven reserves, hopes to ramp up oil exports following the expected removal of sanctions against it after reaching a deal on its alleged nuclear weapons development programme.

"With increased geopolitical tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the market has put a premium on prices just when markets opened (in 2016)," brokerage Phillip Futures said.

Mainly Shi'ite Muslim Iran and Saudi Arabia's Sunni Muslim monarchy have clashed for years in the Middle East in political conflicts that have followed along sectarian lines.

Oil prices are still down by two-thirds since mid-2014 on oversupply as producers including the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and the United States pump between 0.5 million and 2 million barrels of oil every day in excess of demand.

"OPEC, Russia and the U.S. beat our initial supply expectations, adding to an existing inventory headwind. For 2016 we think of it as the market rebalancing year, but only from 2H (the second half of 2016)," Alliance Bernstein said.

Alliance Bernstein said it expected average Brent prices to fall from $53 per barrel last year to $50 in 2016 but to recover to $70 a barrel in 2017 and to rise to $80 per barrel in 2018.

"There is the potential for global demand growth to catch up to global supply growth by the end of 2016 and trigger the start of initial rebalancing," Morgan Stanley said.

Yet before that happens, the bank said prices could fall further regardless of producer margins being eroded by cheap oil.

"In an oversupplied market, there is no intrinsic value for crude oil... The floor is set by investor and consumer appetite to buy," it said.

Iran plans to raise output by half a million to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) post lifting of sanctions, although Iranian officials said they did not plan to flood the market with its crude if there was no demand for it.

Iran's oil exports have fallen to around 1 million bpd, down from a peak pre-sanctions peak of almost 3 million bpd in 2011.

In Russia oil output hit a post-Soviet high in 2015, averaging 10.73 million bpd.

Dubai crude, as quoted by price-reporting agency Platts, averaged $34.591 a barrel for December, the lowest since December 2004 as Middle East suppliers offered discounts in a battle for Asian market share.

(Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Gopakumar Warrier)
MUMBAI (Reuters) - India's stock markets fell nearly 2 percent on Monday to their lowest level in nearly two weeks after Chinese equities lost 7 percent, prompting exchanges in China to halt trading for the first time.

China's benchmark CSI300 share index tumbled 7 percent on the first session of 2016 after weak factory activity surveys soured hopes that the world's second-largest economy will enter the new year on better footing, and selling intensified throughout the day.

India's volatility gauge rose over 16 percent, its highest since Sept. 1.

"The correction in the market in China should not be a cause of worry because it has moved up without any fundamental backing (in 2015). The bigger concern is global deflationary pressures are rising," said G Chokkalingam, founder of Equinomics, a Mumbai-based research and fund advisory firm.

The broader NSE Nifty was trading 1.74 percent lower at 0712 GMT after falling as much as 1.88 percent earlier to its lowest level since Dec. 22.

The benchmark BSE Sensex was down 1.69 percent after falling as much as 1.85 percent earlier. The index touched its lowest level since Dec. 22.

All sectors were in the red with financial and bank stocks leading the fall.

Tata Motors , which counts China as a key market for its Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) sales, fell as much as 6.4 percent. The stock was also weighed down by a 4 percent decline in the company's sales in December.

Meanwhile, defying the downtrend, shares in IRB Infrastructure Developers rose as much as 11 percent on receiving a $1.5 billion road project contract.

Ashok Leyland gained 3.6 percent after the commercial vehicle maker said its total sales in December grew 31 percent.

(Reporting by Karen Rebelo in Mumbai; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)
The allegations in the lawsuit carry penalties that could cost Volkswagen billions of dollars, a senior Justice Department official said.

"The United States will pursue all appropriate remedies against Volkswagen to redress the violations of our nation's clean air laws," said Assistant Attorney General John Cruden of the environment and natural resources division at the Justice Department.

The Justice Department lawsuit accuses Volkswagen of four counts of violating the U.S. Clean Air Act, including tampering with the emissions control system and failing to report violations.

The lawsuit is being filed in the Eastern District of Michigan and then transferred to Northern California, where class-action lawsuits against Volkswagen are pending.

"We're alleging that they knew what they were doing, they intentionally violated the law and that the consequences were significant to health," the senior Justice Department official said.

The Justice Department has also been investigating criminal fraud allegations against Volkswagen for misleading U.S. consumers and regulators. Criminal charges would require a higher burden of proof than the civil lawsuit.

The civil lawsuit does not preclude the Justice Department from pursuing criminal charges against Volkswagen, said the Justice Department official.

VW spokeswoman Jeannine Ginivan said the automaker did not have an immediate comment on the lawsuit.

(Additional reporting by David Shepardson,; Editing by Susan Heavey, Bernard Orr)
At a time when the agriculture sector is facing distress, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Monday stressed the need for more investment and for revamping the incentive structure for farmers.

The key challenges faced by Indian agriculture are the need to increase productivity by leveraging technology, especially for high-yielding and resistant variety seeds and efficient utilisation of water; adapt the latest IT to increase resilience to nature by phasing sowing, watering, and harvesting; and to increase the price benefits to the farmer by providing timely market information, Jaitley said, at a pre- meeting with representatives from agriculture bodies..

Read our full coverage on Union Budget According to an official statement from the finance ministry, Jaitley said these challenges could be addressed by revisiting the incentive structure of farming, use of latest technology to raise productivity, reduce wastage and enhance earnings as well as to improve marketing of farm produce. He said there was a need for more investment in the agriculture sector.

KEY TAKEAWAYS Representatives from Fertiliser Association of India sought introduction of direct transfer of urea subsidy to farmers and higher allocation for the next three years to clear arrears of Rs 50,000 crore



11 central trade unions raised demands under a 15-point charter. They have asked for fringe benefits  housing, medical and educational facilities and running allowances in railways  to be exempt from income tax

The farm sector representatives sought enhanced budgetary allocations in the Union 2016-17 to improve investment in agriculture, irrigation, research and development, and post-harvesting facilities.

The two-and-a-half hour meeting saw the agriculture bodies demanding setting up of national irrigation authority to give thrust to irrigation projects and river valley authorities for distribution of water, levying charges for water supply and suggesting cropping patterns.

The farmer groups also asked the government to provide loans of up to Rs 5 lakh to all farmers at four per cent interest and sought higher support price and consistent export policy.

The agricultural bodies also sought mandatory crop insurance for all crops, besides a long-term comprehensive export policy for five years to be announced to connect Indian farmers with international markets.

Budget 2016-17 is expected to see significant increase in allocation to marquee programmes such as the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, and the one to provide soil health cards to the countrys 140 million farmer families over three years to boost the overall rural .

The farm sector also sought exemption of income tax on profit made by farmer producers organisations and agri-cooperatives, creation of buffer stock of milk powder, outright ban or increase in import duty of butter oil, and imposition of safeguard duty on import of rubber.

Farm bodies also said the government should do away with interest subvention scheme on crop loan and take corrective measures to provide institutional credit to small farmers.

Representatives from various trade unions also gave their representations to the Budget makers. These demands were raised under a 15-point charter submitted by 11 central trade unions.

Jaitley said one of the Modi governments biggest priority was to make health and social security benefits accessible to un-organised sector workers like construction workers and migrant labourers, and volunteers of different schemes like anganwadi workers etc. Jaitley added the government was considering a mechanism to provide social security benefit contributions to workers under a single window.

The unions have asked that fringe benefits such as housing, medical and educational facilities and running allowances in railways should be exempted from income tax. Unions suggested that public sector units (PSUs) be strengthened and expanded and the disinvestment of government shares in profit-making PSUs be stopped. Besides, they said the budgetary support should be provided for the revival of sick PSUs.

The unions joint charter said the threshold limit of 20 employees in Employees Provident Fund scheme be brought down to 10. It said the government and employers contribution should be increased to allow sustainability of employees pension scheme and for provision of minimum pension of Rs 3,000 a month.
UK-based banking giant HSBC has ended its links with Britain's biggest government funded Muslim charity allegedly over fears of terror funding.

The bank had taken the decision to cut ties with Islamic Relief a year ago amid concerns that cash for aid could end up with terrorist groups abroad, 'The Sunday Times' reported on Sunday.

The decision, which has not been made public before, has upset the charity, that receives millions of pounds from the UK's Department for International Development (DfID).

HSBC has halted services for other Muslim groups in the past, but Islamic Relief - which operates in more than 40 countries - is the most highprofile to be affected.

Imran Madden, Islamic Relief's UK director, said discussions took place with HSBC in 2014 in which the bank felt it difficult to continue its relationship with us due to the nature of our work.

Madden told the newspaper: "They invited us to end the relationship which we did at the end of the year. We were and remain extremely surprised by HSBC's stance. Islamic Relief's mission is to alleviate poverty and suffering where most needed and that means we are committed to operating in complex conflicts where proscribed organisations are sometimes active."

The charity was set up in 1984, and from 2012-14 received about 4 million pounds from DfID's aid budget including funds to educate children affected by the Syrian war. DfID said funding was subject to rigorous checks.

A source close to the charity told the 'Times', its problems with HSBC stem from its work in the Middle East, including projects in Gaza and Syria.

The charity, which spent more than 70 million pounds in 2014, still banks with other major British banks Barclays and NatWest.
In order to check the generation of black money, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has notified new rules under which cash receipts and high value transactions by individuals beyond a certain threshold will have to be reported by banks and companies issuing shares or bonds to the Income Tax authorities with effect from April 1.

Under the new norms, cash receipts, purchase of shares, mutual funds, immovable property, term deposits, sale of foreign currency will have to be reported to the tax authorities online in a prescribed format for which Form 61A has been introduced.

A senior official of the Income Tax Department told Mail Today that the move would help to provide an alternative data base to keep black money transactions in check apart from the PAN number that has to be furnished by individuals for high value transactions.

The Finance Ministry notification states that the receipt from any person for sale of foreign currency including any credit of such currency to foreign exchange card or through the issue of travellers cheque or draft of Rs 10 lakh or more will also have to be reported. The return in Form No 61A will have to be furnished to the Director of Incometax (Intelligence and Criminal Investigation) or the Joint Director of Income-tax (Intelligence and Criminal Investigation) through online transmission of electronic data to a server designated for this purpose under a digital signature.

The Finance Ministry notification said the registrar will have to report purchase and sale of all immovable property exceeding Rs 30 lakh to I-T authorities. It further specified that professionals will be required to inform the tax department of receipt of cash payment exceeding Rs 2 lakh for sale of any goods or services. It also states that banks will have to report cash deposits aggregating Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year in one or more accounts of a person.

The same threshold will apply for term deposits in banks, but would exclude renewal of term deposits. These norms will also cover deposits and withdrawal made in Post Office Account. It further said banking companies or financial institutions will also have to report to the authorities payments made by a person aggregating to Rs 1 lakh or more in cash or Rs 10 lakh or more by another mode against bills in respect of one or more credit cards in a financial year.

The notification has also laid down the reporting norms for cash payment of Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year for purchase of bank drafts or pre-paid instrument issued by RBI.

Cash deposits or withdrawals aggregating to Rs 50 lakh or more in a financial year in one or more current account of a person will have to be reported by the bank to the I-T authorities. A company will be required to report receipt of Rs 10 lakh or more from a person in a financial year for acquiring bonds, debentures, shares or mutual funds.

The buy back of shares from any person (other than the shares bought in the open market) for an amount or value aggregating to Rs 10 lakh or more in a financial year will also have to be reported companies listed on a recognised stock exchange purchasing their own securities.


European shares fell sharply on Monday, the first trading day of 2016, as weak Chinese data weighed on world stock markets while a rebound in oil prices added to market volatility.

The pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 2.3 percent, its worst one-day drop since a 3.3 percent decline on Dec. 3.

The euro zone's blue-chip Euro STOXX 50 index also declined by 2.5 percent, while Germany's DAX slumped 3.4 percent.

China's factory activity contracted for the 10th straight month in December and at a sharper pace than in November, a private survey showed, dampening hopes that the world's second-largest economy would enter 2016 on a more stable footing.

The weak data caused Chinese and Asian shares to slump, with China's benchmark CSI300 share index tumbling 7 percent on Monday, prompting the stock exchange to halt trading on it.

Oil prices also rebounded up from previous lows as tensions escalated in the Middle East following Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

This, in turn, added to market volatility, with the Euro STOXX 50 Volatility Index gaining ground.

JP Morgan's equity strategist Mislav Matejka said that while he would stay "overweight" on euro zone equities, given signs of an economic recovery in the region, he was more cautious on equities on a more global level.

Matejka pointed to negative factors such as tensions in the credit market and a weakening in the U.S. stock market.

"We would look to use any strength as an opportunity to reduce equity allocation," said Matejka, who advocated selling out on any move up on the stock market given the risk that the market could soon fall back again.

Shares in carmaker Fiat Chrysler fell after the spin-off of its Ferrari division, while the weak China data also hit mining stocks since China is the world's biggest consumer of metals.

French conglomerate Bouygues outperformed to rise 1.3 percent after a media report that Orange was moving closer to buying Bouygues' telecoms arm for 10 billion euros.

Air France KLM shares also rose after Bank of America Merrill Lynch upgraded its rating on the stock to "buy." (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The new rate of 9.15 for the National Minimum Wage has come into effect. The new rate was announced last Friday by the Minister for Business and Employment, Ged Nash and the Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation, Damien English.

It is estimated that some 124,000 workers will benefit from the increase of 50 cent in the minimum wage. The change is the second increase to the National Minimum Wage introduced by this Government since coming into office in 2011.



Minister Nash commented, "This is a good start to the New Year for many people. This government believes that a job is the only sustainable route out of poverty. The new rate is based on evidence conducted by the Low Pay Commission made up of representatives from industry, workers and independent academic members and it shows that we are now in a good economic position to sustain this increase.

"The research it conducted also shows that this should not threaten job creation. I would urge employees who are not receiving the new minimum wage rate to contact the Workplace Relations Commission www.workplacerelations.ie to know their employment rights."



Source: www.businessworld.ie
It has been announced today that Irish company, Lioncourt Investments, together with minority shareholder Ion Equity, has acquired 100% of ECM College, through its investment company the Real Experience Group.

The deal represents an investment of over 1 million and reflects the potential the group sees in the sector in Ireland once regulations are introduced in January 2016.



ECM College was founded in 2010 by brothers Eddie, Patrick and Ciaran OLoughlin. Its turnover has increased from circa 200,000 in 2010 to 2.5 million in 2015 and the college catered for 1,200 students from Europe, Central America, South America and South Korea during 2015.



Eddie OLoughlin will continue as Managing Director under the new structure as part of The Real Experience Group while Patrick and Ciaran O'Loughlin are launching a new property venture in 2016. The 60 people currently employed by ECM will also continue in their roles.



CEO of the Real Experience Group, Karen Smith-Watson says, "We were very impressed by the quality and business model employed by ECM College and see it as a great addition to ourother Irish brands such as USIT and Budget School & Group Tours, as well as our existing English language training companies in the UK.

"Having acquired London's largest provider in this sector in May 2015, English Studio London, one of our strategic growth objectives is to expand the language sector of our business with further acquisitions and developments planned for Ireland, UK and the US."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The total new car registrations for the year 2015 (124,945) finished up 30% ahead of 2014 (96,284) according to official statistics released today by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI).



The month of December registered a slight decrease -1.44% (342) compared with the same month in 2014 (347) although volumes for December are very small.

Light Commercial Vehicles (LCV), for 2015 recorded a 42% (23,722) increase on registrations last year (16,732). While the month of December saw registrations performed strongly with a 50% increase (236) in comparison to December 2014 (157). HGV (Heavy Goods Vehicle) show that registrations, for 2015 (2,135) were up 9% on 2014.



SIMI Director General, Alan Nolan said, "We are pleased that 2015 has turned out to be a good year of continued recovery for our Industry which is a very strong indicator of the health of the general economy.

"We now look forward to 2016 with greater optimism and a real potential to see registrations return to normal levels that we have not seen since before 2008. Sales within the different sectors have performed well in 2015 and we would expect to see this improvement continue in the new year."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association (ISME) have today released their Quarterly Business Trends Survey for the final quarter of 2015.



The survey was conducted in the third week of December, with 956 SME respondents. Fifty four percent of whom employ less than 10, while a further 36% employ between 11 and 50 and the remaining 10% employ between 51 and 250.

Geographically, 32% are from Dublin with 59% spread across the country, with 9% with multiple sites, giving a good reflection of the country as a whole, sectorally, geographically and by employee numbers.



It shows that business confidence decreased slightly from 49% to 47%, while business expectations increasing from 58% to 62%.



Current employment is up 6 points to 23%, while future employment expectations have risen by 1 to 30%, the best since summer '07. Current Investment levels increased slightly in this quarter, but future investment is down 7 points to 36%.



Furthermore, current investment levels increased slightly in this quarter, but future investment is down 7 points to 36%. Current exports have more than doubled in the final quarter to 36%, leading to a 3 point increase in future exports.



The Euro exchange rate is the greatest area of concern for SMEs at present with 13% citing it as their number one worry. This has replaced economic uncertainty which has dropped to 9%. The second most worrying concern among owner managers is labour costs and access to credit, acknowledged by one in eight respondents.



ISME CEO, Mark Fielding commented, "Despite the improvements at a macro level, SME competitiveness has taken many blows this year. Rents, insurance, energy and legal costs have all increased while the slack consumer demand has dictated that pricing and margins have reduced.

"This means that small businesses operating on increasingly tight margins cannot afford any more cost increases. The increase in the minimum wage due in January will be a difficult adjustment for labour-intensive sectors and may force some businesses to reduce staff hours.



"As we move towards the election, we are being treated to more and more outlandish political promises and policies. Our electioneering poiticians must remember that their giveaway rhetoric influences the business environment and often forces owner-managers to adopt a cautionary approach to expansion and employment growth."

Source: www.businessworld.ie


Irish company, Smurfit Kappa, has acquired two integrated paper-based packaging businesses, Industria de Embalagens Santana (INPA) and Paema Embalagens (Paema), based in Brazil, for a total consideration of approximately 186 million it was announced today.

The transaction was completed at the end of December 2015 and will be immediately earnings accretive. The consideration was funded from the Groups existing liquidity, comprising primarily cash resources together with the existing committed credit facilities.



The combined business employs over 1,700 people and the Group currently expects to generate synergies of approximately 6 million to be delivered by the end of 2017, primarily through operational improvements and supply chain optimisation as the businesses are integrated.



Both INPA and Paema are privately owned integrated packaging businesses. The combined operations have three recycled containerboard mills with a total capacity of 210,000 tonnes and four corrugated facilities servicing the Northeast of Brazil, through the Rio and Sao Paulo regions and the South of the country. The net assets of INPA and Paema at 30 September 2015 were 30 million and 6 million respectively.



Smurfit Kappa Group CEO, Tony Smurfit commented, "We are pleased to announce the acquisition of INPA and Paema, which will extend our reach into a strategically important market and build on our geographic diversity and strength.

"We look forward to welcoming the experienced teams into the Smurfit Kappa Group. We are confident that their expertise and the high quality of their asset base will provide us with a strong entry point into the Brazilian market and, as the leading pan-regional operator in Latin America, further strengthen our service offering to our existing international customers."

Source: www.businessworld.ie
With crude prices at 11-year lows, the world's biggest oil and gas producers are facing their longest period of investment cuts in decades, but are expected to borrow more to preserve the dividends demanded by investors.

At around $37 a barrel, crude prices are well below the $60 firms such as Total, Statoil and BP need to balance their books, a level that has already been sharply reduced over the past 18 months.

International oil companies are once again being forced to cut spending, sell assets, shed jobs and delay projects as the oil slump shows no sign of recovery.

U.S. producers Chevron and ConocoPhillips have published plans to slash their 2016 budgets by a quarter. Royal Dutch Shell has also announced a further $5 billion in spending cuts if its planned takeover of BG Group goes ahead.

Global oil and gas investments are expected to fall to their lowest in six years in 2016 to $522 billion, following a 22 percent fall to $595 billion in 2015, according to the Oslo-based consultancy Rystad Energy.

"This will be the first time since the 1986 oil price downturn that we see two consecutive years of a decline in investments," Bjoernar Tonhaugen, vice president of oil and gas markets at Rystad Energy, told Reuters.

The activities that survive will be those that offer the best returns.

But with the sector's debt to equity ratio at a relatively low level of around 20 percent or below, industry sources say companies will take on even more borrowing to cover the shortfall in revenue in order to protect the level of dividend payouts.

Shell has not cut its dividend since 1945, a tradition its present management is not keen to break. The rest of the sector is also averse to reducing payouts to shareholders, which include the world's biggest investment and pension funds, for fear investors might take flight.

Exxon Mobil and Chevron benefit from the lowest debt ratios among the oil majors while Statoil and Repsol have the highest debt burden, according to Jefferies analyst Jason Gammel.

With only a handful of major projects approved in 2015, including Shell's Appomattox development in the Gulf of Mexico and Statoil's giant $29 billion Johan Sverdrup field in the North Sea, 2016 is also likely to see few large investment decisions.

Projects that could be green-lit include BP's Mad Dog Phase 2 in the Gulf of Mexico, which the company now expects to cost less than $10 billion, around half the original estimate, and Chevron's expansion of the Tengiz project in Kazakhstan, according to Gammel.

Industry-wide, costs will be cut by reducing the size of projects, renegotiating supply contracts and using less complex technology.

After rapidly expanding in the first half of the decade when oil prices were above $100 a barrel, companies are now expected to focus on the most profitable activities, said Brendan Warn, oil and gas equity analyst at BMO Capital Markets.

"Companies want to reduce their range of activity and pick those with the highest returns on capital," Warn said.

Shell, which plans to complete its $54 billion acquisition of BG in February, intends to focus on the attractive liquefied natural gas (LNG) market and on deep water oil production, especially in Brazil, both areas in which BG is a leader.

With similar priorities in mind, BP is increasingly focused on the Gulf of Mexico and Egypt, where it approved a $12 billion development in 2015.

While tens of thousands of jobs have already been cut in 2015, more redundancies are expected this year as companies narrow their focus, Warn added.

On top of reducing spending by scrapping and delaying projects, oil majors will see costs come down as contractors agree to further price reductions. For example, the annual cost of hiring a drilling ship fell to an average of $332,000 in 2015, compared with $405,000 in 2014, according to Rigzone, which collects industry data.

The drop in investment bodes badly for services and contractor companies, which are seeing their work dry up.

But with fewer projects approved, fewer fields developed and less maintenance work undertaken, companies are putting their growth at risk.

"You've got to hold your nerve. If you cut too deeply, it is very, very difficult to take advantage of the price rebound when it comes," a senior official at a European oil major told Reuters.

Tumbling oil prices have cut billions of dollars from oil companies' revenue streams, although strong profits from refining have softened the blow for most.

And while their in-house oil and gas production growth comes under pressure, companies might opt to acquire rivals with less resilient balance sheets, as with Shell's proposed acquisition of BG.

"In the second half of 2016, if we see price stabilization, I expect companies will be looking to replace reserves inorganically, by making acquisitions," Warn said. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
The majority of big British businesses that favor Britain remaining in the European Union has dwindled over the last six months, according to a quarterly survey of chief financial officers published on Monday.

Accountancy firm Deloitte said 62 percent of CFOs from FTSE 350 and other large private companies backed Britain's continued membership of the EU, down from 74 percent in the second quarter of 2015.

The survey also showed business confidence fell to its lowest level since 2012, with companies putting more emphasis on cost cutting rather than expanding through acquisitions or raising capital expenditure.

Prime Minister David Cameron has promised a referendum by the end of 2017 on whether Britain should stay in the EU but last month gave a strong hint he hopes to hold the vote in 2016.

"A clear majority of CFOs continue to favor the UK remaining in the EU, but the proportion of those expressing unqualified support has fallen. This mirrors what we have seen from the broader public in opinion polls in the last six months," David Sproul, Deloitte's chief executive said.

A poll of Britons published last month showed nearly half are leaning towards voting to leave the EU.

Just over half of CFOs expect to see revenue growth in 2016, the lowest proportion in two-and-a-half years and down from around two-thirds in the third quarter of last year, Deloitte said.

Still, 68 percent said they were optimistic about British economic growth in 2016.

A separate survey from the Confederation of British Industry showed Britain's economy finished 2015 strongly, although it warned there were significant risks from the global economy.

Hurt by slow demand for exports from a flagging global economy, gross domestic product grew 0.4 percent in the third quarter, matching its lowest rate since late 2012 when Britain was struggling to recover from the financial crisis. (Reuters)

Source: www.businessworld.ie
A new health center opens today in Logan for those without access to care because of insurance status, income, language or geography.

The public is invited to an open house and ribbon cutting January 14, 12 p.m. at 272 1/2 North Main (across from the Logan Library).

This will be the eighth Midtown Community Health Center in Utah providing services to 26,000 under-served residents annually during 80,000 visits.

Midtown officials said the expansion into Logan is a response to unmet health care needs in the community.

Data from the Bureau of Primary Health Care indicates there are 27,339 unserved low-income individuals in Logan and the surrounding area. While there are multiple resources to meet the need, demand exceeds the resources.

Midtowns Logan site will provide care to over 2,000 under-served residents annually.

Midtown offers comprehensive primary care including treatment for acute and chronic illnesses, prenatal care, behavioral health therapy and treatment and preventive care.

All services are provided on a sliding fee schedule. Language translation is available.

The new site is sponsored by Intermountain Healthcare which donates funding to support the new site.
In November 2015, two different committees of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted draft resolutions on the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict, which received strong criticism in Armenia and several other states. On November 4, the Political Affairs Committee of PACE approved a draft resolution on Escalation of violence in Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan, which was proposed by Robert Walter from the European Conservatives Group. The draft resolution calls for the withdrawal of Armenian armed forces and other irregular armed forces from Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories of Azerbaijan, the establishment of full sovereignty of Azerbaijan in these territories. It also calls for the establishment by the OSCE of an international peacekeeping force to maintain security within Nagorno-Karabakh and the other occupied territories.

The draft resolution, which will be discussed during PACEs January session in 2016, provoked an outrage in Armenia and was criticized by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. On November 6, U.S. Co-Chair of the Minsk Group James Warlick wrote on his Twitter page that PACE and other international organizations should consult with the OSCE Co-Chairs before issuing reports or resolutions on Nagorno-Karabakh. Another statement was issued jointly by the three Co-Chairs (James Warlick, Pierre Andrieu and Igor Popov), stating that attempts to change the format or create parallel mechanisms can disrupt the negotiation process and impede progress towards a settlement. Russian authorities also reacted negatively to the draft resolution. During his visit to Yerevan on November 9, Russias Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov underlined that the format of the OSCE Minsk Co-Chairmanship is the only authorized collective mediator, and declared that whatever drastic actions, undertaken by whoever, only harm the process and the Co-Chairs activities.

As to Armenias reaction, in an interview to the Aravot daily, Armenias Minister of Foreign Affairs Edward Nalbandian emphasized the fact that Walter was a member of the so-called Friends of Azerbaijan in the British Parliament, which according to British media is largely financed by Baku. Nalbandian concluded that this may be the very reason why Walter rushed to present [the resolution], two days before the completion of his mission in the capacity of a PACE member.

In turn, Azerbaijani authorities welcomed the adoption of the draft resolution and expressed their dissatisfaction with the comments by the OSCE Minsk Group Co-Chairs. The spokesman of Azerbaijans Ministry of Foreign Affairs Hikmet Hajiev stated that as the co-chairmen of the OSCE Minsk Group have not achieved even slight progress in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict settlement, James Warlick has no right and reason to advise and recommend other organizations anything regarding the conflict settlement.

On November 23, PACEs Committee on Social Affairs, Health and Sustainable Development adopted a draft resolution, entitled Inhabitants of frontier regions of Azerbaijan are deliberately deprived of water. According to that document, the occupation by Armenia of Nagorno-Karabakh and other adjacent areas of Azerbaijan creates humanitarian and environmental problems for the citizens of Azerbaijan living in the Lower Karabakh valley. Moreover, the committee concluded that the Armenian side has not performed maintenance on the Sarsang reservoir, therefore it poses a danger to the whole border region.

Armenias Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Shavarsh Kocharyan said that this document is only a grist for the mill of Azerbaijans propaganda machine and is in line with the logistics of Bakus policy of undermining the negotiation process. Kocharyan also stated that some PACE parliamentarians intentionally or unintentionally are becoming tools of the Azerbaijani propaganda, and, by their vote distorting the reality, they first of all are discrediting themselves and trying to shadow the PACE authority.

Though neither draft document is legally binding, Azerbaijan will certainly seek to interpret the two documents as a diplomatic victory. As the Azerbaijani side regularly declares that the OSCE Minsk Group is counterproductive, Azerbaijani authorities will also use this occasion as an argument in favor of that point, thereby undermining the present format of the Nagorno-Karabakh peace process.

Image attribution: cdn.trend.az, accessed on Dec 22, 2015
CONTRIBUTED PHOTO Mike Morath, a former Dallas ISD trustee, was sworn in Monday as the Texas Education Agencys new commissioner of education.

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By Beatriz Alvarado of the Caller-Times

A former Dallas ISD trustee was sworn in Monday as the state's new education commissioner, a Texas Education Agency news release states.

Mike Morath, 38, who has been a Dallas ISD trustee since May 2011, was appointed commissioner Dec. 14 by Gov. Greg Abbott. As commissioner, Morath oversees prekindergarten through high school public and charter institutions that serve about 5 million students.

Former Commissioner Michael Williams was appointed in August 2012 by then Gov. Rick Perry. Williams announced he was stepping down in October, citing a long-distance relationship with his wife, according to reports.

While at Dallas ISD, Morath helped implement the first performance-based pay system for teachers for a district of Dallas' size, championed the district's public school choice initiative and facilitated coordination between Dallas ISD and the Dallas Regional Chamber to expand career and technical program options for district students, a news release from Gov. Abbott's office states.

Morath graduated from Garland High School and received a bachelor's degree in business administration from George Washington University, the release states.

He is chairman of Morath Investments and served as president and chief operating officer of Minute Menu Systems, which provides management information systems for child care agencies administering the federal Child and Adult Care Food Program.

Among Morath's priorities the release states Morath will transition the state's accountability system to an A-F grading framework.

Twitter: @CallerBetty
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By Krista M. Torralva of the Caller-Times

The Nueces County District Attorney's Office dismissed a case against a former child therapist accused of showing his genitals to a boy he was counseling.

Prosecutors cited "insufficient evidence to prove case beyond a reasonable doubt" in the dismissal form for Robert Berlin, 46.

The dismissal comes about two months after a grand jury indicted Berlin on a felony charge of indecency with a child related to a 2012 accusation.

District Attorney Mark Skurka said via text that while a grand jury had probable cause to indict Berlin there wasn't evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Last month, 347th District Judge Missy Medary issued a warrant for Berlin's arrest after he failed to show up to a scheduled court appearance.

Berlin has denied the accusations and said he was unaware of the date because he lives in Tennessee. He later turned himself in and was freed on $15,000 bail.

Neither Berlin, nor his lawyer Terry Shamsie, returned calls seeking comment Monday. In December, Berlin told the Caller-Times he wanted to tell his side of the story but declined while the case was pending.

"There's a lot more to the story, " Berlin said.

Prosecutors can again pursue the case if new evidence surfaces.

Berlin surrendered his counseling license in April 2014 after the state licensing board suspended him, declaring an imminent threat to the public. That came in response to a woman's complaint that Berlin showed images of male genitals to her son and asked to see the boy's genitals. He was 11 and 12 years old when he saw Berlin for counseling to deal with his parents' custody dispute.

That child is not the same child named in the indictment. Berlin told the Caller-Times in 2014 the accusations were false and made by the child's mother who was angry over unfavorable comments Berlin made about her in a child custody dispute with her ex-husband.

The mother's lawyer, Lisa Hayes, refuted Berlin's comment and said the boy's parents came to an agreement about his living arrangements.

"I can tell you (Berlin) had zero influence," Hayes said.

Complaints with the licensing board include Berlin had boy clients living in his home, showed images of male genitals to clients and asked to see their genitals during counseling sessions. Berlin's clients included children with issues of neglect and abuse.

Twitter: @CallerKMT
SHARE Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Corpus Christi Fire Department firefighters battle a blaze in a strip mall in the 2300 block of Morgan Avenue on Monday. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times Corpus Christi Fire Department firefighters battle a blaze in a strip mall in the 2300 block of Morgan Avenue on Monday. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times The Subway restaurant was one of several businesses damaged by fire in strip mall in the 2300 block of Morgan Avenue on Monday. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times The P.G. Quick Stop was one of several businesses damaged by fire in strip mall in the 2300 block of Morgan Avenue on Monday.

By Staff Report

A fire that began in the kitchen of Cafe Maya on Morgan Avenue late Sunday spread to businesses next door including the P.G. Quick Stop owned by Pak Steven.

Sunday night Steven boarded up the door of his store in the 2300 block of Morgan Avenue and went home knowing he would have to deal with smoke damage.

When he returned to his business Monday morning, all that remained were the four exterior walls.

"We didn't lose anything yesterday, but today we lost everything," Steven said.

He watched as Corpus Christi firefighters sprayed water on the fire, which officials said reignited about 5 a.m.

"The Cafe Maya fire from last night was probably the cause of all of this today," Battalion Chief David Saenz said. "This strip mall is all connected by the attic so the fire just runs."

Saenz said the fire began about 10:15 p.m. Sunday and crews spent about four hours quashing the blaze in the restaurant's kitchen. Fire Chief Robert Rocha said crews were sure the fire was out when they left.

Hours later, another fire was reported and crews returned. By 5:50 a.m. the restaurant and P.G. Quick Stop were destroyed as the walls and roofs of the buildings collapsed. Rocha said investigators will continue to look into what caused the fire to rekindle.

The fire also caused smoke damage to a Subway restaurant in the shopping strip. Saenz said he was surprised at how big the flames were when fire crews arrived Monday morning and how quickly the fire had spread.

"Most buildings in this strip are affected since the attic is connected to all buildings," Saenz said. "We are still investigating what may have caused (the fires), but it is suspicious."

Corpus Christi police assisted fire crews and blocked off the area to traffic from 19th Street to Crews Street along Morgan Avenue for several hours.

Jennifer Sanchez, an 10-year employee at the P.G. Quick Stop said she was shocked to see the damage the fire had caused in a short amount of time.

"Last night when I was here I thought we were lucky that it hadn't spread," Sanchez said.

Cyndi Ledezma who shopped at the P.G. Quick Stop often, said the family atmosphere was the reason she frequented the store.

"This is like Cheer's," Ledezma said. "Everybody knows your name. These people are family."

Photographer Rachel Clow contributed to this report.

Twitter: @CallerNatalia
When is hurricane season? Here's what you need to know in South Texas
As the American author Robert Byrne famously wrote, everything is in a state of flux, including the status quo.

Many marketers, agencies and brands in Asia-Pacific know exactly what he means as social change, technological revolutions and economic uncertainty relentlessly sweep the region and redefine the marketing landscape.

But maybe 2015 was the year where the forces of change more firmly collided and had a more tangible impact on business fortunes.

Take the 21 major global and North American media pitches that played out this year as the likes of Coca-Cola, P&G, Sony and Unilever put their accounts on review.

The 10 per cent of global billings up for grabs  equating to nine per cent in Asia-Pacific  created a level of volatility not seen since 2008 economic crash. Numerous reasons were given for the surge in big pitches  not least the perpetual desire for brands to get more bang for their buck  but one factor everyone agreed on was that advances in digital and programmatic played a pivotal role.

This was not only because marketers could forecast increased online investment in 2016, but also because agencies have more scope for differentiation around online rates, offers and services than they do offline.

Away from the immediate impact of digital demands and trading desks, there has also been plenty of buzz around the future marketing potential of virtual reality (VR) and the Internet of Things (IoT).

For the latter, a Gartner survey found that more than 40 per cent of organisations expect IoT to have a significant impact over the next three years. The same report concluded there were 4.9 billion connected things by the end of 2015  and predicted 25 billion connected things by 2020. For marketers and brands, this huge expansion in connected devices represents a vast opportunity to get better understanding of consumers.

VR, meanwhile, has been beset by countless false-starts over the years, but 2015 saw it gather some serious momentum as the likes of Lenovo, HTC, Samsung, Google, Microsoft and Sony joined the party from a development perspective, with Volvo, Virgin Holidays, Mountain Dew and Nissan among the early brand adopters.

Programmatic, VR and IoT will continue to feature heavily in 2016  for good or ill  and will inevitably lead to an even greater demand for marketing technologists.

Programmatic growth in Asia will gather steam in 2016, but problems around transparency, measurement for marketers, privacy and old-fashioned irritation for consumers are not going away. Nor are some pretty substantial stock-value slides for some of major players.

As for VR, some of the bleeding-edge developments will increasingly appeal to marketers keen to ride the wave of the perceived next big thing, but there is still more talk than action.

Advocates of IoT can point to more concrete advancements in 2015 from wearables to smarter apps. But privacy and data management concerns persist, as the nagging doubt whether consumers actually want such developments on a mass-market scale.

Jerry Smith, regional president of OgilvyOne, summed this up perfectly when he said: What weve got at the moment is some very smart people coming up with the next thing and then trying to find some consumers who might want it.

And heres the rub. Maybe, just maybe, the technological possibilities are at risk of outpacing consumer trends, tastes and patience, not to mention the ability to effectively utilise the new platforms. After all, if a hotel brand cannot master its YouTube marketing strategy, it should probably shelve its ambitions to develop a VR tour of its honeymoon suite.

This isnt a neo-Luddite argument  the digital growth stats speak for themselves  but at times there appears to be a disproportionate amount of talk about where consumers will be in the future, compared with where they are right now.

For the 12 months ahead, digital is forecast to account for 36.4 per cent of media investment across Asia-Pacific, according to GroupMs latest This Year Next Year report. A quick look at the digital share of ad spend in individual markets reveals that Indonesia (11.8 per cent), Thailand (9.1 per cent), Hong Kong (20.9 per cent) and South Korea (22.8 per cent) have vast growth potential.

But on the flipside, it means traditional platforms are far from being a lost cause as they maintain their slice of the media pie.

TV alone, for example, is still projected to account for over 61.8 per cent of media investment in ASEAN this year, a drop of just 0.1 per cent. There is clearly plenty of life in the old goggle-box yet.

All of this means, to go back to Byrnes quote, perhaps a state of flux is putting it mildly. As technology rapidly advances, so does its trials and tribulations; as platforms continually proliferate, so do the tough decisions.

Add into the mix the perennial problem in Asia of uneven growth and adoption, ongoing challenges around redefining agency roles, talent acquisition and retention, and an increasingly uncertain economic landscape, and it is clear that 2016 will not be a year for the fainthearted.

However, there will be plenty of rewards to be reaped for those who can best navigate the choppy waters ahead. Thats why weve called on some of the regions leading thinkers to share their expert insights and predictions for a successful 2016.

Flamingo Singapore CEO Emma Gage is one of our contributors and provides a sharp critique of the Southeast Asia marketing minefield, asserting post-millennial generation demands loud, brave and unconventional brands.

Meanwhile media is taken to task by Accenture MD George Patten who argues the industry needs to step up to the plate and prove it is providing true value. And to muddy the waters further, Edelman APACMEA CEO David Brain claims the smartest PR agencies will also enter the media-buying fray this year as they increasingly encroach on the advertising battlefield.

Data guru Lars Hamberg reveals why smarter machines are about to turbocharge big data and what it means for brands and businesses, while Grant Hunter, regional ECD at iris Asia, tears into creativity, claiming the industry needs better storytelling and that it needs to stop touting content as the ultimate solution.

We also drill down on tech that is likely to take off in 2016, and reflect on the big deals of 2015 and what they mean for the year ahead. As R3 founder Greg Paull points out about the latter, who would have thought that a farm machinery firm, LEO Group, would have been the biggest investor in agencies in 2015?

We trust that our industry experts assessments here will provide plenty more food for thought.
| BY Ricki Green |

Officeworks has kicked off the back to school season by launching its new campaign, Let their amazing out, via AJF Partnership, featuring a range of TVCs and a media and content partnership with Seven West Media.

The Let their Amazing Out campaign brings Officeworks One Stop School Shop proposition to life. The brand campaign aims to equip kids with school supplies to help let their amazing out.

Using clever composition to visually represent kids amazing ideas, thinking and inspiration bursting out of their minds, the new 15 and 30 second TVCs reinforce Officeworks promise to have everything to facilitate big thinking for all students.

The Seven West Media video content, which creatively captures four different scenarios of children being truly amazing, will roll out across Yahoo!7s online platforms with a consumer promotion encouraging parents to share their childs amazing moments to the #AmazingMomentsComp hashtag in a bid to win a $2,500 back to school prize pack. View the competition here.

Says Karl Winther, national marketing manager, Officeworks: Were dedicated to helping students let their amazing out and want them to have the best school year possible  this campaign really brings that to life.

The back to school period can be a stressful for parents, but its where we set our kids up for success. At Officeworks, we strive to ensure parents have a stress-free retail experience with the lowest prices on the widest range of back to school supplies.

To help parents and children let their amazing out, the retailer has engaged positive psychologist Michelle McQuaid and tech expert Trevor Long as this years Back to School spokespeople, providing parents and students with practical tips and advice to set help let their amazing out in the new school year.

PR and social media will complement activity and Back to School product essentials will be showcased on the brands Instagram, YouTube and Facebook profiles, providing inspiration for students of all ages.

Officeworks free cognitive learning app, Growing Minds, has been updated with a range of new features to provide educational based brain workouts, not only improving memory and attention span but challenging childrens aptitude and knowledge across Mathematics, English and Science all year round.

Keeping time efficiency and convenience front of mind for parents, the retailer will continue its successful free School List Service. Customers can submit their school list in-store and online nd receive a phone call or SMS when their items have been picked and packed by Officeworks team members.

Parents can be assured they will receive the best prices on back to school essentials with Officeworks Parents Price Promise that runs until the end of January. If parents find an identical stocked item on their childs school list at a lower price, Officeworks will beat it by 20%.

The Back to School campaign will also roll out locally with stores supporting The Smith Family childrens charity by fundraising for its Back to School Appeal to help disadvantaged young Australians to get the most out of their education. With store targets and community activities planned, its set to be the biggest fundraising year yet.

Finally, Officeworks has recently been announced as the exclusive stockist of Yoobi, a vibrant, colourful range of stationery supplies for school, home or office. As part of the partnership, Yoobi is giving back to the community with a Yoobi school item donated to The Smith Family for every Yoobi product purchased during the year.

Creative: AJF Partnership

Media: Initiative

Digital: DT

PR: Haystac

Social: Mango

Search: Columbus
"And because this rain is coming up from the sea, as it hits the coast it's got a lot of moisture and by the time it makes it further inland it has lost a lot of that moisture."
Everything at New Paraguay fell apart, the Age thought, over arguments about things like who should do the "disagreeable" work of digging the sewers and who should not have to do it.
He thought it seemed unfair as it is a public school in a catchment area which gives priority to some of Canberra's most disadvantaged suburbs, but when he voiced his complaints, he was told it was "the way of the future".
Whatever the outcomes in the medium to long term of all these moves by the Russian leader, it is clear that for the time being he has managed to be a key player on the world stage, whose cooperation is needed to solve some of the global problems. He wants the United States to treat him and Russia as an equal actor, with the right to protect and enhance Russian security interests within the neighbouring former Soviet territories. It remains to be seen how far he can take his assertive behaviour, whilst at the same time dealing with a weak economy which has been affected badly by Western sanctions and the sinking prices of oil  a major source of Russia's revenue.
"Ethan wanted to go camping and I was sure I didn't want to but then I saw this option and realised it gave us both what we wanted," Ms Mackenzie said. "Ethan didn't know much about this place and his breath was taken away when he got here."
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Modified On Jan 04, 2016 12:27 PM By Sumit

As the year commences, carmakers are all set to begin it with a fresh lineup of machines. 2016 will host the biennial event of Auto Expo which will reveal a plethora of much awaited automobiles. Various automakers are ready with their upgraded products and are just waiting for the right time to launch. We have compiled a list of sedans which are much awaited in the Indian market and are expected to be revealed this year.

Volkswagen Ameo

Probably the most anticipated sedan of 2016. The previous month, Volkswagen announced that it will be revealing the sub-4 meter sedan in Auto Expo 2016. Since then, the automobile has been spied several times and looks almost similar to its hatch counterpart, Polo. To name some aspects, the car shares the platform, headlight and the doors with it. Although heavily camouflaged, the grille looks identical to the one present in the facelift version of Vento.

Check design and feature analysis of the sedan

Expected Price: Rs. 6 - 9 Lac

Tata Zica Sedan

Tata is likely to launch the Zica Sedan in Auto Expo 2016. It is most likely to get its powertrains from Zica hatchback that includes a 1.2-litre three-cylinder motor and a 1.0-litre diesel engine. The car is likely to come with two drive modes viz. Eco and City.

Expected Price: Rs. 6.5 - 8.5 Lac

Honda City

Honda is ready to launch a facelift of its iconic sedan, City. Predicted to be revealed at Auto Expo 2016, the car is anticipated to be mechanically similar to the 2013 City. City 2016 is pegged to bear major aesthetic changes inside and out.

Expected Price: Rs. 8.5 - 11 Lac

Chevrolet Cruze (2nd Generation)

Already unveiled in the United States, the second generation of Cruze will most likely see the Indian sun at Auto Expo 2016. The new Cruze is 68mm longer and 25mm shorter than the previous model which increases the cabin space. The Indian version is most likely to get a 1.6-litre Ecotec diesel engine mated to a manual gearbox. The power and torque delivering capacity is likely to be similar to that of previous 2.0L engine.

Chevrolet Cruze: A Comprehensive Analysis

Expected Price: Rs. 15.5 - 18 Lac

Honda Accord Hybrid

Honda is all set to bring back its premium sedan, Accord, in 2016. First launched in 2001, the cars sales were finally halted in 2013 due to some reasons. Unlike Honda Civic hybrid, the Japanese automaker is anticipated not to bring Accord Hybrid as Completely Built Unit (CBU). The units are rather likely to be manufactured at local plants.

Expected Price: Rs. 30 - 34 Lac
Modified On Jan 05, 2016 01:13 PM By Sumit

Maruti Suzuki has registered a growth of 8.5% in sales for the month of December. While the domestic sales increased by 13.5% for the month, exports declined by 33.1%.

The Indo-Japanese carmaker sold 1,11,333 units in the domestic market in December last year as compared to 98,109 units during the same time frame in 2014. According to a press release, the company has registered a growth of 11.5% in utility vehicle sales which include cars like Ertiga and Gypsy. The largest hike came in the super-compact segment which observed a growth of 115% in sales. While the automaker sold 1,676 units of Dzire Tour (only super-compact offering of the company) in December 2014, last year the number rose to 3,614 units. In exports, however, the automaker observed a decline in sales from 11,682 units in December 2014 to 7,816 units last year. As plans are already in place to export Baleno to Europe, Maruti Suzuki is expected to do well this year.

For the year 2015, Indias largest car manufacturer has been able to do well and has observed an overall growth of 13.0%. It was able to sell 10,68,846 units last year as compared to 9,45,703 units in 2014. Even in exports, a growth of 5.1% was observed and Maruti sold 96,888 units as compared to 92,171 units in 2014. The growth in sales is partly attributed to Baleno which has invoked a spectacular response from customers within two months of its launch.

Also Read: Where Maruti is Heading?
Three college students who first met while attending a Catholic high school in Florida have launched a scholarship fund to help others experience faithful Catholic education at a Newman Guide college. As we went off to different colleges, we kept in touch and found time to catch up whenever we returned []
Our Promise: Welcome to Care2, the world's largest community for good. Here, you'll find over 45 million like-minded people working towards progress, kindness, and lasting impact.

Care2 Stands Against: bigots, racists, bullies, science deniers, misogynists, gun lobbyists, xenophobes, the willfully ignorant, animal abusers, frackers, and other mean people. If you find yourself aligning with any of those folks, you can move along, nothing to see here.

Care2 Stands With: humanitarians, animal lovers, feminists, rabble-rousers, nature-buffs, creatives, the naturally curious, and people who really love to do the right thing.

You are our people. You Care. We Care2.
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The Geneva motor show will mark the world debut of the restyled C3, if you believe Citroen, or European debut if you take into consideration the updated C3 presented in Brazil last summer.

On the outside, the European C3 gains the same suit of cosmetic upgrades as the Brazilian model including a new fascia with a double chevron grille and bumper-mounted LED daytime running lights, plus new tail light clusters combined with new reflectors set underneath the rear bumper. An available new Ink blue body paint completes the exterior revisions.

Stepping into the interior, there are new dashboard strips in matt black, brown or Moondust grey, which match the updated upholstery.

Citroen is also enhancing the C3s range with a new pair of PureTech 3-cylinder petrol engines with a 1.0 or 1.2-liter displacement and outputs of 67hp (68PS) and 81hp (82PS) respectively, borrowed from the new Peugeot 208.

The VTi 68 and VTi 82 PureTech engines return a fuel economy between 62.8 and 65.7mpg UK (4.5lt  4.3lt/100km), and CO2 emissions between 99 and 104g/km.

A VTi 120 (118hp) petrol engine is also available with a manual or automatic gearbox, as are four diesel units, the HDi 70, e-HDi 70, HDi 90 and e-HDi 115.

European sales will begin after the Geneva Auto Salon, with the C3 facelift to arrive in the UK this summer.

PHOTO GALLERY
Ahead of its official unveil at the 2016 NAIAS on January 11, the new Mercedes-Benz E-Class will be previewed at the 2016 CES later this week.



The announcement was made by the German firm, but visitors shouldnt expect the whole car to be present at the Las Vegas event, because the three-pointed star will only preview the cockpit.

Exclusively, in advance of the world premiere in Detroit, CES visitors can also experience the innovative cockpit of the upcoming new E-Class which is set to herald an all new era in digitalization, said the automaker.

The highlights of the executive sedans interior are the two 12.3-inch screens, wireless charging, the energy-saving LEDs and others, while customers of the entry-level version will get the analog dials, separated by a 7-inch display and an 8.4-inch display for the infotainment system.

The 2017 Mercedes-Benz E-Class will be officially unveiled, on January 11, during the Detroit auto Show, and a week later, the company will reportedly start taking pre-orders for it.

Benz will also offer an insight into the future of the User Interface and User Experience design with the Concept Intelligent Aerodynamic Automobile, known as the IAA Concept that was unveiled at the 2015 Frankfurt Motor Show, with its body hinting at the design of the upcoming CLS.

PHOTO GALLERY
Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn announced on Monday that the Japanese brand will introduce a production version of their Kicks Concept from the 2014 Sao Paulo Motor Show that will retain the same name.



Conceived through a collaboration between Nissan Design America (NDA) in San Diego and Nissan Design America  Rio (NDA-R), the compact sized crossover will be produced at the firms Resende Industrial Complex in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and will be sold globally, starting with Latin American markets from 2016.

Nissan said that there are ongoing studies for other regions, without elaborating further.

Nissan invented the first crossover in 2003, with the Murano, said Ghosn during the announcement. Since then, weve established our global crossover leadership with vehicles like JUKE, Qashqai and X-Trail  which have been great successes. The Kicks will bring Nissans unique Crossover expertise to more regions.

In concept form, the Kicks measures 4,300mm (169.3in) long, 1,800mm (70.8in) wide and 1,600mm (63in) tall, with a wheelbase of 2,620mm (103.1in), making 175mm (6.9in) longer overall than the Juke with a 90mm (3.5in) bigger wheelbase, while width and height are about the same as the sub-compact model.

Photo Gallery

Nissan Kicks Concept
According to the indictment, Gordon saw a trailer for Kung Fu Panda in early 2008. Gordon then revised his Panda Power drawings and registered them as Kung Fu Panda Power with the Copyright Office in May 2008, prior to the June 2008 release of DreamWorks animated feature.

The revisions Gordon made included removing Kids mask and medallion and instead depicting Kid in a rope belt and shorts, like the animated films lead, Po; descriptions of Kid as the more immature of the 2 pandas; and illustrations of Red with more white on his face, to make him look older, like the DreamWorks character Master Shifu. In Kung Fu Panda, the giant panda Po, voiced by comic star Jack Black, is the less mature, accident-prone character, whereas the red panda, Shifu, is the stern kung fu master, voiced by Hollywood elder statesman Dustin Hoffman.

In February 2011, Gordon filed a copyright infringement suit against DreamWorks in the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In July 2011, Gordons attorneys emailed DreamWorks counsel, offering to settle for $12 million and half a percentage royalty on all future Kung Fu Panda sales revenue. One of Gordons expert witnesses even claimed Gordon had suffered damages of more than $150 million.

During discovery related to the lawsuit, DreamWorks attorneys unearthed evidence that on April 10, 2012 Gordon had deliberately erased computer files holding material related to the lawsuit. In fact, Gordon installed and used a program called Permanent Eraser to remove the files, and then deleted Permanent Eraser itself on April 13, 2012.

An expert witness for DreamWorks then pointed out to them that illustrations of Gordons pandas that were ostensibly dated 1992 and 1994 were in fact copied from a Disney coloring book that was not released until 1996. DreamWorks concluded that Gordon had backdated the drawings to try to strengthen his copyright claims against DreamWorks.

Then, in a deposition related to that lawsuit, Gordon claimed his illustrations were original and that he did not directly take elements from other works, that his drawings were dated 1992 because that was when he drew them, and that he had not changed his characters in any way since he had created them in the early 1990s.

The Cybercrime Unit of the U.S. Attorneys Office in Boston will now prosecute Gordon, alleging that, when his attorneys sent four emails on his behalf related to the lawsuit, including requests for discovery and a settlement proposal, Gordon did knowingly transmitby means of wire communication in interstate commerce, writingsfor the purpose of executing his fraudulent scheme, and that by knowingly lying under oath he committed perjury.

Our intellectual property laws are designed to protect creative artists, not defraud them, said U.S. Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz. The misuse of civil litigation as part of a fraud scheme, and lying under oath, as alleged in this case, warp our federal judicial system and must be addressed with appropriate criminal sanctions.

For the charges of wire fraud and perjury, Gordon faces up to 25 years in prison, six years of supervised release, and fines up to $500,000 plus restitution to DreamWorks. The FBI pointed out in its press release that actual sentences for federal crimes are typically less than the maximum penalties. According to the federal indictment, DreamWorks spent approximately $1 million to defend the lawsuit, and another $2 million was spent by its insurance company.

The Boston Cybercrime Unit is famously aggressive in prosecuting alleged violations of U.S intellectual property law, most notably its controversial prosecution of software developer, Internet activist, and Reddit pioneer Aaron Swartz for wire fraud and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. Swartz committed suicide in 2013 after prosecutors rejected a plea bargain offer made by Swartz.
Photo: Contributed - Kelowna Chamber of Commerce

Author, public speaker, son of the Tsimshian Nation Chief and president of Eagle Spirit Energy is coming to Kelowna to speak about economic security for Indigenous people.

The Kelowna Chamber of Commerce is hosting Calvin Helin at the Hotel Eldorado on Feb. 4, from 11:45 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Helin was named number 39 in Canadian Business Most Powerful Business People of 2016.

Eagle Spirit Energy has a pipeline proposal to replace the currently proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipeline.

Helin says Eagle Sprit Energy has a key component in their proposal that Enbridge doesn't - a social license.

Eagle Sprit claims they have consent from all the First Nations chiefs along their proposed pipeline route.

Admission to the event is $55, which includes lunch. Admission for Chamber members is $40. Tickets must be purchased by Jan. 15.
Photo: Contributed

Kelowna firefighters responded to an alarm at the Conservatory on the 700 block of Glenmore Drive, Saturday.

Upon arrival, first crews were told there was a small dryer fire that had been extinguished.

They responded to the eighth floor and confirmed the fire had been extinguished by the occupant of the suite.

Firefighters checked for extension of any flame and then ventilated the hallway and the involved suite.

They then used a gas meter to ensure there was no build up of CO2 during ventilation.

After that, residents were allowed back into the building.

The department reminds the public to check smoke alarms on a regular basis.
Photo: Contributed - Chad Jones

UPDATE 3:04 P.M.

A house fire in the East Kelowna area Sunday morning is not deemed suspicious.

The Kelowna Fire Department would like to remind the public to collect fireplace ashes in a metal

container and to make sure the ashes are cold before disposing of them, said Tim Light, Kelowna Fire Department Platoon Captain.

When firefighters arrived they found the garage of the home in the 2100 block of Diamond Road fully involved.

Quick actions by the first unit slowed the progress of the fire allowing firefighters to enter the structure and limit the damages on the inside of the home to mostly smoke and water damage, said Light. An aggressive salvage of personal belongings was done by the inside team to protect family heirlooms and some irreplaceable items.

UPDATE 1:13 P.M.

At least three fire trucks, an ambulance, police and a crew from Fortis have responded to the blaze on Diamond Road according to witness Chad Jones who was heading home from church and stopped to assist the family in the house.

Me and another vehicle pulled up at the same time. We knocked on the door and helped them get out. I don't think they knew there was a fire, said Jones. We helped them grab a few things to get out of house. It was taking off pretty quick.

Jones said he helped the couple and their adults daughter grab jackets to keep warm before fleeing the home.

It started just behind the garage. It was attached to so it did spread to the house, said Jones, adding when he arrived at the scene at 11:40 a.m., there were flames shooting into the sky.

There was smoke billowing through the whole house, he said, adding everyone got out safely.

Emergency crews remain on scene.

Fire crews have been called to a blaze at Diamond Road off Stewart Road East.

The fire broke out sometime before noon Sunday.

According to witnesses, the fire started in a garage and threatened to spread to the adjacent house.

Castanet will have more information as soon as it become available.

Email you information and pictures to [email protected]
Photo: Contributed

An Edmonton man got half his bill back after being charged $1,100 for an Uber ride on New Years Eve.

Matthew Lindsey says his driver made three stops to drop off passengers, travelling 63 kilometres over the course of an hour.

We use Uber all the time, Lindsey told CTV. Ive actually taken a similar route at peak time before, and it cost me about $77.

His New Years trip would normally cost $125  but the ride-sharing app uses "surge multiplier" during times of peak demand. The supply and demand model increases prices "to encourage more drivers to become available, according to Ubers website.

The multiplier of 8.9 on New Year's Eve caused the price of Lindsey's ride to balloon to $1,114.71.

Users are shown the multiplier before accepting a ride, and also given the option to be notified when surge pricing ends. If they accept, riders must type in the multiplier theyre agreeing to pay.

But, after Lindsey's story went public, Uber offered to refund half his fare.

They just haven't acknowledged the fact that this is an unfathomable price. Its a ridiculous, outrageous price," said Lindsey.

 with files from CTV News
Snow is expected to fall across the Okanagan for the next 36 hours.

Eight to 10 centimetres is anticipated from the Fraser Valley all the way to the Alberta border, according to Environment Canada.

Meteorologist Lisa Coldwells describes the system as a lazy low and says it is situated above the Southern Interior.

It is a weak system, but it has enough moisture, and it is not going anywhere, Coldwells explained. The valleys and the mountain peaks will get the same amount of snow.

She said the snow will fall in varying degrees of intensity, but possibly half a centimetre an hour can be expected.

For motorists travelling the Coquihalla and Okanagan Connector, Coldwells expects fog patches and possible whiteout conditions.

To the north, there is no snow because of the high pressure area, and really good cold Arctic air, she explained.

After the 36 hours of anticipated snowfall, Coldwells said the Okanagan will remain cloudy with temperatures just below zero and the possibility of flurries for the rest of the week.
My family and I went to Costa Rica for Christmas; during the evening sometime while we were asleep we were broken into and robbed. Our passports, I.D., credit cards, cell phones, money and jewelry were stolen.

We got in touch with the Canadian Embassy in San Jose to try to get new passports. They were helpful but we could only get passports for five days for all four of us and the Canadian Government charged us $453.00. Plus we now have to reapply for four new passports which will cost us $110.00 dollars each.

I don't understand why are we being punished for something we didn't do.

First of all, cellphones credit card and cash are material things but being robbed of your identity and with no access to funds in a foreign country is very scary situation. As a Canadian and asking for help in a foreign country from the Canadian Government was pointless. Needless to say we didn't have a very good Christmas.

So a warning to all Canadians - when you leave the country and your passports get stolen, don't count on the Canadian Government to bring you back home without a price!

Sue Hawkins
Pakistan: Attock Cement selects Hefei for new plant

04 January 2016

Attock Cement Pakistan Ltd has awarded a contract to Hefei Cement Research and Design Institute (China) for a new 4000tpd plant in Hub, Balochistan, the cement producer said.



"The management of Attock Cement has concluded an agreement for setting up new 4000tpd cement manufacturing plant with all standard parts and accessories with Hefei Cement Research and Design Institute (China)," the company said in a bourse filing.

In August the manufacturer informed the Karachi Stock Exchange that its board approved a proposal to increase its production capacity by installing a new plant with an estimated cost of US$120m at its existing site.

FY14-15 was a record breaking year of the company both in operational and financial terms. The company achieved its largest ever clinker production of 1.835Mt in year 2015 while export sales hit a high of 739,400t. Attock also succeeded in securing its highest ever net sales at PKR13.1bn in 2015 while net profit reached a high of PKR2.2bn.

Published under
Algerias GICA plans to produce 23Mt in 2019

ICR Newsroom By 04 January 2016

Algerian cement producer, Groupe Industriel des ciments dAlgerie (GICA) expects to increase its cement capacity in four plants and build a further two works. This will raise capacity from the current 11.5Mta to 23Mta in 2019.



Expansion projects at the works of Ain Kebira and Chlef are forecast to be completed in September this year, increasing capacity to 1.5Mta. As a result, GICA expects to replace the 3.5Mt of imports by national output by the end of the year.



Moreover, Zahana and Beni Saf will see the addition of new production lines, expanding capacity by 3.5Mta.



The new plants at Oum El Boughi and Bechar are expected to come online in November 2018, raising output potential by a further 3Mta.

Published under
Applications are now being accepted for the Dalton Police Departments Citizens Police Academy program. The agencys 24th Citizens Police Academy class will start Feb. 23.

The Citizens Academy will meet on Tuesdays from 6-9 p.m. for 10 weeks (Feb. 23April 26) at the Dalton Police Services Center. During the course of the program, participants will get an up close look at every aspect of the police departments operation.

In addition to classroom sessions covering each of the departments three divisions and each specialized unit within the agency, the course also gives participants chances to experience policing in the real world. Among the real world experiences offered by the program is a chance to spend one night at the county firing range to test fire all of the departments weapons. The academy also provides each participant a chance to ride along with a patrol officer for a shift.

Each session of the academy is taught by members of the Dalton Police Department and also subject matter experts from other agencies. While you wont be an officer at the end of the ten week program, youll know a lot more about police work than you ever thought possible.

Applicants must be at least 21 years old and a U.S. citizen. Background checks will be performed on all applicants. Please note that completion of the course does not certify a participant as a police officer. To apply, pick up an application form at the Police Services Center at 301 Jones Street. You can also apply online at daltonpd.com/citizensacademy or you can call Officer Brandon Daugherty at 706-278-9085, dial 9 and enter extension 282.
Baxalta Inc. has agreed to pay up to $1.6 billion to Danish biotechnology firm Symphogen to help develop experimental cancer drugs, the latest step in Baxalta's aggressive push into oncology treatments.

But Baxalta declined to comment on separate reports Monday that it is in advanced talks to be acquired by Irish drugmaker Shire Inc. for $32 billion in cash and stock. Shire has been pursuing Baxalta almost from the day it was spun off from parent Baxter International last summer. In August, Baxalta turned down Shire's offer of $30 billion in stock, saying that amount undervalued the company.

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Bloomberg reported Monday that the two companies are again in serious talks and may announce a deal as soon as this week. The Wall Street Journal reported that "details still needed to be ironed out and an agreement wasn't certain."

Shire has made no secret of its ongoing interest in Baxalta and has told investor groups and the Chicago Tribune repeatedly in recent months that it wants to buy the company. In October, Shire said it "continues to believe the proposed Baxalta acquisition represents a highly strategic combination to create the global rare diseases leader."

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Shire did not return phone calls Monday seeking comment. Baxalta, which makes products that treat rare bleeding disorders and immune deficiencies, brushed off questions of whether it was in serious talks with Shire or any other company. "We as a policy do not comment on rumors or speculation," Baxalta spokesman Geoff Mogilner wrote in an email.

Some analysts said Baxalta is in good financial shape and doesn't need to rush into any deal but is likely to consider all offers.

"Baxalta will be OK on their own," said Les Funtleyder, a health analyst for E Squared Capital, a New York hedge fund. "It's not like they're a distressed company that needs a lot of capital or a bigger platform."

Baxalta employs about 16,000 people worldwide and has about 800 workers at its corporate headquarters in the northern suburb of Bannockburn. It is also opening an office on West Madison Street in downtown Chicago that will house an unspecified number of workers.

Meanwhile, Baxalta's deal with Symphogen is designed to help it push harder into cancer treatments, a growing field. Baxalta said the first experimental drug will enter early-stage clinical trials next year. If it is successful, Baxalta will have exclusive option rights to complete late-stage development and worldwide commercialization.

"With the expertise Symphogen offers in this category, and their broad portfolio of early-stage immuno-oncology programs, this collaboration allows us to actively advance one of the most innovative areas of this field," said David Meek, executive vice president for Baxalta.

jrussell@tribpub.com

Twitter @johnrussell99
Two recent surveys  one published by the U.S. Census Bureau and another by movers United Van Lines  both put Illinois among the top three states losing residents to the rest of the U.S. in 2015. (CHARLIE NEIBERGALL / AP)

We may be enjoying an unusually mild winter, but you can still blame Illinois' harsh climate for again sending older residents permanently scurrying for warmer parts of the country.

Two recent surveys  one published by the U.S. Census Bureau and another by movers United Van Lines  both put Illinois among the top three states losing residents to the rest of the U.S. in 2015.

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A continuing trend for retiring baby boomers to move South and West is partly to blame for the numbers.

Only New York saw more residents leave for other states, according to the Census Bureau, while only New York and New Jersey had a higher proportion of movers ditching their states than Illinois, according to United Van Lines.

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"This year's data reflects longer-term trends of people moving to the Pacific West, where cities such as Portland and Seattle are seeing the combination of a boom in the technology and creative marketing industry, as well as a growing 'want' for outdoor activity and green space," Michael Stoll, economist, professor and chair of the department of public policy at the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a news release. "The aging Boomer population is driving relocation from the Northeast and Midwest to the West and South, as more and more people retire to warmer regions."

While 105,200 Illinoisans left the state for other parts of the U.S. last year, 37,600 residents moved into the state from overseas, according to the Census Bureau.

The states gaining the most U.S. movers according to the Census Bureau  Texas, Florida, Colorado, North Carolina, Arizona, South Carolina, Washington, Tennessee, Oregon and Georgia  are all in the West or South. Of those losing the most  New York, Illinois, New Jersey, California, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Maryland and Kansas  most are Midwestern or Northeastern.

Chicago, which has been losing residents to the suburbs and the South, continues to be attractive to movers from other states, according to U-Haul, which last year said it rented more trucks to people coming to Chicago than any other city except Houston.

kjanssen@tribpub.com

Twitter @kimjnews
Many have roots that predate Emanuel's reign, and some argue not all the criticism has been fair. But the headlines from publications typically more staid than sensational tell a sad story, for a man who has sold himself both nationally and locally as someone who gets things done and doesn't take maybe for an answer.
In an analysis of new American Community Survey data, William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution , examines the racial diversity of large metropolitan areas across the country. Data show that Chicago ranks third behind Milwaukee and New York City as the most segregated large cities in the country.

The data also show that 76 percent of Chicago's African-American population and 56 percent of the Hispanic population would have to move in order to achieve complete integration.

Because more whites, Asians and Hispanics have moved into certain communities, the average black resident now lives in a neighborhood that is 64 percent black. In 2000, that figure was 72 percent.

The charts below show how much of the black and Hispanic communities in each city would need to change neighborhoods to effect the same distribution as whites.

Ethnic segregation

As measured by dissimilarity index for U.S. metropolitan areas with population of over 1 million, 2010-14

An index value (horizontal axis) of 100 means complete segregation; 0 means complete integration
It's a mere quarter of a gram of ivory - about 1/100 of an ounce - embedded at the bottom tip of many violin bows. But because it comes from the tusks of the African elephant, its presence - often on the bow tips of viola, cello and bass players as well - has become a major headache for U.S. orchestras and soloists leaving the country for tours overseas.

Overlapping state, federal and international rules designed to stop the horrific poaching of the world's largest land animal have resulted in a regulatory web that has enveloped the rarefied world of the symphony orchestra, the tiny clique of artisans who make bows and the thousands of professional string players across the country. (Then there's the odd bassoonist, whose instrument sometimes has an ivory band around the bell, and a subset of bagpipers who perform on instruments with more than half a dozen ivory parts.)

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In a classic Washington case of unintended consequences, the Obama administration's widely lauded efforts in the past two years to impose a near-total ban on ivory importation has ensnared not only classical musicians, but also builders of pipe organs, guitar players, cane collectors, antiques dealers and even members of the National Rifle Association who collect, trade and sell weapons with ivory rifle stocks or ivory pistol grips.

But it is arguably classical musicians, especially those who travel outside the United States for concerts, auditions and even teaching gigs, who have squawked the loudest, and in a large number of cases have changed out the offending ivory components in their instruments - or simply decided to leave behind that $100,000, ivory-tipped, early-19th-century Francois Tourte bow.

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No musician wants to be seen as supporting the poaching of African elephants, whose population as recently as 1979 was more than a million but is believed to have collapsed to below half of that. It's just that few, if any, musicians think their ivory-tipped cello bows are contributing to the poaching crisis.

"I'm a big animal freak. I think what (conservationists are) doing is wonderful; shut these poachers down," said Lewis Lipnick, the National Symphony Orchestra's contrabassoonist. "But no one is going to kill elephants for bows or bassoon bell rings."

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has the job of enforcing the ivory import ban, acknowledges as much. Guidelines laid out by Fish and Wildlife, which is part of the Department of the Interior, "provide adequate assurances" that taking a musical instrument in and out of the country "would not contribute to either the illegal trade in elephant ivory or the illegal killing of elephants."

The catch, of course, is following those guidelines, which involves walking a fine line between two federal statutes - the Endangered Species Act of 1973 and the African Elephant Conservation Act of 1989 - and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, known as CITES.

"The whole realm of ivory is one of the more complicated areas of wildlife law," said Craig Hoover, a former officer at the World Wildlife Fund and now chief of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Management Authority and the government's point person on ivory regulations.

And it's been made even more complicated by efforts to carve out exceptions so that string musicians can, for example, travel with ivory-tipped bows. "We've created some additional complexity explicitly to accommodate certain activities," Hoover said, in what is certainly a bureaucratic understatement.

First, a musician who wants to go abroad and whose instrument contains ivory needs to obtain a CITES musical-instrument certificate, or "passport." To do that, the musician must provide proof that the African elephant that yielded the ivory used in the instrument was "removed from the wild" before Feb. 26, 1976, the date African elephants were listed in one of the three CITES appendixes. Depending on the pedigree of the musical instrument, it may be possible to obtain a date of manufacture from the maker. But often, it is not.

"I've got five drum sets, and some of my drums have ivory inlays," said Raymond Hair Jr., the international president of the American Federation of Musicians, which represents about 85,000 musicians in the United States and Canada. "I don't have the receipts for any of them. No musician keeps that stuff for 30 to 40 years."

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But even if you can prove that your ivory-tipped viola bow was made well before the 1976 cutoff date, "that's the least burdensome part of the process," said Heather Noonan, the chief lobbyist for the League of American Orchestras.

In fact, the challenge only becomes more complicated. Musicians traveling with a CITES passport have to leave and re-enter the country through one of 18 U.S. ports designated for animal material, which includes not just ivory but, for example, also the hawksbill sea turtle - another protected species from which material is harvested for use on the grips of bows. "If you have a tortoiseshell frog, an ivory tip and a whalebone winding, I'd say, 'Bring something else,'" said Christopher Germain, a Philadelphia-based violin-maker, referring to the baleen whalebone thread that is sometimes wound around the bow grip.

Indeed, that's exactly what happened when Germain spent three days with the National Symphony Orchestra in early December assessing some 70 violins, violas, cellos and basses, and 110 bows. The orchestra is leaving in early February for a European tour.

"We found four or five bows with whalebone or tortoiseshell, and that's just too difficult to permit," said orchestra manager Cynthia Steele. "I was told you would have to identify the actual subspecies of whale used, and the tortoiseshell bow would have to have been purchased before 1973."

Otherwise, Steele said, the NSO will be applying for CITES permits for the 46 bows its members are taking with ivory tips, the 16 bows with white oyster, which, although not a banned substance, must still be declared, and the 21 bows with water-monitor-lizard skin on the grip.

"People are relieved there is a process now, and they can take these 46 bows with them." Steele said. "A few years ago, a lot of people were worried they'd need to get a new bow."

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Of course, if your violin happens to be older - 200- and 300-year-old violins are not uncommon in major symphony orchestras - and has any Brazilian rosewood, a CITES-listed plant species, you must pass through one of 15 U.S. ports where Department of Agriculture inspectors check for endangered plants. And if your bow has ivory and your violin contains Brazilian rosewood, there are just nine U.S. ports with both Fish and Wildlife and Agriculture Department inspectors.

And that's not all. If you are not traveling through a designated port between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., you have to pay a $105 overtime fee for an inspector to come in early or stay late. And you have to email the Declaration for Importation or Exportation of Fish or Wildlife form to the Fish and Wildlife port office 48 hours ahead of time.

It was this sort of hassle that led bassoonist Joseph Grimmer, whose July 22 post in his blog lays out in detail every step of the process, to finally have the ivory bell ring on his 1956 bassoon, made by the venerable German company Heckel, removed and replaced with plastic.

"The whole thing feels like, well, you've bought this instrument and played it for decades and then you find out there's contraband on it," said Grimmer, the principal bassoonist at the Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, referring to the ivory ring. "You feel like a criminal. It's very bizarre."

But he said it also felt wrong to damage the physical integrity of a nearly 60-year-old instrument. "When I was at Heckel, I asked if they did any ivory removals, and they seemed very offended."

The complexity of the rules and the vagaries of the inspection process have scared off some musicians from traveling with bows that do not even have elephant ivory but a widely used and perfectly legal substitute: ivory from long-dead woolly mammoths uncovered by hunters or the thawing of the Arctic permafrost.

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Although it is possible to tell the two materials apart by examining the angle of the cross-hatching on elephant and mammoth ivory - the so-called Schreger lines - violist Kristen Linfante said she could never be sure that the Fish and Wildlife inspector on duty would make the correct determination, although the onus is on the inspector to prove any suspicion that the substance is from a regulated species rather than from a mammoth. As a result, she noted, when her Baroque ensemble, the Cleveland-based Apollo's Fire, made its debut this summer at the BBC Proms, its most important show ever, "I had to play on a $100 Baroque bow."

Right now, there is a lengthy, proposed rule by the Fish and Wildlife Service that, when the final version is released some time next year, should at least make the current rules permanent. So controversial is the subject that Hoover says more than a million comments were received, most of them robo-comments, but at least a few thousand of which were substantive.

The League of American Orchestras said the best solution would be a "personal effects" exemption for musical instruments sent by cargo, although it's unclear whether Fish and Wildlife agrees. Meanwhile, says the league's lobbyist Noonan, "folks just want to know how they can get through this process so their tours aren't jeopardized."

The complexity of the ivory rules has even led some foreign orchestras to question whether it's worth a tour to the United States, says longtime New York bowmaker Yung Chin, who is president of the American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers. Some may have been spooked by the 2014 seizure at Kennedy Airport of seven bows belonging to members of the Budapest Festival Orchestra because they had what Fish and Wildlife officials believed were ivory tips.

Although the bows were returned when the musicians left the United States, "some very famous orchestras have openly said: 'Is it worth it to come to the U.S., to come to New York?'" says Chin. In 2012, according to the league, foreign guest artists were hired by U.S. orchestras to play in the United States more than 1,200 times.

"I don't know one person in my trade is in favor of the hunting and killing of elephants, I personally think it's abominable," he added. "But people should think about the sustainability of the arts as well."
Instead of promising to do something mundane, like cutting down on chocolate, why not try something enjoyable like learning how to play the piano? (Getty Images / Brand X)

There is something about this time of year that makes us want to change our lives along with the season.

Often, we find ourselves looking back woefully at all of the great things we set out to do in the past year but never accomplished. And we set ourselves up for failure once again by making more mundane promises such as going to the gym, saving more money or eating less chocolate.

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That has been the pattern for most of my adult life.

So this year, I've decided to take a different approach. Instead of promising to do the things I hate, I'm going to do the thing I love most.

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I will learn to play the piano again.

My love affair with the piano blossomed late, though we were introduced in my youth. There were too many distractions then. Homecoming dances, cheerleading and learning to drive blinded me from the joy that a concerto could bring.

It was my mother's dream, however, that I would someday be an accomplished pianist, not necessarily in an orchestra or on the stage of a grand hall. The church sanctuary was enough to please her.

I can only guess that this must have been a dream that she once held for herself, but the time and place in which she grew up would not allow it. So she scrimped and saved from her menial job to pay for my piano lessons for nearly a decade.

On Saturday mornings, I made my way along a dusty sidewalk to Mrs. Tarver's house, two doors up the street. I can still remember the sound of the wooden metronome ticking away on top of her upright piano and the silver-haired retired school teacher standing over me waving a ruler to the beat.

"Practice. Practice. Practice," she would say as I walked out the door. But that would be impossible with no piano at home.

After about a year of lessons, my father decided it was time to get a piano for the house. I was ecstatic  until I saw it.

It looked nothing like the shiny new spinet my best friend had in her living room or even the older upright in my grandmother's dining room.

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It was a monster of a piano, as tall as the ceiling, with blond wood adorned with ornate carvings. Knowing my dad, he had gotten a deal from someone's garage or found it discarded in a yard. It was out of tune and would remain that way for the entire time we owned it.

Nowadays, it might be considered a collectible antique, but to a 10-year-old, it was just plain scary. My brother and I were afraid to even walk past it at night. But over time, I came to appreciate my piano. With practice, I learned my notes and, at best, could stumble through a handful of songs. That was enough to land me a high school job playing for Sunday school at our church. And when my best friend's dad, an undertaker, needed a pianist for a funeral, I volunteered.

After high school, I never played again.

Now, some 40 years later, my mother's dream for me has become my own.

I recently purchased my first piano: a shiny black, used baby grand I found on Craigslist. I smile when I pass it in my living room.

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I signed up for music lessons with a Russian piano teacher, trained at Juilliard. She told me that within a year I would be good enough to travel with her and other students to Switzerland, where we would hold a recital in a castle on a mountaintop. My eyes lit up.

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Unimpressed with my rusty skills, she started me from the beginning  unteaching me what little I remembered about the piano. The songs she selected were slow and boring, and reminded me of what I disliked most about taking piano as a child.

So after three lessons, I moved on. And then I met Oscar. He's teaching me to play my favorite Broadway tunes from "Phantom of the Opera" and "Carousel." This spring, I will host a recital in my living room. I've invited other late-blooming musicians to join me  a friend who recently took up the harmonica, another who's learning cello and another who is taking voice lessons.

Oscar didn't promise me Carnegie Hall or a mountaintop in Switzerland. But he assured me that, with practice, I could at least play well enough to enjoy the sound of my own music.

At the end of a long day, I turn to the piano to soothe the spirit and recharge the mind.

As it turns out, that's all I really need.

dglanton@tribpub.com
Last April, a man received a series of text messages from an acquaintance's cellphone referring to a "bag" she'd received from him days earlier, according to court records.

"When can u come again?" one text read, with another indicating she'd received $100 as an Easter gift the day before.

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But unbeknownst to Herman Trigg  the man who authorities said received those texts  the woman who seemingly had sent them, 29-year-old Melissa Carroll, had died two days prior of a suspected heroin overdose. Trigg also didn't know that the actual sender was a detective from the McHenry County sheriff's office who was pretending to be Carroll.

Trigg  listed in Carroll's phone contacts as "Lorenzo Trigger"  showed up at the woman's home that evening in McHenry, where he was confronted by officers who said they found heroin and marijuana in his possession and arrested him, court records show. During questioning later at the police station, authorities said, Trigg admitted that he sold the woman $100 of heroin two days before her death. He was charged with several drug-related offenses and later with drug-induced homicide in connection to Carroll's death and is currently being held in the county jail awaiting trial.

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But now, in what's been called the first legal challenge of its kind in Illinois, Trigg's lawyers are seeking to block from that trial his statements to police and the texts officials say he sent, as well as evidence gained through the authorities' use of the woman's cellphone. The defense attorneys argue that investigators violated Trigg's Fourth Amendment rights against unreasonable search and seizure because police did not get a search warrant to look through the woman's cellphone or use it to text Trigg.

The prosecutor on the case, Randi Freese, argued that authorities didn't need a warrant because the cellphone account was in the name of Carroll's mother's boyfriend, who gave police permission to use it "in any way that we needed," according to court records. Freese also said Trigg lacked a "legitimate expectation of privacy" regarding text messages stored on someone else's phone. In other words, she argued, police might have needed a search warrant to look through Trigg's phone, but not to see text messages he sent to someone else's phone.

Though officials said such claims have not before been tested in Illinois courts, prosecutors cited several similar cases in other states that they say show precedence is on their side.

In Rhode Island, for example, the state Supreme Court allowed as evidence incriminating texts that were sent by a defendant to his girlfriend's phone, according to the McHenry County prosecutors. In an Oregon case, an officer searching a car that had been reported missing found a cellphone with a text message on it asking if the recipient knew of anyone who wanted to buy methamphetamine. The officer exchanged messages with the sender, who agreed to sell him the drug. An appeals court there ruled that once that message was sent, the sender gave up her protected privacy interest.

But Trigg's attorney, Assistant Public Defender Grant Tucker, argued that the officer used "clandestine and secretive" tactics and improperly "prompted" Trigg to return to Carroll's home through a "deliberate solicitation of information of an incriminating nature."

Tucker called the detective's actions "intrusive in nature and a manipulation."

The case against Trigg began on April 4, when responders were called to Carroll's home. They found her dead in the bathroom, along with "items consistent with heroin use" and a sweatshirt containing her cellphone, according to court documents filed by prosecutors.

McHenry County Sheriff's Detective Kyle Mandernack spoke that day to the boyfriend of Carroll's mother and he gave authorities permission to access and use the phone and later emailed the detective a call log report, the records show.

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Two days later, Mandernack found messages on the phone between Carroll and "Lorenzo Trigger" that appeared to indicate he was her "source for narcotics," the document states. The most recent was an April 3 text that read, "My guy left his cologne bag," and a follow-up the next day asking, "You cool?"

Mandernack, who testified at a pretrial hearing on the evidence in December, said that, while pretending to be Carroll, he used vague "drug talk" in texts with Trigg to arrange to buy a $100 bag of heroin from him.

Trigg, who lived in Crystal Lake at the time of his April arrest but later moved to Palatine, also took the stand at the December hearing. He denied that when he sent a text saying, "I'll bring that," it referred to him supplying heroin to Carroll. Rather, he said, it meant that Carroll had 100 Xanax pills, an anti-anxiety prescription drug, to sell to him.

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Trigg, 31, testified that he had planned to consume the drugs with Carroll that day but was not going to sell her any. But Freese, the prosecutor, pointed out that after Trigg was taken into custody, he told police he had brought $100 worth of heroin to sell to Carroll. He also told police he sold her $100 of heroin on April 2, two days before she died.

"He's choosing to sell drugs. ... It's very, very simple," Freese said. "He chose a forum where he knew he was taking a risk. He got tricked. I don't think that means his rights were violated."

Criminal defense lawyers contacted by the Tribune said they felt it was unlikely Trigg would be able to prove his Fourth Amendment rights were trampled. He might have an expectation of privacy for the data on his own phone, the lawyers said, but it would break new ground in Illinois to rule his rights were violated by police using another person's phone with permission.

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"I don't see it," said J. Steven Beckett, director of the trial advocacy program at the University of Illinois College of Law.

Jeff Urdangen, director of the Center for Criminal Defense at Northwestern University School of Law's Bluhm Legal Clinic, called the matter "a complicated Fourth Amendment question." He said the issue of Fourth Amendment violations has been addressed in Illinois courts in scenarios involving the recording of phone calls, but to a lesser extent with regard to text messages.

McHenry County Judge Michael Feetterer is expected to issue his ruling in the Trigg case on Wednesday.

Amanda Marrazzo is a freelance reporter. Tribune reporter Dan Hinkel contributed.
An analysis based on census data shows Chicago remains one of the most racially segregated large cities in the country. (Chris Sweda / Chicago Tribune)

Racial segregation in Chicago neighborhoods has declined as more African-Americans have opted to move to the suburbs and more whites and Latinos have moved into historically black communities, an analysis based on new census data shows.

But while some Chicago neighborhoods have become more racially diverse, the city remains one of the most segregated large cities in the country, said William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution who analyzed the data.

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Milwaukee ranks highest on the list of most segregated large cities and New York City ranks second, Frey's data show. Chicago is third, and 76 percent of the city's African-American population would have to move in order to achieve complete integration, the research shows.

"In both slow-growing places like Chicago and fast-growing places like Atlanta, there is a decline of blacks in the city and an increase of blacks in the suburbs," Frey said. "What did the average neighborhood look like for a black person in 2014? It was a little less black. There were a few more whites there and a few more Hispanics."

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Most people here live in neighborhoods that have a little more diversity then they did a decade ago, according to Frey's research, which looks at the Chicago region along with some outlying suburbs.

For example, the average white resident in the Chicago area now lives in a neighborhood that is 71.5 percent white. That figure is down from nearly 79 percent in 2000 because there are more Asians, blacks and Hispanics living in those communities, Frey's report shows.

In much the same way, the average black resident here now lives in a neighborhood that is 64 percent black. That figure is down from 72 percent in 2000, because more whites, Asians and Hispanics have moved into those communities.

Racial segregation is often accompanied by income, education and occupational segregation.

A separate report released by Brookings last week shows that whites  a minority of the population in Chicago  were the city's only racial group to see their incomes rise dramatically in the past two decades. White Chicagoans saw their incomes grow by 52 percent from 1990 to 2012, compared with just 13 percent for blacks and 15 percent for Hispanics.

The new research comes as many large metro cities are grappling with racial tensions and the long-term effects of segregation, such as the inequitable disbursement of public resources and public schools whose student bodies aren't diverse.

Some cities like Detroit, Kansas City, Mo., and Tampa, Fla., showed great strides in integrating, Frey's analysis shows. Chicago was once the country's second-most-segregated city.

His analysis is based on a new American Community Survey. While it examines the demographics of large cities, it does not seek to determine why the population has shifted or specifically which neighborhoods and census tracts have seen the most change. In addition, the American Community Survey is a rolling, yearly study, and the data can vary.

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Still, local experts who study housing trends say it's not hard to see where Chicago is starting to experiencing more integration. There are areas near downtown that were once majority African-American but have undergone a change to their racial makeup because of development.

A decade ago the South Loop neighborhood was majority African-American, said Rob Paral, a Chicago-based demographer. Now it's more diverse.

"If you look block by block, you might see the same segregation trends," Paral said of Chicago. "When I think of Cabrini Green, that would be an area that is conceivably more integrated. Or look at the Oakland area  as the black population moves on from there, the white population is moving in. There's also Kenwood, another neighborhood that was solidly black that is now more integrated."

The racial makeup of communities is important because it often dictates what resources are available, the poverty level and who will be voted into office, said Stephanie Schmitz Bechteler, the research and evaluation director at the Chicago Urban League.

"The reason we pay so much attention to segregation is because it matters in terms of life outcomes," Bechteler said. "Where you live and where you grow up matters, and so does who you grow up around. It dictates where you go to school, the access you have to healthy business corridors, even your access to healthy food and job opportunities. All this is tied to address."

In black neighborhoods, as residents have become more prosperous they have chosen to move, Bechteler said her research shows. Plus, historically black communities were hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, making houses cheap and easy to buy for Hispanics and whites who may have been willing to move for a bargain.

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"Enduring segregation has continued in Chicago, and we are challenged to find remedies," Bechteler said. "It's good to see a decrease in segregation, it's a positive step forward. But only time will tell if the trend is long-term and whether it will break down the social and economic barriers that currently exist."

Greater numbers of African-Americans are moving into suburban areas  not just in Chicago but all over the country, Frey's analysis shows.

In Chicago, the shift of African-Americans from the city to the suburbs is likely because residents are in search of better housing and schools and safer communities, said Dick Simpson, a professor of political science at the University of Illinois at Chicago and a former Chicago alderman. But many black residents still land in suburbs with majority-black populations, like Dolton, Harvey and Maywood.

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"There is a long tradition of segregation in Chicago and it's only slowly eroding," Simpson said. "The social science studies show that often African-Americans only look for housing in neighborhoods that are African-American, and whites only look to own in neighborhoods that are white. It has become deeper than past laws. It has affected the psychology and what individuals seek as a comfortable community."

It's only in suburban communities like Oak Park and Evanston, where the local governments have made a concerted effort to integrate, that there has been real progress, Simpson said.

Chicago is much more integrated than it was 30 years ago, he said. But it's not nearly time to celebrate.

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"The level of segregation in Chicago and the region is still scandalous," Simpson said. "Being the most segregated city is a title we've had for, unfortunately, decades. We are doing better, but we are not doing better fast enough."

Chicago Tribune's Grace Wong and Geoff Ziezulewicz contributed.

lbowean@tribpub.com

Twitter @lollybowean
That strange alloy of sarcasm and sincerity has been joined by usages that are even harder to pin down. You'll be reading an otherwise lucid essay only to stumble across an exclamation like this! You have to be pretty confident in your powers of interpretation to figure out what the author is trying to say!
A veteran attorney in Mayor Rahm Emanuel's administration resigned hours after a federal judge ruled Monday that he intentionally concealed crucial evidence in a trial over a fatal Chicago police shooting and then lied about his reasons for doing so.

The abrupt departure of Senior Corporation Counsel Jordan Marsh, who has worked for the city since 1997, was the latest black eye for the mayor's office in the continuing fallout over the city's handling of police shootings.

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In overturning the jury's verdict in a lawsuit brought by the family of Darius Pinex, U.S. District Judge Edmond Chang imposed sanctions against the city and Marsh, ordering that they pay attorney's fees to plaintiffs that likely will amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars even before a retrial can take place.

"Attorneys who might be tempted to bury late-surfacing information need to know that, if discovered, any verdict they win will be forfeit and their clients will pay the price," Chang wrote in his 72-page opinion. "They need to know it is not worth it."

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Chang faulted lax training and oversight at the city's Law Department for hampering the production of records from the Chicago Police Department and other city agencies when officers are accused of misconduct.

Corporation Counsel Stephen Patton said Monday night that the city would "double down" on its efforts to properly train lawyers to produce records. He rejected the notion that recent sanctions pointed to systemic problems in his office.

"To say this is a practice, a systemic abuse or part of a cover-up, there's just no evidence of that," Patton said. "There's nothing in the ruling to support it."

The ruling comes at a time when the Emanuel administration is reeling from disclosures about the city's troubled oversight of its Police Department. A Justice Department investigation of police misconduct has begun in the wake of the November release of a video showing Officer Jason Van Dyke shooting Laquan McDonald 16 times in 2014. The subsequent release of police reports showed that officers' written accounts of the shooting differed starkly from what the video shows.

While most of the recent scrutiny has focused on actions within the Police Department, Chang's ruling levels accusations of misconduct at the mayor's legal staff. It is the second time in less than a year that Chang has sanctioned city lawyers for withholding evidence in separate police misconduct lawsuits.

Steve Greenberg, an attorney who represents Pinex's family, said the ruling raises questions about the Law Department's role in perpetuating a police culture in which officers believe they can act with impunity.

"There's just a total disregard for the truth, and it runs to the highest levels," Greenberg said. "There is a culture to cover up and win at all costs."

In acknowledging Marsh's departure, city officials said the conduct outlined by Chang was "inexcusable."

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"The Law Department holds its employees to the absolute highest professional and ethical standards and does not tolerate any action that would call into question the integrity of the lawyers who serve and represent the City of Chicago," spokesman Bill McCaffrey said in a statement.

McCaffrey said that when the conduct first came to light several months ago, the department began taking policy and training steps to make sure it would not be repeated. However, the city continued to downplay the error in court documents as recently as November, and Marsh testified in a deposition last July that he had not been disciplined for the incident. The city has spent $460,000 on outside lawyers since the issue arose.

The ruling may bring Marsh's conduct to the attention of the Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, which disciplines wayward lawyers.

"If a federal judge goes to the point of criticizing a lawyer's conduct, we pay attention to it," James Grogan, the commission's chief counsel, said Monday.

Thomas Leinenweber, an attorney who represents Marsh, did not respond to an email or phone call seeking comment.

Chang's ruling Monday reverses a decision last March in which a federal jury found in favor of Officers Raoul Mosqueda and Gildardo Sierra, concluding they were justified in killing Pinex during a January 2011 traffic stop on Chicago's South Side. Both officers testified at the trial that they had pulled Pinex's Oldsmobile over because it matched a description they had heard over their police radios of a car wanted in connection with an earlier shooting.

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In September, the Tribune detailed how the officers' account of what precipitated their encounter with Pinex had begun to unravel in the midst of the trial.

According to court records, Sierra and Mosqueda did not hear the dispatch as they originally claimed because it aired over a different radio zone. It wasn't until the middle of the trial that Marsh admitted  outside the presence of the jury  that he had failed to turn over a recording of the dispatch that actually went out over the officers' Zone 6 radios that night, a call that talked about a different Oldsmobile Aurora that didn't match Pinex's car and was not wanted in connection with a shooting.

Marsh first said he had learned about the recording that day, then later said it had been the week before trial. When the judge pressed Marsh on why he hadn't disclosed the existence of the recording as soon as he learned of it from a police sergeant, the lawyer again backpedaled, saying it hadn't crossed his mind that it would be something that might be helpful to the plaintiffs.

"My thought process was, I want to see what is on that (recording)," he said. "You know in retrospect I think I should have, but I wanted to talk to the sergeant and to see whether it was even relevant."

In his ruling, Chang said Marsh "intentionally concealed" the existence of the emergency dispatch and then misled the court about his thought process for withholding it.

"After hiding the information, despite there being numerous times when the circumstances dictated he say something about it, Marsh said nothing, and even made misleading statements to the court when the issue arose," Chang wrote.

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The judge also found that Marsh's co-counsel, city attorney Thomas Aumann, had failed to make a reasonable effort to find the dispatch recording during the initial discovery process. In sanctioning the city for Aumann's actions, Chang said the Law Department's practices put its attorneys "at risk" for violating discovery rules because of a lack of training on how to request and collect documents and evidence.

Aumann, who left the office in August, did not immediately return a call seeking comment.

Chang's ruling marks the second time in seven months that the judge has sanctioned the Law Department for withholding records in a police misconduct lawsuit and ordered a new trial.

In the other case, Jonathan Hadnott had accused police of an illegal arrest and search of his mother's home. The city argued that Hadnott's claim was impossible, contending there simply wasn't enough time for them to stop Hadnott, run his name through the law enforcement database, search the house and be back at the station at the time shown in the records. It could take up to 20 minutes to put a suspect's name through the database, city attorneys had argued.

After Hadnott's case ended in a partially hung jury, his lawyers began preparing for a retrial. That's when city attorneys suddenly turned over evidence that seemed to upend their argument: Police records showed it hadn't taken 20 minutes to run Hadnott's name after all but just about a minute.

Chang sanctioned the city, ordering it to pay $350,000 in Hadnott's legal fees. The city settled the case before trial for $200,000, but the City Council has not yet approved the deal.

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"It's not a coincidence that there are two (discovery violations) in less than a year," said Hadnott's attorney, Irene Dymkar. "The corporation counsel believes it has to support the police whether the police are right or wrong. But if you work for the city, you have an obligation to the public to look at things objectively. You have to protect the truth."

Critics said the Hadnott and Pinex cases aren't isolated incidents.

"This has been a long-standing problem that is just now getting recognition," said Jon Loevy, whose firm is involved in the Pinex case. "The city has been put on notice that it has to do a better job and play fair."

Loevy recently won a $2.75 million wrongful death claim against Chicago police in a case that included several court orders for the city to turn over evidence.

In his ruling, Chang said the city's attorneys showed a lack of understanding about what evidence is preserved by police and how to ask for it  including detectives' reports, emergency recordings, computer logs and inventories from arrests.

The judge said that with tight budgets and overworked staff, he understands that city lawyers "have a tough job" in responding to discovery requests involving a Police Department that preserves such a huge quantity of records. But that's all the more reason to instill procedures to minimize mistakes, he said.

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"Failing to do so will cost even more in the long run, not just in dollars," the judge wrote.

The Tribune has previously reported that Sierra was involved in two other on-duty shootings within months of Pinex's killing. In one shooting an unarmed man died after Sierra, mistaking a cellphone for a gun, fired 16 shots at him, including three into his back as he lay prone on the ground.

After the details of that shooting were revealed in a 2011 Tribune report, Sierra was stripped of his police powers and criminal investigations were launched by the Cook County state's attorney's office and federal authorities, but no charges have ever been filed. Sierra resigned from the department last year, while the city settled a lawsuit brought by the family of the victim, Flint Farmer, for $4.1 million.

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In the Pinex shooting, both Sierra and Mosqueda repeatedly claimed that the emergency dispatch about a previous shooting led them to conduct a "high-risk" traffic stop on Pinex's vehicle, blinding the driver with the spotlight on their marked squad car before eventually boxing the car in from the front and exiting with guns drawn.

The stop turned deadly when Pinex, the officers alleged, refused orders and gunned his car in reverse, throwing his passenger, Matthew Colyer, from the car and nearly running over Mosqueda. Sierra fired at least eight shots at the vehicle as it backed into a light pole. Mosqueda then fired multiple times from the passenger side, fatally striking Pinex in the head, court records show. A loaded pistol was later found underneath the driver's seat.

Lawyers for Colyer and Pinex's family argued in their motion for a new trial that Sierra and Mosqueda had perjured themselves on the stand when they testified to hearing the call about a car wanted in a shooting.

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In his ruling Monday, Chang said that while he found the inconsistencies between their statements and the evidence "troubling," they did not "conclusively prove perjury."

jmeisner@tribpub.com

sstclair@tribpub.com

dheinzmann@tribpub.com
A man was killed on a Safe Passage route on the first day back to classes for Chicago Public Schools students, one of six people shot across the city on Monday.



The 21-year-old man was shot four times in the chest about 8:20 a.m. near Lake Street and Central Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, according to authorities.

The man, identified as Jeffrey A. Mattix, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office.



Police said witnesses saw a sedan car fleeing the scene. Mattix died of multiple gunshot wounds, and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner's office.

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No other details were released and no one was reported in custody.



In another fatal shooting, a 33-year-old man was hit around 7:25 p.m. in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood, said Officer Ron Gaines, a Chicago police spokesman.



The man, identified as Jose Rodriguez of the 2100 block of West 18th Street, was walking with a 36-year-old man in the 1700 block of South Leavitt Street walking when a car drove by and someone inside fired shots, according to police and the medical examiner's office.



The older man was shot in the lower back and the 33-year-old man was shot in the chest, said Officer Hector Alfaro, a Chicago police spokesman. They were both were taken to Stroger Hospital.



Rodriguez was later pronounced dead at 1:52 a.m. at the hospital, and the 36-year-old was listed in serious condition, Gaines said.



No one was in custody.



Three other people were wounded in shootings Monday, police said.



 A man drove himself to Advocate Christ Medical Center about 11:45 p.m. after getting shot in the Princeton Park neighborhood on the Far South Side, Alfaro said.



The man was in the 100 block of West 95th Street when he was hit in the right thigh, Alfaro said, citing preliminary information.



 About 6:10 p.m., a 27-year-old man walked into Little Company of Mary Hospital four days after he was shot in the buttocks on New Year's Day, Gaines said.



The man told police he was walking near West Garfield Boulevard and South Shields Avenue in the Englewood neighborhood on Friday when he heard gunshots and realized he was stuck, Gaines said.



The man told police he saw a gray sedan fleeing the scene.



The man's condition stabilized at the hospital, and no other information was available about the shooting.



 Earlier Monday afternoon, someone shot a 24-year-old man in the left leg about 1:35 p.m. He was walking in the 5400 block of West Harrison Street when he heard shots and felt pain, according to Officer Kevin Quaid, a Chicago police spokesman. He was taken to Loretto Hospital, where his condition stabilized.



 Someone shot a 29-year-old man in the left thigh about 12:05 p.m., according to police.



He was driving in the 4300 block of West Palmer Street in the Hermosa neighborhood when two people began shooting at him, said Officer Nicole Trainor, a Chicago police spokeswoman. The 29-year-old drove himself to Sts. Mary and Elizabeth Medical Center, where he was treated and released. Police previously said the man's age was 28.



No one was in custody.



Chicago Tribune's Peter Nickeas contributed.
Immigrant advocates protest near the White House against planned raids to catch people living in the U.S. despite official deportation orders. (Saul Loeb / AFP/Getty Images)

SAN ANTONIO  Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson announced Monday that federal immigration authorities apprehended 121 adults and children in raids over the New Year's weekend as part of a nationwide operation to deport a new wave of illegal immigrants.

The families taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were living in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina, Johnson said in a statement. They are being held temporarily in federal detention centers before being deported to Central America.

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"As I have said repeatedly, our borders are not open to illegal migration," Johnson said. "If you come here illegally, we will send you back, consistent with our laws and values."

The raids were the first in a broad operation by the Obama administration that is targeting for deportation hundreds of families that have crossed the southern border illegally since the start of last year. The operation, first reported by The Washington Post, is the first large-scale effort to deport families fleeing violence in Central America, authorities said.

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Homeland Security officials declined Monday to say how many children were among those apprehended, where they were found and their countries of origin. The operation is targeting only people, including children, who have already been ordered removed from the United States by an immigration judge, officials familiar with the raids have said.

Asked about the removal operations, White House press secretary Josh Earnest said that the administration has "prioritized the cases of recent arrivals, individuals who recently crossed the border without proper documentation. That is the nature of the operations carried out in the last several days."

Earnest said the efforts are "consistent with the priorities the president himself talked about, deporting felons, not families, with a focus on individuals who only recently crossed the border."

He added that those targeted for removal have gone through due-process legal proceedings and said that the effort will help discourage Central American families from sending their children on dangerous journeys to try to enter the United States illegally.

"People should take from this the understanding that the administration is quite serious when it comes to enforcing immigration laws," Earnest said.

Because of the sensitivity of taking children into custody and deporting them and their families, authorities took precautions during the raids, using female agents when possible to apprehend families and having medical personnel on hand, Johnson's statement said.

ICE also was lenient in a number of cases "for health or other personal reasons," Johnson said. The agency usually exercises discretion on a case-by-case basis, considering a family's individual circumstance, length of time in this country and ties to the community, Homeland Security officials said.

More than 100,000 families with both adults and children from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador have made the journey across the southwest border since last year, in addition to a related surge in unaccompanied children. People familiar with the raids said before Christmas that authorities expected to apprehend a fraction of these migrants in the raids, which are scheduled to continue in coming weeks.

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Johnson said the raids follow a crackdown on illegal immigration that started in summer 2014 and has resulted in about 14 flights a week carrying those who have been apprehended back to Central America. But most of those deported were single adults, not children who started flocking across the southern border by themselves in 2014.

Most public attention has focused on the unaccompanied children, whose numbers have risen in recent months. But the number of children arriving with at least one family member - known as "family units'' in DHS parlance - also increased dramatically in the past year. Illegal immigration has been a major issue in the 2016 presidential campaign, with Republican candidates calling for stricter border patrols.

Immigrants' advocates expressed concern before Christmas about the raids, citing what they called flaws and abuses in the government's treatment and legal processing of the families, many of whom are fleeing danger or persecution in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Groups that have called for stricter immigration limits have said the raids are long overdue, although they remain skeptical about whether the scale will be large enough to deter illegal immigration from Central America.
This booking photo provided by the Washington County, Ohio Sheriffs Office shows Marine Corps Cpl. Aaron C. Masa of Whipple, Ohio. A military judge convicted Masa of sexual abuse of a child and production of child pornography, according to court records and other documents detailing the case. Under the terms of a pretrial agreement, he agreed to plead guilty and received 30 years in prison. (AP)

WASHINGTON  Cpl. Aaron C. Masa became fast friends with a fellow Marine during field training in North Carolina. But behind his buddy's back, Masa was sexually abusing his friend's 3-year-old stepdaughter. He also took sexually explicit photos of the girl and the Marine's infant daughter.

A military judge convicted Masa last year of sexual abuse of a child and production of child pornography, according to court records and other documents detailing the case. Under the terms of a pretrial agreement, he pleaded guilty and received 30 years in prison.

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In total, incidents involving sexual assault in which the children of service members are victims occur hundreds of times each year, data the Defense Department provided exclusively to The Associated Press show. The abuse is committed most often by male enlisted troops, according to the data, followed by family members.

The figures offer greater insight into the sexual abuse of children committed by service members, a problem of uncertain scale due to a lack of transparency into the military's legal proceedings. With more than 1 million military dependents, the number of cases appears statistically small. But for a profession that prides itself on honor and discipline, any episodes of abuse cast a pall.

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Those numbers fall well-short of offering a full picture.

The ages of the offenders and victims, the locations of the incidents and the branch of service that received the report of sexual abuse were omitted. The Defense Department said in a statement that "information that could unintentionally uniquely identify victims was withheld from release to eliminate possible 're-victimization' of the innocent."

It's also unclear how many of the incidents resulted in legal action. The cases represent substantiated occurrences of child sexual abuse reported to the Defense Department's Family Advocacy Program, which does not track judicial proceedings, the department said.

An AP investigation published in November found more inmates are in military prisons for child sex crimes than for any other offense. But the military's opaque justice system keeps the public from knowing the full extent of their crimes or how much time they spend behind bars.

Responding to AP's findings, three Democratic senators have urged Defense Secretary Ash Carter to lift what they called the military justice system's "cloak of secrecy" and make records from sex-crimes trials readily accessible.

The senators also raised another concern. Child sex-assault cases are not included in the Defense Department's annual report to Congress on sexual assaults, which focuses primarily on adult-on-adult incidents, they said. The senators  Barbara Boxer of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii  told Carter in a Dec. 8 letter they are concerned the department may be underestimating how many sexual assaults are occurring in the military.

There were at least 1,584 substantiated cases of military dependents being sexually abused between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, according to the data. Enlisted service members sexually abused children in 840 cases. Family members of the victims accounted for the second largest category with 332 cases.

Most of the enlisted offenders were males whose ranks ranged between E-4 and E-6. In the Marine Corps and Army, for example, those troops are corporals, sergeants and staff sergeants. Officers were involved in 49 of the cases. The victims were overwhelmingly female.

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Kathy Robertson, manager of the Family Advocacy Program, said in an emailed response to questions that the incident rates reflect the U.S. military's demographics. Most of the cases involve the E-4 and E-6 ranks because they are the largest number of active-duty personnel and the largest number of parents in the military, she said.

Duplications in the data indicate that as many as 160 additional cases of sexual abuse could have occurred during the 2010 to 2014 period, involving a child who was victimized multiple times or a repeat abuser. The figures also account only for cases involving military dependents, which are the only child victims the department tracks.

In Masa's case, military authorities first became aware of the alleged abuse in June 2014 after the 3-year-old told a neighbor that she did not like Masa because he touched her in certain places and "made it hurt," according to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's investigation obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

NCIS blacked out all the names in the report, including Masa's. The AP identified him by the dates and events in the document that matched records from Masa's court-martial.

Masa, 24, admitted during questioning to at least five instances of sexually assaulting her, the NCIS report said. Investigators found nude photos of both girls on his cellphone and later discovered a pair of girl's underwear during a search of his mother's home in Ohio.

The report depicted Masa as a loner with a troubled past. People interviewed by the Navy investigators described him as "oddball" who was picked on in high school in Marietta, Ohio. He graduated near the bottom of his class with a cumulative 1.782 GPA, according to his official transcript.

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Masa watched a lot of sexually explicit Japanese animation known as hentai, the NCIS report said, and he had an intense interest in "furry porn," a genre of pornography in which animal characters with human arms and legs engage in sex.

In 2008, Masa was arrested after threatening to bring a gun to school and shoot three other students, according to the NCIS report, which included details of the incident. Police didn't find a gun on him, but he had a knife. He pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge.

He enlisted in the Marine Corps in June 2010, a month after graduating from high school. The arrest wasn't serious enough to bar Masa from enlisting. A Marine Corps spokesman said he was found qualified after a thorough screening process that involved physical, mental and moral evaluations.

Stationed at Camp Lejeune, a sprawling installation on the North Carolina coast, Masa started a friendship with the Marine sergeant and his family in 2013, according to the 286-page NCIS report. They fished together and chopped wood for the sergeant's fire pit. Masa loaned the sergeant money to help the family through a financially difficult period and spent more and more time at their home, the report said. He babysat the girls and volunteered to give the older daughter a bath, the documents said.

Amid the good will, suspicions surfaced. The girls' mother suspected as early as March 2014 that the 3-year-old daughter was being molested because she complained of pain "down there," according to portions of medical records from a hospital near Camp Lejeune that are included in the NCIS report. The girl was sleeping by the door and having nightmares, the mother said.

Yet at the hospital, the girl was in high spirits, smiling, laughing and jumping on the bed, according to the report. She was diagnosed as having a urinary tract infection and antibiotics were prescribed. "Mom advised to follow up with law enforcement if she has concern about possible molestation," the report said, quoting the medical records.

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But an investigation wouldn't be launched until a few months later, after the girl talked to the neighbor. While being questioned by investigators, Masa drew a diagram of the floor plan of the sergeant's home, using X's and O's to show where the abuse occurred.

Masa is serving his sentence at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Associated Press
A report commissioned by East Aurora School District 131 found purchasing mistakes, one outright violation of school code and a business office that was in disarray.

But the report also found that most of the shortcomings were being addressed, and many of the staff involved with the mistakes no longer work in the district.

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District attorney Bernie Weiler, who drafted the report, wrote in it that while a "bad thing" was happening, the district saw growth, and staff accomplished "a remarkable achievement" with the quick opening of the Benavides Kindergarten Center.

The review did not find evidence that purchases were made for employees' personal gain, but found that in some instances "the lack of a reasonable competitive process leaves doubt" about whether the district always got the best price.

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School and district officials have not discussed the $12,000 report publicly, though school board President Annette Johnson said purchasing will be on an upcoming committee meeting agenda.

The district denied a Freedom of Information Act request for the report, but the Beacon-News recently obtained a copy.

Johnson said the district will continue to work on its purchasing practices.

"I think we've made a lot of strides," she said. " I still think that there's some more room for improvement."

Purchasing practices in the district were a topic of public discussion for months before the board requested the report. Ralph Padron, a Naperville resident and retired purchasing manager who has scrutinized the district for years, brought before the board allegations that the district skirted bidding laws, failed to follow contracts it had in place and violated other purchasing procedures.

He continues to say the district lost money.

Weiler notes in the report that he met with Padron. Padron said the meeting covered a range of topics.

The report, which cites documents and interviews with current and former employees, found one instance in which a purchase of floor scrubbers should have been publicly bid but wasn't, and chalked it up to a mistaken notion by a school employee.

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While this was a violation of school code, it is not likely the district lost money, and the purchases did "not equate to what has been styled as a corrupt act or a rigged bid," Weiler wrote in the report.

The report also found the district "more than likely" violated a contract with a janitorial supply vendor, but the breach "was not intentional" and was "appropriately and lawfully" fixed. A claim that an order of trash bags violated the terms of a contract and school code and that purchases for heating mechanical parts violated school code were not supported in the report.

Calls for service to district heating and air conditioning units did not violate school code, but there was no competitive process used when assigning the work, which "leaves doubt" about whether work might have been done cheaper, according to the report.

The report found that some aspects of the purchasing process were muddled and led to confusion with suppliers.

In some cases, the proper process was not followed, according to the report, but "no illicit purpose was accomplished." The report acknowledged that some incorrect aspects of the process are likely to occur again, but that most happened before a new, more efficient accounting system was put in place.

The office of Assistant Superintendent for Finance Christi Tyler, who was hired in mid-2014 in the midst of the questioned practices, has been working on "changing the culture of the district that has been following a great number of longstanding habits, traditions and practices that do not conform to the processes she has been putting in place," according to the report.

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District spokesman Matt Hanley declined to discuss the findings in the report because district attorneys said the report was subject to attorney-client privilege, which he said has not been waived by the school board.

In general, the district has acknowledged "inefficient" purchasing practices, but there was nothing criminal about them, he wrote in an email,.

"Since Superintendent Dr. Michael Popp and Assistant Superintendent Christi Tyler were hired," Hanley wrote, "the district has put in multiple, streamlined processes consistent with the school code to protect taxpayer resources, eliminate inefficiencies, and provide better purchasing guidelines for employees."

Johnson  who the report notes voted against approving the district's list of bills through late 2014 and early 2015 because of questions about purchasing  said she would like to see more work put out to a public bid.

When asked about her expectations for the report, she said she was "disappointed," and expected to get a report that discussed the purchasing processes in place and those that should be in place.

She said she thought the district "definitely" lost money on some of the questioned purchases. Though improvements have been made, she said, she wants to see further changes to district purchasing practices.

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"If you treat the school district's money like you treat your own at home, you know, we're always looking for a bargain," she said.

Padron challenged the findings in the report, saying it was "watered down."

Weiler did not return calls for comment, but has said the report acknowledged mistakes, and mistakes will likely be made in the future. He has said it is important to correct those mistakes and make sure everyone understands the rules.

The report notes that though recommended purchasing processes are still under review, the district has been making an effort to use its own maintenance employees, when possible, before hiring outside companies.

According to the report, the use of outside companies had been the subject of grievances filed by the district maintenance union, which claimed they were deprived of overtime work because it was going to outside contractors instead of district employees.

The district has saved a significant amount of money on outside heating and air conditioning contractors since that shift, though it is possible that much of the maintenance work had already been done and less has been required recently, according to the report.

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Johnson said she wants the district to be a model for purchasing practices.

"Christi (Tyler)'s gotten us to a certain point, and we're doing good," she said. "We need to really give clear direction to her, so she can get these policies out to everyone."

sfreishtat@tribpub.com

Twitter: @srfreish
Happy birthday

Jan. 1: Barbara Franzen works at DLZ. (Bad Birdie didn't tell me earlier.)

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Jan. 8: Marilee Halpin of Arlington Heights, Ill.

Jan. 11: Rochelle McNamara and Andrea Ziemba share this date.

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Jan. 14: Paul Long. This is next Thursday, but I didn't want to forget.

A few thoughts

Just one more for the road shouldn't happen unless you are not driving, or you are talking about one more cookie.

When road building gets in full swing in the spring get ready for Crown Point's first roundabout. It is in what should be a perfect place, and will be built with a mix of local and federal money.

This is Indiana's bicentennial year. What are you planning to do to celebrate? Please let me know. It is party time. Let's see how well Hoosiers can party!

Calendar

Jan. 24: Purdue Cooperative Extension Services, 880 E. 99th Court, Suite A, Crown Point, is offering the state-required "safe serve" certification class for food handlers. Other exam dates are Feb. 4, March 3, April 14, May 5, June 2 and July 14. The recertification class and exam is four hours. The certification class and exam is eight hours. For more information, contact extension educator Linda Curley at 219-755-3240 or lcurley@purdue.edu.

Jan. 19: Franciscan St. Anthony Health-Crown Point Breast Care Center open house from 3 to 6 p.m. at 1201 S. Main St. Mammography screenings are available during the program: call 219-757-6010. Most insurance plans will be accepted. Bone density and other screenings also will be available. Go to the Professional Center, adjacent to the main entrance to the hospital. More information: www.franciscanalliance.org/CrownPoint.

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Jan. 31: Pancake Breakfast and Open House at St. Mary's Catholic Community School in Crown Point from 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. This is for parents who are interested in finding out more about what St. Mary's School has to offer. It teaches children from prekindergarten to eighth grade and has been serving the needs of children since 1872. If you can't make Sunday, a second open house is from 6 to 8 p.m. Feb. 3. More information: stmarycp.org/school or 219-663-0676.

Feb. 10: Ash Wednesday. This puts Easter at the end of March.

kconley@post-trib.com
Chinas primary stock markets in Shanghai and Shenzhen were suspended today after plummeting during the morning of a volatile first days 2016 trading. The suspension, which is active for 24 hours, is triggered when markets rise or fall by more than seven percent in a daily session. This so-called circuit-breaker was introduced at the behest of the Chinese Securities Regulator just last September; today is the first time it has been enacted. The fall was pre-empted both by a decline in Chinas manufacturing output for the tenth consecutive month, and the imminent lifting of a suspension of trading in Chinas own publically listed State Owned Enterprises, which have in turn been suspended from trade since the summer due to negative sentiment concerning their viability. At the time, several journalists were also punished for creating uncertainty in the markets as share prices fell. It is unclear what policies Beijing has managed to implement since then that makes this situation any better.

This volatility was discussed during Andrew Polks 2016 economic preview on China Briefing here last week.

However, it should be noted that the current situation is effectively a Chinese domestic issue, and should not impact upon foreign investor sentiment. The Chinese stock markets behave in a different manner to those in the West, meaning that sentiments, positive or negative concerning movements of Chinese stocks, should not impact upon market sentiments in say New York or London. This is because these operate in fundamentally different ways. In China, the government acts as regulator, owns the exchanges and, via the listing of state owned enterprises, most of the companies traded on them. The traded stock remaining on the exchanges is only permitted to be held by mainland Chinese nationals, with foreign investors effectively barred from participation. This is in stark contrast to the behavior of the New York, London and similar exchanges, where true international market sentiment  and a rather larger degree of transparency exist.

This alone suggests that there should be little sentiment actually imposed on Western exchanges due to volatility in China. The fact that in the past there has been is largely due to the influence of poorly informed analysts suggesting a more tenuous link between trading in Shanghai and in London that really exists. In essence I am suggesting it is better to ignore the specific China stock market data when it comes to assessing the more mature markets, and look instead at the fundamentals driving the economy. Market sentiment in New York or London because of whats happening in Shanghai are not grounded in effective research, and if your broker suggests otherwise  find a better broker.

Regarding China, the overarching position of the CCP is to now protect itself. Having sold stocks to its citizens, it needs to effectively guarantee they can exit the market or keep any losses to a minimum. With a single Government authority in power, it needs to keep its citizens on a money making curve, and feeling secure. Quite how it does this  which it must  will be interesting to observe. Meanwhile, those commentators who in previous years have suggested that the Chinese Government have ceased being communists and are now capitalists may find that as always, there is a gulf between the two idealogies. Attempting to run stock markets on the basis, in the words of Deng Xiaoping, that to get rich is glorious may now be a Genie the CCP in hindsight may have preferred to keep under wraps. How a solution will be found remains the most enigmatic question of the year to come.

Meanwhile, China sentiment should be based on the services industry  now accounting for over half of GDP  and the rise of Chinese consumerism. When the CCP suggested they would reform the economy, they meant just that. Global manufacturing capacity is moving to Vietnam and India and it is hardly a surprise that Chinas own manufacturing sector is shrinking as a result.

It is the services industry, not manufacturing that is now beginning to dominate, which is both in line with reforms and a message to those who follow the Shanghai and Shenzhen bourses  look at the services sector, not the SOEs for future growth.



Chris Devonshire-Ellis is the Founding Partner of Dezan Shira & Associates  a specialist foreign direct investment practice providing corporate establishment, business advisory, tax advisory and compliance, accounting, payroll, due diligence and financial review services to multinationals investing in emerging Asia. Since its establishment in 1992, the firm has grown into one of Asias most versatile full-service consultancies with operational offices across China, Hong Kong, India, Singapore and Vietnam, in addition to alliances in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand, as well as liaison offices in Italy, Germany and the United States. For further information, please email china@dezshira.com or visit www.dezshira.com. Chris can be followed on Twitter at @CDE_Asia. Stay up to date with the latest business and investment trends in Asia by subscribing to our complimentary update service featuring news, commentary and regulatory insight.



The Cost of Doing Business in ASEAN Compared with China

In this issue of Asia Briefing magazine, we provide a comprehensive overview of the cost of doing business in China compared with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). We analyze some of the key considerations that will impact upon the profits of an Asia-based business, including labor costs, social welfare, and industrial land prices. In addition, we take a look at how ASEANs export volume and GDP per capita currently compares with China.

Navigating the Vietnam Supply Chain

In this edition of Vietnam Briefing, we discuss the advantages of the Vietnamese market over its regional competition and highlight where and how to implement successful investment projects. We examine tariff reduction schedules within the ACFTA and TPP, highlight considerations with regard to rules of origin, and outline the benefits of investing in Vietnams growing economic zones. Finally, we provide expert insight into the issues surrounding the creation of 100 percent Foreign Owned Enterprise in Vietnam.

Establishing Your Sourcing Platform in India

In this issue of India Briefing, we highlight the advantages India possesses as a sourcing option and explore the choices available to foreign companies seeking to create a sourcing presence here. In addition, we examine the relevant procurement, procedural and tax duty concerns involved in sourcing from India, and conclude by investigating the importance of supplier due diligence  a process that, if not conducted correctly, can often prove the undoing of a sourcing venture.
 Flash

In a time when the European Union is being severely put to the test, the Netherlands took over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union in an attempt to focus on the essentials, create growth and jobs through innovation, and to connect with civil society.

The four priority areas the Netherlands will be focusing on are migration and international security, sound finances and a robust euro zone, Europe as an innovator and job creator, and a forward-looking climate and energy policy.

After the terrorist attacks in Paris and due to the influx of refugees, the pressure is on in the European Union, a situation acknowledged by Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Bert Koenders in his State of the European Union letter to the European Parliament late in 2015. "As holder of the Presidency we will have a key role to play over the coming six months in keeping the EU on course," he stated.

The Netherlands has been in the forefront of European unity for a long time, aiming for a federal Europe. It had been among the founding fathers of EU's predecessor, the European Community of Coal and Steel in 1952. For the 12th time in history the Netherlands holds the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, with the last time being in 2004.

In recent years, there has been a growing anti-Europe sentiment in The Netherlands, as in other countries of the EU. Although worded in rather general phrases, the general aim of the Dutch program is clear. It is to desperately muster public support, both internally and among member states.

While a "Grexit" was solved at enormous costs, a new, even more dangerous "Brexit" seems to loom on the horizon. The European continent shows a disproportional increase of the ageing population. Unemployment is high, especially among the youth and among those aged over 50. The economy is slowly recovering from a severe crisis, but developments are still very unbalanced.

The problems that face the European Union are huge and solidarity among member states is very low, as was demonstrated in the refugee crisis. Making connections will be a key theme during the Dutch Presidency.

The EU must, according to the Dutch, connect with its citizens, so that they can identify with EU decisions. The Netherlands also aims to be a reliable and effective mediator that forges compromises between the 28 member states of the European Union, the European Commission and the European Parliament.

To encourage the active involvement of people and civil society organizations in European decision-making, a visitors' center will be located near the Presidency venue in Amsterdam. There visitors can learn more about the history and operation of the EU.

The Netherlands believes the EU must focus on areas that will make Europe stronger, such as prosperity, freedom and security. The EU should according to the Dutch not involve itself in matters that the member states are perfectly capable of dealing with themselves, like health care, education, pensions and taxes.

The migration crisis has, according to the Dutch government, revealed various shortcomings in the European area of freedom, security and justice that require action. "The EU cannot afford to shy away from this," Koenders said in his State of the European Union letter. "The crisis requires a common approach, to ensure the rapid elaboration and implementation of the European Commission's package of proposals on migration."

The Netherlands wants the EU to focus on addressing the political and economic root causes of migration, on finding the right approach to people smuggling and border control, on improving reception and protection in the region and providing future prospects for refugees so they can return to their country of origin.

It is clear that the challenge of migration and refugees is high on the agenda during the Dutch Presidency. In addition, the economies of the member states have not yet fully recovered from the financial and economic crises, and the rising employment rates and economic upturn are still only modest. So creating sustainable growth, innovation and jobs remains a top priority for the Netherlands.

The Netherlands sets great store by creating new jobs and promoting an innovative economy in the EU. The Netherlands wants to achieve this by, for instance, removing obstacles for companies that want to do business in other member states, concluding trade agreements, protecting workers more effectively against exploitation and unfair competition.

At the Europe Building Rutte will speak to Jean-Claude Juncker, the President of the European Commission, on Thursday. The other members of the government and the European Commission will at the same time have several sessions on various topics and the European Commission will later on Thursday be received by Dutch King Willem-Alexander at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.

In his State of the European Union letter, Koenders expressed the hope that over the next six months the Dutch EU Presidency will foster unity and resolve, to ensure the European Union can help alleviate people's concerns. "This Union of 28 member states is not perfect," he said. "But it provides essential tools with which to tackle the challenges of today."
An out-of-the-box marketing idea puts traditional Shanghai brands in a square machine as part of efforts to boost visibility and sales

Shanghai's waning time-honored brands have literally been given a helping hand - in the form of a robotic arm within a cubic vending machine.

A survey conducted by the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences shows that only about 10 percent of Shanghai's time-honored brands are profitable, while 70 percent of them can barely make ends meet. The remaining 20 percent have had to shut down after suffering losses for years. There are 222 such brands in the city, ranging from food to clothes to accessories.
China unit chief Raymund Chao is keen to adapt to the new normal of economy

For the past 23 years, Raymund Chao, 54, chairman of PricewaterhouseCoopers Greater China, has been working in the country with the network that offers professional services like auditing, assurance, tax and management consulting. As its leader, he is now keen the company must make a difference to the community.

The seeds of that intent may have been sown in 1992. Just after then paramount leader Deng Xiaoping toured southern China to emphasize economic reforms and liberalization, Chao returned from Canada to Hong Kong, his place of birth and childhood.

"Actually, I was comfortable in Canada and did not plan to come back, until I had a vacation in Hong Kong and found everything had changed so fast. It made me feel that I should be in this part of the world, because in China, there are so many opportunities and I should bring the skills in advance to help contribute to the growth of China," said Chao.

Chao worked for PwC Hong Kong and his first deal was to help a Hong Kong construction enterprise to acquire an asset in southern China. In 1995, he was promoted as a partner.

Chao moved to Beijing to take charge of a unit of the PwC Greater China in late 2002 when the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome or SARS was rampant. The Hong Kong-Beijing flight he took was almost empty. Fortunately, the SARS attack didn't last long.

"I didn't know there was going to be SARS when I decided to move to the mainland. The reason for my decision to move to Beijing was very simple. I wanted to grow in my career and contribute my skills to the development of the Chinese economy. That was going to be my future then," said Chao.

He said he has seen a lot of positive changes in the Chinese mainland since his arrival in late 2002.

Back then, he recalled, when he went to buy a car, he was told there was only one color, black, available. "Today, you can buy any color you want. So you can see just within a very short period of time, there's significant development in China."

Chao has done several hundreds of deals for PwC. Being an accountant can be a rewarding career, he said. "I have worked with a lot of companies in different sectors and offered my technical skills to their business. Our work is different every day because our clients need different solutions. And I get a lot of satisfaction by just helping our clients to succeed. I think being an accountant will continue to be a great profession for our young people because they can really learn a lot."

PwC's business in China also grew rapidly partly due to Chao's efforts. When he moved to Beijing, the firm boasted a 3,000-strong staff. Today, their number has risen to 15,000.
The Fourth Ring Road in Beijing in a morning rush hour. City authorities are working on solutions to ease the pressures on traffic in the city. [Photo/China Daily]

Beijing, bogged down in severe traffic congestion like many densely populated metropolitans around the world, has made a five-year plan from 2016 to 2020 in an aim to resolve the problem.

The commission of transport for the city, which has more than 21 million people and 5 million vehicles, announced last month a series of efforts to ease traffic pressures, including a pilot plan to collect a congestion fee, impose restrictions on the use and purchase of vehicles and to promote environmentally conscious traveling.

The measures will be implemented over the course of the city's five-year plan.

On Dec 28, 16 subway stations began offering a 30-percent discount on each ride for passengers who take the subway before 7 am on weekdays in one of the city's first moves to ease traffic congestion during rush hours.

The commission has set a number of goals to meet by 2020, including keeping the population below 23 million, operating 1,000 kilometers of rail transit and 1,000 km of bus routes, and encouraging 75 percent of its residents travel by public transport, bicycle or on foot.

Currently only 46 percent of Beijingers use the public transit system, bike or walk, although the capital has taken measures in recent years to prioritize public transit.

In many major cities around the world, the proportion of people who travel by public transport is between 60 and 80 percent.

The Beijing transportation research center said that in 2013, heavy traffic on a weekday lasted for a total duration of 1 hour and 55 minutes a day, 25 minutes more than in 2012 and 45 minutes more than in 2011.

Taking action

Zhou Zhengyu, head of the commission of transport, said last month that Beijing will unveil new policies this year to limit the number of cars on roads and promote public transportation, according to People.cn.

Zhou said the commission will evaluate the possibility of collecting a congestion fee sometime this year and discuss collection methods and which areas of the city should be charged.

This is not the first time Beijing has proposed a congestion fee plan - authorities discussed the issue in 2010 and 2013 but did not take action.

Currently, no city in China charges a congestion fee. Some cosmopolitan cities such as London and Milan impose a charging plan.

Britain's capital introduced the plan in 2003 to charge drivers in congestion zones from 7am to 6pm on weekdays. The initial daily fee of five pounds has been raised to the current fee of 11 pounds and 50 pence per day.

Some vehicles are exempted from the fee, such as electric cars, those that meet Euro V emission standards, and vehicles that emit below 75 gram of carbon emissions per kilometer.

Debate in the capital

In Beijing, industry experts have been grappling with the city's traffic problems.

Liu Yunfeng, an associate professor at the Beijing University of Technology, in an article he wrote for the China Academic Journal in April 2015, urged authorities to focus on the application and innovation of new technology and equipment to allow public transportation systems to carry more people.

The majority of companies in the public transportation industry are State-owned, Liu wrote, and explained that these companies need to improve their level of operational management.

Liu said the functions of the city center should be limited and that the city layout should be better organized to cut down on commute times.

Lu Weifang, professor of humanities and communication at Shanghai Normal University, said the congestion fee is a sound solution for a big city to ease its traffic pressures and control the rapidly rising number of vehicle owners.

Lu said big cities should increase parking fees in key areas and limit the number of vehicles on roads during rush hours.
The Corolla hybrid twins a 1.8-liter four-cylinder petrol engine with a magnetic synchronous electric motor. [Photo/China Daily]

Sino-Japanese partnership FAW Toyota Motor Sales Co is aggressively betting on petrol-electric hybrid cars rather than purely electric or plug-in hybrid models, to carve a slice of the burgeoning new-energy vehicle market in China, which is plagued by mounting air pollution.

The company, jointly held by China's FAW Group and Japan's Toyota Motor Corp, said more than half of its 17 new products planned for the next five years will be petrol-electric hybrid cars.

FAW Toyota expects petrol-electric hybrid cars to account for 20-30 percent of its annual sales by 2020. It aims to boost its total sales to 1 million cars by then from 610,000 units last year.

Hirano Masanori, executive vice-president of the joint venture, said recently that petrol-electric hybrid cars are "more practical" than purely electric vehicle and plug-in hybrids to improve fuel efficiency and mileage now and in the medium term.

FAW Toyota now has two locally made petrol-electric hybrids - the compact Corolla and the Prius.

The Corolla hybrid, produced in a plant in the northern city of Tianjin, twins a 1.8-liter four-cylinder petrol engine with a permanent magnetic synchronous electric motor. In contrast to purely electric and plug-in hybrid cars, the Corolla doesn't need to be charged and its petrol engine can also produce electricity that can be stored in the electric motor to power the car. As a result, the model only consumes 4.2 liters of gasoline per 100 km, much less than cars equipped with similarly sized petrol engines alone.

Masanori added that customers experience "mileage anxiety" if they drive a purely electric or plug-in hybrid car because the mileage is still inadequate.

"If you switch on lights, listen to music or use windscreen wipers in a purely electric or plug-in hybrid car, its mileage will decrease suddenly and you will worry about whether you can drive home or not," he said.

He added that although a purely electric car doesn't produce exhaust emissions, charging batteries still consumes electricity. Roughly 70 percent of electricity in China is still generated by coal, one major reason for the country's acute air pollution.

Experts also said charging infrastructures are insufficient for the fast-growing ownership of purely electric and plug-in hybrid cars in China. They said the government should also encourage customers to buy petrol-electric hybrids.

Buyers of purely electric and plug-in hybrid cars now enjoy subsidies from the central and local governments that can be more than 100,000 yuan ($15,425) per car. In addition, they are exempt from license lotteries in many big cities, such as Beijing and Shenzhen. However, petrol-electric hybrids are not eligible for these favorable policies.

Xia Shengzhi, assistant secretary-general of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, said governments should take measures to boost the petrol-electric hybrid market since technologies of such cars are "basically mature" in China and use of them has "notable social benefits" of reducing exhaust emissions.

Xia predicted that the market for petrol-electric hybrids would grow rapidly in the years to come, as they have for purely electric and plug-in hybrid cars.

According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, production of purely electric passenger vehicles in China soared by 350 percent to 117,200 units in the first 11 months of 2015. Meanwhile, production of plug-in hybrid passenger vehicles quadrupled to 53,000 units.

FAW Toyota said it expects sales of the Corolla petrol-electric hybrid, which was launched in October, to reach 40,000 units in 2016.

Another Toyota tie-up with Guangzhou Automobile Corp produces the compact Levin petrol-electric hybrid.

Many other carmakers also have petrol-electric hybrid cars available for Chinese customers, including Volkswagen, Honda, Kia and China's SAIC Motor.

FAW Toyota also markets a range of models powered by conventional petrol engines, such as its Crown, Reiz and Vois sedans as well as the Land Cruiser and RAV4 SUVs.
A charging facility has been added to an apartment block in Dongsishitiao Hutong so NEV owners won't use home outlets to charge their cars. [Photo/China Daily]

New regulations aim to boost confidence in electric vehicles

China has amended its new energy vehicle charging standards with an emphasis on compatibility and safety, in hopes of accelerating facility construction and boosting development of the sector.

The standards, effective from Friday, unify the charging interfaces for direct and alternating current, and are compatible with existing facilities and cars built under the former standards. The charging interface involves a plug in the charging post and an inlet in the vehicle.

Tian Shihong, director of the Standardization Administration in China, said the new standards guarantee compatibility between electric vehicles and charging facilities. They will enhance consumer confidence in electric vehicles and help boost the industry, he said.

Industrial data showed charging stations across the country had 49,000 charging posts last year, 18,000 more than in 2014. There were 290,000 NEVs in China by the end of October.

Zhang Suixin, executive vice-president of Volkswagen Group China, said: "Each new-energy vehicle requires at least one charging post. In contrast, six NEVs share one post at present.

"Many charging posts are not even working. ... There's no supervision of the fulfillment," he added.

The National Energy Administration is planning to make the standards compulsory, promote upgrades and examine the compatibility of facilities, according to a news release.

The revision also steps up safety standards to avoid the hazards of electric shock or fire. It secures safety through monitoring the temperature of equipment, and isolation and leakage of electric current. The standards also require direct current plugs be locked in place when charging.

The currently popular option of an extension cord to plug into home power outlets is clearly prohibited. Many NEV owners use home outlets cables running through a window to charge their cars, as they don't have a charging post nearby.

Chen Ning, director of Deloitte China Automotive Consulting Practice, said: "Many companies will enter this field to build compatible charging facilities following the new standards. Many companies used to be concerned about the costs in upgrades and redesign, and would rather build a charging pole that is up-to-date in one go, to avoid upgrade costs."

The administration plans to regulate access to the charging facility construction sector, and use the standards as one of the entry criteria, according to Zheng Shanjie, deputy head of the National Energy Administration.

Zhang said the NEV sector deserves to be treated like any other, such as the mobile communications field, and needs stronger day-to-day supervision, other than only entry criteria.

The major charging facility constructors - Potevio New Energy, NARI Technology Development and Beijing Huashang Sanyou New Energy Technology - are State-owned enterprises.
A technician inspects a smartwatch at a workshop of Shenzhen Hopu Smart Technology Co Ltd in Shenzhen, Guangdong province. [Photo/Provided to China Daily]

Last year witnessed explosive growth in smartwatches and this year, competition may intensify in terms of their external appearances. For, their core part, that is, the operating system or OS space, is dominated by just a couple of international majors.

Brands abound, but most of them use either this or that OS. There isn't much choice there.

According to market research firm IDC, Apple's iOS system has the lion's share of the OS space in the smartwatch market. Apple shipped 13 million units of the Apple Watch in 2015that is, it took 61.3 percent share of the smartwatch market.

Google came a distant second with its Android Wear OS powering 3.2 million units of non-Apple smartwatches, or 15.2 percent of the market.

Ramon Llamas, research manager of wearables at IDC, predicted that smartwatch shipments will jump to 32.2 million units by the end of this year (2016), with the compound annual growth rate for 2015-18 coming in at 42.8 percent.

Besides smartwatches, other wearables sold well in China in 2015. The new year is expected to sustain their sales momentum. Global market consulting firm Mintel wrote in its latest "China 2016 Consumer Trends" report that awareness of health-related technologies will increase in China.

"Chinese consumers have shown a strong interest in using smart technology to manage their health and wellness. A full 74 percent show interest in using wearable devices to manage their health in future," said Philix Liu, an analyst with Mintel APAC.

None of the leading OS providers comes from China even though a large number of Chinese technology companies have come up with their own smartwatches. For instance, Huawei Watch produced by Shenzhen-based Huawei Technologies, is reliant on Android Wear.

To ensure uniformity, Google has imposed limits on the extent to which its Android Wear OS can be customized at the device-maker and end-user levels. So, manufacturers cannot tweak Android Wear to distinguish themselves from other brands using the same OS. So, Google encourages developers to play around the device design.

Not everyone is playing ball with Google in this regard though. For instance, Samsung dumped the latter and developed its own OS called Samsung Gear for its smartwatches.

However, sales data suggest consumers appear to prefer Android Wear-based smartwatches to others.

More importantly, the suspension of Google services in China, and the resultant lack of access to apps that can add value to smartwatches, has resulted in Chinese technology companies lagging their international peers, in terms of developing smartwatches.

But Google is believed to be mulling a return to the Chinese mainland market in February with its Google Play and Android. Should that move pan out as expected, the contours of the smartwatch and wearables market in China could change drastically.

As if in anticipation of such an eventuality, some Chinese companies have started making moves in the wearables OS space. For instance, Mobvoi, a Chinese company founded in 2012 by ex-Googler Li Zhifei, has already rolled out its artificial intelligence technology. After receiving Series C funding in October last year, it developed Ticwear, China's first smartwatch OS, for the Moto 360 gadget.

Of course, the Big ThreeAlibaba Group Holding Ltd, Baidu Inc and Tencent Incremain active in the competition for supremacy in the Chinese technology industry.

Baidu came up with its DuWear OS in April last year, which will be made compatible with smartwatches that run on Android Wear. Alibaba Group, which entered the smartwatch market as early as 2011, has not given up on its YunOS.

"The ambition of YunOS is not only to be the third largest in terms of smartphones but become the infrastructure for the mobile Internet age. It will seek to work in the fields of connected cars, wearables and industry terminals," said Chen Shu, a Beijing-based freelance technology expert.
Apple CEO Tim Cook speaks about the number of apps downloaded during an Apple event in San Francisco, California. The Apple store pre-installed on iPhone devices sold in China now offers a variety of applications for users to download. [Photo/Agencies]

As mobile phone penetration reaches deeper into China, the industry regulator is stepping up efforts to ensure that the valuable real estate on smartphone screens is reserved for apps consumers really want.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology circulated a draft plan in November that said users must be given the choice to delete apps pre-installed on their mobile gadgets.

The regulation further said consumers should have a full say over what apps they want to install. All pre-installed apps, except for must-haves like e-mail, should be designed in a way which allows consumers to remove them.

The move is part of efforts by the government to regulate the booming yet freewheeling app development sector. In China as elsewhere, mobile users think apps are indispensable.

Over 594 million Chinese rely on apps to search for popular locations, call taxis, book movie tickets, shop online, perform banking transactions, work out travel arrangements and even jogging routes.

But still, most of them find apps pre-installed on their smartphones cripple their web-surfing and overall user experience.

According to a March report by Penguin Intelligence, a research agency linked to online giant Tencent Holdings Ltd, over 86 percent of 110,000 respondents said they once suffered due to pre-installed apps.

Such apps wake up automatically, consume the network bandwidth, drain the phone battery ... all without the user's consent. Worse, some of them can't be removed because they are hidden.

"Smartphones in China are pre-installed with more apps than those in Western countries, because domestic handset makers are locked in a bitter battle, selling gadgets at prices below cost. Pre-installing apps can boost revenue and help them offset the financial losses," said Yang Fan, a researcher at Beijing-based Internet consultancy Analysys International.

It is believed pre-installed apps can expand usage because they save users time by obviating the need to look for, download and install apps. As a result, app developers typically pay makers of personal computers and mobile phones to include their software on their products.

But over 33 percent of users said they never use pre-installed apps, and 86 percent of them chose to delete them wherever possible, mostly by reinstalling the operating system or rooting their devices, according to a report released by Data Center of China Internet in 2014.

Sandy Shen, research director at Internet consultancy Gartner Inc, said China's app sector, especially the market for applications on Android, an operating system managed by Google Inc, is in a mess.

"There are many handset vendors and sales channels in China. Be it original equipment manufacturers, online sites, telecom carriers, or offline distribution centers, all of them can pre-install applications at different levels of distribution processes," she said.

What exacerbates the problem is that in the absence of Google Play, the tech giant's official app store for Android-powered devices, Chinese Internet giants and handset vendors are scrambling to roll out their own versions. Each of them has its own unique policies for advertising and content curation, and work with various app developers for promotions and joint operations.

The fierce competition has led to a highly fragmented market. Eleven homegrown app stores, including those launched by Qihoo 360 Technology Co, Baidu Inc and Tencent, took a double-digit market share as of May, according to the Chengdu-based Big Data Research Center.

"App stores can help tech companies have a comprehensive understanding of users. By analyzing apps' ranking, download times and users' reviews, Internet companies and smartphones vendors can better grasp the rapidly changing market," said Gene Cao, a Beijing-based analyst with Forrester Research Inc.

But the proliferation of app stores also causes regulatory troubles and makes it difficult to ensure top quality of apps available to consumers, Cao said.

In July, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology suspected 80 apps listed on over 40 app stores of collecting users' personal information illegally, draining data traffic and bundling other software.

To tap into Chinese consumers' attachment to apps, Google is apparently mulling a return to the country with Google Play, which may help clean up the app environment in the world's largest smartphone market, analysts said.

"It is never too late for Google to return to China. Google has a strong reputation in China even though most of its services are not available," Shen, at Gartner Inc, said, adding any re-launch of Google Play will be welcomed by Chinese users as that would enable them to use latest technologies such as Google Maps.

But Cao of Forrester said, Google has already missed out the highs in the country's smartphone industry, when sales peaked. "It will be difficult for the company to compete with local rivals."

Currently, Google's Android operating system dominates the country's smartphone market with roughly 80 percent market share, with Apple Inc's iOS being a remote second with 11 percent and YunOS, developed by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd, in third place with roughly 7 percent market shares, according to Sino Market Research Ltd, a Beijing-based market research and information agency

"Most apps in China are designed for Android or iOS devices. Developers don't have the motivation to develop apps based on domestic operating systems like YunOS. Instead, it is YunOS that wants to be compatible with Android or iOS apps because this is the fastest way to build up user base," said Cao.
A staff member shows a circuit board made by liquid metal print technology at the China Academy of Sciences booth in the 17th China Hi-tech Fair (CHTF) in Shenzhen, South China's Guangdong province, Nov 16, 2015. [Photo/Xinhua]

China has surpassed Japan and South Korea as Asia's No 1 high-tech exporter in 2014, a latest report showed.

According to the 2015 Asian Economic Integration report released by Asian Development Bank (ADB), China's share of Asia's exports of high-tech goods rose to 43.7 percent in 2014 from 9.4 percent in 2000.

China's high-tech products, such as high-speed railway, nuclear and satellite have been welcomed in Asian countries, which signal a rising influence and breakthrough in high-tech sector.

ADB's report showed that China become a leading driver in Asia's high-tech exports in 2014. Japan's share fell to 7.7 percent from 25.5 percent in 2000, behind South Korea's 9.4 percent.

In 2014, low-tech goods accounted for 28 percent of China's exports, compared with 41 percent in 2000, according to ADB's report.

China has achieved great success in high-speed train, unmanned aerial vehicle, smartphone, nuclear station, Zhuang Juzhong, deputy chief economist of Asian Development Bank, told People's Daily.

Furthermore, China's new-energy technology also has an influence in the world, Zhuang said.

In strategic high-tech sector, such as manned space flight, lunar exploration program, deep-sea manned submersible, supercomputer, and Beidou navigation, China also made great breakthroughs, Zhuang added.

The products in ADB's report refer to finished goods, which are divided into four grades, high-tech goods, mid- and high-tech goods, mid- and low-tech goods and low-end tech goods. Specifically, high-end tech goods include aerospace and telecommunications equipment, medical and precision instrument.
Aviation regiment commander continues to fly high after three decades of piloting helicopters

Zhao Lizhun, the commander of an aviation regiment at the Jinan Military Area Command, carries two packages with him.

One contains navigation tools - slide rules, aeronautical charts and flight manuals. The other holds clothes and articles for daily use.

Two years ago on the first day of Spring Festival, the most important time for Chinese families to get together, Zhao directed two helicopters to take off half an hour after receiving an urgent order to get to a target region on time.

"Our country has taken care of me, and I have to be on call as long as it needs me," said the 50-year-old aviator.

Yan Haiying, Zhao's wife, said it's common for Zhao to leave home for missions less than half an hour after he arrives after work.

For the past 34 years, Zhao has flown military helicopters for 4,000 hours without a hitch and accomplished nearly 100 tasks without accident.

At the Sept 3 parade marking the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, Zhao led six training helicopters trailing colored smoke over Tian'anmen Square in perfect formation.

Zhao said it was the most challenging task he had carried out. "As the commander of the seven-aircraft formation, most of my efforts were focused on checking the other six helicopters' position to make sure the whole formation was in line," he said.

Ma Qingzeng, political commissar of the regiment, said Zhao is an excellent aviator, commander and trainer.

As an experienced aviator, Zhao also sets his sights on integrating aviation into joint warfare systems.

Ten years ago, Zhao began studying air defense, artillery and special forces. He started researching the role of aviation in joint military operations in 2013.

He also makes it a point to know every part of the helicopters.

"He once spent a whole day in the cockpit studying each component to understand how the fire control system works," aviator Wang Chong recalled.

Zhao has so far refitted five types of aircrafts.

He also highlighted the importance of collective effort.

"Every aviator matters for the successful completion of our tasks," Zhao said.

"Our comprehensive strength is enhanced by each and every one of us."

Last year, 15 aviators were prohibited from flying as they failed their theory exams, which require them to know the functions of hundreds of buttons, as well as the helicopters' structure, operational rules and procedures to deal with common breakdowns.

"Theoretical knowledge matters in flying skills and safety, which directly influence our comprehensive strength," he said.

Zhao also emphasized the importance of safety.

To that effect, signboards at the training ground spell out Heinrich's Law and Murphy's Law, accompanied by illustrations and photos.

Zhao is known for his personal discipline and control. Wang Daikun, who is responsible for the regiment's food supplies, said the only "luxury" Zhao allows himself is chili sauce.

His sole wish, Zhao said, is to continue flying for the country.
China is studying the possibility of introducing medical insurance fees for retirees, a move that has split expert and public opinion.

In an article for Seeking the Truth, the official Party magazine, Finance Minister Lou Jiwei said the government should look at the option as a way to tackle rising pressure on the national health system. Unlike in most countries, retirees in China are not required to pay health insurance.

By the end of 2014, about 283 million Chinese were included in the so-called employee medical insurance program, a main pillar of the national system, according to the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

The national insurance system currently has a surplus of 673.2 billion yuan ($103 billion), a figure that has continued to rise in recent years, from 495 billion yuan in 2012 and 579 billion in 2013. Yet experts warn that China's rapidly aging society means a deficit will occur if expenditure keeps rising at the current pace.

"In the West, the biggest threat to national health insurance systems is an aging population. But in China, besides that factor, pressure also comes from the fact reimbursement levels need to be increasedand that means retirees need to contribute," said Lin Shuanglin, director of the China Center for Public Finance at Peking University.

Contribution

The employee program requires workers to contribute about 2 percent of their monthly salaries to the medical insurance fund, while employers pay in another 9 to 10 percent.

The ratio is not low compared with the West, Lin said, but the problem is that the program covers only a slice of the population, while the surplus comes from the fact reimbursements are much lower than in the West.

"Patients have found that many items are not covered by the medical insurance. What's more, rural and urban residents without fixed jobswho make up a larger section of the populationget even lower reimbursements," he said. "China should shift its spending pattern, from subsidizing public hospitals and requiring them to lower medical costs to increasing reimbursement levels."

However, asking pensioners to pay insurance fees will likely face public opposition. The finance minister's comments have already been criticized online.

Lyu Wangshi at the Research Institute for Fiscal Science said he believes the criticism is misplaced because raising social insurance payments for retirees is a universal trend. The real problem, is some of the retirees receive an excessively high retirement pay.

"Many retirees with State-owned enterprises receive higher pay than working employees' salaries, while in the West retirement pay variation among different groups is much smaller. The pension system should be reformed so insurance payers could feel less unfair," he said.
An undated file photo shows China's first aircraft carrier Liaoning. [Photo for chinadaily.com.cn]

China's second aircraft carrier, which is now under construction, will focus on military operations rather than training and technological experiments, according to a senior military researcher.

"This carrier will have different missions than those for the Liaoning (the country's first aircraft carrier)," Senior Captain Zhang Junshe with the People's Liberation Army Naval Military Studies Research Institute told the official PLA Daily on Friday.

"We use the Liaoning to test the reliability and compatibility of systems on carriers, and to train personnel. The second carrier will mainly do what a genuine aircraft carrier is supposed to do: running combat patrols and delivering humanitarian aid."

Zhang said China urgently needs a second carrier, as the country is seeking to improve its defense systems and better safeguard national interests.

"The PLA needs at least three aircraft carriers. When it does, one can be on duty, one can train personnel, and the third can receive maintenance," he said.

China's second aircraft carrier is under construction in the coastal city of Dalian, Liaoning province, Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun told a news conference in Beijing on Thursday.

The Liaoning was originally a Soviet-era vessel and received an extensive refit at a shipyard in Dalian before going into service in September 2012.
Residents return after drugs village cleans up By Zheng Caixioing in Shanwei, Guangdong (China Daily) Updated: 2016-01-04 07:54

Two years after a major crackdown on illegal drugs in a coastal village in Guangdong province, the environment has been restored and fearful residents have returned to their homes.

Twenty percent of the population in Boshe had been involved in drug production or trafficking.

"Villagers have now begun to work their farmland," said Cai Longqiu, Party chief of the village in Lufeng, a city in eastern Guangdong.

"Those who had left the village to find jobs outside are returning, as social order and the environment have greatly improved."

The situation in Boshe was vastly different at the end of 2013. Waste and toxic water discharged by methamphetamine production had polluted farmland and caused the village's river and streams to run black.

"The village was in chaos and hygiene was also very poor, with rubbish heaps everywhere," Cai said. "Many villagers chose to leave Boshe - which was dubbed the No 1 village for drug production on the mainland - to find employment outside because of the drug production."

Authorities said that more than 20 percent of the families in Boshe, which has a registered population of more than 14,000, were found to be involved in or linked to the production and trafficking of drugs.

During a special operation early on Dec 29, 2013, more than 3,000 police officers from outside Lufeng raided Boshe, seizing 2,925 kilograms of methamphetamine, 260 kg of the date-rape drug ketamine and more than 23 metric tons of raw materials used in drug production.

The sweep targeted 77 drug sites in the village, and police seized nine guns, ammunition, a homemade bomb and many knives.

Police detained 182 suspects, including Cai Dongjia, former local Party chief and village head. They also smashed 18 major drug gangs during the operation.

Before the crackdown, it was estimated that more than one-third of China's methamphetamine production originated in Boshe.

Authorities have done more than merely make arrests and seize drugs in an effort to restore Boshe's vitality.

Yang Xusong, the mayor of Shanwei, said more than 20 million yuan ($3.1 million) has been invested over the past two years to help poor families, construct water conservancy projects, upgrade the underground drainage system and to improve the environment and polluted farmland.

"Many villagers now know the harm that drugs can do, so they stay away from them and actively cooperate with police to fight drug crimes," Cai said.

One villager surnamed Li said great improvements have been made in recent months. "Police now patrol frequently in the village and visit local households every day to ensure good social order," Li said.

Roads have been named and all houses numbered. Drug producers and traffickers had previously prevented road-naming and houses being numbered in an effort to make it difficult for police to investigate criminal activity.

Li, who is in her 40s, and her husband returned to the village at the start of 2015 after hearing of the improvements. They started to grow rice and peanuts on their farmland.

Cai Longqiu said Boshe relies economically on the production of rice, sweet potatoes, peanuts and aquatic products.

Lin Yizhi, a senior drug enforcement police officer in Lufeng, said drug and related crimes have been brought under control after two years of intense efforts. No new drug production bases have been detected in Boshe in the past two years, Lin said.

Only 58 drug production sites were investigated in Lufeng in 2015, a reduction of 50 percent year-on-year, Lin said. "Police have never relaxed their vigilance after the Boshe crackdown," he said.

However, in the province as a whole, the news is not as good.

Police across Guangdong seized more than 34.8 tons of illegal drugs in the first 11 months of 2015, a 67.5 percent year-on-year increase, said Guo Shaobo, deputy director-general of the Guangdong Provincial Department of Public Security.

Police detained 32,000 suspects after busting 1,708 drug gangs in the same period, an increase of 15.4 percent and 57.9 percent, respectively.

Guo said the authorities understand that the fight against drugs is a long-term and difficult task in Guangdong, which has been the focus of China's anti-drug campaign for many years.

"Overseas drug traffickers never stop using different kinds of ways to smuggle drugs in and out of the province and build Guangdong into a drug production and distribution center," he said.

zhengcaixiong@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/04/2016 page1)
Contrary to rumor, windbreaks have 'no relation' to airflow over northern areas

National forestry and weather authorities dismissed rumors that rows of trees planted as windbreaks and to block blowing sand have worsened air pollution in northern China by slowing air movement.

Since November, severe smog has frequently engulfed the northern region, including Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province, partly because there have been more windless days, they said.

In recent weeks, the average wind speed in the region was around 6.8 kilometers per hour, 5 percent lower than the annual average, according to the National Meteorological Center.

Calm days over a six-week period - including all of November and the first two weeks of December increased to 33 days, three more than the same period the previous year.

Calm days are defined as those with wind speeds lower than 7.2 kilometers per hour and are a major reason for the frequent smog, the center said.

"But the slower wind has no relation to the windbreaks," Ma Xuekuan, chief forecaster at the Central Meteorological Observatory, said.

The windbreaks can affect the wind speed, but only at the surface, he said, adding that wind is only affected within a short distance of the tree lines.

Trees can slow wind only to a distance about 10 times their height. For example, if a tree is 20 meters high, it could affect wind within 200 meters, he said.

Windbreaks, also known as shelter belts, were planted to guard against desertification - soil loss - and to encourage the growth of more trees. The closest large tree belt to urban Beijing is about 200 kilometers from the capital in Zhangjiakou, Hebei province.

"Slower wind in Beijing is not a result of the tree belts. It's the result of general weather conditions," Ma said.

Wind is weaker this winter because cold air fronts have been below average, he added.

The State Forestry Administration took a clear-cut stand.

"It's impossible for a tree belt to prevent wind coming to disperse smog," said Zhang Jianlong, director of the administration. "If tree belts have prevented wind from dispersing pollution, I would argue that the skyscrapers, way higher than trees, could do the same."

Zhang Yongli, deputy director of the administration, said trees could actually reduce the harm caused by smog.

"An increase in forest cover could reduce soil erosion and surface dust, which in turn could improve the conditions that generate smog."

The National Meteorological Center also noted other major reasons smog has come frequently to northern China, including higher humidity than usual.
Free specialized facility spearheading govt effort to expand services to 21 cities in Guangdong

The first hospital on the Chinese mainland that only admits drug-addicted patients is planning to expand to more than 150 beds in 2016, leading a government effort to create similar treatment facilities in all 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong province.

Nanqu Hospital, which is affiliated with Zhongshan No 2 People's Hospital, has only 80 beds at the moment, even though it once had more than 140 patients, said Wang Jun, head of the hospital.

"The expansion of the hospital aims to meet the demand from the growing number of drug-addicted patients," Wang said. "Many patients had to stay in the corridors, or sleep on the floor when all of the beds were occupied."

Except for pediatrics and obstetrics, the hospital has all the departments of a major hospital, including an intensive care unit and an operating room. It has treated more than 720 patients since it opened in June 2011.

Most of the patients are diagnosed with HIV, hepatitis, tuberculosis, sexually transmitted diseases and other infectious diseases.

"The hospital was built by the government and is managed by the police, but the medical treatment is provided by senior doctors and nurses from Zhongshan No 2 People's Hospital. The treatment is free for the drug addicts," Wang said.

"The patients admitted to the hospital will not be discharged or sent back to drug rehabilitation centers or prison unless their physical condition poses no threat to other inmates," Wang said.

The effort costs the hospital more than 12 million yuan ($1.85 million) annually, he said.

Deng Jianwei, director of drug enforcement at the Guangdong provincial department of public security, said similar hospitals are being built in Guangzhou, Huizhou and Dongguan in Guangdong province.

Deng's department has asked all the 21 prefecture-level cities in Guangdong to build such hospitals for drug-addicted patients in 2016. Those that do not build a facility will not pass their social comprehensive management assessment, which is required for officials seeking promotion.

Guangdong province had registered more than 578,000 drug addicts by mid-December, accounting for about one-sixth of the country's total, Deng said. About 18,000 of them are disabled or have serious diseases, including HIV and other infectious diseases.

A patient with heart disease surnamed Li was sent to Nanqu hospital after falling ill at a local drug rehabilitation center several months ago.

"I am satisfied with the medical treatment and the facilities in the hospital," said Li, who reads books and magazines and plays poker with roommates in his ward every afternoon. "I will be discharged from the hospital in a month."

Construction of the hospital, which currently has 63 patients in its wards, pleased the public, said Tan Pei'an, vice-mayor of Zhongshan and director of the city's public security department.

"Before the hospital was put into service, some drug addicts who were dumped by their families or were discriminated against ... used to use syringe needles and knives to steal and rob in local communities, threatening people's lives and social stability," Tan said.

"Such drug addicts were never afraid of being detained by police at that time," Tan said. "Police dared not detain them due to the health risks they posed both to other detainees and the officers themselves, and police had to quickly release them because they did not know how or where the special suspects were to be sent and placed for punishment."
A drone to help crack down on illegal drugs in Huidong, Guangdong province, is demonstrated in 2014. Chen Weibin/China Daily

Drones and other high-tech surveillance measures have been making a big impact in the fight against drugs and related crimes in Huidong county, Guangdong province, once known as a major production base for the so-called date-rape anesthetic ketamine.

Five drones have provided accurate data for police planning raids on drug labs, while also helping deter drug producers and traffickers, said Zhou Yongkun, Party chief of Huidong's Baihua township.

"Drones fly every day, mainly over local mountains, forests, large orchards and other target areas where police officers find it difficult to patrol and where secret drug dens might hide," Zhou said.

Located about 80 kilometers from the Shenzhen Special Economic Zone and 140 km from Guangzhou, the provincial capital, Baihua was once a major production base for ketamine, commonly known as K-powder. The drug produced in Huidong at one time represented about one-third of the total nationwide, police said.

Police busted three major gangs that were active in Huidong county and the eastern coastal areas of Guangdong during a special operation in October 2013. More than 1,000 officers participated, dealing a heavy blow to the illegal drug trade, police said.

Following on that success, the Huizhou city government invested more than 100 million yuan ($15.4 million) in a sustained crackdown.

In addition to the introduction of new equipment and high technology, some of the money was used to reward police officers who captured drug suspects and local residents who provided tips to the police about crimes over the past two years.

The effort also has led to the investigation or removal of 75 Party and government officials in Huizhou - including 49 Huidong officials - who acted as "protective umbrellas" for local drug activities and secretly tipped off gangs, authorities said.

The crackdown spurred the removal of Huidong from the national list of major drug crime areas on the mainland in October last year.

The reduction in drug crimes has allowed police to turn their attention to pursuing and capturing suspects who are on the run, Zhou said.


In the first of a two-part series, China Daily reporters recall the stories and incidents that stood out last year.

Peng Yining: From tattoos to Tian'anmen

Best story: My favorite story of the year was a feature I wrote about young urban residents in big cities getting the needle. Although tattoos are often regarded as an art form primarily associated with criminals and gang members, most of my interviewees were "normal" people with decent jobs, who pay their taxes and love their families.

Urbanization continues at a scorching pace in China, and for many younger people the process has resulted in feelings of alienation and loss of identity. These frustrations and emotions have seen the popularity of tattoos, once a symbol of rebellious subculture, soar.

Most interesting person: I met a young designer in Beijing, who I interviewed for the tattoo story. He told me that he likes the Monkey King. Actually, a lot of people do, because the Monkey King is one of the great figures of Chinese literature and used his immense strength and intellect to rebel against Heaven. He has long been regarded as the Chinese version of a superhero.

However, the 25-year-old designer said: "I like the Monkey King, not because he was a rebel, but because he gave up. He stopped rebelling."

As the main character in the classic Journey to the West, the Monkey King surrendered to the Buddha and undertook a journey to search for sutras, sacred Buddhist texts.

"I did that too, in a way. No matter how wild and amazing your youth was, eventually, you cover up your tattoo and go find a 9-to-5 job," he said.

That was my favorite interview of 2015. When I spoke with this designer and other ordinary young people, I felt they had shared their most intimate feelings with me.

Most memorable reporting experience: I was spending the entire night in Tian'anmen Square as I waited to cover the parade to mark 70 years since the end of World War II the next morning. Very few people get the opportunity to watch the stars in the middle of the night at Tian'anmen.

Best quote: The best quote of the year came from another interviewee for the tattoo story: "People always look at me with surprise when they see my tattoos, and that moment makes my day. I feel I am different, different from the gloomy crowd on the bus."


A bullet train moves in Xinzheng, central China's Henan province on Sept 28, 2012. [Photo/Xinhua]

China is going to invest at least 3.8 trillion yuan ($538 billion) in new railway construction in the country's 13th Five Year Plan (2016-2020), Caixin Media reported.

The ambitious plan aims to boost China's railroad to a record 150,000 kilometers and high-speed rail to 30,000 kilometers, it said, citing a draft proposal by transportation authorities.

The railway network would link any major city with a population over 200,000 and reduce the commuting time among them to 1 to 8 hours, according to the proposal.

Over 20 high speed routes are designed to expand the high-speed rail network, with priority going to links from Beijing to Shenyang, Northeast Liaoning province; from Taiyuan, North Shanxi province to Zhengzhou, Central Henan province and lines in the Midwestern provinces.

An possible high-speed railway to run beneath China's Bohai Sea may also be taken into consideration.

It now takes over 10 hours to travel the over-1,000-kilometer land route between Lushun and Penglai, which are separated by the Bohai Sea and located on the Liaodong and Shandong peninsulas, respectively.

The proposed underwater high-speed railway is likely to shorten the distance to over 100 kilometers while the travel time would be reduced to 40-50 minutes.

China spent 820 billion yuan ($126 billion) on rail projects in 2015 and put more than 9,000 kilometers of new track into operation, exceeding its annual targets of 800 billion yuan investment and 8,000 kilometers of new lines, according to China Railway Corporation.

With a newly completed high-speed railway track in southern Hainan province, China now has 19,000 kilometers of high-speed rail.

The fast growth of railway construction projects came at a time when the country is enduring continuous deceleration in the growth of fixed-asset investment. In the first 11 months of 2015, fixed-asset investment grew 10.2 percent year on year, slowing from 13.9 percent growth seen at the beginning of this year.
Mustang is among the species that are extinct in the wild in Xinjiang. The photo was taken in 2009. [Photo/CFP]

URUMQI -- Many types of wildlife are facing extinction in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, according to a new report.

The Red List of Xinjiang's Vertebrates revealed that 16 types of vertebrates in the region are near extinction or are critically endangered.

According to the list, mustangs and saigas are already extinct in the wild, while white storks and stenodus leucichthys, a freshwater whitefish, are facing regional extinction. Another 12 species are critically endangered, while 40 other species are endangered.

Compiled by the wildlife and wetland research center under the Xinjiang Academy of Forestry, the red list is an assessment of the conservation status of Xinjiang's biological species based on the standards of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species classifies species into nine groups, with "extinct" being the most severe, followed by "extinct in the wild." The criteria are based on factors such as rate of decline and population size, among others.

Some wild animals like the Gobi Argali sheep were labeled "endangered" in 2004, but now they are classified as "critically endangered," according to Cai Xinbin, an official with the academy.

Xinjiang boasts rich biodiversity, with 731 types of vertebrates found in the region, or 10 percent of the country's total. It is also home to some of the most ancient species, such as the Xinjiang Salamander.

Wildlife has been threatened by human activity, pollution and climate change in recent years.
BEIJING -- China on Monday condemned an attack on an Indian air force base and called on India and Pakistan to continue to improve ties.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying made the remarks at a regular press briefing while commenting on the attack on the Pathankot airbase in India's northern state of Punjab, close to the border with Pakistan.

Seven Indian security forces personnel were killed in the attack, carried out by unidentified militants and probably intended to undermine improving ties between India and Pakistan.

The improvement of ties between Pakistan and India is important to regional peace, stability and development, Hua said.

She added that China hopes the two countries could clear away obstacles and continue dialogue and cooperation.
Construction of a new ocean park has started in Hengqin Island, a booming tourism and leisure resort area in Zhuhai of Guangdong province.

The park is a project owned by Chimelong Group that will include an 800m long undersea tunnel, allowing visitors to walk along various marine animals.

According to Chen Jie, general manager of Chimelong Group (Zhuhai), the center will also include 10 exhibition areas with different marine features.

Chimelong, based in Guangdong, has already developed an ocean kingdom and a circus center and other hotel facilities in Hengqin, which was approved as part of the Guangdong Pilot Free Trade Zone in 2015.

The company signed an investment agreement worth of 50 billion yuan ($7.6 billion) with the Zhuhai government to facilitate its development in the Hengqin area, which borders Macao.
The landmark deal Japan and the Republic of Korea signed on an "irreversible" resolution to the so-called comfort women issue on Dec 28 has taken a twist within days. Under the accord, the Japanese government will provide 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) to a fund the ROK government will establish to support former "comfort women". In return, Japan has demanded that the ROK not raise the issue again.

Japanese news agency Kyodo News quoted a government source as saying the money paid by Japan to the ROK fund is contingent on removal of the statue of a girl-which was installed in remembrance of the "comfort women"-in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. Japan has called the statue an affront to its national dignity.

Japan coined the term "comfort women" to refer to young women who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers before and during World War II. These women were from countries and regions such as Korea, the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and the Philippines. Most of them were Korean, with a small number of them being Dutch and Australian. And they were the victims of the largest human trafficking case in the 20th century.
Poster of "Batman v Superman". [Photo/Mtime]

Moviegoers can expect a wide range of films in the coming year, from comedies to superheroes, and spinoffs from two of the most popular film franchises of all time.

"Zoolander 2" will open on Feb 12 in the United States.

Variety senior writer James Rainey explains why he thinks this movie will be a big attraction for some film fans.

"Penelope Cruz, Olivia Munn and, of course, Owen Wilson, and Ben Stiller in the title role. It's totally silly. But I think it's going to be fun and good."

Other big pictures worth looking at include "Batman v Superman" and something new from the world of "Harry Potter".

"And I think, for mainstream audiences, you've got the spinoff of the 'Harry Potter' franchise coming at the end of the year, which is "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" from J.K. Rowling -- from her pen to Warner Bros. screen. That's a big one at the end of the year, around Thanksgiving 2016."

Rainey admits that "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" will be a tough act to follow.

"The Force Awakens" will be released in China on Jan 9.

Related:

Movie stars awarded at Palm Springs film festival
The "face with tears of joy" emoji. [Photo from Internet]

The laughing crying emoji, or the 'face with tears of joy' emoji, has become one of 2015's most frequently used "word" on social media with a reach of 6.5 billion on Twitter, according to German communication agency Faktor3.

This emoji is laughing so much that it is crying tears of joy.

The laughing crying emoji was also 2015's word of the year by the Oxford English Dictionary. In a statement, Oxford Dictionaries President Casper Grathwohl said that emoji are becoming an increasingly rich form of communication, one that transcends linguistic borders.

In a blog post, Oxford Dictionaries wrote that the "face with tears of joy" was 2015's most popular emoji based on SwiftKey's research. Their research shows this one comprised 20 percent of emoji used in the UK in 2015, and 17 percent of all emoji used in the US.

Emoji are ideograms originally used in electronic messages and web pages in Japan, which have become increasing popular since their adaption into Apple's iPhone. Currently, most operating system supports emoji.

Related:

Chinese characters and words of 2015 released

Top 10 shortlist of Chinese character of the year announced
A shot of Times Square New Year's Eve celebration on Dec 31, 2015. [Photo/Culturalink.gov.cn]

Millions of people gathered in Times Square to celebrate the New Year on the night of Dec 31, 2015. Just around the corner from the famous ball drop was China National Tourist Office in New York who also held a special promotion for 2016 China-US Tourism Year. The ceremony was broadcasted live on TV and the Internet.

Cui Tiankai, Chinese ambassador to the United States, Zhang Qiyue, Chinese consul general in New York, Xue Yaping, director of the China National Tourist Office in New York, and hundreds of people from Chinese and American tourism companies, airlines and media attended the ceremony.

A total of 10,000 red scarves, with 2016 China-US Tourism Year printed on them, were given to the people at the ceremony.

Chinese artists from New York put on Red Silk Dance, Dunhuang Fairy Dance based on the frescos of China's Mogao Grottoes, which reflects the cultural integration and communication through the Silk Road and the Torch Festival dance of the ethnic Yi people of China. Jumbotrons scattered around Times Square displayed "Happy New Year" in Chinese and also broadcasted videos for Chinese tourism.

Cui expressed his best wishes to the audiences in Chinese and English. He noted that Chinese President Xi Jinping and US President Obama agreed on 2016 being the China-US Tourism Year in September 2015. And that China has opened her arms and would like to show her grand natural beauty and cultural heritage to the people around the world. Cui also noted that the Tourism Year is an important achievement of Sino-US relations that will give a boost to the communication and cooperation on economy, culture, etc. between the two nations.
President announces 'new type of combat force', with improved integration, efficiency

The People's Liberation Army made a historic reshuffle of its branches on Thursday, as military reforms ordered by President Xi Jinping gradually unfold.

During a ceremony held at the Central Military Commission office building in Beijing, Xi, who is also chairman of the commission, announced the establishment of the PLA Army Headquarters, the PLA Rocket Force and the PLA Strategic Support Force.

President Xi Jinping passed the flag of the People's Liberation Army to Gao Jin (left), commander of the PLA Strategic Support Force, at an inauguration ceremony for three new military units in Beijing on Friday. Li Gang / Xinhua

The moves are a key milestone in the modernization efforts of the Chinese military, Xi said.

The president asked the Army to improve its information and joint operation capabilities. He urged the Rocket Force to enhance nuclear deterrence and counterstrike capacity and to strengthen medium- and long-range precision strike capabilities.

Speaking of the Strategic Support Force, Xi said the new branch is a "new type of combat force", and he asked it to improve the integration of the PLA's support systems and the links between civilian and defense sectors.

Based on earlier reports by PLA Daily, the Strategic Support Force will take charge of a wide range of support functions, such as intelligence, technical reconnaissance, electronic warfare and logistics.

Previously, the PLA's ground force did not have a headquarters, as its units were under the direct control of the Central Military Commission. The seven regional military commands were in charge of the detailed operations of ground units stationed within their jurisdictions.

The Rocket Force's predecessor, the PLA Second Artillery Corps, was formed in 1966 to manage the country's strategic missiles. Its name was given by then-premier Zhou Enlai in an attempt to keep its true functions secret. The missile force made its public debut in 1984.

At a Friday news conference, Defense Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said the establishment of the Rocket Force doesn't mean China is changing its nuclear policy or strategy.

Reiterating the no-first-use nuclear weapons policy and the country's defensive nuclear strategy, Yang said China always keeps its nuclear capability at the minimum level required for safeguarding its national security.

The Rocket Force will act as a core part of strategic deterrence, buttressing the country's position as a major power, and an important building block in upholding national security, Yang said.

Lou Yaoliang, head of military strategy studies at National Defense University, said that although the PLA has been reforming for years, this latest round guided by Xi will be "the biggest one in terms of strength, scope, the difficulties it will meet and its impact".

He said the establishment of leading organs for the PLA Army is a highlight. In the past, more than 20 PLA central departments were in charge of various aspects of the ground force, leading to a host of obstacles in the effort to build a strong army, Lou said.

"The establishment of the Army Headquarters also means the PLA has begun to change its long-held Army-centered mentality," he said.

Yao Yunzhu, a senior researcher at the PLA Academy of Military Science, said the establishment of the Strategic Support Force will integrate the support forces of different services to improve efficiency and save costs.

In another development on Friday, the Central Military Commission released guidelines on the military reform, saying reforms will focus on the PLA's structure and organization in 2016.

Xi announced in September that China would cut its troops by 300,000, with noncombatant agencies and their personnel being the primary target of the cuts.

Contact the writers at zhaolei@chinadaily.com.cn and lixiaokun@chinadaily.com.cn

Latest PLA appointments

1 General Li Zuocheng: Born in Anhua county, Hunan province, in 1953. He had served as commander of the Chengdu Military Area Command since July 2013, before being named the new head of the Army Headquarters on Friday.

2 Lieutenant General Liu Lei: Born in Liaocheng, Shandong province, in 1957. He had served as political commissar of the Lanzhou Military Area Command since 2014. He was appointed as political commissar of the Army Headquarters.

3 General Wei Fenghe: The 62-year-old general was born in Liaocheng, Shandong province. He had been commander of the PLA Second Artillery Corps since October 2012. He was named commander of the PLA Rocket Force.

4 Lieutenant General Wang Jiasheng: Born in Liaoning province in 1955. He had been political commissar of the PLA Second Artillery Corps since December 2014. He was named political commissar of the PLA Rocket Force.

5 Lieutenant General Gao Jin: Born in Jingjiang, Jiangsu province, in 1959. He had served as president of the PLA's Academy of Military Science since December 2014, 26 years of experience in the PLA Second Artillery Corps from 1985 to 2011. On Friday, he was named commander of the PLA Strategic Support Force.

6 General Liu Fulian: Born in Lai'an, Anhui province, in 1953. He served as political commissar of the Beijing Military Area Command from 2009. He was named political commissar of the PLA Strategic Support Force.

China Daily
[Photo by Wang Xiaoying/China Daily]

It is an individual's freedom to celebrate or ignore any holiday. The urge to frame it too narrowly could backfire when kindred spirits with different paths see it as cultural superimposing or fun lovers keep a blind eye to its origin or nuances.

When it comes to Christmas, I always thought I would be a Grinch. I hate to prepare presents and I don't love getting one, either. Ever since I went through the grinding mill of business school in the United States, I'm convinced that the holiday is designed to ramp up sales of unnecessary and overstocked merchandise.

Recent news photos of young Chinese holding up plaques boycotting Christmas simply negated my self-evaluation: I'm not a Grinch after all. At worst I'm just another grumpy old man. It's funny I've never come across one of the protesters in real life.

According to one online estimate, some 40 percent of respondents take their side, which means almost half of those around me would hate it if I say "merry Christmas" to them. But then my circle of acquaintances and colleagues could be too cosmopolitan or globalized - atypical of the online sample.

I read somewhere that the Asian nation of Brunei has just banned Christmas, and violators will be fined up to $20,000, up to five years in prison, or both. Had Chinese introduced the same law, I guess some of the same protesters would again protest - for the simple reason that it will deprive them of one day of frolicking.

You see, the biggest complaint about Christmas is it's Western and it's religious. But any careful observer of Christmas celebrations in the Middle Kingdom will come to the realization that it has very different connotations, at least among the majority of Chinese celebrants.

Unlike the US cities in which I have lived where Christmas Eve is a time of peace and quiet, young Chinese swarm to posh restaurants and clubs to kick back. Sure, some would think of going to a church afterwards, but most sites would be cordoned off, possibly to keep away these nonbelievers who see the religious venue as an ad-hoc club for partying.

In other words, Christmas in China is essentially a prequel to New Year's Day, which, if you come to terms with it, is also a Western holiday, albeit with few hints of faith in it. Only when you use the Gregorian calendar would the New Year fall on this day.

Using the logic of the boycotters, we should probably stick to the Lunar New Year since our ancestors used the lunar calendar.

If I were a Christmas purist, I would be protesting that the holiday is being sapped of its religious meaning and turned into another opportunity for impious activities.

I did not know of the origin of Christmas until recent years when I learned that nobody actually knew the birthday of Jesus Christ and that it was designated as such hundreds of years later when Christianity spread to parts of Europe and incorporated some pagan holiday. Now I'm no history buff and know even less about religions.

My first culture shock came when I greeted a friend of mine who was a devout Christian by saying "merry Christmas" to him. Rather than being pleased, he coldly replied that he and his family did not celebrate it. I tried to find out why but was deterred.

Christianity has so many sects and denominations that practices must vary from one to another, I thought. I'd better be politically correct and refrain from blurting out more offensive stuff.
December 24-26, a Qingdao delegation headed by Li Qun, the Party chief of Qingdao, visited Cambodia.

Located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia and as a country of ancient civilization, Cambodia has traditional friendship with China. The country is an important business and trade partner of Qingdao in Southeast Asia. At present, enterprises from Qingdao has invested 16 projects in manufacturing, trade and real estates sectors in Cambodia with total investment over 240 million USD.

During the visit, the delegation received warm welcome from Yim Chhay Ly, Deputy Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Cambodia and the two sides had talks over business and trade cooperation between Cambodia and Qingdao. Li hailed the complementary advantages and huge cooperation potentials between the two sides. He said the Party Qingdao committee and Qingdao municipal government would continue to support the cooperation between the Port of Qingdao and Sihanoukville Port and encourage more local enterprises from Qingdao to invest in Cambodia and expand trade with the country and Mr. Li also hoped more Cambodian enterprises to establish their business presence in Qingdao to realize mutual benefit and win-win.

Yim Chhay Ly spoke highly of the investment of Qingdao enterprises in basic infrastructure, port development and import & export trade in the country which have injected immense vitalities to the economic and social development of Cambodia. Cambodian government would further strengthen cooperation with Chinese government and enterprises and help to realize more practical cooperation between the two sides by forging a safer, more efficient and more convenient investment environment in the country.

The Port of Qingdao, SITC, Qingdao Huatong, Qingjian Group, Qingdao City Construction Investment Group, Aucma and Zhongqi Holding Group inked letter of intent or cooperation MoUs with local enterprises in Cambodia. Haier, Hisense, DoubleStar, the Export-Import Bank of China and Jifa Group held business talks with over 30 local enterprises in the country.

During the visit, Qingdao also signed letter of intent on establishing economic partnership with Siem Reap.
A South Korean woman whose family members were killed by Japanese forces during World War II attends a rally in Seoul on Monday demanding full compensation and an apology from the Japanese government. AHN YOUNG-JOON/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

The landmark deal Japan and the Republic of Korea signed on an "irreversible" resolution to the so-called comfort women issue on Dec 28 has taken a twist within days. Under the accord, the Japanese government will provide 1 billion yen ($8.3 million) to a fund the ROK government will establish to support former "comfort women". In return, Japan has demanded that the ROK not raise the issue again.

Japanese news agency Kyodo News quoted a government source as saying the money paid by Japan to the ROK fund is contingent on removal of the statue of a girl-which was installed in remembrance of the "comfort women"-in front of the Japanese embassy in Seoul. Japan has called the statue an affront to its national dignity.

Japan coined the term "comfort women" to refer to young women who were forced into sexual slavery by Japanese soldiers before and during World War II. These women were from countries and regions such as Korea, the Chinese mainland, Taiwan and the Philippines. Most of them were Korean, with a small number of them being Dutch and Australian. And they were the victims of the largest human trafficking case in the 20th century.

The wartime sex slavery issue had long strained Japan-ROK ties and raised concerns even in the United States.

For long, Japan considered it had fulfilled all its postwar obligations to the ROK via a 1965 treaty that came with $800 million in economic aid and loans. But despite that Abe took a U-turn and agreed to the pay for the ROK fund for "comfort women", because, as some experts say, Tokyo and Seoul both were under pressure from their main ally, Washington, to resolve the issue. More importantly, the US and Japan want to build a strong front against China, and the resolution of the "comfort women" issue is likely to lead to expanded military cooperation among the US, Japan and the ROK.

But Japan's sincerity is now in question, because it wants to link its payment to the removal of the statue. In response, ROK Foreign Minister Yun Byung Se said Seoul will urge Tokyo to refrain from behaviors "that could cause misunderstanding".

The removal of the statue was not mentioned as a condition for Japan's financial aid in the joint announcement by Yun and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida after their talks in Seoul.

The people of the ROK, including the surviving "comfort women" protested against the deal, saying Abe's apology did not acknowledge the extent of the Japanese military's involvement in the forced prostitution program nor did he detail the atrocities committed by the Japanese military.

It is too early to assess the impact of the deal.

Japanese ultra-right groups-which deny the Imperial Japanese Army's involvement in wartime atrocities may seek to undermine support for the agreement. Worse, Abe's wife Akie Abe visited the controversial Yasukuni Shrine, which honors 14 Class-A war criminals along with millions of Japan's war dead, on the same day that Japan and the ROK agreed on the accord on "comfort women".

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida has called the deal a project to recover the honor and dignity of all "comfort women" and to heal their emotional wounds. Therefore, the amount Japan is willing to pay the ROK should not be hush money. And Japan's acceptance of its war history should not stop at the ROK.

The author is China Daily chief correspondent in Brussels. fujing@chinadaily.com.cn
Police seize a simulated gangster during an emergency drill in Urumqi, Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, earlier this month. The scenario involved a female audience member at a sports event who was kidnapped by two gangsters with knives. MA YUAN/CHINA DAILY

The Anti-Terrorism Law, the first of its kind in China, took effect on Jan 1, reflecting the State's determination to fight terrorism and clearly stating how the Chinese authorities are going to do it.

The law comes in the backdrop of rising terrorism across the world - from France to Tunisia, terrorists claimed hundreds of innocent lives and injured even more in 2015. Terrorists have become more brutal; in some cases they killed people indiscriminately instead of taking hostages, as before. On the other hand, political differences among the powers responsible to fight terrorism have prevented the formation of a strong alliance against terrorists.

In the Anti-Terrorism Law, China has given a clear definition of terrorism, and solemnly promised to oppose terrorism in all (its) forms, ban terrorist organizations, and hold the terrorist organizations accountable. It is China's unambiguous legal document and conforms to the new developments in the global fight against terrorism.

At this critical juncture, it is necessary for Western governments and media outlets to judge China's fight against terrorism objectively. However, they seem to do exactly the opposite. In a recent report, The New York Times said the law was controversial. It even expressed worries it (the law) could violate human rights such as freedom of speech.

The case of Ursula Gauthier, a journalist for French magazine Le Nouvel Observateur (The New Observer) in Beijing, triggered discussions recently because the Chinese authorities refused to renew her visa unless she apologized for one of her articles. On Nov 18, when the Chinese people and government were sympathizing with the French people for the deaths of people in the Nov 13 terrorist attacks in Paris, Gauthier wrote an article on the magazine's website attributing the terrorist attacks in China on the "improper" policies against the Uygur community.

Just like Hua Chunying, spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at a press conference, the article, like many Westerners' views, followed an absurd logic based on political bias and double standard.

Gauthier's article drew protests and opposition from readers both in China and France, and her case should be a lesson for journalists who adopt double standard on terrorism.

Terrorism was the greatest threat to the international community in 2015. Rampant terrorism wreaked havoc not only in Africa, the Middle East and South Asia, but also in Europe, China and the US. And for that, the chaos in the Middle East is not the only factor to blame; the "support" (intended or unintended) of some states, people and media outlets to terrorist outfits is also responsible. As such, those opposing China's Anti-Terrorism Law are actually supporting terrorism despite not realizing it.

China studied from the experiences of Western countries and considered its own situation and needs before drafting and passing the law. And the Chinese authorities solicited the opinions of the people on the law before adopting it.

The Anti-Terrorism Law has special sections on international cooperation, such as suspected terrorists should be denied entrance documents or that militaries of different countries should cooperate with each other in the fight against terrorism. The law has laid a solid foundation for China and its partners in the international community to join hands to fight terrorism. Let's hope they do so in reality to eradicate the common threat.

The author is deputy head of the Institute of Central Asia Studies at Xinjiang Academy of Social Sciences.
At an official ceremony of the People's Liberation Army on Dec 31, Xi Jinping, Party general secretary and Central Military Commission chairman, conferred military flags on the general command for the PLA Army, the PLA Rocket Force and the PLA Strategic Support Force.

The establishment of these three forces is part of the grand reform of the military. At a meeting of the CMC on Nov 24-26, Xi delivered a speech emphasizing the importance of deepening the military reform. Now, more than a month later, the CMC has released a guideline on its implementation.

According to the guideline, a new structure will be established in which the CMC takes charge of the overall administration of the PLA, the Chinese People's Armed Police and the militia and reserve forces. Besides, battle zones will replace military zones, while non-fighting units will be massively reduced to curb redundancy.

While 2015 saw reforms in the command system, this year will see the reduction in the number of personnel and reform of military academies and armed police forces, according to the guideline. The reform of the military is aimed at modernizing the PLA so that it suits the current needs and is more capable of defending China's international interests and security.

(China Daily 01/04/2016 page8)
US President Barack Obama (R) welcomes Chinese President Xi Jinping in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington September 25, 2015. [Photo/Agency]

The year 2015 is drawing to an end. As we review China-US relationship in 2015, we see a year full of challenges for both sides. However, thanks to the joint efforts, our two countries managed to overcome difficulties and obstacles of various kinds and succeeded in advancing this relationship further.

A Chinese saying goes: "the past not forgotten is a guide for the future". It means we must take lessons of the past as a guide for our action in the future.

What can we learn from 2015 for China-US relationship? Three things come to my mind:

1. Dialogue is the best way to address our differences.

President Xi Jinping paid a state visit to US from Sept 22nd to 25th. It was his first state visit to US since his assumption of office. Prior to his visit, I made two trips to the US where I met a lot of American friends and discussed China-US relationship with them. They all sounded depressed and were genuinely worried about the prospect. They cited divergences on numerous questions between the two countries, such as cyber security, South China Sea, human rights, etc. American media played up these divergences. They presented Cyber security as the most contentious issue and asserted that the US was a major victim of hacker attacks "originating from China". The Chinese side kept denying it. The atmosphere surrounding China-US relationship was worsening. Rumors had it that the US government was considering sanctions on China for hacker attacks. People feared Xi Jinping's state visit to US may end up in failure.

From Sept 9th to 12th, Mr. Meng Jianzhu, State Councilor and a member of the CPC Central Committee's Political Bureau, paid a surprise visit to the US, as President Xi Jinping' s special envoy. Mr. Meng met Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and National Security Advisor Susan Rice. They engaged in intensive talks on the issue of cyber security. After three days of candid and pragmatic exchanges, the two sides reached a consensus. It was incorporated in the fact sheet at the end of President Xi's state visit to the US. It says:

"China and the United States agree that timely responses should be provided to requests for information and assistance concerning malicious cyber activities. Both sides are committed to making common effort to further identify and promote appropriate norms of state behavior in cyberspace within the international community. The two sides also agree to create a senior experts' group for further discussions on this topic. China and the United States agree to establish a high-level joint dialogue mechanism on fighting cyber crimes and related issues. China will designate an official at the ministerial level to lead the Chinese delegation. The Ministry of Public Security, Ministry of State Security, Ministry of Justice, and the State Internet and Information Office will participate in the dialogue. The U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security and the U.S. Attorney General will co-chair the dialogue, with participation from representatives from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Intelligence Community and other agencies, for the United States. This mechanism will be used to review the timeliness and quality of responses to requests for information and assistance with respect to malicious cyber activity of concern identified by either side. As part of this mechanism, both sides agree to establish a hotline for the escalation of issues that may arise in the course of responding to such requests. Finally, both sides agree that the first meeting of this dialogue will be held by the end of 2015, and will occur twice per year thereafter."

State Councilor Meng Jianzhu's surprise visit to the US is viewed by diplomatic quarters and US-China relations experts as a smart and timely move. It made great contribution to the success of Xi Jinping's state visit.

Cyber security is a highly controversial and sensitive issue. Yet it just took a few days for China and the US to reach the consensus. Both sides were satisfied. This is an eloquent proof that dialogue is the best way to address the differences.
Sean Boyce gives lessons at Ace, a bar in Harbin, the capital and largest city of Heilongjiang province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

This is a story about my time in China in the last six months, a story in which I have made many great friends, had some great experiences and ultimately had one of the best years of my life.

We started with literally nothing. We started by dancing in front of the library during the summer. It all started with a conversation that went something like this:

"Wow, summer is here and everyone is away at home; what are we going to do with our time?"

"Errr....I could teach you salsa?"

"Yeah, that sounds like a great idea!"

And from that conversation, which started as an offhand joke, began our foray into salsa dancing. Me and a couple of friends started practicing salsa in front of the library every day.we would just set up some music and I would go through the basics with them. People would walk past, be amazed and take pictures of this unlikely group of foreigners dancing their time away in the warm Harbin summer.

We started growing through word of mouth. Many Chinese students would pass us by, take pictures and post them to their WeChat, and all of a sudden we had people asking us how much the classes cost, and if they could study with us. I kept telling everyone they were free and available to everyone, and Chinese and foreigners were shocked. Many of the Chinese students found it strange that someone would teach salsa dancing for free. The number of times people told me that we should be making money from this is uncountable.

The main issue, however, is that Harbin was getting cold, and we needed somewhere to continue practicing now that we had classes every week. All of a sudden this was becoming professional; a proper dance class set up in China and none of us foreigners had any experience in dealing with Chinese businessmen on a professional level. We were going to learn the hard way, I guess.

We initially started asking dance schools if we could use their studios to practice, however many of the dance schools refused to do it for free (as to why we wanted it for free, I shall come to later). We then decided to just teach in bars, looking for a reciprocal relationship, we provide customers in the afternoons and evenings when the bar is usually quiet and in return they provide us with a place to teach. The first place we started teaching was a bar called ACE on Qiaonan Street. The owners, ZJ and Yu ze were lifesavers and made the process so smooth and easy. They helped us set up music, taught us how the PA and sound systems work and encouraged us to run salsa parties, which we then began to do.

In just under one month we had become an international dance class with over 20 students per class, with four classes per week and salsa parties every week. It was all driven by the fantastic community spirit of everyone who attended and got involved. The main problem now was that we were expanding too fast and ACE isn't the biggest bar in Harbin. It was time to start looking for new spaces.
Chinese President Xi Jinping delivers his New Year speech via state broadcasters in Beijing, capital of China. President Xi Jinping looked forward to 2016 in the speech that called for confidence and hardwork for a good beginning in the home stretch of building a "well-off society in an all-round way." [Photo/Xinhua]

After reading nearly a dozen reviews of President Xi Jinping's 2016 New Year's speech, I came away with an overall theme in all of the issues he addressed. President Xi, in giving his third New Year's speech for Chinese at home and around the world, outlined the accomplishments and challenging tasks that China has experienced and yet faces.

One thing that always strikes me is his determined focus on things that really matter. Things that get unnoticed by so many. Issues that many are not willing to face, much less mention. For example, regarding what he called his primary concern, he addressed the need of raising 10 of millions of rural people out of poverty and allowing them the opportunity to enjoy the prosperity that so many others have experienced in more developed areas. Also, is his acknowledgment and commitment of 'two systems, one country' for those who live in Hong Kong and Macao. His review of the Anti-Japanese war of resistance commemoration. The need and commitment to responsible growth in China. China's role in global responsibility in growing its international network of friends.

He didn't shy away from openly recognizing and recalling the high points and low points of the past year. He stated, "This year, we had joys, but we also had sorrows," recalling cruise ship Eastern Star capsizing, catastrophic fires and explosions at a chemical warehouse in Tianjin and the Shenzhen landslide.

He made his call for persistent work in achieving world peace, responsible leadership and mutual cooperation with other countries. He outlined his continued commitment to the people of China for rooting out and attacking corruption at every level, developing closer relations with Taiwan (and the successes already achieved there), Tu Youyou's winning of the Nobel Prize, China's achievement in producing their first large passenger aircraft, the C919, the reminbi's inclusion in the IMF, the Tianhe-2 supercomputer remaining the world's most powerful system for the sixth consecutive time as well as many other milestones China has achieved during the past year. He left us with the inspirational lesson and reminder, "All these show us that, as long as we persevere, dreams will come true."

His overall challenge to Chinese people everywhere seemed to be one that encouraged each of them to 'take responsibility' for the continued growth and development of China. And, as he is always mindful of the world in his own responsible role as a global leader, he left us with these powerful words, ""By turning antagonism to synergy, hostility to friendship, together we will forge a community of shared destiny for all humankind."

The original blog is at: http://blog.chinadaily.com.cn/blog-787069-33701.html
From the first day of 2016, the Xiamen free trade administration will be responsible for a total of 253 executive approvals that used to be conducted by the provincial-level free trade authority.

The handover of the 253 items was first detailed in a directory issued by the Fujian free trade administration in July.

In November, the Xiamen authority delegated the ratification duties for the 253 items between divisions and instructed that the acceptance of applications and the issuance of certificates should be united.

32 of the items will be directed to the Xiamen free trade administration itself, while others that require industry-specific knowledge will be submitted to individual authorities online.

Nevertheless, all the certificates will be issued by the Xiamen free trade administration.

Under the new duties, the Xiamen free trade authority will determine the establishment and practice authority of medical institutions, review talent agencies' licenses, working permits for foreigners, and certificates for foreign-invested tourism agencies.

An intellectual property unit will start working from January 1, as well. Businesses operating within the free trade area will get expert assessments from this service, which will accept filings of complaints and help protect businesses' legal rights.

Edited by Peter Nordlinger
NAY PYI TAW - Myanmar President U Thein Sein on Monday called on the country's political forces to work together in unity to overcome the challenges facing the country.

In his message marking Myanmar's 68th anniversary of independence, U Thein Sein urged concerted efforts of national groups, the people and the armed forces to keep on the correct path to democratization.

"The nation's independence, security and development can only be ensured through the combined efforts of the government, all political forces such as the parliament, political parties, the armed forces and the entire people," he said.

The president stressed the need to make efforts for rural development and poverty reduction, and all-round development of education, health culture, women's affairs and various other sectors to realize two aspirations shard by the people -- peace and tranquility, and socioeconomic development.

He also called for efforts to achieve nationwide ceasefire and enduring peace.

A ceremony to salute the state flag was held in Nay Pyi Taw's City Hall early Monday to celebrate Myanmar's independence from the British colonialists on Jan 4, 1948.
TEHRAN -- Iran is not following the policy of creating tension in its ties with Saudi Arabia, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said here on Monday.

"The Islamic republic does not need tension and conflict in its domestic and international policies, and it is not in the course of creating tension with Saudi Arabia," Jaber Ansari said in his weekly press conference in reaction to the Saudi government's decision to severe diplomatic ties with Iran.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia announced cutting off diplomatic ties with the Islamic republic following the attacks on its diplomatic missions in Iran on Saturday.

Angry mobs raided and set fire on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran late Saturday and police tried to drive the protesters away after they broke into its compound. Also on Saturday, a group of protesters set ablaze parts of the Saudi Consulate in Iran's northeastern religious city of Mashhad.

Jaber Ansari said the Islamic republic is obliged to respect the international conventions and to protect diplomats and the diplomatic missions, and that in relation to the attacks on Saudi missions in Iran, the Iranian police and the judiciary have done their best to control the situation and deal with the attackers legally.

However, "while everything was under the control and there was no threat against the Saudi diplomats (in Iran), the Saudi government decided to severe ties," he said.

On Sunday, Tehran's Prosecutor General, Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi, said that the police had arrested 40 protestors who raided the Saudi embassy in Tehran on Saturday night, and that the judiciary had issued order to identify and arrest others who raided the embassy.

The Iranian spokesman said the present policies of Saudi Arabia vis-a-vis Iran and its alleged support of extremist groups in the region will further isolate Riyadh.

The violence in Iran against the Saudi diplomatic missions erupted after the Saudi Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that prominent Muslim Shiite leader Nimr al-Nimr and 46 other men were executed on terror charges.
Who should sign your China OEM Agreement?

This issue typically presents itself when a Hong Kong or Taiwan entity wants the OEM agreement (a/k/a the contract manufacturing agreement or supplier agreement) to be with it, and not with the PRC entity that will actually be manufacturing the product. Our international manufacturing lawyers constantly deal with this issue when drafting China OEM agreements, usually in one of the following three situations:

1. The Hong Kong/Taiwan entity is the parent company of a PRC WFOE, and that WFOE owns and operates the factory that manufactures the product.

2. The Hong Kong/Taiwan entity has no ownership stake in the PRC entity that owns the factory. Rather, some or all of the owners of Hong Kong/Taiwan entity are also the owners of the PRC entity. Or maybe the owners of the Hong Kong/Taiwan entity and the PRC entity are part of the same extended family.

3. Neither the Hong Kong/Taiwan entity nor its owners have any financial interest in the PRC entity. The Hong Kong/Taiwan entity is merely a sales agent for the Chinese factory.

Though it is nice to know the real relationship between the Hong Kong or Taiwan entity and the PRC factory, it usually is not critical for determining how to write the OEM contract. We generally prefer our clients OEM agreements be with the PRC entity and not with the Hong Kong/Taiwan entity for the following reasons:

We know the PRC entity has assets because we know it owns a factory. Oftentimes the Hong Kong or the Taiwan company has no assets beyond a rented office with a few chairs, desks and computers. We prefer our client have contract and litigation leverage over a company with a factory than a company with some chairs. Also, a company with a factory is more likely to abide by a contract than a company with some chairs.

Our OEM agreements contain non-disclosure, non-compete and non-circumvention provisions. See China NNN Agreements. The PRC entity, not the Hong Kong/Taiwan entity, is by far the most likely entity to manufacture and sell our clients products in competition with our client. We therefore want that manufacturer to sign a contract that prevents it from doing such a thing.

If the manufactured product is of poor quality or delivered late, it is easier to deal with the entity that actually did the manufacturing.

We want the payments to go to the entity that actually does the manufacturing, rather than an interposed Hong Kong or Taiwan entity that receives payment for the manufacturing, and we want the OEM agreement to reflect this. For one thing, the PRC factory could claim it was never paid by the Hong Kong or the Taiwan factory, and use that as a reason not to manufacture for our client. Yes, this problem can be dealt with by contract, but doing so complicates things, not least because it brings another jurisdiction into play.

What are you seeing out there?
Contents of this Article:

I had a wonderful dinner with Renaud Anjoran in Shanghai today. Renaud is the founder of Sofeast, a quality assurance firm that assists foreign companies with China product sourcing and quality control. Renaud has been based in Shenzhen since 2006 and he writes the Quality Inspection Blog, of which I have been a huge fan for a long time.

During our dinner, we talked about how when buying product from China, everything is tied together. In other words, a company buying product from China is only as good as its weakest link among supplier selection, payment terms and penalties, quality control, communication and manufacturing contract. Therefore, to succeed, you need an integrated strategy in place from the start. At the end of the dinner, I asked Renaud to write a guest post, offering tips on buying products from China.

When purchasing in China, there are five basic steps you should take to maximize your likelihood of getting good quality products. A shipment of defective or dangerous products can almost never be returned to China and your supplier is not likely to re-do your products for free either. Taking these five steps will save you time and money.



1. Find a Suitable Supplier

Does this sound familiar? You find a sample at a trade show and get a good quote from the company you think manufactured it. Thats it, your search is over and youre all set.

While this method seems quick and easy, it is a risky way to choose your supplier. Online directories (e.g. Alibaba) and trade shows are only a starting point. Suppliers pay to be listed or to exhibit, and they are not rigorously screened.

Always run a background check on any suppliers you consider purchasing from to verify the claims they make. That background check isnt enough, though. You also should go and see the factory or order a capacity audit. Try to get some customer references and call them. Make sure the factory is familiar with your markets regulatory standards.

If your orders are small, avoid very large manufacturers because they will probably quote high prices and not care about your orders. Smaller factories usually need closer monitoring, especially on the first production run.

Be forewarned: showing a nice factory and then subcontracting production to a smaller workshop is very common and the source of many quality problems. Your contract with your supplier should prohibit subcontracting.



2. Clearly Define Your Expected Product

Some buyers approve a pre-production sample and a pro forma invoice and then wire the deposit. This is not enough. When you purchase from China, you need to make sure you have answers to the following:

Does the product comply with your own countrys safety standards?

How will it be labeled?

Will the packaging be strong enough to protect your goods during shipment?

These are just some of the many things on which you and your supplier should reach a written agreement before money changes hands.

I worked with an American importer who had told its Chinese supplier that the quality standard should be the same as that of your other U.S. customers. Of course, when this American importer started experiencing problems, the Chinese supplier replied by claiming that our other U.S. customers never complain about this, so it is not a problem.

The key is to write your product expectations into a detailed specification sheet that leaves no room for interpretation. Your methods for measuring and testing these specifications, along with the tolerances, should also be included in this document. And your contract should set forth specific dollar penalties if the specifications are not met.

If you are developing a new product with a Chinese manufacturer, document the resulting products characteristics and production processes as you cannot count on your supplier to give you this information if you end up switching factories later on.



3. Negotiate Reasonable Payment Terms

The most common payment method is T/T (Bank Transfer). The standard terms are a 30% deposit before the components are purchased with the remaining 70% to be paid after the supplier faxes the bill of lading to the importer. It can get a bit more complex if a mold or special tooling is necessary during development.

Be wary of vendors who want more favorable terms. They usually want to trap you. I worked with a buyer who was so confident he would receive a good product he paid the full price before production. Needless to say, delivery came late and there were quality problems.

Since he had already paid, he had no leverage or option for pursuing corrective action.

Another popular method is to pay by irrevocable L/C (Letter of Credit). Most serious exporters accept an L/C if you specify reasonable terms.

You can send the draft to your supplier for approval before the letter is formally opened by your bank. Bank fees are higher than when you pay via T/T, but you have more protection. No matter what you buy from China, I recommend using an L/C for new suppliers or for very large orders.



4. Control Your Product Quality in the Factory

How do you make sure your supplier meets your product specifications? By visiting the factory yourself or hiring a third-party inspection firm to manage this process for you.

The most common type of quality control (QC) is a final random inspection of a statistically valid sample. This statistically valid sample gives professional inspectors enough to quickly and cost-effectively draw conclusions about an entire production run.

In some cases, quality control needs to happen early on to catch problems before production is complete. In these cases, an inspection should take place either before the components are embedded in the final goods or when the first finished products just get off the lines. In these cases, some samples can be picked up and sent for lab testing.

To take full advantage of QC inspections, you should first have defined the product spec sheet. The spec sheet is your inspectors checklist. Your payments should also be tied to quality approvals. If you pay by T/T, you should not wire the remainder of your payment until your product passes final inspection. If you pay by L/C, the documents required by your bank should include a certificate of quality control issued by your appointed QC firm.



5. Formalize the Process

Most importers are not aware of two facts. First, it is possible for an importer to sue a Chinese supplier, but it only makes sense to do it in China  unless that supplier owns assets in another country. Second, your purchase orders will aid in your suppliers defense; they almost certainly will not help you.

To minimize your risks, you should buy your product pursuant to an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) agreement. Ideally, the agreement will be in Chinese. This contract will decrease your chances of problems. It also gives you more leverage if a problem occurs.

My last bit of advice is that you be sure to put this entire system in place before you start negotiating with potential suppliers. Doing this will let them know that you are a professional importer and they will respect you for this. They will be more likely to agree to your requests because they will know that you can easily find another supplier. Perhaps most importantly, it will be much more difficult and much less effective if you start scrambling to put this system in place after you have already placed your order.



Contact Harris Bricken Before Buying Goods From China

Harris Bricken does the heavy lifting so you dont have to, whether youre manufacturing internationally or youre looking to do business overseas. If you need help developing a strategy for working with suppliers in China, weve got you covered. Contact us today to learn more.
(Photo : Getty Images/Linto Zhang) Lei Jun (center), one of China's top young entrepreneurs, is seen above walking amid a crowd of IT entrepreneurs outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, China. Many Chinese startup entrepreneurs say simplified business registration procedures and government subsidies have helped bring about the rise of a new entrepreneurial class throughout China, and Beijing is banking on that class to keep the economy buoyant.

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Policymakers in Beijing are promoting homegrown innovation and entrepreneurship to buttress China's tottered economy, according to state-run news agency Xinhua.



In a statement issued at the conclusion of Beijing's latest economic work conference, the Chinese government declared that it would continue building on innovation and entrepreneurship to further the country's economic development.



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The declaration is no mere sloganeering. The country produced an astonishing 11,700 new companies every day for 11 straight months last year. The first three months of that startup boom saw China churning out new billionaires almost each week.



However, China is undergoing a difficult transition. Gone are the dizzying expansion of labor and investments that powered economic growth over the past three decades; and some analysts have questioned just how much China's innovators can contribute to the effort to stabilize the country's economy at this point. New research by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) indicates that -- in order to achieve the consensus growth forecast of 5.5 to 6.5 percent a year -- China's innovators must contribute at least two to three percentage points to the gross domestic product (GDP) each year for the next ten years.



That is a tall order, but the government has in the past demonstrated the ability to create opportunities that make innovation and entrepreneurship profitable. China is home to some 213 of the 1,826 people on the 2015 Forbes Billionaires List, and -- if Beijing has its way -- more Chinese entrepreneurs will be added to that list this year.



"We are very optimistic that in the next five to 10 years [the number of] Asian billionaires will surpass the US because of the high growth opportunities in this part of the world," said Francis Liu of UBS Wealth Management in an interview with CNN.



The opportunities are as many as they are varied. The MGI says that, with proper support, the most innovative of China's entrepreneurs can contribute as much as $3 trillion to $5 trillion a year to the GDP by 2025. This is not lost on China's top policymakers, who are currently fine-tuning the country's policies to encourage a more vibrant and creative entrepreneurial sector. Beijing plows around $200 billion a year into research that supports the creation of new drugs and automobile engines. The figure is around $35 billion more than what it allocates for China's entire military force. The country likewise leads the world in patent applications even as its schools and universities turn out some 30,000 PhD holders in science and engineering each year.



Many Chinese startup entrepreneurs say simplified business registration procedures and government subsidies have helped bring about the rise of a new entrepreneurial class throughout China, and Beijing is banking on that class to keep the economy buoyant. Tech savvy, confident and highly educated, the members of this new class of innovators and business managers are eager to take advantage of the increasingly propitious policy environment.



But Yi Wang, co founder of Liu Li Shuo, a company that developed an English app for Chinese smartphone users, told the Financial Times that the lure of success is perhaps the biggest incentive of all for entrepreneurial creativity, especially in a milieu where the internet has gained ubiquitous prominence.



"Definitely, you're seeing an increasing trend in entrepreneurship in China," Wang says, adding that top-tier venture capital firms are currently looking for young, forward-looking entrepreneurs. "In recent years companies that have been making the biggest impact on people's lives are internet companies and behind them encouraging stories about ordinary people making it big."



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TagsChina innovation, China innovation products, Chinese entrpreneurship
A man eating at a McDonald's outlet in China. At night, right after the restaurant's door closes for customers, it opens for homeless people wo dig in on leftover foods and stake out spots for sleeping.

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Across East Asia, 24-hour McDonald's have become a sanctuary for the downtrodden, providing a warm, dry place to sleep. In major cities in East Asia like Beijing, Tokyo, and Hong Kong, people that are shut out of shelter systems or disowned by their families can find a warm, dry, and cozy place to slumber every night.



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International fast food chain McDonald's is well-known for their various chicken meals that are tasty and budget-friendly. These restaurants also host occasions such as book clubs and birthday parties. But at night, right after the restaurant's door closes for customers, it opens for homeless people who dig in on leftover foods and stake out spots for sleeping.



McRefugees (the name used to describe the homeless people who seek temporary shelter at McDonald's) disappear first thing in the morning. Some allegedly even use plastic forks for combing their hair.



In mainland China, more than half of the 2,200 McDonald's outlets normally invite unfortunate people to spend their night in their restaurants. Most McDonald's stores are now open 24/7. Other restaurants usually might kick wanderers out of their establishments.



Regina Hui, spokeswoman for McDonald's in China, said that McDonald's welcomes everyone to visit their restaurants anytime. However, it is the decision of franchise owners welcome these people. A spokeswoman of the company's head office in Oak Brook, Illinois, stated in an email that the company is definitely a welcoming place for everyone, but they wouldn't consider it as a policy.



For decades, McDonald's has established an image of community, from their building structures to adaptive menus. Outlets in Beijing serve taro pies and soy milk with fried bread, other than the usual burgers and fries.



McDonald's has been the to-go-to place for various meet ups, regardless of what the reason may be.



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TagsMcdonalds, homeless, Community
(Photo : Reuters) Japan has joined several countries in denouncing China for landing a plane on an airstrip in the disputed Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea.

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Japan has joined Vietnam and the Philippines in denouncing China's latest military posturing in the disputed waters of the South China Sea after Beijing landed a plane on an airstrip it built on one of the contested islands in the Spratlys archipelago.



In a press conference on Monday, Japan Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said Japan is 'gravely concerned' about the recent action of China in 'unilaterally changing the status quo' in the region and disregarding the concerns of the claimant-countries to the Spratlys group of islands.



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"Japan is gravely concerned about China's act, which is a unilateral change of the status quo in the region and an attempt to make Beijing's massive and fast-paced land reclamation work in the disputed seas "a fait accompli," Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said.



Japan said China's landing of a plane in the disputed Fiery Cross Reef was 'unacceptable' and has escalated tensions resulting from the already volatile situation in the South China Sea.



Kishida said Tokyo's concern over China's actions is shared by the international community and Japan will continue to seek dialogue with the concerned claimant-countries in order to protect the 'freedom of the seas.'



The Chinese Foreign Ministry had dismissed Vietnam's protests over Beijing's landing of a plane on the contested Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratlys saying the test flight was "within China's sovereignty.'



Vietnam handed a protest letter to the Chinese Embassy on Saturday claiming that China had violated its sovereignty in the Spratlys.



In the protest letter, Hanoi said the violation has disturbed the peace and stability in the region and that China must not repeat the action at any time.



China said it used a civil aircraft to land on the newly-built airstrip to check whether the facilities would meet the standards for civil aviation.



Reports said the plane landing on an airstrip in a disputed island was the first for China.



The Fiery Cross Reef is one of the many artificial or artificially enlarged islands that China has created in the Spratlys in the South China Sea.



China is claiming almost all of the groups of islands, islets, reefs in the South China Sea, dismissing the overlapping claims of Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Brunei, and Malaysia.



It is believed that the South China Sea contains huge deposits of gas and oil and more than $5 trillion in maritime trade passes through the region each year.



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TagsChina test flight in Fiery Cross Reef, military posturing
(Photo : Getty Images) Even after the Ebola virus has been declared under control, China continues to pledge support for the three African nations affected by the virus.

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During the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014, China lent a helping hand in fighting the virus. Now that the epidemic has been defeated, China is still coordinating with Africa to realize development as well as to lessen poverty problems.



Wang Yaoping, medical team leader in Sierra Leone, admitted to have been rendering service in Ebola-affected countries for about a year already. He recalled that during the most critical time, Sierra Leone's hospitals were paralyzed, to the point that they are only able to attend those with Ebola cases.



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But after the virus has been successfully put under control, Wang Yaoping together with his peers decided to open an Ebola Center of the China-Sierra Leone Friendship Hospital. Initially, the team opened different clinical departments to locals. And then, they applied to the Chinese government to ask for additional medical workers. With the new hands, they are now able to offer the best treatment and accommodate a variety of illnesses. However, they put more emphasis on training Sierra Leone-based medical workers to enhance their own skills.



"Because of the Chinese, because of their training and hard work, we can now see it is much better. We want to thank for all they have done," one of the trainees named Sondey said.



Aside from harnessing their skills medically, China also wants to help Ebola-hit nations, namely, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea, regain their economy. In fact, the Chinese government has pledged ongoing support to these African countries.



Commissioner for Social Affairs of the African Union Dr. Mustapha Sidiki Kaloko strongly believes that these nations are in need of big partners such as China to assist them in their recovery. Furthermore, "The African Union is pushing for debt relief for the three countries... because it's really helpful if we remove some of their debt," he said.



Even President Ernest Bai Koroma of Sierra Leone has given credit to China for the help rendered to his nation. He claimed that China has given both direct and indirect aid via WHO and United Nations to Sierra Leone, support that have made a significant impact in their fight against the deadly virus. The leader noted that the Chinese government's aid and efforts has continued to outpour even in its recovery stage.



In August last year, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi became the first foreign diplomat from a major country to pay a visit to West Africa since the outbreak of Ebola in February. He stated that they are now on the verge of reconstructing the 'post-Ebola era' by targeting the root cause for the outbreak, which is poverty.



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TagsEbola Virus Disease, Guinea, Sierra Leone
(Photo : GETTY IMAGES / Andalou Agency / Stringer) JANUARY 3: Iranian women hold posters of Nimr Baqir al-Nimr during a protest rally outside the embassy of Saudi Arabia against the execution of prominent Saudi Shia cleric Nimr Baqir al-Nimr by Saudi authorities, in Tehran, Iran on January 2016.

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Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East cut their ties with Iran after the execution of a Shia Muslim cleric sparked a protest in an embassy in Iran.



Last week, Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran to protest the execution of Shia Muslim cleric Nimr al Nimr in Riyadh. On Monday, Iran accused Saudi Arabia of using the recent protest as an excuse to cut their ties amidst a worsening diplomatic crisis in the Middle East, according to Reuters.



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Sheik Nimr al-Nimr was executed on Saturday along with 46 other individuals convicted of Al-Qaeda activities in the last ten years, BBC News reports.



Bahrain also severed its ties, while the United Arab Emirates (UAE) downgraded its ties with Iran. The issue worsened the struggle for religious influence between the Sunni and Shi'ite powers and caused oil prices to spike across the region, the report details.



Last Saturday, the protesters burned the Saudi embassy in Tehran, but the police was able to fight them off and no diplomats were hurt in the incident. On Sunday, two Sunni mosques the province of Hilla in Iraq were bombed and a man was killed in Saudi Arabia when security officers were attacked.



Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iran had created "terrorist cells" within the Shi'ite minority of the kingdom. Iran, on the other hand, accused Riyadh of using the embassy protest as an excuse to heighten the tension in the region, the report details.



"Iran's history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues, and it is always accompanied by destruction," Jubeir said in a press conference.



Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had earlier threatened a "divine revenge" against the Saudi Arabia for the execution of the Shia Muslim cleric. Riyadh's move has also angered Shia Muslims in Iraq, Bahrain, and other countries.



In the wake of the execution, Jubeir ordered all Iranian diplomats to leave the kingdom within 48 hours. Saudi, on the other hand, is bringing home all its diplomats from Tehran.


Saudis visit the Jeddah International Book Fair that opened on Friday and lasts for a month on Sunday December 13, 2015 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. (Photo by Jordan Pix/ Getty Images)

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China has expressed concern on a possible intensification of conflict in the Gulf Region due to the ongoing tension between Middle East powerhouses Saudi Arabia and Iran.



In a news briefing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the Chinese government, like the international community, is deeply concerned about the developments in the Middle East.



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She added that China is highly concerned that the relevant event involving Saudi Arabia and Iran may intensify the conflict in the Middle East.



"We hope that relevant parties can maintain calm and restraint, property resolve their differences through dialogue and consultation and jointly safeguard regional peace and stability," Hua told a regular news briefing.



She added that both countries should guarantee the dignity and safety of diplomatic personnel in their respective jurisdictions.



While China depends on the Middle East for the country's supplies of oil, the Chinese government leaves diplomacy issues in the region to other members of the United Nations Security Council, such as the United States, Russia, France, and Great Britain.



The tension between the two Middle East nations escalated when Saudi Arabia decided to cut its diplomatic relations with Iran in response to the storming of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Iran's capital, Tehran.



The storming was also in relation to Riyadh's execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a Shi'ite Muslim cleric who was known for being an outspoken opponent of the ruling family in Saudi, the Al Saudi family.



Saudi Arabia's decision to severe ties with Iran also prompted other countries in the Middle East to cut its diplomatic relations with Iran.



Bahrain's Minister of Media Affairs Isa al-Hamadi announced that it will also severe ties with Iran while the United Arab Emirates said it will downgrade its diplomatic relations with the Iranian government.



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(Photo : ChinaFotoPress/2Getty Images) China has seen an increase in flight safety in 2015, and foresees a growth in the domestic aircraft manufacturing industry.

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China saw improvements in the flight safety sector in 2015, and this is expected to translate to substantial growth in the aircraft manufacturing industry.



Chinese civil aircrafts have completed about 3.62 million safe flights, totalling 8.46 million hours, Li Jian, deputy head of China's Civil Aviation Administration, said. This is 7.4 percent and 10.8 percent higher than the earlier year respectively.



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Li added that the rate of aircraft incidents as well as human-triggered incidents has seen a decrease of 59 percent and 17.6 percent respectively, when compared year on year, according to Xinhua.



China Southern Airlines has been named the best domestic airline in terms of the civil aviation safety record, with a total of 15.26 million safe flight hours in 2015.



While this new report shows China's efforts to promote growth in the aviation industry, an earlier report showed the nation's efforts to bring about an increase in its production of domestic aircrafts.



As of now, most of what China allocates for acquiring new aircraft or aircraft parts are reportedly spent on importing items from Boeing or Airbus.



Additionally, Boeing has forecasted that China will be spending nearly $800 billion on new aircraft in 20 years.



Despite China being the world's largest and most successful manufacturer of various goods ranging from electronics, clothing, plastics and many other things, it has been comparably less successful in terms of building a civil aviation manufacturing industry. In 2014, China imported over $100 billion in aircraft parts from the U.S., while exporting only $3 billion worth of products outside the country.



However, a recent agreement signed between China's Shantou Municipal Government and Israel Aerospace Industries is expected to bring about substantial development in China's aviation industry.



When you combine the innovation and entrepreneurial spirit of Israel with the unbelievable scale of China, you have a great partnership, Technion president Peretz Lavie said of the agreement.



Both China and Israel have high hopes for the new agreement, according to IAI's Civil Aviation Group head Gadi Cohen.



We are confident that these and other initiatives will open new business opportunities for us and our Chinese partners, he said.



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Tags aircraft, Airlines, airline, aviation, Civil Aviation Administration
A policeman patrols under a giant communist emblem on the Tiananmen Square in Beijing, China. (Photo by Feng Li/Getty Images)

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China's efforts to overhaul the country's state-owned enterprises (SOEs) intensified in 2015, with 64 officials from different SOEs investigated for various graft and corruption related concerns, the official Xinhua news agency has reported.



By the end of November last year, the country's anti-graft watchdog, the Communist Party of China's Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), had placed 64 officials under investigation as part of the government's efforts to cleanse SOEs of corrupt officials and bring these enterprises back to their shining glories.



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About 56 percent of the investigated SOE officials were top leaders of the centrally-administered SOEs, according to the CCDI in a statement issued on Monday.



The executives placed under investigation were mostly from SOEs in machine manufacturing, transportation, communication, and energy.



The CCDI stressed that the investigations involved abuse of power in exchange for illegal profit, undesirable work and lifestyles, as well as personnel selection and promotion.



The investigation also discovered that one of the outstanding problems with China's SOEs is the weakened Party leadership over those firms, the CCDI said in a statement.



The investigation, which started in 2013, had covered all of China's 55 centrally-administered enterprises.



Among the high-profile investigation involved the former general manager of China Petroleum and Chemical Corporation, Wang Tianpu.



Anti-graft investigators found Wang guilty of taking bribes and offering benefits in exchange for his own promotion. He also reportedly embezzled public assets.



In December, a senior Chinese official announced that China will launch pilot reforms for SOEs, including executive hiring policy and ownership.



The official revealed that the pilot SOE reforms in 2016 will involve information disclosure, merges and acquisitions, investments, professional managers, and functions and powers of directors.



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TagsChina SOEs, China Enterprises, China Investigation, China Graft Investigation
(Photo : Getty images) Zhiliang Zhou, chairman of China Railway Signal & Communication Corp., poses after striking a gong during the company's listing ceremony in August. More than 400 IPOs are expected in 2016, according to a new report from PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

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The Chinese initial public offering market is expected to explode in 2016, according to a new report released by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.



The research and consulting firm said that the number of IPOs expected to float on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets may outpace the rest of the world. The report said that the Chinese markets could see as many as 400 IPOs this year that will raise and estimates 250 billion yuan to 300 billion yuan ($38.4 billion to $46.1 billion).



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That figure is a distinct increase from the 125 IPOs launched in 2014 and the 219 IPOs in 2015. Last year, companies raised 158.6 billion yuan ($24.4 billion) through IPOs on the Chinese mainland despite the fact that a volatile market ended up shelving a lot of IPO plans.



In its report, PriceWaterhouseCoopers surveyed 290 emerging companies, 80% of which said they were planning to go public in China's capital market.



When deciding which stock market to have their IPO, most companies surveyed by PriceWaterhouseCoopers said their main concerns were the time required to verify applicants, the transparency of IPO procedures, and the profit requirements. The survey showed that recently enacted stock listing reform by China will help ease some of those concerns.



In 2015, Hong Kong passed the U.S. States to become the largest IPO market, with nearly 216 billion yuan ($33.2 billion) raised.



The report is bolstered by data from Bloomberg that shows that fewer Chinese companies have been looking abroad to float their companies' shares. In 2015, the number of overseas listings by China-based companies plummeted to 14, worth a combined $666 million. This is far cry from the $29 billion in overseas IPOs just one year earlier.



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TagsChinas IPO Market Set to Explode in 2016, initial public offering, IPO, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, survey
(Photo : Getty Images) Visitors view a model of the large sky area multi-object fiber spectroscopic telescope (LAMOST) in Shenzhen, China. The telescope has recently sent back a trove of data.

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Chinese astronomers, using one of the world's largest optical telescopes, have released a trove of data.



Using the Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope, or LAMOST, astronomers have been carrying out an extensive survey of the sky since September 2012. And according to the National Astronomical Observatory (NAO) of China, the survey has so far collected more data than all previous sky surveys combined.



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"As more and more data are released, there will be more significant findings," Yan Jun, director of the NAO, told Chinese state media.



The astronomers plan to collect more than 5 million star spectra by September for the first phase of the survey. The data will then be used to create a so-called "digital galaxy" for research on the Milky Way, will be shared with 31 colleges and institutes in China and abroad.



Additionally, a team of scientists from China, the U.S., Canada and South Africa, among other countries, conducted 700 hours of surveys using the Green Bank Telescope and accumulated a large database. When they started to analyze the data, they found the radio bursts and reported the discovery to the science journal Nature last month.



In other astronomy news, researchers with the NAO have been collaborating with U.S. scientists to measure a black hole named X-ray Nova Muscae 1991 in the Milky Way.



They have found that the size of the black hole is comparable to the size of the Chinese capital Beijing, which is nearly 6,500 sq miles. The black hole stretches 60 kilometers across, and has a weight approximately 11 times that of the sun, and travels at a speed of about 387 rotations per second.



Although scientists have identified 19 black holes in the Milky Way, they have only been able to measure only six of them.



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TagsChinese Astronomers Release Data Trove Find Black Hole Size of Beijing, Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope, LAMOST, National Astronomical Observatory, NAO
(Photo : Getty Images) Syrian Opposition Council President Khaled Khoja speaks during a press conference at the UN General Assembly in September. China has invited Syrian opposition leader Khaled Khoja to visit Beijing, a move that could upset leaders in Moscow as Khoja has publicly accused Russia of murdering civilians in Syria.

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China has extended an invitation to Syrian opposition leader Khaled Khoja to visit Beijing, a move that could upset leaders in Moscow as Khoja has publicly accused Russia of murdering civilians in Syria.



Khoja, president of the Syrian National Coalition, will be in China from Tuesday Jan. 5 to Friday Jan. 8, said Hua Chunying, spokeswoman for China's Foreign Ministry at a regular press conference Monday. During his visit to Beijing, Khoja will meet with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi to promote a political settlement in Syria.



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Khoja was invited by the Chinese People's Institute of Foreign Affairs, Hua added.



Syria has been embroiled in a civil war since 2011, which has claimed more than 250,000 lives and forced 11 million people out of their homes. The country's government has clashed with several opposition factions and radical Islamist groups, including Daesh, also known as Isis, or The Islamic State, and the Nusra Front, both of which are outlawed in Russia and other countries.



In November, when Khoja went to England to meet with the U.K.'s foreign secretary and other British officials, he told local media that "the Russians are helping Isis gain more ground," Khoja said. "They are targeting the moderate opposition and its constituency."



He also said that in the first month after Russia began conducting airstrikes in Syria, 1,800 civilians had been killed while the Syrian regime has been further emboldened.



Khoja had also called on the U.K. and other countries not to take part in open-ended talks in Vienna intended to end the civil.



"There needs to be a deadline for the Vienna talks to reach a conclusion otherwise the Russians will drag them out and use the time to kill more civilians."



Russia has not yet publicly commented on Khoja's visit to China, but it can't be too pleased that such a vocal opponent of Vladimir Putin's regime will have the ear of one of its closest allies.



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German beer festival proposed as summer event for Acton Green Participate Sign up for our weekly Chiswick newsletter



Comment on this story on the Acton Green could be hosting a five-day German-style beer festival this summer, with thousands of people seated on long benches singing, drinking beer brewed in Bavaria and dressed in lederhosen. German entrepreneur Carsten Raun has applied to Ealing Council for a 'Oktoberfest' style summer event on the Green with German 'oompah' music and a shop where lederhosen can be hired out. The promoter has held similar Munich-style festivals, "with a British flavour" in Canary Wharf and Brixton and UK cities including Manchester, Sheffield and Liverpool. An example of the poster used to advertise the Oktoberfest This is Mr. Raun's second approach to the Council, and residents' groups in Bedford Park and Acton Green have expressed their concerns about such an event being held in a conservation area. Local Lib Dem councillors Andrew Steed and Gary Busuttil attended a meeting with Council representatives and concerned locals, who heard from Carsten Raun that he had organised similar events in London and elsewhere, with no problems. Mr. Raun told the meeting that it was primarily a German cultural event with German music and those attending were encouraged to dress up. They could come dressed in suits after work, or they could hire lederhosen from a shop on the site. The event would be over five days, Wednesday to Sunday, either in August or September. (Despite the title given to the festival, Oktoberfest, the beer festival is usually held in September). The beer festival would open at 4 pm each day, except for Saturday (12.30) and 'oompah' music would be played until 10.30. The event is to be ticketed with a strict number of attendees agreed with the Council (potentially 5000-6000 over the 5 days). There will be a main marquee seating 1500 people within a fenced off area of Acton Green. An example of a beer festival in a giant marquee The organisers will provide portaloos on site, and will 'manage' a walkway between the site entrance and Turnham Green Station to prevent unseemly behaviour at closing time. Mr. Carsten said in a tv interview in 2013 that his idea was that "You don't have to travel to Munich" to experience a beer festival. Both the Bedford Park Residents' Association and the Acton Green Residents' Association questioned why the promoter had chosen Acton Green over other parks. The scale of the event, restricted access to the park, live music, the behaviour of those attending, and the impact on local churches during Sunday was also raised. Map courtesy of the BPRA Concern was expressed about the suitability of a conservation area for this type of event. It could lead to Acton Green and Acton Green Common becoming a host venue for commercial events of unlimited number and scope in future with to a floodgate" effect taking place, according to some residents. Locals are concerned that pressure on Ealing Council to find new sources of revenue may encourage them to consider granting permission to hold commercial events in public parks. It is thought the beer festival may get the go-ahead as a 'one off' on a trial basis, but no decision has yet been made by the Events department of the Council. Local councillors say they intend to debate the matter at the next ward forum. Ealing Council has held a 'drinks licence' for Acton Green for several years. Bavarian Beer Festivals date back to the early nineteenth century and thousands of tourists flock to the Munich festival every year, usually held in September. The 2016 one will take place on September 17th - last year nearly six million visitors attended. An Oktoberfest London festival at Tobacco Dock in London was cancelled twenty minutes before it was scheduled to start last October, for 'operational reasons' according to the organisers. It was reported that excessive crowds had turned up for the ticketed event. This was a separate event to the Oktoberfest London (Mr. Raun's event) which went ahead in Millwall Park. January 5, 2016
The unknown can be frightening for anyone, no matter the stage or season. Anytime we step outside our comfort zone and try something new, we may hear that little voice of doubt inside that says, "Can I really do this?" How loud and clear that voice is depends on one's mindset.
More than 40,000 college students and young adults welcomed the new year by flooding the Philips Arena in Atlanta, where this year's Passion Conference was held. The conference, for the first time in its history, is also being livestreamed at two other locations: the Infinite Energy Arena in Atlanta, and the Toyota Center in Houston.

Passion, an annual conference which began in 1995, has focused on "igniting a passion" in college students and young professionals between the ages of 18 to 25. This year, the conference is centered on the theme, "The Jesus Generation United for His Fame," and concludes on Monday.

Louie Giglio, the founder and leader of the Passion movement, kicked off the first night on Saturday with a sermon that focused on the resurrection of Jesus. Giglio focused on the meaning of Jesus' death in Passion 2015.

"Last year at Passion 2015, we began and ended with three words: 'It is finished.' And tonight, we start with three words: 'He is risen,'" said Giglio, and emphasized the fact that Jesus' resurrection is a reality.

"The enemy wants to relegate this reality to one holiday a year -- Easter. But this needs to be celebrated every day," Giglio said. "He is risen on this day. All the realities of Jesus being alive are true, and He is living in my life right now."

"The deck may have been stacked against you, but the stone has been rolled away for you. The message at Passion is Jesus has risen. The Son of God is alive. It is a reality, it is a fact. We all celebrate what God has done."

Other renowned speakers, including John Piper and Ravi Zacharias, also spoke throughout the conference, and artists such as Chris Tomlin and Hillsong led the congregation into worship.

Passion has also been known for its philanthropic efforts, such as by collecting donations from conference attendees to help combat human trafficking through the "The End It" Movement over the past several years, which added up to some $8 million in donations. This year, the conference organizers are also encouraging attendees to donate socks and towels to give to homeless shelters, and to donate funds to build a hospital in northwest Syria for displaced women and children.
Several faith leaders were asked to write brief comments about the future of Roe. I was glad to see that I was not the only person asked who sees life as beginning at conception and who is ready to see Roe overturned.
Shauna Jennings will never forget June 16, 2013. It was supposed to be a happy celebration, the day of her sons graduation party. But when they came upon an accident on their way, her husbanda pastor and a good man to the corestopped to help a stranded driver and got struck by a speeding truck. He died at the scene, the sudden, tragic end to their 20-year marriage. Jennings was not alone in her grief; in all, four pedestrians were killed, and two others severely injured.

The person responsiblethough irresponsible seems to be a more apt term in the caseis a name we know from headlines: Ethan Couch. At 16, he drove his daddys pickup at 70 miles per hour, his blood alcohol at three times the legal limit thanks to two cases of beer shoplifted from a local Wal Mart. He also tested positive for Valium.

From time to time, we read about such accidents in the news and lament how one persons bad decisions and foolish actions gravely impact families and communities. The small solace for their victims is the hope for justice. But in this case, Ethan Couchs defense uses the term the teen is now notoriously known for: affluenza.

Couch is supposedly the victim of his familys own wealthbailed out too many times, poorly parented, and unable to be held responsible for his actions. He expressed no remorse. The affluenza defense saved him from prison, and the Texas teen was sentenced to a decade of probation, a stint in rehab, and no drugs or alcohol.

Last month, 18-year-old Couch was accused of violating his probation by a Twitter user who posts a video of him playing beer pong. Officials issued a warrant for his arrest when he failed to show for ...

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190 Muslims fired from Colorado meat-packing plant after dispute over prayer time

Nearly 200 Muslim employees were fired from a meat-packing plant in Colorado last week after striking over a prayer dispute.

The workers, most of whom are Somali immigrants, stopped showing up for work at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan in protest after 11 employees were told they could not pray at the same time because it would affect production.

The 11 decided to stop working and pray anyway, and 190 employees walked out of the plant in protest over the restrictions.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has accused the company of treating the workers in a "discriminatory manner".

Jaylani Hussein, a spokesman for CAIR, said in a YouTube video posted by the group that the workers objected to new restrictions on their ability to worship on the job, "which they had been granted for a long period of time."

"All of these employees are good employees [and] don't have any other issues," Hussein said, adding that the dispute stemmed from a "misunderstanding on policy changes" by Cargill regarding workplace prayer.

Mike Martin, a spokesman for Minneapolis-based Cargill, disputed assertions the company had changed its policy, noting that since 2009 the Fort Morgan plant has set aside an on-site "reflection area" for people of all faiths.

"Cargill makes every reasonable attempt to provide religious accommodations to all employees based on our ability to do so without disruption to our beef-processing business," he said. He said the degree of flexibility the company can extend for prayers depends on a variety of factors, including daily work-flow considerations.

Martin said about 200 workers walked off the job last week and were warned that failing to show up for work on three consecutive days without calling in could jeopardise their employment.

Plant managers met with the workers, members of the Somali community and Teamsters union leaders who represent nearly 2,000 hourly workers at the plant but were unable to resolve the issue, he said.

After 190 workers failed to show up without notice for three days straight, "termination procedures were initiated" and those workers were dismissed, Martin said.

Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Human Rights Commission, said Cargill managers may not have understood that depending on the time of year Muslims are required to pray at different times during the day.

Speaking to the Denver Post, Hussein said that for the Muslims who walked out, "missing their prayer is worse than losing their job".

"It's like losing a blessing from God," he explained.

Additional reporting by Reuters
40,000 young adults give glory to God at Passion 2016

More than 40,000 young adults have filled stadiums in Atlanta and Houston this weekend for three days of teaching and worship.

Passion 2016 attracted participants aged 18-25 from across the United States and from dozens of countries around the world.

For the first time since its foundation by Louie Giglio in 1997 the event was live-streamed, allowing attenders to experience teaching from two speakers live while seeing the others via live-stream. Each venue had live worship music in every session.

The event took place in Atlanta's Philips Arena and Infinite Energy Center, and in Houston's Toyota Center 800 miles away.

Among the speakers and worship leaders this year were Louie Giglio, Chris Tomlin, Crowder, Matt Redman, Christy Nockels, Kristian Stanfill, and Brett Younker, with special guests John Piper, Christine Caine, Ravi Zacharias, Hillsong United and Rend Collective.

Open the first session, Passion Conferences founder Louie Giglio said: "The invitation for everyone is to come and see what God has done. We will see that Jesus is alive. He is risen."

As well as worshiping, young people aimed to serve. Students filled bins with thousands of towels and socks  two of the most needed items at homeless shelters  upon arrival at Passion events. This year, Atlanta's City of Refuge and Houston's Star of Hope will receive the donated items.

"Any time a conference comes to a city, the city feels the effects  hotels and restaurants are affected," said Ben Stuart, host at Toyota Center. "But when a conference of Jesus followers comes to a city, they should also bring the love of Jesus in real and tangible ways, which is why we bring the towels and socks."

Words fail.The joy was so palpable. Jesus was so near. Thank you for singing His praises with us #Passion2016! pic.twitter.com/8teYceivc5  REND COLLECTIVE (@rendcollective) January 3, 2016

Additionally, in the past few years, students have given some $8 million to fight modern-day slavery through The END IT Movement, assisting in awareness, prevention, rescue and restoration. While ending modern-day slavery is still a focus of Passion 2016, this year students are also donating money for the construction of a hospital to serve at-risk mothers and children in war-torn Syria. Once completed, the hospital will offer the first neonatal intensive care unit in opposition-controlled Syria.
Cameron's silence on Saudi executions is 'utterly shameful', human rights campaigners say

David Cameron has been widely condemned for failing to respond to the execution of 47 prisoners in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.

Criticism has increased of the UK's close relationship with Saudi Arabia in recent months in response to flagrant human rights abuses. The country's legal system is based on Sharia law, and the death penalty can be imposed for a wide range of offences including rape, murder, adultery and blasphemy.

On January 2, 47 executions were carried out, including that of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr; a strong critic of the Saudi royal family. On Sunday, Iran severed diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia over al-Nimr's death.

Cameron has not yet commented on the executions, despite calls for him to do so, and his silence has now been branded "utterly shameful" by leading human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.

The UK government's response was "completely immoral," Tatchell said.

Speaking to the Independent, former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown warned that ongoing conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslims "poses a far greater danger in the long term" than ISIS.

"These executions are deeply, deeply destabilising to the very delicate situation that exists in the Middle East," he said.

"The West, including the UK government, is only just realising the danger of this and its implications for long term peace in the region."

Shadow human rights minister, Andy Slaughter, condemned the UK's relationship with Saudi Arabia. In a letter to justice secretary Michael Gove, he said, "It is not right that the UK should be actively cooperating with a justice system that shows such flagrant disregard for the most basic human rights and the rule of law."

Human rights group Reprieve also urged Britain not to "turn a blind eye to such atrocities".

"The Saudi government is continuing to target those who have called for domestic reform in the kingdom, executing at least four of them today," said death penalty team director Maya Foa.

"There are now real concerns that those protesters sentenced to death as children could be next in line to face the swordsman's blade. Saudi Arabia's allies  including the US and UK  must not turn a blind eye to such atrocities and must urgently appeal to the kingdom to change course."

UK Minister for the Middle East Tobias Ellwood said today in a statement: "The UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty. We have stressed this to the Saudi authorities and also expressed our disappointment at the mass executions."
Founder of ultra-feminist group repents, asks Christians for forgiveness as she turns pro-life advocate

Sara Fernanda Giromin, a radical feminist who founded the topless female activist organisation Femen Brazil in 2012, has completely transformed into a pro-life advocate and asked Christians for forgiveness.

Giromin, also known as Sara Winter, now criticises the feminist movement that she once headed, calling it a "completely toxic environment, filled with gossip, intrigue, humiliation and persecution," according to News.com.au.

Giromin now opposes feminism and abortion, saying it "promotes the destruction of the traditional family and all moral values of society."

Her sudden change came after the birth of her second child last October.

In a YouTube video she posted last Dec. 15 titled "I ask Christians for forgiveness for feminist protest," Giromin offered a heartfelt apology.

"Asking for forgiveness is certainly not an easy thing to do. We went way too far and ended up offending many religious and non-religious people. I feel extremely happy and welcome. I never imagined that religious people take 'forgiveness' seriously. This is a learning experience for all who criticise Christians," she said.

She added, "I thank all the Christians who have supported me and given me space to spread my new visions. God bless. I ask Christians for forgiveness."

In her book, "Bitch, No! Seven Times I Was Betrayed by Feminism," she wrote the abuse she experienced at the hands of other feminists.

She said she was pressured by fellow feminists to take drugs and have sex with strangers.

"Lesbian and bisexual women have much more voice and respect within the movement, so in the search for recognition of my struggle, with each day that passed, I deconstructed my heterosexuality and was substituting it with an artificial bisexuality," she said.

Giromin aborted her first child but changed her stance when she gave birth to her second child.

"I have repented of having had an abortion and today I ask for forgiveness," she wrote, according to Life Site News.

"Yesterday marked one month after the birth of my baby and my life has taken on a new meaning. I'm writing this while he sleeps serenely on my lap. It is the greatest sensation in the world. Please, women who are desperate to abort, think carefully about it. I was very sorry I did it. I don't want the same for you," she said.

After leaving Femen in 2013, she joined Bastardxs, a feminist group with men and women as members. But now, she abhors feminism in all forms.

As time progressed, so did her attitude, and she eventually rejected her bisexual status.

"For the feminist sect, women are not the inspiration, they are prime matter in the worst sense of the term. They are convenient objects useful for the purpose of inflaming hatred against the Christian religion, hatred against men, hatred against the beauty of women, hatred against the equilibrium of families. That's what feminism is, and I can guarantee it is like that because I was on the inside!" she said.
Franklin Graham to start 50-State tour of US: 'Pray for America'

Pray and vote, says Franklin Graham as he begins 50-State tour

'Decision America': Franklin Graham launches 50-State tour

Franklin Graham begins a 50-State tour of the US tomorrow on the steps of the state Capitol in Des Moines, Iowa.

The Samaritan's Purse founder's Decision America Tour is billed as a series of noon prayer rallies in each state throughout 2016. He says he wants to encourage those who attend to pray for America.

In an earlier Facebook post he said: "I want to challenge Christians to pray, to get out and vote for candidates who support biblical values, and to get involved by running for office at all levels  school board, city council, mayor, state representative, and more. This could be the most important election in our nation's history. America has got some decisions to make  decisions that will affect our children and our grandchildren!"

Graham announced that he was leaving the Republican Party, with which he has been closely identified, just before Christmas. He said then: "I'm not going to support any party. This 50-state tour is not for the Republican Party." He added: "I'm as disappointed in them as I am the Democrats."

Graham has reiterated his denial of a political motive in his tour, saying in a Facebook post: "Some fear I might be leading an exodus out of the Republican Party. That's not my goal at all. I'm not here to hurt the Republican Party or the Democratic Party  I want to help our nation. I want to stand on capitol steps and lead this nation state by state in praying for America."

He continued: "We'll be praying for our leaders and praying that God would give us politicians who will stand for Biblical values. I want to challenge Christians to get involved in the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and all others to make a difference; to get engaged at every level and to vote.

"The Bible calls us to be salt and light in this world  it's time we got off the sidelines and got involved in actively working and praying to stop the moral decline of this great nation."

While Graham denies a political motivation, his natural constituency of white evangelicals are overwhelmingly Republican voters. They will hear his probable references to moral issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage as coded encouragements to vote for candidates who take a conservative line, even if he avoids directly naming them.
Hundreds gather for unveiling of huge statue of Jesus

Hundreds of worshippers turned out on Friday to celebrate the unveiling of Africa's largest statue of Jesus.

Standing in the grounds of St Aloysius Catholic Church in Abajah, Nigeria, the white marble statue shows Jesus with his arms outstretched, and will be a "great symbol of Christian faith", presiding bishop Augustine Tochukwu Okwuoma said.

According to the Premium Times, the bishop gave a mass ahead of the statue's official unveiling. He said he hoped it would "continue to constantly remind us of what Jesus Christ stands for us".

For passers by, the statue will "bring them closer to Jesus," he added.

Almost nine metres high and weighing 40 tonnes, the statue has been named "Jesus de Greatest". It was commissioned and paid for by a local businessman, Obinna Onunoha, who previously funded the construction of the 2,000 seater St Aloysius church.

"Asking why I constructed this statue is like asking how do I came to this world, I am a Christian and a Catholic and Jesus statue represents my faith," he told the Times.

"I believe we are here on earth for different purposes and each person moves with his/her instincts, and I was motivated to do this to build up the faith of this community."

Onunoha also said he believed the statue would attract people from all over Africa and beyond. "It's the biggest statue of Jesus on the continent. Definitely pilgrims will come."

Nigeria's population is split almost evenly between Muslims and Christians, but the country has suffered heavily under attacks from Islamist militant group, Boko Haram, which operates largely in the northern region of the country.
Iraqi priest feared kidnapped by militants in Syria for the second time

An Iraqi priest kidnapped by militants last year has gone missing for a second time, prompting fears that he has again been abducted.

Father Pierbattista Pizzaballa, the current superior of the Custody of the Holy Land, confirmed to Asia News that Franciscan priest Father Dhiya Aziz had been kidnapped. He was returning to his parish in Idlib province, Syria, from Turkey when he was taken on 23 December.

According to the Catholic Herald, he had been visiting relatives forced to flee Qaraqosh, previously a Christian-majority town in Iraq until ISIS overran the city in August 2014.

"We realise someone took him, but we cannot say who did it or even if he is still alive," Fr Pizzaballa said. "If we knew who abducted him, at least we would have confirmation, but until now, we do not know even that."

Fr Pizzaballa added that Yakubiyah village, where Fr Aziz works, is surrounded by conflict. "Many groups are active in that area, affiliated with various factions and without coordination among themselves, each on its own, so it is difficult to understand who did it".

Fr Aziz was first kidnapped by militants on 4 July last year, but released five days later. A number of priests have been taken by assailants in Syria since the outbreak of conflict in 2011, either by ISIS or other militant groups.

However, this is the first time that a priest has been kidnapped and a point of contact has not been found with the abductors. "It is a very different situation than in July," Fr Pizzaballa said.

He added that the Middle East is in "dire need of mercy".

"It is clear to anyone who knows the region that it will be impossible to escape from such spiral of hatred, resentment, and revenge unless we have the courage to move on, forgive and be merciful. Otherwise, it is a vicious circle that will get worse," he said.

Fr Aziz was originally from Mosul, once considered the heartland of Iraq's Christian population. It was overrun by ISIS in June 2014, and is now a key city in the militants' self-declared caliphate.
Judge backs Planned Parenthood, freezes new law restricting use of abortion pill in Arkansas

A federal judge in Arkansas has issued a two-week temporary restraining order stopping an Arkansas law that would restrict the use of the so-called abortion pill.

U.S. District Judge Kristine Baker granted the restraining order on New Year's Eve, a day before the law, Act 577, also known as the "Abortion-Inducing Drugs Safety Act," was set to take effect.

The decision was based on the challenge by Planned Parenthood of Heartland, which operates clinics in Arkansas, according to Reuters.

In her ruling, Baker said Planned Parenthood has a chance to win its argument that the law is unconstitutional since it infringes on a woman's right to abortion.

The law requires an abortion service provider to "have a signed contract with a physician who agrees to handle complications," who also should have admitting privileges at a hospital.

The judge said Planned Parenthood has "a substantial likelihood of success on their argument that this portion . . . would result in an undue burden and would have the effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman's right to choose to have an abortion of a nonviable fetus."

Attempts to restrict abortion have intensified in recent years in Arkansas as Republicans took control of the state's legislature and the governor's office last January.

The state now requires pre-abortion counselling and a 24-hour waiting period before the procedure.

Under the law, passed last March, organisations or individuals dispensing mifepristone are required to have a contract relationship with a physician with admitting privileges. It also requires a patient to receive more doses of the drug than the four presently required by law.

Mifepristone is taken to induce miscarriage when taken in the first two months of pregnancy.

Planned Parenthood said the extra dosage is clinically unnecessary and imposes undue financial burden. It said it tried to contract physicians but they feared to enter into a relationship with Planned Parenthood for fear of reprisals.

"At this early stage of the proceeding, the court finds that, in the case of medication abortion, any benefit of admitting privileges in terms of continuity of care is incrementally small," Baker wrote in her decision.

She also said the extra dosage was based on "inaccurate, incomplete, irrelevant, or outdated" data. Arkansas said the law was meant to protect women's health.

Governor Asa Hutchinson accused Planned Parenthood of placing "a premium on the convenience of abortion providers over the health and welfare of women seeking these procedures."
Pathankot attack: Indian forces disarming grenades after booby-trap kills soldier

Indian security forces were working on Monday to defuse grenades in the final stages of an operation to secure a vast air base near the border with Pakistan, two days after a militant attack killed seven military personnel and wounded 22.

The attack, a rare targeting of an Indian military installation outside the disputed region of Kashmir, threatens to undermine a tentative thaw in relations with Pakistan.

A senior federal government official said two militants who were hiding in the administrative block of the base had been killed on Sunday, but authorities had yet to recover the bodies.

"A total of six terrorists have been killed, but every inch of the air base has to be secured before we call off the operation," said the official in New Delhi, who requested anonymity.

Manish Mehta, an Indian army spokesman, said the military was working at a "very fast pace" to defuse live hand grenades and gather the remains of the militants.

"The air base is large and we have been working all night to ensure that the base is totally in our control," said Mehta.

A soldier from India's counter-terrorism force, the National Security Guard, was killed by an exploding grenade on Saturday as he lifted the body of one dead attacker, prompting caution in work to clear the area of possible booby-traps.

Military trucks were seen entering and leaving the walled compound and helicopters were flying over it on Monday morning.

The attack came about a week after Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a surprise visit to his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif, the first by an Indian premier in 11 years.

Officials said the attack bore the hallmarks of previous suspected assaults by Pakistan-based militant groups, underscoring the fragility of recent efforts to revive bilateral talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Pakistan has condemned the attack and said it wanted to continue to build on the goodwill created by the impromptu meeting between Modi and Sharif last month.

In Afghanistan, at least one civilian was wounded after gunmen attacked the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, an incident likely to make it harder to improve stability in the region.
Pennsylvania school district spends $64,000 to fight atheists over Ten Commandments monument

A school district in Pennsylvania paid a law firm $64,000 to fight off a lawsuit by an atheist group, which targeted the removal of a Ten Commandments monument in school property.

The Connellsville Area School District lost the case filed by the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) and a student's parent in 2012. The decision was rendered by a court last August.

U.S. District Judge Terrence McVerry of the Western District of Pennsylvania ruled that "the Ten Commandments monument at the Connellsville Area School District Junior High School runs afoul of the Establishment Clause."

But the group responsible for urging the school district to fight the lawsuit said it was needed despite the costs.

"It doesn't matter what the cost was, it was a fight that needed to be fought," David Show of the Thou Shall Not Move told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. "That's something that should not be a problem in our schools."

The news site said the law firm Andrews & Price billed the district's insurance carrier for 400 hours of work between October 2012 and December 2014. Solicitor Chris Stern said the bills would be paid by the carrier, School Claims Insurance LLC of New Cumberland.

When the judge ruled on the case, he did not order the removal of the monument as the family who objected no longer attends or visits the school.

Two weeks after the ruling, school directors voted to return the marker to the Connellsville Fraternal Order of Eagles. The marker had stood outside the school since 1957.

The marker was finally removed in October and placed in a church property near the school.

"We warned the school district that we would win," said Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of FFRF.

The FFRF asked the school district to remove the monument and district officials said they had planned to do so and covered it with plywood.

However, residents formed the Thou Shall Not Move movement and persuaded the school to reverse its decision.

A federal judge in July dismissed a similar case filed by FFRF in 2012 against the New Kensington-Arnold School District about a Ten Commandments monument outside the Valley Junior-Senior High School in New Kensington.

The court said the FFRF failed to show that a resident and her daughter were harmed by the monument that also had been donated by an Eagles lodge 50 years ago.
Split threatens Anglican meeting called to preserve unity

A damaging split is threatening a crucial meeting this week called by the Archbishop of Canterbury in a bid to find a way forward for the troubled Anglican Communion.

Some archbishops from the conservative churches of the Global South are threatening to walk out of the meeting if liberal bishops, such as from the US, fail to pledge that their bishops will abandon support for gay marriage.

The rare primates' meeting, a gathering of archbishops and bishops who head the 38 worldwide Anglican provinces, was called last year by the Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby in an attempt to stave off a permanent split over gay clergy, bishops and gay marriage. One possible way forward would be a federal model similar to that used by the Lutheran churches of Scandinavia.

Insiders told the Mail on Sunday that between eight and 12 conservative archbishops from Africa and Asia will walk out unless the Episcopal Church leadership formally "repents", or the Archbishop of Canterbury asks the liberals to go first. The Episcopal Church angered the Global South by consecrating an openly gay bishop, Gene Robinson, in 2003.

It is understood that the three senior archbishops, from Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda, wanted to boycott the meeting in Canterbury but were persuaded to turn up and try to bring Archbishop Welby round to their side.

Lambeth Palace said: "The Archbishop has invited everyone. If people walk out that will be viewed with disappointment rather than anger, and the door will always be open."

One leading supporter of the conservative provinces, the retired Archbishop of Sydney Peter Jensen, writing for Anglican Ink, said: "The Christian faith is struggling to maintain its identity in the face of the secular challenge. Everywhere there is the sad tale of compromise and cultural enslavement. Everywhere we see the danger of Christians committed to a gospel without salvation, reconciliation without repentance, a Saviour without a cross and a Lord without a word."

He said the existence of GAFCON, the Global Anglican Futures Conference set up in response to the divisions, means that biblical Anglicans do not need to stand alone

"Truth matters even more than institutional unity. But true unity supports and nourishes the truth. The Evil One rejoices at the division of Christians. Far from being divisive, GAFCON is a great force for unity  it has saved and united Anglicans in the West and encouraged Anglicans in the South to realise that 'we are not alone'. But it has done more than that, for it is a model too for other denominations and churches around the world and encouragement for them to take their stand on the word of God."
The world was supposed to end not once but twice in 2015  it's OK, those were just some of many failed prophecies

The world should have ended, twice over, in 2015  if the two doomsday predictions last year actually happened.

These two predictions were the so-called Blood Moon Prophecy last Sept. 27 by John Hagee, a Christian minister from Texas; and Earth's destruction "with fire" by Chris McCann, the leader and founder of eBible Fellowship last Oct. 7, various reports said.

Obviously the two got the dates wrong.

On Sept. 27, a supermoon lunar eclipse occurred when Earth's shadow dimmed the moon, which appeared unusually large in the sky. It was a confluence of three events: a full moon; a lunar eclipse, and lunar perigee, when the moon was in the closest part of its orbit to Earth, according to News Discovery.

Hagee was among those who argued that such rare events surely spelled out doom. "The coming four blood moons points to a world-shaking event that will happen between April 2014 and October 2015," he told CNN.

Hagee and others like him claimed the blood moons represented prophecies allegedly given in the Bible relating to the second coming of Jesus Christ.

When nothing earth-shaking happened during September's supermoon lunar eclipse, McCann set Oct. 7, 2015 as the new date for Doomsday.

His Pennsylvania-based eBible Fellowship revised and recalculated an earlier prediction made by Christian radio host Harold Camping who had claimed that the Day of Judgment would come on May 21, 2011. The group set the new date on Oct. 7, 2015, "in all likelihood."

"According to what the Bible is presenting it does appear that 7 October will be the day that God has spoken of: in which, the world will pass away," McCann said, adding that the world would be obliterated "with fire" and that "it'll be gone forever, annihilated."

Despite numerous failed predictions of the end of the world stretching through the ages, the prophets continue to make new ones, with some simply making recalculations of the dates, and no apologies either.

For instance, in 1822 a preacher named William Miller predicted the end of the world by 1843. He later revised the date to Oct. 22, 1844. When the day came and went, it was dubbed "The Great Disappointment." Before he died five years later, Miller was still expressing confidence that the end was coming soon, according to Live Science.

His followers, known as the Millerites, later founded the Seventh-day Adventist church. The group still believes that divine judgment will take place during the apocalypse but has not set any date for this event.

Preachers belonging to Jehovah's Witnesses also had multiple failed doomsday predictions but their group continues to survive, Live Science said.

Some Doomsday prophets rationalise the failure of their predictions. In 1954, a woman named Dorothy Martin told her followers to prepare for a great flood in December that would supposedly wipe out humanity. When nothing happened, she announced a new revelation: Their group's prayers had been so successful that God decided to call the whole thing off, according Live Science.

Although end-of-the-world predictions may seem scary to many people, many others actually welcome the idea that they will witness the end times, experts say. The idea of doomsday appeals to people because it's an extreme vision of order, religion researcher Lorenzo DiTommaso of Concordia University in Montreal said in 2011.

"The first [belief] is that there is something dreadfully wrong with the world of human existence today," DiTommaso said. "On the other hand, there is a sense that there is a higher good or some purpose for existence, a hope for a better future."

Live Science describes the belief as a "kind of cosmic housecleaning" where "God is going to come back, reward the good, punish the bad and just generally straighten things up."
U.S. Congress wants NASA to build deep space habitat prototype model by 2018; launching by 2030

It seems like the U.S. Congress is taking the possibility of human beings living in space seriously.

The American legislature has directed the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to build a sufficient prototype model of a deep space habitat no later than 2018.

"NASA shall develop a prototype deep space habitation module within the advanced exploration systems program no later than 2018," a report from Congress stated, as quoted by Space News.

As if giving NASA just two years to develop the deep space habitat was not enough pressure, Congress also required the space agency to report progress in six months' time.

Congress gave NASA sufficient fundinga total of $55 millionto undertake this project.

In an article published by Yahoo! News, NASA International Space Station director Sam Scimemi said the space agency envisions testing these deep space habitats by the late 2020s.

This extensive testing of the space habitat will be done in cislunar space, or the area between the moon and the Earth. Scimemi said a "shaked down cruise," or performance test, will be done to check if the facilities can hold in the harsh conditions in space, and will be enough to support human life outside Earth.

"This idea is our big objective for cislunar space for human spaceflight," Scimemi told Space News.

He said the NASA may be able to launch the outer space habitation facilities by 2030 via human missions to Mars.

At present, NASA is also funding efforts to produce the best types of habitation concepts under a programme called the Next Step Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP.

The space agency is working with big technological agencies such as Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK, and Boeing for this effort.

"We plan to leverage the output of those studies to shape our plan and then go to a next round," Scimemi said.
Vatican treaty with Palestine does not mean Pope Francis has abandoned Israel

Israel isn't happy about it, but there's not much it can do.

The "Comprehensive Agreement between the Holy See and the State of Palestine", signed in June, has come into effect following various administrative tweaks.

The treaty is, if you read some conservative news outlets, an outrageous betrayal of Israel by a Vatican which has a long history of anti-Semitism. The book of Revelation features heavily in some comments.

But what's really going on?

As treaties go it's fairly routine, dealing with "essential aspects of the life and activity of the Church in Palestine" including the freedom of the Church to operate and of Christians to practise their faith and participate fully in society. What could be fairer than that?

It is, of course, the s-word. For Israel, the problem lies in describing Palestine as a state. It is not really interested in the content of the treaty, but for the Vatican  a sovereign territory as well as the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church  to recognise Palestinian statehood is teeth-grindingly infuriating.

In fairness to the Vatican, it had already done so. Recognition by the United Nations had long been a goal of the Palestinian Authority. In spite of resolute opposition led by the US  and including Britain  this was achieved in November 2012, when Palestine was given the status of 'non-member observer state'. The Vatican formally acknowledged its status in February 2013, but this is the first time it has entered into a diplomatic treaty with it.

Palestine's new status gave it important new rights, including access to the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court.

More importantly, it signalled the world's commitment to a two-state solution in the Holy Land: Israel had a right to exist, but so did Palestine. However toothless and half-hearted the international community has been in its attempts to make this happen, it was at least an expression of intent.

Whether  because of Israel's continued encroachment on Palestinian territory and stranglehold on its economy  this is any longer an achievable goal is open to question. Israel's right-wing government includes members who believe in a greater Jewish state rather than a two-state solution  arguably including Prime Minister Netanyahu himself, who made his position clear before his recent re-election (he later backtracked under American pressure). For Israeli diplomats, for Palestine to enter into state treaties before it's a state is jumping the gun.

What shouldn't be in doubt, though, is the Vatican's commitment to Israel  and any attempt to paint the treaty as some sort of stab in the back to the State of Israel is simply mischief-making.

The present and previous popes have been crystal clear about this. In its statement about the Comprehensive Agreement, the Vatican refers to its "support for a negotiated and peaceful solution to the conflict in the region"  hardly an anti-Israel position.

Under Pope Francis a landmark statement about the relation between Jews and Gentiles has made it clear that it is impossible to be an anti-Semite and a Christian. He's even said that whoever does not recognise the State of Israel falls into anti-Semitism.

These aren't the words and actions of someone who's opposed to Israel. But neither is this the behaviour of someone who's prepared to allow his theology or how he cares for the vulnerable to be influenced by the voices of hatred and rejection.

Israelis and Palestinians occupy the same small space. They have not yet succeeded in working out how to share it in any way that looks remotely just and fair.

As long as the debate remains at its current temperature, it's hard to see how they ever will. But Christians who care about peace really must stop stoking the flames by treating everything that recognises the dignity of Palestinians as a betrayal of Israel. We can do better than that.

Follow @RevMarkWoods on Twitter.
A man died and his passenger was injured early Monday morning, Jan. 4, when their car slammed into the back of a big-rig in southwest Houston.

The crash occurred about 1:20 a.m. at 12900 South Post Oak near Allum, according to the Houston Police Department.
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Houston police on Friday rescued a man who said he'd been chained inside a Heights-area home for days.

The victim had called police out to a home on the 6800 block of Winston Street, an HPD spokesman said. It is unknown how he made the call under restraint.

When officers arrived, the victim stood by a window and raised his hands to display chains that wrapped them. Officers detained everyone in the house and arrested two suspects, Lakiska Brown and LaJuan Joseph Wright, on charges of aggravated kidnapping.

The victim told police he had been restrained for four days. Initial information suggested a dispute over money may have led to his capture. Reports on his condition were not immediately available.

Brown, 36, of Houston, has been charged with aggravated kidnapping and is being held on $30,000 bond.

Wright, 42, of Houston, has been charged with aggravated kidnapping, felon in possession of a weapon and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. No bond was listed by the Harris County District Clerk's Office.

Wright has a history of trouble with the law in Harris County dating back to 1992. Most recently he was arrested and charged with assault of a family member and possession of a firearm in March 2014, for which he received 58 days in jail, according to court records.
Following revelations that Rep. Jonathan Stickland, R-Bedford, said publicly in 2008 that "Rape is non existent in marriage, some of the votes that he and his closest allies have taken in the Texas House about sexual assault are under fresh scrutiny. As of late Thursday, neither Stickland nor any of the others who voted with him had offered any explanation.

A full-court press by Republicans against Tea Party incumbents began in the Metroplex on Thursday because the tiny group of Tea Party-backed lawmakers who voted against a crackdown on sexual predators this year are concentrated in North Texas.

House Bill 189, which extends the statute of limitations for civil suits against alleged sex offenders, was overwhelmingly supported by Republicans and Democrats in the House and Senate. The bill also eliminated any statute of limitations in criminal sexual assault cases in which there is "probable cause that the defendant committed the same or similar crime against five or more victims." On its final vote in the House, the vote was not unanimous.

Those voting nay were Reps. Matt Rinaldi, Matt Schaefer, Jonathan Stickland, Tony Tinderholt, and Cecil Bell. That was on the conference committee report that was later signed into law by Gov. Greg Abbott. Stickland, Rinaldi, and Schaefer had also previously voted no on third reading.

On Thursday, the GOP primary opponents of Stickland, Tinderholt, and Rinaldi all said the votes were an embarrassment to the communities where their campaigns are now heating up before the new year has even begun.

Before this reform passed the Republican Texas legislature and was signed by Governor Abbott, all a rapist had to do to shield himself from paying for his crime was to force his victim to keep her mouth shut 10 years from the date of the offense, said Fisher, who is Sticklands opponent on the March ballot. The idea that a predator could use subtle pressure to keep a victim quiet to avoid paying is a nightmare, Fisher said. I dont know how he justifies it.

There was no immediate comment from Stickland, who has said however that he regrets his previous comments about marital rape. Stickland, Rinaldi, Tinderholt, and Schaefer all employ Luke Macias as their consultant and spokesman. Macias said he was looking into the issue.

Former Rep. Bennett Ratliff, who is running against Rep. Rinaldi in the Republican primary, said Bill Cosby was arrested yesterday for an alleged sexual assault that happened 11 years ago and Rinaldi apparently believes that Cosby and those like him should have no fear of being forced to pay for such crimes in Texas.

Ratliff pointed out that the group that voted no was small and One (Stickland) is an object of international scorn for his revealed comment about marital rape, and the others then-Chief of Staff was just arrested for soliciting a 12-year-old girl for sex over the internet.

Ratliff was referring to Rep. Schaefers former Chief of Staff Judd Quarles, who was recently arrested on charges of soliciting a minor under 14 years old in East Texas. Rep. Schaefer has no primary opponent, by the way. Neither does Rep. Bell.

Tinderholts Republican opponent Andrew Piel in Arlington similarly asked the incumbent for an explanation.

I stand with every husband and father in Texas who is appalled by Representative Tinderholts vote, Piel said. He must explain why he would support the interests of pedophiles and violent rapists at the expense of their victims, many of whom suffer mentally and physically for many years after the assault.

Copyright December 31, 2015, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved. This story is presented as part of the Houston Chronicle's collaboration with Quorum Report. For inside information on Texas politics and government and to sign up for real-time updates, go here.
The Texas Supreme Courts new judicial bypass rules have stripped young abused women of their constitutional right to a safe, legal abortion, say advocates who participated in the recent advisory committee process.

The Texas Supreme Court Advisory Committee spent most of its October meeting hashing out the recommendations of a subcommittee on Rep. Geanie Morrisons, R-Victoria, House Bill 3994, which was considered more palatable than an alternative drafted by Rep. Matt Krause, R-Fort Worth.

Attorney Susan Hays of the non-profit Janes Due Process was far from pleased with the result, an order issued today by the court. She considers the specifics, which includes paperwork and court documents, to go beyond the scope required by the bill and possibly eliminating a womans legal right to an abortion.

In short, before House Bill 3994, a judicial bypass was considered granted if the judge failed to rule within the prescribed timeline. After the order issued today, a judicial bypass is considered denied if a judge fails to act.

The only rule debate we had was whether the case should go to the presiding judge or to the Texas Supreme Court, and there wasnt even a fight about that, Hays said this afternoon, after reviewing the order. Now the Texas Supreme Court considers the request deemed denied, something that was even in the bill. Certainly weve had some big fights, but not over this issue.

If a teenager fails to show up to a hearing, then the request also is deemed denied. Thats not consistent with existing practice, Hays said. In most cases, such an absence would be considered a nonsuit, dismissed for wont of prosecution, rather than the case of denying the petition altogether.

That back-and-forth included hours of discussion by attorneys and judges clearly on dueling sides on confidentiality, timeliness and the bar that could allow a young woman to bypass her parents to secure an abortion. Ultimately, those votes were forwarded to Chief Justice Nathan Hecht and the Texas Supreme Court as an advisory on how to develop a clear procedure in the Family Code.

Texas Alliance for Life supported Morrisons bill, considering it a more transparent process to be sure a minor seeking an abortion is well informed and fairly represented. The burden of proof to allow the minor to seek that abortion needed to be clear and convincing rather than a preponderance of evidence.

From the Alliances point of view, the order issued today is the result of a 10-year effort of pro-life groups to protect minor girls from abortion. Executive Director Joe Pojman said the order issued to today does just that.

The reforms closed loopholes and increased protections for the minors from abuse, Pojman said. The Texas Supreme Court has faithfully implemented House Bill 3994 in a way that will best protect the well-being of minor girls.

What irks Hays on her side of the issue is that a judge can refuse to do his or her job because of personal or political pressure, failing to make a ruling, and the penalty for such a decision would fall to the pregnant girl, not the judge. This is an order driven by politics rather than the legal standard set by the courts, Hays said.

After January 1, a judge can refuse to do his or her job, and it will be an abused pregnant teenage girl that will pay the price, Hays said.

The Texas Alliance for Life also supported more documentation for these proceedings, which are expected to be confidential and anonymous. Those who support record keeping say it is a way to determine whether the disposal of cases follow the law. Opponents consider it a political paper trail to the judges and attorneys who are helping young women seek legal abortions.

The U.S. Supreme Court set the precedent of the judicial bypass, and its this legal standard that Hays cites. Every well-informed woman has the right to choose an abortion, regardless of family circumstance. Thats the law. These rules narrow those options for women who come out of an abusive family, Hays said.

No one gets an absolute veto of her decision, Hays said. The process itself cannot be a veto. The process must be anonymous, expeditious and an effective opportunity for an abortion to be obtained. She has a right to decide and understand the consequences.

The law goes into effect on Friday. Hays stops short of promising a legal challenge to the law in court. We will do everything we can to fight for the legal rights of pregnant abused teenage girls in Texas, she said.

Since no one has logged records, its impossible to know the number of young women who have sought to use the judicial bypass for an abortion. Hays estimates its around 200 cases a year, down from a high of 400 to 500.

Copyright December 29, 2015, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved. This story is presented as part of the Houston Chronicle's collaboration with Quorum Report. For inside information on Texas politics and government and to sign up for real-time updates, go here.
A handful of school districts may have defied state lawmakers and either tossed out or reduced their own optional homestead exemptions with the recent passage of an increase in the states homestead exemption.

The fermenting financial fracas was revealed with Finance Chair Sen. Jane Nelsons, R-Flower Mound, request for an opinion of Attorney General Ken Paxton last week. In her request, Nelson asked whether a local jurisdiction could repeal a local homestead exemption any time in the next five years.

In order to provide clear guidance to local governments and taxpayers, I respectfully request your formal opinion on whether a school district, municipality or county may reduce or repeal the local option homestead exemption from the amount that was adopted for the 2014 tax year through the 2019 tax year, Nelson wrote in a one-page letter sent to Paxtons office on December 15.

That should be a fairly straightforward opinion.

The bill clearly states school districts will be held harmless for the additional $10,000 homestead exemption, on top of an existing $25,000 exemption. Any school district that has an existing exemption must maintain the current exemption for 10 years.

Dale Craymer of the Texas Taxpayers and Research Association provides the subtext. Somewhere between the time the bill was enrolled in July and the constitutional amendment was passed in November, about a half-dozen school districts pulled back on their local homestead exemptions, Craymer said.

Given that the AG had issued an advisory previously saying districts couldnt pull back on their optional exemption, theres probably not much suspense as to what the AG will rule, Craymer said. However, a better question is whether the AG opinion will be binding, or whether taxpayers will have to go to court, and whether the court will affirm the AGs opinion.

To say Nelson would be less than amused would be an understatement. Lawmakers clearly intended to subvert such a maneuver in the drafting of Senate Bill 1. And, as Nelson notes in her request, First Assistant Attorney General Chip Roy sent a letter to Comptroller Glenn Hegar underlining the fact all existing exemptions must maintained separate and apart from the states exemption.

Ways and Means Chair Rep. Dennis Bonnen, R-Angleton, is no fan of local homestead exemptions for just this reason. At the recent TTARA conference, Bonnen told business leaders the only tax break the state can guarantee is the one it controls itself, such as a sales tax break.

Lawmakers were clear during session they wanted any new tax break to be on top of existing tax rates and breaks. To fail to do so would mean the money has supplanted rather than supplemented savings to the taxpayer, a bugaboo lawmakers faced when rationalizing how the federal stimulus money for education was spent.

An estimated 200 or so school districts in the state offer some sort of local homestead exemption, typically either 10 percent or 20 percent of value. The state picks up half the cost of such homestead exemptions, estimated at $19.1 billion in 2014. According to the Comptrollers property value study, the assigned value of the states homestead exemption in 2014 was $74.6 billion in 2014.

According to state law, school districts must post a notice and hold a meeting on proposed budget and tax rates. According to the Comptrollers website, notification must include comparison of tax rates, budget totals, property taxes and fund balance, year over year. Local homestead exemptions are not required.

Copyright December 30, 2015, Harvey Kronberg, www.quorumreport.com, All rights are reserved. This story is presented as part of the Houston Chronicle's collaboration with Quorum Report. For inside information on Texas politics and government and to sign up for real-time updates, go here.
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A man accused of setting fire to a Houston mosque on Christmas Day will have an 8 p.m. curfew if he makes $150,000 bail, a judge ruled Monday.

State District Judge Jan Krocker set bail after an attorney for Gary Nathaniel Moore surrendered the 37-year-old's passport.

Moore is charged with felony arson, accused of bringing lighter fluid to a storefront mosque in southwest Houston where he worshiped, then setting it on fire when he was alone inside.

Prosecutors said surveillance video shows Moore was the last to leave the mosque on South Wilcrest and emerged from the building three minutes before flames appear.

Assistant Harris County District Attorney Justin Wood said a bottle of lighter fluid was found near one of five ignition points in the mosque. Another bottle of the same brand was found as part of a twin pack in Moore's home, Wood said.

The prosecutor said investigators have not determined a motive for the incident.

Moore was born in Maryland and has lived in Houston for five years with his wife and six children, according to his attorney, Ed Chernoff. Chernoff said Moore has maintained his innocence.

Moore, who was arraigned in Krocker's court last week, did not appear in court on Monday.
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Hundreds gathered in Market Square Park downtown on Sunday to celebrate Houston's new mayor.

Sylvester Turner was officially sworn in to office on Saturday; his public inauguration is Monday.

"I want to thank you from the depths of my heart," Turner said, opening the pre-inaugural celebration Sunday. Turner narrowly won the office in a run-off election against former Kemah Mayor Bill King. He succeeds term-limited Annise Parker.

He said Houstonians need to work together to tackle challenges ahead.

"We are the most diverse city in the country, and in that diversity is our strength," the long-time state representative from the Acres Homes area said. "When we pull together, the future for Houston will always be bright."

The crowd inched in, anxious to hear its new mayor. Afterward, people huddled around Turner as he moved through the park, asking him questions and requesting photos.

Behind him, band J. Paul and the Zydeco Nubreeds played music on the Market Square pavilion. Attendees nibbled free popcorn, hula-hooped and ordered burgers and Korean-Mexican quesadillas from The Burger Joint and Oh My Gogi! food trucks. The event ended with fireworks.

Road conditions and infrastructure are two of the first issues Turner said he plans to tackle. "I've heard a whole lot about potholes; we will address potholes," he said. "At the same time, we've got to build out the infrastructure. There are more people coming to this city every single day, every single week, every single month, so there are more people driving on our roads."

Estella Reeves, 62, said she voted for Turner and hopes he acts on transportation issues soon. She noted how long it can take to get across the city.

Turner also paused to remember County Commissioner El Franco Lee, who died unexpectedly Sunday morning of a heart attack. Turner said he had known Lee since the two ran against each other in 1984 for Harris County commissioner, which Lee won.

"He's always been that person that was quiet in his demeanor, and he let his work speak for him," Turner said, "and his work has spoken very loudly."

Turner recalled Lee's passion for supporting special needs kids and seniors.

"His legacy - when you talk about special needs, when you talk about seniors - you have to put out El Franco Lee's name," Turner said. "He'll deeply be missed."

Turner supporters were eager to celebrate his taking office.

City employees Julie Morales and Cynthia Sidney were glad to see a new mayor who they feel will include them in the conversation of how to run the city effectively. The pair noted that Turner has visited with them and taken interest in many different communities in Houston.

"I'm looking forward to his leadership for the city," said City Council Member for District J. Mike Laster. "He's going to bring a fresh perspective to our challenges."
AUSTIN - More than a year after Wendy Davis lost her race for governor, she's still campaigning and still explaining.

This time, she's stumping for Hillary Clinton. Fresh off a trip to Iowa in December, Davis next plans to head to New Hampshire for the Democratic presidential candidate. She also has served as a Clinton campaign surrogate on MSNBC.

Davis is working to drive enthusiasm particularly among women, who might be inclined to support Clinton anyway but know of the Democratic former Texas senator from her nationally spotlighted 2013 filibuster against tighter abortion restrictions. She's also seen as a lure for progressives.

"A lot of the people that came to the events were women  who talked about wanting someone who is going to fight for them. Not just their reproductive freedoms but all aspects of what it means to be a woman in this country in terms of equal opportunity," Davis told me Thursday. "Honestly, I know we've had some presidents that have been very good on women's equality, but I don't think we've ever had a president that's really made it a primary focus of their work. With her, I think that's part of what we'll see."

'Policy passions'

Campaigning for Clinton is one way for Davis to stay involved in the public policy conversation, something she said she was dedicated to doing soon after her big loss in the governor's race to Republican Greg Abbott.

To that end, she has given speeches to women's groups and on college campuses, written essays and given interviews, and is planning a national initiative related to gender equality.

A proposed television series that's loosely based on her life is still in the works, with its pilot script in the revision process, she said. She and Brian Newby, one-time chief of staff to former Gov. Rick Perry, have dissolved their law partnership. "After my race was over we talked about whether I would come back to work there, and I really wanted to follow instead the policy passions that I've been working on," she said.

A policy issue she's still explaining is her disclosure in a 2014 interview with me that her support for open carry of handguns during her campaign wasn't something she actually believed in.

Davis since has returned to that topic, including in a December article for Politico in which she expounded on her desire in 2014 to take guns off the table as a campaign issue, her belief that supporting opt-out provisions for property owners made the idea more palatable, and her everlasting regret about her decision. She said she's still talking about it because she wants to share her experience with officeholders and candidates who have a platform.

"I see this conversation about guns as being one of those areas where political leaders ought to be tapping into that common-sense part of each of us that demands that we act more smartly about our approach," she said "And I didn't take the opportunity to do that, and I had a microphone in my hand, so for me the suggestion was if you've got a microphone - think about that."

'If it makes sense'

Whether Davis will again be a candidate is hard to say. She has said she'd like to run in the future for some unspecified office, but when we spoke Thursday, she sounded less sure that would happen.

"I would love the privilege of serving again if it ever makes sense. But I don't know if it will," she said. "I don't have anything in mind right now."

Davis said she would welcome an opportunity to serve in the next administration if Clinton wins the White House, but added that's not why she's campaigning for her.

"Obviously, it would be an incredible privilege to work under her. But I'm not maneuvering for that or planning for that. I'm trying to help elect the person I think ought to be our next president for the same reasons that a lot of Americans are working to elect her," Davis said.

'National icon'

Should she choose to run again, Texas Democratic Party Deputy Executive Director Manny Garcia suggested she won't be shut out, stressing that the 2014 election "was terrible for Democrats, both nationally and in Texas."

"There is a place for everyone who is willing to fight for Texas families in Democratic politics. Wendy Davis knows what it takes to serve and stand for what's right against all odds," he said.

How much of an effect she'll have for Clinton is a matter for debate.

Political scientist Dennis Goldford of Drake University in Des Moines said her lackluster showing in the governor's race mutes her impact.

"She underperformed her promise. Maybe people had unrealistic expectations of what her promise was, but she failed to meet her promise," Goldford said. "If she had over-performed her promise, even if she had lost, I think that might have been capable of generating a certain enthusiasm for Clinton."

Political scientist Tim Hagle of the University of Iowa said Davis' effect would likely be to help solidify and energize Clinton supporters.

"Still, it's well known that many Iowans make up their minds in the last few weeks, so it's possible she could help sway a few with the combination abortion/gender issue," he said.

A Clinton aide said Davis has generated enthusiasm and motivated volunteers. At the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls, the aide said, a high school student cried because he was so excited to meet her.

Rice University political scientist Mark Jones said Davis is "favorably viewed by progressives nationwide due primarily to her 2013 filibuster against Texas' restrictive anti-abortion legislation, and in order to convincingly defeat Bernie Sanders in the Iowa Democratic Caucus, Clinton needs the support of those progressives."

Jones said the effort potentially could benefit both women.

"As a national icon for abortion rights, Davis' stumping for Clinton in Iowa will benefit both Clinton's campaign and Davis' political career, the next stage of which could very well be as a Clinton administration official if Clinton is victorious in November," Jones said.
A man who went to Taco Bell, presumably for something to eat, got a surprise when he ended up thwarting an armed robbery.

At 2:55 p.m. Dec. 22, a man armed with a rifle walked into a Taco Bell in the 5700 block of Hollister in northwest Houston and demanded money from the clerk, according to Houston police.
Lauding Houston as a city where, "when you dream big, big things can happen," Mayor Sylvester Turner delivered his inaugural address Monday morning at a packed Jones Hall downtown.

Turner also announced his first policy plan, saying by Jan. 18 each pothole reported to the city help line will be "assessed and addressed" by the next business day, with the goal of repairing each reported pothole within 24 hours.

Those holes needing more time or a different fix, Turner said, he will monitor via a "priority report" prepared by the Public Works and Engineering director that will be shared with the City Council.

"Many people have come to our city and to the surrounding region. That growth and development also has brought about its challenges," Turner said. "No one needs to tell us about the difficulties that we have, the streets we face. Houstonians deserve a safe viable infrastructure."

Also formally sworn into office Monday morning were new Controller Chris Brown and the 16 members of City Council, five of whom are new: Steve Le in District F, Greg Travis in District G, Karla Cisneros in District H, Mike Knox in At-Large 1 and Amanda Edwards in At-Large 4.

Turner referred to his parents several times in his speech, referencing his upbringing in Acres Homes as one of nine siblings, and recalling his mother's lessons about optimism and hard work.

"People have said to me, 'Sylvester, with all the city's problems, why in the world would you want to be mayor?' And they have said that many times to me over the past two years," Turner said. "My reply was simply, 'Yes, Houston faces challenges, but tomorrow will be better than today.'"
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In Dallas, a Nigerian man is behind bars on charges that he tricked at least 17 Texas companies into handing over more than $600,000, in a fraud scheme the FBI says nearly quadrupled in prominence throughout 2015.

According to court documents, approximately $350,000,000 from American firms have been lost to the flourishing "business compromise email" scam, which federal officials warn is among the most "sophisticated" wire fraud methods yet encountered.

Amechi Colvis Amuegbunam, 28, was arrested in August on charges that he created documents and email domains which he used to convince companies to wire hundreds of thousands of dollars to offshore bank accounts.

He awaits trial in Dallas. If convicted, he faces up to 30 years in prison.

REALATED: Houston police: Email, phone scam may cost you $1,000

In 2015, the FBI said in a press release that the BCE scam represented a major development from the days when email scams were "transparent in their amateurism."

"They know how to perpetuate the scam without raising suspicions," said FBI special agent Maxwell Marker in the release. "They have excellent tradecraft, and they do their homework. They use language specific to the company they are targeting, along with dollar amounts that lend legitimacy to the fraud. The days of these e-mails having horrible grammar and being easily identified are largely behind us."

Between October 2013 and August 2015, 7,066 U.S. victims were targeted with BCE, but perpetrators are rarely brought to justice.

Amuegbunam, who was in the U.S. on a student visa, was identified as one of 17 people authoring fake documents and emails. Agents determined his identity through metadata in fraudulent documents he allegedly distributed.

In one example, which court documents noted was typical of BCE, a fraudsterallegedly Amuegbunamcreated an email address that imitated the address of top executive in Luminant energy utility company, only switching two letters in the domain ("@lumniant.com," he wrote).

RELATED: Email scam could be a sour note for iTunes users

Attached to the email was a PDF document on company letterhead, bearing the signatures of company leadership, instructing a qualified employee to transfer $98,550 into an out-of-state bank account.

According to the FBI, the fraudsters often infiltrate company networks and view internal documents which they imitate while creating their own.

In the case of Luminant, the targeted employee transferred the money, which the company lost.

The FBI searched the metadata on the PDF and found it was authored by "Colvis Amue." The same name appeared as author of seven other documents ordering wire transfers from companies in North and East Texas, totaling $1.3 million in attempted losses.

A cursory online search reveled accounts on Twitter and Instagram under the name Colvis Amue. Investigators accessed company information to reveal both accounts were started with the same email address. In January 2015, Amuegbunam entered the U.S. at JFK International Airport in New York City, and listed the same email address attached to the fraud operation on his immigration documents.

The FBI suspects that six other individuals have created similar documents as part of the operation, though they likely reside in Nigeria and have not been named or charged. At least one BCE attempt has come from Romania as well, court documents show.
The mother and sister of a youth pastor killed by a drunk driver told NBC News they want to see Ethan Couch tried as an adult.

The so-called "Affluenza teen" is being tried as a juvenile because he was 16 at the time of the horrific crash in June 2013, which killed four and injured several others. He is now 18.

Couch was sentenced to 10 years probation after a psychologist testified that he had been too spoiled to know right from wrong, a condition the psychologist termed "affluenza."

Christy McCarty, sister of pastor Brian Jennings, and his mother, Janet Henson, told NBC they initially accepted the outcome because Jennings would have wanted Couch to have a second chance. But they said they were not surprised when he blew it.

"Obviously, the last week or two proves it was the wrong decision for him," Henson told NBC. "I feel like the system failed."

Couch and his mother, Tonya Couch, were arrested Dec. 28 in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, where authorities were able to track them down after they allegedly used a phone to order pizza. The pair had apparently been on the run for several weeks after Ethan missed a mandatory probation appointment on Dec. 10.

Tonya Couch was returned to the United States through Los Angeles on Thursday, but her son remained Monday in custody in Mexico, after requesting a delay in deportation.

Last month, the father of a boy injured in the accident told CNN he was not surprised at Couch being on the lam.

"Nothing is going to make an impact on this guy unless there's something severe or certain," said Kevin McConnell, whose then 12-year-old son Lucas, was injured in the accident.

Tonya Couch and her ex-husband, Fred Couch, underwent an acrimonious divorce in 2006 that sheds some light on their son's upbringing, according to the Associated Press.

Divorce papers show that Fred Couch told a social worker the marriage had been a mistake from the start, AP reported. He said his wife was addicted to vicodin and had given the drug to Ethan about five times, AP said.

Tonya Couch reportedly said in the divorce papers that the marriage ended because her husband had been abusive and once threw her into a fireplace, according to AP.
MERRIMACK, N.H. (WMUR-TV) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie began his town hall meeting in Merrimack Sunday night by calling former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, "Secretary Happy Talk."

Christie said Clinton isn't doing enough to fight ISIS and that he would help veterans get access to health care.

"There's a real crisis with the VA. We do not need, as president, Secretary Happy Talk who's going to tell you when you're waiting months and months and months to get the medical care that you were promised when you signed up and served honorably in our military that that's not a crisis," said Christie.

Christie also opened an office in Salem earlier Sunday afternoon.

Christie will be in Manchester and Concord on Monday.
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If Amazon founder Jeff Bezos literally wrote "Conquer the world" on a to-do list at some point, he didn't make it public.

But the head of the world's largest online retailer might as well have announced such a plan, given the intense focus he brings to running his business, according to the Daily Mail.

Bezos, the fourth richest man in the world, gained a reputation for being something of a bully after reportedly instructing negotiators to go after book publishers the way "a cheetah would pursue a sickly gazelle."

It seems "preposterous" that Amazon started as an online bookstore, The New Yorker reported in February 2014, since it has become more like "not just the Everything Store but the Everything."

"What remains constant is ambition, and the search for new things to be ambitious about," The New Yorker said.

In May 2014, the International Trade Union Confederation named Bezos the World's Worst Boss in its first such poll.

Now Amazon is turning its attention to Hollywood film studios and British supermarkets, with claims that it wants to win an Oscar for an Amazon-produced movie and plans to expand the range of groceries that it sells in the United Kingdom, the Daily Mail reported.

Bezos apparently isn't shy about straightforward commitment to making money and has "a pitiful reputation when it comes to charity," according to the Daily Mail.

The fact that he originally planned to call the business relentless.com (and the url still links to amazon.com) says "everything about his determination to succeed," the Daily Mail reported.
Armed protesters accusing federal officials of unfairly punishing ranchers have taken over a federal wildlife refuge building in Oregon. Though the group is packing heat, guns can't really protect them from what's attacking them most right now -- hashtags.

A five-year prison sentence was handed down to two ranchers last week in the rural community of Burns after prosecutors said they set fire to about 130 acres to cover up poaching. That's when 40-year-old rancher Ammon Bundy, son of the rancher in the notorious Nevada militia standoff, called on "patriots" to grab their guns and participate in a protest on Saturday.
Iranian protesters ransacked and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran on Saturday after Saudi Arabia executed an outspoken Shiite cleric who had criticized the kingdom's treatment of its Shiite minority.

The cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was among 47 men executed in Saudi Arabia on terrorism-related charges, drawing condemnation from Iran and its allies in the region and sparking fears that sectarian tensions could rise across the Middle East.

The executions coincided with increased attacks in Saudi Arabia by the jihadis of the Islamic State and an escalating rivalry between the Sunni monarchy and Shiite Iran that is playing out in conflicts in Syria, Yemen and elsewhere. Al-Nimr was an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy and was adopted as a symbolic leader by Shiite protesters in several Persian Gulf countries during the Arab Spring uprisings.

Saudi officials said the mass execution, one of the largest in the kingdom in decades, was aimed at deterring violence against the state. But analysts said that the grouping of al-Nimr with hardened jihadis was a warning to domestic dissidents that could ripple across the region.

The execution of al-Nimr is widely seen as part of the growing rivalry, and Shiite leaders in different countries - in Iran, in particular - condemned it.

"It is clear that this barren and irresponsible policy will have consequences for those endorsing it, and the Saudi government will have to pay for pursuing this policy," said Hossein Jaberi-Ansari, a spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry.

The state-run Saudi Press Agency reported late Saturday that the Saudi Foreign Ministry had summoned the Iranian ambassador to Riyadh to give him "a statement of protest in severe language" because of the "aggressive" statements made by Iran about the executions. The ministry called them "blatant interference in the kingdom's affairs."

'Repression does not last'

The ministry also said it held Iran responsible for protecting the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, the Saudi Consulate in the city of Mashhad and their employees, the news agency reported, citing an unnamed Foreign Ministry official. Protesters tore down a flag at the consulate Saturday.

In Tehran, protesters broke furniture and smashed windows in an annex to the embassy, a witness who was reached by telephone said. The protesters also set fire to the room, said the witness, who would provide only his first name, Abolfazl, because he had been involved in the protest.

The protest turned violent after participants began throwing fire bombs at the embassy and then broke into the compound. The police arrived and cleared the embassy grounds of protesters and extinguished the fire, he said.

The semiofficial Iranian Students' News Agency said the crowd had been chanting "Death to the al-Saud family," which rules Saudi Arabia, before some protesters entered the embassy and threw papers from the roof. It did not mention the fire or destruction of embassy property. Pictures of a ransacked office and flames inside the building that matched the description of the scene by Abolfazl, the protester, were widely circulated on social media. The Iranian Students' News Agency said that the protesters had been removed from the embassy but that a large number remained outside amid a heavy security presence.

The executions in Saudi Arabia were the first of 2016 and followed a year in which at least 157 people were put to death, the Muslim kingdom's highest yearly total in two decades.

In addition to Iran, criticism of al-Nimr's execution also came from Shiite politicians and clerics in Iraq, the Houthi rebel movement in Yemen and the Lebanon-based militant group Hezbollah. In Iraq, Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi wrote on Twitter that he was "shocked" and "saddened" by his death. "Peaceful opposition is a fundamental right," he wrote. "Repression does not last."

Hundreds of Shiites took to the streets to protest in eastern Saudi Arabia and in Bahrain, witnesses said.

Saudi officials denied that sectarianism had played a role in the executions.

"This means that Saudi Arabia will not hesitate to punish all terrorists," said Anwar Eshki, a retired major general in the Saudi army who is the chairman of a research center in Jidda.

When asked about al-Nimr, Eshki replied, "In Saudi Arabia, there is no difference between the criminals."

Most of those executed Saturday had been convicted in connection with deadly attacks by al-Qaida in the kingdom about a decade ago. Four, including al-Nimr, were Shiites accused of violence against the police during protests.

'Hard-line tilt'

In recent weeks, the Saudi government appeared to be preparing the public for the executions. Reports that they were imminent had appeared on Saudi news websites, and al-Arabiya, a Saudi-owned satellite channel, recently aired a multipart documentary that dramatized the kingdom's fight against al-Qaida.

On Saturday, some Saudis, including journalists at a government news conference, thanked officials for carrying out the death sentences. The top cleric, Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh, called them a "mercy to the prisoners" because the executions would save them from committing more evil acts. But some Western analysts said that executing al-Nimr along with Qaida militants conflated his outspoken activism with a grave national threat.

"This is indicative of the hard-line tilt the regime has taken," said Frederic Wehrey, an analyst at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace who has traveled in Shiite parts of Saudi Arabia.

Al-Nimr, said to be in his mid-50s, was from Awamiyah, a poor town surrounded by palm groves in eastern Saudi Arabia and known for opposition to the monarchy.

He studied in Iran and Syria but rose to prominence for fiery sermons after his return in which he criticized the ruling family and called for Shiite empowerment, even suggesting that Shiites could secede from the kingdom.

This gained him a following mostly among young Shiites who felt discriminated against by Persian Gulf governments. When these young people joined Arab Spring protests in Bahrain and eastern Saudi Arabia in 2011, Al-Nimr became a leading figure.

During a sermon in 2012, Al-Nimr mocked Prince Nayef bin Abdulaziz, who had been the Saudi interior minister and had recently died.

"He will be eaten by worms and suffer the torments of hell in the grave," al-Nimr said. "The man who made us live in fear and terror; shouldn't we rejoice at his death?"

'Never called for insurrection'

Prince Nayef's son, Mohammed bin Nayef, is now the crown prince and runs the Interior Ministry, which carries out death sentences.

Despite his fiery tone, his supporters and others who followed his career said he had not called for violence.

"To lump this guy with terrorists is a stretch," Wehrey said. "To my knowledge, he never called for armed insurrection."
It's a tale of two videos.

Ted Cruz's first significant statewide ad buy in Iowa in 2016 features a candidate in a light-blue pullover talking straight into the camera to pitch his conservative principles from what looks like his living room couch:

"As president, I won't compromise the values that make us who we are," he says. (http://bit.ly/1UpPVqo)

Then there's Donald Trump's inaugural ad buy in Iowa, which features action shots from Trump rallies, terrorist hits, and cruise missile shots. Trump's tag: "We will make America great again." (http://bit.ly/1O5R16M)

Who wins the ad war?
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Its reasonable to assume a city that once was the capital of California would be more, well, noticeable.

Once a dominant crossroads both geographically and historically, this town at a bend in the crooked strait between Vallejo and the delta is easy to overlook today because the main road doesnt so much cross Benicias heart as bypass it. (About all you notice from Highway 780 is the former military arsenal and an oil refinery, neither of which offers a visually compelling reason to take your foot off the gas.)

Those who take the exit, however, find themselves in a walkable water front city with a gazebo -in-the-park small-town vibe, a burgeoning arts community, a low-key wetlands preserve and a surprising historical timeline that crosses paths with the Pony Express, the Gold Rush, the Transcontinental Railroad and Jack Londons drinking habits.

Oh yeah, and it was the state capital for about a year.

Despite offering enough diversions for a laid-back weekend on the water, Benicia has a comparatively small share of tourists, which means youre not fighting crowds. Sometimes overlooked is a good thing.

Why now? There are seasons when the weather is generally better or when there are more events, although the town is worth visiting year-round. (Dress in layers: The same Carquinez Strait breeze that can keep the city cool in the afternoon can be bone-chilling at night.)

Backstory: Because of its location on the Carquinez Strait, Benicia has been a popular ferry stop, steamer port and general waypoint for travelers and supplies moving between San Francisco and Sacramento (and beyond), from Gold Rush times through the first half of the 20th century. San Francisco-bound Pony Express riders ferried from here when they missed the boat in Sacramento, and when the Transcontinental Railroad arrived, entire trains were loaded onto massive barges and ferried to Port Costa (which explains the former Southern Pacific Depot a few feet from the water).

The town also was shaped by the Benicia Arsenal and Benicia Barracks, the military munitions base that stored weapons and explosives from the Civil War through the Korean War and that was decommissioned in the 1960s. Today the property is home to about 100 artists and crafters in live-work studios and galleries, making the town an arts magnet.

Checking in: The Shorelight Inn has eight large suites, a dining room and a lounge, but still feels like a cozy bed and breakfast. It sits at waters edge at the end of West E Street, with easy access to the waterfront biking-walking path. The Union Hotel on First Street, built in 1880, has 12 rooms, a dining room, a bar and, supposedly, ghosts.

Dining: Lucca Bar & Grill bills itself as a neighborhood bar, but is the most contemporary restaurant in town, with a chic dining room and gastro-pub style cuisine that seems to draw as many residents as visitors. (Specialties include bacon-wrapped meat loaf and a dish colorfully titled Chicken Under a Brick.)

Spend your day: After waffles or the house-made corned beef hash at First Street Cafe, stop by the Chamber of Commerce (601 First St.) for the walking tour map for Historic Downtown Benicia, then stroll and browse up one side of First Street and down the other. Even without the map, there are historical markers for most of the important buildings, which you can scan and read about with a smartphone. The map helps: A striking number of historically significant structures in downtown are not at their original site, including a portion of the Jurgensen Old Corner Saloon (now in the 500 block of First Street), a favored hangout of author Jack London that provided material for his autobiographical novel John Barleycorn.

In downtown, leave time to visit Benicia Capitol State Historic Park at West G Street. Said to be the oldest original California statehouse still standing, the building housed lawmakers between Feb. 9, 1853, and Feb. 25, 1854, before the state government was moved to Sacramento. (The interior pillars in the Assembly and Senate chambers were carved from the masts of ships abandoned in San Francisco Bay during the Gold Rush.)

Most of the artist studios at the Benicia Arsenal and Benicia Barracks (known simply as the Arsenal) are open only during special Arts Benicia events, although an increasing number of shops and galleries have year-round hours. Bike or drive out to the Arsenal to see whos around and to explore the base, then follow the road under the highway to the Benicia Historical Museum (at the old Camel Barns). If you prefer your art more hands-on, Lindsay Art Glass downtown  one of three glass studios in Benicia  sometimes offers to walk you through sculpting your own glass ornament.

In the afternoon, bike or drive out to the Benicia State Recreation Area, a 447-acre park with trails and picnic spots that includes (and forms a buffer around) the Southhampton Bay Wetland Natural Preserve, a fragile salt marsh popular with migratory birds. The park is a handy, serene spot to relax on the grass in the late afternoon  and, possibly, to forget that Martinezs refinery jungle is just across the water.

The park closes at sunset, so make your way back to downtown and the palm-lined promenade at the end of First Street, a prime spot for watching the sunset over the strait  or for getting the same view and a cocktail from the lounge at Sailor Jacks.

Dont miss: Turnbull Park on the marina isnt large, but it is home to Robert Arnesons comical Benicia Bench, a bronze art piece  and actual bench  that depicts a surfboard and a duck atop the artists head. (Arneson left a mysterious message on the underside of the board, but youll have to find it yourself.)

Dont bother: The Von Pfister Adobe, a onetime general store and saloon said to be where a worker from Sutters Mill first bragged about gold being discovered in 1848, isnt visible. While awaiting restoration, the structure is behind a fence and covered with tarps.

Word to the wise: Longtime residents are more likely to say BUH-nish-ah than beh-NEE-shah.

Spud Hilton is the editor of Travel. E-mail: travel@sfchronicle.com Instagram and Twitter: @SpudHilton

If you go

Getting there

Benicia is off Highway 780 between Interstate 80 (Vallejo) and Highway 680 in Solano County, about 35 miles from downtown San Francisco. SolTrans regional transit (www.soltransride.com) offers bus service between Benicia and the Vallejo ferry terminal.

Where to stay

Shorelight Inn: 153 W. E St., (707) 297-6313, www.shorelightinn.com. Small inn with the heart of a bed and breakfast on the water, one block from First Street. Rates start at $149 per night.

Union Hotel: 401 First St., (707) 746-0110, www.unionhotelbenicia.com. Cozy 19th century hotel in the heart of the citys historic downtown. Rates start at $109 per night.

Where to eat

Lucca Bar and Grill: 439 First St., (707) 745-0943, www.luccabar.com. Stylish dining room in front and cheery bar in back, both with surprisingly good wine and brew lists. Dinner entrees: $17-$31.

First Street Cafe: 440 First St., (707) 745-1400, www.firststcafe.com. Intimate small cafe with seafood, pasta and meat dishes (and breakfast all day). Dinner entrees, $16-$25.

Sailor Jacks: 123 First St., (707) 746-8500, www.sailor-jacks.com. Steak, seafood and pasta inside an old mansion on the waterfront. Dinner entrees: $15-$36.

What to do

Benicia Historical Museum: 2060 Camel Road, (707) 745-5435, www.beniciahistoricalmuseum.org. Displays covering the history of both the city and the Arsenal. Museum hours: 1 to 4 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.

Benicia Capitol State Historic Park: 115 W. G St., (707) 745-3385, www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=475. Open noon-4 p.m. Thursday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Friday through Sunday.

Benicia State Recreation Area: 1.5 miles west of Benicia on I-780; take the Columbus Parkway exit, (707) 648-1911. Hours: 8 a.m. to sunset. Day use, $6 per car.

Lindsay Art Glass: 109 E. F St., (707) 748-1336, www.lindsayartglass.com. The gallery is open Tuesday through Sunday; the glass studio is open to the public most Wednesdays through Saturdays. Call for details on classes.

More information

Visit Benicia: www.visitbenicia.org or www.facebook.com/visitbenicia.

Benicia Arsenal: www.beniciaarsenal.com.
The summers final Live on the Waterfront concert was held Wednesday evening at Prince Arthurs Landing. The popular series in Thunder Bay has completed nine weekly shows that began on July 13. Wednesdays concert was unique as it was held one hour later in the evening to mesh with the 10 p.
Women in Online Work  program pentru femeile care isi doresc sa munceasca in companii internationale, de la biroul de acasa
Chinese authorities blamed freak weather for the capsizing of a cruise ship that killed hundreds earlier this year, but also recommended that the captain be further investigated and representatives of the shipping company and local authorities be punished for management flaws, state media announced Wednesday.

The disaster on the Yangtze River on the evening of June 1 killed 442 people and left just 12 survivors. The Eastern Star was carrying many elderly tourists on a 10-day cruise from Nanjing in Chinas east upstream to Chongqing.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the Cabinets investigation team concluded that the Eastern Star was brought down by strong winds and heavy rains associated with a downburst, a strong downdraft that is a very rare weather phenomenon.

The conclusion backs up the initial finding that the disaster was caused by strong winds, although passengers relatives have raised questions about whether the ship should have continued its voyage despite a weather warning.

Xinhua said the investigation team found that 36 local government and Communist Party officials and seven people from the shipping company should be given administrative punishments for flaws in management, which would likely include demotions and firings.

The seven included the captain and the officer in charge at the time, who died in the disaster. The investigation found the pair responded inadequately to the emergency and had not properly ascertained the threat posed by the dire weather conditions, Xinhua said.

It recommended that the ships captain, Zhang Shunwen, have his license revoked and his contract terminated, and that his case be sent for further investigation to determine whether he should face criminal charges.

The captain was arrested after he was rescued from the river, with investigators looking into why he chose to sail into the storm instead of dropping anchor. Investigators had also been expected to focus on alterations made to the ship. A government agency had earlier cited the ship for safety violations.

Qin Meiping, who lost her 73-year-old father and 49-year-old brother, questioned whether the modifications to the vessel had been safe.

If you blame it on the weather, why were the other two boats that were also traveling at that time safe? Why was this boat modified three times before? Were the modifications done properly? asked Qin, who said she has had tears in my eyes every day since the sinking. We are not experts, but is the report by the experts the truth?

She pointed to other deadly disasters in China in the past year, including a stampede in Shanghai on New Years Eve 2014, explosions at a chemical warehouse in Tianjin and the toppling of a mountain of construction waste that buried a large area in Shenzhen.

It will happen again if people do not face the truth and dont admit there are management problems, she said.

___

Associated Press news assistant Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Ohio Supreme Court has ruled that laws protecting consumers from deceptive practices dont apply to insurance company repair estimates.

The court made that ruling on Tuesday in the case involving a Columbus insurer, voting 5-2 to overturn a lower court ruling that said an insurance company providing a repair estimate constituted a consumer transaction.

The case involved a couple, Jerry Dillon and Nancy Dillon, who sustained damage to their vehicle when they collided with a deer. Farmers Insurance of Columbus, Inc., insured the Dillons vehicle.

The Dillons chose Mission Auto Connection, Inc. to repair the vehicle and filed a claim with their Farmers agent so the vehicle could be repaired. A Farmers claim representative inspected the damage and prepared a written repair estimate that included the use of aftermarket replacement parts that were not produced by the original equipment manufacturer, OEM. The written estimate was provided to Mission Auto by the claims representative. The repair shop called the Dillons to notify them of the use of aftermarket parts.

Since their vehicle was only two years old and they were were worried the non-OEM parts would reduce the value of the vehicle, the couple disputed the use of cheaper, aftermarket parts versus OEM parts. The claim representative states that their auto insurance policy permitts the use of non-OEM parts. The couple moved forward with the repair using OEM parts, which resulted in a repair that was about $1500 more than the Farmers estimate.

The couple filed a complaint against Farmers citing the insurers estimate and denial to pay for OEM parts. According to the high court opinion, Farmers moved for judgment on the pleadings and for summary judgment, both of which were denied. The Dillons moved for summary judgment on one of their claims, asking the trial court to find that Farmers violated the CSPA by failing to obtain one of the Dillons signatures on the bottom of the estimate that was based on the use of non-OEM parts, in violation of R.C. 1345.81(B)(1). The trial court granted summary judgment to the Dillons on that claim, and the Dillons voluntarily dismissed the remainder of their claims.

At a damages hearing, the Dillons were awarded $30,613.66 in actual damages, statutory, treble damages, attorney fees and expenses.

Farmers appealed and argued that the trial court erred in (1) denying its dispositive motions and granting the Dillons motion for summary judgment, (2) awarding attorney fees and determining the amount of the fees, and (3) awarding treble damages and calculating the amount of the damages. The Fifth Appellate District rejected the first two assignments of error but partially sustained the third, reducing the damages award to $29,092.59.

The courts written ruling said that a 1990 law applicable in the case specifically exempts dealings between insurers and customers from the definition of a consumer transaction.

The couple had successfully sued using the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act.

The case is Dillon v. Farmers Ins. Of Columbus, Inc., Slip Opinion No. 2015-Ohio-5407

The AP contributed to this article.
The costliest global natural catastrophe for the insurance industry in 2015 was the series of winter storms that struck the northeast United States and Canada, according to Munich Reinsurance America, Inc. In the U.S., 2015 estimated natural catastrophe losses totaled $25 billion (in 2014, cat losses totaled $28 billion), of which an estimated $15 billion was insured. 2015 estimates exclude loss events that occurred during the last week of December.

Industry-wide losses from natural catastrophes in 2015 were lower than the previous year, due in part to El Nino climate conditions in the Pacific ocean which reduced hurricane activity in the North Atlantic.

In terms of financial losses, the industry was somewhat fortunate in 2015, said Tony Kuczinski, president and CEO, Munich Reinsurance America, Inc. However, the comparatively low losses are no reason for complacency. Near misses and time between significant events tend to decrease perception of risk. We must continue to focus on creating resiliency and saving lives through stronger building codes, better land use and protective infrastructure.

Natural catastrophes claimed 280 lives in the U.S. in 2015 (there were 270 deaths in 2014), below the annual average for the last 30 years (580).

In 2015, strong tropical cyclones primarily hit sparsely populated areas or did not make landfall at all. In the North Atlantic, wind shear from the El Nino event helped to curtail the development of tropical cyclones, while measures to reduce loss susceptibility may have also had a positive effect, said Peter Hoeppe, head of Munich Res Geo Risks Research Unit. However, scientists believe that in the coming year the strong El Nino phase might be followed by a La Nina event. Both versions of the climate oscillation ENSO (El Nino Southern Oscillation) in the Pacific, influence weather extremes throughout the world. A La Nina phase would promote the development of hurricanes in the North Atlantic, for example.

The costliest natural catastrophe for the insurance industry in 2015 was a series of winter storms that struck the northeast United States and Canada. Insured losses came to $2.1 billion; overall losses were $2.8 billion.

North America is hit by dozens of winter storms annually, which cause a variety of hazards such as snow and sleet, said Mark Bove, senior research meteorologist, Munich Reinsurance America, Inc. But despite the frequency and size of winter storms, they do not usually have the same loss potential as tropical cyclones or earthquakes. Nevertheless, a large number of winter storms in rapid succession can lead to significant aggregate losses.

While the direct overall losses due to the harsh winter of 2014/15, totaled $4.6 billion, only $3.4 billion of it was insured. Losses were higher the year before with direct overall losses totaling $4.4 billion and insured losses totaling $2.5 billion.

Two tornado outbreaks in late December 2015 across the southern states brought an unfortunately destructive and deadly end to what had been a relatively quiet year for severe thunderstorms. The December outbreaks included two EF4 tornadoes with wind speeds up to 200 mph. The first devastated several small towns in northern Mississippi and southern Tennessee, while the second carved a path through a densely populated suburb of Dallas, Texas. Both tornadoes took the lives of at least 10 people each; only ten tornado fatalities had been recorded nationally in 2015 before these events.

Earlier in 2015, two severe thunderstorm outbreaks each produced billion-dollar insured losses, though overall, the spring thunderstorm season in the U.S. was quieter than usual. Less than 1,200 tornadoes were recorded in 2015; the average figure is 1,360. The relatively inactive storm season still produced insured losses in excess of $ 9.4 billon (excluding industry-wide loss estimates from the late December storms which are not yet available). The current El Nino likely impacted conditions that led to a quieter overall thunderstorm season, as well as the late December storms that occurred close to the Gulf of Mexico coastline.

Drought conditions in California deteriorated further in 2015, following yet another winter without significant rainfall. Forests and brush land turned into tinder boxes, which fueled numerous wildfires across the state, including two that caused significant property losses in northern California. The Valley Fire ignited near the Napa Valley winemaking region and the Butte Fire in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada destroyed thousands of structures. The two fires caused losses totaling $1.6 billon, with $1.2 billion in insured damages. They were the costliest wildfires in California since the 2007 Witch Creek Fire in San Diego, and the costliest in northern California since the 1991 Oakland firestorm.

2015 Global Natural Catastrophes

Worldwide, 94 percent of loss-relevant natural catastrophes in 2015 were weather-related events. Due to the strong El Nino phase, the number of 11 tropical cyclones in the North Atlantic was below the basin average since 1995 (14.8). Of these cyclones, only four reached hurricane strength (average 7.6). Overall losses and insured losses came to just a fraction of the averages for previous years.

On the other hand, El Nino promoted the development of intense tropical cyclones in the northeast Pacific, partly due to the higher water temperatures it brings. A total of 26 cyclones (long-term average 15.6) developed there, 16 of which reached hurricane strength. Eleven (long-term average 4.1) grew to major hurricanes.

Although most storms in the northeast Pacific do not make landfall, one storm in 2015 did, and was particularly noteworthy: Hurricane Patricia became one of the strongest tropical cyclones on record globally and the most powerful in the northeast Pacific to make landfall. With sustained wind speeds of up to 200 mph, Patricia came ashore in late October close to Cuixmala in the Mexican state of Jalisco. Fortunately, this region contains the Chamela-Cuixmala Biosphere Reserve and is therefore sparsely populated. The storm was also relatively small in size and did not cause the level of damage that many less powerful but larger storms usually do.

Overall losses from Hurricane Patricia are estimated at $500 million, of which only a fraction was insured. Had the storm reached the nearby holiday resort of Puerto Vallarta, the damage and losses would have been much greater. Besides this fortuitous set of circumstances, timely precautions and early warnings helped bring people to safety and prevented losses. One such measure was the prompt evacuation of affected areas ordered by the government, explained Hoeppe.

The El Nino phase had a considerable effect on droughts and heatwaves, especially in South America, Africa and Southeast Asia. Overall losses worldwide from such events last year came to US$ 12bn, of which US$ 880m was insured. However, the highest losses from heatwave and drought  albeit not influenced by El Nino  were caused by the hot, dry summer in Europe. The overall loss totalled some US$ 2bn (1.9bn); only about a tenth of this was insured.

Source: Munich Reinsurance America, Inc.
Western Tennessee and Kentucky are still facing flood threats as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and Tennessee Valley Authority work to control water levels.

The National Weather Service issued a flood advisory for the Cumberland River at Dover through Monday evening. The river was expected to rise to near 66.6 feet. Flood stage is 67 feet.

Minor flooding along the Ohio River was affecting parts of Owensboro and Paducah in Kentucky, with most cresting expected by Tuesday. Moderate flooding was reported along the Green River near Paradise, Kentucky.

The Mississippi River was expected to crest in Memphis at 41 feet on Jan. 8. Flood stage is 34 feet. Although no major flooding was expected in the city, officials were moving to protect roads and a local airport.

The city said it will close a portion of North Second Street to through traffic on Monday as crews install temporary barriers along the street to hold back floodwater north of downtown.

And workers will be filling sandbags to protect the nearby General DeWitt Spain Airport, which flooded in 2011 when a temporary levee along North Second failed. Some plane owners have moved their airplanes to other sites as a precaution.

Along the Downtown riverfront, the expected high water will force the relocation of several transformers in Tom Lee Park and some electrical equipment at one of the Beale Street Landing islands.

In Wickliffe, Kentucky, also on the Mississippi, residents were filling sandbags to protect local homes from the river.

In Finley, farmers along the Mississippi were evacuating homes and moving equipment to higher ground. The sheriffs office placed deputies in the area and planned increased patrols to protect property there.

Janie Smith and her granddaughter Amanda began packing their home early Wednesday morning.

If the water makes it up to my house this year that will be twice since 2011 that its got me, Smith said. Back in 2011, there was 4 inches of water in my house. I have another home in Dyersburg. We plan on going there until the water goes back down, but Im hoping that it wont make it this far.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
RHOA New Episode Spoilers: Porsha Williams Talks Cynthia Bailey Kenya Boat Fight

Spoiler Alert: Tonight, The Real Housewives of Atlanta is back on Bravo with another drama filled episode. Speaking of RHOA drama, Porsha Williams is opening up about her fight with Cynthia Bailey at Kenyas boat party.

The official plot synopsis for tonights all new episode of The Real Housewives of Atlanta, titled Shade for Days, reads:

Kenya continues to build her dream home, only to discover her family relationships need construction too. Meanwhile, Porsha journeys to Los Angeles to cover an awards show; and Cynthia celebrates her eyewear line with a customer-appreciation event, where Porsha and Kandi stir up the drama.

Recently in her Bravo Blog, Porsha Williams Porsha Williams opened up about the infamous boat party attack, writing:

I was honestly in disbelief. In the past, Cynthia and I have tended to use the b-word in a playful way. Actually, there have been many times that Cynthia has used the b-word as a term of endearment towards me. She even used the b-word with my friend Shamea telling her, Show them how a real B goes down the slide, while on the boat! I never thought in a million years that Cynthia would ever think that I was using this term with negative intent or with the intention of being disrespectful towards her. I am truly sorry that my tone was misread. While on the boat, I thought we were playing in a fun, loving way, and I believe Cynthia overacted during the entire situation. I actually missed three days of work from Cynthia's kicks. I was diagnosed with abdominal contusions and bruises on my arms and legs.

Be sure to tune into the all episode of Real Housewives of Atlanta, tonight at 8:00 p.m. eastern on Bravo.

Be sure to follow us on Twitter @OffBeatClass for all the latest news and updates.

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 2016 The Classical Art, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

TagsRHOA, Real Housewives of Atlanta, New, Episode, Spoilers, Porsha Williams, Cynthia Bailey, Fight
AKRON, Ohio -- An Akron man is accused of shooting a man found dead on a sidewalk with marijuana and bullets in his hands.

Robert Foster, 37, is charged with murder in connection with the Oct. 4 slaying of Marvin Rocker, 33. Foster turned himself in to police on Sunday and is scheduled to appear in court Monday.

Akron police have not yet said what led to the shooting.

A 15-year-old girl called police about 7:15 p.m. Oct. 4 when she saw Rocker get shot as he walked along the 1000 block Peckham Street.

Akron police found Rocker dead, facedown in the driveway of a home. Investigators reported finding marijuana wedged between a screen door and main door to the home.

Rocker's sweatshirt was pulled up over his head.

Officers found a large bag of marijuana in Rocker's left hand and bullets in his right hand, according to Summit County Medical Examiner records.

Akron police at the time reported they believed Rocker was killed in a drive-by shooting. He died of a gunshot wound to the head.

Foster's criminal history includes four misdemeanor marijuana possession convictions and one conviction for failing to pay more than $20,000 in child support.
ski-guide-109.jpg

Boston Mills Brandywine could announce an opening date in coming weeks, WAKR reports.

AKRON, Ohio -- Boston Mills Brandywine ski resorts are taking advantage of the current cold spell and are planning openings this week, The Plain Dealer reports. Boston Mills plans to open one lift by 4 p.m. Monday.

Taking advantage of cold weather, local ski resorts have been able to manufacture snow and expect to open in coming weeks, according to WAKR. Boston Mills Brandywine Product Manager Ricky McMullen told the station the park could announce an opening date in the next few days.

Used car dealer faces complaints from car buyers: At least 20 customers have filed complaints with the Ohio Attorney General accusing Phoenix Indoor Auto Sales of making them struggle to obtain a title or proof of ownership. An Akron Beacon Journal reporter tried to get answers from the store's general manager, who said the dealership was in a "transitional period."

Lodi Medina County outlet mall attracting upscale tenants: The train-themed outlet mall in Lodi, popular for its discount stores and great deals, is working to attract full-priced, high-end retailers, the Beacon Journal reports.

Appalachian Outfitters, the Peninsula-based outdoor store, was among the first to sign a lease at the newly reconfigured mall.

Tallmadge mayor drives commercial development: David Kline, starting his second term as Tallmadge mayor, is pushing real estate development efforts heading into the new year. Testa Builders is expected to start building a $45 million mixed commercial and residential complex across from Town Hall in the spring, the Beacon Journal reports.

Another Testa development, near Tallmadge Circle on North Avenue, has already attracted a Jimmy John's sandwich restaurant, a Sutton Bank and a Crimson Cup Coffee Shop.

Homegrown Akron furniture store adapts, now supplies Amazon: Regency Furniture, which began as Summerville's furniture in the 1940s, has made a comeback, the Beacon Journal reports.

Once a struggling retail store on South Broadway Avenue, Regency now imports furniture and supplies to Amazon and walmart.com.
fire truck

The Akron Fire Department responded to a house fire Sunday morning.

(File photo)

AKRON, Ohio -- No injuries were reported after the attic of a Marcy Street home caught fire Sunday morning in Akron.

The fire was reported about 11:45 a.m., a news release said. A resident called firefighters and said he could smell smoke coming from the upstairs but couldn't see any fire.

Fire crews arrived a short time later and firefighters quickly put the fire out, the release said.

The estimated cost of the damage was not available Sunday afternoon and its cause remains under investigation.
BeachwoodLesic2.jpg

Nancy Lesic and Beachwood Councilman Mark Mintz mingled at the Shoes and Clothes for Kids Heart and Sole Luncheon in 2011 at the Renaissance Hotel in Cleveland.

(Bob Migra)

BEACHWOOD, Ohio - Beachwood pays Cleveland firm Lesic & Camper Communications about $7,000 a month, in part to flag harsh online comments -- including those on cleveland.com -- critical of city officials, and write statements for city officials when reporters call about both controversial and light news stories.

Lesic & Camper also:

Helps the city deal with crises.

Writes blogs for city officials.

Drafts press releases.

Develops ideas, reviews options, writes copy and gets prices for TV, radio and print ads.

In addition, Lesic monitors traffic to the city's website and posts items on the city's Facebook and Twitter accounts, according to emails sent from the city's Internal Communications Committee -- consisting of city administration staffers and Lesic -- to City Council.

The city has been under fire for more than two years on several issues, including Gorden's $175,000 salary, his taking gratuities for performing weddings and his cashing in vacation days. In July, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office served Beachwood a subpoena, seeking records dating back six years. The records include Gorden's email and cellphone records and correspondence with several real estate developers.

'Legitimate news story'



Lesic blasted council in an Aug. 12 email, sent two days after some council members criticized the city's communications efforts, according to city records. Council leveled the criticisms the same night it hired kglobal, a Washington D.C. crisis management firm, for $15,000 for what amounted to a three-page advisory on how to deal with negative news.

At the Aug. 10 council meeting, Councilmen Alec Isaacson and James Pasch said Beachwood "has been doing great work but we haven't been communicating it well," and the city needs to make "significant improvement in citywide communications."

Lesic took the comments personally, inviting council members to talk to her one-on-one if they have constructive criticism, before going public.

"What I won't do is sit idly by when my well-established reputation is poked and tarnished for a string of developments that weren't of my doing," Lesic told council.

Lesic said she understood council's concern about the rash of negative news stories, but that the "group of Beachwood residents that are invested in churning up negative fodder at City Hall are extraordinarily dedicated to their mission."

Lesic said the information "has, whether we like it or not, generated a legitimate news story," and that media reporting on those stories, though sometimes unfair, "has largely been predicated in fact."

Lesic said city officials have asked her to seek positive media coverage based on the city's outstanding services. She rejected the idea.

"There are other communities in Northeast Ohio that can make similar claims," Lesic said. "Who is doing stories about those communities and their high level of municipal services or well-run governments? I believe the answer is nobody."

Lesic said she has worked with reporters and editors to improve coverage of Beachwood and even convinced them that some stories were not worth pursuing. But she didn't begrudge the city for hiring kglobal.

Writing statements

When cleveland.com asked council members in July if they had received free passes to the Beachwood pool, Lesic wrote a comment for council President Fred Goodman. In the first sentence, the statement said that neither he nor any council member had accepted free pool passes for personal or family use.

"Would need every council member to confirm that first sentence," Lesic told Goodman in a paragraph accompanying the statement. "Don't want this to come back and bite us in the ars (sic)."

Also in July, when media asked city officials about the FBI supposedly asking questions about Gorden, Lesic drafted a statement for Goodman, saying he had no knowledge of FBI inquiries and didn't know of anyone the FBI had contacted at City Hall.

In August, Lesic wrote a lengthy comment for Police Chief Keith Winebrenner regarding bids the city received for four new police motorcycles.

Lesic also prepared comments for Gorden about Beachwood's ranking in Cleveland magazine's annual suburb ratings and a citywide master plan survey.
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Escalating tensions between major oil producer Saudi Arabia and Iran sent oil prices sharply higher in the first trading day of 2016 on the prospect of supply disruption. Benchmark U.S. WTI light sweet crude was up 1.9 percent at $37.76 a barrel early afternoon in Asia, after jumping as much as 3.4 percent from the last day of trade in 2015, while Brent crude was up 2.3 percent at $38.12 a barrel after spiking 2.4 percent over the same period. The kneejerk reaction came after Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran, after its embassy in Tehran was attacked by Iranians protesting the Saudis' execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. Heightened tensions between the two OPEC producers troubles investors because most oil Saudi oil production comes from its Eastern Province, which is dominated by Shiites, Bernstein's senior oil and gas analyst Neil Beveridge explained. "This is the area that could potentially suffer if there is an escalation in tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran," he told CNBC Squawk Box on Monday.

Tensions, but not much risk premium

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Oil prices were battered last year, sliding over 40 percent on the back of a supply glut. But despite gains in oil prices on Monday, the risk premium for current Middle Eastern tensions were "incredibly low," said Juerg Kiener, managing director and chief investment officer of Swiss Asia Capital in Singapore, "I've never seen escalations, geopolitical (tensions) in the Middle East like we see them today and the oil price has hardly moved from the bottom," Kiener told CNBC's Capital Connection. At around $38 a barrel, oil prices are still at multi-year lows, after OPEC refused to lower its 30-million-barrel-a-day production ceiling at its production meeting in December.

Fears about supply dominate

Iranian workers walk at a unit of South Pars Gas field in Asalouyeh Seaport, north of Persian Gulf, Iran November 19, 2015. Raheb Homavandi | TIMA

Although there are fears of even heavier output in 2016, with Iran expected to resume exports following the lifting of U.S. sanctions, this risk is a longer-term concern. More current geopolitical concerns and their potential impact on supply are dominating price action, as global spare crude oil capacity is "limited" at 2 million barrels a day, said Bernstein's Beveridge. Saudi Arabia produces about 10 million barrels of oil a day, while Iran's output is about 3 million barrels a day, so any potential supply or shipping disruption would have a significant impact on the market, Beveridge added. Supply interruption in Saudi Arabia and Iran could come at the same time as slowing production at other producers. While the U.S. is exporting crude for the first time in 40 years, production is likely to decline due to a significant reduction in capital expenditure amid the oil price rout, he said. Another non-OPEC supplier, Russia, will also see limited on-year output growth due to capex cuts. "We are probably past the peak in terms of non-OPEC supply growth," Beveridge said. Oil consumption, meanwhile, is likely to be strong this year, after most economies posted 2 percent growth in demand in 2015. Demand strength amid these expected supply cuts is likely to prompt the oil markets to rebalance in the second half of the year, particularly as U.S. production continues to be slow, said Paradigm Securities' head of resources, Barry Dawes.

A Saudi Arabian complication
New York City yellow taxi cabs Getty Images

Her stepmom might be the top prosecutor in the United States, but she's still got pay for her taxi rides.

The stepdaughter of United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch reportedly was briefly locked up by New York City cops after a taxi driver complained she hadn't paid the $20 fare for an Uber-ordered ride. The arrest of Kia Absalom, which was quickly voided after her boyfriend showed up at a Brooklyn police precinct to pay the fare, may have stemmed from her confusion over using Uber's app

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Absalom, 21, booked the ride from taxi driver Hassan Almaweri on the afternoon of Dec. 28 using UberT, Uber's service for ordering rides from the regular yellow and green cabs that ply their trade on New York City streets, the New York Daily News reported Monday.

The paper noted that UberT, which charges $2 for the service, requires riders to pay with cash or a credit card  not through the app. Uber allows riders to pay fares via its app for contractors who drive their own cars for the company.

Almaweri told the Daily News that when he asked Absalom to pay him the $20 fare when they arrived at her destination, she replied, "No, I paid by the app." "What do you mean, the app?" Almaweri asked Absalom, whose father Stephen Hargrove has been married to Lynch since 2007.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch Getty Images
As the Midwest struggled to clear debris and salvage what was left behind after days of historic flooding, the eastern part of the country prepared Sunday for the first cold snap of what has been a strangely warm season.

As if cued by the new year, below-average temperatures will have a good portion of residents in the East bundling up for the first time since late last winter.

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An arctic front pushed into the Great Lakes, the Ohio Valley and Northeast on Sunday, just about a week after many parts of the regions experienced the warmest Christmas Eve on record, according to The Weather Channel.

The Weather Channel tweet

In the beginning of the workweek, highs will be 5 to 10 degrees colder than early January averages from the eastern Great Lakes to New England, most of which saw record-breaking warmth in December, said Chris Friedman, national editor of The Weather Channel.



"Because it was warmer in December, it's going to feel a lot colder. It's going to feel more like 15 to 20 degrees below average," Friedman said.


The company, famed for its Formula 1 racing machines and coveted red roadsters, began trading Monday morning, the first business day of the year, at 43 euros under the RACE ticker. The shares slipped to 41.75 euros in a broadly lower market, were briefly suspended and then climbed to 41.90 euros.

Sports carmaker Ferrari is following up its successful Wall Street listing with a stock market launch in Milan, as it begins a new era as a stand-alone company free of the mass-market associations of its former parent, Fiat Chrysler .

Ferrari made its public debut on the New York Stock Exchange in October. When it closed on the NYSE on the last day of 2015, the price was $48 (about 44 euros).



The new company, which completes its separation from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles SpA, is controlled by Exor SpA, the Agnelli family holding company that also controls Fiat Chrysler, with a 23.5-percent share, and Piero Ferrari, founder Enzo Ferrari's son, who retains a 10-percent stake.



"With the listing, a new chapter is opened," for Ferrari, said its chairman, Sergio Marchionne, who also heads Fiat Chrysler Automobiles. Marchionne called the development a "new threshold, a new starting line" for the prestigious brand.

Follow CNBC International on Twitter and Facebook.


An Iranian woman holds a portrait of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration against his execution by Saudi authorities, on January 3, 2016. ATTA KENARE | AFP | Getty Images

One of the largest state-ordered executions in Saudi Arabia has sparked a diplomatic and trade row with Iran and left many concerned over destabilization across the Middle East.

CNBC explains why Saudi Arabia decided to execute a prominent Shiite cleric, what it means for Iran, and whether we can expect any resolution in coming weeks.





Why did Saudi Arabia execute Nimr al-Nimr?

Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr was among 47 people put to death this weekend for terrorist-related offences in one of Saudi Arabia's largest mass executions in years. Sunni men accused of launching al-Qaida attacks over 10 years ago were among those executed. Al-Nimr was an outspoken leader for younger Shiites  a minority sect of Islam that has repeatedly come into conflict with the Sunni majority across the Middle East. The sheikh was one of a handful of Shiites who was accused of being involved in shooting policemen, according to Reuters.





Why did everything flare up?

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Critics say al-Nimr was actually targeted for denouncing the Saudi royal dynasty and helping to organize anti-government demonstrations in 2011 and 2012. The execution was denounced by a number of political and religious figures in Iran a Shiite stronghold in the region  including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who said Saudi Arabia would face "divine vengeance" for al-Nimr's execution. It led to protests where Iranians threw petrol bombs, set fires and broke furniture after storming the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital of Tehran on Sunday. Police later arrested 40 people as Iran's president denounced protesters as "extremists," Reuters reported. Protests also took place in the Indian administrative region of Kashmir and in Bahrain, according to reports.



What was the reaction?

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Saudi Arabia quickly cut off ties with Iran, giving diplomatic envoys 48 hours to leave the country. Later Monday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters that the cutting of ties would extend to stopping air traffic between the countries, ending commercial relations and barring its citizens from travel to the Islamic Republic, Iranian pilgrims, however, would still be welcome to visit Mecca and Medina, Jubeir added. Bahrain, a Saudi ally, followed suit on Monday morning. The United Arab Emirates also said it would wind down its own relations with Iran, announcing it would cut the number of diplomats allowed in the country, according to the country's state news agency. Sudan was added to the growing list, saying Monday it would immediately sever ties Iran, according to a Foreign Ministry statement cited by Reuters.

However, Western powers including France have called for reduced tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia, with Germany urging dialogue, adding that the execution could increase religious tensions across the region. A German government official told reporters at a press conference Monday that there were currently no plans to impose sanctions on Saudi Arabia over the executions.

Whats likely to happen now?
Mr Zuckerberg regularly sets himself personal challenges at the start of the year, but none so far has involved a software coding test with such a direct bearing on Facebook's own long-term future.

In a post on his company's website late on Sunday, the Facebook founder said he had decided to build a smart machine to control functions in his house and help him work, akin to a disembodied butler. He compared it with Jarvis, an intelligent computer in the movie Iron Man.

Tech leaders such as Elon Musk of Tesla Motors and venture capitalist Peter Thiel have warned that rogue AI, or artificial intelligence, could one day threaten the human race. But Mark Zuckerberg has set himself the challenge this year of building his own personal AI assistant, rejecting fears of a super-intelligence running amok as "far-fetched".

Other tasks in recent years have included learning Mandarin  a move that was seen as a hint of his hopes of one day launching a version of Facebook in China  as well as meeting a new person every day and reading two books a month.

Taking on a difficult software coding challenge, however, represents a departure, and highlights the AI race that has broken out among the leading internet companies as they try to invent new ways for people to interact with machines.

Facebook has set up three artificial intelligence labs, in Silicon Valley, New York and Paris, and its high-profile hires in the field include Yann LeCun, a New York University professor who was one of the pioneers in deep learning  a form of AI that tries to mimic the functioning of layers of neurons in the human brain.

More from the Financial Times:

Since you asked: Awkward questions on AI

Silicon Valley in move to keep AI safe

Innovators gear up for CES and search for gadget to drive sales

Mr Zuckerberg said his work at Facebook often involved getting into deep technical issues with the company's engineers, and that building his own intelligent machine would bring a different perspective to that work.

He described his personal project as "a simple AI", taking an off-the-shelf system and teaching it to recognise his voice to "control everything in our home  music, lights, temperature and so on".

He also said he was interested in using voice and face recognition so the machine could identify who was in a room, for instance adjusting the temperature to reflect the fact that he prefers colder rooms compared with his wife.

To help with his work, Mr Zuckerberg added that he intended to teach the system to turn data into visual representations that he could see with a virtual reality headset.
The White House has unveiled gun control measures that require more gun sellers to get licenses and more gun buyers to undergo background checks, moves Barack Obama said were well within his authority to implement without congressional approval.



The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will now require that people who sell guns at stores, at gun shows or over the Internet be licensed and conduct checks, officials said. The ATF was finalizing a rule requiring background checks for buyers of dangerous weapons from a trust, corporation or other legal entity as well.

Obama, speaking to reporters before the measures were made public Monday, said they were consistent with the Second Amendment right to bear arms.



"These are not only recommendations that are well within my legal authority and the executive branch, but they're also ones that the overwhelming majority of the American people, including gun owners, support," Obama said.

Obama, who has expressed deep frustration about U.S. gun control regulations after a series of mass shootings at schools and other places during his presidency, met with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday to discuss gun control measures that do not require congressional approval.



Obama acknowledged that his planned initiatives will not solve every violent crime or prevent every mass shooting, but he said they could "potentially save lives."
Oil prices could break below $20 this year as tensions rise between Iran and Saudi Arabia, two of the world's largest oil players, Again Capital founding partner John Kilduff said Monday.

"I think you're going to get as low as $18 and maybe get as high as $48. ... It's going to get really ugly," he told CNBC's "Squawk Box." "The Iranians doubled down again, if that's even possible, by saying that they could put 500,000 more barrels on the market within weeks after the sanctions get lifted."

Kilduff was referring to the anticipated lifting of sanctions related to Iran's nuclear program, which have locked the country out of international oil markets.

The world is currently oversupplied with 500,000 to 2 million barrels per day of oil. The glut could reach 3 million if Iran lives up to its vow to ratchet up exports to 1 million bpd as soon as possible.

The chances of Iran cooperating with top oil exporter and fellow OPEC member Saudi Arabia diminished following a diplomatic crisis that started with the Saudi execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr this weekend and escalated rapidly. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said the Saudis would face "divine revenge," and Iranian protesters attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Saudi Arabia then cut diplomatic ties with its Gulf rival. Bahrain and Sudan also severed ties with Iran on Monday, while the United Arab Emirates said it would cut the number of Iranian diplomats allowed in the country. Saudi Arabia is the dominant Sunni Muslim power in the Middle East while Iran is led by Shiites.
An elderly lady looks into a shop display of the Causeway Bay Books store in Hong Kong. Anthony Wallace | AFP | Getty Images

The disappearance of a bookseller critical of the Chinese Communist Party has caused an outcry in Hong Kong, amid fears he and four associates have been kidnapped by mainland law enforcement. Demonstrators, including Hong Kong opposition lawmakers, protested outside the Beijing liaison offices in two Hong Kong districts on Sunday over the alleged disappearance of Lee Bo, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported. Lee, 65, a major shareholder of Causeway Bay Books, "vanished" last Wednesday after he went to fetch books from a warehouse owned by Mighty Current, the publishing house that owns Causeway, Lee's wife had told Hong Kong media.

She said her husband had later called her from a mainland Chinese number to tell her he was safe but would not reveal his location, the SCMP reported on Sunday.

She said Lee spoke to her in Mandarin even though the pair usually communicated in Cantonese, and that the number he called from indicated he was located in Shenzhen, on the Chinese mainland. Lee is the fifth person linked to the bookstore to have gone missing in the past two months. Gui Minhai, the owner of Mighty Current, reportedly went missing while on holiday in Thailand in October. Missing person reports have also been filed for three others, the SCMP said: bookstore manager Lam Wing-kei, general manager of the publishing house, Lui Bo, and business manager, Cheung Jiping. Police sources told the SCMP that police had no record of Lee leaving Hong Kong. The disappearances have stoked fears of mainland Chinese authorities using shadowy tactics that erode the "one country, two systems" formula under which Hong Kong has been governed since its return to Chinese rule from Britain in 1997. The city's constitution guarantees wide-ranging personal freedoms and independent law enforcement. The Causeway Bay Bookstore sells paperbacks highly critical of the Chinese leadership in Beijing, that often contain details of the private lives of senior leaders and their families.

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PHOTO CREDIT: Mohawk Valley Health Care Center website.

ILION, N.Y.  Mohawk Valley Health Care Center has pleaded guilty to a falsifying business records in a case involving allegations of covering up resident abuse and neglect that dates to 2013, the office of New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced on Monday.

Mohawk Valley Health Care Center is the d/b/a name of MVNH Associates, LLC.

The corporation pleaded guilty on Monday in an appearance before Herkimer County Court Judge John Crandall. The judge sentenced MVNH Associates, LLC to a $5,000 fine, according to a news release from Schneidermans office.

MVNHs plea involved adding an employees name to the staffing sheet on a day that employee did not work.

The plea resolves a case that involved a 45-count indictment that alleged crimes arising from the suppression of two incidents of patient abuse and neglect, and related charges of falsifying records, according to the news release.

The indictment detailed allegations arising from two apparent incidents that happened in May 2013, and an alleged cover up of those incidents.

Not all defendants are charged with every crime alleged in the indictment, except for the corporation, MVNH Associates, Schneidermans office said.

In earlier court proceedings two owners, the former administrator, and the former director of nursing had entered guilty pleas.

In a separate civil settlement agreement, MVNH has also agreed to return $1 million in overpayments to the Medicaid program, Schneidermans office said.

The company will also hire an independent monitor to implement reforms, including a revamped compliance program

Two of the convicted defendants in the case  and a related investor who owned 44 percent of the company  have agreed to relinquish their ownership in the firm, according to Schneidermans release.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
Rested Missouri sets out to bounce back against Vandy

Missouri football returns to action on Saturday against Vanderbilt. Here's what Eli Drinkwitz had to say about the upcoming game.
Once again, Jennifer Lawrence is a 'Joy.'

Go Play If you want personality, you gotta #GoMemphis SHARE

By John Beifuss of The Commercial Appeal

"Joy" (PG-13, 120 min.) *** On the heels of "The Fighter," "Silver Linings Playbook" and "American Hustle" comes another crazy, messy episode of David O. Russells This American Life, with the writer-director's muse, Jennifer Lawrence (perhaps this century's most undeniable movie star), cast as an eccentric alter ego: a harried, divorced Long Island mom who -- like a filmmaker -- wrangles investors, rejects naysayers and follows her imaginative impulses to create something new, personal and maybe even marketable. Loosely based on the true story of self-made entrepreneur Joy Mangano, inventor of the Miracle Mop and other products hawked on cable television, the film is Capra-corn for a new millennium, with the pop provided by Russell's restless storytelling, a soundtrack loaded with hits and a bravura ensemble of oddballs that includes Robert De Niro as Joys needy father, Isabella Rossellini as dads wealthy new girlfriend, Edgar Ramirez as Joys loyal ex and Virginia Madsen as her reclusive mother, an addict of (Russell-created) soap operas with fractured fairy-tale themes that overlap developments in Joys life (and with casts that include Susan Lucci and Donna Mills).
SHARE Barney Sellers/The Commercial Appeal files Sherlock Holmes enthusiast Walter P. Armstrong Jr. uses a magnifying glass to get a close-up look at a Holmes calendar on Jan. 2, 1978.

Jan. 4

25 years ago: 1991

Sam Phillips, who launched Elvis Presley's career, founded the Sun record label and opened the studio door to Mid-South black artists, got a prestigious birthday present Thursday. Phillips, who'll turn 68 Saturday, was notified he'll receive the Trustees Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences at the Grammy Awards ceremonies Feb. 20 in New York. It is the highest honor NRAS gives non-performers. "I'm just delighted to be a recipient of this award," Phillips said. "I feel like it's the culmination of all the things that I tried to accomplish."

50 years ago: 1966

A resolution creating a new agency to administer the Memphis area anti-poverty program and dissolving the existing Community Action Committee was adopted yesterday by the City Commission and Shelby County Court in joint session. The new agency would be called the War on Poverty Committee. Squires and commissioners said they hope to receive approval of the resolution from the Federal Office of Economic Opportunity before the week's end.

75 years ago: 1941

Detective Sgt. Don Owens, chief of the Homicide Bureau, left for Washington last night to attend the FBI National Police Academy for the next three months. He and Capt. Bill Raney are the only Memphis police officers ever invited to attend the school.

100 years ago: 1916

The Mississippi will rise above flood stage with a good chance of reaching 38 feet, according to Memphis river men who base their prediction on the flooded conditions of the Ohio, Tennessee, Cumberland and Wabash rivers.

125 years ago: 1891

Police Chief Davis can now say, "New Year's gift," to the public. Not to be outdone in giving presents he now offers two fine baby boys, one three and the other four months old, to the first comers. He does not undertake to guarantee the pedigree of the youngsters but does say he has never had more healthier bawlers to offer Memphians.
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By Kayleigh Skinner of The Commercial Appeal

Five years ago, Knoxville mother Melissa Glover debated whether it would be worth it to travel to Memphis to have her son's eyes examined.

Anderson was 8 months old at the time, and his pediatrician never mentioned anything when his eyes were screened during basic check ups. Paula Baker, Glover's aunt, worked at the Southern College of Optometry and urged her to come and get an exam from an optometrist who participated in InfantSEE, a program that provides free eye examinations for babies under a year old.

"She actually kept telling me to go and I kept saying, 'He's a baby, what are they going to tell me?'"

The optometrist told Glover her son had a pediatric cataract. If left untreated, Anderson would lose sight in his eye.

"When you think of eye doctors, you think of reading off a chart," said Glover, a curriculum principal. "It just never would have crossed my mind that as a baby he's not able to say 'I can't see out of my left eye.'"

InfantSEE is a public health program designed for babies between the ages of 6 and 12 months to receive free eye assessments. Now in its 10th year, the program has served 121,000 babies nationwide. The program is now managed by Optometry Cares - The American Optometric Association Foundation, but it began in Memphis.

Today InfantSEE has a network of 7,200 optometrists across the country who volunteer their services and provide the assessments for free, said Glen Steele, chairman of the InfantSEE committee. Roughly 180 of those are in Tennessee, he said.

"What we want to accomplish is to identify problems earlier in life than they often get diagnosed, and to provide intervention when necessary," Steele said.

Babies receive eye screenings when they visit their pediatrician, but those visits are usually focused on looking for very specific conditions like lazy eye. Other issues can often slip through unnoticed when babies are so young, Steele said. InfantSEE optometrists perform an in-depth examination to check factors like eye contact, movement and level of engagement with surroundings, he said.

"Eye movement in young babies is very important to a lot of development," Steele said. "If you can't see the words being formed on a parent's lips, then your language skills are not going to develop as well. So it's a contributor to so many other parts of overall development."

Anderson is now in kindergarten, and thanks to his early diagnosis through InfantSEE he can see out of both eyes. He has to wear an eye patch for two hours a day but eventually, he won't need the patch at all.

Glover said she will always be grateful she listened to her aunt and took advantage of InfantSEE's services.

"We are at such a good place now  he plays every sport, he's in the highest reading group in his class," Glover said. "These are all things he wouldn't be able to do because he couldn't see."
SHARE November 19, 2015 - Stephanie Reyes, Youth Services Manager at the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center. The Center is making new efforts to assess needs of homeless LGBT youth in Memphis age 25 and under. (Stan Carroll/The Commercial Appeal)

By Katie Fretland of The Commercial Appeal

This year, the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center is launching a project to provide transitional housing for homeless or struggling lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender youth by using refurbished shipping containers.

The center's Youth Services Manager Stephanie Reyes, who developed the project along with more than a dozen volunteers, was researching housing options when she saw that Habitat for Humanity in Kentucky was making shipping container homes for veterans.

With help from committee member Jennifer Keane, architect Dell Livingston and volunteer Carol Livingston, the housing idea, called The Metamorphosis Project, developed. A donor from out of state who once visited the center, Greg Utterback, supported the project financially and in September, the center bought property for the housing effort. The land consists of four unused lots and a private drive in Orange Mound, purchased from the Shelby County Land Bank.

"We were trying to find a spot we could transform," Reyes said.

The community center, which was chartered on Feb. 23, 1989, has worked to help youth since its inception. The center in 2010 heard from young people in its program Queer as Youth about problems of hunger and poverty, according to a blog posting by Reyes, the center's Executive Director Will Batts and Operations Manager Elokin CaPece.

"The 18-20-year-olds, mostly males, who hung out at the center frequently, had unacceptable living situations," they wrote. "They had a place to sleep, but not enough funds to pay for utilities or food consistently. They scrounged what food they could find from potluck or event leftovers in our fridge, and hung out at (the Memphis Gay and Lesbian Community Center) during cold days they weren't working."

An estimated 1.6 million youth are homeless every year in the United States, and while only about 7 percent of youth identify as LGBT, they represent up to 40 percent of homeless youth, according to the New York-based True Colors Fund, which works to end homelessness among LGBT youth nationally.

"We began to learn more about the stories of the young people who spent so much time with us," Reyes, Batts and CaPece wrote. "Some were living from couch-to-couch. Some were living at the mercy of a slumlord who did not furnish basic necessities like utilities. Some were squatting in abandoned houses, and a few were trading sex for a place to sleep ... Some struggled with addiction. Some had traveled from rural parts of Tennessee, Arkansas and Mississippi to get to Memphis hoping to find a more accepting community. "

The transitional housing in Memphis will be for LGBT youth ages 18 to 25, Reyes said.

For more information on The Metamorphosis Project, e-mail sreyes@mglcc.org. To donate, visit https://app.mobilecause.com/public/campaigns_keywords/30597/donations/new.
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It wasn't shocking to read about an incensed Tennessee lawmaker holding forth on a recent Supreme Court ruling that extends a constitutional right to members of a minority group who have had that right heretofore denied. There are plenty of historical precedents.

This time it was state Rep. Rick Womick proposing in comments to a Murfreesboro newspaper that  harrumph!  if the high court is going to allow same-sex partners to get married, well, then, we just won't issue marriage licenses in Tennessee to anybody. That'll show 'em.

The Rockvale Republican previously suggested the impeachment of Gov. Bill Haslam for not fighting the ruling and failing to urge county court clerks not to issue licenses to same-sex couples, although the state attorney general had said county clerks are obliged to do their duty.

Of course, aside from creating unflattering attention for themselves and the state, legislators blowing off steam on cultural issues do little harm.

And the General Assembly has, so far, sidestepped a suggestion to hold a special session to consider how to respond to the Supreme Court's landmark ruling on same-sex marriage in June.

That would likely create a terrible commotion, the likes of which the legislature hasn't seen since the 1999-2002 legislative fight over a state income tax, in the opinion of former state Sen. David Fowler, who now heads the conservative Family Action Council of Tennessee.

Let's hope no more time and energy is wasted on what would either be a losing battle or a public expression of homophobia.

We may be out of luck, though.

House Speaker Beth Harwell appointed a task force to review possible legislative action dealing with the issue, naming state Rep. Susan Lynn, R-Mt. Juliet, as its "point person."

Lynn has suggested that the state should get out of the marriage registration business. Marriage "was a construct of the church," she was quoted as saying. "The only reason governments started registering marriages was so they had a record."

Of course, it would accomplish nothing of real value to the public for the state to get out of the marriage business. In Fowler's opinion, ministers with religious objections would be free under existing law to decline an invitation to solemnize a same-sex union.

For the state to get out of its obligation to license and register marriages would, however, create an annoying inconvenience for constituents of the legislators who are so incensed over the ruling.

Taking action on this issue would be nothing but a symbolic gesture.

Nothing about same-sex marriage has any impact on the status of marriages between members of the opposite sex.

If legislators have a problem with same-sex marriage, all they have to do is be careful not to marry someone of the same sex.
January 3, 2016 - Frank Ellis takes a seat while exploring the waters edge Sunday with Ashton Graves in search of little treasures and interesting drift wood to use for art projects on Greenbelt Park on Mud Island as the Mississippi River continues to rise. The river crept above 35 feet on the Memphis gauge Sunday on its way to a predicted crest of 40.5 feet Friday.The flood in 2011 crested at 48.03 feet. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal)

SHARE January 3, 2016 - Darrall Horns casts his reel while fishing at the mouth of the Wolf River on the north end of Mud Island as the Mississippi River continues rising to historic levels swallowing the parking lot and boat ramp that would normally be visible below him. The river crept above 35 feet on the Memphis gauge Sunday on it's way to a potential crest of 41 feet later this week. The flood in 2011 crested at 47.8 feet. (Mike Brown/The Commercial Appeal)

By Jody Callahan of The Commercial Appeal

As Mud Island homeowners, emergency responders and gawkers kept a wary eye on the rising Mississippi Sunday, forecasters expected any flooding over the next few days to be moderate.

The Mississippi River reached 35.5 feet Sunday afternoon, surpassing the 34-foot flood stage. It's expected to continue to swell until Friday, when it is forecast to crest at 40.5 feet.

But while that sounds ominous, National Weather Service forecasters said Sunday that a level of 40.5 feet just barely reaches into what they would call a "moderate" flood.

"We classify as a minor flood, anywhere from 34 feet to 40 feet," NWS meteorologist Zach Maye said. "The water's noticeably higher on Mud Island and places like that as well. (But) right now, we haven't really had any reports of any problems."

When the Memphis area experienced massive flooding in 2011, the river topped out at 48.03 feet on May 10. That inundated Riverside Drive and slowly crept up Beale Street, causing all sorts of trouble Downtown, including the relocation of some Memphis in May events.

This time, though, Downtown isn't expected to see much impact. It would take a crest of 45 feet, Maye said, to cause any real damage.

"Looking at these impacts, it doesn't seem like there's going to be much going on Downtown," he said.

Still, some areas are being affected. The water is encroaching toward some homes on Mud Island that back up to the Wolf River, county officials said. Also, high water is close to an unincorporated area near Frayser along Old Cuba-Benjestown Road and Billion Road. On Monday, city officials plan to barricade a portion of Second Street between Mud Island Drive and Whitney as a hedge against flooding.

Also, the Wolf and Loosahatchie rivers could have some backwater flooding, Maye said. Surveying the Loosahatchie Sunday, Millington Fire Chief Gary Graves noted that the river is swelling but still believes the flooding will be minor.

"Right now, we're not affected. It's just keeping an eye on it," Graves said. "We don't expect anything with the crest that they're expecting, but we're watching it just to make sure."

Dale Lane, director of the Shelby County Office of Preparedness, has a similar outlook but fears that a levee break upstream could change the forecast in a hurry.

"Right now, I don't think we're going to see the scope that we did in 2011," he said. "There's no guarantee that that could hold if we have a levee break or something happens north of us."

Still, Lane had a warning for anyone who has experienced flooding on the Mississippi before.

"If you've had a history of flooding, don't wait too late. The water could come quickly. Those areas that are closer to the river are at a greater threat level," he said. "We're gonna work and plan for the worst-case scenario and hope for the best."
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DO YOU have a Boulevard Aristide-Briand near you? Or do you send your child to school in a Jules-Ferry or a lycee Emile Combes? If so, you are already familiar with key names in the construction of the French Republic.

Between them, these three politicians were responsible for free state schooling, obligatory education for girls and the rock of state neutrality towards religion on which la Republique is built: the principle of laicite.

The term is very much in the news, with a new laicite charter being introduced into schools this autumn alongside classes in morale laique. Presenting the charter, Minister for Education Vincent Peillon explained: Everyone is free to have his own opinions but no one has the right to contest teaching content or miss a class in the name of religious precepts.

Public debate over the Muslim community in France pops up in the news regularly and is nearly always related in one way or another to perceived challenges to this element of the Constitution. Peillons remarks refer also to repeated evangelist pressure to alter class content, in particular regarding the theory of evolution. A recent example was the proposal to swap two Christian holidays with Jewish and Muslim ones: confusing whether France was secular or multi-religious.

Left and Right politicians often unite to initiate laws to protect laicite. Once the source of conflict with the Catholic Right over private education funding, the principle, an important element in the integration process, regularly generates ill feeling these days among extremist sectors of the Muslim community. That is why, a century after the original 1905 law, several new laws have been passed to protect it.

First, a few explanations. Laicite does not translate well. Secularity is close but confusing. Laicite is not easy to define either. It has evolved over two centuries and is evolving still. The concept was born of the Revolution, which guaranteed freedom of conscience to all and first separated State and Church.

Napoleon backtracked, signing a concordat with the Vatican in 1801 that was to poison Church-State relations during the 19th century and put laicite on the back burner for much of it. (For historical reasons, this concordat still applies in Alsace and Moselle.)

Having been suppressed by the Vichy regime (along with liberte, egalite, fraternite  without which laicite could not function), the principle was cast in the constitution of the Fourth Republic in 1946  the State is indivisible, laic, democratic and social  and remains firmly in that of todays Fifth.

To understand the concept is to go a long way towards understanding the French. Maybe it could be defined as their permanent search for a delicate balance between sharing what they all hold in common, the Republic, and catering for diversity.

It is the principle that protects both personal and collective liberty and, as such, is the responsibility of both State and citizen. The indivisibility of the State is the States refusal to recognise any religious or ethnic community. France is one. There are two major dates in the history of laicite: 1881 and 1905. In 1881-82, Minister of Education Jules Ferry decreed school to be publique, gratuite et laique  state-run, free and non-clerical.

Teaching in French to a national programme provided children, whatever their linguistic background or beliefs, with the theoretical possibility of equal opportunity.

It created a framework in which adults could bring no pressure to bear on pupils to adhere to any philosophy, religion or political idea. That remains the basis of the French educational system today.

The 1905 law, engineered by Emile Combes and Aristide Briand, enforced the neutrality of the State and State institutions through the separation of the Churches and the State. Since that date, the State recognises no religion and therefore cannot directly fund any either.

If the same law grants the individual total liberty and privacy regarding beliefs, there is one condition: they must not disturb public order.

Given the repeated trauma that religion has caused in Frances recent history  from the Wars of Religion to the expulsion of the Huguenots and the Dreyfus affair  this means no proselytising and nothing that could be remotely interpreted as such.

It also explains why, in France, religious belief is far more than a private matter. Things spiritual belong to the realm of intimacy. It is extremely unusual to see anyone wearing any conspicuous religious symbol in public. To do so is perceived as a deliberate act, a message to others.

It is unthinkable to ask someone what their religion is and most people will be frankly embarrassed by anyone saying what theirs is. When Nicolas Sarkozy publicly announced he had appointed Frances first Muslim prefect, he sent shockwaves throughout the land.

Knowing this helps in understanding intense French reaction to young girls wearing veils. It is seen not only as an unacceptable way of bringing religion into the public sphere, but also a form of peer pressure on other girls to do the same. Which takes us back to Jules Ferry and neutrality in the classroom.

This insistence on the privacy of beliefs was of course also reinforced after World War II by the fate of Frances Jews under the Vichy regime, and the obligation to publicly show their religion by wearing the yellow star. As a result of the trauma of State responsibility in their deportation and extermination, no statistics may be made regarding peoples religious beliefs, ethnic origin or colour.

All citizens are not only equal, but remain neutral in the eyes of the State.

The mosque debate

The 1905 law was finally well accepted by both Catholic and Protestant churches in France, who benefited financially when the State handed existing buildings and their costly maintenance over to local authorities. But the State cannot fund new religious buildings.

Hence the mosque-building debate and recent legislation allowing local authorities to contribute. For with generous donations from Saudi Arabia and Muslim foundations abroad pouring in, the inherent risk of encouraging fundamentalist movements to develop in France is obvious.

Under the Nicolas Sarkozy government, the training of imams in France to Republican principles was considered.

But the State cannot finance religious education either. The impasse has been paradoxically circumvented by the Catholic University offering courses, and Algerian imams due to work in France being trained in French and laicite at the government-funded Institut Francais in Algiers.

Conspicuous symbols and full-face veils

After a number of potentially inflammatory cases in which some schools were confronted with Muslim girls wearing Islamic headscarves, legislation was passed in 2004 banning the wearing of any conspicuous religious symbol or sign in state schools. Never specifically aimed at the Muslim community (kippas, large crosses and Sikh turbans fall under the same category), the new law, despite fears it would be perceived as discriminatory and arouse further reaction, had the almost immediate effect of calming the situation, though some veiled Muslim girls and turbaned Sikhs found their way to private schools.

But this legislated solely for public schools, not privately run establishments. In March of this year, Fatima Afif, an employee dismissed in 2008 from the privately run Baby Loup creche in the Yvelines for refusing to remove her headscarf, won on appeal for wrongful dismissal on the grounds of religious discrimination.

New legislation is now under consideration to cover pre-school structures and religious symbols in the workplace, none of which are currently covered by law.

When, in late July, a police officer in the town of Trappes stopped a fully veiled young women for an ID check in the middle of Ramadan, he did not know he was unleashing days of rioting. But Cassandra, 22, was not infringing any law on laicite. This time it was the one against dissimulating the face in the public sphere, put into effect by the Sarkozy government in 2011.

Introduced ostensibly as anti-terrorism legislation, many felt its real purpose was more anti-veil. In fact, the number of women in France wearing the niqab is extremely small, and the number of women fined likewise.

Laicite with an adjective

The latest solution of Frances politicians to calm the debate has been to add adjectives. Sarkozy invented laicite positive, in which the government took into account the existence of religious groups in France.

He created a representative Muslim council, through which to address the Muslim community in France. Representative of only a portion of Frances Muslims, many of whom are non-practising, it has created more problems than it has solved.

The Hollande government has coined laicite apaisee, a low-profile approach in which negotiation would replace legislation as the best way of winning over those who regard the principle with suspicion.

True laicistes believe the principle cannot survive any moderating tags. It must exist alone.

Universities oppose campus headscarf ban proposal

In early August, Le Monde published a report signed by members of the Haut Comite de lIntegration (HCI), a body no longer briefed to deal with laicite since the creation of a separate mission last April. It called for a Muslim headscarf ban in universities.

Government replies were swift but hardly in unison. Minister of the Interior Manuel Valls stated evasively that the subject needed to be considered, while Genevieve Fioraso, Minister for Higher Education, warned that we should avoid problems where there are none.

For Gerard Blanchard, president of La Rochelle University, and vice-president of the national CPU, Conference des Presidents dUniversite, laicite is not an issue on his campus or anywhere in France. We have 14% foreign students in La Rochelle, mostly from South East Asia, and we only ask women students to take off their veils in science laboratories, for safety reasons. That has never posed a problem.

The University Presidents Conference has issued a public statement against any specific university ban. For Blanchard, the over-mediatised debate that burst upon us mid-summer is without foundation. He is adamant that he has never had a complaint from a teacher. An environmentalist, he is far more concerned by pressure that could be brought on teachers to introduce non-scientific versions of the origins of the universe into the syllabus. No university teacher should ever have to submit to any pressure on the content of his teaching.

Jean-Loup Salzmann, president of the CPU, and president of Paris XIII, in the heart of Seine- Saint-Denis, one of the most multi-cultural universities in France, firmly believes in laicite, but sees no need for new laws on the campus. His main concern is elsewhere. He is angered by the incongruity of the State promoting laicite on the one hand, while financing the Catholic universities on the other.

Expressing a personal opinion, he said: The main issue for these young Muslim women, who have enough problems coping with family pressure, is to achieve independence and emancipation through their studies, whether they wear a veil or not. An anti-veil law would achieve the opposite of what we want. Many of these women would then not have access to university at all.

How the principle of laicite is applied today

NICOLAS Cadene, chairman of the Observatoire de la Laicite, a watchdog committee created last April by President Francois Hollande to report on how the principle of laicite is applied in France today, spoke to Connexion.

Can you define this difficult concept for our readers?

Laicite is a principle which allows us all to live together. It is not a ban on religion or religious practices. On the contrary, it guarantees believers and non-believers alike the freedom to express themselves, to practise or not to practise a religion as they choose, on condition that public order is not disturbed. The State adopts an attitude of total impartiality towards citizens, who are all equal in the eyes of the State.

Do the current religious bank holidays not favour one religious group?

Christian festivals have, for the majority, become traditional holidays with little religious significance. Still, the State does not want to be seen as favouring one religion over another. In 1905, there was no Muslim population. But I dont think this poses a real problem. Employees can use their RTT (recuperation of unpaid overtime in the form of days off) as they wish. The Stasi Commission (set up by President Jacques Chirac in 2003) went a long way towards identifying issues in the workplace. We shall build on that.

The conspicuous religious symbols ban was seen as directed only at women. Is that not a form of discrimination?

If people set out to present themselves in a way which is obviously a proselytising or a provocative attitude, that is not acceptable. It is not so much what people wear or their physical appearance, as the reason behind the choice. This is one of the subjects we shall be working on.

Islam has no clerical hierarchy. Isnt the laicite legislation trying to apply to individuals a law aimed at an institution? Doesnt the 1905 law need to be adapted?

Not at all. The principle enables us all to live together. But, of course, we must avoid situations in which one group feels stigmatised by the law. That is one of our major subjects of reflexion. But there is no question of adapting the principle to new circumstances. It is one of bringing people to understand that laicite is not a ban on religious practice but a system of personal freedom and helping them to adapt to the principle.

There has been talk in the press over banning the Islamic headscarf at university. [The full-face veil is already banned anywhere in public].

The State has a duty to protect minors from any form of ideological persuasion, hence the headscarf ban in schools. University is a world of adults. But the Republic has a duty to protect its citizens against the dangers of extremism. Some people attribute to laicite powers it simply does not have. There is an urgent need for strong political action, at state and local level, in order to resolve the many problems the threat of extremism has brought to certain sectors of society.

The Observatoire has published its first report, a history and background to the concept. What else has it achieved?

We helped draw up two important documents: the laicite charter and the syllabus for non-religious morality for schools. Both take effect this year. In addition, our report has pinpointed situations needing close attention in public administrations and local authorities (non-Metropolitan France included), as well as in the private sector.

How do you see your work developing?

We need a better definition of laicite that reiterates the States position of neutrality and is more clearly understood by all, in France and at an international level. We are drawing up guidelines for the application of laicite and religious practice in the workplace, and in the wake of the Baby Loup issue [see main article], for pre-school structures. We must show people how to react to situations. Overreaction is one of the major problems we face, when so much could be achieved by negotiation and taking things calmly.
Chris Lenon is Chairman of the No Crossrail in Chelsea campaign

It is the Royal Borough, a Conservative heartland and a gem in the heart of West London. But all is not well in Kensington and Chelsea.

A battle is being fought for the future of the Kings Road. And it is a fight that is rapidly eroding the Conservative brand, with lifelong Party supporters turning their backs on the local Tories in their thousands.

Its all to do with Crossrail 2, on which Transport for London is consulting the public until early January.

The current proposal would see a new 1.2 billion mega-station built on the Kings Road. It would be the only new station on the line  and the only one without an interchange with other lines. It would force business rates up by 50 per cent according to PWC, forcing out the quirky and unique independent businesses that make Chelsea special.

240 listed buildings will be put at risk, the Brompton and Marsden Hospitals say the proposal will stop their vital expansion plans and  above all  it will waste a huge sum of public money in Londons richest village, on a station that local people do not need and do not want.

No Crossrail in Chelsea, the campaign which I chair and which has the support of 7,000 local residents and business owners, is not opposed to Crossrail 2. We think it is a fine project that will do wonders for Londons transport network.

But we just cannot fathom why more than 1 billion should be spent on us, residents in the richest part of London, who already have good access to two underground stations and five bus routes and who will be a mere stones throw from Victoria and Clapham Junction, the other proposed Crossrail 2 stations.

Interestingly, Transport for London recently provided a report to our MP, Greg Hands, which states that a direct route between Clapham Junction and Victoria is the best transport option, bringing overall public transport benefits, journey time savings for the majority and an increase in demand on Crossrail 2. Local people support this option  but our Council unfortunately does not.

Local people are asking why our Conservative Council is taking the stance that it is. Is this just a vanity project? Are they driven by the Community Infrastructure Levies they will receive from the major Kings Road development which will be required to help fund the station, and for which the Cadogan Estate has said there is a significant potential?

Given the financial pressures on local authorities and the attraction of business rates income, there is a real danger that local politics generally will see councillors and developers lined up against local residents and business ratepayers. London faces enormous development pressures, but we need to ensure that their resolution is not decided by disenfranchising local voters, who may then turn against their political representatives. Unfortunately, this is what is happening in Chelsea.

The Council is simply not listening to the people it claims to represent. It seems to want to destroy the charm of Chelsea. The Tory leadership are treating it as the Councils Borough, not the Boroughs Council. This is doing untold harm to the Conservative brand, in a Conservative heartland.

The proposals have not drawn any other significant local support. The residents oppose, the businesses oppose, the historic Chelsea Society opposes, the hospitals oppose. Celebrities such as Felicity Kendal, Trevor Eve, Loyd Grossman, Sir Alan Parker, Mark Knopfler, Wilbur Smith, William Boyd, Cherie Lunghi, Nancy DellOlio and Nicky Haslam have all spoken out. Former WH Smith boss, Sir Malcolm Field, leading businessman, Sir Simon Robertson, and recruitment tycoon, Robert Walters, have joined the campaign  and the Council are increasingly isolated.

Conservative supporter Sol Campbell has said that scrapping plans for Crossrail in Chelsea would save more than 1 billion in public money, the journey on Crossrail 2 would be even faster  and we would preserve the heritage and the charm of wonderful old Chelsea. Hes right.

Even Chelseas visitors oppose  they come to Chelsea because it is like no other. They dont want another cloned High Street.

In contrast to the Council, Greg Hands has been very constructive. While he supports Crossrail 2 coming to his constituency of Chelsea and Fulham, he acknowledges what he describes as vociferous local opposition in Chelsea. He has therefore been lobbying Boris Johnson and TfL to consider Imperial Wharf in Fulham as an alternative option.

The No Crossrail in Chelsea campaign does not take a view on this proposal, as it is not for us to comment on infrastructure proposals outside our village  but TfL have told Greg Hands that it is now actively being considered  and it is also said that local people will be receptive to much needed regeneration in that part of London.

Unfortunately, the result of the current Chelsea proposal has been a simple council versus residents bust up. Many traditionally Conservative-voting residents have been flocking to our campaign  and are now asking us to run candidates against the councillors who continue to support this extremely ill-conceived plan. That is not something we want to do. But its something we will have to do if plans for a Chelsea station arent ditched, because nobody else is representing the local people.

We can only hope that Conservatives at RBKC think again, listen to their electorate. and simply say, we do not want Crossrail in Chelsea.
Todays Times () reports that six Conservative MPs from the new intake have come out in favour of leaving the European Union. These are:

James Cleverly, Braintree

Craig Mackinlay, South Thanet

Scott Mann, North Cornwall

Royston Smith, Southampton Itchen

Paul Scully, Sutton and Cheam

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, Berwick-upon-Tweed

According to the report two other members of the class of 2015, which we dubbed Camerons Children, are said to be ready to back Brexit publicly: Maria Caulfield (Lewes) and Kelly Tolhurst (Rochester and Strood), although neither has made a statement yet.

The timing will be immensely frustrating for the Prime Minister, as it distracts from more welcome reports in todays Daily Mail that the Polish government are easing up on their objection to curbs on benefits for EU migrants.

Such developments will make unwelcome reading in Number 10, where hopes were high that the new intake would prove more loyal to David Cameron than its more spirited predecessor.

However, it should be noted that none of the names in the Times report are very surprising additions to the ranks of confirmed Outers.

Even if Caulfield and Tolhurst both come out for Out, however, that will still only add up to just over ten per cent of the 74-strong 2015 intake.

Should anything close to the remaining 90 per cent stick with the Prime Minister and the Remain campaign, Downing Street will have little to grumble about.

On a more conciliatory note, Cleverly  who set out his reasons for backing Brexit in a Facebook post  has spoken out against calls for Cameron to resign should Britain vote to leave the European Union.

The Daily Telegraph quotes him as saying: if we conduct the campaign in a friendly, professional, tough but gallant way, I dont see any reason why anyone at the head of either side of the argument will need to stand down irrespective of what the result will be.
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One humpback whale has been spotted by residents in Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, Monday, near the Mount Hope Bridge. It was thought to be 50-feet long, according to The Village Sun Times.

It was the North Kingstown harbormaster Ed Hughes who was among the first to see the humpback whale on Dec.29, 2015. At first, he was concerned that it was caught in a trap, as it was thrashing about a lot. Then he realised that it seemed to be having fun, splashing and breaching in the water, the Examiner reported. "It was just having a great time. It was an amazing thing," Hughes said.

"We've seen a dolphin. Last year we saw a beluga whale, which was unique. But a 50-foot whale?" he seemed to be amazed about the extraordinary spotting.

It was an unusual sight, agreed Rose Jones, spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Management.

She had already got a call from Ed Hughes. Officers had been sent to make a welfare check on the whale, which seemed to be in good condition, Jones said, according to the Associated Press.

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Why is it amazing that 22-year-old Maribel Valencia gave birth to twins that were born just two minutes apart?

Because they were one year and two minutes apart, according to scienceworldreport.

Jaelyn Valencia has the advantage of a year. She was born at 11:59 p.m. on New Year's Eve said Associated Press.

Then, the following year, two minutes later, twin-brother Luis Valencia Jr., arrived on New Year's Day.

Both babies were due to arrive at the end of January. But doctors at San Diego Kaiser Permanente Zio Medical Center decided to deliver the babies because one of them was in a breech position.

"It's pretty much the best of both worlds," father Luis Valencia, said via Fox News. "So that means two birthday parties back-to-back."

Jaelyn weighs four pounds, 15 ounces while Luis is five pounds, nine ounces strong.

The babies, as well as the mother, are reported to be "happy and healthy" after the delivery, a Kaiser spokeswoman said.

The parents, from the National City, California, had plans to welcome the New Year in Los Angeles with their three-year-old daughter Isabella. But the twins wanted to be part of the celebration.

Luis Valencia said she was very happy to change their plans.

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The largest sperm bank in Britain is facing eugenics accusation after refusing to accept donation from dyslexic donors to 'minimize genetic diseases or malformations' in new born children. The sperm bank located in London published a handout that lists conditions that will not be accepted for donations. Amongst other conditions, it includes ADD, autism and Asperger's. After being tipped off the Guardian, The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority, body that regulates the sperm banks, looked into the practices followed by these institutions. It is illegal to discriminate against people who are suffering from these conditions.

The regulator in a statement said "The HFEA has never required or endorsed prohibiting people with dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADD, ADHD and other disorders from becoming sperm donors. The clinic's HFEA inspector is clarifying our requirements for selecting donors with the center, and is reviewing all the exemptions cited in the center's materials, to ensure that all future donors are treated fairly and in accordance with the law." This new case has brought focus on a long-standing debate about whether or not dyslexia should be considered a disability. There are educational and health experts that even call dyslexia an advantage because it makes lateral thinking and spatial reasoning possible. Some of the most well known dyslexic personalities includes Steve Jobs, Ruby Wax, Sir Richard Branson and and Benjamin Zephaniah, as reported by The Telegraph.

A 30-year-old software engineer from Oxford, Fred Fisher, said that the London Sperm bank refused to accept his sperm in November. "I was really taken aback to see dyslexia listed as a neurological disease," he told the Guardian. "I'd never thought they would turn people way for having dyslexia, especially given how important we are told science and entrepreneurship are these days. I told them this was eugenics, but it's not even good eugenics. Would they turn away Richard Branson or Albert Einstein? We need innovative people who think differently in the world. Dyslexic people make a great contribution to our society. "I would like the government and HFEA to be much clearer about ruling out this practice. And you could say the same for dyspraxia, ADD and ADHD."

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How on earth does one become drunk without drinking?

One woman was recently arrested for a rare condition called "Auto-Brewery" syndrome, in which the digestive system became a small brewery on its own, said health officials, according to scienceworldreport.

"I had never heard of auto-brewery syndrome before this case," attorney Joseph Marusak said, via CNN. "But I knew something was amiss when the hospital police took the woman and wanted to release her immediately because she wasn't exhibiting any symptoms."

It was interesting that the New York woman was slapped with a DUI hours before she actually took her last drink. A breathalyzer showed her blood alcohol level as above four times the legal limit.

It happened just before Christmas in Hamburg, New York. One judge actually dismissed the charges when he was given proof that she suffered from "auto-brewery syndrome."

While no one is really sure what causes the health issue, they think that it might be something to do with increased levels of "candida".

"I'm in touch with about 30 people who believe they have this same syndrome, about 10 of them are diagnosed with it," said Panola College Dean of Nursing Barbara Cordell, who has studied the syndrome for years. "They can function at alcohol levels such as 0.30 and 0.40 when the average person would be comatose or dying."

What puzzles her is---how could patients of this syndrome still be walking around and talking normally?

"Yeast is normally in the GI tract and the commonality of all these case reports is they have an increased number of candida," Dr. Richard Peek, a professor of medicine and cancer biology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center said, via ABC News. "When [yeast] ingest a meal that has a high amount of carbohydrates, they metabolize the carbohydrates into ethanol."

"These observations show the importance of gastric microbiota or microbiome in altering functions," Peek added. "It really can regulate or cause disease such as irresistible bowel syndrome and it's been linked to metabolic syndrome, diabetes, fatty liver."

See Now: What Republicans Don't Want You To Know About Obamacare
Outrage Over Mass Execution In Saudi Arabia

By Bill Van Auken

04 January, 2016

wsws.org

Washingtons closest ally in the Arab world, the dictatorial monarchy of Saudi Arabia, ushered in the New Year with a torrent of blood, simultaneously executing 47 prisoners.

This wave of state murders unfolded at 12 separate prisons across the kingdom. At eight of them, the condemned were beheaded, while at four others they were cut down by firing squads. The headless corpses were then crucified and left hanging in public as a hideous warning to any who would even contemplate opposing the absolute power of the ruling royal family.

The most prominent of those put to death was Nimr al-Nimr, a Muslim cleric and leading spokesman for Saudi Arabias oppressed Shiite minority. Nimr, who was interrogated under torture and then brought before a kangaroo court, was convicted on charges that included disobeying the ruler and encouraging, leading and participating in demonstrations.

These crimes stemmed from the mass protests that swept Saudi Arabias predominantly Shiite Eastern Province in 2011, expressing popular demands for democratic reforms and an end to the Sunni monarchys discrimination and oppression of the Shiite population.

Three other Shiite prisoners were executed alongside Nimr, including one who was a minor at the time of his alleged offense. The rest of those put to death were Sunnis accused of involvement in Al Qaeda attacks that took place in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2006.

The barbaric killing spree carried out by the regime in Riyadh was a calculated political act driven by both domestic and international objectives. The Saudi monarchy joined the execution of Nimr with those of the alleged Al Qaeda members to drive home its identification of any opposition to its rule as an act of terrorism. In the first instance, its aim is to intimidate the Shiite minority, which constitutes approximately 15 percent of the population and is concentrated in the Eastern Province, a key oil-producing region.

At the same time, the House of Saud was sending a bloody signal that it will ruthlessly suppress any attempt to bring home the kind of Islamist terrorism it has fomented, funded and ideologically inspired elsewhere, with particularly horrific effect in Syria. The monarchy is increasingly fearful that it could fall prey to the Frankenstein monster it has unleashed in the form of groups such as ISIS and the Al Nusra Front, whose Wahabi religious ideology and mass beheadings are modeled after the state terror imposed in Saudi Arabia itself.

More generally, the whore-masters and parasites who make up Saudi Arabias ruling family fear that conditions are building up for a social explosion that could land them in the same spot as previous royal houses, with their own heads on the chopping block. The plummeting of oil prices, itself a product of the decision, backed by Washington, to reject any reduction in outputwith the aim of undermining the economies of both Russia and Iranis beginning to take its toll on the Saudi economy itself.

At the end of last year, the Saudi regime revealed that it had run a $98 billion budget deficit in 2015 and was anticipating a similar shortfall this year. In a desperate attempt to raise revenue, it has imposed a 50 percent increase on gas prices and is embarking on further cuts in public spending, particularly the economic subsidies that have allowed the large impoverished layers of Saudi society to eke out a living. The Financial Times described the new budget as an exercise in radical austerity.

Under these conditions, the sharp rise in beheadingsat least 158 people were killed in this manner in 2015is intended to serve as a means of mass intimidation.

On the international front, the state murder of Sheikh Nimr represents a calculated provocation, designed to radically intensify sectarian strife throughout the region. It is aimed at provoking Iran, whose Shiite Muslim leadership responded with warnings of divine vengeance. The execution triggered demonstrations that included firebomb attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consular facility in the Iranian city of Mashhad. Riyadh has responded by severing diplomatic relations.

The Saudi monarchy is determined to blow up any attempt to end the civil war in Syria without first achieving the original aim of it and its Western alliesregime-change. By exacerbating tensions with Iran, the principal ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, the Saudis hope to prevent any such settlement and to create the conditions for war with Iran itself.

In what is hardly a coincidence, on the same day as the mass executions, Riyadh announced an end to a supposed cease-fire in Yemen, where the Saudi military has led an illegal and deadly intervention aimed at suppressing a revolt by the Houthis, an insurgent movement whose members are drawn from the Shia population.

The execution of the Saudi Shiite cleric is designed to widen an already spiraling regional conflict in the Middle East. Like the assassination of the Austrian Archduke Ferdinand in 1914, it is an event with the potential of ultimately drawing the major powers into a far bloodier global conflagration.

The main responsibility for the crimes of the Saudi regime rests with its principal patron, US imperialism. The savage monarchy in Saudi Arabia is not merely some remnant of feudal backwardness. It is rather the direct product of US imperialist intervention in the Middle East, from the concessions secured by Texaco and Standard Oil in the 1930s and 1940s to the current massive arms sales that make the Saudi monarchy todays number one customer of Americas military-industrial complex.

Washington has responded to the mass beheadings in Saudi Arabia as an event of little consequence, having nothing to do with the policies of the US itself. Both the White House and the State Department issued mealy-mouthed statements reaffirming pro forma calls for the Saudi regime to respect human rights but making no direct condemnation of the political murder of Sheikh Nimr.

The Pentagon and the CIA are full partners in the Saudi monarchys repression at home, while the US has provided the bombs and targeting information, along with the midair refueling of Saudi bombers, that have made possible the nine-month war in Yemena criminal aggression that has killed thousands of Yemeni civilians while turning hundreds of thousands more into homeless refugees.

The blood-soaked Saudi monarchy is a manifestation of the predatory policy pursued by US imperialism in the Middle East. Washingtons defense of and reliance upon this ultra-reactionary regime expose all of the pretexts given for the successive US military interventions in the region, from the so-called war on terrorism to the supposed promotion of democracy and human rights.

In the final analysis, any policy that is predicated on an alliance with the House of Saud is a house of cards that will come crashing down with the revival of the class struggle in the Middle East.






Saudi Executions: Some Possible Consequences

By Chandra Muzaffar

04 January, 2015

Countercurrents.org

The execution of 47 people by the Saudi authorities on the 2nd of January 2016 reinforces my deeply held conviction that the death penalty should be abolished. No State should have the power to impose the death penalty on anyone. It is a right that can be abused and misused so easily.

As of now, 140 countries have abolished the death penalty in law or in practice. In Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, the number of people put to death by the State has seen a big increase, from 90 in 2014 to 157 in 2015. Another country in West Asia which had also executed a huge number of people in 2015 is the Islamic Republic of Iran: 694 between 1 January and 15 July. The death penalty has not been able to deter Iranians from committing many of the crimes for which the law has been enacted.

In the case of Saudi Arabia, we are told that the 47 men executed were associated with terrorist organizations or groups espousing the takfiri ideology which condemns Muslims who do not subscribe to their bigoted, dogmatic thinking as apostates or with criminal plots that endangered national security. In many instances, little evidence was offered to substantiate these allegations. The trials that were held fell far below accepted international standards. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch raised serious doubts about the manner in which the most famous of the 47 executed persons, the well-known Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was sentenced to death in October 2014.

Nimr was a consistent advocate of peaceful reform. He urged the Saudi authorities to hold free and fair elections. He was of course critical of the Saudi ruling class but there is no record of his involvement in any act of terrorism.

It is in a sense ironical that the Saudi authorities should execute people for involvement in terrorism when there is overwhelming evidence to show that individuals and groups from the elite stratum of Saudi society have been sponsoring and providing financial support to terrorist outfits in Iraq and Syria. It appears that terrorism has become a convenient excuse to target non-violent dissent directed against Saudi elites. In the guise of combating terrorism, both Sunni and Shia critics committed to peaceful, democratic change have been eliminated.

What would be the consequences of the mass executions of 2 January? Dissent which has existed in Saudi Arabia for decades but which has become more pronounced in recent years will become less conspicuous for a while at least. But there will be eruptions from time to time especially in Shia areas such as Qatif.

At the regional level, Saudi Arabia has already severed diplomatic ties with Iran in the wake of the firebombing of its Embassy in Tehran and its Consulate in Mashhad. In this regard, destroying the Saudi Embassy and Consulate was a clear violation of diplomatic norms. Knowing how volatile the situation was in the aftermath of Nimrs execution, the Iranian government should have done much more to protect those Saudi entities on Iranian soil. It is commendable that President Hassan Rouhani has condemned the firebombing episodes.

Saudi-Iran relations which have been deteriorating for a number of years now, will worsen further. The power struggle between these two regional actors will become even more bitter --- and bloodier. It will be felt not only in Syria, Iraq and Yemen which are all caught in the throes of actual armed conflicts but also in Lebanon with its perennial inter-community tensions and Bahrain which may erupt yet again.

Underlying this power struggle between two states are sentiments related to the Sunni Shia schism at the forefront of which is Sunni Saudi Arabia poised against Shia Iran. The Sunni-Shia population mix in all the above states --- some are Sunni majority others are Shia majority --- can lead to sectarian conflagrations that are capable of tearing asunder their social fabric. They may well have repercussions in countries outside the region proper such as Afghanistan and Pakistan which have a significant Shia minority. Even in societies in which the Shia element is miniscule --- Indonesia and Malaysia being two examples --- the manipulation of majority Sunni sentiment against the Shia can generate unnecessary tension and friction.

All in all, Sunni-Shia conflicts, actual or potential, will weaken the Muslim Ummah (community) to such an extent that the solidarity and cohesiveness that the community yearns for will become an even more distant mirage. In such a situation, it will be vulnerable to all sorts of manipulations and machinations by external forces abetted by internal elements. The Ummah would be at its nadir, much to the delight of its enemies.

While all this may manifest itself in the medium and long-term, the immediate consequence of the execution of the 47 could be a more determined push by the Saudi rulers, in collusion with the Israeli elite, to thwart the implementation of the Iran nuclear deal. Since both the Saudis and the Israelis realize that the nuclear deal could change the power balance in the region, their aim would be to exploit the deterioration in ties with Iran to keep Iran in perpetual isolation. There may even be lobbies in Washington working with the Saudis and Israelis to achieve this, given some recent US moves against Tehran.

This is why the situation that is unfolding from the execution of the 47 may generate much more upheaval in the most conflict prone region of the world that is already drenched in the blood of millions of innocent human beings.

Dr. Chandra Muzaffar is the President of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST)

Malaysia.

4 January 2016.




Printer Friendly Version The Judiciary And The Human-Right Violations Of Democratic States By Sukumaran C. V. 04 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org One set of atrocities is called Terrorism and the other, Progress.Arundhati Roy 2000 years ago there lived a man in Athens in ancient Greece. His name was Socrates and he often discussed difficult questions with his friends and acquaintances. The Athenian Government didnt like the methods of Socrates and they held a trial and condemned him to death. When Socrates was told that he would be let off if he promised to stop his discussions with people or else he had to drink hemlock and die, Socrates addressed his accusers and judges and said: If you propose to acquit me on condition that I abandon my search for truth, I will say: I thank you, O Athenians, but as long as I have breath and strength I will never cease from my occupation with philosophy. I will continue the practice of accosting whomever I meet and saying to him, Are you not ashamed of setting your heart on wealth and honours while you have no care for wisdom and truth and making your soul better? I know not what death isit may be a good thing, and I am not afraid of it. But I do know that it is a bad thing to desert ones post and I prefer what may be good to what I know to be bad. He drank the poison (the sap of the plant called hemlock) calmly and died. But as long as there are humans on earth, Socrates will continue to live in the human minds, and the accusers and judges who persecuted him had been consigned to oblivion long since. Everybody knows Socrates, but nobody knows the judges who condemned him to death. Just like the Athenian Government didnt like the methods of Socrates, the Indian Government doesnt like those who fight for the rights of the Adivasis and the less privileged who are robbed of their lands and livelihood by the corporate mining giants with the help of the Democratic state of India and its draconian laws. Dr. Binayak Sen exposed the heinous human-right violations perpetrated on the hapless Adivasis by the Indian State and the State sponsored militia Salwa-Judum in the name of anti-Naxalite operations. And Binayak Sen was hunted down by the Indian Sate with the help of the judiciary merely for being a human-rights activist. See the terrible activities of Salwa Judum. Arundhati Roy writes in her Broken Republic: In June 2005, Mahendra Karma called a secret meeting of Mukhiyas and announced the Salwa Judum (Purification Hunt). A lovely melange of tribal earthiness and Nazi sentiment. Salwa Judum was a ground clearing operation, meant to move people out of their villages into roadside camps, where they could be policed and controlled. Villagers who did not move into camps would be considered Maoists. So in Bastar, for an ordinary villager, just staying at home, living an ordinary life, became the equivalent of indulging in dangerous terrorist activity. Between June and December 2005,Salwa Judum burned, killed, raped and looted its way through hundreds of villages of south Dantewada. The centre of its operations were the Bijapur and Bhairamgarh blocks near Bailadila, where Essar Steel's new plant was proposed. The Judum came to Korseel, Ajithas village, and killed three people by drowning them in a stream. Ajitha was with the militia, and followed the Judum at a distance to a place close to the village called Paral Nar Todak. She watched them rape six women and shot a man in his throat. Comrade Laxmi tells me she watched the Judum burn thirty houses in her village Jojor. Salwa Judumthe dreaded government-sponsored vigilante group responsible for rapes, killings, burning down villages and driving hundreds of thousands of people from their homesis led by Mahendra Karma, a Congress MLA The Police personnel and the politicians who organised Salwa-Judum and allowed them to terrorise the hapless people of Bastar and other areas were not arrested and charged with sedition and treason, but Binayak Sen who tried to expose the State-sponsored atrocities perpetrated on the unprivileged people of India was arrested and jailed and denied bail. The same thing happened to Dr. Saibaba for the same reasons. In her article titled Professor, P.O.W published in the Outlook magazine dated 18 may, 2015, Arundhati Roy wrote: May 9, 2015, marks one year since Dr. G.N. Saibaba, lecturer of English at Ramlal Anand College, Delhi University, was abducted by unknown men on his way home from work. When her husband went missing and his cellphone did not respond, Vasantha, Dr Saibabas wife, filed a missing persons complaint in the local police station. Subsequently the unknown men identified themselves as the Maharashtra Police and described the abduction as an arrest.... Dr Saibaba is what is known as 90 per cent disabled. In order to prevent his physical condition from further deteriorating, he needs constant care, physiotherapy and medication. Despite this, he was thrown into a bare cell (where he still remains) with nobody to assist him even to use the bathroom. He had to crawl around on all fours. He has been charged under the UAPA, Sections 13 (taking part in/advocating/abetting/inciting the commission of unlawful activity), Section 18 (conspiring/attempting to commit a terrorist act), Section 20 (being a member of a terrorist gang or organisation), Section 38 (associating with a terrorist organisation with intention to further its activities) and Section 39 (inviting support and addressing meetings for the purpose of encouraging support for a terrorist organisation.) ... Dr Saibabas trial has not begun. When it does, it is likely to take months, if not years. The question is, can a person with a 90 per cent disability survive in those abysmal prison conditions for so long? Despite the fact that India is party to international covenants on disability rights, and Indian law expressly forbids the incarceration of a person who is disabled as an undertrial for a prolonged period, Dr Saibaba has been denied bail twice by the sessions court....For the sake of argument, lets leave the decision about whether Dr Saibaba is guilty or innocent of the charges levelled against him to the courts. And lets, for just a moment, turn our attention solely to the question of bail, because for him that is quite literally a question of life and death. No matter what the charges against him are, should Professor Saibaba get bail? Heres a list of a few well-known public figures and government servants who have been given bail. On April 23, 2015, Babu Bajrangi, convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment for his role in the 2002 Naroda Patiya massacre in which 97 people were murdered in broad daylight, was released on bail by the Gujarat High Court for an urgent eye operation. This is Babu Bajrangi in his own words speaking about the crime he committed: We didnt spare a single Muslim shop, we set everything on fire, we set them on fire and killed themhacked, burnt, set on fire.... We believe in setting them on fire because these bastards dont want to be cremated. Theyre afraid of it.After killing them, I felt like Maharana Pratap in Tehelka, September 1, 2007. On July 30, 2014, Maya Kodnani, a former minister of the Modi government in Gujarat, convicted and serving a 28-year sentence for being the kingpin of that same Naroda Patiya massacre, was granted bail by the Gujarat High Court. Kodnani is a medical doctor and says she suffers from intestinal tuberculosis, a heart condition, clinical depression and a spinal problem. Her sentence has been suspended. Amit Shah, also a former minister in the Modi government in Gujarat, was arrested in July 2010, accused of ordering the extrajudicial killing of three peopleSohrabuddin Sheikh, his wife Kausar Bi and Tulsiram Prajapati. The CBI produced phone records showing that Shah was in constant touch with the police officials who held the victims in illegal custody before they were murdered, and that the number of phone calls between him and those police officials spiked sharply during those days. Amit Shah was released on bail three months after his arrest. (Subsequently, after a series of disturbing and mysterious events, he has been let off altogether.) He is currently the president of the BJP, and the right hand man of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. I have quoted in detail from Arundhati Roys article, and, dear readers, have you seen any scandalous and scurrilous allegations against the judiciary in the arguments of Arundhati Roy? But I am surprised to see the judgement of the Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court in which Justice A. B. Chaudhari says that scandalous and scurrilous allegations are made by the author Arundhati Roy in the said article against the judiciary. Not only that, she has indirectly questioned the sanctity of the order made by the learned Judge of this Court (Honble Shri S.B. Shukre)for rejecting the bail application filed by the applicant....by comparing the case of the present applicant with Babu Bajrngi, Maya Kodnani and Amit Shah. It is not in dispute that by making the above allegations and remarks about the rejection order made by this Court as above and then asking as to why the applicant should not also get relief of bail by scandalizing the Court, in my opinion, amounts to interfering in the administration of justice and lowering down the image of the judiciary without any basis and with selfish motives. How can expressing ones opinion on the Courts denial of bail to a person with 90 per cent disability be interfering in the administration of justice? Who is lowering down the image of the judiciarythe judges who deny bail to a completely disabled person even when India is party to international covenants on disability rights, and Indian law expressly forbids the incarceration of a person who is disabled as an undertrial for a prolonged period or writers like Arundhati Roy? And what is the selfish motive of Arundhati Roy? And the judge further says: This, prima facie, constitutes criminal contempt and, therefore, it is a fit case where an order of issuance of notice for criminal contempt against author Arundhati Roy is required to be made. Elsewhere in the judgement the judge says: The language used by the author in her article against the Government and the police machinery is as nasty as it could be and one really wonders whether the same would befit to the prestigious awards the author is said to have won. Is the language of the article is as nasty as it could be? And can you believe that the ideas such as the following can be there in the order of a High Court Bench in the largest democracy of the world, when freedom of expression is smothered in the country by spreading bullets against the writers and thinkers? The order says: This Court is also surprised that despite the intemperate and humiliating language used against the Central Government, the State Government, the police machinery and the armed forces, they have not taken any action against the author who, in the name of freedom of speech, is exploiting the situation. Of the 22 page judgement which denies bail to Dr. Saibaba, more than 8 pages are spent on Arundhati Roy and her article! The readers can see themselves whose language is as nasty as it could beArundhati Roys or .... In the largest democracy of the world, those who justify the killing of innocent people get bail; those who organise atrocious gangs like the Salwa-Judum to terrorise people by raping, killing and torturing them go scot-free; the corporate world is allowed to plunder the natural resources that provide livelihood to a vast majority of the people, and to devastate the Environment that sustains the poor (and the rich too). But when somebody speaks for those whose human-rights are violated, they are hunted down by the State and the judiciary is not offended by the cold-blooded cruelties the State and its police machinery inflict upon the innocent, but by a writer who writes for the oppressed millions of the country. Certainly, it is not in dispute, such judgments lower down the image of the judiciary in the largest democracy of the world. Sukumaran C. V. is a former JNU student and his articles on gender, communal, environemenatl and other socio-political issues are published in The Hindu, Mainstream etc. Email id: lscvsuku@gmail.com





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Comrade, Why Cant You Say We Had Ambedkar?

By T Venkateshwarlu

04 January, 2015

Countercurrents.org

In four day (27-30 December 2015) Communist Party of India (Marxist)  CPI (M) plenum in Kolkata recognized Social oppression is the key area to organize the people and identified two main problems of people that Economic exploitation and Social oppression. It is a good change to recognize social oppression is a key problem of people. For decades communist parties and revolutionary groups are reluctant recognize the problem of social oppression and initiate various struggles against caste oppression. These parties simply postponed caste problem by saying that, largely caste problem belongs to super structure and caste evolved and determined by the base which is mode of production. If base can be changed the caste problem will be eradicated. This is a mechanical understanding about caste problem. This understanding is not suffices to explain caste problem. Any way these parties leaders are forced to recognize the caste as a reality and gradually they are changing their understanding on caste problem. Yet these parties leaders are unable to come out completely from their dogmatic and mechanical understanding on caste problem. CPIM General Secretary recent statement in plenum on caste problem once again proved this conclusion about understanding on caste question.

In the plenum, CPM General Secretary Sitaram Yechury said that Caste discrimination in the final analysis can be overcome only when economic empowerment is guaranteed. You had Jyothiba Phule, Dr. Ambedkar and Periyar  people who could commend influence among crores of Dalits. Why is the status of Dalits and Tribals the same despite this? On one-side the plenum rightly recognized caste is key issue of people and designed possible programs to combat caste and on the other-side the plenum tried to limit the caste problem to economic aspect.

If CPM Secretary has sincerity in understanding caste problem, he has to recognize social revolutionaries role in society and their contribution in both theoretical and practical fronts. He has to say that, in social front we had Phule, Ambedkar and periayar and in system front we had Marx and others. But we did not achieve desirable change in social front because of over emphasis on economic aspect and disowning the social revolutionaries. If CPIM Secretary has humble, he has to recognize the influence of social revolutionaries role in social changes particularly in reducing caste based inequalities and caste oppressive practices instead of saying  Give them land ownership, as we did in West Bengal. This statement shows the slightly arrogance and reluctance in understanding the social revolutionaries role and their achievements in the society.

Social revolutionaries waged continuous struggles against caste oppression. They tried to analysis and understand the roots of caste inequalities and caste based oppressive practices. They courageously said the lies and injustices of Hindu religion and Hindu Gods. They explained the real nature and wasted interest of Brahmans behind caste system. At that time, caste system was very strong and majority of the people were full influenced by the religion because of lake literacy and progressive movements. Ambedkar burnt Manusmruti assumed as sacred book of Hindus which justifies and promote caste based inequalities. He waged continuous struggles against caste based practices. Majority upper caste and backward class people opposed Ambedkar including so called Mahatma Gandhi. Even communist party did not support to Ambedkar. Almost he remained alone but he never stopped his struggles against caste problem.

Communist party did not own Ambedkar struggles against caste system. Ambedkar tried to explain that, how caste problem can harm the class struggle. He said that caste system is not only division of labourers it is also division of labour. It stood as barrier in their class struggles. Communist leaders misunderstood Ambedkar struggles for decades. Some-times the party leaders completely stood against Ambedkar and also blamed him as agent of British government. Now they declared that Caste oppression and Economic exploitation are key issues of the problem. Actually this strategy was taken by Mahatma Jyothiba Phule in 1870s and he waged two forms struggles against caste oppression and economical exploitation. Communist leaders did not learn from the social revolutionaries.

Communist parties and revolutionary groups leaders are hesitate to accept the complexity of caste problem and their insufficient understanding on caste. Final analysis caste can solve by economic empowerment and base and super structure analysis can not suffice to understand complexity and existence of caste identity for thousands years witnessing different mode of productions in the history. Caste did not disappear after system change. It is able sustain with new base or mode of production. Even in so called modern and democratic system capitalist caste exists with some changes. Economic empowerment did not bring the people from inhuman caste oppressions. This is the reality. Because of social revolutionaries efforts and social movement communists are forced to recognize caste reality largely to retain dalits in their fold.

The main problem with the communists is that they are not ready to recognize their failure in understanding caste problem and they put aside old thoughts and framework which can not suffice to understand caste problem. It is fundamental thing in the process of new understanding. Second they did not try to understand post Marxists and social revolutionaries theories about society. Most of the post Marxists did not consider authorized Marxists by the communist parties across the world. Still communists and others did not have comprehensive understanding about caste. If any party or group assumed that they have complete understanding on caste. That is not true. Communists have to say without any hesitations that we did not have complete theory on caste and dare to accept new things from social revolutionaries and post Marxists. They have to make this journey without pre-assumptions and conclusions. First they have come out from the fear of facing blame Revisionists or their journey destination.

T Venkateshwarlu, New Socialist Initiative (NSI), Telangana










America's Vampire Aristocracy



By Eric Zuesse 04 January, 2016

Countercurrents.org



On January 2nd, America's NBC News bannered n January 2nd, America's NBC News bannered Arab Spring Cleric Nimr al-Nimr Among 47 Executed by Saudi Arabia, and, one-third of the way into their report, showed this tweet:





Saudi execution of Nimr al-Nimr along w/ al Qaeda members is straight from Assad's playbook - lumping nonviolent activists with terrorists.

 DavidKenner (@DavidKenner) January 2, 2016





Even when Sunni-Islamic extremists, the Sauds, perpetrate mass-murder, in Saudi Arabia and not only in Yemen and in Syria, the U.S. news' media find some way to smear their audience's minds with the demon, Bashar al-Assad, as if Assad actually had anything to do with it, and the King of Saudi Arabia, King Salman, had nothing to do with it. Salman, who owns Saudi Arabia and everyone in it (and who even allows outright slavery there ), wasn't so much as mentioned by the NBC News' reporter' or propagandist. (Assad was mentioned in that news' report only because Assad allies with the U.S. aristocracy's super-demon, Vladimir Putin , the leader of Russia, who refuses to do the U.S. aristocracy's bidding, such as his predecessor Boris Yeltsin, much praised by the U.S. aristocracy, had done.)





America's main ally, and the largest customer for American-made weapons, the royal family that owns and runs Saudi Arabia, had just started out a new year of mass-executions, after their near-record year of 2015: the AP headlined only the day before, on New Year's Day, Saudi Beheadings Soar in 2015, and reported that, Saudi Arabia carried out at least 157 executions in 2015, with beheadings reaching their highest level in the kingdom in two decades, according to several advocacy groups that monitor the death penalty worldwide. (King Salman wasn't mentioned in that one, either.)









Hypocrisy of the American government and its free press' seems to know no limits. The Saud family don't even try to compete with their U.S. counterparts in the hypocrisy-category.





And it's not a partisan issue within the United States, either: both the liberal' and the outright conservative wings of the U.S. aristocracy are riddled with corruption, and suck the financial blood of not only their own nation, but of the foreign ones they entice into their grip, by bringing foreign aristocracies into their corrupt operation, to share in the looting and mass-emiseration of publics everywhere. The Saud family are part of that elite club, but they don't pretend to be democratic.' They are corrupt as they live and breathe: they earned' their billions in The Lord's way: they were born with it. America's government have to pretend to be democratic.





The essence of aristocracy is corruption. These beheadings are just little decorations of it, by some of America's fellow-champions of The Free World.'





ignore it; they are above not only their own nation's laws, but unreachable by all laws, even international ones. (That's what makes them international aristocrats.) Everyone beneath them can be Corruption isn't composed merely of things that are illegal, but includes also much that doesn't violate any laws, because the aristocrats basically write the laws (or their hired agent, called lobbyists, do) . On top of that immunity which they enjoy from the laws, whenever the international aristocracy don't like an international agreement that has somehow come into effect but that turns out not to suit them, they simplyit; they are above not only their own nation's laws, but unreachable by all laws, even international ones. (That's what makes them international aristocrats.) Everyone beneath them can be emiserated or even killed on the spot , but only a revolution could kill the aristocrats  they're surrounded by bodyguards.









The Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order, Alfred de Zayas, deplores that developed countries evaded their Doha development commitments at the World Trade Organization's 10th ministerial conference, held in Nairobi from 15 to 19 December 2015. Although a majority of States meeting in Nairobi wanted to have a clear reaffirmation of the Doha Framework, the opposition of some developed countries prevented the adoption of a consensus on this important point. Instead, he says, developed countries tried to pressure the developing world into agreements that undermine the promotion of the right to development and many provisions of human rights treaties.





Murdering labor union organizers in underdeveloped countries both domestically and abroad. The lower the wages the aristocrats must pay, the higher their profits are. And enables the aristocrats in developed ones to sell to their own nation's public the goods that would otherwise be made at a far higher wage-rate in their own countries, and that therefore compete-away those jobs abroad, and so hollow-out the domestic economy, while enabling the developed-world's aristocracies to extract from their home market the profits that can be derived by so impoverishing the workers. The lower the wages the aristocrats must pay, the higher their profits are. And the United States, and its liberal' Democratic' President Barack Obama and his Administration, is the global leader in imposing and making even harsher than it already is, this barbaric international system of exploitation of the public by aristocrats.





And here is an example of how it works at the merely national level:





real class warfare in it. One of Mr. Obama's liberal' supporters and financial backers, Warren Buffett, famously said, on 26 November 2006, There's class warfare, all right, but it's my class, the rich class, that's making war, and we're winning. As a first-class hypocrite himself, who takes advantage of sophisticated opportunities to transfer his tax-obligations quietly onto others while urging publicly that his nation's tax-laws should demand more of billionaires and less of the general public, Buffett was there verbally attacking, not publicly championing, the Robin-Hood-in-reverse that he sees in his country, and that he here affirmed to be theclass warfare in it.









"Through a spokesperson earlier this month, Buffett declined to discuss racial issues at Clayton Homes, and a reporter who attempted to contact him at his home was turned away by security. Clayton and Berkshire Hathaway did not respond to numerous requests for interviews with executives, delivered by phone and email, as well as in person at Berkshire Hathaway's headquarters in Omaha. The companies did not answer any of 34 detailed questions about Clayton and its practices. Nor did they respond to an extensive summary of this article's findings, provided along with an invitation to comment.









Any member of the public who thinks that these things were done by and for the public, instead of by and for the aristocracy, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I want to sell: please contact me in the reader-comments here. (But, I won't answer. Plenty of other people will be happy to sell it to you.)












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Alzheimer's Association Memory Cafe: for people with memory loss and their loved ones, 2-3:30 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Alzheimer's Association Office, 701 N. Weinbach Ave. Registration required by calling 800-272-3900.

Alzheimer's Association Interactive Workshop: "Know The 10 Signs: Early Detection Matters," 9:30-10:30 a.m. Jan. 14 at Good Shepherd Church, 2301 N. Stockwell Road. Registration is required by calling 800-272-3900.

Bereavement support group: Meeting 5:30-7 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month in the large group meeting room, second floor of Central Library, 200 SE MLK Blvd.

Men's bereavement support group: Meeting 9-10:30 a.m. the second Monday of each month in Room 204 at Deaconess VNA Plus, 610 E. Walnut St.

Support group for bipolar/manic-depressive disorder: Meeting 7 p.m. the first and third Wednesday of each month, Kempf Bipolar Wellness Center, third floor of St. Mary's Rehabilitation Institute, 3700 Washington Ave. Information: 812-485-4934.

Survivors of suicide support group: Meeting 6:30 p.m. the first and third Monday of each month, Methodist Temple, 2109 Lincoln Ave. Information: Mental Health America at 812-426-2640.

Pulmonary fibrosis support group: Meeting 3 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month, Room 1420, Deaconess Hospital, 600 Mary St. Information: 812-450-6000 or deaconess.com/calendar.

COPD/asthma support group: Meeting 3 p.m. the fourth Tuesday of each month, Room 1420, Deaconess Hospital, 600 Mary St. Information: 812-450-6000 or deaconess.com/calendar.

Mending Hearts pregnancy loss support group: Meeting 6:30 p.m. the first Tuesday of each month, Gift Conference Room, off the lobby of St. Mary's Hospital for Women & Children, 3700 Washington Ave. Information: 812-485-4204.

Men's cancer support group: Meeting 5:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month, St. Mary's Epworth Crossing Community Conference Room, 100 St. Mary's Epworth Crossing, Newburgh. Information: 812-485-5725.

Stroke support group: Meeting 10 a.m. the fourth Wednesday of each month, St. Mary's Community Education Room at Washington Square Mall, 5011 Washington Ave. Information: 812-485-5607.

ALS support group: Meeting 6:30 p.m. the second Tuesday of each month, Meeting Room E, Deaconess Gateway Hospital. The support group is for patients, caregivers and survivors who have lost someone to ALS.

Women's cancer support group: Meeting 5:30 p.m. the second and fourth Monday of each month, St. Mary's Epworth Crossing Community Conference Room. Information: 812-485-5725.

Compiled by Leah Ward, leah.ward@courierpress.com
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By Megan Erbacher of the Courier and Press

Friday is the last day to nominate distinguished high school juniors for the sixth annual Star Student Awards program.

This spring, the Evansville Courier & Press and The Gleaner in Henderson, Kentucky, will once again honor as many as 90 of the Tri-State's most-successful high school juniors who strive to make an impact in multiple areas of life.

Nominations must be submitted online at courierpress.com/starstudent/nomination, and can be made by the students themselves or by others, including parents, educators and community members. There is no limit to the number of students a person can nominate.

Current high school juniors from public and nonpublic schools in Southwestern Indiana, Western Kentucky and Southern Illinois can participate.

Nominated students have until Jan. 29 to complete the application, which includes a short essay and three letters of recommendation.

Nominees will be scored on criteria including academics, school and community activities, work ethic, approach to problem-solving and unique circumstances. Selected students will be recognized in one of three categories: gold, silver or bronze.

In the past, many Star Students who apply to the University of Evansville and the University of Southern Indiana have received scholarships.

For more information, contact Roseann Derk at 812-464-7453.
A teacher's manual for the test sits on a computer table where students take the ISTEP test at Emmons Elementary School in Mishawaka, Ind. Wednesday May 1, 2013. Issues with the computer based testing program have caused some problems with the ISTEP test. The Indiana Department of Education said in a statement that administration of the ISTEP+ exams' online portion resumed Wednesday morning, but that schools are being asked to decrease their daily test load to 50 percent of normal levels until further notice. (AP Photo/Joe Raymond)

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By Zach Osowski

Indiana schools won't be penalized by low ISTEP test scores this year if a bill authored by a top Republican senator passes this legislative session.

Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, the chair of the Senate Education Committee, authored Senate Bill 200, which stipulates schools can't score any lower for the 2014-15 school year than they did on the 2013-14 school year.

A school's A-F grade could rise if students did better than last year, but it could not get worse under this new bill.

Indiana State Superintendent of Public Instruction Glenda Ritz said she's called for such a bill since lawmakers approved new testing standards.

"For the last 18 months, I have been advocating for this type of flexibility as we transitioned to our new standards and assessments," Ritz said in a statement. "The current version of Senate Bill 200 is common sense legislation that allows schools time to adjust to our new standards."

The A-F grades help determine state funding, and failing grades can result in a state takeover. They also have an effect on teacher pay raises.

Lawmakers have also argued that a school's grade effects the entire community, from businesses to home sales. Bad schools could mean less people moving into a certain area, some have said.

Ritz said the bill has her strong support.

Unlike Ritz, lawmakers have slow to warm to the idea of shielding schools from poor test grades. After preliminary scores showed a steep drop in scores statewide, legislative leaders said help for schools and teachers is needed.

The bill will be read during the 2016 session's opening day on Tuesday and then sent to Kruse's education committee, where it is scheduled for a hearing and vote on Wednesday. If passed there, it would then go to the full Senate for consideration. The bill is retroactive to July 2015.

Additional legislation regarding how teachers will be impacted by ISTEP scores will also be coming at some point. The Senate Republican caucus will reveal its legislative agenda Tuesday.
Sales VP Preaches Optimism

A top EMC sales executive has taken to the company's intranet to make a personal plea in defense of the company's $67 billion merger with Dell.

Steve Crowe, senior vice president of global specialty sales and leader of global sales transformation and go-to-market, shared what he called his "personal feelings and thoughts around the proposed EMC-Dell merger" in a video recording posted on the company's employee intranet.

Those personal feelings and thoughts include the insight that the reseller agreement between Dell and EMC that ended in a messy divorce in 2011 is proof that the two companies' go-to-market strategies are complementary.

"I've really thought this through quite a bit," Crowe said, according to a transcript of the presentation filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. "The thoughts I'd like to share with you today are truly my own, personal, authentic thoughts. These are not bullets from marketing. These are not bullets from investor relations. This is truly how I feel in my gut about this proposed merger."

Crowe's presentation was filed just three days before a separate filing providing a little detail about planned job cuts under a restructuring initiative aimed at cutting $850 million in costs annually. Here, in Crowe's own words, are seven reasons the Dell merger is a good thing for EMC employees.
At Bayer, we believe human ingenuity can shape the future of agriculture. For more than 150 years, weve used science and imagination to advance health and nutrition. And together, we can achieve so much more.

Whats possible begins with what we can imagine.

Were committed to a world where biodiversity thrives in harmony with humankind. Where hunger and climate change are terms relegated to history books. Where farms are more sustainable, with plants that are more adaptive and resilient, to help improve life for families and communities. In short, where agriculture is part of the solution. As a new leader in agriculture, we have the opportunity and the responsibility to grasp this moment. To continue moving humanity forward by tirelessly shaping whats possible.
The previous 25 years have been marked by globalization. A number of forces acted together to bring our planet closer together. Trade pacts, peacekeeping alliances, the Internet.

But now, according to Christopher Swift, a professor of national security studies at Georgetown, we're in a new era of localization and fragmentation.

"The global economic system is reorganizing into regional blocks, and those blocks are putting more barriers around themselves," he said.

Russia, China, and the NAFTA region are starting to focus internally. The European Union struggles to keep its coalitions together, the U.S. is facing a dramatic political divide, and the Middle East is suffering from its own divides. And the fragmentation is expanding to the rule of law as well.

"We're seeing countries like Russia and China find ways to break those rules to further their own subjective interests," Swift said.

The effect on business is that boards and directors are going to be less likely to take on big international challenges, will be more careful, more timid.

"The environment is just not as flexible as it used to be," he said.

ISIS

ISIS dominated the international news in 2016, and is likely to be a continued source of conflict next year, according to experts.

"The issue on everybody's mind is ISIS and the effect it's having on the broader world," said Kevin Frank, head of intelligence at security firm Nuix. Frank was previously an intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency and for the U.S. Navy.

More than just a local conflict in the Middle East, the violence has spilled over into Europe, and a flood of refugees from Syria and Iraq is putting pressure on local governments in Europe and elsewhere, he said.

According to the global intelligence company Strategic Forecasting, ISIS and its affiliates will continue to try to conduct terrorist attacks outside the Middle East in order to stay relevant.

On a positive note, Stratfor also predicts that ISIS will suffer notable losses in its core areas in Syria and Iraq -- but that this will just encourage its leadership to call for more operations in the West.

RUSSIA

Russia is facing problems on several fronts, according to Nuix' Frank. "Russia is involved in a festering sore in the Ukraine that is not going to come to a conclusion in 2016. Russia will continue to support the separatists... There will be no closure in the Ukraine for quite some time."

Russia is also taking a hit to its economy as a result of the loss of half of its income from oil, he added.

"Add on to that that the Russians are getting involved in Syria," he said.

And, according to Stratfor, Russia is also facing a deteriorating relationship with Turkey.

This leads to the question of the effect Russia's involvement in the foreign conflict will have on the country's local Muslim population, Frank said.

"Will Russia have its own Islamic problem that emerges?" he asked.

Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, there have been wars in many of the surrounding republics, including Azerbaijian and Tajikistan, and within Russia itself in Chechnya. Much of the Caucasus region in southern Russia is Muslim, as is Central Asia, and have had a long history of conflict with Moscow.

"We could be getting into a very concerned time for Russia," said Frank.

EUROPE

Europe is struggling to figure out what to do with a flood of Syrian refugees, especially in light of the Paris terror attacks.

"How are countries in the European Union going to react to that?" asked Nuix' Frank. "And how will that affect the ability to do business, and how it will change business in that whole sector."

Combined with issues of economic volatility in southern Europe, that just adds more pressure on the European Union.

The one bright side of this for business in the region is that these pressures are mostly political -- and politics moves slowly, which will give companies time to react.

That doesn't mean that it's impossible for companies to be taken by surprise, he warned.

"But businesses in these areas, especially ones working in areas of concern, need to be very cognizant of what's happening politically," he said.

CHINA

Beijing's territorial claims in the South China Sea pit China against the Philippines, Taiwan, Vietnam and other neighbors that claim ownership of the key island chains and nearby water.

"China is always the most difficult nation to understand its motivations," said Keith Lowry, senior vice president for business threat intelligence and analysis at Nuix. Lowry was previously chief of staff at the Department of Defense.

"For decades, they've been trying to control the South China Sea," he said. "Now they're building up these bases where they didn't exist before, where the majority of the population that they're trying to overcome is Muslim."

Plus, after years of explosive growth, China's economy is decelerating. That slowdown threatens the global economy, as evidenced by the late summer market scare around the world.

Another potential risk for companies doing business in China is that, according to Stratfor, the country's reform process has reached a precarious phase, with planned reforms focusing on state-owned enterprises, consolidating bloated sectors, looser currency controls, political consolidation and anti-corruption campaigns, as well as a series of ambitious military reforms.

All of these changes could pose potential risks to the international companies they affect

GLOBAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Any major city, power facility, or communications or travel hub could become the site of an infrastructure failure, according to Albert Goldson, executive director at New York-based Indo-Brazilian Associates LLC, a boutique global advisory firm that provides international investment, political and security risk assessments.

One recent example is the 2003 New York blackout, he said, a result of a cascading failure of systems.

Whether due to accidents, natural disasters, physical actions by terrorist groups, or cyberattacks, the risks have been increasing over the past few years, he said, as the number of targets continues to grow.

"Companies need to be prepared for people to be able to telecommute if they can't get to the office, have a plan for any sort of extended outage, and have a plan for backup communications," he said.
Last week, Salted Hash reported on the massive voter records leak after a database was exposed due to a configuration error. The story generated a good deal of public attention, despite the fact the database held records that some dismissed inconsequential.

Interestingly enough, those dismissing the database because it held public records were seemingly ignoring the privacy and security risks associated with such a collection (not to mention various state laws protecting such data and controlling how it is accessed and shared).

Around the same time the first database was discovered a second, smaller database was also found by researcher Chris Vickery. This second database contains voter profiles similar to those previously discovered, however, it also includes records that hold targeted demographic information.

While the overall total of records is lower (56,722,986 compared to 191 million) it's still a concerning figure, but this discovery took a steep downturn when more than 18 million records containing targeted profile information were added to the mix.

This second database has voter information from states that began with the letters A-I, but excluding Illinois and Iowa. The scattered information suggests the data was being added in stages, and the exposed database wasn't intended for public disclosure.

What's in the database?

The second database contains the general voter profile, which includes a voter's name, address, phone number, date of birth, voting record, etc. In fact, comparing records from both databases confirmed they are essentially the same, but the dates on the second database are newer (April 2015) and some of the field names are different  suggesting the core data came from the same source file.

This source file has been previously identified by political experts as Nation Builder Election Center data. This is further supported by the existence of an nbec_precinct_code and a voter ID code consisting of 32 letters and numbers separated by dashes.

As mentioned in the first story, Nation Builder is under no obligation to identify customers, and once the data has been obtained, they cannot control what happens to it.

While the previously discovered voter database contained more records, this second database, though smaller, contains more information. The standout issue is that these additional data points are targeted towards building an issues-based profile of the voter. While that might be fine for any number of election campaigns, having this data exposed to the public is a goldmine for criminals.

The second database contains several fields for custom text. Depending on the record some of them have answers, while others do not. There's also fields that flag the profile as being copied from another data source, and those that determine if the voter has been contacted. In addition, there are fields for determining of the voter is active and if they're a donor.

Other fields include email address, something that wasn't part of the larger voter database covered last week; as well as records focused on health issues, gun ownership, household values (e.g., religion / social issues), fishing and hunting interests, auto racing interests, longitude and latitude of the voter, income level, and occupation.

When it comes to overlap and additions to the basic voter file, the additional fields in this second database look at gender identification, political party affiliation, political contributions, religious affiliation and if they're a religious donor, a field denoting bible lifestyle, as well as how many robocall (auto dialed) campaigns they've been part of.

Who owns this database?

As was the case with the previous voter database, no one wants to claim ownership directly. However, there were several threads to follow in this case. Dissent, the admin of Databreaches.net and researcher Chris Vickery discovered several possible connections, but at the time this story was written, no one would go on record to discuss the database.

Political experts, who spoke to Salted Hash on the condition that their name or organization not be used, said the basic details in the second database suggest it's a voter file extract, one that's being used specifically for fundraising efforts.

"It's an oddly narrow selection of consumer variables, merged-in with voter file variables. The selection of variables tells me its likely donor profiling for a GOP effort (bible, farming, hunting, etc...)," the expert said.

Vickery contacted the FBI to report the exposed database. They later told them there was nothing they could do. Along with Salted Hash, Dissent contacted other agencies, including law enforcement and officials in California.

The second database contained a number of interesting markers that could be used for identification. The data collection points referring to religion and values-based issues suggested a GOP-focused organization created and maintained this database.

Two data fields pioneer_status and pioneer_counter, two database users (Pioneer, Pioneer2), as well as a reference to Pioneer in the database schema further lent some credibility to this assumption. URLs in the database itself referenced Pioneer Solutions Inc., and Let's Vote America.

Let's Vote America is actually a United in Purpose campaign, one "whose mission is to unite and equip like-minded conservative organizations to increase their reach, impact, and influence through the latest technology, research and marketing strategies for the purpose of bringing about a culture change in America based on Judeo-Christian principles."

United in Purpose is a 501(c)(4), or social welfare organization. As such, they can engage in political action, but they're limited to spending no more than 50-percent of their money on political activities.

Bill Dallas, an ex-con and Tea Party activist, started United in Purpose in order to identify unregistered Christian voters. According to NPR, United in Purpose had compiled data on 120 million voters in 2012, largely by developing tools that allowed pastors to compare church membership with official voter registration files.

From NPR:

"The company buys lists to build a profile of each citizen, and then assigns points for certain characteristics. You get points if you're on an anti-abortion list or a traditional marriage list. You get a point if you regularly attend church or home-school your kids. You get points if you like NASCAR or fishing."

The data points referenced by NPR are the same basic data points included in the second database discovered by Vickery. In addition, the database contains fields for voter score, which Dallas told NPR determines how serious a person was about their faith.

In addition to the Nation Builder markers in the general voter file, other fields referenced a Pioneer survey as a data source, which is why Pioneer Solutions was considered a possible owner of this database.

But it still wasn't clear if United in Purpose or Pioneer Solutions developed this database and placed it online. When Vickery registered for an account at Pioneer Solutions, the welcome email came from United in Purpose.

It's also possible that neither one of them are responsible. The owner could be one of the many organizations that have partnered with United in Purpose, such as Americans for United Life, Bound4Life, Concerned Women for America, the Family Policy Institute of Washington, the Liberty Institute, or iVoteValues.

The full partner list, with dozens of organizations, can be found here.

Dissent contacted Pioneer Solutions for comment, warning them about the second database being disclosed and the information it contained. Less than a day later, the CEO and Founder of Digital Smart Technologies, Tamas Cser, emailed to say:

"This is definitely data that we provide however we do not have the content keywords table that you mention. We work with many organization so we should talk to see where the vulnerability is, and plug it asap."

After Dissent contacted Cser in order to share the IP address of the second database, he promised a return call to answer questions.

Days later, after granting a request from Cser to withhold publication in order to investigate the issue, he has still not answered follow-up questions or returned calls aside from one brief conversation where he told Dissent that "they" were investigating  without actually stating who "they" were.

What's interesting is that shortly after Cser was contacted, the second database was secured and no one was claiming credit.

So while it's good news that the data has been taken offline, plenty of questions remain. Was this a United in Purpose breach, or a Pioneer Solutions breach? If neither, does the blame belong to one of the many partner organizations? How long was the data exposed? Who accessed it?

Unfortunately, we may never see answers to those questions.

Why does the discovery of such a database even matter?

Big data can be used to solve problems or increase sales, but it's also a pain to manage and secure. In other words, big data is both a blessing and a curse.

The more data that's collected, the larger the effort is to properly store and protect it. Once this database became exposed to the public, it turned from a voter-tracking tool to a massive repository of public and personal information.

True, voter data is public record for the most part, but each state has laws that govern how it is obtained, how it can be used, and how it can be shared. When you add additional data points, such as those discovered within the second database, you're no longer talking about pure public record.

Speaking to Salted Hash, Khalil Sehnaoui, Information Security specialist and founder of Krypton Security, singled out Phishing as the primary threat represented by this data leak.

When it comes to Phishing, he said, the more information you have on a target, the better.

"This database is a Phishing crews dream come true, because there's so much information here you can come up with a million ways to get the victim to do what you want," Sehnaoui said.

Most of the additional details in the leaked data would allow an attacker to find people on social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc) and other places online.

"Once you have the victims social media account (or accounts), then it is easy to find people they associate with through intelligence gathering. Even if one social media account is locked through good privacy practices (which is practically never the case), there is always other social media one can gather information from. So once you find one or many people they associate with (whether its work related or personal) you can target these people too or use them as an identity spoof when phishing."

"This data could also be used by large organizations to target people of interest (that never asked to be targeted) for lets say political contributions (if they are known to contribute), same with religious organization, etc. Or to target [people] with negative campaigns as well," Sehnaoui added.

Over the years, the public has become more aware about various Phishing and Social Engineering scams and crimes, particularly those that target financial data. However, while an email or phone call claiming to be from your bank might be ignored, one that addresses your core beliefs or political leanings might have a higher chance at success.

This is especially true if your leaked records state that you're willing to receive communications related to those items.

The upside to this story is, the database is secured. But like before, no one wants to claim ownership of the data. This story will be updated if additional details become available.
One way to predict market directions and spot trends is to keep tabs on the most influential people in an industry. Here's five tech industry leaders who are also major cybersecurity influencers and people to follow in 2016:

REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage Ginni Rometty, President, and CEO of IBM

Rometty has been orchestrating IBM's transformation from its legacy mainframe businesses into next generation technologies including cloud computing, big data, analytics, mobile, and security. She has been outspoken on hackers and security over the past year, which has drawn a lot of attention to IBM Security, a $1.5 billion business unit within IBM Corp. Rometty has said that cyber crime is the greatest threat to every company in the world. Heading in to 2016, IBM's CEO and her executive staff have tapped a new GM - Marc van Zadelhoff - to head up IBM Security and its global team of 6,000+ experts.

REUTERS/Jason Redmond Microsoft Chairman John Thompson

Over the past year Microsoft has spent over $650 million to acquire three Israeli cybersecurity firms, and it appears the company is ready to compete for large enterprise security deals. Microsoft's Chairman, John Thompson, has a deep background in the cybersecurity industry. He is the former CEO of Symantec - a position he held for 10 years from 1999 to 2009. Thompson is also an active investor in early stage tech companies - including his recent investment in network security startup Phantom Cyber. If the chairman has a say over what markets Microsoft should pursue - then we can expect to hear a lot more out of Redmond on cybersecurity over the next year.

REUTERS/Carlo Allegri Apple Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook

To encrypt or not to encrypt, that is the question --- and Tim Cook, Apple's CEO, has been the voice of the tech industry on this hot topic. Apple and other tech companies have become increasingly at odds with the U.S. government over encryption. Cook claims "you can't have a back door that's only for the good guys". With Cook at the helm, Apple is committed to strong privacy and encryption around its iPhone product line, iPads, Macs, and other. If you want to follow the encryption debate, then you should follow Cook.

REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt

Google is so big and so successful in its core businesses including Internet search, that it is easy to forget it is a major force in security. Aside from acquiring and developing security companies and technologies to protect the world's largest user base, their Google Ventures arm is one of the top 10 cybersecurity investors.

Early last year Google Capital was launched as an investor in early stage tech companies -- and it was the lead investor on one of the biggest security deals in 2015 when Crowdstrike, completed a $100 million Series C financing round. Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman at Google, sits alongside founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin - steering all of the corporate activities at Google. Schmidt is also Founding Partner at his VC firm Innovation Endeavors which counts several cybersecurity firms in their portfolio - including Illusive Networks.

In a DarkReading article, he stated "The business world is under cyber siege, with cyber attacks dominating headlines... It is critical that we support innovative startups developing creative and disruptive solutions to these threats." Schmidt is in a unique spot - helping to oversee the massive Google operation and all that it does in security - while scoping out hot new startups in security and related spaces.

REUTERS/Jana Asenbrennerova Michael Dell, chief executive of Dell Inc.

Michael Dell heads up his namesake company Dell, Inc. which recently announced the tech industry's largest deal ever - an eye-popping $67 billion acquisition of EMC Corp. WIthin EMC sits one of the most respected information security brands, RSA, which is a multi-hundred million dollar business. Dell is also about to take its SecureWorks cybersecurity business public in an IPO that many industry watchers have speculated can be worth as much as $2 billion.

With RSA in one hand, and SecureWorks in the other, Michael Dell is all of a sudden one of the biggest names in cybersecurity. Perhaps we should have seen this coming back in 2014 when he wrote an article in Inc. Magazine which said Dell's customer's biggest challenge and unmet need is security.
When the clock struck midnight on Friday, we welcomed in a new year and a number of new laws for Connecticut. Click through to see changes you can expect in 2016.




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Double murder trial day 4: A star witness for the prosecution backed out in the courtroom

The prosecution case in chief has to change its line up of witnesses when one decides not to take the stand when called to do so Tuesday morning.
As countless people clamour for a recipe they think might bag them a mate, others are starting to wonder: do we need to worry if our partner leaves the house with cookware?

by Samantha Selinger-Morris
Clarisse hopes to take over the family business and expand in to fashion

Her 'very generous father' gives her an allowance and tops it up as needed

Clarisse Lafleur is 'ashamed to tell' the amount she spends on designer clothes and accessories.

The 18-year-old flies first class or by private jet, holidays aboard a charter super yacht and credits her favourite designers as Christian Louboutin, Karl Lagerfeld and Valentino Garavani.

But while her lifestyle is funded by her 'very generous father', Miss Lafleur told Daily Mail Australia she 'cannot wait' to start work so she can make her own money.

Scroll down for video

Life of luxury: Clarisse Lafleur, 18, appeared on the Rich Kids of Instagram page due to her luxurious lifestyle

'Princess': The 18-year-old from New Caledonia said she spends more on clothes and accessories than most people spend in a year

The New Caledonian teenager, who is currently studying business on the Gold Coast, is one of the faces regularly featured on the Rich Kids of Instagram page.

The page is an insight in to a lifestyle most people can only dream of: private jets, wads of cash and flashy sports cars.

'I completely understand that people would generalise and perceive our lifestyle very negatively when they come across content such as teenagers filling hot tubs with $600 Champagne,' Miss Lafleur said.

Business mind: Miss Lafleur is currently studying business at Bond University on the Gold Coast

Fashion favourites: She credits Christian Louboutin, Karl Lagerfeld and Valentino Garavani as some of her favourite designers

Culture and couture: Miss Lafleur said 'throwing money everywhere' does not mean you are wealthy

'Being wealthy doesnt mean throwing money everywhere and wearing a bunch of designer clothes and too much jewelry all at the same time: you dont look rich; you look like a Christmas tree.

'You need to have the culture behind it otherwise people will laugh at you.

'How dumb would you look if youre wearing all your money and you cant [tell the] difference between good wine and a bad one.

'Same if you dont know how to drink Champagne: I saw some girls who want to look all fancy and European drinking [litres] of Champagne out of red wine glasses filled with fruits.'

Expensive taste: 'How dumb would you look if youre wearing all your money and you cant [tell the] difference between good wine and a bad one,' she said

Family fortune: Miss Lafleur's grandfather was president of New Caledonia for 15 years and her father owns a number of businesses in New Caledonia and France

Miss Lafleur grew up in New Caledonia where her grandfather, Jacques Lafleur, was president for 15 years and a politician at the French National Assembly.

Her father is a successful businessman who owns import/export companies in New Caledonia and France, paper and plastic factories, hotels, restaurants and a newspaper in New Caledonia.

Miss Lafleur is currently studying business at Bond University on the Gold Coast, where she will stay until the end of 2018 and said she hoped to join her father's business.

Career focused: When she graduates University she hopes to join her father in business and one day take over the family's companies

'My career aspiration would be to work with my father until he retires and then take over his businesses,' she said.

'In my opinion, it is not enough and I want to diversify even more.

'I am also very interested in fashion: I love new trends and how products are promoted.

'I would like to know more about the business of fashion: the numbers behind all the glitters, how fashion companies are managed and so on.'

Future in fashion: 'I would like to know more about the business of fashion,' she said

When she is not studying, shopping on the Gold Coast with her friends or working out at the gym, Miss Lafleur travels the world.

'I have a bank account and a very generous father; he wants what is best for his children and says, let me know when you need more' Clarisse Lafleur, 18

In 2015 alone she travelled to France where she shopped and skied in the French Alps, Monaco, Dubai, Fiji and the Isle of Pines.

'I have a bank account and a very generous father; he wants what is best for his children and says, let me know when you need more,' she said of her allowance.

'I am too ashamed to tell you how much I spend on clothes and accessories a lot of people dont spend that much in a year.'

Miss Lafleur shares an insight into her life on social media, she has 15,000 followers on Instagram alone, but said her lifestyle has attracted a number of negative comments.

'I am an easy target because I am a young blonde girl, so people accuse me of being a bimbo, a brat, a slut or other similar terms,' she said.

Family support: 'I have a bank account and a very generous father, he wants what is best for his children and says, let me know when you need more, she said

'Easy target': She has received negative comments from people online and was even told by a man that he wished she had cancer

'Last week, a man on Twitter told me that he wished I had cancer.

'If you [saw] a girl with a beautiful handbag walking down the street, would you attack her for showing off her good taste in fashion?

'Would you damage a Lamborghini parked on the street?'

Miss Lafleur said one girl accused her of being selfish and suggested she give to charity instead of going shopping.

'I dont feel the need to defend myself online, I know who I am,' she said.

'If she knew me, she would be aware that my family runs a charity organisation.

'This charity organisation financially helps families and students who cannot afford to pay their University fees.'

True to herself: 'I dont feel the need to defend myself online, I know who I am,' she said

Documenting her lifestyle: She likened her Instagram to a diary where she can share beautiful things with people who appreciate them

Each to their own: 'Who are we to judge what others decide to share? Its their life and their reputation,' she said

'Some people (like me) use Instagram as a little diary and share beautiful things with people who can appreciate them.

'We know that we do cool things and some people want to see that.

'I received emails from people who thanked me because it motivates them to work hard and experience the same lifestyle.

'It is true that others try to impress and shock the viewers  but at the end of the day, who are we to judge what others decide to share? Its their life and their reputation.
There will always be a beauty fix du jour. The crazier-sounding, the better. A year or so ago it was The Vampire Face Lift. Last year it was the Puppet Face Lift. This year it's a new hybrid of the two.

The procedure involves injecting threads under the skin at various points in the face and neck and then pulling them, marionette-style, to lift the jaw and neckline. During the treatment, plasma from the patient's own blood is injected to boost skin cell migration.

Far less invasive than a full-on face lift and requiring only local anaesthetic, it can now, quite literally, be performed in a lunch break. And if done well it can last up to two years (a traditional surgical face lift apparently lasts for about five years and requires a minimum of six weeks' recovery time).

Precision: Dr Terry Loong inserts threads into Teresas face before pulling them to tighten her jawline

Naomi Campbell and Catherine Deneuve are rumoured to have had it done. Even Gywneth Paltrow, the Queen of All Natural, has given the treatment a tacit seal of approval. Only last month her website, Goop, ran a story about threads made of sugar - yes sugar! - with the headline 'Threading: The Future of Face Lifts?'

Though not new by any stretch - barbed 24-carat gold threads were being used to lift faces as long as two decades ago in South East Asia - it has suddenly become the non-surgical procedure every woman of a certain age wants. Certainly among my posse of fiftysomething girlfriends, we can talk of little else.

Here's the thing, and I think I speak for all of us out there whose jaws have 'fallen to middle earth', as a friend wryly put it - it's not the wrinkles around our eyes we're so worried about, or indeed anything about the upper part of our faces.

We quite like a bit of a 'bedroom' eye: a little characterful furrow in the brow.

What my friends and I worry about are our Deputy Dawg jowls and our turkey wattles, and the way our chins are beginning to sort of melt into our necks. It's become almost a nervous tic the way we all go round patting underneath our chins with the backs of our hands (there, I'm doing it now, as if that is going to help).

But who wants to go the whole hog and have a face lift? And this is where the allure of a simple lunchtime lift comes in.

With hardly any down time, no knives, and no scars behind the ears, it sounds like a win-win situation.

Before and after: Although it's a subtle difference, it's clear Theresa's jaw is more defined than before

I've seen someone who has secretly had it done (she has no idea I know), and it does indeed look spectacularly natural.

Now normally I'm the guinea pig when it comes to such things - I happily wrote about my breast implants, for example. But a lift is a lift is a lift, however painlessly and speedily it is performed, and, as I age, I've become more and more cautious. Like any procedure which involves penetrating the skin, the thread lift is not without its drawbacks and as a treatment it has its critics.

One of them is Dr Michael Prager, the London dermatologist whom celebrities adore for his natural, light touch with Botox and filler.

Theresa Tarmey, 39, from West London, owns a top facialist salon. She's a good candidate for the procedure because she takes care of her skin and is an infrequent smoker and drinker

'I personally would not want to have threads in my face, so I'm not desperate to give it to my patients,' he says. 'It depends who does it, but the treatment has been known to damage nerves. Certainly it has been known for the threads to become infected.'

Dr Prager would prefer to lift and tone the jaw with strategically placed Botox and filler. '[A thread lift] is less risky, obviously, than a full face lift, but it is also much more short lived. I have had ladies in my surgery who have had thread lifts and still need botox and filler to maintain the lift.

'The underlying issue is loss of volume as one ages, and a shrinking of bone and tissue. If your face was a size 6 and reduces to a size 4, and the skin stays the same, unless you replace that volume, the skin is going to sag.

I can see Teresa is nervous, though not as much as I am when Dr Loong makes the first incision with the cannula containing the thread and enthusiastically wriggles it all the way down

'Perhaps ten years from now I'll look back and think I've missed the boat, but for me, I'd need to wait a generation before I would offer it here.'

Still, I'm intrigued. So I have pitched up at the Mayfair surgery of Dr Terry Loong with Teresa Tarmey, a friend of mine who's one of London's top facialists, with a new salon in West London.

Only 39, and a youthful 39 at that, Sheffield-born Teresa is not in the market for a face lift. She does not need one and she's seen enough 'done' faces in her chair to be put off the look for life.

But like me and most of my peers, she is not completely averse to a bit of judicious intervention, and being in the business knows, if you are going to opt for any sort of procedure, it is always better to start earlier, gulp, rather than later.

Not mentioning names, but all those celebrity beauties you see on the red carpet, who look as irritatingly daisy fresh as they did in the last century, look that way because they started having the botox and/or filler in their 30s, if not before.

Teresa's jawline is nothing like as saggy as mine, but she feels her 'chicken neck' is hereditary and sensibly wants 'to get in there before it gets worse'.

She's also, crucially, a former sufferer of adult acne, and the skin around her chin and jaw is pitted from the scars.

Dr Loong draws onto Theresa's face, marking where she will put the threads. The doctor trained as a surgeon

Botox, filler and fractional needle therapy have helped smooth out the area, and to a degree define the jawline, but only with limited success. As a professional, she wanted to look at a treatment option which was non-surgical, natural and gave longer-term results.

The customised Threads Of Life procedure offered by Dr Loong costs 2,950 and, uniquely, involves using plasma from the patients's own blood (minimising infection and boosting skin cell migration). It fitted the bill perfectly.

Dr Loong, who trained as a surgeon at Guy's Hospital in London explains how Teresa is an ideal candidate for her treatment.

She takes care of her skin, is pretty healthy, a rare smoker, an infrequent drinker and has had good experience with Botox and filler - an advantage, apparently, because these treatments cumulatively improve the density and quality of tissues, making it easier for the threads to be effectively positioned.

Although Theresa feels no pain during the procedure, she can feel the pulling and tugging of the thread

After sterilising Teresa's face, Dr Loong takes a red skin pen and marks out vectors of where the threads, made of 100 per cent polydioxanone (a colourless, biodegradable polymer used in the preparation of surgical sutures), will go. Although Teresa has made it clear she doesn't want any of the fine lines around her eyes to disappear or anything to change except for the lower part of her face, Dr Loong explains that two of the entry points will have to be inserted by the temples to achieve an effective, yet subtle jaw lift.

'Think of your face as a hot air balloon,' she suggests. 'If it's deflated down below, you are going to have to pull it up from the top.'

Though this makes sense, I can see Teresa is nervous, though not as much as I am when Dr Loong makes the first incision with the cannula containing the thread and enthusiastically wriggles it all the way down.

It looks excrutiating, but because Dr Loong is simultaneously injecting anaesthetic (and adrenaline to halt the bleeding) Teresa, though she can feel what is happening, is not technically in pain.

It looks excrutiating, but because Dr Loong is simultaneously injecting anaesthetic (and adrenaline to halt the bleeding) Teresa, though she can feel what is happening, is not technically in pain

Alongside the anaesthetic lidocaine and the adrenaline, is some of Teresa's blood plasma, which Dr Loong had taken from her arm and isolated from the blood's other components by putting it in a centrifuge. This helps promote cell growth, stave off infection and generally nourish and firm up the skin (same principle, in fact, as The Vampire Face Lift).

After the first five threads are inserted on one side - the idea is to create a kind of scaffolding or matrix upon which the skin can lie - Teresa now has wiry grey 'whiskers' (the threads) sticking out of her face, which Dr Loong pulls and then twists rather than knots, tucking them neatly under the skin.

She repeats the process with three threads on each side of the neck and then adds a few supplementary threads to the chin and jawline area most affected by acne scarring, not to pull the skin tighter but to encourage collagen production in the affected skin.

Teresa winced only once (even though the fatty area beneath either side of the mouth is a particularly sensitive area). The process takes 90 minutes and despite being bruised and a little swollen on one side, Teresa was back at work straight after.

Maddeningly, it is difficult to really gauge results until after about a week (best results are after six weeks), so we agree to reconvene then. In the interim, though, we text each other.

That first week she admits the line along her right cheek is still swollen and very tender to touch. But it has not stopped her from working or going out.

When we meet ten days later, all the tenderness has gone and although there is still very slight swelling, she is delighted with the results, and I can see why - although it is pretty damn subtle.

Her smile lines are still there, her face is exactly the same, but there is more of a definition in her jaw, and maybe they were there before but I never noticed she had cheekbones.

You know how when someone falls in love and they just look prettier, younger, fresher, but you can't explain how? Like that.

I'm not going to lie, though - I was a little traumatised watching the process and I wonder if I dare go through it myself.

I have a very low pain threshold (I once ran screaming from an eyebrow-threading appointment it hurt so much) and the older I get, the less gung-ho I am about elective procedures generally. As a 55-year-old, I'm less of an ideal patient than a 39-year-old.

I also wonder if perhaps I might have left it too late. There's an awful lot of skin there around my chops that needs to be gathered up. Could I get by, like Dr Prager says, with a mixture of Botox and filler?

On the other hand Teresa (or 'Audrey H' as I have started to nickname her with that dainty, pretty profile) has had such a positive experience that I can't help thinking what a small price, ultimately, it would be to get back the jawline I had in my 30s or even early 40s.
It's not unusual to wake up the morning after a rock festival with a hangover, or even a new tattoo or body piercing.

It is less common to wake up newly married.

Couple Charlotte Truscott and Benjamin Abeleven spontaneously tied the knot in an elaborate circus-themed wedding on January 2nd at the Falls Festival in Byron Bay.

The pair, who are both in the circus industry and worked at the annual New Year's festival, were joined by 120 friends and 'gorgeous festival goers' as they shared their vows.

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Just married, for reals: Charlotte Truscott and Benjamin Abeleven got married at Falls Festival in Byron Bay just 15 hours after spontaneously deciding to do so

'Felt right': The pair were joined by 120 friends and festival goers as they were married by celebrant Benjamin Carlyle in a circus marquee at the festival

But unlike so many spur of the moment rock'n'roll weddings, this one is for keeps.

Although the spontaneous nature of the wedding meant it couldn't be legal, the documents will be finalised within a month.

The union was officiated by celebrant Benjamin Carlyle, who shared snaps of the relaxed wedding on his Instagram account - including a certificate of commitment and a number of behind the scenes videos.

To assist in the celebration, all-female string band Vardos played their signature gypsy tunes in the background as the group danced and celebrated together.

Meanwhile: At Falls Festival in Marion Bay, Tasmania, other pairs (and one trio) were attending faux marriages in the name of marriage equality

'I was at the festival and was contacted at 9pm on the 1st and went to meet the couple at about 12.30am and we had a chat about everything,' Mr Carlyle told Daily Mail Australia.

'They decided to get married there because the timing felt right and they had some great friends there from around the world and it seemed really right for them - they weren't concerned about the legalities as they are able to get that all sorted in a month.'

'The vibe was right and within 15 hours I had quickly written up a script and put something together for the following day - it was all very spontaneous.'

Proud moments: Excited festival-goers shared intimate ceremonies together - from young friends and same-sex partners to already married couples looking to renew their vows.

Organised: 'We had set times and asked "couples" to book a slot. In the end we had 21 weddings over three days and nights,' The Wedding Factory founder, Thomas Pidd, told Daily Mail Australia

Mr Carlyle said that while last minute, the wedding was far from a Vegas-style last minute ceremony, despite the 'best man' of the bride jumping on a plane at 8am that morning after hearing about it and arriving 30 minutes before the ceremony.

'They said some beautiful words about their amazing connection and had both bought some rings that morning from the festival and Charlie wore a gorgeous top from one of the stores there as well,' Mr Carlyle said.

'They were pronounced Mr and Mrs, the gypsy band led us out and they had their first dance and then later they joined the festival parade where they went around the whole festival and everyone gave them well wishes.'

Spreading the love: 'We originally only had rings and certificates for 16 weddings, but by the middle of the third day, word had spread, and we had people begging for a Falls Festival Wedding,' Mr Pidd said

'Even though it all happened so fast there was this amazing intense energy and I was so lucky to be a part of it and be in the right place at the right time.'

Meanwhile at Falls Festival in Marion Bay, Tasmania, other pairs (and one trio) were attending faux marriages in the name of marriage equality, hosted by The Marriage Factory, as part of a show.

'A trio of performers doing quick, fun weddings at festivals! Come along and marry whoever you'd like cos that's the way it should be. Book us now!!' The company wrote on Instagram.

What followed were excited festival-goers sharing intimate ceremonies together - from young friends and same-sex partners to already married couples looking to renew their vows.

All for equality: Mr Pidd, who wrote and workshopped the ceremony over the past 12 months, said their main goal was to 'support and grow the amazing love that seems to exist at a festival' and "marry" anyone'

Supportive: Every couple also received a speech about the 'inequality of the traditional wedding' and how they 'hope this will change soon'

'We had set times and asked "couples" to book a slot. In the end we had 21 weddings over three days and nights. We originally only had rings and certificates for 16 weddings, but by the middle of the third day, word had spread, and we had people begging for a Falls Festival Wedding,' Thomas Pidd, founder of The Wedding Factory, told Daily Mail Australia.

'We made some extra rings out of what we had on grounds, drew up a few more certificates and pumped out five weddings one after the other.'

Mr Pidd, who wrote and workshopped the ceremony over the past 12 months, said their main goal was to 'support and grow the amazing love that seems to exist at a festival' and "marry" anyone.'

'This year we had at least six female-female couples, of which one pair could have been 13 and they brought their parents along for the fun,' he said.

Everyone is welcome: Providing a romantic space at the 'Village' with handmade flowers, origami and a love alter, The Wedding Factory welcomed guests to 'blissfully' marry in front of other festival goers and friends

'We had a handful of couples renewing vows, an 11 year anniversary surprise (to the day as well), a one year and six year with the kids joining in as well. Then we had bunch of couples of varying ages and three guys who are also in a band together.'

Every couple also received a speech about the 'inequality of the traditional wedding' and how they 'hope this will change soon'.

'All of this lasts between 9-13 minutes, hence the name The Wedding Factory,' Mr Pidd said.

Providing a romantic space at the 'Village' with handmade flowers, origami and a love alter, The Wedding Factory welcomed guests to 'blissfully' marry in front of other festival goers and friends.

A series of romantic and amusing snaps of pairs of all ages and relationships proudly holding their newly attained marriage certificates soon filled the company's Facebook page.

Is it real? 'One question we always got asked was "is this for real?" And my response has been "as real as you would expect at The Falls Festival",' Mr Pidd said

'These 2 came ALL the way from the UK after getting engaged 2 days ago!!! We were more than happy to do them an I DO ceremony,' one caption read.

Posts also filled social media of bemused festival attendees who weren't sure what they had just been to.

'I just remembered that I was the best man at a stranger's wedding at around 3am one night at #FallsFestival,' one man wrote.

But while the weddings weren't for real this year, that may change in the future.

'One question we always got asked was "is this for real?" And my response has been "as real as you would expect at The Falls Festival",' Mr Pidd said.
We recently reported on the phenomenon of young children believing they had former lives. Many as young as two or three give vivid details of past experiences, startling parents with their articulate accounts. A number of stories have been collected in a book, Memories Of Heaven, by the motivational speaker Dr Wayne Dyer. Since then, scores of you have written in to tell us how your own young children have come out with perplexing and sometimes painful revelations about their past selves. Some readers will believe these memories of being ancient Egyptians, soldiers or reborn family members are merely the product of fertile imaginations. Others will find the extraordinary details coming from the mouths of those so young harder to explain.

One thing is for certain: they make compelling reading.

Children as young as two or three have given vivid details of former lives, startling parents with their articulate accounts (file photo)

Memories of Egypt

The article about children who feel they have had past lives particularly resonated with me.

When my grandson was about two, he started to talk about his other mummy. He frequently asked when he would be going back to her.

I was quite spooked and didnt want to mention it to my daughter.

I asked where he had lived and he told me Egypt, in a house made of mud.

When I asked about his other mummy, he said he did not know what had happened to her because he had been bitten by a snake and died . . . and he never saw her again.

Eventually, I told my daughter, expecting her to laugh and think it was just his imagination, but she said he had talked to her of his other life.

He continued to mention his past life until he went to school and then it faded away. He is now 12 and cannot remember anything at all about it.

Margaret

I asked my son where he had lived and he told me Egypt, in a house made of mud

I am buried over there

Our youngest child, Estelle, was born 16 years after her sister, Virginia, had died in a car crash aged six months.

Estelle looked very similar to Virginia, with big dark eyes and thick black hair.

When Estelle was a year or so old, just beginning to talk, we were driving near the cemetery where Virginia was buried  the first time we had visited the area since Estelle was born.

Out of the blue, from her baby seat, Estelle said I am buried over there and pointed towards the cemetery, which could not be seen from the road. We were shocked, and said nothing.

One night, when she was in bed, she looked at me and said, Can I have a wide straw hat and long dress like I had before with my other Mum and Dad? I agreed and asked when that was. A long time ago when I lived in a house with a big field of flowers around it.

John

We feasted on peacocks

When our daughter, Ella, was about three, we took her to Caernarvon for the first time. As we drove along and the castle came into view, Ella pointed to it and said: I used to live there! When I was a little girl.

What followed was an astonishing story of her life in that castle. She talked of big parties with lots of people, roaring fires with huge dogs lying around, of eating peacocks and swans.

She wore a long gown that was too big so she tripped on it, and a crown that would slip down over her eyes.

She talked very freely and confidently, in such fascinating detail, that we were stunned into silence.

Kirsty

What followed was an astonishing story of her life in that castle. She talked of big parties with lots of people, roaring fires with huge dogs lying around, of eating peacocks and swans

We fly up to see God

My son, Jamie, must have been about three when he began talking about a little boy called Chris.

I thought it was probably an imaginary friend, as some children have at that age, because he didnt know any children with that name.

When I asked him about Chris, Jamie said: Chris is a little boy and at night we fly up and see God.

I thought this was very unusual because my husband and I are not particularly religious.

My mother-in-law then told me that shed had a brother, who died before she was born. His name was Chris.

I ordered the death certificate and his name was Chris, rather than Christopher, and he had died aged four of a childhood illness.

Barbara

Home on the farm

Between the ages of about two and three years, my daughter had memories of a past life. She would play games, as I thought, with her six siblings in which she called herself Julia. She would often stand by her bedroom door, calling them in and ushering them to bed.

The most striking episode came one day when she caught sight of a Victorian-style farm on the television, with a flat-back farm wagon driving past.

She became excited, telling me very urgently to look.

We had one of they. We had one of they. Before, before when I was Julia, she exclaimed.

I was struck by how definite she was, and also by the colloquial use of they, not them or those. This was not how she would usually phrase something.

Jill

I used to be my uncle

From his first marriage, in the early Fifties, my late husband Maurice had a son, who died just before he was three.

Three years ago, I was walking with my grandson, Ben, who was then three-and-a-half.

As he strolled by my side, he suddenly said. My Grandad Maurice used to be my daddy when I was a little boy, and then I died.

Ben had never met his Grandad and certainly never knew he had a son who died, because we never discussed it.

I asked him how old the boy, Neil, was when he died, and he replied that he was three.

I can only assume Ben is a reincarnation of his late uncle. Ben is now almost seven and no longer remembers anything about it.

Kate

My son would march doing the Nazi goose-step

Was my boy once a Nazi?

When my son, 52, was three, he would march around doing a Nazi goose-step, saluting and saying Hi Hitler.

We found this very strange, as there was no way he could have seen or heard anything like this. We didnt have a TV.

When he was eight he had some teeth out under anaesthetic at the dentist.

My son failed to come round, but the dentist was unperturbed and just told me to put him to bed at home and keep an eye on him. He slept for two days, was a healthy colour, and breathing steadily. I had the strong impression that he was somewhere else.

On the third morning he was back, wide awake. Hello, darling, I said, where have you been?

Back in the gas chamber with them all, he told me.

He married a German girl, speaks fluent German and lives very happily in Frankfurt, working in the finance sector.

He tells me that he loves Germany, and has no desire to live in England.

Angela

Tears for a lost wife

My son first mentioned that he had been here in a previous life aged three, saying that he used to be a grown-up man whose wife had died before they had children.

One day in the car, he started crying. When I asked what was wrong, he pointed at a tree and said: Thats where my wife died. Apparently she had crashed her car. For a while, he would mention odd details about his previous life, and become frustrated when I told him how to do things because, as he would say: I did it when I was a grown up!

These past lives are very real for small children.

Amy

He knew how to ride

From the age of two-and-a-half, my son, James, would tell us the same story. He had lived in a wooden house with stairs next to a big water. One day, someone left the door open and he walked out, fell in the water and drowned. He went to heaven, and then he was James.

Aged four, he cried when he saw a horse on the television. He was hitting the screen, saying his horse was waiting, and he had promised it he would go back. He was so upset that I took him to some stables the next day. When a pony was brought out, James knew exactly how to ride, even though he had never even been on a donkey.

A few people I consulted about this all said the same thing. By the age of five hed stop talking about it, and sure enough he did. It certainly opened my mind and today I am a firm believer in past lives.

Joanne

Was she my grandma?

When my granddaughter was two-and-a-half, we were looking at a magazine photograph of a park. She said: Thats like when I was big and you were little, and I took you for walks in your pram.

I was struck by her use of the word pram, instead of buggy. As a baby, we had lived with my paternal grandparents and I was often taken to the park by my grandma.

Shortly after this, she became obsessed with telling me stories about a cat called Asquid, and I was struck by the unusual name. Several years later I was telling my uncle about Asquid, and he vividly remembered a childhood book about Asquith the cat, which his mum, my grandma, read to him.

Marilyn

I was struck by her use of the word pram, instead of buggy. As a baby, we had lived with my paternal grandparents and I was often taken to the park by my grandma.

I need to go home

When my son was about three, he frequently asked if he could go home, I used to tell him he was at home, but he still said: Can I go home now?

It really used to unsettle me . One day, he told us that he had lived in a cottage in our town about four miles away. We found out it had been demolished many years before he was born  we had never heard of the place so he could not have heard us talk about it. I am a very sceptical person, but this was totally real.

Mrs S. George

I cleaned that church

When my daughter, Charlotte, was three we were in the car, and you couldnt see the buildings set back from the road.

Charlotte said out of the blue: Remember when I used to clean the windows of the white church down there?

As it wasnt the first odd remark Charlotte had made, curiosity got the better of me and I went to where Charlotte had indicated the church was. Sure enough, there was a church, painted white.

I have asked Charlotte about this since, and she has no recollection of any things she may have said.

Denis

Salute from little soldier

When Diamond, our daughter, was about two, she would use words so uncommon I had to open the dictionary to find their meanings.

When she saw a new food, she would call out its name. Her mother and I would mutter under our breath: This child has been here before.

Once when she saw a military parade on TV for the very first time, she screamed Soldiers! She jumped out of her seat, stood to attention and gave a perfect salute. The men parading were neither at attention nor giving a salute.

When we asked if she was a soldier in her first life, she smiled and replied coyly: Yes, Daddy. I was in the military before.

Ade

When I was a big man

We have rarely mentioned, for fear of ridicule, the strange responses of my son to learning new skills, and the nightmare that plagued him when he was three.

When we taught him to do things, such as tying his shoelaces, he would constantly tell us: When I was a big man I could do that.

His recurring nightmare was that he was shot and killed in a pub. Dreadful.

Kate
Dakota Johnson, star of 2015 blockbuster Fifty Shades of Grey, has blasted the film industry, calling it 'f****** brutal' and suggesting that it's ageist towards female actresses.

The 26-year-old star, daughter of Melanie Griffith and Don Johnson, offered the no-holds-barred comments in an interview for the February edition of Vogue magazine.

Referencing her Working Girl star mother, 58, and actress grandmother Tippi Hedren, 85, she said: 'Why isn't my mother in the movies? She's an extraordinary actress. Why isn't my grandmother in the movies? This industry is f****** brutal.'

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Actress Dakota Johnson, pictured here in a photoshoot for Vogue, has spoken out in an interview with the magazine - to be published in the February edition - about the 'f****** brutal' approach to older actresses in Hollywood

'Why isn't my mother in the movies? She's an extraordinary actress' Dakota Johnson, pictured above with mother Melanie Griffith, 58, at the 2015 Oscars, has slammed the US film industry for being ageist

In the interview, Johnson, who sizzled on screen as Anastasia Steele in the adaptation of E.L. James' hit novel, also admits that being part of an acting dynasty has seen her name pushed to the top of audition lists in Hollywood.

'Do I think it [her famous name] opened more doors? Yeah. More people know my name.'

A photoshoot accompanying the magazine sees Johnson in a stylish monochrome shot wearing patent heels, bare legs and a thigh-skimming coat.

For the magazine's cover shot, the actress wears a satin and black lace negligee, with a coat that falls at her left shoulder.

The young actress, who was speaking in an interview to be published in February's Vogue magazine (right), said she was sure her famous name has 'opened doors' in Hollywood

Actress Tippi Hedren (pictured in 2013) 'should still be in the movies' at 85, says Johnson

Johnson starred opposite Jamie Dornan in last year's Fifty Shades of Grey. The actress played Anastasia Steele in the adaptation of E.L. James' hit novel of the same name

The young actress' voice against ageism in the movie industry isn't a lone one.

Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher recently criticised those questioning how she's aged following her appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

The young actress' voice against ageism in the movie industry isn't a lone one. Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher recently criticised those questioning how she's aged following her appearance in Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

Fisher, 59, took to Twitter to address the scrutiny over re-casting as an older Princess Leia, saying: 'Please stop debating about whether or not I have aged well. Unfortunately it hurts all 3 of my feelings. My body hasnt aged as well as I have. Blow us.'

On December 31, actress Carrie Fisher, 59, aka Princess Leia in Star Wars, took to Twitter to say how scrutiny over how she's aged in Star Wars: The Force Awakens had hurt her feelings. Right, Fisher as Princess Leia in 1983, shot for Rolling Stone Magazine

Star Wars icon Carrie Fisher, who reappears as Princess Leia in the new film, The Force Awakens, took to social media to vent her frustrations with questions over her age

Anne Hathaway also recently spoke out about being a victim of an industry that favours casting rising young stars.

The 32-year-old Les Mis actress said despite only being in her early thirties, she was already aware of losing out on roles to women much younger than herself.

Hathaway told Glamour magazine: 'I can't complain about it because I benefited from it.'

'When I was in my early twenties, parts would be written for women in their fifties and I would get them.'

She added: 'Now I'm in my early thirties and I'm like, "Why did that 24-year-old get that part?" I was that 24-year-old once. I can't be upset about it, it's the way things are.'
Kate Thornton has hit back at ageism in the television industry as she launches a new cashback website alongside her celebrity friends.

The 42-year-old, who has held a variety of high-profile roles during her career including stints on The X Factor, Loose Women and This Morning, believes she has been slowly booted off our screens to make way for younger talent.

Cheltenham-born Kate, who is mother to Ben, seven, was unceremoniously dropped by Simon Cowell in 2007 to make way for Dermot O'Leary and dropped from the lunchtime talk show panel four years ago.

Kate Thornton has hit back at ageism in the TV industry as she launches a cashback website alongside her friends, from top left, Shaznay Lewis, Myleene Klass, Melanie Blatt, Tamzin Outhwaite, Amanda Byram, Heidi Range, Nicole Appleton, Denise Van Outen, Natalie Appleton, Julie Graham and Lisa Faulkner

Kate Thornton and Myleene Klass burst into fits of giggles in an intimate snap captured by Helena Christensen

When asked by The Daily Telegraph if ageism is the issue, Kate joked: Why else do you think I spend such a lot of time on radio now? Yes.

While she's still doing a number of gigs for the likes of BBC Radio 2 and Magic FM, Kate main focus is now on tbseen.com, a new cashback site targeted at women aged 25 to 44.

The portal, which goes lives today, offers cashback deals on 500 brands covering everything from utility bills, to upmarket fashion labels, some of which have until now avoided such sites because of the discount connotations.

The likes of Boden, The White Company, Debenhams, Miss Selfridge and Office have already signed up, amongst a host of other names.

Tamzin Outhwaite, Kate Thornton and Lisa Faulkner celebrate the launch of their new cashback website

Kate Thornton, pictured third from left, has hired Natalie Appleton, Shaznay Lewis, Denise Van Outen, Myleene Klass and Tamzin Outhwaite as her celebrity ambassadors

Heidi Range, Melanie Blatt, Nicole Appleton and Myleene Klass all pose in black outfits for the arty shoot

To celebrate the launch and show the bond between the women (Kate calls them 'my muscles' because they keep her 'strong') they have posed for a shoot with Danish supermodel and photographer Helena Christensen

Essentially, it's a site where you get paid to shop. The user goes onto TBSeen, clicks through to the brand they want and in return for a purchase they will be refunded - typically between five and 15 per cent of the price.

This is reimbursed to the card paid with after the 30-day statutory returns period.

Kate reckons the average family could save between 750 and 800 a year.

'Cashback is a brilliantly smart way to shop. You get money back on the stuff youre already buying, and we really wanted to bring it to life for women who, like us, put most of their spend online,' Kate told FEMAIL.

'With the brands we have on board you can earn money back and save as you go with some really smart deals on everything from food and groceries to fashion and beauty and health and fitness, all the way down to your utility bills.'

Kate was introduced to the idea a couple of years ago by Edd Royal, the brother of a friend, who wanted to do a more upmarket version of cashback websites.

They make money by directing 80 per cent of the rent retailers pay to be featured on the site back to the shopper, while keeping 20 per cent for themselves.

Myleene Klass shares her make-up tips on Kate Thornton's new website revealing she likes to 'glow like J-Lo'

The woman candidly talk about their friendships and personal relationships in a video on the website

Kate was introduced to the idea a couple of years ago by Edd Royal, the brother of a friend, who wanted to do a more upmarket version of cashback websites

Unlike the likes of QuidCo and TopCashBack which feature reams of deals, TBSeen looks more like an online lifestyle magazine.

This is helped by content created by the celebrity ambassadors - and Kate's closest confidants - Myleene Klass, Tamzin Outhwaite, Denise Van Outen, Lisa Faulkner, Amanda Byram, Heidi Range, Nicole Appleton, Melanie Blatt, Natalie Appleton, Shaznay Lewis and Julie Graham.

Alongside the deals is an array of features from them. Myleene shares her make-up tips ('I like to glow like J-Lo'), Lisa reveals how she morphed from an actress to a chef ('I was desperate to cook') and Amanda has filmed an abs workout.

To celebrate the launch and show the bond between the women (Kate calls them 'my muscles' because they keep her 'strong') they have posed for a shoot with Danish supermodel and photographer Helena Christensen.

The dozen women laugh merrily in one group shot while Kate appears to throw her head back in fits of giggles. In another, she shares a joke with pal Myleene and an intimate snap sees her hug Tamzin and Lisa.

After the career setbacks, Kate says her new venture is about pushing herself professionally, while finding more time for her young son.

She told The Daily Telegraph: When he was little it was easy. But they need you more as they get older, not less. Why does nobody tell you that?

Unlike the likes of QuidCo and TopCashBack which feature reams of deals, TBSeen looks more like an online lifestyle magazine
Susan Boyle, Paul Potts, Jonathan and Charlotte... Prince Charles? The future king gave the Britain's Got Talent finalists a run for their money after belting out a Scottish folk song for the reality show's presenters Ant and Dec.

Without much encouragement, the 67-year-old sang Aberdeenshire anthem, The Bonnie Lass o'Fyvie, for the Geordie duo during an evening at his Scottish home, Dumfries House.

Clearly enthralled by the Prince of Wales' skit, the pair went on to shower the royal with warm praise and joked that if he was auditioning on the ITV programme he'd be 'through to the next round'.

Without much encouragement, Prince Charles sang Aberdeenshire anthem, The Bonnie Lass o'Fyvie, for Ant and Dec during an evening at his Scottish home, Dumfries House

Clearly enthralled by the Prince of Wales' skit, the pair went on to shower the royal with warm praise and joked that if he was auditioning for Britain's Got Talent he'd be 'through to the next round'

The surprising scenes feature in a new ITV documentary celebrating 40 years of Prince Charles' charity, The Prince's Trust. Ant and Dec, both 40, were granted access to His Royal Highness, his sons Prince William and Prince Harry, his wife Duchess of Cornwall, and his work for the one-off special.

Following a banquet at his highlands abode, Prince Charles joined a couple of guests in an after-dinner sing-song. He was observed by music legend Rod Stewart and his wife Penny Lancaster.

Following the short performance, Ant said: 'He done all right didn't he?'

Dec joked: 'It's a yes from me,' to which Ant replied: 'He's through to the next round'.

Ant and Dec, both 40, were granted access to His Royal Highness, his sons Prince William and Prince Harry and his work for a one-off documentary

Ant and Dec were joined at the event by their wives Lisa Armstrong, pictured left, and Ali Astall, right

Following a banquet at his highlands abode, Charles joined a couple of guests in an after-dinner sing-song

Following the short performance, Ant said: 'He done all right didn't he?' while Dec joked: 'It's a yes from me'

Dec commented: 'He did well there. He held the tune.'

And Ant concluded: 'Now it's up to the public, it's up to you. If you wanna see Prince of Wales in the final, the number to call is 09...'

Joined by their wives Lisa Armstrong and Ali Astall, Ant and Dec were invited to stay the night at Dumfries House in two of the four main bedrooms. They admit they made good use of the butler.

Ant said: 'Well, when you've got a butler and he says, "What do you want?" you're not just gonna say, "I'm going to bed", we went, "Wine please".'

Meanwhile, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini also makes an appearance in the documentary and admits that her life could have gone a very different way.

The 32-year-old hitmaker candidly revealed her belief that she could have turned to drugs or a life of crime if it weren't for the dance academy she attended in her youth.

The X Factor judge became an ambassador for The Prince's Trust in 2011 and has set up two sister organisations which aim to help support disadvantaged children in her hometown.

Having seen first hand the paths many can take, Cheryl explained that her passion for music and dance gave her the drive to succeed and remain on the straight and narrow.

Cheryl Fernandez-Versini spoke of how turning to dance as a youngster saved her from a very different lifestlye in ITV documentary, When Ant and Dec Met The Prince: 40 Years of The Princes Trust

Cheryl visited her old dance academy in Newcastle as she spoke about the challenges of growing up on her impoverished estate

Ant McPartlin and Declan Donnelly have travelled back to their native Newcastle to discover the work the Prince's Trust has done in the city

In the interview, she said: 'If I didn't having [my dancing], and I wasn't lucky enough to come to dance classes or had that discipline instilled in me, I could have gone anywhere. I could have been a drug addict, I could have been in prison. Any route could have happened had I not had have this opportunity.'

Cheryl, who shot to fame on talent show Popstars: The Rivals in 2002, revealed that dancing from her younger years set her up for her success in Girls Aloud.

When Ant asked how young she started dancing, she said: 'Three or four, yeah. It's so important that when you're younger and you have something that you're disciplined in, something that you enjoy, it sets you up for the rest of your life.'

Cheryl has always been candid about her difficult upbringing, which saw her grow up on a tough council estate in Newcastle-upon-Tyne where her brother Andrew spiraled into a life of drink and alcohol abuse.

In a bid to help youngsters in similar situations she set up The Cheryl Cole Foundation, which aims to provide vital funds for The Prince's Trust in the North East.

She later created Cheryl's Trust which aimed to raise 2million to build a centre to help support up to 4000 disadvantaged young people.
Theyre welcoming their first child this year and it seems that Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip are getting preparations underway ahead of the arrival.

The couple, who recently revealed they want the babys sex to be a surprise, were spotted baby shopping over the festive period.

The pair journeyed to Sweden's Skane county to pick up a few baby essentials and a young woman, Alva Lennwall, spotted them and requested a photograph with the royals.

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Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip of Sweden were spotted baby shopping over the festive period and Alva Lennwall, left, spotted them and requested a photograph with the casually dressed royals

According to Expressen, Alva asked the duo for a snap and Sofia, who is around six months pregnant, replied: 'Of course', to which her husband agreed.

As the photo attests, Sofia, 31, and Carl Philip, 36, look like any other couple as they dressed down for their day out.

Sofia, a former glamour model, wrapped her bump up warm in a grey coat, which she wore with a black top and jeans. The royal opted to go au natural but wore her glossy brunette locks loose.

Carl Philip, meanwhile, wore a cosy pullover and practical mac for the casual day out.

Alva revealed that the couple were looking at prams but the shop owner, who confirmed they made a few purchases, wouldn't reveal what exactly they snapped up.

When asked recently by Swedish newspaper Expressen whether they knew if they were having a little girl or boy, Prince Carl Philip responded: No, and we do not want to know.

His wife, Princess Sofia, added: It will be a surprise.

Princess Sofia and Prince Carl Philip have revealed they won't be finding out the sex of their first child as they reveal they've been practising by babysitting royal nieces

In October, the couple announced that they are expecting and were seen smiling in black and white images released to celebrate the announcement.

In one image, Princess Sofia is seen gazing at her husband, wearing a white long-sleeved dress and her hair tumbling down her shoulders. In the second, the proud couple stand smiling straight at the camera.

In a statement published on Facebook at the time, the couple said: 'We are so happy and excited to announce that we are expecting our first child. We are very much looking forward to it.'

The duo also revealed theyve been practicing by babysitting their nieces and nephews - the children of her sister-in-law Princess Madeleine, who recently moved to London with her children and financier husband Chris O'Neill. .

In a statement published on Facebook at the time, the couple said: 'We are so happy and excited to announce that we are expecting our first child. We are very much looking forward to it'

The palace also revealed: 'The birth is expected to take place in April of 2016. No changes in the schedule of The Prince Couple's public engagements are planned during the fall of 2015'

Princess Sofia told the Swedish journal Svenskdam: Yes, we've been babysitting. It's a little more difficult now that [Prince] Nicolas and [Princess] Leonore are further away.

The pair instead offer to babysit three-year-old Princess Estelle, Crown Princess Victorias daughter.

Carl-Philip, 36, is the second child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. Their child, which is due in April, will be the fifth in line for the Swedish royal throne.

Carl-Philip married former glamour model Sofia Hellqvist, 30, an elegant brunette commoner known for her infectious gap-toothed smile and easygoing ways, in June.

The palace also revealed: 'The birth is expected to take place in April of 2016. No changes in the schedule of The Prince Couple's public engagements are planned during the fall of 2015.'

The Facebook post has received over 100,000 likes on the Royal Swedish Court's page.

Sofia and Carl-Philip dated for five years before walking down the aisle in June and live together in the upmarket Djurgarden district of Stockholm.

Carl-Philip married former glamour model Sofia Hellqvist, 30, an elegant brunette commoner known for her infectious gap-toothed smile and easygoing ways, in June

Carl Philip and Sofia married in the royal palace's chapel, with the bride wearing a lace wedding dress created by local designer Ida Sjostedt.

But thanks to Princess Sofia's reality TV and glamour modelling past, Carl-Philip's choice of wife initially proved controversial.

The now Duchess of Varmland's first shoot came at the age of 20 and saw her posing topless in a pair of camouflage print bikini bottoms and clutching a snake to preserve her modesty.

Unsurprisingly, when news of Carl-Philip's new relationship emerged in 2010, the Swedish Royal Family were initially put 'on the defensive' as sources put it at the time.
Ivanka appeared on the cover of Town & Country's January issue - and the publication was accused of Photoshopping her bump to make it bigger

The couple, who wed in 2009, have a four-year-old daughter, Arabella, and a two-year-old son, Joseph

Ivanka is seven months pregnant with her and Jared's third child

Ivanka Trump proudly showed off her growing baby bump for one last vacation photo with her husband Jared Kushner before jetting back to their home in New York City.

The 34-year-old, who is seven months pregnant with their third child, took to Instagram on New Year's Day to share a photo of herself posed with 34-year-old Jared at Mar-a-Lago, the Trump family's Florida estate.

'I am looking forward to a year filled with love, laughter and adventure with my incredible husband, Jared, and our (growing) family. #happynewyear #2016 [sic],' she captioned the photo.

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Growing family: Ivanka Trump shared this precious snapshot of herself cradling her baby bump alongside her husband Jared Kushner as they enjoyed their last days at Mar-a-Lago, the Trump family's Florida estate

Sunshine day: Ivanka took her two-year-old son Joseph to the park on Sunday before they jetted back to their home in New York City

In the sweet snapshot celebrating the upcoming year, Ivanka is wearing a figure-hugging pink dress that showcases her belly, and Jared's arm can be seen around her waist.

The couple, who are parents to a four-year-old daughter, Arabella, and a two-year-old son, Joseph, appear to be enjoying some along time together as they await the arrival of their third child in the spring.

The next day, the executive vice president of development and acquisitions at the Trump Organization spent some quality time at the playground with her youngest child.

'Playing hard on the last day of holiday!' she captioned a photo of Joseph sitting on a swing.

Beautiful family: Ivanka shared this stunning photo of her and her husband posed with their four-year-old daughter Arabella at the Trump family's Mar-a-Lago estate on New Year's Eve

Fast asleep: Earlier in the day, Ivanka celebrated Joseph's 'last nap of 2015' by sharing this precious photo of him snoozing under an umbrella at the beach

The adorable toddler can be seen enjoying the Florida weather in a graphic T-Shirt and a navy Ralph Lauren hat.

Last week, Ivanka spent New Year's Eve on the beach with Joseph, celebrating his 'last nap' of 2015, before donning an elegant beaded, white halter gown to ring in the New Year with Jared and Arabella.

The proud mother shared a photo of herself posed with Jared and Arabella, while Joseph was presumably tucked in bed.

In the picture, the expectant mom is glowing, and the chief executive of Kushner Companies looks dapper in a tux as he holds Arabella on his hip.

'Kissing goodbye to 2015!' Ivanka and photographer Abbey Drucker puckered up for the camera to celebrate the New Year in style

'My loves': Ivanka has been sharing personal photos of her and her family with her 705,000 Instagram followers throughout her vacation, including this snapshot of Arabella hugging Joseph

For the festive event, the couple's eldest child donned a white party dress featuring black beading around the neckline and hem along with a black beaded headband.

'Hot dates! #nye [sic],' Ivanka captioned the stunning family photo.

Later that night, she and photographer Abbey Drucker puckered up for the camera in a playful selfie that Ivanka shared with her 705,000 Instagram followers.

'Kissing goodbye to 2015! #nye #2016 [sic],' Ivanka wrote.

Over the summer Abbey photographed Ivanka for her first campaign for her eponymous fine jewelry brand, and it appears that the business woman invited her to escape the New York City weather and spend the holiday at her family's mansion.

Kind wishes: 'I hope everyone is enjoying a peaceful time with the ones you love. Happy holidays,' Ivanka wrote when she posted this family portrait on Christmas Day

Photoshop fail? Ivanka's baby bump is significantly larger on the February 2016 cover of Town & Country, which was presumably shot before she headed on vacation for the holidays

And while Ivanka, who is due to give birth in the early spring, has been forgoing alcohol, she recently told Us Weekly that she has been indulging in 'pregnancy mocktails' of seltzer water and pomegranate juice.

But before she got dolled up to celebrate the start of 2016, Ivanka spent a relaxing morning on the beach with her family, posting a precious photo of Joseph wearing Frends Taylor rose gold headphones while he slept soundly under a beach umbrella.

'Last nap of 2015!' she captioned the image, which sees her cuddling with her sleeping toddler.

Ivanka has been sharing plenty of photos on Instagram showcasing her adorable baby bump and her gorgeous family, including some from Belize as she and Jared jetted off on a baby moon just before Christmas.

However, her burgeoning belly appears to have gotten a boost in the photo featured on the cover of Town & Country's February issue.

Bump boost? The proud mother's growing belly looks larger and rounder in the Town & Country images (right) compared to in the vacation images she shared on Instagram months after the shoot (left)

So in love: Jared and Ivanka posed for a photo while enjoying a romantic dinner on the beach in Belize

Ivanka can be seen flaunting her round, protruding stomach in two images from the shoot, but her bump is far less pronounced in the photos she has shared of herself on vacation in Mar-a-Lago and Belize, making it appear as though the images from her shoot were altered to make her stomach look larger.

On the cover of the magazine, the expectant mom can be seen arching her back with one hand on her hip. Her other hand is holding the bottom of her stomach, so that her flowing blush-colored Carolina Herrera dress is stretched across her belly.

Meanwhile, another shot from inside the magazine sees her in a similar position while wearing a form-fitting Dolce &Gabbana gown.

The shoot presumably took place before she jetted off to Belize last month; however, when Ivanka stood in a nearly identical pose during her getaway, her stomach appears significantly smaller.

In one image Ivanka shared with her 700,000 Instagram followers, she is wearing an aqua one-piece swimsuit paired with fringed cover-up.
2015 may have been the year Jaden Smith said yes to the dress, but it looks like 2016 is the year he will make a career out of it.

The 17-year-old son of Hollywood stars Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith has been revealed as the face of Louis Vuittons Spring/Summer 2016 collections - appearing in ads for the brand's women's collection.

'Happy to introduce Jaden Smith @christiaingrey in the new SS16 @louisvuitton ad campaign photographed by Bruce Weber,' wrote Louis Vuitton's creative director Nicholas Ghesquiere on Instagram, where the ad campaign made its debut.

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Unveiled: Jaden Smith, 17, stars in a new ad campaign for Louis Vuittons Spring/Summer 2016 womenswear collections wearing an embroidered skirt

Strike a pose: Jaden bares his legs in the group shot, wearing the same knee-length style skirt as the female models starring alongside him

Looking ahead: The teenager also wears a fringed top, glovelets and a black moto jacket in the campaign

The new ad campaign sees Jaden as the sole male featured alongside several female models, all posing on a sidewalk.

Jaden pairs a metal-embroidered skirt with a fringed white top and a retro leather moto jacket, topping the look off with a pair of glovelets and loafers.

Over the last year the older brother to recording artist Willow Smith has revealed that he has a penchant for wearing women's clothing, and has been seen sporting skirts and dresses on a regular basis.

The teen also set chins wagging when he wore a dress to his prom earlier this year, when he accompanied Hunger Games star Amandla Stenberg in a black jacket and white skirt.

Good stock: Jaden is the son of Hollywood stars Will Smith (left) and Jada Pinkett Smith (right)

Speaking out: The teen, who is pictured in December 2013, is a vocal advocate for gender-fluid clothing, even jokingly writing on Twitter, 'Went To TopShop To Buy Some Girl Clothes, I Mean "Clothes"'

Nothing new: Jaden (pictured left at Coachella Music Festival in April and right in November) has become famous in recent years for his eccentric, 'genderless' styles, which often include wearing skirts or dresses

He has also previously taken aim at critics on social media over his choice of outfit, writing: 'Went To TopShop To Buy Some Girl Clothes, I Mean "Clothes".'

The skirts and dresses aren't the first time the youngster has stirred up fashion furor. He also famously wore a white Batman costume to Kim Kardashian and Kanye Wests wedding in May 2014.

Earlier this year Jaden mused on his personal style in an interview with GQ, explaining how 'wearing super drapey things' makes him feel like 'a super hero'.

Arm candy: Jaden is currently dating 19-year-old Sarah Snyder, who he was first spotted with at the May premiere for Pitch Perfect 2

'Im just expressing how I feel inside, which is really no particular way because everyday it changes how I feel about the world and myself,' he said.

Aside from his fashion endeavors, Jaden has several acting projects in the works, including an upcoming appearance alongside Jackie Chan in The Karate Kid 2, the follow up to his 2010 turn in the remake of the 1984 classic.

Jaden is also due to star in Netflix series The Get Down, which follows teens living in the South Bronx in the 1970s using music to further their community.
Steven Lee Clarke, 59, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence-manslaughter late Thursday night

Matthew took to Facebook to share a message reflecting on his past year and looking to the future just hours before his fatal accident

in Largo on Thursday when he was struck by a drunk driver

A Marine Corps veteran who was tragically killed in a motorcycle accident on New Year's Eve is continuing to spread a message of hope and gratitude through his final Facebook post, shared shortly before his death.

Matthew DeRemer, a 31-year-old surgical technologist from Seminole, Florida, was riding his motorcycle in Largo on Thursday when he was struck by a drunk driver, and was killed. However, that same morning, Matthew had shared a heartfelt post on his Facebook account, urging others to take advantage of each day, an inspirational message which has since been read and shared by tens of thousands of people.

Just hours before the accident, the Iraq War posted a quote on his page which read: 'We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day.'

Tragic loss: Matthew DeRemer, a 31-year-old Marine Corps veteran from Seminole, Florida, was riding his motorcycle on New Year's Eve when he was struck by a drunk driver and died at the scene

Wise words: Just hours before his fatal accident, Matthew shared this photo to celebrate the end of 2015

And in his accompanying message, Matthew reflected on the past year and looked forward to his future.

'Last day of 2015!!!! For me I'll be meditating through all I do, on this entire year,' he wrote. 'I've lost, I've gained, family is closer and tougher than ever before, loved ones lost, and new friends found.

'There has been many times where I've been found on my knees in prayer for hours (relentless) and other times leading a group of people in prayer, my faith (that I love to share) is an everyday awakening (to me) that people, lives, and circumstances can change for the better OVER TIME.

'I look back at 2015's huge challenges that I've overcome, shared with others, and have once again found myself... To say thank you and BRING ON 2016, much works to be done!' he added. 'And I really don't know where I'll end up tonight but I do know where I wind up is where I'm meant to be.'

Inspiring post: The surgical technologist reflected on his past year and looked toward the future in the message accompanying the image he shared

Beautiful start: Matthew, who is pictured with his Suzuki motorcycle, called the morning before his death 'most uplifting morning in a long time'

In the comment section of his post, Matthew added that his goal this year is to live as selflessly as possible while battling all obstacles.

'Life "it isn't about me or my wants, its about all the people who need love in their lives that been lost over time." Lol this morning has been the most uplifting morning in a long time! [sic]' he continued.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Steven Lee Clarke, 59, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence-manslaughter late Thursday night following the crash that killed Matthew.

Fulfilling life: Matthew served in the Iraq War and went on to work as a surgical technologist at the West Bay Surgical Center

And after his death, Matthew's friends started re-posting his final Facebook post, which has since been shared more than 1,100 times.

Many commenters have taken a moment to praise Matthew for his wise words while offering condolences to his family and friends.

'Very sad to learn of this; the words from this post should be an example for all of us to go by. RIP fallen rider,' Steve Hall wrote.

Spreading the word: After his tragic death, more than 1,000 people shared his final Facebook message

Life lost: Steven Lee Clarke (pictured), 59, was arrested and charged with driving under the influence-manslaughter late Thursday night after the crash that killed Matthew

Meanwhile, Jerry Iredale added: 'Bro I dont know you, but I read the post last night. This last post you made is sad asf. Honestly made me shed a few tears. You basically wrote your own obituary. RIP and godspeed [sic].'

WTSP reports that Matthews family and friends have been gathering at a small memorial at the intersection where he was killed, sharing messages of love on the cross placed on the side of the road.
The country allows polygamy, and the King's father is married to four sisters, but the reigning King has said he will stay married only to Jetsun

Bhutan, which means 'Land of the Dragons', became a democracy in 2008, two years after the then-28-year-old King ascended the throne

Bump watch has officially begun in Bhutan, almost two months after the King and Queen announced that they are expecting a son.

King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, 35, and his 25-year-old wife Jetsun Pema have released a loving shot of themselves cradling Jetson's belly while lounging in the grounds at the Paro Ugyen Pelri Palace.

The photo, which also appears in the official calendars released by the Bhutanese government, shows Jetsun heavily pregnant, as she is due next month.

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Happy news: Dragon King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck and his wife, Queen Jetsun Pema, shared the first photo of her baby bump since announcing her pregnancy in November

Baby makes three: The two can be seen holding her belly, which is already quite big - as the Queen is due in February

Expanding their family: The couple announced that they were expecting a boy four years after they tied the knot, in October of 2011 (pictured)

'I'm deeply pleased to announce that Jetsun and I look forward to the birth of our son,' the King said in a statement, in mid-November.

He added: 'I consider my son extremely fortunate, because he will be born in our blessed country. We owe our good fortune, our peace, prosperity, and security to His Majesty the Fourth Druk Gyalpo.'

The Himalayan monarch is officially referred to as the Druk Gyalpo, or Dragon King, because Bhutan translates to 'Land of the Dragons'.

The current king and soon-to-be-dad ascended the throne in 2006 at the tender age of 26, after his father, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck, abdicated so that he could take his place.

The progressive former King also introduced democracy to the country. Unlike his son, who plans to have a monogamous marriage, the former King has four wives - all sisters who he married on the same day.

On October 13, 2011, the new King married the Dragon Queen, who at the time was an international relations student at Regent's College in London.

So happy: While dating, their relationship made headlines when the King was openly affectionate with Jetsun - something that was unusual in the country

Proud dad: The 35-year-old King said he considers his unborn son 'extremely fortunate' because he will be born in Bhutan

The match made headlines at the time because the young King was more openly affectionate with his wife than citizens, who had no legal access to television until 1999, were used to.

However, his very public displays of affection - which included kissing his wife on the cheek and holding her hand - was well-received by young people, who News.com.au reports started following suit.

That is, perhaps, because the King has had his eye on the queen for so long.

According to some reports, the couple first met when the Queen was just seven and the King was 17, at a family picnic in Bhutan's capital of Thimphu.

Though Queen Jetsun's father is an airline pilot, she does come from aristocratic blood. One of her great-grandfathers was lord of the eastern province of Tashigang, and a grandfather was the half-brother of the wife of a former King of the country.

Passing the torch: The current King ascended to the throne when his father, King Jigme Singye Wangchuck (far right) abdicated. Unlike his father, who has four wives - all sisters - the current king plans to have only one

When they met at the picnic, the future King allegedly told her: 'When you grow up, if I am single and not married and if you are single and not married, I would like you to be my wife, provided we still feel the same.'

And apparently, they did. In 2011 they wed at a 17th-century fortress in the country's former capital of Punakha.

The wedding was a three-day celebration that included dancing and performances. Thousands of people dressed in traditional colored robes stood outside the fortified monastery, while monks chanted and hit drums as white incense drifted in the air.

The bride and groom's faces also appeared on merchandise, much as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's faces did in the time leading up to their nuptials.

'She is a wonderful human being. Intelligent,' the King told reporters at the time. 'She and I share one big thing in common, a love and passion for art.'
Bad news if your favourite brew is a triple-venti soy latte made from Ethiopian Arabica beans.

Britains coffee shop boom could be about to come to a grinding halt, as experts warn the supply of top quality beans looks set to run out by the end of the decade.

The increased demand for fancy cappuccinos and lattes, rather than a mug of instant, has led to a massive price war on the high street and, as a result, Brits are getting their daily caffeine fix far too cheaply, they say.

Experts have warned that our increased demand for fancy coffee has prompted a high-street price war

Farmers who grow beans for the high-end coffee market are ditching coffee production in favour of other, more profitable crops in countries from Ethiopia to Vietnam, according to analysts at research consultancy Allegra Strategies.

Within three to five years, this could lead to a shortage of the Arabica beans which supply Britain - and the rest of the world - with their more luxurious lattes and expensive espressos.

And the result will be more expensive espressos and luxurious lattes, which will make the current prices pale in comparison.

The price of Arabica beans on the wholesale market fell by 35 per cent worldwide last year, according to recent figures from analysts Mintec.

We now prefer cappuccinos and lattes to a mug of instant, and spend almost 8 billion on coffee every year

And while 2 or more per cup may seem like a lot of money, Brits and other coffee drinkers are actually getting a luxury product for a bargain basement price, according to Allegra Strategies' Jeffrey Young.

Figures from Allegra recently showed the number of coffee shops in Britain has more than doubled in the past decade - from almost 9,000 in 2005 to more than 20,000 last year.

The figure rose by 10 per cent last year alone and as a nation, the UK now drinks 2.2 billions cups of coffee from these outlets every year. Sales are now worth almost 8 billion annually.

Experts warn we're now getting our coffee far too cheaply, prompting farmers to ditch the coffee bean trade

But the price has hardly risen during that time, and that affects suppliers who, traditionally, grow Arabica beans at high altitudes on small plots of land in hot countries, from Asia to Africa and Latin America.

Jeffrey added: [It is] the rising tide of quality that has been keeping this industry alive.

This thirst for high-quality coffee means that production is not keeping up with demand at a global scale, so stocks have been declining.
Supermarkets want laws to force a 50 per cent cut in the sugar content of cakes, biscuits, breakfast cereals, chocolate bars, sweets and fizzy drinks.

The measure would compel retailers, fast food chains, coffee shops and others to reduce sugar  in the biggest change in the national diet ever seen.

It is a remarkable U-turn for supermarkets  which have previously fought legal controls on sugar content  and means they have effectively joined forces with health campaigners.

Supermarkets are backing proposals to cut the sugar levels in sweets by 50 per cent (file picture)

The law would require a radical change to the recipe of popular foods and some may have to cut portion sizes.

Food groups included in the crackdown would be biscuits, cakes, pastries, fruit pies and puddings. Also on the list are sweets, chocolate bars, yogurt, dairy desserts, breakfast cereals, sugar-sweetened drinks and even table sugar.

Manufacturers might reduce sugar in stages, on the basis consumers would get used to the taste over time.

Alternatively, sugar could be replaced with lower-calorie natural alternatives, such as plant extract stevia.

Supermarkets want mandatory controls, requiring sugar to be removed from foods, to be the centrepiece of the Governments childhood obesity strategy, expected in February.

In the past the retail giants supported measures under Responsibility Deals set up by the Government to ask firms to make reductions voluntarily.

But the British Retail Consortium, which speaks for supermarkets, said these have failed to deliver the comprehensive sugar cuts necessary to protect the nations health.

The Government has also given up on the deals, with ministers apparently willing to adopt tougher legal controls.

The BRCs Andrew Opie said: We believe well make the most progress by having targets for reducing sugar from those categories contributing the most to excessive consumption by children, as part of a wider reduction strategy.

To be effective, they need to apply to all food companies, which is why they need to be mandatory  It means we see change across the board and those companies that are more progressive in removing sugar are not penalised.

Experts say the sugar reductions could reduce the amount of sugar consumed by children by 26g per day, or around 6.5 teaspoons (file picture)

We recognise that reducing sugar is not the only approach and in some cases we would look at other methods such as appropriate portion sizes alongside targets.

We believe this approach is possible through consultation to agree appropriate targets and reduction over a suitable period that allows consumer tastes to change and companies to adapt. The proposals echo a recent Public Health England study, Sugar Reduction: The Evidence for Action.

The PHE estimated that cutting the sugar content of targeted foods by 50 per cent would reduce the amount consumed by children aged 11-18 by 26g a day  6.5 teaspoons.

Sugar consumption for those aged four to ten would fall by 19g a day and the figure for adults by around 17g a day.

Health experts argue this would be sufficient to halt the growing obesity epidemic that is fuelling ill-health, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes and some cancers.

The study also raised the possibility of adding a sugar tax to fizzy drinks, but David Cameron is understood to be opposed to this. Professor Graham MacGregor, of campaign group Action on Sugar, described the supermarkets support as an amazing breakthrough.

But there is opposition from some manufacturers, restaurants and food chains.

Tim Rycroft, of the Food & Drink Federation, said firms should be able to decide for themselves how to deal with sugar rather than being forced to make changes.
Widespread sugar consumption among children puts the UK among the worst in Europe for childhood obesity (picture posed by model)

Five-year old children eat their body weight in sugar every year, stark new figures reveal.

They consume an average of 22 kilos  nearly three and a half stone the same as 5,500 sugar cubes.

This is three times the recommended amount and is leading to obesity and tooth decay. The figures are based on a Government survey of the eating habits of 3,400 children aged four to ten.

They have been published ahead of a campaign to encourage patients to buy healthier foods by using a smartphone App, which tells them the sugar content of products.

But campaigners said this was merely a gimmick which would do little to curb the very high rates of obesity in children and adults.

The Government is expected to publish its long-awaited new obesity strategy at the end of the month amid accusations they have repeatedly failed to address the crisis.

A fifth of five-year-olds and a third of 11-year-olds are overweight or obese and although rates are no longer rising, they are amongst the worst in Europe.

Ministers have been accused by experts of being too cosy with the food industry by allowing to set their own targets for making products healthier.

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They have also resisted growing calls to introduce a sugar tax on fizzy drinks  as exists in France  claiming it would unfairly penalise poorer families.

Government guidelines recommend that five year old children should eat no more than five teaspoons of sugar a day, or 1,825 teaspoons a year.

But findings from its survey suggest they eat 5,500 teaspoons  or sugar cubes  nearly three times this amount.

Children eat 3.5 stone in sugar each year through cakes, fizzy drinks and sweets (file picture)

Dr Alison Tedstone, chief nutritionist for Public Health England, the Government agency responsible for tackling obesity, said: Children are having too much sugar, three times the maximum recommended amount.

This can lead to painful tooth decay, weight gain and obesity, which can also affect childrens well-being as they are more likely to be bullied, have low self-esteem and miss school.

Children aged five shouldnt have more than 19 grams of sugar per day - thats five cubes, but its very easy to have more.

The app will enable parents to scan in the barcodes of 75,000 products to find out how many cubes of sugar they contain.

Supermarkets such as Tesco, ASDA Morrisons and the Co-operative Food have all signed up alongside manufacturers including Weetabix and Flora.

But Tam Fry, spokesman of the National Obesity Forum, was sceptical and said firms were keen to be seen to be piling in on healthy food drives.

He also pointed out that the Government statistics were two months old as they were first published in October.

He added: The app is a cute idea but some somewhat irrelevant.

A glance at the ingredients list on any packaging will tell you immediately what the products  total sugars  are and the app wont tell you any more.

Instead of messing around with gimmicks, Public Health England would be better advised to publish how how little sugar should be given to infants and toddlers.

The survey has only been carried out once so it is not possible to determine if sugar consumption is increasing.

Separate research shows that adults eat around 34g of sugar a day and this has remained broadly stable in recent decades.

Professor Russell Viner from Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, said the Government should introduce a 20 per cent sugar tax on soft drinks.

Only with a combination of education and the introduction of tough new policies will we be able to support people to make healthy food choices. He added.
Infertility treatments do not contribute to developmental delays in children, scientists revealed.

There is no heightened risk of developmental delays by the age of seven in children conceived through IVF or other infertility treatments, a new study found.

As a result, scientists concluded that children conceived via IVF are no more likely to have developmental delays than children conceived naturally.

This finding alleviates longstanding concerns that infertility treatments may affect an embryo at a sensitive stage and could result in lifelong disability.

Children conceived through IVF (pictured) are no more likely to have developmental delays than those children conceived naturally, a new study has revealed

Scientists from the National Institute of Health examined developmental assessment scores of more than 1,800 children born to women who became pregnant after infertility treatment.

They compared the results to those of more than 4,000 children born to women who didnt undergo the treatment.

There were no differences in development assessments in the two groups, according to Dr Edwina Yeung, an investigator at NIHs Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Dr Yeung said: When we began our study, there was little research on the potential effects of conception via fertility treatments on US children.

Our results provide reassurance to the thousands of couples who have relied on these treatments to establish their families.'

The Upstate KIDS study enrolled babies born to women in New York state between 2008 and 2010.

Our results provide reassurance to the thousands of couples who have relied on these treatments to establish their families Dr Edwina Yeung, from NIHs Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Parents of infants whose birth certificates indicated infertility treatment were invited to enroll their children in the study, as were all parents of twins and other multiples.

The researchers also recruited roughly three times as many parents with a baby that was not conceived through infertility treatment.

Four months after giving birth, the mothers indicated on a questionnaire the type of infertility treatment they received.

Those treatments included including in vitro fertilisation (IVF); frozen embryo transfer; assisted hatching; gamete intrafallopian transfer; zygote intrafallopian transfer; ovulation induction, and intrauterine insemination.

Participants also completed a questionnaire that screened children for developmental disabilities at numerous intervals throughout their childs first three years of life.

The questionnaire covered five domains: fine motor skills, gross motor skills, communication, personal and social functioning, and problem solving ability.

Researchers found that children conceived through infertility treatments scored similarly to other children in the developmental assessments.

They then considered only children conceived through fertility treatment.

The study allays longstanding concerns that infertility treatments can affect embryos at sensitive stages, which in turn could lead to lifelong disabilities

The scientists found that those children were at increased risk for failing any one of the five domains in the assessment exam, with the greatest likelihood of failing the personal-social and problem solving domains.

But, they found that twins were more likely to fail a domain than were single born children.

As a result, when the researchers compensated for the greater percentage of twins in the fertility treatment group than in the non-treatment group  44 per cent compared to 19 per cent  they found no significant difference between them in failing any of the five domains.

Furthermore, of the children diagnosed with a disability at three or four years old, the researchers saw no significant difference between the treatment and non-treatment groups.

Thirteen per cent of the treatment group had disabilities, compared to 18 per cent of the non-treatment group.

Dr Yeung said that because it is not always possible to diagnose some forms of developmental disability by three years of age, the research team will continue to evaluate the children periodically until they reach eight years of age.
Feeling lonely can vastly elevate a person's risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer, scientists warn.

Lacking a network of friends or family is as dangerous to your health as a lack of physical inactivity in youth or diabetes in old age, their research found.

Scientists from the University of North Carolina examined the association between relationships and healthiness across each life stage.

They determined that weak relationships in younger years can increase your risk of inflammation  at the same rate as lack of exercise.

Furthermore, hypertension in old age is more likely to occur as a result of loneliness than clinical risk factors, including diabetes.

Lacking a network of family or friends - and living a life of loneliness - has been found to increase your risk of heart disease, stroke and cancer, according to a new study

Yet, people who have the support of loved ones are less likely to develop health conditions  and more likely to have a longer life expectancy.

Dr Kathleen Mullan Harris, of UNC and the Carolina Population Center, said: Based on these findings, it should be as important to encourage adolescents and young adults to build broad social relationships and skills for interacting with others as it is to eat healthy and be physically active.

Previous studies found that aging adults live longer if they have more social connections.

The new study builds on that research  demonstrating how social relationships reduce the risk of poor health at each stage of life.

The size of a persons social network is important for health in early and late adulthood.

People who have the support of loved ones were found to be less likely to develop health conditions  such as those that lead to heart problems  and thus have a higher life expectancy, according to the study

Social integration in adolescence was found to protect against abdominal obesity.

Researchers found body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference were higher among those with lower levels of social integration during adolescence.

And, in old age, social isolation can exacerbate a host of health problems, they said.

But, in middle adulthood, the number of social connections do not appear to matter as much as the level of support or strain they provide.

Dr Harris said: The relationship between health and the degree to which people are integrated in large social networks is strongest at the beginning and at the end of life, and not so important in middle adulthood, when the quality, not the quantity, of social relationships matters.

The scientists assessed data from four surveys of the US population that, collectively, covered the lifespan from adolescence to old age.

One of the four studies examined found that having a strong social base earlier in life led to a 54 per cent reduction in the chances of developing hypertension later.

Dr Yang Claire Yang, of UNC, CPC and the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center said: We studied the interplay between social relationships, behavioral factors and physiological dysregulation that, over time, lead to chronic diseases of aging  cancer being a prominent example.

Our analysis makes it clear that doctors, clinicians and other health workers should redouble their efforts to help the public understand how important strong social bonds are throughout the course of all of our lives.
The threat of a Pathankot-like terror strike looms large over the national Capital, which is preparing to host the Republic Day parade this month.

The threat perception has become more real in the wake of intel inputs that two Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants have snuck into Delhi to carry out high-profile attacks.

Adding to the concerns of the security agencies, various armed contingents have already arrived at the Delhi Cantonment for the parade, which also sees display of Indias weaponry.

Armymen get ready for action at the air force base in Pathankot on January 3 following an attack by gunmen

Reacting to the specific inputs received by Delhi Police Special Cell, the armed forces establishment and police stations located at isolated places have been put on high alert.

Also, security has been beefed up in sensitive zones and prominent establishments that may be targeted by suicide attackers. There is high probability that the attack could take place in January itself.

There is a possibility of terror attacks on isolated police stations or contingents of the armed forces. It is imperative for the local police to be prepared round-the-clock. It is also necessary that mock drills are carried out to assess the response time, status of weapons and equipment, mobility and coordination with the Special Forces," said a letter issued recently by the Deputy Police Commissioner (Special cell).

Sensing the gravity of the threat, Delhi Police commissioner BS Bassi, in a recent meeting, asked districts units to prepare their SWAT teams so that Delhi Police can easily avert or combat any possible terror attack.

Teams have also been asked to be prepared for a hostage-like situation.

Forces' meet

According to sources, in a couple of days, top officials of paramilitary forces, the Delhi Police, NSG and other forces will convene a coordination meeting to avert any terror attack in Delhi.

A meeting is scheduled with all top officials of security forces on Monday or Tuesday. Also, Delhis major establishment will see multiple mock drills so that agencies can understand flaws in coordination and preparedness and rectify it, sources said.

A Delhi Police SWAT vehicle stands guard at India Gate after reports emerged that two Jaish-e-Mohammed terrosists had snuck into the Capital after the attack on Pathankot air base

Meanwhile, Delhi Police say they are ready to deal with any attack, including a Pathankot-type attack.

Delhi Police is fully prepared to deal with any attack. Every police station is equipped to deal with any such attack. We also request the public to give information to the police about any suspicious activity, person and object. Public participation is equally important, Special Commissioner of Police (DG Scale) Deepak Mishra told Mail Today.

Districts have also alerted standby forces to deal with any fidayeen attack, even if it takes place at isolated police stations.

We are ready to react with equal force in case any attack takes place. Every police station, be it at an isolated place, is equipped with arms and ammunitions and a professional staff, Joint Commissioner of Police, South Western Range, Dependra Pathak, told Mail Today.

In a recently-held meeting, Bassi had said all districts will constitute SWAT teams on the lines of the Indira Gandhi International Airport police to combat any attack.

Importantly, the anti-terror unit has also urged mock drills to check coordination between all security agencies. According to sources, terrorists are eyeing police stations situated on the outskirts of the Capital as they are easy targets.

The Capital was put on high alert following December 2nd's terrorist attack in Pathankot

Various police stations like the ones in Jafarpur Kalan and Narela are situated at isolated areas. These stations do not have good connectivity with the main city but police station staff has been briefed about such attacks. We have prepared routes and plan to react to any terrorist attack, a top Delhi Police official said.

In a tweet on Sunday, Bassi had appealed citizens to be vigilant.

Citizens' vigil against suspicious persons/objects/ activities is vital to counter-terrorism. Report anything amiss on 100 or helpline number 1090, he tweeted.

According to a senior police official, Bassi held a meeting on Sunday with the polices top brass and the department sought help of central paramilitary forces in providing security, especially around vital installations in the city.

Sneaked in

We have inputs regarding two Jaish-e-Mohammed key members who have sneaked into Delhi and are suspected to be planning high-profile attacks. We have also got a few additional companies of paramilitary forces to increase security following the alert, a senior official said.

'There was no security lapse'

By Mail Today in New Delhi

Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said four terrorists were killed in the gun-fight on January 2

Hours after Home Minister Rajnath Singh tweeted that the counter-terror operation in Pathankot had been completed with the killing of five Pakistani terrorists, the Centre said at least two more assassins were still holed up. He later deleted his tweets.

We are sure that still there are at least two more terrorists as firing has been heard from two different places. We are not sure whether there are some more. We will come to know the number of terrorists only after the completion of the operation and body count, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said.

Asked about the Rajnaths tweet, Mehrishi said he was giving authentic information and did not know what others were saying.

According to the home secretary, a superintendent of police who was kidnapped along with two others on Friday and let off later, had said that there were only four terrorists.

Mehrishi said four terrorists were killed in the gun fight on Saturday while firing resumed on Sunday afternoon at two places at the Pathankot airbase. The home secretary countered media reports that there were lapse in the counter-terror operation.

There was no lapse. Some casualties are obvious when there is an operation of this scale, he said.
Troubling questions have been raised about the unusually long time the security forces took to eliminate the intruders who attacked the Pathankot airbase in the early hours of Saturday.

The explanation offered by government sources is that the heads on the ground were told by the political leadership in New Delhi to avoid collateral damage - and, if possible, catch any of the terrorists alive to gather evidence about the people behind the attack.

The directives had flown from an emergency meeting convened by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to brainstorm over the Pathankot operation and the attack on Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif in Afghanistan.

Security forces conduct combing operations at the Pathankot airbase

The opening of two fronts by the terrorists at the same time caught the government in a tight spot.

While there were no casualties in Mazar-i-Sharif as the Indo-Tibet Police Force (ITBP) commandos, guarding the consulate, keeping suicide attackers away from the building, the toll of seven in Pathankot sapped spirits in New Delhi.

By evening, it was claimed that the remaining two terrorists who were holding the fort in a Defence Security Corps (DSC) mess were killed.

Sporadic gun shots were heard even late in the evening, but it was claimed to be part of the mop-up operation being carried out by the security forces.

The National Security Guard (NSG), Indian Air Force (IAF) and army officers claimed there was no collateral damage to strategic air force assets.

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that the security forces had succeeded in their mission to secure assets at the air base and most of the casualties were suffered only in the early hours of the attack.

The government faced flak for rushing to declare victory against the terrorists on Saturday itself, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Cabinet colleagues - Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar and Home Minister Rajnath Singh - dropped hints about the finality of the operation by commending the soldiers for killing all the four intruders.

But the emergence of two more terrorists led to another prolonged round of operations lasting more than 40 hours.

Sources said there had been contact with the terrorists since 7.30pm on Sunday.

An armyman on guard during the operation against the militants at the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot

In another interesting revelation, sources said the IAF had been tipped off about a possible terrorist strike at one of its bases in Punjab, resulting in tighter security.

Following the alert, western air command chief SB Deo was in Pathankot. When the IAF helicopters captured thermal images of suspect movement in the airbase on Saturday, a counter-operation was immediately launched with DSC personnel coming in the line of fire, some of them falling in the first contact.

The IAFs in-house commando unit, Garud, challenged the attackers. Corporal Gursewak Singh of Garud commando force was martyred in the gunfight.

The NSG was flown to the base as reinforcements along with the army, which deployed eight columns (around 300 personnel) armed with three BMP-armoured personnel carriers. Six Casspir mine resistant vehicles were also deployed.

Sources said that the terrorists had entered the airbase as a single group and split later.

The conversation between the terrorists was intercepted, and they were heard talking about some of them falling behind the other members.

The confusion about the exact number of terrorists was attributed to the fact one of the phones used by the terrorists was not found on the four killed in the first contact.

The perimeter wall (10 feet high with two feet wire mesh above it) of the Pathankot airbase is around 25 kilometers long. It is a sprawling complex with a stream passing through a section.

Sources said terrorists could have used the stream to gain entry into the airbase and there have been cases of animals straying into the complex from this stream route.

The technical area of the airbase, where the fighter jets, attack helicopters and missiles are kept, is fenced and segregated from the residential area and other establishments.

The terrorists were confined to the residential blocks targeting the DSC personnel mess.

The base also has two schools - a Kendriya Vidyalaya and another run by the IAF. Around 1,500 are at the base at any given point of time.

Fate of Indo-Pak talks hangs in the balance

By Mail Today in New Delhi

Keeping all its options open, New Delhi will wait for evidence of Pakistan's involvement in the Pathankot attack to decide the fate of the foreign secretary-level talks slated to be held in Islamabad on January 15.

Government sources are firm that the attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed, but the Centre is trying to verifying if it was directly controlled by Pakistan.

The government may call off talks if Pakistans direct involvement in the Pathankot airbase attack is proven

Any whiff of the Pakistan governments complicity in attack will derail talks, sources said.

There is a strong view emerging within the government that talks should not be cancelled, but it will become difficult for New Delhi to go ahead with the dialogue if the Pakistan governments involvement is proved.

India has long maintained that talks and terror cannot go together, but there had been a change in the stand when Prime Minister Narendra Modi paid a dramatic visit to Lahore to wish his Pakistani counterpart on his birthday and attend his granddaughters wedding.

Sources said if the talks are held, the focus will entirely be on terrorism. The officials are in a tight spot as cancelling talks will only help the cause of the terrorists, who want to scuttle the resumption of the dialogue.

The two foreign secretaries were to chalk out the contours of the bilateral comprehensive dialogue to resolve all the outstanding issues. The attack on Pathankot airbase and the strike on Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif have put a question mark over the entire process.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said any decision on the talks will be taken only when the operation is over.
Pressure is mounting on the boss of Marks & Spencer with the City braced for another set of grim Christmas figures this week as it emerged the head of its new loyalty card had been fired.

M&S chief executive Marc Bolland will preside over a dismal set of third quarter results on Thursday with analysts forecasting sales for its clothing down by more than 5 per cent.

The mild autumn and competition from online retailers such as Amazon has damaged demand for high street retailers like M&S.

Under pressure: Pressure is mounting on the boss of Marks & Spencer with the City braced for another set of grim Christmas figures this week as it emerged the head of its new loyalty card had been fired

Thursdays figures follow an equally bad performance last year of a 5.8 per cent fall in sales.

City analysts had hoped for an improvement this year but the impact of competition from discounting due to Black Friday in November and the milder than normal weather has hit the performance of many retailers this Christmas.

Analysts at Nomura forecast M&S clothing sales could be down by as much as 5.5 per cent. Experts also expect Next to have had a tough time with Jefferies forecasting sales growth of 4 per cent compared with a year ago, down from earlier estimates of 7.6 per cent.

Traditional retailers such as M&S have been hit by the growth of online only operations such as US giant Amazon which is expected to have had a strong Christmas period.

Low expectations: M&S chief executive Marc Bolland (pictured) will preside over a dismal set of third quarter results on Thursday with analysts forecasting sales for its clothing down by more than 5 per cent

Veteran retail analyst Nick Bubb said he expected M&Ss general merchandise business  the division that includes womens and men's clothing  to be down 3 per cent on the same period last year but said the key figure is the performance of clothing in its shops  excluding online  which he said could be down as much as 7 or 8 per cent.

M&S is partly protected by the strong performance of its food business which is expected to see sales growth of 0.3 per cent over the quarter.

The latest survey on the performance of Britains shops revealed consumers hit the high street and shopping centres to return and exchange unwanted gifts.

Retail specialists Springboard UK reported that there was a rush to take back unwanted Christmas gifts on Tuesday 29th December, which it dubbed 'Take Back Tuesday', with the number of visitors up 5.1 per cent compared with the previous year and on Saturday 2nd January it rose 9.7 per cent.

Tasty: M&S is partly protected by the strong performance of its food business which is expected to see sales growth of 0.3 per cent over the quarter

It emerged at the weekend that Suzanna Broer, head of M&S new Sparks reward card loyalty scheme, had been fired for gross misconduct in mid-November.

M&S would not comment on the case but a spokesman said: We will always take all the necessary steps to protect our employees from discrimination of any kind.

The departure Broer, who was regarded as a rising star, is the latest management change. Head of international Jan Heere left in 2014, head of clothing John Dixon left last year and UK retail and website boss Laura Wade-Gery is on maternity leave until September.
Sex worker Ryan Cole (pictured) has opened up about the moment she realised she could be arrested when a stranger demanded sex

A sex worker has opened up about the terrifying moment she realised she was in danger and could be arrested when a stranger sat on the end of her bed and demanded sex.

Ryan Cole was in a Melbourne hotel room when a man, who had booked her services, repeatedly threatened to call the police and refused to leave until she slept with him.

She called security and the man was removed, but not without yelling about how Ms Cole was the one acting illegally.

'I didn't know what to do,' Ms Cole told news.com.au. 'He was just sitting there patiently and calmly threatening to call the police. He seemed to think he would get away with it.

'He was shocked when the security guard removed him, he started yelling, 'she's the one breaking the law'.'

In Victoria, sex workers are not legally allowed to offer services from their hotel room, it has to be in the client's hotel room or in their home.

The industry is so heavily regulated for those working outside of a brothel, that many can end up working on the wrong side of the law.

'I was forced to choose between working in the way I feel most comfortable and most in control but not being compliant or be compliant but having to make other compromises which I decided outweigh the benefits,' Ms Cole said.

Ms Cole, who is the president of sex workers association, the Scarlet Alliance, believes that similar situations of sexual blackmail could unfold in New South Wales if new, tougher regulations for sex workers are introduced.

Proposed changes recommend the creation of a licencing authority to fight sex trafficking, ensure brothel staff are 'fit and proper' and give police power to enter brothels and inspect them.

Ms Cole said heavy regulations on the sex industry in Victoria - similar to those proposed for NSW - were why she had moved to Sydney, where she felt safer in a state with fully decriminalised sex work.

The law was on her side and would prevent blackmail from occurring, she believes.

Laws relating to sex work vary greatly between Australian states.

WHAT IS THE LEGALITY OF SEX WORK ACROSS AUSTRALIA? New South Wales: Sex work is decriminalised across the state.

Australian Capital Territory: Legal with some restrictions.

Victoria: Legal, but has restrictions.

Tasmania: Private sex work is allowed, but brothels are illegal.

South Australia: Sex work is illegal.

Western Australia: Legal but heavily restricted.

Northern Territory: Private sex work, escort agencies legal, brothels illegal.

Queensland: Licensed sex work allowed. Advertisement
A decorated soldier says he was left to rot while lawyers hounded him over the death of an Iraqi civilian 12 years ago. Richard Catterall believed the suspect, who was armed with an AK-47, was threatening the lives of his comrades.

Two inquiries cleared the former sergeant of unlawfully shooting Muhammad Salim dead only for him to now face a third investigation. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he has repeatedly begged to be left alone to the point that investigators apparently feared he would take his own life.

The father of two, who was medically discharged from the Army in 2014 after serving 23 years, said the latest investigation was the final nail in the coffin.

Decorated soldier Richard Catterall, pictured with his two daughters, says he was left to rot while lawyers hounded him over the death of an Iraqi civilian 12 years ago

The 46-year-old waived his right to anonymity after the Daily Mail revealed last month that Mr Salims widow had been persuaded by an agent used by a British law firm to make the claim that he was unlawfully killed.

Mr Catterall said he had thrown his medals from his five tours of Northern Ireland, two tours of Iraq and one tour of Afghanistan in the bin because he been made to feel ashamed of his life of service. Speaking from his small terraced home in Liverpool, he said: The Army have just hung me out to dry.

Mr Catterall, who is struggling financially, said: I am at my wits end. I have a lot to cope with and I just feel like I am going backwards.

I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and now Im scared to go out into the street. I tried to tell them how sick I was.

This latest hearing has been the final nail in the coffin. Ive got worse since this started, Ive isolated myself even more over the last couple of months.'

In a gruelling six-month tour of Iraq in 2003 one bloody firefight lead to Mr Catterall being handed a baby whose arm had been blasted off. Despite his efforts the child died in his arms.

Days later he was on patrol in Basra when he shot Mr Salim in the stomach during an arrest operation.

Mr Catterall, pictured fourth from left, was medically discharged from the Army in 2014 after serving 23 years and said the latest investigation was the final nail in the coffin

British soldiers had been acting on information given to them that up to 15 armed men had been seen entering a property in the port.

As they arrived at the address they heard five rounds of gunfire and were confronted by two armed men.

Mr Catterall shot one of them, believing Mr Salim to be an insurgent and about to shoot. The Iraqi was treated by a combat medic but he died from his injuries in hospital the following day.

It later emerged that the information given to the Army had been wrong, and Mr Salim was a civilian carrying an AK-47 for his own safety.

Mr Catterall said he shot in self-defence thinking his life and those of his comrades were in danger. He said he had followed the rules of engagement

Mr Catterall said he shot in self-defence thinking his life and those of his comrades were in danger. He said he had followed the rules of engagement.

A military investigation at the time and a separate eight-month investigation carried out by the Iraq Historical Allegations Team cleared him of any wrongdoing. IHAT quizzed Mr Catterall after being handed statements by Phil Shiners Public Interest Lawyers and obtained from Mr Salims widow and others.

Exonerating him, a review concluded: The IHAT have investigated the resulting allegation of unlawful killing and after careful consideration ... it has been decided that there is no evidence to suggest the soldier was not acting in self defence.

Mr Catterall said: I thought it was all done with and I tried to get on with my life. The incident was one of the traumas I have been dealing with, with combat stress. Shooting someone is no easy thing to do and Ive never got over it.

But in September he was contacted by Iraq Fatality Investigations, an inquest-style inquiry set up in response to yet more PIL claims on behalf of the family now seeking compensation. He said: They said they would like to question me again.

They asked me to go to London and I said I couldnt do that because I was agoraphobic.

They knew I was suffering and I told them I didnt want to do it but they said it would be hanging over my head if I didnt.

Mr Catterall was questioned twice by the inquiry chairman, Sir George Newman, through a video link from his home, before he was asked to give evidence in front of Mr Salims family.

Mr Catterall was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and agoraphobia in 2011, a year after falling ill with a severe neck injury from excessive weight carrying in the Army. An X-ray showing the injury is pictured (above)

I said to them on the phone, Im not prepared to go for more questioning, he said. Then I put the phone down and later that evening two policemen came to check I was still alive. I said I wasnt very well. I explained how I wasnt well. Obviously the man from the inquiry was so concerned that he sent the police that night to make sure I was OK.

And even after all of that I was still strongly encouraged to go and do the interview with the Iraqi families.

In November Mr Catterall, whose marriage ended the month before, gave evidence to the inquiry via video link from Liverpool under the cipher S011 which gave him anonymity.

He said he was deeply, deeply sorry for the family, telling the inquiry: If I could change anything and go back in time, Id do it and Im sorry. Mr Salims family said they did not accept his apology because he had been reckless.

The soldiers who were with him at the time supported his version of events. Despite his service with the Duke of Lancasters Regiment, Mr Catterall said he had been refused help from the Army which wanted nothing to do with him.

He said he had contacted his regimental association to ask for help  but it declined.

He said: I was loyal to the Army for 20 odd years and I dont want to start looking like Im disloyal to them but theyve shown me no loyalty over the past few years.

I understand I had to be brought to account for my actions but to be brought to account so many times on so many different occasions was a massive kick in the teeth.

He said one of his daughters had taken his medals out of the bin and framed them for him and hung them on his wall.

Mr Catterall was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and agoraphobia in 2011, a year after falling ill with a severe neck injury from excessive weight carrying in the Army.

He said: I think about what happened when I had the injury to my neck and when I was put at home. I was just left there to rot.

His case is understood to have been passed to the International Criminal Court, which usually tries dictators accused of genocide.
An Iraqi agent is being paid nearly 40,000 a year by the Ministry of Defence to help the families of suspected insurgents killed by British soldiers.

Abu Jamal, 59, earns up to 3,200 a month  plus expenses  from the MoD to take statements from witnesses and ferry them to Lebanon to give evidence via video link to the Iraq Historical Allegations Team.

On top of his work for the MoD, a grieving widow claimed he knocked on her door persuading her to claim compensation from the British government.

Her husbands death is one of more than 1,000 claims of wrongdoing and unlawful detention which Abu Jamal has handed over to Public Interest Lawyers and Leigh Day over the past decade.

Abu Jamal, 59, earns up to 3,200 a month  plus expenses  from the MoD to take statements from witnesses and ferry them to Lebanon to give evidence via video link to the Iraq Historical Allegations Team. He is pictured with his son Jamal Alshiraida, who also helps with the compensation claims

The Daily Mail tracked down the father of one to his office in Basra, southern Iraq, where he is now so busy he gets up to 20 new clients a week. He has recruited his son, Jamal Alshiraida, 28, and another colleague, Abu Zaid, to help with all the paperwork.

The family firm is known across the city for its success in helping Iraqi civilians win millions of pounds in compensation from the Ministry of Defence.

Speaking from Basra, Mr Alshiraida told the Mail they also worked for PIL and Leigh Day. He said: I enjoy my job because of the treatment we get from the British. They have good lawyers in Britain.

I send emails and print documents. We have more than 1,000 clients, maybe we will get about ten, 20 more people this week. There are lots. They tell us about how they were detained by the British.

It is unclear, however, how much PIL or Leigh Day pay Abu Jamal or whether he is on commission.

Figures show there are 2,360 outstanding claims of all sorts by Iraqi civilians against the MoD from the five-year war  a figure which continues to rise.

The legal witch-hunt against UK troops who served in Iraq could cost taxpayers tens of millions of pounds and drag on for years. Above a solider, who is not involved in the cases, patrols Basra

Mr Alshiraidas comments will fuel fears that there are thousands more claims to come as Iraqi civilians hear about successful cases heard in the UK.

The department has paid out 22million in compensation to Iraqi civilians.

Last month the grieving widow of Muhammad Salim, who was shot during an arrest operation in November 2003, revealed that she was approached by Abu Jamal weeks after his death.

Her testimony suggests a close connection with Birmingham-based PIL, which used Abu Jamal.

PILs boss, Phil Shiner, has always maintained that his firm has done nothing wrong.

When Mr Alshiraida was asked how he and his father found the Iraqis claiming to have been victims of mistreatment by troops, he said: Always they come to the office in Basra.

We have more than 1,000 clients, maybe we will get about ten, 20 more people this week. There are lots. They tell us about how they were detained by the British Jamal Alshiraida

His father, who lives in the centre of the port city, refused to comment on whether he approached clients or whether they came to him.

In a statement, PIL said Abu Jamal was not known to the law firm in 2004 and PIL did not tout for business.

But Mr Alshiraida said he and his father had been working for the firm in 2004.

In 2004 he rang them, he replied, when asked how his father first contacted PIL.

Over the years, Abu Jamal has become so popular with alleged Iraqi victims that all those represented by PIL insist on dealing with him, a source said.

This has meant the Iraq Historical Allegations Team investigating wrongdoing by British troops has been forced to use the Iraqi as a paid chaperone for victims and witnesses.

Responding to a complaint that PIL used an agent, Mr Shiners lawyers claimed that that the MoD routinely use Abu Jamal and pay him up to 5,000 US dollars a month plus expenses.
The legal witch-hunt against UK troops who served in Iraq could cost taxpayers tens of millions of pounds and drag on for years.

War heroes, military families and politicians last night called for ambulance-chasing lawyers to stop harassing soldiers who had simply been doing their duty.

The Government set aside 57million five years ago for the investigation of 152 allegations of ill treatment and unlawful killing of civilians.

The legal witch-hunt against UK troops who served in Iraq could cost taxpayers tens of millions of pounds and drag on for years. Above, British soldiers fire rubber bullets in Basra in 2003

Now the number of cases being examined by the 145-strong Iraq Historical Allegations Team has passed the 1,500 mark.

Despite no one being convicted, Mark Warwick, who heads the unit, says it has been overwhelmed with cases and murder charges could result.

As the outcry over the treatment of troops who risked their lives on the frontline grows, the Daily Mail can reveal that:

The MoD pays an Iraqi agent nearly 40,000 a year to help the families of supposed victims;

His son says up to 20 new clients come forward each week hoping to sue the UK Government;

The cases go to British-based law firms which are receiving legal aid payments;

An accused ex-soldier says he has been hounded for 12 years and left to rot by the Army;

Hundreds of veterans and their families will march to Westminster tomorrow to call for an immediate end to the harassment.

Ian Sadler, a former soldier whose son Jack was killed in Afghanistan in 2007, said: How can they spend so much money on these spurious legal claims, which are being pursued by ambulance-chasing law firms in this country to get Iraqis compensation?

'This is a witch-hunt with a crock of gold at the end of the rainbow for these law firms.

Colonel Bob Stewart, a Tory MP on the Commons defence committee, said: Not only do we have civilian battlefield ambulance chasers, we now have MoD battlefield ambulance chasers. Im fed up with our soldiers being chased and harassed and intimidated after they have put their lives on the line.

And for our country to be taking part in this witch-hunt is despicable.

Despite no one being convicted, Mark Warwick, pictured, who heads the unit, says it has been overwhelmed with cases and murder charges could result

The Iraq Historical Allegations Team was set up by the Ministry of Defence in 2010 after a flood of claims from Iraq were submitted by Public Interest Lawyers and Leigh Day.

Mr Warwick, a former police officer, believes there is enough evidence for successful prosecutions  leading to an outcry among soldiers who say they are now constantly looking over their shoulders. There are 2,360 claims overall by Iraqi civilians against the MoD from the five-year mission  a figure which continues to rise. There are also nearly 100 claims from Afghanistan and mounting investigations against troops who served in Northern Ireland.

Last night it emerged that 13,000 veterans and their families have joined an organisation called UK veterans, One Voice, to campaign for former soldiers facing arrest.

The organisation, founded by former private Nigel Kelsall, who completed tours of Northern Ireland and Bosnia, will take part in the march tomorrow.

The 41-year-old father of one, who was a private in the Royal Logistical Corps, said: No soldier should have to go through the ordeal of being questioned years later.

The Government needs to put an end to this. These men are just doing their job and to prosecute troops is wrong.

Former private Robert Gray, 61, who served with the Duke of Wellingtons regiment in the 1970s in Northern Ireland, said: This is British soldiers doing their jobs and then being called murderers.

Felicity Sayers, who served in the Royal Navy and whose husband was in the Black Watch in the 1970s, said: It is absolutely ridiculous that our men and women are trained to fight an enemy and then are hung out to dry when they do. Mrs Sayers, 55, from Lincoln, said her husband was expecting to be questioned about his role in Northern Ireland during the Troubles.

Plymouth MP Johnny Mercer, who served in Afghanistan, said it was important for soldiers to operate within the rule of law. But he added: At the same time, it would be the easiest thing in the world in Iraq or Afghanistan to go out and find people who say they were harmed by coalition forces of any flag.

An MoD spokesman said last night: The vast majority of UK service personnel deployed on military operations conduct themselves professionally and in accordance with the law.

The MoD takes all allegations of abuse or unlawful killing extremely seriously. Where there is sufficient evidence, members of HM Forces can be prosecuted. It is estimated that the IHATs work will take until the end of 2019.

MoD pays Iraqi agent 40,000 a year to gather evidence against OUR soldiers

By LARISA BROWN

An Iraqi agent is being paid nearly 40,000 a year by the Ministry of Defence to help the families of suspected insurgents killed by British soldiers.

Abu Jamal, 59, earns up to 3,200 a month  plus expenses  from the MoD to take statements from witnesses and ferry them to Lebanon to give evidence via video link to the Iraq Historical Allegations Team.

On top of his work for the MoD, a grieving widow claimed he knocked on her door persuading her to claim compensation from the British government.

Her husbands death is one of more than 1,000 claims of wrongdoing and unlawful detention which Abu Jamal has handed over to Public Interest Lawyers and Leigh Day over the past decade.

Abu Jamal, 59, earns up to 3,200 a month  plus expenses  from the MoD to take statements from witnesses and ferry them to Lebanon to give evidence via video link to the Iraq Historical Allegations Team. He is pictured with his son Jamal Alshiraida, who also helps with the compensation claims

The Daily Mail tracked down the father of one to his office in Basra, southern Iraq, where he is now so busy he gets up to 20 new clients a week. He has recruited his son, Jamal Alshiraida, 28, and another colleague, Abu Zaid, to help with all the paperwork.

The family firm is known across the city for its success in helping Iraqi civilians win millions of pounds in compensation from the Ministry of Defence.

Speaking from Basra, Mr Alshiraida told the Mail they also worked for PIL and Leigh Day. He said: I enjoy my job because of the treatment we get from the British. They have good lawyers in Britain.

I send emails and print documents. We have more than 1,000 clients, maybe we will get about ten, 20 more people this week. There are lots. They tell us about how they were detained by the British.

It is unclear, however, how much PIL or Leigh Day pay Abu Jamal or whether he is on commission.

Figures show there are 2,360 outstanding claims of all sorts by Iraqi civilians against the MoD from the five-year war  a figure which continues to rise.

We have more than 1,000 clients, maybe we will get about ten, 20 more people this week. There are lots. They tell us about how they were detained by the British Jamal Alshiraida

Mr Alshiraidas comments will fuel fears that there are thousands more claims to come as Iraqi civilians hear about successful cases heard in the UK.

The department has paid out 22million in compensation to Iraqi civilians.

Last month the grieving widow of Muhammad Salim, who was shot during an arrest operation in November 2003, revealed that she was approached by Abu Jamal weeks after his death.

Her testimony suggests a close connection with Birmingham-based PIL, which used Abu Jamal.

PILs boss, Phil Shiner, has always maintained that his firm has done nothing wrong.

When Mr Alshiraida was asked how he and his father found the Iraqis claiming to have been victims of mistreatment by troops, he said: Always they come to the office in Basra.

His father, who lives in the centre of the port city, refused to comment on whether he approached clients or whether they came to him.

In a statement, PIL said Abu Jamal was not known to the law firm in 2004 and PIL did not tout for business.

But Mr Alshiraida said he and his father had been working for the firm in 2004.

In 2004 he rang them, he replied, when asked how his father first contacted PIL.

Over the years, Abu Jamal has become so popular with alleged Iraqi victims that all those represented by PIL insist on dealing with him, a source said.

This has meant the Iraq Historical Allegations Team investigating wrongdoing by British troops has been forced to use the Iraqi as a paid chaperone for victims and witnesses.

Responding to a complaint that PIL used an agent, Mr Shiners lawyers claimed that that the MoD routinely use Abu Jamal and pay him up to 5,000 US dollars a month plus expenses.

Both IHAT and the MoD did not comment on the figure.

I was cleared TWICE but the lawyers are still hounding me, says war hero: Decorated soldier says he was 'left to rot' over death of Iraqi civilian armed with an AK-47

By LARISA BROWN

A decorated soldier says he was left to rot while lawyers hounded him over the death of an Iraqi civilian 12 years ago. Richard Catterall believed the suspect, who was armed with an AK-47, was threatening the lives of his comrades.

Two inquiries cleared the former sergeant of unlawfully shooting Muhammad Salim dead only for him to now face a third investigation. Suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he has repeatedly begged to be left alone to the point that investigators apparently feared he would take his own life.

The father of two, who was medically discharged from the Army in 2014 after serving 23 years, said the latest investigation was the final nail in the coffin.

Decorated soldier Richard Catterall, pictured with his two daughters, says he was left to rot while lawyers hounded him over the death of an Iraqi civilian 12 years ago

The 46-year-old waived his right to anonymity after the Daily Mail revealed last month that Mr Salims widow had been persuaded by an agent used by a British law firm to make the claim that he was unlawfully killed.

Mr Catterall said he had thrown his medals from his five tours of Northern Ireland, two tours of Iraq and one tour of Afghanistan in the bin because he been made to feel ashamed of his life of service. Speaking from his small terraced home in Liverpool, he said: The Army have just hung me out to dry.

Mr Catterall, who is struggling financially, said: I am at my wits end. I have a lot to cope with and I just feel like I am going backwards.

I fought in Iraq and Afghanistan and now Im scared to go out into the street. I tried to tell them how sick I was.

This latest hearing has been the final nail in the coffin. Ive got worse since this started, Ive isolated myself even more over the last couple of months.

In a gruelling six-month tour of Iraq in 2003 one bloody firefight lead to Mr Catterall being handed a baby whose arm had been blasted off. Despite his efforts the child died in his arms.

Days later he was on patrol in Basra when he shot Mr Salim in the stomach during an arrest operation.

Mr Catterall, pictured fourth from left, was medically discharged from the Army in 2014 after serving 23 years and said the latest investigation was the final nail in the coffin

British soldiers had been acting on information given to them that up to 15 armed men had been seen entering a property in the port.

As they arrived at the address they heard five rounds of gunfire and were confronted by two armed men.

Mr Catterall shot one of them, believing Mr Salim to be an insurgent and about to shoot. The Iraqi was treated by a combat medic but he died from his injuries in hospital the following day.

It later emerged that the information given to the Army had been wrong, and Mr Salim was a civilian carrying an AK-47 for his own safety.

Shooting someone is no easy thing to do and Ive never got over it Richard Catterall

Mr Catterall said he shot in self-defence thinking his life and those of his comrades were in danger. He said he had followed the rules of engagement.

A military investigation at the time and a separate eight-month investigation carried out by the Iraq Historical Allegations Team cleared him of any wrongdoing. IHAT quizzed Mr Catterall after being handed statements by Phil Shiners Public Interest Lawyers and obtained from Mr Salims widow and others.

Exonerating him, a review concluded: The IHAT have investigated the resulting allegation of unlawful killing and after careful consideration ... it has been decided that there is no evidence to suggest the soldier was not acting in self defence.

Mr Catterall said: I thought it was all done with and I tried to get on with my life. The incident was one of the traumas I have been dealing with, with combat stress. Shooting someone is no easy thing to do and Ive never got over it.

But in September he was contacted by Iraq Fatality Investigations, an inquest-style inquiry set up in response to yet more PIL claims on behalf of the family now seeking compensation. He said: They said they would like to question me again.

They asked me to go to London and I said I couldnt do that because I was agoraphobic.

They knew I was suffering and I told them I didnt want to do it but they said it would be hanging over my head if I didnt.

Mr Catterall said he shot in self-defence thinking his life and those of his comrades were in danger. He said he had followed the rules of engagement

Mr Catterall was questioned twice by the inquiry chairman, Sir George Newman, through a video link from his home, before he was asked to give evidence in front of Mr Salims family.

I said to them on the phone, Im not prepared to go for more questioning, he said. Then I put the phone down and later that evening two policemen came to check I was still alive. I said I wasnt very well. I explained how I wasnt well. Obviously the man from the inquiry was so concerned that he sent the police that night to make sure I was OK.

And even after all of that I was still strongly encouraged to go and do the interview with the Iraqi families.

In November Mr Catterall, whose marriage ended the month before, gave evidence to the inquiry via video link from Liverpool under the cipher S011 which gave him anonymity.

He said he was deeply, deeply sorry for the family, telling the inquiry: If I could change anything and go back in time, Id do it and Im sorry. Mr Salims family said they did not accept his apology because he had been reckless.

The soldiers who were with him at the time supported his version of events. Despite his service with the Duke of Lancasters Regiment, Mr Catterall said he had been refused help from the Army which wanted nothing to do with him.

He said he had contacted his regimental association to ask for help  but it declined.

He said: I was loyal to the Army for 20 odd years and I dont want to start looking like Im disloyal to them but theyve shown me no loyalty over the past few years.

I understand I had to be brought to account for my actions but to be brought to account so many times on so many different occasions was a massive kick in the teeth.

He said one of his daughters had taken his medals out of the bin and framed them for him and hung them on his wall.

Mr Catterall was diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder and agoraphobia in 2011, a year after falling ill with a severe neck injury from excessive weight carrying in the Army.

He said: I think about what happened when I had the injury to my neck and when I was put at home. I was just left there to rot.

His case is understood to have been passed to the International Criminal Court, which usually tries dictators accused of genocide.
Simon Danczuk has blamed a long-term drink problem for the sexting scandal that threatens to end his political career.

The Labour MP, who would often sink three bottles of wine a night, said he was sometimes too drunk to remember sending explicit messages to teenager Sophena Houlihan.

Mr Danczuk, 49, told how he has since sought psychiatric help for his alcoholism and has been told to stop drinking for six months.

Scroll down for video

Labour MP Simon Danczuk, 49 (pictured left), who would often sink three bottles of wine a night, said he was sometimes too drunk to remember sending explicit messages to 17-year-old Sophena Houlihan (right)

Tonight he accused allies of Jeremy Corbyn of mounting an orchestrated campaign to exploit his personal troubles to have him deselected.

Labour suspended Mr Danczuk, a campaigner against child sex abuse, after it emerged last week that he had been sending lewd text messages to 17-year-old Miss Houlihan.

The twice-married father of four, who is the MP for Rochdale, confessed today that younger women were his Achilles heel.

But he said he only texted Miss Houlihan because he was drunk, horny, and on my own after breaking up with his second wife Karen, 32.

I have a drink problem and that is a major contributory reason why I sent the messages, he told The Sun. Ive seen a psychiatrist about it and hes told me to stop drinking for six months. I feel awful about what happened. I dont know what came over me.

Im so embarrassed that Ive been such an idiot. Im sorry for letting my family down, and Im already dreading my young sons finding out about this when they are older.

Yet despite his contrition, the shamed MP was at the centre of yet more accusations. His first wife Sonia Rossington, 39, claimed he bullied her into having sex and drove her into therapy by his drug and alcohol-fuelled behaviour.

Simon Danczuk with his first wife Sonia Rossington at their wedding at Gretna Green in December 2002

Labour MP Simon Danczuk attended a church service with his estranged wife Karen (pictured) this morning

CORBYN'S SO FAR LEFT ALLIES USE SCANDAL AGAINST ME, SAYS MP Under-fire MP Simon Danczuk claimed his personal troubles were being exploited by a Corbyn-backed campaign group to have him deselected. He claimed political opponents were trying to piggy back on personal difficulties to destroy my career. An official poster by hard-Left activists Momentum accused him of profiting from the child grooming scandal in Rochdale  where he is an MP  and asked whether he was a groomer himself. Mr Danczuk told the Mail: This is the ugly face of extremist groups in politics and the Labour leadership should distance themselves from it. He also produced evidence from Twitter that appeared to suggest the group was trying to encourage the far-Right English Defence League to join a protest outside his constituency office. I know Ive been silly and Ive said Im extremely sorry, but Im not going to be dragged through a kangaroo court so my enemies can exact revenge, he said. We are seeing an orchestrated campaign to use whats happening in my personal life to whip up opposition to me. A Labour source said Momentum  which under another guise backed Jeremy Corbyns leadership bid  must take responsibility for their own actions. Advertisement

The childminder, who divorced Mr Danczuk in 2010 after just eight years together, said he would expect a ready-rolled cannabis joint when he returned from work and had even tried to have sex with her while she was asleep.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, Mrs Rossington claimed that her former husband would drink a bottle of brandy a night and expected sex morning and night seven days a week.

However, Mr Danczuk has threatened legal action over her allegations that he would wake her up in the middle of the night and demand sex  or even take advantage of her when she was sleeping.

A friend of the MP branded Mrs Rossingtons accusations utter lies and nonsense and said she was out to ruin the politician.

Meanwhile, his most recent girlfriend, Claire Hamilton, 32, described him as a self-obsessed narcissist who broke down in tears when she dumped him just after Christmas after finding out about his sexts to the teenager.

She said: Hes a real Jekyll and Hyde. You get the public Simon who claims to care passionately, then the Simon who drinks too much and doesnt care who he hurts to get his own way.

Miss Hamilton, who met the MP at the Labour Party Conference last year, told the Sunday Mirror how he would become really abusive if stressed or drunk.

Lancashire Police said they were not investigating the sexual allegations as no formal complaint had been made against the politician.

Mr Danczuk attended a church service with ex-wife Karen today, The Sun reported.

Calling herself a proud Catholic, she wrote on Twitter: I always leave church with hope, positivity & guidance.

The MP has been suspended after it emerged that he had been sending lewd text messages to Miss Houlihan
Its sumptuous banquet hall, echoing cloisters and luxurious state rooms tell of 900 years of history and tradition  but even such ancient establishments as Windsor Castle must move with the times every now and then.

And there is one nod to modernity that has prompted much chatter among the housemaids at Windsor Castle.

According to well-placed sources, the powers that be have begun to do away with the traditional sheets and eiderdowns long favoured in the guests bedrooms and replaced them with modern duvets.

Controversial: Windsor Castle (pictured) has swapped from eiderdowns to duvets, in a move to modern times that has prompted much chatter among the housemaids

While some might think that a rather sensible option given that nine hundred year old castles are not blessed with the most efficient central heating systems, the development hasnt passed by without comment from the downstairs staff.

One staff source quipped: Theyll be putting chocolates on the pillows next.

Eiderdowns are traditional flat quilts filled with down (normally from the eider duck) that are layered with sheets, bedspreads and blankets, allowing the user to shed or add more covering as suits.

Its rather old fashioned nowadays but many of those in the Royal Household believe that using sheets, blankets and eiderdowns is one of those traditions that should be retained. Staff source

They are often stitched to prevent the padding from moving and are meant to be placed over the bed linen.

This is opposed to a duvet, which is soft flat bag thickly filled with feathers, wool or synthetic fibres. Duvets come in different thicknesses and are designed to be used on their own.

Its rather old fashioned nowadays but many of those in the Royal Household believe that using sheets, blankets and eiderdowns is one of those traditions that should be retained, said the source.

Its quite time consuming to make the beds up in this way but thats why it is liked so much. It shows a certain attention to detail that people dont tend to have nowadays but that the Royal Household prides itself on.

Its been remarked on that it seems, well, a little like something that a hotel chain might do. And we are definitely not that! Fortunately we havent started putting on those awful decorative cushions, though.

Windsor Castle is the Queens favourite official residence and in recent years she has been spending more time there than at Buckingham Palace even.

Traditional: While some might think it's a sensible option given that 900-year-old castles are not blessed with the most efficient central heating systems, the development hasnt passed by without comment from the downstairs staff. Pictured, the Queen at Windsor Castle with French President Francois Hollande in July 2012

Luxury: The Household source their bed linen from a number of a suppliers who have been awarded Royal Warrants. Pictured, the royal family inspects the troops at Windsor Castle in November 2012

She frequently hosts official visits at the castle by foreign royalty and dignitaries, as well as regular dine and sleeps events for carefully chosen guests.

Indeed the new King and Queen of Spain, King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain, recently accepted an invitation from The Queen to pay a State Visit to the UK next March and will, Buckingham Palace announced, stay with her at Windsor.

Responsibility for guest bedrooms rests with H (Housekeeping) Branch, which is part of the Master of the Households Department.

It maintains the cleanliness, presentation and general upkeep of all accommodation at the royal residences.

The Household source their bed linen from a number of a suppliers who have been awarded Royal Warrants including Dorma, Her Majestys Supplier of Linen Drapery and Soft Furnishings, Heirlooms Fine Linens, McCaw Allan and Co  which makes duvets covers and matching pillowcases as well as bed sheets  and Peter Reed International.

Alexandra Messervy, founder of leading etiquette and household management consultancy The English Manner, who also previously worked for the Queen in the Master of the Households department, said bed linen was very much a matter of preference today.

Chosen: The Queen frequently hosts official visits at the castle by foreign royalty and dignitaries, as well as regular dine and sleeps events for carefully chosen guests. Pictured, dignitaries attend a State Banquet for His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah of Kuwait given by the Queen

Nowadays the jury is so divided on the issue. You are just as likely to go to a grand house or royal residence and find a duvet on the bed as you are to go to a very good hotel and find them still using sheets, blankets and eiderdowns. There is no hard and fast rule on it. It is very much a matter of personal preference, she said.

Many like to use a duvet and throw a bedspread on it in order to retain that traditional look.

No matter which type of bedding is chosen, there is only one way to make a bed, and that is with great attention to detail, such as correctly tucking the sheets under the mattress as far and as straight as you can to avoid lumps, and making sure that you have equal amounts of sheet on all sides when making the bed. It also helps to strip a bed completely when remaking a bed which has been slept in, it is the only way to get it back to just made appearance.
Hilary Benn was digging in last night amid attempts by Jeremy Corbyn to remove him from his top job because of his support for Syrian airstrikes.

The shadow foreign secretary has been in Left-wingers sights since his impassioned Commons speech against his leaders anti-war stance in December.

But last night one Labour source said Mr Benns job was safe  though that of shadow defence secretary Maria Eagle was still under threat.

Jeremy Corbyn - pictured protesting against increases to rail fares at London's Kings Cross Station this morning - appears to have begun his controversial shadow cabinet reshuffle

Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn, was seen arriving at home this evening

Emily Thornberry has been suggested as an alternative shadow foreign secretary to Hilary Benn, centre. A jon swap for Mr Benn with shadow home secretary Andy Burnham has also been suggested in an attempt to ease tensions within Labour

The persistent reports led to calls for Mr Corbyn not to 'purge' people who disagree with his politics from the top table of Labour politics.

Among the speculated changes is a job swap for Mr Benn and shadow home secretary Andy Burnham. Ken Livingstone, a close ally of Mr Corbyn, suggested this was 'quite likely' in an interview today.

Another possible replacement for Mr Benn is thought to be Emily Thornberry - currently a junior justice spokeswoman and best known for being sacked last year by Ed Miliband amid a 'snobbery row'.

Mr Benn's future has been at the centre of speculation ever since he took advantage of a free vote on bombing ISIS in Syria to make a passionate speech in favour of the Government's proposal - infuriating his leader.

Suggestion's Mr Corbyn could seek 'revenge' have led to growing tension among Labour ranks.

Shadow culture secretary Michael Dugher - another seen as a likely candidate to be fired - urged Mr Corbyn not to carry out a purge.

RUNNERS AND RIDERS: WHAT MIGHT JEREMY CORBYN DO? Sacked or moved? Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn Shadow Culture Secretary Michael Dugher Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham Shadow Defence Secretary Maria Eagle Shadow Justice Secretary Lord Falconer Promoted? Shadow International Development Secretary Diane Abbott Shadow Energy Secretary Lisa Nandy Shadow Justice Minister Emily Thornberry Shadow Energy Minister Barry Gardiner Backbencher Clive Lewis Advertisement

Other mooted changes include a promotion for Diane Abbott, the shadow international development secretary.

Clive Lewis, the new MP for Norwich South, has been named as a possible replacement at defence for Maria Eagle who strongly disagrees with Mr Corbyn on the Trident nuclear deterrent.

But Mr Lewis today told the BBC: 'I haven't been sounded out at all and I'd be deeply disappointed if this was dropped on me from a great height five minutes before, 'here we are, take this'.

'I haven't been spoken to by anyone so I think it's complete speculation.'

Asked if he wanted the job, Mr Lewis said 'no' before adding: 'If Jeremy Corbyn offered me that and said 'I need this, I need you to do it, it's essential you do it', I would have to think about it.

'But to be quite frank, my initial inclination would be to say no.'

The New Statesman suggested shadow energy secretary Lisa Nandy was another possibility for the defence brief - one of Ms Nandy's deputies Barry Gardiner has visited Mr Corbyn's office today and is a possible replacement.

Former interim leader Harriet Harman has told tonight's Newsnight women need to be appointed into top jobs.

She said: 'We can't have a men-only leadership when we are party for women and equality.'

Following the Syria vote and ahead of an expected Commons clash on Trident this year, Mr Corbyn is believed to want one message on foreign affairs and defence coming from his team.

The Labour leader refused to discuss the expected reshuffle while attending a rally on train fares at Kings Cross station this morning.

Shadow international development secretary Diane Abbott, left, could be promoted at today's reshuffle but shadow defence secretary Maria Eagle is thought a likely candidate to lose her post

Mr Dugher said that Labour was a 'broad church, not a religious cult' and urged his party leader not to leave himself with a 'politburo' of just seven members.

Last night there was speculation that Mr Corbyn was backing away from plans to sack several Labour heavyweight figures, including Hilary Benn.

The shadow foreign secretary was said to have been in the firing line over his speech backing government plans for bombing raids in Syria last year.

But senior Labour sources told the Daily Mail said Mr Benn could be moved to shadow home secretary, in a 'job swap' with Andy Burnham.

Mr Burnham, who came second in the Labour leadership race last summer, voted alongside Mr Corbyn in opposing the bombing.

Shadow defence secretary Ms Eagle is also likely to be moved rather than sacked. The Telegraph said she could be replaced by left-wing MP Mr Lewis.

She supports the renewal of the Trident nuclear deterrent, in opposition to Mr Corbyn who is a lifelong pacifist.

Another senior source said the demands for a purge of MPs who voted against Mr Corbyn over Syria was being led by his leading advisor Seamus Milne, the former Guardian columnist who has been accused of 'Stalinist' sympathies.

Mr Curbyn refused to address the reshuffle rumours at a rail fare protest at London Kings Cross station earlier today

Mr Dugher told Pienaar's Politics on BBC Radio Five Live: 'In my experience having worked closely with previous leaders, there's a reason why they tend to be a bit reluctant to go down the path of big reshuffles and that's because they do try and hold the party together, they do recognise that the Labour Party is a broad church not a religious cult, that you need people of different backgrounds and try and get the best possible talents.

'Ultimately that will be a decision for Jeremy.'

He added: 'In truth, I don't see it happening and the reason why I don't see it happening is because I think it would be inconsistent with what Jeremy has talked about since he got the leadership, which is about room for a little dissent, about having debates.'

Kim Howells, a former Labour minister, labelled the leadership of the party 'super-annuated Trotskyist oppositionists. They are not real politicians and I am afraid it is a disaster.

'It will change of course because the Labour Party has been on its knees many times before

'But it's going to take guts and intelligence and trying to get realistic about the tasks that face all modern societies.

'When I saw Ed Miliband standing in front of that big lump of stone, the Ed Stone, I began to realise that the Labour Party had fallen under the control of lunatics and I'm not sure it's escaped that control.

'They've probably got even deeper in that embrace because they feel so much more comfortable there.'

Mr Howells urged colleagues to confront Mr Corbyn: 'They should show some guts and start opposing this awful, bland nonsense about a new politics. They've got to get real about being politicians. I would have been opposing him.'

Shadow culture secretary Michael Dugher, who is one of the most likely targets for the chop, warned Mr Corbyn that a major reshuffle could tear the party apart

'We can't win like this!': Labour MPs react in horror as polling reveals depth of the party's troubles while Jeremy Corbyn 're-arranges the chairs'

A YouGov survey has found Labour is trailing the Conservatives on most key issues facing the country, with huge deficits on the economy, unemployment and taxation.

The research - carried out last month - also found Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn trailing badly against the potential successors to David Cameron.

A 23 per cent lead for the Tories on handling the economy - 41 per cent to Labour's 18 per cent - prompted Labour MP Wes Streeting to warn: 'Can re-arrange the chairs around the table as much as we like, until these numbers change we won't win gen election.'

Labour MP Wes Streeting warned the polling numbers on the economy - where the Tories had a 23 per cent lead - would be fatal to Labour's general election chances

Labour led the Tories in the poll on which party was best placed to handle the NHS and housing.

But on law and order the Tories were ahead 36 per cent to 17 per cent and on taxation by 35 per cent to 22 per cent.

The poll even indicated a narrow Tory lead on education, by 28 per cent to 27 per cent.

Labour led on the NHS 34 per cent to 27 per cent and on housing by 28 per cent to 23 per cent.

Asked who would make the best Prime Minister, Mr Corbyn faired poorly against a string of senior Tories.

Pre-race favourite George Osborne led the Labour leader by 39 per cent to 29 per cent, while London Mayor Boris Johnson was ahead of Mr Corbyn by even more - 43 per cent to 29 per cent.

David Cameron was rated by 49 per cent as the best prime minister to Mr Corbyn's 23 per cent.
A restaurant owner who copped scathing reviews on TripAdvisor after customers waited hours for their 'average' $140 Christmas lunch has admitted to having a 'one off shocker'.

Artichokeon the Gold Coast hosted lunch for 200 diners on Christmas Day but many unhappy customers ended up walking out on the six course meal or refused to pay.

A number of disappointed customers accused the restaurant of 'ruining Christmas' with half a dozen reviews posted on TripAdvisor detailing lengthy delays, problems with drinks and food and poor customer service.

Artichoke on the Gold Coast hosted lunch for 200 diners on Christmas Day for a six course meal. Some customers argued the food was average, including this strawberry carpaccio for first course

'It was memorably awful. Christmas lunch is an important time of the year. This restaurant screwed it up for everyone,' customer Alex Tewes told Daily Mail Australia.

'We booked two months in advance and paid $139 a head, which didn't include drinks. The first few courses came an hour apart and the serves were too small.

'Several of the dishes didn't have all of the ingredients. The main seafood dish looked like something you could get at the pub.

'It was meant to be a six course menu... but the final course was a plastic cup size cake that had been sitting on the table the whole time. We ended up eating the cake midway because we were starving. It was appalling, terrible.'

The final course was an Artichoke Christmas Pudding that had been pre-packaged and was waiting on the table when guests arrived

Owner and chef Grant Madgwick has since hit back at some disgruntled customers saying they failed to complain on the day and they would not be given refunds

Diner were served strawberry carpaccio for first course with shaved prosciutto, nuts, goats cheese, Persian feta, beetroot syrup, balsamic reduction, shaved pecorino, baby watercress, red garnet

Mr Tewes said they had tried to speak to the staff member behind the counter on Christmas Day to seek a refund but she only had 'soggy dockets with table numbers and drink orders'.

'She had no information about who had paid and what they had paid. We had to pay deposits beforehand. She appeared just about in tears so we left her to it. I emailed the restaurant the following day but I am yet to get a response,' he said.

Owner and chef Grant Madgwick has since hit back at some disgruntled customers saying they failed to complain on the day and they would not be given refunds, the Gold Coast Bulletin reports.

He said it started to rain 10 minutes before diners were due to be seated and he had to quickly make room for 110 extra diners inside, which put him an hour behind schedule.

'It was a one off, I'm sad it happened. We went great all year, then all of a sudden it rained, we dropped the ball. But we fed everyone, we looked after everyone as best we could,' he told the newspaper.

Fourth course was home made Limoncello sorbet with lychee poached pomme petite toffee apple. One customer pointed out the sorbet was served on a Chinese soup spoon

Customer Alex Tewes said several of the dishes didn't have all of the ingredients like the main seafood dish, homemade gnocchi, (pictured). He said his dish was missing the slipper lobster medallions

Artichoke on the Gold Coast hosted lunch for 200 diners on Christmas Day but many unhappy customers ended up walking out on the six course meal or refused to pay

'If you do six courses on Christmas Day for 200 and it rains, are you not going to give me some leeway? There is something wrong with them, not me.'

Mr Madgwick said in addition to the poor reviews on TripAdvisor, two tables left without paying their $2,400 and $1,900 bills.

Melissa Hancock dined at the restaurant with her mother and sister on Christmas Day and they were equally disappointed with their experience.

'We waited ages for food and the courses were very average... the food was near cold as well,' she said.

Ms Hancock said she waited an hour and a half for the first course and it was just a 'fatty piece of prosciutto with a bit of cheese and a strawberry inside'.

'I've been before and it was real yummy... Just Christmas was disappointing.'

A number of disappointed customers accused the restaurant of 'ruining Christmas' with half a dozen reviews posted on TripAdvisor detailing lengthy delays and poor customer service

Artichoke on the Gold Coast hosted lunch for 200 diners on Christmas Day but many unhappy customers ended up walking out on the six course meal or refused to pay

Owner and chef Grant Madgwick has since hit back at some disgruntled customers saying they failed to complain on the day

Several customers took to TripAdvisor to complain about the Christmas lunch service.

'Really sorry to say that this place managed to ruin our Christmas Day. I'm not sure what went wrong but on this day we waited over an hour for each course and almost two hours for the first course with no water or snacks or even the Christmas crackers,' a disgruntled customer wrote.

Another said: 'First of 6 courses was served about 1.15pm after being seated at 12 noon. After 5 courses and 4pm it was enough for us and several other customers to give remaining course the big miss.'

'Just had the most unorganised Xmas family lunch ever two and a half hours into our lunch only 2 of our 6 course meal had been served, the drinks order kept on getting mixed up and drinks delivered to our table that we never ordered,' a customer wrote.

'The final desert (sic) came out 4.15 which was 4 and half hours after we had arrived but by this time our table of 11 was reduced to 2 unhappy customers.'

The negative reviews on TripAdvisor are in stark contrast to the mostly 'excellent' reviews the restaurant has received in the past.

The restaurant is located on the Gold Coast's Ephraim Island - a luxury residential development.

Owner and chef Grant Madgwick said in addition to the poor reviews on TripAdvisor, two tables left without paying their $2,400 and $1,900 bills

The restaurant has been operating for two years and is located on the Gold Coast's Ephraim Island - a luxury residential development (pictured)
Their lifestyles are the envy of millions and they often spend a fortune on their weddings.

But for those who have long suspected that it doesnt guarantee celebrities a fairlytale marriage, heres the proof.

Their marriages are twice as likely to break down as those of everybody else, research claims.

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Celebrity marriages are twice as likely to break down as those of everybody else, research claims. Pictured: Katy Perry and Russell Brand were married for less than two years before they confirmed a divorce

Fifty per cent of all famous or showbiz couples who married in the first decade of the century were divorced by 2014, according to the study.

A slew of A-list names did not make it even to their first anniversary and one, Britney Spears, managed two marriages that lasted less than four years between them.

By contrast, over the same period, 26 per cent of marriages among the non-celebrity population failed to stay the course. The analysis by the Marriage Foundation think-tank examined the record of 488 celebrity couples who married between 2001 and 2010 and how they were faring by 2014.

The findings are published today on what divorce lawyers say is the annual divorce day because of the claimed high numbers of couples who split up after Christmas, and consult lawyers on the first working Monday of January.

Sir Paul Coleridge, a former High Court family judge and the think-tanks founder, said: Celebs become, no doubt involuntarily, high-profile role models.

But this research shows that in their domestic lives these people experience even more pain and suffering than us lesser mortals, and in this respect at least their lives are not to be copied or envied. They are false icons who are subject to even greater pressures to separate.

He added that the famous may dazzle us with their 100,000 fairy story weddings, 15-tier cakes and horse-drawn carriages, but all too often these weddings are followed, in quick succession by a bitter and tortuous fallout and divorce played out in the public eye in grisly detail.

Couples who held out longest before divorce among the celebrity ranks include the consciously uncoupled Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, whose marriage lasted nearly 11 years. They are pictured together in 2003

Those who did not make it to the one-year mark include Drew Barrymore and Tom Green, Eminem and Kim Mathers, and Britney Spears and Jason Alexander.

Miss Spearss first marriage was annulled after only 55 hours. Her second  to Kevin Federline  lasted longer, but they were divorced after less than three years. Katy Perry and Russell Brand managed less than two years.

Couples who held out longest before divorce among the celebrity ranks include the consciously uncoupled Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin, whose marriage lasted nearly 11 years, and Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi, who managed ten years.

Celebrities are over six times more likely to divorce in their first year of marriage than others, the study found.

Drew Barrymore and Tom Green (together left) didn't make it to a year of marriage before they divorced, while singer Britney Spears and her second husband Kevin Federline (right) divorced after less than three years

Famous couples who avoided divorce over the period covered by the study and are still together include Aled Jones and Claire Fossett, Gabby and Kenny Logan (pictured), and Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith

Even after the initial period of adapting to married life, they appear more vulnerable to the stresses that can tear a couple apart. More than a quarter of celebrity couples were divorced after six years of marriage, compared with just over one in ten among others.

Current divorce rates suggest that an average couple have a 38 per cent chance of divorce within their lifetimes. Celebrities, however, have a 38 per cent chance of divorce within ten years.

Famous couples who avoided divorce over the period covered by the study and are still together include Aled Jones and Claire Fossett, Gabby and Kenny Logan, and Pierce Brosnan and Keely Shaye Smith. All married in 2001.
Up to 45,000 junior doctors will go on strike next week after three weeks of talks broke down last night.

The British Medical Association announced yesterday afternoon that doctors will walk out on Tuesday, January 12 for 24 hours.

This will be followed by two further walk-outs on January 26 and February 10 if no agreement is reached.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he was 'disappointed' by the decision - which will cause huge disruption for the NHS during its busiest time of the year.

Tens of thousands of operations and appointments will be cancelled and patients will be told to avoid A&E and treat themselves at home.

Junior doctors march and protest in London about Government plans to impose a new contract in October

For three weeks, representatives from the BMA union have been meeting health officials to thrash out a deal after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he wanted junior doctors to do more out-of-hours shifts for less money.

He claims the new contracts will make hospitals safer by ensuring more doctors work evenings and weekends when death rates are up to 16 per cent higher.

But junior doctors fear the new rotas will leave them exhausted and prone to mistakes, and that their overall earnings will be slashed.

Yesterday afternoon, the BMA blamed the 'Government's continued failure to address junior doctors' concerns about the need for robust contractual safeguards on safe working, and proper recognition for those working unsocial hours.'

In a statement, the union said: 'Unless progress is made on these key areas, the 24-hour action, during which junior doctors will provide emergency care only, will be followed by a second, 48-hour period of emergency care only beginning on 26 January and a third day of action on 10 February, which will see a full withdrawal of junior doctors' labour between 8am and 5pm.'

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, pictured, has said he wanted junior doctors to do more out-of-hours shifts for less money

By law, the union must give the public and the NHS at least seven working days to prepare.

Commenting on the announcement, Dr Mark Porter, BMA council chair, said: 'Throughout this process the BMA has been clear that it wants to reach agreement on a contract that is good for patients, junior doctors and the NHS.

'This is why, despite overwhelming support for industrial action, the BMA instead sought conciliation talks with the Government, talks which were initially rejected and delayed by Jeremy Hunt.

'After weeks of further negotiations, it is clear that the Government is still not taking junior doctors' concerns seriously.

'Furthermore, the Government has repeatedly dragged its feet throughout this process, initially rejecting our offer of talks and failing to make significant movement during negotiations.

'We sincerely regret the disruption that industrial action will cause, but junior doctors have been left with no option. It is because the Government's proposals would be bad for patient care as well as junior doctors in the long-term that we are taking this stand.'

The union confirmed it has written to trusts across England informing them of its intention to take industrial action on the following dates:

12 January 2016 - Emergency care only between 8am on Tuesday, 12 January and 8am on Wednesday, 13 January (24 hours)

26 January 2016 - Emergency care only between 8am on Tuesday, 26 January and 8am on Thursday, 28 January (48 hours)

10 February 2016 , full withdrawal of labour between 8am and 5pm on Wednesday, 10 February

Mr Hunt said the Government's priority was patient safety and working towards a seven-day NHS.

'Our absolute priority is patient safety and making sure that the NHS delivers high-quality care seven days a week  and we know that's what doctors want too, so it is extremely disappointing that the BMA have chosen to take industrial action which helps no-one.

'We had made good progress in talks, resolving 15 of the 16 issues put forward by the union  everything apart from weekend pay.

The union has accused the Government of 'dragging its feet' during contract negotiations for junior doctors

'We have now asked ACAS to reconvene talks in the hope the BMA will return to sensible negotiations.'

WHAT THEY WERE OFFERED An 11 per cent rise in basic pay

Higher rates for evenings and weekends  time and a half for 10pm to 7am, time and a third for Saturday evenings and Sundays

Saturday day rate to remain the same rather than time and a half or a third

Incentives for trainees in unpopular careers such as general practice and A&E

Limit of 72 working hours a week  down from 91 hours

No more than four night shifts in a row Advertisement

Campaigners say patients are being unfairly 'caught in the middle' and fear lives will be put at risk.

The proposed strikes last month caused the cancellation of up to 20,000 operations and appointments. Even though the action was called off, it was too late for patients to be booked in again.

The union had planned to carry out one emergency care-only day followed by two all-out strikes, the first in the history of the NHS.

Johann Malawana, chairman of the BMA junior doctors' committee, had sent a message to members on Facebook this weekend, preparing them for the Government's announcement.

He said: 'On Monday we will be hoping that the Government will have taken on board and addressed our legitimate concerns.'

Referring to possible strikes, he added: 'I am truly hoping that we will not be forced to once again test our unity and resolve.

'However, I know from the messages so many of you have sent, that should the need arise, we will stand together for ourselves and for the next generation of our colleagues.'

Just before Christmas he posted a message preparing junior doctors for strikes, warning that while 'significant ground' had been made there were 'still a couple of absolute areas of disagreement'.

He added: 'Should we not be able to reach an acceptable outcome by 4pm on January 4, the BMA will need to commence serving notice as per its mandate, to the NHS, for industrial action the following week.'

In November, Mr Hunt promised to increase junior doctors' basic pay of by 11 per cent to avert the strikes.

The Government has repeatedly dragged its feet throughout this process, initially rejecting our offer of talks and failing to make significant movement during negotiations. Dr Mark Porter, BMA chair

But the BMA rejected this, claiming overall earnings would still be slashed by cuts to out-of-hours payments.

Katherine Murphy, Chief Executive of the Patients Association, said the decision was 'disappointing.'

'It is extremely disappointing that negotiations have failed to break the impasse between the Government and the British Medical Association over proposed contracts for junior doctors.

'Once again patients are being caught in the middle of this bitter dispute. 'The short term impact that this strike will cause is very worrying.

'Cancelled operations and reduced access to services will directly affect patients, leaving many at risk. All parties in the dispute must remember that their primary duty is to patients.

'Thousands suffered when strikes were cancelled at the eleventh hour in December, as will many more if industrial action goes ahead.'
In most households, a dig in the ribs is the only effective way to combat snoring.

Others might rely on medieval contraptions which fit over the nose and mouth and look like instruments of torture.

Some have even resorted to sewing a tennis ball into a pyjama top to stop people lying on their back.

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The $299 (200) Nora device (pictured) works with a padded cushion that sits under a person's pillow. Nora's built-in microphone listens out for snoring and wirelessly sends a signal to the padded cushion which inflates

Nora was developed by San Francisco-based Smart Nora Inc, which has launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund production of the device. The 3-inch (8cm) gadget sits on a bedside table, away from the user's head

Now, tech experts believe they have the answer in the shape of a smart pillow system named Nora.

Snoring is most often caused when the muscles in the throat become relaxed and then vibrate as the sleeper breathes in and out.

Nora can be slipped inside any pillow and will gently inflate and deflate in a cycle that moves the sleepers head, so opening up the airway.

The device works in conjunction with a smartphone app and a device, shaped like a pebble, which sits on the bedside table.

The pebble contains a microphone and can pick up the early sounds of snoring at the point before it is likely to wake a partner.

It then sends a wi-fi signal to trigger the cycle of inflation and deflation with the result the snorer moves their head.

HOW DOES NORA WORK? The 3-in (8cm), white device sits on a bedside table, away from the user's head. Its wireless microphone detects any increase in sound, typically created by snoring, and connects to a padded, inflatable cushion under the person's pillow. Once it detects a person snoring the cushion gently inflates to 'nudge' the user, causing them to stir and stop snoring. This slight movement stimulates the relaxed throat muscles. As a result, the airway assumes its natural position and you can breathe normally once again. Advertisement

Nora is one of thousands of smart devices for the home that will be revealed this week at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

Central to the show this year will be smart hubs for the home, where families can control everything from the heating and lighting to making a cup of coffee through apps connected to smartphones, tablets or the family TV.

And in an era where transport is the new frontier for tech giants, many will be rolling out smart driverless cars, some powered by long range batteries rather than petrol.

Co-founder of Smart Nora Inc, Behrouz Hariri, said the inspiration came from his father, who is an inventor and engineer as well as suffering from snoring.

Mr Hariri, a product designer based in Toronto, Canada, said: Nora listens for the early sound of snoring. As soon as it is just about to get loud enough to wake the partner, the padded insert in the pillow slowly inflates.

That slow movement tends to do the trick.

He said: Historically, people would tend to nudge each the snorer very hard because they are frustrated to make them change position.

Nora does that in slow motion and both partners can sleep through the night.

You dont start snoring until the muscles in your upper throat relax and the airway collapses a little. If we can stimulate the muscles to move and open up the airway, then the snoring will be prevented.

The idea is that we interrupt the snorting right before it would be loud enough to wake someone up.

The trigger point for when the padded insert begins the cycle can be changed depending on what snoring sound level people are prepared to tolerate.

The headline price for Nora is $299 (200) and it will be available from the companys website in the summer.
A major new campaign to mobilise members of the public to vote for Britain to leave the EU launches today.

Grassroots Out is a cross party campaign designed to bring together ordinary voters who want to back Brexit.

The launch comes amid claims half the Cabinet believe David Cameron will have to resign as PM if he loses the vote on Britains membership, in a further blow to the PM.

David Cameron, right, pictured with French President Francois Hollande, would be expected to resign by Cabinet members should he lose the vote on Britain's membership in the EU, it has been claimed

Mr Cameron is expected to back Britain staying in the EU in a historic referendum likely within months.

But six cabinet ministers told The Sunday Times the PM would have to step down if he loses because he will have put his political credibility on the line in the campaign.

Other ministers would expect him to go if he were to refuse to allow Eurosceptic ministers to freedom to campaign publicly for an Out vote.

One cabinet minister told the paper: If the PM insists that ministers toe the line, divides the party and takes a stand, that would be a high-stakes manoeuvre. If he loses in those circumstances, his position would be untenable. That is the view of half the cabinet.

Mr Cameron is expected to secure a new deal from Brussels in talks in February, and the referendum to take place in July.

Yesterday there was speculation two Cabinet ministers  Leader of the House Chris Grayling and Northern Ireland Secretary Theresa Villiers  could quit within weeks.

Both are arch-Eurosceptics who could also be sacked at the next reshuffle and could jump early.

There was even speculation Boris Johnson could be installed in the Cabinet if Mr Cameron was forced to bring in new people.

That is despite the London mayor not finishing his term in City Hall until May.

MPs from across the political spectrum are backing Grassroots Out, including Tory MPs Peter Bone and Tom Pursglove, Labours Kate Hoey and UKIP leader Nigel Farage.

Speculation is mounting London Mayor Boris Johnson, left, could be brought into the Cabinet

UKIP leader Nigel Farage, pictured, is one of several politicians backing Grassroots Out

It is aimed at bringing together people from the disparate anti-EU groups to knock on doors and will draw up a series of campaign plans for individual constituencies across the country.

Mr Bone said: At the moment, every day that passes while we are not organised at the grassroots is a wasted opportunity to spread our message on the ground, gifting the advantage to our referendum opponents. GO will help to redress that imbalance.

Mr Pursglove said: I know that all those out there in our country who want the United Kingdom to leave the European Union, have a simple message: get together and make it happen.

'At the moment, the activity on the ground is needlessly fragmented, handing the advantage to those who wish to keep us in. GO will help put a stop to that and shift the emphasis firmly onto grassroots Brexit.

Miss Hoey said it was essential that people from all parties put aside their political differences and work towards the common end, which is to get the UK out of the European Union.

Mr Farage called on politicians from different parties to work together and speak with one voice.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has said that if she is elected, she will 'get to the bottom' of questions over what the government knows about UFOs and aliens.

She made the promise when speaking with Daymond Steer of The Conway Daily Sun in New Hampshire. She had previously interviewed with the same reporter in 2007.

When asked if she would support UFO disclosure group efforts, she enthusiastically said 'yes'.

In 2007, Clinton said the most common freedom-of-information requests her husband Bill Clinton received at his library were about UFOs.

Hillary Clinton reportedly told The Conway Daily Sun that she would 'get to the bottom' of questions over what the government knows about UFOs and aliens

She also said she would look into sending a tast force Area 51 (pictured), an Air Force facility rumored to house aliens

'Yes, I'm going to get to the bottom of it,' Hillary Clinton told The Sun reporter last week.

In 2014, Bill Clinton told late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel that he wouldn't be surprised if aliens visited Earth, and last week

'No, I am trying to tell you I don't know, but if we were visited some day I wouldn't be surprised, I just hope it's not like Independence Day,' he said, referring to the 1996 film in which aliens attack the Earth.

Hillary Clinton appeared to agree with her husband's comments when she spoke about aliens on last week.

'I think we may have been (visited already). We don't know for sure,' she said.

She added that she would like to look into Area 51, which she first called Area 54 but quickly corrected herself.

The Air Force facility based in Nevada has long been rumored to house aliens.

Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman John Podesta is fan of UFO lore, the presidential candidate told the Sun. She said he watches an FX sci-fi show.

Hillary Clinton's husband, Bill Clinton, said in 2014 to late-night TV host Jimmy Kimmel that he wouldn't be surprised if aliens visited Earth

Clinton told Kimmel that he hoped there wouldn't be a conflict, like in the movie Independence Day (pictured), if aliens did come to the Earth

'He has made me personally pledge we are going to get the information out,' Hillary Clinton said. 'One way or another. Maybe we could have, like, a task force to go to Area 51.'

Podesta released a statement in 2014 in which he said his biggest regret during his time as a top adviser for President Barack Obama was not securing the release of classified UFO Files.

'Finally, my biggest failure of 2014: Once again not securing the #disclosure of the UFO files. #the truthisstilloutthere,' he said.

Podesta was also the chief of staff to former President Bill Clinton.

In 1993, billionaire Laurance Rockefeller asked then-President Bill Clinton to release UFO files. The president then reportedly met Rockefeller at his Wyoming estate in 1996 to discuss the 'Rockefeller Initiative', which would have securely released previously classified UFO files.

UFO researcher and retired police officer Gary Heseltine told The Mirror that Hillary Clinton 'cannot run away' from links to the Rockefeller Initiative.

'I am well aware of the Rockefeller initiative and that both the Clintons were heavily involved in it,' he told The Mirror. 'It was inevitable that Hillary Clinton would be asked questions about her links to it and I am pleased that she has responded to them.

'She cannot run away from those links so she really has to embrace it in order to remain credible. It will be interesting to see how much of a political issue it will become in her presidential campaign.'
Polish foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski, pictured, hinted his country would support David Cameron over welfare reform in return for more Nato troops deployed in Central Europe

Poland could bow to British demands for a curb on EU migrant benefits in exchange for more Nato troops in central Europe.

The compromise  outlined by Polish foreign minister Witold Waszczykowski yesterday  would be welcomed by David Cameron, who has made welfare reform one of his key pledges ahead of in-out referendum.

Poles make up the greatest number of migrants to the UK from any other country, with some 679,000 settling here by 2013.

While the vast majority are in paid work, many are also eligible for in-work benefits.

Ministers have been concerned that they are powerless to stop EU nationals working in this country from claiming child benefit for children that do not even live in Britain.

They want a four-year delay for foreign nationals before they can start claiming benefits.

The PMs visit to Warsaw last month ended with his plea for a deal being rejected by Polands Prime Minister Beata Szydlo.

But Mr Waszczykowski suggested that Britain could help Poland beef up the presence of Nato troops in the region.

Asked whether Britain could offer Poland something to soften its opposition to Mr Camerons welfare reforms, Mr Waszczykowski said: Of course. Britain could offer something to Poland in terms of international security.

We still consider ourselves a second-class NATO member-state, because in central Europe ... there arent, aside from a token presence, any significant allied forces or defence installations, which gives the Russians an excuse to play this region.

He added: Britain could support our expectations related to an allied military presence on Polish territory.

David Cameron's bid to block in-work benefits for migrants is a key part of his renegotiation over EU membership

But Mr Waszczykowski also said that Warsaw would oppose any cuts in benefits that singled out recipients on the basis of their country of origin.

Were aware that the British welfare system is very elaborate and that it may not be able to bear it. We are therefore addressing this by increasing our benefits, and we also want to raise salaries in Poland, he said.

It would be very difficult for us to accept any discrimination.unless Britain helped us really effectively with regard to the Polish defence ambitions.

Warsaw is hosting a Nato summit this July.

Poland has previously said it wants up to 5,000 Nato troops on Polish soil after Russias intervention in Ukraine.

But the alliance is reluctant to permanently station troops in the area due to a 1997 NATO-Russia limiting the size of forces it can have in former Warsaw Pact countries.

Moscow would see any permanent presence of Nato troops on its borders as an act of hostility.
David Cameron's response to the migrant crisis was last night condemned by leading charities as 'clearly inadequate'.

The not-for-profit groups called for the UK to take a 'fair and proportionate' share of refugees.

The group of 27 charities, including Oxfam, the International Rescue Committee and Amnesty International, said the Prime Minister's commitment to resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years was a welcome first step.

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David Cameron's response to the migrant crisis was last night condemned by leading charities as 'clearly inadequate'

But they argued he had failed to meet the UK's responsibilities for dealing with the 'crisis on Europe's doorstep'.

In an open letter, co-ordinated by the British Refugee Council, the organisations criticised the UK's offer to rehome refugees as too limited.

Urging the Prime Minister to show a 'new resolve' to deal with the problem, the charities said: 'Last year saw 3,770 people drown and hundreds of thousands more endure a desperate march of misery across the continent.'

The letter added: 'Last year's announcement that the UK will resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years was a welcome first step, but given the numbers of people searching for safety across the globe, this response is clearly inadequate: it is too slow, too low and too narrow.

he not-for-profit groups called for the UK to take a 'fair and proportionate' share of refugees

In an open letter, co-ordinated by the British Refugee Council, the organisations criticised the UK's offer to rehome refugees as too limited

'The UK can and should be doing much more to ensure that refugees are not compelled to take life-threatening journeys or forced into smugglers' hands.'

The groups demanded that Britain should take its share of refugees, including from those already within the EU and establish safe and legal routes to the UK.

A Government spokeswoman said: 'The terrible images we have seen in the last year have moved us all, strengthening our resolve to help prevent more people suffering such a fate.

'That is why we are resettling people directly from the countries neighbouring Syria, to which so many refugees have fled, and we have already met our target of welcoming 1,000 of the most vulnerable before Christmas.

'The UK is also playing a leading role providing life-saving aid to those most in need, both in the Syrian region, where we have pledged over 1.1 billion in humanitarian aid, and in Europe. It is essential that we focus our support where we can make the biggest impact.'

A Government spokeswoman said: 'The terrible images we have seen in the last year have moved us all, strengthening our resolve to help prevent more people suffering such a fate'

Urging the Prime Minister to show a 'new resolve' to deal with the problem, the charities said: 'Last year saw 3,770 people drown and hundreds of thousands more endure a desperate march of misery across the continent'
Soaring olive oil prices have prompted widescale looting raids on Spanish groves (stock image)

Soaring olive oil prices have prompted widescale looting raids on Spanish groves.

Police have seized looters cars packed to the roof with hundreds of kilos of stolen olives, and growers now patrol their crops at night.

The price of extra virgin olive oil hit an 18-year high in August when prices reached $5,890 (3,986) per metric ton. The steep rise in value has seen it dubbed liquid gold.

But it has led to a massive increase in night-time raids in Extremadura, central Spain, where entire groves have been stripped by looters.

Farmers blame Romanian and Bulgarian thieves and say a mafia has sprung up which sells the stolen fruit on the black market.

In November 26,000 kilos were stripped from the trees in a single night, a haul of unprocessed olives worth around 11,500.

Farmer Antonio Masa Canada said there had always been small-scale thieving but told the Sunday Telegraph: Ive never seen any like this. Looting has become the order of the day.

Growers have said they would harvest early rather than wait until February for the fruit to ripen.

Mr Masa Canada, 43, said a local patrol had caught seven looters last week after a 100mph car chase.

But the thieves were released within hours by police and told to appear in court at a later date.

Police have seized looters cars packed to the roof with hundreds of kilos of stolen olives, and growers now patrol their crops at night (stock image of an olive grove)

He called the response pathetic as the looters were unlikely to turn up.

He said: We are not racists, we're just sick of this thieving. We have had Spanish people stealing too, but this is a powder keg and its about to go off.
Barely has the New Year started than Saudi Arabia has confirmed its reputation for barbarity. This weekend, at 12 separate prisons, 47 convicts were executed by beheading or firing squad.

The method of execution chosen depended on the local availability of a skilled swordsman, the most experienced of whom can execute up to ten men or women in a single session.

Since many of last years 158 executions in the kingdom were conducted in public, and a few were secretly filmed, we have a good idea of what happens.

On waking, those facing decapitation are given a calming Valium and then led to a site with plastic sheets spread on the ground. Their hands are bound behind their backs and they are blindfolded, chiefly to stop them turning their heads towards the executioner and his 2,500 silver sulthan sword.

A controversial meme posted on a website thought to belong to Iran's Supreme Leader suggested the only difference between Saudi rulers and ISIS executioners was the clothes they wore

The violent mob was protesting the killing of Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr (pictured), the most vocal critic of the Saudi dynasty, who was the driving force behind the protests that broke out in the east of the country in 2011

These executioners are professionals from families who have proudly handed down the role from father to son. After reading out the sentence and a few verses of the Koran, the executioner aims to cut off the victims head with a single powerful blow. Blood from their body continues to pump onto the plastic sheeting after the deed is done.

In cases where the regime wishes to express especial abhorrence for the victim, the headless corpse is hung from cranes or poles for several days, with their severed head, by now in a plastic bag, positioned as if it is floating above the corpse.

Some of the bodies of those executed this weekend suffered this grotesque fate, a public display considered akin to crucifixion.

So much for the grim modus operandi. The latest men executed were different from the minor drug traffickers, foreign servants who have killed an employer, or sorcerers and witches who make up the usual cast of victims.

For sure, they included several Al Qaeda terrorists, among them bearded ideologue Fares al-Shuwail, and Adel al-Dhubaiti, who in 2004 murdered BBC cameraman Simon Cumbers and left reporter Frank Gardner for dead. Few will mourn either of them.

But the Saudis took the opportunity to add in four individuals from the Shia sect of Islam  a minority in Saudi Arabia which is predominantly of the Sunni faith  including the prominent dissident cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

It is unclear, as yet, whether he was beheaded or shot, but his death has caused outrage among Shia Muslims from Lebanon via Iran and Iraq to Pakistan. And it risks setting a centuries old feud between Sunni and Shia ablaze across the whole of the Middle East.

In Irans capital, Tehran, angry crowds have already set light to a Saudi embassy that only reopened a few weeks ago, and the regimes clerical and secular leaders have vowed to avenge Nimrs death.

Ominously, Irans Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iraqs Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, and Lebanese Hezbollahs leader, Hassan Nasrullah, have warned the House of Saud that it will pay a heavy price for executing Nimr.

The point is that Nimr was not a terrorist as Saudi Arabia claims, but a cleric of considerable eminence and a peaceful dissident, who in the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring denounced the discrimination and persecution that his fellow Shia endure in the kingdoms oil rich Eastern Province.

His execution is a deliberately provocative act clearly aimed at infuriating Iran and the entire Shia world. The animosity between Sunni and Shia goes back to the 7th century and concerns who should succeed the Prophet Mohammed  a blood relation (Shia) or anyone of sufficient distinction (Sunni).

Iranian protesters set fire to pictures of the Saudi royal family in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran

Kashmiri Shiite protesters shout slogans during a demonstration in Srinagar following the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr

The Shiite protesters (pictured) in Kashmir threw rocks at the police who retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets

As well as the protests in Kashmir (pictured), demonstrators in Bahrain were also met with tear gas as they fought with security forces,

But there is also the added dimension of the deep-seated rivalry between Shia Persians (the historical name for Iranians) and Gulf Arabs.

The Gulf Arabs view Persians as clever and crafty  after all they invented chess  while Iranians regard Gulf Arabs as backward desert lizard eaters.

Iran may be a brutal regime, and one that executes many people too, but it is also a democracy with its own peculiar mixed system of clerical and secular control. It has had a venerable parliament since 1906 and women have been able to vote there since 1963. In Saudi Arabia they are not even allowed to drive.

In Iran, the Sunni Arab minority  who mostly inhabit the countrys oil-rich western provinces  suffer no special discrimination.

But in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere, the minority Shia are regarded as deviant rafidahs or rejectors. They are seen as a fifth column sent to subvert the unity of the Muslim world whose lynchpin, the Saudis insist, is the indissoluble union of the ruling Saud dynasty and the countrys hardline Wahhabi clergy  a union that has existed since the late 18th century. Saudi Arabias guardianship of the holy sites of Mecca and Medina underpins that large claim.

This history explains why the execution of Nimr (though not as yet his nephew Ali, who was sentenced to death too, despite being 17) is so inflammatory.

It reflects the throw-caution-to-the-wind approach of the new ruling team in Riyadh following the death in January last year of King Abdullah and succession by his doddery 80-year-old half-brother King Salman.

Salman, in ill-health, has given free reign to his widely detested 30-year-old son, deputy Crown Prince Mohammed, to the point where other royal princes have expressed alarm at the power Mohammed has amassed and where he is taking the kingdom. Until the weekend, overt attempts to trigger a wider sectarian conflict between Sunni and Shia seemed confined to the maniacs of Isis, who have not only murdered Shia prisoners of war in Iraq and Syria, but deliberately targeted Shia mosques in Saudi Arabia.

Salman, (pictured) in ill-health, has given free reign to his widely detested 30-year-old son, deputy Crown Prince Mohammed, to the point where other royal princes have expressed alarm at the power Mohammed has amassed and where he is taking the kingdom

Since March 2015, a nine-nation coalition led by Saudi Arabia, and backed by Britain and the US, has intervened in the civil war raging in Yemen, where a Saudi-backed Sunni president was overthrown by Shia Houthi rebels, in a coup that the Gulf Arabs blame on Iran

The indiscriminate Saudi air campaign has led to the deaths of many innocent Yemeni civilians

The fissure between Sunni and Shia already underpins the proxy wars that Iran and Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies have been waging in countries from Syria to Yemen. By executing Sheikh Nimr the Saudis have deliberately brought this suppurating wound out into the open.

The Saudis, for example, are the main external sponsors of the Sunni Islamist rebels (many of them indistinguishable from Isis) who have been trying to take over Syria and depose its embattled President Bashar al-Assad. Al-Assad, belongs to the Shia sect called Alawites and is supported by Iran.

Since March 2015, a nine-nation coalition led by Saudi Arabia, and backed by Britain and the US, has intervened in the civil war raging in Yemen, where a Saudi-backed Sunni president was overthrown by Shia Houthi rebels, in a coup that the Gulf Arabs blame on Iran.

That intervention has gone badly for the Saudis, who show no signs of defeating the tough and resourceful Houthis.

Meanwhile, the indiscriminate Saudi air campaign has led to the deaths of many innocent Yemeni civilians, raising a large question mark over the logistical support that British military and commercial firms  notably arms giant BAE Systems  are giving Riyadh.

Behind much of the Saudis new aggressive stance lies the Desert Kingdoms great fear that through the recent nuclear deal between Iran and America  under which sanctions imposed by the West will be lifted in return for Iran agreeing long-term curbs on its nuclear programme  the West is preparing to ditch its Sunni allies in favour of Tehran.

This would in all likelihood restore Iran to the regional hegemony it once enjoyed under the Shah before the 1979 Islamic Revolution turned it into an international pariah.

The Saudis are also deeply concerned that the Wests blundering intervention in Iraq and the removal of Saddam Hussein (a Sunni) have benefited Iran since the country has now become little more than an appendage of Iranian mullahs.

Since Iran wishes, above all, for the nuclear deal to result in the lifting of sanctions, which have crippled its banking, car, oil and gas industries for decades, it is likely to bide its time before avenging Sheikh Nimr.

But given the countrys deep ties with Lebanon-based Hezbollah and that organisations own shadowy network of terrorist groups with global reach, Saudi Arabia may soon regret so casually executing Sheikh Nimr.
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The first images showing doomed cargo ship El Faro resting 15,000ft beneath the sea off the coast of Crooked Island in the Bahamas have emerged three months after it lost power and sank during hurricane Joaquin, killing all 33 people on board.

Pictures taken by search parties from the National Transportation Safety Board show the navigation bridge - which detached from the main vessel - sitting on the ocean floor with its windows smashed in.

Elsewhere, the battered stern of the ship lies on the seabed, the metal sheeting which previously carried the vessel's name so badly bent out of shape that several letters are no longer visible.

The El Faro sank on October 1 after losing engine power and getting caught in a Category 4 hurricane while sailing from Jacksonville to San Juan, Puerto Rico. It was last tracked north of Crooked Island, in an area of water more commonly known as the infamous Bermuda Triangle.

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Investigators have released the first pictures of doomed cargo ship El Faro which sank during Hurricane Joaquin three months ago. Here the navigation bridge, where the captain made the ill-fated decision to sail into the storm, can be seen 15,000ft below the waves

Recovery workers had been looking for the two upper decks of the El Faro, including the navigation deck (pictured) which they have now located half a mile away from the main ship. Still missing is the main mast which would have sat here and included the ship's data recorder

Investigators located the El Faro on the sea floor at the end of October last year, but this is the first time it has been pictured using an underwater drone. Here, the badly-damaged stern of the vessel can be seen

Investigators discovered the remains of the El Faro back in October last year, but had been searching for the upper two decks which separated from the body of the craft and which were eventually located about half a mile away.

This is the first time that any of the wreckage has been pictured on the sea bed after being recorded with a remotely-controlled underwater drone.

What officials have yet to discover is the mast section of the navigation deck which contained the ship's data recorder which could contain vital clues about the last maneuvers of the vessel, recordings of the final conversations between captain and crew, and why the ship ultimately sank.

Also missing were any remains of the crew or their belongings. 'There were no human remains found whatsoever, and no personal effects whatsoever,' lead investigator Tom Roth-Roffy said. 'I think we found one boot.'

Search teams said they also failed to find any remains of the crew on board the sunken boat, or their belongings. Here, the empty main deck of the cargo ship, which sank after losing power in Hurricane Joaquin, is seen

While what caused the ship to sink is not known, at some point during the disaster the top two decks tore free. Pictured here is the torn metalwork where the navigation deck used to attached before ripping free

The El Faro was sailing from Jacksonville to San Juan, Puerto Rico, when it go caught up in Hurricane Joaquin. Final transmissions from the boat suggest it lost power and began drifting before starting to take on water

Roth-Roffy said the NTSB would need to launch a second search of the wreckage 15,000 feet below the sea if it wants to find the data recorder. They are still determining if and when such a search would occur.

Investigators are still piecing events of the sinking together, but at this point they've ruled out a major structure failure as a cause of the El Faro's sinking, Roth-Roffy said.

'The issue with the detachment of the upper two decks, we're looking at that carefully,' he said.

Even without the data recorder, the images taken by remote-controlled underwater vehicles are helping to shed some light on the case.

Roth-Roffy says all of the ship's cargo containers except for four were gone. The El Faro was carrying automobiles.

Determining what happened to the ship will be more difficult without the data recorder, but NTSB's investigators have said they are still confident they'll be able to find answers.

After suspending their search for the data recorder in November, Roth-Roffy says they may go back to search again. The recorder was attached to the ship's main mast, a 35-foot tall structure that crews haven't yet located.

The vessel disappeared just north of Crooked Island in the Bahamas, inside the Bermuda Triangle, after apparently sailing full-speed into the storm. Families of the 33 crew who died have since launched lawsuits against the boat's operating company

The data recorder charts the date, time and speed of a marine vessel, and also records conversations on the bridge that could include key decision-making between captain and crew.

While recovering a small piece of equipment at such depth is difficult, there is precedent.

The black box of the Air France jetliner that crashed into the Atlantic Ocean on June 1, 2009 on a flight from Rio de Janeiro to Paris was found in about 12,800 feet of water.

Crews also retrieved the black box of a South African Airways airplane that crashed into the Indian Ocean in 1987 in more than 15,000 feet of water.

Families of the crew members have filed multiple lawsuits against the El Faro's owners, Tote Marine, alleging wrongful death and negligence. They argue the ship should never have tried to outrun a hurricane, and that the decision to do so was motivated by money.
Kevan Thakrar has been awarded 1,000 in compensation after a guard squirted shampoo on his CDs

A triple-murderer behind bars has been awarded 1,000 in compensation after a guard squirted shampoo on his CDs.

Kevan Thakrar  who is serving time for using a sub-machine gun to kill two men and a teenage boy  won compensation from the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) after a judge ruled that his CDs were damaged during a prison transfer, the Independent reported.

In an insult to injury, it is the second time the murderer has embarrassed the Government  as the 27-year-old was awarded more than 800 by the same judge in April 2014 after his nose hair clippers, among other items, were damaged in jail.

And in last week's ruling at Milton Keynes County Court, District Judge Neil Hickman said the decision was 'a good advertisement for the civil justice system of this country'.

The 1,000 compensation award is the result of a claim made by Thakrar in 2013, when he was a prisoner at HMP Woodhill, according to The Independent.

He complained that in the course of being moved prisons his stereo was broken, a number of CDs were damaged beyond repair and four books of his were lost. They included Dispatches from the Dark Side by human rights lawyer Gareth Pierce and A Life Inside: A Prisoner's Notebook by Erwin James.

Thakrar further complained that a 31.81 canteen order, which he placed at Woodhill on 10 June 2013, was never fulfilled and that the money was never refunded to him.

Thakrar was jailed in 2008 after he and his brother Miran used a sub-machine gun to kill Keith Cowell, 52, his son Matthew, 17, and Tony Dulieu, 33, from Essex, at the Cowells' house in Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, the previous year. The brothers were also sentenced for two attempted murders.

In March 2010, Thakrar maimed three guards at HM Prison Frankland in County Durham after stabbing them with a broken bottle, but was cleared of two counts of attempted murder and three of wounding with intent after claiming he was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

In his judgment published on New Year's Eve, Mr Hickman said of Thakrar: 'He appears to be intelligent and articulate and has been able to advance his claim in writing through the County Court. Indeed, some would say that the fact that a claim of this kind can be dealt with at modest cost through the County Court system is a good advertisement for the civil justice system of this country.'

He criticised the Government Legal Department, acting on behalf of the MoJ, and said: 'I regret to say that I have found them of extremely limited assistance because they lacked objective discussion either of the law or of the evidence.'

In last week's ruling at Milton Keynes County Court (pictured), District Judge Neil Hickman said the decision was 'a good advertisement for the civil justice system of this country'

Mr Hickman ruled: 'I am satisfied that the damage to the CDs must have been caused by the deliberate act of one or more prison officers.

'In human terms it would be wholly understandable that in the light of what happened to their colleagues at HMP Frankland, other prison officers may have wanted to teach Mr Thakrar something of a lesson. But legally it cannot be any sort of justification.'

The judge said that the damage to the stereo and the disappearance of the books were 'extremely suspicious', but it could not be proved that they were deliberate acts.

Thakrar, who did not rely on legal aid to bring the case, was awarded 1,000.

A Prison Service spokesperson told The Independent: 'We are currently considering this judgment and whether there are grounds to lodge an appeal.
His defense argued that Avery was framed by Manitowoc officers who were being deposed in his lawsuit

Two online petitions demanding the pardon of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, the subjects of the new Netflix series Making a Murderer, have received close to 200,000 signatures.

The 10-episode documentary revolving around Avery and Dassey's murder trial for a 25-year-old woman's murder in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, has become a sensation over the holidays.

Both petitions directly appeal to President Obama to pardon the two men, who were both convicted in March 2007 in the death of freelance photographer Teresa Halbach.

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Two online petitions demanding the pardon of Steven Avery (pictured) and Brendan Dassey, the subjects of the new Netflix series Making a Murderer, had received nearly 200,0000 signatures by Monday lunchtime

Both petitions have directly appealed to President Obama to pardon Avery and Dassey (pictured right), who were both convicted in March 2007 in the death of freelance photographer Teresa Halbach

A formal petition to the White House, which had received more than 19,000 signatures by lunchtime on Monday January 4, writes that evidence on the Netflix series proves the justice system 'embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives.'

'There is clear evidence that the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department used improper methods to convict both Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey', the petition continues.

'This is a black mark on the justice system as a whole, and should be recognized as much, while also giving these men the ability to live as normal a life as possible.'

The Change.org petition, which had received more than 170,000 signatures in the same time, was created by a Colorado resident who said he was 'outraged' after viewing the documentary.

'Avery's unconstitutional mistreatment at the hands of corrupt local law enforcement officers is completely unacceptable and is an abomination of due process,' Michael Seyedian Arvada writes.

'Steven Avery should be exonerated at once by presidential pardon, and the Manitowoc County officials complicit in his two false imprisonments should be held accountable to the highest extent of the US criminal justice system.

The Change.org petition, which has received tens of thousands of signatures, was created by a Colorado resident who said he was 'outraged' after viewing the documentary

The 10-episode documentary revolving around Avery and Dassey's murder trial for a 25-year-old Halbach's murder in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, has become a sensation over the holidays

Avery had been in prison for 18 years when DNA evidence exonerated him of a 1985 sexual assault conviction. It was after his release and a lawsuit against cops that he was arrested for Halbach's murder

None of Halbach's (pictured) DNA was ever discovered inside of Avery's home, where the prosecution claimed she was raped and shot in the head

Avery had been in prison for 18 years when DNA evidence exonerated him of a sexual assault conviction in 1985.

He was released in 2003 and, two years later, sought $36m from Manitowoc County for the wrongful conviction.

Less than a month after the federal lawsuit was filed, Avery was charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the murder of Halbach.

Avery's defense argued that Manitowoc officers who were in the middle of being deposed in his lawsuit were also involved in the gathering of evidence for the Halbach murder and may have framed him.

Brendan Dassey, Avery's 16-year-old nephew, then confessed to sexually assaulting Halbach and cutting her throat on his uncle's orders. He later said the confession was coerced.

Avery was released in 2003 on a sex assault conviction and, two years later, sought $36m from Manitowoc County. It was then that he was tied to the murder of Halbach

Avery, pictured left in court, was charged with first-degree intentional homicide for the murder of Halbach. His nephew Brendan Dassey confessed but later said his statement was coerced by cops

None of Halbach's DNA was ever discovered inside of Avery's home, where the prosecution claimed she was raped and shot in the head.

Avery was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Dassey was also given a life sentence but has a chance for early release in 2048.

Netflix's Making a Murderer became an instant hit when it was released December 18.

It received glowing reviews from critics and celebrities alike, who took to Twitter to share the number of hours they had binged and to beg their followers to watch.

'I can't stop watching,' wrote Mandy Moore. 'It's crushing but utterly spellbinding.'

'Never mind an Emmy or an Oscar...Making a Murderer deserves a Nobel Prize,' tweeted Ricky Gervais.
A mother was fined a total of $380 and lost 20 demerit points for speeding while having one child lying across her lap and another unrestrained in the front seat of her car.

The mother of two was pulled over by the Waikato Road Police in New Zealand when she exceeded the 100km/h speed limit by 14km on the State Highway 1 Waikato Expressway, reported New Zealand Herald.

Police were shocked to find that a baby seat was lying in the boot of her car and wrote in a post on the Waikato Road Police Facebook page that the incident was heart-wrenching and extremely disappointing.

A New Zealand mother was fined a total of $380 and lost 20 demerit points for speeding while having one child lying across her lap and another unrestrained in the front seat of her car

I dont know what goes through the minds of drivers like this, to put your tamariki/mokopuna [meaning children in maori] at such extreme risks, read the post.

The woman was given an $80 fine for exceeding the speed limit, $150 for failing to ensure a child under 7 was in an approved child restraint, and another $150 for the child lying across her lap, said police.

She also lost 20 demerit points, reported Stuff.co.nz.

Waikato district road policing manager Inspector Freda Grace told Stuff.co.nz: First and foremost, it's potentially disastrous for the family.

Police were shocked to find that a baby seat was lying in the boot of her car

It's fine for people to do what they want with their children, but it has to be safe.

That's something people don't often think about - what if something goes wrong and you end up with life changing injuries, or worse, a death? she added.

Police told the New Zealand Herald that the case would be referred to appropriate agencies for the neglectful behaviour and a risk to her young ones.

The Facebook post attracted more than 100 comments, reported 3News with most condemning the womans actions.

The woman was given an $80 fine for exceeding the speed limit, $150 for failing to ensure a child under 7 was in an approved child restraint, and another $150 for the child lying across her lap

Police have urged those driving during the holiday period to be patient and take their time

Pretty sad really. All the info is out there and obviously these people choose to ignore it, said a Facebook user.

Others said the incident was absolutely disgusting and incredibly irresponsible.

Police have urged those driving during the holiday period to be patient and take their time.

The national road toll in the region reached ten on Monday with 14 driving related deaths between the 2014/15 periods.
Underworld matriarch Roberta Williams said she 'screamed to the world' with joy after the reported arrival of her first grandchild.

Ms Williams, ex-wife of dead convicted murderer and drug trafficker Carl Williams, celebrated the birth of baby Santana in a Facebook post, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Ms Williams was quoted saying the arrival of daughter Danielle and her recently jailed partner Sanar Ghanim 'made me complete'.

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Roberta Williams (left), who announced this week she is a grandmother, is pictured with her youngest daughter Dhakota

Danielle Stephens, Carl Williams's step-daughter, is pictured here with a bulging belly during a court appearance in October

Mr Stephens' de facto partner Sanar Ghanim (right) was jailed earlier last month for reckless conduct and a drug offence

'Santana was the final piece of the puzzle,' Ms Williams said, according to the report.

'Little Princess, you are you are my world, you are my everything but most of all I am honoured to say you are my granddaughter.'

Ghanim, the baby's father, was jailed by the Victoria Supreme Court several days before little Santana was reportedly born on December 29.

He was sentenced to 17 months imprisonment on December 18 after admitting to reckless conduct endangering life as well as a drug offence.

Justice Croucher said he had 'very good' prospects for rehabilitation, noting his 'stable family and friends' and the impending birth.

Ms Williams (pictured) was overjoyed at the reported birth of her granddaughter Santana, saying:

Ms Williams, who was contacted for comment, posted pictures of 'hampers' of various baby paraphernalia on her Facebook page on Monday

During a court appearance last October, Ms Stephens was photographed with a bulging pregnant belly as she walked with Mr Ghanim.

Ms Stephens is Carl Williams's step-daughter.

Ms Stephens was one of three children Ms Williams had with her previous husband Dean Stephens before she married Carl later in life.

Roberta Williams, who was portrayed by Kat Stewart in the hit Nine Network drama Underbelly, has made occasional media appearances since her ex-partner was killed in a prison yard in 2010.

Roberta Williams was portrayed by Kat Stewart (left) in the hit Nine Network drama Underbelly. Her former partner Carl was played by Gyton Grantley

Gangland figure Carl Williams, who was slain in a Victorian prison yard in 2010, is pictured in this file image

In 2014, Ms Williams told A Current Affair raising her autistic son, Giuseppe, who has autism, was the 'toughest' challenge of her life.

But on Monday it was nothing but joy for Ms Williams, who posted pictures of baby paraphernalia all over her personal Facebook page.

Daily Mail Australia approached Ms Williams for comment.
Sales have increased from under 30,000 to more than 290,000 per week

Defiant: The cover of the latest edition of Charlie Hebdo, captioned: 'The killer is still running'

French magazine Charlie Hebdo has marked the one year anniversary since their Paris office was attacked by Islamic militants by publishing a cover portraying God as an armed terrorist.

The all black front page features a cartoon image of a blood-stained God in white with a Kalashnikov slung over his shoulder and the title 'One year after - The killer still at large.'

One million copies of the special edition will go on sale on Wednesday, with tens of thousands more being sent overseas.

This Thursday marks a year since the horror attack on the satirical magazine's city centre newsroom, where brothers Cherif and Said Kouachi Islamist opened fire, leaving 11 innocent writers and cartoonists dead.

Sales of the magazine have gone from less than 30,000 to over 290,000 copies per week, but a year on, staff are still struggling to adapt to the changes that followed the attack.

In addition to armed guards and increased death threats, the magazine's office is now at a secret Paris location, protected at all hours.

The attacks prompted a worldwide solidarity movement, with the 'Je Suis Charlie' slogan going viral on social media.

From being a small weekly satirical, Charlie Hebdo became one of the world's most famous publications.

The magazine has moved to a new office at a secret address, and staff members are under constant guard, requiring police escort and personal security even outside of the office.

Although death threats were not unusual before the attacks, the 24/7 security is a new addition to the lives of Charlie Hebdo staff, and it has not been welcomed by all, The Telegraph reports.

Patrick Pelloux, a writer and doctor who also treated the victims of the November 13 terrorist attacks, announced in September that the January edition would be his last.

'My Charlie Hebdo died, the people who made it what it was were killed. We did survive but part of us died,' Dr Pelloux told The Telegraph this week ahead of his departure.

In addition, the effect the attack had on the magazine's sales - and subsequently its profits - has caused a rift in the newsroom.

In memoriam: Workers fix a memorial stone at the entrance of the former headquarters of Charlie Hebdo

Never forgotten: The victgims of the attack honoured on the plaque outside the offices

The world rallied behind Charlie Hebdo in the wake of the attack on its offices on January 7, 2015, but staff are struggling to adapt to life a year later (stock image)

Members of staff have demanded all employees become equal shareholders - compared to today when the editor Laurent 'Riss' Sourisseau holds 70 per cent.

However, the content of the magazine is as defiant as ever, with Riss announcing in the latest edition that staff would not let 'two little fools in hoods blow away the work of our lives'.

'We are at war with Islamist Nazis, because Nazis are what they are,' Dr Pelloux adds.

'We can't let radical Islamists who are trying to bring terror to the whole world set the editorial agenda.'

Across the country, France is planning a number of events to mark the anniversary of the attacks on Charlie Hebdo and the kosher supermarket, where another four people died following a hostage taking.

Increase: Before the January 87 attacks, Charlie Hebdo sold some 30,000 copies per week, a number which is now closer to 300,000 per wek

With the country on high alert since the deadly attacks in November, and right through the New year holiday season, soldiers will be out in force protecting official buildings and religious sites for the 'Charlie' anniversary.

Commemorative plaques will be unveiled on Tuesday at the various sites of the January attacks, including at the weekly's former offices, in modest ceremonies attended by families and government officials, a City of Paris spokesman said.

On January. 10, another, more public,ceremony will take place on the Place de la Republique, the square in eastern Paris which attracted mass rallies in favour of free speech and democratic values after the attacks and became an informal memorial.
Ms Palmer said they allegedly just 'flew off the side' of the mountain

Kimberly Palmer, who had been on the tour, said training was 'adequate'

A 65-year-old Australian man crashed a snowmobile into a tree and died on New Years Day in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.

The man allegedly lost control of the vehicle while snowmobiling with a tour group on Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler.

A statement released from the Canadian Wilderness Adventures company said that the man had been also transporting a 54-year-old woman when the accident took place.

A 65-year-old Australian man crashed a snowmobile into a tree and died on New Years Day in the Canadian Rocky Mountains

The man allegedly lost control of the vehicle while snowmobiling with a tour group on Blackcomb Mountain in Whistler

Canadian Wilderness Adventure staff and a nursing student on the tour provided first aid, read the statement.

Kimberly Palmer, who had been on the tour told Global News: I was looking at them and saying in my head  turn, turn.

Then I was like, oh my god, they never turned. They just flew off the side.

I think it was a freak accident, she added.

Everyone had allegedly been pretty secure on their snowmobile and had received adequate training according to Ms Palmer.

There was a big open space where they had us practicing our Ss and our brakes, making sure we were really pumping them and not just holding down the brakes the whole time, said Ms Palmer.

I felt really secure on my snowmobile. It was a fun experience for me. Its just was unfortunate that it happened to that couple, she said.

The Whistler Fire Department, The Emergency Support, Health and Safety services, and Royal Canadian Mounted Police were called for assistance.

Canadian Wilderness Adventure staff and a nursing student on the tour provided first aid

A statement released from the Canadian Wilderness Adventures company said that the man had been also transporting a 54-year-old woman when the accident took place. She was later taken to hospital in Vancouver

The Australian tourist died at the scene and the female passenger was taken to Lions Gate Hospital in Vancouver to be treated for injuries.

The B.C Coroners Service is investigating the death that happened at 11pm local time.

The Canadian Wilderness Adventures company expressed their condolences to the mans family and friends.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade released a statement to News Corp that said: We are providing consular assistance to the family of an Australian man who has died and an Australian woman who has been hospitalised.

Due to privacy reasons we will not be providing further comment, they added.

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade released a statement which said the family of the man is getting consular assistance and due to privacy reasons the identities of the two people will not be revealed at this time
Schools, councils and local businesses are paying millions of pounds each year just to ensure that they have a police presence in their communities, it has been revealed.

Donations above and beyond taxpayer funding are currently paying more 1,120 officers - the equivalent of an entire constabulary - on our streets, a Telegraph investigation found.

That money is coming from community groups, townspeople and even schools desperate to bolster local safety, with at least 20million handed over in 2014 alone.

Schools, councils and local businesses are paying millions of pounds each year just to ensure that they have a police presence in their communities, it has been revealed (stock photograph)

In reality, that figure - and the number of officers recruited - is bound to be far bigger, after less than half of England and Wales' regional forces offered up data on the additional finance they have received.

For many, national cuts to the budget have caused a huge reduction to officer numbers locally, forcing them to take action.

In one town, the parish council charges each household 7 a year to enable their nearest police station to be able to afford an on-the-beat officer.

Several other communities have had to club together to provide their streets with similar patrols.

The startling revelation comes after it emerged that wealthy residents of a village in Hampshire offered to pay 60,000 a year between them to maintain local policing.

Councillors in Upton Grey and The Candovers offered to fork out the sum if Pc Andy Reid was retained as their dedicated officer.

However, it was rejected on the grounds it would create a 'two tier' police service.

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said the public will be concerned they are paying for a police force twice round

According to data obtained under Freedom of Information laws shows that at least 34 parish councils pay for at least one officer to patrol their area.

West Yorkshire Police received just over 3million in contributions. That money went on hiring 132 police officers. Four out of every five PCSOs are paid for by the private donations.

Kent Police used 3.67million of donated funds to pay for no less than 51 officers. Their coffers were boosted by bosses at Bluewater shopping centre, who handed over 563,000 for nine constables and two sergeants.

Avon and Somerset received 2.1 million used to get 50 officers on the beat and, while objecting to the funding offer for Pc Reid, Hampshire Police has allowed 11 parish councils to contribute more than 94,000 a year between them to pay for three PCSOs.

At least seven forces did not receive any money from external sources.

Nationwide, the combined of privately-funded officers is 1,120. In comparison, Suffolk Police has a total roll of 1,147 officers.

Andy Cattle, chairman of Drighlington parish council in West Yorkshire, said: 'We spend a significant part of our budget on this and the price is going up in January, so there's no doubt we'll have to increase the precept next year.'

Jonathan Isaby, chief executive of the Taxpayers' Alliance, said: 'Residents will wonder whether these additional costs mean they are paying twice for police officers to operate in their local community.
Paula Jones, the woman who almost brought down President Bill Clinton after accusing him of sexual harassment, has hit out at wife Hillary as she makes her own bid for the presidency.

Jones branded the likely Democratic nominee a 'lair' and a 'bully' who helped her husband cover up years of sexual harassment, saying she 'cares nothing about women at all'.

Jones' comments come as Bill Clinton prepares to step out on the campaign trail with Hillary for the first time during her 2016 run at an event in New Hampshire tomorrow.

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Paula Jones, the woman who almost brought down President Bill Clinton after accusing him of sexual harassment, has attacked wife Hillary as she runs for the presidency

Jones (pictured speaking in the Nineties), branded Hillary a 'lair' and a 'bully' who 'cares nothing about women at all' and accused her of helping her husband cover up years of sex abuse

However, the allegations against her husband are likely to prove a tricky obstacle to maneuver as she has worked hard to present herself as the women's candidate.

Recently, Clinton spoke in a campaign video about women who make allegations of sex abuse, saying: 'You have the right to be heard. You have the right to be believed. Were with you.'

Taking issue with that statement, Jones told Brietbart's Aaron Klein: 'I wasnt. I didnt have a right to be heard, obviously. I had to be scrutinized in the media and I knew that I had God on my side.

'He knew what happened in the room. Bill Clinton knew what happened and he was never going to admit to it.

'The state trooper. He knew just a little bit of what happened. That was outside the door, you know.'

The incident took place in 1991 when Clinton was governor of Arkansas and Jones a 24-year-old clerk with the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission.

She claimed he propositioned her in a hotel room at the Excelsior Hotel in Little Rock, dropping his trousers and asking her for oral sex.

She had asked to meet him because it would be 'exciting' to meet the governor, and she hoped it might lead to promotion. Instead, she said in court, she found herself telling him she was 'not that kind of girl'.

Taking aim at a Clinton campaign message in which she told victims of sex abuse 'you have the right to be believed, Jones said: 'I wasnt. I didnt have a right to be heard, obviously'

Jones also took issue with Hillary's attacks on Trump as having a 'penchant for sexism', accusing her of being two-faced and saying it will be 'sad' if she becomes President

It was a brief encounter and she alleged that Mr Clinton took her hand, pulled her towards him, then said: 'I love your curves.'

She tried to walk away, she said in a deposition, but 'Mr. Clinton then walked over to the sofa, lowered his trousers and underwear, exposed his penis (which was erect) and told me to "kiss it."'

Jones told her sisters and mother about the incident but took no further action.

Jones added: 'Its really a sad, sad day if Hillary becomes president, because she has allowed her husband to get by with this type of stuff.

'Why does he have a right to be back in the White House, the peoples house?

'Why is he allowed to be back there with the track record that he has and his wife and the lying that she does and how she tried to discredit all of these women that her husband abused and sexually harassed?'

Jones also took issue with Hillary's attacks on current Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who she accused of having a 'penchant for sexism'.

In a previous interview with Dailymail.com, said said: 'She [Hillary] should not be running with the terrible history they have.

Jones's accusations against then-President Bill Clinton almost brought down his administration after it exposed his lies about Monica Lewinsky

'Who would want Bill Clinton back a second time, doing the same stuff he was doing before, philandering with women? They have both lied.

'He does not have a right to be in the White House to serve the people the way he treated women, sexually harassing women.

'There were many women that came out and spoke out about what he did to them. He does not have a place in the White House to serve the American people.'

Jones almost helped bring about the downfall of Bill Clinton in 1993 when a former bodyguard spoke in a magazine interview about escorting a woman called 'Paula' to Clinton's room back in 1991.

Jones was advised to go public, hired a lawyer and in 1994 sued Clinton and asked for $700,000 in damages, claiming she suffered emotional trauma.

Clinton denied the claims, or even that he had met Jones. He dismissed her as an opportunist out for money and to damage him politically.

He asked that the civil suit be put off until he left the White House but in January 1997 an appeals court ruled the trial should go ahead.

A year later Judge Susan Webber Wright tossed out Jones's case saying she had not suffered any damages. She ruled that even if Clinton's behavior had been 'boorish and offensive' it did not amount to sexual harassment under the law.

Jones appealed and the Supreme Court reinstated her case leading to the unprecedented step of President Clinton being forced to make a deposition.

While working on the Paula Jones investigation, independent prosecutor Kenneth Starr uncovered Clinton's alleged affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

Clinton was asked if he had sex with Lewinsky  and denied it.

He would make the now infamous statement: 'I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Monica Lewinsky,' but would later go on TV to admit to an inappropriate relationship with the 21-year-old.

Jones said Hillary does not deserve to be back in the White House with the 'lying that she does and how she tried to discredit all of these women that her husband abused and sexually harassed'

Hillary stood by him, although former White House staff have recently said she used a book kept on her bedside to bash her husband around the head so hard it caused him bleed.

Staffers told Kate Andersen Brower for her book The Residence: Inside the Private World of The White House how they heard loud arguments coming from the private quarters of the White House around the time of the Lewinsky affair.

During the Clinton sex scandal Jones became a sideshow as Linda Tripp produced a semen-stained blue dress and audiotapes of her secretly recorded her conversations with Lewinsky.

It was the president's original statement to lawyers for Jones that almost led to hid downfall, as he had denied any improper relationship with Lewinsky, which was found to be untrue.

Having been accused of perjury, charges were drawn up and impeachment proceedings begun.

Although Democratic leaders preferred to censure the president, Congress began the impeachment process against Clinton in December 1998.

A divided House of Representatives impeached him on December 19 and the issue then passed to the Senate, where after a five week trial, he was acquitted.

Clinton survived the political fallout what became known as the 'Lewinsky affair'. His marriage to Hillary also survived.
A killer has complained from his jail cell after being told that he will be deported to Nigeria when his sentence ends even though he's never been to Africa.

Junior Bayode was jailed for 11 years after being found guilty of the manslaughter of 15-year-old schoolboy Sofyen Belamouadden, who was knifed to death in a brutal attack on March 25, 2010.

The teen was chased by a gang of around 20 youths from a rival school and stabbed nine times in just 12 seconds in front of shocked commuters in Victoria Underground Station in central London just after 5pm.

Junior Bayode (pictured) was jailed for 11 years after being found guilty of the manslaughter of 15-year-old schoolboy Sofyen Belamouadden, who was knifed to death in a brutal attack on March 25, 2010

He was rushed to hospital, but was pronounced dead by 6.15pm - suffering 20 separate wounds to his body, including slashes to his lung, heart, head and spine.

Five trials took place at the Old Bailey with 17 convictions resulting.

Three of the attackers - Obi Nwokeh, Christopher Omoregrie and Samson Odegbune - who were aged between 19 and 20 at the time of their sentencing in April 2013 - were jailed for life after being found guilty of murder.

Bayode, of Streatham, south London - who was just 16 when the attack took place - was found guilty of manslaughter and was caged for 11 years in July 2013.

But in a letter from his cell at HMP Moorland in South Yorks, Bayode, now 22, has complained to prison chiefs after being told he will be deported to Nigeria when he had completed his sentence, in around 2019.

He wrote to lags' mag Inside Time complaining about the Home Office winning a 'deport first, appeal later' policy in October last year.

The policy effectively removes the right of foreign prisoners to appeal against deportation from within the UK unless they can show there is a 'real risk of serious irreversible harm' if deported.

Killer Bayode, however, says he only knows 'the British way of life' and has never even been to Nigeria, where his mother was born.

He wrote: 'I was born in Germany on the 29th of January 1993 and came to the UK with my mother as an infant when I was 9 months old.

Sofyen was chased by a gang of around 20 youths and stabbed nine times in just 12 seconds in front of shocked commuters in Victoria Underground Station

'I have neither travelled nor been to any other country since I arrived in the UK over 20 years ago.

'My past, my present and my future is firmly rooted in British soil, hence why I am struggling to understand why I have been served with a deportation order to a country I have never been to - Nigeria.

'I concede that this is where my mother is from but she has lived in the UK since 1993.

'The Home Office have disregarded everything about me; from my childhood to the relationship I have with my partner of 4 years, to the bonds between myself, my mother and siblings, and all for what?

'To achieve a target? I understand that the Home Office must consider many factors when they make such decisions, but it appears they only, misconstrue and even invent factors that work in favour of their pursuit, to reduce net migration at any cost, regardless of the devastation they cause and the human rights they breach.

'I was distraught when I read on the order that I can only appeal after my deportation.

'I may not have been born here but all I know is the British way of life.'

During his trial in 2013, Judge Christopher Moss QC told Bayode - who was armed with a knife during the attack - that he 'set upon' his victim as he lay 'helpless and defenceless'.

The judge told him: 'You joined the group of killers, you set upon Sofyen as he lay helpless and defenceless on the floor of the ticket hall.

'The killing of Sofyen Belamouadden took place in dreadful circumstances in a public place. You played your part in the death and you stand convicted of his manslaughter.'

Investigating officer DCI John McFarlane said at the time that the youngsters turned to extreme violence after becoming hooked on computer games.

The murder detective said: 'People are playing games on computers in which people are getting stabbed and shot.
Cpl. Aaron C. Masa became fast friends with a fellow Marine during field training in North Carolina.

But behind his buddy's back, Masa was sexually abusing his friend's 3-year-old stepdaughter. He also took sexually explicit photos of the girl and the Marine's infant daughter.

A military judge convicted Masa last year of sexual abuse of a child and production of child pornography, according to court records and other documents detailing the case.

Under the terms of a pretrial agreement, he pleaded guilty and received 30 years in prison.

In total, incidents involving sexual assault in which the children of service members are victims occur hundreds of times each year, data the Defense Department provided exclusively to The Associated Press show. The abuse is committed most often by male enlisted troops, according to the data, followed by family members.

Shameful: There were at least 1,584 substantiated cases of military dependents being sexually abused between fiscal years 2010 and 2014. Enlisted service members sexually abused children in 840 cases. Above, Marines march in an honor guard at Arlington National Ceremony in 2011

The figures offer greater insight into the sexual abuse of children committed by service members, a problem of uncertain scale due to a lack of transparency into the military's legal proceedings.

With more than a million military dependents, the number of cases appears statistically small. But for a profession that prides itself on honor and discipline, any episodes of abuse cast a pall.

Those numbers fall well-short of offering a full picture.

The ages of the offenders and victims, the locations of the incidents and the branch of service that received the report of sexual abuse were omitted. The Defense Department said in a statement that 'information that could unintentionally uniquely identify victims was withheld from release to eliminate possible "re-victimization" of the innocent.'

It's also unclear how many of the incidents resulted in legal action. The cases represent substantiated occurrences of child sexual abuse reported to the Defense Department's Family Advocacy Program, which does not track judicial proceedings, the department said.

A military judge convicted Marine Cpl Aaron C. Masa of sexual abuse of a child and production of child pornography, according to court records and other documents detailing the case. Under the terms of a pretrial agreement, he agreed to plead guilty and received 30 years in prison

An AP investigation published in November found more inmates are in military prisons for child sex crimes than for any other offense. But the military's opaque justice system keeps the public from knowing the full extent of their crimes or how much time they spend behind bars.

Responding to AP's findings, three Democratic senators have urged Defense Secretary Ash Carter to lift what they called the military justice system's 'cloak of secrecy' and make records from sex-crimes trials readily accessible.

The senators also raised another concern. Child sex-assault cases are not included in the Defense Department's annual report to Congress on sexual assaults, which focuses primarily on adult-on-adult incidents, they said.

The senators - Barbara Boxer of California, Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Mazie Hirono of Hawaii - told Carter in a December 8 letter they are concerned the department may be underestimating how many sexual assaults are occurring in the military.

There were at least 1,584 substantiated cases of military dependents being sexually abused between fiscal years 2010 and 2014, according to the data. Enlisted service members sexually abused children in 840 cases. Family members of the victims accounted for the second largest category with 332 cases.

Most of the enlisted offenders were males whose ranks ranged between E-4 and E-6. In the Marine Corps and Army, for example, those troops are corporals, sergeants and staff sergeants. Officers were involved in 49 of the cases. The victims were overwhelmingly female.

Kathy Robertson, manager of the Family Advocacy Program, said in an emailed response to questions that the incident rates reflect the U.S. military's demographics. Most of the cases involve the E-4 and E-6 ranks because they are the largest number of active-duty personnel and the largest number of parents in the military, she said.

Duplications in the data indicate that as many as 160 additional cases of sexual abuse could have occurred during the 2010 to 2014 period, involving a child who was victimized multiple times or a repeat abuser. The figures also account only for cases involving military dependents, which are the only child victims the department tracks.

In Masa's case, military authorities first became aware of the alleged abuse in June 2014 after the 3-year-old told a neighbor that she did not like Masa because he touched her in certain places and 'made it hurt,' according to the Naval Criminal Investigative Service's investigation obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

This diagram taken from U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service report, is of a drawing by Cpl. Aaron C. Masa during his interrogation showing the floor plan of the home, using X's and O's to show where the abuse occurred

NCIS blacked out all the names in the report, including Masa's. The AP identified him by the dates and events in the document that matched records from Masa's court-martial.

Masa, 24, admitted during questioning to at least five instances of sexually assaulting her, the NCIS report said. Investigators found nude photos of both girls on his cellphone and later discovered a pair of girl's underwear during a search of his mother's home in Ohio.

The report depicted Masa as a loner with a troubled past. People interviewed by the Navy investigators described him as 'oddball' who was picked on in high school in Marietta, Ohio.

He graduated near the bottom of his class with a cumulative 1.782 GPA, according to his official transcript.

Masa watched a lot of sexually explicit Japanese animation known as hentai, the NCIS report said, and he had an intense interest in 'furry porn,' a genre of pornography in which animal characters with human arms and legs engage in sex.

In 2008, Masa was arrested after threatening to bring a gun to school and shoot three other students, according to the NCIS report, which included details of the incident. Police didn't find a gun on him, but he had a knife. He pleaded guilty to a disorderly conduct charge.

He enlisted in the Marine Corps in June 2010, a month after graduating from high school. The arrest wasn't serious enough to bar Masa from enlisting.

A Marine Corps spokesman said he was found qualified after a thorough screening process that involved physical, mental and moral evaluations.

Stationed at Camp Lejeune, a sprawling installation on the North Carolina coast, Masa started a friendship with the Marine sergeant and his family in 2013, according to the 286-page NCIS report.

They fished together and chopped wood for the sergeant's fire pit. Masa loaned the sergeant money to help the family through a financially difficult period and spent more and more time at their home, the report said. He babysat the girls and volunteered to give the older daughter a bath, the documents said.

Amid the good will, suspicions surfaced. The girls' mother suspected as early as March 2014 that the 3-year-old daughter was being molested because she complained of pain 'down there,' according to portions of medical records from a hospital near Camp Lejeune that are included in the NCIS report.

The girl was sleeping by the door and having nightmares, the mother said.

Yet at the hospital, the girl was in high spirits, smiling, laughing and jumping on the bed, according to the report.

She was diagnosed as having a urinary tract infection and antibiotics were prescribed. 'Mom advised to follow up with law enforcement if she has concern about possible molestation,' the report said, quoting the medical records.

But an investigation wouldn't be launched until a few months later, after the girl talked to the neighbor. While being questioned by investigators, Masa drew a diagram of the floor plan of the sergeant's home, using X's and O's to show where the abuse occurred.
Commercial blitz kicks off last few weeks of campaigning before crucial Iowa caucuses

No stranger to bluster, Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump vows to 'make America great again' in a first campaign ad blitz which features the ISIS terror army, illegal immigration and the San Bernardino mass murders.

The billionaire Republican presidential candidate has said he planned to spend at least $2 million a week on television advertising in the first three voting states, starting this week.

His first ad is unveiled today - one of a number of commercials due to be released in the last month before the Iowa caucuses.

Message: Donald Trump vows to 'make America great again' in a pyrotechnic first campaign ad which features ISIS, illegal immigration and the San Bernardino killings

The TV spot makes mention of Trump's controversial plan to ban Muslims from entering the US, 'until we can figure out whats going on'

Familiar faces: The 30-second ad also features the images of the San Bernardino killers, Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik

Trump's first ad begins with shots of Barack Obama and Hilary Clinton before showing a US battleship launching a missile.

It then shows the shooters in the Dec. 2 San Bernardino terrorist attacks, ISIS fighters and people crossing the US-Mexico border.

The ad makes no apologies for Trump's agenda - and calls the San Bernardino terror attacks 'radical Islamic terrorism'.

'That's why he's calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States, until we can figure out what's going on,' the ad's narrator - who is not Trump - says.

'He'll quickly cut the head off ISIS and take their oil. And he'll stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for.'

Trump, filmed at one of his rallies, then declares: 'We will make America great again!'

Shadowy figures are seen in the video crossing the US-Mexico border, with the narrator calling for a stop to illegal immigration into the country

Bold statement: In his first campaign ad, the GOP front-runner promises to 'cut the head off ISIS' and take their oil

Trump's decision to spend $2 million a week on television advertising is a move that would mark a departure for a candidate who has so far relied on free media to fuel his insurgent campaign.

He said last week: 'I don't think I need to spend anything. And I'm very proud of the fact that I've spent the least and achieved the best result. I feel I should spend. And honestly I don't want to take any chances.'

Trump leads in national Republican preference polls but has seen his lead dissolve in lead-off Iowa, where Texas Senator Ted Cruz is surging on the backing of the state's robust evangelical conservative voting bloc.

The front-runner had spent nothing on television advertising to date, and just over $300,000 on radio ad time, according to advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG  far less than his rivals.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, by contrast, has spent more than $40 million and trails Trump and several other candidates by polling in the single digits

Trump has teased plans to advertise on television in the past, but ad buys have failed to materialize.

The billionaire Republican presidential candidate revealed that he planned to spend at least $2 million a week on television advertising in the first three voting states

Although Trump often brags about his wealth, he has proven to be a frugal campaigner, putting very little of his own money on the line. Last week he claimed his campaign was $35 million under-budget.

The billionaire also likes to claim he's self-funding his campaign, the vast majority of what he's spent so far has come from donors across the country sending checks or purchasing merchandise from his website.

His penchant for creating controversy - and headlines - has also meant that he has been able to cash in on free media attention for the past several months.

'I'll be spending a minimum of $2million a week and perhaps substantially more than that,' he told reporters, adding, 'If somebody attacks me, I will attack them very much and very hard in terms of ads.'

Trump said last week that he had screened the first two ads and says they touch on immigration, trade and national security policy.
Asiatic lion population in Gir National Park rose to 523 in 2015

It was rescued by forest officials and sedated

The big cat strayed into the port from the nearby Gir National Park

This is the breathtaking moment a lion was rescued from the sea off the Indian coast after fishermen spotted the wild animal sitting on the edge of a rock.

Bizarre footage showed the big cat prowling by the edge of the water off a beach in Jafrabad Port in Gurajat.

The lion looks out in the Arabian Sea, then turns back before jumping into the water with a splash and floating away from shore.

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The cat sits on the edge of a rock in Jafrabad Port in India's Gurajat. It looks out into the Arabian Sea, then turns back before jumping into the water with a splash

Locals gathered around the shore to get a glimpse of the rare sight of a lion paddling in sea waters

Locals gathered around the shore to get a glimpse of the rare sight of a lion swimming in sea waters.

It is believed the lion strayed into the port from the nearby Gir National Park. Forest officials were immediately informed and a rescue team was sent to lift the lion from the water.

The big cat was sedated and transported to the animal care centre.

An investigation is underway to find out how it arrived at the port, Reuters reported.

The Gir National Park is the last safe heaven for the Asiatic lion population, which has been decimated by hunting and drought.

Only one dozen Asiatic lions were still alive in the early 20th century.

However, a ban on lion hunting and preservation initiatives had seen the Asiatic population in Gir rise to 411 in 2010 and 523 in 2015, according to official figures quoted in May by Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel.

Gir National Park's officials lift the lion from the water as as a large crowd of people gathered to watch the lion in the water

Forest officials and volunteers carry the wild animal to the shore

The wild animal was sedated and transported to the park's animal care centre

The latest census conducted earlier this year by 2,500 officials and volunteers found 109 adult males, 201 adult females and 213 cubs over 21,000 sq km area of Gujarat's Saurashtra region - which includes Junagadh and 10 other districts.

The wild animals were photographed and tagged by GPS during the census.

'Enumerators recorded unique identification marks like scars on the face, the shape of ears, tuft of hair on tail, colour, and belly folds. Using all this information with location details we removed overlapping and reached the final count,' Forest official CN Pandey told the BBC.

The sheer increase in lion numbers has posed new challenges to their safety. Some 40% of the lions now live outside the forest area and 260 lions have died in the past five years.

Environmentalists claim the Saurashtra region has become a 'death field for the Asiatic lion'.

Man-animal conflict has also increased. Lions have killed 14 people and wounded 114 others in the past two years.
The world's most successful fugitive has been on the run for more than 60 years despite repeated appeals to find him over the decades..

John Patrick Hannan holds the record for the longest escape from custody after he used a knotted bed sheet to climb over the walls of the Verne Prison in Portland, Dorset, in December 1955.

He was 22 at the time of his great escape and has now notched up six decades at large.

Fugitive John Patrick Hannan holds the record for the longest escape from custody after he used a knotted bed sheet to climb over the walls of the Verne Prison (pictured) in Portland, Dorset, in December 1955

Although he is technically still a wanted man, Dorset police gave up searching for Hannan almost 20 years ago after the last high-profile appeal yielded no results.

Hannan would now be aged 81 and is thought to be living back in his home country of Ireland.

His time as a fugitive easily eclipses some of Britain's most notorious prisoners' efforts such as the late train robber Ronnie Biggs, who spent 32 years on the run before giving himself up.

The previous longest escape record in the world was 45 years and 11 months, held by Leonard Frisco from Nevada in the US, but was broken by Hannan in 2001.

Hannan was being held at Verne Prison (pictured) on the Isle of Portland when he launched his bid for freedom

Hannan was jailed at the Old Bailey to 21 months for car theft and assaulting two police officers in 1995.

But along with fellow inmate Gwynant Thomas he scaled the prison walls using knotted sheets to bust out.

In 1998 Dorset Police appealed directly to Hannan to give himself up. They said: 'If you read this Mr Hannan please write in, we'd love to hear from you'

The pair broke into a nearby petrol station and helped themselves to overcoats, beer and cigarettes before fleeing the Isle of Portland.

Thomas, also aged 22 at the time, was arrested within 16 hours near Dorchester after the duo were spotted by a lorry driver.

But Hannan evaded a major police manhunt - complete with a series of roadblocks and tracker dogs - to make his way to freedom.

It is believed he made his way back to his native Ireland soon after his escape.

In 1998 Dorset Police appealed directly to Hannan to give himself up.

In a force newsletter they stated: 'If you read this Mr Hannan please write in, we'd love to hear from you.'

A spokesman for Dorset Police said they were no longer actively searching for Hannan but would treat any information about his whereabouts with considerable interest.
Officers were called to the Rock Church in Manhattan after parishioners clashed with Reverend Daniel Iampaglia after a Sunday service

Police had to be called to a New York church after parishioners got into a shoving match with a pastor accused of stealing money.

Officers were forced to intervene at the Rock Church on East 62nd Street near Lexington Avenue after worshippers clashed with Reverend Daniel Iampaglia.

It came after the Reverend was charged with petty larceny last year when a surveillance camera at the church appeared to show him take money from a till. Parishioners accused him of stealing 238.

But despite being charged, he has continued to lead services at the church even though there have been demands for him to stand down.

And according to the New York Daily News, after Rev Iampaglia led the Sunday service yesterday, parishioners began to demand the pastor leaves the church - prompting a scuffle.

The Reverend claims that he was shoved and has filed a harassment order with police, although no arrests have been made.

It first emerged last week that church board members suspected Reverend Iampaglia of stealing with they noticed when he was away, church donations tripled.

According to NBC New York, a camera was then set up and appeared to capture Iampaglia repeatedly going into the church office and pocketing cash from the offerings envelope.

The police were called and he was then arrested and is due to appear in court tomorrow.

Some church members also want him removed from his post.

But his attorney Joseph Indusi said: 'He adamantly denies any allegations of wrongdoing and looks forward to his day in court.

'These false allegations against the Pastor are a baseless attempt to gain control and improperly manipulate the Church's leadership.'
Police are scouring CCTV footage taken near the spot where a sorority sister was killed in a New Year's Eve road rage fight.

Sara Mutschlechner died after shots were fired from a black SUV that pulled up beside her as she was driving her friends home from a party in Denton, Texas.

As the hunt continued for her killers, the 20-year-old's devastated parents have revealed that she was an organ donor - and that she has already helped a burns victim.

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Sara Mutschlechner, a 20-year-old junior at the University of North Texas and philanthropy chair of her sisterhood, was shot dead during an apparent road rage argument in the early hours of New Year's Day

The Sedan Mutschlechner was driving crashed into an electrical pole after she was shot in the road rage incident

Police said that as both vehicles began to drive through the intersection at West University Drive, someone in the SUV fired several rounds at Mutschlechner's Sedan, striking her in the head. The car then crashed into another vehicle before hitting an electrical pole.

Responding officers found the TV and film studies major lying on the ground. Detectives are examining surveillance film taken from a nearby business, which is believed to show the vehicle involved.

In an interview with Fox 4, the parents of Mutschlechner said their daughter - a junior at the University of North Texas - had dreamed of being a film director or producer and that being an organ donor was a cause close to her heart.

Her father Clay called the killing 'senseless and tragic' while her mother Gloria said: 'All I could think about was her and this horrible thing that happened to her. She did not deserve this.'

Clay added: 'We're all going to miss her. Some people don't get to have their kids 20 years. We have to be blessed with what we've had with our time spent.'

Fox 4 revealed that Mutschlechner's decision to be an organ donor had already helped a burns victim.

The parents (pictured) of Mutschlechner said their daughter had dreamed of being a film director or producer and that being an organ donor was a cause close to her heart

Mutschlechner (pictured) was driving friends home from a party at 2am when a black SUV pulled up beside them and they got into an argument. Within minutes rounds were fired, she was shot, and the car crashed

Mutschlechner, philanthropy chair of the school's Zeta Tau Alpha chapter, was taken to hospital to be placed on life support after the shooting, and was pronounced dead hours later on January 1.

Suspects have not been identified.

Witnesses told police there were 'five or six African American males' in the SUV, and that at least two had been at the same party as Mutschlechner.

Around 60 people were at the house party and witnesses say Mutschlechner was designated driver on the night.

Paying tribute to Mutschlechner on Saturday, her sorority - Zeta Tau Alpha - posted on Facebook: 'Our thoughts are with the sisters, family and friends of Gamma Phi Chapter (University of North Texas) member Sara Mutschlechner, who passed away in a tragic accident this weekend.'

The post quoted chapter president Jordan Roberts, who said: 'Each and every one of our lives at the Gamma Phi Chapter of ZTA has been touched by the spunky, selfless attitude of our beloved sister, Sara.

According to her LinkedIn page, Mutschlechner had volunteered at the American Cancer Society

A candlelit vigil was held at the school on Saturday night to remember the popular student Mutschlechner

According to her LinkedIn page, Mutschlechner had done some volunteer work for the American Cancer Society. Pictured above people light candles at the vigil

'She is by far one of the most spirited, honest and fun-loving people I ever had the privilege to know. She will truly be missed.'

According to her LinkedIn page, Mutschlechner had done some volunteer work for the American Cancer Society.

She had also worked as a waitress and made a short horror film as she explored film-making.

UNT spokesman Margarita Venegas told ABC: 'The university is saddened by the loss of one of our community members. Our thoughts are with Sara's family and friends.'

A candlelit vigil was held at the school on Saturday night.

'It goes to show that she was who she was and she wasn't afraid to be herself,' NBC quoted Jordan Roberts, Sara's sorority sister as saying.
GMP confirmed they are aware of the clip and matter is being looked at

Video purporting to show the officer was later posted to social media

allegedly caught using his phone at the wheel

A senior police officer is being investigated after he was allegedly caught on camera using a mobile phone while behind the wheel.

The footage, which appears to show Detective Constable Rod Carter - who last year starred in a BBC show about the force called The Detectives - was posted on social media.

In the clip the video maker is the passenger in the vehicle behind a small silver saloon. He can be heard saying: 'So we are now following an officer outside Longsight police station, Manchester.

Detective Constable Rod Carter is being investigated after he was allegedly caught on camera using a mobile phone while behind the wheel

The senior police officer last year starred in a BBC show caging Manchester sex offenders called The Detectives

'He seems to be on his mobile phone. I will go over to see what is actually happening.'

The video maker then gets out of his car as the vehicle in front stops at a set of traffic lights before approaching the window and asking: 'what you doing?'

It is at this point that Det Con Carter, in plain clothes, is apparently filmed still on his phone at the wheel of his vehicle.

The man then speaks briefly on his phone before ending the conversation and winding down his window.

The video maker asks: 'Do you work for GMP?' and Det Con Carter replies: 'I do, yes.'

He is then asked why he is on his phone and replies: 'It was a business call.'

The footage, which appears to show Detective Constable Rod Carter outside Longsight police station, Manchester, was posted on social media

The man asking the questions says: 'If we were to be in the same situation you wouldn't be that easy with us.'

The man adds: 'Do you know where I'm coming from?' and Det Con Carter says he does.

He is then asked for his name and replies 'it doesn't matter' before driving off.

The video was posted on Facebook by Faz Khan, who wrote: 'Just caught a police officer in Manchester on his phone so we followed him to ask why he was on his phone whilst driving - he said it was a business call.

'But regardless of business or pleasure you cannot be on your phone then he drove off. I went inside Longsight police station, had a word with his boss - meeting has been set. Happy days and I got his details.'

He added that he is sending the clip to the Independent Police Complaints Commission.

Greater Manchester Police confirmed that they are aware of the video clip and said that the matter is being looked into

A spokesman for GMP said: 'We are aware of the video clip and the matter is being looked into.'

Last summer, Det Con Carter featured in the documentary following the Serious Sex Offences Unit of Greater Manchester Police over two years.

The documentary traced the early days of the investigation into DJ Ray Teret, who was a friend of the disgraced TV personality Jimmy Savile.

Earlier this month it was announced that fines for motorists who use handheld mobile phones while driving will rise to 150 from 100.
Sweden has reintroduced check points on its border with Denmark for the first time in half a century in a desperate attempt to stem the flow of migrants.

Guards yesterday began inspecting passports on the famous Oresund Bridge between the two countries, which had been the most visible symbol of European integration.

Within hours, Denmark made an emergency request to tighten checks on its southern border with Germany - becoming the ninth country in the European Unions 26-nation Schengen Zone to bring back temporary controls.

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A temporary fence is erected between tracks at Copenhagen airport's Kastrup station to prevent illegal migrants entering Sweden

Identity checks will cause several delays and long queues for people travelling via train, bus and ferry from Denmark to Sweden

Sweden, with a population of 9.8 million, took 160,000 asylum seekers in 2015, a higher number of refugees per capita than any other country in the European Union

Berlin officials warned the migrant crisis had again put the passport-free travel area in danger.

Thousands of commuters travelling across the five-mile road and rail bridge and accompanying tunnel between the Danish capital Copenhagen and Malmo in Sweden were yesterday told to expect their journeys to take half an hour longer than the usual 40 minutes.

The decision to close the borders to those without passports or ID cards marks a massive turnaround for the Swedish government, which had been the most welcoming to migrants but changed course after more than 160,000 applied for asylum last year  the highest number per capita in Europe.

In September, prime minister Stefan Lofven said: My Europe takes in people fleeing from war, my Europe does not build walls, but by last month he admitted [we] cannot cope.

Security staff check passenger ID's at Kastrup airport's train station outside Copenhagen

Extra security staff were on hand to oversee the new border controls

Another fence has been erected between domestic and international train tracks at Hyllie train station in southern Malmo, Sweden

Yesterday the government said it now considers that the current situation, with a large number of people entering the country in a relatively short time, poses a serious threat to public order and national security.

Michael Randropp, a spokesman for a commuters association, said: Its as if we are building a Berlin Wall here. We are going several steps back in time.

Danish prime minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen announced the immediate introduction of controls at the German border at midday yesterday  12 hours after the Swedish checks began.

When other Nordic countries seal their borders it can have major consequences for Denmark, he said. It can lead to more asylum seekers.

The train station Copenhagen International Airport in Kastrup is the last stop before crossing the Oresund Bridge into Sweden

Anyone who fails to provide ID documents will be turned back and travel operators who fail to comply risk a fine

The Swedish government has passed a law making transport companies responsible for ensuring that those arriving via the Oresund bridge carry valid photo ID.

A security staff checks the ID of a passenger at the train station Copenhagen International Airport in Kastrup to prevent illegal migrants entering Sweden

German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schafer responded: Schengen is very important but it is in danger.

A spokesman for Leave.EU said: The EUs catastrophic failure to manage the migrant crisis has led to some of the most pro-EU countries introducing identity checks for the first time in 60 years.

This does not, however, address the underlying problems of the free movement of people. As soon as migrants have an EU passport, they are free to travel to any European country they want to.

What this shows is that countries need the ability to act in their own interests. The only way we can achieve this is to vote to leave the EU.

A temporary fence to ease border control preventing illegal migrants to enter Sweden, erected between domestic and international tracks at Hyllie train station in southern Malmo. The station is the first stop after crossing the Oresund Bridge from Denmark.

Danish police escorted more than 300 Syrian and Iraqi refugees from a motorway near the German border as they try to reach Sweden
Family of Mr Barratt say funeral was a 'farce', but that former gunner 'would have been splitting his sides with laughter'

Mourners arriving for the funeral of a Royal Navy veteran were forced to use a mini digger to break into the chapel after they arrived for the service to find the doors locked.

Friends and relatives of Douglas Barratt, 92, found themselves shut out of the chapel at Mexborough Cemetery in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, after a council worker failed to arrive with the keys to the metal gate.

After around 40 minutes of standing in the cold and rain, a machine normally used to dig graves was deployed to force open the doors with a single shove, and let the 70 mourners into the building so they could say their final farewells to Mr Barratt.

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Mourners arriving for the funeral of Royal Navy veteran Douglas Barratt, 92, (right) were forced to use a mini digger to break into the chapel after they arrived for the service to find the doors locked

Mr Barratt's son-in-law Stuart Venables, 68, called the situation a 'farce'.

He said: 'Eventually the decision was made to bring in a small JCB which was used for digging the grave to try and ease the door open.

'It didn't take long, just one push and the doors opened. A rousing cheer went up and we took Doug into the chapel.'

Mr Venables said that some of the mourners had thought the mistake was 'very disrespectful' but said they believed it would be a 'funeral to be remembered for years'.

Friends and relatives of Mr Barratt found themselves shut out of the chapel at Mexborough Cemetery in Doncaster, South Yorkshire, after a council worker failed to arrive with the keys. After around 40 minutes of standing in the cold and rain, a machine normally used to dig graves was deployed to force open the doors

Mr Barratt's son-in-law called the situation 'a farce' but said that mourners agreed that the funeral would be 'remembered for years'

'If Doug had been stood outside, he would have been splitting his sides with laughter,' he said.

Mr Venables said the door had been 'pushed and shoved' by several people but when it would not open mourners were left 'chilled to the bone' outside the chapel.

'It's a bit of a farce in a way,' he added. 'Its not a happy situation is it, its not happy at the best of time is it when you are burying a close relative.

'But to be stood about waiting and waiting for a key that never arrived is a bit too much.

'Its a bit traumatic for everybody waiting, we had British Legion [members] there. We had a quite few elderly people you know and some of them had been stood there since 11.30am.

'So we had quite a few stood for nearly an hour in the cold and then once the door were in people went into a chapel and it were cold as well. So they went into a cold chapel.

'I wouldn't be surprised if one or two have got colds now.'

When asked who he though was at fault, Mr Venables said he had spoken to the undertaker who had arranged the funeral.

'He arranged the key would be brought through and the chapel would be opened an hour before the funeral so the heating could be on and it could warm up a bit,' said Mr Venables.

The 70 mourners were eventually let into the chapel so they could say their final goodbyes to Mr Barratt

'Because there was nobody to be in charge of the cemetery he accepted charge of the cemetery but that didn't mean he had got a key. He had done his job and quite obviously when he found out the gate was locked and the door was locked he wasn't happy.

'The gravediggers did their best to find a key for the gate but there was no key for the door.'

The gate in question was an iron gate at the front of the chapel porch.

Mr Venables continued: 'Having tried pushing, shoving and shall we say shoulder charging, several phone calls later the decision was made to try something different, which turned out be a bigger key - like a mini JCB.

'That was tried, it worked and didn't take much of shove. The driver just managed to get into the entrance and push with the bucket end and that were it.

'He went into a rousing cheer because everybody was quite happy to get out of the wind. The people were just standing about because they had left their cars.

'I know one couple who left and said they had another appointment.'

Mr Venables said the funeral was meant to be at midday but ended up starting at 12.40 because of the delay.

'I'm sure I heard a chuckle from the coffin, if he had been there and it had happened he would have split his sides laughing.

'Its a farce isn't it, in the end of the day, its just a farce, it actually got worse as it went along until it cumulated into the JCB job.

'He would definitely seen the funny side.'

Mr Venables said his father-in-law, who died on December 15, had been a gunner in the Royal Navy, and after leaving the armed forces had worked as a train driver.

He was married to wife Emily, who died around a decade ago, and together they had five children, 12 grandchildren and 11 great grandchildren.

Council spokesman Dave Wilkinson said: 'We are very sorry for what has happened and will be making contact with the family to apologise in person.
Four children and a pregnant woman are among 10 people left seriously injured after a Dakar Rally competitor careened off the race track and crashed into a group of spectators.

Guo Meiling, the first Chinese woman to participate in the competition, was driving a Mini Cooper when it ploughed into spectators near Rosario, Argentina, on Saturday.

Footage of the incident appears to show the vehicle swerving to the left and the right of the dirt road before crashing into the gathered crowd on the side of the track.

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The Mini Cooper, driven by Guo Meiling, is seen spinning off the road in this video taken by a spectator

In this footage, the car is seen hurtling past shops and buildings in a small township near Rosario, Argentina

Moments later a cloud of dust appears when the vehicle, obscured by the buildings, crashes into spectators

Dozens of bystanders then rush to the aid of the injured spectators who are lifted onto stretchers and evacuated.

Four medical helicopters and eight local ambulances were deployed to take the injured to hospitals in the area.

Daniel Modesto, a doctor at the Santa Francisca de Arrecifes hospital, told Argentine station TN that 10 people were treated for injuries, including a pregnant woman and four children.

One child and one adult man were seriously injured. The child was airlifted to a larger hospital, while the man was transferred in an ambulance, he said.

A statement from the hospital in Arrecifes yesterday said two people, a father and son, remained in critical condition.

The accident occurred at kilometer 6.6 of the prologue to the 2016 Dakar Rally, which starts between Buenos Aires and Rosario.

Firefighters and bystanders help carry an injured spectator on a stretcher to an ambulance

At least 10 people were injured in the accident, including four children and a pregnant woman

The wreckage of Guo Meiling's damaged Mini Cooper is seen at the crash site covered in dust and dents

Medical personnel carry an injured man from the scene of the accident, which occurred during the Dakar Rally's opening prologue stage on Saturday

Meanwhile, the opening stage of the rally was also cancelled yesterday due to bad weather.

Race director Etienne Lavigne said helicopters needed to guarantee the safety of participants had been unable to fly due to thunderstorms that broke over the stage from Rosario to Villa Carlos Paz.

The competing cars, trucks, motorcycle and quad bikes were making their way to the end of the stage under controlled conditions.

The annual Dakar Rally, which started out as a gruelling endurance race from Paris across the Sahara to the Senegalese capital Dakar, has been held in South America since 2009 for security reasons.
Terrified parents have kept more than a thousand children home from school after a youngster inspired by the Columbine High School massacre threatened to gun down fellow students.

The threats were made by a supposed victim of bullying in a chilling Facebook post, where the pupil - calling himself 'John Smith' - promised 'bullets, bodies and blood' in retaliation for years of abuse from his peers.

Using the hashtag #MontyMassacre, the teenager threatened to kill ' as many people as possible' at Montgomery High School in Bispham, near Blackpool, today.

The school has since confirmed only 360 of its 1,375 pupils attended class in wake of the threats.

Watch: Police have formed a 'ring of steel' around Montgomery High School after the violent Facebook threats

In a series of messages put on Facebook, the poster praised gun killers in schools in the United States, and said : 'Nobody talks to me or notices me except when they're calling me a nerd and pushing me around.

'As soon as I tell people I've got a gun, I start getting bombarded with messages. You're all f****d and you deserve what's coming to you.'

When challenged by one student, he asked: 'You think it's a joke? You'll see bullets, bodies, and blood.'

Detectives have yet to make an arrest in relation to the terrifying incident and there are fears from some that the pupil's posts were made under an alias.

Officers stood guard in a 'ring of steel' outside school gates and other entrances today but this did not allay the parents' fears.

Worried mum Kelly Porter, who lost her three-month-old son Levi in 2008 and daughter Scarlet at birth in 2012, said: 'I'm not sending my son in, no way.

'I've had to bury two of my babies and I'm not doing it again.

'No matter what they say, they can't guarantee nothing will happen.'

Concerned dad Lee Smallwood said: 'My two are not going anywhere near until an arrest has been made. I'm not putting my kids' lives at risk.'

Police are yet to arrest anyone in relation to the threats. Pictured, an officer walks into Montgomery High

Under guard: Pictured, a teacher walks a pupil into the building at Montgomery High School in Bispham

Paul McMahon added: 'I hope the police and school are aware hardly anyone is sending their children in today and for the foreseeable future, until whoever has posted the threats has been arrested.'

Youngsters who did attend lessons said there were "hundreds of empty chairs" at the Specialist Language College status and 'outstanding' Beacon school.

Principal Tony Nicholson stressed that school had started as normal.

He said: 'We have continued to plan for an orderly start to the term with 'safe business as usual' being our aim.

'The Montgomery staff will be supportive, diligent and will, as usual, be highly visible from the outset of the working day.

'The local authority have kindly provided counselling services for any students who have found the last few days upsetting and stressful.

'Three fully trained personnel from the social services team will complement our in-house pastoral team and will be available in school all day.

'We are all acutely aware of the pressures these events have placed on our community and your families.

The threats referred to Columbine gunmen Eric Harris (left) and Dylan Klebold (right) as 'great' people

'We remain determined to offer the very best pastoral care and support for your children during this difficult time.'

The school is now trying to identify the person responsible for making the online posts.

In them, there was references to Columbine Massacre gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, who murdered 12 students and one teacher in 1999.

The poster stated: 'These guys are great. They killed a bunch of people in their high school and then killed themselves.

'Huge inspiration for the #MontyMassacre on Monday.'

In another post he praised Sandy Hook Elementary School gunman Adam Lanza, who killed 20 children and six members of staff during his 2012 rampage, also in the US, adding: 'As soon as I tell people I've got a gun, I start getting bombarded with messages.'

The poster, calling himself 'John Smith', said the Columbine High School killers, pictured, were 'inspirational'

Police insisted measures will be taken to ensure pupils are safe.

A statement read: 'We are aware of the posts and are investigating them but at this time there is nothing to suggest they are credible.'

Lancashire neighbourhood police inspector James Martin praised teachers for opening the school as normal.

He said: "The school has opened, which I think is very important, and that helped us to get everything back to normal for the spring term."

Insp Martin said he was unable to say how police had judged the threat to be a hoax because the "investigation is being conducted by another department".

He added: "Every threat is processed by police and it's worked on by the information and the intelligence we have.
Poh completed the final item on the list with a dip in the Gulf of Mexico

Mr Rodriguez decided to take 15-year-old dog on adventure across U.S.

A heartbroken owner and his fiancee created a bucket list of experiences that would take their terminally ill dog, Poh, on a cross-country adventure from coast to coast.

In a bid to make their final weeks or months together unforgettable, Poh spent the last year with his owners Thomas Neil Rodriguez and his fiancee, Goumada, venturing to and from landmarks such as, Las Vegas, D.C., New York and California.

Early last year, vets found two very large tumours in Poh's abdomen. They deemed the tumours inoperable and said that Poh was likely to die soon.

Since the diagnosis, Poh and his owners have been crossing off their bucket list of adventures along the way and most recently completed the final item: a dip in the Gulf of Mexico.

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Gulf of Mexico: Poh is pictured standing with his owner Thomas Rodriguez in the warm waters with some help from a small wheelchair used for disabled pets

Poh was able to spend 2015 with his owners Mr Rodriguez and his fiancee, Goumada (pictured), even though they thought they only had a week left with him

Poh finally got his chance to dip his paws in the warm, salt water on New Year's Eve.

He also spent New Year's Day at Hotel Indigo in St Petersburg, about a block away from where he watched the fireworks.

Mr Rodriguez thought he only 'had a week with him at most', but he's shared their adventures from New York to California on Instagram where Pohs following grew to more than 125,000 people over the last year.

Poh and his owner Goumada, watched the fireworks about a block away from their hotel in St Petersburg, Florida on New Year's Eve

Dear Santa: Poh, who has his own Instagram account, posing with Santa. This photo was captioned as Poh asking him for a trip to Florida

May the force be with you: Poh's owners dressed him as Chewbacca while they watched the new Star Wars movie

Mr Rodriguez, also known as DJ Neil Armstrong, adopted his mixed-breed pet, Poh, from an animal shelter in New York City in December 1999, when the dog was only eight weeks old.

But earlier this year, veterinarians found two 'very large' tumors growing in the canine's abdomen which were deemed inoperable. They told his devastated owner that he would not live much longer.

So, in order to make the most of the time he had left with Poh, he decided to take his pet on a cross-country adventure - and create a bucket list of experiences that they would do together.

Disney World: Poh and his owners made it to Disney World again and are pictured in front of Magic Kingdom

Bucket list adventure: Mr Rodriguez took his terminally ill dog, Poh, on a bucket list adventure from coast to coast. Above, Mr Rodriguez, his fiancee Goumada and Poh are seen in Sedona, Arizona, in March

Capital: Mr Rodriguez, also known as DJ Neil Armstrong, adopted his mixed-breed pet from an animal shelter in New York City in December 1999, when the dog was only eight weeks old. Above, Poh in Washington D.C.

Having a well-earned rest: Earlier this year, veterinarians found two 'very large' tumors growing in the dog's abdomen which were deemed inoperable. Above, Poh is pictured beside San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge

Sunny day: In order to make the most of the time he had left with Poh, Mr Rodriguez decided to take his pet on a cross-country adventure. Above, Poh poses in front of lower Manhattan, New York City, on April 25

Mr Rodriguez purchased a green 'buggy' to push Poh around in when the dog struggled to walk or got tired. Above, Poh continues to explore the sights in D.C. during his trip, which was documented on Instagram

He purchased a green 'buggy' to push Poh around in when the dog struggled to walk or got tired.

At the beginning of March, Mr Rodriguez, his fiancee and Poh set off from their snowy Queens home and traveled by car to Baltimore, Maryland, where Poh slept in his own queen-size hotel bed.

Next, they drove to Nashville, Tennessee, where Poh indulged in some BBQ food, before visiting Memphis, where the dog joined tourists paying tribute to Elvis Presley at the Graceland mansion.

Over the next seven weeks, the trio traveled around 12,000 miles to 35 U.S. cities, including places in North Carolina, Texas, Oregon, Arizona, Washington D.C., California, and Nevada.

However, they were forced to return home after 15-year-old Poh became too ill to continue traveling. Now, Mr Rodriguez tries to make life in New York as enjoyable as possible for his pet.

Hollywood: At the beginning of March, Mr Rodriguez, his fiancee and Poh set off from their snowy Queens home and traveled by car to Baltimore, Maryland, before visiting other places, such as California (pictured)

Spiritual: This photo, taken in Sedona, Arizona, was captioned: '#pohthedog is on the path of enlightenment'

Still here! This image was captioned: 'Morning world! pohthedogsbigadventure still here to enjoy another day'

Party animal: Over the past two or so months, the trio have traveled around 12,000 miles to 35 U.S. cities, including places in North Carolina, Texas, Oregon, Arizona, Nevada, and many more. Above, Poh in Vegas

Heart-wrenching: However, they were recently forced to return home after 15-year-old Poh became too ill to continue traveling. Above, Mr Rodriguez and Poh are pictured watching the sun set on a California beach

Speaking to ABC, the devoted owner said: 'I'm unsure of how long [Poh will live]. Doctors are unsure. My assumption is that I don't have very long with him and that's what prompted the trips.'

He added: 'I got to spend seven weeks with Poh. At first, I did not think he'd make it two weeks, but he did. I am super blessed. People think I take care of Poh, but Poh takes care of me.'

During the trip, Mr Rodriguez took to Instagram to document Poh's experiences, regularly posting photos of the dog in an array of fascinating places with the hashtag, '#pohthedogsbigadventure'.

On March 5, the owner posted the first image of Poh to the site, in which the dog can be seen peering out of the window of a car, his tongue wagging and his eyes wide, ready for the adventure.

Paying tribute: Pogh visited Memphis, where he joined tourists paying tribute to Elvis Presley at Graceland

Sunbathing: Mr Rodriguez said: 'I'm unsure of how long [Poh will live]. Doctors are unsure. My assumption is that I don't have very long with him and that's what prompted the trips.' Above, Poh relaxing in Sedona

Life of luxury: In Baltimore, Maryland, Poh got the chance to sleep in his own queen-size hotel bed (pictured)

First swim: Poh is pictured learning how to swim in a river in Austin, Texas, during his cross-country journey

Beginning: On March 5, Mr Rodriguez posted the first image of Poh to Instagram, in which the dog can be seen peering out of the window of a car. He also uploaded this one of him, his fiancee and Poh smiling in the snow

Alongside the image, Mr Rodriguez wrote: 'Hi everyone, my name is #pohthedog.

'I look like a pup but I'm 15 years old, 105 in dog years, and although I am young at heart and my mind is willing, my body is going through the natural process of old age.

'My parents found out that I have a couple of very large tumors growing in my abdomen which are inoperable. So my dad @djneilarmstrong decided to give me a bucket list trip across the good old US of A... traveling from #nyc all the way to the west coast, from sea to shining sea.'

Within two months, Mr Rodriguez, his fiancee, known only as Goumada, and Poh visited Breaking Bad's Walter White's house in New Mexico, and The Goonies' home in Oregon.

Poh has also had the chance to swim in the Pacific Ocean. 'I have always wanted him to swim,' Mr Rodriguez said. 'He loved it, it was so healing for him. It was like he was five years younger.'

Closer to home: Although Mr Rodriguez has since brought Poh home to live out his final days or weeks, he is still trying to make the most of their last moments together. Above, the dog is seen at Coney Island Beach

Sleepy: Poh is pushed on the New York beach by Mr Rodriguez's young cousin, Lucas, after returning home

Can I not go on there? 'I got to spend seven weeks with Poh. At first, I did not think he'd make it two weeks, but he did. I am super blessed. People think I take care of Poh, but Poh takes care of me,' said Mr Rodriguez

Treatment: This picture was captioned (written as if by Poh): 'We're home now, but my IV treatments aren't done. I'll have to do them everyday, but at least now my parents have the proper equipment :)'

And the trio have visited the Hollywood Walk Of Fame in Los Angeles, California, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, a theme park in Santa Monica, and closer to home, Times Square at night.

However, it has not all been plain sailing. Toward the end of the adventure, Mr Rodriguez wrote on Instagram that Poh had suffered from a 'really bad seizure that caused him to 'cry out in pain'.

Mr Rodriguez said his job enables him to travel around a lot, making the trips easier to organize. 'I'm always traveling, but Poh is my home. I think this resonated with a lot of dog owners,' he said.
This is the brilliant moment strangers on a train broke into an impromptu sing-a-long and danced with one another on New Year's Eve.

Claudine Hope Bolster was on board the train travelling from Liverpool Central with her family when passengers in her carriage sang a rendition of Tom Jones' 1968 hit Delilah.

The 41-year-old said: 'As we sat down this guy just started singing and then everyone started dancing and singing.

All together now: Claudine Hope Bolster was on board the train with her family when the carriage sang a rendition of Tom Jones' hit Delilah

'People in the next carriage were looking through the window to see what was going on and then they started singing and then it became a sing-off.'

Mobile phone footage captured by Mrs Bolster shows the passengers performing the song. She also filmed the commuters singing a fitting rendition of The O'Jays' Love Train.

'It was an amazing feeling, it was really fun. My children couldn't believe what was going on,' said Mrs Bolster.

The mother-of-two was travelling home to Ormskirk, West Lancashire after a family day out with her psychic medium husband Joe Power, and children Louis, seven, and Lexie, five.

The video maker said one man started the song and then everyone in the carriage began dancing and singing with him

She was also joined by her sister Annaliza Murphy and husband Martin and their children aged eight and six at just after 7.30pm.

She said: 'They live in Essex so my husband had suggested they come up for New Year's Eve and we promised them a true 'Scouse' experience. They had never experienced anything like this.

'Scousers are such happy people and are friendly even to strangers; they smile, talk to you and start conversations which can be slightly different in certain areas of the UK - not Essex though, everyone is really friendly in Essex.

'Scousers love laughing and joking. My sister said it was the best New Year's Eve she has ever had.'

Mrs Bolster said she was 'overwhelmed' when she got more than 100,000 Facebook views within 12 hours of posting the video online

The clip was posted to Facebook on Sunday night and Mrs Bolster said she was 'overwhelmed' when it got more than 100,000 views within 12 hours.

'I couldn't believe it when the video footage went crazy. Facebook went mental,' she said.

'I just filmed it to remember it but then I thought I would share it - but I was overwhelmed by this response.
The father of brain cancer survivor Ashya King has described how proud he is of his little boy as the six-year-old returns to school for the first time since battling the disease.

Brett King said Ashya, from Southsea in Hampshire, was 'doing very well' after undergoing going proton beam therapy in Prague to treat his rare condition and now attends school full-time.

Mr King and his wife Naghmeh sparked an international manhunt after they took Ashya, then aged five, from Southampton General Hospital without doctors' consent in August 2014.

Brett King, and his wife Naghmeh, sparked an international manhunt after they took Ashya, then aged five, from hospital without doctors' consent in August 2014 (they are pictured today on Good Morning Britain)

They planned to take him for pioneering treatment in Europe as they feared conventional radiotherapy, as advocated by Ashyas British doctors to treat his medulloblastoma following surgery, would 'kill him or turn him into a vegetable'.

But the couple were arrested a few days later in Spain, where they were forced to spend several nights in prison away from their son before being released.

A High Court judge later approved the move to take Ashya to Prague for proton therapy.

A report published by Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Board found their actions had 'put him at risk' but Mr King again defended his decision on Good Morning Britain today.

He also said that while his son still faced a few problems, he was delighted the child would be back in full-time education.

Ashya, who is now six, underwent experimental proton therapy in Prague last year because the 100,000 treatment was not available on the NHS

Ashya's parents were traced to Malaga, Spain, after fleeing the UK where they were arrested but later released so they could make the journey to Prague for Ashya to receive specialist proton beam therapy

In September Ashya began spending an hour or two at school every day, but it is only now that he has been declared fit enough to return to school full time.

Mr King told the programme: 'He is doing very well. We are so proud of him.

'There are still a few issues - he is wobbly on his legs and his speech is a bit strained but he is a fighter, he does not give up and he is prepared to try anything.'

He added the couple found it difficult 'just a short time ago, to think he might be going to school for the majority of the day'.

And he said: 'We expect him to make a full recovery to the boy we had before.'

The proton therapy was not offered to Ashya on the NHS, although the health service later agreed to fund his treatment. Several new proton beam therapy centres will open in the UK from this year.

Ashyas grandmother Patricia King has previously described the authorities handling of the case as a huge injustice.
It cited the country's 'dangerous intervention' and 'intent to spread unrest'

Bahrain has joined its ally Saudi Arabia in severing diplomatic ties with Iran as sectarian divisions triggered by the Saudis' execution of a Shiite cleric deepen throughout the Middle East.

The country joins the United Arab Emirates and Sudan in shunning Iran after demonstrators, angered by the cleric's execution, stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and set it on fire.

As well as a diplomatic fallout there have been isolated incidents of violence triggered by the row, including the bombing of two Sunni mosques in Iraq's Shiite-majority Hilla province.

The escalating diplomatic row comes after a night of violence in Iran's capital, Tehran, where a furious mob petrol bombed the Saudi embassy (pictured) in protest to al-Nimr's killing

The Saudi Arabian embassy was set alight by members of the crowd, who threw petrol bombs into the building

Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burn an effigy of King Salman of Saudi Arabia as they hold posters of Sheik Nimr al-Nimr and Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr during a demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq

Bizarrely, Russian president Vladimir Putin today also got involved when he offered to act as a mediator in the dispute.

But Saudi Arabia took a step further on Monday, saying it would cut 'all air traffic' and trade links with the Islamic Republic and demanding that Tehran must 'act like a normal country'.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir also announced that all Saudis will be barred from travelling to Iran.

Isa al-Hamadi, Bahrain's Minister of Media Affairs, made the announcement on Monday and gave Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave.

A statement on the Bahrain's foreign minister's website cited Iran's 'dangerous intervention' and 'intent to spread unrest' as reasons behind the drastic move.

The tiny island kingdom frequently accuses Iran of being behind the long-running insurgency that erupted in the country in 2011, when its majority Shiite population began protests against Bahrain's Sunni rulers.

On Sunday, Bahraini police clashed with Shiite protesters after neighbouring Saudi Arabia executed al-Nimr.

Protesters carrying pictures of Nimr marched through several suburbs of Manama, among them Jidhafs, Sitra, Duraz and Bilad al-Qadeem.

Saudi Arabia's foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the decision to expel Iran's diplomats following the evacuation of its own diplomatic staff from Iran.

Iran's diplomats were given 48 hours to leave Saudi Arabia after the Kingdom's foreign ministry accused Iran of failing in its duty to protect its embassy in Tehran.

A large mob attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran last night, setting the building on fire with petrol bombs and ransacking items from the Saudi diplomatic offices.

Bahrain's leadership cited Iran's 'dangerous intervention' and 'intent to spread unrest' as reasons behind the move. Pictured are protesters in Bahrain angered at the execution of the Shiite cleric

Angry protests broke out across several parts of Bahrain just a few hours after Saudi authorities announced the execution of Nimr al-Nimr

Women carry a banner reading an explicit curse during a demonstration in Bahrain

A man affected by tear gas runs from security services during protests on Bahrain following the cleric's execution

A controversial meme posted on a website thought to belong to Iran's Supreme Leader suggested the only difference between Saudi rulers and ISIS executioners was the clothes they wore

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni (pictured, a tweet from his official account) vowed 'divine revenge' against the Saudis the morning after they executed 47 prisoners accused of 'terrorism'

Iran's Supreme Leader had vowed 'divined revenge' on Saudi Arabia after it executed 47 prisoners, including a prominent Shiite cleric, yesterday.

Its elite paramilitary unit, the Revolutionary Guard, compared the Sunni-ruled country to terror group ISIS and warned the 'medieval act of savagery' would lead to the monarchy's downfall.

A controversial meme posted on an Iranian website, thought to belong to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khameni, suggested the only difference between Saudi rulers and ISIS executioners was the clothes they wore.

Saudi Arabia claimed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the other executed prisoners, which include three other Shiite dissidents and a number of al-Qaeda supporters, were all convicted 'terrorists'. It said Iran had 'revealed its true face as a supporter of terrorists' by condemning al-Nimr's death.

The UK Government expressed its 'disappointment' at the mass executions carried out by Saudi Arabia which have triggered unrest in the region and led to a breakdown in diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tehran.

Foreign Office Minister Tobias Ellwood said: 'I am deeply disturbed by the escalation in tensions in the last 24 hours in the Middle East.

'The UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty. We have stressed this to the Saudi authorities and also expressed our disappointment at the mass executions.'

The minister said he expected the kingdom's government not to carry out the death sentence imposed on the cleric's nephew Ali al-Nimr, who was just 17 when he was told he faced crucifixion over his role in the Arab Spring protests in 2012.

Mr Ellwood said: 'We have discussed with the authorities in Riyadh, and expect that Ali Al-Nimr and others who were convicted as juveniles will not be executed. The UK will continue to raise these cases with the Saudi authorities.

'We are deeply concerned to hear of the attack yesterday on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. It is essential that diplomatic missions are properly protected and respected.

'There are those who will wish to exploit the situation and raise sectarian tensions higher. This would be against the wishes of the vast majority of those in the region. I urge all parties in the region to show restraint and responsibility.'

Flames burn inside the offices of the embassy, where staff had already evacuated from inside the building

The violent mob was protesting the killing of Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr (pictured), the most vocal critic of the Saudi dynasty, who was the driving force behind the protests that broke out in the east of the country in 2011

Protesters set about damaging and stealing property from inside the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital city of Tehran

Tehran's police chief said that an unspecified number of 'unruly elements' had been arrested for attacking the embassy with petrol bombs and rocks

Iranian security stand guard to protect Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran, Iran, while a group of demonstrators gathered to protest execution of al-Nimr

The escalating war of words came after a night of violence in the Iranian capital of Tehran, where a furious mob petrol bombed the Saudi embassy to protest al-Nimr's killing. At least 40 were arrested on suspicion of attacking and setting fire to the embassy.

Iraq's former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki warned the executions would 'topple the Saudi regime', US and European said they risked 'exacerbating sectarian tensions', and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was 'deeply dismayed'.

Al-Nimr, the most vocal critic of the Saudi dynasty, was the driving force behind the protests which broke out in the east of the country in 2011, where the Shiite minority claims they are fiercely persecuted.

Khamenei condemned Saudi Arabia for the second straight day over his execution, saying: 'The unjustly spilled blood of this oppressed martyr [al-Nimr] will no doubt soon show its effect and divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians.'

The Revolutionary Guard yesterday promised 'harsh revenge' against Saudi Arabia's royal dynasty, but its foreign ministry called for calm after protesters tried to burn down its embassy in Tehran.

None of the Saudi embassy staff were inside the building when demonstrators broke in and trashed the offices. They forced their way inside where they ransacked rooms, destroyed furniture and started fires before they were ejected by police.

Tehran's police chief said an unspecified number of 'unruly elements' were arrested for attacking the embassy with petrol bombs and rocks overnight.

Iranian protesters set fire to pictures of the Saudi royal family in front of the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran

A BRIEF HISTORY OF IRAN AND SAUDI ARABIA'S HISTORICALLY TENSE RELATIONSHIP They are both Muslim countries, both have a vast supply of oil and they share no borders, and yet Iran and Saudi Arabia's relationship has been plagued with aggression and confrontation. Saudi Arabia is a predominantly Sunni nation, a sect which believes the prophet Muhammad was succeeded by his father-in-law Abu Bakr. Most Iranians are Shiites, who claim Muhammad's son-in-law and cousin, Ali Ibn Abi Talib, was his first 'caliph'. Historically, they have clashed over their differing interpretations of Islam, aspirations to lead the Islamic world, their oil export policy and relations with the United States. More recently, the relationship soured over Iran's nuclear programme, the 1979 Islamic revolution and an alleged plot to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the United States. After the rebellion, in which revolutionaries called on monarchies like Saudi Arabia's to be overthrown and replaced with Islamic Republics, Iran accused the Saudis of being an 'agent of the US'. Saudi Arabia (right, its King Salman) and Iran (left, its Supreme Leader Ayatolah Khamenei) have clashed over their differing interpretations of Islam, aspirations to lead the Islamic world, their oil export policy and relations with the United States Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameni, who started the revolution, was opposed to monarchies because he believed them to be un-Islamic. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia was concerned that Iran was obsessed with exporting its revolution to expand its influence in the Persian Gulf region. Relations hit rock bottom in 2011, when US officials alleged a plot to assassinate Saudi ambassador Adel al-Jubeir was tied to the Iranian government. They claimed Iranian nationals Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri planned to kill al-Jubeir at a restaurant with a bomb and then detonate an explosive at the Saudi embassy in Washington. They have also clashed over oil and gas export policies. Saudi Arabia, with its large oil reserves, is said to favour moderate prices over a long term period. Meanwhile Iran, which has been crippled with sanctions following its decades old war with Iraq, has been forced to sell oil at high prices for short term profits. Advertisement

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who condemned al-Nimr's execution, said the attacks on the embassy were 'unjustifiable'.

He ordered his Interior Ministry to arrest the attackers, who he described as 'extremists', and punish them for 'such ugly acts'.

There have been reports of other revenge attacks against Saudi Arabia across the Middle East.

Footage from Iraq claimed to show Saudi Arabia's newly reopened embassy in Baghdad engulfed in smoke after a rocket was reported to have been fired at it.

Helicopters circled high above the embassy in central Baghdad, which was targeted after the news of al-Nimr's execution spread to Iraq, Russia Today reported.

Unconfirmed reports have claimed the rocket, which struck just metres away from the embassy, was fired by Iraqi Shiite militia group Harakat al-Nujaba.

The Saudi embassy reopened its doors on Friday after being closed for 25 - following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait - to help strengthen an alliance against ISIS.

Violent demonstrations have also erupted across the Middle Eastern and Gulf countries, including Lebanon, Pakistan and Bahrain, while Muslims in the West have held peaceful marches.

Footage from Iraq claimed to show Saudi Arabia's newly reopened embassy in Baghdad (pictured) engulfed in smoke after a rocket was reported to have been fired at it

Helicopters circled high above the embassy in central Baghdad, which was targeted after the news of al-Nimr's execution spread to Iraq

Shiite protesters clashed with Indian police in the disputed Kashmir region today. They threw rocks at policemen, who retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Demonstrators in Bahrain were also met with tear gas as they fought with security forces, while hundreds also protested in Iraq's Shiite holy city of Karbala.

Violent demonstrations have since erupted across the Middle Eastern and Gulf countries, including Lebanon, Pakistan and Bahrain, while Muslims in the West have held peaceful marches.

Sheik al-Nimr and a number of the other prisoners executed had been convicted following trials that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon

Thousands have also gathered in Lebanon's capital, Beirut, ahead of a speech by the leader of the Lebanese Shiite militia group Hezbollah.

It issued a statement condemning al-Nimr's execution, with Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem calling it 'a sign of shame and weakness' for Saudi Arabia

Meanwhile, hundreds of Shiite Muslims marched through the Qatif district of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, closely watched by security services.

The US State Department said Saudi Arabia risked 'exacerbating sectarian tensions' and Ban Ki-moon said he was 'deeply dismayed' by the execution of al-Nimr.

'Sheik al-Nimr and a number of the other prisoners executed had been convicted following trials that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process,' Ban's spokesman said.

'The Secretary-General also calls for calm and restraint in reaction to the execution of Sheikh Nimr and urges all regional leaders to work to avoid the exacerbation of sectarian tensions.'

Amnesty International spokesman Shane Enright said the death penalty was 'unacceptable in all circumstances' and it was particularly concerning that a number of 'peaceful dissidents' including al-Nimr had been killed.

Kashmiri Shiite protesters shout slogans during a demonstration in Srinagar following the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr

The Shiite protesters (pictured) in Kashmir threw rocks at the police who retaliated with tear gas and rubber bullets

As well as the protests in Kashmir (pictured), demonstrators in Bahrain were also met with tear gas as they fought with security forces,

Thousands gathered in the disputed Kashmir region to clash with riot police, who pelted them with tear gas

An armed riot policeman walks towards the crowd of hundreds who gathered to protest the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr

UK TREASURY MINISTER DEFENDS UK'S CLOSE RELATIONSHIP WITH SAUDIS Treasury minister David Gauke (pictured) defended UK's relationship with Saudi Arabia A Government minister has defended the UK's close relationship with Saudi Arabia amid an international outcry over the execution of 47 prisoners. Treasury minister David Gauke said capital punishment was 'wrong', but the close ties between the UK and Riyadh meant 'we can tell them what we think'. Treasury Financial Secretary Mr Gauke told Sky News: 'Clearly it is a very worrying development and we oppose capital punishment in this way, we think that that is wrong.' But he added: 'When it comes to protecting British people, the Prime Minister has made it clear that intelligence from Saudi Arabia has helped save lives and protect people in the UK. 'We have a relationship with Saudi Arabia where we are able to speak candidly to them, where these issues are raised on a regular basis by the Foreign Secretary and the Prime Minister and our representatives in Riyadh. 'We are able to have that relationship where we can tell them what we think and clearly it is a worrying development, what we have heard from Saudi Arabia in the last few days.' Meanwhile shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn described the execution as 'profoundly wrong' and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron urged David Cameron to speak out against the Saudi regime's actions. Advertisement

Speaking at the scene of the demonstration, he said a recent Amnesty report concluded that the trial against him was 'deeply flawed'.

He added: 'We also came to the conclusion that he was jailed solely for expressing his peaceful points of view, protesting peacefully against the regimes.

'This is an absolute, fundamental, breach of basic human rights.'

Al-Nimr's family said they planned to hold three days of mourning but they have yet to claim his body.

We also came to the conclusion that he [al-Nimr] was jailed solely for expressing his peaceful points of view, protesting peacefully against the regimes. This is an absolute, fundamental, breach of basic human rights Shane Enright, Amnesty International

His brother Mohammed al-Nimr said Saudi officials told his family that he had already been buried in an undisclosed cemetery.

Despite supporting the capital punishment, Saudi Arabia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council. Secret diplomatic cables exposed in September last year appeared to show that the UK helped the kingdom join in a vote-trading deal.

Al-Nimr's execution has sparked fierce criticism from Shiite communities in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Indian-controlled Kashmir.

One of the 47 men executed in Saudi Arabia was Adel al-Dhubaiti, the al-Qaeda gunman convicted for the attempted assassination of BBC security correspondent Frank Gardner and the murder of his cameraman Simon Cumbers.

Mr Gardner was shot six times and left paralysed whilst he was filming a report with Simon Cumbers in June 2004. He was offered the chance to meet al-Dhubaiti when he was sentenced in 2014 but declined.

Iran's Shia leadership said the execution of Nimr 'would cost dearly' and an Iranian-backed Shiite militia in Iraq called the execution a 'new crime' carried out by the Saudi royal family.

Demonstrators burn tires during a protest, against the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities, in Manama, Bahrain

Enraged Bahraini demonstrators pulled up a palm tree trunk to make a blockade in the street against security forces at a demonstration

Pakistani Shiite Muslims rally to protest against the execution Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr in Lahore, Pakistan

Saudi Arabia came under blistering criticism from the Middle East's Shiites (pictured, protests in Pakistan) shortly after it executed a top Shiite cleric known for his activism against the Sunni government

One Kashmiri Shiite holds a Hezbollah flag shout slogans against the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr during a protest in Srinagar

Concerns remain that Saudi Arabia's decision to execute 47 prisoners may lead to further sectarian tension in the region

Protesters holding a banner saying 'Death is normal to us and our dignity from God is martyrdom' in Manama, Bahrain

Protests: Saudi Arabia's execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr has outraged Shia leaders and communities in Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen and Indian-controlled Kashmir (pictured)

Protests and large gatherings were held in remembrance for the prominent Shi'a cleric, who was killed alongside 46 other people

Kashmiri Shiite men and children sit united in front of a candle light vigil in honour of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was executed in Saudi

Saudi Arabia has said that Iran is responsible for protecting the Kingdom's embassy as the violence grows at the demonstrations.

One Shiite militia in Iraq called on Baghdad to 'reconsider the benefit of having a Saudi embassy in Iraq, with a suspicious ambassador and goals.'

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki warned in a statement that the execution of the Shiite cleric 'will topple the Saudi regime'.

But most of the 47 executed in the kingdom's biggest mass execution for decades were Sunnis convicted of al Qaeda attacks in Saudi Arabia a decade ago. Four, including Nimr, were Shi'ites accused of shooting policemen.

The executions took place in 12 cities in Saudi Arabia, with four prisons using firing squads and the others beheading.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, members of a Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen, praised their ally.

UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan called the executions a 'clear message against terrorism and those who call for and incite sedition and unrest to tear apart the society's unity and threaten social peace in the kingdom'.

The United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, members of a Saudi-led coalition battling Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen, praised their ally, but protests broke out in Bahrain's suburbs

Bahrain has faced unrest from its Shiite majority population, and backed Riyadh in 'all deterrent and needed measures it takes to confront violence and extremism'

Protesters clashed with security forces in a number of villages in Bahrain, where the government has sided with their ally Saudi Arabia

Saudi women hold up posters depicting Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr at a protest in the eastern coastal city of Qatif

Many of the protesters in London gathered in support for Nimr al-Nimr, calling for the action against the Saudi regime

Demonstrators protest outside the Saudi Embassy in London, following Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 prisoners in one day

WHO WAS SHEIKH NIMR AL-NIMR AND WHY WAS HE EXECUTED BY SAUDI ARABIA? Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr (pictured) was arrested in July 2012 and charged with instigating unrest Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr rose to prominence during the 2011 pro-democracy protests in his hometown of Qatif, eastern Saudi Arabia. His leadership elevated him to hero-like status among the protesting Shiite youth. He also became an icon in the broader 'Shia versus Sunni' narrative, which is played out across the Middle East - most acutely in the Yemeni and Syrian civil wars and in Iraq. His peaceful, but outspoken opposition to the Saudi Royal family, and his very public speeches against the monarchy demanding equality for Shias in Saudi Arabia also increased his profile. Nimr was arrested in July 2012 and charged with instigating unrest, 'disobeying the ruler' and 'encouraging, leading and participating in demonstrations'. The charges were dismissed by human rights advocacy group Amnesty International as violating freedom of speech. His arrest caused days of rioting in Saudi Arabia, in which three people were killed. He was sentenced to death on October 25 after his appeal was denied, no date was set for his execution, although Saudi Arabian King Salman could have pardoned the cleric at any time. Amnesty International UK's Shane Enright said a recent Amnesty report concluded that the trial against Nimr was 'deeply flawed', adding: 'We also came to the conclusion that he was jailed solely for expressing his peaceful points of view, protesting peacefully against the regimes. 'This is an absolute, fundamental, breach of basic human rights,' he said. The Sheikh's nephew Ali al-Nimr, who was 17 at the time of his arrest following the protests, was not included in the list of those executed although concerns are growing for his fate. He has been sentenced to death by beheading and crucifixion. Advertisement

Bahrain, which has itself faced unrest from its Shiite majority population, also backed Riyadh in 'all deterrent and needed measures it takes to confront violence and extremism'.

In the suburbs of the Bahraini capital Manama however, dozens of Shiite youth gathered for small demonstrations to condemn the executions. Clashes quickly escalated between demonstrators and security forces, who released tear gas to disperse the gathering.

Sheikh Nimr was an icon for Islamic resistance... His words were his weapon. They couldn't defeat his words so they detained him, tortured him and today executed him in front the world's eyes, like a challenge to global conscience Cleric from Bahrain during protests

A cleric from Bahrain who was at the protest in Iraq's Karbala, said the world should react to Nimr's execution. 'Sheikh Nimr was an icon for Islamic resistance,' said Sheikh Habib al-Jamri.

'His words were his weapon. They couldn't defeat his words so they detained him, tortured him and today executed him in front the world's eyes, like a challenge to global conscience.'

Bahrain was one of the countries caught in the centre of the Arab Spring in 2011, with the country's Shiite majority population heavily suppressed during protests against the monarchy. Bahrain has remained a close ally of Saudi, who have been careful to safeguard the country during the Arab Spring.

Shiite protesters in Bahrain in 2011 called for the constitutional reform of the monarchy before security forces heavy handedly clamped down on demonstrations leading to calls for the end of the monarchy.

The protests in Bahrain yesterday come after opponents have repeatedly been detained and stripped of their citizenship for speaking out against the Bahraini government and the actions of their ally Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia has executed 47 people convicted of 'terrorism' yesterday, including a prominent Shiite cleric behind anti-government protests

Executed: The ministry statement, carried by the official SPA news agency, said the 47 had been convicted of adopting the radical 'takfiri' ideology, joining 'terrorist organisations' and implementing various 'criminal plots'. Above, Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr was one of the 47 people executed yesterday

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) threatened to retaliate against Saudi Arabia for any execution of its members in December.

The list also included Fares al-Shuwail who has been described by Saudi media outlets as the top religious leader of Al-Qaeda in Saudi Arabia. He was arrested in August 2004.

The ministry statement said the 47 had been convicted of adopting the radical 'takfiri' ideology, joining 'terrorist organisations' and implementing various 'criminal plots'.

The list also includes Sunnis convicted of involvement in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed Saudis and foreigners in the kingdom in 2003 and 2004.

International rights group Reprieve, who works to abolish the death penalty has condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 people, saying two were teenagers when they were detained.

Reprieve says the 47 people whose execution was announced Saturday include four Shiite dissidents.

It says one of the dissidents, Ali al-Ribh, was 18 when he was arrested in 2012, and another, Mohammed al-Shuyokh, was 19.

Both were convicted on charges related to anti-government protests in eastern Saudi Arabia, where the Shiite minority is centered.

Repercussions: Iran's Shia leadership said the execution of Nimr 'would cost dearly' and an Iranian-backed Shiite militia in Iraq called the execution, a 'new crime' carried out by the Saudi royal family

Soon after the announcement was made, the country's top cleric Grand Mufti Sheikh Abdulaziz Al Sheikh said that the executions were in line with Islamic law and required to safeguard the kingdom's security. Above, Shia protests in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Mourning: Shiite Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr was a persistent critic of Saudi Arabia's Sunni royal family and a driving force of the protests that broke out in 2011 in the Sunni-ruled kingdom's east, where the Shiite minority complains of marginalisation. Above, men protest his execution in Indian-controlled Kashmir

SHEIKH AL-NIMR, THREE SHIITE CLERICS AND AL-QAEDA MILITANTS: THE 47 MEN EXECUTED BY SAUDI ARABIA 1. Ameen Mohammed Abdullah Al Aqala - Saudi national. 2. Anwar Abdulrahman Khalil Al-Najjar - Saudi national. 3. Badr bin Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Badr- Saudi national. 4. Bandar Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Ghaith - Saudi nationality. 5. Hassan Hadi bin Shuja'a Al-Masareer - Saudi nationality. 6. Hamad bin Abdullah bin Ibrahim Al-Humaidi- Saudi nationality 7. Khalid Mohammed Ibrahim Al-Jarallah - Saudi nationality 8. Ridha Abdulrahman Khalil Al-Najjar- Saudi nationality 9. Saad Salamah Hameer - Saudi nationality 10. Salah bin Saeed bin Abdulraheem Al-Najjar - Saudi nationality 11. Salah bin Abdulrahman bin Mohammed Al Hussain -Saudi nationality 12. Saleh bin Abdulrahman bin Ibrahim Al-Shamsan - Saudi nationality 13. Saleh bin Ali bin Saleh Al-Juma'ah - Saudi nationality 14. Adel bin Saad bin Jaza' Al-Dhubaiti - Saudi nationality 15. Adel Mohammed Salem Abdullah Yamani - Saudi nationality 16. Abduljabbar bin Homood bin Abdulaziz Al-Tuwaijri - Saudi nationality 17. Abdulrahman Dhakheel Faleh Al-Faleh - Saudi nationality 18. Abdullah Sayer Moawadh Massad Al-Mohammadi - Saudi nationality 19. Abdullah bin Saad bin Mozher Shareef - Saudi nationality 20. Abdullah Saleh Abdulaziz Al-Ansari - Saudi nationality 21. Abdullah Abdulaziz Ahmed Al-Muqrin - Saudi nationality 22. Abdullah Musalem Hameed Al-Raheef - Saudi nationality 23. Abdullah bin Mua'ala bin A'li - Saudi nationality 24. Abdulaziz Rasheed bin Hamdan Al-Toaili'e - Saudi nationality 25. Abdulmohsen Hamad bin Abdullah Al-Yahya - Saudi nationality 26. Isam Khalaf Mohammed Al-Mothri'e - Saudi nationality 27. Ali Saeed Abdullah Al Ribeh - Saudi nationality 28. Ghazi Mohaisen Rashed - Saudi nationality 29. Faris Ahmed Jama'an Al Showail - Saudi nationality 30. Fikri Ali bin Yahya Faqih - Saudi nationality 31. Fahd bin Ahmed bin Hanash Al Zamel - Saudi nationality 32. Fahd Abdulrahman Ahmed Al-Buraidi - Saudi nationality 33. Fahd Ali Ayedh Al Jubran - Saudi nationality 34. Majed Ibrahim Ali Al-Mughainem - Saudi nationality 35. Majed Moeedh Rashed - Saudi nationality 36. Mishaal bin Homood bin Juwair Al-Farraj - Saudi nationality 37. Mohammed Abdulaziz Mohammed Al-Muharib - Saudi nationality 38. Mohammed Ali Abdulkarim Suwaymil - Saudi nationality 39. Mohammed Fathi Abula'ti Al-Sayed - Egyptian nationality 40. Mohammed bin Faisal bin Mohammed Al-Shioukh - Saudi nationality 41. Mostafa Mohammed Altaher Abkar - Chadian nationality 42. Moaidh Mufreh Ali Al Shokr- Saudi nationality 43. Nasser Ali Ayedh Al Jubran - Saudi nationality 44. Naif Saad Abdullah Al-Buraidi - Saudi nationality 45. Najeeb bin abdulaziz bin Abdullah Al-Bohaiji - Saudi nationality 46. Nimr Baqer Ameen Al-Nimr- Saudi nationality 47. Nimr Sehaj Zeid Al-Kraizi - Saudi nationality Advertisement

Ahead of the announcement their mothers wrote a letter of thanks, published in The Independent today, along with the mothers of other youths sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia.

Reprieve said in a statement that the Saudi government 'is continuing to target those who have called for domestic reform in the kingdom.'

The recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and do mischief in the land is only that they shall be killed or crucified or their hands and their feet be cut off from opposite side Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry statement

Quoting the Koran, the Saudi Arabian Interior Ministry statement said: 'The recompense of those who wage war against Allah and His Messenger and do mischief in the land is only that they shall be killed or crucified or their hands and their feet be cut off from opposite sides, or be exiled from the land.'

While the list does not include Nimr's nephew, Ali al-Nimr, who was 17 when he was arrested following the protests, concerns are growing for his fate.

His sentencing to death by beheading and crucifixion sparked an international outcry. Official charges against Nimr include attending a protest, using his phone to encourage further support for the demonstrations and possessing a gun, an accusation which the family strongly denies.

British shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn told the Press Association: 'With the carrying out of this large number of executions there will now be huge international concern about what will happen to Ali Mohammed al-Nimr who is Sheikh al-Nimr's nephew.

'The Foreign Secretary has told Parliament that he does not expect Ali Mohammed al-Nimr to be executed but he now needs to seek fresh assurances that he will be reprieved.'

Protest: Scores of Shi'ite Muslims marched through the Qatif district of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province in protest at the execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimra (file photo)

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Saudi embassy in London to express their anger about the executions

Amnesty International UK's Shane Enright was at the protest outside the Saudi Embassy in London (pictured). He said a recent Amnesty report concluded that the trial against Nimr was 'deeply flawed'

Death toll: Executions have increased in the kingdom since King Salman acceded to the throne in January 2015 following the death of king Abdullah (file photo)

The Sheikh's brother Mohammed al-Nimr said that the executions came as a 'big shock' because 'we thought the authorities could adopt a political approach to settle matters without bloodshed.'

'There will be reactions,' he said, but urged people to 'adopt peaceful means when expressing their anger.'
Donald Trump sounded the alarm this morning about federal firearms regulations, declaring in an interview, 'Pretty soon, you won't be able to get guns.'

Trump said it starts small, and then 'all of a sudden, you have no Second Amendment.'

The Republican presidential candidate told CNN New Day co-host Chris Cuomo President Barack Obama ought to work with Congress to get new restrictions on firearms sales approved instead of ruling by executive order.

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Donald Trump sounded the alarm this morning about federal firearms regulations, declaring in an interview, 'Pretty soon, you won't be able to get guns.' Trump said in an interview that President Barack Obama ought to work with Congress to get new restrictions on firearms sales approved instead of ruling by executive order

'In all fairness,' Trump said he doesn't know with specificity what Obama is proposing 'because no one's really said.'

He told Cuomo, 'I have to look at what he says. I really do. I want to see what he says, I want to see why he couldn't get this approved by Congress, why can't he go in and get this approved.'

'Because why can't you, if something is so seemingly cut and dry....why can't the system work the way it was supposed to be, the way it was supposed to be working, or the way it was supposed to be designed? Why isn't he getting the Republicans and Democrats together and doing something?'

Trump pondered the president's methods and said, 'He doesn't like people, I guess.'

Explaining how the legislative process ought to work, Trump said, 'Youre supposed to cajole, get people in a room, youre supposed to deal with them, you have Republicans, you have Democrats, you have all these people that get elected to do this stuff, and youre supposed to get together and pass a law.'

'He doesnt want to do that because its too much work,' Trump said of Obama. 'So he doesnt want to work too hard. He wants to go back and play golf.'

Obama returned yesterday from his annual winter-time vacation to Hawaii.. He is meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch this afternoon to discuss the gun measures and an announcement is anticipated this week.

The administration's proposed changes have not yet been released in detail, but Obama is expected to take executive action to expand background checks in an effort to tighten the so-called gun show loophole that exempts some sellers from regulations requiring the checks.

He may make a move toward requiring sellers to report lost or stolen shipments of guns from their distributors, replacing the voluntary reporting program currently in place.

GOP presidential candidates are tarring and feathering Obama over the new gun control moves, announced on the eve of the New Year's Holiday.

'The president is a petulant child,' New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on Fox News Sunday.

'Whenever he doesnt get what he wants,' Christie said, 'this president acts like a king.'

Carly Fiorina characterized Obama as a 'lawless' president and his plan to take unilateral action on guns is 'delusional, dangerous, not to mention unconstitutional.

'We have long lists of criminals who own guns, who routinely purchase guns. We know who these people are, and we are not prosecuting any of them,' she said on CNN's State of the Union.

Marco Rubio promised today at a town hall to repeal 'whatever unlawful or unconstitutional executive orders this president imposes to try to undermine the Second Amendment' on his first day in the Oval Office.

'If you look at these mass-shootings, none of them would have been prevented by the things the president is pointing to. Because these criminals either would have passed the background check if they hadn't committed crimes in the past, or they just don't care what the law is,' Rubio said at a stop in New Hampshire.

Obama returned yesterday from his annual winter-time vacation to Hawaii. He is meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch this afternoon to discuss the gun measures and an announcement is anticipated this week

At a Saturday rally in Biloxi Mississippi, Trump said, 'We're not changing the Second Amendment.'

'I will veto that,' he said. 'I will un-sign that so fast.'

This morning on New Day Trump, who tops the GOP's leader board, said, 'I do see step by step by step, and then all of a sudden you have no Second Amendment. I do see that happening. You'll have steps, these little baby steps, and some of them aren't so baby.'

The billionaire real estate developer is formally trying his hand at a run for elected office for the first time, but Trump isn't entirely new to politics. He's floated runs for the White House in the past and is known to have donated to one of his main rivals in the 2016 race - former New York Senator Hillary Clinton.

Trump has made a show of attacking the former lawmaker and first lady through her husband, Bill, a former president who faced impeachment hearings during his second term over his sexual relationship with a White House intern.

Clinton has also admitted to having sexual relations with model and actress Gennifer Flowers.

He paid an out of court settlement of $850,000 in a sexual harassment case brought by Paula Jones, a former employee of the state of Arkansas, where Clinton served as governor before ascending to the White House.

As a result of the investigations into his conduct, Arkansas suspended his law licence for five years and charged him a $25,000 fine as he was leaving the White House.

The Supreme Court further disbarred him from ever arguing a case before them, a contingent in Clinton's plea deal.

Trump has tried to turn Hillary Clinton's charges that he has a 'penchant for sexism' back on her.

'Shes got a problem. Shes married to a person thats a serious abuser and I mean, at the highest level, and she, you know, shes not an innocent victim,' Trump said Sunday on Fox and Friends. 'She was the one that would go along with him in this whole game that they play.'

'And you look at what happened with some of the people that he took advantage of and then she gets involved. So shes not like the innocent person sitting by the side with tears in her eyes,' Trump claimed. 'She was very much involved.'

Trump acknowledged his previous support for the Clintons today, and said, 'I tried to help him a little bit.'

'It was important for me, as a secretary of state, as a senator, to have all these people on my side,' he said, referring to the offices Hillary Clinton occupied after she and Bill moved out of the White House.

The real estate tycoon said, as he has in the past, 'I needed votes for things. I got many things done, and I would have these people on my side.

'So I wasn't going to get involved in the Monica Lewinsky thing. And I wouldn't get involved in it now. I don't really care about Monica Lewinsky, other than, I think that Hillary was an enabler, and a lot of things happened that were, you know, obviously very seedy. He was impeached for heaven's sake, he was impeached over this thing.'

He further said Bill Clinton 'paid a massive fine on one of the cases.' Adding, 'I think his law degree was even taken away.'
A care home worker has won a 50,000 payout after she plunged 20ft down a lift shaft and had a 96-year-old great grandmother in a wheelchair fall on top of her.

Pensioner May Lewis was killed after suffering 52 broken bones when she tumbled down the shaft and landed on mother-of-two Carol Conway.

The 52-year-old had tried to reverse Mrs Lewis' wheelchair into a lift on the second floor but it was faulty and had not moved from the ground floor.

Compensation award: Care home worker Carol Conway (pictured) has won a 50,000 payout after she plunged 20ft down a lift shaft and had a 96-year-old great grandmother in a wheelchair fall on top of her

Ms Conway, who had been a carer for 29 years, broke her back, ribs, left foot and punctured her lung and was left unconscious when the wheelchair with the elderly resident in fell on top of her.

She has now been awarded the compensation after launching legal action against the owners of the Pontcanna House Care Home in Cardiff, South Wales.

Ms Conway said: 'I will be in pain for the rest of my life. I can't do anything like I used to.

'The money doesn't mean a thing to me. The most precious thing we have is our health.

'I know I am very lucky to be alive but life has changed so much because of that terrible accident. I take 32 tablets a day and I am never free from pain.

'I still have terrible nightmares thinking of May and her family. I am constantly plagued by that terrible day.

'Poor May Lewis should have died peacefully in her sleep surrounded by her loved ones, not with 52 broken bones at the bottom of a dark, damp lift shaft.

Fall: Pensioner May Lewis was killed after suffering 52 broken bones when she tumbled down the shaft and landed on mother-of-two Ms Conway at Pontcanna House Care Home in Cardiff, South Wales (pictured)

'I feel so angry - this accident would not have accident if the owners had got the faulty lift fixed as they should.'

Ms Conway had been working at Pontcanna House for three years when the accident happened in March 2012.

She said: 'I loved my job so much. I had been a carer for 29 years and it meant so much to me working with elderly people. I only wish I could turn back time.

'The owners knew that lift wasn't working properly but they allowed us to carry on using it. If it had been fixed this accident would never have happened.

'After the accident I didn't hear a word from the home owners Mr and Mrs Al-Mufti. I never received as much as a get well card from them.'

Health and safety admission: Shirwan Al-Mufti (left) and his wife Nasik (right), the owners of Pontcanna House, were fined 75,000 and ordered to pay 25,000 costs at Cardiff Crown Court for health and safety breaches

Shirwan and Nasik Al-Mufti, the husband and wife owners of Pontcanna House, were fined 75,000 and ordered to pay 25,000 costs at Cardiff Crown Court for health and safety breaches.

Mrs Al-Mufti, who was in charge of health and safety at the home, admitted she knew the lift was faulty.

Ms Conway was awarded the compensation for her injuries. She did not reveal the exact amount but confirmed it was more than 50,000.

She added: 'It's three years on but I am still so angry. I was awarded compensation but money will never change that terrible day.

'I think about it constantly. My heart goes out to May and her family. I am so sorry she died the way she did - it's tragic.
A hoverboard has sparked a fire that gutted a Melbourne home after it ignited while charging in a child's bedroom.

The family of five were able to escape the Stratham home, north-west of Melbourne, with their pets and no injuries on Monday night.

But the split-level brick home and its contents were decimated by fire, smoke and water, according to the Metropolitan Fire and Emergency Services Board.

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A hoverboard has sparked a fire at a Melbourne home while it was plugged into the wall

The child had placed their Christmas present on a charger in their bedroom at the back of the home while the family watched television in the front room, Acting Commander Phil Smith told Daily Mail Australia.

The hoverboard then caught on fire but the family were 'oblivious to what was going on', Mr Smith said.

A fire alarm went off and when the family went to look at the bedroom they saw it had been engulfed in flames.

It took firefighters 30 minutes to get the blaze under control and they remained there overnight to make sure there were no hot spots.

It was a Christmas gift given to the child. The blaze decimated the home in Stratham, north-west of Melbourne

Fortunately nobody was injured during the fire but firefighters said they were concerned about a rise in numbers of boards sparking fires

Hoverboards have not caused any other fires as of yet in the Melbourne area, but Mr Smith said he expected that to change.

'There is a good chance, following this, there are going to be more,' he said.

The popular Christmas gift has been a frequent fixture in the news recently after it was discovered their batteries can explode.

The self-balancing machines were removed from stores around the world and even Amazon after reports circulated of them suddenly exploding.

The batteries used in the cheaper models of the machines made in China, which are then re-branded before being sold in the U.S. and UK., are believed to be the cause.

The potential fire hazard has led many major airlines to ban the gadgets.

It took firefighters 30 minutes to get the blaze under control and they remained there overnight to make sure there were no hot spots
Vladimir Putin is preparing to unleash his latest weapon in the war against terror: an army of cyborg rats.

Russian scientists are hoping to combine the rats and their amazing noses with the latest technology, allowing them to sniff out explosives or drugs in places which are impregnable to all but the very small.

If they are successful, the rodents will be able to alert their handlers to the dangerous or illegal material before they themselves have even had time to register it.

There is only one problem: it takes three months to train a rat properly, and they only live for a year.

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Cyborg: The rats are having microchips implanted in their heads, allowing scientists to monitor brain waves

Training: At the same time, the rats are also being taught to recognise the smell of explosives and drugs

Future: Scientists will then watch the cerebral reactions - which will allow them to tell if there is a bomb or dugs

This means the scientists would have to 'constantly drill whole battalions of rats to provide security forces with a new type of counter-terrorist operative', according to the Kremlin-backed news agency Sputnik.

But the scientists, from Rostov-on-Don, near the border with Ukraine, are not to be deterred, and are steaming ahead with operation 'Next Generation Warfare'.

Three teams are currently working on the project in the Perception and Recognition Neuro-technologies Laboratory at the South Federal University, hoping to harness rats' raptor neurons, which give the rodents a better sense of smell than artificial devices or even dogs.

Their size gives them the added edge - potentially even allowing them to hunt out survivors following natural disasters.

Dr Dmitry Medvedev, who is heading up the team, said: 'Unlike a dog, a rat can get through the smallest crack where it seems it couldn't go.

'This way it could find its way deep under rubble and by its brain activity one could understand if there are, for example, people who are still alive, if it's worth clearing debris here or at another place, to rescue people more quickly.'

The microchip, which give the rat the appearance of wearing a headdress, should be able to detect the rats' physiological reaction even before the rodent has itself reacted to it.

Tiny: Rats have a better sense of smell than dogs, but it is their size which makes them especially effective

Squeeze: Rats can get into spaces other animals can't, which means they will be useful after natural disasters

To do this, programmers are reported to be creating mathematical algorithms to study and understand the results.

These algorithms will help scientists gather data and statistics of the rats' cerebral reactions to various smells.

But before they do this, physiologists have to train the animals to identify explosives and drugs - a difficult task which has to be done in a short space of time.

'Two to three months are needed in order to teach the animal to react to one substance while the life span of a laboratory rat is only about a year, Dr Medvedev admitted, adding: 'We can't use very young rats, and the old ones have already lost their sense of smell.'

Talented: Scientists hope they will one day be able to find survivors of natural disasters in the ruins

Global: Rats are already used in former war zones to detect land mines and in Israel to check people's luggage

However, there have been successes in other parts of the world.

The African hamster rat has been used in Angola, Tanzania, Mozambique, Cambodia and Thailand to detect land mines.
Marco Rubio said Monday morning that Hillary Clinton is 'incompetent' and claimed 'she has lied' as he staked his claim to an aggressive national security posture in the hope that he might face her in a general election.

'She lied to our faces,' he said.

He also took a shot at Republican front-runner Donald Trump, suggesting the former reality show star is running for the job of 'entertainer-in-chief.'

Rubio spoke at an American Legion post in Hooksett, New Hampshire, in an early morning speech designed to seize the day's news cycle hours before Bill Clinton campaigns for his wife a half-hour's drive away.

TOUGH TALK: Sen. Marco Rubio delivered a national security policy address on Jan. 4 at an American Legion post in Hooksett N.H.

ON THE MARCH: Rubio is running in second place in New Hampshire and a solid third in Iowa

His attack on the Democratic front-runner is based on the Benghazi terror attack  and her week-long mischaracterization of it in 2012 as a protest gone bad  an issue that will dog the former secretary of state as she vies for the presidency.

'While she was leading the public and the families of the fallen to believe the attack in Benghazi happened because of a YouTube video, we now know she was admitting in private emails that it was the result of terrorism,' Rubio said.

'She lied to our faces. No one in the mainstream media has the courage to call her out for it. If I am our nominee, voters will be reminded of it time and time again.'

Rubio, speaking to a packed but small room on a frigid morning, said Clinton 'stood by while the conflict in Syria became the worst humanitarian crisis in a generation.'

At the helm of the State Department, he said, Clinton 'resorted to half-measures in Libya instead of doing what it would take to prevent terrorists from taking hold  terrorists who ultimately took the lives of four Americans in Benghazi.'

Rubio is the fastest-skyrocketing candidate on the Republican side of the ledger, running second to Trump in New Hampshire and third in Iowa.

Those two states set the tone for the primary and caucus season, driving donors to the top finishers and dooming the also-rans.

The first-term Florida senator, also leveled a broadside at a fellow congressional freshman, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who is leading the pack in Iowa and breathing down Rubio's neck in New Hampshire.

'Words and political stunts cannot ensure our security. ISIS cannot be filibustered,' he said, slamming Cruz as an obstructionist for his lengthy Senate floor stalling techniques.

'While some claim they would destroy ISIS, that they would make the sands of the Middle East "glow in the dark",' he said, in a jab at Cruz, 'my question is: with what?'

'Because they certainly cant do it with the oldest and smallest Air Force in the history of this country, or with the smallest Army we've had since World War II, or with the smallest and oldest Navy weve had since 1915. Yet these are what we will have thanks to the cuts these candidates have supported and even tried to deepen.'

Trump, who looms large in the Granite State and seems poised to win the primary in early February, has argued for a massive military buildup designed to ensure that 'nobody will ever mess with us.'

Rubio touted that same posture on Monday, saying that if he is elected in November, 'you'll get a reversal of the defense cuts that Obama and Harry Reid have forced on our military.'

'You'll get a leader who upholds the promise we make to our men and women in uniform that we will never send them into a fair fight, but will always equip them with the upper hand.'

'You'll get a president,' he added, 'who will destroy terrorists overseas by authorizing whatever tools our commanders need.'

That's a promise that Rubio said President Barack Obama has broken. He is 'deliberately weakening America,' he said of the president.

'Instead of a foreign policy based on strategy, his is based on politics,' he said.

'We saw this clearly with his speech after the terrorist attack in San Bernardino. When America needed a bold plan of action from our Commander-in-Chief, we instead got a lecture on love, tolerance, and gun control designed to please the talking heads at MSNBC.'

Rubio's prepared remarks included the word 'despicable' before 'speech,' but he cut that line when he spoke.

But 'the result of all of this is that people are afraid,' he said. 'And they have every right to be.'

He called Obama 'a man who apologized for America and bowed pitifully to foreign leaders. A man willing to abandon our allies, make concessions to our enemies, and worst of all, to make historic, devastating cuts to our military and intelligence capabilities.'

'The Nobel Peace Prize was thrown at his feet,' Rubio mocked, claimed that 'America is in far greater danger today than it was eight years ago.'

The senator has seen his polling fortunes rise as he attacks Obama  and Clinton  more and more, and is now running in third place nationally behind Trump and Cruz, according to a Real Clear Politics polling average.

Rubio began his speech by noting that it is eight years to the day from the morning in 2008 when 'many people around the world heard the name Barack Obama. They awoke to the news that a little-known Senator from Illinois had won the Iowa caucuses the night before'

'Our nation and our world took a turn for the worse' as a result, he said Monday. 'But we are not a weak country, we just have a weak president.'

Rubio said his national security platform would restore the use of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp in Cuba and re-engage digital intelligence collection techniques that have remained on the shelf in recent years.

'I will not only restore the intelligence programs Obama and Congress have destroyed, I will strengthen them,' he emphasized.

'Because ISIS does not use carrier pigeons to communicate. They use sophisticated encryption and carefully secured networks.'
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Condemned to share a squalid, overcrowded cell with heroin dealers, murderers and rapists, this is the fate of Brit Michael Mcfeat whose joke about traditional food in Kyrgyzstan spectacularly backfired.

The welder, 39, faces up to five years in the Central Asian hellhole jails after he was arrested when a 'light-hearted' Facebook post comparing a local delicacy to a horse's penis sparked a strike at the gold mine where he works.

Rickety, iron bedsteads jammed next to each other, prisoners hold their heads in despair as the paint peels from the filthy, cracked walls around them.

Despair: Jails in Kyrgyzstan notorious for squalid, overcrowded conditions where HIV and AIDS is rife and beatings common. It is one of these jails where British welder Michael McFeat, 39, could end up after he caused offence by comparing a local delicacy to a horse's penis

Cramped: Describing the human rights situation as 'dire', a report by NGO International Crisis Group said 'Inmates enforce a strict hierarchy, subjecting the weaker to brutal treatment'

Banged up: Life behind bars is brutal. The human rights organisation International Crisis Group added 'Inmates enforce a strict hierarchy, subjecting the weaker to brutal treatment. Beatings by police in pre-trial detention are common as they seek to extract confessions

Violence and intimidation  from other prisoners and guards  are a daily reality for the thousands of men, women and children who are locked in this little known, mineral-rich, former Soviet state.

Disease and infection are rife with levels of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS much higher than in the general population.

Conditions are so bad that at one jail more than 1,300 inmates sewed their mouths shut four years ago in protest at the constant beatings they suffered from prison guards.

And these pictures, taken by French photojournalist Eric Gourlan, highlight the misery the Briton faces if he is convicted of inciting racial hatred.

Offence: British welder Michael Mcfeat, 39, from of Abernethy, Perthshire, Scotland, said the 'chuchuk', a traditional horse meat and offal sausage, looked like a horse's penis

Joke: Married Mr McFeat wrote his Kyrgyz colleagues were queuing for their 'special delicacy, the horse's penis' during New Year's celebrations. There was a temporary strike at the Kumtor gold mine, Issyk Kul Province, Kyrgyzstan, where he works

Quip: His controversial Facebook post caused widespread offence, which resulted in Mr Mcfeat being arrested on suspicion of inciting racial hatred. His Facebook post has since been deleted

Married Mr Mcfeat, from Abernethy, Perthshire, Scotland, who works as a Welding Superintendent for Toronto-based Centerra Gold, was arrested after he wrote the Facebook post comparing the Kyrgyz national dish  'chuchuk', a traditional horse meat and offal sausage, to a horse's penis.

He wrote his Kyrgyz colleagues were queuing for their 'special delicacy, the horse's penis' during New Year's celebrations.

Mr McFeat later deleted the post and issued an apology, saying, 'I truly never meant to offend anyone and I'm truly sorry as it was never my intention.'

His family said his remark had been misinterpreted.

His wife Amanda, 40, a bookkeeper, said: 'It was just a Hogmanay feast, and put up a picture of his colleagues at the meal and praised the chef and said the Kyrgyz were queuing out of the door for their special delicacy, the horse's penis.'

His parents, John and Marilyn, said their son had simply posted 'praise' together with a picture of him and his colleagues enjoying a New Year's Eve meal.

John Mcfeat, a 63-year-old farmworker, said their only son had meant 'nothing bad'.

He said: 'He's out there as a supervisor welder to help the Kyrgyz, and it was a New Year's meal and he was praising everything that the chef had done, but its just gone crazy...

'He said it was a lovely meal, with the local delicacy, horse sausage meat, but he put 'horse penis'.

'All we can do is wait, and the Foreign Office will hopefully try and explain that there was no malice in what Michael put, there was nothing derogatory meant by what he posted.'

Harsh: Mr McFeat now faces the prospect of being banged up abroad in the notoriously harsh jails of Kyrgystan, in Central Asia, while his wife Amanda, 40, a bookkeeper, anxiously waits for news back home

Crumbling: Conditions in the prisons faced by Mr McFeat are difficult due to years of lack of funding. Disases such as HIV, AIDS and tuberculosis are said to be rife due to a woeful lack of adequate medical facilities

Cruelty: Violence and intimidation  from other prisoners and guards  are a daily reality for the thousands of men, women and children who are locked in this little known, mineral-rich, former Soviet state

Protests: Conditions are so bad that at one jail more than 1,300 inmates sewed their mouths shut four years ago in protest at the constant beatings they suffered from prison guards

But his tactless post sparked a strike at the Kumtor gold mine, Issyk Kul Province, Kyrgyzstan, located about 350 km south east of the capital Bishkek, where he worked and lead to his arrest.

Mr McFeat now faces racial hatred charges, which can bring three to five years in prison under Kyrgyzstan law.

Mr Gourlan spent a month living alongside inmates in Kyrgyzstan's prisons - some of the toughest in the world.

He told MailOnline: 'Sometimes you have to go to dangerous places to get the news.'

Inhumane: Photographer Eric Gourlan spent a month living alongside inmates in Kyrgyzstan's prisons. He told MailOnline: 'Sometimes you have to go to dangerous places to get the news'

Revealing: Mr Gourlan added: 'The most difficult situation is with medical help, as there are few doctors willing to work in prisons. And if there is an outbreak of infectious diseases, they spread really quickly, as there are many people living in a small enclosed space. Many prisoners told me that they had caught tuberculosis or pneumonia in prison'

Insight: The photographer said: 'When I was moving inside the prisons, I was accompanied by guards and I noticed that prisoners warned their fellow inmates that we were coming, so all the prisoners knew that they were going to be visited. This is a kind of internal rule and they have their own language in which they communicate'

Bleak: A report by NGO International Crisis Group said: 'The human rights situation is dire. Inmates enforce a strict hierarchy, subjecting the weaker to brutal treatment'

The photographer said: 'The most difficult situation is with medical help, as there are few doctors willing to work in prisons. And if there is an outbreak of infectious diseases, they spread really quickly, as there are many people living in a small enclosed space. Many prisoners told me that they had caught tuberculosis or pneumonia in prison.'

He went on: 'When I was moving inside the prisons, I was accompanied by guards and I noticed that prisoners warned their fellow inmates that we were coming, so call the prisoners knew that they were going to be visited.

'This is a kind of internal rule and they have their own language in which they communicate.

'I also heard the guards negotiate with the informal leaders among the inmates to resolve conflict situations.'

The rampant overcrowding, terrible conditions, violence and corruption in Kyrgyz prisons have become notorious among human rights organisations.

'The human rights situation [in Kyrgyzstan's prisons] is dire,' a report by NGO International Crisis Group stated.

'Inmates enforce a strict hierarchy, subjecting the weaker to brutal treatment.

'Beatings by police in pre-trial detention are common as investigators seek to extract confessions.

'Suspects awaiting trial and convicted persons awaiting transfer to prison spend months in squalid and inhumane conditions.

'Death sentences continue to be handed down, and death-row inmates are packed into overcrowded, unhealthy holding facilities, in which several die each year.

'The penal code retains a harsh, punitive character, and acquittals or alternative sentences are rare.

Kyrgyzstan, with a population of 5.5million, is an independent state in Central Asia bordering Tajikistan, Kazakstan, Uzbekistan and China. It achieved independence from the Russian-dominated Soviet Union in 1991. It was home to a now defunct US air base which was crucial to operations in nearby Afghanistan.

Beatings: International Crisis Group went on: 'Suspects awaiting trial and convicted persons awaiting transfer to prison spend months in squalid and inhumane conditions'

Sentences: Prisoners face years behind bars often for petty offences, the report went on: 'Death sentences continue to be handed down, and death row inmates are packed into overcrowded, unhealthy holding facilities, in which several die each year'
The Hammonds already served time, they will return to jail for 4 years because a judge ruled their initial sentences were not enough

Bundy said on Monday that the protest is peaceful but they are armed because that is the 'only way' to defend their First Amendment rights

The Hammonds rejected the protest and say they plan to report to jail

It is a symbolic protest against sending ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond to jail. They admitted setting fires on federally-owned land

Militia took over Malheur National Wildlife Refuge building in Oregon on Saturday because it 'should be owned by the people not the government'

The FBI is moving in to end federal building takeover as it hits day three

Militiamen occupying a government building in Oregon have defended their right to bear arms at a 'peaceful protest' as the FBI moves to end their three-day takeover.

The protesters took control of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge building in Princeton, Oregon, on Saturday claiming it belongs to the people, not to the government.

It was a symbolic gesture to defend the freedom of local ranchers Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son Steven Hammond, 46, who will report to jail today to serve another five years for a land ownership dispute.

The pair already served time after admitting to starting fires to prevent the growth of invasive plants into their land in 2001 and 2006.

In a surprise statement on Sunday, the Hammonds hit out at the protesters, rejecting their support and insisting they plan to comply with local government agencies.

But the occupation's leader Ammon Bundy - son of famed rancher and anti-government protester Cliven Bundy - insisted on Monday morning, 'we understand each other' and they plan to stand there 'indefinitely'.

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The occupation's leader Ammon Bundy (right) - son of rancher Cliven Bundy - spoke to Good Morning America with fellow protester Lavoy Finicum (left) on Monday. He insisted that bearing arms is essential if they are to be taken seriously. And though the Hammonds rejected his support he insisted: 'we understand each other'

A sign of the National Wildlife Refuge System is seen at an entry of the wildlife refuge, where some vehicles are seen used to block access to the inside of the refuge, about 30 miles southeast of Burns on Sunday

The protest came about in a bid to save Dwight Hammond Jr, 73, (left) and his son Steven, 46, (right) being sent to jail for arson on federally-owned land. They already served time but a judge has ruled it wasn't enough

Speaking to Good Morning America from Burns, where temperatures have plummeted to -7C (19F), Bundy said the Hammonds merely don't know what else to do - and his demonstration is the only way ranchers can defend their rights.

He also defended his brother Ryan who told the Portland Oregonian the group was prepared to 'kill or be killed' - while describing the protest as 'peaceful'.

'When a people are defending their rights, that's always what we have to stand on,' Ammon Bundy said.

'We have to be willing to say, "look, we'll do what it takes to defend our rights" - and if we're not willing to do that then they'll be taken away.'

Asked why they were armed at a peaceful protest, Ammon responded: 'In order to truly express our First Amendment rights we have to have our Second Amendment rights.

'That's why the Founders gave them to us, or at least that's why the Founders protect them in the Constitution.

'It's important that we stand and people know that we're serious.'

At a press conference later in the day, Bundy said: 'We love our country, we love the people in it, we know that we are struggling to know what to do as a nation, and in many ways we are dividing.

'We hope that we can restore those things and that we can unite as a people in protecting individuals.'

Minutes later, he told CBS News he would like for the occupation to inspire a peaceful revolution because 'the people of this county are being abused' by the government by being denied land ownership.

However, he admitted that they have not reached out to the local government to make their demands known, and the local government has not reached out to them.

His words came as the FBI confirmed federal agents are working with local authorities to peacefully end the stand-off today.

We have to be willing to say, "look, we'll do what it takes to defend our rights" - and if we're not willing to do that then they'll be taken away Ammon Bundy on bearing arms

The agency said late on Sunday that it is actively 'working with the Harney County Sheriff's Office, Oregon State Police and other local and state law enforcement agencies' on the case, according to ABC.

The Hammonds are scheduled to report to prison on Monday morning.

They were convicted of arson three years ago for fires that burned on federal land in 2001 and 2006.

Though they served their original sentences for the conviction  Dwight serving three months, Steven serving one year  an appellate judge ruled in October that the terms were too short under federal minimum sentencing laws.

Both men were ordered back to prison for four years each. They have said they plan to turn themselves in Monday.

The decision to send the men back to prison generated controversy and is part of a decades-long dispute between some Westerners and the federal government over the use of public lands.

Schools in the area have been closed for the day amid fears that efforts to end the stand-off could escalate.

The Bundy brothers called on militia around the country to join them and bears arms to defend their rights.

Their father, Cliven Bundy, was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights in Nevada.

Ryan Bundy told The Associated Press on Sunday that he hopes to turn the land over to local authorities so people can use it free of federal oversight.

He said he hopes the takeover of the property will prompt others to take action across the country to seize local control of federally managed land.

On Sunday afternoon, several pickup trucks blocked the entrance to the refuge and armed men wearing camouflage and winter gear used radios to alert those at the refuge buildings when reporters were allowed onto the property.

Ryan Bundy talks on the phone at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Oregon, on Sunday. He is one of the many occupying the refuge to object to a prison sentence for local ranchers for burning federal land

A small flock of pheasants wandered across the refuge driveway, scattering as men driving utility vehicles traversed the property. Ryan Bundy declined to say how many people were at the site.

'The end goal here is that we are here to restore the rights to the people here so that they can use the land and resources. All of them,' Bundy said. That means ranchers can graze their cattle on the land, miners can use their mineral rights, loggers can cut trees and hunters and fishers can recreate, he said.

He said they planned on staying at the refuge as long as it takes. If the situation turns violent, Bundy contends it will be because of the federal government's actions.

'I mean, we're here to restore order, we're here to restore rights and that can go peacefully and easily,' Bundy said.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said in a statement Sunday that the group of armed protesters came to town under false pretenses.

'These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to over throw the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States,' Ward said.

The sheriff says he is working with local and federal authorities to keep the citizens in his county safe and to resolve the situation as quickly and peacefully as possible.

At a restaurant near the refuge Sunday, a local man eating supper said he understood the sentiment but didn't necessarily support the methods of the group. He wouldn't give his name because he said he feared being caught between the federal government and the militia.

Protesters march on Court Avenue in Burns in support of the Hammonds on Saturday

Ryan Payne, an Army veteran from Montana, participates in a community meeting in Burns on Friday. He was among key militiamen who seized control of the refuge after a peaceful protest parade in Burns on Saturday

Landon, who was a logger until the federal government declared the spotted owl a protected species in the 1980s, damaging the local logging industry, said he also sympathizes with the frustrations expressed by the Bundys.

'The spotted owl started the downfall of our community, then (President) Clinton made the Steens Mountains a wilderness area or whatever. Five generations of ranchers that had been on the Steens, kicked them off. And then management of the wildfires, it totally changed the region,' Landon said. 'It's hard to discredit what they're trying to do out there. But I don't want anybody hurt.'

He said on the surface, it doesn't look like much has changed in Burns, a high desert town of about 2,700 people.

Most of the hotels in the area are booked full, and he's noticed that law enforcement officers are now doing their patrols in pairs instead of singly. But the biggest difference since the takeover is the undercurrent of worry, he said.

'It's weird  I woke up this morning expecting the town to be crawling with this and that agency. But you don't see any of it. They're keeping a low presence,' Landon said.

Landon was happy the protesters seized land outside of Burns.
MPs last night condemned a decision to grant asylum to a Sudanese migrant who walked 31 miles through the Channel Tunnel to Britain.

Giving Abdul Rahman Haroun refugee status sent the wrong message to others desperate to enter the country, they said.

Haroun, 40, will now be given state-funded accommodation in a B&B, flat or house and is entitled to a weekly allowance of 36.95.

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Granted asylym: Sudanese migrant Abdul Rahman Haroun (centre) is greeted by his lawyer and support workers from a refugee rights group last night as he leaves Elmley Prison on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent

He's out: MPs said giving Haroun refugee status sent the wrong message to others desperate to enter the UK

He will also be allowed free NHS healthcare, prescriptions, dental care and eyesight tests.

Damian Collins, the Conservative MP for Folkestone and Hythe, said: People who break the law should lose the right to asylum.

What we want to do is send a message to those people in Calais that if you try and break into our country by hiding in vehicles or trains  or by walking through the Channel Tunnel  you will immediately lose your right to making an asylum claim in this country.

This is completely the wrong message to send to other migrants waiting in Calais.

Leaving jail: The Sudanese national, who had previously pleaded not guilty to a charge of obstructing an engine or a carriage using a railway, appeared in court yesterday via a video link from Elmley Prison

Haroun was arrested on August 4  less than a mile from the tunnels exit in Folkestone, Kent.

WHAT A SUCCESSFUL ASYLUM SEEKER GETS A successful asylum seeker will be found a flat, house, hostel or B&B accommodation

A single asylum seeker can collect 36.95 each week from their local Post Office

They are entitled to free NHS healthcare as well as free prescriptions, dental care and eyesight tests

In 2014, most asylum seekers came from Pakistan, Eritrea, Iran, Syria and Albania

There were 25,020 asylum applications in the year ending March 2015  an increase of 5 per cent on the previous year

In recent years millions of Sudanese people have sought refuge outside their country due to prolonged conflicts and civil war Advertisement

His perilous journey had taken 11 hours, and he would have been just a few feet from trains travelling at 100mph.

The Sudanese national, who had previously pleaded not guilty to a charge of obstructing an engine or a carriage using a railway, appeared in court yesterday via a video link from Elmley Prison.

Philip Bennetts QC, prosecuting, told Canterbury Crown Court in Kent that Haroun had been granted asylum, adding: We would ask for 14 days to consider the impact of that.

Judge Adele Williams told Haroun through an interpreter: Now that you have been granted asylum to remain in the United Kingdom, the prosecution in this case just need 14 days to consider whether to proceed with this prosecution against you.

Kate Thorne, defending, said: Importantly for Mr Haroun is that the prosecution has now indicated that they will not oppose bail.

The court was told that Haroun would be bailed to an address which was not revealed.

Last night a Eurotunnel spokesman said: Asylum should have been refused because of what this man did.

'When the police first arrested Mr Haroun we were told that he would face the full force of the law.

Anger: A Eurotunnel spokesman said asylum 'should have been refused because of what this man did'

Prison: Haroun appeared in court via a CCTV link to HMP Elmley, where he was held after being arrested

'What he did was incredibly dangerous and could have put the lives of passengers on trains and workers in the tunnel at severe risk.

WHAT HE FLED IN STRIFE-TORN SUDAN Among the poorest countries in the world, Sudan has been rocked by conflict and famine.

Two rounds of civil war between 1985 and 2003 led to 1.5million deaths along with claims of mass killings and slavery.

Overall two million have died as a result of war and famine while 4.8 million have been displaced.

Sudanese citizens have a life expectancy of only 57 compared to 81.5 in the UK.

A quarter of the population are still undernourished, with an infant mortality rate of 61 per 1,000.

Average annual incomes are 648, while unemployment is at 30 per cent.

Once the largest country in Africa, it split into Sudan and South Sudan in 2011. Advertisement

Tory MP Peter Bone added: There must and should be a punishment for breaking the law and coming to the country through the tunnel.

'This man needs to be punished because if he gets both asylum and is allowed to get away scot-free, what signal does that send to other migrants?

Alp Mehmet, of Migration Watch UK, said: The Home Office will no doubt say that each asylum application is treated on its merits.

'On what is known about this one, it lacks credibility and seems to have very little to commend it.

Haroun was released from HMP Elmley, on the Isle of Sheppey in Kent, shortly before 6pm yesterday.

Wearing a green T-shirt and tracksuit bottoms, he was greeted at the prison gates by three women.

Two of the women were understood to be from the charity Kent Refugee Help, but the identity of the third woman was unclear.

She was seen hugging Haroun before he was driven away in a van.

An asylum seeker was injured by a gunman in Germany yesterday. The 23-year-old migrant was hit by glass at a refugee centre in Dreieich. He was treated for cuts at hospital.
A convicted mobster who is serving a 40-year sentence on racketeering charges may get an early release for tipping off federal officials about a cache of explosives linked to the deadly Oklahoma City bombing, it was revealed today.

Gregory Scarpa Jr, 64, a former member of the Colombo crime family and the son of a notorious Mafia hit man dubbed the 'Grim Reaper,' has been unsuccessfully trying to get his conviction thrown out for the better part of 20 years.

During his time behind bars, Scarpa acted as an FBI informant in a high-profile case related to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center, but despite his efforts, his sentence has remained unchanged.

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Gregory Scarpa Jr, 64, a former member of the Colombo crime family, wants a judge to reduce his 40-year sentence as a reward for informing on Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols (pictured)

Last month, however, Federal Judge Edward Korman indicated that Scarpa may be entitled to a reward for blowing the whistle on Oklahoma City bombing co-conspirator Terry Nichols, reported the New York Daily News.

Nichols is currently serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole for his role in the attack on on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 that killed 168 people and injured over 600 others.

Nichols' accomplice Timothy McVeigh, the mastermind of the act of terror on US soil, was executed by lethal injection in 2001.

Korman asked Assistant US Attorney Patricia Notopoulos to recommend how many years could be shaved off Scarpa's sentence on a racketeering conviction, but she declined to give a number.

As of now, the 64-year-old mobster is scheduled to be released in 2035.

The prosecution has long objected to Scarpa's efforts to earn himself an early release, with Notopioulous accusing the inmate during last month's court hearing of trying to 'bastardize the system.'

Scarpa and Terry Nichols crossed paths in 2005 at a prison in Florence, Colorado. At the time, the former mobster approached the FBI telling them that the there was a secret stash of explosives available to Nichols' henchmen who remained free.

Scarpa initially failed to divulge to the feds the exact location of the explosives, instead showing them an encrypted note written by Nichols.

He offered to try and decipher the code in exchange for a reduced sentence, but the deal fell through after he failed a polygraph test.

Domestic terrorists: Nichols (left) is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Timothy McVeigh (right), the mastermind of the attack, was executed in 2001

This April 19, 1995, file photo shows the north side of the Albert P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City and the devastation caused by a fuel and fertilizer truck bomb detonated in front of the building. The blast killed 168 people and injured more than 600

He later revealed to a private investigator that the cache of explosives was buried under Nichols' home in Kansas, which turned out to be the case.

This was not Scarpas first attempt to have some time shaved off his 40-year prison term.

The mob scion, whose Colombo enforcer father died in prison of AIDS in 1994, began cooperating with the feds in 1996, after he found himself in a cell on the 9th floor tier of the Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) the federal jail in lower Manhattan with al Qaeda terrorist Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

The Colombo foot solider became an FBI informant after convincing his neighbor that the mafia was sympathetic al Qaedas cause.
Labour has today demanded a secret memo outlining cooperation between Britain and Saudi Arabia on justice be published and cancelled, days after the Kingdom beheaded almost 50 people.

Shadow human rights minister Andy Slaughter has written to Justice Secretary Michael Gove urging the agreement - reportedly made by Theresa May on a visit to Saudi Arabia last year - to be made public.

Mr Slaughter said it would be 'inappropriate' for Britain to be 'seen to be cooperating with the Saudi justice system' following the executions, including of prominent Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

The Ministry of Justice said it was currently doing no work with Saudi Arabia and it was understood no projects were in the pipeline.

Shadow human rights minister Andy Slaughter, left, has urged Justice Secretary Michael Gove to suspend all cooperation with Saudi Arabia following the execution of almost 50 people on New Year's Day

The string of executions sparked protests across the Middle East, including this rally in Tehran, and elsewhere and heightened diplomatic tensions across the region

The existence of the memo was confirmed by the Home Office in a response to a freedom of information request by Liberal Democrat Alistair Carmichael.

But its release was blocked on national security grounds - prompting Lib Dem leader Tim Farron to call for light to be shone the relationship between Britain and Saudi Arabia.

Mr Slaughter said the new year's day execution of 47 people meant Britain should no longer be working with Saudi Arabia justice officials.

In the letter to Mr Gove, he said: 'In the light of recent events, in particular the execution on 1 January of 47 Saudi and foreign nationals by beheading at various prison sites in Saudi Arabia, I hope you agree with me that it would be inappropriate at present for the UK to be seen to be cooperating with the Saudi justice system.

'Serious concerns have been raised not only about the sentences and the manner in which the executions were carried out but also whether due process has been followed and whether the defendants received a fair trial.

'In particular, the execution of Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr and three young Shia men whose offences appear to be taking part in political protests and demonstrations against the current government have caused dismay and outrage around the world.'

Mr Slaughter specifically asked for details about whether discussions were taking place under the terms of the memo, whether Mr Gove would now suspend that cooperation, and whether he would now publish the document.

Speaking during a visit to east London, Mr Cameron said: 'It is hugely concerning because of course we want to see stability in the Middle East, we want to see good relations between the different countries in the Middle East, not least because that will be absolutely essential for solving the crisis in Syria which is the source of so many of these problems.

'And specifically on Saudi Arabia let me be clear - we condemn and do not support the death penalty in any circumstances and that includes Saudi Arabia.'

'We always make representations on the death penalty and the Foreign Office ministers made it very clear on this occasion.'

At a briefing in Westminster, the Prime Minister's official spokeswoman said: 'We have a range of bilateral cooperation with Saudi Arabia and that continues.

'We have broad areas of cooperation where we would work in line with many governments around the world to look at how we can advance our interests and also help the development of other countries judicial systems.

'This was an issue that arose towards end of last year. The Prime Minister has been very clear and has said before the importance of engaging with countries and having relationships with them so we can raise matters of concern and talk to them about difficult issues.'

And today the Ministry of Justice insisted no work was being done under the memo.

A spokesman said: 'No work has been undertaken by the Ministry of Justice as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding.'

Protests reached India in the wake of Friday's beheadings, with the execution of cleric Nimr al-Nimr sparking particular fury

Former Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael made an FOI request to the Home Office asking for the document to be published

The Labour letter comes after former Liberal Democrat leader Lord Ashdown warned Saudi Arabia posed a greater long term threat than ISIS.

He told The Independent: 'These executions are deeply, deeply destabilising to the very delicate situation that exists in the Middle East and the danger of a wider Sunni and Shia conflict.

'The West, including the UK government, is only just realising the danger of this and its implications for long term peace in the region.

'It poses a far greater danger in the long term than, for example, Isil.'

The UK Government has expressed its 'disappointment' at the mass executions, which have triggered unrest in the region and led to a breakdown in diplomatic relations between Riyadh and Tehran.

Among those killed was Sheikh al-Nimr, sparking a wave of protests and the storming of the country's embassy in Shiite powerhouse Iran.

Riyadh responded by announcing it would sever diplomatic ties, with staff from the Iranian mission given 48 hours to leave and Saudi counterparts recalled home from Tehran.

With the threat of further sectarian violence triggered by the executions in predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia, the UK called for calm in the region.

Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood said: 'I am deeply disturbed by the escalation in tensions in the last 24 hours in the Middle East.

'The UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty. We have stressed this to the Saudi authorities and also expressed our disappointment at the mass executions.'

The Middle East minister said he expected the kingdom's government not to carry out the death sentence imposed on the cleric's nephew Ali al-Nimr, who was just 17 when he was told he faced crucifixion over his role in the Arab Spring protests in 2012.

Mr Ellwood said: 'We have discussed with the authorities in Riyadh, and expect that Ali Al-Nimr and others who were convicted as juveniles will not be executed. The UK will continue to raise these cases with the Saudi authorities.

Former diplomat Sir John Jenkins, who was UK ambassador in Saudi Arabia until the end of 2015, told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that the executions came in the context of rivalry for regional power between Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran, as well as the civil war in Syria.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn devoted a chunk of his first conference speech to the Government's relationship with Saudi Arabia, while Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron criticised the 'shady' secret deal between Britain and the Kingdom last month

Sir John said: 'This is a battle for authority and legitimacy which has been an issue in the Middle East for a century. That needs to be worked through and I don't see myself how that is going to be accomplished quickly.'

He added: 'I think the Saudis are sending a message to two audiences. One is external - particularly Iran but also the US - and the other is internal, for Saudi domestic opinion.

'Essentially, the message for both was that the Saudis will not be pushed around by anyone.

'For Iran, (the message was that) we reject Iranian interference in our affairs and we will stand up against anybody who we think is an Iranian agent of influence inside the country, who has called for the dissolution of the kingdom.

'There is such a thing as Saudi public opinion, expressed largely through social media. The government was criticised consistently and in a sustained way and quite heavily by its own citizens until the launch of the Yemen war for not doing enough to push back Iranian and Shia influence, and the two things get conflated.

'That was a danger, because it played into the narrative of the Islamic State, which was that the Islamic State was the only organisation in the region capable of standing up to Shia and Iranian expansionism.'

Following the remarks, the Prime Minister's official spokeswoman added: 'The Government's position is very clear - we oppose the death penalty under any circumstances.'
She was stoned 'in the presence of dozens of residents', witness said

The woman was stoned to death in Al Mukalla southeast Yemen

A woman has been stoned to death in south-east Yemen after being accused of adultery and prostitution by an Al-Qaeda Sharia court.

The married woman was reportedly killed in a public execution in the city of Al Mukalla, which has been under the control of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) since April last year.

Al-Qaeda militants 'placed the woman in a hole in the middle of the courtyard of a military building and stoned her to death in the presence of dozens of residents', according to an eyewitness report.

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'Justice': The woman was stoned after reportedly 'confessing' to being a prostitute and a pimp, according to a Sharia court set up by Al-Qaeda affiliate Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) (file photo)

'This was the first time we have seen such a thing,' a witness said.

A copy of the purported verdict issued by a local Sharia court set up by the militants in December, said the married woman had 'confessed in front of the judges to committing adultery'.

The verdict said the woman also admitted 'without any coercion that she practised prostitution, as a pimp... and that she worked with a group of women in brothels'.

She also confessed to smoking hashish, it added.

The verdict said that the woman was sentenced to be stoned to death for 'committing adultery as a married woman... and eighty lashes for consuming hashish'.

According to Islamic sharia law, married men or women can be stoned to death for having sex outside wedlock, while those who are unmarried face being lashed.

The woman was reportedly stoned in front of dozens of witnesses in the city of Al Mukalla (pictured), which has been under the control of AQAP since April last year

Stoning as a method of execution have been reported in areas controlled by militant Islamist groups across the Middle-East, including ISIS controlled areas in Syria and Iraq, as well as Taliban territory in Afghanistan.

In Yemen, AQAP militants have carried out summary executions, especially of people accused of sorcery, and chopped off the hands of those accused of theft.

They have also destroyed ancient Sufi mausoleums in Al Mukalla, the capital city of the Hadhramaut coastal region in Yemen, as they consider tombs to be a form of idolatry.

Last week, AQAP militants killed a woman in the southern port city of Aden after accusing her of practising sorcery, just days after ten men were lashed in the city, for consuming alcohol and hashish, witnesses said.
A fourth grader has been enjoying the first of his free haircuts for life after promising his barber he would get straight As at school.

Last year, nine-year-old Kamarian Fox visited barber Mike Shelton at his shop in Gastonia, North Carolina with his mother for a haircut before going back to school.

The pair started chatting about his impending return to class, which would see him move up a year and Mr Shelton, who also has a five-year-old son, decided to offer his young customer an incentive to study hard.

Kamarian Fox and Mike Shelton after the barber promised to give the nine-year-old free haircuts for life if he got straight As at school

He said that if he got straight As and brought his report card to prove it, he would cut his hair for free for life.

And when Kamarian returned to the shop several months into the school term with a perfect report, Mr Shelton had no option but to keep up his end of the deal for free haircuts.

And now several months into the school year, Kamarian has been returning to the Next Level Barber Shop for his free trims.

Mr Shelton told People: 'I was talking to Kam and realized there was something different about this kid.

'I just said, "Look man, I know you're nervous and have butterflies, if you make straight As and bring me the report card to prove it, I'll cut your hair for life, as long as you make straight As."'

In a Facebook post, Mr Shelton explained that he was shocked when Kam came back to the shop with a straight A report card

And for the nine-year-old student, he knew he did not want to let his barber down.

He added: 'It was more about Mike. He's a very nice man, and I believed that he believed in me.'

Now the pair also plan to meet up every two weeks for both a haircut and a chat.

After the deal was sealed, Mr Shelton also posted a picture of them together on Facebook explaining how Kamarian was to get free haircuts for life.
A light show above Russia has convinced thousands that they were visited by aliens from another world.

The multi-coloured light spectacle played out in the night sky above the city of Birobidzhan in eastern Russia over the weekend.

Photos of the shocking sight was uploaded by locals who assumed that their city was being invaded by aliens.

Poles of beaming light were spotted near residential areas in a Russian city. Several residents feared that they were being visited by aliens and even compared it to the War of the Worlds broadcast in America

One local said: 'It was like the Orson Welles broadcast, you know, the War of the Worlds back in America when they read out the book on the radio and the people thought it was the real thing.'

He was referring to the October 1938 broadcast of the H.G. Wells book about the Martian invasion of Earth. Orson Welles and his Mercury Theatre had performed a radio adaptation of 'The War of the Worlds', converting the 40-year-old novel into fake news bulletins describing a Martian invasion of New Jersey.

Some listeners mistook those bulletins for the real thing resulting in a mad panic to get away.

Fearful residents thought the lights were alien arrivals and a local stargazer said that several people were 'scrambling for their cars to get away'

TOP UFO HOTSPOTS OF THE WORLD 1. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina 2. Elk River, Minnesota 3. The M Triangle, Russia 4. Manitoba, Canada 5. Colares Island, Brazil 6. Sochi, Russia 7. Istanbul, Turkey 8. Mexico City, Mexico 9. San Clemente, Chile 10. Phoenix, Arizona Source: MSN News Advertisement

History repeated itself - albeit on a smaller scale - in Birobidzhan as fearful residents were uncertain of what was causing the spooky light show above their heads.

One news outlet likened it to the scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind when the aliens visit Earth amid huge light-and-sound bursts.

Dimitry Arkady, a local stargazer, said: 'My own theory is that it was the Northern Lights in all their glory.

'But they were strong and unusual enough to be thought by many to be the result of an alien visitation.

'It sent several dozen people at least scrambling for their cars to get away. There was real fear in the air.'

Some Internet commentators even suggested aliens wanted to congratulate earthlings at start of the New Year.
Dane Bouris, the son of Australian celebrity banker and television host Mark Bouris, has shared a bloody picture of his face after an alleged altercation with police officers at a strip club.

Mr Bouris, 34, was arrested about 5am on Sunday after he was involved in an altercation outside the Hollywood Showgirls venue on the Gold Coast, Queensland.

The 34-year-old posted an image to Instagram after the incident, which showed his blooded face on what appears to be a hospital bed.

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Dane Bouris, the son of Australian celebrity banker and television host Mark Bouris, has shared a bloody picture of his face after an alleged brawl with police officers security at a strip club

His nose is noticeably swollen in the image, he has cuts and marks on his face, while the pillow next to his head has large red spots.

He also included a caption: 'GC weak... cops bashed me for no reason, no charges ... It aint right'.

The photo was later removed from his Instagram page.

However, the venue's manager denied the claims made by Mr Bouris on social media, and instead said he 'went apes***' inside the club, before he refused to leave and started 'getting agreesive', which caused the staff to evict him, according to The Daily Telegraph.

Along with the image, the 34-year-old (pictured in 2013) added a caption reading: 'GC weak... cops bashed me for no reason, no charges ... It aint right'.

Mr Bouris, 34, was arrested about 5am on Sunday after he was involved in an altercation outside the Hollywood Showgirls venue (pictured) on the Gold Coast, Queensland

The newspaper also claimed Gold Coast police superintendent Craig Hanlon said he had not received a complaint from Mr Bouris, and there was no evidence to support his allegation of abuse.

'I've got no evidence to support his allegations he was assaulted by police,' superintendent Hanlon said, according to The Daily Telegraph.

'If he has any allegations against the police in relation to their behaviour, he can contact the QPS or the Crime and Corruption Commission.'

The incident comes after Mr Bouris was found not guilty of assaulting his girlfriend, in November 2015.

The venue's manager denied the claims made by Mr Bouris (pictured in 2013) on social media, and instead said he 'went apes***' inside the club

Dane Bouris (right), pictured with his father Mark Bouris (middle) - who is a celebrity banker and host of The Apprentice

It had been alleged the 34-year-old hotel owner attacked Alexandra Dankwa after a night out with his millionaire father in April 2015.

When handing down the not guilty verdict, Magistrate Michael Barko also threw out the Apprehended Violence Order (AVO) after hearing the businessman's girlfriend had no fears for her safety.

Mr Bouris, who was a contender for 2013's Cleo Bachelor of the Year and is best known for appearing with his father on The Apprentice.

Mark Bouris made his millions as the founder and chairman of 'Wizard Home Loans'.
One of the men accused over the death of an 18-year-old man had asked his friend if he wanted to see something funny before setting upon the promising water polo player in a random attack.

Brisbane teen Cole Miller passed away with massive brain trauma on Monday morning after he was victim to an unprovoked attack in the early hours of Sunday morning inside Brisbanes Chinatown Mall at Fortitude Valley.

Moments before the fatal hit, Daniel Maxwell, accused of the deadly attack, asked co-accused Armstrong Renata: Do you want to see something funny? Courier Mail reported.

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Cole Miller, 18, has died after a one-punch attack in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley in the early hours of Sunday

Moments before the fatal attack, Daniel Maxwell allegedly asked co-accused Armstrong Renata (pictured): 'Do you want to see something funny?' Mr Renata's Facebook page has since been flooded with thousands of abusive comments

The two 21-year-olds had both allegedly been stirring violence throughout the evening, along with two others.

Police allege Mr Maxwell had attacked three people and attempted to assault a further two before he punched Mr Miller unprovoked.

The group of four Maori men had confronted Mr Miller and friend Nick Pace around 3.30am, it was alleged in Brisbane Magistrates Court on Monday.

The two teens are said to have tried to walk away towards Ann Street after they were challenged to a fight, but had then been followed.

Detective Senior Constable Amanda Foster called Mr Maxwell callous for seemingly enjoying tormenting his victims.

Mr Maxwell allegedly punched Cole and then Mr Pace, before punching Cole again in the side of the face.

Paramedics attend to the 18-year old man who was coward punched then left for dead on the floor

Mr Maxwell allegedly punched Cole and then Nick, before punching Cole again in the side of the face

The blow rendered him immediately unconscious, the court heard.

Mr Maxwell and Mr Renata then fled the scene rather than trying to help Mr Miller, police claimed.

The two 21-year-old men were initially with grievous bodily harm, and have been remanded in custody until February 8.

One Monday after Mr Miller died their charges were revised to unlawful striking causing death. They will front Brisbane Magistrates Court again on Tuesday.

Mr Renatas Facebook page has been flooded with thousands of abusive comments following the deadly attack on Sunday morning.

One image had received almost 1,500 comments in recent days, while many others have received hundreds of comments from angry strangers.

One commented on the Facebook page that they would pay for the price of a bullet.

Another said that suicide is the best option for you.

After Mr Miller passed away in the Brisbane Royal Hospital, heartbroken father Steven Miller spoke about his son who had his whole life yet to be lived.

'It is with deep sadness that I announce that our 18-year-old son Cole has today passed away as a result of massive brain trauma,' Steven Miller said on Monday afternoon.

The random attack on Mr Miller happened at Chinatown Mall in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley around 3.30am on Sunday

'He has struggled bravely in the intensive care unit of the Royal Brisbane Hospital and our family and many close friends have been by his bedside since the incident'.

'Cole was a beautiful, brave, young man with his whole life yet to be lived,' the teenager's father said.

'The Miller family would like to sincerely thank the support provided by Cole's school friends from Brisbane State High, and the water polo community, and the many many many others who have sent messages of love and hope.'

Steven Miller also thanked emergency services and the doctors and staff at the hospital where his son was cared for.

Mr Miller and his friend were believed to have been trying to catch a taxi home when the attack occurred.

A short exchange has occurred and the victim was struck once to the back of the head, has fallen forward and is currently in his present condition, said Detective Tom Armitt at the weekend.

Police said they believe Mr Miller and his friend had not provoked the attack.

He was a young man who had been out for a night in the town, hadnt caused any issue or any concerns he was walking through the mall with the intent to catch a cab, said Detective Tom Armitt.

Two priests had given Mr Miller first aid until paramedics arrived,Nine News reported.

Mr Miller was a Queensland under-20s water polo player and the younger brother of Australian representative Billy Miller.

The teenager's father Steven Miller broke down as he described his son as a 'brave young man'

Mr Miller was a Queensland under-20s water polo player and the younger brother of Australian representative Billy Miller (pictured)
A London black cab driver has been accused of using his car like a 'weapon' during a road rage attack.

Daniel Wentworth, 52, allegedly rammed into cyclist James Williams when he saw red while trying to come onto Southwark Bridge, in central London, the Old Bailey heard.

CCTV footage shows Mr Williams making a hand gesture at the taxi driver when he pulled out suddenly, blocking the cycling lane and forcing him to swerve out of the way.

Scene: The alleged road rage attack took place near Southwark Bridge, in central London, pictured, (file photo)

Prosecutor William Gatward said: There doesnt appear to be any doubt there was contact when Mr Wentworths car struck Mr Williams.

The question is did Mr Wentworth deliberately run the other man down.

If its deliberate, its not just dangerous driving but its assault because hes using his car as a weapon, trying to frighten and injure Mr Williams.

Mr Gatward said his client was riding a bike towards Southwark Bridge when he had to swerve to avoid Wentworth's cab.

He said: You can see from the video that Mr Williams makes a gesture to him and keeps going.

He goes on towards Southwark Bridge, and theres further contact between the two parties whereupon its alleged Mr Wentworths cab goes into the cycle lane and strikes, knocking Mr Williams off his bike.

Mr Wentworth drives on to the bridge and Mr Williams is left there on the ground.

According to Mr Gatward the cyclist suffered severe bruising and tissue damage to his ankle from the alleged attack, which was witnessed by two passersby.

One eyewitness took a picture of Wentworths cab as it drove away and handed it over to police.

Wentworth went to the police to report the incident and admitted having a confrontation with a cyclist.

Pictured, the Old Bailey where cab driver Daniel Wentworth denies ramming into cyclist James Williams

Mr Gatward said: He said there was a cyclist abusing him, cursing him, and threatening him.

'He tried to follow him and tried to get him to stop. He also says Mr Williams broke his side mirror.

Wentworth, a taxi driver for four years, denies dangerous driving and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in Queens Street Place, just north of Southwark Bridge.
Six new Conservative MPs have declared David Cameron's renegotiation will not be enough to secure their vote to stay in the European Union.

The MPs - all elected last May in the Conservative's shock majority win - have said they believe Britain has a brighter future outside the 28-member bloc.

The Prime Minister is due to meet his fellow EU leaders again in February as he moves to finalise changes in four area. Mr Cameron has repeatedly said success will allow him to recommend Britain stays in at the referendum, which could be called as soon as June.

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Six new Conservative MPs, including James Cleverly, right, have indicated they will campaign for Britain to leave the EU when the referendum is called in a fresh blow to David Cameron, pictured today, left

Mr Cameron faces the prospect more than half of his MPs could end up fighting for the campaign's to get Britain out.

Today James Cleverly, the Conservative MP for Braintree, said: 'The last few years have convinced me that Britain would be better able to trade with emerging markets, flourish and prosper outside the EU.

'I have not dismissed the renegotiation out of hand. I have supported the Prime Minister's efforts to secure a new deal from the EU, but it has become clear that despite the Greek crisis, the refugee crisis, border control chaos, and economic stagnation the EU still doesn't see the need for fundamental reform.'

He added: 'We need new relationships and the only way that will be possible is to Vote Leave.'

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the Berwick-upon-Tweed MP who organised the group of six, told The Times: 'Sadly I believe (David Cameron) has been let down by EU leaders who are refusing to give us meaningful powers back and really free us from ever closer union.

'The EU project is determined to keep forcing the ever-closer union principle until there is a United States of Europe.

'I understand why the French wanted to create a single state, after two invasions by Germany.

'But I do not want Great Britain to disappear, swallowed up by a superstate which does not have the same systems of justice or taxation.'

The other MPs in the group are Craig Mackinlay, Royston Smith, Paul Scully and Scott Mann.

Mr Mackinlay, who fought off Ukip leader Nigel Farage in Thanet South last May, told The Times the renegotiation had failed because Brussels is in no mood to discuss the fundamental issues. All that is on the table is tinkering at the edges.

Steve Baker, the backbench chairman of the eurosceptic Conservatives for Britain group, has said he has more than 150 Tory MPs on the group's mailing list.

Several cabinet members want to campaign freely for an exit from the EU and could quit if not given permission by Mr Cameron to do so.
Killed: Jeroen Ensink, 41, a university lecturer who was knifed to death on his doorstep, had just had a baby with his wife ten days before being stabbed

The wife of a university lecturer who was stabbed to death on his doorstep had just given birth to the couple's baby girl ten days before her husband was killed, it has emerged.

Jeroen Ensink, 41, a biologist at the prestigious London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, was attacked by a knifeman outside his home in Holloway, North London on Tuesday last week.

Passers-by claimed they saw his killer standing over Dr Ensink's body wielding a 20cm-long knife, and pointing the weapon at himself as if he planned to stab himself.

Dr Ensink's wife Nadja Teich, 37, was too distraught too speak but friend Bernard Sexton, 86, told the Evening Standard: 'He was a lovely person, he would help you with anything, we all just cant understand it.

'He had just had a baby that was just 10 days old, a lovely little daughter. His wife had only been out of hospital a week after having the child.'

Another friend said: 'He was a lovely, mild-mannered guy. His wife is devastated. He doted over the baby.'

Timchang Nandap, 22, of Woolwich, was today due to appear at the Old Bailey accused of Dr Ensinks murder.

Following the attack, which happened at around 1.30pm, neighbour Mamidato Rodrigues, 46, described seeing Dr Ensink laying in the road between two parked cars.

She said: 'We heard some screaming from outside, and my daughter yelled at me to come to the window. I saw a white man on the floor, lying on his back with his face up and arms out.

'He had blood around the chest area and on his upper body, while another man with a knife was standing near the body. A girl ran over and tried to help him, giving him CPR and my daughter called an ambulance.

'The other guy looked like he tried to stab himself. He pulled his jumper up and pointed the knife at his own body but didn't look like he had the courage to do it. Then he ran away up the road shortly before the paramedics arrived.'

Maureen Crane, 72, added: 'I was on the phone at the time and heard terrible screams, girls screaming.

Tragic: Dr Ensink's wife Nadja Teich (left) had only been out of hospital a week after having the child, a friend revealed today. Passers-by claimed Dr Ensink's killer stood over his victim's body wielding a 20cm-long knife

Scene of the stabbing: Dr Ensink, a biologist at the prestigious London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, was attacked by a knifeman outside his home in Holloway, North London (pictured) on Tuesday last week

'I think the man who was attacked had been delivering leaflets. Lots of little leaflets were scattered around on the floor and the police took them all away and bagged them up in orange bags.

Another neighbour said: 'I was up in the kitchen when I heard shouting and screaming, and I saw one man on the floor with another on top of him, straddling him.

Dr Ensink, who is originally from the Netherlands, had been a lecturer in public health at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine since 2008.

He had just had a baby that was just 10 days old, a lovely little daughter Bernard Sexton, a friend of university lecturer Dr Jeroen Ensink

He was an expert in sanitation and water management, and worked in a large number of poor countries including Ethiopia, Senegal, Vietnam, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.

The academic did his PhD on the use of untreated sewage in agriculture in India and Pakistan, then worked at the International Water Management Institute from 1998 to 2006 before moving to London.

Shocked colleagues described him as a 'natural educator' who was 'immensely popular' with his students.

Professor Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said: 'We are deeply shocked and saddened by the death of Jeroen Ensink.

'Jeroen was passionately committed to a simple cause: improving access to water and sanitation in countries where children continue to die needlessly due to the lack of these basic services.

Devastated: Dr Ensink's wife Nadja Teich (pictured) was too distraught too speak when approached last week

'He joined the School nearly ten years ago, and his career as a researcher and educator crossed many continents, living and working in Pakistan, India, Vietnam, Tanzania, Malawi, and collaborating with numerous universities and international agencies.'

Professor Piot added: 'At the time of his death, Jeroen was leading a large study in the Democratic Republic of Congo to understand how improvements in water supply could control and prevent cholera outbreaks.

'He was a natural educator and immensely popular with students in whom he invested much time and energy; he provided support and inspiration in equal measure and many of his students are now successful researchers and public health professionals in their own right.

'Jeroen will be greatly missed by all the staff and students who had the opportunity to know and work with him, and the legacy of his work will continue in Asia and Africa.
Spoiled rotten 'affluenza' kid Ethan Couch blew more than $2,000 on hookers and booze at a Mexican Mafia hangout on the night his mom was roused from her bed to bail him out, Daily Mail Online has learned exclusively.

The teenage Texan runaway was 'staggering drunk' and strip club workers had to hold him up to stop him from falling as they escorted him to his hotel room to wake his mother to get their dough.

Couch, 18, who received a slap-on-the-wrist probation term for killing four people in a drunk driving accident, had unwittingly maxed out his debit card as he partied the night away with two girls in a private back room at Harem, a Puerto Vallarta strip club that boasts of 'boobies and booties galore' over its main entrance.

Momma's boy Couch is currently sitting in a jail in Mexico City fighting efforts to extradite him to Texas where authorities want to question him about a video in which he is seen at a beer pong party. He has hired hotshot Mexican defense lawyer Fernando Benitez.

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Ethan Couch, 18, who received a slap-on-the-wrist probation term for killing four people in a drunk driving accident, had unwittingly maxed out his debit card as he partied the night away in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico before he was taken into custody. He is currently sitting in a jail in Guadalajara, Mexico, fighting efforts to extradite him to Texas

Couch partied the night away with two girls in a private back room at Harem, a Puerto Vallarta strip club that boasts of 'boobies and booties galore' over its main entrance

It was at Harem that Couch hit his stride, spending hours, and thousands of his parents' dollars, on the boobies and booties on offer

Drinking alcohol would be a breach of his probation and could land Couch behind bars.

'He had drunk a lot,' a manager of the rival Prestige strip club, where Couch had stopped in earlier in the night, told Daily Mail Online. 'He could hardly walk.'

'I saw his debit card receipt from Harem, it was nearly 30,000 pesos, and the line on his debit card was all zeros.' A US dollar is worth around 14 pesos.

Couch and his mother, 48-year-old Tonya Couch, fled their hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, last month after the video was posted on Twitter. They drove into Mexico with their dog, arriving in the Pacific beach town of Puerto Vallarta on December 19 after making the 1,200 mile journey.

There they stayed for five days at Los Tules, a sprawling beachside resort, before renting a second-floor apartment in a rundown building on Calle Colombia, a cobblestone street in the faded Old Town, just four blocks from the ocean, but a world away from its luxuries.

But it was while at Los Tules, before his blond hair was dyed the black and he was finally nabbed, that Couch ventured out on a debauched night at strip clubs that dot the main coastal drag, Boulevard Francisco Medina Ascencio.

First he hit Prestige, generally considered among the classiest of Puerto Vallarta's myriad clubs, many of which make no attempt to hide the fact that full sex is available - and even offer free condoms to anyone paying to take a girl into a back room.

He spent 500 pesos and had only one beer before walking 200 yards south and across the street to Harem, said the manager.

First Couch hit Prestige, generally considered among the classiest of Puerto Vallarta's myriad clubs, many of which make no attempt to hide the fact that full sex is available

It was at Harem that Couch hit his stride, spending hours, and thousands of his parents' dollars, on the 'boobies and booties' on offer.

Harem manager, Eduardo Dudinez, told Daily Mail Online that no-one at the club remembered Couch being there.

'But then, we asked the top management what we should say if we were asked by the press and they told us we not should say anything,' he added. 'So if I did know anything I wouldn't tell you!

'We get all types of people in here, from senators to El Chapo Guzman,' said Dudinez, referring to the infamous drug lord who has twice escaped Mexican prisons.

'So saying anything about our clients could kill our business.'

Dudinez said many other members of the Mexican criminal gangs are regulars at Harem.

Unlike in the United States where clients generally pay for dances as they go, most strip clubs in Puerto Vallarta run up tabs to be settled at the end of the evening.

As the man gets more drunk it becomes difficult for him to remember just how many dances he has bought. Added to that he is expected to pay inflated prices for drinks for the girls he is with.

The website Strip Clubs of Mexico warns: 'There are a lot of complaints about padded tabs in Puerto Vallarta strip clubs, so consider paying as you go.'

It is not uncommon for the client to realize at the end of the night that he doesn't have enough cash on hand to pay his bill, both employees said.

'It is our policy to escort the man back to his hotel or to an ATM machine to get our money if they don't have it with them,' said Dudinez.

The group from Harem had to pass by Prestige as they walked Couch back to Los Tules, said the manager there. 'I recognized him and they told me had spent too much money in the back with two girls.'

Fred and Tonya Couch have been widely blamed for their role in their son's self-destruction. A profile in Dallas's D Magazine was titled 'The Worst Parents Ever'

Couch and his mother, 48-year-old Tonya Couch, fled their hometown of Fort Worth, Texas, last month after a beer pong video was posted on Twitter. They drove into Mexico with their dog, arriving in the Pacific beach town of Puerto Vallarta on December 19 after making the 1,200 mile journey

Once at the hotel, employee Marina Meza was called on to wake Tonya Couch, who was furious that her son had spent so much money.

Couch's mom returned with the group first to Harem and then stopped at Prestige with her son asking how much money he had spent there. 'She was looking for a receipt but he had paid cash,' said the manager.

Couch has long been a poster boy for spoiled behavior. He was just 15 when he was cited as a minor in consumption of alcohol when he was found urinating in a parking lot. Inside his truck, cops found a passed-out, naked 14-year-old girl.

But it was the accident in the Fort Worth suburb of Burleson, Texas, in June 2013 that brought his case to national attention.

He had stolen two cases of beer from a Walmart to host a party at his home on Burleson-Retta Road. Later, he and seven guests piled into his father's Ford F-150 truck to go to a convenience store.

He was just 16 at the time and with a blood-alcohol level three times above the legal limit, he barreled along at speeds of up to 70 mph failing to see a white Mercury Mountaineer SUV that had spun off the road and into a culvert.

The driver of that car, 24-year-old Breanna Mitchell was killed by Couch, along with mother and daughter Hollie and Shelby Boyles and local pastor Brian Jennings who were among a group who had gone to help her. The accident pushed Jennings's car into another vehicle causing more injuries.

Cars are seen parked outside of the shabby apartment building where Ethan Couch and his mother were detained by authorities, in Puerto Vallarta

A sign for Los Tules resort is shown in Puerto Vallarta where Couch and his mother stayed after fleeing Texas i

Couch, who was also found to have Valium in his bloodstream, was charged with four counts of intoxication manslaughter and two of intoxication assault. He pleaded guilty but psychiatrist G. Dick Miller, who was called by the defense, claimed Couch had been so spoiled by his wealthy parents Fred and Tonya Couch - who divorced in 2007 and later remarried - that he didn't know wrong from right.

Miller said the Couches' parenting 'strongly enabled' the accident.

Miller used the term 'affluenza' and Judge Jean Boyd accepted his diagnosis, even though it is not medically recognized. She gave Couch 10 years juvenile probation, which included a term that he should not touch alcohol or drugs and he spend time in rehab.

The case was fading from memory after 30 months when a six-second video clip was posted on Twitter on December 3 by a girl with the handle @blondespectre, who tagged the Tarrant County sheriff's office with the words 'ya boy ethan couch violating probation. i got more if u want.'

The video showed a game of beer pong and a man collapsing a table by jumping on it face first. Couch is seen in the background laughing and clapping.

Soon after Couch and his mother disappeared, making their way to Mexico. Authorities realized they were missing when he failed to turn up at a scheduled meeting with his probation officer. Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said the pair even held a going away party.

They were eventually arrested in Puerto Vallarta on December 28 after a ping from one of their cellphones for a Domino's Pizza order was traced.

Couch can face only up to 120 days in jail for breaching his juvenile probation. Sheriff Anderson says he will push for his probation to be upgraded to adult, so if he breaches it again he could spend up to 40 years behind bars.

His mother faces up to 10 years for aiding his flight.

Fred and Tonya Couch have been widely blamed for their role in their son's self-destruction. A profile in Dallas's D Magazine was titled 'The Worst Parents Ever.'

Divorce papers unearthed by the magazine showed that Tonya called then 9-year-old Ethan her 'protector' against Fred's alleged violent outbursts. When Tonya complained that Fred wasn't involved in the boy's upbringing, he replied: 'I am not a mom.'

El Chapo , who escaped prison last July, is said to have frequented the same strip club as Couch where full sex is available

Judge Boyd rejected all attempts to contact her for her reaction to the fleeing Couch in light of her lenient sentencing. When Daily Mail Online turned up at her $600,000 home in the leafy Crestwood section of Fort Worth, she and her dentist-husband John, who were working in the front yard, scurried inside and refused to answer the door

A social worker said the main concerns for the boy were 'the codependent relationship Ethan has with his mother and the fathers lack of a regular and consistent relationship with Ethan', combined with the fact that 'both parents have "adultified" Ethan and have allowed him to become overly involved in adult issues and decisions.'

But it didn't stop at the divorce. By 13, Ethan was said to be driving himself to his private school.

When the principal questioned it, Fred Couch, who made his fortune from his sheet metal factory, reportedly offered to buy the school.

When his parents remarried Ethan took to living alone at the 4.000 sq. ft. ranch style house complete with a swimming pool where he hosted his party on the fateful night of the crash.

News of the Couches' run across the border has brought back painful memories for those involved in the accident.

'The pain just never goes away,' Pastor Jennings's widow Shaunna told Daily Mail Online.

But one person who refuses to discuss her part in the saga is now-retired Judge Jean Boyd. She rejected all attempts to contact her.
Two teenagers from Long Island are facing felony charges after police say they hurled a brick and cinder blocks from an overpass onto traffic, permanently injuring one womans eye, hurting another person and causing thousands of dollars in damage.

Andrew Denton, 17, from East Meadow, and 19-year-old Jacob Palant, from Syosset, pleaded not guilty Saturday to charges including assault and criminal mischief.

Bond was set at $1million for Denton, who is also facing additional charges unrelated to the brick-tossing incident. Palant was released on $25,000 bail.

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Arrested: Andrew Denton (left), 17, and Jacob Palant (right), 19, have been charged with felonies for allegedly throwing a brick and cinder blocks from an overpass in Long Island

Devastating impact: One of the projectiles shattered the windshield on this 1998 BMW and left the driver and passenger with injuries

The heavy projectiles were pitched from the Meadowbrook State Parkway in Uniondale on December 26 at around 8pm, reported Newsday.

Prosecutors say shards from a windshield hit 22-year-old Brianna Rios, a passenger in a passing a 1996 BMW, whose cornea was permanently damaged. She was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and later released.

The 21-year-old driver of the vehicle, identified by CBS New York as Brian Civitello, suffered a bruise to his shoulder but declined medical treatment. The brick also caused about $1,500 in damage to his car.

Another projectile was hurled at a 2015 Jeep, causing an estimated $5,000 in damage. No one suffered injuries inside that vehicle.

Victim: Brianna Rios, 22, suffered permanent damage to her cornea and other facial injuries after being hit in the face with shards of windshield

Her 21-year-old companion, who was behind the wheel of the BMW, was hurt in the shoulder

Costly: The hurled brick also caused about $1,500 in damage to the car

Denton and Palant were arrested after an intense four-day police investigation involving 70 interviews of potential witnesses.

Speaking to reporters outside the courtroom Saturday, Palants father insisted that his son did not throw anything while Dentons father declined comment.

Besides charges of second-degree assault, criminal mischief and misdemeanor reckless endangerment, Denton is also accused of violating an order of protection.

The 17-year-old allegedly called his ex-girlfriend and threatened to break into her house, slit her throat and shoot her mother. In that case, Denton is facing charges of criminal contempt and aggravated harassment

In an ironic twist, last year Jacob Palant received the $125 Barry Tech 'Shared Decision Making Scholarship.'
Islamic State has killed two security guards and set an oil storage tank ablaze in a suicide car bombing at Libya's largest oil port.

The battle in Al-Sidra saw two suicide bombers blow themselves up at a military checkpoint while other ISIS militants involved in the coordinated attack were pushed back by government soldiers.

ISIS has been trying to push east from its stronghold of Sirte for several weeks to reach the country's 'oil crescent', where main oil terminals such as Al-Sidra and Ras Lanouf are based.

Islamic State militants have killed two security guards and set an oil storage tank ablaze in a suicide car bombing at the country's largest oil port. Pictured are ISIS security forces in its Libyan stronghold of Sirte

The central Libyan city has been predominantly held by the jihadi group since June 2015 following the loss of their eastern capital, Derna

The suicide bombing was carried out in Al-Sidra, a coastal oil port just a few hundred miles east of its base in Sirte

A Libyan oil official said a 420,000-barrel oil tank in Ras Lanouf caught fire during the clashes.

ISIS later claimed responsibility for the attack, stating its fighters had led an 'attack on the Al-Sidra area followed by violent clashes with the enemies of God'.

The extremist group has long had its eye on the fields, which lie east of Sirte, the coastal stronghold it has held since June 2015.

In a statement circulated online, the group said the operation was named after one of their killed leaders, Abu Mughira al-Qahtani.

Al-Qahtani was allegedly killed by a U.S. air strike two months ago in the eastern city of Darna.

The group also said the attack came after it took control of Ben Jawad town, 90 miles east of the central coastal city Sirte.

Today's attack is the first of its kind since ISIS seized Sirte last summer, and marks a worrying new development in a country may fear may become a new foothold for the extremists.

Bashir Boudhfira, a colonel with the country's government, said: 'We were attacked by a convoy of a dozen vehicles belonging to ISIS.

'They then launched an attack on the town of Ras Lanouf via the south but did not manage to enter.'

Ali al-Hassi, a spokesman for the forces that control the majority of Libya's oil fields, says six of their fighters were killed in the attacks on Monday, along with five ISIS fighters.

It comes as new reports emerge suggesting British special forces have been sent to Libya in a bid to halt ISIS's advance.

SAS troops are understood to be preparing for an offensive involving 1,000 British soldiers to wrest back control of a dozen oil fields seized by the jihadists, according to The Daily Mirror.

SAS troops are understood to be planning an offensive involving 1,000 British troops to seize back control of oil fields captured by the Islamic State in Libya after the country descended into chaos (file picture)

ISIS has taken advantage of the lawlessness since the 2011 ouster of Colonel Gaddafi to make large gains along the coastline, setting up its power base in the former dictator's hometown of Sirte.

In an attempt to stop the advance, a major coalition offensive is planned within the next few weeks or months, the paper reported.

The operation will involve around 6,000 U.S. and European soldiers led by Italian forces, the SAS and military close observation experts from the Special Reconnaissance Regiment.

Oil is Libya's main natural resource, with a pre-revolt output capacity of about 1.6million barrels per day, accounting for more than 95 percent of exports and 75 percent of the budget.

But unrest has forced a major slump in production. The country sits on reserves estimated at 48 billion barrels of oil, the largest in Africa.

Libya has had rival administrations since August 2014, when an Islamist-backed militia alliance overran Tripoli, forcing the government to take refuge in the east.
For nine-year-old Jose Chavez, it was the trip of his dreams.

The young leukemia-sufferer from Stanwood, Washington, got the chance to go to Disney World after two years of grueling treatment, courtesy of the Make-A-Wish foundation.

But their Florida vacation was quickly turned into a nightmare when they got a call from cops, saying their home had been burglarized.

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Jose Chavez, who has had leukemia for two years, found out his family home had been broken into while he was on a Make-A-Wish foundation trip to Disney World

He stands alongside members of his family holding Mickey Mouse before going on the dream vacation

Thieves broke in during November, trashed the place and stole a television, laptops, jewelry and bottles of wine.

A neighbor noticed someone running from the house with a TV, Q13FOX reported.

According to police, they followed the supposed suspects in their car before calling 911, but were not able to track them down.

'Being over there and having the cops call us, it's really sad,' his mother Eva told the station.

'The whole flight, like seven hours, just thinking of who it was and why they did this and coming in the house super cold because the door was gone.'

Their home was destroyed, and Eva admits they were scared.

Jose said he only feels 'kinda safe' in the house after it was broken into. He did say the trip was 'incredible', but hinted it had been spoiled by what happened.

Jose now has another wish, and that is for police to catch whoever did this.

A spokesman for the Make-A-Wish foundation told Daily Mail Online: 'We are shocked and saddened to hear about what happened to Joses home while he and his family were away on their Make-A-Wish trip.

'We hope law enforcement officials are able to find those responsible for this violation and deliver justice for Jose and his familys sake.'

The Chavez family are pictured celebrating Thanksgiving. Jose was going through chemotherapy at the time

His mother Eva (right) said she got a call from the cops in the middle of the vacation, and on the return home the state of their home was all she could think of
As President Barack Obama makes plans to become a jet-setter in his final year in the White House, the administration is hinting that a historic trip to Cuba is in the works.

The New York Times is reporting that administration officials believe that, rather than waiting for the Castro government to ease into democracy, a presidential visit could be that push, creating momentum that the Castros are unable to stop.

An election year trip starring the president could serve Democrats politically too, as Republicans vying for the White House like Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz roundly condemned opening up relations with Cuba.

Polling, on the other hand, shows that Obama's Cuba policy is particularly popular with Hispanics, an important voting bloc.

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President Obama will be spending a lot of time on board Air Force One this year, with trips planned to Latin America, Asia and Europe

President Obama might follow in Secretary of State John Kerry's footsteps and make a historic trip to Cuba. Kerry visited the island nation in August

In July, the Cuban embassy in Washington, D.C. reopened to great fanfare. It had originally closed in 1961 when President Dwight D. Eisenhower severed diplomatic ties with the country after Fidel Castro took power

In fact, travel to Latin America, generally, could shore up support for Democrats among Latino voters, the Times suggested.

And President Obama has that planned, and more, included in his busy travel schedule.

In that region, Obama will head to Peru in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting.

He's likely to make a stopover in Colombia, where, in March, a final peace deal will be inked between the government and FARC, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The president of Colombia, Juan Manuel Santos, will visit the White House in February.

A trip to Argentina, where voters recently elected President Mauricio Macri, is also on the presidential bucket list.

Obama will 'work to capitalize on the United States' significantly strengthened position in the Americas  including his normalization with Cuba, supporting the pursuit of peace and security in Colombia, and engaging new leaders like the new president of Argentina,' Ben Rhodes, the deputy national security adviser, told the Times.

Obama also has a standing invitation to attend the summer Olympic games, taking place in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, according to Politico.

Also on the docket, Obama will head to Germany in late April, to meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel and participate in the Hannover Messe, a huge trade show for industrial technology.

Both Cuban and American flags lined the streets of Havana in August, as the U.S. embassy in Cuba reopened for the first time in 54 years

White House advisers suggested that a visit to Cuba from President Obama may help move the country in the direction of democracy

There's a visit to Vietnam in May, most likely, the Times reported.

Then, in June, Obama's headed to a G-7 meeting in Japan.

A month later, there's a NATO summit in Poland to attend. This trip, and the Germany trip too, will likely include more European countries.

In September, the president will head to China for a G-20 meeting and will stop in Laos as well.

The voyages are a way that Obama, now a lame duck, can get more things done, whether it be shoring up relations with Cuba or making sure the Iran nuclear deal stays intact.

'They have so much more latitude to accomplish things in foreign affairs at the end than they can domestically,' Elaine C. Kamarch, a presidential scholar and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, told the Times. 'And that's particularly true for Obama, who not only has a Congress of the opposite party, but one that is irretrievably hostile to him.'

But, as the president's former National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor put it, there's a simple, feel-good aspect to the president's travel too.
A woman died after running into her burning home to save her dogs  who had already made it to safety on their own.

Laura Doud, 48, of Minkler, California, had run out of her mobile home on Saturday after it caught fire shortly after midnight and called 911 shortly.

Doud, a mother, told the operator that her pets were still inside the property, the Fresno Bee reported.

Laura Doud (pictured) ran back into her burning home in California to rescue her dogs, who had actually already escaped to safety on their own

Doud called 911 and told the operator her two dogs Daisy and Dakota (pictured, along with her cat) were still inside the burning mobile home

Fresno County Fire Battalion Chief Mike Bowman said the operator told Doud not to attempt to rescue her pets.

Bowman added that other calls to 911 informed firefighters that she had rushed back inside.

However, as firefighters attempted to go after her, the walls of the mobile home began collapsing as they entered, making a rescue impossible.

And the pets Doud had been so desperate to save had already escaped safely without her knowing.

Benny Woods, a neighbor, said his wife had seen the flames go up in the mobile home where he had actually grown up.

Firefighters attempted to go after Doud, but it was impossible after the floors and walls collapsed

The mobile home (pictured) was completely destroyed in the fire and an investigation is underway to determined its cause

He told ABC30 that he had tried to save Doud by breaking the windows and calling her name, but it was too late.

They told her not to go back in the house multiple times and she said that she was worried about her dogs in there, he said.

Unfortunately, her dogs were already outside and she apparently didnt know it and unfortunately went in there for no reason.

Douds pets included two dogs called Daisy and Dakota and a cat called Digby and they have now been taken in by her family.

Daisy (pictured) and Doud's other pets, including a cat, have now been taken in by her family

Doud had been told not to try to rescue her animals but she rushed back inside anyway. Pictured, one of Doud's dogs (left, Dakota)

One of her dogs, Daisy (pictured with Digby the cat), spent the morning after the fire searching through the charred rubble of her burned down home

Daisy spent the morning after the fire searching through the charred rubble of her burned down home.

One of her friends, Susan Chappell, paid tribute to Doud, saying: 'She just lit up every room she ever entered and she loved her pets and she loved her children, she loved her family.'

An investigation into the cause of the fire is ongoing.

Its a tragic situation, Bowman added, according to the Fresno Bee. Its too bad for this rural community. We see these happen all too often.

Doud's neighbor Benny Woods (pictured holding one of her dogs) said he had tried to save her by breaking the windows, but it was too late
A pickpocket gang who amassed more than 5 million pounds by stealing mobile phones on the Tube has been jailed for more than 30 years. Pictured is ringleader Nawid Moshfiq

A pickpocket gang who amassed more than 5 million by stealing mobile phones on the Tube has been jailed for more than 30 years.

The group of 11 thieves earned almost 10,000 a day by stealing mobile phones from unwitting commuters on the London Underground.

Ring leader Nawid Moshfiq, 'the boss' behind the network of people who were dealing the stolen phones, encouraged 'staff' to work between 2pm and 10pm each day.

The huge scale of their operation was uncovered when more than 100 officers raided private properties and business premises where more than one thousand smart phones taken from the rail network and 143,000 were seized.

At one address, officers seized more than 23,000 which had been hidden in different rooms of the house, including inside a child's jacket.

Police believe the gang made around 5 million selling their ill-gotten gains.

Operation Park, which began almost two-and-a-half years ago resulted in the 11 being sentenced over two trials with conspiracy to handle stolen goods and money laundering offences.

Ringleader Moshfiq, 39, from Brentford, Essex, was sentenced to five years behind bars for conspiracy to handle stolen goods, three years for money laundering and 18 months for possession of criminal property, running concurrently.

His associates - Paramijit Singh Karla 42, Harmeet Bhatia, 24, Pritbal Bhatia 55, and Nirmohan Bhatia, 20, all from Northolt, north west London, as well as Ranjit Banger, 31, and Mubarak Korasi, 41, from Southall, west London, were imprisoned.

Paramijit Singh Kalra (left), 42, Harmeet Bhatia, 24, (right) were part of the group of 11 thieves who earned almost 10,000 a day by stealing mobile phones from unwitting commuters on the London Underground

Pritbal Bhatia, and Nirmohan Bhatia, 20, both from Northolt, north west London, were also jailed

Ahmed Raza , 28, from Leyton, east London, Ariji Singh Sethi, 43, from Hounslow, west London, and Nirmohan Singh, 38, also received prison sentences varying between two and three years long.

Olia Moshfiq, 36, from Brentford. She was put behind bars for two years imprisonment for conspiracy to money launder and 18 months imprisonment for possession of criminal property.

They were all on sentenced at Blackfriars Crown Court August 13, and December 2, 8, and 21.

Ranjit Banger, 31, and Nirmohan Singh, 38, also received prison sentences varying between two and three years long

Mubarak Korasi, 41, from Southall, west London, and Ahmed Raza , 28, from Leyton, east London, were also involved in the gang

Ariji Singh Sethi, 43, from Hounslow, west London, and Olia Moshfiq, 36, from Brentford

Detective Chief Inspector John Justice said: 'This was a long and complex investigation into a highly organised criminal gang who used stolen property from the rail network for their personal gain.

'To truly tackle theft, we can't just catch pickpockets and petty thieves; we have to also dismantle the criminal networks behind them, who profit from this type of crime.

'Phones are often stolen out of view of CCTV in crowded carriages or busy stations without the owner even realising.

'This makes it hard for us to catch thieves in the act and even when we do, we often find they are only small players in much bigger criminal organisations.
Bad teacher: Sara Moore, a substitute health teacher from Florida, has been charged with 10 counts of sexual battery involving a child between the ages 12 and 17

A married substitute teacher from Florida has been been arrested and charged for allegedly having sex with a minor on multiple occasions.

Sara Moore, 35, a paraprofessional at St Cloud Middle School, was arrested Sunday on 10 counts of sexual battery involving a victim between the ages of 12 and 17, according to law enforcement officials.

The child told police about multiple sexual encounters with Moore at her home at Moon Dance Place that she shared with her husband and children.

Some of the trysts between the educator and her underage paramour allegedly took place at other locations around the City of St. Cloud.

Police have not revealed if the victim was a student at the St Cloud Middle School, where Moore was employed as a substitute health teacher. Officials said the woman has worked within the Osceola County School District for at least three years.

Sgt. Denise Roberts, of the St. Cloud Police Department, told the station WESH-TV the victim initially revealed the sexual abuse to a parent, who then contacted police Saturday, resulting in Moores arrest the following day.

Family home: The victim told police about multiple sexual encounters with Moore at her home at Moon Dance Place in St Cloud, Florida (pictured)

Moore was employed as a paraprofessional and a substitute health teacher at St Cloud Middle School (pictured)

The 35-year-old suspect was booked into the Osceola County Jail without bond on Sunday. She was expected to appear before a judge sometime today.

Osceola County Public Schools representative Dana Schafer said Moore will not be back at any school pending the outcome of the case.

Speaking to the station WKMG, Moore's mother insisted that her daughter has not done anything wrong and urged the public to reserve judgment.
were common at her convent in the 1990s

A former nun has claimed that she was forced to engage in daily self-flagellation and encouraged to write her vows in her own blood while living in a convent in southern Italy.

The woman, now in her 30s, alleges that nuns of Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate, which has its headquarters in Frigento, Avellino province in Campania, took part in the rituals in the 1990s.

In addition to the punishing rituals, she says she was fed out-of-date yoghurt and corned beef, which the nuns were told would not affect them if they ate it 'with true obedience'.

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Accusations: A former members of the Franciscan Sisters of the Immaculate has claimed that nuns in the order were forced to perform daily self-flagellation, eat expired food and writer their vows in their own blood

In an interview with an Italian newspaper where she makes the damaging allegations, the former nun shows off a post card with her vows, signed by the head of the order.

She claims the vows were written using in her own blood, on the day of her initiation in 1996, when she was 17 years old.

'Father Manelli [head of the order] was satisfied that we did this practice because it made our love for God more authentic, this eternal vow with Godmade with blood,' she told Correriere Della Sera.

'All the practices related to expired food are true  expired yogurt or corned beef for example. We were told that if we ate that food with obedience nothing would have happened but thats not true because I had many stomach aches and abdomen pains.'

Claims: Italian newspaper Correriere Della Sera published the claims in November, and have since been contacted by a number of former members of the order making similar claims (stock image)

She also revealed that nuns of the order would 'flagellated ourselves in the evening during the time it took to say these prayers: five Our Father, five Ave Maria and five Salve Regina'

The newspaper claims to have been contacted by a number of former priests and nuns with the Franciscans of the Immaculate who have told stories of alleged beatings, oppressions, violence and extreme practices such as flagellations, branding with fire, expired food and other abuses.

The allegations first surfaced in November last year, after which a dossier was compiled by the Vatican and handed over to investigators in Avellino.

The dossier reportedly contains a number of testimonies of members and ex-members of the Franciscans of the Immaculate order who back up the claims of the rituals being encouraged.

Father Stefano Maria Manelli, the General Minister of the order who founded it in the early 1970s, has denied all wrongdoing.




Prosecutors say he then told detectives he did the same to Andrew in June

A father accused of suffocating his four-month-old son and seriously injuring his two-year-old daughter has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and a string of other charges.

Adam Baker pleaded not guilty on Monday to murdering his son Andrew and trying to kill daughter Zoey by placing his hand over their mouths on two separate occasions, six months apart.

The 23-year-old from Marietta, Ohio, was arrested in December after he allegedly confessed to covering the mouth and nose of his son, Andrew Baker, to a point where the child stopped breathing.

Adam Baker, 23, (mugshot left) has pleaded not guilty to murdering his son Andrew (right) and trying to kill daughter Zoey by placing his hand over their mouths on two separate occasions

He is accused of putting his hands over Zoey's nose and mouth. The youngster was blinded, suffered severe brain damage and is in a wheelchair as a result

The child died in early June. A coroner couldn't determine how young Andrew Baker died when he was first examined.

Baker is also suspected of hugging two-year-old Zoey and placing his hand over the child's nose and mouth in November.

According to the Parkersburg News and Sentinel, the youngster was blinded, suffered severe brain damage and is in a wheelchair as a result.

The Washington County prosecutor has said detectives began investigating the Baker after the two-year-old daughter was taken to a hospital twice in the space of a week.

A GoFundMe page was set up for Zoey on December 4, four days before Baker was arrested.

It says doctors were not able to figure out what caused Zoey to stop breathing initially. She was placed on a ventilator for a short time but is now breathing on her own.

However she is still in hospital.

Baker's trial has been set for February 18.

Washington County prosecutor Kevin Rings said before Christmas: 'It's inexplicable. What could possibly be the motive for this kind of behavior?

Rings said the problems occurred when Baker's wife, who is also the mother of his children, was out of the house.

The family had no contact with child welfare services prior to that.

Baker (right) is pictured with the mother of the children Cayla. She did not know how her son died for seven months, until Baker was arrested
Their fortune included racing horses and paintings by Monet and Picasso

Family said to have started hiding assets after father Daniel died in 2001

The head of the Wildenstein art dynasty has been accused of squirrelling away priceless paintings and hiding ownership of property, including race horses, in a $600million tax fraud.

Guy Wildenstein and other members of his US-based art dealing family are now facing up to 10 years in prison as Paris prosecutors accused them of the scam.

French tax authorities allege that the 70-year-old hid away scores of masterpieces by artists such as Picasso to avoid a huge tax bill.

Guy Wildenstein took over the family's business when his father Daniel died in 2001. He and other members of the dynasty are now said to have hidden around $600 million (400 million) from the authorities

Mr Wildenstein, pictured with his lawyers Herve Temime (left) and Eric Dezeuze (centre) faces up to ten years in prison if he is convicted

They are also accused of siphoning back offshore funds using false loans and bills in a bid to vastly play down their fortune.

It is thought the alleged fraud came to light following a number of complaints when ex-wives and widows of the family felt they didn't recevive the money they deserved from divorce and inheritance settlements.

Members of the Wildenstein dynasty are a part of high society in America, where they live in sumptuous apartments in New York City and in vast countryside homes.

Jocelyn Perisse reached a $2.5 billion divorce settlement with Alec Wildenstein in 1999

An inheritance dispute is at the centre of the trial that opened yesterday.

Sylvia Roth, who was married to Guy Wildensteins late father, Daniel, filed the first criminal complaint in 2001.

This was the year Daniel Wildenstein died, and then the Wildensteins are said to have started hiding their assets.

Guy Wildenstein took over the family business at a time when his brother Alecs messy divorce from socialite and plastic surgery obsessive Jocelyn Perisse  nicknamed the Bride of Wildenstein  was still making international headlines.

It was Jocelyns 1999 divorce settlement - a lump sum payment of $2.5 billion (1.7 billion), plus $100 million (68 million) each year for 13 years after - that first lifted the lid on the Wildensteins' business dealings.

Alec concentrated on the horse breeding side of the family business, but when he died in 2008, Guy took that over too.

In 2011, French police seized 30 works of art from Wildenstein Institute, alleging that many had been reported as missing or stolen. They included hugely valuable sketches by Edgar Degas and a pastel by Eugene Delacroix.

Then the French taxman alleged that the Wildensteins could owe them some 550 million  the equivalent of $600 million, or 400 million  in unpaid tax.

The Wildenstein family had valued Daniel Wildensteins entire estate at a relatively modest $61 million (41 million), but this figure appeared ridiculous considering all of his assets. They included stables full of thoroughbred racing horses, including Ascot Gold Cup winner Westerner.

The Wildensteins deny all charges of tax fraud and money laundering and say they acted within the law at all times. Mr Wildenstein is due in the dock with his nephew Alec Junior and Alec Wildenstein's widow Liouba Stoupakova

The family's patrimony, which included thoroughbred racing horses and paintings by Caravaggio, Monet, and Picasso was held in trusts located in tax havens like the British Virgin Islands and Guernsey according to a prosecutor

Mr Wildenstein received a Legion d'Honneur in 2009 from then French President Nicolas Sarkozy

Daniel had also enjoyed the use of numerous properties around the world, including a ranch in Kenya that provided the backdrop for the film Out of Africa.

All of these assets were registered in tax havens and trusts, including one called Delta. Delta alone still contains paintings worth an estimated $1 billion (680 million), according to American tax investigators.

Despite all this, Guy and Alec Wildenstein declared the equivalent of just $44 million (30 million) for inheritance tax purposes in 2002.

To pay the $19 million (13 million) bill, they handed over bas-reliefs originally carved out for Queen Marie-Antoinette, the wife of Louis XVI, guillotined in Paris in 1793.

Due in the dock for the month-long trial are Guy Wildenstein, his nephew Alec Junior Wildenstein, and Alec Wildensteins widow Liouba Stoupakova.

Three lawyers and two managers of trusts in Guernsey and the Bahamas are also being prosecuted.

The Wildensteins deny all charges of tax fraud and money laundering, arguing that they acted within the law at all times.

Guy Wildenstein was born in New York, but has maintained close links with Paris. In 2009 the then President Nicolas Sarkozy decorated him with a Legion d Honneur.
The 14-year-old girl conceded that Clinton was a 'womanizer,' but brushed it off  although her mom was slower to dismiss concerns about the famous political

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton made his first solo campaign appearance in support of his wife's White House bid on Monday in Nashua, New Hampshire, but the female voters standing behind him on stage  and one eighth-grader  were stone-faced and unimpressed.

They stood on risers through his 28-minute speech at Nashua Community College, alternating between frowns, grimaces and eye-rolls, even looking uninterested as they applauded a few of Clinton's lines.

While a largely appreciative audience hung on Bill's every word, an elderly woman at the edge of the stage cast her eyes downward and looked like she was having trouble staying awake.

And a young woman standing in the back against a Hillary 'Fighting for us' backdrop closed her eyes for significant stretches of time as TV cameras rolled and a girl in front of her scowled and fought off a yawn.

The New Hampshirites standing on stage with Bill were all smiles as he was introduced, but quickly seemed bored once he began talking.

NOT IMPRESSED: Women and young girls on Monday in New Hampshire looked like they would rather be anywhere else than on stage with former President Bill Clinton

AWKWARD: The teen behind Bill looked at times like she was having trouble taking him seriously

THE NEW MCKAYLA MARONEY? One female voter standing behind Clinton was not impressed

RESTING MY EYES: One woman appeared to be taking a well-earned rest as the former president spoke

LUKEWARM: There was a less than ecstatic round of applause for the would-be president's husband

Two of the glum-looking females, a mother-daughter pair, spoke to Daily Mail Online after Clinton wrapped up his remarks. They said they were shocked to know how apathetic they looked on television.

'We weren't aware. I wasn't aware!' said Deanne Martin, a surgical nurse stood on stage behind her 14-year-old daughter Mary.

'I've never been to one of these before,' she offered as she gave permission for her child to be interviewed.

Mary was even more shocked, mouthing an 'Oh, no!' at the news of her apparent detachment.

The young girl said someone from the Clinton campaign recruited her and her mom to stand behind Bill.

'We were nervous,' she explained, and then abruptly shifted into the role of enthusiastic Hillary supporter.

'I was ecstatic!' the girl insisted, quickly painting on a go-getter's grin, even though pictures told a different story.

'I want to be the first female president  well, now the second,' she said.

NEEDS COFFEE? The younger women hand-picked to be on stage with Bill weren't the only ones to appear uninterested in what he had to say

GOLF CLAPS: Even in moments of applause, Clinton's female backdrop showed little enthusiasm

HAND-SELECTED: 14-year-old Mary Martin (4th from right) said along with her mother Deanne (3rd from right) that they and others on stage were picked by Hillary Clinton's advance staff

TROUBLE IN CLINTONWORLD: Some Republicans are openly questioning the wisdom of sending Bill, a famous womanizer who was accused of sexual harrasment by Paula Jones out to campaign for his wife  who aims to be a champion for women's right as president

TOUGH TALK: Republican front-runner Donald Trump on Monday called Bill Clinton 'one of the great woman abusers of all time' and said his wife Hillary was an 'enabler' who allowed him to get away with it

TV IS FOREVER: CNN's camera caught one girl in the back row looking at the backs of her eyelids while Clinton spoke

DailyMail.com delicately asked Deanne if she has told her daughter about Bill's reputation with women during his White House years.

Young Mary jumped in and cut her mom off with a 'so what' shrug.

'Oh, I'm aware,' she said. 'Yeah. He's a womanizer.'

'I think that that's his social life,' the eighth-grader said of the famous political Lothario. 'And his work should be separate from that.'

Asked if she agreed, Deanne rolled her eyes left, then right, and sighed.

'Um  I guess,' she said at last.

Past allegations of sexual abuse leveled against Bill have become campaign fodder on the political right as Republican front-runner Donald Trump has declared that Hillary's status as an 'enabler' makes the subject reasonable ground to cover during a presidential campaign.

THAT MOMENT JUST BEFORE YOU STIFLE A CLOSED-MOUTH YAWN: One unnamed woman had appeared to have trouble staying focused as the former president talked up his wife's presidential qualifications

GOOD START: The stage scene was all smiles when Bill Clinton was introduced, but quickly changed to mass-boredom once he got going

POWER COUPLE: Hillary Clinton has been first lady, a U.S. senator and secretary of state, and how she aims to be president with the help of her White House veteran husband  but his baggage might come back to haunt her

'There certainly were a lot of abuse[s] of women,' he said last week on NBC's 'Today' show. 'You look at whether it's Monica Lewinsky or Paula Jones, or any of them, and that certainly will be fair game.'

'I don't really care about Monica Lewinsky,' Trump clarified Monday morning on CNN, 'other than I think Hillary was an enabler and a lot of things happened that were obviously very seedy.'

'I mean, he was impeached for heaven's sake. He was impeached over this!'

And bill, Trump said, is 'one of the great woman abusers of all time.'

After speaking, Bill Clinton ignored a question from an NBC reporter about Trump's attacks, as he worked a rope line and posed for selfies.
A British man working at a foreign-owned gold mine in Kyrgyzstan is to be deported after comparing a local delicacy to a horse penis, his parents have said.

Michael Mcfeat, an employee of Toronto-based Centerra Gold, was detained by police after posting the comment on Facebook, which caused a temporary strike at the mine.

Mr Mcfeat wrote that his Kyrgyz colleagues were queuing for their 'special delicacy, the horse's penis' during holiday celebrations, referring to a traditional horse sausage known as 'chuchuk.'

Michael Mcfeat (pictured), a British national working at a Toronto-owned gold mine in Kyrgyzstan, was detained by police after posting a comment on Facebook in which he compared a special local delicacy to horse penis

Mcfeat wrote on Facebook (post pictured) that his Kyrgyz colleagues were queuing for their 'special delicacy, the horse's penis' during holiday celebrations, referring to a traditional horse sausage known as 'chuchuk'

The 39-year-old was detained and faced racial hatred charges, which can entail between three to five years in prison under Kyrgyz law. He was questioned by police but was not charged.

But today his parents, John and Marilyn Mcfeat, of Balbeggie, Perthshire, said their son was being deported.

The decision was reportedly made after some incorrect documentation came to light during during the police investigation, not because of the Facebook post.

John Mcfeat, a farm worker, said he did not yet know when his son would be returning to the UK. He added the outcome was both 'a relief and a sin'.

'I haven't spoken to him yet, but he's coming home as far as I'm concerned, and that's a great relief to us,' he said.

'I don't want to say too much at the moment, because I don't want to jeopardise anything.

Mcfeat faced racial hatred charges, but police found no evidence and he will now be deported

Horse meat including offal and chuchuk (pictured above) is a popular delicacy in both Kyrgyzstan and neighbouring Kazakhstan where nomadic traditions have been revived since the collapse of the Soviet Union

'But it's actually such a sin, because he loved working over there and he really loved the people, but it was just that silly statement. It's just one of those things.

'They obviously wouldn't have discovered the wrong papers if it hadn't been for all this, but at least he's safe. That's the main thing.'

A local trade union leader confirmed that work at the mine, which accounts for up to 10 percent of ex-Soviet Kyrgyzstan's economic output, resumed on Sunday after a short strike.

Mcfeat later deleted the post and issued an apology on his Facebook page, saying he had not meant to offend anyone.

Horse meat including offal is a popular delicacy in both Kyrgyzstan and neighbouring Kazakhstan where nomadic traditions have been revived since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

His wife Amanda is a 40-year-old book keeper who lives with their two young children in Abernethy, Perthshire.

A vendor sells sausages prepared from horse meat at Bishkek's Osh Bazaar in Kyrgyzstan (file picture)

'It was just a Hogmanay feast  he put up a picture of his colleagues, praised the chef and said the Kyrgyz were queuing out of the door for their special delicacy, the horse's penis.

'The next thing, he had put up an apology, and said that nobody else in the picture had anything to do with the comment.'

Mr Mcfeat works at the Kumtor gold mine in the east of the country as a welder for the Toronto-based Centerra Gold. He arrived in Kyrgyzstan in March.

John said yesterday his son had meant 'nothing bad'.

'He said it was a lovely meal with the local delicacy  but he put "horse penis". There was no malice in what he put, there was nothing derogatory meant by his post.'

He added that it was 'unbelievable'. 'It's so unreal,' he said. 'He loved his job and he was friendly with all the Kyrgyz workers and interpreters. It's been a terrible start to the year.'

Mr Mcfeat's mother Marilyn, 62, added that the first they knew of their son's predicament was when reports about it appeared on the internet.

'It was just a throwaway comment,' she said. 'He said it was an amazing meal.'

Radio Azattyk in Kyrgyzstan said that Mr Mcfeat's post had 'caused a lot of discontent and resentment on the part of local staff'.

The Foreign Office had earlier confirmed it was in contact with the local authorities in Kyrgyzstan after a British national was detained.
President Barack Obama put the weight of the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting behind his newly announced gun measures this morning, crying for the 20 school children who died in the 2012 massacre as he stood with their families.

'Every time I think about those kids it gets me mad,' Obama said as tears rolled down his face.

Obama was introduced by Mark Barden, the managing director of Sandy Hook Promise. Bardens son Daniel was killed in the Dec. 14, 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.

Also on stage with Obama today: Jimmy Greene, the father of Ana Grace, another child murdered in the Newtown massacre.

'We do not have to accept this carnage as the price of freedom,' Obama said, as he stood before gun control activists, including former representative Gabby Giffords, who was shot point blank five years ago this week and survived.

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President Barack Obama put the weight of the Newtown, Connecticut, shooting behind his newly announced gun measures this morning, crying for the school children who died in the 2012 massacre as he stood with their families

'Every time I hear about those kids it gets me mad,' Obama said as tears rolled down his face

'Every time I hear about those kids it makes me mad,' Obama said as tears rolled down his face

'We cannot accept this carnage as the price of freedom,' he said, as he stood before gun control activists, including former representative Gabby Giffords, who was shot point blank five years ago this week and survived. She's seen here today at the president's remarks with her husband, astronaut Mark Kelly

The president was flanked by gun violence survivors and the families of others who were not as fortunate as he spoke.

Peter Read, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel and the father of Mary Read, killed in the 2007 shooting at Virginia Tech, joined the president on stage as did Jennifer Pinckney,the wife of Reverend Clementa Pinckney, murdered at the Emanuel AME in Charleston last year.

Obama pointedly lambasted Republicans decrying his executive actions and told presidential candidates, including Donald Trump, who have characterized the new measures as the beginning of the end, 'This is not a plot to take away everybody's guns.'

'Contrary to the claims of what some gun rights proponents have suggested, this hasn't been the first step in some slippery slope to mass confiscation,' Obama declared in remarks from the East Room of the White House.

We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to become scapegoats for President Obamas failed policies - NRA official Chris Cox

To those who are trying to 'twist' his words on the Second Amendment, Obama reminded them, 'I taught constitutional law.'

'I know a little bit about this,' he said. 'I get it.'

'But I also believe that we can find ways to reduce gun violence consistent with the Second Amendment,' he said.

The president berated lawmakers on Capitol Hill for not doing more to keep guns out of the hands of criminals and said, 'The gun lobby may be holding Congress hostage right now but they are not holding America hostage.'

'All of us need to demand a Congress brave enough to stand up to the gun lobbys lies,' Obama said. 'All of us need to stand up and protect its citizens. All of us need to demand governors and legislatures and businesses do their part to make our communities safer.'

'We need the wide majority of responsible gun owners who grieve with us every time this happens and feel like your views are not being properly represented to join with us to demand something better,' the president said.

President Obama was joined onstage by those who have been personally affected by gun violence. He became especially emotional when talking about the Sandy Hook shooting of 2012, which left 20 children dead

President Obama finished his remarks by bringing up the heroic motions of a 15-year-old who was killed in Knoxville, Tennessee, while shielding three female friends. Obama said 'if we love our kids and care about their prospects ... then we can find the courage to vote'

Obama punctuated the end of his remarks with an anecdote about a young man who gave up his life to shield three female friends from drive-by shooters in Knoxville, Tennessee.

A week before Christmas, Zaevion Dobson, a 15-year-old high school football player, went to a friend's house to play video games.

'He wasnt in the wrong place at the wrong time. He hadnt made a bad decision,' Obama stated. 'He was exactly where any other kid would be. Your kid. My kids. And then gunmen started firing.'

Dobson jumped to protect the three women and spared their lives, giving his.

Zaevion Dobson, a 15-year-old high school football player, shielded three girls from drive-by shooters and was killed a week before Christmas. President Obama named Dobson in his remarks today

'An act of heroism a lot bigger than anything we should ever expect from a 15-year-old,' the president continued. 'Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends,' Obama said, quoting the Bible.

The president called not on the citizens to sacrifice their lives the way that Dobson did.

'But if we love our kids and care about their prospects, and if we love this country and care about its future, then we can find the courage to vote,' Obama said.

Reached by the New York Daily News shortly after the president's remarks, Dobson's mother Zenobia Dobson was ecstatic.

'Tears of joy, they're tears of joy,' she said.

'To know that his actions reached that far,' she began. 'It brought me a sense of peace, that someone would even know my son by his name and that the President would call out his name in a press conference, it is just truly an honor,' she added.

The National Rifle Associations Institute for Legislative Action Executive Director Chris W. Cox released a statement accusing Obama of choosing 'political rhetoric instead of offering meaningful solutions to our nations pressing problems,' and said the proposals are 'ripe for abuse.'

'Todays event also represents an ongoing attempt to distract attention away from his lack of a coherent strategy to keep the American people safe from terrorist attacks,' he said.

'The American people do not need more emotional, condescending lectures that are completely devoid of facts... The timing of this announcement, in the eighth and final year of his presidency, demonstrates not only political exploitation but a fundamental lack of seriousness.

'We will not allow law-abiding gun owners to become scapegoats for President Obamas failed policies.'

Comedian and actress Amy Schumer attended today's event at the White House. She has joined forces with her cousin Sen. Chuck Schumer in support of enhanced gun laws

'Trainwreck' star Amy Schumer squeezes women today at the White House. Schumer took up the issue of gun control after a gunman opened fire in a theater showing her film

Yesterday, the White House began rolling out gun control measures to be enacted by executive order before the president's scheduled remarks this morning.

Central to his plan: a provision in the law the administration says it will 'clarify' to increase background checks and new funding for mental health services in the United States.

To accomplish the former, the administration says it will put gun sellers on 'notice' that they must obtain licenses to sell guns, even if they consider it a hobby.

But for the latter, Congress must approve additional funding.

The president held a meeting with a handful of Democratic lawmakers Monday to discuss his plans. He said today that Republicans should get on board, too.

Republicans regularly argue that more should be done in terms of mental health in response to gun violence, he noted today.

'Here's your chance to support these efforts - put your money where your mouth is,' he told legislators as he demanded $500 million for that part of the initiative.

Among the actions Obama has directed the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to take is the issuance of new guidance that will more precisely define which sellers need a license.

'The goal is keeping bad actors away from firearms,' said Attorney General Loretta Lynch, during a call with reporters yesterday evening.

The statute the administration says it is clarifying gives exemptions to collectors and hobbyists.

Those distinctions will now be much more narrowly defined, with the intention of compelling more gun sellers to register and thus run background checks.

'The president will make clear that no matter where you conduct your business, from a gun store, or a gun show, or over the internet, if you're in the business of selling firearms, you must get a license and conduct background checks,' White House Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett stated.

As for an exact number of sellers it will affect, the attorney general said it was 'impossible to predict right now.'

Lynch said the gun show loophole that is often discussed has turned into an internet loophole as well, with more people heading online to buy firearms.

The new guidance will impact sellers off and online.

'Now it's important to note that the hobbyist and collectors exception is still there and it will still be used as it was intended, ' Lynch added. 'But people will no longer be able to hide behind that.'

Obama met yesterday with top law enforcement officials in the Oval Office to discuss executive actions the president can take to curb gun violence. From left seated are: Counsel to the President Neil Eggleston, acting ATF Director Thomas Brandon, Attorney General Lynch, FBI Director James Comey, White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates

ATF, Jarrett said, will make clear that 'facts and circumstances' determine whether an individual is 'engaged in the business of dealing in firearms.'

'Facts such as, whether you represent yourself as a dealer, such as making business cards or taking credit card payments, whether you sell firearms shortly after they're acquired and whether you buy or sell in the original packaging,' Jarrett said.

And because there's no number of guns listed in the pre-existing law, there's no magic number of guns someone can sell before being required to apply for a license.

'You can make one or two transactions and still be engaged in the business,' Jarrett explained.

ATF will also issue a rule requiring background checks for individuals trying to buy 'some of the most dangerous weapons,' as the White House put it, through a trust, corporation or other legal entity.

The agency is working on an additional rule that would compel dealers to notify law enforcement if their guns are lost or stolen in transit.

For the background checks, the FBI is working to hire 230 more examiners and possibly schedule examiners to be working 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to keep up with the increased demand.

As the law stands now, if a background check doesn't come back within three days, the gun sale goes through.

Congress will need to approve some of the president's plans, including adding 200 ATF agents to the roster to enforce gun laws.

He also wants the $500 million for mental health.

Gun control activists are seen rallying in front of the White House yesterday. Last night, the White House began rolling out gun control measures to be enacted by executive order before the president's scheduled remarks this morning.

The new action will also allow health care providers to report individuals with mental health problems to the FBI firearms background check system.

This portion of the plan could also be challenged in court because of concerns about privacy.

Initially, the NRA's response to Obama's proposals was much muted, as a spokeswoman told the New York Times that the organization's lawyers would take a look at the plans more closely before the group decides to challenge any of the initiates in court.

'This is it really?' Jennifer Baker, an official with the National Rifle Association's Washington lobbying arm, when the New York Times presented her with the plan. 'This is what they've been hyping for how long now? This is a proposal they've spent seven years putting together? They're not really doing anything.'

But the lobbying group blew up today after Obama went after the industry in his remarks.

Pointing to the earlier statement, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said the group could not have it both ways.

'I certainly have more confidence in our legal case based on that public reaction than I did before,' he said of the NRA's initial response.

Conservative activist Larry Klayman told CNN Monday night that he planned to file a legal challenge.

More are expected, potentially causing a stay of action, as has happened with Obama's immigration directive which remains tied up in court.

The White House clarified today though that the president is not actually issuing an executive order to make the changes he laid out. Rather than issuing a rule, the president ordered his administration to send out updated guidance, which is not the same legally and will give him added cover.

Still, Republicans have already made quick work at disparaging the president for taking it upon himself to change the rules.

'Over the next several days we'll be rolling out these initiatives, we'll be making sure that people have a very clear understanding of what can make a difference and what we can do,' Obama said yesterday after a meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, left, and other members of his team to finalize the measures

As Obama mentioned in today's White House remarks, Republican frontrunner Trump has warned audiences repeatedly that these measures signaled the erosion of the Second Amendment.

'Pretty soon you won't be able to get guns,' Trump said yesterday on CNN. 'I mean, it's another step in the way of not getting guns.'

Talking to DailyMail.com last night before his rally in Lowell, Massachusetts, Trump explained further what he meant by his comments.

'Any time you're playing with the Second Amendment, it's a very bad thing. So I don't like it,' Trump said.

'I also don't like the fact that he doesn't go and get congressional support,' Trump continued. 'That he does everything through an executive order. That's not the way this country is supposed to be running, it's almost to the point where he probably doesn't even bother calling up the Democrats any more.'

'He just says, "I'll do it through executive order and let the courts determine whether I have the right to do it over the next three years,"' the billionaire added.

Obama justified his use of executive orders by suggesting he has the majority of Americans, including gun owners, on his side, and that Congress wasn't acting because a majority of members were beholden to the gun lobby.

Sen. Rand Paul sent out this simple tweet in response to President Obama's White House speech unveiling some new executive actions meant to curtail gun deaths

Ben Carson also reacted via Twitter to Obama's speech, saying that the president was being politically advantageous when trying to promote these policies

Trump said that Obama was setting a 'tough precedent' if and when the situation is reversed.

'What he's doing with executive orders is, he's setting up, assuming a Republican becomes president, the Democrats are going to have very little to say about it,' Trump told DailyMail.com.

Florida Senator and Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio said the action will do nothing to keep Americans safe.

'Barack Obama is obsessed with undermining the Second Amendment,' Rubio said today on Fox News.

Earlier in the week, Rubio promised to repeal the action.

'If you look at these mass-shootings, none of them would have been prevented by the things the president is pointing to. Because these criminals either would have passed the background check if they hadn't committed crimes in the past, or they just don't care what the law is,' Rubio said.

The president's remarks were also greeted by a chorus of tweets from other Republican hopefuls.

Rand Paul simply tweeted the language of the Second Amendment splashed over an image of himself shooting a gun.

Ben Carson said further regulating firearms sales would only impact the freedom of law-abiding citizens.

'The President's actions have everything to do with advancing his political agenda & little to do with actually protecting American citizens,' Carson wrote.

President Obama argued that he had the majority of Americans, and also gun owners, on his side, using this reasoning to skirt around Congress

'We're not going to be able to pass a law or take an executive action that would prevent every single incident of gun violence, but if there's something that we can do that would prevent even one, why wouldn't we do it? Obama's spokesman told reporters today

In his speech, Obama made a point of noting that he wasn't up for re-election.

'Im not on the ballot again,' the president said. 'Im not looking to score some points.'

Republicans who are, however, have been hitting Obama on this issue for days.

Jersey Governor Chris Christie called President Obama 'a petulant child,' during an appearance on Fox News Sunday.

Carly Fiorina characterized Obama as a 'lawless' president and his plan to take unilateral action on guns is 'delusional, dangerous, not to mention unconstitutional.'

Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee used a picture of a snowy road in Iowa to mock Obama, saying it was 'about as clear as President Obama's understanding of the Second Amendment.'

Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Martin O'Malley quickly backed up the president today after his remarks.

'Republicans are clearly more loyal to gun lobbyists than our children,' Sanders said on Twitter. 'I support @POTUS's executive actions to make our communities safer.'

O'Malley said the president 'is right to actevery day we spend debating gun control is a day that we lose lives. One life is worth more than all gun sales.'

Hillary Clinton later said: 'Thank you, POTUS, for taking a crucial step forward on gun violence. Our next president has to build on that progressnot rip it away.'

Obamas announcement Tuesday came while the neither the House nor Senate were in session on Capitol Hill  but congressional reaction was swift and fierce nonetheless through a series of online statements.

The reactions broke down predictably along party lines, with Republican leaders such as House Speaker Paul Ryan complaining the loudest that Obama had exceeded his authority.

From day one, the president has never respected the right to safe and legal gun ownership that our nation has valued since its founding, Ryan said.

'His words and actions amount to a form of intimidation that undermines liberty Ultimately, everything the president has done can be overturned by a Republican president, which is another reason we must win in November.

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California called Obamas announcement weak.

Even though Congress wasn't in session today, Republican lawmakers were quick to condemn the president's remarks at the White House

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders defended the president's actions as Republicans quickly slammed the White House's plans

Congress and the American people have repeatedly said no to President Obamas ineffective policies that would infringe on the Second Amendment, he said. The House continues to stand for the Constitution and in defense of the American peoples rights.

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, a Utah Republican, said Obamas actions are out of bounds and vastly exceed his executive authority.

This is yet another attempt by President Obama to bypass the American people, their elected representatives, and the Constitution itself. The presidents approach undermines the foundation of our democracy, Chaffetz said.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, said Republicans will return to their previous attempts to pass legislation strengthening services for Americans with mental illnesses.

But Goodlatte condemned any further action and accused the administration of not enforcing laws that are already on the books.

Over the course of President Obamas tenure in office, his Administration has sought to undermine the Second Amendment on numerous occasions but opposition from the American people and Congress often have stopped his attempts to restrict this constitutional right, he said.

In the Senate, GOP Whip John Cornyn of Texas struck the same tone as Goodlatte.

Republicans have already made quick work at disparaging the president for taking it upon himself to change the rules

The measures announced today threaten our constitutional rights and would not solve the problem, Cornyn said. An unwillingness to find common ground and achieve compromise has been a hallmark of this Presidents tenure, and this issue is unfortunately no different.

Democrats in both chambers took a dramatically different tack, praising Obama for rising above the indifference of congressional Republicans.

Today, President Obama answered the countrys call for action on gun violence. Faced once again with Congressional obstruction, the President stepped forward to act within his authority on behalf of the American people, said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

These are important first steps in fighting the epidemic of gun violence that has engulfed our nation, and they consist of reforms that are widely supported by the American people.'

At the Democratic National Committee, Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman, noted that former Arizona Democratic Rep. Giffords  a friend of hers  was shot by a deranged gunman five years ago this week.

Since then, Congress has passed no new measures to protect Americans from such acts of depravity, despite mass shootings in communities like Newtown, Aurora, Charleston, Roseburg and many others, Wasserman-Schultz said.
Ileana Tomoiaga left her home in Furnace Road, Uckfield, East Sussex

Police are becoming increasingly concerned for a mother and 18-month-old baby who have been missing since New Year's Eve.

Ileana Tomoiaga left her home in Furnace Road, Uckfield, East Sussex, with her son Daniel to go to the shops around 2.30pm.

She said she was going to to a nearby Tesco Express to buy a bottle of wine and a phone charger, but she never returned and her family reported her missing the next day.

Police believe she didn't go to the store or any other shops in the town.

Shannon Marchesani, of the East Sussex Missing Persons team, said: 'The evidence at present shows that Ileana left home completely of her own accord and there are still no suspicious circumstances.

'However, she did not leave with anything to prepare either of them for even a short stay away, and nothing has been heard since.

'We are naturally increasingly concerned for their welfare, and at the very least we ask Ileana to contact us so that we can confirm that she and her son are safe.'

Ms Tomoiaga previously lived in Willesden, north-west London, and officers are in contact with the Metropolitan Police to widen the search to that area.

She Tomoiaga is described as white, 5ft 5in, slim with long red straight hair and pale skin, and was wearing a black leather jacket, black trousers and brown boots.

She speaks English, with a Romanian accent.

Police are becoming increasingly concerned for a mother and 18-month-old baby who have been missing since New Year's Eve (file photo)




Six-year-old Tayton Timothy is now clinging to life following a bone-crushing collision at a roller skating rink in Utah more than a week ago.

The bubbly, blonde grade-schooler was skating with friends and family at a rink in her hometown of Delta on December 26 when an adult patron knocked into Tayton and landed on top of her.

According to her aunt, the 6-year-old suffered a skull fracture, a broken vertebrae and an eye injury, which may require surgery.

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Freak accident: Six-year-old Tayton Timothy (pictured left, and right at a hospital) was left fighting for her life after suffering a skull fracture and other serious injuries as a result of a collision at a skating rink

Recreation venue: The incident took place at Rammi's Roller Skating Rink in Delta, Utah (pictured) on December 26

Collision course: The grade-schooler was skating without a helmet with her friends and family when an adult patron knocked into her and ultimately landed on top of her

Timothy was flown for treatment to Primary Children's Medical Center in Salt Lake City, where she has spent the past nine days in a medically induced coma due to bleeding and swelling in her brain.

While in the hospital, Tayton has contracted a strep infection and meningitis, but this weekend her family finally got some positive news from her doctors: an MRI scan detected some activity in the girl's brain, reported Deseret News.

The medical staff also have been slowly weaning Tayton off the heavy pain medications, and so far, she has been responding well to the treatment.

'That's a step,' Tayton's grandmother Rebecca Marshall told the paper. 'She's a fighter. A little fireball. And she should hopefully be back with us soon.'

Tayton's mother, Samantha Timothy, said she bears no ill will towards the unnamed skater who rammed into her child at Rammi's Roller Skating Rink last weekend.

Mrs Timothy, who also has a young son, called the crash a 'pure accident' and even praised the man who slammed into her daughter at the rink for coming to Tayton's aid before paramedics arrived on the scene.

Mother's worst nightmare: Samantha Timothy, Tayton's mother, is pictured at her daughter's bedside

Pint-sized fighter: The 6-year-old has been in a medically induced coma due to bleeding and swelling in her brain for more than a week. A recent MRI scan showed some activity in her brain

Permanent damage: Tayton's docots told her family it is unlikely that she will be the same again

Other family members said they were unsure about the exact chain of events that resulted in Tayton being knocked off her feet, but they said the grownup skater may have been moving backwards just before he collided with the child.

Tayton was not wearing a helmet at the time of the crash, and it is believed she hit the floor face-first.

The owners of the roller skating rink have released a statement on Facebook expressing support for Tayton, her family and also for the skater who was involved in the crash.

Again, we ask that you pray. Not only for the injured child, but the man who fell on her as well, the message read in part.

Taytons other grandmother, Tracy Ramsay, told the station Fox 13 Now that the girl's doctors made it clear that even if she recovers from her injuries, it is unlikely she will be the same again due to permanent brain damage.

Honestly, the doctors aren't optimistic that she will come out of this whole, she will be different, they told us, Ramsay said.

Tayton's aunt and uncle have launched a GoFundMe campaign to help her parents with mounting medical costs and travel expenses. As of Monday afternoon, the fundraiser has drawn close to $8,900 in donations.
Young people in their 20s are increasingly leaving the workforce to retire, new data reveals.

Since 2004, the number of retirees aged 20 to 24 has tripled from 0.2 per cent to 0.6 per cent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report on employment figures.

Meanwhile, fewer and fewer 20-somethings are leaving the work force due to disability.

The development has stumped analysts who are grappling to interpret the trends in an increasingly unpredictable jobs market.

Since 2004, the number of retirees aged 20 to 24 has tripled from 0.2 per cent to 0.6 per cent, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report on employment figures

But Princeton University economist Alan Blinder, a former Fed vice chairman, warned in an interview with Bloomberg Business that the figures are far from encouraging.

'We're going to be running out of labor as we go through time,' Blinder said last week.

The study also found unemployment has risen from 31.3 per cent in 2004 to 35 per cent in 2014.

And more and more older U.S. citizens are staying on past the point of traditional retirement.

In all age groups, there was an increase in the number of retirees among those 'out of work' - unemployed and not looking for a job.

Increasingly, men aged 25-54 are out of work due to 'home responsibilities', while a growing number women in the same age group are leaving work to study.

Overall, the number of 20- to 24-year-olds who have not entered the workforce in the wake of the credit crunch because they are still in school has jumped up.

The data has emerged just days before the Labor Department releases the crucial wage report, which will give economists a clearer picture of the current job market.

More Americans requested unemployment benefits in the last week of December, prompting analysts to predict that employment levels slowed at the end of the year.
A former Catholic priest accused of taking inappropriate pictures of students at his school is facing nearly three years in federal prison for viewing child pornography on a computer.

Stephen Pohl pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to one count of accessing child pornography. The 57-year-old was head pastor at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, which includes a school campus in eastern Louisville.

Federal prosecutors said they reached a plea deal with Pohl that, if accepted by a judge, would send him to prison for 33 months. Pohl would also be subject to lifelong supervised release after his prison term and would be required to register as a sex offender.

Stephen Pohl pleaded guilty Monday in federal court to one count of accessing child pornography

Pohl appeared in U.S. District Court in Louisville dressed in a suit and tie with some family members looking on.

The Courier-Journal reported Pohl spoke to the judge and said: 'I'm presently working with a psychologist. It has assisted me in understanding what is happening here.'

After the hearing, he reported to U.S. Marshals to be taken into custody.

Pohl's attorney Ted Shouse told the Courier-Journal: 'There's a lot of reasons that someone would enter a guilty plea, and I think we can address that more fully in our sentencing hearing.'

Shouse told WLKY: 'What Father Pohl pled guilty to was going on the Internet, viewing images of minors exposing themselves to the camera. That's what we pled guilty to today.'

The police investigation was spurred by a suspicious student who told his parents he felt 'weird' about some photos that Pohl had taken of him that day at school, according to a police affidavit. In it, Louisville Police Det. Dan Jackman wrote that Pohl had told the child 'to place his hands on his knees and move his legs apart' for the photos.

The 57-year-old was head pastor at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, which includes a school campus in eastern Louisville

The parents of the boy later saw Pohl out shopping in Louisville, confronted him and asked to see the pictures on his cellphone. Pohl handed it over, and the parents found 'several photos of other young boys posed in the same manner as' their son, the affidavit said.

Police searched his living quarters at the church on August 12 and found more than 150 photos of children from the school, though none was considered pornographic. Police later recovered child pornography images viewed over the Internet from his computer, the affidavit said.

The Archdiocese of Louisville has suspended Pohl's ministry, meaning he cannot present himself as a Catholic priest. He resigned from St. Margaret Mary on August 20.

The archdiocese statement to the Courier-Journal said: 'For the sake of St. Margaret Mary Parish and our local Church, we welcome the news that Father Pohl is pleading guilty and accepting responsibility for his actions.'
Detectives have launched a rape investigation into campaigning MP Simon Danczuk, 49, (pictured today) after receiving a complaint dating from 2006

Detectives have dramatically launched a rape investigation into campaigning MP Simon Danczuk after receiving a complaint dating back to 2006.

It emerged this evening that Lancashire Police has started an inquiry into serious sexual allegations after a complaint was made to them regarding the twice married 49-year-old father of four.

A spokeswoman said: 'We can confirm that we have received a report of a historic rape dating back to 2006.

'We are in the very early stages of an investigation and inquiries are on-going. The complaint relates to a 49-year-old man.'

Responding to the investigation, the Rochdale MP described the rape allegation made against him as 'malicious, untrue and upsetting'.

He added: 'The police have not been in touch with me but I will co-operate fully with any inquiries and am confident my name will be promptly cleared.'

A spokesman for the Rochdale MP said he could not comment further on the police investigation.

However, speaking to reporters earlier today, Mr Danczuk said: 'I would always cooperate with the police in any regard in any investigation in relation to any issue.'

Mr Danczuk, who has campaigned against child sex abuse, was suspended from the Labour Party last week after being caught sending explicit texts to a 17-year-old.

Furthermore, the MP's first wife Sonia Rossington claimed in an interview on Sunday that he 'bullied' her into sex during their eight-year marriage.

Mr Danczuk, 49, initially dismissed his ex-wife's claims, accusing her of 'telling lies' and being 'consumed by bitterness'.

But after admitting to a long-term drink problem, he remained bullish about his future in politics yesterday and vowed to carry on as an MP.

Despite a protest in his own constituency, he said he was 'quietly confident' he would not be expelled from Labour because his 'one or two foolish' mistakes didn't warrant it.

The embattled MP compared his supposedly harsh treatment in the media as a working-class politician to that of the 'upper-class' Boris Johnson.

He said there was 'still very much an establishment class issue' shown by the fact he was 'lambasted' whereas the London Mayor, who was 'playing it out with debutantes', was not.

Mr Danczuk's resolute defence came as yet more revelations emerged about his private life, with Mrs Rossington exposed for advertising herself as an escort following their divorce in 2010.

Around 20 protesters gathered outside Mr Danczuk's constituency office in Rochdale this morning calling for him to resign, including Karen's Danczuk's brother.

Michael Burke, who is accused of a string of historic sex offences against three alleged victims, was photographed heckling the embattled MP as he left his constituency office to face the crowd of protestors.

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Michael Burke (left), who is accused of a string of historic sex offences against three alleged victims, was photographed heckling the embattled MP (centre) as he left his constituency office in Rochdale this afternoon

The 38-year-old security guard, who is Mr Danczuk's former step-brother, was charged in October with 11 counts of rape, five counts of indecent assault and one count of attempted rape.

But, despite the protests, Mr Danczuk remained resolute and branded the group a 'rag tag bunch of political opponents'.

Amid a string of revelations involving his former wives, his ex-girlfriend and the teenage girl, the outspoken anti-paedophile campaigner insisted it was 'not for ex-girlfriends or ex-wives' to decide who should be MP for Rochdale.

After walking around Rochdale for two hours speaking to constituents, Mr Danczuk said the campaign group did not reflect the views of most constituents and he was 'humbled' by the positive response from locals.

He said: 'I don't think I will be expelled from the Labour party, I think when they carry out the internal investigation  which I will cooperate fully with  they will conclude that, whilst I made one or two foolish mistakes, it doesn't warrant me being expelled from the party.

'So I'm quietly confident that they will conclude I'll remain a Labour member of parliament.'

He added: 'I do think there is an interesting dichotomy between people like Boris Johnson, who make a lot of money as a member of Parliament and indeed as Mayor of London, whilst writing for the Daily Telegraph and the right-wing media and who has a very colourful personal life.

'And yet a working class lad like me in Rochdale, who writes for some of the national newspapers and has a working class colourful personal life, I get lambasted, whilst Boris, playing it out with debutantes and all the rest of it in this upper-class world, doesn't get lambasted.

'And I think there is still very much an establishment, class issue going on in terms of, you know it's a sociological issue is this, about how some of this stuff plays out, I think it's quite interesting.'

After the sexting scandal broke out, Mr Danczuk apologised 'unreservedly' but blamed his behaviour on his 'drink problem'.

Mrs Rossington then criticised her former partner for humiliating their two children, Marymartha, 13, and George, 18.

Sonia Rossington (pictured), Mr Danczuk's first wife, was today accused of advertising herself as an escort. She reportedly advertised herself on a sex website under 'Stephanie36HH', a reference to her bra size

According to The Sun, Mrs Rossington (left) offered individual meets and sex parties, and was once filmed in an orgy with three men - all believed to be paying customers - following her divorce from Mr Danczuk (right)

Painting herself as a 'paragon of virtue', the 39-year-old, with whom he split in 2007, insisted she even planned on changing their surnames to help them avoid embarrassment in public.

She later claimed in an interview with the Mail On Sunday that the Rochdale MP would bully her into silence and attempt to have sex with her while she slept.

But, today, The Sun revealed how Mrs Rossington allegedly offered individual meets and sex parties while posing as an escort.

She reportedly advertised herself on the sex website under the name 'Stephanie36HH', a reference to her bra size, and was once filmed in an orgy with three paying customers, it is alleged.

Yesterday, Mr Danczuk's second ex-wife Karen, who still uses the Danczuk surname, took to Twitter saying she had evidence of not just the escorting, but 'other things' too.

The revelations were the latest in a scandal which has engulfed the MP since Sophena Houlihan, who is now 18, said she had received explicit messages from Mr Danczuk after contacting him about a job.

One message asked if she wanted a 'spanking' while another said he was 'horny'.

The teenager has since been revealed to be a dominatrix who sold her toenail clippings, bras and used and worn thongs and knickers for 15-a-pair online.

Mr Dancsuk today denied wanting to have sex with Miss Houlihan, telling BBC News: 'Certainly not, no, that's been made clear time and time again.

'This was an error of judgment for which I have apologised.'

A source is reported to have said Mrs Rossington resorted to escorting after she split with the Rochdale MP

Mr Danczuk went on to marry selfie-loving Karen, pictured arriving (left) and leaving (right) a gym today. She is said to have been constant support following the allegations against him despite their public split last year

Meanwhile, Mr Danczuk yesterday attended church with his second ex-wife Karen where he 'said a private prayer for forgiveness'.

Today, Ms Danczuk - who he is believed to have been Mr Danczuk's support since the sexting scandal unravelled - told LBC radio that her ex-husband had worked himself 'almost to death' to become an MP.

'Politics is his life and the threat of that one thing in his life, that keeps him going, being taken away from him, it has really, really shocked him and really upset him,' she said.

'For me, I am glad he has been suspended in a way because he needs that break, he needs to sort himself out. I think he can make a comeback.

'I would hope people can get behind him and say this is a man who has had a very difficult 12 months, who has had to listen to some outrageous things.'

Speaking about their attendance at church, she said: 'He was very sombre ... the congregation was so supportive, and I think that overwhelmed Simon.

'I am being firm with him and not making excuses for him and telling him what he did was wrong. But I do think that he can come back from it and I will absolutely be behind him 100 per cent.'

She was pictured today arriving and leaving a nearby gym, wearing skimpy shorts ahead of a workout with her personal trainer Lewis Bailey.

The politician faces being kicked out of the Labour party forever, after he admitted sending sexts (right) to 17-year-old Sophena Houlihan (left). He admitted the lewd messages but claimed to have a 'drink problem'

Miss Houlihan (pictured), who is now 18 and has now been revealed as a dominatrix, said Mr Danczuk sent her numerous texts, including one asking if she wanted a 'spanking' and another saying he was 'horny'

Following their split in June, Mr Danczuk had a three-month romance with Labour councillor Claire Hamilton, 32, which ended over the explicit texts to Sophena.

She revealed he cried uncontrollably when she dumped him. 'He's finally pressed the self-destruct button,' she added.

Meanwhile, Mr Danczuk has reportedly written to Labour's general secretary, Iain McNicol, asking for former London mayor Ken Livingstone to play no part in his disciplinary process.

Mr Livingstone has been highly critical of the MP's behaviour.

According to the Daily Telegraph, Mr Danczuk wrote to Mr McNicol: 'I strongly deny any illegality in my actions. His comments were featured under critical headlines and clearly showed a prejudicial view of my case.

'Despite, voicing such trenchant criticism, he went on to say that 'I can't say too much because I'm on Labour's NEC and might have to take the final decision about whether he's allowed to resume his party membership or whether we expel him'.

'With Ken Livingstone having clearly displayed a prejudiced view from the outset, could you give me your assurances that he will play no part in this investigation.'

Mr Danczuk left school aged 16 and began working at a factory making gas fires, before becoming making his move into politics through the GMB trade Union and becoming a local councillor.

Following his split from Karen in June, Mr Danczuk had a three-month romance with Labour councillor Claire Hamilton, 32 (pictured together), which ended over the explicit texts to Sophena just after the Christmas period

By contrast, Old Etonian Boris Johnson studied Classics at Oxford University and became a national newspaper journalist, before being selected to stand for the Conservatives.

Like Mr Danczuk, the London Mayor has also been in the news for sex scandals, including once being sacked from the shadow cabinet for lying about an extra-marital affair.

He later branded the protestors, who included former Lib Dem and Labour councillors, a 'ragtag' group of political 'malcontents'.

The ringleader of the protest group was former Rochdale Council finance chief Farooq Ahmed, who was suspended and subsequently resigned from the labour party after making a homophobic insult about a colleague.
Congressional Republicans this week plan to achieve a Capitol Hill rarity - a bill to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act that is both ancient and brand new at the same time.

While Republicans have tried to repeal all or part of the controversial bill some 60 times, this time they say the measure will actually reach President Barack Obama's desk - where it faces an all-but-certain death.

Obama has given no sign that he has any intention of retreating from his signature domestic policy achievement - a stance White House spokesman Josh Earnest indirectly reiterated on Monday.

But House Republicans say they 'owe it to the country' to at least attempt another repeal effort, which will also include a provision to strip Planned Parenthood of its federal funding.

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House Speaker Paul Ryan this week plans yet another attempt to repeal the 2010 Affordable Care Act, which currently provides health insurance to 19 million Americans

President Obama at the White House on Monday

White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Monday suggested that Obama has no plans to back down from his signature domestic policy achievement

Ryan seems giddy with anticipation of the coming Obamacare repeal vote

'We owe it it to the country to take our best shot at repealing #Obamacare while Pres Obama is still in office,' House Speaker Paul Ryan said on Twitter.

In another tweet, Ryan said, 'This will be the first #Obamacare repeal bill that Congress sends to #POTUS since the law's enactment in 2010,' adding that the news was 'HUGE.'

But on the campaign trail, Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton said

'They're willing to turn their backs on 19 million Americans, to turn our healthcare system back to the insurance companies so if you have a pre-existing condition it will be hard for you to afford care,' Clinton said at a town hall in Davenport. '

'If you're a woman, you'll be charged more, because that's what used to happen. Prescription drugs - hey, watch out. They'll go as far and fast and high as the drug companies can take them. Because they have no plan, the Republicans just want to undo what Democrats have fought for decades and what President Obama got accomplished.'

'We need a president, just as President Obama will, to veto that. But if there's a Republican sitting there, it will be repealed. And then we will have to start all over again.'

But Republicans are casting the vote as the fulfillment of a promise - in the party's weekly radio address over the weekend, GOP Rep. Vicky Hartzler of Missouri used the same phrase.

'We owe it to the American people to take our best shot at repealing Obamacare, and thats what well do next week,' she said.

We owe it to the American people to take our best shot at repealing Obamacare, and thats what well do next week - GOP Rep. Vicky Hartzler

'As a result, President Obama will soon have a choice: Does he support the people and womens health, or does he support Washington mandates and tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood?'

Planned Parenthood became a hot target of conservatives this year after secretly recorded videos surfaced that purported to show agency officials discussing harvesting fetal tissue. At least four Republican-controlled congressional committees are currently investigating the organization.

Planned Parenthood has an annual budget of about $1.3 billion, of which $528 million, or 41 percent, comes in the form of grants and reimbursements from the federal government.

The agency provides about 300,000 abortions each year among a wide variety of other womens health services that include breast exams, cancer screenings, birth control and treatments for diseases.

A total of 2.7 million women use services from the organization, many of whom are low-income women who have no other form of health care.

Federal funding for abortion in most cases has been prohibited since 1976, when Congress passed a clause called the Hyde Amendment that has been inserted into annual appropriations bills each year since then.

But critics say that funding Planned Parenthood even partially with federal money essentially endorses funding for abortion procedures, since the agency can shift funds around within its budget.

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell in December ushered an Obamacare repeal measure through the Senate - barely

As for the Obamacare repeal, House Republicans are following the lead of their colleagues in the Senate, who in December narrowly passed a repeal measure by a vote of 52-47.

That was just barely over the simple majority of 51 votes that was necessary under an unusual, rarely used parliamentary procedure but well short of the supermajority of 60 votes that are usually necessary for legislative success in the Senate.

Some 19 million Americans are on some form of health insurance through Obamacare, which passed through Congress in late 2009 without a single Republican vote and has now withstood two Supreme Court challenges mostly intact.

The parliamentary maneuver is called reconciliation, and is allowed under congressional rules on a limited basis if the legislation significantly affects the federal budget.

Indeed, on Monday the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office released an updated estimate that the repeal effort could save up to $42 billion more than expected because of a different bill Congress passed last year that delays or ends a variety of taxes in the Obamacare program.

The original savings estimate was $474 blliion between 2016 and 2025.

A presidential veto would require two-thirds of House and Senate lawmakers to override - a threshold that even supporters concede would be impossible to reach.

At the White House on Monday, Earnest was asked about potential cooperation between the White House and Republicans in Congress on the issue of improving mental health programs as it relates to gun violence.

'I will say that there's a lot of skepticism rooted in Republican claims that they care about improving mental health care in this country, when they're prepared this week to actually take their 60th vote to repeal the very law that has done more to expand access to mental health care than any other law in decades,' Earnest answered.
German police are hunting for a group of up to a 1,000 men 'of Arab and North African origin' who are accused of sexually assaulting numerous women and causing trouble at Cologne's main station.

Police described the series of sexual assaults against women in Cologne on New Year's Eve as 'a completely new dimension of crime.'

Officers received numerous complaints from women who said they had been assaulted around Cologne's main train station next to the western German city's famous cathedral on the night from Thursday to Friday.

Fireworks are thrown into the crowd outside Cologne's main station, prompting members of the public to flee

German police are hunting for a group of up to a 1,000 men 'of Arab and North African origin' who who have sexually assaulted numerous women and caused trouble at Cologne's main station

The group of men reportedly also robbed their victims and threw fireworks at a crowd of people, according to Breitbart.

Cologne police chief Wolfgang Albers said witnesses described the assaults as coming from a group of up to 1,000 men whose appearance indicated they were of 'Arab or North African origin.'

Some 60 criminal complaints have so far been filed, including one allegation of rape.

German news agency dpa quoted Albers telling reporters on Monday that it was 'an intolerable situation that such crimes are committed in the middle of the city.'

Another firework is let off as a group of men watch on laughing

One of the victims, named only as 'Katja L', gave a harrowing testimony of her ordeal.

'When we came out of the station, we were very surprised by the group that met us there'. She said the group was 'exclusively young foreign men,' she told Der Express.

'We then walked through this group of men. There was an alley through [the men] which we walked through.'

She described the moment she 'felt a hand on my buttocks, then on my breasts, in the end'.

'I was groped everywhere. It was a nightmare. Although we shouted and beat them, the guys did not stop. I was desperate and think I was touched around 100 times in the 200 meters,' she said.

'Fortunately I wore a jacket and trousers. A skirt would probably have been torn away from me'.
A man believed to have shot and killed his ex-wife has been found dead in a suspected suicide inside a cemetery, police said.

Richard James Kalecki Jr was being hunted by police after Alessandra De Moraes-Emiliano was shot inside the Edible Arrangements store in Schererville, Indiana, on Saturday.

The 49-year-olds body was found in a cemetery in Calumet City, Illinois, on Sunday afternoon.

An official cause of death is yet to be determined but preliminary reports from the Cook County medical examiners office indicate that Kalecki killed himself, police said.

Richard James Kalecki Jr (left) was wanted by police after Alessandra De Moraes-Emiliano was shot inside the Edible Arrangements store in Schererville, Indiana, on Saturday. He was found dead on Sunday

De Moraes-Emiliano, 37, a mother-of-one who was engaged, died inside the store where she worked after being shot about 1pm in the store in Lincoln Ridge Plaza on Saturday.

A day later, police identified the suspect as Kalecki who was caught on surveillance cameras carrying out the attack at around 12.20pm, according to nwitimes.com.

Robert Byrd, a spokesman for the Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force, said Kaleckis house in Crown Point was searched, but neither he nor the murder weapon was found.

Kalecki filed for divorce from De Moraes-Emiliano in April 2012, according to the Chicago Tribune.

Six months later, he was charged with two counts of Class A felony child molesting, a lesser-degree child molestation charge as well as two counts of sexual misconduct, the Tribune reported.

Police said Kalecki was caught on surveillance cameras carrying out the attack on Alessandra De Moraes-Emiliano at the Edible Arrangements store (pictured) in Lincoln Ridge Plaza in Schererville, Indiana

The trial was set to begin in March and if convicted, he faced up to 50 years in prison.

The nwitimes.com reported the victim told authorities that Kalecki had begun abusing her in December 2010 when she was 13.

He allegedly repeatedly abused her until March 2012 and allegedly threatened to kill her if she didnt give in to his demands.

Schererville Police Chief David Dowling said: Kaleckis death brings an end to the tragic domestic violence homicide investigation of Ms. De Moraes-Emiliano.

We have worked very closely with her entire family and they have our deepest sympathies.
Injured: Wayne Herbert, 45, sitting on the flight from London to Washington D.C. moments before he was hit on the head by a falling rucksack

A British Airways passenger is suing the airline after he was hit on the head by a rucksack that fell out of the overhead compartment.

Wayne Herbert, 45, from north London, was injured after passengers in the row behind him tried to pack too much hand luggage into the overhead storage above his seat.

The force of the sudden impact left Mr Herbert suffering a 'whiplash injury' and he was later forced to disembark the aircraft and fly the following day.

Mr Herbert, an author, said he was now pursuing legal action against the airline because it had been 'so unhelpful' in helping him resolve his complaint.

'In the grand scheme of things, these are minor injuries,' he told MailOnline.

'But British Airways have been absolutely appalling in their customer service.

He added: 'I am not looking for multi-millions. I just want to flag these issues.'

Mr Herbert was flying from Heathrow to Dulles airport, Washington D.C., where he planned to spend a month working on a novel.

He was speaking to the passenger sitting next to him when he suddenly felt a searing pain.

He said: 'All of a sudden this awful pain just penetrated through my head. I had no idea what had happened. It was such a shock.

'It only dawned on me as the rucksack rolled down my arm on to the floor.'

Mr Herbert said one of the cabin crew rushed over to check on him before giving him an ice pack. It later emerged that the bag that had struck his head contained a laptop.

'I instantly had a really bad headache,' he added. 'I thought it was going to be bleeding but it wasn't.'

Mr Herbert was assessed by a medic at the door of the aircraft who said he could not risk flying with his injuries.

Legal action: Mr Herbert said he is suing British Airways because the airline has been 'appalling' at handling his complaint. Pictured, file image of a BA flight waiting at Heathrow Terminal 5

British Airways re-booked Mr Herbert on a flight the following day and were able to upgrade him to World Traveller Plus when he explained the anxiety he felt at travelling in a crowded cabin.

But the airline would not provide the same service for his flight back to London and Mr Herbert spent the next three weeks going back and forth over email with British Airways.

The airline initially offered Mr Herbert air miles but would not give him an upgrade for the return leg of his journey. A solicitor acting for the airline later offered 500.

Mr Herbert, who still suffers from some neck pain and anxiety as a result of the incident, has now instructed a solicitor and will seek compensation from the airline.

A spokesman for British Airways told the Evening Standard: 'Our cabin crew gave every possible help to our customer and we are still in contact with him to resolve this issue.'
Dominos deliveryman Michael Parker, 31, has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon in connection to the Saturday stabbing

A Dominos deliveryman from Southern California has been arrested after police say he stabbed a customer in a dispute over a tardy pizza.

Michael Parker, 31, of Glendora, has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon in connection to the bloody confrontation that broke out Saturday night over a pie.

According to police, officers were dispatched to a residence in the 600 block of North Mangrove Avenue in Covina at around 11.35pm after getting a 911 call about a stabbing.

Upon arrival, they found a 20-year-old man suffering from stab wounds to his wrist and neck.

The victim received first aid at the scene before being transported to a nearby trauma center to be treated for non-life threatening injuries.

In the course of the investigation that followed, police determined that the victim got into an argument with Michael Parker over the extended delay of his food delivery.

The unhappy customer gave the 31-year-old Dominos employee a $3 tip on a $45 order, but Parker refused to leave, reported the station KTLA.

The two men exchanged words, and before long the verbal spat turned physical and spilled out into the driveway, where the 20-year-old customer was knifed.

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Knifed over a pie: Police say Parker knifed a 20-year-old customer in the neck and wrist after the man complained about the extended delay of his food delivery and gave him a small tip

Franchise: Parker was arrested Sunday morning at this Domino's pizzeria in Covina where he worked

Police later tracked down Parker to the pizzeria in Covina where he worked and arrested him in connection to the attack.
This is the terrifying moment a New Year's Eve fireworks celebration turned into chaos after a fireworks display went terribly wrong.

Video captured the explosives going off all at once at the event in Rio das Ostras, Brazil, causing hundreds of people to flee, while 10 were taken to hospital after suffering burns.

The display starts off normally enough with the crowd in Praca da Baleia, or 'Whale Square', cheering as the brightly coloured rockets light up the night sky above their heads.

A massive explosion during the display was initially cheered before crowds realised what was going on

A flare shoots past a group of people as spectators in Brazil start running for safety

Crowds fled in every direction as the explosions went off around them resembling a war scene

But cheers soon turn to screams after a gigantic explosion that sends flares towards the spectators.

People then start running away as the fireworks continue to detonate at an alarming rate, while the video changes focus as the person filming it tries to get away themselves.

People shield their faces and dive for cover as the loud bangs continue while a jet of pink flame shoots past a group of screaming people.

The camera operator returns to filming the display from a safe distance although the spectacle resembled explosions from a war scene.

A woman dives for cover behind what appears to be a crate as the explosions continue

The big bangs lit up the night sky but illuminated the chaos and fear among the hundreds in the crowd

A concerned parent is filmed grabbing their child and trying to pull them to safety

Others hid behind crates and cars, desperately trying to shield themselves from harm.

Rio das Ostras is part of the state of Rio de Janeiro and has a population of just over 100,000 people.

Council officials are investigating the cause of the incident and so far have said they believe it to be down to a fault with the explosives rather than human error.
Starbucks has released a new drink: the Latte Macchiato.

The beverage is essentially a latte flipped on its head - with two espresso shots poured on to steamed milk and foam, rather than milk poured over coffee.

It means the steamed milk and foam mixture, which is left for a minute before the coffee is poured on, thickens to a more creamy consistency 'reminiscent of meringue'.

A macchiato, meanwhile, is an espresso topped with foam.

The Latte Macchiato: Starbucks' latest beverage (pictured) is essentially a latte flipped on its head - with two espresso shots poured on to steamed milk and foam that has been left to sit to reach a 'meringue-like' texture

According to a news release on Monday, it will be available across America, Canada and some stores in Latin America.

A Starbucks spokesman described the latest 'invention' as 'steamed whole milk that is perfectly aerated and free-poured creating dense foam reminiscent of meringue'.

The drink 'is then marked by slowly-poured full espresso shots, creating a signature espresso dot.'

It means it has the opposite appearance of a flat white.

A Latte Macchiato is brown with a top layer of white, and a brown dot on the surface. A Flat White - which has steamed milk slowly poured over ristretto shots - is brown with a white dot on the surface.

 Slide me  This slidey shows the difference in appearance between a Latte Macchiato (left) and a Flat White (right)

The Latte Macchiato joins the firm's roster of espresso drinks, alongside the Doppio Espresso, Caffe Americano, Flat White, Cappuccino and Caffe Latte.

The doppio is two shots of espresso.

An Americano is one or two shots of espresso with hot water.

A Flat White consists of two ristretto shots with steamed milk poured slowly on top.

The Starbucks Cappuccino is a shot of espresso 'topped with a deep layer of foamed milk'.

And the firm's Caffe Latte is a shot of espresso topped with steamed milk and light foam.
Embattled Simon Danczuk today claimed he was being 'lambasted' for being a working class Boris Johnson as he vowed to carry on as an MP despite a string of allegations about his personal life.

The beleaguered politician compared his treatment in the media to that of the London mayor, as he dismissed a small protest outside his constituency office as a 'rag tag' bunch of political opponents.

The 49-year-old twice married father of four has blamed a 'drink problem' for his tangled personal life, resulting in the sexually-explicit messages he sent to Sophena Houlihan when she was aged 17.

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Embattled Simon Danczuk (left) today claimed he was being 'lambasted' for being a working class Boris Johnson (right) as he vowed to carry on as an MP despite a string of allegations about his personal life

He has been suspended from the Labour Party while an investigation takes place into his conduct, for which he has apologised 'unreservedly'.

Tonight, Lancashire Police confirmed an investigation into a rape allegation had been opened against him following a report dating back to 2006.

He dismissed the allegation as 'malicious, untrue and upsetting', before adding that he would 'co-operate fully with any inquiries' and is 'confident' of clearing his name.

It came as he compared his treatment in the public eye as different to that of Mayor of London Boris Johnson.

He said there was an 'interesting dichotomy' between him and 'people like' Mr Johnson, who 'make a lot of money as an MP and who has a very colourful personal life'.

He said: 'I do think there is an interesting dichotomy between people like Boris Johnson, who make a lot of money as a member of Parliament and indeed as mayor of London, whilst writing for the Daily Telegraph and the right-wing media and who has a very colourful personal life.

'And yet a working class lad like me in Rochdale, who writes for some of the national newspapers and has a working class colourful personal life, I get lambasted, whilst Boris, playing it out with debutantes and all the rest of it in this upper-class world, doesn't get lambasted.

'And I think there is still very much an establishment, class issue going on.'

He added: 'I have been very clear about what issues I have addressed personally and I will continue to do so.'

Michael Burke (left), who is accused of a string of historic sex offences against three alleged victims, was photographed heckling the embattled MP (centre) as he left his constituency office in Rochdale this afternoon

Mr Danczuk faced a demonstration outside his constituency office by campaigners who are calling for his resignation over the sexting scandal. He remains suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation

His comments came after he met with constituents this morning, following calls from campaigners who gathered outside his constituency office to stand down.

Around 20 protesters gathered calling for him to resign. They included former local Liberal Democrat councillors, a former Labour councillor and a Labour Party member who said she had been 'purged' by the party but did not know why.

They marched to the town hall, receiving a mixed reception, with one woman shouting 'witch hunt' at them while others asked if there was a petition to sign in support of their protest.

Mr Danczuk responded by saying: 'I don't believe for one second the people of Rochdale have any intention of listening to such a rag tag bunch of political opponents.'

And he claimed the protesters were political 'malcontents' and did not represent the views of constituents he had met on the doorstep who gave him the 'benefit of the doubt.'

He added: 'To a person they were saying that, you know, I've made one or two foolish mistakes but they believed I was doing a good job for Rochdale and that I should continue as their member of Parliament.

'In terms of feedback I'm humbled by the fact that, Rochdale people feel the way they do in terms of the work I do for Rochdale and they want me to continue to work for them.

'I've been very clear in terms of apologising for what I believe were the mistakes I've made and I think we should now move on from that and let me get on with doing what I think I'm reasonably good at doing, and what I think Rochdale people believe I'm reasonably good at doing, which is being the member of Parliament and representing the town as best I can, and helping sort out people's problems and representing them well in Parliament.'

The politician faces being kicked out of the Labour party forever, after he admitted sending a string of lewd messages (right) including one in which he said 'God, I'm horny!' to 17-year-old Sophena Houlihan (left)

Following his split from second wife Karen in June, Danczuk had a three-month whirldwind romance with Labour councillor Claire Hamilton, 32 (pictured together), which ended over the explicit texts to Sophena

Mr Danczuk's comments came after his former partner, Claire Hamilton, said his admission of sending texts to Miss Houlihan led her to end their relationship shortly after Christmas.

She told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: 'Simon hasn't got a stop button when he starts to drink. He will just keep consuming. If it's there, he'll drink it.

'It was getting harder and harder to be in the relationship, to the point that when he did confess to texting a teenage girl, it was definitely over. That was the straw that broke the camel's back and I knew there was no going back to him.'

Miss Houlihan, who is now 18, said Mr Danczuk sent her numerous messages, including one asking if she wanted a 'spanking', after she contacted him about a job while she was still aged 17.

The father-of-four's personal life has repeatedly made the headlines over the past year following the collapse of his marriage to wife Karen, who was dubbed the selfie queen after posting numerous photographs of herself in low-cut tops.

He described the last few months as 'quite intense at times' and blamed some of his problems as a result of depression brought on by his work campaigning against child sexual abuse whilst exposing the past of the town's former MP Sir Cyril Smith.

But he was 'quietly confident' a Labour Party internal investigation will conclude his conduct does not warrant expulsion from the party.
Newman's trial begins October 31 and he faces life in prison if convicted

But the judge said he was troubled by the delay in the cop's trial and decided to release him on house detention

Newman denied Slager, 34, bond in September and said he was a 'danger' to the community

Michael Slager was caught on camera shooting Scott as he ran away

A former South Carolina police officer charged with murder in the shooting death of an unarmed black motorist was released from jail Monday evening and will remain under house arrest until his trial is set to begin next Halloween.

Circuit Judge Clifton Newman agreed with a defense request earlier Monday that Michael Slager be released on a $500,000 surety bond.

Slager was released from jail custody about 7pm, said Maj. Eric Watson, a spokesman for the Charleston County Sheriff's Department.

Slager was indicted on a murder charge in June and Newman refused to set bond in September, saying his release would 'constitute an unreasonable danger to the community.'

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Freed, for now: Michael Slager (left, in court on Monday) was released from prison on Monday on a $500,000 bond. Slager has been charged with shooting at Walter Scott (right) eight times during a traffic stop as he was running away

Consequences: Slager faces the possibility of 30 years to life in prison without parole if convicted of murder. Pictured above in court on Monday

A bystander recorded the shooting in dramatic cellphone video that sent shockwaves across America

But on Monday Newman said he was troubled by the delay in Slager's trial and said he had decided to grant him bail.

He added that Slagger would only be able to leave his home for court hearings, as well as to see his lawyers and doctors and attend church. He also must not contact the victim's family.

Slager, 35, faces 30 years to life without parole if convicted of murder.

Slager's attorneys had requested a speedy trial that would begin in March or April, but prosecutor Scarlett Wilson said the state wanted to begin in November.

Wilson is also prosecuting Dylann Roof, the white suspect in the killings of nine black parishioners at the Emanuel AME church last year, in a July trial.

She said the state Supreme Court order protects her from trying other cases before that one.

On April 4 a cell phone video recorded by a bystander captured Slager, 34, firing eight times at Scott, 50, as he ran away from a traffic stop.

Slager told investigators after the incident that Scott tried to grab his gun and Taser.

But Wilson told the court that Scott was running away from the officer and that the only time Slager picked up the Taser and dropped it by Scott's body after shooting him dead.

In October a $6.5m settlement was reached with Scott's family after it was approved by the North Charleston City Council in a 10-0 vote.

Slager's wife and parents broke down in tears in the courtroom after Newman announced his decision, according to The Post and Courier.

Walter Scott, Sr. and Judy Scott, parents of Walter Scott, look on during a bond hearing for former police officer Michael Slager in September. Some of Scott's family members were present when it was announced they'd be awarded $6.5 million on Thursday

Walter Scott, the father of the slain man, also addressed the judge, saying he often goes to the cemetery to visit his son's flower-bedecked grave.

'If we let him out, he's going to go home to see his wife and children. All I can look at is a pot of flowers,' Scott said.

'I hope you allow me reasonable bond to work on my case,' Slager told the judge who said 'these are excruciating issues for the court to deal with.'

But Newman said he was troubled that the trial is being delayed because of the order in the Roof case.

Justin Bamberg, the attorney for Scott's family, said they were disappointed by the ruling but respected it.

He also urged the community to remain 'as peaceful as we have been'.

'Know that at the end of the day, the justice system is going to run its course,' he said.

'While nothing can replace having Walter in our lives, the City of North Charleston's historic action ensures that he did not die in vain,' Scott's brother Anthony said, noting the settlement will provide for Scott's children.

'It was a bittersweet victory,' he added. 'The family still wants justice for my brother and this was a step in the right direction.'

Anthony Scott said the family plans to donate some of the money from the settlement to disaster relief for victims of the recent floods in South Carolina.

Mayor Keith Summey said he was pleased with the settlement.

'The family took steps to keep the community calm, and for that the city is thankful,' he said. 'This is a very difficult period for the Scott family. I know they are glad to have this part behind them so their healing process can continue.'

The bystander's cellphone video showed Slager firing eight times as Scott ran. The shooting inflamed the national debate about how blacks are treated by law enforcement officers.

After the video went public, the family called for peace and calm in the community.

The mayor said that since the shooting, North Charleston police have been outfitted with body cameras. Slager was not wearing one.

Summey also noted the police department will be working with a division of the Department of Justice that helps local communities resolve issues involving race, color, national origin or gender.

Slager was fired following his arrest on the murder charges and has been detained in solitary confinement.

Before the video was brought to the attention of authorities, Slager had told investigators that Scott tried to grab his gun and Taser.

But prosecutor Scarlett Wilson said Scott was running away and the only time Slager could be seen running was to go back, pick up the Taser and then drop it by Scott's body.

Slager faces from 30 years to life in prison without parole if he is convicted of murder.
Jeb Bush Former Florida governor

Age on Election Day: 63

Religion: Catholic

Base: Moderates

Resume: Former Florida governor and secretary of state. Former co-chair of the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy.

Education: B.A. University of Texas at Austin.

Family: Married to Columba Bush (1974), with three adult children. Noelle Bush has made news with her struggle with drug addiction, and related arrests. George P. Bush was elected Texas land commissioner in 2014. Jeb's father George H.W. Bush was the 41st President of the United States, and his brother George W. Bush was number 43.

Claim to fame: Jeb was an immensely popular governor with strong economic and jobs credentials. He is also one of just two GOP candidates who is fluent in Spanish.

Achilles heel: Bush has angered conservatives with his permissive positions on illegal immigration (saying some border-crossing is 'an act of love) and common-core education standards. His last name could also be a liability with voters who fear establishing a family dynasty in the White House.





Chris Christie New Jersey governor

Age on Election Day: 54

Religion: Catholic

Base: Establishment-minded conservatives

Resume: Governor of New Jersey. Former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Former Morris County freeholder and lobbyist.

Governor of New Jersey. Former U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey. Former Morris County freeholder. Former statehouse lobbyist.

Education: B.A. University of Delaware, Newark, J.D. Seton Hall University.

Family: Married to Mary Pat Foster (1986) with four children.

Claim to fame: Pugnacious and unapologetic, Christie once told a heckler to 'sit down and shut up' and brings a brash style to everything he does. That includes the post-9/11 criminal prosecutions of terror suspects that made his reputation as a hard-charger.

Achilles heel: Christie is often accused of embracing an ego-driven and needlessly abrasive style. His administration continues to operate under a 'Bridgegate' cloud: At least two aides have been indicted in an alleged scheme to shut down lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge as political retribution for a mayor who refused to endorse the governor's re-election.

Carly Fiorina Former tech CEO

Age on Election Day: 62

Religion: Episcopalian

Base: Conservatives

Resume: Former CEO of Hewett-Packard. Former group president of Lucent Technologies. Former U.S. Senate candidate in California.

Education: B.A. Stanford University. UCLA School of Law (did not finish). M.B.A. University of Maryland. M.Sci. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Family: Married to Frank Fiorina (1985), with one adult step-daughter and another who is deceased. She has two step-grandchildren. Divorced from Todd Bartlem (1977-1984).

Claim to fame: Fiorina was the first woman to lead a Fortune 20 company, something that could provide ammunition against the Democratic Party's drive to make Hillary Clinton the first female president. She is also the only woman in the 2016 GOP field, making her the one Republican who can't be accused of sexism.

Achilles heel: Fiorina's unceremonious firing by HP's board has led to questions about her management and leadership styles. And her only political experience has been a failed Senate bid in 2010 against Barbara Boxer.





Mike Huckabee Former Arkansas governor

Age on Election Day: 61

Religion: Southern Baptist

Base: Evangelicals

Resume: Former governor and lieutenant governor of Arkansas. Former Fox News Channel host. Ordained minister and author.

Education: B.A. Ouachita Baptist University. Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (did not finish).

Family: Married to Janet Huckabee (1974), with three adult children. Mrs. Huckabee is a survivor of spinal cancer.

Claim to fame: 'Huck' is a political veteran and has run for president before, winning the Iowa Caucuses in 2008 and finishing second for the GOP nomination behind John McCain. He's known as an affable Christian and succeeded in building a huge following on his weekend television program, in which he frequently sat in on the electric bass with country & western groups and other 'wholesome' musical entertainers.

Achilles heel: Huckabee may have a problem with female voters. He complained in 2014 about Obamacare's mandatory contraception coverage, saying Democrats want women to 'believe that they are helpless without Uncle Sugar.' He earned more scorn for hawking herbal supplements in early-2015 infomercials as a diabetes cure, something he has yet to disavow despite disagreement from medical experts.





Rand Paul Kentucky senator

Age on Election Day: 53

Religion: Presbyterian

Base: Libertarians

Resume: US senator. Board-certified ophthalmologist. Former congressional campaign manager for his father Ron Paul.

Education: Baylor University (did not finish). M.D. Duke University School of Medicine.

Family: Married to Kelley Ashby (1990), with three sons. His father is a former Texas congressman who ran for president three times but never got close to grabbing the brass ring.

Claim to fame: Paul embraces positions that are at odds with most in the GOP, including an anti-interventionist foreign policy, reduced military spending, criminal drug sentencing reform for African-Americans and strict limits on government electronic surveillance  including a clampdown on the National Security Agency.

Achilles heel: Paul's politics are aligned with those of his father, whom mainstream GOPers saw as kooky. Both Pauls have advocated for a brand of libertarianism that forces government to stop domestic surveillance programs and limits foreign military interventions.





Rick Santorum Former Penn. senator

Age on Election Day: 58

Religion: Catholic

Base: Evangelicals

Resume: Former US senator and former member of the House of Representatives from Pennsylvania. Former lobbyist who represented World Wrestling Entertainment.

Education: B.A. Penn State University. M.B.A. University of Pittsburgh. J.D. Penn State University Dickinson School of Law.

Family: Married to Karen Santorum (1990), with seven living children. One baby was stillborn in 1996. Another, named Isabella, is a special needs child with a genetic disorder.

Claim to fame: Santorum won the 2012 Republican Iowa Caucuses by a nose. He won by visiting all of Iowa's 99 states in a pickup truck belonging to his state campaign director, a consultant who now works for Donald Trump.

Achilles heel: As a young lobbyist, Santorum persuaded the federal government to exempt pro wrestling from regulations governing the use of anabolic steroids. And the stridently conservative politician has attracted strong opposition from gay rights groups. One gay columnist held a contest to redefine his name, buying the 'santorum.com' domain to advertise the winning entry  which is too vulgar to print.





REPUBLICAN DROPOUTS

Rick Perry, former Texas governor

(withdrew Sept. 11, 2015)

Scott Walker, Wisconsin governor

(withdrew Sept. 21, 2015)

Bobby Jindal, Louisiana governor

(withdrew Nov. 17, 2015)

Lindsey Graham, South Carolina senator

(withdrew Dec. 21, 2015)

George Pataki, former New York governor
In Chinese society some people prefer a boy over a girl in the family

A seven-month-old baby has allegedly been poisoned by his aunt because she was jealous that her sister-in-law had a boy and she gave birth to a girl.

The unidentified women from Changde, in central Chinas Hunan Province is thought to have fed the little boy - known as Kang Kang - mercury from a thermometer, reported the Peoples Daily Online.

Kang Kang is recovering in hospital. His aunt has reportedly handed herself into the local police station, but it is unclear whether or not she has been charged or sentenced.

Heartbreaking: Kang Kang is treated in a hospital in Changde, China, after allegedly being poisoned by his aunt

Devastated: Kang Kang's mother wait anxiously in the hospital after discovering her son was poisoned

According to the report, Kang Kang fell ill during a family reunion on December 26.

His mother and father said they were confused as to how he became sick as he never left their side.

His father said he found a broken thermometer placed next to Kang Kangs bed. Kang Kang became ill the same night.

NHS.uk states that the amount of mercury in a thermometer is usually very small, holding around three grams of what is known as 'elemental mercury.'

Swallowing this amount would cause little damage but if the mercury is inhaled it can lead to serious health problems. These include breathing difficulties, coughing up blood, red and swollen eyes, and serious chest pains.

Helpless: The seven-month-old child is being treated for alleged mercury poison in a Changde hospital

Poison: The boy's aunt reportedly fed him mercury over the Christmas holiday's because she was jealous

At the childrens hospital where Kang Kang is being treated, the womans sister-in-law - only known as Ms Wang  who is Kang Kangs mother, told reporters the reason Kang Kangs aunt poisoned him was because she gave birth to a daughter and was jealous.

When the one child policy was put into effect in China around 1976, many families preferred to have a boy than a girl.

In Chinese society some believe that giving birth to a boy has a big influence on a woman's status, and a boy is more likely to earn money for the family as he gets older.

When Kang Kang was taken to the hospital, doctors found traces of mercury in his faeces which reportedly led them to believe he was poisoned.

His aunt allegedly surrendered to the police after this was discovered.

Considerable damage from mercury can occur if it is made airborne and breathed into the lungs.
A Chinese mother shed tears of joy last month after she was finally reunited with her daughter who went missing while playing on the street in 1998 at the age of two.

Lu Qirui, hugged her 19-year-old daughter, Tang Shuzhuo, for the first time in nearly two decades on December 27 in Dongguan city, south China, reported the People's Daily Online.

Lu and her husband, Tang Yunfu, said they're looking forward to spending the upcoming Chinese New Year with the daughter they had missed for 17 years.

A long-awaited hug: Lu Qirui (left) meets her daughter Tang Shuzhuo (right) who got lost at the age of two

Tear of joys: Tang Shuzhuo was separated from her parents while playing outside a school in Nanyang, China

Tang Shuzhuo was reportedly separated from her parents on October 19, 1998.

At the time, her parents ran a school canteen in Nanyang, in central China's Henan Province.

A two-year-old Tang Shuzhuo was brought out by two canteen employees to play outside the school gate.

Later the canteen staff came back to work, leaving Tang Shuzhuo alone on the street, and the toddler never managed to find her way back to her parents.

It's thought that the girl was found and adopted by another family from the same city, who gave her a new name of Chen Guoli.

Tang Shuzhuo, who went missing at such a young age, she couldn't remember her birth parents.

She said she only found out she was adopted after her cousin at the Chen family revealed the truth to her, reported China's Southern Metropolis Daily.

In April, 2015, the same cousin helped her post a message on Baobeihuijia, or 'Baby Come Home,' a Chinese website focused on connecting missing children with their parents, in a bid to look for her birth parents.

Part of the post read: 'In October, 1998, Chen Guoli was alone on the street.

'Her adopted father accompanied her to wait for a long time and nobody came to pick her up, so [he] took her back [to his home] in Nanyang.'

Family portrait: Lu Qishui (left) and her husband (back row) finally get to take a picture with their daughter Tang Shuzhuo (middle), together with their six-year-old son

According to Baobeihuijia, volunteers from the organisation took Tang Shuzhuo for a DNA test at the local police station in June.

And Tang Shuzhuo was informed by the police in September that they have found a match to her blood sample - a couple living in Nanyang who lost their child 17 years ago.

A reunion was immediately arranged by Baobeihuijia to help the two parties meet after nearly two decades.

On hearing the news, Lu Qirui and her husband Tang Yunfu travelled some 840 miles from Nanyang city in central China's Henan Province to meet their daughter in the town of Tangxia in Dongguan, where the young woman currently lives and works.

The couple, who allegedly make a living by selling vegetables, brought with them a golden necklace they had brought as a present for their long-awaited daughter, reported China's Southern Metropolis Daily.

Lu Qirui told reporters: '[I] haven't seen her for 17 years. This can count as a compensation for not taking care of her.'

In addition, they also brought along their six-year-old son in order for him to meet his sister for the very first time.

Lu and Tang reportedly closed their canteen and spent several years trying to find their missing daughter full time in Nanyang.

The desperate couple decided to have two more children after they lost hope of finding Tang Shuzhuo.

Lu said: 'The missing of the child casts a long shadow over my life.'

Memory: Pictured above are Lu Qirui and a young Tang Shuzhuo before the two were separated in 1998

Tang Shuzhuo was waiting outside of her factory to meet her birth parents together with her boyfriend.

Lu recognised her daughter immediately before breaking down to tears and hugging her tightly.

'She looks exactly like her aunt,' Lu said.

The emotional mother touched the back of her daughter's ear and said to her husband: 'Look, the back of her ear is just like yours, there is an obvious bulge.'

Tang Shuzhuo, who grew up believing the Chens were her real parents, was overwhelmed by the sudden change of life.

She refused to call Lu Qirui and Tang Yunpu 'mum' and 'dad' during the reunion.

She said: 'This is all too sudden. I can't accept it for now.'
After 15 years of sheer determination, a woman and her fellow villagers can now contact the rest of the world through a single tunnel.

Courageous Deng Yingxiang guided the group as they chiselled through a mountain using only hammers and manpower in Mahuai Village, south China's Guizhou Province, reports The Peoples Daily Online.

Residents in the village had lived in isolation for years, so they built the 650-foot tunnel in order to communicate and trade with people on the other side of the mountain.

Lifeline: Entrance to a tunnel that totally transformed Mahuai Village, in south China thanks to Deng Yingxiang

Determined: Deng Yingxiang walks through the tunnel that was built after she rallied residents for help in China

The artificial underpass comes out onto a road, connecting the village to civilisation.

People in the village have been living in poverty over the years, the tunnel connecting them to the road now allows them to trade.

Deng Yingxiang led the masses in 1999, together they hammered away to make the passage after she became tired of not being able to travel long distances to interact with other people.

As the village became extremely poor, the original roads that were built on top of the mountain gradually became impassable.

The nearest road to the village capable of holding vehicles is currently located two hours away, this was not good enough for Deng Yingxiang.

Inside the village, before the tunnel was completed residents did not have any power and the way for the children to get to school was too dangerous, this tunnel now makes everything possible.

Originally, one of the villagers accidentally discovered a 130-foot-long natural cave. Deng Yingxiang then made the decision to extend the cave and build a tunnel.

Strong woman: Deng Yingxiang encouraged the villagers to build a tunnel so they could trade with the world

She told reporters, when they first started to burrow the tunnel it was a lot more difficult than they had originally imagined.

It was so shallow at one stage they had to dig on their stomachs and chisel above their heads.

As well as digging out the tunnel, Den Yingxiang made sure they reinforced it so it would not collapse when people passed through.

Even when they thought they had completed the tunnel, strong minded Deng Yingxiang encouraged the villagers and insisted it needed to be better.

An unnamed villager said: We were satisfied with this cave, but Deng didnt think like this, she thought residents in our village should be able to ride motorbikes and even drive cars, so she went into each single family to encourage them to carry on, widen the cave and strengthen the ceiling.

She helped us find sponsorship and her daughter came to work in her place. In order to dig the case, her husband was deafened by explosion and lost her nails. What do you think she did this for? said the villager.

Residents can now grow crops, use agricultural vehicles and drive vans, this has led to new houses being built at a fast pace and more money coming into the village, 80% of the villagers currently live in new houses.
the discoveries are simply interestingly-shaped rocks caused by a clever trick of the mind

It may be touted as mankind's top cosmic destination but, if UFO hunters are to be believed, Mars is already home to a menagerie of animals.

Conspiracy theorists have found everything from 'crabs' and 'lizards' to 'bears' and 'rabbits', by combing images of the red planet taken by rovers such as Curiosity.

Of course, however, the majority of experts believe they are simply interestingly-shaped rocks and it is a clever trick of the mind that makes us think we're seeing creatures.

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Conspiracy theorists have found everything from 'crabs' and 'lizards' to 'bears' and 'rabbits', by combing images of the red planet taken by rovers such as Curiosity. In October, UFO hunters spotted a baby bear on Mars (pictured) and claimed that it must be alive, based on its 'hair' and shadows seen around its body

In October, UFO hunters spotted a baby bear on Mars and claimed that it was alive, based on its 'hair' and shadows seen around its body.

It was pinpointed by YouTube user Paranormal Crucible among photos of Gale Crater taken by Nasa's Curiosity rover, who alerted the website UFO Sightings Daily.

Site editor Scott C Waring, who is based in Taiwan, said: 'There is a reason Nasa puts photos into black and white. To hide the living creatures and plants that are an obvious colour.

Site editor Scott C Waring, who is based in Taiwan, said: 'There is a reason Nasa puts photos into black and white. To hide the living creatures and plants that are an obvious colour'. The 'bear' is circled

The Martian 'bear' was pinpointed by YouTube user Paranormal Crucible among photos of Gale Crater taken by Nasa's Curiosity rover, who alerted the website UFO Sightings Dail. A stock image is shown

ALIEN ANIMALS AND THE UN Mr Waring is so worried about the great Martian 'animal' cover-up that he has alerted the United Nations. He said he would send the 'bear' image to Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the UN. He wrote: 'I often alert them about these amazing discoveries, but as of yet have gotten only one answer, which was him asking me to send it to the @UN account and not his @SecGen account, then another general at the UN followed me that same day...apparently worried I was off my rocker.' He asked readers of the site to help him open the UN's eyes to the 'truth'. Advertisement

'This creature has real hair as seen from the shadows around its body.

'That means it's not a statue, but a living creature.'

Paranormal Crucible called his find a 'possible hybrid rodent' rather than a bear and exaggerated certain features including a tail in his video.

He wrote: 'The anomaly which was photographed near gale crater appears to show a small mammal type creature possibly a hybrid species of gundi or prairie dog.'

One month earlier, a blogger claimed to have seen a lizard meandering around Mars.

The claim, posted again on UFO Sightings Daily, caused some excitable conspiracy theorists to fear Nasa could be planting life on the planet for scientific testing.

'With water existing on Mars in small amounts, it's possible to find such desert animals wandering around...although very rare mind you,' Mr Waring wrote on his site.

One month earlier, a blogger claimed to have seen a lizard meandering around Mars (pictured). The claim, posted again on UFO Sightings Daily, caused some excitable conspiracy theorists to fear Nasa could be planting life on the planet for scientific testing

'Then again, is Nasa placing animals from tiny cyogenic chambers inside the rover onto the surface of Mars to conduct tests?' he asked.

In November 2013, a 'fossilised Martian lizard' caused considerable excitement.

The mysterious object was first spotted by UFO Sightings Daily which uncovered the photograph in Nasa's archives.

It would be easy to miss, but the keen eye of Scott Waring, who owns the site, was able to spot the 'iguana' rock in photos taken by the Mars Curiosity rover.

In August, alien hunters shared an image on 'Journey to the Surface of the Mars' Facebook page of a mysterious Martian 'facehugger crab,' which they noted bears some resemblance from the monster in 'Alien'.

In November 2013, another 'fossilised Martian lizard' caused considerable excitement. Scott Waring spotted a rock in the shape of an iguana (left and stock image right) among photos taken by the Mars Curiosity rover

The 'crab' can be seen in an image taken by the Mars rover Curiosity, which shows a formation that looks like a cave mouth on the red planet.

A year previously, alien hunters spotted a 'frog' on Mars.

The dubious discovery was made by Jason Hunter who shared a video showing the amphibian-shaped rock on YouTube.

However UFO Sightings Daily, said it was probably not alive, 'unless it can sit there overnight while the winds erased its footprints.'

Waring wrote that there is a small possibility the frog may have been keeping still, but it's more likely it's 'an ancient sculpture that has been pitted by the wind and sand.'

A year previously, alien hunters spotted a 'frog' on Mars (pictured above). The dubious discovery was made by Jason Hunter who shared a video showing the amphibian-shaped rock on YouTube

In August, alien hunters shared an image on 'Journey to the Surface of the Mars' Facebook page of a mysterious Martian 'facehugger crab,' which they noted looks like the monster in 'Alien' (screenshot)

The 'crab' (pictured above) can be seen in an image taken by the Mars rover Curiosity, which shows a formation that looks like a cave mouth on the red planet

WHY DO PEOPLE SEE ANIMALS? While these 'animals' may be living on Mars according to UFO hunters, scientists explained their presence with the mind trick, pareidolia. This is a psychological response to seeing faces and other significant and everyday items in random stimulus and is a form of apophenia - when people see patterns or connections in random, unconnected data. Human eyes can spot faces within their environment and it helps them recognise friends in a crowd, work out how fast a car is travelling, and see patterns. Scientists claim we also tend to use this ability to 'enrich our imagination' and recognise meaningful shapes, even when they're not there. 'It's usually some sort of animal, but occasionally even weirder objects such as automobile parts,' explained Seth Shostak, director of the Centre for Seti Research. 'Maybe they think there are cars on Mars.' 'Recognising a crab in a landscape filled with rocks is no more surprising - nor more significant - than seeing a winking face in a semi-colon followed by a parenthesis.' Advertisement

Other small animals have also been spotted, including a rat, eagle and rabbit.

Photographed in 2014, Nasa admitted that its Opportunity rover had snapped an object that resembled a rabbit.

Jeff Johnson, a scientist from the US Geological Survey was alerted to a small 'fuzzy-looking object' measuring about two inches long (4-5cm).

After pondering the strange image, his team concluded the 'bunny ears' had been part of the rover or its lander, while the rest of the 'rabbit' was actually a piece of airbag material.

When he tried to image the 'ears' they had vanished, moving 15ft (4.5 metres) from the lander and was ordered to 'track the bunny'.

He said: 'It looks as if the object has been blown under the north-facing egress ramp.'

Alien hunters disagreed with Nasa's seemingly plausible explanation and took to UFO Sightings to share their theories.

Waring said: 'Of course Nasa tries to downplay the fact this is alien life, although it is seen moving and then disappears.

'Of course they make an excuse and say it's part of the rover landing gear, uh...like we were born yesterday.'

He suggested the space agency hides such 'signs of life' to help the US get ahead in the race for alien technology.

Elsewhere, among a photograph showing craggy rocks, eagle-eyes hunters spied a bird resembling a penguin or eagle.

Photographed in 2014, Nasa admitted its Opportunity rover had snapped an object that resembled a rabbit. Jeff Johnson, a scientist from the US Geological Survey was alerted to a small object measuring 2-inches (4-5cm)

After pondering the strange image, his team concluded the 'bunny ears' (shown left) had been part of the rover or its lander (right) while the rest of the 'rabbit' was actually a piece of airbag material (right)

Similarly, a 'Martian rat' was spotted in an image taken by Nasa's Curiosity rover.

It appears to show a rodent crouching between two rocks and Waring suggested Nasa may have flown it to Mars in secret as part of an experiment to test whether life could survive on the red planet.

'Why would they not tell us about it?' he wrote.

'Because the squirrel would be expected to die eventually and that would get Peta [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] to fight against them in a court of law.'

The Martian 'rat' was such a big hit it even had its own Twitter account, @RealMarsRat.

Only last month, a 'mouse' was spotted scurrying along a ridge of 96 mile-long (154km) Gale Crater.

It was spotted by amateur astronomer Joe White, 45, who noticed a chunk of rock in Nasa's footage that looks bizarrely like a small rodent on the surface of the planet.

Elsewhere, among a photograph showing craggy rocks, eagle-eyes hunters spied a bird resembling a penguin or eagle. The 'bird' is shown highlighted in this circle

Mr White, a space video journalist from Bristol, said: 'It is what looks like a very large rodent in Gale Crater sitting on a ridge, plain as day

'It may be an optical illusion but it has big ears, nose and eyes visible.

'It resembles a very large mouse or gerbil, and would be about two or three feet long.'

Mr White runs the YouTube channel ArtAlienTV and trawls through Nasa's images to find unusual shapes.

The 'mouse' image was taken using the 6ft-high (1.8 metre) right-hand side mast cam on the Curiosity rover on 27 October.

While all these 'animals' may be living on Mars according to UFO hunters, scientists have explained their presence is a trick of the mind called pareidolia.

Seth Shostak, director of the Centre for Seti Research said it's the psychological response to seeing faces and other significant and everyday items in random stimulus.

A 'Martian rat' was spotted in an image taken by Nasa's Curiosity rover. It appears to show a rodent crouching between two rocks and Waring suggested Nasa may have flown it to Mars in secret as part of an experiment to test whether life could survive on the red plane

Only last month, a 'mouse' (pictured) was spotted scurrying along a ridge of 96 mile-long (154km) Gale Crater. It was spotted by amateur astronomer Joe White, 45, who noticed a chunk of rock in Nasa's footage that looks bizarrely like a small rodent on the surface of the planet

It is a form of apophenia, which is when people see patterns or connections in random, unconnected data.

Human eyes can spot faces within their environment and it helps them recognise friends in a crowd, work out how fast a car is travelling, and see patterns.

Scientists claim we also tend to use this ability to 'enrich our imagination' and recognise meaningful shapes, even when they're not there.

'Those that send [images] to me are generally quite excited, as they claim that these frequently resemble something you wouldn't expect to find on the rusty, dusty surface of the red planet,' said Shostak.

'It's usually some sort of animal, but occasionally even weirder objects such as automobile parts. Maybe they think there are cars on Mars.'
Men are the perpetrators in a staggeringly high number of homicides, especially mass shootings - up to as many as 97 per cent.

But what causes these typically young, male killers to want to commit such violent crimes?

A psychologist from Illinois suggests the reason lies in how humans have evolved, and blames it on the effect guns can have a person's level of testosterone.

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According to Frank McAndrew from Illinois' Knox College, guns have been known to cause a surge in testosterone among men. This, linked with the evolutionary need to compete, can lead men to commit violent crimes, such as the recent San Bernardino shooting in California (memorial pictured)

According to Frank McAndrew, a professor of psychology at Knox College, powerful men have always had greater sexual access to women than men lower in the pecking order.

This has historically created power struggles as men attempt to assert their authority and boost their social status.

In a previous study co-authored by Professor McAndrew, men who were presented with a gun showed a greater increase in testosterone levels and more aggressive behaviour than males who interacted with the board game Mouse Trap.

As part of the study, each participant dismantled either a gun or the mousetrap, handled its components and then wrote instructions for how to assemble the objects.

MASS SHOOTINGS BY COUNTRY America has the highest rate of mass shootings in the world because of the 'dark side of exceptionalism', a recent study claimed. University of Alabama criminologist Adam Lankford discovered the US has experienced five times the number of mass shootings in the last 50 years than any other country - and he said the 'cultural propensity for violence' is to blame. There were 291 documented mass shootings in the world between 1966 and 2012, with 90 (31 per cent) occurring in the United States. The Philippines, with 18 mass shootings between 1966 and 2012, was second, followed by Russia (15), Yemen (11), and France (10). Lankford outlined several factors that he believes have caused this, including America's high rate of gun ownership, the idolisation of fame among US mass shooters, and what he calls 'the dark side of American exceptionalism'. Lankford also believes the failure of the US health care system to treat mental illness is partly to blame, but is not a factor in itself. Advertisement

They were then given the opportunity to put hot sauce into water that was going to be consumed by another person.

The participants who handled the gun put in significantly more hot sauce, and were also more likely to express disappointment after learning that no-one was going to drink the concoction.

'Young male violence is most likely to be initiated by young men who don't command respect from others,' explained Professor McAndrew.

'They'll often feel like slighted outcasts, deprived of what they want or feel they deserve.'

He used the example of Elliot Rodger, the college student responsible for the 2014 attack in Santa Barbara, California.

In a YouTube video, Rodger explained that after picking up the gun, he 'felt a new sense of power' and is recorded saying 'who's the alpha male now, bitches?' - a sign which Professor McAndrew said demonstrated a surge in testosterone.

Professor McAndrew also explained that younger men find themselves especially concerned with status and dominance.

In early societies, competitive success or failure in early adulthood determined a man's standing in a social group.

'It wasn't possible to simply hit the "reset" button and join another group, so what happened during the teen years mattered a lot,' added Professor McAndrew.

High-risk competition between young males, therefore, provided an opportunity to show off and demonstrate 'heroic or even recklessly daredevil behaviour', which was ultimately rewarded with status and respect.

In a previous study co-authored by Professor McAndrew, men who were presented with a gun showed a greater increase in testosterone levels and more aggressive behaviour than males who interacted with the board game Mouse Trap. Oregon College shooter Chris Harper-Mercer is pictured

Psychologists have previously coined the term 'precarious manhood'. The experts argue that 'manhood' is a status that must be continually earned, and one's self-worth is tied to being perceived as a 'real man.' This desire to achieve status can lead males to commit murder. A memorial in San Bernardino is pictured

The male bias in mass shootings could also be caused by what it is known as 'Young Male Syndrome.'

'It's no secret that most people fear violent behaviour by young men more than violent behaviour by older men,' said Professor McAndrew. 'There's a sound basis for this fear.'

He quotes Canadian psychologists Margo Wilson and Martin Daly who studied the relationship among age, sex and homicide in the US in 1975.

The pair found that the likelihood of a woman being a murder victim doesn't change dramatically throughout the course of her life.

AGGRESSION IN CHIMPANZEES Studies on chimps have shown that high-ranking males exhibit the highest levels of aggression and the highest levels of testosterone. Furthermore, all adult male chimps experience their highest testosterone levels when they're in the presence of females who are ovulating. And this is only associated with higher levels of aggression - not significant increases in actual sexual activity. Advertisement

The pattern for the males, on the other hand, is significant.

At the age of 10, males and females have an equal probability of being murdered. But by the time men are into their 20's, they become six times more likely to be murdered.

Consistent with Wilson and Daly's data, 87 per cent of the 598 homicide victims in the city of Chicago in 2003 were males, and 64 per cent of the victims were between the ages of 17 and 30.

'Nature fuels the fires of male violence by equipping young men with the high levels of testosterone necessary to get the job done' Professor McAndrew continued.

This has been seen in other species too.

Studies on chimps, for example, have shown that high-ranking males exhibit the highest levels of aggression and the highest levels of testosterone.

Furthermore, all adult male chimps experience their highest testosterone levels when they're in the presence of females who are ovulating.

And this is only associated with higher levels of aggression - not significant increases in actual sexual activity.

Studies on chimps (stock image) have shown that high-ranking males exhibit the highest levels of aggression and the highest levels of testosterone. Furthermore, all adult male chimps experience their highest testosterone levels when they're in the presence of females who are ovulating

'Researchers such as myself who study the relationship between testosterone and aggression in humans have concluded that testosterone-fuelled violence is more likely to occur when males are competing with other males, or when the social status of a male is challenged in some way,' added Professor McAndrew.

'The increased testosterone facilitates whatever competitive behaviours are needed to meet the challenge, which could mean physical violence.'

Elsewhere, psychologists Joseph Vandello and Jennifer Bosson previously coined the term 'precarious manhood'.

They argue that 'manhood' is a status that must be continually earned, and one's self-worth is tied to being perceived as a 'real man.'

It is described as 'precarious' because it can be easily lost.

'When I introduce this concept to my male students, they instantly recognise what I'm talking about,' said Professor McAndrew.

'But when I ask the women if there's a female equivalent, I'm often met with confused looks.

'The roots of this male dilemma reside deep in our prehistoric past.
Lenovo is well known for its flexible 'Yoga' laptops that flip and twist.

Now the company has gone one better by unveiling the ThinkPad X1 tablet - a 12-inch device that can transform into a projector, laptop and a 3D camera.

The X1 tablet, announced ahead of CES in Las Vegas, has something known as 'productivity modules' that add up to five hours of additional battery life.

Lenovo's ThinkPad X1 tablet is a 12-inch device that can transform into a projector, laptop and a 3D camera. The X1 tablet, announced ahead of CES in Las Vegas, also uses 'productivity modules' to boost battery life

It was revealed alongside an updated X1 range which includes a Yoga-brand 360-degree hinge X1 laptop, an X1 all-in-one PC, and an X1 monitor.

The ThinkPad X1 is powered by Intel's latest Core M7 chipset, is 8.4-mm thick and has 10-hours of battery life.

If users want to screen a film on the go, an optional 'presenter' module uses a pico projector to produce a 60-inch display from the bottom of the tablet.

The device can be transformed into a 3D camera using a module that combines Intel's RealSense camera that captures and edits objects for 3D printing.

COSTS AND RELEASE DATES ThinkPad X1 Tablet will be available starting February from $899 (608). The Productivity Module will be available starting February from $149 (100). The Projector Module will be available starting May from $279 (188). The 3D Imaging Module will be available starting May from $149 (100). ThinkPad X1 Yoga will be available starting January from $1,449 (980). OLED models will be available starting April. Prices will be quoted nearer the time. ThinkPad X1 Carbon will be available starting February from $1,299 (880). ThinkPad X1 Wireless Touch Mouse will be available starting end of January for $69.99 (47). ThinkCentre X1 AIO will be available starting March from $1,029 (696). ThinkVision X1 will be available starting March from $799 (540). UK prices are yet to be announced so the conversions should be used as a guide only. Advertisement

It also has a full ThinkPad keyboard with a TrackPoint and trackpad as well as the option of using a kickstand.

An optional active stylus, that could be useful for artists and graphic designers, is available for $50.

The 3D camera and additional battery ports are $149, and the projector module comes in at $279.

Lenovo is planning to launch the ThinkPad X1 tablet in February priced at $899.

Johnson Jia, senior vice president, Personal Computing Group, Lenovo said the device is part of the company's drive to create 'unique features, for greater performanceand better cloud access.'

The company also unveiled its X1 Yoga, which has an attached keyboard that can flip around to turn the device into a tablet.

The 14-inch device has an optional 1,440 OLED screen that will provide more vibrant and realistic colours.

X1 Yoga additionally features an active pen which the company claims is 'perfect for highlighting and writing notes directly on webpages'.

The X1 Yoga will be available later this month starting at $1,449.

Elsewhere, Lenovo introduced the latest edition of the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, making it faster, slimmer and lighter than the predecessor, which was released last year.

If users want to screen a film on the go, an optional 'presenter' module uses a pico projector to produce a 60-inch display from the bottom of the tablet. The device (pictured) can be transformed into a 3D camera using a module that combines Intel's RealSense camera that captures and edits objects for 3D printing

It also has a full ThinkPad keyboard with a TrackPoint and trackpad as well as the option of using a kickstand (pictured). It was revealed alongside an updated X1 range which includes a Yoga-brand 360-degree hinge X1 laptop, an X1 all-in-one PC, and an X1 monitor

The new model is 16.45mm thick, around 8 per cent thinner than its predecessor, and weighs 1.18 kg.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon will be available next month starting at $1,299.

The ThinkPad L460 and L560 desktop replacement laptops were announced and start at $749.

Meanwhile, audiences in Las Vegas were impressed by the 27-inch display, 4K2K ThinkVision X1 monitor.
Chemists around the world have celebrated the New Year with the addition of four newly discovered chemical elements to the periodic table.

The new elements, which were verified by international bodies on 30 December and have been given temporary names, are the missing jigsaw pieces needed to complete the seventh row of the iconic table.

Teams of scientists from Japan, Russia and the US that uncovered the missing elements have now been invited to give permanent names to their new discoveries.

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The four new chemical elements (113, 115, 117 and 118) are the missing jigsaw pieces needed to complete the seventh row of the iconic table (pictured on the seventh row with symbols Uut, Uup, Uus and Uuo)

The new elements don't appear in nature, but are unstable reactive elements made in the laboratory.

Although they were first discovered between 2003 to 2008, it took some years to verify and reproduce the results.

All discoveries have to be officially verified by a joint working group of two US-based bodies - the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAC).

These groups are the guardians of new admissions to the table.

Elements 115, 117 and 118 were discovered through a collaborative effort between US and Russian scientists from the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia, the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee.

These elements have the temporary names and symbols of ununpentium (Uup), ununseptium (Uus) and ununoctium (Uuo).

Meanwhile element 113 or 'ununtrium' (Uut), was discovered by scientists at the Riken Institute in Japan, led by Professor Kosuke Morita.

The acceptance of the element by the international bodies makes it the first chemical element to be discovered and named by Asian scientists.

THE FOUR NEW ELEMENTS Element temporary name (symbol), number Elements discovered by: Ununtrium (Uut), 113

Ununpentium (Uup), 115

Ununseptium (Uus), 117

Ununoctium (Uuo). 118 Japan, Riken Institute

US and Russia, Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, Dubna, Russia; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California; Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Tennessee Advertisement

The new elements don't appear in nature, but are unstable reactive elements made in the laboratory. Although they were first discovered between 2003 to 2008, it took some years to verify the reproduce and verify results. They are now officially recognised elements in the seventh period of the table (pictured)

The Riken Institute said in a statement: 'IUPAC has announced that Morita's group will be given priority for the discovery of the new element, a privilege that includes the right to propose a name for it.'

At a press conference, Professor Morita told reporters: 'I feel grateful that the name will be included in the table for the first time after this recognition.'

President of the IUPAC, Dr Mark Cesa, added the organisation was 'pleased and honoured' to announce the new elements and to complete the seventh period of the table.

Dr Cesa added: 'We are excited about these new elements, and we thank the dedicated scientists who discovered them for their painstaking work, as well the members of the IUPAC/IUPAP Joint Working Party for completing their essential and critically important task.'

Professor Kosuke Morita (pictured) led a team of scientists that has been awarded the right to name a synthetic element they created, which will become element 113 on the periodic table

Commenting on the nature of the four newest elements, chair of the IUPAC/IUPAP joint working group, Professor Paul Karol, said: 'A particular difficulty in establishing these new elements is that they decay into hitherto unknown isotopes of slightly lighter elements that also need to be unequivocally identified.'

He added: 'But in the future we hope to improve methods that can directly measure the atomic number, Z.'

The new elements take their place in the seventh row, or period, of the periodic table.

The four are the first elements to be added to the table since elements 114 and 116 - Flevorium and Livermorium which were discovered in Russia and the US, respectively - were accepted by the IUPAC/IUPAP in June 2011.
Astronauts could live in a 3D-printed 'village' on the surface of the moon in as little as 15 years under plans put forward by the European Space Agency.

Officials from around the world recently discussed proposals for the first permanent base on the moon designed to replace the International Space Station.

They proposed using 3D printing technology to create a series of permanent structures using the lunar soil, known as regolith, which could used to house astronauts by 2030.

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Experts from the European Space Agency outlined plans to build habitats and other structures on the moon using 3D printing technology that turns the lunar soil into construction blocks. Esa bosses hope to build a base on the moon (illustrated above) as a possible replacement for the International Space Station

This lunar village could be used as a settlement for the first humans to live in a permanent base on the moon, while also supporting new types of scientific research.

The base could also serve as a staging point to launch future missions to other planets, such as Mars.

CHINA'S MISSION TO THE MOON DISCOVERS NEW TYPE OF ROCK A type of titanium-rich rock, never before seen by researchers, has been discovered on the surface of the moon. Samples of the unique basalt were gathered by the Chinese rover Jade-Rabbit and researchers have now studied the rock to learn more about the moon's volcanic surface. In particular, the rock contains a unique mixture of titanium dioxide and olivine, which makes it different from any of the samples returned by the Nasa Apollo missions. The unmanned Chang'e-3 probe and the Jade Rabbit rover touched down on a vast flat flood plain formed of a unique type of volcanic basalt. Analysis of the measurements the rover took while exploring the site have revealed the area formed surprisingly recently and may be among the youngest areas on the lunar surface. While the surface of the moon is largely thought to have been shaped by volcanic eruptions that took place some 3 to 4 billion years ago. But the unusual volcanic basalt rock discovered by the Chinese rover appears to be just 2.96 billion years old. It has been found to contain a unique mixture of minerals that has high levels of titanium dioxide and also another green mineral called olivine. Advertisement

Esa has begun to take a lead role in the push to establish a base on the moon after Nasa said it does not intend to be the lead in future manned missions on the lunar surface.

Instead, the American space agency is focusing on sending humans to an asteroid and then on to the surface of Mars.

However, Jan Woerner, who took over as director general of Esa in July, has said he is keen to send humans back to the moon.

Speaking to Le Temps he said: 'Abandoned by man for 43 years, it remains the only planet attainable by human missions with current technology, but remains poorly understood.

'For scientists, if the Earth has changed massively since its formation due to vegetation and animals, the moon constitutes a silent archive of the solar system.'

He said he wanted to see a lunar base becoming the replacement to the International Space Station, which is currently orbiting the Earth.

He described a vision to establish a 'village' on the moon with multiple countries from around the world that could serve as a base for scientific, space tourism and even mining activities on the moon.

He said: 'There is the regolith - an ideal material for making concrete. We could mould structures, such as an astronomical observatory, on the far side.'

Space exploration experts from around the world met in Noorwijk, the Netherlands, last month for the Esa-led international symposium entitled Moon 2020-2030: A New Era of Coordinated Human and Robotic Exploration.

They discussed new technologies that could help to support human life on the moon including new space suits, habitats and ways of producing food.

Esa scientists have been testing 3D-printing technology they say could be used on the moon. It was one of a number of proposals discussed at an international conference organised by Esa about returning humans to the lunar surface. A proposed lunar base is illustrated

Some of these technologies, such as greenhouses being used to grow salad and other planets, are already being tested on the International Space Station.

Laurent Pambaguian, from Esa's materials technology section, outlined technology his team have been testing to print construction blocks out of the lunar regolith.

He added that 3D printers can produce between 6.5ft and 11ft (2 metres and 3.5 metres) of material an hour, meaning an entire structure could be produced in a week.

By sending a robot capable of building structures from the lunar soil, it may be possible to have these in place in time for a manned mission to the moon.

Esa's D-Shape printer has been used to create prototype structures that could be used in a lunar base (pictured). It uses a mobile array of printing nozzles that spray a binding solution onto a sand-like material

This 1.5 tonne building block was produced as a demonstration of 3D printing techniques using lunar soil

Speaking in the past about the 3D printing technology, Mr Pambaguian said: 'Terrestrial 3D printing technology has produced entire structures.

'Our industrial team investigated if it could similarly be employed to build a lunar habitat.'

Artist's impressions of such a lunar base released by Esa have been compared to the underground buildings inhabited by the children's TV charactrers the Teletubbies.

Scientists also discussed a possible location for a base with astronomers favouring the far side of the moon as it would allow radio telescopes to peer into space without being effected by transmissions from Earth.

However, according to Space.com, Europe now appears to be leading the international efforts to put humans back on the moon.

Structures for a lunar base could be built by robots sent ahead of human astronauts (illustrated). Experts said 3D printing technology can currently construct an entire building in around a week

Scientists also discussed a possible location for a base with astronomers favouring the far side of the moon as it would allow radio telescopes to peer into space without being effected by transmissions from Earth. A false colour image of the lunar surface is pictured

Kathy Laurini, Nasa's cao-chair for the exploration roadmap working group who attended the symposium, said: 'The Esa space-exploration strategy sets the moon as a priority destination for humans on the way to Mars.

'The recent talk of a 'Moon Village' certainly has generated a lot of positive energy in Europe.
You may have noticed that your Uber is rarely on time - turning up either before you're ready or later than the app's sometimes ambitious estimates.

Now the controversial firm's boss has explained why these arrival estimates are 'almost always' wrong.

Travis Kalanick took to Twitter to explain that arrival times are estimated before a user's request is made, and in rural areas cars are further apart so wait times can be longer and less accurate.

Uber's boss, Travis Kalanick, explained that car arrival times are estimated before a user's request is made (pictured) and in rural areas cars are further apart so wait times can be longer and less accurate

Mr Kalanick responded to a debate started by inventor Jason Calacanis who said Uber cars are always later than estimated, Business Insider reported.

However, many people disagreed, including Fortune journalist Dan Primack who theorised the inaccurate estimates give rivals a chance to swoop in and offer their services more quickly or cheaply.

Mr Kalanick explained in a series of tweets that Uber matches potential customers to cars before they make a request for a lift.

'Sometimes you get car that ends up further away than original closest car, sometimes you get closer car than original,' he said.

Mr Kalanick (pictured) responded to a debate started by inventor Jason Calacanis who said Uber cars are always later than estimated. He also explained that in suburban and rural areas, in particular, Uber users may have to wait longer for a ride because the next closest car to take an order is likely further away

@danprimack @Jason 2) highly likely the cars you see when you request are matched before your request is even processed  travis kalanick (@travisk) January 3, 2016

@danprimack @Jason 3) sometimes you get car that ends up further away than original closest car, sometimes you get closer car than original  travis kalanick (@travisk) January 3, 2016

@danprimack @Jason 4) in burbs w/ less liquidity, if 1st driver doesn't accept request, then likely next closest driver is further away  travis kalanick (@travisk) January 3, 2016

Mr Kalanick explained how arrival times are calculated for Uber rides on Twitter (tweets shown above)

He suggested that the technique is, on average, more reliable than guessing each time, writing: 'The best way to minimise time differential issue is to communicate statistically expected time, which will result in almost always being different than actual (i.e. wrong), but will be less different/wrong on avg [average].'

UBER TRIALS UBERCOMMUTE UberCommute was originally unveiled in September and is now being trialled in Chicago and Chengdu, China. Uber's strategic adviser David Plouffe said: 'Our goal is eventually you don't even think about becoming an Uber driver, that you say I'm going to do this when I'm running errands or running to the airport, I'll just make a little bit of money. 'Think about that. I'm not an Uber driver per-say, but on those ten times a week when I'm driving to work I'll press the button on my phone and if there's someone in my neighbourhood I'll take them in.' He said that Uber would check the driver's license and driving record of anyone who wants to offer a ride. Advertisement

He explained that in suburban and rural areas, in particular, Uber users may have to wait longer for a ride because the next closest car to take an order is likely further away.

But in big cities, the average wait time for an Uber car is just three minutes, on average.

On Christmas Eve, the taxi app made its one billionth ride as one of its London-based drivers took a passenger from Hackney to Hoxton.

The journey was made by Uber driver Ara with a passenger called Marvin.

The San Francisco-based company added that the milestone was 'certainly far more than we ever imagined when we got started in San Francisco five and a half years ago.'

Uber launched in 2009 and is now available in 375 cities across 68 countries.

The company also recently reached a valuation of more than $50 billion (34 billion) based on private investment disclosed to date.

However, taxi drivers in the UK and throughout Europe have criticised Uber for being 'unfair competition'.

Mr Kalanick explained that in suburbs and rural areas, Uber users may have to wait longer for a ride (pictured) because the next closest car to take an order is probably further away

@danprimack @Jason 6) which will result in almost always being different than actual (i.e. wrong), but will be less different/wrong on avg.  travis kalanick (@travisk) January 3, 2016

The firm is now trialling a scheme called UberCommute in Chicago and Chengdu, China that lets everyday motorists become Uber drivers.

Uber's strategic adviser David Plouffe said: 'Our goal is eventually you don't even think about becoming an Uber driver, that you say I'm going to do this when I'm running errands or running to the airport, I'll just make a little bit of money.

'It won't work the same in terms of price, it'll be less expensive, but we think that's a huge potential benefit.'

He continued that Uber would check the driver's license and driving record of anyone who wants to offer a ride.
General Motors and Lyft announced an alliance to develop an on-demand network of autonomous vehicles as well as a $500 million investment by the automaker as part of a $1 billion fund-raising round by the ride-sharing service.

The two companies said the partnership, which involves one of GM's largest investments in another company, stemmed from their shared view that autonomous vehicles will first reach consumers as part of a ride-sharing service, rather than vehicles owned by drivers.

'We had a really common view of the future' with Lyft, said GM President Dan Ammann in an interview with Reuters. Ammann will join Lyft's board as part of the deal.

Lyft cars are already a common sight in San Francisco due to their distinctive pink moustaches

In the same interview, Lyft President John Zimmer echoed that view, saying the 'culture and vision are very alike' between the two companies.

Lyft said other investors in this fundraising round included Kingdom Holding Company, the firm of prominent Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal which invested $100 million, Janus Capital Management, Japanese online retailer Rakuten Inc , ride-hailing service Didi Kuaidi and Chinese Internet giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.

'Lyft has built a strong business with fast growth and we believe in their long-term success,' Alwaleed said in a release. Kingdom and Alwaleed are major investors in U.S. tech companies; together they own more than 5 percent of Twitter Inc, for example.

The GM-Lyft deal comes as automakers and Silicon Valley companies are exploring new alliances and new technologies that will reshape the global automotive industry.

'We think our business and personal mobility will change more in the next five years than the last 50,' said Ammann.

GM and Lyft said the partnership would tap into GM's work on developing autonomous vehicles and Lyft's software that automates matching drivers and passengers, routing and payments to create a network of cars that would operate themselves and be available on demand.

The Lyft allows allows people to hail their nearest car, and see information about the driver. Once the ride is complete, the passenger pays automatically uses a credit card held on file.

GM and Lyft did not provide a timeline for this on-demand network.

But they said the partners would immediately offer Lyft drivers short-term rentals of GM cars to use to offer the service.

The GM-Lyft deal comes as automakers and Silicon Valley companies are exploring new alliances and new technologies that will reshape the global automotive industry.

Lyft said this latest funding round valued the company at $5.5 billion as it engages in a fundraising race with its biggest competitor, Uber Technologies Inc. Lyft said it has raised a total of $2 billion since August 2013. Uber is reportedly in the midst of a $2.1 billion funding round that would value it as high as $64.6 billion. (Reporting by Stephen R. Trousdale)
World energy production could be significantly affected by the impacts of climate change, a study has claimed.

The research forecasts that by as early as 2040, factors such as rising water temperatures might diminish water supplies vital to the production of electricity.

Coupled with an increasing global demand for electricity, this could impact the ability of power plants around the globe to produce enough energy.

World energy production could be significantly affected by the impacts of climate change, a study has claimed. As early as 2040, factors such as rising water temperatures might diminish water supplies vital to the production of electricity, such as in Serbia (pictured), where droughts in 2001 resulted in drastic power cuts

An estimated 98 per cent of the world's electricity supply is generated by hydroelectric and thermoelectric power plants - which includes nuclear and fossil fuel - which 'strongly depend' on water resources.

The authors of the study, published in Nature Climate Change, warn that a rise in droughts and heatwaves, prompted by the anticipated effects of climate change, could threaten access to water resources for tens of thousands of power plants around the world.

Researchers from Wageningen University in the Netherlands estimate that between 2040 and 2069, 81 per cent to 86 per cent of the 1,427 thermoelectric plants they studied could see their usable capacity - the amount of electricity they can produce - plunge.

A STARK WATER WARNING As much as 98 per cent of the world's electricity supply is generated by hydroelectric and thermoelectric power plants - including nuclear and fossil fuel plants. These plants 'strongly depend' on water resources. Scientists warn that a rise in droughts and heatwaves, linked to climate change, could threaten access to water resources for power plants around the world. But changes to the way plants operate, including improving the efficiency of hydropower plants by 10%, could address this looming problem, the authors explain. Advertisement

Similarly, of the 24,515 hydropower plants examined in the research, it is estimated 61 per cent to 74 per cent of them could also see their usable capacity reduced.

The report said: 'Power-generating technologies both strongly depend on water availability, and water temperature for cooling also plays a critical role for thermoelectric power generation.

'Climate change and resulting changes in water resources will therefore affect power generation while energy demands continue to increase with economic development and a growing world population.'

The drop in power-generating capacities is partly due to the affected plants being in areas likely to witness a pronounced annual decline in streamflow, which is the amount of water in rivers and streams.

It estimated that the global annual capacities of hydropower stations could drop by up to 3.6 per cent and by up to 12 per cent for thermoelectric plants by the 2050s.

On a monthly basis, the study added that as many as 22 per cent of hydropower plants could experience 'strong' reductions - more than 30 per cent - in their capacity.

An estimated 98 per cent of the world's electricity supply is generated by hydroelectric and thermoelectric power plants (pictured) - which includes nuclear and fossil fuel - which are 'strongly depend' on water resources, the study finds

For the majority of thermoelectric stations - 66 per cent to 70 per cent - there could also be a strong monthly reduction.

But a number of changes to the way plants operate could address this looming problem, the authors added.

These include improving the efficiency of hydropower plants by 10 per cent, which could help head off the annual reduction in capacity.

A 2011 report from the Union of Concerned Scientists stated that US Energy and Information Administration predicts a 25 per cent increase in electricity demand in the coming decades.

THE POWER OF WATER Water is used in power plants to produce steam to turn turbines. It is also required to cool the steam Water use is at the heart of most of our energy production. In thermoelectric plants, which include nuclear and fossil fuel plants, fuel is used to boil water. The resulting steam is used to turn turbines, which generate electricity. But more water is required to cool the steam, to change it back to its liquid state so it can be used again. Colder water is a better coolant and leads to more effective generation of electricity. While many plants use fresh water as a coolant, waste water and sea water can be used. However, these have implications for local ecosystems. Hydroelectric power plants use water in a more direct way than thermoelectric plants. Instead of generating steam, they route fast flowing water from a river or reservoir to turn turbines and generate electricity. Advertisement

The report states: 'With potential increases in water demand from a growing population, and changes in water supply owing to climate variability or climate change, the water needs of power plants could continue to worsen water stress in particular areas even if the electricity sector makes minor cuts in water use.'

Europe has already felt the pinch of water shortages on energy supply.

In 2001, severe droughts drastically reduced the water levels of the river Danube, Europe's second largest river and crucial to energy production in the region. Serbia was hit by drastic power cuts after hydro power supplies ran low.

In addition, cyclical weather phenomenon, such as El Nino, can also exacerbate drought conditions.

Global temperatures smashed records in 2015, and meteorologists have warned that 2016 will be even hotter.

The annual global temperature forecast from the Met Office suggests 2016 will be between 0.72C and 0.95C above the long-term average of 14C.

Man-made global warming, along with a smaller effect from the natural El Nino phenomenon in the Pacific, are expected to push temperatures towards record levels this year.
Drip trays with round corners could help keep machines stay

Most of us turned on the coffee machine first thing this morning or grabbed a cup the moment we walked into the office.

You probably didn't think about the last time the machine was cleaned or how many different kinds of bacteria are probably living in the drip tray.

Researchers analyzed 10 Nespresso machines from offices and homes and found 35 to 67 different types of bacteria hanging out in the inner drip tray below the used coffee pods.

Images of bacteria from the lab-tested drip tray sample taken after 4 (Image A), 8 (B), 14 (C), and 21 (D) days (pictured). According to the study, caffeine is a natural alkaloid with anti-herbivorous properties produced by Coffea Arabica and Coffea canephora, which is present in a variety of other beverages

TIPS FOR KEEPING COFFEE MACHINES BACTERIA FREE Clean your machine regularly. Run vinegar through it to help sanitize surfaces. Use filter water rather than straight from the tap. Change the water after every use. Lead the lid off to allow the machine to air out. Wipe the machine down daily. Source: Fox News Advertisement

The University of Valencia analyzed the drip trays with different techniques such as culturing and electron microscopy.

However, they say that as the bacteria was found in drop trays, the coffee from the machines is safe.

'The coffee from these kind of machines is perfectly safe,' co-author and biology scholar Manuel Porcar told Co.Design in a recent interview.

'The tray containing the wasted capsules should be cleaned with water and soap, or a few drops of bleach.'

The machines chosen for the study were used, on average, twice to 12 times a day.

According to the study, caffeine is a natural alkaloid with anti-herbivorous properties produced by Coffea Arabica and Coffea canephora, which is present in a variety of other beverages.

It is also a bioactive compound that stimulates our nervous system and can have positive effects on our health.

'But it maybe an environmental pollutant, and has also been proposed as an easily detectable marker for untreated wastewater,' according to researchers.

This observation is the first systematic analysis of the microbial diversity associated to coffee machines.

Most of us turned on our coffee machine first thing this morning or grabbed a cup the moment we walked into the office. Researchers analyzed 10 Nespresso machines from offices and homes and found 35 to 67 different types of bacteria hanging out in the inner drip tray below the used coffee pods

Although there were similar bacterias found living on each machine, the important aspect was the different variation in the distribution of a particular group.

Enteroccus and Pseudomonas were the two main groups of bacteria found, as nine of out 10 showed high levels of both.

Schematic representation of a Nespresso machine (1) including a capsule (3) container (2), cup tray (4) and a drip tray (5), which was sampled in this work. (B) The bacterial profile of nine (out of 10 tested) home and office Nespresso machines shows the prevalence of Enterococcus and Pseudomonas (pictured)

Researchers also found samples of Stenotrophomonas, Sphingobacterium, Acinetobacter and, to a lesser extent, Coprococcus, Paenibacillus or Agrobacterium.

As a follow-up, the team looked at the bacteria build-up in Inissia Krups machines, also built by Nespresso, which were used three times a day over a two month period.

Again, the team found high levels of Enterococcus and Pseudomonas, which signals that the machine, rather than the users, shaped the microbial outcomes.

'I want to stress that bacteria accumulate in the leach tray, not in the coffee itself,' said Porcar.

WHAT WERE THE TYPES OF BACTERIA FOUND AND WHAT CAN THEY DO TO HUMANS? Enterococcus: A streptococcus of a group that occurs naturally in the intestine but causes inflammation and blood infection if introduced elsewhere in the body. Pseudomonas: A bacterium of a genus that occurs in soil and detritus, including a number that are pathogens of plants or animals. Healthy people often carry these bacteria around without knowing it and without having any problems. Sometimes these germs cause minor problems like swimmer's ear and hot tub rash. Stenotrophomonas: An ubiquitous, aerobic, non-fermentative, gram-negative bacillus. It frequently colonizes breathing tubes such as endotracheal or tracheostomy tubes, the respiratory tract and indwelling urinary catheters. Sphingobacterium: It consists of Gram-negative environmental bacilli that are rarely involved in human infections. However, it is intrinsically resistant to many commonly administered antibiotics and can be a life-threatening microorganism. Acinetobacter: A pleomorphic aerobic gram-negative bacillus commonly isolated from the hospital environment and hospitalized patients. Most species have low virulence but are capable of causing infection in organ transplants and febrile neutropenia. Coprococcus: A genus of anaerobic cocci which are part of the human faecal flora. Paenibacillus: A genus of facultative anaerobic, endospore-forming bacteria, originally included within the genus Bacillus. These bacteria produce various extracellular enzymes such as polysaccharide-degrading enzymes and proteases, which can catalyze a wide variety of synthetic reactions in fields ranging from cosmetics to biofuel production. Agrobacterium: A genus of Gram-negative bacteria established by H. J. Conn that uses horizontal gene transfer to cause tumors in plants. Can cause unexplained skin condition report a range of cutaneous symptoms including crawling, biting and stinging sensations; granules, threads, fibers, or black speck-like materials on or beneath the skin, and/or skin lesions. Advertisement

'Nespresso coffee is microbiologically flawless.'

Even though Nespresso was the only brand used in the study, Porcar explained it's safe to say that all other capsule-based coffee makers have the same build-up.

He also believes it's likely that some of the bacteria are pathogenic, or potentially harmful to our health.

This is the first systematic analysis of the microbial diversity associated to coffee machines. The results may have also shed light on the microbial arsenal of caffeine degraders with important implications for both medicine and biotechnology.

But he also says the same is true of any environment that's home to food wasted and it can be controlled by washing items.

The results indicate that the machines need a better design, such as rounded corners on the inside of the drip tray.

The tray corners are currently squared, which are harder to clean and can become a breeding ground for bacteria.
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Since the invention of the internet, holidays have become increasingly exotic, with travelers no longer content with a package holiday in Spain.

Tour operators now regularly offer trips to everywhere from Iran to Antarctica in greater frequency.

But for those looking to have a truly local experience, few places are better than Airbnb.

The website, which has been running since 2008, allows homeowners from across the globe to list their property for rent.

The democratic nature of the website means that the properties are often extremely varied, with everything from a nomadic Mongolian family hut to a cottage in war-torn Donetsk and a luxury flat in Kabul on offer.

These are some of the most unique offerings on Airbnb.

Stay with a Mongolian nomadic family in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Stay with a Mongolian nomadic family in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. The family live off the land and look after 50 black yaks and three horses

The opportunity to stay in a tent with a nomadic family in Mongolia has got to be one of the most unique listings on Airbnb.

For $38 (25) a night, guests can stay with Oyuna and Botro in their hut and get an idea of their lifestyle, where they live off the land and look after 50 black yaks and three horses.

The lack of creature comforts - outside toilet, no wifi - are by far outweighed by the one-of-a-kind experience on offer, where you tend the land, relax and eat traditional Mongolian meals alongside the family.

The couple get rave reviews on their Airbnb listing from happy customers, although many caution against the venue if you like a luxury holiday.

Family home in a remote part of Greenland

This family home is in Upernavik - a small town of 1,181 inhabitants on a tiny island in the northwest of Greenland

Greenland is pretty much as remote as it gets. And for people who like the sound of their own thoughts, this family home in Upernavik - a small town of 1,181 inhabitants on a tiny island in the north west of the country is as good as it gets.

The property has all the mod cons including internet and television and for $400 (268) a night, guests can sit at the window and watch the icebergs float by in the icy waters of the Baffin Bay.

Remember to pack your thermals though - the temperatures dip to as low as -20C in the winter months.

One-bedroom flat in Yakutsk - the coldest city in the world

This one-bedroom flat is in the centre of Yakutsk, the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, which it is the coldest city in the world

The city of Yakutsk, the capital city of the Sakha Republic, Russia, bears an odd claim to fame - it is the coldest city in the world.

Yakutsk is located about 280 miles south of the Arctic Circle and the temperatures reflect this - the average temperature in the winter is -34C and the lowest temperature recorded is -64.4 C.

For $29 (20) a night, guests can sleep in a pull-out sofa in a one-bedroom flat in the city centre.

A one-bedroom cottage in war-torn Donetsk

This pretty one-bedroom cottage (left) is five miles from the city centre of Donetsk; at right, a different building, which was shelled

Since April 2014, the Ukrainian city of Donetsk and its surrounding areas were one of the major sites of fighting in the country's war against Russian-backed rebels.

The fighting turned the area into a ghost town with buildings everywhere showing the signs of heavy shelling and pockmarked with bullet holes.

But in the last few months, residents have started to rebuild their city and bounce back. Among these people is the owner of a pretty one-bedroom cottage, five miles from the city centre.

As well as a place to stay for $100 (67) a night, the host also offers extras that include scuba diving in the local man-made reservoirs, hunting for wild boar, pheasant hunting and a trip to Crimea to dive on wrecks.

Modern two-bedroom apartment in Kabul, Afghanistan

This modern flat in the bustling area of downtown Kabul in Afghanistan is just 20 minutes from the airport

Kabul in Afghanistan has suffered from three decades of conflict and the city is now perilously close to the current battle against ISIS in the Middle East.

The city is often the scene of deadly suicide bombings and explosions carried out by the Taliban and other anti-government groups, but the locals are fighting back by continuing life as normal.

In recent years the city has seen a boom and mass migration from the surrounding areas and the property industry is thriving.

For just $50 (34), tourists can stay in this modern flat in the bustling area of downtown, just 20 minutes from the airport.

Well-located apartment in Tripoli

This sleek and modern flat is in Tripoli, Libya, a country where ISIS have established a foothold in recent months

Over the last few months, ISIS have established a foothold in Libya, with experts saying it is at risk of becoming a full-blown sanctuary for the terrorist group.

Just a couple of weeks ago, a suicide car bombing struck a checkpoint in a town near the capital, Tripoli, killing five militia fighters.

The bombing, which took place in Msallata, a town southeast of Tripoli, also wounded 17 people, 10 of them critically.

But that hasn't stopped small numbers of tourists booking visits to the historic city.

Those looking for a flat in the centre can rent a two-bed apartment for just 101 (67) a night.

This sleek accommodation is situation on the third floor of a family home that comprises of four different apartments.

Home in a remote village in Azerbaijan

This house is in Lahij - a village of 860 people on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus in Azerbaijan

Azerbaijan is somewhat off the beaten track when it comes to tourist destinations.

But for people looking for a break from the rat race, few places could be more suitable than this $25 (16)-a-night house in Lahij - a village of 860 people on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus.

The owner of the three-bedroom home is Dadash, the director of the local information centre and a teacher at the nearby school, who offers to arrange everything from hikes and horse-riding to culture tours for guests.

Three-bedroom luxury apartment in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

This modern three-bedroom apartment is in the heart of Addis Ababa in Ethiopia, and is available for $90 (60) a night

Ethiopia has been the subject of an ongoing insurgency by the Ogaden National Liberation Front against the government for the last 20 years, resulting in numerous deaths, including at 250 in the last year.

But the country's capital of Addis Ababa, far away from most of the action, is home to some very grand houses.

One of these is this modern three-bedroom apartment in the heart of the city.

Guests who pay $90 (60) a night also get great views over the city from the eighth floor apartment's windows.

A hut in a traditional Papua New Guinea village

This hut in a traditional village in Papua New Guinea allows guests to live like a local for just $65 (43.50) a night

Papua New Guinea is one of the most beautiful and interesting countries in the world, but the exotic island is also very dangerous.

The British government advises travelling with a high degree of caution in the country because of the high levels of crime, particularly in the capital, Port Moresby, and in the cities of Lae and Mt Hagen.

Machetes and firearms are often used in assaults and carjacking, sexual assault, bag snatching and robberies are common, with travellers are advised to consider using a security escort.

But those brave enough to overlook these issues will be rewarded with some of the best cultural experiences on offer in the southern hemisphere.
The biggest cause of deaths in aviation for the year 2015 was 'murder,' research by a leading air-safety firm has discovered.

It is the second year running that 'unlawful interference' has claimed the most lives in the skies, with more than 900 passengers murdered in the last two years.

The still-unsolved disappearance of Malaysia Airlines MH370 carrying a total of 239 people on board, flight MH17 from the same airline that was shot down in Ukraine, and the Germanwings tragedy where pilot Andreas Lubitz deliberately crashed a plane killing himself and 149 others on board, were noted as the definitive incidents of the last two years.

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The scene of the Metrojet flight 9268 that crashed in Egypt en-route to Russia, believed to have been the cause of a bomb

While the exact figures from 2015 are yet to be calculated, the Metrojet crash in Egypt that killed all 224 on board is widely believed to have been the result of a bomb placed on board, which means the tragic trend will continue.

'Whilst flying remains a safe way to travel when compared to other means of transport, a greater emphasis on security is required to maintain an acceptable level of safety,' said Adrian Young, senior aviation consultant for To70, the company who have analysed the figures.

Speaking to The Independent, he added: 'Unlawful interference on board by passengers is reasonably well covered around the world.

'My main concerns are centred on the way airport and airline staff get airside. There are many airports that have weak systems to control who goes airside and with what.'

A rescue worker stands at the scene of the Germanwings tragedy of March 2015 where 150 were killed

Pilot Andreas Lubitz was found to have deliberately crashed the jetliner traveling from Barcelona to Dusseldorf

In northern Sinai on October 31, the sound of the explosion could actually be heard on the black box flight data recordings, which led investigators to rule out the possibility of anything other than a bomb bringing the Metrojet flight down.

Senior officials in the US and UK analysed the recordings and said they were 99.9 per cent that the sound heard on the Metrojet flight from Sharm el Sheikh to St Petersburg was a bomb.

Spies also analysed terrorist chatter, and Russia finally acknowledged on November 17 that a bomb was responsible for the crash after Britain shared intelligence with Moscow.

After the attack, Alexander Bortnikov, head of the FSB security agency told Russian President Vladimir Putin: 'One can say unambiguously that it was a terror act.'

Back in March last year, pilot Andreas Lubitz intentionally crashed a Germanwings plane into the French Alps on a journey from Barcelona to Dusseldorf killing 150 people.

The chilling final moments of Flight FU 9525 were revealed by French prosecutors who said Lubitz's sole aim was to 'destroy the plane'.

Audio files extracted from the plane's cockpit voice recorder - discovered at the remote crash site - revealed Lubitz locked his captain out of the flight deck minutes before the crash.

The captain was heard growing increasingly distressed as he tried to force his way back into the cockpit and passengers' screams were heard in the final moments before impact.
A female passenger tried to open a plane's emergency exit in mid-air and threatened to kill herself before she was restrained by flight crew.

The shocking incident happened on board a Beijing Capital Airlines that was travelling from from Changsha in Hunan province to Sanya in Hainan in China.

The incident was relayed on Weibo by one passenger, who said that the woman was spotted by staff trying to open the door.

A Capital Airlines flight saw drama on board when a woman tried to open the emergency exit

When crew intervened, she threatened to commit suicide on the plane, and a fight broke out, reports China Aviation Daily.

Two other passengers are then believed to have got involved on the woman's side as they tried to operate the controls on the door.

All three were restrained by flight staff, and once the plane landed in Sanya, they were arrested by police.

Capital Airlines have confirmed that the woman 'tried to do something at the door,' and that she was prevented from doing so by staff.

The South China Morning Post reports that user @RogerStandy wrote on Weibo: 'It's really not an easy job to be flight crew, especially when facing the daredevils.

The airline confirmed that the passenger was seen at the emergency exit and 'tried to do something'

CHINA LOOKS TO BAN UNRULY PASSENGERS FROM PLANES The Chinese government has said it is working with major Chinese airlines on 'enacting definite restrictive measures' against those featured on the 'blacklist,' which currently includes 16 names in total. The government has grown concerned about the negative impact on China's image stemming from numerous incidents of bad behavior by Chinese tourists at home and abroad, ranging from fighting with air crews to defacing cultural artifacts. Social media platforms have spread descriptions and video clips of the incidents, prompting widespread derision among the public and occasional online campaigns to identify the perpetrators. Rising incomes, relaxed regulations and cheap flights have permitted record numbers of Chinese to travel in recent years. Among other frequent complaints are line-cutting, smoking where banned, littering and fouling public toilets. Advertisement

'Fortunately knives are banned on flights.'

Capital Airlines is a subsidiary of Hainan Airlines.

In December China's tourism authority named and shamed five tourists for bad behaviour and says it is working with airlines on a possible flying ban.

Those added to the list of 'uncivilized behaviour' by tourists include two women and a man who brawled after one woman's seat was bumped during boarding of a flight from Cambodia to the western city of Chengdu.

The three were forcibly removed from the plane under captain's orders and the flight was delayed for one hour, the China National Tourism Administration said.

Another man was listed after he was arrested in Japan for assaulting a convenience store clerk whom he accused of disrespecting his wife. The last was a woman who attacked her tour guide with hot tea after learning the price of her son's ticket to a western China scenic site was not included in the package.

Their names and a description of their alleged misbehaviour were entered onto the administration's list and will remain there for one to three years.

Over that period, they can be refused service by travel agents, airlines, hotels and scenic sites.
They first met on the Byker Grove aged just 13, forming a lifelong friendship and professional partnership.

And Declan Donnelly and Ant McPartlin made a emotional return to the set of the teen soap while filming TV special When Ant & Dec Met The Prince: 40 Year of The Prince's Trust.

It was plain to see how much the moment meant to the double act, known as Ant & Dec, since they were reduced to tears as they paid a visit to their old stomping grounds, Benwell Tower in Newcastle.

Emotional: Declan Donnelly could barely hold back the tears as he revisited Benwell Tower in Newcastle, the set of teen soap Byker Grove, which made him a household name back in the 1990s along with Ant McPartlin

Dec in particular was overcome with emotion as he made a return to the place that launched his career, holding back his sobs as he tried to express how much it meant to him.

The touching moment saw the 40-year-old presenter well up as he told best pal Ant: 'We had some of the happiest times of our life here'.

'Amazing. Changed our life!', Dec chimed in.

Old school! Ant and Dec became best friends and collagues for life on the hit drama series, in which they appeared as duo PJ & Duncan

Memories: It was plain to see how much the moment meant to the double act since they were reduced to tears as they paid a visit to their old stomping grounds

'We wouldnt be where we are without it': Dec acknowledged the enormity of the relatively humble location, and what it did for his and Ant's careers

'We wouldnt be where we are without it', Dec replied. 'I'm getting a little bit emotional talking about it. They were really good times... Wow. Strange innit.'

In this unique documentary, When Ant and Dec Met The Prince: 40 Years of The Princes Trust, the presenters have close access to HRH The Prince of Wales, to discuss the 40th anniversary of The Princes Trust, his life as a grandfather and anecdotes from his days in the Royal Navy.

The 90-minute special sees Ant and Dec granted a real insight into the work of The Princes Trust as they accompany His Royal Highness on a number of engagements  chatting to him along the way and meeting people who have benefited directly from the charity.

Coming soon: Ant and Dec returned to the Byker Grove location as part of a 90-miunte special - entitled When Ant and Dec Met The Prince: 40 Years of The Princes Trust - about the work the charity does

Old stomping ground: The duo also reflect back on their own 40 years in the business, Ant and Dec return to where it all started for them, Newcastle, including their visit to the Byker Grove set

The duo also reflect back on their own 40 years in the business, Ant and Dec return to where it all started for them, Newcastle, including their visit to the Byker Grove set.

Whilst there the pair meet up with fellow Geordie, Cheryl Fernandez-Versini, who takes them around her childhood haunts and shares her experiences as an ambassador for The Princes Trust.

When Ant & Dec Met The Prince: 40 Year of The Prince's Trust, airs on Monday at 9pm, ITV.
She famously sang about being So Hot Right Now, and Rita Ora was just that as she relaxed poolside in Miami on Sunday.

The 25-year-old flaunted her toned abs in a floral triangle bikini as she relaxed poolside in Miami, where she has been making the most of some time off post X Factor.

She teamed the number with a polka dot wrap dress which she tied around her waist to shield her pert derriere, but still showed off her toned legs.

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She's got the look: She famously sang about being So Hot Right Now, and Rita Ora was just that as she relaxed poolside in Miami on Sunday

Paying close attention to detail, she wore a delicate gold body chain, as well as a Nineties inspired choker and a couple of bangles.

She covered up her platinum blonde locks with a black bakerboy cap and wore a pair of trendy designer shades as she topped up her tan in the sunshine.

The singer was not pictured with her friends, but has been pictured with pals Nick Grimshaw and Daisy Lowe in recent days.

Looking good: The 25-year-old flaunted her toned abs in a floral triangle bikini as she relaxed poolside in Miami, where she has been making the most of some time off post X Factor

Metallic marvel: Paying close attention to detail, she wore a delicate gold body chain, as well as a Nineties inspired choker and a couple of bangles

Rita was pictured wearing the same bikini on December 29 as she posed up a storm once again on her sunshine break.

This time however Rita peeled a stunning wrap dress over the look which comprised of a camel base with large black polka dots emblazoned over the top.

She has been pictured wearing a variety of outfits throughout her trip, including a black polka dot two-piece and a contrasting red beret.

For the winter getaway to Miami, Ora is also joined by her older sister Elena, Ian Chaloner and Aimee Phillips, although they were not pictured on the day.

Alone again: The singer was not pictured with her friends, but has been pictured with pals Nick Grimshaw and Daisy Lowe in recent days

Having some 'me' time: For the winter getaway to Miami, Ora is also joined by her older sister Elena, Ian Chaloner and Aimee Phillips, although they were not pictured on the day

Chic as ever: Rita later covered up her sensational curves in an extremely trendy jumpsuit

Polka dot princess: This time however Rita peeled her stunning wrap dress over the look which comprised of a camel base with large black polka dots emblazoned over the top

Cleavage kimono: Rita allowed her dress to tumble open as she walked around the pool

Last month, body confident Rita revealed that wardrobe malfunctions don't bother her.

She told The Sun: 'Its fun. It has happened to me lots so I am not paranoid about it anymore. You end up losing track of them...

'From the start I have always been the type to wear what I want. It is all about being an individual. I feel comfortable in what I wear.'

Oopsie! Rita's cleavage was on show for all to see as she bent over to adjust her sun lounger

Insta-queen: Rita later posted a sexy Instagram shot which saw her reclining on a tiger-print sofa

She is loving life: Rita appeared to be in high spirits as she sat on her lounger by the pool
He made headlines last month after reports emerged that he was flirting with Home And Away co-star Philippa Northeast behind his fiancee, Fely Irvine's back.

But it appears all is well and good for the couple, who appeared blissfully happy at a meet and greet event with fans at the Naas Court Hotel in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday.

The couple, who are currently holidaying abroad after enjoying a 'white Christmas', put on an amorous display as they posed for photographs at the event, even treating onlookers to a passionate kiss.

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Can't keep their hands off each other! Tai Hara and fiancee Fely Irvine appeared blissfully happy during a meet and greet with fans at the Naas Court Hotel in Dublin, Ireland on Saturday

The gushing couple were also seen giggling as they shared a joke together, as Fely, 26, kept her arms placed firmly around her 25-year-old beau's waist.

Tai, who plays Andy Barrett on the long running Australian soap, dressed casually in a pair of black jeans and a blue denim shirt, which he teamed with dark suede boots.

Meanwhile Hi-5 star Fely dressed in an edgy ensemble consisting of black jeans and a matching midriff top which revealed a slither of her taut midriff.

See the latest on Home and Away star Tai Hara as he spends time with fiancee Fely Irvine

Loved up! The couple put on an amorous display as they posed for photographs at the event, even stopping to share a passionate kiss for onlookers

The look of love: The gushing couple were also seen giggling as they shared a joke together

She added a long checkered shirt and a black leather jacket to the outfit and also wore boots, while slicking her long honey-dipped locks into a sleek ponytail.

Appearing to be a favourite among female viewers of the show, Tai was seen happily posing for photographs with fans at the function as his proud fiance looked on.

Last month Tai opened up to Daily Mail Australia about the speculation that was fuelled after he was pictured hugging his co-star Phillipa at an event in Melbourne last month.

Cuddling up: Speculation grew after Tai was pictured hugging his co-star Phillipa at the racing event in Melbourne in November

Speaking at the the Star Wars: The Force Awakens premiere in Sydney, he said the reports were funny.

'We [he and Fely] were humoured at it,' he said before explaining the pair have learnt how to ignore 'rumours'.

'Rumours are rumours...people are going to write what they want to write so I think as long as we know [the truth], nothing else really matters.'

He went on to add: 'You have to be able to just laugh it off'.

Grungry: Meanwhile Hi-5 star Fely dressed in an edgy ensemble consisting of black jeans and a matching midriff top which revealed a slither of her taut midriff

Natural beauty: She added a long checkered shirt and a black leather jacket to the outfit and also wore boots, while slicking her long honey-dipped locks into a sleek ponytail

In November Woman's Day magazine published an article suggesting that Tai and Phillipa put on a 'flirty' display while they attended Stakes Day in Melbourne together.

The report read: Tai and Philippa have always had a really close friendship.

Tai spends more time on set with Phillippa than he does at home with his fiancee Fely. Theyre very close.

Cool and casual: Tai, who plays Andy Barrett on the long running Australian soap, dressed in a pair of black jeans and a blue denim shirt, which he teamed with dark suede boots

Hot property: Appearing to be a favourite amongst female viewers of the show, Tai was seen happily posing for photographs with fans at the function

Fan favourite: Tai happily posed for fans at the special event

Rumours: Tai made headlines last month after reports emerged that he was flirting with Home And Away co-star Philippa Northeast behind his Hi-5 star fiancee's back

Last year Tai popped the question to Fely at Drum Castle, near Aberdeen, in January after two years together and the couple shared their exciting news shortly aftwewards.

Speaking to New Idea about the proposal the actor said he was nervous about carrying the ring with him overseas.

'I'd been carrying the ring around Europe for two weeks wrapped in three different bags and a sock, because it wasn't as if I could hide it in the hotel safe,' he told the publication.

'Obviously, Id been planning it for quite a long time,' he added.

Pre-honeymoon? The couple are currently holidaying abroad after enjoying a 'white Christmas' in Ireland and have taken to Instagram to share a number of loved-up snaps with fans
With the dawn of a new year, publicity is ramping up in earnest for the 2016 Academy Awards.

Chris Rock, 50, is returning to host Hollywood's biggest night of the year and released his first promo encouraging audiences to tune into ABC on February 28.

'Much like New Years Eve, it will be a night that ends with a lot of drunk, disappointed people swearing theyll do better next year,' the tuxedo-wearing comedian deadpans in the short video released on December 31.

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Oscars are coming: Chris Rock wears a tuxedo in a short 15-second video clip promoting the 2016 Academy Awards on ABC on Sunday February 28

First promo: The comedian, 50, ends the promo released on December 31 with a party blower

He compared Hollywood's biggest night to New Year's Eve, because it 'ends with a lot of drunk, disappointed people swearing theyll do better next year.'

He then proceeds to blow a party blower for good effect.

And Chris is clearly ready to get the party started.

A few days ago, he poked fun at the controversy surrounding the bear 'rape' scene in Leonardo Di Caprio's Oscar hopeful The Revenant.

He tweeted an image of the scene showing the bear and Leo and beneath it added a picture of a bear holding up an Oscar statuette.

See the latest updates on the Oscars 2016 as Chris Rock compares the Awards to NYE

Ready to poke fun: Chris tweeted this montage a few days ago joking about the now infamous bear versus Leonardo Di Caprio scene in the actor's awards season contender The Revenant

Working hard: The comic also tweeted a photo of himself with his team of writers in mid-December

And on December 15 he tweeted a photo of himself, wearing a tux, meeting with his writers for the show.

Chris previously hosted the Oscars back in 2005 and takes over from Neil Patrick Harris who mc'd last year's show which drew the lowest ratings in six years.

The 2016 telecast is being produced by David Hill and Reginald Hudlin and their goal, they told Variety, is to give the annual event a fresh feel.

'The challenge is to make it entertaining so it doesnt seem like a lesson, so the audience cares for people when they get onstage,' said Hill.
The eccentric Russian genius Count Leo Tolstoy always insisted that his War and Peace was not a novel but a new kind of literature  part history, part philosophy, part psychology.

Theres no doubting what screenwriter Andrew Daviess magnificent new TV adaptation is: one hundred per cent epic love story, told at the gallop. The entire production is like a Napoleonic cavalry charge on the emotions, and the opening hour-long episode was nothing less than a sweeping victory.

Davies, a 79-year-old former university lecturer, has transformed many classic books into television serials, including Vanity Fair, Bleak House, The Way We Live Now and most famously Pride And Prejudice (the version with Colin Firth in a wet shirt). As if that wasnt enough, he also created House of Cards.

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Sexed-up: Theres no doubting what screenwriter Andrew Daviess magnificent new TV adaptation is: one hundred per cent epic love story, told at the gallop

Saucy: The entire production is like a Napoleonic cavalry charge on the emotions, and the opening hour-long episode was nothing less than a sweeping victory

But War and Peace will be his masterpiece. It has everything the perfect costume drama demands, in such lavish quantities that even the most profligate Russian oligarch would feel hed got his moneys worth.

Officers resplendent in glittering uniforms talked with ladies in acres of shimmering silk, as the camera swooped through the golden rooms of a Petersburg soiree. Cannonballs crashed into the earth on Austrian battlefields, hurling bodies across the screen in fountains of blood and dirt. Raindrops hung like jewels on the gilt-traced windows of carriages, and snow settled on the furs of young lovers as they skated on frozen ponds.

And because this was a Davies adaptation, there were moments of sexual drama that veered towards raunchy titillation. Lily James, as the young heroine Natasha, stepped naked and soft-focused out of a bathtub and into the folds of a towel held up by her maid.

Tuppence Middleton, as the wicked Helene, did a striptease through the imagination of her boyfriend Pierre (Paul Dano) before she lay on a satin counterpane, flaunting a bare buttock and cooing.

Purists will say that these scenes are not in the original. And that just goes to show the purists dont know what theyre talking about, because the book is as sexually explicit as a 19th century Russian work possibly could be.

Tolstoys characters have sex on the brain. Pierre is tormented by his weakness for courtesans. Natasha and her cousin Sonya are swooning for the touch of a man. And Helene makes Madonna look like a virgin. Naturally, these passions could not be spelt out on the page. It is part of Tolstoys skill that, both in War and Peace and his other great work, Anna Karenina, he makes readers feel the emotions without ever describing the physical act.

Extravagant: The adaptation has everything the perfect costume drama demands, in such lavish quantities that even the most profligate Russian oligarch would feel hed got his moneys worth

Faithful: Purists will say that these scenes are not in the original. And that just goes to show the purists dont know what theyre talking about, because the book is as sexually explicit as a 19th century Russian work possibly could be

Theres no doubt, for instance, that Helene and her depraved brother Anatole have had an incestuous affair. In the book, we guess this because Pierre hears a rumour  on the screen, Davies does not have to be so coy, and so we saw Tuppence and Callum Turner, as Anatole, under the bedcovers.

The marvel of this adaptation is not its saucy frills but the fidelity of the camerawork to Tolstoys intensely detailed descriptions. The opening moment when Napoleon surveys the enemy at Austerlitz, the emergence of the Pavlograd hussars on horseback from the trees, the barren magnificence of the palace where Prince Andreis father and sister live in seclusion  all these were captured with magical accuracy.

The only problem was one that has affected every book adaptation since television began: minor characters will elbow their way to the front of the story, if the actors are bold enough. This can be highly entertaining, but it also distorts the narrative.

In this case, it was Stephen Rea as the oily Prince Vassily, manipulating Pierre into marrying Helene, and Rebecca Front as the impoverished but pushy mother of a vain young guardsman, who stole every scene.

Accurate: The marvel of this adaptation is not its saucy frills but the fidelity of the camerawork to Tolstoys intensely detailed descriptions. Pictured, from left, Pierre Bezukhov (Paul Dano), Natasha Rostov (Lily James) and Prince Andrei (James Norton)

Cast: The only problem was one that has affected every book adaptation since television began: minor characters will elbow their way to the front of the story, if the actors are bold enough

Natasha is still a child: wait till we see her at her first ball, before we judge Lily James (centre). And 31-year-old New Yorker Dano (left) has one of the greatest roles in all literature, as the billionaire wrestling with his soul: he will have to give the performance of his career

What is to be done? The director can hardly ask Rea and Front to stop being so slyly fabulous. And if they did step back, there were plenty of other stars in cameo roles, ready to bewitch us.

Adrian Edmondson was Natashas doting, dim-witted father, capering like a cossack on the dancefloor at his daughters party. Brian Cox, with one blind eye, was the obese Russian general Kutuzov, with tears running down a face like decayed parchment.

This didnt leave much room for the three main characters to shine, but perhaps it is too early in their story. Prince Andrei (James Norton) hasnt found his heart, and is cruel to his feeble wife, Lisa. Theres little here to like, yet.

Natasha is still a child: wait till we see her at her first ball, before we judge Lily James. And 31-year-old New Yorker Dano has one of the greatest roles in all literature, as the billionaire wrestling with his soul: he will have to give the performance of his career.
Teresa Giudice is back!

On Sunday, The Real Housewives Of New Jersey star took to Twitter and Instagram for the first time since her release from prison on December 23.

'Wishing everyone a healthy and happy New Year from our family to yours!' the 43-year-old wrote, alongside a cute snap of herself, husband Joe Giudice, and their four daughters in front of their Christmas tree.

Back in action: Teresa Giudice returned to Twitter and Instagram on Sunday posting a snap of herself and her family captioned, 'Wishing everyone a healthy and happy New Year from our family to yours!'

Teresa had tweeted occasionally during the time she was locked away for fraud, but Sunday's message was her first since September, while her instagram was the first in 53 weeks.

The reality star has certainly been having a very happy holiday season.

She and sister-in-law Melissa Gorga put their differences aside to celebrate New Year's Eve together on Thursday, days after their families came together for Christmas.

Ringing in the New Year: Teresa made it a girls' night as she celebrated NYE with sister-in-law Melissa Gorga and friends Robyn Levy and Christina Flores on Thursday

The duo made it a girls' night, donned chic evening ensembles and posed for snaps alongside pal Robyn Levy and her partner Christina Flores which were shared on Instagram.

Teresa wore a lace overlay top with snakeskin trousers and modest flats for the night as she posed alongside 36-year-old Melissa.

Her Real Housewives Of New Jersey co-star glammed it up as she sported a strapless little black dress along with metallic heels.

Ladies' night: The ladies posed for a silly snap which Melissa posted writing 'About last night. Bring it on 2016!!'

Family time: Melissa posed with her husband Joe and their children Antonia, Gino, and Joey

Melissa shared a silly snap of the foursome pulling different poses which she captioned: 'About last night. Bring it on 2016!!'

Robyn shared a photo of the ladies lined up together and wrote alongside it: 'i had such a great time with you ladies tonight. Lots of Love to you and to a Wonderful & prosperous 2016.'

Melissa also posed alongside her husband Joe and their children Antonia, Gino, and Joey for a separate portrait writing 'From our family to yours.'

Her girls! Teresa's four daughters were featured on her 2015 Christmas card this year

Teresa and Melissa enjoyed a pre-NYE workout on Wednesday as they were spotted leaving a yoga class together smiling and chatting.

Teresa was released from federal prison on December 23 after serving 11 months for fraud.

It was just in time to spend the holidays with Joe, 43, and their daughters Gia, 14, Gabriella, 11, Milania, 9, and 8-year-old Audriana.

The family celebrated with a traditional Italian meal with Teresa's brother, Joe Gorga, Melissa and their kids.

Bravo cameras captured the evening affair which included a private sit down between the sisters-in-law.

'It was the first time Melissa and Teresa have seen each other in over a year,' a source told People.

'The holiday spirit was definitely in the air. Everyone got along well, exchanged gifts. Very happy night.'

Picture perfect! While it's widely known that Teresa and her sister-in law, Melissa Gorga have been at odds for years, the ladies put aside their differences and celebrated Christmas eve together

'Melissa and Teresa had a lot to discuss but both wanted to figure out how they can truly make it work,' the source added.

Melissa even secured a visit from several Christmas carolers as she wrote: 'Christmas Carolers!! Merry Christmas everyone. Almost Midnight! Let's go Santa!'

Teresa will finish the rest of her 15-month sentence in home confinement and has been fitted with a monitoring anklet - so there probably won't be too many mini dresses in her winter wardrobe this year.

Festive feast! The families celebrated Christmas with a traditional Italian meal at the Gorga's home in New Jersey

Teresa and Joe, 43 pleaded guilty last year to 41 counts of fraud including bank, mail, wire and bankruptcy fraud. The couple had filed for bankruptcy in 2009, claiming $11 million in debt.

They dropped their petitions in 2011, but that bankruptcy filing ultimately led to federal fraud charges against them.

The duo were accused of hiding assets and failing to disclose information about Teresa's Real Housewives salary, their businesses and rental properties.

Joe is set to begin his 41-month sentence in March.

Moving on: The Real Housewives Of New Jersey co-stars have had their spats. They are pictured in July 2014




He is one of Hollywood's biggest stars.

So it was no wonder Chris Hemsworth's wife Elsa Pataky was keen not to let her husband out of her sight whilst they attended the Australian Byron Bay Falls Music Festival together over the New Year.

Posing with the Thor actor at the festival, the 39-year-old Spanish star stood with her arms wrapped around her Hollywood heartthrob beau and planted a kiss on his cheek for the black and white snap.

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Sealed with a kiss: Chris Hemsworth and wife Elsa Pataky posed for a loved up snap as they attended the Byron Ball Falls Festival in Australia over the New Year

Uploading the photograph to her Instagram account, Elsa, who stars in Furious 7, gushed: 'Great night at the falls festival. Disclosure was amazing!'

The pair were among party-goers who had turned out to watch Disclosure at the annual event.

The good looking duo looked blissfully happy as they emerged themselves in the spirit of the festival, with Elsa donning stickers on her face, whilst Chris wore a New York Yankees cap.

The couple kept a relative low profile at the event, sticking to a casual wardrobe.

The pair were joined by Chris's younger brother Liam ex-girlfriend Miley Cyrus, who he is rumoured to have rekindled a romance with after they were spotted 'cuddling and kissing' at the music festival.

See the latest Chris Hemsworth updates as he spends time with Elsa Pataky in Byron Bay

Party on: The Hunger Games actor (left next to brother Chris ) and Miley (far right) were in a large group of friends who decided to attend the event, including Chris and Elsa

Brothers in Byron Bay: Taking to Instagram on Sunday morning, Liam shared a snap of him and 32-year-old Chris and 35-year-old Luke, presumably from the previous night

Meanwhile the couple came under fire for dressing up as Native Americans at a New Year's Eve fancy dress party.

Taking to Instagram on Thursday night, the model and actress shared a snap of the couple with family and friends at the event.

Posing behind a 'Wanted' sign, the couple pose in their Native American costumes alongside fellow guests while Luke Hemsworth appears to stand guard in a Sheriff suit and cowboy hat.

Fans were quick to condemn the pair for their choice of attire, with one Instagram user commenting: 'This is so disappointing to see. Native Americans are real, their culture is real.'

Controversial: The couple came under fire for dressing up as Native Americans at a New Year's Eve fancy dress party (the couple are pictured far left)

Not happy: Fans were quick to condemn the pair for their choice of attire

Getting personal: One Instagram follower chose to aim their comment directly at 32-year-old actor Chris

Disgruntled: Fans suggested the couple's costumes were an example of cultural appropriation

Meanwhile, another suggested the couple's costumes were an example of cultural appropriation, writing: 'Can't put into words how wrong this is.'

One Instagram follower chose to aim their comment directly at 32-year-old actor Chris. 'Oh no Thor has gone and effed up with this cultural appropriation,' they wrote.

Another simple asked: 'Why Hemsworths? Why?'

Meanwhile other fans took the liberty to defend the couple on social media, insisting the fancy dress party was just a light-hearted social occasion with no nasty intent.

Celebrity couple: The pair, who tied the knot in 2010, usually steer away from controversy as much as possible

'Themes make parties worth having!' one fan wrote, while another said: 'Try to ignore the hate here. You guys are having fun and no one is hurt by it.'

In the image, Elsa donned a feathered headdress, while Chris sported a black wig and war paint.

It comes after Native American headdresses have previously been banned from various events including popular music festivals.

Traders at the Glastonbury Festival had been banned from selling Native American headdresses after a petition was established by Daniel W Round on Change.org.

Daniel said: 'There has long been consensus among indigenous civil rights activists in North America about the wearing of headdresses by non-Natives  that it is an offensive and disrespectful form of cultural appropriation, that it homogenises diverse indigenous peoples, and that it perpetuates damaging, archaic and racist stereotypes.'

More supportive: Other fans took the liberty to defend the couple on social media

Not phased: Some fans insisted the fancy dress party was just a light-hearted social occasion with no nasty intent
The honeymoon is certainly not over for the new Mr and Mrs Burgess.

On Sunday, Phoebe Burgess (nee Hooke) posted another bikini-clad shot from her luxury Maldives honeymoon as she swam alongside her NRL star husband, Sam Burgess.

The couple are seen snorkelling in the shot and the concern etched on the newlyweds underwater faces appears to be from a shark encounter.

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'We lived to "gram" the tail': On Sunda, Phoebe Burgess (nee Hooke) posted another bikini clad shot from her luxury Maldives honeymoon, as she swam alongside her NRL star husband, Sam Burgess and a shark

'We swam with a shark this morning and lived to "gram" the tale,' quipped in the caption of the photo.

Sam shared a short clip of a shark spotting, exclaiming to fans: 'I found the shark. What an awesome experience'.

Adding: 'It took me 5 days to capture one in the wild.'

The Rabbitohs player added the hashtag 'obsessed' to the caption.

He even spoke about shark sightings while out to dinner with his new wife on Saturday night.

Posing with a bottle of Dom Perignon on the table between them, Sam wrote: 'Still bringing in 2016 with @mrsphoebeburgess !! 4 sharks swam past as we ate dinner tonight. Amazing.'

'Awesome experience': The NRL player told fans his shark sighting was an 'awesome experience' and that he is 'obsessed' with the animals

'Took me 5 days to capture one in the wild': Sam sounded keen to get up-close-and-personal with the sharks

Celebrating in style! The couple sipped on expensive champagne, with Dom Perignon retailing from upwards of $220 per bottle in Australia

The couple sipped on the expensive champagne, retailing from upwards of $220 in Australia, as they dined at the aquarium restaurant, believed to be Ithaa Undersea Restaurant, located on Rangali Island.

The couple wed in a lavish ceremony last Monday and seem to have jetted off on their honeymoon straight away.

Keeping fans up to date, the lovebirds have been sharing plenty of glimpses of paradise, as they swim in the ocean from their villa in the Maldives.

Honeymoon from heaven! On Friday, Phoebe shared a photo of herself clad in a white bikini in her hotel's infinity pool, as she and new husband Sam enjoyed their first days of married life

Taking to social media on Friday, Phoebe shared a photo of herself clad in a white bikini as she sipped a drink in her hotel's infinity pool, the incredible backdrop of an azure seascape behind her.

'Cheers 2015 and to all those who made it the best yet - especially my @samburgess8' wrote the bronzed beauty next to the breathtaking shot.

A day later, Phoebe shared another snap of herself, this time taken underwater as she went snorkling in a barely-there multi-coloured bikini.

'Morning scuba in paradise', the adventurous journalist wrote as she flaunted her toned legs in the Twitter photo.

The adventure continues! A day later, Phoebe shared another snap of herself, this time taken underwater as she went snorkeling in a barely-there multi-coloured bikini

Clearly enamoured by her blissful surrounds, Phoebe also updated her fans immediately after her scuba diving session, sharing a photo on Instagram in which she is pictured emerging from the water via a wooden staircase.

'Post Morning Scuba in Paradise' wrote Phoebe next to the snap.

Phoebe and Sam Burgess tied the knot in a luscious wedding ceremony on Monday in the New South Wales Southern Highlands.

'Post Morning Scuba in Paradise': Phoebe also updated her fans immediately after her scuba diving session, sharing a photo on Instagram in which she is pictured emerging from the water via a wooden staircase

That was fast: Phoebe Hooke has already changed her social media handles to her new husband and NRL star Sam Burgess' last name, just hours after tying the knot

And just hours after walking down the aisle, Phoebe Hooke changed her social media handles - representing new husband and NRL star Sam Burgess' last name.

The journalist took to Instagram on Tuesday to gloat about her most-recent name change while gushing about her big day.

'The start to the best day of our lives,' the new Mrs Burgess wrote alongside a flawless snap of herself and Sam walking hand in hand out of the picture-perfect venue.

Memories: The journalist took to Instagram on Tuesday to gush about her big day writing: 'The start to the best day of our lives. @samburgess I love you'

Forever: Sam also took to Instagram soon after took to share a moving tribute to his now-wife labelling their wedding 'the most amazing day of my life'
He showcased his trademark sense of humour in That's My Boy.

But Adam Sandler showed he has a soft spot for his girls after he gave daughter Sunny a smooch while he carried her around in Malibu on Sunday.

The self-styled comedian and his adorable seven-year-old girl looked like they were having a great time bonding in the California celebrity enclave.

Big Daddy cool: Adam Sandler gave his daughter sunny a tender smooch as he carried her in Malibu Sunday

Adam, who had an unlikely hit last year with the execrable computer game comedy Pixels, was looking as cool as ever in a tartan shirt and baggy shorts, and showcased his lithe calves by wearing a chunky pair of workmens boots.

As if that were not enough, he added an extra dash of Hollywood cool to his look by wearing a pair of trendy sunglasses, despite the overcast weather.

Meanwhile Adam, who whose films are regularly ranked rotten on review aggrigate websites, won a moral victory of sorts last month after Howard Stern

They were not on speaking terms for years after the radio host would criticize the actor's movies.

A boot-iful site: The self-styled funnyman showcased his manly calves with an unconventional shorts and boots combo

They're not Blended: Family man Adam has daughters Sunny and Sadie with wife Jacqueline

Moral victory: Voice of reason Howard Stern apologised to Adam last month for slating his movies

But the Blended star and shock jock buried the hatchet when the one-of-a-kind funnyman visited Stern's SiriusXM show in New York.

On Tuesday Sandler told the host that his constant criticism had hurt his feelings, to which the 61-year-old replied: 'I was a total f**king a**hole.'

'I always felt bad about all the years we didn't speak,' Stern admitted.

The Pixels star revealed just how sensitive he was about the whole thing as he told the former America's Got Talent judge that he had always been a big fan.

Emotional Adam said: 'When I was at NYU freshman year, I loved you. That's why it was weird when you used to slam me. It would break my heart because I loved you growing up. '

Touching stuff indeed.
No trip to Los Angeles would be complete without a cheerful snap alongside the characters from one of the highest grossing children's film of all time.

But Samantha Armytage was left feeling a little cheated when she posed with Elsa and Kristoff from Frozen, having the photograph taken just as she was about to close her eyes.

Appearing fresh-faced and makeup free, the 38-year-old also joked that the man playing Kristoff looked an awful lot like Sunrise executive producer Michael Pell.

'Can you believe I paid $5 for this!' Samantha Armytage took a snap with the characters of Frozen in Los Angeles on Monday with her eyes closed

In the caption, the Sunrise host quipped: 'Can you believe I paid $5 (US!!) for this Frozen photo (for my niece & nephew) in which; a) I have my eyes closed..and b) Kristoff looks like @michaeljpell'.

The recognizable character of Olaf the snowman is also crowding into the picture, towering over the Australian TV personality, for which she paid nearly $7.

Tying her hair back into a taut ponytail, the affable presenter sported a double-breasted wool coat to withstand the American winter, which even in LA reaches temperatures of low teens.

She accessorized with a travel-friendly brown, across-the-body satchel.

'Kristoff looks like Michael Pell!' The Sunrise host joked that the man playing Kristoff in the snap looked like Sunrise Executive Producer Michael Pell (pictured)

'I just thought of you': The 38-year-old took a humorous snap in front of infamous restaurant Hooters, tagging in Larry Emdur

Seeing the sights: On Sunday, the affable presenter shared this photo in front of the Hollywood sign

On Saturday, the curvaceous blonde took to Instagram to share another humorous snap of herself looking quite confused as she stood outside a Hooters restaurant.

The news presenter was pictured in warm clothing including the same military coat, turtle neck jumper and pants.

The journalist captioned the photo: 'I don't know why @larryemdur, but I just thought of you....'

'My favourite': The Sunrise host gushed at the sight of the Hollywood star of Seinfeld and VEEP actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus

It's not clear whether this reference is an in-house joke between Samantha and Larry about the restaurant chain, which normally features busty women in tight tops serving customers.

But in 2012, the funnyman tweeted about his excitement of seeing Will Ferrell in the Channel Seven newsroom and likened it to the time the restaurant was next door to his hotel.

He said: 'OMG! Just actually saw Will Ferrell backstage @sunriseon7. Haven't been this excited since I found out Hooters was nxt door to our LA hotel [sic].'

In-jokes? It's not clear, but Samantha's Hooters gag could be a reference to this tweet back in 2012
She has been absent from Instagram for over three weeks, but Gabi Grecko is now back online and is busy making up for lost time on the social media site.

The controversial model and former wife of Geoffrey Edelsten uploaded three images in a matter of hours, including one announcing she has been signed to the same talent agency as American porn star Jenna Jameson.

Sharing a screen shot of the celebrity management agency called Intrigue which now lists Gabi as their client, her face was pictured amongst Jenna's, as well as a number of other famous faces.

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She's back! Gabi Grecko made a bold return to social media on Monday after a three-week hiatus, announcing that she had been signed to the same talent agency as porn star Jenna Jameson

She simply captioned the post: 'Stuff coming up xo.'

Also accompanying her in the shot was singer and sister of Michael Jackson, Latoya Jackson, rapper Coolio and reality star Farrah Abraham.

It is also the same management company that looks after model and former girlfriend of Kayne West, Amber Rose.

New company: Sharing a screen shot of the celebrity management agency called Intrigue which now lists Gabi as their client, her face was pictured amongst Jenna's, as well as a number of other famous faces

'Loveeee Jenna Jameson': A second post by Gabi shared just minutes before, was another screenshot of her Twitter feed which showed Jenna had started following her on the site

A second post by Gabi shared just minutes before, was another screenshot of her Twitter feed which showed Jenna had started following her on the site.

'Loveeee Jenna Jameson,' she captioned the picture.

Gabi and Jenna share a similiar taste in fashion, with both their social media pages featuring a number of scantily-clad, flesh-baring ensembles.

Gabi may be taking inspiration from the porn star-turned webcam model to boost her career, as it seems she is not only a fan of the blonde beauty but is potentially also trying to follow in her footsteps by signing with the same agency.

Biggest fan: Gabi may be taking inspiration from the porn star-turned webcam model as it seems she is potentially trying to follow in her footsteps by signing with the same agency

Her idol? Gabi and Jenna share a similar taste in fashion, with both their social media pages featuring a number of scantily-clad, flesh-baring ensembles

'I know what you are learning to endure': Meanwhile Gabi's first post since returning to Instagram was a bleak quote by Janet Fitch, shared on Monday morning

Meanwhile Gabi's first post since returning to Instagram was a bleak quote by Janet Fitch, shared on Monday morning.

'I know what you are learning to endure. There is nothing to be done. Make sure nothing is wasted. Take notes. Remember it all, every insult, every tear. Tattoo it on the inside of your mind. In life, knowledge of poisons is essential. I've told you, nobody becomes an artist unless they have to,' it read.

Before that her last post was three weeks ago, and simply read: 'Oh yeah - I'll be back,' accompanied by the caption 'I'll be back #gabigrecko is not gone.'

'Oh yeah - I'll be back': Before that her last post was three weeks ago and was also a quote

The Maxim model and husband Geoffrey appeared to split in September with the Miami-born socialite jetting off to NYC claiming she could not handle the details of his autobiography which detailed a threesome and the moment he lost his virginity.

Following Gabi's return to the United States, she began posting cryptic messages to social media about the end of her relationship with her much older husband.

She said she has had enough of him and previously accused Geoffrey of being 'in love with' his P.A, Kaye Whittaker, who has worked with the businessman for 12 years.

Kaye told Daily Mail Australia it was a 'gross overreaction' to presume she and Geoffrey were romantically involved.

Gabi has also treated her followers to a steady stream of racy images and videos, including a clip of herself gyrating naked in the bathtub of her New York apartment.

Multi millionaire Geoffrey split from his wife of four years, Brynne, 31 in January 2014 and months afterwards began dating Gabi.

Possibility: Gabi may be taking inspiration from the porn star-turned webcam model to boost her career




With an estimated net worth of $350 million she would be forgiven for sending a servant to do her shopping.

But Jessica Alba obviously loves going wild in the aisles in person after she was spotted heading home following a fun-filled supermarket sweep in Beverly Hills on Sunday.

The saucy 34-year-old looked every inch the trolley dolly as she pushed a cart full of goodies back to her car after splurging in the well-heeled are of Los Angeles County.

Supermarket sweeper: Actress Jessica Alba went wild in the aisles in Beverly Hills on Sunday

The Fantastic Four favourite was looking in typically fine form in a pullover, jogging bottoms and trainers, and rounded off her look with a pair of trendy tinted aviator sunglasses.

She was also spotted heading to the gym this weekend, with the cheeky mare wearing a top that said, 'Congratulations to me. I made it out of bed.'

Mother-of-two Jessica recently claimed she had experienced sexism as she set up her business The Honest Company, which sells 'ethical' home products.

The self-styled actress said: 'You feel like a lone wolf surrounded by men who have done it all before.

You wouldn't do that in South LA: She left her groceries unattended as she headed over to unlock her car

Shady lady: She added a dash of Hollywood glamour to her outfit by wearing trendy tinted aviator sunglasses

'Certainly people in Hollywood underestimated me. They absolutely, 100 percent thought I was nuts.

'It p***** me off! But as a woman, as an actress, Ive dealt with that before. Ive dealt with people undermining me; Ive dealt with people thinking that I would do anything to get ahead and be successful.'

Meanwhile her company, which in August was valued at $1.7 billion, is currently being sued by consumer Jonathan Rubin for $5 million, who alleges her company 'deceptively and misleadingly' marketed its products as 'natural' when a number of items included 'unnatural' and 'synthetic" ingredients.

Fantastic phwoar: The fitness fanatic was turning heads in a pullover and jogging bottoms

Giving herself a pat on the back: Cheeky Jessica wore this jumper when she headed to the gymnasium

Rubin named the brand's dish soap, hand soaps, diapers and multi-surface cleaner as being potentially hazardous and claims its sunscreen is ineffective.

The company is asking that the entire lawsuit be thrown out and points out that the man didn't even buy some of the products he is complaining about not being natural, specifically the brand's diapers and their multi-surface cleaner.

Alba's company says that Rubin failed to show any misleading or false statements that were made by The Honest Company and also any proof that he purchased the items based on these alleged statements.

The case between Rubin and The Honest Company is set to be heard in court in San Francisco on January 19, 2016.

Big month: No doubt working out took Jessica's mind off her Honest Company's forthcoming legal battle
Kenya Moore broke down with tears as she confronted her father over the pain he caused her when he refused to speak to her throughout her teenage years.

Kenya and dad Ronald were both left in tears during a heart-to-heart about how the reality TV star ran away from home when she was just 12 - and her dad refused to talk to her for five years.

And the Real Housewives of Atlanta star admitted that despite their troubled relationship, her father is one of the only members of her family she still speaks to - blaming the dysfunctional relationship of her family on her failure to find a husband.

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Emotional: Kenya Moore and her dad Ronald reconnected as they discussed their troubled relationship

Kenya invited Ronald to visit her in her new home in Atlanta as the first step in trying to reunite with the rest of her family, with a teaser for next weeks show suggesting a dramatic attempt to confront her mother.

I have always had an on-again, off-again relationship with my dad, she admitted.

We dont necessarily see eye to eye. But hes one of the few family members Im still in touch with.

After showing him the early stages of her new home - with him seemingly disapproving of her undertaking such a large project - she then took him for a walk in the park for their heart-to-heart.

I know that I ran away, she finally told him, having explained that she fled their new home in Houston, Texas, to go back to their hometown of Detroit.

But the fact that we didnt talk for years really hurt me because I needed you when I was a teenager.

With tears, she added: I know I caused you a lot of pain, but that was painful for me too, to lose you for that period of time.

She later justified her running away by saying she was just a kid and I was only thinking about myself in comments to the camera.

Not easy: Kenya Moore broke down with tears as she discussed the five years the two were estranged from one another

Moving forward: Kenya invited Ronald to visit her in her new home in Atlanta as the first step in trying to reunite with the rest of her family

I didnt like the neighborhood, I didnt like any of the people, and I didnt like my school. So I ran away, all the way back to Detroit, she added.

But her dad soon had tears of his own as he explained how badly her fleeing had hurt him, too.

You talking about pain - you cannot imagine that pain, he told her. I felt like a man who failed.

Explaining that he felt he finally got all my kids and we all going to come up together as a tree, adding: When you decided that, hey man, Texas ain't it was like, hey man, I dont want my dad. He ain't made it good enough. Hes not good enough.

With more tears, he added: Well, dont nobody wanna be told they not good enough.

I never realized that running away crushed my dads dream of having his family together, Kenya insisted later. I just never knew how hurt my father really was.

Tough subject: She told her father: 'But the fact that we didnt talk for years really hurt me because I needed you when I was a teenager

I felt like a man who failed: Ronald also became emotional as he gave Kenya his side of the story

When Ronald insisted that all parents want the best for their kids, Kenya insisted: Well, you do know a parent like that - that parent is my mother.

Oh my God, Ronald said. Im not gonna let what she do affect me. We do the best we can with the cards we dealt.

Kenya insisted it had been really cathartic to have a real on conversation with my dad, adding: I really wish I could have the same kind of conversation with my mother.

She then asked him to help her with a family reunion back in Detroit, with him insisting: Im not going back there. I just ain't going. Its very painful.

But the teaser for next weeks episode showed him in a bus with other episodes as Kenya surprised them by arriving at her mothers home - getting out of the bus and trying to confront her.

Earlier, she had admitted that a key reason she wanted to repair the wound with her family is because she feels it is ruining her chances of finding a husband.

Some of the issues I have with men stem from the dysfunctional relationship that I have with my family, she insisted.

Request: The reality star asked her father to help her with a family reunion in Detroit to which he responded: Im not going back there. I just ain't going. Its very painful

Improving: The father and daughter's relationship certainly seems to be in a much better place as they were shown sharing an embrace

I cant keep dating and failing anymore. Its just too hurtful.

But Ive got to get healthy first and deal with my family which really means opening up four decades of pain.

Elsewhere in the show, Kandi Burress finally got to confront Porsha Williams over her belief that her friend had taken sides with Phaedra Parks and bad-mouthed her about the duos feud.

Porter had initially tried to discuss the issue with Kandi at Cynthia Baileys glam customer appreciation event for her line of sunglasses - but soon walked out in a huff when Kandi would only talk to her surrounded by her friends.

Showdown: Kandi Burress (left) finally got to confront Porsha Williams over her belief that her friend had taken sides with Phaedra Parks and bad-mouthed her about the duos feud

Not right place or right time: Porsha soon walked out in a huff when Kandi would only talk to her surrounded by her friends

They finally agreed to lunch, with Kandi awkwardly and apprehensively accepting her friends apology, refusing at first to believe Phaedras pity party that losing her husband to jail was a reason for her failing to pay Kandis husband money she owed him.

I feel like both of you are full of s**t - you are believing the mother-f***ing hype! Nandi had screamed a Porsha, insisting Phaedra didnt even like jailed husband Apollo.

Ive been divorced now about three years, and I could not stand my husband! Porsha said. When we let it go, still didnt like his ass, but did it hurt me? Take me to a very, very bad place? Did I still need my friends to support me? Yes! Thats it.

While she accepted Porshas apology, of Phaedra, Kandi insisted: I dont know if well ever be like it used to be.

Phaedra did, however, make some steps as she went to see Kandis husband Todd Tucker to talk about the $8,000 she still owes him for a workout video they had made while she was pregnant.

She had been sarcastic of how he must be scrounging around the couch cushions for spare change and looking through the ashtrays for quarters since I heard that his LA TV projects are al dried up, adding: Maybe his weekly allowance from Miss Kandi isnt keeping him afloat anymore.

Much better: The two later agreed to have lunch as they discussed their issues

Reasoning: Porsha said: 'Ive been divorced now about three years, and I could not stand my husband!

Mending?: Kandi accepted her apology but insisted: I dont know if well ever be like it used to be

After once again blaming the stresses in her life for not paying up, she seemed to finally agree to paying up, saying: No need to give me the evil eye, we good.

But she later added to camera with a mischievous grin: Its my name on this video so Ill be the one who says when its done. And thats when little Todd Tucker can come collect his check. Thank you.

Earlier, Kandis best friend Carmon Cambrice had said Phaedra should be ashamed for running around with new shoes, new bags, and new cars when she owed money.

You coming around with new titties - thats $5,000 dollars right there! You could have paid me my money, she joked.

Porsha, meanwhile, was seen presenting at the Emmys for Dish Nation - but panicking about what will happen when her sister Lauren, who is also her personal assistant, needs time off to have her baby.

I dont know what the hell is going to happen when she goes on maternity leave, she admitted. My sister Lauren and I dont only work together but were best friends. So its going to be very, very difficult for me finding someone that I trust going through my emails, make a decision for me if Im not there  all those things have me really tense.

Im not used to Lauren shifting her priorities because I have been pretty much her priority.

She added: She thinks Im a drama queen about everything. But in this situation I think I have a right to be a drama queen, because this is our livelihood.

After her Emmys gig, she said proudly: I have been dreaming of this day for at least four years straight. This is just one more thing to add to the Porsha Williams empire.

New gig: Earlier in the episode Porsha was seen presenting at the Emmys for Dish Nation
Actress Georgia May Foote sought comfort in Strictly Come Dancing partner Giovanni Pernice after a string of rows with now ex-boyfriend Sean Ward.

The former Coronation Street beauty, 24, was reportedly spotting kissing the Italian professional dancer, 25, on a New Year's trip to Disney following the breakdown of her romance with Sean.

Georgia and Sean ended their eight-month romance shortly after the Strictly final a few weeks ago amidst the actor's 'insecurity' over their relationship, according to the Daily Mirror.

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Close: Georgia May Foote and her Strictly Come Dancing partner Giovanni Pernice are said to be more than friends after they were spotted kissing at Disneyland Paris over New Year's

Sources on the BBC reality show claim Sean, 27, struggled with Georgia's closeness with her partner Giovanni with the pair spending most of their time together in rehearsals.

A show source told the Mirror: 'Georgia was very fond of Sean and she cared for him deeply, but he found it difficult to get over the close friendship she had with Giovanni.

'It was Sean who pushed Georgia away, he didn't feel secure in their relationship and it led to huge rows.

See the latest Strictly Come Dancing updates on star Georgia May Foote and ex Sean Ward

Stormy? Georgia and boyfriend Sean Ward, pictured on his Instagram three weeks ago, are said to have split after eight months together

'Georgia would regularly be in floods of tears backstage.'

Over New Year's, Georgia and Giovanni was spotted sharing a kiss in the Magic Circus Hotel's bar at the Disneyland Paris resort.

The actress, who played Katy Armstrong in the ITV soap before leaving in March 2015, has posted a photo of her in the theme park on her Instagram - but Giovanni wasn't included.

Although Sean or Georgia are yet to comment on their reported split, the actor's mother Deborah refused to elaborate, saying: 'We would like Sean's privacy to be respected.'

Romantic break? Georgia posted a photo of herself at Disneyland Paris on her Instagram... but was is Giovanni taking the photo?

Georgia last interacted with Sean on Twitter back on the night of the Strictly Come Dancing final on December 19, when she retweeted his support.

MailOnline has contacted Sean and Georgia's reps for comment.

Georgia and Sean went public with their romance in April, shortly after she left the soap and before he was killed off during the live episode in September.

They started dating after Georgia ended her engagement to childhood sweetheart, plumber John Sage in February.

'Insecure': Sean reportedly found it difficult to cope with Georgia's closeness with her dance partner Giovanni, leading to a string of rows between the couple
It wasnt just any ordinary vacation for Lucy Mecklenburgh and her boyfriend Louis Smith.

The loved-up couple celebrated their first year anniversary of bliss as they rung in the New Year together during an idyllic getaway in Thailand this week.

Taking to her social media sites to share a series of snaps, the former TOWIE beauty gushed: It's our 1 year anniversary at midnight. Can't believe I've put up with him for a WHOLE YEAR.. jokes love him to bits Bring on 2016!!!!!!!!!!!! Xxx #nye. [sic]

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'Love him to bits': Lucy Mecklenburgh and boyfriend Louis Smith celebrated their first year anniversary in Thailand during New Years

The stars, who met last August after appearing on the BBC show Tumble, have been dating since December 2014 and have been inseparable ever since.

On Sunday, Lucy went on to upload an envy-inducing snap of herself, showing off her glowing sun-kissed complexion and incredibly toned curves in all its glory.

Stripped down to a skimpy orange bikini, from Elizabeth Hurleys swimwear range, the 24-year-old appeared content and relaxed as she kicked back on a sun lounger whilst admiring the scenic view from her balcony.

What a view: On Sunday, the former TOWIE star went on to upload an envy-inducing snap of herself, showing off her glowing sun-kissed complexion and incredibly toned curves in all its glory

Loved up: Over the past few days, Lucy and her handsome beau have been jetting around the globe, celebrating their first year anniversary together

The fitness fan happily paraded her long legs and her deep tan in the sexy two-piece, finishing the ensemble off with stylish designer aviators.

Alongside the image, Lucy confessed just how much she overindulged during her festive break, telling her followers she cannot wait to get back into training.

She said: Not ganna lie I'm slightly in love with my new boobs that have come from nowhere (well prob made from a serious amount of gin, red wine, cocktails, mince pies, sausage rolls, Christmas dinner, bread, pasta, American pancakes, Thai food etc..) but I'm really looking forward to getting back into training & eating. [sic]

Smitten: The stars, who met last August after appearing on the BBC show Tumble, have been dating since December 2014 and have been inseparable ever since

The TV star, who is known for her love for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, is preparing to launch the latest plan from her fitness and nutrition website, Results With Lucy.

I'm starting my @resultswithlucy 'NEW BEGINNINGS UPGRADED' programme with the food delivery which I'm super excited about, she happily revealed.

I'm hoping u all love the new plan & the food delivery makes your life a little easier! The meals are sooo delicious Bring on a healthy & happy 2016!!!
Jonathan Cheban has insisted his best friend Kim Kardashian trusts him 'like a brother'.

The reality star, who is due to enter Celebrity Big Brother on Tuesday night, explained he and Kim, 35, are 'like family' and described the raven-haired beauty as ' the sweetest girl in the entire world'.

Speaking during an early-morning appearance on ITV's Lorraine on Monday, Jonathan appeared to quash reports mother-of-two Kim had hit him with a gagging order ahead of his appearance on the Channel 5 reality show.

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No secrets to be spilled here? Jonathan Cheban has insisted his best friend Kim Kardashian trusts him 'like a brother' ahead of his Celebrity Big Brother appearance

Proud: The reality star, who is due to enter the house on Tuesday night, explained he and Kim, 35, are 'like family' and described Kim as ' the sweetest girl in the entire world'

He told host Lorraine Kelly: 'Ive known them [the Kardashians] for about nine years, right before the show started. We grew all together with the show.

'Weve been through a lot of people we cant trust but were like family so its like trusting your brother, your sister.'

Jonathan also revealed his chance first meeting with Kim at a mutual friend's birthday dinner, and explained that in spite of her being one of the world's most famous women and a busy mother-of-two, she 'never disappoints' as a friend.

He added: 'Ive been around in LA and Hollywood for a long time and I just happened to sit next to Kim at a birthday dinner by accident... we got on instantly.

See the latest on Kim Kardashian as her BFF Jonathan Cheban goes into CBB

Can't wait! Kim took to Twitter on Sunday to say how much she was looking forward to seeing Jonathan's turn on the UK edition of Celebrity Big Brother

Open: Jonathan appeared to quash reports mother-of-two Kim had hit him with a gagging order ahead of his appearance on the Channel 5 reality show

Best buds: Jonathan also revealed his chance first meeting with Kim at a mutual friend's birthday dinner, and explained that in spite of her being one of the world's most famous women, she 'never disappoints' as a friend

'Shes the sweetest girl in the entire world. With her its like she never disappoints, even when shes the busiest in the whole world she always ends up coming and meeting you.'

Jonathan's comments come after Kim offered her support to her close friend and confidante on Sunday night, telling her Twitter followers she was excited to see him on the drama-filled fly-on-the-wall show.

She wrote: 'OMGGGG I can't believe @JonathanCheban is doing celeb Big Brother UK. I'm dying to see this! He's going to be hysterical!!!!'

The post comes after it was claimed the reality star slapped the 41-year-old with a gagging order ahead of his appearance on the show which kicks off on Tuesday.

Showtime! Kim was believed to have reportedly slapped her best pal Jonathan Cheban with a gagging order ahead of his appearance on Celebrity Big Brother

Jonathan was pictured touching down at London's Heathrow airport on New Year's Eve.

He found fame starring on Keeping Up With The Kardashians and was sporting a T-shirt with Kris' face emblazoned across the front ahead of his entry in the fly-on-the-wall Channel 5 show.

Jonathan, who was jetting in from Tel Aviv, Israel, paid homage to the Kardashian matriarch as he rocked a comedy T-shirt which showed Kris mocked up as a member of legendary rock group Kiss.

Kris' face is covered in the classic Kiss make-up and the words 'The Momager Tour' are emblazoned beneath - a nod to her job as manager to the majority of her six children.

He topped off the look with a pair of distressed khaki jeans and his favoured Yeezy Duck Boot - designed by Kim's rapper husband Kanye West, while he rocked a long-line black blazer and sporting futuristic visor-style sunglasses.

See more updates on Kim Kardashian as BFF Jonathan Cheban goes into CBB

Inside knowledge: The PR guru appeared to be ensuring the matriarch of the first family of reality TV, Kris Jenner is with him as he touched down in London's Heathrow airport on New Year's Eve

News of the gagging order comes after a source told Daily Star that Kim does not want her husband, daughter North, one-month-old son Saint or her former step-father Caitlyn Jenner mentioned while he is in the house.

A subject he is permitted to discuss is Kim's ex-husband Kris Humphries, who the stunning star was married to for just 72 days in 2011.

The insider revealed: 'Kim has made him sign a gagging order saying what he can and can't talk about. Kanye, North West, Saint West and Caitlyn Jenner and strictly off bounds.

'However, Kim's ex Kris Humphries is fair game. Cheban has got plenty of gossip and he is bound to be TV gold.'

Jonathan was joined in his arrival by his stunning girlfriend Anat Popovsky and his glamorous mother Galina.

He'll be in good company in the house as the mixture of personalities and egos has ensured the show is must-watch car crash TV twice a year.

But this year, TV viewers have a special treat in store as a trio of fiery blondes are set to clash on Celebrity Big Brother, according to the Daily Star Sunday.

TOWIE's Gemma Collins, Strictly's siren Kristina Rihanoff and troubled EastEnders regular Danniella Westbrook are believed to lead this year's line-up.

Gemma's last stint on a different reality show from The Only Way Is Essex memorably ended in disaster as she dropped out of I'm A Celebrity after just three days in the jungle.

It's a jungle in there: Gemma Collins is hoping to fare better than in I'm A Celebrity as she leads the stars who are set to appear in 2016's Celebrity Big Brother

Battle of the blondes: Controversial soap star Danniella Westbrook - who was dropped from the show last year before it aired - will also appear, alongside Strictly's siren Kristina Rihanoff

Mamma mia! Italian sociliate Nancy Dell'Olio - who dated ex-England boss Sven Goran Eriksson - is bound to have some good stories to tell her housemates

Glamour girls: The line-up has had a serious injection of glamour from Ex On The Beach star Megan McKenna and former Hollyoaks actress Stephanie Davis, who was sacked from the soap last year

Kristina is keen to get the public back on her side after her controversial romance with fellow contestant Ben Cohen, who announced he was dating the Russian blonde after splitting from the mother of his two children, Abby.

Meanwhile, Daniella - who played Sam Mitchell on the hit BBC soap for two decades - has a well-documented troubled past, including cocaine addition.

The actress was reported to have signed up to appear on CBB last year, but didn't make it through the vigorous psychiatric evaluations.

Joining the trio are bad boy actor Darren Day, Sven-Goran Eriksson's ex-WAG Nancy Dell'Olio, Former X Factor finalist Christopher Maloney, David Bowie's ex-wife Angie, music producer David Gest, Megan McKenna, who starred in US reality show Ex On The Beach.

Bad boy returns: Nineties' actor Darren Day - famed for his love rat ways - will also appear on the Channel 5 hit

Reality hits: Former X Factor star Christopher Maloney (left) has signed up alongside Kim Kardashian's BFF Jonathan Cheban

Music to our ears: David Bowie's fiery ex-wife Angie is bound to lift the lid on her dealings with the music industry

Here come the hunks: Geordie Shore's muscle-bound star Scotty T will have a battle on his hands for the female housemates' attention - and the mirror - as he's set to live alongside former Mr Ireland Jeremy McConnell

Also set to make the CBB house their home are sacked Hollyoaks actress Stephanie Davis, Actor John Partridge, famous for playing Christian Clarke in EastEnders, Geordie Shore star Scotty T, Jeremy McConnell, a former Mr Ireland, Kim Kardashian's BFF Jonathan Cheban, US reality TV star Tiffany Pollard and Winston McKenzie, a former Ukip spokesman.

And despite being locked away for weeks without contact with the outside world, the contestants will at least be living in plush surroundings.

The Hertfordshire-based surveillance house has undergone as dramatic make-over in anticipation of the forthcoming series, which airs from 5 January.

Who? US reality star Tiffany Pollard is a relative unknown in the UK but is bound to stir up some drama in the house

Soap star to soap box: EastEnders actor John Partridge, famous for playing Christian Clarke in EastEnders is also set to enter the house, alongside outspoken Winston McKenzie, a former Ukip spokesman

Reality show regular: Producer David Gest - the former husband of Liza Minelli - will make his latest TV appearance after stints on I'm A Celebrity, Soapstar Superstar and Come Dine With Me

Facelift: The CBB house has undergone as dramatic make-over in anticipation of the forthcoming series, which airs from 5 January

The famous house has undergone a major costume change, and Housemates will be transported to a striking and theatrical setting which echoes the vaudeville theatres of a bygone era.

As they take their cue to enter the House, the celebrities will descend down a majestic staircase, leading to glamorous rooms made up of rich opulent textures and packed with intriguing curiosities.

But is it too good to be true? Big Brother may have set the scene of a decadent, antiquated world, but there is also the suggestion of a grittier underworld.

Jonathan touched down in the UK after finding time between reality shows to enjoy a final getaway with his stunning girlfriend Anat and his mother to Tel Aviv.

Jonathan's pre-Big Brother trip was laden with culture as he has visited the sites of the Israeli city.

He sported a Kippah as he visited the The Western Wall located in the Old City of Jerusalem, which is deemed the holiest point one is permitted to pray.
BRIAN VINER: Philippa lives in Edinburgh, where she works in a dreary sales job and is passed over for promotion. 'You are at the right level for you,' says her condescending boss.
She made fashion history in May last year by becoming the first openly transgender model profiled by Vogue magazine.

And on Tuesday, model Andreja Pejic displayed the figure that made her famous as she took to Miami Beach in a printed red bikini.

With her honey-blonde hair slicked back, the makeup-free 24-year-old flaunted her alabaster complexion and lofty six foot one inch frame as she waded through the surf.

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Bathing beauty! On Tuesday, transgender model Andreja Pejic, 24, displayed her slim figure as she took to Miami Beach in a printed red bikini

The Australian celebrity jetted into Miami early last week in preparation for New Year's Eve revelries, which she shared with her close friend and fellow model Cat McNeil.

Taking to Instagram at the airport while en route to her coastal holiday destination, the striking beauty posed with her tousled mane falling across her shoulders, captioning the snap with: 'Miami #NYE Holaa'

A day later, she once again updated her 178,000 followers with a decidedly racier snap featuring herself, Cat and friend Lexi Boling posing in scant attire in their hotel bathroom.

Natural stunner: With her honey-blonde hair slicked back, the makeup-free 24-year-old flaunted her alabaster complexion and lofty six foot one inch frame as she waded through the surf

Off-duty glamour: Taking to Instagram at the airport while en route to her coastal holiday destination, the striking beauty posed with her tousled mane falling across her shoulders

'We are here', wrote Andreja in the caption as Cat posed seemingly topless with her hands in the air.

In a subsequent photo, Cat is pictured with her hands wrapped around Andreja's chest, captioned simply with: 'Close encounters'.

In February last year, Andreja made her triumphant debut on the catwalk as a woman following a year spent undergoing a series of gender reassignment procedures.

'We are here': A day later, she once again updated her 178K followers with a decidedly racier snap featuring herself, Cat and friend Lexi Boling posing in scant attire in their hotel bathroom

Returning to the runway: In February last year, Andreja made her triumphant debut on the catwalk as a woman following a year spent undergoing a series of gender reassignment procedures

Speaking to Vogue about her decision to transition, the Serbian-born, Melbourne-raised model revealed that she had previously been advised not to undergo the surgery because it would transform her from an interesting enigma into just another pretty girl.

There was definitely a lot of, "Oh, youre going to lose whats special about you. Youre not going to be interesting anymore. There are loads of pretty girls out there,"' she explained.

One agent even advised her that 'it's better to be androgynous than a tranny', but Andreja refused to fall prey to those opinions.

Difficult time: Speaking to Vogue, Andreja revealed that she had previously been advised not to undergo the surgery because it would sully her mystique

'It is about showing that this is not just a gimmick,' she said of being transgender.

Andreja first made a name for herself within the fashion industry as both a male and a female model, with her androgynous look allowing her to showcase both male and female designs.

In 2012 she modeled Jean Paul Gaultier's Haute Couture Fall/Winter collection in Paris before going on to showcase the same designer's menswear range.

She also walked for designer Giles Deacon's Autumn/Winter show at London Fashion Week in 2015.

A fashion icon: Andreja first made a name for herself within the fashion industry as both a male and a female model, with her androgynous look allowing her to showcase both male and female designs




Prepare to be envious.

Patrick Schwarzenegger certainty knows how to end a year with a bang, going from chilly family getaway to balmy boys' trip.

The 22-year-old actor ensured he got every last second of fun out of 2015.

Patrick made fans everywhere jealous with his holiday snaps on Instagram this week, sharing his holiday that went from the ski fields of Idaho's Sun Valley to the Mexico's biggest party town, Cabo San Lucas.

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Party time: Patrick Schwarzenegger certainty knows how to end a year with a bang, going from chilly family getaway with his father Arnold and brother Chris in Idaho to balmy boys' trip in Mexico

The Scream Queens star kicked off the final week of 2015 with a snow trip with his famous dad Arnold and baby brother Chris as well as his best friends - Rob Hunt, Will Harbert, Marc Thaler and Daniel Davis.

The group hit the slopes and the bars around the iconic ski fields with the Schwarzenegger men showing off their natural affinity to the cold weather.

Proving their father's Austrian roots have made them more than snow-ready, Patrick and his brother took on some of the biggest runs possible with their father.

Bro time: The actor and his baby brother enjoyed a (matching) basketball Christmas in Los Angeles before heading to Sun Valley

Bottoms up: Joining in the snow fun was the star's pals Rob Hunt (far right), Will Harbert, Marc Thaler and Daniel Davis (centre)

The trio carved their way down the mountain on skis and happily posed for a snap as they triumphantly made it to the bottom.

While a ski trip to one of America's top resorts is a great way to end 2015, Patrick was not done there.

The actor and his boys then ditched their warm snowgear in favor of boardshorts as they rang in the New Year in Cabo San Lucas.

Change of pace: The 22-year-old headed to Cabo San Lucas in Mexico and is seen here with (top L-R) Daniel, Johnny Lowe, Marc and (bottom (L-R) Alec Roth and Rob aka his crew 'Equipo Grande'

Joining the star's rat pack was fellow celebrity spawn Johnny and Matthew Lowe, whose famous father Rob was also in town to celebrate the arrival of 2016.

With their steins of beer being replaced by coconuts, Patrick dubbed his group 'Equipo Grande' which roughly translates from Spanish to Big Crew.

The crew must have got a little crazy as while they all were looking fresh and dressed in their tropical best for Thursday's big party, by the end of the trip they had all gone a little tropo loco.

Hollywood family: Joining the star's rat pack was fellow celebrity spawn Johnny and Matthew Lowe, whose famous father Rob along with mom Sheryl Berkoff was also in town to celebrate the arrival of 2016

Here we come! The crew were looking fresh and dressed in their tropical best for Thursday's big party

For his final snap of his boys' trip Patrick sported beaded braids while his friends had ended up with henna facial tattoos with one even sporting Mike Tyson's famous cheek ink.

While Patrick was having a blast with his mates, across the other side of his world his ex Miley Cyrus was also having a noteworthy New Year also.

The singer was spotted ringing in 2016 with ex-fiance Liam Hemsworth in the actor's native Australia.
He's bounced back since having a skin cancer removed from his face last month.

And Jesse Tyler Ferguson looked in great spirits as he arrived in NYC with his husband Justin Mikita on Sunday night.

The 40-year-old actor and his partner checked into their Midtown hotel after returning from a break in Australia over the holidays.

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Long journey: Jesse Tyler Ferguson looked in great spirits as he arrived in NYC with his husband Justin Mikita on Sunday night

The Modern Family star covered his trademark strawberry blonde hair with a baseball cap, and carried his own luggage.

His T-shirt looked to read Cabin Fever in reverse, an apt choice considering the long flight of over twenty hours from Sydney to the East Coast.

Justin looked bundled up against the cold in a cream beanie and grey winter trench coat.

Bounced back: The 40-year-old actor and his partner checked into their Midtown hotel after returning from a break in Australia over the holidays

Jesse showed no visible signs of the surgery on his cheek at the start of December, which he shared with Instagram followers.

He posted a picture at the time, with the right side of his face bandaged up, which he captioned: 'Thank you to Dr. Bennett & his entire team for taking the cancer out of my face. Good luck hiding the stitches tomorrow @modernfamily_makeuphair!'

In September 2012, Jesse - who plays Mitchell Pritchett in the ABC sitcom - and his partner of two years Justin, announced their engagement and were married in the following July.

Scare: He underwent surgery to remove the cancer at the start of December, which he shared with Instagram followers

At the time of their engagement the couple started Tie The Knot, a non-profit charity with funds raised in support of marriage equality.

They spent Christmas and New Year down under with family, as well as exploring some of Sydney's sights.

He posted an impressive picture of himself doing a handstand in front of the Sydney Opera House as well as visiting the sprawling Bondi Beach.

For his performance on Modern Family he has received five consecutive Emmy nominations for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series.

Upside down-under! He posted an impressive picture of himself doing a handstand in front of the Sydney Opera House

Get-together: They spent Christmas and New Year down under with family
She's a well-known foodie and longtime host of Bravo's Top Chef.

So of course Padma Lakshmi enjoyed the delicious offerings on her holiday in Mexico with her daughter, Krishna Lakshmi-Dell.

And the 45-year-old was quick to explain the very slight bulge in her slender body did not mean she was expecting the pitter-patter of tiny feet in a beach shot she captioned: 'No I am not pregnant, I just like tacos, and burritos and enchiladas...!!!)

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'No I am not pregnant': Padma Lakshmi explained what she thought looked like a baby bump as too much food as she embarrassed her daughter Krishna by wearing a huge sombrero on holiday in Mexico

The snap, posted on Monday, showed her playing in the warm Caribbean at the Sian Ka'an biosphere reserve, near Tulum wearing a colourful fringed bikini and a huge stripey hat as her her five-year-old looked on.

And if the former model had gained a single pound only she could see it.

The caption kicked off: 'Oh I don't care if it's almost sundown, I am absolutely going to embarrass you on the beach with this sombrero! #littlehands #littlecringe,' using her daughter's hashtag.

'Last dance at the short': The beautiful host of Bravo's Top Chef and her five-year-old were staying at the Sian Ka'an biosphere reserve, near Tulum, on Mexico's Caribbean coast

Padma also shared a gorgeous photo of herself in the same bikini looking out towards the gently rolling waves as Krishna, the daughter of her ex, venture capitalist Adam Dell, stood behind her.

'Last dance at the shore,' she said, '#littlefeet hiding,' suggesting she and her little girl would soon be jetting back to Los Angeles.

The beautiful brunette, who is a native of Chennai, India, posted one last selfie as she held her hands up into a heart shape, capturing the sun as it set. 'Love,' she wrote simply.

The dying of the light: The 45-year-old, who is a native of Chennai, India, posted one last selfie as she held her hands up into a heart shape, capturing the sun as it set. 'Love,' she wrote simply

On Friday, Padma heralded in the New Year with a gorgeous shot of herself in a white lace cover up over a tiny white bikini, with her arms outstretched as she stood on a deck overlooking the sea.

She captioned it: 'Welcome 2016!!!!'

Padma gained fame as the host of Bravo's food competition show, which is currently in its 13th season.

She has been it's host since its second season, earning an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Host For A Reality Or Reality-Competition Program in 2009.

In addition to her hosting duties, Padma has also released two cookbooks; Easy Exotic in the late 1990s and Tangy, Tart, Hot And Sweet in 2007.
James Caan's divorce from his fourth wife seems to be getting uglier.

The 75-year-old actor believes that the spending of his estranged wife Linda Stokes is forcing him to take bad roles in order to maintain their way of living and pay child support.

The legendary actor is known for his roles in iconic films such as The Godfather and apparently would like to retire amidst his recent medical issues.

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Getting ugly: James Caan believes that the spending of his estranged wife Linda Stokes is forcing him to take bad roles in order to maintain their way of living and pay child support according to a Monday report from TMZ

However he claims that his estranged wife is blowing through his savings and is forced to keep working in order to pay the bills according to legal documents found by TMZ on Monday.

The gossip site claims that he is currently paying $13,000 a month in child support for their two boys together, 20-year-old James Arthur and 17-year-old Jacob but it appears that she is asking for more money.

Perhaps the most striking claim in the documents is that Caan feels the money issues are forcing him to take sub-par roles in order to keep up financially.

Legend: The 75-year-old actor is best known for his work as Sonny Corleone in 1972's The Godfather

Big role: He is also known for his work in 1991 flick For The Boys

According to TMZ the docs read: 'I am no longer willing to take parts in films and/or television shows which detract from the 50 years I have spent building my reputation.'

He goes on to say that he had to do a drama named Sicilian Vampire, released in the summer of 2015, which was 'humiliating' as the New York City premiere only had 50 people show up.

This comes just months after Caan was rushed to the hospital in Toronto after complaining of chest pain, according to a September report from TMZ.

Luckily for the Hollywood vet he was not having a heart attack; rather he was suffering from a chest infection.

Interesting: The gossip site claims that he is currently paying $13,000 a month in child support for their two boys together, 20-year-old James Arthur and 17-year-old Jacob - pictured together in LA back in April 2007 - but it appears that she is asking for more money

Chip off the old block: One of Jame's more famous sons is 39-year-old actor Scott Caan

He was released soon after the visit as he was in the Canadian metropolitan city to film action comedy Operation Insanity

James - who has starred in 1975's Rollerball, 1990's Dick Tracy, 1992's Honeymoon In Vegas, 2003's Elf and 2014's The Outsider, among dozens of others - has been married four times.

In 1961, he married Dee Jay Mathis and had daughter Tara; they divorced in 1966.

Caan's second marriage to Sheila Marie Ryan (a former girlfriend of Elvis Presley) in 1976 was short-lived; they divorced the following year.

Lowpoint: TMZ claims the legendary actor was 'embarrassed' to star in drama Sicilian Vampire released last year as he feels like his reputation has been suffering due to the fact that he is forced to take roles

Their son, Scott Caan, who also is an actor, was born in 1976.

Caan was married to Ingrid Hajek from September 1990 to March 1994; they had a son, Alexander, born 1991.

He married Linda Stokes in 1995, they have two sons, James (born 1995) and Jacob (born 1998).

Caan filed for divorce on November 20, 2009, citing irreconcilable differences. They got back together and split again in January of last year.
They were enjoying the relaxing life in Bali early last week before flying to Los Angeles to perform at the Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve.

But it seems 5 Seconds Of Summer just can't get enough of the holiday destination and have returned with bikini model Bryana Holly and Victoria's Secrets star Josephine Skriver.

On Monday drummer Ashton Irwin showed off his manly figure as he went shirtless for a social media snap before venturing out with girlfriend Bryana.

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Baring all: Ashton Irwin showed off his manly figure on Monday as he went shirtless while holidaying with girlfriend Bryana Holly and 5 Seconds Of Summer bandmates in Bali

The 21-year-old posed in nothing but a pair of navy knee-length shorts while standing in the middle of a bamboo bridge, forming the 'peace' sign with his right hand.

The band member captioned the image, which was liked 386,000 times, 'Sending love, hope you had a happy new year xxx.'

Moments later Ashton uploaded another photo which pictured himself sitting closely alongside Bryana - making it the first ever photo he has shared of the pair.

In the image, he lent forward to take the shot as the group of eight huddled closely together while getting a lift in a mini-bus.

See more of the latest news and pictures of the 5 Seconds Of Summer bandmates

First timer: The 21-year-old later shared a group snap to his social media, which featured Bryana - who displayed little emotion - 5SOS members Calum Hood and Luke Hemmings

Out of action: Missing from the shot was guitarist Michael Clifford who is also on the vacation

In-sync: Since arriving in Bali last Monday the award-winning group have documented their time at the location across all social media platforms

While Ashton had a large toothy smile smudged across his face, Bryana sat back in a white singlet, displaying little emotion.

The bikini model, who was formally dating Kardashian step-brother Brody Jenner, tied her blonde locks back into a messy ponytail while hiding her eyes underneath a pair of large sunglasses.

The shot also featured fellow 5SOS members Luke Hemmings and Calum Hood, along with fellow model Josephine and her beau Alexander DeLeon.

Missing from the snap was guitarist Michael Clifford who is also on the group trip.

Taking it off: Frontman Luke Hemmings has also shared shirtless snaps of himself across Instagram

Celebrating: 5SOS departed Bali on Thursday to attend the Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve in Los Angeles but arrived back in time for New Year's Day celebrations the following day

Since arriving in the holidaying destination last Monday, Bryana has shared multiple photos of herself in skimpy bikini sets, failing to share any of herself and beau Ashton.

Moments after the record artist shared the group snap across his picture-sharing account, the beauty uploaded an image of herself in a black one-piece swimsuit which displayed her super toned behind.

Ashton and Bryana's holiday to Bali comes two months after the drummer revealed the pair had split during an interview with legendary radio host Howard Stern.

Groupies: Victoria's Secret model Josephine Striver is also on the group's holiday and has regularly been sharing busty snaps of her and Bryana

Kicking back: Since arriving in the holidaying destination Bryana has shared multiple photos of herself in skimpy bikini sets, but has failed to share any of herself and beau Ashton

On show: The beauty shared an image of herself in a black one-piece swimsuit, which showed off her super toned behind

'I actually tried to have a relationship and it just didn't work out,' he said.

'I've been away for six months...and I was kind of seeing someone for about a year but I worked it out and I'd actually been with them for approximately two months out of that year,'

But while he declared his relationship status was single. Bryana touched down in Sydney mid-December to celebrate Christmas with the drummer's family.

They were also spotted out and about enjoying dinner with mate Calum during her visit Down Under.
US urges Mideast leaders to take 'steps to calm tensions'

The United States on Sunday urged Mideast leaders to take measures to soothe tensions in the region after Saudi Arabia executed a Shiite cleric, provoking outrage from Iran.

The execution was followed by an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, prompting Riyadh to sever ties.

"We're aware that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has ordered the closure of Iranian diplomatic missions in the kingdom," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said about the diplomatic rift.

Tehran's police chief Hossein Sajedinia (C) asks protesters to end their rally against the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities, and leave the area outside the Saudi embassy on January 3, 2016, in Tehran Atta Kenare (AFP)

"We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions."

The diplomatic fallout come as Iran's supreme leader said Saudi Arabia would face "divine revenge" for Saturday's execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, and as Western nations voiced concern about escalating sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shiite Muslims.

Nimr, 56, was a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in oil-rich eastern Saudi Arabia.

He was put to death along with 46 other people, Shiite activists and convicted Sunni militants who the Saudi interior ministry says were involved in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed dozens in 2003 and 2004.

After his execution, a mob attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad.
Nose bandages symbolise Iran cosmetic surgery craze

Lying on an operating table in northern Tehran, Nazanine says she wants it all: a third nose job, her eyebrows tattooed and liposuction on her thighs to "fix" her figure.

The patient in her 40s "had two nose jobs with another doctor, but wasn't happy and asked us to do it again," says her doctor Javad Amirizad, the latest surgeon to take her under the knife.

In a conservative society where all women in public must wear at least a scarf over their hair and neck, such operations have boomed, with a nose job seen as a way to perfect their most visible asset.

Iranian surgeon Javad Amirizad operates on a nose at his private clinic in Tehran Atta Kenare (AFP)

But the quest to look better goes much further: in two nearby rooms at Amirizad's private clinic, women were having their breasts enlarged.

Liposuction is another procedure on the rise and Iranian women -- not just the wealthy in the capital -- are also paying for less invasive cosmetic changes.

Botox injections in cheeks or foreheads to conceal wrinkles, collagen in lips to make them fuller, or eyebrow tattoos to replace painful plucking or threading -- removing eyebrow hairs with a piece of string -- are becoming common.

According to official figures, up to 40,000 cosmetic surgeries take place in Iran each year, says Amirizad, a member of the Iranian Association of Cosmetic and Plastic Surgeons. More than 60 percent are nose jobs.

But he says the actual number is much higher as official statistics do not include operations by non-specialist surgeons who are cashing in on people's desire to improve their looks.

In Iran's largest cities it is easy to spot women -- but also men -- with bandages on their noses, flaunting the fact they recently went under the knife.

The trend has seen the Islamic Republic jump into the world's top 10 countries performing plastic surgery.

In 2013 it ranked fourth worldwide -- after Brazil, Mexico and the United States -- for nose jobs, the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery reported.

- Not just for women -

The cost of a nose operation starts at around $1,500 (nearly 1,400 euros) -- more than five times the minimum Iranian monthly salary of $270.

Mehrnaz Mehri, a 27-year-old manager at a food trading company in Tehran, says she paid closer to $1,800 but considered it good value.

"I know some famous surgeons ask for up to $6,000 for a simple nose job," she says.

"I never thought I'd have an operation, but when my mother and sister got their noses done, it was contagious."

Television is playing a part is the cosmetic surgery craze.

Hugely popular South American and Turkish soap operas, beamed into homes via banned satellite dishes, show actresses looking beautiful after plastic surgery.

Such channels, watched by more than half of the population, broadcast round-the-clock advertisements for nose jobs, slimming creams and stomach-sucking corsets.

Patients also fly in for cosmetic procedures, Amirizad says.

"We get them from Iraq and Azerbaijan, but we mostly get Iranian women from abroad who know an operation is much cheaper in Iran than in the United States or other European countries," he says.

And these days, plastic surgery is not just for women.

"Twenty years ago, about five percent of men wanted nose jobs," says the surgeon. "Today it's 35 percent."

- Nose 'like a doll' -

Mostafa Kashani, in his early 30s, is one of them.

"I broke my nose in an accident, and after I got married my wife insisted I get it fixed," he says. "I refused, but then my sister had it done and it motivated me."

Amirizad sees this as a sign of progress: "It shows our society is modernising."

But some Iranians are saddened by what they see as a Western cultural trend that may be going too far.

Earlier this year a Facebook page called "Iranian Women Up Close" asked followers to post pictures of their noses to push back against beauty being defined as a surgically enhanced concept.

Several hundred women did so under the heading "Pictures of My Natural Nose".

Some women who have had surgery understand the debate.

Slomaz, 27, had wanted her nose redone since being a teenager and was just 20 the first time she went under the knife, but now says she wouldn't do so again.

"Girls now all have the same type of nose -- a very thin one with an upturned end like a doll!"

Iranian surgeon Javad Amirizad operates on a nose at his private clinic in Tehran Atta Kenare (AFP)
Saudi-Iran crisis widens as Kuwait recalls envoy

The diplomatic crisis surrounding Saudi Arabia and Iran widened on Tuesday as Kuwait recalled its ambassador to Tehran and Bahrain severed air links in the face of growing international concern.

Joining Riyadh and its Sunni Arab allies in taking diplomatic action, Kuwait said it was withdrawing its envoy over a weekend attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Kuwait's move came after the UN Security Council strongly condemned the attack by protesters angry over Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Iranian women protest against the execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr by Saudi authorities, during a demonstration at the Imam Hossein Square in Tehran, on January 4, 2016 Atta Kenare (AFP)

Tensions between Saudi Arabia, the main Sunni power, and Shiite-dominated Iran erupted this week into a full-blown diplomatic crisis, sparking widespread worries of regional instability.

Iran on Tuesday lashed out again at Saudi Arabia over Saturday's execution, with President Hassan Rouhani accusing Riyadh of seeking to "cover its crime" by severing ties.

"One does not respond to criticism by cutting off heads," Rouhani said, referring to the usual Saudi practice of carrying out executions with beheading by the sword.

Washington and other Western powers have called for calm amid fears the dispute could raise sectarian tensions across the Middle East and derail efforts to resolve conflicts from Syria to Yemen.

The Security Council joined those calls late on Monday, issuing a statement urging all sides to "take steps to reduce tensions in the region".

The statement by the 15-member council condemned "in the strongest terms" the attacks which saw protesters firebomb the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Iran's second-biggest city Mashhad.

But the council made no mention of the event that set off the crisis -- Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a cleric and activist whose death sparked widespread Shiite protests.

- 'Grave violation' -

Riyadh cut diplomatic ties with Tehran in protest at the attacks on Sunday and has severed air links with Iran.

Some of its allies among Sunni Arab states followed suit, with Bahrain and Sudan breaking off ties and the United Arab Emirates downgrading relations.

Bahrain -- base of the US Fifth Fleet -- cut air links with Iran on Tuesday.

Kuwait said Tuesday the embassy attacks "represent a flagrant breach of international agreements and norms and a grave violation of Iran's international commitments".

Rouhani has condemned the attacks and Tehran's mission to the UN vowed in a letter to the Security Council to "take necessary measures to prevent the occurrence of similar incidents in the future".

Iranian officials have brushed aside the dispute, with government spokesman Mohammad Bagher Nobakht saying Tuesday it "will have no impact on Iran's national development".

"It is Saudi Arabia that will suffer," he said.

US Secretary of State John Kerry called his Iranian and Saudi counterparts on Monday to urge calm as European leaders voiced concerns and Moscow offered to mediate.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon also spoke by phone with the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers to urge them to "avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation," his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

"A breakdown of relations between Riyadh and Tehran could have very serious consequences for the region," Dujarric said.

The UN envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, rushed to Riyadh in a bid to defuse tensions. He is also expected in Iran later this week and in Damascus on Saturday, UN sources said.

- Regional rivals -

The official Saudi SPA news agency, without referring to the Iran crisis, said Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir reaffirmed to the envoy Tuesday Riyadh's view that "(President) Bashar al-Assad doesn't have any role in Syria's future".

The UN quoted De Mistura as saying Riyadh was determined that regional tensions "will not have any negative impact... on the continuation of the political process that the UN, together with the International Syria Support Group, intend to start in Geneva soon".

And the Security Council called for a new ceasefire in Yemen and a return to peace talks despite the Saudi-Iran crisis.

The six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of Sunni Arab states said it would meet in Riyadh Saturday for talks on the embassy attacks, a day before an Arab League emergency meeting.

The foreign minister of Shiite-majority Iraq was due in Tehran Wednesday, Iran state media reported, "in the framework of improving Iran-Iraq bilateral relations".

Media reports said his counterpart from Oman, which has often played the role of mediator in the region, was also expected in the Iranian capital.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are on opposing ends of a range of crucial issues, including the war in Syria -- where Tehran backs Assad's regime and Riyadh supports rebel forces -- and Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite insurgents.

The spike in tensions comes after Iran last year secured a historic nuclear deal with world powers led by the United States, sparking major concern in longtime US ally Riyadh.

Nimr, one of 47 men executed on Saturday, was a driving force behind 2011 anti-government protests in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province.

He was arrested in 2012 after calling for two Saudi governorates to be separated from the kingdom.

More trouble flared in Eastern Province Tuesday when gunmen intercepted and torched a bus, without causing casualties, two days after a civilian was shot dead in Nimr's home village.

The Sunni-Shiite divide in the Middle East Gillian Handyside (AFP)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani in Tehran on January 5, 2016 Atta Kenare (AFP)

Iraqi Shiites burn an effigy of a member of the Saudi ruling family as others hold posters of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration in Baghdad, on January 4, 2016 Ahmad Al-Rubaye (AFP/File)

Bahraini women shout slogans during clashes with riot police in the village of Daih, west of the capital Manama, on January 4, 2016 Mohammed al-Shaikh (AFP)
Hong Kong leader 'very concerned' over missing booksellers

Hong Kong's leader said he was "very concerned" Monday over the disappearance of five booksellers known for publications critical of the Chinese government after a prominent lawmaker accused mainland security officers of kidnapping the men.

The booksellers all worked for the same Hong Kong-based publishing house and are feared to have been detained by Chinese authorities, adding to growing unease that freedoms in the semi-autonomous city are being eroded.

Under its mini-constitution, Hong Kong enjoys freedom of speech and Chinese law enforcers have no right to operate in the city.

Hong Kong's leader Leung Chun-ying says the government cares about residents' rights and safety, with freedoms of press, publication and expression protected under Hong Kong law Philippe Lopez (AFP/File)

"I and related government departments are very concerned. The government cares very much about Hong Kong residents' rights and safety," Leung Chun-ying told reporters, saying it would be 'unacceptable' if mainland law enforcers were operating in Hong Kong.

"Only legal enforcement agencies in Hong Kong have the legal authority to enforce laws in Hong Kong," Leung said.

"If mainland law enforcement personnel enforce the law in Hong Kong, it is unacceptable because it is against the Basic Law (the city's constitution)."

Democratic legislator Albert Ho said Sunday he believed the men had been kidnapped by Chinese security officers.

At a regular briefing Monday, Beijing's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said: "I'm not aware of the situation; I have nothing to offer," when asked about the latest bookseller to disappear, Lee Bo, who went missing last week.

But an editorial in the Global Times newspaper, close to China's Communist Party, accused the bookstore run by the missing men of selling publications containing "maliciously fabricated content".

"These books spread to the mainland by various means, becoming a source of political rumours, and creating negative effects," it said.

"Although the... bookstore is based in Hong Kong, it maintains itself by causing trouble in the mainland."

The editorial, signed by Shan Renping, a pen name for the newspaper's editor Hu Xijin, said a "handful" of Hong Kongers were launching "political attacks".

"In the era of the Internet, their impact is not limited to Hong Kong, but also leaks into the mainland, and becomes a genuine problem facing the country," it said.

When Leung was asked Monday whether he thought the men had been taken to the mainland, he said there was "no indication" and appealed for anyone with information to come forward.

- Pressure on leader -

Opponents criticised unpopular Leung, who is considered close to Beijing and a hate figure for Hong Kong's pro-democracy movement.

"The Hong Kong government and Leung Chun-ying should express to the top level on the mainland Hong Kong people's concern, instead of awaiting a reply," said pro-democracy lawmaker Lee Cheuk-yan.

Acting secretary for security John Lee said Sunday that Hong Kong police had made enquiries to their mainland counterparts and were yet to hear back, according to local media.

Lawmakers including Hong Kong's pro-Beijing former security chief Regina Ip have urged the government to investigate.

All five men worked for publishing firm Mighty Current, which is rumoured to have been about to launch a book on Chinese President Xi Jinping's former girlfriend.

The latest employee to disappear was 65-year-old Lee, last seen in Hong Kong Wednesday.

His wife said he had told her he was "assisting in an investigation" in a call made after he failed to come home for dinner Wednesday night.

She reported him missing to police on Friday.

Hong Kong police are investigating the disappearance of Lee and of three co-workers who are believed to have gone missing in Shenzhen.

The fifth, a Swedish national, was reported to have disappeared in Thailand.

Sweden's embassies in Bangkok and Beijing are reportedly investigating his disappearance.

Hong Kong is semi-autonomous after being handed back to China by Britain in 1997 and enjoys freedoms unseen on the mainland.
Indian troops search Punjab air force base after weekend battles

Indian troops backed by helicopters searched an air force base Monday after a weekend of fierce fighting with insurgents left seven soldiers dead.

The ongoing operation came as an umbrella group of Pakistani proxy jihadist outfits fighting in Indian-controlled Kashmirthe United Jihad Council, claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement issued to the media.

"The attack on Pathankot air base is actually a message from the Pakistani mujahideen that no single sensitive Indian installation is out of their reach," said spokesman Sayed Saqqat Hussain in the statement, which called on Delhi to grant self-determination to Kashmiri citizens.

Indian air force personnel stand guard at the base in Pathankot, in the northern Indian province of Punjab, on January 4, 2016 Narinder Nanu (AFP)

Earlier Monday, a senior Indian security officer said a fifth attacker had been killed, in addition to four gunmen killed earlier at the Pathankot base in the northern state of Punjab near the border with Pakistan.

"We have been able to eliminate the fifth terrorist. The combing and search operations still continue," the officer from the National Security Guard (NSG), a special forces unit, told journalists on condition of anonymity.

He did not say what day the fifth attacker died.

The base was hit in a dawn raid Saturday that triggered a 14-hour gunbattle and there was more firing Sunday.

It was not clear Monday whether any surviving attackers remained inside the base but troops were still searching.

Security officials said they were focusing on a two-storey building that contained living quarters for families on the base where the militants had previously holed up.

"We are moving step by step to sanitise the area and it's too early to say when the operation will be over," said another military official who asked not to be named.

The NSG officer added that all assets at the base "including personnel and their families have been secured and are now safe".

"As highlighted earlier, because of the magnitude of the air base, the operation will continue till we are able to fully render it safe," he added.

- Landmark visit by Indian PM -

The attack -- a rare targeting of an Indian military installation outside disputed Kashmir -- may have been intended to undermine improving relations with Pakistan after a landmark visit to the neighbouring country by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley refused to comment on the impact of the attack on Modi's bold peace initiative, after the premier's surprise visit to meet his counterpart in the Pakistani city of Lahore.

"The intelligence input really helped, which is why we could promptly stop them at a distance to contain and neutralise them at a distance from our strategic assets," Jaitley told state broadcaster Doordarshan without giving details of its source.

"The casualties of the security personnel are very unfortunate... the aim was to neutralise them or catch them without loss of assets."

Before Monday's claim of responsibility, security officials had suspected the gunmen belonged to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, the group that staged the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament which brought the two countries to the brink of war. It is not part of the United Jihad Council.

The United Jihad Council is currently headed by Syed Salahudin of jihadist group Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

An AFP reporter at the scene said sporadic gunshots could be heard inside the air base Monday as army helicopters surveyed the site, but the reason for the shots was unclear.

Pathankot houses dozens of jet fighters and is located just 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Pakistan border.

Seven soldiers including a lieutenant-colonel in the NSG were killed and 20 injured in the assault.

Such attacks are relatively rare outside the volatile disputed region of Kashmir.

But in July three gunmen said to be Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militants killed seven people including four police in an attack in the Sikh-majority state of Punjab.

A bus passenger watches as activists carry photos of Islamic hardline leaders during a protest in Mumbai against the attack on the air force base in Pathankot, Punjab province, on January 4, 2016 Indranil Mukherjee (AFP)
Yemen govt puts Aden under curfew as clashes kill 22

Authorities in Yemen's southern city of Aden imposed a curfew on Monday after violence blamed on suspected jihadists killed at least 22 people, pro-government media and security sources said.

Suspected Islamic State group (IS) jihadists in the city also shot dead Sheikh Ali Othman, a Sufi imam who was considered a moderate, security officials said.

The curfew will come into force at 8:00 pm (1700 GMT) and last until 5:00 am (0200 GMT), the sabanews.net website said, citing a decision by the Aden Security Commission.

A fighter loyal to Yemen's President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi looks on after they managed to take control of the port of the southern city of Aden, on January 4, 2016 Saleh al-Obeidi (AFP)

The decision comes after fierce battles on Sunday in the port of Aden killed 22 people, among them 10 members of the security forces including a colonel, the security sources said.

Security sources said the clashes erupted when forces loyal to President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi came up against resistance when they tried to deploy in the port to secure it completely.

They said the fighting lasted for several hours and that pro-Hadi forces eventually managed to take control of the facility.

Witnesses said they saw an unprecedented number of armed men in Aden on Sunday, without being able to identify them.

Hadi toured parts of the city, including the port, on Monday, according to the government news agency.

Aden, declared by the government to be the temporary capital, has seen growing unrest between Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, long active in Yemen, and IS as both groups appear to be vying for influence.

The city was rocked by months of fighting last year between pro-government forces and Iran-backed Shiite Huthi rebels who seized the capital Sanaa in September 2014 before expanding south.
Sri Lanka Tamils welcome land, demand end to army occupation

Sri Lanka's main opposition Monday welcomed President Maithripala Sirisena's promise of land for 100,000 people who were forced from their homes during the long civil war, most of them Tamils.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said Sirisena's pledge to give displaced civilians new plots within six months was a "positive development", but demanded that the military vacate the private land it occupied.

"This is the first time he is giving a timeframe," TNA spokesman M. A. Sumanthiran told AFP a day after Sirisena made the offer.

A Tamil woman holds a baby girl at a camp for internally displaced people in the northern town of Vavuniya Lakruwan Wanniarachchi (AFP)

"We welcome this as a very positive development but our stand is that the military must vacate all private lands they are occupying."

Sirisena, who was elected last January, has won praise for starting to hand back land after the end in May 2009 of one of South Asia's longest and bloodiest ethnic wars.

But he is also under international pressure to do more to ensure reconciliation.

The president told AFP in an interview Sunday he would give land to civilians displaced by war by the middle of this year.

He admitted it was an "ambitious target" but said it was necessary to end what he called an "unacceptable situation".

The land will be in addition to the property being handed back by the military in line with an earlier election pledge by Sirisena.

More than 100,000 people are still living away from their homes more than six years after the end of the war, Sumanthiran said, while another 168,000 live as refugees in neighbouring India.

The civil war pitted troops against guerrillas fighting for independence for the Tamil minority in the north and east of the island.

The fighting claimed over 100,000 lives between 1972 and 2009.
Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of stoking regional tension

Iran's foreign ministry accused Saudi Arabia of stoking regional tension Monday after the kingdom broke off diplomatic relations and said Iranian embassy staff must leave.

"Saudi Arabia sees not only its interests but also its existence in pursuing crises and confrontations and attempts to resolve its internal problems by exporting them to the outside," said ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari.

Saudi Arabia announced its measures after its embassy in Tehran was firebombed and its interior destroyed by a mob who attacked the building in protest at the kingdom's execution of a Shiite cleric.

An Iranian woman holds a portrait of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration outside the Saudi embassy in Tehran, on January 3, 2016 Atta Kenare (AFP)

The violence was condemned on Sunday by Iran's president.

Ansari said that by severing diplomatic relations, Saudi Arabia was "continuing the policy of increasing tension and clashes in the region".

"What happened in regard to diplomatic missions, it is not the first time such a thing happens worldwide," he added.

His remarks came the morning after Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced diplomatic ties had been cut, giving the Iranian diplomats 48 hours notice to depart.

Jubeir did so after the two countries clashed over Saudi Arabia's execution on Saturday of the cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an act that Iran's supreme leader said would be met with "divine revenge".

The oil-rich rivals have also been divided over the nearly five-year war in Syria, where Iran is backing the regime, and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels.

Ansari, who said that the Iranian diplomats had not yet left Riyadh, insisted Iran had always protected diplomatic missions to ensure the safety of diplomats and dealt with transgressions.

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani on Sunday described the arson at the Saudi Arabian embassy as "totally unjustifiable" and judicial officials said Monday that 50 arrests had been made.

But there were other protests in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, Lebanon and Pakistan on Sunday over the execution of Nimr, who spent more than a decade studying theology at Iran's seminaries.

Saudi Arabia's decision to cut diplomatic ties was also criticised by Iran's first vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, who accused the kingdom of "hasty and illogical actions".

"It is you (Saudi Arabia) that is going to lose by breaking off relations with Iran," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying, insisting the Islamic republic had acted with restraint when dealing with the kingdom.

Iran says the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr would be met with "divine revenge"
Brother of executed Saudi cleric condemns attacks on missions

The brother of Nimr al-Nimr, the Shiite cleric executed in Saudi Arabia at the weekend, on Monday condemned retaliatory attacks on the kingdom's diplomatic missions in Iran, insisting: "We love our country".

"We appreciate your love towards the martyr #Sheikh_AlNimr who lives in our hearts but we refuse attacks on #Saudi ambassies in #Iran or others," Mohammed al-Nimr tweeted in English.

Angry demonstrators attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad following Saturday's execution of Nimr, a driving force behind anti-government protests in 2011.

An Iranian woman holds a portrait of Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration in Tehran on January 3, 2016 against his execution Atta Kenare (AFP)

Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia responded on Sunday by severing diplomatic ties with Shiite-dominated Iran, its long-time regional rival.

Nimr, 56, was executed along with 46 other men, mostly Sunnis linked to Al-Qaeda.

His body was not given for his family for burial, according to another post on Twitter by his brother, who said authorities informed the family that the cleric had already been buried.

Nimr's brother issued a statement calling for the corpse of Nimr to be handed over to his family.

He expressed the family's hopes that "officials would answer our legitimate wish quickly by giving us the body of the martyred sheikh so that he would be buried in his hometown Awamiya."

Assailants killed a civilian and wounded a child on Monday when they opened fire on Saudi police in Awamiya, Nimr's birthplace in Saudi Arabia's oil-rich Eastern Province, state media reported.
Syrian opposition leader to visit Beijing

The leader of the main exile Syrian opposition group will visit China this week, Beijing said Monday, despite the country repeatedly blocking UN Security Council resolutions on the conflict.

China is a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council and has voted against resolutions on Syria four times alongside Russia -- which is mounting a campaign of air strikes to defend President Bashar al-Assad.

Most recently, it blocked a 2014 measure to ask the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in the country, and Beijing has consistently called instead for a "political solution" to the conflict.

More than 250,000 people have been killed in Syria since the conflict broke out in 2011, and millions more have been displaced Zein Al-Rifai (AMC/AFP)

Khaled Khoja, President of the Istanbul-based National Coalition for Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces will visit China from Tuesday to Friday, foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a regular briefing.

"We believe that at the current stage we need to seek a ceasefire and a political settlement in parallel," she said.

The Security Council in mid-December unanimously endorsed a proposed peace plan to bring the regime and opposition together for talks this month.

China hosted members of the Syrian regime on an official visit the following week, when Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem declared Damascus ready to participate, but appeared to make it conditional on which opposition groups will attend.

It would be the third round of talks in Geneva - the last session took place in early 2014 but did not bear fruit.

China depends on the Middle East for its oil supplies but has long taken a back seat in the region's disputes, only recently beginning to expand its role.
Israel destroys east Jerusalem assailant homes

Israeli forces on Monday destroyed the east Jerusalem homes of two Palestinians who killed four Israelis in one of the deadliest days in the recent surge in violence.

In the neighbourhood of Jabel Mukaber, the home of Palestinian Alaa Abu Jamal was filled with concrete and sealed off, an AFP reporter at the scene said.

Abu Jamal had on October 13 rammed his car into people at a Jerusalem bus stop and jumped out with a knife, stabbing a rabbi to death before being shot dead.

Israeli soldiers stand guard as cement mixers pump concrete into the home of Alaa Abu Jamal, shot dead after running over and then stabbing a rabbi at a Jerusalem bus stop, in the east Jerusalem neighbourhood of Jabal Mukaber on January 4, 2016 Ahmad Gharabli (AFP)

Abu Jamal was also a cousin of two Palestinians who in November stormed a synagogue in Jerusalem's Har Nof neighbourhood with meat cleavers and a pistol, killing five Jewish worshippers and a policeman before being shot dead.

In another part of Jabel Mukaber, Israeli forces used jackhammers to destroy the walls of Bahaa Allyan's home, the middle floor of a three-storey building.

Allyan and another Palestinian, Bilal Ghanem, had on October 13 shot and stabbed passengers on a bus in Jerusalem, killing two Israelis and a US-Israeli dual national.

Allyan was shot dead while Ghanem was arrested.

Hundreds of Israeli police and soldiers were on site for the home destructions, which took place without incident after residents were cleared from the area.

"I don't have any other place to live," Allyan's father Mohammed told AFP.

"The army just said 'we are going to destroy the house, get out' -- this measure punishes a father, a mother, a brother, a sister and (four) children" who were living in the house, he said.

In a wave of Palestinian attacks since October 1 -- including stabbings, car rammings and gunfire targeting security forces and civilians -- 22 Israelis, an American and an Eritrean have been killed.

At the same time, according to an AFP count, 138 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, most while carrying out attacks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in November vowed to expedite punitive house demolitions in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, which he said were "one of the most efficient tools" in discouraging Palestinian attacks.

The controversial practice is widely used in the West Bank and resumed in east Jerusalem in November after a five-year hiatus.
Iraq PM vows to hunt down mosque bombers

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the security forces were tracking down the perpetrators of attacks against Sunni religious targets south of Baghdad on Monday.

Unknown attackers bombed two mosques in the Hilla region and shot dead a muezzin near Iskandariyah, a mixed area south of the capital which was badly affected by the civil war that raged in the country a decade ago.

"We ordered Babil operations command to hunt down the criminal gangs of Daesh and their likes who targeted mosques to sow sedition and undermine national unity," Abadi said on Twitter.

Haider al-Abadi says Iraqi security forces are tracking down the perpetrators of attacks against Sunni religious targets south of Baghdad

Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group which Iraqi security forces are battling on several fronts.

There was no claim of responsibility for the attacks, which came against a tense regional backdrop following the execution by Saudi Arabia of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.
Uganda police probe reports 80 kilos of seized cocaine missing

Ugandan police said Monday they were investigating reports nearly $4 million worth of cocaine seized by customs officers at its main airport had disappeared from secure stores.

National police chief Kale Kayihura has set up "a task team to conduct an audit into the control and accountability of drug exhibits at the Aviation Police Headquarters," police spokesman Fred Enanga said.

"The task team is in its advanced stages of the enquiry," he added, saying it was up to them to confirm if the drugs seized from smugglers between 2012 and 2014 had since been stolen.

Ugandan police are probing the reported disappearance of nearly $4 mn worth of cocaine seized by customs officers at its main airport Isaac Kasamani (AFP)

The New Vision newspaper said some 80 kilos of cocaine -- worth some $4 million (3.7 million euros) at street prices -- reportedly had gone missing from the stores of aviation police at Entebbe International Airport.

The state-owned newspaper, which quoted unnamed souces, said, "wheat and cassava flour and other substances were substituted for cocaine."

"The racket came to light after detectives took 17 separate samples from the stores for testing at the government analytical laboratory (GAL) last year," the newspaper added.
Gulf stocks tumble over Saudi-Iran tensions

Markets in Gulf Arab states tumbled Monday impacted by the growing tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran and global stocks rout over Chinese economic slowdown.

Six of the seven bourses dropped led by Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the biggest two Arab stock markets, while Omani shares rose slightly.

The Saudi Tadaul All-Shares Index dipped 2.36 percent to finish on 6,788.13 points with all the 15 sectors dropping.

The Saudi Tadaul All-Shares Index dips 2.36% to finish on 6,788.13 points Fayez Nureldine (AFP/File)

Qatar Exchange shed 2.64 percent to 10,041.70 points while Dubai Financial Market Index was down 1.6 percent but stayed above the 3,000-point mark.

Abu Dhabi lost 1.3 percent, Kuwait dropped 0.83 percent while Bahrain was down just 0.23 percent.

All the energy-rich Gulf bourses ended 2015 in the negative territory led by Saudi Arabia over the sharp decline in oil prices.

Saudi Arabia broke off diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday after protesters set fire to its Tehran embassy and a consulate in second city Mashhad.

Riyadh ally Bahrain followed suit while the United Arab Emirates downgraded the level of its diplomatic relations with the Islamic republic.

In China, Shanghai equities market plunged seven percent over weak factory data triggering Asian and European stock markets to dive.
Powerful car bomb attack near Kabul airport

A powerful car bomb struck near Kabul's international airport on Monday evening, just hours after a suicide bomber blew himself up in the war-scarred Afghan capital.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the blast, which appeared to target a compound for foreign contractors, an Afghan security official told AFP.

Officials said there were no immediate reports of casualties from the explosion, which was strongly felt across downtown Kabul and blew out window panes of homes.

Afghan security personnel stand guard on a rooftop at the site of a suicide bomb attack near the international airport in Kabul on January 4, 2016 Wakil Kohsar (AFP)

But the Italian-run Emergency Hospital in Kabul said on Twitter: "#Afghanistan two attacks today in #Kabul, we're currently receiving victims of the #masscasualty at our Surgical Centre".

The violence comes as Afghan forces battle to end a protracted siege near the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif which began on Sunday night.

Gunfights and grenade explosions echoed as commandos battled to flush out militants holed up in a building near the consulate, with powerful provincial Governor Atta Mohammad Noor overseeing the operation.

Nearly 24 hours after the siege began, security officials said they were proceeding cautiously in the residential area to limit civilian casualties.

Earlier Monday, a suicide bomber struck a street leading to the city's international airport, near where the second blast took place, but no casualties were reported.

The bombings mark the latest assaults on the war-scarred Afghan capital.

A Taliban suicide car-bomber struck a French restaurant popular with foreigners in Kabul on Friday, killing two people in a New Year's Day attack.

Fifteen others were wounded in the attack on Le Jardin, an Afghan-owned eatery, which caused a piercingly loud explosion and left a building engulfed in flames.

The spike in violence coincides with a renewed international push to revive peace talks with the resurgent Taliban.

Islamabad is set to host a first round of dialogue between Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US and China on January 11 to lay out a comprehensive roadmap for peace.
US stocks fall on China worries; Dow loses 1.6%

US stocks opened 2016 on a dreary note Monday, falling sharply on worries about plunging Chinese equities and a brewing diplomatic crisis between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shed 276.09 points (1.58 percent) at 17,148.94.

The broad-based S&P 500 fell 31.28 (1.53 percent) to 2,012.66, while the tech-rich Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 104.32 (2.08 percent) to 4,903.09.

Traders work at the New York Stock Exchange Andrew Burton (Getty/AFP/File)

The losses in the US came on the heels of bruising trading sessions in Asia and Europe after the Chinese stock market fell about seven percent on a poor report on manufacturing activity.

Analysts also pointed to concerns about the breakdown in relations between regional rivals Saudi Arabia and Iran following violent protests in Tehran against the Saudi execution of a prominent Shiite cleric and activist.

"This situation has gotten the market off to a very ugly start," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at First Standard Financial.

Adding to the bad news was a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing US manufacturing activity contracted in December for the second straight month.

Some of the biggest equity winners from 2015 fell hard in a decline analysts attributed to profit-taking. Amazon tumbled 5.8 percent, Netflix 3.9 percent and Priceline, Facebook and Google parent Alphabet all around 2.3 percent.

US-traded Chinese stocks were in retreat, including Alibaba and Baidu, which sank 5.6 percent and 2.7 percent, respectively.

However, retail stocks enjoyed an up day. Wal-Mart Stores added 0.3, percent, Macy's 2.3 percent, Target 1.3 percent and Best Buy 0.7 percent.

Pharma company Baxalta climbed 5.5 percent on reports it is in advanced talks to be acquired by Shire for about $32 billion.
Trump fans fresh controversy with first TV campaign ad

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump on Monday unveiled his first TV ad of the presidential election campaign, fanning fresh controversy by incorporating footage of migrants fleeing Morocco into a Spanish enclave.

The 30-second ad will be broadcast in Iowa and New Hampshire from Tuesday, costing $2 million a week ahead of the state's first-in-the-nation voting contests, his campaign said.

The commercial spotlights his call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, pledge to crush the so-called Islamic State extremist group and promise to end illegal immigration from Mexico.

Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, pictured on January 2, 2016, unveiled a TV ad spotlighting his call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States Spencer Platt (Getty/AFP/File)

"The politicians can pretend it's something else but Donald Trump calls it radical Islamic terrorism -- that's why he's calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," says the voiceover.

"He'll quickly cut off the head of ISIS and take their oil," added the male speaker, referring to the extremists that allegedly inspired the couple responsible for the San Bernardino killings last month.

"And he'll stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for," he added, over footage that shows dozens of migrants streaming across a border.

But a fact-checking website gave the ad a "Pants on Fire" rating, saying the footage comes not from the Mexico-US border, but rather from Melilla, a small Spanish enclave thousands of miles across the Atlantic Ocean on Morocco's coast.

PolitiFact said it traced the footage to an Italian broadcast from May 2014 of people crossing the border from Morocco into Melilla and said RepubblicaTV attributed the video to the Spanish interior ministry.

Trump's campaign said the footage was "intentional and selected to demonstrate the severe impact of an open border" and the "very real threat" to America by not building a wall on the Mexican border.

"The biased mainstream media doesn't understand, but Americans who want to protect their jobs and their families do," it said.

Iowa votes first in the nation in the nomination race, on February 1, followed by New Hampshire eight days later.

"I am very proud of this ad. I don't know if I need it, but I don't want to take any chances," Trump said Monday.

The real estate tycoon, who is funding his campaign, has boasted of saving $35 million by spending no money on political television ads until now.

He has led the polls for months, using his bombastic and provocative style to dominate the media and drive coverage of the campaign.

He claims to have spent the least money of all the candidates and of still achieving "the best results," saying, "This is the kind of thinking the country needs."

Trump has previously run radio ads and will launch a new one this week featuring Kathryn Gates-Skipper, the first female Marine to serve in combat operations, his campaign said.
Hezbollah carries out bomb attack on Israeli patrol

Lebanon's Hezbollah movement said it had targeted an Israeli army border patrol with a bomb on Monday in an attack that prompted retaliatory fire from the Jewish state.

The attack appeared to be revenge for an Israeli air strike in Syria in late December that killed infamous Hezbollah militant Samir Kantar.

In a statement, Hezbollah said the attack in the disputed Shebaa Farms area along the Lebanon-Israel ceasefire line "destroyed the armoured Hummer vehicle and injured those in it".

UN peacekeepers monitor a road near the Wazzani river on the Lebanon-Israel border on January 4, 2016 Ali Dia (AFP)

It said the attack was carried out by a group named for Kantar, who commanded Hezbollah's operations in Syria's Golan Heights, parts of which are occupied by Israel.

The Israeli military confirmed that its forces had been targeted in the border area.

"IED detonated against IDF (Israeli army) vehicles in the area of Mt. Dov," Israeli army spokesman Peter Lerner wrote in a tweet, referring to the disputed Shebaa Farms.

He said the army responded with "targeted artillery fire".

An Israeli army spokeswoman said there were no indications so far of injuries on the Israeli side.

Later the army said it had carried out a "special evaluation of the situation" led by its chief of staff.

"We consider this event gravely serious and we are in a state of high alert," said army spokesman Moti Almoz in a statement.

Lebanese security sources said Israel responded with artillery fire on two villages adjacent to the Shebaa Farms, but had no immediate information on damage or injuries.

The Shebaa Farms have been under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war. Lebanon says the area is Lebanese territory, while the UN says it was annexed from Syria.

The UN peacekeeping force that monitors the area urged both sides to avoid an escalation.

UNIFIL mission head Major-General Luciano Portolano called for "utmost restraint against any provocation".

- Vow to avenge Kantar -

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah vowed last month to avenge the death of Kantar, who was imprisoned in Israel for decades for the 1979 murder of three Israelis.

He was freed in a prisoner exchange in 2008, but an Israeli security official warned then that he was a "target".

"For us, Israel is fully responsible for assassinating the martyr Samir Kantar. We have no doubt about this," Nasrallah said in an address after the strike.

Hezbollah reserved "the right to respond to this assassination at the time and place of our choosing," he added.

Israel did not confirm that it was behind Kantar's death, but welcomed it.

Hezbollah played a key role in Kantar's release after 30 years in Israeli jails.

He was convicted of having infiltrated the Israeli village of Nahariya by sea from Lebanon with three other militants and killing a 28-year-old man and his four-year-old daughter.

Kantar was sentenced to five life terms plus 47 years for murdering the father and daughter and an Israeli policeman.

Shortly after his release, he joined Hezbollah and more recently headed a unit charged with the "liberation" of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Hezbollah has an extensive presence in Syria, where it is mostly working to bolster the regime against an uprising that began in March 2011.

Hezbollah and Israel scuffle intermittently in the disputed border area between Lebanon and the Jewish state, and the powerful Shiite group has in the past targeted army patrols in response to strikes against its members.

In January, it claimed an attack in the Shebaa Farms against an army patrol in apparent revenge for an Israeli strike in Syria that killed six Hezbollah fighters and a member of Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards.

In 2006, Israel fought a war against Hezbollah that killed more than 1,200 people in Lebanon, mostly civilians, and some 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers.
Arab League to hold emergency talks on Iran-Saudi row

The Arab League will hold emergency talks at the request of Saudi Arabia on Sunday to discuss attacks in Iran on the kingdom's embassy and consulate, its deputy head said.

The weekend talks are aimed at "condemning the violations committed by Iran against the sanctity of the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad," Ahmed Ben Helli told reporters on Monday.

The meeting, which comes after Saudi Arabia broke off ties with the Islamic republic amid a row over Riyadh's execution of a Shiite cleric, was also aimed at "condemning Iranian interference in Arab affairs", he added.

Iranian protesters angered by the execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimrset set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran on January 2, 2016 Mohammadreza Nadimi (ISNA/AFP/File)

Tensions have risen between the two oil-rich Gulf rivals after Saturday's execution in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia of prominent Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whose death has sparked fury.
C. African presidential candidates urge end to "masquerade"

Twenty out of the 30 candidates vying to be president of the Central African Republic have demanded the election be scrapped after what they said was a tainted first round of voting.

In a joint statement seen by AFP on Monday, the dissenters cited what they described as irregularities and intimidation in ballotting on December 30, partial results of which have been published.

They said refused to be "complicit in this electoral masquerade" and called for the whole process to be "purely and simply stopped."

Central African presidential candidate Karim Meckassoua, pictured on December 28, 2015, is among 20 candidates calling for the election to be scrapped Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)

They invited all players to get around the negotiating table "to draw up ways of safeguarding the nation."

Signatories included heavyweight candidate Karim Meckassoua, a former foreign minister from the minority Muslim community, who had been a pre-election front-runner.

Independent candidate Faustin Archange Touadera, a former prime minister, has taken a commanding lead in the presidential race, garnering more than 23 percent of the vote with a quarter of the ballots counted, electoral officials said Sunday.

The former maths professor had been considered an outsider.

Anicet Georges Dologuele, also a former prime minister, was in second place with Desire Kolingba, son of a former president, in third.

A likely second round is set for January 31.

The election is seen as vital to restoring stability in the former French colony after years of unrest.

Some two million voters were eligible to cast their ballots, for a new president and members of the 105-seat parliament.

Voting passed without major incident and was hailed as a success by the international community.

One of the world's poorest countries, with a history of coups and rebellions, Central African Republic was plunged into fierce sectarian unrest in 2013 after longtime leader Francois Bozize was ousted by a mainly Muslim rebel alliance.

Thousands of people were killed and around one in 10 fled their homes in attacks by rogue rebels on remote villages and brutal reprisals by Christian militia against Muslim communities.
Siege near India's Afghan consulate ends after 25 hours

A 25-hour gun and bomb siege near the Indian consulate in Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif city ended late Monday, after a bloody weekend assault on an air base in India near the Pakistan border.

Separately Monday a Taliban truck bomb struck a compound housing foreign civilian contractors near Kabul airport, wounding dozens of people just hours after a suicide bomber blew himself up around the same area.

The lethal assaults on Indian installations threaten to derail Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bold diplomatic outreach to arch-rival Pakistan following his first official visit to Afghanistan last month.

Afghan security personnel keep watch along a street after an unknown number of assailants mounted an attack from a building close to the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, late on January 3, 2016 Farshad Usyan (AFP)

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid on the diplomatic mission in northern Afghanistan, which left at least one policeman dead and 11 others wounded.

Gunfights and grenade explosions echoed as commandos shimmied down a rope from a helicopter onto the roof of a nearby building from where assailants had launched the attack on the tightly-guarded compound.

"The clearance operation is over and all three armed assailants have been killed," government spokesman Shir Jan Durrani said, 25 hours after the siege began.

"We are still doing room-to-room searches. The area is absolutely under government control."

Strongman provincial governor Atta Mohammad Noor oversaw the operation armed with an AK47, denouncing the attackers as the "enemies of Afghanistan".

Security officials said the operation was prolonged as commandos proceeded cautiously in the residential area to avoid civilian casualties.

An Indian official, who hunkered down in a secure area within the diplomatic enclave as the attack unfolded, told AFP by telephone Sunday that all consulate employees were safe.

Local police officials said some consulate workers had been evacuated during the fierce fighting.

The attack followed a raid over the weekend by Islamist insurgents on an air force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

Seven soldiers were confirmed killed in the raid on the Pathankot base, which triggered a 14-hour gun battle Saturday and fresh rounds of firing Sunday.

Indian troops backed by helicopters searched the base Monday, with an official saying that the fifth attacker had been gunned down.

"We are moving step by step to sanitise the area and it's too early to say when the operation will be over," said a military official who asked not to be named.

The United Jihad Council, a conglomerate of Pakistani proxy Islamist groups fighting in Indian-controlled Kashmir, has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The brazen assault -- a rare targeting of an Indian military installation outside Kashmir -- threatens to undermine the fragile peace process between the nuclear-armed rivals.

- 'Proxy war' -

The spike in violence came about a week after Modi paid a surprise visit to Pakistan, the first by an Indian premier in 11 years.

The visit immediately followed a whirlwind tour of Kabul, where Modi inaugurated an Indian-built parliament complex and gave three Russian-made helicopters to the Afghan government.

India has been a key supporter of Kabul's post-Taliban government, and analysts have often pointed to the threat of a "proxy war" in Afghanistan between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan -- the historic backer of the Taliban -- has long been accused of assisting the insurgents, especially with attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have also stepped up attacks on government and foreign targets in Afghanistan, underscoring a worsening security situation.

A Taliban truck bomber Monday struck the outer wall of Camp Baron, a heavily-guarded residential compound for foreign contractors, wounding 30 people including women and children, Afghan officials said.

The US Pentagon named the compound as Camp Sullivan, adding that the attack caused no military casualties but NATO coalition troops were helping carry out medical evacuations.

The bombing, which was strongly felt across downtown Kabul, occurred close to where a suicide bomber struck earlier in the day, causing no casualties.

The latest unrest coincides with a renewed international push to revive peace talks with the resurgent militant movement.

On January 11 Afghanistan and Pakistan are set to hold a first round of dialogue, also involving the US and China, to try to lay out a comprehensive roadmap for peace.

Pakistan, which wields considerable influence over the Afghan Taliban, hosted a milestone first round of talks in July.

But the negotiations stalled when the insurgents belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar.

The attack on the consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif was the latest in a series of assaults on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

In 2008 a car bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed 60 people and the facility was again hit by a suicide strike in 2009.

An Afghan Quick Reaction Force (QRF) soldier fires a rocket-propelled grenade launcher during an operation near the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif on January 4, 2016 Farshad Usyan (AFP)
Obama to make case for contentious gun control measures

President Barack Obama will take his case for tougher gun control to Americans Tuesday, detailing executive actions that will bypass Congress and have rallied fierce Republican opposition.

Obama will outline unilateral steps to regulate gun sales and curb illicit purchases, during an address in the East Room of the White House.

His administration has already dripped out most details of the modest yet controversial plan, leaving Obama with the task of selling it to a deeply divided American public.

Two women compare handgun holsters during an open carry rally in Austin, Texas on December 31, 2015 Erich Schlegel (Getty/AFP/File)

Polls have shown most Americans back tougher gun laws.

But that support has ebbed recently amid concerns about the Islamic State group and the wider threat from terrorism.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch on Monday said the measures would tighten rules on who must register as a gun dealer, narrow a "gun show" loophole that allows buyers to dodge background checks, and crack down on "straw purchases" of weapons through intermediaries.

It would also encourage the Pentagon, with its vast buying power, to procure weapons from manufacturers who invest in "gun safety technology," such as fingerprint scanners that could be applied to commercial weapons.

Obama's package of measures comes at the start of his last year in the White House and in the midst of the 2016 election campaign to replace him.

Republicans have castigated the White House for trampling on the constitutional right to bear arms, but they are equally angered by Obama's defiant use of executive power to circumvent congressional opposition.

The Republican-controlled Congress has repeatedly rejected proposals designed to cut the estimated 30,000 gun deaths that occur in the United States each year.

"Pretty soon, you won't be able to get guns," said Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, vowing to tear up the measures if elected.

Republicans have long positioned themselves as the champion of gun owners, who make up a sizeable voting bloc in areas that could decide 2016 election races.

On Thursday, Obama will try to garner further support for his policies in a primetime town hall-style debate on gun control.

- Executive frustration -

During Obama's seven years as president, he has shown frequent flashes of anger and frustration at Congress's refusal to tighten controls on gun sales, most notably after the mass killings of Connecticut schoolchildren, South Carolina churchgoers and Colorado movie watchers.

But the executive measures will stop well short of introducing universal background checks or registering or collecting some of the more than 300 million guns already thought to be in circulation in the United States, actions that would likely require congressional approval.

On Monday, Obama admitted the measures he is taking are "not going to solve every violent crime in this country. It's not going to prevent every mass shooting. It's not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal."

"It will," he said, "potentially, save lives in this country" and spare families heartache.

Republicans may try to block funding for parts of the package designed to more aggressively enforce existing laws, including the hiring of 200 additional federal agents at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.

A more serious challenge to the new rules may come through the courts.

Obama's lawyers have spent months "scrubbing" existing laws to see where rules could be tightened, while surviving inevitable court challenges.

Obama insisted the measures would fall "well within my legal authority."

But similar executive efforts to bring millions of illegal immigrants out of the shadows by shielding them from deportation have prompted a slew of lawsuits and left a key Obama policy goal in the hands of the Supreme Court.

US President Barack Obama (R) speaks with Attorney Genral Loretta Lynch in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, January 4, 2016 Jim Watson (AFP)

President Barack Obama will take a series of unilateral steps to end what he has called "the scourge of gun violence" Mandel Ngan (AFP)
Harper Lee's second novel tops 2015 US bestseller list

Harper Lee's second novel "Go Set a Watchman" topped the US bestseller list in 2015, selling 1.6 million copies more than half a century after her Pulitzer-winning first book was published.

The figures were based on US print unit sales reported to Nielsen since the novel was published in July, snapped up by avid fans who for decades thought the reclusive author of "To Kill a Mockingbird" would never publish another word.

Pre-orders turned it into an instant bestseller at many retailers the moment its release was announced by publishers HarperCollins last February.

Harper Lee's "Go Set a Watchman" sold more than 1.6 million copies in 2015 Joe Raedle (Getty/AFP/File)

The novel features many of the characters of Lee's 1960 masterpiece, which was turned into an Oscar-winning movie starring Gregory Peck.

Considered a 20th century classic that defined racial injustice in the Depression-era South of the United States, "Mockingbird" is standard reading in classrooms across the world.

Lee's second published novel, which earned more mixed reviews, was seemingly discovered in her safe deposit box in still-unclear circumstances.

The 89-year-old is now confined to a nursing home, her sight and hearing deeply affected by a stroke, and has given no public interviews for years.

Lee wrote the manuscript in the late 1950s, but her then-editor suggested she recast the book from the childhood perspective of Scout, which became "Mockingbird."

While some reviews have been charitable about its merit in plotting her development as a writer, others have been scathing about the unedited draft, set in the era of the civil rights movement.

Second and third bestsellers were the latest installments in Jeff Kinney's "Diary of Wimpy Kid" series and British author EL James' mommy-porn erotica "Grey: Fifty Shades of Grey as Told by Christian."

Each sold 1.48 million and 1.4 million copies respectively in the United States, according to data compiled by Nielsen.

In fourth place was nail-biting thriller "The Girl on the Train" written by Paula Hawkins, a former journalist based in London.
Petitions seek pardon for murder convicts featured in Netflix series

Nearly 200,000 people have signed petitions seeking a presidential pardon for two men featured in a murder mystery documentary on Netflix.

One of the petitions, on the White House website, had gathered more than 20,000 signatures as of Monday afternoon.

One of the men featured in "Making a Murderer", Steven Avery, was freed from prison in 2003 after serving 18 years for rape. He was exonerated through DNA evidence.

The Netflix documentary series "Making a Murderer" has inspired petitions seeking a presidential pardon for the two men featured Stephane De Sakutin (AFP/File)

But while he was suing Manitowoc County in Wisconsin over that wrongful imprisonment, he was arrested over the death in 2005 of a 25-year-old photographer named Teresa Halbach.

Avery was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole. He insists he is innocent.

His nephew Brendan Dassey, who was 16 at the time, was sentenced to life in prison with parole possible starting in 2048.

"Based on the evidence in the Netflix documentary series 'Making a Murderer,' the justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives," reads the appeal in the open petition section of the White House website.

It said there is clear evidence that the Manitowoc County sheriff's department used "improper methods" to convict Avery and Dassey.

If 100,000 people sign that petition by January 19 the White House is required to respond to it.

The petition was opened up on December 20, two days after the streaming launch of the highly popular 10-episode Netflix series.
NTSB releases photos showing El Faro in final resting place

JACKSONVILLE, Florida (AP)  Federal investigators are considering launching another search of the wreckage of a freighter that sank Oct. 1 near the Bahamas.

The National Transportation Safety Board investigator Tom Roth-Roffy told The Associated Press the focus of any search would be the ship's voyage data recorder or "black box."

The 790-foot (240-meter) freighter El Faro sank after losing engine power and getting caught in a Category 4 hurricane en route from Jacksonville to San Juan, Puerto Rico. Thirty-three mariners were aboard.

The ship was found in 15,000 feet (4,572 meters) of water, its top two bridge decks detached.

Roth-Roffy says crews located one of the missing decks about a half-mile from the main part of the ship.
10 Things to Know for Monday - 4 January 2016

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Monday.

1. SAUDI ARABIA CUTS TIES WITH IRAN

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has given Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the country amid escalating tensions over the kingdom's execution of a prominent cleric.

Ryan Bundy walks at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore., Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Bundy is one of the protesters occupying the refuge to object to a prison sentence for local ranchers for burning federal land. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)

2. WHERE ARMED PROTESTERS WAGE A STANDOFF

The high desert of eastern Oregon is the latest flashpoint for anti-government sentiment as demonstrators occupied a wildlife refuge to object to prison sentences for a pair of local ranchers.

3. US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FOCUS ON IOWA

The race for the White House starts in earnest this week as voters begin to tune in and candidates begin a four-week sprint to the Iowa caucuses.

4. WHOSE HAWAIIAN VACATION IS OVER

President Barack Obama says he's ready to tackle unfinished business in his final year in office, beginning with action to reduce gun violence.

5. EUROPE RAISES BARRIERS TO TRAVEL

New restrictions imposed by Sweden to stem a record flow of migrants are a striking example of how national boundaries are re-emerging across the continent.

6. WHY PRETEEN HPV VACCINATION RATES ARE LOW

Among the most common reasons doctors cited for delaying discussions and vaccinations against the sexually transmitted cancer-causing virus were a belief that patients hadn't had sex and that parents would object.

7. 6.7 MAGNITUDE QUAKE HITS INDIA'S NORTHEAST

People panicked and rushed out of their homes in the capital of Assam state after the quake, whose epicenter was in neighboring Manipur state.

8. ILLINOIS, MISSOURI ASSESS FLOODING DAMAGE

The Mississippi River and many of its tributaries continued their retreat from flooding, leaving amid the silt a massive cleanup and recovery effort likely to take weeks.

9. 'DEER HUNTER' CINEMATOGRAPHER DIES AT 85

Vilmos Zsigmond, who helped define American cinema's New Wave in the 1970s, won an Oscar for his work on Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind."

10. CAROLINA, DENVER WRAP UP NO. 1 SEEDS FOR PLAYOFFS

The Panthers won home-field advantage by routing Tampa Bay but the highlight of the final day of the regular season was Rex Ryan and the Buffalo Bills stopping the Jets and giving the Steelers the final playoff spot in the AFC.

The sun sets over the Oresund Bridge between Sweden and Denmark, seen from Lernacken, Sweden, on Sunday Jan. 3, 2016 On upcoming Monday Jan. 4, 2016, new travel restrictions are set to be imposed by Sweden to stem a record flow of migrants, transforming the Oresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark into a striking example of how national boundaries are re-emerging in Europe. (Erland Vinberg /TT via AP, File) SWEDEN OUT
Allies follow Saudis in cutting ties with Iran amid tensions

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead Monday and scaled back diplomatic ties to Iran after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Sudan and the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain said they would sever ties with Iran, as Saudi Arabia did late Sunday. Within hours, the United Arab Emirates announced it would downgrade ties to Tehran to the level of the charge d'affaires, while other nations issued statements criticizing Iran.

The concerted campaign by Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia highlights the aggressive stance King Salman and his son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have adopted in confronting Iran, a longtime regional rival.

An Iranian woman holds up a poster showing Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Saudi Shiite cleric who was executed last week by Saudi Arabia, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of al-Nimr. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

"What we have seen during the last 24 hours is unprecedented ... It shows you Saudi Arabia has had enough of Iran and wants to send a message," said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a political science professor at Emirates University. "This is the Saudis saying: 'There is no limit to how far we will go.'"

The standoff began Saturday, when Saudi Arabia executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges  the largest mass execution carried out by the kingdom since 1980.

Al-Nimr, a central figure in the Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority, long denied advocating violence. News of his execution has sparked Shiite protests from Bahrain to Pakistan.

In Iran, protesters attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad. Late Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the kingdom would sever its relations with Iran over the assaults, giving Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority suspended all flights to and from Iran, saying the move was based on the kingdom's cutting of diplomatic ties.

Iran expressed "regret" over the attacks on the diplomatic missions in a letter to the United Nations on Monday and vowed to arrest those responsible. In the letter, obtained by The Associated Press, Iran's U.N. envoy Gholamali Khoshroo said more than 40 protesters have been arrested and that authorities are searching for other suspects.

In response to a Saudi letter, the U.N. Security Council late Monday strongly condemned the attacks by Iranian protesters on Saudi diplomatic posts. The council statement, agreed to after hours of negotiations, made no mention of the Saudi executions or the rupture in Saudi-Iranian relations.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have long vied for influence in the Middle East. Their rivalry deepened following the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the chaos of the Arab Spring, which gave rise to proxy wars in Syria and Yemen.

An early battleground was Bahrain, where the Shiite majority staged mass protests in 2011 demanding political reforms from the Sunni monarchy. Saudi Arabia and the Emirates sent in troops to help quash the revolt, viewing it as an Iranian bid to expand its influence.

Bahraini officials since have accused Iran of training militants and attempting to smuggle arms into the country, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. In October, Bahrain ordered the acting Iranian charge d'affaires to leave within 72 hours and recalled its own ambassador after alleging that Iran sponsored "subversion" and "terrorism" and funneled arms to militants.

Sudan, which has been looking to Saudi Arabia for aid since the secession of oil-rich South Sudan in 2011, on Monday announced an "immediate severing of ties" over the diplomatic mission attacks. Sudan once was closer to Iran, but in recent years has tilted toward Saudi Arabia, and has contributed forces to the Saudi-led coalition battling Shiite rebels in Yemen.

The UAE, a country of seven emirates, has a long trading history with Iran and is home to many ethnic Iranians. It said it would reduce the number of diplomats in Iran and recall its ambassador "in the light of Iran's continuous interference in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states, which has reached unprecedented levels."

Saudi Arabia had previously severed ties with Iran from 1988 to 1991 over rioting during the hajj in 1987 and Iran's attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf. That diplomatic freeze saw Iran halt pilgrims from attending the hajj in Saudi Arabia, something required of all able Muslims once in their lives.

Iranian lawmaker Mohammad Ali Esfanani, spokesman of the Judicial and Legal Committee, said security issues and the fact that Iranian pilgrims wouldn't have consular protection inside the kingdom made halting the pilgrimage for Iranians likely, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

World powers have sought to calm the tensions. On Monday, Germany called on both sides to mend ties, while Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted an unnamed senior diplomat as saying Moscow is ready to act as a mediator.

The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was en route to Riyadh on Monday with plans to later visit Tehran. Iran, a staunch supporter of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Saudi Arabia, a key backer of the opposition, have participated in three rounds of international talks aimed at ending the conflict. De Mistura has set a Jan. 25 target date for a fourth round of talks.

The White House urged Saudi Arabia and Iran to not let their dispute derail efforts to end the Syrian civil war.

"Hopefully they will continue to engage," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. "It is so clearly in the interests of both countries to advance a political solution to the situation inside of Syria."

Saudi Arabia's U.N. Ambassador Abdallah al-Moualimi said late Monday tha tSaudi Arabia will attend the Jan. 25 talks in Geneva on Syria. Iran has not said whether it will attend.

Meanwhile, al-Nimr's family is holding three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya village in the kingdom's al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. Authorities have already buried the sheikh's body in an undisclosed cemetery, his family said.

Early Monday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said a shooting targeting security forces in the village killed a man and wounded a child. It offered no motive for the attack, nor for another it said saw a mob beat and briefly kidnap a man who was driving through the area.

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Associated Press writers Abdullah al-Shihri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Ali Akbar Dareini in Tehran, Iran, Malak Harb in Dubai, Nour Youssef and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Josh Lederman in Washington, Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations, Adam Schreck in Koh Samui, Thailand, and Abdi Guled contributed to this report.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap .

An Iranian woman stand under a portrait of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei at the conclusion of a rally to protest the execution last week of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric, shown in the posters, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of al-Nimr. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian women wave flags that read, "Death to America and we shall never accept humiliation," during a rally to protest the execution by Saudi Arabia last week of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Saudi Shiite cleric, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of al-Nimr. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian men take a selfie with a poster of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Saudi Shiite cleric, who was executed last week by Saudi Arabia, at the conclusion of a rally protesting his execution, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of al-Nimr. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian demonstrators hold anti-Saudi placards in a rally to protest the execution by Saudi Arabia last week of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Saudi Shiite cleric, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of al-Nimr. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A Muslim cleric chants slogans alongside women in a rally to protest the execution by Saudi Arabia last week of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Saudi Shiite cleric, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of al-Nimr. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian women attend a rally to protest the execution by Saudi Arabia last week of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric, shown in posters, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of al-Nimr. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A Muslim cleric chants slogans alongside women in a rally to protest the execution by Saudi Arabia last week of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Saudi Shiite cleric, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of al-Nimr. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Iranian demonstrators chant slogans and hold anti-Saudi placards and flags during a rally to protest the execution by Saudi Arabia last week of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Saudi Shiite cleric, by Saudi Arabia, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of al-Nimr. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Obama starts 2016 with a fight over gun control

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Barack Obama is slated Monday to finalize a set of new executive actions tightening U.S. gun laws, kicking off his last year in office with a clear signal that he intends to prioritize one of the country's most intractable issues.

At a meeting with top law enforcement officials, Obama is expected to sign off on a package of proposals aimed at curbing gun violence and cracking down on unregulated gun sales.

The president is looking for ways to work around a Republican-led Congress that has blocked his previous efforts to tighten gun laws in the wake of mass shootings. Obama has accused Republicans  and some Democrats  of being beholden to the powerful gun industry lobby and opposing some measures he says a majority of Americans support, including expanded background checks on gun sales. But the issue of gun control bitterly divides Americans, with many viewing any attempt to regulate firearms as a possible infringement on their constitutional rights to own guns.

President Barack Obama waves as he walks with his daughter Malia Obama across the South Lawn on return to the White House in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016, after their family vacation in Hawaii. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

At the top of Obama's list is an effort to expand background checks on gun sales by forcing more sellers to register as federally licensed gun dealers. The changes would be aimed at some unregistered sellers who skirt the background check laws by selling at gun shows, online or informal settings. Other moves being considered include improving reporting of lost and stolen weapons and beefing up inspections of licensed dealers, according to a person familiar with the plans who would not be named discussing proposals before they are finalized.

The package includes measures this White House has long considered but not completed, mindful of the legal fight sure to follow as well as the potential for political backlash for some fellow Democrats.

But after a steady string of mass shootings and with the clock on his tenure ticking down, Obama appears primed to push further than he has in the past.

"We definitely think there are things he can do," said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which advocates for expanding background checks. Gross says his recent conversations with White House aides have left him hopeful.

"It's very clear that the White House is feeling emboldened," he said.

After all-but ignoring the issue in his first term, Obama changed course after the December 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut. The president failed to push a package of gun measures through Congress, including one expanding background checks.

At the same time, Obama took nearly two dozen executive actions to tighten gun laws, but left a major expansion of background checks out of the mix.

But after the shooting at a community college in Roseburg, Oregon in October, a weary and angry Obama ordered his staff to redouble the effort to look for ways to work around Congress.

On Thursday, Obama will take his argument to prime time, participating in a town hall discussion of gun violence on CNN. He's slated to make his case for changes in his State of the Union address on Jan. 12.

Under current law, federally licensed firearms dealers are required to seek background checks on potential firearm purchasers. But advocacy groups say many sellers are currently exempt from having to register, increasing the chance of sales to customers prohibited by law from purchasing a gun.

Obama's plans immediately set off a political debate on the presidential campaign trail, which is intensifying less than a month before the first primary contests to choose each party's nominee.

Democrat Hillary Clinton, who has already proposed an executive action to close the gun show loophole, cheered Obama's plans.

"I am absolutely convinced we can have gun safety measures consistent with the Constitution," she said. "I will take on that fight."

Republicans candidates rejected the proposals, including those who have back some gun control measures in the past.

"This president is a petulant child," New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday on "Fox News Sunday." ''The fact is if he wants to make changes to these laws, go to Congress and convince the Congress that they're necessary. But this is going to be another illegal executive action which I'm sure will be rejected by the courts."

"I don't like changing anything," Donald Trump said on CBS' "Face the Nation." ''Right now, they have plenty of rules and regulations."

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Associated Press writer Lisa Lerer contributed to this report.
PICTURED: Editor selections from Asia

People around Asia marked the start of 2016. In Tokyo, people released balloons to celebrate the start of the Year of the Monkey in the Japanese Zodiac.

In other celebrations, people lit firecrackers in Mumbai, enjoyed fireworks in Paju, South Korea, and prayed in front of lanterns in Seoul.

In the Philippine capital of Manila, New Year's firecrackers left at least one man dead and 380 others injured, and caused a fire that gutted 1,000 shanties despite rain and a government warning campaign.

In this early Friday, Jan. 1, 2016 file photo, people release balloons to celebrate the New Year with Tokyo Tower in the background in Tokyo. Japan celebrated the start of 2016, the Year of the Monkey in the Japanese Zodiac. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)

Kashmiri Muslim devotees in Srinagar, India, marked the birth anniversary of the Prophet Muhammad, looking toward a holy relic that is believed to be a hair from the prophet.

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This gallery was curated by Associated Press photo editor Karly Domb Sadof in Bangkok.

In this Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, file photo, a woman prays in front of lanterns to celebrate the new year at Chogye Buddhist temple in Seoul, South Korea. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon, File)

In this Friday, Jan. 1, 2016, file photo, Kashmiri Muslim devotees raise their hands as they look towards a holy relic, believed to be a hair from the Prophet Muhammad, being displayed by a priest at the Hazratbal shrine, on the first Friday following the birth anniversary of the Prophet, in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin, File)

In this Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015, file photo, a performer who tosses large jars rests one on his head during a rehearsal for a New Year's Eve countdown celebration at the Imperial Ancestral Temple in Beijing. At eight hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time, China will ring in 2016 ahead of much of the rest of the world on Thursday night. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein, File)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015, file photo, challenger Akira Yaegashi of Japan is hit by champion Javier Mendoza of Mexico during their IBF light flyweight title match in Tokyo. Yaegashi, won 3-0. (AP Photo/Shizuo Kambayashi, File)

In this Friday, Jan. 1, 2016, file photo, an Indian man lights firecrackers on a street during the New Year celebration in Mumbai, India. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

In this Friday, Jan. 1, 2016, file photo, a man throws a bucket of water to help firemen battle a fire that occurred as Filipinos welcome the New Year at a poor Manila district of Tondo, Philippines. The cause of the fire is still under investigation but a number of fires that occurred in the raucous New Year celebrations in the country are attributed to firecracker explosions. (AP Photo/Linus Escandor II, File)

In this Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, file photo, Kashmiri villagers attend the funeral of Manzoor Ahmad during his funeral in Pulwama, south of Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir. Two suspected insurgents of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group were killed in a gunfight with security forces in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district on Thursday, police said. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan, File)

In this Wednesday, Dec, 30, 2015, file photo, Kashmiri fishermen row their boats on a cold morning in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan, File)

In this Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, file photo, an Indian dancer taking pictures of his partner is silhouetted against the sky and reflected in the water during the last sunset of the year on the Arabian Sea coast in Mumbai, India. The two dancers who had arrived from the Indian capital for a performance in the city were spending their evening at the beach. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool, File)

In this Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015, file photo, an Indian man bathing at the Hussain Sagar Lake is silhouetted against the reflection of setting sun in Hyderabad, India. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File)

In this Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, file photo, Indians paddle their canoes at the Hussain Sagar Lake during this year's last sunset in in Hyderabad, India. The lake promenade is a busy thoroughfare that provides boating and other water sports facilities. (AP Photo/Mahesh Kumar A., File)
A look at the troubled relations between Saudi Arabia, Iran

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  Iran and Saudi Arabia have had tense diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that overthrew Iranian Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, although there have been occasional thaws. Here's a look at how ties between the Middle East rivals have shifted:

PRE-REVOLUTION: Iran had rocky relations with Saudi Arabia under the shah, but they improved toward the end of his reign in 1979. Both were original members of the oil cartel OPEC.

POST-REVOLUTION: After the revolution and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia became Washington's top ally in the region. In the ensuing war between Iran and Iraq in the 1980s that killed 1 million people, Saudi Arabia backed Iraq despite concerns about dictator Saddam Hussein.

FILE - In this Aug. 18, 1955 file photo, King Saud of Saudi Arabia and his host, the Shah of Iran, travel by jeep on the way to view Iranian army maneuvers. King Saud was paying a state visit to his Persian Gulf neighbor. Diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been tense since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, though there have been occasional thaws between the two rivals.(AP Photo, File)

1987 HAJJ RIOTS: The annual hajj pilgrimage to Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia, required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life, saw bloodshed in 1987 when Iranians held a political demonstration. Iranian pilgrims later clashed with Saudi riot police, and at least 402 people were killed. Iran said 600 of its pilgrims were killed after police opened fire at the crowd. In Tehran, mobs attacked the Saudi, Kuwaiti, French and Iraqi embassies.

SEVERING TIES: Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran in 1988, citing the hajj riots of a year earlier and Iran's attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf. The countries restored diplomatic ties in 1991.

EASING TENSIONS: Relations improved after Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, a political moderate, took office in 1997. They warmed further after historic visits by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to Tehran that year and Khatami to the kingdom in 1999.

NUCLEAR DISPUTE: Saudi worries about Iran resumed amid international sanctions against Tehran over its contested nuclear program and the increasingly harsh rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran and Saudi Arabia each backed opposite sides in Syria's civil war and the conflict in Yemen. Saudi Arabia also grew increasingly suspicious of Iran over the nuclear deal reached with world powers.

2015 HAJJ DISASTER: After a Sept. 24 stampede and crush struck the hajj, Saudi Arabia said 769 pilgrims were killed. An Associated Press count from other countries showed that over 2,400 people were killed. Iran said at least 464 of its pilgrims were killed and blamed Saudi "incompetence" for the deaths.

SHEIKH'S EXECUTION: On Jan. 2, Saudi Arabia executed 47 people  including Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority. His death sparked protests across the Middle East and attacks on Saudi diplomatic facilities in Iran. Saudi Arabia responded by announcing it was severing diplomatic ties with Iran.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap

FILE - In this March 10, 1984 file photo, Iranian troops advance despite obstacles set by Iraqi forces in the Manjnoon Islands, Iraq. Smoke in background rises from Iraqi armored units set afire by Iranian forces. After the overthrow of the shah and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia quickly became America's top ally in the region. In the ensuing 1980s war between Iran and Iraq, Saudi Arabia backed Iraq despite its concerns about dictator Saddam Hussein. That war would kill 1 million people.(AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this Nov. 3, 1973 file photo, a subcommittee of six Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) meet to study the prices of oil, in Kuwait. The meeting comprises of Oil Ministers from Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Abu Dhabi and Qatar. Under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran had rocky relations with Saudi Arabia, though they improved toward the end of his reign. Both were original members of the oil cartel OPEC.(AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this March 5, 1975 file photo, the Shah of Iran, right, meets with Prince Fahd, Vice Premier of Saudi Arabia and brother of King Faisal, left, and Sheikh Zaki Yamani, Saudi Arabian Oil Minister, center, in Algiers, Algeria at the villa where the Shah is staying during the O.P.E.C. summit. Under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran had rocky relations with Saudi Arabia, though they improved toward the end of his reign. Both were original members of the oil cartel OPEC.(AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this Aug. 9, 1988 file photo, Iraqi President Saddam Hussein waves to cheering crowds during a visit to the holy muslim shrines in Samara. The Iraqi President visited the site for prayers and thanks following the agreement on a ceasefire in the 8-year-old Iran-Iraq war. After the overthrow of the shah and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia quickly became America's top ally in the region. In the ensuing 1980s war between Iran and Iraq, Saudi Arabia backed Iraq despite its concerns about dictator Saddam Hussein.(AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this undated 1979 file photo, Iran's new leader, Ayatollah Khomeini waves at the crowd at Qom, Iran. After the overthrow of the shah and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia quickly became America's top ally in the region.(AP Photo, File)

FILE - In this Dec. 8, 1997 file photo, Saudi Arabia Crown Prince Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz Al-Saud, center left, is greeted at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran by Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, center right, ahead of the Islamic Conference in the Iranian capital. Prince Abdullah's arrival marked the first visit by a high-ranking Saudi leader since the revolution. It follows almost a year of diplomatic efforts to improve ties between Iran and Saudi Arabia, a key U.S. ally and the world's largest oil exporter. (AP Photo/Enric Marti, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, Sept. 27, 2015 file photo, Iranian protesters chant slogans in front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran, Iran, during a gathering to blame the Arab country for a deadly stampede. On Sept. 24, a stampede and crush strikes the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. While the kingdom says 769 pilgrims are killed, an Associated Press count shows over 2,400 people were killed. Iran says at least 464 of its pilgrims were killed and blames Saudi Arabia's "incompetence" for the deaths.(AP Photo/Vahid Salemi, File)
Wildlife refuge occupation part of long-running lands fight

BURNS, Ore. (AP)  The small group of armed anti-government activists occupying a remote wildlife preserve in Oregon's high desert gave visitors free access to the snowy site Monday, allowing some local residents and ranchers in to satisfy their curiosity or show support.

The group also appeared to be trying to keep the site tidy, picking up cigarette butts from the ground and keeping vehicle and foot traffic primarily to roads and pathways. Federal authorities made no immediate attempt to retake the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which about two dozen activists seized over the weekend as part of a decades-long fight over public lands in the West.

There appeared to be no urgent reason for federal officials to move in. No one has been hurt. No one is being held hostage. And the refuge is a bleak and forbidding stretch of wilderness about 300 miles from Portland, and it's the middle of winter.

Ammon Bundy, center, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, walks off after speaking with reporters during a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights told reporters on Monday that two local ranchers who face long prison sentences for setting fire to land have been treated unfairly. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Some have complained that the government's response to the situation in Oregon would have been more severe had the occupants been Muslim or other minorities.

But others said from a tactical standpoint, the government's cautious response would make sense no matter who was holed up in the government building in the reserve.

Meanwhile, the group said it wants an inquiry into whether the government is forcing ranchers off their land after the father and son who were ordered back to prison for arson on federal grazing lands reported to a federal facility in California Monday.

The demanded a government response within five days related to the ranchers' extended sentences.

Ammon Bundy  one of the sons of rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 Nevada standoff with the government over grazing rights  told reporters that Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven Hammond, were treated unfairly.

The Hammonds were convicted of arson three years ago for fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006, one of which was set to cover up deer poaching, according to prosecutors. They said they lit the fires to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires.

The men served their original sentences  three months for Dwight and one year for Steven. But an appeals court judge ruled the terms fell short of minimum sentences that require them to serve about four more years.

Their sentences have been a rallying cry for the group, whose mostly male members said they want federal lands turned over to local authorities so people can use them free of U.S. oversight.

The father and son reported to a federal prison Monday in California, said Harney County, Oregon, Sheriff David Ward. He provided no other details.

The Hammonds have distanced themselves from the protest group and many locals, including people who want to see federal lands made more accessible, don't want the activists here, fearing they may bring trouble.

Schools in the small town of Burns, about 30 miles from the refuge, were closed for the week out of concern for student safety.

For the moment, the federal government was doing nothing to remove them, but the FBI said it was monitoring the situation. The White House said President Barack Obama was aware of the situation and hopes it can be resolved peacefully.

The refuge was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt to protect bird populations that had been decimated by plume hunters selling feathers for the hat industry.

It sits in a wide snow-covered valley rimmed by distant mountains and contains lakes and marshland. The preserve has grown over the years to about 300 square miles and surrounds the ranch Dwight Hammond bought with his father in 1964. Dwight Hammond said his family has resisted pressure to sell the ranch as the federal government chipped away at his grazing allotments and increased fees on other lands.

The refuge contains about 10 small buildings, some of which had been entered by the occupying group. Other members of the group blocked the entrance to the headquarters.

The takeover prompted an outcry far beyond Oregon from both those who want to see federal lands opened to more ranching and logging and others who were astounded that private citizens with guns could seize government property without any intervention by law enforcement.

The tactics of the Bundys and the group were condemned by Democrats and Republicans alike.

Sen. Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat who is familiar with the Bundys from their standoff in his state, said the group could not continue breaking the law, but that everyone should remain patient.

"These people say we want to return (the land) to the people," Reid said. "The people have it right now."

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas said he hoped the group would "stand down peaceably" with no violent confrontation "sooner rather than later."

Ammon Bundy said his group had sent a demand for "redress for grievances" to local, state and federal officials. The group, which included a couple of women and some boys and girls Monday, did not release a copy of its demands. Bundy would not say what the group would do if it got no response.

"We have exhausted all prudent measures and have been ignored," he said.

At the time of the Bundys' 2014 Nevada standoff, there were $1.1 million in outstanding grazing fees, and no payments have been made since then. The fees continue to accrue, although Bureau of Land Management spokeswoman Bev Winston couldn't give a specific updated figure on the debt.

The disputes harken back to a long-running struggle over public lands between some Westerners and the federal government, which owns nearly half the land in the West.

In the 1970s, during the "Sagebrush Rebellion," Nevada and other states pushed for local control over federal land. Supporters of that idea want to open more land available for cattle grazing, mining and timber harvesting.

Opponents say the federal government should administer lands for the widest possible uses, including environmental and recreational.

Bundy said the group plans to stay at the refuge as long as it takes.

Keith Landon, a longtime resident of Burns who works at the Reid Country Store, said he sympathizes with the Bundys' frustrations. Landon was a logger until the federal government declared the spotted owl a protected species in the 1980s  a decision that hurt the local logging industry.

"It's hard to discredit what they're trying to do out there," he said. "But I don't want anybody hurt."

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Melley reported from Los Angeles.

A members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, walks to one of it's buldings Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Ammon Bundy, center, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, speaks with reporters during a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights, told reporters on Monday that two local ranchers who face long prison sentences for setting fire to land have been treated unfairly. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters hug after Ammon Bundy, center, left, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, spoke with reporters during a news conference Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, talks on his phone near the front gate Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, wears a camouflage jacket with a patch on his shoulder Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Ammon Bundy, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, speaks with reporters during a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, walks to one of it's buldings Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

LaVoy Finicum, a rancher from Arizona, receives a hug from a member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, looks on at the front gate Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters stand guard along a roadside Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters stand guard Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. The armed anti-government group took over the remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon as part of a decades-long fight over public lands in the West. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
At least 1 gunman still remains at Indian air force base

PATHANKOT, India (AP)  A fifth gunman was killed Monday on the third day of a siege at a heavily fortified Indian air base near the border with Pakistan and at least one attacker remained as troops worked to secure the sprawling compound, a military official said. Seven troops have been killed.

The search operations at Pathankot air force base will continue until all areas have been completely secured, Maj. Gen. Dushyant Singh, from India's elite National Security Guard, told reporters.

The attack has dragged on since early Saturday morning as government troops struggle to contain the heavily armed attackers. At least twice over the weekend it appeared that the attack had ended but fresh gunfire and explosions erupted both times.

Indian soldiers stand guard outside an airbase in Pathankot, India, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. After saying all the gunmen who attacked the Indian airbase near the Pakistan border were dead, Indian officials said at least two attackers remained and vowed to kill them Monday to end a more than 48-hour siege. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Four attackers were reported killed by Saturday evening, and at least two were said to have been exchanging gunfire with troops as of Monday morning. By evening one had been shot dead, Singh said.

Defense officials have said authorities had been alerted about a potential attack in the area on Friday, and that aerial surveillance at the base spotted the gunmen as they entered the compound, leading to criticism of the handling of the situation.

Singh told reporters in Pathankot that it will take a "long time" to declare the base completely secure because of its size and geography. It is spread over more than 2,000 acres, including forests and tall grass.

The commanding officer of the base, Lt. Col. J.S. Dhamoon, described it as a "mini-city" with homes and a school for the children of the personnel stationed there.

An army statement said the last gunmen were firing from a building that is part of the living quarters on the base.

The base has a fleet of India's Russian-origin MiG-21 fighter jets and Mi-25 and Mi-35 attack helicopters, along with other military hardware. Officials have said no military hardware has been damaged in the fighting.

Military funerals were held Monday for the soldiers who were killed in the attack.

Their killings inside a military base despite intelligence alerts have angered many in India.

"The biggest problem is the multiplicity of command and control. Nobody knows who is really in charge," said Rahul Bedi, an analyst for Jane's Information Group.

The Pathankot base and the northern state of Punjab, where it is located, has "probably the highest concentration of military personnel in India because it's so close to the border with Pakistan," Bedi said.

"It's a huge embarrassment," he said. "It's a major goof-up for everybody."

Since Saturday morning, the base has been swarming with air force commandos, army soldiers, National Security Guard troops and local police. Officials, however, have refused to say how many security personnel were involved in the engagement.

There has also been no clear source of information on the attack for the media. Home Minister Rajnath Singh even tweeted Saturday night to congratulate the troops for successfully killing all of the gunmen.

The air force base is on the highway that connects India's insurgency-plagued Jammu and Kashmir state with the rest of the country. It is also very close to India's border with Pakistan.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in its entirety by both. Rebels in India's portion of Kashmir have been fighting since 1989 for independence or merger with Pakistan.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the insurgents, a charge Islamabad denies, and the attack is being viewed as a possible attempt to unravel recent progress in their relationship.

Police said they do not know if the gunmen came from Kashmir or from Pakistan. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

The violence follows Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise Dec. 25 visit to Pakistan, where he met his counterpart, Nawaz Sharif. The two also held an unscheduled meeting at the Paris climate change talks last month.

Ahead of Modi's visit to Pakistan, the national security advisers of both countries met in Thailand. The foreign secretaries of both nations are to meet in Islamabad later this month.

The responses to the attacks from both countries have been muted so far, with neither New Delhi nor Islamabad giving any indication that the planned talks are under any threat.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. was encouraged that the government of Pakistan condemned the attack and has said it would not discriminate between groups in its counter-terrorism operations.

"We've been clear with the highest levels of the government of Pakistan, that it must continue to target all militant groups," Kirby told reporters on Monday.

All political parties in India have condemned the attack, but there were no demands that the government call off the talks with Pakistan. In the past, when it was in opposition, Modi's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party was a vocal critic of engagement with Pakistan.

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Naqvi reported from New Delhi. Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Indian security personnel check people entering an airbase in Pathankot, India, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. After saying all the gunmen who attacked the Indian airbase near the Pakistan border were dead, Indian officials said at least two attackers remained and vowed to kill them Monday to end a more than 48-hour siege. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

Indian soldiers are seen on a rooftop at an airbase in Pathankot, India, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. After saying all the gunmen who attacked the Indian airbase near the Pakistan border were dead, Indian officials said at least two attackers remained and vowed to kill them Monday to end a more than 48-hour siege. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

An Indian military helicopter keeps watch on the situation as Indian soldiers take position on a rooftop at an airbase in Pathankot, India, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. After saying all the gunmen who attacked the Indian airbase near the Pakistan border were dead, Indian officials said at least two attackers remained and vowed to kill them Monday to end a more than 48-hour siege. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)

An Indian soldier stands guard as sweepers go about their daily work outside an airbase in Pathankot, India, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. After saying all the gunmen who attacked the Indian airbase near the Pakistan border were dead, Indian officials said at least two attackers remained and vowed to kill them Monday to end a more than 48-hour siege. (AP Photo/Channi Anand)
Vote to repeal Obama's health law marks testy start to 2016

WASHINGTON (AP)  Legislation repealing President Barack Obama's health care law comes to the forefront when the House reconvenes this week, marking a sharply partisan start to a congressional year in which legislating may take a back seat to politics.

The bill undoing the president's prized overhaul of health care has been like a long-delayed New Year's resolution for Republicans. It will be the first order of business for the House in the new year.

There are few areas of potential compromise between Obama and the GOP majority in the House and Senate, but plenty of opportunities for political haymaking during the presidential campaign season.

FILE - In this Nov. 22, 2015 file photo, The Capitol dome is seen on Capitol Hill. Its been like a long-delayed New Years resolution for the GOP. But 2016 will finally be the year congressional Republicans put legislation on President Barack Obamas desk repealing Obamacare. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)

Obama will veto the health law repeal bill, which also would cut money for Planned Parenthood. The measure already has passed the Senate under special rules protecting it from Democratic obstruction. But that's the point for Republicans, who intend to schedule a veto override vote for Jan. 22, when anti-abortion activists hold their annual march in Washington to mark the anniversary of the Supreme Court decision in 1973 that legalized abortion.

Despite dozens of past votes to repeal the health law in full or in part, Republicans never before have succeeded in sending a full repeal bill to the White House. They insist that doing so will fulfill promises to their constituents while highlighting the clear choice facing voters in the November presidential election.

Every Republican candidate has pledged to undo the health law. The Democrats running for president would keep it in place.

"You're going to see us put a bill on the president's desk going after Obamacare and Planned Parenthood so we'll finally get a bill on his desk to veto," House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told conservative talk host Bill Bennett over the holidays.

"Then you're going to see the House Republican Conference, working with our senators, coming out with a bold agenda that we're going to lay out for the country, to say how we would do things very differently," Ryan said.

In the Senate, which reconvenes Jan. 11, a week later than the House, early action will include a vote on a proposal by Sen. Rand Paul, the Kentucky Republican who is running for president, for an "audit" of the Federal Reserve. Democrats are likely to block it. But, like the health repeal bill in the House, the vote will answer conservative demands in an election year.

Also expected early in the Senate's year is legislation dealing with Syrian refugees, following House passage of a bill clamping down on the refugee program. Conservatives were angry when the year ended without the bill advancing. Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky promised a vote, though without specifying whether it would be the House bill or something else.

The House Benghazi committee will continue its investigation of the attacks that killed four Americans in Libya in 2012, with an interview of former CIA Director David Petraeus on Jan. 6. That comes amid new Democratic accusations of political motives aimed at Hillary Clinton after the committee chairman, Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. for president. Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, was secretary of state at the time of the Benghazi attacks.

The bold agenda promised by Ryan after succeeding former Rep. John Boehner, R-Ohio, as speaker last fall will begin to take shape at a House-Senate GOP retreat this month in Baltimore. Thus far Ryan has pledged efforts to overhaul the tax system and offer a Republican alternative to the health overhaul.

In the Senate, McConnell's primary focus is protecting the handful of vulnerable Republican senators whose seats are at risk as Democrats fight to regain the Senate majority they lost a year ago. That means weighing the political risks and benefits of every potential vote to endangered incumbents in Ohio, Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and New Hampshire.

That could determine whether McConnell allows criminal justice overhaul legislation  the one issue cited by Obama and lawmakers of both parties as ripe for compromise  to come to the floor.

McConnell already has suggested that prospects for approval of Obama's long-sought Asia trade pact are dim, and the senator has ruled out major tax overhaul legislation as long as Obama is president.

McConnell could try to put his thumb on the scales of the presidential race with two GOP senators having emerged as leading contenders.

Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas has been a thorn in McConnell's side, once calling the GOP leader a liar, and has frosty relations with his fellow senators. Rubio is on good terms with fellow lawmakers and has been endorsed by several of them. McConnell could schedule debate on an issue with the potential to favor Rubio politically over Cruz, such as National Security Agency wiretapping authority.

But McConnell insists he is staying out of it.
Missing booksellers have Hong Kong leader 'highly concerned'

HONG KONG (AP)  Hong Kong's leader said Monday that he was "highly concerned" about the recent disappearances of people associated with a publishing company in the city that specializes in titles critical of mainland China's leadership.

Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying told reporters there's no evidence so far to support suspicions that mainland security agents were involved.

Five people associated with Hong Kong publisher Mighty Current and its Causeway Bay Bookstore have vanished in recent months.

Protesters hold photos of missing booksellers during a protest outside the Liaison of the Central People's Government in Hong Kong, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers say they'll press the government for answers after a fifth employee of a publisher specializing in books critical of China's ruling communists went missing. The Chinese words on banner reads "Where is Lee Bo? Liaison of the Central People's Government of Hong Kong explain!"(AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

The disappearances have raised fears that Beijing is tightening its grip on Hong Kong, a semiautonomous territory that enjoys civil liberties such as freedom of the press that don't exist on the mainland.

The latest and most startling case came last week, when the publisher's chief editor, Lee Bo, failed to return home after visiting a book storage warehouse.

Four other people linked to the company went missing in October, but they were last seen either in mainland China or Thailand.

In Lee's case, his wife told local media that he had called her from a number that indicated he was in Shenzhen, the mainland Chinese city next door to Hong Kong. That has led many to suspect that Chinese agents crossed over into Hong Kong, snatched Lee and spirited him to the mainland.

Late Monday, police issued a statement saying the missing person's report involving Lee had been withdrawn, but that police would continue to investigate. It was not clear if that meant Lee had been located, and his wife could not be reached for comment.

"The government and I are highly concerned about the case" of the missing booksellers, Leung said.

Hong Kong's leader also said there's "no indication" yet that Chinese agents are involved, and appealed for information from anyone who could help give a better idea of the missing people's whereabouts or the reasons for the their disappearance.

"If mainland Chinese law enforcement personnel are carrying out duties in Hong Kong, it would be unacceptable because it goes against the Basic Law," the mini-constitution under which Beijing agreed to uphold the "one country, two systems" principle after taking control of the city from Britain in 1997, Leung said.

The Chinese foreign ministry in Beijing said it had no information on the case.

Mighty Current specializes in sensationalistic books about Chinese political scandals and other sensitive issues that mainland publishers are forbidden from covering. The books are banned in China but are sold in Hong Kong at bookshops frequented by visiting tourists from the mainland.

Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmaker Albert Ho said Sunday there were rumors the publisher was preparing a book on an old "girlfriend or mistress" of Chinese President Xi Jinping and had faced pressure to scrap it.

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Associated Press writer Didi Tang in Beijing contributed to this report.
Chinese rescuers slowly dig down to rescue 4 trapped miners

BEIJING (AP)  Rescuers have dropped provisions to four Chinese mine workers trapped for 10 days in a wrecked gypsum mine and are slowly drilling a route to save them, state media said Monday.

The men are trapped more than 200 meters below the surface, and state media has reported they are in good condition. Because the ground is so fragile, the rescuers managed to drill only 25 meters deep after more than 40 hours, China National Radio reported.

Rescue leader Du Bingjian said he could not give a time when the men would be pulled up, according to the radio report.

Rescuers using infrared cameras fed into a narrow opening detected the survivors last Wednesday  five days after the cave-in.

The Dec. 25 mine collapse in Shandong province killed at least one person. Thirteen others are missing, and 11 made it to safety or were rescued earlier.

Rescuers initially believed they had found eight trapped survivors but were able to make contact with only four.

The same narrow opening used for the cameras was used to deliver bottles of nutritional liquid, which would have to float on water toward the trapped men. But the so-called lifeline hole is not wide enough for a person.

Gypsum is a soft sulfate mineral that is widely used in construction.

After the collapse, the mine owner, Ma Congbo, jumped into a well and drowned in an apparent suicide. Four local government officials have been fired.
Yemen declares nighttime curfew in port city of Aden

SANAA, Yemen (AP)  Yemen's internationally recognized government has declared a nighttime curfew, starting Monday, in the key southern port city of Aden in a bid to push back against recent incursions by al-Qaida and other Islamic militant groups, the city's governor said.

According to the Aden governor, Aidarous al-Zubaidi, the curfew will be in place every night from 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. for an unspecified period.

The measure came after government forces retook Aden's strategic port after heavy clashes with militants who had seized it earlier over the weekend. Al-Qaida and other militants have been using the port for lucrative smuggling operations.

FILE - In this Dec. 15, 2015, file photo, Shiite tribesmen, known as Houthis, hold their weapons as they chant slogans during a tribal gathering showing support for the Houthi movement in Sanaa, Yemen. The truce in Yemen between Shiite rebels and a Saudi-led military coalition has formally ended, according to Saudi Arabia's state-run news agency. The truce technically came into effect on Dec. 15, as a mutual show of good faith during peace negotiations taking place in Switzerland. But the truce never truly took hold on the ground in Yemen, with both sides ignoring it. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed, File)

However, it remained unclear how well the curfew can be enforced since the Yemeni forces, backed by a Saudi-led coalition of mostly Arab states that is supported by the United States, are stretched thin as they battle the Shiite rebels known as Houthis.

Yemen's al-Qaida branch has long been seen by Washington as the most potent affiliate of the extremist network and has been linked to a number of attempted attacks on the U.S. The group, known as the Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, has captured much of Yemen's sprawling Hadramawt province and its capital, Mukalla, as well as the capital of southern Abyan province, Zinjibar and the town of Jaar.

The group and Islamic State-linked militants have exploited the chaos of the country's civil war to stage significant land grabs and expand its footprint in southern Yemen.

According to U.N. figures, the war in Yemen has killed at least 5,884 people since March, when fighting escalated after the Saudi-led coalition began launching airstrikes targeting the rebels

The conflict pits the internationally recognized government, backed by a Saudi-led coalition against the Shiite Houthi rebels, allied with a former president.

The two sides launched peace negotiations in December in Switzerland, and a truce was declared on the ground, which never really took hold as both the government forces and the rebels ignored it. That truce formally ended over the weekend.

U.N. special envoy Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed is heading back to the region on Wednesday "in order to secure commitments for a new cessation of hostilities and in order to advance the upcoming talks," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Monday.

Saudi Arabia's U.N. Ambassador Abdallah al-Moualimi said his country's ruptured diplomatic ties with Iran will have no effect on its efforts to promote peace in Yemen.

"We hope that the talks will be productive," he told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York. "That pretty much depends to a great extent on the behavior of the Houthis."

Al-Moualimi said the "critical element" is whether the Houthis implement a Security Council resolution adopted in April 2015 demanding that they withdraw from areas they have seized including the capital of Sanaa, relinquish arms and missiles seized from military and security institutions, and release all political prisoners.

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10 Things to Know for Today - 4 January 2016

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

1. SAUDI, IRAN TENSIONS REMAIN HIGH IN WAKE OF CLERIC'S EXECUTION

Saudi Arabia cuts diplomatic ties with Tehran following attacks on the kingdom's embassy and consulate in the Islamic Republic over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Iranian demonstrators burn a representation of the U.S. and Israeli flags during a demonstration in front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran, Iran, to protest the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric, seen in posters, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Saudi Arabia announced the execution of al-Nimr on Saturday along with 46 others. Al-Nimr was a central figure in protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012, and his execution drew condemnation from Shiites across the region. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

2. ARMED PROTESTERS OCCUPY WILDLIFE REFUGE IN OREGON

The demonstrators, who say they oppose federal land policies, took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge after rallying against the prison sentences of two ranchers who are expected to turn themselves in to federal authorities Monday.

3. MILITARY KIDS SEXUALLY ABUSED HUNDREDS OF TIMES EACH YEAR

The abuse of military dependents is committed most often by male enlisted troops, according to Defense Department data provided exclusively to The Associated Press.

4. HOW OBAMA PLANS TO TAKE GUN SAFETY INTO HIS OWN HANDS

The president is expected to use executive action to strengthen background checks required for gun purchases.

5. EUROPE RAISES BARRIERS TO TRAVEL

New restrictions imposed by Sweden to stem a record flow of migrants are a striking example of how national boundaries are re-emerging across the continent.

6. RETIRING NEWTOWN, CONN. POLICE CHIEF REFLECTS ON SCHOOL SHOOTING AFTERMATH

"We wanted to rebuild the safeness of the community" after the massacre at the school, says Michael Kehoe, who is retiring from the town's police department after 37 years.

7. WHY PRETEEN HPV VACCINATION RATES ARE LOW

Among the most common reasons doctors cited for delaying discussions and vaccinations against the sexually transmitted cancer-causing virus were a belief that patients hadn't had sex and that parents would object.

8. STRONG QUAKE HITS INDIA'S NORTHEAST

At least six people die and more than 100 are hurt in the 6.7 magnitude temblor that damaged buildings in and around Imphal, the capital of Manipur state, police say.

9. WHERE FLOODWATERS ARE ON THE RISE

The Mississippi River is receding in Missouri and Illinois following flooding brought on by torrential rains, but river levels are climbing in Kentucky and other southern states hit by severe weather.

10. CAROLINA, DENVER WRAP UP NO. 1 SEEDS FOR PLAYOFFS

The Panthers won home-field advantage by routing Tampa Bay, while the Broncos defeat the Chargers.

ADDS DETAILS OF SOME VEHICLES SEEN AT THE ENTRANCE - An sign of the National Wildlife Refuge System is seen at an entry of the wildlife refuge, where some vehicles are seen used to block access to the inside of the refuge, about 30 miles southeast of Burns, Ore., Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Armed protesters are occupying a building at the national wildlife refuge and asking militia members around the country to join them. The protesters went to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday following a peaceful rally in support of two Oregon ranchers facing additional prison time for arson. (Les Zaitz/The Oregonian via AP) MANDATORY CREDIT
Filippo Grandi of Italy takes helm at UN refugee agency

BERLIN (AP)  Filippo Grandi of Italy has taken the helm at the United Nations' refugee agency, saying it faces "extraordinarily difficult" times and urging renewed efforts to tackle the problems that have caused millions worldwide to flee.

The 58-year-old Grandi previously headed the agency that assists Palestinian refugees, the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.

Grandi, who also worked in several locations for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, succeeds Antonio Guterres as its head. Guterres stepped down after a decade in charge.

FILE - In this Sept. 12, 2012 file photo Filippo Grandi of Italy speaks during a press conference at the headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. Grandi has taken the helm at the United Nations refugee agency, calling for a renewed effort to tackle the roots of the problems that have caused millions of people worldwide to flee their homes. UNHCR said Grandi arrived at its Geneva headquarters Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. (Martial Trezzini/Keystone via AP, file)

Grandi arrived at UNHCR's Geneva headquarters Monday. He said in a statement the agency "is navigating extraordinarily difficult waters."

Grandi says "the combination of multiple conflicts and resulting mass displacement, fresh challenges to asylum, the funding gap between humanitarian needs and resources, and growing xenophobia is very dangerous."
Pakistan PM in Sri Lanka to sign agreements, strengthen ties

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP)  Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on Monday started a three-day visit to Sri Lanka during which several agreements aiming to strengthen relations between the south Asian nations are to be signed.

Sharif was welcomed by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, and he and his delegation will talk with President Maithripala Sirisena and other officials on Tuesday.

Separately he will make a speech on Sri Lanka-Pakistan relations. Several bilateral agreements in the areas of health, science and technology, trade, money laundering and terrorism financing are to be signed.

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, center and his wife Kalsoom Nawaz Sharif walk escorted by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, left, after their arrival at Katunayaka International air port in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Sharif arrived in Sri Lanka on a three day official visit during which several agreements including money laundering and terrorism are to be signed aiming to strengthening the bilateral relations between the two Asian nations.(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)

Pakistan grew closer to Sri Lanka during the island nation's civil war by supplying arms to fight the Tamil Tiger rebels when its closest neighbor India refused to sell arms.

The rebels sought an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils and India maintained a hands-off approach to avoid backlash from its own Tamil community.

Sri Lankan troops defeated the rebels in 2009.

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe, left, watches as his Pakistani counter part Nawaz Sharif, center, looks after signing the visitors book upon his arrival at Katunayaka International air port in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Sharif arrived in Sri Lanka on a three day official visit during which several agreements including money laundering and terrorism are to be signed aiming to strengthening the bilateral relations between the two Asian nations.(AP Photo/Eranga Jayawardena)
Draining will turn Paris canal into puddle for cleaning

PARIS (AP)  A Paris canal will be drained this week for cleaning, first into a puddle and then into a dry ditch.

Canal Saint-Martin, popular with Parisians and visitors alike for its arched bridges, locks and trendy surrounding neighborhood, will be emptied for the first time in 14 years beginning Monday.

The canal was completed in 1825 on the orders of Napoleon Bonaparte, who wanted to reinforce the city's supply of drinking water.

Municipal workers guide a lock plate at the Canal-Saint Martin, as it is drained for maintenance in Paris, Monday, Jan 4, 2016. Paris Canal Saint-Martin will be drained this week for cleaning, first into a puddle then - when the final underwater creatures have been moved to safety - into a dry ditch. The canal, popular with Parisians and visitors alike for its arched bridges, locks and trendy surrounding neighborhood, will be emptied for the first time in 14 years. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

It will be closed until the beginning of April, according to the Paris mayor's office. At the last cleaning, 40 tons of waste  mud, sludge and trash  was removed and treated, including at least one car.

A diver guides a lock plate at the Canal Saint-Martin as it is drained for maintenance in Paris, Monday, Jan 4, 2016. Paris Canal Saint-Martin will be drained this week for cleaning, first into a puddle then - when the final underwater creatures have been moved to safety - into a dry ditch. The canal, popular with Parisians and visitors alike for its arched bridges, locks and trendy surrounding neighborhood, will be emptied for the first time in 14 years. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

A diver guides a lock plate at the Canal Saint-Martin as it is drained for maintenance in Paris, Monday, Jan 4, 2016. Paris Canal Saint-Martin will be drained this week for cleaning, first into a puddle then - when the final underwater creatures have been moved to safety - into a dry ditch. The canal, popular with Parisians and visitors alike for its arched bridges, locks and trendy surrounding neighborhood, will be emptied for the first time in 14 years. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

Municipal workers guide a lock plate at the Canal-Saint Martin, as it is drained for maintenance in Paris, Monday, Jan 4, 2016. Paris Canal Saint-Martin will be drained this week for cleaning, first into a puddle then - when the final underwater creatures have been moved to safety - into a dry ditch. The canal, popular with Parisians and visitors alike for its arched bridges, locks and trendy surrounding neighborhood, will be emptied for the first time in 14 years. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)
Hundreds honor 4 Indiana teens killed in car wreck

BROWNSBURG, Ind. (AP)  Hundreds of people gathered at a vigil in suburban Indianapolis to remember four teenagers killed in a car accident last week.

They commemorated the teens and shared their grief Sunday night in the parking lot of Brownsburg High School. Mourners lit candles and released a bouquet of purple and white balloons, the school's colors.

Seventeen-year-old Mathew Howard Chambers, 18-year-old Lucas Edwin Kenworthy, 17-year-old Noah James Tex and 17-year-old Riley Davis Hurst died when their car crossed a state highway median and struck a minivan around 7 p.m. Wednesday.

A photo provided by the Indiana State Police shows a Ford Taurus involved in a crash in Waverly, Ind., Wednesday evening that killed four Brownsburg, Ind. teenagers. The four died Wednesday evening when their car crossed a median on a state highway near Indianapolis and struck a minivan, Indiana State Police said. FIve others, including a fifth passenger in the Taurus and a family of four in the minivan, were taken to a hospital for treatment, police said. (Indiana State Police via AP)

All four were from Brownsburg, a western Indianapolis suburb. Another passenger in their car, as well as a family of four in a minivan, were treated for injuries.
General Motors invests $500M in Lyft, forms partnership

DETROIT (AP)  General Motors Co. is investing $500 million in the ride-sharing company Lyft Inc.

GM gets a seat on Lyft's board as part of the partnership, which could speed the development of on-demand, self-driving cars.

The two companies will soon open numerous U.S. hubs where Lyft drivers can rent GM vehicles. That could expand Lyft's business by giving people who don't own cars a way to earn money through Lyft.

Over the long term, the companies plan to develop a fleet of autonomous vehicles that can be summoned with Lyft's software.

Lyft says the investment came as part of $1 billion round of fund-raising. Another big investor was Saudi Arabia's Kingdom Holding Co., which invested $100 million.
Kenya university reopens after extremists killed 148 people

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP)  A university where Islamic extremists killed 148 people nine months ago reopened on Monday, an event welcomed by many Kenyans as a victory against the jihadis.

"Just by opening the university we have won the war against al-Shabab," said Khadija Mohamed, who was a counselor at the school when it was attacked last April, and who was among the returning staff and faculty. About 60 students are expected when some classes resume next week and the bulk of them, some 600, in September.

Even though there was high security, returning to the college in Garissa, a town in eastern Kenya, was difficult for Mohamed who remembers the carnage and the victims.

Police officers walk on the pavements of the recently reopened Garissa University College, in Garissa, Kenya, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Officials say the Kenyan University where gunmen from al-Qaidas East African affiliate massacred 148 people majority of them students ten months ago, has re-opened in a low key event, amid high security. (AP Photo)

"Coming back to this college gives me a flashback of the killings," she told The Associated Press. "As their counselor, the students were very close to me. They were like my children. I lost many of my children."

Four gunmen of the Somali extremist group stormed the university at dawn April 2, separating the Muslims students and killing the non-Muslims.

Before killing the students, some of the gunmen ordered their victims to phone their families and ask them to tell President Uhuru Kenyatta to withdraw Kenyan troops from Somalia.

All four gunmen were killed by a police commando unit, nearly 12 hours after the attack began. The government has been heavily criticized for an uncoordinated and slow response to the attack despite the college being just 500 meters (550 yards) from a military base.

Since then the bullet-scarred walls of the university have been repaired. A dorm where many students were mercilessly shot has been renamed after a river.

Kenyans and media outlets lauded the reopening on Twitter, with one radio station proclaiming: "The pen is mightier than the gun."

Registrar Isaack Mohammed Noor said at least 150 of 200 staff had reported for work. Police wearing camouflage uniforms and carrying automatic weapons patrolled the grounds. A police post with 20 officers has been established at the campus to boost security.

The bloodbath at the university was the worst in the wave of extremist attacks Kenya has experienced since it sent its troops to Somalia in 2011 to fight al-Shabab, al-Qaida's affiliate in East Africa.

Noor told AP that he was living at the school during the attack and has vivid memories of the rampage in which 142 students, many of whom he knew, and six security officers died.

Reopening the university is a victory, said Ali Bashir, a high school teacher who taught Kenyan student Abdirahim Abdullahi, believed to be the leader of the attack.

"The reopening of the university will have youth occupied in pursuing education, and this will prevent terror groups from radicalizing the youth in our region," Bashir said.

Al-Shabab in neighboring Somalia has recruited hundreds of Kenyan youths, who make up the largest contingent of its foreign fighters.

About 60 privately sponsored students who survived the attack are expected to return by Wednesday and teaching should start next week, said Noor. Some 600 student survivors, who were enrolled on government scholarships, were moved to the main campus in the western town of Eldoret and will continue with their education there, Noor said. New students will be admitted in September, he said.

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AP writer Yassin Juma in Garissa, Kenya contributed to this story.

An armed policeman walks past the students' hostel at Garissa University College, in Garissa, Kenya, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, where most of the students were killed on Thursday April 2, 2015, by Al Shabab gunmen. The hostel which was initially called Elgon has since been repainted and re-named Ewaso Ng'iro. Officials say the Kenyan University where gunmen from al-Qaidas East African affiliate massacred 148 people majority of them students ten months ago, has re-opened in a low key event, amid high security. (AP Photo)
Hearing set for US man charged with killing of South Korean

FREDERICK, Maryland (AP)  A judge will get an update on the mental health of a man accused of fatally stabbing a South Korean visitor at a rural religious retreat last summer.

The status hearing for 30-year-old Song Su Kim of Falls Church, Virginia, is set for Monday afternoon.

The court ordered a mental health evaluation in September after Kim entered a plea of not criminally responsible. The examination could determine whether Kim had a mental disorder that made him unable to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or act within the requirements of the law.
Argentine president promises to crack down on drugs

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)  Argentine President Mauricio Macri on Monday vowed to crack down on drug trafficking as federal police led a national manhunt for three escaped prisoners convicted in drug-related killings.

Macri's comments were his first about the Dec. 26 escape that has shocked Argentines  and a sign that the new administration has decided it can longer treat it as a local issue, as top officials initially did in the days after the prison break.

Macri, who assumed office Dec. 10, cast the situation as a sign that drug trafficking had run amok, to the point that drug bosses could pull strings to get people out of jail.

FILE - In this Dec. 14, 2015, file photo, Argentina's President Mauricio Macri speaks during a meeting with the Argentine Industrial Union in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Macri is vowing to crack down on drug trafficking amid a national manhunt for three escaped prisoners convicted in drug-related killings. On Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, Macri accused the previous administration of President Cristina Fernandez of allowing drug trafficking to increase. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano, File)

"We are committed. We will not look away. We are going to take this on with all our strength," Macri said during an event with Maria Eugenia Vidal, the governor of the Buenos Aires province who has come under pressure since the men escaped.

Victor Schialli and brothers Martin and Cristian Lanatta broke out of the General Alvear prison in Buenos Aires province the day after Christmas and have been on the run ever since.

The three were convicted in 2008 of killing three men allegedly connected to an ephedrine trafficking ring. Last week, authorities said the men engaged in a shootout with police who were closing in. One officer was injured and the men got away.

The escape has led to a blame game between officials in the previous and current government and an investigation of prison personnel. It has also put a spotlight on drugs in the South American nation.

Macri, who ran on promises to overhaul the economy and improve government transparency, accused the previous administration of President Cristina Fernandez of allowing drug trafficking to increase.

"We all know that, unfortunately, (drug trafficking) has increased more than ever in our country because of inaction, incompetency or complicity of the previous government," he said.

While there is no reliable data on drug trafficking, the issue is increasingly on the minds of Argentines, many of whom complain of drug violence in their neighborhoods. In December, a local journalist's wife was attacked by assailants who warned him to stop reporting on drugs. And Pope Francis, a native Argentine, last year lamented what he termed the "Mexicanization" of Argentina.

It's unclear if the escapees had help from the outside as an investigation has just begun. However, a lack of facts hasn't stopped speculation.

One person who has come under scrutiny is Anibal Fernandez, the former Cabinet chief under Fernandez who lost the election against Vidal for the Buenos Aires governorship.

In the middle of the campaign last year, one of the three convicts claimed Fernandez was the mastermind of the killings. The claim was made during an interview on the "Journalism for All" program, which is owned by the Grupo Clarin, a media conglomerate that was frequently at odds with the previous government. Fernandez rejected the accusations, which prosecutors declined to pursue.

Since the escape, Fernandez has repeatedly said he had nothing to do with it while blaming the new government.

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Questions and answers about free movement in Europe

BRUSSELS (AP)  Six countries in Europe's document-free travel area now have wide-ranging border checks in place following Denmark's decision on Monday to tighten controls on its southern border with Germany.

Denmark made the move after Sweden imposed ID checks for rail passengers traveling between the two. Others to reintroduce checks to cope with mass flows of migrants are Austria, Germany and Norway, which is not a European Union member. France has them in place due to the attacks in Paris.

Here are some questions and answers about the security measures that have raised doubts about the future of free movement within the 26 nations that make up the Schengen area  named after the Luxembourg town where it was set up in 1985.

Danish police patrol the German-Danish border crossing at Padborg Denmark near Flensburg, northern Germany, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Germany says Europes system of passport-free travel across borders is in danger following the decision by Denmark to step up controls on its southern frontier with Germany. (Ernst van Norde/Polfoto via AP) DENMARK OUT

WHY THE NEED FOR ROUTINE BORDER CHECKS?

The EU estimates that more than 1.5 million people crossed Schengen area borders in an "irregular" way last year. The arrival of hundreds of thousands of people in Greece and Italy totally overwhelmed their border authorities, leaving many free to try to move further north to preferred destinations like Germany and Sweden. As those nations feel the pressure, they have sometimes tightened their southern borders, creating a domino-like effect back down the line.

ARE THEY ALLOWED TO?

Yes; it's inconvenient for travelers but it's not breaking the rules. Europe's refugee emergency is considered to be an exceptional event. Countries fearing for public safety due to unpredictable migrant movements must give notice of their intentions to the European Commission, which supervises the Schengen rulebook. They can introduce checks for up to 30 days at a time for a maximum of six months. If they want to move faster and don't give enough notice, like Denmark, they can initially introduce checks for 10 days then extend that for periods of up to 20 days for two months.

ARE THESE SIX NATIONS RESPECTING THE RULES?

The Commission says the actions by Austria, France, Germany, Norway and Sweden are acceptable, as they are proportionate to the public security threat these countries might face. It is still assessing Denmark's decision and has not indicated when that assessment might be complete.

SO IS EUROPE'S PASSPORT-FREE TRAVEL DREAM DEAD?

EU officials say Schengen rules are working. But it's fair to say the system is not well. The real solution is to have fully functioning security controls on Europe's borders to the outside world. If people can move freely through the EU's external borders and are not registered on arrival in Greece or Italy, then it's a simple matter for them to move on and threaten the whole system. The Commission is expected to unveil in March "targeted" modifications to the rulebook that would tighten the external borders and improve Europe's asylum application rules.

People disembark from a ferry after their arrival from the Greek eastern Aegean islands to the Athens' port of Piraeus, on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Greece's coast guard have been rescued hundreds people since the start of the new year in various incidents on the Aeagan Sea as migrants and refugees keep trying to enter the European Union despite the cold and rough seas. (AP Photo/Thanassis Stavrakis)

Eromo Gesahegn Abebe from Ethiopia, a resident in Norway who could not return as he didn't carry a passport or driving license, is seen at the train station Copenhagen International Airport, the last stop before crossing the Oresund Bridge into Sweden, in Kastrup, Denmark, Monday Jan. 4, 2016. Since it opened in 2000, the Oresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark has been a towering symbol of European integration and hassle-free travel across borders that people didn't even notice were there. On Monday new travel restrictions imposed by Sweden to stem a record flow of migrants are transforming the bridge into a striking example of how national boundaries are re-emerging. (Niels Hougaard/Polfoto via AP)
US treads warily amid Iran-Saudi tensions

WASHINGTON (AP)  Concerned that inflamed tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia may threaten key foreign policy objectives in Iraq and Syria, among other places, the Obama administration toed a careful line Monday in seeking to calm a diplomatic storm that many fear could lead the longtime regional rivals to direct sectarian conflict.

The White House and State Department both appealed to Riyadh and Tehran to show restraint and avoid further exacerbating the rift between Sunni-led Saudi Arabia and Shiite-ruled Iran. However, officials said the administration is loath to insert itself but wants to ensure the viability of the fight against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria, nascent attempts to end Syria's civil war, peace efforts in Yemen and the Iran nuclear deal.

"We don't want to see any progress that has been made or may be made on those issues affected by this, which is why (we) have been in communication with leaders there, to try to get tensions calmed down, to try to get dialogue started or restarted so that we can focus on these other very pressing issues in the region," State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Followers of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr burn an effigy of King Salman of Saudi Arabia as they hold posters of Sheik Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration in Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Demonstrations are also being called for in the predominantly Shiite southern cities of Najaf and Basra, after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent opposition Shiite cleric convicted of terrorism charges, sparking anger in Iran and among Shiites across the region. (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

Secretary of State John Kerry spoke Sunday with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and on Monday with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Kirby said. Kerry also planned a round of calls Monday to the foreign ministers of all the Sunni-led states in the Gulf region, including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman, officials said.

Bahrain followed Saudi Arabia's lead and severed diplomatic ties with Iran, while the UAE downgraded its diplomatic relations with it, after mobs attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran following the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

In addition to Kerry, other senior U.S. diplomats were in close contact with Saudi and Arab officials over the weekend, according to the U.S. officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the delicate diplomacy.

Yet, officials made clear they did not want to mediate the dispute. They stressed it was up to local leaders to act to ease the situation.

"Ultimately, solutions to problems in this region must come from leaders in this region," Kirby told reporters. "So while we continue to make all efforts to facilitate dialogue, the emphasis is on local leadership to work through their differences and find the best path forward through this tension."

Of particular concern, U.S. officials said, are military operations against Islamic State extremists in Iraq that are being conducted by Iraqi security forces, which answer to an Iran-friendly government, and Sunni and Shiite militias. That cooperation has shown gains in recent weeks, notably with the Iraqi recapture of the provincial capital of Ramadi.

Officials were preparing for a high-level U.S. conversation with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to stress the importance of continuing the Iraqi government's outreach to Sunni militias, the officials said.

Also of concern is the state of the Syrian peace effort, which is supposed to swing into high gear in late January with U.N.-sponsored negotiations between Saudi-backed opposition forces and the Iran-supported government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. A U.S. official said Kerry had spoken Sunday with the U.N. special envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, to gauge any impact Saudi-Iranian developments might have on the planned Jan. 25 start of negotiations. There was no immediate indication that those talks would be disrupted, the official said.

At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest urged Saudi Arabia and Iran not to let their dispute derail fragile talks aimed at securing a cease-fire and a political transition to end the war in Syria.

"Hopefully they will continue to engage," Earnest said. "It is so clearly in the interests of both countries to advance a political solution to the situation inside of Syria."

Meanwhile, the United Nations said de Mistura will head to Saudi Arabia and Iran this week to try to ensure the talks go ahead.

U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said de Mistura "hopes that the adverse consequences of the tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran do not affect the peace process with the Syrians."

Saudi Arabia's U.N. ambassador says his country backs efforts to bring peace to Syria and Yemen and its break in diplomatic relations with Iran should have no effect on upcoming talks.

Ambassador Abdallah al-Moualimi told reporters at U.N. headquarters in New York that Saudi Arabia, which supports Syria's opposition, will attend the next round of talks on Syria in Geneva. Iran, which backs the Syrian government of Assad, has not said whether it will attend.

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Associated Press writers Josh Lederman in Washington and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Iraqi Shiite protesters chant slogans against the Saudi government as they hold posters showing Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, who was executed in Saudi Arabia last week, during a demonstration in Najaf, 100 miles (160 kilometers) south of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Demonstrations against the al-Nimr execution and Saudi Arabia are also being called for in the predominantly Shiite southern cities on Monday. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Governor says Mexican mayor's killing a warning by drug gang

MEXICO CITY (AP)  A drug gang killed a newly installed mayor over the weekend as a warning to other officials to reject state police control of local cops and let cartels co-opt low-paid local officers, the governor of Morelos state said Monday.

Gov. Graco Ramirez sent a post on his Twitter account blaming the slaying of Temixco Mayor Gisela Mota on the Rojos gang, which has been fighting a bloody turf battle with the Guerreros Unidos gang across the neighboring state of Guerrero in southern Mexico.

Their rivalry may have played a role in the worst mass disappearance in recent memory, that of 43 students in Guerrero in 2014. Some suspects told investigators that Guerreros Unidos mistook the students for members of the Rojos and used local police under their control to capture them.

Mourners carry the coffin of slain mayor of Temixco, Gisela Mota, to the cemetery in Pueblo Viejo, Mexico, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Mota took office as mayor of the city of on Jan. 1 and was shot at her home on Jan. 2. The governor of the southern Mexican state of Morelos says the killing of the mayor was a warning by drug gangs, meant to convince other officials to reject state police control of local forces. (AP Photo/Tony Rivera)

Without going into details, Ramirez had said at a news conference Sunday that Mota's killing was tied to his efforts to unify state control of police forces in Morelos as a way to combat corruption in local police forces.

Mota had accepted state police control, though she had demanded traffic cops remain under local authority.

"This is a message and clear threat to the mayors who have recently taken office not to accept the coordination plan and police framework that we have been promoting," Ramirez said.

Ramirez said the state police plan has led to a decrease in the wave of kidnappings, extortions and drug gang killings that swept the state in recent years.

Many critics have questioned whether the unified command will be cleaner or more efficient than the local forces and the state government has struggled to persuade mayors to give up control of officers who are a source of influence, protection and often income from bribes.

A local newspaper, La Union de Morelos, cast doubt on Ramirez's motives in an editorial Monday that accused him of opportunistically using Mota's killing "to get around the growing opposition to a model of security whose effectiveness is belied by figures and facts."

The biggest holdout has been the recently installed mayor of the state capital, Cuernavaca, former soccer star Cuauhtemoc Blanco.

Despite Blanco's refusal, Ramirez announced he was imposing state command over Cuernavaca's police, and he suggested dark forces were influencing the pugnacious former athlete, who has never before held public office.

"Behind Cuauhtemoc Blanco there are people who want to take advantage of his lack of experience, to allow crime gangs to enter Cuernavaca," Ramirez tweeted Monday.

The Cuernavaca city government said Monday it would continue to oppose the state plan.

Public Security Commissioner Alberto Capella told The Associated Press that 25 of the state's 33 municipalities are now under unified command, including Cuernavaca. He said Morelos received a petition from officers against Blanco's decision to reject unified command that said, "Don't leave us out there alone."

Ramirez said some mayors in the state had complained that the two gangs had been extorting money from them.

"Some confessed that they had been pressured, some had been kidnapped," Ramirez said. "They (gang members) picked them up and said they wanted three things. They wanted to choose (municipal) police chiefs ... they wanted the public works contracts, and ten percent of the municipal budgets."

Following Mota's killing Saturday, two suspects were killed in a clash with police and three others arrested  a 32-year-old woman, an 18-year-old man and a minor. Officials gave few other details, though state Attorney General Javier Perez Duron said the suspects had been tied to other crimes.

Temixco, with about 100,000 people, is a suburb of Cuernavaca, long a tourist haven famed for its colonial architecture, gardens and streets lined with bougainvilleas and jacarandas.

But the rise of drug and extortion gangs has driven away some tourists and residents.

The expressway  and drug routes  between Mexico City and the country's murder capital of Acapulco passes through Cuernavaca and Temixco.

In this Friday, Jan. 1, 2016 photo, Gisela Mota waves during her swearing in ceremony as mayor of Temixco, Morelos State, Mexico. The Morelos state Public Security Commission says attackers invaded Mota's house on Saturday morning and killed her. (AP Photo/Tony Rivera)

Family members of the slain mayor of Temixco, Gisela Mota, mourn next to her casket, during a ceremony in her honor, at the mayor's office building of Temixco, Mexico, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Mota took office as mayor of the city of on Jan. 1 and was shot at her home on Jan. 2. The governor of the southern Mexican state of Morelos says the killing of the mayor was a warning by drug gangs, meant to convince other officials to reject state police control of local forces. (AP Photo/Tony Rivera)

Mourners carry the coffin of slain mayor of Temixco, Gisela Mota, to the cemetery in Pueblo Viejo, Mexico, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Mota took office as mayor of the city of on Jan. 1 and was shot at her home on Jan. 2. The governor of the southern Mexican state of Morelos says the killing of the mayor was a warning by drug gangs, meant to convince other officials to reject state police control of local forces. (AP Photo/Tony Rivera)
FC Porto chairman among accused in probe of security firm

LISBON, Portugal (AP)  The Portuguese attorney general's office says FC Porto's chairman and one of the club's vice chairmen are among 57 people accused of crimes in an investigation into the activities of a private security company.

It says Jorge Nuno Pinto do Costa, Porto chairman since 1982, and vice chairman Antero Henriques are suspected of hiring the SPDE security company to provide bodyguards even though they knew the company had no license to supply such a service. If found guilty, the pair would likely be fined.
Puerto Rico ex-senator accused of misusing public funds dies

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  A former Puerto Rico senator who was awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to tax evasion and misappropriation of public funds has died.

Police said Monday that 66-year-old Antonio Soto apparently died from a heart attack at his home in the southern coastal town of Arroyo.

Soto had pleaded guilty and agreed to refund the U.S. territory's government $200,000. He was scheduled to be sentenced later this month and could have faced 10 years in prison.
AP EXPLAINS: Why an armed group occupied US land in Oregon

BURNS, Ore. (AP)  An armed group is occupying a building at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon and asking supporters around the country to join them.

They came to contest a judge's order sending two ranchers back to prison for setting fires on federal land, but they ultimately hope to turn over the property to local authorities so people can use it free of U.S. oversight.

Here's an overview of the takeover in remote Oregon:

Buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge are seen near Burns, Ore., Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Protesters are occupying the refuge to object to a prison sentence for local ranchers for burning federal land. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)

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HOW DID THIS SITUATION BEGIN?

Tension has been building for weeks in the eastern Oregon over the case of Dwight and Steven Hammond. Dwight Hammond, 73, and son Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires.

The two were convicted three years ago and served time  the father, three months; the son, one year. But in October, a federal judge in Oregon ruled their terms were too short under U.S. law and ordered them back to prison for about four years each.

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WHO IS LEADING THE PROTESTERS?

The most vocal groups are from outside the area near the tiny town of Burns. Ammon Bundy, the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a standoff with the government over grazing rights, is among those organizing the opposition at the wildlife refuge.

Ammon Bundy and supporters from other states arrived last month in Burns, some 60 miles from the Hammond ranch. Ammon Bundy has criticized the U.S. government for what he called a failed legal process.

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OUTSIDERS NOT WELCOMED BY SOME IN OREGON

Many locals have told the outside groups to stay away, concerned their presence could lead to violence. The Hammonds also have rebuffed the Bundy's support.

"Neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone within his group/organization speak for the Hammond Family," the Hammonds' lawyer, W. Alan Schroeder, wrote to Sheriff David Ward. Dwight Hammond has said he and his son plan to peacefully report to prison Monday as ordered by the judge.

"We gave our word that's what we would do, and we intend to act on it," he told The Associated Press last week.

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WHAT ARE AUTHORITIES DOING?

The FBI said it is the agency in charge, working with local and state authorities to "bring a peaceful resolution to the situation." It said it would not release details about the law enforcement response to ensure the safety of officers and those at the refuge.

But the government's tactic generally is to monitor protesters from afar but leave them be as long as they don't show signs of violence.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward has told people to stay away from the area.

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WHERE IS THE WILDLIFE REFUGE?

The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is about 30 miles south of Burns in in the high desert of eastern Oregon. The area is very remote, about 280 miles southeast of Portland.

Ryan Bundy talks on the phone at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge near Burns, Ore., Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Bundy is one of the protesters occupying the refuge to object to a prison sentence for local ranchers for burning federal land. (AP Photo/Rebecca Boone)
Medicare is changing: What's new for beneficiaries

WASHINGTON (AP)  Whether it's coverage for end-of-life counseling or an experimental payment scheme for common surgeries, Medicare in 2016 is undergoing some of the biggest changes in its 50 years.

Grandma's Medicare usually just paid the bills as they came in. Today, the nation's flagship health-care program is seeking better ways to balance cost, quality and access.

The effort could redefine the doctor-patient relationship, or it could end up a muddle of well-intentioned but unworkable government regulations. The changes have been building slowly, veiled in a fog of acronyms and bureaucratic jargon.

In this photo taken Dec. 22, 2015, Glendon Bassett does a cardio workout at the Family YMCA in Hot Springs, Ark. Bassett, a retired chemical engineer, says he can vouch for the teamwork approach Medicare is promoting. Earlier this year, a primary care team at SAMA Healthcare in El Dorado, Arkansas, prevented what Bassett feared would turn into an extended hospitalization. It started with a swollen leg. (AP Photo/Evan Lewis)

So far, the 2016 change getting the most attention is that Medicare will pay clinicians to counsel patients about options for care at the end of life. The voluntary counseling would have been authorized earlier by President Barack Obama's health care law but for the outcry fanned by former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin, who charged it would lead to "death panels." Hastily dropped from the law, the personalized counseling has been rehabilitated through Medicare rules.

But experts who watch Medicare as the standards-setter for the health system are looking elsewhere in the program. They're paying attention to Medicare's attempts to remake the way medical care is delivered to patients, by fostering teamwork among clinicians, emphasizing timely preventive services and paying close attention to patients' transitions between hospital and home. Primary care doctors, the gatekeepers of health care, are the focus of much of Medicare's effort.

Patrick Conway, Medicare's chief medical officer, says that nearly 8 million beneficiaries  about 20 percent of those in traditional Medicare  are now in "Accountable Care Organizations." ACOs are recently introduced networks of doctors and hospitals that strive to deliver better quality care at lower cost.

"Five years ago there was minimal incentive to coordinate care," said Conway. "Physicians wanted to do well for their patients, but the financial incentives were completely aligned with volume." Under the ACO model, clinical networks get part of their reimbursement for meeting quality or cost targets. The jury's still out on their long-term impact.

Still, a major expansion is planned for 2016, and beneficiaries for the first time will be able to pick an ACO. Currently they can opt out if they don't like it.

"We're all trying to understand where is that threshold when things will flip," said Kavita Patel, a Brookings Institution health policy expert who also practices as a primary care doctor. It could be like the switch from snail mail and interoffice memos to communicating via email, she says, but "I'm not sure we have reached critical mass."

Glendon Bassett, a retired chemical engineer, says he can vouch for the teamwork approach that Medicare is promoting. Earlier this year, a primary care team at SAMA Healthcare in El Dorado, Arkansas, prevented what Bassett feared would turn into an extended hospitalization. It started with a swollen leg.

SAMA is part of Medicare's Comprehensive Primary Care Initiative, an experiment in seven regions of the country that involves nearly 400,000 beneficiaries and a much larger number of patients with other types of insurance. The insurers pay primary care practices a monthly fee for care coordination, and the practices also have the opportunity to share in any savings to Medicare.

The primary-care teams at SAMA consist of a doctor, a nurse practitioner, three nurses, and a care coordinator. The coordinator shepherds patients to avoid gaps in care. The nurses can be an early warning system for the doctor.

Bassett said he had a history of circulatory problems in his legs, but this was different. "It was scary," he said. "Within a week's time it turned from red to dark."

He thought about the emergency room, but he got in right away to see the nurse practitioner working with Dr. Gary Bevill, his longtime physician. The nurse fetched other clinicians to look at Bassett's swollen right leg. He was immediately given antibiotics. And the doctor referred him to a cardiologist for an outpatient procedure that has since improved his circulation.

While the medical treatment may have followed fairly standard protocols, Bassett believes the team approach prevented serious consequences.

"If I hadn't seen the nurse practitioner when I did, I feel like I would have been in the hospital," he said. Bassett has since moved to Hot Springs, in another part of the state, but stays in touch.

Medicare is weighing whether to expand the primary care model. Conway said more data is needed.

Other notable changes coming in 2016:

 Hip and Knee Surgery

Joint replacements are the most common surgical procedure for Medicare beneficiaries. Starting in April, hospitals in 67 metro areas and communities will be responsible for managing the total cost of hip and knee replacements. The experiment covers a 90-day window from the initial doctor's visit, through surgery and rehabilitation. At stake for the hospitals are potential financial rewards and penalties.

Medicare's goal is to improve quality while lowering cost. But hospitals worry about financial consequences and advocates for patients say there's a potential to skimp on care.

"What we are discovering with all this change is that trying to get to value over volume is very difficult to do," said Herb Kuhn, who heads the Missouri Hospital Association.

 Hospice Flexibility

Patients choosing Medicare's hospice benefit at the end of their lives have traditionally had to give up most curative care.

Under Medicare's new Care Choices model, patients with a terminal illness will be able to receive hospice services without giving up treatment. A cancer patient could continue to get chemo, for example.

Seventy hospices will start the experiment Jan. 1, and another 70 will join in two years.

In this photo taken Dec. 22, 2015, Glendon Bassett does a cardio workout at the Family YMCA in Hot Springs, Ark. Bassett, a retired chemical engineer, says he can vouch for the teamwork approach Medicare is promoting. Earlier this year, a primary care team at SAMA Healthcare in El Dorado, Arkansas, prevented what Bassett feared would turn into an extended hospitalization. It started with a swollen leg. (AP Photo/Evan Lewis)

In this photo taken Dec. 22, 2015, Glendon Bassett visits with Tamara Hess-Adams team leader of the fitness center at the Family YMCA in Hot Springs, Ark. Bassett, a retired chemical engineer, says he can vouch for the teamwork approach Medicare is promoting. Earlier this year, a primary care team at SAMA Healthcare in El Dorado, Arkansas, prevented what Bassett feared would turn into an extended hospitalization. It started with a swollen leg. (AP Photo/Evan Lewis)
Workers return to San Bernardino offices following massacre

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (AP)  Behind a chain-link fence and under heavy security, workers on Monday returned to their offices at the San Bernardino campus where 14 people died last month in a massacre.

Inland Regional Center employees flashed their identification badges to security guards who ushered them into a parking lot surrounded by a mesh-wrapped fence as dozens of news reporters stood outside.

Since the attack, few employees of the center that serves autistic children and mentally disabled adults have gone to the office, other than for brief visits to gather personal belongings.

A photographer, foreground left, takes pictures of unidentified staff members as they hug before returning to work at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, where an attack killed 14 people on the centers campus on Dec. 2. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Melvin Anderson, who helps transport the center's clients, was trying to figure out where he could turn in paperwork to get paid. The last time he did that  as he does each month  was the day before the Dec. 2 terror attack at a holiday luncheon for county employees. The gathering was held in a building on the gleaming campus.

"It's scary, really scary, but we as Americans just have to face what's going on and try to move on," Anderson said. "We've got to pull ourselves together, and we've got to go on."

Many of the center's roughly 600 employees have continued to work and visited their clients' homes over the past month. But they hadn't been together in the place where everything froze since law enforcement officers whisked them away after the gunfire.

Amid the investigation and cleanup, the campus has been locked behind the temporary fence. Within that perimeter, in one corner, is a second fence. It seals the conference center that San Bernardino County's health department was renting for the holiday luncheon when the two shooters began their assault.

A county restaurant inspector targeting his co-workers was joined by his wife in killing 14 and injuring dozens in the attack. They were motivated by radical Islamist beliefs, according to the FBI.

The conference building did not reopen Monday, and it's unclear when it might.

In the afternoon, more than 3,000 people attended a memorial service for victims of the shooting organized so county employees could mourn together.

Those gathered at the arena in Ontario heard consolation and inspiration from speakers that included former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani and evangelical pastor Rick Warren.

Both pulled from their own experiences dealing with loss  Warren's following the death of his son and Giuliani from his time at the helm of the city during the Sept 11, 2001 terror attacks  and urged the audience to make something good come from this tragedy.

Touting the development of lower Manhattan since the attacks that brought down the World Trade Center, Giuliani said he hopes that San Bernardino will also emerge strong.

"Come to San Bernardino now and spend money and tell the terrorists 'screw you,'" Giuliani told the crowd to boisterous applause. "You can't beat us. We are stronger than you are. Those people didn't die for nothing. They died because of liberty and freedom and decency and human rights."

Warren urged the employees not to bottle up their grief or become bitter and to accept help from others when they need it.

"Grief is a tool that God has given to us. It is the way we get through the transitions of life," Warren said. "It is not grief that paralyzes us  it's fear."

At the center, staff members have missed each other's friendly faces and hallway chit chat, said Lavinia Johnson, the executive director. They yearn to renew a sense of stability at an institution unmoored by violence.

"Most of us are relieved to be back at work. We want to continue with the normalcy, and we miss each other very much," she told reporters. "We want to ensure that our staff feels safe and secure as they work in their offices."

A welcome and food were planned for returning employees. Professional counselors were being made available for workers who wanted them.

"It may take a day or two for most people," said Kevin Urtz, the center's associate director. "There's no blueprint for this kind of thing, and everybody is going to react to it differently."

Both Johnson and Urtz have worked for more than 25 years at the center, which with nearly 31,000 disabled clients in the working-class sprawl east of Los Angeles is the largest of 21 in California. It is a vital community resource in a place where about one-third of households live below the poverty line.

As the workers drove into the parking lot, 41-year-old client Ron Pollakoff held a sign farther down the road showing his support for a place he said has helped him with housing and other services.

He said he knew one of the victims, and was relieved to learn the worker who handles his case was alright.

"I'm still shocked over all of this," he said. "I'm just glad that so many came out of this unscathed."

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Contact Amy Taxin at http://twitter.com/ataxin or Justin Pritchard at http://twitter.com/lalanewsman

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Associated Press writers Justin Pritchard and Christopher Weber in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

Ron Pollakoff stands with a sign of encouragement outside the Inland Regional Center, (IRC) as workers return to work at center in San Bernardino, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, where an attack killed 14 people on Dec. 2. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Unidentified staff members hold hands in pray before returning to work at the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, where an attack killed 14 people on the centers campus on Dec. 2. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Law enforcement officers guard the Inland Regional Center in San Bernardino, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, as workers return to the center, where an attack killed 14 people on the centers campus on Dec. 2. A chain-link fence was unlocked Monday morning as some of the Inland Regional Center's 600 employees went back to work. Few of them have gone to the office since the killings, other than a brief visit to gather personal belongings. No visitors are allowed. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Inland Regional Center executive director, Lavinia Johnson, right, and associate executive director, Kevin Urtz, left, take questions from the media before the reopening of the social service center in the San Bernardino, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Some 600 workers returned to the San Bernardino social service center for the first time since 14 people were killed on Dec. 2, in a terror attack. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

A chain-link fence is in place as workers return to work at the Inland Regional Center for the first time since a Dec. 2 attack killed 14 people,in San Bernardino, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

Guards check for IDs as workers return to work at the Inland Regional Center for the first time in San Bernardino, Calif., on Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, where an attack killed 14 people on Dec. 2. Security guards checked employee IDs at the entrance to the center's parking lot. No visitors were planned this week, and a chain-link fence wrapped in green mesh surrounding the property will remain up indefinitely. (AP Photo/Nick Ut)

In this Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015, photo, the Inland Regional Center's associate executive director, Kevin Urtz, left, listens to the center's executive director Lavinia Johnson during an interview with The Associated Press on the campus of the regional center where the attack on Dec. 2 took place in San Bernardino, Calif. The staff was still gearing up for the holidays on Dec. 2, the day 14 people were massacred on the centers gleaming campus. On Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, they'll return to two of the three buildings not damaged in the rampage. (AP Photo/ Nick Ut)
Bill Clinton kicks off tour for wife's presidential campaign

NASHUA, N.H. (AP)  Former President Bill Clinton made his debut solo appearance on behalf of his wife's 2016 presidential campaign in New Hampshire Monday  a lot grayer, a bit trimmer and far more subdued than nearly a quarter-century ago, when he rescued his flagging 1992 campaign in this key early voting state.

While Bill Clinton was keen to keep the focus on Hillary Clinton's key campaign platforms, the passing time hasn't shielded him from the ghosts that haunted his own presidency. Republican front-runner Donald Trump has gone on the offensive in recent days with attacks over his impeachment and decades-old sex scandal.

Both Clintons aimed for higher ground, even on policy. Asked in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, about Trump's remark that Hillary Clinton helped create the Islamic State group, she replied: "I've adopted a New Year's resolution. I'm going to let him live in his alternative reality and I'm not going to respond."

Former President Bill Clinton waves to a cheering crowd as he arrives during a campaign stop for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, in Nashua, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

In Manchester, N.H., meanwhile, Bill Clinton mingled with a lunchtime crowd at a popular eatery while a news station playing above his head ran captioned video questioning whether he could avoid Trump's flagrant attacks  and that's just what he did.

"They have to choose a nominee and we have a primary to win," he said when asked about Trump and the broader Republican field. "One of my many rules in politics is don't look past the next election."

In a wide-ranging address that took voters through Hillary Clinton's work as a young lawyer in Arkansas, ways to combat heroin addiction, the political achievements of President Barack Obama and the failings of America's fourteenth president, Franklin Pierce, Bill Clinton argued that the Democratic front-runner offers the best plan to restore "broadly shared prosperity."

The two-term president seemed in his element making small talk and posing for dozens of photos.

"He practically sat in my lap," said Denise McMann, who was having lunch with her three sisters. "I'm not supporting his wife. But he was the former president, so it's exciting."

The event marked the former president's debut solo appearance for his wife, part of a broader strategy to boost her campaign in the run-up to early voting next month. Clinton's campaign later announced that the ex-president would make campaign stops in Iowa on Thursday.

"I do not believe in my lifetime anybody has run for this job at a moment of great importance who was better qualified by knowledge, experience and temperament to do what needs to be done now," he told several hundred New Hampshire voters gathered in a college auditorium.

Trump was on the offensive ahead of Bill Clinton's campaign debut, raising concern over the former president's scandals and the role his wife played.

"I don't really care about Monica Lewinsky other than I think that Hillary was an enabler and a lot of things happened that were obviously very seedy," Trump said in an interview with CNN Monday. "I mean, he was impeached, for heaven's sake. He was impeached over this stuff."

In 1998, the House voted to impeach, or formally accuse, then-President Clinton of perjury and obstruction. In February 1999, the Senate acquitted him.

Trump steered clear of attacking the former president at a rally in Lowell, Massachusetts, Monday evening, although he did mock Hillary Clinton for using "the biggest teleprompters I've ever seen."

So far, Bill Clinton has remained silent on Trump's slams  following the lead of his wife's campaign, which believes its candidate comes across as more presidential by rising above what they see as the Republican's crass political tactics.

The former president spoke calmly and quietly in New Hampshire, methodically describing the issues he sees as motivating voters in the next election. Clinton warned voters that the next president could appoint as many as three Supreme Court justices and reverse the health care law and environmental programs of the Obama administration.

Hillary Clinton, her husband said, offers the best path to economic prosperity, dealing with social problems like heroin addiction and promising a foreign policy that doesn't undermine the American character.

Still, some of Trump's attacks seem to have struck a nerve.

At a campaign event in New Hampshire on Sunday, Katherine Prudhomme O'Brien heckled Clinton about her husband's sexual history, accusing her of enabling him to mistreat women.

"You are very rude and I'm not going to ever call on you," Clinton snapped at O'Brien, after repeated shouted interruptions by the New Hampshire state representative.

The Clintons' schedules Monday showed the degree to which the ubiquitous political couple will be able to blanket the early primary states in the next two months as Democrats hold contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

While the former president was drumming up support for his wife in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton was starting a two-day "river-to-river" tour of Iowa, holding town hall meetings and organizing events across the state.

Bill Clinton's longstanding ability to raise money will also be an asset in the weeks ahead, with fundraisers on the calendar in New York, Seattle, Phoenix, Albuquerque, N.M., Cleveland and Fairfield, Conn. The couple's daughter, Chelsea Clinton, is also getting into the act, headlining fundraisers of her own in Boston, Atlanta and Chicago next week.

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AP writers Ken Thomas and Catherine Lucey contributed from Iowa.

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Follow Lisa Lerer, Ken Thomas and Catherine Lucey on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/llerer, http://twitter.com/KenThomasDC and http://twitter.com/Catherine_Lucey
California braces for series of El Nino storms

SAN FRANCISCO (AP)  After all the talk, El Nino storms have finally lined up over the Pacific and started soaking drought-parched California with rain expected to last for most of the next two weeks, forecasters said Monday.

As much as 15 inches of rain could fall in the next 16 days in Northern California, with about 2 feet of snow expected in the highest points of the Sierra Nevada, said Johnny Powell, a forecaster with the National Weather Service.

To the south, persistent wet conditions could put some Los Angeles County communities at risk of flash-flooding along with mud and debris flows, especially in wildfire burn areas.

Hikers walk along a path at the Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area near downtown Los Angeles on Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Southern California is bracing for a series of storms expected to begin late Sunday that could last all week. (AP Photo/Richard Vogel)

The brewing El Nino system  a warming in the Pacific Ocean that alters weather worldwide  is expected to impact California and the rest of the nation in the coming weeks and months.

Its effects on California's four-year drought are difficult to predict, but Jet Propulsion Laboratory climatologist Bill Patzert said it should bring some relief.

El Ninos in the early 1980s and late 1990s brought about twice as much rain as normal, he said. The weather also caused mudslides, flooding and high surf.

In recent weeks, a weather pattern partly linked with El Nino has turned winter upside-down across the nation, bringing spring-like warmth to the Northeast, a risk of tornadoes in the South, and so much snow across the West that even ski slopes have been overwhelmed.

Big parts of the country are basking in above-average temperatures, especially east of the Mississippi River and across the Northern Plains.

The record drought in California has forced Gov. Jerry Brown to order cities to conserve water by 25 percent compared to the same period in 2013.

While forecasters say a strong El Nino weather system could drench the state, one good, wet winter won't be enough to rehydrate parched land.

In Los Angeles County foothills beneath wildfire burn areas, residents braced Monday for possible flash flooding and debris flows. Workers in Azusa cleared storm drains and handed out sandbags, while in nearby Glendora, police announced restricted parking measures for steep roadways under barren hillsides.

Residents were urged to monitor weather reports and consider stockpiling sand bags.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti warned people to clear gutters and anything in their yard that might clog storm drains; assemble an emergency kit; and stockpile sandbags if their home is susceptible to flooding.

An effort also was under way to provide shelter for homeless people.

"We want as little damage and destruction and as little death as possible," Garcetti said.

Between 2 and 3.5 inches of rain is predicted to fall across the coastal and valley areas of Southern California through Friday, with up to 5 inches falling in the mountains.

The first wave of rain started in Northern California with light showers Sunday and was expected to pick up strength and cover a large area of the region, the weather service said.

"This series of storms are definitely associated with the El Nino phenomenon in that the jet stream has taken a fairly significant southward trajectory in the Pacific on its return flow back into the California coastline," said Bob Benjamin, a forecaster with the weather service.

Forecasters say a second, stronger storm is expected to arrive in Northern California late Monday. At least two more storms are expected to follow on Wednesday and Thursday, possibly bringing as much as 3 inches of rain.

"Friday looks like a dry, clear day but more rain is expected Saturday," Powell said.

In Arizona, El Nino conditions will help push a parade of Pacific Ocean storms inland with light to moderate snow falling in the high country and rain in lower elevations, forecasters said Monday.

The National Weather Service says a series of weather systems will drop snow in the high country and rain in lower elevations as the week progresses.

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Lawyer: Gas well missing valve that could have stopped fumes

LOS ANGELES (AP)  A leaking natural gas well that has displaced thousands of people from a Los Angeles neighborhood lacks a working safety valve that could stop the release of fumes, a lawyer representing residents said.

The valve might not have prevented the months-long leak, but it could have stopped the flow of fumes into the community of Porter Ranch, said attorney Brian Panish, who represents residents suing over the months-long leak.

"There would have been a small runoff of some gas and it would have been over," Panish told the Los Angeles Times about how the valve would work. "All these people wouldn't have had to leave and they wouldn't be sick."

FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2015 file photo, crews work on a relief well at the Aliso Canyon facility above the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles. The escape of tons of natural gas from under a Los Angeles neighborhood is taking months to stop because of pressure from the leak. The leak at Porter Ranch started in October, and likely wont be fixed for at least two more months. Officials have relocated several thousand residents who said the stench made them sick. (Dean Musgrove/Los Angeles Daily News via AP, Pool, File)

Southern California Gas Co. confirmed that its well at the Aliso Canyon Underground Storage Facility did not have the deep subsurface valve, the Times reported Monday (http://lat.ms/1PaldxB). (http://lat.ms/1PaldxB ).

Such a valve is not required by law, company spokeswoman Melissa Bailey told the newspaper via email.

"Until the facts are determined and this assessment is completed, it is premature to comment further on the well or the cause of the incident," Bailey said. "In the interim, SoCal Gas will continue to focus its efforts on stopping the leak as soon as possible."

Attorneys for residents said the company failed to replace a deep subsurface valve that was removed in 1979.

The leak has forced the relocation of residents who said the stench made them sick. Workers have been unable to plug the leak and instead have undertaken the painstaking task of drilling two relief wells.

Officials with SoCal Gas estimate the new wells may not be finished until the end of February or later.

An amended lawsuit filed against SoCal Gas on Dec. 29 cited failure by the company to follow laws protecting the community and the removal of the safety valve, which would have been at the base of the well about 8,500 feet below the surface.

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Information from: Los Angeles Times, http://www.latimes.com/
Georgia rescinds order stopping Syrian refugee resettlement

ATLANTA (AP)  Georgia's governor has withdrawn an executive order trying to stop resettlement of Syrian refugees after the state's attorney general ruled he didn't have that authority.

Gov. Nathan Deal rescinded the order Monday, five days after Attorney General Sam Olens issued an official opinion that the state could not exclude Syrian refugees from coming to Georgia or deny them federally funded benefits.

Deal's initial order in November directed state agencies to "halt any involvement" in the acceptance of Syrian refugees until federal authorities change the process for vetting them. At the time, he cited a terrorist attack three days earlier in Paris. Other governors issued similar directions.
2 Clintons and plenty of Republicans in motion

BOONE, Iowa (AP)  The sprint to the Iowa caucuses opened Monday with nearly a dozen presidential candidates in motion, a rather restrained Bill Clinton stepping up for his wife and a pledge by the only billionaire in the race to start spending serious money.

From Iowa to New Hampshire  on the air, on the bus and on the stump  candidates vying to become America's next president roared out of the holidays in full force with less than a month to go before voting begins.

The coming weeks are especially crucial for Republicans as voters look to weed through the thicket of choices to determine who will represent and attempt to reunite a bickering party. This, as contentious issues over terrorism, security, civil liberties and gun ownership reverberate, giving candidates plenty to argue about.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speaks at King's Christian Bookstore in Boone, Iowa, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump have been the consistent favorites in polls overall. But they have very different strengths.

Clinton also has an impressive organization behind her while Trump's ability to pull off a winning ground game is in question and his frugal spending to date has stood in stark contrast to his vast personal wealth. He says he's opening the money spigot now.

Early voting is often deemed critical in races, like this one, when the path to a nomination is so unclear. As mystery shrouds the Republican race, the Democratic one hangs on whether Bernie Sanders, an independent socialist senator from Vermont, can turn his months of large, passionate rallies into enough votes to upset the former first lady.

In Iowa, the first of the early voting states, Republican contender Ted Cruz launched a bus tour through the state where his campaign feels he is well-positioned to win.

Cruz called on Iowa voters to bring nine of their friends and family members with them to vote for him in the Feb. 1 caucuses. Cruz made the plea Monday in the first of 28 planned stops in Iowa over the next six days.

"Now is the time that the men and women of Iowa step up and make your decision," Cruz said during his stop in Boone, Iowa.

Clinton also kicked off a two-day swing in Iowa, where she was scheduled to attend several organizing events in preparation for the caucuses.

In New Hampshire, former President Bill Clinton launched his own tour on behalf of his wife, talking both about Hillary Clinton's campaign promises and his own experience in the White House. What the scrappy political veteran did not talk about was Trump, who's baited him in recent days by bringing up his impeachment and decades-old sex scandal.

As Clinton mingled with a lunchtime crowd at a popular Manchester restaurant, news station above his head ran captioned video questioning whether he could avoid Trump's flagrant attacks. He did just that, focusing on the race at hand.

"They have to choose a nominee and we have a primary to win," he said when asked about Trump and the broader Republican field. "One of my many rules in politics is don't look past the next election."

The event marked the former president's debut solo appearance for his wife's campaign.

Sanders also campaigned Monday in New Hampshire, which votes Feb. 9.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton suffered a stringing defeat in Iowa, rebounded with a win in New Hampshire and waged a grinding campaign across the country before Barack Obama claimed victory in the nomination race on his way to the presidency.

Trump debuted his first television ad in both Iowa and New Hampshire, featuring dark images of the San Bernardino, California, shooters, body bags, and people apparently streaming freely across a border.

But the images of border security were of Morocco, not the U.S.

The Trump campaign insisted in a statement: "The use of this footage was intentional and selected to demonstrate the severe impact of an open border and the very real threat Americans face if we do not immediately build a wall and stop illegal immigration."

The ad reinforced remarks he made last month proposing a temporary ban on Muslims looking to enter the United States, which sparked outrage from Republican and Democratic rivals alike. The comments threatened the party's drive to attract minorities, an effort already complicated by Trump's negativity toward Mexican immigrants.

Trump says he plans to spend at least $2 million per week on television ads in Iowa and New Hampshire overall.

He was heading to Massachusetts late Monday before catching up to many of the other candidates flooding into New Hampshire this week.

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's presidential campaign kicked off the new year by hiring several new people in New Hampshire, where his campaign is banking on a strong finish to propel his campaign forward.

Devon Manchester will serve as deputy political director in the state, campaign spokeswoman Samantha Smith said Monday.

The addition will boost Christie's paid staff in the state from four to six with just over a month to go before the primary.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, by contrast, currently has 20 full-time paid staffers in the state and plans to grow that number at least to 40 in coming weeks.

And Marco Rubio criticized his Republican rivals in a New Hampshire speech focused on national security. The Florida senator declined to call them out by name but said some would weaken the nation's military and intelligence programs designed to prevent terrorism.

"They talk tough," Rubio said in prepared remarks, "yet they would strip us of the ability to keep our people safe."

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Salama reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Newark, New Jersey; Lisa Lerer in Nashua, New Hampshire; Kathleen Ronayne in Salem, New Hampshire; and Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas arrives to speak at King's Christian Bookstore in Boone, Iowa, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a campaign stop for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, in Nashua, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Former President Bill Clinton waves to a cheering crowd as he arrives during a campaign stop for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, in Nashua, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

In this photo taken Dec. 29, 2015, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Despite a year of campaigning, 10 televised debates and millions of dollars in advertising, most people in even the earliest voting presidential voting states are just now beginning to focus on their choices in the 2016 campaign. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Haiti panel says vote irregularities due to incompetence

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP)  A commission that evaluated Haiti's contested presidential election said Monday that most of the irregularities it found in first-round voting were the result of widespread ineptitude by poll workers and not political mischief.

Commission member Rosny Desroches said only 8 percent of the tally sheets and other documents they examined from the Oct. 25 vote were free of any irregularities. But the commission said that was not a sign of rampant vote-rigging as the opposition asserts.

"Many of the irregularities that we have seen are due to lack of preparation, negligence, lack of competence, lack of professionalism," Desroches told The Associated Press following a news conference about the commission's findings.

FILE - In this Nov. 11, 2015 file photo, protesters step on a campaign poster promoting presidential candidate Jovenel Moise, during a demonstration against official preliminary election results, in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. The special election commission confirmed on Sunday, Jan. 3 2016, that irregularities where committed during the first round presidential elections and made recommendations to guarantee the transparency of the next electoral round that will take place on Jan. 17. (AP Photo/Dieu Nalio Chery, File)

According to Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council, government-backed candidate Jovenel Moise received nearly 33 percent of the votes cast Oct. 25 in a field of 54 contenders seeking the presidency. Official results say the agricultural entrepreneur, a political newcomer hand-picked by outgoing President Michel Martelly, had 117,602 more votes than second-place finisher Jude Celestin, a former state construction chief who was eliminated from a runoff during the last election cycle after a review pushed by the international community.

Celestin has rejected the results as a "ridiculous farce" amid the many fraud accusations that helped lead to the postponement of presidential and legislative runoffs initially scheduled for Dec. 27.

After days of evaluation, Desroches said commission members didn't find evidence of widespread fraud favoring Moise or any candidate.

"Unless we have people who are really qualified (at the polls) we cannot say that there was massive fraud. The question of qualification is crucial," he said.

It remains unclear if there will be a political compromise to ease Haiti's electoral tensions and ensure the runoff is held in coming days. Martelly was prohibited from running for a consecutive term and is constitutionally due to leave office Feb. 7.

Celestin didn't comment on the panel's findings. His campaign manager did not answer calls seeking clarification on whether the second-place candidate would now participate in the runoff campaign. Celestin has not campaigned since preliminary results made him one of two top candidates.

Celestin and an opposition alliance of seven other candidates had sought an independent recount of the October vote. But Desroches said a full recount of the roughly 1.5 million ballots was impossible because of the panel's time constraints and it would likely postpone the runoff for months. One of the five commissioners did not sign the final report because he had pushed for a recount.

Last week, Martelly announced that Haiti's Provisional Electoral Council has warned that the runoff must be held by Jan. 17 to fulfill the constitutional mandate of inaugurating a new president Feb. 7

Desroches said he believes the runoff can take place Jan. 17 if the will exists to swiftly make improvements to the electoral system. He said the panel's various recommendations could be implemented within 72 hours.

The commission is recommending political dialogue, training for poll workers, and probes of electoral council staffers accused of taking bribes to ensure legislative candidates reached the runoff.

If these changes are made and Celestin still does not participate in the runoff, Haiti will be in a "very complicated situation," Desroches said.

The United Nations, the U.S. government and representatives of other nations that make up the Core Group that monitors the country said they recognized the efforts to enhance the "credibility and transparency of the electoral process and to ensure a level playing field."

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Puerto Rico to hear 1st DNA case from convicted criminal

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP)  Supporters of a Puerto Rico man challenging his murder conviction are the first to take advantage of a new law in the U.S. territory that allows convicted criminals to request DNA analyses on certain types of evidence.

The Interamerican University's Innocence Project filed the request on Monday on behalf of Nelson Ortiz Alvarez, who has served 20 years in prison for killing a woman in 1995.

University law school dean Julio Fontanet says in a statement that DNA evidence was not properly analyzed in the Alvarez case and the only evidence against Ortiz was a witness who placed him at the scene and who later retracted his testimony, saying that he lied.
The Latest: Sheriff says ranchers have turned themselves in

BURNS, Ore. (AP)  The latest on armed people who have taken over a federal building at an Oregon wildlife refuge (all times local):

3:30 p.m.

An Oregon sheriff says the father-and-son ranchers convicted of setting fire to federal grazing land have reported to prison.

Ammon Bundy, center, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, speaks with reporters during a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights, told reporters on Monday that two local ranchers who face long prison sentences for setting fire to land have been treated unfairly. The armed anti-government group took over the remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon as part of a decades-long fight over public lands in the West. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Harney County Sheriff David Ward said Monday that Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven Hammond, turned themselves in at 1:37 p.m. and were at a federal correctional facility in California. He provided no other details.

The Hammonds were convicted three years ago of starting fires that burned federal land in 2001 and 2006. The men served their original sentences  three months for Dwight and one year for Steven. But an appeals court judge ruled the terms fell short of minimum sentences that require them to serve about four more years.

An armed group is occupying a remote Oregon wildlife preserve, saying the Hammonds were treated unfairly. Ward urged the group to disperse peacefully.

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11:55 a.m.

A spokesman for the armed group occupying a national wildlife refuge in Oregon says it wants authorities to look into claims that local ranchers have been intimidated by the federal government.

Ammon Bundy  one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights  told reporters on Monday that two local ranchers who face long prison sentences for setting fire to land have been treated unfairly.

Bundy spoke at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns, Oregon. He says the group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. They want a response within five days. Bundy didn't say what the group would do if they didn't get a response.

Reporters have seen roughly 20 people at the remote national facility.

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11:50 a.m.

The White House says President Barack Obama is aware that an armed anti-government group has taken over a remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon and hopes it can be resolved peacefully.

White House press secretary Josh Earnest said at a Monday briefing that the administration's concern is for the safety of federal employees at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge but that none of them is in danger.

He says the FBI is monitoring the situation and offering support to local law enforcement.

The armed group came to the frozen high desert of eastern Oregon to contest the prison sentences of two ranchers who set fire to federal land, but their ultimate goal is to turn over the property to local authorities so people can use it free of U.S. oversight.

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11:45 a.m.

An attorney for two Oregon ranchers whose impending prison sentences led an armed group to take over a national wildlife refuge says they will seek clemency from the president.

Kendra M. Matthews, a lawyer for Dwight and Steven Hammond, said Monday that the father and son will ask President Barack Obama to pardon them. They were convicted of arson for setting fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 and served some prison time.

A judge said in October that their terms were too short and ordered them back to prison. Matthews reiterated that the Hammonds intend to surrender Monday to begin serving their terms.

Their sentences have been a rallying cry for the group who say they ultimately want to turn over the refuge land to local authorities so people can use it free of U.S. oversight.

A members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, walks to one of it's buldings Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

LaVoy Finicum, a rancher from Arizona, receives a hug from a member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, talks on his phone near the front gate Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Protesters watch from a watch tower at the National Wildlife headquarters in Burns on Sunday, Jan 3, 2016. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. The decision to send the man back to prison generated controversy and is part of a decades-long dispute between some Westerners and the federal government over the use of public lands. (Mark Graves/The Oregonian via AP)

A small group of militia in Burns, Or., who were there to support a local ranching family, took over the federal office of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Saturday, Jan. 3, 2016, in a development that stunned the community. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (Mark Graves/The Oregonian via AP)

Brand Thorton, 63, of California, blows into an African spiral horn Sunday, Jan. 4, 2016, at the Malheur National Wildlife headquarters in Burns, Ore., after armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (Mark Graves/The Oregonian via AP)
Obama moves to require background checks for more gun sales

WASHINGTON (AP)  President Barack Obama moved Monday to expand background checks to cover more firearms sold at gun shows, online and anywhere else, aiming to curb a scourge of gun violence despite unyielding opposition to new laws in Congress.

Obama's plan to broaden background checks forms the centerpiece of a broader package of gun control measures the president plans to take on his own in his final year in office. Although Obama can't unilaterally change gun laws, the president is hoping that beefing up enforcement of existing laws can prevent at least some gun deaths in a country rife with them.

"This is not going to solve every violent crime in this country," Obama said. Still, he added, "It will potentially save lives and spare families the pain of these extraordinary losses."

President Barack Obama speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, during a meeting with law enforcement officials to discuss executive actions the president can take to curb gun violence. The president is slated to finalize a set of new executive actions tightening U.S. gun laws, kicking off his last year in office with a clear signal that he intends to prioritize one of the country's most intractable issues. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Under current law, only federally licensed gun dealers must conduct background checks on buyers, but many who sell guns at flea markets, on websites or in other informal settings don't register as dealers. Gun control advocates say that loophole is exploited to skirt the background check requirement.

Now, the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will issue updated guidance that says the government should deem anyone "in the business" of selling guns to be a dealer, regardless of where he or she sells the guns. To that end, the government will consider other factors, including how many guns a person sells and how frequently, and whether those guns are sold for a profit.

The executive actions on gun control fall far short of what Obama and likeminded lawmakers attempted to accomplish with legislation in 2013, after a massacre at a Connecticut elementary school that shook the nation's conscience. Even still, the more modest measures were sure to spark legal challenges from those who oppose any new impediments to buying guns.

"We're very comfortable that the president can legally take these actions," said Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Obama's announcement was hailed by Democratic lawmakers and gun control groups like the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which claimed Obama was making history with "bold and meaningful action" that would make all Americans safer. Hillary Clinton, at a rally in Iowa, said she was "so proud" of Obama but warned that the next president could easily undo his changes.

"I won't wipe it away," Clinton said.

But Republicans were quick to accuse Obama of gross overreach. Sen Bob Corker, R-Tenn., denounced Obama's steps as "divisive and detrimental to real solutions."

"I will work with my colleagues to respond appropriately to ensure the Constitution is respected," Corker said.

Far from mandating background checks for all gun sales, the new guidance still exempts collectors and gun hobbyists, and the exact definition of who must register as a dealer and conduct background checks remains exceedingly vague. The administration did not issue a number for how many guns someone must sell to be considered a dealer, instead saying it planned to remind people that courts have deemed people to be dealers in some cases even if they only sell a handful of guns.

And the background check provision rests in the murky realm of agency guidelines, which have less force than full-fledged federal regulations and can easily be rescinded. Many of the Republican presidential candidates running to succeed Obama have vowed to rip up his new gun restrictions upon taking office.

In an attempt to prevent gun purchases from falling through the cracks, the FBI will hire 230 more examiners to process background checks, the White House said, an increase of about 50 percent. Many of the roughly 63,000 background check requests each day are processed within seconds. But if the system kicks back a request for further review, the government only has three days before federal law says the buyer can return and buy the gun without being cleared.

That weak spot in the system came under scrutiny last summer when the FBI revealed that Dylann Roof, the accused gunman in the Charleston, S.C., church massacre, was improperly allowed to buy a gun because incomplete record-keeping and miscommunication among authorities delayed processing of his background check beyond the three-day limit.

The White House also said it planned to ask Congress for $500 million to improve mental health care, and Obama issued a memorandum directing federal agencies to conduct or sponsor research into smart gun technology that reduces the risk of accidental gun discharges. The Obama administration also plans to complete a rule, already in the works, to close another loophole that allows trusts or corporations to purchase sawed-off shotguns, machine guns and similar weapons without background checks.

Obama planned to announce the new measures at an event at the White House on Tuesday as he continued a weeklong push to promote the gun effort and push back on its critics.

He met at the White House on Monday with Democratic lawmakers who have supported stricter gun control, and planned to take his argument to prime time Thursday with a televised town hall discussion. The initiative also promised to be prominent in Obama's final State of the Union address next week.

Whether the new steps will effectively prevent future gun deaths remained unclear. Philip Cook, a Duke University professor who researches gun violence and policy, said surveys of prisoners don't show gun shows to be a major direct source of weapons used in violent crime. The attorney general, asked how many dealers would be newly forced to register, declined to give a number.

"It's just impossible to predict," Lynch said.

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Associated Press writers Eric Tucker, Alicia A. Caldwell and Stacy A. Anderson in Washington and Ken Thomas in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed to this report.

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Reach Josh Lederman on Twitter at http://twitter.com/joshledermanAP. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/author/josh-lederman

Mike Howse, left, helps David Foley as he shops for a handgun at the Spring Guns and Ammo store Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, in Spring, Texas. President Barack Obama defended his plans to tighten the nation's gun-control restrictions on his own, insisting Monday that the steps he'll announce fall within his legal authority and uphold the constitutional right to own a gun. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

Kayla Brown, left, wears her gun on her hip while working at the Spring Guns and Ammo store Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, in Spring, Texas. President Barack Obama defended his plans to tighten the nation's gun-control restrictions on his own, insisting Monday that the steps he'll announce fall within his legal authority and uphold the constitutional right to own a gun. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)

President Barack Obama meets with top law enforcement officials in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, to discuss executive actions the president can take to curb gun violence. The president is slated to finalize a set of new executive actions tightening U.S. gun laws, kicking off his last year in office with a clear signal that he intends to prioritize one of the country's most intractable issues. From left are: Counsel to the President Neil Eggleston, acting ATF Director Thomas Brandon, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey, White House Senior Adviser Valerie Jarrett, and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Attorney General Loretta Lynch listens as President Barack Obama speaks in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, during a meeting with law enforcement officials to discuss executive actions the president can take to curb gun violence. The president is slated to finalize a set of new executive actions tightening U.S. gun laws, kicking off his last year in office with a clear signal that he intends to prioritize one of the country's most intractable issues. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
AP Analysis: With execution, Saudis ignite regional tensions

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)  By executing a senior Shiite cleric, Saudi Arabia effectively lit a match to set off regional sectarian tensions and its rivalry with Iran, threatening to derail already-shaky peace efforts over the wars in Syria and Yemen.

It also is part of a more aggressive stance by the kingdom in the past year, which included launching an air campaign against Shiite rebels in Yemen and increased aid to rebels in Syria.

The policy in part reflects a greater willingness for risk-taking to counter Iranian influence in the Arab world, especially with Riyadh worried about a potential easing of relations between Tehran and Washington in the wake of last year's nuclear deal.

A picture of Saudi Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, left, is seen partly painted over by authorities on a wall in the largely Shiite western town of Malkiya, Bahrain, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Allies of Saudi Arabia, including the monarchy in neighboring Bahrain, began scaling down their diplomatic ties to Iran in the wake of the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran that followed al-Nimr's execution. (AP Photo/Hasan Jamali)

But it also has a powerful domestic factor: a show of toughness by King Salman and his son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, aiming to bolster their rule at a time when Saudi Arabia is facing an economic crisis brought on by low oil prices.

To the greater world, however, the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr took on a different appearance.

"It looks like an extremely irrational and ill-considered decision to do this," said Christopher Davidson, a professor of Middle East politics at Durham University in Britain. "In my view, it speaks more about the local dynamics in Saudi Arabia itself that are shifting steadily away from the ruling family's control."

The execution sparked outrage among Shiites around the world, with protests in Iraq, Bahrain and Pakistan, and even in Saudi Arabia's tightly controlled Shiite heartland in the east. Iran's government  which presents itself as a defender of Shiites in the region  loudly condemned the killing. Attackers stormed, ransacked and burned the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, prompting Riyadh to cut off ties in response.

Al-Nimr's death was a dramatic step because Saudi Arabia has rarely resorted to the death penalty in dealing with unrest among its Shiite minority, which has long complained of discrimination in the Sunni-led kingdom. A vocal opponent of the Saudi royal family, al-Nimr was seen by Shiites in the region as a political dissident, although he always contended he did not foment violence.

Shiites had warned against his execution ever since a Saudi court convicted him of sedition and other charges and sentenced him to death in 2014. He was executed among a group of 47 people convicted on terrorism charges  almost all connected to Sunni radicals and al-Qaida  painting him with the same brush as a threat to security.

For the royal family, the execution signals a tough hand against any trouble from Saudi Arabia's Shiites and bolsters the kingdom's posturing as the champion for Sunni Muslims in the region against Iranian influence.

Saudi Arabia's allies rallied it to its side Monday, with a number of nations following its lead in either cutting or reducing diplomatic ties with Iran. The Arab League called an emergency meeting of foreign ministers for Jan. 10 to discuss the attack on the Saudi Embassy and other Iranian "interference in Arab affairs."

The execution also placates the kingdom's Sunni ultraconservatives, a key source of support for the ruling family. Shiites remain a favorite target of slurs by Saudi clerics, who follow the ultraconservative Sunni doctrine known as Wahhabism. While the kingdom's Shiite community  an estimated 10-15 percent of the population of nearly 29 million has seen only relatively low-level restiveness over the years, clerics often depict Shiites as a threat, a potential lever for Iranian influence.

Ultraconservative support is particularly important at a time when Saudi Arabia is facing the rise of an insurgency by Sunni extremists linked to the Islamic State group. Young Saudi Sunnis have been involved in a string of suicide bombings in the kingdom. Since Syria's civil war escalated in the past four years, Saudi clerics urged young men to fight alongside Sunni rebels there against the Iranian-backed Syrian government.

Analysts believe Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed, the king's 30-year-old son, has been the driving force behind the kingdom's more assertive stance and its willingness to take extreme political risks in the region, particularly the push into the war in Yemen.

Tellingly, it was Prince Mohammed, the Saudi defense minister, whom U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the German defense minister and a Sudanese official contacted for consultations Monday as the crisis spread.

"What we have is a Saudi Arabia that's increasingly unhinged, that is run by a young man seeking to prove his bona fides, willing to take a lot of risks and of questionable judgment," said Cliff Kupchan, the chairman of the Eurasia Group. "I think that any independent analyst would have to come to the conclusion that the trajectory of the Saudi regime is one of the biggest political risks hanging over the Middle East at this point."

The intensified Saudi-Iranian tensions could doom the multilateral talks launched by the U.S. and Russia in Vienna last month aimed at pushing a plan to end Syria's civil war. Riyadh and Tehran were both participating in those talks, and it was already going to be extremely difficult to get them both fully behind a peace plan: Iran is the main backer of Syria's President Bashar Assad, and Saudi Arabia has backed the rebels, determined to oust Assad and deprive Iran of a key ally.

"One has to especially worry about the future of the Vienna talks, given this incendiary episode," Kupchan said.

Efforts for peace in Yemen already appeared to be crumbling. A truce there  largely ignored by combatants  ended this weekend. That civil war has killed more than 5,880 people since March and keeps Saudi Arabia and its allies mired in a conflict that has no clear sign of ending soon.

All the while, Saudi Arabia faces budgetary pressure as global oil prices have sunk under $40 a barrel and likely will remain low well into this year. The kingdom already has made some cuts, but more could be around the corner, forcing it to make unpopular decisions for a society used to government subsidies.

But there's one place it's not cutting back: It allocated $57 billion in defense spending for 2016.

Those domestic worries are part of the reason for the show of toughness abroad.

Saudi rulers "can't be seen as backing down, and that's not because it's necessarily giving the region away to Iran," Davidson said. "It is also because they know their own population will drift away from them and it will be interpreted as a great sign of weakness."

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EDITOR'S NOTE: Jon Gambrell, an Associated Press reporter since 2006, has covered the Middle East from Cairo and Dubai since 2013.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap .
Trump embraces Muslim ban in opening TV ads

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP)  Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump is giving some of the most divisive proposals of his campaign a starring role in his first television ad  although the billionaire developer faced questions about the footage he chose to illustrate his arguments.

With the opening 2016 primary contest four weeks away, Trump is spotlighting his plan to ban Muslims from entering the United States  temporarily and with exceptions, he says  and to build a wall along the southern border. Trump's campaign says he plans to spend $2 million a week on the ad, set to begin airing Tuesday across Iowa and New Hampshire.

The new ad features dark images of the San Bernardino shooters, who were Muslims, as well as body bags and explosions.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump addresses a gathering during a campaign stop at the Tsongas Center in Lowell, Mass., Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

"The politicians can pretend it's something else. But Donald Trump calls it radical Islamic terrorism. That's why he's calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until we can figure out what's going on," a narrator says.

Video footage later in the ad shows people apparently streaming freely across a border as a narrator says Trump will "stop illegal immigrants by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for."

Facing questions from news outlets, the Trump campaign acknowledged in a statement Monday that the border images were of a Spanish enclave in Morocco, not the U.S.-Mexican border.

"I think it's irrelevant," Trump said in an interview on Fox News Channel's "The O'Reilly Factor" Monday night. "So you can just take it any way you want, but it's really merely a display of what a dumping ground is going to look like. And that's what our country's becoming very rapidly."

His campaign elaborated in a statement, saying the selection of footage was intended "to demonstrate the severe impact of an open border and the very real threat Americans face if we do not immediately build a wall and stop illegal immigration."

The ad, posted on Trump's website Monday, is a departure from the typical introductory campaign spot, which typically introduces a candidate to voters. But Trump already is well-known.

"We're not the typical campaign," Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said of the ad. Instead, he said, Trump chose to focus on the issue that has been the centerpiece of his campaign: illegal immigration.

"These are the issues that Mr. Trump has brought to the forefront of the discussion," said Lewandowski. "He's talked about this from the day he launched his campaign."

Trump's proposal on Muslims has been condemned by Republicans and Democrats as un-American and counterproductive, yet the hard-line approach to immigration has fueled his popularity among the overwhelmingly white GOP primary electorate.

Republican pollster Frank Luntz, at times a Trump critic, predicted the new ad would help Trump among the slice of Republican voters who participate in early voting contests.

"This may not be a majority position in the country," Luntz said of the Muslim ban. "It may not even be a majority position within the Republican Party, but among those who will vote in the caucuses and the primaries it is a popular position, and he will benefit from it."

An ABC News/Washington Post poll conducted in December found that 6 in 10 Americans think a ban on Muslims entering the United States is the wrong thing to do. Among only Republicans, however, 6 in 10 say they would support such a policy.

The ad represents the billionaire businessman's first foray into television advertising after spending much of 2015 dominating polls without spending significant resources  at least compared to his rivals.

On Monday, the campaign put almost $2 million into broadcast and cable television ads to run this week in Iowa and New Hampshire, advertising tracker Kantar Media's CMAG shows. He had previously spent about $300,000 on radio commercials, mostly in Iowa, over three weeks in November.

The advertising campaign comes as voters begin paying closer attention to the 2016 presidential contest following the holiday season.

While Trump had previously said he was worried about oversaturating the airwaves, he said Monday he doesn't "want to take any chances."

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Peoples reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Julie Bykowicz and news survey specialist Emily Swanson contributed to this report.
With 1st contests approaching, candidates swing into motion

BOONE, Iowa (AP)  Candidates vying to become America's next president roared out of the New Year's holiday in full force Monday with less than a month to go before the state-by-state nominating contests begin.

The coming weeks are especially crucial for Republicans as voters look to weed through the thicket of choices to determine who will represent and attempt to reunite a bickering party. With contentious issues such as terrorism, security, civil liberties and gun ownership reverberating, candidates find plenty to argue about.

Democrat Hillary Clinton and Republican Donald Trump have been the consistent favorites in polls overall. But they are not equal in that regard.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas speaks at King's Christian Bookstore in Boone, Iowa, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Clinton also has an impressive organization behind her while Trump's ability to pull off a winning get-out-the-vote ground game is in question and his frugal spending to date has stood in stark contrast to his vast personal wealth. He says he's opening the money spigot now.

The early voting states are deemed critical in years like this one when the path to nomination is so unclear. As mystery shrouds the Republican race, the Democratic one hangs on whether Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, can turn his months of large, passionate rallies into enough votes to upset the former first lady and secretary of state.

In Iowa, the first of the early voting states, Republican contender Ted Cruz launched a bus tour through the state where his campaign feels he is well-positioned to win the Feb. 1 caucuses.

"Now is the time that the men and women of Iowa step up and make your decision," Cruz said during his stop in Boone, Iowa, the first of 28 planned stops in Iowa over the next six days.

Second-time Republican hopeful, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, also set out in Iowa on Monday, holding breakfast meetings and town halls across the state as he looks to turn his campaign's sluggish start around. Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses in 2008 with strong support from evangelicals, but lost the nomination to Arizona Sen. John McCain.

Clinton also kicked off a two-day swing in Iowa, where she was scheduled to attend several organizing events in preparation for the caucuses. In New Hampshire, former President Bill Clinton launched his own tour on behalf of his wife, talking both about Hillary Clinton's campaign promises and his own experience in the White House.

Sanders also campaigned Monday in New Hampshire, which holds its first-in-the-nation primary on Feb. 9.

In 2008, Hillary Clinton suffered a stringing defeat in Iowa, rebounded with a win in New Hampshire and waged a grinding campaign across the country before Barack Obama claimed victory in the nomination race on his way to the presidency.

Trump sought to derail his rivals Monday, debuting his first television ad in both Iowa and New Hampshire, featuring dark images of the San Bernardino, California, shooters, body bags, and images of masked men.

The ad reinforced highly criticized remarks he made last month proposing a temporary ban on Muslims entering the United States, which sparked outrage from Republican and Democratic rivals alike. The comments threatened the party's drive to attract minorities, an effort already complicated by Trump's negativity toward Mexican immigrants.

Trump says he plans to spend at least $2 million per week on television ads in Iowa and New Hampshire overall.

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Salama reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Newark, New Jersey; Lisa Lerer in Nashua, New Hampshire; Kathleen Ronayne in Salem, New Hampshire; and Steve Peoples in Washington contributed to this report.

Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas arrives to speak at King's Christian Bookstore in Boone, Iowa, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a campaign stop for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, in Nashua, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

Former President Bill Clinton waves to a cheering crowd as he arrives during a campaign stop for his wife, Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, in Nashua, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

In this photo taken Dec. 29, 2015, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks in Council Bluffs, Iowa. Despite a year of campaigning, 10 televised debates and millions of dollars in advertising, most people in even the earliest voting presidential voting states are just now beginning to focus on their choices in the 2016 campaign. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
Unusual shooting attack sets off panic in Israeli heartland

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)  For all its years of strife, Israel has rarely seen anything quite like this: an armed, wanted Arab killer on the loose, spreading fear across the land.

Even the most stoic are keeping their children home from school following the deadly daytime shooting at a popular bar on a busy Tel Aviv street that has become among the most unsettling attacks in a three-month wave of violence.

Israelis are used to quickly resuming their daily routines following attacks because assailants are typically captured or killed. But the frantic search for this gunman, whose attack on Friday afternoon was caught on security cameras, has sent jitters across this seaside city.

FILE - In this Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016, file photo, an Israeli woman holds her dog next to a bus station shattered by bullets at the scene of a deadly shooting attack, in Tel Aviv, Israel. For all its years of strife, Israel has rarely seen anything quite like this: an armed, wanted Arab killer on the loose who is spreading fear across the land. Even the proudly stoic are keeping children home from school as they brace for another potential attack after the weekend's deadly daytime shooting at a Tel Aviv bar in what has become the most baffling event in a three-month wave of violence. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty, File)

The unusual escape of the accused gunman, Nashat Milhem, an Arab from northern Israel who is considered to be armed and dangerous, is one of many elements of a case that has left Israelis on edge.

"Everything about this is characterized by uncertainty," said Yossi Melman, a prominent security analyst, adding that the level of planning and sophistication were closer in style to those of Islamic State attackers in Brussels, Paris and California.

"I'm not familiar with an event like this, with an unclear nature that has lasted this long," he said.

The shooting on Tel Aviv's busy Dizengoff Street, which killed two Israeli men and wounded six other people, was recorded on security cameras at a health food store next door.

In the footage, a man with short dark hair, glasses and a black bag over his shoulder is seen scooping up nuts from the shop's bulk food section, putting them in a plastic bag, then emptying them back. He then walks to the store entrance, places his backpack on a shopping cart and takes a gun out of it before stepping outside and opening fire into the bar. He then runs away.

Police say that after tossing his cellphone, Milhem hailed a cab that took him to northern Tel Aviv, where he killed the driver and escaped in the taxi before abandoning it and going off the grid.

Authorities got their first lead when Milhem's father, Mohammed, recognized his son from the closed circuit footage aired on TV. Milhem apparently obtained the licensed semi-automatic weapon he used by stealing it from his father, a security guard. The father condemned the killing and called on his son to turn himself in. Residents of their Arab town, Arara, also quickly denounced the attack.

The brazen shooting comes amid more than three months of almost daily Palestinian attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers. On the Israeli side, 21 people have died, mostly in stabbings and car-ramming attacks. At least 130 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire, 90 of them identified by Israel as assailants.

Israel has accused Palestinian leaders and social media sites of inciting the violence. Palestinians say the attacks are the result of frustration over five decades of Israeli military occupation.

Whereas most attackers have been Palestinians from the West Bank or east Jerusalem, Milhem is one of just a handful of Arab citizens of Israel accused of such violence. And, he comes from a family that was well integrated into Israeli society.

Police say they found a Quran in his bag, hinting at Islamic inspiration, though family members say he was emotionally unstable and traumatized after a cousin was shot dead in a 2006 police arrest raid. At the time, police said they were searching for weapons and claimed the shooting was in self-defense.

Milhem served time in an Israeli prison after being convicted of attacking a soldier and trying to steal his weapon. But he was also described by residents of the upscale Tel Aviv neighborhood where he worked as a grocery store delivery man as being so trusted that customers gave him their house keys to make deliveries when they were out.

"I knew him like the back of my hand. He ate and drank and worked with us," a local Israeli vegetable salesman who was not identified told Channel 10 TV. "He was a normal guy. ... People really liked him. And I liked him too."

The suspect's picture is plastered across newspapers and television screens, and police say they are on "heightened alert," with stepped-up security in Tel Aviv, as they conduct their investigation.

With the search stretching into its fourth day, Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai implored residents to return to their routines. But the city remained subdued Monday, and attendance at many schools was sparse.

Oren Helman, a resident of Tel Aviv's upscale Ramat Aviv neighborhood, where the search has focused, said he sent his two young daughters to school, but there were few other parents dropping children off. The few who came to school were not allowed to play outside in the playground.

"The parents who send their kids to school are worried. Those who don't are scared," he said.

Helman said the heightened security in the neighborhood helped put him at ease, and he didn't want to cave in to violence or cause panic with his children. But he said there were heated discussions among parents on social media over whether their children were safe. Repeated rumors that the gunman has been seen also added to the unease, he said.

Assaf Zamir, a deputy mayor of Tel Aviv, said some neighborhoods reported only 50 percent school attendance but he expected the numbers to rise.

"From our experience as days go by, the numbers will fill up and everyone will come back to school," he said. "We have always bounced back."

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Ranchers who inspired Oregon occupation report to prison

BURNS, Oregon (AP)  The small group of armed anti-government activists occupying a remote federal wildlife preserve in Oregon's high desert gave visitors free access to the snowy site Monday, allowing some local residents and ranchers in to satisfy their curiosity or show support.

The group also appeared to be trying to keep the site tidy, picking up cigarette butts from the ground and keeping vehicle and foot traffic primarily to roads and pathways. Federal authorities made no immediate attempt to retake the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, which about two dozen activists seized over the weekend as part of a decades-long fight over public lands in the West.

The activists have taken up the cause of father-and-son ranchers convicted of setting fire to federal grazing land. The two ranchers reported to prison on Monday.

Ammon Bundy, center, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, walks off after speaking with reporters during a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights told reporters on Monday that two local ranchers who face long prison sentences for setting fire to land have been treated unfairly. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

There appeared to be no urgent reason for federal officials to move in. No one has been hurt. No one is being held hostage. And because the refuge is a bleak and forbidding stretch of wilderness about 300 miles (500 kilometers) from Portland, and it's the middle of winter, the standoff is causing few if any disruptions.

Some have complained that the government's response to the situation in Oregon would have been more severe had the occupants been Muslim or other minorities.

But others said from a tactical standpoint, the government's cautious response would make sense no matter who was holed up in the government building in the reserve.

Meanwhile, the armed group said it wants an inquiry into whether the government is forcing ranchers off their land after the father and son were ordered back to prison for arson on federal grazing lands.

The group calling itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom demanded a government response within five days related to the ranchers' extended sentences.

Ammon Bundy  one of the sons of rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 Nevada standoff with the government over grazing rights  told reporters that Dwight Hammond and his son, Steven Hammond, were treated unfairly.

The Hammonds were convicted of arson three years ago for fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006, one of which was set to cover up deer poaching, according to prosecutors. They said they lit the fires to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires.

The men served their original sentences three months for Dwight and one year for Steven. But an appeals court judge ruled the terms fell short of mandatory minimum sentences that require them to serve about four more years.

Their sentences have been a rallying cry for the group, whose mostly male members said they want federal lands turned over to local authorities so people can use them free of U.S. oversight.

The father and son reported to a federal prison Monday in California, said Harney County, Oregon, Sheriff David Ward. He provided no other details.

The Hammonds have distanced themselves from the protest group and many locals, including people who want to see federal lands made more accessible, don't want the activists here, fearing they may bring trouble.

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Melley reported from Los Angeles.

Ammon Bundy, center, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, speaks with reporters during a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights, told reporters on Monday that two local ranchers who face long prison sentences for setting fire to land have been treated unfairly. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters hug after Ammon Bundy, center, left, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, spoke with reporters during a news conference Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, talks on his phone near the front gate Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, wears a camouflage jacket with a patch on his shoulder Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Ammon Bundy, one of the sons of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, speaks with reporters during a news conference at Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, walks to one of it's buldings Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

LaVoy Finicum, a rancher from Arizona, receives a hug from a member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

A member of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, looks on at the front gate Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters stand guard along a roadside Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

Members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters stand guard Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. The armed anti-government group took over the remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon as part of a decades-long fight over public lands in the West. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Key things to know about federal land ownership in the West

An armed group occupying the headquarters of a national wildlife refuge in southeastern Oregon wants the federal government to relinquish the land to local officials so it becomes more accessible for ranching, mining and other uses.

Less visible efforts to wrest control of federal lands date back more than a century in the West, where the U.S. government manages most of the land in some states.

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Members of the group occupying the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters stand guard Monday, Jan. 4, 2016, near Burns, Ore. The group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials. The armed anti-government group took over the remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon as part of a decades-long fight over public lands in the West. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)

HOW MUCH LAND DOES THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OWN?

It controls about a million square miles, mostly in the West, according to the Congressional Research Service. It owns 85 percent of Nevada, 66 percent of Utah, 62 percent of both Idaho and Alaska, and 53 percent of Oregon.

Most of the land is managed by U.S. agencies including the Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service and National Park Service.

The federal government also owns significant portions of California and Wyoming, at 48 percent each; Arizona, at 42 percent; Colorado, at 36 percent; New Mexico, at 35 percent; Montana, at 29 percent; and Washington state, at 28 percent.

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HOW DID THE GOVERNMENT ACQUIRE SO MUCH LAND?

As the country expanded West, the federal government sought to protect some areas, such as Yellowstone National Park in 1872, and took control in the 1900s of unclaimed areas that were generally too harsh and difficult for homesteaders to make a living.

For example, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management administers much of the sagebrush steppe of the Great Basin, which is habitat for the imperiled sage grouse but unsuitable for farming.

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IS THE LAND-CONTROL CONFLICT NEW?

No. The debate over management of federal land has spanned decades. Some state officials and others contend that state control would mean less regulation and greater freedom for ranchers, miners, recreationists and others, boosting state income.

Critics of that view say the land would be too expensive for states to maintain and would be sold off to private interests, cutting off access to the public.

Congress approved a law in 1976 saying that remaining public land would stay under federal control.

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WHAT EFFORTS ARE STATES MAKING TO CONTROL FEDERAL LAND?

State lawmakers, notably in Utah and Idaho, have sought a legal way to take control of federal land. However, Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden has said the state's constitution gave up claims to the land when Idaho joined the union.

Congress has the authority to turn over federal land to the states, but efforts to pass such a law have failed so far.

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WHAT'S SPECIAL ABOUT THE LAND IN OREGON?

President Theodore Roosevelt created the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in 1908. Administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the 300-square-mile refuge is partly a marshland that's a key rest area in the Oregon high desert for migrating birds.

The number of migrating shorebirds qualifies the refuge as a Regional Western Hemispheric Shorebird Reserve, the wildlife service says. It also supports more than 20 percent of the state's breeding population of greater sandhill cranes, as well as many other species.

Birding is a popular pastime at the refuge, which also draws anglers, hunters and wildlife watchers.

Established in 1908, Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters, seen here on Jan. 4, 2016, in Burns, Ore., is one of the premier migratory bird habitats in the U.S., featuring Malheur Lake. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. No workers were on duty when the occupiers arrived. (Mark Graves/The Oregonian via AP)

A small group of militia in Burns, Or., who were there to support a local ranching family, took over the federal office of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge headquarters Saturday, Jan. 3, 2016, in a development that stunned the community. Armed protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. (Mark Graves/The Oregonian via AP)
Virginia governor becomes fourth to visit Cuba since detente

HAVANA (AP)  Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe began a trade mission to Cuba on Monday, expressing optimism about imminent changes in the U.S. relationship with the island but seeming less certain his trip would quickly generate new business for his state.

McAuliffe is a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, a close ally of Bill and Hillary Clinton and a longtime advocate of trade with Cuba. He is the fourth governor to visit Cuba since Dec. 17, 2014, when Presidents Barack Obama and Raul Castro declared an official end to one of the world's longest-running hostile relationships.

McAuliffe said he sees this year as key for U.S.-Cuba relations, saying the United States could allow freer travel to the island and end a ban on American businesses selling goods to the country on credit. Cuba has cited the credit limit as a prime reason it has sharply reduced purchases of food from states such as Virginia.

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, left, talks with the dean of the University of Havana, Gustavo Suarez Cobreiro, in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. McAuliffe is in Havana heading a delegation that seeks to strengthen trade ties between the U.S. and Cuba, just over a year after the thawing of relations between the two countries. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)

"I think 2016 is going to be a very big year. This is an important legacy item for President Obama," McAuliffe said. "I think this is the year we can get an awful lot of things done: normalization of relations, extending credit, open travel. These are all things I hope to accomplish this year. I think we can do it."

The White House said last week that Obama may travel to Cuba in March, becoming the first sitting U.S. president to visit this island since Calvin Coolidge in 1928.

While U.S.-Cuba detente has moved relatively quickly on the diplomatic front, efforts to increase business have been far slower with the United States' half-century-old trade embargo against the island still in force.

Despite an initial rush of American business enthusiasm, there have been few big U.S. business deals with Cuba. None of the four U.S. governors' trips have spawned significant commercial ties except for a relatively small sale of chicken parts by Arkansas poultry companies following a September visit by Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

McAuliffe met with Cuba's top foreign trade official Monday morning and watched the heads of the University of Havana and Virginia Commonwealth University sign an agreement for academic cooperation and exchanges. The governor is expected to sign a similar memorandum of understanding Tuesday between the Port of Virginia and Cuba's Mariel port and free trade zone.

Later Monday, the governor planned to sit down with the vice president of the Council of Ministers, one of the country's highest-ranking officials.

McAuliffe is accompanied on his trip by executives from seven Virginia-based businesses, including Smithfield Food and Perdue Agribusiness, who met with Cuban government officials throughout Monday.

Cuban officials have used the meetings with visiting U.S. dignitaries to press for an end to the trade embargo. Foreign Trade Minister Rodrigo Malmierca and others emphasized the continuing difficulties of doing business with the U.S. despite Obama's loosening of trade limits.

McAuliffe deflected questions about whether he would leave Cuba with any new deals for Virginia businesses.

"We're here for a couple days of meetings, let me get through all the meetings," he said. "This is about building relationships for the future."

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Michael Weissenstein on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mweissenstein

Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, stands in front of the Cuban national emblem, at Havana University during a signing ceremony in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. McAuliffe is in Havana heading a delegation that seeks to strengthen trade ties, just over a year after the thawing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa)
Cameron to announce 10,000 new homes construction on public land

More than 10,000 new homes will be built on public land through Government direct commissioning in a plan David Cameron hailed as a "huge shift".

The Prime Minister will announce the proposal on Monday, claiming it marks the biggest of use of such a policy since Margaret Thatcher and Michael Heseltine started the regeneration of London's Docklands in the Eighties.

Downing Street said the "radical" move will see homes being built at a faster rate with smaller building companies that cannot take on big projects able to begin construction on Government sites which already have planning permission.

More than 10,000 homes will be built on public land, David Cameron is to announce

The policy will be backed by an extra 1.2 billion to prepare brownfield sites for the building of 30,000 starter homes - available to first time buyers under 40 for at least a 20% discount - over the next five years.

Mr Cameron said: "This Government was elected to deliver security and opportunity - whatever stage of life you're at. Nothing is more important to achieving that than ensuring hard-working people can buy affordable homes.

"Today's package signals a huge shift in government policy. Nothing like this has been done on this scale in three decades - government rolling its sleeves up and directly getting homes built.

"Backed up with a further 1.2 billion to get homes built on brownfield sites, it shows we will do everything we can to get Britain building and let more people have the security that comes with a home of their own."

The construction of the first wave of up to 13,000 directly commissioned homes - 40% of which will be starter homes - will begin this year in Dover, Chichester, Gosport, Northstowe in Cambridgeshire and Old Oak Common in north west London.

In addition to these, the extra 1.2 billion will fast track the creation of at least 30,000 new starter homes and up to 30,000 market rate homes on 500 new brownfield sites by 2020.

The new projects form part of the Government's commitment to building 200,000 starter homes before the end of the Parliament.

Half of all new homes are constructed by the top eight house builders and the direct commissioning approach will help smaller builders and new competitor firms, according to No 10.

Brian Berry, chief executive of the Federation of Master Builders (FMB), said: "When it comes to building new homes, the availability of small sites is the single biggest barrier to SME (small and medium sized) house builders increasing their output.

"Any measures that the Government can introduce that will increase the number of small sites suitable for SME house builders will help address the housing shortfall.

"It is also encouraging that the majority of these sites will already have planning permission in place as obtaining permission is all-too-often a lengthy and protracted process - avoiding this time delay should help house builders increase their supply much more quickly."

Jeremy Blackburn, head of policy at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), said: "This Government has already introduced a great many initiatives that we believe will slow current high rates of house-price growth.

"Today's announcements will further help to bring much-needed new developments swiftly to market."

Shadow housing minister John Healey said: "In the Autumn Statement a few weeks ago, George Osborne tried to spin his halving of public housing investment as an increase. Now David Cameron is laying on the rhetoric to hide his failure on new homes.

"Today's statement promises no new starter homes beyond those already announced.

"With home-ownership down to the lowest level in a generation and fewer homes built over the last five years than under any peacetime government since the 1920s, David Cameron needs to do much more to fix his five years of failure on housing."

Communities and Local Government Secretary Greg Clark told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme that the move would help meet a Conservative election pledge.

"We know that, consistently, nearly 90% of people say that they aspire to own a home of their own.

"Over many years, home ownership has been in decline and we are determined to turn that round ... It's not an ideological commitment that is there, it's a reflection of what people consistently say that they want," he said.

"What we've been doing over the last few years has been to turn around a housing sector that was in free-fall. We had the lowest number of homes built in peacetime since the 1920s when we came into office.

"We need to build about 200,000 or more homes a year to meet the rising needs of the population. The last time we did that as a country was 1988, and every year that you don't do that, you add to the housing deficit, so we are determined to pull out all the stops and get the country building again."

Mr Clark added: "In the 1980s, there were lots of local, small and medium-sized builders. They have been in decline, so that the biggest eight builders now account for 50% of the market.
UK commuters 'spend up to six times as much' on fares as European passengers

Workers who commute by train spend up to six times as much of their salaries on fares as European passengers on publicly owned railways, a study has revealed.

Action for Rail, a campaign by rail unions and the TUC, said some UK workers were spending 13% of their monthly wages on rail travel compared with 2% in Italy.

The research was published to highlight protests at more than 60 railway stations by campaigners and rail workers to mark the return to work after the festive break, with fares having increased at the weekend.

Workers who commute by train spend up to six times as much of their salaries on fares as European passengers on publicly owned railways, a study has revealed.

The analysis looked at a UK worker on an average salary who is spending 13% of their monthly wages on a 357.90 monthly season ticket from Chelmsford to London.

By contrast, the average amount of salary going on a monthly season ticket for a similar journey is 2% in Italy, 3% in Spain and 4% in Germany.

In France, which is the closest to the UK for cost, commuters still spend nearly a third less on season tickets than their counterparts in the UK, said the report.

A survey of more than 1,700 adults for the campaign group found that three out of five believed train services in the UK were poor value for money, with a similar number supporting public ownership.

TUC general secretary Frances O'Grady said: "It's hardly surprising that UK passengers think rail travel is bad value for money. They are shelling out far more of their income on rail fares than their counterparts in Europe.

"Years of failed privatisation have left us with exorbitant ticket prices, overcrowded trains and ageing infrastructure. Ministers need to wake up to this reality instead of allowing train companies to milk the system at taxpayers' and commuters' expense."

Rail, Maritime and Transport union leader Mick Cash said: "Today is national rail rip-off day when, along with the looming Christmas credit card bills, the British public awake to another kick in the teeth from the greedy private train companies. We would urge everyone to join with the trade unions to end the money-making racket on our rail tracks in 2016. "

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: "Profit made on passengers in the UK is not reinvested here, but repatriated to Germany, France, Belgium and Hong Kong to subsidise journeys of passengers there.

"We need a railway for the future - that means a publicly owned rail service operating in the interests of British passengers, with every penny made in profit reinvested in the railways or in cheaper fares for passengers."

Unite acting national officer for rail Hugh Roberts said: "European state-owned rail companies provide excellent services and cheaper fares as part of coherent national economic strategies. The UK Government's ideological reliance on the profit-hungry private sector has been a disaster - and the majority of the public wants the railways taken back into public ownership."

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: "Taking the railways back into public hands is a popular policy. The vast majority of voters - Conservative included - are fed up with paying sky-high fares so the privatised train companies can take their slice. Commuters travelling into London from Kent and Sussex know their 5,000 a year season tickets would be much cheaper under public ownership."

Action for Rail said it looked at the price of monthly season tickets in five countries and compared them with figures for annual median earnings for 2014 based on OECD statistics.

:: Tabulated by: country, journey, distance in miles, monthly season ticket price, monthly median earnings, % of monthly median earnings

UK, Chelmsford-London, 29, 358, 2,745, 13%

Germany, Eberswalde-Berlin, 31, 95, 2,452, 4%

France, Etampes-Paris, 29, 234, 2,422, 10%

Italy, Cerveteri Ladispoli Rome, 29, 37, 1,929, 2%

Spain, Arenys de Mar Barcelona, 27, 56, 1,805, 3%

Paul Plummer, chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, which represents Network Rail and train operators, said: "For a decade successive governments chose to increase season tickets above the rate of inflation so passengers pay more of the cost of running the railway and taxpayers less.

"But more recently government has chosen to stop this trend. By looking purely at price, these figures also ignore that trains in Britain are often faster and more frequent than those on the continent and that European railways are often more subsidised by taxpayers or do not spend as much maintaining and improving their networks.

"Since rail franchising was introduced, passenger numbers have doubled. Whereas the network was running at a 2bn a year loss in 1997, in terms of day-to-day costs, it now virtually covers these expenses, meaning government can focus investment on renewing and improving the railway to meet Britain's needs."

Jeremy Corbyn joined protesters at London King's Cross station to call for lower ticket prices.

The Labour leader said his party first wanted to see more control over fares before eventually nationalising train operators.

Speaking at the protest, Mr Corbyn said: "We're here to join with a lot of passengers and rail workers who welcome the fact we've got a good railway system, welcome all the public investment that's gone into it but are very concerned about the fare rises that have gone in, the high fares that many people have to pay, the problems for commuters travelling in and out of all of our major cities and the need for us the public to have much more control over the fare system on our railways."
David Cameron condemns Saudi Arabian execution of Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr

Prime Minister David Cameron has described the tensions provoked by the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia as "hugely concerning".

Mr Cameron said that the UK condemned the death penalty in all circumstances and had made representations to the Saudi authorities on this occasion.

The announcement on Saturday of the execution of 47 alleged terrorists, including Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, prompted an international outcry, and sparked protests in Shia-dominated Iran, where the Saudi embassy was stormed.

Demonstrators protest outside the Saudi Embassy in London, following Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 prisoners, including a top Shiite cleric

Riyadh responded by announcing it would sever diplomatic ties, with staff from the Iranian mission given 48 hours to leave and Saudi counterparts recalled home from Tehran.

Al-Nimr had been a leading critic of the Saudi authorities and there has been international concern over a sentence of death by crucifixion handed down to his nephew, Ali al-Nimr, for taking part in an anti-government protest in 2012 at the age of 17.

Speaking during a visit to east London, Mr Cameron said: "It is hugely concerning because of course we want to see stability in the Middle East, we want to see good relations between the different countries in the Middle East, not least because that will be absolutely essential for solving the crisis in Syria which is the source of so many of these problems.

"And specifically on Saudi Arabia let me be clear - we condemn and do not support the death penalty in any circumstances and that includes Saudi Arabia."

"We always make representations on the death penalty and the Foreign Office ministers made it very clear on this occasion."

With the threat of further sectarian violence triggered by the executions in predominantly Sunni Saudi Arabia, the UK called for calm.

Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood urged all parties in the region to show "restraint and responsibility".

Mr Ellwood said: "I am deeply disturbed by the escalation in tensions in the last 24 hours in the Middle East.

"The UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty. We have stressed this to the Saudi authorities and also expressed our disappointment at the mass executions."

The Middle East minister said he expected that Ali al-Nimr and others who were convicted as juveniles will not be executed, and promised the UK will continue to raise their cases with the Saudi authorities.

A Saudi Justice Ministry spokesman told the BBC: "As a judicial power or judicial branch, we execute, or we apply, Sharia law according to the facts we see in front of us, irrespective of other influences, and that is what the judges are qualified on. They don't look to any other influences, they deal with the facts that they see in front of them."

The justification for Sheikh al-Nimr's death sentence "revolves generally around conducting acts that led to the killing of innocents and confronting security officers and killing them", said the spokesman.

Liberal Democrat MP Tom Brake called for assurances from Mr Cameron that the weapons used in the Saudi executions were not made in the UK.

In a letter to the Prime Minister, Mr Brake said: " The Liberal Democrats and I believe that the executions which we witnessed at the weekend, with some people being executed after they were arrested for instigating political protests, including Nimr al-Nimr, constitute a breach of the most basic human rights laws.

"I am therefore asking if you can give me assurances that no weapons or any other materials made in the United Kingdom were used to prepare or carry out the executions."
Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to build robot to help him around the home

Mark Zuckerberg has announced plans to build an artificially intelligent assistant modelled on an Iron Man character to help around the home.

The Facebook founder said his personal challenge for the next year is to invent the computerised servant to assist with household chores.

And he likened the idea to the character Jarvis in the Iron Man films, a highly advanced form of artificial intelligence (AI) who manages almost everything in the superhero's life.

Mark Zuckerberg is taking on a new challenge

In a Facebook post he wrote: "Every year, I take on a personal challenge to learn new things and grow outside my work at Facebook.

"My challenges in recent years have been to read two books every month, learn Mandarin and meet a new person every day.

"My personal challenge for 2016 is to build a simple AI to run my home and help me with my work. You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man."

He said he plans to explore what technology is already in use before personalising the invention so it can recognise his voice and control everything in his home, including the lights, music and heating.

Mr Zuckerberg, who has a month-old daughter named Max, added: "I'll teach it to let friends in by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell. I'll teach it to let me know if anything is going on in Max's room that I need to check on when I'm not with her."

The Facebook founder said he also plans to use the assistant to help him visualise data to improve his businesses.

He added: "This should be a fun intellectual challenge to code this for myself. I'm looking forward to sharing what I learn over the course of the year."

And the entrepreneur has called for girls to be encouraged to "be the nerd" in school so they can be successful inventors later in life.

He was responding to a Facebook post from Darlene Hackemer Loretto who wrote: "I keep telling my grand daughters to date the nerd in school, he may turn out to be a Mark Zuckerberg!"

But responding to the comment, Mr Zuckerberg said families should encourage girls to set their sights higher and be the brains behind the inventions.
Labour candidate Sadiq Khan in pledge over London Mayor election

Labour's candidate for London Mayor, Sadiq Khan, has insisted he will be "my own man" if he wins the race to succeed Boris Johnson, as he warned that the May election should not be decided by voters' views of Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr Khan said he aimed to be "the most pro-business mayor this city has every seen", stressing his commitment to a new runway at Gatwick Airport and his opposition to the Labour leader's proposal for a windfall tax on jobs.

He accused Conservative rival Zac Goldsmith of lacking the experience needed for the post of mayor because he had "never had a proper job".

Labour candidate for London Mayor Sadiq Khan

Challenged to say whether he would be "Jeremy Corbyn's man in London" if he takes office at City Hall, Mr Khan told theBBC Radio 4 Today programme: "I think I am my own man."

And he added: "Jeremy Corbyn isn't on the ballot paper in the May mayoral elections. Nor is David Cameron.

"I am. So I have got to set out over the course of the next 120 days who I am."

The Tooting MP said the windfall tax was one of a number of examples of areas where "it is important for me to be my own person".

But he added: "What I am not going to do is for the next three months differentiate myself from Jeremy Corbyn, because I will speak for my own policies and my own vision for this great city, and let Jeremy do the important job of being leader of the Labour Party."

He declined to comment on speculation of an upcoming reshuffle in the shadow cabinet.

"Jeremy Corbyn is the leader of the party. That is a decision for Jeremy to take. My job is to tell Londoners why they should lend me their votes to make London an even greater city than it already is."

Mr Khan stressed his proposals for a "London living rent" set at one-third of local average income levels, as well as the need for action to improve air quality in the capital.

And he said: "I am against a new runway at Heathrow, but, unlike Jeremy Corbyn, I am very much in favour of a new runway at Gatwick Airport, because of the benefits of an increase in aviation capacity for jobs and growth."

Mr Khan said he would not attack Mr Goldsmith over his privileged background as the son of billionaire financier Sir James Goldsmith, but said voters should consider whether they wanted a mayor whose only previous "proper job" was as editor of The Ecologist magazine, founded by his uncle, Edward Goldsmith.

"I will not criticise Zac Goldsmith for who his parents are or what his background is. None of us are responsible for who our families are," said the Labour candidate, who is a lawyer and the son of a bus driver.

"What I will hold him to account for is what experiences he has to be the mayor of the greatest city in the world.
Champion Gary Anderson: I wasn't at my best

Gary Anderson has told the rest of the field that he defended his PDC world title playing at 85 per cent.

The Scot beat Adrian Lewis 7-5 at the Alexandra Palace on Sunday to back up the maiden title he won against Phil Taylor a year ago.

For those watching this was another epic contest, Anderson and Lewis nailing 34 180s for a darts record in a single match.

Gary Anderson celebrates with the Sid Waddell trophy for a second time

But Anderson - despite taking home a cheque for 300,000 - felt things could have gone even better for him at the end of a fortnight that saw him post a memorable nine-dart finish in his semi-final against Jelle Klaasen.

"The way I've played in the tournament, I think I've deserved this," Anderson told the PDC website.

"It never really clicked but there was some great darts. It's great to have defended the title. It feels fantastic and I probably did it at 85 per cent of my best game."

Anderson, 45, appeared to be at 100 per cent when he checked out on 170 in the final set, but added: "I've got the trophy for another 12 months at least. It would be lovely to make it a hat-trick next year and do something really special but I'm not getting any younger.

"I'll keep plodding on and see what happens."

After cantering through the early rounds and looking a likely winner, Lewis came up short against a man staggeringly priced at 8-1 before the start of his defence.

The Stoke man hopes, though, that a promising year is ahead of him.

"I don't think either of us really played our very best darts but I was playing really well towards the end and when he took that 170 out it probably just finished me off," he said.

"Fair play to him, it is a great achievement. Even though I'm disappointed, it has been a successful tournament for me.

"I'm back up to number three in the world rankings and this has really kick-started my year."
Jeremy Corbyn holds talks with shadow cabinet members on reshuffle

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is expected to finalise a reshuffle of his top team on Tuesday after late-night talks with key members of the shadow cabinet ended without any announcement.

A spokesman for Mr Corbyn said the leader had "several discussions in relation to changes to the shadow cabinet" but would not give any details of who, if anyone, was being moved or sacked.

Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn and shadow defence secretary Maria Eagle, two of those whose positions have been considered in doubt, remained tight-lipped as they left the leader's suite of Westminster offices.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has been holding discussions about his shadow cabinet

The talks followed speculation of a possible "purge" of those with views at odds with the leader, such as Mr Benn's Commons speech in favour of RAF air strikes in Syria and Ms Eagle's support for the renewal of the UK's Trident nuclear deterrent.

Another nine shadow cabinet members voted for air strikes after the leader was forced to allow a free vote - fuelling suggestions he could replace them with left-wing supporters.

But the scope of the changes appeared increasingly likely to end up narrower than mooted, as the leadership sought to balance the desire for a coherent message on the front bench with the major backlash in the parliamentary party that would great any move to freeze out moderates.

Shadow international development secretary Diane Abbott denied she was being lined up to replace Mr Benn, branding the rumours "poppycock and piffle".

Staunch Corbyn supporter Clive Lewis also said he did not want to succeed Ms Eagle, although he stopped short of ruling it out altogether.

Shadow cabinet minister Michael Dugher, whose own place is reported to be in jeopardy, has warned Mr Corbyn would end up with a "politburo of seven" at the top of the party if he attempted to surround himself with allies from the Labour left.

It came as Harriet Harman - who led the party during the contest that saw Mr Corbyn emerge as the surprise successor to Ed Miliband - renewed calls for party rules to be changed "to stop there being an all-male leadership".

In September, Tom Watson was elected deputy to Mr Corbyn, who was accused of failing to put sufficient female MPs into the most prominent positions in his shadow cabinet despite having a 50/50 split overall.

Ms Harman told BBC2's Newsnight: "Women's rights are never going to be taken forward by men in the party whether they're men on the left of the party, men on the centre or men on the right.

"Women in this country expect to see men and women working together on equal terms, that's what the Labour Party believes in and we can't have an all-male leadership again and therefore we'll have to change the rules."

Labour MP Jess Philips accused Mr Corbyn of "low-level, non-violent misogyny" - and said "very left-wing feminists" in the party were putting up with it.

"Had Tony Blair not given any of top jobs to a woman, had that same make-up of his team existed, people would rightly have been up in arms.

"But it's sort of a bit like some people in the Labour Party are accepting sort of low-level, non-violent misogyny because it's Jeremy doing it."

She said she would consider a shot at the leadership "a long time in the future."
Jihadi's sister says 'I'll kill him myself' if he is masked militant

The sister of a British jihadi has said she will "kill him myself" if he is revealed as the masked militant in a new Islamic State video showing the murder of five hostages.

Konika Dhar, from north London, said she does not believe her brother is the man in the film, but she conceded the voice sounded "a bit like him".

It came as a small boy who appeared in the footage was named in reports as the son of a jihadi bride from south-east London.

Konika Dhar is the sister of jihadi Abu Rumaysah

The identities of those in the ten-minute clip, which is being closely examined by security services, have not been confirmed.

British Muslim convert Abu Rumaysah previously talked about the UK being brought under sharia law by a conquering Islamic State (IS) army.

Born a Hindu called Siddhartha Dhar, he ran a business renting out bouncy castles in London before converting.

He was arrested in September 2014 when he was 31, with eight other men as part of an investigation into alleged support of the banned extremist group al-Muhajiroun.

But in a huge embarrassment for authorities he fled Britain with his family the following day after being released on bail, reportedly travelling to Paris and then Syria.

Speaking today Ms Dhar said: " I don't think it is, personally, to be honest." She went on: "I examined the features - one eye is smaller than the other, my brother has symmetrical eyes.

"The eyebrows are bushy and this guy is taller, my brother is shorter and he has got broader shoulders, but he has got stooped shoulders so I don't think it is.

"I think the voice sounds a bit like him, but it could be someone else, but he could have helped with a voiceover, but I have no idea."

She said she has not had contact with her brother in more than a year, saying she "doesn't even know who he is" any more.

Ms Dhar said: "If it is him, bloody hell am I shocked? I am going to kill him myself. He is going to come back and I am going to kill him if he has done this.

"I can't believe it. This is just so shocking for me. I don't know what the authorities are doing to confirm the identity, but I need to know if it is."

Meanwhile, reports claimed a young child seen at the end of the video dressed in military-style clothes and wearing a black headscarf with an IS logo on it was Isa Dare, the son of Grace "Khadija" Dare from Lewisham, south-east London.

The boy points into the distance and says in English: "We are going to go kill the kaffir (non-believers) over there."

Grace Dare was brought up as a Christian but converted to Islam and started using the first name Khadijah. She travelled to Syria in 2012 and married a Swedish man called Abu Bakr, who is believed to have been killed since.

The extremist, who according to the Daily Telegraph has a younger son as well as Isa, previously took to social media to say she wanted to be the first British woman to kill a British or American ISIS hostage. Last year she was said to have posted a picture on Twitter of Isa with an AK-47 rifle.

A spokeswoman for Lewisham Council said: "We are unable to confirm the identity of the boy in the video. The council is liaising with the police and we are deeply concerned about any suggestion of a link between these abhorrent acts and our community."

David Cameron described the video as "desperate stuff" from a group that is "losing territory".

He said he had viewed part of the video, adding: " I think it is absolutely desperate tactics from an organisation that is clearly now on the back foot," said the Prime Minister.

The footage shows f ive men in orange jumpsuits "confessing" to taking money in return for filming and photographing sites within Raqqa, the capital of IS's self-declared caliphate.

The militant claims the UK Government had "abandoned these spies" as the men are seen kneeling before being shot in the head.

The five victims have been named in reports as Ha'il Marwan Abdul Razaq, 40, Ubi Muhammad Abdul Ghani, 26, Faisal Hamud al-Ja'far, 25, Umaar Hamud al-Ja'far, 30, all from Syria, and Mahyar Mahmud al-Uthmaan, 31, whose origin is unclear.

There were suggestions the video was an attempt to distract attention from recent military setbacks IS has faced, like losing the Iraqi town of Ramadi to state forces.

Lord Carlile, the former independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told BBC News: "I think the video is propaganda and in many ways it demonstrates the weakness of Isil after the bashing they took in Iraq recently.

"Intelligence agencies will be seeking to identify both the adult and child."

A masked jihadi with a British accent mocks David Cameron in a purported new Islamic State video showing the killing of five men accused of being spies for the UK (YouTube/PA)
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TOP STORIES

Iran sees "divine vengeance" after Saudi executions

DUBAI/RIYADH - Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and Shi'ite Muslim Iran's top leader predicted "divine vengeance" for Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.(SAUDI-SECURITY/IRAN, (UPDATE 5), by Sam Wilkin and Angus McDowall, expect by 1600 GMT/11 am ET, 950 words)

Operation continues to flush out Indian air base attackers

PATHANKOT, India/NEW DELHI- Indian security forces battled into Sunday evening to secure an air base near the border with Pakistan, a day after a militant attack that has killed seven military personnel and wounded another 20.(INDIA-ATTACK/ (UPDATE 3, PIX, TV, GRAPHIC), moved, by Mukesh Gupta, 575 words)

Vietnam protests after China lands plane on disputed Spratlys

HANOI - Vietnam formally accuses China of violating its sovereignty and a recent confidence-building pact by landing a plane on an airstrip Beijing has built on an artificial island in a contested part of the South China Sea. (VIETNAM-CHINA/PROTESTS (UPDATE 1), moved, 410 words)

MIDDLE EAST

Israel files murder charges against Jews in arson of Palestinian home

JERUSALEM - Israeli prosecutors file murder charges against a man and a minor, both Jews, for July 31 arson in occupied West Bank that killed three members of Palestinian family and helped fuel fiercest eruption of street violence in years. (ISRAEL-PALESTINIANS/CHARGES (UPDATE 1), moved, by Dan Williams, 550 words, moving shortly)

White House says Iran work for nuclear deal likely finished in coming weeks

HONOLULU - The White House expects Iran to finish work needed to trigger implementation of an international nuclear deal in the coming weeks, but Washington needs more time to prepare sanctions over its ballistic missile program, a U.S. official says. (IRAN-NUCLEAR/ (UPDATE 2), moved, by Jeff Mason, 225 words)

EUROPE

More banks pay no UK tax, Labour wants tougher approach

LONDON - Two more investment banks have reported paying zero tax in Britain in 2014, prompting the opposition Labour party to urge the government to reverse a tax change it made for banks last year (BRITAIN-BANKS/TAX (EXCLUSIVE, GRAPHIC), by Tom Bergin, moved, 680 words)

Refugee crisis could shake up German political landscape

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is looking more vulnerable than ever because of her welcoming stance towards the hundreds of thousands of refugees fleeing war in the Middle East, but the rise of the anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party has injected a new element of surprise into the political landscape. (GERMANY-POLITICS/ (PIX), moved, By Noah Barkin , 809 words)

+ See also:

- EUROPE-MIGRANTS/GERMANY, moved, 250 words

UNITED STATES

As abortion case looms, both sides gather personal accounts

AUSTIN, Texas - As the U.S. Supreme Court prepares to hear its first abortion case in nearly a decade, both sides have been quietly gathering vivid personal accounts from women to supplement the dry legal arguments, believing the effort could appeal particularly to swing-vote Justice Anthony Kennedy. (USA COURT/ABORTION WOMEN, moved, by Joan Biskupic, 860 words)

Missouri assesses flood damage, U.S. South still imperiled

UREKA, Mo. - Missouri Governor Jay Nixon tours communities in his state ravaged by flooding that killed at least 31 people in several states and forced the evacuations of thousands in the Mississippi and Ohio river regions, as the danger of rising waters shifts to Arkansas and beyond. (USA-WEATHER/ (UPDATE 1, PICTURES), moved, by Sue Britt, 580 words)

ASIA

Disappearance of Hong Kong bookseller sparks protests
Hungary, Factors to watch, Jan 4

BUDAPEST, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Following is a list of events in Hungary and the region, as well as news stories and press reports which may influence financial markets.

(For any queries: Budapest editorial +36 1 327 4745)

WHAT IS HAPPENING IN HUNGARY (ALL TIMES GMT)

BUDAPEST - Dec PMI (0800)

BUDAPEST - liquidity T-bill auction (1030)

IN THE REGION

POLAND -Dec PMI

POLAND - CPI flash Dec

CZECH - Dec PMI

CZECH - Dec budget balance

ROMANIA - Bond tender

IN THE NEWS REUTERS

Hungary cbank asks nine banks to build additional capital buffer

BUDAPEST, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Hungary's central National Bank of Hungary has published additional capital buffer requirements for the top nine banks effective from Jan. 1, 2017 in order to strengthen the financial system, it said on Wednesday.

BRIEF-Hungary's mortgage bank FHB raises capital via share issue

BUDAPEST, Dec 30 (Reuters) - FHB Bank Nyrt issued 16.99 million new shares via private placement, shares subscribed by Hungarian savings banks and Magyar Takarekszovetkezeti Bank.

Hungarian state appeals against FHB's share issue plan BUDAPEST, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Hungary has appealed against mortgage bank FHB's decision to seek a cash injection via a share issue, asking a court to suspend a vote in favour of the issue at a recent shareholder meeting, state asset manager MNV said on Wednesday.

CEE MARKETS-Romania wage hike eyed as markets close stormy year

BUDAPEST, Dec 30 (Reuters) - Emerging European assets were little changed on Wednesday, the last trading day of 2015, a year that has seen wide swings and mild overall gains in most currencies and big differences in stock market performance.
Romania - Factors to watch on Jan 4

BUCHAREST, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Romanian financial markets on Monday.

FX RESERVES

Romania's central bank will release December foreign exchange reserves data.

DEBT TENDER

The finance ministry aims to sell 600 million lei ($144.82 million) worth of Jan. 2018 treasury bonds.

2016 DEBT PLANS

Romania's finance ministry plans to issue medium term notes (MTN) on the foreign markets worth 3 billion euros and 48-50 billion lei worth of domestic treasury bills and bonds on the local market in 2016, it said on Thursday.

The European Union country's foreign funding target stands at 4.5 billion euros for next year and, in addition to eurobonds, debt managers also plan to tap available funding from international financial institutions worth about 1.5 billion.

Debt managers plan to issue 14-16 billion lei of local debt in the first quarter.

CEE MARKETS

Emerging European assets were little changed on Wednesday, the last trading day of 2015, a year that has seen wide swings and mild overall gains in most currencies and big differences in stock market performance.

For the long-term Romanian diary, click on

For emerging markets economic events, click on

For an index of all diaries, click on
Poland - Factors to Watch Jan 4

Following are news stories, press reports and events to watch that may affect Poland's financial markets on Monday. ALL TIMES GMT (Poland: GMT + 1 hour):

MANUFACTURING PMI

Markit will publish Poland's manufacturing PMI at 0800 GMT. Analysts polled by Reuters expect the index to rise compared to November to 52.4.

CPI

The statistics office will publish its December flash CPI estimate at 1300 GMT.

EUROPEAN COMMISION

German Commissioner Guenther Oettinger will urge the European Union to start a process against Poland for threatening its common values with a proposed law on control of state-run media, he told a newspaper on Sunday.

REFUGEES

Poland's new conservative government will stick to its predecessor's commitment to take in about 7,000 migrants despite the objections it raised when it was in opposition, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said.

BREXIT

Poland could be open to compromise over British demands to limit the rights of European Union migrants if London helps it bolster the NATO presence in central Europe, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told Reuters.

DIVIDENDS

Poland should consider excluding dividends paid by energy companies from the state's budget starting from 2017, energy minister Krzysztof Tchorzewski told Dziennik Gazeta Prawna in an interview.

He added that energy companies could play a key role in rescuing the troubled coal miner Kompania Weglowa.

VAT

Poland should not cut the level of VAT from 23 to 22 percent, as it would hurt the state budget, Witold Modzelewski, co-author of the current government's levy policy, told daily Puls Biznesu.

BANKS

Polish central bank's rate-setter, Andrzej Kazmierczak, told daily Nasz Dziennik that he did not expect local lenders to cut lending due to the country's new tax on bank assets. Managers at Polish banks told daily Parkiet, however, that they expect lower lending and higher costs for clients.

Janusz Szewczak, the ruling Law and Justice's (PiS) representative to the parliamentary finance committee, told weekly W Sieci that Poland should have a plan of retrieve national wealth, for instance by creating a National Financial Group.

****Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.****
Slovak Republic - Factors To Watch on Jan 4

BRATISLAVA, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Here are news stories, press reports and events to watch which may affect Slovak financial markets on Monday. ALL TIMES GMT (Slovak Republic: GMT + 1 hour) =========================ECONOMIC DATA========================= Real-time economic data releases................... Previous stories on Slovak data............ Overview of economic data and forecasts......... =========================EVENTS================================= BRATISLAVA - Debt and Liquidity Management Agency ARDAL will release bonds calendar for 01/16. Related news: BRATISLAVA - Finance ministry will release budget balance data for December 2015. Related news: =========================NEWS================================= BUDGET BALANCE: Slovakia's central government budget deficit dropped to 1.93 billion euros ($2.10 billion) in 2015, less than the 2.98 billion euros planned by the government, Finance Minister Peter Kazimir said on Saturday. Story: Related news: MIGRANT QUOTA: Poland's new conservative government will stick to its predecessor's commitment to take in about 7,000 migrants despite the objections it raised when it was in opposition, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski said. Story: Related news: For Instant Views of key economic data click on For summary of economic data and forecasts For diary of forthcoming Slovak events For calendar of east European economic indicators TOP NEWS -- Emerging markets TOP NEWS -- Convergence watch For real-time stock market index quotes click in brackets: Warsaw WIG20 Budapest BUX Prague PX Prague office: +420 224 190 474 E-mail: prague.newsroom@thomsonreuters.com (Reporting by Bratislava Newsroom)
JKX urges investors to reject Proxima proposals

By Esha Vaish

Jan 4 (Reuters) - JKX Oil & Gas Plc urged shareholders to vote against a call by its second-largest shareholder, Proxima Capital Group Inc, to shake up the energy company's board.

JKX said it would hold a meeting on Jan. 28 to vote on Proxima's proposals, which call for the removal of seven out of JFX's nine directors, including its chairman, chief executive and finance director.

The Russian fund manager's shake-up call is an attempt to seize control of the company without making a bid for it at a fair premium, the London-listed JKX said.

The company's shares have tumbled more than 90 percent in value over the past five years, hurt recently by low oil prices and growing political tensions between Russia and Ukraine, its two main markets.

It had a market value of roughly 47 million pounds ($69 million) by the end of 2015.

"We strongly reject the company's claim that this is an attempt to gain control on the cheap," a spokesman for Proxima told Reuters.

"Our reason for doing what we are doing now is to try to stop the continued destruction of value at the company, which we have a direct interest in doing as a significant shareholder."

Moscow-based Proxima in February last year dropped its intention to make an offer for JKX.

In December, the fund, which then held roughly a fifth of JKX, asked shareholders to vote in five of its own nominees and back its bid to trim the board to seven members.

"There has been a seemingly irreparable breakdown in the relationships between the company and all of its key stakeholder groups," Proxima quoted Paul Ostling, its nominee for non-executive chairman, as saying at the time.

The JKX board on Monday questioned Proxima's ability to successfully run the company and unanimously recommended voting against the proposed changes.

"Proxima is a recently formed Russian fund manager with no track record of managing companies in the oil and gas sector," the company said.
Islamic State clash with guards near Libya's Es Sider oil port

BENGHAZI, Libya, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Islamic State militants on Monday clashed with a force guarding Libya's Es Sider oil port, and fighting continued near the major export terminal, witnesses and troops said.

No official was available to confirm the attack or details of how close the fighting was to the port. But Islamic State tried to attack Es Sider once before in October last year, setting of a car bomb and raiding a perimeter gate.

Es Sider and nearby Ras Lanuf oil ports have been closed for more than a year after fighting between rival factions for control of the country, where Islamic State has gained ground in the turmoil since the 2011 fall of Muammar Gaddafi.

Es Sider is protected by Ibrahim al-Jathran's Petrol Facilities Guard, a federalist armed faction.
Curfew imposed on Yemen's Aden after fighting kills 12

By Mohammed Mukhashaf

ADEN, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Yemeni authorities announced a dusk to dawn curfew in Aden starting on Monday following a night of gunbattles between armed men and government forces that killed at least 12 people from both sides, a local government spokesman said.

The government of President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi has been grappling with lawlessness in the southern port since militiamen, backed by a Saudi-led Arab alliance, drove the Iran-allied Houthis out in July.

Nizar Anwar, spokesman for the Aden local government, said the clashes were concentrated around the cargo and container terminals in Aden, which the gunmen had sought to seize from security forces.

Eight members of the security forces and four gunmen died in the clashes, Anwar told Reuters, adding that security forces managed to secure both terminals late at night on Sunday.

"The security committee has decided to impose a curfew on all parts of Aden from 8 p.m. until 5 a.m.," Anwar said, adding that the curfew would remain in place until further notice.

"This is a precautionary measure to deny armed elements freedom of movement," he added.

Hadi toured the cargo terminal in the city's Mualla district on Monday, port sources said, indicating that the facility was under government control.

Yemen descended into a civil war in March when the Houthis forced Hadi to flee to Saudi Arabia after they closed in on Aden, drawing in a Saudi-led coalition into the Yemen conflict.

Tensions mounted further this weekend after the Houthis joined Shi'ite Iran in condemning the decision by Sunni Muslim power Saudi Arabia to execute a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

Islamist militants, local tribesmen and criminals have exploited the fighting to spread chaos in the areas vacated by the Houthis.

A series of attacks have rocked Aden since July, including a booby-trapped car attack that killed Aden's governor General Jaafar Mohammed Saad and six members of his entourage last month.

In the latest attack on Monday, gunmen shot dead Sheikh Ali Othman al-Gailani, a member of a Sunni Muslim Sufi group -- a mystical school of Islam -- after he left a mosque in the city's Crater district, witnesses said.
PRESS DIGEST- Canada- Jan 4

Jan 4 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories from selected Canadian newspapers. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

THE GLOBE AND MAIL

** A coal export terminal south of Vancouver will no longer be able to avoid the fallout from low prices for the commodity. (http://bit.ly/22GBrIF)

** A brief surge in post-election economic optimism has given way to increased anxiety among Canadians - a sentiment some economists believe could have a chilling effect on the economy. (http://bit.ly/1SuRS6v)

NATIONAL POST
France prepares tribute to Charlie Hebdo, Jewish shop victims

By Michel Rose

PARIS, Jan 4 (Reuters) - France this week commemorates the victims of last year's Islamist militant attacks on satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo and a Jewish supermarket with eulogies, memorial plaques and another cartoon lampooning religion.

Heavy security is planned for the ceremonies honouring the 17 victims of the Jan. 7-9 gunfire sprees in Paris, which proved to be a grim forerunner of the suicide bombings and shootings in the city 10 months later in which 130 people died.

Charlie Hebdo, known for its satirical covers gleefully ridiculing political and religious leaders, lost many of its top editorial staff when two Islamist militants broke into an editorial meeting on Jan. 7 and raked it with bullets.

Another militant murdered a policewoman the next day, took hostages at the HyperCacher supermarket on Jan. 9 and killed four of them before police shot him dead. Other police cornered the escaped Charlie Hebdo gunmen in a printing plant north of Paris and killed them that same afternoon.

Charlie Hebdo plans a special edition with a cover cartoon showing an angry God with blood on his hands and a Kalashnikov automatic rifle strapped to his back. "One year later, the assassin is still on the run," the headline says.

An editorial, released before publication on Wednesday, said the magazine would continue despite religious extremists who wanted to muzzle it. "They won't be the ones to see Charlie die - Charlie will see them kick the bucket," it declared.

The attacks prompted a worldwide solidarity movement, with the "Je Suis Charlie" (I am Charlie) slogan going viral on social media.

In the second wave of attacks on Nov. 13, Islamist militants mowed down people in Paris cafes and a concert hall and attacked a stadium in what was the nation's worst post-war atrocity.

On Tuesday, President Francois Hollande is due to attend low-key ceremonies unveiling commemorative plaques at the main sites of the January attacks that will be attended by families and government officials. He will unveil another plaque in memory of the murdered policewoman on Saturday.

On Sunday, a more public ceremony is planned at Place de la Republique, the square in eastern Paris that attracted mass rallies in favour of free speech and democratic values after the attacks and became an informal memorial.

Hollande will preside over the ceremony, during which a 10-metre-high commemorative oak tree will be planted.

Johnny Hallyday, the 72-year-old French rock giant, will perform his song "A Sunday in January" about several million people who marched in protest on the streets of French cities on the Sunday following the January attacks.
EU executive to hold "political debate" on rule of law in Poland on Jan.13

BRUSSELS, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The European Union's executive will hold a "political debate" on the rule of law in Poland on Jan.13, a spokesman said on Monday, after Brussels requested information on two laws passed by a new right-wing government in Warsaw that triggered criticism.

The European Commission's spokesman Margaritis Schinas told a regular news briefing that the body was obliged by EU treaties to safeguard the rule of law in all 28 member states.
Cairn Energy successfully tests Senegal production well

By Esha Vaish and Noor Zainab Hussain

Jan 4 (Reuters) - Oil explorer Cairn Energy Plc said on Monday it carried out its first successful production test at its oilfields in Senegal, sending its shares up as much as 9 percent.

The company said it had produced high-quality oil at a rate of around 8,000 barrels per day (bopd) from its SNE-2 well around 100 kilometres off the coast of Senegal.

The West African country is one the few where oil and gas companies, hit by a plunge in oil prices, are still investing to find new resources. Most companies have cut exploration budgets and are focusing on projects that offer immediate returns.

At least two analysts said Cairn Energy's production rate at the Senegal well was better than expected and removed significant uncertainty about the quality of the reservoir, which Cairn Energy estimates could hold more than a billion barrels of oil.

"I think this confirms a strong potential for commercial discovery," RBC Capital Markets analyst Nathan Piper told Reuters.

Investors have been awaiting results from Cairn Energy's Senegal project to get a better understanding of the potential of the newly explored basin.

"The results help to confirm the overall scale and extent of the resource base in Senegal and further appraisal activity is expected to lead to future revision of the estimates," Chief Executive Simon Thomson said.

Cairn Energy, which focuses purely on exploration, also said on Monday it produced "relatively low quality" oil at a rate of 1,000 bopd at another depth in the same well.

The company is the operator and 40-percent owner of three blocks off the coast of Senegal. Other stakeholders include oil major ConocoPhillips, which owns 35 percent.
Islamic State fighters target Libya's main oil terminals

BENGHAZI, Libya, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Islamic State militants clashed with security forces near Libya's Es Sider oil export terminal on Monday killing two guards, while an oil storage tank at nearby Ras Lanuf was set on fire during fighting there, witnesses and a guard said.

The guard told Reuters that Islamic State suicide car bombers had attacked Es Sider, after which the insurgents retreated, and that the tank at Ras Lanuf, about 20 km (13 miles) from Es Sider, had been hit by a rocket.

A spokesman for Libya's National Oil Company (NOC) said the tank was holding about 400,000 barrels of oil. The NOC was still trying to put out the fire late on Monday evening.

Libya descended into chaos after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in 2011 and rival governments and the militias that support them are fighting for control of the North African state and its energy reserves. Es Sider and Ras Lanuf, its biggest oil ports lie between Sirte and Benghazi and have been shut for a year.

Islamic State has taken advantage the security vacuum to grab territory and is threatening to advance from Sirte, which it controls. So far the group has failed to take control of any Libyan oil installations but has done so in Syria.

The group said it had attacked Es Sider after taking the nearby town of Ben Jawad. However, there was no independent confirmation of its capture.

Es Sider is protected by Ibrahim al-Jathran's Petrol Facilities Guard, which has backed the government based in the city of Bayda in the east, but is also fighting other forces supporting that government.

Libya's crude oil production has dropped to less than a quarter of a 2011 high of 1.6 million barrels per day.

The United Nations has been trying to win support for a deal brokered in Morocco last month to create a national unity government for Libya.

Separately on Monday, a plane targeting militant groups in the eastern city of Benghazi was shot down, though the pilot ejected, senior army commander Fadel al-Hassi told Reuters.
Danes, Swedes impose new border checks in fresh blow to open-frontier Europe

By Alexander Tange and Daniel Dickson

COPENHAGEN/STOCKHOLM, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Denmark imposed temporary identity checks on its border with Germany on Monday following a similar move by Sweden, dealing a double blow to Europe's fraying passport-free Schengen area amid a record influx of migrants.

Sweden began checking documents of travellers from Denmark on Monday for the first time in half a century, causing delays of up to 50 minutes for trains and buses crossing the 4.9 mile (7.9 km) Oresund Bridge, Europe's longest combined road and rail bridge. However private vehicles were exempt from the checks.

Denmark's prime minister said Sweden's move gave his country no option but to impose its own border controls and he appealed to the European Union to take "collective decisions" to better protect its external borders against the tide of migrants.

"The Swedish ID checks can increase the risk of a large number of illegal immigrants to accumulate in and around Copenhagen," Lars Lokke Rasmussen told a news conference in Copenhagen, justifying the new controls on the German border.

Last year some 163,000 refugees sought asylum in Sweden, the largest number for any EU country relative to its population. But with arrivals running at around 10,000 a week in November, mostly travelling through Denmark, the Swedish government has said it is time to tighten border controls and asylum rules.

"A dark day for our Nordic region," former centre-right Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt said on his Twitter feed on Monday to describe the imposition of border checks.

Thousands of commuters daily use the Oresund Bridge - familiar to fans of the 'Nordic noir' crime drama series "The Bridge" - to shuttle by car, train and bus between the Danish capital Copenhagen and the Swedish city of Malmo.

Travellers expressed dismay at the new checks.

"I paid 230 euros for these tickets. This is Europe, not Africa. Why these checks?" said Gezahegn Abebe, an Ethiopian migrant living in Norway as he stood in the train station by Copenhagen airport before trying to head to Sweden.

Returning home from a visit to Germany, Abebe said he had not been allowed through by security guards when he showed his Norwegian residence permit. Unlike Sweden and Denmark, Norway is not in the EU but it is a member of the Schengen zone.

"They said this is not a passport. If you don't have a passport you can't go," Abebe said.

BREAKING POINT

More than one million migrants fleeing conflicts and poverty in the Middle East and beyond sought shelter in Europe in 2015 and many more are expected to come during 2016.

The unprecedented numbers have strained to breaking point the EU's free movement policy and its attempts to create a single economic area, with several countries temporarily re-introducing border controls.

Rasmussen said the Danish border controls would last for 10 days but could be extended.

Officials in Germany, which itself is struggling to absorb about a million migrants who arrived during 2015, said they were paying close attention to the new Danish border checks and their possible impact on the northward flow of migrants into Denmark.

Sweden has long been proud of its self-proclaimed status as a 'humanitarian superpower' and its decision in November to tighten border controls and asylum rules came close to bringing down Prime Minister Stefan Lofven's minority coalition government of Social Democrats and Greens.

Norway swiftly followed Sweden's lead and has announced 40 proposals to tighten asylum rules.

ID-free travel within the Nordic region - long a popular magnet for migrants due to its high standards of living and generous social welfare benefits - dates back long before the Schengen accord to the 1950s, when Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Iceland signed a passport union.

Around 15,000 commuters cross the strait between Sweden and Denmark every day and there are worries that businesses in Sweden's Skane region and in Copenhagen will be hit.

Denmark's state-owned rail operator said the ID controls would cost it nearly 1 million Danish crowns ($147,000) a day.

Danish employers fear fewer Swedes will want to cross the bridge to work in Denmark as a result of the new rules.

"Already now the lack of workers is a problem and if the Swedes do not want to work here due to a longer commute, the problem will be even bigger," Pernille Knudsen, Vice Chief Executive of the Confederation of Danish Employers, told Danish newspaper Borsen.
Hezbollah targets Israeli forces with bomb, Israel shells south Lebanon

By John Davison and Suleiman Al-Khalidi

BEIRUT, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Hezbollah set off a bomb targeting Israeli forces at the Lebanese border on Monday in an apparent response to the killing in Syria last month of a prominent commander, triggering Israeli shelling of southern Lebanon.

Israel has struck its Iran-backed Shi'ite enemy Hezbollah in Syria several times, killing a number of fighters and destroying weapons it believes were destined for the group, whose support for President Bashar al-Assad has been crucial in the country's civil war.

Israel's army said Monday's blast, targeting military vehicles in the Shebaa farms area, prompted Israeli forces to respond with artillery fire. It made no mention of casualties.

Hezbollah said in a statement that the explosive device had been detonated in the Shebaa farms area and carried out by a group whom it named after Samir Qantar, a commander killed in December. The group has accused Israel of killing Qantar in an air strike in Syria, and vowed to retaliate.

The U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, UNIFIL, urged both sides to avoid an escalation, saying it had stepped up patrols on the ground after the incident.

In a statement, head of mission Major-General Luciano Portolano urged both sides "to exercise utmost restraint against any provocation."

Lebanese media said Israeli shelling had hit the nearby town of Al Wazzani and other areas, with reports of material damage but no serious injuries.

Witnesses said at least 10 Israeli shells had hit Al Wazzani shortly after the blast.

A Reuters witness said the shelling had stopped later in the day. Al Manar TV reported that calm had returned to the Shebaa area.

An Israeli air strike killed Qantar on Dec. 20 in Damascus, Hezbollah said. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said a week later that retaliation would be inevitable.

Israel stopped short of confirming responsibility for the strike that killed Qantar, but welcomed the death of the militant leader, who had been jailed in Israel in 1979 and repatriated to Lebanon in a 2008 prisoner swap.

Hezbollah did not say which role Qantar played in the Syrian conflict, but Syrian state media said he was involved in a major offensive earlier this year in Quneitra, near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.

Hezbollah is fighting on the side of Assad in Syria's civil war. The conflict has exacted a heavy toll on Hezbollah, with many hundreds of its fighters killed.

In January last year, an Israeli helicopter attack killed six Hezbollah members including a commander and the son of the group's late military commander Imad Moughniyah. An Iranian general was also killed in that attack.

Two Israeli soldiers and a Spanish peacekeeper were killed later that month in one of the most violent clashes between the two sides since a 2006 war.

Israel and Hezbollah have avoided large scale confrontation along their 80-km (50-mile) frontier since the 34-day war in 2006, which killed 120 people in Israel and more than 500 in Lebanon.
Sudanese who braved Channel Tunnel granted asylum in Britain

By Estelle Shirbon

CANTERBURY, England, Jan 4 (Reuters) - A Sudanese man who made global headlines in August when he walked 50 km (30 miles) through the Channel Tunnel from France to England, highlighting the plight of migrants, has been granted asylum in Britain.

The case of Abdul Haroun, who has been in prison since he was arrested at the English end of the tunnel on Aug. 4, is one of the most dramatic examples of a country struggling to tackle an influx of refugees largely from war zones such as Syria.

After walking for 12 hours in near total darkness as trains rushed past at speeds of up to 160 km per hour, Haroun was charged with the obscure 19th Century offence of obstructing a railway, which attracts a penalty of up to two years in jail.

Refugee rights campaigners accused authorities of treating Haroun harshly to deter others from following in his footsteps, while tunnel operator Eurotunnel called for "the full force of the law" to be used against him.

Haroun had been due to stand trial this month, but at a brief hearing on Monday at Canterbury Crown Court, in the southeastern county of Kent, prosecutor Philip Bennetts said Haroun had been granted asylum on Dec. 24.

The case was adjourned to Jan. 18 to give the prosecution time to decide whether to continue with the case.

Eurotunnel said the granting of asylum to Haroun would encourage others to seek clandestine ways to enter Britain.

"He not only caused significant disruption to Eurotunnel and to the many freight and passenger customers travelling at the time, he also put his own life and that of others at risk," the company said in a statement.

Judge Adele Williams granted Haroun immediate bail, ending five months of pre-trial detention that had left his lawyers concerned about his psychological state.

REFUGEE RIGHTS V VOTER CONCERNS

"We're delighted that it's reached this point and we're hoping the case will be thrown out," said Kate Adams of the non-governmental group Kent Refugee Help, which has supported Haroun in prison and is providing him with a place to live.

"We want him to be happily settled in the UK," she said.

A spokesman for the Home Office, the government department which oversees the asylum system, declined immediate comment.

Haroun's high-profile case comes at an awkward time for the government, which is preparing for a referendum on Britain's membership of the European Union in which the migration crisis is a major issue for voters.

The crisis has divided Britain, as it has other European countries such as Germany and France, between those who want tougher measures to keep migrants out and those who call for greater solidarity with people fleeing war or oppression.

Little is known about Haroun, who was 40 at the time of his arrest according to police. The court heard at an earlier hearing that his mother tongue is Zaghawa, suggesting that he may be from Darfur, a region of Sudan ravaged by more than a decade of conflict between government and rebel forces.

Under the U.N. Refugee Convention, asylum seekers cannot be prosecuted for irregular entry into a country of sanctuary. But legal experts say British authorities sometimes find ways around this by charging them with offences that are not technically protected by convention rights.

"They were over-hasty in bringing a prosecution (against Haroun) before deciding whether he was a refugee," said lawyer Colin Yeo, a prominent expert on asylum.
Saudi Arabia to halt flights, trade with Iran - minister

By Angus McDowall

RIYADH, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia widened its rift with Iran on Monday, saying it would end air traffic and trade links with the Islamic republic and demanding that Tehran must "act like a normal country" before it would restore severed diplomatic relations.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters in an interview that Tehran was responsible for rising tensions after the kingdom executed Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, describing him as a terrorist.

Insisting Riyadh would react to "Iranian aggression", he accused Tehran of dispatching fighters to Arab countries and plotting attacks inside the kingdom and its Gulf neighbours.

"There is no escalation on the part of Saudi Arabia. Our moves are all reactive. It is the Iranians who went into Lebanon. It is the Iranians who sent their Qods Force and their Revolutionary Guards into Syria," Jubeir said.

Tehran says it has sent only military advisers to Syria and Iraq at their governments' requests, and denies plots in Gulf states.

The execution of Nimr provoked protests among Shi'ites across the region and Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, setting fires and causing damage, prompting Riyadh to cut ties and inflaming an already heated rivalry.

"We will also be cutting off all air traffic to and from Iran. We will be cutting off all commercial relations with Iran. And we will have a travel ban against people travelling to Iran," Jubeir said.

Iranian pilgrims would still be welcome to visit Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia, either for the annual haj or at other times of year on the umrah pilgrimage, he said.

However, Jubeir said Saudi Arabia had been right to execute Nimr, whom he accused of "agitating, organising cells, providing them with weapons and money" - allegations that the cleric's family have denied.

After listing the crimes of 43 al Qaeda members also put to death on Saturday alongside four Shi'ites, Jubeir said of the executions: "We should be applauded for this, not criticised."

'AGGRESSIVE POLICIES'

Jubeir, a former ambassador to Washington where the FBI in 2011 said he had been the target of an Iranian assassination plot, said the break in ties was a response to older problems as well as the embassy storming.

" is a reaction to Iran's aggressive policies over the years, and in particular over the past few months. The Iranian regime has been a sponsor of terrorism, they have set up terrorist cells in Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries," he said.

Tehran has consistently denied those charges and itself has accused Riyadh of supporting militancy through its backing of Islamist rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Jubeir also accused Iran's authorities of complicity in the attack on the embassy at the weekend, saying Saudi diplomats had seen security forces enter the building and take part in looting and that the police did not respond to more than one request for help.

Iran has defended its measures to protect the Saudi embassy, saying it is investigating the matter and has made arrests.

Asked what steps Iran needed to take before Riyadh would consider restoring diplomatic ties, Jubeir said Tehran must "respect international norms and treaties and conventions" and "act like a normal country respects the territorial integrity of its neighbours".
Saudi Arabia recruits Sunni allies in row with Iran

By Sam Wilkin

DUBAI, Jan 4 (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia rallied Sunni allies to its side in a growing diplomatic row with Iran on Monday, deepening a sectarian split across the Middle East following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

Bahrain and Sudan cut all ties with Iran, following Riyadh's example the previous day. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters Riyadh would also halt air traffic and commercial relations between the rival powers.

He blamed Iran's "aggressive policies" for the diplomatic action, alluding to years of tension that spilled over on Saturday night when Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom's embassy in Tehran.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, partially downgraded its relations but the other Gulf Arab countries -- Kuwait, Qatar and Oman -- stayed above the fray.

Shi'ite Iran accused Saudi Arabia of using the attack on the embassy as an "excuse" to sever ties and further increase sectarian tensions, as protesters in Iran and Iraq marched for a third day to denounce Saudi Arabia's execution of Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

A man was shot dead in Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province late on Sunday, and two Sunni mosques in Iraq's Shi'ite-majority Hilla province were bombed in the fallout from the dispute between the Middle East's top Sunni and Shi'ite powers.

Oil prices spiked during European trading as the two big petroleum exporters traded insults and after violence hit other crude producers such as Iraq. But prices then eased back on evidence of economic weakness in Asia.

Stock markets across the Gulf dropped sharply, led by Qatar which fell more than 2.5 percent, with geopolitical jitters outweighing any benefit from stronger oil.

Crude importer China declared itself "highly concerned" with the developments, in a rare foray into Middle East diplomacy. The United States and Germany called for restraint, while Russia offered to mediate an end to the dispute.

The row threatened to derail efforts to end Syria's five-year-old civil war, where Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab powers support rebel groups against Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad.

In neighbouring Lebanon, newspapers said the spat had clouded the hopes of filling the vacant presidency that had been raised last month after Iran and Saudi Arabia both voiced support for a power-sharing deal.

Nevertheless, analysts said fears of a sectarian rupture across the Middle East were premature, and the break in relations could be more a symptom of existing strains than evidence of new ones.

"The fact that the UAE was unwilling to cut off ties with Iran completely, despite the closeness of its relations with Saudi Arabia, shows the difficulty that the Saudis will have in trying to isolate Iran," said Julien Barnes-Dacey, senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations.

"The downgrading of ties is not fundamentally a question of responding to executions and the storming of an embassy... (but rather) a function of a much deeper conflict between the two states," he added.

"DIVINE REVENGE"

After a furious response in Shi'ite communities worldwide to the Sunni kingdom's execution of Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iran was creating "terrorist cells" among the kingdom's Shi'ite minority.

Saudi Arabia executed Nimr and three other Shi'ites on terrorism charges on Saturday, alongside dozens of Sunni jihadists. Shi'ite Iran hailed him as a "martyr" and warned Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family of "divine revenge".

Shi'ite groups united in condemnation of Saudi Arabia while Sunni powers rallied behind the kingdom, hardening a sectarian split that has torn apart communities across the Middle East and nourished the jihadist ideology of Islamic State.

Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based seat of Sunni Muslim learning, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia, condemned the attacks on Riyadh's missions and stressed Tehran's obligation to respect the internal affairs of the kingdom.

Bahrain, a Sunni-ruled island kingdom with a restive Shi'ite majority, accused Iran of "blatant and dangerous interference" in the affairs of the Gulf Arab countries, in a statement announcing the severing of diplomatic ties.

The Yemeni government on Monday announced a curfew in the port city of Aden, a beachhead for Saudi and UAE forces waging war on the Shi'ite Houthi group that controls much of the country. A ceasefire collapsed on Saturday.

Western powers, many of which supply billions of dollars worth of weaponry to Gulf Arab powers, tried to tamp down the tensions with Iran but also deplored the executions, as human rights groups strongly criticised Saudi Arabia's judicial process and protesters gathered outside Saudi embassies.
UN pushes Syria, Yemen peace amid 'worrying' Saudi break with Iran

By Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols

UNITED NATIONS, Jan 4 (Reuters) - The United Nations worked quickly on Monday to salvage fragile international bids to broker peace in Syria and Yemen from a spillover of tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran after Riyadh's decision to cut off ties with Tehran.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on Monday told Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir he was extremely troubled by the break in ties, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said. Ban spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday.

"The Secretary-General reiterated that the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran was deplorable, but added that the announcement of a break in Saudi diplomatic relations with Tehran was deeply worrying," Dujarric told reporters.

"The Secretary-General urged both foreign ministers to avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between the two countries and in the region as a whole," Dujarric said.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday, two days after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest over Riyadh's execution of a senior Shi'ite cleric.

Ban wanted to ensure that both Iran and Saudi Arabia, regional rivals with a long history of tense relations, continue their commitment to ending the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, where the two countries back opposing sides, Dujarric said.

"(The U.N.) will be pushing forward and very much hoping that the current tensions will not impact negatively on the two peace processes," Dujarric said.

The United Nations has said that it wants peace talks between the Syrian government and opposition to begin in Geneva on Jan. 25. It is also pushing for a ceasefire to take place when those U.N.-brokered negotiations begin as part of an international push to end the five-year Syrian civil war.

U.N. Syria mediator Staffan de Mistura is visiting Saudi Arabia and Tehran this week on a preplanned visit, while U.N. Yemen mediator, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, is to return to the region on Thursday, Dujarric said.

"Mr. de Mistura believes that the crisis in Saudi-Iranian relations is a very worrisome development and he stresses the need to ensure that it does not cause a chain of adverse consequences in the region," he said.

A Saudi-led coalition that has been bombing the Iranian-allied Houthi movement in Yemen for nine months announced on Saturday the end of a ceasefire that began on Dec. 15, in a setback to U.N.-brokered attempts to end that conflict.
The 'marriage of convenience' between Saddam Hussein's men and Islamic State

By Mohamad Bazzi

Jan 4 (Reuters) - For decades, Iraq's landscape was dotted with heroic portraits of Saddam Hussein: he appeared as a Bedouin riding a white horse, a revolutionary in a black beret, or a devout Muslim with his head bowed in prayer. But the most iconic image, which hung on buildings, schools, airports and highways, was that of a smiling Hussein, wearing a fedora and firing an assault rifle into the air. In the more than 30 years he ruled Iraq, Hussein tirelessly cultivated the persona that photograph embodied: an urbane, modern and, above all, strong leader.

Hussein was executed nine years ago - on December 30, 2006 - but he remains an important symbol for Iraq's disillusioned Sunni Arab minority. His legacy as a supposedly strong leader who kept Iraq together, by brutal force, reverberates for Sunnis in the wider Middle East, which is wracked by sectarian conflict and stalled revolutions.

Today, Hussein leaves a new legacy in Iraq: a marriage of convenience between former officers of his Baath Party and Sunni militants like those of Islamic State. The jihadists assumed the most prominent role as they swept through northern and central Iraq in mid- to late-2014. But they were able to capture large swaths of territory from the Iraqi government thanks to an alliance with a network of former Hussein regime loyalists who had deep ties to Sunni tribes in cities like Mosul and Tikrit. After taking control of Mosul and other Sunni cities, Islamic State leaders pushed aside the ex-Baathists or absorbed them into the group's ranks.

The ex-Baathists, who include former intelligence officers and elite Republican Guard troops, coalesced in 2007 - soon after the Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad executed Hussein - as a group called the Men of the Army of the Naqshbandi Order. The group's leader is Ezzat al-Douri, who was Hussein's right-hand man and the most wanted member of the ousted Baathist regime to remain at large since the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. The Naqshbandi Order sought to counter Iranian influence, tap into the disillusionment of Iraq's Sunni community and try to restore Sunni rule over the country.

Soon after Islamic State militants captured Mosul in June 2014, with help from the Naqshbandi Order and its tribal allies, Douri issued an audio message praising the Sunni militants and urging Iraqis to join the fight. "Join the ranks of the rebels who liberated half the country," he said. "The liberation of Baghdad is around the corner. Everyone should contribute to complete the liberation of the beloved country, because there is no honor or dignity without it."

In April, Iraqi militia fighters paraded a body - purportedly that of Douri - in a glass coffin through the streets of Baghdad. But DNA tests could not confirm that the body was indeed Douri's, and he had been erroneously reported by Iraqi officials as killed or captured several times in the past. Douri is likely still at large, and working with Sunni militants.

A recent Reuters investigation revealed that former Iraqi Baathists are playing a leading role in Islamic State, especially as leaders of its shadowy military and security apparatuses. Because the Baathists have deep social, financial and cultural ties to many areas that are now under Islamic State's control, it will be difficult for the Iraqi government to dislodge the militants from those areas. And even when Baghdad is able to recapture territory, the militants and their Baathist allies undermine the central government's efforts to restore order. **** In 2003, Hussein became the first modern Arab leader to be deposed by a foreign power. After a trial marred by charges of U.S. interference and procedural flaws, an Iraqi court convicted him of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging. That earned Hussein another distinction: as the first modern Arab ruler to be tried and executed for his crimes.

Hussein's execution became a rallying cry for his supporters and for Sunnis in the region. On December 30, 2006, Hussein stood calmly at the gallows, as one of his three executioners - men in black ski masks and leather jackets - prepared to slip a thick yellow noose around his neck. Hussein stepped toward the platform that would soon open up beneath him.

Then, the room erupted in Shi'ite religious chants and taunts. The Shi'ite guards and activists seized the moment to confront a dictator who had inflicted so much suffering on the Shi'ites of Iraq. As soon as the noose was around Hussein's neck, they chanted in unison, "O God bless Mohammad and the family of Mohammad."

Several men shouted, "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada," referring to the Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who led a rebellion against U.S. troops in Iraq.

"Muqtada," Hussein smiled, and asked sarcastically: "Is this your manhood?"

"Go to hell," one man yelled.

An Iraqi prosecutor pleaded with the hecklers, "I beg you. The man is facing execution. Please stop."

The room quieted briefly, and Hussein was hanged.

Hussein's execution cemented his status as a Sunni and Arab nationalist martyr. While not all Sunnis in the region were necessarily fond of the deposed Iraqi leader, many were outraged at the way he was executed. This was a low point in relations between Sunnis and Shi'ites, and the U.S.-backed Iraqi government made a series of miscalculations that gave Sunnis throughout the Arab world a new reason to hold a grudge against Shi'ites.

After Hussein's execution, the ex-Baathists became more active through the Naqshbandi Order and they enhanced their alliance with Sunni militants of al Qaeda in Iraq, which would later morph into Islamic State. Several top Baathist officials, including Douri, went into hiding and began to mastermind the Sunni-led insurgency soon after U.S. forces ousted Hussein's regime.

In the fall of 2003, American officials said Douri was involved in recruiting foreign jihadists and funding attacks on U.S. troops. That assessment was based on accounts from captured members of Ansar al-Islam, an al Qaeda-linked group that U.S. officials blamed for a series of suicide bombings and other attacks on American forces and Iraqi civilians. U.S. officials said Douri and other ex-Baathist leaders fled to neighboring Syria, where they reportedly worked with Syrian intelligence operatives to reestablish elements of the Baath Party within Iraq.

Both the Baathists and Islamic militants were able to cultivate support from ordinary Sunnis who were alienated by the sectarian policies of former Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Since the new premier, Haider al-Abadi, took office in September 2014, Sunni political leaders have made several demands on him. These include amnesty for tens of thousands of Sunnis imprisoned - in many cases without judicial review - by Maliki's regime in the name of fighting terrorism; greater power in the new government; an end to aerial bombardment of Sunni towns; and a more significant role in the Iraqi security forces, which Maliki cleansed of many senior Sunni officers.

Today, Shi'ite militias are taking the lead in the fight against Islamic State and other jihadists, and in the process further alienating the Sunni community. Many Sunnis cringe at the memories evoked by the reestablishment of Shi'ite militias, which carried out widespread kidnappings, torture and killing of Sunnis during the sectarian war that raged in Iraq from 2005 through 2008.
This morning as news of termors in Manipur and other parts of northeast India came to light, I couldn't help but think about how we react to crises which affect our near and dear ones.

Even though the evoked reaction was plain sarkari, I was surprised to find people from other reigions still voicing some concerns. This certainly was not the case a few decades ago.

In Mumbai, for instance, people would (and still) routinely distinguish outsiders or non-locals in peculiar ways. All those hailing from northern parts of the country were referred to as "bhaiyyas". For many, all those from the southern part of the country were "Madrasis", and those from the eastern parts Bengalis". Period.

This used to be the simple understanding of the diverse and complex landscape of our great nation. With advances in education in other parts and increased job opportunities in Mumbai and other cities, migration became commonplace, and this opened several windows for a deeper understanding of the nuances of our demography, but not enough.

Sadly what even this large-scale migration could not wipe clean was a complete lack of understanding about the people and provinces of Northeastern India. Till recently, many believe that Manipur is a city like Nagpur or Jabalpur. Several professors who are guiding PhD students of one faculty or the other, even today, refer to Arunachal Pradesh as Arunachalam. And about Mizoram, it is an easy guess that hardly anyone would know the capital city of the tiny, hilly state. Tragically, even today, many of us are ignorant about Northeastern India.

In my opinion, this is mainly because post independence, governments at the Centre have failed to understand the close relationship between recognition of identity and participation in national ethos, geographical distance and psychological distance; and above all, national integration and emotional integration.

It is true that oversimplification cannot be the solution. Still, the fact remains that an all pervading ignorance about the fact that people belonging to several provinces in India have mongoloid features has a potential to create a huge impediment in the evolution of commonality of ethos.

If people in other parts fail to recognise our fellow countrymen from Northeast India, primarily, the former has to be blamed.

A few decades ago, while interacting with a Naga village headman, a group of visitors from other parts had innocently used the term "mainstream" while appealing to the Naga people to join the same.

Pat came the response from the nonagenarian headman, reminding that it is in the hills that the "mainstream" originates. "We are the hill people and who told you that you are the mainstream? Since we live in hills where mainstream originates, we, in fact, are the mainstream!"

Like "inclusive development", "mainstreaming" also is a term that has a condescending overtone.

Similarly, national policymakers and planners would have done a great job had they understood that geographical distance has the potential to cause psychological distance as well.

Till recently, tourists wanting to go to Andamans would ask where one could get a visa. Tsunami in Andaman cannot evoke the same outcry towards sufferings and losses as possibly the floods in Chennai can (that too delayed).

We owe a lot to Atal Bihari Vajpayee for the Golden Quadrilateral to pave the infrastructural way for national integration.

All this went on for years simply because we looked at national integration as a mere sarkari campaign or a programme. More often than not, the celebration of diversity in India is given greater importance as compared to the quintessential unity underlying the diversity.

This has contributed to our collective myopia, causing further neglect of the need to strive in a structured manner for emotional integration, an essential prerequisite of national integration.

Thankfully, way back in 1966, young activists of the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) realised all this when they visited Guwahati and parts of Northeast first. On their journey back to Mumbai, they planned a programme called Students' Experience in Interstate Living or SEIL.

Under SEIL, with Northeast India as its focus, the emphasis remained on bringing national integration to the experiential level. Almost biennially conducted interstate tours with family-stay as its component, SEIL not only added to the Northeast literacy of those in other parts, but also helped lessen the feeling of deprivation among students belonging to Scheduled Tribes (ST) in the Northeast.

From Gegong Apang to Nabam Tuki, many frontline politicians in Arunachal Pradesh today, are ex-SEIL participants. Padmanabh Acharya, governor of Nagaland and Assam; as many may not know, was one of the founding fathers of SEIL.

Thanks to SEIL, several thousand young Northeasterners and almost an equal number of students and youth from other parts of our country have developed a rare bonding with each other.

They have learnt, what no geography or history textbook would have been able to teach them. Among those several factors that have contributed to halting the spread of insurgency and secessionist tendencies in Northeast, voluntary efforts through programmes like SEIL stand out for their uniqueness.

Today, when SEIL is celebrating its golden jubilee, the need for further institutionalisation of the efforts of SEIL cannot be underestimated.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has already given an inkling of his dream-scheme for "Ek Bharat-Sreshtha Bharat".

Such schemes and programmes certainly would give further impetus to enhancing the levels of our diversity literacy. However, what is also required is redesigning our pedagogical content to enable students understand the remote border areas more in depth. Also, the concept of area studies in higher education also needs to be brought closer to home.

While students of international relations can and should learn Latin American Studies, all students need to have at least a brush with Northeast Indian studies.

When capitalising and exploiting diversity to add to the balance in political vote-bank accounts has become a practise for some political parties, result-oriented efforts for unifying a diverse society have their own importance.
It's increasingly clear that the terrorist strike on the Pathankot air force base was in planning for months. The heavy ammunition the terrorists used (including mortars) underscores the military-style training they had undergone.

A coordinated attack on a forward Indian air force base spread over 1,600 acres cannot take place without the absolute involvement of the Pakistani army and the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).

It's equally obvious that when Prime Minister Narendra Modi dropped by to meet Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif in Lahore on December 25 planning for the Pathankot terror strike was well under way. Significantly, Sharif almost certainly knew about the planned attack even as he walked hand in hand with Modi at his opulent home on the outskirts of Lahore.

For Modi, Pathankot presents a nuanced challenge. Pakistan plays a double game. India must pay it back in the same coin. Because it can't win a conventional war against India over Jammu and Kashmir, Islamabad's long-held strategy is to bleed India by a thousand cuts. At the same time, Islamabad wants to engage in a comprehensive dialogue with India to show the world that Pakistan is not a pariah state.

This is Pakistan's Achilles' heel: it wants terror; but it also wants talks. Modi must target this weakness to bring Pakistan to heel.

Let's now get some myths out of the way.

Myth 1: The attack on the Pathankot air base was specifically designed to derail the new comprehensive dialogue between India and Pakistan.

Fact 1: The Pathankot strike was planned months ago, well before the new comprehensive dialogue was formalised recently by external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj in Islamabad. Pakistan follows the good cop-bad cop policy. The Nawaz Sharif government plays good cop, engaging with India, piously condemning terror attacks on Indian targets, promising action against the perpetrators, politely asking for evidence, and then doing nothing about it.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's army and ISI clinically plan attacks on India targets with their terrorist proxies: the Laskhar-e-Toiba (LeT) and Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM). The attacks are designed to be lethal enough to damage key Indian assets but not lethal enough to compel New Delhi to break off talks or launch a retaliatory attack on Pakistan's terror infrastructure across the border.

The purpose of this strategy is plausible deniability. The Pakistani government pretends it knew nothing about the attack while the army lays the blame squarely on rogue terror groups over which it says, without batting an eyelid, it has no control.

This charade accompanies every Pakistan-sponsored terror attack on India. Jawans are routinely martyred. Officers are killed as well. So are civilians.

But Pakistan knows that Indian outrage is often shortlived. In a week, it will be business as usual as the two foreign secretaries continue with plans to meet in Islamabad on January 14-15 as part of the new comprehensive dialogue. For Pakistan, if these talks do go ahead, it will be mission accomplished. It would have successfully given India a bloody nose and shown the world that a handful of terrorists can occupy an Indian air force base for days. The Nawaz Sharif government will deny complicity and insist the dialogue process continue to discuss the root cause of terrorism.

This time though, Pakistan may have overplayed its hand. We will soon know.

Myth 2: India has no option beyond doing nothing and outright war - with all its nuclear dimensions.

Fact 2: There are a broad range of options between doing nothing and war. Examine three.

One, following an attack India can downgrade diplomatic relations with Pakistan. Recall our high commissioner in Islamabad. Tell Pakistan's high commissioner in Delhi to pack his bags. Downgrade the Pakistani high commission to consular status. (Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic relations with Iran on January 3 following the execution of a respected Shia cleric by Riyadh and a retaliatory attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran.) Talks can meanwhile continue at consular level but Pakistan's diplomatic downgrade will send an important message to both Islamabad and the international community: terror carries a price.

Two, impose calibrated economic sanctions. After the Modi-Sharif meeting in Lahore, Pakistan wants more trade with India not less. Following Pathankot, give them less trade. It will pinch Pakistan's fragile economy and have no impact on India's.

Three, covert operations. Hit Pakistan quietly but consistently where it hurts most by using proxies. India's covert capability is poor but mercenaries (Baloch, Pashtuns and others) are available on hire. We must use them behind enemy lines to inflict proportionate damage with surgical precision on Pakistani terror assets - with plausible deniability. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval knows exactly what to do.

The Pathankot strike has shades of the Mumbai 26/11 attack that killed 166 people and took years of planning. Pathankot clearly was meticulously planned months ago. The air base, spread over 1,600 acres, has over 1,500 families in residence. Securing their safety was paramount. Hence the slow pace of combing operations to neutralise the remaining two terrorists. All physical assets in the air base - aircraft, helicopters and avionics equipment -were secured early in the attack.

To summarise: India must engage with Pakistan - there is no long-term substitute for talks. But the level of engagement can be downgraded. When terror from Pakistani soil strikes, India must punish it: diplomatically, economically and covertly. Pakistani proxies today attack India with impunity knowing India will outrage but eventually do nothing.

That comfort level must end. For every terror attack there must be relaliatory action - covert and overt - along the three measures outlined above, taken together or individually, depending on the scale and nature of the terror strike.

What about the nuclear threat? That is the biggest myth of all. Even in conflicts where only one of the two countries involved has nuclear weapons (North Korea-South Korea; Israel-Palestine; US-Iran), the nuclear option is not an option.

When both countries have nuclear weapons (India-Pakistan; US-Russia), mutually assured destruction rules out their use. Pakistan's Scotch-loving Generals are perfectly aware of the consequences of using even small battlefield nuclear weapons like the Nasr (which Pakistani commentators obliquely refer to in mildly threatening tones on virtually every Indian television debate). First use of such weapons will invite destruction of Pakistani cities on a scale the Pakistani army will not dare risk.

The smart thing for India, with an economy 900 per cent larger than Pakistan's, is to pay Pakistan back in the same coin - covertly and overtly - with proportionate response and impeccable deniability.
Last summer, law student Samantha Lush finished her first-year exams and left Halifax for Cape Town, South Africa to intern with the Projects Abroad Human Rights Office. The non-profit legal clinic was established to raise awareness of human rights and give legal advice to at-risk groups such as indigent people, refugees and asylum seekers, women, children, and young offenders.



Lushs main focus was in the Offices Legal Services Department, where she helped clients in various areas, including divorce, criminal justice, labour and immigration. During her two-month Schulich Summer Internship, one of several awarded each year, she worked on 25 different cases.



The opportunity to take her learning out of the classroom and into the field was an invaluable experience. I was given a level of autonomy and responsibility that was quite unexpected, says Lush. I often conducted solo consultations with clients, took their statements, and investigated the merits of their claims. For each case, I also completed legal research and drafted all of the relevant legal documents.



Lushs work in the Legal Services Department was incredibly rewarding, and working closely with clients made her cases more meaningful. I loved what I was doing, and my clients were grateful for my support, she says. One client baked me cookies; another made me a bracelet. These were people who had very little but still wanted to give something to me. It was humbling.





Her work was also heartbreaking, because most of her clients lives were falling apart. The reality of racial tension, xenophobia and corruption frustrated her. I had a client who was fired from his job for being Congolese, she says. I had another who was fraudulently represented at a settlement hearing that he knew nothing about. These types of situations really made me appreciate Canada!



Lush also worked in the Social Justice Department of the office, where she helped plan and lead life-orientation workshops at juvenile detention facilities. I created and presented workshops on topics such as role models, starting a business, and interview skills, she says. I also participated in holiday programs and home visits for children at risk and in need of care in impoverished townships.



The Social Justice programs were a great opportunity to build kids up and give them hope. Lush felt that she was able to make an immediate and positive impact by acting as a role model and teaching the kids what she could to help them get back on their feet. I often went to a facility called Bonnytoun, a detention centre for teenage boys, she says. On my last day there, one of the boys thanked me for inspiring him to straighten out his life.



During her internship, Lush met inspiring people, received practical legal experience and made life-long connections. In helping others, she learned more about herself than she ever thought possible. In particular, I became more confident in dealing with difficult situations, both in a work environment and a new cultural one, she says. I had always been fascinated by South Africa but had never been there before. I lived with a wonderful host family, so I was able to immerse myself in the local culture."

Lush also took the time to experience some of South Africas unique outdoor experiences and adventure opportunities, such as bungee jumping at Bloukrans Bridge and walking with lions at the Botlierskop Private Game Reserve. It was the best summer of my life, she says.



As for Lushs plans for this summer? In May, shell start another internship at Bennett Jones in Calgary. Im very excited, she says. Bennett Jones has a highly respected reputation as a leading law firm and employer, and Ill have the opportunity to gain valuable practical experience from brilliant lawyers in diverse practice areas.
Despite the usual shortcomings that come with using a smartphone, Ive found that Android offers me the best overall experience for my needs. From its applications to its back-end functionality, no other mainstream mobile platform touches Android, in my opinion.

Unfortunately, running Android isnt completely problem free. In this article, well explore how Android fragmentation affects Android users and what can be done about it.

Random Android versions

One of the most annoying things about Android is that, even with the relatively high-end devices, youre likely looking at completely different Android versions with each device. For example, my generic-carrier-provided tablet is running Android 4.4.2, my Samsung Note 2 runs 4.4.2, while my Samsung Galaxy S5 runs 5.0. Keep in mind that all of these devices are fully updated with the latest software available.

On the surface, there isnt that big of a leap between Android 4.4.x and 5.x since all of my apps work and my mobile carrier still releases regular updates for each device. But unlike iOS users, youre left on youre own if you choose to root the device and then update outside of your carriers recommendation. Worse, you may be inviting unforeseen problems if you decide to update yourself before your phone is blessed by your carrier. Things are even worse for anyone with the misfortune to purchase a pre-paid phone running Android. In some cases, Ive seen them up to date with Android 4.0.x and older.

So if youre someone who needs the latest and greatest, dont plan on getting much help from your carriers selection of Android phones. Your best bet is to buy your own.

Google Nexus

For anyone looking to get the latest Android experience, youre going to want to get a Nexus device from Google. This provides you with pure Android while also giving you the latest Android release by default. This also helps to make Android even more fragmented than it already is.

What happens is this: most people get subsidized phones from their mobile carriers. These phones come with older versions of Android. The older/cheaper the phone model (usually), the older the version of Android. So if youre not in a position to purchase a Nexus phone, youre essentially at the mercy of your mobile carrier.

This is a great situation for Nexus users, but it puts non-Nexus phone users at a disadvantage. Unless carrier specific phone users decide to flash their own Android images to their devices, theyll have to put themselves into an ongoing holding patternwaiting for the hope of an Android update.

Do Android updates matter?

Most people outside of tech circles dont believe Android updates are all that important. In reality, they actually can be very important. The biggest concern is with Android security. If you own a phone that is locked in with a very old version of Android, you may be missing out on important security updates.

Another benefit of Android updates is bug fixes. Usually these are minor, behind the scenes fixes most people wouldnt even notice without seeing them in the release notes. In other instances, bug fixes can be significant  fixing issues with dropped wi-fi, for example. While not every update will address a series of bug fixes, sometimes updates do address these things behind the scenes.

Not all Android users get to enjoy new layouts and improved functionality  only those with the latest Android releases benefit here. One only need compare early Android builds to current ones to see how important this is. Even though phone manufacturers are notorious for adding skins to their Android devices, often the pure Android functionality improvements make it through the update process.

Finally, there is the matter of software compatibility and features. While its true most apps will work on even the older releases of Android, the fact is that it may not run all that well. Apps developed to run on 5.x and 6.x may not run as well on Android 4.x. This isnt Androids fault or the fault of the app developer. The fault lays squarely with the fragmentation issue and how many different Android versions are being used today.

How to deal with fragmentation

If youre simply a typical Android enthusiast such as myself, your best bet is to make sure youre running the latest over the air updates provided by your carrier. I know, this is incredibly unhelpfulbut its the best you can do without voiding your warranty or buying a new device every year.

For those of you who simply cant deal with missing out on the latest Android user options, youll need to seriously think about buying a phone that supports the latest Android release. Most of the time, this is going to be a pure Android device like one of the Google Nexus phones.

In reality, most people who upgrade their Android phones when its available through their mobile carriers will get a fairly decent experience. I own Samsung devices myself and despite my gripes with bloatware by default, Ive found the phones themselves are usually kept fairly up-to-date. I try to make sure my phones arent more than two years old. This may not provide me with the very latest Android available to Nexus users, but it doesnt leave me with an antiquated Android release, either.

Maintaining a consistent Android experience

Its my opinion that unless youre running a pure Android device untouched by todays big mobile carriers, your best bet is to make due. On my S5 for example, I run Nova Launcher with a select theme installed. Since using Nova Launcher, Im no longer bothered by new vs old layouts or other interface headaches that might change from one Android release to another.

The second app I rely on for consistency is True Phone Dialer. This app provides me with a customizable phone dialer that meets my expectations, not those of my phones manufacturer. Thanks to its theme support and easy navigation, I maintain a clean dialer experience across both of my Android phones.

And the last piece of the puzzle is an app for keeping my SMS messages in a sane, easy to manage format. Like the aforementioned apps, Textra provides me with a customizable, theme-friendly SMS experience that doesnt care what version of Android Im using.

What say you? Do you find Android fragmentation to be a deal breaker for you? Perhaps youve solved the issue by only using the Nexus Android phones? Hit the Comments below to share your experiences and tips. Id especially be interested in hearing from those who rely on older Android devices and how that user experience has treated them.
The chance appearance of certain combinations of elements in the genome can lead to the generation of new genes that drive evolutionary innovation.





The formation of new genes from previously non-active parts of the genome was, until recently, considered highly improbable.



This study led by Jorge Ruiz-Orera and Mar Alba from Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute (IMIM-ICREA) in Barcelona, Spain showed that the mutations that occur normally in our genetic material may be sufficient to explain how this happens.



Once expressed, the genes can act as a substrate for the evolution of new molecular functions.



In every genome, there are sets of genes, which are unique to that particular species.

In this study, the scientists first identified thousands of genes that were specific to human or chimpanzee.



Then, they searched the macaque genome and discovered that this species had significantly less element motifs in the corresponding genomic sequences.



These motifs are recognised by proteins that activate gene expression, a necessary step in the formation of a new gene, the study said.



The findings appeared in the journal PLOS Genetics.
Everyone at the Indian consulate in Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which came under attack by unidentified gunmen tonight, is safe and security forces are clearing the area, India's Ambassador to Afghanistan said.



"All well at consulate. Security forces clearing area around," Ambassador Amar Sinha tweeted.



B Sarkar, Consul General at the consulate said the shooting lasted for 20 minutes. "They shot from some adjacent building but nobody could enter the consulate.



There was no immediate comment from the Ministry of External Affairs in Delhi, which said further details are awaited.



Today's strike is yet another attack over Indian assets in war-torn Afghanistan.

The attack took place even as the encounter by the security forces with Pakistani terrorists who attacked IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab yesterday continued for the second day.
The body of National Security Guard officer Lt Col Niranjan Kumar, who was martyred in an operation against terrorists at the Pathankot airbase, reached Bengaluru on Monday morning.



Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah paid tribute the departed soul at city's BEL Ground. Also, school children and people came to pay their homage.





The body is being taken to BEL grounds for the public to pay their last respects, Sivarajan said, adding that around 3 pm it will be flown to his Palakkad residence for the last rites.

"He was always interested in the army. I am proud of his sacrifice," the martyr's father, Sivarajan said.



Niranjan's sister said, "I look at him as Arjuna (3rd of the Pandava brothers) who fought for his karmabhoomi."



Fellow Army officers in uniform and many prominent and eminent personalities including Rajeev Chandrashekhar, MP, paid tributes to the martyr at his residence.



Thirty two-year-old Niranjan, who has his family in Bangalore, was commissioned in the Engineers Regiment of the Army in 2004.



He hailed from Palakkad in Kerala and is survived by his wife Dr Radhika and a 18-month-old daughter.



Niranjan, head of the elite bomb squad of the NSG, was killed while defusing an IED at Pathankot IAF base, yesterday. He was among seven security personnel killed in the terrorist attack there.



Niranjans mortal remains would be taken to his ancestral gome at Elambilassery in Palakkad district, Kerala for the last rites.








Debutante Sayyeshaa, who has just wrapped up shooting for the first schedule of Ajay Devgn's "Shivaay", finds the "Singham" star's directorial skills impressive. He calls him an actor's director.



"Given Ajay sir's years of experience, he exactly knows what he wants from his actors. He has a knack for extracting the best out of his actors and that's what makes him an actor's director. He's a very talented director," Sayyeshaa told IANS.



While it's not easy to act as well as direct, it's a cakewalk for Devgn, according to Sayyeshaa.



"A lot of people find it difficult to act and direct at the same time. It must be very challenging. Ajay sir is comfortable switching hats; he makes everything look so easy. The minute we shoot a scene, he'd run and sit behind the monitor screen to check it," she said.



The young actress is in awe of the "multi-tasking skills" of Devgn, whom she finds mostly "calm" and "patient" on the sets.



She also finds Devgn to be an "organised" director.



"There's absolutely no room for confusion on the sets. Ajay sir is a very organised person and it reflects in his work. Everything is planned well in advance," she revealed.

Sayyeshaa considers herself extremely "lucky" to be part of the project.



"I've always been fond of Ajay sir. It feels so surreal to be part of his dream project and to be playing his heroine. I play a very different character," she said.



The film is tipped to be an intense action-drama. Sayyeshaa had fun shooting for a chase sequence in the first schedule.



"It was the first time I saw an action sequence being shot. The experience was amazing and it even got better when we shot for a chase sequence which included running and jumping. I wish I get to do some action, too," she added.



For the next schedule, Sayyeshaa will soon leave to Bulgaria, where the team will shoot for nearly two months.



The young actress has two more Hindi projects in her kitty. She's also in talks for a Telugu project with a leading star.



"One of the Hindi projects is with T Series. I'm really excited about my Telugu project but itaAs too early to reveal any information," she said.
Amid slogans of 'Bharat mata ki jai', the mortal remains of Pathankot martyr Garud Commando Gursewak Singh were today consigned to flames at his native town in the district with full military honours.





The martyr's family members were inconsolable as Hardeep, the elder brother of 25-year-old Gursewak, lit the funeral pyre.



Rich tributes were paid to the martry who was also accorded a gun salute.



Earlier as the final journey of the martyr, who got married in November last year, began for the cremation ground, Gursewak's mother Amrik Kaur fainted several times while his widow Jaspreet Kaur was inconsolable.



The tales of the martyr's valour were being discussed among the villagers as the funeral pyre was lit.



"He will be remembered for his exemplary valour as he kept fighting even after being hit by a burst of gunfire at Pathankot Air Base," said Malkit Singh, a local resident.



In the morning, as the the body, wrapped in a tricolour reached his native village, a large number of people, besides Haryana Ministers Anil Vij and Abhimanyu were present.

Senior officers from the Air Force, besides personnel from the army, police and civil administration were also present.



Gursewak, whose icon was legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, had joined Indian Air Force about six years ago after completing his graduation and had got married on November 18.



Gursewak's father Sucha Singh also served in the Army, a tradition continued by the martyr, whose brother Hardeep, too, is in the defence forces.



In fact, the martyr's village is known to have made significant contribution to the defence forces by sending its youth to join the services.



The martry's father Sucha Singh, who is a farmer, had earlier stated that he was proud that his son had laid down his life for the country.



Sucha Singh said that he received information about Gursewak's martyrdom from his elder son, who is an officer in the Army.



"My boy had gone to serve the nation. I am proud of him. He has done his duty. We are sad too. Our elder son is also in the Army serving the nation. My younger son gave his life for the country. He was always good in studies and always wanted to join the Air Force," Sucha said.



Gursewak's cousin Harikrishan Singh said, "He did his engineering in Bengaluru... We have lost one warrior."



Gursewak, who was described as an intelligent and bright youth, by his father, had cleared the Air Force examination in the first attempt.



Haryana's Health Minister Vij said the whole nation will remember the sacrifice of son-of-the-soil.




A powerful explosion today shook a double storeyed building at the Air Base where two terrorists are still holed up as the operations intensified to flush them out

.



As the operation against the terrorists entered the third day, NSG, IAF and Army officers said there was no collateral damage to the strategic Air Force assets.



"Till now, we have eliminated four terrorists and operation to eliminate two more terrorists, possibly is in the final stage of conduct," Inspector General NSG Maj General Dushant Singh told a press conference here.



Singh, who was flanked by Air officer commanding, Air commodore J S Damoon and Brigadier Anupinder Singh, said "the entire operation will continue till all the personnel, assets, structure are physically combed. So it is likely to take a long time."



"These terrorists are holed up in a double storeyed building which is a living accommodation of the Air Force personnel and currently the operations are in progress to clear this building from the terrorists," Brigadier Singh said.



The area of the Air Force base is "very large" where strategic assets of IAF are kept, besides families of IAF personnel and schools are located in it.



"It is a mini city," the IAF officer said.



He said that the terrorists have come "well prepared" and are "heavily armed" with an aim to target the strategic assets of the Air Force.



The officers said the Army was on general alert since January one following intelligence inputs of a terror strike.
A three-year-old girl was held hostage at gunpoint and her mother was immobilised by four robbers who looted Rs 10 lakh from their home in Karol Bagh, police said.





Three-year-old Shreshtha and her mother Nivedita Pore were held hostage for over one hour by four gun-wielding robbers on Friday evening, police said.



Gold and silver ornaments and cash totalling Rs 10 lakh were robbed from the first floor house by the four robbers who were communicating with each other in Bengali, police said.



The incident took place around 7.15 pm when Niveditas husband Vivekanand, an ornament maker employed in a local jewellery shop, was not at their 63 Regharpura home.



According to a statement given to police by Nivedita, someone rang the door bell and when she opened the door the four robbers forced their way into the house, said police.

One of the robbers placed a gun on the temple of Shreshtha, said a police officer.

The others ransacked the house and opened the cupboards after scared Nivedita handed over the keys to them.



The robbers patiently collected the valuables for about one hour, said a police officer.

After allegedly ransacking the house, the robbers took Nivedita and her daughter to a corner of the drawing room and tied their hands and feet after putting tapes on the mouths of both the victims.



Police said the CCTV camera footage from the lane where the house is situated indicated that the robbers seemed to be in their early 20s.



The footage showed that two of the robbers were wearing woollen caps and they were the ones who stood guard near the staircase before their other colleagues came down with a black bag carrying the booty, said police.



After the robbers escaped, Nivedita put in a special effort and managed to come to the balcony of her house and sought help from her neighbours.



The neighbours untied the rope on the two victims hands and informed the police.

A manhunt has been launched after registration of a robbery case, police said.


A plumber died under suspicious circumstances after an alleged fight with the relatives of a woman in northeast Delhis Usmanpur, police said on Sunday.



The body of Pritam, 24, a resident of Brahampuri, was handed over to his family on Saturday after undergoing treatment for over a week for the injuries sustained in the alleged fight 10 days ago.



The victims sister Savita alleged that a woman, living in Usmanpur, and her relatives attacked Pritam in the abdomen leading to rupture of his intestines.



She said that on December 23 Pritams condition deteriorated and he was rushed to Jag Parvesh Chandra Hospital. Since his condition did not improve, he was later shifted to GTB Hospital where he died while undergoing the treatment on Friday night.



A police officer said Pritams body has been handed over to his family members after post mortem.



The post mortem report would highlight the cause of Pritams death and if needed, the matter would be investigated from a new angle.



The victims family said that the woman in Usmanpur was trying to put pressure on police to let the matter get buried as a natural death.



We will not rest till the culprits are punished, said Pritams sister.



The police said if needed the footage of the CCTV cameras near the spot of the fight between Pritam and others last month would be collected to investigate the matter.
Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Sunday repeated his governments resolve to make the odd-even car rationing plan a success to clean the citys air despite fears that it may cause political harm to the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).



We would not have been able to implement the odd-even scheme, if we had indulged in vote bank politics or cared for the schemes impact on outcome of the next years civic polls, said the Chief Minister at a book launch function on Sunday.



The assertion on the car rationing scheme by Kejriwal came on a day when Transport Minister Gopal Rai announced a helpline for complaints on the plan.



Rai said that the administration was prepared for Monday which will be the first full-fledged working day since the launch of the campaign on January 1.

Kejriwal said, The public response to the odd-even plan has been overwhelming, giving the government a lot of confidence.



The voluntary participation of motorists is the biggest achievement of the odd-even plan, he added.



Action against official

Sources said Kejriwal is considering strict action against a top official of the Home Department after initial assessment indicated his alleged involvement in a bid to foil the odd-even plan.



Meanwhile, the DTC has chalked out a grand plan for ferrying 64 lakh passengers on Monday.



The transport minister said that a list of top 20 schools which have refused to offer their school bus fleet to the government for the odd-even days would be published.



Traffic on roads was smooth and congestion free on Sunday which was the first free day

for both odd and even numbered vehicles in the city under the 15 day road rationing scheme that ends on January 15.



The odd-even vehicular restriction policy of the Delhi government came into effect on January 1 with thousands of volunteers taking to the streets to assist traffic police in enforcing the pilot plan that will stay in force till January 15.



On the first two days of the odd-even scheme trial, 479 people were challaned for violation of the norms.



Experts, however, said that the real litmus test for the road-rationing experiment will be from Monday.



Under the scheme, private cars bearing odd registration plates are allowed to ply on odd dates while those with even numbers shall do so on even dates.



Those caught violating the scheme have to pay a penalty of Rs 2,000.




After operations lasting three days, security forces today killed two more Pakistani terrorists within the Pathankot air base with the government saying six of them have now been neutralised, but it was not clear whether all the intruders have been eliminated.





After Prime Minister Narendra Modi today chaired a meeting of the National Security Council, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that bodies of four terrorists have been recovered and those of the remaining two will also be recovered.



The number of intruders had been put at six by officials in the last two days and the figures given by Jaitley implied that all of them have been eliminated. However, none in the government were prepared to say no more terrorists were inside the base or that the operation was over.



Combing and search operations were going on and that the operation will continue till "we are able to fully render the base safe", NSG IG Maj Gen Dushant Singh said.



Jaitley, who attended the NSC meeting along with senior cabinet colleagues Sushma Swaraj and Manohar Parrikar, said that all the assets at the base were safe.



He said the security forces were able to confine the terrorists to the place where they intruded and kept at a "reasonable distance" from where the assets were located.



In the wake of the Pathankot attack as well as the strike on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan, both probably originating in Pakistan, indications were that next week's scheduled visit by Foreign Secretary Jaishankar to Islamabad for talks will be put off.



It is likely that National Security Advisors of the two countries may have an urgent meeting in the next few days after which a call would be taken on the Foreign Secretary-level talks.



Asked whether the foreign secretaries would meet as scheduled, Jaitley parried the question, remarking "The operations are still on. Let the operations be over. Then we will take decisions on these matters."



Curiously, the United Jehad Council (UJC), an umbrella organisation of about a dozen Kashmiri militant outfits, today claimed responsibility for the attack on the Pathankot.



The statement is seen in India as an attempt to show that Kashmiri insurgents were responsible and not militants originating from Pakistan. UJC comprises mostly the militant outfits active in Jammu and Kashmir and headed by Syed Salauddin, who is based in Pakistan.



Meanwhile, briefing the media in the evening, Maj Gen Singh said in Pathankot that security forces including the NSG and Army have deployed major combat elements along with medical and administrative support.



Similarly Air Force has deployed all its assets - aviation, surveillance, guards in this particular operation, he said adding that the police and the intelligence agencies are also working in sync to make the operation successful.



"As I highlighted earlier, given the magnitude of the operation of the air base, the operation will continue to be concluded till we are able to fully render safe the base. However, I would like to inform that all the assets of the air base including personnel, families have been secured and are safe," he said.



Earlier in the day, a powerful explosion shook a double storeyed building at the Air Base where two terrorists were holed up.



"Till now, we have eliminated four terrorists and operation to eliminate two more terrorists, possibly is in the final stage of conduct," Maj Gen Singh had said.



Singh, who was flanked by Air officer commanding, Air commodore J S Damoon and Brigadier Anupinder Singh, said "the entire operation will continue till all the personnel, assets, structure are physically combed. So it is likely to take a long time."



"These terrorists are holed up in a double storeyed building which is a living accommodation of the Air Force personnel and currently the operations are in progress to clear this building from the terrorists," Brigadier Singh said.



The area of the Air Force base is "very large" where strategic assets of IAF are kept, besides families of IAF personnel and schools are located in it. "It is a mini city," the IAF officer said.
At least three terrorists were killed in a fierce overnight gunbattle with security forces who engaged militants attempting to storm the Indian diplomatic mission in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif.



Official sources said special combat units of the Afghan National Police have recovered three bodies from outside the Indian consulate.



Security forces have launched a daunting onslaught to nail down at least two to three other mercenaries who are holed up in a five-storey building about 100 metres across the road from the facility.



They said military choppers of the Afghanistan security forces have dropped commandos atop the building holding the militants and the battle is "inching towards final assault."



Officials said the consulate came under attack when at least two militants tried to "storm" it last night at around 2115 hours and ITBP guards deployed on the sentry post foiled their attempt by raining heavy fire on them.



They said at least seven Rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) rounds have been fired in the direction of the cosulate but all missed it by a whisker.



"There has been a heavy exchange of fire between the two sides and soon after the Indo-Tibetan Border Police troops fired, the Afghan police forces took charge of the situation. The firing of rockets and bullets is still on," they said.



Officials added that while there has been no damage to the five-storeyed and pink-coloured Consulate building, the adjacent green-coloured building, from where the terrorists are firing, has been hit badly by the fire and ammunition of the Afghan forces who have cordoned off the entire area.



"The ITBP is on full alert and on standby. The charge is led by Afghan forces and there has been no damage to the staff of the consulate and the diplomats," they said.



ITBP Director General Krishna Chaudhary in Delhi said the force has "secured" the mission area effectively and they were looking forward to get a final word from the Afghan security authorities after they neutralise all the attackers.



"I can assure you that my men are in a state of very very high morale. I first talked to them when the attack started yesterday night and I am in constant touch with them," he said without going into further details about the incident.



Officials privy to the operations said the security forces and the ITBP men had seen two bodies been dragged away last night and it is expected that the attack is the handiwork of at least 5-6 terrorists.



"The Afghan forces are clearing the building where the terrorists are holed up floor by floor. They are now on the last floor," they said.



The floor, sources said, is understood to have had an office of an American NGO or organisation till sometime back.



A strong contingent of over four-dozen ITBP commandos has been securing this facility from 2008 apart from three other missions in the country and the main Embassy in the capital, Kabul.



The security of these sensitive facilities were recently heightened after the ITBP deployed over 35 commandos at Indian missions in Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Kandhar and Mazar-i-Sharif. An incident report in this regard has been submitted by the ITBP to the Union Home Ministry in Delhi.


India will decide on going ahead with the foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan scheduled later this month only after operations to flush out terrorists from the IAF base at Pathankot are over, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today.





"I think let the operations get over and it is only then government takes a view on such matters," he told reporters after the National Security Council meeting presided by Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the terror attack among other issues.



Jaitley was asked about the impact of the terror attack on the planned Indo-Pak talks.

Asked about the identify of the terrorists, he said, "I think we are at a stage where operations is still on (and) therefore it is not proper for me to say anything more than that."



Jaitley said combing operations take time as the Base is a large complex with a 24-km long circumference.



Security forces managed to confine the terrorists to a limited area and have been successful in containing any damage to the strategic assets at the Air base, he said, adding the combing operations is taking long becuase there could be explosives.



Stating that security forces took prompt action, Jaitley said terrorists had come with the main objective of damaging strategic assets at Pathankot Air base.



"These were well trained terrorists and part of suicide squad. When such kind of Fidayeen attack takes place it has potential to cause huge damage. The complex is very big. The circumference of airbase is 24 kms therefore combing operations is also taking time," he said.



Security forces confined them where they had initially entered which is far away from the strategic location, he said adding four bodies of terrorists have been taken in posession and the "process is on for two more bodies."



"The announcement would be made by security forces," he said.



The Minister said the objective of security forces was to ensure no damage is caused to the strategic location, and "our security forces were completely successful in doing so."



Jaitley said the second objective of security forces was to ensure minimal damage. "In that also to a large extent security forces were successful."



"During initial attack they killed 5 security personnel, during encounter they could kill only one and there was one accidental death of a Lt Colonel," he said.



The third objective of security forces was either to catch the terrorists alive or liquidate them so that they cannot do much damage, he said.



"Such kind of operation continues for long. The reason for long operations is because there are huge quantity of explosives, area is huge. The operational details will come from Pathankot," he said.



At the National Security Council meeting today, there was detailed discussions on the the prompt action by security forces, he said.



Asked why the operation stretched to third day when specific intelligence was available, Jaitley said, "Operations of such kind continues for very long time. Even in Mumbai, if you remember, on 26/11 the operation continued for a very long time. There were 6 terrorists. They were able to inflict damage in terms of loss of lives and property.



"Damage to the extent of 180 people, operations had to continue for several days, because these are trained terrorists, these are suicide squads who come here with particular object of inflicting damage."



Asked if no lessons were learnt from Mumbai terror attacks, he said a lot had been learnt. "It is that promptness which has led the security forces to immediately contain them at the entry point, at the first point itself."



"It was this intelligence that helped them because they had taken precautionary action by flying in special forces etc, containing them at the very first point, keeping them at reasonable distance away from strategic assets and then being able to neutralise them.



I think it is collective effort of the entire intelligence and the promptness of the security forces," he said.



Jaitley said Prime Minister Narendra Modi this morning chaired a meeting of National Security Council to discuss the Pathankot terror attack as well as the attack on Indian consultate at Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan and the earthquate in North-East.



Modi, he said, has talked to chief ministers of north eastern states and the Crisis Management Commitee under Cabinet Secretary is taking "required steps like restoration of telecom and power services."



Home Minister Rajnath Singh was in North East while Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju was in Arunachal Pradesh and have been asked to focus on the earthquate hit states and take necessary actions.



Minister of State in Prime Minister's Office Jitender Singh has been asked to go to Imphal immediately to assist and suggest aid to be provided to those states.



On the attack on Indian Consulate in Afghanistan, Jaitley said all Indian employees are safe. "As per the last news firing is still on."



At the meeting, a detailed discussion on Pathankot attacks took place. "Government and I pay homage to all the martyr soldiers who laid down their lives. They have made supreme sacrifice," he added. PTI JD DP ADS ANZ GSN 01041908



Asked if intelligence inputs helped in Pathankot operations, Jaitley said, "We got a lot of help from intelligence inputs. As a result of this, terrorists were contained far away from strategic assets, they were contained and neutralised at entry point itself."



"We are deeply saddened by death and casualty of security forces. It was the objective of security forces that there should be minimum casualty, they should be either neutralised or caught and country's strategic assets are safeguarded. And they were successful," he said.



To a question if there was any connection between attack on Mazar-e-Sharif and Pathankot, he said, "It is too early for me to make any comments on this."
The Indian Air Force's quest for a Medium Multi Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) is finally over with the Indian government confirming the order for 36 Rafale jets with the French government.





According to sources, documents for the government-to-government deal were delivered by New Delhi to Paris on New Year's eve, and the agreement is on the same lines as that for the Mirage 2000 aircraft signed in the early 1980s. IAF will buy all the Rafale aircraft from Dassault, the French aircraft builder and integrator, in a flyaway condition.



As the deal is between governments, the French authorities will ensure that Dassault complies with the terms of reference as it has successfully done in the case of Mirage 2000 -- about 60 of which were delivered beginning 1985. The basic agreement was for 49 and 10 more were acquired later.



Significantly, this is the second deal for IAF - and Indian Army - within one week, the other being for Russian Kamov-31 helicopters signed on Christmas Eve with the Russian Government in Moscow during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit there. That deal involves substantial manufacture of these machines in India as the number is large -- more than 200.



It may be noted that originally IAF was to acquire 126 aircraft after the Rafale was selected in the MMRCA competition some time back, 18 in flyaway condition and 108 as progressively assembled and made in India by HAL under part Transfer of Technology (ToT). Private industry was to be involved, but HAL's share was negotiated as more than 70 percent.



There were a lot of hiccups, over costs of the aircraft -- over $100 million-plus per aircraft -- and offsets from the Indian side and responsibility over the quality of production in India from the French side. Finally, keeping in mind IAF's urgent requirements, the prime minister intervened to order 36 aircraft, or two squadrons, in a direct government-to-government deal during his visit to Paris in April.



This time, the deal involved no production in India but there were still some hiccups over the 50 percent stipulated offsets although aircraft costs would by and large have been the same as for the French Air Force (ArmAe de l'Air). Offset obligations would always be additional.



Modi, intervening again, spoke directly with French President Francois Hollande on telephone in early September, and expressed difficulty in concluding the deal without the offsets. Hollande graciously agreed, and IAF approved the deal in mid-December. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) delivered a copy of the Inter-Government Agreement in this regard through the established diplomatic channels just as the New Year was set to begin.



Under the deal, Dassault and its main partners -- engine-maker Safran and electronic systems-maker Thales -- will share some technology with DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) and maybe some private sector companies and HAL under the offsets clause. Details are not known but as the aircraft have to be flown and maintained in India for at least three-to-four decades, a lot of information and technology upgrades will be needed to keep them operational.



The twin-engine Rafale combat jet is designed from the beginning as a multi-role fighter for air-to-air and air-to-ground attacks, is nuclear- capable and, thanks to its onboard Electronic Warfare (EW) systems, can also perform reconnaissance and radar jamming roles.



The deal involves delivery of aircraft to begin within three years of signing the agreement -- 2018-end in this case -- but French industry sources told this writer some time back in Paris that Dassault had started planning for the Indian order from mid-2015 itself, and "maybe the deliveries could be faster, if required".



Last year had been lucky for Dassault as the Rafale has also been selected by Egypt and Qatar, while the UAE is considering it seriously.



There are suddenly too many orders, and the only way to meet them is to divert the French Air Force requirements for the next few years. That is being done.
Virtually reflecting helplessness to ensure stricter punishment to perpetrators of heinous crimes against women, Delhi Police Commissioner B S Bassi today said the force would not be hesitant to shoot or hang such criminals if the Constitution had permitted it.





Speaking on a range of issues at Delhi Police's annual press conference, Bassi who is set to retire next month, also said it was good fortune of Delhiites that the force was under the Centre and not the city government.



Rolling out statistics relating to crime and criminals, Bassi said registration of cases went up by around 24 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014 and that police was doing everything possible to ensure safety and security of the people with particular focus on women and children.



"It will be our pleasure to shoot or hang (the) perpetrators of crime against women if the Constitution of India permits us," said Bassi, who is at helm of Delhi Police since July 2013.



He said, "crime-mapping analysis" of the city suggested that any woman in a locality is surrounded by anything between 250-400 men who would not think twice before assaulting her... They have no respect even for their own mothers and sisters and look at women like they do in a porn movie. They see (even) a two-month-old baby or an 80-year-old woman as targets."



The top cop, who has been having a frosty relationship with the AAP government, said "The people of Delhi are 100 per cent fortunate that the Delhi Police is not under pressure. Neither the Prime Minister nor the Home Minister take interest in Delhi. Only the Delhi Chief Minister does so."



Bassi also announced that 1,000 traffic police personnel will be given guns in view of rising instances of attacks on traffic wing of the force. Currently, traffic policemen are not armed.



Giving statistics, Bassi said as many as 1,82,644 cases under the Indian Penal Code were reported in 2015 as compared to 1,47,237 in the previous year. While cases of murder dropped by 3.91 per cent, rapes and molestation cases increased by 0.48 and 24.15 per cent respectively.



While the highest increase was witnessed in cases of motor vehicle thefts, reported around 40 per cent increase, 16.45 per cent rise was witnessed in robbery and 35.71 in snatching.



"Along with truthful registration comes the onus of prevention and detection of crime and Delhi Police has given an excellent account in this regard. A total of 49,903 IPC cases, including 6,328 heinous cases, have been solved compared to 43,431 cases, including 5,784 heinous cases, in the previous year," the commissioner said.



"In 2015, we reported cases related to theft of three goats to Rs 20 stolen from a poor man's pocket. This in itself is a satisfactory fact," Bassi said.



Among prominent arrests in 2015 were 101 criminals carrying rewards -- which include gangster Neeraj Bawana, Delhi University fake admission kingpin Himanshu Gupta, and one killed in a police encounter whom the police did not name.



The major arrests also include six terrorists, among them the al Qaeda in the Indian sub-continents' motivation and recruitment head and other associates of the outfit, and as many as 346 drug traffickers, even as total cases registered under the NDPS Act and recovery of hard drugs witnessed substantial drop.



Recovery of fake Indian currency notes witnessed no increase or decrease than the figure in the previous year.



Cases under the Arms act and persons arrested in connection with them dropped to 683 and 791 respectively from 753 and 804 respectively in 2014, records revealed.



Bassi said 70 per cent of the perpetrators in rape cases belong to the age group 21-35 years.



He also said that women need to be trained in self- defence, which can help in tackling the steep rise in instances of crime against women.



"Analysis also suggests that 60-65 per cent of women victims are between 15-30 years old. Their self-defence expertise shall be a sure counter to sick mindset men," Bassi said.



"I have often been criticised for my views on self- defence, mostly by groups who know how to shed crocodile tears," he said.



Police records revealed that 2095 cases of rape, 5192 molestation and 1444 cases of eve-teasing were reported till December 15, 2015, compared to 2085 rapes, 4182 molestation and 1282 eve-teasing cases in the corresponding period previous year.



Records further revealed, almost 39 per cent of the rapes were committed by friends and family members' friends.



While nearly 16.50 per cent rapes were committed by neighbours of the victims and around 14 per cent by relatives, around 2 percent of the offenders were co-workers and 25 per cent cases pertained to other known persons.



While 86.73 per cent of rape cases took place inside houses, 3.29 per cent took place inside "hotels and restaurants".



Similarly, while 39 per cent of molestation cases were reported to have happened inside houses, closely followed by 39.25 on roads, around 4 per cent cases happened in malls, markets and shopping complexes.



In 1998, 505.71 IPC cases were registered for a population of 1 lakh and the figure went up to 460.75 in 2013, the year in which Bassi took over the reins of the over 80,000 strong force. In 2014, the figure shot up to 881.04, followed by 1054.30 per lakh population in 2015, records revealed.



While cases of robbery witnessed increase, there was a decrease of 8.75 per cent in cases of reported dacoity, with 73 such cases reported till December 15, 2015, as compared to the corresponding period in previous year.



Cases of attempt to murder also went up by 1.21 per cent.



Figures in terms of cases solved by the police also went up in connection with robbery, kidnapping for ransom, rapes, extortion, snatching and molestation.



The year 2015 also witnessed as many as 2259 demonstrations, 4727 dharnas and local strikes, 914 processions and 303 rallies and marches, the records revealed.



Bassi also said that guns will be given to 1,000 traffic officials in the city in view of rising instances of attacks on traffic personnel and for handling of emergencies in the national capital.



He expressed regret over the "slow expansion" of women cab service in the city, and exhorted his younger colleagues to take up the challenge of bringing greater number of woman drivers under the ambit of the empowerment scheme.



The top cop also said that choppers will be used for round-the-year aerial surveillance in the national capital mostly to monitor and regulate traffic during peak hours.


Myanmar President U Thein Sein has promised a smooth transition of power to Aung Sang Suu Kyis National League for Democracy (NLD), but the junta is quietly lobbying with the NLD to clear a bill that protects former presidents from prosecution for crimes committed when in office.





The bill surfaced during the final parliament session of the present government, which began just after the NLDs sweeping victory in the November 10 national elections. The session will continue until end of January.



The Former Presidents Security Bill is seen by analysts as the last attempt by Myanmars long-ruling military junta to ensure that their leaders are not prosecuted for past criminal offences.



It grants immunity to former heads of state from any prosecution for actions during his term. Outlined in article 10 of the bill, this provision is meant to protect former presidents from domestic prosecution for even the most serious crimes committed while in office, including war crimes and crimes against humanity.



This is a brazen attempt to shoehorn immunity from prosecution into the presidents retirement package, Phil Robertson, deputy Asia director at US-based Human Rights Watch was quoted by Mizzima News as saying.



The immunity provision should be stripped from the proposed law so that Thein Sein and future presidents remain accountable for any crimes they commit.



The draft law consists of 14 clauses that outline the governments commitment to support retired presidents, such as lifetime funding for a bodyguard and other personal security measures.



In any case, under the 2008 Constitution that currently governs Myanmar, the military would retain three crucial ministries (Home, Defence and Border Affairs) and one-fourth of the seats in both houses of parliament.



That effectively makes it impossible for anyone to carry through any constitutional amendment, including a controversial clause that denies anyone related to a foreigner the right to contest for the presidents office, without support from the military.



This clause denies Aung Sang Suu Kyi, married to a now-dead British professor Michael Aris, a go at the presidency despite her huge popularity provided by the NLDs landslide victory in the polls.



Suu Kyi has expressed her angst, even saying that she will effectively run the government and not the president.



Former junta strongman Than Shwe and current army chief Senior General Ming Aung Hlaing have both welcomed the poll results, indicating that the military will honour it.



Shwe, however, described Suu Kyi as the future leader of Myanmar, while she cle-arly wants to lead the country right away.



Safety package



Despite NLDs landslide victory, the militarys control in the power structure is not going to change right away, says Myanmar watcher Bertil Lintner.



And though there is no real chance of the powerful Tatmadaw (army) overturning the poll verdict, as it did in 1990, it is clear that the military is keen on a safety package for all those who have led the junta in the past.



That looks like the deal for a smooth handover of power, says an NLD leader, who was not willing to be quoted. The army will try extracting its pound of flesh.



Immunity for Myanmars past military governments is already present in Article 445 of the 2008 constitution, which prohibits prosecution of officials of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) (1988-1997) and the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) (1997-2011).



Myanmar military personnel also enjoy effective immunity as the commander in chief serves as the final arbi-ter in matters of military jurisdiction.



But domestic immunity from prosecution may not spare past Myanmar leaders from prosecution for international crimes before international tribunals, including the International Criminal Court (ICC), said Robertson.



Though Myanmar is not a member of the ICC, war crimes and crimes against humanity could still be tried by the court with approval from the United Nations Security Council.



Instead of providing another protective blanket for the already well-shielded officials of past military governments, the parliament should act to ensure that all Myanmarese are equal under the law, Robertson added. That, in Myanmar, is easier said than done, at least for now.



(The writer is a veteran journalist and author)
Global taxi-aggregator player Uber Technologies on Monday launched uberCOMMUTE feature, a new product, which allows drivers of private cars to share their ride with fellow commuters who are headed in the same direction.





In an interaction with Deccan Herald, Uber South & West General Manager, Bhavik Rathod said the service would be available between 7 am and 9 pm across the city.



We are excited to launch uberCOMMUTE in Bengaluru. It offers a reliable, convenient and an even more affordable option to get around the city, he said.



Around 1,600 new cars hit the streets everyday, and traffic congestion has increased nearly three-fold. Traffic is a never ending problem and the Government of Karnataka and the Bangalore Traffic Police together are working hard to resolve it. UberCOMMUTE will help tackle congestion and pollution by getting more people in fewer cars. Its a model that has worked in other major cities too, said Bhavik.



Three months ago, Uber launched its ride sharing service UBERPool in the city, and it was a huge success.



Uber Technologies has increased its war chest by moving close to raising $2.1 billion for a total valuation of $62.5 billion, unprecedented in the history of any startups. According to sources, most of the funds will be used to expand its activities in India and China.



In just over two years of starting its journey in India, with the launch in Bengaluru in 2013, Uber India has doubled its operations and has its presence in 26 cities, the second largest market after US.



The company also recently decided to set up its first engineering centre in India. It has similar centres in San Francisco, Amsterdam, Aarhus in Denmark, Sofia in Bulgaria and Vilnius in Lithuania.



Ubers competitor Ola also launched OlaPool recently in NCR. CarPool from Ola comes after its initiatives like Ola Share and Ola Shuttle.
A day after terrorists from Pakistan launched an attack on the Consulate General of India at Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan, New Delhi sent out a strong message to Islamabad, making it clear that such terror strikes could not deter it from providing security and development support to the Afghan government.





Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday told Afghan President M Ashraf Ghani that India would always stand with the people of Afghanistan. Pakistan, which has been seeking a strategic depth in Afghanistan, is understood to be wary of Indias role in reconstruction of the war-ravaged country.



According to an AFP report, an intense 25-hour gun-battle between security forces and terrorists outside the Indian Consulate came to end late on Monday night with the killing of all the attackers who attempted to storm the Mission building. While three of the attackers were killed in the gunfight overnight, the remaining were neutralised by the night.



Ghani called Prime Minister Modi and briefed about the terrorist attack in Mazar-e-Sharif and the response by the soldiers of the ANSF.



Reports reaching New Delhi indicated that the ANSF used a chopper to drop its commandos on the roof of the building occupied by terrorists near the consulate of India.



Indias diplomatic missions in Afghanistan came under repeated attack from terrorist organizations based in Pakistan.



None of the officials of the Consulate General of India was hurt in the latest attack in Mazar-e-Sharif, but five ANSF soldiers and two civilians living in the area were injured.



Sources in New Delhi said that the terrorists hurled bombs and fired at the consulate from at least one of the nearby buildings.



While the personnel of the Indo-Tibetan Border Police secured the premises of the consulate, the ANSF soldiers engaged the terrorists and gunned down at least two of them.



According to a press release issued by the Ministry of External Affairs in New Delhi, the prime minister conveyed to President of Afghanistan his deep appreciation for the exemplary bravery and courage shown by the ANSF in thwarting the terrorist attack in Mazar-e-Sharif and ensuring security and safety of the Consulate General of India and its personnel.



ITBP soldiers are deployed to guard the Embassy of India in Kabul as well as Indian consulates in Herat, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar and Jalalabad. I can assure you that my men are in a state of very high morale. I first talked to them when the attack started on Sunday night and I am in constant touch with them, Press Trust of India quoted Director General of ITBP, K Chaudhary, stating in New Delhi.



The hour-long siege however continued for several hours and the security personnel launched a search operation around the consulate in the early on Monday. The terrorists sneaked into a building next to the consulate and took positions in different floors before launching the attack.



The ANSF personnel on Monday started clearing it floor-by-floor. Security personnel saw bodies of at least two terrorists being dragged away by other members of the gang, which possibly comprised at least five heavily-armed men.
With New Delhi toughening its stand on future course of its engagements with Islamabad in the wake of terror-strikes at Indian Air Force Base at Pathankot in Punjab; Pakistan on Monday stated that it was working on the leads provided by India to act against the plotters of the attack.





Islamabad offered to cooperate with New Delhi to bring the plotters of the attack to justice after India indicated that it may not restart its stalled dialogue with Pakistan without getting an explanation from the government of the neighbouring country on the terrorist attacks on Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in Punjab and Indian consulate at Mazar-e-Sharif in northern Afghanistan.



Kabul also joined New Delhi on Monday to point fingers at Pakistan for the strikes in Pathankot and Mazar-e-Sharif, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Afghan President M Ashraf Ghani referring to both as cross-border terrorist attacks.



In line with Pakistans commitment to effectively counter and eradicate terrorism, the government is in touch with the Indian government and is working on the leads provided by it, Qazi M Khalilullah, official spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Pakistan Government, said in a statement issued in Islamabad.



The statement came after Modis National Security Advisor Ajit Doval shared with his Pakistani counterpart Naseer Khan Janjua details of the calls and transcripts of the conversations between the terrorists, who attacked the IAF base in Pathankot early Saturday, and their handlers based in the neighbouring country.



The capture of one of the terrorists, who attacked the Consulate General of India at Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan, alive by the soldiers of the Afghan National Security Force also put pressure on Pakistan. Sources told Deccan Herald preliminary investigation by National Directorate of Security of Afghanistan and grilling of the captured terrorist indicated that the attack had been planned by elements in Pakistan.



The twin attacks cast a shadow over India-Pakistan parleys, which were set to be resumed as Comprehensive Bilateral Dialogue with a meeting between foreign secretaries of the two neighbouring countries scheduled to be held in Islamabad on January 15. New Delhi has not yet called off Foreign Secretary S Jaishankars visit to Islamabad for the meeting with his Pakistani counterpart A A Chaudhry. Officials, however, said in New Delhi that India would go ahead with its engagement with Pakistan only if Doval received a positive response from Janjua, National Security Advisor of Pakistan Prime Minister M Nawaz Sharif.



A meeting between Doval and Janjua was anyway expected to follow the talks between the two foreign secretaries. In the wake of the twin terrorist attacks at Pathankot and Mazar-e-Sharif, New Delhi may also ask Islamabad to schedule the meeting between the NSAs before the foreign secretaries meet.



New Delhi was not in favour of any knee-jerk reaction, even after suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists from Pakistan crossed over to India and launched the attack on the IAF base in Punjab early Saturday. But the attack on Consulate General of India at Mazar-e-Sharif late at night on Sunday prompted Modi Government to toughen its position.


The Gujarat High Court on Monday rejected the bail plea by three Patel leaders  Chirag Patel, Ketan Patel and Dinesh Bhambaniya  who are in jail for sedition charges. These three are generally considered to be close aides of Patel quota stir leader, 22-year-old Hardik Patel.





Rejecting the bail plea of these Patidar Anamat Andolan Samiti (PAAS) leaders, Justice A J Desai, stated that the police were still investigating the case and the petitioners could move their bail application after a charge-sheet was filed by the prosecution.



The PAAS leaders were arrested on sedition charges based on their intercepted phone calls, wherein, according to the police, they were heard inciting people to indulge in violence against the police and damage public property.



Meanwhile, the opposition Congress has again announced its intent to hold Daman Pratikar Rally (agitation to oppose high-handedness) against the BJP government in the state on Tuesday. The Congress has announced that scores of its workers would be in Ahmedabad for the rally to be organised outside Mahatma Gandhis Sabarmati Ashram.
The Railway Ministry on Monday decided to constitute an all-powerful regulatory authority  Rail Development Authority  to determine passenger fares, freight charges, service standards and open access to rail tracks.





The body is modelled on regulatory authorities in telecom and power sectors. It is likely to start working in March this year. The statutory authority will initially be set up by an executive order and then a Bill will be introduced. The ministry has put the concept in public domain and invited comments by January 30.



Fare hike

The concept paper of the Authority makes it clear that passenger fares and freight charges would be determined on the basis of cost.



This means there would be a phenomenal increase in passenger fares or the Government of India compensates for the losses on account of low passenger fares.



The Indian Railways will have no authority to decide passenger fares and the cross subsidisation of passenger fares by earnings from freight charges will end.



Estimated losses in passenger segment have mounted from Rs 6159 crores in 2004-05 to a provisionally estimated over Rs 30,000 crores in 2015-16, the paper has argued.
Even as the Delhi governments odd-even experiment entered its fourth day, the capital saw a spike in the levels of PM 10 and PM 2.5 Monday, with the overall average air quality being recorded in very poor category.





On the System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research (SAFAR) website, both Particulate Matter (PM) 10 (particles below 10 microns in diameter) and PM 2.5 (below 2.5 microns and capable of entering human lung and blood tissues due to smaller size) were recorded at 397.1 and 249.9 respectively, much above the prescribed limits of 100 and 60 respectively. There was an approximate increase of 16 per cent in the PM 2.5 levels since Sundays average. The hourly update of SAFAR showed an upward trend of PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentration since morning. At 11 am, the PM 2.5 level was 237 micrograms per cubic metre, it increased to 244 at 2 pm, 253 at 4 pm and 266 at 7pm.



The government said that it took samples of PM 2.5 and PM 1 (being monitored first time in India) in some areas in the city and its results show that pollution level is down as there was less emission due to fewer vehicles on roads. However, experts suggest that weather related factors like calm winds have played truant. The officials of the weather department said that on Monday there was hardly any wind movement, compared to Sunday which saw westerly winds movement.



According to Dr R K Jenamani, Head, IGIA MeT, Wind is the single major factor which affects local pollution irrespective of other changes. Stronger winds sweep away many pollutants while light winds or no winds hardly remove it.



Even a fall in the maximum temperature could be the reason behind this as cooler the temperature, lower the boundary height and higher the air pollution. At 7.30 pm, the Delhi Pollution Control Committees (DPCC) monitoring station at Mandir Marg recorded PM 2.5 level of 307 microgram per cubic metre, as compared to 176 at 7 pm on the same day in 2015.



Similarly, the monitoring station in R K Puram showed PM 2.5 of 530 at 7:30 in the evening, compared to 182 at 7:05 pm in 2015.



The wind speed has considerably reduced from 5-6 km per hour to almost 2-3 km per hour in the past one week.


If the Punjab Police are to be believed, as many as 15 terrorists may have possibly entered Punjab from Pakistan in the last week of December.





This was the specific input sent out by the Punjab Police in an official communique days before the terror strike took place at the strategic Pathankot airbase.



If the input by the Punjab intelligence is considered, there could well be more terrorists in hiding or inside the massive Pathankot airbase where gun battle is still underway.The airbase is a huge area with a circumference of 24-km.



The input now creates ambiguity on the number of terrorists and throws light on the need to adopt a pro-active aggressive approach to neutralise all the militants who may have sneaked in from Pakistan. A massive manhunt by the Punjab Police is underway to locate if there are any more terrorists outside the bounds of the airbase.



In fact, following the intelligence alert, Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) Suresh Arora issued a letter to all concerned including district police chief's to step up vigil. The alert said that in the last week of December, 15 terrorists may have entered Punjab from Pakistan. The alert was issued by Punjab DGP, Intelligence, Anil Kumar.



All security agencies were alerted of the infiltration bid and warned of a strike at defence establishments and other places including Parliament.



The developments that have unfolded leave many questions unanswered.



Was the specific intelligence alert taken lightly? Did the border security force that guards the 553-km stretch of the international border with Pakistan in Punjab do enough after the alert? Why was the Punjab Police unable to nab the terrorists even after the abducted Punjab SP had specifically told them that his abductors were armed terrorists in army fatigues?



Was there enough security outside the Pathankot airbase to stall any bid to storm the airbase? Was there a local connection in India that facilitated the strike?



Why was the SP's vehicle with the blue beacon atop, that had the terrorists inside, not stopped at the check points leading to the airbase.


Pathankot is one of the most strategic forward airbases in the country and has remained a top priority for its tactical quick response and effective surveillance owing to its location, about 40-km from Pakistan border.





The January 2 attack on the airbase, which has a circumference of 24 km, was unprecedented. But this airbase has been the target of Pakistan air force twice earlier during the 1965 war and then in the 1971 war.



Mini-township

The vast airbase is a walled mini-township. It houses schools, shopping areas, residential compounds, offices, mess, canteen, administrative blocks and playgrounds.

It has an airstrip, besides hangers for aircraft, helicopters and other strategic assets of the Air Force.



But the core competencies are more. The airbase is equipped with state-of-the-art surveillance radars and UAVs. It also has a Pechora defence missile squadron.



The squadron Hawkeyes that fly MiG-21 fighter jets and the Gladiator helicopter unit that operate the Mi-35 attack helicopters are all based here.



The airbase is significant from a logistic point of view, given that it is located at the northern-most district of Punjab at the topographic confluence of boundaries of Himachal Pradesh and J&K.



Punjab has faced the brunt of wars with Pakistan, which is why an integrated network of airfields and airbases, including one at Adampur, Halwara in Ludhiana, Bathinda and Ambala in Haryana, are located in close aerial proximity to the Pathankot airbase for a quick response.



Military cantonment

Pathankot also has a large military cantonment at Mamun. In 1965, the Pakistan air force air-dropped nearly 180 special services group para commandos near three Indian airfields in Punjab, including the Pathankot airbase.



A majority of them were taken as prisoners of war, 22 of them were killed and few escaped to Pakistan.



In the 1971 war, an air strike was launched by Pakistan on the Pathankot airbase. Portion of the runway was damaged in the bombing.



The proximity of this forward airbase to Pakistan and vast stretches of porous borders have ensured the vulnerability of this strategic airbase. Out of the 553-km border with Pakistan in Punjab, only about 461 km is fenced.



The remaining area runs through the banks of the Satluj and Ravi rivers. A total of 178 outposts have been set up.


Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has sought a report from the Indian Air Force (IAF) on how militants managed to enter the high-security airbase.





Initial analysis of events at the IAF headquarters point the fingers towards a water canal, which breached the 23-km long perimeter wall of the front line airbase that witnessed action in 1971 war with Pakistan.



The air station currently houses MiG-21 fighter jets besides Mi-25 and Mi-35 helicopter gunships. Close to 1500 people live inside the air station, which also has a terminal for civilian flights. The base has five entry gates, four of which remained closed. The fifth one is the main gate.



It is located in the more populated civilian side of the air station.



IAF officials say terrorists did not enter from that side; otherwise the casualty would have been much more.



This narrows down the suspected entry point, somewhere close to the canal, which ran parallel to the boundary wall before taking a turn to enter the premise.



Once the operations are over, IAF will check if the ultras used the canal as their entry point or sneaked through a hole in the wall.



Another theory that terrorists may have entered the base even before the alert was sounded would also be examined critically once the operations are over.



Agencies suspect there were at least six terrorists and they were divided into two groups  one of four and the other with minimum two.



The first group were killed on Saturday while the members of the second group fought for almost 60 hours.



The security of military installations is also set to be reviewed besides a relook at the training of the Defence Security Corps personnel and military police personnel.


The security establishment got the first hint about terrorists plans to target Pathankot Air Force base when a jeweller, who was abducted along with a Punjab Police officer, informed investigators about a phone call made by terrorists to their handlers in Pakistan.





Rajesh Verma was abducted along with Superintendent of Police (SP) Salwinder Singh and his cook on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1. While Singh and his cook were released, Verma was taken hostage by the terrorists. He overheard the terrorists talking to their handlers over phone, probably snatched from the SP, about why they were getting delayed to enter their target airbase.



Verma was dumped with his throat slit, and was later found by police. During questioning, he informed police about the telephone call. Sources said that Vermas statement also gave them an indication that there was more than one group of terrorists. Verma told the police that the terrorists were asked why there were not able to enter the airbase when two

others have already entered it. The terrorists told their handlers that they were on their way but could not reach the base as there were several police pickets on the way.



Sources said this showed that the two terrorists had already entered the base on January 1, much before the alert was sounded about a possible strike at the Air Force facility. They also did not rule out the possibility that the four terrorists, who were involved in the abduction of the SP and others, had also entered the airbase before the issuance of the alert.



The security agencies got wind of a possible attack only on January 1 afternoon. By then, they were certain that the target was the airbase.


The Army and the NSG commandos killed another Pakistani terrorist holed up inside a two-storey building at the Pathankot airbase as the operation spilled over to the third day on Monday with reports of more terrorists inside.





According to a PTI report on Monday night from Islamabad quoting the Foreign Office, whose tone was conciliatory said, Pakistan is working on the leads provided by India on the terror attack in Pathankot.



The spokesperson said, In line with Pakistans commitment to effectively counter and eradicate terrorism, the Government is in touch with the Indian government and is working on the leads provided by it. The statement, however, did not give details of the leads provided by India.



In Pathankot, the operation is still underway and will continue for a longer time to rule out any possibility of more terrorists hiding inside the airbase compound which has a massive circumference of 24 km. The operation has now continued for over 42-hours.



Late in the evening, there were reports that security commandos blew up the building killing one terrorist while the other was buried alive under the debris.



The terrorists had taken refuge in the Air Force housing quarters. The killing of the sixth terrorist has not been confirmed by the security agencies so far. No causality on the side of the security forces was reported on Monday.



Just when the military operation was assumed to have entered its last leg, gun fire was resumed indicating the possibility of more militants inside.



Security agencies clarified that all strategic air assets and personnel have been secured. There now remains complete ambiguity over the number of terrorists, inside and outside at other locations. Unconfirmed reports suggest that the terrorists may have split into two groups and one group may have managed to enter the airbase before intelligence agencies sounded an alert on January 1.



Until the first 24-hours or more of the operation, there was the possibility of only four terrorists. By the afternoon of January 3, at least two more had surfaced, which is why the security agencies are treading with caution.



Sources said the operation was taking time since the security forces were viewing the possibility of catching one of the militants alive. Since that was a high risk proposition, the option of eliminating them was exerted.



Security personnel dead

Ever since the operation started in the early hours of January 2, seven security personnel have been killed and more than 20 injured in the gunbattle at the airbase.



A massive manhunt is underway in Punjab to locate if there were more terrorists.

The evidence of Rakesh Kumar, a Gurdaspur-based jeweler and an associate of the SP who were together kidnapped by the ultras, is crucial.



Kumar, who was thrown out of the car after the ultras slit his throat, told the police had heard the terrorists talk to someone on the phone asking them to reach the target.

The panic button was pressed after the SP informed about his brush with the terrorists on January 1, but by then there could have been possibility that the group may have split before the first strike.



NIA team

Meanwhile, the 20-member team of the NIA which is probing the terror strike registered three criminal cases.



First is about the abduction of the SP, second about the killing of the Innova car driver and the third about the terror strike.




The South East Division police have arrested seven members of an inter-state gang of burglars involved a series of thefts across various states, including Bengaluru, Maharastra, Punjab and Madhya Pradesh.





The arrested are: Ranbir Singh, 32, Ram Babu, 27, Dharma, 25, Murugesh, 50, Dheeraj, 32, Beeru, 22, Devendra Soni, 32, all from Madhya Pradesh.



 They belong to Parthi gang known for house thefts and the prime suspects of the group Kapoor Singh and Raghuveer are absconding. There are warrants pending against them in Madhya Pradesh. Hence, they moved to the City and were absconding, said Additional Commissioner of Police (East) P Harishekharan.



The Parthi gang members would erect makeshift tents and stay there mostly in open spaces, below flyovers and near temples. Men and women of the group would form different teams and survey the locked houses on the pretextof selling balloons. The women share details of the locked houses to the men once they were back in the night, said the police.



They would form separate team and strike at the locked houses during nights. They would break open windows or locks of the door to gain entry inside. They would return to Madhya Pradesh once in two months, sell the stolen ornaments and return to the City, said the police.



The police formed a special team after the number of thefts increased in the South Division.



The police detained Murugan and interrogated him about the thefts in the South East Division. Murugan, a notorious house thief, was jailed four times each at Central Prison, Parappana Agrahara and at Kadapa prison in Andhra Pradesh. He has married a woman of the Parthi gang, said the police.



He disclosed about the Parthi gang members staying in the tents and committing house thefts. They police took a few persons staying at the tents erected at Agara, Sajjan Rao Circle, KR Road and Banaswadi and grilled them. They disclosed the details of the suspects and provided leads that led to the arrests, said the police.



The police have recovered stolen jewellery worth Rs 35 lakh from the suspects. The inter-state gang was involved in more than 13 theft cases in the City.


The State BJP on Monday charged the ruling Congress with misusing the official machinery and money power to win the recently concluded elections to the Legislative Council from local bodies constituencies.





Addressing reporters after attending a meeting of senior party leaders convened to introspect on party's poor performance in the elections, BJP spokesperson C T Ravi said the Congress bought votes paying huge sum. The BJP, on its part, lacked adequate resources. As a result, the Congress managed to win 13 of the 25 seats, he added.



Many of the leaders who attended the meeting felt that the party senior leaders should have focused more on their respective districts during the campaign, instead of touring the State. It was decided in the meeting to make elaborate preparation for the coming elections to taluk and zilla panchayats, Ravi said.



The leaders have decided to come out with a separate manifesto for every district in the coming panchayat elections.



We will take the panchayat elections very seriously. We will start the preparation well in advance. A plan will be drawn up for the State leaders to tour the State and drum up support for the party, he added.



Former chief ministers, B S Yeddyurappa, Jagadish Shettar and D V Sadananda Gowda and Opposition leader in the Council K S Eshwarappa were among the senior leaders attended the meeting.
The High Court on Monday dismissed the petition filed by Bengaluru Residents Associations Confederation Ensemble (BRACE) and others questioning the PPP (public private partnership) agreement between Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (BMRCL) and Mantri Infrastructure Pvt Ltd for construction of Swastik Metro station in Malleswaram.





A division bench comprising acting Chief Justice S K Mukherjee and Justice Ravi Malimath dismissed the petition stating that according to the report submitted by the Infrastructure Development Corporation Karnataka Limited (iDeCK), a government body, it was a win-win situation for both the parties entering into the agreement and it was unjust to question the decision of the authorities.



The petitioner had contended that the PPP project would benefit Mantri group to the tune of crores of rupees, which otherwise would have accrued to the state exchequer. The petitioners contended that the agreement between BMRCL and Mantri was illegal and that the 2.5 acres of land acquired by the Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) could not be handed over to a third party. They also argued that the land acquired for Swastik station was transferred to the company in the name of a PPP project and that would benefit only Mantri, not the State government.


The race for the new Lokayukta has narrowed down with only two names, that of Justice Vikramajit Sen and Justice S R Nayak, being discussed at a meeting held by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Monday.





The meeting ended with a majority suggesting the name of Justice Sen, who retired as a Supreme Court judge on December 30, 2015, while a few pushed the name of Justice Nayak, who had earlier served as chairperson of the State Human Rights Commission.



The meeting, held at Kumara Krupa guest house, was attended by Subhro Kamal Mukherjee, acting Chief Justice of the High Court, Assembly Speaker Kagodu Thimmappa, Chairman of the Legislative Council D H Shankaramurthy, Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly Jagadish Shettar and his counterpart in the Council K S Eshwarappa.



After the meeting, Shettar told mediapersons, Myself, Shankaramurthy and Eshwarappa suggested the name of Justice Sen for the post of Lokayukta. Justice Mukherjee also showed his inclination for Justice Sen. Speaker Thimmappa has suggested Justice Nayak's name. However, the chief minister did not put forth any name. We have left it to the discretion of the chief minister to finalise a name.



Sources said that when Thimmappa proposed the name of Justice Nayak, opposition leaders raised an objection, saying he had already served as chairperson of the SHRC and that there would be criticism from all corners.



The chief minister was more inclined to recommend Justice Nayaks name to the Governor for the post, a source said. However, a Congress leader said that Siddaramaiah was also willing to forward Justice Sens name.



Governor Vajubhai Vala had thrice rejected the name of retired High Court judge K L Manjunath for the post of Upalokayukta. Later, Siddaramaiah held a meeting with all concerned, as stated in the Lokayukta Act, and finalised Justice N Anandas name.



Justice Y Bhaskar Rao had resigned as the Lokayukta on December 7, 2015, which was accepted by the Governor the next day. Justice Rao sent his resignation after the Legislative Assembly admitted a motion to remove him as Lokayukta, over extortion scam in the office of the anti-graft ombudsman, involving his son Yerabati Ashwin.
BlackBerry will no longer pull out of Pakistan after resolving a dispute with the countrys government over data privacy.

Marty Beard, BlackBerrys COO, has stated: After productive discussions, the government of Pakistan has rescinded its shutdown order, and BlackBerry has decided to remain in the Pakistan market.

BlackBerry previously stated that it would leave Pakistan before the end of 2015, after the government ordered it to shut down its secure messaging service for security reasons. Human rights privacy watchdog Privacy International has reported that the Inter-Services Intelligence  Pakistans military intelligence agency  is aiming to improve its ability to intercept communications.

The device manufacturer has run into trouble before in various markets over its refusal to provide governments with back-door access to its BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) traffic or servers. The firms use of encryption to prevent monitoring of user data has led to BES being banned in India and Indonesia, among other markets.
As many as 50,000 people with diabetes may need to be switched to alternative insulin injections, with certain insulin products expected to be in short supply.

Sanofi, the manufacturer of the products in short supply, warned that missing out on insulin treatment can be life-threatening. Affected products include Sanofis Insuman Basal 100IU/mL, Insuman Comb 25 100 IU/mL cartridges, and Insuman Basal Solostar 100 IU/mL and Insuman Comb 25 Solostar prefilled pens. Although there will be some stock, supplies could be very limited for the next eight months.

Sanofi stated in a letter to the NHS that there could be a supply shortage in the United Kingdom of some Insuman presentations (recombinant human insulin) from 1 December 2015. The problem, they explained, was due to limited capacity at the manufacturing site [] supply is expected to return to normal in July 2016.

Many of the 50,000 people treated with this insulin are being switched to alternative insulin injections. For people with type 1 diabetes, going without insulin is simply not an option; a fact recognised in Sanofis letter. Interruption of insulin treatment is potentially life-threatening. Therefore replacement with alternative insulin formations is needed to avoid hyperglycemia and serious complications.

People on Insuman Basal preparations will be switched to Humulin I and Insulatard. People using Comb 25 products will switch to Humulin M3. Sanofi has retained a small supply of Insuman Basal and Comb25 preparations that will be prescribed on a case-by-case basis.

Insuman is one of many drug shortages affecting the NHS at this time of year. It may, however, be one of the most problematic, because it isnt possible to switch to a like-for-like insulin. Doctors will have to work with their patients to make the switch to other forms of insulin safe.

[A] simple switch to an alternative is not possible, and most patients will need input to manage the change safely, said Dr. Andrew Gree, chair of the GPC clinical and prescribing subcommittee.
A massive number of messages sent by users all across the world possibly caused WhatsApp's servers to crash, halting new year messages on 31st night.

Many users in India, Europe and North America saw their WhatsApp messages failing to deliver on New Years eve, because of a blackout that the popular messaging service suffered. While service resumed within a few hours of the clock striking midnight, users kept facing issues of failing to connect to network, or messages not getting delivered despite being connected. WhatsApps VoIP voice calling service also suffered a similar blackout, with no calls going through.

The problem remained persistent through the first two days of 2016. A WhatsApp spokesperson has told Reuters that the messaging service had indeed suffered a blackout, and its engineers had been working to restore normalcy to the service. Most of WhatsApps services are now being expected to have been restored to normal conditions. The blackout is possibly a result of the massive rush over WhatsApp to send wishes and greetings on the new year. Indian telecom operators usually charge Re. 1 for every 160-character text messages during the new year, while WhatsApp provides free messaging services with no character count restraint, along with multimedia messaging support.

WhatsApps functionality in India returned to the usual within a few hours after midnight on 1st January, but users across the continents of Europe, North America and Africa continued to report network and connectivity issues with WhatsApp, two days into 2016. By today, all issues have expectedly been resolved.

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging applications across the world, providing voice calling and multimedia (audio, video, photographs) support alongside text messages. A recent leaked report also suggests that WhatsApp may be introducing a video calling feature within its application, along with adding support for multi-tab chat windows. While the video calling interface is expected to be similar to the present voice calling interface, the multi-tab chat windows are expected to reshuffle WhatsApps present interface format, along with making it more convenient to have multiple conversations at one time, in WhatsApps push for becoming an all-encompassing messaging suite.
LG has showcase the panel earlier, but it seems finally ready to put the spotlight on these display panels.

It seems LG is finally ready to truly show-off its flexible rollable OLED screens. According to a report by The Verge, the South Korean electronics giant is showcasing its previously seen 18 inch flexible OLED screen at the Consumer Electronics Show, 2016 (CES). In addition, the company is also going to exhibit the technology in the form of a 25-inch curved screen installed inside a car, while there will also be a 55-inch paper-thin television at the CES showcase. While were yet to see live demos of the same, we will be bringing you new information as soon as possible.

The rollable OLED, which can literally be rolled like a newspaper, is a technology that LG has showcased before. In fact, LG SVP and Head of R&D, In-Byung Kang, had said then that the company is confident of delivering an ultra-HD flexible and transparent OLED panel. He had also said that the 2017 version would have transmittance of over 40% and a curvature radius of 100R. While we arent sure whether the panels expected at CES 2015 are anywhere close to that, we should know soon enough.

Rollable, flexible and curved display panels have seemed to be the next step for OEMs for a while now. While there are a bunch of Curved TVs that one can buy, 2015 was curved display panels on smartphones like the Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge and Galaxy S6 Edge Plus, along with the LG G Flex 2, which had earlier been preceded by the LG G Flex smartphone. While these displays and their utility are far from perfect at the moment, OEMs are putting a lot of money behind making them mainstream.

While curved displays may not make a big difference on smartphones, their utility does become easier to discern once put into use elsewhere. In a car, for example, a Curved display can help the driver or his passengers in a lot of ways. The usage for such displays can also be in the home environment, while industrial usage isnt out of bounds either.
The Facebook founder is all set to make his own personal assistant powered by AI. Here's what Zuckerberg has in mind for his 'Jarvis'.

Facebook CEO, Mark Zuckerberg has had many new year resolutions in the past. According to a recent post by the Facebook creator, his challanges have included- "reading two books every month, learning Mandarin and meeting a new person every day." This year though, Zuckerberg has taken it upon himself to build a personal assistant powered by Artificial Intelligence. Taking cue from the formidable superhero Iron Man, Zuckerberg wrote in a post, "My personal challenge for 2016 is to build a simple AI to run my home and help me with my work. You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man." As per Zuckerberg's plan, he will make an attempt to educate himself in the field of AI and then teach his personal assistant to understand his voice and control everything in his home. "Music, lights, temperature and so on. I'll teach it to let friends in by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell. I'll teach it to let me know if anything is going on in Max's room that I need to check on when I'm not with her. On the work side, it'll help me visualize data in VR to help me build better services and lead my organizations more effectively," said Zuckerberg in the same post.



It is important to note here that Facebook is also the owner of Virtual Reality firm Oculus. So, it could be expected that Zuckerberg's 'Jarvis' will use technology from the same to help the Facebook founder realise his dream. This post could also be a teaser for what Facebook has in store when it comes to the Virtual Reality space. Back in September, Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer, told the Financial Times that Facebook is investing heavily in the VR space, and that they have a multi-year plan for the same.



Zuckerberg did not miss the opportunity of mentioning Free Basics in the same post as well. Talking about his spirit of invention, he wrote, "At Facebook I spend a lot of time working with engineers to build new things. Some of the most rewarding work involves getting deep into the details of technical projects. I do this with Internet.org when we discuss the physics of building solar-powered planes and satellites to beam down internet access. I do this with Oculus when we get into the details of the controllers or the software we're designing. I do this with Messenger when we discuss our AI to answer any question you have. But it's a different kind of rewarding to build things yourself, so this year my personal challenge is to do that."



What becomes of Mark's AI plans is something we will have to wait and watch out for, but as for Free Basics, his fight still continues in India and the results are awaited soon.
The conference was held to discuss the encouragement of SMEs to manufacture safety electronics and also how Indian startups can take the IoT forward

The PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI), in association with the Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DEITY) organised a conference called Electronics in Security and IoT in New Delhi on December 4. The aim of the conference was to discuss how to encourage SMEs to manufacture safety electronics to boost manufacturing in India and become a major source of employment in rural India. The conference also discussed how Indian startups can take the concept of Internet of Things (IoT) forward. It was presided by a number of eminent panelists and was attended by a large number of delegates which included diplomats, electronic component manufacturers, IT companies and more.

R.P Jhalani, Chairman, Committee on Electronics and Engineering Goods emphasised the importance of the electronics industry in Indias economic growth during his welcome address. He added that in 2012, the Indian electronics industry stood at $69.6 billion and is expected to reach $400 billion by 2020. Jhalani said that the global IoT market is going to get bigger and may touch $7 trillion globally by 2020 as per data by the International Data Corporation (IDC). He also added that firms were resorting to mergers and acquisitions and are coming up with new ideas for IoT. N.K Mohapatra, CEO, Electronics Sector Skill Council of India (ESSCI), said that the demand is not in existing jobs, but newer jobs which include safety and electronics along with IoT.

Pankaj Mohindroo, National President, Indian Cellular Association (ICA) talked about the importance of mobile with respect to IoT. During his address, he says that IoT is an extension of the mobile design ecosystem and that mobile devices would be at the heart of an IoT ecosystem as all devices would be connected through it. Mohindroo also said that India needs to focus on producing mobile hardware designers to boost electronics manufacturing. He added that while the country has produced a large number of mobile software designers, equal emphasis must be placed on producing quality mobile hardware designers. Mohindroo went on to say that due to the immense growth of the mobile phone industry in India, the country may start exporting electronic components to China in 2 years.

Avinash Sinha, Design Expert, Mecops India Private Limited emphasized on the design of and architecture of IoT which helps to minimise physical interaction. He also said that IoT would ensure a companys resources are utilised more productively.
Public WiFi hotspots are being set up by BSNL in Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar, to promote tourism on the banks of the Ganges.

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), the State-run telecom service provider, has started providing free internet via WiFi hotspots in Har Ki Pauri, Haridwar, in an attempt to promote tourism in the popular river bank by the Ganges. BSNL has partnered with Trimax to provide this service, which will be free for the first 15 minutes. Subsequently, users can recharge online or buy coupons for extended usage. An added 30 minutes of internet will cost Rs. 30, while 60 minutes will cost Rs. 50. Two hours of browsing will cost Rs. 90, and Rs. 150 will allow unlimited usage of the public internet facility.

A report by Asian News International has mentioned Sri Ganga Sabha General Secretary, Ram Kumar Mishra, stating that this move has been done expecting tourists to share activities taking place at Har Ki Pauri with their family and friends with the help of wi-fi hotspot service. Such actions are now being taken in light of growing connectivity in India, with internet services being a major aspect for tourists to consider visiting a place. Additionally, destinations are also expected to gain more popularity, with wider social media coverage encouraged by internet connectivity.

Indias state of Internet connectivity has been a much debated and discussed issue over the recent past. While connectivity is steadily improving, 4G LTE services are about to roll out to the masses, and more focus is being given to rural areas, which remain either disconnected, or poorly connected to the internet, as of today. While Googles balloon-powered Project Loon has been sanctioned in India and aims to beam 4G internet connectivity to areas difficult to connect and reach out via physical means, the likes of Facebooks Free Basics have come under massive scrutiny. Free Basics claims to provide the basics of internet services for free to the rural masses, while people have opposed Mark Zuckerbergs initiative, claiming this to be a violation of net neutrality in India. We conducted a survey that has till date gathered around 750 opinions, and here is what people have had to say about Free Basics in India.

Nevertheless, with a major push for more internet hotspots and public internet connectivity, India may have much improved connectivity by the end of 2016.
However, Satya Nadella says that Microsoft is more focused on creating a world where the device is less important that the services being accessed by it

Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella has admitted in an interview that the companys smartphone market share is unsustainable. However, he argues that the company is focusing on creating a world where services being accessed by a phone is more important than the device itself, which would explain Microsofts push towards cloud services. In an interview with BuzzFeed, Nadella says, You and I throughout the day, we will use many devices. Perhaps you start with a phone. But then you walk into your conference room where there are sensors, large screens, and small screens. And then you go back home to your TV or your Xbox. The idea is that  your apps, your data, your context move from device to device [when] you are mobile.

The focus on cloud makes sense as Microsoft doesnt seem to be doing so well in the mobile category. The latest report by Gartner estimates that Microsofts market share in the mobile category is just 1.7%. Not only that, but a report by IDC estimates that Windows Phones market share will rise by just 0.1% by 2019. However, Nadella does seem to be to be fazed by sales figures and is committed towards cloud services. During the Future Unleashed conference held in Mumbai in November, he had said, There will be more computing in our lives...the key will be the mobility of our human experience...That is truly where technology will go.

However, not everyone is convinced that this is the direction Microsoft should take. During the companys annual shareholder meeting in December, ex-CEO and largest individual shareholder, Steve Ballmer said that he feels Windows Phones should be able to run Android applications. He felt that Nadellas idea of universal applications that will run on a variety of devices, wont work. Microsofts Project Astoria, which allowed Android apps to be emulated on Windows Phone, may have been put on hold. While no official reason for this step was given, it is speculated that it was due to the controversial nature of the project. Not only did it make pirating an app easy, but also undercut developers who would then have no reason to create native applications.

Source: BuzzFeed
According to TRAI, telecom operators should credit subscribers one rupee for each dropped call, with a cap of Rs. 3 per day.

Telecom operators are not complying to TRAIs directive to pay compensation for call drops. TRAI, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, earlier directed telecom operators to pay compensation for call drops beginning January 1. While TRAI is adamant that telecom operators should abide by its directive, the operators are not doing so, citing a Delhi High Court order from last month. The Delhi High Court directed TRAI not to take any powerful action against the telecom operators until the next court hearing, which is to be held on January 6, 2016.

The October 16th Mandate released by TRAI asks every originating service provider providing Mobile Services for each call drop within its network. The mandate also asks telecom operators to credit the calling consumer by one rupee for each call drop, which will be capped at three ruppes per day. Once a call drop occurs, operators have been directed to send a message through SMS/USSD to the calling consumer within four hours of the dropped call, with details of the amount credited to his/her account. For postpaid consumers, operators were asked to provide details of the credited money to the concerned subscriber in their next bill.

If this mandate comes into action, subscribers can get upto three rupees per day, but such an action may garner negative impacts on the telecom industry. According to ETs report, analysts at Credit Suisse estimated that telecom industry might lose 3% of its revenue and 7-8% EBITDA on its operations, annually. According to TRAI, the compensation figure should not exceed Rs 800 crores annually. However, COAI (Cellular Operator Association of India) claims that if compensations are being handed out, people may game the system. According to the operator association, if almost 50% of the Indian subscriber base games the system, the telecom industry might lose around Rs. 54,000 crores a year.

Looking at the bigger picture, industry analysts in tune with the telecom operators suggest that if compensations are made compulsory, it will send a negative impact among investors across the globe. It is also suggested that more than 5 lac crores would be required to build communication infrastructure in India, in the next 10 years. However, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the government is backing TRAI on the compensation front.

We will know more in the coming days on whether and how would the compensations be played out. The Delhi High Court will be holding a session on the 6th of January on the same matter, which will lend more clarity to the situation.
Adverse weather led to another month of very soft comparables for retailer Marks&Spencer , but far more important for the company would be whether it could downsize its general merchandise store estate, Credit Suisse told clients.

The Swiss broker was now forecasting like-for-like growth in sales of just 1% in food and zero in general merchandise.

Several weeks of discounts of 30% or more across the store also meant second half gross margins would be 20 basis points lower.

That led analysts Simon Irwin and Pradeep Pratti to cut their forecast for earnings per share by 2.5% which lowered their estimate for profits before tax to 682m.

"After 5 years of downgrades, we remain very cautious about M&S recovery prospects and our forecasts for the next year years remain circa 10% below consensus. We expect M&S to continue to lose market share in GM due to its margin-focussed strategy and platform changes, while competition continues to build," the analysts said in a summary of a research note sent to clients on 22 December.

Hence, the analysts' recommendation was for the chain to be much more aggressive in churning its UK retail space, closing 5% of its stores and re-opening 3%.

To fund such a move, they said M&S would need to cancel its annual 150m of buybacks.

On the back of all of the above, the broker cut its 12-month target price on the company's shares from 500p to 475p.

"While the shares are very oversold at present (1m -13%) we believe they will continue to underperform retail peers in the year ahead."
Saudi Arabia announced that it would severe all commercial ties with Iran in response to Saturdays storming of its embassy in Tehran by a mob, including all flights to and from its neighbour, according to reports.

The Kingdoms foreign minister, Adel al Jubeir, also ordered all Iranian diplomats to depart the country, blaming Irans aggressive policies.

Throughout Monday morning, the governments of several other Sunni-majority nations, such as Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates also announced decisions to reduce or cut their own diplomatic ties with Iran.

In parallel, protests took place in several countries with Shia Muslim populations such as India, Iraq, Pakistan and Turkey.

Religious pilgrims from Iran would still be allowed to visit Saudi Arabia, Jubeir said.
Saudi Arabia pulled its diplomats from Tehran and announced it would cease diplomatic relations with its neighbour after its embassy was attacked.

The announcement was made on Sunday by the countrys foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir.

Protesters broke into the Saudi Arabian embassy late on Saturday night, starting fires inside and  according to Saudi officials  made off with computers and documents.

The incident followed the execution earlier in the day in Saudi Arabia of four Shias on charges of terrorism, including a well-known Shia clergyman Nimr al-Nimr, alongside 43 others.

Al-Nimr was indicted on charges of sedition, disobedience and bearings arms.

Al-Jubeir said Iranian officials had ignored three calls for assistance from Riyahd after its embassy was stormed.

The news came at a very tense moment in the Middle East, with tensions increasingly apparent between the two countries and with diplomats from outside the region worried those might hamper the upcoming tals to broker a cease-fire in Syria.

Early on Sunday, Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, ordered the arrest and prosecution of those responsible for the attack, while at the same time condemining the execution of Nimr.

On the previous day Iran's Supreme leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Saudi Arabia would face "divine retribution" following the killing of al-Nimr.

Both France and the UK said they deplored the executions.

Foreign Officer Minister Tobias Ellwood said he was "deeply disturbed" by the rising sectarian tensions in the Middle East, reiterated the UK was firmly opposed to the death penalty and expressed his disappointment at the mass executions.
London stocks are set to open lower on the first trading day of 2016, taking their cue from a dismal session in Asia, where the Shanghai Composite fell nearly 7% after weak Chinese factory data.

Londons FTSE 100 is seen starting 74 points lower at 6,168.

The Caixin manufacturing PMI for December came in at 48.2, down from 48.6 in November and missing expectations for a rise to 48.9.

Chinas latest PMI data implies more stimulus may be required in 2016, said Jasper Lawler, market analyst at CMC Markets.

The surprise monthly drop in the Caixin report comes off the back of the official manufacturing PMI that saw factory activity shrink for the fifth month in December with a reading of 49.7, up slightly from November. A big swing factor for this coming year will be whether Beijing makes better use of its ability to stabilise the Chinese economy. The government has been walking a tightrope of growth stabilisation and economic reform. The way Chinese authorities lean in 2016 could determine whether markets have a good year or not.

Diageo completes sale of major wine interests

Diageo was ringing in 2016 on Monday with the completion of the sale of its major wine interests.

The FTSE 100 beverage multinational had previously announced its intention to sell the US-based Chateau and Estate Wines and the UK-based Percy Fox arm, to Treasury Wine Estates

In October, Diageo indicated the deal would be worth $552m, with net proceeds to the firm of 320m.

"Diageo's strategy to drive stronger, sustained performance through focus on our core portfolio and today's announcement is another element of that strategy in action", Diageo chief executive Ivan Menezes said at the time.

"With the completion of this transaction Diageo would have released 1bn from the sale of non-core assets since the start of the financial year."

Treasury Wine Estates is an Australia-based business, and was formed through a demerger from brewer Foster's Group in 2011.

RSA Insurance announced the completion of the sale of its business in Italy to ITAS Mutua.

Headquartered in Trento, Italy and founded in 1821, ITAS is the oldest mutual insurance company in Italy. It provides over 1.2m policies to almost 700,000 insured members and is represented by over 250 agents.
One in ten fleet cars in the UK were due to be serviced by the AA from January, following an announcement on Monday of a major new B2B contract.

The FTSE 250 breakdown service provider told the market it had signed a three-year contract to provide roadside assistance to fleet firm Lex Autolease.

Lex's 307,000 vehicles accounted for around 10% of the total UK fleet parc, the AA said.

"Lex Autolease is the market leader in fleet management and is a fleet funding specialist, offering vehicle leasing for fleets of all sizes, and it is our job to help keep iot that way", said AA executive chairman Bob Mackenzie.

"We have invested and continue to invest heavily in our business to provide state of the art dedicated operational support in the UK."

The contract added to the AA's existing large B2B portfolio, which served around 10m customers at last count.

AA already had a relationship with Lex's parent, Lloyds Banking Group, providing breakdown cover to added value account holders with Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland and Halifax.

"Roadside assistance is naturally a crucial part of our overall mobility offering, and this contract means we will continue to provide our customers with an excellent level of support when they need it most", said Lex Autolease managing director Tim Porter.

The value of the deal was not made immediately clear.
Mining stocks took a tumble on Monday following weak macroeconomic data from China, just as tensions in the Middle East spooked investors across the board.

The FTSE 100 ended 2.39% or 148.89 points lower at 6,093.43 points, while the FTSE 250 finished 1.77% or 307.67 points lower at 17,122.15 amid growing tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia over the execution of a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr by the latter.

There was further bad news, as base metal futures fell across the London Metal Exchange board following declines in Asia on weak data from China. Factory activity in Asias largest economy slowed down in December, mainly as a result of weakness overseas, but analysts pointed to improvements in local conditions as reasons for optimism.

Caixins unofficial manufacturing sector purchasing managers index for December retreated from a reading of 48.6 for November to 48.2 in December. The median estimate from analysts was for a reading of 48.9.

Unsurprisingly, three-month delivery contracts of primary aluminium (down 3.1%), copper (down 2.2%), nickel (down 3.4%), lead (down 1.9%), zinc (down 2.5%) and tin (down 1.2%) headed lower weighing on Anglo American (down 7.21%), Glencore (down 5.76%) and Antofagasta (down 5.03%).

However, COMEX gold futures for February delivery rallied on safe haven demand up 1.66% or $17.60 to $1077.80 an ounce, while spot gold was 1.35% or $14.30 higher at $1075.40 at 1607 GMT. COMEX silver also rose 0.74% or 10 cents to $13.91 an ounce, ensuring Fresnillo (up 0.21%) and Randgold Resources (up 2.41%) stayed in positive territory, ending the session as the only gainers on the FTSE 100.

Away from resource stocks, insurance companies RSA Insurance, Direct Line and Aviva slumped after UBS estimated net losses of 150m to 308m from the damage of storms Desmond, Eva and Frank.

Diageo was sitting lower after it completed the sale of its major wine interests, including US-based Chateau and Estate Wines and the UK-based Percy Fox arm, to Treasury Wine Estates.

Grainger edged higher after saying it had exchanged contracts with Turbo Group Holdings to sell its Retirement Solutions business on or before 20 May, subject to Turbo gaining approval from the Financial Conduct Authority. Grainger expects a 55m profit on the sale of its equity release division.
Surgeon general on mental health: 'Are we taking care of our kids?'
Pakistan has withdrawn its order asking BlackBerry to shut services in the country over access to its data encryption.

Without a resolution to its dispute, BlackBerry would have been forced to exit Pakistan on 30 December.

"After productive discussions, the Government of Pakistan has rescinded its shutdown order, and BlackBerry has decided to remain in the Pakistan market," BlackBerry chief operating officer Marty Beard said in a statement.

In July, Pakistan had asked BlackBerry to provide access to all encrypted traffic flowing through the company's servers, due to security concerns. BlackBerry refused to comply with the government's order.

The company's secure BlackBerry Enterprise Service (BES) emails and messages are used mostly by corporate customers, governments and military personnel.

"We are grateful to the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority and the Pakistani government for accepting BlackBerry's position that we cannot provide the content of our customers' BES traffic, nor will we provide access to our BES servers," Beard said.

BlackBerry had earlier fought the Indian government for years, over a similar issue starting in 2011.

BlackBerry initially refused to provide any customer data to India, but finally relented in 2013 and handed over access to consumers' BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) messages and emails.

The company, however, did not comply with the order to hand over BES emails and messages.

The departure of BlackBerry from Pakistan was announced at the end of last November, and came as a surprise to many when the company more recently announced that it had worked out an agreement with Pakistan to continue operations in 2016.

According to commentators, Pakistan's request for backdoor encryption access was not unique, though it seems that Pakistani authorities had shelved their data demands, at least for now.

Beard announced that the government had rescinded the order that would have effectively barred BlackBerry's operations in Pakistan.

Beard said that BlackBerry was ''grateful'' to the Pakistani government and Pakistan Telecommunication Authority for understanding its compulsions to not provide access to the BES data. Had the Pakistani government not backed down, the company was firm in its decision to cease operations entirely. ''That is a compromise we are not willing to make'', Beard said earlier this year.


In a reversal of its stance at the ministerial meeting of World Trade Organisation member countries at Nairobi, Kenya last month, the commerce ministry is now finalising a draft note endorsing the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) that has already been endorsed by 63 member countries of the World Trade Organisation. India had earlier decided against endorsing the trade deal after the 2014 Bali ministerial meeting failed to address developing countries' concerns. Now that the recently-concluded Nairobi ministerial has reaffirmed commitments to firm up the permanent solution to issues raised by India and several developing countries, India is expected to endorse the TFA, an official release stated. The commerce ministry has drafted a note on the trade facilitation agreement (TFA) of the World Trade Organisation and will soon approach the cabinet for an approval, a senior government official said. The TFA aims at easing customs rules and expediting the movement and clearance of goods and facilitating effective cooperation between appropriate authorities of countries concerned to facilitate trade. The commerce ministry has received comments from various departments on a draft note circulated earlier. The ministry is in the process of finalising the note, factoring in the comments, which will then be placed before the cabinet, official sources said. Meanwhile, in a bid to save face against criticism that India failed to protect its interests at the WTO, the government is planning to forge strong alliances on the ''development agenda'' of the WTO's ongoing Doha Round of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) negotiations to boost the trade prospects of the developing and poor nations. The government will, in the coming months, also hold a series of ''strategy workshops'' of stakeholders, inter-ministerial and centre-state discussions in addition to summits with African countries and other developing country groups, starting with a proposed visit by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Africa in February. There is widespread criticism from the opposition parties and civil society groups that the NDA government had failed to protect the interests of India and the developing world at the Nairobi ministerial held last month and gave way to developing country demands for an agreement to lower global trade barriers. The TFA is projected to cut the cost of trade by an average of 14.5 per cent and the impact could be greater than elimination of all remaining tariffs, according to WTO director-general Roberto Azevedo. It has the potential to raise global merchandise exports by up to $1 trillion a year, according to a recent WTO report. The WTO got six more ratifications for the TFA at Nairobi ministerial, bringing up to 63 the number of its members that have formally accepted the pact. However, the TFA can come into force only when two-thirds of the 162-odd WTO members formally accept the agreement. Myanmar, Norway, Vietnam, Brunei, Zambia and Ukraine are the latest to endorse the pact, which has already been ratified by several developed and developing countries, including the US, Japan, Australia, Korea and China. Another WTO report suggests only 62 measures, aimed at facilitating trade, were initiated by the G20 nations, including India, between mid-May and mid-October, with a monthly average of just over 12, the slowest pace since November 2013. However, the G20 imposed 86 new trade-restrictive measures between mid-May and mid-October, the same pace at which the group had slapped curbs between mid-October 2014 and mid-May 2015.








Two news related to education in the last 2 days caught my attention.

Recently appointed Acting Education Minister (Schools) Ng Chee Meng had in his first major speech outlining his vision for schools yesterday, said that schools must go beyond teaching students to be good at solving problems, but help them develop the instincts and ability to be value-creators. He called for schools to encourage students to have the courage to try, fail, try again, fail again, and eventually succeed. He had urged for students to be innovators for Singapore to succeed.

I agree thats needed. There is nothing new in the statement though. Every Education Minister since RADM Teo Chee Hean had been calling for greater innovation in students. Google search with the name of every Education Minister since 1997 together with keywords innovation, and students and you will get many hits. Then-Education Minister Teo had said in 1998, Innovation will be absolutely critical to the creation of wealth in the 21st century  To develop an innovative work force, we will need to start in school by training our students to be enterprising and creative thinkers. The education system in Singapore has thus far emphasized the acquisition of factual knowledge. We will need to shift our focus to creative thinking skills. Instead of just being followers, our young must be prepared to experiment, to make mistakes, to learn and to innovate, in order to be leaders in their own fields.

Schools have indeed tried different ways to get students to be creative and innovative since this push in the late 1990s. I have seen quite a number of these myself first hand. The difficulty is in how to make it systematic and lasting, in the face of other more important KPIs that schools must achieve and which parents expect schools to achieve. Innovation is usually not one of the key things in the mind of parents for their children to get out of schools. They worry about how to make it through our tough national streaming examinations, getting into what they consider as good schools (which tend to differ from MOEs wish for every school to be a good school), getting the grades to be good enough for scholarships, and so on.

Innovation (or variations of it) is already one of the several values in most Singapore schools today. Efforts are already there, for nearly two decades now, on and off. The trouble with innovation or creativity, is that it is difficult to quantify. It is messy to encourage. It is not objective. It is hard to put a score to it like how you can put a T-Score to students for their PSLE results. T-Scores are objective. Deciding what is innovation is often very subjective. Teachers, most of them who have come through our education system and our societys way of thinking, will often find it hard to deal with this as a subject or something to do in the classroom.

There are also the societys expectations. We want students to try, fail, try agin, many times over. How many parents can accept that? How many students can accept that? Should we expect them to accept that, when our system try to measure things objectively and put scores to different things to make sure we are objective? These measurements usually have important implications, like the secondary schools and academic streams students will go to. It might even affect qualification for scholarships and jobs later in life.

The second piece of news, seemingly unrelated to the first, but which I consider is relevant, is that of schools being told not to take in transfer pupils whose PSLE scores did not meet the schools cut-off point during this school transfer period.

Each year, right after the PSLE results are known, students choose their secondary schools. MOE will run the applications through a computerised system to assign schools to students, based on the PSLE T-Scores. After that, there is a couple of weeks where students can appeal to schools they did not get into, subject to vacancies and to the discretion of principals. If successful in the appeal, students get to start within the first few days of the new year in the school of their appeal choice. Usually, only a handful of appeals are successful per school anyway, because not that many would get to move out of a school to create the vacancies for others to come in. This year, the directive appeared to have put an end to this appeal process.

In a reply to the press, MOE said students are posted to schools based on objective and transparent measures of academic merit and appeals afterwards should be aligned to these same principles, to be fair to the other students.

It is often hard to argue against the principle of being objective and transparent. We do not like mess. Appeals are messy. Some parents will cry foul when they see someone of a lower T-Score getting into a school when their children could not.

Well, innovation is messy too. We want kids to try, fail and keep trying. Innovation sometimes involve trying unconventional ideas, often doing things differently. As a school system, however, we try to make things standard, measurable and objective. Otherwise there will be many complaints to deal with. Such desire for objectivity does not stop just at the schools. Hence as a society, we end up being obsessed with academic results and awards, because these are measurable and objective. We end up with extreme meritocracy, where academic grades achieved early in life can determine a lot of the persons success later in life.

Should we give back that autonomy to principals to decide on just a few places in this short transfer period, together with all the messiness it will bring? I think the implications may be beyond just the few places per school today.

Two years ago at NDR 2013, PM Lee Hsien Loong announced that the PSLE T-score, long a stress point for parents, will eventually be removed and replaced with bands similar to those used for O and A levels. We have yet to hear definitively how and when this implementation will take place. Without T-Score, it will become even more subjective on how to post students. If we attempt to once again be objective, T-Scores may still be kept for students but will not be known to them. When they apply for schools, the computer system can check the hidden T-Scores and determine how to place students objectively.



Or we can leave it more open to principals to decide by looking at the grades achieved together with other holistic considerations. We will end up with students with say three A* (or even two A*) making it into a top school while other with four A* may not. I can already hear some readers crying foul over this.



If we are to expect principals to make such decisions in a few years, assuming we get to eventually carry out PSLE without T-Scores, will they be ready to make such decisions if they cannot have the autonomy to decide on a few post-PSLE results transfer places from now onwards?



There is a dilemma, whether we like to acknowledge it or now. Can we accept a messier and hopefully more creative and innovative society, or are we such strong believers in measurements and objectivity? Acting Minister Ng cited the example of Steve Jobs enrolling in a calligraphy course when he was young and that helped him later in life with Apples distinctive typography. Well, Steve Jobs had quit college because he questioned if the degree would not be helpful to his life. He however, continued to stay on in the same college to take random courses, including the course on calligraphy . How many parents will accept that for their children in Singapore?



Acting Minister Ng also threw down the gauntlet for nay-sayers to be proven wrong that our education system and teachers are conservative and risk-averse. As a policy, are we prepared to be more risk taking? The latest announcement to disallow principals the autonomy for appeals does not seem to suggest so.



I think we can even go beyond allowing these sort of autonomy in school places and changing from T-Scores to subject banding, depending on how big our appetite for moving away from conservatism is. I had for many years, called to start pilot schools that allow through-train from primary to secondary, with O levels as the first major examinations for these students. I had already put out various ways this can be done in a gradual manner more acceptable to society, so I shall not elaborate in this post. Heres just a funnier recent report of that proposal from Mothership. I think gradually moving away from early high-stakes examinations can contribute to an environment where innovation can be allowed to flourish.



To seriously innovate or not, that is the difficult question.



============================================================== ABOUT THE AUTHOR (IN HIS OWN WORDS):

I am a passionate Singaporean who love to share my views on sociopolitics, economics, education and just about anything which I feel can improve our country and the world. I am currently a Non-Constituency Member of Parliament since May 2011 and an entrepreneur in the education sector.


Audi Q2

Audi's new city Q2 SUV has been spotted undergoing testing.

The German brand confirmed its city-sized SUV will arrive in 2016 and will be targeted towards younger drivers.

The new pint-sized SUV looks to be more aggressively styled than the Q3 and Q5 with a high grille that protrudes from the bumper like a nose, the side profile also resembles more of a sportback model with a flat sloped tailgate.

It is likely that the new Q2 will share the same underpinnings as the new Volkswagen Taigun city-sized SUV.

The new model is expected to be front-wheel drive and will be powered by a 1.4-litre and 1.8-litre turbo petrol engines and a 1.6-litre turbo diesel option.

There is also scope for a performance focused model such as a SQ2 or RS Q2 which would potentially utilise a twin-turbo 2.0-litre diesel engine found in the Passat or the 2.0-litre turbocharged four-cylinder petrol engine found in the new TT.

Ford EcoSport

Ford's updated EcoSport has been spotted undergoing testing.

The American brand's city SUV hasn't been a sales success and faces stiff competition from rivals such as the Mazda CX-3, Honda HR-V and the recent 2015 Drive Car of the Year Best City SUV the Suzuki Vitara.

The new EcoSport looks to gain larger wheels and other mild styling changes to bring it in line with Ford's global design strategy.

A range of tech updates and are also expected for the new compact SUV.

But all-in-all expect changes to be minor as a new variant should be expected in a few years when the new Fiesta is launched.

Audi A5

Spy photographers have snapped the new Audi A5 undergoing testing.

The new coupe  which is expected to debut in 2016  will be built off the Volkswagen Group's MLB platform which the new Q7 is also built off.

The new Audi A5's styling won't be anything revolutionary but rather an evolution of the current models aesthetics. The new TT and Q7 indicated it will take on a more angular appearance, especially around the front end.

From looking at the images the new coupe will feature a wide grille and rear LED taillights.

Audi will offer the new A5 in a range of petrol and diesel engines that includes 2.0-litre TFSI petrol that produces 141kW, a 2.0-litre TDI with power outputs of up to 165kW. Audi is also expected to offer a larger capacity 3.0-litre TDI with more than 200kW.

The Audi S5 should get a 3.0-litre turbo petrol and a twin-turbo diesel engine while the RS5 is expected to move away from its naturally aspirated 4.2-litre V8 to a 3.6-litre twin-turbo with about 370kW.

The new Audi A5 is most likely to debut at the 2016 Geneva motor show.

Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabrio

Mercedes-Benz's new C-Class convertible has been spotted undergoing winter testing.

The drop is based on the brand's award winning C-Class sedan and will compete against the Audi A3 convertible.

Early reports have it that the new C-Class Cabrio will be the cheapest convertible the brand offers, even undercutting the new SLC.

Audi A4 Allroad

Audi has recently revealed its new A4 sedan, and since then its offshoots have been spied in abundance with the A4 wagon and RS4 recently spied.

The Allroad which is a high-riding wagon variant looks very similar to the A4 sedan with slightly different rear and front bumpers.

The high-riding variant is likely to skip the entry-level 1.4-litre petrol engine but should get Audi's suite of petrol and diesel engines including the 2.0-litre turbo-petrol engine and 3.0-litre turbo-diesel.

The Allroad will get Audi's all-wheel drive quattro system.
There is a trend in 2015 of the cars that tread the line of the new versus used debate, and the Nissan Micra is one such vehicle that will entice budget buyers who may find better options on the used car market.

According to Andrew macLean the Micra is rudimentary inside, offering a simple layout. Its four-speed automatic transmission and small engine drive up the full use well beyond the class average and tiny tot will struggle on the open road. The Micra also tends to lean in corners and its small tyres don't offer much grip, especially on slippery surfaces.

"The cosmetic updates and simpler model structure makes it more appealing, but its compromises still warrant asking the new or used question."

Read the full review

Honda Accord Hybrid - 5.5/10
EBRDs success in project finance in Turkey and elsewhere hailed in 2015 awards

The EBRD has been named Global Multilateral of the Year in Project Finance Internationals annual awards for the world of project finance.

Project Finance International (PFI), owned by Thomson Reuters, is a leading source of global intelligence on the sector and reports on the entire lifecycles of deals, from initial rumours to post-completion analysis.

In its announcement of the 2015 awards, PFI paid special tribute to the EBRDs investment in Turkey.

Turkey is now the Banks top destination for project finance, with its Turkish portfolio about to overtake its Russian portfolio in size for the first time in history, wrote PFI.

Jean-Patrick Marquet took up the post of director for Turkey in March, and the bank created an Istanbul-based position of managing director for Turkey and Central Asia (including Mongolia).

Natalia Khanjenkova took up the position in April, marking the first time a managing director has been based in Istanbul.

Turkish deals seemed to flow as if on cue, comprising B-loans on the countrys 12bn hospital PPP pipeline, but also in renewable energy, the Dalaman airport concession and corporate support for domestic banks and energy firms.

EBRD President Sir Suma Chakrabarti said: "I am delighted that the EBRD has been chosen for this prestigious award, the first time in the Bank's history. The award rightly recognises our flexible response within a difficult geopolitical and economic context and the quality and impact of our investments.

Our staff deserve our heartiest congratulations  it is their work that has led to this award."

PFI singled out the 1.2 billion Etlik hospital near Ankara and the 970 million Efeler geothermal project, the largest geothermal power plant in Turkey and the second largest in Europe, for praise.

Despite the falling lira and fears over the countrys election re-run in November, the EBRD positioned itself well during 2015 to take advantage of Turkeys fast growing electricity market, the publication said.

The award also acknowledged the EBRDs activity in Egypt, mentioning its work on PPP projects and support for the countrys renewable energy programme.

In addition the title celebrated the EBRDs financing of the largest solar project in Kazakhstan, the joint Kazakh-British 50MW Burnoye Solar project, as well smaller wind farms in Ukraine and Montenegro.

The publication also noted Sabina Dziurmans appointment as director for Greece and Cyprus for its new office in Athens.

But Turkey and its wholesale electricity market also made possible Georgias 187MW Shuakhevi hydropower project, the largest ever foreign investment in the country, PFI said..

The Shuakhevi plant, financed by the EBRD, reduces Georgias dependence on imported fuel and fosters cross-border electricity trading to Turkey through the 315km Black Sea Energy Transmission Line, also part-financed by the EBRD.

With Turkey now firmly locked on the banks radar, one can expect similar growth strategies to take hold in neighbouring countries during 2016, concluded PFI.

The Awards will be presented at the 2015 PFI Awards Dinner at the Hilton, Park Lane, London on Wednesday, 3 February 2016.
(Photo: Ecumenical News / Peter Kenny)Naghmeh Abedini, the wife of jailed Iranian-American Pastor Saeed Abedini speaking at a human rights conference in Geneva, Switzerland on February 25, 2014.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is often viewed in the West as the moderate face of the Islamic republic's leadership.

But he is copping flak from groups representing religious groups and people after he spoke at the United Nations in New York.

He made his first address to the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 28 since the historic nuclear deal with six world powers.

The Baha'i International Community expressed disappointment over Rouhani's failure to address the human rights situation in his country during his speech.

Bani Dugal, the Baha'i International Community representative to the United Nations noted the "promise of coexistence and dialogue" with other nations that marked President Rouhani's speech.

But she said, "We are extremely disappointed that he did not discuss any steps he would take to improve the human rights of Iranian citizens."

Following her statement, the American Center for Law and Justice accused Rouhani of publicly holding U.S. Pastor Saeed Abedini and the other wrongfully imprisoned Americans as hostages, demanding ransom for their freedom.

The center cited a Sept. 28 interview with Rouhani while he was in New York to address the General Assembly of the United Nations.

"If the Americans take the appropriate steps and set [a number of Iranians in the United States who are imprisoned] free, certainly the right environment will be open and the right circumstances will be created for us to do everything within our power and our purview to bring about the swiftest freedom for the Americans held in Iran as well," Rouhani told CNN interviewer Christiane Amanpour.

"If the Americans take the appropriate actions vis-a-vis Iranian citizens who are being imprisoned here, then the right atmosphere and environment will be created for reciprocal action perhaps," the Iranian president said.

The ACLJ said, "This is an absurd and insulting demand, treating Pastor Saeed  who has committed no crime and is merely imprisoned because of his Christian faith  as a hostage for ransom.

It cited Pastor Saeed's wife Naghmeh responding, "My husband is not collateral. He is a father and a man who broke no law. Yet Iran is treating him like a pawn in a game of chess.

"President Rouhani's demand that America release 19 criminals in exchange for his consideration of releasing individuals like my husband, imprisoned solely for his faith, demonstrates that the Iran of today is no different than the Iran who took Americans hostage during the Iranian revolution."

Dugal said in her Sept. 28 statement after Rouhani's speech that he has failed to end religious discrimination, despite promises to do so.

She noted U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had raised this in his yearly report on human rights in Iran to the General Assembly..

She noted in particular that Ban expressed concern about "reports of persistent discrimination" against ethnic and religious minorities.

Ban had said that the Iranian president had himself made commitments aimed at "ensuring equality, upholding freedom of belief and religion, extending protection to all religious groups and amending legislation that discriminates against minority groups."

Dugal said, "President Rouhani has now had two full years to live up to the promises he has made regarding an end to religious discrimination in Iran. Sadly, despite all his talk, little progress has been made."

She said that in the case of the Iranian Baha'i community, the Iranian government has actually intensified its anti-Baha'i propaganda campaign in the media.

She said this included the arbitrary arrest and detention of Baha'is continued, and Baha'i youth are still banned from higher education."

Dugal said more than 6,300 items of hate propaganda directed against Baha'is have been published in government-sponsored Persian media since President Rouhani took office in August 2013.

The government has also continued its crackdown on Baha'i businesses, said Dugal, adding that there have been more than 200 individual incidents of economic oppression against Baha'is under Rouhani's administration.

The exclusion of Baha'is from public sector employment, begun in the early 1980s, continues.

"With 74 Baha'is currently in Iranian prisons, solely because of their religious beliefs, it is clear that President Rouhani's promises for change are hollow," she said.

"At a time when world leaders are meeting with President Rouhani, the Secretary-General's report is a sober reminder that the human rights situation in Iran desperately needs to remain on the international agenda," she said.

"How long must Iranian Baha'is face persecution? How long must they wait before they can go to university, be allowed to bury their dead without obstruction, or live without fear of imprisonment?" she said.

Dugal also referred to an article by forrmer Newsweek journalist Maziar Bahari, who wrote last week that "[t]he best way to test the Iranian government's will for a new chapter in its relationship with the rest of the world is to question them about their treatment of 300,000 Iranian Baha'is."

"Mr. Bahari, who was himself imprisoned in Iran in 2009, correctly points out that when Iranian officials are asked to explain why they persecute Baha'is, 'they simply don't tell the truth.'

"The world must ask why President Rouhani not only refuses to discuss reports of human rights violations generally but also avoids addressing his government's unwillingness to confront the Baha'i question," said Dugal.
(Photo: REUTERS / Denis Balibouse)European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (3rd L) delivers a statement during a ceremony next to British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Germany's Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius (L-R) at the United Nations in Geneva November 24, 2013. Iran and six world powers reached a breakthrough agreement early on Sunday to curb Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for limited sanctions relief, in a first step towards resolving a dangerous decade-old standoff.

The heated row between Saudi Arabia and Iran is more than just a spat between regional rivals.

It is an ancient conflict between Sunni and Shia Muslim powers that threatens regional stability and to derail peace initiatives in Syria and Yemen that showed faint signs of a breakthrough toward the end of 2015.

It could also upset the fight against Islamist extremists calling themselves Islamic State, ISIS or Daesh as they are also known who want to set up a Sunni Muslim caliphate.

It is based on brute force and principles no longer considered human but its extremist ideas are said to have roots Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia on Jan 3 officially cut ties with Iran over the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, following the execution of Saudi Shiite cleric Nimr Al-Nimr.

Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir told a news conference Iran's diplomatic mission and related entities in Saudi Arabia had been given 48 hours to leave, Arab News reported.

He said Riyadh would not allow Tehran to undermine the Kingdom's security.

Al-Jubeir called Iran a regional menace for its smuggling of arms and explosives and its previous harboring of Al-Qaeda militants.

In Tehran, angry crowds had hurled Molotov cocktails and stormed the Saudi Embassy. Fires were seen burning inside the building.

Al-Jubeir said the aggressive statements of the Iranian regime encouraged the attacks on Saudi missions.

He accused Iran of having a history of supporting terrorism, citing its support to the bloody regime of Bashar Assad in Syria. Al-Jubeir said the Saudi Arabia rejects all criticism of its justice system.

The unrest erupted after Saudi authorities announced that Sheik Nimr Baqr al-Nimr, 56, was among 47 people put to death.

Some of those executed were killed by firing squad, others by beheading, according to a statement from Saudi Arabia's Interior Ministry.

Most were Sunnis accused of participating in al-Qaida attacks in the kingdom, The Washingon Post reported.

Nimr, however, was one of four Shiites put to death for political activism and a leader of anti-government demonstrations in the mainly Shiite east of the country in 2011.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry warned that there would be repercussions.

"The Saudi government will pay a heavy price for adopting such policies," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari.

'IRRESPONSIBLE EXECUTION'

He called the execution "the depth of imprudence and irresponsibility" on the part of the Saudi government, according to Iranian news agencies.

Iran summoned the Saudi charge d'affaires in Tehran to complain about the execution, and Saudi Arabia did the same by calling in the Iranian ambassador in Riyadh to protest the "hostile" remarks made in Iran by officials.

The execution also reignited unrest in both Saudi Arabia and neighboring Bahrain, after years of calm following clampdowns on demonstrations in 2011.

The U.S. State Department, in a statement, called on Saudi Arabia "to respect and protect human rights" and to permit "peaceful expression of dissent."

"We are particularly concerned that the execution of prominent Shia cleric and political activist Nimr al-Nimr risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced," the State Department said.

"In this context, we reiterate the need for leaders throughout the region to redouble efforts aimed at deescalating regional tensions."

Shiites around the world expressed outrage, potentially complicating a surge of US diplomacy aimed at bringing peace to the troubled region, The Washington Post quoted Toby Matthiesen, an expert on Saudi Arabia at the University of Oxford as saying.

"Nimr had become a household name amongst Shiite Muslims around the world. Many had thought his execution would be a red line and would further inflame sectarian tensions," he said. "So this will complicate a whole range of issues, from the Syrian crisis to Yemen."
By Stephen Kalin and Saif Hameed

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - At least two Sunni Muslim mosques have been attacked in Iraq and two people killed in apparent retaliation for the execution of a senior Shi'ite cleric in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia, officials and police said on Monday.

Iraqi Shi'ites protesting the Jan. 2 execution of Saudi Shi'ite cleric Nimr al-Nimr separately marched in Baghdad and southern cities, while a powerful Iranian-backed Shi'ite militia group pressured the government to sever ties with Riyadh.

Iraq's Interior Ministry confirmed the attacks on Sunni mosques late Sunday in Hilla, around 100 km (60 miles) south of Baghdad. Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi blamed them on "Daesh (Islamic State) and those who are similar to them," without further explanation.

He ordered provincial authorities "to chase the criminal gangs" who attacked the mosques.

Iraq has faced sectarian bloodletting for years, mainly between minority Sunnis and a Shi'ite majority empowered after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003. The battle against Sunni Islamic State militants who control large swathes of the north and west has only exacerbated those tensions.

The spark for Sunday's attacks appears to have been Nimr's execution a day earlier, which triggered angry reactions in Shi'ite-led Iraq and Iran.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with regional rival Iran on Sunday after protesters attacked the kingdom's embassy in Tehran. Bahrain, the Shi'ite-majority Gulf state ruled by a Sunni family, and Sudan followed suit on Monday.

The attack on a mosque in central Hilla destroyed its dome and several walls, according to a Reuters TV cameraman who visited the site. Provincial council member Falah al-Khafaji and a police source said a guard in the building was killed.

"We saw smoke rising from the dome of the mosque. We found all the walls destroyed and the furniture inside in shambles," said resident Uday Hassan Ali.

Another mosque in Hilla's northern outskirts was also attacked, and a Sunni cleric was killed in a separate incident in Iskandariya, about 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, Khafaji and the police source said.

"We have leads and security measures will be taken near mosques," said Khafaji, pledging to rebuild the buildings.

PROTESTS

Prominent religious and political leaders in Iraq have called on the government to cut ties with Saudi Arabia, which reopened its Baghdad embassy last week after closing it in 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

While Abadi and Iraq's foreign ministry have condemned Nimr's execution, they have given no indication of a more severe response.

Asaib Ahl al-Haq, a powerful Shi'ite militia backed by Iran, on Monday warned the government against inaction.

"We demand the government expel the Saudi ambassador... (otherwise) the government will be responsible for the popular backlash," it said in an online statement calling for the implementation of death sentences issued against Saudi "terrorists".

The group said it was speaking on behalf of the "Islamic resistance", a term commonly used for Iranian-backed Shi'ite militias, but did not specify which groups it represented.

Earlier thousands of protesters marched in Baghdad and Shi'ite cities in southern Iraq, heeding calls by prominent Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to protest against Nimr's execution.

In Baghdad, demonstrators carrying portraits of Nimr, wearing a grey beard and a white turban, rallied outside the heavily fortified Green Zone housing government departments and diplomatic representations, including the newly reopened Saudi embassy.

Police guarding the zone pushed back a group of protesters trying to cross a line of barbed wire as they chanted "damned, damned be Al Saud," referring to the Saudi ruling family.

Similar protests were held in Basra, southern Iraq's biggest city, and in the Shi'ite holy cities of Najaf and Kerbala.

(Reporting by Saif Hameed and Stephen Kalin; Writing by Maher Chmaytelli; Editing by Tom Heneghan and Hugh Lawson)
By Angus McDowall

RIYADH (Reuters) - Saudi Arabia widened its rift with Iran on Monday, saying it would end air traffic and trade links with the Islamic republic and demanding that Tehran must "act like a normal country" before it would restore severed diplomatic relations.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters in an interview that Tehran was responsible for rising tensions after the kingdom executed Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, describing him as a terrorist.

Insisting Riyadh would react to "Iranian aggression", he accused Tehran of dispatching fighters to Arab countries and plotting attacks inside the kingdom and its Gulf neighbours.

"There is no escalation on the part of Saudi Arabia. Our moves are all reactive. It is the Iranians who went into Lebanon. It is the Iranians who sent their Qods Force and their Revolutionary Guards into Syria," Jubeir said.

Tehran says it has sent only military advisers to Syria and Iraq at their governments' requests, and denies plots in Gulf states.

The execution of Nimr provoked protests among Shi'ites across the region and Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, setting fires and causing damage, prompting Riyadh to cut ties and inflaming an already heated rivalry.

"We will also be cutting off all air traffic to and from Iran. We will be cutting off all commercial relations with Iran. And we will have a travel ban against people travelling to Iran," Jubeir said.

Iranian pilgrims would still be welcome to visit Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia, either for the annual haj or at other times of year on the umrah pilgrimage, he said.

However, Jubeir said Saudi Arabia had been right to execute Nimr, whom he accused of "agitating, organising cells, providing them with weapons and money" - allegations that the cleric's family have denied.

After listing the crimes of 43 al Qaeda members also put to death on Saturday alongside four Shi'ites, Jubeir said of the executions: "We should be applauded for this, not criticised."

'AGGRESSIVE POLICIES'

Jubeir, a former ambassador to Washington where the FBI in 2011 said he had been the target of an Iranian assassination plot, said the break in ties was a response to older problems as well as the embassy storming.

"[It] is a reaction to Iran's aggressive policies over the years, and in particular over the past few months. The Iranian regime has been a sponsor of terrorism, they have set up terrorist cells in Saudi Arabia and a number of other countries," he said.

Tehran has consistently denied those charges and itself has accused Riyadh of supporting militancy through its backing of Islamist rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Jubeir also accused Iran's authorities of complicity in the attack on the embassy at the weekend, saying Saudi diplomats had seen security forces enter the building and take part in looting and that the police did not respond to more than one request for help.

Iran has defended its measures to protect the Saudi embassy, saying it is investigating the matter and has made arrests.

Asked what steps Iran needed to take before Riyadh would consider restoring diplomatic ties, Jubeir said Tehran must "respect international norms and treaties and conventions" and "act like a normal country [that] respects the territorial integrity of its neighbours".

(Editing by William Maclean, David Stamp and Pravin Char)
New York, USA, Bajo el slogan Historia que nos...
Ely, Cambridgeshire is best known for its majestic cathedral dubbed the 'Ship of the Fens' because it dominates the flat landscape. The city, which is the second smallest in England, is about 14 miles north-northeast of Cambridge and about 80 miles by road from London.

17:55, 17 OCT 2022
Re: Bulk buying Food in Switzerland Quote: Tom1234 Lidl sells chicken (and pork etc) from Germany, and from Switzerland. The Swiss stuff is smaller due to tight controls on growth and additives and has a Swiss flag on the packet.

Of course it is more expensive.



Migros sells Swiss chicken but also poultry products from Brazil and other places with more dubious farming methods than Germany.

You do need to check the packaging carefully as Migros are quite sneaky like that.



I normally avoid Migros like the plague unless there's something there I can't find elsewhere.



I bought some plain tomato sauce (sugo) there yesterday - It was the M-Budget one as I wanted plain tomato sauce without herbs etc in it. It comes in a cardboard carton. I didn't want to lug a glass bottle around either.





I usually buy the Lidl one which is plain, 99.5% tomato and pretty good and about 20 raps more than the Migros one. It's basically just pureed tomato.

There are no fresh tomatoes (worth eating at the moment).



Anyway, upon tipping the Migros one in a saucepan, it looked disgusting and jelly like. How much maize starch can Migros use, I thought?



The ingredients said 54% tomato. Which means 46% was a mixture of boiled cornstarch and water.



Truly disgusting and another reason why it's great to have foreign supermarkets to up the game (it's a pretty poor show when it needs to be places like Lidl that do that).



Anyway, anti-Migros rant over.

They did have lots of Kale though! More Migros woes:I normally avoid Migros like the plague unless there's something there I can't find elsewhere.I bought some plain tomato sauce (sugo) there yesterday - It was the M-Budget one as I wanted plain tomato sauce without herbs etc in it. It comes in a cardboard carton. I didn't want to lug a glass bottle around either.I usually buy the Lidl one which is plain, 99.5% tomato and pretty good and about 20 raps more than the Migros one. It's basically just pureed tomato.There are no fresh tomatoes (worth eating at the moment).Anyway, upon tipping the Migros one in a saucepan, it looked disgusting and jelly like. How much maize starch can Migros use, I thought?The ingredients said 54% tomato. Which means 46% was a mixture of boiled cornstarch and water.Truly disgusting and another reason why it's great to have foreign supermarkets to up the game (it's a pretty poor show when it needs to be places like Lidl that do that).Anyway, anti-Migros rant over.They did have lots of Kale though!
Re: English speaking doctors in Neuchatel Porsche is no longer on the forum, but I know two doctors who speak English (my current one and my previous one), so will send you a PM. One is a man and one a woman, so you can take your pick if you're more comfortable with one or the other. My current one in particular (the woman) jumps at the chance to speak English and I have to tell her "please could you just repeat in French please?"! (She speaks very fast for a Swiss lady...). PM on its way.
Colton Haynes has amassed a loyal fan following from his turns on popular shows like Teen Wolf and Arrow, but right now he's gaining a lot of attention for his social media activity.

After a fan posted, 'When I found out Colton Haynes had a secret gay past, I got so excited even though I know it makes absolutely no difference in my life,' Haynes responded from his own personal Tumblr account.

His somewhat cryptic (but also fairly revealing) comment, was 'Was it a secret? Lets all just enjoy life and have no regrets.' Many fans are now hotly debating whether Haynes just subtly came out, in as low-key a manner as possible. If he has, he's not alone; here are some other stars who came out to the world in subtle ways.

Robin Roberts



"Good Morning America" anchor Robin Roberts reveals that she's gay in a Facebook post http://t.co/BHutyl1Iut  Los Angeles Times (@latimes) December 30, 2013

The 'Good Morning America' anchor revealed a part of her personal life to the world in the winter of 2013 with a Facebook post outlining the numerous things she had to be thankful for. Although she had spent much of the year battling a potentially deadly bone-marrow disease, Roberts was quick to point out everything she was lucky to have in her life, including 'my entire family, my long time girlfriend, Amber, and friends as we prepare to celebrate a glorious new year together.' It was only months later that Roberts was willing to provide more details about the woman she'd been involved with for so long.

Zachary Quinto



Zachary Quinto came out as gay to combat teen suicides http://t.co/u6jk6X6zGY  Zap2it (@Zap2it) May 15, 2013

Although rumors had long circulated about the star of Heroes and Star Trek, Zachary Quinto decided to address the nature of his sexuality during an interview with New York Magazine. When discussing his role in Angels in America, the actor casually dropped this tidbit into the conversation: 'Doing that play made me realize how fortunate I am to have been born when I was born. And to not have to witness the decimation of an entire generation of amazingly talented and otherwise vital men. And at the same time, as a gay man, it made me feel like I - there's still so much work to be done.' Quinto has since stated that he came out after a rash of teenagers committed suicide, including fellow 'It Gets Better' video maker Jamey Rodemeyer. It was his hope that living publicly as a gay man would help inspire those who were struggling and encourage them to keep going.

Raven-Symone



I can finally get married! Yay government! So proud of you  Raven-Symone (@ravensymone) August 2, 2013

In August of 2013, Raven-Symone celebrated the ruling that allowed gay couples to finally marry. The That's So Raven star later confirmed that she is involved with a woman, but prefers not to subscribe to any labels (including the term 'gay.') Despite that, her subtle statement on love, gender, and sexuality made a big impact.

Jim Parsons



Big Bang Theory's Emmy winner Jim Parsons acknowledges in the New York Times that he is gay & in a 10-year relationship. Way to go JP!  E! Live Events (@RedCarpetTeam) May 23, 2012

The star of insanely popular sitcom The Big Bang Theory got a lot of attention when he came out via a profile in The New York Times. The funny thing about all the hubbub? His 'outing' was nothing more than a passing comment about his partner of over 10 years, rather than the headline the media made it into.
Gillian Anderson is hitting out at critics who say that her BBC crime drama The Fall, which also stars Jamie Dornan, is too violent. In fact, the Hollywood actress says the series that in no way does the series glamourize violence against women.

'The Fall' News: Jamie Dornan Says He's Nothing Like His Character Paul Spector In The Series

According to Belfast Live on Sunday, Gillian, who plays DSI Stella Gibson in the critically-acclaimed series, opened up about the series while dismissing claims that it is too violent. Jamie plays serial killer Paul Spector.

She said, "It's unfounded. It's not gratuitous in any way. Rather, it points to the fact that there is still so much violence against women in the world. There are so many other series that are drastically more violent and gratuitous than ours, but they get less attention for it because it's in the context of, say, vampirism."

Jamie Dornan, Amelia Warner News 2015: Couple Upgrade To A Multi-Million Dollar Mansion In England

Gillian added, "Ours is so real, and its characters so recognizable, that it gets under the skin."

Asked if she would ever leave the show, Gillian said, "No! It's my favorite, It has just been so huge for me. I find it so compelling and mysterious."

So far, Jamie himself has not made any comments about the criticism.

Gillian and Jamie are currently filming the third season in Belfast. The show is available Stateside on Netflix.
Well 2016 has certainly gotten off to an interesting start. The story of a small group of armed Oregon militiamen who took over a federal wildlife refuge and held it hostage shocked a nation, and raised some unsettling questions that still have no solid answers. Confused by the events that brought about so much controversy? Here the fast facts you need to know about what really happened that day and what comes next in this shocking situation.

It Was Originally A Peaceful Protest



Not a single cable network is covering this Oregon militia situation  jeremy scahill (@jeremyscahill) January 3, 2016

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon was the sight of all the confusion. Peaceful protesters had assembled to speak out against two local ranchers being sentenced to jail for arson, which officials claimed was a cover for their poaching activity. But things quickly took a darker turn when militia men arrived en masse and took over the headquarters. It's worth mentioning that the ranchers who were the focus of the original peaceful protest have explicitly stated that they want no support from the militia. Officials have been hesitant to give an exact count of the men on site, but estimates range anywhere from 6 to 150.

It Runs In the Family



Oregon militia occupying wildlife refuge wants to overthrow government, says sheriff https://t.co/YEep5xzJQz  The Guardian (@guardian) January 4, 2016

The militia movement has been led by some people that might be familiar to those who follow the news. Ammon Bundy and his brother Ryan Bundy are the sons of Cliven Bundy, a rancher who rose to national attention after he engaged in a standoff with the federal government in 2014.

They Have A List of Demands... Sort Of



UPDATE: FBI opens media briefing center as occupation triggers govt office closures. The latest on the Oregon scene: https://t.co/xIuNtw8scK  Les Zaitz (@LesZaitz) January 4, 2016

The Oregon militia has a laundry list of concerns and issues with which to argue with officials and the FBI. Bundy claims that he wants people to amass at the wildlife refuge to take back America from those perceived as corrupting it. He has also said he wants the government to secede ownership of the wildlife refuge to the 'American people.'

But despite these grandiose claims, the list of specific demands has been frustratingly vague. At this point, no one seems sure what the group truly wants, or how to bring an end to this situation. Still, the Bundy brothers are determined to stay hunkered down until their demands are met... whatever they may truly be.

There Are No Hostages



The FBI is taking the lead and monitoring the situation in Oregon National Wildlife Refuge: https://t.co/HCqwkpseq8 pic.twitter.com/QVLb35GzJR  ABC News (@ABC) January 4, 2016

One of the most confusing aspects of this whole situation is the hostages: there aren't any. Militia members have simply occupied the building without holding anyone against their will--which makes for a strange imbalance regarding bargaining tools. Despite this fact, the militia has been quite clear on one important fact: they are more than willing to use their weapons and kill or be killed, should events go critical. The FBI has been working towards negotiating a peaceful resolution but as of this writing, the militia looks hunkered down for the long haul.

There's Been A Social Media Wildstorm



On Sunday, the hashtag #OregonUnderAttack was trending worldwide, but that barely began to cover the mixture of emotions surrounding what was going on at the wildlife refuse. Many Twitter users argued about the appalling lack of media coverage, asking why the major networks didn't see fit to focus on this breaking story. Others criticized the racial implications of the case: Why weren't the militiamen being called terrorists, and why were officials so willing to have a rational discussion with armed individuals illegally occupying government property? Still others began openly mocking the entire predicament, with hashtags like #YallQuada and #VanillaIsis. As the story continues on with no signs of abating, the demand for answers--and some sort of action--continues to grow.

And make no mistake about it: Social media will be watching every step of the way.
2016 can be a blessed year, if. By John W. Lillpop

As the world ponders the dawning of the New Year with both trepidation and high hopes, our blessed nation also approaches 2016 with a mixture of dread on the one hand, and a sense of good things to come, on the other. After eight exhausting years under the hostile, divisive, and incompetent governance of Barack Obama, America is ready to move on to a new era in which government tyranny and scandal can be replaced with less government interference and more individual liberty. Rather than an living in an era in which powerful government figures openly flaunt the US Constitution and rule of law with arrogant impunity, America eagerly awaits a return to the days when all Americans, regardless of rank or influence or wealth, are held accountable in a society where it is commonly accepted that no man, or woman, is above the law! We long for a return to the days when cell phones and pens were not used to circumvent the will of we the people; a time in which the issuance of Executive Orders for the purpose of skirting the concepts of balance of power and co-equal branches of government was unthinkable, and which were inarguably "Impeachable Offenses." We long for the days when America's Commander-in-Chief was understood to be fiercely, and unequivocally, pro-American, fully committed to the causes of liberty and freedom, and willing to take whatever actions were necessary to destroy evil in order to protect American values and heritage! We long for the days when a senior administration official whom was found to have used personal equipment to process top-secret, classified government data would end up in a Leavenworth prison, rather than on a political pedestal of "inevitability" on a ghastly path to the presidency! Our hopes and dreams for the future can be realized if Barack Obama's remaining time in office is severely limited in the further damage he is able to inflict on the economic, political, social and moral realities of America, and if Hillary Clinton's designs on the Oval Office are soundly defeated based on her incompetence, congenital lying, and sexist agenda! In short, 2016 can be a great year if Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are defanged and made incapable of inflicting further damage on America! Chins up, America! We can save our nation by demanding justice, liberty and freedom from those upon whom we choose to confer power!  2016 John Lillpop Home
$10 trillion investment needed to avoid massive oil price spike says OPEC By Nick Cunningham





OPEC says that $10 trillion worth of investment will need to flow into oil and gas through 2040 in order to meet the world's energy needs.



The OPEC published its World Oil Outlook 2015 (WOO) in late December, which struck a much more pessimistic note on the state of oil markets than in the past. On the one hand, OPEC does not see oil prices returning to triple-digit territory within the next 25 years, a strikingly bearish conclusion. The group expects oil prices to rise by an average of about $5 per year over the course of this decade, only reaching $80 per barrel in 2020. From there, it sees oil prices rising slowly, hitting $95 per barrel in 2040.



Long-term projections are notoriously inaccurate, and oil prices are impossible to predict only a few years out, let alone a few decades from now. Priced modeling involves an array of variables, and slight alterations in certain assumptions  such as global GDP or the pace of population growth  can lead to dramatically different conclusions. So the estimates should be taken only as a reference case rather than a serious attempt at predicting crude prices in 25 years. Nevertheless, the conclusion suggests that OPEC believes there will be adequate supply for quite a long time, enough to prevent a return the price spikes seen in recent years.



Part of that has to do with what OPEC sees as a gradual shift towards efficiency and alternatives to oil. The report issued estimates for demand growth five years at a time, with demand decelerating gradually. For example, the world will consume an extra 6.1 million barrels of oil per day between now and 2020. But demand growth slows thereafter: 3.5 mb/d between 2020 and 2025, 3.3 mb/d for 2025 to 2030; 3 mb/d for 2030 to 2035; and finally, 2.5 mb/d for 2035 to 2040. The reasons for this are multiple: slowing economic growth, declining population rates, and crucially, efficiency and climate change efforts to slow consumption. In fact, since last year's 2014 WOO, OPEC lowered its 2040 oil demand projection by 1.3 mb/d because it sees much more serious climate mitigation policies coming down the pike than it did last year.



Of course, some might argue that even that estimate  that the world will be consuming 110 mb/d in 2040  could be overly optimistic. Coming from a collection of oil-exporting countries, that should be expected. Energy transitions are hard to predict ahead of time, but when they come, they tend to produce rapid changes. Any shot at achieving the world's stated climate change targets will require a much more ambitious effort. While governments have dithered for years, efforts appear to be getting more serious. More to the point, the cost of electric vehicles will only decline in real dollar terms over time, and adoption should continue to rise in a non-linear fashion. That presents a significant threat to long-term oil sales.



At the same time, OPEC also issued a word of caution in its report. While oil markets experience oversupply in the short- to medium-term, massive investments in exploration and production are still needed to meet demand over the long-term. OPEC believes $10 trillion will be necessary over the next 25 years to ensure adequate oil supplies. "If the right signals are not forthcoming, there is the possibility that the market could find that there is not enough new capacity and infrastructure in place to meet future rising demand levels, and this would obviously have a knock-on impact for prices," OPEC concluded. About $250 billion each year will have to come from non-OPEC countries.



In a similar but more disconcerting conclusion, the Oslo-based Rystad Energy recently concluded that the current state of oversupply could be "turned upside down over the next few years." That is because the drastic spending cuts today will result in a shortage within a few years. To put things in perspective, Rystad says that the oil industry "needs to replace 34 billion barrels of crude every year  equal to current consumption." But as a result of the collapse in prices, the industry has slashed spending across the board and "investment decisions for only 8 billion barrels were made in 2015. This amount is less than 25% of what the market requires long-term," Rystad Energy concluded. The industry cut upstream investment by $250 billion in 2015, and another $70 billion could be cut in 2016. The latter figure did not take into account the recent decision by OPEC to abandon its production target, which sent oil prices falling further.



So what are we to make of this? There could be plenty of oil supplies in the future, but as it stands, the industry is massively underinvesting? This illustrates a troubling tension within the oil industry. Oil prices will be set by the marginal cost of production, and recent efficiency gains notwithstanding, marginal costs have generally increased over time. Low-cost production depletes, and the industry becomes more reliant on deep-water, shale, or Arctic oil, all of which require higher levels of spending. In many cases, these sorts of projects are not profitable at today's prices. The price spikes seen in 2011-2014 sowed the seeds of the current bust, but the pullback today could create the conditions of another spike in the future. OPEC could be a bit too sanguine with its call for $95 oil in 2040.



At the same time, future price spikes set up the possibility of much greater demand destruction, especially if alternatives become more viable. This is the difficult balancing act that the industry must pull off over the next few decades.



Nick Cunningham is a writer for Oilprice.com where this originally appeared. Home
Judge unbelievably refuses to grant a retrial for former Rep. Renzi despite finding rampant prosecutorial wrongdoing By Rachel Alexander

Tucson Federal District Court Judge David Bury issued a decision on December 30 denying a retrial for imprisoned former Congressman Rick Renzi of Arizona, developments which I've been tracking over the last six months. Bizarrely, at the same time, Bury admitted in his nine-page opinion that virtually everything factual Renzi had asserted in his motion for a retrial regarding the prosecution's misconduct was true. The prosecution withheld exculpatory evidence from Renzi's defense  which likely would have changed the jury's mind  not just once, but multiple times. Some of it was not discovered until after the trial was over, so the jury never got to see the other side of the story. That constituted a Brady violation, which the U.S. Supreme Court has held is a violation of due process. As a former prosecutor, I find this extremely disturbing. Information is now coming out revealing striking similarities to the prosecution of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens, which also involved corruption by FBI agents in order to obtain a conviction of a member of Congress. But when the judge in the Stevens' case discovered after the trial that the prosecutors had withheld crucial evidence, the entire indictment was thrown out. The prosecution of Renzi was based on the premise he had proposed a federal land exchange that supposedly would have benefited him financially. But it came out after the trial that the prosecution's key witness/victim, Philip Aries, changed his story to say it was Renzi's idea to propose the land exchange instead of others, because Aries was told by the prosecution that he would receive money for his testimony. During the hearing to reconsider a new trial last October, Aries testified that he discussed compensation with an FBI agent for this: "$10,000 would be a home run," he said he told the agent. "$25,000 would be winning the lottery." Judge Bury admitted in his December opinion rejecting a retrial that the proposal to include the Sandlin land, which supposedly would have benefited Renzi, really came from Aries, not Renzi. FBI Agent Dan Odom agreed on the stand during the October hearing that leaving out this exculpatory information was a "material omission." Nevertheless, though chief DOJ prosecutor Gary Restaino knowingly put on Aries' false testimony, he was never punished. Additionally, a document in the court record from The Nature Conservancy showed that the organization had proposed the idea of a land exchange to Renzi and Renzi's staff, which would include the Sandlin land. In order to discredit this truth, Restaino, whose wife was a high-level staffer for Janet Napolitano and was concerned about Renzi challenging Napolitano for governor, found left-leaning Nature Conservancy employees who disliked Renzi to testify against him in the initial trial. Ultimately, when the much-needed exchange finally worked itself out years later, The Nature Conservancy got the land they wanted, Fort Huachuca was able to lower its water usage as it needed  and Renzi was sent to prison. There are at least four more major violations by the prosecution withholding evidence that have never been made public and were not presented to the jury. First, Restaino deliberately withheld recordings of phone calls from the defense  until Renzi happened to figure out there were numerous calls in the initial document production that hadn't been given to the defense. Restaino was not punished for this withholding. Secondly, Restaino withheld the fact that a former staffer of Renzi's, John Eckles, who planned to testify against him, had stolen money from congressional candidate Bradley Beauchamp, and Restaino likely did not file charges against Eckles in exchange for his cooperation against Renzi and a co-defendant. Renzi discovered this information much later on his own. Restaino was not punished. Thirdly, Restaino withheld the truth from the judge who was monitoring the wiretapping, even lying on the monthly status report to the judge insisting he wasn't listening to Renzi's attorney-client privileged phone calls, when in fact Restaino"s lead FBI agent was listening and sharing them with other agents while keeping the calls unsecured in his desk. For some unknown reason, that judge recused herself after the wiretapping incident. The judge issued a scathing opinion throwing out the wiretapping evidence, but Restaino was not punished. Fourthly, Restaino withheld the truth that the FBI had destroyed evidence that would have proven they illegally listened to Renzi's attorney-client privileged calls, and used this evidence to bring their indictment. Restaino was not punished. Adding to the outrageousness, Judge Bury's decision in December to deny Renzi a retrial was based on inaccurate information. He said in his opinion that it was too late to consider the fact that the prosecution had withheld notes from the FBI agent, notes which revealed that Aries had told the agent that it was Renzi's former assistant, Joanne Keene, who had first proposed including the Sandlin property in the land exchange during a conversation they had. Bury's reasoning was that since this new information had been brought up in a reply brief, generally new arguments brought up in reply briefs are too late. Well, this is not just any "new argument" brought up in a reply brief, but the crux of the criminal case against Renzi. It's not Renzi's fault that he did not discover this Brady violation until that point  he is essentially being punished for Restaino deliberately withholding evidence. Additionally, although Judge Bury admitted that Aries had been impeached and discredited as a witness for flip-flopping, Bury claimed that Aries' statement that Renzi promised him a "free pass" through the Natural Resource Committee had been corroborated by other witnesses, such as Joanne Keene and Guy Inzalaco. That's not true. Keene testified that Renzi mentioned that he had a "placeholder" into which he could assert the proposed legislation. But a placeholder merely means a position of legislation placed in a bill, nothing more. It doesn't imply a trade or "quid pro quo." And rather than corroborating Aries' supposed "free pass," Inzalaco testified that he could not remember the substance of what he discussed with Renzi! Not surprisingly, the jury acquitted Renzi of the charges that related to his conversation with Inzalaco. How can a conviction of extortion stand, if it came out later that Renzi wasn't the one who had proposed the land exchange? When confronted in October with FBI agent notes of who Aries said really proposed it, and evidence of the money promised him, Aries, who originally said during trial that Renzi had proposed it, changed his testimony. The similarities to the botched prosecution of former Alaska Senator Ted Stevens are disturbing. After Stevens was convicted of failing to report gifts, one of the FBI agents filed a whistleblower affidavit, alleging that prosecutors and FBI agents conspired to withhold and conceal evidence that likely would have likely resulted in a verdict of not guilty. The judge ordered a hearing to consider whether there should be a retrial. The New York Times reported that Judge Emmet G. Sullivan said, "In 25 years on the bench, he had never seen mishandling and misconduct like what I have seen' by the Justice Department prosecutors who tried the Stevens case," repeatedly refusing to turn over documents to the defense. "Again and again, both during and after the trial in this case, the government was caught making false representations and not meeting its discovery obligations," he said. At the hearing to consider a retrial for Renzi in October, Judge Bury similarly expressed his disgust with the prosecutors for withholding exculpatory evidence from Renzi's defense. Bury told Restaino that he had violated Renzi's rights. Judge Sullivan ultimately held the Stevens' prosecutors in contempt for not disclosing the exculpatory evidence to the defense. Once he did that that, the DOJ filed a Motion of The United States To Set Aside The Verdict And Dismiss The Indictment With Prejudice. The prosecutors were removed from the case and two were suspended. Due to the unprecedented level of corruption by DOJ prosecutors and FBI agents in Renzi's case, this conviction cannot stand. Yet Judge Bury said he will not order a new trial because the withheld evidence wouldn't change a single juror's mind. Really? There is more prosecutorial misconduct in this case - that would have exonerated Renzi - than in Ted Stevens' case! Any normal American chosen for a jury discovering these new developments would be horrified. Regardless, Bury doesn't even need to order a new trial, he can simply drop all the convictions. Renzi is going to ask for a congressional investigation. Knowingly putting on false witness testimony is a serious offense that strikes at the heart of our justice system. Renzi was targeted for political reasons by powerful Democrats who control much of the legal system. If they can put an innocent man in prison, no conservative person in politics is safe. Renzi was targeted because he was a popular, charismatic Congressman from a Democratic-leaning district. Apparently the standard for Judge Bury is: "Guilty, even if proven innocent, because you don't want to cross the Obama and his DOJ." Contact Judge Bury and tell him the convictions must be thrown out.



Rachel Alexander and her brother Andrew are co-Editors of Intellectual Conservative. She has been published in the American Spectator, Townhall.com, Fox News, NewsMax, Accuracy in Media, The Americano, ParcBench, and other publications. Home
Shostakovich, the First Amendment, and the Russian Revolution By Charlotte Cerminaro

When we think of the first amendment to the United States Constitution we generally think of the most fundamental rights, such as freedom of speech, the press, religion, the right to peaceably assemble and the forbidding of any legislation restricting or otherwise institutionalizing these rights. This amendment, more fundamentally, spells out our right to self- expression. What is also implicit, though not often thought about, is artistic expression---music, painting, cartoons (even political satire) -- these all fit into the "freedom of speech" category. Sadly, it is a well-known fact that musicians (composers and instrumentalists alike) were often pawns of socialist and fascist regimes, and those who found favor with a particular dictator would sometimes have their music "adopted" as an official anthem or even marching music. And for the musicians who found themselves at odds with a dictator for real or imagined artistic and ideological differences, the same censorship and threats applied to them as any other political dissident or adversary. It is indeed one of the first signs of governmental imbalance, the infringement on a people's right to free speech. One of the most interesting stories regarding this struggle between artistic freedom and censorship is the life and work of composer Dmitry Shostakovich. Growing up during the brutal regime of Joseph Stalin, the composer attracted negative attention early on from the Kremlin. His music embodied everything the socialists hated: Intellectualism, uncertainty, questioning, and the embracing of western ideas. Not long after the world premiere of both his second and third symphonies, an article in the Pravda was published specifically about his music, denouncing it, and him. The article had in it the usual threats and warnings to anyone who wrote something that was displeasing to the Soviet leadership. Among the things considered displeasing were, music evoking sympathy, dread, sorrow or uncertainty. Shostakovich, clearly understanding this as a death threat, shelved his completed fourth symphony and immediately began work on what was to be one of his greatest masterpieces, his fifth symphony. During this time Shostakovich sought the counsel of many high-level Soviet officials, fellow musicians, critics and friends, trying to understand the danger he was in and how to find his way out, artistically. Several of these people, including some of Shostakovich's own family members, were arrested and imprisoned during this time, and a couple of them even executed. Of course, the composer expected the same for himself. As the fifth symphony reached completion the tension was too much to bear. It was November 1937, six months after the composer began his new work, that it received its world premiere. The piece was an unqualified success -- it satisfied Stalin's desire for "Soviet realism" and, at the same time, it satisfied Shostakovich's fans, other musicians, composers and music critics the world over. How did he do it? It was almost as if people were hearing two different pieces -- the Kremlin was hearing what they wanted to hear, and real music lovers and musicians heard a great work of art -- a composer who didn't sell out to threats or terror. To this day musicologists still debate how Shostakovich was able to use such subtlety and cleverness, combined with artistic license, to fool a government and to vent the oppression and fears of a nation, all in fifty minutes. His fifth symphony, like many of his works, is a study in contrasts. It is large, dark and brooding. Interspersed throughout the piece, though, are the kinds of marches, military pomp and gleeful sounding romps that made the Kremlin happy. What they didn't hear was the mocking satire in these same sections. Much of the piece does reflect the despair and tragedy of those times but again, because of its subtle, understated politics it slipped under Stalin's radar. For example, the majority of the first movement is bombastic romanticism, classically written, but definitely a parody of Soviet pomp. As the movement draws to a close, though, a hushed atmosphere descends, helped by very stark orchestration. Soft, minor chords in the strings, accompanied by ascending chromatic scales on the celeste, leave a beautifully haunting and poignant reminder of the desolation of his country. The rest of the symphony is really a continuation of this artistic balancing act. The real triumph of the work comes in its finale, where the mood is victorious without being mocking, grand without being pompous. It is a statement of the greatest artistic triumph, the undefeated human will standing firm (and alone) against tyranny. It was as much a reminder to himself as it was an announcement to the world that we are endowed, by our creator, with certain inalienable human rights. These rights are not granted by governments, otherwise governments would have the right to revoke them. The freedom of self-expression is among the most basic, yet important, of these rights. If we cannot objectively claim that we each still have our own individual life, liberty and pursuit of happiness, then we are already under a new, global socialist regime. If this is really the state of our civilization then we, like Shostakovich and many, many others, have a heavy burden to shoulder and our work cut out for us. Charlotte B. Cerminaro is a Juilliard-trained classical musician who, in addition to being a studio and orchestral musician, enjoys writing.  2016 Home
Maharashtra's draft law to curb social boycott is welcome but it needs to be strengthened.

The notoriety of the actions of North Indias khap panchayats has overshadowed the sizeable number of cases of social boycott ordered by caste panchayats in Maharashtra. Known as the gaavki system, it is a gathering of villagers with long-standing roots and influence in the area. There have been increasing reports of individuals, families, and even caste groups being socially boycotted over acts seen by the larger community as breaking taboos or even misdemeanours under traditional customs. The Maharashtra government has now drafted the Maharashtra Prohibition of Social Boycott Bill, 2015, that is yet to be introduced in the state legislative assembly. Although there are inadequacies in the draft bill, the general view is that the legislation is very much required. The murdered rationalist Narendra Dabholkar was in the forefront of the demand for such a law. In 2013 the Bombay High Court, while hearing a petition by two victims from Raigad District, directed the state government to draw up a law against such boycotts. It also asked the government to direct police stations across the state to treat such cases as criminal offences.

The draft bill defines a caste panchayat as a committee made up of a group of persons belonging to any community, registered or not, which regulates practices in that community, controls personal and social behaviour and collectively resolves the disagreements of and amongst its members through oral or written statements. The offences under the law would be cognisable, bailable and can be sent to trial. A specially appointed social boycott prohibition officer will detect such offences and assist the magistrate and police officers involved in handling such cases. The draft law defines community as made up of members connected through religion, caste and sub-caste and a social boycott as a gesture or act, oral or written, of social discrimination. A boycott will cover an act preventing or denying members from conducting or participating in any social, religious, economic or community functions. Any gathering that meets to discuss the imposition of a social boycott will be considered an unlawful assembly. The trial should be completed within six months of the charge sheet being filed. The draft legislation calls for seven years of imprisonment or a fine of Rs 5 lakh or both if the order of a social boycott is proved. With the victim and courts consent, however, the convicts can be ordered to do community service.
BEER-SHEVA...January 4, 2016 - A new book by Prof. Golan Shahar of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) reveals that self-criticism can be both mentally and physically harmful, leading to mental disorder, chronic fatigue, chronic pain, and even suicide.

The book, Erosion: The Psychopathology of Self-Criticism, (Oxford University Press 2015), summarizes two decades of scholarship -- empirical and theoretical research and clinical work -- conducted by Prof. Shahar, a clinical-health psychologist. Prof. Shahar offers a novel theory of how self-criticism comes about in individuals, families and societies. He provides guidelines for an integrative and comprehensive psychotherapy with self-critical adolescents and young adults.

"Self-criticism is a personality trait characterized as the tendency to set unrealistically high standards for one's self and an expression of hostility and derogation when these high standards are, inevitably, not met," Shahar explains. "This type of behavior leaves people depressed, anxious, suffering from other symptoms, and potentially suicidal."

Throughout the book, Prof. Shahar identifies the mechanisms through which self-criticism confers vulnerability to psychopathology. Self-criticism propels people to involve themselves in stressful events such as rejection by others, relationship breakups and professional failures to avoid engaging in the positive life experiences they feel they do not deserve.

This form of dangerous self-criticism is psychologically different from the transient "fish for compliments" type, which he argues is not pathological, unlike its more harmful counterpart.

Prof. Shahar has dedicated the book to the memory of his Yale mentor, Prof. Sidney J. Blatt, whom he calls, "one of the greatest clinical psychologists of our time."

Golan Shahar Ph.D. is a professor of clinical-health and developmental-health psychology in the BGU Department of Psychology in Beer-Sheva, Israel. He is the founding director of the BGU Center for the Advancement of Research on Stress (BGU-CARES), and directs the Stress, Self and Health (STREALTH) Lab. Prof. Shahar has authored more than 130 publications/book chapters in the fields of personality, stress, psychopathology, psychosomatics, and psychotherapy, and currently serves as the chief editor of the Journal of Psychotherapy Integration. He also serves as visiting professor of psychiatry at Yale University School of Medicine.

Erosion: The Psychopathology of Self-Criticism can be purchased on Amazon.com.

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About American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

American Associates, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (AABGU) plays a vital role in sustaining David Ben-Gurion's vision, creating a world-class institution of education and research in the Israeli desert, nurturing the Negev community and sharing the University's expertise locally and around the globe. With some 20,000 students on campuses in Beer-Sheva, Sede Boqer and Eilat in Israel's southern desert, BGU is a university with a conscience, where the highest academic standards are integrated with community involvement, committed to sustainable development of the Negev. AABGU is headquartered in Manhattan and has nine regional offices throughout the U.S. For more information, please visit http://www.aabgu.org.
Trainers of dogs, horses, and other animal performers take note: a bacterium named Moorella thermoacetica has been induced to perform only a single trick, but it's a doozy. Berkeley Lab researchers are using M. thermoacetica to perform photosynthesis - despite being non-photosynthetic - and also to synthesize semiconductor nanoparticles in a hybrid artificial photosynthesis system for converting sunlight into valuable chemical products.

"We've demonstrated the first self-photosensitization of a non-photosynthetic bacterium, M. thermoacetica, with cadmium sulfide nanoparticles to produce acetic acid from carbon dioxide at efficiencies and yield that are comparable to or may even exceed the capabilities of natural photosynthesis," says Peidong Yang, a chemist with Berkeley Lab's Materials Sciences Division, who led this work.

"The bacteria/inorganic-semiconductor hybrid artificial photosynthesis system we've created is self-replicating through the bio-precipitation of cadmium sulfide nanoparticles, which serve as the light harvester to sustain cellular metabolism," Yang says. "Demonstrating this cyborgian ability to self-augment the functionality of biological systems through inorganic chemistry opens up the integration of biotic and abiotic components for the next generation of advanced solar-to-chemical conversion technologies."

Yang, who also holds appointments with UC Berkeley and the Kavli Energy NanoScience Institute (Kavli-ENSI) at Berkeley, is the corresponding author of a paper describing this research in Science. The paper is titled "Self-photosensitization of non-photosynthetic bacteria for solar-to-chemical production." Co-authors are Kelsey Sakimoto and Andrew Barnabas Wong.

Photosynthesis is the process by which nature harvests sunlight and uses the solar energy to synthesize carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and water. Artificial versions of photosynthesis are being explored for the clean, green and sustainable production of chemical products now made from petroleum, primarily fuels and plastics. Yang and his research group have been at the forefront of developing artificial photosynthetic technologies that can realize the full potential of solar-to-chemical synthesis.

"In our latest study, we combined the highly efficient light harvesting of an inorganic semiconductor with the high specificity, low cost, and self-replication and self-repair of a biocatalyst," Yang says. "By inducing the self-photosensitization of M. thermoacetica with cadmium sulfide nanoparticles, we enabled the photosynthesis of acetic acid from carbon dioxide over several days of light-dark cycles at relatively high quantum yields, demonstrating a self-replicating route toward solar-to-chemical carbon dioxide reduction."

Cadmium sulfide is a well-studied semiconductor with a band structure and that is well-suited for photosynthesis. As both an "electrograph" (meaning it can undergo direct electron transfers from an electrode), and an "acetogen" (meaning it can direct nearly 90-percent of its photosynthetic products towards acetic acid), M. thermoacetica serves as the ideal model organism for demonstrating the capabilities of this hybrid artificial photosynthesis system.

"Our hybrid system combines the best of both worlds: the light-harvesting capabilities of semiconductors with the catalytic power of biology," Yang says. "In this study, we've demonstrated not only that biomaterials can be of sufficient quality to carry out useful photochemistry, but that in some ways they may be even more advantageous in biological applications."

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This work was funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)'s Office of Science. The interface design part of the study was carried out the Molecular Foundry, a DOE Office Science User Facility hosted by Berkeley Lab.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit http://www.lbl.gov.

DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov/.
Research performed by U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory Associate Scientist Durga Paudyal was recently featured on the cover of the November 13, 2015, issue of Physical Review Letters.

In his paper, "Complex Magnetism of Lanthanide Intermetallics and the Role of their Valence Electrons: Ab Initio Theory and Experiment," Paudyal and coauthors used electronic structure theory to explain how a mobile "electronic adhesive" helps localized electrons communicate and interact with one another.

The research was performed using compounds of gadolinium combined with three nonmagnetic elements: magnesium, zinc and cadmium.

In addition to supporting communications among localized electrons, Paudyal's research also discovered that the mobile electron adhesive flows up and down the energy scale, thus controlling the electrons near the top. These topmost electrons are the ones responsible for different, yet predictable changes of magnetic order when chemistry, temperature or pressure are changed individually or together.

"This discovery opens up many new opportunities in rare-earth based responsive and permanent magnet materials research," said Paudyal. "We'll be able to find out how they behave at working temperatures."

Other Ames Laboratory scientist authors on the paper included Yaroslav Mudryk, Vitalij Pecharsky and Karl Gschneidner, Jr. The scientists collaborated with lead author Leon Petit from the Daresbury Laboratory in the United Kingdom and Julie Staunton from Warwick University in the United Kingdom.

"We've seen a dramatic rise in the use of rare-earth materials as essential elements in everything from smart phones to computers, automobiles, LED and compact fluorescent lights, and color displays in TVs and monitors. These findings are critically important to furthering research related to these materials," said Gschneidner, who is a senior metallurgist at Ames Laboratory, a Distinguished Professor of materials science and engineering at Iowa State University, and the chief scientist of the Critical Materials Institute.

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The paper can be found at the following web address: http://journals.aps.org/prl/pdf/10.1103/PhysRevLett.115.207201.

This work was supported at Ames Laboratory by the Department of Energy's Office of Science. Additional support was provided by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council in the United Kingdom.

Ames Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science national laboratory operated by Iowa State University. Ames Laboratory creates innovative materials, technologies and energy solutions. We use our expertise, unique capabilities and interdisciplinary collaborations to solve global problems. For more information, please visit ameslab.gov.

DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.
UPTON, NY--Accelerator physicists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory have successfully implemented an innovative scheme for increasing proton collision rates at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). More proton collisions at this DOE Office of Science User Facility produce more data for scientists to sift through to answer important nuclear physics questions, including the search for the source of proton spin (see: https://www.bnl.gov/newsroom/news.php?a=25112).

"So far we have doubled the peak and average 'luminosity'-measures that are directly related to the collision rates," said Wolfram Fischer, Associate Chair for Accelerators of Brookhaven's Collider-Accelerator Department and lead author on a paper describing the success just published in Physical Review Letters. And, he says, there's potential for further gains by increasing the number protons from the injectors even more.

Colliding polarized protons

RHIC is the world's only polarized proton collider, capable of sending beams of protons around its 2.4-mile-circumference racetrack with their internal magnetic axes (also known as spins) aligned in a chosen direction. Colliding beams of such "spin polarized" protons and manipulating the spin directions gives scientists a way to explore how their internal building blocks, quarks and gluons, contribute to this intrinsic particle property.

Data at RHIC have revealed that both quarks and gluons make substantial contributions to spin, but still not enough to explain the total spin value. More data will help resolve this spin mystery by reducing uncertainties and allowing nuclear physicists to tease out other unaccounted for contributions.

But getting more protons to collide is an ongoing challenge because, as one beam of these positively charged particles passes through the other, the particles' like charges make them want to move away from one another.

"The strongest disturbance a proton experiences when it travels around the RHIC ring is when it flies through the other proton beam," Fischer said. "The result of the positive charges repelling is that the protons get deflecting kicks every time they fly through the oncoming beam."

Opposite charge produces opposite push

The size of the repulsive kick depends on where the proton flies through the beam, with protons about halfway from dead center to the outside edge of the beam's cross-section experiencing the largest outward push. Particles closer to the center or the outer edge of the cross-section experience less repulsion.

Because of the variable shape of this effect-increasing to a peak and then decreasing with distance from the beam's center-it's impossible to correct using magnets. "The magnetic field strength in magnets increases steadily from the center out," Fischer said.

So instead, the scientists turned to using oppositely charged particles to produce a compensating push in the opposite direction.

"We've implemented electron lensing technology to compensate for these head-on beam-beam effects," Fischer said.

Essentially, they use an electron gun to introduce a low-energy electron beam into a short stretch of the RHIC accelerator. Within that stretch, the electrons are guided by a magnetic field that keeps them from being deflected by the more energetic protons. As the protons pass through the negatively charged electron beam, they experience a kick in the opposite direction from the repulsive positive charge, which nudges the protons back toward the center of the beam.

"It's not a glass lens like you'd find in a camera," Fischer said, "but we call the technique 'electron lensing' because, like a lens that focuses light, the electron beam changes the trajectory of the protons flying through it."

Riding the optical wave

The scientists also take advantage of certain "optical" properties of RHIC's particle beams to ensure the method's efficacy.

"Ideally you would like to produce these compensating pushes right where the collisions happen, within the STAR and PHENIX detectors," Fischer said. "But then the experiments wouldn't work anymore. So we placed the electron lenses, one on each beam, at a certain distance from the detectors-called the optical distance-where they have an effect at the same point in the 'phase' of the particle beam that's inside the detectors."

Like a wave of light or sound that oscillates up and down in amplitude at a given frequency, the particles that travel around RHIC also oscillate a tiny bit. As long as the nuclear physicists know the frequency of the oscillations and give their electron-lensing kicks at the same point in that oscillation that the particles reach within the detector, the effect will compensate for the proton repulsion the particles experience at that distant location.

So far, the scientists have doubled the proton-proton collision rates at RHIC. They could potentially get even higher gains by increasing the number of protons injected into the machine.

"The key challenge will be to maintain the high degree of polarization the experiments need to explore the question of proton spin," Fischer said. But he insists there is clear potential for even higher proton-proton luminosity.

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This work was performed by many people in the Collider-Accelerator Department and the Superconducting Magnet Division at Brookhaven National Laboratory, and was funded by the DOE Office of Science (NP). The scientists also acknowledge the U.S. LHC Accelerator Research Program (LARP) for support of beam-beam simulations, and researchers around the world especially the electron lens experts at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory.

Brookhaven National Laboratory is supported by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy. The Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit science.energy.gov.

One of ten national laboratories overseen and primarily funded by the Office of Science of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Brookhaven National Laboratory conducts research in the physical, biomedical, and environmental sciences, as well as in energy technologies and national security. Brookhaven Lab also builds and operates major scientific facilities available to university, industry and government researchers. Brookhaven is operated and managed for DOE's Office of Science by Brookhaven Science Associates, a limited-liability company founded by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York on behalf of Stony Brook University, the largest academic user of Laboratory facilities, and Battelle, a nonprofit applied science and technology organization.

Related Links

Scientific paper: "Operational Head-on Beam-Beam Compensation with Electron Lenses in the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider"
04.01.2016: Traces of volcanic ash originating from islandic volcanoes have been found in the sediments of Laker Tiefer See in the Nossentiner-Schwinzer Heide natural park in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. This allows to more precisely date climate changes of the last 11500 years. An international team of geoscientists lead by the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences identified traces of in total eight volcanic eruptions on Island of which six could be precisely identified. The oldest eruption occurred 11400 years ago and the youngest from AD 1875 has been also described in historical documents.

Seasonally laminated lake sediments represent ideal geoarchives for reconstructing natural climate variability in the past. Achim Brauer from the Research Centre for Geosciences explained the particular importance of the identified volcanic ash deposits: "Particles of three of the volcanic ashes detected in Lake Tiefer See have been also found 500 km further East in a lake in Poland. For the first time, this allows to synchronize both sediment archives to the year precise, which enables us to decipher even subtle regional differences of climate changes in the past. This information, in turn, provides the chance to better anticipate regional aspects of future climate change."

The particular challenge of this approach was the fact that volcanic ash was not deposited as visible layers, but only as a few tiny volcanic glass particles scattered in the lake sediments. "These small glass particles commonly are smaller than 50 micrometer", explained GFZ-scientist Sabine Wulf. "We applied a novel combination of chemical and microscopic methods to detect these fine traces in the lake sediments and to separate them for further analyses." Geochemical analyses of individual glass shards and their comparison with volcanic ash from the source region on Island ideally allows to precisely tracing back the corresponding volcanic eruption. Moreover, this approach allows reconstructing the distribution of volcanic ash clouds from eruptions in the past over large areas and thus provides new insights into past wind conditions.

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This study was carried out within the frame of the Virtual Institute ICLEA (Integrated Climate and Landscape Evolution Analyses, http://www.iclea.de) funded by the Helmholtz Association and are a contribution to the TERENO observatory for climate and landscape evolution an North-Eastern Germany coordinated by the GFZ.

Sabine Wulf, Nadine Drager, Florian Ott, Johanna Serb, Oona Appelt, Esther Gumundsdottir, Christel van den Bogaard, Micha Sowinski, Mirosaw Baszkiewicz, Achim Brauer: "Holocene tephrostratigraphy of varved sediment records from Lakes Tiefer See (NE Germany) and Czechowskie (N Poland)", Quaternary Science Reviews 132(2016), January 2016, DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2015.11.007

Pictures in a printable resolution may be found here: https://media.gfz-potsdam.de/gfz/wv/pm/15/10243_Tiefer-See_Stefan-Lauterbach-GFZ.jpg Lake coring on Lake Tiefer See, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern (photo: Stefan Lauterbach, GFZ)

https://media.gfz-potsdam.de/gfz/wv/pm/15/10241_Vulkanasche_Sabine-Wulf-GFZ.jpg

Microscope photos of volcanic glass particles from two islandic eruptions of the Dyngjufjoll volcanic centre in North-eastern Iceland found in lakes Tiefer See (North-eastern Germany) and Czechowskie (Poland): Askja-S eruption from ca 11000 years ago and the Askja AD1875 eruption (photos: Sabine Wulf, GFZ).
Editorial finds that the benefits of continuing therapy in high risk patients greatly exceeds the risk of rare side effects; calls on doctors to individualize treatment decisions based on a patient's fracture risk

Nyon, Switzerland - January 4, 2016 A new editorial published by an International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) Working Group urges physicians to individualize treatment decisions based on their patients' fracture risk, rather than automatically interrupting or stopping bisphosphonate therapy after five or three years.

The concept of a bisphosphonate 'holiday' arose following concerns about osteonecrosis of the jaw (ONJ) and atypical femoral fracture (AFF), rare events which have recently been linked to long-term use of bisphosphonates.

Bisphosphonates are a family of drugs used to treat osteoporosis. They bind to the surface of bone and slow down bone-eroding cells (osteoclasts), The therapies effectively reduce the risk of hip, vertebral and other fractures in patients with osteoporosis. Because bisphosphonates reside in bone even after the patient stops taking the medication, they have a persistent, although gradually waning, effect on bone.

The editorial raises the following issues:

Some physicians are automatically stopping bisphosphonates in patients without consideration of the patient's high risk of fracture.

Some physicians mistakenly extend the holiday concept to other antiresorptive drugs, where bone density gains are quickly lost when the drugs are discontinued.

The concept of a need for a drug holiday fuels concerns in patients about rare side effects and makes them unnecessarily fearful of anti-osteoporosis drugs.

Adherence to osteoporosis drug treatment is uniformly low and the above-mentioned concerns are leading to even lower uptake of medication - with greater numbers of high-risk patients left unprotected against fractures.

"There is much clinical confusion about best practice. We have little global consensus on how to identify which patients should have a drug holiday, and how to manage and monitor these patients. More research is needed so that we can provide physicians with clear recommendations," said lead author Professor Stuart Silverman, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center and Professor of Medicine, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).

"In the meantime we want to remind physicians and patients alike that while the incidence of AFF and ONJ are very rare, hip and spinal fractures in high risk patients are, in contrast, far more common and a major cause of disability, loss of quality of life and early death. The benefits of bisphosphonate therapy with regard to reduced fracture incidence in moderate and high risk women clearly outweigh the risk of rare adverse events."

The authors suggest that clinicians need to rethink the assumption that a patient who has taken an oral bisphosphonate for five years or an intravenous therapy for three years should automatically start a drug holiday. Instead the clinician should individualize the decision for each patient based on their fracture risk.

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Reference:

S. L. Silverman, J. D. Adachi, E. Dennison & And the International Osteoporosis Foundation Epidemiology/Quality of Life Working Group. Bisphosphonate drug holidays: we reap what we sow. Osteoporos Int DOI 10.1007/s00198-015-3453-y. Link: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00198-015-3453-y

About IOF

The International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) is a not-for-profit, nongovernmental organization dedicated to the worldwide fight against osteoporosis and related musculoskeletal diseases. IOF's members - scientific researchers, patient, medical and research societies and industry representatives from around the world - share a common vision of a world without osteoporotic fractures. IOF, with headquarters in Switzerland, currently includes 232 member societies in 98 countries, regions and territories. Among its numerous programmes and activities, IOF mobilizes the global osteoporosis movement on World Osteoporosis Day, marked on October 20 every year. http://www.iofbonehealth.org; http://www.facebook.com/iofbonehealth; http://twitter.com/iofbonehealth
When you don't seek out ethical products, you denigrate those who do

COLUMBUS, Ohio - No one wants to knowingly buy products made with child labor or that harm the environment.

But a new study shows that we also don't want to work too hard to find out whether our favorite products were made ethically. And we really don't like those good people who make the effort to seek out ethically made goods when we choose not to.

In fact, we denigrate consumers who act more ethically than we do, seeing them as less fashionable and more boring. Worst of all, seeing others act ethically when we don't undermines our commitment to pro-social values.

"It is this vicious cycle," said Rebecca Walker Reczek, co-author of the study and associate professor of marketing at The Ohio State University's Fisher College of Business.

"You choose not to find out if a product is made ethically. Then you harshly judge people who do consider ethical values when buying products. Then that makes you less ethical in the future."

Walker conducted the study with Daniel Zane, a graduate student at Ohio State's Fisher College, and Julie Irwin, a professor of marketing at the University of Texas at Austin. The results appear online in the Journal of Consumer Psychology and are slated to be a published in a future print edition.

In earlier research, Irwin had found that consumers often choose to be 'willfully ignorant' when it comes to how their favorite consumer goods were made. They will consider ethical information, such as whether a product was made using fair labor practices and in an environmentally friendly way, if it is readily available, such as on product packaging. But they won't go through the trouble of looking on a website or asking a salesperson.

For this new research, Reczek and her colleagues conducted several experiments to determine the consequences of this willful ignorance.

In the first study, 147 undergraduates were told they would be evaluating four brands of blue jeans that differed on only four attributes: style, wash, price and a fourth attribute. The fourth attribute pertained either to an ethical issue (whether the company used child labor) or a control issue (delivery time for the jeans).

Participants were told that due to time constraints, they could choose only two of the four attributes to make their evaluations.

As expected, most of the participants who were given the opportunity to know whether the jeans were made with child labor chose to remain 'willfully ignorant.'

That was key to the next part of the study, in which the same participants provided their opinions about different types of consumers, purportedly for market segmentation purposes.

Those who were willfully ignorant about child labor use on the jeans they evaluated were asked to rate consumers who would choose to research clothing manufacturers' labor practices before making a purchase. The finding? These participants were more likely to denigrate these ethical consumers as odd, boring and less fashionable, among other negative traits.

"They judged ethical consumers less positively on positive traits and more negatively on negative traits," Reczek said.

However, participants who didn't choose to find out about delivery times on the jeans they evaluated didn't judge those who did investigate delivery times more harshly. It all had to do with the ethics.

"Willfully ignorant consumers put ethical shoppers down because of the threat they feel for not having done the right thing themselves," she said. "They feel bad and striking back at the ethical consumers makes themselves feel better."

Another experiment demonstrated why the threat of feeling unethical was a key driver for the actions of the willfully ignorant. This experiment was much like the first. But in this case, the willfully ignorant consumers were later given the chance to click a button on a website that would make a donation to a charity.

In this case, willfully ignorant participants who donated to charity did not harshly judge consumers who acted ethically when buying products.

"If we give people a chance to prove that they are indeed ethical, they don't judge more ethical consumers as harshly," Reczek said.

A third study showed what could happen when people choose to remain willfully ignorant about ethical concerns when shopping. In this experiment, consumers who didn't consider environmental concerns when choosing a backpack -- and denigrated those consumers who did -- were less likely to later support a pro-sustainability 'Think Green Pledge' online.

"After you denigrate consumers who act ethically concerning a specific issue, you actually care a little less about that specific issue yourself," Reczek said. "This may have some disturbing implications for how ethical you will act in the future."

Reczek said the results of this study suggest consumers want to do the right thing -- they just need help to do it.

"Most consumers want to act ethically, but there can be a discrepancy between their desires and what they actually do," Reczek said.

"Companies that use ethical practices in producing their products can help by making that information very prominent, right on the packages if possible. People are not going to go to your website to find out your company's good deeds. If consumers don't see ethical information right when they are shopping, there can be this cascade of negative consequences."

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Contact:

Rebecca Walker Reczek

Reczek.3@osu.edu
PRINCETON, N.J.--Curbing school bullying has been a focal point for educators, administrators, policymakers and parents, but the answer may not lie within rules set by adults, according to new research led by Princeton University. Instead, the solution might actually be to have the students themselves, particularly those most connected to their peers, promote conflict resolution in school.

A team of researchers from Princeton, Rutgers University and Yale University engaged groups of influential students in 56 New Jersey middle schools to spread messages about the dangers of bullying and school conflict. Using messaging platforms such as Instagram, print posters and colorful wristbands, the selected students were encouraged to discuss in their own voices positive ways to handle conflict, using terms with which their peers could identify.

The research team wanted to test whether certain students, who they label "social referents" or social influencers, have an outsized influence over school climate or the social norms and behavioral patterns in their schools. Social referents are not necessarily the most popular kids school-wide, but rather students who demonstrate influence within their smaller peer group. All activities were designed to test whether, by making their anti-conflict stance well known, these social influencers could shape their peers' behaviors and social norms.

In the course of a year, the middle schools that employed social referents saw a 30 percent reduction in student conflict reports, the researchers report in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). Critically, the greatest drop in conflict was observed among the teams with the highest proportion of social influencers, supporting the researchers' hypothesis that these students do exert an outsized influence over school climate.

"We designed our own curriculum because current programs address problems as defined by adults, and they aren't necessarily fitted to each individual school environment," said lead author Elizabeth Levy Paluck, associate professor of psychology and public affairs at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. "We think the best way to change social norms is to have these student influencers speak in their own voices. Encouraging their own messages to bubble up from the bottom using a grassroots approach can be very powerful."

Peers influencing peers is a widely accepted concept. But the question of whether certain, more influential peers have more influence on social norms governing a group is what spurred Paluck and her colleagues to design their test program, the Roots program.

This program is designed to engage the school's most influential students, only some of whom fit the typical profile of a student leader or a popular student, to spread anti-conflict messages. Using a survey measurement known as social network mapping, the researchers are able to identify students with the most connections to other students, both in person and online. These students serve as the "roots" to influence perceptions and social norms in schools.

"The real innovation here is using student social networks to choose the peers ... which can lead to a less unorthodox group of student leaders," Paluck said. "When adults choose student leaders, they typically pick the 'good' kids. But the leaders we find through social network mapping are influential among students and are not all the ones who would be selected by adults. Some of the students we find are right smack in the center of student conflicts. But the point is, these are the students whose behavior gets noticed more."

During the 2012-13 school year, Paluck and study co-authors Hana Shepherd from Rutgers University and Peter Aronow from Yale University were able to implement the study into middle schools across New Jersey. The timing was paramount. Just a year prior, Governor Chris Christie signed a bill issuing a law that required all teachers to have anti-bullying training. The bill was passed without funding.

This gave Paluck, Shepherd and Aronow a chance to offer their program as a training solution. With encouragement from the State Department of Education, they implemented the program in volunteer middle schools, as they were seeing higher rates of student conflict than high schools.

For the purposes of the experiment, half of the middle schools were randomly assigned to receive the intervention, which was training through the Roots program. The schools not selected were given the opportunity to receive free training on how to run the program at the end of the school year.

To pinpoint the most influential students, the researchers distributed a survey to the 24,191 students enrolled at all schools. The survey asked them to nominate the top 10 students at their school who they chose to spend time with, either in or outside of school, or face to face or online. Using these data, the researchers then mapped each school's social networks.

A representative sample of 22 to 30 students in the intervention schools was invited to participate in the Roots program. Only the researchers knew which students within each group were expected to be the top influencers, based on the fact that they were in the top 10 percent of students at their school nominated by their peers in the survey.

These students had some important shared traits, the researchers found. Many had an older sibling, were in dating relationships and received compliments from peers on the house in which they lived.

"This cluster of characteristics suggests that these students are hooked into more mature social patterns in their lives and at schools," Paluck said. "Earlier dating is one indicator, and an older sibling suggests they have more exposure to older students with a more mature vocabulary, perhaps making them savvier communicators. Receiving compliments on their house was a way for us to evaluate their socioeconomic background."

Once the sample of students was selected, they were invited, but not required, to attend Roots training sessions, held during convenient school hours. More than half showed up regularly. The researchers provided students with templates for campaign materials, both print and online, which the students were able to customize. They also trained students in dealing with student conflict.

"We wanted to distinguish ourselves from other school campaigns by letting students lead the messaging efforts. We even wanted the aesthetics of the program to look different," Paluck said. "So we put a lot of value into very clean sharp designs and bright colors. We gave them the templates to work with, and they controlled the messaging."

Throughout the year, the students launched several messaging campaigns. One entailed using hashtags such as "#iRespect" on Instagram, which represented tolerance and conflict resolution. Students printed the hashtags on bright colored paper, which they signed and hung around school, highlighting which students were involved in the effort.

Another campaign used brightly colored rubber wristbands, which remain very popular among adolescents, Paluck said. These orange wristbands included the Roots program logo and came with a tag that said, "A Roots student caught you doing something great." Each Roots student received 20 wristbands and when the student saw a peer intervening in a conflict or helping another student, he or she gave them a wristband.

Among the most popular campaigns was Roots Day, a one-day festival in which students promoted Roots through posters, other multicolored and Roots-themed wristbands, and even the T-shirts they wore. There were giveaways, and students asked others to sign a petition to do something nice for someone at school.

"Roots Day made the Roots program and the Roots students enormously salient to all of the other students at each school," Paluck said. "Students loved the giveaways and were clamoring to sign the petition. It brought everyone in the school together and seemed to unify their attention and energies in a big way."

After this yearlong effort, the authors found stark statistical differences between the schools that had participated versus those that hadn't. On average, schools participating in the program saw a 30 percent reduction in disciplinary reports. Because each conflict can take up to an hour to resolve, this reduction is equivalent to hundreds of saved hours.

"Our program shows that you don't need to use a blanket treatment to reduce bullying," Paluck said. "You can target specific people in a savvy way in order to spread the message. These people -- the social referents you should target -- get noticed more by their peers. Their behavior serves as a signal to what is normal and desirable in the community. And there are many ways to figure out who those people are and work with them to inspire positive change."

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The paper, "Changing climates of conflict: A social network experiment in 56 schools," was published in PNAS Early Edition on Jan. 4. Funding for this project came from the WT Grant Foundation Scholars Program, the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Princeton Educational Research Section, Russell Sage Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the Spencer Foundation. None of the authors are affiliated with the New Jersey school system or received compensation for this research.

The following served as intervention designers and administrators: Laura Spence-Ash, David Mackenzie, Ariel Domlyn, Jennifer Dannals and Allison Bland.

The experiment was registered at the Experiments in Governance and Politics site prior to the analysis of outcome data. The research was approved by the Princeton Institutional Review Board (Case No. 4941).
Element 113, discovered by a RIKEN group led by Kosuke Morita, has become the first element on the periodic table found in Asia. Rewarding nearly a decade of painstaking work by Morita's group, a Joint Working Party of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) and International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) has recommended that the group, from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-based Science (RNC), be given recognition for the discovery of the new element. This news was conveyed to Dr. Morita through a letter on Dec. 31, 2015, from IUPAC.

In the late 1980s, the group began using RIKEN's Linear Accelerator Facility and the GARIS ion separator, developed by Morita and his group, to explore new synthetic superheavy elements. The work of discovering new superheavy elements is very difficult, and the elements tend to decay extremely quickly -- the isotopes of 113 produced at RIKEN lasted for less than a thousandth of a second. Researchers persevere, however, as the research is important for understanding the structure of atomic nuclei. Scientists hope that the work will lead eventually to the discovery of a so-called "island of stability" where elements with longer half-lives will be found.

The search at RIKEN for element 113 started in September 2003, when Morita's group began bombarding a thin layer of bismuth with zinc ions travelling at about 10% the speed of light. Theoretically, they would occasionally fuse, forming an atom of element 113.

The team achieved its first success on July 23, 2004, less than a year after starting the experiment. Two atomic nuclei fused, leading to the creation of a nucleus of element 113, which quickly underwent four alpha decays to transform into dubnium-262 (element 105), which then underwent spontaneous fission. Less than a year later, on April 2, 2005, the team saw a second event -- an identical decay to dubnium-262 followed by fission. Though these were good demonstrations, they were not considered conclusive evidence for the existence of element 113, because the decay chain did not demonstrate 'firm connections to known nuclides' (according to the Joint Working Party's 2011 report). The team pushed on with its efforts.

In order to create a better picture of the decay chain from bohrium-266 to lawrencium-258, which had not been well characterized, the group performed a new experiment, where a sodium beam was collided with a curium target, creating borhium-266 and its daughter nucleus, dubnium-262. With this demonstration, the grounds for a stronger claim were laid. They just needed to wait to see an atom decaying through the alpha chain rather than spontaneous fission.

Following the two initial events, however, the team's luck seemed to run dry. "For over seven years," says Morita, "we continued to search for data conclusively identifying element 113, but we just never saw another event. I was not prepared to give up, however, as I believed that one day, if we persevered, luck would fall upon us again."

Then, on Aug. 12, 2012, the group observed the crucial third event. This time, following the four initial decays, the dubnium-262 continued to undergo alpha decays rather than spontaneous fission, transforming into lawrencium-258 (element 103) and then finally mendelevium-254 (element 101). As the chain had been clearly characterized, it demonstrated clearly that element 113 was the source of the decay chain.

In response to the new event, coupled with the group's demonstration of the decay chain, IUPAC has announced that Morita's group will be given priority for the discovery of the new element, a privilege that includes the right to propose a name for it.

For Morita, then, part of the coming year will be devoted to thinking of and proposing a formal name for element 113, but he is also looking forward to the next step in his research. "Now that we have conclusively demonstrated the existence of element 113," he says, "we plan to look to the uncharted territory of element 119 and beyond, aiming to examine the chemical properties of the elements in the seventh and eighth rows of the periodic table, and someday to discover the island of stability."

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The results of these experiments were reported in the Journal of Physical Society of Japan. The IUPAC report granting the naming rights to Morita's group will be published in an early 2016 issue of the IUPAC journal Pure and Applied Chemistry (PAC).
The workings of neural circuits associated with creativity are significantly altered when artists are actively attempting to express emotions, according to a new brain-scanning study of jazz pianists.

Over the past decade, a collection of neuroimaging studies has begun to identify components of a neural circuit that operates across various domains of creativity. But the new research suggests that creativity cannot be fully explained in terms of the activation or deactivation of a fixed network of brain regions. Rather, the researchers said, when creative acts engage brain areas involved in emotional expression, activity in these regions strongly influences which parts of the brain's creativity network are activated, and to what extent.

"The bottom line is that emotion matters," said senior author Charles Limb, MD. "It can't just be a binary situation in which your brain is one way when you're being creative and another way when you're not. Instead, there are greater and lesser degrees of creative states, and different versions. And emotion plays a crucially important role in these differences."

Most of the new research, which appears in the January 4, 2016 issue of Scientific Reports, was conducted in Limb's laboratory at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine before his move to UC San Francisco in 2015. In his surgical practice, Limb, now the Francis A. Sooy Professor of Otolaryngology at UCSF and an accomplished jazz saxophonist, inserts cochlear implants to restore hearing.

Previous research by Limb and others using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study musical improvisation, freestyle rapping, and the rendering of caricatures--creative acts that unfold in real time and are therefore more amenable to laboratory studies than, say, painting--deactivate a brain region known as the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), which is involved in planning and monitoring behavior. This DLPFC deactivation has been taken to be a neural signature of the "flow state" artists may enter to free up creative impulses.

But in the new study, led by first author Malinda McPherson, the researchers found that DLPFC deactivation was significantly greater when the jazz musicians, who played a small keyboard while in the fMRI scanner, improvised melodies intended to convey the emotion expressed in a "positive" image (a photograph of a woman smiling) than when they aimed to capture the emotions in a "negative" image (a photograph of the same woman in a mildly distressed state).

On the other hand, improvisations targeted at expressing the emotion in the negative image were associated with greater activation of the brain's reward regions, which reinforce behaviors that lead to pleasurable outcomes, and a greater connectivity of these regions to the DLPFC.

"There's more deactivation of the DLPFC during happy improvisations, perhaps indicating that people are getting into more of a 'groove' or 'zone,' but during sad improvisations there's more recruitment of areas of the brain related to reward," said McPherson, a classical violist and first-year graduate student in the Harvard-MIT Program in Speech and Hearing Bioscience and Technology. "This indicates there may be different mechanisms for why it's pleasurable to create happy versus sad music."

Because the images themselves might induce an emotional response in the musicians, in addition to the brain scans made while the musicians improvised, each scanning session also included a time period in which the musicians passively viewed the images. For each musician, any brain activity data generated during these passive viewing periods, including emotional responses, were subtracted from that elicited during their musical performances. This allowed the researchers to determine which components of brain activity in emotional regions were strongly associated with creating the improvisations.

Moreover, Limb said, the research team avoided biasing the musicians' performances with words like "sad" or "happy" when instructing the musicians before the experiments.

"The notion that we can study complex creativity in artists and musicians from a neuroscientific perspective is an audacious one, but it's one that we're increasingly comfortable with," Limb said. "Not that we're going to answer all the questions, but that we have the right to ask them and to design experiments that try to shed some light on this fascinating human process."

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The research was funded by the Dana Foundation and by the Brain Science Institute of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Co-authors were Frederick S. Barrett, PhD; Monica Lopez-Gonzalez, PhD; and Patpong Jiradejvong.

About UCSF: UC San Francisco (UCSF) is a leading university dedicated to promoting health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy, a graduate division with nationally renowned programs in basic, biomedical, translational and population sciences, as well as a preeminent biomedical research enterpriseand UCSF Health, which includes two top-ranked hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco, as well as other partner and affiliated hospitals and healthcareproviders throughout the Bay Area. Please visit http://www.ucsf.edu/news.
New research into the potential for sparing land from food production to balance greenhouse gas emissions has shown that emissions from the UK farming industry could be largely offset by 2050. This could be achieved if the UK increased agricultural yields and coupled this with expanding the areas of natural forests and wetlands to match its European neighbours.

The new study suggests that by upping forest cover from 12% to 30% of UK land over the next 35 years -- close to that of France and Germany, but still less than the European average -- and restoring 700,000 hectares of wet peatland, these habitats would act as a carbon 'sink': sucking in and storing carbon.

This could be enough to meet government targets of 80% greenhouse gas reduction by 2050 for the farming industry. Agriculture currently produces around 10% of all the UK's damaging greenhouse gas emissions.

The new woodlands and wetlands would be more than just a carbon sink, say researchers. They would help support declining UK wildlife -- including many species of conservation concern -- provide more areas for nature recreation, and help to reduce flooding.

However, to make space for habitat restoration, and to meet rising levels of food demand, land sparing would depend on increases in farm yields, so that food needs can be met from less farmland.

The new study, published today in the journal Nature Climate Change, is the first to show that land sparing has the technical potential to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions at a national scale.

"Land is a source of greenhouse gases if it is used to farm fertiliser-hungry crops or methane-producing cattle, or it can be a sink for greenhouse gases -- through sequestration. If we increase woodland and wetland, those lands will be storing carbon in trees, photosynthesising it in reeds, and shunting it down into soils," said senior author Prof Andrew Balmford, from Cambridge University's Department of Zoology.

"We estimate that by actively increasing farm yields, the UK can reduce the amount of land that is a source of greenhouse gases, increase the 'sink', and sequester enough carbon to hit national emission reduction targets for the agriculture industry by 2050," he said.

The study originated from a workshop run as part of the new Cambridge Conservation Initiative, which convened leading experts and asked them to "look into their crystal balls", says Balmford. "We wanted to know what food yield increases they reckoned were achievable in the 2050 timescale across crop and livestock sectors," he said.

This included researchers from the Universities of California, Bangor, Aberdeen, East Anglia, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Forestry Commission, Rothamsted Research, ADAS UK Ltd and Scotland's Rural College (SRUC).

The potential they identified included improving farm management and optimising breeding programmes to produce plants that are better at capturing soil nutrients, sunlight and water, and to produce more efficient animals that produce less methane.

The researchers then used these and other data to produce a series of modelled scenarios that projected long-term farm yields. Scenarios ranged from yield declines through to sustained yield growth that averaged 1.3% per year until 2050.

If yields rise, the area of farmland required for food production can decline -- allowing countryside to be spared. By converting spared land back to natural habitats of woodland and wetland, which would have been a large portion of the UK's native land cover in the past, a carbon sink is created that the research suggests could come close to cancelling out agricultural emissions in just a few decades.

Dr Toby Bruce, co-author from Rothamsted Research, said: "The current findings show the value of land sparing for reducing greenhouse gases. To allow this productivity needs to increase on the remaining land, for example, by minimising crop losses to pests, weeds and diseases or by improving crop nutrition."

Importantly, says Balmford, the research team did not allow themselves the 'get-out-of-jail-free card' of increasing food imports. Overall food consumption looks set to rise substantially -- some 38% -- in the UK by 2050, and the researchers locked into their future models the contribution that UK production makes to its food supply.

"We made sure we met expected production requirements in all our figures, and then explored the consequences of different ways of achieving them," he said.

However, it is not all or nothing, say the researchers, who conducted lots of sensitivity analyses around different ways of using spared land, and different levels of yield growth, consumer waste, and meat consumption -- which has a disproportionate environmental footprint

"Reducing meat consumption appears to offer greater mitigation potential than reducing food waste, but more importantly, our results highlight the benefits of combining measures," said Balmford.

"For example, coupling even moderate yield growth with land sparing and reductions in meat consumption has the technical potential to surpass an 80% reduction in net emissions," he said.

Added Balmford: "We need to turn our minds to figuring out policy mechanisms that can deliver sustainable high yield farming that doesn't come at the expense of animal welfare, soil and water quality, as well as safeguarding and restoring habitats.

"The right incentives need to be provided to landowners to spare land. Subsidies under the EU's Common Agricultural Policy could be redirected so that landowners get paid properly for taking land out of food production and putting it into climate regulation.

"If we are serious about saving the planet for anything more than food production then the focus has to be on increasing yields and sparing land for the climate. We need to look objectively and dispassionately at every option we have for achieving that."

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ANN ARBOR -- If they successfully invade Lake Erie, Asian carp could eventually account for about a third of the total weight of fish in the lake and could cause declines in most fish species -- including prized sport and commercial fish such as walleye, according to a new computer modeling study.

However, most of the expected declines in Lake Erie will not be as extreme as some experts have predicted, according to the food-web study by the University of Michigan's Hongyan Zhang and colleagues from other American and Canadian research institutions. A few fish species, including smallmouth bass, would likely increase.

The study is the first to use a food-web model to examine the likely impacts of bighead and silver carp in Lake Erie. These plankton-eating Asian carp are established in watersheds close to the Great Lakes but not in the lakes themselves.

The invasive carp would likely affect Lake Erie's food web in two main ways: They would likely compete with native fish by eating their food, and juvenile Asian carp would likely become food for fish-eating fish.

According to the study, walleye, rainbow trout, gizzard shad and emerald shiners could all decline, with declines in emerald shiner of up to 37 percent. Smallmouth bass stood to gain the most, with increases of up to 16 percent.

A paper summarizing the findings was published online Dec. 30, 2015 in the journal Transactions of the American Fisheries Society.

The model results suggest that Asian carp could eventually account for up to 34 percent of the total fish weight in the lake, said Zhang, assistant research scientist at U-M's Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research in the School of Natural Resources and Environment.

"Fortunately, the percentage would not be as high as it is today in the Illinois River, where Asian carp have caused large changes in the ecosystem and have affected human use of the river," she said.

Previous predictions of Asian carp impacts in the Great Lakes have ranged widely. Some experts say Asian carp could decimate Great Lakes fisheries and food webs, while others suggest the effects would likely be minor because much of the Great Lakes is not a suitable habitat for Asian carp.

>Results of the new study fall somewhere between the two extremes.

"This study goes beyond previous efforts in two significant ways. It focuses on the food webs and -- where model input data were not available -- it includes uncertainty estimates from experts," said co-author Ed Rutherford, a fisheries biologist at the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL) in Ann Arbor, a U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration facility.

To include uncertainty in model predictions, team members interviewed 11 leading experts on Asian carp biology and Great Lakes ecology and fisheries, then incorporated the experts' estimates into the model. The experts were also asked to indicate the level of uncertainty associated with each statement they provided.

"We don't know how these two Asian carp species are going to do in Lake Erie, so we have to incorporate that uncertainty into our model projections," said co-author Doran Mason, a research ecologist at GLERL. "It's like using computer models to predict a hurricane's path and intensity and including the margin of error in the forecast."

The team has shared its Lake Erie results with Great Lakes resource managers to help inform decisions related to Asian carp. Of the Great Lakes, Erie may be most vulnerable to Asian carp invasion due to its proximity to waters where Asian carp exist, the presence of adequate food, and the availability of suitable spawning habitat.

The same research team is now working on modeling studies to predict Asian carp impacts in lakes Michigan, Huron and Ontario, as well as a study of the regional economic impacts associated with Asian carp in Lake Erie.

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Other authors of the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society paper, in addition to Zhang, Rutherford and Mason, are Jason Breck of the University of Wisconsin; Marion Wittmann of University of Nevada-Reno; Roger Cooke of Resources for the Future and Delft University; David Lodge of the University of Notre Dame; John Rothlisberger of the U.S. Forest Service; Xinhua Zhu of Fisheries and Oceans Canada; and Timothy Johnson of the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry.

The project received financial support from the Environmental Protection Agency through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and from NOAA's Center for Sponsored Coastal Research.

Study Hongyan Zhang
COLUMBIA, Mo. (Jan. 4, 2016) - A gene that is known to suppress the growth and spread of many types of cancer has the opposite effect in some forms of colorectal cancer, University of Missouri School of Medicine researchers have found. It is a finding that may lay the foundation for new colorectal cancer treatments.

"The gene known as Sprouty2 has previously been shown to protect against metastasis, or the spreading of cancer to other parts of the body, in breast, prostate and liver cancer," said Sharad Khare, Ph.D., associate professor of research in the MU School of Medicine's Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology and lead author of the study. "However, our recent molecular studies found that this gene may actually help promote metastasis instead of suppress it."

For more than three years, Khare studied Sprouty2 in cancer cell models, mouse models and human biopsy samples. Using different molecular methods, the researchers found that the gene functions differently in colorectal cancer than in other types of cancers. Sprouty2 is known to block molecular circuits to prevent cancer cells from growing and spreading to other parts of the body. However, the researchers found that in colorectal cancer, Sprouty2 may increase the metastatic ability of cancer cells instead of suppress it. Khare believes this occurs when the gene is up-regulated, or supercharged.

Cancer deaths attributed to colorectal cancer are mainly due to tumor recurrence and metastasis to other organs. Excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer diagnosed in both men and women in the United States, according to the American Cancer Society. It's estimated that the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is about 1 in 20.

"This finding is a very significant step in our understanding of metastasis in colorectal cancer, but it's important to note that we believe this phenomenon may occur in only a subset of colorectal cancer patients," Khare said. "We don't yet know why this is the case, but we hope to determine if there is a correlation between the up-regulation of this gene and the life expectancy of patients with colorectal cancer. Future studies will help us understand who may be at risk, and ultimately, if personalized treatments can be planned to target this gene."

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The study, "Atypical Role of Sprouty in Colorectal Cancer: Sprouty Repression Inhibits Epithelial-mesenchymal Transition," recently was published in the cancer research journal Oncogene. Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health under award numbers CA150081 and DC010387, Veterans Affairs Merit Award 1171590, the MU Research Board Award and MU School of Medicine Bridge funding. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the funding agencies.
(January 4, 2016) Stevens Institute of Technology (Stevens) and the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing (Penn Nursing) were recently funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) to use policy flight simulators - pioneered by Stevens--to simulate use of the Transitional Care Model, developed by Penn Nursing. Through this collaborative project, Stevens and Penn Nursing will use floor-to-ceiling surround screens to interactively estimate health benefits and delivery costs, and create an evidence-based model to aid decision-making. The goal is to accelerate decisions to implement the TCM.

The Transitional Care Model addresses the negative effects associated with common breakdowns in care when older adults with complex needs move from an acute care setting to their home or other care setting. It also prepares patients and family caregivers to more effectively manage changes in health associated with multiple chronic illness. Despite much evidence showing the effectiveness of the transitional care model to reduce costs and increase quality of care, health systems, payers and purchasers have been slow to adopt it.

"Chronic illness is a major health challenge confronting millions of older adults and their family caregivers, and will continue to have a major impact on healthcare delivery for the foreseeable future," said Mary Naylor, PhD, FAAN, RN, the Marian S. Ware Professor in Gerontology, and Director of the NewCourtland Center for Transitions and Health at Penn Nursing." Our team hopes to show through this simulation the efficiency and effectiveness of the transitional care model in response to the challenges faced by health care organizations in the United States."

Policy flight simulators fuse aspects of multiple scientific disciplines with visualization to provide decision makers with a comprehensive understanding of the consequences of interventions on each major stakeholder. By actively engaging a diverse range of decision makers in the design and pilot testing of the simulation, researchers will create a model that anticipates and aligns with emerging health care delivery and payment models, and is customizable to local contextual factors.

"Our modeling and simulation methods will enable payers to fly the future before they invest," said William B. Rouse, PhD, the Alexander Crombie Humphreys Professor in the School of Systems and Enterprises and Director of the Center for Complex Systems and Enterprises at Stevens. "Our experience has been that once decision makers get to 'live' the capabilities of TCM, they will willingly participate in the program, resulting in enormous healthcare benefits."

Despite TCM's proven value, it has been difficult to convince decision makers to implement this model. Major barriers to widespread implementation include:

perceptions that the model works only in randomized clinical trials;

it is complex and costly;

the model requires upfront investment that benefit others downstream; and

it is not adaptable to local issues.

"Time and time again we struggle with the challenge of spreading evidence-based models that have the potential to improve health and healthcare," said RWJF director Lori Melichar. "By combining cutting-edge design and technology with the science of decision-making, the Foundation is exploring the question of whether simulation tools can accelerate the spread of programs like the Transitional Care Model that are proven to work."

This project will provide a robust case study on the development and application of the simulation, which will generate key lessons to aid decision making in diverse organizations to adopt or adapt a range of evidence-based interventions.

The Stevens Team

In addition to Rouse, the Stevens team includes: Michael Pennock, PhD, Assistant Professor, Enterprise Science and Engineering Division and Associate Director of the Center for Complex Systems and Enterprises; Annie Yu, Assistant Professor, Enterprise Science and Engineering Division; and Kara Pepe, PhD student and Director of Industry and Government Relations.

The Penn Nursing Team

In addition to Naylor, the Penn Nursing team includes: Karen Hirschman, PhD, MSW NewCourtland Term Chair in Health Transitions Research and Research Associate Professor of Nursing; Mark Pauly, Professor of Health Care Management & Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy at Wharton School of Business.

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About Stevens Institute of Technology

Stevens Institute of Technology, The Innovation University, is a premier, private research university situated in Hoboken, N.J. overlooking the Manhattan skyline. Founded in 1870, technological innovation has been the hallmark and legacy of Stevens' education and research programs for 145 years. Within the university's three schools and one college, more than 6,800 undergraduate and graduate students collaborate with more than 380 faculty members in an interdisciplinary, student-centric, entrepreneurial environment to advance the frontiers of science and leverage technology to confront global challenges. Stevens is home to three national research centers of excellence, as well as joint research programs focused on critical industries such as healthcare, energy, finance, defense, maritime security, STEM education and coastal sustainability.

About the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing

The University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing is one of the world's leading schools of nursing and is ranked the #1 graduate nursing school in the United States by U.S. News & World Report. Penn Nursing is consistently among the nation's top recipients of nursing research funding from the National Institutes of Health. Penn Nursing prepares nurse scientists and nurse leaders to meet the health needs of a global society through research, education, and practice.

Danielle Woodruffe

Stevens Institute of Technology

201.216.5139

Danielle.Woodruffe@stevens.edu

Ed Federico

Penn Nursing

215.746.3562

efed@nursing.upenn.edu
The strength of the Pound Sterling to Australian dollar and NZ dollar exchange rate is still harming the UK manufacturing sector, according to a survey by Lloyds Banking Group

The sector is likely to have made little contribution to the UK economy after falling to a three-month low in December, with the final data showing that the sectors performance over 2015 has been worse than in 2014.

Despite an unexpected drop in the UK manufacturing PMI from 52.5 to 51.9, the Pound Sterling to Australian Dollar and New Zealand Dollar exchange rates remain in a strong position, although the British currency is currently losing ground to the Euro.

The GBP/AUD and GBP/NZD exchange rates are making gains of over 1.5% as the Pound exploits the weakness caused by Chinese economic fears.

Before we continue, please see the live forex conversions for your reference;

On Wednesday the Pound to British Pound exchange rate (GBP/GBP) converts at 1

At time of writing the pound to pound exchange rate is quoted at 1.

Today finds the pound to us dollar spot exchange rate priced at 1.128.

The GBP to NZD exchange rate converts at 1.98 today.

NB: the forex rates mentioned above, revised as of 19th Oct 2022, are inter-bank prices that will require a margin from your bank. Foreign exchange brokers can save up to 5% on international payments in comparison to the banks.

The Australian Dollar and New Zealand Dollar exchange rates have come under pressure at the start of the New Year.

News of declining output in the Chinese manufacturing sector has sparked fresh concerns over the economy of Australias biggest export partner.

The Caixin China PMI softened from 48.6 to 48.2, even though a rise was forecast, with the poor performance of the sector causing a -7% drop in domestic share value before the market was closed early to avoid further volatility.

The fears spread to the Australian stock market  which closed lower at the end of the session  and has caused AUD to plummet against the major currencies.

Slowdown in the Chinese manufacturing sector could precede weakening demand for minerals, which has severely reduced the appeal of the New Zealand Dollar (NZD).

The New Zealand Dollar recently made significant losses against the major currencies in the face of potential waning demand from China, which imports almost NZD$10 billion worth of goods from New Zealand every year.

The Australia and New Zealand Banking Group (ANZ) believe that the Chinese economy will rebound, however, stating that:

[Although] weak manufacturing will likely have weighed on growth, as observed in the second and third quarters, the strong performance of the services industry, especially in the financial sector, may have offset some of the weakness from manufacturing.

Euro (EUR) Conversion Rate Bolstered by Positive Manufacturing PMIs Ahead of German CPI Figures

The first data for the Eurozone following the sparse Christmas period has been mostly positive, allowing the single currency to extend its bullish run.

EUR has strengthened against the stricken AUD and NZD, despite the fears over the Chinese economy impacting upon the European markets.

Manufacturing PMIs for Italy, Germany and the Eurozone all performed better-than-expected, with the Italian index showing the best growth for 57 months, although the French index did post a minor slowdown from 51.6 to 51.4.

However, Euro gains were limited as Germany's Consumer Price Index failed to meet with forecasts.

The measure of German inflation had been expected to advance by 0.6% on the year in December, up from the annual inflation rate of 0.4% recorded in November.

However, it actually printed at 0.3% following a month-on-month decline of -0.1%.

Given the impact Eurozone CPI has on the European Central Bank's (ECB) policy outlook, the result saw the Euro dive against peers like the Pound (EUR/GBP) and US Dollar (EUR/USD).
You can get anidea of a particular residence's "walkability" using Walkscore.com. On average Murrieta -- it's two Rs, one T -- has a walk score of 25. However, parts of the "Historic Murrieta" neighborhood, such as near Town Square Park, score much better. But there's no substitute for on the ground investigation because your personal score will be different depending on what you like and don't like. No Web site can judge for you whether it's better to have a hardware store across the street than a coffee shop, for example, much less the quality of the hammers and the coffee they sell.As for air quality, the American Lung Association gives Riverside County (where Murrieta is located) "F" (fail) marks across the board based on hard EPA air quality monitoring data. Riverside County averages 97 "ozone days" per year, for example. This just isn't in dispute -- the facts are the facts. Plenty of people put up with the poor (by U.S. standards) air quality, of course -- southern California is very popular! -- but it's not the first place I'd recommend if you have asthma, for example. You avoid some air quality problems by choosing a residence that's some distance away from major traffic routes such as interstate highways and high traffic streets, but that can be difficult to do.That's not to say that Murrieta (or elsewhere in southern California) has poor air quality relative to where you're coming from. There are certainly parts of the United Kingdom with their air quality challenges. And that's not to say that air quality is "very" important or equally important to everyone -- it isn't. But it's one of the negatives -- the air quality, on average, is lower than the U.S. average. Whether that matters or not, and how much it matters, is about personal preferences. And if yoube in southern California then its air quality is just part of the package.
Hi everyone! After doing a lot of research I would really appreciate if someone could confirm the process that I have for applying for an immigrant visa while NOT in the US.We (Spanish husband & American wife) were married in the States but have been living in Spain for the past year. We are STUDENTS so we will need support from my US parents.We will:1. Fill out form I-130 and send with payment of $4202. Fill out two G-325 forms (one for each of us)3. Fill out G-1145 for electronic notificationWe will send the forms to either Rome, Italy (Spain is under its jurisdiction) or to Chicago or Phoenix (not sure which one when my US address is in Idaho). Then we will wait for a response from the National Visa Center.***Should we send the two I-864 forms (Affidavits of Support) along with those previous forms or wait for a response? We will surely be denied if we don't send it to be begin with***Once we receive a response:4. We will send additional forms required5. Go for an interview (in Madrid I hope)6. Hopefully be granted the immigrant visa7. Travel to the states and within 45 days receive a green card8. Finally, after two years of marriage we will fill out I-751 form to change his status and pay an additional $590I think I've got it down but any help is appreciated! We especially need help in terms of getting a translator for his birth certificate, where we should send the forms (Rome, Chicago, or Phoenix) and how we should send them (send everything to my parents who can send all the forms along with the check payment together or send them from Spain).THANK YOU!
Hi there, I have been living and working as permanent employee for 3 years in Australia with 461 visa. My wife is a kiwi. I would like to invite my parents here to visit us, however after going through .border.gov.au, it looks like only PR holders and citizens are allowed to sponsor their parents. I could not find anything like residents living in AUS for 2 or more years or NZ citizens living in Australia are allowed to invite their parents or in laws. Is it true or is their any other way to invite my parents through me or my wife?

Thanks in advance.
SAN FRANCISCO  By the latter half of this century, toxic algal blooms like the one that cut off drinking water to the city of Toledo in 2014 will no longer be the exception, but the norm, a study suggests.

While researchers have long suspected that climate change will lead to stronger and more frequent blooms, a new fusion of climate models and watershed models has proven those suspicions right: For Lake Erie, at least, the number of severe blooms will likely double over the next 100 years.

The findings hold implications for hundreds of coastal regions around the world where nutrient runoff and climate change intersect to make toxic algae a problem.

Modeling future

Government agencies need to have more than just historical records at their disposal when they set guidelines to reduce nutrient inputs, said Jay Martin, professor of ecological engineering at The Ohio State University. For example, Ohio, Michigan, and Ontario, Canada, have agreed to reduce phosphorus runoff by 40 percent over the next 10 years. The reduction is meant in part to lower the chance of another toxic bloom affecting Toledo.

Right now, we can only make recommendations based on the past, but the climate is not a constant. We need to look to climate models of the future to protect water quality in Lake Erie and around the world, said Martin, who also heads the universitys Field to Faucet water quality program. Maybe 40 percent is not enough of a reduction.

In fact, the study suggests that nutrient reductions alone might not be enough to stop blooms like the one in 2014 from recurring in Lake Erie, said Noel Aloysius, the postdoctoral researcher who presented the teams results in December at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco. Aloysius was joined by Hans Paerl of the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who presented complementary findings from the United States and China.

More than agriculture

Nutrient reductions wont have as much of an impact on Lake Erie as researchers would expect, the Ohio State study suggests. Thats because climate change supercharges algae the way anabolic steroids supercharge athletes, Aloysius explained.

Our assessment of climate in the region reveals less winter snow, more heavy spring rains and hotter summers, he said. Those are perfect growing conditions for algae. We can reduce phosphorus by 40 percent, but the algae wont suffer as much as you might hope.

Martin and Aloysius are at the midpoint of a two-year study  the first to combine global climate change models with a watershed model to predict how climate change will influence algal blooms in an individual coastal region: in this case, the Maumee River Watershed and Lake Erie.

Huge impact

Lake Erie may contain only 2 percent of the total water in the Great Lakes, but it holds 50 percent of the fish, including game fish that support a $1.7 billion tourism industry. It also provides drinking water for 11 million people, and its watershed drains through the heart of Midwest agriculture. In fact, 75 percent of the 6,600-square-mile Maumee Watershed is covered with fields of corn, soybeans and winter wheat.

Global problem

While the health of Lake Erie is so important to the states and Canadian provinces that surround it, toxic algae is a problem around the world. This study provides forecast methods that could be applied to those areas as well.

One such area is China, where urban populations and agriculture are booming. Paerl, professor of marine sciences at UNC-Chapel Hill, studies Lake Taihu, the third largest freshwater lake in China. Five times smaller than Lake Erie and nine times shallower, Lake Taihu is more easily overrun by toxic algae  a great test case for algae problems that the United States will likely experience in decades to come.

Lake Taihu is a looking glass for how severe algal blooms are likely to get when excessive nutrient loading synergistically interacts with warming, Paerl said. Our Taihu research has taught us that both phosphorus and nitrogen inputs should be reduced for controlling algal bloom proliferation.

Thats because many lakes have already experienced decades of nutrient over-enrichment from accelerating use of chemical fertilizers and expanding wastewater discharge from urbanization worldwide. These lakes, he said, have a legacy of storage of both nutrients in their sediments.

Paerls team is evaluating a variety of algae mitigation and control strategies, including artificial mixing and enhanced freshwater flushing of impacted lakes and reservoirs, as well as the use of algaecides, flocculants and sonic treatments to arrest blooms.

It should be noted, he said, that no matter what types of physical or chemical treatments we use to mitigate blooms, they should be accompanied by nutrient input reductions.

Ohio research

To assemble their forecast for Lake Erie, Ohio State researchers selected a series of climate model outputs from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Changes Fifth Climate Change Assessment and coupled them with watershed and bloom prediction models, combining variables like stream flow, rainfall, and temperature with landscape topology, soil types, cropping practices and drainage management. Richard Stumpf at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administrations National Centers for Coastal and Ocean Science led the development of the bloom prediction model.

Currently, Martin and Aloysius are working with Ohio State University Extension, the School of Environment and Natural Resources and the School of Communication to get a clearer picture of how stakeholders anticipate the Maumee Watershed ought to be managed. Then they will incorporate these stewardship plans into the models. Ultimately, the researchers want to identify farming or water management practices that reduce nutrient runoff without adversely affecting agricultural production.

Farmers need to be very efficient to make a living, Aloysius said. If we can help them use less fertilizer, that represents a cost savings, but if the solution involves applying fertilizer in a way that keeps tractors running longer, then theyre buying more fossil fuel. So we need to balance financial and environmental costs.

Field to Faucet is funded by the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, which launched the program in response to the 2014 toxic algae problem in Toledo.
We cannot hide from the fact that 2015 has been a tough year for Welsh farmers with market prices depressed across our key sectors and the impact of CAP policy changes directly impacting on farm businesses", says NFU Cymru President Stephen James in his New Year message.

We must look positively to the future however and I remain optimistic, that with the right backing, the Welsh food and farming sector can capitalise on the opportunities that will arise on both domestic and global markets for food produced to the highest animal welfare, environmental and quality standards.

The complications and difficulties that the industry has faced throughout 2015 with the implementation of the new Basic Payment Scheme highlights that EU Commissioner Hogan is right to place CAP simplification at the top of his agenda. NFU Cymru has met with the Commissioner and his cabinet on a number of occasions these past 12 months to press for change and we will continue to pursue simplification and a mid-term review that should place productive agriculture at its core. The immediate priority however is the delivery of the 2015 BPS payments to all farmers in Wales.

NFU Cymru has sought to actively engage with Government at all levels on the design and implementation of the Wales Rural Development Programme (RDP). We believe that the 1 billion programme can be a key lever in helping improve the competitiveness and profitability of our industry.

This can only be achieved by ensuring that RDP schemes are easily accessible to farmers, have high participation levels and crucially that alongside training and knowledge transfer activities, investment support is delivered at a farm level.

We remain unconvinced that Welsh Government shares our vision. Its focus is too much on raising awareness and delivering support to the few rather than to the many. Transformational change, that Welsh Government says they are committed to deliver, can only be achieved if the RDP delivers real and practical support to thousands of Welsh farmers. It is time for the Welsh Government to make full use of the lever that is at their disposal.

Welsh Government needs to move away from what appears to be a presumption in favour of regulation. Too often Government policy is being decided without robust evidence and without proper analysis of the economic impact of the proposed changes to the industry. The threat of changes to Silage, Slurry and Agricultural Fuel Oil (SSAFO) regulations, oil storage rules and new NVZ designations hang over the industry as we enter 2016 are indicative of this appetite to over-regulate.

NFU Cymru is committed to working with Government on a strategic framework for Welsh agriculture but this can only be successful if it is genuine partnership and embraced across all Government departments. We need to look to achieve the outcomes we all wish to see, using the best available tools and ensuring that regulation is only introduced as an absolute last resort.

Most recent statistics from Welsh Government show a 25% increase in the number of cattle slaughtered due to bovine TB and a 9% increase in the number of new herd incidents. Bovine TB remains arguably the greatest threat to our cattle herd and no eradication plan is worth the paper it is written on without an acceptance that the disease must be eradicated from wildlife as well as from cattle. Politicians can no longer hide behind badger vaccination as their approach to dealing with the wildlife reservoir and they must now clearly set out their plan for effectively dealing with the issue in wildlife.

2016 provides an opportunity for all of us to influence the future direction of agricultural policy in Wales. On 5 May 2016 Wales will go to the polls for what we all expect to be a keenly fought election.

NFU Cymru will use every opportunity to get in front of prospective Assembly candidates in the run up to this election. We want to know what the new Government will do to help us achieve our vision of a productive, progressive and profitable Welsh agricultural industry that delivers growth, jobs and investment within Wales.

The coming months will see the debate around EU membership intensify and NFU Cymru has already led the way, producing a document which examines some of the key questions. We cannot underestimate the influence of the EU on Welsh agriculture. It remains unclear at the moment what the alternatives to EU membership might look like for agriculture, if we were to withdraw. Although much of our red tape and bureaucracy derives from the European Union, so too does our access to our biggest trading partners and the Common Agricultural Policy.

The market place remains challenging with our milk, lamb and cereal prices impacted by a range of global factors that are beyond our control. However these factors have once again shone a light on those who are committed to sustainable and long term relationships with primary producers and those that are more promiscuous with their sourcing policies. NFU Cymru has and will continue to meet with retailers, food service providers and public procurers to press for a clear commitment to supporting Welsh farmers; seeking to ensure our product is clearly labelled; and for a fair and transparent supply chain.

Finally and most importantly I would like to thank consumers for the support they have shown to Welsh produce this year and to everyone for getting behind our Its time to Back Welsh farming campaign. I would ask for this support to continue in 2016 and for consumers to continue to ask retailers and food service outlets to source more food from Wales and to ensure that our produce is clearly labelled and clearly displayed"
Producers still losing 18-20 per pig, new estimates show
Total of $200,000 being distributed to farms in the state

By Diego Flammini, Farms.com

In an effort to ensure food being produced by Massachusetts farmers is as safe as possible, Governor Charlie Baker and Lieutenant Governor Karen Polito announced 30 grants aimed at improving food safety.

The Commonwealths agricultural industry is growing and consumers have an increased interest in eating locally produced nutritious food, said Governor Baker. These grants will allow farmers to implement infrastructure upgrades to ensure that food safety risks are managed, marketplace needs are addressed and their businesses continue to grow.

A large portion of the grants will be used to support oyster farmers prevent Vibrio parahaemolyticus (Vp) from causing foodborne illnesses.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, VP naturally occurs in waters where oysters are harvested and can cause abdominal cramping, nausea, vomiting, fever and chills.

Aquaculture is an important contributor to the Massachusetts economy, generating about $45.5 million for the state and employing almost 1,000 people in 2013.

Officials are hopeful the decision to invest in farm food safety will have a domino effect when it comes to putting more Massachusetts food on more Massachusetts tables.

By ensuring that our agricultural businesses have the tools, technical assistance and financial support to manage food safety risks, these grants are an important step towards implementing the goals of the Massachusetts Food System Plan to increase the production, sale and consumption of locally produced food, said Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) Secretary Matthew Beaton. It is also vital that we help Massachusetts oyster farmers meet the requirements of our Vibrio Control Program in order to keep the oyster industry viable and consumers healthy.

Grants are being awarded to farms in counties including Hadley, Dennisport, Dalton and Wellfleet; grants range in value from $750 to $20,000.
Battling alcohol and opioid addictions: Can Vivitrol help?

Vivitrol, an injectable version of the drug naltrexone, completely blocks euphoria from drug consumption, according to Vivitrol's website.
Moodys Investors Service downgraded Petrobras debt rating, the second time in a year the debt-plagued company has seen its rating fall.

Moodys doubled down on its junk rating for the state-owned oil giant and lowered Petrobras rating from Ba2 to Ba3, with a negative outlook.

Moodys cited depressed energy industry conditions, a high execution risk for the companys plan to divest $15 billion in assets by the end of 2016, and a high level of debt maturities in the coming years coupled with the prospects of negative cash flow.

The ongoing corruption probe into Petrobras, known as Operation Car Wash, and the possibility of losses and fines tied to the investigation also prompted the rating slide.

Last month, Andre Esteves, one of the richest men in Brazil, was arrested in connection with the Petrobras graft probe. A senator, Delcidio Amaral, was also detained. Both were placed under temporary arrest duirng the investigation.

Esteves, 47, is worth an estimated $2.5 billion. Hes one of Brazils best-known business people.

His finance company, BTG Pactual, was one of the initial investors in Sete Brasil, a state-owned rig company established to provide vessels to Petrobras.

Petrobras has only sold 3 percent of the $15 billion in assets it intends to divest, and the largest of those sales is now facing a court challenge, Reuters said.

Free cash flow will remain negative in the foreseeable future as international oil prices remain weak, even though downstream losses are limited by stable local prices for oil products; further local currency devaluation is another significant risk to downstream results, Nymia Almeid of Moodys said.

Moodys said it has put Petrobras on review for another potential downgrade.

The review will focus on the ability and willingness of the Brazilian government to provide Petrobras with adequate timely support in case of need.

______

Nicolas Torres is a reporter for Petro Global News, where a version of this post first appeared.
Of the four BRIC nations, all but one have enacted major anti-corruption reforms in the last several years. When will India step up? And might Wal-Mart help?

Brazil, Russia, and China have each, to varying degrees, made important strides of late. Brazil is of course in the midst of a rapidly expanding anti-corruption enforcement action concerning its state-owned oil company, Petrobras. The story there is not the revelations of bribery at the highest levels of business and government; rather, its the emergence of a credible enforcement arsenal that is exposing the corruption that everybody knew was there.

Russia has made strides in enacting formal laws, if not yet enforcing them. It signed onto the OECD Convention Against Bribery and adopted an FCPA-like prohibition on foreign bribery, a crucial first step. And China, perhaps most famously, is engaged in an aggressive anti-corruption campaign that by all accounts has made a major dent in official corruption there.

But what of India? Recall that in 2011 and 2012, an anti-corruption movement lead by Anna Hazare staged a number of non-violent protests demanding reforms. In response, India passed the Lokpal Act, which created a new enforcement agency (called the Lokpal or, sometimes, an ombudsman) to investigate official corruption. The details are here (pdf). However, the Lokpal has yet to establish a track record of rigorous enforcement.

So too has a bill of particular interest to the Blogs readership previously stalled in parliament. In 2011, in the midst of the Hazare movement, Indias parliament considered, but did not enact, a bill that would have created a foreign bribery prohibition styled after the FCPA and UK Bribery Act. This leaves India as the only BRIC nation without a law specifically prohibiting foreign bribery.

Perhaps the Wal-Mart enforcement action will provide added stimulus. Though reportedly the DOJ found less incriminating evidence in Mexico than widely expected, the final settlement may well focus on misconduct in India. Stories of a U.S. mega-retailer abusing its power to out-compete the culturally cherished mom-and-pop stores will certainly generate press.

Perhaps it will also help to generate meaningful reform. Given the incremental steps India has already taken, and its rising levels of foreign investment, the time for enacting meaningful legislation seems to have come.

______

Andy Spalding is a Senior Editor of the FCPA Blog and Associate Professor at the University of Richmond School of Law.

Sundar Narayanan is a forensic accountant from India. He currently leads the forensic services of SKP Business Consulting LLP. He can be reached at [email protected].
Ryan Phillippe is madly in love with his fiancee.

Ryan Phillippe and Paulina Slagter

The 41-year-old actor proposed to law student Paulina Slagter over the holidays and friends say the couple are completely loved up.

A source told PEOPLE: "Ryan is madly in love and wants to spend the rest of his life with Paulina. And the feeling is mutual. They are a wonderful couple."

Ryan is said to be extremely proud of his fiancee's intelligence and has told friends that she is changing him for the better.

The insider added: "Ryan and Paulina are very much in love. She is changing him. He is a better man.

"Ryan feels Paulina is very intelligent and has opened his mind to equality and civil rights, areas he has never really focused on that intently.

"Being a student at Stanford law is impressive to him, and he is very proud of her. He feels that she has the ability to change the world and make it a better place."

Meanwhile, the 'Catch Hell' star - who was previously married to Reese Witherspoon for eight years - recently gushed about his wife-to-be.

He shared: "She's awesome. When people see her they have these judgments because she could be a model but she's about to graduate Stanford Law.

"Also what's great about it - as you get older certain issues become more important to you. I'm very involved in civil rights issues, and so to be with a woman who could actually make an impact in the legal realm - that's a beautiful thing."
It's hard to believe that we are at the start of another year, but 2016 looks set to be a right treat if you are a fan of independent film - there are a whole host of great movies heading our way and I am already excited about what is on the horizon.

The 33

January looks like it is going to kick the indie film year off in style as there are some unmissable movies on the schedule over the next few weeks. We take a look at some of the films that we are looking forward to and the ones that you cannot miss.

- The Danish Girl - out now

The Danish Girl is a movie that I have been looking forward to ever since I saw the first image of Eddie Redmayne as Lili Elbe, one of the first known recipients of sex reassignment surgery.

Redmayne's central performance is already whipping up a storm and he looks on course to pick up his second consecutive Best Actor Oscar nomination; he has already picked up nods at the Golden Globes and Screen Actors Guild Awards.

The movie sees Redmayne team up with Alicia Vikander, who is one of the most exciting young actresses around - don't be surprised to see her picking up more award nominations - as she takes on the role of Lili's wife Gerda. 2015 was a great year for Vikander and the next twelve months looks set to send her star rocketing even further.

The Danish Girl marks the return of Tom Hooper to the director's chair as he reunites with Redmayne. This is the fifth feature film of Hooper's career and comes after success with the likes of The King's Speech and Les Miserables.

The Danish Girl is the remarkable love story inspired by the lives of Lili Elbe and Gerda Wegener (Redmayne and Vikander). Lili and Gerda's marriage and work evolve as they navigate Lili's ground-breaking journey as a transgender pioneer.

The Danish Girl is a powerful and emotional watch with two terrific performances at its core. It really isn't to be missed.

- Sleeping With Other People - out now

Leslye Headland is one of the female filmmakers to watch out for in 2016 as she returns to the director's chair with her new film Sleeping With Other People.

This is the second feature of Headland and comes four years after she made her debut with Bachelorette. As well as being in the director's chair, Headland has also penned the screenplay for the new comedy film.

Sleeping With Other People is the first film outing for funnyman Jason Sudeikis as he is set to take on the central role of Jake. He is joined on the cast list by Alison Brie, Adam Brody, Jason Mantzoukas, Amanda Peet, and Natasha Lyonne are just some of the names that are on board.

Jake (Sudeikis) and Lainey (Brie) lose their virginity to each other in college. When their paths cross twelve years later in New York City, they realise they both have become serial cheaters.

Bonding over their chronic commitment issues, they form a platonic friendship to support each other in their quests for healthy romantic relationships.

At times, Sleeping With Other People perhaps tries a little too hard to stun audiences with this raunchiness but there are some great moments with likeable leads.

- Room - released 15th January

Room is a movie that has been winning over audiences and critics in the U.S. and we are finally going to see what all of the fuss is about - I have to say, I'm really looking forward to this one.

Room is a big screen adaptation of the novel of the same name by Emma Donoghue - the author herself has taken her own book and adapted it into a screenplay. We last saw Lenny Abrahamson in the director's chair with Frank, but Room will mark his return - it looks set to be the movie that really puts him on the map.

While Brie Larson is no stranger to the big screen, her performance as Ma in Room looks set to be her big breakthrough role. Jacob Tremblay will play her young son Jack, while Sean Bridgers, Joan Allen, and William H. Macy are just some of the other names on board.

Room was nominated for three Golden Globes - Best Motion Picture - Drama, Best Actress - Drama, and Best Screenplay. Larson and Tremblay's performances were also recognised at the SAGs with Best Actress and Best Supporting Actor nominations.

Room really is set to be the dark horse on the awards circuit this year and I expect to be a major presence when the Oscar nominations are announced later this month.

Room is a riveting emotional journey about the power of love, limitless imagination and the strength of the human spirit, Room is an unparalleled celebration of the bond between parent and child.

Ma has created a whole universe in 'Room' for 5-year-old Jack, where they have both lived for Jack's whole life. But when Ma decides they have to escape, she risks everything to give Jack the chance to make a thrilling discovery.

- The 33 - released 29th January

The 33 is one of the biopic movies to watch out for this month as Antonio Banderas returns to the big screen. The movie is based the real-life event, when a mine collapsed trapping thirty-three miners underground for sixty-nine days.

The world sat and watched the plight of the miners and the family and then... we saw them rescued one by one in what was one of the most memorable events of 2010 that captivated everyone.

The 33 sees Patricia Riggen back in the director's chair for the third feature film of her career - it comes after Under the Same Moon and Girl in Progress.

Banderas will take on the central role of Mario Sepulveda and is joined on the cast list by Rodrigo Santoro, Juliette Binoche, James Brolin, Lou Diamond Phillips, Mario Casas, Juan Pablo Raba, Kate del Castillo, Cote de Pablo, and Gabriel Byrne.

The 33 boasts one of the most impressive cast lists of early 2016 and I cannot wait for this incredibly true story of survival and the human spirit play out on the big screen. I know that we know how the story ends, put it promising to be a great watch.

- Youth - released 29th January

I am a huge fan of Michael Caine and he is set to return this January with his latest film Youth, which sees him team up with writer and director Paolo Sorrentino.

Sorrentino has brought us films such as The Great Beauty and This Must Be the Place and I am delighted to see him back in the director's chair. The director has assembled a wonderful cast list as Caine is joined by Harvey Keitel, Rachel Weisz, Paul Dano, and Jane Fonda.

Springtime. Fred (Caine) and Mick (Keitel), two old friends now approaching eighty, are on vacation together in an elegant hotel at the foot of the Alps. Fred, a composer and conductor, is now retired. Mick, a film director, is still working. The two friends know that their time is quickly running out, and they decide to face their future together. They look with curiosity and tenderness on their children's confused lives, Mick's enthusiastic young writers, and the other hotel guests, all of whom, it seems, have all the time that they lack.

And while Mick scrambles to finish the screenplay for what he imagines will be his last important film, Fred, who gave up his musical career long ago, has no intention of returning to it. But someone wants at all costs to hear his compositions and to see him conduct again.

Youth has been playing well on the festival circuit and picked up two Golden Globes back in December - including a Best Supporting Actress nod for Fonda.

by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Kevin Feige says that Thanos will not be the main villain in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2.

Kevin Feige

Bradley Cooper seemed to suggest that Thanos was going to be the main villain in the highly anticipated Guardians of the Galaxy sequel but this has now been denied by Feige.

While Feige did not say when we will next see Thanos - it is most likely to be Avengers: Infinity War - he reveals he 'won't be messing about when we see him.'

Speaking to Empire, Feige said: "I wouldn't look too hard in that movie for Thanos."

"The next time we see Thanos he will not be messing around. It will be, 'Oh, that's why they've been teasing this villain for five years!'"

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 won't hit the big screen until 2017 but will see James Gunn back on writing and directing duties. Filming is set to get underway this year and is already one of the Marvel films that I cannot wait to see.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is the first of three Marvel films to hit the big screen in 2017 and will be followed by Spider-Man and Thor: Ragnarok.

Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Bradley Cooper, Vin Diesel, and Dave Bautista are all set to return, while Kurt Russell has been linked to a major role in the film.

Phase 3 of Marvel films is set to kick off this year with Captain America: Civil War before we are introduced to Doctor Strange for the first time in the autumn.

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 is released 28th April 2017.

by Helen Earnshaw for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Released in mid-December, 2015, Making A Murderer is a new Netflix documentary telling the story of Steven Avery and, to an extent, Brendan Dassey - the pair who were convicted of the murder of 25-year-old Teresa Halbach in 2007.

Steven Avery / Credit: Netflix

Steven Avery, at the time of Teresa's death, was a man who had spent 18 years of his life in prison for a sexual assault charge - one of which he was exonerated of through the use of DNA evidence.

Bringing a lawsuit against Manitowac County worth $37 million because of the impact the 18 year sentence had had on his life, it was in the middle of proceedings at which point Avery was charged with murder.

At the time, defense argued that Manitowoc officers framed Avery, after two officers who were being deposed in Avery's lawsuit were a part of the team who gathered evidence on Avery's property for the Halbach murder, despite a different police force being brought in so that there was no conflict of interest in building a case.

Credit: Netflix

Avery's then 16-year-old nephew Brendan Dassey confessed to raping and cutting the throat of Halbach on his uncle's orders, but later said that the confession had been coerced, with the teen changing his story multiple times and denying he did it now to this day.

Prosecution claimed that Halbach was raped and shot in the head in Avery's home and garage, but none of her DNA was ever discovered. A key to her vehicle was found in Avery's bedroom, but only on the sixth search of his trailer home, three days after a warrant was issued.

Despite that, a jury found Avery guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison without parole. Dassey was also given life in prison, but could be given an early release in 2048.

Now, over 150,000 have signed a petition on change.org to free Steven Avery (https://www.change.org/p/president-of-the-united-states-free-steven-avery), and an official petition on We the People is closing in on 20,000 signatures (https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/pardon-steven-avery-and-brendan-dassey-their-alleged-involvement-murder-teresa-halbach).

Whether or not anything will be officially done is anyone's guess. The justice system in America is slow at the best of times, as Avery knows after spending 18 years in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Steven Avery / Credit: Netflix

What is certain though, is that this new documentary has got the world talking, with some apalled at the way in which those in a position of power conducted themselves throughout such an important investigation.

by Daniel Falconer for www.femalefirst.co.uk

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Jonathan Cheban trusts Kim Kardashian West like a sister.

Jonathan Cheban on Lorraine

The 41-year-old PR executive shot to fame thanks to his appearances on 'Keeping Up With the Kardashians', and is rumoured to be one of the housemates on the upcoming series of 'Celebrity Big Brother'.

During an interview on 'Lorraine' this morning (04.01.16), Jonathan spoke about his relationship with Kim and her famous siblings.

He explained: "[I've known them] for about nine years, right before the show started. We grew all together with the show. We've been through a lot of people we can't trust but we're like family so it's like trusting your brother, your sister.

"I've been around in LA and Hollywood for a long time and I just happened to sit next to Kim at a birthday dinner by accident ... we got on instantly. She's the sweetest girl in the entire world."

Kim appeared to confirm Jonathan's involvement in 'Celebrity Big Brother' with a tweet over the weekend in which she wrote: "OMGGGG I can't believe @JonathanCheban is doing celeb Big Brother UK. I'm dying to see this! He's going to be hysterical!!!!"

But Jonathan refused to be drawn on the reports, telling Lorraine: "I was sleeping last night and I woke up to a thousand Google alerts from The Mail, The Mirror, The Sun, everywhere and I don't know what they're talking about!"
Georgia May Foote reportedly dumped her boyfriend after a series of blazing rows over her close bond with her 'Strictly Come Dancing' partner Giovanni Pernice.

Georgia May Foote

The former 'Coronation Street' actress, 24, decided to end her relationship with Sean Ward recently after he "pushed her away" due to the connection she'd developed with the dancing professional during her time on the show last year.

A source told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "Georgia was very fond of Sean and she cared for him deeply, but he found it difficult to get over the close friendship she had with Giovanni. It was Sean who pushed Georgia away, he didn't feel secure in their relationship and it led to huge rows."

The heated arguments reportedly led to the brunette beauty breaking down in tears backstage at the show on numerous occasions and taking comfort from her handsome partner.

The insider added: "Georgia would regularly be in floods of tears backstage. Giovanni was trying to be a good friend."

Rumours Georgia had split from Sean first began to swirl over the weekend when they were spotted sharing a smooch during a romantic trip to Disneyland in Paris.

An onlooker said recently: "I couldn't believe it when I saw them together. They looked like a very happy couple. They were laughing and joking and holding hands.

"It seems very strange she would come here with Giovanni after Sean said they were still together and that he wasn't worried. I feel sorry for him."
The Government of Nigeria fully supports public-private partnership (PPP) in all sectors, including the garment sector, to accelerate the country's economic growth, minister of industry, trade, and investment Okechukwo Enelama has said, as per Nigerian media reports.

The minister appreciated the efforts of encouraging local garment production in the state of Abia, during his meeting with the state's governor Okezie Ikpeazu Umuahia.

He said the Federal government wants to partner with Abia to improve the economy and create employment. He appreciated governor Ikpeazu for initiating Made in Aba or Made in Nigeria products especially in the garment clusters.

He added that under the Muhammadu Buhari government will provide enabling environment for small and medium scale enterprises to flourish. (HO)
Bollywood actor Salman Khan has become the latest celebrity to join the e-commerce startup bandwagon as he launched a new e-commerce website called KhanMarketOnline.com, on his 50th birthday recently.Salman has already been retailing products for his fashion brand Being Human through standalone stores, department stores and e-commerce websites.

Bollywood actor Salman Khan has become the latest celebrity to join the e-commerce startup bandwagon as he launched a new e-commerce website called #

With KhanMarketOnline.com, the actor has forayed the e-commerce business in a full-fledged way through his company Salman Khan Ventures.However, it I still not clear what exactly the website will offer customers. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
New Delhi-based online-only menswear fashion brand Teesort.com is firming up plans for an overseas foray through multiple channels. The company is in talks with e-commerce major Amazon for launch in the US and the UK markets. Teesort also wants to tap the West Asia market and is in talkswith potential local partners for launching their products in the region.Alok Agarwal, co-founder of Teesort.com said currently, overseas sales happen through the company's Indian portal, which is less than one per cent. However, we are in the process of finalising a deal with Amazon for an overseas launch in the US and the UK. We are also talking to local partners in the Middle East for a launch there. This should help us achieve the 200 per cent growth that we are anticipating for the fiscal 2015-16," he told Business Standard.

New Delhi-based online-only menswear fashion brand Teesort.com is firming up plans for an overseas foray through multiple channels. The company is in #

Teesort, which posted net sales of Rs 30 crore in 2014-15, claims to be the only profitable online-only fashion brand at 40 per cent gross margins. It is aiming at net sales of Rs 100 crore for the fiscal 2015-16. According to Agarwal, who co-founded the company in 2010 with his brother Atul Agarwal, Teesort has been growing at around 300 per cent year-on-year. "We are targeting to touch Rs 500 crore in three years," Agarwal said while adding that the company is also looking for strategic investors.Teesort has over 8,000 different products, and it is in the process of adding more categories. While t-shirts make up for 50 per cent of its sales, Teesort is looking to offer shirts, track pants, sweat shirts, jackets, and bottom wear such as jeans and trousers.Agarwal said that the company's rate of repeat customers has been almost double than that of the online apparel retail industry. While repeat rates of Teesort hover at around 32 per cent, the industry average is about 18-19 per cent. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
Tamil Nadu's Department of Handlooms and Textiles has launched a brand new e-commerce site for its Loom World concept which will enable individual Handloom Weavers' cooperative societies to sell their products separately.The website which was launched by Tamil Nadu Minister of Handlooms and Textiles Gokula Indira, is the Department's effort to get on the e-commerce bandwagon and market its Loom World concept. Loom World as a concept has been around for a while but it is not as widespread as Cooptex, which is the marketing cooperation for all Cooperative Societies, a leading newspaper quoted a senior department official as saying.

Tamil Nadu's Department of Handlooms and Textiles has launched a brand new e-commerce site for its Loom World concept which will enable individual #

Loom World is a more informal concept. It lets each individual cooperative society market its own wares. Loom World's scale is also smaller with only nine against Cooptex which has more than 200.Taking Loom World to the digital world is the Handloom Department's answer to scale up the concept. Co-optex can handle barely 30 per cent of the market that the whole of Handloom cooperatives in Tamil Nadu need.The department is also in talks with e-commerce majors like Flipkart and Snapdeal to widen the reach of handlooms, the report said. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
In what is turning out to be bad advertisement for Gujarat  India's largest cotton producing state, yarn manufacturers in Tamil Nadu are looking to procure cotton from overseas markets after finding the supply from Gujarat widely adulterated with comber noil, a waste product in the textile supply chain.For the textile hubs of Coimbatore and Tirupur, Gujarat had been their source of cotton for decades. But now, more than 40 mills in these two hubs are turning to West African nations to replace the supply from Gujarat.

In what is turning out to be bad advertisement for Gujarat  India's largest cotton producing state, yarn manufacturers in Tamil Nadu are looking to #

The situation is apparently serious enough for the buyers. K Selvaraju, Secretary General of the Southern India Mills' Association (SIMA) says Tamil Nadu buyers have slashed the purchase of Gujarat cotton to just 40 per cent of the usual level because of the adulteration.Gujarat sells nearly 120 lakh bales a year, two-thirds of this to Tamil Nadu. Hosiery yarn makers spin the sought-after Sankar-6 variety from Gujarat to make garments sold across the world. Gujarat cotton commands a premium mainly because it requires fewer chemicals for dyeing.But with adulterated cotton hampering Tamil Nadu mills' productions, SIMA has written to the Gujarat government urging action against ginners.According to Prabhu Damodharan, Secretary of Indian Texpreneurs Federation, the alleged adulteration has forced spinners to look beyond India. Gujarat Sankar-6, priced at Rs 34,000-34,200 a candy is expected to get costlier on demand from mills. Textile entrepreneurs plan to sidestep the price hike by procuring cotton from eight West African countries including Mali, Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
The Uttar Pradesh Government has tied up with online retailers to sell khadi products in a bid to promote the khadi industry.Designers from the National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) will design the khadi clothes that will be sold online. The products would be first launched on e-commerce majors like Flipkart and Snapdeal.

The Uttar Pradesh Government has tied up with online retailers to sell khadi products in a bid to promote the khadi industry. Designers from the #

The idea to rope in online retailers has come on the heels of the state government signing a five-year agreement with the NIFT to provide special training on designing khadi clothes to 60 students. Once trained, these students will share their knowledge with workers in various khadi centres across the state. The main motive is to improve the quality of khadi products and ensure that new designs have a modern look.UP Khadi Board CEO Manmohan Choudhary said the government is trying to engineer a comeback for khadi. He said every khadi product purchased would contribute towards improving the economic condition of the rural poor.The government is still in talks Flipkart and Snapdeal to fine tune the launch of khadi products.The products would initially be offered on discounts to boost sales. The government has earmarked Rs 4.5 crore as the initial budget for the exercise.Meanwhile in Karnataka, the prisons department has plans to tie up with Flipkart, Amazon and other online platforms to sell products made by prisoners at Bengaluru's Central Jail. The made-in-prison initiative will be a first in India, although the concept is common in some western countries. Once the project takes off, the products including garments, showpieces, furniture and carpets will be sold under the label Parivartana (transformation). (SH)

Fibre2Fashion News Desk - India
It's 2016, which sounds like I should be writing this from a colony on Planet Zebulon X86 while people whiz by my window with jetpacks on. Doesn't it? TWO THOUSAND SIXTEEN. I remember when I was like seven and I thought 1999 sounded so far away and now here I am, in 2016, still thinking about how 1999 is so far away but in thedirection this time. Ugh.Anyway, I've decided to make a blogging comeback this year. And by "comeback" I mean "write a new post once in a damn while." For years, I posted regularly here. Some posts were gold, some were absolute crap, but there was always something. And then a series of events happened and apparently I am not good at handling the unexpected. First I wrote this little post that went suuuuuuuper-viral - on my site initially, then again on Scary Mommy. I still count that among one of the best experiences of my entire life, ranking right up there with the birth of my children and the time I scared the hiccups out of my sister. I had never had anything go viral before, and it was thrilling. The response was almost entirely positive: no hate mail, no threats, no ugliness, just people laughing along and saying, "I can relate!" which was the whole reason I started this blog in the first place.But the positive response was also a bad thing, because it set an unrealistic precedent for me. Because the next time one of my posts went viral , thanks to The Huffington Post picking it up, things got downright ugly. I cried for two days. I took that shit. I didn't realize that this was more along the lines of "normal" - that usually, when a post grows legs, they stomp all over you. The citizens of the Internet can be mean, y'all, especially because people don't hold back when they're speaking to your computer screen and not your face.Having gone through all this, I figured it meant I was professional enough to go to a real blogging conference with other actual bloggers. And I loved it - on a personal level. I met tons of amazing people, many of whom I'd been reading for years. I met, for the first time in real life, someone who instantly felt like a bestie: Hannah Mayer of sKIDmarks (who you should check out right now, if you enjoying laughing so hard you dribble pee). The conference was awesome. I felt inspired! I was gonna grab the blogging world by the balls!And then I came home. And tried to process all the information I had learned. And was totally, completely, utterly overwhelmed. So I more or less began a slow process of shutting down (although not before writing a pretty sweet post with tips on pooping in a public restroom . Because this blog is nothing if not informative). You know how sometimes when you have a huge task in front of you, all you want to do is sit and eat cookies and ignore it? Yeah. It's been like that.But here I am, in 2016 (zoom! Bleep!) and I have decided that numbers don't matter. Mass appeal doesn't matter. If I can write things that a few people find funny or relatable, then fantastic! Hit me up and let me know you feel me! If I write a bunch of garbage-y gobbledygook, whatever - at least I'm writing. I like writing too much to not do it.Anyway, I've got a lot to write about. For starters: I GOT NEW CARPET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! If you've been reading for a while, you know that I've been complaining about my carpet for years (and you know some of the heinous things that have happened to it ). Because it was horrible when we moved in and four boys and a veritable Noah's Ark of pets made it even more horrible. See for yourself in this lovely side-by-side comparison photo I took:See that torn spot, where the sub-floor is peeking - okay,- through? That's not just a casualty of the carpet-layers, something that happened while the new carpet was going in. Oh, no. That torn spot had been there for like three. Plaguing me. Taunting me. A daily eyesore on the way into our bedroom. And it wasn't the only spot: the carpet was ripped, frayed, and stained everywhere else, too. I tried constantly to deep-clean it and keep it vacuumed and strategically place rugs over the worn spots, but, well ... you can't polish a turd.Now, though - oh, happy day! I have a carpet I can be proud of! A carpet specifically designed for lots of wear and tear and kids and pets! A carpet I can lay down and writhe around on like I'm making snow angels and sniff deeply and know that I'm inhaling nothing but cleanliness (okay, and maybe some carpet fibers, but at least they're). If you had told sixteen-year-old me that I'd ever be this level of geeked about home improvements, I'd have wailed in anguish that I never wanted to grow up and belame. But here I am. Laming away ON MY NEW CARPET.And then???Less than one month after the glorious arrival of my new carpet, my husband was offered his dream job. In Ohio. Which, for the record is seven hours away. Which means ...We're moving.We're moving away from our home here in Iowa, that I love. Our friends. Our neighbors, who are also friends. AND MY NEW CARPET.To add insult to injury, we have to put in new kitchen and bathroom flooring before we can sell the house. So basically, we'll be doing everything I have wanted to do for, but just so someone else can use it.Y'all are going to have to help me through this. Good thing we'll be chatting on a more regular basis now. :)
If you think Salman Khan's auto ride back home was super cool, Hrithik Roshan's auto ride along with his sons is the cutest thing ever.

Hrithik Roshan, decided to not drive last night and ended up catching an auto. The actor, along with his two sons, Hrehaan and Hridhaan, sat inside an auto and enjoyed the ride on their way home.

HOT PICS! Bipasha Basu Welcomes The New Year In A Bikini With Her Lover, Karan Singh Grover

The Bang Bang actor, Hrithik Roshan, took to Twitter and posted a picture by saying,

"Took an auto home. What was normal pocket money travel for daddy becomes an adventure trip for us boys. Lovely"

So what Hrithik Roshan says, is that an auto ride back home is very good on the pocket as a father, and the kids enjoyed the most out of the ride.

The picture that Hrithik Roshan posted on Twitter was a collage, one shows Hrithik and his sons sitting inside an auto, and the other, is a closeup selfie of Hrithik along with his sons inside the auto.

The auto driver, also looks very delighted and excited for having one of Bollywood's top star sitting inside his auto along with his two children.

On The Professional Front

Hrithik Roshan, is currently shooting for his upcoming flick titled, Mohenjo Daro. The movie, is directed by Ashutosh Gowarikar.

Mohenjo Daro, has a storyline which showcases life in the Indus Valley Civilization, and the movie dates back to 2600 BC. Mohenjo Daro, is an ancient city in Sindh, which is geographically located in Pakistan now.

Hrithik Roshan, was recently trolled on social media for fighting a plastic 20 ft crocodile. The trollers, called it fake and this made Hrithik furious. The actor, asked Ashutosh to re-shoot the scenes with a bigger and original looking crocodile.

Ashutosh, of course did not accept and opined that the visual graphics team would do a better job to make it look very realistic.
Gender inequality has always been prevalent. It isn't restricted to certain sections of the society. From celebrities to government officials, everyone is subject to it. But, the celebrities have lately been a major voice addressing the issue. These Hollywood divas slammed sexist questions when asked!

Just a few months ago, many actresses in Hollywood started raising their voices against sexism that exists in Hollywood and also, supported their fellow actresses who were subject to it. Jennifer Lawrence spoke about the issue through her letter to Lenny that gained a lot of importance.

Sexism needn't have to always be associated with one's wage or profession, though those are the very common ones. For instance, an actress is called 'feminist' only because she's clad in pink or carried 'girly' stuff.

Justin Bieber & Hailey Baldwin lip lock in a party!

An actress on the red carpet, who is present at the occasion to receive an award for her brilliant acting skills is questioned about the contents in her purse! This is the limit. Once, Ariana Grande was on a radio interview and this is what happened :

The radio jockeys asked what was her favorite emoticon. When she said the unicorn, the jockeys just sighed saying " girls", to which Ariana gave it back saying, "Boys. They always use unicorn". She also shut them up by answering to their sexist questions.

Such incidents are too common everywhere around the world and unfortunately, it's the women who are mostly subject to such sexist questions and comments. When it comes to female celebrities, all they want to know is what they eat and what they wear.

It could also be due to those handful of celebrities who are famous for no reason and pay importance to nothing but their appearance. But, these beauties proved to the world they are more than just that. Let's have a look at the Hollywood divas who slammed the sexist questions asked to them :
Ant Financial, Alibabas financial affiliate, is seeking to raise capital for the second time in six months ahead of its planned initial public offering, the company said on Monday.

Hangzhou-based spokeswoman Miranda Shek declined to specify the renminbi amount being targeted or to provide an updated company valuation but said the second round of pre-IPO funding would see shares issued to both existing and new investors.

Bloomberg earlier in the day reported that Ant Financial wanted to raise another Rmb10 billion ($1.5 billion) at least.

Ant Financial, formerly known as Zhejiang Ant Small & Micro Financial, completed an initial round of fundraising in June. That raised an undisclosed amount via a private placement but valued the company at about $45 billion, sources familiar with the matter told FinanceAsia at the time.

The implied valuation places the firm among the most valuable privately owned technology companies worldwide, alongside US taxi hailing app Uber and Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi. It is also about 11 times bigger than US peer-to-peer lending firm Lending Clubs $4.2 billion market valuation.

In June Ant Financial successfully attracted eight external investors including Chinas National Social Security Fund, which bought a 5% stake, and China Development Bank Capital. The others comprise four of Chinas largest insurance companies, including China Life Insurance and PICC, and private equity firms Primavera Capital Group and GP Capital, according to the firm's updated registration details with the Chinese industrial and commercial bureau.

Ant Financial, spun off from Alibaba in 2011, runs Alipay, the PayPal-like online payments service. It also runs Yue Bao, Chinas largest money market fund, and MYbank, one of the countrys first internet banks.

Alipay processed Rmb91 billion worth of transactions on Singles Day on November 11, the worlds biggest single-day shopping event.

Two sources familiar with the matter told FinanceAsia that the company will seek to improve its valuation via the second round of fundraising. Theyve achieved good results since the first round. Its natural to look for a higher valuation, said one of the sources.

Getting tougher

Ant Financial's swift return to the market nonetheless surprised some investment bankers. They added the company could be trying to get ahead of the herd of fintech unicorns looking to tap investors even as the investment climate for fintech start-ups cools.

I was surprised by how fast they've returned to market, said one Hong Kong-based investment banker. The fundraising climate for fintech is definitely getting tougher, maybe they wanted to get ahead of that.

Chinese stocks plunged on Monday as the new year got underway, triggering a new circuit breaker for the first time as weak factory activity data and falls in the renminbi prompted heavy selling.

The drop in Chinese stock markets today was worrying. I need investor confidence to improve, so the pipeline of deals will go though and perform well, the Hong Kong investment banker said.

Alibabas billionaire chairman Jack Ma, who is also Ant Financials biggest shareholder, said in February 2015 that Alibaba intended to list the affiliate. Shek told FinanceAsia that no formal timeline has yet been specified.

A second Hong Kong-based investment banker said the latest round of fundraising could mask plans for an acquisition as the company is reportedly seeking at least $1.5 billion. At its current growth rate and projected capital needs, Ant Financial would not necessarily need another round of fundraising so soon after the first.

Alibaba has moved quickly via acquisitions to stay ahead of the online-to-offline trend. So Ant Financial could be lining up the funds to follow this path also by grabbing more of an offline presence, the second banker said.

On the other hand, with Alibabas share price down about 22% in 2015 the time when Ant Financial could call on its parent for liberal financing may have passed.

CICC and Goldman Sachs are working on the Series B funding, according to a third source with knowledge of the matter.

Additional reporting by Ray Chan
Want to know what keeps the CEO of the No. 1 firm on this years list of the countrys top RIAs awake at night? Romancing six to eight planners a week in a never-ending quest for the right talent. It takes anywhere from 20 to 30 meetings to produce just two to three hires a year for Oxford Financial Group, the Midwestern firm based in Carmel, Ind., with nearly $14 billion in assets under management.

And sometimes even that isnt enough. There was one guy who I extended an offer to who said yes, and the next day he went to work at a family office, says Oxfords CEO, Jeffrey Thomasson, who founded the firm more than 30 years ago. I had been doing the romance with him for six months. Everything was going pretty cool and it was just like, Oh my goodness. 

Its not easy being one of the largest RIAs in the country, even with RIA AUM growth outpacing that of wirehouses. Finding the right talent in a small pool of the most qualified advisors is tough  especially when you cant dangle a name brand like Credit Suisse or J.P. Morgan before them, Thomasson says.



Its challenging and costly to keep up with rapid regulatory and technological change. And its hard, especially for firms farther down the list, to fend off aggregators, roll-up firms and a rising tide of robo advisors, all of whom are vying for some of the same clients.

The firms on Financial Plannings 5th annual list of the countrys top RIAs are meeting these challenges while resisting the many temptations that can compromise their work as fiduciaries and undermine their independence.

RAREFIED AIR

The overall advisory space, including broker-dealers and RIAs, amounted to $19.1 trillion in assets at the end of 2014, with independent RIAs managing $2.7 trillion of those assets, according to research firm Aite Group.

Out of the 59,422 RIAs that manage this chunk, Financial Planning builds a selective ranking of U.S.-only independent RIAs every year. The list has been expanded to 150 from 100 firms. This illustrates just how rarefied the air becomes once firms start managing billions of dollars. A difference of just $649,000 in AUM separates the smallest firm on the list, at No. 150, from No. 75. But getting from the middle of the pack to No. 1 takes a stretch worthy of Plastic Man  a leap of $12.3 billion in AUM.

To capture truly independent firms, we sort for those that remain free of affiliations with broker-dealers, insurance firms, banks and large outside investors (see Methodology). This year, Financial Planning partnered with Discovery Data, which provided custom analytics of SEC filings.

POPPING ON AND OFF

That means firms pop on and off the list from year to year, as they launch lines of business or change their ownership structure.

It gets harder as you get bigger, because you are always tempted to do some of these side businesses that can come with commission sales or external shareholders, says Russ Hill, the CEO and chairman of the No. 12 firm, Halbert Hargrove in Long Beach, Calif. You can do that and be a fiduciary, but its hard and its expensive.

In fact, three of the four firms to grace our annual cover since the lists inception in 2012 subsequently fell off the list entirely. GenSpring was first, in 2013, after a dust-up with its bank owners led to a departure of the firms management. A GenSpring co-founder, Maria Elena Mel Lagomasino, has returned to the list with the independent firm W.E. Family Offices, at No. 14 this year.

Aspiriant dropped off in 2014 after launching a line of in-house mutual funds that require additional regulation from FINRA. Banyan Partners failed to qualify in 2014 after its founder sold to Boston Private Bank & Trust for $60 million.

Creative Planning, No. 5 in 2014, was poised to supplant Oxford in the No. 1 slot this year, but insurance company affiliations disqualified it.

PAINSTAKING GROWTH

The firms that appear on the list pursue a wide variety of growth strategies, often simultaneously. These range from acquiring other firms, to offering clients unique lines of planning services (geared, for example, to millennials or impact investors) or souped-up technological services. Many of these strategies are painstaking to develop.

Halbert Hargrove is building out its elder care management offerings as it sees demand growing rapidly, Hill says. To help nurture growth, it is finding and grooming young local planning talent from nearby California State University at Long Beach. Halbert Hargrove is also taking pains to buttress its fiduciary claims by undergoing annual audits to qualify for a CEFEX certification, run by the Centre for Fiduciary Excellence in Bridgeville, Pa.

The certification process is time-consuming, Hill says, but it builds confidence among tax experts and attorneys who will more readily refer business to a firm they believe will put their clients best interests first. For us, thats important, he says.

OLDER FIRM MEETS BREAKAWAY UPSTART

Investing in cutting-edge technology made No. 59 Pathstone Family Office in Fort Lee, N.J., particularly attractive as a merger partner for the older and larger No. 17 firm, Federal Street Advisors in Boston. In a deal financed by the Fiduciary Network, the two firms were set to finalize their alliance on Dec. 31.

The merger gives us a huge jump in our capability and in productivity, says Federal Streets CEO, John LaPann, who will become chairman of the new firm, to be named Pathstone Federal Street. We are a 25-year-old firm thats been pedaling as fast as it can to update its technological capacity and increase productivity. But Pathstone, having started about five years ago, has already formed themselves in a technological environment. Pathstone has $1.8 billion in AUM.

The RIA space is a hotbed for mergers and acquisitions. There were at least 10 deals involving firms with almost $4 billion or more AUM in 2015, compared with just one the prior year, according to Park Sutton Advisors. The Federal Street-Pathstone hookup is one of them. With a combined AUM of roughly $6 billion or more, the new firm is likely to vault up among the lists top 10 firms next year.

A YEAR OF LEARNING

No. 18 Wetherby Asset Management of San Francisco has been seeding organic growth by turning itself into a university of sorts. It is investing $180,000 to run monthly programs between March 2015 and February 2016.

The programs, celebrating the firms 25th anniversary, are solidifying and deepening bonds between the firms team members and its clients, says the founder, Deb Wetherby. One of the programs, Protecting Your Digital Privacy, attracted more than 50 clients to hear comments by Mark Graff, former chief information security officer

for Nasdaq.

When we booked that, we did not think it would be our highest-attended event with the liveliest Q&A, Wetherby says. People are now thinking they have to pay attention to digital privacy. Graff also ran internal programs for Wetherbys compliance staff.

Other monthly topics have included mindfulness, strategic philanthropy, and the future of energy and sustainability.

The programs are enriching the firms culture and informing strategic discussions about its future growth, Wetherby says. Wetherby Asset Management has grown by 25% to nearly $4 billion in AUM over the past five years.

Organic growth such as this may indeed be time-consuming  just ask Oxfords dutifully speed-dating CEO, Thomasson.

But, as Wetherbys unique program suggests, nobody said it couldnt be fun. I think theres going to be lots and lots of ways that this is going to affect us over the years, she says. We didnt do this for proprietary reasons. Id be thrilled if every firm did something like this.

Read more:
15 instructor update events scheduled over next several months

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --The American Heart Association, a U.S.-based nonprofit and one of the world's largest volunteer organizations committed to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, is hosting a series of conferences to teach instructors the latest science and updated training based off its recently published 2015 Guidelines Update for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC).

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151216/296712LOGO

The GuidelinesInstructor conferences, designed for AHA Instructors, provide an update of new science released in the latest guidelines, and offer the guidance and tools needed to continue training until translated products are released. The 2015 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC, published on Oct. 15, call for integrated systems of care that participate in continuous quality improvement and that provide a common framework for both community and healthcare-based resuscitation systems.

"At the American Heart Association, we believe everyone deserves to live a healthier, longer life. That's why we are committed to the expansion of science-based lifesaving training solutions in the Middle East and North Africa," said Monica Kleinman, MD, of Children's Hospital Boston, who is also an author on the guidelines writing committee and a member of the AHA's Emergency Cardiovascular Care committee.

"It's very exciting to unveil the 2015 Guidelines to instructors, training centers and educators who can help deliver the latest science and educational information to their students," said Kleinman.

AHA courses are designed to reduce disability and death caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke - the leading cause of death in the world, and throughout the Middle East and North Africa. With the help of a global network of international training centers, the AHA trains more than 17 million people a year globally in lifesaving first aid, CPR and advanced cardiovascular care.

From its regional office located at Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) free zone in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the AHA supports program development and works with 134 training centers and 120 sites throughout the Middle East and North Africa providing lifesaving training courses in the region.

The AHA has about 3,000 staff and more than 22 million volunteers and supporters worldwide. It has a network of 400,000 instructors and 3,500 affiliated training centers.

The schedule of regional events: (Please note some have already taken place.)

November 2015

22 Nov. Sharjah, UAE

26 Nov. Doha, Qatar

28 Nov. Lahore, Pakistan

December 2015

1 Dec. Muscat, Oman

4 Dec. Cairo, Egypt

8 Dec. Jebail, Lebannon

10 Dec. Abu Dhabi, UAE

15 Dec. Dubai, UAE

17 Dec. Kuwait City, Kuwait

19 Dec. Amman, Jordan

January 2016

5 Jan. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

7 Jan. Al Ain, UAE

18 Jan. Manama, Bahrain

21 Jan. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

30 Jan. Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Events will be hosted by: UAE Ministry of Health Training Center in Sharjah, Primary Health Care Corporation ITC in Doha, College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan in Lahore, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital Training Center in Muscat, National Heart Institute Training Center in Cairo, Lebanese American University Clinical Simulation Center in Jebail, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi LLC in Abu Dhabi, American Hospital Dubai in Dubai, Emergency Medical Services Training Center in Kuwait, The Specialty Hospital Life Support Training Center in Amman, King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, Tawam Hospital in Al-Ain, King Hamad University Hospital in Manama, King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz University Health Science in Jeddah and Saad Specialist Hospital in Al-Khobar.

Both United States and Regional Speakers will be traveling to be the lecturers at these events.

The AHA guidelines, which are based off the latest resuscitation research, have been published since 1966 to provide science-based recommendations for treating cardiovascular emergencies - particularly cardiac arrest in adults, children, infants and newborns.

For almost 50 years, the American Heart Association's CPR and ECC guidelines have been used to train millions in CPR, first aid and advanced cardiovascular care around the world. These guidelines are based on an international evaluation process that involved hundreds of resuscitation scientists and experts worldwide who evaluated thousands of peer-reviewed publications.

This year's update provides recommendations on the data where new evidence requires a systematic review, in part, due to a network of trainers who regularly implement the CPR and ECC guidelines and rely on the science to inform the most effective care.

To learn more about the American Heart Association's emergency cardiovascular care programs and other efforts around the world, visit international.heart.orghttp://www.global.heart.org/.


Vast Resources plc / Ticker: VAST / Index: AIM / Sector: Mining



4 January 2016 Vast Resources plc ('Vast' or the 'Company')



Issue of up to 5.0 million of Equity



Vast Resources plc, the AIM listed mining company with operations in Zimbabwe and Romania, is pleased to announce that, on 4 January 2016, it has entered into an agreement with Crede CG III Ltd ('Crede Capital' or the 'Investor') according to which it will subscribe for new ordinary shares of 0.1p each in the Company ('Ordinary Shares') in order to raise up to 5.0 million (the 'Subscription Shares') and associated warrants (together the 'Financing') (the 'Subscription Agreement'). Crede Capital is a U.S.-based family office with a successful record of investing in emerging European growth companies. Further information on Crede Capital is set out at the end of this announcement. Certain Managers (as defined below), including directors of the Company, intend to invest an aggregate principal amount of 0.5 million on the same terms as agreed with Crede as set out below, within two trading days of the Issue Date. Details of the Managers' Investments will be announced in due course.



156,250,000 new Ordinary Shares, which make up the first tranche of the Subscription Shares, are being issued by the Company today (the 'Issue Date'), conditional on admission to AIM, at an issue price of 0.8 pence per new Ordinary Share ('Tranche 1'). The Company also announces that it has issued 156,250,000 warrants to acquire Ordinary Shares in the Company exercisable at any time until 3 January 2021 at a price calculated according to the provisions described below. Subsequent issues of Subscription Shares and associated warrants (issued on the basis of one warrant per ordinary share subscribed for by the Investor) as part of the Financing are conditional, inter alia, on sufficient share issuance authorities being in place.



Overview * Binding subscription agreement entered into between Vast and Crede Capital which provides for an investment of 5.0 million in Vast through the issue of Ordinary Shares to Crede Capital in four separate tranches, occurring at 90-day intervals ('Investment Dates'), with each tranche being equal to 1.25 million in quantum (the 'Subscription Agreement'). The 156,250,000 new Ordinary Shares, which make up the first tranche of the Subscription Shares, are being issued by the Company today, conditional on admission to AIM, at an issue price of 0.8 pence per new Ordinary Share under existing share issuance authorities. Further details on the terms of the Subscription Agreement are provided below. * The subscription for the second, third, and fourth tranches is conditional on an investment of 0.5 million to be subscribed for Ordinary Shares by directors and senior executives or consultants of the Company within two trading days of the Issue Date as explained more fully below. * Each issue of Subscription Shares will be priced at the closing bid price of the Ordinary Shares on the trading day prior to each Investment Date of the Subscription Shares ('Subscription Price'). * The Investor will also be issued with one (1) warrant for every one (1) Subscription Share issued (the 'Investor Warrants'). 156,250,000 Investor Warrants are being issued by the Company today under existing share issuance authorities. Further details on the terms of the Investor Warrants are provided below. * The Financing provides the Company with funding certainty at a key period in its development as it progresses its producing mining projects. The funds may be utilised for general working capital purposes. * The Financing is staged to minimise dilution to existing shareholders whilst simultaneously providing maximum flexibility to the Company. * The allotment and grant of Subscription Shares and associated Investor Warrants in respect of the remaining tranches (the 'Relevant Securities') are conditional, inter alia, on sufficient share issuance authorities being in place. Accordingly, the Company will seek to convene a General Meeting to be held in February 2016 to seek authorities to issue Relevant Securities under the terms of the Subscription Agreement. The Company will seek further share issuance authorities from its shareholders to issue the Relevant Securities if the Company does not have sufficient issuance authorities at any subsequent Investment Date.



Roy Pitchford, Chief Executive Officer of Vast, commented:



'Securing a long term, cornerstone investor has been a requirement of the Company since its transition from a junior explorer to a mine operating company. The funding from Crede Capital will facilitate increasing production at Manaila, the potential increase in open cut ore resources, the re-commissioning of Baita Plai and its eventual expansion, and funding for new projects.



'The development of Manaila and Baita Plai to their respective full capacity will provide Vast with a strong foundation in Romania and enable the Company to exploit additional mining opportunities that have already been identified.



'In welcoming Crede Capital to the Vast share register, it is hoped that there will be further investment opportunities available to Crede and existing shareholders as Vast endeavours to build its mining operations in Romania.'



Following the issue of Tranche 1, Crede Capital will be interested in 156,250,000 Ordinary Shares representing 8.61 per cent. of the Company's issued share capital. Application has today been made to the London Stock Exchange plc for the 156,250,000 Subscription Shares to be admitted to trading on the AIM market with admission expected to occur on 8 January 2016 ('Admission'). The issued Subscription Shares will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing Ordinary Shares.



Following Admission, the issued ordinary share capital of Vast will consist of 1,814,845,366 Ordinary Shares. There are no Ordinary Shares held in treasury, therefore the total number of voting rights in the Company, following the issue of the 156,250,000 Subscription Shares pursuant to Tranche 1, is 1,814,845,366.



Terms of the Subscription Agreement



Under the terms of the Subscription Agreement, Vast will issue Ordinary Shares to Crede Capital in four separate tranches, at each Investment Date, with each tranche being equal to 1.25 million in quantum. Crede Capital will also be issued with one (1) warrant for every one (1) Subscription Share issued to it. 156,250,000 new Ordinary Shares at an issue price of 0.8 pence per new Ordinary Share and 156,250,000 Investor Warrants are being issued by the Company today, conditional on Admission. The Subscription Agreement includes warranties from the Company customary for an agreement of this nature and also an indemnity from Vast to Crede Capital, inter alia, in relation to the Company's covenant to Crede Capital that it shall use all reasonable endeavours to ensure that it has sufficient shareholder authorities in place to meet its obligations to allot and/or grant Relevant Securities free of all pre-emptive and other similar rights and restrictions at the relevant times. For each subscription of Subscription Shares by Crede Capital, a commission ('Commission') equal to 10 per cent. of the aggregate purchase price for the relevant Subscription Shares may become payable by the Company to Crede Capital in the event that Crede Capital subsequently subscribes for Ordinary Shares pursuant to the exercise of Investor Warrants under the Warrant Instrument at a price per Ordinary Share equal to the Black-Scholes Subscription Price. The payment of such Commission is subject to further conditions and payment mechanics as detailed in the Subscription Agreement. The Subscription Agreement also provides that in the event that Crede Capital subsequently subscribes for Ordinary Shares pursuant to the exercise of Investor Warrants under the Warrant Instrument at a price per Ordinary Share equal to the Black-Scholes Subscription Price, the Company shall pay to Crede Capital a commission, by way of administration fee on the issue of the Ordinary Shares, equal to 10 per cent. of the Black-Scholes Subscription Price payable for the Ordinary Shares subscribed for by Crede Capital. Further details on the terms of the Investor Warrants, the Warrant Instrument and including the Black-Scholes Subscription Price are provided below. The Subscription Agreement requires the Company to obtain the consent of Crede Capital to further issues of shares other than pursuant to the Subscription Agreement or in relation to existing commitments until 90 days after the subscription of the fourth tranche of 1.25 million. There is a carve out for issues of up to 1 per cent. of the issued ordinary share capital (calculated on a fully diluted basis at the date of such issue) in relation to ordinary course licence and assets acquisitions. The Subscription Agreement also provides that the Company may, within two trading days of the Issue Date, allot to all or some of the directors, senior executives or consultants of the Company or any of the Company's subsidiary companies, or such companies or trusts associated with such individuals ('Managers') such number of Ordinary Shares at (and in no circumstances for less than) the closing bid price per Ordinary Share on the trading day immediately prior to the Investment Date as is, in aggregate, equal to an aggregate purchase price for such Ordinary Shares of 0.5 million and one warrant to subscribe for Ordinary Shares on the same basis as the Investor Warrants per Ordinary Share subscribed for by the relevant Manager ('Managers' Investment'). In this regard, certain Managers, including directors of the Company, intend to invest an aggregate principal amount of 0.5 million, within two trading days of the Issue Date. Details of the Managers' Investments will be announced in due course. The allotment and/or grant of Relevant Securities are conditional, inter alia, on there being sufficient share issuance authorities in place. The Company will seek to convene a General Meeting to be held on or about 15 February 2016 (and subsequent general meetings, if required) to seek authorities to issue Relevant Securities under the terms of the Subscription Agreement. The Company shall procure that the circular to shareholders to approve the allotment and/or grant of Relevant Securities includes, inter alia (i) the unanimous recommendation of the directors to the shareholders to vote in favour of the resolutions therein; (ii) a statement that each director and each of their respective 'associates' (as defined in the Subscription Agreement) intends to vote in favour of the resolutions therein; and (iii) an opinion from the independent directors, having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, that the terms of Crede Capital's participation and subscription of Relevant Securities are fair and reasonable insofar as the shareholders are concerned.



Terms of the Warrants



At each Investment Date, one (1) Investor Warrant will be issued to the Investor for every one (1) Subscription Share subscribed for. Each Investor Warrant will entitle the Investor to acquire new Ordinary Shares, with a five year exercise period. The terms of the Investor Warrants are covered in full under a separate warrant instrument entered into by the Company (the 'Warrant Instrument').



For each Investor Warrant, the Investor may either (i) subscribe for one (1) new Ordinary Share at an exercise price equal to 130 per cent. of the closing bid price on the day prior to each Investment Date; or (ii) subscribe for such number of new Ordinary Shares calculated by dividing the aggregate Black-Scholes Value of the Investor Warrants held and to be exercised by the Investor by the closing bid price of Ordinary Shares on the trading day two days prior to the date on which the Investor Warrant notice is issued, at a price per Ordinary Share equal to the Black-Scholes Subscription Price payable in full on the trading day the Investor Warrant is exercised.



'Black-Scholes Value' means the value of an Investor Warrant calculated using the Black-Scholes model as developed in 1973 by Fischer Black, Robert Merton and Myron Scholes, using the Economic Research Institute's Black-Scholes calculator, where the volatility shall be 135 per cent., the term of the Investor Warrants shall be deemed to be 60 months (regardless of the then actual remaining term of the Investor Warrants), the stock price shall be the closing bid price of Ordinary Shares on the trading day immediately preceding the Investment Date and the option price shall be 130 per cent. of the Subscription Price.



'Black-Scholes Subscription Price' means a price per new Ordinary Share equal to a deemed nominal value of 0.001 per Ordinary Share on the trading day the Warrant is exercised.



The Company has the right to call the Investor Warrants at any time the Ordinary Share price is trading at a 25 per cent. premium to the exercise price of the Investor Warrant for a period of 20 consecutive trading days and the average daily trading volume of Ordinary Shares during this period exceeds 200,000 in value.



Maximum Investor Holding



Under the terms of the Subscription Agreement, the Investor, without the prior written consent of the Company, shall not subscribe for any Subscription Shares on any subsequent Investment Dates if such subscription would, if completed by the Investor, when aggregated with interests it already held pursuant to its holding of Ordinary Shares and Investor Warrants, result in the Investor holding 25 per cent. or more of the Ordinary Shares (calculated on a fully diluted basis).



General Meeting



The Company will seek to convene a General Meeting to seek authorities to issue such new Ordinary Shares as will be necessary to satisfy the terms of the Subscription Agreement. Timing of the General Meeting and full details of the resolution(s) to be put to shareholders will be provided in a Notice of General Meeting (and associated Proxy Form) to be included in a circular to be sent to shareholders by 18 January 2016 and which will be made available on the Company's website at www.vastresourcesplc.com.



Romania Operational Update



Vast is currently operating the Manaila Polymetallic Mine at a rate of ten thousand tonnes of ore mined and processed per month. With an installed capacity of twenty thousand tonnes of ore mined and processed per month, the plan is now to commission the second milling and flotation circuit. On completion, Manaila will produce separate copper and zinc concentrates, both at better grades and quality.



Having recently renewed the licence at Manaila, application has been submitted to expand the licence perimeter to facilitate the evaluation of the potential to extend the life of the open cut mine. The geology of the area suggests that ore body continues beyond the current perimeter.



Having completed some of the preparatory work at the Baita Plai Polymetallic Mine and in anticipation of receiving the licence in the near future as a consequence of completing all the necessary regulatory and legal requirements for the issue of the licence, work to reopen the mine will commence.



Initial production is planned at ten thousand tonnes of ore through the mill and flotation circuit per month, utilising two of the three installed mills and parts of the four installed flotation circuits. Thereafter, re-commissioning of the third mill and full utilisation of the installed flotation circuits, the monthly production is expected to increase to twenty thousand tonnes per month.



Funding, adequate personnel, and time permitting, additional identified project in Romania will be evaluated, including the mining assets of S.C. Remin SA.



About Crede Capital



Crede Capital is a family office located in Los Angeles, New York and Beijing, providing capital in U. S., Canadian, European, Australian and Asian markets directly to small-cap public companies with market capitalizations below US$1.0 billion. Since its inception in 2009, Crede Capital has completed approximately 115 transactions committing in excess of US$900 million in capital. Crede is a passive investor and does not seek board seats or control positions. Crede Capital is focused on life sciences, healthcare, energy, natural resources, media, social media, technology and special situations.



Related Party Transaction



As a result of the Financing, Crede Capital may become a substantial shareholder in the Company as defined under the AIM Rules and consequently the Financing may obligate the Company to enter into a Related Party Transaction(s) under the AIM Rules for Companies. Accordingly, the Company's directors consider, having consulted with the Company's nominated adviser, Strand Hanson Limited, that the terms of the Financing are fair and reasonable insofar as the Company's shareholders are concerned.



For further information visit www.vastresourcesplc.com or please contact:



Vast Resources plc +44 (0) 1622 816918 Roy Tucker (Finance Director) +44 (0) 7920 189012



+40 (0) 372 988 988 (O) Roy Pitchford (Chief Executive Officer) +40 (0) 741 111 900 (M) +44 (0) 7793 909985



Strand Hanson Limited - Financial & www.strandhanson.co.uk Nominated Adviser +44 (0) 20 7409 3494 James Spinney James Bellman



Daniel Stewart and Company plc - Joint www.danielstewart.co.uk Broker +44 (0) 20 7776 6550 Martin Lampshire David Coffman



Dowgate Capital Stockbrokers Ltd - Joint www.dowgatecapitalstockbrokers.co.uk Broker +44 (0)1293 517744 Jason Robertson Neil Badger



St Brides Partners Ltd www.stbridespartners.co.uk Charlotte Heap +44 (0) 20 7236 1177 Susie Geliher



This announcement is distributed by GlobeNewswire on behalf of GlobeNewswire clients. The owner of this announcement warrants that: (i) the releases contained herein are protected by copyright and other applicable laws; and (ii) they are solely responsible for the content, accuracy and originality of the information contained therein.



Source: Vast Resources plc via GlobeNewswire [HUG#1976336]



A0J3GBB142P69R24



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LONDON, Jan. 4,2016 /PRNewswire/ --Phillips & Cohen LLP, the leading whistleblower law firm, has opened a London office as part of its continuing commitment to provide whistleblowers with expert and experienced representation globally.

Phillips & Cohen LLP represented the international whistleblower who received the largest award from the US Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) - more than US$32 million - and the law firm's lawyers represent many other whistleblower clients in Britain and abroad.

"Both the SEC's and the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission's enforcement reach is global," said Erika Kelton, a partner at Phillips & Cohen. "With the development of the Dodd-Frank whistleblower reward programmes, our UK and international practice has grown dramatically. An office in London, one of the world's leading financial centres, will dramatically enhance our capabilities and be advantageous for whistleblowers in Britain and the rest of Europe."

For nearly 30 years, Phillips & Cohen's practice has been devoted exclusively to representing only whistleblowers. It is the most successful and expert law firm in the field of whistleblower law. Whistleblower cases brought by the firm have resulted in more than US$12 billion in recoveries and more than US$1 billion in rewards for the firm's whistleblower clients. Phillips & Cohen's decades of success and deep expertise have earned international acclaim and recognition.

Phillips & Cohen's London office, located in the heart of Central London, will represent whistleblowers in matters under all US whistleblower programmes. Whistleblowers with allegations of fraud in the financial sector will be a particular focus of the firm's London practice. Phillips & Cohen also has offices in Washington, DC and San Francisco.

Phillips & Cohen represents whistleblowers in claims involving violations of securities and commodities laws under the SEC and CFTC reward programmes, including bribery of foreign officials. The firm also represents whistleblowers in "qui tam" cases brought under the US False Claims Act and in significant tax fraud matters under the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) whistleblower programme.

For more information, email Erika Kelton or see www.phillipsandcohen.com.

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Washington, DC 20036

Tel: 001-202-833-4567 (from mobile: +1-202-833-4567)

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Werbehinweise: Die Billigung des Basisprospekts durch die BaFin ist nicht als ihre Befurwortung der angebotenen Wertpapiere zu verstehen. Wir empfehlen Interessenten und potenziellen Anlegern den Basisprospekt und die Endgultigen Bedingungen zu lesen, bevor sie eine Anlageentscheidung treffen, um sich moglichst umfassend zu informieren, insbesondere uber die potenziellen Risiken und Chancen des Wertpapiers. Sie sind im Begriff, ein Produkt zu erwerben, das nicht einfach ist und schwer zu verstehen sein kann.


BRUSSELS (dpa-AFX) - The Swiss stock market ended the first trading session of the new year with a significant decline. A sharp drop in the Asian markets sparked losses in global markets, after the release of the weaker than expected Chinese manufacturing report. Markets across Europe and the United States were also under intense pressure.



The escalating dispute between Saudi Arabia and Iran also had investors on edge. Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with fellow OPEC member Iran on Sunday after its embassy in Tehran was attacked. Iranians were protesting the Saudi execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nemer al-Nemer.



The Swiss Market Index dropped 1.83 percent Monday and finished at 8,656.31. The Swiss Leader Index declined 2.24 percent and the Swiss Performance Index lost 1.81 percent.



Concerns over China sparked weakness in the luxury goods companies. Swatch sank 4.2 percent and Richemont weakened by 3.1 percent.



Shares of Schindler also felt the sting of China concerns, falling 4.9 percent. China is a very important market for Schindler and the construction industry. The lift and escalator manufacturer also ended its share buyback program, which began back in January of 2013.



Cyclical stocks also turned in a weak performance Monday. LafargeHolcim decreased 3.4 percent and ABB surrendered 2.9 percent. Adecco weakened by 2.8 percent and SGS lost 2.7 percent.



Financial stocks were also under pressure. Credit Suisse and UBS declined by 2.5 percent and 2.4 percent respectively. Julius Baer finished lower by 2.4 percent. The company announced late last week that it had reached an agreement in principle to resolve its tax dispute in the U.S. Zurich Insurance also sank 3.2 percent.



The index heavyweights all finished in the red Monday. Roche decreased 1.2 percent and Novartis fell 1.4 percent. Shares of Nestle also weakened by 1.3 percent.



In the broad market, Addex surged 7.4 percent. The company announced that the U.S. FDA has granted orphan drug status to dipraglurant.



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NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/16 -- Reverend Susan G. Turley is Chaplain with the Department of Veterans Affairs, Maryland Healthcare System (VAMHCS) and the Supervisor for the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education, Inc. (ACPE) at VA Perry Point, Maryland.

In her supervisory role, Reverend Turley developed and manages the Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) program, a multi-cultural, interfaith training program in Chaplaincy, leading to board certification in professional Chaplaincy and/or Ordination. CPE is also an education and training program for faith leaders who wish to further develop their skills and/or theory in both Chaplaincy and Spiritual Care.

Susan Turley earned a Master of Science Degree in Education/Counseling from Suffolk University, Boston, Massachusetts before completing 2 years of postgraduate training in Family Systems Therapy. Reverend Turley completed the coursework necessary for a Master of Divinity Degree in Religion with a concentration on the development and execution of interfaith community support systems for returning Veterans and their families. In addition, Reverend Turley also earned certification in social work while working on her M.Div. at the Swedenborg School of Religion, currently known as the Swedenborg House of Studies at the Pacific School of Religion.

Reverend Susan Turley was ordained in the Swedenborgian Church in 1980, becoming one of the first women to be ordained. An accomplished watercolor artist who uses her art as a therapeutic tool to help heal emotional wounds, Reverend Turley has also traveled to Italy to study art and painting in order to bring an additional dimension to her work.

After Susan Turley was ordained, she worked as a Pastoral Counselor at Turley and Associates Counseling Center in Newton, Massachusetts. Reverend Turley then moved on to serve 3 parishes in Portland, Maine and Los Angeles and San Francisco, California. In the early 1990's, she accepted a position and entered into Hospital Chaplaincy work as she earned her certificate as an A.C.P.E. Supervisor in 2001 .

Amassing 30 years of service, Reverend Susan Turley has developed and honed her skills and expertise in several areas of ministry. Ministering to the spiritual needs of Veterans, their loved ones and extended families, mentoring women through their personal, career, and professional development, assisting and counseling individuals battling grief, loss, trauma, addiction recovery, end of life care and faith/spiritual growth and advocating for suicide prevention and education are just a few of the areas she addresses on a daily basis.

Suicide Education/Prevention and Veterans Support Services are areas of ministry Reverend Susan Turley holds close to her heart. In 2006, she and her husband of 37 years, lost their only son Pfc. Keith Jesse Moore during his service in the U.S. Army in Iraq. Pfc. Moore as well as 22 other Veterans per day, die by suicide; a sad and astounding statistic.

Taking this tragedy and using it to honor her son and all Veterans, Reverend Turley became extremely active in suicide prevention and education by making a documentary called "Broken Hearts Lifted Spirits: Mothers of the Fallen Speak Their Truth", a film about mothers who have lost their children in the Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) Wars. This film is an effective educational and discussion-provoking tool and is offered with a group facilitator's discussion manual. This film is a useful resource for teaching individuals effective methods to help them become a valuable support and presence for those working their way through the loss of a loved one to war. It also serves as an instructional tool to raise awareness of the impact war has on our Veterans; the lives of the spouses, loved ones, family, employers; and society as a whole. Reverend Susan Turley uses this film at her lectures and speaking engagements throughout the year and as part of her Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) curriculum.

As part of her professional career, she was the Founding Director for a non-profit ministry dedicated to supporting individuals affected with AIDS. Through Living Waters HIV Ministry in San Francisco, Susan Turley counseled those affected with HIV and AIDS on a one to one basis, along with their families and caregivers. As part of her ministry at Living Waters she did home, hospice and hospital visits throughout the San Francisco area; she collaborated services for clients and their families with other service agencies, caregivers, hospital and faith communities; as well as conducted many memorial services. Additionally, Reverend Turley has counseled victims of violence, those recovering from the ravages of addiction and the homeless; all as part of a San Francisco area interfaith effort.

Reverend Susan Turley has received the National Association of Professional Women's (NAPW) V.I.P. Woman of The Year Award "...for outstanding excellence and dedication to her profession and the achievement of women". Additionally, she devotes a fair amount of her spare time to working with the Gold Star Mothers, an organization offering support services to mothers who have lost sons or daughters during war.

In addition to being a Gold Star Mother, Reverend Susan Turley is a pastor, chaplain, mentor, educator and counselor. She was part of the National Council of Churches, Clergy Women's Peace and Reconciliation group, traveling to the Holy Land, Jordan and Israel to meet and discuss peace efforts with faith leaders of all traditions. Reverend Turley has for many years, been a sponsor for foster children through Children International and she supports numerous Veterans' organizations as well as environmental efforts around the globe. Over the years, she has shown and sold her artwork, hoping and praying that it will help bring peace and healing to others.

Using her considerable gifts, extensive experience and numerous talents to help others grow and heal is the soul of Reverend Susan Turley.

Ministering to and counseling the Veterans, the homeless, the desperate, the sick, the grieving, the victims of violence, those who have lost their faith and many other individuals, has been Reverend Susan Turley's life mission. Educating and training others to be agents of comfort, healing and spiritual light, she continues in her dedication to making a brighter, more beautiful world.

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International Assoc. of Who's Who

Email Contact

(212) 658-1452




NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/16 -- Ms. Linda R. Moniz has been a Registered Nurse for over 25 years, spending the first 15 years in several areas of patient care before moving into the area of medical academia.

Linda Moniz received her Master of Science in Nursing degree (M.S.N.) with honors from Salem State College in Salem, Massachusetts before earning her Ph.D. from Simmons College.

Ms. Moniz is the Associate Professor of Practice in Nursing at Simmons College, located in the heart of Boston. For over a hundred years, Simmons College has been offering a quality Liberal Arts education for undergraduates, integrated with professional work experience. Today, the college offers co-ed graduate programs in Nursing and Health Sciences, Education, Liberal Arts, Community Social Work, Library and Information Science and Communications Management.

Linda Moniz has taken her years of experience and expertise in the nursing areas of acute care, long-term care and home care and combined them with her public speaking, teaching and community outreach skills to set her apart as an exceptional Associate Professor on the higher education level. She is a highly qualified Nursing Educator and experienced Gerontology Nurse.

Ms. Linda Moniz is the Founding Sponsor and former Board Member of ANA Massachusetts; she is also a member of Sigma Theta Tau, Past President of the Theta at Large Chapter.

Linda R. Moniz has been awarded the Partners in Excellence Award by Massachusetts General Hospital and has been recognized as Professional of the Year for her outstanding contributions and achievements in her field.

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International Assoc. of Who's Who

Email Contact

(212) 658-1452




NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/16 -- Born in Huntington, West Virginia, Joseph Duffey received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Marshall University (1954), a Bachelor in Divinity Degree from Andover Theological School (1957), a Master of Sacred Theology (STM) from Yale University (1963), and his Ph.D. from Hartford Seminary Foundation (1969).

From 1960 to 1970, Dr. Duffey served as a member of the faculty, Acting Dean and Associate Professor while at Hartford Seminary. During this time, Dr. Duffey also founded and directed the Center for Urban Studies. Following his time at Hartford Seminary, Dr. Duffey was an Adjunct Professor at Yale University and a Fellow at Calhoun College (1971-73), before moving on and becoming the Chief Administrative Officer and spokesperson for the American Association of University Professors (AAUP).

Dr. Duffey worked on the Carter-Mondale Team from 1976 to 1977 and was the Assistant Secretary of State for Education and Cultural Affairs in 1977. President Carter appointed Duffey as Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities (1977-1982).

Duffey served as Chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and President of the University of Massachusetts (1982-1991). From 1991 to 1993, he was the President of American University and from 1993 to 1999, served as Director of the United States Information Agency (with Cabinet Status, appointed by President Clinton).

In 1978 and again in 1980, Duffey was appointed US delegate to the General Conference of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization U.N.E.S.C.O. (meetings in Paris and Belgrade). In 1991, he was in Ethiopia as the joint head of the U.S. delegation observing the national elections.

Dr. Joseph Duffey joined Laureate Education, Inc. as Senior Vice President in 1999, where his responsibilities included the overseeing of academic and educational standards and coordination of the development of Laureate International Universities' network programs and partnerships globally. With over 50 years of experience in the education field, Dr. Joseph Duffey has spent a lifetime learning and sharing his vast knowledge and experience with students and colleagues worldwide, as he lectures and consults internationally.

Dr. Duffey has been honored with a Global Achievement Award by Strathmore Who's Who and in 1993, he was awarded the honorary Doctor of Letter by Ritsumeikan University in Japan. He holds 14 honorary degrees from American colleges and universities. He was named Commander of the Order of the Crown by the King of Belgium in 1980, and Dr. Joseph Duffey has also served as a Fellow at Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

Dr. Duffey has written extensively on issues relating to social and economic policy as well as higher education.

International Assoc. of Who's Who

Email Contact

(212) 658-1452




TORONTO, ONTARIO and NUCLA, COLORADO -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/16 -- George Glasier, President & CEO of Western Uranium Corporation (CSE: WUC) ('Western' or the 'Company') is pleased to provide the following update.

Dear Shareholders and Friends of Western Uranium Corporation ('Western') or (the 'Company'):

As I look back over the last year and forward to the coming year, I am gratified to our team for the many accomplishments in 2015 setting the basis for advancing the Company in 2016. It was a little over a year ago that your Company became a public Company listed for trading on the Canadian Securities Exchange. I am pleased to provide highlights of the year in review and some thoughts on 2016.

1. In January 2015, shortly after listing of the Company, the Company announced the proposed acquisition of Black Range Minerals Limited ('BRL'), an Australian company listed on the ASX which would secure the rights to the Ablation Mining Technology and would add approximately 90M lbs of JORC standard in-situ uranium in south central Colorado to the Company's resources base. The transaction was successfully completed in September 2015 making Western the second largest uranium resource holder in the United States.

2. In September 2015 the Company hosted its first investor and analyst trip to the Sunday Mine Complex to see firsthand high-grade uranium and vanadium areas and to witness the commercial production capability of the ablation mining machine.

3. The Company reached a significant milestone in November 2015 by signing its first uranium off-take contract with a U.S. utility. The Company currently is in discussions with utilities for additional contracts. The US utilities are attracted by our projected low cost production costs and being a reliable domestic source of supply.

4. Financing of resource companies in the capital and debt markets remains a challenge. Recently we have completed a small raise to carry the Company into 2016. In mid-January I will be returning to New York and later to Europe to embark on an educational roadshow.

5. Western will continue to work with the State of Colorado on the initial testing of the Hansen Taylor deposit.

6. The Society of Mining Engineers has asked me to speak at their conference in April 2016 in New York.

We believe that momentum is building around the world for nuclear power to play a larger role in slowing climate change. The meetings in Paris recently concluded a new global agreement on global warming signed by 195 countries.

Although many experts are predicting an improved uranium price in 2016, Western is positioning the Company to be profitable at current uranium prices. Any increase in the price of uranium will impact margins quite positively.

WESTERN URANIUM CORPORATION

George Glasier, Director, President and CEO

About Western Uranium Corporation

Western Uranium Corporation is a Colorado based uranium company focused on near production of uranium and vanadium in the western United States.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS AND CAUTIONARY NOTE

This news release may contain forward-looking statements that are based on the Company's expectations, estimates and projections regarding its business and the economic environment in which it operates. These statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties that are difficult to control or predict. Therefore, actual outcomes and results may differ materially from those expressed in these forward-looking statements and readers should not place undue reliance on such statements. Statements speak only as of the date on which they are made.

Contacts:

George Glasier

President and CEO

Office: 970-864-2125

gglasier@western-uranium.com



Catherine Beckett

Corporate Secretary

Office: 416-642-1807

cbeckett@western-uranium.com



Michael Skutezky

Chairman of the Board

Office: 416-564-2870

mskutezky@western-uranium.com




Drexel University and Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Southeastern Pennsylvania have teamed up to create a $10m early stage seed fund.

Administered by representatives from Ben Franklin and Drexel Ventures, the Universitys enterprise for supporting translational research, discovery and innovation, the fund will initially invest in spin-off companies that have licensed technologies from the university and have already taken advantage of its commercialization programs.

The candidate pool will eventually be expanded to include startups founded by alumni and students.

For the fund, Ben Franklin is committing to match a $5m investment by Drexel over the next 10 years and will join Drexel and University City Science Centers efforts to strengthen the offerings for members at the Innovation Center @3401 ([email protected]). It will offer a variety of services and support including industry consulting, market analysis and access to capital.

Launched in June 2014 as a partnership between the Science Center and Drexel University, [email protected] offers workspace, shared amenities, along with a variety of services designed to connect its members with the people and resources needed to grow. The center hosts roughly 30 early-stage tech, digital health and business services companies and is also home of DreamIt Ventures and Point.io.

In addition, Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE), the Radnor, PA-based healthcare and technology private equity and venture capital firm, is also joining [email protected] in a high-level capacity as its first Sustaining Member. Led by Steve Zarilli, President and CEO, Safeguard will play a meaningful role in the centers ecosystem, including helping to recruit and mentor member companies and to bring in new industry collaborators.

FinSMEs

04/01/2015
Hometeam, a New York-based home care services platform for older adults, secured $27.5M in Series B funding.

Oak HC/FT joined existing investors Lux Capital, IA Ventures and Recruit Strategic Partners in the round.

The company intends to use the funds to accelerate its medical and technology development and to expand into several new states and major cities in the coming months.

Led by Josh Bruno, Founder and CEO, and Christine Henningsgaard, COO, Hometeam provides provides elderly clients and their familes with a service platform featuring personalized care planning, expert caregiver matching, custom mobile technology, and proactive case management to improve health and well-being.

The company is currently present in New York, New Jersey and Philadelphia.

FinSMEs

04/01/2016
Any way you look at it, taking a domestic flight at the turn of the century was a remarkable event in the life of an average Indian.

One had to plan much in advance, air tickets were an expensive proposition and though private airlines had arrived on the scene, Air India continued to have a substantial hold over the domestic aviation market. How things have changed in the last decade-and-a-half can be gauged by the fact that close to two lakh Indians take a flight to somewhere in the country everyday now. There are at least seven national airlines and many more regional carriers. Air traffic within India has grown five-fold in the past 15 years  international traffic, cargo movements have also increased substantially. The seven national airlines offer fliers a choice of service models and ticket prices now. And Air India's virtual monopoly over the Indian skies is a thing of the past with the airline not even accounting for a fifth of the total passengers flown now.

But the more things change, the more they stay the same. Right at the beginning of the 21st century, there was much debate about the divestment of the government's stake in state-owned Air India with global players like Singapore Airlines, Emirates, Hindujas, British Airways and Qantas vying with each other to take a piece of Air India. But the entire process was eventually scrapped and 15 years down the line, the airline continues to be state-owned.

And the discussion over divestment continues.

In the intervening years, the erstwhile separate airlines  Indian and Air India  were merged into a single entity in 2007 and what we now know as Air India was born. To disastrous consequences. The airline went from a profit making entity to a loss making behemoth in which the government continues to pour public money even as the market has expanded with more efficient private airlines coming in.

In the last 15 years, a lot has happened to India's civil aviation sector. In 2000-01, only about 14 million Indians flew on a domestic flight. This increased by more than three-fold to over 45 million domestic passengers in 2009-10. And in the 11 months of 2015 (January-November) the number of domestic passengers was already well above the 73 million mark. In other words, there has been over 60 percent growth in the last five years and a five-fold increase in a decade-and-a-half. This sort of explosive growth in domestic air traffic has come about due to a slow-but-steady opening up of the Indian skies, creation of aviation infrastructure  though it remains inadequate even now for future growth projections  and some change in the babudom's mindset about treating aviation as a "luxury".

In the year 2000, the biggest development in the Indian aviation space, as we have mentioned earlier, was a decision by the Union Cabinet to offload 60 percent of the government's equity in international carrier Air India (not the domestic arm which was then known as Indian Airlines) to strategic and domestic investors and employees of the airline. This would have helped the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government in realising its revenue targets for the fiscal besides decreasing its own involvement in the aviation sector.

Of the 60 percent equity on offer, 40 percent in AI was to be offered to a strategic partner  this saw a host of international names and serious bidders line up for the Air India pie. At that time, the popular wisdom was that AI needed to be given away into professional and qualified hands for securing its future. All but one bidder reached the final stage of qualification  a consortium comprising the Tatas and Singapore Airlines. But intense opposition to the privatisation of Air India by political parties and trade unions, and the fact that the 11 September, 2001 attacks ensured that SIA pulled out in 2001. And the divestment of Air India was put on the back burner for good. This has had unintended consequences for the sector as a whole  the most significant impact of governments refusal to divest AI has been on industry losses.

It is not surprising that Air India accounts for the biggest chunk of Indian airlines combined losses.

A lot of aviation watchers believe the UPA government and its civil aviation minister for most of its decade-long tenure, Praful Patel, should be mentioned in the context of liberalising the Indian skies and creation of world-class airport infrastructure. These people forget that the seeds for much of this progress were sown under the Vajpayee regime. This was a time when India used to follow what we now know as a "limited" open skies policy during winters. But the opening of the skies to foreign and private domestic airlines and the liberalisation of the entire aviation sector were the highlights of 2003 when a revolutionary Civil Aviation Policy was introduced to enhance competition and make flying easier and cheaper.

It was in 2004 that private domestic airlines were, for the first time, allowed to fly to Saarc countries, including Pakistan. In effect, the government decision meant that passengers now had the option of flying with Air Deccan, Air Sahara or Jet Airways instead of only Air India into Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal, the Maldives, Pakistan and Bhutan. Also airlines from Saarc and the Asean nations were provided greater access to Indian destinations. This was path-breaking as it shaped Indian outbound traffic for years to come.The path-breaking offer to the airlines of the Asean nations to fly into six Indian metros and 18 major tourist destinations without any restriction was made by Vajpayee at the India-Asean summit in Bali, Indonesia.

With the arrival of the UPA in 2004, the aviation industry saw another round of liberalisation.

By 2003-04, India saw the arrival of the low-cost carrier (LCC) phenomenon when Air Deccan took to the skies with fares half those of full-service carriers (FSC). The Indian traveller was used to the Maharaja-style of doing things, later trying out the famous Jet Airways hospitality. The no-frills Air Deccan was an entirely different experience, made even more exciting when the airline later launched dirt cheap one-rupee fares to increase aircraft loads. Meanwhile, other LCCs also began arriving on the scene lead by SpiceJet in 2005 and IndiGo came the following year.

During the first decade of this century, not only were Indian skies opening up and new airlines taking wings, even infrastructure development had begun to get kick-started. The government realised that the Airports Authority of India (AAI) did not have the required bandwidth to modernise and upgrade some of the larger airports, especially in Delhi and Mumbai, without help from private parties. So this on-again-off-again process resulted in concessions of the two airports being finally granted to private consortia in 2006.

Though concerns remain over the contours of the concession awarded at that time and also over how these private developers have tried to charge passengers instead of investing required amounts themselves, no one can deny that both cities now boast world-class airports. Hyderabad, Bengaluru and Kochi were later also developed through the same model. Aviation infrastructure development must now get another push since India is poised to be the third largest aviation market in another decade.

Then, Patel also did the aviation industry a service by identifying source countries for air service bilateral agreements. An ASA defines how many seats/flights airlines of two signatory countries can offer. India inked one with the UK which allowed airlines of both countries to increase services. Also, along came the landmark air services agreement with Dubai followed by other Gulf nations which altered the course of the aviation industry since the Dubai-based Emirates got seat entitlements that gradually allowed it to corner one of the largest chunks of outbound air traffic from India.

In its last few months, the UPA lifted Air Indias right of first refusal over foreign flying rights, ushered in some reforms in the regulatory mechanism and finally eased the total ban on foreign airline investment into Indian carriers by allowing up to 49 percent investment. This is when the Tatas re-entered the aviation business by launching not one but two airlines in India with different partners.

Today, India is one of the fastest growing aviation markets in the world but lack of policy support for the last few years coupled with increased competition in the Indian skies has made operators in the industry wary of their future. The fast pace of reforms, opening up the skies and other initiatives which marked the first decade-and-a-half of Indias aviation trajectory have been missing since the NDA government came to power. This is best illustrated by some stats: Industry losses are expected to be $500-550 million for the year ending March 2016, which means a daily loss of close to $1.4 million by all airlines combined. How will a large aviation market sustain itself if a majority of the players continue to bleed, either due to legacy issues (which is a major factor in Air Indias continued bleeding) or due to a lack of fiscal incentives? Kingfisher Airlines went down in 2012, unable to sustain a skewed revenue model but also partly due to the high-cost operating environment that prevailed in the country and continues to prevail even now. Last year, SpiceJet was on the brink of closure again due to severe cash problems but was resurrected by timely government intervention and after erstwhile promoter Ajay Singh agreed to back the airline once again.

Why the government continues to be reluctant to help airlines can be easily understood by a simple truism: India has seen flying as a luxury, never really coming around to the point of view that today flying has become a necessity. Well over a crore Indians take a train to their destinations each day when a mere 1.8-2 lakh are flying on the domestic network. This state of affairs is at least partly due to the heavy Central and state taxation that is levied on jet fuel  in fact, India is one of those countries which taxes jet fuel the highest in the world. Successive governments have been promising airlines a way out of this taxed-to-death Aviation Turbine Fuel conundrum but none has succeeded in persuading states to lower taxation. ATF accounts for about 40 percent of an airlines operational costs. Recently, the AAP government in Delhi in fact hiked VAT to 25 percent. Remember, Delhi has the countrys busiest airport and airlines will have no option left but to lift expensive fuel from the Capital.

State governments throw up their hands often in this matter, saying they will lose revenue if ATF taxation is brought down. In the end, airlines continue to pile losses despite a good business environment  the only exceptions to this being IndiGo and GoAir.

In 2015, three new airlines took to the skies, one returned after a near-collapse at the beginning of the year and continues to improve performance. The countrys most profitable airline IndiGo went public, prompting a re-rating of the entire aviation sector and India cleared two safety hurdles  it again securing top safety ranking from the US safety regulator FAA after remaining in the doldrums for months, and has just recently also passed the audit conducted by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).

Vistara, which marked the Tatas return to the aviation sector after earlier aborted attempts, took to the skies in January 2015. A joint venture between Tata Sons (51 percent) and Singapore Airlines (49 percent), Vistara was the second investment by the Tatas in aviation  Tata Sons had, some months earlier, also announced a three way joint venture for AirAsia India. Vistaras launch was a milestone for not only the Tatas but also because it came as a full-service carrier, together with all the bells and whistles in a market increasingly dominated by no-frills airlines. And because it was the first major investment by a foreign airline in an Indian one, barring AirAsia. Almost one year down the line, Vistara has carried a million Indians already even as it continues to expand its fleet.

There is much potential in the Indian civil aviation market but it needs the right impetus, policy support and environment to grow. It now urgently needs a third wave of reforms. The much awaited Civil Aviation Policy could offer some solace to industry woes, It is now expected to be unveiled next month. Besides suggesting a framework for enhanced connectivity in Indias hinterland, it is also expected to take a call on other detrimental rules such as the 5/20. This rule has defined Indias aviation growth along with a total ban on foreign airlines investing in Indian carriers (which was lifted in 2012). This rule bars an Indian airline from flying overseas till it has completed five years of domestic flying and has a fleet of at least 20 aircraft. Brought in at the behest of a large private carrier, any continuation of this rule along with the taxed-to-death ATF, will surely sound the death knell for airlines wanting to expand in Indian market. Though incumbents IndiGo, SpiceJet, GoAir and Air India have complied with this restriction in the past, new airlines Vistara and AirAsia India will obviously stand to lose if the 5/20 rule stays  since their expansion depends largely on seamless connectivity with the foreign partner and ambitious growth in overseas operations.

The Civil Aviation Policy is widely expected to also recommend that all airlines not only participate in the ambitious regional connectivity scheme but also increase domestic connectivity otherwise. Again, this may stem from the need to get more remote locations on the countrys aviation map but the move is fraught with litigation and opposition from airlines since they already deploy a certain specified capacity on non-viable domestic routes.

Another unwelcome move: Fliers will have to shell out more from next year as the policy also proposes an additional two percent levy on all tickets to fund regional connectivity.

Then, although the policy speaks of enhanced regional connectivity, it has no firm plans for augmenting airport and other related infrastructure to support regional flying. Through 2015, the government went back and forth on earlier moves to privatise four airports at Kolkata, Chennai, Jaipur and Ahmedabad. The proposal was finally scrapped. And now, an ambitious plan to give out Jaipur and Ahmedabad airports to Singapores Changi for operation and management is also mired in controversies.

Then, an earlier decision to sell stakes in the AAI and Pawan Hans Ltd was also reversed. How aviation growth will be supported without adequate infrastructure creation, keeping private developers out and overloading AAI remains to be seen. If India does manage to draft a sensible Civil Aviation Policy with initiatives for short, medium and long-term growth of the sector, the countrys aviation journey may not see as many air pockets as in the past.

But for the sector to grow to its full potential, it needs hand-holding by the policy makers.
"One would have thought that Phaneesh Murthy would have learnt not to do such things again, and to steer away and rebuild his career. But unfortunately he seems to have succumbed again," rues former Infosys honcho Mohandas Pai in the Bangalore Mirror.The big executives of the IT industry are shocked by former iGate CEO Phaneesh Murthy's lack of judgement.

The reaction of Murthy's peers is similar to that delivered by Bill Clinton supporters in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Then Labour Secretary Robert Reich was horrified not by the fact of the affair but the sheer idiocy it represented: "He would not be so stupid as to jeopardise his whole presidency, I felt. That was not the man I knew."

An unnamed communications head of a rival IT company said the same of Murthy, although in less generous terms: "He was one of a kind in the industry in his position, holding both an IIM and an IIT degree. After the Infosys episode, he should have realised how vulnerable he was and should have been more careful."

Murthy was just plain stupid. A fool who allowed his libido to destroy an enormously successful career.

No one, however, is questioning the judgement of the iGate board.

The IT consultancy arm of the company, iGateGlobal Solutions, made Murthy its CEO as part of a Rs 86.9 crore deal to acquire his company Quintant Services back in 2003. At the time, iGateCorporation President Ashok Trivedi laudedPhaneesh's vision, leadership and management capabilities."

There was no mention of Murthy's glaring liability: an established record of sexual misconduct. Barely a year before his iGatehire, Murthy had been sacked from Infosys after his executive secretary Reka Maximovitch complained of sexual harassment and wrongful termination of employment. "Phaneesh did not disclose to the company management, as an important functionary, that he had a relationship with Maximovitch and also of the fact that she had filed in the court for a restraining order against him," said Infy chairman NR Narayanamurthy in a 2002 press conference. The company extricated itself from the mess with a $3 million settlement.

But none of this detered the iGateboard members. After all, what's a wee charge of sexualharassmentcompared to the lucrative potential of a corporate genius credited for taking Infosys' US revenues from $7 million to $700 million in a decade. Nor did the company think it fit to revisit its decision in 2004, when Phaneesh Murthy personallysettleda second sexual harassment claim of another Infosys employee, Jennifer Griffith, this time for $800,000.

"You know, every time people ask me about this, I tell them I trust Phaneesh more than I trust myself... In fact, we have bonded better as a family. We're stronger than ever before," Jaya Murthy told the Economic Times in the aftermath of the Infosys scandal. "When Phaneesh was with Infosys, we hardly got to see him. He loved his job so much that he was always there, 24 hours a day. It's finally good to have my husband back from Infosys."

Where other wives may at least have acknowledged the betrayal, Mrs Murthy went one step further to pretend her spouse had done nothing wrong, allowing ET to exonerate him outright:

The verdict on the sexual harassment suit against Phaneesh Murthy, the former marketing whizkid of Infosys, is finally out. He's been acquitted. The acquittal comes not from the Alameda County Superior Court in Oakland, where the suit against him is filed, but from his wife of ten years, Jaya Murthy.

She helped reinforce Murthy's claim that his ouster was merely an unexpected but welcome "break" - a fiction cemented by iGate's decision to anoint him CEO a year later. The two collaborated - each for their own reason -to create the alluring myth of the "comeback kid," and reaffirmed his sense of golden immunity. It was almost inevitable that he would re-offend.

"High performers do come with a large ego. I think people like this enjoy the risk that comes with this, the risk of being caught," a former Infy executive tells the Mirror. iGate just assumed that Murthy's job performance would outweigh the risks posed by that outsized ego and concomittant sexual appetite. The assumption was not just sexist but also outdated and false.

We no longer live in a Mad Men world where inappropriate misbehaviour behind executive office doors is a minor indiscretion, or worse, an established perk of power. Such misconduct in the 21st century has real consequences both for the offender and the company that hired him. In iGate's case, the damage can be measured in the 10 percent tumble in its stock price. Murthy established "iGate as a leader in the IT industry," as the company's statement claims, but he has also now left it saddled with a debt of over $1 billion incurred by Murthy's bold decision to acquire Patni Computer Systems.

The board that agreed to a deal that made Murthy CEO of iGate Global showed poor judgement. It was every bit as stupid as Murthy himself, more so because it tacitly rewarded him for illegal behaviour - and thereby enhanced his misplaced sense of immunity. Asked by The Telegraph in 2011 about the Infosys scandal, Murthy was loftily dismissive:"The whole incident was disappointing. We all reacted badly because none of us knew how to react to such a case."

Men like Murthy are far too egotistical to ever take responsibility for errors of judgement, leave alone admit committing a wrong. In Tuesday's press conference, he once again played the victim of vengeful ex-lovers intent on extortion. "When you figure out women, let me know. I will take lessons from you," he snapped at a reporter who wondered why his supposed office romances seemed to end in legal action.

Firstpost contributor Abhilasha Khaitan argues that Murthy's arrogance is rooted in the realities of the corporate world: [W]hile the present may be troubled for Murthy, the future holds enough potential. His considerable accomplishments have earned him entry into the old boy's club of tycoons and honchos. And they seem to protect their own."

That may be so for companies that maintain an India-only profile, but unlikely in the IT industry which relies on a global presence. Sexual harassment laws may be lax in India but they are more strictly imposed in the United States. iGate was foolish to play by Indian rules in picking its US-based CEO. Other IT firms would be equally foolish to repeat its mistake.

It's why Murthy's peers like Pai don't sound quite as forgiving this time around: "This should be a message to all leaders in business, any transgression of your obligations, you will be punished and punishment will be severe." And so it should be because hiring tainted CEOs is not just bad gender politics, but just plain bad for business. Thanks to the stock market, sexism may soon become a luxury the 'old boys club' can no longer afford.
MUMBAI Barclays Plc is to close its Indian equities business as part of efforts to cut costs and boost profit, two sources with direct knowledge of the plan said on Monday.

The British bank's equities business in India, which was rolled out in 2011, includes research and broking for institutional investors, and employs some two dozen people, the sources told Reuters.

The planned closure is part of Chief Executive Jes Staley's wider plan to cut costs, the sources, who declined to be named, said.

Barclays is midway through a three-year cost-reduction plan, which involves shedding 19,000 jobs, or about 14 percent of its global workforce. In November, the bank put a freeze on hiring until the start of 2016.

A spokesman in India for Barclays, whose other operations in Asia's third-largest economy include corporate and investment banking, and wealth management, declined to comment.

The London-headquartered bank planned to cut more jobs in its investment banking unit, Reuters reported last month. Most of these cuts were expected to be in Asia.

Barclays is also weighing the sale of its Asian private wealth business, for which Singapore's DBS Group Holdings and Julius Baer are seen as potential bidders, sources told Reuters last month.

The planned shut down of Barclays' equities desk in India comes against the backdrop of a drop in the local stock market - the broader Mumbai stock market index fell 4 percent in 2015 - and tough competition from Indian rivals.

Last week, Societe Generale, France's second-biggest bank by market value, said it would shut its equities research desk in India as part of an internal reorganisation.

Barclays, a late entrant to the Indian equities business, had rolled out its equities business in India at a time when sluggish market conditions had hit volumes and fierce competition had driven down fees.

But it had managed to gain market share in the last couple of years by focussing on foreign as well as domestic institutional investors, one of the sources said.

(Reporting by Sumeet Chatterjee; additional reporting by Savio Shetty; editing by Susan Thomas and Alexander Smith)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
The terror attack on an Air Force base at Pathankot has entered the third day, the duration of the strike bringing back memories of the 26/11 terror attacks in Mumbai, which lasted for nearly 72 hours. An NSG official said during a media briefing on Monday evening that five terrorists were killed by security forces. While combing operations are still on, all personnel and their families are safe, the official added.

While four terrorists were killed on Saturday, two more attackers were still said to be in hiding on the third day of the attack on Monday.

Earlier, home minister Rajnath Singh had tweeted that the armed forces had successfully neutralised 'all the five terrorists' involved in the attack, leading to reports that the operation had ended. On Monday, the security forces appeared to be particularly careful during their interaction with the media, and did not take any questions after they briefed journalists in Pathankot.

"The operation will continue till all the personnel, assets and structure are physically combed. So it is likely to take a long time," National Security Guards (NSG) Inspector General Major General Dushant Singh had said on Monday.

NSG and army commandos conducted a thorough mopping of the entire area where the terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan and trained by the outlawed Jaish-e-Muhammed (JeM) outfit, had been cornered, police said.

While the United Jihad Council has claimed responsibility for the terror strike, the government has rubbished the claim, claiming that it was a tactic to divert attention, CNN-IBN said.

On Monday, a powerful explosion shook a double-storeyed building at the Air Base where two terrorists were still holed up as operations intensified to flush them out.

However, all assets, structures and families residing in the IAF base were secure and there was no collateral damage, an Air Force official said.

In the afternoon hours, CNN-IBN reported that one terrorist was blown to pieces after the hideout was blasted, and that the body of another terrorist was being pulled out of the rubble.

Meanwhile, the body of Garud commando Gursewak Singh, one of the seven defence personnel killed in the attack, reached his native Garnala village near Ambala draped in the tricolour.

Haryana Ministers Anil Vij and Abhimanyu were present to pay tributes along with senior officers from the Air Force, besides personnel from the army, police and civil administration.

The body of Lt Colonel E K Niranjan, a bomb expert with the National Security Guard who was killed while defusing a grenade at the scene of the terror attack at Pathankot IAF base, was taken to Bengaluru from where it was to be taken to his hometown Palakkad in Kerala.

In Gurdaspur, Punjab, scores of mourners gathered at the house of Subedar Fateh Singh, 51, a shooter who had won Commonwealth medals.

With inputs from agencies
Kazi Masum Akhtar, headmaster of Talpukur Aara High Madrasa, was viciously assaulted by maulanas and their sympathisers for teaching school children to sing the national anthem in preparation for the forthcoming Republic Day on 26 January.

According to The New Indian Express, the headmaster was attacked because the radical Muslic clerics were in support of the Islamic State. The maulvis have called the national anthem a "sacrilege" and a "Hindutva song" and issued a fatwa against Akhtar, according to the report.

This is not the first time that Akhtar has been attacked and targeted. A frenzied mob had attacked him for being anti-Islamic in April 2015. After the assault, according to a Hindustan Times report, local fundamentalists had asked Akhtar to wear a skull cap and grow a beard if he planned to return to the school to teach.

Akhtar had to go through multiple struggles to get back to teaching. According to The New Indian Express, the maulvis have asked Akhtar to take photos each week to show them the progress of his beard.

Akhtar has time and again sought help from the police and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and the West Bengal Madrasa Board chairman, but he did not find any assurance, according to The Indian Express. The Talpukur Aara High Madrassa is recognised by the government.
New Delhi: The NIA on Monday registered a case to probe the conspiracy of a Pakistan-based terrorist group, believed to be Jaish-e-Mohammed, behind the strike at the IAF base in Pathankot in Punjab.

The case was initially registered by the local police station in Pathankot that was transferred and handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA), a central probe agency that was set up after the audacious 26/11 Mumbai terror strike to probe all terror cases in the country.

The NIA registered the case under various sections of Indian Penal Code, Unlawful Activities Prevention Act and Arms Act against unknown persons, official sources said.

A team of NIA was at the spot since Saturday as per the standard operating procedure under which the agency rushes its team to the terror attack site so that they can share their expertise as well as have first-hand information about the case.

The NIA will take over the evidence and custody of the bodies of terrorists once the Army and NSG give clearance that the Pathankot operation is over, the sources said.

The mandate of the NIA probe will include entry of the militants into India, killing of taxi driver Ikagar Singh, kidnapping of Superintendent of Police-rank officer of Punjab Police, who was later released and entry into the IAF campus, the sources said.

SP Salwinder Singh, who was shunted out from Gurdaspur to take charge as Assistant Commandant of 75th battalion of Punjab Armed Police, is likely to be questioned about the terrorists who had hijacked his vehicle. He is already facing charges of alleged breach of discipline.

The sources said the investigators will also try and ascertain the conspiracy that was hatched on Pakistani soil by the terrorists and if possible find out the state and non-state actors in that country.

The Pathankot IAF facility, located near the border with Pakistan, is the base of MiG-21 fighter planes and MI-25 attack helicopters of Air Force.

PTI
Srinagar: A conglomerate of nearly fifteen militant groups, United Jihad Council (UJC), based in Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), has claimed responsibility for the deadly terror attack on the Pathankot air base in Punjab, where search and combing operation is still going on, even after 48 hours.

Seven security personnel and five terrorists have been killed so far including one IAF Garud commando and five from Defence Services Corps (DSC). One National Security Guards officer of a Lt Col-rank also died while defusing a grenade during the ongoing combing operation.

In a statement to the Srinagar-based news gathering agency Current News Service, the spokesperson of the United Jihad Council Syed Sadaqat Hussain has claimed that Pathankot air base attack was carried out by "Kashmiri militants" associated with 'Highway Squad'.

But strangely, the statement issued by UJC, provides little information about the terrorist organisation which carried out the attack in Pathankot, although it says the attack was carried out by 'Highway Squad', but refrains from pointing out the name of the organisation or a terror group which the attackers belong to.

The spokesperson of the UJC told the news agency that, Indian government and its media have been suffering from Pakistan phobia. By accusing Pakistan for every attack, India neither succeeded in past to malign the Kashmir Freedom Struggle nor will it get anything in future through malicious propaganda."

The attack on Pathankot air base from Kashmiri Mujhadeen carries a message to India that no security establishment and garrison are out of reach from militants. Instead of accusing Pakistan, India should read the writing on the wall and without wasting any time should provide an opportunity to the people of Kashmir to decided their future, the statement read.

Six terrorists reportedly attacked the Pathankot air base in a pre-dawn assault on Saturday. The government is however guarded on spelling out the actual number of terrorists involved in the attack until the combing operation is finally completed.

Four terrorists were killed following a gun battle with security forces on the same day. However, two other militants managed to keep commandos from the NSG and IAF engaged for two more days. Security agencies believe the operation would be called off tonight.

UJC is the largest conglomerate of militant organisations based in PoK and usually carry out operations mainly against security forces in the Kashmir valley.

But it unlikely they have carried out this attack. There is some kind of politics involved in this. It could be pressure from Islamabad also, a senior counterinsurgency expert based in Jammu and Kashmir told FirstPost.

The group is headed by Mohammad Yousuf Shah alias Syed Salahuddin, a Kashmir from south Kashmir Budgam area, who heads the conglomerate. The Hizbul supremo and United Jihad Council chairman Salahuddin figures among the 20 most wanted fugitives in India.

The conglomerate came into being in 1994, the main reason behind unifying the organisation was to "unite different militant organisation fighting the India state in Kashmir."

Some of the UJC constitute include Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen, Harakat-ul-Ansar, Al-Jihad, Al-Barq. Although Jaish-e-Mohammed is not part of the UJC, which is the prime suspect behind the attack in Pathankot, as it has distanced itself from the conglomerate following the Jaish involvement in the terror attacks beyond the borders of Jammu and Kashmir.

Security officials in Jammu and Kashmir say it is interesting the organisation has refrained from directly pinpointing which militant group is responsible for the Pathankot attack.

But it might be a move to divert the attention from the real culprit by claiming that Kashmiri militants are responsible for the attack. We have never heard of Highway Squad," a police official said.

However, according to intelligence agencies the attack is believed to be carried out by Maulana Masood Azhar-led group Jaish-e-Muhammad, which carried out a similar attack in Tangdhar area of north Kashmir in November last year.
By Lieutenant General Prakash Katoch (retired)

As counter-terrorist operations at the Pathankot Indian Air Force (IAF) base continues into the third day, the ordinary man wants answers to the same five questions he has asked following every terror strike engineered by Pakistan:

One, why this strike?

Two, will Pakistan ever end the proxy war?

Three, do we continue the Indo-Pak dialogue?

Four, why are we permitting ourselves to be subjected to Pakistans thousand cut policy?

Five, where do we go from here?

Why this strike at the IAF base? There could be multiple reasons. The Pakistani military may have been stung by the recent Modi-Nawaz hug at Lahore and wanted to immediately assert its supremacy overnight. It was more of a repeat of Musharraf backstabbing Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after his bus trip to Lahore, with the Kargil intrusions. This time Army Chief Raheel Sharif has orchestrated the terror strike in Pathankot, for the involvement of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is implicit.

Next, Islamic State has been endeavouring to rekindle militancy in Punjab for the past five-six years, prelude to which has been the mass infusion of narcotics into Punjab, particularly in the youth and rural areas and establishing conduits on the Indian side. The well-oiled smuggling routes facilitate infiltration when required, as in the case of Gurdaspur terror attack and now Pathankot. The ease with which a vehicle was arranged from the Indian side using a Pakistani telephone indicates the nexus (which the drug mafia will deny).

An IAF base was chosen as the target because of its expanse, and part of the periphery secured only through patrolling makes access easy. Once inside, terrorists can lie doggo in the underbrush or move from cover to cover retaining the initiative of firing at any movement. Besides, aircraft are lucrative trophies that can be targeted by small arms and RPGs, enhancing the terror and panic value. The Pathankot strike was planned in the same manner as the 26/11 Mumbai terror strikes by the ISI, with the former lot trained by Pakistani Marines and this time the Special Services Group.

Will Pakistan ever end the proxy war? The straight answer is no, unless the Pakistani army is forced to do so. Unfortunately, both US and China continue to support the Pakistani military in their own national interests. US, which forced Pakistan to join the Global War On Terror (GWOT) under threat of bombing it into stone age can easily put enough pressure on Pakistan to end her proxy wars on India and Afghanistan, but does not do so. Even in the case of the Pathankot strike, where there is clear evidence of Pakistani handlers, US has made the routine perfunctory statement including that all countries in the region should cooperate in curbing terror.

China, in any case is hand-in-glove with Pakistan even at the sub-conventional level against India. The Pakistani military holds all the cards in Pakistan and defines the countrys foreign and defence policies. Her private business-corporate empire was reportedly to the tune of US$ 20.7 billion way back in 2007. There is no way it will let go of such power and finances. Hence, it must continue to have confrontation with India and Afghanistan. That is why Musharraf sang: Even if the Kashmir issue is resolved, jihad against India will continue.

The recruitment base of the military and terrorist organisations are common and latter are also supported by cross-section of Pakistani administration and polity. More significantly in the current era, where even big powers are using proxies in conflict, Pakistani proxies are of use both to US and China for playing the Great Game.

Do we continue the Indo-Pak dialogue? This perhaps is the easiest to answer; perhaps we can continue the dialogue because nations talk even while at war. However, the strike at the Pathankot IAF base and simultaneous targeting of the Indian Consulate at Mazar-e-Sharif holds a clear message from the Pakistani military  you can talk as you like but we will continue the proxy war. So it is for the Indian government to decide.



Why have we permitted ourselves to be subjected to Pakistans thousand cut policy? The answer perhaps lies in what veteran Research & Analysis Wing (R&AW) officers have been hinting in their writings for some time; that sections of our polity are perhaps under ISI blackmail having used hawala, who have been advocating a soft approach or, should we say, a policy of drift. In addition, some of our media houses appear aligned or bribed by the ISI and this is not only about giving out explicit operational details during terror strikes that are of advantage to the Pakistani handlers during the operation and to the ISI in the long run.

Where do we go from here? Many questions are being raised about our response to the Pathankot terror strike, which will be addressed once the operation ends. However, the bottom-line is that despite battling terror for decades India has failed to acknowledge that conventional force and diplomacy by itself is no match to sub-conventional war.

Both Pakistan and China have advanced sub-conventional capabilities that they are employing proactively against us while we have failed to do so. This is a great strategic asymmetry because of which we have been constantly at the receiving end; no forward movement despite similar terror strikes a decade back at Kaluchak, Tanda and elsewhere. There is urgent need to develop credible deterrence against the proxy wars waged against us, which will need to be demonstrated to establish the required credibility.

Meanwhile, we need to keep our guard up including during the forthcoming Republic Day with the French President as the chief guest, with France being targeted by ISIS. Presently, if, when ISIS has captured seven districts of Afghanistans Nangarhar Province (west of Peshawar) and is spreading to other regions, they have been inducted by Pakistan. Same is the case of Al Qaeda re-establishing in Afghanistan. The Al Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) chief Mullah Asim Umar is a Pakistani national steeped in Pakistani madrasas. It would be naive to expect US to put a few cruise missiles into Pakistans terror hatcheries as Russian President Vladimir Putin did in Syria. We need to fight these proxy wars on our own.

The author is former director general, information systems of the Indian Army, and a special forces officer.
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday presided over a high-level meeting to discuss the ongoing operation at Pathankot air base to flush out holed up terrorists and the attack on Indian consulate in Afghanistan.

Top security officials, including NSA Ajit Doval, are learnt to have briefed Modi on the ongoing operation in Pathankot as well as the terror strike at the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif on Sunday.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, both members of the Cabinet Committee on Security, were also present at the meeting.

Soon after returning from his two-day visit to Karnataka, Modi had chaired a similar meeting on Sunday night of top officials, including Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

The operation against militants holed up at the air base entered the third day on Monday after explosions and firing continued intermittently overnight.

Security forces had on Sunday killed one of at least two terrorists on the second day of the attack in which seven security personnel lost their lives, including a lieutenant colonel of the NSG. Four terrorists were eliminated on Saturday when they had struck at the air base.

PTI
New Delhi: Even as the government refuses to admit any lapse on the part of security and intelligence agencies in the terror attack at Punjabs Pathankot airbase, doubts have surfaced over how fool-proof India's intelligence-security ecosystem really is. Defence experts and former top servicemen feel the attack is the result of a failure of the entire system. According to latest reports, seven Indian security personnel had died in the attack and theres still no clarity on whether more terrorists are holed up at the base.

Questions are many: How can a pinpointed intelligence input  if any  be ignored? Why was the perimeter of the Pathankot airbase not secured despite warnings? Why was the first information of the armed infiltration, given by a Punjab Police officer who was abducted by the terrorists, disregarded? How was another infiltration allowed to take place along the very same nullah which served as conduit for a recent previous attack? What was the Border Security Force's role? Where are the surveillance equipment and night vision devices? Why was the National Security Guard (NSG) sent in when the Army has a crack Special Forces unit nearby at Nahan? Why was Delhi trying to micromanage when it clearly lacks the competence?

India has not learnt any lesson from previous operations carried out by Pakistan against us. We shout for two days and then it is business as usual. It is a shame, Major General (retired) Satbir Singh told Firstpost.

How can this operation, he asked, be called 'professional' when terrorists managed to advance 25 km inside the area where we have vital air assets, kill seven and seriously injure 20 in 36 hours?

It means our intelligence agencies are not working at all. There is no co-ordination. There is no actionable intelligence, he alleged.

When reminded that the Intelligence Bureau (IB) had given prior inputs, he replied, The responsibility of the IB does not stop after merely issuing alerts. Its responsibility is to ensure that actionable intelligence goes is acted upon. And mind you, I am not isolating military when I said it was the failure of all intelligence and executing agencies. The entire system has failed.

The Army veteran refused to accept that the assault was a terror attack. He said it is a military operation by Pakistan.

The nation has been defeated by terrorists of Pakistan. So, they are not terrorists. It is a military operation against us by the ISI and the Pakistan Army. The government has permitted the terrorists to enter our territory and kill so many people, he said.

On whether there is a visible trend in the recent attacks in Punjab, he added, Pakistani terrorists are shifting their target from the Valley to Punjab as they are finding it (the state) an easier target. They are finding laxity, lack of coordination, seriousness and ineffectiveness of local commanders.

According to him, a standard operating procedure should immediately be installed so that whenever such an attack takes place, the local command of all operations and forces in the sector is automatically assumed by the senior-most military officer.

"This operation should have come under the local Army GOC instead of New Delhi," he said.

Air Vice Marshal (retired) Kapil Kak also shared the same opinion. The government had specific inputs 24 hours in advance that Punjab is going to be struck. Why was security of vital installations was not beefed up? The government did not coordinate well enough to prevent terrorists from getting inside the airbase. It takes only six hours to deploy a battalion around the perimeter. Had they been deployed in time, the terrorists would have never dared to climb the wall and cross the concertina wire and get inside. Seven lives could have been saved, he said.

The police, he said, had 24 hours after the terrorists killed taxi driver Ikagar Singh on Friday and injured Rajesh Verma, the friend of Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singh, early in the morning on 1 January. Between 11:30 am and 1 pm, the terrorists spoke to their handlers. From 1 pm to 3 am next morning, they were around Punjab for full 15 hours in Army fatigues.

Where were the police? They knew the last position. So, the police and decision-making at the highest level were below par because they had all the time and forces at their disposal to protect the airbase. There could have been a three-layer security. This is disaster at a strategic level, he further added.

He questioned National Security Advisor Ajit Dovals move of sending the National Security Guard at Pathankot.

Why are you fiddling around with the NSG? There is a brigade in Pathankot. Why were its battalions not used? he asked, adding it is not the duty of Air Force to protect it from outside. Their job is to see if the place is secure, the aircraft are serviceable, and can fly when required and to ensure infrastructure inside. They provide security only inside the airbase and for this purpose, they rely on retired Army jawans who constitute what they call Defence Security Corps (DSC)  which are not a counter terror force. They are like chowkidars (watchman) in uniform. They are not trained take on intruders and therefore, five of them were killed.

Referring to Union Home Secretary Rajiv Mehershis statements where he kept repeating that the IAF lost seven men, he said: The fact is the IAF and the NSG lost one officer each. Four DSC guards were apparently gunned down and one DSC jawan was killed after he killed a terrorist. A man who doesnt even know the line-up of our own forces is quite clearly not up to the job, he added.

Adding that attacks after attacks are a worrisome trend, he added: We will have to now watch Jaish in the frontline. It is getting more and more active in Kashmir taking a leaf out of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and Hizb-ul-Mujahideen's book.

The attack in Kupwara sector was also their handiwork. They targeted military camp there and now the airbase here. Gurdaspur attack, too, was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammad.

Kak strongly disagreed with Major Gen. Singh who said the Pakistan Army and the ISI are involved in the attack.

The Pakistan Army or the ISI do not have a hand in this incident. Though it goes against the grains of public opinion in India, I say it very openly and with firmness. I dont say it in psychological or instinctive terms but as an analysis, he said.

"The attack", said the Air Vice Marshal, "is is not a result of planning but a threat. Pakistan-based Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) carried out a similar attack on PN Naval Base in Mehran in 2011 and subsequently on Kamra airbase in 2012. Fortunately, Jaish failed to inflict such damage on us because of some apparent coordination problems.

Ashok K Behuria, research fellow at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, feels the terror attack is aimed at unsettling the dialogue process.

I would say that this was pretty much expected. One should not be surprised. What surprises me is the lack of preparedness on our part. I would have expected our authorities to be little more prepared for this kind of act. This spoiler act was very much on. In fact, the script had been written when the Prime Minister Narendra Modi landed Lahore, he added.

There is a very powerful constituency in the Pakistani military which does not want better relationship with India and it has become an existential charter of the Pakistan Army. The army is not happy with the efforts of civilian government led by Nawaz Sharif to engage in talks with India and that is quite evident. If you look at the trend right from November 2008 till date, each time civilian government in Pakistan had taken a step forward it had been followed by a terror attack.

"To claim that the LeT, Jaish. HuJI or any other terror outfit are acting on their own is ridiculous because it is a deliberate attempt by the Pakistan military to scotch the talks. No second thoughts, added Behuria, who is an expert on Pakistan's politics, India-Pakistan relations vis-a-vis Kashmir and the sectarian diversity in Pakistan.

"Pakistan is trying," he said, "to take this war to different theatre because they know that Indian Army is better prepared in the valley.

I imagine it that they are doing it with twin purposes  it is a weaker area from a security point of view and it is easier to infiltrate. Second, there is parallel effort to resurrect Punjabi militancy. The Sikh community is being wooed by the Pakistani intelligence agencies. the Pathankot attack is an effort to kill three birds with one stone  demonstrate the weakness of the Indian military; hold the talks; revive or encourage the Sikh militancy in the state to gain grounds.

Prof Ajay Darshan Behera, coordinator for Pakistan Studies at the Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia university, raised questions on the ill-informed operation by the security forces. Yesterday, there was news that all terrorists have been neutralised but today, the operation is still on. I think there is something terrible in the way they have handled the entire operation as well as disseminating information to the media.

Why has so much information being given out about the operation when you do not know what actually happened? It is a very sensitive case because the government is trying to move ahead with talks and simultaneously trying to contain a terrorist attack, he said.

There are information that infiltrators are entering the country through the routes taken by smugglers to cross the international border.

I strongly feel the attacks are planned and through and through. They wanted to inflict a major damage like blowing up a plane etc., and therefore had chose Pathankot (which is considered Indias first line of defence against Pakistan), he said.

Behera doesn't think the attacks are an attempt to revive insurgency in Punjab.

Any insurgency is very difficult to be revived until there is a cause. Therefore, it is nearly impossible to revive any movement in Punjab. Kashmir keeps on burning because there is some resistance but in Punjab you do not have that kind of situation. Pakistan cannot really build a movement in Punjab, he concluded.
What will happen to the thaw in India-Pakistan bilateral relations post Prime Minister Narendra Modis surprise visit to Lahore if Pakistans outlawed terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) is indeed behind the terror attack on the air-base at Pathankot? Nothing much will change, feel experts. The question, they say, calls for a closer look at the growing distance between JeM leader Maulana Masood Azhar and the Pakistans establishment, both military and civilian, in recent times.

While a clear connection between Masood  the brains behind the 2001 Parliament attack in New Delhi and the beheading of WSJ journalist Daniel Pearl  and the attack on the airbase would be established only after an NIA probe, the Indian government is not ruling out JeMs involvement at this point. Home Minister Rajnath Singh has made this clear already. This, according to experts keeping a close eye on changing equations between terror outfits and their handlers in Pakistan, could work to Indias advantage vis-a-vis Azhar.

Alok Bansal, director, Centre for Security and Strategy, India Foundation, observed, Though a section has claimed so, its not clear whether JeM is involved in Pathankot attack or not. If it is involved itll be better for the Indian government to pressure Pakistan government, as JeM and Masood Azhar have distanced themselves from Pakistani establishment. Even Pakistan government may take a strong step against it, and apprehend a few JeM members.

Maybe in attacking India, JeM might not have the tacit support of the Pakistani establishment unlike in the past. Azhar fell out of favour with the ISI after his group made an assassination bid on former President of Pakistan General Pervez Musharraf. Though over the past couple of years the ISI nurtured him back to relevance, now apparently JeM has distanced itself and is closely aligning with the global terror outfit IS, said Bansal. There are chances that the thaw between India and Pakistan may not go back to freeze mode yet, he added.

An intelligence agency source said only a thorough investigation by the NIA would reveal the real face behind the attack on Pathankot airbase. But prima facie evidence shows that the militants who carried the assault had a connection with the JeM. They carried bags with markings of executed Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. JeM had formed Afzal Guru Squad. This squad had also made an attack recently near the Line of Control in Kashmir. Dots need to be connected, an intelligence agency source said.

Intercept of calls made by the terrorists before the the attack shows a connection with Pakistan and also with a few top-level functionaries of JeM, he added.

One of the call intercepts shows that a militant had spoken with Masoods younger brother, whos also a leader of JeM. The sudden reactivation of Jaish-e-Mohammad has raised concerns among the Indian security establishment. National Security Advisor Ajit Doval had even spoke up about the outfit and it was decided that the matter would be pursued with Pakistan.

Like the Pathankot attack, another attack with almost a similar modus operandi was carried out at a Gorkha Rifles Camp along Kalsuri Ridge in Tangdhar area near the Line of Control (LoC) in north Kashmirs Kupwara district on 25 November, 2015. The bags recovered from the slain terrorists had the markings of Afzal Guru squad, indicating JeM involvement.

"They are from Jaish. Afzal Guru Squad was written on their bags and the ultras are perhaps trying to use the name of Parliament attack convict to garner support," Lieutenant General Satish Dua, general officer commanding (GoC) 15 Corps had said referring to the attack on Gorkha Rifles Camp.

JeM, formed in 2000, is said to be a creation of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI. Its aim is to undermine Indian control in Kashmir and unite it with Pakistan under its own interpretation of Shariah Law.

Azhar, a citizen of Pakistan and a member of the terrorist group Harakat al-Mujahedeen (HuM), was accused of working with Al-Qaeda and of fighting against US troops in Somalia under Osama bin Ladens instructions.
By Dinesh C Sharma

The annual jamboree of science  the Indian Science Congress  was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi amidst the usual pomp and ceremonial gusto in Mysuru on Sunday. Successive prime ministers have used this forum to share their vision about science in India and make big-ticket policy announcements. Judged from this criterion, Modis speech fell short of expectations.

The Prime Minister made few specific points relating to the need for a framework for auditing scientific departments and research institutions, creating technology incubators in academic institutions, greater collaboration between central and state agencies engaged in research and encouraging innovation. While all these are great pointers, none of them amount to a policy shift.

The critical issue of increasing government support to research and development (R&D) only got a passing reference couched in extreme generality: We will also try to increase the level of resources for science, and deploy them in accordance with our strategic priorities. The Prime Ministers prescription for concern about quality of science education and research in the country was even vaguer. He said: We will make it easier to do science and research in India, improve science administration, and expand the supply and improve the quality of science education and research in India.

It is now universally acknowledged that if India wants to be counted among leaders of science and technology globally and also solve its problems ranging from hunger to heart disease, it will have to invest more in R&D. For too long, we have made sub-critical investments in scientific infrastructure and have been cribbing about India lagging behind countries like China and Korea. Among BRICS nations, Indias R&D expenditure is among the lowest: India spends 0.9 per cent of its GDP on R&D compared to 1.97 per cent by China. Only South Africa spends less than India. It is heartening that despite low investments, India is among top 15 in terms of research output. China is second after America, according to recent data.

While frugal innovation and crowdfunding  referred to by the Prime Minister in his speech  are important ideas to promote innovation and startups but they are no substitutes for enhanced investments in science education and research. All this was articulated in the science, technology and innovation (STI) policy launched during the Science Congress session in 2013. The STI policy, which has not been abandoned by the current government, had proposed a clear roadmap for integrating science and technology with innovation as well as socio-economic sectors. The STI system, according to it, should promote inclusive growth, availability and affordability of solutions for people.

At the same time the document had envisaged India to be among the top five global scientific powers by 2020. The target was to increase R&D investment to reach 2 percent of the GDP in five years with the private sector contributing 50 per cent of the same from its present share of 30 per cent in total R&D investment. In order to facilitate private sector investment in R&D, the policy had proposed setting up of a National STI Foundation in public-private partnership mode. This would allow private sector to access public fund for R&D for social and public good. It was suggested that government should share risk for seeding science and technology-based high-risk innovations by private or public agencies. The document spoke of demand-based R&D interventions in ten sectors of high-impact potential, prioritising critical R&D areas like agriculture, energy, water management, health and drug discovery, environment and climate change.



Talking of promoting innovation, scientific research and science education in general terms, without setting any goals is not going to yields results. The STI policy of 2013, much like Technology Missions of 1980s, had clearly set out specific targets to be achieved in a given timeframe. In the absence of a new policy announcement by the present government, one presumes that 2013 policy still remains the official policy. If that is so, we should see some concrete steps to implement some of the ideas enshrined in that policy which was a result of collective wisdom of Indias scientific community involved in making that policy.

In the past one year, we have seen just one initiative to translate an idea from the STI policy (integrating science with socio-economic sectors): the National Space Conference which identified 170 applications of space technology that touch almost every aspect of governance, development and conservation, as mentioned in Modis speech. We need to see more such projects and programmes.

Science congress is a unique platform where Nobel laureates, science administrators, top scientists from research labs and university students rub shoulders under one roof. It is a melting pot of ideas, knowledge and experience. Major policy reforms have been effected by the government as a result of recommendations made by science congresses in the past. New government departments like the Ministry of Nonconventional and Renewable Energy were established as recommended by the science congress. Keeping in mind such pivotal role played by the congress, some hopes are still pinned to the 2016 congress.
Breakfast at Kabul, lunch at Lahore and dinner in New Delhi. Within just a week of the euphoria of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's surprise pit-stop in Pakistan, there has been a terrible post script: Funeral in Pathankot.

The bonhomie towards the end of the year promised by the Modi-Nawaz Sharif hug has been replaced by consternation and frustration because the India-Pakistan relation has yet again come full circle after the terror strike in Pathankot. On the cusp of the new year, there were hopes of dialogue and reconciliation; now there is just hostility and uncertainty, the two inevitable results of almost every peace initiative.

In the past 18 months, Modi had tried almost everything possible to deal with Pakistan. From inviting Sharif for his swearing-in, to cold-shouldering him on the international stage and then once again extending his hand of friendship at Lahore, there isn't much Modi had left out. But India is once again back at the starting line.

What will Modi do now?

Contrary to popular perception of a weak dispensation, soon after the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai, the Manmohan Singh government had considered military options against Pakistan.

At a meeting convened soon after the 26/11 strikes, five options were considered by the Indian government at a meeting with its top army and intelligence brass. Almost all of them had one objective in mind: Punishing the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) and destroying its jihadi structure across the border.

In his memoirs, Neither a Hawk Nor a Dove, former Pakistani foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri says all these options--including a covert mission against LeT, air strikes on terror camps and a limited war-- were brought to his notice by the US administration, which was aware of the Indian discussions.

After discussing these options for almost a fortnight, the UPA government decided to abandon them because of two factors: One, there was no guarantee that it wouldn't escalate into a nuclear conflict. Two, many feared that it would unite all jihadi groups in Pakistan, including those fighting against the host country, against India.

Have the ground realities changed since 2008 to convince the Modi government that it can implement a policy of hot pursuit against terrorists from across the border without risking a full-scale war? No, if the contrast between candidate Modi and PM Modi is an indication.

In 2011, in an interview to India TV, Modi had mocked the UPA for running to the US after every terror attack. "Padosi mar ke chala jaye aur America jaate ho, arre Pakistan jao na," he had said to a rapturous applause. "Pakistan should be taught a lesson in the language it understands. Love letter likhna band karna chahiye," Modi had opined then.

Soon after the June 2015 mission against terrorists on the India-Myanmar border, Union minister Rajyavardhan Rathore had indicated that India would now not be averse to following the Modi doctrine of chasing militants from across the border.

"It had become a joke, like in kabaddi, that they would attack and go back to their half, where nobody could attack them. Now if somebody attacks India, we will carry out surgical strikes," Rathore had outlined the new doctrine after the Myanmar incident.

But a PM can't afford the recklessness and bombast of an opposition leader. So, Modi and his government have been quite restrained in their response to the attack on the air base in Pathankot, in spite of the fact that it threatens to negate the PM's Lahore initiative. Modi's language and tone--he called the militants enemies of humanity, instead of blaming Pakistan--suggests the Indian PM has raised his threshold much higher and is willing to give peace more of a chance.

Unfortunately for India, even its peace initiatives do not guarantee success. Soon after Modi's Lahore visit, The Diplomat magazine had wondered if the exciting and auspicious beginning could lead to the desired result, considering the paucity of options before the two countries.

"The two countries have conflicting expectations of each other and different priorities. Pakistan has long argued that the Kashmir dispute be resolved first, or at least in conjunction with other areas of mutual concern. Regardless of who is in power, India has been and will remain unwilling to offer to Pakistan any concessions on Kashmir, even if it means foregoing the economic dividends of trade with Pakistan and transit trade through Pakistan to Afghanistan and Central Asia. India instead has remained focused on terrorism, especially since 2008 Mumbai attack which it blamed on Pakistan-based banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba," it wrote, pointing at the challenges ahead.

But, even before the two countries could build on the beginning, the attack on Pathankot has put a question mark over the future of bilateral talks.

With his party and the RSS backing him and the international community insisting on continued diplomatic engagement, Modi would be tempted to continue with his peace agenda, hoping that it would be more productive than confrontation and a cold war.

As strategic affairs expert Ashley J Tellis argues in an article on rediff.com, Modi seems to have resolved to sustain the engagement with Sharif's government indefinitely because there was a clear realisation that although Sharif's control over his 'Deep State' -- meaning, the military and the intelligence services, which controlled among other things various terrorist proxies -- was weak, Sharif's desire for better ties with India ought to be nurtured and rewarded.

Such is the nature of India-Pakistan relations that it is always vulnerable to the politics of last atrocity-- when the latest act of violence and consequent retaliation decides the direction of politics. For the moment, Modi would be relying on the euphoria of his 'breakfast in Kabul and lunch in Lahore' initiative to carry forward his Pakistan policy.

But one more funeral can change all that.
Author and prominent social historian Ramachandra Guha said that one cannot compare the contribution of Ambedkar to the politics of Thackeray though both of them claimed to have championed the cause of a large section of people in Maharashtra and beyond.

Speaking to CNN-IBN on the subject of his new book Patriots and Partisans: From Nehru to Hindutva and Beyond, he said, "Is there a single school or college of high quality that the Shivsena has created for its young men? Even if the sentiment behind them is legitimate how is it articulated and how is it taken forward?"

Drawing parallels with Ambedkar, he said, "Compare it to Ambedkars path for oppressed Dalits  educate and organize and Thackerays part for organising Maharashtrians  which is to beat up the outsider."

According to him, the reason why Bal Thackeray prospered was because there was a groundswell of public opinion in his favour that he took to a destructive agenda. He said, "Thackeray represented in part a groundswell of anger from lower and middle class Maharashtrians as the most prestigious and lucrative jobs were going to outsiders." He cashed in on this sense of discrimination and anger, instead of channelizing in a positive manner or investing in high quality education, he added.

Ram Guha, however, observed that a wealth of support for Hindutva philosophy came from young, educated, well-travelled and affluent Indians. In fact, one of the key issues in the book that he describes are hate mails from Hindu right wing supporters who accuse him of being anti-Hindu.

He said, "They (the supporters) are largely young, almost all of them upper caste, many of them live abroad and virtually without exception they are male. I dont get hateful mails from women  so we have to understand what is it that young men are angry about."

According to Guha, these people are growing in numbers and they are also polarising opinions at every stage. Most of these people were young and he said it surprised him that they had such "venom and anger for someone you have never met, for myself and for other writers in the press and express it in such a vigorous, visceral, hateful way"?

He asked, "These people have so much suppressed anger and the paradox is that out of so much anger and hate you think you are going to create a prosperous and harmonious India?"
Mazar-i-Sharif: A 25-hour gun and bomb siege near the Indian consulate in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif ended late Monday after all the attackers were killed, officials said.

"The clearance operation is over and all the terrorists have all been killed," said provincial police chief Sayed Kamal Sadat.

Government spokesman Shir Jan Durrani said three armed assailants had been killed after they mounted an attack on the diplomatic mission from a nearby building late Sunday.

"Our search operation is still going on inside the building," he said, adding that the fighting left one policeman dead and 11 others wounded.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the attack in northern Afghanistan, the latest in a series of assaults on Indian installations in the country.

The attack followed an insurgent attack over the weekend on an air force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

Seven soldiers were confirmed killed in the raid on the Pathankot base, which triggered a 14-hour gun battle Saturday and fresh rounds of firing Sunday.

The lethal assaults on Indian installations threaten to derail Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bold diplomatic outreach to arch-rival Pakistan following his first official visit to Afghanistan last month.

AFP
Beijing: Condemning the terror attack on the Pathankot air force base, China on Monday said it may have been launched "intentionally" to disrupt the momentum in Indo-Pak ties, which have shown "signs of improvement".

"We condemn this attack...At this juncture this attack might have been launched intentionally to disrupt this momentum (in Indo-Pak ties). Many media reports have such doubts...," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying told a media briefing in Beijing while replying to a question on the attack.

Noting that there were "signs of improvement" in India-Pakistan relations, which is welcomed by all sides, Hua also hoped that the two countries should continue the talks despite the attack.

"India and Pakistan are important countries in South Asia. The improvement of relations between the two countries is of paramount importance to regional peace and stability. China hopes that India and Pakistan can enhance their cooperation and dialogue regardless of these disruptions," she said.

"Some media reports commented that the meeting between Indian and Pakistan leaders was very successful," Hua said, apparently referring to meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif in Lahore.

"We believe that India and Pakistan should work together to maintain positive momentum. We condemn all forms of terrorism and we believe all sides should enhance dialogue and cooperation to combat all forms of terrorism," she said.

Heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists on Saturday attempted to storm the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot. The attackers were believed to have infiltrated from Pakistan and there was speculation that they may belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad headed by Maulana Masood Azhar of the Kandahar hijack episode.

PTI
Tehran: Saudi Arabia's decision to cut ties with Iran after attacks on the kingdom's diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic will not distract from Riyadh's "big mistake" of executing a top Shiite cleric, a senior Iranian official said today.

"By deciding to sever (diplomatic) relations, Saudi Arabia cannot make (the world) forget its big mistake of executing a cleric," deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said, according to the IRNA agency.

He added that Saudi Arabia had committed a "strategic error in adopting rash and hasty decisions that have spread instability and caused the development of terrorism in the region".

Riyadh's execution of Nimr al-Nimr sparked widespread protests across Shiite-majority countries in West Asia, with a mob attacking the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in the second city Mashhad. The assaults on the diplomatic missions spurred the Sunni Arab kingdom to sever ties with Shiite-majority Iran, its long-time regional rival.

In recent years, the two countries have been divided over the war in Syria, where Iran is backing the regime, and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels.

Abdollahian also said Saudi Arabia was "undermining the interests of its own people and the Muslim people of the region with its plot to bring down oil prices", referencing crude prices that are near multi-year lows. Iran and Saudi are major producers, but Riyadh's current level of crude output far outpaces that of the Islamic Republic and it is seen as a heavyweight in its ability to help set the direction of oil prices.

The background

Diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been tense since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, though there have been occasional thaws between the two rivals.

The tensions have now sharply escalated with Saudi Arabia severing ties with the Islamic Republic following attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. Here's a look at how relations between the two Mideast powers have shifted over the last decades:

Pre-Revolution relations: Under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran had rocky relations with Saudi Arabia, though they improved toward the end of his reign. Both were original members of the oil cartel Opec.

Post-Revolution: After the overthrow of the shah and takeover of the US Embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia quickly became America's top ally in the region. In the ensuing 1980s war between Iran and Iraq, Saudi Arabia backed Iraq despite its concerns about dictator Saddam Hussein. That war would kill 1 million people.

1987 Hajj riots: The annual pilgrimage to Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia, required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life, saw bloodshed when Iranians held a political demonstration. Iranian pilgrims later battled Saudi riot police, violence that killed at least 402 people. Iran claimed 600 of its pilgrims were killed and said police fired machine guns at the crowd. In Tehran, mobs attacked the Saudi, Kuwaiti, French and Iraqi embassies, ransacking the first two.

Severing ties: In 1988, Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran, citing the 1987 hajj rioting and Iran's attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf. Iranians responded by boycotting the hajj in 1988 and 1989. The two countries restored diplomatic ties in 1991.

Easing tensions: Relations between the two nations improved after Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, a political moderate, took office in 1997. Ties warmed further after historic visits by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to Tehran in December 1997 and Khatami to the kingdom in May 1999.

Nuclear dispute: Worries about Iran resumed in Saudi Arabia amid international sanctions against Tehran over its contested nuclear program and the increasingly harsh rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran and Saudi Arabia each backed opposite sides in Syria's civil war, as well as in the civil war in Yemen. Saudi Arabia also grows increasingly suspicious of Iran as it reaches a deal with world powers over its nuclear program.

2015 Hajj disaster: On 24 September, a stampede and crush strikes the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. While the kingdom says 769 pilgrims are killed, an Associated Press count shows over 2,400 people were killed. Iran says at least 464 of its pilgrims were killed and blames Saudi Arabia's "incompetence" for the deaths.

Sheikh's execution: On 2 January, Saudi Arabia executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others  the largest execution carried out by the kingdom in three and a half decades. The execution of al-Nimr, a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority, sparked protests across the Mideast and attacks on Saudi diplomatic facilities in Iran. Saudi Arabia responded by announcing it was severing diplomatic ties with Iran over the attacks.

Associated Press and AFP
RIYADH Saudi Arabia widened its rift with Iran on Monday, saying it would end air traffic and trade links with the Islamic republic and demanding that Tehran must "act like a normal country" before it would restore severed diplomatic relations.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters in an interview that Tehran was responsible for rising tensions after the kingdom executed Shi'ite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday, describing him as a terrorist.

Insisting Riyadh would react to "Iranian aggression", Jubeir accused Tehran of despatching fighters to Arab countries and plotting attacks inside the kingdom and its Gulf neighbours.

"There is no escalation on the part of Saudi Arabia. Our moves are all reactive. It is the Iranians who went into Lebanon. It is the Iranians who sent their Qods Force and their Revolutionary Guards into Syria," he said.

The execution of Nimr provoked protests among Shi'ites across the region and Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran, setting fires and causing damage, prompting Riyadh to cut ties and inflaming an already heated rivalry.

Iranian pilgrims would still be welcome to visit Islam's holiest sites in Mecca and Medina in western Saudi Arabia, either for the annual haj or at other times of year on the umrah pilgrimage, he said.

However, Jubeir said Saudi Arabia had been right to execute Nimr, whom he accused of "agitating, organising cells, providing them with weapons and money". After listing the crimes of 43 al Qaeda members also put to death on Saturday alongside four Shi'ites, Jubeir said of the executions: "We should be applauded for this, not criticised."

(Editing by William Maclean and David Stamp)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
Mazar-I-Sharif: Explosions and gunfire rang out today as militants tried to storm the Indian diplomatic mission in a northern Afghan city, officials said, in the latest assault on an Indian installation. The attack on the consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif comes after Prime Minister Narendra Modi's much-hyped diplomatic outreach to arch-rival Pakistan following his first visit to Afghanistan.

"We are being attacked," an Indian consulate official said via telephone from inside the heavily-guarded compound. "Fighting is still going on." The official, who was hunkered down in a secure area within the complex, said all consulate employees were safe and accounted for.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, which comes just a day after a deadly assault by suspected Islamist militants on an Indian air base near the Pakistan border. A local police spokesman in Mazar-i-Sharif, a city in the relatively tranquil province of Balkh, said security officials had cordoned off the area where sporadic gunshots were ringing out after a series of explosions.

Another official said that government forces had launched an operation to gun down the assailants, but it was not clear if they had managed to breach the consulate. Vikas Swarup, a spokesman for India's ministry of external affairs, said that no Indian casualties had been reported so far. The consulate assault is the latest in a series of attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan. Nine civilians, including seven children, were killed in August 2013 when suicide bombers targeted the Indian consulate in the main eastern Afghan city of Jalalabad, detonating an explosives-packed car.

The assault comes a week after Modi paid a surprise visit to Pakistan, the first by an Indian premier in 11 years. The surprise visit immediately followed a whirlwind tour of Kabul, where Modi inaugurated a smart Indian-built parliament complex built at an estimated cost of $90 million, and gifted three Russian-made attack helicopters to the Afghan government.

A day after his visit, Pakistan's powerful army chief General Raheel Sharif travelled to Kabul in a bid to prepare the ground for fresh peace talks with the resurgent Taliban. Afghan President Ashraf Ghani on Thursday said both sides agreed to hold a first round of dialogue between Afghanistan, Pakistan, US and China on January 11 to lay out a comprehensive road-map for peace. Pakistan  the Taliban's historic backers  hosted a milestone first round of talks in July but the negotiations stalled when the insurgents belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar.

AFP
Chemistry students the world over will soon have four more names of elements to remember, and a new periodic table to boot. The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the global body responsible for the table, announced on Thursday that it has verified the discovery of four new chemical elements.

Scientists from Japan have fulfilled the criteria for the element Z=113, making them the first Asian scientists to achieve this feat. Collaborative efforts between American and Russian scientists have led to the discovery of elements with atomic numbers 115, 117 and 118, the IUPAC said in a statement. This means that seventh row in the periodic table is now complete.

The chemistry community is eager to see its most cherished table finally being completed down to the seventh row, Professor Jan Reedijk, president of the Inorganic Chemistry Division of IUPAC, said in the statement.

The scientists have now been invited to name the elements, making the Japanese scientists the first Asian scientists to receive this honour.

Japan's Riken Institute said a team led by Kyushu University professor Kosuke Morita was awarded the right after successfully creating the new synthetic element three times from 2004 to 2012. The name has yet to be decided, but Riken said that Morita will propose one in 2016.

"I feel grateful that the name will be included in the table for the first time after this recognition," Morita said at a press conference.

Meanwhile, the Russian and US scientists will be awarded the naming rights for the other three elements. A collaboration among the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna, Russia; Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California, USA; and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA fulfilled the criteria for elements Z=115 and 117 and so they will be invited to propose permanent names and symbols. In the case of Z=118, the invitation will be extended only to the institutes in Dubna and California, said the IUPAC statement.

The Guardian reported that there are restrictions when it comes to naming new elements; the names have to be based on either a mythological concept, a mineral, a place, a property or a scientist.

With inputs from AFP
Washington: President Barack Obama said Monday he will introduce a raft of executive actions to tackle US gun violence, bypassing Congress and its staunch opposition to further gun control.

Kicking off his last year in the White House with a show of executive power that is replete with political and legal risk, Obama said he would take unilateral steps to end "the scourge of gun violence."

"We have tens of thousands of people every single year who are killed by guns," he said in remarks at the Oval Office, decrying rates of mass shooting and gun suicide that far exceed levels in other countries.

Obama indicated the proposals -- presented to him by Attorney General Loretta Lynch at the White House -- will focus on regulating gun sales and curbing illegal purchases.

Aides say that could include tightening rules on gun dealers, broadening background checks to more buyers and cracking down on "straw purchases" in which potentially suspect individuals buy guns through an intermediary.

The measures will stop short of registering or mopping up some of the more than 300 million guns already thought to be in circulation in the United States, a move gun control advocates say is essential.

Obama admitted the measures were "not going to solve every violent crime in this country. It's not going to prevent every mass shooting. It's not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal."

"It will," he said, "potentially, save lives in this country" and spare families heartache.

During Obama's seven years as president, mass shootings have killed Connecticut schoolchildren, South Carolina churchgoers, Colorado movie watchers.

Deaths from gun violence, many of them suicides, average 30,000 per year in America.

Polls had shown most Americans back tougher gun laws. But that support has ebbed recently amid concerns about the Islamic State group and the wider threat from terrorism.

Obama's move could put pressure on some of his Democratic allies who face tough election battles in toss-up states and conservative Congressional districts this autumn.

On Thursday, Obama will take part in a primetime town-hall style debate on gun control to try to boost his case.

The event, broadcast by CNN, will take place at George Mason University in Fairfax, in northern Virginia.

- 'Scrubbing the law'

In a New Year's address to the nation, Obama voiced his determination to tackle what he called the "unfinished business" of curbing gun violence.

But Obama's decision to bypass Congress sets up a political and legal fight for the coming election year.

The Republican-controlled body has already rejected measures to curb the sale of military-style semi-automatic rifles.

The speaker of the House of Representatives, Paul Ryan, on Monday accused Obama of "dismissiveness" toward Americans who value the constitutional right to bear arms.

"We all are pained by the recent atrocities in our country, but no change the president is reportedly considering would have prevented them," said Ryan. "We have seen consistently that an underlying cause of these attacks has been mental illness."

"This is a dangerous level of executive overreach, and the country will not stand for it," Ryan warned.

By using the last resort of executive action, Obama is inviting legal challenges alongside the predictable political opprobrium.

His lawyers have spent months "scrubbing" existing laws to see where rules could be tightened and loopholes closed, while surviving inevitable court challenges.

"A lot of the work that has gone on behind the scenes to take a look at what the president can do using his executive authority has been grounded in the knowledge that the gun lobby and the Republicans in Congress who regularly do their bidding are going to look for ways to try to stop it," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest.

Obama insisted the measures would fall "well within my legal authority."

Similar executive efforts by Obama to bring millions of illegal immigrants out of the shadows by shielding them from deportation have prompted a slew of lawsuits and left a key Obama policy goal in the hands of the Supreme Court.

AFP
PRINCETON, Ore. The leaders of a group of self-styled militiamen who took over a remote U.S. wildlife refuge centre in Oregon over the weekend said on Monday they acted to protest the federal government's role in managing millions of acres of wild lands.

The anti-government occupation, which began on Saturday at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, 30 miles (50 km) south of the small town of Burns, was the latest skirmish over federal land management in large tracts of the West.

A protest leader, Ammon Bundy, told reporters outside the occupied facility on Monday that his group had named itself "Citizens for Constitutional Freedom" and was trying to restore individual rights. Bundy and law enforcement officials declined to say how many people were occupying the centre.

About half a dozen occupiers could be seen outside the facility on Monday, with some manning a watchtower and others standing around a vehicle they had used to block the road leading to the building. They chatted quietly among themselves. None was visibly armed.

The FBI said it was seeking a "peaceful resolution to the situation." It declined to give details on how the U.S. government would deal with the occupiers. No significant law enforcement presence could be seen at the site.

The occupation followed a demonstration in Burns over the imminent imprisonment of local ranchers Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond, who were found guilty of setting a series of fires. Through an attorney, they have dissociated themselves from the occupiers.

NBC News reported that the father and son turned themselves in as planned on Monday at a federal prison in California. Their lawyer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The occupation is the latest wrinkle in decades of conflict between ranchers and the federal government over Washington's management of hundreds of thousands of acres of range land. Critics say the federal government often oversteps its authority and exercises arbitrary power without sufficient accountability.

Bundy is the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, whose ranch was the scene of an armed demonstration against federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) officials in 2014 that ended with the authorities backing down, citing safety concerns.

That standoff had drawn hundreds of armed protesters after federal agents sought to seize Bundy's cattle because he refused to pay grazing fees.

Jon Ritzheimer, a Marine Corps veteran who travelled from Phoenix to take part in the occupation, said the Constitution was under attack from the U.S. government, and that he and his companions were "trying to restore this land to the people."

In Burns, home to 3,000 people, residents voiced sympathy for the Hammonds but also expressed frustration at the occupation, which some locals viewed as the work of outsiders.

"I agree they shouldn't have to go back to prison. I get why they're here," said Patrick Wright, a 33-year-old taxi driver, who said he knew the Hammonds. "Taking over the refuge and threatening gun violence is a little extreme, but it's getting them heard, that's for sure."

The takeover drew criticism on social media, with some users asking if the occupiers would have been treated differently if they had been black or Muslim.

SERIES OF FIRES

The Hammonds were found guilty in 2012 of setting a string of fires, including a 2001 blaze that federal prosecutors said was intended to cover up evidence of deer poaching, that wound up burning 139 acres (56 hectares) of public lands.

The younger Hammond was initially sentenced to 12 months in prison and the father three months, below the federal minimum for arson. But in October, a U.S. district judge increased the sentences to five years.

The Hammond ranch borders on the southern edge of the Malheur refuge, a bird sanctuary in eastern Oregon's arid high desert, about 305 miles (490 km) southeast of Portland.

Both father and son are members of the Oregon Cattlemen's Association (OCA). The group said on Monday that it would continue to assist and represent them "solely through avenues that are in accordance with the law."

"OCA does not support illegal activity taken against the government. This includes militia takeover of government property, such as the Malheur Wildlife Refuge," the association's president, John O'Keeffe, said in a statement.

"Obviously we're aware of the situation and concerned about it," said White House spokesman Josh Earnest. He said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the situation, adding: "This ultimately is a ... local law enforcement matter."

Republican White House candidates Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Senator Marco Rubio of Florida expressed sympathy for the protesters' concerns but urged the group to remain peaceful and follow the law, according to media reports.

The refuge, which encompasses 292 square miles (75,630 hectares), was established in 1908 by U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt as a breeding ground for greater sandhill cranes and other native birds.

(Reporting by Jim Urquhart; Editing by Jonathan Oatis; Additional reporting by Doina Chiacu and Roberta Rampton in Washington, Daniel Wallis in Denver and Suzannah Gonzales in Chicago; Writing by Scott Malone; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Jonathan Oatis and Howard Goller)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
UNITED NATIONS U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the Saudi foreign minister on Monday that Riyadh's decision to break off diplomatic ties with Iran was extremely troubling, a United Nations spokesman said.

"The Secretary-General reiterated that the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran was deplorable, but added that the announcement of a break in Saudi diplomatic relations with Tehran was deeply worrying," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Dujarric said Ban said this to Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir in a telephone call. Ban also spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday, he added.

"The Secretary-General urged both foreign ministers to avoid any actions that could further exacerbate the situation between the two countries and in the region as a whole," Dujarric said.

"He stressed the importance of continued constructive engagement by both countries in the interest of the region and beyond," he said.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran on Sunday and fellow-Sunni Bahrain followed suit on Monday, two days after Iranian demonstrators stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran in protest over Riyadh's execution of a senior Shi'ite cleric.

The point of Ban's calls, Dujarric said, was to help ensure that both Iran and Saudi Arabia, regional rivals with a long history of tense relations, continue their commitment to ending the conflicts in Syria and Yemen, where the two countries back opposing sides.

"(The United Nations) will be pushing forward and very much hoping that the current tensions will not impact negatively on the two peace processes," Dujarric said.

The crisis in Saudi-Iranian relations could pose a major setback in efforts to end the five-year-old Syrian civil war. Dujarric said Ban's Syrian peace mediator, Staffan de Mistura, would head to Tehran and Riyadh this week for previously planned visits.

De Mistura "will assess the implications of the recent developments between Saudi Arabia and Iran on the momentum of the (peace) process for Syria," Dujarric said, adding that the envoy hoped it "does not cause a chain of adverse consequences in the region."

The breakdown in Saudi-Iranian ties could also bode badly for Yemen.

A Saudi-led coalition that has been bombing the Iranian-allied Houthi movement in Yemen for nine months announced on Saturday the end of a ceasefire that began on Dec. 15, in a setback to U.N.-brokered attempts to end that conflict.

Dujarric said Ban told Jubeir that Saudi Arabia should "renew its commitment to a ceasefire" in Yemen.

(Reporting by Louis Charbonneau and Michelle Nichols; Editing by Dan Grebler)

This story has not been edited by Firstpost staff and is generated by auto-feed.
There's no doubt that Carrie Fisher still looks fantastic on her comeback as Princess Leia Organa on "Star Wars: The Force Awakens", 32 years after the last movie of the original trilogy premiered.

After the opening of the newest (and most successful) Star Wars installment, internet trolls mocked Fisher and commented that she is "too old" and not physically "fit" to comeback for the role. The 5'1" actress was a sex siren who just weighed 105 pounds back in the years. There was even a debate on whether Fisher "aged well" through the years.

Fisher, now 59, is returning as the awesome and kick-ass resistance general that everybody loved since 1977. She was only 21.

Fisher answered age and body-shamers through her twitter account saying, "Please stop debating about whether or not I aged well,". She further confessed, "Unfortunately it hurts all 3 of my feelings. My BODY hasn't aged as well as I have. Blow us."

Reportedly, Fisher dropped 35 pounds- weighing from 180 pounds to 145 in only nine months. And no, the Force has nothing to do with it.

According to the Examiner, the professional actress strictly followed a 1,500 calorie meal plan and exercise: 45-minute cardio work outs, five days a week.

Fisher was outraged by the obsessive focus on her weight and appearance, saying youth and beauty are not accomplishments. She also criticized the way people set standards of beauty and likely appearance.

"We treat beauty like an accomplishment and that is insane," said Carrie. "Everyone in LA says, 'Oh you look good!' and you listen for them to say you've lost weight. It's never 'How are you?' or 'You seem happy!'"

Fisher returns to the world wide phenomenon "Star Wars" movies alongside Harrison Ford, who plays Han Solo and Mark Hamill, who acts as her brother Luke Skywalker, along with other supporting casts.
The love one Star Wars fan has can't be limited to the movies, assorted merchandise, novels and anthologies. Now, the love has reached the table tops. If you just can't get enough of the story, the characters and the overall galactic experience, you might want to try these recipes that combine the two greatest loves of your life-food and Star Wars:

Wookie Cookies

How adorable (and yummy) can these cookies look (and taste)? Chewbacca can now be really called "Chewy" with Nifty Spoon's witty baker Candice Lamp's recipe. Try this recipe to have the galaxy's favorite fuzzball as treats and gifts for every Star Wars fans like yourself!

Watermelon Death Star

Can we just say how cute and witty this is? And one thing's for sure, it will rain yumminess when this one explodes. This geeky idea is from LINK. Find out how to do yours here!

BB-8 Cake Pop

Giselle Yeaegi Park of The Busy Spatula's imagination is incredible. Now the problem is, can you eat this cutie robot to death? Give yourself a favpr and do it yourself now!

Storm trooper Marshmallows

This one does not involve cooking but it's still artsy and yummy as well. Who knew Storm troopers can be sweet treats? Jillian Leslie of Catch My Party demonstrates how these empire fighters have their sweet side that is not visible in the movies. Destroy the army of the empire by eating them, glob glob glob! It only takes a couple of ingredients, find out more here.

Yoda Soda

Well, this one is easy-peasy. Just add a green coloring, or a green apple flavor perhaps?, to your soda and name it after the Jedi Master.

Princess Leia Oreo Cupcakes

If there is one thing that is Leia Organa signature, it has to be her hairstyle! As a self proclaimed Star Wars nerd and baker, Jenn Fujikawa has created the most creative interpretation of the Princess Leia bun through desserts yet!

There's a lot of Star Wars more of fanatics expressed their love and creativity in the kitchen! Cooking and trying these treats could be a nice activity for a Star Wars party too! Admire and be inspired from their works here, here and here.
In 2013, many predicted Russia's auto market was going to overtake Germany's to become the largest in Europe, and that it would be close to becoming the world's fifth-largest auto market by 2020. Only two years later, lower oil prices and a weakening economy have all but shredded that hope in the near-term.

That puts automakers in a tough spot with few options: Continue to invest in the country for its future potential, or pack up and leave to avoid current turmoil. However, it appears Ford Motor Company (F 1.69%) has come up with a middle-ground solution.

Hit the road

It didn't take long for Ford's crosstown rival, General Motors (GM 2.03%), to close up shop in Russia -- a country which, half a decade ago, was a critical part of the automaker's global growth strategy. In the spring, GM announced that it would stop selling all Opel and most Chevrolet vehicles in the Russian market by the end of this year, and that it would indefinitely idle its six-year-old St. Petersburg plant. That action forced GM to take a $600 million charge, mostly during this year's first quarter, but on the bright side, it hasn't negatively affected the automaker's goal to return its entire Europe operations to profitability in 2016.

Ford, on the flip side, isn't pulling out of Russia in the same style GM did. While Ford's sales in the country fell 40% year over year to just over 34,000 units through November, the company is considering exporting its vehicles from Russia.

"Export is something we're looking at," said Mark Ovenden, head of Ford Sollers, Ford's joint venture in Russia, according to Reuters. "I would like to look at it beyond a few thousand [vehicles] and see whether there is a more strategic export opportunity for us."

How feasible is exporting vehicles?

On the surface, this appears to be a fine strategy, but investors should consider it more of a bandage than a lucrative solution. That's because these exports have to go somewhere, and that likely means sending them from Russia to Ford's traditional 20 European markets, and probably more toward eastern Europe. For the record, Ford's sales in its traditional 20 Euro markets reached just over 1,181,000 units through the first 11 months of 2015. According to Reuters, Ford can produce as many as 350,000 cars annually in Russia, which is a lot more supply than demand, considering Ford's sales in Russia through November only reached roughly 34,000. Obviously, Ford isn't planning to churn out an extra 300,000 units in Russia and dump them elsewhere in Europe, but chances are Ford won't have the demand outside of Russia to make this a very profitable strategy in the near-term. That doesn't mean Ford's strategy is wrong, it just means that without a lucrative option, it's not a shock that GM decided to bail on Russia in the near term.

Ford and GM have much in common, and they often follow similar strategies. This time, however, the two are taking wildly different stances. GM took a hefty special-items charge to close up shop indefinitely at a time when the company is looking to increase its return on invested capital, and plowing capital into Russia wouldn't help its cause.

I applaud the long-term stance taken by Ford, and it could pay dividends in a decade, but it's certainly a risky strategy at the moment, when Russia's tumbling automotive market (and overall economy) has such a dim outlook. On the bright side, profits are rolling in at Ford now that its 2015 F-150 is hitting full stride and SUV sales continue to boom in America -- it can afford to play the long game in Russia.

Stay tuned, because whether Russia begins returning to its potential as a large automotive market or continues to crumble will be of importance to both Ford and GM investors as the automakers try to return to profitability in their Europe region.
It's important to be smart with your money, but inevitably, you'll make some mistakes. Fortunately, it's easier to learn from the mistakes of others than it is to deal with the damage when you make them yourself. In an effort to share our pain and help you avoid some potential regrets of your own, below you'll find three stories about some common money-related woes that our Fool contributors experienced during 2015.

Selena Maranjian: I moved in 2015, and in doing so, found that I had way more belongings than would comfortably (or attractively) fit in my new home. I had too many books, too many clothes, too many games, too many of lots of things. I did the smart thing a little -- I thinned out my stuff. I packed up lots of boxes of books and donated them to a local library. I packed up lots of boxes of clothing and donated them to a local charity. Still, it wasn't enough.

I ended up renting a storage unit. It's only $135 per month or so, which sometimes doesn't seem like that much. But multiply that times 12 months and I'm looking at a cash outlay of $1,620 -- per year. Ouch. Even worse, I'm now locked into paying that sum -- until I empty the space, which will be a big undertaking.

If you're considering renting a storage unit, ask yourself if there's any way you can avoid it. If you can donate belongings more aggressively, you can avoid paying for a unit and may be able to enjoy some tax deductions for your donations, too. If you sell many belongings, you can collect many dollars instead of spending them. And all of us might want to look into self-storage companies as possible investments for our portfolios, too, as they feature some great characteristics, such as recurring revenue and customers often not being able to easily empty their spaces.

Chuck Saletta: Like Selena, my family also moved in 2015 and can pin my biggest money regret squarely on that. We went from Cincinnati, Ohio, which was one of the lower-cost cities in the country, to Rhode Island, one of the higher-cost states to live in. Because of the move, we have way more money tied up in our home and less in an emergency fund than we'd like.

While we downsized our house, we still upsized the costs. Though our new house is about 1,000 square feet smaller than the one we left, it cost nearly $100,000 more. Additionally, we got a reasonable price for the area on the home only because it needed some tender loving care to make it comfortably habitable for our family of six vs. the widower who previously lived in it alone.

Add the higher costs of the home purchase to the costs of readying it for occupancy, and the move ate through our entire cash savings, including our emergency fund. We've started rebuilding it, but it has been a substantially slower process than we'd like as other surprise higher costs of living and new home start-up charges keep cropping up.

Moving is stressful enough on its own. Add in living in a higher cost-of-living location without an emergency fund, and the net result is our family's biggest money regret of 2015.

Dan Caplinger: My biggest regret for 2015 was being too conservative in keeping emergency funds available in a cash savings account. Most financial experts recommend that aspiring to keep three to six months' worth of expenses in an emergency fund is sufficient to cover an unexpected financial crisis like a job loss or major household or automotive expense. Yet as the bull market has aged and stocks have started to become more volatile, I found myself diverting money that I had ordinarily put toward my investing account into savings, pushing it above where it needed to be.

The overall stock market didn't have stellar returns in 2015, so I didn't miss out on as much potential profit as I might otherwise have. Nevertheless, I chose not to make some specific investments in individual stocks that performed very well over the past year.

The lesson here is that, if you really need money for short-term purposes, keeping it in an emergency fund is a good idea. For long-term money, though, letting nerves stop you from following your broader investment strategy can be a costly mistake. Having the discipline to know the difference is important if you want to maximize the returns of your entire investment portfolio over the long run.
When you think about the future, what do you envision? Perhaps it is a world much like today, save changes in technology and fashion....
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A Southern California girl who had her left arm amputated after a rare cancer diagnosis is recovering with the help of a friend just like her.

Scarlette Tipton, of Orange County, California, and her parents, Matt and Simone Tipton, recently adopted Holly, a 3-month-old gray and white kitten that has only three limbs.

When 2-year-old Scarlette and the kitten met, the little girl told her mother, Owie, while pointing to the kittens injury, according to a press release from Riverside County Animal Services, which sought an adoptive family for Holly. Yes, Simone told her daughter. Yes, an owie. Just like you. But shes OK just like you are too.

Scarlette needed to undergo her amputation when she was 10 months old to eradicate the cancer she was born with undifferentiated high grade spindle cell sarcoma. Her parents told FoxNews.com that she is the only one to have her exact type of cancer.

The Riverside County Animal Services release noted Holly likely lost her leg after getting caught in the fan belt of a car engine. Stray cats commonly climb inside car engines to stay warm during the winter.

The Tiptons tried to adopt Holly from Riversides San Jacinto Valley Animal Campus on Christmas Eve, but the kitten was still healing from her Dec. 17 amputation surgery. Shelter employees promised the Tiptons that Holly was all theirs once she recovered. On Wednesday, the Tiptons brought Holly home to Scarlette, who is now in remission from cancer.
Saudi Arabia's execution of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr on charges of terrorism exposes both the fragility and the brutality of the Saudi regime. The Shia represent only about 15% of Saudi Arabias population and they feel persecuted by the dominant fundamentalist Sunni regime. They are increasingly speaking out and protesting, as was the recently executed Shia Sheikh, but unlike in Yemen or Lebanon, Saudi Shia have for the most part not taken up arms. As with the House of Saud's pandering to Sunni fundamentalist Wahhabi clerics, repressing Saudi Shia may shore up their domestic power in the short-run, but it is likely to backfire over the longer run, undermining both Saudi and U.S. national interests in the process.

Saudi Arabia is surrounded by other Arab states with substantial Shia populations, including Iraq (80%), Bahrain (37%), Yemen (45%), Syria (13%), and Lebanon (30 %). While these Arab Shia are not Iran's puppets, they have increasingly found common cause with their Persian brothers. Repressing Arab Shia can only push them further into to Tehran's open arms. Recall that Saddam Hussein's brutal suppression of the majority Shia in Iraq set the stage for a major geopolitical shift in the Persian Gulf once we toppled his regime. It is unlikely that Shia minorities in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Yemen can take power in those states but they can destabilize them, as Hezbollah has long done in Lebanon.

Of course, King Salman and his many princely brothers are hardly the only U.S. allies to bungle relations with Arab Shia. It was Israel, our closest ally and the only democracy in the region, which first ignited the Shia firestorm in the Arab world. Under the pre-text of a Palestinian terrorist attack, Israel invaded South Lebanon in 1982 to drive out the Palestine Liberation Organization. Chafing under Palestinian occupation, the Lebanese Shia at first welcomed the PLOs ouster. But as liberation turned into protracted Israeli and Lebanese Christian occupation, it destroyed the moderate Shia movement Amal and gave birth to the radical Hezbollah, with which Israel has had to contend ever since.

The United States itself has also been maladroit in its dealings with Arab Shia. Whether with our ill-fated intervention in Lebanon to try to fix the hash the Israelis had made of it which resulted in the deaths of 241 Marines in 1983 or our naive faith that once we overthrew Saddam Husseins minority Sunni dictatorship Iraq would quickly become a stable, multi-confessional, democracy, we have also shown a lack of understanding of the political dynamics of Arab Shia politics.

Today, American politicians try to out-do each other in finding Iranian perfidy in every bad development in the region rather than asking whether we and our allies are also part of the problem. Excoriating the Obama Administration and former Secretary of State Hillary Clintons Middle East policies as naive or worse, Republican front-runner Donald Trump recently complained that "Iran wants to take over Saudi Arabia. They always have.

Whether that lofty ambition really drives the mullahs in Tehran, and if it did whether they could even pull it off; America and its allies like Saudi Arabia are also doing a lot to inflame and mobilize the Shia crescent in a way that threatens all of us. With bungling allies like the House of Saud, Iran needs to do very little to undermine U.S. interests in this vital region. Recent developments in Saudi Arabia call into the question whether our strategy of depending upon the Sunni monarchy as a central pillar in our security architecture in the Persian Gulf is literally and figuratively built on sand.
Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail for his wife's presidential bid on Monday, telling voters in New Hampshire that nobody is better qualified than Hillary Clinton -- as his presence stoked revived criticism from Republicans about his personal and professional past.

Front-running Republican candidate Donald Trump has led the attacks, asking how Hillary Clinton can position herself as a champion for women while bringing her husband to campaign events despite his adulterous past.

I hope Bill Clinton starts talking about women's issues so that voters can see what a hypocrite he is and how Hillary abused those women, Trump tweeted Saturday.

He also recently suggested that Clinton was not an innocent victim in her husbands extra-marital activities.

She would go along with him, Trump told Fox News.

The comments follow similar ones since Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, announced a few weeks ago that she was going to deploy her not-so-secret weapon Bill Clinton in January. But the Clinton campaign has hit back, accusing Trump of having a "penchant for sexism."

Hillary Clinton is in a far better position this primary season than she was the last time Bill Clinton stumped for her -- in the 2008 primary against Barack Obama. Clinton has 54 percent of the national primary vote and leads her closest challenger, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, by 23 percentage points, according to a RealClearPolitics poll average.

However, she needs a boost in early-voting New Hampshire where Sanders trails by less than 5 points, with Election Day on Feb. 9.

On Monday, Clinton began his speech at Nashua (N.H.) Community College by calling himself a happy grandfather, then argued that his wifes platform represents voters best chance at making America safer and restoring widespread economic prosperity.

I think its the best plan to have the most rapid movement toward broadly shared prosperity, he said.

Clinton closed his roughly 25-minute speech by saying he and his wife fell in love 45 years ago and that everybody goes to the White House with the best intentions.

He also made a stop Monday in Exeter, N.H., while Hillary Clinton was in Iowa, which votes first, on Feb. 1.

Hillary Clinton said upon announcing that her husband would join her on the trail: Were going to cover as much ground in New Hampshire as we possibly can, see as many people, thank everyone whos going to turn out and vote for me to try to get some more to join them.

The former president has already been on the 2016 trail for his wife, appearing on stage with pop star Katy Perry in late October before a key fundraising dinner in Iowa. However, his appearances starting Monday are his first stump speeches.

Clinton until now has largely remained behind the scenes, raising money and offering campaign advice to the former New York senator and secretary of state.

Though polls show he is still one of the most popular political figures in American politics, his efforts during Hillary Clintons failed 2008 White House bid were occasionally criticized -- including his suggestion that race was a factor in eventual-winner Obama defeating his wife in the South Carolina primary.

Does anybody remember when Bill Clinton, in 2008, worked long and hard for Hillary? She LOST! Now Bill is at it again. Just watch, Trump tweeted this weekend.

The Republican National Committee also used Clinton's appearance Monday to question his paid speaking gigs while his wife was secretary of state. A spokesman said his presence only "reinforces the fact the Clintons are untrustworthy and have used public service to enrich themselves and reward their friends."

Sanders told ABC News on Sunday that he didnt object to Clinton joining the campaign trail.

We have enormous problems facing this country, and I think we got more things to worry about than Bill Clinton's sexual life, he said. Maybe Donald Trump might want to focus attention on climate change.  Maybe Donald Trump should understand that we should raise the minimum wage.  Maybe he should focus on those things.

Trump spokeswoman Katrina Pierson recently suggested that the campaign will make an issue of Bill Clintons past behavior if his wife continues with the accusations of sexism toward Trump, while Democrats continue their broader attack on Republicans about their so-called war on women.

Hillary Clinton has some nerve to talk about the war on women and the bigotry toward women when she has a serious problem in her husband, she told CNN.
Mark Penn, who owns a public relations firm handling communications for the Barack Obama Foundation, credited Obama with uttering the stupidest thing ever said by a president in foreign policy.

In a March 2012 email sent to Hillary Clintons private email address, Penn lambasted Obama for his statement to then-Russian President Dmitri Medvedev that he would have more flexibility on missile defense issues after the 2012 election.

This could be about the stupidest thing ever said by a president in foreign policy, wrote Penn. To explicitly say that he is laying low on nuclear defense policies because of his election right now and tell your opponent that is to politicize all foreign policy, evidence weakness that can be exploited by others, and undermine the administrations credibility. 

Penn recommended that Clinton should consider resigning if the administrations foreign policy positions were truly being swayed by Obamas campaign for reelection. He also cautioned that enemies from al Qaeda on down will use Obamas words to their advantage.

Penn owns SKDKnickerbocker, which was paid $230,436 for marketing and communications work by the Barack Obama Foundation. Obama plans to use the foundation as the main vessel for his post-presidency political work.

Penns opinion that Obama said the stupidest thing ever said by a president is just the latest indication of how negatively Penn views Obama.

As a top campaign strategist for Clinton in 2008 Penn recommended a negative campaign strategy that focused on Obamas lack of American roots.

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President Obama vowed Monday to press ahead with new executive actions on gun control after meeting with top law enforcement officials, claiming he has the legal authority to act  and defying congressional critics who say hes pursuing a dangerous overreach.

The president, without giving any specifics, said hell be rolling out these initiatives over the next several days. He spoke after meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and other top officials to review their proposals and finalize his plans.

Obama said their recommendations are well within my legal authority and would be supported by the overwhelming majority of the American people including gun owners.

The recommendations that are being made by my team here are ones that are entirely consistent with the Second Amendment, Obama said, claiming they could potentially save lives.

The White House said that Obama will deliver remarks from the East Room at 11:40 a.m. Tuesday announcing a series of executive actions on gun control.

The revived push to tighten Americas gun laws via executive action, however, has resulted in a backlash on Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

Republicans made clear they would fight the administration and accused the president of overstepping.

"While we dont yet know the details of the plan, the president is at minimum subverting the legislative branch, and potentially overturning its will, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said in a statement. This is a dangerous level of executive overreach, and the country will not stand for it.

Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, who chairs a key appropriations panel, warned Lynch on Monday that he would use every tool at my disposal to immediately restrict DOJ funding if the department proceeds with new restrictions on our Constitutional rights.

Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump vowed to reverse any such actions if hes elected.

"We're not changing the Second Amendment," Trump said Saturday at a campaign rally in Biloxi, Miss. "I will veto that. I will un-sign that so fast."

While Obama did not detail the proposals, a priority is an effort to expand background checks on gun sales by forcing more sellers to register as federally licensed gun dealers. The changes would be aimed at some unregistered sellers who skirt the background check laws by selling at gun shows, online or informal settings. Other moves being considered include improving reporting of lost and stolen weapons and beefing up inspections of licensed dealers, according to a person familiar with the plans.

The package includes measures this White House has long considered but not completed, mindful of the legal fight sure to follow as well as the potential for political backlash for some fellow Democrats.

While Obama took heat from Republicans, supporters of stronger action on gun control applauded the presidents new push.

"We definitely think there are things he can do," said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which advocates for expanding background checks. Gross says his recent conversations with White House aides have left him hopeful.

"It's very clear that the White House is feeling emboldened," he said.

Obama announced the meeting with Lynch in his weekly address from his Hawaii holiday vacation. On Thursday, he'll take his argument to prime time, participating in a town hall discussion of gun violence on CNN. He's slated to make his case for changes in his State of the Union address on Jan. 12.

The high-profile rollout reflects a White House continuing to look for ways to wrap up unfinished business, despite an uncooperative Congress.

After all but ignoring the issue in his first term, Obama changed course after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in December 2012. Nevertheless, the president failed to push a package of gun measures through Congress, including one expanding background checks.

At the same time, Obama took nearly two dozen executive actions to tighten gun laws, but left a major expansion of background checks out of the mix.

But after the shooting at a community college in Roseburg, Oregon in October, Obama ordered his staff to redouble the effort to look for ways to work around Congress.

Under current law, federally licensed firearms dealers are required to seek background checks on potential firearm purchasers. But advocacy groups say many sellers are currently exempt from having to register, increasing the chance of sales to customers prohibited by law from purchasing a gun.

The administration is expected to reclassify some of those dealers using a mix of criteria, such as the number and frequency of guns sold, whether sellers profit off sales, whether they advertise, rent space or tables at gun shows and pay taxes.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
The group of 17 detainees expected to be transferred out of Guantanamo Bay as early as this week includes multiple bad guys and Al Qaeda followers, a source who has reviewed the list told Fox News.

Little is known publicly about which prisoners are being prepared for transfer, but the Obama administration has notified Congress it plans to ship out 17 detainees  some of whom could be transferred within days.

While the identities of the men are closely held, the source who spoke with Fox News said it includes multiple bad guys  not taxi drivers and cooks.

This is a reference to the administrations transfer of Ibrahim al Qosi to Sudan in 2012. Despite entering a re-integration program, the one-time cook for Usama bin Laden has now fled to Yemen, where he is among the leadership of Al Qaeda in Yemen. That transfer is now said to be a source of considerable heartburn for the Obama administration.

As for those on the docket for immediate transfer, the source told Fox News the administration will not identify the detainees until they are relocated in their new home countries -- because knowing who they are in advance would create further roadblocks and increase the controversy.

Multiple countries have agreed to take the men, in small groups, and the source said some of the countries were so-called first timers -- a reference to the fact those countries had not taken Guantanamo detainees in the past.

The move to clear out 17 detainees is seen as part of the administrations long-term plan to ultimately shutter the detention camp.

The transfer of 17 prisoners would bring the number of detainees left down to 90  the bulk of whom cannot be transferred to another country.

Many in Congress, though, fiercely oppose any plan to bring those detainees to the U.S.

President Obama in his year-end news conference justified the closure of the detention camp, claiming Guantanamo continues to be one of the key magnets for jihadi recruitment. But the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI, which tracks jihadist propaganda, said that terrorist groups have moved on from using Guantanamo in their recruitment efforts.

The topic of Guantanamo prisoners appeared rather frequently in Al-Qaeda's propaganda in past years, MEMRIs Eliot Zweig said. However, the topic has received little to no attention in the last year or two ... Gitmo hasnt received much attention in official ISIS releases.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trumps new television ad showing dozens of people swarming over a border fence is being criticized by a prominent fact-checker for using footage from a Spanish autonomous city that shares a border with Morocco.

The ad features a narrator who says of Trump, "He'll stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for, as images show people streaming across a border fence.

PolitiFact said the footage comes from the Italian television network RepubblicaTV, which posted video on May 3, 2015 of Moroccans crossing the border into the Spanish city of Melilla.

"Trumps television ad purports to show Mexicans swarming over 'our southern border.' However, the footage used to support this point actually shows African migrants streaming over a border fence between Morocco and the Spanish enclave of Melilla, more than 5,000 miles away. We rate the claim Pants on Fire," PolitiFact said in its ruling on the ad.

But the Trump campaign defended the ad, the candidate's first TV ad of the 2016 cycle.

In a statement to Fox News on Monday, Trumps campaign said the use of the footage was "intentional and selected to demonstrate the severe impact of an open border and the very real threat Americans face if we do not immediately build a wall and stop illegal immigration."

"The biased main stream media doesnt understand, but Americans who want to protect their jobs and their families do," the statement continued.

The ad is part of the campaign's $2 million-a-week buy in early-voting Iowa and New Hampshire.
The Obama administration and its Western allies have been left scrambling to smooth over a rift between Saudi Arabia and Iran that erupted over the weekend after the Saudis executed a prominent Shiite cleric.

On Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced that his country had severed diplomatic ties with Iran and gave Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country. All Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran have been called home after mobs attacked the kingdom's embassy in Tehran, as well as a consulate.

According to The Washington Post, the Obama administration fears that the escalating dispute could negatively affect the ongoing fight against the ISIS terror group, as well as the effort to bring Syria's ongoing civil war to a peaceful conclusion.

At least one U.S. official blamed the Saudi government for stoking tensions by executing Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012.

"This is a dangerous game [the Saudis] are playing," the official told the Post. "There are larger repercussions than just the reaction to these executions."

That drew an angry response from a Saudi official, who told the Post, "Tehran has thumbed its nose at the West again and again, continuing to sponsor terrorism and launch ballistic missiles and no one is doing anything about it."

"Every time the Iranians do something, the United States backs off," the official added, according to the Post. "The Saudis are actually doing something."

The executions illustrate Saudi Arabia's new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Iran-backed Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed the nuclear deal world powers struck with Iran this past summer.

It also represents just the latest turmoil in the two countries' long-rocky relationship, which saw diplomatic ties between them severed from 1988 to 1991.

On Sunday, al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that the Iranian regime has "a long record of violations of foreign diplomatic missions," dating back to the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in 1979, and such incidents constitute "a flagrant violation of all international agreements," according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

He said Iran's "hostile policy" was aimed "at destabilizing the region's security," accusing Tehran of smuggling weapons and explosives and planting terrorist cells in the kingdom and other countries in the region. He vowed that Saudi Arabia will not allow Iran "to undermine our security."

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saudi Arabia on Sunday of "divine revenge" over al-Nimr's death, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as "extremists."

At least 40 people were arrested Sunday after a protest outside the Saudi Embassy quickly grew violent as demonstrators threw stones and gasoline bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building ablaze

State Department spokesman John Kirby said Sunday the Obama administration was aware of the Saudis' severing of ties with Tehran. "We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," Kirby said.

In recent months, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and others have spent significant time trying to bring both countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the civil war. Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin later this month.

Earlier Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats," according to a statement.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Click for more from The Washington Post.
The deepening rift between Sunni nations and Iran is putting growing pressure on the Obama administration to reassure Middle East allies who feel "abandoned" over Washington's diplomatic outreach to Tehran.

The split widened Monday as Bahrain and the UAE joined Saudi Arabia in either cutting off or downgrading ties with Tehran. The diplomatic crisis erupted after Saudi Arabia went forward with a mass execution which included the killing of a prominent Shia cleric, and Iranians retaliated by storming the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Saudi Arabia's response, though, reflected not only its outrage at Iran but an undercurrent of frustration with the United States reluctance to hold Iran accountable for alleged aggressions. One Saudi official was quoted complaining that the U.S. "backs off" every time Tehran crosses a line.

Among other moves, a recent decision by the U.S. to delay sanctions against Tehran could be inflaming that frustration -- and in turn making it more difficult for Washington to help resolve the dispute.

For now, the administration is treading carefully and showing little interest in diving into the middle of the fight. State Department spokesman John Kirby said he doesnt believe the U.S. should act as a mediator between the two sides.

But Robert Jordan, former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia from 2001-2003, told FoxNews.com the Saudis and their allies feel abandoned by the United States and urged the U.S. to get more involved.

The backdrop of animosity and of proxy wars has been getting more dramatic, Jordan said. We need to make it clear that were not simply singing Kumbayah with Iran and that we still see them as a revolutionary state.

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Monday pushed back strongly on accusations the U.S. was looking the other way with Iran. He added that sanctions are still on the table but also warned Saudi Arabia wasnt getting a free pass from the U.S. on its mass executions.

Were urging all sides to show restraint, not further tensions, he said at the daily briefing.

On Sunday, Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran and gave Iranian diplomats living in the country only hours to flee. The move highlighted a stunning escalation in the decades-old bad blood between the two nations.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir made the announcement after Iranian leaders sharply criticized Saudi Arabia for executing outspoken Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, among a group of 47 executed. Protesters in Iran stormed the Saudi Embassy in response to the killings.

The killings  the beheading -- was nothing more than a spark that ignited what had been simmering, Professor Alon Ben-Meir, a senior fellow at New York Universitys Center for Global Affairs and senior fellow at the World Policy Institute, told FoxNews.com.

The fracture in ties comes at a time when the United States and other Western countries had hoped civility between the two Middle Eastern nations would ease tensions in Iraq, Bahrain and other political hotspots in the region.

But instead of staying out of the fight, three Sunni-led countries  Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates -- joined Saudi Arabias lead on Monday.

Bahrain accused Iran of spreading devastation and destruction around the world and provoking unrest and strife in the region.

Sudan -- which is not a U.S. ally and, like Iran, is considered a state sponsor of terrorism -- kicked out its Iranian ambassador, while the UAE downgraded its ties to Tehran by ordering a reduction in the number of Iranian diplomats stationed in the UAE.

For its part, U.S. officials have been working to ease the tensions.

The White House said Secretary of State John Kerry spoke with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif on Sunday, while the Saudi Press Agency reported that Kerry had also spoken with Saudi Deputy Crown Prince Salman. The Associated Press said that Kerry would likely make another round of calls to the foreign ministers of all the Sunni-led states in the region, including Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar.

Several officials said one of Washington's most immediate concerns is the potential effect the spat could have on the fragile cooperation in Iraq between the Iraqi security forces, which answer to an Iran-friendly government, and Sunni and Shiite militias that are fighting Islamic State extremists. That cooperation has shown gains in recent weeks, notably with the Iraqi recapture of the provincial capital of Ramadi from the Islamic State group.

Officials were preparing for a high-level U.S. conversation with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to stress the importance of continuing the Iraqi government's outreach to Sunni militias, the officials said.

Also of concern is the state of the Syrian peace effort, which is supposed to swing into high gear in late January with U.N.-sponsored negotiations between Saudi-backed opposition forces and the Iranian-supported government of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

In addition to Kerry, other senior U.S. diplomats were in close contact with Saudi and Arab officials over the weekend, according to U.S. officials.

But at least one U.S. official blamed the Saudi government for stoking tensions by executing al-Nimr, who was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabias Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012.

"This is a dangerous game (the Saudis) are playing," the official told The Washington Post. "There are larger repercussions than just the reaction to these executions."

That drew an angry response from a Saudi official, who also told the Post, "Tehran has thumbed its nose at the West again and again, continuing to sponsor terrorism and launch ballistic missiles and no one is doing anything about it."

"Every time the Iranians do something, the United States backs off," the official added, according to the Post. "The Saudis are actually doing something."

During his daily briefing, Earnest warned that the U.S. would not be pressured by any country into enforcing economic sanctions against Iran.

We know those kinds of financial penalties have an impact and they are helpful in countering Irans ballistic missile program but ultimately we will impose those financial penalties, well impose those sanctions at a place of our choosing, when our experts believe they will have the maximum impact and those decisions are not subject to negotiation by the Iranians or by anybody else for that matter, Earnest said. Those decisions are made based solely on the conclusion of our financial experts about ensuring those penalties have the maximum impact.

FoxNews.com's Barnini Chakraborty and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Male bass are experiencing unwanted sex changes, apparently thanks to the "chemical soups" that pass for waterways in the Northeast. The Washington Post reports 85% of male smallmouth bass surveyed in the region have "characteristics of the opposite sex"specifically eggs where their testes should be.

The same is true of 27 percent of area largemouth bass, Vice adds. For a recently published study, researchers tested bass near 19 wildlife refuges in the Northeast, according to a US Geological Survey press release.

Researchers didn't do a chemical analysis of the water where the intersex fish were found, so they can't be sure specifically what is causing the sex changes.

But they suspect the problem is things that get dumped down drains and into US waters. Researchers believe the likely culprits are birth control pills, pesticides, hormones in livestock manure, and other chemical-heavy products, according to the press release.

Vice reports those products contain estrogen, which can produce dramatic effects even at very low levels. But this isn't just a problem in the Northeast. Up to 90 percent of male smallmouth bass in parts of West Virginia are intersex, and increasing sex changes have been noted in nearly 40 fish species around the world going back 20 years, according to the Post.

Study author Luke Iwanowicz calls these fish "the canary in the coal mine." "We are looking at fish but, of course, there is that concern that, if this stuff is in the water, it can be affecting other wildlife," he tells Vice.

(A hermaphrodite cat got gender assignment surgery this year.)

This article originally appeared on Newser: Drugs We Dump May Be Causing Sex Changes in Fish

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The armed protesters who triggered a standoff when they stormed a wildlife refuge in Oregon listed their demands at a news conference Monday, while giving their group a name: Citizens for Constitutional Freedom.

Ammon Bundy, a son of Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a standoff of his own against the federal government in 2014, spoke on behalf of the protesters. He said they asked Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward and federal agencies to put an end to what he called "abuses" against local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond.

The Hammonds were convicted of arson three years ago for fires that burned on federal land in 2001 and 2006. Though they served their original sentences for the conviction -- Dwight serving three months, Steven serving one year -- an appellate judge ruled in October that the terms were too short under federal minimum sentencing laws.

The Hammonds were ordered back to prison for four years each. They arrived at the Terminal Island Federal Correctional Institution Monday afternoon.

"Dwight and Steven Hammond respect the rule of law. They have litigated this matter within the federal courts for over five years and, in every instance, have followed the order of the court without incident or violation," the Hammonds' attorneys said.

Ammon Bundy accused federal officials of launching an "attack" on the Hammonds for refusing to sell their land. The protesters took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally.

Sheriff Ward said the protesters were no patriots. "These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States," Ward said in a statement. "We are currently working jointly with several organizations to make sure the citizens of Harney County are safe and this issue is resolved as quickly and peaceful as possible."

FBI officials tried to calm the anger by calling for a "peaceful resolution" to the standoff. Still, the bureau did not give any specifics about its response in a statement Sunday, citing "safety considerations for both those inside the refuge as well as the law enforcement officers involved."

Ammon Bundy's brother, Ryan, said they planned on staying at the refuge as long as it takes. If the situation turns violent, he contends it will be because of the federal government's actions. "I mean, we're here to restore order, we're here to restore rights and that can go peacefully and easily."

Dwight Hammond Jr., 73, and his 46-year-old son, Steven, have claimed that they lit the fires in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires. However, prosecutors said the fires were set to cover up poaching.

The decision generated controversy and is part of a decades-long dispute between some Westerners and the federal government over the use of public lands. The issue traces back to the 1970s and the "Sagebrush Rebellion," a move by Western states like Nevada to increase local control over federal land. Critics of the push for more local control have said the federal government should administer the public lands for the widest possible uses, including environmental and recreation.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.
A former Catholic priest accused of taking inappropriate pictures of students at his school is facing nearly three years in federal prison for viewing child pornography on a computer.

Stephen Pohl pleaded guilty on Monday in federal court to one count of accessing child pornography. The 57-year-old was head pastor at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church, which includes a school campus.

Federal prosecutors reached a plea deal with Pohl that, if accepted by a judge, would send him to prison for 33 months. He will be sentenced March 29.

Investigators found dozens of photos that Pohl had taken of students at his school, but an affidavit says none was considered pornographic. But the affidavit says police did find Pohl had accessed child porn images on the Internet.
The Mississippi River floods more often than it used to, and at higher levels. Richard Knaup thinks he knows why.

The veteran emergency management director for southeast Missouri's Cape Girardeau County is fighting floods again, just as he did last year, and the year before that, and the year before that.

"Prior to levee building, the river was a wild thing and it spread out between the river bluffs," Knaup said Monday. "Now we've tried to tame it. Mother Nature and Old Man River will fight back."

The rains that caused this winter's flood, blamed already for 25 deaths and damage to hundreds of homes and businesses, ended a week ago, but the water was still rising Monday in southern Missouri and Illinois. The Illinois River, which joins the Mississippi above St. Louis, was expected to reach near-record crests this week between the Illinois towns of Havana and Valley City, creating "a very dangerous situation" as levees there become saturated, said Steve Buan, a National Weather Service hydrologist.

Several other states along the Mississippi River were still bracing for the crest, which was flowing past Tiptonville, Tennessee, and expected to reach Memphis on Thursday at 6.5 feet above flood stage.

For many in the flood-weary Midwest, fighting the river has become an almost annual event. In Cape Girardeau County, all but five of the 32 highest crests on record have occurred since the record-setting 1993 flood, and four of the top 10 have happened since 2011.

So what's going on? Unusual weather patterns are a symptom of global warming, but experts also blame more immediate developments, including efforts to protect growing towns and cities from the rivers both that sustain and threaten them.

Bob Holmes, a Missouri-based hydrologic engineer for the U.S. Geological Survey, says the Midwest has received far more rainfall than normal over the past quarter of a century, and more extreme rainstorms, such as the three-day downpour Dec. 26-28 that dumped 10 inches of rain over much of Missouri and Illinois and caused this latest mess. But urban sprawl also increases flood risk, he said.

"Farm fields will soak up water," Holmes said. "If you pave it with concrete or asphalt, all of a sudden that is a very efficient conduit right into the streams and you get increased flooding."

Bob Criss, an earth and planetary science professor at Washington University in St. Louis, also blames urbanization, and says this latest spike of rain wouldn't have caused major flooding if the river wasn't constricted by levees and floodwalls.

"The Mississippi River behaved during this event like a small river, and it's acting like a small river because the water has no place to go," Criss said.

Earthen mounds have held back the Mississippi in places since French settlers installed the river's first levees in Louisiana in 1717. They spread quickly as riverfront communities developed, but floods have continued to pose threats ever since.

This was predicted as far back as 1852, when engineer Charles Ellet Jr. warned in a report to Congress that risks would only increase as "water that was formerly allowed to spread over many thousand square miles of low lands is becoming more and more confined to the immediate channel of the river."

By 1926, the Mississippi River Commission declared its levee system to be complete, and able to "prevent the destructive effects of floods." The claim collapsed less than a year later, when the "Great Mississippi Flood of 1927" devastated much of the Midwest.

That calamity led to still-higher barriers as the Flood Control Act of 1928 urged the Army Corps of Engineers to develop a system of more levees, spillways and other controls.

Flood control took on renewed urgency after flooding in 1993, which the Corps describes as "a hydro-meteorological event without precedent in modern times on the upper Mississippi." Damage totaled $15 billion as hundreds of levees failed; 50 people died and thousands were evacuated, some for months.

The federal government bought out hundreds of homes and businesses, turning floodplains into greenspace throughout the Midwest. But locations deemed too valuable for buyouts are now protected by even-bigger and stronger levees. The Mississippi River now has an estimated 3,500 miles of levees, ranging from small barriers around farmland to Corps-built structures protecting towns and major cities.

Army Corps of Engineers spokesman Rene Poche defends the federal system, saying it prevented an estimated $230 billion in damage in 2011, when the river south of St. Louis experienced its worst flooding since 1993.

In Cape Girardeau County, Knaup knows that the same system he blames for increased flooding also protects homes and businesses.

"I appreciate every levee and floodwall we have," Knaup said. "I'm grateful for them."
Police said Sunday they found the body of a man who they believe shot and killed his ex-wife at a strip mall in Northwest Indiana.

The shooting unfolded on Saturday inside an Edible Arrangements store where Alessandra De Moraes-Emiliano worked in Schererville, southeast of Chicago, Fox 32 reports.

Police announced later that day they were searching for her ex-husband, 49-year-old Richard James Kalecki, Jr. His body turned up the next day at a cemetary in Calumet City, Illinois. Police say they believe he killed himself.

The husband had filed for divorce in 2012, months before he was charged with child molestation among other counts, The Chicago Tribune reported.

In a statement, Schererville Police called the woman's death a "tragic domestic violence homicide," adding, "We have worked very closely with her entire family and they have our deepest sympathies.

Click for more from Fox 32.
Police on Saturday listed a Dallas hairstylist and mother of three as "endangered" after they say they recovered evidence from her abandoned SUV.

34-year-old Marisol Espinosa vanished on Tuesday, when colleagues said she never showed up for work. Her boyfriend, Faustino Valdez, said she left for work that morning like she always did.

Her children are 8, 5 and 3, Fox 4 reports.

Police say the evidence they found included Espinosa's purse and phone case. Her Chevy Tahoe turned up in an apartment building's parking lot roughly three miles from her home.

Cousin Mindy Trujillo said she found the SUV. "Now I'm just praying that with my luck again, I could find her," she told Fox 4.

Dallas Police urged anybody with information to call their Missing Persons Squad.

Click for more from Fox 4.
Authorities say a police officer in North Carolina is recovering from multiple gunshot wounds after a traffic stop led to a struggle with a motorist.

Police Chief Barry Rountree said 27-year-old Officer Nicholas Wayne Powell was shot around 2 a.m. Monday after he and another officer tried to investigate the smell of marijuana from a stopped car.

Rountree said the two officers ordered three men from the vehicle, but one tried to get back in and drive away.

The police chief said Powell reached for the car's door and was dragged about a quarter-mile. Rountree says the suspect then got out and grappled with Powell before shooting the officer several times and himself once.

The wounds are not believed to be life-threatening. The suspect hasn't yet been charged.
A man accused of suffocating his infant son and seriously injuring his toddler daughter has pleaded not guilty to aggravated murder and other charges in southeastern Ohio.

Court officials in Marietta say Adam Baker pleaded not guilty Monday to charges of aggravated murder, attempted aggravated murder and felonious assault.

The Marietta man's public defender didn't return a message seeking comment.

The Washington County prosecutor has said detectives began investigating the 23-year-old Baker after his 2-year-old daughter was taken to a hospital in November because she had lost consciousness. The prosecutor has said the girl suffered brain damage and is now blind and using a wheelchair.

Baker's 4-month-old son died in June. A coroner couldn't determine how the boy died.

Baker's trial has been set for Feb. 18.
Police say a New Jersey couple left three young children in a cold SUV for nearly two hours while they were inside a Pennsylvania casino.

The Bucks County Courier Times reports police were called to the Parx Casino parking lot in Bensalem on Saturday for a report of three children  ages 8, 3 and 1  inside a vehicle. Temperatures were hovering near freezing at the time.

Court records show 39-year-old Jarrett Evan Nelson and 30-year-old Ebony Walker, both of Newark, face charges including endangering the welfare of children.

Surveillance video showed the two entered the casino at 7:33 p.m. and returned to the SUV around 9:11 p.m.

They couldn't post bond and were sent to Bucks County Jail.

Online court documents don't list attorneys for them.

Click for more from Fox 29.
Authorities in north Texas are asking the public for help investigating the murder of a University of North Texas student who was shot and killed in an apparent road rage incident early Friday.

Investigators say Sara Mutschlechner, 20, was driving friends home from a New Year's Eve party when some of her passengers exchanged words with occupants of a nearby SUV. Someone in the SUV opened fire, striking Mutschlechner in the head. She lost control of the car, which crashed into a utility pole.

Mutschlechner was taken off life support later Friday.

KDFW reported that police have obtained surveillance video that shows the SUV the suspects were riding in, though it does not show the shooting itself. WFAA reported that detectives are investigating the possibility that members of Mutschlechner's group may have gotten into an argument with the suspects at the party.

Mutschlechner was a junior at UNT, studying Radio, TV & Film. She was a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority.

Mutschlechner's death is the second time in less than a month that a UNT student has been fatally shot. On Dec. 13, sophomore Ryan McMillan was killed by a campus police officer after McMillan approached him with an ax.

Anyone with photos or video of the New Year's Eve party is asked to contact Denton police detective Eric Beckwith at 940-349-7974.
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Cops say they're not sure why anybody would steal a plaster cast of one of President Abraham Lincoln's hands from an Illinois museum, but more than three weeks later, they still need clues to crack the case.

The stolen hand is roughly the size of an "8-10 pound ham," a curator at the Kankakee County Museum told police. Historians say the sculptor, George Grey Barnard, lived in Kankakee around the time the 16th president was assassinated in 1865.

Police have struggled to find leads since the hand vanished sometime around Dec. 11, The New York Times reported.

The hand is over 150 years old, police say. Kankakee is about 60 miles southwest of Chicago.

The Kankakee Police Department urged anybody with information to call its investigations bureau. And an editorial in the Kankakee Valley Daily Journal urged the culprit or culprits to "hand the Lincoln sculpture back over."

According to the editorial, "While the sculpture has great historical and sentimental value, it is relatively worthless to the average person. Unlike stolen copper, it won't command much of a price from a recycler, and only a serious art collector would pay significant money for it."
Search crews recovered a third body from a frigid lake in southern Wisconsin on Monday after four Illinois men went missing from a lake house where they were staying with friends.

Crews have been scouring Mill Lake, which is part of the Lake Beulah chain about 35 miles southeast of Milwaukee, since the men were reported missing Sunday.

Friends told investigators the men, aged 20 to 23, went outside to smoke around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, but they hadn't come back by the time everyone else went to sleep. The friends discovered the four were missing around 9 a.m., after finding footprints in the snow to the boathouse and a canoe overturned in the lake.

Two bodies were recovered from the water shortly after the search began. Authorities have identified those victims as 20-year-old Lanny Patrick Sack and 21-year-old Christopher J. McQuillen.

The body recovered Monday afternoon wasn't immediately identified.

The search for the fourth man ended for the evening at nightfall Monday, but the search will resume Tuesday morning, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Warden Jason Roberts said.

No personal flotation devices or life jackets were found in the water at the scene, he said. Roberts said alcohol was involved but it's unclear if that was a factor in the deaths, which he said appeared to be "a confluence of bad choices that ended rather tragically on this New Year's."

The cold water and weather have combined to make searching difficult, Walworth County Sheriff Kurt Picknell said.

McQuillen's father declined to comment to The Associated Press. But he told the Chicago Tribune that a relative of one of his son's friends called him Sunday to say Christopher McQuillen was missing.

Joe McQuillen said he later learned his son was among the four men who disappeared in Wisconsin.

"He was just gone. He kind of slipped through our fingers like water," he told the newspaper. "But he knew he was loved."

Messages left with phone numbers listed for Sack's relatives weren't immediately returned.
Douglas Tompkins, the U.S. co-founder of The North Face and Esprit clothing companies has died from severe hypothermia in a kayaking accident in Chile, authorities say.

The 72-year-old environmental activist had bought up large swaths of land in South America's Patagonia region to help keep them pristine.

The Aysen health service said the wealthy businessman was boating with five other foreigners on Tuesday when their kayaks capsized in a lake in the Patagonia region of southern Chile. Tompkins died later in the intensive care unit of the hospital in Coyhaique, a town 1,700 kilometers (1,056 miles) south of Santiago.

"He had lost consciousness and wasn't breathing" when brought to the hospital by helicopter, Dr. Carlos Salazar told local television stations.

Chile's army said strong waves on General Carrerra Lake caused the group's kayaks to capsize. A military patrol boat rescued three of the boaters and a helicopter lifted out the other three, it said.

After retiring in 1989, Tompkins was active in conservation and environmentalism. He owned hundreds of thousands of hectares (acres) in Patagonia, a sparsely populated region of untamed rivers and other natural beauty that straddles southern Chile and Argentina. On his Chilean land, he created Pumalin Park, 290,000 hectares (716,606 acres) of forest, lakes and fjords stretching from the Andes to the Pacific.

"Doug was a passionate advocate for the environment," The North Face said in a statement. "His legacy of conservation will help ensure that there are outdoor spaces to be explored for generations to come."

Tompkins was one of the founders of The North Face, an activewear company that is now owned by VF Corp. of Greensboro, North Carolina. He also founded, with his wife, the Esprit clothing company.

An active outdoorsman, besides buying up land to preserve it, Tompkins also sometimes got involved in local environmental issues in Chile and Argentina. Many credit him with helping to raise consciousness about the toll that large man-made projects, such as dams, can have on ecosystems.

"For the environmental movement, not just in Chile but internationally, (Tompkins' death) is a huge loss," said Sara Larrain, a long-time friend of Tompkins who leads a Chilean environmental group. "This is somebody who put all his energy, all his fortune and his spirit in preserving ecosystems."

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Associated Press writers Luis Andres Henao and Patricia Luna in Santiago, Chile and Peter Prengaman in Buenos Aires, Argentina contributed to this report.
Two gunmen were believed to be still on the run Monday, more than 48 hours after they and several others attacked an Indian air base near the Pakistan border. At least seven troops and four gunmen have been killed in the fighting so far.

On Sunday, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi told reporters that the last two gunmen had been cornered on the large base and would be "neutralized" soon.

The attack on the Pathankot air force base started before dawn Saturday and is seen as an attempt to undo recent improvements in the relationship between archrivals India and Pakistan. It comes a week after Narendra Modi became the first Indian prime minister in 12 years to visit Pakistan.

Mehrishi said Indian authorities were alerted about a potential attack in Pathankot, and that aerial surveillance at the base spotted the suspected militants as they entered the compound. He said they were engaged by Indian troops and were kept away from the base's aircraft and military equipment.

A senior air force officer, Air Marshal Anil Khosla, told reporters in New Delhi that the base will not be declared fully secured until the entire area is checked by troops.

Since Saturday morning, the base has been swarming with air force commandos, troops from India's elite National Security Guard and local police, but officials refused to say how many troops were involved in the fighting and combing operations.

The sprawling Pathankot air force base is spread over 25 kilometers (15 miles), including some forested sections. Defense officials would not say where on the base the fighting took place or where the suspected militants had taken cover, except to say that no aircraft or military equipment has been damaged.

The base houses a fleet of India's Russian-origin MiG-21 fighter jets and Mi-25 and Mi-35 attack helicopters, along with other military hardware.

The air force station is on the highway that connects India's insurgency-plagued Jammu and Kashmir state with the rest of the country. It is also very close to India's border with Pakistan.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but is claimed in its entirety by both. Rebels in India's portion of Kashmir have been fighting since 1989 for independence or merger with Pakistan.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the insurgents, a charge Islamabad denies, and the attack is being viewed as a possible attempt to unravel recent progress in the relationship between the two nations.

Police said they do not know if the gunmen came from the Indian portion of Kashmir, where rebels routinely stage attacks, or from Pakistan.

The violence follows Indian Prime Minister Modi's surprise Dec. 25 visit to Pakistan, where he met his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif  a trip that marked a significant thaw in the mostly tense relations between the nuclear-armed neighbors.

The two also held an unscheduled meeting at the Paris climate change talks last month.

Ahead of Modi's visit to Pakistan, the national security advisers of both countries met in Thailand. The foreign secretaries of both nations are to meet in Islamabad later this month.

The responses to the weekend attack from both countries have been muted so far, with neither New Delhi nor Islamabad giving any indication that the planned talks are under any threat.

All political parties in India condemned the attack, but there were no demands that the government call off the talks with Pakistan. In the past, when it was in opposition, Modi's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party was a vocal critic of engagement with Pakistan.

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Associated Press writer Muneeza Naqvi in New Delhi contributed to this report.
Diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been tense since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, though there have been occasional thaws between the two rivals.

The tensions have now sharply escalated with Saudi Arabia severing ties with the Islamic Republic following attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. Here's a look at how relations between the two Mideast powers have shifted over the last decades:

PRE-REVOLUTION RELATIONS: Under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran had rocky relations with Saudi Arabia, though they improved toward the end of his reign. Both were original members of the oil cartel OPEC.

POST-REVOLUTION: After the overthrow of the shah and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia quickly became America's top ally in the region. In the ensuing 1980s war between Iran and Iraq, Saudi Arabia backed Iraq despite its concerns about dictator Saddam Hussein. That war would kill 1 million people.

1987 HAJJ RIOTS: The annual pilgrimage to Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia, required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life, saw bloodshed when Iranians held a political demonstration. Iranian pilgrims later battled Saudi riot police, violence that killed at least 402 people. Iran claimed 600 of its pilgrims were killed and said police fired machine guns at the crowd. In Tehran, mobs attacked the Saudi, Kuwaiti, French and Iraqi embassies, ransacking the first two.

SEVERING TIES: In 1988, Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran, citing the 1987 hajj rioting and Iran's attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf. Iranians responded by boycotting the hajj in 1988 and 1989. The two countries restored diplomatic ties in 1991.

EASING TENSIONS: Relations between the two nations improved after Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, a political moderate, took office in 1997. Ties warmed further after historic visits by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to Tehran in December 1997 and Khatami to the kingdom in May 1999.

NUCLEAR DISPUTE: Worries about Iran resumed in Saudi Arabia amid international sanctions against Tehran over its contested nuclear program and the increasingly harsh rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran and Saudi Arabia each backed opposite sides in Syria's civil war, as well as in the civil war in Yemen. Saudi Arabia also grows increasingly suspicious of Iran as it reaches a deal with world powers over its nuclear program.

2015 HAJJ DISASTER: On Sept. 24, a stampede and crush strikes the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. While the kingdom says 769 pilgrims are killed, an Associated Press count shows over 2,400 people were killed. Iran says at least 464 of its pilgrims were killed and blames Saudi Arabia's "incompetence" for the deaths.

SHEIKH'S EXECUTION: On Jan. 2, Saudi Arabia executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others  the largest execution carried out by the kingdom in three and a half decades. The execution of al-Nimr, a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority, sparked protests across the Mideast and attacks on Saudi diplomatic facilities in Iran. Saudi Arabia responded by announcing it was severing diplomatic ties with Iran over the attacks.

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Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap .
The Parent-Teacher Association of a Cyprus elementary school has come under fierce criticism for putting up a domestic help as a prize in a children's holiday lottery draw.

Cyprus PTA Confederation chief Maria Savva told state-run radio Monday that a man who runs a placement agency offered to waive the fees and costs of finding a housemaid as one of the prizes in the traditional children's draw at the Aradippou school. It's unclear if anyone claimed the prize.

Thousands of domestic helpers are employed in Cyprus, mostly foreign nationals who are recruited in countries where labor is cheaper.

Savva said she has asked the school's PTA for a formal report into the matter.

Cyprus Education Ministry official Elpidoforos Neoclous condemned the prize on private Sigma TV station as "unacceptable."
An Iraqi official is blaming the Islamic State for the bombing of two Sunni mosques in a predominantly Shiite city in southern Iraq the previous night, saying the militant group seeks to stoke sectarian tensions.

The bombing in the city of Hilla late on Sunday damaged both mosques but caused no casualties, according to the government.

Provincial security official Falah al-Khafaji told The Associated Press he doesn't believe the explosions were linked to the escalating Saudi-Iran spat over the kingdom's execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr, which sparked outrage in Iraq over the weekend.

Al-Khafaji says IS "did this to inflame sectarian strife in the country, starting in Hilla."

He says authorities are beefing up security around the two targeted mosques and other Sunni mosques in the city.
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah attacked an Israeli armored vehicle with a roadside bomb along the border Monday and Israel responded with artillery fire.

Hezbollah said it set off a large explosive device as an armored patrol passed in the disputed Chebaa Farms area, destroying a Humvee and causing casualties among the soldiers inside.

The Israeli army said vehicles in the area were hit with an improvised explosive device and that it responded with targeted artillery fire. It did not say whether there were any casualties.

Lebanese security officials said more than 50 Israeli shells hit several villages in the area where the Hezbollah operation was carried out. Residents along the border said shelling from Israeli tanks and artillery landed in agricultural areas inside Lebanon, but did not report casualties.

The officials said the patrol was hit near an Israeli army position in the Kfar Chouba hills that Lebanon says is Lebanese land occupied by Israel. The residents requested anonymity, saying they feared for their safety, while the officials did so in line with regulations. Neither group had any immediate word on casualties.

The Hezbollah unit that carried out the bombing was named after Samir Kuntar, a high-profile figure in the group who was killed last month in Syria in an attack blamed on Israel.

Hezbollah has vowed to avenge the killing of Kuntar, who was the longest serving Lebanese prisoner in Israel before he was released in 2008 in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in a cross-border raid two years earlier.




The latest developments after Saudi Arabia severs diplomatic ties with Iran following the execution of a prominent opposition Shiite cleric and attacks on its diplomatic posts in the Islamic Republic. (All times local.)

10:30 a.m.

Iran's deputy foreign minister says Saudi Arabia's decision to severe diplomatic relations cannot cover up Riyadh's "strategic mistake" in killing a prominent Shiite cleric.

Hossein Amir Abdollahian also accused Saudi Arabia of promoting terrorism and extremism in the Middle East. His comments were broadcast on Monday on Iranian state television.

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic relations with Iran late Sunday, hours after protesters stormed and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. It also followed harsh criticism by Iran's top leader of the Saudis' execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Al-Nimr's execution has opened a new chapter in the ongoing Sunni-Shiite power struggle playing out across the Middle East, with Saudi Arabia and Iran as primary antagonists.
Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has started a three-day visit to Sri Lanka during which several agreements aiming to strengthen relations between the two south Asian nations are to be signed.

Sharif was welcomed Monday by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.

Sharif and his delegation will hold bilateral discussions with Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena and other officials on Tuesday.

Separately he will make a speech on Sri Lanka-Pakistan relations.

Several bilateral agreements in the areas of health, science and technology, trade, money laundering and terrorism financing are to be signed.

Pakistan grew closer to Sri Lanka during the island nation's decades-long civil war by supplying much needed arms when its closest neighbor India refused to sell arms.
Olive farmers in Spain said Mafia-backed thieves are stealing their precious crops in a wave of night-time raids, sparking a heated battle for their livelihoods, The Telegraph reported Saturday.

The small-time growers claim mainly Romanian and Bulgarian thieves are stripping entire groves of recently-ripened olives and selling the liquid gold -- as olive oil is known -- on the black market.

Clearly if [the Mafia] steals olives, someone is buying the stuff, farmer Antonio Masa Canada told The Telegraph. Ive never seen anything like this. Looting has become the order of the day.

In November, around $16,870 worth of crops were stolen, according to the local San Isidro cooperative, The Telegraph reports. Once processed, olives for oil can sell for more than $2 per pound.

In protest, Canada has mobilized local farmers to create a crime-fighting initiative to catch the criminals. Last week, the initiative reportedly caught seven thieves after a 100 mph car chase.

Once we showed people that the thieves could be caught, things changed, he told The Telegraph.

Still, Canada says justice for the criminals has been slow, and he fears farmers may take matters into their own hands, The Guardian reports.

The [thieves] wont turn up at court. Its pathetic, Canada told the media outlet.

The series of robberies has ignited tensions between small family farms and larger producers, who they believe are laundering the stolen olives by combining them with their own crops.

"We're just sick of this thieving," Canada added to the media outlet. "This is a powder keg and its about to go off."
Nimr al-Nimr was just one of 47 people Saudi Arabia executed on Saturday, but his death laid bare the volatile divide that has cleaved Islam for nearly 1,400 years and now threatens to re-ignite a Middle East war between Muslims.

This gives the legitimacy for every Muslim, really, to hurt the Saudis as part of the Holy war.  Shaul Gabbay, Middle East expert

A cleric revered as an ayatollah in his native Iran, Al-Nimr was a Shia Muslim who had long railed against the royal family in the Sunni majority Kingdom. By beheading him, and then displaying his body on a crucifix, the Sunni government in Saudi Arabia has deeply offended Iran, the stronghold of Islams Shia sect.

The killing by the Saudis of a Shia cleric is a great shame to Shias around the world, said Shaul Gabbay, executive director of the Global Research Institute at the Posner Center for International Development in Denver. It is now, their responsibility to seek revenge for his blood, as he is a part of the "Um ma," or the extended family.

This gives the legitimacy for every Muslim, really, to hurt the Saudis as part of the holy war, Gabbay added.

Worldwide, Sunnis make up about 85 percent of the worlds 1.6 billion Muslims. Sunnis, who believe the true lineage of Prophet Mohammad lies with those who most closely followed his teachings, control powerful Muslim nations including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Pakistan. In addition, most Muslims in Africa are Sunnis.

Shias are a relatively small minority of Muslims, concentrated in Iran and Iraq. They believe bloodlines, not devotion, dictate the prophets line of successors. Throughout history, Shias have rejected the authority of Muslim leaders elected by the people, instead following a line of clerics they consider to have been appointed by Mohammad or Allah.

The divide goes back to the period following Mohammads death in 632, when his close confidante Abu Bakr became the first Caliph of the Islamic nation. Shias believed the rightful heir was Mohammads cousin and son-in-law, Ali bin Abu Talib.

The Sunni vision prevailed, but the bad blood was only beginning. Years later, the Caliphates Sunni troops killed the son of Ali bin Abu Talib, in an event commemorated annually by the Shia to this day.

Both sects have spawned more than their share of terrorists, though the terror organizations operate differently. Al Qaeda, ISIS, Al-Shebab and Boko Haram are Sunni organizations, while Iranian-sponsored terrorist groups, including Hezbollah, are Shia.

Sunni terrorists tend to operate in a continuous, mid-to-high-intensity manner, seeing war against infidels and apostates as a perennial condition, according to Thomas Lynch, of the Institute for National Strategic Studies and formerly of Brookings Institution.

Shia terror is typically carried out by groups or agents close to the Iranian government, and features discrete terror campaigns tethered to state and organizational objectives, Lynch wrote.

Differences between Sunnis and Shia extend to certain rituals involving prayer and marriage, yet the two sects can live peacefully together. In Iraq, which is majority Shia, yet includes a large Sunni population, Saddam Hussein ruled for three decades as a secular Sunni.

But experts say the hardcore theocratic leadership of Iran, with tentacles of terror extending throughout the Middle East, is bent on spreading the influence of Shia. That may be one reason the Saudis sought to send a powerful message with the beheading of Al-Nimr, who was one of approximately 50 ayatollahs in the world, a title that literally means sign of God, and is reserved for only those with the highest knowledge of the Koran and Islamic jurisprudence.

His execution was a milestone in the long-running feud between Islams two rival sects, said Gabbay.

This is one extremely important event that took place in an already volatile region which is going through its most challenging transformations and religious conflicts, Gabbay said. The Saudi Kingdom has miscalculated the ramifications of this, and in my opinion it is going to have immense implications in the near future.
Arby's Named Among Best and Brightest Companies to Work For in the U.S. For 2015

January 04, 2016 // Franchising.com // ATLANTA - The National Association for Business Resources has named Arby's Restaurant Group, Inc. (ARG) among the Best and Brightest Companies To Work For in the country.

The 2015 winning companies were assessed by an independent research firm which reviewed a number of key measures relative to other nationally recognized winners. The benchmarks include Compensation, Benefits and Employee Solutions; Employee Enrichment, Engagement and Retention; Employee Education and Development; Recruitment, Selection and Orientation; Employee Achievement and Recognition; Communication and Shared Vision; Diversity and Inclusion; Work-Life Balance; Community Initiatives; Strategic Company Performance and the Best of the Best Small Business.

"This recognition reaffirms a culture of service and high level of engagement among our 21,000 ARG team members globally," said Melissa Strait, Chief People Officer, Arby's Restaurant Group, Inc. "We've embraced the same core values for several decades now and remain focused on creating a winning culture and organization, increasing retention, enhancing team member engagement and championing professional development to align with current and future business needs."

With over 20 years of experience conducting Best and Brightest Company competitions, the National Association for Business Resources (NABR) has identified numerous best Human Resource practices and provided benchmarking for companies that continue to be leaders in employment standards.

"Nationally recognized award recipients keep innovative human resource initiatives at the forefront of their company culture and make it a priority to consider their workforce as an essential aspect in their company success. Our Association is proud to recognize and honor these winning companies for this impressive achievement," said Jennifer Kluge, NABR president.

The companies that have been selected to be recognized nationally as a Best and Brightest Company to Work For will be featured in the January 14, 2016 online edition of Corp! Magazine. The winning companies will also receive additional recognition as a national winner at a Best and Brightest Companies to Work For awards symposium and gala at a location of their choosing in several U.S. cities.

The annual symposium and award galas are presented in Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Houston, Milwaukee, San Francisco, Grand Rapids, Dallas, San Diego and Boston. To learn more visit www.101bestandbrightest.com.

About the Best and Brightest Programs

The Best and Brightest Companies to Work For competition identifies and honors organizations that display a commitment to excellence in operations and employee enrichment that lead to increased productivity and financial performance. This competition scores potential winners based on regional data of company performance and a set standard across the nation. This national program celebrates those companies that are making better business, creating richer lives and building a stronger community as a whole. There are numerous regional celebrations throughout the country.

About Arby's

Arby's, founded in 1964, is the first nationally franchised sandwich restaurant brand, with more than 3,300 restaurants worldwide. The Arby's brand purpose is "Inspiring Smiles Through Delicious Experiences." Arby's delivers on its purpose by celebrating the art of Meatcraft with a variety of high-quality proteins paired with crave-able sides, such as Curly Fries and Jamocha shakes. Arby's restaurants feature Fast Crafted service, a unique blend of quick-serve speed and value combined with the quality and made-for-you care of fast casual. Arby's Restaurant Group, Inc. is the parent company of the franchisor of the Arby's brand and is headquartered in Atlanta, Ga. Visit Arbys.com for more information or socially connect with Arby's at:Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

SOURCE Arby's

Contact:

Matt Baker

Edelman

Senior Account Executive, Corporate

(o) 404-832-6787

(c) 803-331-8519

matt.baker@edelman.com

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Boston Pizza International Adds 12 New Restaurants Opened in 2015 to the Royalty Pool of Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA - (Marketwired - Jan. 4, 2016) - Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund (the "Fund") (TSX:BPF.UN) and Boston Pizza International Inc. ("BPI") announced today that effective January 1, 2016, the Fund's royalty pool (the "Royalty Pool") has been adjusted to include the 12 new full service restaurants opened across Canada between January 1, 2015 and December 31, 2015 (the "Period"), and to remove the six full service restaurants that were permanently closed during the Period. With the adjustment for these openings and closures during 2015, the Royalty Pool now includes 372 Boston Pizza restaurants. This is the fourteenth consecutive year of adding new Boston Pizza restaurants into the Royalty Pool.

"We are very pleased with the 12 new Boston Pizza restaurants opened in 2015, including nine in Western Canada and three in Ontario. These new locations further strengthen our position as Canada's number one casual dining brand." said Mark Pacinda, President and Chief Executive Officer of BPI. "Since the inception of the Fund, 218 net new Boston Pizza restaurants have been added to the Royalty Pool, growing from 154 in 2002 to 372 locations across the country today."

The Fund indirectly owns the Boston Pizza trademarks and trade names used by Boston Pizza restaurants in Canada. In 2002, the Fund licensed these trademarks to BPI for 99 years and in return BPI pays the Fund a top line royalty of 4% of franchise revenues of Boston Pizza restaurants in the Royalty Pool ("Royalty"). On May 6, 2015, the Fund completed an indirect investment in Boston Pizza Canada Limited Partnership (a limited partnership controlled and operated by BPI) that entitles the Fund to receive distribution income from Boston Pizza Canada Limited Partnership ("Distribution Income") equal to 1.5% of franchise revenues of Boston Pizza restaurants in the Royalty Pool less the pro rata portion payable to BPI in respect of its retained interest in the Fund. The combined effect of the above is that the Fund effectively receives 5.5% of franchise revenues of Boston Pizza restaurants in the Royalty Pool less the pro rata portion payable to BPI in respect of its retained interest in the Fund. Annually, the Royalty Pool of Boston Pizza restaurants is adjusted to include the new Boston Pizza restaurants that opened, and to remove Boston Pizza restaurants that permanently closed, in the prior year.

On January 1 of each year (the "Adjustment Date"), an adjustment is made to add to the Royalty Pool new Boston Pizza restaurants that opened and to remove any Boston Pizza restaurants that permanently closed since the last Adjustment Date (the "Net New Restaurants"). In return for adding net additional Royalty and Distribution Income from Net New Restaurants, BPI receives the right to indirectly acquire additional units of the Fund (in respect of additional Royalty, the "Class B Additional Entitlements" and in respect of additional Distribution Income, the "Class 2 Additional Entitlements", and collectively, "Additional Entitlements"). The calculation of Additional Entitlements is designed to be accretive to unitholders of the Fund as the expected increase in net franchise revenues from the Net New Restaurants added to the Royalty Pool is valued at a 7.5% discount. The Additional Entitlements are calculated at 92.5% of the estimated Royalty and Distribution Income expected to be received by the Fund in respect of the Net New Restaurants, multiplied by one minus the effective tax rate (expressed as a decimal) estimated to be paid by the Fund during that year, divided by the yield of the Fund, divided by the weighted average unit price over a specified time. BPI receives 80% of the Additional Entitlements initially, with the balance received when the actual full year performance of the Net New Restaurants and the actual effective tax rate paid by the Fund are known with certainty (such balance of units in respect of the additional Royalty, the "Class B Holdback", and in respect of the additional Distribution Income, the "Class 2 Holdback", and collectively, the "Holdback"). BPI receives 100% of distributions from the Additional Entitlements (including the Holdback) throughout the year. Once the Net New Restaurants have been part of the Royalty Pool for a full year, an audit of the franchise revenues of these restaurants is performed, and the actual effective tax rate paid by the Fund is determined. At such time, an adjustment is made to reconcile distributions paid to BPI and the Additional Entitlements received by BPI.

In return for adding net additional Royalty and Distribution Income from the six Net New Restaurants added to the Royalty Pool, BPI received 349,023 Additional Entitlements (representing 80% of the total Additional Entitlements), comprised of 253,835 Class B Additional Entitlements and 95,188 Class 2 Additional Entitlements, and the Holdback is 87,256 Additional Entitlements (representing 20% of the total Additional Entitlements), comprised of 63,459 Class B Holdback and 23,797 Class 2 Holdback. The Holdback (as adjusted) will be received by BPI when both the actual full year performance of the Net New Restaurants and the effective tax rate paid by the Fund are known with certainty. The 349,023 Additional Entitlements represents 1.5% of Fund units on a fully diluted basis. The full 436,279 Additional Entitlements (being the 349,023 Additional Entitlements received by BPI plus the 87,256 Holdback) represents 1.8% of the Fund on a fully diluted basis. Including the full 436,279 Additional Entitlements described above, BPI has the right to acquire 3,490,741 Fund units, representing 14.6% of Fund units on a fully diluted basis. The issuance of the Additional Entitlements to BPI is subject to approval by the Toronto Stock Exchange.

The estimated annual franchise revenues in 2016 for the 12 new Boston Pizza restaurants that opened in 2015 is $22.2 million. BPI is required to deduct from this amount the actual franchise revenues received from the six Boston Pizza restaurants that permanently closed in 2015 during the first 12 month period immediately following their addition to the Royalty Pool, which is $7.7 million.

Consequently, the estimated annual net franchise revenues in 2016 for the six Net New Restaurants added to the Royalty Pool on January 1, 2016 is $14.5 million. The estimated Royalty and Distribution Income expected to be received by the Fund in 2016 in respect of these six Net New Restaurants is 5.5% of this amount, or $0.8 million. The pre-tax amount for the purposes of calculating the Additional Entitlements, therefore, is approximately $0.7 million or 92.5% of $0.8 million. The estimated effective tax rate that the Fund will pay in the calendar year 2016 is 24.0%. Accordingly, the after-tax additional Royalty and Distribution Income for the purposes of calculating the Additional Entitlements is approximately $0.6 million ($0.7 million x (1 - 0.24)). Once the actual performance of the 12 new Boston Pizza restaurants added to the Royalty Pool on January 1, 2016 for 2016 and the actual effective tax rate paid by the Fund for 2016 are known, the number of Additional Entitlements will be adjusted in 2017 to reflect the actual franchise revenues generated by these Boston Pizza restaurants in 2016 and the actual effective tax rate paid by the Fund in 2016.

The following table sets forth a summary of the issued and outstanding units of the Fund, together with Additional Entitlements, as at both December 31, 2015 and January 1, 2016.



Summary of Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund Units

Dec. 31, 2015

Excluding

Holdback Dec. 31, 2015

Including

Holdback Jan. 1, 2016

Excluding

Holdback Jan. 1, 2016

Including

Holdback Units Outstanding Total Issued and Outstanding Fund Units 20,441,763 20,441,763 20,441,763 20,441,763 Class B Additional Entitlements Outstanding Class B Additional Entitlements (Excluding Jan. 1, 2016 Adjustment Date) 2,227,370 2,227,370 2,227,370 2,227,370 Class B Holdback (Excluding Jan. 1, 2016 Adjustment Date) N/A 74,705 N/A 74,705 (1) Class B Additional Entitlements - Issued January 1, 2016 (6 Net New Restaurants) N/A N/A 253,835 253,835 Class B Holdback - Created January 1, 2016 (6 Net New Restaurants) N/A N/A N/A 63,459 (2) Total Class B Additional Entitlements 2,227,370 2,302,075 2,481,205 2,619,369 Class 2 Additional Entitlements Outstanding Class 2 Additional Entitlements (Excluding Jan. 1, 2016 Adjustment Date) 752,387 752,387 752,387 752,387 Class 2 Additional Entitlements - Issued January 1, 2016 (6 Net New Restaurants) N/A N/A 95,188 95,188 Class 2 Holdback - Created January 1, 2016 (6 Net New Restaurants) N/A N/A N/A 23,797 (3) Total Class 2 Additional Entitlements 752,387 752,387 847,575 871,372 Summary Total Issued and Outstanding Fund Units 20,441,763 20,441,763 20,441,763 20,441,763 Total Additional Entitlements 2,979,757 3,054,462 3,328,780 3,490,741 Total Diluted Units 23,421,520 23,496,225 23,770,543 23,932,504 BPI's Total Percentage Ownership 12.7 % 13.0 % 14.0 % 14.6 % BPI's Percentage Ownership based only on the 6 Net New Restaurants added to the Royalty Pool on January 1, 2016 N/A N/A 1.5 % 1.8 %

(1) Additional Entitlements from the 8 Net New Restaurants added to Royalty Pool on January 1, 2015 determined in early 2016, effective January 1, 2015, once audited results of the 8 Net New Restaurants and actual effective tax rate paid by the Fund are known. (2) Class B Holdback from 6 Net New Restaurants added to the Royalty Pool on January 1, 2016. The actual number of Class B Additional Entitlements will be determined in early 2017, effective January 1, 2016, once audited results of the 6 Net New Restaurants and actual effective tax rate paid by the Fund are known. (3) Class 2 Holdback from 6 Net New Restaurants added to the Royalty Pool on January 1, 2016. The actual number of Class 2 Additional Entitlements will be determined in early 2017, effective January 1, 2016, once audited results of the 6 Net New Restaurants and actual effective tax rate paid by the Fund are known.

Certain information in this press release constitutes "forward-looking information" that involves known and unknown risks, uncertainties, future expectations and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the Fund, Boston Pizza Holdings Trust, Boston Pizza Holdings Limited Partnership, Boston Pizza Holdings GP Inc., Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership, Boston Pizza GP Inc., BPI, Boston Pizza Canada Limited Partnership, Boston Pizza restaurants, or industry results, to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. All statements, other than statements of historical facts, included in this press release that address activities, events or developments that the Fund or management of BPI expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future, including the estimated annual gross franchise revenue received from the 12 new Boston Pizza restaurants that opened in 2015 and the estimated effective tax rate that will be paid by the Fund for 2016 and other such matters are forward-looking information. When used in this press release, forward-looking information may include words such as "anticipate", "estimate", "may", "will", "expect", "believe", "plan", "should", "continue" and other similar terminology.

The material factors and assumptions used to develop the forward-looking information contained in this press release include the following: future results being similar to historical results, expectations related to future general economic conditions, business plans, receipt of franchise fees and other amounts, franchisees access to financing, pace of commercial real estate development, protection of intellectual property rights of Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership and absence of changes of laws. Risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievement expressed or implied by the forward-looking information contained herein, relate to (among others) competition, demographic trends, consumer preferences and discretionary spending patterns, business and economic conditions, legislation and regulation, distributable cash and reliance on operating revenues, accounting policies and practices, the results of operations and financial condition of BPI and the Fund, as well as those factors discussed under the heading "Risks and Uncertainties" in the Fund's Management Discussions and Analysis for the third quarter of 2015. This information reflects current expectations regarding future events and operating performance and speaks only as of the date of this press release. Except as required by law, the Fund and BPI assume no obligation to update previously disclosed forward-looking information. For a complete list of the risks associated with forward-looking information and our business, please refer to the "Risks and Uncertainties" and "Note Regarding Forward-Looking Information" sections included in the Fund's Management's Discussion and Analysis for the third quarter of 2015 available at www.sedar.com and www.bpincomefund.com.

The Trustees of the Fund have approved the contents of this news release.

 Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership. All Boston Pizza registered Canadian trade-marks and unregistered Canadian trade-marks containing the words "Boston", "BP", and/or "Pizza" are trademarks owned by Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership and licensed by Boston Pizza Royalties Limited Partnership to Boston Pizza International Inc.

SOURCE Boston Pizza International Inc.

Contact:

Jordan Holm

Senior Vice President, Investor Relations

Boston Pizza Royalties Income Fund /

Boston Pizza International Inc.

604-303-6083

investorrelations@bostonpizza.com

www.bpincomefund.com

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Detroit Lands Top Spot; Ohio Cities Claim Five Spots

MEMPHIS, TN - (Marketwired - January 04, 2016) - Terminix , the leading provider of pest control services in the United States, released its sixth annual ranking of bed bug-infested cities today. For the first time in four years, Philadelphia was outranked by Detroit, which stole the top spot.

Rounding out the top 15 bed bug cities in the United States are:

Detroit, Mich. (4)

Philadelphia, Pa. (1)

Cleveland-Akron, Ohio (15)

Los Angeles, Calif. (14)

Dayton, Ohio (-)

Chicago, Ill. (5)

Columbus, Ohio (8)

Cincinnati, Ohio (2)

Dallas-Forth Worth, Texas (7)

San Francisco-Oakland-San Jose, Calif. (-)

Denver, Colo. (12)

Toledo, Ohio (-)

Oklahoma City, OK (-)

Baltimore, Md. (9)

New York, N.Y. (3)

"We've seen a steady increase in bed bugs since the 1990s, which has been influenced by increased international travel and infestations left untreated," said Paul Curtis, manager, technical services at Terminix. "Most of the cities in our top 15 are big tourist and business destinations, making travelers even more at risk for encounters with bed bugs -- whether it's on the plane, at their hotel, in a movie theater or riding in a taxi. The name 'bed bug' is deceptive, as these pests can thrive just about anywhere."

The list of top cities for bed bugs was created by compiling inbound lead data from the more than 300 Terminix branches across the country. The rankings represent Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) with the highest volume of calls from Jan. 1, 2015 to Dec. 17, 2015.

Myths and Truths About Bed Bugs

But it's not just the name that's misleading. There are plenty ofMyths about bloodsucking bed bugs that have people in the dark, including:

Myth: Bed bugs only live in beds.

Truth: Although they flourish in mattresses, box springs and bed frames, bed bugs can be found in a variety of environments, including airplanes, daycare centers, restaurants, subways, dressers and purses. Bed bugs' small, flat bodies make them experts at hiding. The most obvious way to detect the presence of bed bugs is bite marks to the body, but those may take up to 14 days to appear, so look for other signs such as shells of bed bugs, live bed bugs in mattress seams, a sweet musty odor or small blood spots on mattresses and sheets. Myth: Bed bugs only feast in the dark.

Truth: Bed bugs do prefer darkness, but keeping the lights on won't deter the pests from biting. Bed bugs readily feed anytime a host is available, including during the day. Often, bed bug victims don't even realize they've been bitten until marks appear. These marks are similar to that of a mosquito, with a slightly swollen, red area that may itch or be irritated. Myth: There's a one-step solution to eliminating bed bugs.

Truth: Bed bug control can only be maintained using a variety of techniques. Bed bug populations in different areas of the country have developed resistance to common pesticides, so, to truly tackle the problem, pest control pros have to take multiple approaches. Myth: A doctor can tell you if you have bed bugs.

Truth: It can be difficult for a doctor to differentiate between bed bug, mosquito or other flying pest bites because everyone reacts differently. If you suspect you have bed bugs, Terminix recommends checking for other signs in your bed and throughout your home to confirm their presence. Myth: Bed bugs don't warrant public health concerns.

Truth: Though they've not been shown to transmit diseases to people, bed bugs are listed as a public health pest because their bites can cause an allergic reaction.

When bed bugs are discovered during an inspection, Terminix will develop a powerful, customized treatment for the home. Terminix bed bug solutions include its proprietary RapidFreeze solution, which is fast, effective and non-toxic. RapidFreeze uses carbon dioxide (CO2) to freeze bed bugs in their tracks and prevent eggs and nymphs from hatching. RapidFreeze is perfect for homes, hotels, apartments, food processing plants and organic industries.

If you suspect you have bed bugs, call Terminix at 1-877-TERMINIX to schedule a free inspection.

About Terminix

Terminix is the leading provider of termite and pest control services in the United States. Headquartered in Memphis, Tenn., Terminix services approximately 2.8 million residential and commercial customers in 47 states and 22 countries. Terminix provides pest control services and protection against termites, rodents and other pests threatening human health and/or safety. To learn more about Terminix, visit www.Terminix.com.

About ServiceMaster

ServiceMaster Global Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: SERV) is a leading provider of essential residential and commercial services, operating through an extensive service network of more than 8,000 company-owned, franchised and licensed locations. The company's portfolio of well-recognized brands includes American Home Shield (home warranties), AmeriSpec (home inspections), Furniture Medic (furniture repair), Merry Maids (residential cleaning), ServiceMaster Clean (janitorial), ServiceMaster Restore (disaster restoration) and Terminix (termite and pest control). The company is headquartered in Memphis, Tenn. Go to www.servicemaster.com for more information about ServiceMaster or follow the company at twitter.com/ServiceMaster or facebook.com/TheServiceMasterCo.

SOURCE Terminix

Contacts:

Michael Wassmer

michael.wassmer@servicemaster.com

901-597-1706

Maria Opatz

mopatz@olson.com

612-215-9815

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DeVry University Named Exclusive Educational Provider to Perkins & Marie Callenders Employees and Their Families

Partnership demonstrates mutual commitment to strengthen employee benefits and provide career-focused education.

January 04, 2016 // Franchising.com // DOWNERS GROVE, Ill.  Leading restaurant company, Perkins & Marie Callenders, LLC, recently named DeVry University as the exclusive education provider for its corporate and franchised restaurant employees and their families.

DeVry University offers career-driven students the flexibility to pursue their academic goals and maintain demanding schedules, said Joe Mozden, vice president of workforce solutions for DeVry University. For Perkins & Marie Callenders employees, franchisees and family members looking to continue their education, DeVry University provides the foundation to take the next step. This partnership exemplifies our commitment to providing academic resources to employers that recognize the value of education.

DeVry University was selected as an exclusive educational provider based on the high quality of its educational offerings and student-care services. Perkins & Marie Callenders employees, franchisees and their families can mix and match campus and online coursework to suit their needs and schedules. In addition, DeVry University gives them access to a dedicated team of advisors to assist with enrollment and academic needs.

Perkins & Marie Callenders employees, franchisees and their immediate family members can enroll in any DeVry University or Keller Graduate School of Management certificate, associate, bachelors or masters degree program at a group tuition rate. They will also have access to opportunities outside the classroom to make the most of their experience, such as workshops, seminars and webinars. The group tuition rate only applies to U.S. employees.

Our employees and franchisees are at the core of everything that we do, said Toni Quist, chief people officer at Perkins & Marie Callenders. In the same way that they have contributed so much to our success, we too are dedicated to providing them with continuous opportunity in the form of training, professional development and learning. Our partnership with DeVry University provides an outstanding chance for them to hone their skills and expertise. We are honored to offer them this opportunity to learn at their own pace and further their education. To learn more about DeVry University, visit devry.edu. About DeVry University

DeVry Universitys mission is to foster student learning through high-quality, career-oriented education integrating technology, business, science and the arts. Founded in 1931, the university offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs onsite and online covering 34 different career fields within its five distinguished colleges of study: Business & Management, Engineering & Information Sciences, Health Sciences, Liberal Arts & Sciences, and Media Arts & Technology. The university is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission (HLC, www.hlcommission.org). Its highly credentialed faculty members have experience in the fields that they teach, providing real-world experiences designed to prepare students for in-demand careers.

With locations across the U.S., DeVry University is one of the largest private-sector universities in North America. The university is a part of DeVry Education Group (NYSE: DV), a global provider of educational services.

About Perkins & MarieW Callenders, LLC

Founded in 1958, Perkins operates 404 restaurants in 33 states and five Canadian provinces. The Perkins system includes 132 company-owned and operated restaurants and 272 franchised units. The Company also has a baked goods manufacturing division operating under the name Foxtail Foods which manufactures pies, pancake mixes, cookie dough, and muffin batter for in-store bakeries and third-party customers. The combination of the Perkins Restaurant & Bakery chain with Marie Callender's occurred in 2006. Marie Callender's consists of 41 company-owned and 30 franchised restaurants in 5 states; it is famous for its fresh-baked pies and has a national presence through supermarket frozen entre?e lines offered by ConAgra. More information can be found at http://www.perkinsrestaurants.com and http://www.mariecallenders.com.

SOURCE Perkins & Marie Callenders, LLC

Contact:

Melanie Wright

DeVry University

Mwright1@devry.edu

215-591-5909

Vivian Brooks

Perkins & Marie Callenders, LLC

vivianbrooks@mac.com

774-452-4270

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Finishing 2015 On Strong Note, EmbroidMe Has Big Plans For 2016

Global Sourcing Platforms Meet Needs of Clients in Estimated $600 Billion Advertising Industry

January 04, 2016 // Franchising.com // West Palm Beach, Florida - EmbroidMe, represented at No. 36 by Stitches magazine in its annual list of the most powerful people and companies in the embroidery industry, has bold plans for 2016 as it looks to double the number of new franchises it added in 2015, building upon its reputation as an industry-leading franchise and promotional marketing partner for its clients, providing logoed apparel, promotional products and a wide variety of additional services.

Stitches is recognized as the trade publication and the voice and vision of the embroidery industry and the single most-referenced magazine in the business.

The United Franchise Group brand, represented in the 2015 Stitches Power 75 by CEO Ray Titus and President Mark Johnson, was named a Top 100 Global Franchise by Franchise Direct and was 18th on Top 40 Distributor list of Counselor magazine, recognized as the voice of the promotional products industry.

The sixth annual list compiled by Stitches recognized Titus and Johnson for guiding the brand, writing: Under the leadership of Titus and Johnson, the $90.2 million company continues to research and develop new branding solutions for customers. A close relationship with manufacturers like Brothers International Corp. ensures access to new products and applications when they come to market.

Rated by Entrepreneur Magazine as the No. 1 embroidery franchise, EmbroidMe added 30 new franchises in 2015 and is looking to double that number to 60 in 2016, including 20 international master license partners. Domestic growth will be focused in the Pacific Northwest, northern California, the Northeast and Midwest. International markets to be targeted include India, Europe and South Africa.

EmbroidMe continues to specialize in helping businesses manage and market their brands through custom embroidery, garment printing and a wide variety of promotional products, Titus said. Our size and exposure to both national and international world-leading technologies will allow us to continue that success in 2016.

To fuel this growth, Titus adds, EmbroidMe is filling a much-needed role in what is estimated to be a nearly $600 billion worldwide advertising industry in 2016, especially with a focus on its global sourcing platform, which will serve to better improve EmbroidMes already- strong service to medium- and large-size clients.

As a recognized leader in the promotional marketing industry, EmbroidMe continues to add new domestic locations to serve the needs of our marketing partners. Moreover, EmbroidMe is developing new programs with our preferred suppliers to offer value-added marketing programs, along with an emphasis on developing partnerships with global suppliers to help us with this growth. This strategy will allow us to live up to our promise to offer Cool stuff customized that deliver awesome results.

About EmbroidMe

EmbroidMe has more than 300 Resource Centers in 12 countries with plans to open many more throughout the country. For more information, please visit www.embroidme.com.

SOURCE EmbroidMe

Media Contact:

Rhonda Sanderson

Sanderson & Associates

312-829-4350

Rhonda@sandersonpr.com

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OCharleys Unveils New Southern-Inspired Menu

From Nashville Hot Chicken to Fried Green Tomatoes, guests will experience dishes inspired by the companys strong Southern roots.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - January 04, 2016 - (BUSINESS WIRE) - OCharleys Restaurant + Bar, a Nashville-based restaurant, today introduced its new Southern-Inspired menu. The menu features exciting flavor combinations designed to appeal to guests looking for a taste of authentic Southern cuisine.

The Southern-Inspired menu showcases OCharleys roots by adding a variety of classic dishes reflective of Nashville, the companys hometown. OCharleys is particularly proud to introduce their guests to a classic Nashville dish, Hot Chicken. OCharleys Nashville Hot Chicken is bold and flavorful, giving guests around the country a chance to experience Music City.

OCharleys was built on Southern hospitality and cuisine, and those are two traditions we continue to carry on today, said OCharleys President, Ned Lidvall. We tapped into our roots to shape this new Southern-Inspired Menu, featuring Nashville Hot Chicken, and are excited to share these authentic flavors with our guests.

More about the new menu is included below.

Southern-Inspired Menu:

Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich

A Nashville original. Deep-fried boneless chicken breast that has been basted with our spicy hot chicken sauce, stacked on our Southern Coleslaw, topped with dill pickles and served on a toasted brioche bun. Served with hot, seasoned fries.

A Nashville original. Deep-fried boneless chicken breast that has been basted with our spicy hot chicken sauce, stacked on our Southern Coleslaw, topped with dill pickles and served on a toasted brioche bun. Served with hot, seasoned fries. Fried Green Tomatoes

Our new appetizer with crispy slices of tart fried green tomatoes topped with tangy Tennessee Chow-Chow Relish and drizzled with our smoky sweet BBQ sauce.

Our new appetizer with crispy slices of tart fried green tomatoes topped with tangy Tennessee Chow-Chow Relish and drizzled with our smoky sweet BBQ sauce. Farmhouse Chopped Steak

Our 10-oz. chopped steak covered with a rich, brown gravy with mushrooms and onions served open-faced on a biscuit and topped with crispy onion tanglers. Served with a side item of your choice.

Our 10-oz. chopped steak covered with a rich, brown gravy with mushrooms and onions served open-faced on a biscuit and topped with crispy onion tanglers. Served with a side item of your choice. Savannah Crab Cake Dinner

Two pan-seared lump crab cakes served over creamy skillet corn with bacon and tomatoes, drizzled with Old Bay Mayo. Served with a side item of your choice.

In conjunction with the new menu, OCharleys is launching the Share Your Southern Ultimate Getaway and Sweepstakes on January 6. Fans can enter to win a seven-day trip to Nashville in June. The winner and one guest will experience Music City with CMA Music Festival passes, Stars for Second Harvest concert tickets, a VIP tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery, dinner at the OCharleys and a tour of Nashvilles original hot chicken restaurants. For more details on the Share Your Southern Ultimate Getaway, visit http://nashville.ocharleys.com starting January 6.

Additionally, fans are able to post a photo of their favorite things from the South using the hashtag #ShareYourSouthern for a chance to win weekly prizes, including gift cards and authentic Nashville gifts. Connect with OCharleys on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to be part of the conversation.

To view OCharleys complete menu, find a restaurant location or join the email club, visit www.ocharleys.com.

About OCharleys

OCharleys was born in Nashville, Tennessee and has been a quintessential American Restaurant with Southern roots since its beginning in Nashville over 40 years ago. Famous for its unsliceably soft rolls, Prime Rib Lovers Weekend for Two, Sunday Brunch and fresh baked pie, OCharleys operates 211 restaurants in 17 states in the Southeast and Midwest, including 204 company-owned and operated OCharleys restaurants and seven restaurants operated by franchises and joint venture partners. To find an OCharleys location near you, visit www.ocharleys.com.

About American Blue Ribbon Holdings

American Blue Ribbon Holdings (ABRH) is a diversified food service company that operates or franchises more than 640 company and franchise restaurants in 43 states. ABRH brands include OCharleys, Ninety Nine, Max & Ermas, Village Inn, Bakers Square, and Legendary Baking. ABRH is a majority-owned subsidiary of Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE: FNF). For more information on American Blue Ribbon Holdings, please visit www.abrholdings.com/.

SOURCE OCharleys

Contact:

Tori Ross

Reed Public Relations

615-645-4325

Tori@reedpublicrelations.com

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Transworld Business Advisors Looks To Build Upon Stellar Growth Of 2015 By Adding 75 Offices In 2016

January 04, 2016 // Franchising.com // WEST PALM BEACH, Florida - With a stellar 2015 behind them, Transworld Business Advisors is looking to build on that momentum as it looks to accelerate growth even further in 2016, both domestically and internationally.

Transworld Business Advisors is the world leader in the marketing and sales of businesses and franchises. Whether for an acquisition-minded corporation or individual interested in owning a franchise, Transworld offers the professional services that successfully bring buyers and sellers together.

Having already added 45 new franchised offices in 2015, Transworld is looking to increase that number to 75 in 2016, while also targeting the addition of three international offices.

The global expansion plans come on the heels of Transworld announcing in November the signing of a new Master License Agreement for the UK and Ireland, the first such license granted in Europe, which will provide for the eventual addition of up to 24 offices throughout England and Ireland.

Bill Luce, president of Transworld, which operates under the United Franchise Group umbrella, said Europe, Asia and Mexico will be the focus of Transworlds global expansion plans.

According to Franchising.com, having a blueprint for international growth has been increasing in popularity for U.S.-based franchisors, 80 percent of the world's population lives in areas that are considered emerging markets. The U.S. Department of Commerce estimates that over 75 percent of the expected growth in the world's trade over the next two decades will come from developing countries, particularly big emerging markets, which account for over half the world's population, but only 25 percent of its gross domestic product.

The report also said that finding well-qualified master franchisees outside the U.S. can pave the way for growth of a franchise because the qualified master franchisee can be the key to identifying and recruiting talented franchisees that fit the system and successfully execute the franchise concept.

Domestic growth will be focused throughout the United States and Luce said that growth will be aided by the addition of more training and support personnel to Transworlds already robust initial training, ongoing education and comprehensive mentoring programs. In addition, Luce said Transworld will be introducing a Franchise Resale Program. This program will assist franchise companies in the sale of their existing franchise locations.

About Transworld Business Advisors

Transworld Business Advisors is part of United Franchise Group, a successful group of franchise systems with more than 25 years of experience and over 1400 franchisees. Formerly Transworld Business Brokers, a company based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida with over 35 years of brokerage experience, Transworld represents acquisition-minded corporations and individuals alike interested in owning their own company, or in franchising. With 145 franchised offices worldwide, Transworld offers the professional services that successfully bring buyers and sellers together. From business brokerage to mergers and acquisitions, Transworld Business Advisors are the business sale specialists. For more information on owning a Transworld franchise, visit http://discover.tworld.com/welcome.html.

SOURCE Transworld Business Advisors

Contact:

Rhonda Sanderson

Sanderson & Associates

312-829-4350

Rhonda@sandersonpr.com

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Window Genie Cleans House Adding 15 New Franchisees In 2015

January 04, 2016 // Franchising.com // Cincinnati, Ohio - If 2015 was any indication, Americans are appreciating home cleaning services the likes of which Window Genie provides more than ever. 15 new franchisees represented 30 new locations opened throughout the year. Proof enough of the growing demand for the mobile service famous for window cleaning, window tinting and pressure washing. Now, heading into 2016, the company that celebrated its 21st year in business in 2015 is gearing up for even greater growth, spurred in large part by the multiple programs and partnerships set to take off in the year.

Beyond franchisee growth in 2015, Window Genie was also lauded by a number of business journals throughout the year. Inc. Magazine recognized Window Genie as one of the fastest-growing businesses in the Cincinnati metropolitan area in addition to placing it on the upper half of its annual Inc. 5000 listing of fastest-growing companies in the United States for the second year in a row. Entrepreneur Magazine ranked Window Genie 170th on its annual Franchise 500 list for 2015, (seen in current January 2016 issue) moving up 15 spots from 2014, cementing its place as one of the fastest-growing and top home-based franchises. Window Genie also placed 51st on Entrepreneurs top home based/ mobile franchises.

Franchise Business Review, a national franchisee satisfaction market research firm also placed Window Genie on its annual Top Franchises for Veterans list. It is the only list of top franchises for veterans based on data from those who know best  the veterans who own them. Window Genie's Founder and CEO Rik Nonelle said, "This ranking is very important to us personally as we have a unique ability to give back to those who serve. We offer veterans additional territory at no cost when purchasing a franchise.

To determine the results for their Top Franchises for Veterans research report, Franchise Business Review analyzed survey data from over 3,000 veteran franchisees representing 285 franchise brands.

In April of 2015 Window Genie reached an agreement with 3M Company to provide a residential window film solution as part of the companys lauded Envision line of films. The partnership provides Window Genie franchisees with the opportunity to service over 125,000 residential customers with window film that reduces fading, heat and glare, lowering utility bills. Window Genies partnership with 3M is the result of two years of discussions between the companies.

In 2016, says Window Genie founder and CEO Richard Nonelle, the company has big plans for more programs that benefit franchisees and customers alike. We will continue to focus on improving the experience between franchisee and customer, says Nonelle. This year we expanded our Your Holiday Lights program from three franchisees to 15 (this program is optional for those franchisees who wish to fill their winter months with an outdoor holiday lighting business) and continue to offer an incentive program for current owners who refer a new franchisee.

Window Genies mobile search strategy, adds Nonelle, will be in full effect in 2016, which will entail an improved online presence and SEO enhancements to benefit owners.

Window Genie aims to continue its growth in 2016, and Nonelle points to years of consistent annual expansion as proof that his plan is a sustainable one. This past year 15 new franchisees have joined the Window Genie system. Window Genie franchisees can be found all throughout the United States, with target markets for growth for 2016 in Florida, Arizona, New York and California.

About Window Genie

Founded in 1994 by Richard Nonelle, Cincinnati-based Window Genie is a national home service franchise specializing in residential and light commercial window cleaning, window tinting, pressure washing and gutter cleaning. Additional services in select markets include gutter re-securing, roof washing, solar panel cleaning, holiday light instillation, dryer vent cleaning and more, visit www.windowgenie.com. Window Genie currently operates with over 90 locations in 27 states. Target markets for growth include New York, California and Florida. For more franchising information, visit www.windowgeniefranchise.com.

SOURCE Window Genie

Contact:

Rhonda Sanderson

Sanderson & Associates

312-829-4350

rhonda@sandersonpr.com

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The Salvation Armys Toyland in Fredericksburg received 20 refurbished bicycles from Employment Resources Incorporated and the Gladys H. Oberle Schools vocational center just in time for the Christmas season. Some of the bikes were donated by local residents to the schools vocational center and students worked to prepare the bikes. We are so delighted to receive the bikes from the Gladys H. Oberle School, said Lt. Sheri Jones of The Salvation Army in Fredericksburg. The students did a great job getting the bikes prepared and I know it will make some local children very happy.

The Wilson Center for Vocational Studies at ERIs Gladys H. Oberle School accepts donated bicycles from local residents and utilizes them to train their students through their Bicycle Repair Program. All of our bikes go through an extensive 11-point mechanical check and safety inspection which also includes cosmetic improvements such as painting and replacing old parts with new ones, said Rob Welch, Oberles Vocational Director. We are also very excited to be partnering with Olde Towne Bikes in Fredericksburg, Welch added. Olde Towne Bikes donated two of the bikes and they provide bicycle parts at cost to the vocational program and assists us with some technical support.

Employment Resources Incorporated is a private not-for-profit organization with offices in Fredericksburg that serves the city and multiple cities and counties in the region. ERI operates the Gladys H. Oberle School in Fredericksburg, an accredited alternative private special education day school for high school students that includes The Wilson Center for Vocational Studies programs.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla.  The National Transportation Safety Board is considering launching another search of the wreckage of a freighter that sank in October in an attempt to locate the ships black box.

Tom RothRoffy, the lead NTSB investigator, told The Associated Press that a weeks-long search found one of the El Faros missing decks, but not the mast where the ships voyage data recorder was attached. Nor were any human remains found. The agency on Sunday also released the first images of the ship in its final resting place.
Eric St. John Earns a Spot In The Official 88th Academy Award Consideration List for Best Actor

Actor and Producer Eric St. John's latest role as Col. John Ripley in "Ride The Thunder" has earned him a spot in the official list of consideration for an Academy Award for Best Actor in the 88th Academy Awards.

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Actor and Producer Eric St. John's latest role as Col. John Ripley in "Ride The Thunder" has earned him a spot in the official list of consideration for an Academy Award for Best Actor in the 88th Academy Awards. Each year the Academy Awards honor cinematic achievements in the film industry, annually the best of the best from the industry are nominated for different categories including best picture, best actors and more. Before the final official nominations are announced to the public in late January, the 88th Academy Award consideration lists have been issued in which Eric St. John's name has been featured along with top actors, including Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks.

Upon receiving the news about his name being listed on the consideration list for best actors, Eric shared his gratitude and happiness with his fans and followers on Facebook and Twitter.

"I am grateful and humbled to be on the official list for consideration for an Academy Award for Best Actor in the 88th Academy Awards for my role as Col. John Ripley in Ride the Thunder. It is a tremendous honor to be listed in the company of acting greats like Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio; to be playing the role of Colonel John W. Ripley, an American war hero."- Eric St. John, actor.

"Ride The Thunder", a heroic true story of friendship between American Marine Legend, John Ripley and Vietnamese Hero, Marine Le Ba Binh, traces their fight against the communists during the Vietnam War and the ensuing aftermath of the fall of Vietnam; as Ripley goes home to a divided America and Binh is imprisoned in a communist re-education camp. The gripping tale of friendship, comradeship and treachery has impressed cinema-goers and critics alike, Eric's acting capabilities as Col. John Ripley has received praise from the viewers.

Eric's has also worked in television and is known for his undying love and passion for acting and martial arts. The achievement has motivated him further to continue working with increased vigor and passion.

About Eric St. John:

Eric St. John is an American actor residing in Los Angeles. He is a graduate of The American Academy of Dramatic Arts New York. Some of his Television and Film credits include General Hospital, Passions, It's a Miracle, Bullet, Being American, True Beauty This Night, Afterlife, Troubled Child, The Shifting, Ride the Thunder and 20 other acting credits. For more information, please visit: http://www.imdb.me/ericstjohn

Michael Conley

Publicist

Ride the Thunder

Telephone: 818-389-3577

Email: MichaelConley@aol.com

Website: http://www.imdb.me/ericstjohn

For more information about us, please visit http://www.imdb.me/ericstjohn

Contact Info:

Name: Michael Conley

Organization: Ride the Thunder

Phone: 818-389-3577

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/eric-st-john-earns-a-spot-in-the-official-88th-academy-award-consideration-list-for-best-actor/100300

Release ID: 100300

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Workplace Languages' Launches New Upgraded Website

Workplace Languages is a company that focuses on providing comprehensive culture and language training and development, customized to meet clients' needs.

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Workplace Languages is a company that focuses on providing comprehensive culture and language training and development, customized to meet clients' needs. The company recently announced the launch of their new website to provide visitors with an easier way to learn about Workplace Languages and the customized solutions offered to clients.

In regards to the launch of the new Workplace Languages' website, Ed Rosheim, CEO and President expressed his pleasure by saying: "Business is global. Business is about people. Do your high-potential employees communicate effectively and confidently enough with colleagues and customers in this highly competitive, globalized marketplace? Are they poised to lead your organization to greater success? The goal with this new website is to provide visitors with an easier way to learn about Workplace Languages and the customized solutions offered to clients. Workplace Languages would also like to thank its amazing employees who donated their time and energy to make this site what it is."

Besides information website visitors about the company's services and solutions, the key objective of the website would be to share with visitor rich content articles, newsletters, company announcements and client successes on the website and the new e-newsletter. The e-newsletter service has also been launched at the same time as the new website.

The new website layout has been stripped to make navigation easier for the visitors, the simple layout features accessible information and a fresh look. According to the company, amongst the new features, the site contains integrated social media buttons for Google+, LinkedIn, and Facebook in order to nurture improved communication with the clients as well as a link to the company's employee portal for their global employee base to access relevant internal information.

Workplace Languages' is an organization that assists its clients overcome language barriers in a multilingual workplace. The company was established with the understanding that today's workplaces and workforces are becoming increasingly diverse due to which communicating effectively can sometimes become a challenge, especially in an environment where employees may speak 2 or more languages. Workplace Languages helps such companies by giving them the language needed to help close the communication gap. Workplace Languages offers customized and instant solutions to all language-related issues.

To take a look at their new website, please visit: http://www.workplacelanguages.com/

About: Workplace Languages offers culture and language training and development customized solutions to clients. Workplace Languages provides companies: Translation Services, Language Classes, and Bilingual Training Products. For more information, please visit: http://www.workplacelanguages.com/

Ed Rosheim

CEO and President

866.330.9419

Info@WorkplaceLanguages.com

For more information about us, please visit http://www.workplacelanguages.com

Contact Info:

Name: Ed Rosheim

Email: Info@WorkplaceLanguages.com

Organization: Workplace Languages

Phone: 866.330.9419

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/workplace-languages-launches-new-upgraded-website/100377

Release ID: 100377

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YourMesaLawFirm.com Announces the Addition of Christopher Houk to Their Team

In addition, the firm has relocated their Mesa office to the Stapley Center to better meet the needs of clients, reports The Law Firm of Gillespie, Shields, Durrant & Goldfarb

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The Law Firm of Gillespie, Shields, Durrant & Goldfarb is pleased to announce attorney Christopher R. Houk has joined the firm to lead the firm's Employment Law group. Chris Houk primarily represents employees in a variety of employment situations including harassment, discrimination, the family and medical leave act, and wage and hour cases.

Prior to joining the firm, Mr. Houk served for over six years as a Federal Trial Attorney for the EEOC, preceded by four years as Assistant Attorney General for the Arizona Attorney General''s Civil Rights Division. Mr. Houk received his law degree from Arizona State University in 2000. Mr. Houk currently serves as a Government Fellow with the American Bar Association, Ethics & Professional Responsibility Committee. Mr. Houk also serves on the Appointment Committee with the State Bar of Arizona.

In addition, The Law Firm of Gillespie, Shields, Durrant & Goldfarb, Divorce and Family Law Attorneys in Mesa, Arizona, announces the relocation of their Mesa office to the Stapley Center. This move allows the firm to better serve the needs of their clients when dealing with legal issues and a free initial consultation is offered. Contact the firm today to set up an appointment and see the new office and its many benefits.

"Many couples now stay together in an unhappy marriage as they don't want the hassles associated with a divorce. When numerous assets are involved, this is especially true, as one party may be at risk of losing a portion of their business, whether it be a law firm, a medical practice or another organization, to their former spouse. The attorneys at this firm understand what is involved in the dissolution of a high net worth marriage and work with clients to ensure they are protected throughout the process. Contact a High-Asset Divorce Lawyer in Mesa, AZ for assistance in this matter today," Chris Phillips, spokesperson for the law firm, states.

Medscape reports that divorce rates for physicians tend to be as much as 20 percent higher than rates for the general population. A study conducted at Johns Hopkins University found lawyers also have a higher divorce rate than most professional groups, and these are only two examples of individuals with a high net worth who may be hesitant to divorce. Money is not the only reason why one may remain in an unhappy marriage in this situation either.

"Access to the children is a concern of many when the subject of divorce comes up. Doctors often work unusual hours, for example, and they worry this may interfere with their ability to see their children. This is one thing that will be made a priority when the attorneys at The Law Firm of Gillespie, Shields, Durrant & Goldfarb take on a case for a client with a high net worth and demanding profession," Phillips continues.

One way to address issues such as this is to make use of a Collaborative Divorce Attorney in Mesa, AZ. With the help of this attorney, individuals find they can reduce the costs associated with a divorce and come to a resolution that best meets the unique needs of their family. Studies show those couples involved in this type of divorce settlement tend to fight less once the process is complete, as they worked out an agreement they both felt was fair.

"Contact the firm today to discuss your divorce. Whether you have a high net worth, a complex custody case or are concerned about the amount of alimony or support that may be demanded, the lawyers can help. They answer all questions and work with the client to protect their rights at all times," Phillips states.

About The Law Firm of Gillespie, Shields, Durrant & Goldfarb:

Founded in 1985 by DeeAn Gillespie Strub, the Arizona law firm of Gillespie, Shields, Durrant & Goldfarb features an exceptional team of law practitioners focusing on five areas of practice: business law and litigation, probate and estate planning, family law, employment law and serious personal injury. The firm currently maintains offices in Mesa and Phoenix to meet the needs of clients in these and the surrounding areas.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.yourmesalawfirm.com

Contact Info:

Name: Chris Phillips

Organization: The Law Firm of Gillespie, Shields, Durrant & Goldfarb

Phone: 480-985-4000

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/yourmesalawfirm-com-announces-the-addition-of-christopher-houk-to-their-team/100366

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SearchBlox Software, Inc. Introduces Solutions To Increase Business Efficiency

Inefficiency costs business owners their precious time and money. See how SearchBlox's solutions are helping businesses everywhere do things more efficiently at http://www.searchblox.com/.

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Some statistics show that inefficiency and a loss of productivity can cost some business owners 20 to 30 percent of their revenue every year. This means that those who seek out ways to streamline critical processes grow and thrive at a greater rate than those business owners who do not.

It is with these statistics in mind that SearchBlox Software, Inc., a premier provider of enterprise search solutions, is introducing their full suite of text analytics and data search software. For just about any data source that a business owner has access to, SearchBlox has developed a way to search through the information it contains with unrivaled speed and accuracy.

Timo Selvaraj, a representative of SearchBlox Software, Inc., stated "Simply put, data is what drives business and company growth. Every day, companies need access to information in order to survey progress and make critical and time-sensitive decisions. SearchBlox's full suite of solutions provides fast, multi-faceted search engines for this purpose. From CRM data within the Salesforce application to Amazon S3 buckets, businesses can use SearchBlox to gather the data they need quickly across many different sources. This, in turn, increases business efficiency and allows more time for the things that really matter."

Selvaraj goes on to say, "While the enterprise search solutions we offer are robust, there's even more that we can do to help businesses stay on top of their information. For just about any business, SearchBlox can take their corpus of text and turn it into rich insights. Our aggregation and analytics tools allow business owners to keep their pulse on their brand through customer response analysis and drive business growth through market research and employee feedback. Word clouds, tree maps, and sentiment analysis are just a few of the things our solutions can create that will help business owners make the decisions that are best for their companies."

"From our enterprise search tools to our google search appliance replacement solution, we see it as our mission to make data aggregation and analytics easy for business owners. Using SearchBlox solutions, we truly believe that business owners will be equipped with exactly what they need to take their companies to the next level and beyond."

Visit www.searchblox.com to learn more about what SearchBlox Software, Inc. has to offer.

About SearchBlox Software, Inc.:

SearchBlox Software, Inc. is a privately held Richmond, Virginia-based leading provider of enterprise search solutions based on Apache Lucene. Over 300 customers in 30 countries use SearchBlox to power their website, intranet and custom search. SearchBlox Software, Inc. was founded in 2003 with the aim to develop commercial search products based on Apache Lucene. SearchBlox provides web based administration of your search server and comes with integrated crawlers to index your enterprise and web content.

For more information about us, please visit http://www.searchblox.com/

Contact Info:

Name: Timo Selvaraj

Organization: SearchBlox Software, Inc.

Phone: (866) 933-3626

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/searchblox-software-inc-introduces-solutions-to-increase-business-efficiency/100389

Release ID: 100389

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J. Robert Surface, Attorney At Law Announces New Disability Claims Website

The social security disability denial rate is 53 percent. See how Attorney J. Robert Surface's new website is helping people get the money they deserve at http://greenvilledisabilitylawyer.net.

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The U.S. Social Security Administration reports that between 2001 and 2010, the rate of denied disability claims averaged nearly 53 percent. This means that year after year, more than half of the disabled population has been denied the benefits they are entitled to that would help them take care of their basic needs.

It is with these people in mind that J. Robert Surface, Attorney At Law is announcing his new website. The purpose of the site is to educate Greenville citizens about social security disability claims. The website will feature information, articles, and videos related to the social security disability filing process and help people understand what steps to take in the case of a denial.

J. Robert Surface, a South Carolina native, stated "Many people assume that they'll never have to deal with disability, yet statistics show that a 20-year-old has a 1 in 4 chance of being disabled by the age of 67. Unfortunately, many people don't find out until that time how difficult it can be to get the social security disability benefits the government owes them. While it seems like the process of getting the money they've paid into the system for so long should be straightforward, that's rarely the case. Not only is the claims process tedious and confusing, but many are denied the first time around."

As Surface continues, "Our new website aims to help people better understand the claims process and figure out exactly what the Social Security Administration is looking for when they review an application. There are hundreds of technical rules within the disability system, and we want to help dispel some of the confusion surrounding them. We'll also have a full section outlining Veterans disability claims that will help the men and women who have sacrificially served our country learn more about how to get their well-deserved benefits."

"We understand how frustrating it can be for a person who has worked or served in the military during their lifetime to be denied the money they deserve and are entitled to. It is our hope that the information found on our new website will give them a sense of hope, encourage them to get help with the process, and help them develop a solid plan for moving forward."

About J. Robert Surface, Attorney At Law:

J. Robert Surface is a Charleston, South Carolina native and a 1978 graduate of the University of South Carolina Law School. He has served the City of North Charleston as an Assistant City Attorney as well as served as a federal attorney with the ODAR branch of the Social Security Administration. Robert returned to the private sector in 2007 to represent clients with disabilities before the Social Security Administration and in 2009 was certified by the Department of Veterans to handle claims by veterans before the various VA Regional Offices. With his many years of experience in disability law, Robert is passionate about serving those in need.

For more information about us, please visit http://greenvilledisabilitylawyer.net

Contact Info:

Name: J. Robert Surface

Organization: J. Robert Surface, Attorney At Law

Phone: (864) 235-0886

Source: http://marketersmedia.com/j-robert-surface-attorney-at-law-announces-new-disability-claims-website/100357

Release ID: 100357

For more information visit r



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Banks Italy Announces Launch of Information Packed Website Listing all the Popular Banks in Italy

For English tourists visiting Italy it can be difficult finding a bank or ATM that works. This is compounded by the language barrier, which can be difficult to work around. 'Banks Italy.com' recently announced their launch offering useful banking information to tourists.

--

Experts agree, traveling can be an amazing adventure, one of life's great experiences. It can also be challenging in unexpected ways. In Italy this often involves a traveler trying to find a bank that meets their needs. Stepping up to offer a quick and simple solution to this problem is the recently launched website Banks Italy. Developed to help English readers quickly find a local bank in Italy, the website is off to a quick start.

"Italy is a wonderful country everyone should visit often," commented Luisa Giurdanella, founder of the site. "We think Banks Italy delivers a really valuable service. Many people are left wondering where a local bank is when here as a tourist and we are glad to help."

According to Banks Italy, the site can be searched by city for added convenience. The bank name address, contact information and hours of operation are all listed. The site also features SWIFT codes for all the major banks, and ATM information. The amount of time a user can save is potentially huge.

Feedback from early visitors to Banks Italy have been very positive.

Michelle K., from Boston, recently said, "My boyfriend and I visited Rome recently and ran into trouble finding a bank near where we were staying. It only took a few minutes on Banks Italy and we were set. Five stars and fully recommended."

For more information be sure to visit http://www.banksitaly.com.

ABOUT US: Informational Italian banking website in English that helps tourists visiting Italy use Italian banks and ATM's. Also has details of banks and branches throughout Italy.

MEDIA CONTACT:

Luisa Giurdanella

luisagiurdanella@gmail.com

Brisbane, QLD, Australia

www.banksitaly.com

###

For more information about us, please visit http://www.banksitaly.com

Contact Info:

Name: Luisa Giurdanella

Organization: banksitaly.com



Source: http://marketersmedia.com/banks-italy-announces-launch-of-information-packed-website-listing-all-the-popular-banks-in-italy/100386

Release ID: 100386

For more information visit r



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Tim Sargisson, chief executive of Sandringham, has said that in 2016 he will ensure the business is best placed to capitalise on the growing number of advisers looking to migrate from full IFA to restricted advice.

The last two years have also seen a marked increase in advisers making such a move and Mr Sargisson said he expects this trend to continue in 2016 .

Pointing to a 2013 Cass Business School report, entitled Challenge & Opportunity  The Impact of the RDR on the UK Market for Financial Advice, he said the challenges outlined by the academics for independent advisers remain.

According to the research, the average adviser expects to garner 1,500 from each of their supposed 150 clients, in order to sustain the 220,000 per year of gross revenue required to function profitably, given all the regulatory and administrative costs and normal business operational expenses they must cover.

With fees averaging roughly 1 per cent of assets, Mr Sargisson said that implies that the average IFA client will need 150,000 or more of investable assets.

Their research highlights there are just over 850,000 people living in the UK with this amount at their disposal for investment, he stated, adding that in short, there are not enough clients with the right asset profile to go round.

Mr Sargisson went on to note that there are a further 5.5 million people with investable assets, employed and of working age in the UK, but without access to advice or unable to afford an adviser.

Sandringham aims to be the leading restricted advice firm in the UK and to help advisers tap into this market by providing a more cost-effective solution in terms of the services it offers, the advisers it works with and delivering good solid customer outcomes.

This will be delivered through robust end-to-end IT and we expect to make significant improvements to our IT in 2016 to further reduce the costs of delivery for advisers.

Reflecting on the end of 2015 and the arrival of Workie - the governments monster mascot for their automatic enrolment advertising campaign - Mr Sargisson said that love him or hate him, the Department for Work and Pensions push has driven a 350 per cent increase in visits to The Pension Regulators website.

He said Sandringham would build on its auto-enrolment service in 2016 as small and micro employers begin to stage in 2016.

We believe that companies and their advisers will need considerable help and support in this area. Since 2012, 5.4 million employees have been enrolled into workplace pension by almost 61,000 employers and now it is the turn of 1.8 million small and micro employers.

The findings of TPR confirmed that more small and micro firms intend to use the services of an accountant (28 per cent and 38 per cent respectively) and according to their research around 18,000 employers will have turned to their accountant for auto-enrolment advice in 2015.

emma.hughes@ft.com
A Halifax customer service adviser who forged a pensioners signature to plunder almost 3,000 from his account to cover credit card debts has avoided a jail sentence today (4 January).

Ikram Ahmed, 30, made 23 transactions in William Smikles name while working for the bank in Bayswater, west London, between July 2012 and November 2014.

Mr Smikle, who has mobility problems, had never even visited Ahmeds branch in Queensway and finally alerted Halifax to the suspicious withdrawals.

He lost 2,850 in the scam, but was reimbursed by the bank, which has since sacked Ahmed, Snaresbrook Crown Court heard.

Ahmed was handed a 12 month sentence, suspended for two years, ordered to undertake 180 hours unpaid work and to repay Halifax the 2,850 as well as costs of 100.

Harriet Johnson, defending, said Ahmed had no excuse for the offence, but urged the judge to pass a suspended sentence on the basis that it was out of character.

The judge, Mr Recorder Ian Bourne, QC, told Ahmed: You are now 30 years of age and until you pleaded guilty to the offence of fraud by abuse of position in the magistrates court, you were hitherto a man of good character.

You were someone who obtained a credit card and begun to build up significant debts.

You say that you intended to repay these sums of money, but you clearly never did and you were eventually caught because Mr Smikle noticed a suspicious withdrawal from a different bank to which he usually uses.

He added: I accept that apart from this very serious offence you are someone who has led an otherwise blameless life.

Ahmed, of Leyton, east London, admitted fraud by abuse of position.
JO Hambro Capital Management (JOHCM) has reopened John Woods 1.6bn UK Opportunities fund, calling the strategy the most liquid of all its offerings.

In a Companies House filing outlining results for the 12 months to September 30, 2015, JOHCM said it had reopened the product with a view to growing the strategy by a further 500m.

The risk team continually monitors all investment strategies for portfolio liquidity, and the teams analysis indicates that UK Opportunities is the most liquid strategy within the JOHCM investment range, the company said.

UK Opportunities, managed by Wood since launch in 2005, has returned 56.2 per cent over the past five years compared with an IA UK All Companies sector average of 42.5 per cent, according to FE Analytics. Over one year it has returned 7.5 per cent versus a sector average return of 4.9 per cent.

Other JOHCM strategies, such as Clive Beagles and James Lowens UK Equity Income fund, remain soft-closed.

The fund houses results saw it report record net inflows of 3.2bn for the 12-month period, helping assets under management rise from 15.2bn to 18bn. But operating profits dropped from 72.5m to 63m as 2014s exceptionally high performance fees fell back.

JOHCM said over 50 per cent of net inflows were into its US pooled vehicles, adding it is in discussions with teams in the region as it seeks to expand its product range for US investors.
Scottish Widows has warned allowing people to take their savings tax-free would remove a braking mechanism to prevent savers from squandering their pensions.

The company has said the current system - which means savings are tax-free when they go into the pot but taxed when they leave - prevents people from taking their money too early and spending it all.

This would put pressure on taxpayers to sustain them in later retirement, meaning any new system would need to include a braking mechanism, Scottish Widows said.

Pete Glancy, head of industry development at Scottish Widows, said the country faces a considerable challenge in terms of public finances, along with the funding of retirement and long term care for an ageing population.

The current system has room for improvement and we welcome the government review and the open way in which it is being conducted.

In his Summer Budget, chancellor George Osborne launched a review of the tax incentivisation of pension saving.

He even said pensions could be taxed like Isas, meaning savings would moving from being taxed as they leave the pension pot to being taxed as they go in.

Mr Glancy said that while Isas are simple to understand compared to pensions, the latter should remain a more attractive saving product than the former under any new system.

Darren Cooke, a chartered financial planner with Derbyshire-based Red Circle Financial Planning, agreed about the need to disincentivise people from taking all their money in one go.

There needs to be some sort of disincentive to stop people withdrawing their entire pot and spending it because if people were able to access it and blow it on a car or a holiday I think they would.

I think the system we have at the moment encourages people to save and encourages them to use their savings in a sensible manner.

damian.fantato@ft.com
The Financial Conduct Authority abandoned its review of culture at UK retail and wholesale banks just before New Years Eve.

According to sources cited by FTAdviser parent paper the Financial Times , the reasoning given was that each company is unique and cannot be easily compared.

The regulators review was previously detailed in its annual business plan last year , aimed at determining whether programmes to shift culture in retail and wholesale banks were driving the right behaviour.

It was focused on issues such as bankers pay, appraisal and promotion decisions of middle management.

The FCA responded that a focus on the culture in financial services firms remains a priority and that there is currently extensive ongoing work in this area within firms and externally.

We have decided that the best way to support these efforts is to engage individually with firms to encourage their delivery of cultural change as well as supporting the other initiatives outside the FCA, it stated.

Earlier in December, the regulators published its long-awaited report into the failings of Halifax Bank of Scotland, which caused outcry at the lack of punishment of senior managers blamed for the collapse, as well as there being no naming and shaming of the Financial Services Authority staff identified but not named in the document.

The Treasury Select Committees chairman Andrew Tyrie also last month expressed disappointment at the delayed publication of the FCAs report into the Royal Bank of Scotlands Global Restructuring Group until next year.

peter.walker@ft.com
Police search Tony Martin's property after he is arrested on suspicion of firearms offences.  Terry Harris/REX Shutterstock

Police enquiries are continuing after Norfolk farmer Tony Martin  jailed more than 15 years ago after a fatal shooting  was arrested on suspicion of possessing an illegal firearm.

Mr Martin, 71, was arrested in the Wisbech area of Cambridgeshire in connection with a planned police operation at a property in Emneth Hungate, Norfolk.

Officers were called to the address on Thursday, 31 December.

See also: Norfolk farmer recalls shooting teenage burglar

Police finished their search of the property later the same day. Mr Martin was released on police bail pending further enquiries.

A police spokesman said: The man, who was arrested on suspicion of possession of an illegal firearm, has been released on police bail until late February 2016.

Mr Martin was jailed for shooting dead teenage burglar Fred Barras in 1999  one of two men who had broken into his home.

The death triggered a national debate over the extent to which people should be allowed to protect their possessions when faced with an intruder.

Initially found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment, Mr Martins conviction was later reduced to manslaughter.

He was released from prison in 2003 after serving two-thirds of a five-year sentence.
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So what is it like to finish your first year on the Corvallis City Council?

Zach Baker of Ward 3, Bill Glassmire of Ward 7 and Barbara Bull (Ward 4) shared their thoughts on year one with the Gazette-Times. The other councilor who was installed for the 2015-17 term, Frank Hann (Ward 8), did not respond to the newspapers request for information.

Baker said he was struck by the work/council tradeoffs that were required.

The biggest challenge of serving has been balancing City Council on top of a full-time job, said Baker, who serves as a legislative aid to state Rep. Dan Rayfield. There are so many more things Id like to be doing as a city councilor if I didnt have to work full time  attending more community events and meetings, communicating more with constituents, and researching and developing additional policy ideas.

Glassmire, a retired computer programmer, noted the dilemma of working on issues in which the citys hands are tied.

I have been surprised to find out how much local governments are constrained by rules made at higher levels of government, such as, for one example, the state of Oregons prohibition of inclusionary zoning, Glassmire said.

Some of those constraints operate directly against my conception of effective government, which would allow local governments to experiment with different programs to see what serves the community best.

Bull noted the broad impact of decisions the council reaches, beyond her own personal research and vote.

"I quickly learned that this is not just a matter of studying an issue," she said. "It is also important to know how other councilors are voting and why, and how constitutents feel about issues and why. Political decisions are a balance between costs and benefits to individuals and group and among individuals and groups. How those individuals and groups feel about an issue is an important part of knowing how to deal with it."

Glassmire also cited the twin  and linked  challenges of the budget reality and community expectations.

Setting program priorities during a time of revenue shortfalls, Glassmire said about the the challenge of the revenue piece, while adding that with diverse opinions and controversy about some programs, working to find an acceptable resolution remains a test for the council.

The good news, from Glassmires perspective, is his sense that the council works together well. I trust  and very much hope  that will continue. Glassmire also complimented city staff for their commitment to improving Corvallis livability and to serving the citys residents.

Bull mentioned the importance of interaction with the public.

"It is a lot of work on many fronts, but it feels important and I feel lucky to be able to contribute to my community in this way," she said. "People sometimes ask whether they can help and my answer is that they can help and my answer is that they can help by letting me know how I am doing and by being informed and engaged in the issues. This helps the council to know what is best for the community."

Baker, meanwhile, offered some cautionary remarks on the volunteer status of the councilors and Mayor Biff Traber.

It is well-known that serving on City Council is a volunteer position, Baker said. Whats been surprising to me about this is experiencing firsthand what we as a community expect of our councilors. And, in turn what the position demands of councilors. Its certainly got me thinking about the functionality/desirability of our current model.
A mix of snow and ice Sunday led to four minor crashes inside the city of Corvallis Sunday and authorities urged caution as the melting snow turned to ice Sunday night. More crashes were reported in other parts of the mid-valley.

Meanwhile, Oregon State University, Linn-Benton Community College and many area schools  including Corvallis, Philomath, Alsea, Monroe, Albany and Eddyville  closed for the day after initially announcing late starts.

The National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for the Willamette Valley in effect until 10 a.m. Monday.

Freezing rain and snow fell around Corvallis and throughout Benton County Sunday morning. While accumulations were not heavy, road surfaces became slick with ice in the afternoon and into Sunday evening. The resulting wintry mix led to four traffic crashes in the city, said Jim Patton with the Corvallis Fire Department.

"People are sliding around out there, Patton said Sunday afternoon. Hopefully people chill out a little bit. Excuse the pun.

About 3:35 p.m. Sunday, the Oregon Department of Transportation website reported a crash had closed a portion of Highway 20 between Albany and Corvallis. A detour was in place. Further details were not yet available.

After several days of a cold offshore flow, a weak low-pressure system moved from the south to the north across northwest Oregon on Sunday morning. Roads remained slick Sunday afternoon, with traffic crashes reported on several primary roads including Interstate 5, Highway 99W, Highway 20 and Highway 34. Oregon Highways 18 and 126 could be slick as well.

Forecasters predicted a chance of freezing rain before 10 p.m. Sunday, then a 40 percent chance of rain or freezing rain into the night with a steady temperature around 35 degrees. Calm wind becoming north northwest around 5 mph after midnight. Forecasters also predicted a slight chance of rain or freezing rain before 10 a.m. Monday, with a high near 38.

Local snow accumulations of less than 1 inch were possible into Monday morning. The best chances for snow accumulation to occur will be near the east slopes of the Coast Range, such as near Corvallis, McMinnville and Dallas. Ice accumulations could be up to 0.10 to 0.20 inches.

Rain is likely tonight, with a low of 33 for Corvallis, the National Weather Service said.

An unidentified voice on the Democrat-Herald's police scanner Sunday morning succinctly summed up mid-valley weather and road conditions: Its absolutely an ice rink out here.

Freezing rain and a skiff of snow blanketed most of Linn County overnight, surprising many families as they got ready for church services, which in some cases were cancelled.

Linn County Roadmaster Darrin Lane said his staff had already sprayed deicer on key road areas throughout the county, and sanding crews were working by about 8:30 a.m.

The deicer helped quite a bit, Lane said. But, we didnt have it everywhere.

He said sanders were especially targeting roads in the Sweet Home, Scio, Halsey and Albany areas.

We knew it was going to be cold, but we really didnt expect the ice, Lane said. I woke up to a hard layer of frost. It looked like snow, but it was really frost.

Lane said the county now has two large deicing trucks, which has helped cover areas more quickly than in past years.

Im guessing its really slick on city streets and parking lots, so people need to be extremely cautious, Lane said.

Both the Lebanon and Sweet Home police departments said that while it was icy, there hadnt been any major fender benders as of about noon Sunday.

But there were plenty of accidents elsewhere in the county.

Law enforcement officers and medics were busy Sunday on Interstate 5 and along Highway 34, with dozens of vehicles that slid off the roadway or were involved in accidents with other rigs.

Social media posts noted Peoria Road was a sheet of ice, Highway 20 near Gold Fish Farm Road is a disaster, and Interstate 5 north of Albany was extremely bad.

Due to the cold weather, the Lebanon Warming Shelter at the River Center, 3220 South Santiam, was open Sunday night.

A sampling of the call log from the Linn County Sheriffs Office on Sunday afternoon included:

 Roadside assistance needed in the 32000 block of Old Highway 34.

 Person slipped on bicycle in the 1100 block of North Albany Road.

 Juveniles had been playing on the ice at Bryant Park, fell through and pulled themselves out. No injuries.

 Vehicle slid into curb in the 400 block of Seventh Avenue in Albany.
The biggest political story of 2015 was the rise of Donald Trump  but if you were reading my column, you almost missed it.

For most of the year, I barely mentioned the possibility that the braggadocious mogul could be a serious candidate for the Republican presidential nomination. And when I did look at Trump, I dismissed his prospects as "imaginary"  a judgment that turned out to be flat wrong.

Instead, I advised readers to keep their eyes on Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush and Scott Walker. If you're keeping score, only one of the three, Rubio, is now in the top tier.

Newspaper columnists are rarely accused of humility; we're paid to have opinions, the brassier the better. But a look back at a year's work is enough to make even a pundit feel a pang of remorse.

In my case, it took me until September to notice that Trump was the one drawing the crowds. By then, even elders of the Republican establishment were realizing that his insurgent candidacy was real.

I wasn't the only pundit who was slow to recognize Trump's appeal  far from it. Some organizations initially refused to cover his speeches as news.

We underestimated the anger of many voters at conventional politicians. We underrated the popularity of Trump's anti-immigrant message, especially among blue-collar workers who feel as if they're competing with immigrants for jobs.

And I, for one, overestimated the ability of well-funded establishment candidates to push back.

"If money matters  and, as any campaign manager will tell you, it does  there are only four candidates with a real shot: Bush, (Ted) Cruz, Rubio and Walker," I wrote in July.

It turned out I spent too much time talking with GOP grandees and too little time on the ground in states like Iowa, which is where a few reporters first noticed that Trump was real.

I wasn't wrong about everything on the campaign trail. I noticed back in April that Bush was in trouble, despite his impressive $114 million war chest. "Many Republicans  not only the ones on talk radio  want a fighter, not a lover," I wrote.

On the Democratic side, it was easier to figure out what was going on.

"Democrats are having a primary campaign that's actually quite traditional," I wrote. "Just as in past years, it pits a fiery candidate from the party's progressive wing against a more establishment figure. And (Hillary) Clinton has done what any establishment candidate would: She's told voters she shares their anger, and has tried to dilute (Bernie) Sanders' appeal by sidling leftward on economic policy."

There were important stories outside the presidential campaign, of course, and I managed to get some of those wrong too.

For example, I underestimated House Speaker Paul Ryan's chances of pulling Republicans in Congress together after the resignation of his predecessor, John Boehner.

Finally, one of my columns suffered from a severe case of poor timing.

After the November terrorist attacks in Paris, I wrote that the biggest danger was overreaction as Trump and others called for restrictions against Muslims entering the United States.

"It's not clear how effective any of those ideas would be at stopping would-be terrorists from entering the United States," I wrote. "But all those measures would reward Islamic State by bolstering its sales pitch to young recruits that Western countries are unremittingly hostile to Muslims."

Only three days later, a Chicago-born fanatic and his Pakistani-born wife killed 14 people in San Bernardino.

Did that make my advice wrong? I don't think so  just harder to take.

"The fear of terrorism isn't gone, far from it," I wrote. "But since 2001 we've learned to live with that fear and to refuse to allow it to disrupt our lives. That's a good thing."

I still think that's true. So in that old-fashioned American spirit of calm and confidence, I wish every reader a happy  and anxiety-free  2016.
We noticed a few months ago that the Google Earth placemark popups now usually include a photo, a short description and some basic facts about a place. It turns out that the information displayed is identical to what is shown in Google Maps when you search for a location.

Today we are looking at only the popups for places found in the Borders and Labels layer. Tomorrow we will look at places from the Places layer.

As far as we can tell, the data cannot be managed through Google Map Maker, so it must be managed by Google staff. The information seems to come from a variety of sources, sometimes Wikipedia, sometimes UNData and sometimes it is not stated where it comes from. The choice of facts shown also seems to vary considerably.

We have seen listed: province, municipality, county, federal division, prefecture, region, population, area, area code (telephone), postal code, unemployment rate, the name of the mayor (does this get updated each election?), elevation, founders, date of establishment, number of airports, parishes, ecclesiastical province, dialect, bird (common in Japan) and flower.

Although the text often comes from Wikipedia the other statistics do not appear to do so. For example, the population statistics are often quite a bit older than what is available on Wikipedia.

The photos can also be somewhat inaccurate. For example the photo for Linda, a township in Livingstone, shows a picture of the gorges below the falls. It was probably automatically picked from the photos layer and had been originally incorrectly placed. The photo for Zimba, another town in southern Zambia just shows a view of trees and grass. The photo probably does come from a location nearby but is not really representative of the town.

If any of our readers knows when the placemarks were changed to their current format please let us know in the comments.

As with all mapping data in Google Earth if you notice mistakes the way to get it corrected is via feedback links in Google Maps, as Maps is the primary source of the data in most cases. If you are willing to put in more effort then you can also use Google Map Maker.



While researching this post we discovered a mistake with the Capital of Belgium. It is shown in Google Earth twice as Brussels and Brussel. We believe the issue is in Google Maps data, which shows two versions of the border, depending on whether you search for Brussels or Brussel and has other issues as well.



Mountains have their own special type of placemark, which doesnt exactly match Google Maps. In the case of Mount Rainier above, the Google Maps version has a more up-to-date copy of the Wikipedia text but lacks the elevation profile data.
Niger Workers to Be Fired Over Lateness To Work

bayonel3 at 4-01-2016 12:07 PM (6 years ago) (m)

Niger State Government on Sunday told its workers that it would no longer tolerate lateness. A statement by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, urged civil servants in the state to change their attitude towards coming late to work and going home early. According to him, government viewed the development as an act of sabotage against the development of the state. The idea of coming to work any time you feel like is gone. Workers in the state must wake up to their responsibilities or face the wrath of the law, he said. He further warned those who had two jobs in the states ministries to desist from the act, adding that those who were in the habit of staying at home when they should be in the office would be declared as ghost workers.

Niger State Government on Sunday told its workers that it would no longer tolerate lateness. A statement by the Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, urged civil servants in the state to change their attitude towards coming late to work and going home early. According to him, government viewed the development as an act of sabotage against the development of the state.  he said. He further warned those who had two jobs in the states ministries to desist from the act, adding that those who were in the habit of staying at home when they should be in the office would be declared as ghost workers. Government will soon flush them out of the system. The era of wastages and leakages is over. It can never be business as usual. The era of taking government for granted is now history. People should brace for the challenges of time, the statement added. Vatsa also appealed to the states Head of Service to provide attendance register where workers would sign in and out to stop their excesses and help deal with redundant workers. The change that the All Progressives Congress government is talking about is not about party but a change of character and attitude in doing the right thing so that Niger State can regain its lost glory, he added. , the statement added. Vatsa also appealed to the states Head of Service to provide attendance register where workers would sign in and out to stop their excesses and help deal with redundant workers. , he added.

Post Reply I scour the world wide web to bring you interesting stories from around the globe. +2348055557203 Posted: at 4-01-2016 12:07 PM (6 years ago) | Hero

DAMILARE100 at 4-01-2016 12:10 PM (6 years ago)

(m) It's a welcoming idea and should be implemented accordingly. Posted: at 4-01-2016 12:10 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac It's a welcoming idea and should be implemented accordingly. Reply

BLACKY77 at 4-01-2016 12:47 PM (6 years ago)

(m) LONG OVER DUE Posted: at 4-01-2016 12:47 PM (6 years ago) | Upcoming LONG OVER DUE Reply

christianity at 4-01-2016 01:16 PM (6 years ago)

(m) wateva Posted: at 4-01-2016 01:16 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac wateva Reply

kp45 at 4-01-2016 02:15 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Ok Posted: at 4-01-2016 02:15 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Ok Reply

XTnote at 4-01-2016 02:44 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Leave trash for LAWMAN mbok Posted: at 4-01-2016 02:44 PM (6 years ago) | Upcoming Leave trash for LAWMAN mbok Reply

XTnote at 4-01-2016 02:45 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Leave trash for LAWMAN mbok Posted: at 4-01-2016 02:45 PM (6 years ago) | Upcoming Leave trash for LAWMAN mbok Reply

eric2000 at 4-01-2016 03:23 PM (6 years ago)

(m) start firing them right now,...the work ethics in Nigeria is disgusting.....go to any government office in Nigeria at 9am ,you cant find anybody in the office. These people are not serious....The work ethics in Nigeria is why we are behind a lot of countries Posted: at 4-01-2016 03:23 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Reply

Novic at 4-01-2016 04:41 PM (6 years ago)

(m) That was good, sack them all. Posted: at 4-01-2016 04:41 PM (6 years ago) | Hero That was good, sack them all. Reply

deboalabi262 at 4-01-2016 05:47 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Supported..... Who Jah Blessed, No Man Cursed...... Posted: at 4-01-2016 05:47 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Supported..... Reply

okatee at 4-01-2016 08:40 PM (6 years ago)

(m) I SUPPORT DIS IDEA. FIRE ANYBODY WHO CUMZ LATE. Posted: at 4-01-2016 08:40 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac I SUPPORT DIS IDEA. FIRE ANYBODY WHO CUMZ LATE. Reply

moralemike07 at 4-01-2016 10:23 PM (6 years ago)

(m) My brother, who come late no serious to work ooo. Our people dey talk say, person wey hunger dey beat na him dey find where kitchen dey ooo. Posted: at 4-01-2016 10:23 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac My brother, who come late no serious to work ooo. Our people dey talk say, person wey hunger dey beat na him dey find where kitchen dey ooo. Reply

AmazingMarie at 4-01-2016 11:30 PM (6 years ago)

(f) yes the workers have to be serious Posted: at 4-01-2016 11:30 PM (6 years ago) | Hero yes the workers have to be serious Reply

DAMILARE100 at 7-01-2016 09:51 AM (6 years ago)

(m) Nice step for better Nigeria Posted: at 7-01-2016 09:51 AM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Nice step for better Nigeria Reply

Mopera at 10-01-2016 07:50 PM (6 years ago)

(m) start firing them right now,...the

work ethics in Nigeria is

disgusting.....go to any

government office in Nigeria at

9am ,you cant find anybody in

the office. These people are not serious....The work ethics

in Nigeria is why we are behind

a lot of countries Posted: at 10-01-2016 07:50 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac start firing them right now,...thework ethics in Nigeria isdisgusting.....go to anygovernment office in Nigeria at9am ,you cant find anybody inthe office. These people are not serious....The work ethicsin Nigeria is why we are behinda lot of countries Reply

Oworen25 at 12-01-2016 07:37 AM (6 years ago)

(m) Most of this workers no dey try because they suppose to know that where you work is where you will eat. Posted: at 12-01-2016 07:37 AM (6 years ago) | Hero Most of this workers no dey try because they suppose to know that where you work is where you will eat. Reply

Oworen25 at 25-01-2016 03:08 AM (6 years ago)

(m) who come late no serious to work ooo. Our people dey talk say, person wey hunger dey beat na him dey find where kitchen dey ooo. Posted: at 25-01-2016 03:08 AM (6 years ago) | Hero who come late no serious to work ooo. Our people dey talk say, person wey hunger dey beat na him dey find where kitchen dey ooo. Reply
We Have Warned Nigeria To Release Sheikh Zakzaky Before Something Bad Happens - IRAN

nametalkam at 4-01-2016 05:51 PM (6 years ago) (m)

Iran says it is using all diplomatic channels to pursue the release of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky who was arrested by the Nigerian army last month.





"We have used all those channels to warn them [Nigeria] regarding this issue. So hopefully the government... would adopt wise action given the sensitive situation," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hoseyn Jaberi-Ansari told reporters in the capital, Tehran.



Campaign group Human Rights Watch said at least 300 IMN members were killed and quickly buried in a mass grave during the incident. The Nigerian military denied the claim.





Iran is currently embroiled in a diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia over the execution of a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Sheikh Zakzaky, leader of the IMN, is inspired by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini.



Facts about Shia in Nigeria



Shia are minority in Nigeria but their numbers are increasing

The IMN, formed in the 1980s, is the main Shia group led by Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky

They operate their own schools and hospitals in some northern states

They have a history of clashes with the security forces

The IMN is backed by Shia-dominated Iran and its members often go there to study "We have used all those channels to warn them [Nigeria] regarding this issue. So hopefully the government... would adopt wise action given the sensitive situation," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hoseyn Jaberi-Ansari told reporters in the capital, Tehran.Campaign group Human Rights Watch said at least 300 IMN members were killed and quickly buried in a mass grave during the incident. The Nigerian military denied the claim.Iran is currently embroiled in a diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia over the execution of a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Sheikh Zakzaky, leader of the IMN, is inspired by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini.Facts about Shia in NigeriaShia are minority in Nigeria but their numbers are increasingThe IMN, formed in the 1980s, is the main Shia group led by Sheikh Ibraheem ZakzakyThey operate their own schools and hospitals in some northern statesThey have a history of clashes with the security forcesThe IMN is backed by Shia-dominated Iran and its members often go there to study

Post Reply I specialize in investigative reportage across several subject matter and sectors but mainly focus on metro events and investigation. Do leave your thoughts and opinion on my reports to let me know what you think about them. Thank you Posted: at 4-01-2016 05:51 PM (6 years ago) | Addicted Hero

deboalabi262 at 4-01-2016 06:02 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Iran should stop these empty threats. Go and face Saudi Arabia or USA...... Naija no dey look face. Who Jah Blessed, No Man Cursed...... Posted: at 4-01-2016 06:02 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Iran should stop these empty threats. Go and face Saudi Arabia or USA...... Naija no dey look face. Reply

gogoman at 4-01-2016 06:14 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Them dey mad , na who dem won give warning.. and that stupid Campaign group Human Rights Watch.. why dem no tell SAUDI ARABIA not to beheaded 47 people last week Posted: at 4-01-2016 06:14 PM (6 years ago) | Addicted Hero Them dey mad , na who dem won give warning.. and that stupid Campaign group Human Rights Watch.. why dem no tell SAUDI ARABIA not to beheaded 47 people last week Reply

BLACKY77 at 4-01-2016 06:32 PM (6 years ago)

(m) WHY ANOTHER COUNTRY GO DEY INTERFARE INTO ANOTHER COUNTRY INTERNAL AFFAIRS Posted: at 4-01-2016 06:32 PM (6 years ago) | Upcoming WHY ANOTHER COUNTRY GO DEY INTERFARE INTO ANOTHER COUNTRY INTERNAL AFFAIRS Reply

dareshola at 4-01-2016 06:50 PM (6 years ago)

(m) world war approaching the end is now. Posted: at 4-01-2016 06:50 PM (6 years ago) | Upcoming world war approaching the end is now. Reply

beneno at 4-01-2016 06:51 PM (6 years ago)

(m) So Muslims knows the value of human beings like this Ni them go dey kill Christians live sat them be Fowl. Posted: at 4-01-2016 06:51 PM (6 years ago) | Addicted Hero So Muslims knows the value of human beings like this Ni them go dey kill Christians live sat them be Fowl. Reply

SweetDaddy1 at 4-01-2016 06:58 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Iran is a State that sponsor terrorism and have no moral right to interfere in any Country's internal affairs. Posted: at 4-01-2016 06:58 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Reply

moralemike07 at 4-01-2016 07:13 PM (6 years ago)

(m) They should just mind their business. We can't afford to add more problems to the one already created. Posted: at 4-01-2016 07:13 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac They should just mind their business. We can't afford to add more problems to the one already created. Reply

zezprincess at 4-01-2016 07:21 PM (6 years ago)

(f) Hmmmmm,nigeria jaga jaga,abeg iran we no want more trouble,make una kukuma concentrate on una own affairs. Posted: at 4-01-2016 07:21 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Hmmmmm,nigeria jaga jaga,abeg iran we no want more trouble,make una kukuma concentrate on una own affairs. Reply

akinmanchy at 4-01-2016 07:50 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Iran una too small, make una try join with Iraq, mumu country Life na jeje so just try to take am softly Posted: at 4-01-2016 07:50 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Iran una too small, make una try join with Iraq, mumu country Reply

DAMILARE100 at 4-01-2016 08:21 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Common Iran warning Nigeria. Dem never born them Posted: at 4-01-2016 08:21 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Common Iran warning Nigeria. Dem never born them Reply

SOGaiya at 4-01-2016 09:09 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Wat an empty threat Posted: at 4-01-2016 09:09 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Wat an empty threat Reply

Novic at 4-01-2016 09:46 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Hahahahahahahahah..... Seriously buhari should release this man before this issue turn to something else. Iran treat might be real. Nigeria should just avoid iran becz we knw all knw them very well. Posted: at 4-01-2016 09:46 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Hahahahahahahahah..... Seriously buhari should release this man before this issue turn to something else. Iran treat might be real. Nigeria should just avoid iran becz we knw all knw them very well. Reply

Novic at 4-01-2016 09:47 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Hahahahahahahahah..... Seriously buhari should release this man before this issue turn to something else. Iran treat might be real. Nigeria should just avoid iran becz we knw all knw them very well. Posted: at 4-01-2016 09:47 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Hahahahahahahahah..... Seriously buhari should release this man before this issue turn to something else. Iran treat might be real. Nigeria should just avoid iran becz we knw all knw them very well. Reply

AmazingMarie at 4-01-2016 10:25 PM (6 years ago)

(f) Iran is prepared to breach international laws Posted: at 4-01-2016 10:25 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Iran is prepared to breach international laws Reply

okatee at 4-01-2016 11:11 PM (6 years ago)

(m) MAKE DEM CUM, WE READY FOR THEM. NA ONLI KANO GO FACE ND DEFEAT THEM CUS THE WHOLE OF NAIJA TOO BIG FOR THEM. Posted: at 4-01-2016 11:11 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac MAKE DEM CUM, WE READY FOR THEM. NA ONLI KANO GO FACE ND DEFEAT THEM CUS THE WHOLE OF NAIJA TOO BIG FOR THEM. Reply

Slimchery at 4-01-2016 11:17 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Iran Iran Iran, how many time i call una, make una leave naija matter for naija, if una wan dey keep terrorist make una dey keep those wey dey una land and leave the once wey dey naija make our government handle them, I know Iran sponsors boko haram and soon Iran will turn to a battle feild. just soon Posted: at 4-01-2016 11:17 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac Iran Iran Iran, how many time i call una, make una leave naija matter for naija, if una wan dey keep terrorist make una dey keep those wey dey una land and leave the once wey dey naija make our government handle them, I know Iran sponsors boko haram and soon Iran will turn to a battle feild. just soon Reply

kp45 at 4-01-2016 11:18 PM (6 years ago)

(m) Una wan try God abi Posted: at 4-01-2016 11:18 PM (6 years ago) | Hero Una wan try God abi Reply

youngrashy at 4-01-2016 11:41 PM (6 years ago)

(m) They can't do shiii Posted: at 4-01-2016 11:41 PM (6 years ago) | Gistmaniac They can't do shiii Reply
Pushkar-Gayathris Vikram Vedha showcases that a film can be made in any language or for any audience, can be told with the premise & outcome without deviating and keeping the narrative tight.
Russian Military Intelligence Chief Dies Unexpectedly

January 04, 2016

by RFE/RL

The Kremlin says the head of Russia's military intelligence agency, which is known as the GRU, has died unexpectedly.

A statement posted on the Kremlin website on January 4 said that General Igor Sergun, 58, had suffered a 'sudden death,' but gave no details as to the cause, timing, or circumstances. The state-run news agency TASS said he died on January 3.

The statement quoted President Vladimir Putin as giving his condolences, saying that Sergun had dedicated his 'entire life...to serving the homeland and the armed forces.'

Sergun took over from General Aleksandr Shlyakhturov, who stepped down in 2011 at age 64. No replacement for Sergun was announced.

His death comes at a time when clandestine, paramilitary, and espionage agencies in Russia have taken a central role in executing key policy decisions under Putin, himself a former chief of the lead domestic spy agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB).

'Sergun was an extremely important figure in the revival of the fortunes of the GRU, an agency that was pretty much at rock bottom when he took it over at the end of 2011,' Mark Galeotti, a New York University professor and authority on Russia's security apparatus, wrote in a blog post on January 4.

The GRU -- formally subordinate to the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff -- is widely believed to have played a central role in the stealth operation to take control of Ukraine's Crimea region in early 2014, when masked, camouflaged, armed soldiers appeared suddenly throughout the Black Sea peninsula.

Western analysts and officials believe the agency was also instrumental in coordinating and overseeing the insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where a conflict between Russian-backed separatists and government forces has killed more than 9,000 people since it erupted in April 2014.

Despite overwhelming evidence, Moscow has repeatedly denied its involvement in eastern Ukraine.

A Russian captured in Ukraine last year said he and a fellow captive were active GRU officers when they were seized, while the Russian military said they were not serving at the time.

Sergun's position as GRU chief landed him on the sanctions lists imposed in early 2014 by both the United States and the European Union, which specifically cited his oversight of 'the activity of GRU officers in eastern Ukraine.'

The sanctions imposed on Sergun were 'good Western recognition for the role of GRU in this conflict,' says Michael Kofman, a Russia analyst most recently with the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute in Washington.

The operations in both Crimea and eastern Ukraine have been characterized by what experts say is a resurgence of Soviet-style 'hybrid' or 'nonlinear' warfare, which employ conventional weaponry, but also stealth deployments, misinformation campaigns, and cyberwarfare to keep an adversary from knowing how to respond.

In a speech in April in Moscow, Sergun blamed the United States and its allies for the emergence of Islamic State, the radical Islamist movement whose fighters have seized parts of Iraq and Syria and recruited thousands of people from around the world.

Sergun cited the U.S. decision to supply Afghan mujahedin fighters battling Soviet armed forces in the 1980s as one cause for the emergence of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

With reporting by TASS

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-gru-chief-dies-suddenly/27467204.html

Copyright (c) 2016. 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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Coalition Forces Continue Strikes in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, January 3, 2016  U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strikes in Syria

Attack and fighter aircraft conducted six strikes in Syria:

-- Near Dayr Az Zawr, three strikes struck an ISIL gas and oil separation plant and destroyed an ISIL technical vehicle, an ISIL excavator, two ISIL front end loaders, and damaged a separate ISIL front end loader.

-- Near Manbij, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed four ISIL buildings and an ISIL vehicle.

-- Near Ayn Isa, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Washiyah, one strike struck an ISIL weapons manufacturing and storage facility.

Strikes in Iraq

Attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft conducted 20 strikes in Iraq, coordinated with and in support of Iraq's government:

-- Near Fallujah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and suppressed an ISIL mortar position.

-- Near Kirkuk, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL heavy machine gun and an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Kisik, one strike destroyed an ISIL assembly area.

-- Near Mosul, five strikes struck two separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed 18 ISIL fighting positions, three ISIL command and control nodes, two ISIL weapons caches, two ISIL tunnels, and an ISIL vehicle.

-- Near Qayyarah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Ramadi, seven strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed three ISIL tactical vehicles, two ISIL vehicles, an ISIL vehicle-borne bomb, three ISIL buildings, two ISIL heavy machine gun positions, an ISIL fighting position, an ISIL staging location, suppressed an ISIL vehicle-borne bomb, damaged an ISIL staging location, and denied ISIL access to terrain.

-- Near Sinjar, two strikes destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and two ISIL light machine guns and denied ISIL access to terrain.

-- Near Sultan Abdallah, one strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL fighting position.

-- Near Tal Afar, one strike struck an ISIL-used bridge.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is one strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, the region, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include the United States, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include the United States, Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.

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US ceases drone operations in Ethiopia: Official

Iran Press TV

Sun Jan 3, 2016 1:19PM

The United States has ceased its drone operations in the African country of Ethiopia, according to an embassy official.

David Kennedy, spokesman of the US Embassy in Ethiopia, said a decision has been reached that the facilities in Arba Minch, 450 kilometers south of the capital Addis Ababa, are no longer necessary, the Associated Press reported on Sunday.

Although Washington has never acknowledged the existence of such a base in the country, Ethiopian media have been reporting about it ever since it was established in 2011.

Security experts have speculated that the Addis Ababa government, a staunch ally of Washington, has provided the base for attacks on terrorist positions in Somalia.

In July, US drones reportedly killed two senior leaders of al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, in south-west Somalia.

In October 2015, a whistle-blower within the US intelligence ranks leaked a series of sensitive documents, shedding more light on Washington's mass assassination program in countries like Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan and Pakistan using drones.

The documents revealed that in order to hide the true numbers of civilian casualties, the White House categorizes unidentified people killed in drone strikes as enemies, even if they were not the intended targets.

Some 2,500 people have been killed by US drone strikes outside the country's declared war zones since President Barack Obama took office seven years ago, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

Obama has personally authorized at least four kills in Somalia. Drones killed between 4 and 8 people in the country that year.

A joint effort by the New York Times and The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to obtain memorandums on the legal basis of the American "targeted killings" overseas was blocked by a federal court in late November last year.

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Yemeni forces kill more Riyadh mercenaries

Iran Press TV

Sun Jan 3, 2016 9:50AM

The Yemeni army, backed by the Popular Committees supporting the Houthi Ansarullah movement, has conducted a successful operation against Riyadh's mercenaries in the southwestern province of Ta'izz.

Yemen's al-Masirah news channel reported on Sunday that the operation was carried out in the al-Aqrooz and al-Sharija districts. Fatalities were reported on the side of the mercenaries.

Yemeni forces also carried out retaliatory missile attacks against the bases of the invaders in the Wazi'iyah district of the province.

Al-Masdar Online news website reported that Ansarullah fighters took control of the strategic mountain of al-Aqsha' in al-Qabbaytah town in Lahij Province early on Sunday after fierce gunfight with Saudi-backed militants. Ansarullah forces began their attacks on the mountain, which overlooks the al-Anad base, on December 30.

Following the clashes, the militants withdrew with their weapons, a Yemeni source said, adding that an unspecified number of people were killed or injured on both sides.

On Saturday, six Yemeni civilians lost their lives and over 40 others were injured in Saudi airstrikes on Ta'izz.

In the Saqayn district of Sa'ada Province, northern Yemen, three civilians were killed in a Saudi airstrike on a residential area.

In another airstrike on the Kataf district of Sa'ada, six women were killed.

The regime in Riyadh began the campaign against Yemen on March 26, 2015. The airstrikes were meant to undermine Houthis and restore power to Yemen's fugitive former president, Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi.

Also on Sunday, Saudi warplanes bombarded a number of areas in the Yemeni capital, Sana'a, including the al-Sabaha district.

Saudi jets also targeted the districts of Haymah al-Kharijiyah and Hamdan in Sana'a. Local sources said the warplanes launched six airstrikes on Haymah al-Kharijiyah and two on Hamdan.

More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 injured since the Saudi airstrikes began in late March.

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Five people killed in US drone strike in northeast Afghanistan

Iran Press TV

Sun Jan 3, 2016 5:14AM

Authorities in Afghanistan say at least five people have lost their lives in a US drone strike in the Asian country's northeastern province of Kunar.

Provincial governor, Wahidullah Kalimzai, said the drone attack took place in the Shaigal district of the province, located about 205 kilometers (125 miles) east of the Afghan capital, Kabul, on Saturday.

He added that five members of the Pakistan-based Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group were killed in the assault.

On December 29, 2015, a US drone attack on the Alishing district of the eastern province of Laghman left at least two people dead. Sarhadi Zwak, a spokesman for the provincial governor, said two local commanders of the Taliban militant group were killed in the airstrike.

The development came a week after three people lost their lives when a US drone targeted Ghani Khel district of Afghanistan's eastern province of Nangarhar. Colonel Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal, a spokesman for the Nangarhar provincial police department, identified the deceased as members of a local militant group.

The CIA spy agency regularly uses drones for airstrikes and spying missions in Afghanistan as well as Pakistan's northwestern tribal belt near the Afghan border.

Washington has also been conducting targeted killings through remotely-controlled armed drones in Somalia and Yemen.

The US says the airstrikes target members of al-Qaeda and other militants, but according to local officials and witnesses, civilians have in most cases been the victims of the attacks.

The United Nations says the US drone attacks are "targeted killings" that flout international law.

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China rejects Vietnam protest over flight test on disputed islands

Iran Press TV

Sun Jan 3, 2016 8:30AM

China has rejected as "unfounded" Vietnam's accusation that Beijing violated its sovereignty by conducting a flight test on an artificial island in the disputed waters of the South China Sea.

In a statement on Saturday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, Hua Chunying, said the civilian flight to a newly-built airstrip on the Yongshu Jiao Reef in Nansha Islands was conducted to assess the preparedness of the airfield for civil aviation.

"Relevant activity falls completely within China's sovereignty," said Hua, stressing that her country "has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. The Chinese side will not accept the unfounded accusations from the Vietnamese side."

She further said Beijing hoped Hanoi could work to achieve "sustainable, healthy and stable" development of bilateral relations.

The remarks came on the same day that Vietnamese Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh accused China of breaching his country's sovereignty and a recent confidence-building pact between them by conducting the flight test on the airstrip.

China claims sovereignty over nearly all of the South China Sea, which is also claimed in part by Taiwan, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and the Philippines. The contested waters are believed to be rich in oil and gas.

The dispute has at times drawn in extra-territorial countries, particularly the United States, which have more often sided with China's rivals.

Beijing accuses Washington of meddling in the regional issues and deliberately stirring up tensions in the South China Sea. The US, however, accuses Beijing of undergoing what it calls a land reclamation program in the South China Sea by building artificial islands in the disputed areas.

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US Critical of Rwandan President's Decision to Seek New Term

by VOA News January 02, 2016

The United States on Saturday criticized Rwandan President Paul Kagame's decision to seek a third term in 2017.

In a statement, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the U.S. was disappointed with the move, saying Kagame 'ignores an historic opportunity to reinforce and solidify the democratic institutions the Rwandan people have for more than 20 years labored so hard to establish.'

Kagame announced his decision in a televised address Friday, saying, 'Given the importance and consideration you attach to this, I can only accept.' Kagame, however, added that he did not think the country's aim was to have a 'president for life' and said he would not want such a thing.

Last month, the country voted in a referendum to change the constitution to allow him to run.

On Monday, Kagame thanked the nation for voting to change term limits in the constitution, but at the time he did not hint about whether he planned to seek re-election.

The Rwandan leader's term ends in 2017. The new changes allow Kagame, 58, to run for another seven-year term, followed by two five-year terms, potentially keeping him in office until 2034.

Ninety-eight percent of voters approved the constitutional amendments in the referendum.

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Military Strikes Continue Against ISIL Terrorists in Syria, Iraq

From a Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve News Release

SOUTHWEST ASIA, January 4, 2016  U.S. and coalition military forces have continued to attack Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant terrorists in Syria and Iraq, Combined Joint Task Force Operation Inherent Resolve officials reported today.

Officials reported details of the latest strikes, noting that assessments of results are based on initial reports.

Strike in Syria

An attack aircraft conducted a strike near Ayn Isa, which destroyed five ISIL buildings.

Strikes in Iraq

Coalition military forces conducted 25 strikes in Iraq using attack, bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft and rocket artillery, coordinated with and in support of the Iraqi government:

-- Near Baghdadi, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, cratered an ISIL-used road, wounded three ISIL fighters, denied ISIL access to terrain, suppressed two ISIL mortar positions and an ISIL vehicle bomb, and destroyed an ISIL machine gun, an ISIL fighting position, five ISIL weapons caches, an ISIL vehicle bomb, and five ISIL rocket rails.

-- Near Fallujah, a strike destroyed an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL bunker.

-- Near Haditha, a strike struck an ISIL tactical unit and destroyed an ISIL vehicle bomb, four ISIL vehicles, and an ISIL heavy machine gun.

-- Near Kisik, three strikes struck three separate ISIL tactical units and destroyed two ISIL fighting positions.

-- Near Mosul, 12 strikes struck five separate ISIL tactical units, denied ISIL access to terrain, and destroyed eight ISIL fighting positions, an ISIL excavator, four ISIL weapons caches, ISIL engineering equipment, three ISIL heavy machine guns, and 12 ISIL assembly areas.

-- Near Qayyarah, a strike struck an ISIL-used bridge.

-- Near Ramadi, two strikes struck an ISIL tactical unit, denied ISIL access to terrain, and destroyed five ISIL fighting positions and four buildings.

-- Near Sinjar, two strikes destroyed two ISIL fighting positions and suppressed two ISIL machine gun positions.

-- Near Tal Afar, a strike destroyed 10 ISIL bunkers.

Task force officials define a strike as one or more kinetic events that occur in roughly the same geographic location to produce a single, sometimes cumulative, effect. Therefore, officials explained, a single aircraft delivering a single weapon against a lone ISIL vehicle is a strike, but so is multiple aircraft delivering dozens of weapons against buildings, vehicles and weapon systems in a compound, for example, having the cumulative effect of making those targets harder or impossible for ISIL to use. Accordingly, officials said, they do not report the number or type of aircraft employed in a strike, the number of munitions dropped in each strike, or the number of individual munition impact points against a target.

Part of Operation Inherent Resolve

The strikes were conducted as part of Operation Inherent Resolve, the operation to eliminate the ISIL terrorist group and the threat they pose to Iraq, Syria, the region, and the wider international community. The destruction of ISIL targets in Syria and Iraq further limits the terrorist group's ability to project terror and conduct operations, officials said.

Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Iraq include Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Jordan, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Coalition nations that have conducted strikes in Syria include Australia, Bahrain, Canada, France, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

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Briefing: What next for the Burundi peace process?

By Samuel Okiror

KAMPALA, 4 January 2016 (IRIN) - Talks aimed at a settlement to Burundi's violent political divide are due to start in neighbouring Tanzania on Wednesday, but the government is taking a hard line over what it considers interference in its internal affairs.

It insists it will not open dialogue with members of the opposition involved in an attempted coup in May, and has rejected plans by the African Union to deploy 5,000 peacekeepers to protect civilians, threatening to attack the force should it deploy.

An initial meeting in Uganda under AU-appointed mediator President Yoweri Museveni was designed to clear away the hurdles, but it failed to make serious headway. It left the AU threatening unspecified sanctions should any of the sides fail to turn up in Arusha, Tanzania, on 6 January.

"The Burundian government's responses so far are disappointing, but those facilitating the talks should not give up. Sustained regional and international pressure is essential to persuade the government, as well as the opposition, to adopt measures to end the killings in Burundi," Carina Tertsakian, Human Rights Watch senior researcher on Burundi, told IRIN.

International concern has mounted over the violence in Burundi since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced plans to run for a controversial third term in office, and his subsequent election win in July. The fear is that as killings intensify  the UN estimates that so far 400 people have died  Burundi could slip into civil war, with the army splitting along ethnic lines.

"The government has a particular responsibility to ensure that its security forces stop targeting people simply because they are suspected government opponents or because they happen to be young men living in so-called opposition neighbourhoods," said Tertsakian.

What are the prospects of the peace talks?

At the Uganda meeting on 28 December, the Burundian government rejected calls by Museveni for an amnesty for members of the opposition alliance National Council for the Restoration of Arusha Agreement and Rule of Law  known by the French acronym "CNARED"  who were implicated in the coup attempt that aimed to stop Nkurunziza's third-term bid.

Nkurunziza was able to rally loyal troops, and the putsch was snuffed out after two days of fighting.

The government has branded CNARED a "terrorist organisation," and accused it of being behind attacks on security forces and of recruiting among refugees living in neigbouring countries. The AU regards CNARED, which includes two former presidents and a range of civil society leaders, as the umbrella for all opposition groups.

"If the people we have evidence against [for] participating in the coup show up in the [negotiating] room, we get out. It's a simple as that," Alain Aime Nyamitwe, Burundi's foreign minister and the head of the government delegation, told reporters in Uganda.

"Why should we be talking about [giving] immunity for some, while others are facing justice in Bujumbura? Why, in your view, can Burundi continue to go with the trend of impunity or pardon for irresponsible politicians?"

Although Jean Minani, the chair of the opposition negotiators, told IRIN his team would attend the talks in Arusha, he still wants Nkurunziza to step down. "We shall negotiate with the enemy. But he [Nkurunziza] can't say, 'Give me five [more] years'... He must go," said Minani.

Will peacekeepers deploy?

Nkurunziza's opponents argue that his third-term bid was prohibited by the constitution and also violated the 2000 Arusha peace accord that ended Burundi's long civil war. Key to that agreement was the merging of the army with rebel forces  to which Nkurunziza once belonged.

"A political solution is not impossible, but looks very, very difficult given that the main opposition demand is for Nkurunziza to step down, something the government will never accede too," Alex Fielding, senior analyst at Max Security Solutions, a geopolitical risk consulting firm, told IRIN. "Nkurunziza still remains popular in rural areas and he has shown little willingness to compromise.

"Yes, of course, CNARED is the main opposition platform that needs to come on board for any lasting political solution. By rejecting them outright for being 'criminals' or 'terrorists', the Nkurunziza government is dooming the dialogue to failure," he said.

"One reason for this hardline stance is that [Nkurunziza's] power base is quite strong in the security forces and upper levels of the military after sidelining those perceived to be disloyal after the failed coup. He is also emboldened by the dwindling prospects of an AU peacekeeper deployment."

On 17 December, the AU invoked for the first time a clause allowing it to intervene in a member state without its permission. Nkurunziza quickly warned that such an "invasion force" would be resisted.

"I anticipate that the Burundi government will continue to attempt to delay and obfuscate the negotiations and the deployment of a peacekeeping force as strenuously as they can," Joseph Siegle, director of research at the Africa Center for Strategic Studies at National Defense University, Washington, told IRIN. "While they will justify this on the grounds of sovereignty, the real focus for them is control and to deflect attention from their lack of legitimacy.

"Throughout the crisis, the government has calculated that there would be insufficient political will on the part of regional and international authorities to intervene  providing the government greater leverage to push for a third term and employ their tactics of intimidation," said Siegle.

But the reality is that the East African Standby Force is nowhere near ready to intervene. Key players Rwanda and Tanzania have already said they will not contribute troops, and any deployment would require UN Security Council approval given Burundi's objections.

"I actually think that the AU peacekeeping force was more of a political move to pressure Nkurunziza into entering into dialogue rather than a genuine desire to send the East African Standby Force into such a volatile and complex mission," said Fielding.

"The EASF has no actual combat experience and most AU leaders remain very reluctant and skeptical of interfering in state sovereignty by way of military intervention," he added. "I can't see these obstacles being overcome unless there's a serious escalation in violence, which would delegitimise the Nkurunziza government as the protector of its own people and add a greater sense of urgency for intervention."

On the brink?

The biggest wildcard could be the emergence of dissident factions within Burundi's previously Tutsi-dominated military. On 23 December, a new rebel group, the Republican Forces of Burundi  known by the French acronym "FOREBU"  announced its arrival on the scene.

Led by Edward Nshimirimana, a former army colonel, the group claimed to include soldiers who had defected. The government has blamed it for raids on military bases on 11 December and other "abortive attacks".

"Should FOREBU attract a number of high-ranking Tutsi officers who are disgruntled after being sidelined by the faction of former Hutu armed groups who are close to Nkurunziza, the violence could scale up, take on a dangerous ethnic dimension and possibly trigger a civil war," said Fielding.

"Nkurunziza has an interest in avoiding this scenario, which would likely lead to international military intervention. But there are worrying signs of ethnic rhetoric being used to stir up support, including by Nshimirimana, who alleges that a genocide of the Tutsis is already under way."

What's the way forward?

"The solution must be political, rather than just military, and regional African leaders and others such as China  who retain some degree of influence over Nkurunziza  must pressure the government to engage in an inclusive dialogue which involves CNARED and civil society groups," said Fielding.

For Tertsakian: "If the AU is ready to offer assistance in preventing further killings, then the Burundian government should be willing to consider that, as well as other options which could help restore respect for the rule of law and fundamental human rights.

"Apart from the deployment of a military force, there are other measures which could help reduce the number of killings, for example the deployment of a regional police force in areas most affected by the violence."

"There is still a chance to pull Burundi back from the brink," the senior HRW researcher concluded.

so/oa/ag

Theme (s): Conflict,

Copyright  IRIN 2016

This material comes to you via IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. The opinions expressed do not necessarily reflect those of the United Nations or its Member States.

IRIN is a project of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

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Saudi warplanes pound Sana'a gas tanks

Iran Press TV

Mon Jan 4, 2016 12:5AM

In a fresh wave of aerial aggression on the Yemeni capital Sana'a, Saudi warplanes have targeted private food warehouses and the city's main gas tanks.

The airstrikes were carried out on Sunday following a much-violated truce that lasted for a week, Yemen's al-Masirah news channel reported. There were no immediate reports of possible casualties.

Earlier in the day in a separate air raid in Saqain district in the northwestern province of Sa'ada, at least four members of a family lost their lives when their house was destroyed.

Reports say that a mosque in Ahma al-Talah area in Sahar district of the province was also pounded during an airstrike.

There are also reports that the Yemeni army, backed by popular committees, has taken control of a mountain called Al-Sudies, overlooking the southwestern Saudi city of Najran.

Saudi Arabia started the military attacks in late March in a bid to undermine Yemen's Houthi Ansarullah movement and bring back to power the country's former fugitive president Abd Rabbuh Mansur Hadi, who is strongly aligned with Riyadh.

More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured since the strikes began. The Saudi war has also taken a heavy toll on the impoverished country's facilities and infrastructure.

Yemenis have, meanwhile, been carrying out retaliatory attacks against Saudi forces deployed in the country as well as targets inside the kingdom.

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Powerful car bomb blast hits near Kabul airport

Iran Press TV

Mon Jan 4, 2016 5:23PM

A car bomb attack has hit an area near the airport in the Afghan capital, Kabul, just hours after a bomber detonated his explosives in the city.

Afghan police officials said the explosion, which appeared to target a compound for foreign contractors, took place close to the Kabul International Airport on Monday evening.

The blast blew out window panes of homes and was felt across downtown Kabul.

There were no immediate reports of casualties and the extent of damage caused, but the Emergency Hospital in Kabul said on Twitter that it was currently receiving victims at its surgical center.

This came after a bomber blew himself up in a street leading to the airport in Kabul.

Afghan Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish said a convoy of foreign troops passing through the area was the target of the first bombing attack.

This is while Afghan forces are still attempting to end a protracted siege near the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, which began on Sunday night.

Afghan commandos are battling to flush out militants holed up in a building near the consulate.

Taliban militants have intensified attacks on government forces and foreign targets across Kabul and several other major cities across Afghanistan.

On January 1, a loud deadly explosion rocked a French restaurant popular with Afghan officials and foreign diplomats in central Kabul, killing at least two people and wounding 15 others.

The spike in violence coincides with a renewed push to revive peace talks with the Taliban militants.

Officials from Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States are due to meet in the Pakistani capital Islamabad on January 11 in an attempt to revive a stalled peace process. The planned talks will be followed by another meeting in Kabul.

Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has expressed readiness to attend Pakistan-brokered talks with Taliban on the condition that the militants give up terrorism.

Afghanistan is still gripped by insecurity 14 years after the US and its allies attacked the country as part of Washington's so-called war on terror. Although the 2001 attack overthrew the Taliban, many areas across Afghanistan still face violence and insecurity.

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Sudan rebels attack army garisson in restive southern state

Iran Press TV

Mon Jan 4, 2016 4:35PM

Sudan's army says anti-government rebels have attacked an army garrison in the volatile state of South Kordofan, with both sides giving conflicting accounts of the incident.

Military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Khalifa al-Shami said Monday that the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) launched the attack on the Mazlagan garrison on Saturday, but "they were repulsed and driven off."

Shami said more than 13 of the SPLM-N forces were killed and an unknown number injured whereas the army suffered no casualties.

However, in a statement late Sunday, SPLM-N's spokesman Arnu Lodi said their forces killed 30 government forces, "destroyed five four-wheel-drive vehicles and burned the garrison building before withdrawing."

Lodi put the death toll among the SPLM-N forces at only four.

The attack came days after Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir announced a month-long extension to September's ceasefire in the country's conflict-hit border regions.

The SPLM-N has been fighting against the Sudanese government in South Kordofan and Blue Nile state since 2011, saying the states were being politically and economically marginalized.

Khartoum accuses neighboring South Sudan, which seceded from the Republic of Sudan in 2011, of supporting the anti-government rebels.

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Update: air strikes in Iraq and Syria

4 January 2016

British forces have continued to conduct air operations in the fight against Daesh

Latest update

More successful attacks have been delivered by Royal Air Force aircraft on Daesh terrorists over the past week, supporting Iraqi ground forces in Ramadi and the north of the country.

RAF Tornado, Typhoon and Reaper have flown intensive armed reconnaissance missions across Syria and Iraq, with most of the action focused in and around Ramadi, where Iraqi units are seeking to consolidate their victory over Daesh, and in northern Iraq, where the Kurdish forces continue to press the terrorists hard.

On Monday 28 December, a Typhoon FGR4 flight conducted a simultaneous attack with Paveway IV bombs on two buildings north-east of Mosul, occupied by a group of terrorist fighters. Both buildings were demolished, along with the terrorists' vehicle. The Typhoons then used Paveways to destroy two mechanical excavators being used by Daesh to construct defensive positions. A second Typhoon mission was later flown over northern Iraq, and it delivered a successful Paveway IV strike on a team of terrorists who were preparing to fire rockets at Kurdish positions.

The following day, Typhoons and Tornado GR4s operated over Ramadi, as the Iraqi forces closed in on remaining pockets of Daesh extremists. The Typhoons bombed two machine-gun positions, while the Tornados conducted three attacks on a further two machine-gun nests and a strongpoint. Despite bad weather meaning that these attacks had to be carried out through thick cloud and with Iraqi soldiers in close proximity to the targets, careful planning by the aircrew and the precision guidance systems of the Paveway IV bombs allowed all the attacks to be successful without risk to friendly forces. Later on Tuesday evening, a Typhoon flying near Mosul was directed against a tunnel, where a large group of terrorists had been spotted massing inside. A direct hit was scored with a Paveway on the tunnel.

On Wednesday 30 December, two Tornado GR4s provided close air support over Ramadi, where they bombed two machine-gun positions engaged in close combat with Iraqi troops, and assisted another coalition aircraft in a strike on a Daesh team armed with rocket-propelled grenades. Near Sinjar, Typhoons assisted the peshmerga with an attack on a terrorist rocket launcher team. Typhoons and Tornados continued to patrol the Sinjar area on the last day of the year, using Paveways against a heavy machine-gun position and a Daesh group firing on Kurdish troops.

On Friday 1 January, an RAF Reaper supported coalition air strikes in Ramadi, and on 2 January, another Reaper used a Hellfire missile to destroy a mortar position near Fallujah.

Sunday 3 January proved a busy day for RAF aircraft: Typhoons delivered four successful attacks in Ramadi against terrorist positions, including a mortar team. A second Typhoon mission over Ramadi conducted no less than six attacks, accounting for five machine-guns and a sniper position. Near Haditha, Tornados destroyed a truck-bomb, while a Reaper used Hellfires against two armed pick-up trucks and a group of terrorist fighters. Over northern Iraq, two more flights of Tornado GR4s successfully attacked a total of two mortar and four machine-gun positions.

Previous air strikes

2 December: Following the vote in the House of Commons last night, Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 aircraft flew their first offensive operation against Daesh terrorist targets inside Syria. The mainstay of Daesh's financial income is derived from exploitation of a number of oilfields that they hold. These are overwhelmingly located in Daesh's heartlands in eastern Syria. Several of these oilfields have already been effectively targeted by other coalition partners; RAF aircraft and precision weaponry are well suited to attacking, with low collateral risk, this type of target. Overnight, RAF Tornado GR4s, supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker and a Reaper, and operating in conjunction with other coalition aircraft, employed Paveway IV guided bombs to conduct strikes against six targets within the extensive oilfield at Omar, 35 miles inside Syria's eastern border with Iraq. The Omar oilfield is one of the largest and most important to Daesh's financial operations, and represents over 10% of their potential income from oil. Carefully selected elements of the oilfield infrastructure were targeted, ensuring the strikes will have a significant impact on Daesh's ability to extract the oil to fund their terrorism.

Coalition air operations have already degraded Daesh's front-line military capabilities and have assisted the Iraqi ground forces in liberating some 30% of the territory that the terrorists initially seized in that country during the summer of 2014. By extending RAF offensive operations into Syria, our aircraft are now able to help dismantle the means by which Daesh plan, direct and sustain their campaign of terror.

Before our aircrew conducted their attacks, as is normal they used the aircraft's advanced sensors to confirm that no civilians were in the proximity of the targets, who might be placed at risk. Our initial analysis of the operation indicates that the strikes were successful.

3/4 December: Tornado GR4s from RAF Akrotiri conducted missions over Syria and Iraq. Two GR4s flew an armed reconnaissance patrol over eastern Syria, gathering intelligence on terrorist activity. A second pair of GR4s patrolled over western Iraq, where they provided close air support to Iraqi forces engaged in combat with Daesh in and around Ramadi. A terrorist sniper team opened fire from a compound on Iraqi troops, but was silenced by a direct hit from a Paveway IV guided bomb.

The RAF Tornado and Reaper aircraft that have been conducting air strikes against Daesh have now been reinforced by a detachment of Typhoon fighters, which carry the same Paveway IV precision guided bombs as the Tornados. The deployment of the Typhoons plus an extra two Tornados offers a significant increase in strike capacity to both the RAF component and the wider coalition air campaign.

4 December: Tornado GR4s and Typhoon FGR4s, based at RAF Akrotiri, conducted a further series of strikes on targets in the very large Daesh-controlled oilfield at Omar in eastern Syria. As with the attacks on 3 December which immediately followed the Parliamentary decision to extend offensive air operations to Syrian airspace, the Tornados and Typhoons used Paveway IV guided bombs to hit wellheads, thus cutting off the terrorists' oil revenue at the very source. Eight attacks were carried out, and early reports suggest that they were successful. Our aircraft then remained on patrol to collect intelligence on possible terrorist positions and be ready to strike any further targets that might be identified in eastern Syria or western Iraq.

The Typhoons and the Tornados received vital support from an RAF Voyager air refuelling tanker during their missions. At the same time, an RAF Reaper provided close air support to Kurdish security forces in north-west Iraq as they continue to drive back Daesh after defeating the terrorists at Sinjar. A Daesh truck-bomb was identified south of Sinjar, and the Reaper's crew were able to destroy it by means of a direct hit from a Hellfire missile.

6 December: RAF Tornado GR4s carried out a further UK mission against additional wellheads in the extensive and sprawling Omar oil field. They joined other coalition aircraft in a carefully coordinated strike against the oil infrastructure upon which Daesh relies for much of their revenue to fund their barbaric activities. The GR4s conducted successful attacks using Paveway IV guided bombs. The Tornados then joined Typhoon FGR4s, also flying from RAF Akrotiri, in conducting armed reconnaissance to investigate possible further terrorist targets.

7 December: A pair of Tornado GR4s provided close air support to offensive operations by Iraqi forces in western Ramadi. A Daesh mortar position was identified and successfully engaged with a Brimstone missile. Over northern Iraq, a Reaper was meanwhile supporting Kurdish troops, and it used a Hellfire missile to destroy a terrorist vehicle.

8 December: West of Qayyara, Tornados conducted two Brimstone attacks on Daesh terrorists. That evening, a further pair of Tornados assisted Iraqi soldiers north-east of Bayji; the GR4s used Paveway IVs to destroy three Daesh positions which were directing heavy machine-gun and mortar fire at the Iraqis.

9 December: A pair of Tornados provided close air support to Kurdish soldiers fighting Daesh in northern Iraq, and used a Paveway IV guided bomb to destroy a terrorist position, including a mortar team, centred on a building near Kisik. A Reaper maintained overwatch for the Kurds into the night, and having assisted other coalition aircraft in a successful strike on a heavy machine-gun position, its crew conducted successful Hellfire missile attacks of their own against three Daesh vehicles south of Sinjar, despite the trucks being parked under cover.

10 December: Two Typhoons, working in close cooperation with another coalition aircraft, carried out Paveway IV bomb attacks on a terrorist-held building and a bunker in northern Iraq. A Tornado patrol was meanwhile operating in conjunction with a Reaper south-west of Sinjar; the Tornados destroyed another Daesh building and a mortar position with Paveways, whilst the Reaper followed up with a successful Hellfire attack on a terrorist location. The Reaper stayed on patrol to support the Kurdish forces, and when they came under fire from a sniper, eliminated the threat with a direct hit from a GBU-12 guided bomb. Before returning to base, the Reaper destroyed a Daesh vehicle with a Hellfire.

11 December: While RAF Tornado, Typhoon and Reaper patrols have covered large swathes of Daesh-held territory in both Iraq and Syria, a particular focus for their recent air strikes has been in northern Iraq, where the Kurdish security forces continue to consolidate their significant victory over the terrorists at Sinjar in November. Two Typhoon FGR4s from RAF Akrotiri provided close air support to Kurdish peshmerga operating near Mosul. Our aircraft used a Paveway IV guided bomb to destroy a heavy machine-gun position that was firing on the peshmerga, then employed two more Paveway IVs against a group of Daesh extremists as they attacked the Kurdish troops.

Further west, south of Sinjar, a Reaper similarly supported Kurdish forces, and its crew conducted a successful attack with a GBU-12 guided bomb on a sniper team which had opened fire from a building. A large secondary explosion resulted from the strike, which indicates that the building probably also contained a large stockpile of ammunition or explosives. The Reaper subsequently delivered a second successful attack, striking a group of terrorists with a Hellfire missile as they set up rocket launchers. That night, Typhoons returned to patrol over the Mosul region, and attacked a Daesh mortar position with a Paveway IV.

13 December: Operations in and around both Mosul and Sinjar continued. Typhoons employed a Paveway IV in a successful attack on ten terrorists as they manned a rocket launcher position, whilst Tornado GR4s used Paveways to strike both a mortar firing point and another rocket launcher team.

14 December: A Paveway IV attack by Typhoons destroyed a sniper position near Sinjar, while nearby, Tornados silenced a pair of heavy machine-guns that were firing on the Kurdish forces, the Kurds reporting that both weapons hit their targets with great accuracy despite difficult weather conditions.

15 December: Two Tornado GR4s patrolled over eastern Syria and northern Iraq and conducted a successful attack with a Paveway IV laser and GPS guided bomb to destroy a terrorist mortar position near Sinjar. Further south, two Typhoon FGR4s supported the Iraqi army in its operations around Ramadi, and struck a Daesh encampment with two Paveway IVs. A second pair of Tornados flew another mission over northern Iraq and destroyed an enemy mortar with a Paveway.

16 December: RAF Tornados assisted the Iraqi troops battling Daesh on the outskirts of Ramadi, and used Paveway IVs to destroy heavy machine-gun positions, a sniper team and a group of terrorist fighters. In northern Iraq, all three RAF aircraft deployed to fight Daesh  Tornados, Typhoons and Reaper  were in action, providing close air support to the Kurdish peshmerga. Our aircraft delivered numerous precision attacks on terrorist targets, to the north and west of Mosul using a mixture of Brimstone, Hellfire, Paveway IV and GBU-12 missiles and bombs. In total, these RAF strikes successfully destroyed four heavy machine-gun positions, two terrorist teams armed with rockets, three Daesh vehicles, one of which was a large truck-bomb, and six groups of terrorists. Additionally, the two Reapers were able to use their advanced reconnaissance sensors to assist twelve successful attacks by other coalition aircraft. Typhoons also conducted tactical reconnaissance and another Tornado mission returned to Ramadi, where they destroyed a heavy machine-gun position and two terrorist-held buildings.

Thursday 17 December: A Tornado patrol south of Sinjar was able to destroy three vehicles with Brimstone missiles and in western Iraq, Typhoons working closely with an Iraqi unit dropped a pair of Paveway Ivs on a string of improvised explosive devices blocking the road. Another Tornado mission in northern Iraq attacked a large group of terrorists preparing to attack a Kurdish position.

18 December: Typhoons and Tornados operated over the Sinjar and Mosul areas, suppressing Daesh mortar positions with two Paveway attacks, while over Ramadi, Tornado GR4s supported the Iraqi forces again and struck three terrorist positions with Paveway IVs.

20 December: Two Tornado GR4s patrolled over northern Iraq and conducted a successful attack with a Paveway IV guided bomb on a large group of Daesh terrorists, loading supplies into a truck. A second pair of GR4s flew a reconnaissance mission over Ramadi, where they provided surveillance assistance to an attack by other coalition aircraft. The GR4s were then diverted north to the area around Bayji, where Iraqi ground forces were in close combat with Daesh extremists. Despite the close proximity of the Iraqi troops, the Tornados were able to conduct two sucessful precision attacks with Paveway IVs on the terrorists, who had been directing rocket and small arms fire at the Iraqis.

21 December: Typhoon FGR4s and an RAF Reaper operated around the Mosul area. The Typhoons used a Paveway IV bomb to destroy a Daesh vehicle, while the Reaper provided targeting support to a coalition air strike that destroyed a terrorist mortar position before delivering two attacks with its own Hellfire missiles which destroyed a supply vehicle and a Daesh-held building.

22 December: With Iraqi troops conducting ground assaults on Daesh positions in Ramadi, two pairs of RAF Tornados and a Reaper, provided the Iraqis with continuous close air support alongside other coalition aircraft. When the Daesh fighters fired rocket-propelled grenades and small arms at Iraqi soldiers tending to wounded personnel, the Tornados intervened with a very accurate Paveway strike. The Reaper, meanwhile, assisted other coalition aircraft in an attack that destroyed an anti-aircraft gun. A third pair of Tornados were over northern Iraq, supporting the Kurdish peshmerga, and conducted two successful Paveway IV attacks that destroyed a Daesh-held building and an observation post.

23 December: A Typhoon patrol to the east of Mosul conducted a total of six successful attacks with eight Paveway IV precision guided bombs, which destroyed four terrorist-held buildings and a tunnel, including ammunitions stores, several heavy machine-guns, and a sniper position. Further south, two flights of Tornado GR4s were contributing to the coalition air effort which supported the Iraqi army's offensive into the centre of Ramadi. The Tornados conducted six attacks, again with Paveway IVs, and although on every occasion Iraqi forces were in very close proximity to the terrorist targets, careful planning and the accuracy of the weapons allowed all six attacks to be a success. The Tornados' targets included three terrorist teams armed with rocket-propelled grenades, a sniper position, a Daesh group in close combat with Iraqi troops, and a large group of at least 17 terrorists, who suffered a direct hit. That night, a further pair of Tornados patrolled over Mosul, and destroyed two Daesh-held buildings with Paveways.

24 December: Typhoons operated near Mosul, where they destroyed another Daesh building with a Paveway, whilst over Ramadi, two pairs of Tornados again provided close air support to the Iraqi troops. The GR4s worked closely with other coalition aircraft to deliver two successful Paveway attacks on groups of terrorist fighters.

25 December: Tornados maintained close air support over Ramadi. Once again working closely with other coalition aircraft, they used Paveway IVs against two terrorist teams, an anti-aircraft gun, and a massed Daesh group who were assembling for an attempted counter-attack on the successful Iraqi advance. Meanwhile, over Syria, an RAF Reaper struck a Daesh checkpoint south of Raqqa with a Hellfire missile.

26 December: A Reaper patrolled over northern Iraq, where it destroyed a terrorist vehicle with a Hellfire, then supported a coalition air strike on a Daesh tunnel entrance.

27 December: RAF operations focused largely on northern Iraq, with Typhoons using Paveway bombs to engage an armoured vehicle and mortar teams in the area of Tal Afar and Kisik. South-west of Mosul, a Tornado flight destroyed two terrorist-occupied buildings with Paveway IVs, then attacked a group of extremists in the open. A second Typhoon patrol over the northern region assisted Kurdish peshmerga in close combat with Daesh, striking two terrorist groups with Paveway IVs.

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US Shuts Down Drone Base in Ethiopia

by VOA News January 04, 2016

The U.S. government has shut down a drone base in southern Ethiopia that was part of the U.S. anti-terrorism effort in the region.

The U.S. embassy in Addis Ababa told VOA Monday that 'U.S. military personnel are no longer in Arba Minch,' the town where the base was located.

Embassy press officer Katherine Diop said in an e-mail that the U.S. and Ethiopia reached 'a mutual decision that our presence in Arba Minch is not required at this time.'

The U.S. base opened in 2011 and was used to launch drones over Somalia, home to the Islamist militant group al-Shabab.

The Washington Post reported at the time that the drones could be equipped with Hellfire missiles and satellite-guided bombs. The U.S. Defense Department said the aircraft were unarmed and used only for surveillance.

Embassy spokeswoman Diop said the U.S. presence in Arba Minch was never meant to be permanent.

The U.S. military operates other drone bases in and around East Africa, including one on the Seychelles islands.

Several al-Shabab leaders have been killed in U.S. drone strikes, including the group's chief, Ahmed Ali Godane, in September 2014.

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Britain's Cameron: IS Execution Video 'Desperate Stuff'

by VOA News January 04, 2016

British Prime Minister David Cameron on Monday dismissed as 'desperate stuff' an Islamic State video purporting to show the militants' execution of five men it said were spying for Britain in Syria.

London said it is examining the content of the video in which an English-speaking gunman mocks Cameron for Britain's air campaign in Syria against the insurgents and vows to invade Britain and impose Sharia law. The 10-minute film revived memories of Mohammed Emwazi, the British Islamic State terrorist known as 'Jihadi John' who appeared in other execution videos before he was killed by a U.S. drone strike last year.

The British leader called the new video 'desperate stuff from an organization that really does do the most utterly despicable and ghastly acts and people can see that again today. But this is an organization that's losing territory, it's losing ground, it's, I think, increasingly losing anybody's sympathy, and this again shows what an appalling organization we're up against.'

A U.S. counterterrorism official agreed with Cameron's assessment. 'As the walls close in on ISIL, doubt and desperation could prompt its members to lash out even more against those living under its thumb," the official told VOA on condition of anonymity.

The footage that circulated Sunday depicted the five men allegedly confessing to espionage, filming and photographing the location of militants in exchange for money in Raqqa, the northern Syrian capital of Islamic State's self-declared caliphate. The men wore orange jumpsuits, kneeling before five masked fighters in military fatigues who brandished pistols.

One of the gunmen said the execution was 'a message to David Cameron,' who has ramped up aerial attacks on Islamic State insurgents in Iraq and Syria.

'How strange it is that we find ourselves today hearing an insignificant leader like you challenge the might of the Islamic State,' the gunman said.

The purported spies were then shot in the head.

VOA National Security correspondent Jeff Seldin contributed to this report

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Russia to Continue Launching Early Warning Defense Satellites

Sputnik News

13:08 03.01.2016(updated 13:18 03.01.2016)

Russia's early warning system for detecting missile launches will continue expanding in 2016 with at least one new satellite.

Russia's Aerospace Forces will continue to launch satellites in 2016 for its missile attack early warning system, Rambler News Service reported on Sunday.

The Russian military is believed to have launched the first early warning satellite for its new United Space System sometime in late 2015. Information about launches from the Plesetsk Comodrome is classified, although the military confirmed that the launch would be its second for the early warning system.

'In 2015, specialists from the Aerospace Force's Space Forces launched 21 spacecraft, used for a variety of purposes, from the Plesetsk and Baikonur cosmodromes,' the ministry stated.

The ground-based early warning system increased its satellite registry by 5,000 satellites in 2015, with 15,000 Russian and foreign satellites now tracked by the system.

'The missile attack early warning system detected 14 Russian and foreign missile launches in 2015,' the head of the Aerospace Forces' 15th army, Gen. Maj. Anatoly Nestechuk said in October.

Nestechuk then said that the Boeing X-37B unmanned space plane is relatively easy to track. The US military's Boeing X-37 program remains shrouded in secrecy, and the Pentagon claims is not related to the development of space weapons. One of the X-37B planes is currently in orbit.

 Sputnik

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China's 2nd aircraft carrier totally different from Liaoning

People's Daily Online

(CRI Online) 09:32, January 03, 2016

Military observers in China are suggesting the new Chinese aircraft carrier currently under construction is going to be quite different from the country's first vessel.

Chinese officials, in confirming the construction of the new aircraft carrier, say its going to be based fully on Chinese needs and designs.

The new aircraft carrier is going to be run on a conventional power plant, and will be designed to accomodate the domestically-developed J-15 fighter jets.

China's Ministry of Defense says the design of the country's second aircraft carrier has been made from the lessons and experience gleaned from the testing done on the 'Liaoning.'

The 'Liaoning' is China's first aircraft carrier.

It is former Soviet-designed carrier purchased from Ukraine in 2012.

Cao Weidong with the Chinese Navy's Academic Research Institute says virtually everything on the new Chinese-designed aircraft carrier is going to be different from the 'Liaoning.'

'It's going to have a brand new propulsion system, as well as an independently-designed hull that will be built with Chinese-developed special steel. There is no doubt that its interior structure will be totally different from the Liaoning's.'

Cao Weidong says the new aircraft carrier is the latest step in China's establishment of a 'blue water' navy.

'China's naval strategy has seen a significant change from inshore a defense strategy to escort missions on the high seas. The deployment of the new aircraft carrier will make the PLA navy more capable of conducting escort missions and and protecting waterways along the 21st maritime Silk Road.'

The Chinese military observer also says the new aircraft carrier is going to be well armed.

'Weapon systems, such as China's latest phased array radar, short-range anti-aircraft missiles and quick-firing cannons will be installed on the new ship. It's likely the new carrier is also going to have an upgraded communication system.'

Cao Weidong says the launch of the new aircraft carrier will also give the Chinese Navy an upper hand when it comes to maritime disputes.

It's expected the carrier will still employ a so-called 'ski-jump' ramp to allow the J-15 fighter jets to take off.

US-produced carriers employ a catapult system to launch their fighter jets.

At this point, there is still no timetable for the new ship's entry into service.

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'Chinese Dream': Beijing Unveils Major Military Restructure

Sputnik News

22:18 04.01.2016(updated 22:31 04.01.2016)

China unveiled three new units to its military: a force to oversee strategic missiles, an army general command and strategic support force, Chinese state media reported.

President Xi Jinping described the modernization reform as 'a major policy decision to realize the Chinese dream of a strong army.'

The new units, along with the building of a second aircraft carrier, come at a time when Beijing is being more assertive in territorial disputes in the South China Sea and East China Sea, escalating tensions with its neighbors and with the United States.

The reforms include a new People's Liberation Army (PLA) unit established to oversee China's arsenal of strategic missiles.

In addition to the so-called 'Rocket Force,' the PLA also unveiled an army general command to serve as the headquarters for land forces and a support unit to assist combat troops, the official Xinhua news agency said.

In an effort to create a more efficient fighting force, President Xi announced in September plans to cut the number of Chinese troops by about 300,000 to approximately 2 million soldiers.

Beijing is also expanding its naval capacity, building a second aircraft carrier to join the one that was commissioned in 2012.

The modernization comes as China flexes its military muscles with Japan in the East China Sea and with its Southeast Asian neighbors in the South China Sea.

China claims nearly all of the South China Sea, through which some $5 trillion in trade passes annually. But the Philippines, Brunei, Vietnam, Malaysia and Taiwan have overlapping claim.

The Global Times newspaper said new conditions required a strong army and cited the United States as a reason.

'If China has a big gap with the US in terms of military prowess, this will affect its international position and other countries' attitude toward China,' it said in an editorial posted on its website Saturday.

'With a strong army, China can be more politically appealing, influential and persuasive.'

 Sputnik

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China Punished Some 29,000 Officials in Anti-Corruption Campaign in 2015

Sputnik News

11:05 04.01.2016(updated 11:16 04.01.2016)

Beijing accused more than 29,000 of country's officials of the violations during the campaign for austerity and party discipline in 2015, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China (CPC) said in a report.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Beijing accused more than 29,000 of country's officials of the violations during the campaign for austerity and party discipline in 2015, Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI) of the Communist Party of China said in a report.

'As of November 30, [2015,] the country investigated and dealt with 29,011 violations of party and government discipline,' CCDI said in a report Sunday.

The report added that the number of violations decreased from some 71,000 in 2014, however the number of high-ranking officials among them increased in comparison with the previous year.

After assuming office in 2012, ChinesePresident Xi Jinping launched a large-scale campaign against corruption, targeting primarily high-level officials in the CPC, the armed forces and state-run enterprises.

 Sputnik

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Death toll of Indian security forces in airbase attack rises to 7

People's Daily Online

(Xinhua) 16:09, January 03, 2016

NEW DELHI, Jan. 3 -- The death toll of Indian security forces personnel in Saturday's terror attack on a key Indian Air Force base in the northern state of Punjab has touched seven.

Three security forces personnel were killed on the spot while 12 others injured Saturday while neutralizing four suspected Pakistani militants who had launched the terror attack on the airbase in Pathankot.

'Among those injured, three security forces personnel succumbed to their injuries in a hospital late last night, while a senior Indian Army official died Sunday morning,' a police official said.

'The death toll on our side now stands at seven. A senior Indian Army official of the rank of Lietanant Colonel, succumbed to his injuries this morning,' he said, on condition of anonymity.

Eight other injured security forces personnel are still undergoing treatment in a hospital where the condition of some are said to be serious, the official said.

All four suspected Pakistani terrorists, who had launched the deadly attack on the airbase in Pathankot, were killed Saturday after a five-hour gun battle.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has lauded the security forces for successfully wrapping up the anti-terror operation that was anticipated.

'Enemies of humanity who can't see India progress, such elements attacked in Pathankot but our security forces did not let them succeed,' Modi said.

The airbase in Pathankot is a key military facility, where a number of Russian-made MiG-21 combat jets and Mi-35 attack helicopters are stationed.

The attack on the airbase, intended to destroy India's air assets, happened barely a week after Modi made a spontaneous visit to Lahore and met his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif.

Many feel that the militant attack was an attempt to derail the Lahore peace process, a gesture aimed at taking forward the stalled peace talks between India and Pakistan.

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New gunfire erupts at Indian air force base in Punjab

Iran Press TV

Sun Jan 3, 2016 7:7PM

A fresh gun battle has erupted at an Indian air force base in the northern state of Punjab that had been attacked by suspected militants a day earlier with the loss of about a dozen lives.

According to Indian security sources, soldiers came under fire on Sunday when they were clearing explosives from the heavily guarded site in Pathankot district, which is located about 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Pakistan border.

Kunwar Vijay Partap, Pathankot's police chief, said that security personnel believe up to two militants were still hiding inside the air base, which houses dozens of jet fighters and is important for its strategic location. "We suspect one or two terrorists are hiding inside. They are firing intermittently."

At least six Indian troops, a senior army officer and four militants have so far been confirmed killed after the initial pre-dawn attack by the militants on Saturday.

Officials said the Saturday assault bore the hallmarks of previous attacks by Pakistan-based militant groups, adding that police were investigating the case. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, however.

The attack came about six months after Indian security forces fought a prolonged gunfight with the militants who attacked a moving bus and stormed into a police station in the town of Dinanagar in Punjab's Gurdaspur district. Indian police said at least four policemen and three civilians were killed in the deadly assault. The militants were shot dead during the gun battle.

The latest developments come as violence, including cross-border fire exchanges, has recently flared up between Indian and Pakistani troops along the disputed de facto border in Kashmir. The two sides have accused each other of provocation.

Pakistan and India have been engaged in hostility over Kashmir ever since their independence from British rule and their partition in 1947. Both neighbors claim the region in full but have partial control over it. Pakistan controls one-third of Kashmir, with the remaining two-thirds under India's control.

Islamabad and New Delhi agreed on a ceasefire in 2003, and launched a peace process the following year. The process was, however, suspended after over 160 people lost their lives in the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, which New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants. Pakistan has vehemently denied India's claim.

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Reports: Indian Consulate In Afghan City Attacked

January 03, 2016

by RFE/RL

Fighting between security forces and gunmen was reported to have continued in the early hours of January 4 around the Indian consulate in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif.

Two loud blasts wand shots were reported earlier on January 3 when the unidentified attackers had launched a raid on the compound after darkness fell.

A spokesman for the Balkh Province governor said they had been repelled and were now holed up in a house across the street.



At least one civilian was wounded. But no details were immediately available on any other casualties or damage, or on the number of attackers involved. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

All members of the consulate staff were safe, according to a tweet from Indian ambassador Amar Sinha.

With heavy rain coming down and bursts of firing heard from time to time in the darkness, special forces units prepared an operation to clear the attackers out, police spokesman Shir Jan Durani said.

The incident occurred while Indian security forces were still trying to suppress an attack on an air base in Pathankot, near the border with Pakistan that has killed at least seven military personnel and wounded 20 others.

Despite the attempt by the gunmen to enter the consulate, an Indian official said it was not absolutely certain that the consulate itself was the target. 'Details are very sketchy at this point in time,' he said.

In 2014, India's consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat was hit by heavily armed insurgents including suicide bombers, one of a series of attacks on Indian diplomatic stations in Afghanistan.

The attack came amid renewed efforts to reduce longstanding tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad and restart peace talks with the Afghan Taliban as part of a broader drive to improve stability in the region.

With reporting by AFP and Reuters

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/afghanistan-indian- consulate-attacked/27465427.html

Copyright (c) 2016. 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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Siege Ends Near Indian Consulate In Northern Afghanistan

January 04, 2016

by RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan

Afghan officials say the siege near India's consulate in northern Afghanistan has ended after all the attackers were killed.

Balkh Governor Atta Mohammad Noor, who had been coordinating the operation in the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, made the announcement on Facebook late on January 4.

The provincial police chief, Sayed Kamal Sadat, confirmed the 25-hour 'clearance operation is over' and that all four militants had been killed.

The operation began late on January 3 after gunmen tried unsuccessfully to break into the consulate.

Afghan forces successfully flushed out the militants who were holed up in a building -- located in a residential area -- near the consulate.

Earlier, Muneer Ahmed Farhad, the government spokesman in Balkh Province, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that at least two members of the Afghan security forces had been killed.

A local health-care official said three civilians and six soldiers had been wounded and were being treated in the hospital.

Indian Attacks

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which is the latest in a series of assaults on Indian installations in Afghanistan.

The incident occurred while Indian security forces were still trying to suppress an attack on an air base in Pathankot, near the border with Pakistan.

In 2008 a car bomb at the Indian Embassy in Kabul killed 60 people and the facility was again hit by a suicide strike in 2009.

Nine civilians, including seven children, were killed in August 2013 when suicide bombers targeted the Indian Consulate in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

In 2014, India's consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat was hit by heavily armed insurgents including suicide bombers.

The most recent attack came amid renewed efforts to reduce long-standing tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad and restart peace talks with the Afghan Taliban as part of a broader drive to improve stability in the region.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters

Source: www.rferl.org/content/article/27467235.html

Copyright (c) 2016. 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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Pakistan-based Militants Claim Attack on Indian Air Base

by Anjana Pasricha January 04, 2016

An alliance of more than a dozen militant groups called the United Jihad Council, based in Pakistani Kashmir, has claimed responsibility for an attack by heavily armed gunmen on a strategic Indian airbase in Pathankot town, about 50 kilometers from the border with Pakistan.

Operations continued for a third day to secure the airbase in the northern Punjab state, which was infiltrated by heavily armed gunmen on Saturday. Five gunmen have been killed and seven security personnel have died in the attack, which could jeopardize peace talks between India and Pakistan.

The United Jihad Council, which is fighting to end Indian rule in Kashmir said it wanted to show India that no military installation was out of the reach of militants and India should allow Kashmiris to decide their political future.

The claim of responsibility came in a statement issued to a Srinagar-based news agency.

Reports in India have suggested that the Pakistan based Jaish-e-Mohammad group carried out the attack.

Airbase under attack

More soldiers armed with rocket launchers and mortar guns were sent into the defense facility on Monday.

Security officials said the search and combing operations are in the final stages, but could still take time because the air base sprawls over a very large area. "The entire operation will continue till all the personnel, assets, structures are physically combed, so it is likely to take a long time, but we would like to assure everyone that " said Major General Dushyant Singh, a top officer of the National Security Guards, which is conducting the operation along with the army and the air force.

Officials pointed out that besides strategic assets, the airbase houses many families and schools. "It is like a mini city", says Lt. General J.S. Dhamoon.

Officials stressed that all the installations at the base, which houses fighter jets and assualt helicopters, are safe. "I would like to assure everybody that all these air assets have been seured and are safe, there has been no damage to anyone of them," Brigadier Anupinder Belvi told reporters.

Although officials are trying to stress that damage at the airbase was minimized, questions are being raised over how the gunmen managed to enter the military facility despite intelligence alerts about a possible terror attack. "There are serious holes in the entire security structure", says Sukh Deo Muni at New Delhi's Institute of Defense Studies and Analyses. "How should this happen after all the alerts that were given?"

Defending the airbase

Even as operations were continuing, India witnessed a second militant attack when four unidentified gunmen tried to storm its consulate in the Afghan town of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi held a meeting Monday to review both the attacks, which took place about a week after he visited Lahore in an effort to boost a flagging peace process with the rival nation.

Questions are now being raised in New Delhi on how the government will react and whether the attacks will impact talks scheduled to be held between the foreign secretaries of the two countries in Islamabad later this month.

Pakistan on Monday again condemned the airbase attack in India and says it is 'working on the leads provided by' New Delhi to help investigate the deadly assault in line with Islamabad's commitment to effectively counter and eradicate terrorism.

A foreign ministry statement says that 'living in the same region and with a common history, the two countries should remain committed to a sustained dialogue process.' It added that the challenge of terrorism calls for strengthening our resolve to cooperative approach.

Analyst S.D. Muni says there is pressure from both within the ruling party, opposition parties and civil society to cancel the bilateral dialogue, but New Delhi's options are limited. "I don't think government has many better options, because cancelling the talks again puts the whole thing into square one. What do you? If you don't talk, this is where you come to a dead end of diplomacy," says Muni.

Ayaz Gul contributed to this report from Islamabad.

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Siege Ends Near India Consulate in Afghanistan

by Ayaz Gul January 04, 2016

Afghan officials say security forces have killed all four heavily armed assailants who have been holed up since Sunday night in a building near India's consulate in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif.

Munir Ahmad Farhad, a spokesman for the provincial governor, told VOA at least one security personnel was killed and nine others were wounded fighting the attackers.

The standoff began Sunday evening after the gunmen tried to storm the Indian diplomatic mission by firing rockets at the facility before retreating into a nearby building, erupting an intense gun battle with Afghan security forces.

Officials say the men armed with rocket-propelled grenades and light weapons had engaged Afghan troops all night and the siege continued until Monday evening when members of the commando unit rappelled from helicopters onto the roof of the building and neutralized the threat.

No-one claimed responsibility for the consulate attack.

Taliban denies involvement

The Taliban is mostly blamed for attacks against local and foreign targets in the country.

However, when contacted by VOA, a spokesman for the Islamist insurgency, Zabihullah Mujahid, said that Taliban fighters and sources in the city had no knowledge 'about the gunmen involved" in the raid.

Residents in the area told reporters shortly after the standoff began they heard two loud explosions followed by bursts of automatic gunfire. "We are under fire," Barjabashi Sardar, India's Consul General in Mazar-e-Sharif, told the Indian media, adding "everybody is safe" because nobody could enter the consulate.

The attack on the Indian consulate is the latest in a series of assaults on India's diplomatic facilities in Afghanistan.

Suicide bombers attacked India's consulates in the Afghan city of Herat in 2014 and in the eastern city of Jalalabad bordering Pakistan in 2013.

Kabul attack

Meanwhile, police in the capital Kabul reported a powerful car bomb explosion near the city's international airport Monday evening in which at least 30 people were wounded.

A health ministry spokesman, Mohammad Ismail Kawasi, told VOA that children and women were among the victims brought to government hospitals from the site of the attack.

The Taliban swiftly took responsibility, saying the explosives-laden vehicle targeted a foreign forces' camp near the airport and inflicted "heavy casualties on the foreign occupier."

The blast occurred near the eastern entrance of the airport which is dedicated for military purposes and is also used by NATO forces, said interior ministry officials.

The attack took place just hours after a suicide bomber struck a police security post in the same area in his bid to target a foreign military convoy, Kabul police told reporters, adding only the bomber was killed in that attack and a vehicle in the convoy was slightly damaged. The Taliban also claimed responsibility for the bombing.

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Navy Commander upbeat about Navy progress, advances

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Bushehr, Jan 3, IRNA -- Navy Commander Rear-Admiral Habibollah Sayyari said on Sunday that the Navy achieved progress by skilled and capable manpower, to become a major strategic force.

He made the remarks in a ceremony to introduce commander of 'Second Zone' of the Navy.

Sayyari said that the Navy manpower with high quality of knowledge brought advances in terms of hardware and software.

He added that the Navy is carrying out development plans in terms of installation and modernization of equipment at desirable level.

He said that the Navy protects strategic interests of the country and is operating in the high seas to serve international peace and security.

In the ceremony the Commander introduced lieutenant Rear-Admiral Gholamreza Shirani as commander of Second Zone in Bushehr and lieutenant Rear-Admiral Babak Amini as deputy Commander of the base.

1391**1416

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Iraqi forces deal heavy blows to Daesh militants

Iran Press TV

Sun Jan 3, 2016 7:15AM

Iraqi government forces, backed by military aircraft, have carried out successful clean-up operations against the Daesh terrorist group in some parts of the Arab country, inflicting heavy losses on the Takfiri militants.

On Saturday, at least 27 Daesh terrorists were killed when Iraqi army troopers and fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Units thwarted an offensive by the extremists on Samarra Barrage, which is built on the Tigris River and adjacent to the city of Samarra, on Saturday evening, Arabic-language Sky News Arabia satellite news network reported.

Separately, Iraqi security forces foiled a Daesh assault on al-Maziq region, which lies east of Anbar's provincial city of Ramadi, killing 13 of the Takfiri militants in the process.

Meanwhile, nine Daesh terrorists, including a bomb-making expert identified as Darwish Quddus, were killed and eight others wounded when Iraqi fighter jets pounded their position in the city of Shirqat, located some 300 kilometers (190 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad.

Moreover, Iraqi security personnel stormed a militant hideout in the western city of al-Haditha, situated about 240 kilometers (150 miles) northwest of Baghdad, killing scores of terrorists clad in Iraqi army uniforms. Iraqi government forces also destroyed a number of car bombs after the firefight.

In another Saturday development, fighters from Popular Mobilization Units broke the siege of 50 Iraqi army soldiers by Daesh militants in Tharthar area, situated 120 kilometers (74 miles) northwest of the capital.

Violence has plagued the northern and western parts of Iraq ever since Daesh terrorists launched an offensive in June 2014, and took control of parts of the Iraqi territory.

The militants have been committing crimes against all ethnic and religious communities in Iraq, including Shias, Sunnis, Kurds, Christians and others.

Army soldiers and fighters from allied Popular Mobilization Units are currently battling to win back militant-held regions in joint operations.

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Iraq's Ramadi to Be Fully Liberated From Daesh in 4-5 Days  Army Official

Sputnik News

16:24 03.01.2016(updated 17:38 03.01.2016)

Commander of Iraq's anti-terrorism contingent said that Parts of the Iraqi city of Ramadi, remaining under the control of the Daesh should be fully liberated in four to five days.

BAGHDAD (Sputnik)  Parts of the Iraqi city of Ramadi, remaining under the control of the Daesh, also known as ISIL/The Islamic State militant group, should be fully liberated in four to five days, Lt. Gen. Abdul-Ghani Asadi, commander of Iraq's anti-terrorism contingent, told Sputnik Sunday.

'Few areas of Ramadi are still controlled by Daesh, they will soon be liberated. We will establish full control over Ramadi in four to five days,' Asadi said.

According to the commander, after Ramadi is freed from Daesh militants, the Iraqi army will start liberating the city of Fallujah in the Anbar province. The Iraqi army will also need to receive the corresponding order from Supreme Commander Haider Abadi, the country's prime minister, to proceed with the operation in Fallujah, Asadi added.

'The area surrounding Fallujah is under siege, which allows for attacks on the Daesh militants there,' Asadi said.

Ramadi has been occupied by Daesh, an organization outlawed in many countries including Russia, since May.

The Iraqi army announced on Monday it had regained full control over the western Iraqi city. The Anbar province authorities and US State Secretary John Kerry later clarified that Ramadi had not yet been fully reclaimed.

Fallujah, located 42 miles west of the Iraqi capital Baghdad, is one of the largest cities in the Anbar province. In mid-July, Iraqi troops launched a major offensive to liberate Fallujah, as well as Ramadi, from IS militants.

 Sputnik

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Baghdad to Continue Relations With Riyadh Despite Saudi Executions

Sputnik News

20:07 04.01.2016

Iraq cares for the security of embassies and diplomatic missions, and cherishes its relations with Saudi Arabia, according to Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Jamal.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Relations between Baghdad and Riyadh were not halted despite a disagreement on recent Saudi executions, including that of a prominent Shia cleric, Iraqi Foreign Ministry spokesman Ahmad Jamal told Sputnik Monday.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia announced executions of 47 people on terrorist charges, including Shia preacher Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken critic of the Sunni-ruled kingdom's government.

'Relations between Iraq and Saudi Arabia are continuing. Iraq has previously announced its position, rejected the execution of Sheikh Al-Nimr, as such actions do not contribute to the strengthening of international relations or to peace in society,' Jamal said.

According to Jamal, the executed preacher called for peaceful reforms.

'Iraq cares for the security of embassies and diplomatic missions, and cherishes its relations with Saudi Arabia,' the spokesman added.

On Saturday, demonstrators in Iran protesting the execution of a prominent al-Nimr by Riyadh, attacked the Saudi embassy in capital Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad. Over 40 people were reportedly arrested.

In the wake of the attacks, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Sudan announced the cutting of diplomatic ties with Iran. Earlier on Monday, the United Arab Emirates announced that it was reducing the number of Iranian diplomats in Abu Dhabi and downgrading the diplomatic ties with Tehran.

 Sputnik

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Japan's 5th Generation Stealth Fighter to Take Off Next Month

Sputnik News

20:13 04.01.2016(updated 21:12 04.01.2016)

A prototype of Japan's 5th generation stealth air superiority fighter, the Mitsubishi ATD-X Shinshin, will make its maiden flight in February, Tokyo-based news magazine The Diplomat reports.

A prototype of the aircraft, developed by the Defense Ministry's Technical Research and Development Institute (TRDI), will undergo taxiing and ground trials at the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries testing center in Aichi Prefecture, before taking to the skies 'sometime in February'. It will be flying to the Gifu Air Field in neighboring Gifu Prefecture.

According to The Diplomat, the ATD-X program's primary objective 'is to develop a research prototype aircraft  an 'advanced technology demonstration unit', to test the capacity of Japan's defense industry to develop, among other things, a powerful fighter engine and various other indigenous stealth fighter aircraft technologies.'

Japan's indigenously developed and produced fifth-generation air superiority fighter, designated the F-3, is expected to begin serial production in 2027, although delays on the ATD-X prototype, originally scheduled to be fully developed by 2018 (and to make its maiden flight last year), put this time frame in question.

With the F-3 program starting up in response to the United States' refusal to sell Japan the Lockheed-Martin F-22 Raptor back in 2007, Japanese media have also reported that Lockheed-Martin has attempted to undermine the ATD-X's development. Purchasing 42 F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft in 2011, Japan has indicated that the American planes are an interim solution until Tokyo can develop and produce its own 5th generation fighter.

So far, one full-scale ATD-X prototype has been built.

Last month, Japan announced large-scale plans to fortify its positions along 200 islands in the East China Sea, to be equipped with anti-ship and anti-aircraft missile batteries, stretching 870 miles from the country's mainland toward Taiwan, and aimed at countering the Chinese Navy.

 Sputnik

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Libya: UN envoy holds New Year talks to boost support for unity accord

2 January 2016  Strife-torn Libya begins 2016 with a ray of hope and the possibility of rediscovering peace in unity, the top United Nations envoy to the country has stressed in a New Year's Day message as he held talks with a cross-section of political leaders.

'Last year may not have been the luckiest one for Libya, but as it ended with the signature of the Libyan Political Agreement, a ray of hope has finally appeared on the horizon,' the Secretary-General's Special Representative, Martin Kobler, said in the message.

Mr. Kobler facilitated the Agreement to form a Government of National Accord with a Presidency Council, Cabinet, House of Representatives and State Council, in talks between the factions in Morocco last month, in a bid to end four years of factional fighting that has killed many Libyans and left nearly 2.4 million in desperate need of humanitarian aid.

Over the past two days Mr. Kobler, who is currently based in neighbouring Tunisia, visited Libya as part of his efforts to broaden support for the Agreement, meeting with the President of the House of Representatives, Agila Saleh, on Thursday.

"I am encouraged by the meeting with President Agila Saleh, and I welcome his acceptance in principle of the Libyan Political Agreement as the political framework for Libya,' he said, describing the discussions in Shahat near Al Bayda, eastern Libya, as excellent and frank.

He welcomed Mr. Saleh's intention to meet with Prime Minister Fayez Serraj to discuss remaining issues on the army, formation of the new Government and its location.

He also had a long and constructive telephone discussion with General Khalifa Haftar on the way forward, and said he is convinced that the overwhelming majority of the Libyan people support peace.

'Building on this positive momentum, I look forward to bringing the actors even closer together in the coming days and weeks to work on paving the way forward to bring about the much anticipated peace and security that Libyans deserve,' he added.

'There is no doubt that the year ahead will be one filled with hard work, but it will also be a year of opportunity. An opportunity for Libya to rediscover peace in unity, with a single unity Government and a single set of legitimate institutions,' said the envoy.

In the Libyan capital, Tripoli, Mr. Kobler exchanged views with members of the General National Congress (GNC) group, and discussed the situation in the town of Sirte, where the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) has asserted control.

"I agree with the GNC delegate from Sirte  Sirte is dying, and the United Nations position here is clear: this has to stop immediately. We must save Sirte," he said.

Yesterday, Mr. Kobler visited a camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Tawergha who have been uprooted since the 2011 revolution that overthrew the dictatorship, listening to their concerns and pledging all possible efforts to work on the return of all IDPs to their homes in 2016.

"The most important topic of the Government of National Accord is to urgently address the security situation in the country to allow all families to return home and children to go back to their schools," he said.

In his New Year's Day message, Mr. Kobler underscored the opportunity to restart Libya's transition towards a democratic State based on the principles of peace, prosperity, freedom and human rights for all.

'Thanks to the sincere and selfless efforts of the brave patriotic sons and daughters of Libya, the country has now got an opportunity to put an end to the crisis,' he said.

'The United Nations, supported by the international community, will continue to facilitate it (the Agreement), offering support to Libya on its quest for peace and national reconciliation. I wish all Libyans the strength and the courage to seize that unique opportunity and to unite in peace.'

Last month the UN Security Council unanimously called on the new Presidency Council to work within the 30 days prescribed by the Agreement to form a Government of National Accord, and finalize interim security arrangements.

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South Korea Hesitant to Reenter Talks With North

by Brian Padden January 04, 2016

South Korea responded cautiously Monday to Kim Jong Un's recent call to improve bilateral relations.

During his New Year's Day message, the North Korean leader said Pyongyang "will make strenuous efforts to develop inter-Korean talks and improve bilateral relations."

No talks looming

In response, Seoul's Unification Ministry spokesman Jeong Joon-hee on Monday said there are no immediate plans to propose any new talks with Pyongyang.

Instead, Jeong chose to respond to the sharp criticism Kim directed at South Korea in his address when the North Korean leader called President Park Geun-hye's peaceful reunification goal a disguised form of "regime change" in the North.

"We urge North Korea to face our effort to establish a basis for peaceful reunification, and put effort to create an era of peaceful reunification on the Korean peninsula through trust between two Koreas," said Jeong Joon-hee.

Following the inter-Korean talks that collapsed in December, Seoul seems to be taking a harder stance against Pyongyang.

The two days of high-level talks in December failed to make progress on modest, non-political projects like instituting regular reunions for families that were separated by the division of the Korean peninsula and restarting cross-border tourism.

Afterwards, South Korean Foreign Minister Yun Byung-se noted that the lack of trust between the North and South makes any substantial dialogue difficult. Yun downplayed the possibility of a summit between Park and Kim until North Korea curbs its nuclear weapons program.

In addition, North Korea analyst Kim Yong-hyun with Dongguk University in Seoul said, with South Korean legislative elections scheduled for April, the Park administration is unlikely to risk alienating its conservative supporters by engaging in politically risky negotiations with the North.

"At this point, it is difficult to create a mood to hold talks between the two Koreas," said Kim Yong-hyun.

North Korea nuclear

While Kim Jong Un did not mention his country's nuclear program during his New Year address, there are indications that North Korea may be preparing to test its thermonuclear weapons capabilities.

South Korea's Chemical, Biological and Radiological (CBR) Defense Command reported Sunday that Pyongyang may be building a light water nuclear reactor to produce tritium, a radioactive isotope necessary to build more sophisticated nuclear weapons.

The U.S. research institute 38 North, which studies high-resolution commercial satellite imagery of the region, said last week North Korea is excavating a new tunnel. The site of the new tunnel is at Punggye-ri where Pyongyang conducted its three nuclear tests in 2006, 2009 and 2013.

These activities support Seoul's National Intelligence Service assertion in October that Pyongyang is preparing for its fourth nuclear test.

China's influence debated

North Korea last year made threats to launch a long-range rocket and conduct a fourth nuclear test. Officials in Seoul have credited China with persuading the North to restrain from initiating provocative weapons tests in exchange for expanded economic development at the China-North Korea border.

However, North Korea analyst Bruce Bechtol at Angelo State University in Texas is doubtful that China wields that degree of influence over North Korea. While ties have improved of late, Sino-North Korean relations have been contentious since Beijing supported U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang for conducting its third nuclear test in 2013.

Bechtol said North Korea's recent nuclear restraint may have been caused more by technical delays than relenting to political and economic pressure.

"It may be nothing more than that. It may have nothing to do with the Chinese. In fact that is probably likely," he said.

Last month Kim Jong Un also claimed his country now possesses a hydrogen bomb, which is more powerful than the atomic bombs tested in the past. The U.S. discounted Kim's hydrogen bomb claim as unsubstantiated, but cautioned that North Korea's nuclear ambitions pose a very serious risk to global peace and security.

Youmi Kim in Seoul contributed to this report.

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Russian Missile Cruiser Varyag Arrives in Mediterranean

Sputnik News

12:47 03.01.2016

Russian Slava-class guided missile cruiser Varyag arrived in the Mediterranean Sea as part of its mission, according to the press service of the Russian Eastern Military District.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Russia's Varyag guided-missile cruiser has passed the Suez Canal and entered the Mediterranean Sea as part of its mission, the press service of the Russian Eastern Military District said Sunday.

'The flagship of the Pacific Fleet, Guards' missile cruiser Varyag, has navigated through the Suez Canal and arrived in the Mediterranean Sea as part of its mission,' Capt. Roman Martov, the press service's head, told reporters.

Last month, the Varyag entered Oman's largest port of Salalah where it restocked food and water. From December 6 to 12, the missile cruiser led its group to India's port Visakhapatnam where it took part in the Russian-Indian annual joint drill Indra Navy-15.

The Varyag is a Slava-class guided missile cruiser commissioned in 1989.

Russia has been maintaining a naval task force in the Mediterranean consisting of up to 10 combat and support vessels since the end of 2012, according to the Navy.

 Sputnik

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Russian Strategic Missile Forces to Get 1,000 Training Simulators by 2020

Sputnik News

10:25 04.01.2016(updated 10:28 04.01.2016)

Russia's Strategic Missile Forces (SMF) will receive up to 1,000 simulator complexes designed to train missile systems' operators by 2020, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  The spokesman added that deliveries of the simulator complexes was essential for SMF, because missile systems were permanently on alert and they could not be used for training.

'In 2016, more than 100 newest simulator complexes are expected to be delivered to forces and units of [Russia's] Strategic Missile Forces, which are rearmed with Yars mobile ground missile systems. By 2020, Strategic Missile Forces will receive some 1,000 simulator complexes to train specialists for advanced missile systems,' Dmitry Andreev said.

Russia is planning to modernize up to 70 percent of its military hardware by 2020. Total modernization program cost is estimated to reach about 20 trillion rubles (some $274 billion at current exchange rates).

 Sputnik

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Guardian Council condemns execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 3, IRNA -- Guardian Council issued a statement on Sunday to condemn execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimr by Saudi rulers.

The statement reads that once again the Saudi regime committed a heinous crime through dastardly execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqr al-Nimir and proved its malice and wickedness.

Execution of a prominent religious figure who served promotion of genuine Islam has angered all freedom lovers mainly Shia population of the world, he said.

Human Rights organizations have closed their eyes on such crimes committed by Saudi rulers in Yemen, Bahrain, Iraq and Syria, it said.

The Guardian Council in its statement expressed condolences to Muslim nations mainly oppressed Shia community in Saudi Arabia and prayed to God for toppling of tyrannical powers in the world -- the Zionist and the Saudi leaders.

1430**1416

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Velayati: Saudi will pay the price for martyrdom of Ayatollah Nimr al-Nimr

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 3, IRNA -- Head of Strategic Center at the Expediency Council Ali Akbar Velayati on Sunday strongly condemned execution of prominent Saudi Shia cleric Ayatollah Nimr al-Nimr and said there is no doubt that Saudi kingdom will pay the price for the murder.

He tod reporters that the Islamic Republic of Iran has shown its official reaction and the Muslim and pious people are very sad for the news.

In fact, the people expressed their anger and solidarity with Saudi Shia Community over the murder, Velayati said.

The Islamic Republic of Iran strongly condemns such events and believes that the Saudi kingdom will pay the price for the crimes and will make the Saudi people whether Sunni or Shia more united to punish Saudi regime, Velayati said.

Saudi officials were directly involved in the execution of Ayatollah Nimr al-Nimr as well as indirect abduction and arrest of Nigerian religious leader Sheikh Zakzaky, he said.

1430**1416

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Salehi deplores execution of Shia religious leader

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 3, IRNA -- Vice-President and head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday deplored martyrdom of Ayatollah Sheikh Nimr Baqer al-Nimr.

He said that although perpetrators of such gruesome act practically shown that they did not learn from history, but scholars of the Islamic world should take initiative to stop repetition of such inhuman acts.

He said that scholars of the Islamic world should stop repetition of such inhuman acts

Whoever did not learn from the history, will not learn from any teacher, he wrote the poem at the end of his message.

Iran protested to Saudi government over execution of the prominent religious leader of the Saudi Shia Community.

Iran said that punishment of the religious leader is blatant violation of Customary International Law.

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President Rouhani slams Saudi crime of executing Shahid al-Nimr

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 3, IRNA -- President Hassan Rouhani slammed the Saudi Arabia crime of executing prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and said such an action only serves sectarian interests.

In a message on Sunday, the President termed the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr as a 'non-Islamic and non-human act which was carried out with the purpose of advancing sectarian policies and encouraging terrorism and extremism'.

He said the news of the execution of Shahid al-Nimr triggered a wave of grief across the Islamic world.

Condemning the inhuman act which he said violated human rights principles and Islamic values, the president expressed condolences to the Islamic world ulema and nations as well as the family of the martyred Sheikh.

He said the Saudi government certainly tarnished its image with world public opinion especially that of the Muslim countries by executing the Shia scholar.

The Iranian nation, alongside other Muslim nations, vigorously condemned the act but at the same time was determined not to let self-willed people and groups to indulge on illegal actions which would ultimately discredit the country, said the president.

He added what a group of extremist elements did in Tehran and Mashhad in damaging the buildings owned by the Saudi Arabian government  which are to be protected by the Islamic Republic of Iran government based on legal and religious regulations  is not to be justified at any account.

The President said this kind of behavior brings discredit on the Iranian government and nation at the first place.

President Rouhani reiterated the firm will of all officials to confront self-willed and criminal actions.

He urged the Iranian Interior Ministry to cooperate with the Judiciary officials and the Intelligence Ministry in taking decisive actions to identify elements behind such actions and introduce them to the judicial officials in a bid to put an end to such vulgar behaviors with the purpose of guaranteeing full safety of the foreign missions serving in Iran.

1424**1771

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Execution of Sheikh Nimr, Daesh-like action by Saudi Arabia: IRGC

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

Tehran, Jan 3, IRNA -- Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) condemned execution of a prominent Shia cleric by Saudi rulers, describing it as a Daesh-like action.

In a statement on Saturday, IRGC stressed that such measures taken by Saudi rulers indicate the collapse of that regime.

Execution of Sheikh Nimr is part of a Zionist plot to sow discord among the Islamic Ummah and the Shia and Sunni Muslims.

The brutality of the terrorist-sponsor Saudi regime was clear violation of human rights and freedom of speech, the statement added.

Measures such as execution of Sheikh Nimr are the outcome of thoughts of Wahhabis, Takfiris and Salafis which the terrorist group of Daesh is a pioneer of today, the IRGC noted.

Undoubtedly, the Saudi rulers will pay high price for their shameful action, the IRGC stressed.

The IRGC further called on the international bodies to avoid taking double-standard stance on the issue and do their duty for it.

Saudi Arabia on Saturday executed Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a Shia Muslim cleric known for his sermons criticizing the kingdom's government and for his support of political protests in the country's oil-rich Eastern Province.

The Saudi Interior Ministry on Saturday said 47 people have been executed on charges of what it referred to as terrorism.

Prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr was among those executed.

1483**1771

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Iran summons Saudi deputy mission chief over Nimr execution

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sun 3 Jan 2016 - 08:22

TEHRAN (ISNA)- The Iranian Foreign Ministry summoned the deputy head of the Saudi mission in Tehran to protest the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab and African Affairs Hossein Amir-Abdollahian conveyed the Islamic Republic's protest to Es'hagh al-Arini over Nimr's execution.

Amir-Abdollahian said Saudi Arabia is the main drive behind the spread of terrorism in the region, adding that the regime cannot clear itself of its wrong policies, which have fueled insecurity in the region, by playing blame game and executing Sheikh Nimr.

He said Saudi Arabia has committed "strategic mistakes" by violating the rights of Shia Muslims and minorities, noting that Sheikh Nimr was a prominent cleric in the Muslim world.

The Iranian diplomat said while Saudi Arabia has not yet fulfilled its responsibility about last September's Mina disaster which killed thousands of pilgrims, it once again agitated Muslims and triggered a new conflict in the region by executing the senior cleric.

Asked prior to entering the building of the foreign ministry if Nimr's execution would fuel the divisions in the Muslim world, Arini gave no answer and said, 'I will respond later.'

The deputy head of the Saudi mission in Tehran, Es'hagh al-Arini, speaks to reports January 2, 2015.

He also claimed that the execution had been 'legally and religiously valid.'

On Saturday, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced that Sheikh Nimr along with 46 others, who were convicted of being involved in "terrorism" and adopting a "Takfiri" ideology, had been put to death.

Meanwhile, in an apparent tit-for-tat move, Saudi Arabia also summoned the Iranian ambassador in Riyadh over what Riyadh claims were 'hostile' remarks by Iranian officials on the execution of Sheikh Nimr, the Saudi state news agency reported.

Iran's Parliament (Majlis) Speaker Ali Larijani said on Saturday that executing Sheikh Nimr would create a "whirlwind" of problems for the Saudi regime.

It is unlikely that Saudi Arabia will be able to easily get out of such a whirlwind, he added.

"Such acts will add to security woes in the region," the top Iranian parliamentarian pointed out.

He said Saudi Arabia's decisions over the past two years have created problems for regional countries, including Iraq, Yemen and Syria, and expressed regret over Riyadh's "adventurism" in the region.

Larijani emphasized that Western countries and the US must take action over Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh Nimr, which he said is a "blatant violation of human rights."

He warned that soaring insecurity in the region would affect all regional countries.

Following Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh Nimr on Saturday, Chairman of Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee Alaeddin Boroujerdi called on Tehran to downgrade relations with Riyadh.

In a letter to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Boroujerdi said the number of Saudi diplomats in the capital, Tehran, and the city of Mashhad should be downgraded to the "minimum level."

On Saturday, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced that Sheikh Nimr along with 46 others, who were convicted of being involved in "terrorism" and adopting a "Takfiri" ideology, had been put to death.

Earlier on Saturday, Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari also strongly condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of the cleric, denouncing it as deeply irresponsible.

Sheikh Nimr, a critic of the Riyadh regime, was arrested in 2012 in the Qatif region of Shia-dominated Eastern Province, which was the scene of peaceful anti-regime demonstrations at the time.

He was charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom's security, making anti-government speeches and defending political prisoners. He had rejected all the charges as baseless.

In 2014, a Saudi court sentenced Sheikh Nimr to death, provoking widespread global condemnations. The sentence was upheld last March by the appeal court of Saudi Arabia.

End Item

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Leader condemns Saudi execution of Sheikh Nimr

ISNA - Iranian Students' News Agency

Sun 3 Jan 2016 - 10:54

TEHRAN (ISNA)- Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei strongly condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Ayatollah Khamenei made the remarks at the start of his course to clerics at the post-jurisprudence level in Tehran on Sunday, stressing the need for the entire world to act responsibly in the face of this and other crimes committed by the Saudi regime in Yemen and Bahrain.

"Without a doubt, the unlawfully shed blood of this innocent martyr will have a rapid effect and the divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians," the Leader added.

Describing the execution of Sheikh Nimr as a "political mistake" made by the Saudi government, Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that "the Almighty God will not remain indifferent to innocent blood and this unrightfully shed blood will rapidly afflict the politicians and executives of his Saudi regime."

The Leader also slammed the silence of those who claim to be advocates of freedom, democracy and human rights, and their support for the Saudi regime which is killing innocent people just for criticizing them.

"The Muslim world and the whole world must feel responsibility toward this issue," Ayatollah Khamenei said.

Ayatollah Khamenei added that the top Shia cleric neither invited people to take up arms, nor hatched covert plots, but "the only thing that he did was public criticism, (as well as) ordering good and prohibiting vice, which stemmed from (his) religious zest and fervor."

Elsewhere in his remarks, the Leader noted that torturing the Bahraini people and destruction of their mosques and homes in addition to the bombardment of the Yemeni people for over 10 months were other instances of crimes committed by the Saudi regime.

Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that "those who are honestly interested in the fate of humanity, (and) the fate of human rights and justice, must follow up on such issues and should not remain indifferent to this situation."

End Item

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Iran warns of extremism fallout in Mideast

Iran Press TV

Sun Jan 3, 2016 6:33PM

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has warned against the repercussions of extremism in the Middle East region following Saudi Arabia's execution of a top Shia cleric.

Zarif held separate phone conversations on Sunday with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini as well as a number of foreign ministers from regional states.

Zarif reiterated Iran's condemnation of the execution on Saturday of Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr, noting that the Shia cleric's execution was in line with divisive and pro-terrorism policies which have been ravaging the region and the world.

The Iranian foreign minister also underscored the need for coordinated regional and international initiatives to bring a halt to measures against religious groups and tribalism-based policies.

Zarif also said that the Islamic Republic remains fully committed to safeguarding diplomatic missions it hosts.

The execution of Sheikh Nimr sparked angry protests in various countries.

On Saturday evening, Iranian police prevented angry protesters from storming the Saudi embassy in Tehran. According to reports, a number of people threw incendiary devices at the building causing minor damage. Police forces, deployed to keep order, dispersed the angry crowd.

Sheikh Nimr had been arrested in 2012 in the Qatif region of Saudi Arabia's Shia-majority Eastern Province, which was the scene of peaceful anti-regime demonstrations at the time. He had been charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom's security. Nimr had rejected the charges as baseless.

In 2014, a Saudi court sentenced the clergyman to death, provoking widespread global condemnations. Back then, the UK-based rights body Amnesty International called the sentence "appalling," saying the verdict should be quashed since it was politically motivated.

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Hezbollah: Saudi regime nearing collapse

Iran Press TV

Sun Jan 3, 2016 1:46PM

Reacting to Saudi Arabia's execution of an outspoken Shia cleric, Hezbollah says the regime is looking at "the abyss" and that indications point to its upcoming demise.

"When a regime loses its mind, that means it has reached the abyss," Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of the Lebanese resistance movement, said on Sunday.

"The signs of the end of this corrupt criminal unjust Takfiri terrorist regime have begun to emerge," he noted, saying, "The killing of our brothers, the spilling of our blood will not go just like that and they must be afraid, they must hide."

Sheikh Nimr had been arrested in 2012 in the Qatif region of Saudi Arabia's Shia-majority Eastern Province, which was the scene of peaceful anti-regime demonstrations at the time. He had been charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom's security. He had rejected the charges as baseless.

In 2014, a Saudi court sentenced the clergyman to death, provoking widespread global condemnations. Back then, the UK-based rights body Amnesty International called the sentence "appalling," saying the verdict should be quashed since it was politically motivated.

Nasrallah, who was speaking during a televised address, said criticism is forbidden in Saudi Arabia, adding that the country is no place for any cleric of any sect casting the kingdom's policies into question.

Elaborating on Riyadh's way of treating criticism, the Hezbollah chief said, "He, who speaks out is executed. This is Saudi Arabia, which wants to spread democracy in the region."

Nimr was put to death alongside 46 other people, whom the kingdom's Interior Ministry said had been found guilty of involvement in "terrorism."

"He was very courageous regarding what he said," Nasrallah said, adding, "He was a reformist man" championing the rights of people in the Arabian Peninsula. "He spoke what is right.'

"This execution was very shocking," the Hezbollah leader said. Through the execution, the kingdom sought to send the Islamic world "a message in blood with the swords, with beheadings," and "he who criticizes us as Al Saud, his blood will be spilled," Nasrallah said.

He added that Saudi Arabia cannot accept it either when there are people in Yemen "who object and speak the truth." Yemen has been under military attacks by Saudi Arabia since late March. More than 7,500 people have been killed and over 14,000 others injured since the beginning of the Saudi aggression.

He also blasted Riyadh for its way of promoting divisions across the Muslim world, saying when there is difference between Sunnis and Shias "look for Saudi Arabia."

"Has not the time come to say with courage to the whole world that the main source and the launching pad for Takfiri ideologyis from this regime, from this family," Nasrallah noted, adding, "They are partners in all the blood which is spilled in the Arab and Islamic countries."

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Iraq's top Shia cleric condemns Nimr's execution

Iran Press TV

Sun Jan 3, 2016 9:49AM

Iraq's top Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, has condemned as "unjust aggression" the Saudi regime's execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

In a statement issued on Sunday, Ayatollah Sistani expressed regret over Sheikh Nimr's killing and offered condolences to the families of all those executed unjustly along with the top Shia figure.

"We have received with much sorrow and regret the news of the martyrdom of a number of our brother believers in the region whose pure blood was shed in an unjust aggression," the said.

In a similar stance, Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Saturday decried the move, stating that, "Violating human rights...will have repercussions on the security, stability and the social fabric of the peoples of the region."

Sadr: Nimr's killing 'shameful'

Meanwhile, the leader of Iraq's Shia Sadr Movement Muqtada al-Sadr, also censured the "Daesh-style" execution of Nimr as "shameful," calling on the Iraqi government to shut the Saudi embassy in Baghdad, which resumed work on Friday after some 25 years of strained relations between the two sides.

The influential cleric also urged the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to condemn the Saudi move and take proper action in the face of oppression against Muslim minorities.

According to the Saudi Interior Ministry, Sheikh Nimr along with 46 others, who had been found guilty of being involved in "terrorism" and adopting a "Takfiri" ideology, were put to death in 12 different cities across the kingdom.

Saudi authorities even refused to hand over the cleric's body to his family and buried him at an undisclosed cemetery.

The execution has drawn angry reactions from people of the Qatif region of Saudi Arabia's Eastern Province, where Sheikh Nimr used to preach, prompting Riyadh to dispatch reinforcements to the mainly Shia-populated area.

Shia Muslims around the world have also staged large protest rallies to show their anger at the new Saudi crime, with many governments and prominent human rights groups also condemning the executions and voicing concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in Saudi Arabia.

In the wake of anti-Riyadh demonstrations, Saudi Arabia has beefed up security at its embassies in a number of countries.

The staff of Saudi Arabia's embassy in Lebanon were advised to stay inside, while the kingdom's mission in Iraq came under a rocket attack.

An outspoken critic of Riyadh's policies, Nimr was shot and arrested by the Saudi police in the Qatif region of the kingdom's Shia-dominated Eastern Province in 2012.

He was charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom's security, making anti-government speeches, and defending political prisoners. He had rejected all the charges as baseless.

In 2014, a Saudi court sentenced the clergyman to death, provoking widespread global condemnations. The sentence was upheld last March by the appeal court of Saudi Arabia.

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IRGC condemns Saudi execution of Shia cleric

Iran Press TV

Sun Jan 3, 2016 6:48AM

The Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) has strongly condemned the execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, saying the move by the regime in Riyadh is reminiscent of atrocities carried out by Daesh Takfiri terrorists.

In a statement on Saturday, the IRGC said the execution serves the interests of Zionism in deepening rifts among Shias and Sunnis, which, however, will be thwarted through wisdom and unity of the Muslim world.

The IRGC statement added that Sheikh Nimr's execution violated freedom of expression and human rights.

On Saturday, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced that Sheikh Nimr along with 46 other people, who were convicted of being involved in "terrorism" and adopting a "Takfiri" ideology, had been executed.

The move, the IRGC statement said, bears resemblance to acts of terror conducted by Daesh Takfiri terrorists, who are the flag-bearer of the Wahabbi-Salafist ideology.

The IRGC statement emphasized that Nimr's execution would undoubtedly cost Saudi Arabia dearly.

"The international organizations and bodies advocating human rights and freedom of speech are expected to avoid a dual and contradictory approach and take a prompt stance against this savage crime and fulfill their duty by condemning it strongly," the statement noted.

The IRGC said the Shia cleric's killing will soon lead to the collapse of the terrorist-nurturing and anti-Islam Saudi regime.

Sheikh Nimr, a critic of the Riyadh regime, was arrested in 2012 in the Qatif region of Shia-dominated Eastern Province, which was the scene of peaceful anti-regime demonstrations at the time.

He was charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom's security, making anti-government speeches and defending political prisoners. He had rejected all the charges as baseless.



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President Rouhani: Saudi sectarianism behind execution of Sheikh Nimr

Iran Press TV

Sun Jan 3, 2016 10:46AM

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says Saudi Arabia's execution of prominent Shia cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was in line with Riyadh's sectarian policies which aim to spread terrorism and extremism.

In a message on Sunday, the Iranian president condemned Saudi Arabia's "non-Islamic and inhuman" act of executing Sheikh Nimr, which was in "blatant violation of human rights and Islamic values."

"Such a measure is in line with sectarian policies and aims to spread terrorism and extremism in the region and across the world, which have destabilized the region and waged war and conflicts in recent years," Rouhani said.

The Iranian president emphasized that by executing Sheikh Nimr, the Saudi government has further tarnished its image among world countries, particularly Muslim states.

On Saturday, the Saudi Interior Ministry announced that Sheikh Nimr along with 46 other people, who were convicted of being involved in "terrorism" and adopting a "Takfiri" ideology, had been executed.

Sheikh Nimr, a critic of the Riyadh regime, was arrested in 2012 in the Qatif region of Shia-dominated Eastern Province, which was the scene of peaceful anti-regime demonstrations at the time.

He was charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom's security, making anti-government speeches and defending political prisoners. Nimr had rejected all the charges as baseless.

Elsewhere in his message, Rouhani said the Muslim Iranian nation, along with all Muslims across the world, slam Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh Nimr but will not allow disobedient groups and individuals inside the country to use this crime as a pretext to conduct illegal acts and cause disgrace for the Islamic establishment.

The Iranian president added that all Iranian authorities are determined to take a firm action in dealing with any unlawful measure.

On Saturday evening, Iranian police prevented angry protesters from storming the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

According to reports, a number of protesters threw incendiary devices at the building causing minor damage. Police forces, deployed to keep order, dispersed the angry crowd.

Tehran Prosecutor General Abbas Jafari Dolatabadi said on Sunday that 40 people have been identified and arrested for entering the premises of the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

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Saudi Arabia Cuts Ties Amid Iranian Anger Over Cleric's Execution

January 03, 2016

by RFE/RL

Saudi Arabia has said it's cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, in the latest fallout to erupt after Riyadh's execution of an opposition Shi'ite cleric prompted outraged protesters to storm the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the decision to sever ties with Tehran on January 3, saying that all Iranian diplomats must leave Saudi Arabia within 48 hours.

The move came amid increasingly harsh rhetoric between Riyadh and Tehran, with Iran's supreme leader warning of 'divine vengeance" for the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. It also came almost a day after protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, setting fires and throwing papers from the roof.

Saudi Arabia, ruled by a Sunni-led royal dynasty, is engaged in a tug of war with Shi'ite-led Iran throughout the Middle East. Both sides have used proxy forces to struggle for or maintain influence in places like Yemen, as well as Bahrain, Iraq, and Syria.

The execution of Nimr, announced on January 2 by Saudi Arabia, was expected to fuel further outbreaks of proxy violence.

Nimr was a central figure in protests by Saudi Arabia's marginalized Shi'ite minority until his arrest in 2012 and later conviction on terrorism charges. His execution drew condemnation from Shi'a across the region.

In addition to Nimr, 46 others, including three Shi'ite dissidents and several Al-Qaeda militants, were put to death.

Speaking on Iranian state TV, Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that by cutting diplomatic ties, Riyadh could not cover up 'its major mistake of executing Sheikh Nimr'.

The United States called for leaders in the region to take 'affirmative steps' to reduce tensions.

'We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions,' an official of President Barack Obama's administration said.

A day after protesters stormed and looted part of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, Iranian authorities said on January 3 that 44 demonstrators had been arrested, but hard-liners also called for another demonstration later in the day.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement on January 3 that Nimr 'neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism.'

In a sign that Iranian authorities may be seeking to keep the reaction from spiraling out of control, Iranian President Hassan Rohani on January 3 condemned Nimr's execution but also denounced attacks on the Saudi Embassy and Consulate as 'totally unjustifiable.'

Rohani said that 'the buildings should be legally and religiously protected in the Islamic Republic of Iran.'

Sectarian Tensions

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had 'revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism.'

It accused Tehran of 'blind sectarianism' and said that 'by its defense of terrorist acts' Iran was a 'partner in their crimes in the entire region.'

Earlier, Iran's hard-line Revolutionary Guards had promised 'harsh revenge' against the Saudi Sunni royal dynasty for his execution.

Iran previously warned that executing the cleric would 'cost Saudi Arabia dearly.'

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a member of the Assembly of Experts and a Friday Prayer leader, denounced the execution as a 'crime' by Saudi Arabia's 'infamous regime.'

'This...blood will stain the collar of the House of Saud and wipe them from the pages of history,' Khatami was quoted as saying on January 2.

Iran's powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) said in a statement that the Saudi government would pay a 'heavy price' for "this shameful act," which it said was a sign of the "decay" of the Saudi rulers.

"The criminal act of execution of Sheikh Nimr the leader of Shia in Saudi Arabia is part of a Zionist conspiracy to sow discord among the world Muslims which will be aborted by the Heavenly blessings coming down to us by the pure blood of these martyrs," the statement published by Iranian media said.

In Iraq, whose Shi'ite-led government is close to Iran, prominent religious and political figures demanded that ties with Riyadh be severed.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi warned that Nimr's execution would have repercussions on regional security.

He wrote on his verified Facebook account that muffling voices and executing opponents 'would lead to nothing but more destruction,' expressing 'intense shock' upon hearing the news of the execution.

Former Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said Nimr's execution would 'topple the Saudi regime'.

Iraqi lawmaker Muhammad al-Sayhud warned that Nimr's execution was intended to fuel sectarian strife in the region.

'This measure taken by the ruling family [of Saudi Arabia] aims at reigniting the region, provoking sectarian fighting between Sunnis and Shi'a,' he told Al-Sumaria TV.

Prominent Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr called for demonstrations in Persian Gulf countries and in Iraq to protest the execution of Nimr by Saudi Arabia.

'I ask that the Shi'a of Saudi Arabia...show courage in responding even through peaceful demonstrations, and the same for the Shi' in the Gulf, so as to deter injustice and government terrorism in the future,' Sadr said on his website.

In Bahrain, police used tear gas against several dozen people protesting Nimr's execution while carrying his pictures.

'Foreign Meddling'

Meanwhile, Nimr's brother said the family was shocked by news of the execution but hoped that any reaction would be peaceful:

'We hope that any reactions would be confined to a peaceful framework. No one should have any reaction outside this peaceful framework. Enough bloodshed,' Muhammad al-Nimr told Reuters.

He said the cleric was found guilty of seeking 'foreign meddling' in the kingdom, 'disobeying' the country's rulers, and taking up arms against the security forces.

Nimr's brother was later quoted as saying that Saudi authorities told the family that the cleric had already been buried without informing them at which cemetery.

Hundreds of members of its Shi'ite minority were arrested after the protests during which several policemen were killed in shooting and firebomb attacks.

The kingdom also detained thousands of militant Islamists after a series of Al-Qaeda attacks from 2003-06 that killed hundreds, and has convicted hundreds of them.

The ministry said the executions were carried out on January 2 in 12 different areas of the kingdom.

The executions are Saudi Arabia's first in 2016. At least 157 people were put to death last year, a big increase from the 90 people killed in 2014.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, AFP, AP, the BBC, IRNA, Fars, and Mehr

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/iran-execution-/27464819.html

Copyright (c) 2016. 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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Saudi Arabia Breaks Off Diplomatic Relations With Iran

Sputnik News

23:16 03.01.2016(updated 01:46 04.01.2016)

Saudi Foreign Minister announced that the kingdom cuts relations with Iran.

MOSCOW (Sputnik)  Saudi Arabia announced Sunday it would cut diplomatic ties with Iran.

According to the Al Arabiya news channel, Riyadh announced cutting ties with Tehran and decided to evict Iranian diplomatic mission from Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a news conference that Iran's diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia had been given 48 hours to leave.

The Saudi foreign minister said Riyadh would not allow Iran to 'sabotage security' of the kingdom, the media outlet reported.

47 Saudi diplomats and their relatives were evacuated from Iran after their embassy was stormed by protesters in Tehran, Saudi foreign ministry spokesperson Osama Naqli reported. The diplomats landed in Dubai on their way home to the kingdom, according to Al Arabiya TV.

'The attacks on the Saudi embassy in Tehran began after the announcement of enforced court rulings. This is not the first time when Saudi diplomatic missions in Tehran and Mashhad were subjected to criminal attacks without intervention from Iranian authorities,' Naqli said.

The spokesman said, as quoted by the official Saudi Press Agency, that several districts where diplomatic staff resided had experienced an hour of power outages.

Naqli expressed gratitude to the United Arab Emirates for assisting in the evacuation and facilitating the safe return of Saudi nationals to their homeland, despite 'obstacles on the part of the Iranian authorities.'

The Obama administration called for leaders throughout the region to reduce tensions and encouraged diplomatic engagement, Reuters reported.

'We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions'.

Meanwhile, a source familiar with the Saudi government's thinking was quoted by the news agency as saying that 'the Saudis really don't care if they anger the White House.'

Relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia soured following the execution Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr in Saudi Arabia, an outspoken critic of the Saudi monarchy, along with 46 other people convicted of terrorism.

On Saturday, demonstrators protesting in Iran against the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr by Riyadh attacked the Saudi embassy in capital Tehran and the consulate in the city of Mashhad. The protests continued on Sunday.

 Sputnik

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Saudi Arabia Cuts Diplomatic Ties With Iran as Tensions Escalate

by VOA News January 03, 2016

Saudi Arabia has severed diplomatic ties with Iran, less than a day after demonstrators in the Iranian capital stormed the Saudi embassy to protest Riyadh's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the move late Sunday, saying that all Iranian diplomats must leave the country within 48 hours. He told reporters that the Sunni kingdom would not allow the Islamic Republic to undermine Saudi security.

The move caps a rapidly worsening diplomatic crisis that erupted Saturday, shortly after Saudi officials announced the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent Shi'ite critic of Saudi Arabia's ruling royal family. Al-Nimr, convicted in 2014 of sedition and other charges, was also a key leader in 2011 of Shi'ite protests in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Forty-six others were also executed in the kingdom Saturday, triggering international outrage and warnings of grave repercussions for the Saudi royal family.

The U.S. State Department, in a statement, said Washington 'will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions.' The statement also said the Obama administration believes 'that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential' to resolving the crisis.

Iran threatens 'divine vengeance'

Earlier Sunday, Iran's supreme leader said Saudi Arabia will face 'divine vengeance' for its execution of al-Nimr. State television quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying, 'The unjustly spilled blood of this oppressed martyr will no doubt soon show its effect and divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians.'

He also said Nimr 'neither encouraged people into armed action nor secretly conspired for plots, but the only thing he did was utter public criticism rising from his religious zeal.'

Angry Iranian protesters on Saturday stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in Mashhad, smashing furniture and setting fires at the embassy before being ejected by police.

At least 40 protesters were arrested. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the attacks on the diplomatic missions 'totally unjustifiable,' even as he denounced Riyadh's execution of the 56-year-old Shi'ite cleric.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said in a statement Sunday Nimr's death would lead to the 'downfall' of Saudi Arabia's monarchy. The Guard described Nimr's execution as a 'medieval act of savagery.'

Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called the execution 'an injustice and an aggression.'

Condemnations, warnings spread

A top Shi'ite cleric in Lebanon also warned of a backlash to Nimr's execution. Sheikh Abdul-Amir Kabalan described the execution as 'a crime at a human level [that] will have repercussions in the coming days.'

Protests also erupted in Bahrain, where police used tear gas on the crowds. Demonstrations also took place in India, as well as the Saudi embassy in London.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was 'deeply dismayed' by the execution of Nimr and called for 'calm and restraint in reaction' to the killings.

Washington warned that Nimr's death would only add to strife between religious sects in the region.

'We are particularly concerned that the execution of prominent Shia cleric and political activist Nimr al-Nimr risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced,' U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Saturday.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been vying for leadership in the Muslim world since Iran's 1979 revolution, which elevated to power hardline Shi'ite clerics. The U.S. war in Iraq further inflamed religious and ethnic tensions by leading to a Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad and a crucial shift in the sectarian balance of power in the region.

After Arab Spring protests erupted in 2011, Saudi Arabia and Iran entered into a fierce proxy war in Syria, where they support opposite sides of the conflict. The two foes also back opposing military factions in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has bombed Iran-backed Shi'ite targets for the past nine months.

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US urges calm in Middle East after Sheikh Nimr's execution

Iran Press TV

Mon Jan 4, 2016 3:4AM

The United States has called for leaders in the Middle East, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, to reduce tensions in the region amid international outrage over the Saudi regime's execution of prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr.

The administration of US President Barack Obama on Sunday responded to Saudi Arabia's decision to cut diplomatic ties with Iran by encouraging diplomatic engagement.

'We're aware of reports that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has ordered the closure of Iranian diplomatic missions in the Kingdom,' an Obama administration official said.

'We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions.'

Sheikh Nimr's execution has caused international outrage and a serious escalation of diplomatic tensions in the region.

The Saudi Interior Ministry announced on Saturday that Sheikh Nimr along with 46 others, who were convicted of being involved in "terrorism" and adopting a "Takfiri" ideology, had been put to death.

Sheikh Nimr, a strong critic of Riyadh's policies, was arrested in 2012 in the Qatif region of Eastern Province, where peaceful anti-regime demonstrations were held at the time.

He was charged with instigating unrest and undermining the kingdom's security, making anti-government speeches and defending political prisoners. He had rejected all the charges as baseless.

On Saturday, US State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement that the US was "particularly concerned" that al-Nimr's execution risked "exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced."

Kirby said Washington had previously expressed its concern about the legal system in Saudi Arabia and that it addressed those concerns at high levels with the Saudi government.

Sheikh Nimr had been imprisoned since 2012, prompting a high-profile campaign for his release backed by Iran, UN secretary general Ban Ki-moon and Amnesty International.

Amnesty International on Saturday said that Nimr has been "executed to settle political scores."

Sheikh Nimr's trial was "grossly unfair, because the international standards for fair trial were grossly flouted," Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa director Philip Luther told AFP.

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Saudi Arabia Allies Join Riyadh in Curbing Iran Ties

by Chris Hannas, Ken Bredemeier January 04, 2016

Saudi Arabia's allies curbed their diplomatic links with Iran Monday, following Riyadh's decision to sever its relations with Iran after protesters stormed the country's embassy in Tehran.

Bahrain and Sudan cut their diplomatic ties to Tehran, while the United Arab Emirates downgraded its relations with Iran, limiting the number of Tehran's diplomats in the country and reducing the representation to a charge d'affaires rather than an ambassador. Saudi Arabia also announced that all flights to and from Iran have been cancelled.

At the White House, spokesman Josh Earnest stressed the the need for Iran and Saudi Arabia to 'deescalate' the situation and urged all sides to show restraint.

The heightened tensions came in the aftermath of Sunni Saudi Arabia's execution Saturday of a leading Shi'ite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. After Riyadh announced his execution, along with 46 others, angry Iranian protesters smashed furniture and set fires at the Saudi embassy in Tehran, with demonstrators also attacking the country's consulate in Mashhad.

At least 40 protesters were arrested in the attacks, which Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called 'totally unjustifiable.' But he also denounced al-Nimr's execution, and about 3,000 demonstrators took to the streets of Tehran Monday in protest of the cleric's killing.

Sudan said it was cutting Tehran ties because of the 'barbaric attacks' on the Saudi embassy in Tehran. The UAE said it was curbing its Iran ties because of Tehran's 'continuous interference in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states, which has reached unprecedented levels.' Somalia denounced the attacks on the Saudi outposts as a 'flagrant violation' of international law.

A statement on the state-run BNA news service said Bahrain called on Iranian diplomats to leave the country within 48 hours. Bahraini police fired tear gas and birdshot at protesters demonstrating against al-Nimr's execution. Saudi Arabia, in announcing its move late Sunday, also gave Iranian diplomats two days to leave.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said at a Monday morning briefing Iran was arranging for its personnel to return home from their Saudi posts, but that none had yet left. He also criticized Saudi Arabia for its decision, saying Saudi actions are fueling tensions in the region.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Sunni-majority Saudi Arabia would not allow Shi'ite dominated Iran to undermine his country's security, or that of the region.

'The continued attacks on diplomatic missions is a flagrant violation of all international treaties,' Jubeir said. 'We want to make it very clear that there is no space in the community of nations for a country that condones terrorism, that supports terrorism and that engages in terrorism.'

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said later the Saudi decision could not distract from its 'big mistake' of executing Nimr, who was a prominent critic of Saudi Arabia's ruling royal family. He was convicted in 2014 of sedition and other charges, and in 2011 was a key leader of Shi'ite protests in eastern Saudi Arabia.

The mass executions, the most in Saudi Arabia in more than three decades, triggered international outrage and warnings of grave repercussions for the Saudi royal family.

The U.S. State Department, in a statement, said Washington 'will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions.' The statement also said President Barack Obama's administration believes 'that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential' to resolving the crisis.

Iran threatens 'divine vengeance'

Earlier Sunday, Iran's supreme leader said Saudi Arabia will face 'divine vengeance' for its execution of Nimr. State television quoted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as saying, 'The unjustly spilled blood of this oppressed martyr will no doubt soon show its effect and divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians.'

He also said Nimr 'neither encouraged people into armed action nor secretly conspired for plots, but the only thing he did was utter public criticism rising from his religious zeal.'

Angry Iranian protesters on Saturday stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in Mashhad, smashing furniture and setting fires at the embassy before being ejected by police.

At least 40 protesters were arrested. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani called the attacks on the diplomatic missions 'totally unjustifiable,' even as he denounced Riyadh's execution of the 56-year-old Shi'ite cleric.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard said in a statement Sunday Nimr's death would lead to the 'downfall' of Saudi Arabia's monarchy. The Guard described Nimr's execution as a 'medieval act of savagery.'

Iraq's Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called the execution 'an injustice and an aggression.'

Condemnations, warnings spread

A top Shi'ite cleric in Lebanon also warned of a backlash to Nimr's execution. Sheikh Abdul-Amir Kabalan described the execution as 'a crime at a human level and will have repercussions in the coming days.'

Protests also erupted in Bahrain, where police used tear gas on the crowds. Demonstrations also took place in India, as well as the Saudi embassy in London.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was 'deeply dismayed' by the execution of Nimr and called for 'calm and restraint in reaction' to the killings.

Washington warned that Nimr's death would only add to strife between religious sects in the region.

'We are particularly concerned that the execution of prominent Shia cleric and political activist Nimr al-Nimr risks exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced,' U.S. State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement Saturday.

Iran and Saudi Arabia have been vying for leadership in the Muslim world since Iran's 1979 revolution, which elevated to power hard-line Shi'ite clerics. The U.S. war in Iraq further inflamed religious and ethnic tensions by leading to a Shi'ite-led government in Baghdad and a crucial shift in the sectarian balance of power in the region.

After Arab Spring protests erupted in 2011, Saudi Arabia and Iran entered into a fierce proxy war in Syria, where they support opposite sides of the conflict. The two foes also back opposing military factions in Yemen, where a Saudi-led coalition has bombed Iran-backed Shi'ite targets for the past nine months.

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Homs Invasion: Syrian Army Artillery Smashes al-Nusra Front

Sputnik News

17:40 03.01.2016(updated 19:16 03.01.2016)

Heavy shelling by the Syrian Army has inflicted heavy losses on al-Nusra terrorists in northern Homs province, reported Iran's FARS news.

The Syrian army has inflicted heavy losses on al-Nusra in Homs province, reported Iran's FARS news on Friday.

In the north of the province, Syrian ground forces shelled the terrorists' positions, and army warplanes carried out airstrikes.

"The army's heavy shelling spread waves of concern among the militants as in most cases such heavy shelling has been followed by ground forces' attacks on the shelled defence lines of the militant groups,' military sources told FARS.

"The Syrian fighter jets carried out several combat sorties over the positions of Nusra terrorists in the villages of Tir Ma'ala and Ein Hossein al-Janoubi and bombed them heavily, which left many terrorists dead and many other wounded,' the sources said.

'In addition to a heavy death toll inflicted on the Nusra militants, their machinegun-equipped vehicles were largely destroyed in the airstrikes."

 Sputnik

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All Clear: Syrian Army Recaptures Strategic Road in Homs Province

Sputnik News

08:53 04.01.2016(updated 09:17 04.01.2016)

By pushing back militants towards the border with Homs province, the Syrian Army has reportedly managed to create a large buffer-zone along the key road linking the cities of Hama and al-Salamiyah in the country's southeast.

The Syrian Army and the National Defense Forces (NDF) created a large buffer-zone along the key road linking the cities of Hama and al-Salamiyah in east-central Syria, according to the Iranian news agency FARS.

'Over the last 72 hours, the Syrian army and the NDF have not only captured 11 villages in Southeastern Hama, but also officially reopened the Hama-Salamiyah Road, that is the primary link between these two important cities in central Syria,' the army sources said.

The reopening of the road came shortly after the Syrian troops and the NDF launched a new offensive on the militant groups in the southern areas part of Hama province.

The Syrian forces reportedly managed to drive al-Nusra Front militants out of more territories in Hama's south, destroy their strongholds and seize back a key village after fierce fighting with the terrorists.

The sources said that 'the Syrian pro-government forces established full control over the village of Um Rqeibeh in the southern part of Hama and western countryside of Salamiyah after hours of battling with the al-Qaeda-affiliated al-Nusra Front.'

'Al-Nusra Front militants suffered a heavy death toll and their military equipment was destroyed as a result of the attack,' the sources added.

The Syrian Army's new offensive came amid the ongoing Russian air campaign in Syria, which was launched on September 30, 2015, when more than fifty Russian warplanes, including Su-24M, Su-25 and Su-34 jets, commenced precision airstrikes on Islamic State targets in Syria at the behest of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Late in December 2015, Russian Defense Ministry officials said that Russian fighter jets had carried out a total of 5,240 sorties since the start of the air operation against Daesh in Syria.

 Sputnik

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Deployment of Peacekeepers in Donbass Unacceptable - DPR Leader

Sputnik News

14:17 04.01.2016(updated 15:00 04.01.2016)

Alexander Zakharchenko, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said that the deployment of any peacekeeping missions in Donbass remains unacceptable as the presence of a third force will only escalate the conflict.

DONETSK (Sputnik)  The deployment of peacekeeping missions in conflict-hit eastern Ukraine is unacceptable as it would only escalate the crisis, the leader of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic said Monday.

On Sunday, Ukrainian Ambassador to the United Nations Volodymyr Yelchenko told Ukrainian Apostrophe news website that Kiev would intensify efforts on deployment of peacekeepers into the country's crisis-torn eastern region during Ukraine's non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council (UNSC).

'The deployment of any peacekeeping missions in Donbass remains unacceptable as the presence of a third force will only escalate the conflict,' Alexander Zakharchenko told RIA Novosti.

A military conflict broke out in Ukraine in April 2014 after Kiev launched a military operation to suppress militias in southeastern Ukraine, who refused to recognize the country's new government after it came to power in a February 2014 coup.

The idea of sending foreign military forces to Ukraine has been discussed since February, 2015, when Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko requested the deployment of UN peacekeepers to Donbass.

 Sputnik

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Toronto - Tsodilo Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture Exchange: TSD) ("Tsodilo" or the "Company") reports that in terms of the Stock Option Plan of the Company and a policy adopted by the board of directors in September 2002, 260,000 stock options were granted to officers and senior employees on January 4, 2016, at CDN $0.72 per common share. These options are valid for five years and vest in four equal installments on January 4, 2016, July 4, 2016, January 4, 2017 and July 4, 2017.

About Tsodilo Resources Limited: Tsodilo Resources Ltd. is an international diamond and metals exploration company engaged in the search for economic diamond and metal deposits at its Gcwihaba Resources (Pty) Limited ("Gcwihaba") and Bosoto (Pty) Limited (Bosoto) projects in Botswana. The Company has a 100% stake in its Gcwihaba project area consisting of twenty-two (22) metal (base, precious, platinum group, and rare earth) prospecting licenses of which twenty (20) are currently in renewal and eight (8) radioactive mineral licenses all located in the North-West district. The Company has a 75% stake in Bosoto (Pty) Ltd. which holds the BK16 kimberlite project in the Orapa Kimberlite Field. Tsodilo manages the exploration of the Gcwihaba and Bosoto license areas.

The Company has offices in Toronto, Canada and Gaborone and Maun, Botswana. Please visit the Company's website, www.TsodiloResources.com, for additional information and background on our projects.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. All statements, other than statements of historical fact, that address activities, events or developments that the Company believes, expects or anticipates will or may occur in the future (including, without limitation, statements relating to the development of the Company's projects) are forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current expectations or beliefs of the Company based on information currently available to the Company. Forward-looking statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that may cause the actual results of the Company to differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements, and even if such actual results are realized or substantially realized, there can be no assurance that they will have the expected consequences to, or effects on the Company. Factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from current expectations include, among other things, changes in equity markets, political developments in Botswana and surrounding countries, changes to regulations affecting the Company's activities, uncertainties relating to the availability and costs of financing needed in the future, the uncertainties involved in interpreting exploration results and the other risks involved in the mineral exploration business. Any forward-looking statement speaks only as of the date on which it is made and, except as may be required by applicable securities laws, the Company disclaims any intent or obligation to update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or results or otherwise. Although the Company believes that the assumptions inherent in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and accordingly undue reliance should not be put on such statements due to the inherent uncertainty therein.

The TSX Venture Exchange has not reviewed and does not accept responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this news release. This news release may contain assumptions, estimates, and other forward-looking statements regarding future events. Such forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties and are subject to factors, many of which are beyond the Company's control, which may cause actual results or performance to differ materially from those currently anticipated in such statements.



FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

James M. Bruchs Chairman and Chief Executive Officer JBruchs@TsodiloResources.com Dr. Mike de Wit President and Chief Operating Officer MdeWit@TsodiloResources.com Head Office Telephone +1 416 572 2033 Facsimile + 1 416 987 4369 Website http://www.TsodiloResources.com

To view this press release as a PDF file, click onto the following link:public://news_release_pdf/tsodilo01042015.pdfSource: Tsodilo Resources Ltd. (TSX Venture:TSD) http://www.tsodiloresources.com/s/Home.asp

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Copyright  2016 Filing Services Canada Inc.
PITTSBURGH, Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) announced today that it will participate in the Goldman Sachs Global Energy Conference 2016 in Miami, Florida on Wednesday and Thursday, January 6-7, 2016.

CONSOL Energy's President and Chief Executive Officer, Nicholas J. DeIuliis, and Chief Operating Officer of the E&P Division, Timothy C. Dugan, will meet with investors at the conference. Also, on Thursday, January 7, 2016 at 11:00am ET, Mr. DeIuliis will participate in the Appalachian E&P Panel: Will productivity gains offset midstream de-bottlenecking?

The company will use presentation materials for the investors meetings, which will be available on the investor relations portion of the company's website at 6:45 a.m. ET on Wednesday, January 6, 2016. The panel discussion will not be webcast.

About CONSOL Energy

Consol Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) is a Pittsburgh-based producer of natural gas and coal. The company is one of the largest independent natural gas exploration, development and production companies, with operations centered in the major shale formations of the Appalachian basin. CONSOL Energy deploys an organic growth strategy focused on rapidly developing its resource base. As of December 31, 2014, CONSOL Energy had 6.8 trillion cubic feet equivalent of proved natural gas reserves. The company's premium coals are sold to electricity generators and steel makers, both domestically and internationally. CONSOL Energy is a member of the Standard & Poor's 500 Equity Index. Additional information can be found at www.consolenergy.com.

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To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/consol-energy-to-participate-at-the-goldman-sachs-global-energy-conference-2016-300198661.html

SOURCE Consol Energy Inc.
Tiffany Nicole Klapheke

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By Tiffany Walden, Reporternews.Com

Online editor's note: for updates and more information about this case, please visit www.reporternews.com.

ABILENE, TEXAS ? Almost 10 months after Tiffany Klapheke's 22-month-old daughter died from alleged neglect, an "inappropriate relationship" involving Klapheke's husband, Thomas Klapheke, and a local Child Protective Services supervisor has come to light.

Patrick Crimmins, Texas Department of Family and Protective Services spokesman, said management became aware on May 23 of an "inappropriate relationship" last fall between CPS Investigative Supervisor Tiffany Gann and Dyess airmen Thomas Klapheke.

As a result, two employees have resigned and two more have been disciplined.

Thomas and Tiffany's daughter, Tamryn Klapheke, died on Aug. 28 of alleged dehydration and malnutrition. He was deployed at the time of the girl's death, and afterwards filed for divorce. Their two other daughters ? ages 3 years and 6 months at the time ? were hospitalized and later placed with family.

Crimmins declined to comment Tuesday on how CPS became aware of the relationship.

It was not clear if the "inappropriate relationship" occurred before or after the girl's death. Information released by CPS was not specific but said that the relationship occurred "in the fall of 2012."

Gann was one of two caseworkers assigned to the Klapheke family's CPS investigation. Rebecca Tapia, CPS specialist/caseworker, was assigned to the Klapheke case, too, and was aware of the relationship between Gann and Thomas Klapheke, according to Crimmins. Both women resigned after CPS found out about the relationship, Crimmins said.

Two other local CPS employees ? CPS specialists Slade King and Megan Schweigert ? also were aware of the relationship between Thomas Klapheke and Gann, but failed to disclose it to Department of Family and Protective Services management, Crimmins said.

King and Schweigert have been reprimanded, reassigned and placed on a "level 3 reminder" for the violation of "social work ethics," according to a May 31 DFPS memo obtained by the Reporter-News.

Under this corrective action, King and Schweigert are not eligible for educational or extended sick leave. Crimmins said they never worked on the Klapheke case and were not questioned by authorities after Tamryn's death.

CPS first investigated the family in April 2010 when the agency received a medical report that alleged the Klapheke's 9-month-old child (Tamryn's older sister) was not being administered prescription medication for a chronic condition.

After that, the Klapheke family was investigated by CPS two more times. The last investigation was opened in September 2011 ? when two Klapheke children, including Tamryn, allegedly were not receiving proper medication and treatment. CPS' last face-to-face contact with the Klapheke family was Oct. 1, 2011, almost a year before CPS Investigator Claudia Gonzalez closed the case without a last mandatory home visit.

Four other CPS employees still are under investigation for possible misconduct regarding Tamryn's death.

Bit Whitaker, Regions 2 and 9 director, retired in March, months after being placed on paid administrative leave pending an Abilene Police Department and state investigation into possibly tampering with or withholding information in connection to the girl's death. Geneva Schroeder, CPS program manager in Wichita Falls, returned to work that same month after a four-month paid administrative leave.

The other two women ? investigation supervisor Barbara McDaniel and resolution specialist Gretchen Denny, remain on paid administrative leave.

Last week, Tiffany Klapheke was reindicted on one count of injury to a child in connection with the death. If convicted, she faces a prison term of five to 99 years.

Her attorney has filed a motion for a change of venue in the case. That request is pending.

More information to come at Reporter-News.com and in the Wednesday Abilene Reporter-News edition.
SHARE Duwain E. Hughes checks the sale order of what relatives believe was the last horse sale he attended before his death in August 1943.

By Jerry Lackey

MERTZON ? When the Park Land & Cattle Co. bought 1,200 acres of property near Spring and Dove creeks and gave the Orient Railroad 600 acres to start a town site, Duwain E. Hughes surveyed the town section in 1908.

It was first called Mertz, named for a San Angelo banker and area ranch owner, M.L. Mertz. The name was later changed to Mertzon and became the county seat after a spirited contest with Sherwood in 1936.

Hughes was also responsible for organizing Mertzon's First National Bank in 1910 and the West Texas Wool & Mohair Association in 1917.

"My grandfather (Duwain Hughes) organized the bank at the suggestion of Fayette Tankersley, a local rancher," said Charles Hughes of San Angelo. "Tankersley was made president and Hughes cashier. The bank was opened Aug. 3, 1910, with $25,000 capital."

The West Texas Wool & Mohair Association was organized with $35,000 capital. Tankersley was president and Hughes became secretary-treasurer-manager. In the first year in business, the warehouse handled 250,000 pounds of wool and made 16 percent profit, paying a 10 percent dividend to 52 stockholders, all sheepmen.

Although he spent a number of years in banking, wool buying and warehousing, Hughes also started building his registered Herefords in 1910. It would become a leading herd in the Southwest years later.

Standard-Times: How did your family get into ranching?

Charles Hughes: In September 1906, my grandfather and grandmother, Duwain E. Hughes and Zulette Jackson Hughes, traded their general store in Callina, Texas, to J.M. Carson of Sherwood for an irrigated 32-acre farm on Spring Creek in Irion County and for Carson's claim on 2,560 acres of school land in Reagan County.

Carson had lived on the Reagan County homestead for only one year of the required three years. The Hughes lived out the remaining two years on the land and acquired the deed.

What keeps you in the business?

A love of the land. Ranching is in my blood. I was riding a horse at roundups with my grandfather Fay Cook and uncle Milton Timm from the time I was 4 years old. I even kept a horse in our backyard in San Angelo as a child.

My mother, Wanda Doss, and I want to improve the land, which is a constant challenge and never-ending struggle. Ranching is both a stimulating and often frustrating endeavor. It's a lifestyle that teaches character, honesty, humility and patience. Ranching is like no other business in its complexity, diversity and, ultimately, reliance on the grace of God for the weather.

What are the most unique features of the ranches?

The lower ranch has the oldest marked grave in Irion County, numerous pioneer homestead sites and an unusual topographical and geological makeup.

The upper ranch boasts the Overland-Butterfield Stage route running through it from east to west. The upper ranch also contains Centralia Draw. Additionally, our part of the ranch contains the old headquarters where the famous Duwain Hughes horse sales were held. There are also the graves of Mrs. George Washington Tankersley and her nephew, who was killed in World War I; the American Legion Hall in Big Lake is named in his honor.

How have you diversified the operation?

Duwain Hughes' original brand of registered Herefords and the herds of horses and sheep were all sold to pay the death tax in order for us to keep the land. We have for decades been involved in various brush and cactus control measures. In fact, my mother was once named the conservationist of the year by the ASCS. We now run Beefmaster cattle and Spanish goats. We've added fencing and water facilities, updated our pens and leased the land for petroleum exploration.

What's the history of the family brand?

Duwain Hughes' original brand was the "Block H" a square with the right side of the square making up the left side of the H. It looked like his initials, "D.H." However, due to screw worms in those days, this brand proved unworkable, with its sharp edges and 90 degree turns. The "Circle H" was adopted and continues to be our registered brand.

Hughes ?Circle H' Ranches

Founded: September 1906 by Duwain E. and Zulette Jackson Hughes.

Current owners: Wanda Doss and Charles Jackson Hughes.

Locations: Sherwood and Stiles.

Livestock/Crops: Beefmaster cattle, Spanish goats, hay and wheat.

Family Ancestry

The Hughes family originally came from Denbigh, Wales. The Jackson family can trace their roots back to the Mayflower.

Duwain Elisha Hughes and Fredrica Zulette Jackson were married in Grosebeck on June 15, 1904. They had six children:

Loring Y. Hughes died an infant in 1906 in Callina.

Frederick Jackson "Jack" Hughes was leader of the yell squad at Baylor, a lieutenant in the Navy during World War II and a wool buyer and manager of the ranches after the death of his father.

Mary Katharine "Kitty" Hughes married Charles Henry Trigg. The Hughes-Trigg Student Center at Southern Methodist University is named in their honor.

Elizabeth Frances Hughes married J.P. "Big" Crew. They lived at the Lower Ranch Headquarters and raised their two daughters, Carol Crews Carter and Joan Crews Hoyt. "Big" Crews was in charge of the monumental task of keeping the records on the registered Hereford herd.

Duwain E. Hughes Jr. suffered from diabetes since childhood. He had undergraduate and graduate degrees from SMU. He was an accomplished organist, supporter of the Tom Green County Library and a beloved English teacher at San Angelo Central High School.

Studley Emery "Bubba" Hughes married Wanda Cook after graduating from Texas A&M with a degree in ag economics. He was an insurance salesman, holding the record for making the "Million Dollar Roundtable" in the shortest period of time. He endeavored to rebuild the ranches' livestock inventory since the ranches had no stock for years after the death tax sale. Bubba and Wanda had one child, Charles Jackson Hughes.

Charles J. Hughes married an attorney, Julie Ann Giles, after graduating from Angelo State University, the TCU Ranch Management Program and the SMU School of Law. They have one son, Trigg Jackson Hughes, who is a sophomore at Texas A&M University, and one daughter, Hannah Katharine Hughes, who is a senior at the University of North Texas.
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Populism is typically born in places such as Nebraska, Louisiana, Kansas and the other places given short shrift in that famous Saul Steinberg New Yorker cartoon showing the view of the world from 9th Avenue.

It's not supposed to hail from Brooklyn or Queens, never mind Burlington, Vermont, or midtown Manhattan. But that's where the two reigning populists of the 2016 cycle call home.

You could say that Donald Trump, the son of a rich real estate developer in Queens, was always a populist at heart. All his life he wanted to break into the fancy-pants world of Manhattan real estate. Despite his wealth, he still has that bridge-and-tunnel chip on his shoulder. And that chip explains the garishness of his publicity-seeking lifestyle, as well as his politics.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders grew up in Brooklyn, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants. He followed a somewhat familiar path to politics. As Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina quipped in one of the recent Republican debates, Sanders went to the Soviet Union on his honeymoon and never came back. In reality, he ended up in Burlington and became the socialist mayor of one of the very first latte towns.

Looked at through a historical lens, a billionaire Manhattanite from Queens and a Jewish socialist from Brooklyn should be standing at the pointy end of the pitchforks, not leading the mobs holding them. Nearly all of the famous populists hated the East Coast, the superrich and the big cities. A good number  but not all  of them disliked Jews.

And yet, what you might call "blue state populism" is here.

It's a fantastic moment to compare and contrast, as they used to say in school.

If you can ignore the fact that he's a billionaire who brags about having been part of the corrupt political system he promises to overthrow, Trump resembles some of the great populists of yesteryear. He's a nationalist who promises to restore the country to the greatness his followers nostalgically desire. He's a nativist whose one core issue is stopping illegal immigration  and now any immigration of Muslims, "temporarily."

And he's a consummate panderer  or, if you prefer, "fighter"  who channels and validates his supporters' frustrations. As the fictionalized Huey Long character Willie Stark says in the novel "All the King's Men," ''Your will is my strength. Your need is my justice." Long promised to make "every man a king." Trump promises to make everyone a winner.

Sanders, meanwhile, is all about populist economics  literally. Except for his pacifism, he is almost incapable of talking about anything else. But his worldview would be totally recognizable to William Jennings Bryan or Long or even Father Charles Coughlin. According to populist economics, the rich exploit the poor and the middle class intentionally. They leech off their hard work, and they send them to war.

The proper role for populist-run government is to make the puppetmasters pay, literally and figuratively. Our economy is "designed by the wealthiest people in this country to benefit the wealthiest people in this country at the expense of everybody else," Sanders insists. The "billionaire class" has rigged it all, and he's so angry about it, he often seems more interested in tearing down the rich than building up the poor.

This is one place where Sanders and Trump overlap. They want to make the people ruining this country pay. Sanders wants to impose a cartoonish "speculation" tax on Wall Street; Trump wants to make the Mexicans pay for the wall that will keep them out.

The one area where Trump and Sanders break totally with populist practice, other than geography, is religion. Nearly all of the famous heartland populists of yore were steeped in Christianity and spoke its language fluently. Long's "Share the Wealth" plan, for instance, was vaguely derived from the Bible.

Sanders is a "not particularly religious" Jew who hates to talk about religion. Trump, because he's seeking the GOP nomination, has had to work hard at faking religious sincerity. But even if he were serious that he won't share his favorite Bible verse because "that's personal," his reluctance would distinguish him from traditional populists.

That may be a sign of the times. Or it may just be the kind of politics you get when you start a populist prairie fire so far from the prairies.

Jonah Goldberg is a fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and a senior editor of National Review. Contact him at goldbergcolumn@gmail.com.
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The New Year is dawning. According to the charter of the Amalgamated Pontificators and Spin Doctors Union, all opinion writers must review the past 12 months, make predictions about the coming year or suggest timely resolutions, preferably for other people.

So here is a prediction: The year 2016 may not be entirely happy for the world but will be historic. This will be the Year of the Woman (the last so named was in 1992).

What woman, you may ask? Well, Hillary Clinton for one. Barring unforeseen developments, she will be elected president of the United States, the crowning achievement in the advancement of womankind in our era.

We know this because we have seen the Republican candidates who would challenge her. They point out what a marvelously talented group of would-be presidents they are. They say this repeatedly in the desperate hope it might be true, like whistlers in a graveyard who assume a jaunty air to cover their insecurity.

In truth, the GOP candidates are a hopeless crew, starting at the grotesque top with Donald Trump, R-Ego, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Canada, and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Ambition, and moving down to some boring but fairly sane candidates who, of course, don't stand a chance.

With some exceptions  for example, Carly Fiorina  they appear to suffer from a severe case of testosterone poisoning and even she has a good snarl going. They want to be tough, tough, tough in a muscularly vague way, as they preach fear and a gloomy assessment of America, the opposite of Ronald Reagan's sunny optimism.

As it would be hard to be elected dogcatcher on such a platform, Hillary Clinton is a shoo-in, assuming the American people don't take leave of their senses, which admittedly they do from time to time.

Yes, she will be dogged by cries of Benghazi, which, as you know, is Arabic for "Hillary did it." But whatever unlikable male GOP candidate she faces in the presidential election, he won't be able to make politically saturated labels stick in the Year of the Woman.

For some of us like me who are unenthusiastic about Clinton  who will vote for her only to forestall a conservative extremist with a red nose and outsize clown shoes  the prospect of another Clinton administration is a decidedly mixed blessing.

But the Year of the Woman does not depend on Clinton alone. She will just be the leading symbol of a societal sea change that has affected all women, at least in parts of the world where the Middle Ages have ended and the 21st century has begun.

The Year of the Woman won't apply in Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia. It won't in parts of this country, either, where male cave dwellers will growl, "See, I told you this would happen once we gave them the vote."

But in civilized precincts, women will be finally acknowledged as able to do anything they choose. This doesn't mean that all gender-related injustices will end  glass ceilings won't immediately shatter, income inequality won't suddenly cease and domestic abuse won't stop overnight.

No, it will mean a first step of general recognition on which all other progress will build. As it happens, female ascendancy has never been more visible.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel was recently named Time's Person of the Year, a notable honor even if she benefited because the magazine cover wasn't big enough to fit Trumpolini's hairdo.

Women in the armed services proved their mettle enough for the Pentagon to make all combat positions open to them.

In Australia, a jockey named Michelle Payne became the first woman to win the 155-year-old Melbourne Cup  think Kentucky Derby, only bigger  and she did it riding a 100-to-1 outsider, about the odds of women being given their due a century ago. Later, she said that anybody who doubted the ability of women can "get stuffed."

This could be the slogan of the 2016 Year of the Woman. Stories about female firsts are becoming anachronisms and President Hillary's may be the last.

Women are succeeding everywhere, leading nations, corporations, families, platoons, churches, while still finding time to have babies and  thank goodness  bake cookies.

Let's face it: Men have made a mess of things. As a proud father of a daughter, I say Happy New Year.

Reg Henry is a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist. Contact him at rhenry@post-gazette.com
Former Arkansas Gov. and U.S. Sen. Dale Leon Bumpers, 90, born in Charleston on Aug. 12, 1925, died Friday at his residence in Little Rock surrounded by his family.Many in Arkansas have expressed their mourning for the loss of one of the most successful politicians the state has ever had, as he not only restructured the tax system in the state, but also played a key role in integrating the first school in Arkansas.He took part in integrating the Charleston public school in 1954, following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Brown v. Board of Education. In fact, he integrated that school before the National Guard came to Little Rock to assist in the integration of Central High School, said friend, B.G. Hendrix, formerly a state legislator and always a community leader.Hendrix said, "He was a very dependable person, and very cooperative with both Democrats and Republicans, and I found him to be very knowledgeable about the issues that were facing state politics."The superintendent of Charleston Public Schools, Jeff Stubblefield said, "One of the many things he did was early in his career, he successfully integrated the Charleston school. Charleston, is known as the first school in the confederate south to integrate."His accolades are still remembered," Stubblefield said. "He is a trailblazer for someone from a small town to go on and gain national fame. Educators validate (that) a good education can take you far, and he proved it regardless of where you're from. He was a Charleston Tiger, through-and-through."Bumpers is survived by his wife of 66 years, Betty F. Bumpers; daughter, Brooke Bumpers Low; his sons, Brent and Bill Bumpers; seven grandchildren; and several other family members.In a statement released by Bumpers' wife and children, they say, "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our father and husband, Sen. Dale Bumpers ... . While most people knew him as a great governor, senator and public servant, we remember him best as a loving father and husband who gave us unconditional love and support and whose life provided wonderful guidance on how to be a compassionate and productive person ... ."Bumpers graduated from Charleston High School in 1943, served in the Marine Corps in World War II and after, graduated from the University of Arkansas, and went on to complete Law School at Northwestern University, according to an obituary about Bumpers on the Roller-Chenal Funeral Home website.Two Arkansas judges who knew Bumpers expressed their condolences."Dale always said in his ads, when he was running for governor in 1970, that his father told him politics was an honorable profession," said Circuit Court Judge Jim Spears. "Dale personified that quote and the spirit of his father's notation. Dale Bumpers was an honorable person ... . It shows his character and the love Arkansas had for him."Former Circuit Court Judge John G. Holland said, "I knew him, and he was a very personable person."Bumpers ran for governor in 1970. He went on to defeat Gov. Winthrop Rockefeller in the general election and was sworn in as governor in January 1971, serving for four years.In 1974, he decided to run for the Senate, defeating Sen. J. William Fulbright, and went on to serve in that office for 24 years, being re-elected in 1980, 1986 and 1992. While in the Senate, Bumpers served on the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Energy and National Resources Committee and was chair of the Small Business Committee. He was a staunch defender of the Constitution and was particularly proud of having opposed numerous efforts to amend the Constitution, according to the obituary.He was active in numerous church and civic leadership positions, directed the choir at the First Methodist Church in Charleston, and he continued to direct the choir upon several occasions throughout his four years as governor, according to the obituary.Janine A. Parry, a political science professor at the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville and an Arkansas poll director, personally knew Bumpers. "I'm just so sad to learn of his passing. He was a giant, and -- as my students giggled about when he visited with them a few years ago -- the only man to ever call me "doll" and walk away unharmed. He was still so quick-witted and charming at 90 ... ," Parry said."This guy (Bumpers) promoted all day publicly-funded kindergarten (ahead of most states), ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment ... respect for the natural world, and cleaner politics in a state with a pretty absurd history of corruption ... ," Parry said. "I admired him so much. He seemed to me to be the very best of what Arkansas has to offer, and too few people know about it."Politicians also have expressed their condolences.Sen. John Boozman issued a statement which reads, "Dale Bumpers was a larger than life figure in Arkansas politics who was highly respected in Washington D.C. and here at home. His sincere dedication to the state of Arkansas was paired with exceptional oratory skills and a relentless commitment to every challenge he took on."Boozman added, "Sen. Bumpers leaves behind a legacy of public service, civic responsibility and accomplishments that has undoubtedly made our state a better place to live. I join with all Arkansans as we mourn his passing and keep his family and loved ones in our thoughts and prayers."Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee released a statement as well."Janet and I were deeply saddened by the news of Sen. Bumpers' death," Huckabee is quoted as saying. "I first knew him as a political opponent, and I must confess he beat me like a drum. Later, when I became governor and he was the senior senator, we worked very well together. Sen. Bumpers was extremely helpful to the state and to me personally. His distinguished service to his country in the Marine Corps, to his state as a governor and senator is a legacy of which his family can be justly proud. Our political differences aside, he was a dedicated public servant who always reminded his audiences that 'public service is a noble calling.' His wife, Betty, is also a proud public servant who was a strong ally of Janet's efforts to promote childhood immunizations and renovate the governor's mansion. Betty and the family are in our prayers."Gov. Asa Hutchinson issued a statement which reads, "The entire state mourns the loss of an Arkansas legend. In my first statewide race, Dale took me to school on Arkansas politics. He was a master storyteller, and his stump speaking was impossible to beat. From that first campaign in which we were competitors to the time we served together in Congress, I have admired Dale for his skill, heartfelt convictions and his sense of humor. After he retired, he continued to set an example of civic responsibility and good will during a time of increased partisanship in our nation. We will all miss Dale."In 1995, the University of Arkansas Board of Trustees recognized Bumpers' service and accomplishments and named the UA College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences in his honor.After the board's decision, Bumpers said, "In my years of public service, I have been honored many times in many ways. Other than the honor of being elected governor and senator by the people of Arkansas, this is easily the highest honor ever bestowed upon me," according to the college.Many former and current students of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences have expressed their condolences via social media.UA Bumpers College Dean Mike Vayda said, "We are truly saddened to hear about the loss of Sen. Bumpers. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Betty, their children, families, and all friends and supporters. What he did for agriculture, farmers and researchers in the state of Arkansas can not be understated. He was a great ambassador for the state, and our agriculture and food industries. We are proud to have his name associated with the Bumpers College and to honor his legacy with the Dale and Betty Bumpers Distinguished Lecture Series. What he accomplished in his years of service to the state and to the nation will be evident for generations to come. He was a great person, and he will be missed."
A package of new laws taking effect Friday aims to keep more juveniles out of the prison system, including changes that stop youths from being detained for misdemeanor crimes and give judges more discretion on whether teens should be tried as adults.An additional measure eliminates mandatory life sentences for minors convicted of murder, while another seeks to keep children younger than 13 out of the justice system altogether by attempting to place them with community service providers instead of a juvenile detention facility.The new laws represent a rare area of compromise between Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and Democrats who rule the General Assembly, two sides locked in an ideological battle over workers' rights that has left the state operating without a complete budget since July 1.The common ground, however, was forged for very different reasons as policymakers across the country re-examine a legal system that for decades centered on a tough-on-crime mentality that saw prison populations explode along with the corresponding cost of prosecuting and housing offenders. The desire to focus on diversion and rehabilitation programs normally backed by more liberal Democrats is now aligned with the historically conservative push to cut operating costs.Indeed, one of the top policy initiatives Rauner announced upon taking office nearly a year ago was a goal of reducing the state's prison population by 25 percent within 10 years. The Illinois Department of Corrections reports 46,052 inmates in custody. A panel of law enforcement officials, lawmakers, community activists and court administrators is weighing how to cut that number, and the changes to the juvenile justice system represent the first steps toward changing how the state handles offenders."There has been a recognition that our system of justice needs to be more just and less retribution-focused," said Rep. Ron Sandack, R-Downers Grove. "And I think this area has been ripe for compromise because of the new way everyone is looking at crime and punishment and the literal cost for society, and what society pays for that path."A key new law aims to keep more teens and youngsters out of the general prison system by no longer requiring judges to automatically transfer more serious cases to adult criminal court.Currently, minors 15 and older are tried as adults if they are charged with any of five serious crimes: first-degree murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault, aggravated battery with a firearm, armed robbery with a firearm or aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm. Further, any juvenile already tried and convicted in adult criminal court automatically gets tried as an adult for subsequent offenses in a practice commonly referred to as "once an adult, always an adult."Under the new law, those younger than 16 will begin in juvenile court regardless of the charge. Additionally, the scope narrowed to three charges that result in automatic trial as an adult for minors 16 and older: first-degree murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated battery with a firearm. Meanwhile, minors previously convicted as adults would no longer be automatically transferred to adult court.Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle, who led efforts to change the law, said the move is aimed at recognizing that teens don't have the mental capacity to make decisions like an adult and to help divert them from a life of rotating in and out of prison."Anyone who can remember their teenage years or knows a teenager knows teens are impulsive. They don't think of the consequences of their actions," Preckwinkle said. "Knowing about teenage behavior told us that it was the right thing to do, to create a separate system to keep juveniles focused on rehabilitation for everything except the most serious crimes."The law also is intended to give judges more flexibility in sentencing minors by allowing them to take into consideration a number of factors not previously weighed, including a minor's age and cognitive ability, home life, degree of participation in a crime, criminal history and potential for rehabilitation. Judges would be allowed to give tougher sentences based on whether a gun was used of if the crime was committed against a police officer, corrections worker or paramedic."We need to shift to a more individualized assessment of an offender," said sponsoring Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago. "Anybody who is charged and convicted is not the same as someone else charged. The facts are different, the background is different, the culpability can be different. So when you tie a judge's hands, the judge can't say if this kid would be better served if kept in juvenile court."Along the same lines, another law would do away with mandatory life sentences for juveniles convicted of murder. The measure is in response to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found that sentencing minors to life imprisonment without the possibility of parole constituted cruel and unusual punishment and violated the Constitution.Judges still would have the option of imposing a life sentence, but they also must consider mitigating factors that might result in a lesser sentence. Those factors include maturity level, history of neglect and whether an offender was subject to peer or familial pressure, as well as past crimes and expressions of remorse."There are kids who anecdotally at least are presented to us so differently by victims' families when they arrive in that court room," said sponsoring Sen. Don Harmon, D-Oak Park. "Some are horrible and irredeemable and should be in jail the rest of their lives. Then there are other kids who were abused and battered and subjected to such a bad way of life you'd be shocked if they could make a good decision, but they redeem themselves in prison."We don't want every juvenile to be sentenced to life in prison without any chance of hope," Harmon said. "We need that discretion to prove that you can be part of the community, and the judge needs to be able to make those decisions."Meanwhile, a companion measure carried by Raoul would stop young offenders from being sent to a juvenile detention facility for misdemeanor crimes such as theft, marijuana possession, battery or trespassing. The change is intended to ensure that teens and young adults don't face a tougher punishment for minor crimes than adults currently face.The Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice estimates the change will save more than $4.5 million, based on an average of 110 juveniles admitted each year on misdemeanor charges. The agency says it costs about $305 a day to house each misdemeanor offender in a state facility, with the average stay about 135 days.A fourth law seeks to keep the youngest out of the corrections system altogether by requiring officials to first try to place children under 13 with a community-based youth service provider instead of holding them at a detention center. The measure is intended to reach those most able to change through counseling and other programs instead of grouping them in with older teens at detention facilities.Rauner signed all four bills into law. "It's important to constantly evaluate the state's rehabilitation system in order to reduce recidivism, which will improve public safety and save taxpayer money," Rauner spokeswoman Catherine Kelly said.While the changes represent small steps toward a larger overhaul of the state's criminal justice system, lawmakers say they believe they're a positive development not only in how the state approaches crime but also in how Democrats and Republicans could work together during a new period of divided government."They are different silos, but this could be a model for compromise in other areas," Harmon said. "I doubt that it translates to the core issues surrounding the budget, but you never know."
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Millions of names have been released since President Obama announced the White House would begin publishing its visitor logs in September 2009. The latest iteration of the visitation records , published Dec. 30, puts the cumulative total at more than 5.02 million visitor names published over the course of the last six years.Amid criticism that meetings with lobbying interests were not adequately shared with the public, watchdog groups rallied and litigated for the White House to open the lists as part of the public record.Obamas unprecedented move toward improved transparency came as a result of continued pressure from these groups, who had been seeking access to the George W. Bush administration logs.Their call for a public window into the Bush logs was linked, in part, to questions of just how involved lobbyists were in the creation of the countrys energy policies.In a June 2009 interview with Fox News, Melanie Sloan with the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW), said the Bush administration argued the records were part of presidential communications and were not subject to public records  a point that was disputed in a 2009 court ruling.But Bush was not the only president who faltered over the release of the logs. Former President Bill Clinton also resisted release of the visitor data during the inquiry into his relations with Monica Lewinsky.Continued CREW litigation and pressure under the Obama administration paved the way for the president to open the majority of the requested information.Obama granted voluntary access to the Workers and Visitors Entry System (WAVE) and Access Control Records (ACR) systems records in September 2009. As per the White House policy, the lists are updated every 90 to 120 days."For the first time in history, records of White House visitors will be made available to the public on an ongoing basis," Obama said in a Sept. 4 release . "We will achieve our goal of making this administration the most open and transparent administration in history not only by opening the doors of the White House to more Americans, but by shining a light on the business conducted inside. Americans have a right to know whose voices are being heard in the policymaking process."Though the regularly scheduled release represents a never-before-seen access to comings and goings of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., the information is subject to some administrative oversight.According to the official policy, personal data and regular schedules, purely personal visits to the first and second families, and particularly sensitive meetings or meetings surrounding national security issues are subject to withholding from public records."Today the Obama administration has proven its pledge to usher in a new era of government transparency was more than just a campaign promise," Sloan said in the Sept. 4, 2009, press release. The Obama administration will have the most open White House in history. Providing public access to visitor records is an important step in restoring transparency and accountability to our government."Despite the step forward in public transparency, others have called the policy imperfect and incomplete, and have asked for more comprehensive releases, like records for substantive calls and in-person meetings.While the running list may seem like every reporters wildest dream come true, the details are fairly limited and include the visitors name, in and out times, destination, and a brief description (if any) of the purpose of their visit.In 2013, the Sunlight Foundation, a nonprofit government accountability group, wrote that the log system was designed as a security tool, not a disclosure tool, and could be easily avoided by parties with reason to conceal meetings with those at the White House.The voluntary system can be too easily circumvented. Because it only captures visitors to the White House, if an administration official wishes to keep a meeting with a lobbyist secret, he or she merely has to schedule it at a nearby location, such as nearby coffee shops and the Jackson Place meeting complex, not subject to WAVES or ACR, the group wrote . Phone calls are also used to avoid disclosure, as they provide no record of even the most substantive conversations between White House officials and influencers.
(TNS) -- The American Civil Liberties Union recently slammed the Fresno Police Department for testing social media screening programs, suggesting police could use them to monitor protest groups and accusing the department of keeping the public in the dark about the testing.But police say theyve only been testing services for possible use in monitoring violent crime and terrorism  not for spying on critics. They add that the public will get a chance to weigh in when a final recommendation goes before the City Council.Fresno police last year participated in free trials from the social media monitoring programs Geofeedia, LifeRaft and Media Sonar. They remain on an extended free trial for Beware, a data-mining program that includes social media and, upon request, assigns a threat rating to people and addresses.Fresno activists alerted ACLU representatives about Beware earlier this year. So the ACLU sent out a Public Records Act request to find out how the police department was tracking social media, and got 88 pages of documents in return.The records included email exchanges with representatives of the four programs Fresno police confirmed they tested.Social media surveillance programs generally scan large batches of public posts on networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Media Sonar especially worried ACLU technology and civil liberties policy attorney Matt Cagle because it allows police to identify threats to public safety by tracking certain keywords, including BlackLivesMatter, ImUnarmed and RIPMikeBrown.This kind of surveillance can place people under suspicion simply for speaking their mind online, Cagle said in .Fresno police Sgt. Steve Casto said the programs are not meant to make people feel like Big Brother is watching because its all publicly and commercially available data. He said the goal is to monitor things like violent crime and terrorism. Police never searched for Black Lives Matter-related keywords, he said.Casto said social media is currently used only once officers have the name of a suspect and can look them up like anyone else would.If someone was threatening to bring a gun to a specific high school or mall we could do a geofence (using Google maps) and monitor for a gun or mass shooting, he said. To use it to monitor protest groups or demonstrations  that's not our aim.Documents the ACLU received do not show Fresno police monitored protest groups. But Cagle noted that Fresno activists protested one year after an officer shot unarmed black teen Michael Brown in Missouri, the same time period as documents show the department received emails from Media Sonar.Cagle said the bigger issue is that Fresno police officials were not open about how they were using and experimenting with surveillance programs. He said Fresno should establish a policy that ensures there is public discussion before using potentially invasive software.The community should have a chance to discuss and weigh the costs to civil liberties and costs to taxpayers before their elected leaders make a decision to move forward or not on these technologies, he said. We shouldnt just be learning about these software programs right now.The and the Oregon Department of Justice were caught this year monitoring Black Lives Matter activists activities online.Using Beware, police can search a home address to find people, phone numbers, court convictions, relatives and questionable social media posts. The program uses a mathematical formula to judge the potential threat level posed by people connected with the address and assigns a color rating of green, yellow or red.During a City Council workshop on the testing in early December, some council members took issue with the color rating and social media aspects of Beware. Fresno police told Beware programmers to remove those parts. When police start using the program again in a couple weeks, the only threat indicator they will see is if the people living in a given address have a criminal history.Beware would cost around $20,000 per year, while a social media monitoring program would cost a bit below that. Casto said he expects to recommend discussing the purchase of both with the City Council within a couple months, at which point the public could also offer comment. The programs would be implemented into the departments crime tracking technology hub, called the Real Time Crime Center
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Venkaiah Praising Babu For RS Seat?

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and Union Minister for Urban Development Venkaiah Naidu have done nothing so far, except scratching each others backs on public platforms.

This was the observation made by Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee president N Raghuveera Reddy on Monday.

He said both Naidus had failed to address the real problems of the people of the State and were trying to hoodwink them by praising each other.

Recalling the statements made by both Venkaiah and Chandrababu at Janmabhoomi programme at Nellore on Sunday, Raghuveera said while Chandrababu described Venkaiah as the pride of Andhra Pradesh, the latter praised Naidu for working round the clock for the welfare of the people. He had even said Babu-Modi combine was a big hit.

Raghuveera said Venkaiah was showering praises on Chandrababu Naidu only to seek re-election from the State to the Rajya Sabha as his term was getting over soon.

A leader of the stature of Venkaiah Naidu should not stoop so low to praise Chandrababu. The Chief Minister is only making attempts to wriggle out of the cases pending against him through the mediation of Venkaiah, he remarked.
BURNS, Ore.  Armed protesters are occupying a building at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon and asking militia members around the country to join them. The protesters went to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday following a peaceful rally in support of two Oregon ranchers facing additional prison time for arson.

HOW DID THIS SITUATION BEGIN?

Tension has been building for weeks in the Burns, Oregon, area over the case of Dwight and Steven Hammond. Dwight Hammond, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires. The two were convicted three years ago and served time  the father three months, the son one year. But in October, a federal judge in Oregon ruled their terms were too short under U.S. law and ordered them back to prison for about four years each.

WHO IS LEADING THE PROTESTERS?

The Hammonds have received support from local residents, but the most vocal groups are from outside the area. Ammon Bundy, the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a standoff with the government over grazing rights, is among those organizing the opposition at the wildlife refuge. Ammon Bundy and militiamen from other states arrived last month in Burns, some 60 miles from the Hammond ranch. Ammon Bundy has criticized the U.S. government for what he called a failed legal process.

WHERE IS THE WILDLIFE REFUGE?

The Malheur National Wildlife Refuge is about 30 miles south of Burns in in the high desert of eastern Oregon. The area is very remote, about 280 miles southeast of Portland.

OUTSIDERS NOT WELCOMED BY SOME IN OREGON

Many locals have told the outside groups to stay away, concerned their presence could lead to violence. The Hammonds, as well, have rebuffed the Bundy's support for their cause. "Neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone within his group/organization speak for the Hammond Family," the Hammonds' lawyer W. Alan Schroeder wrote to Sheriff David Ward. Dwight Hammond has said he and his son plan to peacefully report to prison Monday as ordered by the judge. "We gave our word that's what we would do, and we intend to act on it," he told The Associated Press last week.

WHAT ARE AUTHORITIES DOING?

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward has told people to stay away from the area as authorities work to defuse the situation. Beth Anne Steele, an FBI spokeswoman in Portland, told AP the agency was aware of the situation at the national wildlife refuge but made no further comment.
BURNS, Ore.  People in this rural eastern Oregon town are used to worrying about friction between the federal government and locals, but the armed takeover of a nearby national wildlife refuge is raising concerns to a new high.

Keith Landon, a longtime resident of Burns and employee at the Reid Country Store, said he knows local law enforcement officials who fear their kids will be targeted by angry militia members.

5 key things to know about the militia standoff in Oregon (Videos) Tension has been building for weeks in the area over the case of Dwight and Steven Hammond who are accused of lighting fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires.

The mother of one of his kids is now involved with an officer, and they decided to send their children to another town after feeling threatened by an angry protester, Landon said.

"I'm hoping most of it's just muscle, trying to push," he said. "But it's a scary thing."

Armed protesters, who authorities say are coming from outside the area, took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond.

The Hammonds were convicted of arson three years ago for fires that burned on federal land in 2001 and 2006. They served their original sentences  Dwight, three months and Steven, one year  but an appellate judge ruled in October that the terms were too short under federal minimum sentencing laws.

Both men were ordered back to prison for four years each. They have said they plan to turn themselves in Monday.

The decision to send the men back to prison generated an outcry and plays into a decades-long dispute between some Westerners and the federal government over the use of public lands.

Brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy are among those occupying the refuge. Their father, Cliven Bundy, was involved in a standoff with the government last year over grazing rights in Nevada.

Ryan Bundy told The Associated Press on Sunday that he hopes to turn over the land to local authorities so people can use it free of federal oversight. He said he hopes the takeover will prompt others to take action across the country to seize control of federally managed land.

Ammon Bundy has previously called on members of militia groups to take a stand with those at the refuge.

The FBI is working with local and state authorities to "bring a peaceful resolution to the situation," the bureau said in a statement late Sunday. It said it is the lead investigative agency and would not release details about the law enforcement response to ensure the safety of officers and those at the refuge.

At the property, several pickup trucks blocked the entrance and armed men wearing camouflage and winter gear used radios to alert those at the refuge buildings when reporters were allowed in.

Ryan Bundy declined to say how many people were at the site.

"The end goal here is that we are here to restore the rights to the people here so that they can use the land and resources. All of them," Bundy said.

That means ranchers can graze their cattle on the land, miners can use their mineral rights, loggers can cut trees, and hunters and fishers can shoot and cast, he said.

The Bundy brothers say the group plans to stay at the refuge as long as it takes.

"We're planning on staying here for years, absolutely," Ammon Bundy told reporters over the weekend. "This is not a decision we've made at the last minute."

If the situation turns violent, Ryan Bundy contends that it will be because of the federal government's actions.

"I mean, we're here to restore order, we're here to restore rights and that can go peacefully and easily," he said.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said the group came to town under false pretenses.

"These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States," Ward said in a statement Sunday.

Landon, the longtime Burns resident, said he sympathizes with the Bundys' frustrations. Landon was a logger until the federal government declared the spotted owl a protected species in the 1980s, damaging the local logging industry.

"The spotted owl started the downfall of our community, then (President) Clinton made the Steens Mountains a wilderness area or whatever. Five generations of ranchers that had been on the Steens, kicked them off," he said. "It's hard to discredit what they're trying to do out there. But I don't want anybody hurt."

He said that on the surface, it doesn't look like much has changed in Burns, a high desert town of about 2,700 people.

"It's weird  I woke up this morning expecting the town to be crawling with this and that agency. But you don't see any of it. They're keeping a low presence," Landon said Sunday.

However, most of the hotels in the area are booked, and he's noticed that officers are doing their patrols in pairs instead of alone. The biggest difference since the takeover is the undercurrent of worry, he said.

"I'm glad they took the refuge because it's 30 miles away," Landon said. "I mean, they could have took the courthouse here in town."
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Various news reports and social media posts from immigrant advocacy groups indicate that raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials targeting Central Americans have begun across the country.

In a tweet posted on Sunday by the Georgia Latino Alliance for Human Rights, the group said that raids had begun just before dawn.

The group #Not1More posted on their website that children as young as 4 years old were among those swept up by the raids.

The Dallas Morning News and Los Angeles Times also report that raids have begun.

In a blog post the Morning News said the U.S. Department of Homeland Security issued a statement Sunday morning that referenced and reaffirmed "policy priorities" in a memo from November 2014, which stated the intent to detain and deport "aliens" who have been ordered by a federal judge to be removed.

The Express-News reported on Dec. 24 that ICE regularly conducts raids where agents round up individuals who recently crossed the border, immigrants convicted of crimes and those who have been ordered removed by an immigration judge.

RELATED: Immigration raids planned in response to border surge

The Express-News also reported that the U.S. Border Patrol apprehended about 50,000 children and families in 2015 in the Rio Grande Valley, down from about 100,000 in 2014.

The Washington Post reported in December that the raids could begin in January.

In that story the Post noted that ICE officials would only target individuals, all who came to the U.S. in 2014 to escape violence in Central America, with orders to be removed.

But the Morning News cited immigration advocates in their blog post who were warning that other immigrants could also be detained during the nationwide operation.
Two separate inspections didnt go very well. Photo: Camilo Fuentealba

Anyone whos visited the massive, multi-story Chick-fil-A in midtown Manhattan knows that, whatever your feelings are about the chain itself, the shop feels surprisingly bright and clean for a fast-food establishment located near Herald Square. Well, all is not as it appears: During a Christmas Eve health inspection, the shop received 59 violation points for infractions, including food that was not protected from potential contamination, dirty wiping cloths, the presence of flies, and the always-popular cold food item held above 41 F. According to the health departments official site, the location was also inspected on December 15, when it received 39 points for similar issues. (As you no doubt know by now, anything over 13 points earns a restaurant a B grade, while anything over 27 points is enough for a C grade.)

So it closed, temporarily. As the Daily News reports, though, the closure wasnt ordered by the citys DOH but was instead voluntary. Alas, lovers of Polynesian Sauce and waffle fries should know that even though the restaurant was originally scheduled to reopen Monday, the company said there was more work to be done. As of 6:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning, however, the shop is open for business yet again.

This post has been updated throughout.

[NYDN, CBS, AP]


Trying to be fancy, or something. Photo: Starbucks

Starting Tuesday, Starbucks is adding a brand-new core drink to its permanent menu  something called a latte macchiato. The drink is yet another addition to the quasi-dizzying array of beverages made of just espresso and milk. Aware of the need to explain to its Frap-guzzling customer base how this concoction isnt a latte, an espresso macchiato, or a flat white, the company has carefully laid out the latte macchiatos subtleties:

The new Latte Macchiato features steamed whole milk that is perfectly aerated and free-poured creating dense foam reminiscent of meringue. The beverage is then marked by slowly-poured full espresso shots, creating a signature espresso dot. Starbucks baristas will use this carefully crafted technique to draw out an intensely bold and roasty flavor that highlights the Starbucks espresso in the beverage.

The result, theoretically, is a darker drink thats supposed to hit the palate first with the espresso, then end on a sweeter note with the milk. Adding the espresso to the milk, instead of vice versa, also creates a layered look that, from bottom up, goes mostly milk, mostly espresso, then foam. (Not that anyone will see these layers in their paper cup.) The drink also apparently gets an extra shot of espresso: There are two shots in a short or tall, and three in a grande or venti.

.@Starbucks Adds Latte Macchiato To Growing Menu Of Espresso Drinks https://t.co/OJCvfwPJxo pic.twitter.com/c63y7ZgSsq  BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) January 4, 2016

The layered look is of course familiar to anyone whos had coffee in Europe, but the potential for confusion here in the U.S. is still pretty high. Starbucks already has its espresso macchiato, described as a touch of milk foam on top of a perfect, robust espresso shot. A latte macchiato is effectively Starbuckss caramel macchiato, minus the vanilla syrup and caramel, although only recently has Starbucks made an effort to play up the fact that caramel macchiatos are actually prepared in reverse order of plain lattes  frothed milk first, then espresso poured on top.

The new drink is meant to ride the coattails of the popular flat white that Starbucks introduced last year to compete with the smaller, richer drinks popularized by third-wave cafes  ditto the flat white, the latte macchiato looks tres sophisticated without requiring that baristas do rosetta or heart latte art on top. The drink rolls out here in the U.S., Canada, and parts of Latin America tomorrow and costs between $3.75 and $4.25 for a tall.

[Starbucks, BuzzFeed]
Asus Zenfone Zoom lands in the US in early February for $399

Asus first announced the Zenfone Zoom at last year's CES, and then 11 months passed without the device being on sale anywhere. The company finally released the phone in its home market of Taiwan in December, and now it's almost ready to make it available in the US.

Asus has revealed that the Zenfone Zoom will be out in the US in early February. You'll be able to purchase one unlocked for $399. That's a decent price considering what you're getting in terms of specs.

The Zenfone Zoom (ZX551ML) has a 5.5-inch 1080p touchscreen, Intel's Atom Z3590 chipset (with a 2.5 GHz quad-core CPU), 4GB of RAM, 64GB of expandable storage, 4G LTE, a 5 MP front-facing camera, and a 3,000 mAh battery. It runs Android 5.0 Lollipop.

The main attraction is clearly its rear camera, which has 13 MP resolution, f/2.7-f/4.8 aperture, dual-LED flash, laser autofocus, 3x optical zoom, and optical image stabilization.

Source | Via
Published on 2016/01/03 | Source

Unification is likely to be the biggest issue at this year`s general elections as well as the 2017 presidential election. Most of the Korean people think that unification of the two Koreas should be achieved through phased approach along with thorough preparations, rather than as an aftermath of sudden change or regime collapse in North Korea.

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According to the Dong-A Ilbo`s survey for the New Year, seven out of 10 survey participants show careful attitudes toward unification, saying, "While reunification is necessary, there`s no need to rush", and more than half of the respondents say inter-Korean summit is not always needed. Some 16.5 percent say, "It is desirable to unify the Koreas earlier", and 12.5 percent say, "Unification is not definitely required".

More young people showed negative about the need for reunification. More than 20 percent of those in 30s felt less necessity for unification, while 9.4 percent in their 40s, 7.1 percent in their 50s and 6.6 percent in the 60s gave the same answer. But there was no gap when it comes to political parties that people support by ages.

"The Park Geun-hye administration asserted "Unification Bonanza" to draw more attention from the people, which had a negative influence on young people", says Professor Yang Moo-jin at the University of North Korean Studies. "The administration focused on "results", however, rather than "process such as bilateral exchanges and cooperation in the private sector".

When asked if inter-Korean summit is needed, 55.8 percent responded that it is not necessary if North Korean nuclear issue cannot be resolved at the summit, while 38.1 percent of respondents said that the leaders of the two Koreas should meet to improve bilateral relations without fail. It can be interpreted that the recent survey results are attributable to growing distrust in communication between the two Koreas, which was witnessed through events such as North Korea`s land-mine attack and reunions of separated families last year.
Harlow is a former New Town in Essex with a population of 86,000. Located in the upper Stort Valley, it was built in the decades after the Second World War to ease overcrowding and London and provide homes for people bombed out during the Blitz. It includes Britain's first pedestrian precinct and first modern residential tower block, The Lawn. Old Harlow, the historic part of the town, was mentioned in the Domesday Book. David and Victoria Beckham's former home, Rowneybury House, nicknamed 'Beckingham Palace', is nearby.

13:46, 17 OCT 2022
Dear Friends and Supporters of the Avery County Schools:

As we return to school for the second semester, I would like to say thank you for the important role you play each day in helping our school system foster student success. There is evidence of your support and service in many areas and we want you to know that we greatly appreciate what everyone in our community offers to our schools. Your interest and involvement in the Avery County Schools is truly a lasting gift and one that not only benefits our students and teachers, but the entire community.

As I reflect upon the fall semester, many special highlights come to mind. The following are just a few of those events:

The Avery County Schools had the 3rd highest graduation rate in the state. (For 3 out of the past 4 years, Avery County has been in the top 5 in the state in graduation rates [4th, 1st, and 3rd]).

The Avery County Schools received a $750,000 grant to enhance our STEM program in all schools.

The Avery County Schools Career and Technical Education Program (CTE) added new classes in both our engineering and biomedical sciences at the high school, added robotics at middle school, hired 2 new teachers and are thrilled with the progression of our Culinary program. The school system began recruiting for our TSA robotics team thanks to a generous donation from TVA and hosted our first CTE Showcase and welcomed visitors from regional business, industry and post secondary organizations.

STEM-students from every school in the district participated in Hour of Code Activities to encourage interest in Computer Programming. Many schools are developing maker spaces thanks to the work of Nancy Carver, media specialists and various grants.

A record number of our students participated in our local and regional science fair with twenty-six moving on to state competition.

A system of common assessments has been implemented to strengthen instruction in grades 3-12

Maker Spaces have been created in all of our schools.

We have implemented the HillRap reading program in all elementary and middle schools along with the FUSION program at Avery High School.

Our NC PreK classrooms are working with Appalachian State University to implement the Insights program. Teachers are learning more about how to help children and parents prepare for the social emotions demands of school.

The Avery County Schools Child Nutrition Program received a Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Grant for Freedom Trail and Newland Elementary Schools. We have also started a trial universal free breakfast program at Freedom Trail Elementary and Cranberry Middle Schools.

The Avery High Marching Band completed one of its most successful seasons ever.

The Avery High JROTC School supported the Trees for Troops program and the cadets finished fifth out of four hundred schools in the Brigade Marksmanship Invitational.

The Avery High Construction Classes supported Habitat for Humanity, assisting in the construction of new homes for our community.

The Avery High FFA attended the national convention and had a former student, Abigail Griffith, named as an American Scholar.

Our students collected an unprecedented amount of food and toys for needy families.

We had one of the largest groups ever inducted into the National Honor Society and National Technical Honor Society at Avery High School.

The Avery High Key Club had one of its most successful years ever with members providing more hours of community service than ever before.

Each of our schools inducted a record number of students into the Beta Club.

The Avery STEM Academy was recognized as one of the top 500 high schools in the nation by Newsweek.

The Avery STEM Academy was also recognized by NCDPI for having a 100% Graduation rate.

Avery High School was recognized by NCDPI for having a graduation rate above 95%.

Avery Middle School has Implemented PBIS along with holding a school wide Heritage Day. They have also created Olympic themed TAG completions and implanted challenging enrichment opportunities based on student interest.

Banner Elk Elementary School will have 4 Odyssey of the mind teams representing the school and the Banner Elk Kiwanis. The teams are made up of 4th and 5th graders along with a team of 6th graders. Junior Appalachian Musicians (JAM) will begin again in February after a very successful program during first semester. This old time string music program will be open to adults and students from all schools. Project Lead The Way Robotics was taught in the 4th and 5th grade Science classes and the Learn to Ski and Snowboard program with Sugar Mountain is set to begin.

The Blue Ridge Academy received the NC Works Governors Award of Distinction  Innovative Partnership.

Cranberry Middle School celebrated 93.1% growth in the state testing program, as well as being in the top 10 schools in our 185 school region. Cranberry Middle continues to focus on being a STEM middle school and was awarded a $7,000 arts council grant.

Crossnore Elementary School was named a national Title One Rewards School. The school also obtained two grants that helped purchase bicycle kits to be put together by members of their bike club.

Freedom Trail Elementary held two events in honor of its 20th Anniversary:

The first Big Rig Gig as its fall festival.

A balloon release in honor of individuals who have supported the school on November 20.

Freedom Trail also has its Outdoor Classroom well underway.

Riverside Elementary helped establish an active Girl Scout Troop that led a toy drive for children during Christmas. Riverside hosted the Over the Mountain group, provided a breakfast for their members and participated in their Revolutionary War program in a partnership with Unimin. Instead of buying and exchanging presents for Christmas, our PreK students decided to raise money for others less fortunate. They sold donuts during morning drop off to be able to provide for others. Through that and other donations, they were able to raise $450 dollars that will help provide life-changing items to people in other areas of the world through Compassion International. It was a great lesson about serving others for our young students and we appreciate the response of our school and community in this effort.

These areas of student participation and success can only be credited to our staff members, our parents, and the members of our community.

With continued teamwork and a dedicated ACS staff, we will exceed the level of past accomplishments and experience even greater growth and accomplishments in 2016. Quality public schools are vital to the economic development of our county. Therefore, our school system is dedicated to preparing our children for successful, productive citizenry.

There are many opportunities for this semester, and one of the most exciting is continuing to offer to any family that has a three or four year old that is not currently enrolled in a Pre-K program SCOTTIE (Supporting Childrens Opportunities through Technology, Innovation, and Education), a mobile pre-kindergarten classroom that is housed in a renovated North Carolina school bus. SCOTTIE, a state-endorsed program, will continue to travel to ten designated locations in the county and offer an abbreviated schedule of educational activities for children enrolled. Currently we have 92 students enrolled on SCOTTIE. This program is designed to allow parents and their children to have early childhood educational opportunity near their homes. Children who are accepted into the program will be met with a highly qualified, birth-kindergarten teacher and credentialed assistant. Wrap-around services will be offered as well as opportunity for parental participation. We believe that a successful start to the school-age program must be an expectation for all children in order to ensure a 100% graduation rate Avery County. We also believe that early exposure to literacy and other educational skills will foster students success as they journey through their educational pathway. Interested parents may contact my office, Angela Vitale, EC/Pre-K Director or Renee Banner, Administrative Assistant at 733-6006 to register a child or for more information.

Lastly, I would like to mention one more exciting partnership with our local Williams YMCA. ACS along with the YMCA is offering a Snow Camp to families that may need childcare on days when school is not in session due to inclement weather. Snow Camp, staffed by YMCA professionals, will be hosted at the YMCA for students in kindergarten through sixth grade and will operate from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Daily activities will consist of craft time, games, sports, indoor/outdoor activities, swimming and tutoring. Transportation to the YMCA and a bag lunch must by provided by parents. Students will need to bring outside clothes, homework, bathing suit and towel to be used. The cost is as follows:

$15 per day (with $10 pre registration fee)

$20 daily drop in rate

For information contact Jenn Roark at 828-737-5500 or www.ymcaavery.org.

I want to thank each individual in our school system that works so diligently each day to provide the best possible education to our students. My gratitude is extended to each parent who has provided support to his/her child and our schools. It is imperative that we continue to work together as a community to reduce the number of students dropping out of school and to continue to emphasize the importance of education. It is also of great importance to meet the needs of each student that is in our school system. We are very blessed to live in a community that conscientiously assumes its responsibility to educate children and to provide the necessary resources for their success.

Again, thank you for all you do for education. It is our mission to ensure that no child is left behind and with your continued support for public education more students will graduate from high school with direction, confidence and skills for the next stage of their lives.

May you have a joyous and prosperous 2016 and a successful Spring semester!

Sincerely,

David Burleson

Superintendent

Avery County Schools

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Youve written the book, now what are you going to do?

The High Country Writers will hold a meeting on Jan. 14 with award-winning local author Maryrose Carroll at 10 a.m. in the Watauga County Arts Councils Art Space at the intersection of Shadowline Drive and State Farm Road in Boone. Carroll will discuss the steps shes taking to sell and market her latest book.

The public is invited to attend the meeting. This first meeting of 2016 will be the only one held at Art Space this year.

Carrolls second book, Beats Me, has been selected as a 100 Notable 2015 book by Shelf Unlimited, an award-winning online magazine.

Carroll is a NC Humanities Road Scholar who previously created a number of large public sculptures. When sculpting threatened her life, she turned to writing. High Country Writers has been a significant part of her development as a writer.

Recently she was in Chicago reading from her book at the Poetry Center of Chicago. While there, she met with the president of the Poetry Foundation and gave an award to the Irish poet Desmond Egan at the IBAM Chicago 2015 Festival. She was also interviewed on After Hours on WGN, a Chicago Tribune radio station and this interview may be heard at http://wgnradio.com/2015/10/07/beats-me-maryrose-carrolls-literary-tribute-to-her-husband-paul/

ASU professor and former poet laureate Joseph Bathanti and his students visited Carrolls farm in November to meet her and see the books collected by her late husband Paul Carroll. The ASU library offers a special Paul and Maryrose Carroll Beat Collection.

Beats Me can be found at Boone Drug Store at Deerfield, and at www.amazon.com.

High Country Writers is an organization which fosters the growth and creativity of writers of all genres offering its members support, constructive criticism and professional development. The meetings are held at 10 a.m. at the Watauga County Library on the second and fourth Thursdays of each month. Guests are welcome. Meetings are cancelled when the Watauga County Public Library is closed for inclement weather. For more information about the organization, membership, and calendar of events, please visit the HCW website at http//:highcountrywriters.tripod.com.

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Health

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The migrant crisis was one of the underlying themes of the speech, as Niinisto contemplated its repercussions for Finland and urged the public to restrain from extreme acts.

I will refer to an old saying that has not lost its topicality: when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Immigration can never mean that our core values  democracy, equality and human rights  are questioned, President Sauli Niinisto stated in his New Year's Speech.

I am an old-school lawyer. Throwing a petrol bomb into a building with people inside used to be called arson and that is what it remains in my mind; a serious offence  as is the persecution of refugees or incitement to hatred. We have witnessed too much of that, Niinisto said.

Not all of the arrivals are here with good intentions. Some come from a terrorist background and others have committed other bad deeds. The backgrounds and deeds of a select few arouse unwarranted misgivings about all immigrants, he continued.

The President urged authorities to report about such deeds and their consequences openly, regardless of whether the perpetrator was an immigrant or native-born Finn. This will help contain rising emotions and shoot down the wildest rumours, he explained.

Finns, he affirmed, are not generally attracted to extreme ideas.

Niinisto estimated that the migrant crisis has taken Europe by surprise, despite the fact that people have been crossing the Mediterranean Sea in makeshift boats for years.

He also mulled over the motives of the migrants and the ability of the destination countries to welcome all of the arrivals. While some are fleeing danger, others are seeking a better life  both of these are natural, human motives. Another factor underlying the displacement of people is exploitation, which can even be utilised as a means of power politics, he analysed.

The world is home to untold numbers of people who would like to come here, but our capacity to take care of them is limited. I believe [Stefan] Lofven, the Swedish Prime Minister, hit the nail on the head by saying that we have been too naive. Sweden, similarly to many other countries, has tightened its immigration laws. I have interpreted the decisions of the Finnish Government as an attempt to secure resources to help those in most need. We are therefore only able to help those arriving because of persecution.

Niinisto ended his speech on a positive note.

There are plenty of problems, but also plenty to take comfort in: for example, the increasing willingness to help. Volunteering among asylum seekers or helping your loved ones on a daily basis  this is what will lift the spirits of those receiving help and those helping as well as benefit each and everyone of us! he said.

The President also expressed his support for the attempts to improve the price competitiveness of domestic industries.

Aleksi Teivainen  HT

Photo: Vesa Moilanen / Lehtikuva

Source: Uusi Suomi
Commissioners endorse Duke Energy plan

The Henderson County Board of Commissioners on Monday endorsed Duke Energy's plans to build a power plant capable of generating up to 750 megawatts of electricity to replace its Lake Julian coal plant, saying supplying energy was important for the region's future.

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Commissioners fully and wholeheartedly support Duke Energy in its effort to construct a 752 Megawatt Natural Gas Fueled Electric Generator facility  and respectfully endorse the approval of the project by the North Carolina Utilities Commission, the resolution said.

Duke Energy has formally notified the Utilities Commission that it will file an application to replace the coal-fired plant with two 280-megawatt natural gas-fired units and potentially a 190-megawatt unit to supply peak demand backup. Duke officials say the backup unit may be unnecessary if conservation efforts among cities, industry and residential ratepayers reduce demand.

Henderson County's endorsement came after environmental organizations announced their intention to challenge the need for the backup unit.

We want Duke to be all in on seeking alternatives to the third unit instead of building in a back door, and we are asking them to send a clear message that they are fully committed to finding cleaner, sustainable alternatives by removing the peaking unit from their filing to the utilities commission, Julie Mayfield, co-director of MountainTrue, said last week.



The resolution commissioners adopted notes that Dukes revised Western Carolina Modernization Project eliminated the 42-mile foothills transmission line linking the power plant and the South Carolina Upstate, saving the area from a negative impact. The local economy and indeed all aspects of our way of life are dependent on affordable and reliable electricity supply, the resolution says.

Henderson County Manager Steve Wyatt said the proposed resolution had two main purposes.

We want to make sure that when were talking about economic development the question of adequate electricity never comes up, he said, and we dont want ever to revisit the transmission line.

Larry Rogers, executive director of the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Progress, thanked the commissioners "for the work you did to get where we are" on the energy plan.
County, Mills River OK incentives for 350-job factory

MILLS RIVER  The Henderson County Board of Commissioners and Mills River Town Council on Monday authorized tax incentives worth up to $7.26 million in hopes of landing a factory that would invest $217 million and hire 350 people.

A partnership of Swiss and Canadian manufacturers has narrowed its search to a 52-acre site at the Ferncliff Industrial Park in Mills River and a site outside of Columbia, S.C. Georg Fischer Ltd., a 213-year-old Swiss company, and Ontario-based Linamar Corp. announced last July that they would team up to invest in a new high-pressure light metal die casting plant in the Southeast U.S. to make lightweight drive-train parts for automobile manufacturers.

This is a project a lot of other communities were interested in and competed for, Andrew Tate, president of the Henderson County Partnership for Economic Development, told the Mills River Town Council on Monday.

The town of Mills River would regain the value of refunded property taxes in less than 10 years, Tate said.

The council quickly said yes, authorizing $302,926 in economic development incentives over 14 years for GF Linamar.

Get the ball rolling, Mayor Pro Tem Shanon Gonce told Tate. Tell em wed love to have them. Well be good neighbors.

Mills River has rolled out the welcome mat for four new plants with more than 400 employees in the past three years, offering property tax refunds for factories that meet investment and job creation pledges.

Once it had used the incentives, the plant would pay $48,600 a year in Mills River property taxes, Tate told the council.

Historically what weve seen is companies exceeding these (projections), sometimes significantly, he said. You would break even in less than 10 years based on your outlay.

The Board of Commissioners took a different approach to the GF Linamar incentives than it had for most recent tax breaks, although County Attorney Russ Burrell said it was not unprecedented.

The county will advance GF Linamar $4.6 million to buy the property, County Attorney Russ Burrell, and then hold a mortgage and deed of trust to secure the loan.

Theyre not going to walk away from an investment like that, he said.

As the company earns the tax incentives based on its investment and job creation, the county would subtract that value of the note it holds. In other words, no payment of incentives will actually change hands for the first several years  until the total of the incentives earned under the contract equals the full land price, Burrell said.

Under the proposed agreement, GF Linamar would invest at least $42.3 million in the manufacturing plant plus $174.9 million in machinery and equipment through 2023. The $217 million total does not include the $4.6 million land acquisition costs. The prospective GF Linamar plant would be between the brewery and the Asheville Regional Airport on the northern part of the industrial park.

Henderson County would pay up to $6,945,672 in tax incentives and Mills River would pay $302,926 over 14 years.

Its going to be a huge investment, as large an investment as I can remember in recent times not only in jobs but in capital, County Commissioner Michael Edney said. These are the type of jobs that help support all these other jobs so theres no reason not to support incentives in general and this one in particular.

The plant would hire operators, technicians, engineers, supervisors and management executives, Tate said.

Founded in 1802 when 29-year-old Johann Conrad Fischer made a copper smelting plant out of a water-driven mill, GF Automotive has 126 companies, including 47 production facilities, in 31 countries. A worldwide automotive supplier, GF specializes in lightweight solutions for the automotive industry.

Founded in 1966, Linamar Corp. has 48 manufacturing facilities and a workforce of 19,500 employees. The company is known for its expertise in precision machining of metallic powertrain products for the automotive industry.
A homeless charity is to seek legal advice on whether families living in emergency accommodation have grounds to take a human rights case against the state.

Inner City Helping Homeless (ICHH) is due to meet with senior counsel tomorrow to explore if a group action could be taken by families living in unsuitable emergency accommodation to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

Chairman of the charity, former Lord Mayor Christy Burke, said that the group discussed the idea with several people who are living in hotel rooms with their children.

Priority

"It's 2016 and the Government made a statement that they would eradicate homelessness in 2016 but it doesn't seem to be a priority," he said.

ICHH has a board meeting tonight where the decision will be formally made and the next day the board members will meet senior counsel to discuss the case.

"We would look at it as a block objection. We believe that there is a case there.

"It was heart-breaking over the festive season and it's just inhumane," he said.

"I'm blue in the face listening to ministers and government spokespersons saying that there is so many millions gone into homelessness when at the end of the day there are more people gone into homelessness than there was last year. This has to stop ... It just can't go on.

"At this stage families living in hotels will take any route if they believe it's going to give them a dignified home.

"Nobody is coming up with alternatives but we are, we're saying bring it to the Court of Human Rights," he added.

Accommodation

Some 2,500 adults and children were expected to access emergency accommodation over the Christmas period.

Hotel rooms have been used as a last resort by the Dublin Regional Homeless Executive (DRHE) but best practise dictates that they should only be used for a short time.

However, due to an escalating number of people seeking emergency accommodation, people have been in this situation for more than a year.

Last week, the Herald revealed a litany of complaints lodged by residents, social workers and public health nurses over standards in emergency accommodation in the capital, including reports of mice and cockroaches.

Concern was also raised about the unsuitability of hotels as family accommodation due to noise, cramped conditions and late bar hours.
Communities across the country are on alert against even more flooding, as water levels remain precariously high.

Evacuations are set to continue in many areas, as rivers continue to exceed levels last seen in the severe floods of 2009.

There was some flooding along the Liffey yesterday following the release of excess water from the Poulaphouca reservoir on Saturday.

Speaking at a National Emergency Co-ordination Meeting, Tom Browne of the ESB said the release of excess discharge meant "the middle Liffey flowing through Kildare is bank full at the moment, with some small levels of overland flooding".

"That will probably continue for the next few days," he added.

However, Mr Browne stressed that the ESB was in contact with local authorities in Kildare and Dublin, as well as councils in the Shannon region.

It comes as Met Eireann forecast a cold and showery week ahead, with some relief from the relentless rainfall of the past month.

Respite

"It looks like we're heading into a showery, more cool period of weather when we get some brief respite from these heavy falls of rain that we have experienced over the past month," forecaster Gerald Fleming said.

However, Mr Fleming warned that Wednesday could have the potential to bring another significant fall of rain.

"Unfortunately at the moment, because the water levels are so high everywhere, even what you might call a normal weather front giving 10-15mm of rain has the potential to cause some further difficulties," he said.

After Wednesday, Mr Fleming said the cold and showery conditions will return with night temperatures falling to one or two degrees celcius.

He added that temperatures are set to fall back to normal values for this time of year, with more night frosts expected soon. Dublin is set to escape heavy rainfall, with cool and bright days forecast early this week. The Minister for Agriculture has said the relocation of flooded families is not a priority for government.

Speaking during a visit in Clonlara, South East Clare, where families have been evacuated following the winter storms, Minister Simon Coveney said it was "far too early" to begin such a measure.

"I don't think that we are looking at that option at the moment," he said.

He met angry homeowners as he donned a wetsuit in Springfield, Clonlara, where up to six feet of floodwater has marooned many.

"We need to look at more effective ways at managing (the River Shannon) flow to prevent flooding in the future," he said.

Exhausted Geraldine Quinlivan told Mr Coveney that Springfield residents needed action now, not in a year's time.

"It's very very bad at the house today. My brother and his wife and their son could also lose their home today.

Distraught

"The water rose nine inches yesterday and my son is down there all night along with the army and civil defence. I'm actually distraught. I'm awake all night listening to the rain, wondering and hoping that my home is safe," she said.

Another resident, Geraldine Mason, whose home has been flooded since early December, let the minister know the depth of her anger.

"I am homeless, I have no home at the moment... I had to pump the water six-feet deep in my home - and here we go again and it's not fair and nobody cares. It's been going on for years. I want to stay in my home and I don't want to leave it," she told Mr Coveney.

In Athlone, the River Shannon rose by 5cm over the weekend, exceeding records set in 2009. The River Brosna, a tributary of the Shannon, also rose by 39cm. Brendan McGrath of the City and County Management Association said six families needed to be evacuated from the western side of Athlone.

"As the Shannon rises somewhat more over the coming days, particularly rural homes on the South side become endangered," Mr McGrath said.

Meanwhile, 137 troops have been deployed in the past 24 hours to assist authorities in coping with floods.

A spokesman for the army said it remained committed to helping the worst-hit areas recover, adding that units across the country are ready to move in one hour's notice.

In Clonmel, 31 troops helped local residents from their homes amid rising tides. That task was completed at 7am yesterday.

The same unit then brought evacuated residents to Kilmacomma, Co Waterford, to get food and medical supplies.
Christy Kinahan, whose gang are the chief suspects for the murder of Paul Kavanagh in Drumcondra last year Photo: Sunday World

Last year saw fewer gang related shootings and murders than any other year in well over a decade.

Sources believe that one of the main reasons for this is the ever growing power of the Christy Kinahan drugs cartel.

There were just six murders linked to gangland activity all year - five of these killings happened in Dublin with the other in Athy, Co Kildare.

Gardai have managed to secure criminal charges in two of these cases with the other four murders remaining the focus of major investigations.

However, the situation is far calmer than in 2006 when there were 27 gun murders, and in 2005 when there were 21.

The vast majority of the gun killings in those years were linked to the drugs trade.

However, the crime landscape in Ireland has now changed, with sources saying the Kinahan cartel - who are responsible for importing the vast bulk of drugs into this country - now "have more power than ever".

"The cartel were operating a decade ago but they had nothing like the power that they have nowadays.

"This meant there were a lot more localised feuds as various groupings fought their own turf wars in different areas of the country.

"However, because of the scale of the Kinahan operations from Spain, they have managed to take a large element of control of the Irish market which means there is much less localised feuding going on now," a senior source explained.

"The Kinahan organisation has also traditionally had a mantra where they say that murders are bad for business because of the heat that they attract from gardai, but this did not stop the cartel having two of their own gang members wiped out this year," the source added.

The Kinahan mob are the chief suspects for sanctioning the murder of Paul Kavanagh (27), who was shot dead in Drumcondra, north Dublin in March as part of an internal dispute in the mob.

A north inner city hitman is the chief suspect in the case but there have been no arrests.

The cartel are also suspected of being behind the gruesome gun murder of another of their former henchmen, Gary Hutch (33), in Spain's Costa-Del-Crime in September.

Hutch became a target for his former associates after they decided he was a garda informer.

The last gun murder of the year happened at 5.45pm on December 30 when drug dealer Darren Kearns (33) was gunned down at Blackhorse Avenue on the capital's northside in front of his wife.

Targeted

Gardai believe a local gang targeted Kearns because of his involvement in the drugs trade.

The first gun murder of the year was grandfather Eddie Nugent (64) who was shot dead in Walkinstown on February 15. Gardai are following a definite line of enquiry in the case.

Gardai have also made good progress in the case of Alan O'Neill (35) who was shot dead on May 27 at the doorway of a house in the Kiltalown Road area of Tallaght. Three arrests have been made so far in the case.
The pace of house price growth in Dublin has collapsed from a rate of almost 25pc in mid-2014 to an annual rate of less than 3pc at the end of last year, according to property website Daft's latest national survey of asking prices.

Price increases are now dramatically higher outside the capital but across the country a lack of new building means housing supply is at a nine-year low.

Outside Dublin prices accelerated last year, with the pace of growth rising from 2pc to 13pc.

Limerick City has seen some of the most extreme volatility over the past 12 months; price falls in 2014 gave way to a 22pc hike last year to take the average to 145,244, according to the latest housing market report from Daft.

Rapidly

In south Dublin the trend was completely reversed, and what had been a rapidly rising market in 2014 is now in retreat.

Asking prices for houses fell in six of the three main Dublin regions between September and December, including the biggest fall of 1.1pc in the traditionally largely well-heeled South County Dublin district, according to Daft.

The average asking price of 514,845 in South County Dublin is the highest anywhere in the county, but is barely changed from a year ago, according to the daft report.

Longford has the cheapest homes in the country, with an average asking price of just 98,000 even after double-digit growth last year.

While Daft mainly tracks asking prices on its website, the latest data shows actual prices in the capital - so-called transaction prices - are now more or less in line with what vendors are seeking.

There were just over 12,000 sales of houses and apartments in the final three months of 2015 and in most parts of the country, including Dublin, the ultimate sale price was within 1pc of the asking price.

That's a shift from 2014, when houses were typically changing hands at 4.4pc above the asking price. Across the country there were just 25,000 homes available for sale at the start of December, the lowest level since 2007, including 4,000 properties in Dublin.

Control

Daft's economist Ronan Lyons said housing shortages remain a problem, but that the outlook for the market now looks healthier than in 2014.

The Central Bank's limits on mortgage lending mean prices cannot spiral out of control as they did during the boom, he said. There is also a growing consensus among policy makers that building costs need to fall.
Tax cuts for all workers earning up to 120,000 are to be proposed in the Labour Partys election manifesto.

Tanaiste Joan Burton is to outline what she calls progressive reforms that will see the much-hated Universal Social Charge (USC) abolished for everyone earning up to 70,000.

All those earning above that threshold will benefit from that change too  but they will continue to pay USC on the portion of their income over 70,000.

Benefit

A new claw-back mechanism will then kick-in at 100,000 and it will gradually reduce the USC benefit, but everybody earning up to 120,000 will enjoy some level of tax cut.

The latest move to revive Labours flagging fortunes comes in the wake of Fine Gael targeting their traditional working class voters with wage subsidies for those on low incomes.

Despite agreeing to a vote transfer pact, Labour and Fine Gael have now proposed vastly different changes to the tax and welfare systems.

Already Enda Kennys party has confirmed they want to abolish USC altogether  which collects around 4bn a year for the Exchequer  and introduce a State-funded Working Family Payment as an alternative to Labours Living Wage initiative.

The Labour Party has committed to a Living Wage of 11.50, hikes in the minimum wage that would see it rise to 11.30 and an extra 25 a week for pensioners.

Meanwhile, Ms Burton has moved to play down the significance of senior figures within the Labour Party positioning themselves for the leadership ahead of the election. With the party facing the loss of more than half its seats, Ms Burton has denied there is a rift with her deputy leader Alan Kelly.

Untenable

Sources within the party say that if the current poll ratings play out on Election Day, Ms Burtons position as leader will be seen as untenable.

Already Mr Kelly has declared an interest in being a future leader, along with junior minister Ged Nash. Others such as Jan OSullivan and Alex White have refused to rule it out. However, Ms Burton has said she does not feel undermined by her senior colleagues who are openly linking themselves to her position.

I suppose let 100 flowers bloom would be my attitude. We want people of ambition in the Labour Party, she said.

I plan to remain as Labour Party leader, obviously subject to what happens in the election. Id be very confident from talking to people around the country, and particularly talking to Labour Party members, she said.

The Dublin West TD, who faces a tough battle to retain her own seat, said that since taking over as leader from Eamon Gilmore in the wake of the local and European elections she has criss-crossed the country and received a very positive reception.

Asked about tensions with Mr Kelly, she said they have a very strong, positive relationship.

I think we both bring different backgrounds, different experiences to the job, but I think the outcome is a very balanced team, she said.
Electricity lines didnt run out to part of J.T. Byrnes farm, creating one of a few challenges in powering a proposed water pump system to feed his cattle.

The terrain was steep in that area, making maintenance of the new system near the Big Otter River another concern.

The solution is a combination of newly developed solar panels and good, old-fashioned gravity. The two solar panels pump water uphill from wells to a storage cistern. Gravity guides it to troughs to provide the cattle with fresh water.

Its like a hybrid. Part of it is pressurized, and part of its gravity-flowed, said E.B. Watson, the Peaks of Otter Soil and Water Conservation District field representative who managed the project  as well as close to 90 others expected to be completed in Bedford County over the next five years.

The project is an example of how conservation districts throughout the commonwealth work with local contractors and individual farms to install state-funded infrastructure to fence cattle out of streams in an effort to improve water quality.

Statewide, there is a $66 million backlog for stream exclusion projects or best management practices to fence cattle out of streams. Bedford Countys share is about $10 million, or one-sixth of the backlog.

Bedfords Peaks of Otter Soil and Water Conservation District and the Robert E. Lee District  which includes Lynchburg and Amherst, Appomattox and Campbell counties  are in the top five districts statewide for signups.

Its really that stretch of Virginia that is seeing large numbers of signups and more interest in the program, which would make sense, said Kendall Tyree, executive director of the Virginia Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts.

The strip with most of the top counties runs along the eastern side of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where foothills provide common geography for cattle farming.

The state program, which paid 100 percent of the bills for those who signed up as of June 30, 2015, is designed to improve the quality of Virginia waterways and, by extension, the Chesapeake Bay. Many farmers signed on in the run-up to the last day to receive the 100 percent state grant, which dropped to 80 percent July 1.

The farmer gives up what is sometimes the best grazing land and access to the creek or other waterways on the property and agrees to maintain the new infrastructure for 10 years. These farmers must also rotate their cattle, a significant transition for many.

While the state investment is meant to deter pollution from animal waste and sediment washed into waterways from trampled creek banks, farm families see accepting grant money to build infrastructure as protection from potential regulation. If the practices become required, farmers believe they will no longer have state investment.

Byrnes farm includes 2.5 miles bordering the Big Otter River, as well as creeks that flow into it. The latest project is his second in chronology and size and includes 4.5 miles of creek.

Id rather have the cost-share money in it instead of my money in it, because theres no way I could do the projects that Im doing with the capital it would take to do it, Byrne said.

Watson said farmers may choose selling the herd and retiring rather than incurring the entire cost for a project if it became mandatory. Others are looking to pass on infrastructure with the farm.

With the older people, they didnt want to leave a farm where the next generations looking at regulations that would shut it down, Watson said.

Byrne, like many farmers, heard about the program through prior participants. He has since encouraged others to participate.

You get this phone call and they say, So and so said you have money for me. And Im like, Whats your name? Watson joked.

Watson said she takes her responsibility to steer tax dollars to environmental stewardship seriously.

If we have a project that goes under budget, we get to use that money and put it toward a new project. We had two projects last year that got done simply because all the other ones came in under budget by so much, Watson said.

Peaks of Otter has gotten about $2 million each of the last two years, she said. At that rate, Peaks current backlog would be done in about five years. The district has paid out $3 million so far.

I think its something our community should be proud of. People should be proud of our farmers, Watson said.

Whether they really wanted to (do) this or not, theyre doing it. Have we reached everyone? No, were not gonna.
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Pathankot was as inevitable as night following day. The only element of surprise, if any, was that night followed the dawn without the usual interregnum of the day  it came immediately after the Prime Ministers dramatic overture of going to Lahore.

A pattern has existed for some time that whenever there is an effort to move to a normal state of relations, this sort of outrage would follow. I presume the attack in Pathankot was anticipated by the powers that be in Delhi, they must have feared that something of this sort would happen.

The question now is how to move forward. The Prime Minister and his government are hoist with their own petard because they had, while in opposition, objected to any effort by the UPA at rapprochement, arguing that one cant have talks and terror at the same time.

Now that it is in government, the BJP realises the constraints both of governance and power. It has come to the realisation that you have to make a serious and sustained effort to engage Pakistan.

The problem is the narrative it created and that has prevailed so far, which causes a certain amount of confusion in the public mind.

Read | Pathankot attack fallout? India may reschedule Pak talks

There are the interviews with grieving families in the aftermath of Pathankot and the same sort of questions in the public mind  why should India talk to Pakistan when in the past, talks were called off under pressure from the BJP?

The answer clearly lies in the fact that because such attacks have a clear political purpose, if India were to break off engagement with Pakistan, it will have conceded victory to those who sent the terrorists.

There was clearly no military objective in sending a group of terrorists to a heavily defended airbase in India. The idea was not to pull off a spectacular military feat but to create a provocation that, built on past experience with India, would lead to the talks being called off.

In order not to accept defeat, India has to continue the engagement. The problem is that the Indian government has to act within the bounds of what is for it politically feasible.

A pattern has existed for some time that whenever there is an effort to make peace, attacks like Pathankot to spark outrage would follow. (AP)

With Pathankot having been, from the point of view of the terrorists or those who whose sent them, a damp squib, it was followed by the further provocation of an attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif.

That would worry the government on two points  firstly, if one attack follows another like this, it would be difficult for the government to maintain the sort of balance it has so far; and secondly, if these attacks have the common strategic objective of forcing India to call off the engagement, then neither operation could have been the result of local initiative.

Does this mean that the Pakistan Army is vehemently and violently opposed to engagement with India, despite the view in New Delhi that it is, with some caveats, not averse to it? In these circumstances, what does the government do?

Read | Pakistan to focus on peace process with India, says Sartaj Aziz

Personally, I would recommend three immediate steps. One, building on assurances given to the Prime Minister during his recent interactions with his Pakistani counterpart, and building on the discussions between the two national security advisers, Indias NSA should get in touch with his counterpart, share information on Pathankot being an operation by the Jaish-e-Mohammed and ask him for an immediate assurance or reassurance that Pakistan is ready to work with India to bring the organisers to book.

Second, our Prime Minister should pick up the phone and speak to Nawaz Sharif, refer to the evidence that the attack was fomented in Pakistan and the attackers were despatched from across the border, and say that if engagement is not to founder, India needs Pakistan to do its bit. India cannot be expected to put up with these attacks, which Nawaz Sharif must exert his authority to stop. The ball lies squarely in Nawaz Sharifs court.

Third, the Prime Minister, who is a superb communicator, needs to speak to the country to explain why he changed course so suddenly, why engagement with Pakistan is necessary and why despite these provocations designed to pre-empt these engagements, it is essential for India to make the effort to continue.

Read | Why Pathankot must not stop Modi from dialogue with Pakistan

All of this would not be enough without some help from his Pakistani counterpart. Nawaz Sharif has to give the Prime Minister something that he can hold up as a pledge of Pakistans goodwill. Whether Nawaz Sharif can wring such a pledge out of the other Sharif is a moot point.

So we really are at a difficult and delicate juncture but I hope the Prime Minister, who has the political capital and strength of mind, will stay on the course on which he has embarked.

Satyabrata Pal is a former Indian high commissioner to Pakistan. The views expressed are personal
In a year from now the border state of Punjab would be in the midst of its most crucial electoral battle, a fight that would determine whether the state would embark on a long haul for returning to the path of holistic governance or descend into further chaos. Political change in the state is almost a given now after the coming elections, but the nature of that change is critical for various reasons.

However, before talking about the alternatives for the state, it may be much more appropriate to remind readers the reasons for the collapse of the state under the Akali-BJP government that has been ruling the state for the last decade.

First, the economic and fiscal crisis has turned Punjab into one the most indebted and debt-stressed states in the country. By the end of the 2015-16, the state would be in debt to the tune of $18.79 billion (1 dollar=Rs 66) approximately. Ten years ago, in the last year of the then Congress government, it stood at $7.73 billion.

The debt constitutes over 30% of the Gross State Domestic Product. Twenty one per cent of all revenue receipts go towards servicing it. While the government would like to blame it on the legacy liability of fighting terrorism, it needs to be remembered that active militancy in the state ended way back in 1995. The current situation is a result of economic mismanagement, financial licentiousness and crass populism over the past decade. With a committed interest liability of $1.5 billion per year, Punjab is caught in a debt trap. This has demolished business sentiment, leading to a flight of capital from the state.

Second, the agrarian crisis. Agriculture, the principal occupation of the people, is no longer a remunerative vocation. As I had earlier pointed out in these columns, conventional wisdom holds that 84% of the farmers own less than five acres of land. A family of four or five toiling ceaselessly on a three-acre plot of land can in a good year at best make about Rs 19,350 per month but if there is any unnatural occurrence, there can be a severe drop in income for farmers. A recent example is the whitefly pest attack in southern Punjab that led to dozens of cotton farmers committing suicide.

Third is the narcotisation of the state that has wiped out a generation of young adults. Punjab lost a generation to terror between 1980 and 1995 and is now losing another to drugs. The state apparatus from the highest echelons to the lowest functionaries are allegedly deeply entrenched in the production, sale and proliferation of synthetic drugs. Over 75% of the youth in the state is addicted to one fatal psychotropic substance or the other.

The fourth is the complete subversion of the law enforcement machinery of the state. It started with police sub-divisions being made congruent to assembly constituencies and the in-charge of the sub-division (usually a deputy superintendent of police) being appointed on the recommendation of the ruling party MLA or its defeated candidates designated as the constituency in-charge. The police hierarchy has been obliterated with the deputy chief minister, who is also the scion of the ruling oligarchy, giving instructions directly to police station heads who are usually in the rank of assistant sub-inspectors of police. This subversion of the structure of the uniformed forces has converted the Punjab Police into a virtual front organisation for the Akali Dal-BJP government.

Latest reports suggest even development funding is now being arbitrarily outsourced to elected and defeated political activists of the ruling combine, bypassing all established channels of the civil administration.

The fifth challenge is the sudden resurgence of the separatist fringe in the state. The mishandling of the sacrilege issue as well as the controversy on the question of a religious pardon granted to the head of Dera Sacha Sauda has provided space to the hardliners to reassert themselves. There has always been a minuscule but vocal minority that has clung to the dream of a separate Sikh homeland, mistakenly believing and erroneously propagating that when India was partitioned in 1947, the Hindus got Hindustan, the Muslims got Pakistan but the Sikhs got a raw deal. Their intermittent dormancy should not be misconstrued as permanent redundancy as they have a resonance with some influential elements of the Sikh diaspora that provide both moral and material support to their activities. This phenomenon will be more visibly seen this time around.

Sixth, recent revelations about alleged fake encounters during the decade-and-a-half of extremism that points a finger at certain officers of the Punjab Police. If these revelations are correct, then those involved would have to face the legal system because state terrorism cannot be accepted. It is a travesty that officers facing heinous criminal charges for gross human rights abuse continue to occupy the highest positions in the state police. In addition to the domestic turmoil, Punjab is also a frontline border state that is always in Pakistans cross hairs, as can be seen in the Pathankot outrage.

What Punjab requires at the moment is resuscitation of the normal governance processes. It can ill afford to experiment with the AAPs ochlocracy that is on display in Delhi. There is only one template for decent governance in Punjab: A competent administrator that can run the state and impartially protect its interests.

Manish Tewari is a lawyer and a former Union minister from Punjab

The views expressed are personal
Bollywood actor Hrithik Roshan decided to ditch his car and took an auto-rickshaw along with his two sons. The 41-year-old Bang Bang star and sons, Hrehaan and Hridhaan, enjoyed the ride last night. Took an auto home. What was normal pocket money travel for daddy becomes an adventure trip for us boys. Lovely, Hrithik posted on twitter alongside a photo of the trio posing in the auto-rickshaw.

Took an auto home. What was normal pocket money travel 4 daddy becomes an adventure trip 4 us boys. Lovely pic.twitter.com/j7evLpg8dO  Hrithik Roshan (@iHrithik) January 3, 2016

The actor is currently shooting for Ashutosh Gowarikers Mohenjo Daro, which is set in the ancient city of Mohenjo-daro, Sindh, Pakistan in the era of the Indus Valley civilisation that dates back to 2600 BC.

The film will see former beauty pageant contestant Pooja Hegde in the female lead role.

Follow @htshowbiz for more.
Oil prices surged during the start of 2016 trading as relations between top crude producers Saudi Arabia and Iran deteriorated, raising concerns about potential supply disruptions, though weak Asian manufacturing data kept a lid on bullish expectations.

Saudi Arabia, the worlds biggest oil exporter, cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday in response to the storming of its embassy in Tehran. The diplomatic row between the two major oil producers escalated following Riyadhs execution of a prominent Shiite cleric on Saturday.

Global oil benchmark Brent climbed more than a dollar to a high of $38.50 per barrel on Monday, before easing back to $38.10 at 0350 GMT, still up over 2 percent. U.S. crudes West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures were up 77 cents, or 2.08 percent, at $37.81 a barrel.

Oil traders said the crisis between Saudi Arabia, also the worlds second-largest oil producer, and Iran, which holds some of the largest proven oil reserves, was pushing up prices. The clash between the two Middle Eastern rivals also comes as Iran hopes to ramp up oil exports following the expected removal of sanctions against it after reaching a deal over its alleged nuclear weapons development programme.

With increased geopolitical tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran, the market has put a premium on prices just when markets opened (in 2016), brokerage Phillip Futures said on Monday.

Revolutionary, mainly Shiite Muslim Iran and Saudi Arabias conservative Sunni Muslim monarchy have clashed for years in the Middle East in political conflicts that have followed along sectarian lines. Most recently, Saudi Arabia has led its military against Iranian-back Houthi Shiite militias in Yemen.

Despite Mondays jump, oil prices are down by two-thirds since mid-2014 on ballooning oversupply as producers including the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), Russia and the United States pump between 0.5 million and 2 million barrels of oil every day in excess of demand.

OPEC, Russia and the U.S. beat our initial supply expectations, adding to an existing inventory headwind. For 2016 we think of it as the market rebalancing year, but only from 2H (the second half of 2016), Alliance Bernstein said.

Next year will be the year of undersupply which means we should see at least an eighteen month bull market from the middle of this year, it added.

Alliance Bernstein said it expected average Brent prices to fall from $53 per barrel last year to $50 in 2016 but to recover to $70 a barrel in 2017 and to rise to $80 per barrel in 2018.

For the moment, oil markets remain dominated by oversupply.

Iran plans to raise output by half a million to 1 million barrels per day (bpd) post sanctions, although Iranian officials said they did not plan to flood the market with its crude if there was no demand for it.

Irans oil exports have fallen to around 1 million bpd, down from a peak pre-sanctions peak of almost 3 million bpd in 2011.

In Russia oil output hit a post-Soviet high in 2015, averaging 10.73 million bpd.

On the demand side, concerns over Asias slowing economies weighed as Chinas factory activity shrank for a 10th straight month in December as surveys across Asia showed industry struggling with slack demand.
Delhis radical road rationing plan kicks in from the new year as a desperate city struggles to clean up its filthy air.

A lungful of air in Delhi is a noxious mix of smoke, dust, fumes and ash with heavy concentrations of chemicals, acids, metals and carcinogens. What makes this particulate matter so deadly is its size - the particles are small enough to pass through the nose and throat, and even penetrate tissue. The tiniest, which are 2.5 micrometers or less in diameter (PM 2.5), are the worst. They are more toxic, travel farther from their source and live deep in lung tissue.

Although Delhis (and Indias) air has gotten progressively worse - a 2014 report said air quality in the country has declined 100 percent in the last decade - contributions from different pollutants have shifted over the years.

Whats changed?

Particulate matter - PM 2.5 specifically - produced by vehicle emissions peaked around 1998. And then it started to gradually decline. That was when the Supreme Court ordered the citys fleet of buses to switch from diesel to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG). Also included in the ruling were pre-1990 autorickshaws and taxis.

By this time, the Delhi government had passed a slew of other measures to cut emissions from vehicles. They introduced unleaded petrol as well as diesel and petrol with low levels of sulphur. This led to a drop in the levels of sulphur dioxide (SO2), and since the gas converts to fine particles, a drop in PM10.

But some studies argue that a lot of these gains have been reversed because of the sharp increase in the number of vehicles, especially those running on diesel. So Nitrogen Oxides and Ozone - by-products of emissions from cars, trucks, construction etc. - have been rising while other pollutants such as sulphur dioxides have reduced.

But vehicles arent the only culprits

Road dust - a term which refers to a high concentration of metals such as Copper, Manganese, Nickel, Barium, Zinc etc. is a major cause of particulate matter in Delhi. Its the result of poor roads, heavy traffic and incessant construction.

An equally alarming cause is Delhis garbage - burning piles of trash are a source of particulate matter, mercury and other harmful chemicals. According to some estimates, burning trash produces nearly 30% of the worlds particulate matter and 40% of its Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a class of chemicals associated with neurological diseases, heart attacks and cancer.

Pollution from industries might be lower than that from vehicles but they pose a major challenge for monitoring and enforcement. Industries in and around Delhi, many of them small-scale, have long been accused of flouting regulation and fudging data. For one, the instruments they use to monitor pollutants are rarely up to global standards because the manufacturers self-certify their products.

Delhis air is not that different from its neighbours. Emissions from brick kilns, coal plants, cement units, tanneries etc. in Faridabad, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh send the most toxic particulate matter as far as the Capital. A recent study found that on the days PM 2.5 exceeded

120 micrograms per cubic metre in Delhi, 22% of it came from the south-southwest direction. That is, Faridabad and Gurgaon.

Finally, theres geography. Yes, that matters. Chennai, for instance, has ten times more cars per kilometre of road length but a tenth of Delhis PM levels, according to some estimates. Why? Because as a coastal city that isnt surrounded by dusty, industrial towns that are swiftly expanding, it can replace some of its polluted air with cleaner breeze from the sea. Delhis air also gets worse in winters when cool temperatures draw in more polluted air. It only gets a little better in the summer because dust aggravates pollution.

Will the odd even rule help?

Its certainly a start. But, as the number suggest, if vehicles arent necessarily the worst polluters, Delhi needs more legislation to clean up its air.

This data from Urban Emissions.info is helpful to understand what effect new regulations, if passed, would have.
Two days into the road rationing experiment, Delhi has thrown up mixed results. On January 1, residents surprised the cynics by bringing out only odd-numbered cars. Overwhelmed by the response, chief minister Arvind Kejriwal borrowed John Lennons words: You may say Im a dreamer. But Im not the only 1. I hope someday youll join us. And the world will be as one (sic), he tweeted.

But on day two, violations and traffic jams made a comeback. The real test of this radical experiment is today, the first full working day after an extended weekend. Enforcement teams will be out in bigger numbers and the chance of getting the Rs 2,000 ticket for breaking the rule is higher. But transport minister Gopal Rai is counting on a new, collective consciousness to clean up Delhis foul air.

We hope so. Because it is not the threat of harsh fines but only shared beliefs and ideas that have brought about great civic changes in cities across the world. For a better quality of life, many cities have taken the referendum route to reduce the number of cars.

Back in 1992, Amsterdam tried it to get peoples approval to halve vehicular traffic and parking spaces in the city centre by 2002. A low turnout of 27% didnt derail the government plan. Today, there are an estimated 800,000 bicycles in Amsterdam and almost two-thirds of its population of around 811,000 uses their bikes daily. Many narrow roads in the city centre allow cycles only. In others, car speed is limited to 30 km/hour.

Bogota, in Colombia, had been experimenting with the idea of removing cars from certain stretches of the city since the 1990s. But it was only on February 24, 2000, that it held its first car-free day. At least 800,000 left their cars home.

Bogota went ahead to institutionalise its efforts to chuck cars. On October 29, 2000, 63% citizens voted in favour of organising it annually. And 51% supported the idea of creating a firm legal framework to eliminate peak-hour car traffic in the city by 2015.

What followed was heavy investment in an efficient Bus Rapid Transit that is connected through bike lanes, high parking fee, and pedestrian-friendly streets. Vehicle number plate limits imposed during morning and evening peak hours in 1998 were extended to all day restrictions, Monday through Friday, in 2009.

Congestion pricing is never a popular move. Like all cities, Stockholm in 2006 was apprehensive. But during the seven-month trial, congestion reduced by 30-50%. The share of positive news coverage increased from 3% to 42%, while the share of negative articles fell from 39% to 22%, wrote Jonas Eliasson of the KTH Royal Institute of Technology in his paper  The Stockholm Congestion Charges: An Overview.

After the seven-month trial, the city authorities asked its people if Stockholm should continue with congestion tax. As many as 53% voted yes, making the Swedish capital the first European city to approve a road user charge.

Seoul, in South Korea, has been running a no-driving day programme since 2003. A voluntary scheme, it requires citizens to simply chose their day and register on the official website. In return, they get an e-tag for the car which gets them incentives such as reduction in auto tax and discount on parking fee.

In Delhi, there are no such incentives on offer. Moreover, our public transport is not dependable. Many areas in the city are barely connected. There is little road space for cyclists. Pavements are mostly unfit for walking. Cabs cant be flagged down and auto drivers overcharge. But, not so long ago, Delhi did manage without so many cars when mass transit arrangements were even worse.

As cars became affordable and our purchasing power increased, we have rapidly made a convenience an obsession. Road rationing, like all emergency measures, is inconvenient for a lot of us. We can go on finding a hundred excuses, or just do the right thing. As the other great cities have already showed us, its all in the mind.
Taking a break from politics, Congress president Sonia Gandhi landed in Uttarakhands famous tourist spot Mussoorie on January 1, even though she made her brief public presence only on Saturday.

Party sources said Sonia, who is putting up at a bungalow of Bijendra Singh whose son Jitendra Singh was a minister in the UPA government  is likely to return to New Delhi on Tuesday. The former minister is accompanying the party president to the nearby spots of tourist interest.

On Saturday noon, Sonia met some party workers at Yamuna River bridge near Mussoorie while she was returning from a drive. She interacted with them and also obliged for photographs. Earlier, she visited a historic site at Lakhamandal where a temple is dedicated to king Ashoka. Navin Joshi, general secretary, Uttarakhand Congress, said Sonia was on a personal trip and therefore they had no idea about her visit.

Members of the Gandhi family are regular visitors to Uttarakhand. The Congress president usually visits Kausani during summers and her daughter Priyanka is fond of safari at Corbett National Park. The Congress vice-president Rahul had earlier trekked to alpine meadows in the Uttarkashi hills.

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Crowded buses and metros marked the first few hours of the implementation of the odd-even scheme on Monday, while roads had cars with largely even-number registration plates and an augmented number of traffic police men and volunteers.

Around 200 traffic challans were issued before noon as Delhis road space rationing scheme faced a big test on Monday, the first full working day after an extended weekend since the implementation of the odd-even campaign on January 1.

Meanwhile, Delhi police special commissioner Muktesh Chander told Hindustan Times that no exemptions will be made to violators of the rule. The commissioner had himself fined a VIP car for not following the odd-even rule on Monday.

Several commuters were seen sharing cabs and carpooling while some complained about surge pricing in carsharing apps like Uber and Ola due to the odd-even rule.

Today travelling in shared auto because i have a odd number car.#Isupportoddeven #PollutionFreeDelhi pic.twitter.com/xgLbhLSTac  Kapil Dhama (@kapildhama) January 4, 2016

Don't know about #pollution but #traffic less in Delhi. No fines and field day for taxis.. #uber the on constant surge  Tushar Maheshwari (@tushardelhi) January 4, 2016

Even Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal car-pooled with Delhi transport minister Gopal Rai and home minister Satyendra Jain to the Delhi Secretariat in Rais Tata Nano.

Delhi CM @ArvindKejriwal & Satyendar Jain carpool to go to Delhi Sec in Gopal Rai's Nano car #OddEvenMovement pic.twitter.com/eNB8Zvgprb  Amit Mishra (@Amitjanhit) January 4, 2016

The Delhi government on Sunday announced a series of measures to meet the real challenge of the enforcement of the car rationing scheme on a full-fledged working day as part of which additional number of buses have been fielded. Indicating its willingness to clamp down on violators, the government asked the volunteers, comprising Civil Defence, NCC and NSS cadets, to take snaps of errant motorists and installed hidden cameras at various locations.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia, who has an odd-numbered car, cycled to office. He had done the same on Saturday.

Delhis Dy CM Manish Sisodia cycles to work on Monday

The government said that DTC would possibly ferry around 64 lakh commuters today, much more than the usual figures, while Metro is expected to carry 32 lakh commuters.

Additional 100 teams of traffic police have been deployed to ensure the enforcement of the scheme that will stay in force till January 15, on weekdays from 8 AM to 8 PM.

Besides, 66 teams of transport department which were working in two shifts of 33 teams each will be working from morning to evening and a special squad of 100 buses will give additional service in four zones with 25 buses each. Apart from this, 1,000 school buses of DTC have also been roped in, considering the natural escalation in number of commuters, Transport Minister Gopal Rai minister said. Rai yesterday informed that there have been 567 challans so far by all the concerned agencies and 348 autos have been booked for refusing to ply.
Appealing car owners to continue supporting the odd-even scheme in order to improve the quality of air in the city, transport minister Gopal Rai asked people to pool cars with their neighbours and friends.

Rai, however, claimed that all necessary arrangements have been made to accommodate the extra rush of commuters in Metro and city buses and.

As per the feedback, about 80% of those who left their cars back home on the first two days opted for carpooling. I would appeal car owners to follow the trend People can also use the additional carpooling feature on the PoochO app. Around 4,000 people have already registered on the app for the purpose, Rai told reporters, after holding an hour-long meeting with the coordination committee constituted for implementation of the scheme.

The minister, however, said carrying capacity of the buses and metro have been increased by 32% and 20% respectively for Monday. The carrying capacity of buses has been increased from the existing 48 lakh to 64 lakh per day. Similarly, Delhi Metro will make extra trips thus increasing its strength from existing 26 lakh to 32 lakh, Rai said.

However, the minister refused to reveal the exact number of additional buses that would be on duty on Monday. The minister alleged attempts are still being made to pressure the school managements to withdraw their buses registered for the scheme.

The transport department, Rai said, has also made four dedicated squads of 25 buses each to cater to areas where demand for buses is more. These teams would be in reserve and would be deployed where ever the need be, he added.

Urging Delhi Police to deploy additional 100 teams to maintain law and order, Rai alleged that some people are planning to create disturbance on Monday. I was tagged in a tweet that said some people are likely to come in the city from Meerut especially to create disturbance. I will speak to the police commissioner (BS Bassi) to deploy extra teams, Rai said.
Top car manufacturers  Mercedes, Toyota, Mahindra and General Motors  have moved the Supreme Court asking it to modify its last months order banning registration of diesel SUVs and luxury cars with engine capacity of 2000cc or more in Delhi and the National Capital Region.

The petitions were mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur, which agreed to hear them on January 5. It would be heard along with the case related to levy of environment compensation charge (ECC) on trucks entering Delhi.

Justice Thakurs bench had on December 16 issued a slew of measures to clean up Delhi  the most polluted city in the world  and ruled that trucks not carrying cargo for Delhi will not be permitted in through entry points at National Highways 1 (Kundli border) and 8 (Delhi-Jaipur). Trucks registered on or before 2005 will not enter Delhi at all, it ordered.

The ban had strongly hit the sales of luxury car manufacturers since most of their sales come from diesel vehicles and Delhi is one of the most crucial markets for them. The order had affected the sales of over 60 cars from different manufacturers.

On behalf of Toyota senior advocate Kapil Sibal and advocate Vijay Sondhi told the court that their client was the manufacturer of Innova, used mostly by the common person for earning his or her livelihood and that the prohibition had a tremendous impact on the middle class for whom the car was the sole mode of their income.

Senior counsel Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for Mahindra, said his client too manufactured automobiles mostly used in the rural areas and for the common man.

According to the companies the new cars comply with the latest emission standards, which is BS-IV. However, the maximum cars plying on city roads do not conform to the prevailing emission norms and that they were one of the major contributors to the alarming levels of pollutants in the Capital. BS-IV compliant vehicles only constitute 24 per cent of the total number of diesel vehicles registered in the NCR.

The companies claim the ban prevents transition of such vehicles to opt for cleaner fuel technology.

The SC order, they state, does not consider the actual cause of the existing levels of pollution nor does it identify the actual polluters.

Prohibiting the registration of new BS-IV compliant vehicles shall not result in the desired reduction of air pollution in NCR, especially when more polluting diesel vehicles continue to ply on roads, read Toyotas petition.

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To rely almost entirely on the bravery of our security forces to overcome terrorists rather than put efficient systems in place to protect them better while they counter threats is a great disservice to those we profess to admire. The attack in Pathankot lasted more than two days but the scale of operational failures during the counter-terrorist assault should cause serious worry about our security preparedness.

The authorities had advance intelligence about an attack and National Security Guard commandos were rushed in but there were several lapses. For instance, the accounts of the kidnapped superintendent of police, Salvinder Singh, evidently did not evoke the kind of alarm among authorities that it should have. How appropriate the chain of command was to the demands of the operation is a matter to consider in the future, but poor decision-making was there for all to see. The Defence Security Corps, drawn from retired personnel, was sent to investigate the intrusion leading to loss of lives. The government did not know how many terrorists were involved in the operation and if they comprised one or two teams. It was particularly embarrassing for ministers and officials to declare the operation over on Sunday, only to find two terrorists still at large and detonating explosives. The communications strategy lacked coherence, conviction and was sometimes superfluous.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar has ordered a probe, which must unflinchingly shed light on the state of our border security and point to flaws in the operation to counter the terrorists. Pathankot should be a wake-up call. That the terrorists could easily intrude into and hold a major air force base hostage for a long period casts doubt on the security of our industrial infrastructure, cities and iconic locations. Analysts have begun to wonder if our nuclear reactors are anymore safer than air force bases. Securing a continent-size country like India is, of course, not easy. But the State should be able to demonstrate to citizens that it can assess weaknesses and can take corrective action. There are issues of physical infrastructure, training, expertise and coordination among agencies that need to be forensically examined and remedial improvements made. This season already appears to be one of violent geopolitics, given the simultaneous attack on the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif. Elements in Pakistan seem hell-bent on stoking India-Pakistan tensions through brazen acts of terror. We do not have much time to get our act together.
West Asia has welcomed the New Year in probably the worst manner possible, and if this is a prologue to whats coming, there is a lot to be worried about. On Saturday, Saudi Arabia announced that it has executed 47 terrorists, most of whom had links with terror groups like al-Qaeda. Among the 47 was Saudi Shia leader Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent voice in the Arab Spring who inspired Shia groups in Saudi Arabia to participate in the protests. Iran was quick to condemn Nimrs execution and protests broke out in many places across the country. Things took a turn for the worse on Sunday when the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad, in northeast Iran, were attacked by protesters. Riyadh has suspended diplomatic ties with Tehran and has asked Iranian officials to leave by Tuesday.

Through the executions, Saudi Arabia is trying to send a strong message to its nationals, dissuading them from joining terror groups. What is of concern is that the kingdom is in no mood to go slow on the death penalty. On the second day of the year, Riyadh has killed about 30% of the total number of people it executed in 2015. The embassy attack makes it clear that Iran has failed to protect international diplomats. Tehran has arrested about 40 people but the incident could have been averted with prompt action.

This fallout will have a bearing on the fight against the Islamic State (IS) and will increase the lack of cohesion among nations fighting this menace. The interests of different countries in the region have often been at cross-purposes with no unified plan to date. The cooperation between the two major powers in West Asia is imperative for resolving the conflict in Syria and, more important, in Yemen. As Sundays developments are set to further deepen the sectarian fissures, more unrest can be expected in Iraq, Lebanon and even Bahrain. As Saudi Arabia and other nations prepare to contain sectarian backlashes what should be of concern is that the al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula had vowed revenge attacks if its people were executed. In this sectarian din the focus should not shift from terror. It is to be seen if Iran and Saudi Arabia will act like the responsible regional leaders they project themselves to be.
The terrorists and masterminds of the Pathankot attack evidently did not want the recent bilateral cheer to last. In less than 10 days of Prime Minister Narendra Modis surprise visit to Lahore, which prompted hope that 2016 will see a different tenor in India-Pakistan relations as opposed to the recriminations seen last year, terrorists attacked an Indian Air Force base in Pathankot under the cover of darkness on Saturday morning. NSG personnel were rushed to Pathankot prior to the attack acting on intelligence but the fidayeen operation has resulted in heavy casualties for Indian security forces, even as the detail of the assault is not yet fully known.

The attack puts pressure on the NDA government in view of Mr Modis bold visit to reset bilateral ties. It is an outrage but New Delhi must still persist with its policy of engaging Islamabad. Such an attack has long been expected as an upswing in ties has usually coincided with terrorist strikes in recent years. It is a fact that the Pakistani establishment is by no means monolithic in character and various elements work at cross purposes, often acting to undermine the forward-looking efforts of its civilian government. Indias policy must be guided by discerning the motivations of the masterminds. The attack was geared to drive a wedge between Mr Modi and his counterpart Nawaz Sharif, who are attempting to bridge strategic differences and explore regional cooperation. For that matter, the two attacks in Punjab at Pathankot and Gurdaspur (in July) appear expressly aimed at undermining the possibility of more economic exchange between the two provinces of Punjab in both the countries. Saturdays attack could also be designed to sow fresh suspicion in Indian minds about the intent of Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif, as many will be quick to assign responsibility to Rawalpindi.

The Pathankot attack is stuff of the challenge that non-State actors pose to policymakers. It is also meant to test the resolve of the Centre to see if outraged domestic opinion can unsettle its focus on broader policy goals. Resiling from engagement is just the kind of reaction that jihadis want. New Delhi must effectively use the NSA channel, which discusses terrorism, to unravel the conspiracy behind such attacks and convey to Islamabad that an attack on an air force base is a red line that warrants clear action against the perpetrating group. The Opposition, including the Congress, must back NDAs approach of continuing dialogue while being firm on terror.
A 21-year-old electrician, suffering from schizophrenia, kept his family members, police, fire fighters, and security guards and residents of a condominium on the edge for five hours before jumping to his death from the 18th floor of a residential highrise on Monday.

The incident took place at Hibiscus, a gated residential community in Sector 50 where the electrician climbed up to the 18th floor at 9.30 am. The victim, Satyawan Verma, from Hanumangarh in Rajasthan, climbed up the building alleging he was humiliated by security guards who accused him in a theft in the society.

Soon after reaching the top, Satyawan called his brother Rajendra Verma, with whom he had been living in a rented accommodation in neighbouring Tigara village for three years, threatening to end his life.

As Satyawan had made such threats in the past, Rajender didnt see a cause for alarm until he was informed that his brother had indeed been trying to carry out his threat.

In the meantime, security guards, police personnel, and residents had assembled at the scene. While police guarded the area, the security guards barred anyone, including the media, from entering the building.

After an hour, Satyawan fixed a rope on the building roof and stood on the parapet above the window of an apartment on the 18th floor. He threatened to hang himself with the rope, said the police.

Everyone, including Satyawans brother and two relatives who had reached the spot, tried to counsel him and get him to change his mind, but he did not listen. According to the police, he also threatened to jump off every time someone made attempts to get near him.

At 2.30 pm, Satyawan jumped off the building, shocking everyone. He was rushed to a private hospital, but doctors pronounced him brought dead. No suicide note was found by the police.

Rajendra told the police that his brother had been suffering from schizophrenia and had attempted suicide earlier too.

He called me in the morning after reaching the building and told me that he would kill himself. I tried to convince him otherwise, but he was adamant.

We had even laid a mattress on the floor and had sent his relatives to speak to him. We tried everything possible, but he did not listen to anyone, said Dharna Yadav, assistant commissioner of police, Sadar.

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The ruling BJP has hastened its internal polls for election to the post of national president immediately after Makar Sankranti on January 15. Incumbent Amit Shahs term ends on January 23 and the party will have to complete election formalities in at least 18 of its 36 organisational states before holding elections for the post.

So far, the BJP has held elections in four states  Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Meghalaya  while a new president in the fifth state, Madhya Pradesh, will be elected on Monday.

Nearly 20 states are ready for organisational election. We are planning to complete the election of state president in these many states by January 10. We will then be ready for the election for the post of national president, a BJP office-bearer told HT.

Shah took over from Rajnath Singh, who stepped down from the party post on July 9, 2014, after being chosen to steer the high-profile home ministry.

BJP and RSS leadership is yet to start formal deliberations amongst themselves on a full three-year term to Shah as his re-election has not seemed to invite any challenge from stakeholders within the party.

Shah won praises from the RSS for the work he put in elections in various states after the Lok Sabha polls. But humiliating defeats in Delhi and Bihar, coupled with a revolt of sorts by party veterans, had set tongues wagging in the BJP.
Smarting under the daring attack on a Pathankot military installation by Jaish-e-Muhammad militants, the government is now exploring all options regarding the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan and a final call will be taken after the combing operation in Pathankot is completed, possibly in the next 48 hours.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi presided over a high level National Security Council meeting to take stock of both Pathankot attack and the attack on Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif. After the meeting, finance minister Arun Jaitley, when asked about the impact of the attack on the planned talks, said, I think let the operations get over and it is only then government takes a view on such matters (the forthcoming talks between the two foreign secretaries).

Read | Pathankot attack fallout? India may reschedule Pak talks

Asked about the identity of the terrorists, Jaitley said, I think we are at a stage where operations is still on (and) therefore it is not proper for me to say anything more than that, adding that the combing operations are taking time as the Air Force base is a large complex with a 24 kilometre-long circumference.

The minister also praised the prompt action taken by security forces, stating that the terrorists had come with the objective of damaging strategic assets at Pathankot Air Base.

The government is concerned that groups like Jaish-e-Muhammad, with an unambiguous anti-India position, operate from Pakistani soil with immunity and they timed their attack to disrupt the peace initiative set in motion by Modi. The government is also factoring public sentiment and the domestic consensus that constitute the right atmosphere to enable the two sides to resume talks.

Read | Pathankot attack: 5th terrorist eliminated, combing ops to continue

Read | Pathankot attack: India to put JeM rider on upcoming talks with Pak
Movement of heavily armed troops and the National Security Guard (NSG) personnel picked up at Punjabs Pathankot airbase on Monday morning, indicating preparations for a final assault against the remaining terrorists holed up at the facility.

Soldiers armed with weapons such as rocket launchers and mortar guns besides other sophisticated weapons were seen entering the airbase in five army trucks around 9:30 am, followed by NSG personnel in three vehicles.

Punjabs additional director general of police (law and order) Hardeep Singh Dhillon has also reportedly moved in to the base as a part of the operations.

Air Force choppers with night vision were kept airborne through Sunday night to survey the area as security forces conducted combing operations to flush out two alleged Pakistani militants who were part of the offensive. Gunshots were heard sporadically after the midnight and also in the early hours of Monday, while three explosions added to the tense atmosphere in the morning.

Operations resumed on Monday after the pre-dawn attack on Saturday saw security forces clash with alleged operators of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) till Sunday evening. The Pakistan-based group has been blamed for the December 2001 attack on Parliament that killed 11 people.

Read | Two terror teams may have attacked Pathankot using different vehicles

Casualties on the Indian side rose to seven and around 15 injured, with a blast during a mop-up operation killing an officer of the elite NSG and three more security men succumbing to their injuries from the encounter that began over 48 hours ago. Lieutenant t Colonel Niranjan, a member of the NSGs bomb disposal squad, died after he succumbed to injuries sustained while trying to retrieve a live grenade from the body of a dead terrorist as part of the combing operations.

Read| There was no lapse: Union home secy on Pathankot attack

The area cant be declared fully sanitised, Air Marshal Anil Khosla told reporters in New Delhi on Sunday.

The remains of Lt Col Niranjan reached his mourning family in Bengaluru early on Monday morning while those of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh arrived in Garnala, Ambala.

Home minister Rajnath Singh tweeted his condolences to the officer, as well to the other slain officers.

Mortal remains of NSG Lt Col Niranjan who lost his life in #Pathankot attack, brought to his Bengaluru residence. pic.twitter.com/rTQZM3qCGE  ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016

Officials confirmed no damage to military assets but admitted the government remained unsure about the exact number of terrorists who ambushed the heavily-fortified base in a pre-dawn Saturday raid as it became clear the number was higher than previously estimated.

A senior Punjab Police official said the number of terrorists could be as high as eight or 10, not five as originally thought, as authorities launched a massive operation to locate a vehicle that a possible second group of militants allegedly used to drive down from the border to the base, barely 25 kilometres away.

Indian army vehicle passes by a checkpost following fresh firing and explosions inside the air base, in Pathankot on Sunday. (Sameer Sehgal/ Hindustan Times)

Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said forces engaged two more terrorists on Sunday  in addition to the four killed a day before  contradicting official statements earlier that said all attackers had been gunned down and the operation was in its final stages.

The confusion also saw home minister Rajnath Singh withdraw a tweet that said five terrorists had been killed on Saturday.

The strike  carried out by terrorists who reportedly had assault rifles, grenades, explosive jackets and GPS sets  is believed to have been an attempt to undo the recent bonhomie in India-Pakistan ties.

Read: Pathankot attack fallout? India may reschedule Pak talks

Investigators earlier believed the terrorists overpowered Punjabs superintendent of police Salwinder Singh early on Friday and used his vehicle to reach the Indian Air Force base. But as Singh reported only four militants, police now suspect another vehicle was involved.

Counter-terror sources also pointed out intercepts that reportedly spoke about a group six terrorists infiltrating India. They also said all the phone calls made by the terrorists to Pakistan were on numbers known to belong to the JeM.

Throughout the day, military trucks were seen entering and exiting the walled compound throughout the day, including a demining vehicle. Dozens of security guards continued their vigil, while protesters shouted slogans and burned a Pakistani flag nearby.

An Indian Air Force soldier takes up position outside the air force base perimeter in Pathankot. (Sameer Sehgal/ Hindustan Times)

The setbacks saw many questioning the governments handling of the crisis, including the quality of the intelligence and the planning of the response to the attack. Critics asked why it took authorities over 12 hours to probe a terror angle in the snatching of Singhs car and the supposed lax monitoring of the international boundary.

The terrorists also supposedly crossed the border from virtually the same point as the extremists responsible for the attack in Gurdaspur in July last year that left 10 people dead.

Full coverage: Terror in Pathankot

(with inputs from Chitleen K Sethi, agencies)
A student from Hyderabad sent back by United States authorities has alleged that she was handcuffed and locked up by immigration officials there at an airport, deepening a swirling controversy over recent instances of deportation of Indian students headed to two California-based universities.

The young woman says her only offence was reaching the US to join an institute recognised by the US consulate in India but classified as blacklisted by the US immigration department.

About 200 Indian students have been deported in the last fortnight by US authorities to Hyderabad, the city that sends the maximum number of students from the country to American higher education institutes every year.

The woman, a graduate in business administration, says she took off for the United States on December 30 and was to take a flight from Dallas to San Jose to get admission for an MBA programme at the Silicon Valley University.

They told me to go back to India as joining such a university would spoil my career, she said. Apply for a good university and come back, I was told.

Her trauma did not end there, she says. In the name of procedure, the officials handcuffed me along with a few other Indian students, made us wear a uniform and put us in a cell with other offenders for over nine hours, she said recounting the horror.

Read | American dream turns nightmare for Telugu students

Karunakar, a student from the states Guntur district, said the officials treated them like thieves. All our papers are proper, but still we were handcuffed, Karunakar, who returned on Saturday, told TV channels at the Hyderabad airport.

The students say they are angry with the Indian government for not acting tough with the US and coming to the rescue of its citizens. In addition to the deportations, dozens of students were stopped from taking US flights in the last few days from the international airport here.

We do not maintain the record of those who are stopped here but those who were sent back would be close to 200, an immigration official at the airport told HT. Almost all of these students were seeking admissions in the Northwestern Polytechnic and Silicon Valley universities in California and were sent back from ports of entry like San Francisco, New York and the US immigration checkpoint in Abu Dhabi.

Read | Not just students: Indian tourists, businessmen also deported from US

Read | Deportation row: Govt issues new advisory to Indians travelling to US
Amid the pall of gloom that descended on Basa Gola village in Chamba and Siyunh village in Kangra district, the steady stream of mourning villagers bade a tearful adieu to havildar Jagdish Chand and havildar Sanjeevan Singh Rana, killed in the Pathankot airbase attack.

The funereal gloom was shot through with a palpable spirit of pride and defiance as thousands of mourners converged upon the tiny Basa Gola village, the native place of Defense Security Corps (DSC) personnel havildar Jagdish Chand, 48, one of the first casualties in the attack in the wee hours of Saturday.

Chand, who was among the first security personnel to engage the terrorists, managed to neutralise one of the attackers before being shot dead.

Serving in the Indian Army is a tradition in our family, said Chands elder brother Budhi Singh, who also retired from the army.

Army personnel paying tribute to Havildar Jadish Chand on Monday. (Shyam Sharma/HT Photo)

The martyrs father, Bachiter Singh, is also an ex-serviceman, while his younger brother is a serving soldier.

Chands body, covered with the tricolour, was taken by pall bearers in the afternoon to the village crematorium, where he was cremated with full state and military honours in the presence of administrative officials and local politicians, including forest minister Thakur Singh Bharmouri, Chamba deputy commissioner M Sudha Devi and soldiers from 3/11 Gorkha Regiment and 39 Mountain Division.

The fallen soldiers son, Rajat, lit the pyre. Chand, who retired from 7 Dogra Regiment and joined the DSC in 2009, is survived by his wife, two daughters and a son. He was the familys breadwinner.

A sea of humanity swooped down on the premises of havildar Sanjeevan Rana, 50, who was critically injured in the terror attack and succumbed to his injuries on Sunday.

Its a tragedy not for me but for the nation. I am proud my son sacrificed his life for the nation, said Rattan Singh, who retired from the army, while trying to hold back tears.

Pakistan should be given a befitting reply for what it has been doing for years, he demanded, while reiterating, I am a proud soldier and want my grandson to also don the olive greens.

Sanjeevan Rana, who retired from 15 Dogra regiment in 2007 before joining the DSC, is survived by his wife Pinki Devi, a son and two daughters. He, too, was the sole earner in the family. Transport minister GS Bali and social welfare minister Dhani Ram Shandil attended the fallen soldiers cremation, done with full military honours.

Villagers, kin accuse govt of indifference

Shahpur: Angry villagers and relatives of havildar Sanjeevan Rana, who was killed in the terror attack on Pathankot airbase, posed tough questions to the politicians and the state government for delay in bringing the body.

Shahpur Congress leader and vice-chairman of forest corporation Kewal Singh Pathania, who arrived at the soldiers house in the afternoon, faced angry questions over the indifference of the state government.

The family members were running pillar to post to get the body. The government didnt make any effort to help out the family. Why is our government so indifferent to the soldiers, who laid down their lives for the country? questioned Onkan Singh Thakur, a close relative of Rana.

He alleged that while the leaders and administrative officials in Punjab had stood by the families of the martyred soldiers, no one from Himachal bothered to do so.

Ranas father Rattan Singh pointed out to the lapses and security, which cost the family their breadwinner.

Army uniforms are freely available in the market. The terrorist who killed my son entered the Pathankot airbase in army fatigues. Why cant the government impose a ban on the sale of army uniforms? Singh asked.

The family members of Jagdish Chand also rued government apathy. We had to wait for three days to get the body. Let alone meeting us, the politicians or the administrative officials didnt even make a call to the aggrieved family in these three days, said Chands elder brother Budhi Singh.

CM announces Rs 20 lakh for kin of slain soldiers

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh on Monday announced a financial assistance of `20 lakh each to the family members of the deceased soldiers.

The CM and governor Acharya Dev Vrat expressed grief over the death of the two soldiers and said their supreme sacrifices for the sake of the country would always be remembered.

In his message, the chief minister said they sacrificed their lives to maintain the unity, integrity and security of the nation.

Praying for peace to the departed souls, the governor said the nation was indebted to them for their supreme sacrifice.

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A part of the landmark all-women market in Manipurs capital Imphal was damaged after Mondays early morning earthquake that killed 11 people, including two minors, and injured more than 50 in the state.

The 150-year-old Ima Keithel or Mothers Market complex, which is run exclusively by women, was damaged in the quake. Officials said a few buildings also collapsed and an arterial bridge was damaged.

Some 4,000 women vendors arrive early morning at this market complex in the citys Khwairamband area to sell their wares till sundown. The quake prevented many of them from carrying out their business, but many were thankful the quake happened at a time  4.35am  when the vendors were yet to arrive.

Some of us would not have been alive to tell the tale had the quake occurred during business hours. God perhaps saved us by issuing a warning about the quality of construction of the market complex, A Memba Devi, a vendor, said.

The 6.7 magnitude earthquake that hit the countrys remote northeast region killed at least 11 people, injured more than 100 and caused damage to several buildings. Tremors were also felt across the belt, including in the bordering regions of Myanmar, Bangladesh and Tibet.

Officials confirmed eight deaths in Manipur but said the casualty could go up, as they awaited reports from remote areas of Tamenglong district that bore the brunt of the quake. The epicentre was 17km below Noney village in that district.

Read | Seven killed in Northeast earthquake, over 50 injured

The panicky vendors refused to open shop in their allotted space within the complex and protested poor facilities by blocking the main road leading to the market.

Ima Market used to comprise several rows of tin sheds until the state government decided to construct a permanent complex three decades ago. Amid accusations of corruption by local authorities, the complex was inaugurated by Congress chief Sonia Gandhi in November 2010.

Former Manipur governor Vinod Kumar Duggal had in 2014 asked the Ibobi Singh government to spruce up the market complex that was in a dilapidated condition with clogged drains, leaking roofs and poor toilet facilities for the women.

The complex needs renovation with all modern facilities made available, Duggal had said after visiting the complex.

Ima Keithel is iconic not only for trading by women. It was also the launching pad for various agitations including the 1939 Nupi Lal or the Great Womens Uprising of 1939 against the economic policies of the British colonists.

Women here sell everything from organic vegetables and dried fish to handloom and handicraft items and cosmetics besides household commodities. Some also sell crisp unsoiled currency notes which are in demand during religious rites.

The currency vendors usually sell wads of fresh Rs 10, 20 and 50 notes for Rs 100-300 more than their face value.
Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) chief Lalu Prasad has a piece of advice for his elder son and Bihar health minister, Tej Pratap Yadav.

Prasad, who paid a surprise visit to the state-run Indira Gandhi Institute of Medical Sciences (IGIMS) in Patna on Sunday evening, called his son from the institute and reportedly reminded him that as the chairperson of its board of governors, he should keep inspecting it regularly.

The RJD chief gave the advice to his son after inspecting public toilets in the institute which he found dirty and with broken taps. He also went around the emergency and the outdoor patient department and spoke to some of the patients and their relatives, who complained of lack of sanitation and proper upkeep of washrooms.

Prasad asked the hospital administrators to ensure that they are cleaned regularly after staying there for 30 minutes.

He even reminisced about the days he had spent at the IGIMS and enquired about the ward where he was admitted during his period of incarceration in a fodder scam case around 15 years ago.

Prasad had paid a visit to a patient at a private health facility, Paras HMRI hospital, and dropped into IGIMS to see whether facilities at the two institutions were different after he was told that medical services at the government health facility were virtually non-existent.

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The United Jihad Council (UJC)  a coalition of militant outfits headed by Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin  on Monday claimed responsibility for the terror attack on the Pathankot airbase in Punjab. However, a home ministry official rejected the contention  terming it as a diversionary tactic.

According to CNS, a local news agency, UJC spokesperson Syed Sadaqat Hussain stated in an e-mail that the attack was carried out by Kashmiri militants associated with the Highway Squad. Alleging that the Indian government and its media suffer from Pakistan-phobia, Hussain said: By accusing Pakistan of every attack, India could not succeed in maligning the Kashmir Freedom Struggle in the past. And it will not get anything through its malicious propaganda in the future either.

Nevertheless, doubts were raised over the UJCs claim because the phone calls made by some of the Pathankot attackers to Pakistani numbers were already known to Indian security agencies as that of the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).

The UJC  a conglomerate of as many as 15 militant organisations, including the Hizbul Mujahideen, Harkat-ul-Ansar, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Jihad, Al-Barq, Al-Badr, Ikhwan-ul-Mussalmin and Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen  was formed in 1994 as part of an ISI-backed initiative to unite militant organisations across Kashmir. Though the Lashkar-e-Taiba and JeM were also part of the group when it was formed, they were pushed to the background after being banned in Pakistan. As the liberation of Kashmir is their primary aim, the UJC has tried to distance itself from pan-Islamic terror organisations since inception.

The e-mail went on to add that no Indian agency was safe from UJC agents. The attack on the Pathankot airbase by the Kashmiri mujhadeen goes to show that no Indian security establishment or garrison is out of their reach. Instead of accusing Pakistan, India should read the writing on the wall and  without wasting any time  provide Kashmiris with the opportunity to decide their own future, it stated.

Besides five militants, seven Indian security personnel  including an official of the National Security Guard and an IAF Garud commando  were killed in the Pathankot airbase attack, which began on Saturday.

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The terror attack on the Air Force station in Pathankot will haunt Madhu Radha forever. As the bullets began flying, she, her mother and her brother took refuge under a bed. However, even as she was hiding under her bed, the terrorists took something precious away from her  her fathers life.

Honorary Captain Fateh Singh, who had won medals and accolades in the Commonwealth shooting competitions in Delhi in 1995, was transferred as a personnel of the defence security corps (DSC) from Orissa to Pathankot Air Base.

Fateh Singh, 51, sacrificed his life while fighting for his motherland at Air Base Pathankot.

Madhu Radha, 25, who teaches in a Mhow school, had come with her mother Shobha Rani and brother Nitin to spend her winter holidays with her father in Pathankot when the terrorists decided to strike.

Read | Commonwealth gold medallist among those martyred in Pathankot

Speaking to Hindustan Times on Monday, Madhu Radha said that her Fateh Singh had just stepped of his quarters on Saturday when the firing started. Ordered to switch off all lights, the family stayed hidden under the bed, till an uncle posted with the Dogra Regiment came to their rescue and took them to his quarters.

She said that her mother had come to know about Fatehs death, but hid the fact from her brother and her. The siblings only came to know that their father had been martyred after the family arrived at their native village.

Madhu Radha said that her father was unarmed when he happened to spot two of the terrorists. He snatched a gun from one of them and killed the two, but suffered fatal injuries in the process, sustaining two bullet wounds.

Her father, she recalled proudly, was not afraid of anything and always advised others to only speak th truth.

Fateh Singh was cremated with military and civil honours at his native Jhanda Gujjaran village in Gurdaspur district on Monday.

Read | Martyr Fatehs son too wants to don olive green
National Disaster Response Force teams have been rushed to earthquake hit areas of North-East early today, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said as he took stock of the situation.

The Home Ministry is actively monitoring the situation after the earthquake in the Northeastern region. NDRF teams, including from Guwahati, have rushed to the affected areas, he said.

Spoke to MoS Home Shri @KirenRijiju who is in Arunachal Pradesh. He will reach Imphal this afternoon to monitor the situation from Manipur  Rajnath Singh (@BJPRajnathSingh) January 4, 2016

Singh was in Guwahati last night as part of his two-day trip to Assam and experienced the quake.

The Home Minister briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone about the situation and the steps taken for rescue and relief.

Read more: Quake strikes northeast India; toll reaches 5, nearly 100 injured

The Prime Minister said in a tweet that he has asked Singh to oversee the situation arising out of the quake. Singh also spoke to Chief Ministers of the region and took stock of the situation in each state.

A Home Ministry spokesperson said that the National Crisis Management Committee, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, is holding a meeting to review the situation.

The 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Northeastern region early on Monday with its epicenter at Tamenlong in Manipur.
Security operations to secure the Pathankot Indian Air Force facility from two remaining terrorists are in the final stages and will conclude only after all assets are physically combed, the National Security Guard said on Monday.

As the operation against the terrorists entered the third day, NSG, IAF and Army officers said there was no collateral damage to the strategic Air Force assets.

Till now, we have eliminated four terrorists and operation to eliminate two more terrorists, possibly is in the final stage of conduct, Inspector General NSG Maj General Dushant Singh said.

Singh, who was flanked by Air officer commanding, Air commodore J S Damoon and Brigadier Anupinder Singh, said the entire operation will continue till all the personnel, assets, structure are physically combed. So it is likely to take a long time.

These terrorists are holed up in a double storeyed building which is a living accommodation of the Air Force personnel and currently the operations are in progress to clear this building from the terrorists, Brigadier Singh said.

The area of the Air Force base is very large where strategic assets of IAF are kept, besides families of IAF personnel and schools are located in it. It is a mini city, the IAF officer said. He said that the terrorists have come well prepared and are heavily armed with an aim to target the strategic assets of the Air Force.

The officers said the Army was on general alert since January one following intelligence inputs of a terror strike.

Meanwhile, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the terrorist attacks at Pathankots air base and the Indian consulate in Afghanistans Mazar-i-Sharif during the high-level security meeting held at the latters official 7, Race Course Road (RCR) residence in New Delhi on Monday.

The operations resumed on Monday after the pre-dawn attack on Saturday saw security forces clash with alleged operators of the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) till Sunday evening. The Pakistan-based group has been blamed for the December 2001 attack on Parliament that killed 11 people.

Movement of heavily armed troops and the NSG personnel picked up at Punjabs Pathankot airbase on Monday morning, indicating preparations for a final assault against the remaining terrorists holed up at the facility.

Soldiers armed with weapons such as rocket launchers and mortar guns besides other sophisticated weapons were seen entering the airbase in five army trucks around 9.30am, followed by NSG personnel in three vehicles.

Punjabs additional director general of police (law and order) Hardeep Singh Dhillon has also reportedly moved in to the base as a part of the operations.

Read| Pathankot final assault: Forces ready with rocket launchers, choppers

Air Force choppers with night vision were kept airborne through Sunday night to survey the area as security forces conducted combing operations to flush out two alleged Pakistani militants who were part of the offensive. Gunshots were heard sporadically after the midnight and also in the early hours of Monday, while three explosions added to the tense atmosphere in the morning.

Casualties on the Indian side rose to seven and around 15 injured, with a blast during a mop-up operation killing an officer of the elite NSG and three more security men succumbing to their injuries from the encounter that began over 48 hours ago. Lieutenant t Colonel Niranjan, a member of the NSGs bomb disposal squad, died after he succumbed to injuries sustained while trying to retrieve a live grenade from the body of a dead terrorist as part of the combing operations.

Soldiers armed with weapons such as rocket launchers and mortar guns besides other sophisticated weapons were seen entering the airbase in five army trucks around 9.30am, followed by NSG personnel in three vehicles. (REUTERS)

The area cant be declared fully sanitised, Air Marshal Anil Khosla told reporters in New Delhi on Sunday.

The remains of Lt Col Niranjan Kumar reached his mourning family in Bengaluru early on Monday morning while those of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh arrived in Garnala, Ambala.

Read: Questions being asked over response to Pathankot attack valid

Home minister Rajnath Singh tweeted his condolences to the officer, as well to the other slain officers.

Officials confirmed no damage to military assets but admitted the government remained unsure about the exact number of terrorists who ambushed the heavily-fortified base in a pre-dawn Saturday raid as it became clear the number was higher than previously estimated.

A senior Punjab Police official said the number of terrorists could be as high as eight or 10, not five as originally thought, as authorities launched a massive operation to locate a vehicle that a possible second group of militants allegedly used to drive down from the border to the base, barely 25 kilometres away.
Security personnel were searching Punjabs Pathankot air force base on Monday after killing a fifth attacker in a counter-terror offensive that began last week, while India announced it would decide on foreign secretary-level talks with Pakistan slated for January 15 only after the operation is over.

Security sources told HT that a sixth terrorist too had likely been killed but an announcement would only come later as his badly disfigured body was yet to be identified.

The search and combing operation is still on. All civilians in the airbase are secure, said Major General Dushyant Singh, inspector general (operations) of the National Security Guards (NSG).

As the government mulled its options on the proposed talks with Pakistan, the United Jehad Council, a conglomerate of militant outfits, claimed that the attack was carried out by Kashmiri militants. Government sources, however, believe it is a diversionary tactic and the strategy displayed by the Pathankot attackers indicates they were trained by professional soldiers.

The terrorists used all the military tactics like conserving firepower, attacking at 3am when the level of alertness is at its lowest and going quiet to give the impression that all the attackers had died, said an official.

The Prime Minister chaired a high-level meeting in the Capital to discuss the Pathankot counter-terror operation during which seven Indian soldiers died and an attack on the Indian consulate at Mazar-e-Sharif in Afghanistan.

Defence minister Manohar Parrikar and finance minister Arun Jaitley attended the meeting. Jaitley said the attack in Pathankot was a fidayeen strike aimed at causing loss to strategic assets.

I think let the operations get over and it is only then government takes a view on such matters (the talks), the finance minister told reporters.

Asked why it was taking so long to neutralise the terrorists, Major General Dushyant Singh told reporters that the operation would not end until all assets and the entire airbase had been secured. He did not respond to questions about a sixth terrorist holed up in the area.

There was little clarity on how many terrorists remained within the airbase, while the government asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to probe the attack. Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, which was blamed for the December 2001 attack on Parliament, is suspected to be behind the siege.

A friend of superintendent of police Salwinder Singh whose car was snatched by the attackers ahead of the terror strike told investigators that the four gunmen who overpowered them were receiving instructions to hurry up as the other group had already reached the intended place.

Reports earlier on Monday indicated that at least two terrorists were hiding in a building that housed families of air force personnel and that the gunmen had arrived in two separate groups.

There were unconfirmed reports in the afternoon that the two-storey building in which the terrorists were holed up had been razed.

Security analysts raised questions about the operation that has lasted longer than the 26/11 Mumbai attacks when the NSG was rushed to the financial capital to secure multiple targets.

The assault that began early on Saturday morning dragged on as security forces struggled to contain the heavily armed attackers at the sprawling station. The Pathankot airbase is spread over more than 2,000 acres, including forests and tall grass.

The commanding officer of the base, Air Commodore JS Dhamoon, described it as a mini-city that includes homes for families and a school for children of the personnel stationed there.

Officials said there have been no civilian casualties and no aircraft or military equipment has been damaged in the fighting. The base houses a fleet of Indias Russian-origin MiG-21 fighter jets and Mi-25 and Mi-35 attack helicopters, along with other military hardware.

(With HTC in New Delhi)

Read: 2 terrorists inside Pathankot airbase, security ops in final stage
Hundreds of people on Monday thronged the BEL grounds in Bengaluru to pay homage to Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan Kumar, who lost his life during the combing operations in Pathankot.

LtCol NiranjanKumar s daughter,Vismay(2), consoled by relative & martyrs father Shivarajan(black jacket) (Sudipto Mondol/HT)

A member of the National Security Guards Bomb Disposal Squad, Kumar was killed in the mopping up operations on Sunday, a day after terrorists struck the airbase, while defusing a grenade found with the body of a terrorist killed by security forces. Four other security men were also injured in the blast.

Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah also paid tributes to the slain soldier by laying wreaths on his body and said that a compensation will be given to honour his supreme sacrifice.

Lieutenant Colonel Niranjan has sacrificed his life for the nation. Terrorism is a problem that entire world is facing, all nations must join hands to eliminate this problem, Siddaramaiah told reporters.

LtCol NiranjanKumar body to be taken to Jalahalli airbase for chopper to Palakkad Kerala, last rites (Sudipto Mondol/HT)

We are going to give compensation. In Unnikrishnans case also we had given compensation of Rs. 30 lakh, even in this case we will give compensation, he added.

The chief minister was talking about NSG commando Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan who died during the 26/11 terror attack in Mumbai.

Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy and Union home minister Rajnath Singh offered condolences to the family of the NSG officer.

A proud father

His body will today be taken to his home town Palakkad in Kerala, where his last rites will be performed, from Bengaluru later on Monday. Kumar, whose parents hail from Keralas Palakkad, was settled in Bengaluru.

The 34-year-old soldier is survived by his wife Dr KG Radhika and two-year-old daughter Vismay.

I am proud of my son for laying down his life for the country, Kumars father Shivarajan EK told Hindustan Times on Sunday.

He was speaking at his residence in Vidyaranyapura in Thiruvananthapuram. Shivarajan, a retired deputy manager of Bharat Electronics Ltd, said he had last spoken to Kumar when he was being deployed to the airbase on Saturday afternoon.

He had struggled in his personal as well as professional life. On one hand I have lost him, but, on the other hand, he has made us feel proud. It is a great loss as I feel every year these people are losing their lives. I dont want to say anything to the government as everything is politicised, Kumars sister said after his body was taken to Bengaluru.

Since he was a little boy, Kumar wanted to join the army. He joined the Madras Engineering Group on a Short Service Commission (SSC) 12 years ago and stayed on for a permanent commission. He joined the NSG 22 months ago.

Shivarajan added that his older son, Sarath, is a Squadron Leader in the IAF.

Kumars remains would be taken to the Elambassery village in Palakkad for last rituals.

His 88-year-old grandmother, who he was very fond of, lives in our ancestral house there, Shivarajan said.

The NSG officer was among the seven security personnel killed in the terrorist attack at the Pathankot air base, where heavy firing is still on. Those killed included Commonwealth shooting gold medallist Fateh Singh and Garud commando Gursevak Singh.
Widespread confusion over the exact number of militants holed up inside the Pathankot airbase, poor coordination between multiple agencies and little pre-emptive action despite credible intelligence in advance have triggered serious questions about the lessons learnt from a spate of recent terror attacks.

Over 24 hours after the gunbattle began, Union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi and Air Marshal Anil Khosla confirmed four terrorists had been killed and two more engaged on Sunday  going back on official announcements a day before that said all five terrorists had been neutralised. The officials even refused to give out the number of militants who infiltrated the base, saying the figure was at least six.

Union home minister Rajnath Singh on Saturday tweeted security forces neutralised five terrorists and saluted the security forces on a successful operation in Pathankot. But as fresh explosions rocked the air base and forces stumbling on two more terrorists, the home minister  who oversees the vast internal security infrastructure of the country  deleted the tweet.

The death of an elite National Security Guard commando, Niranjan EK, while handling the body of a dead terrorist also indicated lapse in the standard operating procedure. The high death toll on the Indian side  seven  also raised questions.

The NSG may definitely like to look into the incident and as per their standard operating procedure, an inquiry can be conducted into the incident, said JN Chaudhuri, who retired as the NSG chief.

In addition, critics wondered why police investigators didnt probe the terror angle in the snatching of an SPs car early Friday morning despite receiving reports from the superintendent himself. The chaos and failure to neutralise all the attackers forced experts to say that more planning should have gone into the operation and that the security establishments institutional responses havent improved significantly, over seven years after the 26/11 Mumbai attacks.
Garud commando Corporal Gursewak Singh, who was killed in the operation at the Pathankot air force base, was on Monday cremated with full military honours in Garnala village in Haryanas Ambala district.

Gursewaks family members were inconsolable as Hardeep, the soldiers elder brother, lit the funeral pyre amid slogans of Bharat Mata ki Jai. Rich tributes were paid to the martyr who was also accorded a gun salute.

His mother Amrik Kaur fainted several times while his widow Jaspreet Kaur was inconsolable as the final journey of the 25-year-old Gursewak, who got married on November 18 last year, began for the cremation ground.

He will be remembered for his exemplary valour as he kept fighting even after being hit by a burst of gunfire at Pathankot air base, Malkit Singh, a local resident, said.

In the morning, as his body wrapped in a tricolour reached his native village, a large number of people, including Haryana ministers Anil Vij and Abhimanyu, were present. Senior officers from the Indian Air Force, besides personnel from the army, police and civil administration were also present.

Gursewak, whose icon was legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, had joined IAF about six years ago after completing his graduation. His father Sucha Singh also served in the army and his brother Hardeep too is in the defence forces.

In fact, the martyrs village is known to have made a significant contribution to the defence forces by sending its youth to join the services. In fact, Gursewak had cleared the air force examination in his first attempt.

Gursewaks father Sucha Singh, who is a farmer, had earlier stated that he was proud that his son had laid down his life for the country. He said that he received information about Gursewaks martyrdom from his elder son, who is an officer in the army.

My boy had gone to serve the nation. I am proud of him. He has done his duty. We are sad too. My younger son gave his life for the country. He was always good in studies and always wanted to join the air force, Sucha said.

Harikrishan Singh, Gursewaks cousin, said, We have lost one warrior.

Haryanas health minister Vij said the whole nation will remember the sacrifice of the son of the soil.
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) linked Vijnana Bharati  an outfit for promotion of Swadehsi science  has expressed rude shock over the last minute denial of an award by the PMO at the inaugural session of the Indian Science Congress.

The outfit, which has eminent scientists like Anil Kakodkar and G Madhavan Nair as patrons, recently made to the Guinness Book of World Records by conducting the largest practical science lesson at IIT Delhi on December 7. The record was earlier held by The Royal Society of Chemistry.

VIBHAs secretary general A Jayakumar told HT that the department of science and technology had confirmed the award for the achievement and had invited it to the ISC to receive it from the PM.

We were communicated at the last minute that the PMO has not cleared the award to us. We were not given any reason for this. It is still not know who took the call to deny the award to us. But it came as a rude shock to office-bearers of the organization and the scientific community at large, Jayakumar added. Science and Technology Minister Dr Harsh vardhan did not respond to phone calls and text message for a comment.

The office-bearer found serious fault with the PMO in the denial of the award to a Guinness Book World Record holder from India and said it again highlighted the urgent need to constitute a Scientific Advisory Committee to PM. He sought a serious intervention from the PM on this matter.

Headed by Vijay P Bhatkar, a Padma awardee who is known for leading the development of Param supercomputers, VIBHA works for several objectives including spreading awareness of the unique contributions of ancient Bharat in the development of modern science.

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Punjab, which faced two terror attacks in six months, on Monday announced deployment of a commando battalion and a special SWAT team in Pathankot as a second line of defence and also sought deployment of more BSF troops along the states border with Pakistan.

Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal while making the announcement, a day after the terror attack on the IAF base in Pathankot, said the state government was writing to Government of India that BSF deployment should be increased on par with the neighbouring state of Jammu and Kashmir.

We have to act as second line of defence. Immediately, we will have new police lines established in Pathankot, one commando batallion will also be set up here so that there is quick response (in the wake of major attacks).

A special SWAT team will be stationed in Pathankot district so that there is quick response if any eventuality happens in the future so that we can take quick action, Badal told reporters.

The BSF deployment should be increased at least in this area (Gurdaspur and Pathankot) because this is second or third time such an incident has occurred, Badal said. He said the state police will come out with a master plan for second line of defence.

Badal, who held a review meeting with senior police officials after the Pathankot attack, also said that he has directed the police authorities to get mapping done of all vulnerable points along the border.

If some terrorists manage to sneak from the border into our territory, so we should look at how we can act as a second line of defence.

I want technology to be used. We will see how we will act as second line of defence, we will have to use CCTVs, laser technology, ground detection system which are internationally-used across borders, specially this area, Gurdaspur and Pathankot... it needs to be done, he said.

Badal said that he will ask Punjab Police DGP to get in touch with all the experts. Asked if there was any security lapse and how the terrorists managed to sneak in, he said investigations have not yet started as operation is still going on.

We have our own views, we were convinced on certain views. Question is not Punjab border or Jammu and Kashmir border (from where terrorists sneak in).
Namashkar, main Arvind Kejriwal bol raha hoon (hello, this is Arvind Kejriwal speaking)  words heard across FM channels in the Capital almost every day. Be it his tirade against corruption, campaign for a cleaner city or public appeals to carpool on days of odd-even restrictions, the chief minister doesnt miss any opportunity to connect with Delhiites through airwaves.

But the proverbial early bird was Prime Minister Narendra Modi who tapped into the huge outreach of radio with his popular Mann Ki Baat programme, where he takes up crucial issues like gender equality, economic growth and skill development on the last Sunday of every month.

Opposition criticism that he should listen to the common man instead of preaching his own mann ki baat has failed to dent Modis spirit or the shows popularity.

Taking the PMs cue, several chief ministers have jumped on the radio bandwagon.

Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan used his own version of Mann Ki Baat to address farmers in the state on October 28, a day after the original programme completed its 15th edition.

The popular medium has reportedly found a fan in West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee too whose party may soon start a similar radio programme. Spreading our chief ministers message through radio is an option before the assembly elections in West Bengal, chief spokesman of the Trinamool Congress Derek OBrien told HT.

Chhattisgarh chief minister Raman Singh launched the Raman Ke Goth (Raman talks) in September.

The programme, conducted in an interview format, is broadcast on All India Radio the second Sunday of every month. Singh, the first CM to use the platform, uses a mix of Hindi and Chhattisgarhi dialect to address the public.

The Samajwadi Party government in Uttar Pradesh has taken to the radio to promote an upcoming NRI summit in Agra where the young and dynamic chief minister, Akhilesh Yadav, will also be present.

In Jharkhand, the Raghubar Das-government makes extensive use of the medium for public awareness campaigns, though the CM himself doesnt address the show.

FM channels in India, both state-owned and private, boast of more than 15 million listeners, according to an Indian Readership Survey (IRS).

More and more political parties are waking up to the mediums importance after the Supreme Court last year barred photos of chief ministers in government advertisements, allowing the use of photos of only the President, Prime Minister and the Chief Justice of India.

Shows like Mann Ki Baat, however, are yet to debut in the southern states.
With National Security Guard commandos grappling to mop up the Pathankot airbase, 63 hours after it was attacked on Saturday, a tea vendors claims that he had spotted two suspected terrorists around 6 km away sent the security agencies into a tizzy.

On Monday, a large contingent of police led by Pathankot senior superintendent of police (SSP) RK Bakshi rushed to Manwal village, laid siege to it and also launched a massive search operation.

We are not taking any input lightly, Bakshi told HT.

68-year-old Surinder Kumar had claimed that two men, wearing backpacks covered by blankets, had stopped him at Upper Manwal as he went to open his shop at 4.45 am.

He said he had seen the upper part (barrel) of a rifle protruding from underneath one of the blankets. Kumar said the men sported beards and spoke in Punjabi.

The tea vendors claims soon spread like wildfire, following which local MLA Dinesh Singh Babbu informed SSP Bakshi, who sprung into action as the claims were corroborated by a labourer working at a brick kiln.

Kumar claimed that men had also asked him to hand over his mobile phone, which, the tea vendor added, he denied having.

I showed them my pockets after that, due to fear, I tried to return, but they did not allow that and told me to keep moving ahead, Kumar said.

Phone call from Pak adds to panic

Meanwhile, as mediapersons continued non-stop coverage of the Pathankot airbase siege, what caught their attention briefly was a girl who came rushing. The panicked girl, who identified herself as Manju, told the journalists that that she had received a call from a Pakistani number. I did not take the call, she said, I have come here to tell everyone that now residents are getting calls from Pakistan.
A Turkish Airlines flight scheduled to fly to Istanbul was called back from a runway at the Mumbai airport on Monday after an unclaimed mobile phone was spotted in the aircraft before take-off.

Around 250 passengers on board the aircraft were evacuated and were frisked again after being allowed back into the jet.

The flight was about to take off when it was called back due to security threat, a passenger on board the Mumbai-Istanbul flight told Hindustan Times. The mobile phone was found under the seat of a passenger.

Following the standard operating procedure, the cockpit crew reported the matter to the Mumbai air traffic control tower which directed the aircraft to head towards a parking bay in a remote area.

The airline staff noticed an unclaimed mobile phone. The aircraft is being checked for any possible threat, a Central Industrial Security Force official said on condition of anonymity.

The take-off of the flight was rescheduled for 11.30am after security teams cleared it.

Mumbai International Airport Limited fines unattended baggage items as they result in security scares.
Pakistan said on Monday it is working on leads provided by India regarding the attack on Pathankot airbase, which has been blamed on the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed.

A brief statement issued by Pakistans Foreign Office late on Monday night said the two countries continue with a sustained dialogue process and adopt a cooperative approach for tackling terrorism.

In line with Pakistans commitment to effectively counter and eradicate terrorism, the government is in touch with the Indian government and is working on the leads provided by it, the Foreign Office spokesperson said.

The statement did not give details of the leads provided by India though New Delhi is believed to have shared with Islamabad the intercepts of calls made to Pakistan-based handlers by the terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airbase.

Read | Pathankot attack: 5th terrorist eliminated, combing ops to continue

Sources said details of the Pakistani numbers which the attackers had called have also been shared with Pakistani authorities. The attackers made about a dozen calls to Pakistan, the first of which was intercepted on Friday afternoon, the sources said.

While about half a dozen calls were brief and of little consequence, the rest were significantly long, the sources said. The leads were provided by the Indian national security adviser to his Pakistani counterpart, the sources added.

Sources in Islamabad said Indian authorities had provided details of the phone intercepts and locations where calls were made.

Top Punjab Police officials earlier told HT that the JeM tag was identified from the intercepted mobile phone calls made by the terrorists to their handlers in Pakistan before they launched the attack.

Read | Final call on Indo-Pak Jan talks after Pathankot ops end: Jaitley

The Foreign Offices statement reiterated Pakistans condemnation of the attack in Pathankot, saying: We understand the pain of many families who have lost their dear ones in this tragedy, as Pakistan itself is a major victim of terrorism.

Living in the same region and with a common history, the two countries should remain committed to a sustained dialogue process. The challenge of terrorism calls for strengthening our resolve to a cooperative approach, the statement added.

The statement did not, in any way, acknowledge the possible involvement of Pakistan-based elements in the attack which claimed the lives of seven Indian security personnel. Five attackers have also been killed by security forces.

The NSAs of the two sides have played a key role in recent efforts to put bilateral relations on an even keel. Following secret parleys between the NSAs in Bangkok on December 6, external affairs minister Sushma Swaraj visited Islamabad for talks with foreign policy chief Sartaj Aziz. The two countries then announced the launch of a new comprehensive dialogue process.
In a rare feat in the countrys medical history, the heart of a 20-year-old brain dead patient from Indore was harvested and flown by a regular flight to another city, Mumbai, within two hours where it was successfully transplanted to a teenage boy, doctors and officials said.

The brain dead patients liver was harvested too, which was sent to Delhi by air for transplant. While the patients skin and eyes were donated at Choithram Hospital and MK International Eye Bank in Indore respectively, the kidneys could not be used due to an infection in them, they said.

It is for the third time in as many months that organ harvesting has been carried out in the city, but the Indore Organ Donation Society described the Sundays operation as the biggest so far.

It was the donation of heart, which is a very vital organ and very difficult to transport. It is for the first time in the country that an action like this has been carried out, said divisional commissioner Sanjay Dubey, who is also the chairman of the Indore Organ Donation Society.

Dr Sanjay Dixit, one of the members of the donation society and vice dean at MGM Medical College, however, said, It is for the first time in the country that a regular plane was used for transporting a vital organ like heart. It is also a first in the country that two crucial organs like liver and heart were flown to two different states simultaneously.

Asked why an air ambulance was not used to transport the organs, Dixit said it was not financially viable for the recipients.

The donor, Sonia Chauhan, was a patient of epilepsy and had suffered a severe brain injury after falling during an epileptic fit on Thursday. She was declared brain dead by doctors of MY Hospital on Saturday.

After going through her medical history, a team of doctors counselled her parents who agreed for organ donation. The patient was transferred to Choithram Hospital where harvesting of organs had been performed in the past as well.

Soon, two teams from Fortis Hospital, Mumbai, and the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, Delhi, came to Indore to collect the organs. We coordinated with teams in Delhi and Mumbai and zeroed in on these two institutes. While the team from Delhi reached at around one in the night, the team from Mumbai reached by 9 pm on Saturday, said Dubey.

He said a total of four green corridors were created on Sunday to transport the organs. We created two corridors in the city. One was to transport the heart from Choithram Hospital to the airport, which happened at around 7:40 am on Sunday. The other was created in Mumbai to receive and transport the organ to Fortis Hospital. Similarly, when the liver was harvested, a corridor was again made to transport it to Delhi through a Jet Airways flight at 8:25 am. In Delhi, the liver was sent to the institute through a green corridor.

Dubey said doctors worked all night to ensure that the entire efforts become a success.

He said both transplants had been performed successfully. The heart was transplanted to a 17-year-old boy in Mumbai, while the liver was given to a person from an economically weaker section in Delhi, he added.

The biggest challenge in the operation, divisional commissioner Sanjay Dubey mentioned, was to convince doctors and institutes that deadlines are met.

We contacted a number of hospitals in both Mumbai and Delhi but most were not ready. It was a huge task, according to Dubey.

HARVESTING THE HEART RIGHT

Heart as an organ is very delicate and cannot be kept outside the body in the fluid for more than four hours. It gets deteriorated very easily, medical experts say. The organ donation team had to coordinate extensively with doctors to avoid any wastage of time in the process of transporting and transplanting the organs. The biggest challenge in the operation, divisional commissioner Sanjay Dubey mentioned, was to convince doctors and institutes that deadlines will be met.

As it happened

Dec 31: Sonia Chauhan suffers serious brain injury after falling during an epileptic fit; admitted to MY Hospital

Jan 1: Doctors lose hope as there are no signs of her recovery

Jan 2: Doctors declare her brain dead. Parents agree for organ donation

Organ donation society starts looking for recipients; gets in touch with Fortis Hospital, Mumbai and Liver and Biliary Sciences Institute, Delhi.

Patient is shifted to Choithram Hospital for organ harvesting. Teams from Delhi and Mumbai arrive in night.

Jan 3 (7 am): Heart harvested by Dr Pradeep Salgia; leaves for Indore airport.

7:40 am: Heart flown to Mumbai by an Indigo flight

8:50 am: Heart reaches Mumbai airport; a green corridor from Mumbai airport to Fortis Hospital created

7:40 am: Liver operated and ready to be transported through a green corridor

8:25 am: Flight takes off with liver for New Delhi

9:45 am: Liver reaches New Delhi and is taken to hospital.
Following a hoax call about a bomb aboard, the Lucknow-bound Swarn Shatabdi Express was stopped at Ghaziabad junction early on Sunday morning for a thorough check. The call was received a day after the Indian Air Forces Pathankot base was attacked by terrorists.

Railway officials said that the train had to make a stop at Ghaziabad junction for 64 minutes after it arrived there at 6.48 am. They added that they had received inputs from the Government Railway Police (GRP) at Delhi about a security threat to Shatabdi, Duronto, Rajdhani and other trains running between Delhi and Kanpur.

We received a call from Delhi about the bomb on board the Shatabdi Express. The train was stopped at Ghaziabad for a thorough screening. GRP, Railway Protection Force (RPF) and the police carried out the checking and the train was allowed to leave at around 7.52 am. The call turned out to be a hoax, said a railway spokesperson.

We often receive such hoax calls. Proper action is taken against the callers, the spokesperson added.

Railway officials said that they had also roped in a bomb disposal squad for the checking, but no suspicious material was found.

In a similar incident on December 25 last year, the Dibrugarh-bound Rajdhani Express was halted for nearly 150 minutes at Sahibabad railway station following a hoax call from Delhi.

Following Sundays call, security agencies went on alert due to the gunbattle going on between the security forces and terrorists holed up inside the Pathankot air base. After receiving information of the attack on Saturday, the Ghaziabad police had already stepped up security at vital installations, including the prominent Hindon air base in Ghaziabad.

Apart from the deployment of PCR vans and personnel, the Ghaziabad police had also ordered the Local Intelligence Unit (LIU) to conduct screenings around the air base that has several villages in its vicinity. It also holds vital military assets like the C-30J Super Hercules and C-17 heavy-lift Globemaster aircraft.

Standard operating procedures are in place and our personnel are on alert, a senior police official said.
Two minor sisters died of asphyxiation after using a smoke-filled common toilet at an iron-moulding unit in Maqboolpura here on Monday.

The girls, aged six and five, daughters of factory worker Mukherji, who lived in the factory quarters, had gone to answer natures call. However, another child accompanying them escaped unhurt.

The Amritsar City police are investigating the matter, though no case was registered. The incident occurred around 6.30 pm. According to police, when the family realised that the two had not returned for long from the toilet adjoining the furnace room, they found them lying unconscious there.

Inspector Kuldeep Singh of Maqboolpura police station said the workers had ignited a fire at full blast in the furnace using wood. The smoke from the furnace filled the toilet, he said, adding that the girls were apparently asphyxiated due to the carbon monoxide. It was after some time that they were brought out, he added.

He said they were rushed to hospital but could not be saved, adding that the family did not want to lodge a complaint against the factory owners.
The court of the additional district and sessions judge, Fazilka, Jatinder Walia, on Monday rejected the anticipatory bail application of Shiv Lal Doda, an Akali leader and liquor baron, in the Abohar murder case.

Counsel for the accused presented pictures and a video recording in a bid to show that Doda was in a New Delhi hotel on December 11, the day Bhim Sain Tonk was brutally murdered at Dodas farmhouse.

Opposing the application for anticipatory bail, public prosecutor Navdeep Girdhar, who appeared in the court on behalf of the police, argued, During a scrutiny of the call details of Doda and his nephew Amit, police ascertained that Harry, one of the prime accused, had called up Amit before and after the murder.

The records seized from Dodas farmhouse revealed that Bhim was his employee. Harry was also working for the liquor baron. The weapons used into the crime were recovered from another employee of Doda, while several of the accused among the 26 booked were also found to be his workers, the public prosecutor further pleaded.

Police have substantial evidence against Doda in the murder case. So, they need his custodial interrogation to ascertain his role, pleaded Surinder Tinna, counsel for the victims.

He further said, Moreover, Bhims dying declaration, alleging Dodas role in the case, is enough to arrest him. After hearing the arguments, Walia rejected the bail application.

Meanwhile, it is learnt that Dodas counsel might move the Punjab and Haryana high court to seek pre-arrest bail.

The Fazilka police have so far arrested 22 accused, while four others are absconding. A case under sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 148 (rioting with deadly weapons) and 120-B (punishment for criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) was registered initially against 17 persons. Later, following a public outrage over the murder, police added the names of Doda and Amit to the FIR, besides those of seven others.

On December 11, Bhim and his associate, Gurjant Singh, were attacked with sharp-edged weapons at Dodas farmhouse in Abohar. Bhim, whose limbs were chopped off, later died at a hospital in Amritsar. Gurjant, whose limbs were also severed in the attack, is under treatment.
In a setback to the Punjab vigilance bureau, a local court here on Monday acquitted BIS Chahal, media adviser to then chief minister Capt Amarinder Singh, in a disproportionate assets case.

The court of additional district and sessions judge Mohammad Gulzar also acquitted Chahals wife Jaswinder Kaur and their son Bikramjit Singh, who were also accused in the case registered here in 2007.

A detailed judgment is awaited, but vigilance officials confirmed the acquittal. The case fell flat as the vigilance bureau failed to prove the charges.

In April last year, the court had rejected the clean chit given by the vigilance bureau to Jaswinder Kaur and Bikramjit Singh and framed charges against them. However, during the trial, the vigilance case fell flat. The clean chit to Jaswinder was given on the basis of the inquiry conducted by Rajinder Pal Singh, joint director (crime), VB, Chandigarh. The VB had also given the clean chit to Parveen Kumar, another accused in the case.

Chahal and six other accused were facing charges under Section 13 of the Prevention of Corruption Act and 120-B of the IPC. The challan against Chahal and family was presented in 2008, in which the prosecution claimed that during his tenure as the media adviser to Amarinder, Chahal had amassed assets worth around Rs 10 crore, whereas his income during the period was Rs 1.87 crore.

Surjit Singh and Bhupinder Singh of Patiala, Gursharan Singh and Jasbir Singh of Ludhiana, US-based Gurmit Singh, and Jaswinder Pal Singh of Delhi were the other accused in the case, which had as many as 109 witnesses.

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The BJP leaders are all geared up to see their candidate win the mayoral polls scheduled for January 8. With Congress yet to declare the candidates for the posts of mayor, senior deputy mayor and deputy mayor, the BJP has announced all the three candidates.

A BJP councillor said party high command was keeping a close eye on the elections and strict instructions had been issued to bury the differences.

Due to bickerings within the party, the BJP, despite having 15 councillors, couldnt see mayor from its fold all these years.The Congress, on the other hand, with just eight members was occupying the mayors post with the support of nominated councillors.

The BJP has tried to iron out the differences among the local leaders by picking Arun Sood, who is close to city chief Sanjay Tandon, for mayors post and Davesh Moudgil, who is close to Satya Pal Jain, for the post of senior deputy mayor. SAD councillor Hardeep Singh (32) will fight for deputy mayors post.

The last date for nominations is January 4.

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Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee (PPCC) chief Captain Amarinder Singh on Monday dared Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Sukhpal Khaira to contest from Bholath assembly segment and announced that he would leave no stone unturned to ensure the former Congress MLAs defeat.

Addressing a party workers meeting in Bholath, organised by Sultanpur Lodhi MLA and state party units chief whip Navtej Cheema, Amarinder said he would camp in Bholath for the maximum number of days during campaigning and use all his power against Khaira.

Khaira has betrayed and backstabbed the people of Bholath. He will not be accepted or trusted anywhere anymore. Election aan deo, ainu te soot main karoonga (Come elections, I will fix him), said Amarinder.

When he (Khaira) felt he could not win from Bholath, he flew off for his selfish motives like a seasonal bird, the Captain added.

Amarinder said he had come to know that Khaira planned to contest from Kapurthala, Jalandhar Cantonment or Dera Bassi. No matter which constituency he chooses, he will never win, asserted the state Congress chief.

Amarinder also targeted former party leader CD Kamboj, who joined the AAP in November last year, calling him and Khaira opportunists.

The PPCC chief said the party would soon decide the potential candidate from the Bholath assembly seat. A committee of senior leaders would be formed to take feedback from party workers. Most likely, local leaders would be preferred as ticket contenders in the constituency, he said.

The PPCC president asked the AAP to explain its policies and programmes and specify if it had any leader in Punjab. On the AAPs reported plans to bring Arvind Kejriwal from Delhi, the former CM wondered: What will he (Kejriwal) do here? while pointing out that he was from Haryana, a state with which Punjab had several long-pending disputes.

During the meeting, a few party workers demanded that the ticket from Bholath be given to Kapurthala MLA Rana Gurjeet Singh. In his address, Rana Gurjeet also came down heavily on Khaira and called him a turncoat.

Not afraid of Capts empty threats

In his reaction to the Captains statement, Khaira said he would neither leave Bholath nor was he afraid of the PPCC chiefs intimidating tactics and empty threats.

Not more than 200 people from Bholath were present at the Captains meeting on Monday. I reiterate that 95% of the Congress cadres are with me as I have served them with utmost dedication, Khaira said in a statement.

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Expressing solidarity with the movement for naming the Mohali international airport after Shaheed Bhagat Singh, state Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday flagged off the five-day padyatra of the Punjab Youth Congress (PYC) from Bhagat Singhs native village Khatkar Kalan.

The padyatra will culminate at the Mohali airport on January 8.

Speaking on the occasion, Amarinder said, The SAD-BJP government has failed to honour legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh by not naming the international airport after him. It is unfortunate that PYC workers have to struggle to get the airport named after the great martyr.

Amarinder regretted that the BJP governments at the Centre and in Haryana preferred one of their leaders Mangal Sein, who had been an MLA in Haryana, to Bhagat Singh, who had given his life at 23 for the freedom of the country. He also condemned the Punjab chief ministers alleged silence on the issue.

He congratulated the PYC leaders, especially president Amarjit Lally, for starting the 115 km march saying the entire senior leadership was with them. He hoped that wisdom would prevail on the Prime Minister and he would agree to name the airport after Bhagat Singh.

Addressing the youth, Amarinder said he understood their urges and aspirations and promised to come up to their expectations. He said drug peddling was a serious issue, which he had vowed to address in a month of coming to power.

However, at the press conference later, when reminded of the Haryana governments stand that they wanted the airport to be named as Chandigarh airport rather than Mohali airport, Amarinder said, If Bhagat Singhs name is there, Mohali and Chandigarh would cease to be an issue. Be it Mohali or Chandigarh, the airport should be named after the Shaheed-e-Azam.

Lalli, in his address, said the padyatra was only the first phase of the struggle to get the airport named after Bhagat Singh. Referring to the statements made by some Akali leaders that the government had already announced to name the airport after Bhagat Singh, Laly said the moment it was officially done, the PYC would call off the protest. He said the government had paid only lip service after the PYC announced its programme to protest, and it could not be trusted.

SAD-BJP leaders are misleading people while no official statement has come from the Centre. The SAD led by chief minister Parkash Singh Badal has failed to convince its ally, the BJP. Badals daughter-in-law, Harsimrat Kaur Badal, who is a Union cabinet minister, should resign if she fails to get it implemented. Its utter disregard to the martyrs, Lally said.

Congress Legislature Party leader Charanjit Singh Channi lashed out at the state government, especially the chief minister, for failing the state in all respects.

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The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday apprised the Delhi high court of its opposition to providing Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh a copy of the money laundering case lodged against him.

However, additional solicitor general Tushar Mehta, appearing for the ED, sought time from the court to get back on whether Singh can be denied a copy of the case after justice Ashutosh Kumar questioned whether someone can be divested of their legal right to have the documents.

The judge also said if the documents sought were not given to Singh, they could not be used against him during trial.

The court also asked about the reasons for EDs refusal to give the documents and said the agency would have to convince it about it.

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), represented by additional solicitor general PS Patwalia, told the court that it would provide a Xerox copy of the documents seized from Singhs office and residence, adding that that 40% of the photocopying work was over.

However, the agency told the high court that it had kept the documents with it on the direction of the trial court and, if Singh required a copy, he should have approached the trial court.

The high court, thereafter, adjourned the matter to January 7, saying it would pass orders on that date on the plea of Singh.

The ED has filed a case against Singh under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

Singh, in his plea, had also sought a direction to the CBI to provide him all documents seized by the agency when it had raided his residence and office.

On September 26 this year, the CBI had conducted raids at 11 places, including Singhs residences in Delhi and Himachal, on the day his daughter was getting married. He has also prayed that ED be restrained from taking any action against him for non-compliance of summons issued to him on November 16 in connection with the money laundering case.

On December 2, the high court had sought CBIs reply to Singhs plea seeking quashing of FIR lodged against him in a disproportionate assets case.

On November 5, the Supreme Court had transferred the plea of Singh from the Himachal Pradesh high court to the Delhi high court, saying it was not expressing any opinion on the merits of the case but simply transferring the petition in the interest of justice and to save the institution (judiciary) from any embarrassment.

The CBI had moved the apex court seeking transfer of the case from the Himachal Pradesh HC and setting aside of the interim order granting him protection from arrest and other relief.

The chief minister had filed a petition in the Himachal Pradesh HC pleading that the searches at his private residence and other premises were conducted with malafide intentions and political vendetta by the central investigating agency.

Singh had sought directions from the high court to quash the FIR registered against him and his wife under Sections 13 (2) and 13(1) (e) of the Prevention of Corruption Act and Section 109 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) by the CBI in Delhi on September 23.

The case so far

The charge: Himachal Pradesh CM Virbhadra Singh and his family are alleged to have amassed `6.1 crore when he served as Union minister of steel from 2009 to 2011.

Named in CBI FIR filed in Sept 2015: Virbhadra Singh; his wife, Pratibha Singh; insurance agent Anand Chauhan; and Chauhans brother, CL Chauhan. Taking cognizance of the CBI case, the ED filed a case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) against Singh.

The crackdown: The CBI and ED, through separate raids, searched Singhs premises in Himachal Pradesh, Delhi, Maharashtra and West Bengal; claim to have gathered documents to trace suspected proceeds of crime channelled allegedly by him and his associates using purported illegal funds.

Come back: Singh in November moved a Delhi trial court seeking a complete copy of the FIR registered against him.

Setback: However, the trial court on December 2 dismissed Singhs plea. The court said since statements and calculations relating to the alleged disproportionate assets were not annexed with the FIR registered in the case, those cannot be supplied to Singh.
A 68-year-old Sikh man was stabbed to death in Californias Fresno city on January 1, prompting police to launch a hate crime probe into the citys first homicide of the year.

Gurcharan Singh Gill, an employee at a local liquor store at Shields Express in West Shields Avenue, was at work when he was stabbed to death in broad daylight, Lieutenant Mindy Casto said.

While investigations are still going on, local community members feel Gill was attacked due to his identity and skin colour, Casto said.

When officers of the Fresno police department arrived at the scene, they found an elderly man lying in the shop. An emergency medical team tried to provide first aid but it was determined that Gill had already died, Fresno Bee reported.

The motive and cause of the death are not known yet.

On December 28, another elderly Sikh man, Amrik Singh Bal, was brutally assaulted by two persons in Fresno. No arrests have been made in either case.

The police have appealed to the local people to report if they find any leads to the incident.
Garuda (Indian Air Force) commando Gursewak Singh, 25, had got married on November 18 last year. The family, which lives in Garnala village of Ambala district, could not believe the news when they were informed by the air force personnel in the morning that Gursewak had died in the terror attack at Pathankot. Now, the house that hosted a wedding just two months back is set to host his funeral.

Gursewak had joined the Indian Air Force six years ago as an airman. Even when the news of Pathankot attack flashed on television screens, the family was not alerted as Gursewak was deployed at Adampur. It was only later that he was asked to join the security forces thwarting the attack at the air base.

Last Sunday, Gursewak had visited the home to drop his newlywed wife, Jaspreet Kaur. Presently, she is at her parents home. The martyrs father, Sucha Singh, said: I am proud of my son. He sacrificed his life for the nation. He was fearless. He always wanted to join the air force.

Mother Amrik Kaur, meanwhile, was inconsolable. Gursewaks brother Hardeep Singh is also in the army. As soon as the news of Gursewaks death spread in the village, people gathered at the house to offer condolences. Haryana health minister Anil Vij, too, visited the family to offer his tributes. It is a loss that cannot be compensated. The whole nation will remember their sacrifice. Gursewaks body arrived at his home at night and the cremation will be held at 11am on Monday.

Rs 20-lakh relief for kin

Meanwhile, Haryan CM Manohar Lal Khattar expressed his condolences to the bereaved family and announced Rs 20 lakh as financial assistance to them.

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India and France are going to have another joint training exercise of their army personnel to counter insurgency and terrorism under the United Nations (UN) mandate.

An army spokesperson said that the contingent of the French army would arrive in the Mahajan field firing range later this month for the third exercise named Shakti-2016.

Such annual counter-insurgency and counter- terrorism exercises over the years have added to the experience of the rank and file of both the Indian and French armies, said an army press release.

The spokesperson said the two-week exercise would focus on counter-terrorism operations in the semi-urban terrain.

To achieve inter-operability in joint real-life operations in future, troops from French (1) Motorised Brigade and the Indian armys infantry unit would strive to acquaint themselves with the arms and equipment, command and control system and operational tactics of each other, the spokesperson said.

The training would also focus on high degree of physical fitness, tactical drills, techniques and procedure.

During the exercise, participants will engage in a variety of missions from joint planning, cordon, search and rescue operations, joint tactical drills and basics of special arms skills, stated the spokesperson.

On the completion of the exercise, the personnel of the two armies would strive to gain experience and learning from each other on terrorist solutions.

The press release stated that the exercise would be conducted in two phases, combat conducting and tactical training and validation exercise.

The size and scope of the exercise is unparalleled and will be characterised by regular realistic, academic and natural exchanges. The broadened and unprecedented scope of the exercise stands as a testament to the well-netted people-to-people and military-to-military ties between France and India, stated the spokesperson.

The spokesperson said that both France and India have a friendship of unmatched mutual confidence, trust and goodwill. France has been the pillar of strength for Indias development, security and international relations. India too has always stood by in meeting challenges. Shakti-2016 reflects the vibrancy of the continued Indo-France strategic partnership, the spokesperson said.
The city was brought to a virtual standstill on Monday, as two separate protests  by the Unemployed Linemen Union and Contractual Nurses  stalled traffic for several hours on the Upper Mall Road and the Fountain Chowk.

Long jams were witnessed on both the roads till about 2 pm.

Families join stir; 4,000 jobs sought

Members of the unemployed linemen union, along with their family members and several other unions staged a protest outside the main branch of Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) on Monday and threatened to go on a hunger strike from Thursday if their demands were not fulfilled within three days.

Around 2,000 linemen, their family members and other union members of PSPCL across the state gathered opposite the PSPCL at the Sheranwala gate.

Raising anti-government slogans for five hours, protesters demanded the immediate appointment of 4,000 linemen, which was promised by the state government in 2011.

Union state president Pirmal Singh said, The ruling SAD-BJP government in 2011 had released an advertisement for 5,000 posts of linemen in the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL), but after scrutiny of documents of all applicants, they gave appointments to only 1,000 people.

Nurses have threatened to go on an indefinite strike if their services are not regularised. (Bharat Bhushan/HT Photo)

Instead of accepting our demands, the government has gone on to register false cases on protesting employees over the past few months to suppress their voice. We will continue to protest in support of our demands, till we are given our due, Singh added.

Other members also claimed that the state government had been claiming that it had not been making any appointments as some cases had been pending with the Punjab and Haryana high court in this regard.

This stand, however, is false as records show that in February 2013, the high court had made it clear that there was no injunction on linemen recruitment, a protester claimed, adding that in spite of approaching chief minister Parkash Singh Badal and deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal, nothing solid had materialised.

Nurses seek regularisation

More than 200 contractual nurses at the Rajindra Hospital and even the TB Hopsital squatted on the Fountain Chowk between 11am and 1pm on Monday, disrupting normal traffic movement. The crossing serves as a major exit point for traffic moving towards Bathinda.

Nurses and Ancillary Staff Union president Karamjit Kaur said, In spite of an assurance by the chief minister, more than 500 paramedics have not been given permanent postings.

She claimed that the matter had been pending since 2012.

We are scheduled to meet chief minister Parkash Singh Badal on January 18. If our demands are not met, we will go on an indefinite strike. The entire staff of Rajindra Hospital will also go off duty, she claimed, adding that even as the job remained stressful, their salaries remained low.

Key demands

Permanent postings for nurses at either the Rajindra Hospital or the TB Hospital

Linemen claim that they have been seeking appointment letters of 4,000 applicants for the last five years, but the state government had turned a blind eye to their demands
Ever since Pakistani terrorists struck at the Pathankot airbase before dawn on Saturday, the Punjab Police top brass have been kept at an arms length by the army. Even as the anti-terror operation that is still not over and is taking place in Punjabs territory, the state police have literally no clue about what is happening inside the battle zone.

The role of the state police has been restricted to traffic management, while the police top brass known for proven anti-terror exercise have been kept at bay. While additional director general of police (ADGP, law and order) HS Dhillon has been camping in Pathankot since January 1, director general of police (DGP) Suresh Arora reached the hot spot on January 2 soon after the terror strikes began. Both cops are well known for their rich experience in anti-terror operations when the border state was in the grip of militancy. However, the role of DGP Arora and ADGP Dhillon in the ongoing operation has been reduced to that of a bystander.

This despite the fact that the first and the concrete input of ultras having sneaked inside Pathankot came from the state police after the vehicle of a superintendent of police (SP) was waylaid on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 by the four terrorists wearing army fatigues. It was the Punjab Police that raised the alarm, prompting other security agencies to react and act fast.

Key state police officers sheepishly admit that they have been reduced to a doormat and know nothing about what is happening inside the airbase.

We are clueless about the ongoing operation. The security agencies executing this operation have not involved the Punjab Police in planning etc., a senior police functionary admitted. The well-equipped state intelligence wing, which has busted a range of terrorist modules even abroad and are now being headed by DGP Anil Kumar Sharma, who has spent more than a decade in the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) the premier spy agency of India is groping in the dark.

Dinanagar op: State police did it alone

The response to the Pathankot terror strike has brought under spotlight the July 27, 2015, Dinanagar attack and the swift action of the Punjab Police in neutralising hardcore terrorists. Parallels are being drawn between the counter-offensive of the state police in the Dinanagar police station siege and the Pathankot action, where the cream of the Indian defence forces is taking on the terrorists since the morning of January 2.

When the three heavily armed jihadi Pakistani terrorists had stormed the police station at dawn on July 27, they were neutralised much before dusk in the counter-offensive exclusively launched by the Punjab Police. Not letting the army take on the ultras holed up inside the police station had come under criticism.

But the polices stand was that state cops were capable of killing jihadis. Also, questions were raised that it took police 12 hours to kill terrorists. But the Pathankot operation is not yet over even after almost three days.

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Devotion matters

SAD Rajya Sabha MP Balwinder Singh Bhunder, who attended the Shaheedi Jor Mela in Fatehgarh Sahib a week ago, is against offering bread pakoras and other fried eatables at langars.

We should offer paushtik (nutritious) langar to the sangat (gathering), and not fried food, he suggested to Harcharan Singh, the newly appointed chief secretary of Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). While the SGPC chief secretary did not give any response, after he and Bhunder left some of those present were critical of the MP. They were all praise for hot and sumptuous bread pakoras served with tea. Devotion, according to them, matters in offering langar and not whether it is fried or non-fried.

Turban and its colours

Gestures mean much in politics. Sangrur MP Bhagwant Mann and other Sikh leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) are seen wearing basanti turban (a colour associated with Bhagat Singh) with an eye on the Sikh votes in Punjab. The MP prefers to remain without a turban when not in public.

On many occasions, he removes it after the public meeting is over.

The colour of turban is important in state politics. While Akalis favour blue, Congress leaders used to wear white turbans traditionally. Punjab Congress president Capt Amarinder Singh prefers pastel colours, though.

No laughing matter this

AAP MP from Sangrur Bhagwant Mann wants his rivals to take him seriously. Ask Dhindsa saab (SAD Rajya Sabha MP Sukhdev Singh Dhindsa), am I a joker? Mann told reporters the other day in a counter to the joker remark of his political adversaries. In his trademark style, he said, I have taken away his (Dhindsas) laughter and you say people laugh at me. Mann had trounced Dhindsa in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. He didnt stop there, adding that he was adjudged one of the best parliamentarians of present times. In case such a supreme body of the country honours jokers, then anybody can guess Indias future, he said to guffaws. No laughing matter, though.

Ministers limited English

Punjab minister for medical education and research Anil Joshi, the other day, admitted that his knowledge of English is limited. The minister was responding to the remarks made by the chief ministers advisor Maheshinder Singh Grewal, who had come out in support of his brother, Punjab Medical Council president Dr GS Grewal, against whom Joshi initiated an inquiry.

The two Grewals had targeted the minister, saying his knowledge is limited as he doesnt know English and cannot act against the PMC. My knowledge of the language is limited. But I know the laws and regulations very well, which Maheshinder saab doesnt know, was the ministers response to the two brothers.

DPC meets through video-conferencing

Call it going hi-tech or going an extra mile for some of their own. The promotion of whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka and five other officers of the 1991 batch made a big splash on television channels and newspapers last week. But it didnt come easily.

The three-member departmental promotion committee (DPC) headed by chief secretary DS Dhesi was scheduled to meet on Wednesday, but could not as one member was in another meeting and could not make it. The next day, another committee member was in Delhi. Then, the DPC meeting, in probably the first such instance in the state, was held through video-conferencing, paving the way for the promotion of the IAS officers on December 31. While the officers were elated, the staff of the CS office, which had to put in extra hours to ready papers and then issue promotion orders late in the night, was also relieved.

One of the promoted officers celebrated by ordering laddoos and burfi for the staff, another IAS officer visited the chief secretarys branch to personally thank them.

Different ways to end corruption

Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar never misses an opportunity to talk about the need for the state bureaucracy to be honest and transparent in its working.

His chief secretary DS Dhesi also, in one of his first orders after getting the top bureaucratic position a year ago, had stressed on rooting out corruption.

But both have been advocating different ways of going about it. Dhesi, in his instructions, had asked all administrative secretaries and heads of departments to identify officers of doubtful integrity (ODIs), undesirable contact men and top five points and places of corruption, circulate the same to other departments and then publish them on the website to eradicate corruption.

The departments were asked to update these every January. While most departments havent circulated the lists of middlemen and corrupt officers or put them online even after a year, the CM, who had also asked for lists of corrupt officers, has now reportedly told scribes that he had received some names, but would not make them public. I know how to make them mend their ways, he has been quoted as saying.

Media kept waiting

Senior officials of the public relations department and an officer on special duty to chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had a tough time pacifying journalists when the CM was late for a press conference by more than an hour subsequent to the Cabinet meeting last week. Initially, the newspersons were sent SMSes -- after several of them had already reached the venue -- that the press conference had been postponed by half an hour.

When Khattar did not arrive for another 30 minutes, some of the newspersons got irked and contemplated leaving in protest. The CMs aide and officials had to explain that the delay was because the Cabinet proceedings were taking time. Khattar, on his arrival, regretted the delay and inconvenience to reporters.

Online booking problem

Betting big on information technology, the BJP government has opted for biometric attendance, e-services and direct benefit transfer hoping to make a difference.

But its transport department seems to be finding simple things like keeping the portal for online booking of tickets for luxury Volvo buses running a challenging task. Commuters, especially those travelling from Chandigarh and different parts of Punjab to travel to Delhi to catch international flights, had a tough time when the online booking network developed a snag on Tuesday and did not work for almost two days last week. The advance booking counter also was of no help. The department officials did not seem to have any clue and kept ducking queries from anxious commuters.

Seeking CMs blessings

The elections to the panchayati raj institutions (PRI) have added to Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singhs dilemma. The CM and his son Vikramaditya are being approached by many party men facing each other in the PRI polls for their blessings. During his visit to Rohru, Virbhadra was in a fix when two Congress leaders Surinder Raitka and Sanjay Thakur met him and his wife Pratibha at the helipad. Contesting elections against each other from Arhal ward, Raitka sought the CMs blessing, whereas Thakur quickly approached his wife.

Circular has little effect

It was festive time in Himachal Pradesh secretariat last week with several babus on leave. Chief secretary (CS) P Mitra had recently issued a circular, directing all additional chief secretaries, principal secretaries and secretaries to spend more time in office, reminding them that office hours were from 10 am to 5 pm.

But the circular, wherein the CS also limited the number of days the state official could be on tour to not more than four days, appears to have had little effect on the bureaucrats. The ministers are also not known to spend more time in office. Only health minister Kaul Singh Thakur and irrigation and public health minister Vidya Stokes attend their office regularly.

Expelled leader gets back at party

Former Jammu and Kashmir BJP leader Hari Om, expelled for anti-party activities, is hitting out at the party. In another damning statement, he said the BJP had decided not to publish its manifesto for the 2014 assembly elections to appease voters in Kashmir after Hina Bhat, a party leader from the area, had threatened to pick up gun if Article 370 was abrogated. Hari Om was a member of the team that had framed the manifesto. The expelled leaders statement has given enough political ammo to the BJPs rivals to accuse it of being anti-Jammu.

The BJP is still to rebuff the claim by Hari Om, who is not only issuing critical statements against it, but has also written a critical piece in a national right-wing magazine.

The article has fuelled speculation that the party may try to revoke his expulsion to stop him from further damaging it.

(Contributed by Gurpreet Singh Nibber, Navneet Sharma, Rajesh Moudgil, Gaurav Bisht and Tarun Upadhyay)
The prime accused in the case in which a Sangrur man was nabbed and allegedly tortured in police custody was arrested here on Sunday.

After the National Scheduled Castes Commission on Saturday told the police to act, Sanjay Sharma was arrested from the town. However, the police refused to give details. Later, a local court sent him to one-day police custody.

The other accused -- the three dismissed policemen -- are already in judicial custody.

Sanjay, a member of the police advisory committee, had allegedly taken the police to victim Manga Singhs meat shop to get him arrested alleging that Manga sold liquor. However, the police had searched his shop but found no liquor.

Meanwhile, the Congress protest, demanding the SSPs suspension, entered its third day on Sunday. The Congress also burnt an effigy of the SSP in front of the Sangrur city police station.

The Congress has called for a Sangrur bandh for two hours on Monday. Party workers have appealed to shopkeepers to close shops from 1 pm to 3 pm and to reach the protest site. Former Congress MLA and state party vice-president Surinder Pal Singh Sibia is on hunger strike, demanding the suspension of the district police chief. Senior Congress leader Rajinder Kaur Bhattal and other party leaders would join the protest on Monday. Sibia said they would intensify the stir in case their demands were not met soon.

Meanwhile, despite the SC commissions orders, no FIR has been lodged against station house officer (SHO) Jatinderpal Singh. However, no police official was available for comment.

Also, victim Mangas family alleged that the police till now were trying to shield Sanjay as after getting orders from the SC panel they arrested him in a day. One of Mangas relatives said they would get justice only if the FIR was registered against the SHO and he was dismissed from service.
Air India on Monday faced some searching questions from the Supreme Court that wanted to know from the loss-making airline about its ultimate plan to connect Shimla with New Delhi and Chandigarh.

You file a status report as to the feasibility of air service connecting Shimla with Chandigarh and Delhi, a bench headed by Chief Justice TS Thakur said while asking Air Indias chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) to place the report within six weeks.

The bench, also comprising justices AK Sikri and R Banumathi, ordered maintenance of status quo on the December 7, 2015-direction passed by the Himachal Pradesh high court asking Air India, Airports Authority of India and others concerned to start scheduled flights on trial basis from Jubbarhatti airport, 22 km from Shimla.

Solicitor general Ranjit Kumar, appearing for Air Indias CMD, submitted that the loss-making airline was examining the suggestions to at least connect Shimla and Chandigarh with a 40-seater aircraft as the runway at Jubbarhatti Airport was very small.

The senior law officer explained various constraints, including the non-availability of a refuelling facility in Shimla and certain security hazards. He also mentioned economic viability as an issue.

He also told the bench that two tourist towns  Kullu and Dharamshala  were already connected by air.

However, the solicitor generals submission that Air India was running in loss did not go well with the bench that said the airline should be ready to address such issues.

So many stories go around why Air India is at loss and why private airlines are profit-making. You are in a catch-22 situation. You cant say... You have to make effort, the bench said. It was told that private players like Jet Airways had refused to operate on the route.
Do Sardars feel bad about the Santa-Banta jokes on them? If so, the Supreme Court on Monday said, it would seriously consider examining a plea to ban websites displaying jokes on them.

If we think that your community does feel bad about it, we will definitely seriously consider it, a bench comprising chief justice TS Thakur and justices AK Sikri and R Banumathi said.

Does your community stand by you? the bench asked Sikh woman lawyer Harvinder Chowdhary, who had filed a PIL in this regard.

She said the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) had also filed a petition on the issue and they were engaging a battery of senior advocates, including Ram Jethmalani, to argue the matter.

While the woman advocate was making submissions, the bench intervened and asked additional solicitor general (ASG) PS Patwalia, who is a Sikh, to express his views. However, before he could say anything, the woman lawyer continued to make submissions in a high pitch, prompting the ASG to comment that she is getting over-excited.

Later, at the end of the proceedings, Patwalia said, We have taken the things seriously.

The bench said the matter would be heard along with the petition of the DSGMC. During the hearing, the bench wanted to know from the woman lawyer as to who will determine that a particular joke is derogatory.

She also had reservation about the jokes and outspoken comments of noted Sikh author Khushwant Singh. The bench stopped the lawyer from going ahead saying she should keep her submissions reserved for the main hearing.

During the last hearing on October 30 last year, the bench had said, This (Sikh) community is known for a great sense of humour and they also enjoy such jokes. You must have gone through the jokes of Khushwant Singh...

This is only an amusement. Why do you want it to be stopped?...Prepare your case well. We will hear you, the bench had said.

The PIL had said that there are more than 5,000 websites that display jokes on Sardars projecting the community in poor light.

Chowdhury has sought direction to the telecom ministry to filter websites that target the Sikh community on the grounds that they violate Sections 153-A and 153-B of the Indian Penal Code.

All jokes relating to Sikh community should be stopped. My children are humiliated and feel embarrassed and they dont want to suffix the words Singh and Kaur with their names, Chowdhury had claimed.

DSGMC for law on lines of anti-bullying law

Chandigarh: DSGMC president Manjit Singh GK on Monday demanded the enactment of a law on the pattern of the anti-bullying law in European countries to stop jokes on racial and religious lines. Not only jokes on Sikhs, the DSGMC would also seek a ban on jokes on all religions and regions, like Gujarati and Bihari jokes and those on north-eastern communities.

The DSGMC president said he would soon meet Union minister of state for home affairs Kiren Rijiju to seek his support on this. GK said certain organisations were making huge profits by running websites on Sikh jokes, which should be banned immediately.
The first World Punjabi Conference to be hosted by the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) will be held in Fatehgarh Sahib from February 5 to 7.

The event will be held at the SGPC-run Baba Banda Singh Bahadur Engineering College in Fatehgarh Sahib.

This conference was earlier scheduled to be held on October 23 and 24 last year, but it was postponed for an indefinite period following a series of incidents of desecration of birs of Guru Granth Sahib across Punjab.

A meeting to take stock of the preparations to be made for the event was held here on Monday. The meeting was chaired by SGPC chief secretary Harcharan Singh. Sri Guru Granth Sahib World University vice-chancellor (V-C) GS Walia also participated in the meeting. This university is managed by the SGPC.

Commenting on the conference, SGPC additional secretary Daljit Singh Bedi said such an event involving the Punjabi language had never been held before. He said the main thrust of the conference will be on popularising the Punjabi language at the global level, particularly in countries having a sizeable Punjabi population.

The present status and future of this language will be deliberated at length at the conference, Bedi added.

Referring to the meeting, Bedi said it took stock of the arrangements to be made for the conference. He pointed out that SGPC chief Avtar Singh Makkar had already formed various committees for the smooth conduct of the three-day event.

He said Punjabi University V-C Jaspal Singh and Walia will be preparing the agendas for discussion at the conference. The two will also head the academic sessions, he added.

He said besides Punjabi scholars from the country, scholars from the United States, Pakistan, England, Australia, Canada and a number of other countries will be participating in the event.
Governor of Afghanistans Balkh province Ata Mohammad Noor on Monday wielded the gun to protect the Indian consulate at Mazar-i-Sharif after it was attacked last night by heavily-armed militants who tried to storm in.

In pictures posted on the governors Facebook page that have gone viral, Noor, a former Mujahideen, is seen holding an assault rifle and aiming to take shots and also interacting with the soldiers outside the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, the capital of his province,

Indian ambassador to Afghanistan Amar Sinha tweeted Clearing ops (operations) in Mazar on by special forces. Heavy fighting going on. GOV (Governor) Atta personally monitoring. All safe in consulate.

Governor Noor is a former Mujahideen. (Facebook page of General Ata Mohammad Noor)

He also retweeted a message by a journalist which said, A friend in need ..Meet the Afg (Afghan) guv (governor) who took up arms to protect Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif.

Clearing ops in Mazar on by special forces. Heavy fighting going on. GOV Atta personally monitoring. All safe in consulate.  Amar Sinha (@SenseandC_sense) January 4, 2016

Noor is a former Mujahideen during the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and is trained in combat. He has also served as a commander in Ahmad Shah Masoods Norther Alliance - the resistance against the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.

The siege near the consulate finally ended late on Monday night when all the militants were killed.

Read | Siege near Indian mission in Mazar-i-Sharif ends, all attackers killed
Troops battled Monday to end an hours-long gun and bomb siege near the Indian consulate in Afghanistans Mazar-i-Sharif city, weekend assault on an air base in India near the Pakistan border.

Separately Monday a suicide bomber struck near Kabuls international airport, underscoring the worsening security situation in Afghanistan.

The lethal assaults on Indian targets appear aimed at derailing Prime Minister Narendra Modis bold diplomatic outreach to arch-rival Pakistan following his first official visit to Afghanistan last month.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for the raid on the diplomatic mission in northern Afghanistan, the latest in a series of assaults on Indian installations in the country.

Gunfights and grenade explosions echoed as commandos battled to flush out militants holed up in a building near the consulate, with powerful provincial Governor Atta Mohammad Noor overseeing the operation.

Clearing ops in Mazar on by special forces. Heavy fighting going on. GOV Atta personally monitoring. All safe in consulate.  Amar Sinha (@SenseandC_sense) January 4, 2016

The attackers are enemies of Afghanistan who do not want peace, Noor told reporters.

We will suppress them as soon as possible.

But nearly 17 hours after the siege began, security officials said they were proceeding cautiously in the residential area to limit civilian casualties.

An Indian official, who was hunkered down in a secure area within the diplomatic enclave, said all consulate employees were safe.

We are being attacked, the official told AFP by telephone from inside the heavily guarded compound soon after the fighting erupted late Sunday evening.

Local police said some consulate employees had been evacuated.

The attack followed a raid over the weekend by suspected Islamist insurgents on an air force base in the northern Indian state of Punjab.

Seven soldiers were confirmed killed in the raid on the Pathankot base, which triggered a 14-hour gun battle Saturday and further firing Sunday.

It was not clear Monday whether any surviving attackers remained inside the base but troops were checking the area.

The operation continues at the base. (With) intermittent firing... we are moving step by step to sanitise the area, an army spokesperson in Pathankot said.

Its too early to say when the operation will be over.

Officials suspect the gunmen belong to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed, the group that staged the 2001 attack on the Indian parliament that brought the two countries to the brink of war.

The brazen attack was apparently aimed at undermining the fragile peace process between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Proxy war

The spike in violence came about a week after Modi paid a surprise visit to Pakistan, the first by an Indian premier in 11 years.

The visit immediately followed a whirlwind tour of Kabul, where Modi inaugurated an Indian-built parliament complex and gave three Russian-made helicopters to the Afghan government.

India has been a key supporter of Kabuls post-Taliban government, and analysts have often pointed to the threat of a proxy war in Afghanistan between India and Pakistan.

Pakistan -- the historic backer of the Taliban -- has long been accused of assisting the insurgents, especially with attacks on Indian targets in Afghanistan.

The Taliban have also stepped up attacks on government and foreign targets in Afghanistan, a year after US-led Nato forces formally ended their combat mission in the country.

A suicide bomber in a Toyota sedan detonated his vehicle... near Kabul airport on Monday, said interior ministry spokesperson Sediq Sediqqi.

Fortunately only the attacker was killed, he added, clarifying an earlier ministry statement that the bomber was on foot.

The latest unrest coincides with a renewed international push to revive peace talks with the resurgent militant movement.

On January 11 Afghanistan and Pakistan are set to hold a first round of dialogue also involving the US and China to try to lay out a comprehensive roadmap for peace.

Pakistan, which wields considerable influence over the Afghan Taliban, hosted a milestone first round of talks in July. But the negotiations stalled when the insurgents

belatedly confirmed the death of longtime leader Mullah Omar.

The attack on the consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif was the latest on high-profile Indian targets in Afghanistan.

In 2008 a car bomb at the Indian embassy in Kabul killed 60 people and the facility was again hit by a suicide strike in 2009.

Nine civilians, including seven children, were killed in August 2013 when suicide bombers targeted the Indian consulate in the eastern city of Jalalabad.
A group of self-styled militiamen occupied the headquarters of a US wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon to protest the imminent jailing of two ranchers, officials said on Sunday, in the latest skirmish over federal land management in the West.

The occupation, which began on Saturday, followed a march in Burns, a small city about 50 miles (80 km) north of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, in support of Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond.

Hammond and his son, convicted in 2012 of setting fires that spread to public land, traveled to Los Angeles on Sunday evening to turn themselves in to federal authorities, according to their lawyer W. Alan Schroeder. They were to be sent to back to prison after federal prosecutors won an appeal that resulted in their resentencing to longer terms.

Their ranch borders on the southern edge of the refuge, a bird sanctuary in the arid high desert in the eastern part of the state, about 305 miles (490 km) southeast of Portland.

The protest was being led by Ammon Bundy, the son of Cliven Bundy, owner of a ranch in Nevada where his family staged an armed protest against the Bureau of Land Management in April 2014. The agency sought to seize Bundys cattle after he refused to pay grazing fees. Federal agents finally backed down, citing safety concerns, and returned hundreds of cattle to Bundy.

Federal and state authorities have not said how they planned to respond to the occupation of the refuges headquarters in Princeton, Oregon.

Ammon Bundy chats with a protester Saturday, during a march on behalf of a Harney County ranching family in Burns, Ore. Bundy, the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a standoff with the government over grazing rights, told local press that he and two of his brothers were among a group of dozens of people occupying the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. (AP Photo)

It involved an unknown number of people, Jason Holm, a spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bureau of Land Management, said in a statement. No employees were in the building.

Holm described the occupation as a break-in, although federal justice and Interior Department officials contacted later declined to say whether any crimes were committed in the occupation. Wildlife refuge buildings were closed over the holiday weekend.

In an interview posted on Facebook, Bundy said the occupation was in reaction to the government intrusion into the rights of private-property owners.

It is the peoples facility, owned by the people, Bundy said. It has been provided for us to be able to come together and unite and make a hard stand against this overreach - this taking of the peoples land and resources.

Bundy told CNN some of the occupiers were armed. The Hammonds distanced themselves last month from the Bundys, according to a letter Schroeder, wrote to the county sheriff on Dec. 11.

I write to clarify that neither Ammon Bundy nor anyone with his group/organization speak for the Hammond family, Dwight Hammond or Steven Hammond, Schroeder wrote in the letter, which was seen by Reuters.

The incident is part of a decades-old conflict between ranchers and the federal government over Washingtons management of hundreds of thousands of rangeland. Critics of the federal government say it often oversteps its authority and exercises arbitrary power over land use without sufficient accountability.

Alternative Motives

Bundy told a news conference on Sunday he had yet to communicate with any law enforcement officials. He said occupiers planned no violence unless that was justified by actions taken against the occupants. He would not say how many people were inside the headquarters.

He encouraged anyone opposed to overreach by the government in the management of federal lands to join the occupation at the refuge.

For those that understand what is going on, and those who want to and feel a need to stand, were asking them to come, he said. We have a facility that we can house them in.

We will continue to monitor the situation for additional developments, Holm said in the statement. He did not immediately return a phone call seeking further details. No one answered a call to the phone number of the refuge.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward was critical of the protesters and their motives, and advised local residents to stay away from the refuge.

These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States.

Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, encompassing 292 square miles (75,630 hectares), was established in 1908 by President Theodore Roosevelt as a breeding ground for greater sandhill cranes and other native birds. The headquarters compound includes a visitor center, a museum and the refuge office.
Western nations on Sunday reacted to the growing tensions in the Middle East after Saudi Arabia executed a Shia priest provoking outrage from Iran with a mix of diplomacy and condemnation.

The United States on Sunday urged Middle east leaders to take measures to soothe tensions in the region after the execution of the cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, along with 46 others.

The execution was followed by an attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran, prompting Riyadh to sever ties.

Were aware that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has ordered the closure of Iranian diplomatic missions in the kingdom, US State Department spokesman John Kirby said about the diplomatic rift.

We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions.

France and Germany voiced their concerns over the growing tensions in the troubled region, and strongly condemned the execution as being deplorable.

France deeply deplores Saturdays mass execution, including that of Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr, the foreign ministry said in a statement, calling on leaders in the region to do everything to avoid exacerbating sectarian and religious tensions.

France opposes the death penalty in all places and circumstances, it said, in comments echoed by Berlin.

The execution of (imam) Nimr Baqr al-Nimr reinforces our current concerns about the growing tension... in the region, a German foreign ministry spokesman told AFP, saying the death penalty was an inhumane punishment that we reject in all circumstances.

Meanwhile the United Kingdom, which is careful to protect its deep trade and investment links with Saudi Arabia, also reiterated its opposition to the death penalty in a statement which avoided directly mentioning the executed cleric.

The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and in every country, a Foreign Office statement said, noting that Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond regularly raises human rights issues with his counterparts in countries of concern, including Saudi Arabia.

The diplomatic fallout come as Irans supreme leader said Saudi Arabia would face divine revenge for Saturdays execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, and as Western nations voiced concern about escalating sectarian tensions between Sunnis and Shia Muslims.

Nimr, 56, was a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in oil-rich eastern Saudi Arabia.

He was put to death along with 46 other people, Shia activists and convicted Sunni militants who the Saudi interior ministry says were involved in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed dozens in 2003 and 2004.

After his execution, a mob attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in its second city Mashhad.

Saudi authorities said they had asked their Iranian officials to ensure security at the embassy, but that Tehran failed to protect it.
Indian police were framing China by claiming that Chinese spies were out to assassinate Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama in Dharamshala, the state-run media said on Monday.

A state media report quoted government statements and said the allegations levelled by the Dalai Lama were a stunt to attract international attention.

The official website of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) said reports in the Indian media that China had dispatched spies to kill the Dalai Lama were completely false.

Earlier, the foreign ministry had denied that Beijing had deployed well trained female agents to kill the Tibetan leader.

China Tibet Online (tibet.cn), the official website of the TAR in western China, reported Monday that police in India area are framing China by deploying additional manpower to safeguard the Dalai Lama in McLeod Ganj, the nationalistic state-run tabloid, Global Times, reported.

It quoted a report in the Indian media that said ...a proposal has been made to the State Home Department to enhance security for the Dalai Lama in view of the threat perception to his life and there have been several instances in the recent past when alleged Chinese spies with maps and documents containing secret information have been arrested around his residence.

The report added Indian police had proposed the installation of high-resolution 360 degrees cameras, baggage scanners and sophisticated sabotage-checking equipment at the entrance of the Dalai Lamas residence.

A report on tibet.cn said, Claims that China is sending spies to assassinate Dalai Lama are groundless as he has been snubbed by many countries and has lost his international influence.

China accuses the Dalai Lama of fomenting separatism in TAR and has called him a wolf in sheeps clothing in the past. The Dalai Lama has been living in India since the late 1950s, when he and a group of Tibetans crossed the border.

In September, the Chinese government warned him to stop separatist activities.

On one side, Chinese authorities are warning the 14th Dalai Lama to stop separatist activities, and on the other they are urging him at his advanced age to make a choice that is good for the nation and the people, the government said.

More than 130 Tibetans have self-immolated in TAR and surrounding provinces in the past few years, demanding the return of the Dalai Lama and more religious and cultural rights.
Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis Monday as Riyadh and its Sunni Arab allies cut or reduced ties with Tehran, sparking global concern.

Following angry exchanges over Saudi Arabias execution Saturday of prominent Shia cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, Riyadh and then Bahrain and Sudan severed relations with Tehran, the main Shiite power.

As international worries mounted, US Secretary of State John Kerry called his Iranian and Saudi Arabian counterparts, US officials said.

We are urging calm and de-escalation. The situation needs to be calmed, one official told AFP.

London, Paris and Berlin also expressed concerns, amid fears the dispute could derail efforts to resolve conflicts across the Middle East, from Syria to Yemen.

Moscow offered to act as an intermediary and the UN envoy for Syria headed for Riyadh and Tehran in a bid to defuse tensions.

The crisis has also raised fears of an increase in sectarian violence, including in Iraq where two Sunni mosques were blown up overnight and two people killed.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran late on Sunday, giving diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom after protesters set fire to its embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad.

Bahrain and Sudan followed suit on Monday, and the United Arab Emirates also downgraded its ties, recalling its envoy from Tehran.

Sunni Arab nations accused Tehran of repeatedly meddling in their affairs, with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir saying Irans history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues.

Bahrain accused Iran of increasing flagrant and dangerous meddling in Gulf and Arab states, while the UAE said Iranian interference had reached unprecedented levels.

Some 80 Saudis, including diplomats and their families, had already left Iran and arrived in Dubai on Monday, diplomatic sources said.

The Saudi civil aviation authority said that all flights to and from Iran were being suspended.

Hugely concerning

Iranian officials denounced the Saudi moves as tactics that would inflame regional tensions.

Saudi Arabia sees not only its interests but also its existence in pursuing crises and confrontations and (it) attempts to resolve its internal problems by exporting them to the outside, foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaber Ansari said.

Iran and Saudi Arabia are on opposing ends of a range of crucial Middle East issues, including the war in Syria -- where Tehran backs President Bashar al-Assads regime and Riyadh supports rebel forces -- and Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite insurgents.

The UN peace envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was due in Riyadh later Monday for talks ahead of a visit to Iran.

A breakdown of relations between Riyadh and Tehran could have very serious consequences for the region, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The spike in tensions comes after Iran last year secured a historic nuclear deal with world powers led by the United States, sparking major concern in longtime US ally Riyadh.

The Cairo-based Arab League said it would hold an emergency meeting at Riyadhs request on Sunday to discuss the attacks on Saudi diplomatic premises and alleged Iranian interference.

British Prime Minister David Cameron called the tensions hugely concerning, Germany expressed dismay and called for the restoration of diplomatic ties, and France urged a de-escalation of tensions.

Oil prices fell, wiping out gains won earlier on Middle East supply risks, with US benchmark West Texas Intermediate down 53 cents to $36.51 a barrel.

Gulf stocks tumbled, with six of the regions seven exchanges down and the Saudi Tadaul All-Shares Index falling by 2.36%.

Irans President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate, on Sunday criticised those who attacked the diplomatic buildings, calling them radicals, and 50 suspects were arrested.

But the countrys supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Riyadh its rulers would face quick consequences for executing Nimr.

Some 3,000 demonstrators rallied in Tehran on Monday, chanting anti-Saudi slogans and burning US and Israeli flags.

Blasts, protests in Iraq

In Shiite-majority Iraq, top cleric Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani called Nimrs execution an unjust act of aggression, and on Monday blasts rocked two Sunni mosques, wounding at least three people.

A man living at one mosque in the town of Hilla was shot dead by unidentified gunmen and a Sunni muezzin -- who recites the Muslim call to prayer -- was shot dead in the city of Iskandariyah, security sources said.

Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said the perpetrators targeted mosques to sow sedition and undermine national unity.

Thousands of protesters rallied against Saudi Arabia in Baghdad, demanding that it sever relations with Riyadh.

The 56-year-old Nimr was a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in eastern Saudi Arabia, where Shiites have long complained of marginalisation.

He was among 47 men executed on Saturday, including other Shiite activists and Sunni militants the Saudi interior ministry said were involved in Al-Qaeda attacks that killed dozens in 2003 and 2004.

Executions have soared in Saudi Arabia since King Salman ascended the throne a year ago with 153 people put to death in 2015, nearly twice as many as in 2014, for crimes

ranging from murder to drug trafficking, armed robbery, rape and apostasy.
The Nepal government has arrested three activists for holding a referendum on an independent Madhes, the area in the southern Terai plains bordering India that has been rocked by protests over the countrys new constitution.

Sudipraj Kushwaha (26), Chandeshwar Mahato (60) and Bishnudev Chaudhary (35) are members of the Alliance for Independent Madhes (AIM), which seeks the separation of the region from Nepal to form an independent nation.

They were arrested last week from Siraha district for being involved in anti-national activities. State-run Rastriya Samachar Samiti quoted police official Shyam Gyawali as saying that a case had been filed against them in a local court.

A statement issued by AIM on Monday said the activists were arrested while holding a mock referendum and brought to Kathmandu.

In recent weeks, the government has intensified its brutal suppression against Madhesi activists through arbitrary arrests, torture and false charges, it said.

Other Madhesi parties are protesting against the new constitution and seeking changes to address what they call the marginalisation of people in region, but the AIM wants a sovereign Madhes.

The group is led by CK Raut, a PhD from Cambridge University who returned from the US in 2011. He has been arrested several times in the past two years on charges of sedition.

Raut and his followers maintain they conduct their protests in a non-violent manner. The AIM has been conducting training programmes for its cadres and holding a referendum on Madhes in recent weeks.

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The execution of a Shia cleric in Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia has laid bare the divisions now gripping the Middle East, as protesters on Sunday set fire to the kingdoms embassy in Tehran and demonstrators took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan.

The mass execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 others - the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades - illustrates the kingdoms new aggressiveness under King Salman.

During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shia rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shia power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.

Irans top leader warned Saudi Arabia on Sunday of divine revenge over al-Nimrs death, while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting terrorism in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the US and the European Union sought to calm the region.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabias Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia put al-Nimr and three other Shia dissidents to death, along with a number of al-Qaida militants. Al-Nimrs execution drew protests from Shias around the world, who backed his call for reform and wider political freedom for their sect.

While the split between Sunnis and Shias dates back to the early days of Islam and disagreements over the successor to Prophet Muhammad, those divisions have only grown as they intertwine with regional politics today, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia vying to be the Mideasts top power.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Irans backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shia militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran also has backed the Shia rebels currently fighting in Yemen known as the Houthis.

Hezbollah supporters raise their hands as their leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, speaks via a video link. Nasrullah strongly condemned Saudi Arabia for executing Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr along with 46 others. (AP Photo)

Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned al-Nimrs execution, saying Sunday the cleric neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism.

Irans powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saudi Arabias medieval act of savagery would lead to the downfall of the countrys monarchy.

Saudi Arabias Foreign Ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism.

In Tehran, a protest outside the Saudi Embassy early Sunday quickly grew violent. Protesters threw stones and gasoline bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building ablaze, according to General Hossein Sajedinia, the countrys top police official, the semi-official Tasnim news agency said.

Forty people were arrested and investigators were pursuing other suspects, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabias execution of al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as extremists.

It is unjustifiable, he said in a statement.

Hundreds of protesters later demonstrated in front of the embassy and in a central Tehran square. Street signs near the embassy were replaced with ones bearing the slain sheikhs name.

Across the region, protesters also took to the streets.

In Bahrain, police fired tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators on Sitra Island, south of the capital, Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shia protesters chanted against Saudi Arabias ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrains ruling Al Khalifa family.

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called al-Nimr the martyr, the holy warrior, while protests erupted from Turkey to India to Pakistan.

Western powers have sought to calm the tensions. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the US condemned the embassy attack and called on all sides to avoid any actions that would further heighten tensions in the region.

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats, according to a statement.

The clerics execution has threatened to complicate Saudi Arabias relationship with the Shiite-led government in Iraq, where the Saudi Embassy is preparing to formally reopen for the first time in nearly 25 years. On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.

Iran and Saudi Arabia summoned each others envoys for consultations, and Saudi allies Egypt and the United Arab Emirates summoned Iranian officials in their capitals over the Tehran embassy assault.

Meanwhile, al-Nimrs family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya in the kingdoms al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia.

The sheikhs brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.
Afghan special forces killed a group of insurgents holed up in a house in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif late on Monday, bringing to an end a 24-hour siege following the insurgents attack on the nearby Indian consulate.

The soldiers killed the three insurgents who had shut themselves into a large house near the consulate, said Abdul Razaq Qaderi, deputy police chief of Balkh province.

He said an investigation was under way to try to identify the men and those behind the attack.

Some local media reports, however, put the number of insurgents killed at four.

Eight members of the security forces were wounded in the gun battle which followed the attack on the consulate. The Indian ambassador said all the consulate staff were safe.

The attack began late on Sunday after gunmen tried unsuccessfully to break into the consulate, taking advantage of the fact that many people were watching the final of a football championship between Afghanistan and India.

After a heavy exchange of fire that went on until well into the night, security forces suspended operations before resuming in the morning, firing rocket-propelled grenades and heavy machine guns at the building.

The area is sealed off and we are proceeding cautiously and making all possible efforts to protect the lives of those in the area. The attackers will be killed, the provincial governor, Atta Mohammad Noor, said on his Facebook page.

Gunfire rang out as helicopters circled overhead in a residential area of the city.

Noor blamed enemies of peace and stability for the attack, which came amid renewed efforts to lower tension between India and its rival Pakistan and restart peace talks with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

But there was no more concrete indication of who may have been responsible.

Last month, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kabul and Islamabad on the same day, underlining the drive to improve stability and overcome the longstanding hostility in the region.

However, Sundays attack and the assault in Pathankot underlined how difficult that process is likely to be.

In 2014, Indias consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat was hit by heavily armed insurgents including suicide bombers, one of a series of attacks on Indian diplomatic stations in Afghanistan over previous years.

Pakistan has long been suspicious of Indias engagement with Afghanistan and its diplomatic presence there.

In Kabul, two suicide attacks on the same day highlighted how fragile the security situation in the country has become.
A document entitled "About the Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation," signed by Russian President Valdimir Putin, names, for the first time, the U.S. as one of the threats to Russia's national security.

"About the Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation", is a successor to a 2009 document, that had not anticipated any threat perception from the United States or NATO and had been endorsed by then- President Dmitry Medvedev, the current prime minister. The latest appraisal is a clear indication of how relationships between the West and Russia have deteriorated over the past few years.

"The strengthening of Russia happens against the background of new threats to the national security, which has complex and interrelated nature," the document reads, according to Reuters.

The downturn in relations was accelerated by the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia in March 2014. The U.S. and the E.U. reacted by imposing sanctions against Russian individuals and companies. This move was countered by Moscow by imposing sanctions on the entry of food items from the E.U. The document states that the United States supported an "anti-constitutional coup d'etat in Ukraine."

The document states that Russia's independent policy, "both international and domestic" has caused "counteraction from the USA and its allies, which are striving to retain their dominance in global affairs," reported Business Insider.

The document concludes that this reaction from the United States will probably lead to "political, economical, military and informational pressure" on Russia, reported the New York daily News.

Russian strategy, vis-a-vis, its national security, will be planned by different state bodies, on the basis of this document.

@ 2022 HNGN, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
An armed group of militants seized a building belonging to the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge located 30 miles southeast of Burns, Ore following an otherwise peaceful protest on Saturday. The group pledges to occupy the post as long as necessary in order to secure the fair treatment of two ranchers facing prison time.

The group is protesting the fate of Dwight Hammond, 73, and his son, Steven Hammond, 46, who have been convicted on arson charges and are scheduled to report to a San Pedro, Calif. federal prison on Monday.

Law enforcement officers urge residents to keep clear of the area. "A collective effort from multiple agencies is currently working on a solution," Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said, according to The Oregonian. "Please maintain a peaceful and united front and allow us to work through this situation."

The "front," however, does not appear "united." Members of the Nevada Bundy family joined with other militiamen to occupy the building shortly after roughly 300 marchers demonstrated in Burns.

"This refuge-it has been destructive to the people of the country and to the people of the area," said Ammon Bundy, son of anti-government activist Cliven Bundy, according to CNN. "People need to be aware that we've become a system where government is actually claiming and using and defending people's rights, and they are doing that against the people."

The building that the group has taken over is unoccupied. Bundy said in a news conference on Sunday that the militia had no intention to incite violence or act aggressively. He encouraged other individuals across the U.S. to support their cause and, if violence did occur, it would be of the governments initiative, according to The Washington Post.

The group is not holding any hostages. They claim to be acting within their rights, stating that the creation of the Malheur National Refuge was an unconstitutional act that wrongly removed local ranchers from their lands. The militia also says that they are prepared to hold the site for years.

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Search and rescue workers have found the body of a male camper who went missing early New Year's Day at Golden Ears Provincial Park in British Columbia, according to The Vancouver Sun.

"We can confirm a male who had been reported to police has been found by Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue," RCMP spokesman Dan Herbranson said in a text message.

"Sadly the male did not survive. (The) coroner has been advised and, given the fact foul play has been ruled out, will be handling the case."

Wade Bathurst, 39, was last seen around 2:30 a.m. Friday at a campsite where he had been celebrating with family and friends. He ventured off from the group to make a phone call and then set off fireworks on a nearby beach, police said, CTV News reported.

With conditions "well below freezing," search and rescue officials feared for the missing man's safety, while a canine unit had been called to aid in a search focused along the shoreline of Alouette Lake.

A rescue worker found the man's fully-clothed body around 10 a.m. PT Saturday morning, according to CBC News.

Rick Laing of Ridge Meadows Search and Rescue said that the body was found in the water and unlit fireworks were found onshore.

"It's unclear what happened or why he was in the water," Laing added.

More information from the B.C. Coroners Service is expected in the coming days.

Golden Ears Provincial Park is located in Maple Ridge, about 50 kilometers east of Vancouver.

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The National Emergency System, or Sinae, reported on Saturday the number of displaced persons in the four provinces on Uruguay's west coast due to severe flooding has risen to 23, 571, according to Fox News Latino.

The Sinae report says that 2,322 were evacuated and 21,249 abandoned their dwellings without government aid.

Heavy rainfalls recently caused the Uruguay River to overflow, and especially its Cuaresma tributary, which runs through the northern city of Atiga. The department of Artigas was the worst affected area with 10,545 evacuated, while 6,701 in Paysandu and 5,804 in Salto were also forced from their homes, while two people were reported dead, according to officals, according to Yahoo News.

The floods caused significant damage and displacement in Bella Union and Rio Negro regions as well, according to TeleSUR.

In the city of Bella Union the Uruguay river level is now at 8.7 meters, 2 meters above the 6.5 meter freeboard, while the river currently flows at 9.1 meters in Paysandu, where it's normally around 5.5 meters.

The army has been providing support to the evacuees stationed in numerous makeshift campsites, temporary shelters and private homes. One evacuee, Griselda, who is currently staying in an emergency area in Paysandu, told El Pais the army bring food baskets consisting of oil, flour, noodles and sugar, according to TeleSur.

Sinae warned that once river levels were back to normal, the population will still be at risk due to the presence of bacteria and the demands forced upon the health care system, stating that "returning home can only be done without risk after the cleaning and disinfection of the affected areas have been carried out," according to Yahoo News.

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In the early days of 2016 and still in the wake of the last election, commentators are already eagerly making predictions about what Canada can expect from Tom Mulcair and the NDP this year and in the future. Though Mulcair plans to stay on as party leader, it has yet to be seen whether he can manage to retain his spot after his party lost 59 seats in the last election, causing a downgrade in their status from the official opposition to third-party.

Mulcair claimed in November that he plans to stay on as party leader and believes he will have the backing of his party at the leadership review scheduled for April in Edmonton, according to Macleans.

"The party membership has always been there for me and I expect them to be there in April," said Mulcair.

A more recent response by Mulcair when questioned about his plans to remain on as leader of the NDP was more coy. "We're the New Democratic Party and in the end it's up to the members," said Mulcair, in an interview with Macleans in late December. "I continue to work hard and tirelessly across Canada."

When questioned about his party's relevance to Canadians given the Liberal's socially progressive agenda in an interview conducted with Mulcair for the National Post, Mulcair responded that his party has the important job of keeping pressure on the Liberals to ensure that they follow through with their ambitious promises.

During a segment on Global's "The West Block," a panel of experts discussed the fate of Mulcair in 2016 and predicted that his days as party leader are numbered.

"You know, 2019 is a long time from now. He will be older. He will be in his mid-60's," said Mark Kennedy, Parliamentary Bureau Chief for the Ottawa Citizen, on the Global segment. "He will have been seen as a loser in the previous campaign and people are going to be at his throat."

On the other hand, Michael Den Tandt from The Observer predicts that the NDP will stick with Mulcair, regardless of the party's poor showing in the 2015 election. "New Democrats have a tradition of sticking with leaders through several election cycles," claims Den Tandt, in his comment piece for The Observer. "They are also, to state the obvious, accustomed to not winning."

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Saudi Arabia has severe its diplomatic ties with Iran, state-run Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported. "We have decided to severe our diplomatic relations with a terror-sponsor country and we urge all countries to consider seriously whether they could tolerate sharing relations with a terror-sponsor country," Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir announced on Sunday, according to SPA.

Al-Jubeir's announcement comes a day after angry Iranian protestors stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran following the execution of prominent Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

Video shows protesters inside Saudi embassy in Tehran pic.twitter.com/DEmsNLI6ZG  Sobhan Hassanvand (@Hassanvand) January 2, 2016

"The Iranian regime is the last regime in the world that could accuse others of supporting terrorism, considering that (Iran) is a state that sponsors terror, and is condemned by the U.N. and many countries," al-Jubeir said in a statement, according to Arab news. "Iran's criticism of the execution of terrorists and its hostile statements are blatant interference in the Kingdom's internal affairs."

The Saudi Kingdom executed al-Nimr and 46 others last week. Forty-five of the convicts were Saudi nationals while two were foreign nationals, a Chadian and an Egyptian. They were convicted of plotting and carrying out serial bomb blasts in the kingdom, as HNGN previously reported. The cleric was also accused of fuelling anti-government protests between 2011 and 2013.

Al-Nimr's execution sparked strong reactions from Shia Iran and clerics as well as from international rights organizations and Saudi critics. "Sheikh Nimr will undoubtly receive the grace of God and the hands of divine vengeance will surely snatch - by their necks - those cruel individuals who took his life and this is a source of comfort for us," Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said after the execution, according to RT.

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The Boston Globe newspaper is confronting an issue with the distribution of the print version of the newspaper to all of its home subscribers. Since the Globe shifted to a new vendor on Dec. 28, several subscribers have not received their copies of the paper. The Globe has taken measures to resolve this issue, including involving other newspaper staff to improve distribution.

The Globe appointed a new vendor to deliver all of the printed copies of the newspaper. The new vendor, ACI Media Group, commenced its operations on Dec. 28. It had a new team of 600 people that were supposed to go on assigned routes to the homes of subscribers to deliver the newspapers. As this team had not gone on these routes before, the team experienced trouble in being able to make the correct deliveries, according to CNN Money.

The result was that hundreds of subscribers did not receive their copies of the newspaper since that time. A number of these subscribers then started calling the Globe office to lodge their complaints. The Globe customer care and phone system ended up having to deal with a volume of calls that the system was not designed to handle in the first place. The Globe has strengthened its customer care and support unit since that time, according to the Huffington Post.

This situation appears to have improved greatly in recent days. The Globe has said that it will refund money to home subscribers that did not receive their copies of the newspapers on those specific days.

The Globe has nearly 115,000 home delivery subscribers for the print version on weekdays. For the Sunday edition, that number goes up to 205,000, according to USA Today.

A professor of journalism, Bill Mitchell, was quoted as saying: "(Considering that the bulk of the revenue for papers like the Globe still comes from print) ... it's mystifying that the Globe would move ahead with such a shift with apparently so little oversight of the new vendor," according to CNN Money.

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Hawaii usually sees a large number of humpback whales enter its waters starting in December and continuing through the winter months. This year however, experts are worried by the looming absence of the whales. Only a few have been sighted and the numbers are not the nearly 10,000 that are seen every year. This could seriously affect Hawaii's whale tourism sector.

Humpback whales visit Hawaii during the winter months and head back to northern waters during summer, when they are near the polar north feeding on the marine life and food available in the seas there. So, in a manner similar to several other species of birds, fish and other animals, they feed themselves during the summer to help them through the winter months. During the winter, they migrate to warmer waters in order to mate and give birth. This is a part of the migratory pattern that they have internalized into their systems, according to the San Diego Top News Examiner.

Humpback whales are also a significant part of the Hawaiian economy. There are a large number of marine tour operators and guides that rely on the economy around the humpback whales. Indeed, a significant number of the thousands of tourists that land in Hawaii during the winter holiday periods are curious and want to see the whales that visit the islands, according to the Christian Science Monitor.

The delay of coming of the whales means that the people and communities that depend on the whale tourism industry are all affected.

Experts have wondered about what the potential causes of the delay might be. Among the theories are that it could be a result of the success of the species itself because there are now many more whales than there used to be before, they are therefore they are apparently fighting among themselves for the same finite quantities of food. Another theory is that the El Nino effect has made the northern waters warmer than before - and hence there has been a delay in their journeys south to start their mating activities (and to giving birth to their young), according to The Guardian.

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A McDonald's employee was fatally stabbed in the parking lot of one of the chain's Bronx, N.Y. locations early Monday, police say.

Police reports indicate that the victim, identified as 28-year-old Adam Garcia, was stabbed in the chest at the restaurant located on 5765 Broadway in Kingsbridge at around 4:30 a.m., reported FOX 5 New York. The stabbing was allegedly prompted by an argument between the attacker and Garcia, after which the suspect was escorted out of the restaurant but returned later and stabbed him.

Police were able to respond quickly after receiving the 911 call since the McDonald's location at Broadway and 236th Street is located directly across the street from NYPD's 50th Precinct.

Upon arrival, they found the victim with multiple stab wounds to the torso in serious condition. He was rushed to New York Presbyterian Hospital/Allen Pavillion to be treated for his injuries, but was later pronounced dead, according to PIX 11.

What caused the suspect to get kicked out of the restaurant remains unclear and the McDonald's location remains closed as police investigate.

In the meantime, police are searching for the subject, who is believed to be homeless, described as a Hispanic in his mid-30's, reported the New York Daily News. He was last seen wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt and blue jeans.

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The Indian consulate in the Afghan city of Mazar-i-sharif came under attack from unknown armed attackers at night on Sunday. After the initial attacks were repulsed, the attackers found their way into a building in close proximity to the Indian consulate building and have continued to mount attacks from inside that building.

The attackers first tried to storm the building by firing rockets and other heavy weapons. After these initial attacks were repulsed, the Afghan security forces started fighting the armed assailants. They engaged in long-drawn gun battles with these fighters for most of Monday. It is not certain when the situation may be resolved completely. The Afghan forces have made it a policy to proceed slowly and with caution in their operation because they would like to minimize civilian or other casualties as much as possible, according to the Times of India.

The Indian consulate has confirmed that no diplomatic staff or anyone else inside the compound of the consulate is dead or missing. The staff is, however, trapped inside the building until the fighting is over or the armed attackers are defeated.

No group has claimed responsibility for these attacks. Even the number of attackers involved is uncertain. A Taliban spokesperson denied that any of their fighters were involved in this attack, according the Voice of America News.

This is not the first time that Indian diplomatic installations have come under armed attack in Afghanistan. The Indian consulates in the cities of Jalalabad and Heart were attacked in 2013 and 2014, respectively. The latest attack also comes against the backdrop of increasing Indian involvement in Afghanistan. In the last few weeks, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in Kabul to inaugurate the new Parliament complex in Kabul. The Indian state has built the complex as a gesture of its friendship with the Afghan people and state, according to First Post.

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A North Carolina police officer was shot during a traffic stop in Winston-Salem after getting into an altercation with a suspect early Monday morning, authorities say.

The incident occurred a little before 2 a.m. as Officer Nicholas Wayne Powell was conducting routine traffic enforcement along Highway 421 South, reported CBS's North Carolina affiliate WRAL-TV. During the traffic enforcement, Powell stopped a white Nissan Sentra for speeding and ordered all three men inside the vehicle to step outside.

Police Chief Barry Rountree also reported that Powell smelled marijuana and had requested backup while he and his partner, Adam Gardner, prepared to search the vehicle for any drugs.

After stepping outside, one of the suspects, identified as 26-year-old Gary Lynn, ran back inside the vehicle in an attempt to drive off, reported the Winston-Salem Journal. Lynn managed to get into the vehicle and drive off, but not before Powell reached the driver's side of the vehicle sparking a physical confrontation between the two.

Powell was still either in or holding onto the car as the two struggled. During that time Lynn pulled out a handgun and shot Powell multiple times in an undisclosed location while also shooting himself in the process.

This scene lasted for a quarter of a mile until the car stopped and other officers arrived to stabilize the situation, according to NBC's North Carolina affiliate WXII-TV. Afterwards, Powell and Lynn were taken to Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center to be treated for non life-threatening injuries.

Traffic in the eastbound lanes of Business 40 near the scene was routed to Highway 52 South as police investigated.

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If you Google "Donald Trump" plus "dictator," you will get more than one million hits. As you might imagine, almost none of them are favorable, especially from the folks on the left. Univision anchor Jorge Ramos was among the first to spot Trump's inner Mussolini. After being shut down by Trump at a press conference in August, he lamented, "Those are things you see in dictatorships, not in America."

"The Daily Show" host Trevor Noah compared Trump to potentates Idi Amin and Robert Mugabe and teased America - with the impunity allowed a progressive of color - to "elect its first African president." The headline of Barbara Hammond's piece in the Huffington Post cut right to the chase. "Donald Trump, Dictator?" she asked. Not surprisingly, Hammond answered in the affirmative, adding the explanation, common in media quarters, "Trump and his followers take the prize for ignorance of our constitution."

One would think that our progressive friends, indignant as they are about Trump's potential for constitutional mischief, would insist that President Barack Obama honor that venerable document. This, however, presumes much too much consistency from the Obama faithful. To the degree that they have noticed Obama's assumption of imperial powers, they have applauded it.

In early 2014 New Yorker editor and Obama fanboy David Remnick wrote about his experience accompanying Obama on a west coast fund raising tour. At one stop, when Obama walked out on stage, "It happened again: another heckler broke into Obama's speech. A man in the balcony repeatedly shouted out, 'Executive order!,' demanding that the president bypass Congress with more unilateral actions." Obama confirmed to the audience that, yes, people did want him to sign more executive orders and "basically nullify Congress." At that point, wrote Remnick, "Many in the crowd applauded their approval. Yes! Nullify it!" These were not wild-eyed tent dwellers on Wall or some lesser street. These were the Democrats' educated base, the same people who worry that Trump and his ignorant followers will trample the Constitution.

In the two years since, none of the president's many and consequential executive orders - open borders, anyone? - have caused his fans to rethink their fondness for bypassing Congress, even on constitutionally grounded issues such as the right to bear arms.

"We may not have a Congress that's willing to work with us on this right now," said Obama recently on the subject of gun control. "So the rest of us will have to do what we can." In reality, "the rest of us" means President Barack Obama. Obama doesn't see it that way. "That's the work of citizenship," he said last week, "to stand up and fight for the change that we seek." No, Mr. President, the only relevant "we" are the people's representatives in Congress.

As I write this, the same pundits that fret anxiously about a Trump dictatorship wait breathlessly for Obama's promised executive order on gun control. The reporting on this imminent executive action betrays not the least anxiety about dictatorial usurpation. Politico talks about Obama's "bid to assert himself" as a way to "make progress on curbing gun violence." CNN writes approvingly that Obama's executive actions "would fulfill a promise by the president to take further unilateral steps the administration says could help curb gun deaths." Who could possibly be opposed to self-assertion, progress and the curbing of gun deaths, even if done unilaterally?

If the current crop of progressives is OK with the selective demolition of the Constitution, old-school civil libertarians are not. Long time Village Voice columnist Nat Hentoff spotted trouble coming early. "I am beginning to think that this guy is a phony," he told an interviewer. "Obama seems to have no firm principles that I can discern that he will adhere to." Hentoff, who had been a sharp critic of George W. Bush, thought Obama much more dangerous. "Obama is a bad man in terms of the Constitution," he said. "The irony is that Obama was a law professor at the University of Chicago. He would, most of all, know that what he is doing weakens the Constitution." Hentoff said this in December 2009. Obama still had seven years of weakening ahead of him and his fans seven more years of applauding.

---

Opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessary represent those of Headlines and Global News.

An independent writer and producer, Jack Cashill has written 11 books since 2000, nine of which have been featured on C-SPAN's "Book TV." He has also produced a score of documentaries for regional PBS and national cable channels. Jack has written for Fortune, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal and The Weekly Standard. He has a Ph.D. from Purdue University in American studies.

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Mayor Gisela Mota was assassinated at her residence, hours after taking over as the new mayor of Temixco, Mexico. Mota, 33, had been sworn in on Jan. 1 and was beaten and shot in the head the following day.

Officials feel the cause of her murder is organized crime, which is prevalent in the city. Mota was described as "a strong and brave woman who on taking office as mayor, declared that her fight against crime would be frontal and direct," by her party, the leftist Democratic Revolution Party, according to the Daily Mail.

After Mota's death, two suspects were killed in a gun battle with the police, while three others, a 32-year-old woman, an 18-year-old man and a minor have been arrested.

"One theory could be that it was a warning to the other mayors. If you don't cooperate with organized crime, look at what will happen to you. It's to scare them," said Ramon Castro Castro, the Roman Catholic bishop of Cuernavaca, giving his opinion on the reason behind Mota's violent death, reports FOX News.

Morelos' state prosecutor, Javier Perez Duron, announced during a press conference that Mota's killers would face "the full weight of the law," reports Los Angeles Times.

Meanwhile, Graco Ramirez, the governor of the state of Morelos, announced three days of official mourning following Mota's death.

This is not the first gang related political killing in Mexico. , about a 100 local elected officials have been killed in the country over the past decade, according to the Association of Local Mexican Authorities.

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A Virginia woman was sentenced to serve 18 years for first-degree murder and use of a firearm after she fatally shot her mother then sent a picture of the body to her father after he said he didn't believe her and dismissed her confession as a prank.

The incident occurred two years ago on Black Friday of 2013 while Rachel Hutson, who was 19 at the time, was at home with her mother, reported the New York Post. During a court hearing, she admitted to the crime, saying at first that she had planned to kill herself but decided against it since she didn't want her mother to find the body.

Instead, she decided to shoot her terminally ill mother. She recalled that when she first aimed the shotgun at her mother, the bedridden woman thought Hutson wasn't serious and warned her that she would be in trouble when her father, who was out shopping at the time, got home. Proving it wasn't a joke, Hutson shot and killed her mother.

Sometime later, her father, Donald, called the house to talk to his wife, but Rachel picked up instead. Rachel told her father what had transpired but he wrote it off as a prank and hung up. That was when Rachel sent a picture of her mother's body to his phone, giving him little choice but to believe her, according to the Virginian-Pilot.

"That's when I realized this is probably real," Donald testified in court on Nov. 10.

After the receiving the photo, Donald was unable to call police for 90 minutes because she threatened to kill herself, reported the Mirror. He calmed her down and contacted police who later arrived on the scene and arrested her.

Speaking in court, Rachel, now 21, said the murder was more of an afterthought since she had initially intended to kill herself due to ongoing depression.

"I felt like I was just nothing, and nobody really needed us," she admitted.

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In a chilling new video released by the ISIS, five shackled prisoners, alleged "British spies," are shown kneeling in front of a masked gunman speaking in a British accent, calling David Cameron an "imbecile" while a young child with a British accent points out where the executions will take place. "We will kill the kuffar [non believers] over there," says the child, according to the Express.

The gunman makes a long statement directed to the British PM and the United Kingdom, saying, "This is a message to David Cameron. Oh slave of the White House, oh mule of the Jews. How strange it is that we find ourselves today hearing an insignificant leader like you challenge the might of the Islamic State. How strange it is that the leader of a small island threatens us with a handful of planes. One would have thought you would have learned the lessons of your pathetic master in Washington and his failed campaign against Islamic State."

"It seems that you, just like your predecessors Blair and Brown, are just as arrogant and foolish. In fact David, you are more of an imbecile. Only an imbecile would dare to wage war against a land where the law of Allah reigns supreme. And where the people live under the justice and security of the Sharia," he continues.

"Only an imbecile would dare to anger a people who love death the way that you love your life. Oh British Government. Oh people of Britain. Know that today your citizenship are under our feet. And that the Islamic State, our country, is here to stay. And we will continue to wage jihad, break borders and one day invade your land where we will rule by the sharia," says the masked executioner, who is being called the "New Jihadi John," reports Heavy.

The militant rants for some more time, concluding by saying, "You will lose this war, as you lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. But this time, when you lose, your children will inherit your defeat and remember you as the fools who thought they could fight the Islamic State," reports Independent.

The video has been released in the aftermath of reports of a British unmanned Reaper drone killing a number of ISIS extremists on Dec. 25. The drone strike was authorised after Cameron won a vote to allow the bombing campaign to be extended from Iraq into Syria to target the ISIS.

"We are aware of the video and are studying its contents," said a Foreign Office spokesman, according to The Mirror.

Meanwhile, the young boy has been identified as the son of jihadi bride Grace "Khadija" Dare from Lewisham, Southeast London. The confirmation was given to The Telegraph by Henry Dare, Khadija's father. "I was surprised when I saw the picture. It's definitely him. Of course I'm worried but there's nothing I can do now. I'm not angry - I would never have expected it. I just hope someone is trying to bring them back," said Dare, a minicab driver, reports The Telegraph.

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Philadelphia's annual New Year's Day Mummers Parade has come under fire from critics and city officials including the incoming mayor after participants engaged in blackface and mocked gay and transgender people, according to ABC News. The parade, which has been running for 116 years and is said to be "Philadelphia's Mardi Gras," has annually been criticized for its lack of diversity and its failure to be accessible for the underrepresented black, Latino and LGBT portions of its communities, according to NBC Philadelphia.

While the organizers officially banned blackface performances in 1964 it is still a prevalent issue in the parade and was featured this year by groups in ponchos and their faces painted brown, which were criticized by the Latino group Juntos as "appalling," according to the Guardian.

The parade also featured the Finnegan New Year's Brigade, a local comic club that performed an act parodying Caitlyn Jenner's transition to presenting as a woman, according to NBC Philadelphia.

The act included members dressing as Jenner and signs being displayed with her image on a Froot Loops box, according to the Associated Press. One member of the group was caught on video shouting expletives and homophobic slurs, according to NBC Philadelphia.

The groups' actions have been criticized by Mayor-elect Jim Kenney, who tweeted that "it was bad. Hurtful to many Philadelphians. Our Trans Citizens do not deserve this type of satire/insult. #Berespectful."

Members of the group were also accused of harassment and assault towards a gay man who was walking his dog near the parade, according to the Guardian.

Group captain Mike Inemer responded to the outrage by condemning the member left on video and banning him from the group in a press release. He did not apologize for the Jenner skit, claiming that the parade's history has always included cross-dressing, according to ABC News. Other leaders of various Mummers Parade groups stated that the parade "categorically rejects expressions of hate and bigotry."

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Sweden is tightening security around its borders by introducing identity checks for commuters coming from Denmark and Germany in an attempt to reduce the number of refugees arriving in the country. Initially, travelers had free access to Sweden when travelling across the Danish border by train, bus or ferry, reported CNN.

However, now they will be required to exit the vehicle and show a valid form of ID before they allowed entry. Anyone who fails to present a valid form of identification will not be granted entry and be turned back.

The new policy caused some delays early Monday, prompting Danish officials to criticize the move, suggesting Sweden pay for the cost of the ID checks. Nonetheless, Denmark issued "balanced" border controls of its own, which it says had little choice to do following Sweden's actions.

"When other Nordic countries seal their borders it can have major consequences for Denmark," Danish PM Lars Lokke Rasmussen said, according to AFP. "It can lead to more asylum seekers."

These checks, which Rasmussen says will only be in place for 10 days before they may be extended, consist of spot checks by police on travelers crossing the border from Germany, but wouldn't have much impact on "ordinary" Danes and Germans to crossing the border, according to the Associated Press.

"We are simply reacting to a decision made in Sweden. We are introducing temporary border controls but in a balanced way. This is not a happy moment at all," he said.

Sweden and Denmark have not seen eye-to-eye with one another ever since the European migrant crisis began to unfold in 2015. An estimated 1 million migrants arrived in Europe that year, and while Denmark has received just 18,000 asylum-seekers, Sweeden has received over 160,000 marking the highest proportion per capita in the European Union.

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Armed with a machete and bacon, a Florida man vandalized a mosque in the community of Titusville. Police say the culprit is still on the loose.

The man was detected by security cameras of The Islamic Society of Central Florida Masjid Al-Munin Mosque around 11 p.m. on Friday. The video shows him entering the mosque, pulling a machete out of his bag, and using it to cause damage to the mosque. Bacon - which cannot be eaten according to the teachings of the Prophet Mohammed - was left on the doorstep.

"We are calling for a local, state, and federal hate crime investigation of the vandalism and attempted desecration of this Titusville mosque - the latest such incident in a recent spike in attacks on Muslim houses of worships nationwide," said Rasha Mubarak, the Orlando regional coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), according to Central Florida News.

The Muslim community of Titusville, 40 miles east of Orlando, has not previously experienced an attack of this kind. "You can't help but feel this is a hateful act," said Muhammad Musri, who oversees 10 mosques for the Islamic Society of Central Brevard, according to Florida Today. "All of the negative media, the politicians who want to ban Muslims, close mosques ... messages like that motivate people who have an illness in their heart."

CAIR reported 71 "mosque incidents" from January to Dec. 16 of 2015. Twenty-nine of those incidents included damage or vandalism of some kind. The CAIR press release says this is the highest rate of anti-Muslim crime ever recorded.

Two similar events of vandalism using pork products occurred in recent weeks. Surveillance cameras caught a man in Las Vegas wrapping raw bacon around the handles of a mosque on Dec. 17. A severed pig's head was left on the doorstep of a Philadelphia mosque on Dec. 7.

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The multiple recent terrorist attacks in diverse places such as London, England; Istanbul, Turkey; San Bernardino, California; Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, and Tel Aviv, Israel along with the major tourism threats in places such as Ankara, Brussels and Munich and New York, ought to be a warning to the tourism industry that it is entering into a new and dangerous age. In the past, most tourism centers assumed that either they would not be targets of a terrorism attack or that the attack would be against a highly specific and well-known target. Classically it was assumed that we could almost predict which areas would be most prone to terrorism attacks. The prevailing paradigm argued that terrorists were most likely to strike locations that were high on the following scales:

 They were centers where a great deal of economic damage would occur. They were centers could generate mass casualties They were places that had some form of iconic significance They were places that were most likely to be covered by the media.

Scholars and security specialists based this paradigm on attacks such as those in New York, London, and Madrid. The security and tourism industries however did not consider locations such as in the Middle East as being relevant to tourism. Both the multiple incidents in Europe and the United States creates enough anomalies to cause tourism scholars and practitioners to question if the former paradigm does not need revisions and updating. Tourism Tidbits presents this month some of the new realities that tourism professionals need to consider. Among these are:

Tourism is often a magnet for terrorists. Not only does tourism provide many "weak targets: but tourism values are the antithesis of terrorists' values. Furthermore the tourism industry is to large and diverse that it provides multiple targets for those seeking to create economic chaos.

The fear factor combined with terrorism's unpredictability, may well impact world tourism and the world's economy. Terrorists to do not need to carry out a successful attack, they merely need to create a sense of fear. Although business people will continue to travel, the leisure passenger may well pull back. People well may become afraid not only to travel to major tourism centers such as London and Paris, but also to less famous or popular destinations.

Despite the publicity and the media, statistically terrorism still strikes relatively few people and even fewer tourists. The death of anyone is tragic, but a visitor is more likely to die from a road accident of a safety hazard then from an act of terrorism. On the other hand, it is rare for the media to spend a great deal of time on road accidents. Tourism centers need to develop good media plans and have them in reserve so that if an incident should occur they are not developing a plan at the last minute.

Attacks against non-tourist specific locations still act as passive attacks on tourism. Terrorism is based on fear and the greater the public fears being away from home, the more precarious is the tourism industry's situation. Terrorists do not need to target a tourism industry actively to do it damage, a passive attack or a failed, but publicized attack is still a success from the terrorists' perspective.

Terrorism is no longer confined to major tourism centers. The California terrorism incident demonstrates that terrorism can occur in what may have previously been considered unlikely locales. This means that areas that were considered "safe" need to also develop counter terrorism plans.

Due to high levels of publicity a terrorist attack in any one location raises traveler anxiety levels around the world. Due to the fact that terrorism is now a worldwide phenomena, an attack in any one location means that visitors are not only increasingly fearful but that these attacks may cause people to cease to travel or to travel less, thus impacting the entire industry.

Think of unlikely scenarios. Terrorists do not only need to use deadly force, they can create a tourism crisis by means of cyber attacks, social media or simply creating rumors that create fear within the traveling public. In today's media interconnected world news spreads at extremely rapid speeds and can cause fear and cancellations not only at a particular locale but across the globe.

Here are a few things that tourism professionals can do to be prepared.

Tourism professionals need to obtain their news from various sources. Terrorism breeds confusion especially in smaller locales. It is essential that the tourism professional have a wide gamut of information and that he or she does not allow personal political feelings to mix with hard news and facts. Terrorists want the tourism industry professionals to become politicized, and thus it is easer for them to destroy the tourism industry.

Have a tourism-terrorism task force in place. This task force should include not only tourism savvy members of law enforcement, but also medical personnel, media specialists, hoteliers and restaurateurs, transportation specialists and professionals, and community political leadership. It is essential that there be collegial trust between the teem members. The better your ability to work with each other the better a crisis can be handled or adverted.

Create new ways for people to provide insights and information without appearing to be bigoted. The last few years have shown tourism centers to be not only culturally sensitive but also places that stress cultural sensitivity. Tourism is the antithesis of xenophobia and the industry strives to judge each person as an individual and not by his or her ethnicity, race, or religion. This sense of tolerance, however, has caused many people to fear informing law enforcement of questionable actions by a particular individual, out of a mistaken belief that acting on the motto: "see something/say something" may make the individual seem intolerant or bigoted. It behooves the tourism industry to help people understand that it may be better to be overcautious than overly sensitive.

Invest in law enforcement and private security professionals. In too many locations police are over worked, under trained and under paid. The 19th century concept of law enforcement being all muscle and few brains is no longer valid. Today we need men and women who are professionals, highly educated and specialists. All too often a raise in rank means a change in position and the loss of a great deal of training and knowledge. Tourism communities without specifically trained TOPPs (Tourism Oriented Police and Protection Units) are putting their industry at risk. The same is also true of private security professionals and it is essential that members of both groups both know and respect each other.

Peter Tarlow

President Tourism and More

+1 979 764 8402

Tourism and More
The compelling reason is mobile - that is why you need a video component in any 2016 marketing and content creation strategy.

That is the takeaway from recent research conducted by Ipsos for Google. A foundational argument is that in the mobile age there has been a shift away from "the moment of truth" in selling to what Ipsos calls "micro moments:" "These micro-moments are the new battleground for hearts, minds, and wallets," said Ipsos.

The company elaborated: "Increasingly, we're seeing that these moments happen while people are watching video on their mobile devices. When it comes to digital video viewership, mobile's small but mighty screen is having a profound impact. In fact, 50% of global viewership on YouTube comes from mobile devices."

Tnooz has flamed this fire for hotel marketers in particular with statistics it attributes to Google UK sales director Dr. Bernd Fauser. The numbers jump off the page: 65% of consumers use video when thinking about taking a trip; 63% use it in deciding on an accommodation; and 67% use it in deciding on activities.

Isn't video just for millennials? Nope, although millennials are the most active group in watching. But the 55+ cohort is the second most active, according to Tnooz.

Those numbers add up to this: Ignore video at your own peril.

Is this a play for only the big budget crowd? Fauser said not in the Tnooz piece: "You don't need huge budgets, it's about the content people engage with. Anyone can be an artist, you just need a good idea. You can reach a lot of people in a very emotional way."

Creative imagination - not money - is the winning ingredient. So is emotional authenticity. Be real. Never be manipulative. Video is not your personal soapbox for shouting about your property's superiority in your opinion.

What else not to do: my advice is forget using models who look like models, actors who look like actors, and any script that reeks of the heavy hand of an anxious DoSM. You want video that seems natural, organic, unscripted.

And if guests are posting their own videos of your property, you are in clover. My suggestion: run a promotion where guests are explicitly encouraged to post videos - then hunt for them and link to the best, with a grateful hat tip to the artful guest.

The wonderful thing: hotels and especially resorts usually have much that lends itself to video moments.

Right now, I am working up a video menu for a resort in Arizona that will highlight the property's lovely and unique art collection, the gorgeous patio dining, the location with a picture perfect view of Camelback Mountain, and the spacious, tastefully decorated rooms. Over time the video library will grow - videos of moments in the many classes offered by the resort are an obvious addition - but the immediate objective is just to get started.

These will all be short videos, really just a few minutes apiece. But storyboard the video before shooting. Do this quickly and easily by assembling a sequence of still photos that tell the story - and, oh yes, every video should in fact tell a story. Yes, I said the video should seem unscripted - but definitely script it. It is too easy to make three minutes of nothing that just bores viewers.

When we have the videos in hand, the present plan is to host them at Google's YouTube, with links to same from the resort's website.

The rest of the plan is to do silent films no audio - and that means very probably the iPhone 6 camera will be good enough. An advantage of using a smartphone: it just does not seem too slick, too sales and marketing in character. Its informality ought to work to heighten effectiveness especially for mobile phone watchers.

We'll also closely monitor comments on the videos we post - and use that viewer feedback to better shape ongoing efforts.

Want more inspiration? Start by looking at any videos posted by your competitive set. Add in study of some of the top video travel bloggers.

And have fun. Content created without a spirit of fun just flops. Always.

Babs Harrison

Babs Harrison + Partners

Babs Harrison + Partners
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Residence Inn by Marriott Torrance, Calif.

Chatham realized a gain on the sale of approximately $3.6 million, subject to certain minor post-closing settlements.

Chatham Lodging Trust (NYSE:CLDT) today announced a joint venture comprised of affiliates of Cerberus Capital Management LP and Chatham sold its interests in the Residence Inn by Marriott Torrance, Calif. Chatham realized a gain on the sale of approximately $3.6 million, subject to certain minor post-closing settlements. Following the transactions consummation, Chathams board of trustees declared a special, one-time common dividend of $0.08 per share that will be treated as received by shareholders for tax purposes in 2016, but will be applied by Chatham against its 2015 taxable income. Chatham owned a five percent interest in the joint venture.

Since April 2013, we invested $1.6 million into the partnership that acquired the Residence Inn Torrance, Calif., re-developed the gatehouse into a state-of-the-art facility and significantly enhanced occupancy and room rate. The sale generated a sizable gain on our investment due to our promoted interest in the joint venture, highlighted Dennis Craven, Chathams chief operating officer. This was a highly successful investment, realizing an internal rate of return of almost 100 percent and unlocking value for our shareholders through the monetization of our minority investment. Our intention is to pay-out 100 percent of our taxable income via dividends, and this special dividend rewards our shareholders after another great investment.

The special dividend is payable January 29, 2016, to shareholders of record on January 15, 2016.

Chatham Lodging Trust is a self-advised, publicly-traded real estate investment trust focused primarily on investing in upscale extended-stay hotels and premium-branded, select-service hotels. The company owns interests in 133 hotels totaling 18,170 rooms/suites, comprised of 38 properties it wholly owns with an aggregate of 5,675 rooms/suites in 15 states and the District of Columbia and a minority investment in two joint ventures that own 95 hotels with an aggregate of 12,495 rooms/suites.
2016 Top Ten Digital Marketing Resolutions

On paper, 2015 was a great year for the hospitality industry. We saw general increases in all key growth metrics, and we expect continued growth in 2016. Next year, occupancy is expected to increase .1% to 65.8%, ADR by 6.1% to US $128.04, and RevPAR by 6.1% to US $84.19. Demand is expected to grow 2.3%, and supply by 2.2% (PWC May 2015).

Yet this was also a year of conflicting results. If the industry saw this type of growth, why did hoteliers lose so much market share to the OTAs? How did we let the OTAs dominate hotel bookings in 2015? For major hotel brands, pre-recession (2007), 85% of all online bookings came via brand.com (i.e. direct) vs. 15% through the OTA channel (85:15 brand.com to OTA). In 2015 this ratio was closer to 60:40 brand.com to OTA, a substantial shift in favor of the OTAs. As for independents, this ratio is as low as 25:75 direct hotel website to OTAs.

Hoteliers have the power to increase their direct online revenues and decrease their customer acquisition costs. All it takes is a renewed commitment to the direct online channel, an understanding that OTA commissions are not just the cost of doing business, and an investment in the right mix of digital technology and marketing initiatives. To help put you on the path to direct online revenue success this year, we present the Smart Hoteliers Top Ten Digital Marketing Resolutions for the sixteenth year in a row.

1. I understand that 2016 will be the year of Digital Marketing Technology, and that investing in the right technology mix is essential to improving engagement and conversions on my website.

Situation:

If a picture is worth a thousand words, the technology behind it can be worth millions. A hotel websites success should be judged on more than just a pretty design. The technology behind it is what will make all the difference between a website that is the main revenue driver for your property and a website that functions more like an online brochure.

Action Plan:

Start with asking yourself, what kind of power do I have over my own website? Do I have complete control over all content - visual, textual and promotional - and can I manage all of this on the three screens (desktop, mobile and tablet websites)? Can I personalize content for my key customer segments? When someone abandons my website, am I able to potentially recover that abandoned booking?

Technology that enables these types of initiatives is now available to any hotel  branded or independent  at affordable price points. There is no longer a barrier to entry to hide behind. Make sure to invest in the following technology in 2016:

Responsive/Adaptive Design for the Three Screens: Provide the optimum user experience to meet the needs of your website visitors on desktop, mobile and tablet. With mobile bookings expected to surpass desktop this year, hoteliers cant afford to not to.

Dynamic Content Personalization (DCP): through your CMS, create business rules that allow you to tailor your websites content, images and promotions/packages based on origin and demographics of website visitors, past booking history, etc. and dramatically increase conversions.

Complete Merchandising Platform: your CMS should offer a full-range merchandising technology solution for the hotel website to sell more rooms, create more group leads, and engage more potential guests and ultimately allow the hotel to "sell on value" as opposed to "sell on rate" and to maximize revenues on the hotel website like never before.

Recovering Abandoned Reservations: when a website visitor abandons a booking, entice them to return and complete the booking with a marketing message or tailored promotion. We have seen clients increase their conversion rates by 55% by doing this.

Rooms Showcase Module: selling a hotel room requires more than just a short description with one small thumbnail image, and often OTAs have more information on hotel accommodations than the propertys own website. Win that direct booking by bringing the propertys accommodations to life with this type of website technology.

Fourth Screen: a Guest Portal, or website visible to guests staying on property, is a great way to present relevant and useful information needed after the booking process is over (i.e. things to do nearby, local weather, and hotel quick facts). This type of website also generates incremental revenue in the form of spa and restaurant reservations.

Social Media Integration: You CMS should automatically push special offers, packages, happenings and events to the propertys social media profiles.

Search Engine Optimization-Friendly: your CMS should be built with the search engines in mind and capable of creating an unlimited number of pages with fresh, unique, and local content. Your website should also be enabled for automatic roll-outs to accommodate algorithm updates such as Googles mobile-friendly update.

Interactive Marketing Applications: By launching an Interactive Marketing Application to serve as the hub (Interactive website optimized for the three screens) for their recent Cyber Monday multichannel marketing campaign, one client achieved an overall ROAS of 6,470% and increased YoY revenue by 180%.

Dynamic Rate Marketing (DRM) Technology: By providing real-time rates and availability on the home page, special promo tiles/banners or special offers on the hotel website and through digital marketing initiatives, hotels shorten the decision making process, provide context to hotel rates and increase direct online bookings.

Cloud Hosting & CDN: Page loading time is an important factor affecting both website conversions and search engine rankings. Every second counts, so make sure to keep this in mind when choosing a hosting provider.

Choosing separate technology vendors that do not understand the hospitality space or utilizing several different platforms to achieve the above is not sustainable. Keep in mind that technology should be purchased from a partner with proven hospitality digital marketing expertise.

2. I will not be intimidated by the OTAs and know that I can outsmart and outspend any OTA, achieve more online exposure and do a better job engaging my key target markets online.

Situation:

While it was a great year for the hospitality industry, instead of seeing a rise in direct online bookings we saw the OTAs increase their market share. Why? Even in these booming times for the hospitality industry, there is somewhat of a defeatist mentality and acceptance of the status quo. We often hear from hoteliers that they feel powerless and too under-funded to fight the fight against the OTAs.

Action Plan:

While the mega OTAs have deep pockets and spend billions on digital marketing efforts, the mega OTAs advertising spend, on average, is less than $300/property per month with less than 300 visitors per contracted hotel/month. Compare this to the average full-service independent or boutique hotels advertising spend of $7,500 -$10,000 per month and property website traffic of 10,000 plus visitors per month.

Yes, the mega OTAs have deep pockets and spend billions on digital marketing efforts. Yet any independent hotel, resort and casino can outsmart and outspend any OTA, achieve more online exposure and do a better job engaging its key target markets online. Hoteliers know their property, their customers, and their destination better than any OTA and should own their destination.

Hoteliers  with the recession long gone its time to take back your direct bookings. We have been enjoying a steady growth in occupancy, ADRs and RevPARs for the past four years. Generating direct bookings and stealing share back from the OTAs must be the top priority in 2016.

You will reap great revenue rewards this year if you: 1) set a top-down strategy of generating more bookings from the property website (see resolution #3) 2) spend the optimum amount in digital marketing and technology for your property and 3) set up a strong merchandising strategy to promote the value of your hotel product versus selling strictly on rate.

3. I will adopt a Direct is Better top-down strategy on property with the primary goal of generating a higher percentage of direct online bookings.

Situation:

Hoteliers are often consumed with the guest experience and focus on creating repeat guests.

Investing in the necessary digital technology and marketing mix needed to initially retain the guest via the property website takes a backseat. Without a Direct is Better strategy, even guests who are loyal to the property may still repeatedly book through an OTA, costing the hotel valuable revenue with every booking.

Who on property owns the website? Whose salaries and bonuses are determined by the websites revenue and ROI? When the market share needle moves from OTAs to direct online bookings, who wins? Most hotel companies do not have clear responsibilities or incentives assigned to direct online channel production, resulting in a very muddled picture of channel contribution, ADRs and Cost-of-Sale (COS).

Without such a strategy, a hotel will end up under-staffed and under-budgeted. The hospitality industry is one of the most over-worked on the planet, and many GMs and DOSMs are pulled in so many directions. This leaves them with little bandwidth and few resources to devote to their website and as a result, direct online bookings suffer.

Action Plan:

Embrace a Direct is Better top-down strategy on-property. When the primary goal of generating as many bookings as possible via the direct online channel  the most profitable channel  is set, the team knows exactly what they need to do to seize market share from the OTAs.

A comprehensive Direct is Better strategy should include:

Direct share benchmarks and objectives, employee responsibilities, performance compensation tie-ins and bonuses, guest book direct value adds, and more.

Why Book Direct page: feature content on the website about why its beneficial to book direct.

A Book Direct Incentive in the form of free Wi-Fi, complimentary upgrades, dining credits, free breakfast, free parking, or other perks. This should be highly visible on the website and on the Why Book Direct page.

Best Rate Guarantee: an unconditional Best Rate Guarantee for guests who book direct.

A customized Why Book Direct Next Time program at the property to target wholesale and OTA bookers and entice them to book directly. Include a coupon upon check-out with 10% off their next reservation or other book direct incentives.

Education of staff on the above initiatives as well as why direct bookings are more profitable and positively affect salaries, bonuses, and the overall health of the hotel.

Guest-facing employees should feel empowered to match any lower hotel rate found elsewhere and provide book direct incentives to secure the booking.

4. With the majority of bookings happening online, I will structure my hotel digital technology and marketing budget wisely.

Situation:

With the vast majority of travel consumers, corporate group planners and SMERF group organizers researching and booking online, hoteliers cannot afford to underspend in digital marketing.

Action Plan:

To experience direct online booking success and lessen dependence on the OTAs, hoteliers must invest in the correct digital technology and marketing techniques to engage users and drive bookings throughout the entire path to purchase.

Independents: these properties should be spending a minimum of 4%-6% of their total room revenue on advertising/marketing efforts, of which at least 85% should be spent on digital marketing/technology.

Branded Hotels: these properties can easily fall into the habit of over-relying on the brands. While the brands provide value in national-level advertising, international brand exposure and large corporate meetings, the marketing for property-level and regional and local niche initiatives is either insufficient or non-existent. Each branded or franchised property must have its own digital marketing strategy to capture leisure and family travelers, weekend and local travel business; and to target the property's important customer segments and feeder markets, weddings, small and mid-size corporate groups and SMERFs.

The Branded Hotel Guide to Generating Revenues Above-and-Beyond the Brand outlines how to create content driven, non-branded, customer segment-focused campaigns, which are untapped by the brands digital marketing efforts. With a strong digital marketing strategy to complement what the brand is doing, a branded property may achieve significant revenues above and beyond what the brand provides.

Read: The Smart Hoteliers Guide to 2016 Digital Marketing Budget Planning as a guideline on how to structure your budget to achieve the right mix of ROI-generating initiatives.

5. I will adopt an effective merchandising strategy to sell on value vs. sell on rate.

Situation:

The commoditization of the hotel product, in which hotels are forced to compete with the OTAs strictly based on rate, leaves the hotel little opportunity to communicate the value of the hotel product to potential guests.

Action Plan:

To combat commoditization and sell on value as opposed to sell on rate, hoteliers need an effective website merchandising strategy. There are many opportunities to communicate the hotel product and value proposition through the direct online channel  the hotel website.

A strong merchandising strategy showcases the unique features of the property (hotel services, meeting and event space, the latest promotions and special offers, local attractions, and more) rather than focus on rate alone.

Enhance your website merchandising strategy by:

Using the main image and marketing message areas on the home page to promote property special offers, amenity promotions, value-adds and property points of differentiation. In the Meetings & Events and/or Weddings section, utilize these highly visible areas to tout event space features (e.g. square feet, capacity, etc.), visual characteristics (e.g. historic, modern, or professional space), famous chefs or culinary distinctions, unique space options (e.g. a courtyard for private events, etc.), or other interesting aspects of the space. Implementing Smart Rates, or a dynamic rate tile on the mobile and desktop websites featuring real-time availability and pricing. Creating landing pages for each promotion or event at the property (these landing pages also offer SEO benefits). Building special offers based on local events (e.g., include two tickets to a local concert, sporting event, or show). List these event on the Events Calendar, create a special in the Special Offers section of the website, and promote the special on the promo tile and/or main image of the home page. Creating an automated push of specials, offers or events from the website CMS to social media profiles. Utilizing Reservation Recovery applications to fight reservation abandonment and steer visitors to complete a booking on the property website. Personalizing content for the website visitor based on geo location, demographics and purchase intent. Improving the user experience with a Smart Booking Widget, by displaying past date and room selection, relevant or pre-populated information to the visitor.



Implementing a strong website merchandising strategy will generate group leads and RFPs, promote the hotels services (dining, spa, etc.), and ultimately maximize room bookings and revenue on the property website.

6. I will not treat all website visitors equally and will employ dynamic content personalization to better target and engage website visitors and maximize conversions and revenue.

Situation:

Todays travel consumer is becoming less and less forgiving when a websites content does not quickly and directly speak to their needs and interests. Companies that fail to personalize the experience based on the wealth of data they have at their disposal  the location of the website visitor, whether they have been to the website before, and even why they are traveling (for leisure, on business, etc.), will fall further and further behind the competition.

Action Plan:

Hoteliers have a distinct hidden competitive advantage over the OTAs: they know their property, their hotel product, their customers, and their destination better than any OTA. Hoteliers should be using their real-time data to personalize content and promotions based on peoples interest, demographics, how they are navigating through the website, past booking history, and more. Clients that have implemented Dynamic Content Personalization in 2015 have seen their website conversions more than double for those audiences.

7. I know that multichannel and omni-channel marketing campaigns are essential to reaching consumers in the "micro-moment," across devices and all touch points.

Situation:

The travel consumer journey takes about 17 days and the average visitor goes through eight research sessions, 18 site visits, and six clicks before making a booking (Google). Engaging customers at all touch points is critical to maximizing online revenue.

Action Plan:

The foundation for building effective multi-channel campaigns is finding the best marketing initiatives based on the customer segment being targeted, and reaching that target segment at every touch point of their online travel planning process is essential to driving high online revenues.

The strategy for any multichannel campaign should begin with analyzing the current business needs of the property. The next step is to determine the customer segments that should be targeted, followed by a marketing plan detailing which initiatives should be launched to reach these segments. A typical multichannel marketing campaign plan outline might look like this:

Business Needs:

Increase weekday occupancy

Increase traffic to the website

Grow the email capture list

Boost direct online bookings for Q1 2016

Increase brand awareness

Customer segments to target:

Family leisure segment

25-60, Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers

$75k+ household income

Drive-in and fly-in markets

Campaign theme development:

Marketing message with promotion or value-add

Campaign initiatives to launch:

Interactive Marketing Application

Custom promotional slide on main property website

SEM (search engine marketing, paid search)

Email newsletter promotions

Google Display Network advertising

Online travel consumer deal alert (PR)

Online media buys with Sojern, Tripadvisor

Social Media posts

Facebook advertising





Case Study: Red Lion Hotels Capture Your Summer Moment Multichannel Campaign

Recognizing that multichannel marketing is essential to reaching consumers along their travel planning and purchasing journey, Red Lion Hotels and HeBS Digital partnered in launching the Capture Your Summer Moment multichannel campaign with the primary focus of driving direct online channel revenues in the last quarter of the year. With this campaign, the brand wanted to focus on targeting the family leisure segment and those searching to travel to the Red Lion Hotels destinations.

An Interactive Marketing Application served as the central hub of the promotion. The highly visual fully responsive application featured a film reel that travel consumers could spin to unlock the offer, large rich imagery, social and viral sharing features, email sign up, a Red Lion Hotels destination map, Hello Rewards loyalty information, and more.

The campaign promoted one cohesive message through various channels, including SEM, the Google Display Network, Online media and retargeting on top travel networks, PR, email marketing, blog posts, and social media marketing. The campaign received over 50,000 unique visitors and a 2,100% ROI. Just half way through (30 days) into the campaign, Red Lion Hotels Corporation more than surpassed the past years multichannel campaigns goals and revenue production.

8. I understand that the search engines are not dead and I must consider SEO and SEM as integral parts of my digital marketing strategy.

Situation:

The search engines, after thousands of algorithm updates and changes in how search engine results display on the page over the last few years, continue to be the highest direct online revenue driver for hotels.

More than 41% of every online advertising dollar in the U.S. is spent on search engine marketing (eMarketer 2015), and more than 25% of direct online revenue comes as a direct result of SEM/paid search via the hotel website and voice channel for HeBS Digital clients.

As for SEO being dead? At least 30% to 35% of hotel website revenues were generated as a direct result of organic search engine referrals to the hotel website for HeBS Digital clients this year.

Action Plan:

SEO: Your SEO strategy must include a proactive approach to content creation, marketing and optimization to succeed in the ever-evolving SEO landscape. The 2016 Checklist to Maximize Revenues from Content Marketing & SEO includes guidance on how to use analytical tools to create your content strategy, the importance of securing and optimizing local listings, why a defensive link management strategy is necessary, which technologies are necessary to make on-the-fly content and technical SEO updates, and much more.

SEM: We recommend budgeting at least 20%  22% of the digital marketing budget to SEM / Paid Search and Google products. Increased competition from the OTAs, the need for mobile-specific ads and bid modifiers, advanced targeting methods and expanding beyond the SERP with Gmail Ads, YouTube TrueView and the GDN are just a few of the reasons this initiative requires such a large portion of the budget. Read the 2016 Checklist to Maximize Revenues from your SEM Campaigns for more tips.

Hotels that increase their paid search spend while also investing in ongoing SEO efforts see measurable benefits. In one case study, a hotel took its paid search campaigns from dormant to 40,000 impressions over the course of six months and saw its organic search traffic ride a similar trajectory. In that case, the hotels organic traffic grew by 116% over the course of nine months, growing organic bookings initiated by 161%.

9. I will not fall prey to the new 'OTA-like' type services and understand that these are not direct bookings.

Situation:

TripAdvisor rolled out Book on TripAdvisor and Google more recently launched Book on Google, a commission-based option in their Hotel Ads meta search program. At up to 15% commission on bookings, both options are essentially OTA-like channels. The industry is also seeing similar moves from other, smaller meta search players like Hipmunk, Skyscanner, and others. These hefty commissions of 15%, coupled with serious CRS fees, reach typical OTA commission levels of 20%-22%. A commission of 20% means Cost of Sale (COS) of 20% or is equal to Return-on-Ad-Spend (ROAS) of 500%. Most digital marketing initiatives, when executed properly, achieve much higher ROAS and lower Cost of Sale.

It is important for hoteliers to understand these are pure OTA services where both Google and TripAdvisor are inserting themselves between the travel consumer and the hotel, are taking over the customer relationship, and get an agency commission similarly to all OTAs and traditional travel agents. These are not direct with the hotel bookings.

Action Plan:

Instead of participating in these programs, hoteliers should focus on:

Meta Search Marketing: based on CPC (cost per click) and advertising budgets, where after they click on the meta listing, users are sent to the propertys own website booking engine to complete the booking. By participating in meta search advertising, hotels have an advantage over their comp set of other hoteliers who typically do not advertise on meta search, as well as against the OTAs since the majority of travel consumers prefer dealing directly with the owner of the goods/services (i.e. the hotel vs. the OTAs).

Boosting revenues on the property website: by investing in the right technology, allocating the appropriate amounts to the propertys digital marketing budget, implementing a Direct is Better program, adopting an effective merchandizing strategy, and launching multi-channel marketing campaigns.

10. I will remember that choosing my digital marketing partner is one of the most important decisions I will make regarding my property websites online revenue success.

Situation:

From the latest targeting methods to utilize in paid search campaigns, to technology that enables personalizing content on the website, best practices in hotel technology and digital marketing are constantly evolving and hoteliers must be able to adapt quickly. It is not cost-effective, for most hotel companies, to try to retain all of this knowledge and expertise in-house. Hoteliers, especially independents, need to be armed with this expertise to make the right decisions on where to invest their marketing budgets to shift share from the OTAs and their comp set.

Action Plan:

Digital marketing and technology advancements have been moving at an invigorating pace these past ten years. This trend will not only continue into 2016 but will become even more disruptive and difficult to keep up without an even greater commitment of staff and resources at the property.

Partner with a firm who has proven to be innovative, flexible and results-driven in this ever-changing environment. This type of partnership will lead your hotel to higher direct online revenue performance than ever before.

About the Authors and HeBS Digital:

Max Starkov is President & CEO and Mariana Safer is SVP, Marketing of HeBS Digital, the industrys leading digital technology, full-service hotel digital marketing, website design and direct online channel consulting firm based in New York City (www.hebsdigital.com).

HeBS Digital has pioneered many of the best practices in hotel digital marketing and website revenue optimization, as well as a range of industry-first digital technology applications. The firm has won more than 300 prestigious industry awards for its digital marketing and website design services, including numerous Adrian Awards, Davey Awards, W3 Awards, WebAwards, Magellan Awards, Summit International Awards, Interactive Media Awards, and IAC Awards.

A diverse client portfolio of top-tier major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel brands, resorts and casinos, hotel management companies, franchisees and independents, and CVBs are benefiting from HeBS Digitals direct online channel strategy and digital marketing expertise. Contact HeBS Digitals consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com.
In year-over-year comparisons, occupancy dropped 6.5% to 33.1%. Average daily rate for the week increased 1.2% to CAD$136.32. Revenue per available room decreased 5.4% to CAD$45.06.

The Canadian hotel industry reported mixed results in the three key performance metrics during the week of 20-26 December 2015, according to data from STR, Inc.

In year-over-year comparisons, occupancy dropped 6.5% to 33.1%. Average daily rate for the week increased 1.2% to CAD$136.32. Revenue per available room decreased 5.4% to CAD$45.06.

Among the provinces, Prince Edward Island reported the largest increases in occupancy (+39.5% to 19.1%) and RevPAR (+42.9% to CAD$15.21).

Nova Scotia (+13.3% to CAD$22.06) was the only other province to record a double-digit rise in RevPAR.

Alberta experienced the steepest declines in occupancy (-21.3% to 26.6%) and RevPAR (-22.4% to CAD$39.89).

British Columbia posted the largest increase in ADR, up 6.2% to CAD$184.95.

Saskatchewan reported the largest drop in ADR (-6.0% to CAD$115.10) as well as double-digit decreases in occupancy (-13.2% to 23.3%) and RevPAR (-18.4% to CAD$26.83).

About STR

STR, Inc. provides clients - including hotel operators, developers, financiers, analysts and suppliers to the hotel industry - access to hotel research with regular and custom reports covering the United States, Canada, Mexico and Caribbean. STR provides a single source of global hotel data covering daily and monthly performance data, forecasts, annual profitability, pipeline and census information. STR founded the STR family of companies and is proudly associated with STR Global, STR Analytics and Hotel News Now. STR also founded the Hotel Data Conference. For more information, please visit www.str.com.
Gucci Mane has been in prison since September 2013, and since that time, hes managed to put out more music than just about everybody in hip-hop. He, or someone on his team, has also managed to keep up an active social media presence, which has been useful in promoting all of his music. But today, with no warning, both GuWops Twitter account as well as his Instagram have disappeared.

As you can see, tweets such as the one below no longer link to Guccis official account (@gucci1017). A Google search of Gucci Mane twitter shows a couple of his recent tweets in the results, including one in which he reveals that hes coming home in 2016 (see above).

Perhaps Gucci requested the removal of the accounts as he no longer wants someone else communicating to his fans as if he or she is the incarcerated rapper himself. Or, maybe authorities deactivated the accounts because they deem it wrong for a detained criminal to earn income via social media. For now, its all speculation.

[via Complex]

Gucci Mane
Hot Press' Stuart Clark gives his top 10 tips for people wanting to work in music

Enrolment is underway for the 2016 MIX (Music Industry Xplained) course, which runs every Tuesday night from February 2-April 28 in Dublin city centre. Brought to you by Hot Press and featuring prominent guest lecturers from all areas of the business, it's aimed at those who want to succeed in music, management, media, publicity, promotion, publishing, record labels and lots more. Our Assistant Editor, Stuart Clark, has some advice for those wanting to work in the industry...

1. Get involved. Even if its just helping a band out with a bit of PR, running a gig in a pub backroom or maintaining a music blog, it will help you make contacts and look good on your CV.

2. Find out who the key players are in the Irish music industry. The Hot Press Yearbook is a great source of info, as are the About Us and Contacts sections of record, radio, music rights and PR company websites.

3. Build a profile on Twitter. By following the right people and interacting smartly with them, your name will get known and youll also get a sense of how they operate.

4. Keep abreast of industry developments. Knowing what the likes of Spotify, Apple, YouTube, Time Warner etc. are up to is essential, as is an awareness of who the hot start-ups are.

5. A polite email to people working in the industry seeking advice often yields positive results. I sent a DJ demo aged 14 to Tony Blackburn, and got a wonderfully constructive letter in return, which really got me fired up.

6. Remember that prospective employers/clients are likely to check your social media to get a sense of who you are - and how you behave/misbehave! Dont post anything that you wouldnt want them to know.

7. The more you can do, the more youre worth to those prospective employers/clients. Social media skills, being able to maintain websites and mailing-lists etc. are all big plusses. Unsexy as they might be, even a basic understanding of stuff like VAT, tax and contractual law will also stand you in good stead.

8. I was at a gig and got pissed! is not an excuse for missing your 9am appointment! You have to be as punctual and professional as you would in any other industry.

9. Be nice! Compatibility is as important as ability when youre slotting into whats often a small team. People in the industry compare notes, so prima donnas rarely prosper.

10. Dont give up! Theres a lot of knocking on doors and unreturned emails, but if youre good youll get a gig.

Get the full MIX (Music Industry Xplained) lowdown at [link]hotpress.com/mix[/link] or contact Louise Zayed at [email protected] or (01) 24 11 500.
The Thin Lizzy legend died 30 years ago today

On this day in 1986 the tragic news broke that Phil Lynott had died aged 36 in London.

When Hot Press launched in 1977, Thin Lizzy were at the height of their commercial powers with that years Bad Reputation fending off the punk onslaught to chart on both sides of the Atlantic.

Over the next decade, Philo became one of our staunchest rock n roll allies and supporters, and on one occasion even took over the editorial reins here.

To mark this most poignant of days, weve rounded up a selection of the tributes to Phil that have appeared in Hot Press over the past 30 years.

These include a fascinating chat with Lizzy superfan Bono in which he reveals: We were 16 when we formed the band and we were trying to learn other peoples songs and we werent very good at it, Bono recalls. Occasionally one would speak to us, and I remember us trying to work out Dont Believe A Word and I couldnt understand exactly what he meant. Dont believe me when I tell ya/Not a word of this is true/Dont believe me when I tell ya/Im in love with you  just a great lyric device. We tried playing that, just murdered that one.

They were such good songs to murder, he added with glee. The Boys Are Back In Town, we murdered that one. We still play that one in soundcheck. Dancing In The Moonlight, we play that one in soundcheck too, thats so beautiful. So Van Morrison.

Also qualifying as a Thin Lizzy obsessive is Slash.

"A lot of the bands that I liked were two-guitar bands, he told Hot Press, be it the Stones, AC/DC, Aerosmith or Thin Lizzy or whatever, even The Scorpions. You just got more out of two guitars! I never really set out to be in two-guitar bands, but when Guns N' Roses started, that's the way it came together. When Scott and Brian Robertson were playing together, that's the Thin Lizzy sound I most identified with stylistically.

Phils appeal isnt limited to the hard rock brigade with The Cures Robert Smith informing us that, Ive got every single one of their albums on vinyl. I saw Thin Lizzy in the Brighton Dome in 1976 and it that was one of my all-time favourite concerts. It was just genius. Phil Lynott with his mirror bass picking girls out. I loved Thin Lizzy.

We kick off, though, with a 1984 interview in which Phil talks music, politics, religion, sex, drugs, Ireland, parenthood and rock'n'roll stardom.

A lot of years have passed, but we still miss him like crazy...

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With record rainfall and historic water levels on the Mississippi and surrounding rivers, we closed 2015 with the very real and scary reminder of the power of mother nature.

When Christmas approached, constant rainfall and a quickly rising Mississippi River replaced holiday cheer and laughter amongst friends and family with concerns for safety and well-being of those same individuals we love. A relentless rain left many worried about the potential for historic river crests and topping of levee systems stretching across hundreds of miles of the Mississippi River. The levee system in southeast Missouri and the hard work of the people who serve on our levee and drainage districts are integral in protecting homes, businesses and hundreds of thousands of acres of farm land along the Mississippi River.

On Monday, I rode the Bois Brule Levee near McBride in eastern Perry County to survey the rising river. That levee alone protects 16 houses, numerous businesses and 26,000 acres of farm land. From there I attended a public meeting in St Genevieve to discuss rising waters and safety concerns. There, city officials asked residents to move belongings and prepare as though an evacuation would be needed.

I spent Wednesday with the Army Corps of Engineers, county officials and emergency personnel down in the Bootheel touring the Birds Point & Commerce Levees and the 1500 foot New Madrid gap. We also stopped in Van Buren to speak with emergency officials about the status of the Current River that was rising quickly and threatening a portion of the town. I stressed with the Army Corps the importance of participating in a public meeting so that residents could hear from them directly about the status of the river and levees and so that they could hear from those same folks about any questions or concerns they have. I was glad the Army Corps agreed and we were able to organize this important meeting on Thursday at the Clara Drinkwater Library in Charleston.

When river levels rise, safety should and will always remain the number one concern. I also want to make sure everything is being done by the Army Corps to protect the very businesses and farmland in the floodways which support thousands of families throughout southeast Missouri and the homes they live in.

Christmas teaches us about the birth of Christ and the spirit of giving, compassion, and kindheartedness. This Christmas, beyond just giving gifts we learned those lessons in a very real way. I saw firsthand those values in the hundreds of county officials, levee board officers, emergency personnel, volunteers and residents I met with along the Mississippi River. Watching students over their Christmas break sandbag to protect their communities is something I will never forget and I am grateful for the honor to represent such people before the U.S. Congress. There is nowhere else on earth you can find such hardworking and genuine people who truly represent the meaning of Christmas.

Jason Smith represents Missouris 8th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. Contact him at 573-335-0101 or visit https://jasonsmith.house.gov
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Cyprus PIO: Turkish Cypriot and Turkish Media Review, 16-01-04 Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Republic of Cyprus Press and Information Office Server at <http://www.pio.gov.cy/> TURKISH CYPRIOT AND TURKISH MEDIA REVIEW No. 01/16 01-04.01.2016 [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci's new year message: It is possible to reach a solution in 2016 [02] Burcu: The property issue will mainly be resolved through compensation; the estimated money to be paid for the compensations is 25 billion US Dollars [03] Burcu: We are more hopeful than in the past for a solution in Cyprus [04] The provision of electricity to the Turkish Cypriots by the Republic of Cyprus is described as "temporary but important step" [05] Further decrease in the number of applications to the "immovable property commission" in 2015 [06] Ozgur: The economic 'protocol" with Turkey must be signed the soonest [07] Columnist Yusuf Kanli reports that Turkey always save the economy of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of Cyprus [08] MHP delegation is carrying out contacts in the occupied part of Cyprus [09] An unmanned aircraft fell into the open sea area of occupied Agios Amvrosios village [10] Illegal Tymbou airport received 3,5 million passengers in 2015 [11] Erdogan said Hitler's Germany an example of presidential system with unitary state [12] Davutoglu will increase the initiatives for a Cyprus settlement at Davos [A] TURKISH CYPRIOT / TURKISH PRESS [01] Akinci's new year message: It is possible to reach a solution in 2016 According to Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris (01.01.16), Mustafa Akinci, the Turkish Cypriot leader, said that they will enter the new year with the determination to leave behind the Cyprus problem and with the hope and desire to create a brand new future within peace for the young generations. Akinci said that although they have not overcome all the difficulties, they will continue with the same determination their efforts for understanding and there is a possibility to reach a solution within 2016. (DPs) [02] Burcu: The property issue will mainly be resolved through compensation; the estimated money to be paid for the compensations is 25 billion US Dollars Turkish daily Milliyet (03.01.16) reports that Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci's spokesman Baris Burcu reiterated Akinci's statement that the Turkish Cypriot community will not vote for an agreement that will not include Turkey's guarantees. In an interview to the paper, Burcu said that there will not be a solution in Cyprus which the one side will be happy and the other side will be disappointed. He argued that the island will prosper after a solution. He also added that the issue of guarantees, which is seen as a threat for the Greek Cypriots, can be reconsidered. "The Turkish Cypriots, for their own safety, want the guarantee of Turkey. We should start thinking how we can create a guarantee system which will not mean safety for one side and a threat for the other. We should also be creative and constructive when the time comes to discuss this issue" Burcu said. Explaining that the guarantee agreements were international agreements and that they could only be changed if all sides with signatures on the agreement came together and gave permission, he said "the guarantee system in 1960 was designed according to the conditions of the time. 55 years have passed since then. We are not living in the 60's anymore. The content of the solution to be found will also be very different. It is going to be a bi-zonal solution." Stating that Governance and Power Sharing and the EU and Economy chapters are about to be finalized, Burcu said that "one of the thorny topics of the negotiations, the property issue is on the table now". He added: "There will be a solution on the property issue which will not ruin the bi-zonality. The Turkish Cypriots will be the majority in their region". Stating that reinstatement will take place on some properties, he said it was their target to keep these property returns limited and prevent this from affecting the daily lives of the "people". "There is a search for a model in property which both sides would benefit from. Alternative properties or compensation will be granted for the Turkish Cypriots who will need to return a limited number of properties to the Greek Cypriots. The uncertainty will go and the properties will gain value. The property issue will mainly be resolved through compensation. We don't have an extreme expectation that all money for compensation will be supplied by foreign powers, however we will receive substantial contributions. If this happens then the compensation will be paid in cash. The estimated money to be paid for the compensations is 25 billion US Dollars, said Burcu. Noting that it is not true that the discussions are only focused on the property issue, Burcu stressed that the presence of the Turkish Cypriot community in the world is also important. He added: "Although we have established the TRNC we haven't managed to become a recognised state. If we manage to find a solution then we will take our place in the world arena with a state structure which the Turkish Cypriot community will be an equal partner of". [03] Burcu: We are more hopeful than in the past for a solution in Cyprus Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (01.01.16) reported that Baris Burcu, spokesman of the Turkish Cypriot leader, has said that together with the solution of the Cyprus problem, the Turkish Cypriot "people" will acquire a legal status in the international law. In statements to a television channel Burcu evaluated the negotiations process for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem and noted that when the current negotiations are compared to the previous processes, we should be more hopeful. Burcu claimed: "If there will be a solution, it should be balanced for both communities and should be able to take the approval of both sides. Our esteemed president has these balances. He knows well the language of the world and peace. However, he also knows well what the Turkish Cypriot people expect from him. He has created a vision by remolding all these". Recalling that an ad hoc committee has been established for the preparation of the Turkish Cypriots for the EU, Burcu said that the self-styled ministries of the regime, the working groups and the technical committees are working on these preparations. "It could not be expected from us to cover within 3-5 months the distance covered by other countries in 10 years", he argued adding that what they are doing now is to prepare for the EU as soon as possible. Wishing for the solution to speed up this harmonization process, Burcu said that Akinci will not sign an agreement that is not accepted by the people and added that the negotiating process is based on two fundamental principles: The one is that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed and the other is the secrecy principle. "In these conditions, it is not possible for us to share everything, but if the day comes we will share it with our people within an adequate period of time", he added. Describing the possible solution as "revolutionary change" for the Turkish Cypriots' status, Burcu said: "Today we are complaining about everything. We are complaining about our standards, the services we are offered. The EU norms and standards will make us jump a level for arranging all these. [?] The solution will offer us important possibilities. We have infrastructure deficiencies. This is very obvious. Especially under the 'Economy' chapter we are discussing how to overcome these. Tourism will develop. With the Euro we will obtain a stable monetary unit. A constructions boom will be experienced and this will develop 40 side sectors. [?]" (I/Ts.) [04] The provision of electricity to the Turkish Cypriots by the Republic of Cyprus is described as "temporary but important step" Under the title "The first unification in electricity", Turkish Cypriot daily Halkin Sesi newspaper (02.01.16) reported that a big step had been taken on 1 January on the issue of the unification of the electricity networks in the occupied area and the government-controlled area of Cyprus within the framework of the Confidence Building Measures (CBM) decided by the two community leaders during the negotiations for finding a solution to the Cyprus problem. According to the paper, electricity of 20-30 MW was transferred though the network because of a defect in the Turkish Cypriot "electricity authority's" (KIB-TEK) power plant. Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (03.01.16) reported that Baris Burcu, spokesman of the Turkish Cypriot leader, has said that the work launched within the framework of the Cyprus negotiations have not yet come to the point of permanently uniting the electricity networks in Cyprus, but electricity could be given on a temporary basis. Replying to questions regarding KIB-TEK purchasing electricity from the Republic of Cyprus' Electricity Authority (AIK), Burcu noted that KIB-TEK asked for electricity from AIK because one of its steam boilers was out of order while maintenance was conducted to the other. He said that KIB-TEK will pay the cost for this electricity. Commenting on the issue, the self-styled minister of agriculture, natural resources and food, Erkut Sahali said that the unification of the electricity networks was "a temporary but important step". He noted that this is a CBM and everybody will be able to benefit from this. (I/Ts.) [05] Further decrease in the number of applications to the "immovable property commission" in 2015 Turkish Cypriot daily Kibrisli newspaper (03.01.16) reported that the interest for the "immovable property commission" established by Turkey in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus is continuously decreasing. The number of the Greek Cypriot refugees who applied to the "commission" for their occupied properties was 375 in 2014 and decreased to 182 in 2015. Fifty applications were filed in January 2014 and only 13 in January 2015. The number of the applications filed last month (December 2015) reached 19. The total number of applications is 6,261. 723 of these were settled with an amicable agreement and 21 in "court". (I/Ts.) [06] Ozgur: The economic 'protocol" with Turkey must be signed the soonest Turkish Cypriot daily Detay newspaper (03.01.16) reported that Birikim Ozgur, self-styled finance minister of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of Cyprus, has underlined the importance of signing an economic "protocol" with Turkey the soonest. Ozgur said that if they do not sign a "protocol', they will not get any aid, adding that the "protocol" must be signed within January 2016. Referring to the payment of the 13th salary, Ozgur said that he provided for paying this salary from the reform item within the framework of their agreement with Turkey in 2015. He added: "The year ended and we do not have the possibility of taking this support. During this year, with the new possibilities we will have to cover both our liabilities from 2015 and those of 2016. There are 30 million Turkish Liras (TL) now in the safe of the ministry of finance and 191 million TL are needed for the 13th salary". According to the paper, Turkey granted 62,5 million TL for the regime's budget. 30 million TL of this sum was granted within the framework of the "economic protocol", 20 million TL were given for defense expenses and 12,5 million TL for infrastructure investments and the real sector of the economy. (I/Ts.) [07] Columnist Yusuf Kanli reports that Turkey always save the economy of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of Cyprus Columnist Yusuf Kanli, writing in Turkish daily Hurriyet Daily News (online, 01.01.16), argued in the following commentary under the title "Saving Turkish Cypriots..." that the economy of the breakaway regime in the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus depends on Ankara's budget: "Hurrah... Once again Turkey extended its generous helping hand and salvaged the Turkish Cypriots from an economic collapse. Deputy Prime Minister Tugrul Turkes - a Turkish Cypriot from his late father Alparslan Turkes - signed a 62.5-million-Turkish-Lira check to save the Turkish Cypriot economy days before the start of the new year, though on the island the leader of the majority party of the left-right coalition was telling news people that disagreement with Ankara over the administration of water Turkey provided through a suspended pipeline might turn into an unthinkable full-fledged crisis between the Turkish Cypriot and Turkish governments. It has become some sort of a tradition for Turkey, despite all the rhetoric and indeed efforts to build a self-sustainable economic system in Turkish Cyprus, to salvage the Turkish Cypriot budget from the verge of bankruptcy almost every yearend. Do Turkish wage earners receive a 13th salary? They are even unaware of such a payment. Repetitive Turkish Cypriot governments have all hinted at the possibility of giving up the application of 13th salary, a tax-free additional check at an amount equal to around 1.4 the monthly wage distributed every year sometimes in December or January. Yet, neither the conservatives nor the socialists could walk that very difficult road that might end with considerable decrease in their votes. After all, is it not a fact that directly or indirectly some 60% of the Turkish Cypriots are on the public payroll? An economy which is not self-sustainable or surviving every year on loans from Turkey - a penny of which has not been so far paid back - should perhaps have given up the 13th salary practice long ago (?) Yet, who would walk that costly road, particularly if every single vote has become so existentially important for the Turkish Cypriot political parties? For example, all through the past two decades, more or less, there has been a cliff-hanger distribution of left-right seats in the Turkish Cypriot parliament, mostly just a few seats in favour of conservatives but sometimes a seat or two in favour of the left. That is, one parliamentarian might bring a party to government or terminate its government. With the money Turkes - who has been boasting of being the first Turkish Cypriot Minister in Turkish governments since the time of his late father - signed and sent to Turkish Cyprus the publicly-owned milk products giant SUTEK paid a substantial portion of its overdue payments, while state subsidies for agricultural products were distributed and payments long overdue for agricultural products procured by the public sector were completed. (?) Well, there is still 12 months to think on the problem for 2016's 13th salary. Who knows what will happen by that time? There might be a Cyprus resolution - in that case, leave the issue for the first federal cabinet to solve the problem - or the country might be compelled to go to an early election or the conservatives might wake up and realize that their combined vote is more than enough to come to power together? (?) The Turkish Cypriots are right in objecting to Turkey's pertinent demands that the Turkish State Water Works must be given the right of local administration of the water it provided. It might of course have a share in a company to be established for that purpose, but is Cyprus a colony of Turkey to leave such administration of such a vital resource to a Turkish public agency? The Turkish Cypriots are wrong in demanding that water must be administered either directly by the Turkish Cypriot public water works agency or with a joint company of the public water works and the municipalities. Turkish Cyprus' public works has been highly politicized and with political appointments has been extremely overstaffed. It cannot function now and cannot collect water fees particularly from the public institutions or hotels. Municipalities have been problematic for similar reasons. Was not the collapsed Nicosia municipality salvaged with Turkey's support only three years ago? (?)" [08] MHP delegation is carrying out contacts in the occupied part of Cyprus Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris (03.01.16) reported that a delegation from the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) will pay an illegal visit to the occupied area of the Republic of Cyprus on January 4 to carry out various contacts. The MHP delegation is consisting of MHP deputy leader Umit Ozdag and the Deputies Arzu Erdem, Mustafa Parsak and Nuri Okutan. They will have separate meetings with Turkey's illegal ambassador to the occupied part of Lefkosia Derya Kanbay, the self-styled minister of transport Tahsin Ertugruloglu and the leader of the National Unity Party Huseyin Ozgurgun. They will also have meetings with Kudret Ozersay, Atan Atun and Mehmet Hasguler. The MHP delegation will hold a press conference on Tuesday before their departure. (DPs) [09] An unmanned aircraft fell into the open sea area of occupied Agios Amvrosios village Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (02.01.16) reported that an unmanned aircraft has fallen into the open sea area between the occupied villages of Agios Amvrosios and Akanthou. According to the paper, a citizen took pictures of the aircraft. It is not known which country it belongs to or why and how it fell. Meanwhile, Turkish Cypriot daily Yeni Duzen newspaper (03.01.16) reported that the so-called security forces made a statement on the issue noting that they do not know who owns the unmanned aircraft and that they are conducting investigations on the issue. They said that they found nothing which will endanger the "people's security". The aircraft was brought to the shore and was handed over to the "police". It is noted that the aircraft was carrying cameras. (I/Ts.) [10] Illegal Tymbou airport received 3,5 million passengers in 2015 Turkish Cypriot daily Kibris newspaper (04.01.16) reports that the illegal Tymbou airport received more than 3,5 million passengers in 2015. The "civil aviation airports operation director', Mustafa Sofi told Kibris that only yesterday 108 flights were conducted, something which happens for the first time. Sofi said that the number of the passengers received by the "airport" increased by 8% in 2015 comparing to 2014 and pointed out that the annual passenger capacity of the "airport" is one million persons. (I/Ts.) [11] Erdogan said Hitler's Germany an example of presidential system with unitary state Turkish daily Today's Zaman (online, 31.12.15) reported that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who is a strong advocate of a switch to a presidential system, has said that the implementation of a presidential system while remaining a unitary state is possible, showing Hitler's Germany as an example. Speaking at a press conference late on Thursday shortly after his return from a trip to Saudi Arabia, which was cut short due to the death of pro-government journalist Hasan Karakaya, Erdogan was asked whether a presidential system could be adopted while keeping the country's unitary structure. "There is no such thing as 'no presidential system in unitary states'. There are examples of this around the world. There are examples in the past, too. When you look at Hitler's Germany, you can see it there. You can see examples in other countries as well," Erdogan said. "What is important is that a presidential system should not disturb the people in its implementation. If you provide justice, there will be no problem because what people want and expect is justice." On the same issue, Ankara Anatolia news agency (01.01.16) reported that Turkish President Erdogan's office on Friday hit back at media reports that quoted the President as giving Nazi Germany as an example of a presidential system. In a statement, the President's office said: "That type of comparison is out of the question. The attempt to represent remarks by the President, who has declared the Holocaust and anti-Semitism as a crime against humanity alongside Islamophobia, as a positive reference to Hitler's Germany is unacceptable". Erdogan is a proponent of changing Turkey's parliamentary system for a presidential model. Clarifying his comments, the statement said: "A presidential system can be implemented in unitary states as well. The presidential system of governance does not have to rely on federalism. What matters first and foremost in both parliamentary and presidential systems is to enforce principles of justice and meet the expectations of the public. If the system is abused, be it a parliamentary or presidential system, disastrous administrations could result, as in the example of Nazi Germany. Neither the parliamentary system, nor the presidential system, can single-handedly prevent such consequences. What is truly important is adopting an equitable system of governance that serves the nation." The statement added that representing Erdogan's comments as holding Nazi Germany as an example of the effectiveness of a presidential system breached journalistic principles of objectivity and honesty. [12] Davutoglu will increase the initiatives for a Cyprus settlement at Davos Turkish daily Milliyet (04.01.16) reports that Turkey's Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu will allocate his time for the foreign and economy policy in the first month of 2016. He will meet with international investors in Britain, will participate in Davos meetings and will participate in a joint cabinet meeting in Berlin. The paper also reports that Davutoglu at the Davos meetings where Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci is also expected to participate will increase the initiatives for a Cyprus settlement within the context of the EU relations. (DPs) TURKISH AFFAIRS SECTION http://www.moi.gov.cy/pio (DPs / AM) Cyprus Press and Information Office: Turkish Cypriot Press Review Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English, 16-01-04 Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> Weekend News Bulletin Monday, January 4 2016 CONTENTS [01] PM Tsipras: The government will not succumb to unreasonable demands [02] In the negotiations there will be victories and defeats, FinMin Tsakalotos says [03] BoG head Stournaras optimistic that Greece will succeed [04] Labour Min Katrougalos certain than bill on social security reforms will be voted [05] Labour Min Katrougalos to brief President Pavlopoulos on social security reforms on Monday [06] 2016 will be a milestone for the Greek economy, Alternate FinMin Chouliarakis says [07] 2007-2013 NSRF funds successfully absorbed [08] HRADF: Jermyn Street Real Estate Fund signs new agreement for Astir Palace Vouliagmeni [09] Coast Guard rescues 50 refugees north east of Oinousses [10] Weather Forecast [11] Athens Headlines at a glance Politics [01] PM Tsipras: The government will not succumb to unreasonable demands Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras on Sunday in an interview with Real News newspaper sent the message to Greece's creditors that the government will not succumb to unreasonable demands. "We will fully meet our commitments, but we will not accept injustices," he underlined. The Greek prime minister said that 2016 will mark the return after six years of recession. "A new page will open for Greece," he noted. "In 2016, Greece will exit the crisis and will recover," he stressed adding that major institutional reforms will also be implemented. Regarding the scenarios for an ecumenical government, he described them as "midsummer night dream," assuring that the parliamentary majority is firm and that the government will complete its four-year term. He added that these scenarios are promoted by the bankrupt political system and will be proven wrong. He estimated that the deputies that will vote for the bill on the social security reforms will be more than 153. "The voting of the bill is a vote of confidence to the next generations that are entitled to social protection," he stressed. [02] In the negotiations there will be victories and defeats, FinMin Tsakalotos says Finance Minister Euclid Tsakalotos on Sunday in an interview with Kathimerini expressed optimism that the government will overcome the obstacle of the negotiations with the creditors. "In the negotiations there will be victories and defeats," he said and confirmed that the institutions are asking for additional measures for the period 2016-2018. On the social security system, Tsakalotos said: "There are distortions that must be corrected, specific cases that should be reviewed so that the social security system becomes sustainable in the medium term." Regarding the possible withdrawal of the IMF from the program, Tsakalotos underlined that "the issue is not a Greek problem." He noted that on one hand the IMF has very harsh neoliberal positions on the economic and social issues so it would be difficult to support a left government and on the other hand it puts pressure on the Europeans for a favourable solution on the Greek debt. [03] BoG head Stournaras optimistic that Greece will succeed "The successful conclusion of the first evaluation will have a significant impact on the confidence climate as it will mark the return of deposits to the banks and the beginning of discussions on a series of positive acts," Bank of Greece governor Yannis Stournaras said in an interview with Kathimerini newspaper on Sunday. The Greek economy at the beginning of 2016 is at a critical crossroad, Stournaras said and explained: "It is ahead of the first evaluation of the new financial program which includes two very important and sensitive prior actions: the completion of the social security reforms and the rationalisation of taxes on farmers." He also said that the negotiation for the conclusion of the evaluation will have to be completed at a Eurogroup level as the situation in the European Union makes it highly dangerous to transfer it at an EU Council summit level. Stournaras expressed optimism that Greece is very likely to succeed despite the mistakes of the past by both the Greek side and the creditors. [04] Labour Min Katrougalos certain than bill on social security reforms will be voted The draft law for the social security reforms will be tabled in Parliament in January because it is a prior action for the first evaluation, Labour Minister George Katrougalos said in an interview "Ethnos" newspaper on Sunday. "I am in close and constant contact with the deputies of the government majority and I am certain that they will vote for a fair and necessary reform," he underlined. The Greek minister, however, said that the negotiation will be difficult as some of the lenders are particularly obsessed with cuts and so the government looks for a foothold on the diplomatic level. [05] Labour Min Katrougalos to brief President Pavlopoulos on social security reforms on Monday Labour Minister George Katrougalos on Monday will brief the President of the Republic Prokopis Pavlopoulos on the social security reforms planned ahead of the negotiations with the creditors. Katrougalos will start his meetings with the political leaders in Parliament, at 11:00. The meeting with Pavlopoulos has been scheduled for 18:00. The draft law is expected to be submitted to Parliament in January, the minister confirmed in an interview with "Ethnos" newspaper. [06] 2016 will be a milestone for the Greek economy, Alternate FinMin Chouliarakis says 2016 will be a milestone for the Greek economy as suffocating austerity measures will be lifted and a sustainable recovery will begin, Alternate Finance Minister George Chouliarakis on Sunday said in an interview with "To Vima" newspaper. According to Chouliarakis, the recovery is expected in summer after liquidity has returned to normal levels and confidence has been restored and these will result from the lifting of capital controls - at the end of the first half - and the management of the public debt. The programme for the exit of the economy from the crisis will be implemented step by step, he said, starting with the tough round of negotiations on the social security reforms and savings of 1.8 billion euros from the system. The social security reforms and the fulfillment of the budgetary targets, without new measures, "are prior actions for the conclusion of the evaluation", which will be accompanied by lower borrowing costs of the banks, the disbursement of 2 billion euros and the beginning of the debate on debt restructuring. Asked on the medium-term fiscal policy framework 2017-2020, he replied that the intention of the government is to link a balanced budget with the economic recovery, in a socially fair way that will redistribute the adaptation cost and the benefits of the upcoming recovery in favor of the socially vulnerable. "This is a great challenge for a left government amid a crisis," he added. Financial news [07] 2007-2013 NSRF funds successfully absorbed The absorption of the 2007-2013 National Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF) funds was successfully completed, according to the data of the Economy Ministry. Moreover, the new programmes for the 2014-2020 NSRF funds will be issued in the immediate future, it added. "We achieved the full implementation of the 2015 Public Investment Program, and in just three months (October to December 2015), 5 billion euro funds were allocated to the real economy, exceeding even the optimistic target of 4.5 billion euros until the end of 2015 we had set in the government policy statements. Overall, 6.4 billion euros were allocated in 2015," Deputy Economy Minister Alexis Charitsis stated. These major developments for the Greek economy, despite the particularly difficult fiscal climate, are a result of hard work and concerted effort to enhance the absorption of structural funds as well as of the successful negotiation of the Economy Ministry with the European Commission. [08] HRADF: Jermyn Street Real Estate Fund signs new agreement for Astir Palace Vouliagmeni The Hellenic Republic Asset Development Fund (HRADF) announced that on December 31, 2015, Jermyn Street Real Estate Fund IV LP, signed the new agreement to submit the amended Special Zoning and Spatial Plan (ESHADA) for the development of the "Astir Palace Vouliagmeni SA". The agreement ensures that the plan is adjusted to the Council of the State's opinion and has the same price of 400 million euros. The whole process is expected to be completed within the first half of 2016. General News [09] Coast Guard rescues 50 refugees north east of Oinousses Coast Guard rescued 50 refugees in the sea region north east of Oinousses when their vessel capsized due to adverse weather conditions. Winds with velocity 8 on the Beaufort scale are blowing the area. A vessel of the Coast Guard and a super puma rushed in the area to assist in the rescue efforts. [10] Weather Forecast Low temperatures and northerly winds are forecast for Monday. Wind velocity will reach 6 on the Beaufort scale. Rainy weather in the northern parts of the country with temperatures ranging from -04C-06C. Clouds, rain in the western parts with temperatures between 04C-08C. Clouds, chance of rain in the eastern parts with temperatures between -02C-07C. Clouds, chance of rain over the islands, 04C-08C. Clouds, chance of rain in Athens, 04C-07C. Same weather in Thessaloniki, -04C-04C. [11] Athens Headlines at a glance KATHIMERINI: (BoG governor Yannis) Stournaras: Greece at crossroads in 2016 TO VIMA: Vague hopes for Greece and Europe ETHNOS: How the pensions will be formed TO ARTHRO: Third war idealogies REAL NEWS: ?lexis Tsipras: "We will not succumb to unreasonable demands" PROTO THEMA: The first home at the hands of funds! KONTRA NEWS: 2016: A critical year for Alexis Tsipras O LOGOS: Difficult game with the creditors PRIN: 2016 will be a year of counter-attack and reversals EPOCHI: Open borders, safe people 36, TSOCHA ST. ATHENS 115 21 GREECE * TEL: 64.00.560-63 * FAX: 64.00.581-2 INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.ana.gr * E-MAIL: anabul@ana gr * GENERAL DIRECTOR: Michalis Psilos Athens News Agency: Daily News Bulletin in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Athens Macedonian News Agency: News in English, 16-01-04 Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/> CONTENTS [01] Opposition parties react to govt proposals for social security reform [02] Pensions cannot be less than contributions, Greek president stresses [01] Opposition parties react to govt proposals for social security reform Opposition parties continued to hammer away at a proposed set of pension reforms unveiled by the government this week ahead of its formal tabling as a draft law this month. Union of Centrists party leader Vassilis Leventis expressed opposition over the government's draft law for the social security, after his meeting on Monday with Labour Minister George Katrougalos, who briefed him on the government's programme. On his part, Communist Party (KKE) secretary general Dimitris Koutsoumbas, after his meeting with Katrougalos, said his party's position is totally against the government's proposal for the social security reform, noting that KKE will struggle so that the reforms do not pass in parliament. Potami leader Stavros Theodorakis, who is visiting the northwest city of Ioannina, said "Katrougalos' meetings are only for photographers". In his statement, Theodorakis said "Potami is not willing to follow the government's public relations programme". [02] Pensions cannot be less than contributions, Greek president stresses Pensions cannot be allowed to fall below the amount paid in contributions, Greek President Prokopis Pavlopoulos said on Monday after a briefing on proposed pension system reform he received by relevant Labour Minister George Katrougalos. "The partners in the European Union must take into account that the social insurance system is the heart of the social state of justice throughout Europe," Pavlopoulos noted. "It is the main pillar, not just of European democracy but of European civilisation," he added. "I would like to believe, and not just to hope, that the Greek positions and the sacrifices of the Greek people will be understood," he said. Athens News Agency: News in English Directory - Previous Article - Next Article
Replicas of Kate Middleton's engagement ring have reportedly been "banned" from public sale, as instructed by the Duchess of Cambridge herself.

The 1 million sapphire and diamond engagement ring, which was previously worn by the late Princess Diana, was meant to be part of a new collection of replica Royal jewelry sold online and at the Historic Royal Palaces gift shop at Kensington Palace. However, the Daily Mail reports the ring has "mysteriously vanished" from the collection.

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Sources believe the 33-year-old mother of two vetoed the sale as the ring has "deep personal significance for her and her husband, Prince William."

A palace source tells the Daily Mail, "I expect the feeling at Kensington Palace is that it's rather naff to sell cheap copies of Diana's engagement ring. One can hardly blame Kate for vetoing the idea of them selling a knock-off of the ring she wears every day."

Manufacturers of the ring, however, seem to be baffled by the withdrawal, with one Bill Skinner Studio spokesperson telling the Daily Mail, "We do make the ring but they dont want us to supply it to the gift shop."

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Other pieces from the "Princess Diana jewelry collection" include the ring's matching earrings and necklace, which were also passed down to Catherine. They are currently still available for 14.99 and 29.99 respectively, while a "ring charm" inspired by the engagement ring is available for 100.

The Historic Royal Palaces has declined to comment on the matter, reports the Daily Mail.

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Barrett & MacKay via Getty Images Tryon, Prince Edward Island, Canada

It took barely a month for a private sponsorship group to raise over $25,000 as part of efforts to bring a Syrian refugee family to Prince Edward Island.

A Queens County group made up of private citizens and local churches launched a GoFundMe campaign on Nov. 18, 2015. By Dec. 22, it achieved its five-figure goal.

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It felt a bit like an early Christmas gift, said Bonnie Stewart, a member of the group that's helping to resettle a family of eight in the area, in an email.

Islanders are credited with making more than half of the donations  other contributions came from as far away as Australia, Scotland, and Qatar.

Offers of more money, as well as donations of goods and services, continue to come in, said Stewart, who works as the University of P.E.I. adult teaching co-ordinator.

Ive had a number of parents of school-age kids reach out to me about meeting with families and connecting refugee kids to local kids once everyone's arrived and settled, she told The Huffington Post Canada.

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It felt a bit like an early Christmas gift.

When HuffPost Canada interviewed Stewart in November, the group had just received a $2,000 donation from a Maritimes family who decided their holiday budget would be better spent supporting Syrian newcomers.

Artist Amy Seymour, who was behind the donation, said at the time that despite the fact she and her siblings dont always agree on everything, they felt the GoFundMe campaign was a worthy cause.

An undated picture of Amy Seymour with her brother and sisters. (Photo: Facebook)

Our family is blessed to have everything we need, she said, adding they have great faith that the sponsorship team and a supportive community will make a genuine difference for the Syrian family.

A little bit can go a long way, she said.

2nd application started

Combining money raised from the campaign with other funding, the Queens County group has started a second application to privately sponsor another Syrian family. But the group is still in the dark about when they will arrive in Canadas smallest province.

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We haven't had any news about our family of eight over the holidays, which is too bad, Stewart said. Despite the lack of status updates, she said the group remains optimistic.

We'll see how it all evolves. Right now, we have the funds and the organizational capacity, and we're excited to welcome and support families, she said.

Evaluating priorities

The government fell short of its target to resettle 10,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015. Immigration Minister John McCallum acknowledged the shortfall at a Thursday press conference in Toronto, announcing two more weeks would be needed to meet an amended year-end goal.

Immigration Minister McCallum speaks with a Syrian family inside their tent during his visit to a refugee camp in the southern town of Ghaziyeh, Lebanon on Dec. 18, 2015. (Photo: Bilal Hussein/The Associated Press)

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He urged Canadians to look beyond the deadline and focus on the bigger picture.

So I think it is up to Canadians to decide whether this two-week delay is a matter of utmost importance or whether we should instead focus on welcoming these wonderful new Canadians to our shores, McCallum said.

Approximately 6,300 Syrian refugees have arrived in Canada so far and over 17,000 applications are in progress, according to the latest government numbers.

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Fatherhood has changed Prince William in ways he never expected.

In a candid interview, the 33-year-old father revealed he has become a lot more emotional since the birth of his two kids, Prince George, 2, and Princess Charlotte, eight months.

I never used to get too wound up or worried about things, the Duke of Cambridge said in an ITV documentary. But now the smallest little things, you well up a little more, you get affected by the sort of things that happen around the world or whatever a lot more, I think, as a father. Just because you realize how precious life is and it puts it all in perspective. The idea of not being around to see your children grow up and stuff like that.

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Prince William has always been a family man. In fact, the Duke of Cambridge took paternity leave after each of his children were born. In July 2013, Prince William took two weeks leave after he welcomed his son George with his wife Catherine, the Duchess of Cambridge. Then, when his baby girl Charlotte was born in May, he took six weeks of unpaid leave.

In October, an insider told Closer that William wants to be more involved [in family life] than his father, Prince Charles, was," which is why he is a very hands-on father.

When Will is home, he bathes [the kids], reads stories and puts them to bed, the source said.

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Celebrity Dads Who Took Paternity Leave See Gallery
Out-of-work Canadians may want to hit up Statistics Canada for a temp job this month, as the data agency is looking to hire 35,000 people for this years census.

Of those jobs, 1,400 will be at StatsCans census operations centers in Ottawa and Gatineau, the agency said on its website. The remaining jobs, mostly for census-takers, will be located across the entire country.

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The census jobs will begin their tenures in April or May. But StatsCan is also planning to hold early enumeration in some rural parts of the country, and those jobs have to be in place by February. The agency is offering a pay rate of $16.31 to $19.91 per hour.

HEADS UP: Statistics Canada is hiring for 35,000 jobs. pic.twitter.com/iHATtU6XYd  Norm Kelly (@norm) January 4, 2016

Not A Survey Anymore

Notably, the notification on the StatsCan site doesnt refer to a survey, but rather a census.

The previous Harper government scrapped the twice-a-decade mandatory census in favour of a voluntary national household survey, but the new Trudeau government undid that change in November.

Many statisticians argued the voluntary survey provided lower-quality data that was not comparable with the higher-quality data from earlier censuses. In some communities, the response rate to the voluntary survey was so low that no data exists on these locations from the 2011 survey.

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"We need good, reliable data," Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, said last fall when announcing the return of the census.

Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, says Canada needs "good, reliable" data on households in order to set effective policies. (Canadian Press photo)

Boost To Employment

If nothing else, the hiring of 35,000 temporary workers will give Canada an employment boost at a time when hiring has been lacklustre, and unemployment has been rising in oil-producing provinces.

Last falls election had a similar effect. Much of the improvement in job conditions seen in the third quarter of 2014 was attributed to temporary election hiring.

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Jupiterimages via Getty Images Worried woman counting coins

By: Lee Anne Davies

Cowardly is the only way to describe people who target those living with Alzheimer's for the purposes of financial gain. Statistically speaking, these people are most likely to be your family, friends, or neighbours.

It is deeply hurtful to even remotely consider that someone from your most trusted group of allies could be intending to take advantage of you when you are most vulnerable, but avoiding this issue only leaves you more vulnerable. Some U.S. reports estimate that financial elder abuse and scams may increase to a rate of 20 per cent for those over age 65 by 2030.

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Your best line of defence is to increase your awareness on some of the more typical financial threats so you can remain in control of your financial assets even as the disease progresses and substitute decision-makers get involved.

Communications - Avoiding a Breakdown

Open up communications with those people who will assist you in managing your financial assets and clarify your intended use for these assets. For example, if you are concerned about those closest to you experiencing caregiver stress, encourage them to use some of the money for caregiving assistance and respite care relief as needed.

This does two things: it removes any guilt on others who are "spending your money" for caregiving, and also helps ensure that if someone is likely to receive a gift from your estate and is worried about assets dwindling unnecessarily, they will be unable to assert their opinion since you have already expressed your instructions.

Share with your trusted team that it is okay and even common for disagreements to arise over the best use of financial assets since the situation is emotionally charged. Encourage each person to share their point of view but to remember the primary goal is your well-being.

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Above all, request that no person hoards information. Suggest a monthly meeting of your key support group and remind them to ensure you are included as long as it is physically possible.

Neglect

Unfortunately your estate may be the motivating factor for some family, friends and even charitable organizations to stay in touch with you. Sometimes threats of abandonment or neglect are suggested to encourage you to modify your will.

This is elder abuse.

There is no need for anyone to know the directions contained in your will. The document can remain private until your death. You may find yourself worrying that your need for future caregiving may be withheld if certain persons are not sure they will receive a bequest.

In this case your best protection is to discuss your concerns with legal counsel. Alert legal counsel to potential problems that could arise when your estate is settled. Your lawyer will have ideas on how to protect you and your estate. Do not be embarrassed to share your concerns with legal counsel -- this is a familiar situation for lawyers.

Advances on Estates

"You're not using the money" is one of the more common forms of financial pressure, often from adult children or grandchildren. The individual knows they are likely to receive money from your estate but they want the money now. There will be an urgent need such as a down payment for a car or even a home.

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If you are considering an advance, please involve legal counsel. Clear documentation of the advance is needed, clarifying the amount, a future valuation calculation and the intention to deduct this amount from the estate distribution.

The greatest concern with this situation is that the advance may exceed the value of the inheritance. For example, if the will indicates that your son will receive 20 per cent of the estate but your care costs have reduced the total estate, the 20 per cent gift may be less than the value of the advance.

You will never be able to fully protect your assets. You also cannot prevent the breakdown of relationships that may occur as your adult children, siblings, or others you trust disagree on your care and associated financial issues.

Everyone needs to be flexible, placing your needs first and willingly build relationships by working as a team to ensure your well-being. By establishing a well-informed team now you can help reduce the likelihood of financial threats.

Brought to you by The Alzheimer Society of Ontario.

This story was originally published in the Alzheimer Society of Ontario's newsletter as well as on alzlive.com, a website for caregivers of people living with Alzheimer's and dementia.

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egal via Getty Images Refugees welcome as a road sign

Leaving all that we know -- including our homeland, family members, long-time friends and natural elements -- in order to immigrate to a new continent, new country, or new ways of life can be an anxiety-riddled, intimidating and overwhelming leap.

In this unsettled situation, one's mind races through unanswered questions, assumptions and doubts about the unknown awaiting then. Most of the time, all we have are our hope for the best and our faith in humanity.

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As Canada opens its doors to Syrians refugee, memories of my own arrival in this land of immigrants resurface. For some reason, these memories are still emotionally charged. Luckily for me, the most grounding feeling throughout the whole experience is that of gratitude -- gratitude to this country and, most importantly, to my sponsors.

I came to learn the other meaning of the word "sponsor" for the first time at the Canadian High Commission of Pretoria, when -- let's call her Mrs. Salvatore -- explained to me that the only remaining step in my immigration process was to secure sponsors. I was a bit confused as to why I needed sponsors, since I wasn't an important athlete or artist.

I asked more about these sponsors just to make sure Mrs. Salvatore was talking about my case. The explanation was far from Coca-Cola or Nike. "You have been through a lot, and so we need to find you good people who will help you integrate into Canadian society while offering all the support you need," she said.

And she was right. My sponsors, a group of seven people from various churches in Thornhill, were just that -- a group of good people who helped me integrate into Canadian society while offering all the support I needed, and much more.

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In a nutshell, my sponsors were my guardian angels in Canada from day one. I remember seeing a group of women and one man holding a paper with my name while waving at the children and I. Their very presence at the airport and their smiles drove away my anxiety.

When the immigration officer handed me my papers after reading to me the official welcome text and explaining that after three years I could apply for the Canadian citizenship, I was overcome by joy and somehow my doubts melted away as I began to hear words of certitude -- words of long-term vision and things to work toward.

My anxiety continued to dissipate as the Canadian sponsors gave my children and I warm hugs in this new, chilly environment. They divided us into their cars with three suit cases of clothes, toys and books, and brought us to a World Vision building where an apartment was prepared for us to use for one month.

Our sponsors came back the next day for the first settlement orientation meeting. The daylight confirmed on their faces, in their hugs, gestures and words their genuine commitment to make sure we were doing well.

The Sunday following our arrival, they invited us to our first Canadian Thanksgiving. We loved Toronto, its diversity, the helpful and resourceful workers of World Vision and the people sharing the same fate and building with us. However, when we begin to feel a bit lonely in our new world, the visit of our sponsors became an expected ray of sun. They never disappointed. They came frequently, rotating by pairs. Even their children became involved.

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"Since that day at the airport, these people created a safety net for us and progressively became what I feared I couldn't find in Toronto: they became our extended family."

Always taking turns, they also phoned twice per week. And this was important to me. You see, although Canada is not a conflict zone, when one immigrates, one has this sense of uneasiness. It felt good to have them with us, to know that they were reachable and available any time via phone. It made us feel safe inside. It made us feel surrounded by a circle of warmth and friendship.

After the orientation week, I started looking for a rental accommodation. Our sponsors only stopped coming to these apartment searching trips because I insisted that I was fine using public transportation and navigating other systems by myself.

When we found our own apartment, our sponsors were again present, helping us with the cleaning for two days until the rooms were spotless.

Looking back, I think our relationship succeeded because our sponsors were very good at balancing: they were always with us -- present -- and at the same time willing to give us our space. They asked questions about our well-being, but were never intrusive. They listened to us and gave answers as much as they could -- even donated -- but were never condescending. And their thoughtfulness was holistic.

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For instance, they visited the children's schools. The only man of the group, Paul Anderson, took the then-boys to their first haircut and a Big Brothers and Big Sisters meeting. They never complained when we didn't take their suggestions. We had our self-determination in this new chapter of our lives, and they offered an informed guidance. They offered generosity, humanity and hope needed to rebuild our lives here.

If at any time felt one of us was not well emotionally or otherwise, they would make the trip from Thornhill to Scarborough. Always! Since that day at the airport, these people created a safety net for us and progressively became what I feared I couldn't find in Toronto: they became our extended family.

As we became more and more accustomed to Canada, their visits became more spaced out, but we never ceased to communicate, to be in touch and to know how we were doing from both sides.

They were there at our citizenship ceremony. In our most difficult times and in times of joy, they were present. And to this date, I know for sure that no matter what, I can always count on my sponsors who I affectionately call the Group of Seven.

As thousands and thousands of sponsors are offering their homes, resources and hearts to strangers to people who were like my family 15 years ago, I just want to say a big thank you to you Linda Nichols, Louise Patterson, Isobel Wildish, Jane Winstanley, Linda Gould, Paul Anderson, Betty Henshaw (may you rest in peace).

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My children and I were strangers, and you welcomed us. I will forever be grateful to you all. And as we see thousands of Canadians doing what you, my sponsors, did for my family, I can only be grateful to all of them as well, and tell the new Syrian refugees that they are in good hands. With time, and with Canadian sponsors' support, all will get better.

With gratitude,

Annie

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volgariver via Getty Images Miniature version of American Flag and roll of american hundred dollars bills.

U.S. tax system based on citizenship and residency set to punish unsuspecting taxpayers

For anyone who thought the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) wasn't serious about tracking down errant or missing U.S. taxpayers, the past year should have erased any doubts. Whether you agree with the IRS's methods or not, they now have even more tools to find U.S. citizens living just about anywhere. If you need to file U.S. taxes, the time to ignore your filing obligations seems to be rapidly coming to an end.

The IRS is not letting this drop. Nor can you expect any other government intervention to eliminate your U.S. tax filing obligations. The IRS expects everyone who needs to be compliant to file the paperwork even if they don't actually owe any U.S. tax.

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The IRS introduced the Streamlined Filing Procedure in 2012 because it recognized that there were people who simply did not realize they had U.S. filing obligations while living abroad but they needed an opportunity to catch up without fearing bankruptcy. The program is remarkable because it offers compliance with no penalties for people who are able to use it. In the U.S. tax system, penalties can be quite substantial and far more than the taxes actually owed.

There was never a deadline attached to the Streamlined Filing program but it was not expected to be open indefinitely. And this was confirmed at a speech by the IRS commissioner in December last year when he said at some point they will assume people have had enough notice that they should have become voluntarily compliant. When the IRS is making these kinds of statements publicly, you can expect a deadline to be announced soon.

After much debate and a court case to try and stop it, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) came into effect in 2015 and the first information share between the Canada Revenue Agency and the IRS happened in September. FATCA allows the review of information from financial institutions to identify U.S. citizens living abroad who may not be tax compliant.

While FATCA may be a tool for the IRS to find tax cheats, it is having unexpected consequences whether U.S. citizens are tax compliant or not. For example, some U.S. citizens living abroad are unable to get mortgages because the bank does not want to deal with FATCA requirements. Others are finding they cannot open bank accounts for the same reason.

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If FATCA wasn't enough, new legislation was introduced in December that now gives the IRS powers connected to U.S. passports. When the announcement came out, it was easy to dismiss because the new law allows passports to be revoked if you owe $50,000 or more in taxes.

It seems unlikely that the average taxpayer would owe that much. But the fines in the U.S. tax system can add up quickly. For example, if you have a Tax Free Savings Account (TFSA), you are required to file two forms a year with the IRS to report this income. It is not tax-free in the U.S. Not filing the appropriate forms results in a $10,000 fine per form. So if you haven't filed your U.S. tax returns in a couple of years, you are quickly looking at a sizable tax bill and you might not be able to enter the U.S.

And it is more than just taxes owing. If you hold a U.S. passport but do not have a Social Security Number (SSN), it can now be revoked or not renewed. Once you have a SSN, the IRS can track you to make sure you are filing taxes.

All of these moves by the IRS mean the window of amnesty is closing. Unless you are living in a remote area with little connection to the rest of the world, you will not be able to plead ignorance when the IRS asks you why you haven't filed.

If you choose to wait until the IRS contacts you, it will be much harder to get penalties waived. And once the Streamlined Program closes, getting yourself into compliance will become more expensive. With the new legislation and tools at its disposal, the IRS is starting the next stage of its crackdown on non-filing U.S. citizens. The time to procrastinate is over.

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alexis84 via Getty Images Tourist hand holding vintage leather travel bag with flag of Canada

In a March 2015 survey commissioned by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (now Immigration Refugees and Citizenship Canada), 52 per cent of Canadians agreed that the annual number of immigrant coming to the country is just about right. Just over one in 10 Canadians believes the country is receiving too few immigrants. About one in four Canadians feels that there are too many immigrants coming to the country.

Since there is little awareness about the actual numbers of immigrants, it's hard to know how many immigrants are too many. According to the same CIC survey, some 47 per cent believe that the country takes in less than 150,000 immigrants annually. Only one in five think that the country takes in over 150,000. Some one in three Canadians simply don't know.

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Of course, not knowing the actual number does not prevent people from issuing an opinion as to whether or not there are too many or too few. More often the opinion expressed is a reflection of how Canadians feel about the presence of immigrants.

It would however be incorrect to assume that the number of immigrants settling in Canada has increased each year. With only a few exceptions, for more than 20 years there has been little change in the annual number of new immigrants.

Yearly immigration levels averaged 220,000 in the 1990s, and just over 240,000 over the first decade of the 21st century. In regard to the desired numbers of immigrants, during the mid-1990s the annual objective of the Federal Liberals was to attain one per cent of the total population. When the Federal Liberals regained power in 1993, Canada's yearly intake was 30,000, just short of that one per cent target.

In the late 1990s, the gap widened even further. For the better part of the past 15 years the annual proportion of immigration relative to the total national population has been 0.7 per cent. To attain that one per cent figure today, the government would have to admit about 350,000 people in the year. In 2014, Canada was more than 90,000 short of its target.

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"The inevitable outcome would be a shrunken tax base and acute labour shortages. Over the next decade, a million jobs risk going unfilled."

To its credit, the Government of Canada committed to admitting as many as 25,000 Syrian refugees by the end of 2015. But the year-end estimate for the number of Syrians actually coming in is fewer than 7,000.

For the first three quarters of 2015 (January to September 30), Canada welcomed about 10,000 fewer immigrants than it did over the same nine-month period in the previous year. Those Canadians concerned about immigrant numbers can be assured that overall immigration for the year 2015 is unlikely to have exceeded the total number of newcomers for 2014.

Canada has been described as a nation of immigrants, with its one in five foreign-born representing the second highest percentage in the world (only Australia has a higher share of immigrants). International migration and the numbers of births over deaths (natural increase) are the country's only two sources of population growth (changes to provincial and territorial population are also affected by migration between the provinces).

Most demographers acknowledge that immigration will soon be the only avenue for increasing population. A May 2012 Globe and Mail series of essays recommended that Canada significantly increase the numbers of immigrants it received.

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One of the stories pointed out that the ratio of working-age Canadians to seniors was narrowing, and the inevitable outcome would be a shrunken tax base and acute labour shortages. Over the next decade, a million jobs risk going unfilled.

And yet, only around one in 10 Canadians agrees that Canada currently admits too few immigrants. The annual (and sometimes multi-year) public consultations held by the Federal Ministry of Citizenship and Immigration on levels of newcomers do not seem to have yielded much success in changing this attitude. It's high time for a consultation that takes a longer view of the country's population needs.

Jack Jedwab is Chair of the National Metropolis Conference on Immigration and Integration. The 18th edition of the conference, entitled "Getting Results: Migration, Opportunities and Good Governance," will be held at the Westin Harbor Front in Toronto between March 3 and March 5, 2016.

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As 2016 begins, the celebrations of the holidays are put behind us and we begin to look forward to the remaining months of the winter. Along with the trepidation of returning to work as well as keeping those resolutions, another fear will soon grip Canadians. The flu is coming back. Based on the information from the Public Health Agency of Canada, the virus is slowly making its way across the country and establishing a hold on our collective lungs. Within a few weeks, the entire country will be awash in sniffles, coughs, and sick days.

For public health officials, the best route of protection is prevention and that means taking the flu vaccine. However, despite the proven record of the shot over the last decade, a number of issues have arisen to give people pause. In the last recorded year, only one-third of Canadians over the age of 12 decided to get vaccinated. This means over 60 per cent of the population may be left vulnerable to infection.

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In absence of the vaccine, the only recourse is to increase diligence to hygiene and social distancing. This may work in many scenarios but not all such as intimate family moments, crowded environments, and the inadvertent and unexpected cough from a co-commuter. In these situations, the chance for a shared infectious droplet is high.

There is a known method to ensure infection is not transmitted: use a mask. Of course, surgical masks, while effective, may not be the best visually acceptable choice. Other options, such as scarves or towels can also help to keep your lungs safe while not drawing too much attention.

These barrier methods all deal with the outside of the body. But there may be a way to provide a barrier to influenza on the inside. The concept may seem complex but in reality it's rather easy to conceive thanks in part to the simple nature by which viruses like influenza infect.

Unlike bacteria, which can live on their own in any environment, viruses need to live and reproduce within a cell. This means it has to somehow find a way to gain access. Each of our cells is protected by a rather complex membrane that serves as a barrier to the outside. Viruses cannot break through this wall and have to somehow figure out they can be allowed entry.

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The mechanism of influenza cellular invasion involves two viral protein known as hemagglutinin (also called HA or H as H1N1) and neuraminidase (NA or N). The NA protein clears the path of mucus and other molecular barriers allowing HA contact with the cell. Once this happens, the cell is tricked into allowing the virus entry so it can begin its infectious attack.

Finding a barrier to this process has involved an examination of a variety of chemical options. Some of the best come from natural sources. Familiar names such as pine and licorice as well as some rather odd names like jujube have all shown their ability to prevent influenza infection by providing a chemical block between the H protein and the cell. In each case, both studies in the lab, in mice and in some cases, in humans, all reveal the addition of a natural chemical barrier such as drops or a spray can help keep a person healthy.

The successes of these searches have led to investigations of other chemicals known to provide other beneficial effects to the human body. Last week, a team of Chinese researchers revealed their examinations into the influenza-blocking activity of the phytochemical quercetin. The results suggest this molecule, better known as an anti-inflammatory, may one day offer an entirely different benefit.

The work was relatively straightforward. In the lab, quercetin was added to cells prior to infection with influenza. After a few days, the results were compared with another group of infected cells not given the anti-inflammatory molecule. As expected, there was significantly less infection in those given the phytochemical.

But that part of the experiment wasn't the major finding. The researchers' main goal was to learn how the virus was stopped. Based on chemical analyses, the group learned quercetin blocked the HA protein. This meant the molecule didn't prevent the virus from clearing the mucus but instead, blocked virus entry. In practice, this meant adding quercetin to the vulnerable cells could help stop infection by keeping the virus on the outside.

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For the authors, this study suggested quercetin may one day be a possible protective agent against influenza. To get there, the tests need to be run in animals and also in humans much like other proven natural barriers. Until then, quercetin can still be used to keep inflammation down and help keep your body in good shape to fight off any infectious invasions.

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Stuart Dee via Getty Images Canadian dollar bills spread out.

Many of us in the disability community were pleasantly surprised when the Liberal party promised to create a National Disabilities Act that would safeguard disability rights, reduce systemic barriers and establish a foundation of opportunity for those affected by disability. Canada is an outlier among developed nations for not having one -- the U.S. has had theirs for 25 years -- so it could not arrive soon enough.

But the federal Conservative government did make some positive contributions of their own for the disability community during their decade in power -- most notably, the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP).

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The RDSP was the brainchild of non-profit organization, PLAN and was championed by the late Finance Minister, Jim Flaherty, who made it a reality in the 2007 budget. Flaherty had first-hand experience with disability; one of his sons contracted encephalitis as an infant with lasting health consequences.

The RDSP is Flaherty's legacy to Canadians with disability and it remains an important and valuable program -- at least in theory.

According to a 2014 study, only about 15 per cent of eligible Canadians take part in the program, meaning almost half a million eligible Canadians are losing out. With a wave of teens with autism reaching adulthood in the coming years, helping families affected by disability help themselves has never been more important.

So what is it and what needs to be done to make it work better for Canadians?

The RDSP is a savings plan that helps parents and caretakers of those with a disability save for their loved one's long-term financial future with some financial contributions coming directly from the government -- free money, in other words.

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There are two components to the RDSP in addition to personal contributions: a federal grant and a federal bond. The grant is based on family income and how much a family contributes privately to the RDSP. It can equal as much as $3,500 in contributions from the government each year. The bond is based solely on family income (those making less than $43,953) and can be as much as $1,000 in contributions from the government per year.

Over the lifetime of an RDSP, an individual can receive as much as $70,000 from the federal grant, and if eligible, as much as $20,000 from the federal bond.

So why are so few using the RDSP?

In 2014, a cross-party Senate Committee undertook a study to answer this very question. It's time our new federal government dusted off the report and put some of the recommendations into action.

Here are three quick ways the federal government can improve the RDSP and help families affected by disability now:

1. Establish an RDSP automatically once an individual is eligible for Revenue Canada's Disability Tax Credit.

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When I initiated my son's RDSP, I was required to provide his Disability Tax Credit status, a Social Insurance Number, proof of age and residency in Canada. It's a lot of intimidating bureaucratic paperwork that could put off families who may have time, language or educational barriers.

2. In the meantime, raise the awareness and understanding of the RDSP program.

I regularly encounter families in the disability community who have never heard of the RDSP program or don't know how to initiate it. Others have told me they don't have the money to start one -- unaware they'd be eligible for free government bonds just for opening the account without requiring a penny of savings from them.

The Senate report recommends the federal government should partner directly with advocacy groups to help spread the word. This makes good sense since it's often the front-line non-profit groups who are directly engaged with disability families and know best how to reach them and could help them with administrative hurdles.

Another promising model is to have health practitioners work directly with their patients. Recently, a coalition of healthcare providers, researchers and community agencies based in Ontario and Manitoba have created a Get Your Benefits!Toolkit to help healthcare workers improve the wealth -- and thus the health -- of their patients by helping them access income and other supports they may be entitled to.

3. Allow other family members and friends to contribute easily to an existing RDSP

This recommendation isn't in the Senate report, but it's one that comes from my own experience and from others I know in the disability community. If you have a disabled child, 'extra money' is not always easy to tuck away. But birthdays and other special events are an opportunity for loved ones of the child to contribute meaningfully to their future.

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Financial institutions should work with the federal government to find an easier way for those who are not plan holders to contribute to an individual RDSP in small or significant amounts (in theory it is permitted now, but in practice, it is almost impossible in some plans). It takes a community to raise a child after all.

The RDSP really is an excellent program and needed as much today as when it was created. The federal government just needs to give it wings to make it fly.

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Jamie Grill via Getty Images USA, New Jersey, Angry girl (12-13) in bedroom

Your daughter isn't human. This belief is central to driving her bat-crap crazy. Never, and I mean never, acknowledge your shared humanity.

Once you nail that down, the rest is easy. And the Golden Rule need not apply.

Oh, and it helps to keep repeating the famous line from USA Network's Chrisley Knows Best, "There's no normal here." Chant it. Post it on the bathroom mirror. Set it to music.

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Now we can get down to brass tacks.

Start when she's young, very young. Punish the smallest infraction. Let's say she's three-years old and refusing to eat those nasty, disgusting canned peas. You lose this one, baby, you lose the war! If you don't force her to swallow every pea, next she's gonna be stealing cars, doing drugs, you name it. So serve those peas and nothing but those peas to her for every meal until she chokes 'em down.

When schooldays roll around, make sure your girl is the odd man out. The "weird" one.

If she gets mad at you, nip that in the bud! Anger isn't allowed. Comprende?

When schooldays roll around, make sure your girl is the odd man out. The "weird" one. You might arbitrarily order her never to speak to her #BFF ever again. That works great. Forbidding all field trips will get her cross-examined by her peers. Teach her to lie, make excuses and try to please everyone. That way, she'll never learn boundaries nor a backbone with them nor with you.

Undoubtedly, like all girls, her appearance is central to her self-esteem. Of course, it shouldn't be, so make sure she never looks like the other girls. Whatever hairstyle is "in," give her the opposite. I heard this story once about a girl who wore those ridiculous "mall bangs" in the 90's. As soon as she'd get her gravity-defying bangs curled, teased and sprayed into place, her father would crush 'em flat with this hand. Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

And whatever you do, do not allow age-appropriate maturity milestones in step with her girlfriends. If they're wearing make-up, forbid it and label it "slutty." Get her driver's license? You gotta' be kidding me! Going to the mall or parties or anything...hell no! Sleep with her bedroom door closed? Think again.

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Stylish dressing...what are you thinking!? The key here is that she's not allowed to look too good. Hey, it's character building and will instill lifelong body shame. And a nice by-product is that she won't have any boyfriends nor dates, so she can keep her mind focused on her studies.

At some point, your daughter may begin to evidence symptoms of stress. She won't show anger, because you forbade it years ago, but she may develop tension headaches and OCD. Let's say she picks obsessively at her skin. This will give you an opportunity to up the ante. First, yell, scream, rage and lecture at her. Vow to never give her a compliment again 'til she quits that crap.

Next, forbid her from touching her own face. If that doesn't work, confiscate all her foundation and concealer. And if that doesn't shame her into stopping, try the opposite tack. Order her to wear full cover-makeup 100% of the time. And if she dares to appear in your presence barefaced on a lazy Saturday morning, stare at her skin and grimace without making eye contact.

Education is where it's at. Gotta love when she gets straight A's. Now that's a report card you can be proud to sign. And you have a lot to do with it, Mom and Dad. Keep her nose to that grindstone, her ass at her desk. And no matter how hard she works, make it clear that it's never enough. Tell her she "almost failed," even though she actually could join MENSA. Threatening summer school is an excellent tactic. Gotta love the way the light goes out of her eyes when you bring that up.

Of course, we mustn't overlook our child's spirituality either. If you happen to be religious, make sure the child believes themselves to be the worst of the worst, unworthy of the love of God, hell-bound...unlike you. Accuse her of being obsessed with evil and bringing you under spiritual attack. I heard of this one dad, you're gonna love this, who forced his girl to peruse book after book of Holocaust pictures to "break" her obsession with evil. I'm tellin' ya, man!

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Slut shame her. She may be a virgin, but make her believe she's an almost-slut. Accuse her of trying to seduce her father. Forbid her to look at, speak to or even think about that nice boy she likes. Then, interrogate her daily on her thoughts. This will have the nice side-effect of creating a Pink Elephant. In an effort to not think about him, she will obviously think "about" thinking about him. This will give you a daily "out" for taking out your own rage on your baby girl, for her own good, of course. If she starts getting jumpy and easily startled, don't worry about it. It's nothing.

Oh, and by the way, teach her impossibly high standards for the kind of "good" man she can marry. She may only be seventeen, but you can pretty much guarantee right now that she'll never find Mr. Right. No man could meet those requirements, so you're assured of having your girl forever! I'm thinking Bette Davis in Now, Voyager and Norma Shearer in The Barretts of Wimpole Street.

And whenever she's doing anything, watch her. Stare at her. Ready to jump on the slightest mistake, urging her to speed up. Then accuse her of being jumpy, like the proverbial cat on a hot tin roof.

If, by some miracle, she makes it to age eighteen still sound of mind, it's time to bask in her glory! Sure, throw the big graduation party, but make sure it's all about you, baby! I heard about this one Dad who monologued to the party guests for two hours about his skill as an educator, while the graduate was ignored. Isn't that hysterical!?

Just because she's eighteen and a high school graduate, doesn't mean diddly squat. She owes you one, mate! After eighteen years wearing yourself to a frazzle to raise her right, the least she can do is spend her eighteenth summer in your basement refurbishing, painting, repairing and fixing up the house you neglected to bring her up.

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College? Are you kidding me!?! You didn't work this hard on her just to throw her to the wolves! Nope, she's gonna live at home, attend local community college and then get a job.

And just because she's now in her twenties doesn't mean shit either. Age is just a number. By this time, she's pulling down a good wage. It's called rent, baby. She walks out your door and there's thousands gone to some landlord or mortgage company who doesn't need it the way you do. Plus, handled correctly, I bet you can get her to do all your errands free-of-charge while you begrudge her a daily shower and forbid nighttime bathroom use. She's so sweet. Gotta love that girl!

Now, if she gives you any crap about moving out or travelling, convince her the world is a horribly dangerous place. Convince her a rapist is around every corner, lurking in ever doorway and parking lot. It's called Stockholm syndrome! You set the stage back in the eat-your-peas-and-don't-get-mad, era.

Congratulations! You're now the proud parent of a chronically sad daughter with OCD, C-PTSD and Stockholm syndrome.

Oh, I totally forgot to mention, if she survived her "upbringing," she's the strongest woman you'll ever meet because she isn't bat-crap crazy.

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But you are!

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JimVallee via Getty Images Caution Sign - Politically Correct Area Ahead

Sadly, political correctness afflicts much of the world; in particular the Western world. At its inception in the counterculture of the sixties and beyond, it was a force for good. It moved us to examine our hatreds, prejudices, values and words.

It reminded the British and the French that their prosperity had been driven and depended partly on the plunder of their colonies. It brought home to the Americans that their reach in the world wasn't always benevolent; sometimes it was born out of their economic dominance of the world and exploitation of the resources and peoples of the world.

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The U.S. blacks and the counterculture made the world pivot towards a fairer, more just and compassionate understanding of the inequality and unfairness in the world. The world began to understand gender equality, freedom for gays and lesbians to be themselves, the ugly reality of racism in the world and how North America had oppressed and marginalized the indigenous peoples and the rampant unfairness in international relations.

That extremely timely and necessary overhaul of our approach toward others made us change our language, expressions and how we addressed and viewed people who were different, and possibly weaker and poorer than us. Minorities became bolder. Equality became the buzzword underpinned by longing for social justice.

In Canada that hunger for social justice and equality manifested itself in Trudeau's just society, the egalitarian foundations of which found themselves enshrined in the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The charter justly included a constitutional right of self-government for Canada's historically abused and exploited indigenous peoples.

Canada continues to make important strides toward more equality.

But there are storm clouds on the horizon that endanger the continuing pursuit of true equality.

What started as a legitimate change to bring about equality and transformation of how we viewed, treated and spoke about each other has now ossified into a rarely breached wall of silence, a silence reinforced by the onset of the West's indifference to its own good, bad or ugly -- but distinct -- societies, their values and norms. Call it white man's burden or guilt, a guilt for the sins of the past now manifesting itself in the white man's fear.

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This fear has habituated many Western leaders in their frailty to speak the unvarnished truth about the need for the refugees and immigrants welcomed into these societies to fully integrate in them. It is not about changing one's religion or bleaching one's skin to make it paler. It is about learning the moral, ethical, social and political anchors that, in this case, Canada is rooted in.

Is Canada perfect? No. It has its own past shame of the indigenous cultural genocide, Chinese head tax, concentration camps for the Japanese-Canadians, turning away in the middle of the Second World War a ship full of Jews from the Atlantic coast and much more. But Canada has confronted many of its demons and continues the important task of reconciliation with its indigenous peoples.

But the real need for equality and social justice for all has also spawned the much despised political correctness preventing us from being honest with each other. Politicians afraid of "ethnic backlashes" revel in silence policed by the so called multiculturalists who might be more appropriately called multicults -- the practitioners of a fierce brand of exclusivist multiculturalism that ought to be renamed multicultism. Under the circumstances when politicians do speak, they utter non-sequiturs, simply bromides.

"On matters of race, religion, culture and national identity of Canada the white men are reduced to either silence or non-sequiturs."

Amongst the Western leaders Angela Merkel has been an exception. She has welcomed close to a million refugees into Germany in 2016, more generous indeed than any other Western country. At the same time she told them to integrate into German society by learning the German language and values, calling multiculturalism a sham that creates parallel societies. We can debate her position but I would caution that the parallel societies she speaks of are quite discernible in many provinces in major urban centres in Canada, too.

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But out of fear many of our leaders continue in their silent bliss.

This guilt cum fear was quite evident in Premier Kathleen Wynne's broad-brush swipe at those who had sought assurances of thorough security checks on the refugees to be let into Canada. Instead of arguing we must welcome refugees but after proper security checks, her words implied that these security concerns were a mask for racism.

Such remarks stultify and intimidate honest debate. Many voices are unnecessarily compelled into silence.

A recent study by Andy Yan looked at multimillion-dollar mansions on Vancouver's West Side that are being bought with foreign money. He argued it was about recent foreign money, not race. Yan, an urban planner and adjunct professor at UBC, was hurriedly excoriated for fanning racism.

Another study of multimillion-dollar mansions on the West Side of Vancouver showed that a significant portion of owners declared incomes as low as the residents of Canada's poorest postal code --Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. The transnational migrants who buy these mansions refuse to report their global income at tax time, resulting in tax unfairness.

The question asked by the Vancouver Sun columnist Douglas Todd was who will pay taxes to support the social safety net all of us use? Not many voices from the public leadership joined that debate to ask that or similar questions. And we continue to sell Canadian citizenship to the highest bidders without debating whether doing so builds the kind of society we want.

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On the other hand we continue to bring in temporary workers without a real stake in the country. They are abused and used to drive down wages for Canadians; no way to build a caring, inclusive and socially just society. But sadly we can't and don't debate the kind of society we are building out of fear for being called racists; anybody such as Andy Yan who dares to speak risks inviting our wrath.

Several years ago a report on the front page of the Vancouver Sun stated that close to a billion dollars of unaccounted and undeclared money was circulating in the construction industry in Surrey. Such massive fraud did not elicit even a peep from the usually loud public voices. It was well-known that almost all of the residential and a portion of the commercial construction was in the hands of Indo-Canadians. Complete silence reigned in the political sphere.

Fear had won again; building a better Canada lost out.

Recently there was an incident in Richmond, B.C. where a strata council executive ordained that its meetings will be conducted in Mandarin only. No English was to be allowed. At least 30 per cent of the residents of the strata in question didn't speak Mandarin. This shocking episode landed in the midst of the already hot controversy around the Chinese only signs of various commercial establishments in Richmond. The Richmond Council has failed to show any real leadership on these unnecessarily isolationist signs.

The fear of being branded racists has paralyzed the Richmond politicians.

I had been thinking about the many such instances when I read our prime minister declaring to the New York Times Magazine, "There is no core identity, no mainstream in Canada... There are shared values -- openness, respect, compassion, willingness to work hard, to be there for each other, to search for equality and justice. Those qualities are what make us the first post-national state."

On matters of race, religion, culture and national identity of Canada the white men are reduced to either silence or non-sequiturs.

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Does that mean anything goes in Canada?

"Some of us have so thoroughly shamed the white men into complete submission regarding our misplaced belief that Canada has no core identity or core values."

That there is no mainstream means there are many streams. It also implies that the streams never merge and mingle; the streams live in parallel to others, isolated and apart from each other. If so, how do we build a society with high degree of social solidarity and cohesion?

How do we develop shared values that the prime minister claims we have if all the streams do not at some point merge to create the mainstream?

If Mr. Trudeau was right about the absence of Canadian core identity and mainstream, we wouldn't have any shared values.

The truth is we have a core Canadian identity. That is the reason we have the shared values that Mr Trudeau so justly and proudly speaks of.

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We are not post-national -- whatever that means. But we are a country of the world. Our core identity and core values make us so. If we do not defend that core identity and the core values that define us, they will wither away. Canada will be diminished -- a tragic loss to the world that, according to Bono of U2, needs more Canadas.

It seems some of us have so thoroughly shamed the white men into complete submission regarding our misplaced belief that Canada has no core identity or core values; so much so that even our Prime Minister won't defend what was so dear to his own father -- what he had fought so hard for.

My three children and six grand children born and raised in Canada know no other country as their own. They have a great stake in a healthy, humane, socially just and prosperous Canada.

If the white men of Canada can't overcome the fear of rebuke from the enforcers of fear, Canadians can't ever have an honest debate about the state of equality, race, culture and the place and space for religion and other languages in Canada.

These are important questions that need frank debates unless we want to live in our silos, isolated from others.

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Fear, shame, silence or non-sequiturs do not build great nations.

They are built by frank, fearless and honest men and women!

P.S.: Perhaps I should have anticipated the totally non-serious assertion that not all white men are silent. The silencing of most good white men has provided an opportunity for the Trumps of the world to rise. That is what happens when we suffocate or silence rational debate.

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Britain finally mustered an official response on Sunday to the execution of 47 prisoners by Saudi Arabia, including that of a prominent Shiite cleric, which led to an attack on an embassy in Tehran and a severing of diplomatic relations between Iran and the Saudi regime.

Commenting on the killings that are threatening the stability of the entire Middle East, Britain expressed its disappointment.

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Iranian security forces stand guard as the demonstrators hold posters of Nimr Baqir al-Nimr and shout slogans outside the Saudi embassy

On Sunday, the Saudi foreign minister revealed that his country was ending diplomatic ties with Iran after its embassy was attacked, an incident sparked by Saturday's execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a critic of the Saudi authorities. Staff from the Iranian mission were given 48 hours to leave Riyadh, while their Saudi counterparts were recalled home from Tehran.

The death of Nimr al-Nimr led to an international outcry over the weekend; Britain responded with a meekly worded statement calling for calm.

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Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood said: "I am deeply disturbed by the escalation in tensions in the last 24 hours in the Middle East. The UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty. We have stressed this to the Saudi authorities and also expressed our disappointment at the mass executions."

The minister added that he didnt expect the same fate to befall the clerics nephew, Ali al-Nimr, who was 17 at the time of the Arab Spring uprisings that led to his arrest. Al-Nimr faces crucifixion for his role in the 2012 protests.

"We have discussed with the authorities in Riyadh, and expect that Ali Al-Nimr and others who were convicted as juveniles will not be executed," Ellwood said. "The UK will continue to raise these cases with the Saudi authorities. We are deeply concerned to hear of the attack yesterday on the Saudi embassy in Tehran. It is essential that diplomatic missions are properly protected and respected. There are those who will wish to exploit the situation and raise sectarian tensions higher. This would be against the wishes of the vast majority of those in the region. I urge all parties in the region to show restraint and responsibility."

Saturdays executions have placed the UK's links with the Arab kingdom under increasing scrutiny, with Shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn and Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron demanding prime minister David Cameron speak out against the Saudi regime's actions.

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Iranian men burn Israeli and American flags during a demonstration against the execution of prominent Shiite Muslim cleric Nimr al-Nimr

However on Sunday David Gauke defended Britain's close ties with Riyadh, saying, "we can tell them what we think". Speaking on Sky News, the Treasury minister said: "Clearly it is a very worrying development and we oppose capital punishment in this way, we think that that is wrong. When it comes to protecting British people, the Prime Minister has made it clear that intelligence from Saudi Arabia has helped save lives and protect people in the UK."
Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends a rail fares protest at King's Cross Station, London, this morning before returning to Westminster to plan his reshuffle Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Jeremy Corbyn has told reporters in Westminster to stop hanging around his office as he prepares to announce a new-look top team possibly free of critics.

Speculation is mounting the Labour leader is plotting a revenge reshuffle to sack or move Shadow Cabinet figures who defied his call to vote against bombing Syria, despite granting them a free vote.

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The Huffington Post reported this morning the Labour leader has begun to finalise the new line-up, but he has given short shrift to correspondents sniffing out a scoop.

Oh my. Corbyn himself comes out of oppo leader's to demand journalists leave the corridor while he conducts reshuffle. Full on teacher mode.  Harry Cole (@MrHarryCole) January 4, 2016

Ok the reshuffle just got more interesting as a cross Jeremy Corbyn himself asked journalists to leave the corridor outside his office!  Carl Dinnen (@carldinnen) January 4, 2016

EXACT Corbyn quote to us: 'Excuse me guys do you mind not hanging around outside my office door, could you all leave please.'  Darren McCaffrey (@DMcCaffreySKY) January 4, 2016

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It came as Ken Livingstone, a close ally of Mr Corbyn, said the idea the reshuffle was an act of revenge has been stoked by Labour MPs trying to undermine their leader.

The former London mayor also signalled Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn should be moved to a new berth where he is in agreement with his boss.

Mr Benn, whose speech closing the Syria debate, and calling for MPs to support airstrikes to crush ISIL fascists, was highly-praised, is thought to be most at risk.

Others in the firing line are thought to include Shadow Defence Secretary Maria Eagle and chief whip, Rosie Winterton.

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Shadow Foreign Minister Pat McFadden last night warned that using the Syria vote for a revenge reshuffle would be a risk and a danger for Mr Corbyn himself.

Speaking on Radio 4s World at One, Mr Livingstone downplayed the idea of a great purge.

He said: I do know this Jeremy Corbyn and his key advisers have not been briefing the Press that theres going to be this great purge. Thats come from people who dont know what theyre talking about and arent in the inner circle of Jeremy Corbyn, or even perhaps in some cases people who just want to carry on trying to undermine Jeremy Corbyn from the back benches.

But he made clear that it was counter-productive to have Mr Benn in his existing role. One suggestion has been for Mr Benn to swap roles with Home Secretary Andy Burnham, who voted against airstrikes.

Mr Livingstone went on that allowing genuine debate is one thing but the fall-out over the Syria vote led to days of press coverage about splits between Jeremy Corbyn and Hilary Benn.

He said: I think thats counter-productive. It might very well be the case - and I have no knowledge of this - that it would be better to move Hilary Benn to something where he is in agreement with Jeremy Corbyn rather than where he is in disagreement.

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Jeremy Corbyn Interviewed For HuffPostUK See gallery

Shadow cabinet minister Michael Dugher, who could also be moved or axed, told Radio 5 Live on Sunday the leader would end up with a "politburo of seven" at the top of the party if he attempted to surround himself with allies from the Labour left.

Parliament returns from its Christmas break tomorrow, making today the perfect day to unveil changes to the top team before Commons business resumes, according to some insiders.

Mr Corbyn ally Clive Lewis is seen as a possible replacement for Ms Eagle as Shadow Defence Secretary, but some party sources suggest the risk of a walkout from her sister Angela, the Shadow Business Secretary and Mr Corbyn's stand-in at PMQs, is too great.

Mr Lewis told the BBC that reshuffles were "one of the benefits and perks of being a leader" and played down his chances of being offered a big job.

"If Jeremy Corbyn offered me that and said, I need this, I need you to do it, this is essential that you do it, I would have to think about it," he said.

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Diane Abbott today dismissed as 'poppycock and piffle' claims that she would replace Mr Benn.
Are your Saturday nights noticeably emptier now that Strictly Come Dancing has come to an end for another series?

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Well, if youre looking for a way to fill the Strictly-shaped void in your life, youll be pleased to hear that Gleb Savchenko has found a novel way to cushion the blow.

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In short: hes got his kit off for a new photoshoot. And it truly is glorious.

Wow

The professional dancer, who made it through to the semi-finals of this years Strictly, has stripped off for a very easy-on-the-eye new photo-shoot in the new issue of Attitude magazine.

He also struck a pose in a pair of, frankly, tiny pants (not that you'll hear any of us complaining).

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We truly have no words

When asked in the accompanying interview how he feels about becoming the object of Strictly viewers of both sexes affections, following his appearance on the latest series, he admitted: Ill take being a sex symbol to gay men.

It feels great. But it does make me think Oh, I need to work out and eat healthy to keep my body in check!'

He also spoke about how his wife, fellow dancing pro Elena Samodanova, was dealing with his new-found attention.

Gleb explained: She supports it. Shes a very beautiful girl herself, shes very popular and gets a lot of attention. Shes on the cover of Russian and American magazines.

Back in October, Gleb admitted he wasnt sure how he would deal with being known for his good looks, insisting: We just work really hard.

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Read more of Glebs interview - and see more of the photos - in the latest issue of Attitude magazine, on newsstands 6 January.
The sister of jihadi Abu Rumaysah says she will kill him myself if he is confirmed as the masked executioner in a new Islamic State (IS) video in which five hostages are killed.

Konika Dhar, from north London, said she does not believe her brother, formerly known as Siddhartha Dhar, is the man in the video, but she conceded the voice sounded "a bit like him".

She told the Press Association: "I don't think it is, personally, to be honest."

She went on: "I examined the features  one eye is smaller than the other, my brother has symmetrical eyes. The eyebrows are bushy and this guy is taller, my brother is shorter and he has got broader shoulders, but he has got stooped shoulders so I don't think it is.

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"I think the voice sounds a bit like him, but it could be someone else, but he could have helped with a voiceover, but I have no idea."

She said she has not had contact with her brother in more than a year, saying she doesnt even know who he is any more.

She also pleaded with the UK authorities to provide an alternative for those who have been radicalised and travelled abroad, to help them return home.

Ms Dhar said: If it is him, bloody hell am I shocked? I am going to kill him myself. He is going to come back and I am going to kill him if he has done this.

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I cant believe it. This is just so shocking for me. I dont know what the authorities are doing to confirm the identity, but I need to know if it is.

In the video a masked man, speaking with a British accent, calls David Cameron an "imbecile" and mocks the RAF's bombing campaign against IS which was recently extended to Syria.

Five men accused of spying for the British security services, dressed in the orange jumpsuits reminiscent of earlier IS victims, are made to kneel and then shot in the back of the head.

A little boy appears at the end of the 10-minute video after the executions. Dressed in military fatigues and wearing a black headband, he warns that Isis will "kill the kuffar", which means non-believers.

Professor Jane Setter, professor of phonetics at the University of Reading, said the executioner used an accent known as Multicultural London English (MLE) which is common among younger people in London.

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But, she added, he uses fewer aspects of the MLE accent than Emwazi, which led her to suspect he either grew up in the UK, arrived at a younger age then Emwazi (who came to Britain aged six) or has spoken English for longer.

The 'British' jihadi as he appears in the video

She said: "This is similar to the accent of Mohammed Emwazi... Among other features of his speech, he pronounces a 'th' sound as a 'd', for example saying 'dis' rather than 'this', and his vowels in words like 'planes' and 'today' sound less like an 'ay' and more like an 'e' sound.

"However, unlike Jihadi John, he has a clear 'L' sound at the end of words like 'people' and 'imbecile' - a feature which is not that common in British accents, but is heard in Welsh and in Indian English, for example. He also has a rather strongly affricated 't' as the end of some words like 'state' - almost an 's' after the final 't' - but not in all cases."

Prof Setter said the executioner's speech was "closer in many ways" to Southern Standard British English and "much less syllable-timed than Emwazi as far as speech rhythm is concerned".

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She added: "I also note that, unlike the Jihadi John video, the movements of the speaker's jaw are much more discernible. This leads me to believe he is most likely speaking live and not that the masked face has been overdubbed later.
This revealing video shows the British woman whose small child is believed to be the little boy who appeared in Islamic State's latest propaganda video.

The footage, originally broadcast in 2013 by Channel 4 News, shows Londoner Grace 'Khadijah' Dare after she travelled to Syria, where she married a jihadi.

Her son bears a striking physical resemblance to the boy who appears at the end of the latest IS video. The little boy says in broken English that IS will kill "non believers", after five men are filmed being shot in the head for allegedly spying on the group.

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Channel 4 News re-published the footage on Monday after people began to speculate that the boy is Ms Dare's son, because of the physical resemblance to a picture she posted of her child last year.

In the footage taken in Idlib province, Syria, she says she could not find a husband in Britain who was "willing to sacrifice their life in this world for life in the hereafter, for best in the hereafter in fact".

She is standing next to the jihadi she wed, Abu Bakr, after arriving in Syria, who is holding the boy.

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Ms Dare with her husband, holding her son (above) and the boy who appeared in the IS propaganda video (below)

Ms Dare's father Henry Dare told The Daily Telegraph that the boy in the new video is his grandson.

"I was surprised when I saw the picture. It's definitely him. Of course I'm worried but there's nothing I can do now," he told the paper.

"I'm not angry - I would never have expected it. I just hope someone is trying to bring them back."

He added: "I said [the police] should watch her. She was a Christian, she went to the local Roman Catholic school.

"She was Christian until she changed. She fell under the influence of some people when she was going to the Mosque. She was very observant."

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In the Channel 4 News footage, Ms Dare, who describes herself as "Maryam", fires weapons including an assault rifle and tells her husband he must fight to "liberate the whole country".

She calls for other Muslims to follow her, saying they must "stop being selfish" by focusing on their "families or studies".

The footage was shot by film maker Bilal Abdul Kareem, an American Muslim convert who lived among western jihadi fighters and their families inside Syria.

At the end of the clip, Abu Bakr reveals his wife is pregnant and says "Inshallah it will be a boy," to which Ms Dare says: "Inshallah."

Meanwhile, the security services are analysing the latest video to identify the British-accented, masked executioner.

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In the clip, he says: "How strange it is that a leader of a small island threatens us with a handful of planes. One would have thought you would have learned the lessons of your pathetic master in Washington and his failed campaign against the Islamic State. But it seems like you, just like your predecessors Blair and Brown are just as arrogant and foolish."

Five men, dressed in orange suits, are then executed for allegedly spying on IS. They are made to kneel and then shot in the head.

The 'British' jihadi as he appears in the video

The media have already dubbed him a successor to Jihadi John, the previous British executioner, who was revealed to be Mohammed Emwazi. He was killed in November in a drone strike.

Professor Jane Setter, professor of phonetics at the University of Reading, said the executioner used an accent known as Multicultural London English (MLE) which is common among younger people in London.

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But, she added, he uses fewer aspects of the MLE accent than Emwazi, which led her to suspect he either grew up in the UK, arrived at a younger age then Emwazi (who came to Britain aged six) or has spoken English for longer.

She said: "This is similar to the accent of Mohammed Emwazi... Among other features of his speech, he pronounces a 'th' sound as a 'd', for example saying 'dis' rather than 'this', and his vowels in words like 'planes' and 'today' sound less like an 'ay' and more like an 'e' sound.

"However, unlike Jihadi John, he has a clear 'L' sound at the end of words like 'people' and 'imbecile' - a feature which is not that common in British accents, but is heard in Welsh and in Indian English, for example. He also has a rather strongly affricated 't' as the end of some words like 'state' - almost an 's' after the final 't' - but not in all cases."

Prof Setter said the executioner's speech was "closer in many ways" to Southern Standard British English and "much less syllable-timed than Emwazi as far as speech rhythm is concerned".

She added: "I also note that, unlike the Jihadi John video, the movements of the speaker's jaw are much more discernible. This leads me to believe he is most likely speaking live and not that the masked face has been overdubbed later.

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Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn attends a fares protest at King's Cross Station, London, as the Government was accused of profiting from commuters as the annual hike in rail fares hits people returning to work. Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Jeremy Corbyn is set to start discussions on changes to his Shadow Cabinet today amid fresh warnings against a punishment purge of his top team over defence and foreign policy.

The Huffington Post UK understands that the Labour leader is expected to hold his first meetings on the reshuffle, and announcements could come as early as this evening or tomorrow.

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After discussions with key aides, 'one-on-one' meetings with individual Shadow Cabinet ministers are scheduled for this afternoon.

The leader's team refused to comment and Mr Corbyn was tight-lipped when asked about the issue at the launch of his partys campaign against Tory rail and Tube fare rises. I'm not talking about the reshuffle this morning. There's no words about the reshuffle whatsoever," he said.

But with continuing speculation that Shadow Foreign Secretary Hilary Benn will be moved from his post, Shadow Foreign Minister Pat McFadden warned that using the Syria vote for a revenge reshuffle would be a risk and a danger for Mr Corbyn himself.

The Labour leader has already told HuffPost UK of his anger at the Tory cheering that followed Mr Benns now-famous Commons speech urging Britain join in military action against ISIL in Syria last month. The two men have not spoken since before Christmas.

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Allies of Mr Corbyn have suggested Mr Benn will be moved, although senior sources have also dismissed suggestions of a job swap with Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham.

Mr McFadden told BBC Radio 4s Westminster Hour that he wasnt sure if hed keep his own job in any reshuffle.

He also stressed that Mr Benn had expressed his own opinion during a free vote on Syria

"If it's about political disagreement, I think you have to pause here - especially if it's about the Syria vote that took place last month because this was on a one-line whip, it was not on a three-line whip, he said.

"Also if you look at Jeremy Corbyn's own record, his whole career is based on disagreeing with party leaders so I think there is a danger for him in this, in carrying out a reshuffle as a sort of punishment for shadow ministers whove disagreed with him.

"He has talked of an open, pluralist kind of politics but a reshuffle for that reason could end looking more petty and divisive than open and pluralist politics. I think that is a risk for him if he proceeds for that reason."

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Mr McFadden admitted that a reshuffle was now more likely than not.

Theres been a lot of press speculation which I think if there wasnt going to be a reshuffle could probably have been hosed down by now. So it looks like this will be more likely than not.

Every leader has the right to change their team, thats their prerogative but it does strike me that its only been 3 months since Jeremy Corbyn appointed his current Shadow Cabinet.

One thing I would say about ... Hilary Benn and Maria Eagle is there is no questions about their competence to be shadow ministers. [Mr Benn] is highly competent and capable of being Shadow Foreign Secretary.

Shadow cabinet minister Michael Dugher, who could also be moved or axed, told Radio 5 Live yesterday the leader would end up with a "politburo of seven" at the top of the party if he attempted to surround himself with allies from the Labour left.

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In my experience having worked closely with previous leaders, theres a reason why they tend to be a bit reluctant to go down the path of big reshuffles and thats because they do try and hold the party together, they do recognise that the Labour Party is a broad church not a religious cult, that you need people of different backgrounds and try and get the best possible talents.

Parliament returns from its Christmas break tomorrow, making today the perfect day to unveil changes to the top team before Commons business resumes, according to some insiders.

Diane Abbott today dismissed as 'poppycock and piffle' claims that she would replace Mr Benn. Speaking to the BBC's Vanessa Feltz, the Shadow International Development Secretary: "It's completely untrue, I've never been offered the job of Foreign Secretary. There was never any question of me being offered it, or of it being debated.

Some of the leader's team blame leaks and counter-briefings on aides to Mr Benn, but it is understood that the Shadow Foreign Secretary is standing by his own staff.

Corbyn ally Clive Lewis is seen as a possible replacement for Ms Eagle as Shadow Defence Secretary, but some party sources suggest the risk of a walkout from her sister Angela, the Shadow Business Secretary and Mr Corbyn's stand-in at PMQs, is too great.

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Mr Lewis told the BBC that reshuffles were "one of the benefits and perks of being a leader" and played down his chances of being offered a big job.

"If Jeremy Corbyn offered me that and said, I need this, I need you to do it, this is essential that you do it, I would have to think about it," he said.

If Mr Benn is demoted or axed, those in the Shadow Cabinet who worry privately about the direction of the party may be forced to show their hand.

But with a huge mandate from party members, few MPs see any way in which Mr Corbyn can be removed from his post or forced off a fresh leadership ballot paper.

Sadiq Khan, Labour's candidate for Mayor of London, told Radio 4's Today programme that he was not "Jeremy Corbyn's man in London".

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Columnist and former Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie has claimed that airport staff shouldn't bother frisking old white men, because they are "not the terrorists".

Only young Muslim men from the Middle East or Africa would carry a bomb onto a plane, the writer says, slamming security checks at a Dubai airport.

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Writing in The Sun about a recent stopover in Dubai, 69-year-old MacKenzie, who is white, says he didn't understand why airport security personnel "wasted their time" searching him.

If the security guard had just had "a quick glance" at the photo of him on his Sun column, showing his race and age, he would have known "I was not going to be a terrorist", MacKenzie argues.

MacKenzie says a 'quick glance' at him would show he's not a terrorist

Only Muslims from the Middle east and Africa should be searched at the airport, the journalist writes, apparently supporting racial profiling.

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"Racial profiling is an uncomfortable subject but everybody knows  especially the nervous employees at Dubai airport  that if a bomb is to be smuggled on to a plane it will be carried on by a Muslim from the Middle East or Africa."

Stopping "law-abiding, non-violent white people" at airports is foolish, he adds.

"They know who they are looking for. I am not one of them. And neither are you," MacKenzie concludes, calling on the Dubai airport to change its procedure.

The Al Maktoum International Airport in Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Fiyaz Mughal, director of the Tell MAMA campaign which records anti-Muslim attacks, called MacKenzie's comments "wrong" and claimed they showed "breath-taking" arrogance.

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He said: Maybe Kelvin MacKenzie has missed the fact that terrorists can also be white and that it is not the domain of racial or religious groups or did he miss the dreadful impacts of Timothy McVeigh and Pavlo Lapshyn? The suggestion that white people have not been involved in terrorism racialises the issue when there are cases of individuals involved.

"Also, to suggest that profiling should take place and that Mr MacKenzie should not be checked thoroughly shows an arrogance that is breath-taking. Factually he is wrong and his rhetoric actually does not resonate with the wider public.

MacKenzie's claim echoes a Daily Mail piece from 2012 arguing against a "catastrophically stupid" approach by staff at Gatwick Airport of white passengers being searched "despite being suspected of nothing at all".

"According to customs officials, white passengers are routinely stopped and searched to help avoid complaints of racial discrimination by black passengers who are the real targets," the piece claimed,

Jeremy Clarkson has also suggested that queues for airport border control checks could be solved by a bit of racism.

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Writing in The Sun, the Top Gear host railed against "bleeding-heart liberals" who wanted airport staff to search people of all religions, rather than just "high risk" passengers.

"They believe that  a hook-handed imam with fire in his heart and hatred in his eyes is just as likely to whip up anti-western sentiment as Joanna Lumley, Clarkson said.

But these thoughts could be contradicted by some recent cases, such as a 45-year-old Ukrainian national - thought to be white and Christian - who hijacked a plane and told cabin staff he had placed a bomb on board in 2014, although security found no sign of this when they diverted the aircraft.

Other white figures, such as 'Jihadi bride' Sally Jones and 'white widow' Samantha Lewthwaite, both young women, are prominent members of ISIS and Al-Shabab respectively.

In 2011, a white Kazakh man aged 48 was overpowered by cabin crew on a flight from Paris to Rome, after he drew out a knife and demanded the plane divert to Libya.

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Philip Baum, a London-based aviation expert and managing director of Green Light Limited, a security company, argues that profiling works but should never be conducted on the basis of race, religion or skin colour: "Effective profiling is based on the analysis of the appearance and behavior of a passenger and an inspection of the travelers itinerary and passport."

In 2010, Baum was on a panel of seven aviation experts who blogged for The New York Times about whether racial profiling works. All agreed it was ineffective, with one noting: "Focus on one particular ethnicity or country of origin, and the terrorists will recruit from somewhere else."

Other research - covering the period before the rise of ISIS - suggests that the threat from Islamic extremists can be exaggerated in some areas. More than 90% of all terrorist attacks on US Soil between 1980 and 2005 were carried out by non-Muslims, according to the FBI.
'Making A Murderer' has people gripped on both sides of the Atlantic.

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Just weeks after being released on Netflix, the streaming service's first crime documentary is sparking debate across the internet and among friends the world over.

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The programme chronicles the story of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man acquitted of a crime he'd served 18 years in prison for, only to be accused of another two years after his release.

Steven Avery pictured in 1985

Released in 2003 after serving close to two decades behind bars for rape, Avery is arrested and charged with murder just two years later.

His murder trial runs alongside a civil case Avery brought against the local judiciary for his original incarceration - a coincidence that is carefully, perhaps even convincingly, picked apart by the programme's producers.

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Two film makers, Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi, spent close to 10 years making the documentary, and it's already received rave reviews - gaining a legion of fans, hooked on the series' unique style and its potential implications.

Steven Avery shown in the courtroom on Wednesday, March 7, 2007, at the Calumet County Courthouse in Chilton, Wis., during his murder trial.

Lenika Cruz of The Atlantic heralded the series' potential to eclipse even popular crime series 'The Jinx' and podcast 'Serial'. "For even the skeptical viewer, its hard not to feel a stab of empathy when Averys elderly mother pulls out boxes of legal documents she sent to shows including 20/20 in the hope theyd cover her sons story," she wrote.

Making a Murderer has the potential to be as popular and thought-provoking as its forebears  and to have real-life repercussions.

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And the programme may even mark a turning point for the omnipresent streaming service. Paul Tassi wrote in Forbesthat the series could be Netflix's most significant ever.

And it's not just critics who are expressing their appreciation of 'Making'. Celebrities have taken to Twitter to vouch for the series, too.

Please watch @MakingAMurderer It is brilliant and unrelievedly painful...  ABFoundation (@ABFalecbaldwin) December 20, 2015

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Never mind an Emmy or an Oscar.... @MakingAMurderer deserves a Nobel Prize. The greatest documentary I've ever seen.  Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) December 23, 2015

Finished @MakingAMurderer. No spoilers so I'm not gonna destroy the fucking world just yet. Let me know when you've watch it so you can help  Ricky Gervais (@rickygervais) December 25, 2015

Outraged after watching all 10 episodes of #MakingAMurderer - a scathing indictment of law officers in #ManitowocCounty#Wisconsin  mia farrow (@MiaFarrow) December 27, 2015

Making a murderer or the first Serial? I need to know which murder thing to be obsessed with. Thanks  Mindy Kaling (@mindykaling) December 27, 2015

'Making A Murderer' is on Netflix in Britain and the United States - available to stream now.

Netflix Picks for January 2015 See gallery
Nearly a quarter of a million people have been spurred into action after watching the captivating Netflix crime documentary 'Making A Murderer'.

Spoiler alert: This article reports the implications of Netflix's 'Making A Murderer' READ MORE:Your Spoiler-Free Introduction To 'Making A Murderer'

The streaming service's first true-crime feature tells the incredible story of Steven Avery, a Manitowoc, Wisconsin man acquitted of a crime he'd served 18 years in prison for, only to be accused of another two years after his release.

Viewers who've already watched the series, which premiered last month, say it has caused them to lose faith in the police, local government, and America's legal system. And now hundreds of thousands of them have been spurred into action.

Steven Avery pictured in 1985

Two petitions arguing for Steven Avery's release and pardon had gained over 230,000 total signatures by Monday morning after viewers of 'Making A Murderer' were left convinced by the argument his imprisonment for murder is "an abomination of due process".

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Citing the documentary's suggestion of local law enforcement corruption, a Change.org petition argues for the exoneration of Avery "at once by Presidential pardon," and that "Manitowoc County officials complicit in his two false imprisonments should be held accountable".

A further petition on the White House website has gained traction with its demand for a full Presidential pardon for Steven Avery together with Brendan Dassey, Avery's nephew who was also convicted of the murder of Teresa Halbach, a photographer last seen near Avery's family home.

Former prosecutor Ken Kratz has cast doubt on the documentary

Meanwhile, one of the prosecutors who worked to convict Avery for Halbach's murder has cast doubt on the motives of the filmmakers behind the documentary.

Ken Kratz, who left the profession after a widely-reported sex scandal, has said that Moira Demos and Laura Ricciardi's programme amounted to furthering a conspiracy theory.

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He told Fox 11 News: I believe there to be 80 to 90 per cent of the physical evidence, the forensic evidence, that ties Steven Avery to this murder never to have been presented in this documentary."

Reviews for the documentary have heralded it as truly groundbreaking. The Atlantic's Lenika Cruz wrote: "Making a Murderer has the potential to be as popular and thought-provoking as its forebears  and to have real-life repercussions."

Amid the growing calls for a review of the case, Avery continues to serve a life sentence in Wisconsin's Waupun Correctional Institution, while Dassey remains at the state's Green Bay Correctional Institution.

'Making A Murderer' is on Netflix in Britain and the United States - available to stream now.
A Scottish gold miner who compared Kyrgyzstan's national dish to a horse's genitalia is to be spared jail and deported from the country instead, it has emerged.

Michael McFeat, a 39-year-old from Abernethy, was detained by police after posting a picture of his co-workers queuing for a 'chuchuk' horse meat sausage, saying they were eating "special delicacy, the horse's penis".

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He later deleted the post and apologised for its caption, saying he was "very, very sorry", but the move was not enough to stem widespread offence.

A spokesman for the country's interior ministry said Mcfeat, who works for Canadian Centerra Gold, was swiftly arrested under Kyrgyz racial hatred laws, which carry a potential punishment of five years in prison.

Kumtor Mine

The man escaped incarceration, but it emerged on Monday afternoon that he was being deported back to Britain - albeit because of 'wrong documentation' and not for his joke, the BBC reported.

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Upon investigation, police found that McFeat had not incited ethnic violence through his comment that had been posted on Facebook.

In a climbdown, posted on the social media site on Saturday, McFeat wrote: "I would like to take the opportunity to sincerely apologise for the comment I made on here about the Kygyz people and horses penis.

McFeat's Facebook post on Saturday

"I truly never meant to offend anyone and Im truly sorry, as it was never my intension. I would also like to say the people in the picture had absolutely nothing to do with it. Again Im very, very sorry."
Stock image Sasa Nikolic via Getty Images

More than 1,000 students skipped school after a death threat to "kill as many people as possible" on Monday was posted on social media.

The anonymous threats, which were posted on Facebook, said there would be a shooting at Montgomery High School in Blackpool as revenge for bullying which had taken place in the school.

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The social media user said the attack would be carried out on Monday, adding: "Nobody talks to me or notices me except when they're calling me a nerd and pushing me around.

"You think it's a joke? You'll see bullets, bodies, and blood."

Montgomery High School in Bispham

The posts, which praised the Sandy Hook Elementary School gunman, who killed 26 people during a rampage, also said: "On Monday, the bullies will be sorry when I go into school with a gun. Ill kill as many people as possible."

Just 260 students turned up out of the school's 1,375 pupils, despite police guarding the high school.

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One parent told the BBC: "I haven't sent my son and daughter. They are very scared, to be honest. They are both aged 15 and in their GCSE year so it is a big decision to take. I have read the posts on Facebook and they are pretty dark.

"The police say there is no credible threat but we have no guarantee."

School principal Tony Nicholson said: "One wonderful thing that just shows the commitment [of the staff] is that I have got 100% staff attendance - it is a large school [and] every single staff member was here early."

Nicholson said there was no "credible threat" - a statement echoed by Lancashire Police.

"That's been repeated throughout the whole course of the week," he added. "The police are here in a reassuring capacity and in significant numbers."

A spokesman for Lancashire Police said: We are aware of the posts on social media and are investigating the source and content of these messages.

There is nothing to suggest these messages pose a credible threat.

There will be a visible police presence when term begins on Monday.
Tommy Robinson has unveiled the new leadership for Pegida UK - two failed 2015 General Election candidates - less than a month after his first attempt resulted in an "epic fail" first interview by its new head, who resigned days later.

At an event in Toddington, Bedfordshire on Monday, former British Freedom Party member and Liberty GB chairman Paul Weston was announced as Pegida UK's new leader. Weston is to be supported by Ukip candidate and chairwoman of Sharia Watch UK, Anne Marie Waters, who last year tried to hold a draw Mohammed competition in London.

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Tommy Robinson has announced that Paul Weston and Anne Marie Waters will front Pegida UK

Robinson, real-name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, announced last month that former Afghanistan army veteran Tim Scott was to front the far-right group but just days after being interviewed on Channel 4 Scott resigned. Robinson has said he is "advising" the leadership of Pegida UK.

Liberty GB wrote on its website that it was "delighted" by Weston's appointment which came at an "exciting time" for Pegida UK - just a month ahead of its international silent walk on February 6. Robinson has aligned more than a dozen anti-Islam groups across Europe to participate in a synchronised march. In the UK the event will happen in Birmingham.

Liberty GB said Weston had previously attended a Pegida rally in Newcastle last year where he had spoken about the "dangers of the continued growth of Islam and its failure to integrate with western society".

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Liberty GB chairman and the new leader of Pegida UK, Paul Weston

Fellow Liberty GB members George Whale, Jack Buckby and Lee Cooper, the party wrote, had also been "invited" to join Pegida UK and would do so in our "own specialised areas of knowledge". Party supporters were reassured that Liberty GB would continue to operate "unchanged as a totally separate entity" from Pegida UK.

According to his profile on Liberty GB, Weston started the party in 2013 after leaving the British Freedom Party in late 2011 having become "disillusioned" with the direction it was taking. Of Liberty GB's intentions, Weston went on to write that for it to "seriously compete" in a general election it must appeal to Middle Britain, "rather than just the core nationalist vote which the leftist mainstream media find so easy to vilify and smear".

"If we are to discuss taboo subjects such as mass immigration and Islam, it is imperative we do so from an elevated moral and ethical position impervious to leftist character assassination," Weston wrote.

Weston stood as a candidate for Liberty GB in the 2015 general election but came last in the Luton South constituency, receiving just 156 votes. Waters, Ukip parliamentary candidate for Lewisham East, also failed to win a seat in the election.

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Hope not hate mockingly wrote on Monday about Yaxley-Lennon's "big battle" to find a Pegida UK leader that would take orders from him but could still "at least manage a coherent sentence or two of their own should they be left to their own devices for a minute".

The group who campaign for an "inclusive" Britain, went on to catalogue Weston's failings from his initial involvement with Yaxley-Lennon in the British Freedom Party. One incident, Hope not hate detailed, was Weston's arrest for staging a "pointless" 'Free Tommy Robinson' protest outside a London prison that Robinson wasn't even incarcerated at.

Sharia Watch UK Director Anne Marie Waters has also joined the management of Pegida UK

Hope not hate noted that the British Freedom Party disbanded after some one failed to pay its registration fee to the electoral commission, but that was "not to say Weston was not a serious political leader during that time".

"He told American television that his plan for the [last] elections were to stand a BFP candidate in every seat in the House of Commons and the House of Lords! He admitted he was unsure of how many seats that would mean standing in for the Commons, but was rather surprised to hear, too, from an American, that the House of Lords is unelected," Hope not hate wrote.

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Piers Morgan just proved how hard it can be to get back into the swing of things at work after two weeks off, raising eyebrows when he swore during Monday mornings Good Morning Britain.

READ MORE:

The controversial TV personality had been on air for less than two hours when he shocked some GMB viewers, after saying the word bollocking during a live broadcast.

Piers got 2016 off to a strong start

He had been discussing Prince Charles spider-like handwriting with a guest, claiming that Princes William and Harry would often receive messages from their father, not realising they he was telling them off.

Except he didnt say telling them off.

Fortunately, his co-presenter Susanna Reid was at hand to apologise for the gaffe, though he was insistent he didnt realise that the word bollocking was a live TV no-no, particularly at 7.30 in the morning.

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Fancy that, eh?

Piers fans were quick to make light of the naughty moment on Twitter, suggesting he could be about to spend his first day back on air in hot water with the shows bosses.

Think @piersmorgan is gonna get a bollocking for using that word on @GMB!  Tyrannosaurus Bex (@BexIifIy) January 4, 2016

The only good reason to get up early today, to see @piersmorgan say "bollocking" and @susannareid100 giving him a bollocking @GMB thanks   Gill Pearson (@gillybean1203) January 4, 2016

Pmsl... Only @piersmorgan could say 'bollocking' live on Good Morning...   Lisa Boyce (@LittleBoyce) January 4, 2016

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However, following the slip-up, Piers was still adamant that he hadnt done anything wrong.

He later retweeted a message from one of his followers, insisting that while some might consider the word inappropriate, bollocking doesnt actually constitute swearing.

Of course, this is far from the first time theres been a swearing blunder on breakfast TV.

Accidental Daytime TV Swearing See gallery
Workers who commute by train spend up to six times as much of their salaries on fares as European passengers on publicly owned railways, a study has revealed.

Action for Rail, a campaign by rail unions and the TUC, said some UK workers were spending 13% of their monthly wages on rail travel compared with 2% in Italy, the Press Association reported.

The research was published to highlight protests at more than 60 railway stations by campaigners and rail workers to mark the return to work after the festive break, with fares having increased at the weekend.

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Some workers are spending more than a tenth of their wage on train travel

The analysis looked at a UK worker on an average salary who is spending 13% of their monthly wages on a 357.90 monthly season ticket from Chelmsford to London.

By contrast, the average amount of salary going on a monthly season ticket for a similar journey is 2% in Italy, 3% in Spain and 4% in Germany.

In France, which is the closest to the UK for cost, commuters still spend nearly a third less on season tickets than their counterparts in the UK, said the report.

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Labour's London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan is promising to freeze rail fares in the capital if he wins the election next year, and Labour campaigners and MPs are on the streets today calling for an end to "Tory tickets" that "cost us a fortune".

The Action For Rail campaign is demonstrating in London for an end to rail fare rises, more of which were put in place in the new year.

Reminding Chiswick commuters; London commuting is the most expensive in the world. #FareRises@SadiqKhanpic.twitter.com/ESlRiEwnYq  Ruth Cadbury MP (@RuthCadbury) January 4, 2016

Come and join us outside The Angel #FareRisespic.twitter.com/wUESD9s0BG  St Peters Labour (@StPetersLabour) January 4, 2016

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@lewishamlabour are at stations across Lewisham this morning to tell people about @SadiqKhan's plan to freeze TfL fares as Mayor. #farerises  Steve Bullock (@mayorbullock) January 4, 2016

A survey of more than 1,700 adults for the campaign group found that three out of five believed train services in the UK were poor value for money, with a similar number supporting public ownership.

TUC general secretary Frances OGrady said: Its hardly surprising that UK passengers think rail travel is bad value for money. They are shelling out far more of their income on rail fares than their counterparts in Europe.

Years of failed privatisation have left us with exorbitant ticket prices, overcrowded trains and ageing infrastructure. Ministers need to wake up to this reality instead of allowing train companies to milk the system at taxpayers and commuters expense.

SEE ALSO:

Rail, Maritime and Transport union leader Mick Cash said: Today is national rail rip-off day when, along with the looming Christmas credit card bills, the British public awake to another kick in the teeth from the greedy private train companies. We would urge everyone to join with the trade unions to end the money-making racket on our rail tracks in 2016. 

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: Profit made on passengers in the UK is not reinvested here, but repatriated to Germany, France, Belgium and Hong Kong to subsidise journeys of passengers there.

"We need a railway for the future  that means a publicly owned rail service operating in the interests of British passengers, with every penny made in profit reinvested in the railways or in cheaper fares for passengers."

Unite acting national officer for rail Hugh Roberts said: "European state-owned rail companies provide excellent services and cheaper fares as part of coherent national economic strategies. The UK Government's ideological reliance on the profit-hungry private sector has been a disaster  and the majority of the public wants the railways taken back into public ownership."

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: Taking the railways back into public hands is a popular policy. The vast majority of voters  Conservative included  are fed up with paying sky-high fares so the privatised train companies can take their slice. Commuters travelling into London from Kent and Sussex know their 5,000 a year season tickets would be much cheaper under public ownership.

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Action for Rail said it looked at the price of monthly season tickets in five countries, and compared them with figures for annual median earnings for 2014, based on OECD statistics.

The spend compared to monthly earnings in each country was:
Workers who commute by train spend up to six times as much of their salaries on fares as European passengers on publicly owned railways, a study has revealed.

Labour supporters are protesting against "Tory tickets" after a rail fares hike, making commuting in London "the most expensive in the world".

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Action for Rail, a campaign by rail unions and the TUC, said some UK workers were spending 13% of their monthly wages on rail travel compared with 2% in Italy, the Press Association reported.

The research was published to highlight protests at more than 60 railway stations by campaigners and rail workers to mark the return to work after the festive break, with fares having increased at the weekend.

Some workers are spending more than a tenth of their wage on train travel

The analysis looked at a UK worker on an average salary who is spending 13% of their monthly wages on a 357.90 monthly season ticket from Chelmsford to London.

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By contrast, the average amount of salary going on a monthly season ticket for a similar journey is 2% in Italy, 3% in Spain and 4% in Germany.

In France, which is the closest to the UK for cost, commuters still spend nearly a third less on season tickets than their counterparts in the UK, said the report.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn speaks to press at a protest outside King's Cross Station

Labour's London mayoral candidate Sadiq Khan is promising to freeze rail fares in the capital if he wins the election next year, and Labour campaigners and MPs are on the streets today, blaming the Conservatives for price increases that "cost us a fortune".

The opposition party is promoting an app that claims to show people "how much your Tory ticket has gone up over the last eight years" and the Action For Rail campaign is demonstrating in London for an end to rail fare rises, more of which were put in place in the new year.

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In fact, fares have been rising above inflation for more than a decade, including under Labour, as governments try to shift some of the cost of railways from the taxpayer to passengers.

Reminding Chiswick commuters; London commuting is the most expensive in the world. #FareRises@SadiqKhanpic.twitter.com/ESlRiEwnYq  Ruth Cadbury MP (@RuthCadbury) January 4, 2016

Come and join us outside The Angel #FareRisespic.twitter.com/wUESD9s0BG  St Peters Labour (@StPetersLabour) January 4, 2016

Commuting in London is the most expensive in the world- I'll freeze TfL fares. #FareRises https://t.co/bGVfb6veFXpic.twitter.com/vKqAAs5CEk  Sadiq Khan MP (@SadiqKhan) January 4, 2016

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Shopkeepers join in support of @SadiqKhan against increased fares this morning near Morden Tube Station #FareRisespic.twitter.com/Xuy04gMcf1  Stephen Alambritis (@cllr_alambritis) January 4, 2016

@lewishamlabour are at stations across Lewisham this morning to tell people about @SadiqKhan's plan to freeze TfL fares as Mayor. #farerises  Steve Bullock (@mayorbullock) January 4, 2016

A survey of more than 1,700 adults for the campaign group found that three out of five believed train services in the UK were poor value for money, with a similar number supporting public ownership.

TUC general secretary Frances OGrady said: Its hardly surprising that UK passengers think rail travel is bad value for money. They are shelling out far more of their income on rail fares than their counterparts in Europe.

Years of failed privatisation have left us with exorbitant ticket prices, overcrowded trains and ageing infrastructure. Ministers need to wake up to this reality instead of allowing train companies to milk the system at taxpayers and commuters expense.

Advertisement

Jeremy Corbyn attends rail fares protest at King's Cross Station See gallery

Rail, Maritime and Transport union leader Mick Cash said: Today is national rail rip-off day when, along with the looming Christmas credit card bills, the British public awake to another kick in the teeth from the greedy private train companies. We would urge everyone to join with the trade unions to end the money-making racket on our rail tracks in 2016. 

TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes said: Profit made on passengers in the UK is not reinvested here, but repatriated to Germany, France, Belgium and Hong Kong to subsidise journeys of passengers there.

"We need a railway for the future  that means a publicly owned rail service operating in the interests of British passengers, with every penny made in profit reinvested in the railways or in cheaper fares for passengers."

Unite acting national officer for rail Hugh Roberts said: "European state-owned rail companies provide excellent services and cheaper fares as part of coherent national economic strategies. The UK Government's ideological reliance on the profit-hungry private sector has been a disaster  and the majority of the public wants the railways taken back into public ownership."

Advertisement

Aslef general secretary Mick Whelan said: Taking the railways back into public hands is a popular policy. The vast majority of voters  Conservative included  are fed up with paying sky-high fares so the privatised train companies can take their slice. Commuters travelling into London from Kent and Sussex know their 5,000 a year season tickets would be much cheaper under public ownership.

Action for Rail said it looked at the price of monthly season tickets in five countries, and compared them with figures for annual median earnings for 2014, based on OECD statistics.

Many of Britains rail franchises are already owned and operated by companies from Germany, the Netherlands and France - and the profits are flowing back to their countries, funding public transport and spending across Europe.

The spend compared to monthly earnings in each country was:
A young woman who battled anorexia for five years and, at one point, weighed just 5st 11lbs, has turned her life around by becoming a personal trainer.

Sarah Pustkowski dropped out of university to pursue her dream job, and is now working full time at a gym.

The 22-year-old developed the eating disorder at secondary school, and also suffered from clinical depression throughout her late teens. However after a long battle, Pustkowski, from Newcastle, can safely say she has come out the other side.

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"It is safe to be said that this has been a year of remarkable change," she wrote on her blog The Growing Butterfly. Though there have been some terrible hardships and life-changing decisions made, I am heading into the new year, stronger and wiser for them."

The personal trainer continued: "Through ill health, came great sacrifices for my family. Over five years we had not been able to go away on a relaxing holiday abroad, which left us feeling low whenever the summer came round.

"I was always filled with guilt that I was the prevention of their time in the hot Sun, so this year I made it my mission to be in a better position to fly again. Me and my parents, flew to Icmeler, Turkey for our first holiday. Honestly, I never though for a second I would live to see the day were my parents could go abroad again. But there I was, on a boat trip across the Aegean sea, admiring the ancient architecture of Marmaris sitting next to them."

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"Seeing images of how much damage I endured through my illness is horrifying," Pustkowski continued. "It is indescribable to view myself in such a malnourished state, yet at the time, I couldnt see it nor believe it.

"Though this sounds a bizarre thing to say, I am actually rather thankful for my eating disorder, as it has given me a whole new lease of life, being more in touch with the every day, cherishing my loved ones, being grateful for the small blessings and learning to love my true self. My mind is full of amazing things, but sure I am by no means perfect. I still suffer every now and then with doubts of mental struggle, but I am only human!

"On a personal level, I have never felt happier in my own body and mind. After everything, I now have a wonderful relationship with myself, treating myself as I do with others; with love and care."

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"When I think back to January, there is no way I would have believed you that I would have left university after the first year, to embark on my career as a personal trainer," she added.

"After making this tremendous decision, so much positivity has come my way. Though these past five years, I have certainly grown to learn that you need to follow your hear, and your life will work itself out eventually, but you need to be willing to let it happen."
Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk is being investigated by Lancashire Police over a rape allegation dating back to 2006, according to reports.

Police are said to have received a complaint about Danczuk, who is currently suspended from the Labour party for sending sexually explicit messages to a teenage girl, on Monday.

Lancashire Police have reportedly confirmed a complaint had been made against Danczuk, but said their "enquiries are in the very early stages and are ongoing".

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Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk is being investigated over a rape allegation dating back to 2006

Sky News reported that Danczuk had called the allegation against him "malicious, untrue and extremely upsetting".

He told the broadcaster that police had not been in touch with him but he would "co-operate fully with any inquiries and am confident my name will be promptly cleared".

A police spokesman told the Manchester Evening News: We can confirm that we have today received a report of a rape against a 49-year-old man relating to an historic offence from 2006."

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The newspaper said Danczuk, 49, had declined to comment on the allegation - but a friend of his had dubbed the complaint "absolute nonsense".

Danczuk has said his "drink problem" led to him messaging Sophena Houlihan when she was 17, a decision he said he felt "awful" about.

He has been suspended from the Labour Party while an investigation takes place into his conduct, for which he has apologised "unreservedly", the Press Association reports.

The messages followed the collapse of his marriage to wife Karen, who was dubbed the selfie queen after posting numerous photographs of herself in low-cut tops.

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Karen Danczuk

Danczuk told The Sun he was "drunk, horny and alone" while on holiday in Spain when he sent the texts.

He said: "I have a drink problem, and that is a major contributory reason why I sent the messages. I've seen a psychiatrist about it and he's told me to stop drinking for six months.

"I feel awful about what happened. I don't know what came over me. I'm so embarrassed that I've been such an idiot. I'm sorry for letting my family down and I'm already dreading my young sons finding out when they are older.

The father of five added "younger women are my Achilles heel" but said he knew sending the messages was "wrong" and his behaviour had "played on his mind".

Houlihan, who is now 18, said Danczuk sent her numerous messages, including one asking if she wanted a "spanking" after she contacted him about a job.

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The pair exchanged messages for nearly a month before he asked how old she was, according to the newspaper. He said, at first, he considered it a "professional conversation".

Danczuk's personal life has repeatedly made the headlines over the past year, including the ending of a relationship with a Labour councillor, Claire Hamilton, who tweeted after Christmas that she had "dumped" him.
A Sudanese man charged with walking almost the entire length of the 31-mile (50km) Channel Tunnel from France has been granted asylum in the UK while in jail awaiting trial for entering the railway as part of his journey to Britain.

Abdul Haroun, 40, has been in prison since August when he was arrested at the English end of the tunnel for obstructing a railway, and was due to go on trial this month. Trains travel up to 99 miles per hour (160km/h) along the line.

At a hearing at the Canterbury crown court, prosecutor Philip Bennetts revealed that Haroun - who appeared by video-link from prison - was granted asylum on December 24.

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Abdul Haroun, who allegedly walked almost the entire length of the Channel Tunnel, has been granted asylum in the UK

According to the Guardian Bennetts requested 14 days for the prosecution to consider the impact of Haroun's new immigration status on his criminal case.

He reportedly suggested the charge against Haroun may be dropped. The charge, under the Malicious Damage Act 1861, carries a maximum two year prison sentence.

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Judge Adele Williams adjourned the case to 18 January to give the prosecution time to consider their position and also granted Haroun immediate bail.

Harouns barrister Kate Thorne told the judge that if the trial goes ahead there are plans to raise the issue of an abuse of the legal process, Kent Online reported.

The court heard that Haroun had been supported by local refugee group, Kent Refugee Help, who had provided him with a place to live. As part of his bail conditions, Haroun was to live at the address and report to a local police station every Wednesday.

In the first incident of its kind, Haroun was detected inside the Channel Tunnel less than 1km from the Folkestone terminal.

Thousands of migrants have been camped out in Calais - the entry point of the tunnel on the French side - for months, with many trying to gain access to Britain by sneaking aboard trains and trucks.

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The five things you need to know on Monday, January 4, 2016

1) VIDEO NASTY

UK spooks are urgently trying to identify a man and young child with British accents in the latest sick video from so-called Islamic State. The Brit has a dedicated message for David Cameron and threatens terror attacks on UK soil.

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In that the story is on many newspaper front pages, ISIL have the propaganda victory they sought, though its hard to ignore such footage when it explicitly references the Prime Minister. The Sun is the only paper to put an unpixellated photo of the young boy in its splash, dubbing him Jihadi Junior, though it makes clear the claims are unverified. The adult in the vid clearly wants the same notoreity as Jihadi John, but at least weve been spared any Jihadi Paul/George/Ringo speculation (dont forget the name stemmed from claims four British jihadis were once apparently dubbed the Beatles by some hostages).

The videos execution of five men alleged to be British spies is seen as evidence of the intense pressure ISIL is now under. But its Saudi Arabias own executions that merit the front page of the Independent, after 47 prisoners - including a prominent Shia cleric - were beheaded. Paddy Ashdown tells the paper the prospect of a wider Sunni-Shia conflict poses a far greater danger than ISIL.

The Indy also has a line from Shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter urging the end of the judicial cooperation between MoJ and the Saudis (which continues despite the 6m prison contract cancelled by Gove). FCO minister Tobias Ellwood was deeply disturbed by the mass beheadings and the breaking of diplomatic relations between Iran and Riyadh, but Philip Hammonds policy of quiet engagement with the Saudis seems to get the backing of Ming Campbell.

The Guardian has an exclusive on the mysterious disappearance of the Commons Committee on Arms Export Controls, which under Tory veteran Sir John Stanley had done excellent work. Is it a deliberate nobbling or more cock-up than conspiracy?

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2) COSTUME CHANGE FOR MR BENN?

All the talk of a revenge reshuffle certainly ramped up over the Christmas break, with two successive Sundays (including Tom McTague at the Indy on Sunday making his impressive mark) full of chatter about demotion for Hilary Benn. But how much has the chatter come from Jeremy Corbyn himself and how much from those around him?

During my own interview with the Labour leader just before the break, he was supremely relaxed. But the one moment he showed a real flash of steel was on the topic of the Syria vote. What I was appalled by was the end of that debate, with mainly Conservative MPs waving their order papers around, clapping and cheeringWe were voting to send bombers in to bomb targets, putting servicemen and women at risk, civilians at risk, you cant cheer when youre going to war. That is 1914 Jingoism, that is past. That this was a reference to Benns speech was all too clear.

The real issue now is how far Corbyns desire for genuine debate on policy extends to his Shadow Cabinet. Benn has been among those arguing that debate is a good thing, while Michael Dugher made plain yesterday on Pienaar that a revenge reshuffle could reduce the Shad Cab to a politburo of about seven MPs. But some Corbyn supporters agree with Jon Cruddas that you have to have a unified message on big issues like foreign policy.

The Times reports that a job-swap for Benn and Shadow Home Secretary Andy Burnham has been discussed. Im told that Benn hasnt directly discussed this, though it is seen as an elegant solution to the problem of keeping him without demoting him. However, as the FT reports, those close to the leader are already dismissing the idea of a job swap.

The reshuffle could be more limited than some speculation suggested, not least as Angela Eagle could be sorely tempted to quit if her sister Maria is axed from Defence. The threat to Rosie Winterton seems to have receded. And the FT has an intriguing line that John McDonnell has been counselling that Eagle is not humiliated in any reshuffle.

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Pat McFadden, a veteran of the Blair and Brown years and Benns deputy in Shadow Foreign, suspected the speculation had been overbriefed while Corbyn was on holiday. But he had a telling line on Radio 4s Westminster Hour last night, warning that for the Leader there was a danger for him in taking revenge over a one-line whip on a free vote on Syria. Major sackings would be divisive and thats a risk for him. Lets see who wins the battle for Jeremys ear.

3) HOUSEY HOUSEY

David Cameron knows that this political year will be dominated by his EU renegotiation (on which note, Polish Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski has told Reuters Britain could offer something to Poland in terms of international security," in return for benefits reform). But as well as being the man who resolved the Tory war over Europe, the PM also wants to his legacy to include bread and butter issues like housing.

Today, Cameron has announced that the government is to step in and directly commission thousands of new affordable homes on publicly-owned land. Communities Secretary Greg Clark wants to use the the little platoons of smaller housebuilders who can get new homes built at a faster rate. The No.10 line is this is the most radical intervention since Thatcher and Heseltine started Docklands. But Labours John Healey detects yet more spin and says it proves ministers are worried about the stubbornly low housebuilding rate.

And the 13,000 new homes due to be started on four sites outside London are a mere pin-prick in the million the Government wants by 2020. Clark pointed out on the Today prog that the Chancellor has also unveiled plans for 100,000 homes for affordable rent. And when asked if hed hit the building target by the end of the Parliament, replied Oh yes, absolutely.

BECAUSE YOUVE READ THIS FAR

In case you missed it, check out Mike Tysons hoverboard fail

4) DANCZUK-ED

Simon Danczuks private life is certainly what Sir Humphrey Appleby would call colourful. In his interview to the Sun yesterday, the suspended Labour MP for Rochdale said his alcohol problem had led him to text a 17-year-old about spanking, and admitted younger women were his Achilles heel. His most recent girlfriend Claire Hamilton dumped him and even claimed he was in no hurry to get back to Rochdale to deal with the flood crisis. (On the Today prog Hamilton said his drinking problem was making him an ineffective MP).

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But hes also come out fighting, threatening legal action after first wife Sonia Rossington accused him in the Mail on Sunday of being a sexual predator and suggested her teenage children wanted to change their surnames because of the recent embarrassment.

The bigger issue is the Labour NEC investigation into his conduct. The Sunday Times reported a source saying the party was preparing to expel him permanently, over claims he abused his position by making sexual references to someone who had asked him for work in his constituency office. A friend of Danczuks told me over the break that the whole suspension from the whip was a bit harsh.

And today the Telegraphs Chris Hope has a new Danczuk letter to the NEC demanding that Ken Livingstone have no involvement in the case. Livingstone lashed out last week, saying the allegations against the Rochdale MP were very disturbing and linking them to his child abuse campaigns. I know I have been silly and I have said I am extremely sorry but I am not going to be dragged through a kangaroo court so my enemies can exact revenge. I would expect to be treated the same as any other MP, Danczuk says.

5) WHATS UP DOC?

This afternoon we will get the latest update on the junior doctors strike. The Guardian reports than No 10 and the Treasury have signed off new proposals on pay and contract terms, and suggests the deal will be put by the Department of Health and NHS Employers to the BMA today.

But if the doctors decide to reject the offer, the BMA could announce industrial action taking place from as early as next week. The dates are important here, not least to the Governments attempts to stall things long enough to require a new ballot for action. The current mandate for strike action expires on January 13, and Government insiders have told MPs another ballot would have to be carried out if negotiations continue beyond that date.

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The junior docs show no sign of wobbling yet though. The Indy quotes one saying they are in it for the long haul. This is not a plan for just one day next week, but for a period of industrial action lasting for months. It will last into the summer and, if necessary, throughout the year. Labour, which has stayed out of the row, could be put in a difficult position if doctors actually do strike.

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A straight-A aspiring doctor who took a year out to gain work experience in a hospital has been forced to move to Italy to enrol on a medicine degree after he was unable to find a place to study in the UK.

Harry Phillips, a 19-year-old from Oswestry in Shropshire, was continually rejected from universities, without even so much as an interview.

"This is a harsh reality faced by many young and academically capable students," he told the Shropshire Star. "The number of placements at UK universities continues its failure to meet demand, and provide the adequate number of doctors which the NHS and our GP services desperately need. The shortfall is made up by foreign recruitment."

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Harry Phillips has moved to Lombardy, Italy, to study

In September, Phillips sat the IMAT aptitude test for a medicine and surgery course offered by several institutions in Italy.

"It was a drastic option, yet one I felt forced to take," he explained.

Phillips came 110th out of 3,500 candidates, and secured a place at the University of Pavia, just south of Milan, which charges a meagre 2,585 a year compared to the hefty 9,000 many UK institutions ask for.

Phillips added: "Its a squeeze on my family, but nothing like the tens of thousands of dollars they would charge in the USA, and I will graduate without the life-sized debt many in the UK will have from the Student Loans Company.

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Elections and weather disasters. There can be few things the Prime Minister fears more. Both require him to step outside the Westminster bubble and make for regions where the great, varied, complex British public appears to roam freely.

There are so many of us out there, awkward and restive people with our own ideas. Many of us show no respect for the grammar of austerity; we regularly break its rules or argue against it. We've stopped listening to Cameron and Osborne in favour of economists who point out that austerity is not working and is, in fact, making things worse. Our uncooperative questions continue to mount, questions about tax justice, drastic and unfair spending cuts, child poverty, the lack of affordable housing, the erosion of trade union rights, the stealthy privatisation of public services. And to take us into 2016, flood defences and the environment.

So there stood David Cameron at year's end, knee-deep in northern flood waters, wading through an uncomfortable series of stage-managed appearances. Mostly, we saw him shaking hands with small groups of rescue workers. The water served as a convenient moat between Castle Dave and the public, allowing him to speak to camera from a familiar and overly rehearsed script. But in York, somewhere in the distance, off-camera, a lone voice could be heard calling out: "No more cuts to public services!" Where was the owner of this brave voice? I imagined her locked up, somewhere along the wall, or one of its gates.

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It was a tiny incident, but it underscored the dangerous separation between leader and people. In what Ricardo Blaug has called the "penchant for insularity" that comes with power, the "progressive isolation" of our austerity Prime Minister is all too apparent. Perhaps recalling those freak incidents in which a member of the public got close and told him, on camera, something of life in austerity Britain, Cameron is now visibly wary of us. The result is - for Cameron, Osborne and the other ministers - a "shrinking knowledge" of the effects of Tory policy on the public. This, according to Blaug, is what corruption by power looks like: our leaders come to inhabit a "sealed and self-confirming world; they become aggrandized, dismissive, isolated and unaware." (see Blaug, How Power Corrupts) We struggle too, to spot our own oppression and make ourselves visible. So, we are thankful for that determined voice calling out to Cameron in York.

Still worse for the Prime Minister is that we now have a spokesperson in Parliament. Every Wednesday morning, Jeremy Corbyn stands at the dispatch box and actually asks questions on our behalf - in Parliament of all places! In a startling outbreak of democratic practice, Corbyn gathers questions from Labour members in order to make his own party and the government more accountable to us.

Even some on his own benches are thrown by Corbyn. MPs on both sides have been operating under the illusion that most of us are content to leave the business of politics to our elected representatives. Some MPs, no matter how they voted, were unsettled by the numbers, passion, and outright anger of people calling upon them to vote against tax credit cuts or against air strikes in Syria. On the latter vote, Jess Phillips betrayed this mindset perfectly when she wrote for this paper, "We were elected to do it so other people didn't have to." Forgive us, Jess, for preferring that you not do our thinking for us, for believing you were elected to engage with your constituents and represent their views as closely as possible. That any MP should display such a glaring anti-democratic impulse should give all of us pause next time we enter the voting booth.

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If a few Labour MPs are unnerved by Corbyn, the Tory benches have oscillated between smug silence and nervous guffaws when he introduces his weekly questions from the public. Never mind. We, watching at home, can see that they are red-faced with anger. They have long been used to a Chamber in which they felt safe and free, unencumbered by reminders that there are people out there living with the effects of their decisions. We send our questions to Corbyn because we dare to dream of a government that has not forgotten us.
2015 was a landmark year for climate action. Its many highlights were topped by a Paris agreement where 195 countries set themselves on a low-carbon path via economy-wide plans sure to be developed and strengthened every year.

In the meantime, climate chaos continues to build: 2015 was the warmest year of the warmest decade since we started recording temperatures. 2016 is forecast to be even warmer. The number of climate refugees are swelling and everywhere popular movements against more pollution and irresponsibility are strengthening.

Expect the following broad trends to accentuate in 2016.

Clean Energy can no Longer be Stopped

Notwithstanding the low price of coal and oil, solar power and other forms of clean energy will continue their onward march in 2016 and quasi-monopolize additions to electricity supply worldwide.

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Order books for new clean energy power plants are up sharply in the United States, China, India, as well as in the developing economies of Africa and Latin America. India, for example, with current electricity grid capacity of less than 300 gigawatts (GW), is on its way to building 100 GW of solar power by 2022 (from 5 GW currently), double the current solar capacity of China.

Meanwhile, cheaper battery technology will continue to drive clean energy costs down, while changing the way people think about energy: We will produce more electricity from solar power, but also store and manage it ourselves. This foretells nothing short of a revolution in the way our modern society fuels itself, upending previous assumptions about the need for large fossil fuel plants connected by an expensive, inefficient electricity grid.

Renewables up, Fossil Fuel Stocks Down

The gap will begin to close between the stock market value of coal, oil and gas companies - still a massive $5 trillion - and that of the renewable energy sector, a tiny $300 billion.

While we are not going to get rid of fossil fuels right away, market signals are spreading, slowly but surely, to financial markets that have been mostly deaf to the increasingly strident will of the world to wean itself off fossil fuels. The capital markets will find themselves caught in a pincer movement by renewables costs that continue to drop and oil prices that continue to be volatile.

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More money will be lost in fossil fuel stocks and bonds; more investors will divest; and more oil and gas exploration projects will be abandoned, forever.

More Carbon Markets

In 2016, new carbon markets will continue to emerge around the world.

In the US, carbon emission trading markets are the most likely mechanism that states will use to comply with the Clean Power Plan. Elsewhere, more countries will price carbon to align their actions with their Paris climate agreement commitments. Countries as varied as China, Kazakhstan, South Africa, Korea and New Zealand are opting for carbon pricing within systems tailored to suit their national circumstances.

While carbon prices worldwide remain a few years off, the signal to investors is clear: Carbon pricing is accelerating, increasing the costs of fossil fuels while making renewables more and more competitive.

Global Green Jobs Boom

Expect the green economy to continue to create jobs by the bucket load. This in turn will conquer politicians' remaining allegiance to fossil fuel interests and infrastructure.

The solar industry, for example, is already creating eight times more jobs than the coal and natural gas industries in the United States. This advantage is even starker in developing economies like India.

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Subsidy cuts are threatening solar jobs in the UK at the moment, but the sector as a whole can still thrive on private investments and will continue to create jobs in the long run.

And clean energy doesn't only create jobs - it empowers people, especially in poorer countries where electricity is a precious commodity. In Tanzania, for example, education is being brought to students living in remote, off-the-grid locations via a fleet of mobile, solar-powered classroom trucks. In Kenya, solar-powered ovens are allowing women to literally bake their way to a better life. Other examples abound because human ingenuity is allowing them to proliferate.

Health Concerns Will Drive More Local Action

Health concerns also strengthen the dash for clean energy in many countries.

Signs of a fundamental pushback against fossil fuels on health grounds abound. China, for example, recently announced that it will stop approving new coal mines for the next three years, and cut production, because of pollution considerations. Public health is under threat in major cities ranging from Paris to Delhi to Hanoi, strengthening the imperative to electrify our car and bus fleets. In a telling sign, Toyota, the world's largest car company, decided to end all production of petrol and diesel cars by 2050.

We are on track for a wholesale shift to electrification in the 2030s and Volkswagen's cheating is but an example of panicked rear-guard action.

Utility-scale solar can already be had for 5 US cents / kWh, compared to gas at 5 to 8 US cents and coal at 6 to 15 US cents. When the full health impact of coal and gas is priced in, solar and wind energy (as well as other forms of clean energy) are vastly superior. So why would anyone want to build a coal-fired or a gas-fired power plant in 2016?

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Photography by Chris Osburn  2015

Same great soup minus the queue! Or at least that was the case during the evening I visited Kanada-Ya's second London outpost. Opened just before Christmas and building upon the success of its first London outpost, the new Kanada-Ya Panton Street brings authentic tonkatsu ramen to the west side of Theatreland with plenty more space than at its ultra popular - but super tiny - sister site just east in St Giles. Heck, they'll even let ya book a table (if your party's big enough) at this newly opened venture of the small but oh so slurp-tastic global group of famed ramen bars (with locations in Japan and Hong Kong).

As at other Kanada-Ya locations, all noodles at Panton Street are made on site with a special machine using a specific brand of flour, enriched with the right protein content and alkaline salts to produce a bouncy, firm noodle capable of standing up to the rich broth. Customers are also able to request how firm they like their noodles, which will then be cooked accordingly.

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Having had (and adored) a bowl of the restaurant's original ramen when I visited Kanada-Ya's original London venue, this time round I opted for one with all the works - the gekikara, served with spicy "tan tan" style minced pork, pork belly chashu, wood ear fungus, nori and fresh spring onion (13). Serving size was big, there were lots of noodles and the flavours of all the components blended gloriously well together. I order my noodles "hard" and, being the al dente pasta sort of fella that I am, was perfectly satisfied. Next time I might be inclined to go "extra hard" out of curiosity.

Starters/sides were good but didn't live up to the yum factor of the ramen. Karage (6.50) was juicy and tender but no more delicious than I've had at any number of Japanese restaurants in town. Similarly, "Paolo's kale" with spicy dressing (3) was very good but failed to impress. Quickly cooking up a bag o' curly kale at home with a squirt or two of sri racha could have pleased me just as much. During the same next time visit to which I've alluded, I might try one in Kanada-Ya's range or onigiri (premium Japanese rice balls wrapped in nori).

A dessert of matcha soft serve presented with a sprinkling of black sesame was however, a rich, creamy, and refreshing way to end the meal. I'd be tempted to go back just for the soft serve and will definitely save room for some when I head over on this next time feast I seem to be psyching myself up for.

Service was swift and friendly during my visit. Fans of Japanese design and minimalist decor should love the interiors, though adherents of the St Giles Kanada-Ya might not find Panton Street to be nearly as cosy-chic. There's a good selection of Japanese and local beers as well as whiskies, cocktails, and teas.

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Kanada-Ya Panton Street is located at 3 Panton Street, SW1Y 4DL. Find out more at kanada-ya.com. To book one or both of the two bookable tables for groups of five to seven people refer to the restaurant's dedicated WhatsApp profile 07886666663.
Tom Hooper's 'The Danish Girl' has it's eye on the awards season with the story of Einer/Lili Wegener, the first transgender person to undergo reassignment surgery - 'Sleeping With Other People,' splits the rom from the com but it's too smart for its own self - Ramin Bahrani's 'At Any Price' is akin to a midweek afternoon Iowa farming family soap opera switch-off - 'Le Mepris' (Contempt), Jean-Luc Godard's stylish and fascinating classic is revived.

Director: Tom Hooper. Eddie Redmayne, Alicia Vikander. Drama. UK, USA 2015 119 mins. (15) ****

Two moments define the remarkable story of the Danish artist Einer/Lili Wegener the first transgender person to undergo reassignment surgery. Einer/Lili Wegener (Eddie Redmayne) slipping on stockings and ballet pumps to stand in for a life model awakens Einer's female self and Einer/Lili stating her belief that she's a woman inside a male body reaffirmed by Einer's wife Gerda (Alicia Vikander).

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The film's got it's eye on the forthcoming awards season and I suspect that it'll do well. Stunningly shot by Danny Cohen, it offers a painterly quality with costumes and interiors made for the camera which if anything masks the psychological and later the physical reality of the experimental operations Lili underwent in Dresden. Eddie Redmayne lauded for his role as Stephen Hawking adopts a coy and safe approach to his portrayal of Lili which includes a justified full frontal nude scene but it's Alicia Vikander who dominates much of the film.

Episodes from Einer/Lili and Gerda's bohemian life - Lili posing for paintings, attending a society ball dressed as a woman, and Henrik (Ben Whishaw), an admirer stealing a kiss offer some insight as we move towards Lili's decision to undergo experimental reassignment surgery in Dresden.

'I believe I am a woman' - Einer/Lili. 'I believe it too' - Gerda.

Released 1st January

Director: Leslye Headland. Jason Sudeikis, Alison Brie, Jordan Carlos. Comedy. USA 2015 101 mins. (15) ***

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Jake (Jason Sudeikis) seduced Lainey (Alison Brie) in student days. Hop on 12 years and Jake's been round the block and Lainey's done a full-on, sleeping with someone else confessional to her fiancee (Adam Brody)and can't shake off her obsession with gynaecologist Matthew (Adam Scott), the guy that she wanted to loose her virginity to. Of course Lainey and Jake have to meet and where better than a sex addicts meeting but can they just be pals and not do the love bit.

Split the rom from the com and laugh along in a take on contemporary relationships. Sounds good but we've been there before and now it's upped to an OTT screw ball speed dialogue that pops 'Sleeping With Other People' onto the too smart for it's own good shelf.

Bring on Woody Allen.

Released 1st January

Director: Ramin Bahrani. Dennis Quaid, Zac Efron, Kim Dickens, Heather Graham, Clancy Brown. Drama. USA 2012 105 mins. (18) **

'At Any Price,' is akin to a midweek afternoon Iowa farming family soap opera switch-off.

Super stressed farmer Henry Whipple (Dennis Quaid) needs to sell his product. Rival farmer Jim Johnson's (Clancy Brown) causing trouble, family loyalty's gone, one son's gone to South America to climb a mountain, rebel Dean's (Zac Efron) into stock car racing, local good time gal Meredith (Heather Graham) offers a bit of fun for poor old Henry and his wife Irene's (Kim Dickens) very patient. It's Iowa's soap opera with odd ball Henry, a field of wheat and a bit of violence, and guilt later on.

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Released 1st January

Director: Jean-Luc Godard. Brigitte Bardot, Michel Piccoli, Jack Palance, Fritz Lang. Drama. French with English subtitles. France, Italy 1963 103 mins. (15) ****

With a screenplay adapted from the Alberto Moravia novel 'A Ghost At Noon,' Jean-Luc Godard orchestrates a stylish 60s cinematic feast with visual delights and moments to savour in a film that was a defining moment in the director's career. It's a fascinatingly toxic mix -sexy siren BB, the estranged wife of failed screenwriter Michel Piccoli who's struggling to bring Homer's Odysssey to the screen with the veteran director Fritz Lang who plays himself at the helm with Godard as his assistant (lovely touch) and bad boy Hollywood style producer Jack Palance whose appreciation of cinema's off the planet. A Godard classic.

'Le Mepris' forms part of the BFI Southbank's Godard retrospective season which opens 8th January.

Released 1st January
In well-developed Anglo-Saxon countries across the world, the personal development movement is a multi-billion dollar industry. Including market segments from holistic approaches, motivational speakers, inspirational websites, personal coaching, and other forms of personal development, the net worth of this industry is estimated to be almost $11 billion.

Millions of adults spend their hard earned money and time to read books and participate in seminars to develop life skills to create more success, happiness and fulfillment in their lives. However, one may ask, "Why wait!?". Shouldn't we be learning the basic skills of communication, goal-setting and planning from a young age?

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Natalie Ledwell, author of the bestselling book, "Never in Your Wildest Dreams", host of The Inspiration Show and Co-founder of Mind Movies, asked herself the same question. Therefore, she took matters into her own hands and created "P.D. for Kids".

"P.D. for Kids" is a personal development curriculum designed for children between the ages of 6 and 12. The lessons are designed to be taught in classrooms and facilitated by teachers. The goal is to enrich and expand as many students' minds into what's actually possible and to instill positive life habits at an early age.

Each lesson is comprised of an easy-to-grasp explanation about a specific core principle of Personal Development, along with very engaging exercises and assignments to help students absorb the content. As part of the classroom activities and/or homework, students are instructed to directly and gradually apply those principles on a daily basis either at school and at home with the participation of their families. Ultimately, they will be encouraged to turn everything they've learned into life-long and healthy habits.

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In a very informative and dynamic way, the program curriculum instills the students with core inter - and intra-personal values, and all the life tools they need to thrive in their lives.

The curriculum cover topics such as the importance of gratitude and settings goals for one's life, the power of words and thoughts and how they can influence the outcome of our dreams, the meaning and how to use affirmations and visualization techniques to move them closer to their goals.

The program also introduces to students to a powerful visualization tool entitled "Dream Design Movies" and guides them step-by-step in creating their very own dream movie.

Moreover, students receive in-depth orientation on how to identify and overcome challenges as well as the importance of taking action in order to accomplish their goals.

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Lastly, the concept of "Stillness" is explained and students learn how to make use of meditation techniques in order to gain more self-confidence, peace and make the right decisions in relation to their goals.

They are encouraged to create their personal success daily routine that contain all the steps learned during the program, make them habits in order to achieve each and every goal they set for themselves throughout their lives.

However, Natalia and her partner Glen took it a step further and asked themselves why these same life-skills aren't being taught to children who really need them in under-developed countries.

As Natalie explains:

Basically, I have always wanted to empower adults and kids all over the world with successful life skills that they could apply for the rest of their lives. When my partner Glen and I started Mind Movies, I knew I would be able to accomplish just that. So, I couldn't be happier when a university in Colombia requested that I create a Personal Development curriculum for kids that had the potential to benefit and empower the lives of 10,000 well-deserving kids who reside in the most poverty-stricken areas of the country.

Therefore, they took their charter program to Colombia and donated the program to 10,000 underprivileged kids to improve their own lives and the lives of their families. Additionally, the pilot program is now being taught in schools in Dubai, Australia and the U.S. and soon to be in Canada, South Africa and Spain.

Natalie and Glen's vision is to create a buy-one give-one system so that for every program that is purchased by a school, they will donate a program to either a low income or underprivileged school somewhere around the world.

Children are our future and empowering children around the world is one-step towards creating a better future for all.

For more information on Natalie and her work, visit MindMovies.
According to The Sunday Times, the Inquiry into Trans Equality is soon going to recommend that adults get the right to determine their own legal gender. This would be a similar process to that recently introduced in Ireland which requires trans people to simply fill in a form, swear an oath in front of a solicitor and send it off. Just a few days later their legal gender change is complete and they get confirmation in the post.

Full details of the recommendation aren't out yet, but if this urgently needed reform does happen in the UK it will be fantastic news for some trans people. However, there are serious concerns that it still does not go far enough and will leave many trans and non-binary people unable to access adequate gender recognition. Assuming the reports are accurate, this reform will only apply to adults. This means that thousands of trans and non-binary children and teenagers will be stuck, sometimes for over a decade, with no access to appropriate recognition.

In addition, it appears that the report will stop short of recommending full recognition for non-binary people. Reliable figures have shown that as much as 0.4% of the population (around 250,000 people in the UK) do not identify as either a man or a woman, and in the run up to the 2015 General Election over 20% of candidates signed the Non-Binary Pledge in support of them. Without access to proper recognition, non-binary people are left in legal limbo and will be unable to fully assert their rights. When the Ministry of Justice recently rejected calls for non-binary gender recognition as they believe there is "no specific detriment" to the lack of recognition, non-binary people spoke out about how harmful and invalidating this was.

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The current Gender Recognition Act, which came into force in 2005, allows trans people to apply for a Gender Recognition Certificate (GRC) which changes their legal gender. While it was considered ground breaking at the time, it left a lot of people behind and has some very strict and often unfair requirements. Amongst its key failings are the need for multiple medical reports confirming a diagnosis of gender dysphoria, a requirement to prove that you have been "living as" a man or a woman for at least two years (nobody is entirely sure what this means), and the need to be at least 18 years old. It also forces some people to end their current marriage or civil partnership before they can obtain gender recognition. The Act provides absolutely no recognition for non-binary people (those who identify as neither men nor women).

These requirements have since been interpreted and expanded on by the Gender Recognition Panel, whose job it is to assess these applications. They now require that people who haven't had surgical interventions must have their doctors explain the reasons for this, even though surgery is not a requirement of recognition. They also have their own idea of what it means to live as a man or a woman, for instance they have told some trans women that conceiving a child means there is a "doubt" as to whether they have really lived as a woman. In other cases the Panel's requirements have just been completely unrealistic for the average person to fulfil, such as one applicant who was told to prove that same-sex marriage was legal in Canada. The level of evidence that the Panel require is so high that 40% of applicants are asked for further information.

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Most things do not depend on legal gender as even without recognition it is unlawful to discriminate against trans and non-binary people, refuse to update their records or refuse them access to most single-sex spaces such as toilets. However, some important things do still depend on legal gender. Current prison policy in some parts of the UK still initially places trans people according to their legal gender, which has led to urgent calls for reform after two trans women committed suicide in male prisons last year. Marriage vows outside of Scotland are also gendered, and with trans men being referred to as 'wife' in their marriage vows and trans women referred to as 'husband' unless they have gender recognition. Also birth and adoption certificates can only be altered after gender recognition has been obtained, meaning that those without recognition must out themselves and reveal their birth name to anyone such as an employer who needs to see it. For these reasons and more, swift easy access to legal gender recognition is vital.

Part of the reason the inquiry may not have gone far enough is a side-effect of how the inquiry worked. Over 230 organisations and individuals took advantage of the opportunity to make written submissions to the inquiry, which is a huge body of evidence. However, the evidence is far more limited than it could have been. The range of topics was huge, from schools to prisons, healthcare to legal rights, media representation to sport and many more. Despite the huge range of topics all needing urgent attention a 3,000 word limit on submissions meant it was impossible to cover everything. Organisations either had to focus their submission topics very narrowly, or else could very briefly discuss a larger number of topics but miss most of the detail. The result is that the Committee simply did not have the full picture.
What test should you set for a bird, a chimpanzee, a penguin, an elephant, a fish, a seal and a dog? The tree climbing test, of course.

It is challenging, to say the least, to fully comprehend the deconstruction and redesign of England's education system since 2010. From the flagship academies and free schools programme to the abandonment of vocational education in favour of a narrow curriculum of 'traditional' subjects, the Conservatives have been unapologetic in their pursuit of what they claim is a crucial overhaul of an ineffective system that has left countless hundreds of thousands of children perilously unprepared for life.

Of course, education has always been a governmental cause celebre. The last Labour government's tenure was characterised by the Every Child Matters agenda and the core principles of inclusion and differentiation; the notion that all children have the right to a broad-based, inclusive education that caters to their individual needs and talents. Crucially, those 13 years also saw the introduction of the Sure Start programme, in addition to a National Workforce Agreement that enshrined teachers' pay and conditions in law and shored up the profession to face the challenges of a growing, evolving population.

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This week, education secretary Nicky Morgan announced plans for on-screen times table testing for all 11-year-olds by 2017. This, she claims, will "allow us to target those areas where children aren't being given a fair shot to succeed". This, combined with the aforementioned overhaul of the curriculum, shines a blinding light on the ideology at the core of Conservative education policy. To them, 'success' is defined by a simple percentage score or a grade at the top of an assessment (in a STEM subject, naturally. None of that vocational nonsense, thank you!). For them, it is reasonable to judge pupil achievement in, for example, a German GCSE course on the basis of the level they achieved in English upon leaving primary school five years earlier.

The theory that rote learning and memorisation of non-contextualised knowledge is the key to success is both erroneous and dangerous. It is ludicrous to assert that rhythmic regurgitation of times tables is an accurate measure of mathematical ability, just as one would not suggest that the flawless recall of a verb table is a rigorous assessment of linguistic capacity. Instead, it is in the application of stored knowledge over time that we find the most scientific yardstick of progress. This is not to say that memorisation is not a pillar of learning - to the contrary, the recall of key knowledge is a crucial educational component, a skill that must be painstakingly honed over time. However, it is just one cog in an incredibly intricate wheel. This is an unwelcome reality to those that believe that you can fatten a pig by merely weighing it.

There is a very human truth that negates the pontifications of those that would force all children into an academic straightjacket with the sole aim of churning out mere units of economic productivity instead of fully rounded global citizens. When a teacher stands in front of a class of 30 children, they are confronted with a plethora of highly complex, individual personalities, inclinations, backgrounds, talents and needs. To the vocational teacher, this joyously colourful patchwork of humanity is among the key drivers in their professional life. They recognise that assessment-focussed academic uniformity is detrimental to a great many students with Special Educational Needs.

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The acceleration towards educational homogenisation, together with the disastrous, inexorable attacks on teachers' pay, pensions and conditions, have lead to a recruitment and retention crisis of truly terrifying proportions. A 2015 survey carried out by the NASUWT teachers' union found that over two thirds of its members had considered leaving the profession over the previous twelve months. Those seeking an exit route will undoubtedly be largely composed of holistic practitioners with a human view of their role as an educator, unwilling to prop up a conveyor belt system that refuses to acknowledge, let alone accommodate, the wonderful individuality of each and every child.

Despite all of this, Morgan and co. will soldier on defiantly, blinded by arrogance and convinced of their righteousness. Meanwhile, those young people for whom unrelenting testing and its associated pressures present greater difficulty will increasingly buckle under the weight of unrealistic - and utterly unfair - expectations. The emotional impact of this can be profound. In May 2015, the NSPCC reported a 200% increase in students seeking counselling specifically for exam stress. This one-size-fits-all approach to education is wreaking potentially irreparable damage on the health of England's young people. Moreover, through its excruciating narrow academic focus, it denounces the artists, dancers, photographers and musicians in our nation's classrooms as frivolous and creativity as superfluous.
New acquaintances are always intrigued to learn that we are foster carers. They have many questions about every aspect of what we do. But what they all really want to know is how many children we have fostered. When we tell them I look for a hint of disappointment in their faces, for their awareness of foster care is often based on stories of legendary carers who have looked after hundreds of children, and that is certainly not us. They may have seen foster carers on shows like Pride of Britain or Surprise, Surprise and been moved by the dedication of someone who has provided a temporary home to dozens of vulnerable children over many years. These are, undoubtedly, remarkable people and society owes them a great debt indeed. By comparison, our own achievements as foster carers fall short.

It is not only the general public that is beholden to the numbers of foster care. When Debbie Douglas, of The Only Way Is Essex fame, was announced as a new ambassador for fostering last month the Department for Education press release focused on the fact that Ms Douglas had fostered more than 250 children over two decades. She was, said children's minister Edward Timpson, "an inspiration".

She truly is. Foster care needs role models like Ms Douglas to encourage more families to consider becoming carers. But by focusing on the large number of children who have spent time in her care, rather than the breadth of her experience, we are doing Ms Douglas, and foster carers in general, a disservice.

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The number, rather than the quality or complexity of foster care, has become the benchmark by which we are measured. Perhaps this is inevitable, but is it right?

We are not talking here about the number of goals scored or houses sold, but about real lives, about vulnerable children who have suffered neglect or abuse, about the tragedy of a family that has fallen apart.

We rightly applaud foster carers like Ms Douglas and her family. But are their achievements any greater than, say, those of the family who welcome a single child with learning disabilities and provide a home for life? Or those of a grandmother who steps in when her daughter's life falls apart to take responsibility for her grandchildren, at a time when those of her age are contemplating retirement? These are life-changing, full-time commitments that foster carers typically make, unselfishly. They look modest, almost insignificant, when subjected to the 'how many children have you fostered' test. Yet these carers stand shoulder to shoulder with those who have fostered hundreds of children. They are just as inspirational, and have so much to teach those who are contemplating becoming foster carers. In so many ways they are the real heroes of child welfare.

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My concern is that our emphasis on numbers also perpetuates the image of fostering as a conveyor belt of care, which sends vulnerable children spinning from one home to the next. Do the maths (as prospective carers will do): if you have cared for 250 children over 20 years it means that in a typical year at least a dozen children will have passed through your front door. How to build meaningful relationships or to become a positive role model under such circumstances? Faced with the daunting prospect of this upheaval, and emotional challenge, it is hardly surprising that many families do not give fostering a second thought.

This image also weighs heavily on media representation of foster care. Last month The Times said foster care "brutalised" children, urging the Government to do more to encourage permanency through adoption. It becomes more difficult to argue against this when a Government minister singles out high placement numbers as an outstanding achievement.

The work of foster carers is diverse and complex. In our experience placements last for around one year. Typically, we receive siblings (we currently care for three children) and we been able to build lasting relationships with members of their birth families and their long-term carers. We are in regular contact with most of the children who have lived with us, and consider them to be part of our extended family. Under such circumstances it is unlikely that we shall ever be able to say that we have cared for hundreds, or even dozens of children. Yet our experience is not dissimilar to that of many foster carers, and all the more rewarding for it. Our lives have been enriched by this experience and we believe that, under difficult circumstances, the children have also benefited from the time they spent with us until their long-term futures were resolved.
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"Banaras is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend and looks twice as old as all of them put together", wrote Mark Twain, during a visit to the city in 1895. And he couldn't have said it better.

Cradled by River Ganges, Varanasi (or Banaras), with its numerous temples and shrines, is an ancient center of Hindu culture and spirituality. River Ganges is by itself considered as a 'mother goddess' by Hindus and has many temples dedicated to her in this city. Varanasi is also one of the oldest continuously lived in cities in the world. It is said that around the 6th century BCE when Gautam Buddha was born, Varanasi (then known as Kashi) was already an ancient and thriving settlement.

Along its entire north-south course of 2,520 kilometers originating in the high glaciers of the Himalayas in North India and ending in the Bay of Bengal in the East, it is in Varanasi that the Ganges takes a broad sweep, forming a dramatic crescent, flowing in the reverse northern direction for a short stretch of about 7 kilometers. And it is on the left-bank of this crescent that we find one of the grandest cultural, religious and architectural spectacles of India - the magnificent riverfront of Varanasi. The opposite bank, i.e. the eastern, right side of the river is a flood plain and in the dry season it gets transformed into a long and wide stretch of sand.

Rising steeply from the river and soaring above it, the left bank is wrapped cheek-by-jowl by a magnificent and seamless architectural array of masonry platforms and steep flights of steps and landings, known as ghats. The ghats are shadowed by lofty fortress, majestic palaces, exquisite temples and shrines with their sky piercing ornate spires, ashrams (hermitages attached schools for religious studies), monasteries, mosques, pavilions and tiered houses. And within this also lies two cremation grounds, called the Manikarnaka and Harishchandra ghats, distinguished by burning pyres and rising smoke.

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The river-front presents an unusual blend of architecture, history and the beauty of a very special landscape, making it a place of unusual aesthetic harmony between nature and culture. This is a space where the hermit meets the hedonist - where ceaseless human action exists side by side with profound stillness and deep contemplation; where the ringing of temple bells, the chanting of mantras and the melody of devotional music mix with the fragrance of flowers and incense, and at places, the stench of garbage and smoke of burning wood and flesh; where beauty jostles with ugliness, and joy with grief.

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Over these ghats, and above them, along numerous narrow labyrinthine lanes and passages, moves the unceasing theatre of life and death and the hope of 'moksha' - i.e. liberation, or transcendence. As the Ganges flows by in its ebbs and tides, this ancient riverfront serves as a grand proscenium - as much for spiritual quest, as for material gratification.

It is at the waterfront that you get a glimpse India's enduring enigma and mystic charm. You get a hint of a civilization at its most ancient state and yet on the move. It is here that one encounters the tableau of "continuity in change", where the ancient jostle with the modern. It presents a sight that is as spectacular as it is mystifying and bewildering.

Varanasi seems to be in a time warp which cannot be dated by any particular period or century. While on the one hand it is ancient, it has, over the centuries to the present date continued to accumulate and give expression to Hindu tradition, culture, world view and way of life..

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Along the long stretch of eighty four named ghats, five are considered to be the most sacred. From the south to the north, these are Assi, Dashashwamedh, Manikarkika, Panchaganga and Adi Keshava.

The palatial masonry buildings on the Assi ghat were initially built by the King of Varanasi in around 1830 and the adjoining Tulsi ghat was where the great medieval saint Tulsi Das lived and composed his works.

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The Dashashwamedh ghatis the busiest of all, with as many as six prominent temples (including one for River Ganges) and numerous smaller shrines. And adjacent to this ghat are the imposing fortresses and hanging balconies of the palaces of erstwhile King of Darbhanga and the King of Kanshi.

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Manikarnika ghat is the great cremation ground where funeral fires are reported to be burning day and night without a break for the last 800 years. This ghat has a few temples including an imposing deep red one, with its sharp, soaring ornate spire. It is built on a broad terrace overlooking the river. Around this place you find logs stacked in piles that are as high as they are grim. The 'Dom' community, till date a highly marginalized traditional caste based occupation, which tends to the cremation grounds and burns the dead, also rear their cattle (mainly buffaloes) here. A part of this ghat is also used for ritual bathing and funeral rites.

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This is probably the only place on earth where you find the living and the dead (the corpse is given a dip before cremation) taking bath in the same waters at the same time, alongside cattle, and sometime even dogs.

Hinduism, with its immensely complex and profound of philosophy, and with all its aesthetic refinement, continues to lack a sense of civic aesthetics and environmental hygiene. To me, the practice of burning dead bodies in open pyres and disposing the ash (and sometimes even half burnt bodies) into the river are abominable examples of the material, civic and spiritual ugliness that many Hindus continue to dwell in till date.

The Panchaganga ghat - held to be very sacred by Hindus, once had the grand Bindu Madhava (Vishnu) temple, which was demolished and converted into an imposing mosque in 1670, by Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb. Seen from the river, this mosque provides a majestic sight, perched high above the river. It lends a dramatic character to the arc of the river. Another unique feature of this ghat is the cluster of colorful flags and oil lamp baskets hung from bamboo poles, in honor of the spirits of ancestors. And last of the famous five 'ghats' is the Adi Keshava ghat, which has an important temple for the Hindu God, Vishnu.

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Some of the other ghats worthy of mention include the Lalita ghat and the Manmandir ghat. The Lalita ghat has beautiful stone platforms and a little shrine for 'Mother Ganges', represented as a female figure seated on a crocodile. A flight of steep stairs leads to the Nepalese temple - an exquisitely carved, wood and brick temple, partially hidden by a sprawling ficus tree.

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The Manmandir ghat has a magnificent palace, with exquisitely carved hanging windows. On top of this palace is an observatory built in the 17th century CE by Savai Jai Singh II. The Scindia and Bhonsle ghats also have very imposing and impressive masonry facades, with prominent temples at the top. The Scindia ghat is particularly striking because of the picturesque old Shiva temple which is tilted and partially submerged in the Ganges, at its edge.

The riverfront of Varanasi is best seen during dawn and sunrise. The sun rises over the right bank, against the ghats on the left bank and throws a brilliant deep orange reflection on the waters. Then, as the sun rises higher, it bathes the high left bank in a golden-yellow hue, throwing deep, shimmering reflections into the river. The haze from the rising mist, along with golden-yellow light bouncing off the masonry architecture presents a cavalcade of infinite layers, colors, tones, textures and contrasts - in short a sight of unsurpassed beauty and mystique.

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While the unique geography and picturesque beauty of the riverfront in Varanasi hold on their own, it isn't merely the visual spectacle of a physical space that define the ghats. This ancient riverfront represents a distilled state of the best and the worst of a five millennia old civilization and an ancient and thriving cultural heritage. It is a place where material ugliness peeps out amidst overwhelming beauty, where birth, life and death (or after life) are equally celebrated, where human action never seems to stop and time doesn't seem to move.

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It is a city that has fascinated, challenged and bewildered visitors from across the world, for centuries. Understandably, the ghats of Varanasi are highly sought after by artists, photographers, poets and philosophers. The riverfront has been captured extensively in camera, as well as in paintings and literature.

Ustaad Bismillah Khan, the legendary Indian musician and Shehnai Maestro who lived and died in Varanasi was once invited to settle and teach in the USA. To this generous overture, he is reported to have responded: "Only if Ganga Maiya (Mother Ganges), Baba Biswanath (Lord Shiva, the presiding deity of Varanasi) and Banaras are brought to the United States, will I ever agree to go there and live".

I suppose that says it all for Varanasi.

(You can follow Shumon Sengupta's travel posts and albums at Tales from the Trail of a World Citizen)

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The market plunged today, but not because Americans barely worked last week -- other than exchanging infinity scarves, that is. Jeb Bush lied about receiving an NRA award, which is the kind of thing that could hurt him if he were running a presidential campaign. And an armed militia remains in control of a Fish and Wildlife Services building in Oregon. Nothing tells the government whats what quite like unloading a clip into a diorama of loon hatchlings. Go get 'em, Patriots! This is HUFFPOST HILL for Monday, January 4th, 2016:

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION DEFENDS DEPORTATIONS - We deported some folks. Elise Foley: "The Obama administration on Monday defended its deportation tactics and confirmed it has begun raids on families, despite Democratic candidates and immigrant advocates saying officials could be sending mothers and children to their deaths. 'This should come as no surprise,' Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement. 'I have said publicly for months that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed.' The Department of Homeland Security began this weekend to conduct deportation raids that picked up 121 people, including children. All of them had exhausted their legal options to remain in the country after entering without authorization sometime after May 1, 2014, according to Johnson. Most of them are expected to be deported to Central America. ... A spokeswoman for former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last week that the candidate 'believes we should not be conducting large-scale raids and roundups that sow fear and division in our communities.'" [HuffPost]

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GOP EYEING OBAMACARE - This kind of "Republicans swear this time they'll get Obamacare" piece is so ubiquitous, it should be filed away with the pre-written obituaries for Jimmy Carter and Amanda Bynes. Lindsey McPherson: "House Republicans will begin the 2016 legislative session with another vote attacking the Affordable Care Act and defunding Planned Parenthood, and are also prepping their response to President Barack Obamas upcoming executive actions on gun control. The House will vote Wednesday on a reconciliation measure to repeal most of Obamas signature domestic achievement. It will be the chambers second vote on the measure, which the Senate altered to roll back more of the health care law than the original House version. Using the budget reconciliation process allowed the Senate to consider the measure without the threat of a filibuster.Obama has said he will veto the measure, and congressional Democrats have the votes to sustain it, but Republicans want to follow through with their promise to deliver the bill to the presidents desk." [Roll Call]

OBAMA TO CHOKE LADY LIBERTY WITH RED TAPE - C'mon, patriots! It's time to storm the Code of Federal Regulations! Timothy Noah: "Nearly 4,000 regulations are squirming their way through the federal bureaucracy in the last year of Barack Obamas presidency -- many costing industry more than $100 million -- in a mad dash by the White House to push through government actions affecting everything from furnaces to gun sales to Guantanamo. That means a full court press at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to reduce exposure limits for silica, a chemical used widely in construction and fracking that can cause cancer when inhaled; at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, to require more small-scale gun sellers to perform background checks; and at the Food and Drug Administration, to make food manufacturers disclose on product labels how much sugar they add to cranberry juice. Much of this work will be carried out in the coming months by career bureaucrats working in the bowels of federal agencies, but the cumulative effect adds up to something larger: A final-year sprint by a president intent on using executive power to improve the lives of American workers and consumers -- in many instances over loud objections from the businesses that will have to pay for it." [Politico]

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RUBIO AND CRUZ URGE EXTREMISTS TO STAND DOWN Igor Bobic and Samantha-Jo Roth: "Republican presidential hopefuls Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) urged a peaceful resolution to the armed occupation of a federal building in Oregon where a number of anti-government militants have seized a rural wildlife refuge headquarters...'Every one of us has a constitutional right to protest, to speak our minds, but we dont have a constitutional right to use force of violence or threaten force of violence on others,' Cruz told reporters before a campaign event in Iowa. 'There is no right to engage in violence against other Americans, and it is our hope and prayer that that situation resolves itself peaceably sooner rather than later,' he added. Rubio similarly urged the armed militants to pursue a more peaceful means of protest. 'You cant be lawless. We live in a republic,' the Florida Republican told Iowa radio station KBUR on Monday. 'There are ways to change the laws of this country and the policies. If we get frustrated with it, thats why we have elections. Thats why we have people we can hold accountable.'" [HuffPost]

DISPATCH FROM BUNDY STANDOFF - "Stand back or this framed portrait of Interior Secretary Sally Jewell gets it!" Dana Liebelson: "In the parking lot of the headquarters building, [Jorge] Calzadilla heckled Pete Santilli, a conservative radio talk show host from Cincinnati. Santilli wasn't involved in seizing the facility, but he said the local community supports the occupants. 'The federal government has been terrorizing ranchers, now theyve spun that into these guys being terrorists,' he said. 'Theyre actually defending the land that has been taken.' Like the Bundys, Calzadilla and Santilli aren't from anywhere near Burns, Oregon. (An address associated with Ammon Bundy leads to a collection of trailer homes and chickens in Idaho.) They're outsiders. The local sheriff has said the militants have 'alternative motives.' But although many people in Burns oppose the seizure of the federal building, Santilli's comments have a grain of truth: Some of the locals back the Bundys. ...There was no visible law enforcement at the facility -- for now, the feds are staying back -- and Bundy said he did not believe police would forcibly remove his group." [HuffPost]

BUSH NRA STORY BUNK - Oh man, if this doesn't result in Jeb! spraying literally dozens of pheasants with buckshot for the camera, we don't know what will. Andrew Kaczynski: "A spokesman for Jeb Bushs campaign told BuzzFeed News on Monday that Bush had 'mistaken and conflated' his story about receiving the National Rifle Associations 'statesman of the year' award. The former Florida governor has told the story on several occasions, saying he received a rifle from then-NRA president Charlton Heston and was the recipient of the groups 'statesman of the year' honor in 2003. While the NRA rates the records of politicians on gun issues, the group does not hand out a statesman of the year award. In 2003, the NRA held its annual meeting in Orlando, Florida, with Bush as the keynote speaker. The NRAs meeting page from that year makes no mention of Bush receiving any award." [BuzzFeed]

TRUMP FINALLY UP WITH TV ADS - We were a bit disappointed to learn they weren't modeled after those in-room video presentations hotels have on channel 3. Michael Calderone and Sam Stein: "Donald Trump has risen to the top of the Republican presidential primary field in part by manipulating the media. Rather than spending his personal wealth on television advertisements or devoting hours of his days to courting television and print reporters, he has, through the strength of his personality, gotten the press corps to cover him on his schedule and their dime. There have been tangible benefits for Trump, who has claimed that he is roughly $35 million under budget. The assertion is impossible to actually confirm but supports the idea hes gotten a ton of free coverage All of which made his claim this past week that he would start spending $2 million a week on advertising rather curious. With the media covering him so extensively, why would he start buying ads now? Several ad tracker sources confirmed to HuffPost that Trump's campaign has indeed booked spots for his first ad -- a fairly nasty anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant spot -- in Iowa and New Hampshire. Wilner confirmed to HuffPost that Trumps campaign ordered airtime in Omaha, Nebraska, which covers parts of western Iowa." [HuffPost]

Well at least they agreed on something: "Marco Rubio on Monday framed the presidential election as a choice that would define Americas role on the global stage. In doing so, he took direct aim at both Hillary Clintons record as secretary of state and Republican candidates he called 'isolationists'. In response, a spokeswoman for one such opponent, Senator Ted Cruz, called Rubios stance on foreign policy 'incoherent' and 'dangerous'." [Guardian's Sabrina Siddiqui]

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BECAUSE YOU'VE READ THIS FAR - Here's a baby sneezing spaghetti.





Goodnight, sweet prince: Dr. Zizmor has retired.

COMFORT FOOD

- A very lazy explanation of evolution.

- Meet the new periodic table.

- The matter of how many kisses one should greet a French person with is quite confusing

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Tolerance Terrifies Terrorists. It should.

Tolerance is what made the West strong. It started with religious tolerance after a couple of exhausting centuries of bloody sectarian warfare between Catholics and Protestants. Powerful ideas are like viruses. They spread.

Tolerance for different religions spread to tolerance for different ideas. In time that would spread to tolerance for different races, cultures, genders and sexual preferences. Painfully imperfect, to be sure, but greater in scope and breadth than any society so far.

We can promote tolerance for Muslims in general while calling out Wahhabism in particular. There's no contradiction here. Wahhabism is a virulent strain of Sunni Islam that is using vast reserves of oil money to hijack a once more tolerant religion. Kind of like what the Koch brothers did with the Republican Party, but on a global scale, in turbans.

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Backed by their Saudi financiers, Wahhabi clerics have funded a vast network of mosques, madrassas and social services throughout the Ummah, especially since 1979 when the Shiite revolution began in Iran. Wahhabi sexual repression, misogyny and homophobia (and the pervasive pederasty festering behind that puritanical facade) is the witch's brew that nurtures young terrorists.

Perhaps colonial humiliation is a factor. But Africa, the Caribbean, Latin America and much of Asia (including tolerantly Islamic Indonesia) have experienced that too. Throw in sexual repression. That's when shame and humiliation gets expressed in public explosions of sadomasochistic mayhem.

Wahhabi inspired terrorism will be a problem for the Left if we refuse to address it. Or it could be an opportunity to validate both our values and our policy prescriptions. The sooner we eliminate the hydrocarbon economy, the sooner the more tolerant and peaceful strains of the Muslim moderate majority can fully reassert themselves.

Those who see terrorism as our greatest threat could and should be making common cause with those most concerned about CO2 emissions. The Iranians, Saudis and Russians would all prefer that we be distracted from climate change, for obvious reasons. Instead, terrorism gives the elimination of the hydrocarbon economy an extra urgency.

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There is a problem with Islam. That problem is oil financed Wahhabi intolerance. The Left has the only long-term solution--follow the money and cut it off at the well. Now is the time to make this distinction and define our position.
FRANKLIN, NH - DECEMBER 23: Republican Presidential candidate Marco Rubio speaks at a pancake breakfast at the Franklin VFW December 23, 2015 in Franklin, New Hampshire. Rubio handed out pancakes, spoke, and took questions from those in attendance. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

Frank Bruni of the New York Times finds it hard to believe that the Republican Party establishment considers Senator Marco Rubio of Florida a viable candidate for President of the United States. Rubio can't seem to make up his mind on immigration reform or apparently obey traffic laws and balance his checkbook.

But I was most amazed at his recent declaration of war against college education while campaigning in New Hampshire for the upcoming Republican Party Presidential primary. Granted I am as a tenured radical at an Eastern seaboard liberal arts college with a Ph.D. in history from another Eastern seaboard liberal arts college and that I taught secondary school social studies in New York City public schools for fourteen years, but I found Rubio's accusations a little far-fetched.

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According to Senator Rubio, liberal arts colleges are "indoctrination camps" that are only kept in business because the political left wants to protect "all their friends" that "work there." This comes from a Presidential candidate whose political life has been kept afloat for years by one major campaign donor, Norman Braman, a billionaire Florida car dealer who also employees Rubio's wife as a "consultant." Braman pledged $10 million to the Rubio Presidential campaign and over the years has hired Rubio as a lawyer at his company, Braman Management, donated $100,00 toward Rubio's salary as an instructor at Florida International College in Miami, and gave Rubio use of his private plane.

Apparently Rubio is sensitive to the problem of huge college debt because in 2008 he owed close to $150,000 on student loans. Rubio accrued this debt while drifting through three colleges, Tarkio College, a religious school in Missouri that later went bankrupt, Santa Fe Community College in Gainsville, Florida, and the University of Florida. His law degree is from the University of Miami. In high school, according to an ABC News report, Rubio was a "C" student who used to sneak out of school to drink, which might explain his later difficulties in college.

Rubio claimed he was finally able to pay off his student loans in 2012 with proceeds from the publication of a book, An American Son, described by the Wall Street Journal as "a piece with other quickie books written by still-climbing politicians: cautious, on-message and heavily tilted toward the most recent big campaign." How Rubio earned $150,000 on this book, published by a right-wing press, remains a political mystery. The book sold only 7,800 copies in hard cover and about 35,000 in paperback. I wonder if this was another Braman intervention.

Maybe if young Marco had paid attention in high school and college he would not take some of the same political positions he does today. Rubio wants students to use work experience for class credit so like him they do not have to attend classes and he proposes that students indenture themselves to wealthy investors, kind of like he did with Braman, who will pay their tuition costs. What a student owes their investor would be subject to negotiation, although slavery and involuntary servitude have been outlawed in the United States since the passage of the 13th amendment in 1865.

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But some of Rubio's other positions are even scarier and rooted in profound ignorance. Rubio repeatedly expresses doubt that man-made climate change is real and just does not think "there's the scientific evidence to justify" changing the way industries pollute the atmosphere. In an interview in GQ magazine Rubio explained he is not sure whether the Earth was created by God in seven days or in "seven actual eras." He believes parents should teach their children "multiple theories" on the Earth's age. In the same interview he described evolution as "one of the great mysteries" of life. Although he is a member of the United States Senate Science Committee, Rubio admits "I'm not a scientist." However, he does consider himself an expert on the Bible. On other occasions Marco the anti-scientist has declared his opposition to abortion under any circumstances, that human life begins at conception, and that fetuses deserve full protection of the law.

If Marco Rubio would like to sit in on my classes at Hofstra University he is welcome to attend. I promise not to indoctrinate him. But he will be required to join discussions, state his positions clearly, support them with evidence, conduct research, evaluate alternative views, and arrive at reasoned conclusions based on research and evidence, which should have been part of his high school and college educations. I am sorry young Marco had such bad early experiences in school and wasted a lot of money and time before straightening himself out with the help of Mr. Braman. But I suspect very few, if any, of Rubio's teachers in Florida and Missouri were the kind of left-wing radicals he wants to drive out of liberal arts colleges.

Among the people I would like to introduce Senator Rubio to is Thomas Jefferson. In a letter written in 1786, Jefferson, former Governor of Virginia and future President of the United States, made what remains one of the most powerful arguments for liberal arts education in a democratic society. According to Jefferson, "I think by far the most important bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowledge among the people. No other sure foundation can be devised, for the preservation of freedom and happiness." Jefferson also called for a "crusade against ignorance" and laws for "educating the common people." Later in his career, Jefferson helped found the University of Virginia to help provide Americans with classical or liberal arts education.
What's the name of the restaurant? The Secret Location.

Ok, but where is it? The Secret Location.

I could go on and on with an Abbott and Costello version of "Who's On First" skit, but we inevitably arrive at the same answer:

The Secret Location, a restaurant in Vancouver's Gastown district.

Any place where the concept is eating and shopping doesn't have to work too hard to get me in the door.

About that door, when you step into the exquisitely curated shop, the hipster doorman locks you in. Well, with some garments selling for as much as $10,000, I'd lock the door and bar the windows.

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The concept store is ultra hip luxe. Think Tokyo.

The store is stunning, but I can't show you a photo because they don't allow pictures.

Something about a secret.

The concept and secrecy extend to the restaurant's Tasting Room known for its six-course tasting menu.

For $95 (Canadian) you and everyone at your table must commit to the "trust me" concept of dinning. In other words, you have no idea what's coming. Everything is a secret here.

Despite assurances that they would accommodate food allergies and aversions, I wussed out.

A decision I later regretted.

Dinner at The Secret Location is a gastronomic adventure in taste and texture.

Frozen nuggets of horseradish creme fraiche sharing a bite with caviar. Perfection, especially with arctic char, yellow beets and crispy wheat berry.

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The dual venison prepared two ways on a bed of crunchy barley and buckwheat was amazing.

The creative menu is beautifully complimented with a wine list filled with personality.

The manger, the very delightful and enthusiastic Marc Lamontagne, suggested a red wine from Sicily's Mount Etna. The 2013 Etna Planeta was mostly pinot noir and very delicious after some decanting.

Frankly, Lamontagne sold me on the wine after he let it slip, the wine was featured on the secret pairing menu. I knew I could get someone in this place to roll over and spill a secret or two.

Chef Montgomery Lau must have sensed there was a security breach in progress because he emerged from the kitchen, which despite all the cloak and dagger policies, is open for all to see.

Chef Lau is part of a new breed of young chefs. Born in Hong Kong and raised in a traditional Cantonese family in Vancouver's vibrant Chinese community. Chef Lau took over the kitchen in May 2015 and has been shaking things up.

He takes whimsy, and makes it serious with a balance of east meets west. The best example has to be his snowman cake.

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It awakened the kid in me.

A snowman with two arms made out of chocolate, and a nose made out of candy. No coal for eyes here, just a wonderful blend of coconut mousse, candied chestnuts, eggnog puree, cotton candy icicles, hazelnut and pistachio micro sponge.
The flying Christmas gift that cost a few hundred dollars could end up costing you tens of thousands of dollars more if it is not registered by February 19, 2016. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently released regulations covering recreational use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) otherwise known as drones.

The good news: the Millennium Falcon Quadcopter is not required to be registered.

The bad news: any UAS or drone weighing over half a pound (.55 pounds to be exact) must be registered. If the drone was purchased after December 21, 2015, it must be registered before flying it outdoors. But if it was operated or bought before December 21, then owners have until February 19, 2016, to register.

The cost of registering before January 20, 2016, is free (actually the five dollar-fee is paid and then refunded--that's government efficiency!). The cost of not registering your drone: priceless. Actually the FAA may impose civil fines up to $27,500 and possibly, criminal penalties up to $250,000 or up to three years in jail. How does anybody know that your drone is registered? The FAA provides a registration number that must be placed somewhere on the drone on a sticker or decal. The FAA also issued a helpful guide as to which drones do and do not require registration and a helpful guide of dos and don'ts.

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The FAA previously issued common sense regulations regarding drone use near airports, which is a major no-no. Drone operation is banned with 1.5 miles of an airport and its altitude is highly regulated within 5 miles of an airport. In New York City, the airport proximity ban covers large parts of Queens, Manhattan, the Bronx and Nassau County. To err of the side of caution it is best to stay out of the five-mile radius. In addition, drones have a ceiling of 400 feet.

The likely charge in New York when a drone is operated unlawfully is Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree, Penal Law Section 120.20, which is punished by up to one year is jail. The law is simply defined as engaging in reckless behavior that creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury. The simple act of voluntarily flying a drone near or over where people are gathered may be enough to charge Reckless Endangerment in the Second Degree.

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In addition, New York City has rules that affect drones (and model aircraft) use. Flying a drone in a park outside of prescribed area is a violation of New York City Park Rule 1-05(r)(2), which is punished by up to 90 days in jail and/or a fine of up to one thousand dollars. The Parks Department has designated several parks in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island for drone and model aircraft.
After spending almost three cool decades of your life in India, moving gear to a totally new country like the USA is sure a change of a lifetime! In addition, if you are struck in the face with a cultural shock, it is all the more difficult to cope up with the transition.

Believe me; my cultural shock didn't come in the form of Californians wearing bikini tops and shorts to the supermarket. I knew the culture of America, and thanks to my avid reading habit, I knew what to expect. But, the immigrant Indians trying to copy Americans was a shock to me. The beautiful bhindis (a dot on the forehead) didn't adorn their faces anymore, the Indian clothes gave way to shorts and their black hair welcomed shocking colors.

A smile escaped my lips when I saw a seemingly newly-wed couple in the Wal-Mart. The girl obviously had never worn anything short, not even her hair. And here she was trying to adjust her short skirt now and then, looking around to make sure that nobody noticed her long legs. The husband was trying to teach her to overcome her fears and "act" normal. Her hair was short to her ears, what I presumed could have touched her waist for all I know, when she was in India.

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A lot of people have always asked me then, and still do sometimes even today -- what is the little dot that I have on my forehead, which surprisingly looks like a tattoo to them! I simply say, "This is my culture," they smile, admire it and walk away. Some of them, especially the 'Iskon temple followers,' do know about India's culture so much that they put a lot of us to shame more often. They come forward and say, "Isn't that dot on your forehead a symbol of you being married? "Or "How did the colorful 'bindis' replace the traditional red dot? " "Why do South Indians have a dot on their forehead whereas the North Indians have it in their hair-parting?" I explain as much as I can, knowing very well that as much as our knowledge of our basic traditions is losing out in India, it is gaining popularity outside the country.

Now, this brings me to say that Indians who come to the U.S., immediately remove their bhindis, their 'magulsutram' (the wedlock necklace-a marriage symbol) and their toe-rings in order to become Americans. Knowing very well that our Indianness is written on our face, no matter how we dress up, every lady starts to feel that a bindi would give away her country of origin! Now, I would never understand what is wrong in being an Indian!! Jeans don't go with bindi, toe rings don't go with stilettos and 'mangalsutram' shows in a tee. Nice excuses, indeed!

Even today, Americans look up to India for its rich culture, and our immense traditional living. Indian girls who look and behave Indian are given more "looks" than girls trying to eat burgers with forks and mouthing "you-know-what-I-mean" for no reason. I know this because, when I wear a sari and walk to my car, all the Americans around my house give me admiring looks. I have gone shopping in my most expensive sarees, as much as I have gone in a tee and jeans, and both the times, I didn't get any weird "looks."

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The totally unknown culture or a little knowledge of any culture always arouses curiosity in people. Cultural differences will always be there, but culture and traditions shouldn't change for anyone for the sake of changing. After 14 years of living in this country, I don't think I have changed much except for a little accent now. My tee shirts have matching color 'bhindis', my toe-rings cozily hug my toes, and my "mangalsutram" plays lovingly on my bosom. And I have the most American friends ever possible, partying at my house, eating 'samosas' and 'Naans'; dancing to Bollywood tunes and admiring my Indian clothes!!
Co-authored by Ahmet S. Yayla, Ph.D.

In February of 2015, Iraqi Ambassador Mohamed Alhakim requested the UN Security Council to investigate the deaths of 12 doctors in Mosul, Iraq who he claimed had been killed by ISIS after refusing to remove organs from dead bodies. He also claimed that some of the bodies found were mutilated with opening in the back where the kidneys are located. "This is clearly something bigger than we think," Ambassador Alhakim stated.

"Organ theft during wars, civil wars, dirty wars, wars involving undisciplined armies is not uncommon," Nancy Scheper-Hughes, chair of Berkeley's doctoral program in medical anthropology and director of Organs Watch, a California based documentation and research project told CNN in response to the February claim. She also told CNN that the market in human organs is brisk commenting that, "The demand for fresh organs and tissues ... is insatiable." Scheper-Hughes added fresh kidneys from "the brain dead or from those executed with the assistance of trained organ harvesters are the blood diamonds of illicit and criminal trafficking."

U.S. State Department responded to the February 2015 claims with the following statement: "We also have no reason to doubt them given other similar atrocities that have been documented and other heinous crimes for which ISIL has proudly taken credit."

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In September of 2015, former ISIS prisoner Abo Rida was reported stating that surgeons for the terror group removed kidneys and corneas from prisoners. Rida said ISIS was informing their captives that "the fate of these prisoners (was) inevitable death" and the jihadists were "more deserving" of the organs. Rida said he escaped from ISIS after a counter-terrorism raid damaged their prison, but that he was fired upon trying to escape and was only one of four who made it out alive.

In December of 2015 the U.S. government revealed that it had obtained in May, via a Special Forces raid in eastern Syria, a document dated January 31, 2015 (among many others) giving the Islamic justification for harvesting organs from "infidels." The ruling according to Reuters states that taking organs from a living captive to save a Muslim's life, even if it is fatal for the captive, is permissible.

"The apostate's life and organs don't have to be respected and may be taken with impunity," the fatwa from the Islamic State's Research and Fatwa Committee reads. It goes on to say, "Organs that end the captive's life if removed: The removal of that type is also not prohibited." The Islamic State's ruling on organ harvesting cites Islamic texts, principles and laws lending support for what the group argues, "the notion that transplanting healthy organs into a Muslim person's body in order to save the latter's life or replace a damaged organ with it is permissible." A U.S. government translation of the fatwa can be found here.

While the newly-discovered fatwa does not offer any proof that the Islamic State actually engages in organ harvesting or organ trafficking, that ISIS could be reaping financial benefits by trafficking in stolen body parts is not inconceivable. Given the numerous reports leaking about the justification for and actual activity of organ harvesting and given that it has faced setbacks in its illicit oil trade of late due to airstrikes on it, the group may need to recoup the money.



In our ISIS Defector Interview Project at the International Center for the Study of Violent Extremism we were also informed by an ISIS defector in December of 2015 who maintains ties with other Islamic State cadres, both still in and out of the group that, "There is a statement now from Daesh: 'From this point you do not kill the slaves. We need to use their bodies to make money [for organ trade].' Basically, they are saying that the slaves are already 'dead.' We need to make money off their bodies by selling body parts."

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While we hope it's not true, given all the heinous acts the Islamic State cadres have already carried out, this is just one more sickening example of how un-Islamic ISIS really is.

This report was first published at ICSVE here.
Warning: Major spoilers ahead -- but really the movie's been out for more than 10 days. Why are you reading Star Wars analysis if you haven't seen the movie yet?

Who is Rey?

Like much of the world last weekend, I had the sincere pleasure of seeing a brand new Star Wars movie. For an entire weekend (and two viewings), my younger brother and I regressed back to our pre-adolescent (and adolescent) selves, relishing the escape from our now very adult lives and responsibilities.

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For us, as with many others, much of our childhood was spent trying to answer life's big questions: does Princess Leia become a Jedi? Do she and Han go on to have children? If so, do they become Jedis? What was Obi Wan doing during his 30 years in hiding? Yadda yadda. The list of exciting mysteries is endless.

It was always these many unanswered and endless open narrative questions, misdirections and the potential for surprise twists ("Luke, I am your father") that made Star Wars extra special and filled our daydreams with plenty of great raw material. I even wrote a final paper in high school that was bookended by references to the mythical tropes of the Original Trilogy.

I've done a lot of thinking about this...

While there are dozens of new questions posed about our beloved galaxy in The Force Awakens, the "white whale" is who is Rey's family? If you're reading this, you've probably already seen the movie, so I won't make a case for why this is so important -- just that we all know how key parentage is to the whole saga. It's the theme of lineage and the passage of the godly force that elevates this series to modern mythology...

I left the theater after my first (and even second) viewing entirely convinced that Rey is Luke Skywalker's daughter. Duh. All signs point to this (the inheritance of the lightsaber, Maz Kanata's cryptic insights, the final scene with Luke, etc). After all, the whole story is about the sins and redemptions of the Skywalker family, right?

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"This is not the plot twist you're looking for."



Not so fast. After days of marinating, I'm convinced: that was all misdirection -- too narratively easy for what should be the biggest reveal in this new trilogy. In the following post, I'll make a reasoned case that Rey is in fact Obi Wan Kenobi's granddaughter -- both because of clues planted in The Force Awakens and especially because it would bring the nine episode series to a much more satisfying emotional conclusion; lending more poignance to the earlier films, including the maligned Prequels.

First, the clues:

The accent

The only two "good guys" in the entire series who have British accents are Obi Wan and Rey (if you exclude C3PO). This likely isn't an accident since other British actors (i.e. John Boyega, Liam Neeson) perform with American accents.

The Jedi mind trick scene

The scene in which Rey persuades her Stormtrooper (007) captor to open her cell door and drop his weapon strongly echoes Obi Wan's successful uses of the Jedi mind trick in both the OT and Prequels -- one of his signature abilities. This is not the plot twist you're looking for.

Poking around Starkiller Base

The scenes of Rey scaling the walls and tip-toeing around the First Order's Starkiller HQ echo Obi Wan in A New Hope sneaking around the Death Star and disabling the tractor beam. A superficial homage to Episode IV or a breadcrumb leading to answers about the Third Trilogy's protagonist?

"Ben Solo"

The only reference to Obi Wan in The Force Awakens comes with the reveal of Kylo Ren's real name: Ben. That climactic moment serves to highlight two key things: 1) a reminder of the overall importance of "Old Ben" Kenobi to the broader Star Wars story, and 2) the notable absence of any references to Obi Wan up until that moment -- the only major A New Hope character not to get a prior visual cameo or major plot point (so we think). This omission looks like a filmmaker's "sleight-of-hand," guiding us away from a reveal about Obi Wan later in the new trilogy.

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But the clues continue to pile up, addressed here.

Similar costumes between Rey and Obi Wan (in the Prequels).

Both Ewan McGregor's and Alec Guinness's voices appear in the key basement lightsaber flashback scene at Maz's.

And, lastly, JJ Abrams has suggested that Rey's loneliness is a key to her origin, likely a referencing Obi Wan's status as a lonely hermit between Episodes 3 and 4. Unless Rey is Yoda's granddaughter but probably not.

Sure, these are all basic clues that could easily be discounted, but there's ample fodder with which to rack your brain...



"How satisfying would that be to learn that the nine episode arc is really, underneath it all, about the Kenobi family and not the Skywalkers?"



The deeper strain of this "Rey Kenobi theory," however, is rooted in the concept that Star Wars has always had a certain narrative symmetry: good versus evil, light versus dark, small versus big, faith versus technology. Characters even refer to bringing "balance to the force." These patterns abound in the Star Wars universe, appearing again and again in both minor and major ways. Many have even been critical of how closely The Force Awakens mirrors earlier narrative patterns and beats. That criticism is fair, but it's being used for intentional effect to both guide and misguide and play with our assumptions and expectations.

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With that said, here are the juicier reasons why Rey being Obi Wan's granddaughter would ring true and be so satisfying to the completion of the story:

Disney/LucasFilm

Symbolism of the lightsaber

While the movie seems to imply that Rey's inheritance of Luke's blue lightsaber is a "passing of the torch" from one Skywalker to another, we shouldn't forget who gave Luke that lightsaber in the first place: Obi Wan. The lightsaber had been in Obi Wan's possession for 20-30 years or so between Episodes 3 and 4, and is even presented to Luke from a wood chest similar to the chest later seen in Episode 7 in Maz Kanata's castle-bar (yet another clue). It is Obi Wan's passage of the lightsaber to Luke, along with encouragement to learn the force that propels the entire story forward. This key scene in Episode 4 (arguably the most important scene in all seven movies) even includes Obi Wan's misdirection about Luke's father, a narrative trick repeated in The Force Awakens.

All that being said, think about how much more poignant Episode 7's final scene of Rey handing Luke his own lightsaber becomes if it's again a Kenobi reuniting a Skywalker with their weapon, compelling them back to the fight. Of course we all know that the burden of the lightsaber is now Rey's whether she wants it or not...

Reversal of the mentors

It wouldn't be wild speculation to assume that Luke will now train Rey in the ways of the Jedi in Episode 8. If Rey is a Kenobi (admit it, you're convinced), this would be a profound and emotional reversal of the role of mentor and teacher: a Kenobi training a Skywalker followed by a Skywalker training a Kenobi. Narrative symmetry.

Parallels to Kenobi vs. Skywalker duels

Both Episodes 3 and 4 end with fateful duels between Obi Wan and Anakin/Darth. While there are certainly duels between Skywalkers (5 and 6), I'd suggest that Rey and Kylo Ren's duel at the end of 7 becomes much more dramatic if we eventually learn that they are refighting the battle of their grandfathers, not two battling cousins or siblings.

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Depth of Obi Wan as a character

One obvious question that grows from the "Rey Kenobi theory" is: with whom would Obi Wan have had a child? When? Like monks, aren't Jedi's supposed to resist attachments? Despite Obi Wan's significant role in the first six movies, we know surprisingly little about him and what makes him tick. A backstory (uncultivated in I, II & III) about a forbidden love, perhaps, can enrich and deepen his character in surprising ways. It might answer another question: what was Obi Wan doing while in hiding for those 20-30 years before finally connecting with Luke on Tatooine? Maybe he wasn't the lonely hermit that we thought.

The twist of the series

Assuming that Rey isn't just the hero of this new trilogy, but also the character that ultimately brings "balance to the force", the reveal that Rey is a Kenobi and not a Skywalker, as we're being led to believe, would be the twist of the entire nine episode arc.

We're told at many points in the Prequels that Anakin Skywalker was "the chosen one" -- the Jedi who would bring balance to the force. Not only was this obviously false, but in Episode 7 we've essentially learned that Luke has also failed miserably in his attempt to bring peace to the galaxy. Luke's Jedi training of Ben Solo (a Skywalker descendant) was clearly such a disaster that it turned him to the dark side.

In all, the Skywalkers are a pretty mixed bag: powerful, but emotional, petulant and frequently tempted by the allure of evil. It's Ben Kenobi in the earlier episodes that is truly virtuous, noble and pure of heart. He's our true hero. He's incorruptible. He sacrifices himself at the end of A New Hope to show Luke the power of faith in the force, saving him and the galaxy in the process.

Wouldn't it then make complete narrative sense for a Kenobi (Rey) to be the true hero of the saga -- perhaps even saving the soul of another conflicted Skywalker (Ben Solo/Kylo Ren) later in the new trilogy? How satisfying would that be to learn that the nine episode arc is really, underneath it all, about the Kenobi family and not the Skywalkers?

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My favorite moment in the series comes in Episode 5 when Luke has abruptly and hastily cut short his training and Force Ghost Obi Wan laments, "That boy is our last hope." Yoda replies, "No... there is another..."

Written originally to be a reference to Leia, how dramatic would it be for the "another" to ultimately mean a Kenobi? After all, we do learn pretty quickly in Episode 7 that Leia never becomes a Jedi. If Rey is a Kenobi and if by the close of Episode 9 she's brought "balance to the force," then all of the previous movies take on a new meaning. Even Obi Wan's Force Ghost from Episodes 5 and 6 takes on a much more spiritual purpose than to just provide convenient story exposition. If Rey is revealed as a Kenobi, it changes the entire paradigm of the series.

While of course the "Rey Kenobi theory" is just a nerdy (very nerdy) theory and could easily be false, in my opinion it's just too potentially satisfying to be ignored. If the narrative patterning (nostalgic borrowing from the OT) from Episode 7 is carried into the next movies, I'm guessing (hoping) this will be revealed in Episode 8 -- the big twist that people will be talking about for days, weeks and years into the future.

Ben Ostrower is the founder and creative director of Wide Eye Creative, an independent digital design agency based in Washington, D.C.
Every world religion, including Confucianism, consists of three dimensions: the philosophical/theological, the institutional, and the mystical. Unfortunately, Confucianism is widely misunderstood along all three dimensions. In fact, Confucianism may be the most misunderstood religion in the world today, which is a great loss to human civilization. In this foreword, I will discuss some of the ways in which Confucianism is misunderstood, resolve those misunderstandings where possible, and explain the importance of reviving Confucian meditation to the restoration of Confucianism as a world religion.

The Philosophical/Theological

The relationship between theology and philosophy is complicated, but insofar as philosophical discourse is used to express an understanding of ultimate reality, the philosophical dimension of religion may be called theology. In terms of philosophy/theology, Westerners tend to view Confucianism through one of two lenses. The traditional lens tries to place Confucianism into an established Western religious category. The post-colonial lens, on the other hand, attempts to avoid the use of any Western terms to prevent any hint of cultural imperialism. As I will explain, I do not believe that either of these lenses is appropriate.

Confucianism has been a living religious tradition for more than 2,000 years. As such, it has frequently been reinterpreted using "alien" categories and theories. Although Confucianism has proved to be remarkably amenable to adaptation to new settings and situations through this interpretive "reverberation," it has retained a core that remains more or less stable through the ages. Specifically, the classics composed during Confucianism's primitive period--which I mark off as from Confucius (551 - 479 B.C.E) until the Han dynasty (202 B.C.E - 220 C.E)--serve as a philosophical center that has defined the heart of Confucianism up to the present day.

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To re-interpret Confucianism for the contemporary world, it would be a mistake to wield a variety of Western categories without recognizing the fundamental differences between Greco-Christians and Confucian thought, as represented in the classics I mentioned above. It would be equally mistaken, however, to avoid Western terms altogether. Although there are major differences between Confucian and Greco-Christian thinking, there are also important parallels. To deny these parallels out of hand would deprive us of an opportunity to put Confucianism into dialogue with Western traditions. This kind of inter-religious and inter-cultural dialogue has the potential to modernize and refresh Confucianism as a global religion.

In my view, we should be both fearless about adopting Western categories and persistent in our commitment to the Confucian philosophical core. Through this process of re-interpretation, I am confident that a new understanding of Confucianism will emerge. The novel aspects of this new understanding will specifically address the concerns of the modern global context, just as previous re-interpretations of Confucianism addressed the specific needs of their own times and places. In my Huffington Post article A Catechism of Confucianism: Confucianism as a Religious Humanism, for example, I argued that Confucianism is a non-theistic, but nevertheless religious, humanism. In contrast with "theism" and "atheism," the concept of "non-theism" has a distinct advantage: vagueness. This ambiguity permits contemporary readers to appreciate that "Heaven," the all-encompassing constantly creative cosmic power towards which Confucians are faithfully committed, is both divine and non-personal. (My overall approach in A Catechism of Confucianism was to make Confucianism approachable to ordinary, educated, modern readers through this interpretive lens.) Now that I have discussed one of the major misunderstandings about Confucian philosophy/theology, I will turn my attention to the misunderstandings of Confucian religious institutions.

The Institutional

The misunderstandings about Confucianism on the institutional level are due, in part, to the historical idiosyncrasies of Confucianism. Unlike most other religions, Confucianism has had neither monasteries nor a professional clergy. Confucian virtuous-persons () could serve their parents as a filial child in their family, preside as a clan patriarch, teach and intercede as a community leader, and take an official position in the government all at the same time. In this sense, the most important "religious" institutions were embedded in the family, community, school, and government. Viewed through a traditional Western lens, there is no clear boundary between the sacred and the secular. The unfamiliar approach to the blending of the "religious" institutions in the workings of everyday life becomes easier to understand in light of a central Confucian conviction: humans cannot approach transcendence by avoiding the real world.

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After the collapse of its last imperial dynasty in 1912, however, China experienced an extremely strong anti-Confucianism that lasted from the 1910s until the 1980s. As a result, traditional Confucian institutions have either disappeared or been reduced to playing a tangential role in China's fledging modern society. This historical reality poses an imminent question for the contemporary revival of Confucianism in its new millennium: what is the appropriate form of the re-institutionalization of Confucianism? This question may seem particularly vexing to American proponents of Confucianism. Although American scholars have contributed excellent scholarship in recent years to promote the potential benefits of importing Confucian wisdom to American society, there are no functioning institutions in America which can be strictly defined as Confucian.

In my view, the historically intimate relationship between Confucianism and the government actually undermined the capability of Confucianism as a living religious tradition. In the contemporary global context, Confucianism ought to adopt, to a certain degree, the principle of the separation of church and state in order to render a healthier reviving form in its institutional basis. Contemporary Confucianism should build up its constituency on the basis of personal conviction and voluntary participation, while simultaneously helping to construct a dynamically harmonious human society through education and civic participation.

During my stay in America--with the help of my dear Confucian teachers and friends, Prof. Robert Neville, Prof. John Berthrong, Br. Lawrence A. Whitney, Dr. Yair Lior, David Schiller, and Maoqin Tang--I have organized a student group, the Boston University Confucian Association, which is registered as a religious group under the leadership of campus ministry in Boston University. During the academic period, the group holds weekly meetings featuring Confucian readings and a communal lunch. During the summer, the group practices Confucian meditation and Taiji martial arts. In addition, with the help of Ben Butina and Adrian Bye, who are Confucian friends living far away from Boston, I am also co-administering a Facebook group called Friends from Afar: A Confucianism Group. In only a few months, the group has already attracted more than a hundred members from all over the world. Our dialogue about Confucianism is usually quite active and inspiring. Through these institutional experiments, I hope I can continue to explore, and finally find, an appropriate organizational basis for Confucianism's revival as a world religion in America.

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The Mystical

Compared with general knowledge of the philosophical and institutional dimensions of Confucianism, its mystical dimension is even less developed and more widely misunderstood. Mysticism, in my view, is an immediate, non-discursive and experiential engagement with ultimate reality, the knowledge of which is mediated by symbols and theories afforded by various religious traditions. Because of the non-discursiveness and immediacy of mystical experience, mystics are usually extremely individualistic. Although always nurtured in a cultural and theological heritage sustained by a particular religious community, the individual consciousness of mystics usually acts as a reformative, even subversive, power with a potential to reinvigorate the whole community on the basis of the individual's spiritual conviction born of the immediate experience of ultimate reality.

The greatest challenge to employing the category of "mysticism" to re-interpret Confucianism for the modern world is to rethink the role of the individual in Confucian ethics. It is an insipid stereotype circulated among cultural observers that the conception of the individual in the West is distinctively atomistic, whereas in the East the self is always relational. It is true that human communities (such as family, village compact, government, etc.) are treated by Confucianism as the only realm where a virtuous person can fulfill his or her spiritual commitment to ultimate reality. Confucianism has always taught, however, that while immersing one's life in a widening network of human relationships, human beings ought to simultaneously establish a correct relationship with "Heaven," and in this way, discover their genuine self.

Heaven, as I explained many times in A Catechism of Confucianism, is an all-encompassing, constantly creative cosmic power. Its inexhaustible creativity is what produces all the relationships among cosmic beings while simultaneously transcending them. Once a Confucian mystic knows, experiences, and feels united with the ontological features of the Heavenly creation, his or her genuine self will also be lived out within tangible human relationships while simultaneously transcending those relationships. In regard to the role of an individual in his or her family, for instance, his or her mystical experience of being together with Heaven could enhance the love that the individual feels towards his or her family. It could also set up a reliable ultimate standard to correct familial relationships when they go astray. More importantly, the mystical experience of Heaven can infuse spiritual meanings and powers into one's behavior within his or her family and, as a result, one can expand his or her familial love towards other families, communities, nation-states, the earth, and finally, the entirety of the universe. Although a virtuous person always exerts his or her personal creativity in the expanding human-human and human-cosmic relationships, this creativity also has an irrevocable dimension of solitude: I, my genuine self, stand, grow and live together with Heaven. In other words, the authentic status of an individual life can and must be both solitary and relational. In Confucian theology, these two dimensions of individuality are so intimately interconnected that the revocation or weakening of either of them would inevitably lead to a corruption of the other.

In Confucianism, this solitary dimension of individuality, together with its impact in the relational dimension, is established by a variety of mystical ritual performances. Among these rituals, meditation is one of the most important, and also the most efficient. The meditative tradition of Confucianism in its primitive period is mainly defined by Mencius's practice of "Oceanic Matter-Energy" () and "Night Matter-Energy" (). In the Neo-Confucianism of the Song (960-1279 C.E) and Ming (1368-1644 C.E) dynasties--under the influence of Buddhism and Daoism--Confucians practiced and conceptualized meditation in a variety of ways. In the modern period, the Japanese Confucian Okada Takehiko is a distinct exemplar of Confucian meditation. Through Rodney L. Taylor's wonderful research of Takehiko's meditative practice, The Confucian Way of Contemplation: Okada Takehiko and the Tradition of Quiet-Sitting, English readers can catch a glimpse of how meditation was treated in Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism.

Nevertheless, for contemporary readers, one most frustrating aspect of Confucian meditation is how little is available regarding the method of meditation. In the primitive Confucian classics and other related texts-- such as Mencius, Xun Zi (), Guan Zi (), Zhuang Zi(), the Record of Rites (), the Commentary of the Book of Changes and the Zuo Commentary of the Spring and Autumn Annuals ()--one can find many phenomenological descriptions of how Confucian meditators felt during their mystical practice. In these sources, we can also find theoretical reflections about these mystical experiences and how Confucian philosophers have incorporated them into their philosophical system. These authors recorded very little about the method of practice, however, and this was not addressed during the Neo-Confucian era.

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(One explanation for this lack of material on the specifics of meditation practice, promoted by Taylor, is that the Neo-Confucians were concerned that focusing too much on the method of meditation would make their contemplative practices seem too similar to Buddhism or Daoism.)

Conclusion

It is now time for contemporary new Confucians to recover the method of Confucian meditation, and to make it practical and edifying for individuals living in this simmering, seething modern world. In this blog series, The Oceanic Matter-Energy () - A Confucian Meditation, my primary goal is to make use of all relevant historical and philosophical resources to reconstruct the method of Confucian meditation defined by the Mencian term "Oceanic Matter-Energy" to revive the mystical dimension of Confucianism as a world religion. For my readers, I hope that after you practice the Confucian meditation of the "Oceanic Matter-Energy"--and also comprehend the related Confucian metaphysics and ethics--you will be confident in saying: even if there is currently no authentic Confucian institution, I can grow and live together with Heaven in my family and community, and thus, be my genuine self.
A wise old friend, my wife Melinda, and I were discussing the upcoming U.S. presidential election recently. Our friend pointed out the dearth of Democratic candidates, and -- with all due respect -- the possible weaknesses of Hillary Clinton's campaign, once the Republican contender has been chosen. We need another qualified candidate, she argued.



Viewed from outside. the mood of our country seems to be a closed and fearful one. What else can explain the attraction of a Donald Trump? In any other time, his candidacy would have been laughed off the stage. Although it seems improbable that he will end up as the candidate of his party, the mere fact that he has been setting the tone for the Republican campaign is worrisome. So far (and it is very late), the Democrats have only three serious candidates. Besides Mrs. Clinton, there is the senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, and the former governor of Maryland, Martin O'Malley.

Each has strengths. Mrs. Clinton has by far the greatest experience of government, obviously. Mr. Sanders has raised twice the amount of money than Barack Obama did in 2008, all from voters, and nothing from PACs. Mr. O'Malley released serious, detailed proposals months ahead of his two rivals, who have not been above cherry-picking his ideas.

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And each has weaknesses. Mrs. Clinton has a long list of issues that Republicans could throw at her, and like Jeb Bush, has the drag of family dynasty. Mr. Sanders will be 75 years old at the 2017 inauguration, and the label of "socialist" is still lethal. Mr. O'Malley has name recognition issues, and his debate performances have been disappointing.

The American people deserve to hear from another Democratic candidate, one who would have clear credentials to serve as president (which all the Republicans, with the possible exception of Jeb Bush, lack), name recognition, and a forward-looking platform. And who has won elections.

So far, I was following our wise friend's argument. What she was saying made sense. But whom she could have in mind who met all these criteria, I asked.

"Al Gore," she replied, rather tentatively.

At first, I was surprised, then skeptical, but soon I saw the reasonableness of the conclusion. Mr. Gore, at 67, can still credibly run. He still has a household name, tremendous political and government experience including eight years as vice-president, and he won the popular election in the 2000 presidential election by a half-million votes. (He was denied the presidency by a technicality, through the Electoral College. Anyone remember "hanging chads"? ) Since then he has devoted himself to a number of important causes, mainly around climate change. Gore's 2006 film, An Inconvenient Truth, has arguably done more to galvanize action on the environment than anything since Rachel Carson's 1962 book, A Silent Spring. With the COP21 climate change agreement in Paris two weeks ago, the world is entering a new phase of concerted action, which Mr. Gore understands better than any of the current candidates in either party.

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Just having him in the mix could change the content and tenor of the election. One other aspect is that, in the event that he would be the Democratic candidate, the fall campaign might be less divisive than a Clinton candidacy. America is currently poised for a presidential election that will leave deep scars on our national psyche, which is already seriously wounded. We need healing. We need new confidence in our democracy.

Every other nation used to compare its form of government to ours, as the gold standard for how to run a country. No more. Our foreign policy disasters, the inability of Congress to fulfil its legislative role, the outright purchasing of elections after the terrible Citizens United Supreme Court decision, the literally daily occurrence of mass shootings in the U.S., and yes, the popularity of candidates like Trump and Ted Cruz, all have contributed to lower America in the eyes of the world.

We still routinely call ourselves "the greatest nation in the world." I grew up believing it. I still do. But we must elect a leader in 2016 who will begin to bring us back from the brink.
Violating a federal fraud statute easily becomes a personal and business disaster. This comment provides a brief and incomplete educational overview of common federal fraud offenses. In the interest of brevity, specific punishments and/or civil penalties and potential private lawsuits for each offense are not discussed. Note that many contemporary statutes have anti-retaliation and whistleblower protection provisions, also not discussed. Many federal statutes have a state statutory equivalent. It does not violate double jeopardy for prosecutors to pursue both federal and state criminal offenses. Always consult an experienced attorney in specific personal and business situations.

1.Mail fraud and wire fraud (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1341, 1343) have become widely utilized and ever-adaptable general purpose federal offenses. As judicially interpreted, proof of mail fraud requires a scheme or artifice to defraud involving the mailing of a letter for the purpose of attempting or actually executing the scheme. Specific intent to defraud must be proven and the falsity must be material (influencing a reasonable person). "Mail" includes both public and private carriers, such as UPS or FedEx, and the item need not cross state lines (may be intrastate). The use of mail is broadly interpreted so, for example, the fraudulent use of an employer's credit card and resulting mailed statements satisfies the mail requirement. Every act of mailing is a separate offense. Additionally, it is a separate offense to use a fictitious name in schemes involving the Postal Service (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1342).



Wire fraud is closely related to mail fraud but includes virtually all media including radio, television, facsimile, telex, internet, and email.

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2.Bank fraud (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1344) involves attempting or executing a scheme to defraud a federally insured financial institution. This includes funds, securities, or any property owned by or in the custody of the institution. The institution need not suffer an actual loss. It is enough for the institution to be at risk of civil liability. Liability occurs in a broad array of situations involving, for example, check offenses, false statements on loan applications, credit card fraud, student loan fraud, ATM fraud, vehicle title fraud, mortgage fraud, fraudulent credit card receipts, and "shell" bank transactions.

3.Bankruptcy fraud (18 U.S.C. Sec. 157) requires proof of a scheme or attempt to defraud involving a petition, document, or any fraudulent representation in connection with a bankruptcy proceeding. A number of related offenses involve mail and wire fraud, tax fraud, money laundering, perjury, and Sarbanes-Oxley offenses such as destroying, altering, or falsification of records.

4.Health care fraud (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1344, 1347) requires proof of a scheme or attempt to defraud any health care benefit program (public or private). This includes the delivery or payment for services. Additionally, there is a separate statute (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1320) involving making false statements to obtain payments from a federal health care program. Related offenses involve the federal False Claims Act and making false statements. The Stark Act (42 U.S.C. Sec. 1395) provides a complex set of regulations generally prohibiting physician referrals to entities (such as rehabilitation centers) in which a physician or immediate family member has a financial interest.

5.Securities legislation (15 U.S.C. Sec 77a and related provisions) contains numerous antifraud provisions related to the purchase and sale of investments whose return to the investor is primarily dependent of the efforts of a third party. "Security" is a broad term, including Florida citrus groves in a famous 1946 Supreme Court case (S.E.C. v. W.J. Howey Co.). Trading on nonpublic "insider information" (information that will influence the price of a security) is one example of a commonly charged offense.

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6.The False Claims Act (31 U.S.C. Sec. 3729) is frequently applied to Medicare, Medicaid, and defense contractor fraud. The statute involves fines and civil penalties for knowingly making or conspiring to make false financial claims to the government. The original legislation was signed by President Lincoln to address fraudulent Union Army suppliers. "Knowingly" includes actual knowledge, deliberate ignorance, or reckless disregard for the truth. Each false statement on a bill may be a separate offense. Private individuals may sue on behalf of the federal government in a "qui tam" (short for a Latin phrase 'who as well as for the king as for himself sues') action and receive a reward. Corporate inside whistleblowers may act. Potential false claims include billing, false affirmative certifications of compliance with regulations or conditions, or claims that implicitly represent compliance with contract terms, regulations, or statutes. A "worthless services" standard involves providing services that are so deficient as to be the equivalent of no performance.

7.The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (15 U.S.C. Sec. 78dd-1) prohibits direct or indirect payments to foreign officials or governments to gain business advantages such as contracts. It broadly applies to U.S. companies, subsidiaries, and companies listed on stock exchanges, or that must file reports with the SEC. "Foreign" is also broadly defined and includes international charitable or regulatory organizations. Internal accounting controls are required as well as compliance programs. Lawful payments under foreign law and bona fide promotional expenses are allowed but narrowly interpreted. Companies are liable for actions by intermediaries. Certain facilitating or "grease" payments to minor foreign officials are allowed, but narrowly interpreted. Successor companies may be liable for the actions of a predecessor.

8.The Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (15 U.S.C. Sec. 7201 and related provisions) contains eleven "Titles," each with sections, enacted in reaction to corporate scandals such as Enron. Only the broadest of overviews is possible in this brief comment. Private boards, accounting firms, and public agencies have additional responsibilities. It regulates auditor independence and mandates enhanced financial disclosures. Criminal penalties are imposed on the manipulation, destruction, or alteration of financial records or the interference with investigations. It also has whistleblower protections. Executives must certify the accuracy of a variety of financial statements and tax returns. In 2015 the U.S. Supreme Court reversed (5:4) the conviction under a federal false record provision (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1519) of a commercial fisherman. The fisherman ordered a crew member to toss undersized fish overboard to prevent their detection by federal authorities (Yates v. U.S.). The application of Sarbanes-Oxley continues to unfold.

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9.The Dodd-Frank Act of 2010 (12 U.S.C. Sec 5301) was enacted in response to the Great Recession. It amends the regulatory structure and contains sixteen "Titles," each with sections. Only the broadest of overviews is possible in this brief comment. It is designed to achieve greater Wall Street transparency and accountability, investor protection, and mortgage reform. At intervals, executive compensation is subject to shareholder vote. A variety of financial derivatives regulations have been enacted or are pending before the SEC. A Constitutional challenge to Dodd-Frank is active in the federal court system. The unfolding of Dodd-Frank continues.

10.The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1030) prohibits obtaining national security information, compromising computer confidentiality, accessing a computer to defraud, damaging transmissions or access, password trafficking, and extortion involving threats to damage a computer. Cell phones may be considered computers. The statute also allows a civil lawsuit for economic damages greater than $5,000 but some courts have not allowed recovery for lost personal contact information, photos, and text messages generally.

11.Immigration fraud (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1546) involves the fraudulent use of immigration documents such as visas, border crossing cards, and permits. A variety of federal agencies have regulatory authority. Employers may find legal issues associated with undocumented workers, workers who have overstayed a valid visa, or applications for permanent alien labor certifications when the employer or industry generally has terminated or furloughed workers in a same or similar position within the past six months.

12.Making a material false statement to a federal official or a false record entry (18 U.S.C. Sec. 1001), even if not in court or otherwise under oath, is a criminal offense. The contact might be with an investigator or very casual. One has the legal right to remain silent but not to lie. Anticipate that an investigator already knows the answer to the question being asked. This provision convicted Martha Stewart and appears in many situations where the prosecutor is unable to prove an underlying offense, such as securities fraud, that is the actual subject of the investigation. The U.S. Supreme Court in a landmark 1998 decision, Brogan v. U.S., said that one does not have the legal right to an "exculpatory no" (a false denial of guilt) under this provision.

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13.Another, primary state issue, under the Uniform Fraudulent Transfer Act, involves fraudulent conveyances. While this may occur in the context of bankruptcy, the statutes are broad enough to encompass any activity designed to hinder, delay, or defraud a creditor. The courts typically discuss "badges of fraud" that include ownership transfers to family members or insiders, inadequate consideration or lack of "reasonably equivalent value" (inadequate payment), continuing to use the item transferred, the existence or threat of litigation, becoming insolvent as a result of the transfer, secrecy, and the overall chronology and circumstances. The look-back period in which such transfers are invalidated depends upon the specific legislation and circumstances and may be as long as six years. Proving intent to defraud may be unnecessary and some cases consider gifts to charities. Leveraged buyouts, where a company borrows on its assets and purchases stock, may sometime be the subject of a fraudulent conveyance claim.

A common legal defense to a fraud statute involves the defendant's "good faith belief" that the asserted fraudulent representations were true. However, "scienter" (intent to deceive) is not always required to trigger liability. The statute of limitations (time in which to bring a case) for federal fraud statutes is frequently five years but may be ten years if a financial institution is involved. A "continuing offense" may expand this time period beyond the original commission of the unlawful conduct. Federal Courts of Appeal disagree as to whether the statute of limitations for mail and wire fraud begins on the date of the communication or the date of completion of the scheme.
With our New Year's resolutions in full effect, at least in theory, what is it that we've decided to do differently? What changes are we prepared to make? Will we be more of this and less of that?

A Google search for "New Year's resolutions" will uncover some 24 million possibilities. That alone is already making this feel like an exercise in futility. Let's face it: There's so much structurally wrong with the entire enterprise.

How many times have you heard someone declare they are going back to the gym, compared to the number of pounds they lost as a result of the newfound resolve to officially implement their decision on the first day of a new year?

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There is something about the whole proposition that is defeatist from the outset. And I think deep down (well, maybe not so deep) we know that to be true. Yet we declare them nevertheless.

So I wish to propose a New Year's resolution for members of Congress ex post facto.

The resolution is simple: I propose that each member of Congress (House and Senate) spend time with another member in 2016 who holds a different social and political viewpoint.

I realize, if taken seriously, that may cause many to discontinue watching their favorite cable news show or Internet site, especially if the preferred vehicle is merely a justification to affirm preconceived notions. What is often presented as information is nothing more than the justification that robs us of curiosity.

The lack of inquisitiveness allows us to conveniently construct a straw man that is fortified by our worst assumptions.

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What Atticus Finch in "To Kill a Mockingbird" tells Scout ("You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view ... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it") is poppycock of the highest order in a society endowed by apathy and certainty.

It is amazing to hear elected officials tout their position on a particular issue by beginning, "The American people will/won't support this for the following reasons," as if the constituents they represent are the "American people" while all others who hold a different opinion are, well, all others. I call this practice the "Hezbollah phenomenon." (And please, no puerile emails suggesting that I'm comparing members of Congress to Hezbollah.)

Hezbollah's literal translation is "the party of God." If I belong to the party of God, is there really any point to negotiate or seek to a middle ground?

Likewise, if I speak for the American people on an issue pertaining to them, why do I need to budge on my position?

Imagine if the men and women we send to Congress, instead of proclaiming the other side as Satan's love child, actually possessed the curiosity to understand why some see the world differently? What if a conservative member of Congress from a rural area visited the district of a liberal counterpart representing an urban area, and vice versa?

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This exercise is not designed to create harmony, but to have a more heightened insight into the differences that justifiably exist between the two parties.

It does represent an opportunity to find out whether Atticus Finch is right. What could happen if members of Congress, albeit briefly, dared to consider things from the opposition's perspective because they possessed the unmitigated gall to, if not climb into his or her skin and walk around, at least stand on the same street corner?

What if we had a Congress that did not lead with slogans, prepared talking points or assumptions, but a vision in the back of their minds of why the opposition's perspective differs?

Having been to the opposition's district could produce a newfound appreciation for difference. But the beneficiaries of this congressional New Year's resolution are ultimately we the people.

We can ill-afford to remain on the path that says: "If more people thought the way I do this country would be fine."

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A comforting thought, but ineffectual.
According to a meme circulating on social media, "England sent its religious nuts to America and its criminals to Australia. The Aussies got the better deal." A version of the statement has appeared in various places, including on a church marque in front of the Toledo building of the "First Church of Polydeism." (See http://firstchurchofpolydeism.tumblr.com/)

This quick contrast encapsulates popular--and erroneous--understandings of early American and Australian history. According to a widely-held view, the United States was settled originally by people seeking freedom to pursue their own religious vision, while Australia began as a penal colony populated by British convicts. While the contrast well encapsulates how the two nations remember their early histories, it misrepresents more than it explains.

As with Australia's first European residents, most individuals who crossed the Atlantic to the British colonies in North America did so involuntarily. Some came as indentured servants, so poor or deeply in debt that they had to sell their labor for four to seven years in exchange for passage. Many others came to British North America either as enslaved Africans or as criminals sentenced to transportation. Long before the British used Australia as a dumping ground for felons, America was their prime destination. British imperial officials intended Georgia (the last colony founded before the American Revolution) primarily as a repository for the poor and for convicts. Other colonies, starting with Virginia, received numerous men and women transported as punishment for a crime. A few had committed religious misdeeds--Quakers and others were transported for attending religions meetings--but most were convicted of theft and similar crimes. Virginians later remembered their colonial past very differently, avoiding all reference to the transported criminals who made up a notable part of their colony's early population.

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Australia, in other words, was not the first or only possession that the British Empire used to dispose of criminals; long before Australia was settled in 1788, the North American colonies served that purpose. In fact Britain moved to colonize Australia when it did in large part because it lost North America and had nowhere to send miscreants. Without Georgia to receive its felons, Britain sought another repository, and Australia became that place. Before it sent the first ships of convicts Down Under, in fact, it held hundreds of felons in fetid prison ships, which sat in the Thames River holding convicts with nowhere to go.

British officials saw criminal transportation as a win-win and as a humanitarian replacement for the widespread use of the death penalty. Shipping convicts to distant colonies allowed the authorities to spare their lives (at least until disease or brutal labor conditions ended them); at the same time it provided bodies to populate the empire. The policy, far from dividing the two British imperial outposts, linked the Atlantic colonies to Australia. Both North America and Australia represented, at best, a second chance.
Part I: InSpired about Our Future...and Our Children's Future

Twilight on the Winter Solstice, the sun emit such a rich magnetic glow across our marine sanctuary in Chrystal Cove that it seemed to literally hold back the heavy, ominous, ashen black clouds hovering over the horizon. Running the Cove and watching closely the impending storm; I thought: " How is it that this magic light can both temper such a dark storm, and yet summon the richest colors, render the truest hues from all things painted across the living landscape?"

And so it was in Paris... despite the threat of anomalous and escalating climate change (once perceived as science fiction and now clearly and nearly universally accepted as science fact), a bright light omnipresent throughout COP 21 seemed to ultimately illuminate the best of human nature and inspire an impressive ambience of global cooperation when and where most needed to drive dialogue in the right positive, collective direction. Unlike Copenhagen where the dark December clouds precipitated a final rift between the industrialized developed world and the emerging developing world, COP 21 in Paris witnessed a different kind of international coalition-building where informal organizations like The Most Ambitious Coalition comprised of developed and developing countries organically formed to ensure a successful conclusion. Meanwhile, the COP 21 Secretariat behind the negotiations continued to shine the light on narratives of inclusivity, global citizenship, moral responsibility to future generations, universal compassion ( a sentiment easier to reinforce after the Paris terrorism attack), and stewardship of our common world " that some cultures consider mother earth" - sacred. ( Paris Agreement ). Also shrewd, they capitalized on every event in the flurry of COP 21's excitement to reiterate that in success we would all become part of history this December 2015... And who doesn't want to feel valued and remembered as part of history?

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So, during the darkest period of the Northern Hemisphere's year, 195 Nations decided each in turn to shine their independent lights across the Country Pavilions and Common Halls of Le Bourget where the climate negotiations took place. Certainly, each country came with their national agenda and geo-political strategy. However, this COP's brilliant focus on empowering individual countries to independently frame their own climate commitments and devise their own national plans well before COP 21 stimulated early a strong sense of ownership, accountability, and responsibility to the collective narrative, as well, creating a virtuous cycle for other nations to write their INDCs (Independent Nationally-Determined Commitments).

Given the demonstrated political will of 150 Heads of State gathered at the opening December 1st,... given the strong voice of the international business community strongly supporting an ambitious Paris Deal and forming their own Breakthrough Coalitions,... given civil society sprouting up grassroots everywhere and using social media to organize on the fly Marches for the Earth despite the cancellation of many organized events for security reasons...and given the riveting images on Our Common Home that astronauts showed us from space-sick with a cancer caused from hyper-development, carbon-emitting industrial processes, and overly exploitative natural resource extraction... a Paris Climate Agreement at the end of the COP 21 was inevitable.

Thus, on December 12th (late night, almost the 13th) the World decided to meet our Apollo Challenge-- Transition Together Toward a New Low Carbon Economy. And when Laurent Fabius, the COP 21 President and French Foreign Affairs Minister, laid that gavel down; not one person in Le Bourget could be contained to their seat. Great joy filled the Halls of Le Bourget. And for an evening we were United on One Planet Earth as One Global Village--relieved and ecstatic that this 21-Year effort had now culminated in the framing of an international agreement upon which we could now universally point and build forward.

Imagine! The world -- 195 nations accepted not only an agreement, but a most aspirational and internationally-binding one that most every nation expressed pride in returning home to sign, celebrate, implement, and ASAP (as soon as possible) ratchet up. We have now great cause to be grateful and joyful this holiday season and year end. Certainly, the year 2015 will go down in history. And 2016 shall be a great beginning to new era of global cooperation on climate change and meeting our global goals for sustainable development!!!

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A Deeper Reflection on Why The World Reached an International Agreement at this COP 21

Why Now-- After 21 years of regional-science-technology-implementation-business discussions and annual meetings was this Conference of the Parties (COP) ripe and ready to collectively and globally to treat the root causes of climate change's cancerous conditions? What made this COP 21 and this year so different?

The simple answer is that this COP 21 we were all clearly, universally, undeniably InSpired.

Here I have seven points to make, and so as the text grew long; I'll divide this article into three separate blogs; Part I, Part II, Part III.

Part I

1. The Spirit of environmental urgency and global collaboration still lingered from the UN Sustainable Development Summit in NYC this past September 2015. There the world-195 nations, signed the 17 Global Goals in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. There, Pope Francis's moral tone and urgent call to action in the Opening General Assembly still resonated in the ears of World Leaders at COP 21. Even before, Pope Francis' Encyclical woke us all up this summer; and thankfully all were still awake in December. So, it's perfect that: "Welcoming the UN General Assembly's Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development A/RES.70/1 was the first Decision Statement of the Parties in the Paris Climate Agreement. And to carry the world's spirit of urgency and collaboration forward; it's also perfect that the agreed 2030 Agenda (Number 13 of the 17 Global Goals being "Climate Action") provide the backdrop to the theater of National Statements by Heads of State and to the drama of bilateral, trilateral, regional country negotiations to follow.

2. The COP 21 hosted the largest gathering of World Leaders at any one Global Event. Who wouldn't be inspired by the events to come? By December 1st, no one wanted to miss Opening Night when 150 Heads of State travelled to Paris to present their National Statements (also to show solidarity with France after the terrorist attacks), and this time on a supremely solid scientific stage (97% concurrence on climate change reality and anthropogenic influences, IPCC).

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But what really made the speeches this COP so inspiring was the authentic urgency expressed among world leaders for climate action. The tone of statements revealed that climate change was no longer simply a subject of scientific inquiry and predictive modeling. World leaders have begun to view climate change as a lived reality. All are now awake to the reality that climate change threatens also our global security- antagonizing conflict in the Middle East and contributing to trans-border, urban migration, for example. Why now? Too many anomalous climate events have transpired these past years. No one can honestly ignore anymore the drama of sea ice melt, sea level rise, glacier melt, desertification, flooding, heat waves, fires, anomalous climate events have indeed played out tangibly, more intensely since Copenhagen "in mother nature's theaters around the world" Bill McKibben. Just this year witness: the recent flooding in Chennai and London, extreme drought in California, fires in Australia, extraordinary heat waves in Iran, inundated aquifers under the Marshall Islands, Arctic sea ice and the Greenland ice sheet melting at unprecedented rates, permafrost in Russia and Siberia releasing deadly methane, the worst air pollution on record in China. "The science is screaming at us- 14 of the last 15 years-the warmest on record, and yet we can also witness climate change impacts all around us in the world, today." (John Kerry, COP 21 Speech)

3. As the sheer presence of so many Heads of State inspired all, country delegations also worked long hours in right spirit throughout the COP--inspired to return home with a climate deal, but not just any deal. The moral imperative to Inspirare -- breathe life into an internationally binding climate agreement that was just, socially equitable, environmentally sound was universal. The Global Goal to InSpire the agreed policy framework and to grow the 180 INDCs (estimated by Dec 1) toward the light of financing and implementation trumped any singular, individual national concern. No country this COP 21 wanted to be responsible for another "Hopenhagen" turned "Copenhagen". So, as soon as they came, Heads of State swiftly left and national delegations immediately got on with the business of negotiating draft terms and building consensus.

Even the most watched and demanding country delegations were willing to engage in the give and take of compromise, all agreeing to Voltaire's oft quoted wisdom in Le Bourget, "let not the perfect be the enemy of the good."

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India, for example, may have refused to give up the right to develop (even build coal fire power plants); but they agreed to retract from a 10-year review process (opposed to the non-negotiable US/EU 5-year review process). Indian Express They agreed to receive technological and financial assistance to focus the future of energy on renewables, if the human face of climate change became prevalent in the text. The Result: "Climate Justice is now a human right. All countries shall be responsible for ensuring that the most vulnerable ones are not left behind to deal with the loss and damage of climate change, as well, the finance required to adapt to present and immanent climate-related danger. And in exchange for such committed international assistance, every nation agreed to present a climate change mitigation plan to 2030 that extended across industries and included common methodologies, so the entire world could help each other transition together toward an energy-efficient, low carbon economy. Paris Agreement The good news is that the economic-environmental-social incentives to do so are now naturally intelligently falling into place and sparking healthy development, worldwide. So, while still stuck on coal and looking at 2050 to peak their population, President Modi of India unveiled and now leads the Solar Alliance of 120 countries, including China and the US, to expand solar energy across the Global South. In addition, only a day after the Paris Agreement, India and Japan signed a deal to invest $12 billon USD in Shinkansen bullet train technology for India. Japan even agreed to soft lend India the money. Forbes These inspiring national decisions we need to celebrate.

On that note... despite the current political climate, the US Secretary of State, John Kerry (supported by President Obama), led the US delegation and committed another $800 USD million in grants (not loans) toward climate adaptation. Time So while I'm baffled by our country's political rift on climate change (and just about every other topic), I'm proud that the US showed up to champion one of the most important international humanitarian initiatives on climate change. As 80% of the 130 INDC's from the developing world included (and prominently featured) climate adaptation plans looking for finance, the US financial contribution was more than symbolic (albeit still a relatively small amount). As only 0.7% of the $ 22.6 B USD in 2014 of International Public Finance Funds (per Climate Adaption Panel, COP 21) to date fund climate adaptation projects; our US commitment hopefully will catalyze other countries to boost their contributions to climate adaptation funds, as well. Indeed, every investment leads to greater social stability and more robust infrastructure to prevent further climate catastrophe, avert harm, and generate a virtuous cycle of financing (lower risk capital) to then flow toward low carbon investments. Such integrated, system's thinking seemed more prevalent in the COP 21 house than in previous years... and this was inspiring.

Further, as more commitments geared toward supporting developing countries adapt and deal with loss and damage of climate change grew; the more best practices were shared, the more technology was exchanged, and the more countries like France committed to ratcheting up their INDC commitments; then the more countries like Venezuela and Bolivia, and Sudan who adamantly opposed the Copenhagen Accord and the exclusivity around the accord's framing... began to sing a different tune in Paris. In fact, Venezuela's well-known Chief Envoy to the Climate Conference, Claudia Salerno, in her closing statement this year praised the inclusive nature of the COP 21 negotiations, praised the flexible, supportive tone of the text (discussed below) and praised the perceived authentic commitment of developed countries to ensure that all nations succeeded in meeting their baseline carbon reduction goals (Venezuela's is 20% by 2030)... as long as each country is free to decide their own development future to eliminate also abject poverty. A similar sentiment of inclusivity and true concern for developing countries' capacity to respond to climate change resonated throughout Latin America, across Southeast Asia, among the Small Island nations, and across the continent of Africa. All G77 countries agreed to transition toward a carbon neutral state ASAP, and remain accountable to one another in the international COP community for ratcheting up in the next 15 years. That said, the South African delegation (representing the G77+China) reminded us that we still have a "Long Walk to Freedom", quoting Nelson Mandela. Positive, inspired action must continue along the "Road Through Paris". These most vulnerable countries will require access to debt-free finance and assistance to realistically leap-frog current energy-transportation-city plans to the New Climate Economy's vision of climate resilient, energy efficient cities. In fact, 90% of the commitments made by developing countries express a reliance on assistance from the international community in financing, technology, knowledge sharing, and capacity building. But all were inspired by most every developing country's commitment to the future and faith in one another. Thus, the only real way forward is to celebrate, protect, and expand this new trust among developed and developing world nations and now deliver on our promises to one another... and the world.

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Finally, a short review of inspiring country delegation actions at COP 21 wouldn't be complete without reference to China. I believe all were inspired by China's recent change in tone and tack on climate change, greater cooperation with the US, recognition of itself as a major global power, and aspirational commitments. In September during the UN Summit, China made a public pledge to be a carbon neutral state by 2030. And, already they have doubled solar production in one year (11 GW of solar in 2014 to 19 GW in 2015). Reuters They will certainly play an important role in India's Solar Alliance and help unlock the power of the sun to push the world past coal. The Chinese delegation also framed plans to deploy 800 GW to 1000 GW in carbon-free capacity, while reinforcing their financial contribution through the South-South Fund to the developing countries "with whom they share values" (Lui Zhenmin, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, China, Press Conference COP 21). They even finally agreed to transparency and carbon tracking for every source from coal, hydro, natural gas, geothermal, nuclear, solar, and wind. This was a huge win for the world and led experts like Dr. Jackson Ewing, Asia Society to comment "China's position has seen the greatest evolution on environmental and climate policy in the past years." Why now? Perhaps China realizes that it has simply reached a growth step where the country needs to seriously invest in clean air, clean water, wild nature and slow hyper-development...to protect their economy, to avert the emigration of their intellectual capital, and to fulfill their senior responsibility to the international community as a leading world power. Not that we in the US have arrived to a carbon-neutral utopia yet; but we did make some visionary commitments in 1970 as our Industrial Revolution ramped up that tempered the escalating pollution of our generation. Under President Nixon we passed the Clean Air Act (amended by President George Bush, Sr. in the 1990's), the Clean Water Act, the Wilderness Act, and formed the EPA. Could China be reading the writing on the US's historic wall and innovating further still? Could the US Republican Party's historic support of these seminal 1970 conservation and environmental health initiatives remind Republicans today of their visionary role in preserving the natural wealth of our nation? Could their historic protection of America the Beautiful serve as a means to invite and encourage their participation now in the climate conversation to protect health of our nation and the wellbeing of our world for our children? What if climate change could be a unifying issue for Democrats and Republicans; instead of a divisive one? Now that would be cause for great celebration!
A few months ago a journalist asked me if I had any advice for women entrepreneurs to better balance work with raising children. I am not sure if the first thought that crossed my mind was to avoid the question by saying that I do not have children, or to lie and hide the fact that I was the least balanced person in the world, or to tell the truth, which is that I could not even imagine how other people with fuller personal lives even managed.

Balance is a concept that just does not suit me. Yet for the last ten years it has found first place on my resolution list. Each year ends in disappointment because I fail to divide time consistently between what I consider to be most important in my life. In general I find that balance is a concept that correlates poorly with passion. So why do we love the concept so much? Because a state of balance symbolizes control over your life, while its opposite suggests that elements of life are leading you, or in other words you are not moving ahead in the best possible way, but instead are struggling to tread water. And seen from the outside lack of balance reeks of inefficiency. Not only do I believe that idea to be wrong because achieving balance is impossible, but it is also a dangerous ideal to aspire to because balance is out of one's control. And lacking balance is not the equivalent of losing control over one's own life.

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Truth be told, as an entrepreneur you will never be balanced, at least not in the beginning. You cannot control many of the things that come at you externally, and before you can hire people you have to work long and hard at playing multiple positions at once to make sure everything is done on time. Opportunities show at your doorstep, plans suddenly change, and it's very hard to say "no thank you." I've learned that things never end because when I'm not doing I'm meeting, I'm promoting and I'm organizing. Today I live and I am what I do. I am so entrenched in my projects that I don't know where they end and where other areas of my life begin.

The night before our TEDx I had a conversation with another speaker about the things we felt had given up in our lives. She told me the advice that a journalist in Kenya had given her years back seeing that she was upset over the months she spent away from her son traveling to build her organization: "Never ever feel guilty about not being there and most importantly, never, ever apologize. The difference is that when you are there just make the most of it." I find that that advice stems from a very healthy truth, which is that pursuing our own happiness is the greatest gift we can give those around us. And that we should not sacrifice the moments we have by begging ourselves and those around us for forgiveness for what we've missed; instead we should always give precedence to what we are doing at any precise moment in time.
Cindy Dyer, Vice President of Human Rights, Vital Voices Global Partnership and

Tanya Charles, Policy and Advocacy Development Specialist, Sonke Gender Justice.

It is no secret that gender based violence is a serious issue worldwide. One in three women globally experience some form of domestic or sexual violence during their lifetime. Facing statistics like these, it is easy to become discouraged; however, many countries have made undeniable progress. The United States is an example of how coordination between government and civil society can take strides towards remedying this immense problem. True collaboration between these sectors is imperative to stop violence against women, and in the United States, it has led to a significant decrease in the rates of domestic violence and gender-based violence in the past 20 years.

The first step the U.S. took towards eradicating gender-based violence was enacting the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) in 1994. This Act itself was the result of a close collaboration among governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations with expert knowledge of the field. The legislation went through several drafts following modifications and feedback from survivors and civil society advocates and activists. But the need for forever collaboration does not end when legislation is enacted. The best-crafted pieces of legislation or protocols are worthless if they are not actually implemented. And effective implementation also requires partnership with each sector having a role to play. Without the police, there would be no investigation; without prosecutors, there is no accountability; without service providers, there would be no support for survivors; and without advocates there is no opportunity for continued improvement.

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Each sector depends on the others, and none are successful working in isolation. This Act spurred a movement of joint cooperation between the government and community-based service providers; its implementation required the collaborated efforts between all actors involved and provided a platform for future coordination. The NGOs spoke, and the government listened. Due to the meaningful coordination among all of these agencies and individuals, the rates of domestic violence began to drop once VAWA was passed. From 1994 to 2010, the rate of intimate partner domestic violence in the United States dropped a dramatic 64%, bringing the number of victims down from 9.8 in 1,000 to 3.6 in 1,000.

The final and most important step is the government's continued respect for and involvement with NGOs and community-based service providers. VAWA has been reauthorized three times since its initial passage, and with each re authorization, the Act has been improved and enhanced to reflect the advice and suggestions of civil society advocates and agencies. The United States would not be where it is today without the participation of both the government and community-based services providers. More work still needs to be done, but it is clear that these meaningful partnerships, based on a true spirit of collaboration, are essential to combating gender-based violence.

No money, no implementation, no coordination: the South African experience

In South Africa, collaboration between the government and civil society has not been as cooperative as it has in the United States and elsewhere. Despite South Africa having among the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world, the government has not treated the matter with the urgency it requires. While it is commendable that the state has attempted to address gender violence by drafting a number of pieces of legislation and establishing several coordination structures, these efforts have been marred by poor implementation, limited collaboration and a lack of adequate provision of financial resources.

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A few highlights of government's attempts to deal with violence against women reveal moments of hope followed by periods of disappointment and despair. In 2007, the Inter-Departmental Management Team launched the '365 Day National Action Plan' which was established to guide all government departments and civil society organizations dealing with violence against women and children. Though intended to extend only through 2011, it remained in effect until 2013, and still resulted in no tangible impact.

Similarly, in December 2011, cabinet approved a National Council on Gender Based Violence with the aim of developing and adopting comprehensive measures to urgently address gender violence. Finally, we thought, a national council that would bring civil society and government together to take on this enormous issue. Sadly, the Council was also ineffective and disrupted by political changes after the 2014 elections. In early 2015 the Council was on hold pending further investigation into its creation. No word on this Council since.

The picture that emerges here is of a government that is not serious about ending gender-based violence. A serious effort would include coordinated efforts and allocation of the necessary funding to support them. All the while, civil society carries the burden by providing crucial services and raising their own resources, usually from international donors, in order to meet the needs of victims. Relations between NGOs and government are frequently strained, with civil society being seen as antagonist towards government, primarily because civil society is never afraid to call government to account. Over many decades, civil society has campaigned to ensure government develops appropriate policies and programmes to end gender-based violence and to monitor implementation of what already exists.

One such campaign is the call for a National Strategic Plan on Gender Based Violence (NSPGBV) which launched in 2014. With a coalition of over thirty organisations, the NSPGBV campaign has a clear vision; to create public and political will to develop and implement a fully-funded, inclusive and multi-sectoral NSPGBV which will serve as a roadmap to align the country around strategic priorities, while ensuring funding is earmarked for prevention and services as part of the national budget. Ideally, this plan should not only address violence against women and children but also gender-based violence experienced by other marginalized groups such as sex workers and LGBTIQ persons, who suffer some of the most brutal forms of gender violence in this country but who cannot access appropriate services and are hardly accounted for in existing legislation.

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Periscope was voted the Apple App Store 2015 App of the Year. I discovered Periscope, the app that was bought by Twitter before it even launched, through my friend Africa Miranda. She came to visit me at my office and said, "I'm going to scope this." Confused, I said, "Do wha...?" She then proceeded to introduce me to, what I imagine, will become our modern, interactive, version of television: Periscope. Warning: it's addictive.



Where do you want to see today? The red illustrates the number of live broadcasts in that specific area. The blue are broadcasts that have ended within 24 hours.

Periscope is a live-streaming app that serves as a direct view into the lives of others. Download, open the app, and teleport to anywhere you like. It's like a free boarding pass to anywhere in the world. That's exactly what Mike Lin, Founder of the Scope Day account did. On November 7th, 2015, he had 65 broadcasters, from over 16 countries, live-streaming 45 cities and attractions to 51K people. From pyramids in Cairo, Egypt to one of only four green sand beaches in the world, Periscope viewers had the opportunity to discover and view the world, literally, through the eyes of others. Periscope; however, is so much more than just getting to see cool places.

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Travel blogger Mitch Oates made Periscope history to do the first live stream on Periscope underwater in Argentina. Screenshot by Lynette Lee. Users can share their broadcasts to both Twitter and Facebook.



YouTuber Anika Mojaria shows us the sites in Dubai. She showed Periscope the Jumeira hotel. Screenshot by Lynette Lee. Users can invite their 'followers' to broadcasts they are viewing.



Broadcasting in Harlem, showing viewers 'Swing Low', the controversial Harriet Tubman statue.



Periscope is about the people and the community it creates. Periscope gives you an opportunity to interact with not only your favorite celebs and influencers, but also with cool, interesting people that you would have never met otherwise. In an average day, I visit over seven countries and cities watching various broadcasts by "Scopers" (people who broadcast live on Periscope). I've discovered Pangni Landrum, a screenwriter out of LA that gives tips on screenwriting and social media. I've seen some of the world with Milan journalist Rosella Canevari. I have visited with the inspirational Amrit Singh, a UK creative, for art and good conversation. While "virtually" traveling around the United States, I met April Butcher, who helps new users navigate the platform. Through a great share, I now play 'Periscope Pictionary', created by Ruben Arena, who draws and educates on what he describes as, 'nerdy words', in quite a creative way.

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With so many cool individuals to view and interact with on Periscope, in the short 9 months it has been around, "Tribes" have been created for people to find likeminded individuals, more easily. PeriNewbies is a tribe that was founded by Maryjoy Cinense as a service organization to help new Periscopers get their voices heard. She exclusively told me,

PeriNewbies is to help people like me! I was nervous and scared and uncomfortable live streaming and it was the biggest thing I had to overcome. After my first broadcast, I was shaking, so I knew other people had to feel like I do. I created the Facebook group and am so humbled by how fast it has grown! We are here to empower other people to broadcast. We are a global organization working towards helping people that might be remote, reach the outside world. We're in Africa, Australia, it's growing every month!



With Ben Leonard and Rossella Canevari at Art Basel in Miami during a live broadcast. Screenshot by Lynette Lee.



Screenshot of my broadcast at an art museum in New York City by Periscope user @r_Jon4. He has yet to broadcast, however, he takes screenshots and makes digital art from many Periscope users broadcasts and shares. Periscope is community driven.

Periscope has changed the way that people interact with each other and see the world. Kayvon Beykpour, CEO and Co-Founder of Periscope, explained,

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The diversity and spectrum that people use on Periscope is wide and broad. I've seen German reporters walking across borders with Syrian Refugees. Whether it's in Serbia or the #BlackLivesProtest at home, everyone gets an audience.

I got that quote, live off Periscope with an interview with Stephen Colbert. I was going to email Kayvon - I didn't even need to! -- and I saw the interview before it even went live on TV! TV is something that has happened in the past, something that has been prepared in advance. Periscope is life, real things, real places, with real people. The catch? Each broadcast lasts for only 24 hours (unless you use a third-party website like Katch.Me to save).

Periscope has built such a community, that it led to the creation of Periscope Community Summit, founded by Ryan Bell. Ryan joined Periscope on April 6th, 2015. His first broadcast was with his one-year-old daughter Poppy. He exclusively told me that he founded Periscope Community Summit, which has already been compared to a SWSW.

I knew that it would be a way to get the world together. This is when people in New York were starting to do little meetups and I couldn't help but think how powerful it would be to have a REALLY big group of broadcasters in one place.

The next Summit is January 14-17th and you can get tickets online. I asked Ryan what he hopes Periscope Community Summit turns into and he excitedly told me, "A place to launch ideas and to find connections. It's still so early in live streaming that people can change and connect to the world in the ways that were unattainable before."

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Screenshots from my broadcasts. The left is an example of what a live broadcast looks like. Individuals enter the room and type to you. The right is an example of a replay view. An egg avatar is normally a 'troll' and users have the option to block. Periscope users are pretty serious about everyone having an avatar.
I am so caught up in college life, the ebb and flow of politics (the greatest horse race ever invented), and the ever-important drama of daily life, that I rarely take the time to reflect on the most powerful force of all - time.

On News Years Day, however, I am inspired by - in awe of, in fact - where America is today. Seventy years ago, American soldiers died fighting for freedom in Europe. They defeated a fascist regime intent on mass genocide - of Jews, gays, and other who didn't fit their mold of what humans should look like. Sixty years ago, Chairman Mao led China into the Great Leap Forward, a disastrous plan that killed nearly 45 million people in four years. And fifty years ago, billions were trapped in the communist Soviet Union; a country where poverty was rampant, freedom was non-existent and where oligarchs created empires on the backs of the masses.

In the face of these tragedies, it is shocking how unprecedented our freedom is today. We live in the greatest country that has ever existed - a country founded on the idea that the people rule it. Our immigration debate is alive because America is still a beacon of hope in this world; we're a country that is so free that the 'huddled masses' from all across the world still see America as the ultimate destination. And in the face of the adversity and strife of 2015, America is still a free country where social protests run free and armed gunmen do not stifle new ideas.

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This is remarkable. For thousands of years, power has universally corrupted our leaders. Men with guns have always used their power to enslave the masses, to enforce their will on the people. And there have always been volunteers, ready and willing to stand with the dictators and enforce their will. Human nature is so insecure that people have always turned against their neighbors, preferring authority and external validation to fairness and justice.

In weapons, humans found a tool that enabled the powerful to control the many. Our history is a cycle of violence and reaction, a natural yearning for freedom. The most powerful tool of all, however, is time. We think our lives are short, but the winds of history are powerful. They bring sweeping change quickly. And usually, this is for evil; it is much simpler to enslave a population than to meet its needs. And yet today, we have defied time. We have defied history.

We live in a country where we worry about a bunch of clowns marching around the country hoping to satisfy our desires. Where we inevitably hold the cards and politicians and leaders serve us. Where our biggest fear is that in a free and democratic election, we'll elect the wrong leader.

Surely, nothing is perfect. I'll be the first to go on about the need to reign in on special interests, for reasonable restrictions on guns, criminal justice reform, and full equality for women and minorities. But I think, especially on college campuses, it's really easy to lose sight of the magnitude of history.

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After all, by the time we were born, there was no Soviet Union, no Communist China, and no Nazi Germany. Instead, capitalism is stronger than ever before and freedom has spread across the world at lightening speed. Our gravest enemies are terrorists, people who enslave themselves in a battle of pure evil, hoping to defeat the freedom we have so painstakingly created for ourselves.

No, in college we tend to forget these things. We are swept up in the moment. And that's a good thing. We're living our lives. We're writing the next page. We're taking the next step in a long battle for freedom. Each day for us is an opportunity to laugh, study, eat and sleep.

But it's also a fragment of time, a piece of history, an opportunity to slowly inch forward in this larger story about a world dominated by evil, where the few controlled the many. We are part of this greater narrative of freedom, in which a group of men had the foresight to understand that people ought to control their own lives.

We can and should reinterpret these ideas to enfranchise new groups, spread equality and level the playing field. But especially as young people begin to enforce new speech codes, as political correctness becomes a rallying cry, and talk of limiting free speech becomes oddly popular, it's important that we remember how lucky we are to live in America. It's important to remember how fragile freedom is and hard it was to achieve. It's important to remember that our freedom was won on the backs of men and women who lived and died so that this would be possible.




Actually, it is pretty cool, whether you remember Jan and Dean or not - and okay, for most MTV viewers, talking about 1963 is like talking about buffalo paintings on the walls of Babylonian caves.



Shannara Chronicles does, however, connect to the past, because it's set in a post-apocalyptic world that in many ways has been hurled back into a much more primitive state.



Madmen with doomsday weapons and leaders with more ambition than wisdom destroyed pretty much everything, including technology.



So the world in which this new series opens has been reshaped into The Four Lands, which are ruled by the Elvin, who as the name suggests are elves. Other players include gnomes, dwarves and trolls, while some swaths of territory have devolved into no-man's land, inhabited by lawless gypsies called Rovers.



Eritrea, for instance, is a Rover, with an eerie similarity to Cameron Bicondova's young Catwoman on Fox's Gotham.



Tenuous as all this might sound for any sort of functional governance structure, the Elvin have overseen several centuries of relative peace, apparently thanks to the power of magic.



When science became a casualty of the apocalypse, earlier concepts like magic rose again, and while there's considerable debate among the characters whether magic really exists, it seems to have been the force that has isolated and imprisoned the world's demons for these several centuries, thus ensuring the peace.



The key to keeping those demons from reinfecting the earth lies in the magical Ellcrys tree, whose nurturing and protection is the highest mission of the Elvin.



As we join the story, alas, the Ellcrys tree seems to be dying, which is a problem because every time it drops a leaf, a demon is released.



So someone has to stop the demons and figure out the problem with the Ellcrys, all the while navigating the dramas of a dysfunctional royal family with an aging patriarch and some gaps in the management structure.



That's where our three heroes enter the picture, and happily they get help from the last surviving Druid, the whimsically named Allanon (Manu Bennett), who understands the strategic deployment of good magic and also knows almost everything else the kids are going to have to learn.



Shannara Chronicles gives MTV a new full-immersion plunge into the fantasy genre that's become one of TV's hottest tickets, and naturally it comes with an MTV stamp. It's full of attractive young actors and actresses who get to battle evil and say clever things while dipping in and out of matters common to all teenagers and young adults, like romance and, um, romance.


At Natalie Cole's 60th birthday party in New York City. Photo by Bob Krassner, used by permission.

In the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2005, three years into our friendship, I enjoyed one of the most intimate and spontaneous performances ever given by Natalie Cole. It consisted of a single song sung barely above a whisper to an audience of one: me.

We were in Aspen, Colorado at a swanky party at the peak of Ajax Mountain. Leaving together, we stepped outside, first into a blast of cold air and a windy swirl of snow, then into a gondola that would transport us down the side of the mountain and back to earth. The cozy pod lifted us off into the sky and soon our visibility was obscured by the feathery blanket of white.

Moments later, the motor suddenly stopped. She and I hung suspended high above the ground as the wind rocked our car from side to side as though it were a child's bassinet. We suddenly occupied an imaginary world that was like a snow globe: surreal but strangely peaceful. We weren't afraid. Then Natalie reached for my hand, put her head on my shoulder, and proceeded to sing Randy Newman's "I Think it's Going to Rain Today" in its entirety.

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"Bright before me the signs implore me

To help the needy and show them the way..."

Flash forward to the early morning hours of New Year's Day 2016, when I heard the news that Natalie had died. Such was the power of her life force that although I had watched her battle an almost absurd number of health setbacks in recent years, it never consciously occurred to me that she wouldn't bounce back. The friendship we shared for 12 years was without precedent in my life, rooted in a shared passion for music. Outside of her beloved family and her faith, which was so strong, nothing made Natalie happier than to find a new song, to make an old song new, or to talk about the art of singing.

As both a bridge back to her father Nat King Cole's generation as well as a peerless artist in her own right, Natalie crossed racial, genre, and generational lines. She seemed to have a story or insight into almost any musician or song you could name. Our favorite thing to do together was to stay up late watching YouTube videos of artists new and old. We compared notes and shared ideas. From Frank Sinatra to Bruno Mars, Pearl Bailey to Adele, she offered perspective with the enthusiasm of a student, the knowledge of a teacher, and the wonderment of a child.

To the world she was Natalie Cole, but to her friends and family, she was just "Sweetie." Toward her peers she was supportive and effusive, radiating the warmth and admiration of a savvy fangirl about female vocalists we all know by their first names: Anita, Gladys, Patti, Dionne, Diana, Barbra, Whitney, Bette, Chaka, Mariah, Donna, and, of course, Aretha, (whose wholehearted approbation after Natalie's death would have been deeply meaningful to her.)

Most of them were true friends whose work she championed. She was less generous to vocalists who didn't have real chops or who relied on Auto-tune or histrionics. "What is with these kids?" she would say. "You riff to make a musical point, it should never be the point, because that ain't sayin' nothin except 'look at me!'" Then she'd break into a huge laugh, filling the room with warmth.

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Natalie was the most egalitarian person I ever met. It was not uncommon for her to attend a socialite's luncheon in Beverly Hills and then scoop me up to go buy monkey bread off the back porch of some old woman in East L.A. She enjoyed the finer things in life but felt right at home in the hood. Perhaps she felt protected by the goodwill she felt wherever she went and by her incredibly diverse group of friends. She was loyal.

When the music business -- in which I had toiled for years -- imploded in the 2000s and I was scrambling to reinvent myself as a writer, Natalie was one of a small handful of industry friends whose support never wavered. Though she was in many ways American musical royalty, she was always real. Descriptions of Natalie typically include the word "class."

Her approach to her craft combined the concentration and organizational skills of an academic with the improvisational abilities of the great jazz vocalist that she was. Her skills were layered and complex: musician, teacher, historian, shaman, therapist, minister. These qualities were all evident on the night when Natalie and Chaka Khan recorded a duet of "(If You Can't Sing It) You'll Have to Swing It (Mr. Paganini)" for an Ella Fitzgerald tribute album. I watched with astonishment as Natalie, who of course had known the song forever, taught it to Chaka, who had not.

For two hours, Natalie went over the melody line with Chaka, whose process was more instinctive. Natalie sang "the concert was over in Carnegie Hall, the maestro took bow after bow" and Chaka sang it back, Natalie patiently making adjustments and offering encouragement until each note was right. I knew I was watching greatness as Natalie slowly and lovingly worked with her musical sister to create shape, form and color. By the time of the recording, the partnering was electric.

The first time Natalie and I had ever met was at the Warner Music Group afterparty at the 1992 Grammy Awards, when her album Unforgettable...With Lovehad won a number of trophies. I was working for Time Warner Chairmen Steve Ross and Jerry Levin, and it was Mr. Levin who introduced me to Natalie in the restaurants underneath Rockefeller Center. I can still recall Natalie standing in the center of the room, regal but approachable, the calm eye in a swarm of well-wishers.

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Our meeting was brief. We bonded a few years later at the bridal shower for Liza Minnelli's wedding to David Gest. I felt lucky to hear Natalie and Donna Summer sing duets for Liza. From then on, Natalie and I shared no end of memorable moments. I was there at the Vegas show when Natalie, in the middle of her top-ten hit "Pink Cadillac," fell on her ass and literally bounced right back up like she was on a trampoline, finishing the song without missing a word. We laughed about that for years.

In 2009, she invited me to the Hollywood Bowl for the first concert she gave after her kidney transplant. Natalie swept onto the stage in a flowing purple gown and proceeded to give one of her most powerful and emotionally charged performances. A fan would scream, "I love you Natalie," and she would smile and say, "I love you more!"

Our relationship was also professional. After 20 years of striving to get somewhere in the record business, I finally got a break, from Natalie. For years she had focused on making fine orchestral albums of standards; I had suggested she return to her R&B roots by recording an intimate, classic soul CD with a small group of sidemen and simple production. In 2005, she and I were joint executive producers of her Verve album Leavin'.



Natalie recording "Leavin'" in 2005. Her work ethic, sense of play, and far-reaching skill made her an absolute joy in the studio. Working with her was like taking a master class in singing. Photo by David Munk.

The sessions were held in Atlanta. The repertoire was eclectic. She reinvented Sting's "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You" as a mediation on her religious beliefs, creatively interpolating the Beatitudes. Neil Young's "Old Man" became a personal rumination on her father. She remade the Isley Brothers' "Don't Say Goodnight" as a slow jam for the ladies. It was one of her most sensual recordings ever. The album wasn't one of her biggest sellers but it did earn her a Grammy nomination, for her cover of the Aretha Franklin hit "Day Dreaming."

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As recently as September, Natalie was full of plans. She shared with me her hope of making a country-soul record in Memphis; she also spoke of doing a piano-voice album and of recording in Spanish, as she had before. Natalie often signed her notes and letters: "See you in the music."

She often told me that she liked to sing "with a smile in my voice." Not long before she died, she mentioned what she wanted her epitaph to be. She captured herself with impressive economy: "Natalie Cole: the daughter of a king, the mother of a prince, a friend to all."

I'm lucky that the "all" included me.
This is the age of technology and the world has changed a lot since I was born. My father (Robert Newsom) was a technologist for AT&T before most people had even heard of computers. He managed a computer that was the size of two city blocks in Jacksonville, Florida. From time to time, my brother and sisters and I would go to work with him. He worked evenings and we would walk around the rows and rows of flashing lights and small black and white displays of text.

He had to have the newest technology, the highest amount storage, and slickest interfaces. We often made fun of him about his love of technology. My father taught us that technology was exciting and that it could change lives, and he encouraged my siblings and myself to learn as much as possible about technology. Most of my large family followed in his footsteps and are in technical careers.

My love for technology took me into the banking industry and I learned to program some of these computers. It was fun following in my dad's footsteps and talking about programming with my Dad.

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Caption: Robert (Bob) Newsom

I also married a technologist. We were blessed with two children, a daughter (Sara) and son (Kevin). Our daughter, Sara, was born with Down syndrome. My family often talked about what technology would mean for her future. My dad was the first person to teach me about the digital divide. He explained that society had an obligation to all of her citizens to ensure everyone had access to ICT.

When Sara and Kevin entered middle school - my husband and I worried about

her employment options. We knew her employment options were going to be dismal compared to the opportunities her brother would have in the workforce.



Caption: Sara and Kevin Ruh

We wanted to give our daughter more employment options and join the global efforts to reduce the digital divide. In 2001, I created a small technology firm called TecAccess. We helped companies, agencies, universities and nonprofits create, build and maintain ICT products and services that were compliant to Section 508. Our focus was to assure that ICT was accessible to everyone including persons with disabilities. I merged that firm with another technology firm named SSB BART Group in 2011.

During my tenure as CEO of TecAccess - I saw a disturbing trend with companies trying to make their ICT accessible and keep it compliant with Section 508 of The Rehabilitation Act. We would help them make their website, applications, services or products accessible. Then within months or on the next release or version update they would kick themselves out of compliance.

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Why? Accessibility had not been built into the processes and blended into the DNA of the organization. Here are a few mistakes that we saw organizations make over and over again:

The organization would not create a compliance and accessibility roadmap, no success criteria, no measurements, and no ongoing testing or Quality Control.

We would provide ICT accessibility or Section 508 Compliance training to a team once. Accessibility training would not be ongoing or blended into new hire training.

The only department engaged in the effort would be IT, instead of engaging all of the departments that are impacted. (i.e. HR, Marketing, Product Development, Procurement, Management and more)

The organization would not add procurement requirement language so they procured inaccessible products and services.

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The organization only focused on outward facing websites, overlooking other parts of their site like career sites and HR systems. They forgot to make their internal systems accessible, so employees also lost and retention problems were created. Remember according to National Organization on Disabilities (NOD), 80% of disabilities are acquired after birth.

Usually these organizations had one strong accessibility champion in the firm, and if that person retired or moved to another organization the accessibility program would diminish or disappear.

A few years ago, I started hearing about tools that could produce an accessibility overlay on a website to ensure access for all. I was skeptical and worried that some technologists and corporations might use these tools as a shortcut and not build accessibility into the DNA of their products, sites, tools, and services. My fears were actually realized in a few cases when a few corporations adopted tools that claimed they would make their website accessible and then later learned the websites were not accessible despite the tool.

I worked with multi-national corporations, organizations and countries helping them create policies, programs, and services that are accessible to everyone. These entities want to ensure that everyone has access to their services, products and that their employees also have access. In the late nineties, Frances West, Chief Accessibility Officer at IBM, gave a presentation stating that IBM had three priorities in all internal and external ICT development:

1.Privacy

2.Security

3.Accessibility

I was excited to see a multi-national leader announce their intention to ensure access for all. Over the years, they have proven that ICT can blend privacy, security and accessibility into the DNA of the product, tools, and service.

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Other technology giants have joined the conversation and their efforts are helping everyone. We also learned that when a website, software application, app, tool, game or other types of the Internet, Communications and Technology (ICT) is made accessible everyone benefits. Accessibility supports persons with disabilities but also helps novice ICT users, non-native language speakers, senior citizens, and persons with neurodiversity like dyslexia.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that globally 1 in 7 persons have a disability, 1 billion people or about 15% of the population. These numbers will continue to grow for many reasons especially due to aging societies. Think about the implications - would you want to build a system that 15% of your customers could not access?

Countries all over the world have joined the accessibility and digital divide efforts to ensure inclusive education, employment, transportation and ICT for everyone. Each country is trying to solve these issues in ways that best support their citizens and culture. One way is by trying to understand the impact and solutions to the problem. Many countries feel that legislation, policies, and training can help everyone get on the same page. A great example is the United Nations Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). To date over 160 countries have signed the CRPD.

Some countries like the United States have also been litigating when ICT is not accessible for everyone. Someone recently asked me a question during #AXSChat; "Do you think the US could have made progress without legislation and litigation?" My answer was NO. I wish that it could have been a different answer but the US made little progress with disability inclusion and accessibility until we legislated it and began to use our legal system to litigate. These legislative and ligation efforts helped other countries because as the US demanded accessibility and inclusion through our legal channels products became more accessible globally. Should other countries follow this path? I think each country should decide the best path for their citizens but we must do a better job including persons with disabilities in every aspect of society.

The community of persons with disabilities has been educating public and private entities for years about the business case and positive Return on Investment (ROI) of Inclusion and accessibility. Until the US legislated and started litigating over disability inclusion and accessibility we made little to no progress. It is important to note that the United States celebrated the 25th year anniversary of The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 2015. I do not believe we would have seen progress without that legislation and people with disabilities demanding access in the United States via our legal channels.

The problem is that ICT accessibility can be confusing and tricky to implement into the DNA of an organization. It is not impossible but it is tricky. Consider a website with millions of pages of data, tables, videos, PDFs, audio and many other objects being accessed via computers, tablets, and mobile devices. Many websites are now created in multiple languages. So how do you build accessibility into the DNA of your website? Can the accessibility overlay tools help or will they create problems by giving organizations a false sense of security?



These tools have gotten more sophisticated over the last few years. Some of these tools now appear to have become robust enough to become part of an organizations accessibility roadmap and plan. Can (Should) an organization use these tools to create a layer of accessibility-focused on the client experience?

Many fear that organizations will simply use these tools and then not take the time to blend accessibility standards into the DNA of their technology solutions? Maybe. And if that happens, I believe the community of persons with disabilities should and will continue to fight for their rights via legislative and litigation channels.

I also believe that these tools could help an organization by reducing their risk, creating better customer experiences while doing the work to build accessibility into the DNA of their enterprises.

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So let's explore these tools. I asked some of the tools in the marketplace to provide information about their solutions. I also asked them if they felt their tools solved the compliance and accessibility issues? Without fail, each of these firms told me their tools allow their clients to create more accessible client experiences but they are not a shortcut to compliance. Instead, can these tools can help a website become more accessible while the organization builds accessibility into their core processes.

AiSquared (www.sitecues.com)

Sitecues from AiSquared is a tool that focuses on helping web users who are sometimes left out, even by accessible websites. In the US, 1 in 4 computer users have a mild to severe visual difficulty or impairment and their needs vary. With Sitecues you can expand your website's reach to those individuals. For example, many web users who have minor vision or cognitive impairments often struggle to read small fonts, to make sense of paragraphs of text, or even to find their cursor on the screen. Though these usability issues are well-known, these types of issues are not generally the focus of website accessibility work. Websites that follow good accessibility practices often fail to address these types of web users. This is where sitecues comes in and extends the benefits of web accessibility to more people.

Sitecues is a software-as-a-service technology that can make any website more accessible and usable. When sitecues is added to a website, it gives website visitors the option to customize the website to meet their individual needs. In this way, websites are made more accessible for individuals with different needs -- such as age-related vision loss, learning disabilities, or low literacy.

The designers of Sitecues have thought carefully about the people they are trying to help. All of the user controls are easy to see, easy to understand at first glance, and easy to use through the mouse and keyboard. There are only a few controls, but these controls give users a wide range of ways to see and interact with the website they are visiting. Web users can magnify the page, hear text read aloud, see text in a reformatted reading box, or change color themes.

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"Many of our customers are looking to take their website accessibility one step further. They want to go beyond WCAG and create a website user experience that is low vision friendly and senior friendly." Marc Zablatsky, VP and General Manager of Sitecues

Adding Sitecues is a highly visible statement of an organization's commitment to accessibility. This is an important benefit and something that is often hard to achieve with other types of web accessibility work. Sitecues sits on the main webpage where it can be seen by anyone who visits the webpage, whether they have a disability, use an alternative access device for assistive technology, or not. In this way, Sitecues is highly inclusive - - exposing new members, customers, employees to accessibility. Sitecues may even be a way to engage other groups within a large organization - such as marketing - in a discussion on accessibility. Learn more at: www.Sitecues.com

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SSB BART Group (www.ssbbartgroup.com)

SSB BART Group is a global ICT Accessibility Solutions provider located in the Untied States and their tool is called Alchemy.

Why Alchemy?

The accessibility testing and remediation process can be complicated. Even with software that guides developers and testers through the testing process, they will still need to figure out how to resolve the issues that are found. Furthermore, testing can take a lot of time. Even with automated testing, users will frequently need to sift through thousands of violations on hundreds of pages or more. Alchemy addresses these issues.

"In today's information society websites and applications are updated constantly, making it difficult for accessibility initiatives to keep up with change. Alchemy makes it easy for organizations to streamline their accessibility testing and remediation process, minimizing the time and resources required to gain and maintain compliance with accessibility laws and standards." Tim Springer, CEO of SSB BART Group

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Alchemy Overview

Alchemy is a browser-based accessibility testing tool that allows developers and testers to test web pages for accessibility and resolve instances of accessibility violations in context, directly within the browser. Testers can install the plugin in any of the most commonly-used browsers -- Chrome, Firefox or Internet Explorer -- and launch the plugin when viewing any page in a website or application. The plugin instantly tests the page, finding all violations that can be tested automatically in fractions of a second.

Testers can view each violation and determine the status of the instance. Testing results and notes are saved to reports in SSB's Accessibility Management Platform (AMP). In addition to recording instances and notes on their resolution, Alchemy allows testers to resolve many of the most common and highest priority accessibility issues with no development time. Alchemy provides the testers with easy to complete forms in which they provide the information, such as labels or alternative text, needed by the tool to fix the issue.

Alchemy also supports manual testing, a critical step to achieving compliance. Alchemy guides testers through the testing steps to validate each page against each accessibility Best Practice and allows testers to easily add violations that are found to their testing report.

Streamlining Testing and Fixing

A primary goal of Alchemy is to streamline the testing and fixing process. How is this done? When pages are tested, Alchemy evaluates each violation instance and recognizes the characteristics of the element that make it unique. Elements are tagged with a "signature" so they can be identified by the tool in the future. When a component is reused on multiple pages, Alchemy recognizes that elements match signatures for previously-resolved issues and automatically deploys the resolution, with no additional work by the tester. This means violations need only be reviewed and resolved once and the resolution is applied to all other instances of the same component. Learn more at: www.ssbbartgroup.com

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User1st (www.user1st.com)

User1st is an Israeli-based company with offices in the United States.

User1st's Accessibility Suite is an overlay solution that detects and fixes accessibility issues across a variety of websites ranging from international brands, financial institutions, and governments.



User1st replaces many of the current methods being used to achieve web accessibility. Today, most attempts to address web accessibility include the ongoing training and maintenance effort of multiple teams--design, UX, UI, client-side IT and developers, project and product managers, QA engineers and content editors. User1st manages to offer a simple, one-stop solution to today's most pressing accessibility needs at the fraction of the cost and time.

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"As innovators, we try to think out of the box, to change the way everyone is accustom to do things. Finding ways to save time and money for companies eventually will make accessibility a commodity that even Mom and Pop websites will be able to have for few dollars. This is why we will have to learn and we do every day, from the market, from our clients, their clients as well educate us. Our goals are to assure that accessibility will be pushed to the front of the stage, instead of staying invisible, as it is today." Amihai Miron, CEO of User1st



User1st's Suite includes:



1. A Client-side engine which automatically corrects accessibility errors in the code and content of the website for disabled users. To use this tool, a few simple lines of code need to be added to your website. The end user can then choose from a number of predetermined "accessibility skins," that overlay the website according to the particular needs of the user, or they can create their own accessibility skin based on their preferences/needs.

2. An accessibility-content manager helps the website manager to configure the Client-side engine, achieving HTML code and HTML content compliance coverage, in accordance with WCAG 2.0 AA standards.

3. An accessibility-dashboard analysis system displays an up-to-date overview of the website's compliance coverage, which helps manage the ongoing accessibility for continuous updates and changes to your website design or content.

The three-year old company already has customer bases in Israel, Spain, and United States where current marketing efforts are focused. The User1st Accessibility Suite has 20 million users every month, who can select one of Accessibility Suite's web accessibility configuration. By the end of 2016, they are targeting 100 million users by expanding to Canada and the rest of Europe. User1st hopes to offer the accessibility customization platform free of charge in the future with premium services to support the effort, so the Internet can be accessible to as many persons with disabilities as possible.

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Learn more at: www.USER1st.com

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I have highlighted three products here to give my readers a flavor of the tools that are available, but there are other products on the market. I do not endorse one of these tools over the other but believe they can be an important addition to your accessibility efforts. I do recommend that corporations and organizations blend accessibility into the DNA of all offerings. These tools appear to be an effective way to assure accessible experiences for clients and employees with disabilities while also reducing risk to an organization while they update their processes, code their websites to be compliant to standards like W3C WCAG 2.0, and show that their brand cares about the customer's experience.

Have you used one of these tools? I would love to hear about your experiences. Please join us on twitter for #AXSChat each Tuesday at 3pmEST. My co-hosts Neil Milliken and Antonio Santos

would be honored to have you join us on #AXSChat (www.axschat.com). Your voice will add value to the global conversations about empowering persons with disabilities in the workforce, ICT Accessibility and full inclusion to society.
Do you know how the terms Hispano and Latino came about? It was a cruel invention of the U.S. Census Bureau. It was an act of pigeonholing people in order to feed with new fuel the evil fires of discrimination. The Office of Management and Budget defines "Hispanic or Latino" as "a person of Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin regardless of race." (emphasis mine.)

I belong to a generation when either term -- Latino, Hispanic -- was not current or in use. Hispanic, with the sense of Spanish-speaking person of Latin American descent, came into being circa 1972. Prior to that date Spanish-speaking people in the U.S. were simply called Spanish. Puerto Ricans, Mexicans, Venezuelans, Cubans, and others, were referred to as Spanish. To clear up the possible confusion, when I had to refer to my background -- having been born in Europe -- I used the term Spaniard, which made things clear and justified my being blond with blue eyes, without any further explanation.

In Pittsburgh, Scranton, Lancaster and other towns in Pennsylvania where I lived, speakers of Spanish were few, if not wholly nonexistent. Months would go by without hearing a word of Spanish.

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I remember when President Johnson welcomed the birth of a baby that turned the population to 200 million. It seems like yesterday, and today that population has surged to 325 million, I believe; many of them, 50 million, no less, originated south of the Grand River, or Rio Grande.



Back when I was a young immigrant studying in the U.S.  Delfin Carbonell

Today people from diverse nationalities, ethnic backgrounds, even cultural mindsets, culinary tastes, have been grouped together under the tag (slur?) of Hispanic or Latino, thanks to the evil-doings of the U.S. Census Bureau and the U.S. Office of Management and Budget. They have only one thing in common: the Spanish language, with the many variations in accents, vocabulary and idioms inherent to language in general. Instead of mentioning Cubans, Chileans, Argentineans or Mexicans, they are all placed in the bag of Hispanos, which feeds discrimination.

I have little in common with Hispanics, except that we share the same language and the same literature. I empathize with them because I know that being born in the States, in any of the states, and being labeled Hispanic is a sure passport to a second-class citizenship with plenty of hurdles to overcome. And what truly beats me is why the so-called Hispanos have never fought against that demeaning label because accepting such a term means that the self-styled Anglos call the shots and are superior. Nobody is superior to me, or to anybody else. It all reminds me of the times when the Chinese were forced to wear queues or Jews a yellow Star of David outlined in black.

Sorry, I am not Hispanic in the U.S. Census sense. I am on a first-name basis with American culture, language, customs and I can well understand that the daughters of the American Revolution see all these alien speakers of Spanish as a threat; a threat to the "American way of life," a threat to the English language, a threat to their comfortable life. It must be hard on their ego to read notices in a foreign language in public places, for example.

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History marches on and there is little we can do to redirect that march. I may protest that I am not a Hispanic and that I do not identify myself with that label but probably the best I can do is to sneak around and pretend I speak no Spanish and try to pass for an average Joe and hope for the best, in order to avoid discrimination.
Immigration reform activists protest with a sign reading 'Reform Not Raids.'

Dear International Students:

Welcome to America. There are nearly a million students of you enrolled at colleges and universities in this country contributing $30 billion to the U.S. economy. So it is important that you feel welcome.

Since adjusting to a new culture is always a challenge, here are some pointers that will help you understand this country and will make your stay here safer and more enjoyable.

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The most important thing to learn about America is its gun culture. Foreign observers often consider it a nationwide obsession since, with 88 guns for every 100 Americans, this country has more firearms than any other in history. With just five percent of the world's population, we have somewhere between a third and a half of all the firearms in the hands of civilians.

Some would say that if those remaining 12 Americans could be convinced to buy guns, everyone would be safer. That is not true, but like most things in American politics, the facts don't matter all that much. Even though research on the gun violence is officially suppressed and feared, there are studies that show the more guns there are in a state, the more violent crime it has.

The number of guns in this country is due to its history and culture. As European immigrants landed on the eastern shore of the United States, they spread westward in search of land to farm, buffalo to kill and other resources and recreation. They often encountered native Americans and Mexicans living in these areas, however, who had to be convinced to make the necessary real estate transfers at gunpoint. Since there is the possibility that the original owners will some day ask for that land back, Americans, including those who are on the terrorism watch list or have been recently released from mental institutions, need guns to protect their property.

While this history has led to a proliferation of small arms and the violence associated with them, there is really little risk to international students. The violence mainly consists of white men committing suicide and black men being shot by other black men or, of course, the police.

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Nonetheless, since having a gun around triples the chances for a homicide or suicide, for your personal safety, it would be a good idea not to go to school in certain states. For instance, the attorney general of Texas recently issued an opinion banned from dorms or classrooms. Given that binge drinking is to campus culture what apple pie is to America, having guns in residence halls filled with inebriated teenagers might not seem like a great idea.

Even stranger is the fact that there are college presidents, like the one at a small Baptist college in Virginia, who encourage their students to carry guns. Perhaps a concealed weapon is just his way of displaying his Christianity.

As these two examples demonstrate, the situation is complicated and varies not only from state to state, but from institution to institution. To determine the overall environment, check http://gunlawscorecard.org, which provides each state a letter grade on overall gun policy. It would appear to not be a very bright class as 33 of them received a "D" or an "F". It would be wiser to study in the 17 with passing grades.

How states treat guns on campus is not entirely consistent with the grade received for their overall policy, however. Conditions vary widely, but states fall into five general groups:

1.States that allow guns on campus. Since guns are usually carried in a concealed fashion, it will never be clear who is packing one, so these are the most dangerous states: Colorado, Idaho, and Utah.

2.Other states allow guns on campus, but let schools decide on limitations. Since such policies can easily be changed by court decisions and the opinion of an attorney general, these states should also be considered unsafe: Arkansas, Kansas, Mississippi, Oregon, Texas, and Wisconsin.

3.Some states allow guns to be kept in cars. Enroll in institutions in them only if you don't intend to drive, ride in a car or walk near a parking lot: Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma and South Carolina.

4.Many states provide no guidance and allow institutions to set their own rules. So check with each college you might want to attend in these states: Alabama, Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.

5.And let's not forget those few remaining states where guns on campus are prohibited by law and you will be relatively safer: Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Tennessee and Wyoming.

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A few other tips for avoiding problems while in America. If you approach, or are approached by, law enforcement officers, always do so with your hands up and ask a friend to video the encounter. And finally don't go near any borders or it will be assumed that you entered illegally.
Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Carly Fiorina, Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul take the stage during the CNN Republican presidential debate at the Venetian Hotel & Casino on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

Every Republican wants to be Ronald Reagan reincarnated. At least that's what the candidates all say. But the 40th president probably wouldn't feel comfortable running in the current field. On foreign policy, at least, the contenders appear to be about as unReaganlike as possible.

First, he'd have a good laugh at all the fear-mongering. For instance, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declared: "I don't believe that I have ever lived in a time in my life when the world was a more dangerous and scary place." Reagan lived through World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Cold War. He likely would explain that never in its history has America been as secure from existential and even substantial threats.

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Reagan almost certainly would see Russia as a challenge more than a threat like the Soviet Union. He would recognize that China was well behind America with many problems to overcome. He certainly would appreciate how far America's Asian and European allies had come over the last quarter century, which gives them the wherewithal to act in their own defense. And he'd dismiss with a joke presidential wannabes who acted as if the U.S. was a poor Third World state which had to cower before such behemoths as Iran and the Islamic State.

Second, Reagan likely would be skeptical of the GOP mantra of more military spending, always more military spending, as an answer to invisible, unnamed threats. Reagan sought more Pentagon dollars because he feared America was behind the Soviet Union, an aggressive global antagonist. Today the U.S. is ahead of everyone, accounting for 40 or more percent of the entire globe's military outlays. Add to that the spending by America's Asian and European allies and China and Russia don't look very impressive.

Certainly he would insist on hearing a persuasive rather than conclusory argument why more money was necessary to bolster U.S. security. He would recognize as silly contentions like that from Jeb Bush that percentage of GDP is "way lower than our historical average." Not only have big threats disappeared, but America's economy today is much larger, so every percentage spent delivers far more resources. Reagan likely would find the entire discussion a bit, well, "liberal" in the sense of assuming that more dollars spent is the only way to deliver more security.

Third, Reagan would insist on talking and even negotiating with adversarial regimes, especially that in Tehran. He did so with the worst of the Soviet leaders, the colorlessly repressive Leonid Brezhnev and stylishly brutal Yuri Andropov. Shortly after taking office Reagan advocated "meaningful and constructive dialogue." He never attempted to use that strength to "roll back" communism, making him an "appeaser" like Dwight Eisenhower, who did not back protestors in East Germany or Hungary, and Lyndon Johnson, who stood by as the Warsaw Pact forcibly ended Czechoslovakia's "Prague Spring."

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In fact, one reason Reagan pushed a military build-up was to allow America to negotiate from a position of strength. Which Washington certainly can do now. Not only does the U.S. enjoy overwhelming military advantages compared to Iran. So do Israel and Saudi Arabia, both aligned with America.

Moreover, the ultimate anti-communist understood the importance of people. He dropped the label "evil empire" for the U.S.S.R. once Mikhail Gorbachev took control in the Soviet Union. Reagan recognized that the new head of the Soviet Communist Party was, as Margaret Thatcher observed, someone with whom he could "do business." Gorbachev later observed that Reagan "was looking for negotiations and cooperation." All this peace talk led Norman Podhoretz, the neocon editor of Commentary, to denounce Reagan--Ronald Reagan, who sits atop the conservative pantheon--for "appeasement by any other name." A similar personality shift occurred in Iran when Hassan Rouhani succeeded Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Reagan almost certainly would have explored the willingness of Tehran to make a deal.

Fourth, Reagan was horrified by the prospect of war. That is what animated his commitment to missile defense. He didn't want to live in a world where the only response to a Soviet nuclear strike would be to incinerate millions of Russians in turn. In contrast, most of the Republican presidential candidates seem to believe that breathing threats and proclaiming toughness are essential elements of manhood. They must gear up for debates by doing the Maori Haka, hoping to prove that they are more warlike than their neighbors. Reagan wanted to be prepared to do what was necessary, but he fervently hoped never to have to do it.

In fact, once elected he seldom used the military. He preferred to rely on proxies when possible, as in Afghanistan and Nicaragua. Twice he employed the armed services in narrow operations--to retaliate for a Libyan terrorist attack on Americans in Berlin and overthrow the crazy communists who had ousted the normal Communists in Grenada, where U.S. medical students were potentially at risk. The third instance was the misbegotten intervention in the Lebanese civil war, which turned American personnel into targets. He then recognized that he had made a great mistake and withdrew U.S. forces. Again, the neoconservatives were horrified: Reagan didn't double down to occupy and transform the country. The ever-truculent Podhoretz complained that Reagan had "cut and run."

Fifth, the latter probably would have fewer delusions about past policies. Having backed the Mujahedeen against the Soviet Union, he almost certainly would not have devoted American lives and money in a forlorn attempt to create a new liberal and centralized Afghanistan. Reagan certainly would have recognized that Iraq had turned into a disaster. As a fervent advocate of freedom, he likely would not have been surprised that local insurgents were willing to resist the world's most powerful nation.

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And while he would not have been impressed by the competence of President Barack Obama's foreign policy team--who could be?--Reagan would realize that it was Dubya who really squandered the Reagan legacy. Only when George W. Bush shifted course, rejecting the unreflexive hawkishness of Richard Cheney and others did Bush finally start exhibiting the sort of, yes, nuance which highlighted Reagan's policies. That is a characteristic completely lacking in the current "bomb 'em, invade 'em, occupy 'em" GOP crowd, other than Rand Paul and, surprisingly, Donald Trump.

Ronald Reagan lived in a different time, so it isn't easy to superimpose him on today's Republican presidential race. But he almost certainly would not be advocating what leading conservatives now claim to be a Reaganesque policy. His competitors would be denouncing him as a wimpy appeaser, a naif enthused with negotiation, a president far too reluctant to use America's "superb military," as Madeleine Albright charged of Colin Powell. The bloggers, columnists, talk radio hosts, and Fox News would be piling on. And come the first primaries he'd likely end up as political road kill.
The University of Maine recently announced that it would start charging qualified students from Massachusetts the same tuition and fees that they would pay to attend the University of Massachusetts' flagship campus at Amherst.

For nonresidents, this represents a savings of about $15,000 off the comprehensive fee's sticker price for Massachusetts residents. The offer also extends to other students from other states, including Connecticut, New Hampshire and Vermont.

In late December, the Boston Globe editorialized that this approach was good for the region. The Globe's editors argued that the value of the program exceeded the benefit offered to individual students. The newspaper suggested that it might spur the University of Massachusetts to offer similar price breaks and expand opportunities from throughout the region for students to apply to majors and specialty programs not available where they live.

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Finally, the Globe asserted that it fulfilled the Massachusetts State Department of Higher Education's mandate to " provide accessible, affordable, relevant, and rigorous programs that adapt to meet changing individual and societal needs for education and employment."

Of course, there are a number of ways to promote regionalization that also increase access and choice. One approach is to allow student aid to move with the student out-of-state if a students elects to attend a college or university beyond the state boundaries.

For states like Vermont and Pennsylvania with generous student grant programs, this seems like an especially attractive alternative. Let the students take the money with them. If the programs are of quality and the goal is to produce educated and employable graduates, there is not much downside to this strategy.

The problem in Massachusetts, unfortunately, is that state support is directed toward institutions and not students. The second problem is while Massachusetts has a disproportionate share - a kind of embarrassment of riches - of elite colleges like Wellesley, Williams, and Amherst and distinguished global universities like MIT and Harvard - its willingness to support students, under-endowed private institutions, and its public colleges and universities is legendary throughout the rest of the country.

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As such, the Globe's position leaves many of us scratching our heads over how thoughtful editorialists could fail so brilliantly at understanding how higher education works, whether for the better or worse.

It seems more likely that the efforts by the University of Maine reflect the miserable demographics that its public colleges and universities face. While the Massachusetts Department of Education does have a mandate to provide accessible, affordable education, its mandate extends only to the citizens that it serves. This mandate does not extend to students from throughout New England whose states have similar mandates to benefit their own citizens.

The taxpayers subsidize the Commonwealth's public colleges and universities. Massachusetts' taxpayers should not be expected to extend these tax benefits to out-of-state students, especially if the quality of a college and university education in Massachusetts exceeds that available in other states.

As such, the Globe should not confuse experimentation and lower tuition prices for what is really happening. Maine is extending this benefit because it cannot fill its seats.

In the higher education community, this is tantamount to poaching - or aggressive marketing - depending upon who is spinning it.

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If New England needs more experimentation in tuition pricing, then the solution must be comprehensive and cross state lines. It should not be a reactive policy designed to offset an aggressive marketing strategy in Maine. Indeed, Massachusetts should look at the sources and uses of its current funding first to set a better policy in place.

If it does, taxpayers and consumers might discover that the difficulties associated with the current incremental and politicized higher education funding strategy cuts across several political administrations. The problem is not that Massachusetts higher education leaders are slow to react to Maine's marketing ploy but that higher education is treated not as a funding priority but as a low priority in the state's limited discretionary spending capacity in each budget cycle.

If Massachusetts is serious about funding higher education, it must consider the following:

How can the "eds and meds" capital of the country keep its best graduates and attract others from out-of-state if it fails to provide basic, sustainable funding for public higher education that better supports a comprehensive list of differentiated programs and degrees to fuel the state's economy and support a well-educated citizenry?

How can it de-link MIT and Williams and their level of endowment support from the rest of private higher education to encourage access and choice for in-state students through a generous student grant program at under-endowed private colleges?

How can it support community colleges through better base funding and link the graduation of two-year students to four-year colleges by offering additional transfer support to these students?

The last thing that New England needs is a sticker price war among state higher education sectors. It is far more important that each state establish the value of higher education within its funding priorities, imagine the best way to provide ongoing and innovative support, and keep their eyes on the prize - well educated and employable graduates. Fix the problems at home first.
Two monks were walking slowly across the hills of Sri Lanka, trying to reach their monastery before the beginning of the rainy season. They've been walking for weeks and spent the nights in the homes of strangers along the way.

One evening, they knocked on the door of a rich and powerful man but most feared in that village and asked if they could spend the night in his house. The man was angry to hear their request but having to obey the ancient tradition of offering strangers housing for the night, the man opened the door to his cellar and locked them in there without any food or water. The two monks went to sleep. A few hours before dawn, the young monk woke up and saw his friend fixing the roof of the cellar. "What are you doing?" he asked the old monk. "After the way this man treated us, you're fixing his roof?" The old monk smiled kindly and said: "Things are not always as they seem, my brother."

In the morning, the two monks thanked their host for his hospitality and continued their journey.



At nightfall, they knocked on the door of a very poor man that lived with his young daughter in the middle of nowhere. The man welcomed the two monks in his home, and asked his child to prepare the best meal for their visitors. His wife had died only a few months before and his child was all he had. They lived in a shack and had only one room. The man offered his guests their only bed and slept on the floor. But a few hours before dawn, the young monk opened his eyes and saw the old monk walking in front of the house, without anyone else hearing him. At sunrise, the young monk stepped outside and saw the host and his child crying desperately, on their knees. Their cow -- their only possession -- had died during the night.

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The young monk was furious and went to the old monk to confront him: "Last night, I saw you sneaking outside in the dark. What did you do? Why have you done this? Yesterday you fixed the roof of that man's cellar after he locked us there for the night without food or water, and now... Why did you do this to this poor family? They were so kind and generous to us, why did you do this?"

The old monk dropped his eyes to the ground and spoke: "Things are not always as they seem, my brother. Yesterday, I opened my eyes and saw gold hidden in the roof of the cellar. I took a piece of wood and hid the gold so that the owner of the house will never find it. Last night, I walked outside because I saw the Angel of Death coming to take this child. I didn't allow him to enter this house and take the girl, so he took the cow instead. Things are not always as they seem."

When you go in the pursuit of your dreams,

your kindness and your generosity to others will be rewarded manifold,

in ways you will not know or even understand.

When you go in the pursuit of your dreams,

the Power that created this Universe and holds the stars in the sky

will walk with you and protect you in ways you don't even imagine.

Even in your darkest hour, remember:

Things are not always as they seem.

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Your friend,

Dr. Dragos
This Holiday season marks the anniversary of two significant events in Caribbean and African Diaspora history; the revolt of Sam Sharpe in Jamaica which began on December 25, 1831 and the independence of Haiti which was declared on January 1, 1804. Why these events are of historical relevance to people of African descent is that they represent the struggle for freedom on the part of enslaved Africans. Very often the historical narratives of slavery that are presented neglect the African role in liberating themselves from the chains of slavery.

This is a topic that is of personal interest for me since my experience of learning about slavery in high school gave me the impression that, with the exception of a few instances of resistance against slavery, Africans only achieved their freedom due to the good will of white people. I was given the story of Abraham Lincoln the great Emancipation, knowing relatively little of the roles that former slaves such as Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman played in the abolition of slavery in the United States and Martin Delany, who is often dubbed the Father of Black Nationalism, was never mentioned at all in class. The discussion on the abolition of slavery in the Caribbean was even shallower. This merely consisted of watching a biopic on William Wilberforce and of course there was nothing said in class about the role that the abolitionist Olaudah Equiano played in abolishing slavery in the British West Indies.

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The Guyanese writer and political activist Eusi Kwayana once explained, "There is no emancipation that is not self-emancipation." The Africans that were enslaved on the plantations of the Americas understood this well. They rose up and fought for their own emancipation. The Haitian Revolution, which began on 1794, resulted in the liberation of the Haitian people from their French slavers. Afterwards Haiti became a symbol of freedom in the eyes of many enslaved African people throughout the Americas. Julien Fedon, a mixed race man who led a revolt against slavery of his own in Grenada, is said to have stated that his goal was to make Grenada into a black republic like Haiti. Denmark Vesey, who organized a failed plot in South Carolina, was also inspired by the revolt in Haiti.

The uprising that was led by Sam Sharpe was not an immediate success. Unlike the Haitian revolt, Sharpe's uprising was meant to be a non-violent one. Sharpe's plan was that the slaves in Jamaica would go on strike. They would refuse to work the plantations until they were given their freedom from slavery and given a wage for their labor. These plans went awry as some of the slaves resorted to violence, which was not Sharpe's original intent. This forced the colonial government to suppress Share's strike using violent force. Despite expressing regret that his revolt resulted in the loss of life, Sharpe was unapologetic about demanding the freedom of his people.

Although the uprising failed and Sharpe was executed, the revolt caused the British to abolish slavery much earlier than they had originally intended to do. Sharpe's revolt was the largest of a series of slave revolts that occurred in the British West Indies throughout the 1800s. This included an 1816 revolt led by Bussa in Barbados, an 1823 revolt in British Guiana led by Jack Gladstone, and an insurrection in 1831 by slaves in Antigua. The Trinidadian historian Eric Williams noted that by 1833 the British government only had two alternatives when it came to slavery in the Caribbean, "emancipation from above, or emancipation from below." Rather than risking a repeat of the Haitian Revolution, the British opted for emancipation from above. Many of the British abolitionists, including Wilberforce, favored a gradual approach to emancipation which the slaves themselves demonstrated little patience for.

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I first met Coda many, many years ago. But of course, it seems like last week. He has a dominant presence that exudes a calm strength. Back then his hair was thick and he had eyebrows that would make Cara Delevigne jealous. Beyond his good looks, he has a "man's man" aura which makes you feel protected when Coda is around. He is a man's man that also has an incredible talent for decorating, cooking and presentation.

This is the man I came to know for many years but a few years ago cancer crept in to change his journey. He is my best friend's husband and we live in different cities so I have not been front row to his challenge. I know that he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer which was treated, returned and now treated again. He has been cleared with a good bill of health and on the mend but maintains a matter of fact attitude.

I am spending a few days with him for NYE 2016 and I want to know a little more...

EP: For me and the reader can you give me a quick run down of what has happened from the first diagnosis until now?

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CR: June 2012, I was diagnosed with stage 3 pancreatic cancer and prior to that I had been having intestinal/stomach issues. I was concerned because 2 friends died from a rare liver cancer. Due to my wilder younger years; I was concerned about my liver. I asked my regular doctor to check out my liver functions. I had my MRI on a Wednesday and he called me on Friday to schedule a meeting early Monday... never a good sign. That's when I found out I didn't have liver cancer but pancreatic cancer.

Pancreatic is generally a death sentence; I have never known anyone to live past 9 months of diagnosis. He told me to go home and get my things in order. That is when I met Dr. Jeff Paonessa and fortunately, he had a great reputation. At the time, I was overweight which was a blessing because the therapy that was prescribed guaranteed weight loss and some people could not handle it.

After about 4 months of treatment -- much to everyone's shock -- I was in full remission. This however was followed by a side effect of eating a hole in my intestines which caused me to go septic.

After an induced coma and the doctor's advising my partner that I wasn't going to make it, they released me within a week and I was cooking Thanksgiving Dinner. In Boston, later that March, there was a surgery to remove the tumors and radiate my insides.

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For 2 years, I lived cancer-free but still managed the side effects from the chemotherapy. August 2015, during routine blood work my cancer markers spiked and we discovered the cancer had moved into my liver. Immediately started back on aggressive chemo until this December and recently found out the cancer is under control. Basically, I've beat pancreatic cancer twice.

EP: I have always thought of you as a strong, determined goal achiever and not a fighter. How did you approach this mentally and do you think "fighter" is a good term for what you have achieved?

CR" I was raised by two extremely optimistic people; because of that upbringing... I was able to positive. There were two parts to this though: in one way I was relieved to think about death as a positive but there were still things I wanted to accomplish. I wasn't ready to leave the people (and my dogs!) that I love.

Coda, step mother, father and husband

EP: As a gay male going through a public physical transformation have you learned anything about outside appearance and our culture?

CR: NO. When I lost my eyebrows; I lost a defining feature. This didn't bother me though because I enjoyed the reactions. There's a side of me that enjoys shocking people. There was a lot of positive reinforcement about my weight loss which I loved.

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EP: I love the quote recently where Carrie Fischer calls her body a brain bag. How has this changed your view on your body? What has been interesting to observe?

CR: Most of my life, I was thin so being thin again has been great. Which is a paradox because being overweight is probably what saved my life.

EP: From your experience, is there any advice you can give to people trying to support someone going through a similar journey?

CR: You want people to understand what you are going through emotionally and physically. So you ask for patience.

EP: Did you have dark moments and what pulled you through? Did you have signs or feel a draw towards anything spiritual?

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CR: I definitely had dark times where I wanted it to hurry up and end. What pulled me through was my dog (and my husband of course, lol). I do feel that I have spirits watching over me.

EP: Donna Karan talks about focusing on the person and not the disease...have you ever felt overshadowed by the disease?

CR: It's like when someone points out a car and then everywhere you go there is that car. Suddenly cancer seems to be everywhere. If you want to kill someone on TV you give them pancreatic cancer. I use cancer for my benefit...people tend to cut a break when they hear the word cancer or chemo.

EP: What moments have been the funniest; where do you find the humor?

CR: I tend to see the humor in stuff. Trading stories in the infusion room has been a place commorodity and raw honesty. Talking to others about shitting your pants is a bit of a laugh.

EP: We are both animal lovers so tell me a little about how pet companionship has influenced your journey...

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CR: It is one of the major reasons that I am still alive.

Coda, Dusty and Dewey

EP: Open mic! What do you want to say about what you have been through?

CR: It is one of the best experiences that I have ever gone through. I have been sick but I have learned a lot that I may not have learned otherwise.

EP: Lastly, what are you thankful for about this experience?

CR: It teaches you a new appreciation on life. Be thankful; be in the moment.
A study recently released by the USDA found that, "use of antibiotics for purposes other than disease treatment is associated with a 1- to 3-percent increase in productivity of a farm (not statistically distinguishable from no effect)."

In 2015, numerous food chains and food suppliers announced plans to purchase chicken raised without the use of antibiotics. Companies pledging this year to purchase antibiotic-free chicken include: Applegate, Chipotle, Elevation Burger, Panera, McDonalds and Costco.

Companies promising to purchase only antibiotic-free poultry did so, at least in part, in response to consumer interest. Consumer Reports found that about 20 percent of humans that fell sick due to antibiotic resistant bugs were infected from food. About 2 million Americans develop antibiotic resistant infections every year-- of those, about 23,000 die. As such, many savvy consumers prefer purchasing meat and poultry produced on antibiotic-free farms.

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Antibiotic resistance is a huge health challenge not just in the United States but around the world, according to the World Health Organization. Antibiotic resistance has multiple origins. Over use and improper use in human medicine is a problem.

Routine use of antibiotics in animal agriculture to increase growth and as a prophylactic measure to prevent disease in crowded conditions also contributes to antibiotic resistance. In fact, about 80 percent of antibiotics sold in the United States are used in meat and poultry farms.

The American Public Health Association recently determined, "resistant bacteria are transmitted to humans through direct contact with animals, by exposure to animal manure, through consumption of undercooked meat or surfaces meat has touched."

Indeed, half raw chicken sold contains antibiotic resistant bacteria.

As such, 25 public health organizations, including the CDC and the American Academy of Pediatrics, issued a joint statement calling for significant reductions in the use of antibiotics for animal food production.

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Organic farmer Joel Salatin gives a tour of Polyface Farm, in Virginia. He stands inside electric netting surrounding a flock of laying hens and their portable coop, dubbed an Eggmobile.

Credit: nick v from washington dc/ https://www.flickr.com/people/54418876@N00/

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Joel_Salatin_in_front_of_hens.jpg

Recent polling indicates that Americans are more worried about chemicals in food than they are about added sugar, saturated fat, and sodium. Accordingly, food companies are removing some of the chemicals that consumers find objectionable, on health or environmental grounds. In another recent example of policy change in response to public sentiment, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency voided its approval of the herbicide Enlist Duo, in response to a lawsuit by environmental organizations over concerns for endangered species.

Food is the basic way we fit into the web of life. We make choices about what to eat several times each day, day after day, over our lifetime. The impacts of those choices add up massively. By choosing organically grown food, we can take good care of ourselves and our environment. But when we opt for "conventionally," or industrially, grown food, we can harm ourselves and our environment.

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Industrial agriculture uses pesticides, inorganic fertilizers, antibiotics, hormones, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), and other manufactured inputs. Organic producers instead apply compost, cover crops such as winter rye, and other organic materials to keep soil--and the plants and animals that grow from the soil--healthy. They also use management techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting.



Bird-friendly shade-grown coffee in Guatemala

Credit: John Blake/https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Shade_grown_coffee_in_Guatemala.jpg

Unfortunately, organic growing methods minimize but do not completely eliminate pesticides, antibiotics, administered hormones, GMOs, and other problematic inputs from food. Amendments allowed on organic fields include manure from industrially raised animals and wood ash that contains radioactive cesium-137 released from nuclear weapons and nuclear reactors and taken up by trees. In addition, pesticides and GMO seeds and pollen from industrial fields may drift to organic fields. Still, eating organic goes a long way toward reducing contaminants in our food.



Organic Farming Is Conventional Farming

Our ancestors practiced organic agriculture for 12,000 years before the advent of chemically intensive industrial agriculture of large monoculture crops, which developed in the decades following World War II. Negative effects of industrial agriculture have become increasingly apparent--among them, soil degradation, "superweeds" and "superbugs" that adapt to whatever pesticides we throw at them, and elevated greenhouse gas emissions. Truly, it is organic farming, not industrial farming, that should be considered conventional. Industrial agriculture deliberately uses synthetic poisons on our food and genetically engineers our food by mixing genes of different species together, practices that should seem pretty crazy to consumers. By these measures, industrial farming should even be considered reckless.

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Pesticides for our salad

Credit: Jeff Vanuga/Photo Courtesy of USDA Natural Resources/ https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NRCSAZ02083_-_Arizona_(449)(NRCS_Photo_Gallery).jpg

How Eating Organic Benefits Us

Compared with industrial food, organic food is more nutritious and better tasting. Organic food reduces our exposure to synthetic pesticides, which have been implicated in chronic diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes, neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, birth defects, reproductive disorders, respiratory diseases such as asthma, cardiovascular diseases, kidney diseases, and autoimmune diseases such as lupus erythematous and rheumatoid arthritis. Humans are genetically similar to other living things. Considering that we share half of our genes with fruit flies, it should be no surprise that pesticides harm people as well as pests. U.S industrial agricultural workers are especially at risk, suffering 10,000 to 20,000 physician-diagnosed pesticide poisonings each year. It helps address the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant microorganisms and preserve the effectiveness of antibiotics for curing infections. Each year in the U.S., at least 2 million people become infected with bacteria that are resistant to antibiotics and at least 23,000 of them die as a direct result of these infections. Industrial agriculture not only routinely doses animals with antibiotics but also uses antibiotics on some vegetable and fruit crops. It protects consumers from a host of other potentially dangerous unknowns that are not allowed in organic agriculture. These include GMOs, which are typically grown with heavy pesticide applications; administered hormones, which have been linked to cancer; and synthetic food additives such as "natural flavorings," which may be harmful or untested. The sewage sludge spread to fertilize some industrial farm fields can contain harmful heavy metals and synthetic chemicals that find their way into foods. Organic growing is the only way to feed the world sustainably, according to a United Nations report. Buying organic food increases demand for it, which brings prices down so others who are less affluent can afford to eat cleaner food.



Would you give a child industrial-raised cow's milk to drink if you knew it could contain as many as 20 drugs and hormones, including antibiotics, painkillers, steroid and sex hormones, and anti-inflammatory and antifungal drugs?

Credit: Cindy Kalamajka/http://www.freeimages.com/photo/fast-food-kid-1531111



How Eating Organic Benefits Our Environment

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Organic growing reduces plants' and animals' exposure to synthetic pesticides, which harm soil organisms, beneficial insects, plants, birds, frogs, and a host of other animals. This includes pollinators such as butterflies and bees, upon which we utterly depend for our food supply. It also reduces plants' and animals' exposure to GMOs, antibiotics, and hormones. It helps stabilize the climate. Organic farming generates only half the greenhouse gas emissions of industrial agriculture per unit of land area. Organic growing doesn't use inorganic fertilizers and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, which can require a lot of energy to manufacture. Organic growing methods also retain and store more carbon in the soil. In fact, organic farming can be done in such a way that it stores even more carbon in soil than it emits. Furthermore, organic farming can yield as much food per acre as industrial farming, a conclusion supported by a University of California at Berkeley meta-analysis of 115 studies. It maintains soil health. Industrial agriculture often results in reduced agricultural productivity due to nutrient depletion, organic matter losses, erosion, and compaction. Because organic farm fields are amended with more organic matter, the soil holds moisture better, requires less irrigation water, and is more drought resistant. It keeps groundwater and surface water freer of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and other synthetic chemicals. A major problem with industrial fertilizers is that they create dead zones in the oceans at mouths of rivers where oxygen is depleted and higher life forms, such as seafood species, can't survive. The dead zone at the mouth of the Mississippi River is the size of New Jersey. Farm animals experience a markedly better life. Unlike in industrial operations, antibiotics can't be administered to organically raised animals to compensate for overcrowded and filthy living conditions. Organic growing practices are better for wildlife species too, not only protecting them from synthetic chemicals but also preserving more natural habitats such as wetlands and fencerows. It preserves genetic varieties. The U.S. has lost 93 percent of its agricultural genetic diversity over the last 80 years, as a handful of industrial agricultural corporations have taken increasing control of our seed supply. Organic producers strive to maintain food species diversity by planting different varieties, making our food system more resilient in the face of stresses such as climate change.

Why Not Eat Organic Food?

Organic food costs more in the short-term. However, organic food may cost less in the long-term by reducing lifetime health care costs. Coping with any of the illnesses linked to pesticides--such as cancer or Parkinson's disease--costs money for medical services and time lost from work, not to mention potentially reduced quality and quantity of life. Many people don't eat organic food simply because they don't have access to it, particularly in "food deserts," which are urban neighborhoods or rural towns without ready access to fresh food.

To be the best we can be, we should eat the best food we can--starting with cleaner ingredients that don't wreck the planet on which our food is grown--or the people growing it.
The short days and long cold nights of winter can have a negative effect on people who already feel lonely and isolated. Often these are older people who are physically challenged and fearful of weather conditions that can pose a danger, such as falling on ice or getting pneumonia. The number of people living alone has increased from 5 percent in the 1920s to 27 percent in 2013, and this percentage is much larger in big cities, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Obviously, not everyone who lives alone is lonely, but those who are can often become mentally or physically ill because of it. Isolation and loneliness is painful to the spirit. Even the prison system is beginning to understand that solitary confinement can cause irreparable harm. According to a study by the American Friends Society, the long-term effects of such confinement include insomnia, paranoia, uncontrollable fear and anger, the risk of suicide, and PTSD.

There was a very moving article in The New York Times a couple of months ago about The Lonely Death of George Bell, a 72-year-old man who died alone in his apartment. His body was not discovered until a neighbor alerted police about the smell emanating from his apartment. Emergency workers had to break into the one-bedroom apartment and get past years of clutter. Investigators spent months trying to track down any relatives or friends and piece together a history. What made the story even more poignant was that the man was not always isolated. As a young man he had loving parents, he had friends he worked with, but over the years some of them moved to other states and they lost touch. Changes were gradual as he aged. He suffered from diabetes and became overweight, which kept him from going to restaurants to dine, preferring ordering takeout. The more he confined himself to his apartment, the more cluttered and disorganized it became, a sign of mental illness and spiritual distress.

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"For early humans, being alone was no way to live," wrote Gretchen Reynolds in The New York Times Well blog, So Lonely it Hurts. "Those on the tribe's periphery faced increased risks of starvation, predation and early death." We humans are social animals who are meant to interact. Being isolated from each other can cause unhealthy physiological responses, such as our body producing more stress-related bio-chemicals that may reduce the ability to fight viral infections. Reynolds cited a University of Chicago study that found, "the lonelier you are the more your attention is drawn toward negative social information. Lonely people seemed inadvertently hyper vigilant to social threats. It unknowingly nudges them to act in a more defensive, hostile way toward others with whom they would like to connect."

The Times article about George Bell got a great deal of emphatic response from readers who pointed out how important it was to maintain contact with others, to cherish friends, and visit with them. In our busy world and our distraction with our smartphones, we may not stop to think about people we know who are in isolation. We can make a small gesture, such as phoning just to say hello or perhaps invite the person over for lunch, or bring them lunch if they can't get out. We can let them know about websites where they can find connection through social media for meditation, guided prayers, as well as mental and physical health care sites. There are professional health care chaplains whose job it is to provide spiritual comfort to people of any faith or no faith who need someone to talk with. Someone who will not judge them in any way, but simply allow them to release some of their feelings. They can simply chat with one of these trained persons without having to reveal their identity if that makes them more comfortable.

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One reader responding to the story of George Bell told of his wife dying two years ago and his daughter worrying about him living alone. "This 88-year-old doesn't worry about living alone, but understands her concern. Next spring I expect to occupy the bedroom she has decorated for me. Wonderful daughter, lucky me."
F.B.I. director J. Edgar Hoover is seen in his Washington office, date unknown. (AP Photo)

It may seem passing strange for a civil libertarian, a general counsel of the American Civil Liberties Union, to be celebrating the birthday of the dreaded FBI director. But for me, Hoover, who would celebrate his 120th birthday on January 1, was a godsend.

In an age when ubiquitous surveillance makes a mockery of personal privacy, my own experience shows there can be an upside to massive government data collection.

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While Johnson had Boswell, I had the Federal Bureau of Investigation. From the time I was a 16- year-old Baltimorean and for the next twenty years, I had FBI agents tracking my comings and goings.

But before you jump to any conclusions, unlike many subjects of FBI surveillance who suffered greatly as a result, I have found it a great benefit.

One example. On our 25th anniversary, my wife took me on a mystery ride. We drove through her old neighborhood in the Bronx, and when we passed the sign "Welcome to Harrison, N. Y.", I realized she was tracing the path of our elopement. However, when we reached our destination, the only thing either of us could remember was that we were married by a Justice of the Peace named Venezia. When we could not find a house that looked familiar, the telephone book listed no Venezias, and no one at the police station could remember him.

My wife's mistake was not having told me in advance where we were going. If she had, I could have consulted my FBI file, an expurgated copy of which I had obtained under the Freedom of Information Act in the late 1970s. A belated search revealed, as I had suspected, that the FBI knew all about JP Venezia. His name was Charles and we had been married in his living room at 3 Calvert Place, Harrison.

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No, the FBI did not accompany us on our elopement. Agents discovered a report of the event after the fact on the New York Times social page, which listed the names of my new in-laws. A telephone call to my mother-in-law by an agent posing as an old friend from Baltimore provided other relevant details for the FBI's insatiable files, including the revelation of a proud mother that her daughter "was attending a graduate school of Columbia University under a scholarship."

The FBI file also comes in handy under various other circumstances, such as when filling out government security forms. By a strange twist of fate I actually had to seek security clearance from the FBI in the late 1980s when I was serving as special counsel (while on academic leave) to a Congressional committee which had oversight over the nation's intelligence services

In completing the security form, I had to list every address where I had ever lived and every job I had ever held. For most people my age that would have been a real headache. I just let my fingers do the walking -- since all of the information was right there in my FBI file.

What was the reason for my inclusion on the FBI's Security Index, the catalog of dangerous radicals who could be rounded up and interned in event of a national emergency? I have never in my life been accused of a crime. But at the age of 16, I became a civil rights advocate in my native Jim Crow city of Baltimore, leading sit-ins and other protests against racial segregation in schools, public recreation programs and local restaurants and lunch counters. In the late 1940s it was not politically correct to be for civil rights in J. Edger Hoover's country.

But I am most thankful to Hoover for keeping me out of the Korean War. I was drafted all right, but after six months I was unceremoniously discharged, although I was one of the few members in my barracks who was not actively trying to find a way out. I told my curious comrades in arms that I had a politically connected uncle -- not explaining that I really meant my Uncle Sam. Indeed, Uncle gave me something called a General Discharge, which I later had to sue to change to Honorable, since I had done nothing to warrant my discharge.

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I must admit I was unusually lucky in being able to transform this lemon of FBI surveillance into lemonade. Indeed, it eventually led me to law school and a career as a civil liberties teacher and lawyer. After discovering the First Amendment in my constitutional law class, I started to question where the FBI got the authority to gather information and keep dossiers on individuals like me for doing nothing more than exercising our constitutional rights. And the first major lawsuits I ever brought on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union challenged that authority all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. Those challenges were ultimately dismissed on technical grounds, and the underlying legal issues remain unresolved to this day, athough the Federal Privacy Act now appears to forbid it.

But there can be no doubt that J. Edgar inspired my life's mission and a very rewarding career. Maybe one upside of today's overly intrusive FBI and NSA is that they may inspire the next generation of civil libertarians to take up the mantle as their life's mission.
Over Christmas in 2009, I went to my brother's home in Hawaii to discuss my idea to run for President of the United States with my family. The reactions were mostly that of surprise, but generally favorable.

I returned home to Los Angeles exactly six years ago this month to prepare for a February exploratory trip to Washington, DC, New York and then a week in New Hampshire to "test the waters" for a possible run.

I hired my friend Brian Wilson to help put the trip together and get my campaign underway.

I had been a Republican political consultant for 30 years, learning from the master himself, veteran GOP consultant Bill Roberts. I joined Bill at the Dolphin Group and went on to run dozens of campaigns during my career. I had worked on nine presidential campaigns, including roles as a senior consultant helping President's Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and George H. W. Bush.

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I knew politics inside out, but I was gay and had not come out publicly until California's Proposition 8 in 2008. My secret was out, and I was now free to run for political office. So as my grandmother taught me, I started at the top.

My first read was David Plouffe's book, "The Audacity to Win" about Barack Obama's uphill campaign in 2008. It would be my blueprint. Plouffe said they took chances on everything they did and so would I.

I knew that running as a gay Republican would create some interest for a first-time candidate.

So off to the frigid East I went. My meetings in Washington and New York went ok, but I hadn't made up my mind until the night I spoke to 35 LGBT students at the University of New Hampshire. I saw hope in their eyes and listened. They said what a difference my candidacy would make to LGBT youth. I decided to run that night.

I returned to California and assembled a team and headed to New Orleans with three campaign aides. On April 10, 2010 I held a press conference to announce that I was "seriously considering" running for President. The Southern Republican Leadership Conference had initially said no to my press conference. I learned from that day on that I would have to fight my way into most everything for the next 27 months.

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My strategy was fourfold: be taken seriously; do lots of firsts to gain attention; everything I did had to be very professional and never take no for an answer.

I bought five blue suits and lots of ties. I had a slick logo designed. Our campaign web site was designed and hosted by the company that was doing fellow candidates Tim Pawlenty's and Ron Paul's sites. We ordered lots of campaign T-shirts, note pads, lapel pins, stickers and introduced tens of thousands of Fred Who Frisbees to the voters in New Hampshire and Iowa. We held lots of receptions and Town Hall meetings in both states.

We had over 60 people at our first Town Hall in Keene, New Hampshire in May 2011. We served free Margaritas. When John McCain ran for president in 2000, he had only 17 at his first Town Hall, but he gave away ice cream. The Karger campaign was going to be fun, inclusive, fueled by young people with lots of hosted events to attract people to the campaign.

I would concentrate on the 2 early states of Iowa and New Hampshire and visited New Hampshire 27 times, even taking up residence there in a 14 room home that we called the New Hampshire White House. It served as our headquarters and housed volunteers, staff and me for seven months. New Hampshire represented my best chance for success. I called myself an Independent Republican, and was the only moderate candidate running. It seemed a good fit for the Granite State.

We hired a finance staff and held 20 fundraisers from coast to coast. We hired Rina Shah as our communications director based in Washington, DC and a political / research director Kevin Miniter who would always travel with me.

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Our first break came in May 2010 when I received a hateful email from Iowa Republican National Committeeman Steve Scheffler. He warned that I was not welcome in Iowa because I was gay. The Des Moines Register ran the story and I was besieged with support and an invitation to appear on Jan Mickelson's WHO Radio talk show. This became the first of six more appearances on Iowa's #1 talk radio show. Jan and I are far apart on issues, but we got along well.

Another big break occurred when Dan Zak of the Washington Post came up to New Hampshire to travel with us for 3 days. His presence and the huge story that ran on February 2, 2011 changed the way I was treated as a candidate in New Hampshire and around the country. From that point on I was always listed as a 2nd tier candidate along the two former governors, Buddy Roemer (LA) and Gary Johnson (NM) along with Congressman Thaddeus McCotter (MI).

I knew that my only hope for success would be to get into the debates and preferably the first one. So everything we did was to raise my name ID in order to be on the stage of the FOX News May 2011 debate in Greeneville, South Carolina. I missed the cut on that one, but the next FOX debate in August I met the criteria, 1% in five national polls. I was tied with New Gingrich and ahead of Rick Santorum and Jon Huntsman in polls, but FOX refused to let me in.

It was a blow, but not a knockout punch. Over the next year I made it on six ballots, thanks in part to a great meeting I had with RNC Chair Reince Priebus in his office. He said the RNC would treat me like all candidates, and ended up recommending me to state parties to be included on primary ballots. I appeared on the ballot in New Hampshire, Michigan, Maryland, Puerto Rico, California and Utah. I got more votes than Michele Bachmann in New Hampshire and beat Ron Paul in Puerto Rico.

I met with columnist Frank Rich at the New York Times, had editorial boards with every major newspaper in New Hampshire, but one, rode in gay pride parade all over the country, was interviewed by ABC, CBS, CNN, FOX News and MSNBC a lot and hundreds of radio, TV stations, blogs and newspapers. I beat Mitt Romney and Donald Trump in New Hampshire's first straw poll at St. Anselms College. I spoke at over 50 colleges

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The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe did features. I did hundreds more international interviews, including David Frost from London. I traveled to Israel and was treated as a visiting head of state as the first ever Jewish Republican candidate for President. I went to London to appear on HARDTalk with Stephen Sackur - BBC's "Meet the Press" on steroids. I appeared with all GOP candidates for president at forums and speeches, but never made it in to one televised debate.

By the time I made it back to California for the June 5th primary, I was one of only six Republican candidates on the ballot. We rented a new Mercedes campaign bus and wrapped it with our campaign logo. I only wish I would have gotten that bus on day one. It got lots of attention and looked great.

It was the experience of a lifetime, that resonated with me daily, especially when someone who was lesbian, gay bisexual or transgender would email me or come up to me thank me and tell me what an effect it had on them.
This article first appeared on the blog of Intentional Insights, a nonprofit organization that empowers people to refine and reach their goals by providing research-based content to help improve thinking, feeling, and behavior patterns.

How do you live happily ever after when there's a love triangle?

Mary, an electrician, and Bob, an administrative assistant, are happily married and have been for five years. They met in their high school ninth grade math class, where they sat at the same desk. Bob began courting Mary two weeks after they met. By tenth grade, they had been going steady for six months. They got engaged at the end of eleventh grade, and married right after their high school graduation. They are widely known as a great couple, and get along with each other really well. One day, John was hired at Mary's electric company. John was handsome, outgoing, thoughtful, caring -- exactly Mary's type. Coincidentally, she was asked to train him. As a result, they spent a lot of time together, told each other about their lives, and got really close. Mary was really attracted to John, and wanted to have a romantic relationship with him, and he was happy to do so.

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How does this story continue? Let's imagine Scenario 1, where Mary and Bob are a traditional couple representative of the American mainstream. Mary really struggles with what to do. On the one hand, Bob is a great husband, and she loves him. On the other hand, she's head over heels for John, and wants to have a romantic relationship with him. Finally, she gives in to her passion. She cheats on Bob, sleeps with John, and feels terrible about it. But she can't stop herself from going forward with John. Eventually, Bob finds out. He's very hurt and outraged, and asks for a divorce. There is pain and suffering all around.

But does it have to be this way? Let's imagine Scenario 2. Mary and Bob are part of the growing movement, especially widespread among young people like themselves, called polyamory. Polyamory, often abbreviated as "poly," is the practice of having more than one romantic relationship at a time with the knowledge and consent of everyone involved. Mary goes to Bob and tells him in an open and straightforward fashion about her attraction to John. Bob is glad to accept Mary's desire to have a romantic relationship with John, and Mary and Bob discuss how to most effectively integrate her new relationship with their current one.

Isn't the outcome of Scenario 2 better than Scenario 1? Instead of pain and suffering, there is trust, openness, and communication. Indeed, mutual transparency, honesty, and consent are key elements of poly relationships. Polyamory is increasingly gaining prominence in the mainstream media, and poly meetups and major gatherings have been growing by leaps and bounds around the country, including right here in Columbus, OH. Moreover, research on poly relationships show that people with consensual non-monogamous relationships are happier, especially with their sex lives, than those who are in traditional monogamous relationships, andcommunicate more openly. A major 15-year ethnographic research project showed the richness and diversity of poly families, within which individuals form relationships with a wide variety of partners and enjoy emotional and sexual freedom. At the same time, research indicates that poly relationships continue to face stigma among the public. If our purpose is to enable all people to live optimally happy, healthy, fulfilling, and flourishing lives, as is the vision of Intentional Insights, then should we not encourage an openness toward poly relationships as one among many relationship styles?

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Being open to new ways of thinking and feeling about romantic relationships is part of a broader intentional strategy of evaluating reality more clearly by re-examining our cached patterns. This term refers to habits of thought and feelings in our mind that we absorbed uncritically from the social environment around us, as opposed to conclusions we arrived at by our own intentional reasoning.

So if we were creating the best ways to thinking about romantic relationships from scratch, would it not make a lot of sense to orient ourselves toward decreasing stress and suffering, and instead increasing transparency and openness? Thinking probabilistically, openness and acceptance of poly relationships as one among many mainstream relationship styles is going to be the most likely outcome of this reasoning process. Re-evaluating our cached patterns of thought and feeling enables us to see reality more clearly, make more effective decisions, and achieve our goals, thus helping us gain agency in romantic relationships and other life areas.

 What are your thoughts about optimal romantic relationships?

 How do cached patterns of thinking and feeling impact your approach to relationships?

 What steps can you take to think about romantic relationships more effectively, and to encourage others to do so as well?

To avoid missing out on content that helps you reach your goals, subscribe to the Intentional Insights monthly newsletter.

The generosity of readers like you made this article possible. If you benefited from reading it, please considervolunteering or/and making a tax-deductible contribution to Intentional Insights. Thank you for being awesome!

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Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont and 2016 Democratic presidential candidate, speaks during a town hall meeting at Timberlane Performing Arts Center in Plaistow, New Hampshire, U.S., on Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Sanders' presidential campaign on Saturday said it raised more than $33 million in final three months of 2015 with small contributions making up the majority of the donations. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

On Friday, January 20, 2017, Bernie Sanders will be sworn in as our nation's 45th president. I explain why Sanders wins the Democratic nomination and presidency in my recent appearance on The Thom Hartmann Program. If you've disagreed with my thought process in the past, just watch the segment and you'll understand why Bernie Sanders is the true Democratic front-runner. American politicians don't set records with 2.3 million contributions (breaking Obama's record), draw crowds of over 100,000 people several months after announcing, and raise more money than every GOP candidate without massive political momentum. Furthermore, nobody in American politics goes from 5.3% support in the Democratic Primary race on March 9, 2015 to over 30% support in December, without media attention (Sanders gets 1/23th the television coverage of Trump) and with pundits giving the candidate little chance of success. The underlying data (money raised, attendance at events, social media popularity) undermines the polling data showing Clinton leading by a wide margin. Remember, Clinton was up by a similar margin over Obama in 2007.

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His ascent is genuine, and when Bernie wins Iowa and New Hampshire, the Clinton machine will run into a powerful force called the American people.

The likelihood of a Sanders presidency should increase exponentially in your mind when considering the following scenarios. If you can imagine Hillary Clinton becoming Commander in Chief, after labeling her Iraq War vote as merely a "mistake," and with tens of thousands of her emails the subject of an expanded FBI investigation, then you trust the former Secretary of State with the future of our nation.

72% of Independent voters distrust Hillary Clinton, 59% of all American voters find Clinton "not honest and trustworthy," and there's a foreign donor scandal linked to her years as America's top diplomat. One GOP Congressman wants to impeach Clinton on her first day in the Oval Office, so good luck with "getting things done" and passing legislation amidst such vitriol. Between ongoing controversies and a future of Republicans trying desperately to impeach her, Clinton's presidency could make Obama's tenure look like the height of bipartisanship.

Gore's loss in 2000 is also correlated directly to America's fatigue with the Lewinsky scandal, even though Starr's investigation was politically motivated and Gingrich also had an extramarital affair during the investigation. For Democrats, a Hillary Clinton presidency filled with future scandal could easily lead to a Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio ticket in 2020.

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Similarly, if you can envision a racist buffoon named Donald Trump as president after he insulted Vietnam veteran and former POW John McCain (the Donald received four student deferments from military service from 1964 to 1968), then you're comfortable with Trump as Commander in Chief. I wouldn't trust Trump as the mayor of a small town, much less the president of the U.S.

Just watch Comedy Central's Roast of Trump and imagine future generations of schoolchildren learning about this belligerent billionaire turned xenophobic populist in U.S. history class. Then ask yourself if you trust him with America's arsenal of 7,300 nuclear warheads or any decision that doesn't involve his hair or hotels.

Likewise, if you can watch Hillary Clinton explode in laughter while exclaiming, "We came, we saw, he died," after ushering a devastating civil war with a failed bombing of Libya as Secretary of State, then you trust Clinton's guidance and leadership.

Vladimir Putin just labeled the U.S. as a threat to Russia's national security, and I don't trust Clinton or Trump to face renewed tensions with our former Cold War adversary. I'd much rather have Bernie Sanders, who won the Congressional Award from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and voted against Iraq; foreshadowing it's deadly consequences for the Middle East and the world. I'd rather have a man who says "I'll be damned" to more Middle Eastern quagmires, than the foreign policy goals of Trump or Clinton that would lead to an increased number of American ground troops in future counterinsurgency wars.

When Sanders wins the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary (Clinton already has a Southern "firewall" set up because even her campaign worries she'll lose both contests), the media attention alone with propel him towards wins throughout the South. There's a reason Clinton referred to Iowa and other caucus states as part of the Democratic Party's "extremes" in a private email; Clinton is far too hawkish and conservative for many progressives. In the 2008 Iowa Caucus, Clinton finished third.

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Sanders winning two straight contests will enable him to upset Clinton in South Carolina, leading to a complete paradigm shift within America's political landscape. Suddenly, the entire nation will be talking about the fact Bernie Sanders "destroys Trump" by a wider margin than Clinton in the polls.

According to The New York Times, "Mrs. Clinton's advisers, struck by the strength of Senator Bernie Sanders in those two states, have been assuring worried supporters" that her lead in delegates and other perceived advantages will result in a swift victory.

The only problem is that delegates aren't bound by any public announcement, nor were they in 2008 when Clinton's lead in delegates went to Obama.

As a top Clinton aid stated in a 2008 email, "Assuming HRC's lead in super delegates holds and continue [sic] to increase even slowly, she will continue to lead BO in total delegates at every step." Obama won and Clinton lost, despite her early "lead in super delegates."

Clinton's lead in the polls and delegates was also highlighted in a 2007 POLITICO piece titled Hillary the Inevitable. The article states "And in the primary states with the most delegates (Florida, New York, California, Texas, Pennsylvania and Ohio), Hillary has an overwhelming lead." This lead in the polls, and Clinton's initial advantage with delegates never amounted to a win.

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The 2007 article titled Hillary the Inevitable goes on to say "Hillary's electoral strength has grown in the last quarter and she is better positioned today than ever before to become the next President of the United Sate." It even goes as far as to say that "Every major poll shows Hillary's lead increasing in the Democratic primary."

Also, President Obama is wrapping up his second term in office, defeating Romney in 2012 even when many polls said "Mittens" would win.

While Clinton has a Southern "firewall," there are other safety measures that aren't so accommodating to the Clinton campaign. Sometime hopefully before Election Day, the FBI will let the nation know if the firewall on Clinton's computer system protected classified data from various hacking attempts.

Ultimately, Bernie Sanders could possibly get a landslide victory in the Democratic Primary if the FBI finds Clinton jeopardized national security. An AP article titled Clinton subject to hack attempts from China, Korea, Germany explains that hackers have already tried to access classified data on Clinton's server:

While the attempts were apparently blocked by a "threat monitoring" product that Clinton's employees connected to her network in October 2013, there was a period of more than three months from June to October 2013 when that protection had not been installed... That means her server was possibly vulnerable to cyberattacks during that time...

Clinton has not said what, if any, firewall or threat protection was used on her email server before June 2013, including the time she was secretary of state from 2009 to 2013 and the server was kept in her home in the New York City suburbs...

Edward Snowden believes it's "completely ridiculous" to think Clinton's data wasn't compromised by hackers.

The AP article goes on to say that "Any hackers who got access to her server in 2013 or 2014 could have stolen a trove of sensitive email traffic involving the foreign relations of the United States."
2015 at a glance: Explosive airbags and scandalous accounting. High-visibility data breaches. Terrorism. Climate risk. Drug pricing. Food quality. A 300 percent increase in media attention on brand reputation risk since 2010. Scrutiny is indeed rising.

As for 2016, expect more of the same -- as well as growing alarms about other emerging crisis fields, including what I call the erupting demonization of dissent.

As a whole, the crises experienced in 2015 demonstrate that much work remains in developing solid crisis-preparation and communications plans and in managing such calamities. The scandals at Takata over air bags and Toshiba over accounting underscore that vividly.

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And in the New Year, the crises that will persist or develop will, undoubtedly, further illuminate the need for private-sector, academic and government leaders to better prepare for and handle crises before they emerge. Regrettably, if the past is any indication, not enough will happen on that front.

Here's my crystal ball-gazing expectations for 2016:

No. 1: More corporate scandals will dramatize further abysmal crisis leadership.

Who knows where they will crop up, but expect them. For some reason, and it involves senior leadership, many companies resist simply telling the truth quickly when a crisis erupts and explaining what they're doing about it. Often, it reflects lousy legal advice as well as batten-down-the-hatches CEOs who simply don't grasp the consequences of managing a crisis poorly.

No. 2: Cybercrime will worsen as criminals get more sophisticated.

Cyber Crime and data breaches coverage is dominated by cybercrime - occupying 63 percent share of voice among reputational risk issues even though attacks decreased thirty-six percent from 2013 to 2014.

And despite the use of security-encrypted credit cards, the number of data breaches and the cost of those disruptions (averaging $3.79 million in the 2015 IBM/Ponemon Institute survey) are likely to continue to increase. More worrisome, anticipate more ransom demands from cyber crooks who threaten to release highly sensitive information if companies don't pay up. This explosive use of ransomware in a computer system is the "privatization" of the Snowden effect -- as copycats to the government "whistleblower" Edward Snowden target the private sector -- and it will impact how organizations and their employees use email, in particular.

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As cyber criminals become even more sophisticated, security experts warn of increased attacks against Web frameworks, such as WordPress, and Web-performance and analytics networks, such as Optimizely, as well as against virtualization technology used more frequently at home and in small offices.

Expect more companies and organizations that spend huge amounts on computer security to not forget the trees for the forest. In other words, IT organizations will spend much more time looking for the simple entry points to their networks that may interest cyber crooks. It was the failure of JPMorgan Chase to install a simple security fix to an overlooked server in its vast network that triggered the largest intrusion of an American bank to date in mid-2014.



No. 3: The business community will grasp it must play a role in securing our physical safety.

No surprise that there has been a 275 percent increase in coverage of physical security issues since 2011, indicating greater emphasis on security and businesses protecting their employees.

The terrorist attacks in Paris, San Bernardino, Calif., and elsewhere are awakening the business community to the realization they must participate actively in helping ensure the physical safety of their employees and others. Terrorism has struck America and it has put corporate America on notice particularly in the tech sector. This is a crisis.

Consequently, companies and organizations will focus increasingly on "hometown security," joining local and state law enforcement to train employees and residents to recognize behaviors and indicators related to terrorism, crime and other threats. They will play a role in stepped-up strengthening of transportation, supply chain, biological and infrastructure security, as the federal government moves to coordinate such proactive initiatives.

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Already, there are moves to require technology and security companies to help the government fight extremists online. And the issue already has entered the 2016 presidential contest as Hillary Clinton has called for a "Manhattan-like project" that would bring the government and tech communities together as partners in fighting terrorism as they did in the World War II era to develop nuclear capabilities. GOP presidential candidate Carly Fiorina also has urged tech companies to help with antiterrorism efforts.

No. 4: Culture Crimes will trigger crises on more campuses, radicalization elsewhere.

This disturbing trend, which includes the demonization of dissent, showed up increasingly in 2015 on campuses coast to coast and on the presidential campaign trail as college students sought to prevent what they consider offensive speech and at least one presidential candidate - Donald Trump - employed profane disparagement at anyone who differed with him.

And it doesn't show signs of dissipating as social media and the open-forum Internet trigger these demons that serve only to widen a gaping civility divide. Responsible voices have begun to condemn such behavior on campus, in politics and on social networks. But until many more join in - including ministers of all denominations and respected community and national leaders - this crisis won't subside soon. The result: a tear in the very essence of our democratic society.

No. 5: Trust in authority on all fronts will continue to evaporate.

In many ways, the presidential campaign is spotlighting the further nosedive in Americans' trust in their institutions - whether it's business, media, political leaders, the police or once-immune NGOs. The sudden and surprise rise of Donald Trump as the GOP frontrunner exemplifies the trend, at least among Republicans, who distrust Washington politicians. Plus, the respected Edelman Global Trust Barometer for 2015 also captured the implosion of trust among the general public, not only in U.S. institutions but globally.

Geopolitical, economic and social issues in the U.S. and elsewhere explain much of this distrust. And 2016 conditions don't suggest any improvement in trust levels will occur soon. It will take a national dialogue of some sort and concerted efforts by those few institutions and leaders that are trusted before this crisis of authority subsides. And don't count on the presidential election, whoever wins, to help much.

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While this is a bleak outlook, collective resolve should never be underestimated.

Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.
In the United States, a woman who publicly speaks out for equal rights for women or states that men should stop harassing and abusing women may be harassed or might even face rape or death threats.

I know this firsthand from advocating for the end to street harassment and most of my feminist activist allies have experienced these extreme responses too. Ridiculously, even advocating for something as seemingly basic as "potty parity" for women, as feminist writer Soraya Chemaly did earlier this year, can result in public ridicule and sexism.

While some Americans like to deflect the severity of the treatment of women here by saying women's lots in life are so much worse elsewhere - and women's lives are bad in many regions of the world - our cultural norms can make it pretty bad for women here. Isn't it telling that advocating for women's rights can be dangerous?

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The truth is, women are not as valued or respected as men in American culture, nor are our opinions, and this cultural norm directly contributes to our high rates and acceptance of violence against women. This connection became clear to me during a U.N.-organized conference in Istanbul on ending violence against women, held in early December and attended by representatives from 70 countries.

One meeting objective was to review our progress on ending violence against women since 1995 when 189 countries adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action - Violence against Women. While 135 laws on domestic violence and rape have passed since then, the rates of violence against women have not changed. For example, at least one in three women worldwide have faced forms of gender-based violence, and that figure is much higher in many countries.

Given the statistics, it is not surprising that conference attendees were in agreement that laws are not enough. Executive Director of UN Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka as well as many other leaders there emphasized the need to focus on changing cultural norms and changing attitudes.

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Notably, in a breakout session, Lara Fergus, the Director of Policy and Evaluation at Our Watch in Australia, said that the organization's recent five-year study on preventing violence against women found that attitudes held by both men and women that women are inferior directly contributes to an increase in violence against women.

That makes sense. If we want to end violence against women in the United States, we must end the treatment of women as inferior, including the devaluing of girls and women.

Sadly, this devaluing starts before birth. A 2011 Gallup Poll showed that twice as many Americans wanted sons over daughters. A new study shows that as more companies are offering paternal leave, there has been a 58 percent increase in fathers using their company's paternal leave policy if their child is a boy. If she was a girl, there was no increase at all in fathers taking time off.

Then women's time and work is valued less than men's, and that starts at a young age, too. Research shows that girls are paid less than boys for their housework and chores. In adulthood, overall on average, women make 79 cents for every dollar a man makes, with women of color making even less. Women face a pay gap in nearly every occupation and it's worse for mothers.

Women's opinions also are valued less and less sought after than men's. One of the ways this plays out is through the low number of women in leadership; few people are encouraging and mentoring women to be leaders. Congress is only 20% female. We've never had a female president. The number of women serving on corporate boards is so dismal that there are more men named John, Robert, William or James than there are women of any name. There is a significant lack of tenured female professors at universities, and a new study this month found that men with mustaches outnumber women as heads of medical departments in the 50 leading medical schools.

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A key recommendation across the Istanbul conference was engaging more boys and men in this issue. That is true, we sorely need more boys and men speaking out and taking action. Too few are. We cannot end this without them. And most obviously, we need boys and men to not harass or use force and violence against others.
"It has felt like a never ending nightmare," said survivor Sydney Stanford. "I have been in survival mode for 5 years. It is finally over ... justice IS possible."
In America, the public, some politicians, and even President Obama have a vague awareness that U.S. government policies affect the recruitment of terrorists by radical groups. However, going too far with such self-awareness leads to excessively unsettling conclusions that would demand radical changes in U.S. foreign policy. Thus, as a nation, we generally avoid going down that road at all costs. It is to our peril.

Some politicians, both Democratic and Republican, had criticized Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's advocacy of preventing Muslims from entering the United States, which had the odor of fascism. Now that a news clip of Trump's proposal has been used as a recruiting video for the radical Islamist group al-Shabab in Somalia, he is getting further criticism on the campaign trail. Not only does Trump's proposal probably violate the Constitution's First Amendment protection of freedom of religion and at least the spirit of the 14th Amendment's stipulation of equal protection for all under the law--it is bad policy. The reason that the United States has had fewer problems than Europe does with radicalized Islamists within its borders is that American Muslims are prosperous and more integrated into their host society than in Europe. As a result, the overwhelmingly peaceful American Muslim population is U.S. law enforcement's greatest source of intelligence on any radical activities by a tiny minority. Trump's proposal singling out Muslims for discrimination, even if never enacted, is likely to begin undermining that integration by breeding Muslim fears that even more draconian measures could be taken in the future.



So if at least some American politicians and a significant portion of the public can see that Trump's proposal, which affects only Muslims trying to visit or do business in the United States, can be used to recruit terrorists, why can't they see that the U.S. government's post-9/11 attacks on or invasions of at least seven Muslim countries--Somalia, Yemen, Pakistan, Libya, Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq--is far worse than Trump's proposal in generating anti-U.S. blowback terrorism?

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Historically, going back centuries, one of the things that inflames radical Islamic jihadists--and Muslims in general--is non-Muslim attacks on or occupation of Muslim soil. This encroachment triggers violence quite often--for example in the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq, the Israeli occupations of the West Bank and Gaza, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, and the Chechen resistance against Russian pacification. In the last case, Chechnya has the mild Sufi form of Islam, yet has fielded fierce fighters against the Russians. Moreover, the long-term lingering of U.S. troops in the Muslim holy land of Saudi Arabia after the first Gulf War, despite President George H. W. Bush's initial promise to the king of Saudi Arabia that American forces would leave after the war was over, triggered Osama bin Laden to launch a terrorist war on U.S. targets, including the tragic attacks on 9/11.

Therefore, any U.S. military action required in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks should have been done surgically and in the shadows, rather than conducting a high profile U.S. invasion and occupation of the country and then using 9/11 as an excuse for invading and occupying another unrelated Islamic country--Iraq. Bin Laden was ecstatic about George W. Bush's invasion of Iraq, because he had been trying to provoke a U.S. overreaction in order to recruit more fighters and cash, and Bush took the bait beyond his wildest dreams. And of course, the U.S. quagmire in Iraq generated opposing jihadists by the truckload--al Qaeda in Iraq, a more malignant version of the main group, and eventually the follow-on ISIS, an even more brutal group.

But doesn't the U.S. military really need to be in the Middle East to guard oil supplies to the United States? Isn't that why the United States supports the despotic Saudi Arabian monarchy, which fosters the spread of the radial Wahhabi Islam around the world by funding schools teaching it and has an atrocious human rights record, including the recent execution of a cleric who was advocating equal treatment for a minority sect within the Saudi kingdom. In my book, No War for Oil: U.S. Dependency and the Middle East, I debunk the need for the United States to spend $110 billion per year defending only $20 billion in annual oil imports from the Persian Gulf. The worldwide market for oil will bring plentiful supplies of oil and the lowest price to the United States without U.S. military power needlessly stirring up "blowback" from anti-U.S. terrorists. In the Middle East, even apparently resounding U.S. military "victories" often turn out to be pyrrhic.
From An Opinionated Dictionary of Religion:



Hell: noun. A future, and a past, afterlife destination involving excruciating pain.

Hell is a grave subject. Everyone is going there according to the doctrines of one religion or another. No one of us is safe. And for a few religions, every one of us has already been to hell.

Why an Afterlife of Punishment?

Owing to spotty police work in antiquity, the idea of a torturous hell arose to provide a more perfect administration of justice for those who got away with something (and never got caught) during their lifetimes.

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Moral rules were made and obligatory religious ideas were tendered, but under the cloak of night, or while no one was looking by day, moral rules were broken, and dissent to obligatory religious ideas became quietly commonplace. Perpetrators got away with murder and mayhem and malice (and slighter delinquencies too), and they sensibly hid their heresy in a well of prudential silence.

And so an afterlife of hideous torments was devised to mete out justice and rein in error.

Hell East and West

Eastern religions present us with a temporary torturous hell that punishes a soul for a season and then sends the soul on its way to a new bodily reincarnation. Reincarnation of a soul may occur tens of thousands of times, and a soul may visit hell any number of times along the way to an assured salvation at the end of nearly countless reincarnated lifetimes.

Western religions offer a torturous hell of eternal duration for a soul that has only one chance at living an earthly life and no other chance at salvation.

How to Go to Hell

Two kinds of violation send people to hell. Moral misbehavior is the first. And the second is lack of belief in a required religious idea.

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Consider John, Newly Departed

John was a lifelong axe-murdering pedophile. He was never religious. He never performed religious deeds or entered any religious building. He never believed in God. At age 80, in the last 60 seconds of his life, John had a change of heart and felt deep remorse for having raped and killed 30 children over many decades. He made a genuine last-breath conversion to True Religion X. Then he died.

A certain type of Western religionist will say John won't go to hell because he assented to a requisite belief in True Religion X.

A Western religionist of another stripe will send John head first heels kicking to a permanent torturous hell based on moral misbehavior, giving him no credit for his last-minute assent.

An Eastern religionist will send John to a temporary torturous hell for a very long stay, based on moral misbehavior, granting no value to his last-minute assent. (After his stretch in hell Johnny will be reincarnated as a barnacle or one of the lesser saltwater fishes.)

Shin Buddhists would say John escapes hell if he merely mouths the name 'Amida Buddha' in the last minute of John's life.

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Consider Mary, Newly Departed

Mary was always a model person from childhood to old age. She was not perfect but she was close to it: she was a good daughter, sister, cousin, spouse, mother, aunt, and grandmother. She was kind to strangers and tolerant of all people who held different opinions on religion and politics. She was a medical doctor who spent her life practicing among poor people who often could not pay her. She was never religious. She never performed any religious deeds or entered any religious building. She was an atheist. She died at age 80, greatly beloved by many in her community for all her good deeds and kindnesses. She never became a member of, or a believer in, True Religion X, even on her deathbed.

A certain type of Western religionist will overlook Mary's committed secularity and say she cannot go to hell because of her highly moral behavior.

A Western religionist of another sort will send Mary to a permanent torturous hell based on her lack of assent to a requisite belief in True Religion X, giving no credit to Mary's many goodly acts.

An Eastern religionist cannot send Mary to hell based on moral misbehavior, which Mary has no instances of. Mary gets a better reincarnation next go round, and since she's actually really good, some will say she'll be re-born as an upper-caste male in India. (A tasty slice of sexism to be taken up in a future essay).

Shin Buddhists would say Mary escapes hell if she speaks the name 'Amida Buddha' in that last minute of her life.

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What the Hell?

It is one thing to imagine the need for an afterlife of punishment. It's quite another to venture into the realm of psychopathic torture. Literatures and paintings from ALL hell-believing religions East and West portray hell's torments thus:

Burning in unquenchable fire

Boiling in ooze and filth

Mauling by animals

Flaying by demons

Piercing with red-hot pokers

Enlarging body parts to feel pain more acutely

Referencing scatological acts, endlessly

Torturing male and female genitals in a sadistic 'pious pornography'

Dousing Hellfire

Charles Darwin, a man of refined and delicate moral sensibilities, punningly called hell a damnable doctrine. For similar moral reasons, many religious people (and all irreligious people) reject hell as a sub-ethical idea. Some religionists reinterpret hell as a metaphor for risk. Some religionists refashion hell as instant annihilation of the souls of very bad people.

And for many religionists (and for all irreligionists) hell is too clumsy an idea for the promotion of goodness or justice on either side of death.

On this earthly side, the threat of hell deters few people from vice. Many slanderers and backbiters and gossipmongers surely believe in hell. Probably most imprisoned killers believed in hell at the moment they murdered. (There are solid statistics on the high levels of religious belief among our jailed murderers.)

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On the other side, in the other world, hell over-punishes the perpetrator and leaves him without instruction for moral betterment (unless you view torture as a kind of high-level pedagogy). It would have been a tad unkind and uninstructive to fling Cro-Magnon Man upon an otherworldly post-mortem bonfire, for instance.

(For some contemporary religionists, Cro-Magnons are still in hell, greeting newcomers with wordless grunts and groans and flailing mimes every half-minute of the clock. There's a story circulating about a seance wherein one articulate Cro-Magnon reports from hell that, among crowds of newcomers to the inferno over the past forty-thousand years, men seem to take it the hardest, although some women are absolutely crushed by damnation.)

The Sweet Hereafter

How about an afterlife of lively remedial education?
"I've done all kinds of things I said I wouldn't do, and of course, now I'm glad. Thrilled." - Diane Keaton

On January 5th, let's celebrate the birthday of the ever-talented, charming Diane Keaton.

Actor, producer, screenwriter and author Diane Keaton is undeniably one of the greatest actors to have graced the silver screen. Shining alongside such luminaries as Katharine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Cicely Tyson and Meryl Streep, Diane Keaton has meticulously crafted her art into a Hollywood legacy.

Diane Hall was born on January 5th in Los Angeles, the oldest of three daughters and one son to Dorothy and Jack Hall. Diane's passion to perform bloomed at an early age. "I didn't want to be a wife, I wanted to be a hot date," she once said. "I was looking for an audience, any audience." Diane would move to New York City, where she studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse and landed her first break in the Broadway musical Hair. While in New York, she met Woody Allen. Together, the duo collaborated on several films, resulting in an Academy Award for Keaton as lovable "La-Di-Da" Annie Hall (1977).

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Throughout her esteemed career, Keaton's eclectic roles have captivated audiences. In The Godfather trilogy, Keaton starred as Kay, the despondent wife of Mafioso crime boss Michael Corleone (Al Pacino). In Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977), Keaton played Theresa Dunn, a repressed schoolteacher trolling seedy bars in a sordid attempt to bring excitement into her mundane life. In Nancy Meyer's Something's Gotta Give (2003), she owned her role as Erica Barry, a successful, divorced playwright who finds unlikely romance with elusive bachelor Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson). Keaton transforms her roles into magnetic performances which resonate with stings of raw emotion and tailored perfectionism. (Sorry, Diane, can't list them all, I have a word quota!)

While notably recognized as an actor, Keaton is also an accomplished writer. Then, Again (2011) was named one of the ten best books of the year by Janet Maslin of The New York Times. It is Keaton's book of family - her mother, father, siblings and two children, whom she adopted. Let's Just Say It Wasn't Pretty (2014) details Keaton's account of life in an industry fixated on youth and beauty. She shares stories of relationships with men such as Al Pacino, Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson. Keaton's confidence and individuality shine in this insightful book.

As Diane says, "Your family is those people who love you and let you be yourself." Let's toast - open a bottle of The Keaton - to timeless Diane!
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks at a constitutional law symposium where he delivered a talk called aInterpreting the Constitution: A View From the High Court," Friday, March 14, 2014, in Atlanta. Scalia said the U.S. Constitution is a living document and provides a flexible legal system. Scalia was appointed to the nation's highest court in 1986, making him the longest-serving justice currently on the court. (AP Photo/David Tulis)

Speaking at a Catholic high school in New Orleans recently, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia said, "To tell you the truth there is no place for that in our constitutional tradition. Where did that come from To be sure, you can't favor one denomination over another but can't favor religion over non-religion?"

This question is astonishing on many levels, but mostly because it exposes a gross ignorance unbecoming a justice of the Supreme Court. The right not to believe is no less protected by our Constitution than the right to believe in any particular god. If the government cannot favor one religion over another, it cannot favor belief over rationalism. Doing so obviously is in direct violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment:

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Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.



What part of "establishment of religion" does Scalia not understand? The wording does not discuss the dominance of one religion over another, but the very establishment of any religion.

But Scalia was not done shredding our founding document. He also said in New Orleans that there is "nothing wrong" with the idea of presidents and others invoking God in speeches. "God has been good to America because Americans have honored him." Really? He can interpret god's motivations? He misses the obvious that Iranians believe that Allah has been good to Iran because Iranians have honored Allah. Hindus believe their many gods have blessed India because they have honored their many gods. How is their belief more or less valid than Scalia's about who god favors and why? Is Scalia any different than a televangelist who says we have an earthquake or flood because god is unhappy with gay marriage or Roe v Wade?

With these utterances Scalia is continuing his history of religious extremism. His radicalism seeps out in strange ways. In one case decided in 2010 (Salazar v. Buono) Scalia said he was simply baffled that a Christian cross could be construed to represent Christianity. The case in question is a bit convoluted, but the details are important. A seven-foot cross was erected on Sunrise Rock in 1934 on government-owned land in the Mojave Desert to honor fallen veterans. The metal display has been repaired and replaced many times since, with the latest renovation completed in 1998. A former National Park Service employee, Frank Buono, sued to have the cross removed as an offensive symbol to all non-Christian soldiers and their surviving families. In response to this challenge, Congress offered yet another violation of the Establishment Clause by using sleazy slight-of-hand to circumvent the Constitution. Congress sold a little plot of land on which the cross rests to a veterans group, thereby claiming that the cross no longer stood on federal property. But the transparent ploy of gutting the Constitution by creating an island of private property surrounding by a National Park did not fool the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which ruled the cross had to come down. Our largely Catholic Supreme Court then decided to hear the case.

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Justice Scalia explained that he agreed to put this case on the court docket because he was simply baffled that a Christian cross could be construed to represent Christianity. He was puzzled that a cross was not broadly representative of Islam, Judaism or no religion at all. Take a moment and ponder that. His assertion that the cross represents everybody is extraordinarily bizarre, defying even the most basic elements of decency. How horribly offensive to every non-Christian to be told that the cross is a universal symbol representative of all religions. Our Founding Fathers are spinning furiously in their graves right now.

Scalia's views are precisely what our forefathers feared so terribly and worked so diligently to avoid. In addition to ignoring our Bill of Rights, Scalia has abandoned any pretense of logic to support his faith. To demonstrate how terribly sick Scalia's thoughts are, he asked the ridiculous question, "What would you have them erect? Some conglomerate of a cross, a Star of David, and you know, a Muslim half moon and star?" Notice that Scalia did not offer the obvious and imminently more reasonable alternative of erecting the Crescent of Islam in place of the cross. He only suggested the absurd notion of a chimera. He is so utterly blinded by his faith that he could not imagine that anything other than a cross could serve to honor our soldiers. Would Scalia himself allow a Star of David on his grave? If a Christian would not select a Star of David then why on earth would a Jew choose a cross? Yet that is exactly what Scalia proposes. The notion that the cross represents everybody is extraordinarily bizarre, defying even the most basic elements of decency. The idea that the Constitution favors religion or non-religion is downright terrifying.

Scalia sometimes describes himself as a "textualist" interpreter of the Constitution, meaning he divines the meaning of the words in the Constitution as the framers did in writing them. He channels into the minds of Jefferson and Adams; really how else would he have any greater insight into the meaning of those words than any other legal scholar? Actually he is a "spiritualist" interpreter of our founding document, the Carnac of the Supreme Court. Only Scalia knows what the founders really meant; only he can interpret the words accurately, even though he apparently has trouble interpreting his own. In any case, he said that as a textualist his job was easy. "The death penalty? Give me a break. It's easy. Abortion? Absolutely easy. Nobody ever thought the Constitution prevented restrictions on abortion. Homosexual sodomy? Come on. For 200 years, it was criminal in every state." (In what was to become a pattern, he skipped the issue of heterosexual sodomy, which is also illegal in many of those same states). For a brilliant scholar it is impressive to cram into one sentence so much inanity. Notice that he dismisses any discussion in repealing the death sentence by stating that nothing in the Constitution prevents it. By that logic anything not specifically prohibited is allowed. Well that is exactly true of sodomy as well -- nowhere in the Constitution is sodomy prohibited. By his own logic, just provided to justify his position on the death penalty, requires that he must too support sodomy. But instead of being consistent, he shifts his argument to the states, citing precedent. And that is rich, because no other Justice in modern history has had such disdain for "stare decisis." Scalia cites precedent when it suits his purpose, and rudely dismissed previous rulings when they become inconvenient. Even richer is his appeal to states' rights (implied in his argument) given his willingness to trample over Florida's rights in anointing Bush to the presidency.

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The big brain pundits are engaged in their annual round of new year-predictions about major world events. But if the past is any measure they will fail miserably. A legion of experts on the Middle East failed to predict the rise of the Islamic State, much less the attacks in Paris and elsewhere over the past few weeks. Neither did a generation of Sovietologists foresee that street protests would lead to the collapse of the Berlin Wall and finally the Soviet empire, nor Arabists the Arab Spring, nor international observers the outbreak of World War I. Does the rise of Trump herald an era of home-grown fascism? Human intelligence and vast quantities of metadata seem ill-equipped to help forecast geopolitical events at this scale. Despite decades of sophisticated political science and game theorizing, the truth is that we are very bad at anticipating great historic turns. Why?

The obvious answer is that human affairs are simply too complex to be predicted at the scale and precision that political leaders and security officials require. But many complex systems and processes have been modeled well enough to provide a modicum of predictive power. As recent hurricane forecasts have shown meteorology is far from perfect, but surely the French government would have preferred to overreact to a warning than to be caught so unprepared for barbaric attacks. In the next weeks and months, extant methods of intelligence gathering will no doubt be intensified and perhaps improved, yet, in reality, the change will be quantitative rather than qualitative.



Some believe that advances in certain fields, like neuroscience and genetics, combined with traditional disciplines like anthropology and criminology, as well as longstanding arts of observation and analysis, can change the way political forecasting is done. The idea is not entirely new. During the Second World War, the Office for Strategic Services commissioned a group of psychologists to predict how Adolf Hitler would react to defeat, and in the 1950s, various intelligence agencies enlisted sophisticated social science in an attempt to better understand group behavior. More recently, experimental psychologists have described phenomena like "learned helplessness" and optimistic personality types, also concepts that intelligence and military officials have found provocative.

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Granted, it's hard to demonstrate that these forays into cutting edge science have made a difference. In some cases, the pressure to examine any and all potential advantages over an adversary have proven truly embarrassing, like Cold War experiments with telekinesis and "remote viewing," and even gross violations of human rights like dosing people with LSD.

However, over the past 25 years certain basic biological sciences have acquired new tools that helped provide compelling foundational knowledge about the brain and behavior. New technologies are producing wiring diagrams of the brain and examining how neural systems are produced and regulated by perhaps 8,000 genes. Using scans, computers and sophisticated algorithms there are now many ways to examine brain activity in the laboratory under a variety of stimulus conditions.

These studies of basic biology are being linked to social psychology, such as the ways that different cultures interpret facial expressions and how those interpretations are reflected in brain activity. A team at Northwestern University found that groups of people in Japan and the United States had significant differences in neurological responses to images of faces that showed fear, differences that registered in a brain organ called the amygdala. Related work is being done on empathy for those in one's own racial group as compared to others. Activity in the medial prefrontal cortex, which seems to play an important role in complex thought, is associated with self-reports of empathy for pictures of distressed people thought to be members of one's own racial group.

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Also being studied is whether these responses are at least partly mediated by the large blocks of inherited genes that help define each ethnicity. However, these kinds of in-group/out-group biases are not simply built into are genes, but result from developmental processes of environmental interaction with genetics that are studied in a field called epigenetics, therefore these attitudes can be studied and modified. MIT researchers have found some evidence that groups with less perceived power can change their attitudes toward those with seen as dominating them (e.g., Palestinians and Israelis) if they are given the opportunity to speak and be listened to, though it's not clear how long that effect lasts.

Of course, the ultimate applications of such knowledge would have to take place outside the lab, so it is important to associate such data with the ways people actually understand the world. To that end, one ingenious Defense Department project aims to learn how stories influence political radicalization and the way groups are moved by narratives. Stories we tell ourselves about our purpose and place in the world follow a certain logic and help explain how people make moral judgments. The same processes take place in the minds of terrorists.

Though it will take a long time to know whether all this science can provide useful information about the antecedents of violent political extremism, that conversation has already begun. In 2010, I was a panelist at a workshop sponsored by several military and civilian agencies where some of the work I have described was presented. Entitled "The Neurobiology of Political Violence," the goal was to facilitate a state-of-the-art discussion among neuroscientists and social scientists. Some speakers were frankly skeptical that the most far-out vision of deterring terrorism could be realized, while others suggested that at least it should be possible to provide cues for intelligence collection. It could be important to know that before an important negotiation Alexander Putin had a massage that increased his production of the "trust hormone" oxytocin.

It's a big step from Putin's massage to anticipating something like a terrorist attack, much less an historic geopolitical event. Even if it were attainable, that kind of knowledge would present hazardous prospects of its own. A frankly repressive regime could anticipate and suppress social developments that could someday lead to a morally justified insurrection. But any futuristic forecasting system that integrates knowledge from basic biology to social psychology would still only produce predictive models with large margins of error. Anyone looking for laws of future history would do best to consult the writings of Isaac Asimov, for that idea will remain the province of science fiction.

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What is not fictional is that governments will continue to seek any strategic advantages that science might enable them to achieve, and advances in neurobiology do present fascinating opportunities that can't be ignored. Unfortunately, as has happened before even benign governments could over-interpret forecasts provided by those who are regarded as "experts," especially if they clothe their predictions in fancy science. Less admirable states could use them as excuses for preventive first-strikes on adversaries. The risks and benefits of any emerging technology suffer from what has been called the Collingridge dilemma, that it can't be controlled until it has been developed and used.
King salmon, also known as chinook, sit on ice at the Pike Place Fish Market Monday, Sept. 20, 2010, in Seattle. U.S. government food regulators pondered Monday whether to say, for the first time, that it's OK to market a genetically engineered animal as safe for American people to eat. The Food and Drug Administration is holding two days of hearings on a request to market genetically modified salmon. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

After a decade of intense lobbying from a Maynard, Massachusetts-based salmon production corporation the Food and Drug Administration for the first time has given its seal of approval to a genetically modified animal.

AquaBounty corporation's "AquAdvantage Salmon" is a genetically engineered fish that is ready for market after a mere six months as compared to the three-year time span needed for normal salmon.

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AquaBounty, Inc. has accomplished this feat by taking one of nature's common salmon species and splicing into it the genes of a non-kosher bottom feeding pout, along with the genes from the much larger Chinook salmon, and then genetically modifying the mechanism that blocks the pituitary glands of these new fangled organisms (which controls growth) from telling them when it's time to stop growing.

The FDA has also concluded that since there are no obvious threats to human health from the new behemoth market-ready salmon species (which AquaBounty patented long ago) there's no need for AquaBounty to be required to label their new corporate Frankensalmon.

So the next time you order salmon at your favorite restaurant or buy some at your local grocers you could be unwittingly eating an entirely new life form on planet earth.

We've clearly crossed a significant threshold and have entered a brave new world.

My main concerns about this new AquaBounty "product" are not about the potential health effects on humans but the possibility of genetically polluting the wider ecology of the delicate interactions of species that spend part of their lives in the ocean but breed in fresh water.

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Since these Frankensalmon are raised near fresh water sources such as rivers and streams to efficiently sweep out the waste products there is always the possibility of genetic pollution happening when some of these human-made animals escape into the wild, which already happens occasionally at normal salmon farms.

The good scientists at AquaBounty assure us that their Frankensalmon are perfectly safe because they're all females and sterilized.

But even if we can be certain that 100 percent of the new species of pituitary-enhanced fish are sterile it still doesn't mean that nature won't find ways to reproduce anyway (after all, our friends at AquaBounty have millions of years of evolution to control).

And even if they can't breed with wild salmon, they sure can gobble up a lot of resources that wild salmon need to survive. Also, the male wild salmon will likely try to breed with these females anyway because they didn't get the memo from AquaBounty that they're sterile, therefore exhausting themselves in fruitless efforts to reproduce that a far superior set of genes compel them to do - the kind of genes that took millions of years to evolve and have nothing to do with the profits of a corporation and its cheerleaders on Wall Street.

Another truly scary part of the story is the precedent the FDA's imprimatur of Frankensalmon gives to other corporate food giants to genetically create their own new "agricultural products" like Monsanto and other corporations have been doing with seeds for twenty years with all sorts of unintended problems.

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Other fish corporations will follow suit in their own profit-driven mania to produce a host of new fast growing species. Time is Money.

What's to stop Colonel Sanders from creating a new genetically modified species of monster chickens that are market ready in a quarter of the time and possess six legs, ten wings and five breasts?

Or maybe our friends at Mickie-D's will click off the genetic "stop" trigger of pituitary glands of cows to engineer behemoths that are not only market ready in a matter of months but have the girth of rhinoceroses?

The FDA has opened up the floodgates of corporate America to a whole new world of agricultural genetic manipulation.

Critics of the new salmon species will be dismissed as Luddites or ignorant of the "science." But you can be perfectly comfortable with scientific innovation without jumping on board a corporate driven process that will always put making a profit over the public's right to question the long-term ecological or health effects of Frankenfish, hence, AquaBounty's glee at not having to label their new "brand."

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And where are all those Christian fundamentalists when you need them? Can't they put aside their attacks on Planned Parenthood for a minute and take a look at how corporations like AquaBounty are genetically altering god's creations? Shouldn't these "pro-lifers" be a little pissed off about humans patenting new life? And maybe a lot of orthodox Rabbis are going to have to double check their lox since the pout gene in AquaBounty salmon is far from kosher.
The current refugee population in Kenya is estimated at 600,000, yet refugees in Kenya at present do not have the legal right to work without paying exorbitant fees to access short-term work permits.

According to Article 6 of the 1951 Refugee Convention, refugees must be exempt from any requirements to obtain work permits if they are unable to meet those requirements due to the hardship that resulted from their forced displacement. By charging this fee for refugees to gain access to work, Kenya is not meeting its international obligations as a signatory to this Convention. For refugees who have settled in urban areas, acquiring work in the informal sector is possible, but in most cases illegal. These refugee workers are highly vulnerable to exploitation and harmful work conditions.

For encamped refugees there is much evidence to suggest that informal economies are thriving, however this is also technically illegal activity. Refugees in camps do not have the legal right to exit the camps without permission that is notoriously hard to gain, and this prevents them from fully engaging in the Kenyan economy. Policies could be improved by understanding the economic value of refugees, both in camps and urban areas, and the potential for these people to give back to their host nation by paying taxes and providing a workforce.

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Refugee livelihood issues in Kenya

Kenya's refugee situation is extremely protracted and it is fair to assume nobody within Kenya is under the illusion that the situation will resolve itself. Kenya's large population of refugees are here to stay for the foreseeable future. Currently without the right to work, refugees are forced to rely on international aid, usually administered through UNHCR, and become dependent on outsiders in order to merely subsist. The effects of this dependency have been well-researched, and found to lead to negative mental health outcomes and a diminished capacity to enjoy life and to maintain meaningful social interactions.

Research shows that refugees in Kenya engage in one of three livelihood strategies in order to survive:

Reliance on international aid

Reliance on remittances from family

Employment within the informal sector

These are not mutually exclusive of course and many refugees engage in two or three of these strategies at any one time. For refugees settled in urban areas, outside of camps, many who are unable to find informal work in Nairobi rely on others in their communities for support with housing and food. Subsequently, people of mixed descent such as Ethiopian/Eritrean or Hutu/Tutsi are more isolated and less able to cash in on social capital.

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Encamped refugees are unable to more meaningfully engage greater levels of trade because the camps are rural, isolated and have limited access to land and markets. With this noted, it is also important to mention that there is literature indicating that Kakuma, Kenya's second largest camp complex with a population of nearly 180 thousand, is a thriving economic site. There is evidence suggesting that local people living in Turkana County, the region where Kakuma is located, depend on the activity going on within the camp for their own livelihoods. Commercial opportunities have also been utilized between the Kakuma and Dadaab refugee camps and Nairobi by Somali entrepreneurs.

Refugee work rights in Uganda: a case study

Uganda borders Kenya and hosts many refugees fleeing the same conflicts as it does. Refugee work rights became enshrined in law with the passage of the Ugandan Refugee Act 2006. In Kampala many successful refugee business owners have stimulated the economy, causing job creation and greater taxation revenue for the Ugandan government.

In Uganda, refugees live in allocated settlement areas. They are given small plots of agricultural land to farm. They are able to move out of these areas if they accept that they will not receive any support. This practice could work extremely well in the Kenyan context.

Evidence suggests that with the freedom to engage in the host economy, refugees are able to contribute by creating businesses, hiring employees, paying taxes and providing goods and services to local markets. By having greater personal income, these refugees are also able to then use their purchasing power to further stimulate the economy and the effects of their labor continue to benefit the host community. Locals are also found to benefit from the economic involvement of refugees in Uganda.

This evidence from Uganda shows that Ugandan nationals not only engage in trade practices with refugee entrepreneurs, but they often go out of their way to do so. Refugee business people in Uganda are highly valued as providers of goods and services and in addition they strengthen cross border trade. This adds more choice to the economy, allowing greater diversity and material want satisfaction for Ugandan nationals. In the Kenyan context, fewer nationals are able to engage in the agricultural sector due to the difficulty of rural livelihoods in many areas, unequal distribution of land and widespread urbanization. Investing in building the human capital of refugees from rural areas who possess the appropriate skill sets that can be adapted to engage in agricultural practices would add value to this sector in Kenya.

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Recommendations for the Kenyan system:

Grant all refugees unrestricted work rights: The first step in improving the situation of refugee residents in Kenya is to legalize labor and to remove barriers that refugees currently face to economic participation, in line with Kenya's international obligations as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. This will afford the same legal protections to refugee workers that are available to other workers, both foreign and nationals. These protections include the right to fair pay, reasonable work hours, sick and holiday leave, and freedom from sexual harassment. This would reduce the likelihood that refugee workers will be exploited and harassed by employers within Kenya, improving Kenyan work conditions and the lives of refugees. Restricting the right for refugees to work inhibits the Kenyan economy by failing to utilize a valuable source of human capital: refugees who possess diverse skills and talents who are often talented entrepreneurs.

Allow freedom of movement so that refugees can fully participate in the Kenyan economy: Allow encamped refugees to travel outside of camps for the purposes of work. As in the case of Uganda, allowing refugees to participate in neighboring economic regions has had positive impacts on both the refugees and local populations. This is already occurring, on a minor level, in Kakuma and should be further encouraged. As reported, most Kenyan nationals in Turkana country already rely on the refugees who inhabit Kakuma for their own livelihoods.

Tax refugees fairly: Ensure that refugee workers are taxed according to the law, as it is applied to Kenyan nationals and other foreign workers. Refugees should be made to pay the same income taxes as Kenyan nationals, allowing them to fairly contribute to the society in which they live. This taxation revenue can then be reinvested into improving services in Kenya such as healthcare, education and infrastructure.

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Grant refugees access to legal aid and courts: In order to prevent recurrences of exploitative conditions, refugees should have the same rights to access justice systems and to have employment law fairly applied as all other Kenyan workers. Without fair legal access and representation, it is likely that exploitation will continue and refugees will not be able to participate equally in Kenyan society. The police also require capacity building to ensure that due process is upheld when dealing with refugees who have been arrested, as scapegoating and xenophobia are rife within Kenyan policing.

Support national advocacy campaigns to stem xenophobic reactions: Public opinion is one of the main obstacles to these policies being implemented effectively, and so a significant proportion of resources need to be dedicated to 'selling' them to the Kenyan people. As argued by Long, "negative public opinion is by far the most difficult obstacle" to developing more effective policies for refugees. Keeping this in mind, with effective national advocacy and a strong campaign sharing the benefits of refugees' economic participation and enhanced social integration, this could potentially be mitigated.

It is also important to note that there is no evidence to suggest that a country with work rights for refugees receives larger numbers of refugees that they had previously. Any fears about this occurring are not founded in research, but rather in unfounded xenophobic anxieties that should be set aside for the economic and social prosperity of Kenya.

If the Kenyan government allows refugees to fully participate in the economy, all Kenyan residents will benefit. With greater taxation revenue Kenya would be able to further invest in areas such as health, education and infrastructure. Refugee workers would also provide a source of human capital that is currently much needed in rural areas of Kenya. Kenya should look to its neighbor Uganda for a strong example of how prosperity can flourish when xenophobia is put aside, refugees are recognized as people with valuable skills that can contribute meaningfully to society, and policies are able to utilize this for the economic and social advancement of the entire nation.
What if, under an old desk in James Madison's study, the following were found scribbled on the backside of the Second Amendment -- the words in bold written into blank spots like a Mad Libs page...

Amendment 2.5: A well-regulated Transportation System, being necessary to the mobility of a free State, the right of the people to keep and conduct Transportation Devices, shall not be infringed.

After all, the right to transport yourself is a pretty inalienable right, too, isn't it?

Eisenhower saw the immediate benefit of the German autobahn--allowing quick movement of Hitler's troops across WWII. But in addition to Cold War defense, Eisenhower also saw the expressways as a vital route for emergency evacuation--all under strict central government oversight. After all, you wouldn't want your best friend deciding how much weight an overpass can bear, would you? It's pretty much accepted that some things are better off in the hands of Big Brother.

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Madison and Jefferson pushed forward the Bill of Rights to hold in-check a strong central government that might strip personal liberties from its citizens--the whole point of the Boston Tea Party and Revolution that followed, after all. Perhaps without the Right to Transport Oneself, the feds might grow too strong and force citizens to register their boats, barges, horses, wagons and buggies. There might even be a tax on wheelbarrows and baskets!



Despite his outward appearance James Madison loved a good party almost as much as a good chess match.

Going even a step further, what if all the vehicles were owned by the state--or confiscated? How would the farmer plow his field or get his goods to market? How would one get to the other side of the river if the bridge were down?

Our founding fathers certainly couldn't predict the advent of planes, trains, automobiles not to mention dangerous hoverboards and FAA drone-protocol.

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There weren't any protests of government interference when my college daughter was required to register her bicycle with the university--or risk having her lock cut and having the rusty thing impounded. Bicycle theft is so common in college that the campus security required hard-to-remove registration stickers to help catch the thieves. So by the light of two cell phones one night she and her roommate looked frantically under the frame for the serial number.

But Abby was never required to pass a bicycle driving test--it was assumed she could already operate the vehicle without inflicting too much damage to herself or other lives or property.

She is even less deadly on horseback. In girl scouts, she spent a week at a riding camp and we only had to sign a waiver promising not to sue if she got kicked in the head. There were no long classes, exams and fees like we went through last year when she got her driver's license. But it made sense--there are few horseback pileups on the interstate. And if a seven year-old races a pony toward a cliff's edge, odds are the pony is going to know enough to stop, unlike a minivan I remember.

When my second-grade nephew Kris decided to shift to neutral and roll down the driveway into the busy street the expected statements followed, in order:

Thank God he wasn't hurt.

Thank God he didn't hurt anyone.

(Thank God the car's all right.)

No one defended his right to transport himself. Besides not being able to see over the wheel or reach the brake, Kris also hadn't paid for and completed coursework, hadn't registered himself as a safe driver with the state, hadn't provided evidence of insurance coverage. It was pretty slam-dunk, no seven year-old should be operating a device that could kill someone.

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My father was killed by a car running a red light. The driver wasn't drunk; she was just on her way to work that morning. But the 27 year-old did have seven moving violations--three tickets for speeding and four for running traffic lights. We were amazed at the hearing that the maximum sentence was probationary driving for four years--ironically limiting her driving to work and home. In her incapable hands, a car was far more dangerous than a loaded gun in the hands of most Americans.



Madison's stepson, Payne: "No officer, I'm not drunk nor is my steed..."

James Madison could hardly argue with the logic of limiting access to potentially dangerous objects, no matter how zealous he was to individual rights and his famously prodigal stepson Payne's who might ride Ol' Blue to town drunk. It's a safe bet that Madison wouldn't have supported the kid's "right" to keep his license were he to drive his Jeep through the neighbor's farmhouse.

John Paul Stevens, associate justice to the Supreme Court (1975-2010), following the massacre at Sandy Hook, suggested adding five words to the 2nd amendment to clarify what the courts had always held to be the spirit of Madison's law,

"A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms when serving in the Militia shall not be infringed." (link)

He adds, "Thus, in United States v. Miller, decided in 1939, the court unanimously held that Congress could prohibit the possession of a sawed-off shotgun because that sort of weapon had no reasonable relation to the preservation or efficiency of a "well regulated Militia."

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I'd like to think that this Founding Father would agree with Justice Stevens and simply say...

"Give me a break; it's not Gospel. I had no idea that cars would be created...let alone uzis."
By contributing writer Marwa Alalawi for KidSpirit's Power issue.

Flickering streetlights streamed into my aunt's bedroom as she hushed my cries with gentle strokes, tucking me into a sea of white linen. It was my first time sleeping at her house. My aunt, who had no children at that time, wished to spoil me by having me spend the night.

I don't remember what nightly hour had crept upon us, or how many times I implored my aunt to drive me back home. I remember that under a roof of dangling celestial lanterns, she recounted the story of Prophet Ayoub (Job) to quiet my nagging. As a Muslim girl from Bahrain, a small island in the Middle East, it wasn't uncommon for me to grow up hearing the tales of prophets, messengers, and religious followers, as bedtime stories.

Since I was only four years old, it took my aunt just a few seconds to grab my attention. She crafted a vivid image of the riches Allah (God) had given the Prophet Ayoub. Vast lands were filled with crops, cattle, and many children whom he loved dearly.

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"A paradise on Earth!" I thought to myself.

But isn't it when man feels most secure with his possessions that misfortune strikes? One calamity after another befell Prophet Ayoub. A great fire turned his riches to ashes, an earthquake swallowed his children and home, and then a severe illness slowly devoured his body, except for his heart, mind, and tongue, which Allah kept safe for worship.

My aunt recounted how Allah sent adversity to the Prophet Ayoub to test his patience. Though the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, encountered misfortune, his faith remained rock solid. For many years, he neither wailed nor complained, but repeated, "What Allah has taken away from me belongs to Him. I was only its trustee for a while. He gives to whom He wills and withholds from whom He wills."

Once the Almighty heard the Prophet's prayers, he rewarded his patience with greater riches than before: more land, multiple children, and happiness.

Here, my aunt smiled, and said, "Always remember the patience of Prophet Ayoub."

Indeed, those words were magic to me. I was amazed at his patience, and embarrassed at myself for wanting my aunt to take me home. The Prophet remained patient throughout illness and poverty, while I was unwilling to spend even one night away from home. From that day on, I did as she told me. Whenever life bombarded me with misfortunes, I remembered the blessed Prophet's story. His patience gave me the power to carry on, even when the road was long.

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Pencils were down, time was up, and I wasn't done writing my qualifying exam for the Bahraini International Scholarship -- the scholarship that would enable me to study in the United States, fully funded, from boarding school to graduate studies. Bitter, I walked outside the exam hall with my pencil and eraser like a person who had just gone bankrupt.

Since childhood, I always wanted to represent my country abroad, wanted to become a global thinker who could contribute to Bahrain's development. But after stepping outside that exam hall, I was pretty sure I had lost my chance.

I took a deep breath and said to myself, "Remember the patience of Prophet Ayoub."

Over and over, I reminded myself of his trials -- how I was making a mountain out of a molehill compared with what he had to undergo. Every time I repeated "Patience of Ayoub," streams of relief flowed into my heart. The power of patience was much stronger than my whispers of distress. I was able to resume a normal rhythm of life, concentrating on the future and worrying less about the past. I accepted whatever fate Allah determined for me, because He had already showered me with countless blessings.

Three weeks after the exam, I came back from school prayers to find my mother in the classroom, having driven all the way to school. The scholarship results were out, and I was among the recipients. I never felt happier in my life, not only because of the scholarship, but because I knew that good things come to those who are patient. I was elated because I stood as strong as a rock, taking my power from Prophet Ayoub's example.

With the power of patience, I learned strength -- and from patience, I gained power. Though it is true that when we feel insecure, misfortune may strike, it is also true that we can hold fast with the power of patience.

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When I was in college I was involved in an Evangelical campus ministry. I attended a weekly Bible study (most of the time) and went to occasional social functions designed to help Christian students connect and enjoy an alternative to wild sorority and fraternity parties. Once in a while, I even dragged myself out of bed on Sunday morning and went to church.

When the subject of my faith or Christianity would come up with friends, I was always quick to point out that I was "spiritual but not religious."

I didn't want people to think I was religious for two reasons. One, I didn't want to seem weird. I was still trying very hard to keep my faith from interfering with my social life. The other reason that I insisted I was not religious, was that I sincerely believed, as did almost everyone else I knew, that religion was the opposite of true faith. I thought that religion was outdated, mindless, and that it suffocated authentic spirituality.

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Then I became Catholic.

I have been Catholic now for 16 years. I am religious, and I am convinced that my religion helps me to know, love, and serve God better than I ever could apart from the practice of my faith. That is, after all, the point of true religion.

Throughout history the major monotheistic faiths, the faiths that worship the God of Abraham - Islam, Judaism, and Christianity - have sought union with God through the practice of religion, not merely through an individual spirituality based on one's own preferences, tastes, and personal convictions. The idea that one can know and worship the God of Abraham apart for religion seems to be a fairly modern idea.

I cannot speak to the trends in other faith traditions, but many modern Christian denominations pride themselves on freedom from the confines of religion, as if they have discovered some new path to God that the founders of Christianity and nearly two millennia of followers failed to discover.

Yet for Catholics, and I imagine for observant Jews and Muslims as well, our religion isn't merely a set of rules to be followed or boxes to be checked. Our religion is the house in which our faith is born and the place where it is nurtured.

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Here are some of the reasons that that I am religious and not just spiritual.



Religion is physical. Like all ancient faiths, Catholic worship includes specific, tangible physical element. Catholics kneel. We bow. We make the sign of the cross. We hold rosary beads, and we light candles. God made us body and soul. It makes sense that we would use our bodies when we pray and worship Him. Nearly every other activity we do as humans includes some sort of accompanying posture or gesture. We tell our children to sit up at the table. We rise when a judge walks into his court room or a bride steps through the doors of the church. We shake hands, hug, and wave. We hold our hands over our hearts when we hear the National Anthem. Soldiers salute. Actors bow. Couples kiss goodnight. All of these things are meant to communicate something - respect, greeting, affection, gratitude. Why would we think that what we do with our bodies should have no effect on how we pray and worship? Bowing, kneeling, the sign of the cross, and other physical expressions of our faith are the accompanying gestures to what we are thinking and feeling. They keep us in the right frame of mind, and they are a signal to ourselves and to others that what we are doing is sacred.



Religion is habitual. As an Evangelical Protestant, I would have equated the word habit with "vain repetition." It is true that when we say or do anything repeatedly, we run the risk of diluting its meaning and value. A nightly "I love you" between spouses becomes empty words when void of true sentiment or action. So, of course, we must guard against mindless recitation of prayers or thoughtless reception of the sacraments. But habits, when they develop in us a desired effect or quality, are a good thing. We teach our children the habit of saying, "please and thank you" long before they know what the words mean because we want to develop in them a sense of gratitude and respect.

Developing a good habit disciplines us to do what we ought to so that when we don't want to or when we are distracted, forgetful, or distressed, we are still able to do, fairly easily, what was once a struggle. When we do something habitually, it becomes ingrained into the fabric of our being. I want to teach my children to practice our faith, to worship, to pray, and do good habitually and religiously. Their feelings might come and go, but the habit of being a faithful Catholic will sustain them through times of doubt or spiritual dryness.



Religion is unifying. One of the things I love most about being Catholic is the universalness of our faith. The oneness. There is something beautiful and powerful about the oneness of religion. I love knowing that the prayers my family prays, the customs we observe, the feast days we celebrate, and the doctrines we believe are shared by countless other Catholics all over the world. When we profess our faith in the words of the creed at mass, we are making the same profession that billions, of others have made for centuries. When I confess my sins and ask The Blessed Mary Ever Virgin, all the angels and saints, and you, my brothers and sisters, to pray for me to the Lord our God, I do so knowing that I am aided by the prayers of billions - both on earth and in Heaven.

Being a part of a religion is about so much more than just fellowship, so much more than a great youth group or an inviting ladies' Bible study. Being religious is about being united with other believers all over the world - those living and those who have gone before us. When you belong to a religion, you belong to a family - a family that spans generations and transcends cultures.

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Religion is comforting. Like my favorite sweatshirt, a cozy blanket, or my grandmother's kitchen, my religion is comforting. Even with all the help the Church gives us to practice our faith - the sacraments, worship, traditions, stories of the saints, and so much more - sometimes the world is just too much. I run out of words. I feel too tired or too discouraged to pray. At times like these I can fall back, not just on my personal faith, even faith can be tough in times like these. I fall back on my religion - familiar prayers, beautiful hymns, the smell of incense, the beauty of the mass, the words of the creed. My religion provides vehicle for times when my faith just need to be pulled along.

Religion is God's Idea. When I was an Evangelical, we often cited verses in which Jesus seems to be criticizing the Pharisees for their religious practices. True, Jesus was quick to point out the ways in which the Pharisees used their religion to set themselves above others or the ways in which they were hypocrites. He condemned the religious leaders of His day for burdening people with unnecessary rules and regulations. But true religion, seeks to draw people nearer to God in and through the practice of the faith. True religion is not just a set of rules and laws. That sort of religion, the sort of religion that Jesus condemned, drives people to either rebel or to live lives burdened by anxiety and crushing guilt. But Jesus never tells us not to be religious at all -to just do our own thing. Jesus himself was an observant Jew, keeping the feasts and customs of His people. Not only that, but God never tells the Children of Israel to just worship any way they please or to do whatever makes them feel good and draws in more people. Instead He gives very specific instructions for how they are to conduct sacrifices and worship.

Back in college, when I claimed to be spiritual but not religious, what I was really saying was that I was free to pick what, if any, Christian customs and traditions I followed. I could decide for myself which doctrines were binding and which were not. Being free from religion meant that I could choose a church, if I went at all, that fit my preferences and taught what I believed to be the correct interpretation of scripture. Being spiritual but not religious actually meant a religion of my own creating.

Webster's defines religion, in part, as an organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules...

I like that definition. My religion organizes my beliefs. My religion gives me a framework and a system both for expressing my love for God and for helping me to grow in that love. My faithfulness to God does not depend entirely on my feelings. Through the various practices of my religion, I often do feel more love and awe for God, but I am also sustained when those feelings sometimes wane. My religion does not replace a real relationship with Jesus any more than living within a marriage replaces a couple's real relationship with each other. Rather, my religion is the home in which my relationship with God is nurtured and grows.

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40's Couple In Apartment

In our Money Mic series, we hand over the podium to people with controversial views about money. These are their views, not ours, but we welcome your responses.

Today, one woman shares how she gave up life on the fast track -- literally -- to move around the world and be with the love of her life.

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Four years ago, I was living the good life in Arizona. I'd scored the job of my dreams working as the manager of communications for Phoenix International Raceway -- part of the International Speedway Corp., which owns NASCAR.

The NASCAR lifestyle was something I loved. Working races and rubbing elbows with celebrities all came with the territory. I felt I had finally made it.

Was the pay amazing? Not exactly. I actually took a salary cut to take the new position. Of course I needed to pay my bills, but for me it was more important to love my job and employer and be challenged. Not to mention, working in such a fast-paced, sports-related public relations position definitely scratched my itch for excitement.

When I joined the team, we were in the middle of preparations to have the raceway repaved, which happens every 20 years or so. It's a hefty project that requires hiring additional staff to see it through.

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Little did I know that Jack*, the guy they'd brought on to run the project, would turn out to be the love of my life -- and that the trajectory of my career was about to change forever.

Saying Goodbye to My Dream Job

Several months later, the repaving of the track attracted a lot of media attention, which meant I had to coordinate reporter visits directly with Jack. As the project ramped up, we started working together more closely. Things were strictly professional, but I couldn't help but feel attracted to the smart, assertive superintendent/project manager who was 10 years my senior. The feeling was mutual.

When the project came to a close, Jack finally asked me out. I knew early on that he was something special. Honestly, one of the things that really got to me was overhearing him on the phone with his mom. The care he showed toward her just melted my heart. This guy wasn't like all the others.

After about two months of dating, he dropped a bomb on me -- he'd bought into a construction management company in the San Francisco area (something he did before we got together) and would be relocating before the year's end. I was devastated. We were only a few short but incredible weeks in and I had to wonder: Was this was the end of the best relationship I'd ever had?

Neither of us was ready to give it all up.

Eventually he headed to California while I stayed behind in Phoenix. We flew back and forth every weekend for about a month, but saying goodbye at the end of each visit was getting harder and harder to do. This man was kind and thoughtful and treated me like gold. What's more, my family absolutely loved him. The idea of giving him up was unthinkable.

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But being with him for good also meant leaving the job in Phoenix I loved so much. If I moved out to the West Coast, it would be without another gig lined up, and I was wary about giving up my financial independence. After all, I was 38 and had always worked and supported myself.

This was naturally met with some cautionary words from friends and family who advised me to really think it through. After weighing all the options, being with Jack just felt right. Besides, surely I'd be able to continue with some NASCAR work remotely and pick up a few freelance gigs on the side.

As for paying the bills, I didn't have too many obligations. My car was already paid off, I didn't have any debt to speak of, and I don't have kids. I also had about $8,000 in savings and roughly $1,200 in my checking account at the time. After talking it through, Jack was happy to support me.

So I made the decision to relocate to California and move in with him.

From Phoenix to Silicon Valley to London

I viewed the move as the exciting adventure that it was. Our early days in California were filled with walks to the grocery store, regular movie dates and exploring downtown San Francisco together.

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A couple months passed and I was keeping myself busy with some freelance writing for NASCAR. This worked out to about four stories a month at $250 a pop, which was hardly enough to live off of. I covered my financial responsibilities partly with my savings, but in all honesty, Jack was supporting me. His new job with the company he'd bought into came with a $150,000 paycheck.

Our routine was flipped on its head when Jack's company wanted to relocate him to London for a two-year project building a new data center. It was a good gig that would give Jack the opportunity to make some international contacts. It also came with a higher salary -- roughly $200,000.

As for my career, however, the overseas move represented a hurdle. I didn't have a work visa, which meant full-time employment would be out of the question. Before we even left the States, I understood that for at least the next two years, I'd be financially dependent on my boyfriend. When we weighed all the options, it was clear that he was doing work he loved that also paid well and allowed us to travel the world. He'd be crazy to give that up.

We made the jump across the pond, and our time in London was nothing short of amazing. Plus, Jack was loving his job, which is why we were shocked when, after just five months, he was let go due to budget cuts. Back to the States we went.

From California to Texas to North Carolina

Unfortunately, we were met with more bad news when we returned home to California -- turns out that while we were away, the company Jack had bought into went under. It was tough on him given the time and money he had invested in the venture, but he quickly dusted himself off and began reaching out to his industry contacts.

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The good news? He soon scored an amazing nine-month gig building a smaller data center. The job came with a $170,000 salary and an allowance to cover rent.

The bad news? It was in a small border town in Texas.

I didn't really have any freelance clients at the time, and Jack needed the work, so we accepted the offer in October 2012. Adjusting from big-city London to small-town Texas was the culture shock of my life.

The only upside was that Jack's company gave me a job doing administrative work. With that and some freelance work I'd picked up, I was earning around $35,000 a year.

It was the longest nine months of my life. Jack was under a lot of pressure with the project. I was lonely, hated where we lived and didn't feel challenged career-wise. And since we were working in the same office, we were spending a ton of time together and bickered constantly.

I couldn't help but wonder: Had I made a huge mistake giving up my career?

In moving around so much for Jack, I felt I had lost my identity along with my financial independence. When I voiced these fears to him, he continued to be incredibly supportive. If I'd wanted to move back to Phoenix, he would have helped me get there. Of course, his making these offers only made me love him more.

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I realized that breaking up was the last thing I wanted to do.

Our time in Texas tested our relationship, but we came out on the other side stronger. It took that experience to show me just how hard he works. And it showed him just how much I'd sacrificed to be with him.

When the project came to a close, we were ready to move on. After a former colleague of his reached out with an amazing senior superintendent offer, it was goodbye Texas, hello North Carolina!

I was beyond thrilled to transition to Charlotte. Not only was it a beautiful city, it was also home to NASCAR headquarters. I spent my first few months picking up freelance gigs -- I was working from home doing everything from writing web content to doing PR and creating marketing materials.

One particularly cool client (a skin-care company) quickly gave me a good amount of work, and I was really enjoying my freelance projects. I suddenly didn't feel in such a hurry to get back into the 9-to-5 life. I earned about $12,000 to $15,000 over the first six months, but Jack's salary was roughly $200,000, so I wasn't feeling financially stressed.

After six months in Charlotte, we settled in and bought a house. But just two weeks after signing on the dotted line, Jack's boss announced plans to relocate him to San Antonio for a huge project building a data center for a software giant. Since it would only be a few months, Jack took off for Texas (again) while I stayed in Charlotte.

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Keeping Up a Long-Distance Relationship With a Freelance Lifestyle

It wasn't long before I began splitting my time between the two cities. But what was supposed to be four to six months has turned into over a year. The good news is that Jack's company provides us with two free flights a month and also covers his rent there.

Is it an ideal situation? No, but it looks like the end of this project will come soon, at which point he'll return to live and work in Charlotte. In the meantime, that one freelance client of mine has really dialed up my workload, snagging me about $2,500 a month.

I've thought about looking for a 40-hour gig, but it would be difficult to find an employer willing to let me work from home or take as many days off as I do. Plus, I love the freelance work I've patched together for myself. My flexible work-from-home lifestyle also allows me to frequently visit my elderly parents in Michigan.

In the end, I think it's all about choices. Over the last four years, I've chosen to stick with Jack through worldwide moves and all. Why? Because I love him and he's my partner -- and that's what partners do.

And despite it all, our financial picture is pretty strong. Over the course of my career, I've continued rolling money over into an IRA. Right now, I've got about $60,000 in my retirement fund and am actively working toward growing it. Jack currently has about $500,000 in his 401(k). We've also got over $50,000 in emergency savings and zero debt aside from the remainder of our mortgage, which sits at a little under $300,000.

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It's been a journey to say the least, but I'm at peace with my decision. Some may say I'm a fool for giving up my dream job back in Phoenix, but if I hadn't, I wouldn't have Jack in my life. That's a trade-off I'd make again if I had to.

*Names have been changed.

This post originally appeared on LearnVest.
A young woman was giving birth, surrounded by the sick, injured and dying at an open-air hospital behind l'Universite d'Etat. A baby was being born in a sea of broken bones, in a shattered country. It was January 2010 in Haiti, ten days after the devastating earthquake had hit Port-au-Prince. I had recently arrived with Oxfam and was visiting this makeshift hospital. Though I was no stranger to humanitarian emergencies, I was totally shocked by the level of suffering I was witnessing. I could barely make it through a couple of interviews with Irish TV and Canadian Radio on the humanitarian challenges the aid community was facing.

Despite the utter misery of the place, it felt somehow safe and orderly compared to other camps and displaced centers across the Haitian Capital.

I made my way out, and heard a familiar accent, American voices. To my surprise I realized it was the US Marine presence that was keeping order. Soldiers were clearing the streets, limiting the number of hospital visitors, and ensuring that they had plenty of clean water. Despite the soldiers' constant shouting and miscommunications with the locals, their presence felt somewhat reassuring.

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Relief Agencies and the Military?

In the days after the quake, the Marines were everywhere. The US Navy also sent ships and so did the French, Italian, Dutch, Spanish and Canadian Navies. Within a week, the world witnessed not only the response from the aid community, but also massive rescue and medical teams arriving from the national guards of the Dominican Republic, China and several European nations.



U.S. Marines landing team unload water from the back of a helicopter for earthquake victims in Leogane, Haiti, on Jan. 20, 2010. Credit: Lance Cpl. Christopher M. Carroll, U.S. Marine Corps

By definition, humanitarians are not the biggest supporters of the military. The aid community also tend to fiercely defend its independence and impartiality, especially in conflict areas. Still, the reality is that in many humanitarian emergencies, the military is indeed very useful. They help support communications, lead the search and rescue of people missing, and support the aid community with overall coordination in a joint effort to reach people in need.

The relationship between the military and aid workers is also crucial when humanitarians need to get access to dangerous zones. In an armed conflict or high-risk environment, using military assets to support humanitarian action becomes more complicated, particularly if military actors are part of the conflict.



Coordinating the Humanitarian Response

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Next comes the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, known as OCHA.

OCHA's Emergency Services Branch has a network of civil-military coordination - UN-CMCoord - experts that are dedicated to making sure that the open, balanced and often sensitive dialogue between the aid community and the military is maintained. The branch is the guardian of internationally agreed guidelines which seek to preserve the impartiality, neutrality and operational independence of humanitarian actors.

That job is difficult, if not almost impossible at times. Syria, Somalia, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Yemen or the DRC are a few examples of countries where humanitarian civil-military coordination is needed. The UN-CMCoord experts have a lengthy and also difficult task at hand as they sit down and talk to warring parties.

As humanitarians, our roles and objectives are not always as clear for the generals as they are to our close-knitted aid community. UN-CMCoord facilitates civil-military interaction in sudden onset, escalating and protracted crises. In many complex emergencies, these humanitarian experts also contribute to humanitarian access negotiations, basic humanitarian operations, and the protection of civilians and humanitarian aid workers.



Dealing with complex reality in Boko Haram-operated area

Just a few weeks ago, experts from various UN agencies, NGOs and allies met in Cameroon, West Africa, to look into ways to improve the humanitarian response at the Cameroon-Nigeria border. After months of military exchanges between the group Boko Haram and the Cameroon forces, the Far North Region of the country has seen a huge spike in refugees (65,000) as well as internally displaced people (over 150,000). The complex nature of the conflicts in that region of Africa means that various military actors are fighting to eliminate Boko Haram while at the same time operating alongside the humanitarian agencies trying to secure the area so humanitarian assistance can be delivered.

A UN expert from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs facilitated discussions amongst those aid groups to have a consistent approach in dealing with military actors. It is vital in these situations that both sides understand their roles and objectives. The separation of the military actions versus humanitarian activities also needed to be clearly defined by the expert.

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Zamai, northern Cameroon: A UN inter-agency mission meets with displaced families in their settlement near Mokolo, in northern Cameroon. Credit: OCHA/Ivo Brandau



Overall, effective civil-military coordination ensures that humanitarian action is seen as distinct, while also identifying areas where humanitarian civil-military interaction is possible.

With so many conflicts brewing and people in need of basic assistance, humanitarians must be aware of the issues emanating from working with the military to ensure that their neutrality, impartiality, operational independence and the civilian character of humanitarian assistance are not compromised.

I sometimes wonder about that baby I saw being born that day in Haiti. I think about what has become of her and her mother. I worry that not enough has improved since that day six years ago. But I'm thankful that for one moment, there was an oasis of life in the midst of chaos and death. I'm thankful for the military personnel who made that refuge possible.

At the time I would have considered it sacrilege for a humanitarian to say, but now I can say with confidence: I'm grateful the military was there.

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I see that cooperation is needed between unlikely actors in our tumultuous world. We can coordinate. We can unite around offering help, civilian and military alike. More than ever, we must.

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There's been a lot of controversy about the South China Sea recently with all the artificial islands that everyone and his brother are building there. One approach might be to let Taiwan tackle the issue. The reason? According to the very claimants themselves, if we let Taiwan be in charge, everyone will end up getting a piece of them anyway and the problem will be solved. China, for instance, claims Taiwan as its own territory, so if we respect China's claim to Taiwan, and Taiwan takes over all the islands, it's still China that's governing them, right?

In other words, I say to the world: let China continue to build artificial islands in the South China Sea, but let it renounce ownership and hand them over to Taiwan. This way China can show the world how confident it is in its claim over Taiwan. If it hands its islands over to Taiwan now, it's basically saying: we are so sure that Taiwan will someday be ours again, we can let Taiwan be our proxy now.

In this way, China can appease the U.S., too. With Taiwan as its proxy -- since Taiwan is a U.S. ally and part of the U.S. security network -- the U.S. can relax and believe, for the moment at least, that an utterly friendly ally is in charge. China paranoia will die down.

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If you look at it still another way, according to its history, the people of Taiwan have inherited a culture with Chinese roots, an overlay of Japanese influence (1895-1945), Dutch, Portuguese, American and Austro-Melanesian influence. Even for those Chinese who arrived on the island in 1949, they've lived there long enough to have absorbed at least some of these conflicting cultural strands.

So, if you divide up all the people of Taiwan according to their cultures, they already embody within themselves many of the major claimants to the South China Seas. So I again say, let them spread out and occupy the South China Seas -- and that way everyone, or nearly everyone, will be represented.
Three New Year's Resolutions You Won't Want to Break

It's Sunday afternoon following New Year's. My sweetie, Athan is sorting receipts, clearing out our business cupboard of the past no longer required. As we look forward to our third year in Greece, I am mindful of the lessons of the decades that brought me here. Not to our island of Aegina, but to this state of being. While life is never free of challenge, there are choices we make that assures life is immanently joyful. Here are three.

1. Accept life as it is not as you wish it to be.

Please do not misinterpret this statement to mean lie down and let life wash over you. It means the very opposite. But to engage energetically with life -- its ups and downs, challenges and joys requires you to meet it face on. So much of our stress and anxiety has its roots in our resistance to what is actually going on. If you take the word "should" out of your vocabulary, 90 percent of your frustration would disappear. Your dog shouldn't have done that? Clean it up. Ask yourself what you can do to prevent future mishaps. Your boyfriend/girlfriend should have done what? Are you communicating your expectations clearly? Are you even with the right person? Your child should know better? Parenting is calm and consistent repetition to understanding. Teach it again with love.

As for the shoulds of your boss, the president, world powers, the global economy, environmental jeopardy or war, some things you can change and some things you cannot. Decide which is which and know that all radical change is a composite of many small actions: plant a tree, cast your vote, sign a petition -- your actions matter.

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In the words of Margaret Mead, "Never believe that a few caring people can't change the world. For, indeed, that's all who ever have."

Inevitably you will face deeply personal challenges over which you have no control: the illness or death of a loved one or some other such cataclysm. This is the most important time not to stand in the wings of, "I wish this wasn't happening" but to step onto your own life stage with the offer, "How can I be present in this moment?" The freedom of non resistance opens you to responses that can elevate a difficult passage into grace for all involved. Facing life in the moment is invigorating and will give you strength and initiative you did not know your possessed.

2. Manage your thoughts, they are your blueprint.

On the cusp of the old and new year, it is an opportunity to free yourself from the past and look with fresh vision to the future. Be clearly aware that what brought you to this precise moment is the accumulation of all the beliefs, thoughts, decisions, and actions that you took. You are the center point of your own life and your consistent thoughts lead to assumptions and actions that show up as the events, circumstances and relationships that you experience. This is not to be confused with visualization. No one would wish life's calamities on themselves, and most people, if asked, are looking for love, heath and wealth. So where does the disconnect happen? Not in our heart where our true desires for love and peace and plenty are born, but in our minds which are too often in control. Our mind, if left unattended, is controlled by unexamined statements we have taken on as truth. They may be old scripts from our past or new programs pounding us through media.

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Stop right now and take an account of the thoughts going through your mind. My guess is, from my own experience, some are nonsense, some are negative, and some are just plain repetitive. Ask yourself how many reflect what you do want rather than what you don't want. It is our habit to problem solve by over thinking a situation past or future. When you do this, notice the loop your inner dialogue takes. Do you notice how it tends to spiral deeper into the problem rather than toward a solution? Can you see how this keeps you from being present to an action you can take right now.

Once aware of this, you can train your mind away from mindless thinking to mindful thinking. Like training a puppy to a leash, when you notice your mind tugging you toward what you don't want, gently guide it back to the present moment and what you do want. This applies to harmonious relationships or material desires. What you believe, think about and take action on will occur in your experience. Once you get the knack of managing your thoughts, you will quickly see changes in your everyday occurrences and encounters.

3. Be exactly who you are -- no one can do "you" better.

Each of us is born with an imprint of all that we might be. As sure as the fruit is in the seed, all that we require is within us to fulfill our greatest potential. There is nothing we need to get to make us self-fulfilled and confident, but there is a great deal that we can discover and develop. We can hone our skills, gain competence and excel in what our heart calls us to do. There is no hierarchy or superiority of purpose or role in life. In fact, during a strike, we are keenly aware of how much we depend on garbage collection, transportation and emergency care.

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There is honor in all ways a person serves the world in their unique role. We need our service providers and caregivers every bit as much as we need out leaders and intellects (some would argue more). We need our scientists, visionaries, risk takers to find better solutions for our future. We need artists, musicians and poets to articulate the spirit of life and change our mindless thinking. We need people to show us a better way to tidy up, navigate the Internet, fix our computers, mend our shoes, grow our food. In other words we need what you have got to give.

And the joy in doing what we love and fulfilling our greatest destiny is that no one can judge us or find us lacking. We are always exactly who we are, happy in whatever stage of progress we find ourselves. Discovering our joy, developing our skills, or staking our claim in the world. I am I and you are you and aren't we grand just as we are?

Each time you engage with life in open-hearted willingness to participate with presence, clarity and authenticity, you forge a golden brick on the bridge to your own happiness. Happy 2016!
There is no instruction manual for mothers of addicts. We have all the information about what to expect when you are expecting and of course there is always the go to book by Dr. Spock. There are books written by parents living the nightmare that addiction brings along for the ride. As Matt's mom I tried to educate myself on addiction. An Addict in the Family, Stay Close, Beautiful Boy all became my bibles. My go-to reference books that made me feel like I wasn't crazy or a horrible mom. The only problem with those books is their addict survived. My son did not.



Being a nurse became a curse. Matt's addiction became my addiction. I was addicted to saving him. Yes, I know, I've heard it all. Only the addict can save himself. Unfortunately, I saved other mother's babies for a living so I foolishly let myself think that I had the power to save my own. I let myself believe that I had the problem under control. I was a nurse, how could my son be an addict. He grew up in a good home. He went to a private school. He had a mom who set a great example of work ethic. To me, he wasn't an addict. Matt just had a problem. He had scripts for medications from, what I believed to be, a pain management clinic that cared about Matt's well being. Denial helped me survive those years we battled his addiction together. There were times I felt like I was strapped to a roller coaster blindfolded. Never knowing or truly seeing what was coming next.



I didn't talk about Matt's addiction at work. Addiction is a dirty word. It was my dirty little secret. I would sit and listen to my fellow nurses brag about the accomplishments of their children, all the while wanting to scream. My child is an addict and I need to be supported, not shunned. No amount of nursing education prepared me for the power of addiction or the stigma that branded the addict and his family. Addiction is the most misunderstood disease. I remember wishing Matt had cancer, sick I know, but at least I would have gotten support and sympathy.

Parents are afraid addiction is catchy and if they allow themselves to think even for a minute this nightmare could invade their perfect family they run and shut you out. The stigma lived in the NICU as I kept my mouth closed afraid of the reaction I would receive from my educated colleagues: You are the mother of an addict, their dirt is now yours. You are a nurse, how could your son be an addict. You are a horrible mom.



I look back now and realize how blind I truly was. I though being a nurse would protect my child from the deadliness of addiction. After all I should know the signs. I should have been able to handle the health crisis that addiction and withdraw threw in my face. I wanted to believe the lies. I'm just tired. Yes, I went for the interview. No, mom, I'm not abusing my drugs. Matt lived with me the last seven years of his too short life. We battled many days. Screaming at each other after I'd come home from a 12-hour shift to find him slumped over on the couch with white residue on his nose, his list of chores undone. Still I denied he was that addict.



Being a nurse I had contacts in the treatment world and believe me I exhausted them. There wasn't a mental health facility in Delaware that I haven't visited with Matt in tow. Unfortunately for us my state had no rehabs so it was always a fight to find him a safe place out of state. Getting him admitted and finally being able to breath even just for 28 days felt like the weight of the world left my heart. Knowing he was safe gave me the false security that my son would also be one of the survivors. Matt coming home was always a mixed bag of emotions. Yes, I was happy to see him but at the same time I was scared to death.



I had to keep a roof over our heads and that meant Matt was once again afforded the freedom to live in his world of euphoria. When I had exhausted the resources in Delaware, we went to Maryland then Pennsylvania. Through this entire seven-year journey I never thought he would overdose. Denial became my very dear friend. Tough love didn't work for us either. I finally told him he had to go after he stole from me and then called the police on me for hiding his drugs. You see, I was tired of the rehab stuff and was going to detox him myself at home. He left and I cried and constantly worried. I let him come home to shower and eat, I felt like a piece of dirt. Me living in a great house and Matt sleeping on whatever couch he could find for the night. Tough love just about did me in so Matt came home and the cycle started all over again. I became the mom police, checking his phone and emails. Searching through his room and things. I was becoming someone I never wanted to be.



My friends, tired of the same Matt stories started to avoid me. My life became a place I didn't want to be anymore and I would dream of selling everything and running away, but I had to save Matt. Our last Thanksgiving together was spent at Rockford, a mental health facility. We were given one hour. Knowing what I know now I would have signed him out and run like the wind. My son eating with strangers and me crying my heart out as I left him behind. The last time I saw Matt he was in Bowling Green, a rehab in Pennsylvania. He ended up there after another screaming match with me coming home and him stoned again. I told him it was rehab or the streets. I drove him there on a Monday night and held my breath in the waiting room as the staff did their assessment to decide if he would be admitted.



I praised God all the way home in joy that maybe this would be the magic time as all the books tell you, don't give up one time he will get it. I fooled myself into thinking we finally did it. Matt was saved. The last time I saw Matt was a beautiful day in May, so full of promise. Matt looked great, speech and eyes clear. He told me he was so happy to get the monkey off his back and was ready to start his new life at a sober living house in BocaRaton, Florida. The Boca House was recommended by Matt's counselor and was actually a place mentioned in one of the books I'd read. If only I had known what Matt was heading into I never would have bought that ticket.

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He left for Florida on June 2. We spoke twice a day. He told me he felt blessed to be so close to the beach. You see, we are beach people, me and Matt. I felt good knowing he was on board for his recovery and breathed a sigh of relief. We did it. I so foolishly believed that 28 days in rehab had prepared Matt to face the world again. A world where Mom wasn't there to pick up the pieces and get him to safety. I was flying to Boca on February 10th to spend the week with Matt. To celebrate his new life and meet his boss, as Matt finally found employment. How foolish I was. With a job came a paycheck. Drugs cost money and Matt had money and no mom on 24/7 watch. Matt overdosed on January 3rd and my life stopped. I live in a world of disbelief. How did this happen. Every time we spoke he sounded normal, my ears, trained to pick up the changes in speech failed me. We spoke at 6:23 p.m. on Friday night. He died 5 a.m on Saturday morning. My last words to him were, "I love you Matt, stay safe." He replied with, "I love you, Mom, I'll call you tomorrow."

That call never came. No amount of nursing education could have prepared me for this ending.

As I look back I remember all the mothers in the NICU. Holding them as they said goodbye to their babies who were born too soon or too sick for even the latest technology to save. I remember crying with them feeling like I let them down by not being able to save their babies. I remember the feeling of helplessness and hopelessness as we sat together. I remember saying it will be ok. I think back in horror. How could I have uttered those words when I had no idea of the heartbreaking pain these moms were feeling as they held their dying babies. I am ashamed that I thought so little of their grief as their dreams were shattered and their lives were changed forever. I now get it. Losing a child is having your heart ripped from your chest. Having the breath sucked out of your lungs. Having your world spin off its axis and shatter at your feet.

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I now live in a state of profound grief. I question everything I did during his addiction. I replay the last 7 years and try to figure it out. Dissecting every decision I made or didn't make. What did I miss, what could I have done differently. When Matt's life ended a part of mine did too. I spent so much energy on saving him that I am lost. I walk around looking at his pictures, always smiling, no hint of the demons that controlled and finally took his life.

My NICU days are over. I could not handle the loss of another mother's baby. My days are spent writing Matt's story in my blog called mothersheartbreak.com. I offer support to other mothers who share my grief of losing a child to addiction. I speak out against the stigma that prevents addicts from getting the treatment they need and deserve. I pray that someday I will find peace knowing that Matt is safe, and I hope to forgive myself. I used to think I was a smart girl, a critical care nurse who saved other mother's babies but could not save her own.



Matt gave me away on my wedding day

_______________________

Need help with substance abuse or mental health issues? In the U.S., call 800-662-HELP (4357) for the SAMHSA National Helpline.
The year 2015 was politically tumultuous even for a state as accustomed to tumult as Illinois. Bruce Rauner became the first Republican governor in 12 years and promptly renewed his effort to curb the power of public employee unions in Illinois.

His executive order to end compulsory "fair share" fees for non-union public employees who are covered by collective bargaining unions ultimately failed, but a case before the U.S. Supreme Court could make it the law of the nation.

A bipartisan bill to fill a budget gap of $1.6 billion in March gave many Illinoisans hope that the cooperation between Rauner and the Democrats who control the General Assembly was a sign of good things to come. Unfortunately, it lasted barely two weeks, as the administration cut $26 million in social services funding that Democrats thought had been protected under the bill.

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That set the tone for the rest of the year, as Rauner and Democrats clashed over Rauner's Illinois Turnaround agenda. The result has been a state budget standoff that has left the Illinois without an operating budget -- and en route to creating a massive deficit -- more than halfway into the budget year.

But the budget fiasco was eclipsed on Nov. 24, when the city of Chicago, under orders from a judge, released video that showed 17-year-old Laquan McDonald being shot 16 times by a Chicago police officer in October 2014. The video was a shocking contrast to the earlier, official version of the shooting, which indicated McDonald had lunged at the officer with a knife.

In October, Emanuel had seen his former schools chief, Barbara Byrd-Bennett, plead guilty to corruption charges in one of the most brazen bribery schemes in state history. The McDonald controversy brought demands for his resignation that continue today.
December 2015 is gone, and so is US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, who announced in October that he would be leaving DC in December.

In this January 02, 2016, NBC "Meet the Press" article, President Obama offers an unsubstantiated statement in an effort to portray Duncan's tenure in Washington, DC, as successful:

"Arne has dedicated his life to the cause of education -- and sometimes in the nicest possible way, he has gotten on people's nerves because he has pushed them and prodded them," Obama said at the signing of the Every Student Succeeds Act. "Had he not been, I believe, as tenacious as he was, I think that we would not have as good of a product as we do here today. And so I could not be prouder of Arne Duncan," the president added.

I wonder exactly what that "as good of a product" is. Obama isn't offering details.

The NBC article is generous in its assessment (funny word choice) of Duncan's accomplishments. For example, NBC credits Duncan with "helping convince" states to adopt the Common Core State Standards (CCSS):

Duncan helped convince 42 states to adopt education goals based on the Common Core, and 21 of them to use tests that directly align with those standards, which were created by a bi-partisan group and attempt to both make U.S. schools more challenging and the curriculum more similar from state-to-state.

Recall that CCSS was supposedly "state led." Too, the wording that CCSS was an "attempt" to make schools more challenging is wording polished to a glossy sheen given the rush to write and implement CCSS before America knew what had hit it.

And let me add a corrective finger wag to NBC- CCSS isn't supposed to be a curriculum-- even though taking hold of standards on one end and assessments on the other will indeed drive the curriculum in the middle.

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Arne was just "helping" with all of this.

Note, however, that the CCSS push was in the works before Duncan arrived in 2009 (e.g., billionaire Bill Gates was asked to fund the venture in summer 2008), so what Duncan did in 2009 was attach money to CCSS via Race to the Top (RTTT), which was careful to not name CCSS, instead opting for the term "common standards" that were "consortium developed."

In June 2009, Duncan attended the National Governors Association (NGA) symposium and announced that RTTT would be coming- and that the federal government would foot the bill for CCSS's consortium-developed, common assessments. However, before Duncan officially announced RTTT, 46 states and three territories had already signed the CCSS memorandum of understanding (MOU).

Of course, it is possible that the governors were willing to sign onto a CCSS that did not yet exist because of the smell of federal money coming- and Duncan certainly could have helped them smell it.

(Note that the CCSS MOU also indicated that the federal government would have an extensive role in all to do with CCSS except specifically funding its writing.)

To NBC's credit, it does note later in its Duncan piece that "conservatives accurately cast Duncan as effectively federalizing education policy." However, the NBC article adds that Duncan views the CCSS backlash as "more about a failure to communicate his vision than his ideas themselves."

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Dream on, Arne.

Duncan was protective of CCSS to the extent that he told newspaper editors how to report on CCSS; he even insulted parents for CCSS opposition. These details did not make it into the NBC article, and apparently, Duncan does not consider that his vision was indeed accurately communicated.

What did make it into the NBC piece was Duncan's charter school affinity- so much so that he is credited with "presiding over" charter school growth in places that were charter-school friendly pre-Duncan, such as DC and New Orleans:

While some liberals dislike charter schools, Duncan has been a strong supporter of them and presided over a huge growth in students attending charters in cities like Washington, D.C. and New Orleans.

Yes, Duncan is friendly toward charter schools. No Child Left Behind (NCLB) and the latest Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) revision, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), both seek to expand the presence of "high quality charter schools" (should be a trademarked term by now) without addressing issues of charter school mismanagement and scandal. Indeed, on the day that he resigned, Duncan doled out a cool $249 million to charter schools despite the criticism that his Department of Ed failed to monitor its generous charter school payouts:

On that day, Duncan rattled the education policy world with news of a controversial grant of $249 million ($157 the first year) to the charter school industry. This announcement was controversial because, as The Washington Post reports, an audit by his department's own inspector general found "that the agency has done a poor job of overseeing federal dollars sent to charter schools." Post reporter Lynsey Layton notes, "The agency's inspector general issued a scathing report in 2012 that found deficiencies in how the department handled federal grants to charter schools between 2008 and 2011 - in other words, during Duncan's watch. Even more perplexing is that the largest grant of $71 million ($32.5 the first year) is going to Ohio, the state that has the worst reputation for allowing low-performing charter schools to divert tax money away from educational purposes and do little to raise the achievement of students.

Any Duncan legacy piece should account for this glaring Duncan lapse, and NBC's piece on Duncan does not.

Is this part of Obama's "good" educational "product"? Is he proud of Duncan for his failure to bring some of that so-called accountability over federal charter school cash?

He isn't saying.

In giving $71 million to Ohio, which has been in the news for issues of charter corruption- including the Ohio Department of Education's manipulating charter school stats- the USDOE offered the unbelievably weak explanation that it simply did not conduct a thorough review of the Ohio application before approving Ohio for that $71 million.

Another issue: NBC alludes to Duncan's attempts to coerce states into his, uh, "vision" via his conditional NCLB waivers, which actually led to lots of detailed ESSA language attempting to limit the role of future US secretaries of education, especially as concerns Title I funding. I am in the process of writing a digest on the 1,061-page ESSA; below is an excerpt regarding the ESSA prohibitions on the US secretary of education.

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They are undeniably inspired by the actions of former US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan:

[Regarding ESSA state plans and Title I funding], there are a number of specifics that the secretary cannot do. ...The secretary cannot create a hard-and-fast, exhaustive list of illustrations on how the Title I state plan should read, and the secretary cannot offer "new, non-regulatory guidance" that "purports to be legally binding" (page 104)- hinting at Duncan's overreach with his No Child Left Behind (NCLB) waivers. There is also the statement that the secretary cannot add to the data reporting requirements of Title I: "[the secretary cannot] require data collection under this part beyond data derived from existing Federal, State, and local reporting requirements" (page 104). The secretary cannot redefine Title I terminology in an effort to bypass the limitations on the secretary's role regarding Title I (pages 104-105).

The US secretary-limiting language in ESSA is attributed to Duncan, and NBC does get that right:

Earlier this month (December 2015), Congress passed the "Every Student Succeeds Act," a replacement to the Bush-era "No Child Left Behind" law. Included in the ESSA, at the behest of congressional Republicans, are several provisions that explicitly bar the federal Department of Education from setting policy for all of America's schools. Republicans wanted to ensure there are no more Arne Duncans.

If the Republicans wanted to ensure there were "no more Arne Duncans," they likely missed their goal, at least in part. When it comes to the 95-percent participation requirement for English language arts (ELA) and math testing in grades 3 through 8 and once in high school, ESSA tells states that they are not supposed to fashion state- and local-level opt out laws and regulations based on the federal testing requirement as a condition for Title I funding.

In other words, don't blame the federal government for the federally-required Title I testing.

This will produce a showdown in which states that fail to make the federally-mandated 95 percent of students tested will be at the mercy of the next US secretary of education, who does have the authority to waive ESSA requirements. (For details, see pages 815 to 826 of the ESSA document.)

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As it stands, spring 2016 testing still falls under NCLB. Note that the NCLB intention of the 95-percent of students tested was retained in ESSA, with tighter language in ESSA. NCLB language is looser in that it notes that states must administer tests (there was no parental opt-out in 2001 and therefore no inkling that state-administered tests would be resisted by parents and students), but it seems that Ann Whalen, whose temp title is "Delegated the authority to perform the functions and duties of Assistant Secretary for Elementary and Secondary Education," plans to put the squeeze on states to get that 95 percent of students to actually take the tests that the state is required by NCLB to "administer." (It is one issue for states to administer the tests and quite another for parents to allow their children to take the tests that the state is in good NCLB faith offering to administer.)

Whalen advises states to put pressure on districts to get that 95 percent of students participating in the testing. Among her suggestions are lowering the less-than-95-percent-testing district rating in the state accountability system; requiring districts with fewer than 95 percent test takers to develop an "improvement plan"; designating such districts or schools as "high risk," or a state's withholding state or federal aid from such districts.

Finally, before her creepy "we look forward to working with you" closing, Whalen states that she is not beyond withholding Title I funding, especially for states with notable opt outs last year:

If a State with participation rates below 95% in the 20142015 school year fails to assess at least 95% of its students on the statewide assessment in the 20152016 school year, ED will take one or more of the following actions: (1) withhold Title I, Part A State administrative funds; (2) place the State's Title I, Part A grant on high-risk status and direct the State to use a portion of its Title I State administrative funds to address low participation rates; or (3) withhold or redirect Title VI State assessment funds. For all States, ED will consider the appropriate action to take for any State that does not assess at least 95 percent of its students in the 20152016 school year -- overall and for each subgroup of students and among its LEAs. To determine what action is most appropriate, ED will consider SEA and LEA participation rate data for the 20152016 school year, as well as action the SEA has taken with respect to any LEA noncompliance with the assessment requirements of the ESEA. We look forward to working with you to ensure that all students participate in statewide assessments during the 20152016 school year and each year thereafter, and in supporting implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act, which includes a new focus on auditing and reducing unnecessary State and local assessments and providing parents and families with better information about required testing.... Please do not hesitate to contact your State's program officer in the Office of State Support if you need additional information or clarification. Thank you for your continued commitment to enhancing education for all of your State's students.

Nice. If it seems that Whalen sounds like a Duncan, it is because she has ties to Duncan and Chicago. I know her from reading her pro-corporate-reform writing at Ed Post (which happens to be run by another Duncan-Chicago-USDOE crony, Peter Cunningham):

Ann Whalen is senior advisor to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan. Prior to returning to the U.S. Department of Education, she served as the director of policy for Education Post. Whalen has served more than five years in the Obama Administration with the U.S. Department of Education. At the department, Ann was director of the Implementation and Support Unit, providing technical assistance to states and school districts as they rolled out new reform programs to improve student results. In that role, she managed a 35-member team and a portfolio of over $50 billion in grant programs. She also served as a special assistant to Secretary of Education Arne Duncan, helping shape administration policy across a range of issues. She also worked with Duncan at Chicago Public Schools for six years and served in the City of Chicago Department of Planning and Development under the administration of former Mayor Richard M. Daley. She has B.A. in political science from Stanford University.

You can read Whalen's December 22, 2015, "I'm warning you" letter to state superintendents in its entirety here, compliments of Alyson Klein of EdWeek.

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Duncan is gone, and the USDOE test worship continues.

We'll see what spring brings for Whalen.

***

Originally posted 01-02-16 at deutsch29.wordpress.com

Schneider is a southern Louisiana native, career teacher, trained researcher, and author of the ed reform whistle blower, A Chronicle of Echoes: Who's Who In the Implosion of American Public Education.
Media gather outside the entrance of the Malheur Wildlife Refuge Headquarters near Burns, Oregon, January 3, 2016, where an armed anti-government group have taken over a building at the federal wildlife refuge, accusing officials of unfairly punishing ranchers who refused to sell their land. The standoff has prompted some schools to call off classes for the entire week. AFP PHOTO / ROB KERR / AFP / ROB KERR (Photo credit should read ROB KERR/AFP/Getty Images)

You may recall back in 2014 that Arizona rancher Cliven Bundy briefly became the darling of the Conservative movement when a long-standing dispute with the Federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) spilled over into an armed, but ultimately non-violent confrontation between Bundy's supporters and the federal law enforcement crowd. Bundy was on his way to becoming the poster-boy for the Right until he uttered a series of racist comments ("let me tell you about your Negro") that got him condemned by Fox News and that was the end of that.

Now he's back in the public eye again because his three sons, along with as many as 150 other protestors, have taken over an unoccupied administration compound in Oregon's Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to protest the jail sentences of two Oregon ranchers -- Dwight and Steve Hammond -- who were convicted of arson on national forest lands and now must serve five years in jail. The Bundy boys claim they are members of a well-armed militia and are prepared to use force to maintain local control over BLM land. As of Saturday night, the occupiers were feasting on chili brought up to them by friendly locals; meanwhile, the story is beginning to circulate on national media as well as the requisite Facebook and Twitter accounts.

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Although the Bundy boys haven't yet started selling t-shirts, they make a point of referring to themselves and their merry band as a 'militia,' as well as making it clear that they are armed. Ammon Bundy has been quoted as saying that he and the others will fight and even die to defend what he refers to as the 'Constitutional rights of states' to manage their own lands. The occupation at Malheur is actually a spill-over from a Carson City rally led by Cliven Bundy to support a bill introduced by Rep. Michele Fiore allowing Nevada to seize and manage any federal property, even though there is no Constitutional provision that would actually allow for such a state of affairs. Fiore is the loony legislator who admits to bringing her handgun into gun-free zones because she claims to carry the piece in her bra, so what's a girl supposed to do?

You can be sure that if this silliness at Malheur gets serious, we will see the usual liberal-conservative division of opinion that takes place whenever states' rights versus federal authority hove into view. And one of the issues that will surely be raised is the alleged willingness of this Bundy militia to use armed force if necessary, particularly when the president is making headlines by considering more regulation of guns. Sooner or later we'll be treated to a peroration by some gun nut about how these valiant freedom fighters are a living example of the sanctity of 2nd-Amendment rights. There were hundreds of such comments floating around during the Bundy ranch standoff in 2014, and I'll quote just one: "The Bundy Ranch standoff is but the latest example as to why the Founding Fathers codified this Right to bear arms."

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But rather than just dismissing this kind of talk as the usual, right-wing rant over 2nd-Amendment rights, my friends in the GVP movement should take a moment and ask themselves whose ox is really being gored. Because when the SCOTUS decided in 2008 that Americans had the right to keep a handgun in their homes, it was liberals like Breyer and Stevens who dissented based on the idea that the 2nd Amendment only protected gun ownership in instances of military service completely disconnected from any kind of personal defense.
FILE - In this Sunday, Nov. 1, 2015 file picture released by the office of Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks in a meeting with Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and the country's diplomats in Tehran. Iran's supreme leader says the slogan "Death to America" is not aimed at the American people, but rather American policies. Khamenei's website says Tuesday he made the comment while meeting with Iranian students ahead of the anniversary of the takeover of the U.S. embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979. (Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP, File)

Ever since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was appointed Iran's supreme leader in 1989, there has been a power struggle in Iran between two groups. In one group are the moderates, reformists and liberals who want to open Iran's political system and make Iran a normal, non-revolutionary state. The second group consists of those who want to keep Iran in a permanent revolutionary state, preserve its theocracy and oppose rapprochement with the West.

Ayatollah Khamenei is 76 years old. Rumors about his health have been circulating for at least 15 years. They became more credible when he underwent prostate surgery in 2014, and even more so when in a speech to the Revolutionary Guards officer corps in September of 2015 Khamenei said, Iran's enemies "are waiting for a time when the nation and system fall asleep, for example in 10 years when I may not be here, to realize their objectives," which he believes are trying to infiltrate Iran to gain influence. Thus, the question of Khamenei's successor grows more relevant each year.

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But, several very recent developments have added to the intrigue. The first one was the announcement by Hassan Khomeini, a grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, that he will run in the elections for the Assembly of Experts on Feb. 26, the constitutional body that appoints the supreme leader.

Then, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said in an interview on Dec. 13 that a group of senior clerics in the Assembly is examining potential candidates to be the next supreme leader. Rafsanjani has also been advocating a "leadership council," instead of the supreme leader, which has angered the hardliners.

These developments brought to the fore the maneuvering behind the scenes by Khamenei's hardline supporters on the one hand, and the reformists and moderates, on the other hand. Both Rafsanjani and the young Khomeini are in the latter group. The moderates and reformers are hoping to send a group of like-minded clerics to the Assembly, so that if Khamenei's successor is to be selected, they can influence the outcome.

Who are the potential successors to Khamenei? What is their background? This article describes some of them.

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Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi

Former President Ahmadinejad, left, and Shahroudi attend a press conference in 2005. AP Photo/Vahid Salemi.

Ayatollah Sayyed Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi was born in Najaf, Iraq in 1948. He received his theological education in Najaf, and a leader of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq in 1982, which was the umbrella organ for two key Shia militias Iran funded and trained to oppose Saddam Hussein.

Shahroudi served as Iran's judiciary chief from 1999-2009, and is close to Khamenei. Many believe that he has been the supreme leader's mentor. He is a traditional conservative, and has been described as brilliant by his peers for his knowledge of Islamic jurisprudence.

Shahroudi was appointed the judiciary chief when former reformist President Mohammad Khatami was trying to implement his reforms. At that time Shahroudi spoke about the imperativeness of "judicial reforms" and the fact that he had inherited an "utterly ruined judiciary." Those statements gave hope to the moderates and reformists that he would depoliticize the judiciary, freeing it from the pressure by the hardliners. He did implement some reforms, including a moratorium on the punishment by stoning (the practice has been reduced, but has not completely ended); decriminalizing certain offenses and adding limited amendments to family law in favor of women by raising the legal age for girls to get married from 9 to 13. He also restored most of the structure of the judiciary that his predecessor, cleric Mohammad Yazdi, the current chairman of the Assembly, had dismantled.

But Shahroudi failed to end arbitrary arrests of political activists, journalists and human rights advocates. Cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners, often accompanied by torture and biased, and often totally unlawful trials behind closed doors persisted. He did not attempt, or was unable to make progress on the arbitrary shuttering of hundreds of newspapers, weeklies and monthly publications. Under him, the judiciary even tried to prosecute the Majles deputies that had protested the crackdown on the dissidents.

Shahroudi is now a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, another constitutional body that acts as advisor to Khamenei. He is also a member of the Guardian Council and the Assembly of Experts. If he were to succeed Khamenei, he would perhaps take somewhat more moderate approaches to both domestic issues and foreign policy than Khamenei, as he is not close to the radical hardliners. Because he is a recognized Islamic scholar, he has the authority that Khamenei lacked when he came to power. That could enable him to enact some modest reforms.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani

Rafsanjani during a meeting in October in Tehran. Thomas Koehler/Photothek via Getty Images.

Born in August of 1934, and a key member of the ruling elite since the 1979 revolution, Rafsanjani needs no introduction. He has been a two-term president, speaker of the parliament, commander of the armed forces during much of the Iran-Iraq war (a post that was given to him by Khomeini), chairman of the Assembly of Experts and of the Expediency Discernment Council. He is still influential, is an ally of Rouhani and has wide support among senior clerics.

But Rafsanjani is also 81 years old and despised by the hardliners. Ever since the election of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as the president in 2005, the hardliners have been attacking Rafsanjani, trying to strip his political influence. Ahmad Jannati, the reactionary secretary-general of the Guardian Council, has called him a dog. Mesbah Yazdi has referred to him as a "smuggler." His daughters, Faezeh and Fatemeh, and son Mehdi Hashemi have all been prosecuted, and many senior IRGC commanders are fiercely opposed to him. Most recently, Hossein Fadaei, a hardliner with close ties to the IRGC threatened him with house arrest.

In his current confrontation with the hardliners, Rafsanjani is seemingly pursuing three goals. One immediate goal is to pressure the hardliners to allow a large number of moderates and reformists to run in the upcoming elections. The second goal is to change the composition of the Assembly of Experts, so that if the time comes for selecting the next supreme leader, Rafsanjani and his supporters can play a decisive role. If he achieves these two, then the ultimate goal, controlling the IRGC, and eliminating the hardliners from the judiciary will become possible.

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Rafsanjani has always been a pragmatist, and over the last several years his views have gradually become closer to those of the reformists. If he were to be the supreme leader, he may try to democratize the system somewhat by diluting the absolute power that the supreme leader has enjoyed.

Sadegh Larijani

Larijani listens to a speech by Rafsanjani in 2009. ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images.

Similar to Shahroudi, the current judiciary chief Sadegh Larijani was also born in Najaf in March of 1960. His older brother Ali Larijani is the speaker of the Majles [parliament], while his oldest brother, Mohammad Javad (Ardeshir) Larijani is chief of the human rights division in the judiciary who has been widely criticized for supporting the hardliners and their crackdown on dissent. Their father was Grand Ayatollah Mirza Hashem Amoli, who moved his family to Iran in 1961. Larijani was interested in science and received a scholarship to study abroad, but decided to join a seminary in Qom. His theological teachers included his own father, his maternal uncle Ayatollah Abdollah Javadi Amoli, and Grand Ayatollah Hossein Vahid Khorasani whose daughter is married to Larijani.

Vahid Khorasani is known to oppose Khamenei. When conservative clerics tried to promote Khamenei as a marja' taghlid [source of emulation] in the 1990s, Vahid Khorasani reportedly told him, "You be the sultan [king], but leave marjaeiyat [being source of emulation] to others." Whenever Khamenei visits Qom, Vahid Khorasani leaves town, just so that he would not have to meet with him. It has been reported that Vahid Khorasani is not happy about his son-in-law being the judiciary chief under Khamenei.

Larijani is a relatively junior cleric. His promotion to judiciary chief is only due to his absolute obedience to Khamenei, who has been appointing him to various important governmental organs, and praising him lavishly. He is also a hardliner. Under him, especially since Hassan Rouhani was elected president in 2013, the judiciary has cracked down hard on dissidents, outspoken reformists and journalists. If he succeeds Khamenei, he will continue his authoritarian rule, conservative domestic policies and anti-American posture.

Mojtaba Khamenei

Mojtaba Khamenei appears here in a BBC documentary about his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. BBC/YouTube.

One of Ayatollah Khamenei's six children, Mojtaba was born in 1969 in the holy city of Mashhad in northeastern Iran. His first theological teachers were his own father and Hashemi Shahroudi. He moved to Qom in 1999 to study theology and join the ranks of the clergy. He was taught there by such conservative clerics as Ayatollahs Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani and Sayyed Mohsen Kharazi -- all very senior clerics.

Another link between the younger Khamenei and the hardliners is Brigadier General Sayyed Mohammad Hejazi, a former commander of the Basij militia and currently a deputy chief of staff of the armed forces. He is an ultra-hardliner who functions as one of Mojtaba's closest aides and supporters. Hardline cleric Hossein Taeb, a former commander of the Basij militia and current head of the intelligence unit of the IRGC, who has been a friend of Mojtaba since their high school years, is another link. Taeb's brother, Mehdi Taeb, is another hardliner close to the supreme leader's son. Mojtaba Khamenei is also close to many senior officers of the IRGC. He also played a leading role in the rise of Ahmadinejad to Iran's presidency, to the extent that Mehdi Karroubi, former speaker of the Majles and a leader of the Green Movement (who has been under house arrest since February of 2011), publicly protested Mojtaba Khamenei's intervention in the elections.

Some experts believe that the elder Khamenei would like to see Mojtaba to succeed him. As evidence, they point to the efforts by Khamenei's allies to fill the ranks of the Assembly of Experts with younger clerics who owe their prominence to the supreme leader, and might play a decisive role in appointing the next supreme leader. But, Mojtaba Khamenei is not a senior cleric. It is only because of his father and his closeness to the hardline IRGC officers that he is even talked about as a possible successor to his father.

If Mojtaba Khamenei were to succeed his father, he would most likely push Iran toward radical policies, making it a pariah state that Khatami, Rafsanjani and President Rouhani have tried to dispense with.

Hassan Khomeini

Khomeini speaks at the election headquarters of the interior ministry after registering his candidacy for the Feb. 26 Experts Assembly elections in Tehran. AP Photo/Vahid Salemi.

Hassan Khomeini's father Ahmad Khomeini was very close to Ayatollah Khomeini and, together with Rafsanjani, played a key role in the rise of Khamenei to the post of the supreme leader in 1989. But, he later became a critic of Khamenei and is believed to have been murdered by Saeed Emami and his gang in 1995. Born in 1972 in Qom, Hassan Khomeini became a cleric in 1993. His only official post is being the caretaker of his grandfather's mausoleum. He was a critic of Ahmadinejad, has criticized the intervention of the IRGC in politics, supported former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi's call for cancelling the rigged presidential election of 2009, and is considered a moderate reformist. He is also close to Rafsanjani and Khatami. He is considered a relatively junior cleric. He or Rafsanjani can succeed Khamenei, only if the senior clerics are unified and publicly call for their appointment

If Hassan Khomeini were to be promoted to the supreme leader, he will follow in the footsteps of Rafsanjani, Khatami and Rouhani, trying to moderate the political system by providing more freedom, while preserving its Islamic character.

Dark Horse Candidate

Cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami in front of the portraits of the late Ayatollah Khomeini, left, and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. AP Photo/Vahid Salemi.

Cleric Ahmad Khatami (no relation to the former president) is a dark horse candidate. Born in 1960 in Semnan, a town 130 miles east of Tehran, he is a hardline cleric promoted to various important positions only due to his absolute loyalty to Khamenei and the right-wing clerics. He is currently a member of the Assembly of Experts and part of its leadership, a Friday prayer Imam of Tehran that gives him an important position to espouse the conservatives' positions, and a member of the Association of Teachers of the Qom Seminaries, an important political group for the hardline clerics.

Khatami supported Ahmadinejad during his presidency, and is an ultra-hardliner when it comes to social issues. For example, he declared that if necessary, even blood of women can be spilled in order to force them to wear the Islamic hejab, and that an Islamic government can even lash people to send them to heaven [meaning forcing them not to commit sins]. After Rafsanjani reminded members of the Assembly that they have a constitutional duty to monitor Khamenei's performance, Khatami strongly rejected it and fiercely attacked Rafsanjani. He is also fiercely against the Green Movement and opposes rapprochement with the U.S.

If one were to identify three well-known clerics in Iran whose views, at least cultural ones, are similar to those espoused by the Daesh -- also known as the Islamic State or ISIS -- or the Taliban in Afghanistan, they would be Ahmad Khatami, Mesbah Yazdi and Mojtaba Khamenei.

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Given Iran's complex power structure and the constant behind-the-scenes maneuvering, it would be very difficult to predict with reasonable certainty who might be Iran's next supreme leader. But, it is likely that the next supreme leader would be from amongst the six described here.

This piece has been adapted from earlier pieces on this topic by this author.

Earlier on WorldPost:
As much of the world launches into 2016 determined to uphold personal resolutions such as quitting smoking, going to the gym, and calling home more often, social movements are also pondering what collective changes they'd like to make. In the spirit of lofty goal-setting that pervades time of year, here are some thoughts on a few steps that would help the climate justice movements bring home a resounding 2016 victory for people and the planet.

The very definition of a social movement is that it fights for a set of ideals or values, some of which can be reflected in policy changes. The climate justice movements are dreaming of and fighting for a new world, the exact shape of which none of us knows. As such, reflection is important: not just within our local struggles, but also at a macro level.

2015 rattled by in a series of victories and losses. We achieved a lot this year, building on the work of previous years (and decades). To name but a few wins: the Keystone XL pipeline was finally rejected; the Pope came out against carbon markets in his epic encyclical; over $2.6 trillion was divested from fossil fuels; thousands of people shut down a coal mine in Germany in the daring Ende Galaende protest; hundreds of thousands of people mobilized for climate action at various moments throughout the year; the bans of fracking continued to stack up; Pacific Warriors continued to blockade coal; the Ogoni people won a court case against Shell, and Dutch citizens won a court case against their government.

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On the other side of the same coin, there were shadows cast upon our work, not least of all the reality of living with 1 degree warming which saw unprecedented flooding in India, South America, and the UK, heatwaves throughout Asia and the Middle East, lakes and drying up in Bolivia in what was the warmest year on record. 2015 also saw the continued rise of State violence, in particular the murders of land defenders and indigenous women, the #ExxonKnew and emissions-testing scandals that only further proved the lack of trust we should have in industries with a vested interest in polluting, the apparent signing of the TPP trade deal, and the general insistence of many western governments to go against their citizens and do things like lift oil export bans or grant concessions for fracking. Then there was, of course, also the mixed-bag of the Paris Agreement, which apparently sends a "market signal" that fossil fuels are on the way out, but offers absolutely no detailed commitment to guarantee this.

While there are no quick and easy wins, here are some recommended resolutions for this coming year, in the hopes that 2016 will see the various movements for environmental and social justice more disruptive to the status quo than ever. And unlike those ill-fated personal pledges to lose weight and call home, we hope to keep these "New Year's resolutions" past February.

Integrate and escalate with other struggles

Although most people who "work on climate" recognize it is a cross-cutting issue, the rest of the world does not. Correspondingly, climate activists and the climate movement have, like it or not, become siloed off from the very struggles that they need to be deeply involved in. Many have become stranded in the increasingly apolitical, click-bait work of online "communications," or in the obscure depths of national or international policy. I don't say this to denigrate this work -- it is essential -- but just to question if departmentalising and specialising climate activism has lead us to lose sight of bigger pictures.

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In my mind, the best way forward for the climate movement is to connect with the struggles that matter to people: land, food, energy, extraction, water, health, transport, development, poverty, or some combination of many issues. Connecting with other struggles doesn't mean adopting bad-ally habits. Appropriating the "movement moments" of our allies, such as the Ferguson protests, to shout about climate change is not okay. What connecting struggles does mean is a lot of humble solidarity and support work. It's not easy, but it can be done. Climate change is, in many ways, a manifestation of multiple systemic problems and injustices that people have been resisting for a long time. When reaching out, the climate justice movements need to remember that. Many groups are of course already doing this and more connections between struggles are being made every day -- in 2016 this needs to become the norm rather than the exception.

Use diversity as strength

Part of the reason that right-wing ideology has taken hold in the mainstream is that while it presents a broadly united front, the left is utterly fractured. That's not news to anyone, I know, but why then is the Left still so divided? Jamaican-British activist, academic, and father of cultural-studies Stuart Hall talked about the need to foster an ability to live with difference, to work together through our differences for a common cause. We seem to be finding that difficult.

The climate justice struggle has many fronts; Keystone XL, the WTO, land and food rights, international finance, and that fracking well that just popped up in your mother's back yard. All these fronts are fundamentally part of the same fight. Unfortunately we have a tendency to think whatever fight we happen to be engaged in is the most important one, we squabble over funding and the scraps of media coverage we're given and don't respect that a diversity of fronts and tactics is the only way anyone has ever really won.

This work is going to look different depending on where you stand in the movement. Big brand NGOs and technical experts have some serious soul searching to do about why they keep on losing the climate fight. They need to focus on building the movement rather than their brands, and they need to do a way better job of respecting and supporting those who are already doing so. Those who are doing the grassroots work have a moral high-ground, but sometimes display a hesitation (understandably) to treat allies like allies by calling them in instead of tearing them down. Everyone saw the way some sections of the movements gleefully reacted when Greenpeace made their big mistake in Peru. It was an incredibly stupid thing to have done, clearly, but what strategic advantage did we gain by joining forces with right-wing commentators to publicly and lavishly slam them? Whose narratives about environmentalists being anti-people did we inadvertently lend credence to? Why did we not instead work towards giving Big Green concrete steps to improve accountability?

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Be pragmatic and idealistic at the same time

In spite of all the cynicism, many activists are actually highly idealistic, to the point of it being a burden on them, their work, and any hopes of building a popular movement for climate justice. Crushed dreams and burnout makes for a lousy movement. If we're to have any hope of doing that, we'll need to leave behind some of our notions of ideological purity. This is not say that we should compromise on our ideals or demands -- I'm not repeating tired tropes of "focusing on what's politically possible" -- but we need to be wary of letting the perfect be the enemy of the good. There's no contradiction in having ideals that are not lived up to but for which you constantly strive. We need to envision the way forward to achieving our objectives, including all the milestones and incremental steps of getting there.

For example, the global mobilizations of the past 2 years were some such milestones: 400,000 were on the streets of New York in September 2014, close to 600,000 mobilized around the world in November 2015. The mainstream of the marches tended to lack a sharp analysis about the root causes of the crisis, sure, but I saw many people who were clearly protesting neoliberal capitalism, I saw impacted communities at the front of the march (either by invitation or their own justified insistence), and an important/impressive diversity of movements represented. Everyone centrally involved would freely admit that it wasn't perfect. There were numerous problematic aspects -- subway ads appealing to Wall Street banksters to 'join the fight'; Avaaz attempting to take all the credit; not to mention the non-existent or pathetically weak and "leader-focused" demands.

But a lot of the public criticism of the mobilization was also unhelpful -- especially in NYC iin 2014 where it came merely days beforehand and from people who had not tried to collaborate with the organisers in order to better the message/route/whatever else they had issue with in the preceding months. You can have all the analysis you like and spend all your time cynically blogging away, but unless you're actually mobilising people or constructively engaging with the groups who are, what good are you really doing? Armchair activism is easy; what we need to do is actively reconcile differences in ideals, strategies, and tactics for building the type of movements needed.

Get over the EGO and NGO politics

A huge drag on movement building is the prevalence of some massive egos and the persistence of NGO in-fighting over brand recognition and funding, as well as the NGO-ization of struggle more broadly. Of course egos exist in any movement, the personal is always political, and as humans we are (thankfully) not purely logical, but our apparent inability to overcome or at least live with certain differences of opinion, our inclination to get personal and fight publicly when things get heated, and the pressure to advance brands rather than the overall movement all stand in the way of ever achieving climate justice.

There are times when splitting apart becomes necessary, where creating distinct structures is the only way to capture the breadth of the climate movements. This played out at the UNFCCC in 2007, when the western NGO driven Climate Action Network and the southern movement driven Climate Justice Now! created two separate spaces for environmental groups to work at the UN. The fact that these two groups split apart from one another doesn't mean they can't and shouldn't work together. The last few years have seen many organisations and movements within these two networks putting down their weapons and working together to build power across movements and hold one another accountable internally. We'd like to see more of that happen in different spaces this coming year.

As a species we seem to have a thing for leaders. In the climate movements, the urge for memes and trends lead us to splashing certain people's faces and words all over the internet, but then we get annoyed and jealous when they are identified by the media as leaders or spokespeople. Leaders, especially charismatic ones, can be useful -- to a point. Within the movements we have to recognise and exploit the strategic potential of having spokespeople and leaders instead of idolizing and/or resenting them. We should remember that leaders are (or should be) propelled into that role by the movement in order to serve the movement, we should look for and train leaders who understand accountability even more than they do talking points.

Remember: the best way to undermine false solutions is to propose real ones

I'm not one for the "if you don't have the solution you should just keep quiet" attitude which is often used to dismiss dissenting voices, but I do think that not having solutions -- clear and compelling solutions -- is bad strategy. For one, it makes resisting the false solutions that much harder. It allows the cleverer corporate agents a drop of undeserved legitimacy as they further muddy the water.

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What would outcomes that supported climate justice look like? Even if they're not "politically possible" right now, what are the real solutions that would get us to where we need to be? How do those solutions interact across struggles and scales? Campaigners also have a responsibility to advance solutions that work, not just the ones that already have a catchy tag-line: to find real, sometimes un-sexy sounding, solutions, and make them accessible, popular, and well-messaged.

We don't need to reinvent the wheel -- lots of people have been advocating for equitable solutions for a long time, but they have fallen on deaf ears with many supposed allies. Some of their real solutions include forcing national governments to implement their fair share of pollution cuts and climate finance, setting up global renewable energy programmes, and reinvesting divested dollars in new local energy and food cooperatives controlled by communities. The work of the Stockholm Environment Institute and others to develop such approaches helps us have solutions that are both idealistic and possible.

We should also be supporting campaigns that may not sound like climate solutions at first, but which build local community power and control, such as campaigns for livable wages, service-industry unions, dismantling the school to prison pipeline, and universal basic incomes. Building and popularizing solutions that are not contradictory across progressive movements is key part of that all-important united front. We'll all be a hell of a lot stronger for it.

The coming year is going to see a lot of soul-searching among the "international climate movement" in the aftermath of the Paris Agreement. Do we jailbreak the parts of the movements that have been stuck inside the UNFCCC? How do we best use the Agreement, weak though it is, to hold governments to account, to demand more from them? What do we do if (when) that hope in the State to deal with the climate crisis proves insufficient?
Marked differences between male and female sexuality was supported by solid evidence around the globe. Such distinctions are getting blurred in developed countries.

The evolutionary backdrop for our species is that of a mostly pair-bonded primate where males and females shared childcare and provisioning responsibilities. As is true of other socially monogamous species, there was a certain amount of sexual infidelity. Men had more to gain from extramarital sex because they could father children without helping to raise them whereas women benefited from having a good man with good genes. Against this backdrop, men are expected to be a lot more interested in casual sex. What of the evidence?



Are men always more interested in casual sex?

As women in developed countries are freer to express themselves sexually their interest in casual sex increases so that they score significantly higher on questionnaires than men in less developed countries . For their part, men become less interested in casual sex and converge with female compatriots. So men are not always more interested in casual sex than women whether we compare between societies, or within societies.

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Are Women's Bodies Equally Responsive to Sexual Stimulation?

The fact that pornography used to be consumed exclusively by men created the impression that males of the species are sexually hyper responsive. This encouraged speculation that women, by contrast, must be under responsive. Over several decades, researchers have dispelled this myth in various ways.

During the 1970's, swinging parties were fairly common in California and women evidently received a great deal more pleasure from these events than men. Women experienced more orgasms whereas men quickly got tired out. Many women also engaged in sexual relations with other women, something that was unlikely in other contexts.



A decade earlier, the Masters and Johnson report studied extensive changes taking place throughout women's bodies during intercourse, suggesting that, if anything, they experienced sexual pleasure more intensely than men for whom bodily changes were less pervasive. The same impression comes from brain research showing that that no fewer than three sensory maps in the parietal cortex light up in functional MRI images when the genitals are (self) stimulated. All three of these sensory maps also react when the nipple is stimulated. This means that the breast doubles as a sexual organ in women (but apparently not in men).

Are Women Interested in Pornography?

The received wisdom on this topic was that most women were more interested in sex in the context of an emotional relationship rather than physical gratification for its own sake.



Research shows that young women are converging with young men in their sexual psychology, in addition to other traits such as risk-taking and competitiveness. Indeed, a large fraction of self-described addicts of online pornography are women (about 30 percent).



Do Women Hire Prostitutes?

Wealthy women do pay for romantic interactions with younger, more physically attractive, men. This phenomenon crops up around the globe from Japanese love hotels where affluent women meet male sex workers, to the Gambia, in Africa, where middle-aged European women consort with youthful African lovers. In many cases, there is no explicit payment for sexual services, as is true in female prostitution. Instead, women pay for rooms, and meals, and give expensive gifts. This indirect payment for services may not include sex if clients are primarily interested in a romantic relationship rather than physical gratification.

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When men set out to sell sex to women, they generally do less well than female prostitutes, possibly because most women believe that they can get sex for free and do not need to pay for it. Nevertheless, researchers find that there is a small group of commercially active gigolos in Holland, for example. These typically have no more than a couple of clients per week. Many specify a minimum engagement of two hours and offer something that is closer to a romantic evening than commercial sex. Not surprisingly, most have a regular job in addition to sex work.



The fact that women are less interested than men in paying for sex is clearly not because they do not enjoy sexual interactions but because they see them as more appropriate in the context of an emotional relationship that is punctured by any commercial transaction.
Senator Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida and 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during a town hall meeting at the Maytag Innovation Center in Newton, Iowa, U.S., on Wednesday, Dec. 30, 2015. Rubio found himself under siege on two fronts Tuesday over his attendance record in the U.S. Senate as the Florida lawmaker embarked on a swing through snowy Iowa. Photographer: Scott Morgan/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Last week, presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio concluded a presentation by giving his audience "a dark assessment of liberal arts colleges as 'indoctrination camps.'" This is a troubling notion and might indicate that it is now open season to insult schools like Whitman College where I am fortunate to work.

However, despite sporadic and press-grabbing sound bites like the senator's, this year Americans will witness powerful and meaningful positive developments on our campuses and from our graduates which will lead to a resurgence of enthusiasm for the broad education that our institutions offer. In fact, I am confident that 2016 will be the year of liberal arts colleges.

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I offer the following six predictions for why this is the case:



1. We will become more accessible to more talented young people from more backgrounds, who will share their positive experiences with others

Liberal arts colleges have been creatively finding ways to allow bright and curious teens to better understand the educational and professional benefits that our schools offer, and we will ratchet up those efforts in the coming year. We are inviting a wider array of students, from a wider array of school systems, to our campuses and they are liking what they see. (A recent story about Hamilton College demonstrates one of the many ways in which we are opening up opportunities for high school students to learn about and connect with our communities.)

2. Our student protesters will create break-through moments with our administrators and model ways for colleges and universities to address campus tensions

Because of the small and intimate nature of many liberal arts colleges, opportunities exist for effective dialogue between students, staff, faculty and administrators to address concerns about inclusion and diversity that dominated higher education news in 2015. Those conversations, which will be challenging and will in many cases be successful, will model how student protesters can bring their concerns into a respectful dialogue to make real progress on the issues they care about.

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3. At the same time, our students will continue to push for needed changes on our campuses and in the society around them, which we will support

President Obama, himself a liberal arts graduate, recently invited college students to continue to voice their critiques of their campuses and to continue to learn about what it means to become leaders of the messy, complex society in which they live. In 2016, last year's student activism will continue, which we recognize as an opportunity for significant student learning. Because liberal arts colleges regard ourselves as creating citizens we want our students to passionately engage with the issues they face. Without opportunities to practice bringing their concerns to those in positions of authority, how will they become skilled at raising these vital questions in less supportive or less friendly contexts?

4. Our graduates will be as conversant with algorithms and big data as they are with Snapchat and Instagram

Liberal arts colleges, with our goal of creating moral citizens and our multidisciplinary approaches to examining problems, are the perfect homes for creative academic initiatives focusing on understanding the implications of our increasingly technologically complex world.

Steve Mutkoski, Director of Government Affairs, Microsoft Worldwide Public Sector, has shared with me that as the tech industry seeks to increase the numbers of students gaining computer science skills during their college years there is an increasing need "to complement that training with discussions of the social and ethical issues that students will encounter as they go out into the world and exercise those skills," which is precisely how our campuses can make unique contributions in this arena.

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At Whitman, we recently brought Professor Janet Davis aboard to create a liberal arts computer science initiative which she has been chronicling in her amazing blog. (As full disclosure, Microsoft is helping Whitman launch this initiative.)

5. Philosophy (and other humanities) majors will triumph

Senator Rubio grabbed attention last year with a quip that plumbers make more than philosophy majors and, by implication, have more value to society - an assertion that many financial commentators and economists questioned.

The reality is that philosophy majors will continue to be pursued by employers because they are both intellectually as well as professionally valuable, a truth that has been recognized far beyond the academy. The broad intellectual skills set that liberal arts graduates, including philosophy majors, possess perfectly aligns with what employers say they are looking for when they bring new talent to their workplaces.

6. We will change the higher education "value" debate to focus on benefits other than positive salary trends

Despite the positive lifetime earning trends, a broad liberal arts education, with its emphasis on helping young people become active and engaged learners throughout the entire course of their lives, is not something that can be measured using a pure "dollars and cents" metric. Rather, if it is going to be evaluated, it must be done in a way that acknowledges that this form of education repays a student's initial investment in both earned income over their lifetime as well as in enriched humanity, as I argued last year in a column here.

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As the Weekly Standard beautifully put it last week, liberal arts are "good for both mind and pocketbook."

In conclusion, 2016 will be a positive and celebratory one for liberal arts colleges. It will be a year that will remind our nation of the enduring value of studying the world both widely and deeply in order to be able to enjoy as well as contribute to it for the common good.
It's that time of year again when we make those pesky resolutions. Lose weight, exercise more, become a movie star, find a boyfriend, and so on and on - and on. Most of us crash and burn and our resolutions usually fly out the window on the ghostly wings of the devil's food cake we ate in one sitting.

New Year's resolutions go back to the Babylonians. That's over 4,000 years of breaking resolutions, so we all come by the need to start anew naturally. I realize that ascribing this tradition to an ancient pantheon will have the extremists of monotheistic faiths howling at the thought that there was life before their own particular brand of fanaticism, and it's evil to carry on the tradition.

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Too bad.

I for one like the idea of starting with a clean slate, and resolving to do better. I like that the Romans kissed and touched for Saturnalia, and that we still have that tradition (although I'd like it even better if I had someone to kiss). I appreciate the sentiment anyway.

So, without further ado, here are my realistic resolutions for 2016.

1)Stop yelling at the television! Whenever I see Donald Trump's face or hear of another Daesh atrocity, I scream at the news anchor. I admit I do not suffer fools gladly and there are situations that make my blood boil. Racism, misogyny, and intolerance gets my Greek up and I start to yell at whatever story irks me. I am usually quiet, but screaming at the television is neither cathartic nor healthy. Guess I'll stick to letter writing, scathing commentary, and boycotts of the groups and individuals I find reprehensible. (I have a list.)

2)Supporting intellectual achievements! For some reason, being intellectual has become repugnant. Instead of reaching for the heights of knowledge and understanding, we settle for the least common denominator. There seems to be a concerted effort to cater to the uneducated, frightened, and ignorant who don't actually understand complex issues and haven't read anything more than the directions on a shampoo bottle, and keep re-reading it because it says "repeat".

As such, we need to encourage critical thinking, wherein those with dormant intellects study themselves and use objective analysis and evaluation of issues. In short, learn. Read literature, history, differing philosophies, and even political agendas in order to understand the wide range of worldviews that exist. Argue cogently, logically, and coolly, not give into rampant emotionalism or stop learning because of some perceived discomfort. I could go on, but then I'd already be breaking my...sub-resolution. Stop Lecturing! I admit it, I have a tendency to lecture. I mean it's interesting and all that, but I do sort of tour guide, draw analogies, share historical tidbits, and allude to literary works, which can drive my cousin crazy at times.

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3)Read More! In the past few years I've gotten way behind in my own reading. (Still have my own library, but don't delve as much) I've spent most of my spare time writing my own fiction and posts, watching films or just vegging. I have huge lists of books that I want to tackle from my own multi-genre interests to literary fiction, to biographies to history to, well, you get the picture. If it ever snows, I'll hit the library, ravage the shelves, pull out the Kindle Fire, and download a ton, wrap myself up in my snuggie, and read.

4)Get out and meet people! I have a tendency to live inside my head. I fully want to go out, meet people, talk to them, and re-engage with the world. If nothing else, it'll get me out of the house and not just to the swimming pool! I actually like people, and when I want, I can even be quite charming and friendly. So if you see me out and about, talk to me. Or write me, I'll answer. I love making new friends.

5)Write more for myself! I write grants, business plans, and tons of other documents for clients. Sometimes I'm too tired to work on my own writing (hence the vegging). I am currently working on books two and three of a multi-genre septet and I want to carve out more time to concentrate on getting these two done in the first quarter of the New Year. And of course, write more Huff Posts. Ambitious aren't I?

Then I want to lose weight, exercise more, get a boyfriend, win the lottery, and all the traditional resolutions, because New Year's wouldn't be the same without them.
Have you seen Mehdi Hasan's Head-to-Head with Ram Madhav? As expected, the hard-hitting interview generated heated debate on the true nature of India's current regime, Hindu nationalism, and (unbelievably) whether the country is decaying into fascism. On display were Hasan's journalistic chops as a combative interviewer. Despite the emotional responses all around, since journalism is ultimately all about reporting the facts to audiences, I try to cut through the bias and see what the interview gets right and what it gets wrong.

Hasan: In terms of the stats, data from [the] Ministry of Home Affairs showed a near 25% increase in incidents of communal violence in the first five months of 2015... There has been a "surge of communally charged incidents in BJP-ruled states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand."

Half-True. In terms of raw numbers, the first sentence is absolutely correct. Data from January- May 2015 did, in fact, show an increase in the number of communal incidents from 232 to 287 vis-a-vis the same period in 2014. Of course, comparing data from narrow time series is a dangerous exercise. The most recently released data by the MHA shows the number of communal incidents from January to October 2015 to be 650. If we assume that the relative frequency of communal incidents remained the same through the remaining two months but with the monthly variation indicated by the Varshney-Wilkinson (1950-1995) Dataset on Communal Violence in India (p. 4), we arrive at an estimate of 764 incidents for the whole of 2015, which is 7.3% greater than the average of the previous three years. According to 15 years of data compiled through an RTI query, the average annual number of such incidents the last time the BJP was in power (1999 - 2004) was 740, while the same figure during the UPA (2004 - 2014) was about the same-- 750. Hence, it is impossible to conclude that communal violence has actually increased in any meaningful sense.

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The quote that Hasan uses from India Today is the subtitle of this piece. Yet, it also mentions that, "BJP-ruled states like Gujarat and Rajasthan have done well to ensure that number of communal incidents have come down," which is clearly vital information for the context in which the data is analyzed.

Madhav: In 2014, the number of communal incidents has come down in India. 2014-15 data was released just a few days ago in the Indian Parliament. Go check that data.

Mostly True. It depends on how one interprets what Madhav is saying. If Madhav is referring to data for the calendar year 2014, then it is true that incidents of communal violence that year--at 644--were lower than both of the preceding years (668 in 2012; 823 in 2013). But since Madhav was replying to Hasan's quoted data from 2015, it would be instructive to note that within the past year the number of incidents has increased from 2014 (see prior analysis), while the number of deaths from these clashes has decreased.

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Hasan: The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) has actually disputed that data [see above].

Mostly False. The NCRB has pointed out the discrepancy in the data for the year 2014 given in parliament, but the way Hasan mentions this is incredibly misleading. 2014 was the first year for which the NCRB gathered data on communal violence, and hence, it is not relevant for the comparative point Madhav previously made. The discrepancy in the figures is due to the sources of the data. While the MHA relies on inputs from state governments and the Intelligence Bureau, the NCRB focuses on first information reports lodged with police (IE). It is important to note that the Home Ministry figures that Madhav mentions were compiled in the same way as had previously been done.

Hasan: The Prime Minister said [the lynching of Mohammed Akhlaq] was "sad and unwelcome." That's not a condemnation.Madhav: That's not true. He said, "I condemn those [sic] incidents."

Half-True (Both). Hasan refers to the translated version of an October interview of Modi by ABP News. Modi's public reaction to the crime was given at a rally in Nawada, in the poll-bound state of Bihar, when he reminded audiences of his statement from 2014--"Hindus must decide whether they want to fight Muslims or poverty," and then went on to say (trans.):

The country must stay together. Unity, empathy, brotherhood, peace: these will take the nation forward. That is why I want to say to my countrymen-- because of politics, everyone (chhote-mote har) is intent on making irresponsible statements for their own political greed. ... Don't listen to [them]! ... If you want to listen to someone, listen to President Pranab Mukherjee, ... who has shown us the way. We must all walk on that path.

Thus, the Prime Minister's reaction went beyond the sound byte Hasan mentions, but he never says what Madhav quotes (at least publicly), either.

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Hasan: A close ally of the Prime Minister or [Chief] Minister [Maya Kodnani] who's filmed handing out swords to people, to kill people...

Mostly True. Kodnani was convicted for inciting mobs to violence in the Naroda Patiya massacre. But calling Maya Kodnani a "close ally" of Narendra Modi is really stretching it. Business Standard reported, "[Kodnani] is known to have been close to former chief minister Keshubhai Patel, who led the rebel group in Gujarat against the Modi government... her name did not appear in the list of ministers initially after the 2007 elections. Demonstrations were held outside the chief minister's office to include her in the cabinet. Kodnani ... [was] given a ministerial portfolio when ... BJP stalwart LK Advani urged her name be included in the list."

Mehboob Khan: Even after one week of Prime Minister Modi taking over... on fourth of June, [Mohsin Shaikh] was killed in Pune. There is a mob that took out him [sic] and lynched him. There was no word from Prime Minister Modi.

Pants on Fire. Modi spoke in parliament about the Pune murder in one of his first speeches as prime minister.

Hasan: M.S. Golwalkar... referred to India's "muslim menace" and to Christians as "bloodsuckers."

Half-True. M.S. Golwalkar does indeed use the expression "muslim menace" in Bunch of Thoughts. As far as Christianity, he says

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Such is the role of Christian gentlemen residing in our land today, out to demolish not only the religious and social fabric of our life but also to establish political domination... Jesus had called upon his followers to give their all to the poor, the ignorant, and the downtrodden. But what have his followers done in practice? Wherever they have gone, they have proved to be not 'blood-givers' but bloodsuckers? What is the fate of all those lands colonized by these so-called disciples of Christ? ... Do we not know the heart-rending stories of how they annihilated the natives in America, Australia, and Africa?

It appears from this quote that Golwalkar was criticizing the relationship between Christianity and Western imperialism and colonialism (particularly with regards to dismantling of local traditions and forced conversion) for not living up to the teachings of Christ, rather than calling Christians "bloodsuckers."

Audience Member: In Haryana, [the] BJP is promoting the Bhagavad Gita.... Why the government doesn't do it for other religious scriptures and how they are [sic] allowed to use public fundings for promoting a particular religion?Hasan (follow-up): In a secular democracy, you treat all religions equally, don't you? .... Will you be funding the spreading of the Koran and the Bible?

Mostly False. This one is tough to rate because although there is no evidence of direct government funding of "the spreading of the Koran or Bible," it is well-known that the Indian state provides specialized subsidies for Haj pilgrimages and has created several schemes that provide funds to minority institutions--educational or otherwise--that are not otherwise available. According to a 2004 Act passed by the previous Indian government, this support must be commensurate to that given to public institutions; in other words, governments must ensure "equality in pay scales of minority schools teachers as compared to Government school teachers," provision of "teaching aids and/or other facilities like computers, library, laboratory, etc. to minority educational institutions [must be] on par with government institutions," "availability of books in Urdru in all subjects for students of [an] Urdu school," etc. It should be noted that no one in the current government has made any move to roll back this Act. Thus, creating the perception that the state "promot[es] (only) a particular religion [Hinduism]," as both the audience member and Hasan do, clearly misrepresents the facts.

(Note: In my opinion, this kind of perverted secularism in which the state promotes various religious ideologies must be scrapped completely, but attacking it from one angle or the other is ignorant and disingenuous, at best.)

Audience Member: Today, in many parts of India, Christians and Christian institutions are attacked and sometimes destroyed. ... The government is supposed to protect all people ... why is the government not taking action against those ... doing hate crimes against minorities?Hasan: Just to be clear, who do you believe is promoting the hate campaign against minorities?Audience Member: The government is not taking action against any Hindutva groups!

Pants on Fire. There are just too many things wrong with this to give it any other rating. Guards of the Saint Sebastian Church in East Delhi maintained that a fire that burned down the church had "started in one of the rooms on either side of the altar, in which a lot of the church's clothes, candles, [etc.] were stored (Caravan)." Rather than rule it accidental, the Delhi Crime branch set up a Special Investigation Team to probe the incident. Mass at a church in Okhla was disrupted the same week when "a stone was thrown from outside and broke a window," but witnesses claimed it was a young boy who was playing with a friend (Caravan). Three drunken men vandalized a church in Vikaspuri in mid-January; none was affiliated with any "Hindutva group (HT)." Police maintained a break-in at St. Alphonsa Church in Vasant Kunj was burglary, not desecration (HT).

In none of these examples was anyone from a Hindutva group involved, yet the media narrative made it seem so. In all of these examples, either the home ministry or the Delhi police directly intervened (see links).

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With virtually no restaurant experience, we started our business - a little sandwich shop called Starship Subs in Forest Park, Ill. - 38 years ago in 1977. As our menu and abilities grew we became Starship Restaurant, a fast casual dining place, featuring homemade soups, hot sandwiches and seating for 50. In 1985, during the Bears Super Bowl season we saw the opportunity in catering and not being limited to a physical location (delivery!) and became Starship Restaurant and Catering, delivering our homemade food throughout all of the Chicago area. As our business grew steadily, so did our personal lives of families, houses, and children.

Fast forward to 2014 and we were just going with the flow, taking business in as it came, but not really working towards growth. The passion was gone. We were tired of it and needed change. We put our business on the market for sale. While we had bites, there were no serious offers. But the process of putting it up for sale made us realize that if the business was doing well it would be worth a good amount of money. If it was doing phenomenally, it would be worth a whole lot more. However, rather than focusing on growth we were focused on exiting.

Things changed with an email that came into my inbox from Goldman Sachs. I didn't pay much attention to it until a friend of mine who attended a previous cohort said it was a huge opportunity. She even mentioned that exit strategy was part of the curriculum. I applied and was accepted but was really torn about my participation. Did I want to spend more time developing a business I was thinking of selling? I attended my first day of Mod 1 on my 59th birthday, all the time thinking I should be enjoying myself rather than sitting in a classroom on beautiful spring day.

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Wow, was I wrong.

Taking time to leave the restaurant is exactly what I needed. Professional development is exactly what I needed. The concept of owning a business that is run properly didn't mean working harder, just smarter. Marketing, process mapping, understanding the finer details of a P&L and balance sheet were things I needed. I saw the light and welcomed it. Sitting in the room with my fellow cohort members and hearing their stories and their future plans made it no longer okay to go with the flow. I needed to plan and mold the future, not just receive it.



Our growth opportunity, a new division of our catering services called 'Starship Events' complete with new vehicles, alcohol service and a sales representative is well underway. Weekly training sessions with key employees is improving our internal processes and helping to free me up to focus on, yes, growth. Thank you, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses and thank you, 2015.

So what is in store for 2016? Upon graduating, I was fearful that all this great input I was receiving might just fall by the wayside as I slowly slipped back into the rut of what I had been doing before.

Darryl, one of our talented mentors with whom I shared my concern said to me,

"Okay, so now you have taken several full days out of your business to work on it. Stay with this program. Don't go into the restaurant a few times a month and work on it away from the daily distractions."

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Thank you Darryl, for one of my 2016 resolutions.

One of the other resolutions is to continue researching trends and growth within my industry and find new opportunities. The daily reports of successes from fellow Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses graduates help to keep me motivated and on point.

So when you attend a function catered by Starship Events, or see one of our vehicles traveling throughout the city (we deliver, anytime, anywhere!) know that you are seeing the immediate results of this wonderful program.
Close-up of writing hands of students at course

I am not excited about the Every Student Succeeds Act, the most recent version of ESEA and the replacement for No Child Left Behind.

It's not that I don't appreciate the good parts or hate the bad parts. I'm not delighted to see social impact bonds tossed into the mix, nor am I pleased to see the doors opened for performance based education. I take a bit of pleasure in seeing the ways in which the bill makes extra effort to spank the former secretary of education (who has been repeatedly saying, "Oh yeah, this is what we wanted all along,") and I'm quite happy with the various parts that defang the Big Standardized Test. It is a mixed bag, a shift of inches in mostly the right direction, kind of. I think Jeff Bryant said it best with, "Go Ahead, Pass Every Student Succeeds Act, But Don't Celebrate It."

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Because here's the problem. The ESSA won't actually solve a thing.

Yes, state leaders may very well say, "Thank God! Let's scrap the Common Core and replace them with real standards that we develop ourselves, and let's work up our own better Big Standardized Test and let's design a way to evaluate teachers and public schools that uses authentic markers of excellence and not a bunch of BS Test baloney and let's even allow parents to opt out of testing and if the feds don't like it, they can try to sort it out in a courtroom. Screw 'em."

Or.

Or state leaders may say, "You know, all this stuff that we had to do under the Obama-Duncan-Bush-Page administrations is just fine with us, and it took a lot of time and money to get it all up and running, and some nice lobbyists tell us that it's all working great, so we're actually not going to change a single solitary thing."

Some state leaders might say, "We have a vision for truly excellent public schools in our state. Now that tests can be decoupled from the high stakes, we will embrace systems for evaluating our students, teachers and schools that support and reveal their many forms of excellence, building up a state system of education of which we are justly and deeply proud."

But state leaders might also say, "We actually share the vision of Arne Duncan and of Bill Gates and of our very most excellent good charter-operating friends with the giant piles of money. We are pretty sure that our public schools suck with the suckage of a thousand black holes, and we look forward to breaking them down and dismantling them and handing the pieces over to our chartery friends."

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The ESSA doesn't settle anything. It doesn't solve anything. Every argument and battle that supporters of public schools (and the teachers and students who work and learn in public schools) have been fighting will still be fought -- the difference is that now those arguments will be held in state capitols instead of Washington D.C.

Depending on your state, that may be good news. Or it may be that the best we can say is that your state government isn't any worse, and they live closer to you.

There are definite advantages. State government officials are easier to find, to get to, to contact, to talk to. When a single state decides to implement terrible policy, they won't be implementing it for the entire country. And there are now plenty of groups that have become very accomplished and effective at making themselves heard in their home state (looking at you, New York opt outers).

Both those who love it and those who hate it are, I think, missing the most important feature. ESSA replaces a great deal of the old "you must do" this language with "you may do this" language and even "you could get money for this but you have several choices here" language.

ESSA makes it possible to take many important steps forward. It also makes it possible for states to step backward. The steps that are taken will be decided state by state, and the same players who have worked hard to break down public education are still right there, still well-funded, still fully committed to the goals they have pursued for over a decade. It is absolutely critical that advocates for public education keep the pressure up on state governments. Congress has taken an unprecedented step in returning some power and control to the states; now we have to make sure that power is well used and that all students, schools and teachers receive the support and the tools needed to do the job we signed up to do.

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The struggle is not over. It has just shifted venue. Get ready for the next rounds of debate-- all fifty of them. The one big change is the, unlike its predecessors, ESSA mandates relatively few things. But it opens the doors of opportunity wide to many many things, both good and bad. It's up to all of us to be vigilant about what walks through those doors.
Burkina Faso's new president Roch Marc Christian Kabore is pictured following his swearing-in ceremony in Ouagadougou on December 29, 2015. Kabore was sworn in as Burkina Faso's president on December 29, completing a transition from the 2014 overthrow of longtime ruler Blaise Compaore in the troubled west African country. Kabore, 58, Burkina Faso's first new leader in almost three decades, embarks on the first of two possible five-year terms. / AFP / AHMED OUOBA (Photo credit should read AHMED OUOBA/AFP/Getty Images)

The results of a historic election in Burkina Faso, the first in nearly 30 years, were recently announced. After three weeks in office, the new government issued an international warrant for the arrest of Blaise Compaore, the dictator who was thrown out as a result of popular protest.

Roch Marc Christian Kabore, the leader of a newly-formed party called the Movement of People for Progress, was elected president on December 1, 2015. The West African nation's first election in decades was the direct result of peaceful protest that started in the summer of 2013 by a grassroots movement called "Le Balai Citoyen" or "The Civic Broom."

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This movement, co-founded by reggae star Sams'K Le Jah and rapper Serge Bambara ("Smockey"), combined the simple symbolism of the broom and the idea of citizenship as they mobilized the people to clean up the country through progressive civic engagement.

We have all heard about Boko Haram and pirates off the coast of Somalia. But who has heard of the Balai Citoyen movement?

It is time to make room in America for more informed reporting on peaceful progress in Africa.

If we did more to support the cause of democracy in nations like Burkina Faso, we would not only be acting in accordance with our best values, we would also be acting in our strategic interest. One of the lessons from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and the same will be true in Syria) is that military plans to clear and hold territory do not work in the long run.

Supporting meaningful freedom in African democracies is the most viable option for promoting peace and stability on the continent.

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Starting in 2013, Le Balai Citoyen movement energized various sectors of civil society with music concerts, peaceful demonstrations and door-to-door campaigns. They astonished pundits and educated observers when they played a prominent role in effectively ousting a dictator who had ruled the country since 1987.

Blaise Compaore was a master of the dictator's double discourse. He never missed an opportunity to present himself as the embodiment of African exceptionalism, above the misplaced reproach of Western observers. And yet, when he fled the country it was in a French helicopter headed for the Ivory Coast where he hoped to enjoy impunity in exile.

The problem with Compaore was that he came to power with blood on his hands and he over-stayed his welcome. After 27 years as head of state, he wanted to amend the constitution so that he could run for yet another term in office.

Rather than simply sing songs about injustice, Sams'K Le Jah and Smockey started a grassroots movement whose main objective was to get Compaore to step down, not to amend the constitution and to ensure a fair election.

It took just over a year of tenacious protest -- not without duress and occasionally violent repression -- to finally oust the dictator.

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Compaore took power via a coup in which Thomas Sankara was killed during the waning years of the Cold War. The circumstances of Sankara's assassination have been shrouded in mystery and his loss seen as a tragedy across the continent. Compaore's dictatorship is widely considered to have been built on the tomb of one of Africa's leading proponents of autonomous development and pan-African pride.

Compaore immediately overturned the Marxist-inspired initiatives Sankara had set in place. This ideological realignment suited the French establishment's increasingly conservative vision and Western allies whose influence was exerted elsewhere on the continent.

Sams'K Le Jah and Smockey resurrect Sankara in song and activists wear t-shirts with his image as they dance at rallies. While forcing Compaore to face the facts about how he came to office remains critical to restoring justice, the road ahead presents a number of challenges.

We should bear in mind that Sankara also arrived in power via a coup. As recently as September, an attempted military coup threatened to derail the transition to democracy but activists returned to the streets and the cause of democracy prevailed.
Shot of a muslim family eating together

In hindsight, 2015 had many great moments, but also many terrible things that caused untold pain. From the Charlie Hebdo attack in January, to the Paris attacks in November, and the San Bernardino attacks in December, not only did humanity suffer horrific loss of life, but also terrorists claiming to speak for Islam dominated the headlines.

Likewise, certain politicians promoted fascist ideologies such as special ID cards for Muslims, a cessation of all Muslim immigrants, and a rejection of a Muslim serving as president of the United States.

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Meanwhile, anti-Muslim hate crimes and anti-Muslim sentiment skyrocketed in 2015 -- higher even than in the weeks and months after 9/11. Sikh and Hindu Americans have also suffered the brunt of this hatred as many of the bigots attacking American Muslims are too ignorant to know the difference between Sikhs, Hindus, and Muslims.

Looking forward, the only way we -- Muslims and non-Muslims -- are going to conquer misinformation and extremism, is by working together. We can build peace, but we must build it together. If you are ready to build, then here are 16 simple ways you can support your fellow American Muslims in 2016.

1) Call your local mosque and wish them a Happy New Year! Yes, Muslims celebrate the new year too.



2) Vote for a candidate who promotes freedom of religion for all people -- not just for those who share the candidate's faith.

3) Love thy neighbor, yes, even thy Muslim neighbor.

4) Encourage your children to learn about different faiths, including Islam. It will make them more compassionate and intelligent human beings.

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5) Learn about Prophet Muhammad (sa) from Muslims. Here's a great and free e-book about his life.

6) Learn about Islam by reading the Qur'an. You can get a complimentary copy mailed to you free of charge at the Muslims for Peace website.

7) Understand that Muslims are diverse in race and nationality -- white, black, Latino, Arab, South Asian, European, and many more. So in other words, don't stereotype.

8) Understand that Muslims are as American as anyone. In fact, American Muslims have served in the Armed Forces in every war since America's founding.

9) Understand that Muslims condemn terrorism just like any sane person would. We don't expect every Christian to condemn the so-called "Christian" terrorist group known as the KKK. The same courtesy should extend to Muslims regarding terrorist groups claiming to act in the name of Islam.

10) Understand that Islam's primary purpose is to bring humanity closer to God in personal faith, and bring humanity closer to all humanity by serving all humanity.

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11) Understand Muslims in your local community by visiting a local mosque and introducing yourself. You can start with customary Islamic greetings such as, "Peace be with you, my name is [your name here] and I wanted to stop by and say hello." Dialogue builds bridges in ways few other things can.

12) Understand that Muslim women who choose to wear hijab, do so in the footsteps of Mary Mother of Jesus. (In fact there's a whole chapter named after her in the Qur'an).

13) Get involved. American Muslim youth are waging a true Jihad (i.e. struggle) against hunger in America. (Fact, 1 in 6 Americans go to bed hungry every night and Muslim youth are trying to change that). Follow @MuslimsForPeace on Twitter and find out how you can join this true jihad.

14) Get involved. There's an annual Muslims for Life blood drive to honor victims of 9/11. You can donate blood at a local drive. Check out the Muslims For Life website to sign up for the next blood drive near you.

15) Get involved. There's a new campaign called True Islam and the Extremists, which is the country's first effort to unite Muslims and non-Muslims against terrorist ideology. Follow @TrueIslamUSA, endorse the campaign at the True Islam website, and help build a united stand against extremism and terrorism.

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16) Finally, and perhaps most importantly in 2016, take the time to make a Muslim friend. Get to know a Muslim personally. According to Pew, roughly 200 million Americans have never met a Muslim. If you want to find a local Muslim friend, email me and we'll make it happen!

Hopefully as 2016 comes to a close we can look back and appreciate the progress towards peace we've made, individually, as a nation, and as humanity.

Have a happy, safe, and blessed 2016!
The Liberal government made a bold campaign pledge to reform the country's first-past-the-post electoral system, an antiquated set of rules used in a declining number of parliamentary democracies around the world. Now, with its surprising majority in the House of Commons, the Liberal government confronts a question that even its most enthusiastic supporters did not expect the Party would have to answer when it made its pledge earlier this summer: should Canadians vote in a referendum to approve the new electoral system, whatever it might be? The short answer is yes. But the Liberal government does not have a constitutional obligation to consult Canadians before changing the electoral system. It does have a moral one, though. It is a happy obligation, however, because it brings with it an opportunity to finally give Canadians our long overdue democratic moment. First, why no constitutional obligation? Canada's founding constitution tells us that we possess "a constitution similar in principle to that of the United Kingdom," a phrase the Supreme Court of Canada has interpreted to incorporate constitutional principles and conventions sourced in the United Kingdom. One of those conventions governs the way we elect our Members of Parliament: the candidate who earns the most votes in a riding, and not necessarily a majority, wins the contest. In a tight race, a candidate could well win with 30 percent of the vote, or even lower, as one candidate did in October with only 28.5 percent of the vote. We inherited this tradition from the British, who continue to use the first-past-the-post system. It is precisely because changing our electoral system would give us a constitution no longer "similar in principle" to the United Kingdom's own that it would be a momentous constitutional change. None of the intricate rules of constitutional amendment in the Constitution of Canada makes any mention of a referendum. As a matter of constitutional law, the Liberal government could indeed introduce the new electoral system as an ordinary act of Parliament, just as the Conservative government did in 2007 to introduce fixed election dates. But in this case the minimum is not enough. The Liberal government has a moral obligation to consult with Canadians despite there being no constitutional requirement for it to do so. For one, few constitutional changes are more fundamental to democracy than the way we elect our representatives. Whether the changes ultimately proposed are big or small, the fact that they could be the first truly significant departure from our inherited traditions of electoral rules makes it appropriate to validate them with some similarly significant measure of popular approval. We missed an important democratic moment in 1982. Federal and provincial elites negotiated and ratified the new constitution, leaving the people on the outside looking in. Then-prime minister Pierre Trudeau had wisely considered pushing for Canadians to approve the constitution in a referendum but in an act of statesmanship to salvage the deal he ultimately relented to provincial opposition against it. Yet there is a recent precedent for consulting the people in constitutional change. In 1992, the government of the day sent the Charlottetown Accord to Canadians for their approval even though it was under no constitutional obligation to hold a referendum. In the aftermath of the failed 1987 Meech Lake Accord that had been written and agreed-to in secrecy, federal and provincial elites rightly thought it important to signal to Canadians that their views mattered, and they prudently sought their consent to the transformative changes proposed in the Accord. Canadians ultimately voted no in an extraordinary act of informed, deliberative and democratic self-government. The Liberal government should follow the Charlottetown precedent to give Canadians the opportunity to finally approve a major constitutional reform, in this case one that is long overdue. Though not legally necessary, a referendum on the new electoral system would align squarely with the spirit of the new government, which was elected on hopeful promises of openness, inclusion and greater participation in the hard work of making Canada even better. Of course, a referendum comes with the risk of defeat. But so did the daring campaign of the Liberal Party--a campaign that was built on the possibilities of collective action. A referendum on the proposed electoral system makes sense as the next step for this new government to take. Richard Albert, author of a forthcoming book on "The Democratic Values of Constitutional Amendment" (Oxford University Press), is a Visiting Associate Professor of Law and the Canadian Bicentennial Visiting Associate Professor of Political Science at Yale University. Twitter: @richardalbert. Email: richard.albert@yale.edu.
Donald Trump and the rest of the Republican presidential pack have had a field day disparaging political correctness as an affliction of liberals that is resented by regular Americans. Some liberal commentators have suggested that political correctness has become a serious albatross for Democrats.

Columnist Thomas Edsall, in a piece for the New York Times online, cited polls showing that large numbers of Americans, Democrats as well as Republicans, agreed that "political correctness" was a big problem.

But what exactly is political correctness? The term was first used by lefties to make fun of themselves. I've been hearing it used ironically since the 1970s. As in: "This may not be politically correct, but may I buy you a drink?"

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This use of "politically correct" initially reflected the New Left and the feminist movement of that era mocking the efforts by the Communist Party to insist on rigid conventions of speech, along the lines of George Orwell's Thought Police in his novel 1984.

Then the right got hold of the phrase and used it to claim that left-wingers were the new conformists, enforcing speech codes and embracing extreme identity politics. Allan Bloom's 1987 book, The Closing of the American Mind, attacked liberal college professors for imposing "politically correct" ways of thinking on impressionable undergraduates. The term then became a staple of rightwing rhetoric against liberals.

The interesting question is why Donald Trump's resurrection of the term in the 2016 campaign resonates with so many people.

Trump, let's recall, has taken insulting rhetoric to a new low, and "politically correct" has become his all-purpose way of dismissing his critics. For Trump, politically incorrect masquerades as a badge of candor. He may sound like gutter politics, but he's actually a courageous truth-teller.

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Still, it's significant that his message hits home with his audience. One reason is that working class and middle class white men have been taking it on the chin for about three decades. Many have had a bellyful of women, blacks, gays, lesbians, transgender people, Muslims, et al, telling them what language they are permitted to use.

Some of the campus causes, where privileged kids argue about trigger warnings and micro-aggressions, epitomize everything that non-college educated white guys hate about liberals.

But let's dig a little deeper. Some of the downward mobility of white men (expect for the elite) is long overdue. Until the civil rights movement and the women's movement started contesting the privileges of white men, white guys had relatively fewer competitors for good jobs, and enjoyed the perquisites of stay-at-home wives. The gains in rights and aspirations of women and blacks were a loss in the relative social status and economic well-being of men.

Well, some men, that is -- because the same era during which women and blacks made relative gains was a period when working class wages, salaries, and job security went straight to hell. It might have been a lot easier for white men to accept long deferred claims by women and blacks for inclusion, had this not been a period when the very rich were taking an ever-larger share of the pie at the expense of working people generally.

Notice the irony of Trump benefitting from the politics of resentment. Billionaires like Trump make off with too much of the nation's income and wealth, at the expense of ordinary working stiffs. And then Trump puts on his politician's hat and cashes in on the resentment.

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And here's where it gets really tricky. Some of the ultra-P.C. stuff is silly and makes it easier for the right to lampoon liberals. At Oberlin, a college of which I'm a proud alumnus, the students have lately been protesting something called "cultural appropriation."

That turns out to mean the campus food service contractor offering ethnically-themed meals and doing a lousy job of preparing such dishes as General Tso's Chicken and presenting pulled pork masquerading as Vietnamese bahn mi. Surely students have better things to argue about.

When I was an undergraduate there, we also protested the food -- not because it was culturally insensitive but because it was just plain disgusting. The ethnically indeterminate chipped beef was an equal opportunity offender.

The broader challenge here is that many of the causes that Trump and company put down as P.C. are legitimate and overdue. How long will it take before cops who brutalize black citizens are brought to justice? Do we really want to evict 12 million law abiding immigrants, many of whom were brought here as kids? But when the local working class is getting clobbered economically, it's easier to play off the races against each other.

The more extreme versions of identity politics do play into the hands of the right. There is not much that liberals can do about that.

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It has always taken radicalism that initially seems outlandish to build a more inclusive society before that inclusion becomes mainstream. I'm old enough to remember a time when Help Wanted-Male, and Help Wanted-Female classified ads, seemed merely normal and gay marriage seemed preposterous. Today's broad acceptance of rights for women, blacks, gays and lesbians, people with disabilities, first required impolite insurgent movements. Some backlash was inevitable.

Yet if we want the charge of P.C. to fade, it would be good for Democrats to speak more about the economic aspirations of all Americans, and to propose more robust solutions for the downward mobility that has been affecting all but the elite -- and to remind struggling voters that a billionaire bully is not likely to be their champion.

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Robert Kuttner is co-editor of The American Prospect and professor at Brandeis University's Heller School. His latest book is Debtors' Prison: The Politics of Austerity Versus Possibility. http://www.amazon.com/Debtors-Prison-Politics-Austerity-Possibility/dp/0307959805
As a candidate, Bruce Rauner claimed his billion-dollar success in private equity qualified him to run state government. But in the words of former Governor Jim Edgar, Rauner's path to profit was, "You buy a business, you tear it apart and you sell it. ... I don't think you're going to tear apart the state and sell it. He might want to, but you can't do that."

Unfortunately, Edgar's counsel hasn't dissuaded Rauner from unleashing on Illinois the same tactics that served him so well in the rapacious corporate world. His firm looked to take over troubled companies or those least able to fight back, like nursing homes for the frail elderly or group homes for the severely disabled. And they did it largely with money from public pension funds, hiding their high fees and questionable business practices behind an iron curtain of secrecy.

Rauner's first year as governor has been marked by the same brute tactics. State government has gone six months with no budget and millions of citizens are suffering as a result, all to leverage pressure for what he calls his "pro-business" Turnaround Agenda.

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But what exactly is that agenda? A moving target, it has changed repeatedly since his inauguration. Most recently it appears to include freezing property taxes by eliminating 'prevailing rate' policies in public construction projects, taking collective bargaining rights away from local government employees, cutting workers' compensation benefits for people injured on the job, instituting term limits and changing the way legislative districts are drawn.

Rauner claims his "reforms" will grow the economy and create more jobs, but the facts tell a different story.

Columnist Rich Miller did the math to show that eliminating the prevailing wage would likely cut property taxes by only 0.74%. Yes, there's a decimal before that 74--a reduction of less than 1%.

Meanwhile, workers' compensation costs are already on their way down, without any help from Rauner. A new report shows that Illinois medical claim costs dropped 15% over the past year, the biggest decline of the 17 states surveyed and a much steeper drop than Indiana or Wisconsin.

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Nor does the slightest evidence suggest that stripping public employees of their collective bargaining rights would aid economic growth. Even a glance at states where public workers aren't free to form unions shows that Illinois has higher employment and family incomes than just about every one of them.

In sum, driving down wages and limiting workers' rights won't make our state more prosperous for anyone but corporations and the wealthy who are already doing just fine. To the contrary, middle-class workers would have less money in their pockets, less spending power in their communities, and less say on the job.

None of this is good for business. Companies want stability, not the chaos Rauner is courting. They want sound infrastructure--the kind that well paid, union-represented construction workers produce--as well as high-quality schools and a well-educated workforce. And they want customers with money to spend. That's why companies like Oscar Mayer and SC Johnson are moving from Rauner's model state, Scott Walker's Wisconsin, to our own Illinois.

Yet Rauner continues to hold the budget hostage to his demands. As a result, seniors faced massive cuts in home health care and other life-sustaining programs. Tens of thousands of families have been denied childcare assistance. Programs for kids with autism and epilepsy are starved of resources. Domestic violence shelters are forced to cut services or even close their doors. Early intervention programs for children with disabilities are disappearing. Supports for victims of rape and other crimes are in jeopardy.

And Rauner appears to be deliberately targeting certain programs and regions, cutting off funding for local government 911 emergency services, shuttering the Illinois State Museum sites, closing the Sparta shooting complex and the Hardin County Work Camp, and eliminating the jobs of conservation police officers who protect our state parks and the people who use them.

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State universities face an ever-deepening crisis. More than 130,000 students who rely on the MAP grant program are in limbo, not knowing whether they'll have the assistance they need. Universities themselves are struggling to meet payroll, with many considering massive tuition increases or hundreds of layoffs. The Wall Street agency Moody's downgraded their bond ratings, making it harder to borrow the money needed to keep operating.

And then there's Rauner's effort to bring the hammer down on state employees, in effect forcing them to make the biggest contribution to Illinois' budget fix via huge hikes in their health care costs. State contract negotiations have become a pitched battle, with workers defending the vital public services they provide and the economic security they've fought hard to achieve.

Where will it all end? Will our state continue in its death spiral, driven down by Governor Rauner's bizarre patchwork of non-reforming reforms? Or will common sense and basic decency reassert themselves and set us all on a better course?
Early humans believed in gods that could become angry and that bestowed or withheld favors based on the deference they were shown by humans. Humans needed to propitiate these gods, usually by sacrificing something valuable: depending on the culture, a prized heifer, a prisoner of war or one's own child.

One can understand why early humans held such beliefs. They were ignorant of the causes of natural disasters or of disease outbreaks. If an earthquake or epidemic occurred, someone, some agent, had to be responsible, and as these events were beyond human powers, the gods had to be responsible. And just as we can sometimes soothe the anger of a fellow human by offering a gift and asking for forgiveness, so too one could placate an angry god by the appropriate show of deference and submission.

In more recent times, other forms of deference have replaced ritual sacrifice (for the most part). Instead of cutting the throat of an animal, people take part in worship services, engage in prolonged prayer, or otherwise manifest their deference to a deity. But the root idea that there is a god or gods who bestow favor based on the respect or honor we show them has persisted, at least in the minds of some.

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And one mind in which this idea has persisted is the mind of Justice Antonin Scalia. In an address to a Catholic high school in New Orleans on Saturday, Justice Scalia stated that Americans needed to "honor" God because doing so was the way to ensure that God would continue to be good to the United States. Scalia specifically attributed American victories in the Revolutionary War and at the Battle of Midway to God's favor, which Americans achieved by honoring him.

Justice Scalia is certainly not unique among Americans, and clearly not unique among humans in general, in holding that God responds with favor to those who show him deference -- and with disfavor to those who do not. Of course, this is not to say that such a belief is rational or justified. To the contrary, it seems to me that any deity who demands worship and attention doesn't deserve to be worshiped. But if some people think that supplicating a deity will increase their chances of getting what they want -- fine. This doesn't particularly concern me.

The problem is that Scalia interprets the supposed desire of God for worship as requiring the United States to favor religious belief as its official policy. It's not enough for individual believers to worship God as they see fit -- a right which I and most Americans are happy to acknowledge and protect. According to Scalia, the government must place its thumb on the scale and promote and advance religion over non-religion. So Scalia's God is not only a God who craves worship, he's also a God who doesn't respect freedom of conscience and he wants the government to nudge, if not compel, atheists and agnostics into becoming believers.

Neutrality between religion and non-religion is for Scalia not only something that lacks constitutional warrant, but, disturbingly, he also maintains that such neutrality risks incurring the wrath of God or, at best, his indifference. Apparently, the United States cannot expect to prevail in any future conflicts if we show equal respect to theist and atheist alike.

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In the past, such attitudes were used to justify the persecution of nonbelievers and religious minorities. Their lack of respect for the true god or gods endangered the community.

I doubt if Justice Scalia favors imprisoning atheists. But it is clear that he thinks government should promote religion by school prayer, Ten Commandments monuments, nativity scenes in the courthouse, crosses planted liberally on government property, and so forth.

Moreover, in principle, it would be difficult for Justice Scalia to criticize those who would want to take stronger measures against nonbelievers. The theocrats in Iran and Saudi Arabia also maintain that if their citizens don't "honor" God, they are placing their country at risk. They just have a different interpretation of what is due God by way of honor.
America's Charities much-anticipated annual report on employee giving and volunteering was released this month, and as I discussed recently, it's packed with interesting data about the increasing role of corporate philanthropy in the workplace.

The report, Snapshot 2015: The New Corporate DNA--Where Employee Engagement and Social Impact Converge, draws six key takeaways from the trends seen in employee-driven philanthropy in 2015. Each conclusion is worthy of close examination, but since now is the traditional season of employee giving, I'd first like to assess the trends seen in how employees are donating their hard-earned dollars towards corporate philanthropy.

"Many have said that workplace giving is dead," the report notes. "The Snapshot reports reveal quite the opposite is true. The traditional model of top down, corporate-directed giving is no longer acceptable. And, workplace giving and employee engagement is alive and evolving at a very rapid pace."

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Winter is a busy time for corporate giving, starting with #GivingTuesday and continuing into the final throes of corporate holiday campaigns. Traditionally, Q4 is where employee giving began and ended, with company leaders losing focus on this effort the rest of the year. In 2013, only 24% of companies indicated they offered year-round giving, with 71% of large corporations conducting their giving program during a finite period of time, usually the fall. But the latest Snapshot shows that year-round giving is becoming the standard, with more than 60% of companies saying their giving program is open year-round. "The time-honored tradition of Fall campaigns is evolving into new traditions," the report notes.

More than 50% of the companies that responded indicate they see an increasing number of employees who give as well as an increase in the amount of money given. This rising interest in giving parallels the increased number of employees who volunteer, as well as the growing amount of time that employees dedicate to volunteering.

Snapshot 2015 shows how companies are diversifying the opportunities available to employees who want to donate, to support the increased interest in giving:

Providing employees with the opportunity to make financial donations directly from their paycheck (also known as workplace giving) is the most common component of employee engagement.

Matching gift programs are about equally split between companies matching any employee gift (open programs) and those that match a limited number of charities or specifically identified charities

About 30% of companies provide employees with an opportunity to give to international charities.

Nearly 27% of companies offer financial grants in recognition of individual volunteer service and an additional 30% of companies plan to offer these within the next two years.

Compare two of the latest trends of Snapshot 2015 with the findings of Snapshot 2013:

In 2013, 63% of large companies matched employee contributions. In 2015, 65% of large companies match while 28% of small to mid-size companies now match.

In 2013, 21% of large companies included global employees in their program. In 2015, 31% of all sized companies offer opportunities to give to international charities.

Workplace giving rates, while growing, still have a ways to go before they're widespread within companies. Forty-two percent of the companies have less than 20% participation rates in their employee giving program (giving financial contributions), while 13% have participation rates above 61%. Twenty-nine percent have rates between 41-60%.

But the popularity of workplace giving is clearly on the upswing. And businesses are looking at employee giving as a direct component of overall employee engagement, with the key metrics of success continuing to be how many employees participate in their company's programs and how much money they give. But employee surveys and benchmarking are also becoming important, and companies are increasingly looking to the best practices of other companies to grow engagement.

"For many years, workplace giving remained a basic program of payroll deduction with a slow but steady growth in the number of companies offering it with varying participation rates," the report notes.

In Snapshot 2013, a dramatic shift documented the transformation to fully integrated engagement strategies. Employers began to understand this changing environment as they began to integrate corporate goals, employee expectations and opportunities to grow giving.
There's nothing wrong with protesting against injustice. Things get murky when a state instigates violent protests against another state -- all the while claiming a moral high ground. Iran's double standards have been badly exposed by the protests against the execution of a Shiite Saudi cleric Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr. Here's a state with the audacity to lodge protests against another while having an abysmal human rights record of its own. Iran is notorious for persecuting its religious minorities, stifling employment opportunities; and incarcerating and executing them by the dozens. Iran-backed militias unleashed terror in Iraq and Syria and played a key role in the rise of Daesh. Iran and its proxies are still backing the killing machines of Bashar al-Assad. That it still claims to be the victim is the height of hypocrisy.

Nimr was not the only person executed by the Saudi authorities. The total tally is 47, all but four of them were Shia. There is a glaring omission of the other 43 people, who may also have not received a fair trial. Saudi justice system is not exemplary to begin with. Far from it. Same is the case with Iran.

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Iran employs as ridiculous charges as "enmity against God" and "corruption on earth" to persecute religious minorities, according to an Amnesty International report. These "crimes" carry the death penalty and Sunnis, Baha'is, Kurds, Sufis and other minorities are regularly sent to the gallows. Amnesty International reports Iran executed up to 448 people by July 15, 2015; the figure was 743 in 2014.

The deeply-sectarian government in Iraq launched a massive campaign of hatred against the Sunnis. Thousands perished at the hands of the overwhelmingly Shiite army. The same Sunnis who had mounted a successful anti-Al-Qaeda campaign with the U.S. and Iraqi army were rewarded with bullets and torture -- under the supervision of Iran. Baghdad and Tehran thus helped midwife Daesh into existence. Since then, the army and Shiite militias backed by Iran have launched another massive killing spree under the pretext of fighting terror. The same Iraqi government also condemned the execution of Al-Nimr, and rockets were fired at the newly opened Saudi embassy in Baghdad.

It's not just the militias carrying out executions in Syria. High-ranking Iranian officials, Hezbollah and thousands of volunteers -- some recruited from Afghanistan and Pakistan -- are part of the regime forces. These have been around since the start of the conflict in 2011, part and parcel of the killing machines that annihilated hundreds of thousands of Syrians and displaced millions. Remember that Daesh didn't emerge until mid-2014 -- and despite its barbarianism -- can't match the lethality of barrel bombs and carpet bombing.
Some people are easy to introduce. You can say things like, "This is so-and-so; he's a chef." But how can you introduce somebody who doesn't have only one professional title? Such is my dilemma in introducing, Manos Gavras. Most know him for his 2 decade long acting career in Greece and the U.S. He's currently starring in, Brousko, the most popular TV series in Greece (also shown in 18 other countries) and has a number of U.S. produced movies coming out this year such as Swing Away, co-starring Shannon Elizabeth and John O' Hurley. But Manos is also a screenwriter, movie producer (including associate producer of award winning, Lee Daniels' The Butler), musician, dancer, choreographer, brand ambassador (of Johnnie Walker Gold Label Reserve) restaurateur (partner in nice n easy Mykonos and set to open two new locations, one being in the U.S.) and children's book author.

"When I first went to N.Y.C. in '97 I was confused because I loved many different art forms," he tells me from his sunny penthouse apartment in Athens, with views of the Parthenon to the left and Lycabetus Hill to the right. "Contrarily to what I'd always wanted, which was to just do one thing and excel at it, I feared I was never going to be really good at anything." He says that the answer finally came years later. "I realized that I had to stop fighting myself. It's all a wonderful journey so I decided to start enjoying it; somehow it all comes together and makes sense."

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As a child, one of his favorite things was to talk to people about their stories. "I guess curiosity brought out productivity in me," he says. That and great drive. He shares that when he was 13, he was sitting in the audience listening to his school band playing for Greece's Independence Day festival. "I realized that I needed to be on stage. I told the music teacher that I wanted to be part of the band for the Christmas show in 2 months time. He asked me what instrument I played." At the time, Manos didn't play any instrument. "I told him that I was going to learn how to play the guitar. I sat and taught myself within a month."



Manos Gavras at nice n' easy Mykonos with Executive Chef, Christos Athanasiadis

"I've always believed in following the voice of the heart; God's voice. I never use my brain when it comes to making serious decisions," he says. He realizes that this involves a huge risk since following one's heart doesn't normally answer "why" immediately. "Every major decision I've made in my life has never made any logical sense. But that voice inside of me is always so strong, I can't refuse it." Not that there haven't been setbacks in his life. "In the bad times - like when my basement apartment in Queens was flooding - I remember wondering, what was I doing? But even then I preferred to look on the positive. I'm definitely a glass-half-full kind of guy!"

This "voice of the heart" is also what led Manos to write what is now an increasingly popular children's book series, Fistikios the Aeginetan. "Kids are like a different cast of people who I admire," he says. Manos tapped into his memories of a child's world viewpoint to write the series. "The more we develop the more we absorb what society tells us we should and shouldn't do. But kids don't have those filters." The hero, Fistikios, is one such filter-less kid and in writing him (actually, Manos says that Fistikios is so real to him that he almost "writes himself" and some days Manos' fingers can hardly keep up with the stories Fistikios' puts in his head!) real questions are brought to the forefront and he seeks true answers; not just what society has deemed to be true. The answers Manos (via Fistikios) comes up with in this channeling seem to be right on the mark. "An award winning child psychologist recently asked me how many child psychology books I've read. But I've never read any! I believe it's because it all comes from my memories of being a kid." It seems to be working. "Fistikios says and does what he wants, when he wants. He doesn't even need me. But we have a good relationship," Manos says with an easy laugh.

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Manos Gavras children's book series, Goober the Greek

Ingeniously, the series envelops real historical characters and/or known mythological "events" within the context of the fiction. "I wrote the books with no strategy. I use mythology because I love it. But the way I ended up using it, the educational aspect that came out, wasn't planned," he says. Neither was the original cast of characters. "Fistikios was always there, but everybody else, his love for Aphrodite and his two best friends, they all appeared as I was writing. Fistikios told me that they existed."

Manos is currently working on the third book in the series. The English translation (retitled, Goober the Greek) is in the final stages of development while a French translation is also being prepared. "I've had many offers to take it further, as a stage play or a comic strip. But I want to go slowly and develop a really strong foundation with the books," Manos says. And it's definitely gotten thumbs up from Manos' most ardent fans; "My nephews like it. My parents love it! My mom told me that she's read the second book four times and she's still discovering new aspects to it!" Manos recently took Fistikios to a charity event for Elpida, the Association of Friends of Children with Cancer, which was founded by UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador, Marianna Vardinoyiannis. "I think that Fistikios is an anti-hero with a never-give-up attitude. Everything he does in his life might go wrong, but he never gives up. When he falls, he just gets up and keeps walking," Manos says.
Let's face it, despite your best efforts, you're still feeling like 2015 didn't turn out the way you might have planned for it to go, or did it?

I've complied a list of my own mistakes and big ah-has from my life and business lessons of 2015 and I pass them onto you, yup, you're welcome. I'll do the heavy lifting of living through it, if it means that you are able to use these tips. Here is to 2015 being a year of accessing that NEW self-awareness and using it to create MAGIC!

1. Working for the WRONG goal. Let me explain. You may have set a goal to make enough money to finally purchase the dream car you've had your eye on, that red 1963 Porsche convertible. What you may not realize is that it is not the Porsche that you're after, it is something that it offers you, a sense of accomplishment, freedom, youth, vitality and care-free living. Unaware of what motivates you, you buckle down, put in long hours and in the meantime, you risk missing out on other opportunities of experiencing exactly what you seek; freedom, care-free living, accomplishment, a sense of fun in life.

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2. Too much control. You held on too tightly to ONE outcome, without being open to the opportunities in front of you. You concentrated all of your time and resources in one area, an area which was depleting you, with very little return. Time to start getting curious. Curiosity and wonder release endorphins which stimulate creativity.

3. Continued Chaos. Clutter and lack of organization. Okay, I get it, that CREATIVE burst you get can be highly beneficial and yet, it leaves you with a huge mess. You live in this world of creating A LOT (which is AWESOME), but damn, it hinders your ability to execute! Clean SHIT up! No one can think in that chaos, including you. Although evidence shows that chaos comes with creativity and genius (Einstein's desk was said to be a MESS), it also hinders productivity. It becomes a challenge to focus when you're surrounded by the paperwork covering your desk. Honor that there is a rhythm to your creativity and productivity. Create systems for yourself. There are times when you are feeling incredibly creative and resist cleaning (usually in the two weeks prior to the full moon) and there are times when you are feeling productive and motivated to have more organization (usually after the full moon). Don't take my word for it, keep a productivity, creativity log. Notice when you have bursts of creativity and notice when the moment arrises when you start to CURSE the chaos and need it to banish! Don't let the chaos stick around and hinder your bigger VISION and goals!

4. DRAMA. You heard me. The chaos in your life is not necessarily in the physical form, it is emotional and psychological. You had so much emotional chaos that it distracted you from your larger purpose and bigger goals. Time to CLEAR -- relationships, thoughts and beliefs that are leaving you distracted from YOUR bigger purpose!

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5. Not Your Time. If you are anything like me, this is the LAST thing that you want to hear. Hang in there, it does not mean that you'll NEVER reach that goal, it just means that NOW is NOT the time. Why? There are a lot of contributing factors, but let's discover your WHY of this year. Reflect on your year. What did you work toward and what was your reality? Were you thrown one of life's curve balls? Did you have to tend the health issues of a loved one? Did you experience a financial or emotional setback? Time for the reflection part, what did that situation/circumstance gift you with? Greater resilience? New awareness? Honor the role it played in your life.

6. Searching for The Magic Pill. Somewhere along the way, you started to experience self doubt, leaving you to question your ability to accomplish the goals you set out for in 2014. When the doubt settled in, you abandoned your own wisdom in exchange for paying someone else for theirs. You invested in their promise, thinking that someone else's expertise would get you over your hump. This not only took you away from your intuitive wisdom, it drained your energy, resources and highjacked your focus. Although I am an advocate for hiring outside resources (as needed), I'm also acutely aware that searching outside of yourself can leave you far removed from your truest heart's desires. Stay centered and grounded in YOUR wisdom. Trust advisors who are willing to hear and honor YOUR vision!

7. Not enough CELEBRATING! You set the bar high for yourself (because you are BAD ASS enough to reach that lofty goal). With your eye on that BIG goal in the sky, you start to see the distance between where you are and where you want to be. That gap leaves you with overwhelm and creates an energy of strife! You start grasping at anything to see results, to feel a sense of accomplishment, leaving you further from the energy required for reaching your goals. Celebrate EVERY win! Set aside time on a weekly basis (or if you're bad ass enough -- DAILY) to celibate every win of 2016! Connecting with the energy of celebration gives you the momentum to KEEP taking steps toward your goals!

8. Nay Sayers. YES, a healthy dose of constructive criticism is beneficial, I'm not talking about that here. I'm addressing that group of people who don't believe in your big goals. They make comments like, "Don't get too ahead of yourself, John." They're the people you are uncomfortable celebrating with. In 2016, surround yourself with those who will challenge you, support you, celebrate the BIG wins with you! This keeps you in the energy of continuing to create the action steps required to see make your goals a living reality!

9. Over-planning . Planning out EVERY detail of what the next year will look like, is a waste of your time. There is not only no way that you can control all of those tedious details, it also distracts you from living in the moment, and trusting the gifts that are presented to you in that moment. Damnit -- if you try to plan, follow the template or formula, you miss out on the opportunity to utilize your greatest asset -- YOUR heart's intuitive guidance! BE in the moment and allow the gifts to unfold before your eyes!

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10. Waiting -- You were waiting on someone else or the perfect circumstances before you made your move. The result? You got away with blaming someone else when your vision didn't take shape. I get it, it is easier to blame than to take ownership. Don't get me wrong, there are times when others let you down, I get that. And yet, this year, you allowed someone else to have more influence over your life than they should have. You allowed them to hold you back from your next level.

How does this list apply to you? How will it support you to move forward on the right foot in 2016? Let's commit to making 2016 even better, commit to evolving beyond where we were!
"Behind every soulless heel is an unhealed soul."

-- Swami Beyondananda

Even in the darkest of times, it's always amazing to me how the Universe's Sense of Humor emerges to illuminate just about any "shituation." Here is a case in point.

Toward the end of September, there was a lot of buzz going around regarding the "blood moon tetrad" as an indicator of the "end times". Out of curiosity, I tracked one of the links to the Book of Revelations, and there I found a quote that stopped me in my "tracts":

"Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (I Cor. 15:51-53).

https://www.raptureready.com/featured/duck/dd11.html

Never mind that this is from a website called Rapture Ready. There are many, many other sites that offer variants of this quote, indicating that a sign of End Times is "the last trump shall blow."

Now many reading this might be saying, "Okay, we all know Donald Trump blows, and the blowhard is blowing even harder. So what?" And what about this "incorruption" the Bible is talking about? It's good to know the dead are incorruptible ... it's those very live Congress members we're concerned about.

As for the "End Times", I prefer "apocalypse" -- which means, "the lifting of the veils." As unworkable structures fall away, and as the "yarn" keeping them in place unravels we have the opportunity to learn and transform. How well we do this in the coming months will determine whether the Trump will be blowing "Taps" for our experiment in self-governance, or "Reveille" for an awakening political spirit.

So, let's part the Irony Curtain, and as unappetizing and frightening as it may seem, let's have a look at our political system "naked."

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Ready? Open your eyes, and close your nose -- we're going in.

The A-Hole That Crawled Out of the FOX-Hole

I am reminded of a poignant moment that to me represented the end of the Republican Party as an organization with any integrity whatsoever, that had the likes of Abe Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and even Barry Goldwater flipping in their crypts. It was during the concession speech John McCain delivered in 2008. There were McCain's old school Arizonian supporters looking down their patrician noses at Sarah Palin, ever ready to steal the scene. They knew they were looking at the "future" of the Republican Party, given over to the smallest of minds and the most shrunken of hearts.

That Donald Trump has been the front-runner in the Republican presidential race is a completely "natural" and understandable result of the Republicans becoming the party of "selfish-righteousness" over the past 35 years, somehow weaving a contradictory narrative that incorporates Creationism and Social Darwinism. And to facilitate cultivating both meanness and ignorance, they've had Fox News (and let us remember that in numerology, F-O-X is 6-6-6). They have "succeeded" beyond their wildest nightmare in activating their "base" by activating the basest of values: Fear, ignorance, prejudice, and rigid adherence to obsolete and obsolethal principles.

So the bad news is, at most recent check 65% of those who call themselves Republicans, support Donald Trump's "solution" to ban Muslims from entering America. (Hmmm ... imagine if the Native Americans played their own Trump card 300 or 400 years ago.)

The good news is that 65% of Republicans represent between 25 and 30% of the entire electorate. Which means there is only one thing (other than the Republicans' supernatural powers to get voting machines to flip votes) standing in the way of a resounding defeat for Trumpism in 2016 -- the Democrats.

The Democrats -- A Wolfowitz in Sheepowitz's Clothing

Now let's be clear. Unlike the Republicans, the Democrats haven't sold their soul to the devil. They're too equivocal for that. They merely "rented" their soul. The presumed front-runner, Hillary Clinton, carries the baggage of being a neocon fellow (I mean gal) traveler, a Wolfowitz in Sheepowitz's clothing. And while they stand in contrast to the Republicans on cultural and social issues, the Democratic Party "leadership" is still in the pocket of the banksters, big agriculture, the drug companies and the military industrial complex.

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As purported defenders of the middle and working classes, as designated mitigators of the excesses of capitalism, the Democrats have fallen, and seem unlikely to get up. With the very notable exception of Bernie Sanders, the Democrats' brand since the Bill Clinton era has been, "We're not as bad as those other guys."

And while the Millennials came out for Obama and his message of hope and change, they are not as willing as older folks to once again settle for the lesser evil. They are waiting for the greater good, and will stay home unless one appears. (Of course, Trump may impose such a clear and present danger that enough people will say enough to the Republican Party and finally drive a stake through their heartlessness.)

So aside from the prospect of Donald Trump single-handedly destroying the Republican Party, where IS the hope?

From Identity Issues to Identical Issues

If the Republicans have devolved into the party of selfish-righteousness the Democrats have become the party of selfless helplessness -- apparently well meaning but inept at courageously standing up for any principles (or perhaps even having any principles at all). The Democrats' idea of "taking a stand" is refusing to call Islamic extremists Islamic extremists. (I have long believed that political correctness dating back to the late 1970s and early 1980s is how "the right got right and the left got left." But that's another blog post.) Their political strategy has been to focus on cultural issues and "identity issues" and ignore the big fat elephant (and donkey) in the living room -- the American empire, the corporate state, and pay-to-play government.

The great potential of the Bernie Sanders campaign is to shift the focus from identity issues to identical issues -- issues like climate change, clean air, water and food, and economic "thrival" that impact each and all of us, regardless of gender, skin color, religion and the political tribe we identify with. That's why I am hearing from Tea Party Republicans who will vote for Bernie, as they recognize that none of the available Republican candidates are free enough from the power of money to truly be populists. They know the Republican establishment will never enact the kind of tax reform that will prevent the wealthiest from dodging taxes (see this article in the New York Times this week).

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So ... next time we hear the Trump blaring forth simplistic misunderstanding, willful ignorance, and demagoguery (pointing fingers at "dem, dem, dem" and never "us") let's take it as the clarion call to gather the 65% or 75% or 80% of us who want government of, by and for the people where the government does OUR bidding and not the bidding of the highest bidder. And next time we hear "oh, Bernie can't win", let's remind ourselves that really Bernie can't lose, because a sleeping giant -- aka "We the People" -- has been awakened.

And as Swami tells us, either we will have an awakening -- or we will have a wake.

So, may the Trump blow "Taps" for the rule of gold, and "Reveille" for the Golden Rule, and may 2016 be not just a leap year but a Quantum Leap Year.
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When animal shelters try to improve their live release rates, finding homes for cats is often the biggest problem they face. In recent years more and more shelters have been turning to a program called Return to Field (RTF) to get cats out of the shelter alive.

RTF is sometimes confused with trap-neuter-return (TNR), but it is a very different concept. TNR is for feral cats, and typically involves feral cat caregivers catching cats, sterilizing them, and returning them to their colonies. RTF, by contrast, is a program aimed at cats who are picked up by animal control as strays or are brought to the municipal shelter by individuals. RTF can apply to any cat, feral or tame. It is an evolving concept and is not implemented in exactly the same way by every shelter, but the basic idea is to give the cat a health check and vaccinations and sterilize it, and then, if it is healthy and appears to be doing well, it is returned to where it was found.

RTF was developed to help cats get back home from the shelter, whether their home is a colony or a neighborhood or a specific house. It recognizes the fact that "home" for a cat can be a very different thing than home for a dog. Many owned cats spend part of their time outdoors and tend to roam. They may even have multiple houses they visit. They may disappear for days at a time. They have people who love them and take care of them, but it is a more casual arrangement than a home for a dog.

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If such a cat is picked up by animal control or by a neighbor and taken to the shelter, the owner may not think to look for the cat for several days, until after the hold period has expired. Studies have shown that such cats are far more likely to get back home if they are left where they are than if they are taken to the shelter. The number of cats reclaimed by their owners from shelters is tiny - typically in single digits. Even a shelter that does its best to return cats to owners may have a success rate of only one cat out of fifty.

One option for cats would be for animal control to never pick up a healthy cat. The problem with this approach is that it allows unsterilized cats who are roaming to continue to breed. RTF provides the best of both worlds. It gives cats their best chance to return to their homes, and it also makes sure the cats are healthy, have their vaccinations, and will not be having kittens.

What about cats who are truly lost from their homes and cannot find their way back? Or who are injured or sick? Cats who come into the shelter in poor condition are not candidates for RTF, but RTF can still benefit them indirectly. With healthy cats being returned to their home territories, the shelter will have more time and resources to devote to rehabilitating cats who need the help. Those cats can be adopted out to new homes when they are healthy.

RTF was a key concept in the Feral Freedom program in Jacksonville, Florida, where it first gained national attention and was a major component in getting the city of Jacksonville to No Kill status. It has also been a part of the Operation Catnip program at the University of Florida for many years and was used by other programs as well.

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In the last two years RTF has spread like wildfire thanks to an initiative called the Million Cat Challenge. The Challenge was launched by two shelter veterinarians, Dr. Kate Hurley and Dr. Julie Levy. It is a joint program of the UC Davis Koret Shelter Medicine Program and Maddie's Shelter Medicine Program at the University of Florida. In addition to RTF, the Challenge recommends four other programs: managed admission, alternatives to admission, managing capacity, and removing barriers to adoption.

The Challenge aims to save one million shelter cats within five years, from 2014 through 2018. So far it has enrolled 323 shelters. One million cats is a very ambitious goal, but the Challenge is on track to meet or exceed its target. The participating shelters have saved almost 400,000 cats in 2014 and 2015 - an incredible number.

Unlike some No Kill programs, the Challenge does not insist that its participants must adopt all of its initiatives. The shelters can implement as few or as many of the five initiatives as they want. Another advantage is that the initiatives do not require a lot of skills or money. And the initiatives benefit all the animals in a shelter, not just cats, because they result in shelter staff having more time and space to work on getting animals out alive.
Supporters of Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr hold posters of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr during a demonstration in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on January 4, 2016, against Nimr's execution by Saudi authorities. Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Shiite-dominated Iran, its long-time regional rival, after angry demonstrators attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and its consulate following Nimr's execution. AFP PHOTO / HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI / AFP / HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI (Photo credit should read HAIDAR MOHAMMED ALI/AFP/Getty Images)

In recent days, a regime claiming to be a state representing the principles of the religion of Islam brutally executed a man for daring to challenge its legitimacy, just as it has done so many times before. I speak not of Daesh -- known better in English-language media as ISIS -- but of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi government, which favors public beheading as a method of murdering its opponents, executed Shaykh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr in the midst of a group of al-Qaeda affiliates. But Shaykh al-Nimr was hardly a sympathizer with al-Qaeda and its extremist views. Quite the opposite; in life, he was a prominent religious authority known for his uncompromising stances against oppression and injustice. He was a fierce proponent of the 2011 protests in eastern Saudi Arabia, calling for an end to decades of unjust imprisonment and torture of innocents, an immediate halt to the Saudi-backed violent suppression of protests in Bahrain, and other reforms. He was uncompromising in his denunciation of state-supported bloodshed, rape and pillage, regardless of which nation or religious group was responsible for it. And he was adamant that protesters employ "the roar of the word" over weapons of war.

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It brings me no small amount of pain to be forced to bring light to yet another disgraceful and shameful act perpetrated in the name of Islam. But such barbarism must be dragged into the light, recognized for what it is, and immediately stopped.

As Professor Hossein Askari of the George Washington University has pointed out in his article "Slaying IS and its Unborn Offspring," the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has had a long history of advancing and providing material support to an extremist and supremacist ideology claiming to act in the name of Islam. This self-obsessed ideology, utterly dogmatic and desperate to convince the world of its authenticity, reduces the diverse traditions of Islam to a single form, employing terror and violence to wipe out all voices of dissent that might challenge its claims. It is unable to think critically about itself, displaying the highest degree of cowardice and pusillanimity.

It is critical that the Saudi regime, which holds captive the holy cities of Islam, fails in its religious aims. The creative spirit and diversity of Islamic traditions have given 14 centuries' worth of Muslims a powerful vehicle with which to interact with the world. Many of those Muslims have used the ethics and values of that vehicle to challenge the injustices of political bodies ruling over them. The names of such critics span the course of Islamic history. The Prophet Muhammad's own grandson, al-Husayn bin 'Ali, was killed by a Muslim ruler and his Muslim armies in the course of defying such a regime. In more contemporary times, the Iraqi religious authorities Muhammad Baqir al-Sadr and his sister Bint al-Huda were both tortured and murdered by the government of Saddam Hussein. Now, Shaykh al-Nimr has joined these ranks.

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From what the Saudi government has done to Shaykh al-Nimr and so many others, it is clear that it is more than willing to kill those who question it. The regime's actions merit only a single response: complete and utter intolerance to this corporatized and brand-name form of Islam. Just as so much of the world has stood in rejection of Daesh and its monstrous behavior, so too must this ideology be fiercely opposed.

There can be no acceptance for the hatemongering, discrimination, and violence that taints such a regime. Yet in our own American political sphere -- theoretically founded on the virtues of liberty and justice for all -- we see figures across the spectrum (even at the highest stations) turning a blind eye to the injustices of Saudi Arabia. Even the nativist demagogue Donald Trump has chirped their praises in the not-so-distant past.

All of this must change. If it is to survive as a source of strength and meaning in our world today, Islam must become distanced from the Saudi government's interpretations, which are used to execute women for witchcraft and bring bloodshed and death to minority communities, amongst so much more. The so-called religious authorities of the country, who exist to prop up the regime, must be distrusted by Muslims the world over. The Prophet Muhammad himself warned against scholars who sit too close to rulers. Muslims would do well to listen to him.

Shaykh Nimr Baqir al-Nimr once delivered a sermon centered upon another tradition of the Prophet Muhammad, which goes as follows: "The most beloved struggle is a word of truth spoken to an unjust ruler." I can do no justice to Shaykh al-Nimr's thought and eloquence in this brief piece, but Muslims must pay close attention to this tradition which he so emphasized. Its relevance in our day is no small thing. Now, as Shaykh al-Nimr's memory is carried forward by those he inspired, that relevance must be given its due.

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As I sat there, on that dreaded dentist's chair with my mouth wide open, and subject to poking, and prodding by a myriad tools, gizmos and devices, my polite dentist tried to distract my attention away from the pain. She tried to make polite conversation.

Having noticed my last name, she asked if I was Sindhi. Now, as an Indian, if your last name ends with the three letters ani, the odds are fairly high that you are indeed going to be Sindhi; that is you are going to be from a community that finds its origins and traces its roots back to the Sindh province in what is now Pakistan. For someone not from that part of the world, for her to know and point out correctly my origins and community was actually quite impressive! It probably showed more knowledge and a keen sense of observation on her part than any great acknowledgement or global recognition of the Sindhi community.

I nodded yes that, I am indeed Sindhi and more importantly express my surprise at and acknowledge her impressive knowledge/powers of observation. After all, we are not that well known a community; we have never aimed to conquer the headlines or been at the forefront of the news. I mean, how many notable Sindhis can you really name in the world or in history that have grabbed people's attention? The name Acharya Kripalani from India's independence fight would ring a bell in some people's mind, but he too faded away into oblivion shortly after the British left the country. Who else? Sabir Bhatia (remember, the guy who created Hotmail?) - But where did he disappear off to after that? In today's day and age, LK Advani (Yikes!), Ram Jethmalani (Yeesh!), Tarun Mansukhani (who?), Aftab Shivdasani (again, who?), Sakhrani (not yet, but maybe in a few years' time) are names you know and have maybe, just maybe, heard in India, but wouldn't really call famous. Perhaps you know the Bhuttos from Pakistan, but it's simply a handful -- a small group that you can probably count on both hands, and that's about it.

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In addition to never being a community that has sought the headlines, we've also never been a big community. According to India's 2001 census, there are only slightly a few more than 2.5 million Sindhi-speaking people in India. On the basis of that statistic alone, if it did exist today, a Sindhi nation would rank #140 in the world, behind Lithuania (~2.89m people), Albania (~2.89m people) and Jamaica (~2.72m people). However, there are also apparently another 55 million or so Sindhi speaking people in Pakistan and countless others dispersed around the world. Add those together and we would leapfrog ourselves to be among the top 25 nations of the world on the basis of population alone.

Yet, there is no country called Sindh, and there probably never will be. It will always just be a province in the current country of Pakistan. And so, when my dentist asked me where 'home' was, I very matter of factly said, India. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but she followed it up with "So you don't really have a homeland of your own? There's no real Sindhi country you can go back to?" "No", was the prompt response. "We don't really have a country that we can call our own" came the quick response. For me India was always home and there was no other option or alternative to that.

I added, " We are a peaceful people; when the time came, we chose not to fight for our lands, but instead to do what was in the interest of our families, our people... we picked up and left." I remember my grandfather telling me many years ago that when they left their hometowns in Sindh, they left with no belongings, but two things in mind: (i) that this was temporary and they would return to their homes some day; and (ii) if they didn't, the Sindhis were enterprising enough to set up their new homes and build new lives for themselves and their families wherever they went.

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They followed the motto of 'live to fight another day', even though they were probably never intending to fight. Sindhis may not be brave in the warrior sense of the word, but they were brave enough to face their circumstances, face the challenges thrown up by their migration and yet overcome it... they were just brave in a different sense of the word. Rather than bravery, Sindhis are known for their enterprise and business sense, things that have served them well over the years.

Much like the Gujaratis of India (another Indian community known for their business sense and enterprise), the Sindhis found themselves and their kin spread around the world, from Canada and North America, down to South America and all the way across to East Asia - Hong Kong, Singapore, Bangkok and Manila. And wherever they went, they established a global, well-knit community whose members were well connected. They set up businesses by connecting with -- you guessed it -- other migrant Sindhis! They applied the art of networking very successfully, well before any business school or MBA program had probably even coined that phrase.

It was a skill that was seen across the vast majority of Sindhis that had established themselves in these business centers. So while the Gujaratis went to the UK and Africa and bought up motels or corner shops, the Sindhis set up businesses (import-export, like we used to call it), trading with their cousins, friends and family in everything from spices, to clothing, electronics and other sundry items. If you didn't go set up your business, then you ended up going to one of these countries to work for a Sindhi who ran one of these businesses. Sindhi parents were not shy about calling in that favor with a distant relative to ensure that their son got a job and some exposure in this foreign land.

During all these years, there may have been a yearning for a homeland, a desire to return to a place they could call their own, but the Sindhis never raised a peep or let the world know about it. Hell, while India was being divided up into smaller states on the basis of language, the Sindhis didn't even ask for the creation of a New Sindh in India. They were happy to just have a place they could call home and get on with it. They just did what they always do and blended in.
The long campaign for the presidency helps us evaluate candidates against what it takes to lead -- if we know what to look for. Donald Trump's trinity is "strength, power and stamina." He regularly castigates opponents for being weak and lacking energy. We can assess these in candidates if for no other reason than that their absence makes it hard to get to the nomination. Strength, power and stamina do matter, but they are by no means enough.

Judgment is harder to observe on the campaign trail, but even more important in a president. George Washington had it. Urged by both Hamiltonian Federalists and Jeffersonian Republicans to side with England or France, respectively, in their seemingly interminable wars, he opted for neutrality, calculated to gain time for the fledgling United States to gain strength to stand on its own. John Adams had it when he bucked his own party to make peace with France, even though it led to his re-election defeat. Lincoln had it when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation, not only because it was morally right but because it swelled the ranks of the Union army with 200,000 black soldiers essential to victory. Eisenhower had it when he refused the pleas of his own advisors to use nuclear weapons in China, Korea, and Vietnam and then crafted a containment strategy that lasted nearly four decades, long enough for the Soviet Union implode on its own.

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By contrast, Kennedy lacked judgment when he allowed the Bay of Pigs invasion to go forward, without adequate policy review and operational questioning of the military and CIA. Johnson lacked it when he escalated the Vietnam War, a move certainly in line with his own love of strength, power and stamina. George W. Bush lacked it when he went into Iraq without a strategy for what to do after "mission accomplished," another demonstration that strength and power without judgment are dangerous in a president's hands.

Judgment is not the same thing as intelligence. All presidents are smart, but not all blend that with a deep understanding of history, people, places and politics. Judgment is the ability to act prudently -- to make decisions using what Aristotle called "practical wisdom." It is being guided by the emerging lessons of experience, not the rigid walls of ideology. Washington was a revolutionary, but when the Revolution ended, unceasing hatred of England and unquestioned love of France were no longer prudent, even if they were still popular.

Judgment is a matter of how one structures decision making. It requires questioning assumptions and surrounding yourself with people who will disagree with you, ensuring you hear all sides of an argument. It requires protecting those dissenting voices. Kennedy learned this in time for the Cuban Missile Crisis, demonstrating that the ability to learn from mistakes is also a hallmark of presidential judgment.

Judgment also depends on character, which Calvin Coolidge rightly called "the only secure foundation of the state." Character depends on the ability to strike the golden mean in one's behavior between the extremes which are dangerous for any human and disastrous in a president. As Aristotle noted, we need courage, not cowardice or its polar opposite, recklessness. We need "right ambition" not listlessness and not a desire for power at any cost. We need humility, not self-abnegation -- but not hubris either.

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The media are eager partners in showcasing strength, power and stamina in candidates. But assessing judgment depends not only on what we see but on what is beneath the surface. It rests on what is not said -- as well as what is -- in speeches, debates and rallies. It rests on how a candidate thinks and engages with issues and advisors. But it is accessible. We can see its presence when we evaluate the soundness not just the glitz of a candidate's positions. Are they backed with facts not just hopes, with logical strategies not just attractive sound bites? We can see its absence in candidates who are overly ideological, abhor dissent, or demonstrate traits of recklessness, cowardice, hubris, or self-centered narcissism.

When Harry Truman recalled Gen. Douglas MacArthur from Korea in April 1951, the five-star general returned as a conquering hero, with a ticker tape parade and the bipartisan applause of a joint session of Congress. His military success was almost unparalleled. Truman was denounced, and his approval rating sank to 23 percent. MacArthur was the epitome of strength, power, and stamina. Yet in openly defying Truman's instructions on how to prosecute the war to keep it from escalating, he demonstrated poor judgment. He was tone deaf to executive authority, Constitutional history, and international politics. His ego over-rode the prudence demanded of a military leader and the deference due as a subordinate. Truman's judgment was sound in relieving him of command, and he is now regularly ranked among the top ten presidents in polls.
In early 2015 Kentucky shocked the nation by becoming the first Southern state to officially legalize syringe exchange programs. Since then the news has covered the successful roll-out of a couple different syringe exchange programs through local health departments, but has also reported some backlash coming from the legislature. I caught up with Wayne Crabtree at Louisville Metro Public Health and Wellness, who oversees the Louisville syringe exchange, to get the scoop on how the new program is going.

TC: What advice would you offer other communities looking to start syringe exchange programs?

WC: The most important lesson we learned is to involve community allies, churches, HIV/AIDS programs, social services programs, universities, health departments, police, pharmacists, and other community members. Get them into process of establishing the program so they feel ownership of it. It's also important to educate police on how it benefits them not to charge people for possession of syringes.

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TC: How has the media responded to the program?

WC: About 99% of the media coverage we've gotten has been positive, which is key to helping show skeptics that syringe exchange is beneficial to the whole community. On our grand opening day we allowed the media to come in and see the site before it became available to the public. They weren't allowed to take pictures while the program was operating of course because that would deter people from participating.

TC: What services besides clean syringes and injection equipment does the program offer?

WC: We provide referrals for drug treatment, case management, HIV testing and education, and hepatitis C testing education or referrals. We also distribute naloxone and overdose prevention educational materials. We dispose of used needles that people bring back through a contract with the public health department for waste disposal. So far we've seen about 1450 people and passed out 128,000 syringes since June 10th 2015.

TC: Any logistical challenges you didn't expect?

WC: Staffing has been a challenge. We hired a Certified Alcohol and Drug Counselor and a Health Educator to staff the site, but when they go on vacation or take sick days it can be difficult to find coverage. We make sure to have two staff at the site at all times. We also contracted with Volunteers of America - MidWest to run our community sites. One site opened in October and we have another ready to start before the end of the year.



TC: The media has reported that there has been some backlash at the Kentucky legislature over your policy of exchanging syringes based on need, as opposed to a one-for-one exchange. How have you responded?

WC: We know from evidence at other exchanges that needs-based exchange is the most effective public health intervention. When you have a one-for-one exchange policy, if three people are sharing a syringe and they bring it to the exchange for a clean one, they are still sharing the syringe. We have to get enough syringes into the community so that people are no longer sharing - that is the whole purpose of the program. Even without a one-for-one policy most programs eventually collect about the same amount that they distribute once the community starts to trust the program and trust that law enforcement will not pull them over or charge them for syringes that they are trying to take back to the exchange. We have seen our distribution-to-collection ratio improve a lot in the past few months as community trust builds.

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TC: What have you found to be the biggest benefits of syringe exchange programs?
At Travelzoo, our Deal Experts have crisscrossed the globe many times over, collecting expert travel tips for our members. But no one is born a travel expert--we were all newbies boarding our first flight at some point. Sometimes, our knowledge was earned the hard way, through booking mistakes, cultural misunderstandings, and lost-in-translation moments.

To show that rookie travel mistakes can happen to the best of us, we've asked expert travelers to share their most embarrassing misadventures. They prove that with the right attitude, travel mishaps can be good learning experiences (and good stories) that don't have to dampen your fun.

It's all Greek to me

Nadeen White, Atlanta, writer at www.thesophisticatedlife.com

On my first trip to Athens, Greece, I was lost on the streets close to my hotel. My friend and I had the hotel business card with the address, but it was all in Greek. We had only walked about 20-30 minutes from our hotel but could not figure out the street signs, of course written in Greek letters. We waved down six cab drivers and showed them the hotel card, but they all waved their hand no and kept going. We finally ran into a police officer who spoke English. He told us the taxi drivers didn't pick us up since we were only one block from our hotel, so it wasn't worth their time! We had literally been walking in circles!

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Accidental threats



James Kaiser, Austin, author of Costa Rica: The Complete Guide

When I first moved to Costa Rica, I practiced my Spanish with a local bartender. I was doing well until I said "Quiero pegarte," which I thought meant "I want to pay you." The bartender narrowed his eyes and glared at me. I had no idea what I said wrong. I later found out that I should have said "Quiero pagarte," because "Quiero pegarte" means "I want to punch you"!

You play what?!

Matt Walker, Nashville, writer at www.LittleRoadsEurope.com

My wife, Zeneba, and I are both classical musicians. On our first foray into Italy, our Italian language skills were barely better than those of Tarzan. We found that a common question asked of us was "Che lavoro fai?" -- "What do you do for a living?" Following Zeneba's tips, I answered in rudimentary Italian that I play the cello in an orchestra: "Io gioco cello in una orchestra sinfonica."

I don't know how many times we said this to people--a lot. But finally, one innkeeper couple laughed and took us into their confidence: "Don't say this like that anymore." They then explained what I had really been saying. The word "giocare" means "to play," but it's in the sense of playing a game, not an instrument. A harmless mistake, and one most Italians understood in the context.

However, that wasn't the worst of it. When I said "cello" (short for "violoncello") it sounded like ucello, little bird. So I was sort of saying, "I play with a little bird." That's still not the embarrassing part, though. Ucello, it turns out, is also a common slang word for testicles.

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So, what it sounded like I was saying in response to "What work do you do?" was "Oh, I play with my..." Well, you get the idea.

I do remember that some people seemed a little too impressed with what I told them I do for a living.

Troubles on the train

Kelsey Rexroat, New York, Editor at Travelzoo

When I was backpacking Europe for the first time, my boyfriend and I took a train from Rome to Naples. We had no clue that train tickets have to be validated with a time stamp before you board. When the train conductor came by, he said our unstamped tickets were invalid and that we had to get off the train--still an hour from our destination.

Fortunately, the Spanish-speaking passengers next to us had the same problem. What followed was a heated Spanish-Italian yelling match between them and the conductor. To our relief, the argument ended with the conductor throwing up his hands in exasperation, stamping all of our tickets (with lots of grumbling), and moving on to the next car.

The case of the ominous noise

Jema Patterson, nomadic writer at halftheclothes.com

The mystery started after sunset at our guesthouse on a small island in the Philippines. All was peaceful and quiet--until 9 p.m. Then, someone in the courtyard ... well, I don't know what they did exactly. But they did it 10 or 11 times in about three hours. A book thrown against a wall? Furniture tossed off the roof? What I did know: it was loud. Shockingly, disturbingly, rudely, infuriatingly loud.

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My partner went to the door to investigate. "No, no, no!" I whispered, my imagination envisioning a gang in this unfamiliar land trying to lure us outside. Then it happened again. This time, above our room. "Really?" we said. "It's nearly midnight. This racket is unacceptable. We're talking to the staff in the morning."

At breakfast time, my partner found the owner. Before he had said a word, the cheerful owner asked him if the mangoes had bothered us last night. You know. The ones that are blown out of the tree and land with a sickening crack on the stones? Or echo persistently after they torpedo into the tin roof? The ones that sound like a gang of foreign thugs? Mangoes.

Unprepared at the airport

Travis Levius, London, journalist and blogger at MisterLevius.com

Australia, with its shared British colony background like the USA, is as easy to enter as England or Canada, right? Well, I learned the hard and horrifying way when I tried checking in for my Atlanta to Sydney flight at the airport. "Do you have your visa clearance?" the gate agent asked me. I'm usually well-prepared, but I had no idea I'd need to apply for a visa to enter Australia! I wanted to die inside.

Thankfully, all it took was a quick Wi-Fi session to fill a $20AUD online application to receive the e-visa clearance in seconds ... but you could imagine my heart wanting to jump out my throat the entire time. I still made the flight on time but had to ask myself, "What the heck was I thinking?" Now, I can speak from experience when I say travelers should always check for up-to-date visa regulations before heading on any international trip.

Not so glamorous after all

Robin Hutson, Editor at Luxe Recess: For Parents Who Like Really Nice Hotels

I publish a luxury hotel magazine for families, and I am a seasoned parent flyer and traveler. But my husband and I took our first big trip solo to Paris without children. I planned every outfit, every reservation, every neighborhood walk for a fantasy week at the Ritz so we could pretend to live a childless couple's life filled with long lunches and late mornings in bed, and be that couple kissing all over the city.

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In my effort not to dress like a mom, I filled my suitcase with heels and no walking shoes. As a former New Yorker and world traveler, this was beyond dumb. After the first day, my blisters left me immobile until I wobbled into Le Bon Marche and purchased a pair of Superga sneakers. I haven't made that mistake since.

Paying the tourist tax



Peter Lombard, Maine, Founder of Insouciance Abroad

Using foreign currency and understanding local costs can be one of the most confusing aspects of traveling abroad. In India I observed how the auto-rickshaws were the cheap way to get around, so I studied how they were hailed and how prices were negotiated. Leaving the office one evening, I hailed my own auto-rickshaw, told him where I wanted to go, and was quoted a price of $6 for the 20-minute trip. Success! Or so I thought, until the hotel informed me I paid three times more than it should have cost. Sometimes a price sounds great, especially as foreigners, but it's a great idea to find a neutral third party to help give you perspective.

It can only get better from here

Lauren Juliff, London, writer at Never Ending Footsteps and author of How Not to Travel the World

When I first started traveling, I was about as far away from a travel expert as you could get. I set off for a round-the-world trip - a trip I'd been planning for five years - and almost missed my flight out of the country! I'd managed to set my alarm an hour late and rushed through airport security just as they were making the final call for me.

My misadventures didn't end there. On the first day of my trip, I explored Dubrovnik under the hot August sun, forgetting to wear sunscreen or drink any water. I ended up severely sunburnt, dehydrated, and suffering from heatstroke. That night at my hostel, I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do with my backpack, so went to sleep with it on my back! When everyone in my room discovered what I'd done the following morning, they gaped at me as if I was insane.

I had only been gone for 24 hours and already I felt like an enormous failure. But the great thing about travel is that you can always set off for a new city where nobody knows your name or your story. Everything's a learning experience, and a chance to grow.

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UNITED NATIONS, FIRST AVENUE, NEW YORK, NY, UNITED STATES - 2015/12/18: Taking advantage of the heightened media presence at the United Nations, demonstrators rally behind TV anchors as they record an interview. Around the same time that the ministerial International Syrian Support Group meeting in New York City drew to a close, and its proposal for a ceasefire agreement regarding Syria was brought to the United Nations Security Council; several dozen activists rallied across from UN Headquarters, condemning Russia's support for Bashar Al-Assad's government. (Photo by Albin Lohr-Jones/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)

For the last three months, almost twenty thousand innocent Syrians, mostly civilians, have been murdered by the Russian aggression. What makes the picture uglier is that both results on the ground and the U.S. satellites' images proved that ISIS has never been the prime or even a secondary target for the Russians. The main objective has been saving an allied murderous regime of Assad from losing the war that it started against the majority of Syrians aspiring for freedom and democracy.

As grave and heinous as it is, the focal argument of this article is not about the atrocities committed by Moscow as much as it is about the latent, subtle and protracted consequences of the statement of Russia's Orthodox Church at the opening of their military campaign back in late September.

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Under the allegation of fighting ISIS and in support of its country's ongoing military operations against moderate Syrian Islamic and secular armed opposition, Russia's powerful Orthodox Church, called the aggression a "holy battle". "The fight with terrorism is a holy battle and today our country is perhaps the most active force in the world fighting it," said the head of the Church's public affairs department, Vsevolod Chaplin, quoted by Interfax news agency."

As Muslims, we have been always been accused of dressing up our wars with religion, yet such accusations haven't corroborated with reality for decades. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the Muslim world has been keen to strip the religious dress off their conflicts with others; it was the beginning of the rise of Arab Nationalism mixed with Socialism when there was no place for religion in that equation. Some may wonder how and why that change happened. The majority in the West and even in the Arab world were never aware that Arab Nationalism had never been, surprisingly, an Arab invention. Rather, it was an invention by the West, by both Great Britain and France par excellence. Reading the great memoirs of the likes of Thomas Laurence (A.K.A. Laurence of Arabia) and John Philby (A.K.A. Sheik Abdulla Philby), the master spies planted by the British Secret Service MI6 in the Middle East in the beginning of the 20th century, you will find that they were the ones who preached Arab Nationalism, a notion that was fiercely opposed by most Arabs who favored their Islamic identity. Needless to say, when the British and French created the notion of Arab Nationalism and promoted it, they were aiming at eliminating the bond that kept the Ottoman Caliphate State, which stretched from Eastern Europe to the whole of the Islamic world, intact. In the course of doing so, both the British and the French chose the Christian minority in Syria and Lebanon to herald in that new identity; a perfect choice in light of the hatred those Christians harbored for the Ottoman State. Consequently, all conflicts that the Arabs engaged in since the beginning of the 20th century had been secularly idolized.

Eventually, Arab Nationalism, after having served its purpose by dismantling the Ottoman State, turned out to be a Frankenstein in the eyes of its creators, the West. Ironically, during the time when the Arabs were secularly and nationally idolizing their conflicts, they could see what came across to them as signs of religious idolizing to conflicts by the West.

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Memoirs of a War, tell it all!

The early signs of the West idolizing their conflicts as religious happened at the end of the World War I. Although the war was 100 percent European and took place in Europe, protestant British Prime Minister Lloyd George insisted on choreographing a final scene to end the war in the Middle East, and more specifically in Jerusalem, Palestine. So, the world had to wait for four months in order for the allies led by Great Britain to make the declaration of the end of the war in spite of the fact that the Axis countries led by Germany had already surrendered. The question is: why wait so long for the awaited declaration? The answer is: Britain wanted to prepare another basis from which the declaration had to come out.

In his Memoirs of War, Lloyd George says that the Old Testament and all its narrative about places in Levant that still bore their old testimonial names, always fascinated him and that he always dreamt of reliving the Crusades. Believing that the closing scene is the one that remains in the memory of the Public, he decided that the final scene of the war should be away from its theater: Europe. Against that religious imperialistic backdrop, the decision was made to initiate a military campaign against Palestine, to set the final scene of a war that was never fought in Middle East.

A prominent Historian like Rene Groused (1885-1952) described Britain's insistence on putting that final scene on a non combat theater of Palestine as a re-run and a remake of the Crusades that went as far as describing the troops of General Allenby, commander of the allied army invading Palestine, marching into the Jerusalem as grandchildren of King Richard the Lion heart who led the third crusade against the same city. However, in my estimation, the reasons for Britain's insistence to shift the end of a war fought by Europeans on European soil, to Arab soil were:

1.Britain assumed that final scene is what will rest in the collective mind of the Europeans. Consequently, declaring the end of the European war from Palestine should enhance the notion that if there was to be any conflict in the future, it should not be Christian European versus Christian European.

2.Enhancing the notion of redirecting the conflict to be Christian European versus Arab-Muslim, which was a remake of the "Truce of God", introduced by the Roman Church at the end of the first Millennium and the beginning of the second. "Truce of God" meant immediate stoppage of European wars among each other by moving their wars to the Middle East. Of course, Nazi Germany broke that rule in World War II but that was just an exception to the rule already set.

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3.Delivering a clear message: Military imperial projects, like the crusades, may break but they never die.

4.Another message delivered was: if another conflict was to happen in Europe, it should not be Christian versus Christian. Rather, Christian versus Muslims, to flush out the Muslims from Europe especially if they become an entity. In that context, the war in Bosnia from 1992-1995 was an example of a failed attempt in that direction.

Now, going back to his Holiness Pope of Russian Orthodox Church and his blessings he sprinkled on his country's war in Syria, to ask some questions:

(A) Since 2011, the majority of Syrians have been demonstrating against more than 40 years of an absolute ferocious tyranny of the Assad family. During the first two years, Assad and his army, not even the police, had been murdering innocent peaceful demonstrators until they had to militarize to defend their lives. Now when the Pope of the Russia endorses what President Putin said that Moscow intervened on the behest of the "Legitimate" government of Syria to fight terrorism, would that mean ISIS and/or the legitimate opposition that was forced by Assad crimes to militarize to defend itself?

(B) When the Russian Pope describes the battle as "HOLY", does he mean defending the tyrant murderer is part of the Christian faith? See here.

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(C) Didn't it occur to the Pope that crossing the floor to the forbidden terrain of politics and the war in Syria, will re-invoke all the horrible memories of the Crusades in Middle East?

(D) Does the Pope really know the potential consequences of such statement on more radicalization of conflicts in Middle East?

Having asked these questions to the Russian Pope, a question remains to the West. After replacing Arab Nationalism with the Islamic bond that held both Arab and Muslim worlds in one chain, then deconstructing Arab Nationalism, what do you expect Arabs would do? They would return to the Islamic bond. Yet, you blame them for what you pushed them to do. Well, Nations identities could be toyed with once, or twice, but definitely not forever.
The official press blames private producers for the high prices of many foods. Credit to 14ymedio

I was 10 years old when Fidel Castro launched the economic battle he called the "rectification of errors and negative tendencies." The Maximum Leader's rage fell, at that time, on private farmers and on the intermediaries who marketed their products. Cuatro Caminos Plaza in Havana, then known as the Single Market, was assaulted by officials and after that raid several foods disappeared from our lives: onions, garbanzo beans, chili peppers and even taro.

Almost a decade later, when the country had reached bottom with food shortages and scarcities, the government again authorized non-state food markets. The first time I approached a stand and bought a string of garlic, without having to practice stealth, I recovered a part of my life that had been snatched from me. For years we had to appeal to the illegal market, to a precarious clandestinity, to get things ranging from a pound of beans to the cumin seeds needed to season them.

However, the return of "farmers markets" has not been free of attacks and government animosity. The official press blames private producers for the high prices of many foods, and the figure of the intermediary has been demonized in the extreme. In the last 2015 session of the National Assembly, the idea was floated of imposing price regulation on certain food products, to force merchants to reduce the amounts.

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At first glance, this would appear to favor consumers. Who wouldn't consider it good news that a pound of pork without bones would not exceed 30 Cuban pesos, or never reach the astronomical 50 peso asking price in Havana's Egido market at the end of 2015. The initial reaction of customers would be to welcome it, because a single lemon would no longer cost one Cuban peso, nor would papaya sell for 5 Cuban pesos a pound. However, behind the regulated prices come greater evils.

What could happen is that the products subjected to price controls would disappear from the agricultural markets and once again go into hiding. We would not be able to go to the corner to buy a pound of onions, like we have done over the last two decades, but would return to the times when we'd end up at the side of some road or in the middle of nowhere illegally dealing directly with the producers or the persecuted intermediaries.

Consumers would end up paying the piper for a measure that does not solve the problem of the lack of productivity on our farms or of the extremely low wages.
PTI

Mysuru -- Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Saturday that 'enemies of humanity' who could not digest India's progress carried out the attack in Pathankot.

Modi assured that the defence forces had the strength to defeat 'the evil designs of our enemy'.

"...our security forces did not let them succeed: Proud of our jawans and security forces," he said here, referring to Pakistani terrorists' pre-dawn strike at the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot in Punjab.

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The fierce gun-battle claimed the lives of three security men, while five infiltrators were killed, with the terror strike coming days after Modi's surprise stopover in Lahore in signs of thawing of relations with Pakistan.

"Today, enemies of humanity who can't see India progress tried to strike at our strategic area, a prominent airbase at Pathankot. I appreciate our armed forces and thank them for foiling our enemy's attempt," Modi said, adding "our security forces did not let them succeed."

"I want to assure our countrymen that our armed forces have the strength to defeat the evil designs of our enemy," he said.

Congratulating the armed forces 'who are always ready to protect the country', he said if the country speaks out with unity, the 'ill-will of our enemies will get destroyed'.

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"I feel proud of our armed forces", said the Prime Minister in his speech at the birth centenary celebrations of Dr.Shivarathri Rajendra Mahaswamiji of Suttur Mutt which runs a string of educational institutions benefitting nearly a lakh students.

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A stormy Winter Session of Parliament concluded on 23 December. While it saw the passage of several vital legislations, we unfortunately witnessed five trends that plagued the Parliament's functioning. These trends strike at the heart of a deliberative democracy and its legislative machinery, warranting a close look and some thought.

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There's a life-and-death struggle on the railroad tracks in Kolkata which has largely gone unnoticed in India and the world. The visual truth speaks volumes for this argument; and there are far worse fates than being symbolically cut-off from the monochromatic scheme of politicians inflicted with an infantile obsession for painting the town blue.

The Delhi governments much talked about odd-even scheme kicked off on Friday amidst much apprehension about its plausibility. Here's a look at what Delhiites had to say on the day the odd-even plan was rolled out.

Comedy in India has come a long way from cheesy slapsticks with canned laugh tracks on Sunday television to web videos that speak exclusively to a younger, edgier and wired audience. Here are seven videos from Indian comedians in 2015 that stood out.

Main News

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday night reviewed the situation arising out of the terror attack at Pathankot air force base and is believed to have discussed with top officials its ramifications on ties with Pakistan.

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Days after demitting office, former Supreme Court Judge Vikramjit Sen said it is time to do away with Section 377 of the IPC, which makes gay sex, irrespective of age and consent, an offence punishable with a sentence up to life term.

A strong earthquake measuring 6.7 on Richter scale was felt all across Jharkhand and beyond between around 4.37am and 4.38am today, causing many to wake up with a jolt despite cold. The extent of damage after the tremor is yet to be known.

The Indian consulate in Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif was attacked on Sunday night by unidentified gunmen when they tried to storm the building. An Indian official said all consulate personnel are safe, as explosions and gunfire rang out at the compound.

Foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir has announced that Saudi Arabia was severing diplomatic ties with Iran after demonstrators stormed its Tehran embassy to protest against Riyadh's execution of a Shia cleric.

Off The Front Page

Don't watch porn on Facebook or any other social networking site and don't accept friend requests from unknown people. This may sound like an advisory to an underage user of social networking sites but is in fact part of a 10-point detailed list of digital do's and don'ts that the Army has issued to their personnel and their family members.

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A baby girl and her brother are born 3 minutes apart at a San Diego hospital  just before and after the New Year, making their birth date a year apart.

Aam Aadmi Party MLA Alka Lamba might be in trouble with the party leadership after she was found to have photoshopped an image of herself holding aloft a placard that read Dilli ka hai ghut ta dum, milkar karein pradushan kam (Delhi is suffocating, lets join hands to reduce pollution), in a bid to support the government's 'odd-even scheme'.

Opinion

The Pathankot attack is a big test for Modi governments new Pakistan policy, according to an editorial in The Times of India: "Indias assessment of the level of Pakistan army and ISIs involvement in the attack will determine its future moves."

Gaurav Dalmia writes on what the beef ban and Delhis odd-even car rule have in common: "It does not address the environmental issues that it proposes to. Instead, it trespasses on individual freedom."

Reunification of a divided India is the unfinished civilisational task of the RSS, writes Ashutosh in The Indian Express: "For the RSS, anyone who lives between the Indus and the sea is Hindu. In its opinion, we have all been living here as a civilisation for centuries and share a common way of life. Those who converted to Islam or Christianity have not come from outside but have been living here from Vedic times."

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Questions are being raised over Indias response to the attack on the air base in Pathankot and many of them are valid, writes Harinder Baweja in Hindustan Times: "Despite the high alerts, the terrorists managed to engage the security establishment comprising the air force, army and NSG for around 48 hours. Home minister Rajnath Singh first tweeting that all five terrorists were killed and subsequently deleting it is evidence of just how botched up the response was."
10 people were killed and over 120 were injured when an earthquake measuring 6.8 struck near Imphal, Manipur on Monday, said reports.

WATCH: Aftermath of Manipur #earthquake that hit the region yesterday (Early morning visuals) https://t.co/DY6iI3Xq9d  ANI (@ANI_news) January 5, 2016

According to Reuters, the epicentre of the quake was 57 kms (35 miles) deep and struck 29 kms west of Imphal. It snapped power supply to the city and sent people running out of their homes in the wee hours of the morning.

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The quake occurred at 4.35 am.

Police in Imphal, capital of Manipur, said people were killed as walls, staircases and roofs in some buildings collapsed.

Due to a mud house collapse in Manipur, one person has died-HM Rajnath Singh pic.twitter.com/ULAXg38owb  ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016

"It was the biggest earthquake we've felt in Imphal," disaster response worker Kanarjit Kangujam told Reuters.

Reportedly, people from Bangladesh and Nepal felt the earthquake too.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was in touch with authorities in the northeast:

Spoke to Rajnath ji, who is in Assam, on the situation arising due to the earthquake & asked him to oversee the situation.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 4, 2016

Had a telephone conversation with Assam CM Shri Tarun Gogoi on the earthquake in the state & the region.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 4, 2016

Spoke to Arunachal Pradesh CM Shri Nabam Tuki on the situation arising in the wake of the earthquake.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 4, 2016

Manipur CM Shri Okram Ibobi Singh and I had a telephone conversation. We discussed the post-earthquake situation in Manipur & Northeast.  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 4, 2016

An official at Myanmar's Meteorological Department in Naypyidaw said there were no reports of damage or casualties on the Myanmar side of the border.

In April and May 2015, two earthquakes struck Nepal, killing more than 8,000 people; and in October, an earthquake hit a remote area in Afghanistan, killing over 200 people and sent shockwaves as far as New Delhi.

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Prakash Jha's upcoming film Jai Gangaajal, starring Priyanka Chopra, is in a spot of bother with the censors.

The hinterland cop drama has been passed by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC, commonly referred to as the Censor Board). However, there's a catch: the board's Revising Committee (RC), which included chairman Pahlaj Nihalani, has asked for 11 cuts in order for the film to get a U/A certificate, reported Mumbai Mirror. These include words such as 'saala' and 'ghanta'.

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Cutting out all instances of such words, Jha has argued, would change the film's texture. "Saala is a word we use in everyday conversation. My cop drama is set in the hinterlands. I'm not saying anything anti-national or anti-religion," he told Mirror.

The irony is that one of Jha's previous films, Gangaajal (2003), starring Ajay Devgn, was passed easily at the time with only one word muted, despite being full of profanity and violence, and has been telecast on TV "over 300 times".

"There's a need to look at the context in which a particular word or phrase is used. If a villain is saying something and is immediately taken to task for it and not glorified, they should let it go," he added.

Interestingly, the Hindi-Tamil bilingual Saala Khadoos, starring R Madhavan and presented by director Rajkumar Hirani, has been cleared by censors for release at the end of this month.

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However, Jha has no plans to take this lying down. With an aim to avoid getting an 'A' certificate as he wants his film to be seen by youngsters, he will appeal against the RC's decision. "I'm going to the Tribunal [FCAT, the next level of appeal in the CBFC] hoping they will see things in the right context. Else, I'll move court. One mindset has created all this absurdity," he said.

Jai Gangaajal is slated to release on March 29.

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images AMRITSAR, INDIA - JANUARY 3: Members of National Human Rights and Crime Control Organization light candles and silent protest in front of portraits of Indian security personnel who lost their lives in the Pathankot militant attack at Air Force base, during a tribute paying ceremony at Company Bagh, on January 3, 2016 in Amritsar, India. The deadly assault on an Indian air base near the Pakistan border was 'a heinous' terrorist attack, the United States said, urging the two rivals to work together to hunt down those responsible. Three security officers were killed in the attack by suspected Islamist militants on Pathankot base in northern Punjab state early January 2. So far, six terrorists and seven soldiers, including a Lieutenant colonel, have been killed in the exchange of fire. Five members of the Defence Security Corps succumbed to injuries in the hospital. The attackers were believed to have infiltrated from Pakistan and there was speculation that they may belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad headed by Maulana Masood Azhar of the Kandahar hijack episode. (Photo by Sameer Sehgal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

NEW DELHI -- The government today asserted the high casualties suffered by the security forces despite advance intelligence about an impending terror attack in Pathankot was "not a lapse" even as defence experts questioned the way the brazen assault was handled.

"I don't consider it a lapse at all. In such situations where weapons are there, some injuries and some deaths will happen on this side also," Home Secretary Rajiv Mehreshi told reporters here in the first official press conference, 36 hours after the attack on Indian Air Force base in Pathankot began.

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While four terrorists were killed yesterday and operation was on to neutralise other two holed up at the base, seven soldiers including a commando each from the IAF and the NSG were killed while 20 others were left injured.

The high casualty among security forces despite prior intelligence warning and deployment of over 250 additional security personnel including special forces, has raised several questions.

Former Western Air Command Chief Air Marshall P S Ahulwalia, who had commanded the Pathankot Air base during his service, said coordination between various security agencies "could have been better" to minimise causalities among security forces.

"The success or otherwise of any operation could be judged by the following -- whether the terrorists were able to achieve their objective, minimal causality to our own forces, no collateral damage and attackers being neutralised in optimal time frame.

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"The terrorist were not able to achieve their objective and they could not reach their target. However, we have lost more men and this could have been prevented by effective coordination. And also that the time taken to neutralise the attackers is way too long," he said.

Many also questioned why the government did not divulge full details of casualty figures last night itself.

Though unconfirmed reports had said there were six casualties among the security forces, the defence ministry had only confirmed 3 martyrs.

It was only this morning that they revised the figure to six claiming that only three had died last night. However, it later transpired that the six had died yesterday itself.

Asked why the details of those killed were not made available yesterday, an IAF spokesperson said," There are procedures to be followed and first the next of kin of the deceased are to be informed."

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Former RAW Chief A S Dulat raised questions about failure of security agencies in thwarting the attack.

"Generally intelligence agencies get the flak but here is a case when you had a pinpointed intelligence and still you could not make it. Why?" he said.

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Hindustan Times via Getty Images AMRITSAR, INDIA - JANUARY 3: Members of National Human Rights and Crime Control Organization light candles and silent protest in front of portraits of Indian security personnel who lost their lives in the Pathankot militant attack at Air Force base, during a tribute paying ceremony at Company Bagh, on January 3, 2016 in Amritsar, India. The deadly assault on an Indian air base near the Pakistan border was 'a heinous' terrorist attack, the United States said, urging the two rivals to work together to hunt down those responsible. Three security officers were killed in the attack by suspected Islamist militants on Pathankot base in northern Punjab state early January 2. So far, six terrorists and seven soldiers, including a Lieutenant colonel, have been killed in the exchange of fire. Five members of the Defence Security Corps succumbed to injuries in the hospital. The attackers were believed to have infiltrated from Pakistan and there was speculation that they may belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad headed by Maulana Masood Azhar of the Kandahar hijack episode. (Photo by Sameer Sehgal/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)

PATHANKOT, Punjab: A day after six security personnel were martyred and four Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists neutralized in the operations at the Pathankot Air Force base on Saturday, the terrorists led a fresh attack on Sunday after remaining hidden for more than 17 hours in the 1,600-acre defence installation.

Seven security men lost their lives and 17 persons were injured in 30-hour long operation.

"The operation is still continuing and engagement with the terrorists is still going on," Air Commodore J S Dhamoon told reporters at a press conference here tonight.

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The Air Commodore said four terrorists have been killed, seven security men - one is of Garud, five from Defence Security Corps (DSC) and one from NSG have been martyred in the operation.

He said that the operations will continue till the whole of air base is cleared of intruder and any terrorist.

PM Modi Chairs High Level Meeting

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday night reviewed the situation arising out of the terror attack at Pathankot air force base and is believed to have discussed with top officials its ramifications on ties with Pakistan. Soon after his return from Karnataka where he was on a two-day visit, Modi chaired a meeting of top officials including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

In Pathankot today, our security forces once again demonstrated their valour. I salute their sacrifice. https://t.co/jqcIYiflzE  Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) January 2, 2016

The meeting lasted for over two hours, the sources said. Immediately on landing in Delhi, PM Narendra Modi is chairing a high-level meeting with the NSA, Foreign Secretary and other officials, the PMO tweeted as the meeting began. During the meeting, Doval is understood to have given a detailed account of the attack which has been going on since the wee hours of Saturday.

At the meeting, the implications of the attack on relations with Pakistan are also believed to have been deliberated upon. The attack took place merely a week after Modi made a surprise visit to Lahore to greet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his birthday with an aim of improving bilateral ties between the two countries. Sharif was in Lahore for the wedding of his granddaughter.

Earlier during the day, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar briefed Prime Minister Modi on the latest situation at the Pathankot air base. Both were present at a HAL function in Tumakuru in Karnataka. Pathankot air base is under terror attack since yesterday.

Pakistan's Hand?

According to reports, the extent of terrorist operations in Pathankot and the likelihood of Delhi facing a similar threat is leading to mounting suspicion that the suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed strikes could not have been executed without Pakistan's army intelligence complex being in the loop.

"There is the possibility of hold outs and elements in the military who may not be as much "on board" the peace process as the army brass was said to be after the recent meeting between PMs Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif in Lahore," reports Times Of India.

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A senior intelligence official told the newspaper that the Pak GHQ is peeved at the positive reaction of the international community and media to PM Narendra Modi's Lahore diplomacy and Nawaz Sharif's hospitality and feels bypassed after the "fait accompli".

The entire atmosphere is being vitiated by the ISI, the (Pakistani) army and the separatist groups and their henchmen who have done this (attacked the Air Force base), Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Nirmal Singh said.

The Battle Continues

The security forces have already killed four terrorists and two more are believed to be still holed-up inside the base, and an operation is underway to flush them out.

One NSG officer lost his life and three others suffered injuries when they were defusing the explosive material of a slain militant during which a grenade blast took place.

During the day, five companies of army, armed with bulldozers, JCB were sent to the area to speed up the operation against the terrorists.

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Throughout the day choppers kept flying over the air force station to provide aerial support to the ground troops engaged in the operation against the terrorists.

According to reports, suspected militants were holed up in forested area on the backside of the air base from where they are reported to have entered.

Explosions rocked the area with high rise smoke clouds coming from the scene of gunbattle amidst heavy exchang of firing in the afternoon and evening between militants and security forces.

(With inputs from PTI)

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Keystone via Getty Images Members of the Indian National Congress (foreground left to right) Mahatma Gandhi (Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, 1869 - 1948), Subhas Chandra Bose (1897 - 1945) and Vallabhai Patel (1875-1950) during the 51st Indian National Congress. (Photo by Keystone/Getty Images)

A UK-based website set up to chart the last days of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose has released documents relating to the day before his plane crashed in August, 1945.

The latest documents on www.bosefiles.info, launched by UK-based independent journalist and Boses grandnephew Ashis Ray, trace his movements on the day before his plane crashed in Taiwan on August 18, 1945.

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Also Read: Secret Netaji Files Declassified Today Could Throw Light On His Disappearance

The website citing documents said that on August 17, 1945, Bose departed Bangkok and arrived in Saigon before midday.

Several Indian and Japanese witnesses testified this to the 1956 Netaji Inquiry Committee headed by Major General Shah Nawaz Khan, among them S A Ayer and Debnath Das of the Provisional Government of Free India (PGFI) and Colonel Habib ur Rahman of the Indian National Army (INA) both headed by Bose.

Maj Gen Bhonsle, INA's chief of staff, who was later interrogated by British military intelligence, concurred that Bose left Bangkok for Saigon on the morning of August 17, 1945.

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In Saigon, though, in the immediate aftermath of Japan's surrender in World War II a couple of days earlier when this country's military headquarters were in a state of confusion - no plane was straightaway available to carry Bose to North-East Asia, as was the plan.

Ultimately, General Isoda of Hikari Kikan, the liaison body between Japanese authorities and the PGFI and INA, conveyed to Bose that only two seats would be available on a plane heading for Tokyo.

This meant a majority of his advisers and officers would not be able to accompany him.

According to the deposition of Colonel Pritam Singh of the INA to the Inquiry Committee, Bose was advised to accept the offer.

He selected his ADC Col Rahman to go with him. Before the flight took off, there was an issue of the aircraft being overloaded. The Committee recorded that Bose "discarded a part of his baggage containing books, clothes, etc."

Among the Japanese passengers on board was Lt Gen Shidei, a distinguished officer who was on his way to Manchuria in China near the Soviet border to take command of the Japanese forces there.

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"General Shidei was supposed to be an expert on Russian affairs in the Japanese Army and was considered to be a key man for negotiations with Russia. It was suggested that Netaji should accompany him to Manchuria," Negishi, a Japanese interpreter attached to Bose's headquarters, told the Shah Nawaz Committee.

Therefore, it appears to have been agreed that Bose would go to Dairen, in Manchuria, with Gen Shidei.

Lt Col Shiro Nonogaki, an Air Staff Officer of the Japanese Army, who was also one of the passengers, independently corroborated to the Committee: "The plane was scheduled to carry General Shidei to Manchuria. Netaji agreed to go with him to Dairen in Manchuria."

The plane was a 97-2 (Sally) twin-engined heavy bomber belonging to the Japanese Air Force. The route charted for it was: Saigon-Heito-Taipei-Dairen-Tokyo.

But because of the delay in departure from Saigon, the pilot decided on an unscheduled halt for the night at Tourane on the Indo-China coast instead of going as previously planned all the way to Taiwan.

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There were an estimated 13-14 persons on board - Bose and Rahman and the rest of them Japanese.

Rahman described to the Committee: "Immediately behind the pilot was sitting Netaji, and nobody opposite to him, as the space was restricted by the petrol tanks. I was sitting immediately behind Netaji. The co-pilot's seat occupied by Lt Gen Shidei was offered to Netaji, but he did not accept, as it was too small for him."

When taking off at Saigon, the plane needed almost the entire length of the runway to get airborne. This suggested it was still overloaded.

Therefore, on arrival in Tourane, the crew and other Japanese officers off-loaded "no fewer than 12 anti-aircraft machine-guns" and ammunition as well as other baggage, the Inquiry Committee noted, which reportedly reduced the weight by 600 kilos.

In Tourane, Bose spent the night at a hotel, probably Hotel Morin, the website said citing documents.

The remaining future revelations on the site aim to lay the facts behind the plane crash the next day that is believed to have killed Netaji, the website said.

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Two people were killed and four seriously injured in crashes on Sunday
Last week brought a positively Orwellian moment to the debate about Internet freedom. Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke at a state-organized Internet conference in Wuzhen, in Zhejiang province, where he was once party secretary. Xi declared, "As in the real world, freedom and order are both necessary in cyberspace." He added, "Freedom is what order is meant for, and order is the guarantee of freedom."

These slogans are more than just propaganda from the leader of a country with the world's largest Internet censorship operation. Behind them lurks a dangerous ambition.

In China today, there is no Internet "freedom," if the word means freedom to visit Facebook, Google or other vast stores of online information that are blocked off by the authorities and their Great Firewall. On vibrant social media, China's 670 million online users can often find a way to be heard, if fleetingly, but a sustained challenge to the ruling power of the Communist Party is invariably squelched. Xi talking about "freedom" is like saying black is white. His words were live-tweeted by Xinhua, China's official news agency, and posted on YouTube, even though Twitter and YouTube are blocked for most people in China.

The real danger in Xi's remarks is the word "order," because he envisions not only politeness but also obedience. In China, the party-state sets the rules that determine what Internet users can see and say, and they have been tightened recently. Having established "order" within the walls of China, Xi has increasingly promotedit as a model of "Internet sovereignty" for the rest of the world, saying that each nation should set its own rules for the Internet within its boundaries.

Russia has been heading in the same direction for several years as President Vladimir Putin attempts to extinguish any serious opposition. The security services in Russia have direct access to the Internet through a physical monitoring system. In July 2014, Russia adopted a law requiring that citizens' data be stored on Russian soil and, therefore, subject to monitoring. This is a challenge to Facebook, which has tens of millions of users in Russia, as well as to other tech giants such as Apple and Google. Compliance with the Russian law has not been enforced yet, but there are reports that it may begin in January. The companies should resist the effort. An online petition drive directed at the leaders of the tech companies has garnered more than 42,000 signatures with the appeal "Don't move personal data to Russia!"

China and Russia have both attempted in recent years to nudge global Internet governance toward their misguided "sovereignty" model, so far without a lot of success. But as Xi's speech suggests, they haven't given up. And they won't. The digital revolution has delivered a truly global information superhighway. This powerful and remarkable invention must not be squandered or put in the hands of those who would use it to stifle free speech, freedom of association and human rights.

Source: http://www.tulsaworld.com/opinion/othervoices/washington-post-editorial-keep-the-internet-free/article_7a798f0c-5b69-5b10-bdf5-03915716a006.html
The Rundown

During the holidays it can be easy to get carried away with sponsored posts. Everyday my inbox would yield at least one request to mention, style or feature one product or another. While I try to only work with brands I'm genuinely interested in, there is still a limit to how much I want to do, or how much I should.When I started out blogging the idea that any company would ever send me free stuff just to wear it on my blog was the farthest thought in my mind. While I'm grateful for the opportunities that I've received over the years, I've come to realize that the more work I take on for others, the less the blog feels like my hobby and the more it feels like a job. Sponsored posts mean working on someone elses schedule and terms - and often they aren't upfront about them.I want this blog to be a place you want to visit, so I need to make sure it's a place I love to work at. I'm not saying I will never agree to another sponsored post (my collaboration with Shopbop is still on going through this month) but I will make sure the brands I post about are ones worthy of your time, as well as my own.I'm not the kind of blogger who only wears clothes from the 'new arrivals' section; many of my favorite pieces are vintage or thrifted, TJMaxx is my favorite place to shop, and the jeans I'm wearing in this post are literally 10 years old. (It freaked me out a little when I realized that). And darn it all if these brand new lace-up flats are sold out at Gap already!I am Chic on the Cheap. Cheers to a new year of celebrating style on a budget!
As cranberry season reaches its zenith over the Christmas holiday, farmers are increasingly selling family-owned cranberry bogs -- the large tracts of wetland where the bobbing red fruit grow -- to larger operators. One buyer name that reigns in these parts is John Hancock, whose agricultural investment group is actively looking for distressed cranberry operations to add to its $2.5 billion in assets.

"Right now the cranberry industry is under pressure," Oliver Williams, president of the agriculture unit, said by phone from Boston. "We can find a cranberry farm that needs to be rejuvenated, has to be replanted, we can go in and buy that property. Its the typical supply-demand response." The investor group has about 150 employees, most of them farmers.

Employees at the unit of Toronto-based insurer Manulife Financial Corp. are in constant conversation with other farmers, scoping out opportunities such as the 180-acre cranberry bog in Wisconsin the company bought in September. Its now part of the 2,300 acres of cranberries that it manages for pension funds and other institutional investors, among 300,000 acres of other assets that include walnuts, corn and wheat across the U.S., Australia, and Canada.

Agriculture is a long-term investment, letting Hancock withstand periods of low returns for clients with decades-long liabilities. The average annual return on Hancock Agricultures portfolio for the last decade was 14 percent, compared with 7.5 percent for the Standard & Poors 500 Index.

"Its not about where is the industry today? but do you believe in the industry long-term?" Williams said.

The $3.55 billion industry is still reeling from 2013, when a record 8.8 million barrels of cranberries was harvested in the U.S., an 11 percent jump from the prior year, according to the Cranberry Marketing Committee, the industry group that promotes the berries. The bright red fruit flooded the market, pushing down prices as low as $8 per 100-pound (45-kilogram) barrel, from about $40 in 2010, according to the Wisconsin State Cranberry Growers Association. It costs about $30 a barrel to produce. Last years harvest came in at 8.1 million barrels, the second-highest ever.

About a dozen marshes were abandoned in 2015, where farmers simply declared bankruptcy and walked away, according to Michelle Hogan, executive director of the Cranberry Marketing Committee. About 30 farms have been sold nationwide, with about half in Wisconsin, she said.

"Its going to be a rough ride for the next few years," said Tom Lochner, executive director of the commoditys association in Wisconsin, the U.S. state that produces more than half the worlds supply of cranberries. Aside from overproduction, farmers face stagnant local demand as Americans still think of cranberries as a holiday fruit, eating a third of the harvest over Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The average American consumes about two pounds of cranberries a year, relatively unchanged for at least a decade, as cranberries compete with other healthy fruits including pomegranates. So farmers are looking abroad for growth, with about 35 percent of local production shipped overseas, according to the cranberry marketing organization. About a third of it lands in the U.K., Germany and France.

One of the fastest-growing markets is China, where exports jumped 41 percent this season, according to the marketing committee. The industry group is focusing on millennial women in cities like Beijing where a burgeoning middle class can afford the specialty item. The group has a budget of about $1 million to attend trade shows and start online advertising campaigns there. Ocean Spray, the U.S. cooperative of cranberry and grapefruit farmers, this year opened a shop on Alibaba, Chinas largest online retailer.

Foreign expansion, along with a slowdown in production, may help buoy prices. Its welcome news for Van Wychen and her family, who all pitched in more than ever on the marsh this year to plant and harvest the fruit that goes into her jellied cranberry -- the centerpiece of Christmas dinner with a recipe passed down from her grandmother.

"As farmers, we learn to grow them so well that theres an oversupply," she said. "The cranberry marsh is a wonderful place to live and raise a family and I want that for the next generation but its just kind of tough times right now."Bloomberg NewsKatia Dmitrieva
Another insurance giant is entering the burgeoning market for rideshare coverage. Farmers Insurance announced today that it is beginning to sell modified auto policies to ridesharing drivers in a number of states, including Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona and Ohio.The policies cater to drivers with ridesharing services like Uber or Lyft, who operate in states that have passed legislation requiring them to have insurance from the moment they turn on their rideshare app. Because personal automobile insurance policies  as well as most ridesharing company policies  were not designed to address this circumstance, the new coverage works to fill a potential gap.Farmers Rideshare Insurance Coverage is estimated to add about $15 per month to a customers premium and enables the driver to select a customizable policy including comprehensive and collision coverage that pays for damage to their own vehicle, uninsured/underinsured motorist coverage and medical payments coverage.The insurer worked with representatives of each states insurance department to raft the policy, as well as legislators and leaders of rideshare companies in developing the product.As a leading provider of automobile insurance in the US and a market leader in the ride-hailing insurance market, Farmers has developed this innovative rideshare insurance coverage to offer ride-hail drivers coverage options as a part of their Farmers personal auto insurance policies, said Mariel Devesa, head of product innovation for Farmers Insurance.We recognize that consumer needs are continuing to evolve and our ability to provide this important coverage to customers is a further demonstration of our commitment to meeting changing consumer demands.Those interested in learning more about the coverage can visit farmers.com/rideshare or call 855-808-6599.
Insurance companies may need to pass on additional costs incurred as a result of a newly implemented law in Oregon. The state legislature has enacted a law which changes Personal Injury Protection and Uninsured & Underinsured Motorist insurance to entitle policyholders to receive up to the full amount of uninsured motorist coverage (and underinsured coverage) if they are injured by an at-fault, uninsured driver. Oregon insurance professionals are likely to receive calls and emails from clients requesting that their policies are renewed or issued effective Jan 2. 2016 as protection only applies to policies dated on or after that date. NW Insurance Council president Kenton Brine told KTVZ.com that the new law could cost insurers as much as $85 million a year; costs which are likely to be reflected in premiums.Three storms which have lashed northern parts of the UK could result in economic losses as high as $4.4 billion. An assessment by PwC estimates the losses of storms Eva and Desmond at more than $3 billion but the country was hit again before Christmas by Storm Frank, which could push the total above $4 billion. Estimates for insured losses from the first two storms are in the range $1.3-$1.7 billion.Mohammed Khan said that smaller businesses may have left themselves vulnerable in a bid to cut costs: Unfortunately, many smaller and family run businesses will not have commercial insurance in place due to the impact of the recession and lower business volumes in recent years. Many of these businesses will have made the economic decision not to purchase insurance. For many of these businesses the impact of the recent storms and floods will mean they will have to protect themselves against the prospect of insolvency.New York based insurance broker NFP has announced another acquisition. Following its purchase of Arizonas Absolute Advantage Insurance Services, NFP has now acquired Vanorsdale Insurance Services, Inc. The firms president Doug Galloway will assume the role of Director of NFP Property & Casualty reporting to Paul Saich, California Regional President at NFP Property & Casualty. The newly acquired operation will remain in San Diego under the direction of Saich and NFP Property & Casualty.
By Noah Buhayar(Bloomberg) -- Berkshire Hathaway Inc. investors had plenty to celebrate at the start of 2015. It was Warren Buffetts golden anniversary running the company, which had grown under his watch from a struggling textile maker to include dozens of profitable businesses like auto insurer Geico and railroad BNSF. Class A shares were trading close to a record, at $226,000 each.If anything, though, last year highlighted some of the challenges Buffett faces keeping his money-making machine moving forward. Even as he agreed to one of his biggest deals ever and made billions on an investment in the food industry, the companys stock slumped. It ended the year down 12 percent, compared with the 0.7 percent fall in the Standard & Poors 500 Index. Here are four points that illustrate why:Buffett highlights a measure called book value per share at the beginning of his annual reports. Its a rough gauge of what each share is truly worth. For the past five decades, the metric has climbed significantly faster than the S&P 500, helping to propel gains in Berkshires stock price.But the growth in book value per share has begun to slow. Thats partly because Berkshires mix of assets has shifted. Early on, the company primarily owned a collection of stocks. Changes in the value of those holdings are recorded on the companys books every quarter. These days, Berkshire mostly owns and operates businesses, which dont get marked up in value even if theyre worth more over time. Its also gotten harder for Buffett to expand book value because the company is much larger now.Three of Buffetts biggest holdings significantly trailed the S&P 500 last year. The billionaire indicated that hes sticking by two of those -- American Express Co. and International Business Machines Corp. -- but he trimmed the Wal- Mart Stores Inc. holding in the third quarter.Buffett has spent decades acquiring businesses, and his companys operations now span many different industries. Even so, he says that Berkshires core business is insurance. Geico and its other operations in that industry provide the money that Buffett uses to make investments. The first three quarters of last year were difficult for Berkshires insurance businesses because of higher claims costs.Still, diversity has its benefits. Overall operating profit was steady through the first nine months because of increased profits from the railroad, the companys electric utilities and manufacturing businesses.Perhaps the biggest challenge Buffett faces is investing the cash coming from those businesses in ways that will build value. Through the first nine months of last year, Berkshire spent heavily at its railroad and utilities, which require regular upgrades and maintenance. Buffett also invested more than $5 billion in Kraft Heinz Co., added stocks and acquired one of the largest networks of car dealerships in the U.S.His biggest deal from last year hasnt been completed yet. In August, Buffett agreed to buy Precision Castparts Corp., a manufacturer of metal components for the aerospace industry, for about $32 billion. About two-thirds of that will be paid in cash.
Northern Berkshire Adult Basic Education Program classes begin this week and next.

Programs Help Adults Further Their Education

NORTH ADAMS, Mass.  Northern Berkshire residents who have a goal to further their education in the new year are in luck.

The Northern Berkshire Adult Basic Education Program is offering several new programs this winter and spring, including the chance to take a free practice HiSET test. This new High School Equivalency Testing program (formerly the General Educational Development test) in Massachusetts and is overseen by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's High School Equivalency Office.

"There's no fee. There's no credit either. But we'll have staff available to walk you through it and see how you stand," said Corinne Case, an instructor with Northern Berkshire Adult Basic Education, which operates out of an office at Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts and also offers classes in Adams and Williamstown.

The HiSET replaced the GED only two years ago, Case said, so an opportunity to see what the new test is like before committing time and money to it could prove helpful to many people. For those familiar with the old GED, the new test will present much differently.

"It's a philosophical difference," Case said, likening the new test to the Common Core standards that have replaced other methods in primary education. "It's preparing people to think critically and persevere through difficult questions.

"It's no longer rote memorization. It's teaching people how to think critically."

Those interested in dipping their toe into the test can call 413-662-5330 or 413-662-5310 or visit NBABED's Facebook page . Not only will staff administer the practice test, which is 25 questions and generally takes between half and hour and 45 minutes, they will help adult learners determine their next step - something that's very important, particularly to older adults.

"We also help people make next steps," said program coordinator Thelma Margulies. "It's really a wide range of people who are interested in improving their situation."

They do encourage people under 18 to go back and finish traditional high school, but for older adults, passing the test could get them into a technical program, college or a better job.

"We serve a range of students," Margulies said. "We help students design and consider their goals."

In addition to the HiSET, the program offers English for Speakers of Other Languages/U.S. Citizenship Preparation and Basic Skills; Career Pathways, which helps students explore education and career options, create career plans and improve skills for success; and Bridge to College which prepares students for entering post secondary programs by building college level skills and readiness.

Day and evening classes begin the first and second weeks in January with flexible schedules for adult learners who just might need a helping hand to take the next step.

"Kids have to learn. If they can love to learn, it's a bonus," Case said. "An adult learner must be motivated."

And that's why Case said people should not feel ashamed for needing to continue or complete their education.

"People do feel awfully embarrassed, and the feeling of being defeated before they start," she said. "My philosophy is that everyone can learn. Everyone learns differently. Education can help you have a better quality of life."
Four More Shots Please Stars Ready For Film Based On Series, Say 'Like Sex In The City, Why Not?' | Exclusive
We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector

We work towards an equitable,

gender-just, self-reliant and

sustainable fisheries,

particularly in the small-scale,

artisanal sector
Julian M Hashim Jeannie Goon

Section 133A of the Companies Act 1965 (Companies Act) explicitly prohibits the provision of financial assistance to persons connected with the directors of a company, including an associated company. Paragraph 8.23 of the Bursa Malaysia Main Market Listing Requirements (MMLR) on the other hand provides that, except as otherwise provided under law and subject to certain pre-conditions, a public listed company or its non-listed subsidiaries may provide financial assistance in the form of advance, guarantee, indemnity or to provide collateral for a debt in favour of its associated company.

This article attempts to highlight the legality of a public listed company or its non-listed subsidiaries providing financial assistance to an associate company. Given express authorisation under the MMLR, would it be right to conclude that the prohibition under section 133A should not apply to public listed companies or their non-listed subsidiaries? This does not seem to be the legislative intent given the extensive application of the Companies Act to all companies that are incorporated under it.

Further jurisdictional studies illustrate that foreign jurisdictions have adopted a distinctive approach within this area of law. For instance, the UK Companies Act 2006 liberalised the law by abolishing the general prohibition on providing loans to an associate company and imposing an additional requirement for obtaining shareholders' prior consent for public companies and companies associated with a public company. Conversely, in Hong Kong, the New Companies Ordinance expanded the prohibition to cover a wider category of persons connected to include an associated body corporate.

There are legal certainties in these foreign jurisdictions despite the distinctive approach adopted. It is however noted that the Malaysian Companies Bill 2015, which aims to modernise the Malaysian corporate legal framework, did not introduce greater clarity apart from substantially escalating sanctions imposed on directors upon conviction. The risk of these escalated sanctions, coupled with the fact that it is not exceptional within corporate practice for companies to advance working capital to their associate companies, pressingly calls for certainty within this area of law.

With liberalisation calling for a flexible spectrum to meet developing corporate market expectations, it is ultimately a quest to achieve an adequate balance between converging standards of liberalisation, the fundamental rule of law of legal certainty and the need to protect the interests of minority shareholders and creditors.

Julian M Hashim and Jeannie Goon
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Bisola Olusoga Chinelo Agom-Eze

With 15% growth in the last decade, Islamic financing has found increased prominence across the globe and more recently in Africa. Nigeria, ranked among the top ten fastest growing economies with the largest Muslim population in Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to become a leading Islamic finance market. Islamic finance may also provide an appropriate solution to the country's dearth of infrastructure finance.

The objective of promoting shariah-compliant investments as a viable means to deepen the financial system and promote financial inclusion has been at the heart of strategic repositioning efforts led by both the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Pioneer advancements include the launch of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) Lotus Islamic Index in 2012; issuance of the Guidelines on the Regulation and Supervision of Non-Interest Financial Institutions (NIFIs) in June 2011 by the Central Bank of Nigeria and the Guidelines on the Operations of NIFIs in December 2012. These two guidelines are credited with further expanding Nigeria's present banking structure by ushering in the emergence of Nigeria's first full-fledged Islamic bank and licensing for several commercial banks seeking to operate Islamic banking windows.

Also, the actions taken by SEC and NSE in approving and listing Nigeria's first issuance of Islamic bonds, a seven-year sukuk issued by the Osun State Government, despite its challenges illustrates a steady commitment to strengthening the nation's Islamic finance offerings. To buttress the point, CBN recently issued guidelines for the establishment of a specialist advisory body, the Financial Regulation Advisory Council of Experts, tasked with ensuring that all banking products designated as Islamic conform to shariah principles.

At its core, Islamic finance involves using traditional investment techniques and structures that comply with the principles of shariah to create arrangements that work in ways analogous to modern conventional finance. The attractive quality of this mode of financing is the foundation of fair and just trading practices. It is projected that the sector will continue to expand attracting individuals and entities seeking new shariah-compliant investments and for conventional investors, financiers and issuers keen to participate in a growing market.

However in order to achieve this envisioned success, there will be a need to develop a comprehensive legal framework including efficient dispute resolution mechanisms that will both regulate Islamic financial products and support the growth of this nascent sector.

Bisola Olusoga and Chinelo Agom-Eze
The Chicago Bike Flag - Keating Law Offices, P.C.

Chicago, IL Bike Accident Attorneys

The calendar pages have turned to 2016 and everyone is making New Year's resolutions. The Illinois Bicycle Lawyers at Keating Law Offices have previously discussed at length what TO DO if you have been in a bicycle accident . But in keeping with the theme of New Year's resolutions, here are some actions to definitely skip if the unfortunate strikes and you are injured in a bicycle accident. A resolution should be one that improves your life in some measurable way, so keep these steps in mind, as they can make a big difference:You're scared. You're injured. The adrenaline is pumping and everything is a blur. People are all around you telling you what to do. You're also in pain. But you are worried about the cost of an ambulance or an E.R visit. You just really want to get home and figure you will be OK soon enough so you skip getting medical attention. The ramifications from this decision range from medical to legal. By not getting medical attention you are risking making a medical situation that was treatable much, much worse by waiting. You also miss the opportunity for your injuries to be documented near the time the injury occurred. This is very important to medical professionals who may provide treatment in the future. From a legal standpoint electing not to take an ambulance or get immediate medical attention causes insurance adjusters and insurance defense attorneys to question the seriousness of the injury. Even though the decision to not seek medical attention had nothing to do with the need for it, the absence of documented injuries at or near the time of the injury will forever cause a "question" in the minds of those that are paid to keep you from getting the compensation you deserve. If there is insurance coverage for the bike accident, the medical bills will most likely be covered that way. And in cases where there isn't insurance and you are unable to pay, most hospitals will consider a waiver of charges through a charitable application.Being in a bike accident is a big deal, and like a lot of major events in your life you want to tell your friends about it on social media. Don't. Those same insurance adjusters and insurance defense attorneys will use any small detail that they can find and try to use it against you. We've even heard the argument, "How could they be so hurt if they were still on social media?" This makes no sense because you only need a working thumb and you can post, but that's besides the point. Don't give anyone fuel to try and deny you the opportunity to compensate you for what you've been through. If you want to communicate with your friends and family about how you're doing, do so privately and not in a public forum.That lady from the insurance company who called you seemed really nice and genuinely concerned for your well being. She said that the insurance company would pay your part of the medical bills and you had nothing to worry about. She just needs to take your statement over the phone oh, and you don't mind if she records it, do you? Well, you have ato worry about as this is the oldest insurance company scam in the book. The insurance adjuster doesn't tell you that they will use the recorded statement against you if it is convenient. What that adjuster also fails to mention is that a personal injury claim is made up of more than just your medical bills. You are entitled to be compensated for time lost from work, pain and suffering, loss of a normal life, and other compensable damages under Illinois personal injury law. In addition, if your bike was damaged you can also get compensation for the property damage. Insurance companies spend literally billions of dollars every year fighting claims, you should have someone fighting on your behalf. Our involvement in hundreds of cases has made a large difference in the outcome of the case by getting maximum compensation for ALL the parts of your personal injury case. Insurance companies - fairly or not - treat attorneys differently than they do the injured person. The attorneys at Keating Law Offices work 100% on a contingency fee basis meaning you pay absolutely nothing - zero - unless we successfully resolve your case. We do not accept a single penny from you directly and only get paid directly from the insurance company proceeds when your case is resolved. President Abraham Lincoln may have said it best when he said,You have nothing to lose by contacting the Illinois bike attorneys at Keating Law Offices. All initial consultations are absolutely free and with no obligation. Call or email anytime . We are here to help. Keating Law Offices is the premiere personal injury law firm representing victims of bicycle accidents in Illinois. The law firm, which only handles personal injury and wrongful death cases, is based in Chicago, Illinois and represents clients in every county in Illinois. If you have any questions rplease contact Illinois Bicycle Attorney Mike Keating at 312-239-6787 (Office) or 312-208-7702 (Nights/Weekends). Our staff and operators are available around the clock. You can also email Mike@KeatingLegal.com 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All e-mails and phone calls are returned promptly. All initial consultations are 100% confidential and absolutely free and without any obligation.
Healthy breakdown

Cambridge, Massachusetts - A wide variety of fruits and vegetables contain oxalate. But humans and most other animals lack the ability to metabolize this molecule - that is, to break it down while digesting it. And so for some people, a buildup of oxalate is associated with kidney stones, arthritis, and even kidney failure.

At the same time, some plants, fungi, and bacteria are able to break down oxalate. Now MIT scientists, in collaboration with colleagues at the University of Michigan, have identified a previously unknown mechanism through which this process occurs, a discovery that could help researchers drive toward new ways of lessening oxalates harmful effects on humans.

The team used X-ray crystallography to identify precisely how a recently-discovered enzyme, thiamine pyrophosphate-dependent oxalate oxidoreductase (OOR), metabolizes oxalate using a bait-and-switch mechanism to break apart the troublesome molecule.

This is unprecedented chemistry, what this enzyme does, says Catherine Drennan, a professor of biology and chemistry at MIT, whose lab team made the discovery. This particular enzyme just takes it [oxalate] and splits it. Its always fantastic when the structure shows you the answer and its something you never guessed.

Simple, elegant, beautiful

The findings are detailed in a newly published paper, One-carbon chemistry of oxalate oxidoreductase captured by X-ray crystallography, appearing today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Drennan is the corresponding author of the paper.

The molecule oxalate has two carbon atoms and four oxygen atoms. The carbons are connected to each other, and each connects separately to two oxygen atoms. Crucially, it also has a double negative charge coming from two extra electrons in the molecule.

The OOR enzyme, a large and complex molecule, binds with oxalate in such a way as to neutralize the negative charge, and, in a separate action, it breaks the carbon-carbon bond at the center of oxalate. This is what the researchers call the bait-and-switch process  because the enzyme first binds oxalate using its positive charge to attract the negatively charged molecule, before altering the charge environment through two protein movements in order to break the oxalate down.

There are [just] these two movements, Drennan observes. The simplest things are the most elegant and beautiful.

The researchers made the discovery through X-ray crystallography, which reveals molecular structures at the atomic scale. By taking a series of X-rays during the OOR-oxalate reaction process, they were able to determine the dynamics of the interaction through which OOP metabolizes oxalate.

By solving a number of structures, I call them snapshots, we can watch in a way the action take place, because we have a series of pictures at various different time-points along the reaction mechanism, Drennan explains. And thats super-cool. I think my favorite thing about crystallography is when you can do that.

Ultimately, Drennan and her colleagues hope that identifying the mechanism of oxalate breakdown will help scientists figure out some ways of letting people reduce their oxalate levels if needed. Some people, as Drennan notes, carry the bacteria that can metabolize oxalate, but other people do not.

Drennan suggests it will be increasingly useful to grasp how these kinds of processes, or our lack of them, factor into human health issues.

We have kind of been ignoring this huge aspect of human health, Drennan says. I think as we start understanding the importance of those microbes [that are] doing chemistry for us, I think were going to really appreciate it.

The paper has six co-authors in addition to Drennan. They are Marcus Gibson PhD 15, a former doctoral student in Drennans lab who is now a postdoc at Princeton University; Percival Yang-Ting Chen, a doctoral student in Drennans lab; Aileen Johnson 14, a former undergraduate in Drennans lab; and Stephen Ragsdale, Elizabeth Pierce, and Mehmet Can, all of the University of Michigan.

Funding for the research was provided by the National Institutes of Health, the National Science Foundation, and the Martin Family Society of Fellows for Sustainability.
Global reductions in mercury emissions should lead to billions in economic benefits for U.S.

Cambridge, Massachusetts - Mercury pollution is a global problem with local consequences: Emissions from coal-fired power plants and other sources travel around the world through the atmosphere, eventually settling in oceans and waterways, where the pollutant gradually accumulates in fish. Consumption of mercury-contaminated seafood leads to increased risk for cardiovascular disease and cognitive impairments.

In the past several years, a global treaty and a domestic policy have been put in place to curb mercury emissions. But how will such policies directly benefit the U.S.?

In a new study published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, MIT researchers report that global action on reducing mercury emissions will lead to twice the economic benefits for the U.S., compared with domestic action, by 2050. However, those in the U.S. who consume locally caught freshwater fish, rather than seafood from the global market, will benefit more from domestic rather than international mercury regulations.

The researchers calculated the projected U.S. economic benefits from the Minamata Convention on Mercury, a global treaty adopted in 2013 to reduce mercury emissions worldwide, compared with the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), a national regulation set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to reduce mercury pollution from the countrys coal-fired power plants.

Overall, while both policies are projected to lead to roughly the same amount of reductions in mercury deposited on U.S. soil compared to a no-policy case, Americans consumption of mercury by 2050 are estimated to be 91 percent lower under the global treaty, compared to 32 percent under U.S. policy alone. The researchers say these numbers reflect the U.S. commercial fish market, 90 percent of which is sourced from Pacific and Atlantic Ocean basins  regions that are heavily influenced by emissions from non-U.S. sources, including China.

From their projections of reduced mercury consumption, the researchers estimated health impacts to the U.S. population under both policies, then translated these impacts into economic benefits. They characterized these in two ways: projected lifetime benefits from an individuals reduced exposure to mercury, including willingness to pay for lowering the risk of a fatal heart attack, cost savings from avoided medical care, and increased earnings; and economy-wide benefits, or the associated productivity gains of a national labor force with improved IQ and fewer heart attacks, as a result of reduced exposure to mercury.

Based on these calculations, the team estimated that by 2050, emissions reductions under the Minamata Convention on Mercury would lead to $339 billion in lifetime benefits and $104 billion in economy-wide benefits in the U.S., compared to $147 billion and $43 billion, respectively, from MATS. The global treaty, then, should lead to more than twice the benefits projected from the domestic policy.

Historically its been hard to quantify benefits for global treaties, says Noelle Selin, the Esther and Harold E. Edgerton Career Development Associate Professor in MITs Institute for Data, Systems and Society and in the Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences. Would we be able to see a U.S. benefit, given youre spreading reductions and benefits around the world? And we were.

Tracing the policy-to-impacts pathway

Determining how regulatory policies will ultimately lead to health and economic benefits is a complex and convoluted problem. To trace the pathway from policy to impacts, Selin and co-author Amanda Giang, a graduate student in MITs Institute for Data, Systems, and Society, began with estimates of mercury reductions set by both the Minamata Convention and MATS.

The team then used an atmospheric transport model to trace where emissions would settle over time, based on the reductions proposed by each policy scenario. From regional depositions of mercury, they then estimated the resulting mercury concentrations in fish and mapped these concentrations to seafood sources throughout the world.

Next, the team correlated seafood sources to fish consumption in the U.S., and calculated changes in human exposure to mercury through time. They used epidemiological models to estimate how changes in mercury exposure affect incidence of health impacts, such as heart attacks and IQ deficits. From there, Selin and Giang used economic valuation methods to translate heath impacts into economic benefits  namely, lifetime and economy-wide benefits to the U.S.

Understanding the drivers

While the researchers were able to come up with benefits in the billions for both the global and domestic policies, they acknowledge that these numbers come with a significant amount of uncertainty, which they also explored.

Were trying to understand different drivers in the variability of these numbers, Giang says. Theres a lot of uncertainty in this system, and we want to understand what shifts these numbers up and down.

For example, scientists are unsure how far different forms of mercury will travel through the atmosphere, as well as how long it will take for mercury to accumulate in fish. In their analysis, Giang found that, even taking into account most of these uncertainties, the economic benefits from the global treaty outweighed those from the domestic policy, except when it came to one key uncertainty: where peoples seafood originates.

We do find that in our scenario where everyone is eating local fish, the benefits of domestic policy are going to be larger than the Minamata convention, Giang says. Our study points to the importance of domestic policy in terms of protecting vulnerable populations such as subsistence fishers or other communities that do rely on U.S. freshwater fish.

There are a ton of uncertainties here, but we know that mercury is a dangerous pollutant, Selin adds. When you put in a policy, how do you think about its ultimate environmental and human effects? We think this method is really a way to try and move that forward.

This research was funded, in part, by the National Science Foundation.
Throwable tactical camera gets commercial release

Cambridge, Massachusetts - Unseen areas are troublesome for police and first responders: Rooms can harbor dangerous gunmen, while collapsed buildings can conceal survivors. Now Bounce Imaging, founded by an MIT alumnus, is giving officers and rescuers a safe glimpse into the unknown.

In July, the Boston-based startup will release its first line of tactical spheres, equipped with cameras and sensors, that can be tossed into potentially hazardous areas to instantly transmit panoramic images of those areas back to a smartphone.

It basically gives a quick assessment of a dangerous situation, says Bounce Imaging CEO Francisco Aguilar MBA 12, who invented the device, called the Explorer.

Launched in 2012 with help from the MIT Venture Mentoring Service (VMS), Bounce Imaging will deploy 100 Explorers to police departments nationwide, with aims of branching out to first responders and other clients in the near future.

The softball-sized Explorer is covered in a thick rubber shell. Inside is a camera with six lenses, peeking out at different indented spots around the circumference, and LED lights. When activated, the camera snaps photos from all lenses, a few times every second. Software uploads these disparate images to a mobile device and stitches them together rapidly into full panoramic images. There are plans to add sensors for radiation, temperature, and carbon monoxide in future models.

For this first manufacturing run, the startup aims to gather feedback from police, who operate in what Aguilar calls a reputation-heavy market. You want to make sure you deliver well for your first customer, so they recommend you to others, he says.

Steered right through VMS

Over the years, media coverage has praised the Explorer, including in Wired, the BBC, NBC, Popular Science, and Time  which named the device one of the best inventions of 2012. Bounce Imaging also earned top prizes at the 2012 MassChallenge Competition and the 2013 MIT IDEAS Global Challenge.

Instrumental in Bounce Imagings early development, however, was the VMS, which Aguilar turned to shortly after forming Bounce Imaging at the MIT Sloan School of Management. Classmate and U.S. Army veteran David Young MBA 12 joined the project early to provide a perspective of an end-user.

The VMS steered us right in many ways, Aguilar says. When you dont know what youre doing, its good to have other people who are guiding you and counseling you.

Leading Bounce Imagings advisory team was Jeffrey Bernstein SM 84, a computer scientist who had co-founded a few tech startups  including PictureTel, directly out of graduate school, with the late MIT professor David Staelin  before coming to VMS as a mentor in 2007.

Among other things, Bernstein says the VMS mentors helped Bounce Imaging navigate, for roughly two years, in funding and partnering strategies, recruiting a core team of engineers and establishing its first market  instead of focusing on technical challenges. The particulars of the technology are usually not the primary areas of focus in VMS, Bernstein says. You need to understand the market, and you need good people.

In that way, Bernstein adds, Bounce Imaging already had a leg up. Unlike many ventures Ive seen, the Bounce Imaging team came in with a very clear idea of what need they were addressing and why this was important for real people, he says.

Bounce Imaging still reaches out to its VMS mentors for advice. Another powerful resource for alumni companies, Aguilar says, was a VMS list of previously mentored startups. Over the years, Aguilar has pinged that list for a range of advice, including on manufacturing and funding issues. Its such a powerful list, because MIT alumni companies are amazingly generous to each other, Aguilar says.

The right first market

From a mentors perspective, Bernstein sees Bounce Imagings current commercial success as a result of finding that right first market, which helped it overcome early technical challenges. They got a lot of really good customer feedback really early and formed a real understanding of the market, allowing them to develop a product without a lot of uncertainty, he says.

Aguilar conceived of the Explorer after the 2010 Haiti earthquake, as a student at both MIT Sloan and the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. International search-and-rescue teams, he learned, could not easily find survivors trapped in the rubble, as they were using cumbersome fiber-optic cameras, which were difficult to maneuver and too expensive for wide use. I started looking into low-cost, very simple technologies to pair with your smartphone, so you wouldnt need special training or equipment to look into these dangerous areas, Aguilar says.

The Explorer was initially developed for first responders. But after being swept up in a flurry of national and international attention from winning the $50,000 grand prize at the 2012 MassChallenge, Bounce Imaging started fielding numerous requests from police departments  which became its target market.

Months of rigorous testing with departments across New England led Bounce Imaging from a clunky prototype of the Explorer  a Medusa of cables and wires in a 3D-printed shell that was nowhere near throwable, Aguilar says  through about 20 further iterations.

But they also learned key lessons about what police needed. Among the most important lessons, Aguilar says, is that police are under so much pressure in potentially dangerous situations that they need something very easy to use. We had loaded the system up with all sorts of options and buttons and nifty things  but really, they just wanted a picture, Aguilar says.

Neat tricks

Todays Explorer is designed with a few neat tricks, Aguilar says. First is a custom, six-lensed camera that pulls raw images from its lenses simultaneously into one processor. This reduces complexity and reduces the price tag of using six separate cameras.

The ball also serves as its own wireless hotspot, through Bounce Imagings network, that a mobile device uses to quickly grab those images  because a burning building probably isnt going to have Wi-Fi, but we still want  to work with a first responders existing smartphone, Aguilar says.

But the key innovation, Aguilar says, is the image-stitching software, developed by engineers at the Costa Rican Institute of Technology. The softwares algorithms, Aguilar says, vastly reduce computational load and work around noise and other image-quality problems. Because of this, it can stitch multiple images in a fraction of a second, compared with about one minute through other methods.

In fact, after the Explorers release, Aguilar says Bounce Imaging may option its image-stitching technology for drones, video games, movies, or smartphone technologies. Our main focus is making sure the [Explorer] works well in the market, Aguilar says. And then were trying to see what exciting things we can do with the imaging processing, which could vastly reduce computational requirements for a range of industries developing around immersive video.
The Minister for Health Dr Leo Varadkar is touring six of the countrys busiest Emergency Departments (EDs) today to inspect trolley levels, as the trolley count has again breached the 500 figure.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) reports that there were 516 patients on trolleys in EDs or on wards across the country earlier today (Monday, January 4)  409 patients in the ED waiting for an in-patient bed and a further 107 on trolleys on already full wards.

However, this total figure is likely to be an underestimation, as several hospitals were unable to provide either ED trolley counts or ward figures, including in the later instance St Vincents Hospital in Dublin, which had the highest number of trolleys in Dublin, at 37, and the second highest nationally.

University Hospital Limerick had the highest total trolley count in the country at 42 (24 on trolleys in ED and 18 on wards), with Mayo General (36), Tullamore (35), Drogheda (35), Beaumont (33), and St Lukes, Kilkenny (31) all over the 30 mark.

Minister Varadkar  whose tour comes in what is traditionally one of the busiest weeks for trolley numbers  is due to speak this afternoon at St Jamess Hospital on the ongoing efforts to address the trolley crisis.

Back in 2006, former Minister for Health Mary Harney described having 495 patients on trolleys in our hospitals as a national crisis. But despite her comments, former Minister for Health Dr James Reilly again was faced with the same problem, promising the Irish people back in March 2011 that we will not see again, 569 people on trolleys in our hospitals.

In January last year, the figure breached 600 and prompted the establishment of a new ED Taskforce.

Late last month, a revised and strengthened escalation policy was published designed to assist with ED overcrowding. The policy is universally applied across all hospitals with an ED and now requires named personnel, with appropriate status and authority, to address the issue of overcrowding consistent with the revised policy and recent Ministerial Directive.

It has stipulated that there should be zero tolerance for breaches of the nine-hour wait time for admitted patients, and confirms that escalation procedures must be initiated when 30 per cent of ED cubicles are occupied by patients awaiting admission.

It also confirmed that the Joint Chairs of the ED Taskforce (Tony OBrien, HSE/ Liam Doran, INMO) must be notified of any decision to activate the use of the Full Capacity Protocol of placing extra beds on wards.

Under the Emergency Department Ministerial Directive, a hospital will no longer be fined for exceeding waiting list targets if it is shown to be compliant with the revised escalation policy issued last month.

dara.gantly@imt.ie
Watch: This Child's Unmatched Energy in Classroom is Winning Over Internet
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A suspense novel which is at the forefront of a new wave of British Gothic fiction has won the Costa First Novel Award.

The Loney was named the debut book of the year  one of five Costa Award category winners announced tonight  marking an extraordinary year for its author, Andrew Michael Hurley.

The novel by Hurley, from Preston in Lancashire, was initially published as a limited edition hardback and ebook before it was picked up by a major publishing house and hailed as a modern classic. It is now available in translation and the film rights have been snapped up.

Best in category Costa First Novel Award: The Loney by Andrew Michael Hurley. The Gothic novel has been compared to works by Daphne Du Maurier, Shirley Jackson and Horace Walpole. Costa Novel Award: A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson. The companion piece to the 2013 award-winner Life After Life. Costa Biography Award: The Invention of Nature: The Adventures of Alexander Von Humboldt, The Lost Hero of Science by Andrea Wulf. The scientist has everything from towns and mountains to a penguin and part of the Moon named after him. Costa Poetry Award: 40 Sonnets by Don Paterson. The highly decorated poets new collection. Costa Childrens Book Award: The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge. A dark, sprawling, fiercely clever novel, the judges said.

Winning the prize is fantastic, Hurley (pictured) told The Independent. Its a really lovely surprise after what has been a surreal 12 months.

The Costa First Novel Award judges described The Loney as close to the perfect first novel as you can get. Stephen King, one of the authors influences, said it was an amazing piece of fiction.

Hurleys debut was inspired by his Catholic upbringing, English folklore tales and the landscape of north-west Lancashire. It includes tried and tested images from Gothic literature from the crumbling house to the face at the window.

Set in 1976 it follows a familys annual stay in an old house in Lancashire, a place gripped by the mystery of the death of the local priest. The Loney itself refers to a part of the regions coastline.

I was spending a long time in the Morecambe Bay area when I started to think about writing a novel, the author, who fitted writing around teaching and then library work, said. The landscape was so atmospheric and inspiring I thought I had to write about it. He is working on a second novel, which is also Gothic. I have an interest in setting the first few novels in rural Lancashire. I think its a place thats been missed off the literary map quite a lot.

Critics have pointed to the novel as heralding a renaissance in the genre. Greg Buzwell, curator of contemporary literary archives and manuscripts at the British Library, said: Gothic goes in waves with peaks like in the 1780s with people like Ann Radcliffe and more famously the late Victorian era with Dracula and Jekyll and Hyde. We probably are due another burst of Gothic output. The Loney could be at the forefront of that.

Each of the five Costa book award category winners receives 5,000 and will compete for the overall book of the year award.
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Saoirse Ronan may be tipped for an Oscar nomination after her acclaimed performance as an Irish immigrant in Brooklyn but odds are, you dont know how to say her name.

Luckily, a certain Ryan Gosling has stepped up to save any potentially awkward mishaps as awards season rolls around.

The 35-year-old actor, who worked with Ronan on his direction debut Lost River, explained at the New Hollywood Awards when presenting Ronan with a gong that Saoirse is pronounced Ser-sha, like inertia.

Ryan Gosling worked with Saoirse Ronan on Lost River (Getty)

Ronan has thanked Gosling and described him as a blond Canadian Jesus for helping to halt endless wrong pronunciations.

Someone sent me a photo two weeks later of a cinema in Minnesota and on the sign in the front it said Brooklyn and then underneath it said, Ser-sha, like inertia, she said at Saturdays Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala.

I couldnt believe it! They actually put it on the front of the cinema so the power of Ryan Gosling is stronger than anything else.

 Brooklyn Exclusive Interview With Saoirse Ronan & John Crowley

Ronan is nominated for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Drama at the Golden Globes, with the winners announced on Sunday 10 January.
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More than 150,000 people have signed petitions calling for the release of Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey, the subjects of the new Netflix series Making a Murderer which became a huge holiday hit.

The ten-episode documentary, similar in style if not in format to the investigative podcast series Serial, focussed on the trial and conviction of two men for the murder of a 25-year-old womans murder in Manitowoc, Wisconsin.

Both petitions have directly appealed to President Barck Obama to pardon the two men, who were both convicted in March 2007 in the death of freelance photographer Teresa Halbach, MailOnline reported.

Steven Avery's mugshot, taken after his arrest in 1985

A formal petition to the White House, which has received more than 18,000 signatures, said that evidence gathered by the Netflix series proved the justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives.

It added: There is clear evidence that the Manitowoc County Sheriff's Department used improper methods to convict both Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey.

This is a black mark on the justice system as a whole, and should be recognized as much, while also giving these men the ability to live as normal a life as possible.

The Change.org petition, which has received more than 133,000 signatures, was created by a Colorado resident who said he was outraged after viewing the documentary.

Avery's unconstitutional mistreatment at the hands of corrupt local law enforcement officers is completely unacceptable and is an abomination of due process, said Michael Seyedian.

Ken Kratz, the prosecutor in the murder trial, recently told Vocativ that the show had portrayed him as a villain.

He described Making a Murderer as not a documentary at all, but rather a defence-generated advocacy piece.

The people who have vilified me have not taken the time to find out the evidence they werent spoon fed, he said.

Brendan Dassey was convicted in 2007 of the murder of a freelance photographer (AP)

The documentary has struck a nerve, with a host of people praising its approach.

The singer-songwriter Many Moore, wrote: I can't stop watching. Its crushing but utterly spellbinding.

Ricky Gervais said on Twitter: Never mind an Emmy or an Oscar...Making a Murderer deserves a Nobel Prize. The greatest documentary I have ever seen.

On Sunday, a sports fan in the crowd watching the Minnesota Vikings beat the Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin carried a sign bearing the words: Manitowoc County Sheriffs.
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There have long been rumours that a Downton Abbey movie could be on the way, with executive producer Gareth Neame having previously expressed interest in making a feature length a reality.

In an interview with Deadline, Neame has confirmed that there have indeed been conversations about the possibility of a movie, but could not say it will definitely happen.

Weve had some conversations about it, he said. (Creator) Julian (Fellowes) and I are keen.

There is no script and no firm plan but its certainly something there is talk of; were not in denial about anything. Well know more next year.

Downton Abbey series 6 Show all 8 1 /8 Downton Abbey series 6 Downton Abbey series 6 Downton Abbey series 6 Mrs Hughes and Mrs Patmore ITV Downton Abbey series 6 Downton Abbey series 6 ITV Downton Abbey series 6 Downton Abbey series 6 The Downton under butlers ITV Downton Abbey series 6 Downton Abbey series 6 Mr Carson and Mrs Hughes are engaged to tie the knot ITV Downton Abbey series 6 Downton Abbey series 6 Will Mr and Mrs Hughes' police case be dropped? ITV Downton Abbey series 6 Downton Abbey series 6 Mrs Crawley continues to wind up the Dowager Countess ITV Downton Abbey series 6 Downton Abbey series 6 What will the Dowager Countess say to tightening of the purse strings in the Crawley house? ITV Downton Abbey series 6 Downton Abbey series 6 The sun sets on the final series of Downton Abbey ITV

Neame is currently promoting season six of Downton Abbey, which has finished airing in the UK but just premiered in the US.

If Downton Abbey is to continue into the future, it will be without Dame Maggie Smith as she has ruled herself out of any future projects to do with the series.

Maggie Smiths decision not to be part of it caused a dilemma, so the plan is now to leap forwards in time far enough for her character to have passed away, a source reportedly told The Mirror.

Instead the script would focus on younger members of the Grantham family, like Lady Mary, played by Michelle Dockery.

Neame previously told Radio Times: "Im interested in the fact that George, Marigold and Sybbie could just about still be alive today if you think about it, which is a really good way to show how were connected to this era. Its just about within living memory.

I am interested to know what happens when George is running the estate, in the whenever it is, 1950s, Sixties or something.

So, a time-hopping Downton movie on the way sometime next year? It seems very, very likely, especially when you consider how almost 7 million people tuned into the season finale on Christmas Day, and another 25.5 million watched season five in the US.
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Making a Murderer is captivating television audiences on both sides of the Atlantic and has already been hailed as one of the most important documentary series ever made.

But legal campaigners warn that the cult Netflix hit  which exposes the unfairness of the US criminal justice system  could not be made in the UK because of the growing restrictions on open justice.

Recommended Read more Making a Murderer rape victim speaks out about Steven Avery

Since the shows release on 18 December, more than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling for Barack Obama to pardon Steven Avery, the subject of the 10-part true crime series.

Avery is serving life for a 2005 murder in Wisconsin, despite presenting evidence at his trial that he had been framed by local police officers. At the time of his arrest Avery was suing the local force for $36m after wrongly serving 20 years for a 1985 rape that DNA evidence subsequently proved he did not commit.

Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions Show all 5 1 /5 Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions 1985: Steven Avery is falsely convicted of raping a Penny Beernsten She was jogging along the shore of Lake Michigan when she was threatened with a knife and attacked. Ms Beernsten identified Avery as her rapist from a line-up that did not include the actual attacker. AFP/Getty Images Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions 2003: Conviction overturned Avery's 32-year prison sentence was overturned after DNA testing by the Wisconsin Innocence Project proved his innocence and found a hair from Gregory Allen. He was convicted of the rape and Avery was released. Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions 2004: Avery files federal lawsuit against Manitowoc County police A Wisconsin Department of Justice investigation found police had committed no criminal offences or ethics violations, sparking a lawsuit from Avery seeking $36 million compensation. Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions 2005: Avery is arrested for Teresa Halbach's murder His Avery Auto Salvage business was the freelance photographer's last appointment of 31 October. She was reported missing four days later and police later found her car, bones, teeth and belongings at the site. Avery pleaded not guilty but was sentenced to life in prison in 2007. Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions 201: Netflix releases Making a Murderer The 10-episode documentary came after Avery's conviction was upheld in a 2011 appeal.

Making a Murderer, based on a decade of research by its creators Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, has both gripped and shocked American audiences. Forbes magazine described it as Netflixs most significant show ever. The two chief defence lawyers, Dean Strang and Jerry Buting, have become unlikely internet heart-throbs. Its success has cemented the importance in American broadcasting of the true crime genre, following the recent popularity of the HBO series The Jinx and the podcast Serial.

But legal experts in Britain have expressed concern that the lack of access to case files and court transcripts from the justice system in England and Wales inhibits the making of similarly detailed media projects on suspected miscarriages of justice.

Defence lawyers Dean Strang, left, and Jerry Buting

Lawyers and journalists have been asleep at the wheel and allowed the British system to become secret, said Emily Bolton, a lawyer for the non-profit Centre for Criminal Appeals. She appealed for court transcripts and police and prosecution files to be maintained digitally for future inspection.

In England and Wales, cameras are banned from crown and magistrates courts and only permitted in the Court of Appeal, where their use is highly restricted. Court transcripts, which could offer researchers a verbatim record of cases, are destroyed after five years, unless they have been placed under a preservation order. Case files are usually destroyed after six years.

Marika Henneberg, a senior lecturer in the Institute of Criminal Justice Studies at the University of Portsmouth, has watched Making a Murderer and been astonished by the access the research team had to materials from a historic case. This is raw justice in action, she wrote in a contribution to The Justice Gap blog. Having worked with wrongful convictions for nearly a decade, I am overwhelmed by the accessible and open justice process that this documentary highlights. In England and Wales such an open justice process does not exist.

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Ms Henneberg is advising Omar Benguit, who maintains his innocence of a murder in Bournemouth in 2002. He underwent three trials, the transcripts of which have been destroyed.

Appellants in our jurisdiction deserve the same accessible and open justice process that can be seen in Making a Murderer, she said.

In British broadcasting, this subject area was largely abandoned with the demise of the highly-regarded BBC series Rough Justice, which was on air for 27 years until 2007.

Professor Julie Price of Cardiff Law School said its Innocence Project was working on a dozen possible miscarriages of justice, but found that media publicity could cause insurmountable problems to clients.

Ms Bolton said media programmes played an important role in the public understanding of the justice systems fallibility. These programmes put people in the shoes of the criminal defendant, she said.

But Louise Shorter, who was a producer on Rough Justice for 10 years before setting up Inside Justice, a miscarriage of justice investigative unit, said programmes could still be made and public interest in such stories never waned.

She is making The Station, a BBC programme with similarities to the US true crime hits. It will interweave layers of unfolding narrative, telling the past tense story of [a] crime along with the present tense investigation, said the BBC. Ms Shorter said: Its going to be reviewing a case not a million miles away from the programmes you are talking about.
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Converting a coal-fired power station to one that burns wood might sound easy enough, until you see first-hand what is involved. It is only when you stand in the middle of the sprawling Drax power station near Selby in North Yorkshire  the biggest in Britain  that you realise the sheer scale of Europes largest decarbonisation project.

The first thing to hit you is the difference between how the coal and the wood pellets are stored on site, and the incendiary reason why. While the vast store of coal is spread out, open to all weathers, the bone-dry pellets have to be protected from the elements in four huge storage domes 50m (164ft) high  about 30 per cent taller than the Royal Albert Hall.

Whereas coal is fed into a power station when wet (it quickly dries out when milled into dust for the furnace), the wood pellets become unusable if damp. So they have to be kept dry inside their storage domes, which themselves have to filled with nitrogen gas to limit the risk of spontaneous combustion.

But this is just one of the many differences between the old and the new Drax. Converting a power plant from coal to biomass fuel has never been done on this scale anywhere in the world  and the engineering involved has broken new ground.

Drax, named after a neighbouring medieval village (not the fictional James Bond villain created by Ian Fleming), is Britains largest power station and was once its single biggest emitter of carbon dioxide thanks to its huge appetite for the dirtiest of all fossil fuels  coal.

Draxs six huge, electricity-generating turbines can each meet the power needs of a city the size of Leeds. They are driven by the superheated steam from six giant boilers or furnaces, each weighing about the same as 32 blue whales.

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They rely on the heat of the power stations six units, now partly powered by biomass in the form of compressed wood pellets imported from commercial forests overseas, mostly in the eastern United States and Canada.

Two of the six Drax units are fully converted to biomass. A third will be burning 100 per cent wood pellets later this year at a total cost of some 700m  and the woman in charge of Drax doesnt want it to stop here.

We stand ready to convert a fourth unit, says Dorothy Thompson, the chief executive of the Drax Group  who, since she joined the company 10 years ago, has pushed through one of the worlds most ambitious decarbonisation projects, which some experts had doubted as workable.

Explainer: Biomass fuel The wood pellets used as biomass fuel at Drax are made from low-grade wood such as forest thinnings, tree tops and branches, as well as residue from sawmills and agricultural waste such as straw and seed husks. The biomass is dried and compressed into pellets the size of peanut shells for easier and more economical transport. They have a lower energy density than coal which means that about twice the volume of biomass is needed to produce roughly the same amount of heat and electricity. This basic rule of physics, combined with the fact that the biomass pellets have to be stored dry in huge domes rather than spread out in the open air, means that Drax has moved from having more than 70 days of fuel stocks when it was a completely coal-fired power station, to having about 13 days of biomass stocks. We have never worked on that timescale before. We werent geared up for just in time delivery, said Jason Shipstone, the engineer responsible for the design, construction and commissioning of the new biomass facilities at Drax. It meant that Drax had to improve its lines of biomass supply from North America so that there was a continuous and regular delivery of the purpose-made wood pellets. They had to be compressed and dried before shipping across the Atlantic to the port of Immingham on the River Humber, where they are transported to Drax by a specially designed fleet of trains. Wood is also 100 times easier to ignite than coal, which posed a new kind of explosive fire risk. The pellets are so dry they give off a fine dust which can easily ignite, Mr Shipstone said. We had to think of the dust coming off this stuff as gunpowder. So we had to think of the fuel as containing 8 per cent gunpowder, he said.

We used to be the biggest carbon emitter in the UK by site, which was rather unpleasant at the time. We were the centre for a lot of protests, and actually we were not comfortable with it ourselves, Ms Thompson says.

At the time it was simply thought not possible to burn biomass in a unit of any size that had been used to burn coal The government was worried that biomass was just a way of continuing the life of coal. We said what if we burned biomass on its own?, she says.

The electricity generated by Drax accounts for about 7 or 8 per cent of the total power of the National Grid, some 27 terawatt hours of electricity  enough to power about six million homes. The two, 100-per-cent biomass-burning units at Drax alone account for some 12 per cent of the UKs total renewable-electricity generation, according to the company.

The idea behind biomass is simple enough. Wood fuel is in theory a renewable carbon source, because you burn the carbon that has been recently absorbed from the atmosphere by living vegetation, not the carbon of fossil fuel that has been locked underground for millions of years.

If you burn wood pellets from the waste cuttings of the timber industry in a converted coal-fired power station, it should be possible to produce electricity that is largely carbon-neutral, provided the carbon of wood fuel is replaced by the carbon of growing trees  which Drax insists is the case.

Of course, there is fossil fuel carbon that is used  for instance in the conversion of wood waste into dry pellets, and the oil used in the shipping and transport from America to Yorkshire. Even so, Drax estimates the carbon savings compared to coal are still above 80 per cent.

But not everyone is convinced that biomass is that renewable. Environmentalists have criticised the governments encouragement of biomass burning on the grounds that it has resulted in forests being chopped down without a serious audit of carbon sustainability, as well as other environmental costs, such as the effect on forest wildlife and biodiversity.

Recommended Read more Country now generating 95 per cent of its electric from clean energy

Ms Thompson accepts that there is good and bad biomass. But she insisted that the biomass carbon from the working timber forests of North America is from waste cuttings  and never simply from trees chopped down wholesale for biomass burning.

There is no question there are good ways to buy biomass and there are bad ways to buy biomass. Bad biomass uses an awful lot of carbon in its collection, transport and delivery and comes from sources that are not sustainable, Ms Thompson says.

Good biomass is very low carbon right across the supply chain and comes from a truly sustainable source. All the biomass we burn is good biomass, she says.

 UN climate change announcement

The first thing is that it must come from a sustainable forest. The second it that it must be low carbon, and we measure the carbon cost at every single point across the supply chain. The biomass we burn here at Drax accounts for 86 per cent of the carbon savings compared to coal, she explained.

Each stage of the process, from forest, to wood-pellet production, to shipping and burning at Drax, is audited independently by outside contractors, Ms Thompson emphasised.

The reason why I can be very confident that we are doing the right thing is that since 2008 we have audited our compliance with those rules. We use low-grade wood from working forests and, essentially, if we werent using it, it would probably go to waste, she says.

We are not simply cutting down forests. These forests are grown for their valuable saw log Were taking a sliver out of something thats growing all the time.

Drax has contracts with American timber companies extending over the next 10 or 12 years. It currently uses about 7 million tons of biomass waste each year, which is a fraction of the 93 million tones of biomass waste produced annually in the US alone, Ms Thompson says.

But the big question for 2016 is whether the Government will continue to invest in Britains biggest decarbonisation project in its next round of renewable-energy subsidies. Drax needs these renewable subsidies to continue converting its three remaining coal-fired units  although it can operate if it has to on just the three existing biomass units.

The signs so far are not looking good. Although the Government says it is committed to cutting carbon emissions and phasing out all coal-fired power stations by 2015, it has cancelled its flagship carbon-capture and storage project, to the deep disappointment of companies still in the fossil-fuel business  including Drax.

The question for Drax is whether it has a long-term future as one of Britains biggest, sustainable power generators; or whether it will limp on at half steam until its existing biomass contracts fizzle out at the end of the next decade.
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Facebook's Free Basics service, which offers certain basic internet services to people in developing countries for free, has been shut down in Egypt, just a week after the service was temporarily closed by regulators in India.

Free Basics was launched in Egypt two months ago by mobile network Etisalat. An official from the country's telecommunications ministry told Reuters that the network only had a permit to offer the service for two months, and the service was suspended on 30 December when this permit ran out.

Even though social media websites like Facebook played a big part in the organisation of Egypt's uprising in 2011, the official said that the suspension was not related to security concerns.

Recommended Read more Facebook testing multiple news feeds

Free Basics is part of Facebook's initiative to bring the benefits of the web to people who might not be able to afford it - certain messaging, weather forecasting, job and marketplace services are available to all Free Basics users cost-free, with no subscription fees or data charges neccessary.

But some people in countries where Free Basics has launched have said the service is a threat to net neutrality. In India, regulators, internet users and tech entrepreneurs came out against Free Basics, saying Facebook's limits on what internet services users could access was an assault on the principle that internet service providers should treat all users the same.

Gadget and tech news: In pictures Show all 25 1 /25 Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gadget and tech news: In pictures Gun-toting humanoid robot sent into space Russia has launched a humanoid robot into space on a rocket bound for the International Space Station (ISS). The robot Fedor will spend 10 days aboard the ISS practising skills such as using tools to fix issues onboard. Russia's deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin has previously shared videos of Fedor handling and shooting guns at a firing range with deadly accuracy. Dmitry Rogozin/Twitter Gadget and tech news: In pictures Google turns 21 Google celebrates its 21st birthday on September 27. The The search engine was founded in September 1998 by two PhD students, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, in their dormitories at Californias Stanford University. Page and Brin chose the name google as it recalled the mathematic term 'googol', meaning 10 raised to the power of 100 Google Gadget and tech news: In pictures Hexa drone lifts off Chief engineer of LIFT aircraft Balazs Kerulo demonstrates the company's "Hexa" personal drone craft in Lago Vista, Texas on June 3 2019 Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures Project Scarlett to succeed Xbox One Microsoft announced Project Scarlett, the successor to the Xbox One, at E3 2019. The company said that the new console will be 4 times as powerful as the Xbox One and is slated for a release date of Christmas 2020 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures First new iPod in four years Apple has announced the new iPod Touch, the first new iPod in four years. The device will have the option of adding more storage, up to 256GB Apple Gadget and tech news: In pictures Folding phone may flop Samsung will cancel orders of its Galaxy Fold phone at the end of May if the phone is not then ready for sale. The $2000 folding phone has been found to break easily with review copies being recalled after backlash PA Gadget and tech news: In pictures Charging mat non-starter Apple has cancelled its AirPower wireless charging mat, which was slated as a way to charge numerous apple products at once AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures "Super league" India shoots down satellite India has claimed status as part of a "super league" of nations after shooting down a live satellite in a test of new missile technology EPA Gadget and tech news: In pictures 5G incoming 5G wireless internet is expected to launch in 2019, with the potential to reach speeds of 50mb/s Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Uber halts driverless testing after death Uber has halted testing of driverless vehicles after a woman was killed by one of their cars in Tempe, Arizona. March 19 2018 Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A humanoid robot gestures during a demo at a stall in the Indian Machine Tools Expo, IMTEX/Tooltech 2017 held in Bangalore Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures The giant human-like robot bears a striking resemblance to the military robots starring in the movie 'Avatar' and is claimed as a world first by its creators from a South Korean robotic company Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Engineers test a four-metre-tall humanoid manned robot dubbed Method-2 in a lab of the Hankook Mirae Technology in Gunpo, south of Seoul, South Korea Jung Yeon-Je/AFP/Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures Waseda University's saxophonist robot WAS-5, developed by professor Atsuo Takanishi and Kaptain Rock playing one string light saber guitar perform jam session Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway resembling the giant panda is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A test line of a new energy suspension railway, resembling a giant panda, is seen in Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A concept car by Trumpchi from GAC Group is shown at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Rex Gadget and tech news: In pictures A Mirai fuel cell vehicle by Toyota is displayed at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A visitor tries a Nissan VR experience at the International Automobile Exhibition in Guangzhou, China Reuters Gadget and tech news: In pictures A man looks at an exhibit entitled 'Mimus' a giant industrial robot which has been reprogrammed to interact with humans during a photocall at the new Design Museum in South Kensington, London Getty Gadget and tech news: In pictures A new Israeli Da-Vinci unmanned aerial vehicle manufactured by Elbit Systems is displayed during the 4th International conference on Home Land Security and Cyber in the Israeli coastal city of Tel Aviv Getty

Opposition from some in India led to Facebook launching a large public relations campaign in the country, with Mark Zuckerberg writing a newspaper editorial in defence of the service and encouraging users to save Free Basics by emailing the telecoms regulator.

Despite the criticism, supporters say the huge benefits to poor people in developing countries that Free Basics can bring outweigh the service's limitations - a recent editorial in the Hindustan Times said if India's poor realised what they were being denied by opponents of Free Basics, they would "hit the streets and bring the nation to a halt."

In a statement to TechCrunch, Facebook said they were "disappointed" that Free Basics was no longer available in Egypt.

They said: "Already more than 3 million Egyptians use Free Basics and through Free Basics more than 1 million people who were previously unconnected are now using the internet because of these efforts."

"We are committed to Free Basics, and we're going to keep working to serve our community to provide access to connectivity and valuable services."

"We hope to resolve this situation soon."
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The first humanist hospital chaplain in Britain will begin work today, offering emotional support to terminally ill atheist patients and their relatives.

Jane Flint has been appointed the non-religious pastoral carer for Leicesters Hospital Chaplaincy, an NHS Trust comprising Leicester General Hospital, Leicester Royal Infirmary and Glenfield Hospital.

Unlike her colleagues in the chaplaincy who can console sick patients with reassurances about the afterlife, Ms Flint  like other humanists  believes there is no continuation after death.

Recommended Read more How GOSH chaplains give solace to patients and parents of any faith

But she believes her message of empathy and compassion will provide great succour to patients with no religious faith. I will be there for them, she told The Independent. It wont be about me. I will be there to give them undivided attention, a listening ear so they can say what they want.

The 63-year-old trained psychotherapist said she expected there would be some questioning of her role in the chaplaincy from both hospital staff and patients. But she added: I dont have any anxiety about it.

Originally from Canada, Ms Flint moved as a child to Chicago in the US with her mother and Presbyterian minister father. Although she grew up in a religious household, she always knew it was not the path for her.

I believed in my fathers compassion and caring, but from a humanist perspective, she said. I discovered a name for it as I became an adult.

Ms Flint, a divorced grandmother-of-three, was selected from 57 applicants and her unique part-time post will be funded for an initial two years by the Leicester Hospitals Charity. If there is demand, the post is expected to be made permanent.

Mark Burleigh, the head of chaplaincy and bereavement services for Leicesters Hospitals, said: Jane will give pastoral and spiritual support to patients who have non-religious beliefs and who would welcome the opportunity to speak to someone with a similar outlook on life.

I think if hospital chaplaincy is going to be part of the NHS in future, it needs to be fully diverse.

The British Humanist Association has welcomed the appointment.

David Savage, the BHAs head of pastoral support, said: Guidance from NHS England last year made it clear that NHS bodies in England were obliged to provide pastoral support and care to non-religious people on the same basis as chaplaincy is provided to the religious. Leicester Hospitals are the first to translate that into paid staff provision.

Hospital chaplains have traditionally been from Christian denominations, offering patients and their families support and counselling during difficult times.

The association between religion and care of the sick goes back to the Middle Ages with the founding of monastic infirmaries. These have since become the foundation of many of todays hospitals, including St Batholomews and St Thomas in London.
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Norway's biggest medical organisation wants to ban the sale of cigarettes to adults.

In a drive towards a smoke-free society by 2035, the Norwegian Medical Association (NMA) is pressing the government to back its proposal for a ban on tobacco sales to citizens born after the year 2000.

Marit Hermansen, the president of the NMA, told Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten that access to cigarettes was not a basic human right.

"We have long had the policy of phasing out smoking by 2035. This is a measure to achieve this goal. We want a tobacco-free generation," she said, according to The Local.

"It shouldn't be forbidden to smoke, but we want young people to not get started with tobacco."

They hope the proposed legislation will mean future generations are unable to buy tobacco in Norway when they reach 18 years old, which is the current age limit. Given the choice of 2000, the law would technically come in to until 2018.

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"The [health] minister has said that the main objective is to hinder young people from beginning to smoke," Ms Hermansen told Aftenposten.

"That means that when the new generations come of age, they won't be able to buy tobacco in Norway."

The emphasis will be on denying access to the substances, rather than criminalising use, she added according to The Nordic Page.

In 2013, about 32 per cent of the Norwegian population were smokers - a steady decline from 36 per cent in 2008.

Among young people, seven per cent had reported that they smoked daily, the Nordic Page reported.

Yet despite the NMA's hopes, health spokespeople for the Conservative, Labour, Centre and Christian Democrats parties in the country told Aftenposten the idea was not currently feasible.

In the UK, meanwhile, eight percent of 15-year-olds smoked regularly in 2014 - a significant decline compared to the 20 percent who were smoking eight years earlier.
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Nearly half of UK workers or 15.3 million people will look for a new job in 2016 due to bad management and how poorly valued they are, according to a new report.

One in five employees is already job searching, according to a survey of 2,000 people by Investors People.

Poor management is the main reason for unhappiness among staff, cited by 43 per cent of employees, followed by not feeling valued enough (39 per cent) and unsatisfactory pay (38 per cent).



The tech industry is the most at-risk sector, with 58 per cent of employees thinking about changing jobs, followed by health and social care with 57 per cent.

According to Paul Devoy, Head of Investor People, many employers are taking the risk of losing valuable skilled staff as the economy improves and bad leadership continues to be an issue.

Improved salaries over recent months mean that pay is less of a gripe for UK workers. But longstanding issues around poor management and how valued people feel in their work continue to make UK workers miserable. We know that bad leadership alone costs the UK 39 billion a year, he said.



Mr Devoy advised employers to address these factors in order to retain their workforce.

Simple changes can make all the difference according to the Job Exodus Trends 2016 report.

When asked what one thing their employer could do to increase their happiness in their current role, 13 per cent of workers just wanted to be thanked more often. Some 9 per cent would prefer more flexible hours and 6 per cent would like more clarity on their career progression options.

Small things can make a big difference. Feeling valued, understanding their role in the organisation and how they can grow with an organisation are all big concerns for UK workers.

Saying thank you, involving employees in decisions and giving them responsibility over their work are basic ways to make staff happier, and more likely to stay, Paul Devoy said.
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He was thinner, greyer and his voice has lost some of its liquidity.

But the man who took to the stage in Keene, New Hampshire, on Monday was still unmistakably Bill Clinton - a fact that could either help or hinder his wife in her run for the White House.

Hillary is going to come and talk about her plan so Im not going to say too much. But Ive reviewed it and I think it offers the best chance to make a more broadly equal society, he said.

Bill Clinton made his first campaign appearance of the 2016 battle in New Hampshire (AP)

The 69-year-old travelled to New Hampshire to make his first solo campaign appearance in the 2016 race, stumping on familiar turf on behalf of the Democratic frontrunner.

The 42nd president of the US is generally considered to be one of the most natural and charismatic campaigners of recent American politics. But while he could help boost Ms Clintons numbers, some aspects of his history also make her vulnerable to attacks from her opponents.

Indeed, tycoon Donald Trump, the Republican frontrunner, who was also campaigning in New Hampshire on Monday, has made clear that he feels Mr Clintons illicit relationships - most notoriously with then intern Monica Lewinsky - are fair game.

On Monday, Mr Trump told CNN that the former president was one of the great woman abusers of all time and that Ms Clinton had a role in that.

I think that Hillary is an enabler, he said. A lot of things happened that were very seedy. Obviously it was a big thing. He was impeached for heavens sake.

Perhaps to the surprise of some, Mr Clinton chose not to respond directly to Mr Trumps taunts.

Donald Trump mingles with supporters at a rally in Biloxi, Mississippi on 2 January (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

Rather he sought to draw a distinction between her position on immigration and Mr Trumps hardline approach, which has included the suggestion that the US should halt admitting Muslims.

Mr Clinton told two stories - one in the US and one abroad - that portrayed Muslims as heroes.

He also sought to reveal some lesser known aspects of his wife that some may not be familiar with - her work as a legal defender after she graduated with college, and her role in closing loopholes in the education that had permitted some private institutions to effectively continue segregation.

When we met - and it will soon be 45 years - and we fell in love, I thought she was the most amazing person, he said.

Back then there werent so many female students. She was at Yale. She could have done anything she wantedEverything she touched, she made better.

The decision to deploy Mr Clinton to New Hampshire rather than another state, was not made by chance. The state is the second to vote in the primary process and the results can have a huge impact on the fates of candidates.

Indeed, during the 1992 campaign, when Mr Clinton had done poorly in Iowa, his coming second in New Hampshire gave him a new boost, earned him the nickname the Comeback Kid and provided the momentum that would eventually take him to the White House.

It also so happens to be the state where Ms Clintons closest Democratic rival, Bernie Sanders, is polling strongly. A majority of polls have put him one or two points ahead of her there.
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The former editor of The Sun and columnist Kelvin MacKenzie has said searching white people at airports is a waste of time as everybody knows that if a bomb is to be smuggled on to a plane it will be carried on by a Muslim from the Middle East or Africa".

In todays paper, MacKenzie recalls his recent trip back from his holiday in Mauritius, which included a stop-over in Dubai.

Seemingly irritated by the routine security screening millions of people face, regardless of age, race or gender when they travel, MacKenzie suggests security personnel shouldnt search people who look like him as theyre wasting their time.

If security were really interested in stopping an outrage why would they waste their time on me? he wrote, A quick glance at any picture of me would reveal two things that would tell the Dubai authorities that I was not going to be a terrorist.

MacKenzie, who edited the British tabloid from 1981 to 1994, attributes that the two things making him identifiable as definitely not being a terrorist as his age and my colour.

Racial profiling is an uncomfortable subject but everybody know  especially the nervous employees at Dubai airport  that if a bomb is to be smuggled on to a plane it will be carried on by a Muslim from the Middle East or Africa.

 Stopping law-abiding, non-violent white people at airports is a waste of time and an insult to everybodys intelligence.

The 69-year-old then suggests that the security officer at the airport should actually be searched instead of him, presumably because of his race or religion, if passengers really wanted to be safe.

Mackenzie ends his column: The Dubai authorities should stop this nonsense now. They know who they are looking for. I am not one of them. And neither are you.

The column in Britains most widely read newspaper has since been criticised by the organisation Tell MAMA who counter anti-Muslim hate and Islamophobia, Bigotry and Prejudice.

The director Fiyaz Mughal told the Huffington Post: To suggest racial profiling should take place and that Mr MacKenzie should not be checked thoroughly shows an arrogance that is breath-taking. Factually he is wrong and his rhetoric actually does not resonate with the wider public.

People news in pictures Show all 18 1 /18 People news in pictures People news in pictures 7 October 2015 Russian President Vladimir Putin takes part in an ice hockey match between former NHL stars and officials at the Shayba Arena in the Black Sea resort of Sochi. Vladimir Putin spent his 63rd birthday on the ice, playing hockey with NHL stars against Russian officials and tycoons EPA People news in pictures 6 October 2015 German designer Karl Lagerfeld (R) and model Cara Delevingne (C) appear at the end of his Spring/Summer 2016 women's ready-to-wear collection for fashion house Chanel at the Grand Palais which is transformed into a Chanel airport during the Fashion Week in Paris, France Reuters People news in pictures 5 October 2015 Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne addresses the Conservative party conference in Manchester. The Chancellor argued that reducing the payments to people in low paid jobs would give them economic security by reducing the Governments spending deficit Getty Images People news in pictures 4 October 2015 Cowboys captain Johnathan Thurston takes a moment in the centre of the field with his daughter Frankie Thurston, holding dark-skinned doll, after winning the 2015 NRL Grand Final match between the Brisbane Broncos and the North Queensland Cowboys at ANZ Stadium in Sydney. The image quickly became the talking point of Australias National Rugby League Final and provoked a strong reaction on social media, with many praising Thurston for giving his child a toy that promotes inclusiveness and diversity Getty Images People news in pictures 3 October 2015 Pope Francis gives a thumbs-up as he greets people at the end of an audience to the participants of a meeting organized by the "Food Bank" at the Paul VI audience hall in Vatican Getty Images People news in pictures 2 October 2015 Britain's Finance Minister George Osborne (L) throws an American football as he meets with former American football players Dan Marino (2nd R) and Curtis Martin (not pictured) at 11 Downing Street in London, ahead of the New York Jets playing against the Miami Dolphins at London's Wembley Stadium on 4 October Getty Images People news in pictures 1 October 2015 An honor guard opens the door as Russian President Vladimir Putin enters a hall to attend a meeting with members of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia People news in pictures 30 September 2015 Former Mrs America Lisa Christie, who alleges misconduct by Bill Cosby, holds up photos of her younger self during a news conference at the law office of attorney Gloria Allred in Los Angeles People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Matt Damon has defended himself against claims that he instructed gay actors to remain in the closet. He had said I think youre a better actor the less people know about you and sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether youre straight or gay, people shouldnt know anything about your sexuality but an appearance on the Ellen DeGeneres show said, I was just trying to say actors are more effective when theyre a mystery. Right? Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Marion Cotillard has said that there is no place for feminism in Hollywood. Speaking to Porter magazine, she saidFilm-making is not about gender/ You cannot ask a president in a festival like Cannes to have, like, five movies directed by women and five by men. For me it doesnt create equality, it creates separation. I mean, I dont qualify myself as a feminist." Getty People news in pictures 29 September 2015 Actor Paul Walkers daughter, Meadow, is suing Porsche over her fathers death in a lawsuit that claims he was trapped in the burning car because of design flaws and the seat belt. The Fast and Furious star was killed when the Porsche Carrera GT he was a passenger in hit a pole in California in 2013. The driver, his friend Roger Rodas, also died when the vehicle burst into flames. AP People news in pictures 28 September 2015 Robert Mugabe waits to address the United Nations General Assembly. The leader of Zimbabwe reportedly exclaimed 'We are not gay!' as he criticised Western nation's "double standards and attempts to prescribe new rights that are contrary to our values, norms, traditions and beliefs. In 2013 he described homosexuals as worse than pigs, goats and birds. Reuters People news in pictures 28 September 2015 South African comedian Trevor Noah hosts the first 'Daily Show' since taking over from Jon Stewart as host. Stewart had presented the US satirical news show since 1999 and was described by Noah during the show as a 'Political father' 2015 Getty Images People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Sir Elton John may have received a phone call from the real Vladimir Putin. Mr Putin's spokesman announced he had made contact weeks after the singer was duped by pranksters pretending to be the Russian President. Getty People news in pictures 25 September 2015 Actor Leonardo DiCaprio was mistakenly declared as the artist who produced the Mona Lisa by Fox News anchor Shepard Smith. It was in fact Leonardo da Vinci. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 A new biography claims Donald Trump expected to be dead by 40 and never marry. The Guardian says the a new book also claims that in 1980, Mr Trump manufactured a fake vice-president of his real estate conglomerate, whom he called John Baron. People news in pictures 24 September 2015 The Dalai Lama has said that Britain's policy towards China is just about 'Money, money, money.' And asked 'Where is morality?' People news in pictures 24 September 2015 Puff Daddy secured the number-one spot on the Forbes Hip Hop Cash Kings list, with the publication calculating he made an estimated $60million (39m) between June 2014 and June 2015.

Mr Mughal also referred to the case of Timothy McVeigh, a white man who detonated a truck bomb in Oklahoma City in 1995 killing 168 people.

There have, of course, been many other instances of terrorism involving white people and currently there is much debate about white terrorism.

For example, the takeover of a government building in Oregon on Sunday by an armed militia prompted a huge reaction on social media with the hashtag #OregonUnderAttack but went largely unreported in the mainsteam media.

In June 2015, a study revealed white people to be a bigger threat to the US than Muslims or any other ethnic group. The study found that of 26 attacks on US soil, 19 were committed by non-Muslims.

A spokesperson for The Sun has been contacted for comment.
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The Kraken is perhaps the largest monster ever imagined by mankind. In Nordic folklore, it was said to haunt the seas from Norway through Iceland and all the way to Greenland.

The Kraken had a knack for harassing ships and many pseudoscientific reports (including official naval ones) said it would attack vessels with its strong arms. If this strategy failed, the beast would start swimming in circles around the ship, creating a fierce maelstrom to drag the vessel down.

Of course, to be worth its salt, a monster needs to have a taste for human flesh. Legends say that the Kraken could devour a ships entire crew at once.

Recommended Read more Rare video shows giant squid cruising along Japanese harbour

But despite its fearsome reputation, the monster could also bring benefits: it swam accompanied by huge schools of fish that cascaded down its back when it emerged from the water. Brave fishermen could thus risk going near the beast to secure a bounteous catch.

The history of the Kraken goes back to an account written in 1180 by King Sverre of Norway. As with many legends, the Kraken started with something real, based on sightings of a real animal, the giant squid. For the ancient navigators, the sea was treacherous and dangerous, hiding a horde of monsters in its inconceivable depths. Any encounter with an unknown animal could gain a mythological edge from sailors' stories. After all, the tale grows in the telling.

Scientific legend

Giant squid found in Ranheim, Norway, in 1954 (NTNU Museum of Natural History and Archaeology)

The strength of the myth became so strong that the Kraken could still be found in Europes first modern scientific surveys of the natural world in the 18th century. Not even Carl Linnaeus  father of modern biological classification  could avoid it and he included the Kraken among the cephalopod mollusks in the first edition of his groundbreaking Systema Naturae (1735).

But when, in 1853, a giant cephalopod was found stranded on a Danish beach, Norwegian naturalist Japetus Steenstrup recovered the animals beak and used it to scientifically describe the giant squid, Architeuthis dux. And so what had become legend officially entered the annals of science, returning our image of the Kraken to the animal that originated the myths.

After 150 years of research into the giant squid that inhabits all the worlds oceans, there is still much debate as to whether they represent a single species or as many as 20. The largest Architeuthis recorded reaches 18 metres in length, including the very long pair of tentacles, but the vast majority of specimens are much smaller. The giant squids eyes are the largest in the animal kingdom and are crucial in the dark depths it inhabits (up to 1,100 metres deep, perhaps reaching 2,000 metres).

Like some other squid species, Architeuthis has pockets in its muscles containing an ammonium solution that is less dense than sea water. This allows the animal to float underwater, meaning that it can keep itself steady without actively swimming. The presence of unpalatable ammonium in their muscles is also probably the reason why giant squid have not yet been fished to near extinction.

Hunter or prey?

For many years, scientists debated whether the giant squid was a swift and agile hunter like the powerful predator of legends or an ambush hunter. After decades of discussion, a welcome answer came in 2005 with the unprecedented film footage from Japanese researchers T. Kubodera and K. Mori. They filmed a live Architeuthis in its natural habitat, 900m deep in the North Pacific, showing that it is in fact a fast and powerful swimmer, using its tentacles to capture prey.

Reconstruction of a battle between a giant squid and the sperm whale (American Museum of Natural History.)

Despite its size and speed, Architeuthis has a predator: the sperm whale. The battles between these titans must be frequent, since it is common to find scars on whales skins left by the squids tentacles and arms, which have suckers lined with sharp chitinous tooth-like structures. But Architeuthis doesnt have the muscles in its tentacles to use them to constrict prey and it can never overcome a sperm whale in a duel. Its only option is to flee, covering its escape with the usual cephalopod ink cloud.

 Giant squid spotted in Japan

Although we now know it is not just a legend, the giant squid remains perhaps the most elusive large animal in the world, which has greatly contributed to its aura of mystery. Many people today are still surprised in learning that it really exists. After all, even after so much scientific research, the Kraken is still alive in popular imagination thanks to films, books and computer games, even if it sometimes turns up in the wrong mythology, such as the 1981 (and 2010) ancient Greek epic Clash of the Titans. These representations have come to define it in the public mind: a beast lurking in sunken ships waiting for reckless divers.

Rodrigo Brincalepe Salvador, PhD student in Paleontology, University of Tubingen

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
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The Columba Declaration was billed as an unprecedented agreement between the Church of England and the Church of Scotland, recognising the similarities between their respective worshippers.

But it now seems that far from bolstering relations between worshippers, the pact has sown the seeds of religious discord, with the leader of one of Scotlands smaller Churches describing how it has caused deep hurt and calling for the agreement to be scrapped.

David Chillingworth, the Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, announced his opposition to the pact in a series of blog posts, warning that the proposals could lead to the Church of England meddling in Scottish religious affairs and that the sidelining of his Churchs 35,000 members could put its relationship with the Church of England in real difficulty.

The 15-page Declaration, named after the fifth-century Irish missionary St Columba who is said to have introduced Christianity to Scotland, commits the two Churches to grow together in communion and to strengthen our partnership in mission.

The document was jointly authored by Church of Scotland minister John McPake and the Bishop of Chester, Peter Forster. In a joint statement, the pair said they hoped it would affirm and strengthen our relationship at a time when it is likely to be particularly critical in the life of the UK.

However, in a blog post entitled Columba Declaration: time for a rethink, the Most Rev David Chillingworth criticised several aspects of the pact and called for it to be redrafted.

The Church of Scotland and the Church of England seem to have decided that their commonality as national Churches justifies them in setting aside other ecumenical relationships and etiquette, he wrote.

Before being formally adopted by both organisations, the Columba Declaration will be debated by the Church of Englands General Synod next month and then by the Church of Scotlands General Assembly in May.

Responding to the bishops comments, the Church of Scotland denied that his organisation had been sidelined. The joint study group report and the Columba Declaration are the outcome of ecumenical work that has been under way since 2010, a spokesman said.

The Scottish Episcopal Church was a full partner in the joint study group until it chose to withdraw from active participation in 2013. From that point on, the Scottish Episcopal Church continued to attend as an observer.
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The British Government left Saudi Arabia off a list of thirty countries to be challenged by diplomats over their continued use of the death penalty - despite executing over 90 people a year.

The Kingdom is the only major death penalty state to be omitted from a 20-page Foreign Office document setting out the UKs five-year strategy to reduce the use of executions around the world.

Among the countries given a greater priority were Barbados Singapore and Jordan that between them passed less than ten death sentences in 2014.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

Human rights groups and opposition politicians have expressed concern that ministers left the notoriously sensitive Saudi regime off the list to safeguard billions of pounds of defence contracts and security co-operation.

The Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron said the time had come to shine a light into the shady corners of the UK relationship with the Saudi regime.

The Foreign Office minister Tobias Ellwood would only express the UKs disappointment at the 47 executions carried out by Saudi Arabia at the end of last week.

The UK strategy, which was written in 2011, sets out what it describes as a list of priority countries where British diplomats would be encouraged to proactively drive forward and make progress towards the UKs ultimate goal of abolishing the death penalty over five years.

It lists China, Iran, Belarus, the US and the Caribbean as the countries where most effort should be focused but goes on to list another 25 countries that have been identified where posts should also be working towards reducing the use of the death penalty.

But Saudi Arabia does not appear on either list despite having one of the worst human rights records in the Middle East.

Maya Foa, Director of the death penalty team at international human rights organisation Reprieve said it was a shocking omission.

 Reaction to Saudi killings

Saudi Arabia has consistently ranked in the worlds top five executioners, and a large proportion of beheadings carried out in the country have been for non-violent offences, including protest, she said.

It is shocking that the Kingdom was absent from the countries targeted by the UKs death penalty strategy over the past five years, when every other major executioner in the world  China, Iran, Iraq, the US and Pakistan  was included.

Amnesty Internationals Head of Policy Allan Hogarth said it was astonishing omission.

Weve become increasingly alarmed that the UK government has been bending over backwards to avoid criticising Saudi Arabias appalling human rights record, he said.

Ministers are always harping on about how their engaged relationship with Riyadh means they can talk frankly on issues like human rights, but what do these conversations actually consist of and what have they ever achieved? Apparently very little.

Its time the government reviewed its approach to human rights in the Kingdom and adopted a far more robust stance.

Tim Farron, leader of the Liberal Democrats added: Saudi Arabia is a barbaric regime and the UK government must do more to stand up to them. The Government must not just write reports and accidentally miss them out due to worrying about diplomatic nicety, it should hold them to account.

Click HERE for larger annotated version of the graphic

The Liberal Democrats have called for a debate into the UK - Saudi Arabia relations to try and shine a light into the shady corners of this relationship.

But former foreign secretary Sir Malcolm Rifkind said that there were "a number of advantages" to Britain's relationship with Riyadh, including the provision of Saudi intelligence which had helped prevent terrorist plots.

There are a number of circumstances where Saudi Arabia and the West have co-operated effectively on counter-terrorism, he said.

That has to be by far the single most important priority at this moment in time.

Recommended Read more David Cameron finally breaks silence over Saudi Arabia executions

David Cameron said that the UK condemned the death penalty in all circumstances and had made representations to the Saudi authorities on this occasion.

Let me be clear - we condemn and do not support the death penalty in any circumstances and that includes Saudi Arabia, he said.

We always make representations on the death penalty and the Foreign Office ministers made it very clear on this occasion.

A Saudi Justice Ministry spokesman told the BBC: As a judicial power or judicial branch, we execute, or we apply, Sharia law according to the facts we see in front of us, irrespective of other influences, and that is what the judges are qualified on. They don't look to any other influences, they deal with the facts that they see in front of them.

A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: This document is a general policy guide from 2011, rather than a case by case list of countries where the death penalty is applied. A full list of countries of concerns was published in March 2015 in the Annual Human Rights Report, that includes Saudi Arabia and its use of the death penalty. The Government opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle and continues to raise concerns with the Saudi authorities at the highest levels.
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The Peoples Republic of China is set to build around 40 domestic nuclear power plants over the next five years, the countrys Government has said.

The countrys 13th five year plan period, running from 2016 to 2020, includes provisions for building six to eight new nuclear power plants a year.

If all goes according to plan, the country will aim to increase its output to ten plants a year past 2020.

British energy policymakers will be eyeing Chinas domestic nuclear power programme with interest after the countrys government signed a deal to finance the next generation of UK nuclear power.

Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping signed the 40bn UK deal as part of a series of investment accords in a visit to the UK in October.

The deal will see the state-owned General Nuclear Corporation take a two-thirds stake in the Bradwell nuclear power plant, where a Chinese-designed nuclear reactor is planned.

A one-third stake will be taken in Hinkley Point, a plant run by the French state-owned firm EDF. A one-fifth stake will be taken in a project at the Sizewell plant.

David Cameron goes for a pint with Xi Jinping Show all 4 1 /4 David Cameron goes for a pint with Xi Jinping David Cameron goes for a pint with Xi Jinping Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron and China's President Xi Jinping leave The Plough at Cadsden pub in Cadsden Reuters David Cameron goes for a pint with Xi Jinping British Prime Minister David Cameron drinks a pint with Chinese President Xi Jinping (L) at a pub near Chequers, Buckinghamshire David Cameron goes for a pint with Xi Jinping Prime Minister David Cameron drinks a pint with Chinese President Xi Jinping at The Plough Inn at Cadsden in Princes Risborough, near to Cameron's country retreat at Chequers David Cameron goes for a pint with Xi Jinping Xi-Jinping-pub Britain's Prime Minister David Cameron, drinks beer with Chinese President Xi Jinping, at a pub in Princess Risborough, near Chequers

David Cameron hailed the deal as historic and said the new plants would provide reliable power to homes and businesses.

Meanwhile, Chinas 385bn domestic programme represents a large increase in nuclear power use in the country.

Mainland China currently has 30 nuclear power reactors in operation and 22 under construction, according to the World Nuclear Association.

A three-fold increase in generating capacity is planned by 2020-21, with the part aim of reducing reliance on coal and the air pollution it causes.

Nuclear power does not release carbon or particulates into the atmosphere. It however creates toxic and mildly radioactive waste which must be stored indefinitely at significant cost. Clean-up costs for nuclear power stations are also high and often hidden from initial estimates.

It is also common for nuclear power projects to experience significant delays and to go wildly over-budget.

Chinas domestic commitment comes after an estimate of how much nuclear power would be needed by the State Nuclear Power Technology Corporation dating from in September 2013.
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David Camerons response to the refugee crisis is clearly inadequate and should be improved in 2016, a coalition of 27 charities has said.

The organisations, including Oxfam, Amnesty International, and the Refugee Council, say Britain must establish safe and legal routes for refugees across Europe.

They have also endorsed proposals drawn up by 350 top lawyers and former judges for Britain to take a fair share of refugees.

Recommended Read more Sweden imposes border controls on bridge between Malmo and Copenhagen

Better access to fair procedures to determine elegibility should be given to people travelling to the UK, they add.

Last year's announcement that the UK will resettle 20,000 Syrian refugees over five years was a welcome first step, but given the numbers of people searching for safety across the globe, this response is clearly inadequate: it is too slow, too low and too narrow, the joint letter says.

The UK can and should be doing much more to ensure that refugees are not compelled to take life-threatening journeys or forced into smugglers' hands.

Other groups to have signed the letter include Christian Aid, Cafod, the International Rescue Committee, Greenpeace, Islamic Relief, Joint Council for the Welfare of Immigrants, Liberty and World Vision.

The Government says the UK is playing a leading role in providing aid to the region and that its own resettlement targets have been met.

The UK is currently committed to taking only 20,000 refugees over the parliament  4,000 people a year.

Refugee crisis - in pictures Show all 27 1 /27 Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugee crisis - in pictures A child looks through the fence at the Moria detention camp for migrants and refugees at the island of Lesbos on May 24, 2016. AFP/Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Ahmad Zarour, 32, from Syria, reacts after his rescue by MOAS (Migrant Offshore Aid Station) while attempting to reach the Greek island of Agathonisi, Dodecanese, southeastern Agean Sea Refugee crisis - in pictures Syrian migrants holding life vests gather onto a pebble beach in the Yesil liman district of Canakkale, northwestern Turkey, after being stopped by Turkish police in their attempt to reach the Greek island of Lesbos on 29 January 2016. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees flash the 'V for victory' sign during a demonstration as they block the Greek-Macedonian border Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants have been braving sub zero temperatures as they cross the border from Macedonia into Serbia. Refugee crisis - in pictures A sinking boat is seen behind a Turkish gendarme off the coast of Canakkale's Bademli district on January 30, 2016. At least 33 migrants drowned on January 30 when their boat sank in the Aegean Sea while trying to cross from Turkey to Greece. Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A general view of a shelter for migrants inside a hangar of the former Tempelhof airport in Berlin, Germany Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees protest behind a fence against restrictions limiting passage at the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Since last week, Macedonia has restricted passage to northern Europe to only Syrians, Iraqis and Afghans who are considered war refugees. All other nationalities are deemed economic migrants and told to turn back. Macedonia has finished building a fence on its frontier with Greece becoming the latest country in Europe to build a border barrier aimed at checking the flow of refugees Refugee crisis - in pictures A father and his child wait after being caught by Turkish gendarme on 27 January 2016 at Canakkale's Kucukkuyu district Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants make hand signals as they arrive into the southern Spanish port of Malaga on 27 January, 2016 after an inflatable boat carrying 55 Africans, seven of them women and six chidren, was rescued by the Spanish coast guard off the Spanish coast. Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee holds two children as dozens arrive on an overcrowded boat on the Greek island of Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures A child, covered by emergency blankets, reacts as she arrives, with other refugees and migrants, on the Greek island of Lesbos, At least five migrants including three children, died after four boats sank between Turkey and Greece, as rescue workers searched the sea for dozens more, the Greek coastguard said Refugee crisis - in pictures Migrants wait under outside the Moria registration camp on the Lesbos. Over 400,000 people have landed on Greek islands from neighbouring Turkey since the beginning of the year Refugee crisis - in pictures The bodies of Christian refugees are buried separately from Muslim refugees at the Agios Panteleimonas cemetery in Mytilene, Lesbos Refugee crisis - in pictures Macedonian police officers control a crowd of refugees as they prepare to enter a camp after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A refugee tries to force the entry to a camp as Macedonian police officers control a crowd after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees are seen aboard a Turkish fishing boat as they arrive on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing a part of the Aegean Sea from the Turkish coast to Lesbos Reuters Refugee crisis - in pictures An elderly woman sings a lullaby to baby on a beach after arriving with other refugees on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A man collapses as refugees make land from an overloaded rubber dinghy after crossing the Aegean see from Turkey, at the island of Lesbos EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures A girl reacts as refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees make a show of hands as they queue after crossing the Greek border into Macedonia near Gevgelija Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures People help a wheelchair user board a train with others, heading towards Serbia, at the transit camp for refugees near the southern Macedonian town of Gevgelija AP Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees board a train, after crossing the Greek-Macedonian border, near Gevgelija. Macedonia is a key transit country in the Balkans migration route into the EU, with thousands of asylum seekers - many of them from Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia - entering the country every day Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures An aerial picture shows the "New Jungle" refugee camp where some 3,500 people live while they attempt to enter Britain, near the port of Calais, northern France Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures A Syrian girl reacts as she helped by a volunteer upon her arrival from Turkey on the Greek island of Lesbos, after having crossed the Aegean Sea EPA Refugee crisis - in pictures Refugees arrive by boat on the Greek island of Lesbos after crossing the Aegean sea from Turkey Getty Images Refugee crisis - in pictures Beds ready for use for migrants and refugees are prepared at a processing center on January 27, 2016 in Passau, Germany. The flow of migrants arriving in Passau has dropped to between 500 and 1,000 per day, down significantly from last November, when in the same region up to 6,000 migrants were arriving daily.

By contrast Germanys Government processed that many refugees in one busy weekend and has said could take over a million over the next year.

The UK has also refused to accept refugees who have travelled to European under their own steam and is only relocating people from camps near the Syrian conflict zone.

Additionally, Britain has refused to take part in an EU refugee scheme to redistribute people claiming refuge in southern European countries, where services are already at breaking point.

Ministers have previously said they believe provision for refugees coming to Europe - including search and rescue cover for those travelling by boat - would encourage more people to make the journey.

The European Commission says three million refugees are set to enter the European Union by 2016.

A government spokesperson said: The terrible images we have seen in the last year have moved us all, strengthening our resolve to help prevent more people suffering such a fate.

That is why we are resettling people directly from the countries neighbouring Syria, to which so many refugees have fled, and we have already met our target of welcoming 1,000 of the most vulnerable before Christmas.

The UK is also playing a leading role providing life-saving aid to those most in need, both in the Syrian region, where we have pledged over 1.1bn in humanitarian aid, and in Europe. It is essential that we focus our support where we can make the biggest impact.
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Former ministers have been banned from staying at British embassies free of charge and from asking diplomats stationed in them to help with their private commercial work.

According to the Foreign Office, the new crackdown will mean UK embassies will no longer provide assistance for visits of former prime ministers and ministers, unless the trip is on official government business.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said: Former prime ministers and former ministers who want support as representatives of UK business must now make their requests through the same process that all companies follow.

It comes after a Freedom of Information request submitted by Andrew Brigden, a Tory MP, found Tony Blair had stayed twice at the residence of the UK ambassador to the United States  three years after he stood down as British prime minister.

According to reports in the Daily Telegraph, Mr Blair has stayed rent-free on several occasions in the British ambassadors residence in Paris at the taxpayers expense since stepping down as prime minister. The newspaper also claims that on each occasion Mr Blair was accompanied by up to six people, excluding his security detail.

It has previously been alleged that the former prime minister stayed at the British embassy in Tripoli while meeting with Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan dictator, on private business.

A spokesman for Mr Blair said: As with other former prime ministers, Mr Blair has been invited to stay at embassies, though for the majority of visits he would stay in a hotel.

UK news in pictures Show all 50 1 /50 UK news in pictures UK news in pictures 18 October 2022 Just Stop Oil protesters continue their protest for a second day on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which links Kent and Essex and which remains closed for traffic, after it was scaled by two climbers from the group PA UK news in pictures 17 October 2022 Hundreds of students take part in the traditional Raisin Monday foam fight on St Salvator's Lower College Lawn at the University of St Andrews in Fife PA UK news in pictures 16 October 2022 A protester holds a placard during a march into central London at a demonstration by the climate change protest group Extinction Rebellion AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 15 October 2022 A member of the public drags an activist who is blocking the road during a "Just Stop Oil" protest, in London, Britain REUTERS UK news in pictures 14 October 2022 Germanys Womens double skulls during day one of the World Rowing Beach Sprint Finals at Saundersfoot beach, Pembrokeshire PA UK news in pictures 13 October 2022 Family and mourners arrive at St Michael's Church, in Creeslough, for the funeral mass of 49-year-old mother of four Martina Martin, who died following an explosion at the Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal on Friday PA UK news in pictures 12 October 2022 Motorists in Coventry pass trees showing autumnal colour PA UK news in pictures 11 October 2022 A woman and her dog in the the North Sea at Tynemouth Longsands beach before sunrise PA UK news in pictures 10 October 2022 Police officers remove a campaigner from a Just Stop Oil protest on The Mall, near Buckingham Palace, London PA UK news in pictures 9 October 2022 A drummer plays during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, London PA UK news in pictures 8 October 2022 Timothee Chalamet attending the UK premiere of Bones and All during the BFI London Film Festival 2022 at the Royal Festival Hall, Southbank Centre, London PA UK news in pictures 7 October 2022 Two young male fallow deer lock antlers in Dublins Phoenix park as rutting season begins PA UK news in pictures 6 October 2022 The Princess of Wales during a cocktail making competition during a visit to Trademarket, a new outdoor street-food and retail market situated in Belfast city centre, as part of the royal visit to Northern Ireland PA UK news in pictures 5 October 2022 Greenpeace protesters interrupt Prime Minister Liz Truss as she delivers her keynote speech to the Conservative Party annual conference PA UK news in pictures 4 October 2022 Prime Minister Liz Truss and Britains Chancellor of the Exchequer Kwasi Kwarteng wearing hard hats and hi-vis jackets, visit a construction site for a medical innovation campus in Birmingham AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 3 October 2022 British artist Sam Cox, aka Mr Doodle, reveals the Doodle House, a twelve-room mansion at Tenterden, in Kent, which has been covered, inside and out in the artist's trademark monochrome, cartoonish hand-drawn doodles PA UK news in pictures 2 October 2022 Erling Haaland celebrates after scoring Manchester City's second goal against Manchester United at Etihad Stadium. Haaland went on to score a hattrick, his third of the season in the Premier League. City beat United 6-3. Manchester City FC/Getty UK news in pictures 1 October 2022 Protesters hold up flags and placards at a protest in London. A variety of protest groups including Enough is Enough, Don't Pay and Just Stop Oil all demonstrated on the day AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 30 September 2022 British Prime Minister Liz Truss, who has not been seen in days, leaves the back of Downing Street after a meeting with Office For Budget Responsibility following the release of her governments mini-budget Getty UK news in pictures 29 September 2022 The Virginia creeper foliage on the Tu Hwnt i'r Bont (Beyond the Bridge) Llanwrst, Conwy North Wales, has changed colour from green to red in at the start of Autumn. The building was built in 1480 as a residential dwelling but has been a tearoom for over 50 years PA UK news in pictures 28 September 2022 Criminal barristers from the Criminal Bar Association (CBA), demonstrates outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, as part of their ongoing pay row with the Government PA UK news in pictures 27 September 2022 David White, Garter King of Arms, poses with an envelope franked with the new cypher of King Charles III 'CIIIR', after it was printed in the Court Post Office at Buckingham Palace in central London AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 26 September 2022 A gallery staff member poses next to a painting by Lucian Freud - Self-portrait (Fragment), 1956 - on show at a photocall for the Credit Suisse exhibition - Lucian Freud: New Perspectives at the National Gallery in London PA UK news in pictures 25 September 2022 Labour leader, Sir Keir Starmer is interviewed by Laura Kuenssberg in Liverpool before the start of the Labour Party annual Conference which he opened with a tribute to Queen Elizabeth II and sang the national anthem PA UK news in pictures 24 September 2022 Handout photo issued by Buckingham Palace of the ledger stone at the King George VI Memorial Chapel, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle PA UK news in pictures 23 September 2022 A climate change activist protests against UK private jets while lighting his right arm on fire during the Laver Cup tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London EPA UK news in pictures 22 September 2022 Woody Woodmansey, Lee Bennett, Kevin Armstrong, Nick Moran and Clifford Slapper attend the unveiling of a stone for David Bowie on the Music Walk of Fame at Camden, north London PA UK news in pictures 21 September 2022 A flock of birds in the sky as the sun rises over Dungeness in Kent PA UK news in pictures 20 September 2022 Flowers which were laid by members of the public in tribute to Queen Elizabeth II at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland are collected by the Hillsborough Gardening Team and volunteers to be replanted for those that can be saved or composted PA UK news in pictures 19 September 2022 The ceremonial procession of the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II travels down the long walk as it arrives at Windsor Castle for the committal service at St Georges Chapel AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 18 September 2022 A man stands among campers on The Mall ahead of the Queens funeral Reuters UK news in pictures 17 September 2022 Wolverhampton Wanderers Nathan Collins fouls Manchester Citys Jack Grealish leading to a red card. City went on to win the match at Molineux Stadium three goals to nil. Action Images/Reuters UK news in pictures 16 September 2022 Members of the public stand in the queue near Tower Bridge, and opposite the Tower of London, as they wait in line to pay their respects to the late Queen Elizabeth II, in London AFP via Getty Images UK news in pictures 15 September 2022 Members of the public in the queue on in Potters Fields Park, central London, as they wait to view Queen Elizabeth II lying in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 14 September 2022 The first members of the public pay their respects as the vigil begins around the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II in Westminster Hall, London, where it will lie in state ahead of her funeral on Monday PA UK news in pictures 13 September 2022 Crowds cheer as King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort arrive for a visit to Hillsborough Castle Getty UK news in pictures 12 September 2022 Crowds line the Royal Mile, Edinburgh, as King Charles III joins a procession from the Palace of Holyroodhouse to St Giles Cathedral following the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II Katielee Arrowsmith/SWNS UK news in pictures 11 September 2022 Members of the Public pay their respects as the hearse carrying the coffin of Queen Elizabeth II, draped in the Royal Standard of Scotland, is driven through Ballater AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 10 September 2022 Britain's Prince William, Prince of Wales, Britain's Catherine, Princess of Wales, Britain's Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, Britain's Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, wave at well-wishers on the Long walk at Windsor Castle AFP/Getty UK news in pictures 9 September 2022 King Charles III and Camilla, Queen Consort wave after viewing floral tributes to the late Queen Elizabeth II outside Buckingham Palace Getty UK news in pictures 8 September 2022 A screen commemorating Britain's Queen Elizabeth II in Piccadilly Circus, London Britain EPA UK news in pictures 7 September 2022 Police officers stand guard after Animal Rebellion activists threw paint on the walls and road outside the Houses of Parliament in protest, in London, Britain Reuters UK news in pictures 6 September 2022 Queen Elizabeth II welcomes Liz Truss during an audience at Balmoral, Scotland, where she invited the newly elected leader of the Conservative party to become Prime Minister and form a new government PA UK news in pictures 5 September 2022 Visitors at the PoliNations garden in Victoria Square, Birmingham, which is made up of five 40ft high tree installations and over 6,000 plants. The PoliNations programme aims to explore how migration and cross-pollination have shaped the UKs gardens and culture PA UK news in pictures 4 September 2022 Undergraduates at the University of St Andrews take part in the traditional Pier Walk along the harbour walls of St Andrews before the start of the new academic year PA UK news in pictures 3 September 2022 The Massed Pipes and Drums parade during the Braemar Highland Gathering at the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife Memorial Park PA UK news in pictures 2 September 2022 Number 12 Company Irish Guards at Wellington Barracks, central London, before commencing their first Guard Mount at Buckingham Palace PA UK news in pictures 1 September 2022 A salmon leaps up the weir at Hexham in Northumberland, despite the drought warnings and low water levels, the River Tyne is still flowing well allowing the salmon and sea trout to head up river to spawn. Every year tens of thousands of salmon make the once-in-a-lifetime journey along the Tyne to spawn, having been out a sea PA UK news in pictures 31 August 2022 Flowers are placed at the gates outside Kensington Palace, London, the former home of Diana, Princess of Wales, on the 25th anniversary of her death PA UK news in pictures 30 August 2022 Edinburghs waste workers clearing mountains of rubbish at Forrest Road as they return to work following their 11 days of industrial action PA

He was usually accompanied by one or two members of staff although when on visits related to his role as Quartet Representative, and where appropriate, FCO secondees to the OQR would be invitedTony Blair has been treated no differently from any other former PM and the notion that he has used these invitations for business reasons is absurdHe stays only at the express invitation of the ambassador.

In the case of both Paris and Washington DC he will have had political meetings as it is useful both for him and the embassy to compare notes.
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The Government is to directly commission the building of 10,000 new homes on public land as part of a radical new plan to build at a faster rate using smaller companies.

Prime Minister David Cameron described the move as a huge shift, claiming it marks the biggest use of such a policy since Margaret Thatcher and Michael Heseltine started the regeneration of London's Docklands in the Eighties.

Rather than waiting for major construction firms to work their way through the governments long list of housebuilding projects, the scheme will see smaller businesses take on less extensive sites that have already have planning permission.

The policy will be backed by an extra 1.2 billion to prepare brownfield sites for the building of 30,000 starter homes - available to first time buyers under 40 for at least a 20 per cent discount - over the next five years.

David Cameron described the move as a huge shift, claiming it marks the biggest use of such a policy since Margaret Thatcher and Michael Heseltine started the regeneration of London's Docklands in the Eighties (Getty)

"This Government was elected to deliver security and opportunity - whatever stage of life you're at. Nothing is more important to achieving that than ensuring hard-working people can buy affordable homes, Mr Cameron said.

"Today's package signals a huge shift in government policy. Nothing like this has been done on this scale in three decades - government rolling its sleeves up and directly getting homes built.

"Backed up with a further 1.2 billion to get homes built on brownfield sites, it shows we will do everything we can to get Britain building and let more people have the security that comes with a home of their own."

The construction of the first wave of up to 13,000 directly commissioned homes - 40% of which will be starter homes - will begin this year in Dover, Chichester, Gosport, Northstowe in Cambridgeshire and Old Oak Common in north west London.

In addition to these, the extra 1.2 billion will fast track the creation of at least 30,000 new starter homes and up to 30,000 market rate homes on 500 new brownfield sites by 2020. The new projects form part of the Government's commitment to building 200,000 starter homes before the end of the Parliament.

Half of all new homes are constructed by the top eight house builders and the direct commissioning approach will help smaller builders and new competitor firms, according to No 10.

Additional reporting PA
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Seemingly determined to prove their incompetence to already derisive Cumbrians, a delegation featuring members of two government departments had to make a 20-mile round journey after allegedly finding themselves stranded on the wrong side of the collapsed bridge.

Floods Minister Rory Stewart, Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin and an extensive entourage had been due to meet residents of the villages of Soulby and Pooley Bridge to discuss efforts to rebuild the local community in the wake of the recent floods.

But in a scene worthy of BBC political comedy The Thick of It, the group appear to have found themselves stuck on the wrong side of Pooley Bridge and faced with a dilemma over whether to try and swim across the swollen River Eamont or to make a rather embarrassing call for help.

So the whole village turned out yesterday afternoon to attend a meeting with our member of parliament Rory Stewart and... Posted by Leeroy Fowler on Monday, 28 December 2015

Discounting the fact they were already 20 minutes late to the meeting before realising their mistake, the delegation purportedly thought better of taking to the water in the standard Westminster uniform of dark suits and lace-up shoes and made frantic calls on their mobile phones.

Writing of the alleged incident on Facebook, local resident Leeroy Fowler said: So the whole village turned out yesterday afternoon to attend a meeting with our member of parliament Rory Stewart and the Secretary of State along with the British Transport minister to discuss the future of our village.

They turned up 20 minutes late on the wrong side of our washed away bridge. A local farmer had to make a 30 minute journey via quad bike to get them here whilst the entourage made the 20 mile journey via road to get to where this picture was taken. You couldn't make it up, he added.

The confusion could be explained away by the fact Pooley Bridge only recently collapsed, with incredible footage taken on December 6 showing the structure crumbling into the fast-flowing River Eamont. That excuse loses its credence under examination, however, as the local MP is none other than Rory Stewart, who is known to have visited Pooley Bridge at least once since it collapsed.

A spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs poured cold water on Mr Fowler's claims however, saying the delegation had always intended to visit the other side of the bridge to examine the extent of the damage. She added that Mr Stewart had only made informal arrangements to meet locals and therefore wasn't late for a scheduled meeting either.
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Jeremy Corbyn has called on the Department for Transport to step in and reverse the ever-increasing rise in rail fares as he reiterated his pledge to renationalise the railways.

The Labour leader joined protesters at the Rail Rip Off campaign outside Kings Cross station in London following the 1.1 per cent increase in regulated ticket prices at the weekend.

British commuters pay up to six times as much as their counterparts in France, Germany and Holland, whose governments run large parts of Britains railways.

Recommended Read more How to save money on train tickets after fares increase

Mr Corbyn pointed out that parts of the UK's railways were run by foreign state-owned companies and said a Labour government would bring train operators back under public ownership once their franchises expire.

Ed Miliband pledged at the election to allow the public sector to challenge private operators to take on the running of rail franchises but Mr Corbyn would go further and renationalise them.

Speaking at King's Cross on Monday morning, when most people experienced the latest fare increase for the first time, he said renationalisation would be the only way to ensure the railways were affordable for everyone.

Jeremy Corbyn flanked by Shadow Transport Secretary Lillian Greenwood at the Rail Rip Off campaign (PA)

Fare rises have gone up yet again, the railways are becoming less and less affordable for lots of people, many that have bought property or moved to either the suburbs of London or further away or the suburbs of many of our major cities, have moved further out and are then stuck with having to pay very high fares to get in and out of work, he told LBC Radio.

If it goes on like this then people will go back to road transport, we go to greater congestion.

The railways are a sustainable, good form of transport and they should be affordable for all.

We have the most expensive railways in Europe and some of them are publicly owned but unfortunately not by the British public.

Theyre owned by the Dutch, the French, the German public; what we want is the train operative companies brought into public ownership as their franchises expire.

But in the meantime we want the Department for Transport to get hold of the fare structure so that commuting is affordable, so that railways are affordable for all.

 Inter-City rail fares racing towards 1 a mile

He refused to talk about mounting speculation that he is preparing a Shadow Cabinet reshuffle to remove internal critics.

But notably he did not deny that he was planning a reshuffle.

Im not talking about the reshuffle this morning. No words about the reshuffle whatsoever, he said.

Green party MP Caroline Lucas also joined protests outside her hometown station in Brighton and said the latest fare rise strengthened the case for renationalising the railways.

"The case for public ownership of our railways grows every year. As prices continue to soar, many services are failing woefully," she said.

"If the government really wants to make savings and improve our transport network for everyone, it should recognise that privatisation has failed and take steps to return the railways to public ownership.

"By taking back individual franchises when they expire or when a company fails to meet its franchise conditions, the state could save over 1 billion a year every year  an amount that can be spent on improving services and reducing rail fares."
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Junior doctors in England will strike next Tuesday after talks with the Government failed to reach an agreement, the British Medical Association has said.

The 24-hour strike on 12 January will be followed up by 48-hour industrial action starting on 26 January as well as another day on 10 February, the British Medical Association has announced.

All three of the strikes will start at 8am. During the first two junior scheduled actions doctors will provide only emergency care. The final scheduled strike will involve a full withdrawal of labour, the BMA says.

The first strikes will hit at a time of heightened winter pressures on NHS services. Patient demand peaked at this time last year, leading to more than a dozen major incidents declared at NHS hospitals.

In an indicator that the health service could be entering a similar spell, the James Paget University Hospital in Great Yarmouth declared a major incident today amid what it called "unprecedented demand".

The hospitals chief executive asked patients not to attend A&E unless their condition was life or limb threatening. The hospital was attended by 93 ambulances on Sunday  almost twice the average.

The BMA called off a previously planned strike last year with hours to go before it began in order to conduct more negotiations with the Government.

These negotiations do not appear to have produced progress, however.

BMA council chairman Dr Mark Porter said ministers were not taking medics' concerns seriously and accused them of dragging their feet.

"Throughout this process the BMA has been clear that it wants to reach agreement on a contract that is good for patients, junior doctors and the NHS," he said in a statement.

"This is why, despite overwhelming support for industrial action, the BMA instead sought conciliation talks with the Government, talks which were initially rejected and delayed by Jeremy Hunt.

Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Show all 9 1 /9 Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Elliott Livingstone Two-year-old Elliott is a cheeky little boy who has a Thomas the Tank Engine sticker on his Berlin heart machine, which has kept him alive since his own heart failed eight months ago. Elliott has two tubes pumping blood around his tiny body. It keeps him alive but the machine has left him confined to the wards of Great Ormond Street Hospital until a new heart is found Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Melissa Strickland As the ward sister on Koala Ward, Melissa Strickland leads a nursing team with the challenging job of looking after children with craniofacial and neurological conditions. You have to have all the skills and knowledge to do this job but personally for me you cannot do it unless you have passion but also compassion, she said. You dont get used to the sad side of things but you do learn to manage it. Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Amy Willis Amy Willis carries a discreet black medical bag everywhere she goes. It contains the cutting-edge HeartWare device that is keeping her alive. A smaller, more advanced version of the Berlin artificial heart, it was fitted in April after she was emergency airlifted to GOSH from Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool. The device means that 14-year-old Amy can be home in Flintshire this Christmas while remaining on the heart transplant waiting list. She is doing well but 15 per cent of patients with a HeartWare device or Berlin heart die while waiting for a new heart, so money raised by the appeal will also go to help researchers identify ways to keep children alive while they await transplant Lucy Young Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Myra Bluebond-Langner Professor Myra Bluebond-Langner represents the vital work of the Louis Dundas Centre for Childrens Palliative Care, GOSHs world-class centre dedicated to research and care for children with life-limiting illnesses. The LDC is named in honour of Louis Dundas, a four-year-old boy who died in unspeakable pain after suffering a brain tumour in April 2008. Its aim is to ensure that no child suffers unnecessarily in their final days. Money raised from The Independents Give to GOSH appeal will go to fund the teams work to manage pain, and also fund vital research into palliative care in children across the whole of the UK. Professor Bluebond-Langner, who heads the research, said: Paediatric palliative care is a relatively new field where practice has outstripped research. We look to change that. Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Finella Craig Together with with Professor Myra Bluebond-Langner, Dr Finella Craig represents the vital work of the Louis Dundas Centre for Childrens Palliative Care, GOSHs world-class centre dedicated to research and care for children with life-limiting illnesses. The LDC is named in honour of Louis Dundas, a four-year-old boy who died in unspeakable pain after suffering a brain tumour in April 2008. Its aim is to ensure that no child suffers unnecessarily in their final days. One of the worst experiences for a family is to witness their child in pain and discomfort, and for them to feel totally powerless to do anything about it, said Dr Craig, a consultant in paediatric palliative medicine at GOSH since 2002. Money raised from The Independents Give to GOSH appeal will go to fund the teams work to manage pain, and also fund vital research into palliative care in children across the whole of the UK. Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Rowan Pethard Like most little boys, Rowan Pethard loves playing football. At the start of 2015 the seven-year-old Spurs fan baffled his doctors in Hemel Hempstead with a string of coughs, colds, tummy bugs, aches, pains and rashes. It wasnt until quite late on that doctors discovered he had leukaemia. He spent two days in intensive care while he had emergency chemo. He has two years of follow-up treatment ahead. Hes amazing, a little superhero, his mum said. It makes it easier for his father and I and his brother to cope. Joe Plimmer Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Martin Elliott Paediatric heart and lung surgeon Martin Elliott, 64, is one of the longest serving doctors at GOSH, leading groundbreaking research and treating thousands of patients over the past 30 years. His work has bridged the gap between surgery and research with skills ranging from heart-bypass surgery to correcting congenital lung disorders. Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Ralph Frost For Ralph the hardest thing about having to live at GOSH while he waits for a new kidney isnt missing his toys. He has plenty of those and can terrorise the nurses by pushing his little red motorbike down the corridors of Eagle Ward. The hardest thing for the six-year-old is battling not to cry out during his nightly dialysis sessions. It really hurts, he said. But the other kids are sleeping and I dont want to wake them up. Ralph suffers from nephrotic syndrome and is currently waiting for a kidney from his father, Nick. Hes called the kidney Chase and his parents, who have been trained to operate his dialysis machine, hope to be home by Christmas Lucy Young Meet the patients and doctors of GOSH Lynsey Steele The strongest praise for Lynsey Steele, 33, comes from the parents of the children she helps. The children here wouldnt get by without Lynsey, said Ralphs mother Amie Frost. If she wasnt here then wed have cracked up. Lynseys role, which is funded by the Great Ormond Street Hospital Childrens Charity and will be supported by The Independents Give to GOSH appeal, is to help children play and relax, but also to have the difficult conversations explaining their treatment Ash Knotek

"After weeks of further negotiations, it is clear that the Government is still not taking junior doctors concerns seriously. Furthermore, the Government has repeatedly dragged its feet throughout this process, initially rejecting our offer of talks and failing to make significant movement during negotiations.

"We sincerely regret the disruption that industrial action will cause, but junior doctors have been left with no option. It is because the Governments proposals would be bad for patient care as well as junior doctors in the long-term that we are taking this stand."

Junior doctors voted by a huge majority to go on strike in a ballot conducted in November. 98 per cent of doctors balloted voted to strike on a turnout of 76 per cent. 99.4 per cent of doctors said they would take part in action short of a strike.

The strike centres around a contract dispute dispute in which Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt is attempting to redefine what constitutes anti-social hours for doctors.

Doctors have warned that the changes would put patients safety and risk by incentivising unsafe working patterns.

The Government has also admitted that junior doctors who work the very longest hours will face a pay cut. The overall change is planned to be cost-neutral.

In a letter to Dr Porter, Mr Hunt claimed the BMA had not fully considered new proposals from the NHS Employers organisation, including the new system of financial penalties to guarantee safe working hours.

He said that industrial action helps no-one, and maintained that good progress had been made in talks with 15 out of 16 issues addressed and only one, cuts to weekend pay, remaining unresolved.

Mr Hunt claims the changes are necessary to improve services at the weekends, which he has dubbed a 7-day NHS.

Heidi Alexander MP, Labours Shadow Health Secretary, said: Nobody wants to see industrial action, not least junior doctors. However from day one Jeremy Hunts handling of these negotiations has been a complete and utter shambles. There is only one person patients should blame for todays news and thats Jeremy Hunt.

Before this situation escalates any further, the Government needs to go back to the drawing board and come up with proposals that are fair to junior doctors and safe for patients. This deadlock cannot be allowed to go on.

Labour has previously said that Mr Hunt should be stripped of responsibility for negotiations with the doctors and that mediators should be urgently brought in to prevent a stoppage.

Dr John Fisher of the BMA said that such a strike could be carried out without harming patient safety, while Mr Hunt has said it would put patients at risk.

Academic studies of doctors strikes in previous countries have found that they have tended not to increase death rates  largely because elective care is suspended reallocated to deal with emergencies.

Prior to the previous strike threat Sir Robert Francis QC, president of the Patients Association, however said doctors should not go on strike, and called for some form of mediation.
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Jeremy Corbyn has told journalists not to stand outside his parliamentary office in the hope of catching the latest shadow cabinet reshuffle rumours. The Labour leader emerged from his office this afternoon to find journalists waiting outside in the hope of hearing who could be in or out of Labours front bench team.

Apparently unimpressed, Mr Corbyn told the press: Excuse me guys, do you mind not hanging around outside my office door, could you all leave please?

The incident comes after the Labour leader was warned against conducting a "divisive and petty" reshuffle by shadow cabinet minister Pat McFadden.

The Shadow Cabinet reshuffle comes as:

The Labour leader notably did not deny that he was planning a reshuffle when asked about it on Monday morning.

Im not talking about the reshuffle this morning. No words about the reshuffle whatsoever, he said, thereby confirming that one will take place.

The reshuffle is expected to be announced by Tuesday lunchtime but with Mr Corbyn already holding one-to-one meetings, details of sackings and appointments could emerge at any moment.

Pat McFadden, the shadow Europe minister who effectively serves as Mr Benn's deputy in the shadow foreign team, telling Radio 4's Westminster Hour: "He has talked of an open, pluralist kind of politics but a reshuffle for that reason could end looking more petty and divisive than open and pluralist politics."

Those in danger of being demoted or sacked by Mr Corbyn include big names, such as Mr Benn, Maria Eagle, Michael Dugher and Rosie Winterton, who could all be replaced by Corbynists or MPs who accept his huge mandate from the partys grassroots.

Heres who may get a promotion:

Diane Abbott (shadow International Development Secretary): Veteran MP shares Corbyns politics, is his parliamentary neighbour and had a relationship with him. She served on the front bench under Ed Miliband but was sacked for disloyalty. She sent her son to a private school, which she admitted was indefensible.

Diane Abbott, the Shadow International Development Secretary and close ally of Jeremy Corbyn (Getty)

Richard Burgon (shadow City minister): New MP and Motorhead fan, among Corbyns most enthusiastic supporters. Had a difficult start in his portfolio, admitting he could not remember Britains budget deficit and was yet to meet anyone from the City of Londons financial industry.

Cat Smith (shadow minister for Women): She says: Im a socialist. And in no particular order Im also a feminist, Christian, environmentalist, trade unionist, republican and proud Northerner who calls a spade and spade.

Emily Thornberry (shadow Employment minister): Corbyn brought his fellow Islington MP back to the front bench after she resigned over a snobby picture she posted of a house bedecked with England flags. Voted for Yvette Cooper as leader.
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Argentinas new conservative government has confirmed it will continue the countrys claim on the Falkland Islands peacefully and seek co-operation with Britain to resolve the dispute, it said on Sunday.

Argentina renews its firm commitment to peacefully settling its differences, to international law and multilateralism, said the foreign minister, Susana Malcorra, in a statement under president Mauricio Macris government.

Buenos Aires invited the United Kingdom to resume as soon as possible negotiations aimed at settling fairly and definitively, the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas (Falkands) Islands, South Georgia, South Sandwich Islands and surrounding territorial seas, she added.

In a previous statement, Ms Malcorra said: To believe that relations with Great Britain are limited to the Malvinas issue is to say the least an over simplification of those links.

Yes we have an area of dissent which are the Malvinas Islands and we must find a way to address and solve the issue, but this does not mean we have to cancel all dialogue with the United Kingdom.

 Diplomatic row over Falkland Islands heats up

We have areas of common interest where to advance.

Argentina and Britain were at war for two months in 1982 over ownership of the islands, where 649 Argentinians and 255 British servicemen died.

Tensions over who owns the islands are still high between the two nations, which worsened during Cristina Kirchners eight year presidency.

Ms Kirchner, who stepped down last month, had a specific Malvinas island minister, which Mr Macris government will not include.

Argentina claims they inherited the archipelago from Spain upon independence, while the UK says it has historically ruled them, but says the islanders should have the right to self-determination.
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Labour has written to Justice Secretary Michael Gove demanding that the agreement signed between the UK and Saudi Arabian governments over judicial cooperation be published and abolished following the mass execution of 47 people in the Gulf state on Friday.

The memorandum of understanding  signed in September 2014  tied the two countries into cooperating on judicial matters and Downing Street confirmed that the cooperation continues, despite Mr Gove cancelling the Governments 6m prison training contract with Saudi Arabia last October.

Ministers are reluctant to cut ties with such a powerful ally in the Middle East and the Prime Minister's spokeswoman said maintaining on-going relations with Saudi Arabia was important in order to be able to raise concerns over human rights abuses.

But in an open letter to Mr Gove, Andy Slaughter, shadow human rights minister, said the mass executions on Saturday was proof that cancelling the prisons contract had no effect on pressurising Saudi Arabia to reform its hard-line justice system.

He said it would be inappropriate for the UK to be seen to be cooperating with the Saudi justice system and told him to release the yet-unpublished memorandum of understanding.

Serious concerns have been raised not only about the sentences and the manner in which the executions were carried out but also whether due process has been followed and whether the defendants received a fair trial, Mr Slaughter added in the open letter to Mr Gove.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

David Cameron finally broke his silence over the mass executions after being heavily criticised for his "shameful" and "extraordinary" failure to condemn the killings, which included the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Asked for the Prime Minister's reaction, his spokeswoman said: The Government has set out its position clearly over the weekend and that were opposed to the use of the death penalty under any circumstances.

The spokeswoman added: We have a range of bilateral cooperation with Saudi Arabia and that continues.

We have broad areas of cooperation where we would work in line with many governments around the world to look at how we can advance our interests and to help with the development of other countries judicial systems."

A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: No work has been undertaken by the Ministry of Justice as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding."

Here is the letter in full:

Dear Michael,



You may be aware of my interest in the Memorandum of Understanding on Judicial Cooperation between the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia signed on 10 September 2014 by your predecessor, Chris Grayling, and the Saudi Minister of Justice.



Thus far your department has declined to publish the Memorandum but, in response to Parliamentary Questions tabled by me in October 2015, Dominic Raab confirmed initial exploratory discussions have taken place on judicial cooperation with Saudi Arabia and that these are ongoing via the British Embassy in Riyadh. (WPQs 13724 and 12217 refer).



In the light of recent events, in particular the execution on 1 January of 47 Saudi and foreign nationals by beheading at various prison sites in Saudi Arabia, I hope you agree with me that it would be inappropriate at present for the UK to be seen to be cooperating with the Saudi justice system.



Serious concerns have been raised not only about the sentences and the manner in which the executions were carried out but also whether due process has been followed and whether the defendants received a fair trial.



In particular, the execution of Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr and three young Shia men whose offences appear to be taking part in political protests and demonstrations against the current government have caused dismay and outrage around the world.



I would be grateful if you could confirm:

 Whether discussions are still taking place between UK and Saudi officials under the terms of the Memorandum, and if so what those discussion entail?

 Whether you think it appropriate now to suspend any cooperation on judicial matters with Saudi Arabia in the light of the recent executions?

 Whether you will now publish the Memorandum so a better-informed discussion of this countrys relationship with Saudi Arabia on judicial matters can take place?



Your measured response to the Urgent Question I tabled on 13 October 2015, and your decision to withdraw from the prison contract with Saudi Arabia and disband the MoJ unit that negotiated it was widely praised and appreciated. It contrasted however with the Foreign Secretarys statement to Al Arabiya News in Bahrain on 1 November that the status of British-Saudi relations was business as usual and that he would have preferred the contract with Saudi Arabia to have been entered into as a sign of good faith.



To clarify the UK Governments position I urge you to take the further steps I have suggested, especially given the recent actions of the Saudi justice system.



Finally, you will also be aware that the Leader of the Opposition has requested the Prime Minister on several occasions to seek assurances from the Saudi authorities that sentence of death will not be carried out on Ali Al-Nimr, Dawood Al-Marhoon and Abdallah Al-Zaher, who were minors at the time of their alleged offences. Although this is primarily a matter for the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, I hope that you will also make what representations you can to your opposite number in Riyadh on behalf of these three young men.



Yours sincerely,



Andy Slaughter MP



Shadow Minister for Human Rights
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Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk has dismissed suggestions that he should step down after allegations he exchanged a series of sexual text messages with a 17-year-old girl.

Mr Danczuk, who was suspended from the Labour party shortly after the allegations emerged, said the people of Rochdale should decide who their MP was.

It is not for ex-girlfriends or ex-wives to determine who the MP for Rochdale is. It is for the residents of Rochdale to determine who the MP for Rochdale is," he told reporters outside his constituency office.

I have been very clear about what issues I have addressed personally and I will continue to do so.

The MP has however stopped short of calling a by-election to allow voters to remove him.

His ex-girlfriend and Labour councillor Claire Hamilton had told BBC Radio 4s Today programme this morning that the MP did not have a stop button when it came to consuming alcohol.

She added that her discovery of Mr Danczuks text messages had led to the ending of their relationship in the days after Christmas.

Other allegations of a serious nature have been made against the MP by his first ex-wife.

Mr Danczuk threatened legal action against Sonia Rossington after she made the claims in an interview with the Mail on Sunday newspaper. He says the allegations were defamatory and malicious.

The MP has set off on a walkabout of his constituency with the apparent intention of gauging public opinion.

Has his left his Rochdale office he was greeted by a protest from residents calling on him to resign.

Former Liberal Democrat Rochdale councillor Liz Thirsk, who was involved in organising the protest, told the Today programme that Mr Danczuk had to "tell us why he won't resign".

Mr Danczuk said the original sexing allegations were not entirely accurate but referred to a difficult time in his life.

He is currently being investigated by Labour national executive committee under the party's displinary procedures. It has been suggested that he may have brought the party into disrepute, which would contravene party rules.
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During the making of Planet Earth, a BBC wildlife photographer waited for 30 days in a mosquito filled hide in the New Guinea jungle just to capture the ten second long mating dance of the Superb Bird-of-Paradise.

Of course, none of us who did the same outside Jeremy Corbyns office all afternoon and evening today expected Hilary Benn to emerge and lindy hop across a nearby branch with his face protruding from a three foot wide plume of feathers, but as he scurried out of a back exit and repeated the phrase I am going back to my office ten times there was an unavoidable sense that the Reshuffle That Wasnt had not been worth the wait.

Shuffling, as casino card dealers and others know, is a job that necessitates a degree of secrecy, and lady luck was again not dealing Jeremy Corbyn a favourable hand.

He had at least learnt from his mistakes. His virginal shuffle of the Labour deck in September had taken place in his Chief Whips office just off Central Lobby, where he had the misfortune to find out too late that a number of journalists had had their ears pressed against the office door for the entirety of his lengthy phone conversations in which large numbers of MPs turned down his job offers.

This time, he at least had the sagacity to decamp to his own quarters, elsewhere on the parliamentary estate, and clear the entire floor of earwigging journalists, but there was nothing he could do to mitigate the fact that the lift by which he would spirit his secret visitors in and out is made of glass. Transparency is not always a good thing, and four hours of craning ones neck to attempt to positively identify the Shadow Foreign Secretary on the basis of the soles of his shoes in order to decide whether to intercept the lift as he may or may not be descending in it is a dispiriting business.

John McDonnells staff generously deployed the oldest trick in the public relations handbook and went off to make tea for everyone. This only slightly backfired when it transpired they didnt have any milk, but on the McDonnell scale, black tea goes down as an unqualified success.

Apologies and congratulations in equal measure if you dont know what the following means, but sadly it must be recorded for history that for more than an hour on the afternoon on January 4th 2016, Barry Gardiner trended on Twitter.

It started when the Shadow Minister for Energy and Climate Change and former Regional Manager at a Slough-based paper merchants had the temerity to go up the stairs. His office happens to be directly below Mr Corbyns, and its possible the speculation that he may in fact have just been going to the toilet was not entirely ill informed, but when he came down the stairs again later, smiling, laughing, and crucially, failing to deny, that was enough. It was that sort of day.
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And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. Numbers, chapter 20, verse 11.

Alain Gachet is a modern-day Moses. His hair is biblically white but unbiblically short. He has produced water abundantly from the rock in some of the worlds most pitiless deserts  Darfur in the western Sudan, northern Kenya and now in Ethiopia.

Mr Gachet is not a prophet but a French geologist. His instrument is not a rod but radar images of Earth taken from satellites. He has devised a computer programme which can unscramble surface obstructions and expose water shining far underground.

Mr Gachet, 65, says that his process (metaphorically) peels away the rocks like an onion and reveals unsuspected underground rivers and aquifers of fresh water lying hundreds of metres below the most drought-stricken parts of the planet.

In 2013 his method located a lake bigger than Windermere up to 300 metres below the parched northern tip of Kenya. He has helped NGOs locate the sites for scores of wells in Darfur in southern Sudan.

He has recently helped US government engineers to discovered immense water resources far below the deserts of northern Ethiopia. This finding has been little publicised, until now, partly because the Ethiopian government wants to avoid competing claims on the resource from nearby groups, including the extremist al-Shabaab.

Just like the water-divining activities of Moses in Numbers Chapter 20, Mr Gachets work can lead to political arguments, jealousies and misunderstandings. He sometimes feuds with relief charities and with Unesco but his work  literally ground-breaking - has been praised, and his expertise frequently sought, by the US government and the United Nations.

He is less well-known in his native France and in Europe  although he has recently received Frances highest civilian honour, the Legion dHonneur.

Mr Gachet has now written a book which describes his extraordinary career. He hopes the book  LHomme qui fait jaillir leau du desert (The man who makes the desert gush with water)  will help to lift his work to a new level.

Water  or the lack of water  in Africa and the Middle East is the ultimate source of almost all the terrible problems that we see in the news today, Mr Gachet told The Independent. Why are migrants pouring into Europe from Africa? Because drought means that their animals are dying and their families are dying and they have no choice but to seek a living elsewhere. He also believes drought has contributed to conflicts across the Middle East.

Similarly, the failure of crops from Tunisia to Syria, caused by shortages of water, is largely responsible for the conflicts which have spawned Daesh (Isis).

And yet, Mr Gachet believes  and has proved  that some of the most barren and impoverished territories on earth sit atop immense natural reservoirs of water. This deep water, he says, is constantly replenished and 30 times larger than the contents of all the worlds rivers, lakes and man-made reservoirs.

The only problem is that the deep water lies very deep indeed almost as deep as oil. To extract it is a very expensive business and, since water is not a market-quoted commodity, there is no proper commercial infrastructure for finding it and pumping it from the bowels of the earth.

Mr Gachet  once a prospecting geologist in the oil, gold and diamond industries  believes that his invention could be the basis for a global programme, possibly funded by the World Bank and the UN, to defeat endemic drought in Africa and the Middle East and Central Asia.

He and a colleague operate his business from Tarascon in the Rhone Delta. He is, however, far from being an armchair explorer.

Indiana Jones-like, Mr Gachet pursues his scientific findings to the ends of the earth, as a film documentary on France 5 TV will show next month. My philosophy has always been that you must have your eyes in the sky and your feet in the mud  or in the sand, he told The Independent.

Mr Gachet was present in person in July 2013 when successive jets of water from 120 metres, 200 metres and 330 below the ground  proved his assertion that there was a lake the size of Windermere below the Turkana desert in the northern extremity of Kenya.

He has exposed himself more recently to the predations of the Al-Shabaab jihadists from Somalia to supervise exploratory drilling funded by US Aid in northern Ethiopia.

The drillers are the real heroes of the story, facing Al-Shabaab terrorists scavenging and taking hostages, Mr Gachet said. My process allowed the drilling teams to work quickly and accurately, improving their security as they did not spend useless time drilling blindly.

The exploration proved the existence of a Karamara East Aquifer, 200 kilometres long and 50 kilometres wide, with water stretching to 700 metres below the surface.

The US geological service in a recent report said that the aquifer could contain up to 30 billion cubic metres of water improving the livelihoods of the nearly one million people living in this water-scarce area, most of whom live in poverty.

Mr Gachet devised his system, which he calls watex, in 2002. He is improving it all the time. Radar scans from satellites, or aircraft, can detect humidity up to 30 metres below the ground. The problem is that the humidity is often masked by surface obstructions, from houses to boulders.

Over two years, Mr Gachet invented a mathematical algorithm which, fed into a computer, strips away the surface interference and reveals the water below. Just like the Hubble telescope can look further into deep space because it is outside the earths atmosphere, my process allow us to see deeper into the ground, Mr Gachet said.

When you apply the watex programme to radar scans, the water glows. It really glows. You can see the shining veins of the edges of aquifers and underground rivers.

Although radar can only detect water up to 30 metres deep, the water-glow, if matched with geological surveys, can infer the presence of lakes up to 700 metres or more below the surface.

The watex system has already helped locate new temporary wells for refugees in Darfur and elsewhere. Its real benefit, however, could be to make drought a thing of the past  climate-change or not  in some of the most desiccated parts of the planet.

NGOs operating in the third world are in the business of solving emergencies and crises; they could see expensive long-term solutions as a distraction from immediate misery. Hence, in part, Mr Gachets occasional feuds with aid organisations.

He wants now, however, to make the case for a long-term watex-led international programme to conquer, or at least diminish, drought. As a first step, he is looking for an English-language publisher for his book.

Over a billion people have no easy access to drinking water, Mr Gachet said. Something like 1.8 million children die each year from diseases linked to drinking bad water. In another half century, there will be 5.5 billion  two thirds of the population of the planet  living in a state of severe water-shortage.

And yet, he insists, there is plenty of water available if we only look  and drill - downwards.
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A US sheriff has said the armed militia which has seized control of a federally owned nature reserve in Oregon wants to overthrow the government.

The group began its occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Burns after they broke away from a peaceful protest against the conviction of a group of local ranchers for arson.

The Harney County Sheriff David Ward told local news channel KTVZ: These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States.

According to Facebook posts by members of the so-called patriot movement, children were arriving on the reserve and appeared to be coming and going from the site freely.

 USA: Armed militia continue to occupy forest reserve in Oregon

One member, Maureen Peltier, wrote: Children are on the refuge now. Good men and women. Please make peaceful, responsible choices. But do not hang them out to dry.

These men and women are traveling freely at this time, to and from the refuge. There is no stand off.

She said in another post that there had been a baby at the refuge but that it since been taken away.

Recommended Read more The infamous family behind the militia occupation in Oregon

The group is led by the Bundy family - originally from Nevada - who claim they are defending Dwight and Steven Hammond - a father and son who are due to return to prison on Monday after having had their convictions for arson increased by a Oregon judge.

They were originally convicted for setting 100 acres of public land on fire in Oregon between 2001 and 2006 and were initially sentenced for three months and one year in jail respectively, but a judge reviewing the case said that was too lenient.

The Hammonds said they were using the fires to reduce the growth of invasive plants and to protect their property from wildfires on the land they had leased from the government.

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The pair have said they did not support the aims of the militiamen and had nothing to do with the protest.

The leader of the occupying group, Ammon Bundy - son of controversial anti-government rancher Cliven Bundy - said they were planning to stay on for years.

In a Facebook video, Ammon and his brother Ryan said: This will become a base place for patriots from all over the country to come to be housed and live here.

Were doing this for the people. Were doing this so the people can have their land and their resources back where they belong. Were calling people to come and stand. We need you to bring your arms and we need you to come to the Malheur National Wildlife refuge.
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A new defence appraisal has named the USA as one of the threats to Russia's national security for the first time, signifying how much relations between Russia and the west have deteriorated in recent years.

In the document, entitled 'About the Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation', it names the US and Nato as new threats to Russian security, due to the alliance trying to "retain [its] dominance in global affairs."

According to Reuters, this is the first time that the US has explicitly been named as a threat - the new document replaces a previous one from 2009, endorsed by then-President Dmitry Medvedev, which made no mention of either America or Nato.

The document was reportedly signed by President Vladimir Putin on 31 December 2015, making it official policy.

The document says that in recent years, Russia has managed to increase its role in solving global issues and conflicts, which has caused a reaction from the west.

"The strengthening of Russia happens against the background of new threats to the national security, which has complex and interrelated nature," it says.

Continuing policies that would heighten Russia's global standing will likely lead to "political, economical, military and informational pressure" on Russia, it adds.

Relations between Russia and the west have worsened in the last decade, but they took a big hit in March 2014 when Russian forces annexed the Crimean peninsula from Ukraine, after protests and unrest in the country forced its pro-Kremlin president to flee.

The west has since accused Russia of helping insurgents in eastern Ukraine, and a number of sanctions against prominent Russians and companies have been put in place.

Through opposing Russia's presence in Ukraine, Russia says the US and EU have supported an "anti-constitutional coup d'etat", which has led to the conflict in the country.

Significantly, the document does not mention Syria, where Russia recently began airstrikes against Isis forces and anti-Assad rebels.
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Two online petitions demanding the pardon of Steven Avery, the subject of the popular Netflix series Making a Murderer, have together received 100,000 signatures, just two weeks after the documentary premiered online.

*UPDATE* The petitions to free Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey have no reached over 150,000 signatures. Read the full story here.

The petitions, which are hosted on the official White House petition website and Change.org, have collectively gained a total of 114,679 signatures since they were created shortly after the show's premiere on 18 December 2015.

Making a Murderer documents the story of Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man who was sent to prison in 1985 for sexual assault and attempted murder. DNA evidence later proved that he was innocent of the crimes, and Avery was released from prison in 2003 after his conviction was overturned.

Two years after his release and his filing of a $36 million (24.4 million) lawsuit against Manitowoc County for his wrongful conviction, he was again accused and later convicted for the murder of Teresa Halbach, a photographer who was last seen near Avery's family home.

Avery has always maintained his innocence of both alleged crimes, and during his second trial his defence team claimed Manitowoc County police had framed him for Halbach's murder. He is currently serving a life sentence at Wisconsin's Waupun Correctional Institution.

Through chronicling Avery's story, the documentary has shone a light on the challenges and alleged failings of the criminal justice system, making allegations of improper interrogations and forced confessions.

It has also picked up a huge following online, with many fans poring over the details of the case themselves and asserting the innocence of Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey, who was also implicated in Halbach's death.

The text of the White House petition, which currently has around 18,000 signatures, says that Avery and Dassey "should be given a full pardon by President Obama for their wrongful conviction in the connection to the murder of Teresa Halbach."

"Based on the evidence in the Netflix documentary series Making a Murderer, the justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives."

Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions Show all 5 1 /5 Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions 1985: Steven Avery is falsely convicted of raping a Penny Beernsten She was jogging along the shore of Lake Michigan when she was threatened with a knife and attacked. Ms Beernsten identified Avery as her rapist from a line-up that did not include the actual attacker. AFP/Getty Images Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions 2003: Conviction overturned Avery's 32-year prison sentence was overturned after DNA testing by the Wisconsin Innocence Project proved his innocence and found a hair from Gregory Allen. He was convicted of the rape and Avery was released. Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions 2004: Avery files federal lawsuit against Manitowoc County police A Wisconsin Department of Justice investigation found police had committed no criminal offences or ethics violations, sparking a lawsuit from Avery seeking $36 million compensation. Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions 2005: Avery is arrested for Teresa Halbach's murder His Avery Auto Salvage business was the freelance photographer's last appointment of 31 October. She was reported missing four days later and police later found her car, bones, teeth and belongings at the site. Avery pleaded not guilty but was sentenced to life in prison in 2007. Timeline: Steven Avery's convictions 201: Netflix releases Making a Murderer The 10-episode documentary came after Avery's conviction was upheld in a 2011 appeal.

It also alleges that Manitowoc County police used "improper methods" to ensure the conviction of both men, and calls the entire episode a "black mark on the justice system as a whole." This petition still needs around 80,000 signatures before it is considered by White House staff.

The Change.org petition, which currently has around 97,000 signatures, also says Avery should recieve a presidential pardon, and calls for the Manitowoc County officials involved in the case to be "held accountable" in front of the law.

Officials have denied the series' claims of legal wrongdoing, with Manitowoc County Sheriff Robert Hermann telling local newspaper the Herald Times Reporter that the filmmakers "have taken things out of context and taken them out of the order in which they occurred, which can lead people to a different opinion or conclusion."

Former district attorney Ken Kratz, who acted as prosecutor in Avery and Dassey's trials, also told a local news station that "80 to 90 per cent" of the physical evidence that allegedly ties Avery to Halbach's murder was not presented in the documentary.

He alleged the show's creators, Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos, had not given him the opportunity to respond to the documentary's claims - something the filmmakers deny.

All 10 episodes of Making a Murderer are currently available to stream on Netflix.
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As of Sunday afternoon, The Washington Post called them"occupiers." The New York Times opted for "armed activists" and "militia men." And the Associated Press put the situation this way: "A family previously involved in a showdown with the federal government has occupied a building at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon and is asking militia members to join them."

Not one seemed to lean toward terms such as "insurrection," "revolt," anti-government "insurgents" or, as some on social media were calling them, "terrorists." When a group of unknown size and unknown firepower has taken over any federal building with plans and possibly some equipment to aid a years-long occupation  and when its representative tells reporters that they would prefer to avoid violence but are prepared to die  the kind of almost-uniform delicacy and the limits on the language used to describe the people involved becomes noteworthy itself.

It is hard to imagine that none of the words mentioned above  particularly "insurrection" or "revolt"  would be avoided if, for instance, a group of armed black Americans took possession of a federal or state courthouse to protest the police. Black Americans outraged about the death of a 12-year-old boy at the hands of police or concerned about the absence of a conviction in the George Zimmerman case have been frequently and inaccurately lumped in with criminals and looters, described as "thugs," or marauding wolf packs where drugs are, according to CNN's Don Lemon, "obviously" in use.

If a group of armed Muslims took possession of a federal building or even its lobby to protest calls to surveil the entire group, it's even more doubtful they could avoid harsher, more-alarming labels.

In fairness to those assembled in Oregon, it is true that there have been no reports of actual violence, injury or anyone being held inside the Oregon building against their will.

And in the interim, some may feel particularly inclined to take real care with the language used to describe the situation so as not to inflame it or offend people who, in some cases, have already been troubled by the decision to charge a father and son pair of ranchers with arson under the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. The charge not only carries what many of the rancher's supporters believe to be an unjust five-year jail term but; it brings the very same t-word into the mix.

For those who know the father and son  Dwight Hammond Jr. and his son, Steven Hammond  personally, it is understandable that they would disagree vehemently with any government action that implies that the men they know as engaged members of the community are terrorists. But one really cannot help but wonder where similar outrage lives when, in the face of clear data indicating that black Americans are far more likely than white ones to face serious charges and jail time rather than misdemeanor penalties for resisting arrest. Where has the lock-step adherence to careful and delicate language been in all of 2015 when unarmed black Americans were disproportionately more likely to be killed by police than others?

Beyond that seeming incongruity, the Hammonds are not among the occupiers. The man who has helped to organize the building occupation in Oregon is Ammon Bundy. Bundy is the son of Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher who engaged in a standoff in 2014 with the government over grazing rights. And the younger Bundy has, again, described the occupiers as "armed" and prepared to die.

Recommended Read more Anger over limited response to hostile takeover of US government HQ

The armed occupation of a federal building might be what Bundy considers an assertion of rights and a mere gathering in a taxpayer-financed space. But it would seem to contain the real risk of violence, serious injury or even death.

Deliberate language choices are always a wise and reasonable move. That is especially true when telling stories of conflict with government and political protests. But the incredibly limited and relatively soft range of words in wide use Sunday seems to extend beyond all of that. The descriptions of events in Oregon appear to reflect the usual shape of our collective assumptions about the relationship between race and guilt  or religion and violent extremism  in the United States.

White Americans, their activities and ideas seem always to stem from a font of principled and committed individuals. As such, group suspicion and presumed guilt are readily perceived and described as unjust, unreasonable and unethical.

You will note that while the group gathered in Oregon is almost assuredly all or nearly all white, that has scarcely been mentioned in any story. You will note that nothing even close to similar can be said about coverage of events in Missouri, Maryland, Illinois or any other place where questions about policing have given way to protests or actual riots.

You will note the extended debate about whether admitted Charleston shooter Dylann Roof's apparently racially motivated shooting spree was an act of terrorism or even violent racism and the comparatively rapid way that more than one news organization began hinting at and then using terms such as Islamic extremism to describe the mass shooting in San Bernardino, Calif.

The sometimes-coded but increasingly overt ways that some Americans are presumed guilty and violence-prone while others are assumed to be principled and peaceable unless and until provoked  even when actually armed  is remarkable.

Copyright: Washington Post
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A virus that causes babies to be born with shrunken heads appears to be spreading across South America.

The rare and incurable microcephaly condition, in which babies are born with abnormally small brains and skulls, has seen a surge in Brazil in the last year.

After 2,782 cases were registered in 2015 - compared to just 147 in 2014 - medical authorities were quick to link the deformation during pregnancy to mosquitos carrying the Zika virus, the New York Times reported.

The Aedes aegypti mosquito thrives in tropical climates and can carry the Zika virus, yellow fever, dengue fever and chikungunya. (Rex)

Puerto Rico is the most recent country to detect the Zika virus, according to CNN.

Pedro Pierluisi, Puerto Rico's representative in Congress, said he had been in touch with the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, which had confirmed the single case of Zika on the island.

The island joins Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay, Panama, Suriname and Venezuela, which have all detected the Zika virus since October.

Gleyse Kelly da Silva, a 27-year-old Brazilian mother of a child born with microcephaly, told the New York Times she had never heard of the condition before a doctor detected it.

"I cried for a month when I learned how God is testing us," she said.

"Now I just pray that my daughter can endure life with this misfortune."

Babies born with the condition suffer from an abnormally small brain and serious neurodevelopment issues, requiring either life-long care or resulting in early death.

The virus that causes the condition is carried by the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which can also carry yellow fever, dengue fever and chikungunya.

Its feverish symptoms were first discovered in Uganda in the 1940s and have since become endemic in parts of Africa, also spreading to the South Pacific and areas of Asia.

Because of global travel, health experts warn the virus could appear anywhere in the world.

"This is an unprecedented situation, unprecedented in world scientific research," Brazil's health ministry said on its website.

Doctors in Brazil are now investigating 29 infant deaths, and health officials have advised women to delay becoming pregnant because there is currently no known treatment for the disorder, according to CNN.

The World Health Organisation said the cause of the outbreak in the Americas had yet to be determined.
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A British man who was facing up to five years in prison for comments on Facebook comparing the Kyrgyzstan national dish to a horses penis is to be deported, it has been reported.

Michael Mcfeat was arrested in Kyrgyzstan for "racial hatred" and faced five years in jail for his comments, but his potential deportation is due to having the wrong documentation and not because of his comments, the BBC reports.

Mr Mcfeat, who works for the Toronto based Canterra Gold mining firm, caused outrage when he posted a picture of his Kurgyz colleagues on 31 December on Facebook queuing up for a horsemeat sausage, a national dish known as chuchuk. In the caption of the photograph Mr Mcfeat compared the delicacy to a horses penis.

It was reported that the caption also upset his co-workers to such an extent that they called a brief strike at the Kumtor goldmine.

Michael Mcfeat's apology on Facebook (Facebook)

He later deleted the post and replaced it with an apology, stating: I would like to take the opportunity to sincerely apologise for the comment I made on here about the Kygyz people and horses penis.

I truly never meant to offend anyone and Im truly sorry as it was never my intension. I would also like to say the people in the picture had absolutely nothing to do with it. Again, Im very, very sorry.

The BBCs Central Asian service reported that police also found Mr Mcfeat had not been inciting ethnic violence through his comments, according to Karakol City Court.

An FCO spokesman said: We are in contact with local authorities after a British national was detained in Kyrgyzstan. Our staff are also in touch with his family and are ready to provide assistance as required.
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Charlie Hebdo have revealed the cover of their special edition to mark the first anniversary of the 6 January terrorist attack which claimed the lives of 12 people in its offices.

The cover depicts a bearded man with a Kalashnikov slung across his back. The image is monochrome, with the exception of striking red splatters of blood on the hem and the cuff of the man's robes.

The French magazine has released a special edition to mark the first anniversary of the tragedy at their offices (Charlie Hebdo)

The edition is 32 pages long and will feature cartoons by staff who died in the attack, as well as designs by current cartoonists, it has been reported.

The satirical magazine will print approximately one million copies to be sold globally in honour of its deceased colleagues.

One year ago on Thursday Cherif and Said Kouachi burst into the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris and shot 12 people, including the magazines editor and seven other staff members. Over the next two days, a gunman associated with the Kouachi brothers, Amedy Coulibaly, murdered a policewoman and killed four hostages at a Jewish supermarket in Paris.

Although the three days of mayhem have been overshadowed by the jihadist attacks in Paris on 13 November in which 130 people died  raising further questions about security in the city  there will be three days of commemorations in the French capital starting today.

In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Show all 20 1 /20 In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris Demonstrators make their way along Boulevard Voltaire in a unity rally in Paris Getty In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris People marched in a rally for unity and in tribute to the victims of the recent terrorist attacks in Paris In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris People take part in a Unity rally Marche Republicaine at the Place de la Nation (Nation square) in Paris in tribute to the 17 victims of a three-day killing spree by homegrown Islamists In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris People take part in the Unity rally "Marche Republicaine" in Paris in tribute to the 17 victims of a three-day killing spree by homegrown Islamists In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris French President Francois Hollande welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Elysee Palace before attending a Unity rally Marche Republicaine in Paris in tribute to the 17 victims of a three-day killing spree by homegrown Islamists In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris French President Francois Hollande comforts French columnist for Charlie Hebdo Dr Patrick Pelloux as they attend the solidarity march (Marche Republicaine) in the streets of Paris In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris French cartoonist Luz (L) comforts Dr Patrice Pelloux, both Members of the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine, as they take part in a Unity rally Marche Republicaine in Paris in tribute to the 17 victims of the three-day killing spree In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris French President Francois Hollande observes a minute of silence surrounded by heads of state including (LtoR) Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mali's President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, European Council President Donald Tusk, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and King Abdullah of Jordan and Queen Rania Al Abdullahas they attend the solidarity march (Marche Republicaine) in the streets of Paris In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris Demonstrators make their way from 'Place de la Republique' to 'Place de la Nation' in a unity rally in Paris led by French president Francois Hollande and other world leaders following the recent terrorist attacks in Paris In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris People gather for a march against terrorism at the Place de la Republique in Paris In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris Thousands of people gather at Republique Square in Paris AP In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris People gather to take part in a unity rally Marche Republicaine in the Republique square Getty In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris People gather at Place de la Nation, following a mass unity rally following thousands of people marching from Place de la Republique on route to Place de la Nation Getty In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris Demonstrators make their way along Place de la Republique during a mass unity rally Getty In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris From left to right: Francois Hollande, Angela Merkel and Mahmoud Abbas walk during a mass unity rally Getty In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris People gather at Place de la Nation, following a mass unity rally Getty In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris After the unity rally in Paris the tributes outside the offices of Charlie Hebdo have now become a carpet of flowers Getty In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris A woman pauses for a picture during a mass unity rally Getty In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris People light candles following thousands of people marching from Place de la Republique on route to Place de la Nation Getty In pictures: Charlie Hebdo demonstration, Paris Charlie Hebdo Demonstration, Paris Getty

President Francois Hollande will unveil plaques at the sites of the January attacks today. Large crowds are expected at the Place de la Republique on Sunday when Mr Hollande will preside over the planting of a 30ft memorial oak tree.

Johnny Hallyday, the 72-year-old French pop veteran, will perform A Sunday in January, a song about the millions of people who marched in protest after the Charlie and kosher supermarket attacks.

Last Friday, The Legion of Honor, Frances highest decoration was awarded posthumously to the victims.

The magazine will republish cartoons by the four illustrators who died on 7 January last year, including the editor Stephane Charbonnier , known as Charb. There are also articles from celebrities, including the actors Russell Banks, Isabelle Adjani, Charlotte Gainsbourg and Juliette Binoche.

The new editor, Laurent Sourisseau  known as Riss  who was seriously wounded on 7 January 2015, has written a leading article attacking fanatics made into imbeciles by the Koran but also hypocrites of other faiths who wanted to kill Charlie because it laughed at religion.

The beliefs of atheists and lay campaigners can move more mountains than the faith of believers, Riss writes. They will not see Charlie croak. Charlie will see them croak first.

With additional reporting by Associated Press
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Germany has said the passport-free Schengen zone is in danger after both Denmark and Sweden introduced border controls to stem the flow of migrants.

Responding to the new border controls in the Nordic countries, German foreign ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer told reporters: "Freedom of movement is an important principle - one of the biggest achievements [in the European Union] in recent years.Schengen is very important but it is in danger.

The concerns raised over the passport-free zone came as Denmark announced it would introduce controls at its border with Germany just hours after neighbouring Sweden introduced similar measures.

Danish prime minister Lars Lkke Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen that police were conducting spot checks on travellers crossing the border from Germany. Hours earlier Sweden imposed border controls on the Oresund bridge  which connects Malmo in southern Sweden and Copenhagen in Demark  making it harder for bother migrants and commuters to travel.

Mr Rasmussen, referring to the Swedish measure, said: When other Nordic countries seal their borders it can have major consequences for Denmark It can lead to more asylum seekers. The Danish prime minister insisted, however, there would be no issues for ordinary Danes and Germans who wished to cross the border.

Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Show all 10 1 /10 Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Migrants walk in a long line along the highway near Budapest, Hungary, Friday, Sept. 4, 2015 AP Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Migrants walk on the railway tracks between Bicske and Szar, some 40 km west of Budapest, Hungary, 04 September 2015 EPA Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees march from Hungary to Austria The destination for most of those walking is reportedly Austria AP Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Most refugees have come to Hungary through the southern border with Serbia AP Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees march from Hungary to Austria People walk in a long line along the highway near Budapest, Hungary AP Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Over 150,000 people seeking to enter Europe have reached Hungary this year AP Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees walk along Budaorsi Street on their way out of Budapest EPA Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees hold up an EU flag as they on the highway out of Budpest AP Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees exit Budapest AP Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Refugees march from Hungary to Austria Hundreds of migrants walk after leaving the transit zone of the Budapest main train station AFP

He added: "If the European Union cannot protect the external border you will see more and more countries forced to introduce temporary border controls," the prime minister said.

The Swedish government decided to tighten border controls after 160,000 people applied for asylum in Sweden last year  the highest number in Europe except for Germany. Most of them were from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Additional reporting by Press Association
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Poland could support David Camerons efforts to cut benefits paid to migrants from the European Union if the UK backs its request for more Nato troops to ward off any potential Russian aggression.

The Prime Minister is seeking changes to EU rules, including allowing Britain to restrict benefits to migrants, ahead of the planned in/out referendum on the UKs membership of the 28-nation bloc.

With many of its citizens living in Britain, Poland has been the leading opponent of the benefit cuts plan.

However, speaking to the Reuters news agency, the Polish Foreign Minister, Witold Waszczykowski, suggested they might cut a deal that would outrage Moscow.

Asked if Britain could do something in exchange for Polish support for Mr Camerons plans, he said: Of course. Britain could offer something to Poland in terms of international security.

Recommended Read more Russia names US and Nato as threats to national security

We still consider ourselves a second-class Nato member-state, because in central Europe ... there aren't, aside from a token presence, any significant allied forces or defence installations, which gives the Russians an excuse to play this region.

It would be very difficult for us to accept any discrimination  unless Britain helped us really effectively with regard to the Polish defence ambitions at the [Nato] summit in Warsaw [next month].

In 2014, Poland's then foreign minister said he wanted Nato to send two heavy brigades - typically between 3,000 and 5,000 troops  to Poland in response to Russia's intervention in Ukraine, where Moscow denies it is actively assisting pro-Russian rebels.

Britain could support our expectations related to an allied military presence on Polish territory, Mr Waszczykowski said.

In 1997, Nato and Russia agreed that the alliance would only send a limited number of troops to former Warsaw Pact countries such as Poland and some Nato states are reluctant to break the terms of the deal.

Russia would almost certainly regard a build-up of Nato troops on its borders as a hostile act.

Additional reporting by Reuters
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Millions of starlings binging on olives have forced authorities in Rome to close off roads caked in droppings.

Recent heavy rain in the Italian capital has washed droppings off trees into the street, making pavements and streets dangerously slippy.

The hazardous mixture of the droppings and rotting leaves has already caused car and motorbike acidents, the Guardian reports.

The birds travel to the city outskirts to eat large amounts of olives before returning to the city centre attracted by warmer temperatures and bright lights.

While massive flocks of starlings are a traditional sight over Rome, their excrement is damaging buildings and monuments. The tourism trade has also been affected as public benches and piazzas become covered in guano.

To stop having to jetwash roads and public squares covered in droppings, city authorities have tried to scare the birds away using recordings of the screeching sound starlings produce when they spot a bird of prey.

Attempts to use hawks to attack the starling population found little success before being disbanded, thanks to soaring pollution levels.
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The execution of 47 people in Saudi Arabia has led to a dramatic rift in diplomatic relations across the Middle East, with three countries now joining the kingdom in severing ties with Iran.

While nations around the world condemned the mass Saudi executions, it was the killing of a prominent Shia cleric that led to the most fervent backlash in Iran.

The Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saudi Arabia of divine vengeance and shared a cartoon comparing the kingdom to the Isis militant group, while protesters in Tehran ransacked the Saudi embassy in anger.

Saudi Arabia denounced that reaction as support for terrorism and, on Sunday night, issued a 48-hour deadline for all Iranian diplomats to leave the kingdom.

In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Show all 7 1 /7 In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Iranian and Turkish demonstrators hold pictures of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr as they protest outside the Saudi Embassy in Ankara, Turkey, In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Kashmiri Shiite Muslims, carrying a placard with the portrait of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, shout slogans during a protest in Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world at Saudi executions Indian police used tear smoke and rubber bullets to disperse Shiite Muslims who were protesting after Saudi Arabia announced the execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday along with 46 others, including three other Shiite dissidents and a number of al-Qaida militants. In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Shane Enright, Global Trade Union Advisor for Amnesty International, addresses demonstrators as they protest outside the Saudi Embassy in London, following Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 prisoners in one day, including a top Shiite cleric In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Iranian protestor burn pictures of a member of the Saudi royal family in front of the Saudi Arabia embassy in Tehran, Iran, 02 January 2016. Protesters have stormed the Saudi embassy building in the Iranian capital of Tehran early Sunday amid backlash over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. Flammable substance was seen thrown at the building as protests gained steam over the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Reports states, protesters taking down a Saudi flag and burned the building. In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions Shiite Muslims hold placards with pictures of Saudi Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, whose execution in Saudi Arabia was announced Saturday, during a demonstration to condemn his execution, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016 in Peshawar, Pakistan In pictures: Protests around the world over Saudi executions Protests around the world over Saudi executions A Kashmir Shiite Muslim shouts slogan from Indian police vehicle after he was detained during a protest in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir,

Iran has since accused Saudi of using the embassy riot as an excuse to escalate tensions. But at around 12pm (GMT) on Monday, Saudi allies Sudan, Bahrain and the UAE all announced in quick succession that they too would be reducing diplomatic ties with Tehran.

In a statement issued via the WAM news agency, the UAE government said it was going to downgrade its links to Iran, cutting the number of permits it issued for diplomats. Bahrain and Sudan said they were severing ties altogether, with Iran ordered to remove its entire mission from Khartoum.

Saudi Arabia says its execution of 47 people on terror charges on Saturday was a matter of sovereignty and no country should interfere in the kingdoms internal affairs  something it has since accused Iran of doing.

On Monday, the UAE cited Irans continued interference in the Gulf and Arab countries internal affairs for the deterioration in diplomatic relations.

Outside the Middle East, world governments including France, China and the US have issued calls for calm and a return to diplomacy.

Moscow has offered itself as a mediator between the main players, citing its success in bringing Saudi Arabia and Iran to the negotiating table over Syria.
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Gunmen have opened fire on police officers in the Saudi village where Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr lived before his execution sparked regional outrage on Saturday.

A civilian was killed and an eight-year-old child injured when police came under heavy fire in the eastern village of Awamiya, according to the state-run Saudi Press Agency.

Security forces are now scouring the oil-rich Eastern province's Qatif district hunting for the perpetrators of what they called a terrorist act, a local police spokesman was quoted as saying.

The dead man was identified locally as Ali Imran al-Dawood, while the child who was taken to a nearby hospital for treatment on a gunshot wound was named as Mohammed Jafar al-Thifa.

Yemeni protesters take part in a demonstration outside the Saudi embassy in Sanaa against the death sentence on Shiite cleric and anti-government protest leader Nimr al-Nimr (AFP)

The execution of 56-year-old al-Nimr has fuelled tensions in the Middle East, with Shiite-majority countries expressing condemnation and the kingdom's diplomatic missions in Shia-dominated Iran coming under attack.

The assaults on the diplomatic missions spurred the Sunni-ruled kingdom to last night sever ties with Shiite-dominated Iran, its long-time regional rival, and demand all Iranian diplomatic personnel leave the country within 48 hours.

In recent years the two countries have been divided over the war in Syria, where Iran is backing the Alawite Assad regime, and over the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Iran-back Shia rebels.

Qatif has been the focal point of unrest among Saudi Arabia's Shia minority since protests in early 2011 calling for an end to discrimination against the minority sect and for democratic reforms in the Sunni monarchy. Residents of Qatif have staged angry protests since al-Nimr's execution on Saturday, denouncing the ruling al-Saud dynasty.

Al-Nimr was killed along with 46 other accused terrorists, in a mass execution that took place behind closed doors.

He was a constant critic of the Saudi and Bahraini royal families, and was popular amongst Saudi Arabia's Shia minority. Despite calls for clemency from Iran and the United Nations, Saudi Arabia claimed he was attempting to stir up dissent in the country through his calls for the introduction of democracy and elections.

His body was not given to his family, and was buried along with those of the other executed men shortly after the execution.
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Along the vast, zigzagging perimeter of Isiss self-styled state, the militants are steadily being pushed back as the forces ranged against them gain in strength.

In the process, new borders are being drawn, new fiefdoms are being carved out and the seeds of potential new conflicts are being sown.

A war seen by the United States as primarily aimed at preventing future terrorist attacks in America is being prosecuted for very different reasons by the diverse assortment of Shiite, Kurdish and Sunni fighters battling in both Iraq and Syria, often in pursuit of competing agendas that work to subvert the goal of defeating the militants.

In northern Iraq and Syria, Kurds are busily carving out the borders to new Kurdish enclaves. Shiite militias, now the most powerful force in Iraq, are extending their reach deep into traditionally Sunni areas of northern Iraq. The Syrian government is focusing its energies on reclaiming land seized by its opponents during the five-year-old rebellion against it, while deeply divided Syrian rebels in turn are fighting a two-front war to hold their ground against both the government and Isis.

In this fragmented landscape, Isis is but one of a multitude of groups competing for territory and dominance over the collapsed nation states of Iraq and Syria  a symptom as much as a cause of the scramble for power unleashed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the 2011 revolt in Syria.

Isis may or may not be vanquished soon  and a string of defeats inflicted in recent months in northeastern Syria, northern Iraq and most recently Ramadi have raised hopes that its demise may be closer than had been thought.

But already it is becoming clear that victory over the militants wont end the bloodshed in the region, said Fawaz Gerges, a professor of international relations at the London School of Economics and Political Science.

There is little thought being given to the morning after, and the morning after is going to be as bloody, as chaotic and as destabilizing as the situation we are seeing now, he said. The heart of the Middle East has changed. The fragile state system is no longer there.

Along some of the wars front lines, the ways in which the battle against Isis is redrawing the map of the Middle East  perhaps irrevocably  come sharply into focus.

Men of all ages  and in a few places, women  are fighting courageously against desperate and well-armed jihadists, in some instances carrying only the hunting rifles their families owned long before there was war.

But there is no single unifying plan, and no overarching goal, only a jigsaw puzzle composed of the collapsed fragments of Iraq and Syria.

Kurdish push in Syria

One piece of the puzzle is taking shape along a road called the M4 on most maps, and the International Highway by those who live in its vicinity. It links northern Iraq to the Mediterranean coast of Syria, and it has served as a supply route for Isis across the mostly erased Syria-Iraq border.

In northeastern Syria, it also roughly tracks the front line between the frontier of Isiss so-called caliphate and the lands claimed by Syrias minority Kurds, who have emerged as one of the single-most-effective U.S. partners in the war.

Raqqa, Isiss self-proclaimed capital and the next priority of the U.S. military campaign, lies 30 miles to the south.

But Raqqa, an Arab city, is not a priority for the Peoples Protection Units, or YPG, the Kurdish force that is busy consolidating its control in northeastern Syria. In the past year, the YPG has expanded the territory under its control by 186 percent  compared with a 14 percent shrinkage for the far larger territory controlled by Isis making it by far the biggest winner in the wider war, according to figures compiled by the IHS Conflict Monitor.

In pictures: The rise of Isis Show all 74 1 /74 In pictures: The rise of Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters of the Islamic State wave the group's flag from a damaged display of a government fighter jet following the battle for the Tabqa air base, in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from Islamic State group sit on their tank during a parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from the Islamic State group pray at the Tabqa air base after capturing it from the Syrian government in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Fighters from extremist Islamic State group parade in Raqqa, Syria AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping A video uploaded to social networks shows men in underwear being marched barefoot along a desert road before being allegedly executed by Isis Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Haruna Yukawa after his capture by Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis kidnapping Khalinda Sharaf Ajour, a Yazidi, says two of her daughters were captured by Isis militants Washington Post In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Spokesperson for Isis Vice News via Youtube In pictures: The rise of Isis A pro-Isis leaflet A pro-Isis leaflet handed out on Oxford Street In London Ghaffar Hussain In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters Isis Jihadists burn their passports In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A man collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid A woman collecting aid administered by Isis in Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis controls Syrian Aid Local civilians queue for aid administered by Isis. Since it declared a caliphate the group has increasingly been delivering services such as healthcare, and distributing aid and free fuel In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces detain men suspected of being militants of the Isis group in Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Mourners carry the coffin of a Shi'ite volunteer from the brigades of peace, who joined the Iraqi army and was killed during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Samarra, during his funeral in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Shiite Turkmen family fleeing the violence in the Iraqi city of Tal Afar, west of Mosul, arrives at a refugee camp on the outskirts of Arbil, in Iraq's Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi A photograph made from a video by the jihadist affiliated group Furqan Media via their twitter account allegedly showing Isis leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi delivering a sermon during Friday prayers at a mosque in Mosul. Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared an Islamist caliphate in the territory under the group's control in Iraq and Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq Smoke and debris go up in the air as Shiite's Al-Qubba Husseiniya mosque explodes in Mosul. Images posted online show that Islamic extremists have destroyed at least 10 ancient shrines and Shiite mosques in territory - the city of Mosul and the town of Tal Afar - they have seized in northern Iraq in recent weeks In pictures: The rise of Isis Islamic extremists destroying mosques in Iraq A bulldozer destroys Sunni's Ahmed al-Rifai shrine and tomb in Mahlabiya district outside of Tal Afar In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces celebrate after clashes with followers of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi, in front of his home in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi at his home after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces arrest a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A vehicle burns in front of a home of a follower of Shiite cleric Mahmoud al-Sarkhi after clashes with his followers in the Shiite holy city of Karbala, 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman holds her exhausted son as over 1000 Iraqis who have fled fighting in and around the city of Mosul and Tal Afar wait at a Kurdish checkpoint in the hopes of entering a temporary displacement camp in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees Displaced Iraqi women hold pots as they queue to receive food during the first day of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, at an encampment for displaced Iraqis who fled from Mosul and other towns, in the Khazer area outside Irbil, north Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A militant Islamist fighter waving a flag, cheers as he takes part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa. The fighters held the parade to celebrate their declaration of an Islamic "caliphate" after the group captured territory in neighbouring Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters wave flags as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters travel in a vehicle as they take part in a military parade along the streets of Syria's northern Raqqa province In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade with a missile in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from an al-Qaida splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Fighters from the Isis group during a parade in Raqqa, Syria. Militants from the splinter group held a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria, displaying U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns, and missiles captured from the Iraqi army for the first time since taking over large parts of the Iraq-Syria border In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters hold a military parade in their stronghold in northeastern Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria Isis fighters during a parade in Raqqa, Syria In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Syria A member loyal to the Isis waves an Isis flag in Raqqa In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi anti-government gunmen from Sunni tribes in the western Anbar province march during a protest in Ramadi, west of Baghdad. The United Nations warned that Iraq is at a "crossroads" and appealed for restraint, as a bloody four-day wave of violence killed 195 people. The violence is the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations that broke out in Sunni areas of the Shiite-majority country more than four months ago, raising fears of a return to all-out sectarian conflict In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi security forces hold up a flag of the Isis group they captured during an operation to regain control of Dallah Abbas north of Baqouba, the capital of Iraq's Diyala province, 35 miles (60 kilometers) northeast of Baghdad In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Isis fighters parade in the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Volunteers, who have joined the Iraqi army to fight against the predominantly Sunni militants from the radical Isis group, demonstrate their skills during a graduation ceremony after completing their field training in Najaf In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Kurdish Peshmerga troops fire a cannon during clashes with militants of the Isis group in Jalawla, Diyala province In pictures: The rise of Isis Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference Iraqi Prime Minister's security spokesman, Lieutenant General Qassem Atta speaks during a press conference about the latest military development in Iraq, in the capital Baghdad. Iraqi forces pressed a campaign to retake militant-held Tikrit, clashing with jihadist-led Sunni militants nearby and pounding positions inside the city with air strikes in their biggest counter-offensive so far In pictures: The rise of Isis A police station building destroyed by Isis fighters An exterior view of a police station building destroyed by gunmen in Mosul city, northern Iraq. Iraq's new parliament is expected to convene to start the process of setting up a new government, despite deepening political rifts and an ongoing Islamist-led insurgency. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a decree inviting the new House of Representatives to meet and form a new government In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq Smoke billows from an area controlled by the Isis between the Iraqi towns of Naojul and Tuz Khurmatu, both located north of the capital Baghdad, as Iraqi Kurdish Peshmerga forces take part in an operation to repel the Sunni militants In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An elderly Iraqi woman is helped into a temporary displacement camp for Iraqis caught-up in the fighting in and around the city of Mosul in Khazair In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi Christian woman fleeing the violence in the village of Qaraqush, about 30 kms east of the northern province of Nineveh, cries upon her arrival at a community center in the Kurdish city of Arbil in Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraqi refugees An Iraqi woman, who fled with her family from the northern city of Mosul, prays with a copy of the Quran AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Isis fighters in Iraq The body of an Isis militant killed during clashes with Iraqi security forces on the outskirts of the city of Samarra Reuters In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Iraqi civilians inspect the damage at a market after an air strike by the Iraqi army in central Mosul EPA In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Members of the Al-Abbas brigades, who volunteered to protect the Shiite Muslim holy sites in Karbala against Sunni militants fighting the Baghdad government, parade in the streets of the city AP In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis Shia tribesmen gather in Baghdad to take up arms against Sunni insurgents marching on the capital. Thousands have volunteered to bolster defences AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq crisis A van carrying volunteers joining Iraqi security forces against Jihadist militants. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki announced the Iraqi government would arm and equip civilians who volunteered to fight AFP/Getty In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters of the Isis group parade in a commandeered Iraqi security forces armored vehicle down a main road at the northern city of Mosul In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An Islamist fighter, identified as Abu Muthanna al-Yemeni from Britain (R), speaks in this still image taken undated video shot at an unknown location and uploaded to a social media website. Five Islamist fighters identified as Australian and British nationals have called on Muslims to join the wars in Syria and Iraq, in the new video released by the Isis In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Al-Qaida inspired militants stand with captured Iraqi Army Humvee at a checkpoint belonging to Iraqi Army outside Beiji refinery some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of Baghdad. The fighting at Beiji comes as Iraq has asked the U.S. for airstrikes targeting the militants from the Isis group. While U.S. President Barack Obama has not fully ruled out the possibility of launching airstrikes, such action is not imminent in part because intelligence agencies have been unable to identify clear targets on the ground, officials said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants attacked Iraq's main oil refinein Baiji as they pressed an offensive that has seen them capture swathes of territory, a manager and a refinery employee said In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants from the Isis group parading with their weapons in the northern city of Baiji in the in Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A smoke rises after an attack by Isis militants on the country's largest oil refinery in Beiji, some 250 kilometers (155 miles) north of the capital, Baghdad. Iraqi security forces battled insurgents targeting the country's main oil refinery and said they regained partial control of a city near the Syrian border, trying to blunt an offensive by Sunni militants who diplomats fear may have also seized some 100 foreign workers In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group stand next to captured vehicles left behind by Iraqi security forces at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province. For militant groups, the fight over public perception can be even more important than actual combat, turning military losses into propaganda victories and battlefield successes into powerful tools to build support for the cause In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq An injured fighter (C) from the Isis group after a battle with Iraqi soldiers at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis aiming at advancing Iraqi troops at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group taking position at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Fighters from the Isis group inspecting vehicles of the Iraqi army after they were seized at an undisclosed location near the border between Syria and Iraq In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq One Iraqi captive, a corporal, is reluctant to say the slogan, and has to be shouted at repeatedly before he obeys Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Iraqi captives held by the extremists Sky News In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group force captured Iraqi security forces members to the transport In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group transporting dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members to an unknown location in the Salaheddin province ahead of executing them In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq A major offensive spearheaded by Isis but also involving supporters of executed dictator Saddam Hussein has overrun all of one province and chunks of three others In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Militants of the Isis group executing dozens of captured Iraqi security forces members at an unknown location in the Salaheddin province In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants taking position at a Iraqi border post on the Syrian-Iraqi border between the Iraqi Nineveh province and the Syrian town of Al-Hasakah In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis rebels show their flag after seizing an army post AFP/Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Isis militants waving an Islamist flag after the seizure of an Iraqi army checkpoint in Salahuddin Getty Images In pictures: The rise of Isis Iraq Demonstrators chant slogans as they carry al-Qaida flags in front of the provincial government headquarters in Mosul, 225 miles (360 kilometers) northwest of Baghdad. In the week since it captured Iraq's second-largest city, Mosul, a Muslim extremist group has tried to win over residents and has stopped short of widely enforcing its strict brand of Islamic law, residents say. Churches remain unharmed and street cleaners are back at work

The YPGs sights are now set on another stretch of Kurdish land, the isolated enclave of Afrin far to the west, in the province of Aleppo, surrounded by territory controlled by an assortment of Syrian rebels. In an effort to link up with Afrin, the focus of the fighting has shifted there, putting the Kurds in conflict with local Free Syrian Army groups and, potentially, Turkey, which has vowed to prevent the creation of a Kurdish enclave in the area.

The Raqqa front line has been left to a ragged assortment of former Raqqa rebels who were driven out of the city by Isis. They are fighting in sandals with ancient Kalashnikovs alongside a crude earth barrier thrown up in the desert just to the south of the town of Ain Issa. Their relations with the YPG are tense, and they have been overlooked in the effort by the Pentagon to arm Sunni allies to take on Isis in Sunni areas.

But a strategy that relies on a Kurdish force to counter Isis in Arab areas is destined to make things worse, not better, said Robert Ford, the former U.S. ambassador to Syria who is now with the Middle East Institute.

The Americans are aiding in the establishment of a unilaterally declared autonomous Kurdish zone, and Arab Syrians will not accept it, he said. Where this leads to is the partition of Syria, and its going to make it harder if countries are fragmented in this way to take on the Islamic State.

Kurdish-Arab fault line

A similar dilemma prevails across the border in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq, on the battlefield just south of the once-mixed Kurdish-Arab town of Makhmour, whose capture by Isis in August 2014 helped precipitate U.S. airstrikes. The jihadist occupation lasted barely 48 hours before U.S. warplanes intervened and Isis retreated, in the first indication that air power could prove decisive in stemming and then reversing the militants advances.

The front line since has barely shifted. A labyrinth of trenches, earthen barricades and sandbags snaking across the fertile plains of northern Iraqs Nineveh province separates the combatants and also forms the southernmost frontier of the territories claimed by the regional government of Kurdistan as part of its still-undeclared Kurdish state.

The villages beyond are wholly Arab, and the Kurdish peshmerga forces manning the line say they have no intention of pressing forward, even though they believe they could.

Here on this front line we wont advance any further because this is Arab land, explained Col. Yadgar Hijran, who commands forces along a stretch of the front line. If anyone is to free these areas, it should be Arabs, because if Kurds free them, then it will become an ethnic war.

In many ways, it already is. Spanning the Kurdish-Arab fault line that runs across northern Iraq, Makhmour has long been contested and was among the areas targeted in the 1980s by Saddam Husseins Arabization program. Surrounding Kurdish villages were razed and their lands given to Arab settlers, often from other parts of the country. The Kurdish peshmerga seized control of Makhmour after U.S. troops swept into the area in 2003, and many of those Arabs fled.

Under Iraqs new constitution, the final status was to have been settled by a referendum, but that plan has become moot since the war against the Isis began. The president of the Kurdish region, Masoud Barzani, has said the Kurds will never surrender any of the lands they have recaptured. Talk of a far bolder referendum, to vote on the complete independence of Kurdistan, is being revived.

There is a need for brave decisions, to look at the realities and let people decide what they want, said Masrour Barzani, Kurdistans national security chief. Iraq has broken apart. Sunnis believe in a united Iraq only if Sunnis rule it. Shiites believe in a united Iraq only if Shiites rule it. There is no single definition of a united Iraq.

Trying to keep the country united against the will of the people is not going to succeed, he said.

Shiite conquests

Thats not a view shared by the Shiite militia fighters battling Isis 40 miles to the south, outside the destroyed Baiji oil refinery. The facility was finally recaptured in October after more than a year of back-and-forth battles, with Shiite militias fighting under the umbrella of the Hashd Shabi  as the popular mobilization units are known  playing an instrumental role in securing the victory alongside Iraqi army units, according to the Iraqi government and army units on the ground.

The front line now has shifted northwest into the Makhool mountains, a strategic ridge of barren hills overlooking the refinery and also the main highway leading to Mosul, the biggest city controlled by Isis and a key target of the fight.

This is also indisputably Sunni territory, now in the process of being conquered by Shiites fighting far from their homes in the Shiite south of the country  motivated, say young fighters, by duty to their religious leaders. Along the length of the 200-mile highway leading north to Baiji from Baghdad lie the ruins of Sunni towns and villages, destroyed by airstrikes and artillery in the fight to dislodge Isis.

 Iraq: National flag waves over Ramadi after army liberate city from ISIS

We are following the orders of our marjaya  the Shiite religious authorities in Najaf  said Sattar Ahwan, one of about two dozen men massed beneath a ridge on the hillside as bullets zinged and mortar fire crumped overhead. He, along with many of the fighters, wore an armband featuring the face of the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini, a reminder of the divergent loyalties complicating the battlefield.

The Shiite fighters are nonetheless fighting for a united Iraq, insisted two commanders from the Kataeb Sayed Shuhada, a Shiite militia that has also sent fighters to Syria, at a command post behind the front lines on the edge of the nearby town of Baiji. The Hashd are the sons of Iraq. Our role is to fight for the sake of Iraq, said Alaa al-Husseini, who comes from Najaf and wears a turban, signaling his role as a religious adviser to the fighters. We are all Iraqis, Sunnis and Shiites, and this crisis has made us unite.

Behind him, the flags of the assorted Shiite militias participating in the fight fluttered over Baiji, long since emptied of its inhabitants and now almost destroyed.

A separate Sunni entity?

For the few Iraqi Sunnis engaged in the fight against the Sunni Isis, the symbolism of such scenes, broadcast widely on television, is obvious  and worrying.

Amiriyat Fallujah, in the western province of Anbar, is one of the few Sunni towns that held at bay the Isis onslaught into most of the countrys Sunni regions last year, and it is one of the first where local Sunnis are being deployed in the fight against Isis. Several hundred local Sunni tribesmen trained by U.S. troops returned there in late October, and they launched their first offensive in November, alongside Iraqi army troops.

It went well. A front line that had endured since Isiss advances early in 2014 crumbled within 36 hours. The tribesmen took control of an extra three miles or so of land. The new front line is barely distinguishable from the old, except that the old trench dug in the desert had filled with plastic bags and water bottles, whereas the new one is dug from freshly churned earth. It also puts the fighters three miles closer to Fallujah, the first Iraqi town to be captured by Isis nearly two years ago.

As is the case along other front lines, the fighters say they are confident they could easily gain more ground and perhaps take Fallujah itself if they had sufficient support  from the Iraqi government and from allies such as the United States.

As soon as they saw our forces, they ran away, said Faisal al-Issawi, a local tribal leader who commands forces along one stretch of the newly dug front line. They still have power, but its not the same as a year ago. Airstrikes made them weak and are breaking their structures. Every week they execute four or five members because they refuse to obey orders or try to turn against their leaders.

But weapons have been hard to come by on this neglected front, where actual fighting is rare. None of the tribal fighters wear uniforms, and some are armed only with ancient rifles, owned by their families for generations, according to one fighter, who said he was 60 but looked older.

The Shiite-dominated government has been reluctant to arm the Sunni tribes for fear of empowering potential rivals, and the Sunnis here are already questioning their future in an Iraq now more firmly dominated by Shiites than ever before.

Even those who are loyal to the central government and fight ISIS are treated like foreigners by the central government, said Shaker al-Issawi, the mayor of Amiriyat Fallujah, as he visited his men on the front line.

He is among a small but growing number of Sunnis who are starting to embrace the idea of forming a separate Sunni entity, along the lines of the semiautonomous Kurdish enclave in the north.

If the people of Anbar felt respected, as Iraqis, they would be loyal to us and fight ISIS, he said. But we are not respected, and I fear the only solution is a Sunni state.

It is not a mainstream view among Iraqi Sunnis, Suhaib al-Rawi, the governor of the province of Anbar, said in an interview in Baghdad ahead of the recent victory of Iraqi government troops in Ramadi.

Its not only a bad idea, it would be a catastrophe, he said, citing the battle for Ramadi, fought by the Iraqi army, as evidence that Iraq can survive. Iraq was always a united nation and a great regional power. It is in the best interest of everyone to remain united.

But they are not united, said Gerges, the London School of Economics professor, who questions not whether Iraq or Syria should be partitioned as part of an ultimate solution but whether they can be salvaged at all.

The puzzle is, how do you glue these states back together again? he said. Theyre gone. Theyre gone into a million pieces.

 Washington Post
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The UN investigator for human rights violations in the Palestinian territories has resigned, saying that Israel had reneged on its pledge to grant him access to the West Bank and Gaza.

Makarim Wibisono said that his repeated oral and written requests for access had gone unanswered over 18 months. Announcing his resignation, Mr Wibisono voiced deep concern at the lack of effective protection of Palestinian victims of continuing human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law.

Israel has long rejected the post of the independent investigator for the Occupied Territories, accusing the 47-country forum of bias against the Jewish state.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon said that the mandate given to the rapporteur is distorted and biased and noted Mr Wibisono wasnt the first person to resign the post.

Israeli human rights are violated too, every day, by Palestinians and until ignoring this ends the council will not be taken seriously, Mr Nahshon added.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem in the 1967 war and annexed the latter. Palestinians seek a state in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as their capital. In 2005 Israel withdrew from Gaza, which is now run by the Hamas group.

Mr Wibisono, a former Indonesian diplomat, took up the post of United Nations special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories in June 2014. In his first report to the council, in March 2015, he said Israel should investigate the killing of more than 1,500 Palestinian civilians, one-third of them children, during the 2014 Gaza war, and make the findings public.

His resignation will come into effect on 31 March, after his final report to the council. Mr Wibisono said that his efforts to fulfil his mandate were frustrated every step of the way, adding the Palestinian government had co-operated fully.

I hope that whoever succeeds me will manage to resolve the current impasse, and so reassure the Palestinian people that after nearly half a century of occupation the world has not forgotten their plight, Mr Wibisono said.

REUTERS
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A Saudi Arabian prisoner convicted of the attempted murder of BBC correspondent Frank Gardner and the murder of his cameraman Simon Cumbers was among the 47 prisoners executed by Saudi Arabia.

Saudi national Adel al-Dhubaiti opened fire on the BBC reporter and Mr Cumbers while the pair were filming for a report on al-Qaeda in the oil-rich kingdom.

Mr Gardner, who is now the BBCs security correspondent, was shot six times during the 2004 ambush in Riyadh. The injuries left him partially paralysed but he has continued to broadcast.

Simon Cumbers, a 36-year-old Irish national, was killed during the attack.

After Dhubaiti was sentenced to death, Gardner said in an interview with the Telegraph in 2014 that he would never forgive the terrorists who inflicted the injuries on him and killed his colleague.

He said: He is completely unrepentant. He has never said sorry. He is still in the mindset that he had when he attacked us. So forgiveness is not really an option.

Its not like this mans parents have written to me or anyone saying, Please forgive him. No one has apologised.

Gardner also declined the offer to meet Dhubaiti. He said: I dont want to see this guy. Why would I? What am I going to get from it? The mans soul is dead.

Mr Gardner told the Independent he did not want to comment on the execution.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

Mr Cumbers parents, Robert and Bronagh, from Navan in County Meath, had previously called on the Saudi Arabian authorities not to execute their sons killer.

Simon was a pacifist, someone who would not have wanted the death penalty and would have opposed it. We do not want this man to be executed if he is found guilty, Mr Cumbers said in 2009.

In a statement issued to Irish broadcaster RTE after the Saudi court announced its decision, he said the familys view had not changed: I have mixed feelings about the sentencing. On the one hand, I am pleased that the murderer has had his fate decided and that the long wait is over.

It wont bring Simon back, but it puts an end to the waiting. On the other hand, both Bronagh and I sympathise with Dubaytis [the sentenced man] parents, who must now suffer that tremendous loss that we feel.
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On Saturday, Saudi Arabia announced it had executed 47 people in one day for terrorism offences, including the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Most of those executed were Sunnis who were convicted of involvement in the deadly 2003 and 2004 al-Qaeda attacks.

Irans Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, described Nimr al-Nimrs execution as a political error.

"The unjustly spilled blood of this oppressed martyr will no doubt soon show its effect and divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians.

"This oppressed cleric did not encourage people to join an armed movement, nor did he engage in secret plotting, and he only voiced public criticism ... based on religious fervour."

The announcement by the kingdom sparked protests around the world in the following 24 hours.

Sitra, Bahrain  Saturday 2 January, 5.40pm

 Bahrain: Clashes erupt following Saudi execution of Shiite cleric

Violent clashes took place between protesters and riot police as masses took to the streets of Sitra to denounce al-Nimrs execution.

Tehran, Iran - Saturday 2 January, 9pm GMT

 Iran: 40 arrested after angry protesters storm and BURN Saudi embassy in Tehran

40 people were arrested after huge crowds stormed the Saudi Arabian embassy in Tehran, before throwing Molotov cocktails at the building.

Baghdad, Iraq  Sunday 3 January, 1am GMT

 Iraq: Newly opened Saudi embassy in Baghdad struck by rocket after Sheikh Nimr's execution

Smoke bellowed from the Saudi Arabian embassy in Baghdad after a rocket was reportedly fired at the building in reaction to the execution of al-Nimr.

Kashmir, India  Sunday 3 January, 11am GMT

 India: Clashes erupt as thousands decry Sheikh Nimr's execution in Srinagar

Protesters clashed with police in Srinagar, the largest city in Kashmir, as thousands condemned the Saudi government.

Islamabad, Pakistan  Sunday 3 January, 11.30am GMT

 Pakistan: Hundreds march in Islamabad to denounce Sheikh Nimr's execution

Hundreds of protesters marched through Islamabad to decry the execution of al-Nimr.

London, England  Sunday 3 January, 3pm GMT

 UK: Hundreds decry govt. support of Saudi Arabia after Sheikh Nimr's execution

For a second day in a row, hundreds rallied outside the Saudi embassy in London.

New York, United States  Sunday 3 January, 10pm GMT

 USA: New Yorkers rally over execution of Shiite cleric

Hundreds gathered outside the Time Warner Center in Columbus Circle, New York City to criticise the Saudi governments actions.

Demonstrations have continued into Monday as Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran increasing fears that sectarian violence may spread in the area.
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On the sidewalk in front of the Simta Pub, pinned down by remembrance candles and not yet washed out by the rain, a handwritten note in English reads:

Israel was with Paris for the Bataclan. Today Paris is with Israel on Dizengoff Street.

Bataclan refers to the terror attack last November on a Paris theatre. There some 130 people who had gathered for a rock concert were gunned down by Islamic State-linked extremists.

Recommended Read more Israel starts New Year with deadly shooting in busy Tel Aviv bar

Dizengoff Street refers to the bustling Tel Aviv thoroughfare where the Simta Pub is located. It was here on Friday afternoon that a gunman shot dead two young men who were celebrating a birthday party and wounded seven more.

Its been two days since the deadly attack and authorities are still uncertain of the motivation behind the shooting. Police have identified the attacker as Nashat Milhem, a 31-year-old Arab Israeli citizen from the village of Arara in northern Israel.

They have yet to catch him.

 Tel Aviv shooting on CCTV

The authorities have held back from calling the shooting a terrorist attack but against the backdrop of more than three months of almost daily stabbing, shooting and vehicular attacks by Palestinians against Israelis, most are convinced that Milhem was driven by nationalistic motives.

Based on that view, some Israelis are drawing comparisons between what happened in Paris on November 13 and what happened here on the first day of 2016.

It reminds me a lot of what happened in Paris, people had come here to have fun but were killed enjoying themselves, said Dalit Yacobovitch, who lives on a nearby street.

Its so scary, so close to home, she said.

On Sunday, the bar remained closed but a steady stream of people arrived from far and wide to pay their respects, laying flowers and lighting candles for 26-year-old Alon Bakal and Shimon Ruimi, 30, who were killed.

This is very painful for us, people go out and want to have a good time, then this happens, its not right, said Victor Dahan, who travelled to the place of the shooting from the city of Rehovot. I definitely think it was a terrorist attack.

Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Show all 12 1 /12 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict The fire in my heart is beyond my ribs. You left me beloved - Soliman Shaheen, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict Let me get enough of you, as Im still hungry for your smile my son - Soliman Shaheen, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict They besiege me in my homeland so I flew to heaven - Rodaina Al Agha, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict And I am still facing the pain all by myself - Lama Shakshak, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict My brother, I watched you go while my heart was tearing - Helen Mo'amar, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict My new doll is lonely in the rubble - Ayah Sha'ath, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict When a soul hugs another soul they never split, even in death - Ismail Matar, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict Everyone is gone and I stayed alone to make the world witness the injustice done to me - Hamza Shaheen, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict The hand that carries the arms carries roses too - Madeeha Al Majayda, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict My eyes tell you about a dream that overcame the fence - Soliman Shaheen, 15 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict A childhood caught in an unjust siege - Hadeel Quidh, 16 Remembering the Israel-Gaza conflict Remembering Israel-Gaza conflict All the details are torn after you - Hamza Shaheen, 17

Israeli police identified Milhem as the assailant after his father, Mohammed, recognized him from CCTV footage broadcast on Israeli television and went to the police. The family and other members of his village have strongly condemned Milhem's actions and maintain that he is mentally unstable.

Israeli police have been unable to locate him and a massive manhunt continued on the streets of Tel Aviv Sunday. His family said that if he shows up in the village they will immediately turn him into police.

It is really important that they find my son and arrest him, he is still armed and just as he murdered two people, he can murder again, the elder Milhem told Israeli media on Saturday.

His second son, Jaudat Milhem, was taken in for questioning by the police. They believe he might have been aware of his brothers plans and assisted him in some way.

However, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who visited the site of the shooting on Dizengoff Street on Saturday night, held back from labelling it a terrorist attack.

Still from CCTV footage purporting to show the Tel Aviv shooting

Yesterday there was a heinous and unbelievably vicious murder here, he said. Young people, whose entire lives were ahead of them, the ages of my own children, were innocently sitting celebrating a birthday and were murdered in cold blood.

The uncertainty of Milhems motivation  nationalistic, criminal or mental instability  and the fact that he is still at large have left residents of Tel Aviv on edge.

The education ministry gave parents permission to keep their children at home until the killer has been caught. Israeli media reported that only about 50 percent sent their children to school on Sunday, the first day of the Israeli week.

Actually I think its better the kids go to school, said Ronit, a mother of twins who gave only her first name. There is a high level of police and security forces at their school, it might even be safer than being at home.

Ronit said she didnt send her daughters to school, not because of the threat but because they are both sick.

But I was worried about leaving my house and taking them to the doctor, this guy is still on the loose and we are very scared, she said.

Copywright: Washington Post
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Tensions between Saudi Arabia and Iran fundamentally boil down to two things  the battle to be the dominant nation in the Middle East and the fact the countries represent the regional strongholds of two rival branches of Islam.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is ruled by a Sunni monarchy known as the House of Saud, with 90 per cent of the population adherents of their leaders faith. The Islamic Republic of Iran, meanwhile, is overwhelmingly Shia, with up to 95 per cent of nationals belonging to the denomination.

Both countries are major oil producers but while Saudi covers a significantly larger land mass, Irans population is more than twice the size.

It is the theological divide that really drives the wedge between the two countries, however, with each unable to accept the legitimacy of the other nations dominant faith.

The Shia Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is the head of state of the Islamic Republic of Iran (EPA)

What caused the Sunni-Shia divide?

The Sunni-Shia conflict is 1,400 years in the making, dating back to the years immediately after the Prophet Mohammeds death in 632.

The Prophet died without having appointed a successor leading to a massive split over the future of the rapidly growing religion  chiefly whether the religions next leader should be chosen by a kind of democratic consensus, or whether only Mohammeds blood relations should reign.

The arguments are complicated but essentially boil down to the fact that Sunnis believe the Prophets trusted friend and advisor Abu Bakr was the first rightful leader of Muslims or caliph, while Shias believe that Mohammeds cousin and son-in-law Ali was chosen by Allah to hold the title.

Both men did eventually hold the title  Abu Bakr first until his death, and Ali fourth after two previous caliphs were assassinated  but the schism really hit over who should come next. While Sunni Muslims argue that their interpretation of Islam follows the Sunnah (ways of Mohammed), Shias argue that Ali was the rightful first caliph and only his descendants could claim to be the true leaders of Muslims.

The tension is not eased by a Hadith in which the Prophet was quoted as saying: My Ummah (community) will be fragmented into seventy-three sects and all of them will be in the Hell fire except one. Inevitably both Sunnis and Shias claim to be the one pure Islamic sect.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is ruled by a Sunni monarchy known as the House of Saud currently led by Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud (AFP)

What does each group believe?

As with any division that lasts over a thousand years, the Sunni-Shia split led to each denomination developing its own unique cultures, doctrines and schools of thought.

While followers of either group range from the moderate to the extremist, Sunnis are largely focussed on the power of the God in the physical world, while Shias look more towards the rewards of the afterlife and as such place significant value in the celebration of martyrdom.

The embattled Syrian president Bashar al-Assad and his family members belong to the Shia Alawite-sect (Getty Images)

What is the geographical split of Sunnis and Shias?

The vast majority of the Muslims in the world are Sunni, amounting to as much as 85% of the religions adherents. They are spread all over the globe  from Morocco to Indonesia - and make up the dominant religion in North Africa and the Middle East.

Only lran, Iraq, Azerbaijan and Bahrain have a Shia majority, although there are also significant Shia populations in Yemen, Lebanon, Kuwait, Syria and Qatar.

Despite being members of the religious minority, the Saudi-backed Kingdom of Bahrain has long been ruled by the Sunni House of Khalifa. Equally Iraq was ruled by the Sunni Saddam Hussein for more than 20 years, during which time he brutally oppressed Shia Muslims.

The current conflict in Iraq is fuelled by sectarian rivalries too, which embattled President Bashar al-Assad and his family members of the Shia Alawite-sect, while many of the insurgent groups in his country  including the Islamic State terror group  are Sunni adherents.

And of course the current civil war in Yemen has become a sectarian proxy war, with Iran backing the Shia Houthi rebels who overthrew the countrys Sunni-dominated government, while a Saudi-led coalition has since intervened to reinstall the Sunni leadership.
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Saudi Arabia will be pleased that the furore over its execution of the Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr is taking the form of a heightened confrontation with Iran and the Shia world as a whole. Insults and threats are exchanged and diplomatic missions closed. Sunni mosques are blown up in Shia-dominated areas of Iraq. The Saudi rulers are able to strengthen their leadership of a broad Sunni coalition against an Iranian-led Shia axis at home and abroad.

The motive for the mass execution of Sheikh Nimr and 46 others, many Sunni jihadists, was primarily domestic. The threat to the al-Saud family within Saudi Arabia comes from Sunni extremists in al-Qaeda and Isis and not from the Shia, who are only a majority in two provinces in the eastern region of the country. Furious denunciations by Shia communities and countries will do nothing but good to the reputation of the ruling family among the majority of Saudis.

Saudi Arabia and its fundamentalist Wahhabi variant of Sunni Islam has been blamed by many outside the kingdom as the ideological forbearer of Isis, but the real danger for the monarchy is that it should be seen at home as insufficiently zealous as defender of the faith.

Recommended Read more Saudi Arabia omitted from UK death penalty strategy

Denouncing the recently announced Saudi-led anti-terrorist coalition, the self-declared caliph, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi said that if it was truly Islamic it would go to war against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his Russian masters and make its objective killing Jews and the liberation of Palestine. In the face of this there is nothing very surprising about the Saudi government playing the sectarian and patriotic cards for all they are worth.

All the same, there is a growing suspicion in the Middle East and beyond that the Saudi royal family is losing its traditional political touch which enabled it to survive over the past 70 years when other monarchies, along with once-powerful socialist and nationalist regimes, have long ago disappeared.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemens Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdoms Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as inciting people against the authorities. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabias clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his confession. At Dawoods trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

It seems to have lost its old caution and is plunging into political snake pits without much idea of how it is going to get out of them.

Over the past year the Saudis have overplayed their hand, backing local allies and proxies in Syria and Yemen who are never going to win decisive victories. Part of this may be a Saudi over-reaction to the agreement between the US and Iran on the Iranian nuclear programme. The fall in the price of oil leading to an austerity budget has increased the incentive to beat the patriotic and religious drum in order to promote national solidarity in face of growing challenges.

Prospects for a more active Saudi role may have looked rosier in the first half of 2015. Along with Turkey, it gave backing to an offensive in northern Syria by the Army of Conquest, a coalition of Sunni rebel groups led by the al-Qaeda affiliate the al-Nusra Front and the ideologically similar Ahrar al-Sham. This won a series of victories against the Syrian army, but ended up by provoking Russian military intervention on 30 September, which makes it unlikely that Saudi Arabia will achieve its aim of overthrowing President Assad.

 Reaction to Saudi killings

The Saudis most powerful ally among the armed opposition, Zahran Alloush of Jaysh al-Islam, was killed by a missile on 25 December. The increasing strength of other players, such as Russia and the Syrian Kurds, is reducing Saudi influence, but there is no sign of its policy being redirected.

At about the same moment, the Saudis started their air campaign against the Houthi movement in Yemen, which is still going on 10 months later with no sign of the war ending.

Recommended Read more Leaked memo shows Saudi Arabia was prepared for executions backlash

The Saudis claimed that the Houthis were Iranian stooges, an accusation that was always exaggerated, but may be self-fulfilling as Yemen becomes increasingly split along Shia-Sunni lines. As with Afghanistan, Yemen is easy to invade but difficult to get out of as the Houthi leadership shows no sign of giving up. With no peace in sight, Riyadh faces the prospect of the Yemen war becoming a permanent running sore.

Saudi Arabias entanglement in the conflict in Yemen limits its ability to exert influence elsewhere. Even Saudi resources are under strain given the low price of oil with this years budget totalling $137bn (93bn) and spending $224bn (152bn). Thanks to the over-confidence and under-competence of the Saudi royal family, writes Aron Lund of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in the online newsletter Syria Comment. Syrian rebels may turn out to be among the biggest losers of the Yemeni war.

Saudi rulers have faced serious challenges before, but they have never been faced with the degree of instability in states surrounding or close to the kingdom. There are wars in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, a guerrilla conflict in Sinai and street protests in Bahrain that could always become more serious. It should be much in Saudi Arabias interest to mitigate these crises but instead it stokes them but without any real plan on how to bring them to an end.
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The ceasefire between Houthi rebels and a Saudi-led military coalition in Yemen has formally ended after weeks during which it was regularly violated by both sides.

The truce originally came into effect on 15 December as a show of good faith by both sides during peace negotiations taking place in Switzerland but the UN said there were numerous violations of the agreement from the start.

A total of 14 civilians - including four children - were believed to have been killed in the city of Taiz on Friday after shelling by Houthi rebels loyal to the former president.

A further 22 Houthi and 11 anti-rebel fighters were killed in the country between Friday and midday Saturday, according to Yemeni officials.

The war has killed at least 5,884 people since Saudi-led air strikes against the Houthis, which began in March.

Local al-Qaeda affiliates and Isis have also exploited the chaos to make inroads into the countrys territory.

Artwork protesting the Saudi blockade seen in the capital Sanaa (AFP)

According to residents and aid groups, Houthis have been indiscriminately firing on the city in recent months and have blocked aid supplies getting through.

Saudi Arabia has also been criticised for its actions with Human Rights Watch, saying it could be breaking international law.

Medical charity Doctors Without Borders (MSF) said Saudi forces were responsible for the bombing of its hospital in Sanaa last month.

Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Show all 4 1 /4 Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod Why Yemen's future threatens to destroy its past Hugh McLeod

They are also reported to have used US-made cluster bombs on Houthi controlled areas.

Amnesty International said in November there was damning evidence of Saudi war crimes.

A report by the UN in July said 80 per cent of the Yemeni population were now in need of humanitarian assistance and the country was at risk of famine as the Saudi blockade of its ports continues.

Additional reporting by AP
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The number of executions carried out by countries around the world has been revealed in a chilling new map.

While Saudi Arabias brutal mass beheading of 47 people continues to dominate headlines and outrage opponents of capital punishment around the world, it may come as something of a surprise to learn that the Sunni kingdom doesnt even come close to topping the global execution chart.

With more than 1,000 state-organised executions in 2014 alone, China puts almost four times as many people to death each year than its nearest challenger Iran.

While the shock of Chinas extraordinary execution figures may be dampened somewhat when its population of 1.3 billion people is taken into account, Iran is only the 16th most populous country in the world  making the 289 plus executions there in 2014 totally disproportionate to its population.

The charts have been created for the Independent by Statista

Ironically Iran has also led global outrage of the recent Saudi executions  largely because the controversial Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr was among those killed. When it comes to its own executions, however, Iran has defiantly resisted requests to introduce more lenient punishments.

With more than 90 state executions in 2014, Saudi Arabia comes in at number three on the list, closely followed by Iraq, where at least 61 people were killed. The figures only relate to officially recorded, state-organised executions, however, meaning there are no reliable figures for those executed by territory-holding militant groups such as Al Qaeda, Islamic State or Boko Haram, or for those executed amid the chaos of the Syrian and Libyan civil wars.

In fifth position on the chart is the United States, where 35 people were sent to their deaths by the government in 2014. That news is made all the more remarkable when you realise the American government executes more people every year than Somalia, Pakistan and Afghanistan combined.

Iran has led global outrage against the recent Saudi executions of 47 people, with the country's head of state Ayatollah Khamenei going as far as tweetting this comparison between Saudi Arabia and Isis. Iran actually executed more than twice as many people as Saudi Arabia in 2014. (Khamenei.ir)

Sixth, seventh and eighth positions are held by Sudan, Yemen and Egypt respectively, while the only European nation to retain capital punishment is Belarus, where three people were put to death in 2014, according to the Amnesty International figures.

Where most executions were carried out in 2014 Show all 10 1 /10 Where most executions were carried out in 2014 Where most executions were carried out in 2014 1. China (1000+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 2. Iran (289+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 3. Saudi Arabia (90+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 4. Iraq (61+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 5. USA (35+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 6. Sudan (23+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 7. Yemen (22+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 8. Egypt (15+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 9. Somalia (14+) Getty Where most executions were carried out in 2014 10. Jordan (11+) Getty

While Saudi Arabia may not top the global execution chart, figures show the number of executions in the country have risen steadily over the past five years having declined throughout the 2000s.

While the 102 people executed in 2015 pales in comparison with the 143 plus put to death in 2007, it is worth noting that just 27 people faced capital punishment in 2010, rising dramatically to 82 the next year, followed by at least 79 in 2012 and 2013, and at least 90 in 2014.
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Police and security agencies in Malaysia are to brief school students on the dangers of Isis this year because students are being easily influenced by terrorist ideology, according to press reports from the country.

The news has come after it was reported in 2015 that Islamic militant groups, including Isis, had been targeting Malaysian students in higher education, as outlined in a report, said The Malaysian Insider.

At the time, Datuk Ayob Khan Mydin Pitchay - chief assistant director of the counter-terrorism division with the Royal Malaysia Police - told the southeast-Asian nations media 61 nationals had been identified as being involved in three groups known as Jabhat A-Nusra, Ajnad Al-Sham, and Isis.

He added how the groups would not spare young Malaysians and said police were trying to educate students by emphasising how joining extremist groups, including Isis, was a one-way ticket.

Speaking at Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia - the Islamic Science University of Malaysia - he was quoted by the New Straits Times as having said: There is no way back unless they managed to get the help of the police here.

The new education effort has also come about after author of the study Countering Violent Extremist Narratives, Malaysian politician Dato Saifuddin Abdullah, highlighted how there is increased sympathy for extremist groups when the government introduces aggressive actions. Mr Abdullah also added how recruitment also rises because the public senses more injustice, therefore, driving more recruits to extremist groups.

Although no details have been released as to what exactly will feature in the new school briefings, deputy education minister Chong Sin Woon said the series of briefings was among the education ministry's efforts to raise awareness on the issue of terrorism, reported The Straits Times.

Speaking with journalists on Sunday, The Malaysian Insider quoted Mr Woon as saying: Together with the police and security forces, we will start disseminating information in schools this year.

According to government data given to global politics and economics magazine Foreign Policy, Malaysias reputation has been muddied with the revelation that authorities have arrested more than 122 individuals since 2013 who either joined the Islamic State and returned home, or were stopped while attempting to leave the country.

A poll carried out by the Pew Research Centre - which asked for Malaysian Muslims views on whether their opinion of Isis was favourable, unfavourable, or whether they didnt know - showed 67 per cent opposed the group, while 21 per cent remained undecided.
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Britains universities are said to be in the midst of a plagiarism epidemic after an investigation by The Times newspaper revealed how almost 50,000 students were caught cheating in the last three years.

The newspaper also found international students - from outside the European Union (EU) - to be the worst offenders, coming out as being more than four times as likely to cheat in exams and coursework, according to data obtained through the Freedom of Information Act.

From the 129 UK universities which featured in the investigation, the University of Kent came out on top with the highest number of academic misconduct cases - with 1,947 - followed by the University of Westminster (1,933) and the University of East London (1,828).

Sheffield Hallam (1,740) and Oxford Brookes (1,711) went on to complete the top five universities which caught the highest number of cheats.

In a statement to the Independent, the University of Kent said it has robust systems in place to detect anyone who may be trying to cheat, adding the institution will not tolerate academic misconduct.

It continued: We take appropriate action against those who we find to be cheating and continued infringement will result in expulsion from the university.

Such actions are in the interests of all our students and ensures the protection of our academic integrity.

Six other universities are said to have each caught 1,000 or more students cheating over the three-year period. Non-EU students went on to make up 35 per cent of all cases, but accounted for just 12 per cent of the student population, requests from 70 universities showed.

75 per cent of postgraduates found plagiarising at Queen Mary University of London were from abroad, including a third from China.

One professor from the University of Buckingham told The Times type-1 plagiarism, copying and pasting, is decreasing because its so easy to detect.

However, he added: My impression is that type-2 cheating, using a bespoke essay-writing service, is increasing.

Services like these can reportedly charge hundreds of pounds for essays, dissertations, and exam answers which are said to be written by professional lecturers up to doctorate level.

One service, Ivory Research, based in Canary Wharf in London - which claims to be one of the UKs leading academic research companies - says it employs only the best writers in the industry, adding how it uses a large team of expert writers who all have degrees from UK universities - minimum 2:1, through to Masters and PHD - including specialists in all academic disciplines.

The Ivory Research site adds: You can be certain that the writer we assign to your custom paper will have the relevant experience and academic qualifications for your subject, and that the work they produce for you will be of the highest academic standard.

Ivory Research has yet to respond to the Independents request for comment in relation to the investigations findings.
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Last year ended with the launch of the third largest cruise ship in the world, Norwegian Escape. It was a year in which six new ships, including the biggest for the UK market, Britannia, set sail, increasing cruise passenger capacity by a total of 15,700.

This year, the cruise ship boom is almost doubling. Eleven new-build ships, adding 30,700 berths, will be leaving their shipyards, though nearly half of them will not vie for our custom. Ovation of the Seas and Genting World are bound for the Far East while AidaPrima, AidaTui and Mein Schiff 5 are destined for the German-speaking market.

The ship making the biggest splash in 2016 is Harmony of the Seas, for 5,497 passengers, making its maiden voyage in May (0844 493 3033; royalcaribbean.co.uk). A cruise ship of superlatives, it will be the world's largest, with the tallest water slide, the Ultimate Abyss, plunging passengers down 10 decks. One-week Mediterranean cruises sail round-trip from Barcelona from June to October, starting at 899pp, excluding flights.

Another resort-ship, Carnival Vista for 4,000 passengers, marks the return of Carnival fun ships to Europe in May. It promises the first Imax Cinema and the first SkyRide (pedalos on rails) at sea (0843 374 2272; carnival.co.uk). Week-long Western Mediterranean cruises include a call at Messina in Sicily. Sail on 18 August from 819pp, excluding flights.

At the other end of the scale Regent Seven Seas Explorer, launching in July, and Seabourn Encore, in December, will carry 750 and 600 passengers respectively. All-inclusive Explorer backs up its claim to be the most luxurious ship ever built with a high space/passenger ratio. Seabourn Encore, with a private yacht feel, has an emphasis on attentive service. Its maiden voyage is from Athens to Dubai, departing on 4 December (0843 373 2000; seabourn.com). The 16-day Holy Land & Arabian Gems cruise takes in the Suez Canal and calls at Aqaba for Petra and Muscat in Oman. Fares from 4,998pp.

Also on the small side by today's standards, Viking Sea (930 passengers) joins Viking Star, launched last year, both ocean ships from the river cruise company, with sleek decor, free wi-fi and excursions and balconies for all.

Koningsdam (2,650 passengers), the new flagship for Holland America Line, will offer classical music recitals in partnership with New York's Lincoln Center when it launches in April (0843 374 2300; hollandamericaline.co.uk). A one-week cruise to the Eastern Mediterranean departs 8 April. Ports of call include Dubrovnik, Kerkira on Corfu and Sarande in Albania. The cost, from 1,079pp, includes flights and transfers.
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New year, new map of France. As of 1 January, France's 22 regions have been whittled down to 13 in an effort to streamline the country's formidable bureaucracy. There were howls of outrage in 2014 when the plans were announced, with critics comparing some of the merged regions to forced marriages. In a country with such intense regional pride, you could hardly expect anything less.

Some of the mergers make sense. Upper and Lower Normandy unite to become just Normandy, which would be news to the millions of tourists who didn't realise it had two halves. Burgundy joins forces with its eastern neighbour, Franche-Comte, making a beautiful match on the wine and cheese front.

Picardy, which many British tourists don't really clock as they hurtle down the motorway to the South every summer, has been absorbed by its northern neighbour, Nord-Pas-de-Calais. Champagne-Ardenne is now part of a sprawling eastern region with Alsace and Lorraine.

A few have escaped intact: Brittany, Pays de la Loire, Ile-de-France, Provence-Cote-d'Azur and Centre  not forgetting Corsica. It's when you go south that things get a bit tricky. Little Limousin, whose green beauty is often overlooked, is swallowed by coastal kings Aquitaine and Poitou-Charente. Its equally green neighbour, Auvergne, is taken over by the might of the Rhone-Alpes (another cheese match made in heaven).

Occitan-speaking Languedoc and the Catalans of Roussillon are joined by Gascon-speaking Midi-Pyrenees, just to add to the dialectical fun. This mega-region contains two of France's most dynamic and fastest-growing cities, Toulouse and Montpellier, but it's the latter that has lost its status as a regional capital.

Then there's the question of names. The new regions have until July to come up with names to replace the temporary unwieldy monikers of Languedoc-Roussillon-Midi-Pyrenees, Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine, Aquitaine-Limousin-Poitou-Charente, et al.

Suggestions for the Aquitaine amalgamation include just plain Aquitaine  not likely to please its neighbours who are keen to hold on to their identity. Similarly with Languedoc: the idea of calling it Occitanie wouldn't go down very well among some Catalans near the Spanish border, who are already calling for a split from the new mega-region.

Let's hope they don't create barbarous acronyms such as Paca, which is what Provence-Cote-d'Azur is often shortened to and means nothing to anyone outside the region. The Alsace-Champagne merger could end up being Acal, which sounds hideous. Grand Est, one of the mooted names, is a bit better.

Quite who's going to benefit from these changes isn't clear  apart from the stationers and graphic designers who will have to design and print new logos. It's not even regarded as a cost-cutting exercise, as public-sector jobs are protected and not many heads will roll. Just what all those functionless fonctionnaires will do in this new world remains to be seen.
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I couldnt help but wonder whether it was a mistake to be heading back; returningreturn to somewhere Id fallen in love with 25 years ago. The last time I caught the ferry to Heron Island in Queensland, Australia  watching the coral cay shimmer above the horizon like a mirage flirting with the Coral Sea  I was a zoology graduate fresh out of university.

Based at the Heron Island Research Station, I spent five weeks studying birds and marine life;  five weeks roaming an island you could circumnavigate in 20 minutes, my life synching to the ebb and flow of tides, the passage of migrating humpback whales and the annual arrival of nesting seabirds and turtles.

This fragment of the Great Barrier Reef was also recently revisited by David Attenborough. The naturalist returned to the reef after almost 60 years to film the BBCs new landmark series, currently on BBC One 1.

This time I would be spending five days at the islands resort. Id long dreamed of sharing this far-flung speck of sand, 89km from the Queensland coast, but it still felt surreal to have my wife and 15-year-old twins standing alongside with me at the rail of the Heron Islander as the catamaran sidled towards the jetty.

The sudden transition from deep-water blue to coral-lagoon turquoise was startlingly familiar. The wreck of HMS Protector was still there  scuttled on the edge of the harbour channel in 1945. One or two reef egrets crouched on the rusted hull, their plumage glaring white against the green backdrop of Heron Islands dense pisonia forest. It hasnt changed a bit, I told myself as I followed my family along the jetty towards the resort staff waiting with glasses of chilled fruit juice.

I think the birds must have missed me. No sooner had we sat down in the shade of the poolside bar than a buff-banded rail landed in my lap, intent on sharing lunch. I distinctly remembered them wandering, unannounced, into my modest student hut at the research station, squabbling over looted bread all those years ago. Wedge-tailed shearwaters used to nest under the floor, their crooning duets wafting from their burrows late into the night. They werent due to return to the island for a few weeks, but I noticed that countless black noddies  which Attenborough encounters here in the new series  were already fussing over their scrappy nests in the pisonia trees.

One of the few resort islands where you can experience the Great Barrier Reef right off the beach, Heron Island is a magnet to discerning divers  but its often birds that make the first impression. Up to 100,000 breed on the coral cay; paradise pervaded by their courtship clamour. I was relieved to see that, despite the resorts valiant attempts at style and sophistication, birds still ruled the roost.

Relationships with nature on Heron Island havent always been so sympathetic. In the early 1930s, when the islands turtle cannery was converted into a resort, tourist brochures touted turtle-riding as a major attraction. Staff would wait at night during egg-laying season (November to March) for turtles to haul themselves ashore before flipping them onto their backs, effectively marooning them. The following morning, the stoic creatures would be turned back over so resort guests could ride them down the beach back into the sea.

Today, nearly two-thirds of the island is part of a national park, and a daily programme of environmentally- friendly activities has long replaced turtle-riding. Our first afternoon coincided with low tide. The reef flat around Heron Ithe island had emptied to leave warm, knee-deep water over a mosaic of coral outcrops and sandy paths. Joining a guided reef walk, we were about to learn that rockpooling in Cornwall would never be quite the same again.

Within minutes of wading in, we were staring through gin-clear water at a pair of epaulette sharks draped like spotted sashes over the coral sand. Damselfish flickered like sparks through antlered growths of acropora, while circular microatolls of porites coral were studded with cowries, cone shells and sky-blue linckia starfish.

We were instantly hooked. Reef walking at Heron Island is like peering through a window on the Great Barrier Reef. All you want to do next is fling it open for a better view.

National Geographic Destinations Of A Lifetime Show all 9 1 /9 National Geographic Destinations Of A Lifetime National Geographic Destinations Of A Lifetime THE LUBERON, FRANCE Lavender fields at Senanque Abbey, France Photo by Brzozowska/iStockphoto National Geographic Destinations Of A Lifetime MACHU PICCHU, PERUA A llamas-eye view of the legendary Inca settlement at Machu Picchu, isolated high in the Peruvian Andes. Photo by Jim Richardson/National Geographic Creative National Geographic Destinations Of A Lifetime SOSSUSVLEI, NAMIBIA Sossusvlei is home to the largest sand dunes in the world, shaped by the wind. High levels of iron in the sand create its distinctive glowing hue. Photo by Annie Griffiths/National Geographic Creative National Geographic Destinations Of A Lifetime GOBI, MONGOLIA MY SHOT: The weather had been changing constantly in Mongolias southern Gobi, not far from the border with China. After a storm passed a rainbow appeared, then a second one. The gers (yurts) added scale and depth to my composition, but when I saw the rider on horseback I knew this was my chance to add motion to my photo. I waited until they were between the rainbows and started shooting as fast as I could to capture the moment, the light, the rainbows, and the stormy sky. Photo by Ira Block/National Geographic National Geographic Destinations Of A Lifetime BORA BORA, FRENCH POLYNESIA A barrier reef protects the shallow turquoise lagoon surrounding the Pacific islands of Bora Bora, where the extinct volcanic peak of Mount Otemanu juts into the sky.Photo by Frans Lanting/National Geographic Creative National Geographic Destinations Of A Lifetime National Geographic Destinations Of A Lifetime MOUNT WASHINGTON, NEW HAMPSHIRE The weather station at New Hampshires Mount Washington Observatory has recorded wind gusts, arctic temperatures, and other weather conditions since 1932. Photo by Mike Theiss/National Geographic Creative National Geographic Destinations Of A Lifetime SAUNDERS ISLAND, FALKLAND ISLANDS MY SHOT: This particular afternoon on Saunders Island was quite beautiful, with the lowering sun providing a warm light that washed the wildlife and landscape. As I watched, cycles of waves pounding the shoreline would reveal groups of penguins making their transition from the surf of the South Atlantic Ocean to the sandy shore. This set of southern rockhopper penguins looked to me to be a perfectly formed brigade (in proper ranks, it seemed), marching to their terra firma nests.Photo by Jay Dickman/National Geographic National Geographic Destinations Of A Lifetime GARRISON SAVANNAH, BARBADOS MY SHOT: While I was on assignment in Barbados, a hotel owner suggested I get up at 3 a.m. to watch the Turf Club horses being bathed in the ocean at sunrise. I drove in the pitch black to the waterfront there, a parade of groomsmen and their thoroughbreds gradually emerged from the dark street, past the glow of a single streetlamp, and into the ocean. As the sun started to reveal the beautiful blue water, the gorgeous horses, and the Bajan men bathing alongside these incredible animals, everything fell into place. Photo by Susan Seubert/National Geographic

Over the next few days we paddled transparent kayaks across the lagoon, gazing down at stingrays half-buried in the sand. We sat in the shallows, wriggling our bare toes at juvenile black-tip reef sharks, and staked out the harbour watching the grown-ups prowl between the wooden stilts of the jetty. And, of course, we snorkelled, a lot.

A couple of hours before high tide, we would grab our masks, snorkels and fins and simply walk straight from our room, ducking under the whispering branches of breeze-combed casuarina trees to emerge on the beach. The moment we put our goggled faces underwater, I would start hearing snorkel talk  muffled exclamations reverberating through the sea as my children spotted something new. Curious turtles swam right up to us, sunlight rippling across their glossy, parquet shells. We saw clownfish squirming in their host anemones and, on one occasion, five spotted eagle rays pulsing by on undulating fins.

The climax to our snorkelling exploits at Heron Island came when we joined a dive boat bound for deeper water. Slipping into the blue of Wistari Channel, we gazed down on the vast ramparts of the reef, smothered in great swathsswathes of branching coral. Shoals of surgeonfish flowed like blue ink through the staghorn forest, the sea filled with the ratchet clicks of their feeding.

Back on land, one of the naturalist guides from the resort showed us around the research station. She told us it had been largely rebuilt following a devastating fire in 2007. I didnt recognise any of it. It seemed more hi-tech, more serious. Long-term experiments were underwayunder way to study ocean acidification and the impact of microbeads (, used in facial wash), on the reefs food chain. It was clear that, for all its beauty and exuberance, numerous threats stalked the Great Barrier Reef, from climate change to pollution.

As we listened to an explanation of how the humble sea hare ( a mollusc wed seen on our reef walks)  might hold clues for treating dementia, a group of students walked noisily past. I wondered what they might find if they returned to Heron Island in 25 years time. A  thriving coral reef, hopefully. A and a paradise for birds, one would hope.

Travel essentials

Getting there

Discover the World (01737 214 291; discover-the-world.co.uk) offers an 11-night Southern Reef Explorer holiday from 2,585pp, including return flights, from London Heathrow to Brisbane with Singapore Airlines. This includes 11 nights accommodation with breakfast and some dinners (two nights at Hervey Bay, four nights at Lady Elliot Island Resort and four nights at Heron Island Resort), domestic flights and boat transfers, three days car rental and a half-day whale-watching trip.

More information

queensland.com

australia.com

William Grays e-book, Coral Reefs & Islands: the Natural History of a Threatened Paradise, is available at the authors website, william-gray.co.uk

Great Barrier Reef with David Attenborough continues on Wednesday on BBC One at 9pm
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Another hunt is on, for another British jihadi. The executioner in Isiss latest snuff video speaks  like Mohamed Emwazi, his predecessor  with the lilt of any number of young men in London or Birmingham. He is perhaps a less confident performer: the script, a typical combination of bombast and victimhood, is read haltingly, like some nightmarish version of a school play. The method of murder, too, has changed from beheading by knife to a gunshot to the back of the head. Yet this is unmistakeably the man who, until he is also killed, will be the closest the UK comes to an interlocutor within the ranks of Isis.

Who is he? Leaders of Isis would like to present Jihadi Johns replacement as simply the embodiment of their ideology: an unswerving acolyte sworn to murder and destruction. He terrifies most in the abstract; the more that is discovered, the easier it becomes to treat him as simply another depraved individual, of unsound mind and morals.

Even before the first hints as to his identity emerged, parts of the video invited ridicule. The balaclava-clad killer complains about British soldiers fighting under the banner of Cameron on the minimum wage. Contemporary grievances chime poorly with the desire to establish a medieval caliphate; you see for a second the kind of thinking that considers state-mandated pay floors to be no less cruel than shooting innocent people from point-blank range.

 ISIS killer dubbed new 'Jihadi John'

If the killer is indeed Siddartha Dhar, a former bouncy castle salesman and member of the British extremist group Al-Muhajiroun, such absurdities come further into focus. Dhar is a Hindu convert, who claimed he could no longer love his mother because she is not a Muslim. Pudgy and pompous, he operated as a spokesman for Isis while in the UK  telling Channel 4 and anyone who would listen that he wanted to go to Syria. The farcical nature of his views is only matched in this case by the farcical performance of the intelligence services, who allowed Dhar to skip bail and reach Raqqa.

Like Jihadi John, this man  whoever he is  remains a bauble, one we imbue with significance at our own risk. I celebrated, as I expect most people did, when Emwazi was killed. The evening of the next day, as suicide bombers wielding AK-47s stormed Paris, brought home the lesson about confusing  even for a moment  mid-level figureheads for organisational strength.

Timeline: The emergence of Isis Show all 40 1 /40 Timeline: The emergence of Isis Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2000 Abu Musab al-Zarqawi (pictured here) forms an al-Qaeda splinter group in Iraq, al-Qaeda in Iraq. Its brutality from the beginning alienates Iraqis and many al-Qaeda leaders. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2006 Al-Zarqawi is killed in a U.S. strike. Al-Zarqawis successor, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, announces the creation of the Islamic State in Iraq (ISI). Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2009 Still al-Qaeda-linked ISI claims responsibility for suicide bombings that killed 155 in Baghdad, as well as attacks in August and October killing 240, as President Obama announces troop withdrawal from Iraq in March. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2010 Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi becomes head of ISI, at lowest ebb of Islamist militancy in Iraq, which sees last U.S. combat brigade depart. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2012 In Syria, protests (pictured here starting in Daree) have morphed into what president Assad labelled a real war with emergence of a coalition of forces opposed to Assads regime. Syria group Jabhat al-Nusra are among rebel groups who refuse to join, denouncing it as a conspiracy. Bombings targeting Shia areas, killing more than 500 people, spark fears of new sectarian conflict. Sunni Muslims stage protests across country against what they see as increasingly marginalisation by Shia-led government. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2013 Al-Baghdadi renames ISI as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, or Isis, as the group absorbs Syrian al-Nusra, gaining a foothold in Syria. In response, al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri (Bin Ladens successor) concerned about Isis expansion orders that Isis be dissolved and ISI operations should be confined to Iraq. This order is rejected by al-Baghdadi. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - January Isis fighters capture the Iraqi cities of Fallujah and Ramadi, giving them base to launch slew of attacks further south. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis declares itself the Caliphate, calling itself Islamic State (IS). The group captures Mosul, Iraqs second largest city; Tal Afar, just 93 miles from Syrian border; and the central Iraqi city of Tikrit. These advances sent shockwaves around the world. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Around the same time Isis releases a video calling for western Muslims to join the Caliphate and fight, prompting new evaluations of extremists groups social media understanding. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - June Isis take Baiji oil fields in Iraq - giving them access to huge amounts of possible revenue. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August James Foley is executed by the group as concerns grow for second American prisoner, fellow reporter Steven Sotloff. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - August Obama authorises U.S. airstrikes in Iraq, helping to stall Isis along with action by Kurdish forces following the deaths of hundreds of Yazidi people on Mount Sinjar. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release video showing Steven Sotloffs murder prompting Western speculation his executioner is same man who killed Mr Foley. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Obama tells us that America will hunt down terrorists who threaten our country EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Isis release a video appearing to show David Haines, who was captured by militants in Syria in 2013, wearing an orange jumpsuit and kneeling in the desert while he reads a pre-prepared script. It later shows what appears to be the aid worker's body. Rex Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - September Peshmerga fighters scrabble to hold positions in the Diyala province (a gateway to Baghdad) as Isis fighters continue to advance on Iraqi capital. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Aid worker Alan Henning is killed. Self-imposed media blackout refuses to show images of him in final moments, instead focuses upon humanitarian care. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - October Isis raise their flag in Kobani, which had been strongly defended by Kurdish troops. The victory goes against hopeful western analysis Isis had overextended itself, while alienating much of the Muslim population through the murder of Henning. Victory causes fresh waves of Kurdish refugees arriving in Turkey. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2014 - November American hostage, who embarced values of Islam, Peter Kassig and 14 Syrian soldiers are shown meeting the same fate as other captives. But intelligence agencies will be poring over the apparently significant discrepancies between this and previous films. Seramedig.org.uk Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis has released a video revealing the murder by burning to death of a Jordanian pilot held by the group since the end of December 2014. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have released videos which appear to show the beheading of Japanese hostages Haruna Yukawa and Kenji Goto. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February American aid worker, Kayla Mueller was the last American hostage known to be held by Isis. She died, according to her captors, in an airstrike by the Jordanian air force on the city of Raqqa in Syria, though US authorities disputed this. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February Isis militants have posted a gruesome video online in which they force 21 Egyptian Coptic Christian hostages to kneel on a beach in Libya before beheading them. Egypt vowed to avenge the beheading and launched air strikes on Isis positions. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - February The British Isis militant suspected of appearing in videos showing the beheading of Western hostages has been named in reports as Mohammed Emwazi from London. Rex Features Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - March Isis triple suicide attack has killed more than 100 worshippers and hundreds of others were injured after the group members targeted two mosques in the Yemeni capital of Sanaa. AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Iraqi forces have claimed victory over Isis in battle for Tikrit and raised the flag in the city. EPA/STR Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis has claimed responsibility for a suicide bomb attack in Afghanistan that killed at least 35 people queuing to collect their wages and injured 100 more. EPA Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - April Isis media arm released a 29-minute video purporting to show militants executing Ethiopian Christians captives. The footage bore the extremist groups al-Furqan media logo and showed the destruction of churches and desecration of religious symbols. A masked fighter made a statement threatening Christians who did not convert to Islam or pay a special tax. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of Isis has been "incapacitated" by a spinal injuries sustained in a US air strike in Iraq. He is being treated in a hideout by two doctors from Isis stronghold of Mosul who are said to be "strong ideological supporters of the group". Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis has also claimed responsibility for killing 300 of Yazidi captives, including women, children and elderly people in Iraq AP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis attack on Prophet Mohamed cartoon contest in Texas was its first action on US soil. Two gunmen were shot and killed after launching the attack at the exhibition. Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi have been named as the attackers at the Curtis Culwell Centre arena in Garland. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isiss deputy leader, Abu Alaa Afri, a former physics teacher who was thought to have taken charge of the deadly terrorist group, has been killed in a US-led coalition airstrike. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May US special forces have killed a senior Isis leader named as Abu Sayyaf in an operation aiming to capture him and his wife in Syria. Getty Images Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Iran-backed militias are sent to Ramadi by the Iraqi government to fight Isis militants who completed their capture of the city. Government soldiers and civilians were reportedly massacred by extremists as they took control and the army fled. Charred bodies were left littering the city streets as troops clung on to trucks speeding away from the city. Ramadi is the latest government stronghold to fall to the so-called Islamic State, despite air strikes by a US-led international coalition aiming to stop its advance in Iraq and Syria. AFP Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May Isis rounded up civilians trapped in Palmyra and forced them to watch 20 people being executed in the historic citys ancient amphitheatre. The Unesco World Heritage site was overrun by militants, threatening the future of 2,000 year-old monuments and ruins. Thousands of Palmyras residents fled but many are still living within the city walls, while the UN human rights office in Geneva said it had received reports of Syrian government forces preventing people from leaving until they retreated from the city. Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - May A group of Isis-affiliated fighters have captured a key airport in central Libya. The militants took control of the al-Qardabiya airbase in Sirte after a local militia tasked with defending the facility withdrew from their positions. Affiliates of Isis, already control large parts of Sirte, the birthplace of former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and a former stronghold of his supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June The US Air Force has destroyed an Isis stronghold after an extremist let slip their location on social media. According the Air Force Times, General Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, commander of Air Combat Command, said that Airmen at Hulburt Field, Florida, used images shared by jihadists to track the location of their headquarters before destroying it in an airstrike. Reuters Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Kurdish forces captured a key military base in a significant victory in Raqqa as well as town of Tell Abyad. YPG fighters, backed by US-led airstrikes and other rebels, consolidated their gains, when they seized the key town on the Syria-Turkey border. They are now just 30 miles to the north of Raqqa and have cut off a major supply route deep inside Isis-held territory. Ahmet Silk/Getty Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has released gruesome footage claiming to show the murder of more than a dozen men by drowning, decapitation and using a rocket-propelled grenade as it seeks to boost morale among its fanatical supporters. Timeline: The emergence of Isis 2015 - June Isis has begun carrying out its threat to destroy structures in the ancient Syrian city of Palmyra, blowing up at least two monuments at the Unesco-protected site as Syrian government troops made advances on the Islamists positions. AFP

The only targets worth fretting about are those for people whom the group would struggle to replace. There are very few of these. Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi descends from the Prophet Mohammeds Quraysh tribe; besides the obvious symbolism of killing Isiss leader, it would not be easy to locate a successor of similar heritage.

On the other hand the 10 targeted killings of Isis leaders carried out by the US between 7 and 27 December should not be mistaken for a meaningful achievement. These were mid-level officials, easy come, easy go.

Recommended Read more Loosening the rules of engagement in Syria would only backfire

Contained in the video are some indications of changing strategy. The killers  there are five, though only one speaks  wear military fatigues instead of black, and a child is introduced at the end, to warn of coming attacks in the West. Both changes seek to present Isis as a permanent state, one with an army, and a new generation of recruits on the way. There is some defensiveness here, as there was in al-Baghdadis purported Christmas-time address; Isis is increasingly besieged, and where first the emphasis lay on making the group appear more terrifying than it is, now it falls on exaggerating its longevity.

Care should be taken not to forget the victims, amid the trauma of witnessing another British citizen stoop to such lows. These men were alleged to be spies; two were paving workers, one a shop owner, another a teenager, and the last an air-conditioning technician, according to reports. They admit  under duress  offences from covert camera work to setting up internet cafes.

None of this may be true, but the heroism of any local citizens resisting Isis beggars belief, knowing the kind of fate they may face. It is thought that local intelligence contributed to the pinpoint attack on Mohamed Emwazi two months ago; paranoid as Isis is, there will be spies operating in the areas under its control. These individuals  and umbrella groups such as Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently  are the ones that deserve space in our minds. Another British jihadi is merely another fool in a mask.
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Since the age of five in Liverpool, all I dreamed of was becoming a policeman. Two decades later after service in two cadets forces and university in Manchester, I joined the local police. For a black gay man, it may seem like a strange choice.

Why strange? Well, its no secret that the police force has a problem with diversity. Week by week, another report comes out claiming that the force is failing in that area, especially with race. Today its been claimed that Cleveland constabulary used their anti-terror powers to spy on officers who were whistle-blowing about racism.

In the last few weeks Ive heard some black people calling for others not to join, an effective boycott of the police. Is it wise? Is it understandable? As a former detective who has served in two of Britains biggest forces, I am often asked whether I would encourage other black people to join. Im not entirely sure what to say.

Recommended Read more I was one of those black British people Letwin wrote his memo about

Joining the police was a steep learning curve for me, marking when I first became fully aware of my race and of racism as a concept. Within a matter of weeks of joining, I was called a coconut (a term that suggests someone is black on the outside but white on the inside.) And often I was used as a buffer to stop people who looked just like me.

I challenged the discrimination against me after years, and was then described by the police as everything from aggressive, to sensitive, to having a chip on my shoulder, all because I dared to challenge the status quo. They couldnt make their minds up how to label me, but Id already heard all the usual stereotypes of black people in the force from lazy to incompetent, so I was well prepared. There have been numerous racism cases after mine, such as those of PC Carol Howard and, recently, DC Paul Bailey. They highlight the fact that systemic racism is an ongoing problem for the force.

A recent report found that black people who do want to join the police are more likely to be rejected for a job than white applicants  and then we wonder why there is a lack of colour. In London, the Met is 90 per cent white, but polices a capital city that is 40 per cent non-white. For black officers serving, progressing is another issue, with many overlooked for promotion. At present, eleven of the forces have no officers from ethnic minorities above the rank of chief inspector.

And then theres the subject of retention, the police not being able to keep hold of the black staff it already has, which is not that many. Worryingly, black people are leaving the force as quickly as they are joining.

It was only in October that the Home Secretary Theresa May criticised the police about the dismal number of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic staff along with disproportionate stop and search figures. In most forces, a black person is more likely to be stopped and searched by the police than their white counterpart. In Dorset alone, this rate is 17.5 times more likely. For many thinking of applying, stop and search is often their first interaction with the police.

So, the next time you think of asking me why more black people dont join the police force, I have a question too: if you were black, would you?
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When Britain handed over Hong Kong to China in 1997, it was promised that the citys way of life would be preserved in an arrangement known as One Country, Two Systems, which will expire in 2047.

But less than two decades into Chinese rule, freedom is eroding fast in Hong Kong. Last week, Lee Bo went missing mysteriously. He was a publisher of books that were critical of China's establishment.

According to his wife, Mr Lee phoned from mainland China where he said he was "assisting in an investigation", even though the Immigration Department has no record of him leaving Hong Kong. Lee follows the fate of four of his colleagues, all of whom disappeared in recent months, including a Swedish national in Thailand.

"He thought it was quite safe in Hong Kong." Mrs Lees response reflects a typical assumption of Hongkongers  that you could criticise the Communist Party as long as you are in Hong Kong. After Mr Lees disappearance, this may no longer stand true. The long arms of the Big Brother have stretched across the border.

Based in an old building with a small sign in a busy district, Mr Lee is no Nelson Mandela. Yet Lees work may be deemed dangerous by authorities as his books largely involve them: political gossip about Chinese leaders. Banned in China, these books are particularly valuable to curious Chinese tourists. It has not been established which book brought about trouble for Mr Lee, though reports suggest it may involve allegations about Xi JinPings love life.

The invisible hand of Beijing is not only squeezing freedom of the press and publishers, it is also gripping power on university campuses. On New Years Eve, the Hong Kong government quietly installed Arthur Li, a pro-Beijing figure to chair Hong Kong University (HKU), after the rejection of a liberal candidate for pro-vice chancellor. Both incidents are perceived as repercussions of the student-led Umbrella Revolution of 2014, as HKU has been a hotbed of student activism and even separatism.

Shortly before the 1997 handover, Margaret Thatcher, who signed the Sino-British Joint Declaration, advised Hongkongers to take to the world, should China renege on their promise. "Raise them [human rights concerns], one by one, again and again, each day use the powers you have to see that its lived up to," she said.

Needless to say, David Cameron had other ideas. Embracing the Chinese President with a state visit in 2015, Mr Cameron expressed concerns about Hong Kong with Mr Xi in private, only to be slammed down by the Chinese Foreign Ministry in public.

Asked how she felt about Hong Kongs handover as British rule comes to an end, Mrs Thatcher replied: "I shall be very sad indeed. I shall wish that our forbearers had the territory in free hold in perpetuity, in which case Hong Kong would be a free, independent nation, long before now. She could be still, if China would let her."

Almost twenty years on, we can safely conclude that the Iron Lady, for once, seemed far too optimistic.

If Chinese authorities truly masterminded the abduction of Mr Lee and his colleagues, Hong Kongs free society may have come to an end. China will not let Hong Kong reign free; Britain will not intervene. Hongkongers have been left to fend for themselves.
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So, 2016 will be the year when booking fees are abolished and ticket prices generally come down.

Well, we can dream. But in the meantime, here are some other ways in which the arts could be made more accessible and more enjoyable than they are now. For, even in this golden age for UK culture, there are too many irritations involved in the supposedly simple act of going out to see a show.

And they can be small, seemingly downright trivial, irritations. For instance, will someone please explain to me why at big rock venues there is someone at the door carefully unscrewing the top on your bottle of water and confiscating said bottle-top? It has to be a contender for the looniest job in Britain. I gather this little rite of passage to the arena occurs because of the danger that the crowd might hurl the bottles in unison at the performer, or at each other. And topless bottles travel less rapidly.

The last time I was a victim of water-bottle unscrewing was at a Leonard Cohen concert, and it did at least give me a divertingly fanciful vision of a middle-aged audience hurling their water bottles in unison at an 81 year-old man.

On the subject of rock gigs, could the tickets not tell us a little more? Are they for the standing or seated areas? Are they in front of, or to the side of, the stage? Why do these things have to be a surprise?

Next, to theatre. No restricted view seats should sell for more than 10. Memo to theatre producers: the view is actually a rather important factor in seeing a play. If it is restricted, then the pleasure is hugely diminished, and to charge anything more than a token amount is unethical.

Can we have an end in 2016 please to those insidious restoration levies that are increasingly added to the already high ticket prices? Translated, a restoration levy is helping a millionaire, no make that billionaire, commercial theatre owner to revamp their venue. We should all boycott these levies, unless we are offered a share in the profits as a quid pro quo.

For all the performing arts, programmes need to be more informative. At present the actor biography, that is just a list of plays, is ubiquitous and frankly meaningless, as they usually dont even tell us which part the actor played. Programmes for classical concerts are even worse, as they generally just list a musicians upcoming engagements. Could they not tell us something about the artists life, career and inspirations?

As I say, there is no doubting that we are in a golden age as far as the arts in the UK are concerned; but if those responsible for putting on concerts and plays showed just just a little more consideration for audiences - our comfort, convenience and bank balances - then this truly would be a happy 2016.

A callous comment from Martin McDonagh

The playwright Martin McDonagh, whose Royal Court play Hangmen has successfully transferred to Londons West End, has called for more support of new writing in the UK. I agree with that sentiment. He adds that there should be more support for theatres in the regions. I agree with that sentiment. He also tells The Stage that the government should cut subsidies to the bankers instead of cuts to venues outside London. I agree with that sentiment. He concludes: I dont care how many bankers hang themselves, but I do care about northern theatres closing down. I deplore that sentiment. Stupid, callous and unpleasant, it not only destroys his earlier, saner points, it makes it look like theatre itself lacks perspective and decency.

Heres the sure way to a fundraisers heart

Those behind the proposed 278m new London concert hall, which will be home to the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Simon Rattle, are seeking a wealthy donor to give up to 125m of the cost of the project. In return he or she can have their name on the new hall. But Sir Nicholas Kenyon, chief executive of the Barbican Centre, and the other leading lights behind the project should gear their thoughts more to the wealthy donors mother. A successful arts fund-raiser in America tells me that her key to raising a lot of money from donors is promising them their mothers name on the front of a building. Never underestimate the power of filial affection. Mums the word, Sir Nicholas.

d.lister@independent.co.uk; Twitter:@davidlister1
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Opinion polls determined the course of UK politics in 2015. They will do so again this year, even though some politicians and journalists had resolved to view them with greater scepticism. In the build up to the general election, polls triggered endless speculation about what would happen in a hung parliament. There was no hung parliament.

For reasons that tell us much about the febrile state of politics the pollsters election trauma is already a distant memory for those who declared they would pay them less attention. The polls will decide precisely when David Cameron calls a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU, the most important decision of his leadership. In the other great saga of British politics they will also be the key factor in the fate of Jeremy Corbyn. An unpopular leader, even if adored by his or her party, is vulnerable. A popular one acquires authority and a freedom to act. More than ever we live in the era of the opinion poll.

Assuming Cameron completes his negotiation at the EU summit next month, he hopes to hold the referendum in June. But he would be reckless to announce it immediately after the summit. Before naming the day he will consult the polls. If they suggest voters are giving his renegotiation the thumbs down he will not call a referendum.

Leaders do not consult voters when it looks as if they are going to lose, especially when there is flexibility about timing. Cameron has until 2017. After his renegotiation both sides will scrutinise polls feverishly  private polls, public polls, every bit of evidence as to which way the debate is going. It will be as if 2015 and the outbreak of opinion poll scepticism had never happened, and for good reason too.

If those who want to leave the EU appear to be moving well ahead, Cameron will have no choice but to make an excuse about more time being required. He will not admit he is delaying because he is worried about losing. No leader makes such an admission, that they twist and turn depending on the mighty opinion polls.

Cameron delivered his best joke when Gordon Brown called off plans to hold an early election in the autumn of 2007. Brown changed his mind at the last minute because polls showed a significant swing away from Labour in marginal seats. He pretended he was acting in the national interest and that his decision had nothing to do with the polls. Cameron responded by suggesting that Brown was the first Prime Minister not to call an election because he was afraid he was going to win.

Similarly, if Cameron decides not to go for a June referendum if the polls are against him he will insist it is in the national interest. On the surface he will be the first Prime Minister not to call a referendum because he is afraid he is going to win.

The Prime Minister will spend the second spring in succession worrying about opinion polls. Corbyn has probably been untroubled by polls for his entire political career. Whether he starts to study them neurotically like all his recent predecessors, or continues to view them with indifference, is largely irrelevant. The polls will determine what happens to him.

Corbyns internal dissenters know little about what they would do in policy terms if they were in charge. But they are united in their assumption that Corbyn is leading their party to calamitous defeat. While they make that assumption, Corbyn is vulnerable. He can change his Shadow Cabinet, give more power to party members and pull other levers available, but a leader of the opposition acquires invincible authority only if he or she looks like a winner.

If polls suggest Corbyn is a loser he will have less space to act in a way he would like and risks being removed. If polls suggest he is starting to appeal to the wider electorate, a lot of the dissenters would discover a loyalty to their leader. If Labour is miles behind in the polls there will be an attempt to remove Corbyn, possibly even this year.

There is a myth that Labour is sentimental about its leaders. Some cite the survival of Ed Miliband as evidence of this. But it was the mighty opinion polls that protected Miliband. There was not a single poll from his election as leader in 2010 until the exit poll last May that suggested Labour had no chance of forming the next government. Most showed that Labour would have the highest number of seats or an overall majority. Under such circumstances there was never any great momentum towards a coup against a leader who seemed on course to victory.

Arguably the polls saved Miliband as leader, all of them suggesting he had a good chance of becoming Prime Minister, and then wrecked his chances by legitimising the right-wing media focus on the apparent horrors of a Labour/SNP relationship in a hung parliament that never materialised.

When tribal loyalties are dying, no UK party is overwhelmingly popular, detached voters change their mind on issues suddenly and insecure leaders turn to referendums as a device to keep their parties together, opinion polls are their only reliable guide. Some Labour figures might have doubts about what it means to be on the centre-left but they want to win. As an alternative to clear ideas they turn to polls for vindication.

Cameron did not want to hold a referendum on Europe, but offered one to keep his party together and deal with an apparent threat from Ukip. Now he relies on polls as he decides when to hold the vote that will make or break his leadership.

The media reports on polls as obsessively as ever  for the good reason that they do have a big impact on insecure parties and leaders. They remain significant. The pollsters have little cause for misery about what happened in 2015. They are more powerful than they have ever been as nervy leaders and parties make their moves at the start of another stormy year.
Hundreds of farmers are expected to protest outside a crucial meeting of the IFA this week as the body begins the process of electing a new president.

In the wake of the damaging pay controversy, farmers from Limerick and north Galway are expected to be joined by others from around the country tomorrow to voice their anger at the way the organisation has been run.

Farmer Donal O'Brien, from Pallaskenry, Co Limerick, said he had received strong support from across the country for the protest at IFA headquarters in Bluebell, Dublin.

"We want to express our concerns over the board and start again with a new board," Mr O'Brien said. "We're not worried about numbers - if there are 50 or there are 1,000.

"Pulling subscriptions is not the way forward," he said. "I think our fathers and forefathers would want us to fight for the organisation."

In the immediate aftermath of the release of a report from former IFA chief economist Con Lucey detailing governance measures to be put in place, the national council passed a motion of confidence in the executive board.

However, in recent days further pressure has mounted on the six-man IFA executive board, as a number of counties passed various motions looking for the board to resign.

IFA Munster regional chairman James McCarthy, one of the six-man executive board, said the four regional IFA chairs indicated they would step aside if that was the meeting's decision.

He said farmers in Munster wanted the presidential election to get under way as soon as is feasible, while allowing for debates at county level.

The race to be the next IFA president is now in full swing, with all the potential candidates due to lodge their nominations by this Wednesday.

Each candidate must get the nomination of their own county and the backing of five other county chairs - meaning a maximum of four candidates can secure the numbers. But seven are seeking nominations.

Tomorrow's meeting will see the national council vote on changes to the current rules, which would allow the council to decide on when to stage the election by a majority vote.

Moves have been afoot to delay voting for several months, as the farm body tries to recover from the pay controversy that saw former general secretary Pat Smith and former president Eddie Downey step down.
Here are the main business stories from this morning's papers

Irish Independent:

***Retail will not see the same boost in employment as other sectors of the economy this year because of the hike in the minimum wage, employers group ISME has warned.

Elsewhere, however, prospects for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are good and the sector could generate an additional 60,000 jobs, if costs are curtailed, ISME said.

Separately, the manufacturing sector is powering ahead on the back of record new order levels, though even its jobs growth is slowing.

***Most UK lawmakers say a third runway at Londons Heathrow is the preferred method of expanding airport capacity in Britain, according to a survey commissioned by the airports operators.

A ComRes poll of 150 of Britains 650 members of parliament (MPs), conducted as Prime Minister David Cameron again delayed the decision, found 84pc think the UK needed an extra runway in the south east of England.

Of those, two-thirds see Heathrow as the best place to expand. ComRes interviewed 150 MPs in November and December last year.

***Ireland-based drug-maker Shire is in advanced talks to acquire smaller US rivals Baxalta for about $32bn (29bn) in cash and stock, excluding debt, according to sources.

The two drug-makers may announce a deal as soon as this week, the source added, with the price being discussed is $46.50 to $48 a share.

Final details of the transaction are still being negotiated and the timing and structure of any offer may change, however.

Irish Times:

***New labour market reforms will be brought to Cabinet within the next few weeks, the Irish Times reports.

One of the potential reforms, among other measures, would see a ban on employers offering less than three continuous hours work to staff.

The measure was proposed by an expert group at the university of Limerick that was commissioned by Business Minister Ged Nash to examine zero hours and low hours work.

***The group chief executive of Australian retail giant Harvey Norman has said that she expects strong growth in the companys operations here.

Speaking to local reporters in recent days Katie Page said she expects sales this year to grow strongly in Ireland.

The chain has annual sales of more than 150m in Ireland, although it has accumulated losses of more than 110m since entering the market here during the boom.

***The company behind DVD rental service Screenclick.com has gone bust, the Irish Times reports.

A liquidator was appointed to Dvdrentals.ie, the owner of Screenclick, in the run up to Christmas.

According to documents filed in the Companies Office the firm is being wound up as it cannot by reasons of its liabilities continue. The company previously had a turnover of more than 1m and employed about 12 staff.

Irish Examiner:

***House prices outside of the capital soared during 2015 while the national housing supply stands at its lowest level in a decade.

According to the latest report from property site Daft.ie, the average asking price for a house in Dublin rose by just 2.7pc last year. Outside of the capital average asking prices soared by 13.1pc.

The study also found that the number of houses on the market is at its lowest point in nearly nine years, with just over 25,000 properties for sale across the country.

***The managing director of Fitzers Catering is expecting an 85pc increase in profits this year to about 650,000

Barry Storey said that the business, which employs over 1,200 people, is projecting profits of 650,000 in 2016, almost double the approximate 350,000 recorded in 2015.

Revenues are projected to increase by 16pc to 17.5m in 2016.

***Two more investment banks have reported paying zero tax in Britain in 2014, prompting the opposition Labour party to urge the government to reverse a tax change it made for banks last year.

Citigroup and Credit Suisse disclosed in the past fortnight that their main UK subsidiaries paid no corporate income tax in 2014, the most recent year for which figures are available. This means seven of the ten biggest foreign investment and commercial banks operating in Europe's main investment banking center have said their main British arms paid no tax in that year.

In total the ten banking groups generated over $40bn in fees in Britain in 2014, reported $6.5bn in profit and employed almost 50,000 people. But they contributed just $205m in corporate income tax.
What's in a name: Saoirse Ronan with Ryan Gosling at the Hollywood Film Awards

Actress Saoirse Ronan has offered up thanks to Ryan Gosling for helping people with the pronunciation of her name.

The New York-born Brooklyn star was given the traditional name by her Irish parents, and she has had to correct people on the spelling and pronunciation for years.

Expand Close PALM SPRINGS, CA - JANUARY 02: Actress Saoirse Ronan attends the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for PSIFF) / Facebook

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Whatsapp PALM SPRINGS, CA - JANUARY 02: Actress Saoirse Ronan attends the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for PSIFF)

But Gosling gave her a big boost at the Hollywood Film Awards in November, when he presented the former child star with the New Hollywood Award and told the audience, "It's Ser-sha, like inertia!" - and now suddenly people have started getting her name right.

"Someone sent me a photo two weeks later of a cinema in Minnesota, and on the sign in the front it said, 'Brooklyn' and then underneath it said, 'Ser-sha, Like Inertia'," the actress told People magazine at the 2016 Palm Springs International Film Festival Gala on Saturday.

"I couldn't believe it! They actually put it on the front of the cinema, so the power of Ryan Gosling is stronger than anything else. He's like Jesus or something, like a blond Canadian Jesus!"

Gosling also told the crowd at the Hollywood Film Awards that Saoirse, who is hotly tipped to land an Oscar nomination for her performance in Brooklyn, is one of his favourite actresses.

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Barack Obama and Jerry Seinfeld in a still from Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee

He isn't a comedian and we can't imagine him doing a casual coffee run but US President Barack Obama has nonetheless starred in an episode of Jerry Seinfeld's Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.

The web series, as the name suggests, revolves around the Seinfeld actor and his comedian friends driving in classic cars and making small talk over coffee.

The show has included comedians such as Jim Carrey, Ricky Gervais, Don Rickles and even David Letterman turned up post-retirement to do a spot on the web series.

In this latest episode the Seinfeld and Obama drive around the grounds of the White House in the US president's 1963 Corvette: The Beast.

However, Secret Service refused to allow the pair to leave the grounds of the president's official residence so they take their coffee in one of the rooms of the White House.

Their conversation topics range from nothing to the sanity of world leaders and the merits of profanity.



Seinfeld said that Obama has told enough jokes in events such as the White House Correspondents Dinner to be considered a comedian.

When asked how many world leaders are out of their minds, Obama answered: "A pretty sizeable per cent". "They love me - partly because they think my ears are big and so I look a little like a cartoon character."

Bad stuff, or stupid stuff, is happening constantly, right? Obama says.

Every day. So you have to be able to just make fun of a lot of that, like: That was even dumber and more annoying than usual. Thats when cursing is really useful.
'Rebellion' has already been picked up by Sundance TV, which was founded by Robert Redford

It's Irish history, but not as we know it. Commencing last night, Rebellion, RTE's big budget contribution to the anniversary of the 1916 Rising, applies an agreeably soapy gloss to the upheavals that led to independence. There is panic and gunsmoke on the streets of Dublin but lots of Downton Abbey-grade melodrama too. Indeed, the five-part series may be enjoyed strictly at the level of period romp  a costumed escapade with bullets pinging in the background. Here are seven reasons to tune in tonight.

There is panic and gunsmoke on the streets of Dublin but lots of Downton Abbey-grade melodrama too. Indeed, the five-part series may be enjoyed strictly at the level of period romp  a costumed escapade with bullets pinging in the background. Here are seven reasons to tune in.

1: It Has Proper Production Values

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With a $6 million budget, Rebellion is by a very great distance the most expensive Irish drama ever. You can see it on the screen, too, as Edwardian Dublin is conjured in uncanny detail. Nelson's Pillar still stands watch over today's O'Connell Street while a British gunboat parked opposite the Custom House glimmers menacingly. In episode one, there's a sense of visiting an Ireland soon to be swept from existence, an Imperial outpost where toffs and oiks muddle along in often uneasy co-dependence.



2: Politics Is On The Back Burner

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The viewer is given to understand Ireland is on the cusp of momentous change. But Rebellion is canny enough not to clang us over the head with this fact. Instead, the under-the-surface turmoil soon to erupt with the Rising is presented as exactly that  an ominous rumbling that most people have accepted as part of the background noise of daily life. They live, they love, they squeeze into their corsets, more concerned with the drudgery of the day-to-day than the future of Ireland.



3: Women Are In The Foreground

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We're forever told that women have been written out of this pivotal epoch. If that is the case, Rebellion works hard at restoring the balance. The three central characters are female and we see Dublin through their eyes: a place where men believe they were the ones who ought to call the shots, women relegated to the margins, just because.



4: It's A Period Drama

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Cleverly, writer Colin Teevan has conceived Rebellion as a period soap in the first instance, a sweeping historical epic second. Edwardian Dublin comes off as a shabby cousin-once-removed to the halcyon era evoked by Downton Abbey. There are no kindly Granthams here, big-heartedly looking after "their" subjects. Just a ruling elite which assumes its position of privilege carved in granite. As a snapshot of the final days of British hegemony, it's fascinating.



5: There WILL be Blood, Eventually

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Expand Close There were a lot more bells and whistles on military costumes: From left, Michael Ford as Harry, Paul Reid as Stephen and Andrew Simpson as George in Rebellion / Facebook

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Anyone tuning in expecting to be instantly plunged into the chaos and, yes, the excitement of The Rising itself may feel short-changed. Rather than kicking off with James Connolly, Padraig Pearse, Dev, Michael Collins et al bunkered down in the GPO and sundry smoking locales across the city, the opening scene is of three young ladies performing Gilbert and Sullivan. However, we're promised that future episodes will conjure the tumult of the Rising in gritty detail.

6: The Dialogue is Better Than You Expect

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We've all had that moment watching Irish drama when it dawns on us that the characters aren't speaking like real people but in a sort of heightened movie-talk, with the occasional local idiom crowbarred clunkily in. Happily, there are no reasons to cringe here: following from last year's Charlie, his surprisingly polished Haughey biopic, Teevan shows he has a decent grasp of how Irish people interact in the real word. His script doesn't sing exactly. But it doesn't fall flat either.

7 : It's Nuanced But Not Hectoring

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The swirling complexities of the struggle for independence are acknowledged and it is clear that not everyone was invested in the campaign to end, or even significantly diminish, British rule. But while Rebellion does not place the leaders of the Rising on a pedestal nor does it condemn them, as is often the fashion. Instead, the viewer is presented with the facts and left to make up their own mind. Imagine that.
The trial of five care workers accused of assault at the Aras Attracta care home has heard that a number of files secretly recorded by RTE were later deleted.

Five members of staff at the facility are facing charges of assault. The charges relate to alleged assaults at Bungalow Three, Aras Attracta, Swinford Co Mayo which it is claimed took place on dates in November 2014.

Pat McLoughlin (56) of Lalibela, Mayfield, Claremorris, Co Mayo; Christina Delaney (35) of Seefinn, Lissatava, Hollymount, Co Mayo; Anna Ywunong Botsimbo (34) Low Park Avenue, Charlestown Co Mayo; Joan Walsh (42) Carrowilkeen, Curry Co Sligo and Kathleen King (56) Knockshanvally Straide, Foxford in Co Mayo all face a single charge of assault alleged to have taken place on dates between November 6 and 17, 2014.

The court previously heard that the cases would involve extensive amounts of material including filings and statements, CCTV and video footage.

Det Sgt James Carroll of Claremorris Garda Station who took possession of the RTE recordings, said he only became aware of deletions from the fixed camera in court today.

It also emerged that the State prosecution only heard about the deleted files today.

Det Sgt Carroll said he had been aware of deletions from the shirt camera after he was specifically told so by RTE's Paul Maguire. However, he had not been aware of any deletions from the fixed camera.

"I do know when I left RTE that day in my mind I was happy in the knowledge that there was no deletions from the fixed camera," he said.

Caoimhe Delaney, who has been a researcher with RTE since 2010 gave evidence of switching the cameras in the care facility.

Ms Delaney who also has a Fetac Level 5 qualification in health care was working undercover at the care facility on work experience. She told the court that no one in Aras Attracta was assisting her.

Ms Delaney today told the court how she would remove and replace the hidden cameras, disguised as aerosol cans, from the living room in Bungalow 3. She would hand them to Pauline Dunne, Janet Traynor or on occasion Barry O'Kelly. The swap would take place outside Bungalow Three each morning.

Ms Delaney gave evidence that she never watched the video clips adding that it was "not possible" for her to have edited the clips in any way.

Journalist Pauline Dunne who worked with RTE since September 2014, gave evidence that she was the only person who deleted files.

In her initial statement to gardai she has said she had not deleted any footage. However, it later emerged that six files had been deleted.

"I don't recall deleting them but if they were deleted it would have been me that deleted it. I didn't delete files unless Janet told me too," she told the court today.

When asked why she had initially said she had not deleted files, Ms Dunne said: "There was so much work to do, working long hours it would have taken two minutes to delete those clips. It just didn't stick in my mind."

However, she stressed the footage clearly showed the only gaps in footage where the six deletions highlighted.

Evidence was heard from Paul McGuire, head of the RTE Investigations Unit who oversaw the station's investigation into Aras Attracta.

He told the court that he had made the decision to put a fixed camera into the common room at Bungalow 3 in conjunction with the production team.

He said the HSE had not been consulted in regards to the camera.

This camera was replaced each day and all footage uploaded onto a master copy, the final day anything was added to the copy was around November 19, the court heard.

Mr McGuire said that given the "breaches we were witnessing in regulation and standards" the team made the decision to stop the investigation and alert the HSE and HIQA.

The original harddrive remains "under lock and key" in the offices of Mr McGuire. A mirror copy of the harddrive was made for gardai upon request.

Under cross examination by Conall McCarthy for defendant Christine Delaney, Mr McGuire agreed he had not viewed all 190 hours of footage on the drive handed to gardai to ensure it was identical to the original.

However, he added; "The number of files were exactly the same and the size of the space used was exactly the same."

Asked about deletions made from either the fixed camera and a shirt camera, Mr McGuire said a number of deletions were made to the fixed camera, one which showed "absolutely nothing" and four or five files recorded when the camera accidentally activated while in a car being transported to Aras Attracta.

"Those files were obviously of no significance to the investigation and they were deleted," he added.

Mr McGuire said a log was kept on all files including those that were deleted.

Patrick Reynolds BL for the State said no footage from the shirt camera was being presented in the case.

The court heard that the footage was taken between November 3 and November 19.

Mr Maguire said any deleted files only showed accidental filming. He stressed that the deleted files did not show examples of good care, insisting footage of good care was included in the programme.

"We wouldn't delete good care for example," he said.

"If sensitive footage of no consequence was filmed you wouldn't take the risk of having it around the place, you would delete it," added Mr Maguire.

Asked about the audio on the footage, Mr Maguire said what was aired was the actual footage.

Asked if the tape had been distorted to make voices clearer than the background noise, Mr Maguire added: "That is CSI stuff, that doesn't happen in real life".

The RTE Investigations Unit began its probe of Aras Attracta after they were approached by three whistleblowers, the court has heard.

Janet Traynor, producer of the RTE programme into Aras Attracta told the court that to her mind there were three people "concerned about the standards of care within the facility" who approached the station.

She said that while there was "strong evidence" of issues of concern, the team needed to be able to witness this themselves before even considering putting in a camera.

Under cross examination, Gearoid Geraghty put it to Ms Traynor, that the word Master copy in relation to the footage was inappropriate in this case, due to a number of deletions.

Ms Traynor said she was confident only six deletions had been made to the Master drive, adding: "I am the only one who had the power to instruct deletions."

Ms Traynor said the six deletions were made from recordings on November 12 on her instructions.

She told the court the first five clips were "literally blackness" before the camera was put in place while the sixth deleted clip on the 12 of November occurred when the camera was voice activated but no one was in the room.

It was put to Ms Traynor that in her initial statement she had stated she was 99pc certain there were no deletions. She told the court she had said 99pc certain not 100pc adding that the six deleted files were less than 1pc of the overall files.

Under cross examination she said she was "very, very clear there were only six deletions". She added that every second was accounted for with the exception of a 20 minute period on November 12.

"The metadata shows exactly when the camera fired off, the exact date, time of day and the duration. And everything is accounted for apart from the 12th of November for that 20 minutes," she said.

She said the RTE protocol of deleting certain irrelevant clips including for privacy reasons was dropped after researchers saw "so many incidents happening".

"There were so many incidents occurring daily that we felt it was really important that we parked our protocols and kept all footage in its totality," she added.
Dr Omar Muhamed pictured outside the Medical Council where the Fitness to Practise Inquiry is being held. Picture Credit : Frank Mc Grath

A full 30 witnesses are expected to give evidence in a disciplinary inquiry at the Medical Council in Dublin, the proceedings heard yesterday.

Dr. Omar Hassan Khalafalla Mohamed, whose medical registration is currently suspended, is the subject of the inquiry, which is due to last for the next two weeks.

The SHO faces a number of allegations relating to events that occurred while he was working as a surgical SHO at the Midlands Regional Hospital Portlaoise in 2012 and Mayo General Hospital in 2013, and as an orthopaedic SHO at University Hospital Galway in 2014.

In all three positions, Dr. Hassan, who was representing himself at the inquiry, was placed off call shortly after he began the posts.

The inquiry today heard that Dr. Hassans medical registration was suspended by the High Court, following an application by the Medical Council in March 2015 under Section 60 of the Medical Practioners Act 2007.

Dr. Hassan demonstrated a level of clinical incompetence regarding diagnosis, prescriptions and disease control, the legal counsel for the CEO of the Medical Council, Frank Beatty, argued.

The doctor also demonstrated a lack of knowledge and insight, and bizarre behaviour, Mr. Beatty said.

Mr. Beatty also said it appears that Dr. Hassan failed to actively engage on a number of levels including non-attendance on the ward on certain days while he was on duty and, in instances when he was present, failed to act or refused to act when ordered to do so by his superiors.

One allegation relates to the admission of a three-year-old child, while he was working at University Hospital Galway in February 2014, which claims that Dr. Hassan failed to prioritise the childs admission in circumstances where the child presented with a fractured humerus, in a timely manner.

Dr. Hassan totally denies the allegations.

Several nurses working at the Portlaoise hospital today gave evidence regarding Dr. Hassans time at the hospital, where he officially worked from July 2012 through 1 January 2013.

One of the allegations against Dr. Hassan claim that, during October 2012, he failed to respond to a number of bleeps/pages from nursing staff, and that he failed to admit patients and/or obtain consent for procedures on the day ward in a timely manner.

These patients would have come into the hospital for day surgeries.

Nicola McGlynn, the clinical nurse manager at Portlaoise, told the inquiry that delays in admitting patients to theatre have a knock-on effect on both patients and staff.

Its vital that everyone does their job in a timely manner, she said.

When asked how she found Dr. Hassan, Ms. McGlynn said, I found him okay. I have no particular opinion on the matter.

Ms. McGlynn added: My personal feeling was that Dr. Hassan didnt like taking instruction from me.

Yesterday (Monday) morning, Dr. Hassan, with an address in Dublin 15, appeared at the inquiry via Skype, arguing that he would be at a disadvantage if he appeared in person, without being legally represented.

However, the committee denied his application to appear via Skype, and requested his presence at the Medical Councils headquarters in Dublin 2. The doctor arrived shortly before lunchtime and the inquiry resumed in the afternoon.

I think I have been treated unfairly  for reasons Im not totally aware of, Dr. Hassan told the inquiry.

He argued that the three posts under question were his first positions in Ireland, and that, since then, no issues have arisen.

Dr. Hassan is facing allegations of Professional Misconduct and Poor Professional Performance, with a number of factual allegations relating to those.

The inquiry continues tomorrrow.
Julie Larsen is accused of the attempted murder of her son

Julie Larsen, a 41-year-old mother and grandmother, allegedly stood by and watched as her 24-year-old son Matthew Larsen, known as 'Matty', was assaulted in Northern Ireland on December 28.

Larsen also allegedly cleaned up after the attack.

Police have now charged a 29-year old man with the attempted murder of Mr Larsen, grievous bodily harm and two counts of threats to kill.

He is due to appear at Belfast Magistrates Court today.

Details of the attack were revealed last Thursday at Belfast Magistrates Court when Larsen appeared to face the charges.

Police claimed in court that she had spoken of her son deserving the beating.

Larsen is charged with attempted murder as part of a joint enterprise, perverting the course of justice and causing grievous bodily harm to a woman who was also injured in the same attack.

In court a police officer said that based on witness accounts, Larsen allegedly watched as her son was struck on the side of the head with a metal bar, causing his ear to explode.

Matthew was then subjected to up to 20 more blows with an iron bar and left in a bedroom of the flat in north Belfast. He was found on Monday morning in the flat with major injuries to the head and face.

His partner tried to intervene while he was being attacked but was also hit, leaving her with a broken arm in three places, the court heard.

Mr Larsen remains in a critical condition in hospital.

The officer said police believe Julie Larsen went to the flat knowing that her son was going to be assaulted, witnessed the attack and did nothing to stop it.

The court was told that she arrived at the flat seven minutes before an ambulance was called.

It was also alleged that she cleaned up afterwards to make it look like the attack had happened somewhere else.

She is not accused, however, of actually taking part in the assault.

Claims were made that Larsen told police she had found her son injured and that he was under threat from locals. During police interview Larsen denied all the offences.

Her solicitor challenged police claims that she saw the attack or lied to them.

The lawyer said that Larsen had given her son first aid before he was taken to the hospital and that her main concern was her son and his critical condition. Larsen was refused bail by District Judge Ken Nixon, based on the grounds that there could be a risk of interference with witnesses.

She was remanded in custody and is due to appear again in court this Thursday via video-link.
Former Irish nationwide Building Society chief executive Michael Fingleton has lost his High Court action aimed at preventing the Central Bank from conducting an inquiry into alleged regulatory breaches at the financial institution.

Mr Fingleton, along with several other former officials of INBS, are the subject of a Central Bank inquiry, under Part III C of the 1942 Central Bank Act, which is due to commence hearings in February.

He challenged the Central Bank's decision to subject him to an inquiry claiming it was unfair and unreasonable.

The Central Bank, which wants to inquire into allegations certain prescribed contraventions were committed by both INBS, and certain persons concerned with its management, between August 2004 and September 2008, opposed the application.

Giving judgment today, Mr Justice Seamus Noonan, dismissed Mr Fingleton's action, clearing the way for the inquiry to proceed.

In a lengthy and detailed ruling Mr Justice Noonan said Mr Fingleton had "not satisfied me that there is any unfairness inherent in the inquiry process to which he is subject."

Mr Fingleton was not present in court for the decision.

The inquiry, in the event of any finding of wrong doing, has the power to impose a fine on an individual of up to 500,000. INBS was nationalised and merged with the former Anglo Irish Bank into IBRC in 2011.

The Central Bank estimates the collapse of INBS cost the tax payer 5bn, although the figure is disputed by Mr Fingleton.

In his action Mr Fingleton sought various orders and declarations from the court in respect of the Central Bank's decision to launch an inquiry which he claims is disproportionate, oppressive and unreasonable.

Mr Fingleton also claimed that proceeding with the inquiry is a breach of fair procedures and an unlawful breach of his right to a fair hearing.

Mr Fingleton argued the Central Bank cannot conduct an inquiry of this nature. This is because Mr Fingleton, who retired in 2010, is no longer involved in the management of an entity that was a regulated financial service provider.

It was also claimed there was a delay by the Central Bank in bringing the inquiry, he had been subject to prejudicial adverse media coverage, and was made the scapegoat for the banking crisis.

Mr Fingleton is also the subject of proceedings before the Commercial Court, also arising out of events at INBS before it was nationalised. Mr Fingleton also claims that at the very least the inquiry should not be conducted until those proceedings have been concluded.

The Central Bank had rejected all of Mr Fingelton's arguments, and said there was nothing preventing the inquiry from proceeding as planned.

In his decision Mr Justice Noonan dismissed all grounds of Mr Fingelton's case. The 1942 Central Bank Act applies to Mr Fingleton, the Judge said, the former INBS CEO was lawfully subject to the inquiry.

There had been no culpable delay by the Central Bank in conducting its investigation into Mr Fingleton resulting in any unfairness to him.

The inquiry, and the elaborate procedures provided for in the 1942 Act, ensured Mr Fingleton's right to a fair hearing "is guaranteed," the Judge added.

"It seems to me that the public interest is well served by a credible system of financial regulation and enforcement such as that provided in the 1942 Act," the Judge said.

Much of Mr Fingelton's claim, the Judge said, was "an attempt to to preempt in advance issues before the inquiry that may or may not arise, or be determined by the inquiry itself."

Any suggestion Mr Fingleton will be subject to any prejudice by the inquiry, the Judge found, was "devoid of substance and without merit."

Rejecting Mr Fingleton's claim the inquiry would occasion significant financial hardship on him as he would have to bear the legal costs associated in preparing for the inquiry.

The Judge noted that the Central Bank referred in a sworn statement said annual reports for INBS from the years 2003 to 2008 show Mr Fingelton's remuneration package amounted to 9.77m.

The Central Bank also avers that when his pension fund matures it is worth approximately 30m. Mr Fingelton had not replied to that evidence, the Judge said.

"In the light of that the applicant's complaints about equality of arms and the unfair costs burden on him of participating in the inquiry ring somewhat hollow," the Judge said.

The Judge adjourned all outstanding matters in the case, including the issue of legal costs, to January 14th
An inquiry into the death of a 14-year-old boy while he was in garda custody suffered from serious legal "drawbacks".

Brian Rossiter lost consciousness when he was detained in Clonmel garda station in 2002.

He was subsequently transferred to Cork University Hospital, where he later died. It has now emerged that the State had been advised that a legal mechanism used to enquire into his death had "serious drawbacks".

It was likely to work "against getting at the truth", according to previously undisclosed legal advice. The newly discovered legal assessment is contained in a briefing note on the 'Kerry babies' case from December 1984.

At the time, the option of using the 1924 Dublin Police Act was dismissed as inadequate by the then Justice Minister Michael Noonan, who ultimately opted for a sworn inquiry.

However, the Act was later used by his successor, Michael McDowell, when he established a probe into the circumstances surrounding the death of the teenager in September 2002.

Now, according to the newly released state papers, the authorities had received legal advice as far back as December 1984, saying there were problems with this legislation.

The wording of the Act would mean an inquiry would have to be confined to alleged neglect or violation of duty by gardai.

It would necessarily narrow its scope and restrict it from going into all aspects of the case.

Also, there was no provision of privilege for witnesses to protect them against defamation and statements made to an inquiry could be used in subsequent criminal proceedings.

The solicitor for the Rossiter family, Cian O'Carroll, said that if the legal advice from the 1980s had been known when the investigation into Brian's death was established in 2005, it would have "quite likely" led to a different type of inquiry.

Brian Rossiter was arrested in September 2002 in Clonmel and detained in the local garda station until the following day.

He lost consciousness during his time in detention and, following resuscitation, was taken to the nearby St Joseph's Hospital.

Brian was later transferred to Cork University Hospital, where he died on the afternoon of September 13, 2002.
This is the high-tech equipment that forensic experts use to put killers like Graham Dwyer behind bars.

Sophisticated robots that can extract DNA from tiny samples of evidence are now at the forefront of the fight to convict murderers and rapists, as well as identifying prolific burglars and putting them in prison.

They are essential tools in the laboratories of Forensic Science Ireland (FSI) at the Garda Headquarters in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, and are now also feeding precious information to the newly launched DNA database.

Dr Sheila Willis, the director-general of FSI, has been working in the forensics field since 1979. She says advances in DNA gathering and recording have been by far the biggest advancements in recent years.

"In the early days, we could only get information like blood type - such as A, B or O, or certain enzymes - from a sample. Even in the 1990s, we would have needed a sample the size of a coin to get a DNA profile.

"But DNA profiling has revolutionised forensic science. Now the sample size can be microscopic and come from saliva or skin cells from a cigarette butt or a drink can, as well as blood, sweat and semen."

Physical evidence samples are now routinely collected at crime scenes and brought to the FSI for analysis. Often, the first step in the process of extracting DNA involves the sad task of processing the clothing or personal belongings of crime victims.

"In a murder, you know you are the one speaking for the victim when you are gathering evidence. They can't tell you where to look, so you are acting on their behalf," said Dr Dyan Daly, the DNA database manager of the FSI who examined the scene where Rachel O'Reilly was bludgeoned to death in north Dublin in 2004.

"Sometimes, the samples are obvious stains. Sometimes we have to use an episcope to closely examine fibres and use different solutions to highlight certain stains to make them more visible. It can be challenging work but is very rewarding," she said.

Different aspects of collecting information have all undergone advances thanks to changes in technology. The FSI both contributes to and avails of the facilities of the European Network of Forensic Science Institutes, where new developments are shared.

"There is a misconception that forensics only become involved in big cases, but we work on everything from road-traffic accidents and burglaries to murders and sex assaults," said Dr Willis.

One of the biggest developments in forensics in Ireland in recent times was the launch last month of the DNA database. Samples of material from crime scenes and suspects can be processed to extract DNA profiles which are then stored on computer. These can be compared so that suspects can be linked to crime scenes.

The popularity of the hit US crime series 'CSI' has given the work of forensic scientists an exciting image, but according to Dr Willis, that is a double-edged sword.

"It gives our work exposure, which is good, but now there is also a raised false expectation of what we do or the time we can do it in," she explained.

"'CSI' always get their man and the evidence is presented in a very dramatic way, but it's not always as simple as that."

Dr Willis was the scientist who matched paint samples from the remains of Lord Louis Mountbatten's boat with paint stains found on the clothing of the man later convicted for planting the bomb that killed him and others in 1979.

She also worked on the case in 1994 of the murder of Imelda Riney, her toddler son Liam and local priest Fr Joseph Walsh in Co Clare. Dr Willis found fibres from killer Brendan O'Donnell's clothes on Imelda's clothes.

"The fibres were still on her clothing because he buried her body in a shallow grave and they could not blow away. He buried the evidence with her," she said.

The work of a forensic scientist is very clinical and precise and the FSI team has to stick to facts, figures and evidence.

But they are exposed to the news like everyone else and when they hear of a serious crime, such as a murder, they know they can expect samples from a scene, a victim or a suspect to arrive in their labs within hours.

"You do listen to the news and then you do see the evidence and you relate to it on a human level as well as a scientific one," said Dr Willis.

"In a way, you are used to it but different things hit you at different times - like if you have children and you are dealing with a case involving a child."

When it comes to court cases, FSI staff are often called to give evidence or be cross-examined on the results of their work.

Natural curiosity will mean that they often passively follow a case through the media when their work is being presented as evidence.

"When you hear a verdict, you pay attention and if your work was part of the case and turned out to be central to the verdict, you do get a professional satisfaction, but you don't 'celebrate a victory' as people might say. You are already working on other cases and you focus on them," said Dr Daly.

While the equipment the FSI use is state of the art, Dr Willis is critical of the space they work in on the third floor of the Garda Technical Bureau.

"It was designed as office space and we had to knock walls through to make some space, but what we really need is a dedicated and purpose-built laboratory."
One of the study's key recommendations is not to have an email app running all the time. Photo: PA

Constant email updates are a source of stress that people should consider doing without, according to a report by psychologists.

One of the study's key recommendations is not to have an email app running all the time - something many technology users would regard as heresy.

The report, from the London-based Future Work Centre, which conducts psychological research on people's workplace experiences, said emails were a "double-edged sword" that provided a useful means of communication but could also be a source of frustration.

Urging users to seize control of their email instead of being ruled by it, the authors said: "You may want to consider launching your email application when you want to use email and closing it down for periods when you don't wish to be interrupted by incoming emails.

"In other words, use email when you intend to, not just because it's always running in the background."

The team surveyed almost 2,000 working people about the pros and cons of using email.

Habits

They found that two of the most stressful habits were leaving email on all day and checking emails early in the morning and late at night.

There was a "strong relationship" between use of the "push" feature, that automatically updates emails on devices as soon as they arrive, and perceived email pressure.

Higher email pressure was associated with more examples of work having a negative effect on home life.

Lead author Dr Richard MacKinnon said: "Our research shows email is a double-edged sword. Whilst it can be a valuable communication tool, it's clear that it's a source of stress for many of us."

Email pressure was highest among younger people, and steadily decreased with age, according to the findings presented at the British Psychological Society's Division of Occupational Psychology annual meeting in Nottingham.

Those working in IT, marketing, public relations, internet companies and the media were most affected by email stress.

In 2014, an estimated 196.3bn emails were sent around the world, according to the report.

The average adult spent more than an hour a day consulting emails.
Parents forced to travel abroad to terminate an unviable pregnancy have suffered the anguish of being delivered the infant's remains in a courier box, the new master of the Rotunda Hospital has revealed.

Professor Fergal Malone has called for the abortion law to be extended to allow terminations in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities.

The master told how other parents whose baby had been diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality, and who made a similar emotional journey to the UK, had endured the trauma of returning home with their baby's remains in the back of the car.

Prof Malone said distressed parents had to go through the upset of receiving remains in a "DHL box".

The father of four described how he has been struck by the plight of these parents over the years. He is adamant that a woman should have the right to have the procedure carried out in Ireland.

"We would like to perform the complete care of our patients here at our hospital," Prof Malone said.

Expand Close Professor Fergal Malone has called for the abortion law to be extended to allow terminations in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities / Facebook

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Whatsapp Professor Fergal Malone has called for the abortion law to be extended to allow terminations in cases of fatal foetal abnormalities

"We see patients who are very troubled and traumatised by this. Day in, day out, we have a challenge around this group and we would like change. We have a very clear position on it."

All pregnant women who are told prenatally that their unborn baby will die in the womb or shortly after birth are given non-directive counselling at the Dublin hospital.

The decision on whether to have a termination or continue with the pregnancy was entirely theirs, Prof Malone stressed.

Abnormality

Fatal conditions include anencephaly, where parts of the brain and skull have not developed, and Edwards syndrome (trisomy 18), which is a chromosomal abnormality.

Around three-quarters of the couples whose unborn baby is diagnosed with these conditions choose to terminate. The Rotunda sees 20 to 30 such cases annually.

"My personal view on abortion, pro-life, pro-choice, political, ethical or religious has no place in that discussion and we never reveal our personal view because we have to remain completely objective with the patient," added the 47-year-old.

Asked how accurate the doctors were when mothers were given this diagnosis, Prof Malone, who is an expert in maternal-foetal medicine, said it was possible to be completely assured that detection of anencephaly was completely correct.

The majority of these babies die either during labour or immediately afterwards. A very small number will survive one week, and fewer for one month. One baby in Colorado survived for three years but this was "exceptional", Prof Malone said.

"We never tell parents it is 100pc guaranteed your baby will die within first hour.

"We give them the actual statistics... we are very explicit. We do use the word lethal, and we then go on to qualify exactly what we mean by lethal. We would feel we did a disservice to a patient if we told them 'your baby will die in the first hour of life' and then a week later the baby is still there."
Simon Cumbers was killed in the attack

The mother of an Irish cameraman, shot dead in Saudi Arabia 12 years ago, has said her family did not want their son's killer to be executed at the weekend.

Simon Cumbers (36) from Navan, was killed while working in Riyadh, the Saudi capital in 2004.

His killer was one of 47 individuals executed by the Saudi government on Saturday.

BBC reporter Frank Gardner (54) was seriously injured in the same gun attack.

He has since recovered and despite being partially paralysed he has continued to broadcast.

Simon's mother Bronagh told The Irish Sun that the Cumbers family did not want their son's killer to face this punishment.

"We feel that Simon wouldn't have wanted anything like this.

"We didn't want the fellow to be executed either.

"It doesn't help, nothing will bring him back," she said.

Bronagh Cumbers said that her family will never get closure.

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"He was the greatest fellow that has ever been put on this earth," she said.

Simon's killer, Adel al-Dhubaiti, was executed just days ago after being sentenced to death in November 2014 for the deadly attack.

Following the news in 2014 that al-Dhubaiti had been sentenced to death, Gardner declined the offer to meet him.

"He is completely unrepentant.

"He has never said sorry.

"He is still in the mindset that he had when he attacked us.

"So forgiveness is not an option," he said.

Meanwhile the UN's Chief Human Rights official criticised Saudi Arabia in relation to the recent executions.

Zeid Raad al-Hussein described the situation as "very disturbing indeed, particularly as some of those sentenced to death were accused of non-violent crimes."
Indian soldiers and locals remove debris from a damaged building after an earthquake in Imphal, capital of the northeastern Indian state of Manipur, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. A 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit India's remote northeast region before dawn on Monday. (AP Photo/Bullu Raj)

A powerful earthquake struck South Asia before dawn today, killing at least nine people and injuring nearly 200, with efforts to rescue those trapped in rubble hampered by severed power supplies and telecommunication links.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake of magnitude 6.8 was 57 km (35 miles) deep and struck 29 km (18 miles) west of Imphal, the capital of India's northeastern state of Manipur, bordering Myanmar.

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In Australia, the bodies of two small children and a man believed to be their father have been retrieved from a car that Australian police believe was driven off a wharf deliberately.

The estate car sank in deep waters in Port Lincoln and quickly sank in 100 feet of water.

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Witnesses reported seeing a car speeding down the wharf before it disappeared into the water, South Australia state police said.

Police divers found the bodies of the man and children inside the submerged car about six hours later.

Meanwhile, France is today gearing itself up to remember the victims of the Charlie Hebdo massacre this week.

Subdued ceremonies are to take place under heavy security to mark the attacks on the weekly and a kosher supermarket in which three gunmen killed 17 people - an event which proved to be a grim forerunner of the suicide bombings and shootings 10 months later in which 130 people were killed.

Charlie Hebdo, known for satirical covers lampooning Islam and other religions as well as politicians, lost many of its top editorial staff in the Jan. 7 attacks when Islamist militants opened fire on journalists inside the newsroom.

The three gunmen were themselves shot dead by security police during three days of violence which ended with a hostage-taking at a Jewish deli in which four hostages were also killed.

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Closer to home, the fallout from Storm Frank's floods continues to make the front pages.

The Irish Independent leads with a striking picture of Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney wading through the flood waters in Co Clare as he saw first-hand the damage caused by the waters.

The Irish Independent also covers a pre-election story by Kevin Doyle that says the Labour Party is promising tax cuts for the wealthy. Those earning up to 120,000 are in line for a tax cut, while those above that can effectively look forward to a tax freeze.

The Herald has a picture of tragic mum-of-two Claire Hewitt, who was killed just yards from her home by a suspected drink driver. The mum was walking across the Hartstown Road in Clonsilla, Dublin with a friend when they were hit by a car.

The Irish Daily Star reports that Gerry 'The Monk' Hutch has survived an assassination attempt. The paper reports that the former criminal had a lucky escape on New Year's Eve when he left a bar just moments before two masked gunmen burst in. The paper said that the 51-year-old will be left "shaken" by the incident in a Lanzarote Irish bar.

The Irish Examiner reports that the new Master of the Rotunda Professor Fergal Malone has revealed witnessing the tragedy of parents with fatal foetal abnormalities having to "courier" their child's remains home . In a wide-ranging interview with the paper, the new Master has called for changes to laws on abortion.

The Irish Sun also reports on the death of mum of two Claire Hewitt who was killed by a suspected drink driver in Clonsilla.

The Irish Mirror reports that there are fears that the Star Wars films will not be shot on Skellig Michael. The filming on the island is reportedly worth a massive 4.4million to the economy but environment concerns means a return has reportedly has been ruled out.

The Irish Daily Mail also leads with an interview with Professor Fergal Malonbe, who has hit out at the fact that women are being forced to wait up to nine months for routine appointments that can potentially detect cancer.
Christians must make the protection of unborn children an election issue, and politicians must be questioned "politely but firmly" about their intentions on the liberalisation of abortion, Bishop Kevin Doran has said.

Commenting on the campaign to repeal the Eighth Amendment, the Bishop of Elphin hit out at "political posturing" around the "only remaining protection" for "unborn children in the legal system". He said that this "protection has already been significantly eroded in recent years" and he urged Christians to challenge politicians on their track record in this area.

The bishop, who is well known for his pro-life views, said that, as Christians and as citizens, people needed to engage with the candidates about "the questions that really matter, not just to ourselves personally, but to our society as a whole".

Separately, the Church of Ireland Primate Archbishop Richard Clarke expressed concern over a push to liberalise abortion, warning it could result in a "eugenics culture" and pressure on parents of unborn disabled children to abort.

The Archbishop said there was anxiety that liberalisation would "begin a process where, if there is any risk that a child may be disabled in any way, then a mother will be under pressure to have an abortion".

Archbishop Clarke highlighted that there were "exceptional times", when a mother's life is at stake, when "an abortion may sadly be morally justified" but he added that it was "still a horrifying and a sad thing".

On the issue of fatal foetal abnormality, the 66-year-old Primate highlighted that most doctors were "more chary than politicians" on this issue.

"We don't always know for certain that a child may not survive outside the womb for even a short period, and that brief time may sometimes be of great comfort to parents."

Recalling the death of his wife in a hospice in 2009, the Archbishop, who has two children, said it had made him personally very engaged with end-of-life issues.
A Labour Party advertisement showing Micheal Martin and Gerry Adams getting married won't make it to the printing presses.

The advert, first revealed in the 'Sunday Independent', sparked outrage within Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein, who both accused Joan Burton's party of becoming increasingly desperate.

The poster shows Mr Martin and Mr Adams cutting a wedding cake, while surrounded by 'groomsmen' Richard Boyd Barrett, Paul Murphy and Mick Wallace as well as bridesmaid Clare Daly.

The caption reads: "This is one marriage we should vote NO to this year."

Senior Labour Party sources told the Irish Independent last night that the advert was just one of hundreds of ideas "tossed around" for the election.

And after the storm created by its leaking, it is understood the advert will now be shelved and is "unlikely" to feature during the election.

They stress it was only one draft of several adverts which had the potential to create "a serious point in a light-hearted way".

While Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein hit out at Labour for "negative campaigning", Fine Gael's director of elections Brian Hayes described it as "cheeky but funny".
Renua Ireland plans to abolish the current Leaving Certificate, introduce directly elected mayors, and outsource the setting of public pay increases to an independent body.

Lucinda Creighton's party will be the first out of the election blocks today when it launches its manifesto at an event in Dublin.

Among the more notable measures is a proposal to effectively restructure the Leaving Cert if the party gets into government.

Under Renua's plan, a new marking system would be introduced whereby 30pc of school-leavers' grades will be based on exams while the remainder will be on practical tasks.

"The current Leaving Certificate is not fit for purpose. It does not teach the skills that are necessary for success in a modern economy. We will be failing our young adults if we decide, for convenience sake, not to reform this system," Ms Creighton said.

The idea is based on similar systems in Poland and Germany, which, the party will argue, better prepare people for careers in tourism, hospitality, retail, fashion and design, agriculture, car maintenance, or crafts and trades such as woodwork, metalwork and construction.

Renua will highlight childcare and housing in its manifesto as the "biggest social challenge of our generation".

They propose a 500m tax cut for working parents and diverting 200m collected from the property tax into childcare facilities.

In relation to the public sector, Ms Creighton said the party is "very concerned" that increments are largely based on length of service.

"That's actually ignoring the talent and the huge amount of hard-working public servants who, because they are not there long enough, don't get the recognition they deserve," she told the Irish Independent.

Renua wants the Fiscal Advisory Council to decide on pay rates and a strong system of "meritocracy" rather than blanket pay increases.

"Anybody who believes they work hard and are good at their job has nothing to fear. They are rewarded under our plan," she said.

Renua says that it will reverse Phil Hogan's abolition of town councils and give residents of Dublin, Cork and Limerick the opportunity to directly elect their own mayors. In a move that the party says is likely to be opposed by "the current bureaucratic elites", the mayor will become the effective CEO of the council.

"To date, all the promised reform of local government has resulted in a further centralisation of power," Ms Creighton said, adding that Renua's plan would bring transparency to local government.

Other initiatives in the manifesto include a ban on personal guarantees by banks for business loans, a 23pc flat tax, an end to tax discrimination against the self-employed and zero tolerance sentencing for serial offenders.
Irelands cleanest town has been revealed as Longford.

The town beat Drogheda, Dun Laoghaire, Dungarvan and Kilkenny for the number one title following a survey of 40 towns across the country.

Irish Business Against Litter declared no litter blackspots in the year of 2015, and categorised just Farranree in Cork city as being seriously littered.

Dublins Grafton Street and OConnell Street were given the thumbs-up as being clean, while Dublin Airport was recorded as spotless.

The group's latest report revealed huge strides have been made in cleaning up some of our major urban areas.

Even Farranree is no longer dubbed a blackspot - and Dublin's North Inner City also shedded its 'seriously littered' tag.

Cork, Limerick, and Galway, were all described as 'clean', with Waterford judged to be above average European standards. However, while three quarters of the urban areas surveyed were found to have met European norms, there was an overall fall of 15pc in the standard achieved compared to 2014.

Likewise, the number of towns deemed cleaner than the European average fell from 17 to 12.

Conor Horgan of Ibal said after a decade of year-on-year improvement, it is disappointing to see standards in some areas begin to slip.

"We may be witnessing the effect of the disappearance of town councils - or we may be getting slightly complacent- about our overall litter problem," he warned.

The survey, carried out by An Taisce on behalf of Ibal, showed a site at Gardiner Street Business Park, and Lower Rutland Street, were the only major litter blackspots in Dublin's North Inner City.

It said that, with more effort, many moderately littered sites could become litter-free.

Referencing Farranree in Co Cork, it found this location has been subjected to either dumping or long-term neglect, and sometimes a "mixture of both".

"Despite the publicity which the area has received on foot of previous poor results, we haven't seen enough improvement in Farranree," said Mr Horgan.
With freezing flood waters surrounding their homes, many families are dreading this Wednesday as children return to school.

In Athlone, many children will be dependent on the help of local farmers or the army to ferry them through the water safely.

Locals in Muckanagh, just a few miles outside the town centre, joke that they now have their own island.

"It is modern Ireland's new Craggy Island," said Carmel Boyce.

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Tractors act as taxis, ferrying people to and from work, and on Wednesday it is likely that they will be used as makeshift school buses.

Expand Close George Dooley with his daughter Carmel Boyce, second from left, and her children Louise (15) Eimer (six) and Maria (three), as he helps family and friends through the floods in his tractor in Athlone yesterday. Photo: Fergal Phillips. / Facebook

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Whatsapp George Dooley with his daughter Carmel Boyce, second from left, and her children Louise (15) Eimer (six) and Maria (three), as he helps family and friends through the floods in his tractor in Athlone yesterday. Photo: Fergal Phillips.

Carmel's father George Dooley has been helping 25 local families to go about their daily business by shepherding them on tractors through four feet of water every day.

Mr Dooley's farm has been inundated with water since November and the roads in the area have been undrivable for more than a month now.

"In the summer I have 80 acres of land, but in winter my farm is only 50 acres," he says as he jumps on to his tractor to make another trip.

He makes at least 10 trips per day, and has already used four times more diesel in the past month than he would use all winter: "It is costing a fortune in fuel but sure it has to be done," he said. "You can't leave people stuck."

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Transport boxes on the back of three local tractors are the only link for the 25 "island" families. Each box measures only five feet by three feet.

Postal deliveries cannot reach the homes - and while locals joke that it means there are no bills coming through their letterboxes, Ms Boyce said life in the area has been very difficult.

"We have to put the wheelie bins on the transport box and drive them in and out if we want to do our rubbish. Simple things that you take for granted become so difficult," she said.

'If the tractor is going, you have to go too. There were days when I might not be working until 12, but if the tractor is going at 9am then you have to go too.

"Something as simple as getting the shopping in is a quest. Dad has a front-loader on the tractor and we have to put the shopping into that.

"You stock up the freezer, you stock up the press and then you are in for the flood We should not be stuck here for four weeks."

She said that getting children to school this week would be very tough.

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"We will need the army to come here this week now or put the children up on the tractor so that we can get them in and out of school."

The journey that the children will have to make on the tractor can be dangerous when it gets dark, and local councillor Tom Farrell has had to put stakes along the road to map out where it is safe to drive.

"The road is completely submerged and the stakes are the only guides you have to see where you are going," he explained. "It is barely passable in a tractor now. It has really got out of hand," he added.

"There are two 10 feet-deep drains either side of the road and if you go into those it is curtains.

"The front wheel of a tractor went off the edge last week and they nearly went in. If you go in there, you're a goner."

The Taoiseach visited the area before the weekend and said that he would make sure the flooding did not cut off people again.

Mr Dooley said that he would make sure the promise was kept.

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"I am sick and tired of it," he said. "The Taoiseach told the council that he would raise the road and get something done. If he doesn't, we'll be on to him."
Liz OBrien at her flooded home in the Kilgainey area of Clonmel, Co Tipperary. Photo: Dylan Vaughan

Liz and John O'Brien have been inseparable for 40 years. So when the gardai and members of the Civil Defence in Clonmel asked them to evacuate their home on Saturday evening, the couple politely told those in reflective clothing that they would rather stay put and fight the floods together.

"On New Year's Eve we were supposed to have a party here in the house to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary, but sure by then the house was flooded. We wanted to stay and protect our home so when the Civil Defence said we could stay in the Clonmel Park Hotel we told them we didn't want to leave," said mother-of-four Liz O'Brien yesterday.

"You don't just want to lock up your home and walk away from it. Personally I feel if I can see what's going on I'm more at ease with myself."

While most residents in the Kilgainey area of Clonmel were evacuated, a number decided to remain in their properties.

The O'Briens' home is one of three in the area to have been severely flooded in recent days.

Next door, one family owns two semi-detached homes; both were empty and lifeless yesterday, as up to four feet of flood water poured into the bungalows.

In all, 25 homes in this rural area beside the swollen River Suir were marooned on Saturday evening when flood waters crossed the road at two points, rendering Kilgainey inaccessible.

Some 14 homes were evacuated. Residents in nine houses decided to remain and two houses were vacant. Those who left on Saturday night were told they could return to their homes yesterday evening. Only emergency vehicles were able to make it through the floods leading into Kilgainey yesterday.

A picture of Liz and John, childhood sweethearts, on their wedding day on December 26, 1975, hangs above their mantelpiece - while the flood water laps at the grate.

"At least we had the Christmas," says John as he mans pumps leading out of a downstairs window. It's been six days since the house was first flooded.

Their son Shane, who is studying music in a London university, joined his parents for Christmas with his Texan girlfriend. "The poor girl had never seen floods like this before in her life," said Liz.

"Because of all the rain in recent days and weeks there's just nowhere for the water to go. I don't know how much more of this we'll have to take," said John.

In her kitchen Liz steps on concrete blocks, placed as makeshift stepping stones, to get around the room.

"I don't like walking on the blocks to be honest because I have a bit of vertigo," she said.

The O'Briens have lived in the house for 30 years and while flood relief works have taken place locally, they say this is the ninth time they have been flooded.

"We're just waiting now for the council to turn off the water, that's what normally happens after a few days of flooding. It's ironic being surrounded by water but none coming out of the tap," says Liz.

In Clonmel itself locals gather on the old gas bridge in the town - many shocked by the scene unfolding in front of them. The River Suir barges along, threatening to breach the 40m flood defence system.

Amy Joyce, who moved to the town for work in 2013, points to an area of the now- enlarged river. "That's where I run most mornings with my dog, you wouldn't even know there was a road down there now. It's frightening," she said.

Fears that the river might find a way through the barriers were somewhat allayed yesterday as the water level dropped.

"To be honest, all the people living along the river in the town and all the businesses in nearby streets held their breath," said one local businessman who has lived in the town all his life.

He added: "If the flood barriers weren't here, so much of Clonmel town would be under water. And for a while there we thought even the barriers would be breached. I do feel for those further downstream, like residents in Kilgainey and all the way to Carrick-On-Suir. They won't be as lucky as we've been so far."
People make their way around the Springfield, Co. Clare by boat. Photo: Gareth Williams

Murphy the dog swimming through the flood waters in Mukanagh, Athlone. Photo: Fergal Phillips

Members of the Lough Ree Sub Aqua Club ferry sand bags up a flooded road in Boyle, Co Roscommon. Photo: Brian Farrell

Resident John Killeen hitching a boat ride to get to the local shop in Springfield, Co Clare. Photo: Gareth Williams

Housing and Planning minister Paudie Coffey has slammed what he described as excessive "red tape" and "bureaucracy" which are preventing homeowners from reinforcing river banks.

In an email seen by the Irish Independent, Mr Coffey wrote that residents would take measures to protect their property if they were permitted to do so by authorities.

It comes as communities across Ireland remain on alert against further flooding as water levels are still perilously high.

Mr Coffey, a Fine Gael TD for Waterford, last night instructed department officials to carry out an urgent review of the rules surrounding the dredging of rivers.

"In my experience, there is far too much red tape and bureaucracy surrounding landowners who wish to reinforce river banks to protect their livelihoods and homes.

"This is evidenced again by serious issues that have arisen due to a lack of river bank maintenance programmes," he said in the email.

"Many landowners will do this work themselves if they are allowed to do so by the authorities. This is a matter I've raised many times previously but I'm finding it extremely difficult to make progress on."

Some 260 homes are now flooded, with another 230 at risk, according to the National Co-ordination Group.

Some 14 families were evacuated from their homes in Clonmel over the weekend in anticipation of rising flood waters and heavy rain.

Meanwhile, last night, around 60 residents of an apartment complex in Athlone were forced to leave their homes after the ESB disconnected the electricity supply. The company said it cut the supply to the Bastion Quay complex on the banks of the River Shannon for safety reasons as pillars connecting a sub-station to the building were submerged in flood water.

And more evacuations are likely in other parts of the country as water levels continue to exceed 2009 levels.

Speaking at a National Co-ordination Group meeting, Brendan McGrath of the City and County Management Association said six families needed to be evacuated from the western side of Athlone. Over the weekend, the Shannon there rose by 5cm.

"As the Shannon rises somewhat more over the coming days, particularly rural homes on the south side will become endangered," Mr McGrath added.

Meanwhile, the River Brosna, a tributary of the Shannon, exceeded its 2009 peak when it rose by 39cm.

As flood waters remained high in the worst-hit parts of Limerick and Clare, the ESB advised homeowners there that it was maintaining the flow of discharge along the lower Shannon at 470 cubic metres per second.

The ESB said it would review the situation again today and warned that levels in Lough Derg may reach 2009 levels in the coming days "and, as a result, the flow through Parteen Weir may increase to those levels (up to 500 cubic metres per second)".

Areas hit hardest by the discharge of excess water from the Parteen Weir include Springfield, Montpelier, Castleconnell, Mountshannon, Annacotty and the University of Limerick.

Reservoir

Tom Browne of the ESB said the release of excess water from the Poulaphouca reservoir had caused some flooding along the middle River Liffey in Co Kildare, which he said was "bank full".

There was some good news for residents of Cork and Kerry after Met Eireann removed a status yellow rainfall warning in the south and south-west of the country.

Sodden ground is a major concern for local authorities, although Cork County Council hopes some improvement in the weather will allow excess waters to recede.

The ESB continues to discharge waters from the Inniscarra Dam at rates of up to 225 cubic metres per second, down from 250 on Saturday.

A boil water notice remains in place for around 10,000 residents in the Whitegate area of east Cork.

Meanwhile, the N25 Cork to Waterford Road is impassable between Killeagh and Castlemartyr. Gardai warned that diversions already in place were no longer suitable for heavy goods vehicles.

Jim Casey of the OPW said water levels in the Suir, Munster Blackwater and Bandon rivers had fallen over the weekend. But he expressed concern about levels of the Slaney, Nore, Inny and Moy rivers.

The Defence Forces deployed 137 troops in the past 24 hours to help in flood relief, filling sandbags and evacuating homeowners.
Springfield resident Geraldine Mason telling Minister Simon Coveney how she has been made homeless by the flooding. Photo: Arthur Ellis

A distraught mother of four battling horrific flooding confronted Defence Minister Simon Coveney to ask: "Who is going to mind my home tomorrow?"

Exhausted Geraldine Quinlivan told Mr Coveney that residents in Springfield, in Clonlara, Co Clare, needed action now, not in a year's time.

The shell-shocked mother began shaking under the stress of the past three-and-a-half weeks of watching her home succumbing to the flood water. Finally, as it began to rain again, she broke down just feet from Mr Coveney, who visited the area yesterday.

"It's very, very bad at the house today. My brother and his wife and their son could also lose their home again today.

"The water rose nine inches yesterday and my son is down there all night, along with the army and Civil Defence.

"I'm actually distraught."

Ms Quinlivan, who was evacuated last week, requested of the minister that a mud bank be constructed between the River Shannon and her flooded home and her neighbours' properties, which have all been engulfed by several feet of water. "Basically, we are looking for solutions, so this can never happen again," she said.

"I have a deep concern about the fact that my husband and my sons are going back to work tomorrow and who is going to mind my home tomorrow."

Another Springfield resident, Geraldine Mason, whose home has been flooded since early December, let the minister know the depth of her anger.

"I am homeless, I have no home at the moment. I cannot get down [there].

"I was down there on the 21st of December and killed myself below the whole day. I had to pump the water six feet deep in my home - and here we go again and it's not fair and nobody cares. It's been going on for years. I want to stay in my home and I don't want to leave it," she told Mr Coveney.

The Cork TD was the first Government representative to visit the devastated community since it began to flood nearly a month ago.

Lisa Griffin said: "We don't want to be forgotten about and we don't want you to start up the country, solving their problems, because it's going to get worse for us down here."

Ms Griffin and her partner Barry bought their home last year from her father.

Addressing the minister and with tears welling in his eyes, Ms Griffin's father Greg said: "I'm after lumbering her with a house that is worthless. I feel lousy over it."

Mr Coveney told them the Government "has an onus" to help them. "I can assure you, you won't be forgotten about here," he promised.

But the possible relocation of flooded families was not a priority for Government, the minister admitted.

Mr Coveney said it was "far too early" to begin such a measure, after Taoiseach Enda Kenny floated the idea last week.

"I don't think that we are looking at that option at the moment," he said.

"We need to look at more effective ways of managing [the River Shannon] flow to prevent flooding in the future. And only when we have done that will anybody concede that we have to start relocating people."

Mr Coveney added that there had to be a change in how the River Shannon was managed.

"We need to look at whether significant silting in parts of the Shannon is causing additional problems that could be prevented if we could move some of that silt."
President Michael D Higgins and his wife Sabina visited flood stricken areas of South Galway and met with flood-affected families. Picture: Hany Marzouk

President Michael D Higgins affected by the story of Sarah Burke from Cahermore, Co. Galway who was forced to leave her home with her young family after she was surrounded by floods last week during his visit to South Galway. Picture: Hany Marzouk

President Michael D Higgins meeting with the Hayes and the Hogan familes who where forced to leave their home due to floods in south Galway. Picture: Hany Marzouk

President Michael D Higgins meeting with IFA Connaught Regional Chairman and floods project team Tom Turley during his visit to flood stricken areas of South Galway. Picture: Hany Marzouk

President Michael D Higgins affected by the story of Noreen Flaherty (84) from Hawhill, Gort who was forced to leave her home after she was surrounded by floods last week. Picture: Hany Marzouk

President Michael D Higgins paid tribute to the countless local volunteers and service providers that are keeping flood water at bay in south Co Galway.

Speaking after his visit to the flood hit village of Labane near Gort this morning, President Higgins called for co-operation between the various state agencies and appealed for an accelerated reaction to the flooding crisis.

The President spoke to a number of locals affected by the flooding, people who have been forced from their homes as well as the local volunteers, Civil Defence and Army personnel that have been working in the area.

I wanted particularly to just hear the details of Labane area. The particular features of it here of course are the number of houses that are isolated and marooned, said President Higgins.

Expand Close President Michael D Higgins affected by the story of Sarah Burke from Cahermore, Co. Galway who was forced to leave her home with her young family after she was surrounded by floods last week during his visit to South Galway. Picture: Hany Marzouk / Facebook

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Whatsapp President Michael D Higgins affected by the story of Sarah Burke from Cahermore, Co. Galway who was forced to leave her home with her young family after she was surrounded by floods last week during his visit to South Galway. Picture: Hany Marzouk

I wanted to hear the experience that people have had for themselves and for their families and for their animals.

But I wanted to express my appreciation and gratitude to all of the different agencies that have been working together.

Expand Close President Michael D Higgins meeting with the Hayes and the Hogan familes who where forced to leave their home due to floods in south Galway. Picture: Hany Marzouk / Facebook

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Whatsapp President Michael D Higgins meeting with the Hayes and the Hogan familes who where forced to leave their home due to floods in south Galway. Picture: Hany Marzouk

There has been very great cooperation from the local authority and the army who have been here since the December 9, bring feed to animals as well as looking after the people, the Civil Defence, the community itself.

President Higgins will visit Enniscorthy in Wexford later this afternoon to see another devastated community, but he called on agencies like the local councils, the Office of Public Works, and the National Parks and Wildlife to continue to work together and to expedite their efforts.

Expand Close President Michael D Higgins meeting with IFA Connaught Regional Chairman and floods project team Tom Turley during his visit to flood stricken areas of South Galway. Picture: Hany Marzouk / Facebook

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Whatsapp President Michael D Higgins meeting with IFA Connaught Regional Chairman and floods project team Tom Turley during his visit to flood stricken areas of South Galway. Picture: Hany Marzouk

It's very important that we not just say that this is wonderful that it's happening, I wanted to meet the people that in fact the front line people, as well as people that are working in the name of the State.

Then I have been thinking about it as well, in relation to where we have to go now. If there is a lesson I think in it, it is that we must have inter agency cooperation.

Expand Close President Michael D Higgins visited flood stricken areas of South Galway and met with flood-affected families. Picture: Hany Marzouk / Facebook

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Whatsapp President Michael D Higgins visited flood stricken areas of South Galway and met with flood-affected families. Picture: Hany Marzouk

This is inter agency cooperation that is first class and it needs to continue in arriving at a strategy.

One local woman from Lisserdrea, Co Roscommon told RTE Radio One News at One this afternoon how her family have had no running water or sewage works for almost a fortnight.

Expand Close President Michael D Higgins visited flood stricken areas of South Galway and met with flood-affected families. Picture: Hany Marzouk / Facebook

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"The whole county is under siege," Ann Brady said.

"We have been in this situation for a number of weeks.

"Different bodies say 'we have to do this', 'we have to do that' before they can help us.

"I had to ring 999 last Tuesday to get a service to help me. The local gardai sourced Loughrea aqua services to get sand bags to us.

"We have had no running water and no sewage for the last week and a half," she continued.

"We are up all night and all day trying to keep the water circulating, that's all we can do.

"I have lived here for 32 years, my husband has lived here all his life and this is definitely a 'new problem'.

"The water is like a lake, it's not going away anywhere."

Meanwhile, a Met Eireann forecaster said today that the country is heading towards a 'cooler period' but there is still a risk of flooding.

"We're heading into a cooler period, still a wet period but it will be an end to the unusually high levels of rainfall.

"But the waterlogged fields means that the amount of rain may still cause a problem in days to come."
One of several dining tables in Eileen's house - she entertains 25 people at a time. Every wall is hung with superb paintings, many by Irish artists. Photo: Tony Gavin.

Eileen adores vintage furniture, and despite running a chain of busy restaurants with her husband Stefano, manages to find time to go to all her favourite charity shops for retro items like this sideboard.

The kitchen in Eileen's period home is predominantly grey, but it's not sombre. Light is added by means of skylights designed by Eileen's son Ghinlon, an architect. The mantelpiece with its cosy fire adds a cheery touch. Photo: Tony Gavin.

Eileen studied at an art college in Rome, and the vibrant rooster is one of her own works. Photo: Tony Gavin

Most cooks, even good cooks, break out in a lather when it comes to entertaining, and the bigger the crowd, the greater the anxiety.

Eileen Dunne Crescenzi is a rare exception. Her attitude is 'bring it on'. Eileen thinks nothing of a dinner party for 10, and at Christmas she went to town on the entertaining, as she does every year. "Christmas Eve is the big day for Italians, then there's Christmas Day; and Stephen's Day is important for Stefano, as it's his saint's day, so we entertain 25 on each of the three days - family, the kids and friends," Eileen enthuses.

As her name suggests, Eileen is a fabulous mix of Irish and Italian. Born and bred on a street almost in the centre of Dublin city, she still retains the red hair and accent of her youth, but thanks to years spent in Rome, and marriage to a Roman - Stefano Crescenzi - she speaks Italian like a local, and is as familiar with the cuisine as someone who grew up making pasta with her nonna. Eileen and Stefano are owners of the Dunne & Crescenzi chain of restaurants, and so you would expect them to live and breathe food, but it goes deeper than that, as a glance through Festa: A Year of Italian Celebrations, Eileen's sumptuous new cookbook, reveals. Love of food underpins her story, and is woven through the hilarious reminiscences of her early days in Italy. Hand-in-hand with her stories marked by meals both traditional and madcap, goes her attachment to family, both nuclear and extended, here and in Italy.

It was thanks to her own family that Eileen ended up in Italy. "I'm the eldest of seven, and my mother's three younger sisters were like sisters to me, they were that close in age to me. My grandfather remarried and no one liked his new wife, so the sisters took off. Sheila went to Rome, to work in the UN; the other two, Jean and Pauline, followed, and then said to me, 'Come on, you're coming too', so off I went," Eileen recalls with a laugh.

She was only 17 and had just done her Leaving Cert. If she'd stayed at home, she says she would probably have ended up as a secretary, as further education wasn't a priority in a working-class family like hers at the time, but Italy was full of possibilities - like art college. She didn't have a word of Italian, but she had a portfolio, and to her astonishment, it - and she admits, probably her charm, good looks and hair - got her a place in art college there. As well as the professor's awe at her ability to speak English. "I babbled away in English and I don't think he understood a word, but he gave me a place," Eileen recalls.

During that time, she met her first husband, a Chinese sculptor, and her son Ghinlon was born. It wasn't easy for two artists to make a living, but family came to the rescue when her aunts - Jean had joined the UN too - got Eileen a job in the UN, where she worked for 17 years.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The kitchen in Eileen's period home is predominantly grey, but it's not sombre. Light is added by means of skylights designed by Eileen's son Ghinlon, an architect. The mantelpiece with its cosy fire adds a cheery touch. Photo: Tony Gavin. Eileen Dunne Crescenzi in her sitting room, which is at the top of the house. Eileen studied at an art college in Rome, and the vibrant rooster is one of her own works. Photo: Tony Gavin Eileen adores vintage furniture, and despite running a chain of busy restaurants with her husband Stefano, manages to find time to go to all her favourite charity shops for retro items like this sideboard. One of several dining tables in Eileen's house - she entertains 25 people at a time. Every wall is hung with superb paintings, many by Irish artists. Photo: Tony Gavin. / Facebook

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Whatsapp The kitchen in Eileen's period home is predominantly grey, but it's not sombre. Light is added by means of skylights designed by Eileen's son Ghinlon, an architect. The mantelpiece with its cosy fire adds a cheery touch. Photo: Tony Gavin.

It was here she met Stefano after her first marriage had ended. "It was funny, my colleagues were always trying to set me up, and I wasn't interested, to tell you the truth. With Stefano, I remember this girl Jessie saying, 'There's this nice guy Crescenzi', and I said, 'I'm not interested, Jessie'. Then I was having lunch with my friend Leonilda, and she said, 'We'll sit with Crescenzi, he's really nice'. 'Ah', I said, 'Him again'. But after that, we were inseparable."

She and Stefano married and continued working at the UN. They shared a passion for food and travelled all over Italy to get different products. Meanwhile, the arrival of the kids - Sean, now 25, Ashling, 24, and Federica, 22, - involved more and more interaction with grandparents (nonni) and aunts and uncles (zii) which meant Eileen experiencing all the different family celebrations and gradually learning how to make the delicious recipes contained in Festa - recipes like her polenta with sausages and mushrooms, and her Caprese cake.

However, the couple found it hard juggling the care of the children while both worked full-time. Then Stefano had a brainwave. "One day he came home and said, 'Why don't we go to Ireland and open a restaurant?' I thought it sounded really exciting. When I think of it now, we gave up two really good, pensionable jobs, we'd no plan, we didn't know anything about restaurants - we hadn't got a clue," she marvels.

Then they couldn't find a premises. Ghinlon, who was 14 at the time, went to Sutton Park School, and one day after dropping him there, Eileen, driving around, saw a little newsagents for sale. "I said to Stefano, 'Why don't we buy that?' At least we'd have an income. We hadn't a clue what was involved." What it did involve was, among other things, Stefano getting up at 5am to sort the newspapers for delivery. "We were used to lira, not pounds, we didn't even know the money," Eileen notes.

Once they got over those hurdles, they began to see the possibilities. "The supermarkets didn't have the Italian mozzarella, the olive oil, the cheeses; so Stefano brought his cousin's olive oil in, then the wines, the great big blocks of cheese, and people came from all over to buy the produce," Eileen recalls.

Things were looking up, but Stefano still had his dream of a restaurant; walking around town, Eileen saw a lock shop in South Frederick St for sale and suggested they open an antipasto bar. That was 20 years ago, and the couple now have two branches each of Dunne & Crescenzi and L'Officina, a branch of Bar Italia, and a coffee shop, La Corte.

Their first home was over the shop in Sutton, but soon after they were able to buy the terraced house next door to the one in which Eileen had grown up. That house had been built by her great-grandfather in 1860, and is now occupied by her brother, while her sister lives a few doors away. This is a family that likes to see a lot of each other.

These period houses comprise two storeys over basement. They have the usual high ceilings and interconnecting reception rooms, but Eileen, with the help of her son Ghinlon, an architect, turned the house upside down and installed the kitchen and living spaces at the top of the house. "I really recommend it for Irish houses, there's more light at the top," Eileen notes.

Expand Expand Expand Expand Expand Previous Next Close The kitchen in Eileen's period home is predominantly grey, but it's not sombre. Light is added by means of skylights designed by Eileen's son Ghinlon, an architect. The mantelpiece with its cosy fire adds a cheery touch. Photo: Tony Gavin. Eileen Dunne Crescenzi in her sitting room, which is at the top of the house. Eileen studied at an art college in Rome, and the vibrant rooster is one of her own works. Photo: Tony Gavin Eileen adores vintage furniture, and despite running a chain of busy restaurants with her husband Stefano, manages to find time to go to all her favourite charity shops for retro items like this sideboard. One of several dining tables in Eileen's house - she entertains 25 people at a time. Every wall is hung with superb paintings, many by Irish artists. Photo: Tony Gavin. / Facebook

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Whatsapp The kitchen in Eileen's period home is predominantly grey, but it's not sombre. Light is added by means of skylights designed by Eileen's son Ghinlon, an architect. The mantelpiece with its cosy fire adds a cheery touch. Photo: Tony Gavin.

Influenced by Ghinlon, who moved to Malaysia with his family last year, Eileen decorated the rooms in creams and white, but says she couldn't live in a minimalist house, and has introduced a lot of colour through the carpets from Stefan's family home in Rome. One thing that's very precious to Stefano is his drinks cabinet, which belonged to his father; he has his digestif every night and thinks of his dad.

There are also many paintings and artefacts around the house, some of which are family heirlooms, such as her grandmother's carved chair, and some from Oxfam and Age Action. "I love charity shops, I love things with a story; I don't know how many tea sets I've bought in charity shops," Eileen notes. And of course she can justify any extravagant purchases with the excuse that she needs them for entertaining.

'Festa: A Year of Italian Celebrations' is published by Gill & Macmillan, 24.99.

See dunneandcrescenzi.com

Edited by Mary O'Sullivan. Photography by Tony Gavin
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Premium

John Downing Opinion Last time the Tories diced with economic disaster it took them another 18 years to win an election

I was listening to the young woman from the Daily Mail trying to recruit a gang of reporters to club together and hire an aeroplane to fly back to Brussels. She got an enthusiastic response from another British colleague who was celebrated for lavishly spending his employers funds.
Premium

Mary Kenny Opinion A male contraceptive jab is on the way, but will it truly equalise reproductive control?

It looks as though a male contraceptive vaccine will be available within the next year, according to Dr Amanda Wilson at De Montfort University in Leicester. The jab is called Risug, and it could obviate the demand for vasectomies  which is falling anyway. The vaccine, which has completed its final trials, would be reversible, so it is not as radical as vasectomy.
This year, as we commemorate the Rising, the people will also elect the next government. To me, it is fitting that there should be a General Election in 2016, because the people voting to chart the future course of a sovereign state is precisely what the founders fought for.

Of course in 2010, we lost much of that sovereignty in a very real sense as the troika arrived in town after the Fianna Fail-led government brought the country to the brink of ruin.

Five years on, the overall picture is very different. Labour in government, together with our coalition partner Fine Gael, have driven a strong economic recovery. That recovery is why this month all workers will take home more pay because of USC reductions; why child benefit will increase by 5 to help every family; and why older people will see the state pension rise by 3 a week.

These are modest but progressive steps in our wider plan: to spread the recovery in such a way that the benefits are felt by every household.

That starts with delivering full employment - meaning a job for every person who wants one - and already there has been significant progress. We are on the verge of having two million people at work.

Businesses have enjoyed the best trade at Christmas since 2008 - because many people are in a better place financially and feeling optimistic about the future.

But not every person, and not every family, has felt the recovery yet. So it's essential that the wider plan be implemented in full. And in my view, that will happen only with Labour returned to government, together with Fine Gael.

We are different parties, with different outlooks on economic and social issues. But the people chose a balance of centre-left and centre-right parties in 2011 to turn the country around and the balance has worked.

The first phase of the work - building the recovery - is largely done. Now, we are embarking on the second phase - raising the living standards of our people, who gave so much to get this country back on its feet.

And stable, balanced government will be essential to complete the task.

Let's consider stability first. Our public finances are in rude health and our public debt has been brought firmly under control. We are recording the fastest economic growth in the EU. More than 1,000 new jobs are being created every week.

New and exciting apprenticeships are being created for our young people and the Government is working hard to bring emigrants home. The continued stability delivered by this Government offers continued progress on all these fronts and more.

The Opposition cannot offer such stability. For a start, Fianna Fail and Sinn Fein don't want to govern with Fine Gael and don't want to govern with each other. They therefore cannot present a credible alternative government and that's before we even discuss policy.

So far, all we have are mostly vague, disjointed fragments of a policy agenda disconnected from a coherent strategy and, in some cases, equally disconnected from reality. Voters deserve better.

Fianna Fail's economic policies caused the bust in the first place, while Sinn Fein's would return us to bust. They are a gamble guaranteed to turn bad.

Next, to the need for balance. Fine Gael's natural instinct is to drive the bulk of available resources to tax reductions, with the remainder to public services.

In Labour, we take a different view. We believe that tax reductions are essential for low and middle-income workers - but that the highest earners must continue to pay their fair share. That's why, under Labour's plan, USC will be abolished on the first 70,000 of income, but those fortunate enough to earn more than that will continue to pay USC on the portion above 70,000 and gains will be progressively capped for the very highest earners. This means that, under our plan, those on individual incomes above 120,000 will continue to pay precisely the same taxes as they do now.

In this way, income tax relief goes towards those who need it most and the bulk of available resources can go towards essential services.

I am confident, for example, that with Labour in government over the next five years, we can continue to progressively increase the state pension, deliver the smallest class sizes in the history of the State, provide high-quality childcare at much lower cost to parents, and deliver free GP care for all. And in tandem with full employment, we will focus on delivering a Living Wage to accompany it.

There will be those who say this sounds like auction politics. It is nothing of the sort. It is building on the work done to date - USC is already being progressively reduced; the pension was protected throughout the worst of the crisis and is being increased now; the pupil-teacher ratio is being reduced in primary and post-primary schools this year; children are now eligible for free childcare from three to five and-a-half years of age; and free GP care is already a reality for children under six. The minimum wage, meanwhile, increases this month for the second time under this Government.

That is what we have delivered through stable, balanced government - and that is what Labour will continue to deliver if returned to government.

Labour will stand up for working people, for families, and for older people who deserve security in retirement.

We will stand up for Ireland's future.
In the battle battle against flood waters, 'red tape' and 'bureaucracy' have no place. So we understand the frustration and sincerity which underlie the comments by junior environment minister Paudie Coffey, when he calls for more freedom for landowners in response to flooding.

Mr Coffey has written to his officials, arguing that many landowners would mount their own flood defences themselves in efforts to protect their homes and property.

He further argues that the official rules are standing in the way of this approach.

Mr Coffey is right when he raises questions about failures to dredge rivers and maintain water flows.

There are strong arguments that such omissions have added to our difficulties with flood waters and needlessly augmented many people's suffering.

We must also counsel extreme caution here. The reality is that independent anti-flood works could have consequences elsewhere in the vicinity as water must find an outlet, whatever happens.

Ireland's response to the threat of flooding must be addressed urgently. But it must be co-ordinated nationally.
The new year comes with the expectation of a new Government to follow. All parties had better pray that the floods have receded by the time they go knocking on doors.

If the rain persists they'll be banging on the upstairs windows of some inundated homes.

One has nothing but compassion for all those stricken around the country.

Whether the main cause is our inability to confront climate change, years of failure in developing infrastructure - coupled with bad planning, building on flood plains and a lack of central coordination; or if it is a combination of all of the above - these people have suffered enough.

Clearly there are too many agents getting in each other's way. We have local authorities, the ESB, Bord Na Mona and the sundry Government departments all vying with each other to agree solutions for how best to manage the 225 miles of the River Shannon.

The time for a single over-arching agency is overdue.

The impact of poor planning and the failure to strengthen flood defences is also impossible to defend. The flooding crisis is analogous to that of the health services.

There are too many local interests involved. What we need instead is the enforcement of the best strategy for the country as a whole. Sadly, because our politics is so local and provincial, insular thinking determines actions, making it near impossible to implement central planning based on best practice.

Only an overhaul of the current political system will create the space for making the big decisions that will actually create the conditions for good governance. We need to move from merely reacting to managing and developing a culture of leadership that plans in advance.

MM O'Brien

Dalkey, Co Dublin

The other causes of accidents

A writer to your letters page (Irish Independent, December 31) asked "Why so many road deaths?", and cited reasons such as alcohol, drugs, mobile phones and radios as prime contributors. Tests for alcohol have long been a feature of traffic laws, and tests for drug use will shortly become a reality, which is very laudable.

However, there are other factors that, in my view, contribute to road accidents - and there are no roadside tests for these.

I would list the following as examples: bad driver judgment, slow reaction times, bad eyesight, driving while angry, carelessness, fatigue, stupidity, chancing your arm and pushing your luck.

I'm sure there are others that I have omitted. There are also technical changes such as speed limiters on cars, and the possibility of fitting fixed speed cameras every so many miles on major and even minor roads.

The drink-driving campaign of recent years has been very successful, so perhaps other campaigns to address the above list are required to improve driving standards in this country.

Tony Walsh

Tramore, Co Waterford

Burton's boating blunder

It is said that a rising tide will lift all boats. Well, in Joan Burton's case the opposite appears to be have happened. Perhaps this is an omen that Labour's boat/votes will sink come General Election time.

Richard Whitty

Swords, Co Dublin

Given Joan Burton has survived a fall in icy waters, should she now be called the thawniste?

John Williams

Clonmel, Co Tipperary

Government failed on floods

The Government waited until the residents of all the affected flooded areas were worn out from lack of sleep and worry, while trying to man pumps. The Defence Forces have resources to man and maintain pumps, with qualified engineers and mechanical people. At a time when border patrols are reduced and there is no troop shortage, our Government sat on its laurels.

John Carney

Curraghboy, Co Roscommon.

Will women win over voters?

Niamh Gallagher details various ways to ensure that more women than heretofore occupy positions of influence in this representative democracy (Irish Independent, January 2).

She left out the fact that members of the electorate will have to vote for them in sufficient numbers in order that they be elected. With the increased number of women on the ballot paper at the next election, it will be interesting to see how well they do in the competition for seats.

A Leavy

Sutton, Dublin 13

Pro-abortion inconsistencies

In her letter (Irish Independent, January 1), Bronwyn Molony tells us abortion must not be generalised, and that - like snowflakes - all abortions are different. She then tells us that no woman sets out to seek an abortion, and that all abortions are "the last resort". Let the campaign's contradictions begin.

Killian Foley-Walsh

Kilkenny City

Christian heritage of the West

Whether believers or not, everyone living in the West should respect and honour Our Lord's birth date - because they are so very blessed to be living in our great Western society, which evolved through the Roman Empire and is built on Judeo-Christian principles.

I'm neither embarrassed nor ashamed to say I'm a believer.

Christ's life - He really did exist - on Earth was one of love, healing and forgiveness. Sure, some terrible things have been done by some terrible people in Jesus's name. However, these were neither done nor condoned by Christ Himself.

So why do so many 'clever people' and 'cultural elites' so fear the Man, always turning His other cheek?

In that spirit of great tolerance and affection, I hope you all had a very merry and holy Christmas.

Howard Hutchins

Victoria, Australia
Anne Hathaway and Adam Shulman attend the NBCUniversal Golden Globes viewing and after party held at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on January 13, 2013 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for NBCUniversal)

Adam Shulman (L) and Anne Hathaway attend the "China: Through The Looking Glass" Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Adam Shulman (L) and Anne Hathaway attend the "China: Through The Looking Glass" Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Actress Anne Hathaway (L) and actor Adam Shulman attend the 65th Annual Directors Guild Of America Awards at Ray Dolby Ballroom at Hollywood & Highland on February 2, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Winter/Getty Images)

Anne Hathaway shared this photo of her growing bump in a bikini on the beach

Actress Anne Hathaway has turned the tables on the paparazzi by uploading her own bikini photograph showing off her growing baby bump.

The Les Miserables star and her husband Adam Shulman set tongues wagging in November with rumours they were expecting their first child when she was photographed with a small baby bump in Los Angeles.

The couple had not yet commented on reports, but Anne decided to take the matter into her own hands on Monday (04Jan15) by posting a snap of her bump on Instagram. Wearing a red bikini, the 33-year-old beams as she cups her stomach.

"Happy 2016 to my beautiful Instafriends!" she captioned the photo. "So, posting a bikini pic is a little out of character for me, but just now while I was at the beach I noticed I was being photographed. I figure if this kind of photo is going to be out in the world it should at least be an image that makes me happy (and be one that was taken with my consent. And with a filter :) Wishing you love, light and blessings for the year ahead! Annie."

Expand Close Adam Shulman (L) and Anne Hathaway attend the "China: Through The Looking Glass" Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Adam Shulman (L) and Anne Hathaway attend the "China: Through The Looking Glass" Costume Institute Benefit Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 4, 2015 in New York City. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

Anne and Adam have been married since 2012.

The actress previously described her family goals to Britain's Daily Telegraph, saying: "I'll start with one healthy kid but I'd like to have a few naturally and adopt. I gotta get on it, you know? I'd like to have as many as I can afford, not just financially but in terms of time, because you want to make sure each one feels special."

The Oscar-winner is still busy with work too, currently filming sci-fi thriller Colossal with Dan Stevens and Jason Sudeikis. New Alice in Wonderland flick Alice Through the Looking Glass will also be out later this year, which sees Anne return as the White Queen opposite Johnny Depp's Mad Hatter and Helena B
Actors Kate Winslet (L) and Michael Fassbender attend the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for PSIFF)

Actress Alicia Vikander attends the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)

Actress Alicia Vikander accepts the Rising Star Award onstage at the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for PSIFF)

Actress Alicia Vikander (R) accepts the Rising Star Award from actress Amber Heard onstage at the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for PSIFF)

Actor Michael Fassbender (L) accepts the International Star Award from actress Kate Winslet onstage at the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for PSIFF)

Actor Michael Fassbender accepts the International Star Award onstage at the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for PSIFF)

It looks like some downtime in Kerry certainly suits Michael Fassbender.

The Oscar-nominated actor (37) beamed as he accepted his International Star Award at the Palm Springs International Film Festival last night, wearing a Thom Sweeney suit, where he looked chuffed to be joined by Jobs co-star Kate Winslet.

Winslet, who stars as Joanna Hoffman in the Steve Jobs biopic, gave her Irish co-star the prestigious award and taking a few weeks off work at home in Ireland seems to have given him a boost before awards season.

The German-born, Irish-raised actor spent the festive season at home in his native Fossa, Co Kerry, where his parents Adele and Josef still live. Before jetting back to LA in the run-up to awards season, he was also spotted out and and about in Dublin, where he kept a suitable low profile.

Expand Close Actor Michael Fassbender accepts the International Star Award onstage at the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for PSIFF) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Actor Michael Fassbender accepts the International Star Award onstage at the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for PSIFF)

This year, he and girlfriend of one year Alicia Vikander, arguably Hollywood's fastest rising star, spent Christmas apart with The Danish Girl star spending it at home with her family in her native Sweden.

Both attended the film festival in LA, albeit walking the red carpet separately, where Vikander, wearing an embellished pink Erdem gown, also took home a statue - the Rising Star Award, which was presented by Amber Heard.

They are expected to walk their first red carpet together next week for the Golden Globes, where she has been nominated in two categories - Best Actress in a Lead Role, Drama for The Danish Girl and Best Actress in a Supporting Role, Drama, for Ex Machina.

Meanwhile, Fassbender is also on his own his awards season campaign for Jobs, which was a commercial disaster, but critically praised. He has also been nominated for Best Actor in a Lead Role, Drama.

Expand Close Actor Michael Fassbender (L) accepts the International Star Award from actress Kate Winslet onstage at the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for PSIFF) / Facebook

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Whatsapp Actor Michael Fassbender (L) accepts the International Star Award from actress Kate Winslet onstage at the 27th Annual Palm Springs International Film Festival Film Festival Awards Gala at Palm Springs Convention Center on January 2, 2016 in Palm Springs, California. (Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images for PSIFF)
Sian Blake has gone missing from Erith, Kent, with her children

Police have reissued their appeal for information about missing former EastEnders actress Sian Blake as homicide detectives take over the investigation.

The 43-year, who played Frankie Pierre in the hit soap, went missing from Erith, Kent, with her children Zachary, eight, and Amon, four.

Officers are also concerned for the welfare of Miss Blake's partner and the children's father, Arthur Simpson-Kent, 48.

He has not been seen since December 16 when officers spoke to him at the family home in Erith.

Police had attended their home after receiving information from another organisation. It was after this that Miss Blake and her children were reported missing.

Mr Simpson-Kent was subsequently reported as a high-risk missing person, and officers have been unable to contact him since that date.

Miss Blake, who suffers from a serious, life-threatening condition, was last seen on Sunday December 13 around Waltham Forest, east London, and police in Bexley, south-east London, believe she is still in the area.

Detectives say it is not known if the family are together.

Miss Blake's silver-beige Renault Scenic was found in Calvert Avenue in Bethnal Green, east London, on January 3, but it is not known who parked it there.

Scotland Yard said the investigation continues to be a high-risk missing persons inquiry, but due to concerns for their welfare, the Homicide and Major Crime Command (HMCC) is now leading and is looking into whether the family may have been victims of a crime.

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Detective Chief Inspector Graeme Gwyn of the HMCC, said: "A number of inquiries are under way to find Sian Blake, Arthur Simpson-Kent and their two children.

"They have all been missing for a considerable period of time now, and I am growing increasingly concerned for their welfare.

"In particular Sian suffers from a serious, life-threatening condition and we do not know if she is receiving the medication and treatment she requires to keep well."

Ms Blake is black, 5ft 2in tall and slim with short black hair. She wears glasses but can also wear contact lenses.

Mr Simpson-Kent is a light-skinned black man who is 6ft 2in tall.

Anyone with information is asked to call police on 020 8721 4805 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
Some of the 'Rebellion' cast hit one of Dublin's top nightspots to celebrate the first screening

The cast of RTE's Rebellion took a trip from 1916 back to the present to toast the success of the show's first episode last night.

The crew hit one of Dublin's top nightspots to celebrate as the first episode of the drama went down a storm on social media.

The first episode of the new drama was watched by an average of 619,000 viewers and had a 41pc audience share.#

An additional 45,000 watched the first episode of Rebellion on RTE One+1 and 9,200 on RTE Player where it remains available to viewers to catch-up on demand.

A group of the show's actors gathered at 37 Dawson Street to watch the screening last night.

Actress Sarah Greene later shared a snap on Twitter, writing: "Thank you so much to all the gorgeous people in @37DawsonStreet for screening #rebellion tonight for all us rebellers".

Thank you so much to all the gorgeous people in @37DawsonStreet for sreening #rebellion tonight for all us rebellers pic.twitter.com/QgRu4EEz8p  Sarah Greene (@mssarahgreene) January 4, 2016

Sarah stars as May in the period drama which is currently airing on RTE One on Sundays at 9.30pm.

RTE's big budget contribution to the anniversary of the 1916 Rising is being screened as a five-part series.

Starring Charlie Murphy, Ruth Bradley, Sarah Greene and Brian Gleeson, the series covers the events of Easter 1916 as seen through the eyes of a group of friends from Dublin, Belfast and London as they play vital and conflicting roles in the narrative of Irelands independence.

Independent.ie critic Ed Power wrote that the series "may be enjoyed strictly at the level of period romp  a costumed escapade with bullets pinging in the background".
Police at the scene where Gisela Mota was shot dead. Photo: Reuters

The mayor of a city south of Mexico's capital was shot to death on Saturday, less than a day after taking office, according to officials.

Gunmen opened fire on Mayor Gisela Mota at her house in the city of Temixco, said the government of Morelos state.

Two presumed assailants were killed and three others detained following a pursuit, said security commissioner for Morelos, Jesus Alberto Capella.

He said the suspects fired on federal police and soldiers from an SUV.

On his Twitter account, the Governor of Morelos, Graco Ramirez, attributed Ms Mota's killing to organised crime, without citing a particular drug cartel or gang.

Ms Mota's leftist Democratic Revolution Party released a statement describing her as "a strong and brave woman who, on taking office as mayor, declared that her fight against crime would be frontal and direct".

Though Cuernavaca is the capital of Morelos, Temixco is the seat of several state institutions including the Public Security Commission, which co-ordinates state and local police forces.

Morelos also neighbours Guerrero state, which is plagued by drug cartels.

Ms Mota, who had been a federal congresswoman, was sworn into office on New Year's Day. She was killed the following day.

Governor Ramirez promised that state officials would not cede to the challenge presented by organised crime.

Federal and state forces are deployed in Cuernavaca and municipalities near the Guerrero state border in what is called 'Operation Delta'.

Mr Capella said that when the suspects were detained, authorities found a 9mm gun, an Uzi, ski masks and an SUV with Mexico State license plates.
Residents and relatives carry the coffin of newly-installed Temixco mayor Gisela Mota from her home during her funeral in Temixco, south of Mexico City, after Mota was shot dead on Saturday by four armed gunmen, January 3, 2016

Gisela Mota, new mayor of Temixco takes her oath of office during a swearing-in ceremony in Temixco, south of Mexico City on January 1, 2016. Mota, the newly installed mayor of the Mexican city of Temixco was killed on January 2, 2016, according to a tweet from Morelos state Governor Graco Ramire

The newly installed mayor of the Mexican city of Temixco was killed on Saturday, according to a tweet from Morelos state Governor Graco Ramirez.

Gisela Mota formally took office with the new year on Friday. Mexico City newspaper EL Universal said she was attacked at her home by four armed gunmen.

Expand Close Residents and relatives carry the coffin of newly-installed Temixco mayor Gisela Mota from her home during her funeral in Temixco, south of Mexico City, after Mota was shot dead on Saturday by four armed gunmen, January 3, 2016 / Facebook

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Whatsapp Residents and relatives carry the coffin of newly-installed Temixco mayor Gisela Mota from her home during her funeral in Temixco, south of Mexico City, after Mota was shot dead on Saturday by four armed gunmen, January 3, 2016

Local police later arrested two alleged attackers, while killing two others, according to a statement issued by the Morelos attorney general's office.

The statement did not provide further details of the attack.

Several mayors were killed last year in Mexico, where armed gangs financed by the drugs trade control many local communities.

Temixco, located some 60 miles (100 km) south of Mexico City, has a population of about 100,000.

Mota, a former federal member of Congress, belonged to the leftist Party of the Democratic Revolution.
George and Angela Dyczynski, whose daughter Fatima was a victim of the tragedy, sit on a piece of wreckage of the downed Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 during their visit to the crash site near the village of Hrabove (Grabovo), in Donetsk

A group of citizen journalists have reportedly identified the Russian soldiers involved in the crash of flight MH17.

Dutch prosecutors said they will 'seriously study' the claims made, AFP reports.

Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 was shot down by a BUK surface-to-air missile over eastern Ukraine in July 2014, killing all 298 people onboard.

The British-based group of 'citizen investigative journalists' are called Bellingcat and specialise in analysing data on social media and online.

We received the report just after Christmas, Wim de Bruin, a spokesman for the Dutch prosecutors office, told AFP.

We will seriously study it and determine whether it can be used for the criminal inquiry, de Bruin said.

Expand Close A pro-Russian separatist stands at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, in this July 18, 2014 file photo. Photo: REUTERS / Facebook

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Whatsapp A pro-Russian separatist stands at the crash site of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, near the settlement of Grabovo in the Donetsk region, in this July 18, 2014 file photo. Photo: REUTERS

Ukraine claim the missile was fired from pro-Russian separatist-held territory but Moscow has denied the claim and instead have reported Ukrainian military to be the cause of the crash.

Bellingcat previously reported in 2014 that a BUK mobile launcher was spotted on July 17 in an area controlled by pro-Russian rebels.

The launcher came from a military convoy from Russias 53rd anti-aircraft brigade and, when was filmed again at a later time, at least one Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins said his organisation have identified 20 soldiers in this brigade, he told Dutch TV channel NOS.

NOS said the group used sources such as online photos and public army data in their investigation.

Expand Close Wreckage of the MH17 airplane is seen after the presentation of the final report into the crash of July 2014 of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine REUTERS/Michael Kooren / Facebook

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Whatsapp Wreckage of the MH17 airplane is seen after the presentation of the final report into the crash of July 2014 of Malaysia Airlines flight MH17 over Ukraine REUTERS/Michael Kooren

De Bruin said Dutch prosecutors involved in an ongoing investigation into the downing of the plane have already been in contact with Bellingcat in the past.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is under pressure over her policy on refugees. Photo: AP

German Chancellor Angela Merkel's allies in Bavaria stepped up criticism of her open-door refugee policy yesterday, with their leader demanding a cap of 200,000 migrants a year, about a fifth of last year's level.

Merkel faces splits in her conservative bloc and coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) over her insistence that Germany can cope with the refugee crisis as towns struggle to house migrants, many having fled war in the Middle East and Africa.

Horst Seehofer, the combative leader of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) in Bavaria, where most migrants arriving via the Balkans enter Germany, told 'Bild am Sonntag' it was possible to integrate up to 200,000 asylum seekers and refugees a year. "Anything more than that, I think is too much," he told the paper. "The central goal for 2016 must be to limit the number of migrants. We are at the moment a long way from this goal."

Seehofer hosts Merkel and British Prime Minister David Cameron at a meeting of his CSU party this week in the remote resort of Wildbad Kreuth and refugees will be a big topic.

A magnet for migrants partly due to generous social benefits, Europe's biggest economy is taking in more than any other EU state. It registered 1.09 million migrants last year, a newspaper reported last week.

The CSU has long called for a cap and has repeatedly threatened to take action, such as sending refugees back to other countries. So far it has not acted on those threats and towards the end of last year, Seehofer's tone had softened.

The CSU chief also warned that Germany's budget goals were at risk if migrants kept arriving at the same rate.

Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble aims for a balanced budget this year.

"If the refugee numbers stay at 2015 levels, a budget with no new borrowing is hardly do-able," Seehofer said.

Merkel, in a nod to her critics, told her Christian Democrat (CDU) party last month that the number of migrants would fall.

The SPD said Seehofer's remark exposed conservative rifts.

"Angela Merkel and Horst Seehofer must reach agreement within the conservative camp.

"Their row is unsettling people," said SPD General Secretary Katrina Barley.
Five-year-old Ashya King waves as he leaves a hospital after his last proton therapy treatment October, 2014 in Prague

Ashya King, five, was treated for a brain tumour at a medical centre in Prague last year after his parents disagreed with doctors about his treatment and decided to seek proton beam treatment abroad

Ashya with his mother Naghemeh King. The parents of five-year-old English boy Ashya King, who were detained after taking him abroad for brain tumour treatment, say their son is now free of cancer

The father of brain cancer survivor Ashya King has said he is "proud" as his son returns to school full time.

Brett King said the youngster was "doing very well" after recovering from proton beam therapy to treat his rare condition.

Mr King, and his wife Naghmeh, sparked an international manhunt after they took Ashya, then aged five, from Southampton General Hospital without doctors' consent in August 2014.

The couple were arrested a few days later in Spain, where they were forced to spend several nights in prison away from their son before being released.

A High Court judge later approved the move to take Ashya to Prague for proton therapy.

A report by Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Board found their actions had "put him at risk" but Mr King again defended his decision on Good Morning Britain.

He also said that while his son still faced a few problems, he was delighted the child would be back in full-time education.

He told the programme: "He is doing very well. We are so proud of him.

"There are still a few issues - he is wobbly on his legs and his speech is a bit strained but he is a fighter, he does not give up and he is prepared to try anything."

He added the couple found it difficult "just a short time ago, to think he might be going to school for the majority of the day".

And he said: "We expect him to make a full recovery to the boy we had before."

The proton therapy was not offered to Ashya on the NHS, although the health service later agreed to fund his treatment. Several new proton beam therapy centres will open in the UK from this year.
Staff at the satirical magazine 'Charlie Hebdo' are plagued by death threats and divided by internal squabbles, despite the magazine's circulation rising tenfold.

A million copies of a special issue will be printed this week to mark the anniversary of the attack by Islamist gunmen who killed 12 people. It will feature cartoons by some of those killed, new material by staff, and messages of support for the provocative weekly with a long history of mocking religions, especially Islam.

The killings last January made 'Charlie Hebdo' a household name. The weekly that used to scrape by with sales of 30,000 now has more than 180,000 subscribers and distributes another 100,000 copies to newsagents, in addition to 10,000 sold outside France.

The inflow of money has caused squabbles. Some staff have demanded employees be made equal shareholders. It spends massively on security and recently moved to a new, heavily-guarded office. Some staff members have found it difficult to adapt to a life with police escorts and bodyguards.

"We've had death threats for years and we thought they would stop (after the attack), but they haven't. If anything, they've increased," said Patrick Pelloux, a 'Charlie Hebdo' columnist and a doctor who treated victims of the November 13 massacre in Paris in which 130 people died.

"We are at war with Islamist Nazis, because Nazis are what they are," Dr Pelloux said. "If they had their way, they'd censor all sorts of things, they would probably ban 'Mr Bean'."

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
France this week solemnly marks the anniversary of the Islamist assault on the Paris offices of the satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo, the first of two such deadly attacks which bookended a bloody 2015 of unprecedented violence in the French capital.

Subdued ceremonies are to take place under heavy security to mark the attacks on the weekly and a kosher supermarket in which three gunmen killed 17 people - an event which proved to be a grim forerunner of the suicide bombings and shootings 10 months later in which 130 people were killed.

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Charlie Hebdo, known for satirical covers lampooning Islam and other religions as well as politicians, lost many of its top editorial staff in the Jan. 7 attacks when Islamist militants opened fire on journalists inside the newsroom.

The three gunmen were themselves shot dead by security police during three days of violence which ended with a hostage-taking at a Jewish deli in which four hostages were also killed.

The attacks prompted a worldwide solidarity movement, with the "Je Suis Charlie" slogan going viral on social media.

In the second deadlier string of attacks on Nov. 13, Islamist militants mowed down people in Paris cafes and a concert hall, and attacked a stadium in the nation's worst post-war atrocity.

With the country on high alert since then and right through the New year holiday season, soldiers will be out in force protecting official buildings and religious sites for the "Charlie" anniversary.

Commemorative plaques will be unveiled on Tuesday at the various sites of the January attacks, including at the weekly's former offices, in modest ceremonies attended by families and government officials, a City of Paris spokesman said.

On Jan. 10, another, more public,ceremony will take place on the Place de la Republique, the square in eastern Paris which attracted mass rallies in favour of free speech and democratic values after the attacks and became an informal memorial.

President Francois Hollande will preside over the ceremony, during which a 10-metre-high commemorative oaktree will be planted, the Paris official said.

French rock giant Johnny Hallyday will perform a song called "A Sunday in January", paying tribute to the millions of people who marched on the streets of French cities on the Sunday following the January attacks.
A Scottish gold miner faces up to five years in prison after outraging fellow workers at a mine in Kyrgyzstan by comparing a national delicacy to a horse penis.

Michael Mcfeat was arrested under race hate laws in the country after his remarks on Facebook about the horse meat sausage known as chuchuk caused a temporary strike.

Expand Close The Facebook post that got Mr Mcfeat into trouble / Facebook

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The 39-year-old posted a picture showing people apparently in a canteen, saying his colleagues were queuing out of the door for their "special delicacy, the horse's penis".

An interior ministry spokesman told the AFP news agency that Michael Mcfeat, who works as a Welding Superintendent for Toronto-based Centerra Gold, was detained by police after posting the comment.

Mr Mcfeat, of Abernethy, Perthshire, now faces racial hatred charges, which can bring three to five years in prison under Kyrgyz law.

He later removed his comments and apologised. He said: I truly never meant to offend anyone and I'm truly sorry as it was never my intention."

Mr Mcfeats family said his remark had been misinterpreted.

His parents, John and Marilyn, said their son had simply posted "praise" together with a picture of him and his colleagues enjoying a New Year's Eve meal.

John Mcfeat, a 63-year-old farmworker, said their only son had meant "nothing bad".

He said: "He's out there as a supervisor welder to help the Kyrgyz, and it was a New Year's meal and he was praising everything that the chef had done, but its just gone crazy...

"He said it was a lovely meal, with the local delicacy, horse sausage meat, but he put 'horse penis'.

"All we can do is wait, and the Foreign Office will hopefully try and explain that there was no malice in what Michael put, there was nothing derogatory meant by what he posted.

Michael's mother Marilyn, 62, said: It was just a throwaway comment. He said it was an amazing meal. We want to be careful what we say, so nothing is misconstrued, but if this so serious, as it appears to be, should somebody not have been in touch with us?"

Michael's wife Amanda, 40, a book-keeper, added: "It was just a Hogmanay feast, and put up a picture of his colleagues at the meal and praised the chef and said the Kyrgyz were queuing out of the door for their special delicacy, the horse's penis.

Horse meat including offal is a popular delicacy in both Kyrgyzstan and neighbouring Kazakhstan where nomadic traditions have been revived since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The Kumtor mine is 220 miles south east of the Kyrgyz capital Bishkek and is the largest goldmine operated by a Western company in Central Asia.

The mine produced more than 9.9 million ounces of gold between 1997 and the end of 2014.

The British embassy confirmed it was looking into the case.

A spokesman said: We are in contact with the local authorities after a British National was detained in Kyrgyzstan and are ready to provide consular assistance.

Telegraph Media Group Limited [2022]
Two car bombs have been detonated at a checkpoint near Libya's oil fields

Libya's local Islamic State affiliate says it has detonated two car bombs at a checkpoint near the country's oil fields and clashed with fighters allied with the internationally recognised government there.

Ali al-Hassi, a spokesman for the forces that control the majority of Libya's oil fields, says six of their fighters were killed in the attacks on Monday, along with five IS fighters in the coastal port town of Siddra.

The extremist group has long had its eye on the fields, which lie east of its coastal stronghold of Sirte. In a statement circulated online, the group said the operation was named after one of their killed leaders, Abu Mughira al-Qahtani.

Al-Qahtani was allegedly killed by a US air strike two months ago in the eastern city of Darna.
Indian police officers tackle Kashmiri Shiite Muslims during a protest in Srinagar against the execution of Nimr al-Nimr. Photo: Reuters

The leader of Iran warned Saudi Arabia yesterday of "divine vengeance" following its execution of a prominent Shia cleric and 46 others as protests erupted across the Middle East.

Washington called on the region's two primary powers to avoid heightening tensions as demonstrators protesting against the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr broke into the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital of Tehran and set it ablaze. Saudi Arabia said it was suspending diplomatic relations with Iran in the wake of the attack on the embassy.

The incident was condemned by the Iranian authorities but an escalating war of words between Tehran and Riyadh underlined how the mass executions had opened a rancorous new chapter in the ongoing struggle between Islam's Shia and Sunni sects.

Among the others executed was Adel al-Dhubaiti, who was convicted of the 2004 murder of Co Meath cameraman Simon Cumbers (36) in Riyadh as he worked on a story about al-Qa'ida with the BBC.

His family has spoken in the past about their "mixed feelings" about al-Dhubaiti being sentenced to death. His mother Bronagh has previously said: "I don't want to see anybody dying."

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of Shia-dominated Iran, lambasted Saudi Arabia for a second day, describing Sheikh Nimr as an "oppressed martyr" and predicted that "divine vengeance will befall Saudi politicians".

In Riyadh, the foreign ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran was supporting terrorism.

The recriminations also spread beyond the two lead antagonists in the Muslim world's Shia-Sunni split. In Lebanon, the leader of Hezbollah, which has been fighting on the side of Syria's President Bashar al-Assad against Sunni insurgents in the country's civil war, said the death of Sheikh Nimr was a "message of blood".

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah accused Riyadh of seeking to spread sectarianism. Referring to Saudi Arabia's ruling family, the Shia group's leader said: "Al-Saud wants Sunni-Shia strife. They are the ones who ignited it, and are doing so in every part of the world."

As well as in Tehran, crowds of protesters gathered outside the Saudi embassy in the Lebanese capital of Beirut while demonstrations took place in Bahrain, Turkey, Pakistan and northern India.

In Sunni-ruled Bahrain, police fired birdshot and used water cannon to disperse demonstrators who had been chanting the name of Sheikh Nimr as "our martyr".

The cleric was an outspoken critic of his country's Sunni monarchy and was widely seen as a leader of younger Shia activists both in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain.

Sheikh Nimr's execution also sparked protests in his native Qatif region in eastern Saudi Arabia.

The sheikh's brother said he had been told he would not be receiving his body because the cleric had already been buried in an unnamed cemetery.

The execution is likely to complicate Saudi Arabia's relationship with the Shia-led government in neighbouring Iraq, where the Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is facing calls to close the Saudi diplomatic mission.
Indian army soldiers take up position on the perimeter of the airforce base in Pathankot. Photo: Getty

Fighting broke out again at the Pathankot airforce base in northern India on Sunday, bringing the death toll to at least 11 since gunmen stormed the site before dawn on the previous day.

Seven Indian security personnel have been killed and about 20 injured over the past two days, India's home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said at a press conference in New Delhi.

Four gunmen were killed by Indian forces at the base in the state of Punjab yesterday.

At least two terrorists were at large and operations to neutralise them were ongoing, with reports of fresh fighting between the remaining gunmen and security forces.

The attack comes a week after Indian prime minister Narendra Modi made a surprise visit to Pakistan in a bid to accelerate peace talks between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

The gunmen had crossed over from Pakistan and the terror group Jaish-e-Mohammed may be responsible, Mr Mehrishi said.

"Due to the active intelligence inputs and advance information and the quick action taken by the security forces, especially the airforce, we have been able to ensure there is no damage to the assets of the air force," Mr Mehrishi said. "The apparent main aim of the terrorists stands defeated."

Pakistan

Pakistan's foreign ministry condemned the raid in an e-mail and said it was committed to working with India and other nations to "completely eradicate the menace of terrorism afflicting the region".

While the NDTV news station said the base housed jet fighters and attack helicopters, police said the gunmen didn't get near that part of the airport in the first raid on Saturday.

"We will give a befitting reply to any terrorist attack on our soil," home minister Rajnath Singh said in comments broadcast by local television stations on Saturday. India wants "good and friendly relations" with Pakistan, he added.

India blamed Pakistan for an incident in July in which six people were killed in Punjab as four gunmen dressed in army uniforms attacked a bus station and a police complex.

The raid on Saturday happened even after Punjab had been placed on a state of high alert on Friday after suspected Pakistani terrorists kidnapped a senior police officer, the Press Trust of India reported.

India and Pakistan have tried to minimise tensions since an attack in Mumbai in 2008, when gunmen targeted two luxury hotels, the main railway station, a cafe and a Jewish centre, killing more than 160 people.

India, which said that the incident was orchestrated in Pakistan, has accused its neighbour of using terrorism to achieve foreign-policy goals.

Pakistan has said normal relations can be restored only when the dispute over the divided state of Kashmir has been resolved.
Screen grab taken from YouTube from undated footage issued by Islamic State militants showing a masked jihadi with a British accent mocking David Cameron in a purported new Islamic State video showing the execution of five men accused of being spies for the UK

Screen grab taken from undated footage issued by Islamic State militants showing the execution of five men accused of being spies for the UK

Screen grab taken from undated footage issued by Islamic State militants showing the execution of five men accused of being spies for the UK

Screen grab taken from undated footage issued by Islamic State militants showing the execution of five men accused of being spies for the UK

The boy in the new IS video is believed to be Isa Dare, inset, pictured in 2015

A young boy who features in the latest execution video released by terror group Islamic State is believed to be the son of a jihadi bride who wants to be the first British woman to behead a hostage.

Special investigators are trying to establish whether the boy is Isa Dare, the son of Grace 'Khadija' Dare who has links to Lee Rigby's killers, The Telegraph reports.

In the video, the boy, dubbed 'Jihadi Junior' is seen telling the camera that jihadists will "kill the kuffar", meaning the 'unbelievers'.

The boy, who wears camouflage and a black headscarf with the Isis logo on it, looks similar to the son of Grace Dare who is from Lewisham, south-east London.

Last July Dare posted a picture on one of her social media pages of her son Isa aiming an AK-47 automatic rifle.

The 22-year-old woman was brought up in a Christian family of Nigerian descent.

She is believed to have been radicalised online before attending the Lewisham Islamic Centre, where Drummer Rigby's murderers Michael Adebolajo and Michael Adebowale are understood to have worshipped.

The mosque has denied they were part of the congregation.

Expand Close Screen grab taken from undated footage issued by Islamic State militants showing the execution of five men accused of being spies for the UK / Facebook

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Whatsapp Screen grab taken from undated footage issued by Islamic State militants showing the execution of five men accused of being spies for the UK

Investigators report the young woman travelled to Syria in 2012 and married a Swede known as Abu Bakr, who is thought have been killed since.

Dare has since appeared in television documentaries, saying she missed Chinese takeaways but she would never return home.

Expand Close Screen grab taken from undated footage issued by Islamic State militants showing the execution of five men accused of being spies for the UK / Facebook

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Whatsapp Screen grab taken from undated footage issued by Islamic State militants showing the execution of five men accused of being spies for the UK

She also told her social media followers she wants to be the first British woman to kill an Isil hostage.

In the video, the young boy makes a fleeting appearance in a desert landscape at the end of the 10-minute video.

Expand Close An English-speaking Islamic State (IS) fighter, who threatened Britain in a video / Facebook

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Whatsapp An English-speaking Islamic State (IS) fighter, who threatened Britain in a video

The majority of the footage, which has yet to be independently verified, features a masked man who attacks Prime Minister David Cameron, labelling him "an imbecile" for launching air strikes in Syria, before killing a prisoner. Four other men then kill one prisoner each.

He speaks in a British accent and appears to mimic the style of the British man known as Jihadi John - real name Mohammed Emwazi - who was killed in a US drone strike in Syria in November.

Young children have appeared in many IS propaganda videos, including material which shows groups of children being trained with guns. In one infamous image, a child was pictured holding a severed head, while another photograph that circulated online showed a young child being encouraged to kick a severed head.

More than 30 UK children had been made the subject of family court orders over radicalisation fears, Scotland Yard said in August. At that time, judges had considered cases involving 12 different families.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the country's most senior terrorism officer, said in some instances the children were "almost babes in arms", with ages ranging from two or three up to 16 or 17.

There have been a series of high-profile cases involving families taking their children to Syria, or making unsuccessful attempts to make the journey, in the past year.

In October, police released images of a family of seven from Bradford thought to have begun a journey to Syria or Iraq.

Imran Ameen, 39, his wife, Farzana Ameen, 40, and their five children - Isma Imran 15; Moeen Imran, 14; Mohammed Muneeb Imran, 11; Ismail Imran, eight; and Mohammed Imran, five - were last seen on October 5 after buying one-way tickets. Mr Ameen's brother Rehan Noor-Ul-Ameen, 30, was thought to have travelled to Turkey months earlier.

Arshid Siddique, first cousin of both Imran and Farzana Ameen, denounced the family's decision and said it "beggared belief" that any parent would want to take their children to a war zone.

In July, a family of 12 from Luton was reported missing after failing to return from a holiday in Bangladesh. The grandparents of the group, which included 75-year-old Muhammed Abdul Mannan, were being held against their will, their son Shalim Hussain claimed.

Mr Mannan and his wife Minera Khatun, 53, went missing with their daughter Rajia Khanom, 21, and sons Mohammed Zayd Hussain, 25, Mohammed Toufique Hussain, 19, Mohammed Abil Kashem Saker, 31, and Mohammed Saleh Hussain, 26.

Three unnamed children aged between one and 11 were with the group, as were Mohammed Abil Kashem Saker's wife Sheida Khanam, 27, and Mohammed Saleh Hussain's wife Roshanara Begum, 24.

Just a month earlier British sisters Khadija Dawood, 30, Sugra Dawood, 34, and Zohra Dawood, 33, and their nine children, aged between three and 15, were feared to have travelled to link up with IS militants.

The sisters split into two groups to cross into Syria from Turkey, according to an IS smuggler.

Police also thwarted the attempts of many who were alleged to have been trying to get to the war-torn region.

In September, 33-year-old Zahera Tariq was arrested at Luton Airport on suspicion of child abduction. Her children, aged between four and 12, were taken into police protection.

Another British-born mother of two tried to take her children to the capital of so-called Islamic State territory to live under sharia law, a court heard in December. The 34-year-old lied to her husband, telling him she was taking the children to a birthday party before making her way to Heathrow, allegedly bound for Raqqa in Syria.

Four British jihadis were the subject of international sanctions in November, which banned travel and froze their assets globally.

In October, it was disclosed the number of terrorism suspects being arrested in the UK had reached record levels, with women increasingly under suspicion and at risk of radicalisation.

(Additional reporting by PA)
Surrounded by policemen, a Muslim cleric addresses a crowd during a demonstration to protest the execution of Saudi Shiite Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, seen in poster, in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016

Iranian demonstrators chant slogans during a protest denouncing the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia, seen in posters, in front of the Saudi Embassy, in Tehran, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016

Iranian demonstrators burn representations of the U.S. and Israeli flags during a demonstration in front of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran, Iran, to protest the execution of Saudi Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric, seen in posters, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016

Saudi Arabia is severing diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran amid escalating tensions over the Sunni kingdom's execution of a prominent cleric.

The move came hours after protesters stormed and set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran and followed harsh criticism by Iran's top leader of the Saudis' execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi foreign minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iranian diplomatic staff had 48 hours to leave his country and all Saudi diplomats in Iran had been recalled.

The mass execution of Sheikh al-Nimr and 46 others - the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades - laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region as demonstrators took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan in protest.

It also illustrated the kingdom's new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shiite bastion Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.

Expand Close Surrounded by policemen, a Muslim cleric addresses a crowd during a demonstration to protest the execution of Saudi Shiite Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, seen in poster, in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016 / Facebook

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Whatsapp Surrounded by policemen, a Muslim cleric addresses a crowd during a demonstration to protest the execution of Saudi Shiite Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, seen in poster, in front of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Saudi Arabia of "divine revenge" over Sheikh al-Nimr's death, while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting "terrorism", in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the US and European Union sought to calm the region.

Mr al-Jubeir said the Iranian regime had "a long record of violations of foreign diplomatic missions" dating back to the occupation of the US embassy in 1979, and such incidents were "a flagrant violation of all international agreements".

He said Iran's "hostile policy" was aimed "at destabilising the region's security", accusing Tehran of smuggling weapons and explosives and planting terrorist cells in the kingdom and other countries in the region. He said Saudi Arabia would not allow Iran "to undermine our security".

"The history of Iran is full of negative and hostile interference in Arab countries, always accompanied with subversion, demolition and killing of innocent souls," Mr al-Jubeir said, just before announcing the severing of diplomatic relations.

Sheikh al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

On Saturday Saudi Arabia put Sheikh al-Nimr and three other Shiite dissidents to death, along with a number of al Qaida militants. Sheikh al-Nimr's execution drew protests from Shiites around the world, who backed his call for reform and wider political freedom for their sect.

While the split between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the early days of Islam and disagreements over the successor to the Prophet Mohammed, those divisions have only grown as they intertwine with regional politics, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia vying to be the Middle East's top power.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism, in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Iran's backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran has also backed Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Houthis.

Ayatollah Khamenei condemned Sheikh al-Nimr's execution, saying the cleric "neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism".

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saudi Arabia's "medieval act of savagery" would lead to the "downfall" of the country's monarchy.

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi embassy as "extremists", saying the act was "unjustifiable".

Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had "revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism".

In Tehran, a protest outside the Saudi embassy early on Sunday quickly grew violent as protesters threw stones and petrol bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building on fire. Forty people were arrested and investigators were pursuing other suspects.

Western powers sought to calm the tensions.

In Washington, state department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration was aware of the Saudis' severing of ties with Tehran, but stressed: "We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions."

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats".

The disruption in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. US secretary of state John Kerry and others spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the civil war.

Last month Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin this month.

Across the region, demonstrators took to the streets in protest over the execution of Sheikh al-Nimr.

In Bahrain, police fired tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators on Sitra Island, south of the capital Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, to the west, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifas.

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called Sheikh al-Nimr "the martyr, the holy warrior", while protests erupted from Turkey to India to Pakistan.

The cleric's execution has also threatened to complicate Saudi Arabia's relationship with the Shiite-led Iraqi government, where the Saudi embassy is preparing to formally reopen for the first time in nearly 25 years. On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.

Iran's deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said Saudi Arabia's decision to severe diplomatic relations could not cover up Riyadh's "strategic mistake" in killing the sheikh.

He also accused Saudi Arabia of promoting terrorism and extremism in the Middle East.
US President Barack Obama has insisted he can take action to tighten gun controls - without congressional approval.

He said his administration's recommendations are within his legal authority and consistent with the Second Amendment.

Mr Obama addressed reporters in the Oval Office following a meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and other top law enforcement officials.

The officials presented the president with options for measures he can take which do not require congressional approval.

The president did not specify what actions he plans to take.

The steps are expected to include expanding background checks on gun sales by forcing more sellers to register as federally licensed gun dealers.

The president said the measures won't solve every violent crime in the US, but will potentially "save lives and spare families the pain".
Iranian police and security forces stand guard to protect Saudi Arabia's embassy in Tehran as demonstrators protested against the execution of a Shiite cleric (AP)

Saudi Arabia has announced it is severing diplomatic ties with Iran amid mounting tensions over the execution of a prominent Saudi Shiite cleric.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said that Iranian diplomatic personnel had 48 hours to leave the country and all Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran were being recalled home.

Iranian officials harshly condemned the execution, with Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying that Saudi Arabia would face "divine retribution".

Protesters set fire to the kingdom's embassy in Tehran and demonstrators took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan after the mass execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others.

It was the largest execution carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades and illustrates the kingdom's new aggressiveness under King Salman.

Under his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shiite power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.

Riyadh has accused Tehran of supporting terrorism in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the US and the European Union sought to calm the region.

Sheikh al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia put Sheikh al-Nimr and three other Shiite dissidents to death, along with a number of al Qaida militants. Sheikh al-Nimr's execution drew protests from Shiites across the world, who backed his call for reform and wider political freedom for their sect.

While the split between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the early days of Islam and disagreements over the successor to Prophet Mohammed, those divisions have only grown as they intertwine with regional politics today, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia vying to be the Middle East's top power.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Iran's backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran also has backed Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Houthis.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, condemned Sheikh al-Nimr's execution, saying on Sunday the cleric "neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism."

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saudi Arabia's "medieval act of savagery" would lead to the "downfall" of the country's monarchy.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had "revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism".

Iranian president Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of Sheikh al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as "extremists".

"It is unjustifiable," he said in a statement.

Hundreds of protesters later demonstrated in front of the embassy and in a central Tehran square. Street signs near the embassy were replaced with ones bearing the slain sheikh's name.

Protesters also took to the streets across the region.

In Bahrain, police used water cannons and fired birdshot at demonstrators on Sitra Island, south of the capital, Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifa family.

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called Sheikh al-Nimr "the martyr, the holy warrior", while demonstrators marched in Turkey, India and Pakistan.

Western powers sought to calm the tensions. In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Elizabeth Trudeau said the US condemned the embassy attack and called on all sides "to avoid any actions that would further heighten tensions in the region".

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats", according to a statement.

The cleric's execution has threatened to complicate Saudi Arabia's relationship with the Shiite-led government in Iraq, where the Saudi Embassy is preparing to formally reopen for the first time in nearly 25 years. On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.

Iran and Saudi Arabia summoned each other's envoys for consultations, and Saudi allies Egypt and the United Arab Emirates summoned Iranian officials in their capitals over the Tehran embassy assault.

Meanwhile, Sheikh al-Nimr's family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al Awamiya in the kingdom's al Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia.

The sheikh's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, said that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.

A person familiar with the Saudi government's thinking in Washington said the kingdom severed relations with Iran because "enough was enough", adding that Riyadh was less concerned with how its decision affected diplomatic efforts led by the United States, including the Syrian peace talks or the Iran nuclear deal.

The source said the Saudi government was tired of what it saw as Tehran "thumbing its nose at the West", including the recent launch of ballistic missiles, while no one did anything about it.

"Every time Iran does something, the United States backs off," the person said.
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By Vince Jackson, Special to the Independent Mail

Special to the Independent Mail According to Pickens County elected officials the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control could approve a change in the manner in which a private Pickens County landfill can operate.

The nearly 6 million cubic yard landfill facility under construction at the intersection of SC 93 and Cartee Road, near Vulcan Materials, is being considered for coal ash disposal. The landfill was approved by the county in 2007 as a construction debris facility. Recently, DHEC was asked to approve a variance that could allow the landfill to accept coal ash.

DHEC spokesman Jim Beasley said Monday in an email that the agency has made no decision on the landfill owner's request. MRR Pickens LLC, the owner, asked DHEC in October for a variance to to handle a large disposal project. In response, DHEC asked MRR Pickens for more information. The company has not responded, Beasley said.

Some coal ash contains toxic levels of lead, arsenic, asbestos and heavy metals that can be dangerous, say health officials. Industry experts say coal ash is a fine siltlike material that can travel underground entering wells, lakes and streams.

In a letter to DHEC, Pickens County Legislative Delegation Chairman Sen. Larry Martin said, "We were very surprised and deeply concerned to learn right before Christmas that an out-of-state company has applied for a permit to dispose of coal ash in Pickens County. We are very opposed to this permit for several reasons. The introduction of coal ash into a construction and debris landfill goes well beyond its intended use. In short, we don't intend for Pickens County to be a dumping ground."

In January, 2015 MRR Pickens consulted with the county about continuing development of its private landfill site, delayed due to weak economic conditions. At that time, the subject of asbestos disposal was addressed and all parties agreed hazardous materials would not be allowed in the landfill, according to county records.

Beasley said the landfill is permitted as Class 2 and for a synthetic liner. Some coal ash is permitted in Class 2 landfills, but the more toxic variety is not. MRR Pickens would be responsible for ensuring any waste it receives is suitable for a Class 2 landfill.

Pickens County Councilman Trey Whitehurst said MRR Pickens recently sought a right-of-way for a road to access the property. When asked the purpose of the road, Whitehurst said nothing was mentioned about coal ash being deposited in the landfill.

"Pickens County was not consulted about a liner and we do not know who is generating the coal ash they want to bring here," Whitehurst said. MRR corporate representatives in Raleigh, North Carolina, could not be reached for comment.

"This is not appropriate. The site is too close to the Pickens County Industrial Park and populated areas of Liberty and Easley. We do not need tons of coal ash in proximity to our citizens," he said.

Martin went on to say county roads will not hold up to repeated trips by heavy trucks carrying tons of coal ash to the landfill. "DHEC needs to hold a public hearing before approving any variance at the landfill," he said. Martin said other members of the delegation are in agreement with his letter and intend to sign it.

The information DHEC is seeking from MRR for its variance includes who is generating the waste it wants to receive, where it would be coming from and data showing the waste is acceptable under the permit.
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP)  With an explosion in growth in the craft beer industry over the last decade, it's not enough to simply have a passion for brewing and beer when it comes to starting a brewery or working for one as the industry gets more competitive.

Recognizing that, some universities are now offering programs on the business of craft beer.

In the last decade, the number of craft breweries has grown to more than 4,000 in the U.S. today, from more than 1,400 in 2005, according to the Brewers Association.

A lot of breweries started out five or 10 years ago with a focus on beer, said Gregory Dunkling, director of the University of Vermont's new online business of craft beer certificate program, which starts in February. Back then, a home brewer may have been able to create some great recipes but didn't have the business acumen so along the way hired staff to cover marketing, sales, the business operation, he said. It's harder to pull that off today.

As the industry has grown and become more competitive, the bar has been raised for those starting a brewery or working for one, said Bart Watson, chief economist with the Brewers Association.

"Certainly the demand for people with a high level of brewing knowledge has gone up and on the business side as well. So I think we're seeing a variety of different programs look for ways that they can capitalize on that," he said.

Portland State University in Oregon started an online business of craft brewing program in 2013, with the first cohort filling up in the first week with around 40 people. It's become one of the school's most successful professional certificate programs, drawing people from around the world, said Scott Gallagher, the university's director of communications.

"We discovered that there's a huge need for people who wanted to get a certificate. They didn't necessarily want to go to college or already had a college degree and wanted to open up a brew pub," Gallagher said. They needed some basic and more advanced knowledge, such as in marketing, he said.

The demand is so high that PSU is looking at how to develop and expand the program, Gallagher said.

"The truth is ... it's not all about brewing and drinking beer. There's a lot of business behind it as well and that's usually what they're lacking," he said.

University of Portland and San Diego State University's College of Extended Studies also have business of craft beer certificate programs. Classes for San Diego State's program are held at local breweries and at the university, but not online.

So far, the University of Vermont program, in a state that has made a name for itself for its craft beers, has drawn applicants from around the country  Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Oregon and Texas, and about half are from the Northeast, Dunkling said.

The program costs about $4,400 for the two courses: one on the fundamentals of craft beer and a second course of students' choosing focused on digital marketing, sales or business operations. Apprenticeships with a network of breweries and distributors are also available.

Industry officials agree there's a need for education and knowledge in the industry and different ways to get it, whether through experience, hiring talent or training, which some breweries provide.

As outside investors and larger breweries become increasingly involved with craft brewing, Harpoon Brewery, which will be offering apprenticeships to the UVM students, feels a need to maintain its independence.

"Hiring talented people is a critical part of that effort," Rich Ackerman, Harpoon's director of human resources, said by email. But the company cautions anyone against thinking of craft brewing purely as a business.

"It's a passion project, first and foremost," he said.
The 4th of January is observed as World Braille Day. The day celebrates the birthday of Louis Braille, the Frenchman who invented Braille code in 1821. It also stresses on the cause of providing equal opportunities for the visually impaired. On this day, here are six people who are working relentlessly to bring brightness in the lives of the blind...

1. Joanita Figueredo

Image Credit: thealternative.in

Joanita is the owner of Metta Spa, a spa which only has the visually impaired as masseurs. She used to teach the students of National Association of Blind (NAB) reflexology, and it was here that she stumbled upon the idea of opening a spa where only visually impaired worked. With just four masseurs when she began, today her work family has expanded to 15. Her employees today can afford a better life thanks to the money they make at the spa. This also makes Joanita a satisfied and a happy entrepreneur.

2. Anirudh Sharma

Image Credit: inktalks

Anirudh Sharma, along with his friend Krispian Lawrence has designed special shoes called Le Chal for the visually impaired. These shoes help the blind to navigate swiftly from one place to another. They are connected through an app on the smartphone and they vibrate according to the direction towards the destination.

3. Upasana Makati

Image Credit: aljazeera

Upasana Makati started the countrys first English lifestyle magazine in Braille. White Print is a 64-page magazine, which is priced at Rs 30, and is printed at National Association of Blind (NAB) office every monthly. Upasana is now working to increase the circulation of the magazine and take it to the remote areas as well.

4. Shubham Banerjee

Image Credit: Wikipedia

Shubham is touted to be Silicon Valleys youngest entrepreneur. The eighth grader from California has already launched a company to develop low-cost machines to print Braille. The 13-year-old received funding from Intel and they would be backing Shubham to make low-cost Braille printers which would be called as Braigo

5. R Madheswaran

Image Credit: TOI

This 12-year-old kid did something extraordinary to drive public attention towards the cause of eye donation. A student of Sri Ramakrishna Matriculation Higher Secondary School in Coimbatore, he wrote his exam blindfolded to make people realise how difficult it is for the blind to get accustomed to the normal world. He wants to teach the blind a brain fold activation programme, which improves concentration and senses.

6. Partho Bhowmick

Image Credit: theblindcamera.org

For the visually impaired, the minds eye is even more powerful than the camera lenses. Photographer Partho Bhowmick teaches the visually challenged photography, where he trains them to click pictures like a professional. His Blind With Camera project has given the blind a new passion where they click pictures according to their correct judgements and sharp senses.
National Security Guards commando Lt Col Niranjan Kumar was among the 7 martyrs slain in the ongoing gunfight against Pakistani terrorists who attacked the Pathankot airbase under the cover of darkness on Saturday.

His last words were to his father: Dad! I am on an operation

"I had called him last evening around 5pm. I was taking my evening walk as usual and I wanted to get some information from him. When I called, he said he was in an operation and he will call me back," said Shivarajan EK, Lt Col Niranjan's father.

He was the head of NSG's elite bomb squad

toi

Commissioned in the Engineers Regiment of the Army in 2004, he was assigned to a "mopping up procedure" on the encounter spot .

He died in action, defusing a grenade

Lt. Col. Kumar was killed while defusing a live grenade from the body of a terrorist. He was fatally injured by grenade splinters and sharpnels.

He was head of the elite bomb squad of the NSG and an "explosives expert".

He recently promoted to Lt. Colonel, he was posted in New Delhi as as a commando.

He wanted to be in the army because he loved the uniform

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"Since his young age he was interested in the armed forces. He opted for short service commission and when we asked why not air force or navy, he said he was in love with the olive green," his father said.

He joined the National Security Guards shortly after his wedding

toi

Niranjan told the family about getting into the National Security Guards, just after his wedding. "Around 2 years back he came on leave from Jammu and Kashmir for his wedding. As he was leaving, he told me that he was getting into the NSG and he was very excited about it. He was in NSG Delhi for 1 year and 10 months," his father said.

A tough family life

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His older sister Bhagya Lakshmi said her brother was like Arjuna who fought in his Karmabhoomi. "We lost our mother when he was four years old and he had difficult personal life growing up. The country shouldn't remember him just as a soldier who laid down his life but a man faced a lot of struggles to achieve his dream," she said.

He is survived by his wife Dr Radhika and a one-and-a half-year-old daughter Vismaya
Around 235 nuns of the Drukpa Buddhist monastic order, famously known as the 'Kung Fu nuns', who had commenced an arduous cycle yatra from Kathmandu across the Indian states of Bihar and UP to create awareness for women empowerment and environmental conservation, have reached Agra.

2000 km journey that ends in the Capital

The nuns of Druk Amitabha Mountain nunnery based in the hills of Kathmandu and Naro Photang in Ladakh, have so far covered around 2,000 km and are now headed to their last stop, Delhi under the leadership of His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa. The cycle expedition began from Kathmandu on November 18, passed through Gorakhpur, Patna, Rajgir, Gaya, Varanasi, Allahabad, Kanpur, Saifai and Agra before it concludes on January 9 in New Delhi.

The cyclists in the group are from Ladakh, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh and Nepal.

toi

Highlighting various aspects of the Cycle Yatra and the route, Konehok Lhamo a woman cyclist said, "The expedition or the yatra of 235 women is to create awareness about women empowerment and environment consciousness." "We are thankful to UP government for providing safe passage for our voluntaries in the pre-planned route," she added.

Nuns visit Taj Mahal

toi

His Holiness the Gyalwang Drukpa, spiritual head of the Drukpa Order, environmentalist, an active proponent of gender equality and United Nations MDG Award Honoree said, "The condition of women in India is not good as compare to other nations. During our cycle expedition, we have promote the message of respecting women and giving them equivalence power with men." Speaking on his experience during the tour, Gyalwang Drukpa who founded 'Live to Love' foundation said, "People of various villages and towns provided us milk, vegetables and eatables for free of cost of cyclists and even arranged shelters for night stay."

Before heading for New Delhi, Gyalwang said, "Next year the group will ride 5000 km for the similar cause."

Also read: Nepal's Kung Fu Nuns Have Refused To Be Evacuated - They're Staying Back To Help Victims
Mufti Abdul Qayyum Mansuri is a name that will be remembered for a long time. He is the man who was wrongly branded as a terrorist and awarded a death sentence for partaking in the Akshardham Temple attack in 2002. Only that he did not.

Mansuri spent 11 years behind bars before he was acquitted by the Supreme Court in 2014. While speaking to The Indian Express, Mansuri said how he still believes India to be a better place for Muslims to live in - better than any Islamic country, including Pakistan.

The Week

While attending a function organized by a private trust, he said, "No Muslim is feeling ashamed of living in India." The trust known as the Sarvoday Youth Welfare Society dedicated a diary to him.

While reminiscing about the days he spent in jail, Mansuri said, "When a prisoner is freed from jail, his past always haunt him. It was more of Hindu friends and lawyers who defended and supported me more than the Muslims," he said.

TOI

Mansuri has penned a spine-chilling narrative called 11 Years Behind the Bars, where he recounts how security agencies bend the laws of the land to suit their interests. He writes how he was offered a choice to choose from among three terror attack cases, so that he could be implicated as a terrorist. These cases included the Godhra train burning, Akshardham Temple attack, and Haren Pandya murder.

Living in prison for over a decade changed Mansuri as a human - he has no family left to call his own - yet his firm belief in the country shows how he is a much better human being than many out there framing innocents.
Don't watch porn on Facebook or any other social networking site and don't accept friend requests from unknown people. This may sound like an advisory to an under-age user of social networking sites but is in fact part of a 10-point detailed list of digital do's and don'ts that the Army has issued to their personnel and their family members.

PTI

The advisory comes immediately after airman Ranjith KK was arrested on December 28 from Bathinda for sharing sensitive details about air bases with a pretty woman on Facebook.

He thought the woman was a journalist in the UK when she was in fact a member of a spy ring. As reported on Sunday, Ranjith had visited the Pathankot air force station recently and shared the details with the woman operative.

The advisory, issued on December 31 by the general services (intelligence), has been sent to all the units, sub units and formations of the Army to save them from being ensnared through social media.

Here are some of the main diktats:

1. The soldiers have also been told not to use their photographs in uniform on their WhatsApp profiles.

2. Photos with anything related to the bases should not be posted online.

3. The defence personnel have been told not to click any advertisements announcing alluring prizes or awards on social networking sites.

4. There is already complete ban on disclosing the name, rank, place of posting and name of battalion or unit for soldiers on such sites

5. the army has also asked family members of soldiers too not to share information on their accounts.

6. They personnel have been asked not to watch any kind of pornography through social media.

7. They have also been asked to not accept friend requests from unknown people on social media.

8. Personnel should not store any military related data on laptops or PCs.

9. No images with weapons in uniform or civil clothes should ever be posted online.

10. Even backdrops of any images should not contain any military installations and weapons.

A senior officer of the Western Command told that the advisory has been issued "to sensitize the troops about the latest modus operandi of the anti-nationals to steal vital information".

Ranjith KK, a leading aircraftman, was arrested in a joint operation of Delhi police, military intelligence and air force liaison unit. Deceived by a cyber-entity called Damini McNaught, he had passed on information on recent IAF exercises, movement of aircraft and deployment of IAF units.
In June last year, Kazi Masum Akhtar, headmaster at Talpukur Ara High Madrasa (Metiabruz area, south west Kolkata) was prohibited from his work unless he sported Islamic attire and grows a beard, his wife Refika Akhtar told the media. The government-aided madrasa headmaster was reportedly attacked by "local fundamentalists" for advocating "progressive" educational reforms, IANS reported.

Now Akhtar has been banned from the madrasa premises, after he was viciously assaulted by maulanas and their henchmen, the New Indian Express reported.

His crime: teaching students to sing the national anthem.

indianexpress

Akhtar reportedly appealed to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Governor and the chairman of State Minorities Commission for justice, but has been ignored. He need to mark his attendance to draw his salary.

The national anthem was sacrilege and a Hindutva song according to maulvis, who have reportedly issued a fatwa against Akhtar. A March 2015 attack on him had given him head injuries. The maulvis have apparently also been angered by his support for education for Muslim girls, and denunciation of child marriage.

reuters

He persuaded parents of his girl students to let their daughters continue their studies and publicly denounce child marriage. Before being assaulted, he had started counselling poor Muslim parents not to marry off their minor daughters to old Muslim men. The madrasa's managing committee had recommended his name for the state government's Shiksha Ratna award (best teacher in the state).

Family members claimed the commissioner of Kolkata Police has written in a report filed before the Minorities' Commission that Kazi Masum could come under attack even if the police escorted him to and from the madrasa.

While the madarsa's managing committee secretary Sirajul Islam Mondal attempted to rubbish the accusations, he said Kazi Masum's presence in the area would lead to "problems" which "will not be good for him".

reuters

Mondal claimed that the allegations about a compulsory beard or islamic attire were "baseless", yet claimed that the award winning headmaster wasn't equipped to handle the madrasa. "The actual problem is he has no Islamic knowledge, which is necessary to continue in the post. Some of his writings have also created issues as they are not based on any knowledge of Islamic way of life or studies. He randomly takes information from the internet and writes.

"If he comes to our locality there will be problems. It will not be good for him also," Mondal had told IANS.
The family members of Garud commando Gursewak Singh were in a state of shock on receiving the news about his martyrdom in the Pathankot terror attack, just over a month after his marriage, even as his father expressed pride that he laid down his life for the country.

The family, which resides in Garnala village near Ambala city, is yet to receive the body for the last rites. According to official information, the martyr's body would be airlifted to Ambala airbase later on Sunday.

Gursewak had joined Indian Air Force about six years ago after completing his graduation. He had got married just 45 days ago.

His father, Sucha Singh who is a farmer, said that he received information about Gursewak's martyrdom from his elder son who is an officer in the Army and asserted that he was proud that his son had laid down his life for the country. Gursewak, who was described as an intelligent and bright youth, by his father, had cleared the Air Force exam in the first attempt.

"My boy had gone to serve the nation. I am proud of him. He has done his duty. We are sad too. Our elder son is also in the Army serving the nation. My younger son gave his life for the country. He was always good in studies and always wanted to join the Air Force," Sucha said.

"Legendary freedom fighter Bhagat Singh was his icon," he added. Gursewak's cousin Harikrishan Singh said, "He did his engineering in Bengaluru... We have lost one warrior."

Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar condoled the death of the commando and announced a financial assistance of Rs 20 lakh to the next of kin of Gursewak. State health minister Anil Vij visited Gursewak's residence on Sunday afternoon to console the family.

Meanwhile, deputy commissioner Ashok Sangwan said that the body of the martyr would be cremated with full state honours.
In a recent post, Mark Zuckerberg revealed his resolutions for 2016 and boy are they ambitious! This year, he will move on from reading "two books every month", learning "Mandarin" and meeting "a new person every day". This year, the Facebook CEO will have on-board an artificial intelligent assistant, just like JARVIS from Iron Man! Yes, you read that right!

It's a dream that we are sure Zuckerberg can achieve. Unlike the rest of us, who make promises only to break them, Zuckerberg's new hi-tech butler will map an unchartered territory that only he can dare step into.

In his Facebook post, the man reveals how he wants an AI assistant to help sort out his work and home life:

Every year, I take on a personal challenge to learn new things and grow outside my work at Facebook. My challenges in... Posted by Mark Zuckerberg on Sunday, 3 January 2016



He writes, "My personal challenge for 2016 is to build a simple AI to run my home and help me with my work. You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man."

He further explains the work that he would want his AI to perform:

"I'm going to start by exploring what technology is already out there. Then I'll start teaching it to understand my voice to control everything in our home -- music, lights, temperature and so on. I'll teach it to let friends in by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell. I'll teach it to let me know if anything is going on in Max's room that I need to check on when I'm not with her. On the work side, it'll help me visualize data in VR to help me build better services and lead my organizations more effectively."

Sadly, this innovation will come as a personal achievement so if you're wishing for Zuckerberg to "connect" the world with artificial intelligence, you are mistaken.

And while Zuckerberg plans to live like Tony Stark (and who knows, even fly like Iron Man), we can only hope that we can keep our resolutions intact every time we turn the last page of the damned calendar. Sigh.
Follow us on hrithik roshan takes adventurous auto ride with sons see pics

Mumbai: Bollywood star Hrithik Roshan decided to ditch his car and took an auto-rickshaw along with his two sons.

The 41-year-old "Bang Bang" actor and sons, Hrehaan and Hridhaan, enjoyed the ride last night.

"Took an auto home. What was normal pocket money travel for daddy becomes an adventure trip for us boys. Lovely," Hrithik posted on twitter alongside a photo of the trio posing in the auto-rickshaw.

The actor is currently shooting for Ashutosh Gowariker's "Mohenjo Daro", which is set in the era of the Indus Valley civilisation that dates back to 2600 BC.

The film will see former beauty pageant contestant Pooja Hegde in the female lead role.

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Follow us on inhe ghuske maro akshay on pathankot attacks

New Delhi: Actor Akshay Kumar who is gearing for his next release, Airlift' has condemned the attacks on Indian Air Force Base in Pathankot strongly. The attack by terrorists started on Saturday, in which seven soldiers died serving our motherland.

Speaking at a press conference this evening, Akshay Kumar said that looking at these incidents all he wishes to do is kill the terrorists.

It is very unfortunate that so our soldiers die. See I am not a real hero, I am real one. With my movies be it Baby, Gabbar is Back or Holiday, I try my level best to depict what happens in the lives of the families of our soldiers, Akshay said.

I don't have a final solution to the problem. But the way they entered our country and murdered our soldiers, I will say inhe ghuske maro', a furious Akshay said.

Akshay has played a patriot in movies like Baby, Gabbar is Back and Holiday. His upcoming movie Airlift' is also based on the same lines. The movie traces the story of biggest evacuation from a war zone, where in 1,70,000 Indians were airlifted using 488 flights in 59 days stuck in Kuwait when it was attacked by Iraq.

Starring actress Nimrat Kaur as his wife, Airlift' is scheduled to release on 22nd January.

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Follow us on priyanka chopra reveals her biggest fear before signing quantico

New Delhi: Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra is on cloud nine these days especially because of her professional growth. The diva is bagging a lot of appreciation for her latest release Bajirao Mastani'.

Priyanka Chopra is achieving fame not just in India but across the world as well. The actress has made her debut in Hollywood with American TV series Quantico'. She is playing the role of an FBI agent Alex Parrish in the show.

While Quantico' is doing really well, the show makers have decided to not just extent the show to 22 more episodes but it has also been dubbed in 44 languages.

Priyanka, who is being praised for her performance in Qunatico', says she was worried to do the series as she was scared if Americams will accept her as an Indian-American. While talking to a leading daily, she said , Alex Parrish as a character for me was hard to do because I am an Indian-Indian not an Indian-American. Going into another country and presenting to them a show which is on my shoulders was challenging. Initially I was very scared of how I would be accepted. Playing an Indian girl with an American accent was tough.

Priyanka also added, From March this year it's going to be season 1. We were supposed to have 13 episode but it's done really well, we have gone to around 100 territories around the world, dubbed the show in 44 languages including Spanish, Italian, German, SE Asia, so it's become a really big show which is why ABC has extended it to 22 more episodes for one season.

The Bajirao Mastani actress will soon head to the US again to shoot for those episodes. She adds that the show from March gets much better and even more confusing. Priyanka elaborates, The twists and turns are unbelievable. I have only read till episode 14 and now they are writing as they go along to how people react to the characters. Alex will also change. There will be a lot that happens to her because of what has happened to her. The second part in March will start with when Alex is back with the FBI.

Created by Joshua Safran, Qunatico' is about an FBI recruit, who is suspecting of committing a terrorist attack. The show has received favourable reviews from the critics.

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Follow us on shivaay ajay devgn buys 2000 soft toys dolls for on screen daughter see pics

New Delhi: Bollywood actor Ajay Devgn, who is busy shooting his next directorial venture Shivaay, pampered her on-screen daughter with 2,000 soft toys.

In the movie, Ajay Devgn plays a father to a 10-year-old. British child actor Abigail Eames is playing his daughter.

As Ajay's own daughter Nyasa is of the same age, so he knows the value soft toys hold in a girl's life.

So, when a particular scene was to be shot in Abigail's room, he called in for 2000, custom made toys and dolls. Ajay wanted her on-screen daughter's room to look as pretty as the room of any other girl of her age.

An insider from the production team said, Ajay is paying attention to every little detail. So, when we had to shoot in the girl's room (Abigail), he called for more than 2,000 custom made stuff toys to make her room look extravagant.

As an actor, Ajay is known to go to extremes to get his act and character right. Now, he is using the same attention to detail as a filmmaker, too, he added.

Certainly, it was an out of way effort from Ajay to make the scene grand and realistic.

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Follow us on when bhaijaan was helpless salman khan reveals childhood incident which will break you into tears

New Delhi: Bollywood superstar Salman Khan has hosted Bigg Boss' in season 4, 7, 8 and now in 9 as well and in every season, he has managed to be the centre of attraction apart from the contestants.

BB9 is getting spicier day by day, be it because of the weird tasks, the twists and turns or the celebs coming up on the show.

Recently, we saw Bollywood actress Juhi Chawla coming on the reality show to promote her forthcoming movie Chalk N Duster'.

While the contestants were quite excited about Juhi's presence inside the house, the actress turned a teacher for contestants and ended up testing their general knowledge. Infact, the contestants also shared their memorable childhood secrets. Not only the contestants, host Salman Khan couldn't escape Juhi Ma'am's questions.

This is when Salman revealed some of his childhood secrets which left everyone stunned.

The Bajrangi Bhaijaan' star stated that he was once punished by his teacher for not paying school fees. The actor was asked to kneel down as a punishment for not paying his school fees.

Infact, Salman also mentioned that after knowing about the incident, his father Salim Khan came to the school and asked his teachers to punish him and not his son for not paying the fees.

On talking about his father, the actor got emotional and revealed that during his childhood he used to stammer infront of his dad. Infact, Salman also confessed that he still ends up stammering in front people he respects at times.

Apart from opening up on his childhood secrets, the Sultan' actor also made an important announcement for the Bigg Boss 9'.

The showmakers will be introducing an interesting task wherein one of the winners will get 'Ticket to Finale week', while another contestant will get a golden opportunity to accept a huge sum of money and quit the show.

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Follow us on day 3 combing operation resumes at pathankot iaf base

Pathankot: Heavy firing resumed at the Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot this morning as security forces continued their combing operation to neutralize two more terrorists, believed to be hidden here.

Two loud explosions were heard at around 8 am, prompting exchange of fire from both the sides, a police official said, adding that NSG and Army commandos are conducting a thorough mopping of the entire area where the terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, had been cornered.

Today is the third day of the military operation which saw 7 military casualties including a Lieutenant Colonel of the NSG.

Security forces yesterday nailed two more terrorists who had attacked the IAF base here along with four others. An official said that 4 terrorists were killed on Saturday and hunt is on for two others.

The official said that IAF helicopters flew through the night over the air base to assist ground forces in the counter offensive against the terrorists.

The terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, failed to destroy IAF assets due to timely action by security forces, an IAF official said. He said that the security forces had sounded an alert in the area, including the IAF base, ahead of Saturday's pre-dawn attack.

"Combing operation continued. This operation is at the completion stage. The operation will continue till the whole air base has been cleared of any intruders," Air Commodore JS Dhamoon, the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of the Pathankot Air Force Station told the media.

Army and para-military forces have surrounded the entire air force base, which is spread in a huge area.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the situation arising out of the terror attack at Pathankot. Soon after his return from Karnataka last night, Modi chaired a meeting of top officials including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

According to sources, during the meeting in New Delhi, Doval gave a detailed account of the attack which has been going on since the wee hours of Saturday. The meeting lasted for over two hours. Sources said, the implications of the attack on relations with Pakistan are also believed to have been deliberated upon in the meeting.

Earlier in the day, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar also briefed the Prime Minister on the latest situation at the Pathankot air base.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj too held a meeting in New Delhi with some former Foreign Secretaries and Indian High Commissioners to Islamabad for diplomatic consultations on Pakistan Strategy.

The security forces have already killed five terrorists. One more terrorists is believed to be still holed-up inside the base, and an operation is underway to flush him out.

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Follow us on madrasa headmaster thrashed for teaching his students national anthem

New Delhi: In a rare incident of the sort, the headmaster of a Madrasa in Kolkata was allegedly beaten up by maulanas for teaching his students India's national anthem. The headmaster, Kazi Masum Akhtar, has been banned from entering the Talpukur Aara High Madrasa in the heart of the state capital.

The irony here is difficult to miss as it was in West Bengal that Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore had penned the national anthem Jana Gana Mana'.

The maulanas and clerics of the government recognised school who attacked Akhtar are said to be rooting for ISIS, sources said. A fatwa has also been issued by the clerics against Akhtar prohibiting him to enter the school's precincts till he wore the traditional Muslim attire of kurta and short pyjamas and also grew a beard, the length of which would be decided by the Madrasa's maulanas.

A clean-shaven Akhtar, who dons shirts and trousers, is bemused by the Fatwa. As it turns out, the maulvis have asked him to send photos each week about the progress of his beard. According to them, singing the Hindu national anthem and hoisting the Tricolour in an Islamic teaching institution are anti-Islamic.

Back in March, Akhtar was beaten up by iron rods, in which his skull was split, resulting in a severe head injury that left him in the hospital for months. He has also written to West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, the Governor and the chairman of State Minorities Commission six times, but his pleas have fallen on deaf ears.

Besides his liberal outlook, Akhtar's support for girls' education is also said to have enraged the maulanas. Akhtar started a campaign in which he persuaded the parents of girls to allow them to continue their education and denounce child marriage. Before being assaulted, he had started counselling poor Muslim parents which further agitated the maulvis.

Authorities too appear to have turned a cold shoulder to Akhtar. As it turns out, the Police Commissioner has written to the Minorities Commission saying that he is in no position to provide security to Akhtar since his presence in the area might lead to communal tension.

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Follow us on how bajirao s mastani united hindus and muslims after her death

New Delhi: Peshwa ruler Bajirao's wife Mastani's grave is a linking bridge between the Hindus and Muslims living in Pabal village of Pune. The people from both communities visit her grave with equal devotion irrespective of their beliefs.

For the Hindus, the grave of Mastani is her samadhi', while the Muslims call it a mazaar'. Hindus consider Mastani as Hindu while Mulsim think she was a Muslim, for the respective reasons

Because Mastani was Maharaja Chhatrasal's daughter, the Hindus of Pabal consider her as a Hindu. The Muslims think she was a Muslim as her mother, Ruhaani Bai, was a Persian Muslim. Despite their respective faiths, there's never been a dispute in the village on this matter, says Sanjay Ghodekar, the principal of Padmani Jain Mahavidyalaya in Pabal, who has done an M.Phil on Mastani in 1997 based on his six-year long extensive research.

Mastani was the second wife of Peshwa Bajirao I of the Maratha Empire. As per the history books, Bajirao rescued the king of Bundelkhand, Maharaja Chhatrasal when he was attacked by a Mughal chief Mohammad Khan Bangash.

In gratitude, Chattrasal gave Bajirao his daughter Mastani, and a third of his kingdom, including Jhansi, Sagar and Kalpi. He gave 33 lakh gold coins to Bajirao. He also gifted a diamond mine to Bajirao after his marriage to Mastani.

Chhatrasal had 13 wives and Mastani was born from one of his wives Ruhaani Bai, a Persian Muslim.

Bajirao was already married to Kashibai but he also tied the knot with Mastani following all the required rituals. However, the fact that she was a Muslim, didn't go well with his family members.

Bajirao and Mastani's unique love story garnered a special place in history books and has inspired many.

Noted filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali is coming up with a movie on their love story - Bajirao Mastani, starring Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh.

Ever since the movie created a buzz, the village has witnessed people coming in large numbers to see the grave, reported a leading daily.

The grave of Mastani is situated at a distance of 60 kms from Pune in the village Pabal. It is located in the middle of a 2,000 sq ft land surrounded by a boundary wall and three doors, while the fourth side has an elevated platform made for reading the namaz.

A few days back, when thieves ruined Mastani's grave, both Hindus and Muslims forced the archaeological department to restore the grave.

The day when the grave was restored, while the rituals were performed as per the Muslim tradition, the Hindus too joined in with garlands to place it on the grave, says Baba Inamdar, nephew of the caretaker, who is also the vice-president of All India Muslim and OBC Organisation. There's no restriction on anyone's entry here, no matter who belongs to which religion, he said.

While Bajirao Mastani's love story is an example of unconditional love beyond the constraints of religion, people of Pabal village have carried the legacy forward.

If Maharaja Chhatrasal, Bajirao and Mastani did not allow religion to come between them then who are we to decide whether Mastani belonged to Muslims or the Hindus, Inamdar further added.

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Follow us on malda protest turns violent mob attacks police station sets ablaze bsf vehicle

Kolkata: More than a dozen policemen were injured while about 30 vehicles were torched after a massive Muslim protest rally turned violent in West Bengal's Malda district on Sunday.

The crowd was protesting certain alleged derogatory comments on Prophet Mohammed made by Bharat Hindu Mahasabha leader Kamlesh Tiwari.

Protestors had blocked National Highway 34 and train services were disrupted for a couple of hours as the protesters ransacked the nearby Khaltipur station on the main railway line. Violence erupted when a bus was trying to negotiate past the crowd on National Highway 34. As the passengers got off the bus, the protesters burnt it down, The Indian Express reported.

"There was a rally of about 2.5 lakh people, which took an ugly turn. About 25 vehicles, including some police vans, were set on fire. Policemen were beaten up but there was no severe injury. I have heard of one person sustaining a bullet injury but there is no official confirmation of it, Additional Superintendent of Police Dilip Hazra said.

Violence spread from a rally organised by the Anjuman Ahle Sunnatul Jamat (ASJ). However, an ASJ official later claimed that outsiders had masterminded the rampage.

A little later, another BSF vehicle coming from Malda was also set ablaze. The mob then turned towards the nearby Kaliachak Police Station. The protesters drove out the policemen and set a part of the police station on fire, including the barracks, eyewitnesses said.

Two persons, including an RSS activist from a nearby area who led a separate group of people to stop the protesters, are said to have been injured in the violence.

Although RSS leaders said 35-year-old Gopal Tiwari was injured in firing, police could not confirm it.

On 3 December, Tiwari called Prophet Mohammad the world's first homosexual. He is also reported to have allegedly circulated pamphlets against the Muslim community. He was arrested in Lucknow the same day.

On December 4, the Hindu Mahasabha stated that Tiwari was not a part of the outfit and that the controversy was an attempt by the BJP, the RSS and other groups to tarnish the image of the party.

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Follow us on 6th terrorist killed in pathankot body yet to be recovered sources

New Delhi: The Pathankot operation which today entered its third day today saw a major breakthrough as security forces neutralised the two remaining terrorists involved in the deadly attacks that left seven security personnel dead and several others injured.

According to senior government sources, the sixth terrorist has also been killed, though the body of the militant is yet to be recovered. Combing operations in search of the two terrorists have continued for over two days now.

Security forces earlier said that the search operations could continue longer as they make a final assault to eliminate the two terrorists who were believed to be holed up in a residential building inside the Air base.

"So far, the security forces have killed 4 terrorists and operation to eliminate two more possible terrorists are in the final stages," Major General Dushyant Singh of the NSG said earlier today. He was jointly addressing a combined media briefing with officials of the IAF, Garud and the NSG.

"Operations for this airbase are going on smoothly. Given the magnitude, joint operations have been launched. Operation to eliminate terrorists being done jointly by NSG and Garud," he said.

The NSG official further stated that the combing operation is underway and indicated that the operation could take a long time given the magnitude of the attack and the vast area. "Combined and synergised operations are underway. Area is very large, combing operations are going on and it might take a long time," he said.

He also assured that all personnel and strategic assets at the IAF base are safe. "Families live here, schools too. Like a mini city here, their safety is ensured."

An Army official addressing the press conference said that the terrorists came well-prepared to sabotage airbase assets. "But I assure you that the assets are now secure," he said.

"Currently operations are in progress to clear the building where the terrorists are holed up," he said.

"Want to compliment agencies participating in this operation, salute personnel who lost their lives or are wounded," the Army official added.

Heavy firing resumed at the IAF base in Pathankot this morning as security forces continued their combing operation to neutralize two more terrorists, believed to be hidden here.

Two loud explosions were heard at around 8 am, prompting exchange of fire from both the sides, a police official said, adding that NSG and Army commandos are conducting a thorough mopping of the entire area where the terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, had been cornered.

Today is the third day of the military operation which has resulted in seven security personnel, including a Lieutenant Colonel of the NSG, being martyred in the gunbattle.

PM Modi chairs high level meeting

Meanwhile a high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to discuss the ongoing operation in the Pathankot Air Force base is currently underway at his 7 Race Course Road residence.

The meeting is being attended by Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj besides others.

The Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan scheduled for later this month looks in serious jeopardy with strong indications that the government may call off the engagement if evidence emerges that Pakistan's state actors were complicit in the attack on Pathankot's air base.

According to sources, the implications of the attack on relations with Pakistan are also believed to have been deliberated upon in the meeting.

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Follow us on pathankot attack sp tells india tv how terrorists abducted him

New Delhi: As security agencies try to sanitize the entire Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab, the three key witnesses to the terror attack by gunmen explained how they were abducted and later released by terrorists in their initial forays on New Year eve (Thursday) night.

Superintendent of Police, Gurdaspur, Salvinder Singh told India TV reporter Jagdeep Singh Sandhu that he considered his escape as nothing but "God's miracle".

Salvinder Singh said, his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma was driving the police chief's SUV. "I had gone to pay obeisance at the dargah with my cook and friend Rajesh. It was Thursday night. I can't forget that terrifying night.

"We left Gurdaspur at around 9.15 pm and went via Kathua. At about 11.30 pm we started to return via a short route to Gurdaspur. We took a road that we had never travelled previously.

Near Konia More, four to five persons wearing army fatigues and carrying AK-47 rifles stopped our vehicle, pushed me and Rajesh to the back, forced us to sit on the floor, and two of them sat with their feet on our back, all the while threatening: we will shoot you if you talk.

They used to kick us all the while as they drove the vehicle. They had put the rifles to our heads. One of them asked me to open my cellphone, I told me it is my son's touchscreen phone."

All this while, the terrorists had no idea that they had held an SP as hostage. This is how Salvinder Singh describes those moments: "They had put our clothes inside our mouths, and had tied us up. They threw me and my cook from the running vehicle."

"The terrorists came back to look for us when they knew from Rajesh that I was an SP. By then, both of us had sneaked out and reached a nearby village. I immediately informed the SSP about the gunmen."

Asked about the language spoken by the gunmen, Salvinder Singh said: "They were speaking in Pakistani. I do not know Urdu, so I could not understand what they were saying. For me, God has given me a new life. Whatever I am saying is 100 per cent true."

Madan Lal, working as cook for the SP, told India TV: "I had been praying at the mazaar of Khwaja saheb since the time when I was as young as 8 to 10 years of age.

Our SP saheb is also very religious. We decided to pay obeisance that night, and start our New Year the next morning. While returning, this tragedy occured."

Describing how he was roughed up, Madan Lal said: "They forced us to lie on the floor of the SUV, and beat us with the butt of their rifles. They covered our eyes and mouths.

They told us - if you behave properly, we will also behave with you. But if you try to act smart, we will kill you here and now. We did not say a word. Our Saheb, who was on the front seat, was forced to lie at the back of the vehicle. One gunman sat on me, and another sat on the back of my Sahib."

The cook said: "Our Sahib had two mobile phones. They snatched them away. Our Saheb's jeweller friend Rajesh was driving. They snatched away his phone too.

They threw him inside the dickey, and a gunman sat near him. One gunman was driving, and another sitting with him was giving him directions."

The jeweller Rajesh Verma described how he listened to the gunmen speaking for nearly four and a half hours, and was thrown out after the gunmen slit his neck, assuming he was dead.

Said Rajesh Verma: "They were speaking about some target. They were speaking with their commander. I was at gunpoint. They were speaking about the Air Force. They hit me with the rifle. Told me they had come to take revenge for Afzal (Guru).

"There were four gunmen inside the vehicle, all between the age of 18 to 22 years. They knew the layout, as they had GPRS system with them. They were speaking with their commanders. I was waiting for the dreadful moment of death. They were speaking in Urdu on phone. They used my phone. "

The gunmen then spoke to their handlers on Rajesh Verma's phone, according to the jeweller. "They told their commander that this was an SP's vehicle.

Their commander told them, then bring back the SP. They searched for the SP, but could not find him. The gunmen told me, we told your friends not to move before 8 am, yet they moved. So you face the punishment. We will send you to heaven (jannat naseeb ho). They then slit my neck, and threw me out.

"I ran towards a village, tied my wound with my shirt. The villagers called up my in-laws, who came and took me away", said Verma, recounting those dreadful moments.

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Follow us on pathankot attack route taken by drug cartel comes handy for terrorist

New Delhi: A route often used by drug smugglers was apparently followed by terrorists to infiltrate into the border state of Punjab and unleash the deadly attack on an IAF base in Pathankot.

As the initial inputs suggest, the terrorists, who carried out the pre-dawn attack day before yesterday, had infiltrated through tributaries of river Beas in Pathankot in Bamiyal village, located close to the International Border.

They are believed to have infiltrated into India during the intervening night of December 30-31.

The terrorists, according to official sources, crossed over near Shakargarh in Pakistan to Bamiyal village and later changed into Army fatigues before seizing a private taxi.

The taxi driver, according to information, was changing his tyres when the terrorists kidnapped him and took his vehicle for a distance before they killed him after his car again broke down.

They later kidnapped Salwinder Singh, a Superintendent of Police-rank officer, who was shunted out from Gurdaspur to take charge as Assistant Commandant of 75th battalion of Punjab Armed Police, at Kolian village.

There were three occupants in the vehicle when it was hijacked by five militants which included Singh's jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and the driver.

While the terrorists slit the throat of other two, the police officer, who is facing charges of alleged breach of discipline, was released later and the vehicle was abandoned at Tajpur village, a place which is 2 km from the IAF's Pathankot air base.

The area from where the terrorists crossed over has a thick foliage of elephant grass which provides an automatic cover for them, they said.

A tributary of river Beas enters into Pakistan from this village and this route is popular with drug smugglers to enter India.

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Follow us on rss plans to set up christian outfit rashtriya isai manch

New Delhi: A decade after setting up Muslim Rashtriya Manch, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is now considering to establish a Christian outfit to reach out to the community people.

According to a report published in Economic Times, top RSS leaders had recently held a meeting with Christian leaders as part of a plan to set up Rashtriya Isai Manch.

Confirming the news, a senior RSS Pracharak, who is also the 'Margdarshak' (guide) for the Muslim Rashtriya Manch since its inception, told ET that efforts are on to reach out to the Christians and a meeting to discuss the same was held on December 17 last year in New Delhi.

The meeting was presided over by senior RSS Indresh Kumar. Chinmayananda Swami of Vishva Hindu Parishad was also present in the meet.

Indresh Kumar said that 4-5 Archbishops, 40-50 Reverend Bishops from across 10 to 12 states met and 'it was decided to develop a movement'.

"This is preparing the ground to lay the seeds for an organisation," he said.

The report further mentioned that Rashtriya Isai Manch will be set up on the lines of Muslim Rashtriya Manch to help building bridges of 'goodwill' with the community.

The latest development holds significance as it came in the wake of a series of attacks on Christian-run institutions across the India after the BJP-led NDA government took over in May 2016.

Recently, Home Minister Rajnath Singh had met the community leaders at a Christmas dinner hosted by the Catholic Bishops Conference of India (CBCI), the apex decision-making body of the Catholic Church in India. He had promised to resolve all issues concerning the community and assured that the government will not let injustice happen to them.

Christians are minority in India. They represent just 2 per cent of India's total population of 1.2 billion.

Latest India News
Follow us on pathankot attack sp salvinder singh recounts his ordeal

New Delhi: Before the six suspected Pakistani terrorists carried out the attack on the Pathankot air base that left seven security personnel dead and several injured, they had abducted the Superintendent of Police of Gurdaspur Salvinder Singh.

His SUV is believed to have been used by terrorists in travelling some distance between the point of infiltration and the crucial Indian Air Force base.

IndiaTV has manged to track down the police official who, along with two other persons who were travelling in the car on the Jammu-Pathankot highway that night, was roughed up before being let-off by the terrorists.

S P Salvinder SIngh has made some startling revelations in an exclusive interview with IndiaTV.

Singh has corroborated what reports had until now only suspected. According to Singh, the terrorists were in a group of 4-5 and were wearing the Indian Army attire.

The ordeal for Salvinder Singh and two others started at Kolian area where he was signalled to stop by five men dressed in Army fatigue and were carrying AK-47 assault rifles.

The militants dragged Singh out of the car and sandwiched him between the front and middle seats. The militants then tied their limbs, taped their eyes and gagged his mouth.

"They took my phone and made calls to Pakistan, The terrorist were speaking in Punjabi and Urdu. I could understand little of their conversation in Urdu as I had no knowledge of the language," Singh told India TV.

Salvinder Singh, whose warning is being considered crucial to having staved off a big attack, said that he and his friend were beaten up by the terrorists before being left behind. They then took away the car in which SP and his friend were travelling.

According to Singh, until now they had not realised that they had kidnapped a senior police official. "The terrorists then came back looking for me after they came to know that they had kidnapped a senior police official," SIngh said.

Mr. Singh who managed to free himself first then freed his friend "Madan let's try and get out of this forest."

Salvinder later hid at a home in a nearby village and made a call to SSP Gurdaspur.

It was due to the timely tip off by Salvinder Singh that Indian intelligence agencies were able to make necessary arrangements and prevent a casualty which could have been much bigger.

Watch Video:

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Follow us on 6 dead 100 injured as 6.7 quake jolts north eastern states

New Delhi: A high-intensity earthquake today hit the northeastern region of the country, killing at least six persons and injuring 100 others.

The ripples of the quake were felt in West Bengal, apart from Manipur, Bangladesh, Nagaland and Arunachal Pardesh.

The tremor lasted around one minute.

At 4:35 am,earthquake of 6.7 magnitude occurred in Manipur, with epicentre in North west of Imphal, said seismology scientist PR Vaid

Reason of the quake was Plate subducting under Burma plate,this is sensitive area already under zone 5, he added.

The death and injuries were caused by falling debris in and around Imphal, the capital of Manipur state, police said.

The powerful tremor left large cracks in walls and a portion of a popular market building collapsed in the state capital.

* A girl was killed in a building collapse at Tamenglong district, while another person died at Taobungkhok village in Imphal West district, police said.

Nearly 20 persons were injured in Guwahati and other areas in Assam due to the earthquake, Assam Commissioner and Secretary (Disaster Management) Pramod Kumar Tiwari told PTI. Officials said at least 30 buildings have developed cracks.

* There is continuous communication with the State Government. NDMA is monitoring and coordinating all relief activities: MHA

* MoS Home Kiren Rijiju to visit Manipur to review situation after #earthquake

* National Crisis Management Committee meeting underway to assess the situation after Manipur #earthquake

NDRF teams rushed to affected areas

National Disaster Response Force teams have been rushed to earthquake hit areas

The Home Ministry is actively monitoring the situation after the earthquake in the Northeastern region. NDRF teams, including from Guwahati, have rushed to the affected areas, Rajnath Singh said.

Singh was in Guwahati last night as part of his two-day trip to Assam and experienced the quake.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted about Home Minister Rajnath Singh's presence in Assam and asked him to oversee the situation.

The states from where tremors have been reported are Assam, Manipur, West Bengal, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Pictures from Imphal

injured treated in Siliguri

The quake took place at 4.35 AM at a depth of 17 km below the ground and the epicentre is located at Tamenglong district of Manipur.

The tremor was felt in the North Eastern and Eastern part of the country.

Though initial report from Imphal says that some building suffered damages. People rushed out from their houses in vacant areas.

Latest India News
Follow us on india pak foreign secys to draw dialogue roadmap for next 6 months sartaj aziz

Islamabad: Underlining that there is "visible improvement" in Indo-Pak ties, Pakistan has said the foreign secretaries of the two countries will meet on January 15 to draw up a roadmap for the next six months to carry forward the bilateral engagement.

The Pakistan government will focus on the revival of peace process in Afghanistan and the consolidation of the process of improvement of relations with India, Prime Minister's Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told Radio Pakistan.

He said the Foreign Secretaries of the two countries will meet here on January 15 to draw up a roadmap for the Bilateral Comprehensive Dialogue for the next six months. The dialogue will cover all issues, including Kashmir, Siachen and water, Aziz said yesterday.

Talking about the policy of a peaceful neighbourhood, he said it ultimately paid back as there is "visible improvement" in relations with India and Afghanistan.

Aziz asserted that economic revival, peaceful neighbourhood and non-interference in affairs of other countries is the cornerstone of Pakistan's foreign policy. Aziz' remarks came as Pakistani militants attacked an Air Force base in Pathankot yesterday.

In a pre-dawn attack, a group of heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists, suspected to be belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed outfit, struck at the Air Force base in Punjab, leading to a fierce gun-battle.

Pakistan has condemned the Pathankot terror strike and asserted that building on the goodwill created during the recent high level contacts, it remained committed to partner India in tackling terrorism.

The attack came just a week after Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an unscheduled visit to Pakistan and met Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with an aim of improving ties.

The process of resumption of talks was set in motion after a meeting between Prime Ministers of India and Pakistan in Paris on November 30 on the sidelines of Climate Change Conference.

The meet was followed by the national security advisers' meeting in Bangkok a week later following which External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj visited Pakistan to attend the Heart of Asia Conference.

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Follow us on saudis cut ties with iran following shiite cleric execution

Tehran: Saudi Arabia announced Sunday it was severing diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran amid escalating tensions over the Sunni kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

The move came hours after protesters stormed and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and followed harsh criticism by Iran's top leader of the Saudis' execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iranian diplomatic personnel had 48 hours to leave his country and all Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran had been called home.

The mass execution of al-Nimr and 46 others the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region as demonstrators took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan in protest.

It also illustrated the kingdom's new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shiite power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saudi Arabia on Sunday of "divine revenge" over al-Nimr's death, while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting "terrorism" in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the U.S. and the European Union sought to calm the region.

Al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that the Iranian regime has "a long record of violations of foreign diplomatic missions," dating back to the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in 1979, and such incidents constitute "a flagrant violation of all international agreements," according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

He said Iran's "hostile policy" was aimed "at destabilizing the region's security," accusing Tehran of smuggling weapons and explosives and planting terrorist cells in the kingdom and other countries in the region. He vowed that Saudi Arabia will not allow Iran "to undermine our security."

"The history of Iran is full of negative and hostile interference in Arab countries, always accompanied with subversion, demolition and killing of innocent souls," al-Jubeir said, just before announcing the severing of diplomatic relations.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia put al-Nimr and three other Shiite dissidents to death, along with a number of al-Qaida militants. Al-Nimr's execution drew protests from Shiites around the world, who backed his call for reform and wider political freedom for their sect.

While the split between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the early days of Islam and disagreements over the successor to Prophet Muhammad, those divisions have only grown as they intertwine with regional politics, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia vying to be the Mideast's top power.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Iran's backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran also has backed Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Houthis.

Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, condemned al-Nimr's execution, saying Sunday the cleric "neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism."

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saudi Arabia's "medieval act of savagery" would lead to the "downfall" of the country's monarchy.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had "revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism."

In Tehran, a protest outside the Saudi Embassy early Sunday quickly grew violent as protesters threw stones and gasoline bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building ablaze, according to Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, the country's top police official, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Forty people were arrested and investigators were pursuing other suspects, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as "extremists."

"It is unjustifiable," he said in a statement.

Hundreds of protesters later demonstrated in front of the embassy and in a central Tehran square, where street signs near the embassy were replaced with ones bearing the slain sheikh's name.

Western powers sought to calm the tensions.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration was aware of the Saudis' severing of ties with Tehran. "We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," Kirby said.

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats," according to a statement.

The disruption in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and others spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the civil war. Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin in mid-January.

Across the region, demonstrators took to the streets Sunday in protest over the execution of al-Nimr.

In Bahrain, police fired tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators on Sitra Island, south of the capital, Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifa family.

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called al-Nimr "the martyr, the holy warrior," while protests erupted from Turkey to India to Pakistan.

The cleric's execution has also threatened to complicate Saudi Arabia's relationship with the Shiite-led government in Iraq, where the Saudi Embassy is preparing to formally reopen for the first time in nearly 25 years. On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.

Meanwhile, al-Nimr's family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya in the kingdom's al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikh's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.

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Follow us on mohan bhagwat pitches for societal unity

Pune: India is the traditional motherland of Hindu community, RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat said yesterday as he pitched for societal unity where character is valued.

"Even though the languages are different, regions are different, creeds are different, culture of all is same. Entire world recognizes it as Hindu culture. And therefore, our community is recognised as Hindu community. This is the traditional mother land of Hindu community," he said addressing an RSS rally near Pune.

He stressed on the need for unity in the society which would strengthen India as a nation.

"Dr (B R) Ambedkar had said that through the Constitution we managed to ensure political equality, but this political unity can not be sustainable until we achieve economic and societal unity.

"History of our country has been such that none of our rivals won here on his own, but due to differences amongst us. Hence, if we don't forget our differences, then the Constitution won't be able to safeguard us. Therefore, he stressed on creating a society which is rich in character and affectionate towards its people," he said addressing the 'Shiv Shakti Samagam', considered one of the largest RSS congregations.

India, he said, needed to make itself stronger for its voice to be heard in the world.

"Shiva and Shakti (strength) should come together. Our society recognizes Shiva, but world recognises strength. Without strength, truth does not hold value it seems. We see wrongdoings of powerful nations are not objected to and the good things done by weaker nations are not valued. Indian culture is being talked about across the world. It was there earlier too. But it was not valued then," he said.

Bhagwat cited the example of Rabindranath Tagore in Japan where his speech got a lukewarm response because he was from a slave country.

"Truth was not honoured because the country from where the truth was told was considered weak. It was a slave. After we achieved independence, the value of the truth increased a bit. It increased furthermore after winning wars. It happened again when we became a nuclear nation.

"When people here protected republic, it increased again. Today, the condition is such that the yoga-related proposal was cleared in the UN without much discussion. It is discussed everywhere. The more powerful your nation becomes, value of its truth increases, too. Hence, we need strength," he said.

The RSS chief said Israel stood tall with pride due to its "resolve" and added,"a society which cares for its people, has affection for them, even if it lacks resources, is smaller in size, still it is able to achieve its goal".

Bhagwat said there should be no room for inequality or discrimination as "a divided society will fail".

Referring to Ambedkar, Bhagwat said he took Constitutional measures to ensure societal equality, "but law and order cannot bring equality; the inequality has to be wiped out of our minds".

K B Hedgewar, the founding chief of RSS, Bhagwat said, worked all his life for empowerment of the nation.

"He kept welfare of the nation ahead of everything. He took part in all the movements. Hedgewar was jailed (for participating) in freedom struggle under Congress before formation of RSS," he said.

"Hedgewar accepted diversities of the country. He tied all in one thread that is Hindutva," Bhagwat said.

Bhagwat said acceptance of diversity was needed to achieve social unity and strength to make the country strong.

"Accept diversity. Look at all with equanimity and affection. Get rid of disparities and the sense of superiority and inferiority. This will lead to a social unity and ultimately to a country's strength," he said, addressing a massive rally of RSS swayamsevaks drawn from Western Maharashtra region.

Asserting that strength should be accompanied by character, Bhagwat said RSS was committed to the values of service and sacrifice. "A nation is not run by government and leaders. It's the responsibility of people to ensure that leaders and government behave properly," he said.

"Sanatan dharma is the basic value of Hindutva and irrespective of class, creed and language, the culture of Hindu society is the same," he added.Over one lakh RSS activists converged at the venue 'Shiv Shakti Sangam', about 20 km from the city.

Earlier, Bhagwat inspected the traditional drill by Swayamsevaks, moving in a jeep at the sprawling ground where songs and the Sangh prayer were sung by the mammoth gathering.

Regular policemen appeared to have taken a backseat as RSS activists directed the traffic. An unending flow of vehicles caused long queues and traffic jams.

Those present included Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Prakash Javadekar who turned out in RSS uniform.
Follow us on pathankot strike a suicide attack aimed at harming strategic assets

New Delhi: Union Finance minister and senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley today said that the terror attack on the Pathankot air base was a Fidayeen (Suicide) attack with the objective to inflict maximum damage to strategic assets.

Jailtey further emphasised that the lessons learnt from the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks helped the security personnel at Pathankot. "A lot has been learnt from the Mumbai attacks, this led our security forces to stop the terrorists at the entrance and keep them at distance from our strategic assets," he said.

Jailtey was also all praise for the valour shown by the security personnel and said that they had been successful in meeting all objectives. Security forces have been successful in meeting all three objectives of ensuring strategic assets not hurt; minimal damage and of liquidating or catching terrorists alive, he said.

Jaitley further noted that it was too early to take a call on the proposed talks between India and Pakistan. We are at a stage when operations are still on. We will only take a call on Indo-Pak talks once the operations are over, Jaitley said.

The Foreign Secretary-level talks with Pakistan are scheduled for later this month. However, the government is said to be in two minds following the attack carried out by suspected Pakistani terrorists.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi earlier reviewed the situation arising out of the terror attack at Pathankot's air base. Soon after his return from Karnataka last night, he chaired a meeting of top officials including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar.

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had on Sunday held meetings with former Indian envoys to Pakistan to discuss the way forward in wake of the Pathankot attack.

Meanwhile, encounter and combing operation is going on inside the Pathankot air base.
Follow us on pm modi chairs meeting on pathankot terror attack nsa fs present

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight held a meeting with top officials to discuss the Pathankot terror attack.

Soon after returning from his two-day visit to Karnataka, Modi chaired a meeting of top officials including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

"Immediately on landing in Delhi, PM Narendra Modi is chairing a high-level meeting with the NSA, Foreign Secretary and other officials," the PMO said.

Earlier during the day, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar briefed Prime Minister Modi on the latest situation at the Pathankot air base. Both were present at a HAL function in Tumakuru in Karnataka.

Pathankot air base is under terror attack since yesterday. The security forces have already killed four terrorists and two more are believed to be still holed-up inside the base, and an operation is underway to flush them out.

fresh exchange of fire was reported at the attack site between the security forces and terrorists holed-up inside the air force base.

A joint combing operation by the armed forces, police and security personnel was still underway and the NIA has taken over the probe into the terror attack.
Follow us on pm modi meets nsa foreign secretary over pathankot attack

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi tonight reviewed the situation arising out of the terror attack at Pathankot air force base and is believed to have discussed with top officials its ramifications on ties with Pakistan.

Soon after his return from Karnataka where he was on a two-day visit, Modi chaired a meeting of top officials including National Security Adviser Ajit Doval and Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar.

The meeting lasted for over two hours, the sources said.

"Immediately on landing in Delhi, PM Narendra Modi is chairing a high-level meeting with the NSA, Foreign Secretary and other officials," the PMO tweeted as the meeting began.

During the meeting, Doval is understood to have given a detailed account of the attack which has been going on since the wee hours of yesterday.

At the meeting, the implications of the attack on relations with Pakistan are also believed to have been deliberated upon.

The attack took place merely a week after Modi made a surprise visit to Lahore to greet Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on his birthday with an aim of improving bilateral ties between the two countries. Sharif was in Lahore for the wedding of his granddaughter.

Earlier during the day, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar briefed Prime Minister Modi on the latest situation at the Pathankot air base. Both were present at a HAL function in Tumakuru in Karnataka.

Pathankot air base is under terror attack since yesterday. The security forces have already killed four terrorists and two more are believed to be still holed-up inside the base, and an operation is underway to flush them out.

fresh exchange of fire was reported at the attack site between the security forces and terrorists.

A joint combing operation by the armed forces, police and security personnel was still underway and the NIA has taken over the probe.
The Dictator Problem

By Daniel Larison

January 04, 2015 " Information Clearing House " - " American Conservative " - Steven Metz considers the dictator problem in U.S. foreign policy:

Clearly, the U.S. has no consensus on how to handle dictators and whether they are a lesser evil or the root of insecurity. But the dictator problem is not going away: Other dictators will fight extremism in the coming years.

I agree that there is no consensus on this, but then there rarely has been one since the end of the Cold War. The early 2000s briefly created the illusion that there was broad agreement that the U.S. should actively promote political change in authoritarian states, but this was always highly selective and fairly cynical in its application. At the height of the so-called freedom agenda, semi-authoritarian democrats were supported and even celebrated so long as they were aligning their states with the U.S. and/or against a regional power, and fully authoritarian client regimes were typically left to their own devices.

The main disagreement today doesnt seem to be over whether or not to undermine nominally friendly dictators, since virtually no one seems to think that the U.S. should be doing this. One can hate U.S. support for these regimes, or one can accept it or even approve of it, but no one is seriously arguing that the U.S. should seek to destabilize any of them. The sharpest dispute is over whether and how far the U.S. should go to bring down pariah or hostile regimes by proxy or through direct intervention. This is not primarily a debate over supporting political reform in other countries, but over whether the U.S. should be deliberately stoking or fomenting armed uprisings against other governments.

From late 2011 on, the debate over how to respond to conflict in Syria has been over whether to provide backing to an anti-regime rebellion and how much and what kind of military assistance to provide armed rebels to bring about the overthrow of the government. If Syria were not an ally of Iran, it is doubtful that there would have been much, if any, support for backing rebels after the Libya debacle. Indeed, most Syria hawks in the U.S. have been agitating for U.S. support for rebels in large part because of the damage they believe it would do to Irans position in the region. Absent that connection with Iran, it is hard to believe that there would still be such a fixation on regime change in Syria.

Among Republicans, advocates for arming rebels often wrap themselves in the Reagan Doctrine, and some opponents invoke Reagan to emphasize his reluctance to intervene directly in such conflicts. We see this in the quarrel between Cruz and his more interventionist critics. Both can find examples from Reagans presidency that support their respective positions, and so the tiresome appeal to Reagans authority settles nothing. The former ignore that the Reagan Doctrine mostly intensified civil wars without achieving the desired results. The latter rely heavily on Reagans indulgence of U.S.-aligned dictators and overlook his willingness to undermine communist and socialist governments. The dispute could be resolved easily enough if one could get each side to admit that Reagan was both too supportive of stoking foreign conflicts and too indulgent with anticommunist authoritarian regimes. But to admit that would be to acknowledge that the U.S. should try to avoid interfering in the internal conflicts of other states as much as possible, and neither Cruz nor his critics want to do that.
Study Proves Maidan Snipers Were Western-Backed Oppositions False Flag



By Sputnik News



January 04, 2015 " Information Clearing House " - " Sputnik " - Research conducted by the University of Ottawa on the Maidan Snipers massacre of February 2014 has shown that the killings of protestors were organized by far right paramilitary groups and allied political parties, not the former governments Berkut riot police, as claimed by the current Kiev government and repeated by Western media.

A study of the February 20, 2014 Snipers massacre in Kiev, where scores of protesters were killed by shots fired from surrounding buildings, has proved that it was carried out by Western-backed opposition groups.

The research found that the Berkut special police force, which was loyal to the Ukrainian government, was not responsible, contrary to the narrative which was created by the post-Maidan coup government in Kiev, and consequently accepted by Western governments and media.

Ivan Katchanovski, a teacher of political science at the University of Ottawa, studied eyewitness reports, estimates of ballistic trajectories, 30 gigabytes of security forces radio intercepts, 5,000 photos and 1,500 videos and broadcast recordings of the protesters deaths.

This academic investigation concludes that the massacre was a false flag operation, which was rationally planned and carried out with a goal of the overthrow of the government and seizure of power, wrote Katchanovski in his study, called The Snipers Massacre on the Maidan in Ukraine.

It found various evidence of the involvement of an alliance of the far right organizations, specifically the Right Sector and Svoboda, and oligarchic parties, such as Fatherland. Concealed shooters and spotters were located in at least 20 Maidan-controlled buildings or areas.

The deaths of 49 protesters on February 20 have been attributed by Kievs current government to the Berkut special police force, loyal to then Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovychs government. Investigations of the massacre by Ukraines Prosecutor Generals Office and other government agencies blame Berkut for shooting the protesters on Yanukovychs orders.

The prosecutors report falsely concluded that Berkut snipers killed 39 of the protesters who died that day, reports Katchanovski.

The killings took place as the Yanukovych government was negotiating with opposition groups to find a political solution to the crisis, and was soon followed on February 22 by an armed coup that gave Ukraines Verkhovnaya Rada the power to change the constitution and overthrow the president.

The Maidan-led government used the Maidan massacre as a source of its legitimacy and widely commemorated this mass killing and its victims among the protesters. The killed protesters were posthumously awarded Hero of Ukraine titles by President Petro Poroshenko, and the government established February 20 as a day in their honor, Katchanovski explains.

The post-Yanukovych governments version of the events of that tragic day has been largely unchallenged by the Western governments and media, who have represented the massacre and the Maidan protests as a part of the narrative presenting Euromaidan as a democratic, peaceful mass protest movement and a revolution led by pro-Western parties, says the academic.

A report of the International Advisory Panel, set up by the Council of Europe, presented evidence in 2015 that the investigation of the snipers' massacre on the Maidan has been stalled, in particular by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Prosecutor General office. The report revealed that contrary to the public statements, the official investigation had evidence of shooters killing at least three protesters from the Maidan-controlled Hotel Ukraina or the Music Conservatory and that at least other 10 protesters were killed by unidentified snipers from rooftops.

While observing the overwhelming bias of Western media representations of the events, the scholar was able to cite some more thorough investigations. German TV program Monitor shows shooters based in the Hotel Ukraina, and revealed manipulation of the governments investigation of the shootings. In addition, Katchanovski found reports from the BBC and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ) that confirmed the presence of armed protesters at the Music Conservatory and their shooting of the police at Maidan.

However, Katchanovski also relates other serious examples of media manipulation of the shootings, such as BBC editing of an interview with former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych, which was misrepresented by BBC and the Ukrainian media as an admission of his and his police forces responsibility for carrying out the Maidan massacre.
US Military Leadership Resisted Obama's Bid for Regime Change in Syria, Libya

By Gareth Porter

January 04, 2015 " Information Clearing House " - " MEE " - Seymour Hershs recent revelations about an effort by the US military leadership in 2013 to bolster the Syrian army against jihadist forces in Syria shed important new light on the internal bureaucratic politics surrounding regime change in US Middle East policy. Hershs account makes it clear that the Obama administrations policy of regime change in both Libya and Syria provoked pushback from the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

That account and another report on a similar episode in 2011 suggest that the US military has a range of means by which it can oppose administration policies that it regards as unacceptable. But it also shows that the military leadership failed to alter the course of US policy, and raises the question whether it was willing to use all the means available to stop the funnelling of arms to al-Nusra Front and other extremist groups in Syria.

Hersh details a JCS initiative in the summer of 2013 to share intelligence on Islamic State and al-Qaeda organisations with other German, Russian and Israeli militaries, in the belief that the information would find its way to the Syrian army. Hersh reports that the military leadership did not inform the White House and the State Department about the military to military intelligence sharing on the jihadist forces in Syria, reflecting the hardball bureaucratic politics practised within the national security institutions.

The 2013 initiative approved by the chairman of the JCS, General Martin Dempsey, was not the first active effort by the US military to mitigate Obama administration regime change policies. In 2011, the JCS had been strongly opposed to the effort to depose the Muammar Gaddafi regime in Libya led by then secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

When the Obama administration began its effort to overthrow Gaddafi, it did not call publicly for regime change and instead asserted that it was merely seeking to avert mass killings that administration officials had suggested might approach genocidal levels. But the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which had been given the lead role in assessing the situation in Libya, found no evidence to support such fears and concluded that it was based on nothing more than speculative arguments.

The JCS warned that overthrowing the Gaddafi regime would serve no US security interest, but would instead open the way for forces aligned with al-Qaeda to take over the country. After the Obama administration went ahead with a NATO air assault against the Gaddafi regime the US military sought to head off the destruction of the entire Libyan government. General Carter Ham, the commander of AFRICOM, the US regional command for Africa gave the State Department a proposal for a ceasefire to which Gaddafi had agreed. It would have resulted in Gaddafis resignation but retain the Libyan militarys capacity to hold off jihadist forces and rescind the sanctions against Gaddafis family.

But the State Department refused any negotiation with Gaddafi on the proposal. Immediately after hearing that Gaddafi had been captured by rebel forces and killed, Clinton famously joked in a television interview, We came, we saw, he died and laughed.

By then the administration was already embarked on yet another regime change policy in Syria. Although Clinton led the public advocacy of the policy, then CIA director David Petraeus, who had taken over the agency in early September 2011, was a major ally. He immediately began working on a major covert operation to arm rebel forces in Syria. The CIA operation used ostensibly independent companies in Libya to ship arms from Libyan government warehouses to Syria and southern Turkey. These were then distributed in consultation with the United States through networks run by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The plan went into operation within days of Gaddafis death on October 20, 2011 just before NATO officially ended its operation at the end of that month, as the DIA later reported to the JCS.

But the result of the operation was to accelerate the dominance of al-Qaeda and their Islamist allies. The Turks, Qataris and Saudis were funnelling arms to al-Qaedas Syrian franchise, al-Nusra Front or other closely related extremist groups. That should not have surprised the Obama administration. The same thing had happened in Libya in spring 2011 after the Obama administration had endorsed a Qatari plan to send arms to Libyan rebels. The White House had quickly learned that the Qataris had sent the arms to the most extremist elements in the Libyan opposition.

The original Petraeus covert operation ended with the torching of the US consulate in Benghazi in September 2012 in which Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed. It was superseded by a new programme under which Qatar and Saudi Arabia financed the transfer of weapons from other sources that were supposed to be distributed in cooperation with CIA officials at a base in southern Turkey. But thousands of tons of weapons were still going to groups fighting alongside the jihadists or who actually joined them as Vice-President Joe Biden revealed in 2014.

By spring 2013, al-Nusra Front and its Islamic extremist allies were already in control of wide areas in the north and in the Damascus suburbs. The Islamic State had separated from al-Nusra Front and established its own territory south of the Turkish border. The secular armed opposition had ceased to exist as a significant force. The Free Syrian Army, the nominal command of those forces, was actually a fiction within Syria, as was reported by specialists on the Syrian conflict. But despite the absence of a real moderate opposition, the Obama administration continued to support the flood of arms to the forces fighting to overthrow Assad.

In mid-2013, as Hersh recounts, the DIA issued an intelligence assessment warning that the administrations regime change policy might well result in a repeat of what was already happening in Libya: chaos and jihadist domination. The JCS also pulled off a clever manoeuvre to ensure that the jihadists and their allies were getting only obsolete weapons. A JCS representative convinced the CIA to obtain much cheaper arms from Turkish stocks controlled by officials sympathetic to the CIAs viewpoint on Syria.

But the JCS failed to alter the administrations policy of continuing to support the flow of arms into Syria. Did the military leadership really use all of its leverage to oppose the policy?

In 2013, some officials on the US National Security Council staff pushed for a relatively modest form of pressure on Qatar to get it to back off its continued supply of arms to extremists, including al-Nusra Front, by pulling out a US fighter squadron from the US air base at al-Udeid in Qatar. But as the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year, the Pentagon, obviously reflecting the JCS position, vetoed the proposal, arguing that the forward headquarters of the Central Command at the airbase was vital to US operations in the Middle East.

The political implications of the episode are clear: bureaucratic self-interest trumped the militarys conviction that US security is being endangered. No matter how strongly the JCS may have felt about the recklessness of administration policy, they were not prepared to sacrifice their access to military bases in Qatar, Saudi Arabia or Turkey to pressure their Middle Eastern allies.

- Gareth Porter is an independent investigative journalist and winner of the 2012 Gellhorn Prize for journalism. He is the author of the newly published Manufactured Crisis: The Untold Story of the Iran Nuclear Scare.

See also -
Week Thirteen of the Russian Intervention in Syria: Debunking The Lies By The Saker January 04, 2015 " Information Clearing House " - Ever since the first rumors began to circulate about an impending Russian military intervention in Syria the Internet and the media have been flooded with all sorts of silly rumors, myths and outright lies about what could/would happen. These rumors, myths and outright lies are still being spread today, and not only by pro-US interest groups, but even by supposedly pro-Russian analysts. All this nonsense completely obfuscates the reality of the Russian intervention in Syria (but maybe that was the goal all along?) and tries to paint the Russian operation as a failure. After three months of Russian air and missile strikes in Syria, it is a good time to ask the question of whether the Russians have achieved some tangible results or whether, as some are suggesting, this has basically been a big PR operation. The key issue here is what criteria to use to measure success. And that, in turns, begs the question of what the Russians had hoped to achieve with their intervention in the first place. It turns out that Putin clearly and officially spelled out what the purpose of the Russian intervention was. On October 11th, he declared the following in an interview with Vladimir Soloviev on the TV channel Russia 1: Our objective is to stabilize the legitimate authority and create conditions for a political compromise Thats it. He did not say that Russia would single-handedly change the course of the war, much less so win the war. And while some saw the Russian intervention as a total game changer which would mark the end of Daesh, I never believed that. Here is what I wrote exactly one day before Putin make the statement above: Make no mistake here, the Russian force in Syria is a small one , at least for the time being, and it does not even remotely resemble what the rumors had predicted () There is no way that the very limited Russian intervention can really change the tide of the war, at least not by itself. Yes, I do insist that the Russian intervention is a very limited one. 12 SU-24M, 12 SU-25SM, 6 SU-34 and 4 SU-30SM are not a big force, not even backed by helicopters and cruise missiles. Yes, the Russian force has been very effective to relieve the pressure on the northwestern front and to allow for a Syrian Army counter-offensive, but that will not, by itself, end the war. I was harshly criticized at that time for minimizing the scope and potential of the Russian operation, but I chose to ignore these criticisms since I knew that time would prove me right. What happened then was a typical exercise in hyperbole: many putatively pro-Russian commentators took turns writing euphoric analyses which day after day spiked the publics hopes only to then later come crushing down in disappointment. Predictably, the more the gap between expectations and reality on the ground grew, the more the critiques Putin and Assad could gloat about the Russian failure to win. That kind of pseudo-analysis is built on a typical straw man fallacy: the ridiculous notion that the Russian intended to single-handedly defeat Daesh. Sadly, pro-Russian commentators greatly contributed to the construction of that straw man by their (and not the Russian militarys) completely unrealistic expectations and predictions. Following the second week of the Russian intervention in Syria I wrote: The Russian force is small and vulnerable. Of course, one option for the Russians would be to expand the airfield near Latakia, but that would take time and more resources and my understanding is that they want to consolidate their current airfield first. However, as a stop-gap measure, the Russians could use Russian-based bombers. If Iran allows Russia to conduct in-air refueling in Iranian airspace or if Iran allows Russia to use Iranian airbases, then many more SU-34/SU-35SM or SU-34/SU-30SM air force packages could be engaged in Syria. In theory, Russia could even provide her Tu-22M3 to deliver gravity bombs, her Tu-95MS to deliver cruise missiles and her Tu-160 to deliver either one or both. I dont think that there is any military necessity to use these strategic bombers right now, but it might be a good idea to do so for political reasons  just to flex some more military muscle and show the Neocons that Russia is not to be messed with. Submarine launched cruise missiles would also work, especially if launched by a Russian sub in the Mediterranean which the USN did not detect. And this is exactly what happened next: Russia began to use her strategic aviation to augment her capabilities and to show the West that the Kremlin meant business. I then concluded by saying: So far, the Kremlin has done a superb PR job explaining that Daesh is a direct threat to Russia and that it was better for Russia to fight them over there than over here. This logic, however, is predicated on the idea that a very limited Russian intervention can tip the balance. There is a very fine conceptual line between tipping the balance and fighting someone elses war and that is something the Kremlin is acutely aware of. Hopefully, this line will never be crossed. To be fair to the Kremlin, saying that it is better to fight them over there than over here is in no way a promise the tip any balance. But there were many Russian commentators who did say that the Russian intervention would, indeed, tip the balance and the Kremlin did not directly refute these claims. So I suggest the following goal setting by the Kremlin: Primary objective: stabilize the legitimate authority and create conditions for a political compromise

Secondary objective: tip the balance of the war in favor of the Syrian armed forces. Having discarded the silly strawman arguments and we have established the real Russian goals we can now evaluate whether Russia has been successful or not. Following only three weeks of Russian air and missile operations, Assad came to Moscow and the first multilateral negotiations, which brought together the foreign ministers of Russia, the US, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, took place in Vienna. All the countries which had unleashed their aggression against Syria under the Assad must go slogan now had to accept that Assad was not going anywhere. This was a complete diplomatic triumph for Russia. This first triumph was followed by another series of triumphs at the UNSC. In the meantime, on the ground in Syria, the Syrian military, for the first time in months, actually began a series of counter-offensive which slowly, but systematically, began to push back Daesh in most sectors of the front. So if the criteria is stabilizing the legitimate authority and creating conditions for a political compromise, then the Russian operation is nothing short of a total victory, a true diplomatic triumph achieved in a very short time. In less than one month, the Russians succeeded in making Assads presence at the head of a legitimate government in Damascus an indisputable reality which all Assad-haters had to accept, and the conditions for a political compromise were created, at least in diplomatic terms. Now lets take a closer look at what has actually happened in military terms. But before we do that, let me repeat once again that tipping the military balance has never been the primary Russian objective, only a secondary one which could be achieved, or so the Russians hope, in the process of achieving the first, main, one. To prove my point, I will have to repeat again and again something I have been mantrically repeating for the past three months: the operational-tactical group of the Russian AirSpace Force (RASF) in Syria (that is its official name) is roughly equivalent to just one aviation regiment. Without going into many details, you need to know that Russian military theory has developed a very strict set of norms which outline in great detail the kind of forces needed to successfully execute any specific task. What is absolutely clear to anybody with even a basic understanding of warfare and, especially, air operations, is that one single aviation regiment cannot be used to defeat a force with well over 100000 combatants deployed across a territory of roughly 150000 km2 (just in Syria) supported by a network of bases and training camps in Turkey and other countries of the region and which gets a quasi infinite supply of weapons, combatants and money from numerous wealthy state sponsors. Ask anybody with even a superficial knowledge of Russian military theory and he/she will tell you that this is not the kind of task an given to an aviation regiment. Those who say otherwise simply dont know what they are talking about. What is truly remarkable is that the range of missions accomplished by this aviation regiment equivalent size force has been one which normally have been given to an aviation division (a force roughly 3 to 5 times larger). Let me repeat that: this regimental size force has, for three months nonstop, successfully executed the amount of airstrikes normally given to a force 3 to 5 times bigger. Now I dont know about you, but for me this sure is the sign of a fantastically successful operation. Ask any military commander how he would feel if the force he commands could accomplish not just the full set of tasks it is supposed to accomplish, but 3 to 5 times more, and this in real combat operation. I assure you that this commander would be elated. The fact that some are still capable of speaking of a Russian military failure is a sign of either dishonesty or ignorance (or both). Some pseudo-analysts have tried to justify their negative evaluation of the Russian operation by counting the percentage change in the territory controlled by the government forces as opposed to Daesh and its allies. Again, this is a case of either dishonesty or professional incompetence. The fact that Daesh controls roughly 80% of the Syrian territory is meaningless nonsense. Not only because this 80% of land only includes 20% of the population of Syria, but because the very notion of control means nothing in the context of this war. What is really happening is this: most of the combat operation are centered around major urban areas (cities) and specific lines of communications (roads). In terms of small towns or the rest of the countryside, it is not really controlled by anybody. Typically, when the government forces take village A, the Daesh forces go to B and when the government takes B, Daesh goes back to A. (Those interested in these tactical issues should read this interview of a Russian military specialist with a great deal of experience of Syria translated by my friend Tatzhit Mihailovich). The government forces are already overstretched and are barely capable of mounting an offensive without having to move their forces allocated to the defense of key cities. This is also why the Syrian counter-offensive has been so slow: a dire lack of manpower. Furthermore, since the real fighting centers around urban areas and key axes of communications, the very use of percentages of territory are meaningless in measuring the success of failure of these operations. Take the example of Aleppo: if/when the Syrians finally fully liberate the city from Daesh, which would be a major success, the percentage shift in controlled territory will be absolutely insignificant. Yet it would be a major success for the government forces. None of the above, however, really answers the question of whether the Russian military intervention in Syria has tipped the balance in favor of the Syrian government or not. Some say that it has, others deny that. My strictly personal opinion is that no, it has not or, I should say, not yet. But there are some signs that it might in the near future. What are these signs? First, the pressure on Turkey to stop acting like a rogue-state lead by an irresponsible megalomaniac has been increasing every since the downing of the Russian SU-24 and the subsequent Russian revelations about the Turkish regime and, specifically, the Erdogan familys involvement in the illegal purchase of Daesh oil. So far the regime is holding fast, but it is clearly hurting politically and the tensions are now flaring up inside and all around Turkey. While I dont expect Erdogan to cave in to external pressures, I do think that the tensions in Turkey will end up hurting Daesh, probably in a minor way unless the conflict with the Kurds truly blows up, at which point Daesh will be affected in a much more significant manner. Second, there are some signs that Daesh is running into military difficulties in Iraq and political difficulties in the rest of the Arab world. The fact that the Saudis have now felt the need to create what is basically a Sunni anti-Shia terrorist force (aka officially as Islamic anti-terrorist force) is a clear sign that Daesh is not living up to their expectations. Third, the Russians are now providing heavy artillery systems and training to the Syrians who are now slowly but surely acquiring the kind of firepower which the Russians have used with devastating effectiveness against the Wahabis in Chechnia. Fourth, while the Russian air operations are, by definition, incapable of defeating a well-dug in and dispersed guerrilla force, it can place a great deal of stress on its logistics and supply lines. It also severely restricts the mobility of Daesh forces, especially by night. Fifth, with the direct support of the RASF, the Syrians, backed by Hezbollah, have begun retaking control of some segments of the Syrian border with Lebanon and Turkey. That is, by the way, one of the most difficult yet crucial tasks for the government forces: to take as much of the Syrian border with Turkey under control (the Iranians will do that with the Iraqi border). This has not happened so far, and it will not happen in the near future, but the events are moving in the right direction. But what will really decide of the outcome of this war is not firepower but logistics. Currently, the Syrians are at a huge disadvantage: not only are the short on ammunition and, especially, spares, but their entire armament is outdated and way past its theoretical service life. The Syrian government forces have also suffered terrible losses in manpower but the Syrians cannot afford a full mobilization as this would greatly hurt an already suffering economy. Keep in mind that the Syrians have been fighting this war for longer (4 years and 9 months) than the Soviet Union fought WWII (3 years and 10 months). The fact that cracks are showing everywhere are normal. In fact, the only thing which the Syrians seem to have an infinite supply of is courage. Daesh (and when I speak of Daesh I mean all of them, the good terrorists and the bad ones) as, so far, enjoying a quasi limitless supply of combatants, equipment, supplies and, most importantly, money. With the full backing of the USA, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Israel and many European countries, this is hardly surprising. Daesh also enjoys a huge geographical advantage because it can use Turkey, Jordan and Iraq as a rear basis and safe heaven. Make no mistake here, the Syrians are the underdog here and there is nothing the Russians can do to change that, at least not alone. The key issue here is what Iran is capable and willing to do in this situation. Iran has already done a lot and I believe that the Iranians will do more but only there is no other way. It is not that the Iranians lack courage or means, but the fact that they are already taking a huge risk in being so deeply involved in this war. I am personally surprised by the fact that the USA, especially, Israel have not already started to denounce an Iranian invasion of Syria, especially since the USA did not have any qualms about denouncing a totally fictional Russian invasion of the Donbass. But if the number of Iranian boots on the ground goes up this kind of propaganda will be used (even if the Iranians are legally present at the request of the legitimate Syrian government). Sadly, the AngloZionists have succeeded in created an immense and truly toxic mess with their interventions in the Maghreb and the Middle-East. Just as in the Ukraine, there is no simple solution to stop the conflict and return to peace. In the Ukraine, the Empire unleashed a nauseous mix of Nazis and Jews, while the Middle-East is now threatened by a massive Takfiri infestation. Neither Russia nor Iran will ever be able to solve this conflict by winning it. Things have gone way too far and just as peace will return to the Ukraine only after a full-denazification, peace will only return to the Middle-East after a full de-Takfirization of the region, including in Saudi Arabia and Qatar. To those who will accuse me of being naive about the realistic prospects of ridding the Ukraine of Nazis and the Middle-East of Wahabis, I will reply with a few simple and basic questions: do you really and sincerely believe that peace can be made with Nazis and Takfiris? Do you think that either group will simple give up their delusional insanity and become a normal political force? Or do you really believe that only liberating the Donbass and Syria of these shaitans and leave them in control of the rest of the Ukraine/Middle-East will really bring peace to the Donbass or Syria? The truth is that the war in the Ukraine will only end when all of the Ukraine is liberated, just as the war in the Middle-East will only end when all of the Middle-East is liberated. You might not like this notion  I sure dont  but reality has never been dependent on our likes or dislikes. This will be a long war. The Saker The Essential Saker: from the trenches of the emerging multipolar world - $27.95 - More offers This column was written for the Unz Review: http://www.unz.com/tsaker/week-thirteen-of-the-russian-intervention-in-syria-debunking-the-lies/
January 04, 2015 " Information Clearing House " - " RT " - The furious reaction across the Middle East to the Saudi execution of a prominent Shiite cleric strongly suggests that the killing is a deliberate provocation by the ruling House of Saud.

That provocation would appear to be aimed at inflaming sectarian tensions and fomenting conflict in various regional countries  already near flashpoint  in order to further Saudi geopolitical interests. Central to those interests is, as always, the bitter rivalry with the regions Shiite powerhouse, Iran.

Following the announcement at the weekend by the Saudi Interior Ministry that Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr had been executed, along with 46 other prisoners, there was predictable outrage from across the region, especially among countries where there is a large Shiite following, such as Iran, Iraq, Lebanon and Bahrain. Iran denounced the radical Sunni Saudi rulers as criminal and accused them of carrying out an act that is the depth of imprudence and irresponsibility.

Irans Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, compared the House of Saud with Daesh, the extremist terror group (also known as Islamic State, and previously ISIS/ISIL). Of note is the way that the kingdom executes opponents by beheading according to a similar stringent interpretation of Islamic Sharia law known as Wahhabism  shared by both the Saudi regime and the cadres of Daesh.

Former Iraqi Prime Minster Nouri al-Maliki said that the imposition of capital punishment would lead to the downfall of the Saudi rulers, with other Iraqi politicians saying that it would open the gates of hell across the volatile and religiously fraught region.

The United States and European Union also responded with alarm at the execution of al-Nimr, both warning of deepening sectarian tensions being exacerbated by the Saudi death penalty.

Sheikh al-Nimr was executed on Saturday, along with 46 other prisoners in what is believed to have been the biggest mass execution in Saudi Arabia for over three decades. The death sentences were carried out in 12 prison locations by decapitation or firing squad, according to reports. Most of those sentenced were alleged members of the Al-Qaeda terror group, who had been accused of carrying out deadly attacks against Western interests in Saudi Arabia between 2003 and 2006.

Nimr al-Nimr was among four Shiite activists who were executed at the weekend. They were convicted on several charges of subversion and terrorism in trials that were dismissed by international rights groups as a travesty of judicial process. Sheikh al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 and accused of inciting violent protests, but supporters point out that the respected cleric always publicly endorsed peaceful protest. One of his best-known statements was: The power of the word is mightier than the roar of bullets.

In October, al-Nimr lost a judicial appeal against his death sentence. There then followed several international appeals for clemency. The Iranian government in particular issued several statements calling for the clerics life to be spared.

The widely seen miscarriage of justice against al-Nimr and the chilling determination to carry out his execution in spite of appeals for clemency is what makes the case so incendiary.

Lebanese Shiite resistance movement Hezbollah condemned Saudi Arabias conduct as an assassination, while Irans Revolutionary Guards Corps vowed that the Saudi rulers would meet with harsh vengeance.

In Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and a coalition of other Sunni Arab states have been carrying out airstrikes for the past nine months, the mainly Shiite Houthi rebels also condemned the execution of al-Nimr and promised retribution for his death. At the weekend, it was reported that 24 Saudi troops were killed in a Houthi rocket attack on the Saudi border province of Jizan. It is not clear if the attack preceded the announced execution of al-Nimr.

The Saudi regime has previously accused Iran and Hezbollah of fueling the Houthi rebellion in Yemen. Tehran has rejected claims of militarily supporting the insurgents. But it would be a fair assumption that Iran and Hezbollah will henceforth step up military intervention in Yemen as a way of striking back at the Saudis.

The same response is envisaged for Iranian and Hezbollah involvement in Syria, where the Saudis have bankrolled and armed various anti-government militia, primarily so-called radical Islamist groups with a shared Wahhabi fundamentalist ideology. These groups include Jaish al Islam (Army of Islam), whose leader Zahran Alloush was killed in a Syrian airstrike near Damascus on December 25. The Saudi regime publicly rebuked the killing of Alloush, saying that it jeopardized the forthcoming UN-sponsored peace talks in Geneva on Syria.

The House of Saud, led by King Salman, is known to be not in favor of the Geneva talks, which Washington and Moscow have both endorsed. The Saudis are dismayed by the seeming compromise made by Washington towards the Russian position, which is that the political future of Syria must be decided by the Syrian people through elections. The erstwhile demand by Washington that Syrias President Bashar Assad must stand down as a precondition for peace talks has been abandoned  leaving the Saudis, Turkey and the extremist militia groups in Syria as the only parties persisting with the call for Assad to go.

It is perhaps significant that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a strategic summit with Saudi King Salman in Riyadh only days before the execution of Nimr al-Nimr.

Russias military intervention in Syria, from the end of September, has been a resounding success in terms of stabilizing the Syrian government of Bashar Assad. Even the Obama administration has recently acknowledged the strategic success for Russian President Vladimir Putin in Syria.

That military success can also be attributed to Iran and Hezbollah, as well as to Iraq, which have all contributed to the gains made by the Syrian Arab Army on the ground.

The biggest loser is the axis for covert regime change in Syria, led by Washington, London and Paris, together with their regional allies in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey. While Washington and the other Western powers have the nous to switch tactics from backing a covert insurgency to belatedly trying a political process for eventual regime change in Syria, it would appear that the Saudis and Turks are still committed to the covert war agenda

In that way, the Russian-backed military alliance in Syria is a particularly damaging broadside to Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

From the Saudi point of view, one way of trying to salvage their losses in Syria and ongoing setbacks in Yemen would be to blow up the region with an explosion in sectarian conflicts. For many people, of course, such a gambit is insane. But if the House of Saud can provoke a firestorm between Sunnis and Shiites, that would in turn polarize relations between Washington and Moscow, leading to a wider war across the region.

Having lost in their Machiavellian schemes for regime change in Syria, the House of Saud seems to want to inflict a plague of chaos and bloodshed on everyone elses house.

The execution of renowned Shia cleric Nimr al-Nimr is such a gratuitous barbaric killing, one is left with the conclusion: the unadulterated madness of the slaying betrays an altogether pathological calculation aimed at inciting mayhem in the region.
A total of 577 drug suspects were arrested by the Lagos and Murtala Muhammed Airport Commands of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA) in 2015.

The Lagos State Commander of the NDLEA, Mr Aliyu Sule, and his Airport Command counterpart, Mr Garba Ahmadu, spoke with newsmen in Lagos on Sunday on the arrests.

According to the commanders, 438 drug suspects were apprehended by the Lagos command, while the airport command apprehended 139 suspects during the period.

Sule said a total of 7315 kilograms (over seven tonnes) of various drugs, were seized by men of his command during the period.

He said that the breakdown showed that Cannabis accounted for 7313. 06 kilograms, Heroin, 413.5 grams, while Cannabis Sativa amounted to 480 grams

The state commander, however, noted that there was a drop in the number of arrests made in 2015, compared to previous years.

According to him, the NDLEA Lagos command, between 2011 and 2012, made a seizure of drugs between 10 tonnes and eight tonnes, compared to the seven tonnes in 2015.

Sule said the decline was as a result of proactive measures put in place by the command to monitor and apprehend drug suspects at their hideouts.

He appealed to Nigerians to cooperate with the NDLEA, pointing out that the war against drug trafficking was a collective responsibility.

On his part, Ahmadu, the NDLEA Airport commander, said out of the 139 suspects apprehended by men of his command, 119 were male while 20 were female.

Ahmadu said that the number of suspects arrested in 2014 was 129.

He attributed the increase in 2015 to training of officers and increased awareness that enabled them to uncover tricks used by traffickers.

According to him, the command made a seizure of 590.9 kilograms of illicit drugs in 2015, and had no fewer than 155 cases pending before the Federal High Court.

He said that 17 convictions had been recorded.

Ahmadu said traffickers were arrested concealing drugs in bags, shoes, injections and tomato paste among others.

The commander said the agency was ready to foil the nefarious activities of drug traffickers in order to protect Nigerias image. (NAN)
Popular highlife singer Flavour and former MBGN 2013 beauty, Anna Banner has once again dedicated their daughter in church.

The first dedication which took place in Lagos got Flavours fan angry as he did not attend the event.

Beautiful baby Sophia enjoyed another dedication, this time with Flavours family in Enugu.

Musician Chidinma shared this cute photo from the dedication day and captioned it.

@annaebieres angel..shes so adorable #villa #coalcity #dedication #sweet #angel #pretty #baby

Meanwhile, Flavour had responded to rumours that he got married to his baby mama Sandra Okagbue few weeks ago saying he is still very much single.

Source: Naij
A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) and lawyer to embattled ex-National Security Adviser, Col. Sambo Dasuki (retd.), Mr. Ahmed Raji, has pleaded with President Muhammadu Buhari to allow all accused persons, including his client, who have been granted bail by the courts to go and enjoy their bail.

Mr. Raji, who made the plea weekend while speaking to Daily Trust, acknowledged that he was too small to join words with the president.

The lawyers plea came on the heels of a response to a question by President Buhari during his maiden media chat last week that the offences committed by the former NSA were too grievous to allow him walk free.

On the isolated case of my client  Sambo Dasuki, I plead with the President to allow him to enjoy his bail. I am too small to join words with the president of the country, I will only plead that he allows him to go on bail, he said.

Raji, who had secured and perfected the bail conditions for the former NSA in three different courts, said in law, we have judicial review of administrative actions. We dont have executive review of judicial decisions. That is why I would beg the president to allow all those that have been granted bail to go and enjoy it.

Three separate courts last year granted Mr. Dasuki bail, who, alongside five others, is standing trial on a 22-count charge for alleged diversion of funds, misappropriation and breach of trust to the tune of N19.4 billion.

The charges were brought against them by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC.



The former NSA and former Minister for State of Finance, Bashir Yuguda; former Sokoto Governor, Attahiru Bafarawa; and three others were granted bail on December 21 by the Federal Capital Territory, FCT High Court in the sum of N250 million each and two sureties in like sum.

But even after fulfilling the conditions for his bail by Justice Peter Affen, the State Security Service, SSS, ignored the court order.

Rather than allow him go home, the service took custody of Mr. Dasuki.
One of Nigerias leading anti-corruption coalitions, the Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC), has challenged all the 36 ministers in President Muhammadu Buharis cabinet, to publicly declare their assets in light of the ongoing war against corruption

In a statement Sunday, the coalition said through its chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, that by publicly declaring their assets, the ministers would have demonstrated their commitment to complement the presidents zero tolerance for corruption and promise of a transparent government.

According to CSNAC, President Buhari and his vice, Yemi Osinbajo, have laid a good precedence by keeping in line with Section 140 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), by declaring their assets publicly.

This was also in fulfilment of their campaign promise of running a transparent government as well as eradicating corruption in the country.

Public declaration of assets usually aids the assessment of public officers and will help in monitoring of public office holders and ultimately reveal those who corruptly enriched themselves while in office, paving way for proper punishment and sanctions against them.

As public officers it is expected that the ministers should also declare their assets in line with this administrations quest to run a transparent and corrupt free government. With the President and his Vice having shown a great example by declaring their assets, the ministers should also follow suit without further delay. The President, in his my covenant with Nigerians, promised to encourage his ministers to publicly declare their assets. The President is hereby reminded of his promise and called to act appropriately.

CSNAC therefore calls on all ministers to publicly declare their assets as a matter of priority. By so doing, they will have shown their readiness to complement the Presidents zero tolerance for corruption and promise in the actualisation of a transparent and corrupt free Nigeria.
Come January 14, members of the #BringBackOurGirls movement will be marching to the State House, Abuja, to re-engage with President Muhammadu Buhari, the group has said in a statement.

The families of the kidnapped Chibok girls, the Chibok community, and sympathisers of the girls who were abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, in April 2014, are expected to be part of the march.

The group said it noted with great dismay that the issue of rescue of the kidnapped girls and other citizens held in captivity by Boko Haram was not mentioned in the presidents New Year message to the nation.

The implication of such a deliberate omission is not lost on us, the group said in a statement signed by its coordinators  Aisha Yesufu, Oby Ezekwesili, and Hadiza Bala Usman.

We shall meet at Unity Fountain as from 8.30 a.m. that day to proceed on the march. We have already dispatched a letter to the president, duly acknowledged by State House officials.

It would be exactly 21 months on January 14 since armed Boko Haram insurgents stormed the girls school hostel in Chibok Borno State, to abduct over 200 girls.

Despite repeated assurances by the government that it would rescue the girls, their whereabouts remain unknown with President Buhari during his maiden media chat last week, saying he was yet to get a credible intelligence on the girls location.

The #BringBackOurGirls movement noted that the president, during his inaugural speech on May 29 last year, declared that his government would not claim to have defeated Boko Haram until the Chibok girls and other hostages have been rescued.

It was utterly shocking when the president declared in a BBC interview on 24 December that the terrorists had been technically defeated without referencing the rescue of our Chibok girls whom he had set as the benchmark for measuring such success. 

We are extremely disappointed that seven months after his strong promise at inauguration and six months after his pledge to the parents, Chibok community and our Movement that he would rescue the 219 daughters of Nigeria, his statement was lacking in urgency and assurance of strategy for result.

Further, that the President gave the impression of a reactive approach of waiting for credible Boko Haram leadership to tell us whether our girls are alive or not, falls disappointingly short of the proactive feedback we expected.

Our Movement therefore refuses to accept that lack of credible intelligence on our girls whereabouts as a tenable reason for the evident lack of progress in rescuing our ChibokGirls.

The #BringBackOurgirls group, therefore, urged the federal government to make public the General Sabo fact-finding committee report on the abduction of the Chibok girls.

Former President Goodluck Jonathan had in May 2014 named General Ibrahim Sabo (retd.) Chairperson of the Presidential Fact Finding Committee on the abducted Chibok girls.

The committee was able to establish that a total of 276 girls were abducted by members of the Boko Haram Sect, but 57 of the girls escaped while 219 were still unaccounted for.

The federal government should investigate all statements preciously made by state actors and/or high-ranking military officers that we know where the Chibok girls are, with the view to getting at the bottom of the matter on our girls whereabouts.

The federal government should immediately set up a search and rescue team to find our Chibok girls, the group said.



KADA (the Chibok community) strongly demands that President Muhammadu Buhari gives the rescue of our abducted Chibok girls the priority attention it deserves; as Boko Haram cannot be said to have been defeated  technically or otherwise  without the safe return of our abducted daughters.
An Ota Senior Magistrates Court sitting in Ogun, Monday, arraigned a 45-year-old man identified as Bowale Adedeji for allegedly defiling a 12-year-old girl.

The prosecutor, Sgt. Chudu Gbesi, told the court that the accused committed the offence on December 5, 2015 at 9.00pm along Ijako Road, Ota, Ogun.

Gbesi said that Adedeji lured the girl into an uncompleted building and had unlawful carnal knowledge of her, revealing that the accused was apprehended by passersby and handed over to the police.

According to the prosecutor, the offence contravened Section 218 of the Criminal Code, Laws of Ogun, 2006.

The suspect, resident at 23 Banjo Street, Ijako Road, Ota, pleaded not guilty to the charge of defilement slammed on him.

The Senior Magistrate, Mr. S.O. Banwo, admitted Adedeji to bail in the sum of N350, 000, with two sureties in like sum, ruling that the sureties must reside within the courts jurisdiction and show evidence of payment of tax to the Ogun State Government in the last one year.

Banwo, in addition, said the sureties must submit four recent passport photographs and swear an affidavit of means, one of whom should be a civil servant not below grade level 13 in the employment of Ogun State.

The Magistrate subsequently adjourned the case till January 29 for mention.

Source: Dailypost
Some female lawyers in Abuja have advised the Federal Government to create rape crisis centres, counselling service and other victims assistance agency as measures to address the menace of rape.

The lawyers gave the advice in separate interviews with NAN on Sunday in Abuja.

They noted that the creation of such institutions would help in addressing the high rate of rape and its attendant effects on the victims.

A lawyer, Mrs Chinelo Oputa, told NAN that rape incidents were increasing in different parts of the country and there was an urgent need for government to assist the victims.

Oputa said that effective and well managed crisis centres and counselling units would help the rape victims to learn how to cope with the emotional trauma and physical impacts of the assault.

The lawyer identified impunity as a major factor for the high rate of rape cases.

She said that reported cases of rape were, in most cases, not properly investigated before charging suspects to court resulting in letting the suspects off the hook or giving them light punishments.

Oputa said that this accounted for many offenders to see rape as a joy ride and therefore encouraged to keep perpetrating the crime.

She urged the police to conduct proper investigations when cases of rape were brought to them and ensure that the perpetrators pay dearly for their crime.

Oputa said that rape is a very serious crime and the offender must be made to face the full weight of the law.

Despite the prevalence of rape and violence cases, offenders are neither arrested nor prosecuted.

Even when arrest is made, prosecutors are often reluctant to take on such cases seriously, she said.

Another Abuja-based female lawyer, Mrs Oluwaseye Odediran, said that most rape victims in the country lived with the trauma because of lack of counselling.

She said that some of them develop phobia for men and see all opposite sex as evil.

Investigations and researches have shown that many rape victims get involved in homosexual and detest marriage if there is no adequate counselling, she said.

Odediran said government could partner with relevant Non-Governmental Organisations in setting up crisis centres and counselling units.

Also speaking on causes of rape, the lawyer identified poor parenting as a key factor.

Many parents are no longer paying adequate attention to their kids; not knowing the whereabouts of their children and who could abuse them if there is an opportunity.

Parents should be sensitive to those picking and dropping their children at schools, she said.

She added that parents should watch out for those who have access to their children and who could abuse them.

Odediran also said that rape victims should be encouraged to report the crimes instead of keeping it to themselves.

According to her, some parents prefer keeping rape and other sexual abuse incidents involving their children or relatives to themselves thereby allowing the perpetrators to go scot-free.

She said that those parents believed that reporting such cases to the authorities would expose the victims to stigmatisation and affect them psychologically.

Sexual violence is a serious social problem that deserved serious attention and all hands must be on deck to ensure that the perpetrators of this violence should be prosecuted, she said.

Mrs Temitope Femi noted that sensitisation, especially of young girls to indecent dressing, could also reduce the high level of rape incidents.

Young girls nowadays dress in such a way that some parts of their bodies are not covered.

They dress exposing their bodies and that can also attract men who cannot control themselves into raping them, said Femi.

She stressed that government should assist in organising sensitisation programmes in communities and schools on rape, management of victims and what could be done to prevent the menace.

Source: PMNews
Osun State Governor Rauf Aregbesola said the states financial challenges notwithstanding, it has been able to fulfill its obligation to the people. But the state has not been paying full salary for months, according to workers in the state.

In that past year, in spite of our dire financial challenges, we fulfilled our obligation to the people by providing security, healthcare, education and enhanced environment for economic activities, the governor said in his broadcast to usher in the New Year.

You will recall that many of our legacy schools were completed and commissioned in 2015. Our administrations flagship high school, Wole Soyinka Government High School in Ejigbo was also commissioned. We signed many Memoranda of Understanding (MoU) with reputable institutions, including the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA), Ibadan, the French government and a Chinese consortium for huge developmental programmes and job creation endeavours guaranteed to bring giant developmental strides for our state and people.

That great year, ironically, also witnessed dwindling national economic fortunes. The pillaging of the national treasury that began with the ancient regime was compounded by continued precipitous drop in oil prices. The undisputable evidence of this fall is that a barrel of oil which went for $140 in 2013 sold for $31.71 yesterday (December 31). There are even unsavoury prognosis that before long, it might drop below $20.

The effect of this sharp reduction is that the distributable pool of the Federation Accounts that hit a zenith of N1.2 trillion in 2012 dropped to a new low of N369 billion in November allocations shared in December 2015.

The stark implication of this for the Nigerian governments at the federal, states and local levels is that revenue derivable from the Federation Accounts, as the basis for running government, has been reduced to little or nothing.

It means for us that the era of unearned revenue has come to an end. We are now entering into a new and special period where it is imperative for us to work for our own money before we can spend it. This period demands innovation, creativity, productivity, industry and wealth creation.

I am therefore asking of you all, that whatever your vocation may be, you must work harder, be innovative and double your productivity from now on. Whatever your estate: traders, farmers, civil servants, artisans, transporters, workers, corporate executives and the self-employed, you need to do more than before.

Productivity is the key to tiding over and making the best of the special time we are in. It requires of  especially  the youth and school leavers to embrace the philosophy of hard work and innovation. This means finding engagement in farming and skill acquisition, instead of relying on general academic qualification in order to take advantage of this special period. No one must be idle again.

Every challenge brings its own opportunities. Fresh opportunities are waiting to be tapped in this special time. It only requires that we reach into our natural God-given ingenuity and endowments.

For us, we are already working in the areas of agriculture, solid mineral development, tourism and manufacturing.

Tough times dont last, but tough people do. When the going gets tough, the tough gets going. The history of development has taught us that humans are the primal agent of development. Development begins with thinking and coming up with ideas; only humans do that. These ideas are given life with their incorporation into policies which are then implemented to form an unending cycle of enterprise and wealth creation.

Development in machinery and robotics notwithstanding, humans still drive work and put even machines and animals to any endeavour.

Humans also form markets. Where there are humans, there is something to be sold, a service to be rendered and a money to be made, of course legitimately. We only need an atmosphere of peace, mutual respect and tolerance, even if we lawfully compete against each other. As long as we remain a people, united and resourceful, no force on earth can halt our march of greatness.

The government will do everything within its powers to maintain its covenant with you. We will not leave you alone  hopeless and helpless. We are in it together. We shall provide leadership, show the way, do what we say and walk the talk. From the present situation, we will lead and guide you to new opportunities from which we will create new wealth and bring prosperity for all. Only the lazy has no place.

We shall continue to provide security for lives and propertyand promote peace. This is the primary social good on which other goods rest upon. We shall also continue to provide healthcare service by putting our hospitals and medical institutions in the best shape. We are not going to slow down on education. It has been our priority and we are determined to make it our greatest legacy. The immortal words of Confucius is apt here. He said: If your plan is for a year, plant rice; if your plan is for 10 years, plant trees; but if your plan is for 100 years, educate children.

The Federal Government has spoken its mind with some assurances on the challenges facing the nation. I am assuring you that solutions are being sought to the nations financial problem and every effort is being made to cushion the effect, one of which was the concessionary loans provided for states last year to offset the backlog of salary arrears. We must support them in our own way by working hard, create wealth and adding value to the commonwealth more than we take from it.

It has also become necessary that you maximally support the government by paying your taxes, rates, levies and fines to the government. Every government is established on the sound foundation that it will be upheld and sustained with the taxes of the people. People place legitimate demands on their government only because they have a sense of ownership that comes from supporting that government with tax payment. This consciousness has been dulled in the past because the government has been supported largely with free and unearned oil money. That is now past. The consequences of direct ownership of government must be reawakened and you must enthusiastically pay your tax.

I will like to thank all the people of the State of Osun for your kind support, understanding and unflinching loyalty to our government from time immemorial. I thank the women and their groups, market women and men, traders, artisans, civil servants (for their profound sense of understanding and cooperation with government), workers, students, transporters, commercial motorcyclists, employers of labour, organised private sector, the business community, non-governmental organisations, community based organisations, youth organisations, political parties, traditional rulers, community leaders and religious leaders.

We have overcome obstacles, taken giant strides and buoyed with confidence to face any challenge in our way because we have firm assurances of your continued support. I thank you all.

I commiserate with the Ijesa people, especially the traders at Atakumosa market, over the fire that razed the market recently. I also commiserate with the proprietress of Bovas Filling Station, Osogbo, over the gas explosion at the station, occasioning the loss of a family of four, including young children. Our hearts are also with the people of Ibadan, Onitsha and other places ravaged by fire in 2015. May such disaster never reoccur in our nation.

On behalf of the government and people of the State of Osun, I offer heartfelt condolences to the government and people of the northeastern states of Nigeria being buffeted by insurgency. I pray the efforts of government will succeed and their afflictions will soon come to an end. We stand with the parents and families of the missing Chibok girls at this trying period in their lives. We pray that their sorrows and pains will end soon when the girls are found and reunited with their loved ones.

It is my earnest prayer that the New Year will be peaceful and usher in fresh opportunities, goodness, prosperity and abundance to all and sundry.
Irans foreign ministry says Saudi Arabia is using an attack on its embassy in Tehran as a pretext to fuel tensions  after being given a 48-hour deadline to remove its diplomatic mission from Riyadh. Saudi Arabia announced it was severing diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday, following Saturdays attack on its embassy in Tehran during protests against executions in the kingdom. Aljazeera reports:

Saudi Arabias interior ministry announced on Saturday the execution of 47 people on terrorism charges, including Shia religious figure Nimr al-Nimr. Iran is committed to provide diplomatic security based on international conventions. But Saudi Arabia, which thrives on tensions, has used this incident as an excuse to fuel the tensions, Irans foreign ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari said in televised remarks on Monday.

But Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, accused Iranian authorities of being complicit in the attack, saying that documents and computers were taken from the embassy building. He said the Saudi diplomatic representative had sought help from the Iranian foreign ministry when the building was stormed, but the requests were ignored three times.

The secretary-general of the Gulf Cooperation Council, Abdul Latif bin Rashid Al Zayani, also condemned the attacks against the Saudi embassy, saying that Iranian authorities bear full responsibility for the failing to protect the diplomatic mission. The Saudi foreign ministry announced on Sunday that its diplomatic staff had been evacuated from Tehran and were on their way back to the kingdom.
Buying cars for National Assembly members after collecting their car loans is immoral and fraudulent, a former member of the House of Representatives, Dr Haruna Yerima, has said.

He said the lawmakers must stop the car purchase and also subject their finances to the Treasury Single Account (TSA).

Earlier, we reported that the National Assembly explained why it would not join the TSA, saying doing so amounted to surrendering its autonomy to the executive.

Speaking in an interview with Daily Trust yesterday, the former Reps member urged the lawmakers to key into the change disposition of President Muhammadu Buharis administration by ensuring transparency in their finances and activities.

It is morally wrong for the National Assembly to purchase vehicles for the lawmakers after collecting their constitutionally-approved car loans, Yerima said.

He urged patriotic and honest lawmakers in the National Assembly to stop its management and leadership from buying the 460 cars at a time the country is battling financial crunch, adding that lawmakers could as well buy buses for their committees work.

In 2006, when the car purchase issue came up, we stood against it. We succeeded in stopping the House leadership under Speaker Bello Masari from buying the cars, he said.

The former lawmaker also joined the public debate for the legislature to makes its budget estimates public.

Nigerians have the right to know how much of their tax payers money the lawmakers are spending and on what. They should make public the breakdown of the budget estimates. It shouldnt be a secret, he said.

He said channeling its finances to the TSA for transparency is not an executive interference on the legislature.

It is a government decision aimed at ensuring probity and transparency. I see no reason why the lawmakers would go against that, he said.

He said the lawmakers should adopt the TSA as an example to MDAs they perform oversight functions.

If the National Assembly refuses to adopt the TSA policy, then it would surely lose its moral right of oversight of government agencies and parastatals that refuse to comply with TSA directives, he said.
The Niger State Government has disclosed plans to invoke relevant laid down civil service rules especially as regards lackadaisical attitude to work, warning that penalty for such may be outright termination of appointment.

In a statement yesterday in Minna, the state capital, Commissioner for Information, Culture and Tourism, Mr. Jonathan Vatsa, decried the trend where civil servants in the state work as full-time staff in two places and hardly report to their primary duties at the service, yet enjoy remuneration at the end of every month.

Mr. Vatsa warned those guilty of this offence in ministries to desist from the act just as he read the riot act to civil servants in the habit of staying at home when they should be in the office, saying they will be declared as ghost workers.

Niger State has about 60,000 workers, including the local government areas, but not all report to work; some are staying at home and at the end of the month are paid salaries, the commissioner said.
Reports today claim tensions between major crude producer Iran and its Sunni Arab neighbours reached new heights and that Saudi Arabia and Gulf allies cut or downgraded diplomatic ties with Tehran in a row over the execution of a Shiite cleric. Saudi Arabias execution of prominent Shiite cleric and activist Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday erupted into a full-blown diplomatic crisis as Riyadh and then ally Bahrain severed their relations with Tehran. It is well known fact that oil is a far more complex commodity to analyse than any other, however, INFORMATION NIGERIA has put together seven top reasons why this is good news to Nigeria, and why we need oil prices to rise

 Rising oil prices contribute to increased consumption whereas a decrease is devastating.

 Because falling oil prices shrinks not only governments purse but also those of its citizens, retail boom could be directly hit.

 Because 75 percent of the Nigerian governments revenue comes from taxes on the oil and gas sector.

 Because oil and gas provide the critical source of Nigerias foreign exchange as it makes up more than 90 percent of exports, therefore a continuous drop will have an adverse effect on Nigerias foreign exchange.

 Falling prices of oil would have an adverse effect on the value of Naira, which could scare foreign investors away.

 Funds kept in Nigerias Excess Crude Account and other savings that the country uses to survive on rainy days are gotten from oil revenues. Governments revenue is largely funded by oil, funds for its capital and recurrent spending is heavily reliant on the income from the oil, therefore fall in oil prices has greatly affected the countrys savings.

 Nigeria may be forced into borrowing or cut back on spending, a potential catalyst for social unrest just so it can maintain its economy.

So do you see why we need global oil price to stop plummeting???
The National Assembly yesterday stood its grounds not to be a part of the Treasury Single Account, TSA, being implemented by the President Muhammadu Buhari administration to reduce the level of corruption and increase accountability and transparency in governance.

President Buhari had during his maiden media chat last week, said he was having challenges with the National Assembly over the TSA.

We are having problems with them (National Assembly) on TSA. We have to have a closed door session with them, Buhari said during the media chat.

Buhari shortly after assuming office last May, directed all federal government Ministries, Departments and Agencies to key into the TSA.

But both chambers of the National Assembly yesterday explained that being a part of the TSA policy is like surrendering of their autonomy to the executive.

In an interview, the spokesperson of the Senate, Aliyu Sabi Abdullahi, said they were in total support of the TSA but that they would not be part of it.

There is no any trouble on TSA, it is as an executive programme and we cannot surrender our autonomy to the executive. Submitting ourselves to the TSA, is surrendering our autonomy to the executive. We are on the first line charge as guaranteed by the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Why should we give you our funds to put in the TSA and then we will be subjected to your own control, is that autonomy? That is just the issue; weve given our total support to the TSA programme. As far as we are concerned, we cannot subject ourselves to it because it amount to mortgaging our autonomy.

Our autonomy is guaranteed by the constitution and how our money should be paid is also guaranteed by the constitution. Are we saying our autonomy should be jettisoned? Are we a revenue generating arm? Are we saying that the constitution should be jettisoned, because somebody wants to do TSA? Are we going to put the Constitution aside and follow somebodys wish? What we are following is constitutional, he said.

Senator Abdullahi, however, said the Red Chamber would continue to follow due process in discharging their constitutional functions, saying if you are following due process, you are promoting accountability and by so doing, you are promoting good governance.

On the pledge by Senate President Bukola Saraki to make the budget of the National Assembly public and transparent, he said, when our budget is out, you will see the difference from previous ones.

Also speaking, the spokesperson of the House of Representatives, Abdulrazak Saad Namdas, said TSA is an executive policy, and that National Assembly as an arm of government, was yet to be part of it.

While lauding the TSA policy as a good way of ensuring transparency and accountability in handling public funds, Namdas said the legislature, as an arm of government, should be allowed to operate with some level of independence.

He maintained that they were yet to decide whether to be part of TSA or not.

You know every arm of government has its ways of operations. The issue of TSA is an executive matter, and in as much as we want to work together with the executive for good governance, we are not part of TSA for now, he said.
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Biden to release 15M barrels from oil reserve, more possible AP - Tue Oct 18, 11:43PM CDT WASHINGTON (AP)  President Joe Biden will announce the release of 15 million barrels of oil from the U.S. strategic reserve Wednesday as part of a response to recent production cuts announced by , and... $SPX : 3,719.98 (+1.14%) $DOWI : 30,523.80 (+1.12%) $IUXX : 11,147.74 (+0.77%)

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Visitors could be forgiven for mistaking the offices of crossover fund RA Capital Management, near Bostons theater district, for those of a technology start-up. A gleaming white entryway, liberal use of standing desks and a well-stocked communal kitchen are the setting for a team of researchers, analysts and designers poring over numbers and charts. The vibe practically screams disruption and innovation. A closer look at a large collection of blown glass lining the hallways reveals reproductions of individual virus molecules by British artist Luke Jerram. Theres Ebola, E.coli, HIV and even avian flu. They lead to a bright conference room dominated by a large screen displaying slide after slide of colorful and intricately detailed maps that may hold the keys to curing those diseases and more.

Bringing to mind Steven Spielbergs science fiction thriller Minority Report, RA Capitals 39-year-old co-founder and portfolio manager Peter Kolchinsky, who has a Ph.D. in virology from Harvard University, manipulates a touch screen showing colorful blocks of text distilling everything that currently is known about diseases such as breast cancer, hepatitis C and Huntingtons disease. His firm is invested in various drugs targeting specific molecular mechanisms that trigger disease, but Kolchinsky sees the real potential in the black space of whats unknown about these conditions. Thanks to the confluence of increasing demand and scientific innovation, roadblocks to understanding and treating disease that seemed insurmountable a decade ago have turned into opportunities that could both save lives and be incredibly lucrative for the right investors.

About 200 miles away, in New York, Internet entrepreneur Unity Stoakes is building a small empire of health care technology start-ups in the former headquarters of Goldman Sachs Group. On the 29th floor of 85 Broad Street, a chunk of cozy, hardwood-floored offices owned by coworking-space developer WeWork has been set aside for companies that are part of the StartUp Health network. Since launching in 2014 the network has grown to include 117 companies in more than 50 cities around the world that promise to do everything from in-home dialysis treatments to medical fraud prevention through biometrics. In a small furnished room that soon will become a studio for recording podcasts, Stoakes, the networks co-founder and president, preaches the gospel of creative destruction. Health care is the only major industry, aside from education, that hasnt been meaningfully disrupted and forced to re-create itself as a result of new technology, he says. That is changing.

Kolchinsky and Stoakes represent dual revolutions that are propelling health care into a new era of personalized, consumer-oriented, data-driven medicine. At the edges of RA Capitals maps are the treatments and therapies that will fill health care investors portfolios in the months and years to come. StartUp Healths network comprises dozens of companies ready to change the way doctors and individuals communicate about, monitor and address health concerns. Not all of these companies will succeed, but continuing advances in science, coupled with recent regulatory, cultural and demographic shifts (see The Silver Tsunami), have created a convincing optimism that the overwhelming trend is toward more-expedient and successful diagnoses, treatments and cures. For investors interested in capitalizing on this disruption, this means looking beyond hot-button issues like drug prices and a potential biotech bubble to the science and technology that have transformed so much in the sector from empty promise to reality in the past few years.

You are seeing literally every aspect of whats possible be changed in terms of our health care, Stoakes says. Its not working on a linear path; its working on an exponential curve.

It took 13 years and $2.7 billion to sequence the first human genome. Today it can be done in a few hours for a few thousand dollars. Just three years ago hepatitis C was for many patients a life sentence to immune systemweakening treatments for a chronic disease; now studies of new drugs indicate a cure is possible within three months of treatment. Researchers are learning not only how to identify which genes might be contributing to a patients disease and the mechanisms by which they are doing it but also how to edit those genes to alleviate symptoms and implement cures. On November 30 researchers from the San Franciscobased J. David Gladstone Institutes released new findings that show a connection between the BRCA1 gene  a mutation of which is known to increase a patients chance of developing breast cancer  and Alzheimers. Researchers now know that BRCA1 proteins not only cause cells to multiply, they interact with neurons, which are depleted rather than divided. This could lead to better prevention and treatment for one of the most baffling brain-related diseases.

Were just now starting to see the fruits of genomics, says Michael Ringel, global leader of research and product development at Boston Consulting Group, who is studying ways of valuing new methods and outcomes of health care. The depth of understanding of disease is opening up whole new avenues of treatment.

Provider- and consumer-focused technologies that may sound to some like science fiction  helmets that can detect concussions in real time, pill bottles that tell your doctor if and when youve taken your medication  are now in use, and scientists have the capability to do even more. At the same time, individual consumers are becoming increasingly interested in and capable of tracking their own health. The implementation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) has shifted more of the cost of care onto patients as insurers lean on high-deductible plans, giving a new generation of consumers already caught up in a culture of wellness additional incentive to tune into their own health.

This market is bigger than any company I can imagine, says angel investor Esther Dyson, who has been funding wellness-related entrepreneurs since early 2007.

The U.S. health care market pulls in about $2.8 trillion in annual revenue, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers, and health care indexes have long outperformed the broader S&P 500. Though the ACA has had its stumbles, it has added more than 10 million people to the U.S. health care system through exchanges and an additional 12 million through Medicaid expansion, and the bulk of the changes the ACA has made to the system are likely to remain in place regardless of who succeeds Barack Obama as president. But 2015 was undeniably difficult for health care investors. Stocks in the sector  especially, traditional drug companies and biotechs  had a volatile year, thanks in large part to a growing chorus of objections to drug pricing practices.

In September a young former hedge fund manager named Martin Shkreli became the face of the U.S.s drug cost problem when his company, New Yorkbased Turing Pharmaceuticals, made headlines for raising the price of an old toxoplasmosis drug by more than 5,000 percent overnight. Hillary Clintons response on Twitter, calling the move outrageous and promising a plan to stop such price gouging, sent health care stocks tumbling. The S&P 500 Health Care Index dropped 5.8 percent in one week. Major biotech players BioMarin Pharmaceutical and Biogen both lost more than 6 percent in one day.

Turing didnt pull down the market single-handedly. At about the same time, Laval, Canadabased Valeant Pharmaceuticals International came under fire for its own pricing practices and its relationship with a network of specialty pharmacies that allegedly pushed only Valeants drugs. The companys stock fell 71 percent between September 18 and November 17.

Most health care investors, no matter how smart they were, felt the blow from this sell-off. One of Greenwich, Connecticutbased Viking Global Investors funds  the Viking Long Fund, which had about 43 percent of its assets invested in health care  lost 7.9 percent in the third quarter. The hedge fund firm owns almost 5 million shares of Valeant. But even those not invested in Valeant felt the contagion: Dublin-based Allergan lost 13 percent in the last week of September, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, an Israel-based drugmaker, fell more than 10 percent that same week. In a letter to investors at the end of October, Glenview Capital Management founder and CEO Larry Robbins, whose hedge fund firm owned both Allergan and Teva, admitted that its health care positions had failed to protect your capital, and mine. Glenview, which also was hurt by a drop in shares of Chicago-based pharmaceuticals company AbbVie, was down 13.5 percent for the first nine months of 2015, according to an HSBC Hedge Weekly report.

The past years experiences showed that even a bet on a company with solid fundamentals and a pipeline of evidence-based therapies or technologies can be subject to the dips and dives of the volatile market. Investors who remember the biotech bubble of 2000 or got hurt in the recent market stumble may not want to jump into these turbulent waters now. But for those with access to, and a good understanding of, the science just beyond the headlines, the opportunities may be too hard to pass up.

The 90s were really a stepping stone, says Oliver Marti, who manages CCI Healthcare, the team at Stamford, Connecticutbased Columbus Circle Investors responsible for the firms $1 billion health care strategy. Over the past few years, weve started to see a lot of the companies whose pipelines hadnt fully matured entering a new product cycle that I think was underestimated by Wall Street.

WHEN SOUTH San Franciscobased Genentech, the company credited with creating the U.S. biotech sector, launched its initial public offering in 1980, its stock jumped from $35 to $88 a share in less than an hour. Investors who had been enamored by Silicon Valleys electronic innovations had become convinced that the same kind of successful returns could be wrought from a new technology in the medical field: genomics, the branch of molecular biology that focuses on mapping the network of genes in the human body. Since the 1860s scientists and doctors had understood the function of DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, the self-replicating molecule that carries genetic information and instructions for proteins such as hemoglobin, which carries oxygen through the blood. In the 1970s researchers at Stanford University successfully took genes from one organism and combined them with genes from another to create recombinant DNA  an entirely new DNA sequence that can function on its own  opening the door to discovering the structure and function of genes that play a part in many diseases.

Partnering with the Stanford researchers, Genentech successfully re-created the insulin gene in 1978, and in 1982 the companys first insulin drug, Humulin, won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The excitement built as gene after gene was manipulated and duplicated. Investors piled into Genentech and the many other gene-focused biotech companies that quickly followed, betting that their breakthroughs would change the entire health care industry. They were right, but it would take longer than most investors expected.

Knowing the makeup and function of one gene is useful, but without the larger context of how it fits within the bodys genetic structure, including its DNA sequence, the impact is limited. In 1990 the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health initiated the Human Genome Project, an international effort to identify all of the genes in human DNA. The project was initially scheduled to take 15 years; it was completed in 13. Advances in technology sped up the process, but it wasnt fast enough for many biotech start-ups and investors.

Genomics IPOs bombarded the market; in 2000 there were 46 public offerings on U.S. markets, raising $3.7 billion. That year the bubble burst: After skyrocketing to 1,596 in March, the market capweighted Nasdaq Biotechnology Index (NBI) plunged below 1,000 in April. Genentechs stock fell from a high of $58 per share in March 2000 to $19 per share during the same period a year later. It hit a low of $16 per share in 2002 before beginning a slow climb back up.

To some investors, the recent uptick in biotech IPOs looks frighteningly similar. In 2014 there were 71 biotech IPOs in the U.S., 25 percent of total IPO volume, according to Renaissance Capital. In 2015 there were 48 by the beginning of October, raising $4.6 billion. The NBI fell nearly 27 percent between July, when it reached its all-time high of 4,165, and mid-October, largely as a result of turmoil over drug prices and Valeant. IPOs slowed in response but began to pick up again later in the fall, putting the sector on track for another possible record year.

But the market isnt just dealing with more start-ups and offerings; its also reckoning with more and better science. Several of 2015s biggest IPOs have been by companies like Austin, Texasbased Mirna Therapeutics that are working on genetically engineered cancer immunotherapies, treatments that bolster a patients immune system to battle cancer. Others, such as Vancouver, Canadabased ProNAi Therapeutics, are pioneering ways to interfere with specific pieces of DNA to alter the trajectory of disease.

The next ten to 15 years will be the period of time that is going to fundamentally change human health, and its happening at a pace thats extraordinary, says Kevin Starr, partner and co-founder of Boston-based venture capital firm Third Rock Ventures.

Starr served as CFO and then COO at Cambridge, Massachusettsbased Millennium Pharmaceuticals during the era of genomics euphoria. He remembers a time in the late 1990s and early 2000s when researchers were working out a way to treat multiple myeloma, a rare cancer of the plasma cells, and they regularly tossed aside as junk much of the information in DNA that hadnt yet been identified. They werent alone: Until the mid-2000s few researchers were aware of the epigenome  the compounds that dictate how the genome functions and record changes in DNA. As it turned out, that junk held clues as to how DNA is modified by diseases like cancer.

When I was at Millennium, we didnt even know there was an epigenome, Starr says. Now theres a whole regulatory system were exploring that regulates polygenetic disorders, and theres an entire new class of therapeutics.

Cambridge-based Voyager Therapeutics has clinical trials underway for a novel gene therapy to treat Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. The company plans to use viruses as carriers for proteins that can combat the genes that may trigger these conditions. Voyager, which is backed by Third Rock, raised $70 million in a November IPO. Another Third Rock company, SAGE Therapeutics, which raised $90 million in a July IPO and is also based in Cambridge, is currently conducting a Phase 3 study of an intravenous therapy for super-refractory status epilepticus, a rare, life-threatening disorder that causes the brain to seize continuously. In earlier trials 71 percent of patients were able to wean off anesthetics and then off SAGEs therapy without relapsing.

In the 1990s it would have taken 15 years for a product like SAGEs antiseizure drug, known as SAGE-547, to make it from the lab through clinical trials. Now, from a neon paintsplashed office on Bostons Newbury Street, Starr is simultaneously keeping track of about 40 different clinical trials for therapeutics, many of which are showing measurable patient improvement with few side effects. These trials are a microcosm of the progress evident across the industry. Thats why, despite recent biotech failures that are fresh in their memories, some asset managers have taken innovative steps to move the sector forward. Those who have watched from the beginning are aware of the challenges ahead but are comfortable enough with the science to believe that this time will be different.

THOUGH LARRY FEINBERG, founder and managing general partner at Greenwich-based Oracle Investment Management, was the first to focus a hedge fund solely on health care and biotech, he may be an unlikely evangelist for the current craze. At the peak of the 2000 biotech mania, his firm had one of the worlds biggest positions in the sector. When the bubble burst, the humbling experience led to a change in how Feinberg did business. Once an active trader, he now runs Oracle much more like a family office, with longer-term positions. For much of the past decade, that has meant taking advantage of the expansion of the U.S. health care industry through safe bets such as hospitals and established companies. But recent breakthroughs and start-ups with promising pipelines have proved too hard for Feinberg and many other asset managers to ignore.

Now Feinberg argues for the necessity of taking scientific risk, above and beyond market risk, to make real money in health care. This translates into investments in companies like Durham, North Carolinabased Chimerix, which plans to report Phase 3 trials of the first-ever therapy for the prevention of cytomegalovirus, a common infection related to the viruses that cause conditions such as mononucleosis and chicken pox, in early 2016. Oracle also has positions in several medical robotics companies and in Menlo Parkbased Pacific Biosciences of California, the first to offer third-generation gene sequencing, providing significantly more genetic information than its competition.

Ive never seen anything like whats going on right now in terms of drug development, in terms of results of products in clinical studies and coming to the market, Feinberg says. Now Im breaking my own rules.

In Boston, on RA Capitals futuristic maps, developed by a team of in-house researchers, Kolchinsky points out key insights from current research on breast cancer, which like many types of the disease is really a group of different mutations. Oncology is the furthest ahead in the race to identify and address diseases by targeting and treating specific gene mutations, but the most talked-about gene-targeting breakthrough in recent months wasnt for a cancer; it was for hepatitis C, an inflammatory virus that affects the liver. As we come to better understand the molecular basis of diseases and diagnose exactly what is wrong, it becomes a lot easier to say, Here is the tool or combination of tools that would solve that, Kolchinsky says.

Although several new treatments for hepatitis C have made headlines for their prices  Harvoni and Sovaldi, from Foster City, Californiabased Gilead Sciences, cost about $1,000 per pill  they are far more effective than any treatment that existed before. Harvoni, which the FDA approved in October 2014, effectively cured 94 percent of patients in three months and nearly 100 percent of patients after six months by inhibiting the protein that replicates the hepatitis C virus.

People call it expensive, but were talking about a cure in eight to 12 weeks, versus prior therapies that often required a lifetime of treatment, says Marti of CCI, which owns nearly 3.5 million shares of Gilead as of its most recent 13F filing. And its only penetrating a very small percentage of the estimated hepatitis C market.

As many as 150 million people around the world have hepatitis C, according to the World Health Organization, and curing the virus on a large scale would be one step toward eliminating many cases of liver cancer. The next step: targeting hepatitis B. RA Capital has made at least one past investment toward that end, in Pasadena, Californiabased Arrowhead Research Corp., which is working on an injection. Finding a cure for this virus has turned out to be much more difficult, but Kolchinsky points to the value of Arrowheads research in understanding those hurdles. The important thing to remember going forward, he says, is that these advances are no longer happening in a vacuum; the breakthroughs will continue.

As people appreciate that biotech is not operating in the dark and understand that genetic medicine is giving us blueprints, were starting to see a remarkable change for the sector, Kolchinsky says. When gene therapy cures a disease, you do not revert to the mean; you do not take that back.

The problem for some investors is that massive breakthroughs arent discovered and implemented overnight, and in the meantime other factors influence the market. Many analysts look at a company like Cambridge-based WAVE Life Sciences, which raised $102 million in a November 11 IPO and is working on DNA therapies for rare diseases, and worry that it isnt worth its recent $350 million market cap because of what it hasnt yet produced: earnings and FDA-approved treatments.

The public markets are not well equipped for parsing science data, says Kolchinsky, whose firm owns 25 percent of WAVE. He prescribes a science-based, rather than strategy-based, outlook.

RA Capital started out in 2002 as a public-focused fund but has since transformed into a crossover fund, focusing on the science and pipelines behind investment targets, both public and private. The firm has an in-house research group, dubbed TechAtlas, that creates its disease-specific maps. Kolchinsky believes that to take full advantage of current and future biotech developments, investors will have to set aside their loyalties to particular strategies.

If we come up with a way to cure Huntingtons disease, it wont matter which bucket your money came out of, he says, referring to an inherited neurodegenerative malady that affects about 30,000 Americans. If youre only a public guy, you need to figure out how to broaden that mandate and invest in that drug. Its worth figuring out how to get the flexibility you need to be a part of that.

ESTHER DYSON wants to eliminate the need for complex new drugs altogether. Dyson, who made early bets on Facebook and LinkedIn, has more recently turned her attention to how basic nutritional information paired with innovative technology can improve health and allow investors to capitalize on a growing culture of consumer wellness. Health  as opposed to health care  should be an asset class in its own right, she contends. The returns would be so much better for everybody if you just think longer-term and keep people from being sick, she says.

To Dyson, investing in prevention means funding companies such as Omada Health, a San Franciscobased enterprise that provides employers and health insurers with a digital program aimed at preventing diabetes. Omada recently completed a $48 million Series-C round, bringing total funding to more than $77 million.

Dyson has founded a nonprofit known as HICCup that has launched five community case studies to show that a collaborative prevention effort based on individual health data and known science about diet and exercise can create as much value as the latest tech innovation by preventing disease. The project, called the Way to Wellville, is taking place in Muskegon, Michigan; Lake County, California; Spartanburg, South Carolina; Clatsop County, Oregon; and Niagara Falls, New York.

Theres not a new idea in it, Dyson says. Its implementing old ideas; actually doing it is the new idea. But the methods of gathering patient data are certainly new, and they are an easier point of entry to the consumer wellness craze for many investors, though hurdles remain.

When Fitbit, the San Franciscobased maker of wearable activity monitors, launched in 2007, it was one of the first tech start-ups to take advantage of individuals increasing desire to track personal health data. As people pay more out of pocket for health care, the incentive to follow certain measures of their own health grows. But its hard to value a company like Fitbit because consumers and investors dont often know how to use the information that its devices gather. After Fitbit went public in June, opening at $30.40 a share, its stock price steadily rose, topping $50 on August 5. By mid-November, however, analysts predictions of a fall had proved true as investors realized Fitbits devices didnt provide much more than a count of steps and calories.

The ability to gather big data has been the focus of much health technology innovation in recent years. Now, experts say, the next task is to figure out how to use that information. Mountain View, Californiabased personal genome information company 23andMe was an early victim of this problem. The company hit a snag in 2013, when the FDA ordered it to stop selling its DNA-analysis product because of the possibility that consumers would be misinformed by false positives, false negatives or errant information about their genes. But the ban was lifted this past fall, and the privately held company, which is valued at more than $1 billion, according to research firm VC Experts, is now selling an adjusted version of the kit.

The company is also forging partnerships with Big Pharma to turn its data into drugs. In fact, investors who are focused on New Yorkbased Pfizers upcoming megamerger with Allergan may be missing the real opportunity at the drugmaker: A year ago Pfizer announced a partnership with 23andMe that gives the pharmaceuticals giant access to more than 600,000 individuals data for research purposes. The first study was launched in May with the goal of better understanding and developing personalized treatments for patients with lupus.

People think its the person who owns the data who has the power, says Belen Carrillo-Rivas, Pfizers head of R&D innovation projects. Its not. Its the person who understands the data.

StartUp Healths Stoakes compares the current struggle to get a handle on health data  and the corresponding surge of start-ups attempting to do just that  to the early days of the Internet. Stoakes and Steven Krein, who launched StartUp Health in 2011, began their careers as web entrepreneurs. To put it in context, I would say were at 1994 Internet, when Netscape was going public, says Stoakes.

In this scenario Fitbit or San Franciscobased information technology provider Castlight Health would be Netscape Communications, blazing a new trail and inspiring a wave of followers. Some of those followers are in StartUp Healths network, including AdhereTech, which has developed a smart pill bottle that helps track and improve adherence to medication regimens, and Dermio, a virtual dermatological consultation service. Stoakes believes the next generation of health tech start-ups will include devices that can be embedded to measure vital signs and communicate them to doctors, clothes that can measure dehydration and nutrient levels, and skin-patch drug-delivery systems dropped off by drones. If that sounds a little frightening, Stoakes is quick to point out that doctors have been embedding products like pacemakers and intrauterine devices for decades.

The individual pieces of a true health care revolution  in which more diseases are prevented, conditions are caught and understood sooner and can be treated with targeted, individualized methods  are being fine-tuned and primed for better speed and accuracy. The next step will be to fit them together.

A lot of the heavy lifting and hard work has been done, says Stoakes. Theres a robust market now for change to occur, and there will be a great opportunity over the next five years for it to happen very quickly.

Follow Kaitlin Ugolik on Twitter at @kaitlinugolik.
The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs alerted consumers that hoverboards, one of this past seasons hottest gift items, is being investigated by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) for possible fire hazards.

The CPSC launched its investigation amid nationwide reports that the self-balancing, wheeled scooters have exploded or burst into flames while in use or during the battery charging process. New Jersey officials said two of those reported fires occurred in New Jersey.

While there is no conclusive evidence that hoverboards are defective or inherently unsafe, we want consumers to be aware of the potential dangers and take precautions to keep themselves and their children safe, said Steve Lee, acting director of the New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs. We will monitor the CPSC investigation and keep consumers updated on any findings.

In a statement on the agency website, CPSC announced it is moving quickly to address the growing public concern regarding hoverboard safety. CPSC said its staff is working non-stop to find the root cause of the fire hazard, assess how much risk it might present, and provide consumers with answers as soon as possible.

CPSC said its engineers are testing new and damaged boards to determine why some models caught fire. Experts for the agency are looking particularly closely at the configuration of the battery packs and compatibility with the chargers, according to the CPSC website.

While much of the public concern is focused on the hoverboards fire hazards, Acting Director Lee reminded New Jersey consumers to also protect themselves against the danger of falling while using the popular item.

As with any scooter, skateboard, or wheeled toy, its important to wear a proper helmet and protective padding while riding a hoverboard to avoid serious injury, he said.

CPSC offers the follwing tips to reduce the risks associated with hoverboards:

Avoid buying the product at a location (like a mall kiosk) or on a website that does not have information about who is selling the product and how they can be contacted if there is a problem. If the buyers do not think they could find the seller again, were a problem to arise with the board, steer clear of doing business with the them.

Do not charge a hoverboard overnight or when the user is not able to observe the board.

Charge and store in an open dry area away from items that can catch fire.

Do not charge directly after riding. Let the device cool for an hour before charging.

If giving a hoverboard as a gift, leave it in its partially charged state. Do not take it out of the package to bring it to a full charge and then wrap it back up. Often, the product comes partially charged. Leave it in that state until it is ready to be used.

Look for the mark of a certified national testing laboratory. While this does not rule out counterfeits, the absence of such a mark means safety is likely not a priority for that manufacturer.

Do not ride the hoverboard near any vehicular traffic.

CPSC urges consumers to report incidents involving hoverboards to the agency via www.SaferProducts.gov.

Source: The New Jersey Division of Consumer Affairs

Topics New Jersey
Within hours of a deadly mining spill in November that would become Brazils worst environmental disaster, BHP Chief Executive Andrew Mackenzie was in front of a camera offering his sympathies to those affected.

Meanwhile, his counterpart at joint venture partner Vale SA, Murilo Ferreira, took nearly a week after the mine wastewater flood to talk to the press, setting the tone for a media strategy experts say has been slow and clumsy.

While both companies legal strategies seem similarly aimed at limiting their direct liability for the dam collapse that caused the disaster, a divergence in public relations tactics has left Vale, the worlds biggest iron ore miner, taking the brunt of social media outrage and street protests over the tragedy, which killed 17 and left hundreds homeless.

The Brazilian company regularly denies responsibility for the accident in interviews and press conferences, putting the blame solely on Samarco, the joint venture with BHP Billiton which ran the iron ore mine where it occurred. In contrast, Australia-based BHP tends to avoid discussing the subject, focusing instead on offering condolences and explaining the facts.

Instead of being proactive and taking responsibility, they stuck their head in the sand, one ex-Vale employee said of his former employer.

Vale and BHP have both lost a quarter of their market value since the dam burst on Nov 5.

For sure, Vale, as a household name in Brazil, has been under more intense public scrutiny in the country than BHP, and any company could have struggled to deal with the fallout of a disaster that saw enough thick mining waste to fill 20,000 Olympic swimming pools spread across two states.

In Rio and London, protesters took to the streets, some covered in mud and others carrying pictures of dead fish, with banners reading Vale kills. The companys response has been improving. Ferreira struck an emotional cord towards the end of last month, promising to dedicate his days both as CEO and in retirement to cleaning up the Rio Doce river, heavily polluted by the mud flow.

Nonetheless, critics who spoke to Reuters, including the ex-Vale staffer and another former executive who both asked to remain off the record, as well as external public relations consultants, said Vales particular missteps are emblematic of Brazilian companies perceived unwillingness to communicate.

Its this perception of whos in charge, whos responsible that is so important in these matters, said Gary Davies, professor of Corporate Reputation at U.K.s Manchester Business School. Davies explained that different language is needed for the courts and the public, a separation Vale appears to have struggled to get right.

In an email to Reuters, BHP declined to comment on whether it was seeking to put the blame purely on Samarco, saying only that it is committed to communicating transparently as it works with Samarco and Vale to restore the environment and help the community rebuild.

Vale declined to comment for this piece, but has previously said its ability to talk about the disaster is limited by a Chinese wall between it and Samarco, which Vale and BHP both compete against in the iron ore pellet market.

Lawyers have huge influence in crisis situations like this, but the communications team have to push back It looks like Vale didnt get the balance quite right here, said Lais Guarizzi, president of crisis management firm G&A Comunicacao.

Public Comment Backfires

In one recent example, Vales General Counsel Clovis Torres expressed the companys position in an analogy that backfired.

Samarco is not some little bar, he told reporters, explaining that with revenue of $2 billion it could cover the damages itself.

Columnist Elio Gaspari countered in Rio de Janeiros main daily, O Globo, that this was an insult to bar owners who would have behaved better. With schoolmaster arguments, Vale shows it is reluctant to become part of the solution, he wrote.

On social media, one tweet showed the resemblance of Vales green and gold V logo to the lines formed where mining waste met the green Atlantic Ocean. Nice publicity, it just cost the environment, read the caption.

Vale has also suffered setbacks in court. Earlier this month a judge froze it and BHPs assets in a decision that dragged both mining giants further into a damages lawsuit with the government.

Yet, Vale, which plans to appeal the decision, will probably stick to its strategy, legal experts say, as it fights to keep the 20 billion reais ($5.05 billion) liability being sought by the government off its already stretched balance sheet. With Samarco registered as a separate legal entity, it is an argument that could still succeed.

But the public have had little stomach for such legalese and sources close to Vale say the company underestimated how popular opinion can mold government and judicial decisions.

With the courts on recess over the holiday period, Vale has time to form its appeal.

Still, the ex-Vale employee said it faces an uphill battle to improve its public image, They got their initial judgment of the situation very wrong and thats going to be hard to correct now. ($1 = 3.96 reais) (Additional reporting by Marta Nogueira; editing by Alden Bentley)

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Topics Mining
Amlin plc, the specialist international insurer, has appointed Lucas Castagnino as lead underwriter, as momentum behind the build out of its Latin America underwriting activities gathers pace.

With experience in the Latin American reinsurance market, Castagnino joins from SCORs Latin American and Caribbean platform, where he was latterly vice president. He will report to Louis de Segonzac, head of Latin America and will be based in Amlins expanding Miami office.

The move further demonstrates Amlins long-term commitment to delivering the highest standards of service to its clients across Latin America and follows the appointment last year of Edward Herrara as senior underwriter, Amlin said in a statement.

Commenting on the appointment, Louis de Segonzac said: Hiring someone of Lucas Castagninos calibre is testament to the significant progress made by our Latin American operations since we launched in Miami in 2014. Lucas market knowledge and experience, especially in long tail lines, will be invaluable to the broader team as we continue to strengthen our presence in the strategically important region.

Amlins Miami operation underwrites all non-life treaty products and provides quotations for new and renewal business. Risks are underwritten on behalf of Amlins Lloyds Syndicate 2001.

Source: Amlin plc

Topics Underwriting
Officials think education could increase interest in a new type of crop insurance that also might give farmers who diversify a boost.

Whole farm crop insurance became available in North Dakota this past growing season. No policies were sold, but officials in the state Department of Agriculture think more producers might find it useful as they learn more about it.

I think this is a wonderful tool, said Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring, adding that producers may not have had time to look at the program as they have been scrutinizing the new Farm Bill and trying to understand Agriculture Risk Coverage and Price Loss Coverage, along with changes in multi-peril coverage.

Everybody had their plate full to learn all that, he told The Bismarck Tribune.

Now, whole farm crop insurance will be offered nationwide for the 2016 growing season and officials, including those at the Agriculture Department, are hosting training sessions for insurance agents.

This insurance is different in that it offers revenue protection for the whole farm to producers who are raising at least three commodities, which can include livestock.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture Risk Management Agency said the purpose of the insurance is to encourage diversification. Premiums are discounted the more diversified a producer is. There are 50 commodities produced in North Dakota, 40 of which are plant based, which makes the state a prime candidate for the insurance coverage.

In many cases, when it comes to specialty crops or organic crops, there is little to no insurance protection, Goehring said. Those with livestock and specialty crops, like dry beans, peas and lentils, can loop those commodities in with coverage for standard crops, such as corn and soybeans.

The whole farm insurance works by insuring revenue rather than yield.

Before, we were always insuring units or bushels, Goehring said, though whole farm can be used in conjunction with multi-peril coverage at a discounted premium.

Wade Haselen, an agent with Cottingham Insurance in Washburn, said it is more about risk.

In my area, I think were too diverse in the crops we grow, he said. It will never be popular in my area. No one wants to take that risk.

Though RMA says whole farm insurance is for diversified producers, Haselen said there gets to be a problem when considering late and early season crops. If a farmers early season crops do better than their late season ones, they are paid nothing on their late season loss. Most insure crop by crop, instead.

With prices down, many of his clients are choosing to stay with what they have been doing, according to Haselen.

As markets continue to slip, affecting the bottom line, or if expenses go up unexpectedly, whole farm coverage kicks in. Goehring said some things, such as depreciation, also may not work against farmers with this product because it is based on five-year average revenue reported on the Schedule F tax form.

Farm size doesnt matter, and a producer using whole farm may have smaller operations, such as 40 acres of specialty crops. Theres also a market readiness feature, covering the cost for those who process their crops to be sold at farmers markets, according to Goehring.

It isnt going to be for every farmer, but it will work for quite a few if they choose to use it, he said.

North Dakotas neighbors to the west have been buying into the program. Montana had 58 policies in 2015, Washington had 571, Idaho had 132 and Oregon had 98. The policy was particularly popular with apple growers and other orchards, and education was driven by insurance companies who saw the benefit it could offer their clients.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Agribusiness Training Development
Lawrence Memorial Hospital officials say the three insurance companies managing Kansas Medicaid system routinely turn down legitimate claims to hold down costs.

The three contractors for the states privatized Medicaid system, known as KanCare, deny the accusation. Other hospitals have made such accusations in the past, the Lawrence Journal-World reports.

Officials from the Lawrence hospital testified at a meeting of the state Legislatures joint committee overseeing KanCare. Taryn Schraad, who deals with insurance claims appeals at the hospital, told the panel that the facility frequently gets denial notices, often with no explanation.

I believe there is a pattern of behavior to just deny claims and see if the provider will spend the time and the energy and the money to pursue them through the appeal process, Schraad told reporters after the hearing.

Linda Sherman, the hospitals director of patient accounts, said she knows all insurance companies deny some claims. The problem, she said, is when they dont meet deadlines, and they dont provide denial reasons.

About 35 percent of claim denials appealed by the hospital are overturned and paid, Schraad said. The hospital has a roughly 90 percent success rate, she said, in overturning Medicare denials.

Officials from the three companies that manage the system insisted they dont send out denial notices without an explanation.

United Healthcare Community Plan CEO Tim Spilker said the company denies about 7 percent of claims overall. Amerigroup Kansas Plan CEO Laura Hopkins said the denial rate for her company was around 11 or 12 percent.

Sen. Laura Kelly, D-Topeka, said she has heard similar complaints since KanCare began. She said contractors have worked with individual providers on patchwork fixes, but said there needs to be a global solution.

But Sen. Mary Pilcher-Cook, R-Shawnee, who chairs the joint panel, disagreed and said past problems tended to be caused by how hospitals submit claims.

What really needs to happen is for everyone to work together and not point fingers and say that the system is not working, but instead find solutions, she said.

The committee encouraged Lawrence hospital officials to return to the next meeting with examples of claim denials they found were unreasonable or unexplained.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Carriers Claims
A U.S. judge last Wednesday rejected General Motors Co.s bid to dismiss the first so-called bellwether case over defective ignition switches in its vehicles, clearing the way for a Jan. 11 trial.

U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman in Manhattan said the plaintiff, Robert Scheuer, presented enough evidence to justify letting a jury decide whether an alleged ignition switch defect in his 2003 Saturn Ion caused or enhanced his injuries from a 2014 crash.

Furman also refused to accept GMs argument that Scheuers claims arising solely from the Detroit-based automakers conduct following its 2009 bankruptcy failed as a matter of law.

These claims included GMs alleged failure to properly warn Scheuer about the defect, and were the only claims that could expose GM to punitive damages, the judge wrote.

Scheuer sued GM after another vehicle forced him off an Oklahoma highway on May 28, 2014, causing him to crash head-on into two trees. His Ions front airbags did not deploy, which he said resulted from a defective ignition switch.

Bellwether trials are sometimes used in product liability litigation in which hundreds or thousands of people have similar claims. The outcomes can help parties determine whether to keep litigating or to settle. Six bellwether trials are scheduled in the GM litigation for 2016, court records show.

Furmans decision paves the way for the jury to have an unfettered and full view of GMs behavior in covering up this defect, Scheuers lawyer Bob Hilliard said in a statement.

GM spokesman James Cain said in a phone interview: We are fully prepared to go to trial, and introduce evidence showing that the ignition switch issue did not cause the injuries in this accident, or cause the airbags not to deploy.

An ignition switch defect on Ions, Chevrolet Cobalts and other GM vehicles could cause engines to stall and prevent airbags from deploying in crashes.

GM in February 2014 began recalling 2.6 million vehicles to fix the defect, despite being aware of a possible problem a decade earlier.

In September, GM agreed to pay $900 million and enter a deferred prosecution agreement to end a related U.S. criminal probe. The defect has been linked to at least 124 deaths.

The case is In re: General Motors LLC Ignition Switch Litigation, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 14-md-02543.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Richard Chang)

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Topics USA
Rising water levels will likely delay repairs to a 160-foot-long landslide along the Lewisville Lake dam, a possible threat to the hundreds of thousands of North Texans who live downstream.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said 16 inches of rain from severe thunderstorms over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays have caused problems with tarps they put over the landslide, The Dallas Morning News reported.

The corps, which manages the lake for the federal government, had planned to begin repairs on the landslide today. Lewisville Lake manager Rob Jordan said thats now highly unlikely.

More erosion of the dam, rated by the corps as the eighth most hazardous in the country, is possible.

The massive landslide appeared in late June after record rainfall hit North Texas in May, Jordan said. The landslide is adjacent to another major slide that occurred in 1995, suggesting instability within the embankment.

Back then, large rocks covering the embankment and a section of the asphalt road along the crest of the dam came tumbling down toward the 2.3 million acre-feet of lake that provides electricity, drinking water and recreation for North Texans.

2015 was the wettest year on record in Texas and more waves of rain are in the forecast, leading some engineers to say the new slide could threaten the dams foundation.

The corps dam safety program manager, Sarwenaj Ashraf, said the corps developed a plan to repair the landslide by building a cofferdam around the damaged area to isolate the 23-foot-deep hole in the side of the dam caused by the landslide. But the plan was never carried out.

Three members of North Texas congressional delegation pledged to raise money to hasten the repairs following a report by the newspaper about the dams threat.

The corps estimates that permanent repairs will cost between $50 million and $500 million and would take several years.

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics Texas
Amid the most destructive wildfire season in more than a decade, Californias firefighting agency amped up its warnings to thousands of property owners who werent doing enough to protect their homes by clearing brush and other flammable materials.

But it rarely put any muscle behind the threats: Violators were fined just 4 percent of the time, down from 10 percent when the drought was declared four years ago, according to California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection statistics requested by The Associated Press.

State law requires property owners in wildfire-prone areas to clear combustible materials near buildings and allows citations starting at $100 for those who fail to do so. A third offense brings a misdemeanor charge and a $500 fine.

The latest statistics show the number and rate of citations issued in the year ending June 30 were lower than when Californias drought began. The rate of homeowners disobeying the law also increased during that period.

There are people out there that wont do it unless they are forced to, said Mike Warren. A firefighter for 40 years, including seven in California as Sequoia National Parks fire management officer, Warren wants more aggressive enforcement to protect firefighters. Not getting the clearance done puts firefighters at risk.

CalFire recorded about 29,000 violations last year, but imposed just 1,136 fines. Four years ago, there were 12,000 violations and just under 1,200 fines.

CalFire spokeswoman Janet Upton said inadequate protection was a significant factor in the loss of homes this fall in a wildfire that burned through in Amador and Calaveras counties in the Sierra Nevada foothills.

More violations were found there than in any other CalFire unit last year. While more than a third of inspections found poorly protected properties, CalFire issued citations there at less than half the statewide rate.

The worst penalization of a homeowner who chooses not to comply is if their house burns down, Upton said. If you have been living in these areas and dont think it can happen, you havent been paying attention.

CalFire Director Ken Pimlott said the general approach is to educate homeowners rather than issue citations.

We need that tool, because there are just those individuals, for whatever reason, (who) arent interested in complying, he said. I would rather have those individuals understand what were doing and now become the messenger for their community.

He also defended policies that mean enforcement varies dramatically from county to county.

For instance, the Kern County Fire Department writes a citation for every violation it finds, by far the most of any county. By contrast, Los Angeles County writes no citations for property owners who fail to clear brush. After months of repeated warnings and inspections, Los Angeles County may eventually clear the brush and bill the property owner.

With the tougher punishment, homeowners in Kern County were 10 times more likely to comply with the rules than in Los Angeles County, statistics show.

Promoting compliance is absolutely a priority, Pimlott said. But, he said, resources and conditions vary widely across the state, and methods of enforcement should as well.

In a bid to increase enforcement, CalFire hired more than 50 inspectors last year to aid firefighters. Both spend part of their time doing the repeated property checks that are required before homeowners can be cited for ignoring multiple warnings, but the actual citations must be written by arson investigators because they have law enforcement powers.

Inspections increased last year, but not as much as was anticipated, Upton said. She said the program didnt pan out as well as expected because firefighters were busy fighting drought-driven wildfires, arson investigators were seeking the causes, and inspectors were often helping homeowners with drought-related tree deaths and tree-killing bark beetles.

The department is considering adjustments to get better results, Pimlott said.

The inspectors were hired using $900,000 from a fee imposed on rural properties to help offset firefighting costs, drawing criticism from several state lawmakers who oppose what they call an illegal tax.

It just angers me to see that money is being spent in an inefficient way, said state Sen. Ted Gaines, R-El Dorado Hills, who represents a large swath of rural California. He said money spent on additional inspectors should instead go to programs helping homeowners comply with the law.

Assemblyman Frank Bigelow, R-ONeals, who represents the area burned in the Sierra foothills fire, said the money should go to thinning forests and removing brush that contributes to the spread of wildfires.

Gaines, Bigelow and Assemblyman Don Wagner, R-Irvine, said CalFire should set the same standards for issuing citations statewide. If not, lawmakers should consider requiring equal enforcement, Gaines said.

Its one state with one challenge of wildfire statewide, Gaines said. Everybody ought to be treated in the same fashion.

Related:

Copyright 2022 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Topics California Wildfire Property Homeowners
A clear trend that is on the rise heading into 2016 is insurance companies opening innovation labs  like Progressives Business Innovation Garage and John Hancocks Lab of Forward Thinking  and holding hackathons.

You have more insurers saying they want to use innovative technologies, and trying to transform their businesses in the way theyre collaborating, says Ellen Carney, an insurance analyst for Forrester Research.

These initiatives serve a dual purpose: They both get new ideas flowing within the company, and serve as a recruiting tool to demonstrate to top IT talent that insurance is a growth industry for technology skills. Swiss Re held a hackathon on December 5 and 6 in New York in partnership with IBM, where the company invited technology students to work on an insurance app using IBM BlueMix technology. Many of the hackathons or innovation challenges at insurers revolve around hot technologies themselves, like mobility or analytics.

We havent been hiring a lot of IT people here in the US, and we want to change that, says Jayne Olsen, SVP in the North American analytics department at Swiss Re. But we need to first raise the awareness out in the tech community that Swiss Re is investing and involved in big data technology.

For Swiss Re, building an innovative culture is a relatively new priority, adds Neil Sprackling, head of life and health for the company. The insurer worked with an external partner  which Sprackling declined to name  to begin training executives in the language and processes of 21st-century innovation.

We went on a real cultural journey with this organization through 2013 and 2014 to stretch ourselves in thinking much more broadly and innovatively about what is going to be required to take us to that end consumer, Sprackling explains. We need to embrace innovation culture to do that.

As it became increasingly important for Swiss Re to start getting all levels of the organization involved in ideation and innovation, the company started innovation incubators where anyone could submit a concept or implementation they had completed, and the best ideas were invited to share with senior leadership.

You cant just send people off to an offsite for a few days and think [innovation] has become embedded in the organization, says Sprackling. We wanted to start to try and embed this, and to do that, youve got to have engagement from the ground up.

Swiss Re is also making an effort to ensure that IT is involved early on in the innovation challenges, so that any good ideas can start moving into production expeditiously. The goal is to have a unified effort that doesnt end up with good ideas lost in the shuffle.

We are looking to integrate the IT folks early in the process, says Olsen. Our IT folks are involved in these initiatives right from the beginning. And with some of the research and ideation sessions, there are pieces in there that are interesting, so we definitely want to take some of that into account in the challenge for the hackers.
Join ITR and TMF Groups tax experts at 2pm CET (1pm GMT) on November 15 as they discuss how finance leaders are increasingly faced with doing more with less, and how CFOs should adapt.
Resta altissima la tensione tra lArabia Saudita e lIran dopo lesecuzione del leader sciita al-Nimr e di altre 46 persone sospettate di essere dei terroristi e lassalto, nella notte da parte di un gruppo civili, allambasciata saudita di Teheran durante il quale sono stati arrestati una quarantina di protestanti. Lincendio al consolato, lassalto allambasciata. Per la guida suprema della Rivoluzione islamica, layatollah Ali Khamenei, si tratta di una vendetta divina. La massima autorita dellIslam sciita ha definito lesecuzione di Nimr un errore politico che perseguitera i membri del governo saudita. Lo sceicco saudita, che trascorse lunghi anni di studi nella Repubblica islamica, non ha mai incoraggiato il popolo allazione armata, ne cospirato in segreto contro le autorita. Ha solo  ha ricordato layatollah  sollevato critiche sulla base del suo zelo religioso. Il sangue ingiustamente versato di questo martire avra presto delle conseguenze: Dio non perdonera, ha affermato Khamenei.

Ieri sera manifestanti hanno attaccato la sede dellambasciata saudita a Teheran in segno di protesta, facendo irruzione nelledificio e appiccandovi un incendio. Lassalto e terminato con un intervento delle forze di polizia, che hanno arrestato circa 40 persone. Immagini pubblicate sui social mostrano i dimostranti intenti a danneggiare e dare alle fiamme oggetti di arredamento. Sulla vicenda e intervenuto il portavoce del ministero degli Esteri iraniano, Hossein Jaber Ansari, il quale ha invitato alla calma e chiarito che non saranno piu permesse manifestazioni di protesta nei pressi delle sedi diplomatiche saudite.

Al Nimr, arrestato nel 2012 dalle autorita di Riad a seguito di violenze scoppiate lanno prima nella Provincia orientale sulla scia della Primavera araba, e stato giustiziato insieme ad altri 46 terroristi tra cui un ciadiano e un egiziano. Gli osservatori temono che lesecuzione di al Nimr possa riaccendere le tensioni tra le autorita saudite e la comunita sciita che abita in maggioranza la zona nord-orientale del paese, ricca di risorse petrolifere. Il religioso non ha mai negato le accuse mosse nei suoi confronti, ma ha sempre sottolineato di non aver mai utilizzato unarma, ne istigato alla violenza. Prima del suo arresto, aveva dichiarato che il popolo non vuole essere governato da chi uccide dimostranti. LArabia Saudita ha eseguito 157 condanne a morte nel corso del 2015, il piu alto livello raggiunto negli ultimi due decenni.
Members-only big box retailer Costco Wholesale Corporation (COST) is due to report earnings after the closing bell on Thursday, May 31, with the stock above a "golden cross" since Nov. 22, when it closed at $172.48. The stock is now above my semiannual pivot of $191.73 and shy of my annual risky level of $202.84. Costco shares closed Wednesday, May 30, at $199.64, up 7.3% year to date and just 1.1% below the 2018 high of $201.77 set on May 22. The stock is 13.6% above its Feb. 9 low of $175.79.

Analysts expect Costco to post earnings per share of $1.68 to $1.70 when it reports results after the closing bell on Thursday, May 31. Edward Jones analyst Brian P. Yarbrough, CFA, rates Costco shares a buy in anticipation that the warehouse retailer will sustain strong membership renewals, with a potential membership rate increase. The risks are that membership trends and foot traffic slow, which would put a drag on profits. (See also: Costco Stock Could Break Out After Analyst Upgrades.)

The daily chart for Costco

Courtesy of MetaStock Xenith

Costco has been above a "golden cross" since Nov. 22, when the stock closed at $172.48. A "golden cross" occurs when the 50-day simple moving average rises above the 200-day simple moving average, indicating that higher prices lie ahead. The upper horizontal line is my semiannual pivot of $191.73, which was a magnet between Jan. 3 and May 4. The lower horizontal line is my second quarter value level of $181.83, which held as April began. My annual and monthly risky levels of $202.84 and $213.14, respectively, are above the chart.

[Find out more about using simple moving averages to guide your trading decisions in Chapter 2 of the Technical Analysis course on the Investopedia Academy.]

The weekly chart for Costco

Courtesy of MetaStock Xenith

The weekly chart for Costco is positive but overbought, with the stock above its five-week modified moving average of $195.39. The stock is well above its 200-week simple moving average of $152.87, which is the "reversion to the mean." The 12 x 3 x 3 weekly slow stochastic reading is projected to rise to 81.61 this week, up from 78.76 on May 25 and rising above the overbought threshold of 80.00.

Given these charts and analysis, investors should buy Costco shares on weakness to my semiannual and quarterly value levels of $191.73 and $181.83, respectively, and reduce holdings on strength to my annual and monthly risky levels of $202.84 and $213.14, respectively. (For additional reading, check out: Costcos Business Model Is Smarter Than You Think.)
Vanguard: An Overview

The Vanguard Group is among the largest investment companies in the world. At its core is a commitment to providing individual investors with low-cost solutions to gaining wealth. Vanguard is known for its mutual funds and is also a major player in the business of exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Vanguard manages to keep its low-cost edge across the fund spectrum based on a unique ownership structure despite competition from the likes of other fund companies like Schwab and Fidelity that promise low fees on certain funds.

While many of these other companies are either corporate-owned or owned by third parties, Vanguard is owned by its funds, which are owned by their investors. This means that the profits generated by operating the funds are returned to investors in the form of lower fees. As such, it makes it very difficult for other companies, which are beholden to their shareholders, to compete on price.

Vanguard introduced its suite of ETFs when the investment product gained widespread popularity. The mutual fund operator has since become the second-largest provider of ETFs behind Blackrock. Vanguards unique cost structure, the economies of scale it has achieved, and the total number of assets under management (AUM) allow it to offer its ETFs at the lowest cost available in the market. We've listed 10 of the firm's cheapest ETFs by their expense ratio.

Key Takeaways Vanguard is a leading provider of low-cost exchange-traded funds.

The firm is able to keep its low-cost edge across the fund spectrum based on a unique ownership structure.

Although you can evaluate ETFs based on their expense ratios, their holdings and historical returns should also be considered.

ETFs that invest in large-cap stocks include Vanguard's S&P 500 ETF and its Total Stock Market ETF.

Vanguard also offers ETFs that invest in small-cap stocks, midcaps, value stocks, growth stocks, bonds, and international markets.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF (VOO)

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF is one of Vanguards lowest-cost ETFs with a 0.03% expense ratio. It is also among the largest with $808 billion in assets.

The fund seeks to track the performance of the Standard & Poors (S&P) 500 Index. The portfolio thus holds the same names as the index. The median market capitalization of companies in the fund is $193.6 billion and the top holdings are:

Apple

Microsoft

Alphabet

Amazon

Tesla

The top three sectors invested by the ETF included information technology, health care, and consumer discretionary.

The Vanguard S&P 500 ETF returned 18.43% annually over the last five years and 28.66% during the past year. Year-to-date (YTD), shares returned -3.10% when based on the ETF's net asset value (NAV).

The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF (VTI)

The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF is Vanguards oldest and largest ETF with $1.3 trillion in AUM. The fund covers the entire U.S. stock market for a rock bottom fee of 0.03%.

The ETF holds more than 4,100 stocks in its portfolio, with an average market cap of $132.5 billion. The top three sectors are technology, consumer discretionary, and industries. Its top holdings are Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Tesla.

According to Vanguard, the fund's 10-year return is 15.95%, its five-year return is 17.55%, and its YTD return is 21.1%.

The Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF (BND)

With $316.2 billion in assets under management, the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF offers investors broad exposure to the fixed-income market. The expense ratio charged by Vanguard for this ETF is 0.035%.

The fund holds more than 10,150 bonds in its portfolio, including 44% allocated to Treasury/agency bonds, 22% to government mortgage-backed bonds, and 16% to industrial bonds.

The fund has returned 3.70% annually over the last five years and 3.01% over the last 10.

The Vanguard Growth ETF (VUG)

The Vanguard Growth ETF invests in stocks of large companies with high-growth potential and charges an expense ratio of 0.04%. The $183.3 billion in assets are weighted towards technology stocks.

Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Tesla comprise the top five out of almost 300 holdings.

The fund returned 19.02% annually over the last 10 years, 24.62% over the last five years, and 25.07% year-to-date.

The Vanguard Large-Cap ETF (VV)

The Vanguard Large-Cap ETF invests in stocks representing the largest 85% of the U.S. stock market, which ranges from large multinational companies to mid-cap ones. The funds expense ratio is 0.04%.

The fund, which has $41.2 billion in assets, holds more than 600 stocks in its portfolio, with an average market cap of $184.9 billion. Technology, consumer discretionary, and health care represent the biggest sectors within the fund and the top five holdings include Microsoft, Apple, Alphabet, Amazon, and Tesla.

The fund's 10-year annual return is 16.24%, its five-year return is 18.22%. It returned 22.23% on a YTD basis.

Asset under management figures, sector weightings, and top holdings for the Vanguard ETFs in this article are as of March. 31, 2021.

The Vanguard Value ETF (VTV)

The Vanguard Value ETF invests in approximately 350 large-cap value stocks in the U.S. and comes with an expense ratio of 0.04% This ETF has $134.4 billion in AUM and holds 344 stocks from numerous industry groups: financials, health care, and industrials are the largest sectors.

The average market cap of the companies in the ETF is $117.9 billion. Its top five holdings are:

Berkshire Hathaway

JPMorgan Chase

UnitedHealth

Johnson & Johnson

Bank of America

Over the last 10 years, the fund returned 13.25% annually and over five years, 11.60%. Its year-to-date return was almost 18.32%.

The Vanguard Midcap ETF (VO)

The Vanguard Midcap ETF has an expense ratio of 0.04%, providing investors with low-cost access to a diversified group of medium-sized companies in the U.S. It has $165.4 billion AUM, which is invested in 380 stocks that have a median market cap of $27.4 billion.

Technology accounts for more than 19% of the fund's portfolio, followed by industrials (15.5%) and consumer discretionary stocks (14.5%). The top five holdings are Dexcom, Marvell Technology, MSCI, Synopsis, and IQVIA Holdings.

The fund's 10-year return is 14.65% and the five-year return is 15.14%. It has returned 17.36% year-to-date.

The Vanguard Small-Cap ETF (VB)

The Vanguard Small-Cap ETF invests in a diversified group of small companies. The fund has an expense ratio of 0.05% and $94 billion in assets under management.

VB is invested in 1,527 stocks, with industrials, consumer discretionary, and financials representing the biggest sectors. The fund's top five holdings are Bio-Techne, Pool Corp., Diamondback Energy, Entegris, and VICI Properties.

Over the last 10 years, the ETF returned 13.79% annually and, over the last five, 13.13%. Its year-to-date return was 11.42%.

The Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities ETF (VTIP)

With $56.9 billion in AUM and an expense ratio of 0.05%, the Vanguard Short-Term Inflation-Protected Securities ETF gives investors access to bonds backed by the federal government. It also aims to provide protection from inflationary risks or other unexpected inflationary surprises.

The fund is invested in just 20 government-backed bonds. Among the holdings, almost 25% are three to four-year bonds while two-to-three-year bonds comprise 20.5% of the portfolio. The remaining 17% consists of bonds with maturities of less than two years and four to five years.

The fund, whose benchmark index is the Bloomberg US 0-5 Year TIPS Index, returned 3.27% annually in five years and 4.81% year-to-date.

The Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF (VEA)

With more than $163.6 billion in AUM, the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF has become a very popular low-cost way for investors to gain broad exposure to foreign developed economies and markets. The funds expense ratio is 0.05%.

The fund invests heavily in the European and Pacific markets and holds over 4,000 stocks. The median market cap for the fund is $37.2 billion. The top five holdings are Nestle, Samsung Electronics, ASML Holding, Roche Holding, and Toyota.

The fund returned 7.77% annually over the last 10 years and 9.68% over the last five years. Year-to-date, it is up 6.22%.
Every October, the Social Security Administration (SSA) announces its annual changes to the Social Security program for the coming year. Below is our summary of the Social Security changes that were announced in October 2021 and are set to take effect on Jan. 1, 2022.

Key Takeaways Social Security recipients will get a 5.9% raise for 2022, compared with the 1.3% hike that beneficiaries received in 2021.



Maximum earnings subject to the Social Security tax also increasedfrom $142,800 a year to $147,000.

Other changes for 2022 include an increase in how much money working Social Security recipients can earn before their benefits are reduced and a slight rise in disability benefits.

Social Security tax rates remain the same for 2022: 6.2% on employees and 12.4% on the self-employed.

It now takes $1,510 to earn a single Social Security credit, up just $40 from 2021.

1. Beneficiaries to See a 5.9% Increase

The big news for 2022 is that nearly 70 million Social Security recipients will see reflected in their monthly benefits the largest cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) since Ronald Reagan's first term in office in 1982. The adjustment helped benefits keep pace with inflation and is based on the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers (CPI-W) as calculated by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). If the CPI-W increases more than 0.1% year over year between the third quarter of the previous year and the third quarter of the current year, then Social Security will raise benefits by the same amount.

As we've seen, 2022's 5.9% bump is much higher than most years; in 2021 the COLA increase was just 1.3%. The average monthly benefit for all retired workers will increase by $92 in 2022, from $1,565 to $1,657.

2. Maximum Taxable Earnings Rose to $147,000

In 2021, employees were required to pay a 6.2% Social Security tax (with their employer matching that payment) on income of up to $142,800. Any earnings above that amount were not subject to the tax. In 2022, the tax rate remained the same at 6.2% (12.4% for the self-employed), but the income cap increased to $147,000.

The flip side is that as the taxable maximum income increases, so does the maximum amount of earnings used by the SSA to calculate retirement benefits. In 2021, the maximum monthly Social Security benefit for a worker retiring at full retirement age was $3,148. In 2022, the maximum benefit increases by $197 per month to $3,345.

3. Full Retirement Age Continues to Rise

The absolute earliest that you can start claiming Social Security retirement benefits is age 62. However, claiming before your full (or normal) retirement age will result in a permanently reduced payout.

Under current law, the retirement age for Social Security purposes is set to increase by two months each year until it hits 67. If you turned 62 in 2021, then your full retirement age is 66 and 10 months. Unless the law changes, anyone born in 1960 or later will not reach full retirement age until they are 67.

If you delay collecting Social Security past your full retirement age, then you can collect more than your full, or normal, payout. In fact, if you put off claiming until age 70, then you will receive an annual payout up to 32% higher than if you started receiving benefits at full retirement.

After age 70, there is no further incentive for delaying: Your monthly benefit stops increasing, with or without put-offs.

4. Earnings Limits for Recipients Were Increased

If you work while collecting Social Security benefits, then all or part of your benefits may be temporarily withheld, depending on how much you earn. However, those income limits have increased slightly for 2022.

Prior to reaching full retirement age, you will be able to earn up to $19,560 in 2022. After that, $1 will be deducted from your payment for every $2 that exceeds the limit. The 2022 annual limit represents a $600 increase over the 2021 limit of $18,960.

If you reach full retirement age in 2022, then you will be able to earn $51,960, up $1,440 from the 2021 annual limit of $50,520. For every $3 you earn over the limit, your Social Security benefits will be reduced by $1, but that will only apply to money earned in the months prior to hitting full retirement age. Once you reach full retirement age, no benefits will be withheld if you continue working.

5. Social Security Disability Benefits Increased

Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) is an insurance program in which workers can earn coverage for benefits by paying Social Security taxes through their paycheck. The program provides income for those who can no longer work due to a disability, to help replace some of their lost income. Most years payments increase only increase slightly, however, the 9.6 million Americans who receive Social Security disability benefits will be pleased to learn 2022's 5.9% increase will result in a more noticeable boost in benefits.

Disabled workers will receive on average $1,358 per month in 2022, up from $1,282 in 2021. However, for a disabled worker, spouse, and one or more children, theyll be paid on average $2,383 per month, an increase of $133 thanks to the 5.9% COLA.

6. Credit Earning Threshold Went Up

If you were born in 1929 or later, then you must earn at least 40 credits (maximum of four per year) over your working life to qualify for Social Security benefits. The amount it takes to earn a single credit goes up slightly each year. For 2022, it will take $1,510 in earnings per credit, up $40 from 2021. The number of credits needed for disability depends on your age when you become disabled.

Shortfalls Ahead?

According to the most recent (2021) Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees annual report, both trust funds face depletion in the decades ahead. If the predictions hold, it means that beginning in 2033, retirees who receive money from the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund benefits, will receive about three-quarters (76%) of their scheduled benefit; those who receive payouts from the Disability Insurance (DI) Trust Fund will receive 91% of their benefit, starting in 2057. The report concludes by urging lawmakers to address these financial shortfalls, "taking action sooner rather than later.
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#REE Stock News - Defense Metals (TSX-V: $DEFN.V) (OTCQB: $DFMTF) Continues to Drill High-Grades at Wicheeda with 106 metres of 2.53% Total Rare Earth Oxide

Vancouver, British Columbia - October 13, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Mining / Metals / Green Energy Stock News - Defense Metals Corp. (TSX-V: DEFN / OTCQB: DFMTF/ FSE:35D) announces high-grade Rare Earth Element ("REE") assay results from one additional core drill hole, totalling 320 metres (m)

Top AI Cybersecurity Stock News - Investor Idea

AI Cybersecurity Stock GBT (OTCPK: $GTCH) is Researching the Development of a Machine Learning Driven, RF Cybersecurity System and Protocol

San Diego, CA - October 13, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) GBT Technologies Inc. (OTC PINK: GTCH) is researching the development of a machine learning driven radio frequency (RF) cybersecurity system and protocol.

Top AI Stock News - Investor Idea

Breaking AI Stock News: LZG International, Inc. (FatBrain AI) (OTCQB: LZGI) Announces Uplisting to OTCQB(R) Venture Market

NEW YORK, NY - October 11, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) LZG International, Inc. (FatBrain AI) (OTCQB: LZGI), the leader in powerful and easy-to-use artificial intelligence (AI) solutions empowering global growth businesses, is pleased to announce its successful uplisting to the OTCQB Venture Market.

Top Health and Wellness Stock News - Investor Idea

Health and Wellness Stock News - Amazon ( $AMZN) Expands Endexx (OTCBB: $EDXC) Blesswell Men's Premium Skincare Line Internationally to 13 Countries

CAVE CREEK, Ariz. - September 29, 2022 (Investorideas.com Newswire) Endexx Corporation (OTCBB:EDXC), a provider of innovative, plant-based, and sustainable health and skincare products, today announces the international distribution of its premium men's Blesswell Skincare line through Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN).

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Irelands Labour Party is planning an attack ad for the General Election that portrays Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams and Fianna Fail leader Micheal Martin as a gay couple getting married.

The advertisement is one of several images that the party is considering as part of its election campaign, a senior Labour source has revealed.

The election ad is aimed at fueling fears over the possibility of a Sinn Fein/Fianna Fail government and presents the Coalition as the only alternative, the Irish Independent reports.

The attack ad has raised concerns over the potential for a US-style negative election campaign with parties engaged in cut-throat tactics in an effort to win votes.

The Labour ad comes after previous revelations that Fine Gael has plans to personally target Michael Martin during the election, having described him as a shiver without a spine in a private briefing.

The advertisement shows Adams and Martin as a agy couple outside Leinster House cutting a wedding cake, surrounded by left-wing TDs Richard Boyd Barrett, Paul Murphy, Mick Wallace and Clare Daly as the wedding party. The ad warns voters that This is one marriage we should vote NO to this year. At the bottom are the words: Vote Labour for a stable and balanced Government.

The source said that the goal of the draft advert was to make a serious point in a humorous way.

However reaction on social media has been overwhelmingly negative with many believing the ad has a homophobic tinge to it.

@GerryMcBride The @labour party used to be better than that kinda shtick. The #labourad is kind of a national embarrassment.. #1916centenary  Tomas O'Morrin (@t_morrin) January 3, 2016

Claiming something is not homophobic or dishing out "I voted yes" is poor; stop defending, apologise, campaign on @labour #GE16  Daniel Waugh (@dm_waugh) January 3, 2016

The people who cobbled together that misguided, messy photoshop of a thing for Labour and those who signed off on it really need to cop on!  Una Mullally (@UnaMullally) January 3, 2016

According to the Irish Independenthe ad will likely infuriate Fianna Fails Martin, who has persistently ruled out a coalition with Sinn Fein, despite advances from Adams, who is open to forming a government with the other party.

A spokeswoman for Micheal Martin said the ad showed that Joan Burton's party was "clutching at straws in desperation.

"The stakes are very high for Labour, so they have to go for the negative campaign to get noticed," she added.

Fianna Fail's environment spokesman, Barry Cowen, said that any follow-up to Labour's 'Every little hurts under Fine Gael' ad would only "heighten people's abhorrence of their tactics.

A Sinn Fein spokesman has said Labour was becoming "increasingly desperate" ahead of the election.Campaign efforts should accelerate in the coming weeks as it is speculated that Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny will hold the election on February 25 or 26.

Labours gay marriage ad, one of many that the party plans to unveil over the course of the campaign, is currently a draft and has not yet been commissioned to appear in any publication.
Britain is seriously considering banning Donald Trump, president or not, from their shores. If so that would put him in the category of men like African butcher Idi Amin, the Ugandan genocidal maniac who was barred from Britain when in office.

If it ever happened it would cause a major dilemma for Ireland where Trump is just as unpopular as he is in Britain if not more so.

Prime Minister David Cameron made his feeling clear, calling Trumps comments "divisive, stupid and wrong."

"If he came to visit our country, I think he would unite us all against him," he told British parliamentarians.

European countries tend to identify far more with Democrats and Trump is regarded as a dangerous demagogue ripping the skin off racial sores in the US in his pursuit of power.

I was astonished while in Ireland at Christmas by the number of Irish who asked me if Americans were actually serious about electing Trump. When I answered that a significant percentage definitely were, they shook their heads in amazement.

There is precedent in Britain for such race politics. When he was an MP, Tory grandee Enoch Powell made a speech in 1968 in which he warned of a river of blood if immigrants were allowed into Britain, and for a time he got massive support. Donald Trump is his nearest American comparison.

Powell quoted approvingly from a constituent In this country in 15 or 20 years time the black man will have the whip hand over the white man."

He also stated As I look ahead, I am filled with foreboding; like the Roman, I seem to see "the River Tiber foaming with much blood."

Ireland has not been without its right wing cabal either. In the 1930s the Blueshirts, forerunners of Fine Gael, were open admirers of Hitler. Speaking of their leader Eoin ODuffy, Richard English, professor of politics at Queen's in Belfast, said, "He was enthralled with Mussolini and later with Hitler. He was a fascist."

So, given that tradition, perhaps they should not be so surprised that 500,000 British called for a ban on Trump after his ban Muslim comments. They have seen this white-hot rhetoric before.

That number of 500,000 signatories automatically sparked a debate in the British parliament as it was five times the number needed.

The government responded to the petition calling for Donald Trump to be banned from entering Britain by pointing out that it has the power to exclude foreign nationals if their presence is non-conducive to the public good.

Home Secretary Theresa May found Trumps remarks in relation to Muslims divisive, unhelpful and wrong.

It was quite an extraordinary intervention in a foreign election by a European leader.

The home secretary added she may exclude a non-European Economic Area national from the UK if she considers their presence in the UK to be non-conducive to the public good.

The home secretary has said that coming to the UK is a privilege and not a right and she will continue to use the powers available to prevent from entering the UK those who seek to harm our society and who do not share our basic values. basically placing Trump up there with potential ISIS recruiters."

The statement also made it clear that Prime Minister David Cameron completely disagrees with Trumps remarks.

The statement adds: The government recognizes the strength of feeling against the remarks and will continue to speak out against comments which have the potential to divide our communities, regardless of who makes them. We reject any attempts to create division and marginalization amongst those we endeavor to protect.

The statement either reflects total political correctness or genuine fear of upsetting uneasy race relations. Remember, Britain had its own homegrown ISIS problem. Jihadi John, their main executioner, was from Britain and they know there are many aimless youths similarly inclined.

The last thing they want is a Donald Trump-like figure, unwittingly or not, adding to the blame game on Muslims.

The furor is still another first in the increasingly weird Trump campaign. The special relationship between Britain and America is incredibly important to both countries as the Irish have often found out. Is Trump about to smash that too?

Donald Trumps speech calling for ban on Muslims is closest comparison to Tory member of parliament Enoch Powells 1968 river of blood speech:
James W Upton was an Irish journalist who participated in the 1916 Easter Rising, but whose contribution to Ireland and dedication to the freedom of speech is largely forgotten today.

Upton started working as a reporter for the Waterford Star newspaper in 1904, after several years of writing Gaelic reports for various regional newspapers under the pseudonym Valiant. The Sinn Feiner was forced to resign from the paper in 1914 as a result of his nationalist activity and became the editor of the Kilkenny Journal. He also wrote and edited for Joseph Stanleys Gaelic Press, providing copy for the Gaelic Athlete and editing Honesty and the Spark under the pen names Gilbert Galbraith and Ed Dalton.

In March 1916, the British authorities raided the Gaelic Press. Afterwards, Stanley and Upton continued publication of the Spark in the basement of Liberty Hall, under a guard provided by the Irish Citizen Army.

A recent piece in the Irish Times recounts Uptons contribution to the 1916 Easter Rising: On Monday, April 24th, following a meeting with Pearse and Connolly in the GPO, Stanley commandeered a small printing works in Halston Street in order to print and distribute Pearses bulletins. Upton remained with Stanley throughout the Easter Rising, jointly authoring several articles in Irish War News and assisting with printing and distribution of subsequent bulletins. In the aftermath of the Rising, Upton slipped back to Kilkenny to continue his editorial role and republican agitation; activities that earned him a Black and Tan 'death warrant' in 1921.

Upton has never received recognition for his role, in part due to his own reticence in seeking credit. He refused to claim a pension or medal, saying that what he did was for Ireland and he did not want a reward for a job only half done.

After leaving the Kilkenny Journal in 1922, Upton spent and number of years working as a freelancer and served six years as editor of the radical national weekly journal Honesty.

The Irish Times writes: Upton, who had a lifetime commitment to freedom of speech, offered a platform in Honesty to political views from across the spectrum, a policy that would eventually bring him into conflict with the leadership of Fianna Fail. In July 1929, Upton published an article by Patrick Belton that attacked the leadership of the party, accusing them, among other things, of lying in the Dail. Boland and Lemass cited Beltons article as justification for surreptitiously instructing the party membership to boycott Honesty, an action that effectively sounded its death knell.

However, the attack on Honesty was as much about de Valeras interest in the flagging Nation and the soon to be launched Irish Press, as it was about their ire at Uptons editorial policy. Honesty struggled on for another couple of years but eventually closed in February 1931. In May of the same year Upton launched a new publication, Publicity; however, it failed after just eight months, ultimately ending Uptons career as an editor.

Upton would continue to work as a freelance journalist until 1945, when he was forced to take up employment as a reference librarian with Waterford City Library.

He died in Waterford, in 1956, at the age of 84.
Sweden has introduced new border controls for people entering the country by train, bus or ferry in a bid to stem the flow of migrants.

To comply with the new Swedish rules, passengers are having to show identification to board trains departing from Copenhagen Airport in Denmark to Sweden across a bridge-and-tunnel link.

It is the latest move by a European Union country to suspend an agreement to keep internal borders open.

Danish officials have criticised the move and suggested Sweden should pay for the cost of the ID checks.

The Swedish government decided to tighten border controls after 160,000 people applied for asylum in Sweden last year.

That is the highest number in Europe except for Germany. Most of them were from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

Denmark has also tightened controls at its border with Germany just hours after neighbouring Sweden introduced similar measures to stem the flow of migrants.

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmusssen told reporters in Copenhagen that police are conducting spot checks on travellers crossing the border from Germany.

We are introducing temporary border controls, but in a balanced way, Mr Rasmussen said, adding there would be no problem for ordinary Danes and Germans to cross the border.

It was the latest move by a European Union country to suspend an agreement to keep internal borders open after one million migrants entered the bloc in 2015.

If the European Union cannot protect the external border you will see more and more countries forced to introduce temporary border controls, the Danish prime minister said.
They recommend not having the email app running at all times  which many users would regard as heresy. The report, from the London-based Future Work Centre, which conducts psychological research on workplace experiences, said emails were a double-edged sword of useful communication and stress.

Urging users to seize control of their email, instead of being ruled by it, the authors said: You may want to consider launching your email application when you want to use email, and closing it down for periods when you dont wish to be interrupted by incoming emails. In other words, use email when you intend to, not just because its always running in the background. The team surveyed 2,000 workers, across a range of industries and occupations in the UK, about the pros and cons of using email.
Boosted by an overall win at the 2015 Irelands Best Young Entrepreneur awards, Cork start-up Ayda is now making plans for a midsummer launch of an innovative new wearable fertility tracker.

We have been the first to develop both an app and a wearable device which work together to accurately determine ovulation and make it easier for women to conceive faster, says company chief executive and co-founder, James Foody.

Although there are a number of products in this space, Mr Foody says that Aydas technology is unique because it is more user friendly and accurate than anything else on the market. Set to cost less than 150, he believes it will also be less expensive.

The company has been in existence for just 10 months. Since then it has participated in both an accelerator and an incubator programme in the US, been identified by Enterprise Ireland as a High Potential Start Up and has raised over 500,000 in seed funding.

Now in Beta testing, Ayda plans to launch its app in June and to release the wearable device shortly afterwards. By this time Mr Foody expects to have initiated a 2m investment round to fund the launch and further development.

The founding of the company was sparked by an idea for a wearable fertility device idea that Mr Foody and another of the companys founders had last year at a hardware hackathon event.

At the time he was involved in a hardware development company in Cork called Smudge Hardware which he and and four other electrical engineering graduates from UCC had established.

We felt there was a need for a wearable device with an easy-to-use accompanying app that didnt feel clinical or require a doctor to use.

In February 2015, assisted by a 10,000 feasibility grant from the Local Enterprise Board in Cork City, they set up a new company and started working on the technology.

They subsequently identified the PCH International Highway accelerator programme in San Francisco as the best place to take their prototype.

During the programme, Ayda got Silicon Valley design company Ammunition to help finalise the product and app design.

Graduating from Highway in June, Ayda joined an incubator programme with French telecom giant Orange in September in San Francisco. This provided help with developing partnerships in distribution and getting the company primed to be market ready.

Mr Foody is now finalising discussions with a US company which is going to mass manufacture Aydas products under contract in China.

Winning the Irelands Best Young Entrepreneur title in December, Ayda collected a total of 70,000 in prize money and is now benefiting from the publicity.

We have had a huge number of inquiries from people interested in buying the product, from clinicians interested in distributing it and from retail companies interested in selling it, says Mr Foody.

The plan at present is to provide the app for free via the app store and to sell the wearable device on the Ayda website.

At present the company operates from both Cork and San Francisco.

Three engineers work at Aydas base in Glanmire while the other four, including Mr Foody, are based in San Francisco.

Although still an early start-up company, Ayda has ambitious plans to become the global leader in the fertility tracking market.

Company: Ayda

Location: Glanmire and San Francisco

Set up: February 2015

CEO: James Foody

Staff: 7

Products: Fertility tracking app and wearable device

Website: www.ayda.co
The future for the food industry and opportunities for global growth are literally mouth-watering.

With the worlds population expected to grow by over a billion by 2030, demand for food sources will need to increase by 50% to cope with demand.

Driven by a doubling of the worlds middle class to well in excess of 3.2bn by 2020, major Irish companies like Kerry Group, Glanbia and Greencore are already gearing up plant and personnel to meet this soaring expansion.

Last years record 10.5bn in exports follows five years of sustained growth by the sector, which is now well positioned as it seeks to expand towards its 19bn export goal set in Food Wise 2025, said Agriculture Minister Simon Coveney.

As the industry continues to develop premium positions in established markets, significant progress is also being made in opening up new markets that can help sustain its growth.

I am deeply conscious that business is not easily won and Irish food and drink companies are to be commended for their success and determination in developing Irelands largest indigenous industry.

Irelands largest industry has an annual turnover of 25bn, exports of 10bn and 230,000 jobs. The sector supplies much of the countrys 14bn domestic grocery sector, is the largest net exporter of dairy ingredients, beef, and lamb in Europe, and the UKs largest supplier of food and drink.

A number of factors underpin this turnaround  not least the extraordinary rate of urbanisation continuing across the globe. A very large proportion of these potential new consumers now live in geographically concentrated markets across the world from growing EU conurbations to the teeming city hubs of Asia.

The new agri-food strategy, Food Wise 2025, has set out the ambitions of the sector for the decade, and predicts that Ireland can increase the value of exports by 85% to 19bn, push the value added to the sector by 70% to 13bn, and grow the value of primary production by 65% to 10bn.

The strategy builds upon the success of the current strategy, Food Harvest 2020, which has seen exports grow faster than any of the other main merchandise sectors since the economic crash began in 2008. Research by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, estimates that the agri-food sector contributes almost 40% of net foreign earnings from 19% of exports.

In terms of balance of international payments, every 100 of exports from the sector generated 52 in net foreign earnings. In contrast, exports from other sectors contributed only 19 in net foreign earnings for every 100 of exports.

Given this embeddedness of the agri-food sector within the Irish economy, targeted output growth will have an important impact on Ireland.

Another important attribute of the agri-food sector is that it is located in rural Ireland. Growth in these sectors can help deliver on the rural employment objectives within the Commission for Economic Development in Rural Areas report.

Ambitious growth projections are also on the cards for the beef industry, which could become the most carbon efficient in Europe, generating an additional 300m annually, as part of the Irish food and farming industrys plans to be a world-leader in sustainable food and drink production.

While Irelands green image has been a key platform for the success of the industry, as underlined by last years exports to 175 markets and generating 10.5bn for the economy, it is no longer sufficient for Ireland to just declare its green credentials.

In a world facing challenges from climate change and resource scarcity, we must prove it as well.

Since Origin Green was established in 2012, more than 55,000 Irish farms and 122 food and drink companies have become fully-verified members of the programme.

The farms account for 90% of Irelands beef production and half of its milk output, while the companies are responsible for 85% of the countrys food and drink exports. As part of the programme, food and drink manufacturers have committed to over 800 sustainability targets around raw material sourcing, manufacturing processes and social sustainability  and which has met with universal acclaim from the World Bank, the World Wildlife Fund, and from global leaders in the food and drink industry.

Three and a half years following its launch, Origin Green has gained traction at home and won plaudits abroad, and on a scale few of us might have imagined, said Bord Bia chief executive, Aidan Cotter. It is transforming our thinking about how we produce food and how we do business, and how we can be different, and make a difference, in a challenging marketplace and a changing world.

A unique feature of Origin Green is the practice that all participating farms be audited and carbon-footprinted once every 18 months.

No other country anywhere is carbon foot-printing its farms on such national scale. And we are not just doing this once; we are doing it routinely over an 18-month cycle. This is a process of measurement, feedback and continuous improvement. Farms are also measured on their performance around water conservation and biodiversity, as well as on animal health and welfare and on food safety.

Irelands dairy herd already enjoys the joint-lowest footprint in the European Union, while our beef herd ranks at number five. Were the carbon footprint of the beef herd to be reduced by 10%, it could become the most carbon efficient in Europe, and generate improved on-farm income of 300m per year.

A partnership recently signed between Bord Bia and SF Best, one of Chinas leading e-commerce platforms for imported food will see a concentrated online promotion and sale of premium Irish food and drink over the next 12 months. SF Best operates 2,800 stores across China and, importantly for food exporters, its e-commerce business is recognised as a leader in fresh and frozen imported produce.

Online shopping for food is becoming an increasingly important part of Chinese consumers purchasing habits. In the first three months of 2015, the value of Chinese online shopping transactions exceeded 108bn, up 45% on the same period in 2013. Online sales of food are expected to continue growing at a rate of 50% annually, to a value of 280bn by 2025, with imported food expected to account for some 13% of this total value.

Irelands exports to China increased in value by 50% last year to reach 367m, and exports to Hong Kong increased by 24% to 180m.

China and Hong Kong continues to be a growing market for Irish seafood with exports increasing nearly five-fold in value since 2011 to reach almost 27m in 2014. This positive growth in Irish exports to the region continued last year with sales to mainland China up 45% year-on-year compared to the 2013 figure.

Aiming to capitalise further on the established reputation of Irish food in the Middle East, Bord Bia participated at Gulfood Manufacturing Exhibition in Dubai for the first time.

The only dedicated food ingredients show in the Gulf region, the three-day event brought together 1,500 exhibitors and over 30,000 attendees from 26 countries, including international government minsters, top level trade delegations, and global industry leaders.

The Bord Bia stand was themed Origin Green, and targeted dairy and dairy ingredients buyers from the Middle East, North Africa and near Asia.

Participating at Gulfood Manufacturing proves our confidence in the region to deliver for Irish producers and exporters and offers an ideal opportunity for Bord Bia to engage directly with buyers from near Asia, the Middle East and North Africa and to present Irelands unique message on sustainable food production through our Origin Green programme, said Michael Hussey, Bord Bias manager in Dubai. In addition, the recent announcement by Minister Coveney on opening market access for Irish beef and sheep meat to Oman with no age limit gives a renewed boost to our efforts in that region.

The Middle East and North African markets have performed very well in recent years with Irish food and beverage exports to the region valued at 364m in 2014, an increase of 20% on the previous year, driven mainly by the dairy sector.

Six-fold increase in beef exports to Germany

Irish beef is performing increasingly well in the German market, growing six-fold in as many years.

The continuous growth of the sector follows a major promotional campaign, which saw Irish beef exports reach almost 120m in 2014, compared to just 50m in 2011.

While beef exports have remained strong in 2015, a new three-year promotional campaign starting this year aims to increase beef exports by a further 50% to reach 30,000 tonnes annually by 2018.

Germany represents Irelands fourth largest export market for food and drink, valued at 565m in 2014.

Distribution has also significantly increased, with Irish beef now widely available through all key German retailers, including REAL, Sky Coop, Kaufland, Rewe, and Karstadt. REAL Hypermarket, part of the Metro Group, the worlds fourth largest retailer with an annual turnover of 67bn, is a key customer of Irish beef, importing over 5,000 tonnes each year.

Early in 2015, REAL launched a national promotional campaign to celebrate its 50th birthday and selected premium Irish beef as the key focus of its television campaign. The German market continues to offer significant growth potential for premium, sustainable products, said German president Joachim Gauck, who visited an Irish farm to gain an insight into Origin Green and sustainable farming in action.

It has a long history of environmentalism and interest in sustainability and Bord Bias Origin Green sustainability programme is being very well received by key stakeholders in the German food industry.

Kerrygold butter is the number-one selling butter in the German market, with a 17% market share. Irelands dairy exports account for 41% of food and drink exports to Germany, valued at 230m in 2014.

Most German consumers associate Ireland with Die Grune Insel  the Green Island  and high-quality Irish dairy products, such as butter and cheese.

Organic and farmhouse cheeses such as Little Milk Company and Cashel Blue have also gained ground in Germany in more recent years. In 2014, prepared foods accounted for approximately 16% of Irish food and drink exports to Germany, where key players include Keoghs Crisps, Dawn Farm Foods, Green Isle Foods, and Kepak Convenience. New to the market is Irish sous-vide specialist, Ribworld, who secured three new listings this year in the German market, including in one of the countrys leading premium retailers.

Future of milk is green as plan aims to double output

In Ireland, the future of milk is green, wrote Agathe Lejeune, a French journalist with the highly-respected trade magazine, Lineaires, following her visit to Ireland last October.

Her observations give an insight into how the Irish food industrys sustainable food production initiatives are received abroad, as well as its penetration in the French market and its drive to innovate.

Pointing to Irelands ambition to increase milk production by 50%, to 7.5bn litres by 2020, Ms Lejeune wrote that although this quantity is just a splash on a European scale, it represents a fabulous opportunity for Irelands 18,000 dairy farms.

She noted that scope exists to increase the yield of Irish dairy cows, with each animal currently producing, on average, 5,500 litres of milk per year compared to a French cows 6,800, and added that the best news is that Ireland intends to use a highly ambitious national sustainability programme entitled Origin Green to help it achieve its objectives she added.

The journalist described the Origin Green programme as an impressive display of national unity, built around its three pillars of raw materials sourcing, manufacturing processes and social responsibility.

The programme is very popular in Ireland, because it is based on individually set, achievable, measurable improvement targets, said Ms Lejeune.

Origin Green is not designed to be completed and then forgotten. It is a long-term commitment to progress, she wrote.

She concluded that although the initiative may not directly raise export prices, it is an excellent mark of quality, recognised by leading organisations worldwide.

Ms Lejeune found herself surprised at one particular discovery during her visit: Who would have thought that Ficello, Frances fourth-ranking childrens cheese brand, is produced by Kerry Foods in one small plant at Charleville in Co Cork, which has a population of just 4,000.

Ms Lejeune also noted Irelands insatiable appetite for milk, and the fact that practically everybody drinks it fresh, while UHT is the preferred option for the French.

The Irish drink plenty of it, she added, with an average milk consumption in Ireland of 130 litres per person per year.

She remarked that Glanbia, with its Avonmore brand, brought back the old-fashioned milkman in late 2014, backing him up with modern technology by way of the mymilkman.ie website through which it sells fresh milk for delivery across the country.

However most customers are in major cities such as Dublin and Cork, or on the west coast.

Yes, almost one hundred lines are available, with eggs, fruit juice, yoghurts, butter and more  all the ingredients for a perfect Irish breakfast, Ms Lejeune concluded.
In recent years, the number of aircraft operating on lease finance has steadily increased from less than 2% of the global aircraft fleet funded in this manner in 1980 to around 40% in 2014 according to Boeing Aircraft Corporation.

However, the penetration of operating leases as a means of financing aircraft increased most rapidly in the period after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, rising from 25% in 2000 to 40% in 2014 . The main driver of the change was as a result of the commercial banks, previously the main source of aircraft financing, reducing their airline exposure in the wake of 9/11. This was to happen again in aftermath of the Lehman Brothers collapse.

Globally, aircraft lease financing companies recorded sales income of approximately 38 billion in 2014. Lease operators based in Ireland accounted for 21% of this global total, with a sales income recorded of 7.8bn.

The large size of the aircraft operating lease industry is partly a function of the historical poor profitability of the worlds airlines  Ryanair being a notable exception. In most cases the poor balance sheets, exacerbated by the change in EU regulations of state aid to bail out failing airlines, and precluded them from buying and funding new aircraft.

Tony Ryan was an early pioneer who spotted the potential for exploiting the lease-finance business model as a means of improving the return for airlines. His GPA company was able to offer airlines with surplus or under-utilised aircraft an opportunity to off-load them by placing them on lease to other areas of the globe where there was a shortage.

GE Capital Aviation Services (GECAS)  who bought out GPAs assets has continued the Ryan legacy in aircraft leasing in Shannon. With 1,840 fixed-wing aircraft on lease, GECAS is currently the largest lease finance operator globally. Aercap, the second largest player globally, is also located in Shannon, but as with GECAS, is increasingly trading from its Dublin facility.

Domhnal Slattery added to the Irish aircraft leasing scene with his Avolon Inc. company which he set up in 2010. Within five years Avolon had built up a lease fleet of 145 aircraft, generating estimated sales revenue of 830m before selling out in 2015 to the Chinese Bohai Corporation. However, the Dublin office continues as the operating office for the lease company.

Global air travel demand has grown by an average of 5% per year over the last 20 years. Published forecasts by IATA, the global airline trade body, indicates that air travel demand will double over the next 15 years. The continued growth is expected to be by increasing wealth in the AsiaPacific and emerging markets.

However, the picture is even more promising for the lease business, with all the industry sources estimating that aircraft lessors will increase their penetration of the commercial jet market form the current 40% to an estimated 60% of the flying fleet. This would see the global lease market exceed 100bn by 2033, and Irish aircraft lease income forecast to rise from the expected 8.9bn in 2015 to 20bn by then.

Ireland is well positioned to continue to be the leading location for lease corporations to operate from. The Government participated in a joint venture to establish and operate the global register of financial interests in aircraft, Aviareto.

In the Finance Act 2011 a number of measures were introduced enhance Irelands status as the location of choice for aircraft leasing companies. These included the expansion of the Section 110 regime. This enabled off shore leasing companies to hold aircraft on the Irish register for financing and taxation purposes.

However, global demand is moving towards Asia and new start-up airlines are increasingly emerging in this region. Hence, in spite of the strength of the county in the aviation and financial services sectors, Ireland will have to box clever if it is to maintain itself as a global hub for aircraft financing.

The Finance Act 2013 had some measures which should help reach this goal, such as enhanced equipment trust certificates (EETCs) and the enabling asset backed securities (ABS) debt financing. This was further improved by the State Airports (Shannon Group) Act 2014 which will enable financiers to get access to their aircraft assets in the event of default or insolvency more speedily than they would under the national insolvency rules as they exist.

Once again Shannon is being asked to take the lead with the establishment of the Shannon Group which amalgamated Shannon Airport Authority and Shannon Development into a new commercial organisation with a mandate to establish and expand an International Aviation Services Centre.

But the centre of gravity for the aircraft lease and financing industry has moved over the past five years to Dublins International Financial Services Centre (IFSC). It will take high levels of pro-active globetrotting from the management team in Shannon to pull the rug at this stage. However, the real battle will be to get lease financial operators to maintain their presence in Ireland, east or west.

* John Whelan is a leading international trade consultant
The two launched negotiations in March 2013 toward a trade deal that would encompass a third of the worlds gross domestic product.

Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and top EU officials had called on negotiators in May 2014 to wrap up all key issues by the end of 2015. Instead, a 15th round of talks is now scheduled to take place in Brussels at the end of February.

Mauro Petriccione, the EUs lead negotiator, said the talks were now mature in the sense that each side knows the others position and now needs to find compromises.

If we dont make it in 2016, well have to explain why, and we cant exclude a resurgence of the scepticism toward the possibility of an EU-Japan FTA that we had before we started, Mr Petriccione told reporters at a special press briefing.

In my judgement, its perfectly possible from a negotiating point of view to do it in a few months.

Petriccione expressed his outright exasperation over one major sticking point  the EUs demand that Japan open up its markets to European food and drinks.

Tokyo is wary of doing so out of concern for the countrys farmers, who are strongly backed by the politically influential Japan Agricultural Co-operatives lobby.

Mr Petriccione said: What is sensitive in Japan about chocolate? What is sensitive about spaghetti?

We will be open on issues like rice, beef, pork, dairy products. But if you look into dairy products wheres the problem in Japan for cheese? he said.

Japan starts from the point of view that anything that could upset the status quo in agriculture is inherently dangerous. If you start from the notion that you shouldnt upset the status quo, you shouldnt negotiate.

In the case of cheese, Japan has import tariffs of up to 40 %.

The EU has offered in return to cut its import tariffs for cars, typically at 10%, and for car parts.

Still, the conclusion in October of the Trans-Pacific Partnership between Japan, the United States and 10 other Pacific Rim nations shows Japan can forge trade deals.

In its talks with Japan, the EU wants import tariffs cut, non-tariff barriers to trade removed, access to public procurement, mutual recognition of protected food or agricultural products and a more open market for services.

Italian-born Petriccione said that the talks must make progress.

Were fed up with keep going. Weve had some negotiations that have lasted for 20 years, and people are tired of it. We dont want to drag things forever, he said.
New figures show only four out of the countrys 96 Garda districts solved more than half of all robberies, burglaries and theft in their area during 2015.

They also reveal that offenders have little chance of being caught for the large majority of such crimes in most other parts of Ireland.

The Irish Examiner has obtained a breakdown of detection rates at Garda district level for the three main offences involving property  robbery, burglary and theft.

Overall, gardai are only successful in solving about 30% of these cases on average based on official crime figures for 2013-2015. (The figures for last year related to crimes recorded to the end of September 2015.)

The main criteria for classifying an offence as detected is when criminal proceedings have been commenced against at least one suspected offender.

The figures reveal the performance of gardai stationed in 96 districts in catching offenders for such crimes.

In 2015, gardai based at the five stations in the Leixlip district of Co Kildare had the worst detection rate for robbery, burglary and theft with fewer than 14% of cases solved. The district covers large towns including Maynooth and Celbridge.

Independent TD for Kildare, Catherine Murphy, said the figures were a cause for concern as burglaries and theft were one of the few categories of crime which have been increasing in recent years.

Ms Murphy said she firmly believed there was a clear link between detection rates and Garda manpower levels as Kildare has the lowest number of gardai of any county on a per capita basis.

The annual policing plan published by An Garda Siochana is a work of fiction as it does not take into account demographic changes by putting more gardai into areas where there have been large increases in population like Kildare, she said.

Most of the districts with the lowest detection rates are located in Dublin and counties surrounding the capital. They include Clondalkin, Balbriggan and Dun Laoghaire as well as Baltinglass, Co Wicklow and Ashbourne and Trim, Co Meath. Other areas with detection rates of 20% or less include the two Galway districts of Clifden and Salthill.

Two of the four districts where over 50% of crimes are solved are located in Kerry  Tralee and Listowel.

Gardai based at the nine stations in the Tralee district, which includes Dingle and Castleisland, had the best detection rate in the country last year with offenders apprehended for 56% of all property-related crime.

Detection rates in urban areas are not universally lower than rural locations as gardai based in two city centre locations in Dublin and Cork  Store Street and Anglesea Street  both made arrests for more than half of all robberies, burglaries and theft within their districts in the first nine months of last year.

In the past three years, gardai at Anglesea Street have the best record, solving on average more than 56% of all robberies, burglaries and thefts in its area.

A Garda spokesperson said the force was introducing measures designed to improve detection rates, including an enhanced investigator-training programme and standardisation of investigative practices and procedures as well as an increased use of data analytics.
Business owners, counting the cost of the recent poor weather, have hit out at government measures for flooding.

Traders and locals joined the clean-up operation in recent days, but, after multiple floods since December, they are tired of waiting for action. Sixty businesses in Bandon have signed a petition threatening to withhold payment of local authority rates from June 1, if flood-protection works have not begun by that date.

Gillian Powell of Bandon Flood Group

The majority of signatories are part of the newly-formed Bandon Business Alliance Group. Gillian Powell, from the Bandon Floods Committee, says its time to take a stand.

We will be asking people all over the country to support us. Thats it. We have had enough. We are in this together. We are making our presence felt. People have to do something now. We dont want words anymore. We want people doing something.

Meanwhile, many areas around Co Cork remain underwater, following Storm Frank. Several homes in Midleton and Mallow remain uninhabitable, as residents attempt to clear up the damage.

With the N25 Cork-Waterford Road, between Killeagh and Castlemartyr, still impassable, gardai published road diversions, which came into force at 9pm last night.

All Waterford-to-Cork traffic is urged to use the N24 Waterford-to-Cahir Road, and then the M8/N8 route to Cork. All Dungarvan/Youghal-to-Cork HGV traffic is being diverted at Rincrew roundabout, via Tallow, and onto the N72 to Fermoy, and then onto the N8/M8 to Cork.

All Cork-to-Waterford traffic is urged to use the N8 /M8 Cork-to-Dublin Rd and turn off at Cahir, then onto the N24 to Waterford.

All Cork-to-Youghal/Dungarvan traffic is urged to travel via the N8/M8 to Fermoy, and then the N72 and R634 to Youghal.

All Midleton HGV traffic travelling in the Waterford direction should go to the Jack Lynch Tunnel and then onto the N8/M8 to Fermoy, and then onto Waterford/Dungarvan/Youghal.

Irish Water said a precautionary boil-water notice, for 10,000 homes in Cork, would remain in place for the coming days.

The areas affected are: Midleton south-east, Ballynacorra, Cloyne, Aghada, Whitegate, Ballycotton, Churchstown, Trabolgan and surrounding rural areas.

Meanwhile, several families who left their homes late on Saturday night, when part of the Kilganey area, outside Clonmel, was evacuated because of the ever-rising flood waters, were yesterday advised it was safe to return to their houses.

With improved weather, the immediate, high-flooding risk has abated, the council said.
Dermot Fenton was a 24- year-old cystic fibrosis sufferer when, after waiting for more than a year for a double transplant, he was told in November 1998 an organ had become available  provided he could travel from Cork to Harefield Hospital, Middlesex, Britain, within three hours.

The Government jet was enlisted and the Glenville native made it to the hospital on time. As well as receiving the life-saving transplant, he was able to donate his heart to 48 year-old British mother Janet Netherton. In September 2005, as a result of complications caused by anti-infection medications, Dermot was told he needed a new kidney  which miraculously became available within five weeks.
In an interview in todays Irish Examiner, Professor Fergal Malone said they had been struck over the years by how emotionally difficult it is for women to have to travel overseas for termination.

We have had parents bring their childs remains back in a shoebox in the back of a car. Weve had parents have their childs remains sent back by courier, to arrive by DHL.

The position at the Rotunda is that they would wish to provide all care to our patients here, Prof Malone said: We do not believe that it is right that individual patients who make the choice [to travel to the UK]... that they should not be able to have that procedure done here. So we would like to see that situation change.

In about 75% of cases where the unborn child was diagnosed with anencephaly, a fatal foetal abnormality where parts of the brain and skull are missing, parents chose to terminate, Prof Malone said. There are 20 to 30 such cases at the Rotunda each year.

Parents in about three quarters of cases where the diagnosis was Trisomy 18, where the baby has an extra chromosome in its cells, chose to terminate, he said.

For those who opted for termination, most went to the UK and Prof Malone said his staff have done their best to make the process less traumatic for patients.

Our staff have actually gone over to the hospitals to look at the journey our patients will take, he said. So we know the individual names of practitioners and counsellors that they will meet and we are able to demystify it as much as possible. Because we know if you are changing hospital location, that can be very intimidating.

The most tragic aspect of these journeys is the extreme trauma it causes for patients, Prof Malone says.

Prof Malone, a consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, said his profession is under tremendous pressure with significant stress and anxiety and indeed eventual burnout because of the level of litigation around childbirth.

I am personally aware of obstetricians and midwives who have stopped practising after a case, theyve been so badly affected and traumatised. Things happen in obstetrics that are just unexplainable. We have unfortunate cases where women come into us at 39 weeks with an unexplained stillbirth, where despite a complete autopsy, genetic studies, ultrasound scans, we still cant explain what happened.

Prof Malone said his key priority during his seven-year tenure is to oversee relocation of the hospital from Dublin city centre to Blanchardstown. He will also prioritise expanding their benign gynaecology service.The difficult thing about benign gynaecology is it could be something like irregular heavy periods, post menopausal bleeding, it may be benign. But what you dont know is  are there certain cases of cancers lurking in there?

The hospitals figures show there are 1,506 patients waiting to be seen.

Prof Malone is also hoping for a significant improvement in midwifery numbers. The deficit for the coming year based on the level of births is 45: Its a critical issue. Even if tomorrow there was money for it [to hire midwives] we actually couldnt find them.

There used to be a time when there was severe competition and a waiting list to get into the midwifery training scheme in the Rotunda. But we actually couldnt fill all the places last year.
The Employment Appeals Tribunal found Tesco unfairly dismissed the quartet who worked at a cafe attached to its former branch in Gorey, Co Wexford.

The retailer fired four long-serving staff for eating a variety of food and beverages, including fried breakfasts, on two dates in May 2013 on the basis they had not immediately paid for the items.

The EAT ordered the Irish division of the British grocery giant to pay a total of 153,521 to the four women, including a sum of almost 62,000 to the former cafe manager, Emer Lawless.

The tribunal said the conduct of Tescos disciplinary and appeal process into the allegations was unsatisfactory and described some of its findings as irrational. Although all four claimants had sought reinstatement to their former positions as a remedy, the tribunal ruled that it would not be in anyones best interest and ordered Tesco instead to pay out various amounts of compensation.

It awarded 61,918 to Ms Lawless and 41,000 to her colleague, Lisa Kinsella, 35,000 to Ann Dwyer and 15,103 to Edel Hardiman, who had all worked together at the former Tesco branch in Gorey.

The company has since opened a new supermarket in the town at a different location.

The four women were suspended with full pay after a security guard witnessed them serving themselves food without appearing to pay for it. Based on CCTV footage, Tesco claimed the four staff members had breached company policy and engaged in theft and fraud.

During a hearing that lasted eight days in Wexford last year, all four claimants maintained they had paid for the food at a later time. They insisted that such an arrangement was common practice at the cafe.

In evidence, Ms Dwyer said there had never been any prior disciplinary issues with her during her 15 years working for Tesco and she had hoped to stay there until her retirement.

Ms Kinsella, who had worked for Tesco for almost 12 years with an impeccable work record, explained that she had paid for the food 100 per cent.

All four women stated they believed they had done nothing wrong but would have ceased the practice immediately if they had been informed that they were in breach of company policy.

A former cafe manager told the tribunal that there was no firm policy preventing staff from paying for food after they had eaten it, but he added that that this was not the general norm.

He also informed the EAT that Tesco staff were not allowed to carry cash while working in the cafe.

.It was observed that the practice had arisen out of necessity as employees could not have cash on their person while on duty and staff lockers were a distance away in the context of a 15-minute break.
BY THE time Lenny Abrahamsons Room took the top prize at the Toronto Film Festival in September, the word was already out that the Irish directors fifth feature could be a strong Oscar contender.

Before those Academy Award nominations are announced on January 14, well also find out next Sunday whether the adaptation of Emma Donoghues book has taken any of the three Golden Globes it is up for.

As well as the best drama category, the little-known Brie Larson is up for best actress, and Donoghue herself has a chance of the best screenplay award.

Some commentators raised an eyebrow that Abrahamson didnt get a best director nomination at the Globes, but the 49-year-old said he recognised the nominations as an extraordinary vote of confidence and a tribute to the amazing work done by all the talented people involved in the film.

Abrahamson was the person who put the project together after he had vigorously pursued Donoghue and ultimately taught her a thing or two about screenwriting.

Its a whole different toolbox, she admits.

Abrahamson says he read the novel when it was first published and was gripped by its tale of a mother and son trapped in a small, squalid room.

My son was four when I read it, not far from the age of the boy in the film whos five, and I think in some way my love for my own boy was grafted onto the novel and that opened me up emotionally to what Emma writes about in a vivid way, says Abrahamson.

I was presumptuous enough to think I was the person who should turn this bestselling novel into a film.

I was aligning with [producer] Ed Guiney, who I work very closely in Dublin and we heard that President Obama had been pictured coming out of a bookshop in Marthas Vineyard with Room under his arm and we thought, We are not going to get this novel, but I wrote Emma a 10-page letter regarding the inner logic of the novel and how I felt it should be translated into film.

COMMON GROUND

Even if shes been living in Canada since 1988, Donoghue, 46, came on board with her fellow Dubliner and was chuffed to see her novel transformed as they first sat around her kitchen table in London, Ontario, and then on set in Toronto.

Lenny completely understood the book and wasnt scared off by the unusual aspects, she says.

Its about a kidnapping situation but its seven years in. It has elements of crime drama but thats all in the middle. He wasnt squeamish about spending the first half of the movie in a locked room.

Here you get to see the mother where in the book youre just getting glimpses of her through the childs eyes. It was lovely to see the boy get a body in the film! In the book hes kind of a disembodied voice.

Screenwriter Emma Donoghue discusses the magic of seeing her story come to life on screen.https://t.co/e15ojqTzMK  Room (@RoomTheMovie) October 25, 2015

Like Donoghue, Abrahamson has an appreciation of the transatlantic view. He studied at Stanford University though dropped out to return to Dublin and make movies.

His feature debut in 2004 was Adam & Paul, a black comedy about two heroin addicts that still ranks as one of the best Irish films so far this century.

Its kind of Beckett meets Laurel and Hardy meets Trainspotting. he says, and it actually has a cult. It played in Telluride [film festival] but with the accents so strong it was never going to play in the US.

He followed up with Garage and What Richard Did and won the best director prize for all three films in the Irish Film & Television Awards.

Frank, starring Domhnall Gleeson and Michael Fassbender  who as an eccentric musician wore a paper mache head  became another cult item around the world.

YOUNG TALENT

Actors clamoured to work with the Irish director and in Room he has managed to snag Joan Allen and William H Macy as Larsons parents.

The biggest discovery, though, was Jacob Tremblay, who also has become an awards contender for his portrayal as young Jack.

Jacob was seven when we started and turned eight, Abrahamson says.

In order to play five you need to be a little bit older because no five year old could do it. We searched all over North America and found him in Vancouver.

Hed done a few commercials, a part in a kids film. But nothing remotely near the difficulty here and hes in practically every scene.

Theres a huge amount of work that goes into bringing out that performance, making it coherent and consistent across such a complicated story and also protecting him from the darker elements of the story.

 I would say its one of the best performances Ive ever seen  by any actor.

Abrahamson grew up as part of Ireland's Jewish community, but says he was never subjected to any animosity over his minority heritage. It's a moot point whether it contributed to his outlook as a filmmaker.

I have an observers stance on things. Im much more of an observer than a participant and I think a lot of creative people feel like that.

So I have at various points in my life, especially as a teenager and into my 20s, felt self-conscious and really unable to throw myself into life.

Im much less like that now, but that perspective is the thing that allows you to tell stories in a way that surprises people.

CONTAINED WORLDS

Is this where the sense of confinement comes from in his movies?

I sometimes think the best way to discover what your pre-occupations are is to start making stuff and then it strangely presents itself.

I definitely am interested in contained worlds and in how people make sense of very dysfunctional situations. I seem to continually go back to that. I think in the case of Room its like what scientists do.

Production Designer Ethan Tobman on creating the world of Room & how it felt to rebuild the set for a display in LA.https://t.co/Cdfa8muk4E  Room (@RoomTheMovie) December 18, 2015

If you really want to try and understand something you try and remove extraneous factors and look at a very simplified and intensified version.

So were really talking about childhood and parenthood and its about that transition that we all make from a cosy mythologised life as a child into something much more confusing and complex and hard to understand which is adult life.

By removing everything except the mother and son and having this allegorically rich idea of a room as the full universe we can look at universal stuff but in a very pointed way.

Thats true in my other films as well. In Garage youve got a very bold depiction of what it is to be lonely and separate through Josies life.

So maybe thats what I look for: worlds where universal ideas can be explored in a very vivid way.

For their next film Abrahamson and Guiney will make a movie about the life of Emile Griffith, a 1960s boxer who was secretly bisexual.

Abrahamson also plans to re-team with Domhnall Gleeson for an adaptation of The Little Stranger ghost story by Sarah Waters.

Abrahamson is clearly not one to rest on his laurels.

Room opens on January 15
In this small city where we have been spending the festive season with my son and his family, the days are warm but it is cold in the evenings and one can get deeply chilled when standing around in front of one ancient church or another (often founded by Irish monks), watching nativity dramas with small grandchildren. This, in spite of the traditional hot, spicy punch dispensed in polystyrene cups.

Its great walking weather and, in the countryside, one can ramble across enormous open fields that ascend, with no let or hindrance, to hills blanketed in conifers. Besides this Czech policy of allemansratten (the Swedish law enshrining everymans right to roam) there are countless marked paths through forests and fields.

Lakes are almost always in view, shining like slabs of silver beyond lines of slim, vertical birch trees, dark against the light. Tall and silver, their thin, leafless branches overhang paths and water. They are almost emblematic of this region, 150km south of Prague and continuing, in a 60km wide swathe, to the Sumava Mountains National Park and the Austrian border.

Birds are scarce, (many of the blackbirds, thrushes, fieldfares and mistle thrushes have migrated by now, some of them probably to Ireland) but from the car we often see harriers and rough-legged buzzard in the fenceless fields stretching away from the roadside. At night, in fields edging small roads, hares are a common sight, standing upright, all-ears, as we pass, or loping leisurely into the dark. Deer are also seen.

Temperatures will drop fast from now on, not just drop but plummet. Yesterday, was 12C, today 4C. The forecast is then for 2C, then -1C. Brrr-brrr, indeed.

Weve had no rain in our eight days here, and read reports of flooding at home with sympathy and awe. Sympathy for those unfortunate enough to live near rivers that burst their banks and lakes that spread over townlands, and awe for the forces of nature that they can so overwhelm all human efforts to contain them.

It is a cruel irony that while parts of Europe drown, others desiccate. I read in El Pais, the respected Spanish newspaper, that in a park in Almeria, gazelles from the Sahara desert are perfectly at home. In the case of one species, it is their only home: the wild population is now extinct in Africa. Their success indicates how similar southern Spains climate is to that of Africa.

Almeria is the driest region in Europe. This has been the case for millennia, but now a sea of plastic greenhouses, growing fruit and vegetables for export to the EU, covers 30,000 hectares of land. Deep aquifers are tapped for water. As they empty, the water pressure below ground level falls and water from the Mediterranean is drawn in, raising salt levels in the soil which, in time, takes it out of production.

Desertification progresses in places where excessive watering takes place. It now threatens five areas in Spain, including new olive groves in Andalusia, the pastures of La Mancha where rivers are drying up, and the Ebro Valley; also, the great grazing dehesas, the wildflower-rich fields with cork oaks that stretch from Salamanca to Huelva, where EU subsidies for cattle breeders have led to a surge in the size of herds.

Too much water is also hugely destructive, and is caused by human activity. In urban areas, our man-made, non-porous surfaces absorb only about 10% of rainwater back into the ground, compared with 90% in forests or fields. Heavy rain quickly overwhelms drainage systems. A UK-based company has created a thirsty or porous concrete which, it claims, can absorb 600 litres per minute per square metre.

This tarmac does not have the normal top layer of fine crushed stone. Large pebbles form most of the surface, allowing water to drain through almost instantly. A layer underneath this draws the water into drainage pipes which would feed the citys groundwater reserves. In times of extremely heavy rainfall, pavements and roads themselves would act like reservoirs, storing the excess and releasing it at a pace the ground could comfortably absorb.
Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust scientists have studied Bewicks in Britain for over 50 years. Ringing has revealed their migration routes but we know relatively little about the actual journeys. Now, in a radical new we-cant-beat-them-so-lets- join-them approach, conservationist Sacha Dench will take to the air on a motorised parachute next autumn and fly with the swans from Siberia to Britain.

The Bewicks is the smaller of the two migrant swan species which arrive here in autumn and depart in spring. Its easily confused with its larger cousin the whooper; both have black-on-yellow bills. The nose of the whooper, however, has more yellow than black, while black is the dominant colour with the Bewicks. These colour-patterns, unique to each individual, are the avian equivalent of fingerprints. The swans bills are photographed by the trust; being able to recognise particular swans and follow their progress from year to year has spawned one of the worlds longest-running bird studies.

During the 1980s, Bewicks swan numbers began to fall and the decline has continued ever since. According to Helen Boland of BirdWatch Ireland, 2,700 Bewicks were here in the winter of 1956/7. By the mid 1980s, there was fewer than half that number. The swan census of 2005 found 224. We had just 80, five years later. Only 38 Bewicks were counted during the Irish Wetland Bird Survey of 2010/11. The decline in Britain has been less dramatic but numbers there have halved in 20 years.

The reasons for the collapse are not fully understood. Short-stopping may be a factor; climate change has led to milder winters and Bewicks need not travel so far to find suitable feeding areas. Why fly on to Ireland, when ample food is available in the Netherlands or Britain? Illegal hunting is certainly a problem.

Although protected throughout their range, a quarter of all Bewicks X-rayed by the trust had shotgun pellets in their tissues. However, where along their migration route is shooting occurring? This is one of many questions which flying with the birds may help to answer.

The motorised parachute will be driven by a small petrol engine, strapped to the pilots back. The parachute, shaped like a wing, is laid out on the ground and inflated with air from the slipstream of the propeller. No undercarriage is needed; the pilot simply faces into the wind and takes off on foot from open ground.

Sacha Dench, who works for the trust at Slimbridge in Gloucester, is a champion free-diver. An accomplished photographer and camerawoman, she will travel to Siberia as the swans prepare to migrate next autumn. When they set out on their great journey to Europe, she will be with them.

Initially, this will take her over vast expanses of inhospitable tundra at sub-zero temperatures. Crossing lakes and swamps, relying on the flimsy contraption with its tiny engine, will be particularly dangerous. She must go where the birds lead her, living rough for much of the time and finding somewhere to refuel and shelter at night. The 7,000km journey is expected to take 10 weeks, during which Dench will film and photograph the swans.

As the route extends into inhabited areas, new hazards may be encountered. Windfarms, tall buildings, and electricity cables must be avoided at all costs, especially when weather conditions are poor. Towards the end of her journey, there will be another great obstacle; will Dench become the first woman to traverse the English Channel on a paramotor?

She will cross 11 national borders, meeting people from communities living close to staging posts the swans use and spreading the gospel of conservation. Reports and live broadcasts will, it is hoped, bring the plight of the Bewicks swan to the attention of a wider public.

Sacha Dench is a brave lady. We wish her well.
OWNING up to mistakes is a message the Health Service Executive (HSE) has been spreading since the launch of its open-disclosure policy in November, 2013.

In addition to a national policy, it has provided guidelines, support booklets for patients and training for staff. Yet, two years on, the evidence from the High Court shows that admissions of liability remain notoriously hard to come by, while apologies are as rare as the air on Mercury.

The experience of Geraldine Barry, who watched her partner die from sepsis, because of mistakes made at the Mercy University Hospital, is a case in point and is examined in these pages by her solicitor, Karen Kearney, a partner at Ernest Cantillon Solicitors.

A trawl of other high-profile cases of the past year shows that the HSE has a long way to go in translating policy into practice. Families were repeatedly forced on long, expensive journeys through the courts to get to the truth of what happened to loved ones while in the care of the health service.

The cases make a mockery of the HSEs advice in one of its own booklets: Accepting that harm is not intentional should help us to deal with adverse events with honesty, openness and compassion for heartbroken people and those carrying the burden of responsibility.

Gill Russell, aged 9, Aghada, Co Cork

Karen Russell, of Aghada, Co Cork, and her son, Gill Russell, who was born in Erinville Hospital in Cork in 2006. Her action for medical negligence against the HSE was settled.

Born: July, 2006.

Interim settlement: 1.4m, 2012.

Additional lump-sum payment of 13.5m, December 2014.

Admission of liability: In 2012, both the HSE and Cork University Maternity Hospital apologised as part of the settlement.

Background: It was claimed Gill was born after his mother had a symphiostomy and there was a prolonged and totally chaotic delivery. His head was born with an assisted vacuum and it took a documented 12 minutes to deliver the shoulder.

He was not allowed home from hospital for two months. Gill suffers from cerebral palsy and is confined to a wheelchair for life. He can communicate only with his eyes.

Through his mother, Karen Russell, Aghada, Co Cork, Gill sued the HSE, alleging negligence in the circumstances of his birth at Erinville Hospital, Cork, on July 12, 2006.

In the High Court, in October 2012, the HSE apologised. An interim settlement was made, followed in 2014 by a lump sum. Liability was admitted.

Skye Worthington, Castlegregory, Co Kerry

Three-year-old Skye Worthington, of Cloghane, Castlegregory, Co Kerry. The High Court approved a settlement of 2.52m for damages. Picture: Courtpix

Born: April 2011.

Interim settlement: 2.52m.

Admission of liability: Yes. Apology in February 2015.

Background: Skye Worthington, through her mother, Colleen Worthington, Cloghane, Castlegregory, Co Kerry, sued the HSE as a result of injuries sustained during her delivery at Kerry General Hospital, Tralee, in April, 2011.

The High Court heard that if she had been delivered 15 minutes earlier, she would not have been injured.

The court heard Skyes mother had been admitted to Kerry General Hospital on April 21, 2011. A drug to speed up labour was administered. Mrs Worthingtons contractions were very strong and there was a prolonged deceleration noted in the babys heartbeat. Counsel said the cardinal error was that the deceleration was ignored.

Skye has cerebral palsy, can only sit for a while, has to be fed through a tube and can only communicate with her eyes. In court, last February, an apology was read out from the general manager of Kerry General Hospital, TJ OConnor.

Faith Lanphier, Thurles, Co Tipperary.

Linda Kelly and Anthony Lanphier, whose baby, Faith Lanphier, died five days after birth at Cork University Maternity Hospital, on May 24, 2012. A catheter inserted to feed Faith was placed at an incorrect, low level. The couples action was settled in July. Picture: Courtpix

Born: May 19, 2012.

Died: May 24, 2012.

Settlement: The action for nervous shock by Faiths parents was settled under undisclosed terms. A settlement of 35,000 had been agreed in relation to the death of Faith.

Admission of liability: In July 2015, as well as a written apology from the HSE.

Background: Baby Faith was born prematurely and in good condition, on May 19, 2012, the High Court heard, but died at Cork University Hospital (CUH) five days later. It was claimed a catheter inserted to give her nutrition was placed at an incorrect, low level  that the catheter tip was positioned within Faiths liver and that this caused it to rupture and caused the collapse of the baby five days after her birth.

It was also claimed there was a failure to position the catheter correctly within a vein and that the baby had gone into hypovolaemic shock and died.

In an apology read to the High Court, last July, CUH CEO, Tony McNamara, acknowledged the hospitals responsibility in the death of baby Faith and apologised.

Solicitor Cian OCarroll said the difficulty is that the apology came at the end of three years.

Katie Manton, aged 7, Cashel, Co Tipperary

Katie Manton, whose parents, Aoife and Raymond, of Dulla Road, Cashel, Co Tipperary, settled a High Court action on her behalf. Picture: Collins Courts

Born: September 2008.

Settlement: 6.7m, October, 2015

Admission of liability: HSE admitted liability, without an admission of causation, in January, 2012. South Tipperary General Hospital apologised on the day the action was settled.

Background: In the case of Katie Manton, it was claimed there was an alleged failure to deliver (by caesarean section or otherwise) the baby in a timely manner and an alleged failure to diagnose the CTG readings, either properly or at all. The claims were denied.

Katie Manton had sued the HSE through her father, Raymond Manton, of Georges Land, Dualla Road, Cashel, Co Tipperary.

On the final day of action, South Tipperary General Hospital apologised to the family.

Michael MacGrath, SC, for Katies parents, said he had been instructed to tell the court the apology was too little, too late, in the circumstances.

Lee Gibson, aged 10, Carthage Place, Ringaskiddy, Co Cork

Lee Gibson, 10, from Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, with his mother Aileen, right, and his grandmother, Stephanie, left. The High Court awarded him an interim payment of 2m. Picture: Courts Collins

Born: July 2005.

Interim settlement: 2m, October 2015.

Admission of liability: None

Background: In Lees case, it was claimed he suffered brain damage at the time of his birth, at St Finbarrs Hospital, on July 5, 2005, due to a lack of oxygen and the effect of an untreated infection suffered by his mother.

It was also claimed there was an alleged delay of between 91 and 106 minutes before delivery by emergency caesarean section, once the decision for an emergency caesarean had been made.

It was further claimed there was an alleged failure to treat the case as an emergency and an alleged failure to give a candid explanation for what had happened and why.

The court heard it was only when his mother, Aileen Gibson, Carthage Place, Ringaskiddy, Co Cork, brought her case to Cork solicitor, Susie Elliott, of Ernest Cantillon Solicitors, that all the stops were pulled out and the dogged approach of the solicitors brought the case to fruition.

Lee has cerebral palsy, cannot talk, and is confined to a wheelchair.

Eoin OMahony, aged 32, Blarney, Co Cork

Eoin OMahony, from Blarney, Co Cork , was awarded 10m in an action taken by his parents, Edmond and Karen OMahony. Picture: Courts Collins

Initial settlement: 2.9m, 2010. Further interim payment of 1.2m in 2012. Additional lump sum of 10m, November 2015.

Admission of liability: HSE conceded liability in 2010.

Background: Mr OMahony was a 17-year-old Leaving Certificate student in 2001 when he experienced headaches. He was admitted to Cork University Hospital, where brain surgery was carried out.

After the surgery, he lapsed into a coma-like state.

He now has devastating brain injuries and is quadriplegic. He suffers from locked-in syndrome, the court was told.

Five years ago, he settled his High Court action against the HSE, which conceded liability, on terms including an interim payment of 2.9m. He secured a further interim payment of 1.2m in 2012.

The final 10m was awarded in November and ends a 14-year legal battle for Eoins family.

Eoins parents, Edmund and Karen OMahony, Station Road, Blarney, said the approach taken by the State and HSE had put enormous stress and strain on the family, financially and emotionally.

Jeremiah Daly, 12, Clogher Drive, Lixnaw, Co Kerry

Edwina Daly, who took a case against the HSE on behalf of her 12-year-old son, Jeremiah. He was awarded 1.75m in damages last month. Picture: Courtpix

Born: March 2003.

Interim settlement: 1.75m, December 2015.

Admission of liability: None.

Background: Jeremiah had sued the Health Service Executive through his mother, Edwina Daly, over the management of his birth at Kerry General Hospital between March 22 and March 24, 2003. It was claimed the baby was subjected to severe and prolonged foetal distress, following his mothers admission to the maternity unit on March 22, 2003. There was, it was claimed, an alleged, unacceptable delay in the delivery of Jeremiah, given the onset of foetal distress and abnormal CTG tracings. It was further claimed there was an alleged failure to stop administering oxytocin, on account of the foetal distress. The claims were denied.

An interim settlement of 1.75m was made without admission of liability. The High Court will decide, in six years time, on the costs of Jeremiahs future care needs.
MY MAIN vision, Professor Malone says at our round-table interview is our relocation to, and indeed co-location at, the Connolly Hospital site.

While theres a great affection after 250 years for the building and the site here, I think everyone accepts the Rotunda on its current campus is no longer fit for purpose. No argument there. The current site on Parnell St has no scope for expansion and vehicular access is now at a premium. Some of the buildings date back almost 260 years. The move to James Connolly Memorial in Blanchardstown, will shift it to what is effectively a greenfield site at the junction of the N3 and the M50 and has huge potential for the Rotunda, Prof Malone says.

Fortunately, the desire to move is supported by government policy and the Rotundas board of governors.

The move will see an increase in births per annum, from circa 9,000 currently to 12,000, and an additional 20 beds in the neonatal intensive care unit. It should also facilitate a properly developed gynaecological service for both the city and region and a new paediatric development thats already approved.

So thats probably my number one goal and project that I would like to achieve and that I would like to leave as a legacy for the Rotunda for the future, Prof Malone says.

The 47-year-old consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist is bravely (or madly) setting a target date of opening the hospital within his seven-year Mastership, while fully acknowledging the track record of healthcare building in Ireland could cause some scepticism and cynicism around that. But theyve already hit the ground running, he says, with a number of working groups looking at the financial, legal and infrastructural elements of the move. The fact its supported by government policy means the hospital has a jump start, eliminating the need for examining multiple sites.

But what about co-location with a childrens hospital? Is that not the optimal arrangement  a maternity, adult and childrens hospital on a single site?

Paediatric facilities

The good news is the new site is earmarked for a paediatric ambulatory centre which will effectively operate as a satellite unit of the new childrens hospital, albeit providing less complex paediatric care.

Irrespective of what happens with the childrens hospital at [St] James Hospital [Kilmainham] we will see a paediatric development out there [Connolly] and most of the reason we as obstetricians would need paediatric support is... for [problems like] complex foetal abnormalities. If paediatric cardiologists are already out there at an ambulatory facility, they can absolutely support us.

So Im quite happy with the current proposal and configuration, that there are going to be paediatric facilities on the campus, he says.

Pre-requisites for the move

Moving out of the city centre will mean the Rotunda no longer has level 4 hospitals like the Mater close by  Connolly is level 3. This essentially means less specialist services at hand. There will be no move unless this deficit is addressed, Prof Malone says. Upgrading Connolly is an absolute pre-requisite and a working group has been established for this very specific reason.

The fate of the existing hospital building

So what will happen to the Rotunda as we know it when the move eventually takes place?

We dont know yet, Prof Malone says. The premises are owned by the board of governors, the Rotunda is a charity and has a charitable foundation and there would be an obligation on the board to use whatever proceeds come from this for the original mission of the hospital which is of course the betterment of care for women and children in the region. This would not include using the proceeds of a sale to fund the building of a new hospital.

And will the name Rotunda survive the move?

Very much so. The brand name is of huge international and national importance. Obstetricians and paediatricians the world over have heard of the Rotunda. It would be silly to lose that brand. Other priorities aside from re-locating, improving gynaecological services in the greater Dublin area is another key priority for the new Master. He describes them as inefficient and under-served at the moment, in particular the lists for benign gynaecology.

We have a certain number of patients waiting up to a year for routine benign gynaecology services, he says. The difficult thing about benign gynaecology is it could be something like irregular heavy periods, post menopausal bleeding, it may be benign. But what you dont know is  are there certain cases of cancers lurking in there?

If youve 10 women presenting with post menopausal bleeding, you dont know which one or two or three might actually reflect an underlying cancer. So while they start presenting to you as a benign patient, they could evolve into a gynaecological cancer patient, so you have to be able to find these patients and manage them efficiently.

Figures supplied by the hospital show there are currently 1,506 patients waiting to be seen, all of whom have an appointment, four of whom will not be seen within target times. These patients have incontinence issues and are waiting more than a year to be seen.

Prof Malone said patients awaiting surgery for issues such as prolapsed womb after childbirth or urinary incontinence have scheduled procedures commonly cancelled because of emergency department problems and things like that.

As part of his plan for improving these services, interviewing will take place early in 2016 with a view to a joint Rotunda/Connolly appointment of three consultant obstetrician/gynaecologists and two consultant anaesthetists.

One of the main goals for these appointments will be to significantly boost our benign gynaecology throughput. We would like to see Connolly developed as a major benign gynaecology centre for our group, and indeed if we organise our services as efficiently as possible, we could provide a 24/7 emergency gynaecology service for the region, he says.

Prof Malone is also hoping for a significant improvement in midwifery numbers. The deficit for the coming year based on the level of births is 45.

Its a critical issue, even if tomorrow there was money for it [to hire midwives] we actually couldnt find them.

There used to be a time when there was severe competition and a waiting list to get into the midwifery training scheme in the Rotunda. We actually couldnt fill all the places last year.

Improvements in reading ultrasounds

When he arrived back from the US over a decade ago, Prof Malone spoke to the Irish Examiner about the lack of trained personnel to read ultrasounds which could lead to up to 90% of foetal abnormalities going undiagnosed. Have things improved since then?

We have seen improvements. There is no doubt that consultants who have been appointed in obs/gynae, certainly in the last 5/6 years, have all been trained in an era where [reading] ultrasounds is part of their training, so youd be much more confident now that consultants in the last number of years would have the skill set, by and large, to supervise ultrasounds, he says.

Prof Fergal Malone congratulates Leanee Byrne from Blanchardstown after the birth of her baby boy Zac at 3 minutes past midnight on New Years Day at the Rotunda. Picture: Peter Houlihan

However the challenge remains to find skilled ultrasonographers. Trying to attract midwives is a problem.

There remains no incentive for midwives to... take on two years of training in obstetric ultrasound and then become midwife ultrasonographers. There is no differential in salary.

Indeed for some of those midwives, they actually lose money because if they move into a 9-5 job they tend to lose their on-call and night working allowances. So its very hard for us within current structures..the way jobs are structured... to encourage sonographers to get into it. The upshot is some hospitals, such as Cavan General, are not in a position to offer pregnant women a 20-week anomaly scan routinely available in the bigger maternity units. Prof Malone concedes this means some women are inevitable losing out.

You will only find the anomalies if doing routine 20-week anomaly scanning on the entire population. If you just restrict it to women over a certain age or who previously had a baby with an abnormality, that will only cover the minority of cases with foetal abnormality.

If we had the personnel [problem] solved, we could easily implement this in 19 units, he says.

Fatal foetal abnormalities

The Rotundas position on fatal foetal abnormalities is that they would want to provide all services for our patients who are facing a difficult situation, Prof Malone says. This includes termination of pregnancy.

However, against a backdrop of restrictive abortion laws, the hospital confines itself to offering non-directive counselling.

So at the moment if a patient in the Rotunda is diagnosed with a very severe foetal abnormality that is going to lead to death of the child at birth or very shortly afterwards, we offer non directive counselling.

The language used is no different to what they would get if sitting in London or NY...the choices that we present to patients is in no way watered down, no euphemisms, its very much these are your choices now, Prof Malone says. They would never advise a patient to abort, he says.

If the patient chooses the journey that ends in termination, then there are other details that we have to get into that are unique to Ireland. But as regards choices that are available to patients, we are completely open.

My personal view on abortion...has no place in that discussion and we never reveal our personal viewpoints because we have to remain completely objective with the patient.

The patient has to trust the advice we are giving is completely objective and in her interest. To this end, if women want to continue with a pregnancy involving a fatal foetal abnormality, they have the support of a well developed perinatal hospice system which includes social workers, bereavement counsellors, chaplaincy, midwives and paediatricians. The hospital even provides cuddle cots so that when a baby dies, the parents can spend time with the child in the mothers own room.

For those who opt for termination, the UK is the most common destination and Prof Malone says they have developed a good relation with the hospitals that look after their patients.

Our staff have actually gone over to the hospitals to look at the journey our patients will take. So we know the individual names of practitioners and counsellors that they will meet and we are able to demystify it as much as possible. Because we know if you are changing hospital location, that can be very intimidating. Once the patient has had their termination, they return here and we give them complete care in a non-judgemental way. The most tragic aspect of these journeys is the extreme trauma it causes for patients, Prof Malone says.

We have been struck by the number of patients over the years who chose that particular journey as to how emotionally difficult that added step is for them.

We have had parents bring their childs remains back in a shoebox in the back of a car.

Weve had parents have their childs remains sent back by courier, to arrive by DHL. I mean this causes huge added emotional trauma. So our position at the Rotunda is we would wish to provide all care to our patients here. We do not believe that it is right that individual patients who make the choice [to travel to the UK]... that they should not be able to have that procedure done here. So we would like to see that situation change.

About 75% of those given a diagnosis of anencephaly  and there are 20 to 30 each year at the Rotunda  choose to terminate, Prof Malone says.

A fraught profession

As an obstetrican/gynaecologist, does Prof Malone feel he and his colleagues are under immense pressure to practise defensive medicine?

We are under tremendous pressure and there is significant stress and anxiety and indeed eventual burnout among obstetricians, Prof Malone says.

I am personally aware of obstetricians and midwives who have stopped practising after a case, theyve been so badly affected and traumatised.

One of the problems of our medical malpractice system in the western world is the growing expectation of perfection.

And while we have made huge advances in science, medicine remains an imperfect science.

Things happen in obstetrics that are just unexplainable. We have unfortunate cases where women come into us at 39 weeks with an unexplained stillbirth, where despite a complete autopsy, genetic studies, US scans, we still cant explain what happened. While doctors like to say they practise evidence-based medicine, the reality was they also practise anecdotal medicine meaning if something happened to you that went well last year youll repeat it. If something happened that went poorly last year, youll avoid it. Thats life.

So I think that does lead to a certain amount of defensive medicine and that could be why the C section rate is gradually going up.
IN Europe, 2015 began with the far-left Syriza partys election victory in Greece. It ended with another three elections that attested to increasing political polarisation.

In Portugal, the Socialist Party allied with its former archenemy, the communists. In Poland, the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party won sufficient support to govern on its own.

In Spain, the emergence of Podemos, a new left-wing party, has ended the traditional hegemony of the Spanish Socialist Workers Party, on the centre left, and the Partido Popular, on the centre right. (In France, moreover, the far-right National Front, led by Marine Le Pen, showed its strength in the first round of Decembers regional elections, though it eventually failed to win any).

The message is impossible to miss: voters are deeply dissatisfied with mainstream parties and are giving a chance to radical alternatives. They are supporting parties that, though different from one another, all blame the European Union for the sorry state of their countries economies and labour markets.

Radicalisation is not limited to Europe. American presidential candidate, Donald Trump, owes his rise to many of the same factors that are driving Le Pens growing popularity. What is particularly problematic in the EU is the clash between radical politics and mainstream governance.

For 30 years, centre-right or centre-left parties, with a shared vision of Europe, have governed most EU countries. Despite their policy disagreements, they jointly embodied the ideological consensus  and formed the political coalition  that built the single market, the euro, and the enlarged EU.

But many voters feel that mainstream policies have failed. Governments have been unable to protect unskilled and semi-skilled employees from the consequences of globalisation and technological change.

Mass education, progressive taxation, and social-welfare benefits have not prevented increasing inequality. And the euro has failed to engineer prosperity and stability. Those (like me) who think that policy errors and institutional flaws are more to blame than European integration are being drowned out.

Political realignments are to be expected in democracies; democratic institutions are designed to make them possible. The constitution does not change, or changes only slowly, whereas a new party or coalition redefines the policy agenda and reforms the legislation. This combination of rigidity and plasticity enables democratic regimes to adapt to shifts in citizens preferences. The same does not apply to Europe, however.

First, political change is not synchronised. Some countries may have voted for radical parties, while others have not (or simply have not held elections). This clash of legitimacy is what the Greek government initially failed to understand last spring, when it sought to ease austerity measures: Syriza had received a mandate for change from voters, but other countries representatives had not.

Second, unlike national democracies, the EU does not derive its legitimacy from the process through which political choices are made, but mainly from the output it can deliver.

This is not to say that there is no democratic process: the elected European Parliament is a serious legislative body, and its vetting of European commissioners is often more thorough than personnel selection at the national level. But it has no visibility, because major decisions are negotiated between national governments.

Third, the boundary between constitutional and legislative matters is peculiar in the EU. All treaty provisions have constitutional status; indeed, they can be changed only by unanimous agreement. Furthermore, because governments did not trust one another, they included in treaties what would normally belong in ordinary legislation. The many rules that govern economic life in the EU are much more difficult to amend than are similar domestic provisions. The scope for redefining the rules is exceedingly narrow, even though they reflect a policy consensus that is no longer widely shared.

What options does this leave the EU for responding to political polarisation and to the concomitant demands for more policy leeway at the national level? The EU could simply ignore these changes, and hope that radicalism will wane, once its bearers are confronted with the responsibility of governing. But that would be foolish.

Syriza accepted tough choices because Greece depends on external financial assistance. No other country is in the same situation. Ignoring demands for change would deepen popular hostility toward the EU.

Another possibility would be to exploit, ad hoc, the flexibility in EU treaty provisions. Pragmatism can be helpful, and the European Commission, headed by Jean-Claude Juncker, is willing to embrace it. But it would be dangerous to turn the EU framework into a thicket of country-specific political bargains. Those for whom the rule of law and the enforcement of fundamental principles are serious matters  not just Germany  would soon object.

The last solution would be to make the EU more amenable to political change. This would require changing the balance between constitutional and legislative matters, so that principles are preserved, but policies can be responsive to politics. Moreover, the EU should be able to legislate on a wider array of policies, including, for example, taxation. This would end its awkward impotence on  and apparent indifference to  inequality.

The European Parliament should be given a higher profile, as in a truly federal system, so that governments, at the national and European level, are perceived as equally legitimate. With such federalisation in the EU or, more likely, the smaller eurozone (within which the degree of integration is higher), policy conflicts would place elected national governments in opposition, not to an opaque system, but to a politically legitimate federal institution.

This approach confronts formidable obstacles. An attempt to write an EU constitution was made in the early 2000s. It failed. Germany, and other countries where mainstream policies still command wide support, would vehemently oppose any perceived softening of the common rules and principles. It will be hard to agree on additional competences and a stronger European Parliament, when so many in Europe, starting with the radicals, consider the EU the main culprit for their current woes. Yet, the construction of a transnational democracy is the most viable response to political polarisation in Europe.

Jean Pisani-Ferry is a professor at the Hertie School of Governance in Berlin, and commissioner-general for policy planning for the French government. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2015.
Hers is just one womans story, but the experience of Geraldine Barry, who watched her partner die from sepsis because of mistakes made at the Mercy University Hospital (MUH), is typical of the long, cruel and unnecessary delays brought about by the HSE and its indemnifiers, the State Claims Agency (SCA), refusing to accept liability, when they have clearly been at fault.

Geraldines partner, Chris Sayer, was a jazz musician and antiques dealer. Chris was 29 years older than Geraldine, but the age gap meant nothing to a couple who regarded each other as soulmates. He was the love of my life, Geraldine, 44, said.

But the system sometimes doesnt seem to see patients and their loved ones as people. When mistakes are made, all too often the instinct is to close ranks and not admit errors, as they fear  wrongly as it happens  that admitting mistakes and apologising early, might in some way increase the amount of damages that will have to be paid to victims, or their surviving loved ones. Its a group-think reaction that treats the patient and their loved ones as clients, rather than people. And ultimately, it is costing the HSE and taxpayers more money than would otherwise be the case.

The only way around this is to have a statutory duty of candour and open disclosure. The word statutory is important here, because what the Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, is currently proposing falls significantly short of that.

If we examine what happened to Chris Sayer, for example, it is clear that there is a major deficiency between what Mr Varadkar is proposing, and what both the international and Irish experience indicate is demanded here.

In March 2010, Mr Sayer was diagnosed with colon cancer. Unfortunately, only five months earlier, in October 2009, the cancer had been missed on a CT scan by a radiologist in a separate hospital. That was mistake number one.

As a result, emergency surgery was required on March 11, 2010, to remove the cancer. The surgery went well and initially Mr Sayer made a good recovery.

However, he subsequently developed an anastomotic leak  a well-recognised complication of this type of surgery. Due to the negligence of MUH, this wasnt detected in a timely fashion, he developed sepsis and while he had further surgery, six days later, on March 17, it was too late. He never regained consciousness and died from complications of the sepsis on April 19 2010. Indeed, prior to this second surgery, Geraldine was told he was unlikely to survive the operation, and, as this information was presented to her, his belongings were dropped beside her in green plastic bags.

It is impossible to imagine in that moment, that Geraldine was treated as a person, a distraught and traumatised loved one, rather than a client or service user. The most tragic aspect of this case is the appalling lack of communication and empathy by hospital staff. Ms Barry was forced to watch her partner die, while all her emotional protests and questions were ignored. None of the medical or nursing staff listened to her concerns. Ultimately, she was forced to ambush doctors in order to find out what she needed to know about Chriss condition. She was told in reply that his condition was as good as it gets and that he would never regain consciousness.

The decision was then made to take him off the ventilator. He died 10 days later. But, even during those harrowing 10 days, watching and waiting for her partner to die, there was time for another shocking display of insensitivity by medical staff. Geraldine was asked by a doctor on April 15, five days into her deathbed vigil, and in front of Mr Sayer, do you want a postmortem?.

The HSE knew Chriss cancer had been missed by a radiologist on a CT scan. The HSE knew he was not treated early enough for a post-operative infection and that this was negligent. Yet, MUH denied responsibility for five years and five months. It was only when they were faced with the prospect of a judge some 12 days prior to the trial that they admitted liability. On Wednesday, December 16, 2015, Geraldine was awarded 500,000 in compensation.

The legal bills incurred will run to several hundred thousand euros. The taxpayer could have been spared that expense if the HSE had adopted a stance that is used in the United States, in Australia and in the UK  and simply admitted their mistakes.

There is clear international research showing a significant reduction in legal bills, when a duty of candour is introduced. Research by the University of Michigan Health System found the average time to process a claim in Michigan went from approximately 20 months to eight months, and costs per claim were halved, after a duty of candour was introduced.

A duty of candour is simply a responsibility on hospital, medical and nursing staff to tell the truth to patients, when there has been a mistake, which has adversely affected the patient. So if a radiologist misses a cancer reading on a CT scan, or if a patient contracts sepsis after surgery, the onus is on the medical staff to admit that to patients or their families as soon as they realise their error.

I knew from the outset that he was mistreated. I wrote to the hospital a number of times asking them what had happened. They fobbed me off, Geraldine Barry, from Skibbereen, Co Cork, said.

I went to Cantillon Solicitors in desperation. They too wrote to the Mercy University Hospital and they equally were fobbed off. Cantillon Solicitors retained independent experts who gave me the true story of what had happened to my beloved Chris.

Compiling independent expert reports on medical negligence cases is expensive. Had the Mercy admitted liability as soon as it knew of its negligence, such expense could have been avoided. Not only would the taxpayer have been saved, it would have spared Geraldine Barry some of the extraordinary psychological impact suffered over a five-year legal battle, where she was faced with stonewall denials . The court heard she still suffers flashbacks and profound loneliness.

So what is Leo Varadkar proposing? The HSE has had a national open-disclosure policy since November 2013. But this was clearly ignored in Mr Sayers case. It is merely a policy, a guideline. There is no statutory duty of candour in Ireland. Mr Varadkar has promised to bring forward legislation  as part of the Civil Liability (Amendment) Bill 2015  but it appears to be more concerned with protecting doctors and nurses who do make open disclosure, than with giving patients and their families the right to open disclosure. The proposed new legislation merely supports a national policy of open disclosure  this will not be a statutory requirement. In other words, it will not be mandatory for medical and nursing staff to admit errors that have caused harm to patients.

I note, with interest, that Tony OBrien, HSE director general, recently criticised the adversarial framework used to resolve litigation. It should be noted that the SCA cannot interfere with clinical practice.

Telling the patient what happened is part of (good) clinical practice. Thus the solution to the problem is within the gift of Mr OBrien and his organisation. Tell the patient what happened, admit lability and stop paying illegal and unnecessary deference to the SCA.

A predecessor of Leo Varadkers in the Department of Health, Mary Harney, set up an expert group which recommended a policy of open disclosure. That was in 1997. A lot has changed since. And a lot hasnt.
US vice president Joe Biden has never been one to hold his tongue. He certainly didnt in his recent trip to Kiev. In a speech before Ukraines parliament, Biden told legislators that corruption was eating Ukraine like a cancer, and warned President Petro Poroshenko that Ukraine had one more chance to confront corruption before the United States cuts off aid.

Bidens language was undiplomatic, but hes right: Ukraine needs radical reforms to root out graft. After 18 months in power, Poroshenko still refuses to decisively confront corruption. Its time for Poroshenko to either step up his fight against corruption  or step down if he wont.

The numbers speak for themselves. More than $12bn per year disappears from the Ukrainian budget, according to an adviser to Ukraines National Anti-Corruption Bureau.And Transparency International ranks Ukraine 142 out of 174 countries on its Corruption Perceptions Index  below countries such as Uganda, Nicaragua and Nigeria. Ordinary Ukrainians endure paying petty bribes in all areas of life. From vehicle registration, to getting their children into kindergarten, to obtaining needed medicine, everything connected to government has a price.

The worst corruption occurs at the nexus between business oligarchs and government officials. A small number of oligarchs control 70% of Ukraines economy, and over the years have captured and corrupted Ukraines political and judicial institutions. As a result, a culture of impunity was created, where politicians, judges, prosecutors and oligarchs collude in a corrupt system where everyone but the average citizen benefits.

A few instances stand out for their brazenness. In one case, $1.8bn of an IMF loan to Ukraine meant to support the banking system instead disappeared into offshore accounts affiliated with PrivatBank which is owned by Ihor Kolomoisky  one of Ukraines leading oligarchs.

Details have come to light thanks to the anti-corruption group Nashi Groshi (Our Money). Forty-two import firms owned by 54 offshore entities borrowed $1.8bn from PrivatBank. The offshore firms then used the IMF money to order goods from fictional suppliers, with the $1.8 billion in loans from PrivatBank secured by the goods on order.

When the fictional suppliers inevitably did not fulfill their end of the bargain, PrivatBank was left holding the bag with its $1.8bn gone offshore.

Unfortunately for Ukrainians  as well as Western taxpayers who fund the IMF  neither Kolomoisky nor anyone else in Ukraine has been held accountable and the case faded from public view in Kiev.

To contain rising populist sentiment and preserve western support, Poroshenko should take the following steps:

First, he needs to immediately fire current prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. The US ambassador to Ukraine recently called out Shokins office for openly and aggressively undermining reform, and leading reformers in Ukraines parliament and civil society continue to demand Shokins ouster.

Second, Poroshenko needs to sell all of the assets in his multi-billion dollar business empire. When campaigning for the presidency last year, Poroshenko promised to do just that.Hes the only one of Ukraines 10 richest people to see his net worth actually increase in the past year, and his bank continues to expand while others lose their licenses. One of his industrial companies also won a large shipbuilding contract  a clear conflict of interest.

Moreover, while no evidence exists that Poroshenko uses his position to promote his broader business interests, Ukrainian television recently reported that Poroshenko shut down an investigation into damage to a protected historical site stemming from illegal construction on land Poroshenko owns.

Third, Poroshenko must take a hands-on role in the war against corruption. While a new national anti-corruption bureau and prosecutor are in place, they have not started work yet. Anti-corruption activists in Kiev fear both of these organisations will be eaten by the system, according to Daria Kaleniuk, executive director of the Anti-Corruption Action Center, a Ukrainian civil society organisation.

Finally, Poroshenko should replace Yatsenyuk as Prime Minister. Although Yatsenyuk deserves credit for pushing through painful economic and energy sector reforms,

he faces corruption investigations as well  not something Poroshenko needs from the second-most powerful official in the country.

Ukraine has not completely ignored the fight against corruption. government procurement tenders moved online and major civil service reform just passed. But the key drivers of these measures are not government officials or politicians, many of who fight these changes tooth and nail, but civil society organisations. Reformers demand radical change, and given the billions of dollars stolen each year by powerful people, they are doing so at great personal risk.

Poroshenko must join Ukraines reformers in pushing for this change  and if he refuses to do so, he should resign.

Josh Cohen is a former USAID project officer involved in managing economic reform projects in the former Soviet Union
Its not hard to imagine the horridness of being flooded, the visceral awfulness of it. The dismay, the feeling of helplessness, the sheer muddy, stinky, chilly slog of it all.

But as Ireland and the UK are forced to look again at flood defence budgets, listen to what one rural Yorkshire resident has to say about his home being flooded.

I live in Hebden Bridge, wrote Liam Cox on social media, in the days after Christmas where his home town was submerged. Its shit  everything has gotten really wet.

His perspective, however, remains undamaged. Im alive. Im safe. My family are safe. We dont live in fear. Im free. There arent bullets flying about. There arent bombs going off. Im not being forced to flee my home and Im not being shunned by the richest countries in the world or criticised by its residents.

Nor has his humanity been dampened. All you morons vomiting your xenophobia on [social media] about how money should only be spent on our own need to look at yourselves closely in the mirror. I request you ask yourselves a very important question... Am I a decent and honourable human being? Because home isnt just the UK, home is everywhere on this planet.

When rotten things happen, people tend to react on a spectrum from angry, bitter, and blaming to co-operative, empathetic, and optimistic. Sometimes a mixture. We are human, after all. But of all the bad reactions a person can have to local misfortune, xenophobia has got to the be worst. The mutant child of nationalism  defined by one online wag as taking pride in stuff you didnt do in order to hate people you have never met  xenophobia kills your empathy and humanity stone dead.

We all know that the comments section anywhere online  even supposedly civilised places  is where the pitchforks live. Where the mobs gather, sharpening their spelling mistakes, poisoning their vitriol, honing their misinformation.

Imagine, then, explaining to a time traveller from the past how these days every citizen carries a device in their pocket which gives us access to all of human knowledge, power, endeavour and information. And what do we use it for, apart from sharing films of cats falling off pianos? Trolling. Ranting, abusing, hate-talking.

As Ireland prepares to take in 4,000 refugees fleeing hell, rather than high water, we have a choice.

We can empathise, now that our own homes have been flooded by an angry Mother Nature, and try to imagine what it might feel like to catastrophically lose not just our downstairs carpets, but everything, everything, everything. Violently.

We can tell the government we want to help more people far worse off than we are, that we are a rich country, with lots of space.

We can be decent human beings, because, just as that Yorkshire man said, home is everywhere on the planet.
Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir was speaking after demonstrators had stormed the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others were executed on Saturday. Saudi Arabia found them guilty of terrorism. Mr Jubeir said that all Iranian diplomats must leave Saudi Arabia within 48 hours.

The move came as Irans top leader warned Saudi Arabia of divine revenge over the execution of the opposition Shiite cleric.

Riyadh has accused Tehran of supporting terrorism, after protesters stormed the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital.

Saudi Arabia announced the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr on Saturday along with 46 others, including three other Shiite dissidents and a number of al Qaeda militants. It was largest mass execution carried out by the kingdom in three and a half decades.

Sheikh al-Nimr was a central figure in protests by Saudi Arabias Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012, and his execution drew condemnation from Shiites across the region. Irans Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned the execution in a statement on his website, saying Sheikh al-Nimr neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots.

The only thing he did was public criticism.

Irans powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saudi Arabias medieval act of savagery in executing the cleric would lead to the downfall of the countrys monarchy.

Saudi Arabias foreign ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism.

The statement accused Tehran of blind sectarianism and said that by its defence of terrorist acts Iran is a partner in their crimes in the entire region.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shiite Iran are locked in a bitter rivalry, and support opposite sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen.

The clerics execution could also complicate Saudi Arabias relationship with the Shiite-led government in Iraq.

One of the 47 executed Adel al-Dhubaiti, was convicted over a 2004 attack on journalists in Riyadh including Irish cameraman Simon Cumbers.
Asia Vietnam Protests after China Lands Plane on Disputed Spratlys

Vietnam has accused China of violating its sovereignty and a confidence-building pact by landing a plane in a contested part of the South China Sea.

HANOI  Vietnam formally accused China of violating its sovereignty and a recent confidence-building pact on Saturday by landing a plane on an airstrip Beijing has built on an artificial island in a contested part of the South China Sea.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Le Hai Binh said the airfield had been built illegally on Fiery Cross Reef in the Spratly archipelago, in territory that was part of Vietnams Spratlys.

Chinas Foreign Ministry rejected the complaint, saying that what was a test flight to the newly built airfield on the reef, which China calls Yongshu Jiao, was a matter completely within Chinas sovereignty, the Chinese state news agency Xinhua reported.

The United States said it was concerned that the flight had exacerbated tensions.

Washington has criticized Chinas construction of artificial islands in the South China Sea and worries that Beijing plans to use them for military purposes, even though China says it has no hostile intent.

Pooja Jhunjhunwala, a spokeswoman for the US State Department, said there was a pressing need for claimants to publicly commit to a reciprocal halt to further land reclamation, construction of new facilities, and militarization of disputed features.

We encourage all claimants to actively reduce tensions by refraining from unilateral actions that undermine regional stability, and taking steps to create space for meaningful diplomatic solutions to emerge, she said.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China used a civil aircraft to conduct the flight to test whether the airfield facilities meet civil-aviation standards.

China has indisputable sovereignty over the Nansha Islands and their adjacent waters. China will not accept the unfounded accusation from the Vietnamese side, she said, referring to the Spratlys by their Chinese name.

Hua added that China hoped Vietnam could work to achieve sustainable, healthy and stable development of bilateral ties.

Hanois Foreign Ministry said Vietnam handed a protest note to Chinas embassy and asked China not to repeat the action.

It called the flight a serious infringement of the sovereignty of Vietnam on the Spratly archipelago.

China claims almost all the South China Sea, which is believed to have huge deposits of oil and gas, and through which about US$5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, and has been building up facilities on the islands it controls.

It completed an airfield on Fiery Cross Reef that security experts say could accommodate most Chinese military aircraft late last year.

Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Taiwan also have rival claims in the South China Sea.
Burma KIO Denies Allegations of Forced Recruitment in Shan State

The Kachin Independence Organization has refuted allegations that it forcibly recruited villagers in Kutkai and Muse townships in northern Shan State.

The Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has refuted allegations from a Shan political party that it forcibly recruited villagers in Kutkai and Muse townships in northern Shan State.

The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) made the allegation against the KIOs armed wing, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), in a statement on Saturday, warning the armed group that it risked raising tensions during a period of political transition.

We condemn such acts against civilians and ask for the immediate release of those arrested, the statement read. The publics safety and tranquility should be a priority at this time, when everyone is putting their efforts primarily into national reconciliation.

Dau Hka, a member of the KIOs technical advisory team based in the Kachin State capital Myitkyina, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the matter was not related to the KIO/KIA.

I have checked with the headquarters and they have no knowledge about it, he said, adding that there were many small armed groups and factions in northern Shan State, and the issue may have been one of mistaken identity.

Civilians in Muse and Kutkai townships were allegedly forcibly recruited into the KIAs ranks last month, when many ethnic Shan were preparing for New Year festivities, according to Sai Nyunt Lwin, secretary of the SNLD.

We have to respond to the publics demands as over a dozen ethnic Shan and Palaung [Taang] from four to five villages disappeared, Sai Nyunt Lwin said.

Villagers received a letter from the KIA requesting that they contribute seven civilians from each village to the armed group, the SNLD secretary said, adding that such recruitment drives of ethnic nationalities were not uncommon.

Dau Hka said the KIO had stopped actively recruiting civilians since clashes with the Burma Army in Kachin States Mohnyin Township in November. He said the group had been running a two-year service program in which recruits join voluntarily.

The SNLD said they have been trying to contact representatives of the Shan State Progressive Party / Shan State Army-North, which has good relations with the KIO, to negotiate on the issue.

Renewed clashes broke out in northern Shan State on Sunday, including in Muse Township, between government troops and the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA).
Burma Renewed Fighting Between Govt, TNLA in Shan State

The Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) again claimed government troops used helicopter gunships in renewed fighting in northern Shan State on Sunday.

Renewed fighting between Burmas Armed Forces and the Taang National Liberation Army (TNLA) broke out in northern Shan State on Sunday, with the ethnic armed group claiming government troops called in aerial firepower to back ground forces.

Mai Aie Kyaw, a spokesperson for the TNLA, told The Irrawaddy on Monday that hostilities broke out in two separate locations in northern Shan State on Sunday.

Fighting broke out twice yesterday. One of our men was injured. We found the dead bodies of four government soldiers. They came to fire at us with helicopters for about 30 minutes in the evening, Mai Aie Kyaw said.

According to a Facebook post by the TNLAs Information Department, fighting occurred in Nam Loi Lai village of Muse Township involving TNLA Battalion 571 and Burma Army Light Infantry Division 99, lasting from around 10.40 am until after 5 pm.

Separate fighting occurred in Namkham Township involving the TNLAs Battalion 478 and the Burma Armys Light Infantry Division 77, lasting from around noon until 4 pm, according to the Facebook post.

The armed groups information unit also posted photos of what it claimed were helicopter gunships used by government forces on Sunday. The two helicopters attacked the TNLAs Brigade 1 base in Muse Township from 4.40 pm, according to the TNLA.

The Palaung armed group similarly claimed that the government used helicopter gunships on Dec. 14-15 during fighting in Namhsan Township.

The early-January fighting came a few days after Burma Army Commander-in-Chief Snr-Gen Min Aung Hlaing pledged to work for peace and stability in 2016 in a new years message posted to social media.

The Tatmadaw [Burma Army] is cooperating with the government, focusing mainly on ensuring peace and stability, unity and progress, which are in fact essential requirements for the country, Min Aung Hlaing wrote.

I solemnly promise that the Tatmadaw will work together with national people in harmony and in unison for further enhancing peace and stability and the prosperity of the country in 2016.

The TNLA was not among armed groups that the government deemed eligible to sign a so-called nationwide ceasefire agreement in mid-October. Only eight armed groups signed the deal, with political dialogue, set to be attended by 700 delegates, to begin on Jan. 12.
Monday, January 4th, 2016 (8:33 am) - Score 742

The Digital Scotland project has today announced that 500,000 additional premises have now been put within reach of BTs high-speed fibre broadband (FTTC/P) network, but theres still no sign of the expected second contract in order to help expand coverage beyond the current target(s).

The 410m project is predominantly working with BT and aims to roll-out its new connectivity to 85% of Scottish premises by the end of 2015 March 2016 and 95% by the end of 2017/18; once complete some 750,000 premises should have benefited.

However its worth noting that the coverage target for the Highland and Islands (HIE) region alone is still just 84% by the end of 2016.

Digital Scotlands Phase 1 Contract Funding HIE  The Highlands and Islands (145.8m):

 126.4m from public bodies (Scottish Government, Broadband Delivery UK [50.83m], Highland and Islands Enterprise and all seven local authorities in the project area)

 19.4m from BT. RES  The Rest of Scotland (264m):

 157m from public sources (Scottish Government, ERDF, Broadband Delivery UK [50m], and all 27 local authorities that form part of the Rest of Scotland Project area)

 106.7m from BT.

The expanded coverage has, for example, so far benefited more than 81,000 premises in Aberdeen city and shire; 70,700 in the South of Scotland; 34,500 in Fife, 18,300 in Perth and Kinross; 76,000 premises in Glasgow and the West; 102,000 in the Highlands and Islands and 19,800 in the Scottish Borders among other locations.

Overall more than 2,200 new FTTC street cabinets have been built and BTOpenreachs engineers have laid more than 5000 km of fibre optic cable. On average each week the programme reaches another 7,000 premises. By our reckoning todays news means that around 80% of Scotland should now be with be able to order a superfast broadband (24Mbps+) service.

Brendan Dick, BT Scotland director, said: We made good progress with the expansion of Scotlands fibre-based infrastructure in 2015, weve reached 500,000 premises with another 250,000 to be reached in the coming months. In total, more than 1.9 million Scottish premises can now get connected to high-speed broadband on our open network, with a wealth of choice in cost and services.

Stuart Robertson, Director of Digital at HIE, said: Availability of fibre broadband for homes and businesses in the Highlands and Islands has grown by over 55 per cent since 2014 and is expected to reach at least 84 per cent by the end of this year. Were delighted that the partnership investment has brought better broadband to people in over 100 towns and villages previously missed. Every connection is vital to those living and working here and were already looking at the options to reach even further.

So far so good, although its interesting to note Stuart Robertsons remark about looking at the options to reach even further. Scotland has yet to sign a Superfast Extension Programme (SEP) contract like most of the rest of the United Kingdom, which is despite the Broadband Delivery UK programme committing an extra 20.99m to the country in 2013 (this will be matched by the Scottish Government).

On top of that BT has more recently confirmed that it will be able to return 17.8m in clawback (gain share) for a reinvestment boost (here) and theres also the possibility of additional funding being found from other sources, such as the EU. The original plan was simply to extend the existing Digital Scotland project with BT, but so far this hasnt happened and if an extension doesnt take place then the Scottish Government would have to open the contract up to the wider market.

The last Open Market Review of Scotlands superfast broadband connectivity, which was run at the end of 2014, suggested that around 230,000 premises could still be waiting for a superfast service to become available once the current contract completes (plus 51,000 needing basic broadband of at least 2Mbps). Many of those will also be reflective of some increasingly remote, sparse and thus expensive to reach communities.

Sadly much of Scotland is rural, thus outside of the big towns and cities the job does become very slow and difficult, which might well make it difficult for even BT to achieve Digital Scotlands goal of achieving world-class digital connectivity by 2020 (whatever that means).
Typically, holidays are a hot time for a serious cyberattack because offices are quiet and no one is around to monitor things. At the end of this year, however, my email account was not flooded with notifications with breaking security stories.

Thats not to say nothing was reported. A few hours after I shut off my computer for 2015 (but technically not the holiday week), I heard about the discovery of the cyberattack on a New York state dam. The attack happened two years ago, and while considered a breach by Iranian hackers, no serious damage was done, as eSecurity Planet reported:

The hackers are believed to have breached the dams control system via a cellular modem. They probed the system, but didnt take control of it.

As Chris Petersen, CTO and co-founder of LogRhythm, told me in an email:

The reported breach is likely just the tip of the iceberg in terms of risk to U.S. critical infrastructure. Entities such as Iran have incredible motivation to test our defenses and prove their offensive cyber capabilities. A demonstrated ability to damage water supply systems, the energy grid, or trading floors can change the balance of influence and power. Countries and terrorist organizations do not need to possess nuclear weapons or U.S. equivalent conventional forces if they can instead disrupt the very fabric of our economy and society through cyber warfare.

Petersen is clearly on to something. Today I saw a report that a power company in western Ukraine reported a suspected cyberattack on its grid, and officials are blaming the Russians. In this case, there was a loss of power, and as Reuters reported:

If the SBUs accusations are validated by the probe, it would be the first time a specific power outage has been credibly linked to a cyberattack, said Robert Lee, a former U.S. Air Force cyber warfare operations officer.

The story highlights the very real concerns about the critical infrastructure and the level of cybersecurity protecting it. The report on the New York dam showed us there are nation-state players out there testing the water, so to speak. The story from the Ukraine reminded us just how vulnerable we all are.

Sue Marquette Poremba has been writing about network security since 2008. In addition to her coverage of security issues for IT Business Edge, her security articles have been published at various sites such as Forbes, Midsize Insider and Toms Guide. You can reach Sue via Twitter: @sueporemba
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Ive written quite a bit over the years about Aspergers Syndrome in the IT community. Its a topic that Im convinced warrants frank and open discussion in order to bring about a broader understanding of this high-functioning type of autism, and why it seems to be more common among IT professionals, relatively speaking, than it is among the population as a whole.

A particularly fascinating question arising from this discussion is this: If two STEM professionals have a child, is that child more likely than he otherwise would be to have Aspergers Syndrome?

I recently had the opportunity to discuss that question with Brian Hughes, former president of the worldwide MIT Alumni Association whose wife, Lissa, is also an MIT graduate. The Hughess son, Richard, was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrome at the age of 13. In a 2003 article written for the MIT Alumni Association publication Infinite Connection, Hughes wrote about his sons experience and diagnosis, and he raised the question about children of MIT grads. Heres an excerpt from that article:

When I was president of the Alumni Association from 1999 to 2000, I spoke with alumni around the world. After discussing my son with one alumna, she realized I was also describing her daughter. I then took the opportunity, in one-on-one conversations, to broach the subject of Aspergers. My very unscientific recollection is that about a third of the time the response would be, That sounds like my nephew, niece, son, daughter, granddaughter, grandson, uncle, aunt  This stood in stark contrast to the normal rate of Aspergers of about 1 in 250.

The number of undergraduate women at MIT has increased from less than 10 percent of the entering class in 1972 to 41 percent in the academic year 2002-03. The number of MIT couples has been increasing as welljust look at the class notes! These marriages lead to children, and apparently more often than would be expected we are having extraordinary children. Some are just extremely gifteda serious challenge for all concerned. Others combine their extreme intelligence with learning disorders.  Still other children are like our son, extremely gifted, but with Aspergers. Sound familiar?

I asked Hughes what he learned from the feedback he received on that article. He said he received about 30 emails from alumni:

Being good MIT alumni, they said they had X number of kids, and so many are neurotypical, so many have Aspergers, and so many are autistic. And needless to say, everybody who responded knew somebody on the autistic spectrum. It turned out that roughly 40 percent of those responses were from dual-STEM couples. They werent always both MIT grads, but, for example, youd have one whos an MIT grad and one whos a Ph.D. from Carnegie-Mellon.

In this context, Hughes brought to my attention the work of Prof. Simon Baron-Cohen of the University of Cambridge in the UK, who serves as director of the universitys Autism Research Center. Specifically, Hughes cited Baron-Cohens research in the Netherlands, which found that Eindhoven, home of the Dutch technology giant Philips and the countrys top technical university, had a significantly higher rate of autism than two demographically similar towns that lacked the technology focus of Eindhoven. In Baron-Cohens words, These results are in line with the idea that in regions where parents gravitate towards jobs that involve strong systemizing, such as the IT sector, there will be a higher rate of autism among their children, because the genes for autism may be expressed in first degree relatives as a talent in systemizing.

According to Hughes, Baron-Cohen is conducting research specifically related to the autism rate of children of dual-STEM couples:

Simon Baron-Cohen is trying to get a large survey instrument out into STEM academia to study this question. But his working theory is that dual-STEM couples will have children on the autism spectrum at a higher rate than non-dual-STEM couples.

Turning to another issue, I told Hughes it had struck me that in his 2003 article, he referred to Aspergers sufferers. I asked him, based on his experience with Richard, what is it about Aspergers that makes it a condition from which a person suffers. He said it boils down to the fact that the social deficit that is characteristic of someone with Aspergers does not come with a desire to be asocial:

They would like to be part of the groupthey see other people having traditional friends, and they dont. Richards social group when he was going through high school was a group of adults with whom he played Dungeons and Dragons. That was pretty sacred time for Richard, because it was his one social outlet beyond his family.

Now hes in Cambridge, which is probably as good a place as you can be to be on the spectrum, but what has changed is the emergence of the Web. I think a lot of people on the spectrum can get a lot of social satisfaction from their online interactionprobably more than most neurotypicals, because theyre not going to miss the face-to-face as much as someone whos neurotypical would. At least thats my working theory on all this.

Hughes went on to explain that the fact that youre on the spectrum does not mean you dont love life, or you dont want to be part of the group:

You do, but you realize youre pretty bad at it. Thats where the suffering comes from. When Richard was young, he was not a happy camper. He didnt know what was going on, and we didnt know what was going on. But he was clearly not happy. Its tough, especially in a society where everybody focuses on the social aspect of success.

Were in a society where its perfectly all right to say, Im a complete math idiot, I cant add two and two to get fourthats socially acceptable. But to not be a social personthats a failure. The people who are seen as successful are people who are perceived as charismatic individuals. And somebody with Aspergers is unlikely to be charismatic.

All of this seems to speak to the issue of whether Aspergers is some sort of affliction, or simply a set of atypical character traits, and I raised that issue with Hughes. He said it certainly isnt something to be cured, in the sense that its a defect:

Clearly, somebody like my son has a lot to contribute.  Now, most people would have no clue that Richard is on the [autism] spectrum on first contacthes learned how to interact with people. Hes basically a happy, enthusiastic guy, and that comes across. But its clear it has been a lot of work, and it could have been easier. I suspect these days it might be easier to find out before youre in your teens whats going onkids are getting assessed earlier. The question is, what do you do about it?

Subsequent to my conversation with Hughes, I had an extraordinarily enlightening conversation with Richard, an MIT graduate himself whos now working as a quantitative software engineer at a startup in Cambridge. Ill share the highlights of that conversation in my next post.

A contributing writer on IT management and career topics with IT Business Edge since 2009, Don Tennant began his technology journalism career in 1990 in Hong Kong, where he served as editor of the Hong Kong edition of Computerworld. After returning to the U.S. in 2000, he became Editor in Chief of the U.S. edition of Computerworld, and later assumed the editorial directorship of Computerworld and InfoWorld. Don was presented with the 2007 Timothy White Award for Editorial Integrity by American Business Media, and he is a recipient of the Jesse H. Neal National Business Journalism Award for editorial excellence in news coverage. Follow him on Twitter @dontennant.
Enel Green Power of Italy has announced that it will begin construction of a 254-megawatt solar power plant in Brazil this year. The project is estimated to cost around US$400 million and is expected to be in service before the end of 2017.

Enel Green Power, an Italian multinational corporation for renewable energy sources, has taken a large step towards the implementation of a long-term and large-scale investment as the company has announced a construction of a solar power plant in Brazil that will generate 254 megawatts. The company is well known, for it is also constructing a wind farm in Sierra Gorda, Chile, which has a cost estimate of about US$215 million.

The Ituverava solar power plant to be constructed by Enel in Brazil has a cost estimate of around US$400 million. This solar project is one of the company's largest among the 1.65-gigawatt energy projects under the company's construction. This project was awarded to Enel in November 2014 through a competitive auction. The solar plant is owned by three special purpose vehicles under Enel Green Power Brasil Participacoes Ltda. The plant is expected to be up and running by the end of 2017.

The Brazilian solar power plant is expected to generate more than 550 gigawatt-hours per year. This energy generated by the plant annually is said to be more than enough to meet the demands of 268,000 households in Brazil while avoiding carbon dioxide emissions of more or less 185,000 tons annually. The project is under a 20-year power purchase agreement that will supply energy for the Chamber of Commercialization of Electric Energy.

The second solar power project auction was held in August 2015, which saw Enel Green Power winning a 553-megawatt offer out of the 834-megawatt capacity with an average tariff bid of US8.42 per kilowatt-hour. Enel was awarded three renewable energy projects that it needs to have up and running before 2017 reaches an end. The company is also planning to invest US$9.9 billion focusing mostly on enhancing and upgrading capacity of energy generation over the next five years and hopes to add about 7.1 gigawatts of energy generation capacity by the end of this decade. The company's investments will be taking place in Brazil, Chile and Mexico.
Samsung has been heavily invested on the smartphone race, battling the likes of tech giants Apple, LG and other manufacturers in the playing field. However, the mobile industry isn't the only thing that the company thrives on, as Samsung has other divisions such as home appliances, consumer electronics, camcorders and so forth. With that said, the South Korean tech giant has also been well known in integrating innovative ideas to its devices. And in its latest move, Samsung has just equipped its smart refrigerator with a massive touchscreen panel in its effort to push the idea of a "smart home."

While the Consumer Electronics Show still doesn't officially start until Jan. 6 of this year, Samsung has already been teasing the press with a smart fridge that features a big touchscreen display slapped into it. Details are sparse, however. And the company would rather have the press wait for official announcements until it unveils more specifications of the device itself.

Based on the image, the right door of the smart fridge features a gigantic touchscreen panel built into it. On top of the poster, there's a "Family Refrigerator. Get Connected" written to at least provide an idea on what the device is about. LG, another South Korean tech giant, has also been busy with innovating its devices, and it's quite exciting to see what the competition holds when the show floor opens.

Reports suggest that the display panel in question might be running Android. However, it could also be Samsung's Tizen as the company has been growing its devices that run the operating system as of late. Further speculations also suggest that users will be able to create lists from the display panel itself, as well as check the calendar or control the audio tracks being played. There also might be other features included in the smart fridge. But until it goes official, speculations and rumors are the only things roaming about.
Last year was complicated. There were some resolutions that I stuck to and some that fell by the wayside. The following are my goals for 2016; they look very similar to 2015's Will I complete them successfully? Only time will tell1.In 2015, I made the mistake of believing that since I had spent plenty of time with friends and family in 2014, it would be an easy resolution to keep even without making it. Not so. More people fell out of my life in 2015 than I anticipated leaving me feeling guilty about how I was using my time. I want my friends and family to know how much I appreciate and love them. They won't always be around and I want to cherish the time I have with them  including making a point of visiting with those who live out of state.2.In 2015, we went to North Carolina (Asheville), Tennessee (Nashville), Alabama (Scottsboro), Florida (Orlando), New York (NYC), New Jersey (Bloomfield, Newark), and Massachusetts (Boston, Saugus). So far, this year, we already have plans to go to NC, MA, NY, NJ, AL, France (Paris), Germany (Stuttgart, Dresden), and Czech Republic (Prague). It's not that I necessarily want to travel more this year than last, but I do want to continue exploring and learning about the world through travel. Plus visiting with family and friends as well as learning how to work with and best utilize points is definitely on my bucket-list.3.I've tried games and they only keep me interested for so long. I think this year I might try to read through a book or two in German. It could be something simple like a children's book or a cookbook  or it could be more complex. It might also be a worthy goal to watch a movie "auf Deutsch". Youtube maybe?4.Take more, always.5.The same or more. Two books a month is difficult to do, but I just got a kindle. There's no reason to slow down now. If I can read more, that'd be awesome too. I'd love to surpass the 10,000 page goal from 2015.6. Keep planning. Write simply. Use more vocabulary. Maybe redesign? I never redesign, because I'm always too busy with other goals. Maybe this year I'll get around to it though. Focus on connecting with my lovely readers. :)7.Move more, eat healthier. Drink more water. Having a fitness trainer for brother, you'd think a lot of that would come easier for me,it doesn't :-/
This Week in Review

A weekly review of the best and most popular stories published in the Imperial Valley Press. Also, featured upcoming events, new movies at local theaters, the week in photos and much more.
Last year marked the decline of the energy sector. A comprehensive analysis conducted by industry consultant Graves & Co. stated that the rock-bottom oil prices triggered layoffs of more than 258,000 workers globally.

As a result of these drops in oil prices, analysts have come to believe that the energy industry is bound to endure another round of job cuts and bankruptcies in the early part of this year.

This would further lead to a series of job cutting by global giants such as Royal Dutch Shell, Chevronand Halliburton. These, as reported by USA Today, have announced plans to cut thousands of positions this year.

"The closer you are to the wellhead, the quicker you are to lose your job," Houston-based energy consultant John Graves of Graves & Co. said. "Those are the kind of jobs that get hit first because it's where a company can quickly make cuts."

For instance, exploration and production companies have shed at least 60,000 jobs or one-fifth of the workforce in Texas, said Karr Ingham, petroleum economist for Texas Alliance of Energy Producers. "I expect it to get worse in the near term [since] expenses have to be cut pretty dramatically and that means that employees on payrolls have to go," Ingham added.

The state has already suffered up to 70% of revenue losses for last year.

According to Baker Hughes Rig Counts, the number of active oil and gas rigs in the U.S. fell 61% to 698 as of Dec. 31, compared to a year earlier. Furthermore, according to AAA, at the end of 2015, oil prices has driven gasoline below $2/gallon for 71% of U.S. gas stations. Oil is trading below $40 a barrel for the first time since early 2009.

Dan Heckman, national investment consultant for U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said is expecting the overall current jobless rate would double by February.
Almost 200 Muslims workers were fired from Cargill in Colorado for not showing up at work over a prayer dispute.

Last month, 200 workers, most of them were immigrants from Somalia, walked out at Cargill Meat Solutions in Fort Morgan to protest a prayer dispute. Some of them later returned on their work but 150 of them haven't showed up for three days in protest and while representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations negotiated on their behalf.

Cargill spokesman Michael Martin confirmed to CNN that they fired the workers who failed to work for three consecutive days without giving advance notice to the company.

Martin said that the misunderstanding between the workers and the company came on Dec 18, when 11 workers came forward and asked for a prayer break at the same time. He said that the prayer is allowed, as long as it doesn't slow down the plant production.

"Coming from that specific work area would have disrupted the workflow so the supervisor told the employees that they could go pray, but they would have to go in smaller numbers than 11," Martin explained to CBS News. "It would have to be three at a time."

Actually, workers complied with the company's request and they went in smaller numbers to pray but later that day, around 11 workers reportedly resigned. After the said employees turned their badges, other Somali workers heard the dispute and didn't show up at work for three days.

Spokesman and executive director of CAIR, Jaylani Hussein said to The Denver Post that the prayer policy at the plant was somehow changed and Muslim employees were told to "go home" if they wanted to pray.

But Martin argued over Hussein's claimed and said that the company's policies haven't changed and they have provided their employees a religious accommodations.

Around 500 Somalis are still working at the plant and those who were fired may reapply after six months of waiting period.

The Council on American Islamic Relations is still reaching an agreement with Cargill to fast track the return of those who were fired.
After an alarming count of five maternal deaths in only less than a week, the Italian government has sent its investigative teams to four hospitals in the north of the country. The women were between seven to nine months pregnant.

As reported by The Guardian, the most recent case was of the 30-year-old Giovanna Lazzari who died on New Year's Eve at a hospital in Brescia during an emergency caesarean operation. Two days prior, Lazzari had been admitted due to a fever. She was eight months pregnant.

Robert Coppini, Lazzari's husband, told Ansa news agency that she got an SMS from his wife in the middle of the night, complaining about serious pain and not getting attention from the doctors. Coppini was later asked to come to the facility and was informed that his wife had lost the baby, and later died from hemorrhage as she was supposedly in surgery for the removal of the fetus.

Other cases were Marta Lazzarin, who, according to the reports had already lost her baby when her waters broke and then subsequently suffered a heart attack. She was at seven months. Angela Nesta also suffered a heart attack shortly after giving birth to a stillborn baby. Anna Massignan died during a caesarean operation on a Christmas day. The fifth case was of an unnamed 23-year-old from southern Italy who died at full term while at home with an unknown cause.

Through a postmortem caesarean, the doctors were able to save the baby. Italy has a reputation for safe childbirth, which shocked the whole country as to why they've been shaken by a series of deaths. Italy's birth rate has recently fallen significantly. The UK ratio falling from 10 to nine over the same amount of time is still more than twice as high in Italy. The US has a stable ratio of 14.
Angie Molina has been working with hair for about a dozen years.

She uses a straight razor sometimes to help cut hair but at one point Molina had wanted to do another type of cutting.



I wanted to be a surgeon, Molina said.

While Molina didnt have a problem with stuff like blood, she eventually took a different path.

After talking with her counselor at Mingus Union High School, Molina said she thought shed try her hand at hair.

Molina went off to attend a beauty school in Flagstaff.

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Its worked out quite well, especially to hear the customers talk.

I dont even advertise, Molina said. Its all word of mouth.

Molina runs and owns a salon, Ruby Red, nestled back in the corner of the complex over by the road that leads off of Cottonwoods Main Street into Riverfront Park. The salon was actually Molinas first job, back when her friend used to run it.

I was the first stylist she hired, Molina said.

Her friend eventually decided to move to Colorado Springs and the opportunity came to purchase the business and take over.

Molina said shes enjoyed the experience of still doing what she likes to do while learning what it takes to run her own business.

Shes got other stylists and people who work in her salon, including a woman who was busy working with a womans nails on a Tuesday afternoon last week.

Its been a good experience, Molina said. I couldnt see myself wanting anything else.

Born in Sedona, Molina grew up in the Verde Valley.

Shes pretty much lived in Cottonwood her entire life although she did move to Phoenix for a brief stint a few years ago.

Her job has given her other opportunities to travel.

The company whose products she carries sent Molina to New York City for a few days of training.

Molina stayed in the Big Apple for a week and absolutely loved it.

It wasnt really anything like I had in my head that I thought it would be, Molina said. People were very friendly and everyone was smiling.

It was also the first time Molina had ever been on an airplane, something else she said was an enjoyable experience.

Outside of work, Molina has another project going on that she jokes is almost like a second job.

Im renovating my home, Molina said.

Its another experience that Molina said is giving her the opportunity to learn quite a bit. She got the home, a house built in the 1960s, last year.

I threw the kitchen away, Molina said. Theres also some work on the floors.

As for the salon, Molina said it moved into its location after the shopping center was built.

Molina said its a great building.

I wouldnt mind living upstairs, Molina laughed.
WASHINGTON  One of the arguments for the Iran nuclear deal was that it would encourage greater openness and investment from the West. But Iranian hard-liners have been working in recent months to sabotage the proponents of economic globalization and change.

The clearest example is the case of an Iranian-American businessman named Siamak Namazi, 44, who was arrested around Oct. 14. Iran hasnt announced any formal charges, but he has been accused in the Iranian press of being a tool of such institutions as the World Economic Forum, the National Endowment for Democracy, the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.

According to Iranian press accounts, Namazi is being held by the intelligence service of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps in a special section of Evin Prison. News organizations close to the IRGC have published conspiracy stories that appear to be drawn from his interrogation and from information on his laptop computer.

The allegations center, bizarrely, on Namazis status as a Young Global Leader under a program organized by the World Economic Forum. A story posted on the hard-line website Raja News describes the WEF and its youth fellowships as part of a Zionist network that uses investment and trade as tools of political subversion. Another story, posted by Jahan News, links Namazi to the other think tanks and foundations that it claims are part of a Western influence network.

The real target of the hard-liners may be President Hassan Rouhani, whose government has been a proponent of greater openness and economic integration with the West. Rouhanis government had blessed a planned visit to Iran last June by 20 members of the Young Global Leaders, arranged through Sorena Sattari, Irans vice president for science and technology. But the trip was canceled after it was criticized by hard-liners.

The Namazi incident is a reality check for those who hoped that the nuclear agreement would be the prelude to a broader opening. Since the agreement was reached in July, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has repeatedly said that Iran wont allow economic infiltration by an America he described several months ago as a deceitful, crafty, skillful, fraudulent and devilish enemy.

The imprisonment of Namazi in October came days after an Iranian court convicted Washington Post reporter Jason Rezaian, also an Iranian-American, on charges of espionage. Marty Baron, the Posts executive editor, called the verdict an outrageous injustice.

Their message is that they are going to scare and intimidate Iranians abroad who want to return to Iran, argued Bijan Khajehpour, an Iranian who hired Namazi in 1997 at Atieh Bahar Consulting, a Tehran firm that advised Western companies investing in Iran. Namazi left Atieh Bahar in 2007, and Khajehpour left the country in 2011 under pressure from the regime. He now operates a similar consulting firm in Vienna.

There may be a class warfare aspect to these political attacks. Like many Iranians who have prospered in the diaspora, Namazi is from a family that was prominent during the Shahs time. His father was governor of Khuzestan Province and left Iran after the revolution. Namazi graduated from Tufts University and then studied management at London Business School and urban planning at Rutgers.

The message from the hard-liners, whose IRGC-linked businesses have prospered since the revolution, is that they wont give up economic or political power to the old elite, as sanctions are lifted and foreign investment grows in Iran.

Just as the IRGC evidently hopes, the Namazi case has chilled some Iranian-American business leaders who had considered investing in Iran. An example is a group called iBridges, which includes some wealthy Iranian-Americans, such as Hamid Biglari, who was a senior executive at Citigroup. The technology group gathered Iranian entrepreneurs for a first iBridges meeting in 2014 in Berkeley, California; they held a second, larger meeting with nearly 2,000 participants in June in Berlin.

But iBridges has been attacked in the Iranian press, and some of its members  who were enthusiastic just a few months ago about funding new startups in Iran  are said to be reconsidering. Says one Iranian-American who has pulled back from planned investments: All this is a warning shot across the bow to the entire diaspora: Dont even think about coming back to rebuild relations with the West.

Rouhani and other pragmatists argue that foreign investment will strengthen Iran and boost its national security. But hard-liners insist that Western money is a tool of the Great Satan that will undermine the revolution. This battle over foreign influence will be one of Irans fault lines in the year ahead.
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Chilton  The central piece of Steven Avery's defense  that sheriff's deputies planted his blood in Teresa Halbach's car  suffered three setbacks Monday.

The developments occurred on an unusual day of Avery's trial  the proceedings were held without the jury and the specter of the O.J. Simpson trial was raised.

 Marc LeBeau, head of the chemistry unit at FBI headquarters in Virginia, testified that Avery's blood almost certainly was not planted in Halbach's car.

To reach that opinion, LeBeau used so-called EDTA testing that the FBI had used only once before  in Simpson's 1995 murder trial.

 The judge in Avery's trial, Patrick Willis of Manitowoc County Circuit Court, ruled that the jury will be allowed to hear LeBeau's testimony.

Avery's lead attorney, Dean Strang, had argued that the EDTA testing process was unreliable and implored Willis "not to join Judge (Lance) Ito's club." That was a reference to the Simpson trial judge.

But Willis said the test results will help the jury render verdicts and that Avery's lawyers can question the process while cross-examining the FBI chemist.

 Willis refused a request by Avery's attorneys to conduct their own EDTA testing.

Willis pointed out that Avery's lawyers discovered a vial of Avery's blood left unsecured in the Manitowoc County Courthouse in July 2006, giving them plenty of time to have it tested. Therefore, he concluded, they did not have a right to a months-long delay in the trial or a mistrial, as they requested.

Avery's lawyers claim that Manitowoc County sheriff's deputies put Avery's blood from the vial into Halbach's car in an attempt to frame him with her murder.

EDTA, or ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, is a synthetic chemical that is used to preserve blood but is also found in countless products, including food, shampoo and detergents.

The FBI tested samples of Avery's blood found in three places in Halbach's car and found no EDTA. That indicated that the blood found there did not come from the blood vial in the courthouse.
SHARE About voucher schools Voucher schools are private schools that receive taxpayer money in the form of tuition payments for qualifying students. All voucher schools are private schools, and most teach religion. As of the 2014-15 school year, 26,930 students in Milwaukee were using vouchers to attend one of 113 private schools.



The Milwaukee voucher program, officially known as the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program, was started in 1990 and is the longest-running urban school voucher program in the country. Students have to come from low-income or moderate-income families to qualify for a voucher. Once enrolled, they bring the participating school a voucher payment of between $7,000 and $8,000 annually.



The state Legislature created a Racine voucher program in 2011 and a statewide voucher program in 2013.

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The U.S. Department of Justice has closed a long-running investigation into whether the Milwaukee private school voucher program discriminates against students with disabilities, with no apparent findings of major wrongdoing.

In a quiet conclusion to a probe that's drawn national attention, the Justice Department sent a letter to the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction on Dec. 23, saying that no further action is warranted beyond the materials it reviewed, meetings it conducted and changes it requested the DPI make to its administration of the Milwaukee voucher program two years ago  directives the DPI largely could not act upon under state law.

The Justice Department left the door open to investigating future complaints, according to the letter.

Disability Rights Wisconsin, one of the agencies that brought the 2011 complaint that spurred the investigation, may still pursue individual action on behalf of aggrieved families, managing attorney Monica Murphy said.

"I think there are families that feel their children's needs haven't adequately been served," Murphy said. "We went the DOJ route because it was a way of having a more systematic impact and having things apply across the board."

But voucher school advocates, who have criticized the probe as politically motivated and aimed at undermining the private, mostly religious schools that receive state money, saw the latest development as a win.

"Finally, after four years of a systematic, legally dubious investigation, there will be closure without any finding of discrimination in the school choice program," said Jim Bender, president of the advocacy group School Choice Wisconsin.

Complaint spurred probe

The American Civil Liberties Union and Disability Rights Wisconsin complained to the Justice Department's Office for Civil Rights in June 2011 that the Milwaukee voucher program systematically excluded children with disabilities and segregated them in public schools.

Private schools that participate in the Milwaukee voucher program cannot deny students admission on the basis of a disability. But because voucher schools are private institutions, they are not legally bound to offer the same range of special education services or physical accommodations that public schools must provide under federal law. Voucher schools also get less money than public schools for special education services.

The Milwaukee voucher program allows qualifying children to attend a participating private school with a taxpayer-funded tuition voucher worth between about $7,000 and $8,000 annually.

Since the investigation was launched, Gov. Scott Walker signed legislation that extended vouchers to other private schools across the state. The 2015-'17 state budget also created a special needs voucher program, which will allow some students with disabilities to leave public schools and use a voucher worth about $12,000 annually to attend a private school starting in 2016-'17.

The letter from the Justice Department, obtained by a Journal Sentinel reporter from the Department of Public Instruction offices in Madison, says the DPI would forward any complaints received in the future about that new program to federal officials.

Practical impact

Over the past 41/2 years, parties on both sides of the complaint often struggled to get information about the status of the slow-moving federal investigation.

Wisconsin U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson, who supports voucher programs, became vocal in 2015, calling for the Justice Department to justify its role in the continued monitoring of the Milwaukee voucher program.

The last major development in the investigation came two years ago, when the Justice Department ordered the DPI to take stronger steps to ensure students with disabilities were enrolled in and served adequately by voucher schools.

But many of those orders asked the DPI to take steps and collect information from voucher schools that the private schools were not obligated to provide under state law.

For example, the Justice Department asked the DPI to collect from the voucher schools the number of children they enrolled with disabilities, separated by grade level and by disability, in the 2013-'14 school year. Voucher schools could volunteer the data, but because that's not a mandate in state law, there were no consequences for not responding.

Murphy, from Disability Rights Wisconsin, said she thought the Justice Department was frustrated by the limits of the DPI's power to regulate the voucher schools without assistance from the Legislature.

Perhaps one of the best outcomes of the investigation, she said, was raising awareness about the treatment of students with disabilities in the private schools.

"I think the DOJ took it seriously and did an investigation that made people in the voucher world a little more conscious" of their practices, Murphy said.

One change the DPI could enact was a new online form for parents to submit disability-related discrimination complaints about a voucher school.

As of the end of November, no complaints had been filed through the new portal, according to CJ Szafir, vice president for policy and deputy counsel for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, a conservative law firm that has submitted regular records requests to the DPI about the status of the investigation.

"You'd think if there was a large outcry of parents upset with the private schools we would be hearing it by now," Szafir said.

Voucher advocates including Szafir and Bender of School Choice Wisconsin saw the Justice Department's probe as a legal overstep on school choice because it appeared to be asking private schools to be treated as public entities under federal disability law.

"Part of the benefit of school choice is that parents get to decide where to send their children," Szafir said. "Perhaps they don't want to get under the (federal disability) laws, so they go to private schools to educate their kids with disabilities in a different manner than what they'd get in the public schools."
Paula Bell (right), executive director of the Milwaukee Children's Choir, talks with interns Kailyn Haddican (left), a Waukesha County Technical College student, and Jasmine Hooks of Marquette University about processing tickets before a concert in December at Cathedral Church of All Saints. Credit: Gary Porter / for the Journal Sentinel

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Internships have long paved the way for college students to gain real-world experience, but increasingly they also are a direct pipeline to jobs after graduation.

So what are students to do if they can't afford to give up a job that pays the bills to take an unpaid internship that will help them build networking and career skills?

They keep the paying job and do the unpaid internship on top of it, while also juggling classes, as Marquette University senior Jasmine Hooks did during the fall semester.

Or, if they are one of 179 students at Marquette who will benefit over the next three years from a $354,000 grant, they get an otherwise unpaid internship that is subsidized by private money, allowing them to take home a paycheck while picking up career skills and connections.

The $354,000 grant Marquette received from the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corp.  a federal student loan servicer based in Madison  will create internships for low-income and first-generation students in the Helen Way Klingler College of Arts and Sciences.

The grant will allow Marquette to expand partnerships with local businesses and nonprofit agencies, especially in neighborhoods surrounding campus  relationships that theoretically will be sustained past 2018, when the grant period ends. The first group of interns will start in January. They will earn $13 an hour for up to 160 hours during the spring semester.

Marquette is one of 12 Wisconsin colleges and universities receiving three-year Career Ready Internship Grants from Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corp., totaling some $4 million. The grants are aimed at juniors and seniors struggling to make ends meet.

"Paid internships benefit students, colleges and employers," said Richard George, chief executive officer of the student loan servicer. "It's a win-win-win."

Hooks, of Chicago, is majoring in public relations with a minor in marketing. When she graduates in May, she hopes to work in the arts.

"I would love to work for a theater company or a record company," she said.

Hooks said it wasn't a difficult decision to seek an unpaid internship for 12 hours a week with the Milwaukee Children's Choir. This was her fifth internship, and only one was paid.

To cover bills, she works as a front desk ambassador about 23 hours per week at The Iron Horse Hotel.

"I think, in general, it has really taught me what all goes into running a nonprofit," Hooks said of her internship with Milwaukee Children's Choir. "I've been able to watch funding struggles, grant writing and fundraising efforts. ... Also, I've been able to expand my writing and design skills."

Hooks' experience isn't unusual for students in several majors.

"Students who are in the humanities or in the social and cultural sciences often tend to intern at nonprofit agencies or government agencies who do not have the funds to support paid interns," said Rosemary Stuart, associate dean of Marquette's College of Arts and Sciences and a professor of biological sciences.

"These agencies can provide real-world experiences, opportunities for community engagement and excellent mentorship to their student interns, but without the ability to pay their interns, many students cannot afford the luxury of taking on an unpaid internship," said Stuart, who is involved in helping students find paid internships through the Great Lakes grant.

First-generation college students are less likely than other students to have internships  43% vs. 56%, according to the 2015 National Student Survey of Engagement.

Surveys suggest internships are critical to landing jobs after graduation.

In a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers of the Class of 2015, 56.5% of students who reported they had internships received at least one job offer, while 36.5% of those with no internships received at least one job offer.

Nearly two-thirds (65.4%) of the Class of 2015 said they had internships or co-ops  a 4% increase from the year before, and the highest since the annual survey began in 2007.

More than half of the internships (60.8%) were paid, while 39.2% were unpaid.

Paid interns with private, for-profit companies enjoyed the highest job offer rate (72.2%) and also higher starting salary offers, the survey found. Their median offer was $53,521.

In the same survey, unpaid internships were by far the most common in the social services industry (81.7%), followed by education, government, health care, other support services and recreation/hospitality (including arts and professional sports) (50.4% to 63.9%).

Business, engineering and hard sciences tend to offer more paid internships, said Jean Salzer, director of the Career Planning & Resource Center at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, which received a $150,000 pilot grant from the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corp. in 2013-'14 to create 45 paid internships over two semesters.

"We're seeing more and more paid internships now," Salzer said.

Milwaukee Children's Choir Executive Director Paula Bell has jumped at opportunities to offer paid internships though the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corp. grant. Several area colleges and universities have received the grant in recent years.

The children's choir tapped UWM's pilot grant from Great Lakes to hire an IT intern in summer 2014. That intern has since graduated and gotten another job but was so valuable that he now works as a contract consultant for the choir on an as-needed basis, Bell said.

Bell said she hires three to five unpaid interns per semester for IT/web administration, marketing, public relations, social media, graphic design and event planning.

"We generally can't afford $45 to $90 an hour for a graphic designer to make an ad or a flier," Bell said. "At small nonprofits, interns do the actual work and make the phone calls and connections with people."

Interns who aren't self-starters and who need constant feedback from a professional graphic designer won't benefit as much from their experience, she said. "If they run into issues, they have to go back to a professor or their own network."

Nearly all of her interns, like Hooks, juggle their internships with paid jobs and classes, Bell said.

"I would definitely encourage students to take an unpaid internship if financially they can, and if they feel like it will help them in the long run," Hooks said.

Bell said she takes seriously her responsibility as an intern employer to help them network when it comes time to search for a job. She builds a file for each intern to help her be specific about their work when providing references. That's a critical part of a successful internship, experts say.

UWM did not receive a grant this year from the Great Lakes Higher Education Guaranty Corp., but its internship program has been strengthened by the experience a few years ago with the grant, Stuart said.

Students find internships through different avenues.

Charles Organ, a UWM junior from Detroit who is completing a double major in marketing and supply chain management, learned how to network through the campus Black Culture Center, where he connected with a graduating senior who has mentored him since he was a freshman.

His mentor introduced him to a professor in the Lubar School of Business with an endowed chair funded by Rockwell Automation. Organ has had two paid internships with Rockwell Automation in Richland Center.

"My internships helped me grow personally," Organ said. "It helped my independence and maturity. Professionally, it helped my communication, presentation and technical skills."
SHARE Roberta Boorse Family photo

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Against considerable odds, and with $800 in proceeds from a recital at her dance school, Roberta Boorse set out in 1969 to start a ballet company in Milwaukee.

Today, the Milwaukee Ballet has 20 professional dancers, roughly 20 dancers in its second company, about 1,000 students at its dance school and a national reputation for introducing new works.

Boorse, the founder of the Milwaukee Ballet, died Saturday at age 84, leaving a legacy that enriched the area's cultural life, employed hundreds of professional dancers and enchanted tens of thousands of children whose introduction to ballet was the company's annual performance of "The Nutcracker."

The Milwaukee Ballet, now in its fifth decade, would not exist were it not for Boorse's vision and tenacity, said Michael Pink, the dance company's artistic director.

"Roberta proved herself to be good manager," Pink said, "and she used the limited resources in a responsible way."

Boorse oversaw the company through its lean first years, doing everything from hiring dancers to ordering costumes to mailing tickets.

"She did everything out of our house," said Dawn Ford, one of her three daughters. "My grandmother actually made some of the costumes in the beginning."

At age 20, Boorse, who had studied at the Stone-Camryn School of Ballet in Chicago, opened a dance school, the Academy of Dance Arts, in West Allis.

At the time, she was too young to sign a contract, Ford said.

When she set out to start a ballet company roughly two decades later, she was told that Milwaukee, which already had a symphony and opera, was too small to support a ballet company.

"She was constantly told that it was going to fall, that it would never work," said Ford, who lives in Cedar Grove. "But she never gave up."

Boorse found an ally in Adolph Suppan, the dean of the school of fine arts at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, who loved ballet. He let the fledgling company practice for free at the school and lent his support.

Aligning with a university that has a dance program, Pink said, is a smart way to begin a dance company.

"Roberta was a good businesswoman," he said. "There's no question."

On April 24, 1970, the ballet held its inaugural performance that included Ted Kivitt, principal dancer for the American Ballet Theatre in New York, one of the country's premier companies.

That was soon followed by a performance at Uihlein Hall at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts that featured Kivitt and Cynthia Gregory from the American Ballet Theatre.

To generate interest in ballet in Milwaukee, Boorse had gone to New York to persuade the American Ballet Theatre to let its stars perform with the new dance company.

"She camped out there," Ford said. "She refused to leave until she had a contract."

Other efforts to build support included "beer and ballet"  a performance held at the bowling alley below the dance company's studio at the time.

"She tried to think of different things that would bring in all different kinds of people," Ford said.

The first years were, nonetheless, uncertain.

Gloria Gustafson, who was the artistic director from 1972 to 1974, working part time for the company and part time for UW-Milwaukee, remembers Boorse using her own money at one point to make payroll.

Gustafson described Boorse as optimistic, determined and dedicated.

Marlis Moldenhauer, a former student who would later dance professionally in New York, was one first members of the dance company.

"Roberta looked like a ballerina," Moldenhauer said. "She acted like a ballerina."

Boorse also ran the dance school and started the ballet company while helping to raise four children.

In 1955, she married Don Boorse, a pilot, race car driver, yachtsman and former paratrooper who founded Elco Truck Rental. He died in 2011. The couple were married for 56 years.

After leaving the Milwaukee Ballet, Roberta Boorse opened a dance school in Brown Deer.

Despite her public profile and her experience as a teacher and dancer, Boorse was a private person who disliked speaking in public or granting interviews, Ford said.

But her mother, she said, was born to dance.

"That was her way of expressing herself," Ford said.

Survivors include her children, Donna Karp, Dawn Ford, Daniel Boorse and Mary Belvin, and nine grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband, Don Boorse, and her brother, Ralph Rehberg.

Roberta Boorse

Visitation will be Wednesday from 11 a.m. until the funeral service at 1 p.m. at Schmidt & Bartelt Funeral Home, 10280 N. Port Washington Road, Mequon. Entombment will be at Wisconsin Memorial Park. Memorial donations can be made to the Milwaukee School of Ballet to fund a future scholarship program.
Detective shares details of hourslong interview with Brooks on Day 12 of Christmas Parade trial

Jurors on Tuesday got a first look at how Darrell Brooks Jr. intends to argue his defense in the trial tied to the Waukesha Christmas Parade attack.
The sun sets over the Oresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark, seen from Sweden on Sunday. On Monday, travel restrictions are set to be imposed by Sweden to stem a record flow of migrants. Credit: Associated Press

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Stockholm  Since it opened in 2000, the Oresund bridge between Sweden and Denmark has been a towering symbol of European integration and hassle-free travel across borders that people didn't even notice were there.

On Monday new travel restrictions imposed by Sweden to stem a record flow of migrants are transforming the bridge into a striking example of how national boundaries are re-emerging. A year of clampdowns on migration and terrorism has all but killed the idea of a borderless Europe where you could drive or train-hop from Spain in the south to Norway in the north without ever having to show your passport.

"We're turning back the clock," said Andreas Onnerfors, who lives in Lund, on the Swedish side of the bridge. An associate professor in intellectual history, he said he's benefited from the free flow of people and ideas across the bridge  he's studied on both sides and taught students from both Sweden and Denmark.

"We're going back to a time when the bridge didn't exist," he said, referring to the ID checkpoints being set up Monday on the Danish side for train passengers wishing to cross over to Sweden.

The move is meant to stop undocumented migrants from reaching Sweden, which abruptly reversed its open-door policy after receiving more than 160,000 asylum-seekers last year, mainly from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.

It follows the reintroduction of border checks in Germany, Austria, France, Belgium and other countries in what's supposed to be a passport-free travel zone of 26 nations.

The moves are supposedly temporary but are likely to be extended if Europe's migrant crisis continues in 2016.

"It's basically every country for itself now," said Mark Rhinard, an expert on the European Union at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

Citing exceptional national circumstances related to security, terrorism and public order, several countries have suspended EU rules that required them to keep their borders open to each other.

It's a significant development that strikes at the very heart of the EU project  the free movement of goods and people across borders.

The Bruegel think tank in Brussels says that in 2014 there were almost 1.7 million cross-border commuters in the passport-free zone known as the Schengen Area, after the Luxembourg town where it was created in 1985. Abolishing it would affect their daily lives, but the consequences for Europe would go deeper, given the "visible and powerful symbol of European integration that Schengen represents," researchers Nuria Boot and Guntram Wolff wrote in December.

Whether the temporary reintroduction of borders also means rebuilding mental boundaries between EU citizens remains to be seen. But the migrant crisis is becoming an even bigger challenge to European unity than the cracks emerging in recent years over the bloc's common currency, the euro.

Differences on migrants

EU nations demonstrated starkly different views on how to deal with the 1 million migrants that crossed the Mediterranean in 2015. Germany and Sweden, until recently, said refugees were welcome, while Hungary built a fence to keep them out. The Danish government took a series of measures to discourage migrants from going there, including a proposal to seize their jewelry to cover their expenses in Denmark.

Common rules requiring refugees to seek shelter in the first EU country they enter collapsed, as Greece and Italy were overwhelmed by sea arrivals and countries farther north just waved the migrants through to their intended destination, often Germany or the Scandinavian countries.

Meanwhile the EU's efforts to spread refugees more evenly across the bloc met stiff resistance from member states. By November only about 150 of 160,000 refugees had been relocated from Greece and Italy under an EU plan.

The crisis underlines structural flaws in the EU, showing how it has implemented common rules that it just can't enforce once the external pressures become too great, said Karl Lallerstedt, co-founder of Black Market Watch, a nonprofit group focusing on cross-border smuggling.

"It's not a strong federal state that can overrule its members," he said. "At the same time individual states have obligations to the EU. So you're in this sort of halfway house."

Any hope of a quick return to a borderless Europe was crushed by the deadly Paris attacks in November, after which France declared a state of emergency and beefed up border controls.

Economic issues

However, if bottlenecks build up at the borders, EU citizens and companies moving goods in trucks will eventually get fed up, said Rhinard, of the Swedish Institute of International Affairs.

"As soon as it starts to bite economically, people are going to start to ask: 'Is this the right solution to the problem?'" Rhinard said.

That question is already being asked by companies and commuters opposed to new ID checks at the 5-mile Oresund bridge-and-tunnel.

Train networks on each side have been integrated to allow thousands of commuters to cross the bridge daily, essentially incorporating the southern Swedish cities of Malmo and Lund into suburban Copenhagen.

But the new ID checks mean there will be no more direct railway service from Copenhagen's main station to Sweden. Travelers heading to Malmo will have to switch trains at Copenhagen Airport after going through the checkpoints there, adding an estimated half an hour to the 40-minute commute.

To avoid the hassle, Sweden's national railway company SJ canceled service to Denmark altogether.

"This is what happens when national states put down their foot down and say security is most important," said Onnerfors. "It collides with the freedom (of movement) they've been talking about for 20 years, which was the reason we joined the EU."
Sixty-six Wisconsin Army National Guard members stand during a sendoff ceremony in Madison Monday morning. The Wisconsin soldiers volunteered for the new unit assigned to the 101st Airborne as part of the first-ever Army initiative to integrate soldiers from the National Guard, reserves and active duty. Credit: Rick Wood

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Madison  When Paul Cusick got dressed Monday morning, he slid his arms into a camouflage shirt adorned with his name, his captain's rank, an American flag and his military unit patch.

The screaming eagle patch on his left shoulder has special meaning for Cusick; it draws him closer, in a way, to the memory of a man he never met but who served America when the world was at war.

It's the same patch worn by Cusick's paternal grandfather during World War II when the screaming eagle insignia of the men of the 101st Airborne, who parachuted behind enemy lines on D-Day, was well-known throughout Europe.

Now it's Cusick's turn to travel far from his Wisconsin home to take part in a battle against a foe in a distant land. Though it will be Cusick's third trip to Iraq, this is the first time the Wisconsin National Guard member will be deploying as a member of the 101st Airborne.

"This is a big deal to me  third generation. Grandpa served in World War II, my dad was in Vietnam with the brown water Navy," serving on small ships on Vietnam's rivers, Cusick said at a sendoff ceremony at the Armed Forces Reserve Center in Madison. "I'm not going to lie. This is exciting."

It's also unprecedented.

Cusick and 65 other Wisconsin National Guard soldiers are members of a new unit augmenting the Army's 101st Airborne Division based at Fort Campbell, Ky. They're part of a first-ever Army initiative to integrate National Guard and reserves soldiers into an active duty unit.

The Wisconsin soldiers are deploying to Iraq and Kuwait to help train Iraqi forces as part of about 500 soldiers from 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) Headquarters. The Wisconsin soldiers are expected to return from Iraq late this year.

The deployment is part of a regular rotation of division headquarters, with the 101st replacing the 82nd Airborne, which since June has led the efforts of about 3,500 American troops training Iraqi security forces battling Islamic State and other terrorists.

The Wisconsin National Guard unit was formed last spring with 24 officers and 42 enlisted soldiers from a variety of backgrounds, including infantry, logistics and aviation.

Integrating National Guard and reserves within an active duty unit is a legacy of budget cuts and a draw-down of troops following the end of the Iraq War and curtailing of operations in Afghanistan, as well as 15 years of wars in which military commanders increasingly relied on guard and reserve units from every state.

Judging by the number of hands that went up when the soldiers were asked how many had deployed before, about half of the unit had previously served in Iraq, Afghanistan or both.

Wisconsin Adjutant General Don Dunbar noted that although the National Guard was derided during the Vietnam War for not being as professional as the active duty forces, that perception has changed.

"What we've done is prove the National Guard can be operational and we have an increased foundation of readiness which makes us crucial because we can deploy in a short spin-up of time, and we're just as good as the active Army," said Dunbar, a two-star general who has headed the Wisconsin National Guard for several years.

Sgt. Maj. Carl Pregel, 49, of Holmen was asked to join the unit for his third deployment to Iraq, returning to a country he left years ago.

"I kind of foresaw this. This was a special forces war on conventional terms and now we're going back and taking the steps we should have taken before," said Pregel.

It will also be the third trip to Iraq for Maj. Cory Mulhern, 40, a River Falls native who served in Iraq in 2004-'05 with Pregel when they were in the Wisconsin National Guard's Charlie Co., 1st Battalion, 128th Infantry Regiment. Two soldiers from Charlie Co.  Todd Olson and Charles Kaufman  were killed in Iraq.

"For me, I find this more fulfilling than my other two deployments, which is odd," Mulhern said. "Because of ISIS, it's a real threat and major issue."

"I didn't think I'd be back 10 years later. But now the whole mission has changed. We'll be working with Iraqis and they want us there... because of the threat of ISIS," Mulhern said.

At Monday's ceremony, family, friends and employers of the 66 soldiers sat on chairs surrounding the unit, snapping photos and listening to a brass quintet of the National Guard's band play patriotic tunes. Young children danced to the music and played with toys on the gym floor. Under each soldier's seat was a rolled-up camouflage quilt made by volunteers.

Gov. Scott Walker presented the unit's commander, Col. Leland Ward, with a Wisconsin flag. Walker noted that the screaming eagle mascot of the 101st is based on Old Abe, a bald eagle carried into battle by the 8th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment during the Civil War.

Three years after the 101st Division formed in 1918, the unit was headquartered in Milwaukee as part of the Organized Reserves. That's when the unit acquired its mascot based on Old Abe.

The 8th Wisconsin fought in the western theater of the Civil War, and in 1862, Confederate Gen. Sterling Price exhorted his men to kill or capture Old Abe at the Battle of Corinth. Price was quoted as saying, "That bird must be captured or killed at all hazards. I would rather get that eagle than capture a whole brigade or a dozen battle flags."

Old Abe wasn't captured. He survived the war and became a celebrity, appearing at fundraisers and conventions before dying in 1881 in a fire in Wisconsin's Capitol in Madison.

But now the bird, in the form of the mascot of a storied military unit that fought at Normandy and the Battle of the Bulge, in Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and Iraq and Afghanistan, is returning to Iraq.

"It's cool to be part of that lineage," said Cusick, a Spooner native whose grandfather Earl Cusick served in the quartermaster corps of the 101st and died before he was born. "I'm very proud to be part of the tradition."
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By Mairead Maguire | (Inter Press Service) |- 

BELFAST (IPS)  In November 2015 I visited Syria together with an International Peace delegation. This was my third visit to Syria in the last three years. As on previous occasions I was moved by the spirit of resilience and courage of the people of Syria.

In spite of the fact that for the last five years their country has been plunged into war by outside forces the vast majority of the Syrian people continue to go about their daily lives and many have dedicated themselves to working for peace and reconciliation and the unity of their beloved Syria. They struggle to overcome their fear, that Syria will be driven by outside interference and destructive forces within, to suffer the same terrible fate of Iraq, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Yemen, and so many other countries.

Many Syrians are traumatized and in shock and ask how did this happen to our country? Proxy wars are something they thought only happened in other countries, but now Syria too has been turned into a war-ground in the geo-political landscape controlled by the western global elite and their allies in the Middle East.

Many of those we met were quick to tell us Syria is not experiencing civil war but a foreign invasion. To tell us too that this is not a religious conflict between Christians and Muslims who, in the words of the Patriarch Gregorios III Laham Muslims and Christians not only dialogue with each other but their roots are inter-twined with each other as they have lived together over 1436 years without wars, despite disagreements and conflictsover the years peace and co-existence have outweighed controversy. In Syria our delegation saw that Christian and Muslim relationships can be more than mutual tolerance, they can be deeply loving.

During our visit we met hundreds of people, local and national political leaders, government and opposition figures, local and national Muslim and Christian leaders, members of reconciliation committees and internally displaced refugees. We also met numerous people on the streets of town and cities, Sunni Shia, Christian, Alawite, all of whom feel that their voices are ignored and under-represented in the West.

The youth expressed the desire to see a new state which will guarantee equality of citizenship and religious freedom to all religious and ethnic groups, and protection of minorities, and said this was the work of the Syrian people, not outside forces, and could be done peacefully. We met many Syrians who reject all the violence and are working for conflict resolution through negotiation and implementation of a democratic process.

Few Syrians we met were under the illusion that their elected (7O percent) leader President Assad, was perfect yet many admired him and felt he was much preferred to the alternative of the government falling into the hands of the Jihadists fighters, fundamental extremists with ideology that would force the minorities (and moderate Sunnis) to flee Syria (or many to get killed).

This had already been experienced with the exodus of thousands of Syrians, when they fled in fear of being killed or homes destroyed by jihadist foreign fighters, and alleged moderates, trained funded and accommodated by outside forces. In Homs we witnessed the bombed out houses when thousands fled after Syrian rebels attacked Syrian forces from residential areas, and the military responded causing lethal damage to civilians and buildings (the rebel strategy of Human Shields) and they also done the same with cultural sites (cultural shields).

In the old city of Homs we had a meeting with members of the reconciliation committee, which is led by a priest and sheikh. We also visited the grave of a Jesuit priest who was murdered by IS fighters and visited the rebuilt Catholic church, the original of which was burned down. During the meeting by candlelight, because of regular power blackouts, we heard how Christians and Muslims in the town had been instrumental in the rehabilitation of fighters who choose to lay down their arms and accept the Syrian Governments offer of Amnesty.

They appealed to us to ask the international community to end the war on Syria, and support peace, and it was for our delegation particularly sad and disappointing that that very day the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, (UK), publicity announced his support for the UK vote to bomb Syria! (And subsequently the UK Government, voted for War on Syria). (If the UK/USA/EU, etc., wish to help the Syrian people they can immediately lift the sanctions which are causing great hardship to the Syrian people).

We also visited the Christian Town of Maaloula, where Aramaic, the language of Jesus, is still spoken and it is one of the oldest Christian towns in the Middle East. We visited the church of St. George and the priest explained how after their church was burned to the ground by western backed rebels, and many Christians killed, the people of Maaloula, carried a table onto the ruins of the church and after praying started to rebuild their church and homes. Sadly also in this place some Muslim neighbours also destroyed Christian neighbours homes and this reminded us all of the complexities of the Syrian conflict and the need to teach nonviolence and build peace and reconciliation. It also brought us to a deeper awareness of the plight of not only moderate Sunnis from extremists, but the huge numbers of Christians now fleeing from Middle Eastern countries, and that if the situation is not stabilized in Syria and the Middle East, there will be few Christians in what is called the cradle of civilization and birth of Christianity, and where the followers of the three Abrahamic faiths have lived and worked as brothers and sisters in unity. The Middle East has already witnessed the tragic and virtual disappearance of Judaism, and this tragedy is happening at an alarming rate to the Christians of the Levant.

But there is hope and Syria is a light to the world as there are many people working for peace and reconciliation, dialogue and negotiations, and this is where the hopes lies and what we can all support by rejecting violence and war in Syria, the Middle East and our world.

Mairead Maguire is a peace activist from Northern Ireland and Nobel Peace Laureate 1976

Licensed from Inter Press Service



Related video added by Juan Cole:

INTERNATIONAL PEACE DELEGATION TO SYRIA 2015
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By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) |  

Humanity is not abandoning fossil fuels fast enough to avoid some massive changes to our worlds climate, with all the implications that change has for sea level, coastal erosion, extreme weather, and desertification and drought. There have been impressive advances in adoption of solar and wind technology in 2015, but compared to the crisis, it is not nearly enough. I say this not to provoke despair but simply to underline that the crisis can be bad, or worse, or the absolute worst. We get to decide for future generations the kind of world they will live in.

The overriding question is how bad it will get. I am going to talk to an American audience, because the US is the one place where all this is still controversial (!), and this country produces 5.4 billion metric tons of carbon dioxide a year, among the highest per capita emissions in the world. I am therefore going to use Fahrenheit, since the Centigrade system confuses the 315 million Americans and downplays the threat.

All this is on my mind because Ive been teaching history and climate change, and I think a historical sense of relative change over time is useful here. There is no point in talking absolutes.

Basically, and despite the more optimistic goals adopted in Paris at COP21, the world is locked into a rise of 3.6 degrees F. (2 degrees C.) already. Note that that is an average rise of surface temperature, including Antarctica, the cold oceans (most of the worlds surface area), etc. So if you are on land in a warm place like Arizona or California, it isnt just that instead of a hot summer day being 115 F. in the shade, it will be 118.6 F. in the shade. The 3.6 degrees increase on average could take you into the 120s F.

The only question is, will we go on up from there to 7.2 degrees F or 12 degrees F. average increase? Because that could make Arizona south of Flagstaff uninhabitable in the summer.

So, will we keep to a 3.6 degrees F. average increase, or go on up to 5 degrees, 7 degrees (click on this link to see what that would mean), 10 degrees? Thats the question.

James Hansen, the founding father of contemporary climate change science when he was at NASA, believes that a 3.6 degrees F. increase is already potentially deadly and that is what we are bequeathing to our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren; more would be deadlier yet.

The problem is that there are potential tipping points into new, complex or chaotic climate systems, and the hotter we make it the more likely we are to set off a tripwire. If we warm up the frozen methane clathrates on the sea floor of our continental shelves, they could burp up the most potent warming gas known, and lead to a one-two punch of warming, as may have happened in the distant past. Paleo-archeologists in Sweden found evidence in the soil of a 10,000-year-long stationary storm during a very warm period of the earths past. That might be hard on your roof.

Likely Miami and New Orleans are already gone. New York and Washington D.C. substantially gone. Dont bequeath your grandchild a house in West Palm Beach. Southern Florida is where most of the states groundwater comes from, but the soil down there is limestone and porous, so rising sea water is going to seep up into the aquifers. Miami will be submerged, because no dike system can keep the water from welling up underground. A lot of Floridians will have to move north or the state will have to put in a lot of solar desalinization plants (but those will gradually be submerged, too, so youd have to keep rebuilding them in each generation).

But then the question becomes, whether we will also lose cities at higher elevations 10, 15, even 30 or 40 feet above sea level.

So I am arguing for a sliding scale. The more emissions we avoid now, the less bad it will be in the future.

There is no economical way to remove carbon from the atmosphere once it is there. About half of it will go into the ocean over the next few hundred years, causing increased salinity and a die-off of probably half of marine life, the fish on which many humans depend. The rest will be washed out of the atmosphere by binding with igneous and other rocks, over 100,000 years. If, because of celestial mechanics, we had another peak glaciation period in our future over that 100,000 years, as happened 40,000 to 12,000 years ago, it has been forestalled. The species homo sapiens sapiens is probably about 120,000 years old and largely evolved in relatively cold conditions. We have now set up a future as long as our own past of Hot World, a world very unlike the one we evolved to be adapted to.

Every ton of carbon dioxide we avoid now (and Americans put out on average 16 metric tons of CO2 a year per person) is a temperature increase that doesnt happen. When I moved into my present home in the early 1990s I put in insulation, which substantially cut my natural gas heating bill. I put solar panels on my roof and got an electric car a couple of years ago. I figure in just those 2 years Ive avoided something like 7 or 8 tons my household would otherwise have emitted. And the insulation was more carbon avoided. A gift to my, and your, grandchildren. Not everyone can do this; some people are renters or take public transportation and are probably already more virtuous than I. The task before us cant be accomplished anyway by individuals, but that is no reason for us each not to do our part. That is part of my argument for scalability.

Germany shows that a mature, growing economy can move relatively rapidly to renewables for electricity generation. In 2015 about a third of German electricity came from renewables. While some complain that its price for electricity is high, that is a trick. Germans put in insulation and got more efficient appliances, so they actually spend less on electricity than Texans even if their cost per KWh is higher. Anyway those price comparisons always leave out the environmental impact of fossil fuels. Coal looks like it can generate electricity for 5 cents a kilowatt hour. The real cost if you look at lost real estate, health costs in cities like Beijing and Delhi, etc., is probably closer to 48 cents a kilowatt hour. So Germanys electricity from renewables is much cheaper in reality.

Germany did it by providing financing for the soft costs of renewables installation, etc., which are increasingly the bottleneck in the US. The state of Michigan gave me no help whatsoever with my panels and in fact apparently wants to punish me for putting them in. Michigan has lost a million people since I moved there in the early 80s, and could benefit from an enlightened energy policy. This situation shows that Mark Twain was wrong when he said, Fleas can be taught nearly anything that a Congressman can. Fleas would have the sense to respond to being cooked by high temperatures.

My own university, the University of Michigan, has among the more backward energy policies of any major university in the country. Ohio State leased a wind farm that will supply 25% of its electricity. The University of Hawaii is going completely green by 2045. The University of Michigan still plans on emitting like 510,000 tons of CO2 a year in 2025, down only slightly from todays amount (there is a greenwashing element in the story, since this projected amount is a 25% decrease from 2006 levels but the baseline should be 1990, since emissions increased enormously after Kyoto). If even universities, which ought to be centers of enlightened thinking and innovation, feels no more urgency than this, what can we hope from everyone else?

So, this thing is on a scale. We are going to a 3.6 degrees F. average increase. We could go to 5 degrees F or 10 degrees F. You or rather your great-grandchildren wont like a 10 degrees F. increase. You wont even like 3.6 degree F. very much (it wont kick in for a while). It is up to you how bad it is going to get.

-

Related video:

CCTV News: China to boost uptake of renewable energy for green growth
JW Update

As of June 1, 2021, Tim Rohr is no longer administering this blog. The posts are written by whoever the posts say they are written by. The comments will be moderated by the author of the posts. You may email JW at junglewatch.info@gmail.com
VANCOUVER, Jan. 4, 2016 /CNW/ - Nevada Sunrise Gold Corporation ("Nevada Sunrise" or the "Company") (TSXV: NEV) is pleased to announce it has received a drilling permit from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (the "BLM") to explore for lithium brines on the Neptune property ("Neptune", or the "Property") located in the Clayton Valley of Nevada, USA.

The BLM has approved 10 exploration drill hole locations at Neptune, and Nevada Sunrise plans to drill 3 to 4 vertical holes as an initial phase, each up to 400 to 500 metres deep into an interpreted sub-basin, with follow-up drilling if warranted. There are no known drill tests for lithium brines within the targeted Neptune sub-basin. The Neptune drill program is proposed to begin in February 2016.

About Neptune

Neptune consists of 316 unpatented 20-acre placer claims totaling approximately 6,320 acres (2,557 hectares) and is located approximately 37 miles (55 kilometres) southwest of Tonopah, Nevada in an active area of lithium exploration and mining. The Silver Peak lithium mine operation, acquired by Albemarle Corporation (NYSE: ALB) in 2015, has extracted lithium minerals from brines continuously since 1966 and is located approximately 10 miles (15 kilometres) to the north of Neptune.

Nevada Sunrise has acquired geophysical data collected in 2011 by a previous landholder, which has been interpreted to indicate Neptune hosts a sub-basin up to 1,200 metres (3,630 feet) deep with the potential to host lithium-bearing brines in subterranean aquifers. For further information on Neptune including a map showing its location and planned drill holes please visit "Projects  Nevada Lithium" at: http://www.nevadasunrise.ca/projects/nevadalithium/

Nevada Sunrise has an option to earn a 100% interest in Neptune, subject to a 3.0% gross overriding royalty ("GOR"). On the 3rd anniversary of the signing of the definitive agreement for Neptune, Nevada Sunrise would have the right to purchase 1.0% of the GOR for US$1.0 million (see Nevada Sunrise news release dated September 21, 2015 for further details of the Neptune option agreement). A 1.5 mile (2.25 kilometre) area of interest applies to the Property.

John R. Kerr, P. Eng., is the Company's designated Qualified Person for this news release within the meaning of National Instrument 43-101 and has reviewed and approved the technical information contained in this news release.

About Nevada Sunrise

Nevada Sunrise is a junior mineral exploration company with a strong technical team based in Vancouver, BC, Canada, that holds interests in six mineral exploration projects in the State of Nevada, USA. Nevada Sunrise began acquisitions of Nevada lithium properties in September 2015, which include options to earn 100% interests in the Neptune and Clayton Northeast projects located in the Clayton Valley area, and in the Jackson Wash project located in a similar geological setting approximately 16 miles (25 kilometres) southeast of the Clayton Valley.

The Company's three key gold assets include a 21% interest in a joint venture with Pilot Gold at Kinsley Mountain near Wendover, a 100% interest in the Golden Arrow project near Tonopah, and a 100% interest in the Roulette gold property in the southeastern Carlin trend near Ely, with each of the properties subject to certain production royalties.

FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

All statements in this release, other than statements of historical fact, are "forward-looking information" with respect to Nevada Sunrise Gold Corporation ("Nevada Sunrise") within the meaning of applicable Canadian securities laws, including statements that address future mineral production, reserve potential, exploration drilling, the future price of lithium, potential quantity and/or grade of minerals, potential size of a mineralized zone, potential expansion of mineralization, the timing and results of future resource estimates, or other study, proposed exploration and development of our exploration properties and the estimation of mineral resources. Forward-looking information is often, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "continue", "estimate", "expect", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intends", "believe", "potential", and similar expressions, or describes a "goal", or variation of such words and phrases or state that certain actions, events or results "may", "should", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be taken, occur or be achieved. These statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors which may cause the actual results, performance or achievement of Nevada Sunrise to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking information.

Such factors include, among others, risks related to the interpretation and actual results of historical exploration at the Neptune property, reliance on technical information provided by third parties on any of our exploration properties, including access to historical information on the Neptune property, current exploration and development activities; changes in project parameters as plans continue to be refined; current economic conditions; future prices of commodities; possible variations in grade or recovery rates; failure of equipment or processes to operate as anticipated; the failure of contracted parties to perform; labor disputes and other risks of the mining industry; delays in obtaining governmental approvals, financing or in the completion of exploration, as well as those factors discussed in the section entitled "Risk Factors" in the Company's Management Discussion and Analysis for the Nine Months ended June 30, 2015, which is available under Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com.

Although Nevada Sunrise has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there may be other factors that cause actions, events or results not to be as anticipated, estimated or intended. There can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Nevada Sunrise disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on forward-looking information.

Forward-looking statements are made as of the date hereof and accordingly are subject to change after such date. Except as otherwise indicated by Nevada Sunrise, these statements do not reflect the potential impact of any non-recurring or other special items or of any dispositions, monetizations, mergers, acquisitions, other business combinations or other transactions that may be announced or that may occur after the date hereof. Forward-looking statements are provided for the purpose of providing information about management's current expectations and plans and allowing investors and others to get a better understanding of our operating environment. Nevada Sunrise does not undertake to update any forward-looking statements that are included in this document, except in accordance with applicable securities laws.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy of accuracy of this release. The Securities of Nevada Sunrise Gold Corporation have not been registered under the United States Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and may not be offered or sold within the United States or to the account or benefit of any U.S. person.

SOURCE Nevada Sunrise Gold Corporation
January 4th, 2016 / TheNewswire / Vancouver, British Columbia. Happy Creek Minerals Ltd. (TSXV: HPY) (the "Company) is pleased to announce results from geological work conducted on its 100% owned Fox tungsten property located in the south central Cariboo, British Columbia.

Between May 18 and November 14, 2015, the Company performed geological work in the Deception Mountain area where the BN, Ridley Creek (RC), BK and North zones occur. Mapping, sampling and prospecting used Ultra Violet (UV) light to reveal the tungsten mineral scheelite. Tungsten assays are reported in percent W03 (tungsten trioxide) for which prices in the past four years have ranged from US$190 to $460/mtu (where 1 mtu = 10 kg W03). The geological work has improved the understanding and potential of an historically un-mapped area that is part of a 3 km long trend containing a number of high grade tungsten prospects.

The main results of this work are:

1)At the BK zone, prospecting located two new outcrops 20 and 60 metres south, respectively, of previous trenches containing 3 metres of 2.0% W03, and 7.3 metres of 1.25% W03. One new outcrop returned 3.57% W03, 0.34 g/t gold, 2.9 g/t silver, 1060 g/t bismuth and 3.5 g/t indium in a grab sample. Forty metres further south a chip sample returned 1.42% W03 over one metre. The new surface samples are open in width and part of a mineralized zone that is partially exposed at surface. In 2012 a drill hole located 30 metres west of the trenches cut 9.0 metres of 0.42% W03, including 5.0 metres of 0.68% W03 and starting from 20 metres below surface. 2)The favorable layer of rock containing the BN, RC and BK tungsten zones was traced continuously at surface over a distance of two kilometres. Reconnaissance testing by UV light in a number of locations between the RC and BK zones indicates positive tungsten results. The favorable host rock between these zones is gently dipping and is from 10 to over 20 metres in apparent thickness. 3)Two other similar tungsten-bearing layers were located at higher elevations along the northeastern side of Deception Mountain. The upper-most layer was traced at surface from the east side of Deception Mountain to the North zone on its western side. Grab samples of rocks having positive tungsten from UV light inspection in the two upper layers have returned values of 0.10 to 0.29% W03. The mineralized samples are open in width. Similarly, approximately one kilometer south and above the RC zone, a second band was identified and locally contains strong scheelite under UV light.

David Blann, P.Eng., President of Happy Creek states: "On Deception Mountain, the mapping has shown the RC and BK zones are connected and that three distinct tungsten-bearing layers occur. We have increased our confidence that they continue through Deception Mountain a distance of approximately 1.5 km. This geology and scale compares with that found almost ten kilometres to the south at the Nightcrawler and South Grid zones and clearly adds to the overall resource potential on the property. In addition, the BK zone was extended at surface and still remains open in extent. With its high grade, it is shaping up to be another area similar to the RC zone that is potentially amenable to simple surface cut mining methods. The Fox project continues to increase in quality, and we see it advancing as a new, globally top-tier tungsten discovery."

While the Company has continued to explore the greater resource potential of the property, it is also focusing specifically on the Ridley Creek (RC) zone, one of the five known prospects. During October, the Company collected a 500 kg sample from the RC zone and is currently performing additional mineralogy and mineral processing test work under the supervision of Paul Berndt, Director. The Company has also engaged an independent consultant to perform detailed geological deposit modelling for a resource study.

The Company's plans for 2016 include taking steps toward further economic evaluation of the RC zone and environmental and other work to allow more advanced development stages to proceed. In addition, it is planned that trenching and drilling of the new South Grid target will begin in May, 2016.

About the Fox property

The Fox property hosts a tungsten mineral system that is 10 km by 3 km in dimension. Although most of the property is under-explored, five large scale targets occur. Three separate zones on Deception Mountain occur over a distance of two kilometres and are connected by the same favorable geological layer. Results include 33 selected intervals averaging 2.5% W03 over 2.92 metres, and overall, 49 out of 60 holes drilled average 8.2 metres of 0.72% W03 starting within 26 metres of surface. Highlights of drilling in two zones include intervals such as 26 metres of 1.2% W03 and 14.8 metres of 4.0% W03. The Nightcrawler zone is an area 2.0 km by 500 metres in dimension where widely spaced drilling has returned positive results in multiple horizons, some of which are exposed at surface. The best results include 5.0 metres of 1.0% W03. The new South Grid target is defined by favorable geology and positive tungsten in soil that is 1.25 km by 500 metres in dimension and remains untested by trenching or drilling. All zones are open in extent.

Complete details of the Company's drill results and maps can be found on the website at www.happycreekminerals.com, or within news releases filed on SEDAR.

On behalf of the Board of Directors,

"David E Blann"

____________________

David E Blann, P.Eng.

President, CEO

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:

David Blann, President, CEO

Corporate Office:

Phone: 604.662.8310

Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Website: www.happycreekminerals.com

Corporate Communications:

Ron Birch: Phone: 250.545.0383

Toll Free: 1.800.910.7711

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.

David Blann, P.Eng. is a Qualified Person as defined by National Instrument 43-101 and is responsible for the preparation and approval of the technical information disclosed in the news release. Rock samples are shipped to, prepared and analyzed at Agat Laboratories in Vancouver. Samples are first analyzed by aqua regia digest and ICP/ICP-MS and for results of greater than 50 ppm W, are analyzed using a peroxide fusion digest in triplicate to obtain average tungsten (W) assay results. W is multiplied by 1.261 to obtain W03, the compound for which tungsten prices are quoted. Agat performs duplicates and checks, for which results are compared and fall within a satisfactory range.

This press release contains "forward-looking information" within the meaning of applicable securities laws, including statements that address capital costs, recovery, grade, and timing of work or plans at the Company's mineral projects. Forward-looking information may be, but not always, identified by the use of words such as "seek", "anticipate", "plan", "planned", "continue", "expect", "thought to", "project", "predict", "potential", "targeting", "intends", "believe", "opportunity", "further" and others, or which describes a goal or action, event or result such as "may", "should", "could", "would", "might" or "will" be undertaken, occur or achieved. Statements also include those that address future mineral production, reserve potential, potential size or scale of a mineralized zone, potential expansion of mineralization, potential type(s) of mining, potential grades as well as to Happy creek's ability to fund ongoing expenditure, or assumptions about future metal or mineral prices, currency exchange rates, metallurgical recoveries and grades, favourable operating conditions, access, political stability, obtaining or renewal of existing or required mineral titles, licenses and permits, labour stability, market conditions, availability of equipment, accuracy of any mineral resources, anticipated costs and expenditures. Assumptions may be based on factors and events that are not within the control of Happy creek and there is no assurance they will prove to be correct. Such forward-looking information involves known and unknown risks, which may cause the actual results to materially differ, and/or any future results expressed or implied by such forward-looking information. Additional information on risks and uncertainties can be found within Financial Statements, Prospectus and other materials found on the Company's SEDAR profile at www.sedar.com. Although Happy creek has attempted to identify important factors that could cause actual actions, events or results to differ materially from those described in forward-looking information, there can be no assurance that such information will prove to be accurate as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Happy creek withholds any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking information, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, unless required by law.

Copyright (c) 2016 TheNewswire - All rights reserved.
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The upcoming drama "Moon Lovers" has gathered an impressive cast with recent confirmations that singer-actress IU and actor Lee Jun Ki will take the leading roles. The cast also includes actors Kang Ha Neul, Nam Joo Hyuk, Ji Soo, Hong Jong Hyun and EXO's Baekhyun. The latest reports say that actor Sung Dong Il is also discussing the final details of appearing in the time travel drama as a general.

"Moon Lovers" will be a k-drama adaptation of the Chinese novel "Starting With Each Step." A previous Chinese drama version starring Nicky Wu and Liu Shi Shi was very popular and boosted both their careers. According to the Korean media outlet TV Report, the drama is expected to be 35 episodes long.

It may take 35 episodes to tell the story because it is a complicated plot. "Moon Lovers" not only involves time travel but a palace full of princes, most of whom want the throne for their own. They will fight for what they believe is rightfully theirs.

In the original novel, a modern woman has a car accident that sends her back in time to the days of the Qing Dynasty. She's trapped in the body of an aristocrat's daughter. Her sister is a concubine in the emperor's palace so she meets the royal family and becomes a royal lady in waiting.

The emperor has 14 sons, which is why the cast needed so many handsome k-drama actors. Jang Hyo meets them all. She agrees to marry the emperor's eighth son if he gives up his quest for the throne, which she is sure will land him in jail. He won't and it does. There are plenty of romantic and political complications to follow. And more than one prince will be in love with her.

The plot of the k-drama will probably be adapted to feature Korean history. The k-drama version will air in September and be broadcast in Korea and China simultaneously.

Between them the cast members have several critical and popular k-drama hits. IU was last seen in the hit drama "Producer." Lee Jun Ki appeared in "The Scholar Who Walks The Night." Kang Ha Neul appeared in "Misaeng." Nam Joo Hyuk appeared in 'Who Are You - School 2015," Ji Soo in "Angry Mom," and Hong Jung Hyun in "Mama." "Moon Lovers' will be Baekhyun's drama debut.

Kim Kyu Tae, who directed "It's Okay, That's Love," and "That Winter The Wind Blows" will direct "Moon Lovers." Jo Joon Young, who wrote "Save The Dance For Me" is the screenwriter.
In a film about first love, that first kiss is an important moment. It's also the moment that EXO's D.O. is most eager to see on screen.

The 22-year-old singer and actor appeared at a press conference for his upcoming film "Pure Love." The conference took place on January 4 at Seoul's Konkuk University. D.O., aka Doo Kyung Soo, spoke about the scene in which he and actress Kim So Hyun kiss under an umbrella.

"I am very curious as to how it will come out," said D.O. "I am also curious what the audience will think of this scene. It is an important scene. I think this scene really fits with the word first love."

Kim Soo Hyun, 15, agreed.

"It truly is a beautiful scene," said Kim. "I hope many people are looking forward to this scene as it shows how the two characters clicked."

It was not her first onscreen kiss. She had her first kiss with actor Yeo Jin Goo when they co-starred in the melodrama "Missing You." Her character fell asleep on his character's lips and then was shocked by the contact.

Although D.O. and Kim So Hyun are the primary couple in "Pure Love," the film also focuses on their friends. Their story is told through a 23-year-old letter delivered to a radio disc jockey while he is on the air. The letter is read during his live broadcast. The film's other stars are Yeon Jun Suk, Lee David, Joo Da Young, Park Yong Woo, Park Hae Jun and Kim Ji Ho. The film has a February release date.

"Pure Love" will serve as the second major film role for D.O. In 2014, he debuted as an actor in "Cart." D.O portrayed Choi Tae Young, a high school student whose mother was wrongfully dismissed from her job as a grocery store employee. He followed his role in "Cart" with his dramatic and compelling performance in the psychological drama, "It's Okay, That's Love." D.O received several awards for his portrayal of Han Kang Woo in the series. In 2016, he can also be seen in the film "Thinking of Older Brother."

Kim So Hyun played the dual roles of Lee Eun Bi and Go Eun Byul in the teen drama, "Who Are You: School 2015." The 15-year-old actress has an extensive film and television career. She debuted as an actress at age 7 but received widespread acclaim for playing a vengeful queen-in-training in the 2011 drama, "Moon Embracing the Sun." Her role in "Who Are You: School 2015" is significant as the first time she was the romantic interest and involved in a love triangle. She will appear in the film "The Last Princess" in the younger version of the role played by Son Ye Jin.
SIDNEY  Even though many in Sidney are hopeful  confident, even  that Cabelas will stay, thats only one of the possibilities for the company now that activist investor Elliott Management is involved.

When the New York hedge fund, a so-called activist investor, declared its 11 percent stake in late October, it hinted that it would be forcing Cabelas to sell the company, its real estate or its profitable credit card business.

Since then, Reuters reported competitor Bass Pro Shops has Cabelas in its sights. Bloomberg News also reported that the company has been shopping itself around to private equity firms.

Here are a few likely scenarios for the company:

Buyout from a competitor

If Bass Pro were to buy, there would be no need for two accounting departments, two legal teams or two sales departments. The headquarters would likely be consolidated in Springfield, Missouri, where Bass Pro is based.

But other competitors  and Wall Street  are watching for other possible acquirers, and in the increasingly competitive outdoors retailing world, there are several.

Joseph Feldman, an analyst with Telsey Advisory Group, says a Dicks Sporting Goods and Cabelas merger makes sense. Feldman says the Dicks Field & Stream stores, focusing on hunting and fishing, overlap with Cabelas in only one market. The analyst estimated that Cabelas would cost Dicks about $4.9 billion, a 20 percent premium to Cabelas shares, which closed at $46.73 Thursday.

Buyout from private equity

While private equity firms often slash expenses by making cuts to jobs, there likely wouldnt be any reason to move the headquarters. A private equity firm also could weather some of the costs associated with making big changes to the company, away from the short-term quarteritis expectations of Wall Street to meet earnings goals each quarter. Once the company is in good working order, it might go public again, paying off the private equity firms debt.

Sale of real estate

One thing that made Cabelas an attractive target for an activist investor: its estimated $1.5 billion real estate portfolio. Many activists have recently pressured retailers like Sears to spin off real estate into a Real Estate Investment Trust, which pays out earnings in dividends and, as a result, pays little corporate income taxes. The retailer would then lease its stores back from the REIT. This would take some debt off the books for Cabelas, and turn a quick profit for the company. It may not be the best for the long-term health of the company, retail experts have cautioned, but it would free up cash for reinvestment.

Sale of credit card business

One analyst has said without Cabelas lucrative Worlds Foremost Bank  the third largest in Nebraska  it would be an average retailer. Chief Financial Officer Ralph Castner said in October that the bank, issuer of the Cabelas Club Visa card, is not for sale. Nearly 700 employees work in customer service centers dealing with the Club card.

Other retailers, like Nordstrom, have spun off their credit card businesses, and experts have said there would be plenty of buyers for the accounts, which have higher-than-average credit ratings.

Andrew Burns, an analyst with DA Davidson Co., said he thinks a private equity buyout is more likely than a breakup. Anytime you get a unique business model like this that has embedded real estate value, multiple businesses  the credit card and retail  you get activist investors that come in and unlock value, Burns said. Once you start talking about breaking up the business it gets incredibly complicated and potentially does not unlock the value that activist investors want.
GRAND ISLAND  Hendrix Genetics announced this afternoon that it will expand its ISA poultry division by building and operating a chicken hatchery in Grand Island.

"This is a great win-win for the city of Grand Island, for Hendrix-ISA, for the state of Nebraska to be able to expand the agribusiness right here in our state and in your community to be able to create more jobs and get that investment," said Gov. Pete Ricketts, who attended the announcement at the Yancey in downtown Grand Island. "This really is a great day for the city of Grand Island and the state of Nebraska."

The $10 million hatchery will be on 20 acres at the Platte Valley Industrial Park-East at the southwest corner of Blaine Street and Schimmer Drive. It will produce 24 million chicks per year. That equates to 100,000 chicks per day, five days per week, Hendrix-ISA Managing Director Peter Mumm said.

Mumm said Hendrix-ISA has 40 hatcheries across the world but just two in the United States  one in Virginia, and one in Pennsylvania. With growing demand for its Isa Brown, Bovans Brown, Shaver White, Dekalb White and Bovans White laying chickens, the company was looking to add a third hatchery.

Hendrix-ISA wanted a Midwest location so chickens could be delivered across the United States within a day of hatching. Mumm said the company evaluated four different sites based on location, biosecurity aspects, economic development incentives  all of which were quite comparable  but Grand Island stood out for one reason.

"The difference was the people of Nebraska," Mumm said. "The support we received from your community was far and above any other that we received during our visits."
The 2016 Nebraska Legislature will convene on Wednesday. Known as the short session because it is 60 days rather than 90 days, the session is currently scheduled to adjourn on April 20. Legislation introduced last session remains on the worksheet for consideration this session, as well as new bills introduced during the first 10 legislative days.

A significant portion of my work this session as a member of the Appropriations Committee will be addressing the $110 million revenue shortfall projected in November by the Revenue Forecasting Board. Although the budget for the 2015-2017 biennium was passed last session, the anticipated decrease in revenue will require adjustments to that budget to meet Nebraskas constitutional requirement of a balanced budget. The Revenue Forecasting Board will meet again in February, potentially reducing or increasing revenue projections once again. The Legislature will also need to address deficit spending requests from the Department of Corrections for higher than anticipated costs for inmate medical care, a federal fine assessed to the Department of Health and Human Services, and a request for additional funds to address deferred maintenance of facilities at the University of Nebraska.

The property tax crisis will play a central role this session as well, as lawmakers seek to address the imbalances in local funding for education and increased spending by local political subdivisions. Specific proposals and initiatives will be more clear at the conclusion of bill introduction.

Given the short time of the session and the number of important issues for the Legislature to consider, the designation of a bill as a priority will be critical. Each senator can prioritize one bill, standing committees can prioritize two bills, and the speaker can prioritize up to 25 bills. It is not likely that bills without a priority designation will be considered on the floor by the entire body. Bills not acted upon by the Legislature will effectively die upon adjournment of the 104th Legislature in April.

During the coming few weeks I will outline the bills I will be introducing this session, as well as keep District 38 constituents up to date on the issues that emerge. If you should have any questions, do not hesitate to contact my office at 402-471-2732 or via the email and Twitter addresses below.

Sen. John Kuehn of Heartwll represents District 38 in the Nebraska Legislature. The district encompasses southwest Buffalo County and all of Clay, Franklin, Kearney, Nuckolls, Phelps and Webster counties.

@JohnKuehnDVM
Donald Trump tells outrageous lies with no regard for reality. Theres his claim  never supported by any visual evidence  that thousands and thousands of people in New Jersey cheered the collapse of the Twin Towers on 9/11. Or the accusation that President Obama wants to bring 250,000 Syrian refugees into this country, when the real figure is 10,000.

On Capitol Hill, some Republicans are conducting a quieter version of Trumps truth-trashing. The GOP majority is trying to quash scientific studies that could dispute party scripture on two controversial subjects: gun control and climate change.

Elections have consequences, and the Republican majority has the right to block Democratic proposals and conduct oversight inquiries. If Democrats had won, they would be asserting the same prerogatives.

But what the Republicans are doing goes far beyond the fair exercise of majority power. They are not just thwarting the minority in a legitimate debate; they are denying the ability of independent fact-finders to establish an impartial basis for that debate.

They are conducting a war on science itself.

Start with gun control. Since 1996, Congress has barred the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from researching the health impacts of gun violence.

If there is no research, it is harder to make suggestions for policy reform, Dr. Garen Wintemute, director of the Violence Prevention Research Program at the University of California-Davis told the Huffington Post. And if you have a vested interest in stopping policy reform, what better way to do it than to choke off the research? It was brilliant and it worked. And my question is, how many people died as a result?

Fair question. And the author of the original ban, former Republican Rep. Jay Dickey of Arkansas, now admits that his amendment throttled research and cost lives. He points to studies in auto safety that led to the installation of metal barriers along dangerous stretches of highway.

If we had somehow gotten the research going, we could have somehow found a solution to the gun violence without there being any restrictions on the Second Amendment, he told the Huffington Post.

But even sensible arguments like Dickeys failed to sway his fellow Republicans, who are still paralyzed by the influence of the National Rifle Association. They blocked an attempt to restore federally funded research on gun violence in the omnibus spending bill recently passed by Congress.

That disdain for experts and their research also infects the GOPs attitude on climate change. Scientists working for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) published a highly professional, peer-reviewed article last June rebutting a favorite position of climate change skeptics: that the pace of global warming has somehow paused in recent decades.

Rep. Lamar Smith, the Texas Republican who heads the House Science Committee, attacked the NOAA researchers, accusing them of rushing their study and manipulating their data to bolster an extreme climate agenda.

A typical letter from the Science Network of the Union of Concerned Scientists reads: We urge you to stand firm against these bullying tactics in order to protect NOAA scientists ability to pursue research and publish data and results, regardless of how contentious the issue may be.

Good advice. Bullies will only stop when opponents stand firm against their tactics. Thats as true on Capitol Hill as it is on the campaign trail.
THEN: Frank and Ximena Huthnance appeared in Kiplinger's Retirement Planning Guide in 2005, when they were finishing up a two-year tour as Peace Corps volunteers in Radauti, Romania, a small town near the Ukraine border. Frank, then 67, worked in administration for Habitat for Humanity, and Ximena, 63, taught English at a local high school. They left for Romania just a month after Frank retired from a career in banking.

NOW: Frank, now 77, and Ximena, 74, began new careers a month after returning from their life-changing experience in Romania. Frank's Peace Corps background helped him land a job as director of human resources for a hospice in Clearwater, Fla., where Ximena volunteered. "The hospice's CEO thought we had the right sort of philosophy and experience," says Frank.

Their time in the Peace Corps also helped them financially. Because their housing and health insurance were covered in Romania, they didn't have to touch their retirement savings and were able to put aside most of Frank's Social Security benefits (except for about $300 per month for travel). "We learned to live with a lot less in Romania," says Ximena.

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On weekends, they'd help build houses for Habitat for Humanity ("I'd haul cement and Ximena would lay flooring," says Frank), teach English to families in their village, or explore Europe. "The experience was incredible," says Ximena.

After living in a 360-square-foot apartment in Radauti, it was easy to move to a small apartment in Clearwater Beach. They still lead a low-key lifestyle, although they have treated themselves to a boat, something they always wanted.

Frank retired from his job at the hospice three years ago, and now they spend most of their time with their six daughters and 15 grandkids. "All summer long, we have grandkids coming and going nonstop," says Frank.

But the Huthnances haven't turned into stay-at-homes. Last year they spent four months in Europe, including a visit to Radauti. "I'm glad I delayed retirement -- it gave us enough money to travel," says Frank.

In July, the Huthnances plan to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary with family and friends in Ecuador, where Ximena grew up. "We were married in a beautiful church in a valley," says Ximena, "and we're going to renew our vows."

They'd love to return to the Peace Corps in a few years, maybe to China or the Philippines. Says Frank, "Learning Romanian improved our cognitive abilities, and we are looking forward to learning another language."
2016 Begins With A Bang

(Kitco News) - 2016 is starting off with a bang, as gold benefits from a massive sell-off in the Shanghai market and a potential serious escalation of tensions in the Middle East. The Chinese Shanghai index dropped almost 7% and was closed for trading, as growth fears slammed Chinese stocks. The spillover is contagious as many European bourses are down some 4% and the US is primed to open with a loss of 300 points. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has cut ties with Iran, after its embassy was attacked in Tehran, following the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia. The upheaval in world financial markets and the increased tensions in the Middle East, which may be price supportive for oil, in the short term, have created some capital flows into gold and may prove a catalyst for more aggressive short covering. By Peter Hug, Kitco Metals Global Trading Director; phug@kitco.com

Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and may not reflect those of Kitco Metals Inc. The author has made every effort to ensure accuracy of information provided; however, neither Kitco Metals Inc. nor the author can guarantee such accuracy. This article is strictly for informational purposes only. It is not a solicitation to make any exchange in precious metal products, commodities, securities or other financial instruments. Kitco Metals Inc. and the author of this article do not accept culpability for losses and/ or damages arising from the use of this publication.

kitco news
(Kitco News) - With mining companies cutting back on capital expenditures in response to low prices in recent years, most analysts say the long-running build in gold and silver output will start turning lower in 2016, if it hasnt already.

For instance, the GFMS team at Thomson Reuters looks for global gold output to rise from roughly 3,120 tonnes in 2014 to 3,150 in 2015. Output has risen annually since 2008, said William Tankard, research director for precious-metals mining. However, this year he anticipates the loss of roughly 100 tonnes to somewhere around 3,050.

This is in large part likely to be driven by the relative lack of development going into the industry over a three-plus-year period, he said.

Gold fell from near $1,800 an ounce in late 2012 to below $1,100. Despite the decline, output rose anyway as companies brought on line projects they were already developing, analysts said. But this is winding down.

Further, Tankard explained, as prices fell, producers optimized operations by mining higher-grade ore and upping output to drive down per-ounce prices. But now that theyve already done this, theyve used up this option.

HSBC looks for 2015 gold output to rise by 50 tonnes to 3,188, which the bank describes as a notable accomplishment considering prices. However, HSBC looks for this to ease slightly to 3,150 tonnes in 2016. Citi Research looks for output to fall to 3,067 tonnes from 3,156 in 2015.

Many newer mines are now at or near their full potential and going forward, (we) believe it unlikely new projects will be able to make up for declines in older facilities, HSBC said.

CPM Group is among the firms that suspects gold output will still climb for a little while before reversing lower.

For gold, we expect a continuation of increased mine supply into (2016), said Rohit Savant, director of research. Weve seen mine supply grow pretty much since 2009. We think that trend of increasing mine supply will continue at least until 2017.

This is because even though prices have fallen in the last two years, companies were already in the process of bringing projects online. Some will still come on stream, he added.

CPM Group sees 2016 gold mine supply of 95 million ounces, up from a 92 million last year, Savant said. But reductions are eventually coming, he said, adding that gold-mine output should fall back 2008 levels around 73 million by 2025.

Silver-Mine Output Also Seen Lower In 2016

GFMS looks for silver output to start trending lower this year, while CPM Group says this is already occurring.

GFMS data show silver output rising yearly since 2002, although 2015 levels are likely to be stable around 860 million ounces, Tankard said. For 2016, he looks for a decline to 825 million to 835 million.

Production by primary silver producers has been resilient despite soft prices, Tankard said. However, the majority of the worlds silver comes as a by-product of mining for other metals. As copper, zinc and other producers cut back in a declining price environment, this means less silver supply, Tankard explained.

For this reason, Savant said CPM Group calculations show a decline in silver supply began in 2015 as miners such as Glencore cut back at various operations, meaning less by-product silver.

You have these big mines scaling back, Savant said. You do still have new projects coming on stream. But they are just not sufficient to offset weakness out of some of these bigger ones.

Savants data show global silver output sliding to 815.6 million ounces in 2016 from 823.2 million last year, in turn down from 2014.

HSBC forecasts 2016 mine supply for silver of 855 million ounces, which would be down 12 million from 2015, and looks for this to ease further as the decade progresses.

Savant said he would not consider the decline to be a supply crunch, however, with the market still adequately supplied for now.

It will prevent prices from declining as opposed to pushing it up, he said.

By Allen Sykora of Kitco News; asykora@kitco.com
John Knox / Submitted Photo Ferry workers carry a litter with a woman who jumped from a Bainbridge-bound ferry Saturday night. She was taken to an ambulance and then flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle.

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By Ed Friedrich of the Kitsap Sun

BAINBRIDGE ISLAND  A woman is alive today because a ferry crew quickly plucked her from frigid Puget Sound on Saturday night.

The Bainbridge Island woman leapt from the Wenatchee's upper observation deck at 9:15 p.m. Less than 20 minutes later, she was back on board.

A person in 50-degree water loses control of limbs within minutes and can die not long after that, said Steve Hopkins, the boat's master that night.

"I don't think anybody can last more than 20 minutes," Hopkins said. "She hit the water at 21 miles per hour laterally (boat speed) from 40 feet high. It's a miracle she didn't break her neck."

The 40-year-old was rushed from the Winslow dock to a helicopter waiting at the fire station and flown to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle. The hospital couldn't provide a condition update without her name, which wasn't available, but Hopkins said she didn't suffer critical injuries.

The ferry departed Seattle's Colman Dock at 9 p.m., teeming with holiday travelers and Mariners fans returning from a game. About halfway to Bainbridge, two teenage girls told Hopkins and mate Dan Twohig somebody had jumped. Twohig immediately announced, "Man overboard!" over the loudspeakers, adding it wasn't a drill.

Johnna Sellars of Poulsbo, who had attended the ballgame with her mother and son, heard the emergency call on the intercom.

"I saw a couple of crew members flying to the end of the boat, saying, 'Move! Move! Move!'" she said. "It was kind of frightening because everything was so normal and, bam, it just went to chaos."

Two life rings with beacons were tossed over the side as markers. Mate Vic Lotorto reversed both propellers in a "crash stop" and pushed the radar's man-overboard button to remember the spot electronically.

It takes 75 seconds from the time the handles are pulled until the 460-foot ferry is dead in the water. Add that to the time it took for the jump to be reported, and the Wenatchee was more that a mile away from the woman.

Hopkins, in the Seattle-facing pilothouse, retraced the ferry's wake at about 12 knots.

"My first focus was to try to find the woman, and I knew I had a very limited amount of time," he said. "I knew I was very close to the track line, so close there was a risk of running her over, so I was totally focused straight ahead of me. We got lucky and she showed up 75 feet on the south side of us."

The woman was barely visible in the fading twilight. She was floating on her back, moving her arms, possibly trying to backstroke, according to one rider.

Abled bodied seamen Karen Galegher and Charles Mares climbed into a rescue boat, dropped to the water and raced in the woman's direction. Passengers pointed at her bobbing head, and Twohig called out directions over the radio.

Galegher and Mares found her and slipped a rescue collar around her. On the count of, "One, two, three," they pulled her backward into the boat. She landed on Mares, who cradled her as Galegher motored back to the ferry. The rescue boat, with the three people aboard, was raised onto the car deck at 9:34 p.m., nine minutes after it was launched.

"We were pushing right up to the end of the envelope with her," Hopkins said. "She couldn't help herself. She couldn't communicate. She barely could keep her head above water. But we got there in time, and that's what counts."

The woman was taken to a triage area that had been set up on the car deck. Her wet clothes were cut off, and she was wrapped in blankets. The Wenatchee reached the Bainbridge dock at 9:46 p.m., and crew members carried her in a litter to an aid car. When they returned to the boat, passengers cheered.

The Wenatchee "A Watch" works 10-day "weeks," and by law must conduct two emergency drills per period, sometimes on the water, sometimes on a tabletop, Hopkins said. The 15 crew members know their roles.

"The crew performed flawlessly," Hopkins said of the rescue. "I'm so proud of them I could almost burst. It's a team. We have to work together. We have to live together. No one person can pull off an operation like that. It requires the whole bunch."

Hopkins and Washington State Ferries Director David Moseley commended the crew and the passengers, including civilian medical personnel who helped out.

"It was a remarkable performance by the crew and by the customers on the boat," Moseley said. "The organization of the crew, the responsiveness of the customers, they saved this woman's life."

People don't fall off ferries often, and those that do are rarely saved. They die from the fall or can't be found in the dark, said Hopkins, 63, of Bainbridge Island.

"It felt great to save one," he said. "It always is a wonderful feeling. Ask a firefighter. Ask a cop. If you lose one, you feel miserable and every once in a while you get to save one, and it's gratifying. There's nothing that can jell a crew more than saving a life. It's a wonderful thing."
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The late Hunter S. Thompson, or some like-minded soul, put it best: "When the going gets weird, the weird get going." That's about as good a summation of what's happening these days in the previously hallowed, but now hollowed out, halls of academe as I can find.

Case in point: The Black Student Union at Lebanon Valley College is demanding that the college rename Lynch Memorial Hall. The building is named after Clyde A. Lynch, an alumnus who served as president of the college from 1932 to 1950 and who died in office. As far as anyone knows, Lynch was not a racist and was never associated with any racist practices or statements. And he was widely praised for managing to keep the college open throughout the depression. Students of color, however, find the name itself an offensive reminder of lynching.

It occurs to me that the city of Lynchburg, Virginia, is equally insensitive. Lynchburg was named after John Lynch, who received a charter to found the city in 1786. Given the tenor of the times, Lynch may or may not have been a hateful racist or even a slave holder. But that's irrelevant. His name alone is liable to remind people, especially people of color, of the practice of lynching.

But a river runs through it  the James River. Hence, I suggest Lynchburg be renamed New Jamestown.

Closer to home, the current DEX directory reveals that at least 11 people and one business bear the name Lynch here in Kitsap County. I recommend they change their names lest they find themselves accused of a "micro-aggression"  academe's current term of art for expressing attitudes or invoking associations deemed to be offensive or politically incorrect.

As if by uncanny foresight, the bard of my generation, Bob Dylan, put it best: "Look out, kid./It's something you did./ God knows when,/but you're doing it again!"

And no one's safe. The liberal ideologues on campus today feel entitled to judge the quick and the dead.

At Princeton, in mid-November, students occupied the president's office demanding that the university rename the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. The school was named after Wilson because of his leadership in founding the League of Nations after World War I. The problem, however, is that Wilson was not so progressive on the racial front.

While he campaigned on a promise of fair treatment of blacks, once elected, he segregated the federal government. Only after being promised that the university would consider renaming the Woodrow Wilson School would the students leave the president's office.

As of this writing, Princeton's trustees have not reached a decision. The issue, of course, is whether Wilson's progressive accomplishments outweigh his regressive position on race. In all fairness, Wilson may have been a visionary about international affairs, but he was not able to convince his own country to join the ineffectual and short-lived League of Nations. Hence, I'll punt on this one.

A more problematic figure is Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson was a slaveholder who not only bought and sold slaves but also fathered a child with one. Because of that, students at William and Mary, Jefferson's alma mater, have begun posting disparaging notes on his statue there, and students at the University of Missouri are circulating a petition demanding the removal of his statue from their campus.

Historians have given Jefferson mixed reviews on the issue of slavery. His economic security depended on the institution. But, later in life, he did support a gradual end to slavery, believing that African-Americans were inferior in intelligence and that a sudden emancipation would be a disaster for both races. To fall back on modern psychobabble, he seems to have been deeply conflicted about slavery throughout his life.

But Jefferson was also the author of our Declaration of Independence, and without his moral courage on that front, American independence may have had to wait a century or so. Still, his detractors tend to compare him to Washington, who in his will freed his slaves. The debate centers on which man more accurately reflected the attitude of his day regarding slavery.

That debate, however, is moot.

As the late professor and cultural critic Edward Said reminded us, no one completely transcends the cultural and social constructions of his or her time. We're all shaped by the manners and mores of the times in which we live, and it is inherently unfair for future generations to summarily dismiss all our accomplishments because some of our practices or attitudes may fall outside of their enlightened standards.

In the end, we're all subject to the balance scale of history, and to my mind, Jefferson's positive accomplishments outweigh his commitment to slavery. And I suspect that he, and not Washington, reflected the conventional wisdom toward emancipation in his day.

Ed Palm of Silverdale is a Marine Corps veteran and a former dean at Olympic College.
Dave Armstrong writes:

When National list MP and former Palmerston North mayor Jono Naylor called for more than doubling the fine for littering, I cheered long and loud. On a recent Town Belt walk I picked up a plastic bag carelessly strewn on the track and during the next twenty minutes I was able to fill it to brimming with litter. The worst place was a concrete netball court that has been converted to a skateboard park. This is a wonderful community facility that has enormous social and financial benefits to the community, so why are there no rubbish bins there? As much as I support Naylors abhorrence of litter, is punishing litterers more harshly, many of whom are probably young and not very wealthy, really an effective solution?

Works pretty well in Singapore!

I look forward to Naylor introducing legislation that taxes littering plastic bottle manufacturers and incentivises breweries that bring back bottle refund systems. The other major contents of my litter bag were fast food packets. Buy a hamburger and ask for it without packaging and youll get a very strange look. Paper and cardboard take years to break down in landfills. Yet we have the technology to create packaging that can be eaten or biodegrades almost immediately. I look forward to Naylors plan to hit fast food manufacturers with a paper and cardboard littering surcharge  lets call it Jonos McTax  while offering generous tax incentives to companies using biodegradable packaging.

Supermarkets provide you with plastic bags so you can carry your groceries home or to your car. Not to litter with them.

McDonalds provides you with packaging for your burger so you can take it away, not to litter with it.

Blaming them for litter is like blaming a theatre ccompany for litter if someone throws away their entry ticket after a show.

Sadly, I suspect Naylor will not adopt many of my suggestions. After all, it is supermarket, fast food and alcohol interests who litter the National Party with campaign funds.

Luckily we have a transparent electoral donation regime so we can see if this is true. It is not. Ive checked the donation returns for 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 and there is not a single party donation to National from a supermarket, fast food or alcohol company.

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Josh Heupel worked on Tennessee football recruiting post-Alabama

Tennessee football has the No. 10 recruiting class nationally for the 2023 cycle in the 247Sports Composite.
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By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

KNOXVILLE  A Knoxville judge has been tapped to head the Tennessee Court of Appeals, according to a news release from the state Supreme Court.

Court of Appeals Judge D. Michael Swiney of Knoxville has been chosen to serve as chief judge for that panel after a vote by its 12 members. He is replacing former Chief Judge Charles D. Susano Jr., also of Knoxville, who stepped down from the leadership post on Dec. 31. Susano had served as chief judge for three years. He will remain on the court.

The Court of Appeals handles civil cases. The chief judge is responsible for assigning judges to each appeal, monitoring the pace of the court's decisions and handling administrative duties.

Swiney was appointed to the Court of Appeals in 1999 by then-Gov. Don Sundquist and has been elected via a retention vote three times since then. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee College of Law, where he served as an adjunct professor from 1997 to 2006. He also had a private practice in Knoxville from 1979 to his appointment to the appellate court in 1999.

He is a member of the Knoxville and Tennessee Bar Associations and the Hamilton American Inn of Court. Swiney served as a member of the Court of the Judiciary, which polices judges, from 2003 to 2011. He still lives in Knoxville with his wife, Suzann Swiney.

He will serve a one-year term as chief judge.

More details as they develop online and in Tuesday's News Sentinel.
Knoxville police are investigating a shooting that wounded at least one person on the 2600 block of Wilson Avenue on Monday afternoon. (Hayes Hickman/News Sentinel)

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By News Sentinel Staff

KNOXVILLE  Police are investigating a shooting that wounded at least one person on an East Knoxville street Monday afternoon.

Emergency dispatchers received a call at about 3 p.m. from a driver who said he was en route to Physicians Regional Medical Center with a friend who had been shot on Wilson Avenue, according to Knoxville Police Department spokesman Darrell DeBusk.

The victim, who has not been identified, arrived at the hospital moments later with what authorities described as "serious injuries." His condition was not immediately available.

Meanwhile, investigators located the crime scene on the 2600 block of Wilson Avenue, where several shell casings were recovered, but no firearms.

The shooting occurred in front of 2621 Wilson Ave. while at least two children were inside the home, DeBusk said. A Jaguar sedan with at least one bullet hole was visible in the driveway.

No one had been taken into custody and no information on a suspect was available, DeDusk said.

Christina Watson, who lives on the same block, said she heard four to five gunshots.

She looked outside to see two gunmen running from the scene, while a third man appeared to limp away in the opposite direction, she said.

"We hear gunshots every night," said Watson, who was at home with her 8-month granddaughter at the time. "But this is close. I've got kids in the house.  All you can do is lay down and not move."

More details as they develop online and in Tuesday's News Sentinel.
<p>Tennessee state flag.</p>

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Everyone is invited to address three state senators with questions and comments about privatization, healthcare and gun laws at the League of Women Voters of Knoxville/Knox County's annual Legislative Breakfast on Saturday.

The continental breakfast, co-sponsored by the News Sentinel, will be from 9-11 a.m. in the Knox Room of the News Sentinel, 2332 News Sentinel Drive.

Senators Richard Briggs, Becky Massey and Randy McNally are expected to take part in a question-and-answer session at the meeting.

The senators will take comments and concerns about upcoming legislation of the 109th Tennessee General Assembly, set to convene next week.

Issues such as the reallocation of surplus revenues and the regulation of marijuana and handgun permits will be addressed, along with ongoing talks on state facility management outsourcing.

The league also is hosting a legislative skills training session in Nashville on Thursday from 9:30 a.m. to noon. The training will take place at the Legislative Plaza, 301 6th Ave. North, room 16.

The training will include a tour of the Legislative Plaza, the State Capitol and the War Memorial Building.

The league is a nonpartisan political organization, dedicated to encouraging government participation and education on political issues. Members actively work to educate the public on major policy issues and to influence public policy through their educational and advocacy activities.

Dedicated to information and activity only, the league never supports or opposes any political parties or candidates.

For more information and to register for the training, visit http://lwvknoxville.org.
Tthe entrance to the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. (MICHAEL PATRICK/NEWS SENTINEL)

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By Frank Munger of the Knoxville News Sentinel

OAK RIDGE  Security police at the Y-12 nuclear weapons plant confiscated what was described as a "weather balloon" that reportedly landed Sunday afternoon on Pine Ridge near the national-security installation.

Steven Wyatt, a spokesman for the National Nuclear Security Administration, said the balloon was reportedly part of a "geospatial balloon challenge" that originated in Middle Tennessee. He said he did not have further details on the competition or why the balloon landed where it did  adjacent to the city of Oak Ridge's water treatment plant.

He said the balloon did not pose a security threat.

"We're not treating it as a security incident per se," Wyatt said. "The balloon is currently under Y-12 custody."

There apparently were participants in the competition who were following the balloon's flight. Wyatt said he was unaware of any charges in the incident, and no one was immediately available for comment at the Oak Ridge Police Department.

Ralph Hutchison, coordinator of the Oak Ridge Environmental Peace Alliance, said members of his group noticed a commotion at Y-12 on Sunday evening while they were staging their weekly peace vigil across from the plant. Hutchison said there were multiple security vehicles and Oak Ridge Police Department cars with flashing lights that gathered near the plant's entrance. Hutchison said a red truck also was part of the gathering in the parking lot at Y-12's New Hope Center.
Ricky Lynn Bunch, Tazewell man fatally shot by police. (CLAIBORNE COUNTY SHERIFF'S OFFICE)

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By Jamie Satterfield of the Knoxville News Sentinel

The widow of an East Tennessee man fatally shot by law enforcement has filed a $13 million federal civil-rights lawsuit alleging authorities orchestrated his death through both negligence and ill will.

Melinda Bunch, the widow of Ricky Lynn Bunch, is suing Claiborne County Sheriff David Ray, Grainger County Sheriff James Harville and deputies with both men's agencies in her husband's September 2014 shooting death. Ricky Bunch, 40, of Tazewell died in a hail of bullets fired by deputies from both agencies in a confrontation that began with a chase in Claiborne County and ended in what authorities described as a standoff on a roadway in Grainger County.

PDF: Lawsuit filed in shooting death of Ricky Lynn Bunch

In the lawsuit, attorney Troy Bowlin lists among the traditional causes of action cited in such lawsuits a novel one  "state created danger." While stopping short of alleging Bunch's death was intentional, Bowlin suggests in the lawsuit Ray had cause to want Bunch silenced that casts suspicion over every action and reaction taken on the day Bunch died.

According to the lawsuit, Bunch was beaten up in the Claiborne County Jail two weeks before the fatal shooting and later told his lover  Ray's former administrative secretary  he planned to sue Ray and the Claiborne County Sheriff's Office. The woman is identified in the lawsuit but not named as a defendant. Bowlin alleges the lover told Ray about Bunch's threats.

On the day of the fatal shooting, Bunch had borrowed a relative's car, returned it but then took it again without permission, the lawsuit stated. The relative did not report the car stolen, but someone else did, Bowlin wrote. The relative later confirmed to Claiborne deputies Bunch did not have his permission to take the car a second time, but the lawsuit is silent on whether the relative filed a formal theft complaint.

"Instead of waiting for Mr. Bunch to return to the house with (the relative's) car and making a charging decision then, Claiborne County Sheriff's Department commenced a search for the car and Ricky Lynn Bunch and when located, commenced a chase, ultimately enlisting the aid of Grainger County Sheriffs Department, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Tazewell Police Department and New Tazewell Police Department," the lawsuit stated.

Ray and his deputies knew Bunch suffered mental issues and went armed with guns for which he had a carry permit but, the lawsuit alleges, did not convey either of those details to the other agencies involved in the case. Once in Grainger County, Bunch "blew the engine of the car he was driving," the lawsuit stated. "The car stopped in its tracks, preventing him from going anywhere and creating a stand off."

The lawsuit alleges someone with the Claiborne County Sheriff's Office summoned Melinda Bunch to the scene but then blocked her from getting near the actual standoff area. She was sitting in a patrol car and heard over the cruiser radio sounds from the shooting itself, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges Ricky Bunch was shot "no less than 10 times." Although authorities later said Bunch had a rifle and a gun in his possession, the lawsuit alleged the weapons were never tested to determine if he fired them. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, which probed the shooting, has refused to turn over any information to the widow, the lawsuit alleged.

"Any claims that Mr. Bunch actually fired those weapons during the chase or the standoff cannot be substantiated because neither the TBI, nor any law enforcement department at the scene retained and tested those weapons, but instead returned them to (the widow)," Bowlin wrote. "Had they been fired by the Decedent they would have been retained by the TBI as evidence as was Mr. Bunch's pocket knife and cigarette lighter."

Attempts to reach attorneys for the defendants listed in the lawsuit were unsuccessful. The TBI is not named as a party. The defendants' attorneys have not yet filed responses.
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Gov. Bill Haslam's plan to outsource Tennessee state jobs to for-profit contractors violates two of his core promises: First, to bring good jobs to Tennessee; second, to increase Tennesseans' access to medical care. His outsourcing plan will destroy thousands of good, solid Tennessee jobs, now being done very efficiently by state employees. That's according to studies showing University of Tennessee-Knoxville maintenance at below-average costs. By cutting thousands of good jobs, the governor's plan will also make college less affordable for the thousands of kids in those families.

How can a private contractor do the job for less? By hiring only less-skilled and lower-paid workers, and by cutting off their benefits such as health plans and pension savings plans. Then those burdens fall on the rest of us.

Those of us at UTK endured such an experiment with contractors some years ago. It resulted in shoddy work; unfamiliar, untrusted workers in our halls at night; and some thefts.

The governor's plan is supposedly not final yet, but some UTK workers were informed two months ago that their jobs would end at the end of the year.

It's time for Tennesseans to send a message to remind the governor to stick to his promises: Don't sell out Tennessee.

John Bohstedt, Knoxville
2:38 p.m.January 3, 2016

Over $2.8M repaid to Tennesseans in 2015







NASHVILLE  If you have been denied an insurance claim, you can contact the Tennessee Department of Commerce & Insurances (TDCI) Consumer Insurance Services Division to file a complaint. As a result of complaints filed in 2015, more than $2.8 million was repaid as a result of TDCIs restitution efforts on behalf of Tennessee consumers.



The Department is an advocate for Tennessee consumers of all walks of life, TDCI Assistant Commissioner, Insurance Division Michael Humphreys said. The repayment this year of more than $2.8 million was the result of our insurance investigators mediating between the company and policyholders in order to get denied claims overturned and paid for the policyholder.



By comparison, TDCI provided over $6.3 million in restitution during 2014, which includes the overturning of a large commercial claim in excess of $2 million.



TDCI encourages policyholders to remember that filing a complaint or otherwise contacting TDCI is always an option if they are ever denied a claim or even have a question or concern about their insurance policies.



Consumers should always remember a few handy tips for working with their insurance companies:



 Do your homework before purchasing a policy for any line of insurance.

 Read the policies so youll know and understand its provisions before filing a claim.

 Verify that the company and the agent are licensed in Tennessee before you buy. Visit TDCIs website to verify license status.

 Look up complaint data to see how well a company is responding to consumer issues.

 Homeowners should always keep pictures and/or receipts for all contents on your property. (Most fire losses leave nothing.)

Digital tools such as MyHome Scr.APP.book lets you quickly capture images and descriptions of your belongings to help you determine how much insurance you need and for filing a claim.

 For auto policies, know your coverage limits and what is required by state law. The WreckCheck app guides you through the steps to take following an auto accident.

 For health policies, make sure your doctor and/or healthcare facility is participating in the network of your insurance carrier.

 For life insurance policies, depending upon age and health status, you may or may not be eligible for certain products. If you have never purchased a life insurance policy before, you may seek the assistance of a licensed agent to help you make the choice that is best suited for your personal needs.



TDCI can be contacted at 1-800-342-4029 or (615) 741-2218.

Published January 3, 2016










By Choi Sung-jin



Korea caught an economic cold virus if the U.S. economy sneezed for decades. China has now taken the place of America as the country that exerts greatest influence on the nation's economy.



Yet now is the time for Korea to reduce its undue dependence on the two giant markets, especially China, according to a number of economics experts.



The nation's largest trade group pointed in this regard to the so-called VIM markets  Vietnam, Indonesia and Myanmar  as the safety valve that could cushion the shock when shipments to China hit a snag.



"Korean businesses need to pay particular attention to these three countries at a time when the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations launched an ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) on Dec. 31," said a booklet released by the Institute for International Trade, a think tank under the wing of the Korea International Trade Association.



The AEC is now the world's seventh-largest market with a population of 620 million and gross domestic product of $2.5 trillion, and the three countries have the biggest growth potential among them, it noted, saying, "Korean exporters should advance to these countries with a mid-to long-term perspective of at least three years or longer."



Vietnam, for instance, has emerged as Korea's fourth-largest export market, exceeding Japan, last year. The Southeast Asian country, a member of all three regional free trade agreements  Trans-Pacific Partnership, Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation  will enjoy high popularity as the new manufacturing hub, said the think tank.



Indonesia, which accounts for 33 percent of the 10-nation group's GDP, is another promising market, with a population of 250 million and abundant natural resources. Despite a global business slump since 2010, Indonesia's economy has grown at a steady rate of 5-6 percent.



Myanmar, which will usher in a new government in March, is called the "last frontier market" of Southeast Asia. Myanmar's labor costs, currently one-fifth of China's, and its natural gas and other resources make the country one of the most attractive in the world for investment, the think tank said, noting that its economy has also grown 7-8 percent over the past three years.



"VIM markets may not exactly replace China but can reduce Korea's excessive and risky reliance on the world's second-largest market," the book said. "Their impression of Korea is also good thanks in part to the hallyu, so Korean businesses should make efforts to preempt the market with a long-term strategy."



The nation's market diversification efforts may not necessarily have to be confined to Southeast Asia, other experts say.



They call six countries  India, Mexico, Iran, Italy, Spain and Vietnam  "the post-China six," noting they can become new promising markets for Korean exporters. The six countries sharply increased their imports of made-in-Korean products based on a favorable perception of the nation, they said. Together, they took up 11.5 percent of Korea's exports, almost as large as the 13.2 percent taken by the United States, the nation's second-largest export market.



"Korean businesses need to make the most of these countries as either new manufacturing bases or untapped export markets," said Yoon Won-seok, an official at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency, who leads a team responsible for providing trade information for exporters.




By Choi Sung-jin

The domestic rice price remains weak and is expected to stay low for some time, putting a strain on farmers and throwing policymakers into a dilemma.

The average price during the last harvest season was 152,158 won ($128.6) per 80 kg, down 15,188 won, or 9.1 percent, from the 2014 season, according to CS&J, a private think tank specializing in food and agricultural research.

It attributed the price weakness to last year's bumper crops and huge government stockpiles. The "reverse seasonal fluctuation" _ the price fall in the non-harvest season from the previous year's harvest season _ also stood at a relatively high 4.5 percent in 2014, discouraging processing companies from buying more.

As a result, the rice price remained low during the last harvest season despite the government's additional purchase of 200,000 tons, it said. On Dec. 25, the price in production areas fell a further 504 won from 10 days before, down 10 percent from the same day in 2014.

Another big factor behind the price softness is the long-suspended grain aid to North Korea. According to the Korea Rural Economic Institute, rice aid of up to 400,000 tons to North Korea between 2002 and 2007 helped push up the consumer price by 1.4 percent on the annual average by reducing the government's stockpiles, from 26.2 percent to 13.7 percent. Farming households' selling prices also rose 1.3 percent during the period. The isolationist regime suffers from chronic food shortage.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs said last week it would supply surplus rice as animal feed while taking 30,000 hectares of farming land, out of production.
Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, said Monday that its December sales grew 8.5 percent on-year on strong sales at home and abroad.

Hyundai Motor said in a press release that it sold 516,359 vehicles in December, compared with 475,997 units a year before.

Domestic sales jumped 18.3 percent on-year to 82,060 units, and overseas shipments also rose 6.8 percent to 434,299 units.

For 2015, Hyundai Motor sold a cumulative 4,964,837 vehicles, almost the same as it did in 2014.

Earlier in the day, Hyundai Motor said that it aims to sell 5.01 million cars here and in overseas markets this year. (Yonhap)
GM Korea Co., the local unit of U.S. carmaker General Motors Co., said Monday that its sales in December grew 7.6 percent from a year earlier, driven in part by strong overseas shipments.

The carmaker sold 61,338 units last month, up from the previous year's 57,015 units, the company said in a press release.

Its domestic sales rose 1 percent on-year to 18,287 units, while overseas shipments expanded 10.7 percent to 43,051 units.

Meanwhile, GM Korea said its annual sales in 2015 shrank 1.4 percent to 621,872 units. (Yonhap)
By Lee Hyo-sik





Shin Bark-jae

NPX Semiconductors Korea Chairman Shin Bark-jae won a second-term as vice chairman of the World Chambers Federation (WCF) at the organization's general meeting in Paris, the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry said Monday.

Shin, who has been serving in the post since September 2012, will remain through Dec. 31, 2018.

The WCF, affiliated with the International Chambers of Commerce (ICC), issues certificates of origin for 2,000 ICC members in 140 countries, promoting cross-border trade.

"I will continue to do my best to reflect the interests of Korean companies at the international organization that sets rules for cross-border trade," Shin said after winning the three-year term. "I will also play a part in raising the global profile of domestic firms."
By Lee Hyo-sik





Ma Won, Jin Air CEO

Aviation authorities will conduct a stringent safety inspection on Jin Air and other domestic low-cost carriers (LCCs) this month, after a series of safety lapses.

The check is expected to raise consumer concerns over the carriers' operational safety.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport said Monday that its inspectors will soon begin an unscheduled safety inspection on the nation's six low-cost carriers  Jeju Air, Jin Air, Air Busan, T'way Air, Eastar Jet and Air Incheon.

Air Incheon is a freight operator based at Incheon International Airport.

"A growing number of travelers flying with budget carriers complain about a string of incidents plaguing the airlines," a transport ministry official said.

Flight cancellations and delays had mostly been caused by various safety lapses, he said.

"We need to ensure that low-cost airlines operate in accordance with rules and regulations," the official said.

He said the ministry would examine how LCCs handled safety-related matters and whether the carriers abided by state regulations.

"Based on what we find from the inspection, we will introduce new safety guidelines to oblige budget airlines to invest more to enhance their safety records," the official said.

It is expected to take about a week to examine each carrier.

Over the past few years, budget carriers have been mobilizing resources to expand routes and attract as many travelers as possible to catch up with the country's two flagship carriers  Korean Air and Asiana Airlines.

However, the low-cost airlines have been criticized for paying less attention to operational safety of their planes and the training of pilots and other crew.

Pilots, maintenance crews and other personnel at LCCs are reportedly overworked to keep up with busy flight schedules.

On Sunday, a Jin Air flight bound for Gimhae International Airport from Cebu, carrying 163 passengers, was forced to return to the Philippines after about 30 minutes because of abnormal noise from a door.

Jin Air is the low-cost unit of Korean Air. Emily Cho, the youngest daughter of Korean Air Chairman Cho Yang-ho, is a senior vice president in charge of marketing and communications.

On Dec. 23, a Jeju Air Boeing 737-800 bound for Jeju International Airport from Seoul suddenly nosedived, sending 152 passengers into panic, with dozens injured.

Initially, the malfunctioning of the self-pressurized system was believed to have caused the plunge. But after an initial inspection, the transport ministry said inspectors found no mechanical problem, suspecting pilot error was behind the incident.

Besides the two latest incidents, Jin Air, Jeju Air and other budget carriers have been blamed for many more flight cancellations and delays, resulting in many complaints.

The ministry said it would take administrative steps against Jin Air and Jeju Air when inspectors conclude their investigations into the Dec. 23 and Jan. 3 incidents.

The Aviation Act, which was revised in November 2014, enables the government to impose fines of up to 600 million won on airlines violating state-set safety guidelines, up from the 10 million won.
Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo speaks during a ceremony, marking the start of the year at the company's headquarters in southern Seoul, Monday. / Courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group



Automaker to spend more on research, promote Genesis



By Lee Hyo-sik

Hyundai Motor Group is projected to sell at least 8.13 million vehicles across the globe this year, up slightly from last year's 8.01 million, by increasing sales in the United States and China, its chairman said Monday.

Chairman Chung Mong-koo also said that Korea's largest automaker will invest more in research and development (R&D) in order to hone its expertise on smart, eco-friendly vehicles, as well as promoting the EQ900 (globally named G90), the first vehicle under its premium Genesis brand.

"The automobile industry will face a structural shift toward eco-friendly, automated vehicles amid intensifying competition," Chung told employees during a ceremony at company headquarters in southern Seoul, Monday. "Against increasingly uncertain market conditions, it is important for us to secure core competences in order to achieve sustainable growth in the future. I want Hyundai to lead technological innovation and enhance its competitiveness."

To do so, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors will expand its R&D spending to develop state-of-the-art technologies for smart, eco-friendly vehicles, said the chairman.

He also said that the automakers will successfully promote its Genesis models and set up a more efficient global production and sales network with Hyundai Steel, Hyundai Glovis and other group affiliates.

"Despite unfavorable market conditions, we sold more than 8 million vehicles worldwide in 2015," Chung said. "Things will not improve much in 2016 amid the Chinese slowdown, falling oil prices and the U.S. rate hikes. But we should double our efforts to increase our brand value and offer what customers want."

The world's fifth-largest carmaker by production plans to produce and sell more than 8.13 million cars around the world in 2016  5.01 million for Hyundai and 3.12 million for Kia.

"This year, Kia's Mexico plant and Hyundai's Changzhou plant, near Beijing, will open, pushing up the number of our plants to 34 in 10 countries," the chairman said. "We will continue to introduce aggressive marketing campaigns in the United States, China, Latin America and elsewhere to become a global powerhouse."

Hyundai Motor Group plans to showcase the G90 at the Detroit Auto Show later this month, its first overseas debut, while launching a dozen new models throughout the year, including the i-Oniq and the Niro.

"In addition, I would like to transform Hyundai Steel into a global leader in automotive steel and Hyundai Engineering & Construction into a global engineering firm," Chung said. "Hyundai Motor Group will boost its partnership with small businesses and create more jobs for young people."
SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won speaks during a ceremony marking the start of the year at the Sheraton Walkerhill Hotel in eastern Seoul, Monday. / Yonhap



By Lee Hyo-sik

SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won vowed Monday to fight off a host of downsize risks this year, stressing that he will not let his personal life distract him from managing Korea's third-largest family-controlled conglomerate.

Chey said SK would continue to expand investments and hire workers to bolster its core competence and find new growth engines, while sharing growth with small business partners and local communities.

"We will take all possible measures to ride out the ongoing difficulties," the chairman said during a ceremony marking the start of the year at the Sheraton Walkerhill Hotel in eastern Seoul. "I will take the lead in turning risks into opportunities."

Chey said SK would help more young people start businesses and nurture social enterprises as part of its efforts to give back to communities.

The chairman made his first public appearance since Dec. 29 when he revealed he had been having an extramarital affair and had fathered a daughter out of wedlock.

He also wants to divorce his wife, Roh So-young, the daughter of former President Roh Tae-woo, citing irreconcilable differences.
Hashima Island, also known as Battleship Island, is situated 19 kilometers southwest of Nagasaki on Japan s southernmost main island of Kyushu. In July, the 160-meters-wide, 480-meters-long island was granted world heritage status by UNESCO as one of 23 Japan s sites of the 1868-1912 Meiji Industrial Revolution for its contribution to rapid industrialization. / Korea Times photo by Kim Hyo-jin



By Kim Hyo-jin



NAGASAKI, Japan  "People called it a dream island," tour guide Matsuzaki told tourists on Japan's "Battleship Island," a manmade island which, true to its nickname, juts out of silver-gray waters like a World War Two battleship, 30 minutes from the Nagasaki coast.

The pace of development on Battleship Island was faster than any other place in Japan. Once a thriving coal mine developed by Mitshbishi since 1890 and a symbol of Japan's industrialization, the island was abandoned in 1974 when a lack of demand for coal in the market caused it to close.





This is the seven-floor concrete apartment named No. 30 apartment. The building was built in 1916 as a residence for mine workers, becoming the first apartment building in Japan. / Korea Times





Now, the crumbling concrete buildings and remnants of a once-thriving coal mine await tourists from around the world who are drawn to the eerie appearance of the uninhabited island, more recently made famous as a villain's lair in the James Bond movie "Skyfall."



Japan's bid to list the island as a UNESCO world heritage site has drawn controversy. In the 1940s, hundreds of Koreans were drafted and forced to work on the island. More than one in eight Korean workers died under harsh working and living conditions, according to official records.





A banner at Nagasaki reads "Congratulations on sites of the Meiji Industrial Revolution enlisted UNESCO world

heritage sites." Behind is a passenger ship that shuttles between the port and Hashima Island. The number

of tourists to the island has doubled since July and 10 boat trips carry up to 1,500 passengers a day.

/ Korea Times





The dark side of the island's history was not included on a recent 30-minute long tour. A telling of the island's history was instead driven by a narrative which emphasized its "old-time glory."



"The admirable efforts of our ancestors have made the island a UNESCO world site," Matsuzaki told tourists.



Nowhere in the pamphlet handed out to tourists cited the use of conscripted foreign laborers.





A brick wall, left, is the part of the main office in charge of the underwater coal mine off Hashima Island. It accommodated a shower booth for miners that provided fresh water supplied from the mainland. On right is the entrance to the main coal mine, whose stairs were connected to an elevator travelling 1,000 meters below the ground surface. / Korea Times



When asked about Korean workers, a volunteer worker working on the island said, "There was no forced work here and all the workers were duly paid."



Looking into the deep, dark entrance to the coal mine seemed more eerie against the backdrop of claims by local volunteers who denied the existence of forced labor on the island.



"I'm unaware of the existence of foreign workers on the island," one Japanese tourist surnamed Nakhso said on a passenger boat heading back to Nagasaki. "I was just proud to see a historic place. Coal production there helped to lay the ground for modern Japan," he said.
Ban Ki-moon



This is the third in a series of articles highlighting the challenges faced by Korea's political leaders in 2016.  ED.



By Yi Whan-woo

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will remain a major figure in Korean politics this year due to rumors circulating here throughout the year about whether he will run in the 2017 presidential election.

As both ruling and opposition parties are courting him to be their candidate, Ban will have to make up his mind before or after his term in the U.N. ends in December.

The two main questions regarding Ban's future are: Will he launch a presidential bid? And if so, which party will he represent?

Ban, a former South Korean foreign minister, is expected to remain elusive about the answers to these questions. However, speculation is rampant that he will become more vocal about issues related to North Korea because talks are underway between the U.N. and the North over him possibly visiting and meeting with its young leader, Kim Jong-un.

"It should be taken for granted that he will run, given that he is still the most favored among the potential candidates for the 2017 presidential race," said Choi Chang-ryul, a political professor at Yongin University.

A survey of 1,000 adults jointly conducted by the Chosun Ilbo and pollster Media Research on New Year's Day showed that Ban is favored by 27.4 percent of Koreans, compared to the 15.2 percent attributed to the leader of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea, Chairman Moon Jae-in, and ruling Saenuri Party Chairman Kim Moo-sung at 10.6 percent.

A separate poll by KBS, also conducted on New Year's Day, shows Ban ahead with 29.1 percent support compared to Moon's 14.4 percent and Kim's 11.2 percent.

"His popularity and his evasive stance concerning the presidential race will leave room for people to believe that Ban will take the presidential election into account in his U.N. activities," Choi added.

Shin Yul, a political professor at Myongji University agreed.

"People, especially opposition politicians, will question whether Ban is trying to achieve something other than world peace when he brings up issues on inter-Korean affairs," he said. "It still doesn't make sense to me how he could think of going to North Korea in the wake of the terror attacks that occurred in Paris on Nov. 13 last year."

Following a slew of related news reports, Ban acknowledged on Nov. 23 that he plans to visit Pyongyang although he refused to elaborate on any details.

Shin also cited Pyo Changwon, a renowned criminal profiler who recently joined the Minjoo Party of Korea ahead of the parliamentary elections in April.

In a Facebook post, Pyo criticized the U.N. chief for welcoming the agreement reached between South Korea and Japan on Dec. 28 over "comfort women" during Ban's telephone conversation with Park on the New Year's Day.

The two nations agreed that their resolution over Tokyo's sexual enslavement of the Korean women before and during World War II was "final and irreversible."

Since then, the landmark deal has stirred up controversy in South Korea because the feelings of the surviving victims of Japan's wartime sex slavery were not taken into consideration before negotiations began.

However, Ban said that the President made a "brave decision" to resolve the historical dispute, which has been the biggest stumbling block against easing decades of diplomatic tension between the two nations.

Asking Ban to withdraw his support for the Dec. 28 agreement, Pyo claimed that the U.N. chief owes a political debt to the late President Roh Moo-hyun for obtaining his current job.

Ban was elected the eighth U.N. Secretary-General in 2006 while serving as foreign minister under Roh, who still has loyalists to his political legacy within the opposition even after his death in 2009. Ban is currently in his second five-year term at the U.N.

"As a U.N. Secretary-General, it was appropriate for Ban to welcome the Seoul-Tokyo agreement because the bilateral cooperation will certainly contribute to international harmony," said Park Won-gon, an international relations professor at Handong University. "At the same time, it will make sense for politicians here to raise objections against Ban's remarks as long as he remains unclear whether he will run for president."

However, the analysts were divided over the significance of Ban's anticipated visit to Seoul in June in relation to domestic politics.

During his stay, he is likely to chair a U.N. meeting involving non-profit organizations, according to South Korea's U.N. correspondents.

"Such a visit will have nothing to do with the National Assembly elections in April. Regardless of the election results, Ban will ride on the back of the President anyway, if he's interested in making a bid for the presidency," Shin said.

Park Won-gon said, "Any U.N. issues involving the two Koreas will be analyzed and interpreted in relation to domestic politics."
By Kang Seung-woo

Rep. Ha Tae-keung

Rep. Ha Tae-keung of the ruling Saenuri Party said Monday that the government should have sent a delegation to offer personal condolences for the death of Kim Yang-gon, criticizing its lax attitude toward inter-Korean relations.

Kim, North Korea's top official handling inter-Korean affairs, died in a car accident last Tuesday, according to the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA), and his funeral was held on Thursday.

Unification Minister Hong Yong-pyo expressed his condolences on Wednesday, but the government rejected calls to send a delegation to the North.

"Kim was a senior official whose ranking was higher than the deputy prime minister in the North and it is natural to send a delegation when such a high-ranking official dies, considering inter-Korean relations," Ha said during a party meeting at the National Assembly.

"In addition, Kim had contributed to improving inter-Korean relations, with many acquaintances in the South. In this respect, I express regret over the government's failure to send its representatives."

Ha, a North Korea human rights activist-turned-lawmaker, also said that the South should have gauged the atmosphere in the North after the passing of the high-ranking official by sending a delegation.

"The government needs to strategically dispatch a delegation in the event of the death of a North Korean senior official. The government is complacent about its dealings with the North," he said.

When former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il died in 2011, former First Lady Lee Hee-ho, wife of late President Kim Dae-jung, and Hyundai Group Chairwoman Hyun Jeong-eun visited the North to offer their condolences.
By Chung Ah-young





The statue of a girl, a symbol of Korean sex slavery victims during World War II, stands in front of the Japanese Embassy in Seoul. While former sex slaves oppose the Dec. 28 agreement between Korea and Japan on Japan's apology and fund offering to solve the issue, government-authored textbooks are likely to describe the issue according to the deal. / Yonhap

People are focusing on how sexual slavery perpetrated by the Japanese military before and during World War II will be described in the state-authored textbooks after the deal through which Korea and Japan recently resolved a longstanding dispute over the issue.

The former sex slaves and the civic groups supporting them worry that the books may say the issue was resolved through a "final and irreversible" agreement as the government claims, despite their strong opposition to the deal.

In the Dec. 28 agreement, Japan offered an apology and promised a 1 billion yen payment to establish a foundation for the 46 remaining Korean survivors.

However, the victims have protested the agreement, calling it humiliating, demanding Japan make a sincere apology and take legal responsibility.

They also expressed concerns that the issue might be forgotten in the future if the history textbooks describe it as a finished deal or reduce its coverage.

The government earlier decided to reduce the ratio of modern history content from the current 50 percent down to 40 percent in the new textbooks.

Regarding concerns that the sex slavery issue might be less addressed accordingly, the Ministry of Education said that it will not reduce coverage of the issue because it was chosen as a "major lesson" for the new curriculum direction set in 2015.

However, the way of describing it may change following the deal, which is likely to be described as having "concluded" the dispute.

Rep. Yoo Ki-hong of the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea voiced concerns over the government's possible influence over the content of the sex slavery issue.

He said that if the textbooks are made by private publishers, they might reflect the victims' voices who still demand legal responsibility and compensation from Japan despite the accord between Korea and Japan.

"But as the textbooks are state-authored, the content can be affected by the government," he said. "The books will not be able to carry the victims' opinions if the Japanese government objects.

"We don't know who will participate in the writing, or whether those who wrote the history textbook by Kyohak Publisher were included," the lawmaker said.

The textbook by Kyohak Publisher depicted how the Korean sex slaves were recruited, without mentioning the forcible conscription into sexual servitude. Such content was revised in 2013 following protests from civic groups and government recommendations.

The ministry said it has not yet decided whether to carry the agreement and how to describe the issue on the new books.

Besides the sexual slavery dispute, the ministry has not disclosed any of its writing criteria yet, despite originally intending to announce them in November. It still says it needs more time.

It also did not disclose the list of 46 writers and 16 editors, citing protection of their privacy as well as increasing uncertainty and distrust over the textbooks.

The government has been under pressure to release the identities of the writers after one of them resigned amid controversy over his qualifications. He had taught history for only nine months after working as a commerce teacher for nine years.

Also, Choi Mong-ryong, professor emeritus at Seoul National University, quit the project over a sexual harassment allegation in November. Choi was one of the two leading authors.
Dozen more may quit opposition this week



By Kim Hyo-jin



A dozen more lawmakers may leave the main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) this week to join a new envisioned party led by Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, Ahn's aides said Monday.



It appears highly likely that the general election scheduled for April 13 will be a three-way battle among the ruling Saenuri Party, the MPK and Ahn's party.



MPK leader Rep. Moon Jae-in reiterated his intention to recruit new members in the face of the mass exodus, but his efforts may gain little support, according to political observers.



Chung Dae-chul, a former lawmaker who serves as an advisor to the MPK, announced Monday that he will quit the party as early as today along with 40 to 50 members from the old Democratic Party, the predecessor of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy (NPAD), which changed its name to the MPK. Rep. Park Jie-won, the de facto leader of a group of legislators who reside in the Honam region in the southwest of the country, the party's traditional stronghold, is also expected to quit around Friday with fellow lawmakers.



"We are close to making a decision in line with the call of voters in our constituencies," Park said during a radio interview, citing that public opinion in the Honam region is becoming increasingly negative toward the MPK.



The party's advisor, Kwon Roh-gap and a group of party members loyal to the political legacy of the late President Kim Dae-jung will follow suit afterwards, according to party officials.



The moves come after Rep. Kim Han-gil, co-founder of the MPK's predecessor, the NPAD, with Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo, left the party Sunday.



The departure of the veteran lawmaker, who led a non-mainstream faction in rivalry to the Moon-led faction whose members are loyal to the ideas of the late President Roh Moo-hyun, heralded that more legislators will follow suit.



"The number of lawmakers who are planning to quit the party is large enough to form a parliamentary negotiation body," Kim told reporters, a day after he indicated his intention to join Ahn, who has increased efforts to form a new opposition party since quitting the NPAD, Dec. 13.



If Ahn succeeds in forming a negotiation body before Feb. 15 by attracting over 20 incumbent lawmakers to join his camp, he will secure 8.5 billion won in subsidies provided under the Political Funding Law, 6 billion won more than funding available if the body is not formed.



Ahn visited Lee Hee-ho, widow of the late former President Kim Dae-jung, Monday, with fellow lawmakers who quit the MPK and said he will carry on the spirit of the late President.



Ahn said after the meeting that he told Lee, "We promise to make a party that will work for the development of both democracy and the market economy, the values upheld by the late Kim."



In response, the widow asked Ahn to make efforts to retake power from conservatives, according to Ahn.



The visit was viewed as a move to appeal to voters in the Honam region, who remain loyal to Kim's political legacy.



At the risk of another split occurring within the party, Moon laid out his plan to attract younger figures from outside the MPK.



"I'm determined to make the party more competent ahead of the general election. Empty slots caused by an exodus of incumbent lawmakers will be filled with new qualified young figures," Moon said.



Moon recruited Kim Byung-kwan, board chairman of Webzen, developer and publisher of video games, following Pyo Chang-won, a renowned criminal profiler. He plans to speed up the process of scouting for new figures that possess expertise and intelligence in an effort to improve the party and its image.



"It is doubtful if the move can bring momentum to the party," Choi Chang-ryol, a professor at Yongin University said. "The future of the MPK depends largely on how successfully Ahn will form a new party. Moon will continuously face the departure of a series of lawmakers who wish to join the new rising force."




By Kang Seung-woo



President Park Geun-hye highlighted change and reform as key words for the year ahead, Monday, saying cooperation from the National Assembly was crucial to making a success of the government's push for reform.



Park made the comments during a meeting with some 220 government officials and political leaders held at Cheong Wa Dae.



Main opposition Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK) Chairman Moon Jae-in and floor leader Lee Jong-kul boycotted the meeting due to an ongoing political standoff over the government-proposed labor reform bills.



"We are facing difficulties this year. In this situation, should we fail to reform the nation, the nation will go backwards and be in trouble," Park said during the meeting.



"The national reforms will decide our future and should be done for future generations."



Participants of the meeting included National Assembly Speaker Chung Ui-hwa, Supreme Court Chief Justice Yang Seung-tae, Constitutional Court President Park Han-chul, National Election Commission Chairman Lee In-bok and Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn.



Park's remarks came while a drive to reform the labor market, that she believes will create jobs for young people and revive the economy, has hit a snag.



"Whenever I think about the future of the nation, I feel pressed to successfully complete my three-year economic innovation plan and accomplish reform," she said.



"If we fail in these moves, the nation will lose the momentum it needs for boosting the economy and creating jobs for young people."



Her efforts to reform the country's rigid labor market gathered pace in September after unions, management and the government reached a landmark deal to ease labor restrictions.



However, no follow-up measures have been taken as related bills remain pending in parliament because the opposition claims that the reforms could put irregular workers at a further disadvantage.



Amid the political standoff, Park said that the political community should step up efforts to lead reform and commit to improving the livelihood of the people.



"I think that the political circle needs to reform itself and regain public confidence," said Park.



Meanwhile, the main opposition party defended its leaders' nonparticipation in the meeting, saying that it was not appropriate for them to attend.



"We have concluded that it was not right for the opposition leader to visit Cheong Wa Dae, because of the poor agreement made with Japan on the issue of comfort women and the current political standoff over pending bills related to economic revitalization and labor reform," said party spokesman Kim Sung-soo.



Presidential spokesman Jung Youn-kuk said that this was the first time for the opposition leader to skip the annual meeting under the Park administration.



Their absence was in stark contrast to Chung's attendance.



Park and Chung are mired in a standoff over whether the latter should invoke his authority to take the bills to the floor and put them to a vote.



Chung has spurned Park's request that he put the bills related to economic revitalization and labor reform to a vote by exercising his authority as speaker of the house.




China neither confirmed nor denied a Japanese media report on Monday that a key official of the Chinese Communist Party in charge of ties with North Korea may visit Pyongyang as early as this month, saying it had "no information" on the report.

North Korea and China have been in consultations over a possible visit by Song Tao, head of the Chinese Communist Party's international department, to Pyongyang, according to the report by the Tokyo Shimbun.

When asked about the media report, China's foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying replied, "I have no information to offer." Hua didn't elaborate further.

Song became the powerful Chinese party's point man on North Korea and other diplomatic affairs in late 2015, succeeding Wang Jiarui.

His trip to Pyongyang, if made, would come at a sensitive time in the ties between the two nations.

Their relations showed clear signs of improvement recently after years of strain. But speculation has been rekindled over the health of the bilateral relationship since the Moranbong Band, known to be cherished by Kim Jong-un, suddenly canceled its concert in Beijing last month.

If Song makes a trip to North Korea anytime soon, it could serve as a litmus test for the strength of the Pyongyang-Beijing ties.

The newspaper also said he may discuss the likelihood of Kim Jong-un's trip to Beijing before or after the North's major national congress to be held in May.

Song's predecessor Wang Jiarui traveled to the North in November 2012, accompanying Li Jianguo, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress. (Yonhap)
By Young Hoy Kim Kimaro

On Oct. 25 last year, all parliamentary seats and the presidency in Tanzania were contested in a general election which takes place every 5 years. These ballots were introduced in 1995 after the country changed from a one party to a multiparty system.

Whether under the one party or multiparty system, Tanzania has always achieved peaceful transfers of power; this year, it is for the fifth time. That's quite an achievement for a country in a continent which is rife with presidents who simply won't handover power.

Almost one in every three sub-Saharan countries has a President who has ruled for 15 years or more. Three (of Angola, Cameroon and Equatorial Guinea) have ruled for more than 30 years!

However, there's one fly in Tanzania's ointment. All of its presidents have hailed from a single party, Chama cha Mapinduzi (CCM), "Party of the Revolution." No, Tanzania has not had any revolution; touch wood. CCM and Tanganyika African National Union (TANU), its previous incarnation, has ruled the country since independence from British rule was achieved in 1961.

Under socialism, the party wielded absolute power. Even after the multiparty system was adopted in 1992, its grip on the polity remained strong. The dividing line between the government and party budget, especially during election times, remains highly porous, giving CCM an unfair advantage over other parties.

"All power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely," wrote Lord Acton. Indeed corruption has seeped in over the years until the party and government bureaucracy has become saturated. The degree and the scale of corruption involving key government offices have shocked and dismayed the general public time and again. The Government's failure to take any meaningful measures to curb corruption in high places, and to hold institutions to account, further undermined the CCM government's credibility.

CCM realized that the public perception of corruption could be its undoing. The Central Committee of the CCM party took a surprising step. Its nominee for the presidential race has to be one untainted by corruption scandals.

Lowassa, a highly popular former Prime Minister who had been the leading contender for CCM's presidential ticket till then, was dropped. Rumors abounded about his ill-gotten goods, and his visible wealth beyond possibilities from the government salaries made him too risky for the party to bank on.

The Central Committee chose John Magufuli to replace him  a former Minister of Works, Magufuli is less well known to the general public, but untainted. And with his track record of being decisive and results oriented, he could perhaps muster sufficient ammunition to effectively counter the promises of "change" hyped by the leading opposition party, Chama cha Demokrasiana Maendeleo (CHADEMA), the Democracy and Development Party.

Lowassa immediately defected to CHADEMA. He even negotiated his way to become its presidential candidate, dealing an unfair blow against Wilbroad Slaa who had, as the party's presidential candidate in the past three elections, steadily gained public support for CHADEMA and put fear into the heart of CCM.

Will Lowassa, who defected to CHADEMA solely to realize his presidential ambitions truly embraced the change that CHADEMA stands for or will he taint CHADEMA, turning it into yet another CCM? Could Magufuli's personal commitment to change be strong enough to overcome the resistance within the CCM or will the CCM establishment stifle his efforts?

On which party can people bank on for change that would move the country forward? The mismatch between what people perceived of the parties and individual candidates made the choice they must make most perplexing.

Magufuli won the election amidst the usual suspicions of CCM rigging the election. He assumed power on Nov. 5.

Since then, changes began to hit the headlines. Edward Hoseah, the long standing head of the country's anti-corruption body, Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB), was sacked for his failure to take action against high level corruption in Tanzania, and for failing to deal with endemic and rampant corruption at the port and in tax revenue collection bodies.

Within days of assuming office, President Magufuli acted to block wanton foreign travel by government officials. As an austerity measure it was made compulsory that all official travel must first be approved by the President's office. (Didn't President Park take similar measures in Korea in the 1960s?)

Over the years, increasing number of officials had sought for foreign travel at the slightest pretext to receive generous travel allowances. At times the Tanzanian delegation to an international conference would number 20-30 though only a handful would actually attend. The Presidential decree was to block this uncontrolled leakage to the Government budget. Four senior officials at the PCCB who ignored the decree, thinking it was business as usual and no action would be taken against them, got a rude awakening. They were summarily dismissed.

Over the years, for Independence Day and on other national holidays, public celebrations became more and more elaborate, unmindful of escalating costs. President Magufuli cut the budget for the first Independence Day celebrations of his presidency from $100,000 to $7,000 and donated the difference to Muhimbili hospital, where may patients lay on bare floor, for the hospital to purchase additional beds.

The country waited anxiously while President Magufuli took time to put together his cabinet. Unlike in the past when the same old faces would resurface in different capacities like in a game of musical chair, his cabinet was made up of fresh, less known faces, drawn from within and outside the political circle. They were not chosen to reward political loyalty but for technical expertise they could bring to the table. More than half of the new cabinet members are reported to have doctoral degrees.

These are but a small segment what the people in Tanzania have observed in the first two months of Magufuli's presidency. Even those who voted for Lowassa out of their yearning for change are amazed at the changes President Magufuli keeps pulling out his deck of cards.

For the New Year, everyone here wishes such changes to continue unabated. Imagine what transformation 10 years of such changes could bring to this country, so richly endowed with natural resources yet so poor for lack of good leadership? People are enamored at what they see. To them, this is a new start, new hope for a better future for Tanzania.

The writer resides on the slopes of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. She worked for the World Bank for nearly 30 years and her email is youngkimaro@gmail.com.
Chung Jong-soo, the third son of self-made businessman Chung Seok-gyu, stands in front of the Sinyang Cultural Foundation based in Seoul National University on Dec. 30, 2015. / Korea Times







By Kang Hyun-kyung

Multimillionaire Chung Seok-gyu (1929-2015) was one of the country's biggest donors who gave away 44 billion won ($38 million) before he died in May 2015 after a long illness.

Contrary to his generous donations, the self-made businessman was stingy with himself and his family.





The late Chung Seok-gyu, the founder of Taesung Rubber Chemicals and former chairman of the charity organization Sinyang Cultural Foundation

/ Courtesy of Sinyang Cultural Foundation

His third son Jong-soo said it was a torture for him to dine with his father at a restaurant because he always ordered just one dish and then shared it with his son. "I was embarrassed because I saw the waiter or the waitress with an uncomfortable facial expression whenever my father ordered like that," he said. "It was understandable for them to feel uncomfortable about my father's way because they were also in business to make money. It was natural for them to expect the two of us to order two dishes. So I didn't blame them and rather felt sorry for my father."

According to him, his father hated spending even a penny for something unnecessary and his wealth accumulation came at the expense of decent meals.

His rule of ordering dishes half the size of the group he went with also applied to his outings with his other family members.

While he was alive, his entire family  his wife, three sons and their spouses and children  met twice a year at restaurant for a family gathering. The self-made man ordered eight dishes if 16 people showed up and had one more if 17 people came.

Once their dining was over, he would always ask the waitress to put the leftovers in a box and take it to his workplace or home to eat.

"No matter what types of dishes he ordered, he never threw away any leftovers. He even asked to put Chinese noodles that were left in a box. Noodles tend to swell and become bad to eat but he didn't care," Chung Jong-soo said. "None of our family members complained about him because we knew he was not going to change the lifestyle he had stuck with during his life."

Born to a poor family in the slum district of the southeastern city of Masan, Chung had a difficult childhood. He had an off-campus job in the chemical industry to finance his tuition and living expenses while attending Seoul National University Chemical Engineering Department.

The self-made man founded Taesung Rubber Chemicals in 1967, 16 years after he had related work experience in the chemical industry.

His company produced a variety of rubber parts which were used in electronic devices, home appliances and automobiles. At its height, the Gumi City-based company had some 200 employees in the 1970s when demand for rubber parts was at an all-time high following Hyundai Group exporting Korea's first mass-produced car  the Pony.

Chung's company was small but competitive. He was called the rubber king after he successfully localized reclaimed rubber and other rubber-based products, and was honored by the government as well as the chemical industry many times for his dedication to rubber products.

In 2001, he sold his company to other businessmen. He used the profit he earned as seed money to establish the charity organization Sinyang Cultural Foundation at Seoul National University.

The foundation has since provided scholarships to over 1,200 students and funds to help scholars perform academic research. Chung served as chairman of the foundation until he died in 2015.

In his memoir, the late Chung said he had planned for a long time to give his wealth back to society.

"People lead their lives while interacting with others in a society. Sometimes they give a helping hand to others and at other times get help from them. Given such interdependency in our human lives, it is natural that we give back to society," he wrote.

In the late 1980s, he first donated 1 billion won to Seoul National University Medical School to help staff there research untreatable diseases. This followed the death of his only daughter of such a disease. Around that time, Chung himself was also diagnosed with larynx cancer and had surgery.

He had since donated money to the Youngdeungpo District Office, to help elderly citizens who lived alone without family aid or those who raised their grandchildren without any proper income. The self-made businessman also gave scholarships to college students to help them continue their studies.

"My father had two primary groups that he helped  the elderly and college students," his third son Jong-soo said. "He sympathized with college students who had difficulty financing their tuition because of his difficult childhood."

He said his father's exposure to Western society in the late 1950s and 60s could also have affected his decision to donate part of his wealth to society. From the late 1950s to the early 1960s, the late Chung had three short-term training programs in the United States, Europe and Japan to learn about rubber technology.

"My father told me several times about some American universities that have libraries being named after their donors. He said he was impressed by them and expressed his hope to be honored like that," Chung Jong-soo said. "He was influenced by the Western tradition of giving back to society."

The "rubber man" was a focused person. From his early childhood, Chung wrote in his memoir that he had two goals to achieve  he would become a person who would be of use to society and an unrivaled expert in his area.

He lived up to his commitments and donated about half of his wealth to help students, academics and elderly people.

Unlike his generous support for those groups, his son said, the late Chung consistently led a stingy lifestyle.

Before he died, the businessman was hospitalized for a month.

"My father and I kind of had an argument about which hospital room he would stay in. He insisted he be hospitalized in a double bed room and share the space with another patient to save money. But I insisted he be in a single bed room," he said.

"I confronted him about his decision at that time because I thought he was old and rich enough to be hospitalized in a decent place."

Chung died in 2015 at age 86.

When the self-made man announced he would give his wealth back to society, his third son said, none of his sons opposed or complained about their father.

"He himself established his business empire with his own efforts and hard work and thus all of thought that he was in a position to decide how he was going to use his money," the son said.
By Doug Bandow



Christians in America remain free to celebrate Christmas. Not so tens and perhaps hundreds of millions of believers abroad. Murder by such groups as the Islamic State and Boko Haram topped pervasive persecution and discrimination in many nations.



U.S. Senator and presidential contender Marco Rubio has denounced the lack of "attention paid to the plight of these Christian communities in peril." He criticized the Obama administration and called for action.



Rubio's concern no doubt is genuine. However, the Republican Party's policies have hurt and will continue to hurt Christians around the world.



No single action was as injurious to Middle Eastern Christians as the U.S. invasion of Iraq. In this repressive but secular dictatorship, Christians were free to worship and work.



However, Washington's intervention triggered a sectarian conflict which drove out hundreds of thousands of Christians, spawned a new al-Qaeda organization which morphed into the Islamic State, and tolerated ruthless Shia rule which encouraged Baathists and Sunnis to support ISIL. Absent George W. Bush's Iraq folly, backed by Rubio and most of his competitors, the Islamic State wouldn't exist.



Most of the usual GOP suspects, starting with Rubio, also backed the Obama administration's decision to intervene in the Libyan civil war. This misbegotten policy left two competing governments, multiple armed militias, loose weapons permeating the region, and a vacuum partly filled by the Islamic State, which publicly murdered Egyptian Copts who were working in Libya.



Syria is engulfed by a hideous civil war. Bashar al-Assad is another secular dictator, coming from the minority Alawite sect. While he used fear of potential religious persecution for his political benefit, Christians and other religious minorities have good reason to be terrified about Syria apres Assad. After all, many of them fled Iraq, where they've seen the ending of the movie: it isn't pretty.



Opposing Assad are unashamed extremists and jihadists and largely nonexistent and ineffective "moderates." Yet Rubio and most of the other Republican contenders want to oust Assad, who possesses the most effective force opposing ISIL.



Should Rubio & Co. succeed, the likely fate of Christians is grim. Noted the U.S. State Department: In Syria "ISIL required Christians to convert, flee, pay a special tax, or face execution in territory it controls, and systematically destroyed churches, Shia shrines, and other religious sites."



On a recent trip to Jordan and Lebanon I met with several Christian aid workers active in Syria. Most complained about U.S. policy targeting Assad. One said simply: "You Americans don't know what you are doing."



Almost as bad is Washington's reflexive support, endorsed by Rubio and the rest of the GOP presidential gaggle, for ruthless Islamic regimes throughout the Middle East and beyond. For instance, despite complaining about foreign blasphemy laws, Rubio declared that the U.S. must "reinforce our alliances." Some of his Republican competitors are even more insistent.



Yet Saudi Arabia is essentially a totalitarian state, without a single operating church (or synagogue or temple) for non-Muslims. Noted State, "the government harassed, detained, arrested, and occasionally deported some foreign residents who participated in private non-Muslim religious activities."



Coptic Christians remain victims of persecution, discrimination, and violence in Egypt even after the military ouster of the Muslim-dominated government of Mohamed Morsi. The GOP wants a closer embrace of General-President Abdel Fata al-Sisi, who is more repressive than Hosni Mubarak.



Finally, Rubio's slavish political commitment to the Israeli government, mimicking every other GOP presidential candidate, hurts Christians there. When I visited, Christians in the West Bank, who live and worship openly, complained far more about the impact of the Israeli occupation than activities of the Palestinian Authority.



State acknowledged numerous problems. Israeli settlers made more "price tag" attacks on Palestinian Christian than Muslim sites in the West Bank. "Societal attitudes toward missionary activities and conversion to other religions were generally negative." Israel's visa issuance process "significantly impeded the work of Christian institutions."



As Rubio argued, Americans should remember the plight of Middle East Christians. At the same time, Americans should remember that Republican support for promiscuous U.S. military intervention and Islamic dictators did much to bring down disaster upon Middle Eastern Christians.



Unfortunately, doing more of the same in the Mideast, as Rubio and most Republicans propose, would only yield the same result. They should stop turning misbegotten neoconservative crusades into America's foreign policy.



Doug Bandow is the Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute and former Special Assistant to President Ronald Reagan. He is the author of Foreign Follies: America's New Global Empire.




Elections to determine fate of three-party system



Rep. Kim Han-gil quit the main opposition party Sunday, pledging to start over to win the April 13 general elections and achieve a change of government. His defection is hardly surprising, given that it has been anticipated since Ahn Cheol-soo, the software mogul-turned-politician, left the party in mid-December.



Kim, who co-founded the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, the precursor to the Minjoo Party of Korea (MPK), nearly two years ago with Ahn, did not disclose his next move. But speculation is rife that he will join a new party to be created by Ahn by early February.



More non-mainstream lawmakers of the MPK are expected to leave and join Ahn's new party. This would mean that the largest opposition party will split and that the political community might turn into a three-party structure if the new party succeeds in forming a parliamentary negotiating group.



In New Year opinion polls conducted by media outlets, the MPK was neck and neck with Ahn's new party while the ruling Saenuri Party took a clear lead. Ahn's tentative new party, in particular, enjoyed high support in the Seoul metropolitan area and southwestern Honam region, the MPK's traditional home turf.



The potential new party's big stride certainly reflects people's strong aversion to the current political establishment, which has been unable to concur on even the redistricting issue amid a tense bipartisan confrontation.



There are two aspects in the emergence of a three-party system.



On the one hand, there are concerns about the governing party's possible landslide victory in the upcoming elections in the wake of the division of the opposition camp. This must be a woeful situation, considering that there should be a stronger opposition that can hold the ruling camp in check.



On the other, the opposition split could serve as an important occasion to translate into reality people's aspirations to see the emergence of new political forces that will practice productive politics.



After all, all these problems will be determined by voters. But the three-party system would especially require the opposition parties to embrace audacious changes.



The MPK appears eager to cope with its imminent crisis by recruiting fresh outside figures, but it is long past time for the liberal party to have deep soul-searching on how it has virtually split up with fewer than 100 days remaining before the elections.



Ahn's new party has yet to take concrete form, but there is no question that it must act responsibly, taking into account people's strong support and expectations. Voters would endorse the party if it refrains from opposition for opposition's shake and suggests reasonable alternatives to national issues.



The New Year has dawned, but people seem dispirited amid skepticism that this year's economy will be worse than last year. Politicians are still mired in mudslinging  as usual.



Changes to all these shameful practices might be possible if voters are wise enough to choose candidates who can break from old-fashioned politics and offer realistic options for our pending issues.




By Andrew Salmon

So, Shinzo Abe has finally done it.

To most of Korea, the Japanese prime minister  considered an ultra-nationalistic historical revisionist here  is more despised than Kim Jong-un. But, in the dying days of 2015, Abe did exactly what Koreans have long demanded: He apologized and offered governmental compensation to the Korean ex-comfort women.

It was unequivocal. Abe's statement of "sincere apologies and remorse" was carried by global media, as was his foreign minister's admission of "the involvement of the military authorities of the day" in comfort stations and his statement, "the government of Japan painfully acknowledges its responsibility."

A related agreement reached between Seoul and Tokyo, designed to heal a long-festering sore that has infected bilateral relations across the board, includes official compensation to be paid by Japan to South Korea.

The surprise deal  the fruit of back-breaking diplomatic labor  was applauded by Washington and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Post-apology, the best thing Tokyo can do is swiftly cough up the promised cash. To make payment conditional upon the removal of a comfort woman statue outside the Japanese Embassy  which some reports suggest is Tokyo's policy  looks (at best) petty. Japanese diplomats know there is far too much public emotion currently invested for that statue to be removed by any Korean politician.

Speedy delivery of compensation would also demonstrate good faith  after which one might assume that this thorny problem would finally be overcome.

Alas, some ex-comfort women and the vocal NGOs supporting them are vehemently denouncing the deal  and not for the first time.

Tokyo made occupation-era reparations in 1965 the price of diplomatic normalization by paying $800 million in grants and soft loans to Seoul  which used them to kick-start the "economic miracle" rather than to compensate victims. Even so: With hindsight, I suspect most Koreans would consider that money well spent.

When the comfort women issue rose to prominence in the early 1990s, it was clear that the 1965 agreement had not covered them; another mechanism was required. So Tokyo  having already made official governmental reparations  collected private money and established the Asian Women's Fund to compensate the ex-comfort women.

However, when seven Korean ex-comfort women accepted this money  which was accompanied by a letter of apology from the Japanese prime minister  they were harshly criticized by civic groups and media. Subsequently, they were denied Korean government handouts.

This undermined Tokyo's effort by effectively preventing other ex-comfort women in Korea from accepting the funds. (At least in public; one expert claims that 60 additional Korean ex-comfort women did take the compensation and apology, but quietly.)

The civic groups' grounds for opposition were that the money did not come from Tokyo's "official" purse  albeit this argument overlooked the fact that the Japanese government administered the fund, and disingenuously ignored the personally signed letters of apology to the victims from the prime minister.

In this context, arch-conservative Abe's apology (not the first delivered by a senior Japanese official) and the offer of official compensation looked tailor-made to dissolve the problems that bedeviled the Asian Women's Fund.

In fact, it has done neither. While Seoul desperately tries to sell the deal to the public and the media sits on the fence, the Opposition is (inevitably) opposed. More seriously, NGOs and some ex-comfort women are furious, saying they were not consulted and that Abe's apology does not constitute "legal responsibility."

This raises an uncomfortable question. After so many apologies from so many Tokyo officials, and after differing formats of compensation, can these aggrieved parties ever be satisfied?

Perhaps not. But if they refuse to accept anything less than their own extensive demands  which cover certain issues over which even expert historians hold different opinions  then, as non-governmental actors, the NGOs and ex-comfort women have every right to continue protests; Korea is a democracy. But they need to consider the risk that their efforts to sabotage this deal could cost them support in the court of international public opinion.

Meanwhile, even if the Seoul-Tokyo agreement ends inter-governmental disputes on the issue, it does not prevent historians and civic society from continued research, discussion and debate.

Indeed, in Seoul, a Korean professor is facing trial for defaming comfort women in her book. This trial will place before the public certain under-reported (and possibly suppressed) facts, and may even add nuance to the simplified but highly emotive conventional wisdom that currently defines the issue.

Regardless, this was a deal reached between two governments. (Hence, does not cover comfort women in Japan, China, North Korea or Southeast Asia). The time has now come for Seoul and Tokyo to unshackle policy from debates better left to historians, and move forward on a broad range of political, strategic and economic issues.

Andrew Salmon is a Seoul-based reporter and author. Reach him at andrewcsalmon@yahoo.co.uk.
Lead economist Philip O'Keefe for the World Bank's social protection and labor global practice, left, and World Bank chief economist Sudhir Shetty for the East Asia Pacific region, pose for a photo after an interview with The Korea Times at Plaza Hotel in Seoul last month. / Korea Times photo by Kim Jae-won



By Kim Jae-won

A World Bank (WB) economist said that Korea needs to adopt an innovative way to credit voluntary work called "time banks" to boost the number of volunteers here helping senior citizens deal with their poverty and loneliness.

Philip O'Keefe, a lead economist in the social protection labor global practice at the WB, said an inter-generational cooperation system would be effective in Korea, which has one of the worst poverty and suicide rates for senior citizens among the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) members.

"When you are a younger-old person, you give your time to look after an older person. Essentially, you get credit for the number of hours you spend volunteering. When you become an older person, you get the same number of hours that you put in when you were a younger-old person," said O'Keefe in a recent interview with The Korea Times in a Seoul hotel.

He visited Korea as part of his Asian trip to introduce the bank's report titled "Live Long and Prosper: Aging in East Asia and the Pacific Region."

O'Keefe works in East Asia and the Pacific region primarily. Previously, he was the lead human development economist for the region.

Prior to joining the bank in 1993, he was a lecturer at the University of Warwick in the U.K. He holds degrees from the University of Sydney, the London School of Economics and Political Science and Oxford University.

The Australian scholar said some countries such as China and Britain are benefiting from the system, creating an innovative way to solve problems from their aging societies.

The economist pointed out that Korea is ringing the alarm bells in poverty and suicide from older people. According to the OECD, 49 percent of Korean senior citizens suffered from poverty in 2014, more than three times the average of the organization which stood at 13 percent.

The nation's suicide rate among older people is an even more critical situation. According to a 2014 report from the World Health Organization, 116.2 people per every 100,000 senior citizens age 70 or older kill themselves, far higher than other countries which posted between 5.8 and 42.3.

O'Keefe said that Korea needs to set up more aggressive pension policies to prepare for an aging society as the country is entering a time in which people age 65 and older represent more than 14 percent of the whole population. He said that the current level of 9 percent of contributions for the state pension was pretty low, compared to other advanced countries.

"The wider group of East Asian and Pacific countries with mature but low-coverage mandated contributory systems should also consider shifting the balance of their pension system financing toward general revenue-financed redistribution and modest benefit levels, but in ways that do not compromise incentives to participate in the contributory scheme," according to the WB report.

Sudhir Shetty, chief economist for the East Asia and Pacific region at the bank, said that Asia's fourth-largest economy should draw more females into the workplace by providing more effective childcare systems. He praised Korea's well-educated female workforce and forecast that they will contribute to the nation's economy by becoming innovators.
Kwon Soon-han

By Chung Hyun-chae



Kwon Soon-han, chairman of Soyee Product Inc., a medical devices producer, has been re-elected to a third term as president of the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (HUFS) Alumni Association.



The association said Monday that it re-elected Kwon as its 30th president by a unanimous vote during its general meeting at the Hotel President in downtown Seoul, Dec 28.



Kwon began his third consecutive term Monday.



"I will have an alumni hall completed within my term, which is our long-cherished ambition," he said. "I also plan to launch a worldwide alumni association for HUFS."



A groundbreaking ceremony for the alumni hall will take place in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, in March. The association expects that it will take one-and-a-half years to complete the construction of the building.



Kwon majored in Spanish and graduated from HUFS in 1970.



He then received a master's degree in international trade from Sungkyunkwan University in 1974.



Kwon also finished the Global Leadership Program at Seoul National University and the Information and Communication Program at the Graduate School of Computer Science and Technology, Korea University, in 2002.



He served as the 16th president of the Korea Importers Association from 2004 to 2007 and as vice chairman of the Korea International Trade Association from 2006 to 2012.
By Yoon Sung-won





Jang Dong-hyun

SK Telecom CEO

SK Telecom Chief Executive Officer Jang Dong-hyun highlighted the importance of a swift business transformation in order to achieve a turnaround.



The CEO said that SK Telecom, the nation's largest mobile carrier, will strengthen its market leadership while seeking for a turnaround through new growth engines and boosted profitability in these sectors.



"Firm corporate culture based on mutual trust is needed to overcome raging waves in the age of limitless competition," stated Jang in his New Year's address. "In particular, we need to change faster than customers and markets in order to be recognized by them."



As sales results of the nation's all three telecom operators  SK Telecom, KT and LG Uplus  are estimated to decrease, the mobile carrier is likely to continue seeking new growth engines in the platform operation sector to compensate the profitability in the telecom sector.



The CEO said that the company will push for expanding its business into the business-to-business sector, smart home and car and personalized services while adopting diverse new services in lifestyle and the Internet of Things. He also called for new partnerships in connected car, financial technology and new media sectors.



The telecom company is pushing ahead with an aggressive business restructure starting the latter half of last year. It is working to acquire CJ HelloVision, the nation's largest cable television operator and the top budget mobile service provider, and reorganized business portfolio of its mobile service affiliate SK Planet.



"We will provide best quality service to customers by discovering their needs earlier than others not only in the telecom business but also the next-generation platform sector," said Jang.
Samra Kesinovic, left, and Sabina Selimovic, right/ Screen capture from Twitter



A teenage Austrian girl, who had been an ISIS sex slave, was beaten to death, the British Daily mail reports.

Samra Kesinovic, 17, and her friend Sabina Selimovic, 15, left Austria and travelled, via Turkey, to Syria to join ISIS in April 2014.

They reportedly left a note for their families which read: "Don't look for us. We will serve Allah and we will die for him."

Shortly after arriving in Syria, Slimovic sent a French magazine SMS messages, saying she was enjoying life in Syria and felt free to practice her religion.

The teenagers became the group's "poster girls." Images of them carrying AK-47s while surrounded by armed men were uploaded on ISIS websites.












Actress Go Ara channeled old Hollywood glamor in the latest issue of Harper's Bazaar.

According to the magazine, the pictorial was an homage to famous British actress Audrey Hepburn. Specifically, the films Sabrina (1954) and Funny Face (1957) inspired the "tomboy" and "intense woman" wardrobe themes.

Go was compared to the actress not only because of her beauty, but her deep passion for humanitarian work. The star's last ambassador trip was to Manila, Philippines to bring awareness to a landfill spot that was affecting the health of local citizens.

Go's wardrobe included a Lucky Chouette turtleneck, Dior cashmere sweaters and Maison Margiela jewelry, to name a few items. Among the standout combinations there was a Sacai ensemble from the Fall RTW 2016 collection. The tweed jacket and skirt set can be seen below on the runway.



During the interview, Go was asked about her upcoming film The Magician. When asked if it was more dramatic than the novel that inspired it, she responded, "The quiet strength of my character [a Joseon Dynasty princess] stays the same, but she has more serenity. I am confident the movie will be more interesting."

In other fashion news, Go Ara recently posed for three separate covers of Ceci China's January issue.

---

About the Author: Elsa is the founder, head writer, and editor of KPopBreak.com. In her website, she covers K-pop celebrity style, Korean actress beauty trends, red carpet appearances and Seoul Fashion Week news.
The final singers of upcoming 12-member girl group Cosmic Girls have been unveiled.

On Dec. 31, Starship Entertainment uploaded photos and descriptions of the three girls on their official social media accounts.

The three members, Da Won, Luda, and Mei Qi, are part of the "Natural" subunit, the fourth and final sub-unit of the group.

Two of the members, Dawon and Luda, are Korean. The other member of the subunit, Mei Qi, is Chinese.

With the three members of the final subunit chosen, Cosmic Girls has a total of nine Korean members and three Chinese members.

The group is expected to soon begin final preparations for their debut in early 2016.

Members of the group made their first music video appearance in the UNIQ's "Happy New Year" video, made for the Chinese market.
This week brought the end of 2015 and a new start for a major K-pop couple.

JYJ's Xia Junsu and EXID's Hani Reported To Be Dating

On Jan. 1, Korean media outlet Dispatch revealed a new popular idol couple. Xia Junsu, of JYJ and TVXQ fame, and trending-idol EXID's Hani have been dating for six months, according to Dispatch. The two were photographed together on several occasions.

Since the report, the relationship has been collaborated by Junsu and Hani's representatives. The pair allegedly began a relationship as friends and Junsu reportedly asked Hani to begin dating. There are concerns regarding the pair's future, since Junsu will have to go serve in the Korean military in the near future.

K-Pop Year End Award Shows

Countless popular K-pop idol groups appeared at year-end broadcasts on South Korea's biggest channels. The year end festivals put on by KBS, MBC, and SBS, were filled with performances of hit songs and collaborative tracks, as well as covers by idols of some of K-pop's most popular hits of yesteryear.

Along with music shows, K-pop idols also took in a variety of awards at year-end television award show ceremonies.

Injuries Affect BTS' Schedules

After months of ongoing promotions, K-pop idol group BTS appears unable to sustain itself for much longer. At least three members of the group were seriously injured this week, resulting in two cancelled concerts in Japan and a six-member performance at at least one year-end music festival.

The afflicted members of BTS- V, Suga, and Rap Monster- have all received medical testing and none are seriously injured or ill.

---
EXO's D.O continues to make strides on screen in 2016.

D.O (Do Kyung Soo) is set to appear as one of the leads in the upcoming movie Pure Love.

During the press conference on Monday, Jan. 4, the idol-actor discussed the challenges of his latest role and gave credit to those working around him for his ability to thrive in front of the camera.

"This time was my first time acting as the protagonist, in actuality, I was very nervous and I felt quite burdened," said D.O., as reported by Soompi.

"But, the people next to me, my friends, elders, the director, and staff really helped me a lot. Because [they] worked so hard on the filming [of the movie], I wanted to finish well [and do a good job]."

D.O. stars in the Pure Love alongside actress Kim So Hyun. The movie centers around the first loves of five friends as revealed by a letter received by a live radio program 23 years later.

D.O. made his critically acclaimed acting debut in the film Cart, which was released in November 2014.

Aside from the upcoming film release, D.O is set to embark on a North American tour with his band EXO. They will stop at five cities - Dallas, Vancouver, LA, Chicago, and New York - starting on Feb. 10.

Pure Love will be released in February 2016.
The SLFP does not condone the continuation of the Emergency Regulations (The Public Security Ordinance) more than a day necessary

Read more
Gene Luen Yang has been named the next National Ambassador for Young Peoples Literature by the Library of Congress. Yang is the first writer who works primarily in graphic novels to be named ambassador.

Im thrilled and humbled to be appointed National Ambassador for Young Peoples Literature. Reading breaks down the walls that divide us, Yang said in a statement. Yang has made reading without walls the theme of his ambassadorship. Yang will be sworn in for a one-year term Thursday.

By reading, we get to know people outside of our own communities. We gain knowledge others dont expect us to have, Yang continued. We discover new and surprising passions. Reading is critical to our growth, both as individuals and as a society.

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Yang won the 2007 Printz Award for American Born Chinese and the L.A. Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature in 2014 for Boxers & Saints, a graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion.

In fall 2015, he launched the Secret Coders graphic novel series with Mike Holmes. The books, which will see their second installment this year, combines mystery and computer programming for middle-graders -- Yangs day job is teaching programming to high school students.

The National Ambassador For Young Peoples Literature program was launched in 2008 by the Library of Congress Center for the Book with the Childrens Book Council and the organization Every Child a Reader.

In his statement, Yang said: The Childrens Book Council, Every Child a Reader, and Library of Congress all empower people by getting them to read. Im honored to take up that mission myself and to carry on the amazing work of the ambassadors before me.

The current amabssador, Kate DiCamillo, will be at the Thursday ceremony in Washington. Her term followed Walter Dean Myers, Kathering Pateson and Jon Scieszka.

Book news and more; Im @paperhaus on Twitter
Well, Justin Bieber and Hailey Baldwin certainly appear to have enjoyed their vacation  and each other's company  in Anguilla.

The "Sorry" singer, 21, on Sunday posted a blurry photo of himself and the 19-year-old model kissing, his arm wrapped around her waist as they hang on to, well, something. No caption, no context, no nothing. Just kissing.

Some people are taking it as confirmation that the two are a couple, but there's really no way to know  they've been friends for years now, and kisses are hardly in short supply around the turn of the new year.

A photo posted by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) on Jan 3, 2016 at 4:12pm PST

"I've known him since I was so young  since I was like 13  and we've just been good friends over the years," Baldwin (who is actor Stephen Baldwin's daughter) told E! News a little more than a year ago, when secret-dating rumors were also buzzing. "We have just stayed close and there's nothing more to it than that."

At any rate, the two are definitely comfortable hanging around, and hanging on to, one another, as seen in a few other pictures from what was a family vacation. Make sure you go all the way down for the video of a tremendously romantic wet willy.

A photo posted by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) on Jan 3, 2016 at 4:12pm PST

New Years  A photo posted by Hailey Baldwin (@haileybaldwin) on Jan 1, 2016 at 3:08am PST

A photo posted by Hailey Baldwin (@haileybaldwin) on Dec 29, 2015 at 11:50am PST

She thought we were taking a photo A video posted by Justin Bieber (@justinbieber) on Dec 29, 2015 at 11:28am PST

Follow Christie D'Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs
If you love Filipino food, youve had more options lately in Los Angeles. Joining Rice Bar, the tiny seven-seat restaurant that opened downtown last summer, and Belly & Snout in Koreatown, comes Oi Asian Fusion.

Oi Asian Fusion is a fast-casual restaurant with the bulk of its menu made up of rice bowls. An adobo bowl piled with braised pork belly and the chicken longanisa bowl are two examples of Pinoy plates that distinguish Oi from just any rice bowl eatery. (Oi is an exclamation in Tagalog that means yo!)

For vegetarians, theres a Korean-style bibimbap bowl. If this seems very Chego-inspired, co-owner and chef Eric de la Cruz readily cites Roy Choi as a role model. However, even with all the pan-Asian flavors, de la Cruz, who is Filipino, gives the food of his heritage an emphatic nod.

Ois first location was a small spot in Reseda, which it quickly outgrew because of the sudden demand. The Reseda restaurant was closed and reopened in a larger Canoga Park shopping center. For the most part, Oi is a San Fernando Valley well-kept secret, with very little press coverage but a huge fan base.

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Now Oi has a Hollywood shop that has been open for almost three months in a strip mall on Hollywood Boulevard near Vermont Avenue. The area is surrounded by major hospitals, which has turned out to be great for business. Lots of nurses who are Filipino are customers, said De la Cruz.

The most Filipino item on Ois menu, according to De la Cruz, is tapsilog, a marinated beef dish served with fried garlic rice and fried egg. But, you know what? Its the most popular item with Caucasians, he says.

De la Cruz admits that many people are confused about the concept. We have no pictures. People walk by. They ask what we make. I educate them. Some are brave enough to try and are happy they did.

The new Hollywood Oi location is open Tuesday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; the Canoga Park restaurant is open daily with the same hours.

Oi Asian Fusion, 4734 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles, (213) 458-1945; 7242 Canoga Ave., Canoga Park, (818) 776-0282, oiasianfusion.com.

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Good morning. It is Monday, Jan. 4. These newborns will have a pretty cool story to tell for the rest of their lives. A San Diego girl was born at 11:59 p.m. on Dec. 31, 2015, and her twin brother was born two minutes later on Jan. 1, 2016. Here's what else is happening in the Golden State:

TOP STORIES

Open for business

Maybe Californias much-maligned business climate isnt so bad. A new study that looked at more than 30 years' worth of data found California created new businesses at one of the fastest rates in the nation. Those new companies also made it a leader in job creation. It means that being 'business friendly' is not the be-all and end-all of economic development, said Christopher Thornberg, founding partner of Beacon Economics, who helped prepare the study. Los Angeles Times

Leading LAUSD

As school board members prepare to select the next leader of the L.A. Unified School District, signs show theyre more likely to pick someone like Ramon C. Cortines than his predecessor, John Deasy. While Deasy was seen as aggressive, Cortines has been calm and productive, district officials say. Cortines appears to have been a steadying force; that is probably the biggest contribution, said attorney George Kieffer, a University of California regent and chair of Los Angeles Civic Alliance. Los Angeles Times

Gas leak

It will take months to repair the gas leak near Porter Ranch. The reason can be found deep in the Santa Susana Mountains. Few man-made structures could hold as much gas as this natural repository, which is one of the largest in the country, measuring nearly one cubic mile at a depth of a mile and a half. Los Angeles Times

DROUGHT AND CLIMATE

Rain on the way: The Los Angeles area could be in for a wet week. The strongest storm is expected to hit Tuesday, bringing with it 1 to 2 inches of rain in the foothills. Mountain areas could see as much as 2 feet of snow. The storms are among some of the first effects of El Nino, a series of weather conditions caused by warming of the equatorial waters of the Pacific, weakening rains in South Asia and bringing heavier rains to California. The storms peak in January, February and March. Los Angeles Times

Roadside hazards: Those abandoned mattresses, couches and other pieces of furniture that litter Los Angeles roadways may soon be real safety hazards. The items can block catch basins, which means rains from El Nino will have nowhere to go but city streets, cars and nearby homes. In preparation, sanitation crews have cleared out 40,000 basins. El Nino is going to expose the deteriorated state of the infrastructure, said Mike Eveloff, a board member with Fix the City. Los Angeles Times

L.A. AT LARGE

No help: In one Venice apartment building, tenants are regretting asking the city for help with short-term rentals on the property. Instead of simply putting an end to the practice of renting nightly to tourists, housing inspectors decided that some of the apartment units were illegal, prompting the eviction of longtime tenants. Now when people call me and ask, 'Should I report this to the city?' I hesitate. I have to wonder how much help they're going to get, said one attorney representing the residents. Los Angeles Times

Clean up on 101: Heres a list of all the things that spilled onto Southern Californias freeways in 2015. Curbed LA

SMC leader: A former president of Santa Monica College has died at age 82. Richard Moore oversaw the campus from 1974 to 1994. During that time, he grew enrollment and made Santa Monica College the No. 1 transfer school to the University of California. Los Angeles Times

End of the line: A photograph from 1956 shows the end of the Red Car line: trolleys stacked on top of one another at a junkyard on Terminal Island. Not all of the cars met that fate. Some were shipped to Buenos Aires for the budding rail lines there. Los Angeles Times

Planning ahead: The city of Los Angeles has community plans that act as road maps for development in specific neighborhoods. But most are decades out of date. Since the focus on updating the community plans right away hasnt produced new community plans, why not try another approach  and update the other citywide plans first? Zocalo Public Square

POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT

Back to work: California lawmakers will have plenty of meaty issues on their plates as they return to work. They include a $59-billion backlog in road repairs and a $1-billion funding gap in healthcare. Ive got a feeling that this being an election year, lawmakers wont want to ruffle any feathers because this electorate is so volatile, even in California, said Patrick Dorinson, a political blogger and former deputy secretary for Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Los Angeles Times

Lump sums: In the Sacramento area, 13 government employees closed out 2014 with a lump sum payment of more than $100,000, according to a news analysis. In most cases, that money represented sick time and vacation. The payments provide a big boost to an employees final-year salary and also increase their retirement benefits. Sacramento Bee

GOP in OC: The number of registered Republicans in Orange County is on the decline, but there remains an ultra-conservative core whose activism dates back decades. Being under attack, being a smaller piece of the pie breeds frustration, and they could feel even more strongly. As Republican registration chips away, its hard to say what will happen, said Peter Ditto, a UC Irvine social psychologist who studies political behavior. Orange County Register

CRIME AND COURTS

Memorial site: One month after the shooting rampage at the Inland Regional Center, mourners continue to pay their respects at Waterman Avenue and Orange Show Road. I see new things  flowers, candles and stuffed animals  every time I come that encourages my faith in this country, said a 90-year-old man who has visited the site four times. San Bernardino Sun

Murder-suicide: A 71-year-old man has been identified as the gunman in a murder-suicide at an Ontario cemetery. Karapet Karajan is accused of killing Misak Minasyan, 60, and Hripsime Minasyan, 59, before taking his own life. Karajan was at the cemetery the day before the fifth anniversary of his wifes death, according to police. Orange County Register

Crime run: Police are looking for a man believed to be responsible for a string of violent crimes across the Southland. Artyom Gasparyan, 32, is accused of robbery, carjacking and attempted murder in Los Angeles, Burbank, West Hollywood and Carson. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA CULTURE

Unwanted guests: An Oakland couple is not starting off the year on the right note. They thought they were renting out their apartment via Airbnb to an older man for New Years Eve, but it turned out it was an 18-year-old who invited hundreds of other teenagers over for a party. The couple is taking bids from contractors to fix damage to their floors, fence, walls and upholstery. SF Gate

Culture clash: Will Little Tokyo be able to keep its identity as downtown Los Angeles is built up around it? DTLA Rising

Not Free Willy: What does the future hold for SeaWorlds whales? Animal rights groups dont want them to perform for crowds in captivity, but the whales cant just be released into the wild. "They are not good candidates for release to the wild, either because they were born in captivity or because they have been in captivity for a very long time," said Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist for the Animal Welfare Institute. Los Angeles Times

CALIFORNIA ALMANAC

Riverside will be cloudy and rainy at 63 degrees. San Diego will start the day with rain and reach a high of 63 degrees. Los Angeles will be rainy and 61. In San Francisco, there will be clouds and rain with a high of 56 degrees.

AND FINALLY

This weeks birthdays for notable Californians:

Rep. Loretta Sanchez (Jan. 7, 1960), actor Nicolas Cage (Jan. 7, 1964) and Rep. Lois Capps (Jan. 10, 1938).

Please let us know what we can do to make this newsletter more useful to you. Send comments, complaints and ideas to Alice Walton or Shelby Grad.
Two types of nonnative mosquitoes that can transmit potentially fatal diseases have spread throughout California, and their populations could explode come spring.

The mosquitoes expansion of territory was largely attributed to abnormally warm weather in the summer and fall.

It was quicker and more widespread than any of us could have anticipated, said Chris Conlan, an ecologist with the San Diego County Vector Control Program.

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The yellow fever mosquito (Aedes aegypti) and Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) can carry diseases linked to birth defects, painful illness and tens of thousands of deaths around the world each year.

The mosquitoes can be identified by their black-and-white striped bodies and aggressive behavior toward people, often following them indoors. These pests are smaller than average mosquitoes and distinguish themselves as daytime feeders. Theyre tough to eradicate, needing as little as a thimble of water to reproduce.

After months of tracking the growing population of yellow fever mosquitoes, local vector-control officials found the Asian tiger mosquito in September. Both species of the insect were first found near San Diegos shipyards, although its unclear how they first came into the county.

In many cases, when the technicians go out ... to respond to complaints [about the mosquitoes], theyre even swatting them out of their face, Conlan said. In a couple of places, it has reached very troubling numbers  San Ysidro and some areas around Barrio Logan to Logan Heights. Its pretty widespread down there.

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So far, California has seen no locally acquired cases of disease spread by these mosquitoes, which include dengue fever, yellow fever and chikungunya. Disease spreads when infected travelers come to the state and are bitten by mosquitoes.

Last year, there were 99 cases of dengue and 178 cases of chikungunya reported in travelers returning to California. There were no reported cases of yellow fever.

West Nile virus remains a more immediate threat among mosquito-related illnesses, but that could change, said Marco Metzger, senior public health biologist in the vector-borne-disease section at the California Department of Public Health.

What were dealing with is an emerging concern, he said. If these [mosquitoes] become widely successful in California, we have the potential for disease transmission.

We dont have any mosquitoes that live so closely associated with humans. These mosquitoes are notorious in so many parts of the world because they live with us.

Public health officials are urging residents who see these invasive pests on their properties to take action before temperatures heat up. Mosquito season usually starts in March and peaks between August and November.

With a limited flight distance, the mosquitoes likely breed near where theyre spotted. The saucers of potted plants, plastic toys that fill with water and clogged rain gutters offer fertile breeding opportunities. The mosquitoes eggs can survive without water for months, requiring infested sites to be scrubbed down thoroughly.

For these guys, more so than ever, we really need the publics help in eliminating the standing water sources to make sure they dont become more of a problem, Conlan said.

First found in California in 2013, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus have roughly tripled in number around the state during the last several seasons. They have been found in 82 cities and communities, including Escondido, Los Angeles, Fresno and parts of the Bay Area.

But beyond being a growing public nuisance, its unclear how much of a threat these mosquitoes present. East Coast and Midwest cities have long tolerated the pests without serious incident.

Although Mexico and the Caribbean have suffered the effects of dengue and chikungunya for some time, less than a dozen people in the contiguous United States, all in Florida, have ever become sick from being bitten by a mosquito carrying either disease.

Yellow fever has been largely confined to tropical areas of South America and Africa. A vaccine for travelers has significantly limited transmission of the disease into Western countries.

Meanwhile, a virus linked to the mosquitoes known as Zika has spread throughout Brazil, causing thousands of cases of brain damage in babies born with abnormally small heads. But the United State has never had a recorded case of Zika.

Still, public health officials warn that its better to be vigilant about prevention.

The concern is that if and when these mosquitoes become well-established in the state and abundant in our neighborhoods, then the risk of transmission increases, Metzger said.

joshua.smith@sduniontribune.com

Joshua Emerson Smith writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.

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Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Michael Drivere doesnt expect to run around the park with his children. It would be enough to walk to the sink for water.

But his dream may come true now that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has agreed to pay for robotic legs for qualified patients.

The ReWalk exoskeleton device, invented by an Israeli quadriplegic, could be offered to San Diego veterans as early as this spring, officials said.

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It would give veterans paralyzed from the chest down the ability to stand, walk upright and  important in an immeasurable way  greet people eye-to-eye.

It couldnt come soon enough for Drivere, 37, a former Camp Pendleton Marine injured in a motorcycle crash in July 2014. His name is on a waiting list that began forming six months ago at the San Diego VA hospital, one of 25 spinal cord care units in the VA network.

The longer I wait, the longer I dont put my body weight on my extremities, said Drivere, who first saw the exoskeleton early last year at an expo. My bone density gets weaker, my circulation is slower.

At least 42,000 American military veterans suffer from a spinal cord injury or disease. Just a fraction of those  maybe a few hundred, said an official with the Paralyzed Veterans of America  will initially meet the criteria to be good candidates for the device.

San Diego County is already home to one.

Marine Capt. Derek Herrera was paralyzed by a snipers bullet in Afghanistan in 2012. But at his November 2014 Bronze Star ceremony at Camp Pendleton, the special operations team leader walked forward to accept his award.

Herrera, now medically retired at age 31, was an early user of the ReWalk exoskeleton.

The biggest thing thats a game-changer for me, it made me hopeful for the future. It changed my mind-set, said Herrera, who has launched his own company, Spinal Singularity, to develop medical devices for paraplegics.

The device hasnt replaced his wheelchair. Herrera uses his ReWalk for only a few hours a week to put his weight on his legs, which helps keep his bones healthy and assists digestion and other functions.

Emotionally, though, its important. I went from being a 6-foot-2 special operations officer in the Marine Corps, having a very physical identity, to being in a wheelchair where people dont even think of me as a physical being, Herrera said.

Being able to walk around, talk to people, look people in the eye, its pretty awesome. Its pretty powerful.

Donations paid the $70,000 tab for his ReWalk back in 2013. The Marsoc Foundation, a charity focused on the Marine special operations troops, led a fundraising campaign in Coronado.

The going price for a ReWalk device is $77,000  well beyond the means of the average disabled veteran, without assistance from the VA.

ReWalks chief executive says the VA will make its money back over two to three years per patient through reduced costs for medicine and hospital visits. Paralyzed veterans commonly require pain medication and treatment for pressure sores caused by sitting in wheelchairs day after day.

CEO Larry Jasinski said his company, based in Israel and Massachusetts, has distributed 200 of the exoskeleton devices worldwide, including 36 in the United States since the Food and Drug Administration approved the equipment for personal use in mid-2014.

The VAs decision opens the door to more users, and ReWalk hopes the devices will eventually help stroke victims and people with multiple sclerosis and other disorders.

Eventually you might see this on thousands of people, Jasinski said.

It wont help everyone in a wheelchair.

Sherman Gillums, deputy executive director of Paralyzed Veterans of America, said the best candidates are only five years into paralysis.

In terms of those injured in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, thats perhaps 200 to 400 veterans, said Gillums, who was a Camp Pendleton Marine when he was paralyzed during training in 2002.

Good candidates are also between 5 feet 2 and 6 feet 2 and weigh less than 220 pounds. Good upper-body strength and movement are also required, among other criteria.

jen.steele@sduniontribune.com

Steele writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
On his first day back as the head of the nations second-largest school system, Ramon C. Cortines paid an unlikely visit to the headquarters of United Teachers Los Angeles. The union had a tense relationship with former Supt. John Deasy, and was pushing toward a possible strike over stalled contract talks.

Cortines met union officials on their turf: He wanted to show that there would be no barriers between him and teachers.

With that step, Cortines set himself apart from his predecessor. It was one of many moves that Cortines made during his 14 months at the helm of the L.A. Unified School District that set the standard for the next superintendent.

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The Board of Education is now seeking a leader who will follow his model.

Cortines, 83, came out of retirement in October 2014 to steady the school system after Deasys tumultuous tenure. He undid some of Deasys most controversial policies, including canceling a $1.3-billion technology plan that originally had sought to provide every student with an iPad. He also spent millions to repair a malfunctioning online records system that created errors in transcripts and left many high school students stuck in auditoriums without classes or placed them in the wrong ones. And he won labor peace with a double-digit pay raise and by giving the union some say in teacher discipline practices.

Though some civic leaders still favor someone with Deasys aggressive agenda for change, district officials described Cortines leadership as both calming and productive, particularly on matters that affected students.

This has nothing to do with being aggressive, but with whether the next superintendent pursues an agenda unilaterally, said school board President Steve Zimmer. The next superintendent will need to collaborate with our community, our parents, our Board of Education and our labor partners.

None of the candidates is strongly associated with a particular ideological agenda for reshaping education. Some board members dont want that sort of leader; others simply realize that they wont get the full board to agree on a reform agenda to follow.

No finalists names have been released, but some candidates who have been under serious consideration include San Francisco Supt. Richard Carranza and Miami Supt. Alberto Carvalho. Both have worked well with their local school boards. St. Louis Supt. Kelvin Adams has worked collaboratively with unions and also a local charter school group.

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In L.A. Unified, Chief Deputy Supt. Michelle King worked directly for Cortines and has decades of experience within the district, replicating Cortines familiarity with the system. And Fremont Unified Supt. Jim Morris preceded King in a similar post under Cortines and other L.A. district leaders before he left.

King is serving as acting superintendent until a choice is made. The board will meet behind closed doors Tuesday to continue its deliberations.

Board members, some of whom had been marginalized under Deasy, are seeking a more inclusive leader. Cortines proved that path was effective, they said.

In addition, Cortines strategy was to focus on making progress school by school and on selecting and nurturing leaders who would act independently.

It was a style that differed sharply from that of Deasy, who sought sweeping changes to district policies and even education law, including an effort to limit teacher job protections through litigation. Deasy successfully cultivated a leading national position among like-minded reformers.

Reform is not rhetoric, Cortines said in a recent interview. And it is not passion. It is getting dirt under your fingernails. Let me tell you, this district has to be managed. It is a $12-billion business.

Among Cortines first acts was restoring a relationship with the teachers union. He succeeded in negotiating a new contract that called for a 10% raise over two years. The union had fought with Deasy over the size of the raise and other issues.

Reform is not rhetoric. And it is not passion. It is getting dirt under your fingernails.  former L.A. Unified Supt. Ramon C. Cortines

Cortines said he understood that teachers were frustrated, that morale was low, said union President Alex Caputo-Pearl. And he knew that anger and frustration was either going to come out in a strike or in an agreement that made substantial progress in areas that people were concerned about.

And the veteran administrator acknowledged that efforts to end suspensions  a Deasy centerpiece  had caused serious problems at some campuses, especially because schools lacked the resources needed to make the new approach effective.

It helped that those he worked with, inside and outside the system, believed that Cortines did not have a personal agenda. He balanced the budget, for example, by resisting proposals to increase spending for such programs as adult education, even while acknowledging their value. He settled a dispute over limited space at Westside campuses among those supporting charter schools, adult education and special academic programs.

Ray is a superior manager, said board member Monica Ratliff. Hes decisive. Hes transparent. Hes communicative. He treated every member of our community with respect. It was like a breath of fresh air.

But the board needs to look beyond searching for a duplicate of Cortines, some members said.

Board member Ref Rodriguez praised Cortines, but said that he may care too much about L.A. Unified as an institution.

I came to realize how devoted to the district he is, how much he believes in and is protective of it, Rodriguez said. But that is a double-edged sword. Personally, I feel we have to reimagine what our school systems look like.

Cortines had previously led L.A. Unified twice  for six months in 2000 and for 2 1/2 years starting in 2008, until Deasy took over in April 2011. He also headed school districts in Pasadena (twice), San Jose, San Francisco and New York. And he served as a senior official in the federal education department and as a Los Angeles deputy mayor.

Cortines never expected to have a third shot at running L.A. Unified. When he stepped aside in 2011, it was after relations had frayed with Deasy, who was his deputy and heir apparent. Influential leaders in the civic and philanthropic community, including then-Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, regarded Cortines as too traditional, unwilling to push as fast as they wanted for changes in the school system.

They couldnt wait for Deasy to take over, and Cortines got the message.

Then, in 2012, a year after his retirement, the school district disclosed a sexual harassment allegation against Cortines from 2010. L.A. Unified agreed to a $275,000 settlement with the districts real estate manager, Scot Graham, but the pact later fell apart. A judge dismissed Grahams subsequent lawsuit, saying he had not filed it in time. Cortines acknowledged a one-time sexual liaison but said the encounter was consensual.

Some observers say the time is right for Cortines departure. They say the district has fallen into a holding pattern in such crucial areas as instruction. Cortines only recently hired a deputy superintendent to oversee academics, and his plan to give schools more control over budgets and teaching methods may or may not find favor with the next leader.

Cortines appears to have been a steadying force, that is probably the biggest contribution, said attorney George Kieffer, a University of California regent and chairman of the Los Angeles Civic Alliance, which had supported Deasy. But when you are a leader who has a set term, where youre going to be leaving, there are going to be all sorts of limitations on what you can do, whether its reforming or setting an agenda for the long term.

Board members said they have no regrets over bringing back Cortines, calling him an experienced, selfless  and surprisingly tireless  unifying force.

Now they are looking ahead.

I think Ray laid the groundwork, said board member Richard Vladovic. Theres a lot of work to be done and a lot of uncertainty  but I would like to see someone come in who is collaborative, transparent and willing to listen to others without losing a sense of direction.

howard.blume@latimes.com

Twitter: @howardblume

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Nearly three years ago, the Legislature placed an advisory measure on the ballot asking voters to weigh in on the Supreme Courts ruling in the Citizens United case, which struck down certain campaign spending limits.

A conservative group sued and succeeded in getting the measure yanked from the ballot.

On Monday, the same court that took the measure off the ballot decided 6 to 1 that it could go back on.

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The decision by the California Supreme Court, handed down in 143 pages with separate opinions from four justices, said the Legislature may place advisory measures on the ballot as long as there is a nexus between the proposition and actions the Legislature might take in the future.

Though the holding was narrow and aimed squarely at the Citizens United proposition, election experts said they expect the Legislature to authorize more such measures in efforts to manipulate voter turnout.

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The reason this is going on the ballot is not because the Legislature needs advice, but as a way of getting Democrats and others excited, said UC Irvine law professor Richard L. Hasen, an expert on election law. Citizens United was a polarizing opinion, and it is very unpopular.

Democrats have used minimum-wage measures to attract Democratic voters, and Republicans have used same-sex marriage bans to lure Republicans to the polls, Hasen said. More than a dozen other states permit their legislators to put advisory measures on statewide ballots.

Trying to manipulate the ballot for politics is not new, Hasen said. This just gives the Legislature one more tool to do that.

Dan Schnur, who directs the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, called the Citizens United measure a fairly transparent way of attempting to boost Democratic turnout in November.

Once you have been given the green light to put an initiative on the ballot for only symbolic value, it is going to become very addictive, Schnur said. There is no disincentive to do this year in and year out.

The California Supreme Court seems to have decided that using ballot initiatives as a voter turnout mechanism is perfectly legal, he said.

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The proposition authorized by the Legislature asks voters whether there should be a federal constitutional amendment to overturn the ruling in Citizens United vs. Federal Election Commission, which permitted unlimited corporate and union spending for federal candidates.

Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar, writing for the court majority, said the referendum was related to legislative duties because state legislatures have a role in passing federal constitutional amendments.

Legislators may solicit and consider the views of the people on fundamental matters pertaining to federal constitutional amendments, Werdegar wrote.

Chief Justice Tani Cantil-Sakauye, who cast the sole vote in 2014 to allow the measure to remain on the ballot, said she joined the opinion because it did not broadly restrict the Legislatures powers.

Nothing in todays decision should be viewed as calling into question the validity of all types of statewide and local advisory ballot measures, even those completely unrelated to any proposed amendment to the federal Constitution, the chief justice wrote.

Justice Carol A. Corrigan agreed. Advisory measures that are reasonably related to any proper use of legislative power are permissible, she wrote.

Justice Ming W. Chin dissented, saying the measure should stay off the ballot.

The Legislature should not be permitted to hijack the ballot to serve its own agenda, Chin wrote.

Justice Goodwin Liu did not sign the majority decision. In a concurring opinion, he said he agreed that the Citizens United measure was appropriate for the ballot but argued that most such measures should be barred.

A legislative majority opposed to an initiative could swell the ballot with advisory measures on the same subject, Liu wrote. Such an approach would be much easier than qualifying a competing initiative but no less effective in confusing and exhausting the electorate.

Thomas W. Hiltachk, who represented the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn., which challenged the ballot measure, said the Legislature will have to pass another law to get it on Novembers ballot.

If the Legislature views the ruling as an invitation to authorize all sorts of advisory measures, the problems we are concerned about will arise again and we will take them on again, Hiltachk said.

Lawyers for the Legislature have been asked to determine whether the secretary of state has the authority to put the measure on the November ballot or whether a new bill must be introduced.

I certainly expect it to be on the ballot one way or another, said Derek Cressman, who was the campaign manager for the proposition before it was removed from the ballot.

U.S. Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Torrance), who sponsored the measure when he was in the California Legislature, said he absolutely believes the measure will go before voters in November, even if it requires another bill.

I dont see any reason for it not to pass again, he said.

Twitter: @mauradolan

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The Inland Regional Center complex in San Bernardino, the site of a terror attack last month that left 14 dead, reopened on Monday, just hours before a memorial for the shooting victims was expected to begin.

As you can imagine, it has been a very difficult time for us and were very glad to be back at our IRC home, facility executive director Lavinia Johnson told a cluster of reporters outside the center Monday morning.

On Dec. 2, the IRC hosted a training session and holiday party for San Bernardino Countys Department of Public Health in one of its buildings when Syed Rizwan Farook, 28, an inspector with the department, and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, 29, began their shooting rampage. The pair were killed in a police shootout hours later.

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Since the attack, the campus has remained closed.

The property was surrounded by fencing with security guards checking employee badges at each entrance Monday morning  a stark difference from the openness the campus enjoyed prior to the shooting. The building where the attack occurred remains closed and county officials have not determined what theyll do with it or if it will ever be reopened, Johnson said.

A security guard checks employee ID badges as they enter the Inland Regional Center complex in San Bernardino as it opens for the first time since a mass shooting there last month that left 14 people dead. (Barbara Davidson / Los Angeles Times)

The regional centers 600 employees coordinate services for more than 30,000 clients with developmental disabilities in San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

No patients will be visiting the center this week, Johnson said. Counselors were at the facility to speak with workers, she said.

We can talk through it and were here to support each other. Were a team, Johnson said.

Donaciano Meza, a program manager, said he and many others would be thinking of the victims of the shooting on their return, including Larry Daniel Kaufman, 42, who ran the coffee shop at IRC and was killed in the shooting.

Kaufman prepared coffee for IRC workers and trained some of its clients to be baristas, Meza said.

All of our staff knew him, he said. He was a very important part of our daily rituals...we will all miss him.

Kevin Urtz, the IRCs associate executive director, said hes been back at the center for about a week and was glad to see the others return.

Im happy were trying to get a little bit back to normal, he said.

Leeza Hoyt, a spokeswoman for the regional center, said it distributed 350 iPads to employees in the days after the shooting, allowing them to access patient records and stay in touch with service providers to coordinate care remotely.

But Hoyt said being back together under the same roof will help employees do their work more effectively.

They work in teams, and as you can imagine, theyre all looking forward to getting back together with their team, she said. Theres a camaraderie that happens; theres a brainstorming function that happens.

As for the clients, she said, I think knowing the building is again operating and open will give them a sense of comfort.

Later in the afternoon on the other side of the county, state leaders were expected to gather in Ontario for a memorial to the San Bernardino terrorist attack victims. Gov. Jerry Brown and state Atty. Gen. Kamala Harris were among those slated to attend.

For breaking California news, follow @JosephSerna.

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State senators jumped into Californias homelessness crisis Monday, proposing $2 billion to build or rehabilitate permanent housing for mentally ill people living in the streets.

Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon, speaking with a bipartisan group of elected leaders, also called for $200 million over four years for temporary rent subsidies to bridge the gap until the new housing is completed. Officials estimated the construction funds, combined with federal and local money, could generate 10,000 to 14,000 units for Californias 116,000 homeless people, more than 60% of whom live outdoors.

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The funding proposal is the most sweeping from the state in a generation, officials said, and reflects elected leaders growing frustration with local politicians, particularly in Los Angeles, who have failed to gain traction in the drive to help the states most destitute residents.

Former Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento), who joined De Leon at the news conference, said he is absolutely frustrated with the inadequate response to homelessness by local governments, but he hopes an infusion of state funding will begin to address the problem.

The problem is getting worse everywhere, he said in Sacramento on Monday. At the same time we know what works.

Los Angeles city and county have the most chronically homeless people in the nation, and homelessness overall grew 12% from 2013 to 2015. Many advocates expect another jump in numbers this month, when homeless people again are counted, despite unprecedented spending by local and federal officials last year.

L.A. has the unfortunate distinction of being the countrys homeless capital, De Leon said at a morning news conference at a skid row homeless housing project. Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis, state Sen. Holly Mitchell (D-Los Angeles), Assemblyman Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) and Sen. Bob Huff (R-San Dimas) also spoke in support of the proposal.

Here we are in skid row Los Angeles, not up in Sacramento, doing everything to make a serious effort to help those who need it the most, De Leon said.

The senators proposal calls for the state to issue $2 billion in bonds, which would be repaid over 20 to 30 years with money provided under Proposition 63, the millionaires tax for mental health services that voters approved in 2004. The $200 million would come from the states general fund.

While some Proposition 63 money has gone to mentally ill homeless people and housing, it is nothing on the scale proposed Monday, said Gary Blasi, a retired UCLA law professor and homelessness expert, now with Public Counsels Opportunity Under Law nonprofit law center.

The senators plan will be negotiated with the Assembly and Gov. Jerry Brown over the spring, toward a final budget in June, officials said.

Los Angeles County and city have pledged $100 million each to combat homelessness and plan to unveil separate strategies this week. The county has already allocated $101 million to the effort, while the city has set aside $12.4 million for emergency relief before the expected El Nino winter storms.

Downtown leaders and homeless advocates applauded the senators initiative.

Its amazing, said Blair Besten, executive director of the downtown Historic Core Business Improvement District.

Mayor Eric Garcetti endorsed more state funding, while Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich criticized the initiative for taking funding decisions out of local leaders hands.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

Solving our homelessness crisis requires an all-hands-on-deck approach, and financial support from the state is essential to getting people off the street and into homes, Garcetti said in a statement.

Any directives by the state could undermine this expansion effort and delay progress being made in their own unique communities, Antonovich said in a statement. Some of the $400 million in Proposition 63 money the county received this year goes to housing, but it also funds a range of mental health services, including crisis intervention and transition programs for people coming out of locked psychiatric facilities.

Both Brown and Assembly Democrats said they welcomed De Leons focus on homelessness but stopped short of embracing the plan.

The administration is supportive of efforts to empower local governments to tackle homelessness, poverty, and mental health issues in our communities and we will take a close look at the proposals in this package, Brown deputy press spokeswoman Deborah Hoffman said in a statement.

Assembly Speaker Toni Atkins (D-San Diego), who has pushed for more affordable housing, said she was looking forward to seeing the details.

The proposal advanced by the Senate helps both houses  and both parties  start the year on the same page in making homelessness a top priority, Atkins said in a statement.

The new units would operate on a housing first model, taking in homeless people with mental illness and drug and alcohol problems even if they refuse psychiatric or substance abuse treatment, officials said.

The city and county of Los Angeles have been moving toward the model, which is endorsed by most experts and the federal government, but some funding still goes to housing with sobriety or treatment requirements, advocates said.

The evidence is overwhelming that people with serious mental health problems cannot successfully deal with those problems while living on the streets, Blasi said.

The senators also proposed additional financial support for families on welfare facing or in danger of homelessness, and an increase in the states supplemental security income payments to 1.3 million elderly, blind and disabled poor people who cannot work. The additional programs would cost $100 million or more, an official said.

Theresa Winkler said at the news conference that she lived on the streets most of her life, turning to prostitution and using drugs before finding sobriety and a place to live with one of skid rows nonprofit housing providers.

Its not fun for people, particularly women, to lie in the dirt, she said. By having housing, my life has been given a purpose.



Twitter: @geholland

Times staff writers Abby Sewell in Los Angeles and Melanie Mason and Phil Willon in Sacramento contributed to this report.



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Larry Gordon, who helped revolutionized surfing with the creation of foam boards, has died, his daughter said.

He was in his 70s.

Debbie Gordon, who manages Gordon & Smith Surfboards & Skateboards, announced her fathers death New Years Day on Facebook, and it quickly spread to the surfing community.

Gordon was 19 and studying chemistry at San Diego State University when he started experimenting with foam materials at his fathers factory, Gordon Plastics. He then started shaping boards in his friend Floyd Smiths garage.

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It was hard to come by surfboards, and the ones out there were mostly made out of balsa wood and were heavy and hard to maneuver, Gordon told the San Diego Union-Tribune in 2007. So we made a mold and blew foam to build our own boards.

Gordon and Smith started the company G&S in the late 1950s.

Their polyurethane foam boards, lighter and easier to ride, made surfing more accessible, helping to drive its popularity across the globe and making unwieldy balsa boards obsolete.

In 1959, the pair had to move to a bigger shop in Pacific Beach as their product attracted an international following. The company continued to grow over the next few decades, adding skateboards, short boards and surf wear.

On the surfing blog Kelpfire, author Ken Lewis said G&S was a huge brand in surfing.

Larrys real legacy is not just as a savvy business owner, he wrote in reaction to Gordons death, but that of a surfer who followed his heart and was the father to his great family.

In a 2014 interview, Gordon said: Its a great culture to be a part of, and I am thankful that I was able to play a part in the development of the sport and the modern foam surfboard.

Molnar writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
When state lawmakers return Monday for the start of the new legislative year, their plate will be full of leftovers from 2015, including bills to snuff out smoking, raise the minimum wage and expand the states policies on paid family leave.

And the 2016 agenda will get even more crowded with the raft of new bills lawmakers will introduce as they return from a nearly three-month recess, including a focus on tightening Californias already tough gun laws in the wake of last months deadly terrorist attack in San Bernardino.

But the typical chaos of the Capitol may be intensified this year, the last of the two-year session, with turnover among three of the four top leadership positions and increasing overlap between ballot measures and legislative action.

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And looming large are the November elections, in which every Assembly seat and half the Senate seats will be up for grabs, which could make it more difficult to push through controversial proposals.

Ive got a feeling that this being an election year, lawmakers wont want to ruffle any feathers because this electorate is so volatile, even in California, said Patrick Dorinson, a political blogger and former deputy secretary for Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

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That may especially be the case when it comes to tax increases, which require a two-thirds vote in each house. Last year, Gov. Jerry Brown called for special attention to the states transportation and healthcare needs, but his administration was unable to secure the bipartisan support necessary to approve new taxes to fund those programs.

With those questions remaining unresolved, healthcare and infrastructure will probably be key issues in Browns new budget proposal, which he will release in the coming days.

The bills that were delayed last year often deal with the thorniest political issues, such as Assemblywoman Shirley Webers effort to craft state guidelines on police use of body cameras. The San Diego Democrat introduced her bill after a string of high-profile police shootings, but the proposal sputtered under stiff opposition from law enforcement groups.

I thought that with all the stuff that happened, it would at least make it easier to have the conversation at the Capitol, Weber said. But she said the debate was just shut down.

She plans to revisit body cameras this year, although continued resistance from some police groups may make it an uphill battle.

Assemblyman David Chiu (D-San Francisco) also plans to return to a bill to require more transparency about how prescription drugs are priced. The measure promises to spark a clash between two deep-pocketed interest groups: health insurers, which back the proposal, and pharmaceutical companies, which oppose it.

That standoff will probably be affected by a separate but similar battle that is brewing as a ballot measure. An initiative by the Los Angeles-based AIDS Healthcare Foundation, which recently qualified for the November ballot, would bar the state from paying more for prescription drugs than the cost negotiated by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. Drug companies are expected to spend heavily in opposition.

Solving the problem of exploding drug prices needs more than one approach, Chiu said in a statement. The ballot measure brings more attention to the crisis and bolsters the need for transparency around costs.

The November ballot could potentially be full of other initiatives that mirror bills making their way through the Legislature, including ballot measures raising the minimum wage, expanding gun control, regulating electronic cigarettes and raising tobacco taxes.

Those ballot measures may make it harder to win legislative approval of similar bills, said Larry Gerston, a political scientist at San Jose State University.

For many if not most legislators the thinking will be Why should I put my neck on the line when I can defer to the will of the electorate? Gerston said.

Sen. Mark Leno (D-San Francisco), who has a reputation for tackling particularly difficult issues, is unfazed by the challenges of the new legislative year. He has three high-profile measures left over from 2015, including one to restrict the use of electronic cigarettes.

The anti-vaping bill is one of five measures proposed last year to address tobacco use, including proposals to increase the tobacco tax by $2 a pack, raise the smoking age from 18 to 21 and expand the number of public places where smoking would be prohibited.

It is virtually unregulated, Leno said of the electronic cigarette industry. This is a multibillion-dollar industry that is doubling every other year, and the fastest-growing market segment is middle and high school students who have never smoked a cigarette before.

The tobacco industry plans to fight the new measure, as do e-cigarette enthusiasts. Because vaping devices uses vapor instead of combustible tobacco, they are safer than regular cigarettes and are often used by smokers to kick the habit, according to Erick Beall of the Smoke-Free Alternatives Trade Assn.

Leno and medical groups including the American Lung Assn. of California dispute that electronic cigarettes are a safe alternative to smoking and say one can lead to the other.

Leno is also the sponsor of a bill that would raise the state minimum wage to $13 per hour in 2017.

Weve always believed that it should not be legal to pay a sub-poverty wage in California, Leno said. We have the highest rate of poverty in the country.

He expects continued strong opposition from the business community, which has so far been able to get enough Republicans and moderate Democrats to withhold their support.

Leno said the unemployment rate has gone down in California from the time the minimum wage was raised from $8 to $9 18 months ago until last week, when it went to $10 per hour.

News events can often dictate legislators focus. The San Bernardino attack, in which 14 were killed and 22 wounded, has brought gun control back to the forefront. Senate President Pro Tem Kevin de Leon (D-Los Angeles) recently said he would submit a package of gun control bills to his colleagues.

They are expected to include a requirement that buyers of ammunition be screened to determine whether they are disqualified from possessing guns because of criminal records or serious mental illness.

Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale) is separately proposing to ban the sale of weapons to people on the federal governments no fly list, an idea thats also been debated in Congress.

Efforts are also expected to address the changing nature of the workplace. Of particular interest may be the rising number of those who work in part-time jobs  the so-called gig economy. Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego) has said she intends to introduce legislation to allow those workers to use their collective power for new on-the-job protections and benefits.

Others, meanwhile, plan to address workplace issues that tie back to presidential politics. Though California is expected to be all but forgotten on the campaign for the White House, the 2016 race may seep into Sacramento with liberal policies to aid working families, such as paid family leave.

Assemblyman Jimmy Gomez (D-Los Angeles) said he hopes to capitalize on that campaign rhetoric to boost a bill he introduced last year to expand the states paid family leave law.

When theres a national conversation about this issue, its a big deal, said Gomez, who has been in negotiations with Browns administration about the measure.

Knowing that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders would be focusing on paid family leave, I knew I could afford to wait a few months to work with the governor and hopefully get a signature, he said. I believed the political environment would be more ripe.

patrick.mcgreevy@latimes.com

Twitter: @mcgreevy99

melanie.mason@latimes.com

Twitter: @melmason

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Whatever the changes sweeping his north Denver neighborhood, Manuel Ramos can at least count on the huevos con chorizo at Taqueria Patzcuaro. Wearing a black leather jacket that makes his swept-back hair seem stark white, he grabs a table and orders a plate of the familiar.

Men in sombreros and a mustachioed Emiliano Zapata stare out from black-and-white posters on the walls, a reminder that much of Colorado was, after all, Mexican territory well into the 19th century.

Ramos can trace his own roots to Mexicos Zacatecas state, where his father was born before the family moved to the U.S. in search of work and wound up in the mining country of Colorado.

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Ramos, born in 1948 in the southern Colorado town of Florence, thought of himself as a revolutionary. One of his first protests was a sit-in at his Colorado Springs high school. He still has the yearbook with the photo.

I dont quite remember the issue, Ramos says. I think they were trying to discipline a student over long hair or something stupid. So we sat in the hall. And there I was.

He studied political science at Colorado State University and enmeshed himself in campus campaigns against the Vietnam War and in favor of more places for minority staff and students on campus. He went to law school at the University of Colorado because he saw law as a way to continue his activism.

For a time, when he decided he was fed up with the law and needed a break, he found a job in a motorcycle parts factory and tried, unsuccessfully, to unionize his fellow workers.

He wrote a short story about the factory. Then some more stories, which he published. Novels and literary prizes followed.

The neighborhood is a recurring character.

Next door to Taqueria Patzcuaro, a Realtors available signs are propped in the windows of Denver Music as the owners packed up their remaining inventory of Spanish-language movies and CDs. A few doors down is a frozen yogurt parlor and across the street a gourmet burger restaurant.

Gentrification can make it difficult to get his bearings. He and his wife sometimes find themselves driving down streets trying to remember what used to be at this corner or behind that storefront.

Its hard to reconcile the changes, Ramos says between bites of his eggs. You wonder where the people are going.

In his 2013 novel Desperado, Ramos imagines the future of a north Denver taqueria. The main character, Gus Corral, discovers it has been redecorated like the bars and restaurants in the trendy parts of town, its walls covered with stock photographs celebrating the romantic Old West:

No photographs of Mexicans, Corral muses. Guess we werent around when the photographer set up his equipment. We were probably picking crops for shipping on the next train, or lugging silver from  mines.

Ramos puts Latinos back in the picture. He is known as a crime writer, but that doesnt quite capture what he does. His books are love stories, political dramas, mordant cautionary tales. Characters who are Latino, black and white, artists, professionals and laborers, are described in staccato chapters, like a catchy corrido.

Its hard to find anything about Latinos in fiction about Denver, Ramos says. Im doing something thats not done.

This year the Denver Public Library opened a branch named for activist and poet Rodolfo Corky Gonzales despite objections from some who view him as a violent radical. Outside the state, Gonzalez is perhaps best known for his poem I Am Joaquin, in which he summed up the complicated history of the complex people called Latinos or Chicanos or Hispanics, and declared, I am still here!

Despite official commemorations, Ramos worries that todays activists fighting poverty, police brutality, and political and educational ills dont always see that they are part of a long tradition, or that they may miss how much progress has been made.

I have to be careful and not sound as though things havent changed, that things have not gotten better, that were all poor and oppressed, Ramos says. The impact that the Chicano movement had on this city is tremendous. But its hard to find the history.

Ramos, who recently retired from a top job at the state legal aid program, says he wants to write a novel set during the Great Depression when the Colorado governor declared martial law and sent the National Guard to the New Mexico border to keep out poor non-Coloradans  for the most part Latinos, whom many whites viewed as competition for scarce jobs.

He says one of the characters would resemble his father, a man who knew the meaning of hard work and tried to teach it to his young son, who spent the summers with him on construction sites.

He worked the hell out of me, Ramos says with pride.

After lunch, he walks home along 32nd Avenue, where Corral in the book runs a secondhand shop. In one scene, Corral is on his way to work when he gets caught in a sudden storm that mirrors his inner turmoil.

Corral finds shelter.

Thats Gus, Ramos says. Hes going to survive. But I dont know that hes going to stay in this neighborhood.
President Obama will announce Tuesday that hell act on his own authority to expand background checks for would-be gun buyers and increase enforcement of existing laws, a culmination of his effort to curb gun violence that nonetheless falls short of sweeping change he had long sought.

Though Obama is going around Congress yet again to act on a policy priority, as he did on immigration and climate, he is limited in what he can legally do without proposing legislative change. His executive actions neither close the so-called gun-show loophole nor require universal background checks, two possibilities he had directed aides to explore amid a spate of mass shootings in the fall.

Obama plans to clarify federal law that allows for private gun sales without background checks on buyers, senior advisors said. Anyone who makes a living from selling guns online or at gun shows, two places where sellers are considered collectors or hobbyists making private sales, will no longer be freed from the requirement to conduct such checks.

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Under a new reading of federal rules, a person can be considered a dealer engaged in the business of dealing in firearms even if they make only a few sales.

We have to be very clear that this is not going to solve every violent crime in this country. Its not going to prevent every mass shooting, Obama acknowledged to reporters in the Oval Office on Monday.

But, he said, it will potentially save lives and spare families the pain and extraordinary loss.

Most of Obamas new initiative will be implemented through the presidents executive authority to direct changes in his agencies. The new guidelines governing private sales, for example, are a clarification of existing practices at the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as the White House sees it.

Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch told reporters that her agency will put sellers on notice of the clarification and warn them that the real definition of private sales is narrow.

The new guidance is consistent with existing law because it clarifies its original intent, said Lynch and White House officials. The hobbyist exemption in federal law was never meant to cover people regularly devoting significant time and effort to selling firearms just because they were doing so at a gun show, she said.

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Sellers will no longer be able to claim collector status by saying, I only have a booth at a flea market, Lynch said. Thats not the standard.

Curbing gun violence has long been a priority for Obama. He has called the day of the Newtown, Conn., school massacre in 2012 the worst of his presidency, and after the October mass shooting at a community college in Roseburg, Ore., that killed 10, he lamented that somehow this has become routine.

After the Roseburg shooting, he ordered his administration to again search for ways to limit the flow of guns into the hands of mass killers, and this weeks actions appear to be the fruit of that assignment.

Obama said he believes his new initiatives are supported by the overwhelming majority of the American people, including gun owners.

Obamas anticipated rules or regulation change inspired a furious response even before its announcement. Several Republican presidential candidates decried his plans. On Sunday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called Obama a petulant child whos acting as if hes a king, as if hes a dictator.

And House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) said Monday that the president is at a minimum subverting the legislative branch and potentially overturning its will by acting unilaterally.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

The Senate in 2013 rejected Obamas legislative proposals to overhaul gun laws, including provisions designed to run background checks on potential buyers in every gun sale.

No president should be able to reverse legislative failure by executive fiat, not even incrementally, Ryan said. This is a dangerous level of executive overreach, and the country will not stand for it.

Obama began detailing his plans in a meeting with Democratic lawmakers Monday.

Were really happy that the president is really thoughtfully taking some action, Rep. Scott Peters (D-San Diego) said after the meeting.

At the same time, I think everyone is realistic that really dealing with the issue, including on background checks, is going to take congressional action.

After Obamas address Tuesday comes the administrations push to explain its rules clarification to gun sellers and others.

During a six-month education campaign, Justice Department officials will visit flea markets and gun shows and contact sellers via the Internet, letting them know of criminal penalties for failing to register. Dodging the licensure rule can carry five years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

The ATF will assess each case individually, said Valerie Jarrett, a senior Obama advisor involved in drafting the policy. She said agents will consider such qualifications as whether sellers represent themselves as dealers by taking credit card payments, handing out business cards, selling firearms quickly after acquiring them or selling them in the original packaging.

Lynch said it is impossible to predict how many additional dealers might have to register because of a major shift in the industry from selling guns in stores to selling them online.

Lynch also sent a letter to state officials emphasizing the importance of getting complete criminal history records to bolster the database for background checks.

And the FBI is overhauling the background check system to make it more effective and efficient, with a new standard of trying to do background checks 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Under its rule-making authority, the administration is also finalizing a requirement of background checks for anyone trying to buy certain firearms through a trust or corporation.

The ATF is also finalizing a rule requiring dealers who ship firearms to notify law enforcement officials if their guns get lost or are stolen while in transit to a buyer.

For news about President Obama, follow me on Twitter: @cparsons

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More than a hundred immigrants, mostly Central American families, were detained in a handful of states through the weekend in a federal effort to deport those who recently entered the country and stayed illegally, according to officials and advocates.

As part of the operation, 121 people were taken into custody -- primarily in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas -- and are being processed for deportation, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement Monday.

Advocates said immigrants were also detained in Maryland, New York and the Midwest, but immigration officials said those may be unrelated or not immigration-enforcement actions. Areas targeted for the sweeps appear to be among those with the highest number of immigrants who have been ordered deported, advocates said.

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This should come as no surprise, Johnson said of the roundup. I have said publicly for months that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed.

In the past, federal officials have targeted adults in workplace raids. But this time, authorities focused on families with children at home, Johnson said. Specifically, officials went after those caught crossing the southern border illegally after May 2014 who had been issued final orders of removal, or deportation, by an immigration court and have no outstanding appeals.

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Johnson said that extra precautions were taken, given the sensitive nature of taking into custody and removing families with children, including deploying female agents and medical personnel.

Those detained were taken to federal immigrant family detention centers, including a large center about 70 miles south of San Antonio.

It was not clear when the sweep would end.

At my direction, additional enforcement operations such as these will continue to occur as appropriate, Johnson said.

Although federal officials have showed up at some businesses  including strip malls on Long Island, New York - advocates said mostly they have sought immigrants at home.

Orders of removal give Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and agents authority to detain immigrants but not to enter their homes without permission. ICE officers and agents often arrive without warrants because immigration judges issue final orders of removal, not warrants in most cases.

Immigrants have the right to deny ICE officials entry, and if they say no, the federal officials are expected to honor that.

The raids have stirred fear among immigrants nationwide, who have been contacting advocates for advice on what to do if ICE agents come knocking.

This weekend, Guatemalan and Salvadoran government officials began posting warnings online for immigrants in the U.S. targeted in the sweeps advising them not to open their doors, to seek legal help and avoid signing documents.

Do not open the door to strangers who say they are looking for someone else, the Guatemalan Foreign Ministry recommended in a statement posted online in Spanish, Immigration agents have to show an order signed by a judge to enter your house. If they dont have it, you are not required to open the door. You have rights that have to be respected.

Bryan Johnson, a New York-based immigration lawyer, was among those fielding calls - about 140 Monday - from clients worried they might be rounded up.

To be on the safe side, just dont answer the door, he tells them. The problem is if you open the door, then its he said, she said. But if you never open the door, theres proof  they have to break it down.

Many immigrants are unaware that they can turn officials away, he and other advocates said.

ICE is going into peoples homes really early and so families feel intimidated and they open the door. They should not open the door unless ICE shares a warrant with a specific name for the person they are looking for, said Cristina Jimenez, managing director of the New York-based group United We Dream, which created a hotline related to the raids.

They have received calls about those detained on Long Island and in Austin and Houston, Texas.

Folks should be asking for the immigration agents to show them this paper, to pass it under the door, Jimenez said of warrants. Weve also advised people to remain silent because you have the right, Jimenez said. He suggested immigrants keep phone numbers for attorneys, relatives and friends handy.

Once immigrants open the door, federal officials are free to question and detain not only those they came for, but others who happen to be home, Jimenez said.

They go after everybody. And some of these people are mixed-status families: some are citizens, legal residents, some have status pending, she said.

Among those ICE attempted to detain this weekend was a Central American mother who was ordered deported but has an appeal pending, according to Mohammad Abdollahi, a spokesman for the San Antonio-based legal advocacy group that she has been working with.

The woman had been staying with her sister in New Jersey, and was out when ICE agents showed up Saturday, Abdollahi said. Her sister refused to open the door and the agents left, he said.

Another immigrant woman in San Antonio opened the door to ICE agents who were looking for someone else this weekend, and ended up getting fingerprinted even though she is in the country legally, Abdollahi said.

Any time there is an authority figure, people do what they tell them to do, he said, Theyre going after anyone they can find.

Follow me for the latest in national news @mollyhf

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Bill Clinton returns to New Hampshire, where hes among so many old friends

(Jim Cole / Associated Press)

Dont call it a comeback: Hes been here for years.

Bill Clinton, who famously dubbed himself the comeback kid after a strong second-place finish in the 1992 New Hampshire primary, couldnt help but be in a nostalgic mood as he returned here Monday to campaign for his wife. (As are we, with the quarter-century-old LL Cool J reference.)

In his familiar soft Southern accent, Clinton started off with an expert retail politicking move: noting so many of my old friends were in the audience, including Nashuas new mayor, who just won the job back after serving until 1992. Clinton called it a good omen, referring to his own ascendance to the White House that year.

Clinton, 69, conceded that as he has watched the 2016 election play out -- especially the Republican race -- he feels like I dont fit anymore.

So he played the role of the elder statesman that he is. In a sober, yet concise, 30-minute speech to more than 700 supporters, the former president laid out what he saw as the critical questions of the election.

How do you have inclusive prosperity, inclusive social policy, more inclusive politics, and stop us from going in reverse at the very moment when were poised to grow together? he asked.

He detailed his wifes record in elected and appointed office but just as importantly, he said, what she did before she was elected to anything - citing programs she launched and bipartisan policy she pursued as Arkansas and the nations first lady.

Everything she touched, she made better, he argued. She was just a change maker.

He made little mention of his wifes potential Republican opponents and none of the Democrats she must first defeat to win the nomination. But there were occasional allusions to the policies of Republicans like Donald Trump as he urged voters not to discount the heated rhetoric of the opposition.

Its kind of scary this year, but believe it or not, most everybody actually tries to do what they say theyre gonna do when theyre running, he said. They are telling you what they believe. And so youve got to take them seriously.
As the year ended, the campaign against the militant group Islamic State recorded some significant victories on the battlefield. Iraqi forces trained by the United States and supported by U.S.-led airstrikes regained control of the city of Ramadi and coalition attacks killed several Islamic State operatives, including two men linked to the gunmen who killed 130 people in Paris in November. In an interview with NPR, President Obama said that the militants self-declared caliphate had lost about 40% of the populated territory it had controlled in the region.

But no one should be under any illusion that Obamas campaign to degrade and ultimately destroy Islamic State is on the verge of achieving the more ambitious of those objectives. Obama has acknowledged that progress probably will be gradual, even with an increase in U.S. and allied airstrikes and the deployment of U.S. special forces to Syria as well as Iraq. He told NPR that he hoped there will have been significant progress in degrading Islamic State by the time he leaves office.

The strife in Syria, which has uprooted millions and contributed to a refugee crisis in neighboring countries and in Europe, has also contributed to the rise of Islamic State.

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Moreover, exterminating Islamic State will depend on diplomatic as well as military initiatives  notably negotiations on a cease-fire in Syrias civil war and the creation of new political arrangements in that country as provided for in a recent United Nations Security Council resolution. The strife in Syria, which has uprooted millions and contributed to a refugee crisis in neighboring countries and in Europe, has also contributed to the rise of Islamic State.

The resolution approved by the Security Council on Dec. 18 calls for a political process aimed at producing a credible, inclusive and nonsectarian government and a new constitution and proposes new elections administered by the U.N. It also authorizes member states to prevent and suppress terrorist acts committed by Islamic State, Al Qaeda and similar groups.

The document is silent, however, on the future role of Syrian President Bashar Assad, whose brutal suppression of peaceful dissent was the prime cause of the civil war and the attendant humanitarian catastrophe. Russia continues to support Assad and insists he should be able to run in a future election. Although Obama has long maintained that Assad must step aside, Secretary of State John F. Kerry recently said that the U.S. is not seeking so-called regime change in Syria. Reportedly, the U.S. will concentrate instead on pressing for an election process in which Assad would not enjoy an unfair advantage or be able to rig the results.

The notion that the brutal Assad would have any role in a future Syrian government is a bitter pill, and not only for Syrians. But the Obama administration is right to attach greater priority to ending the killing, stopping the hemorrhage of refugees and targeting Islamic State. The question is whether Assads opponents will feel confident enough about the negotiations to accept their outcome and lay down their arms.

For war-weary Americans, its frustrating that the U.S. continues to be involved militarily in the Middle East, even if U.S. forces arent engaged in frontline fighting. That frustration surely is shared by Obama, who made extrication of the U.S. from foreign wars a major theme of his administration. The president had no choice, however, but to respond to the threat posed by Islamic State both to regional stability and to the safety of people in Europe and the U.S. who may be targeted by terrorists directed or inspired by Islamic State.

But Obama is also right to rule out the use of ground combat forces in either Syria or Iraq  a policy Congress needs to affirm in a new Authorization for Use of Military Force  and to resist proposals (from Hillary Clinton, among others) that the U.S. establish a no-fly zone in Syria. As Obama noted, Islamic State doesnt have an air force. Russia, however, does, and it has been carrying out airstrikes in Syria. A no-fly zone would create the possibility that the U.S. would down a Russian plane, a dangerous scenario.

In both Syria and Iraq, degrading and ultimately destroying Islamic State will take time and will require not only military action but also compromise among hostile ethnic and sectarian groups, a process the U.S. can influence only indirectly. Persistence is important, but so is patience.

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It started with garbage. When I was a kid and didnt want something anymore, I just threw it away. Pfft. Gone. Then came the environmental movement, and we all learned that garbage doesnt disappear. It gets moved around and buried or burnt, but even then the smoke goes into the air and the ashes go into landfills. It never really goes away.

Then it was official records. When I was in school, we had something called our permanent yellow sheets. If you talked back to your homeroom teacher or pushed a boy on the playground, it went on your permanent yellow sheets and it would follow you forever. Or so they said. But in those days, records were actual pieces of paper in a file cabinet. So if somebody removed those pieces of paper, it would be as if the transgression had never occurred. All record of the offense would go away.

With the advent of computers, everything changed.

Being out of touch is no longer a feature of foreign travel, even to far distant lands. You cant go away.

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As a labor arbitrator, I often hear cases involving employee disciplinary action. There are many circumstances that require old discipline to be expunged. In the days of paper, expungement meant the page documenting the employees violation and punishment would be removed from his file. Now there is a digital record of everything that ever happened to every employee. The record may include the fact that a long-ago disciplinary suspension was expunged, but the record itself never goes away.

This permanence problem has now spread to our ephemera.

I remember the morning President Kennedy was shot and Lee Harvey Oswald was captured. Our homeroom teacher assured us kids that by the next morning, the FBI would know everything there was to know about Oswald. They would know, he said, the kind of toothpaste he used.

Now no one has to shoot anybody. All our toothpaste purchases and Google searches and GPS location records and cellphone calls are maintained forever in the cloud. None of it ever goes away.

Not too many years ago my wife and I would go on vacation and leave an extended absence announcement: Were going to be out of the country and will not have access to voice mail or email while were away. We could still say that, but it is no longer true. Being out of touch is no longer a feature of foreign travel, even to distant lands. You cant go away.

And then, of course, there is the matter of old lovers. In the past, old lovers had the good manners to disappear. Fond memories remained fond. Unpleasant ones faded. There was a wistfulness that accompanied thoughts of the road not taken. We might not always have Paris, but well always have Benton Harbor.

No more. Old lovers can be resurrected with two clicks. They never go away.

Increasingly, we live in a world in which nothing goes away. The very notion of away is going away.

Barry Goldman is an arbitrator and mediator.

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California ethics panel approves more detailed lobbying disclosure

(Marcus Yam / Los Angeles Times)

Special interest groups will have to disclose many more details of how they are spending money to influence California officials under new rules approved Thursday by the states ethics panel.

Currently, corporations, labor unions and other groups must report the money they pay directly to lobbyists, along with the identity of the advocate.

But the rest of the cash they spend on consultants, television and radio campaigns, public affairs and mail is reported as a lump sum in a category called other payments to influence, without any explanation.

The amount of money that is being spent in the dark is extremely compelling, said state Fair Political Practices Commission member Eric Casher.

The panel on Thursday voted to require, starting in July, that lobbying firms report details of any payment to influence of $2,500 per calendar quarter, including money spent on mailers, TV ads and polls.

In order to make sure people are playing by the rules, we need this type of information, said Jodi Remke, chairwoman of the panel. It puts a light on what is going on.

The newly disclosed information will include the name and business address of the payee, the amount paid and the primary purpose of the payment.

Purposes will be disclosed by codes broadly designating activities that include:

--Payments for public affairs, which includes coalition building, grass-roots campaigns,, news releases, media campaigns, literature and mailings.

--Polling and public opinion research:

--Lobbying events, including rallies or hearings to influence legislative or administrative action.

--Advertising spending, including billboards, print, radio, television, text, email and other electronic communication.

--Money paid to lobbyists and consultants for researching, analyzing or drafting legislation, and recommending strategy on pending bills and administrative proposals.

Remke said the new rules may reveal which former legislators are working behind the scenes to help clients without registering as lobbyists because they dont meet thresholds for payments received to directly communicate with elected officials.

Remke made reference, without using names, to former state Sen. Michael Rubio (D-Bakersfield) and former state Assemblyman Henry Perea (D-Fresno), who resigned from the Legislature to go to work in the government affairs offices of Chevron and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America, respectively.

I think we are going to get [disclosure of] the people like the former members who leave the Legislature early, join Chevron, join the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers, but call themselves government relations advocates, Remke said. But we know what they are doing. They are exposing their clients to the [legislative] members and doing other things short of direct communication.
The funny thing about interruption provisions in cruise insurance is that they dont cover interruptions in itinerary.

Take the case of the Island Princess, which was two days into a 12-night Mediterranean cruise when an announcement interrupted a karaoke contest.

Ladies and gentlemen, you may have noticed we have stopped. There is a boat in distress and we are negotiating a rescue, passenger Jessica MacMaster recalled hearing.

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The cruise had diverted from its voyage to Istanbul, Turkey, to pluck 117 people from a small, floundering sailboat. The migrants were taken onto the cruise ship July 11 and delivered the next day to the Greek mainland.

Reminding the passengers that they had probably saved lives, the captain announced that the ship no longer had time to go to Istanbul and would visit the Greek island of Santorini instead.

You could kind of sense  that people were mad, but at the same time understood, said MacMaster of Fort Collins, Colo. They knew they couldnt really voice their opinion because they had to be human.

Although the cruise missed one of its advertised destinations, passengers who had cruise insurance policies that included trip-interruption coverage wouldnt receive reimbursement.

As long as the passenger got what the insurance company perceives is the full value of the trip, there is not going to be reimbursement for that missed location because there is not a financial impact that can be directly measured related to one particular location over another, said Joe Tritz, U.S. travel product head for AIG Travel Inc., which offers insurance under the Travel Guard name.

Trip-interruption insurance would kick in on a prorated basis if the cruise were shortened due to inclement weather, illness, a strike or another approved reason. But when the cruise continues, insurance coverage doesnt come into play even if the ship skips an advertised location.

Unlike the passengers on the Island Princess, not everyone is as accepting about being rerouted. In May, Royal Caribbean Cruises and Disney Cruise Line canceled three ships stops in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, after criminal gangs fought with local authorities. About 100 passengers on one of the ships held an hour-long protest, according to postings on CruiseCritic.com.

Ocean-going cruise lines declined to give numbers on the frequency of disruptions, and the Cruise Line International Assn. doesnt track them. Roger Frizzell, a spokesman for Carnival Corp., whose holdings include Carnival Cruise Line, Princess Cruises, Holland American Line, Cunard and Costa, among others, said the company rarely cancels stops.

A person set on a particular locale should talk to a travel agent when planning the trip to ensure that transportation to the destination will be covered by the policy. The customer should also learn if the policy will cover trip cancellation, travel delays, lost luggage, medical emergencies, trip interruption, etc. Then, the customer should make sure he or she understands the limitations of the coverage.

Agents can be extra helpful when interpreting insurance plans, and can provide an added resource if things go wrong on a trip, or if theres a need for a middleman with the insurance company, said Carolyn Spencer Brown, editor in chief of CruiseCritic.com.

Despite her missed visit to Istanbul, MacMaster, a comedian who also works as a meeting planner, hasnt soured on cruises. She notes that car trips can be affected by traffic jams, and flights are routinely canceled or delayed because of weather or mechanical issues.

I dont think its necessarily cruise-specific that your plans can be interrupted, she said. You never know what is going to happen.

travel@latimes.com
Her name is Penny Sparrow and, over the course of two days, she went from being an anonymous South African real estate agent to perhaps the countrys most hated woman.

Sparrow ignited a social media storm when she posted a Facebook rant comparing black people to monkeys. The uproar has shone a spotlight into a deep racial divide more than two decades after South Africa scuttled the apartheid system that institutionalized racism.

And when Sparrow took to Facebook to apologize and local media to explain, she only made things worse.

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Sparrows initial post Saturday insulted black people enjoying New Years Eve and New Years Day on the beaches in Durban, in South Africas east coast province, Kwa-Zulu Natal. Beaches were strictly segregated under apartheid.

To allow them loose is inviting huge dirt and discomfort and troubles to others, she wrote of black people.

Complaining about rubbish left on the beach, she wrote that she would address the blacks of South Africa as monkeys as I see cute little wild monkeys do the same [sic] pick drop and litter.

Sparrow posted an apology on Facebook saying the comments were not meant to be a personal thing. Her defense of the remarks Monday in an interview with a South African news site, News 24, only made things worse. Sparrow appeared sorrier to be at the center of a viral media storm than about the offense her comments caused. She also repeated the monkey comparison.

I am sorry that it has taken such a viral turn, but it was just a statement of how it was, she said. I made the mistake of comparing them with monkeys. Monkeys are cute and theyre naughty.... I wasnt being nasty or rude or horrible, but its just that they make a mess. It is just how they are.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

More than two decades after the end of apartheid, racist abuse on social media and online is so commonplace that several media outlets last year shut down the comments sections under news articles.

A survey last month by the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation found that 61.4% of South Africans felt that race relations since the end of white minority rule in 1994 had either remained the same or deteriorated. More than 60% said they experienced racism in their daily lives and more than 67% said they had little or no trust in people of other racial groups.

(By comparison, in a CNN-Kaiser Family Foundation poll released in November, 49% of Americans -- and 66% of African Americans -- said that racism remains a big problem in the United States. Roughly one-quarter of the African Americans surveyed said they had been subjected to racial discrimination in the previous 30 days.)

Thirteen percent of black South Africans surveyed said they experienced racism all or most of the time.

According to the survey, most interaction between people of different racial groups occurs in public spaces like workplaces, educational institutions, shopping malls and similar spaces.

Interaction in more intimate spaces, such as private homes and social or communal gatherings, is limited, the institute found.

Also Monday, South Africas Standard Bank suspended a prominent economist, Chris Hart, over a weekend tweet that the bank said had racist undertones.

Hart had tweeted that 25 years after apartheid, its victims now have a sense of entitlement and hatred towards minorities. In South Africa, minorities refers to anyone who is not part of the black majority.

Standard Bank tweeted Monday that the comments were factually incorrect and didnt reflect the banks values. It instituted an internal disciplinary hearing.

But it was Sparrows tweet that really ignited a firestorm.

Sparrow was a member of the countrys main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, which reacted strongly to her comments. The party condemned the remarks, announced it would suspend her, and formally sought criminal charges against her for crimen injuria, the crime of hurting someones dignity through racist or obscene language. Police opened a criminal investigation against her.

Racists are not welcome in the DA, and have no place in our democratic South African society, the party said in a statement.

The scandal came several months after the Democratic Alliance expelled a prominent party member, Dianne Kohler Barnard, for sharing a Facebook post that begged the white apartheid era leader P.W. Botha to come back because you were far more honest than any of these rogues, and you provided a far better service to the public.

Kohler Barnard, a lawmaker and the partys spokeswomen on police, claimed she didnt read the full post before sharing it. She appealed the expulsion and was readmitted to the party last month.

Follow @RobynDixon_LAT for news from Africa.

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A cry for help in Indias Bihar state: We need a toilet desperately

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Kaliya Devi awakens at 4 a.m., fills a small bucket with water and walks 10 minutes to farmland outside her village in northern India. In the serene light of dawn, she finds a quiet, secluded spot to relieve herself.

While she and her five children do without a basic human convenience, a 10-foot-high pile of unused toilets sits in an angular brick structure across from her one-room home.

The ceramic bowls and tanks were dropped off three years ago by a charitable organization, Nari Gunjan, but were never installed.

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We were told we would be getting toilets very soon, said Devi. Nothing has happened since then.

Sudha Varghese, the head of Nari Gunjan, said the government approved the toilet project but never provided money it promised for installation. Instead, middlemen with government contacts demanded commission to serve as intermediaries.

We are not going to cooperate with the middlemen, said Varghese. The administrators should directly deal with the villagers.

It is not the first time that hopes for improved sanitation in Jamsaut, in the impoverished northern state of Bihar, have failed to materialize.

In 2011, Bill and Melinda Gates visited the village to discuss their charitable foundations efforts to reduce infant and maternal mortality and stem diseases such as tuberculosis and diarrhea  problems that can be tackled with better sanitation facilities.

The Microsoft founder and his wife mingled with the residents of this village, who are Mahadalits, the lowest members of Indias hierarchical caste system, with the help of an interpreter. Devi does not know their names, but remembers meeting an influential white couple and looking at them with hope.

Four years later, the village of about 500 residents still has no toilets.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

The Gates Foundation did not make specific commitments to Jamsaut, but the organization said it has helped the state of Bihar improve healthcare, including raising the rates of child immunization and the number of babies born in hospitals.

Despite this progress, there is a lot of work still to be done, Amy Enright, a spokeswoman for the foundation, wrote in an email. This work is immense and beyond the scope of any one organization.

Women say they are most affected by the lack of toilets.

We have to go before the road gets busy, otherwise people see us, Devi said as she skinned a chicken outside her home. Going to the bathroom outdoors also puts people at risk of snake bites, her friends added.

The United Nations reports that 665 million Indians  about half the nations population  lack access to toilets. The percentage is even higher here in Bihar, one of Indias poorest states, where one-third of people live on less than $1 a day.

Official statistics show that one-quarter of the states 21 million households have access to latrines. Only 58% of schools have dedicated toilets for girls.

When someone has to relieve themselves in the dark, we go with a group, said Devi, who is in her 40s. We need a toilet desperately. We are tired of the charade every day. Plus, we are cursed at if someone sees us.

Experts believe that many of the toilets that have been installed in Bihar are not functioning because of the lack of drainage and poor maintenance.

Even in the state capital, Patna, which glitters with shopping complexes and multiplexes, some residents say their toilets are clogged, leading to sewage overflows and a terrible stench.

Open defecation has been linked to assaults on women as well as diseases and stunted growth in children. In 2006, the economic cost of poor sanitation in India was estimated at $53.8 billion, or 6.4% of Indias gross national product. Countries with lower rates of open defecation than India include Angola, Burundi, Ethiopia, Ghana and Rwanda.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to build more than 100 million toilets as part of a broad Clean India initiative. In a speech 13 months ago, he said protecting the dignity of women required modern sanitation facilities.

By August, the government said it had built 8 million toilets, but reports indicate that many are not functioning properly because of the lack of waste disposal systems, or because residents have not been educated on how to use them.

In parts of rural India, including Bihar, traditional beliefs suggest that accumulating feces near ones home is inappropriate. The state government has begun a program to educate residents on the benefits of using toilets.

Bhaguni Manjhi, dressed neatly in jeans and a shirt, shows a badly constructed common toilet in Jamsaut, which cannot be used because it has not been connected to a drainage system.

A young man like me can manage, he said of the lack of working toilets. But what about the old and infirm? They have to endure an ordeal every day.

Parth M.N. is a special correspondent.

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High atop a mountain in Mongolia, a team of trackers splits into three groups to check their traps each morning. Their goal: to catch a snow leopard, one of the most elusive creatures on Earth, so rare that few have seen one of the big cats in the wild.

After failing to catch a leopard during the first week of their expedition, the World Wildlife Fund team members are growing anxious. Over three expeditions to track and collar the big cats since summer, theyve caught only one leopard. Are they going to end up empty-handed this time?

But as crew members are slurping down steaming bowls of traditional milk tea, they get their first break. A herdsman who has heard about their expedition calls to say that a leopard has attacked his flock of sheep and goats.

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The team members know that leopards typically return to the site of an initial attack to feast after nightfall, so they surround a sheeps carcass with snare traps.

Then, they wait.

The following morning, they return to the spot at the foot of Jargalant Khairkhan mountain here in Mongolias Khovd province. The flesh of the sheep has been entirely eaten away, but no traps have been sprung.

They curse their bad luck  and they marvel again at the leopards skills of evasion.

Livestock grazing is encroaching into the snow leopards habitat at Jargalant Khairkhan mountain in Mongolia. (Terrence Edwards / For The Times)

::

Known as the spirit of the mountain to locals, snow leopards are rarely seen in the wild because of how well their spotted white fur blends in with their surroundings. Not quite white as snow, as the name might suggest, their fur is still striking  especially in contrast with the crystal-blue eyes found on some.

The big cats are increasingly threatened as developing Mongolia rapidly expands its economy. With just 3 million people in a country about the size of Alaska, Mongolia is the least densely populated nation. Still, the migration routes of wildlife have been cut off as the country lays down more and more pavement for roads and track for rail, and as developments such as mining projects encroach on age-old habitats.

For the snow leopards at Jargalant, and the rest of Mongolia, the biggest threat is encroachment by the countrys tens of thousands of herders. An explosion in the number of horses, cattle, sheep and goats has set off a war between nomads and wildlife. To herders, snow leopard attacks on their animals are common and can cost them thousands of dollars.

Of the 4,000 to 6,500 snow leopards the World Wildlife Fund believes remain in the wild, 800 to 1,000 are here in Mongolia. Theyre listed as endangered in the International Union for Conservation of Natures Red List of Threatened Species.

Mongolias WWF team has a mission: to protect their range.

Bactrian camels are native to Khovd province and are kept as livestock by nomadic herders. (Terrence Edwards / For The Times)

::

Soronzobold was 13 when he caught a glimpse of his first spotted brother. The snow leopard slunk past a boulder while the teen was tending to his familys livestock in the wilds of western Mongolia.

It lasted about two minutes, but Ive thought about it my whole life, he says.

Soronzobold, who like many Mongolian nomads goes by a single name, remembered his grandmothers advice: Dont try to hurt the elusive feline, even though it poses a mortal threat to the herd. Not that he would have been able to anyway, being so mesmerized by the agile and graceful movements of the big cat.

In the more than two decades since, Soronzobold has encountered endangered snow leopards often enough to hear and see things in the wild that few experts have observed. Now, hes on a mission to protect the animals, putting his specialized knowledge to use for the WWF to monitor the 37 snow leopards it believes inhabit Jargalant mountain.

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In November, he welcomed seven WWF staff members into his traditional felt dwelling, known as a ger, transforming the round tent into a base camp for wildlife specialists. It was a bit crowded in the windowless white structure, but the extra bodies kept it toasty while temperatures outside dipped to minus-5 degrees.

The specialists knew they would have to summon all of their patience, and hope for some extraordinary luck.

It depends on our team and also nature, said Dalannast Munkhnast, a species specialist. I would say its a 50-50 chance.

::

After the trap with the sheeps carcass fails to snare the snow leopard, the team is gloomy. Then, suddenly, dejection turns to elation.

Its Tengri! exclaims the team biologist, Ochirjav Munkhtogtokh.

Hes reviewing images captured by a motion-sensing camera aimed at the traps, and recognizes the tracking collar he helped put on a big cat in 2013  the groups first such successful collaring in Mongolia.

They named her Tengri, derived from the word tenger, or sky, which many Mongols worship. Munkhtogtokh said she was given a divine name to reflect the importance of their first catch.

For nine months, the collar had transmitted valuable data via satellite about Tengris daily habits and the boundaries of her habitat. But suddenly, in 2014, the device stopped functioning. From that time on, Tengris trackers had no idea whether she was still wearing it  or was even alive.

Buoyed but anxious, the team regroups. Its very important that we catch Tengri, says Munkhtogtokh, one of Mongolias foremost experts on the snow leopard.

If the collar falls off today, we might never find it, he says. And the data would be lost forever.

Biologist Ochirjav Munkhtogtokh, top, lines up a shot to tranquilize Tengri the snow leopard. Even when ensnared, the animal blends into its surroundings. (Terrence Edwards / For The Times)

::

For centuries in wintertime, Mongolian herders have moved farther up Jargalant, where the leopards roam, to rotate their pastures just as American farmers do to avoid exhausting the land.

The difference today is the massive size of herds and the worsening quality of the land. According to government statistics, 70% of the territory used for pasture is degrading or has already become barren.

We have predators; wolves and snow leopards are the most worrisome, says Bolor-Erdene, a 23-year-old herder in the area where the WWF team has camped. Those animals arent scared of people at all.

Five years ago, we lost 30 livestock in a year, he says. Now its 45 to 50.

Soronzobolds ger sits on a wide plain surrounded by light vegetation. It snows only a few times a year here, making it an ideal spot for livestock to graze in winter.

A day after Tengri narrowly got away, species specialist Munkhnast delivers the news that a leopard has been ensnared. The team hikes to a spot more than 7,500 feet above sea level. An adult leopard waits uneasily.

Munkhtogtokh soundlessly loads a sedative dart into his air gun and aims carefully. After the shot, the leopard makes a violent start, as if stung by a hornet, but quickly regains its composure. Within 30 minutes, though, its asleep, and the team can approach.

Its a 4-year-old male, Soronzobold says after collaring the leopard and making his inspection. Its one of Tengris cubs; Im certain of it.

World Wildlife Fund scientists examine a sedated male snow leopard on Jargalant mountain in Mongolia. The big cats are an endangered species. (Terrence Edwards / For The Times)

::

The World Wildlife Fund plays on traditional superstitions to boost its conservation efforts.

Snow leopards are revered, feared and even hated by nomads. Mongolians have a strong dislike for cats in general, and many recite well-known proverbs such as, If you feed a cat, theyll eat you next, or Cats are always watching you, waiting for you to die.

But the leopards carry a mystique: Locals say that anyone foolish enough to hurt or kill a snow leopard will suffer from the black footprint curse  meaning a dark spot is imprinted on the soul, giving the victim and his family great misfortune.

By reinforcing such beliefs, the conservation group hopes herders will be less willing to hunt the cats. Theyve even sponsored production of a film that depicts a terrible end for a herder who set traps for a snow leopard that picked off animals in his herd.

After an examination by the World Wildlife Fund, a male snow leopard is left to wake up with its new tracking collar. (Terrence Edwards / For The Times)

::

Although the team is in high spirits after tagging the young male, the knowledge that Tengri is still out there, with two years worth of information around her neck, nags at their thoughts.

She continues to taunt them in the following days, repeatedly killing livestock near the site of her first attack. But she seems to have the cleverness of the Roadrunner, sneaking past the traps  sometimes setting off a device without getting caught.

At last, the team decides its time for a new approach. Soronzobold and the WWF group set down a set of smaller snares that are more easily hidden.

On the last day of the expedition, the new approach pays off, and Tengri is caught.

When the team arrives at the location some miles away from the first kill, Tengri is alert, though less nervous than the male trapped two days earlier (by now he has been named Black Gorge by the team, after the area where he was caught).

Again, out comes the air gun. Pop! A shot to the hide. Tengri seems to take it almost in stride. The team removes the old collar and replaces it with a smaller, lighter device.

When she awakens about an hour later, she immediately pulls herself up, even though she is still weighed down by the sedatives in her body. It takes only a sideways glance or nod before losing sight of her as she disappears into the dusty crag.

Edwards is a special correspondent.

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Bahrain and Sudan severed diplomatic ties with Iran on Monday in an apparent act of solidarity with Saudi Arabia, further ratcheting up regional tensions following the kingdoms execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

They were joined by the United Arab Emirates, which reduced its diplomatic representation in Iran to the attache level.

For a second day, Saudi Arabia continued a diplomatic onslaught against its regional nemesis, announcing it would prevent its citizens from traveling to Iran, suspend flights between the two countries and cease all commercial trade, according to a statement by Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir to the Reuters news agency.

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Iranians coming to Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the holy city of Mecca, however, would still be welcome, he added.

Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr, a dissident sheikh from Saudi Arabias restive eastern province, was put to death Saturday as part of a mass execution of what were mostly Al Qaeda extremists.

Nimrs death sparked a wave of outrage, especially in Iran, where protesters lobbed Molotov cocktails and stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran early Sunday before being stopped by police.

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Although Iranian President Hassan Rouhani quickly condemned the violence, and subsequent protests were held under heavy police supervision, Riyadh insisted that the Iranian government had turned a blind eye to the protesters and allowed the attack to happen.

That prompted Saudi authorities to announce Sunday that they were severing diplomatic ties with Iran, and the Saudi allies followed suit.

Bahrain, whose Sunni rulers accuse Iran of fomenting dissent among the countrys Shiite-dominated population, declared it would cut off all diplomatic relations due to the worsening of the blatant and dangerous intervention by Iran in the affairs of Bahrain and other Arab states. The announcement came in a statement by the countrys Foreign Ministry.

It added that Irans behavior confirmed a determination to spread devastation and destruction, and provoke unrest and strife in the region by providing protection and support for terrorists and extremists.

NEWSLETTER: Get the days top headlines from Times Editor Davan Maharaj >>

The move followed an edict by Bahrains interior ministry threatening action against anyone attempting to use the recent verdicts in Saudi Arabia to heighten sectarian tensions or to incite violence.

Sudan followed, declaring an immediate cessation of all diplomatic activity in an effort to counter Iranian plans in the area, according to a report by the official Sudanese news agency, SUNA.

The United Arab Emirates, a regional economic powerhouse and Irans fourth largest trading partner, according to local media, recalled its ambassador from Iran, leaving its charge daffaires as its top diplomat in the country, according to a ministry statement.

''This exceptional step has been taken in the light of Irans continuous interference in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states, which has reached unprecedented levels,' the statement said, adding that positive and natural relations between states should be based on mutual respect for the sovereignty of states and the adoption of a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of others.

Business relations, however, would continue, the UAE said.

Last year, the lifting of economic sanctions on Iran was expected to be a boon for business with the Emirates.

In a press conference on Monday, Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said that Saudi Arabia, not Iran, would be the one to suffer from the cutting of diplomatic ties.

I advise the Saudi leaders to stop these subversive, hasty, illogical, emotional acts that are marked by mismanagement, said Jahangiri, according to a transcript provided by Iranian media outlet Press TV.

He also counseled the Saudis to emulate Tehrans behavior and exercise restraint in the face of Saudi Arabias destructive regional policies.

You too should learn this [kind of] behavior, he added.

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossein Jaberi Ansari, in his weekly press briefing in Tehran on Monday, accused the Saudi government of using the tensions to settle its domestic problems through blame games.

Despite the ramped-up tensions between the two countries, observers did not expect hostilities to escalate to warfare between Saudi Arabia and Iran.

I dont believe [Nimrs death] will be a make-or-break issue for open war, said Professor Joas Wagemakers, an expert on Sunni-Shiite relations at Utrecht University.

Nimr was not openly connected nor overly loyal to Iran, and he did not believe an Islamic state along Iranian lines should be founded in Saudi Arabia, he added.

Wagemakers added that the anger and frustration in Iran was based more on religious concerns, since Nimr represented Saudi Arabias Shiite minority, than political ones.

Nimrs death is seen as that of a man who was killed for his principles and for his cause, Wagemakers said. He was a spokesman for the despised.

Special correspondent Bulos reported from Dubai and Mostaghim from Tehran.

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The Obama administrations key Middle East initiatives  ending Syrias civil war, combating Islamic State and implementing the Iranian nuclear deal  could be undermined by the explosion of tensions between the regions two powerhouses, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

A historically fraught rivalry between Sunni Muslim-dominated Saudi Arabia and Shiite Muslim Iran, previously fought mostly through proxies, now is more direct than ever and threatens to engulf the region in a new spiral of bitter confrontations, analysts said.

In addition to igniting new rounds of vicious fighting in Syria and Yemen, where the two countries back opposing sides, the dispute could play into the hands of Islamic State by further stoking the sectarian conflict it relies on as its raison detre, the analysts warned.

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The flare-up comes at an awkward time for the Obama administration. The United Nations Security Council could decide within weeks whether Iran is entitled to an easing of international sanctions, and a return to the global economy, under the controversial nuclear accord.

Saudi Arabia took the drastic measure of cutting diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday after Shiites infuriated by the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia torched the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.

The crisis widened Monday as Saudi allies Bahrain and Sudan also severed relations with Iran. The United Arab Emirates, a major trading partner with Iran, withdrew its ambassador but did not break diplomatic ties.

This exceptional step has been taken in the light of Irans continuous interference in the internal affairs of gulf and Arab states, which has reached unprecedented levels, the UAE said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia also barred its citizens from traveling to Iran and suspended air traffic and other commercial relations, although it said Iranians would still be welcome to make the annual religious pilgrimage to Mecca, Islams holiest city.

Iran must behave like a normal country and not a revolution, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Jubeir said, according to Reuters.

The Saudi kingdoms decision last week to execute an outspoken Shiite cleric and government critic, Sheik Nimr al-Nimr, along with 46 other dissidents and militants, apparently caught Washington by surprise.

The Obama administration had worked hard to bring Saudi Arabia and Iran into nascent negotiations aimed at finding a political solution to the civil war in Syria. Iran has backed Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Saudi Arabia is supporting some of the armed groups fighting to oust him.

U.N.-backed peace talks are still expected to start this month, but the long-shot prospects for a diplomatic breakthrough now appear considerably dimmer.

It was essential to bring Saudi Arabia and Iran together, and there was some progress, said Hussein Ibish, senior resident scholar at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. That is all sort of shot. This is going to complicate just about everything the administration is trying to do in the Middle East.

Josh Earnest, the White House press secretary, acknowledged Monday that the escalating conflict poses problems for U.S. efforts to find a diplomatic solution to the war in Syria.

There will always be reasons ... to be reluctant to engage, Earnest said. But the White House is hopeful that wont happen, he said, because it is so clearly in the interest of both countries.

The administration is urging both sides to de-escalate their conflict and not further inflame tensions, Earnest said.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry spoke by phone Monday to his Iranian counterpart and was attempting similar contact with the Saudis, spokesman John Kirby said.

Actions like this dont do anything to help stability in the region, Kirby said of the flare-up. He said the U.S. had raised concerns about the Saudi legal process that sanctioned the mass execution.

The European Unions top diplomat, Federica Mogherini, also spoke to Iranian and Saudi leaders, warning that the security and stability of the whole region  is at stake, her office said.

Saudi Arabia and its gulf Arab allies view Iran with growing distrust and anger, and worry that the U.S.-led nuclear deal brokered in Vienna last summer will allow Iran to end its isolation without giving up its nuclear ambitions.

Under the terms of the deal, if Iran gets rid of its enriched uranium stockpiles and dismantles or disables most of its nuclear infrastructure, it will gain access to more than $60 billion in frozen funds as early as this month, and be allowed to resume exports of oil on the open market.

A more powerful Iran, combined with low prices for the oil that supports the Saudi economy, and the largely unsuccessful war Saudi Arabia is waging against what it claims are Iranian-backed Shiite militias in Yemen, has pushed the kingdom to act more aggressively.

Saudi leaders did not publicly oppose the nuclear deal, but experts say they have lost confidence in the United States willingness to oppose what they consider Iranian aggression across the region.

The Saudis have their own agenda, which they are carrying out without regard for what we say or do or need, said Aaron David Miller, a veteran U.S. diplomat in the Middle East who is now with the nonpartisan Wilson Center in Washington.

Iranian First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri said Saudi Arabia would suffer more from the cutting of diplomatic ties.

I advise the Saudi leaders to stop these subversive, hasty, illogical, emotional acts that are marked by mismanagement, Jahangiri said during a news conference Monday in Tehran, according to the Iranian media outlet Press TV.

Although the tensions were being ratcheted up at a brisk pace, several experts said they did not expect hostilities to escalate to open warfare.

I dont believe [Al-Nimrs execution] will be a make or break issue for open war, said Joas Wagemakers, an expert on Sunni-Shiite relations at Utrecht University in the Netherlands.

Nimr was not openly connected nor overly loyal to Iran, and he did not believe an Islamic state along Iranian lines should be founded in Saudi Arabia.

Still, Al-Nimr will be viewed as a martyr for religious Shiites and would probably become a galvanizing figure for opposition to the Saudi government, Wagemakers said.

Times staff writer Wilkinson reported from Washington and special correspondent Bulos from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Staff writer Christi Parsons in Washington and special correspondent Ramin Mostaghim in Tehran contributed to this report.

Twitter: @TracyKWilkinson

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The US Border Patrol has arrested 31 illegal immigrants hiding out in a Texas apartment. Authorities said that those who were arrested were primarily from Central America who had crossed the border illegally.

In a report with Fox News Latino, Border Patrol agents reported on Wednesday that those immigrants that they have arrested were mostly from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. The report also said that the Border Patrol authorities have also arrested a Mexican woman who they said was the caretaker of the apartment.

There has been a reported surge in Central American immigrants who have fled their home countries in order to escape poverty and widespread gang-violence particularly in El Salvador and Honduras. These regions have also been severely plagued by drought.

Many of these immigrants have brought their families with them, in hopes of starting a new life in the United States.

In a separate incident, Border Patrol agents have also apprehended 10 undocumented immigrants who were hidden behind a fake wall inside a commercial truck at a checkpoint in Falfurrias. Agents have also arrested the driver, who was not identified.

The Wall Street Journal reported that starting early this month, Central American immigrants will be the target of a series of raids in order to staunch the influx of illegal migrants to the United States. The Department of Homeland Security is planning to deport Central American families who have evaded removal orders.

This move has caused controversy in DHS Secretary, Jeh Johnson's agency. According to the official, many of those who have worked within the DHS have opposed to targeting people who have fled violence in their respective home countries.

However, Johnson said that the raid's goal would be two-fold: They hope to send the message to those who wish to cross the border illegally that they will not be allowed to remain in the country. The agency also wishes to address safety controls involving human trafficking.

The Obama administration has prepared for an influx of unaccompanied children and families from Central America in the coming months. Earlier in December, the Obama administration began to add capacity to handle the surge, since migrants are being housed by the government on a temporary basis.

The publication reported that more than 12,000 individuals in these family units were arrested at the border between the months of October and November. This was a far cry from about 4,500 in the same months last year.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The new conservative government of Argentina announced on Sunday that it will maintain its claim over the Falkland Islands, locking the country in dispute with Britain.

"Argentina renews its firm commitment to peacefully settling its differences, to international law and multilateralism, the foreign ministry under the country's new president, Mauricio Macri," according to a statement quoted in Yahoo! News' report from AFP.

For two months, Argentina and Britain warred over the rocky archipelago in 1982, the news outlet further reported. The battle killed 649 Argentine servicemen and 225 British. Decades after the Falklands War, both nations are still in a diplomatic dispute over the area's ownership.

Argentina's capital, Buenos Aires, "invites the United Kingdom to resume as soon as possible negotiations aimed at settling fairly and definitively, the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas (Falklands) islands, South Georgia, South Sandwich islands and surrounding territorial seas," according to the statement, as reported by Yahoo! News.

Macri's country maintained its stand that Argentina inherited the Falklands from Spain when it acquired independence, Yahoo! News added. Britain, on the other hand, claimed that it has historically ruled the archipelago and that the residents of the island should have the right to self-determination.

Margaret Thatcher Stopped Argentina from Buying Modern War Weapons in Falklands War Aftermath

Newly released government files revealed that Margaret Thatcher prevented Germany and Italy from selling missiles and torpedoes to Argentina after the Falklands War.

Express.co.uk reported that in 1986, a confidential document from the Foreign Office urged Thatcher, Britain's prime minister at the time, to write to German Chancellor Helmut Kohl and request for reassurance not to sell weapons to Argentina.

As quoted by Express.co.uk, the document read: "The background is that Kohl gave the prime minister last year an assurance that the federal government would not permit the export to Argentina of AEG-Telefunken surface and underwater target (SUT) torpedoes while conditions in the South Atlantic remained unsettled."

The document also stated that the Foreign Office "have been seeking a similarly clear assurance from the Italians in respect of the comparable torpedoes" manufactured by Italy's Whitehead Moto Fides, the news outlet noted.

In a letter drafted by Thatcher addressed to Kohl, she said that there had been "little constructive response" from Argentina when it came to Britain's initiatives to normalizing relations, adding that the South American country's continued attempts to acquire modern arms is an indication that "it has not formally declared a cessation of hostilities," Express.co.uk reported.

Thatcher's diplomatic force seemed to have proved successful, given that no German or Italian weapons were sold to Argentina back then, Express.co.uk wrote.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The government of Honduras confirmed that the United States has sent a request to extradite a former vice president, who has been accused of participating in money laundering activities.

Foreign Minister Arturo Corrales said in a Reuters report that the extradition request for 80-year-old Jaime Rosenthal was received before Christmas and noted that the courts will be the ones to decide if it will be granted or not.

Appeal Democtrat noted that the request will be given to Honduras' Supreme Court on Tuesday.

Last year, the wealthy Rosenthal family was accused of using their Grupo Continental corporation to run money laundering networks in Central America, Reuters mentioned.

It added that some of the members of the family have already been arrested for the charges, like Rosenthal's nephew Yankel, who also served as a minister of investment under the leadership of Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

Rosenthal's son, Yani Rosenthal, and lawyer Andres Acosta Garcia have also been charged with concealing drug trafficking and foreign bribery proceeds using bank accounts in the United States. The entire family has denied the allegations against them.

In an earlier statement, Rosenthal told Tico Times that they are confident that they will be cleared of the charges.

"We are sure that we will prevail in the trial because the accusations are false. We will fight very hard. And we hope the truth prevails with the help of God," he said.

Corrales mentioned with Appeal Democrat that the request for extradition is a bad news for their country.

"It's not a day of joy for Honduras, it's not even close to a day of joy for the Rosenthal family, we all regret and would prefer that it did not happen, but the extradition request is in," the foreign minister said in The Guardian report.

He added that the aging businessman, who served as vice president from 1986 to 1989, is already weak because of a serious illness. Corrales claimed that legal process is already underway for the charges against Rosenthal.

Meanwhile, Fox News Latino noted that the former Honduran leader could not be extradited until the investigation of his activities in his home country is completed, as per defense lawyer Marlon Duarte.

The legal counsel explained that as long as proceedings against him are pending, the extradition cannot commence.

The accused is expected to show up in court on Wednesday during a preliminary hearing, where he is set to give his side on the charges of tax fraud and forgery filed against him.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Lawmakers in Uruguay have approved a bill which will provide a more than $800 million aid package for the debt-burned Ancap, the state owned oil company and the country's largest corporation.

An Associated Press report published by US News mentioned that Uruguay's congress has decided to write off the company's debt amounting to $622 million and enabled a $250 million credit for the company provided by a regional development agency.

The said aid package has already been approved by the Senate to help the company recover.

Ancap, which is considered to be the major importer of oil in Uruguay and also has businesses in alcoholic beverages, cement and prefumes, has acquired losses amounting to about $170 million, mostly blamed on former President Jose Mujica's administration.

However, Mujica has defended himself and put the blame on the decisions made by Economy Minister Danilo Astori and his officials, as per the Associated Press.

Aside from this, the company's board has also blamed the fluctuations in the value of the Uruguayan currency and investment spending from 2010 to 2014 as other factors that led them to their debt-ridden state, Latino FoxNews said.

The same report noted that the legislation will now be forwarded to President Tabare Vazquez for promulgation.

According to Buenos Aires Herald, the bailout plan for Ancap is aimed at improving the equity situation of the company.

It noted that current estimates reveal that Ancap's debt has reached more than $800 million. Despite this fiscal crisis, the government has assured the managers of the company that they will be able to keep their jobs.

It, however, noted that Ancap executives will be closely working with a team from the Economy and Finance ministry and the Planning and Budget office.

Meanwhile, El Pais reported that the bailout for the oil company was approved in the Senate, despite accusations of "concealment, corruption and ineptitude."

Senator Ope Pasquet mentioned in the same report that the senators decided to take action on the situation of the company, since the losses in 2014 were double compared to the 2013 figures.

He also noted that the Ancap situation is also happening "with many other public companies which we found out through investigating committees."

An earlier Reuters report revealed that the deficit of the company last year was at $324 million, but this number is expected to reduce to $200 million for 2016 with the help of the bailout plan the country made for Ancap.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Frustrations in the Colombian government continue to grow as its top soldiers are being recruited by the Middle East as mercenaries.

Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas said that Colombian soldiers are still needed in combat against drug traffickers and insurgents in the South American country, Bloomberg reported. Villegas also added that Saudi Arabia refused to discuss a treaty.

According to a former army officer with knowledge of recruiting contractors and a senior government official, a Saudi-led coalition battling in Yemen against Shiite Houthi rebels has deployed Colombian contractors, Bloomberg wrote. Soldiers are convinced to quit Colombia's army upon the termination of their enlistment with promises of wages seven times higher in the Middle East, the former officer added, who requested not to be named because he isn't allowed to publicly discuss the subject.

The ex-army officer revealed that an experienced Colombian soldier can get paid $90 per day in the Middle East, compared with around $375 per month in their homeland's regular army, Bloomberg further reported. Those who have officer rank and can speak English can earn $250 per day.

The former army officer also estimated that there are roughly 2,000 Colombians working as mercenaries in the United Arab Emirates, or U.A.E., adding that around 200 fighters are being sent to Yemen for tasks such as guarding bases. The troops haven't yet been deployed in combat.

Villegas said in a Dec. 22 interview in the capital, Bogota, that Colombia's attempts at negotiating with Middle East governments have been futile.

"My complaint is why, for instance, the U.A.E. or Saudi Arabia have not been able to negotiate a treaty with Colombia to regulate that relationship," Villegas said, as quoted in Bloomberg's report. "Every time we approach those governments, the answer is no, we're not interested in a treaty."

With a treaty in place, Colombia could temporarily send instructors to the Middle East. This would be a preferred option than the current situation, whereby "someone in the underground of Bogota tries to reach our armed forces to see how 20 of our special forces can go undercover to the Middle East," he said, according to the news outlet.

When asked whether Colombia could solve the problem by giving higher wages to its soldiers, Villegas said, "I can't compete with Abu Dhabi," Bloomberg noted.

Colombian servicemen are deemed as one of the world's best fighters, Bloomberg added. Troops have fought in jungles and mountains for five decades against a guerilla insurgency. In an October operation, special forces hunted and killed Victor Ramon Navarro, also known as Megateo, a cocaine trafficker with a private army who controlled a mountainous area bordering Venezuela.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Health authorities in Puerto Rico reported the nation's first confirmed case of the mosquito-borne virus, known as Zika.

In a statement, Puerto Rican Resident Commissioner Pedro Pierluisi was informed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of the confirmed case of Zika on the island.

"I wanted to inform the public that my office just spoke with officials from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who advised us that the first locally-transmitted case of Zika virus has been confirmed in Puerto Rico," his statement read.

Actions to be taken by the Puerto Rican authorities, as well as the CDC, were also revealed in the statement, dated December 31, 2015.

"I expect that the CDC will issue a public advisory later this afternoon, and the Puerto Rico Department of Health will hold a press conference to explain Zika and its potential symptoms. I also expect that CDC experts will travel to Puerto Rico in early January to educate local physicians on Zika, so they can properly diagnose and treat the virus," it read.

Pierluisi assured the public that there is no reason for alarm and called for precautionary measures to be made against the virus, which is known to be transmitted by a certain species of mosquito.

Since its source is similar to dengue fever and chikungunya, prevention of the spread of the Zika virus entails using mosquito repellents and wearing clothing that covers exposed skin, particularly in the extremities.

So far, there is no vaccine tested and approved to prevent the virus, but the public is advised to learn about its signs and symptoms, which include fever, joint pain, rash, and conjunctivitis or red eyes.

The official website of the CDC also listed other symptoms of the virus, like muscle pain, headache, pain behind the eyes and vomiting.

Symptoms are usually mild with a very small chance of getting so severe that it would require hospitalization.

Official records of the CDC also revealed that only one out of five patients who caught the Zika virus had become ill. No deaths involving the virus have been recorded yet.

Treatments for those who catch Zika include rehydration, rest and taking medication for the symptoms, such as acetaminophen or paracetamol for a fever and body pain.

According to CNN, the Zika virus has been linked to over 2,400 cases of the severe neurological disorder known as microcephaly among newborns. Cases of this were recorded in Brazil in early 2015, where babies were born with abnormally small heads, which often led to severe medical conditions and even early death.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Washington is laying out U.S. President Barack Obama's overseas trips for 2016, and there is a good chance Cuba will be part of it, says national security adviser Ben Rhodes.

On Saturday, Rhodes revealed how the American president plans on cementing relations between the U.S. and Cuba by making the trip to the Latin American country, News Max reported.

"The key test for us is whether the president's going to Cuba would help advance those priorities. That's something I think we'll make a decision about ... in the next couple months," he explained to the press in Hawaii, where Obama is on vacation.

According to News Max, such visit would be monumental to the warming relations between U.S. and Cuba, since it would make the opening of the latter to the former "irreversible."

The Los Angeles Times echoes this opinion, deeming "the normalization of relations with Cuba" to be "of symbolic significance to the Obama administration."

"It represents not only a historic opportunity to end a lingering remnant of the Cold War but also the chance to push for an affirmative change rather than simply respond to crises in the Middle East," the report added.

Rhodes further explained that steps are being taken by both Cuba and the U.S. to make such a goal a reality, Bloomberg reported.

"On the Cuban side, there are steps they could take over the course of the year that could allow them to absorb greater economic activity," he stated, adding that Cuban President Raul Castro, to some degree, wants to revolutionize the country.

He also emphasized "the key test" to the matter, which is whether or not such visit would improve the lives of the Cuban people.

"I think they have made a decision that they want this to happen," he said, noting that Cuba appears to see the possibility of change that is "consistent with their revolution" up to a certain degree.

Aside from Cuba, the President of the United States (POTUS) is also expected to visit several other countries in the Latin American, as well as in Asia and Europe.

"Obama plans to travel to China and Laos and host Southeast Asian leaders at a summit in California as part of his effort to turn American attention toward Asia," the Los Angeles Times reported.

The outlet further explained how the POTUS plans to roll out his foreign policy legacy before his final year in office is up.

"By far, the overarching foreign policy challenge of the new year will be the fight against the terrorist organization Islamic State and its efforts to inspire attacks against Western targets," the report read.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The expansion of Panama's century-old canal is now set to be completed around the month of May.

Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela announced the news on Saturday in an address to the nation, Yahoo! News reported from AFP. The canal's construction has suffered costly overruns and major delays in the past.

In his speech, Varela also urged the Spain-led contractor, Grupo Unidos por el Canal de Panama, behind the project to hand over legal disputes to the "competent authorities" and focus on the waterway's completion, Yahoo! News added. The president's appeal came after a Dispute Adjudication Board hearing, where a budget overrun disagreement ordered the state's Panama Canal Authority to pay $17 million to the group for additional labor costs and for a workers strike.

"With respect, I am calling on the contractors for the expansion project to hold dialogue with the Panama Canal Authority, to allow work to be completed, to leave legal disputes in the hands of the competent authorities and to avoid mediatized differences that in no way help the image of the contractors, the Canal Authority and the Republic of Panama," Varela remarked, as quoted by the news outlet.

The contractor began the expansion work on the waterway in 2007, Yahoo! News noted. The extensions were initially intended to be completed in October 2014 but were then delayed to April 2016. Varela's announcement signified that construction is once again pushed back; this time to May 2016. This indicated that the project is well behind schedule.

The construction on the canal is projected to increase its capacity for up to three times, Yahoo! News further reported. Expenses are expected to reach up to $5.3 billion, but that cost has been hugely exceeded.

In addition, Varela said it was "imperative" to begin a study on the development of a river basin that will provide water supplies for human use and for the canal's function, the news outlet noted.

The Panama Canal expansion will allow huge new ships to pass through the trade route, and could move the flow of goods and products from the United States West Coast to the East Coast, the Globe and Mail wrote.

The canal's expanded route will also give a chance to ports along the U.S. Gulf and Atlantic coasts to compete with their West Coast rivals for vessel traffic, the Globe and Mail reported. For the ship owners and their customers, they will have access to a cheaper -- although slower -- path to arrive at markets in the largely populated eastern half of the U.S.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Colombia FARC rebels said on Sunday that Hector Albeidis Arboleda Buitrago, who is being accused of allegedly performing "forced abortions" on the guerillas, was never part of their group. They emphasized that these abortion policies are counter to their "principles."

In a report with Fox News Latino, the FARC rebel group issued an official statement on the controversy, which was signed by the "FARC-EP Joint Chiefs of Staff Secretariat." The official statement said that FARC does not have the policy of forcing abortions on their pregnant guerillas.

Arboleda, who is also known in Colombia as "The Nurse," was arrested in Madrid in December. He was released after the country took precautionary measures. Arboleda is also wanted by Interpol on counts of "aggravated torture, non-consensual abortion and criminal conspiracy."

FARC insisted that the accusations of the forced abortions were "ridiculous." They added that the entire controversy was just a "judicial and media set up."

They also added that such claims made by the Colombian government that the FARC rebels "rape and use women" are false and shameful.

In a report with BBC, Attorney General Eduardo Montealegre said that the female rebels were forced to have to abortions to make sure that they do not lose their ability to fight.

Montealegre insisted that they had proof that many women rebels were forced to have abortions in the past, so as to not lose them as "an instrument of war."

This is not the first time that FARC has denied these claims. The rebel group insisted that contraception was always "readily available."

One woman claimed in the report with BBC that she was forced to have five abortions.

The rebel, who remained unidentified, told the publication that women rebels were not allowed to have children and that those who were allowed to give birth were considered "lucky."

The Colombian government and FARC delegates said that they are hoping to sign a final peace agreement in March 2016. The peace talks have seen significant progress since it began in November 2012.

It was reported by the BBC that Colombia's FARC rebels said that the pending peace process talks are "extensive, complex and delicate." They added that they should not be subjected to "pressures and immovable deadlines."

President Juan Manuel Santos insisted on the March 2016 deadline.

More than 220,000 people have been killed in the conflict that has spanned more than five decades. A good majority of these people are civilians.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
It is already the start of the year and already there are the latest rumors on Samsung's upcoming flagship, the Samsung Galaxy S7. Teaser images have revealed what appears to be the Samsung Galaxy S7's front panel and it is indeed something to write home about.

According to a report with Phone Arena, compared to the front panels of the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, there is a significant difference in the front panels of the Samsung Galaxy S7.

The new teaser image appears to have some of the sensors on the front of the Samsung Galaxy S7 on the left side. The screen also appears to be bigger than that of the Samsung Galaxy S6. The new phone's corners are notably more squared-off in form. The bezels are also slightly thinner, but the home button seems to have remained the same size.

According to the website, the Samsung Galaxy S7 said that Samsung's upcoming flagship very much resembles a smaller version of the Samsung Galaxy Note 5.

According to The Verge, it is widely expected that Samsung will unveil its Galaxy S7 in February during Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. That means that the rumors and speculations are starting to float about the internet.

According to the website, the standard S7 would have a flat 5.2-inch screen, while the Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge variant would have a 5.5-inch curved display. Samsung's current offerings uses a 5.1-inch screen in the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge, and a 5.7-inch screen in the S6 Edge+ and Galaxy Note 5.

The phone is also reported to sport a 12.2-megapixel rear camera and a 5-megapixel front camera. While this would mean that there will be a drop in megapixel count from the S6, which has a 16-megapixel sensor, it is also possible that the flagship will make it up with it's a higher-quality sensor equipped with larger pixels that perform better in the dark. The Samsung Galaxy S7 is also said to be packed with 4GB of RAM and it's all powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 chip.

There are also rumors that Samsung will most likely release these flagships this year and will focus more on "budget lines" throughout the course of the year.

Other features of the upcoming flagship include that the device will have a pressure-sensitive screen, a USB Type-C port and, quite possibly, a retina scanner.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A town in Paraguay has turned into an island due to excessive flooding brought on by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

Officials dread that the town of Alberdi is on the brink of being completely submerged that will lead to thousands of casualties, teleSUR reported. The town is currently only accessible via boat or airplanes.

Alberdi is located 130 km south of the Paraguayan capital of Asuncion and has a population of 10,000, teleSUR noted. On Saturday, residents reportedly refused to evacuate despite of pressing warnings from authorities that flood defenses were threatening to collapse.

"The retaining wall is leaking. Water is coming through in gushes and according to our experts the risk level that it will explode and opens up like a tsunami is great," Paraguay's National Emergency Minister Joaquin Roa said, as quoted in the news outlet's report.

Alberdi's flat and low geography made the town defenseless to the growing floods, teleSUR added. The flood defense wall, which was constructed in 1983, had been protecting the area from disaster until recently. However, experts said that the construction is no match for El Nino.

"The residents of Alberdi do not want to believe that the wall could come down. The speed of the water is impressive. Added to that is the surge of the big cargo ships, the barges with containers that ceaselessly plough through the main canal of the river. All of this is unsettling the defense," said Alberdi Mayor Federico Centurion, as quoted by teleSUR.

He continued, "If the wall breaks in the night there is going to be tragedy." 50 families have been advised to evacuate, but they are not heeding warnings.

The town is among the casualties of El Nino, the weather phenomenon that has caused heavy downpours over South America since November, the news outlet further reported. Around 170,000 people in Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay have lost their homes and properties as the rivers of Paraguay, Parana, Iguazu, Uruguay, and other streams surged. Those who were affected greatly by the catastrophe have belonged to the poorest individuals in the region.

At least 10 deaths due to the floods across the area have been reported, teleSUR added. Numbers are expected to climb as mudslides and rivers rising by over eight meters continued to threaten the region during the holidays.

Paraguay and Uruguay have both declared state of emergencies, according to Yahoo! News. Argentine President Mauricio Macri assured that 66 percent of the reconstruction aid will go to areas where 20,000 people were evacuated due to the severe flooding in the region, Fox News Latino reported.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Venezuela has halted natural gas exports to neighboring country, Colombia.

According to CNBC, the Venezuelan state oil company is halting gas exports across the border to Colombia due to climate factors, as well as the need to generate electricity. The Colombian Mining Ministry reported on Friday that Petroleos de Venezuela or PDVSA was notified that their supplies will be suspended because of "the behavior of electrical energy generation due to climatic variability." In other words, the current drought has been affecting the region.

Reuters said that the El Nino weather phenomena has already caused drought and water shortages across Colombia and around 70 percent of the country's energy has been supplied hydroelectrically.

CNBC noted that the US Energy Information Administration has previously said that Venezuela's enormous natural gas reserves come second only the the US in the Americas. However, it has been consuming more of the said gases than it has been producing, which is becoming a problem. On top of that, the country has also been trying to upgrade their infrastructures.

In terms of investments, Venezuela's development of the said fields has also been slow, despite their vast reserves in the Caribbean. This is due in part to the concerns of foreign firms about the unfavorable prices offered by the PDVSA.

Colombia and Venezuela have been in agreement since 2007 that the latter will send 39 million cubic feet of gas per day to the former, amounting to about three percent of Colombia's supply. Other than that, the EIA noted that part of the gas is also used to generate power, while about 35 percent is used by the petroleum industry to help production of mature fields.

Before this year, Colombia has been a key supplier of gas to Venezuela. This is because in 2007, South American countries inaugurated a 140-mile natural gas pipeline that could transport up to 150 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. Their agreement outlined Venezuela to import gas from Colombia for four to seven years, and will then reverse the flow in order for Venezuela to export gas with new projects that come online.

Venezuala has previously announced its intent to cut ties with gas imports with its neighbor. In June 2015, the PDVSA said that it will not renew its contract to import gas from Colombia and will instead tap local production to supply its region. Even then, the drought has always been a problem, with Colombia announcing that it reduced gas exports to Venezuela to ensure they will have enough fuel to run its own power plants.

 2015 Latin One. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Uruguay Floods Endanger 24,000 Lives; Bacteria & Other Factors can put Health at Risk

media@latinoshealth.com By Czarmecin Jan 04, 2016 06:00 AM EST

On Saturday, the National Emergency System or Sinae reported that the number of displaced persons in Uruguay following the flood that struck four provinces has risen to 23, 571. About 24,000 people have to leave their homes. Previous reports stated that 2,322 were evacuated and 21,249 abandoned their homes by their own means.

Per Fox News, of the 23,571 displaced persons, 11,002 are in Artigas province, 6,708 in Paysandu, 57 in Rio Negro province and 5,804 in Salto. The heavy downpours since December caused the Uruguay River to overflow and its tributaries, such as Cuareim, which is close to the city of Artigas. The incident forced the authorities to declare a state of emergency last month in the province of Artigas, Paysandu, Rivera and Salto, teleSUR reported.

In the Bella Union, the Uruguay River level is two meters above the freeboard, which is 6.5 meters. Currently, it is at 8.7 meters. While in Paysandu, the river flows at 9.1 meters when it normally flows at around 5.5 meters.

Evacuees are stationed in numerous campsites where the army supports and provides for them.

Sinae announced that once the river levels are back to normal residents can return to their home without risk after cleaning and disinfection of the affected areas have been carried out. However, they warned, "the excessive demands on the healthcare system and the presence of bacteria are other factors that put the health of the population at risk."

Irish Times reported that flooding might pose a variety of health risks from minor to life threatening and immediate to long-term. These health risks are more widespread and serious in developing countries where flooding can rise to epidemics as well as promoting vector-borne diseases such as malaria.

The level of bacteria and other toxins is likely due to low dilution but it still poses a risk to one's health and safety. In fact, HSE is advising people to avoid floodwaters if possible. When it is absolutely necessary to enter a contaminated area, people are advised to wear protective clothing such as rubber boots and waterproof clothes.

The floods have been attributed by climate experts to El Nino weather phenomenon, which has flooded several other South American countries including Paraguay and Brazil. However, according to Hindustantimes, the El Nino phenomenon is not yet done and may cause more damage in the coming months.

"There is a greater than 90% chance that El Nino will continue through Northern Hemisphere winter 2015-16, and around an 85% chance it will last till early spring 2016," a Climate Prediction Centre bulletin released in September said.

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FARC Denies 'Abortion Controversy'; Says 'Counters Their Principles'

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Jan 04, 2016 06:13 AM EST

Colombian FARC rebels are denying that Hector Albeidis Arboleda Buitrago, who is being accused for performing forced abortions on guerrillas, is part of their group, and that they do not have abortion policies that counter their "principles," FOX News reports.

The rebel group denies any regulations saying that pregnant guerrillas must have abortions.

Arboleda, who is believed to have performed such abortions, was arrested in Madrid in December but was released following precautionary measures were undertaken. He is wanted by the Interpol for "aggravated torture, non-consensual abortion and criminal conspiracy."

According to the FARC, the controversy surrounding their group and Arboleda is a "judicial and media set up" and that the abortion accusations are "false and shameful." The group denies that FARC "rapes women or uses the bodies of guerrillas who have fallen in combat to give anatomy classes."

The 40-year-old Arboleda is currently being investigated by the Colombian authorities for reports stating that he carried out hundreds of forced abortions between 1998 and 2000.

BBC reports that the FARC is the oldest and largest group among Colombia's left-wing rebels and is one of the world's wealthiest guerrilla armies. Founded in 1984, the group declared its intention to overthrow the government and install a Marxist regime during the 80s. FARC had about 16,000 fighters in 2001, but the number was reduced to 8,000 due to desertations. Their leader, Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda, passed away in 2008 from a heart attack and in 2010, the group's top military leader, Jorge Briceno was killed in a raid in Macarena. Meanwhile, Alfonso Cano, the leader who took over from Marulanda, was killed in a bombing in a ground raide in Cauca in 2011. FARC is now led by Rodrigo Londono, known as Timochenko.

CNN reported in late December that Colombian President President Juan Manuel Santos is set to visit President Obama at the White House in February, shortly before what is believed to be a historic peace agreement between Bogota and the FARC.

President Obama and President Santos are set to meet on Feb. 4, during which they will commemorate the launching of Plan Colombia, a U.S.-led effort that has provided $10 billion in assistance to Colombia's government and security forces since 2000.

CNN reports that Santos plans to carry out a potential peace deal with FARC to a national referendum. The Colombian government has a deadline of March 23 for the deal. According to the White House, the U.S. supports the peace process between the Colombian government and FARC.

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Zika Virus Now in Puerto Rico; 5 Things To Know About This Mosquito-Borne Virus

media@latinoshealth.com By Mai Peralta Jan 04, 2016 05:30 AM EST

The mosquito-borne Zika virus is reportedly now affecting Puerto Rico, according to the country's health officials. Here are some facts you need to know about this disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued a Level 1 warning to travelers going to Puerto Rico and other affected nations. There is currently no medication or vaccine that can prevent Zika virus infection so the CDC recommends travelers to take measures to prevent mosquito bites.

This was seconded by Puerto Rican Congressman Pedro Pierluisi during a statement he released on Thursday.

"I wanted to inform the public that my office just spoke with officials from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), who advised us that the first locally transmitted case of Zika virus has been confirmed in Puerto Rico. Like chikungunya and dengue, Zika is transmitted by certain types of mosquitoes" said Pierluisi in a press release. "There is no reason for alarm, and the public should continue to take common-sense steps to avoid mosquito bites, like using repellent and wearing long pants and shirts."

He adds that CDC experts will be visiting the country in January to "educate local physicians" about the virus and disease.

Here are some facts you need to know about the disease:

1.) Zika is a mosquito-borne virus

This means that you get this disease if you are bitten by an infected mosquito. According to the CDC, the disease is mild and it can last from several days to a week. The Zika virus is linked to a number of Brazilian babies born with ver small heads. According to Fox News, the condition was blamed on the surge of the Zika epidemic in the country where pregnant women may have been bitten.

2.) It is caused by the Aedes mosquito

According to CNN, the mosquito carrying the Zika virus is the same one that can carry dengue fever, chikungunya, and yellow fever.

3.) The symptoms are mild

The symptoms can show up three to seven days after being bitten by an infected mosquito. Symptoms include rash, fever, joint pain, and red eyes. It can also cause muscle pain, vomiting, and pain behind the eyes.

4.) There is no cure or vaccine

There is currently no vaccine or cure for the virus and the only way to prevent it from spreading is to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes. However, the disease is mild and severe cases are uncommon.

5.) Zika virus can become a global epidemic because of global travel

According to CNN's report, health experts say that the virus could be spread across the world via travelers or backpackers. The virus has appeared in Africa, Asia, Pacific Islands and the Americas, CDC reports.

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What is 'Affluenza' and are Parents to Blame for This Condition?

staff@latinoshealth.com By Monica Antonio Jan 04, 2016 06:00 AM EST

In June 2013, Ethan Couch, son of millionaire parents Fred and Tonya Couch, was driving 70 miles per hour in a 45 zone in Forth Worth, Texas under the influence of alcohol. Ethan crashed his pickup truck into a disabled SUV, killing four lives. However, to the public's surprise, Ethan's camp claimed that he could not be held accountable for the murders, because he, basically, is a spoiled brat, the New York Post reports.

What is Affluenza?

Affluenza, according to the Associated Press, is the term used by the shrink who testified during Ethan's trial. The expert, in defense of Ethan, said that affluenza is a condition where wealthy parents "coddled and pampered" their kid to the point that they had "no sense of right and wrong." In Ethan's case, his millionaire parents did not teach him any sense of responsibility for the results of his action. Because of this argument, the judge let Ethan slip with 10 years' probation, which appalled most of the public.

However, despite the claims of Ethan's camp, the outlet said that the American Psychiatric Association has never recognized affluenza as a medical or mental condition. According to forensic psychiatrist and clinical professor Dr. Jeffrey Metzner, affluenza can be closely identified to a similar disorder, narcissism, but the U.S. law does not consider the latter as a legal defense.

Affluenza was popularized in Jessie O'Neills book "The Golden Ghetto: The Psychology of Affluence," where it was described as a condition of children from rich families having a sense of entitlement, no responsibility for their wrongdoings, and, in some cases, using drugs and alcohol, the publication stated.

Are the Parents to Blame?

Naomi Schaefer Riley of the New York Post describes Ethan as "a symbol of an era when parents lost their backbone." Riley notes that in 2006 when Ethan's parents divorced, his mother Tonya tagged his son as her "protector." Tonya even moved Ethan's bed into her bedroom as to prove the point that Ethan was her equal and protector. According to Riley, being lonely does not mean that you have to sacrifice your kids childhood. Parents should always be the protector.

Riley even added that Ethan's parents are a clear example of "spineless helicopter parenting" that gives emphasis in protecting their child's sensibility whatever the cost. As a result, these kids become unprepared to face the challenges and circumstances of the real world.

Ethan, who has been tagged as "Affluenza Boy," recently made headlines when her mother let her skip a trial proceeding and fled him to Mexico after a video of him drinking under probation surfaced. Tonya is currently detained in Los Angeles for "hindering apprehension of a felon," per the Huffington Post.

Should parents be blamed for their children having affluenza? Share your thoughts below.

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Cancer Drug Discovery Database Goes 3D; Check out the Latest in Cancer Treatment Here!

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Writer Jan 04, 2016 06:18 AM EST

The biggest cancer drug discovery database has been rendered in 3D which allows scientists to more effectively design life-saving cancer treatments, according to a study.

The canSAR database has been updated and scientists working in the UK and all around the world will be able to use it more efficiently by being able to design new cancer treatments better with the help of "3D structures of faulty proteins and maps of cancer's communication networks," according to a press release posted in EurekAlert.

The canSAR database is developed at The Institute of Cancer Research London by Cancer Research UK Cancer Therapeutics Unit researchers. It was launched in 2011 and is growing and free to use for researchers world wide. The updated database now has 3D structures of millions of cavities on the surface of more than 100,000 molecules.

"Our database is constantly growing with information and is the largest of its kind - with more than 140,000 users from over 175 countries. And we regularly develop new artificial intelligence technologies that help scientists make predictions and design experiments," said Dr. Bissan Al-Lazikani, lead researcher of the team that developed the database. "Our aim is that cancer scientists will be armed with the data they need to carry out life-saving research into the most exciting drugs of the future.

"Scientists need to find all the information there is about a faulty gene or protein to understand whether a new drug might work. These data are vast and scattered, but the canSAR database brings them together and adds value by identifying hidden links and presenting the key information easily," he explained, via Cancer Research UK.

Another expert added that the canSAR database can cut costs and expedite the processes in drug discovery. This can lead to potentially saving more lives because the advances can help bring life-saving therapies to patients faster.

In another news, resistant lung cancer with mutations in gene known as KRAS can be eraducated through triple cancer therapy by involving two cancer drugs and radiation therapy. The study published in the journal Clinical Cancer Research also states that researchers may also identify non-small cell lung cancer patients (deemed the most common type of lung cancer) who can benefit from the experimental triple therapy.

According to the report by Business Standard, the therapy is under clinical trial and the cancer drugs were originally made for melanoma cancer and those with solid tumors, said lead researcher Bo Lu, professor at Thomas Jefferson University.

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Flu Cases by State Dwindled Last Year but CDC Still Recommends Annual Vaccination

media@latinoshealth.com By Staff Reporter Jan 04, 2016 06:27 AM EST

The number of reported Flu cases in different parts of the U.S. have been reduced so far as compared to last year. For instance, the local hospital emergency room and urgent care in Sampson Regional Medical Center in North Carolina have seen a decreased number in cases of the flu for the previous month, as compared to the same period in 2014, according to the Sampson Independent.

"We have seen a drastic decrease in positive flu tests from last year," said Jill Cairney, marketing specialist at the hospital. "Last year we saw around 412 cases for the weeks in December and this year, thus far, we have seen six."

According to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the flu activity in South Carolina is currently high, while it is still moderate in Arizona, Mississippi and Texas. In the rest of the country, the flu rates are still low, reported NewsMax.

But, the North Carolina state Department of Health and Human Services through one of its epidemiologist Zack Moore warned that, although, there is a slow start this season, it does not mean that it won't pick up, especially during its usual peak period in January and February.

The CDC said that the timing of the flu is often unpredictable and could vary from different regions in the U.S. They noted that the flu season usually starts in early October and lasts up to the month of May.

For the current season, it has officially started on Oct. 4, 2015 and CDC predicts that it could last until May 28, 2016. The peak period are typically during the months of December to February.

"Nationally, it's been a slow start to this season," Sara Lopez, a registered nurse at Summit County Public Health, recently explained in a county forum. "Typically, we'll see the peak in February, but we just don't know," wrote the Summit Daily.

Nonetheless, the health officials from CDC is still encouraging people aged 6 months and older to undergo annual flu vaccination. This is important in order to maintain what they referred to as herd immunity against flu, which means enough people are vaccinated so that if one person gets sick, the disease can't spread, according to Stltoday.com.

Herd immunity can be achieved if there would be about 80 percent of the members in the population who will have immunity. Currently, the flu vaccination rates are 67 percent for adults 65 and older, 47 percent for people 50 to 64, 34 percent for those 18 to 49, and 59 percent for kids 17 and under, according to the CDC.

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Bullying has negative effects on children and adolescents. Those who suffered from bullying might not only be emotionally withdrawn but also experience difficulties in interacting with others. As a matter of fact, they are also more likely to experience depression and anxiety, as well as feelings of sadness and loneliness.

However, a new Canadian study suggested that bullying during teenage years may also lead to health problems in later life.

The study, which is published at the Journal of Adolescent Health, revealed that being physically and emotionally bullied as a teen was associated with health complaints in adulthood such as headaches, dizziness, backaches, insomnia, abdominal pain and poor body image.

"Peer victimization puts adolescents at risk for immediate and long-term physical health difficulties. This study highlights the unique effects of physical and relational victimization and shows that victimized youth continue to experience poorer physical health for years after high school," the researchers concluded in the study.

In order to arrive at this conclusion, the researchers followed 662 adolescents aged 12 to 19 years old. The participants were part of the Victoria Healthy Youth Survey which conducted six interviews between 2003 and 2014.

According to the report by Reuters, in order to measure bullying, the researchers asked the participants questions such as how often they got pushed or shoved and how often do their peers spread lies about them.

Moreover, to evaluate physical symptoms, the participants were asked about how often they experience problems such as headaches, dizziness and insomnia. The participants were also asked to rate the frequency of how they felt good and proud or uncomfortable about their body.

Over the duration of the decade-long study, the researchers found that 29 to 52 percent of the boys and 20 to 29 of the girls experience physical bullying sometimes. Meanwhile, 28 to 67 percent of the boys and 37 to 54 percent of girls sometimes suffer from "emotional taunts."

Roughly one to two percent of the participants were bullied all the time.

The study also showed that the females reported more physical symptoms and poorer body image as compared to the males in the study.

Moreover, physical symptoms were found to be linked to "emotional taunts" although the association between physical bullying and the health complaints were found to be less consistent over the course of the study. The researchers believed that this is the case since there were few instances of physical bullying.

Although the study was limited with the fact that majority of the participants are white which limited the findings to those of a different race or ethnicity, the researchers firmly believed that the findings of the study are important in preventing bullying and providing treatment for the victims.

 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Tags microbeads, cosmetic

The U.S. government has finally made the first move to combat the microbeads.

According to the report by Business Insider, U.S. President Barack Obama just signed into law a bill banning the production of personal care products such as soaps, toothpastes and body washes that contains the harmful ingredient, microbeads.

The law, titled "Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015," prohibits the "manufacture and introduction or delivery for introduction into interstate commerce" of rinse-off cosmetic products that contain purposely-added plastic microbeads.

Through the law, microbeads will be phased out in consumer products in the next few years. The phase-out process will begin with a ban on manufacturing the microbeads on July 2017 followed by the ceasing of manufacturing and sales of products that contains the harmful ingredient by 2018 and 2019, respectively.

As pointed by Beat the Microbead, an international campaign against microbeads in cosmetics, microbeads are tiny particles of plastics that have been used by cosmetic manufacturers as abrasives in facial and body products. Described as less than a millimeter in diameter, these microbeads are too small to filter, thereby letting it flow directly to the ocean.

The site highlighted that these microbeads are eventually eaten or absorbed by sea creatures. Thus, it is highly possible that these tiny plastics can be transferred back to humans through the sea foods being consumed.

Beat the Microbead also emphasized that these harmful ingredients are not biodegradable and are already impossible to remove when submerged in the marine environment.

The Business Insider report also mentioned a release by the Wildlife Conservation Society saying that almost 19 tons of microbeads are washed down the drain every year in New York City alone. It also pointed a 2013 study which revealed that almost 1.7 million of tiny plastic particles per square kilometer were found in Lake Erie, a part of the Great Lakes region where many debris end up.

"Microbeads are highly damaging to the natural environment and the wildlife that live there. Because natural alternatives already exist, a ban on their use in personal care products makes perfect sense," Wildlife Conservation Society said in a statement.

Amid this banning of microbeads in U.S., the Independent also reported that there are now calls in the U.K. to take action regarding the use of the said ingredient.

Beat the Microbead has compiled a list of products that likely contain microbeads. The said list can be accessed here.

Do you know about the microbeads? What do you think of the banning of microbeads and the product that contain it? Let us know in the comments below.

 2015 Latinos Post. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Most of the leading 2016 presidential candidates have weighed in on the hot-button issue of immigration this campaign season; however, their opinions vary widely on how and if the country needs to build a wall to secure its border.

Leading Republican candidate Donald Trump has perhaps been the most vociferous on the issue, insisting he would not only erect a wall along a 2,000-mile stretch of land, but he would force Mexico to foot the bill for its construction.

Many of his rivals have branded his pledge as impractical and unrealistic. Still, Trump continues to boast on his website, "There must be a wall across our southern border," The Associated Press reports.

In addition, during an October GOP debate, he referenced the Great Wall of China in promoting his idea. He also reiterated his claim, "Mexico is going to pay for the wall."

Previously, Trump boasted, if elected, he would move to deport some 11 million immigrants in less than two years.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz has been almost as adamant as Trump in his support for a wall, but not nearly as forceful. On his website, Cruz pledges his support for the idea, though he offers no specifics on how he would make that happen.

While insisting no candidate is better prepared than he is to tackle the issue of immigration, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio has also been vague about supplying details of a plan.

During the Republican debate in September, in response to a related question, he said, "We must secure our border, the physical border, with a wall, absolutely."

One-time leading Republican candidate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush separated himself from the crowded GOP field by asserting he finds it unnecessary to build a massive border fence.

"We don't need to build a wall," he recently told a group of Latino business owners. He added Trump's wall strategy is "not based in reality."

On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton recently told supporters gathered at a New Hampshire town hall, "I voted numerous times when I was a senator to spend money to build a barrier to try to prevent illegal immigrants from coming in."

She later apologized for her use of the term "illegal immigrants" and, as of late, has not indicated whether she still supports the idea.

Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders couldn't be clearer about where he stands on the matter.

While stressing he understands the importance of securing the border, Sanders recently shared on his website he opposes building a fence to do so.
The famed annual Philadelphia Mummers Parade, which was recently held on New Year's Day with hundreds of marchers in different costumes promoting the 116-year folk tradition, faced condemnation in some of the members' anti-gay acts and signage such as painting their faces brown depicting Mexicans.

The annual Mummers Parade in Philadelphia made headlines for how the event reflected on certain groups like the LGBT community and Latin-American individuals. Many attendees mocked famous transsexuals like Caitlyn Jenner and depicted Mexicans with their faces painted brown, the Associated Press reported.

However, despite the numerous insults and condemnation from the public, the organizers and the city's next mayor recently released a statement denying the allegations made against them. They urged that the event wasn't intended to harm certain groups as the folk parade was merely a parody.

The parade also gained more attention when a certain individual, who was carrying a signage showing Caitlyn's photos, was caught on video shot by New York Daily News editor Nick Kurczewski showing a member of the Finnegan New Year's Brigade yelling "F--- the gays!" while marching along Broad Street, Philly reports.

In the Mummers' Press Release, Finnegan New Year Brigade Mike Inemer shared the actions they made after the highly criticized video circulated online.

"The Goodtimers Comic Club and Finnegan New Year Brigade (NYB), which marches in the Goodtimers Club, condemn the hateful speech spoken by a person marching with Finnegan on New Year's Day. As a result of this man's behavior the following action has been taken," Inemer wrote.

The NYB group further revealed that such individual was banned from the organization and that the group will be "offering its services to help with an LGBT fundraiser or equality awareness, and to learn more about LGBT concerns."

Furthermore, the group also stated how the parade rejects such kinds of expressions of hate and bigotry. "That negative behavior and expression has no place in a parade that celebrates family, working people and the hopes for the New Year, and in a parade that has come to represent the City of Philadelphia," the release reads, signed by several members of the group.

Stressing that the group cannot control what individuals within the organization choose to do, especially since the recent parade had many expressing negative symbols and messages for the public to see, the NYB further stated, "Therefore, we will continue to educate and to promote inclusivity and cultural awareness."


In light of the growing number of shortage in the teaching profession across the country, several cities and school districts have turned to opening up housing opportunities to prevent the extinction of teachers that have struggled to keep up their living to stay within their school areas.

The Associated Press extensively reports what has been going on for years in the education field, especially for teachers struggling to meet the demands of their profession to be in school for many hours and go home to their apartments that their salaries cannot afford to keep.

The publication reports that a breakthrough recently came up as San Francisco voters approved back in November to have about $35 million reserved for the construction of up to 100 new apartments by the San Francisco Unified School District.

This is one of the solutions that San Francisco has analyzed to have a huge effect in the number of teachers that can stay in school districts as they will be able to afford to stay nearby, and, therefore, have more productivity in their work.

"If I lived in a better area, I wouldn't feel so scared going home and I would be able to stay at school a little longer," first-grade teacher Esmeralda Jimenez said as quoted by the Associated Press. "You have so many things to do to prep for the next day, but it's gotten to the point where even if I leave at a decent time I will walk three blocks out of my way to avoid some streets."

To address the problem, Deputy Superintendent Nyong Leigh revealed just how housing for teachers will work in San Francisco. Apparently, the units will be rented at below-market rates for the 3,500 teachers and 1,600 classroom aides.

Furthermore, they will also be eligible for new rental housing allowances and home down payment loans to further reduce their living costs. "Each one of these ideas would reach some modest number, but in aggregate it would hopefully make a difference," Leigh said.

The November ballot has now received a great amount of support as the news agency revealed that the Roaring Fork School District in Western Colorado has leveraged a $122 million school construction bond to secure $15 million for subsidized teacher rentals.

This is seen to be of big help for teachers, who merely makes $47,000 but the average home sells for $630,000. "Without a doubt the number one reason we lose teachers and it's the number one reason people turn down jobs," Assistant Superintendent Shannon Pelland said as quoted by the news outlet.


Despite Hillary Clinton being his chief Democratic primary opponent, Bernie Sanders won't use Bill Clinton's sexual indiscretions against the former Secretary of State's presidential bid.

The Vermont senator and Democratic presidential aspirant said on CNN's "State of the Union" that there are more pressing issues to be concerned about than Bill Clinton's sex life.

The 74-year-old statesman was asked about Donald Trump's remarks regarding the former president's past affairs, which the brash billionaire said will hamper Hillary Clinton's bid for the White House.

"I think Donald Trump might want to concern himself with the fact that he is dead wrong when he says that we should not raise the minimum wage," Sanders asserted. "He's dead wrong when he says we should give huge tax breaks to billionaires like himself. And he's dead wrong when he thinks that climate change is a hoax when virtually the entire scientific community says that it's the great environmental crisis that we face. Maybe Trump should worry about those issues rather than Bill Clinton's sex life."

Bill Clinton's highly scrutinized sexual relationship with intern Monica Lewinsky led to his impeachment in 1998. He was later prosecuted for perjury and obstruction of justice.

Just a week ago, Latin Post previously reported that Trump threatened to revive Bill Clinton's infamous scandal after Hillary announced that her husband would be campaigning for her starting this week.

Meanwhile, Sanders reiterated that the business magnate is a "pathological liar." He said, "I do not get engaged in personal attacks, but Trump really is over the edge. Time after time, this guy just comes up with things off the top of his head that are lies."

Aside from commenting on his presidential rivals, Sanders also took the time to advance his stand on certain national issues, which he believes can win back Trump supporters. His primary focus is on income inequality and stifling ISIS, per Latin Post.

He also told CNN that wages for working-class Republicans are slowly decreasing while new income and wealth are going to the top one percent of the population.

"They can't afford to send their kids to college. They're seeing their jobs going to China," said the veteran democrat. "I think they want a president who has the courage to stand up to the billionaire class, to raise the minimum wage, to make public colleges and universities tuition-free."

He added that the next president should address a corrupt campaign finance system, where millionaires and billionaires frivolously spend unlimited sums of money to buy elections.

"The American people want change," Sanders declared. "I believe that I'm a vehicle of change, being prepared to stand up to the wealthy and the powerful and create an economy that works for all Americans."
Just less than 24 hours after she presumed office, newly elected Temixco Mayor Gisela Mota was shot dead in her home in Temixco, south of Mexico City.

According to BBC, Mota has just taken her oath as the new Mayor on Jan. 1, Friday, when she was killed the next day, Jan. 2. The assailants, according to witnesses, open fired at Mota's home that instantly killed her. Police responded to the crime, wherein two of the assailants were killed and three were held for investigation after an intense pursuit.

In a detailed report by the Daily News, Mota was attacked inside her home at around 7:30 a.m. where she was beaten and shot in the head by at least four gunmen. At 7:50 a.m., paramedics arrived at the crime scene, declaring Mota dead on the spot.

Gov. Graco Ramirez of the Morelos State said that he is not intimidated by the crime and will continue with the investigation. On his Twitter account, Morelos said as translated by Daily News, "We will not return to before. There will be no impunity."

The planned assassination was highly related to an organized crime, citing but not mentioning a particular drug cartel syndicate within the region. Cartels, not only in the region but throughout Mexico, have targeted several politicians all for the purpose of being in control of the communities and towns in Mexico.

The Democratic Revolution Party, Mota's political alliance, released a statement saying that she's a strong and brave woman whose major platform since presuming office is her direct and frontal war against crime.

Temixco is located some 60 miles south of Mexico and has a population of more than 100,000. It is also fourth in the largest cities in Morelos. Mota's case is not a first. In fact, a mayoral candidate was also a victim of such crime. Aide Nava Gonzalez, a mayoral candidate, was killed and found in the outskirts of the town she wished to represent. In June, a mayor-elect for Guanajuato was also killed.

A U.S. department website issued a warning on traveling to Mexico, especially in the Morelos region. The warning also reminded the public how U.S. citizens have also been a victim of carjacking, kidnapping and robbery by an organized crime in some of the Mexican states.

Mayor Gisela Mota's death is not an isolated case, and politicians have expressed their grief, vowing to make sure that the assailants will be held liable.
Travelers are warned about possible conflict when visiting Israel by the various states who are on high alert after a shooting attack in Tel Aviv last Friday, Jan. 1. The attack, which left two dead and at least seven wounded, came at a time when tensions are heightened and violence is rampant between the Israel and Palestinian territories.

According to a report from Yahoo! Travel, the U.S. State Department issued a statement back in mid-December, warning their citizens against traveling to the region.

"The security situation can change day to day, depending on the political situation, recent events, and geographic area," the statement said. "A rise in political tensions and violence in Jerusalem and the West Bank has resulted in injuries to and deaths of US citizens. The Department of State strongly warns U.S. citizens against travel to the Gaza Strip and urges those in Gaza to leave immediately when border crossings are open; U.S. government employees are not allowed to conduct official or personal travel to Gaza."

A report from YNET News revealed that the U.K. has also issued a similar warning after the Tel Aviv attack telling their citizens in the area to "remain vigilant and follow the advice of the security forces."

The Israel tourism community is hoping the impact of the recent incident will not be too massive, although they are aware it's possible the industry could take a hit over the events of Tel Aviv.

"The whole world is now in hysteria about terrorism, so we are just a small part of all this commotion," Yossi Fattal, Tour Operations Association director, told YNET News. "It is clear that this incident will not have a positive effect on tourism, but is still not clear how much of a negative effect it will have. In any case, we are currently preparing to welcome 150 travel agents and opinion leaders from abroad and hope in this manner to stop a decrease in tourism."

Still, the conflict has not stopped many tourists from visiting the country. In the Yahoo! Travel report, it was revealed that around 700,000 Americans traveled to Israel and returned home safely in 2015, according to the Ministry of Tourism of Israel.

The report also said that both Israel and Palestinian authorities are making sure that the tourism areas are safe for visitors. Back in October 2015, Israel's Ministry of Tourism released a statement saying, "The safety and well-being of visitors is paramount. Israel is well prepared and committed to handling all scenarios. If at any time we thought a trip to Israel was unwise, we'd have no hesitation in simply suggesting you postpone your trip."
Guerrilla movement FARC denied their connection to a man being investigated by the Colombian government for allegedly carrying out forced abortions on female members. The rebel group insisted that having such policy is not part, and against, their principles.

The man being investigated is Hector Albeidis Arboleda Buitrago, a nurse working in Madrid, who was taken into custody by Spanish authorities last December. He was accused of performing most of the abortions on female guerrillas, per BBC News.

Buitrago is known as "The Nurse," who allegedly forced aborted at least 150 babies in the Colombian jungle from 1998 to 2000, including 50 young girls raped by the rebels. He is wanted by Interpol for multiple counts of aggravated torture, non-consensual abortion and criminal conspiracy.

However, he was released by the authorities after some precautionary measures were taken. The 40-year-old nurse is still being investigated by the Colombian Attorney General's Office headed by Atty. Eduardo Montealegre.

"We have evidence to prove that forced abortion was a policy of the FARC that was based on forcing a female fighter to abort so as not to lose her as an instrument of war," Montealegre said. A former female rebel confessed in Bogota that she was forced to have five abortions before leaving the group.

Women in the group were expected to fight, so abortions are a must to be able to keep their fighting abilities and not become a liability in battle. There a few female fighters who were lucky enough to be allowed to have their babies.

According to FOX News, FARC has already issued a statement regarding the accusations via the FARC-EP Joint Chiefs of Staff Secretariat, saying that they have no policy that forces pregnant guerrilla members to have abortions. They added that contraception is available inside their group and calls the entire controversy as a "judicial and media set up."

The group has continued to deny the claims, also calling the accusations of raping women and using dead guerrillas in their anatomy classes "false and shameful." FARC has about 8,000 current members, 2,500 of whom are women.

The guerrilla movement was formed in 1964 with the main goal to create a Marxist regime in Colombia. They once controlled about 40,000 square kilometers of the country, but the group suffered a lot of problems in recent years.

About 220,000 people, in which majority are civilians, have already been killed in the 50-year conflict. The Colombian government and FARC leaders held peace talks in Oslo, Norway back in 2012 after signing a preliminary agreement in Havana, Cuba.
Argentina's new government declared on Sunday that it will continue its claim to the Falkland Islands, a British Overseas Territory 300 miles east of South America's Patagonian coast. Newly elected president, Mauricio Macri has invited the U.K. to start a possible negotiation regarding the disputed islands and other territories.

"Argentina renews its firm commitment to peacefully settling its differences, to international law and multilateralism. Buenos Aires invites the [U.K.] to resume as soon as possible negotiations aimed at settling fairly and definitively, the sovereignty dispute over the Malvinas (Falklands) islands, South Georgia, South Sandwich islands and surrounding territorial seas," Macri said in a statement, per AFP News.

The 56-year-old president is not willing to use aggressive behaviour towards the British government, unlike former President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. He is expected to use a more subtle, appeasing way for his international relations regarding the islands they call "Las Malvinas."

"We have to restore this relationship that has been frozen in recent years, as a result of this conflict. We're talking about two countries which have a lot in common. For example, in terms of environmental concerns, innovation, culture," Argentian Foreign Policy Head Fulvio Pompeo told the British Media, per Forces TV.

The Great Britain and Argentina fought in a 10-week war called the "Falklands War" in 1982 over the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. A total of 649 Argentinean and 255 British armed forces servicemen were killed in the conflict, including three Falkland civilians.

Argentina has maintained its claim on the islands as an inheritance from Spain when it gained its independence in 1767. Britain has reasserted their rule over the islands in 1833, but many nations have settled over the disputed area including France and Spain.

According to BBC News, Falkland Islanders held a two-day voting referendum back in 2013 regarding their sovereignty. A turnout of 91.94 percent was achieved, with 99.8 percent voting to remain under British rule while only three votes were in favor of calling for a negotiation with Argentina.

"You don't get a much clearer expression of the people's self-determination than such a large turnout and such a large 'YES' vote," Falkland Islands Gov. Nigel Haywood said. Election observers from different Latin American countries including Chile and Mexico were present during the vote.

As of the 2012 census, there is an estimated 3,000 Falkland Islanders who are mainly of Welsh and Scottish origin with some descendants from France, Gibraltar and Scandinavia.
There are two kinds of people in the world: those who were intrigued by the cliffhanger at the end of "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" and those who were even more intrigued by the actual cliff where the movie's final scene took place.

While those who fall under the first category still have to wait for another year to find out what happens to Luke Skywalker and Rey, "Star Wars" aficionados who have a penchant for traveling can visit the majestic mountain island right now, or preferably in mid-2016.

As it turns out, the Jedi sanctuary is a real location known as the Skellig Michael. According to CNN, the steep island is a UNESCO World Heritage Site situated in County Kerry, which is 12 kilometers off the southwest coast of Ireland.

The Skellig Michael's rocky and intimidating peaks are uninhabited, but it was once the site of a sixth-century Christian monastery. The sense of solitude is strong in the island and its scenery is nothing short of breathtaking. Visitors would have to walk up 600 steps to reach the beehive-shaped huts of what was once one of Europe's most isolated religious communities.

The island's forbidding location has discouraged large crowds from visiting, but officials expect that to change following the site's involvement in "Star Wars: The Force Awakens."

The island is a two-hour boat ride from the Skellig Experience information center located in Valentia. Visitors can watch a 14-minute video presentation about the Skellig Michael before booking a boat trip that circles but does not land on the island. Boats that do land on the Skellig Michael depart daily from Portmagee, County Kerry. Peak season is from April to September.

With that in mind, tourism in Ireland is expected to suffer a significant blow if a recent unconfirmed report turns out to be true.

According to MakingStarWars.net editor Jason Ward via Irish Mirror, Skellig Michael sets have already been recreated at Pinewood. The "Star Wars" production team allegedly decided that filming in the real Skellig Michael was just too difficult for several environmental reasons.

The aforementioned report has yet to be confirmed by Lucasfilm or Disney.

Tourism Ireland CEO Niall Gibbons was amenable in aligning Ireland with the highly popular movie franchise, but he could also see those associations drastically altered if the production team decides not to return.

"The opportunity to associate the Ireland brand with the 'Star Wars' brand is something that's going to be good for all of us," Gibbons previously stated. "The release of 'The Force Awakens' presents Tourism Ireland with a truly unique opportunity to highlight the South West and Ireland in 2016."
Venezuela's state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) is temporarily stopping the export of natural gas to its neighbor Colombia due to "climate factors," as confirmed by the Colombian Mines and Energy Ministry on Friday, Jan. 1, according to a report from Reuters.

The report continued that the ministry revealed that PDVSA cited "climate variability" as a primary reason for the exports' delay in a letter to the Colombian government on Wednesday.

Ecopetrol, the Colombian state oil company, has asked its Venezuelan counterpart for the projected date of the exports to begin.

These gas exports are reportedly part of an agreement between Venezuela and Colombia, which includes a provision that the countries can supply their own markets as necessary before exporting to their neighbor. Colombia was a significant supplier of gas to Venezuela for eight years, and the exchange was set to be reversed on Jan. 1.

"The contract specifies the delivery of 39 million cubic feet a day from Venezuela, which corresponds to just over three percent of daily supply in Colombia," the Colombian Mines and Energy Ministry statement said.

A report from Fox News also cited the need to generate electricity as one of the reasons for pulling back on the gas exports. Both countries have experienced an El Nino-triggered drought recently, reducing levels of hydroelectric dams as of late, although the statement from the ministry did not elaborate on this.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) revealed that Venezuela has massive natural gas reserves, standing second only to the U.S. However, the country has been consuming massive amounts as well -- more than it produces -- and is trying to upgrade its infrastructure. Part of these reserves is used to generate power while a large 35 percent is allotted for the petroleum industry.

The drought has been felt throughout South America, and Venezuela is launching efforts to mitigate its effects on the country. The risks are expected to increase in 2016, so the Venezuelan government has undergone an information campaign recently to warn and inform the community on the potential crisis, according to a report from Telesur TV.

The Ecosocialism and Water Ministry has also put together a commission to protect water resources in the face of its scarcity while the government submitted a 38-page plan of its Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) during the United Nations 21st Conference of the Parties. The plan includes the details of the country's intention to cut their emissions by 20 percent in 2030.
Uruguay floods have left 24,000 persons homeless after heavy rains poured down in the country.

A report coming from Uruguay's Sinae or National Emergency System revealed that the number of residents from four provinces located on the west coast area has risen. Out of the 23,571 displaced individuals, 21,249 voluntarily left their homes using their own capacity while 2,322 were evacuated with the help of the government. 6,708 were from Paysandu, 11,002 from the province of Artigas, 5,804 in Salto and 57 in Rio Negro province.

The flooding in Uruguay was the result of massive downpours of rain that caused the Uruguay River, particularly its Cuareim tributary that courses through the northern Artigas, to overflow.

Fox News Latino reported that last Dec. 23, the Cuareim River whose safety level is at 33 1/2 feet (10.2 meters) came to 50 feet (15.28 meters), its highest level. As of present time, the river has stabilized and lowered below that height.

Furthermore, the level of the water from the Uruguay River that runs through Salto where the current rose to 43 2/3 feet (13.32 meters) has subsided. The safety level is at 33 1/3 feet (12 meters). Same as in Paysandu where safety level is at 18 feet (5.5 meters), the water level has stabilized and is now at a height of 30 feet (9.1 meters).

According to Latin American Herald Tribune, those affected by the Uruguay floods have been assisted by emergency management services and evacuated in temporary shelters. Other homeless individuals were either lodged at makeshift campsites or staying in private residences.

In the meantime, evacuees were provided with personal hygiene and healthcare goods as well as other needed items. The provincial authorities and several NGOs assisted Uruguay's Sinae in taking care of the displaced residents.

The Sinae has stated that it will continue to monitor the situation and to arrange for the return of the residents to the city of Artigas. However, it gave out a warning for those who will go back to their homes once the Uruguay River water levels become normal that returning to their abode can only be accomplished without danger after the "cleaning and disinfection of the affected areas have been carried out." Other factors that place the well-being of the population at peril are the excessive demands on the healthcare system and the presence of bacteria."

Meanwhile, in a report by International Business Times, the heavy rains that poured down that caused the Uruguay floods as wells as in Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina were caused by the El Nino weather phenomenon.

Paraguay's national emergencies office stated that the "worst flooding in 50 years" that affected the South American countries was "directly influenced by the El Nino phenomenon which has intensified the frequency and intensity of rains."
This 2016, Latinas Think Big community listed the top 10 Latina innovators who are changing the world's status quo through the diverse fields of science diplomacy, engineering, technology, the arts, health and local politics. According to the Huffington Post, these innovators used their culture, authenticity and passion to influence the Latino community and create new opportunities as well as achieve social impact.

So, what is Latinas Think Big Innovation Summit? Well, it is a community of 300 accomplished and aspiring Latinas that aims to improve the careers, businesses and economic prosperity of women through an online platform, entrepreneurial events and summits. And here are the top 10 Latina innovators, tech entrepreneurs and influencers to watch out for in 2016.

1. Marga Gual Soler, PhD

Soler is a biomedical scientist who uses science to break down barriers and build bridges between people, institutions and nations. As a project director at the Center for Science Diplomacy at the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C, her science diplomacy research projects aim to address political, geographical and cultural divisions between countries.

2. Noramay Cadenas

The co-founder and general manager of Make in Los Angeles, Cadena is the leading innovator for the first hardware accelerator in the San Fernando Valley. She is also leading the Latinas in STEM Foundation, an organization she co-founded in 2013 to inspire and empower Hispanic women to pursue and thrive in STEM fields.

3. Judith Duval

This Dominican-born entrepreneur and TV personality uses multimedia to reach the Latino community in both Spanish and English languages. She is innovating the wellness industry by combining biculturalism, multimedia and authenticity to inspire her readers and followers.

4. Judith Garcia

Garcia is a Latina millennial who is trailblazing in local politics. At the age of 24, she recently became a City Council for District 5 in Chelsea, Massachusetts who had the highest voter turnout in the first preliminary election in the district for more than a decade. She is also making a difference by using a new approach to local politics and her strongest asset is listening to her community.

5. Catherine Lajara

Lajara established the first institution-independent clinical research center in the Bronx. She aims to bring clinical research opportunities to urban communities and address health disparities among minority populations such as Latinos and African-American.

6. Angelica Gutierrez, PhD

Names as the one of the top 40 best professors under 40 in 2015, Gutierrez is a business and leadership professor who cultivates the next generation of business leaders. Her profound passion for student mentorship is also highly notable.

7. Sandra Tibbs, PhD

While extensively working with Fortune 500 corporate leaders, Tibbs combines her military experience, doctoral work in leadership studies and cultural background to expand a strong framework for developing leadership beyond corporate America.

8. Luz Rivas

As a daughter of Mexican immigrants, Rivas used her Harvard education to inspire the next generation of technologists and engineers through creative electronic kits. In 2011, she founded DIY Girls, a nonprofit organization established to create hands-on Science-Technology-Engineering-Art-Math (STEAM) programs to Los Angeles kids. She also co-founded KitHub, which has received wide recognition and venture capital funding.

9. Adriana Pavon

Pavon is a Mexican entrepreneur, fashion designer and artist advocate who uses her skills, creativity and passion to empower indigenous artists while she preserves her culture. She is also the founder of the Detroit Fashion Collective, an entrepreneurial ecosystem helping designers to develop their independent labels into successful businesses.

10. Estefania Ortiz

Currently a senior Computer Science student at Stanford University, Ortiz has interned in Software Engineering at top tech giants such as Microsoft and Facebook. She uses her passion for Software Engineering, Entrepreneurship and Education in Puerto Rico to promote independent education through free and accessible online courses. She has also developed a curriculum designed to assist high school students.
Starting this week, the city of Los Angeles has a great possibility to experience a series of El Nino-related rainstorms and snowfall which could last all throughout the week.

As reported by The Los Angeles Times, there is a 30 percent chance of rain between 10 p.m. Sunday and 4 a.m. Monday, and a 70 percent chance Monday morning, according to Robbie Munroe, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Oxnard, with a good chance of up to half-inch of rain.

Moreover, there is a also the great possibility that Los Angeles will experience the strongest storm this Tuesday, Munroe Said.

It will bring about one or two inches of rain in foothill areas, with up to four inches at higher elevations. Mountain areas above 6,000 feet could experience up to 2 feet of snow.

According to The Daily News, that much rain in a short period could also bring flooding and debris flows from recently burnt areas. And as noted, residents in these areas are advised to monitor weather reports and consider preparing sand bags.

In a report by KPCC, John Dumas, a Science and Operations Officer from the NWS said, "We're very concerned with a lot of the areas where there has been fire. When the rain comes down on that, it could start triggering the mud and the rocks and everything else to start coming down."

Dumas also said, "The overall pattern that is bringing us these storms is finally looking like what we would expect the El Nino pattern to look like that it so far hasn't this summer."

In addition, coastal areas can expect high surf throughout much of next week, along with the possibility of flooding, especially during the middle of the week when a large swell arrives, the NWS said. Furthermore, Western-facing beaches will be particularly prone to flooding on Tuesday and Wednesday.

A spokesperson from the Long Beach Fire Department said that although there are no imminent flood warnings, city agencies are monitoring for a new new weather developments.

The first rain in the city of Los Angeles was expected to fall yesterday during afternoon or evening, but the NWS warned another storm will hit the city Wednesday, with the rainfall decreasing on Thursday.

On the other hand, resorts in the Sierra and San Gabriel mountains are expecting several feet of snow. In fact, Mammoth Resorts already exceeded their last season's attendance record, resort spokeswoman Lauren Burke said.

"We're averaging about 15,000 people on the hill every day, which is really solid holiday visitation. Some days we've seen even a little more than that and any time it snows we've seen that number pick up," she added.
In his last year as the President of the United States, Barack Obama is considering a trip to Cuba if its government bolsters its human rights record and opens its doors for more American business.

As reported by The Los Angeles Times, the president would make the decision in the next couple of months, as his national security team is still evaluating the tentative warming of relations since the opening of a U.S. embassy in Havana last year.

According to Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes, "The key test is whether the president's going to Cuba would help advance those priorities," and in particular whether the visit would "improve the lives of the Cuban people."

Bloomberg noted that the U.S. has taken steps to facilitate travel and commerce with the country for the first time in decades, though Rhodes said that "there is more we could do."

He added that, "On the Cuban side, there are steps they could take over the course of the year that could allow them to absorb greater economic activity," while also saying that nobody is expecting Cuba in the next couple of years to become a multi-party democracy.

Cuba and the United States started to re-establish its ties in late 2014, where Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro met at the Summit of the Americas in Panama in April 2015 -- the first meeting between the U.S. and Cuban heads of state since 1961.

In a similar report by Reuters, a trip by a U.S. president would be historic and the government is willing to use that leverage to press Cuba to make reforms. President Obama made it clear that he is eager to visit the country before he leaves office next year.

This controversial visit arose in a preview of the president's foreign policy plans for his final year in the office, as his aides prepare for his return to Washington after two weeks of vacation with his family in his childhood home state of Hawaii.

And by far, the overarching foreign policy of the new year will be the fight against terrorists, with the Islamic State in particular. Moreover, the Obama administration will be looking to disrupt the terrorist group's plans, ease the Syrian conflict and push the group away from its safe havens in that region.

Obama's aides also said that the president also plans to seek new authorization for the use of military force. As noted, the fight against terrorism will be the main focus with NATO leaders at an upcoming summit in Poland.
Later this week, President Barack Obama will be discussing the need for stricter policies on the use of guns. A live televised meeting with Obama to be hosted by CNN will tackle gun violence in the U.S.

President Obama will participate in a town-hall style meeting with Anderson Cooper at George Mason University, which is set to air live on Thursday, Jan. 7, 8 p.m. ET. The one-hour show titled "Guns in America" will be televised exclusively on CNN.

Today, Jan. 4, the U.S. president is scheduled to meet with Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch to talk about executive actions that can be done to control gun violence, the New York Times reports. According to the president's weekly radio address, he has received a lot of letters from teachers, parents and children regarding "the epidemic of gun violence" that he cannot "sit around and do nothing," per Telegraph.

Furthermore, the report noted that the president previously directed the White House staff to research on possible executive actions to combat gun violence, which include wider background checks. Firearms dealers licensed by the federal government are required to make background checks on potential gun buyers.

However, according to advocacy groups, there are firearm sellers at gun shows who do not have federal licenses, which could mount the chance of gun sales to customers who are not legally eligible to own a gun.

Though the plans for the executive actions are still incomplete, advocates for gun control are expecting that new actions will be revealed next week prior to the yearly State of the Union address of the president, which is scheduled on Jan. 12.

CNN's report noted that gun control is an issue that Obama "has had zero success on so far in his presidency." This is in spite of the president's frequent emotional call for change.

"Congress has remained a roadblock even in the face of widespread public support for Obama's past calls for universal background checks or bolstered mental health support, with near uniform opposition from Republicans and a split on the issue among Democrats," CNN explained.

CNN's report noted that the president has constantly expressed his frustration that Congress is not able to pass gun laws. Obama also spoke about increasing gun control, especially in the wake of mass shootings.

A recent one, the San Bernardino shooting in California, killed 14 people. Obama's initial response emphasized the need for stricter gun restrictions, New York Times noted.

Below is a report from CNN about Obama's plans to tighten laws on gun control.
The legal counsel of accused money laundering Ex-Honduran VP and Grupo Continental CEO Jaime Rosenthal said their client cannot be extradited until crime investigation in Honduras is completed.

"As long as proceedings are pending against him, the extradition process cannot start," asserted defense attorney Marlon Duarte via LA Herald Tribune.

The statement was made after the Honduras government publicly announced that it has received a request from the U.S. for the extradition of the prominent politician and banker, per Reuters.

Foreign Minister Arturo Corrales revealed on Saturday that the request was received before Christmas. After the long holiday break, the Honduran courts will decide this week whether to grant Jamie's extradition. Corrales added that the request for Rosenthal was "bad news for the country."

On Oct. 7, the U.S. Treasury Department announced that Jamie, his son Yani Rosenthal, nephew Yankel Rosenthal along with multiple businesses operating under Grupo Continental, had been designated under the Kingpin Act. Prosecutors accused the trio of laundering money for drug traffickers in Central America.

The three Rosenthals and their lawyer Andres Acosta Garcia have since been charged with plotting the decade-long modus operandi, where drug trafficking and foreign bribery profits were laundered via U.S. bank accounts.

The Rosenthals have consistently denied the allegations even though Yankel was arrested in Miami.

Jaime has a net worth of approximately $690 million. He is also the proud custodian of no less than 11,000 head of cattle and 10,000 crocodiles.

Rosenthal operates at least 20 businesses in Honduras, as per Bloomberg Business. Apart from cattle and crocodile farming, the multi-millionaire credits the vast majority of his wealth in banking. However, Honduras' Banking Commission has ordered Banco Continental to be liquidated. The bank has roughly $500 million in assets, the largest in Rosenthal's portfolio.

The 79-year-old has not given any indication that he plans to leave the country, where he owns 23 properties and employs 100 members of his family's support staff including bodyguards, drivers and nurses.

Rosenthal graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1958. He served as the vice-president of Honduras from 1986 to 1989. As a staunch member of the country's liberal party, which he eventually led at some point, he spoke very openly against the country's 2009 coup against President Manuel Zelaya.

The public figure and business magnate now face major restrictions from the U.S. Treasury, which has placed sanctions on Inversiones Continental, a company that has immense control over Rosenthal's banking, financial services, property, construction and agricultural interests as well as many others including three offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands.
The United States is in far greater danger than it was when President Barack Obama entered the White House, according Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio, who spoke of his national security plan.

From New Hampshire on Monday, Rubio said any event in foreign cities such as Beijing, Moscow and Tehran are also the business of the U.S. He explained global events affect the U.S. economy, and foreign policy is now an important factor of U.S. domestic policy. He accused Obama of basing foreign policy strategies on politics, citing the response to the San Bernardino shootings.

"When America needed a bold plan of action from our Commander-in-Chief, we instead got a lecture on love, tolerance, and gun control designed to please the talking heads at MSNBC. The result of all of this is that people are afraid. And they have every right to be," said Rubio, based on prepared remarks. "To make matters worse, candidates for president in both parties cling to the same plan of weakness and retreat."

Taking a shot at Democratic Party front-runner Hillary Clinton, Rubio said the former secretary of state "stood by" while Syria became the worst humanitarian crisis of the generation, mocked her "reset" button effort with Russia despite President Vladimir Putin invading Ukraine, and her poor management in Libya, resulting in the deaths of four Americans in Benghazi.

"Not only is Hillary Clinton incompetent, she's also a liar," said Rubio. "While she was leading the public and the families of the fallen to believe the attack in Benghazi happened because of a YouTube video, we now know she was admitting in private emails that it was the result of terrorism. She lied to our faces. ... If I am our nominee, voters will be reminded of it time and time again."

Rubio didn't only attack the Democratic front-runner, but he also commented about the policies among the Republican presidential candidates. Without specifically naming a fellow GOP candidate, Rubio said his Republican colleagues have suggested Putin and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to partner with the U.S., have voted in favor of Obama and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, are isolationists with a policy to weak military and intelligence capabilities instead of fighting enemies.

"They talk tough, yet they would strip us of the ability to keep our people safe," said Rubio without naming a fellow Republican presidential candidate. "Words and political stunts cannot ensure our security."

Rubio said he will be a president who would destroy terrorists overseas "by authorizing whatever tools our commanders need," reverse defense cuts and equip military men and women to have the upper hand in battle.

The Florida senator also spoke about Obama's imminent executive actions on gun regulation. Although Obama has yet to announce the executive actions, Rubio said Obama's announcement will affect law-abiding citizens instead of criminals or terrorists.

"This president needs to stop focusing on what he's constitutionally forbidden to do, which is interfering with our Second Amendment rights, and he needs to start focusing on what he's constitutionally required to do, which is protecting our people as Commander in Chief," Rubio said.

In regards to handling terrorists, Rubio said suspected terrorists will not be given their Miranda Rights or have their day in court. Foreign terrorists, when caught overseas, will be sent to the Guantanamo Bay facility in Cuba for interrogation. If an American is caught to support terrorism, Rubio said he has no problem treating the individual as an enemy combatant.

"The time to act is now," added Rubio. "We cannot afford to elect Hillary Clinton, because America cannot afford another four years like the last eight. And we cannot settle for just any Republican, because this election is not a choice between two parties, it is a generational choice on our identity as a nation and as a people."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.
The Obama administration has confirmed deportations raids on adults and children who were apprehended in the U.S.

In a statement released on Monday, U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Jeh Johnson said he has repeatedly said "our borders are not open to illegal migration; if you come here illegally, we will send you back consistent with our laws and values." And while immigrant apprehensions have dropped during the 2015 fiscal year, Johnson revealed the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency within the DHS, conducted nationwide enforcement operations to detain or return "at a greater rate" adults who entered the U.S. illegally with children.

"This should come as no surprise," said Johnson. "I have said publicly for months that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed."

Johnson said New Years weekend saw operations that, in addition to adults, focused on children who:

1. Were apprehended after May 1, 2014 crossing the southern border illegally,

2. Have been issued final orders of removal by an immigration court,

3. Have exhausted appropriate legal remedies, and have no outstanding appeal or claim for asylum or other humanitarian relief under our laws.

The Homeland Security secretary disclosed 121 individuals were taken into custody and are in the process to be deported. Most of detainees were residing in Georgia, North Carolina and Texas.

Families have been impacted. Johnson said most families in custody are first sent to one of ICE's family residential centers -- or a detention facility -- for temporary processing before receiving travel documents to board a flight to their native country. Among these families are children, and Johnson said precautions were taken in such cases, which included deployment of "a number" of female ICE agents and medical personnel.

Johnson said it is his discretion to continue additional deportation raids, and last weekend's action was overseen by ICE Director Sarah Saldana.

Although immigrant apprehension has declined, Johnson said the rate of unaccompanied immigrant children crossing the southern border has increased in recent months. As a result, DHS has continued cooperation with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to provide care and sponsors for the minors; per law, DHS transfers minors to the custody of HHS.

As the deportation raids were occurring, immigrant rights groups continued to voice their opposition to the Obama's administration decision to continue the campaign.

Pablo Alvarado, executive director of the National Day Laborer Organizing Network (NDLON), called on Obama to stop the raids.

"What message is sent by a president whose first action in the new year is to destroy families - to rip children from their homes and communities? In recent years, too many lives have been ruined by heartless and racist deportation policies. Home raids are inherently destructive and terrorize immigrant communities. Now is not a time for mass deportations, but for increased humanity," Alvarado said.

Alvarado said Obama's latest deportation campaign is "far more harmful" than Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric.

"While Trumps's dangerous rhetoric stigmatizes our loved ones, President Obama actually deports them," added Alvarado. "ICE is distrusted by our communities and rightly so. Reports indicate that ICE has been using racist lies to trick people into letting ICE into their homes. Immigrant communities must be warned to not open their doors to ICE unless they have a warrant. "We need an immigration policy that recognizes the human dignity of migrants and does not use them as political pawns. Anything less is unconscionable."

The Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) also called on Obama, Johnson and Saldana to immediately end the raids.

"If these families are deported -- and most of them would be women and children, they would be returned to places they fled to escape being killed, raped or tortured," said FIRM spokesperson Kica Matos. "These families came to the United States seeking refuge and better lives, like countless millions of other immigrants. That is what has made America the great country that it is. Rounding up these families to deport them back to a region marked by extreme violence is inhumane."

While more deportation raids may occur, Johnson said the U.S. Department of State has been working on establishing an improved refugee screening process for Central Americans and an announcement is expected soon.

"I know there are many who loudly condemn our enforcement efforts as far too harsh, while there will be others who say these actions don't go far enough. I also recognize the reality of the pain that deportations do in fact cause. But, we must enforce the law consistent with our priorities," said Johnson. "At all times, we endeavor to do this consistent with American values, and basic principles of decency, fairness, and humanity."

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For the latest updates, follow Latin Post's Politics Editor Michael Oleaga on Twitter: @EditorMikeO or contact via email: m.oleaga@latinpost.com.
Donald Trump doubled down on some of his most controversial remarks in his campaign's first television ad, reiterating his promise to temporarily ban on Muslims entering the U.S. and have Mexico pay for a wall along the border.

The 30-second spot, set for official release on Jan. 5, in the critical early primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire, includes images of masked militants standing in front of Arabic script and what could be interpreted as throngs of Mexicans running toward a border fence.

Trump "is calling for a temporary shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until we can figure out what's going on," the commercial's narrator summarizes. "He'll quickly cut the head of (the jihadist terror group) ISIS and take their oil. And he'll stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for."

Using bleak imagery, the ad attacks President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton -- the Democratic front-runner in the 2016 White House race -- for refusing to use the phrase "radical Islamic terrorism." At one point, it also shows photographs of the couple that carried out the deadly attack in San Bernardino, California.

The 69-year-old real-estate tycoon has said he's was pleased with the ad, though he indirectly admitted that he had fared very well on free media coverage so far.

The Trump campaign announced that it would be spending at least $2 million dollars per week, with $1.1 million allocated to television in Iowa and nearly $1 million spent on New Hampshire broadcasts. Previously, Trump had already run radio commercials in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, and it said that those ad buys would remain in place.

In a statement from his campaign, Trump said, "I am leading in every poll by wide, double digit margins. We have tremendous crowds, incredible support from all over the country and I am $35 million dollars under budget. We have spent the least amount of money and have the best results and this is the kind of thinking the country needs. I am very proud of this ad, I don't know if I need it, but I don't want to take any chances because if I win we are going to Make America Great Again."
Republican presidential hopeful Marco Rubio on Jan. 3 promised to immediately undo President Barack Obama's executive action on gun rights if he were to move into the White House in 2017.

Speaking in the critical early-primary state of New Hampshire, the Florida senator claimed Obama's move -- which will require more small-scale gun sellers to obtain federal licenses -- was unconstitutional, hours before the president had announced the details of his plan, Time reported.

"(Obama) has waged war on the Constitution," Rubio told a crowd in Raymond, New Hampshire. "He is obsessed with gun control," and the president's decision was "meant to further erode the Second Amendment."

"I believe that every single American has a Constitution -- and therefore God-given -- right to defend themselves and their families," Rubio concluded.

The White House is finalizing several measures in an effort to make progress on curbing gun violence, an issue Obama and his aides have found intractable, Politico recalled. Requiring an expanded number of small-scale gun sellers to be licensed would lead to additional background checks whenever a gun purchase takes place, the Washington publication explained.

A number of Rubio's rivals for the Republican nomination in this year's White House race, meanwhile, similarly criticized the administration's efforts. At a Mississippi campaign rally on Jan. 3, party front-runner Donald Trump promised to "unsign" anything Obama implements, CNN noted.

"There's an assault on the Second Amendment," Trump said. "You know Obama's going to do an executive order and really knock the hell out of it. ... He's going to sign another executive order having to do with the Second Amendment, having to do with guns. I will veto. I will unsign that so fast."

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, meanwhile, told "Fox News Sunday" that Obama "wants to act as if he is a king, as if he is a dictator."

"Fact is, if he wants to make changes to these laws, go to Congress and convince the Congress that they're necessary," Christie said. "But this is going to be another illegal executive action, which I'm sure will be rejected by the courts and when I become president will be stricken from executive action by executive action I'll take."
A New Hampshire state representative over the weekend got into an argument with Hillary Clinton after she tried to question the Democratic front-runner over allegations involving the sexual history of Clinton's husband, former President Bill Clinton.

Katherine Prudhomme-O'Brien, a Republican member of the Granite State's House of Representatives, repeatedly interrupted during a town hall held at a middle school gymnasium in Derry, New Hampshire.

According to the Washington Post, Prudhomme-O'Brien has a history of following the former New York senator and urging her to answer questions about Bill Clinton's alleged misconduct. It was not clear if the presidential candidate was able to hear the representative's comments, but Clinton did take note of the interruption and chided Prudhomme-O'Brien for her behavior.

"You are very rude," Clinton replied. "And I'm not ever going to call on you."

Prudhomme-O'Brien later told reporters that she was angered by "the hypocrisy of the so-called women fighting for women" and thus wanted to raise the issue of Bill Clinton's alleged sexual misconduct.

"I asked her how in the world she can say that Juanita Broaddrick and Kathleen Willey are lying when she has no idea who Juanita Broaddrick is," Prudhomme-O'Brien told CNN in reference to a former Arkansas nursing home administrator who in 1999 had accused Bill Clinton of having raped her two decades earlier.

At the time, Clinton's attorney David Kendall denied the allegations on behalf of the then-president, and the Clintons have refused to further comment on the issue.

"She told me this summer she doesn't know who she is and doesn't want to know who she is," Prudhomme-O'Brien added. "How can she assess that they are lying, which she told someone last month?"

The Democratic front-runner last year told an Iowa audience that rape victims "have the right to be believed," assuring them they had "the right to be heard." But Prudhomme-O'Brien alleged that the former first lady was not making true on her promise.

"She says that rape victims should be believed," the state representative noted. "I agree with her, that is true, they should be believed and we should assess what they are saying, she doesn't even what to access it."
Several 2016 Republican candidates have seized the opportunity to attack President Barack Obama over his plan to use his executive authority to expand gun control measures.

For years, Obama has urged the Republican-controlled Congress to take action against gun violence in America by strengthening gun laws that would make it harder for people with criminal backgrounds and mental illness to purchase a firearm. However, GOP lawmakers have refused to pass legislation on gun regulation. As a result, the president announced last week that he plans to impose executive orders that would restrict gun access in effort to prevent another mass shooting. He also planned to meet with Attorney Gen. Loretta Lynch on Monday to review possible executive actions he can take on that will withstand legal challenges, reports CBS News.

"We know that we can't stop every act of violence," Obama said in his weekly address. "But what if we tried to stop even one?"

According to administration officials, one measure in Obama's executive order would require background checks for those who buy firearms at gun shows, a proposal that Republican congressmen, backed by the National Riffle Association, have long blocked.

Just days after he announced his plans to consider executive actions on gun control, the president drew sharp criticism from Republican presidential candidates who say he lacks the authority to enact the restrictions by executive order.

"I don't like anything to do with changing our 2nd Amendment," said Republican front-runner Donald Trump on CBS' "Face the Nation" on Sunday. Obama "just goes and signs executive orders on everything."

The billionaire businessman also vowed to "terminate" any gun measures implemented by the Obama administration should he become president during an appearance on Fox News Sunday morning.

"He's been getting away with murder," said the real estate mogul.

Florida Gov. Jeb Bush also blasted the possible firearm sale restrictions, arguing that the move would "take rights away from law-abiding citizens."

"To use executive powers he doesn't have is a pattern that is quite dangerous," Bush told Fox News. "His top-down driven approach doesn't create freedom, doesn't create safety, doesn't create security. And that's what we ought to be focused on."

Likewise, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio spoke out against the president "governing through decree" while at a campaign event on Sunday.

"Executive actions are designed to implement law, designed to help the implementation of law -- not to undermine the law. And he's used executive action as a way to undermine the law or write a new law," Rubio told reporters at a town hall in New Hampshire.

Meanwhile, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie predicted that the "illegal executive action" would later be "rejected by the courts."

"When I become president, [the order] will be stricken from executive action -- by executive action I will take," he pledged on Fox News.

On the other hand, both 2016 Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders praised the president's plans.
A Donald Trump supporter was escorted out of a Bernie Sanders campaign rally in Massachusetts over the weekend after the man heckled the 2016 Democratic candidate.

The Vermont senator was addressing a crowd of more than 3,000 people at the University of Massachusetts campus in Amherst on Saturday when he was briefly interrupted by a man wearing a Trump T-shirt. Sanders was talking about wealth inequality when he was interrupted by the man, who shouted, "Shame on you Bernie!" from the third row of the auditorium, according to The Sacramento Bee.

"Here is a Trump supporter worried about Mr. Trump's money," Sanders said in response, prompting boos from the audience. The heckler was then removed from the auditorium by Sanders' staff while the crowd chanted "Bernie, Bernie, Bernie" to drown out the protester.

The man, however, continued to fist-pump during his exit. He was also holding a sign that read, "Obama is as Christian as Bruce Jenner is a woman."

Once the Trump supporter was removed, Sanders said, "I say to Mr. Trump and his supporters that the billionaires of this country will not continue to own this nation."

During the rally, Sanders also criticized Trump for calling for a temporary ban on Muslim immigrants entering the country and a mass deportation of undocumented residents.

"We all know people are angry and they are upset for a lot of good reasons," the self-proclaimed Democratic Socialist said. "But what we have got to do is not let Trump and these other people divide us up. Latinos who are picking tomatoes for eight bucks an hour are not the reason that the middle class of this country is disappearing. Muslim kids who are going to schools studying to be engineers are not the reason we have income and wealth inequality."

Back in October, Trump bashed Sanders, saying, "I call him a socialist-slash-communist, because that's what he is," reports CNN.
Communication, commerce, and government are just a few aspects of our daily lives that have been forever changed and, in many ways, made more convenient by the Internet. Unfortunately, these same advancements also have introduced a new breed of technologically-savvy criminal. Such crimes as terrorism, espionage, financial fraud, and identity theft have long existed in the physical realm, but are now being perpetrated in the cyber domain. As criminals more effectively exploit this new frontier, their use of the Internet and technology adds a layer of complexity that cannot be overcome through the efforts of any one agency.

To address this evolving cyber challenge, the National Cyber Investigative Joint Task Force (NCIJTF) was officially established in 2008. The NCIJTF is comprised of over 30 partnering agencies from across law enforcement, the intelligence community, and the Department of Defense, with representatives who are co-located and work jointly to accomplish the organizations mission from a whole-of-government perspective.

As a unique multi-agency cyber center, the NCIJTF has the primary responsibility to coordinate, integrate, and share information to support cyber threat investigations, supply and support intelligence analysis for community decision-makers, and provide value to other ongoing efforts in the fight against the cyber threat to the nation
The ongoing trade war happening between Russia and the Ukraine has just taken things on a more serious level. On Saturday, the Ukrainian government has just announced that they were implementing a ban on a number of food imports from Russia. Among the food items included on the ban are meat, vegetables, fish, fruit, dairy and alcohol. The ban, which officially starts on January 10, follows after a similar Russian ban has been implemented on New Year's Day.

Prior to the embargo on Ukranian products, a free-trade agreement was approved by Ukraine with the European Union. Russia's decision on the embargo of Ukrainian products was a way for them to protect its domestic markets. With the EU-Ukraine deal signed, this would allow European products to enter Russian borders without paying import duty.

At the same time, the embargo has been described by Russian officials as a reprisal for Ukraine's decision, since doing so would punish Russia for it's the annexation of Crimea and thus support eastern Ukraine's separatist war effort. A similar retaliatory embargo has also been imposed by Russia on Western food products. This ban closes its Russian markets to meat, fish, cheese, almost all fruits and vegetables coming from the EU, Australia, Norway, and North America.

Back in November 2013, Ukraine was set to sign an association agreement with the EU. But due to pressure from Russia, the then president of Ukraine, Viktor Yanukovych, backed out. This led to massive street protest in Kiev, which led to the spark of the revolution that ousted the president a few months later. In September, the parliament approved the association agreement. Russia's response to the revolution as a western-sponsored coup was to annex Crimea. It then led a separatist army in eastern Ukraine.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Arseniy Yatsenyuk signed the decree prohibiting the import of Russian products. According to the decree, the ban will last until August 5th or until the ban has been cancelled.
The issue of Poland's controversial new amendments to its media law will be discussed by the European Union's executive body. EU and Poland is said to meet later this month.

President Jean-Claude Juncker of European Commission decided to schedule a debate this coming January 13, which signaled a troubling issue regarding the newly passed changes which was passed by Poland's conservative-nationalist Law and Justice Party. The announcement came after German politician Gunther Oettinger called on the European Union to address the controversial issue.

The European Commission wrote to Poland's ministers stating its concern over the legislation. However, Poland's government, Law and Justice Party (PiS), has rejected the idea that it wants to eradicate or at least limit the freedom of speech.

On December, the governing nationalist party of Poland decided to push the law through parliament. The new law provides the government a power to assign managers of state-run news organizations. Poland's new law has struck many citizens from Warsaw with fear. It is said that the new law will forcefully shut down the Poland's freedom of speech.

Polish President Andrzej Duda defended Poland's new law. He said that the changes in legislation were necessary as for 8 years under the previous pro-EU government, the state broadcasters were 'deeply one-party media'.

EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Oettinger, told the German newspaper in an interview that it was 'arbitrary' to dismiss a director of a news agency without providing a reason. He also added that an even bigger concern of the EU is that state broadcasters could eventually 'lose their function', namely to inform citizens independently. The EU commissioner also said that they need to strengthen the independence of regulators and then threatened to put Poland on notice for infringing on common European values for legislation.

Reporters like, Association of European Journalists (AEJ), the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), and Reporters Without Borders (ESF) are said to be among those new agencies who have expressed their deep concern regarding Poland's new law. Association of European Journalists said that the law would 'effectively bring public service television and radio under the direct control of the government', which then will lead to a systematic editorial bias in the content and will favor present government.

In the initial phase of EU and Poland's discussion, the Commission will gather information and assess whether there are clear indications of a systematic threat to the rule of law. If the EU finds a threat, it will then initiate a dialogue with Poland.
The first former Soviet country Estonia has legalized gay civil unions. But the government is not completely ready to implement the said laws.

The Estonian government has officially passed a law in 2014 that allows gay partnership to be legally acceptable. Huffington Post reported that the Parliament have not passed laws that will help the same-sex law to be applied. Laws regarding their divorce, inheritance and other practical matters connected to the main law have not been discussed in the congress yet.

According to 12 News, the chamber is advising couples to put off their plans of marriage as the law is not completely ready yet. Until the rules regarding legal matters to be clear, the couples are waiting before entering union. The couples are baffled with the news. They are expecting the laws to be ready as many couples are excited to be married and live together with each other happily. However, they are fine with it because at least there was an improvement seen with accepting the same-sex couples made by the law.

The Guardian stated that Estonia is the first former member of the Soviet Union to legalized same-sex marriage. Legalization of same-sex marriage is continuing to rise in percentage in many European countries. Like other Baltic neighbours Lithuania and Latvia, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union for almost five decades and Estonia is considered the most Westernized country between the former Soviet countries and the recently passed law proved this.

Ever since the U.S. passed the same-sex law nationwide, many other countries, especially the Western ones are talking about passing laws that are related to it. Though many people might think that since European countries are very open with many things, they are also open with the issue of same-sex. It is not entirely true as many European countries are heavily Christian-centric.
The Authors Guild, an advocacy organization of Americans writers, has filed a petition in the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case against Google Books scanning project. The petition is seeking the review of a lower court ruling that allowed Google to scan and post copyrighted books for its Google Books Service without the author's permission.

The Authors Guild initially filed a lawsuit against Google in 2005 alleging copyright infringement. The tech giant launched Google Books a year earlier and began scanning books from leading research libraries to create a searchable online database. After a decade-long battle, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled in October 2015 that Google's scanning project was fair use.

However, the Second Circuit ruling was termed by the organization as "flawed" and was said to have also failed to see the damaging effect of Google Books, International Business Times reported.

The Authors Guild's Executive Director and a copyright atttorney Mary Rasenberger said in a statement that Google copied books illegally without permission, because it could. Rasenberger said Google's actions cannot be justified after the fact just because Google Books uses the books to provide a research service in addition to the many other uses it has made for profit.

Jurist reported that the petition filed last week mentioned Google copied more than 20 million books. At least four million of the books were still protected by copyright, but the company never got permission for their reproduction.

The oldest America's writers organization further alleged Google provided the libraries with unlicensed digital copies of the books. The books that Google copied are stored in the Google Books search engine database, which became available to all internet users.

According to The Washington Post, the Authors Guild does not want to shut Google Books down, but it does want Google to pay copyright fees. Rasenberger also cited that the organization is asking for authors to be compensated for the value their works bring to Google, and it wants to make that very clear. She added that the Authors Guild's members are some of the biggest users of Google Books.

Google did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the Authors Guild's petition. However, the company has said in the past statement that it believes Google Books does fall under fair use.

Google noted that Google Books scanning project has become invaluable research tool for many. Google also said that it would be prohibitive for it to provide the service and pay authors what has been determined by copyright law.
The Indonesian government is determined to appeal the court's decision to reject a US$565 million lawsuit against pulp plantation company Bumi Mekar Hijau for failing to prevent plantation fires and contributing to Southeast Asia's haze crisis.

Indonesian authorities filed a civil lawsuit against Bumi Mekar Hijau, a supplier to global company Asia Pulp and Paper, which required the former to pay up to 7.8 trillion rupiah or US$565 million for failing to prevent fires on plantation land in 2014. The wildfires inevitably contributed to the toxic haze that blanketed parts of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore. According to Asia One, Mr Pharlis Nababa, chair of the district court in Sumatra province, cited insufficient evidence as the reason for rejecting the lawsuit. The court ruled on December 30. Payment for damages would have been the biggest ever levied against a private company over plantation fires in Indonesia.

Environmentalists are disappointed, and believe this rejection is a major setback against ongoing efforts to bring perpetrators behind the yearly haze outbreaks to justice. According to Chanel News Asia, Riko Kurniawan, one of the activists representing The Indonesian Forum for the Environment, thinks the lawsuit rejection set a "bad precedent", citing it as "another failed attempt to seek justice for victims of the haze". Environment Ministry spokesperson Eka Widodo Sugiri assures the public that the government will file an appeal to the court's decision within two weeks. Sugiri tells the foreign press that the "nation's dignity was disturbed" because Indonesia received several complaints from neighbouring Southeast Asian countries.

Haze caused by wildfires occur every year in Indonesia, as a result of the slash-and-burn method workers use to make way for palm oil and paper plantations in Sumatra and the Indonesian side of Borneo Island. The thick blanket of haze stretches from Indonesia and reaches parts of Malaysia and Singapore.

To prevent this from happening, plantation companies are responsible for making sure fires do not break out within their territory, but this has not stopped fires from occurring. Most big companies have "zero-burn" policies in place, but typically insist that the fires started outside their land, and by people who are not their employees. According to CNN, the haze caused by the raging fires in September and October last year are the worst to occur in years. It resulted in the closing of schools, disruption of businesses, flight cancellations, and half a million cases of acute respiratory infection.

The Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) has dubbed the recent crisis as a "crime against humanity".
Jan 4, 2016, 1:25pm ET

Ford, Toyota form connectivity partnership

OEMs join forces to keep infotainment in the hands of the automakers.

Ford and Toyota announced Monday that Toyota will adopt Ford's SmartDeviceLink platform for automotive smartphone connectivity.

SmartDeviceLink is Ford's software platform for facilitating communication between handheld device applications and a vehicle's on-board infotainment software (in this case, Ford's Sync and Toyota's Entune). Ford's current implementation of this platform is called "AppLink."

The announcement is seen by the two automakers as the foundation of what they hope will be a large alliance of manufacturers who want to keep development of automotive infotainment systems in-house while still supporting an industry-standard platform.

Ford says PSA Peugeot Citroen is the closest to becoming the second major automaker to sign on, with Honda, Mazda and Subaru all considering a similar move. QNX Software Systems and UIEvolution, both automotive suppliers, have also signed on.

Adoption of SDL by Toyota (and others) is seen as a win for automakers who want to keep the development of these systems in the hands of car manufacturers, rather than letting it fall to tech companies whose primary focus is outside of the automotive realm. Ford and Toyota claims this will allow each automaker to customize the interface to best take advantage of its unique hardware while still supporting what they hope will become a widespread (if not universal) standard.

Perhaps more importantly, this is a signal to Apple and Google that they and their partners are not universally welcome in the automotive tech sector. It's also bad news for buyers who are hoping to see in-dash tech evolve into an extension of advanced smartphones, rather than continuing to be developed in parallel.
Jan 4, 2016, 9:26am ET

GM, Lyft partner to create on-demand autonomous vehicles

GM is getting into the ride sharing business.

Following closely on the heels of rumors that Ford is planning partner with tech giant Google, General Motors has announced a new alliance with ride sharing service Lyft. The partnership will work to create a fleet of on-demand autonomous vehicles.

"We see the future of personal mobility as connected, seamless and autonomous, said GM President Dan Ammann. "With GM and Lyft working together, we believe we can successfully implement this vision more rapidly.

Per the terms of the deal, GM will invest $500 million in Lyft. In return, the Detroit-based automaker will receive a seat on the company's board of directors.

One of the key elements of the strategic alliance will be the "joint development of a network of on-demand autonomous vehicles. Although no further details were given, it sounds as if GM is keen to get in on the ground floor of the robotic taxi industry.

More immediately, GM will become the preferred vehicle provider to Lyft drivers through rental hubs located throughout the United States. Terms of the rental deal were not revealed, but GM says Lyft will be able to tap into its OnStar telematics system. The two sides also plan to "provide each other's customers with personalized mobility services and experiences through their respective channels.
An Allentown store owner who caught two burglars as they were leaving stopped one by hitting him in the head with a big stick, police said.

The owner of Reyes Deli and Grocery, 116 N. Eighth St. in Allentown, stopped a burglar by using a big stick, police said. (Google Maps image)

The owner of Reyes Deli and Grocery, 116 N. Eighth St., got to the store Saturday afternoon and found the door open, police said.

Ramon Serrata then saw bags stuffed with stolen items sitting outside the door, police said.

A man walked out of the store, followed by a second man, later identified as Stanley Soto, police said.

The 47-year-old Soto tried to run, but Serrata hit him in the head with a large stick, police said. When officers arrived, they found Soto bleeding from the right side of his head, and he was taken to St. Luke's Hospital in Allentown for treatment, police said.

Soto, whose address was not listed in court paperwork, is charged with burglary, criminal trespass, theft and receiving stolen property.

Soto was sent to Lehigh County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Sarah Cassi may be reached at scassi@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow her on Twitter @SarahCassi. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
It won't be easy to try Tchella Bellamy for shooting two people in Wilson Borough.

Police have a grainy surveillance video of the shooting, a video Bellamy's attorney suggests is too unfocused to identify him.

They have one witness who said the 20-year-old Easton man pulled the trigger but that witness refused to point him out at his preliminary hearing.

The victims, Shane Walden and Lahteek Smith, have refused to cooperate with police. Each was 22 on July 20, 2014, during the shooting on a porch at 1505 Washington St. Both men are from New York.

As tough as the case will be to prosecute, the alternative -- dropping the charges -- is unacceptable, according to Assistant District Attorney Patricia Fuentes Mulqueen.

"It is really important that we go to trial on this case despite the victims or witnesses who do not wish to cooperate," she said. "We can't back down so I'm preparing for trial."

Jury selection in Bellamy's trial will be Monday, Jan. 4. Mulqueen expects the trial to wrap up in two days.

Police believe the shooting was drug-related. The home where Bellamy allegedly shot the men had been raided two months earlier in a drug sweep.

Bellamy was a fugitive until police found him hiding in a Phillipsburg home in October 2014.

Chynna Ravitz, the woman who refused to point out Bellamy at the preliminary hearing, is expected to testify at the trial. Wilson Borough police Detective Jason Hillis said neighbor Maureen Duarte identified the shooter as "Tchell Bell," but Duarte didn't testify in person at the preliminary hearing.

Bellamy's attorney, James Brose, unsuccessfully attempted to have the case against Bellamy thrown out due to lack of evidence.

Bellamy had been charged with serving as a lookout during an August 2014 assault in Northampton County Prison, but those charges were dismissed, according to the online court docket.

One of Bellamy's elementary school teachers in northern New Jersey said Bellamy had a difficult upbringing with a mother in prison, an absent father and little love or encouragement.

The teacher, Liza Torres-Stephens, said Bellamy tried to burn his school down in seventh grade.

She believes more should be done to help poor and parentless youths like Bellamy before they turn to lives of crime.

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.
UPDATE: Services are Friday for airman with local ties, killed in Afghanistan

The body of a U.S. Air Force staff sergeant, who was killed Dec. 21 in Afghanistan, is being brought Monday to the Lehigh Valley, where his wife's family lives.

This photo provided by Arlene Wagner and made in October 2015, shows her son, Air Force Staff Sgt. Peter Taub. (Arlene Wagner via AP)

Peter W. Taub, 30, of Wyncote, Pennsylvania, was one of six service members killed by a suicide bomber. He was married to 2006 Easton Area High School graduate Christina Taub, whose family lives in Lower Saucon Township.

Taub body's is being brought from Dover, Delaware, Air Force Base to the Finegan Funeral Home at 4080 William Penn Highway in Palmer Township, according to a Facebook posting provided by Brittany Cuciti, who is engaged to marry Peter Taub's wife's brother.

The route is the Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike to Route 22 East to Route 33 South to William Penn Highway east to the funeral home.

As of late Sunday night, it was expected the procession would be at the Lehigh Valley turnpike interchange between 1 and 1:15 p.m.

Local emergency personnel are expected to salute the fallen airman along the way.

A Patriot Guard Riders and Rolling Thunder motorcycle detail planned to accompany Taub and family members to the Lehigh Valley, the posting says.

The funeral home will be advised when the transport is about a half hour away, an employee said Monday morning.

Funeral details have yet to be completed, she said.

The posting asked people who want to view the procession to safely stand on bridges or hillsides and display the flag "to show his wife the respect we have for a hero who gave his life so we can enjoy the freedom we have."

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
Escorted by Pennsylvania State Police and motorcyclists braving frigid conditions, the U.S. Air Force on Monday brought the remains of one of its own to Palmer Township to be lain to rest.

Air Force Staff Sgt. Peter W. Taub, 30, was one of six U.S. troops killed in a suicide bombing Dec. 21 near Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan. It was the deadliest attack on American military personnel serving in Afghanistan since 2013.

Taub lived in Wyncote, Pennsylvania, outside Philadelphia, and was married to 2006 Easton Area High School graduate Christina Taub, whose family lives in Lower Saucon Township.

Lehigh Valley firefighters adorned the procession route Monday with American flags, from Route 22 down Route 33 to William Penn Highway, where Finegan Funeral Home is handling arrangements.

Services will begin with a viewing 9 to 11 a.m. Friday at St. John's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 330 Ferry St. in Easton, the church of Taub's family. The funeral service is 11 a.m., with the church's Rev. Susan Ruggles presiding, said Dave Williams, funeral director at Finegan.

A handful of motorcyclists from the Lehigh Valley left about dawn Monday to go to Dover Air Force Base to accompany to Palmer Township the cremation casket containing Taub's remains.

Temperatures didn't make it out of the 20s as the Patriot Guard Riders, Rolling Thunder and Warriors' Watch Riders motorcycle detail accompanied the procession north on the Pennsylvania Turnpike Northeast Extension (Interstate 476) to Route 22.

"But you don't think about that," said Nancy Wolf, who rode with her husband, Robert Wolf, joining the procession at Route 22. "We're doing this for a reason."

"Just to honor one of our fallen heroes," Glenn Hoffert, of Lower Saucon Township, said about why he, too, joined the escort at the turnpike interchange. Hoffert and the Wolfs, of Hellertown, got involved through the Edward H. Ackerman American Legion Post 397 in Hellertown, where they are members.

A service member for eight years, who had recently re-enlisted, Taub was assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations and based at Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota.

He was the father of a 3-year-old girl, and his wife is expecting their second child.

Kurt Bresswein may be reached at kbresswein@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @KurtBresswein. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
andorid-smart-phone.jpg

Healthcare consumers in the Lehigh Valley may soon be able to use their smartphones to consult with their doctors, in lieu of an office visit.

(Express-Times file photo)

When you or your child comes down with a cold or the flu, where do you go -- to the doctor's office or your smartphone? Increasingly, some consumers are opting to "see" a physician for common illnesses through telemedicine -- a remote consultation using a phone app or via a tablet or personal computer.

St. Luke's University Health Network is planning to introduce a statewide, 24-hour telemedicine service that will allow people to consult with a health-care provider through Skype, Apple FaceTime or similar real-time connection.

"During a live, on-screen video visit, a doctor evaluates, diagnoses and treats the patient's condition and also prescribes medication if needed," St. Luke's said in announcing the service.

According to Teladoc, the largest U.S. telemedicine provider, 15 healthcare plans are now employing the service, and 15 million people used it in 2014. Insurers and hospitals like it because it reduces hospital stays and cuts costs. The average cost of an online consultation is $50, compared to $80 for an office visit, Teladoc says.

Not everyone is sold on the idea. Some say doctors can't diagnose all symptoms without a hands-on check of a patient, and they shouldn't be prescribing medicine in a virtual visit. The state of Texas has challenged Teladoc, but so far the courts have sided with the company. Other states are developing regulations that could limit the service; others are taking a wait and see approach.

St. Luke's calls its service St. Luke's Anywhere. It will be available in Pennsylvania for patients 18 years or older and patients 12 or older when accompanied by a guardian. A $49 fee is paid by credit card at the time of service.

The health network says the service is for common illnesses such as sore throats, fever, ear aches, coughs, headaches, diarrhea and skin rashes. It will be available for download from the iTunes App Store, Google Play or from the St. Luke's University Health Network website.

What do you think? Is telemedicine a breakthrough convenience for consumers -- or the healthcare and insurance industries' latest attempt to stretch resources and cut costs?

Have a say in our informal poll, and feel free to join the conversation in the comments section. Would you use such a service in a pinch, or on a regular basis? Have you used the service elsewhere?
A 47-year-old Upper Mount Bethel Township man pointed a gun at a woman during a domestic disturbance on Saturday evening and said, "I should kill you," Pennsylvania State Police report in court papers.

Carl Gene Bartron Jr. , 47, of Upper Mount Bethel Township, choked a woman the evening of Jan. 2, 2016, police say. (Courtesy photo | For lehighvalleylive.com)

Troopers responding about 7 p.m. to the 300 block of Decker Ferry Road met the victim, who told them Carl Gene Bartron Jr. and she had been arguing, police said. Bartron went to a bedroom to retrieve a handgun and she told him she would call police to tell them he had a gun in the house, court papers say.

She went past Bartron onto the porch to try and defuse the situation, police said. Bartron turned around, pointed the gun at her and made the threat, police said.

She called police and Bartron headed toward a shed, picked up a metal tin and went south along railroad tracks, police said. He returned to the home then drove off in a Toyota, police said. He was taken into custody in Portland, police said.

Bartron was arraigned late Saturday night before on-call District Judge James Narlesky on charges of possession of a firearm by someone prohibited from doing so, simple assault, terrorist threats and harassment, court records say. Bartron was sent to Northampton County Prison in lieu of $100,000 bail, court papers say. He remained jailed on Monday morning, online records show.

A preliminary hearing is tentatively scheduled 10 a.m. Jan. 15 in Senior District Judge Sherwood Grigg's court in Bangor.

Tony Rhodin may be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @TonyRhodin. Find lehighvalleylive.com on Facebook.
When he was in Paris to receive the award, he made it clear in his speech that the terror of the Syrian regime was only showed on pictures, and insisted that in such cases where a whole people suffers from a dictatorship, the need for help is constant. His only wish is to continue the revolution: he has watched it from the start and it is still active today. He is now a freelance reporter for AFP. The picture that received the prize was exhibited until October the 11th, along with many other photographs by other laureates, at the Arab World Institute in Paris. In his speech, Baraa insisted on dedicating the prize to Syrians who took part in the Revolution, as if to remind the world that it is not short-lived, and it is still going on.
One of the adverse effects of the awful General Election result has been a significant drop in Party income, as we are now of much less interest to potential donors and people who wish to exhibit and hold fringe meetings at Conference. That means that we have to look at radical measures to cut costs so that we can deliver the maximum political effect on our reduced income. One area we should look at very closely is the location of Party HQ and whether we need have staff in an expensive central London location. The easy answer would be to move to another, cheaper London base, but that in my view would be a mistake  we should be asking if most of our staff need to be in London at all or whether they could be based somewhere else, where rents and salaries are lower.

Without a detailed knowledge of who does what at HQ it is difficult to know how many people we would need to keep in London  the press team of course and anyone who needs daily personal contact with Tim and the MPs. But looking at the latest organisation chart it is difficult to see why the people who work on IT and digital, compliance, conference, Membership and Finance need to be in London.

Where we should base a new HQ is another question  it needs to be on a good train line to London as there will still be a need for people to go to and from the capital and in a big enough city to be able to attract a good range of capable staff. ALDC seems to operate pretty well from Manchester or perhaps being based in Bristol would send a good message about our commitment to retaking our SW seats.

We cannot of course avoid the human impact that such a move would have  which it why it should ideally have been done in conjunction with the recent restructuring exercise at HQ but there is never a right time for such a move and with 4 and a half years to go until the next election and the lease on Great George St coming up for renewal now is the time for us to take decisive action to lower our cost base.

* Simon McGrath is a Councillor in Wimbledon and a directly elected member of the Federal Board.
The summer of 2014 was a particularly busy one. In addition to the usual constituency and regional based activities I was also engaged in a series of meetings with the Finance Minister and her officials in an effort to get a budget deal for the Welsh Liberal Democrats.

The history of these deals has been chequered during this fourth Assembly. Labour do not have a majority so they need the support of at least one other party to get their budget through. They will not deal with the Conservatives so that just leaves two other possible partners.

At first, the Labour Government had it made. They negotiated with both the Welsh Liberal Democrats and Plaid Cymru, and played one off against the other. In their first budget, they struck a deal with the Welsh Lib Dems and as a result, the pupil deprivation grant was born. In the second they did a deal with Plaid Cymru, who secured a two year investment in apprenticeships.

By the time of the third budget, I had had enough of being played and of Labour being let off the hook. I proposed to Plaid Cymru that we work together so as to give Labour Ministers no other options. I also suggested that we should not settle for less than 100 million being spent on the key priorities of both parties and that we do the deal before the draft budget has been published so as to avoid having to unpick other spending plans.

And so in 2013 I spent a very productive summer in meetings alongside Plaid Cymrus Jocelyn Davies, talking to the Finance Minister and with respective party leaders setting out our stall and fighting for important investment in key policy areas. The result was a significant increase in the Pupil Deprivation Grant and the creation of a 50 million Intermediate Care Fund to stimulate closer working between health and social services.

In 2014, Plaid Cymru decided that they did not wish to repeat this exercise, thus leaving the field open to the Welsh Liberal Democrats. Once more the Labour Government had nobody else they could talk to. Nevertheless, we had to be conscious of the difficult financial position and ensure that we were not unreasonable in our demands. We also wanted to make sure that we would not be associated with any particularly difficult issues.

Thus when halfway through the talks we were approached by the training sector to say that apprenticeship funding was likely to be cut, we had to adjust our stance to try and salvage this money. We also wanted to avoid signing up to the controversial extension of the M4 around Newport, which we were opposed to.

Finally, we were keen to avoid going through this process in the run-up to an Assembly election and so was happy to consider a two-year deal, which would provide some stability for the Welsh Government, whilst also ensuring the longevity of our deal up to and beyond those elections.

As a result we agreed to a two year deal, worth 223m, to allow the Welsh Governments budget to pass in exchange for the implementation of Welsh Liberal Democrat policies. This meant that we would abstain on the budget, as we still could not support everything in it, including the substantial cut in local council funding. Our support was for our policies not the budget as a whole.

The deal meant that the Welsh Liberal Democrats secured:

an increase in the Pupil Premium (aka Pupil Deprivation Grant): in 2016/17 each school will receive 1,150 for every pupil eligible to receive free schools;

the extension of the Pupil Premium to include under 5s, worth 300 per pupil on free school meals;

a Young Persons Bus Pass for 16-18 year olds worth nearly 15m;

funding for around 5,000 new apprenticeships;

95m capital investment in infrastructure that will provide a strong boost to jobs and the economy;

an agreement that no construction of the M4 relief road will start before the next Assembly elections alongside a detailed Environmental Impact Study;

Extra childcare investment for further education students in Wales who are parents, investing in a pilot scheme promoted by the National Union of Students.

Of course this deal meant that our influence on any unexpected issues arising in this years budget was limited. So we had to resort to conventional political pressure tactics to head-off threats to key programmes.

So over the last few months we have been pressing for more money for social services, further investment in the Intermediate Care Fund negotiated by us two years ago, and for supporting people funding to be protected. All of that was delivered in the draft budget, as was a much improved settlement for local government, albeit there will still be cuts to that funding.

How this process works itself out for budgets in the next Assembly has to be seen, but for now I believe we have demonstrated that, despite being the smallest party, we have through effective negotiation and partnership working, been capable of hitting above our weight and getting many of our policies put into effect.

* Peter Black is the Liberal Democrat AM for South Wales West and is the Liberal Democrat spokesperson on Local Government, Heritage, Housing and Finance.
As has become obvious to anyone who has read a newspaper or watched a news channel over the past 5 years, the NHS is straining under the weight of demand. With accident and emergency departments swamped, critical staffing levels and insufficient number of beds the national health provider is struggling to provide the excellent level of care that it is famed for. Alongside this, within the social services sector a perfect storm of an aging population, increased numbers of people living with long-term conditions, squeezed local authority budgets, discrepancies between the fees paid by private clients and local councils, high staff turnover and increased overhead costs has meant that for both systems the current situation is completely unsustainable.[Care Management Matters, September 2015, p 24]

While the government has already committed to increased spending on the NHS by 10bn per year in real terms by 2020/21 social care falls under the budget of local services and so they will continue to wither on the vine. As mentioned in a previous article, Why we should care about Care both services work hand-in-hand, and a true integration could see money saved, lives improved and pressure reduced on both the NHS and local councils and their social services.

Just as mental health must be treated in the same manner as we treat physical health, social services must be treated in the same manner as health services. As with mental health, ongoing social services needs and care within the community are often overlooked or perform badly in the result-based systems that funding-justifications rely upon because they cant be easily quantified. While the costs of fixing a broken leg can be quantified in terms of staffing costs for A&E, cast material costs, rental of crutches and physiotherapy costs, the long-term costs for someone coping with a psychological illness are near impossible to calculate due to the nature of the cost-variables they present.

As as a party we need to be the champion of social care and social services, not just because they are needed but because they present the clearest choice for the promotion of an individuals long term liberty. Rather than side-lining patients whose problems cant be fixed within a prescribed formula, increased care in the community and improved social services can allow for more personally-tailored care packages. Rather than after-care being conducted through follow-up appointments at hospitals or doctors surgeries, many can be undertaken within a persons home  alleviating pressure on NHS services. It is not only the liberty of the patients who are effected but of the personal carers too. Our country relies on a silent army of them, many of them unpaid, who are currently averting the crisis the lack of resources in community care and in local social services will bring.

During the General Election campaign both Labour and the Conservatives were quick to back the needs to the NHS. Let the Liberal Democrats be the party that backs social services too.

* Ian Thomas is the pseudonym for a party member. His identity is known to the Lib Dem Voice editorial team.
Willie Rennie kicks off election year in Scotland by setting out the case for a bright, green liberal Scotland. Speaking on a visit to a factory in his Fife constituency, he said:

The last five years in the Scottish Parliament have been dominated by independence. The next five years should be dominated by a bright, green and liberal programme for Scotland:

With Scotland returning to work today it should signal a change of focus for our parliament: its time to get on with the day job.

Children and young people deserve a good quality education with nursery education and a pupil premium to give every child a chance of a good job. Yet under the SNP, Scotlands once proud education system has slipped in the world standing.

People deserve a good quality health service with better mental health services and more GPs. Yet under the SNP theres long waits to see a GP or get mental health treatment they need.

The planet must be protected, with action on climate change including warmer homes and better public transport. Yet under the SNP Scotland has missed our own climate change targets.

Our traditional Scottish freedoms must be protected including power transferred to local communities and trusting police, nurses, doctors and teachers to do their job. Yet under the SNP weve seen armed police, excessive stop and search, power stripped from local communities and hoarded in Edinburgh.

With just five MSPs in Parliament Liberal Democrats have punched above our weight. Just imagine what we can do with more.

We need more strong liberal voices in parliament to advance that bright, green and liberal parliament.
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A craft beer made with ingredients from kefir  a fermented milk drink that resembles yogurt may sound a little gross. But drinking it could bring health benefits, a new study done in rats suggests.

Moreover, the researchers in Brazil found that the "kefir beer" seemed to reduce inflammation and stomach ulcers that had been induced in the rats for the study.

Although the concept of kefir beer is interesting, it is too early to determine whether these health benefits would apply to humans, considering the study was done in an animal model, said Dr. Arun Swaminath, director of the inflammatory bowel disease program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, who was not involved in the study. "It is a very preliminary study," Swaminath told Live Science.

To make the kefir beer, the researchers added kefir grains  white or yellowish gelatinous clumps that contain bacteria and yeast  to a barley malt. The bacteria and yeast fermented the malt. For a control group, they also brewed another, regular kind of beer, where, instead of adding kefir grains, they added yeast to ferment the malt.

In one experiment in the study, the researchers induced inflammation in the hind paws of 48 rats by giving them a compound called carrageenan, which is sometimes used a food additive, but is known to promote inflammation. [7 Ways Alcohol Affects Your Health]

The researchers then divided the rats into six groups, with eight rats each, and gave them one of the following: kefir beer, kefir, regular beer, water, ethanol or an anti-inflammatory drug.

They found the kefir, kefir beer and regular beer all reduced the inflammation. However, when the researchers compared the effects of the two beers, they found that the kefir beer reduced the inflammation by about 48 percent, whereas the regular beer reduced it by 28 percent.

In a separate experiment, in which the researchers induced inflammation in the rats with a different pro-inflammatory compound called histamine, the inflammation was reduced by 76 percent in those rats that were given kefir beer. Conversely, in the rats that were given regular beer, the inflammation was only reduced by about 4 percent.

In another group of 48 rats, the researchers induced stomach ulcers with alcohol, and then made the rats fast for a day. This time, they found that treating the rats with kefir, kefir beer or regular beer all resulted in significant reduction of ulcers. However, the effects of the kefir beer and kefir alone were both greater than those of regular beer, the researchers said.

Moreover, when the researchers added some kefiran, a type of molecule made by kefir grains, to the regular beer, and gave the drink to the animals, the ulcers "virtually disappeared," the researchers wrote in the study, published in the upcoming March issue of the Journal of Functional Foods.

The beneficial effects of the kefir beer may have something to do with the combination of individual health benefits associated with its respective main components, according to the study. For example, previous research has suggested that nutrients called polyphenols, which are found in beer, may have anti-inflammatory qualities.

Studies in animals have suggested that kefir may have anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial and wound-healing properties, the researchers said.

The new research was funded by the Foundation for Research Support of the State of Minas Gerais in Brazil.

Follow Agata Blaszczak-Boxe on Twitter. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Originally published on Live Science.
Neanderthal remains were found, along with a plinth of sediment, in Shanidar Cave in Iraq.

As the terrorist group ISIS is pushed out of northern Iraq, archaeologists are resuming work in the region, making new discoveries and figuring out how to conserve archaeological sites and reclaim looted antiquities.

Several discoveries, including new Neanderthal skeletal remains, have been made at Shanidar Cave, a site in Iraqi Kurdistan that was inhabited by Neanderthals more than 40,000 years ago.

Additionally, though ISIS did destroy and loot a great number of sites, there are several ways for archaeologists, scientific institutions, governments and law enforcement agencies in North America and Europe to help save the region's heritage, said Dlshad Marf Zamua, a Kurdish archaeologist and doctoral student at Leiden University in the Netherlands. [Photos: Restoring Life to Iraq's Ruined Artifacts]

He criticized antiquity dealers who are benefiting financially from ISIS' looting and destruction, calling on authorities in North America and Europe to prevent those dealers from selling northern Iraq's heritage. "It was said that war was created for selling weapons, but in the situation of our area, the war was created for selling weapons, oil and antiquity objects," Marf Zamua said.

New research

Neanderthal skeleton remains were recently discovered at Shanidar Cave in northern Iraq. (Image credit: Photo courtesy of Graeme Barker )

Before ISIS moved into Iraq in the summer of 2014, scientists with 45 foreign missions from 16 countries were conducting archaeological excavations and surveys in the Kurdistan region of northern Iraq, said Marf Zamua.

Over the past few months, Kurdish forces have gone on the offensive and, with support from allied air strikes, are pushing ISIS out of the region. And archaeologists are returning to the area, including at Shanidar Cave. This cave was originally excavated between 1952 and 1960 by a team led by archaeologist Ralph Solecki from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The archaeologists at that time found several Neanderthal skeletons and pollen remains suggesting that the Neanderthals placed flowers in graves before burial.

In an article recently published in the journal Antiquity, a team that has recently returned to Shanidar Cave reported finding additional Neanderthal bones, "including a hamate [a wrist bone], the distal ends of the right tibia and fibula, and some articulated ankle bones, scattered fragments of two vertebrae, a rib and long bone fragments."

The newfound bones are likely from one of the Neanderthals that archaeologists dug up in the 1950s, said University of Cambridge archaeologist Graeme Barker, who is part of the research team. He said that as excavations continue, new Neanderthal skeletons may be found.

Additionally the team's research is shedding light on the environment in the cave where the Neanderthals lived.

For instance, scientists reporting in another paper published in the journal Review of Palaeobotany and Palynology found that bees were transporting pollen into the cave. This complicates the idea that Neanderthals in the cave buried their dead with flowers, suggesting instead that pollen remains from flowers could have entered the cave through natural means.

Shanidar Cave and the flowers that grow beside it today. (Image credit: Photo courtesy of Dlshad Marf Zamua)

Protecting heritage

When ISIS took over parts of northern Iraq, the group began looting and destroying archaeological sites such as ancient Assyrian cities like Nimrud. After bulldozing these cities, but before blasting them, ISIS looted thousands of artifacts from the sites, Marf Zamua said. "Thousands of objects reached the black markets over the world."

Additionally, many unexcavated "Tell" (mound) sites were also bulldozed, looted and blasted. Those sites contained artifacts that have not yet been excavated. There "are hidden treasure [within these mounds], and by losing any of them, we lose an important part of history and civilization of Mesopotamia," Marf Zamua said.

In addition to curtailing the black market, scientific organizations in the West can help train Iraqi, Kurdish and Syrian archaeologists in conservation techniques, Marf Zamua said. "Institutes can offer local archaeologists scholarships in restoration, protecting heritage and museum studies," he said.

Additionally, in Erbil (the capital of Iraqi Kurdistan), the Iraqi Institute for the conservation of Antiquities and Heritage offers "courses taught by specialists in conservation of all types of objects, materials and architecture," said Marf Zamua. Volunteer guest lecturers from universities and museums in the West help teach the courses.

Those with professional expertise who are willing to travel to Erbil could contact the institute and offer to volunteer, Marf Zamua said, noting that the institute provides accommodations and food free of charge.

Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
Press Releases

By Phil Andrews Published: January 04 2016

On Friday, January 1, 2016 the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc.s Queens County Director Erna Blackman was featured in Long Island Business News Mover and Shakers Column highlighting her recent appointment to ...

Queens, NY - January 3, 2015 - On Friday, January 1, 2016 the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc.s Queens County Director Erna Blackman was featured in Long Island Business News Mover and Shakers Column highlighting her recent appointment to LIAACCS board of directors as the Queens County Director.

To view the recent feature click on link here

Queens County has a significant number of African Americans in the borough who will benefit significantly from a chamber of commerce of this size and magnitude which has the ability to increase the success ratio of the small business owners in its jurisdiction. Phil Andrews, President, Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc.

About: Erna Blackman  LIAACC Queens County Director/Founder, Butterflies, BBI, Inc. Erna Blackman was born in Queens and attended Grace Lutheran Elementary School in Malvern, NY. In 1984, she graduated from Jamaica High School and subsequently received a BA in journalism from Delaware State University. In 2012, she founded Butterflies BBI, which is a nonprofit organization that provides free hair replacements and solutions to children with medical hair loss. At Butterflies BBI, a special interest is given to inner-city children as they are a group that is often overlooked. Blackman is married and the mother of two children.

The Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. is humbled by Erna Blackman decision to serve as Queens County Director of the Chamber. Erna Blackman brings a level of commitment, discipline, and business acumen that will provide a boost to LIAACCS mission in the county. Phil Andrews, President, Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc.

About: Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. - The Mission of the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc., is to advance and promote economic development for business, and to advance responsive government and quality education on the behalf of all small businesses, with emphasis on African Ancestry, while preserving the Long Island community." Long Island means the New York State counties on Nassau, Suffolk, Queens and Kings. A Chamber of Commerce is one of the most well-known and recognizable organizations in the country chartered to stimulate business in local and regional areas where they are designated to serve.

To view recent segment of WABC Here and Now featuring the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. click on link here (Embedded code for video listed at this link)

For more information regarding membership, corporate sponsorship opportunities, or to be placed on the Email list of the Long Island African American Chamber of Commerce, Inc. email or call 347-475-7158. You may also log on to www.liaacc.org for online membership or to contact the chamber.
Looking to stay up to date about all of the news stories and local headlines that are important to Long Islanders? We've rounded up the top coverage for all of the important topics from multiple sources around Long Island, so you can be sure you've got the most recent update on the top stories for Long Island. Have an idea for a news story? Email us at news@longisland.com

Columnists Press Releases
The Libyan province of the caliphate issued versions of this statement in Arabic and English earlier today.

The Islamic States so-called province in Libya has launched a new offensive and claims to have captured a town on the Mediterranean coast.

The soldiers of the Khilafah [caliphate] managed to take complete control over the coastal city of Bin Jawad, the Islamic States Wilayat Barqat (or province) said in a short statement released online earlier today. The blessed operations come during the battle of Sheikh Abdul Mugirah al Qahtani (May Allah accept him), and all praise is due to Allah, master of the universe, the statement continued.

In a concurrent operation, the caliphates fighters attacked the port town of Al Sidr, which is approximately 20 miles away from Bin Jawad and home to one of Libyas largest oil ports. One or more suicide bombers may have initiated the assault after they struck guard positions with car bombs. Photos posted on social media appear to show the wreckage caused by their blasts, but the images have not yet been verified. The status of the fighting in Al Sidr is also not clear as of this writing.

Separately, the jihadists set fire to a storage tank at an oil facility in Ras Lanuf, another port that houses an oil refinery. Libyas rival factions have long fought over access to Ras Lanuf.

Bin Jawad, Al Sidr and Ras Lanuf are all in the district of Sirte. The Islamic States Libyan arm took over much of the city of Sirte last year, turning it into an operational hub. Bin Jawad is also a short drive from the town of Nawfaliyah, which the caliphates men overran in March 2015. [See LWJ report, Islamic State province in Libya claims capture of town.]

The Islamic States Libyan branch has repeatedly targeted the countrys oil infrastructure, some of which has been shut down for months or longer because of the violence. As in Iraq and Syria, the caliphate seeks to control key Libyan oil fields, refineries, ports and other facilities. It remains to be seen if todays attacks, which are testing local security forces, lead to further advances.

Abu Bakr al Baghdadis followers in Libya have named their new offensive after Sheikh Abdul Mugirah al Qahtani, who was identified in an issue of Dabiq magazine released last September as the head of the Islamic States province in the country. [See LWJ report, In Dabiq magazine, Islamic State complains about jihadist rivals in Libya.]

In his interview with Dabiq, Qahtani complained bitterly about the Islamic States jihadist rivals in Libya, including the leaders of Ansar al Sharia. Qahtani said Ansar al Sharias leaders are close to their counterparts in Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which opposes the Islamic States expansion in North Africa. Qahtani promised that the caliphates opponents will continue to be a target for our swords, which we will not hold back until they repent.

Qahtanis true identity has always been murky, as he was not clearly identified in the Islamic States propaganda.

CNN reported in November 2014 that an Islamic State leader known as Abu Nabil al Anbari, a jihadist veteran who was imprisoned with Baghdadi in Iraq, had been dispatched to Libya to oversee the groups efforts. The Wall Street Journal offered a similar account, saying that Anbari was an ex-Iraqi policeman.

The Defense Department announced in November 2015 that Anbari was killed in a US airstrike in Libya. Anbari (also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi) may have been the spokesman in an Islamic State video showing the execution of Coptic Christians in February 2015, according to the Pentagon.

Anbaris death will degrade [the Islamic States] ability to meet the groups objectives in Libya, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook claimed at the time. Cook said the organizations objectives include recruiting newmembers, establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the United States. In December 2015, the Pentagon claimed to confirm Anbaris death, describing him as a longtime al Qaeda operative and the senior [Islamic State] leader in Libya. The airstrike that purportedly killed him was the first US strike against an [Islamic State] leader in Libya.

It is possible that Abdul Mugirah al Qahtani and Abu Nabil al Anbari were the same Islamic State official, but that has not been confirmed. Their aliases indicate different countries of origin (Anbari refers to Iraq, while Qahtani is generally used by jihadists from the Arabian Peninsula), but the jihadists often adopt new pseudonyms for various reasons. Regardless, the Islamic State, like al Qaeda, has proven to be adept at replacing fallen leaders. And Qahtanis death did not stop the jihadists latest advances on Libyas coast.

Thomas Joscelyn is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and the Senior Editor for FDD's Long War Journal.

Are you a dedicated reader of FDD's Long War Journal? Has our research benefitted you or your team over the years? Support our independent reporting and analysis today by considering a one-time or monthly donation. Thanks for reading! You can make a tax-deductible donation here.
Qatar Airways Commences First Daily Flight Los Angeles to Doha

The new route features the airline's landmark Boeing 777-200 and represents Qatar Airways' first passenger service to the West Coast of the United States. The expansion to LAX is the first of three new US destinations planned for 2016, along with Boston (BOS) on March 16th and Atlanta (ATL) on June 1st.The first arrival to Los Angeles was recognised with a special gate ceremony, celebrating the passengers on the historic flight. The airline will officially celebrate the new Los Angeles route on January 12th, when Mr. Al Baker will host a press conference and a star-studded VIP gala.The LAX launch comes as Qatar Airways continues to expand operations in the United States and around the world. In addition to new launches in Boston and Atlanta, the airline is enhancing existing services along its successful US routes. On December 8th, Qatar Airways brought the state-of-the-art Airbus A350, the airliner of the next decade, to American shores for the first time. The airline commenced a regularly-scheduled daily A350 service on January 1st to Philadelphia, and Qatar Airways will also begin a A350 service along a second route between New York and Doha in April.The DOHA  LOS ANGELES daily schedule (effective January 1, 2016)Depart Doha QR739 at 0745 hrs, arrive Los Angeles at 1310 hrsDepart Los Angeles QR740 at 1510 hrs, arrive Doha at 1810 hrs the following dayVisit website:
Interview with Emile Majdalani, Commercial Director of Chateau Kefraya

Lets start with the current situation with regards to the wine industry in Lebanon. What are the main trends for 2015 and 2016 when it comes to wine in Lebanon?

The trend in Lebanon is that there is certainly more and more interest in wine in general. The increase in the number of wineries proves this. At the same time, the economy is quite difficult, basically because of the situation around Lebanon that is absolutely catastrophic Having said that we have lived tougher times than this so we are used to it; we are used to always manage to work, to harvest and to give birth to every vintage. It is the story of Lebanon, at the end of the day it has never really been stable. I have to admit that the last years have been particularly difficult locally. But we tend to balance things and to compensate with our exports that are doing very well.

There have been entries of new wine producers. How is it affecting the overall competitiveness of the country?

It is good for the country in general because it means Lebanon becomes a major wine-producing country. It is important for Lebanon to have an increase in the number of wineries to become a real player on the international wine scene. 50 years ago, there were only 5 or 6 wineries and now there are about 45. This creates variety and an additional interest; specifically when the wine is good, it is a strength for the industry I think.

How does Chateau Kefraya fit into the picture? What have been the developments since 2012?

There have been a lot of developments. Actually at Kefraya we have been reworking the whole range over the last years. We have been lifting our labels but also creating new wines because we looked at the range and questioned ourselves. We saw where there were opportunities, for example our entry level Les Breteches that is internationally known is now declined into three colours: we have Les Breteches red, white and rose. This is added value for the brand certainly. We had the Chateau Kefraya and the Breteches; the Chateau being a full bodied, high end wine and Les Breteches the entry level, fruity and easy to drink. There was some space in between for an intermediary red wine and that is why we created Les Coteaux that is a slightly wooden red wine with new varieties introduced like Marselan and Cabernet Franc and thus a different specificity. So as I said, we have been reworking the range and expanding it to meet a wider range of consumers all over the world.

What has been the reaction from the consumers?

Even if in a given year we have 50% less in production (which is the case of 2015), we will never compensate with purchases and this is a very important element of our philosophy.

The reaction has been that our exports have developed a lot, for example in the United States we are now present in above 25 states, among which California, Pennsylvania, New York and Florida. The French market which is our number 1 market has been developed a lot as well. Historically we were first sold in the Lebanese restaurants, but today we are being well established in the classical French market, namely in high-end local restaurants, liquor stores. We had entered about 25 export markets in 2010, today we are present in 40. Since our production is limited (we do not buy grapes and only use only our own terroirs harvest), we must select our channels carefully when conquering a new market. We always go through the best channels and to the middle-to-high-end restaurants and liquor stores, more than the off-trade and supermarkets, because we dont have the volumes for that. Even if in a given year we have 50% less in production (which is the case of 2015), we will never compensate with purchases and this is a very important element of our philosophy. We grow and take care of every grape dedicated to our wines.

Chateau Kefraya

Apart from the expansion in the United States, is there any other specific market that you are looking into right now?

India interests us a lot and China as well. We think this will come with time. We already export a little bit to these wine-emerging countries and it is just a matter of time. Again, our production is limited so the scope is not infinite. We produce today 1.3 million bottles, which is not small relatively to Lebanon, but the wine range is wide and diverse and we work every label with a boutique winery spirit.

Is the priority export destination the United States? Where do you think you have to focus your attention?

There are markets like Great Britain, France and the U.S., where it is certainly important image-wise to be solidly present. Chateau Kefrayas choices in terms of exports are directed to markets where there is an interest in lets not say New World wines but more Ancient World wines; since Lebanon - as a wine-growing territory - is indeed part of the ancient world. As you might know 5,000 years ago we used to grow vines in Lebanon, our ancestors, the Phoenicians, used to even export their wine to Egypt, it is a very old tradition here. We recently discovered a Roman mill in Kefraya that is filled with historical vestiges

Each year you designate a different local artist to draft the design of one of your products; could you tell us more about that? Also what do you do locally to distinguish yourselves?

Actually art and culture has always been associated with the brand, because we simply believe that wine and art are intimately related. Our founder and owner Michel de Bustros is very passionate about opera, paintings and art in general. There is reference to art in our different labels. Since last year, we decided to move the experience further and to give total liberty to an artist to design a label for our red wine Les Breteches. It is a special and limited edition, which we launch for every vintage with a new innovative Lebanese artist. Last year it was with painter and illustrator Mazen Kerbaj. This year it is Yazan Halwani, a young and unique street artist that paints murals that are very well known in Beiruts streets. He normally does portraits of people of Lebanese culture who had a positive influence on the city of Beirut. He merges the portraits to his own pattern of calligraphy. His painting for Les Breteches was called Bakhos, which is the Arabic name for Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, that has deep ties with the Bekaa Valleys culture. It was a message.

Lets touch upon your oenotourism program at your premises. We know you added new activities for the visitors.

Yes it has been developed a lot recently. Our restaurant Le Relais Dionysos has always existed and we have developed more wine-educational activities. A person today could come to Kefraya and easily spend a whole day learning and getting the feel of the winery. Today we go more in depth in explaining our winemaking-approach, we take visitors to our terroir; we show them the vines and the difference between the different soils and grape varieties. The scope has been widened a lot in spite of the situation, because it has been quite difficult to invest in these times, especially in the Bekaa Valley, as people sometimes think that it is unsafe to go there. This is actually not true; the West Bekaa is quite stable and there is no real danger in going there

You allegedly plan to build a hotel in the near future.

We planned to build a boutique hotel so that people could spend the night in Kefraya. We still have this project in mind but we decided to postpone it a little bit until the situation becomes more stable, which is something we hope for but that is not in our hands.

What is your strategic vision for the winery?

We have a limited terroir and thus a limited amount of grapes. Even if we acquired more lands, they would have to necessarily be within the boundaries of the Kefraya commune because we work like an AOC (Appellation dOrigine Controlee), although there is no AOC-system in Lebanon yet. In spite of that, we impose this rigor on ourselves for the sake of quality and most of all, to respect our own terroirs inherent expression. The strategic vision is not to remain a leading winery in Lebanon, but to build a strong reputation among the worlds most authentic and greatest wineries.

What distinguishes Kefraya amongst the growing number of producers?

In Kefraya and for every single vintage, we do a lot of research. Lately we have been digging huge pedologic holes on the terroirs different spots to study its geological history and to better understand the differences in soils composition. Within one single parcel for example, you have a huge variety in terms of terroir potentials. Defining these micro-parcels allowed us to be more accurate in the way we allocate the grapes to each wine. We have been working with universities that will be publishing theses of this research. In addition to owning and fully-controlling our vines, I would say that we demark ourselves in terms of accuracy. The purpose is to always know our terroirs essence better and to create wines that reflect it the best possible way.

Tell us about the wines Comte de M and the Comtesse.

Comte de M is a different story; it is separate from the wine range. Comte de M is an entity in itself. It is a wine that became famous when we got the 91 rating from Parker in 1996. Today we have obtained a 92 rate over the three last vintages. Comte de M is really made from a tight selection of the best micro-terroirs grapes in Kefraya, these are grown in high altitude, where there are big differences in temperature between day and night, and thus a better maturation of the grapes. This is where we put all of our best knowhow with the best choice of grapes but also of barrels.

After several years of research and trials, we decided to launch a white wine of the same standing and we called it Comtesse de M. In Lebanon, white wines often lack a bit of acidity and there is an intended choice not to adjust them by any addition of tartaric acid. To ensure an optimal and longer life span to Comtesse de M, we wished to create a white wine marked by a longer maturation in barrels, because there was sufficient matiere and volume to absorb this supply well. With 24 months of new oak barrel, we also made sure that the wood is not too opulent. Comtesse de M is a challenge taken by the winemaker to experience how far we can go with a white in Lebanon. As our winemaker Fabrice Guiberteau always says, we keep on advancing quality wise, while always keeping in mind that wine requires a lot of humility and we never get 100% of the targeted result. Only 2,000 bottles are produced on 2 to 3 hectares and it is added value for the portfolio.
On 1 January 2016, APL ushered in the New Year with its U.S-flagged vessel, APL Guam arriving at the island of Guam for the first time. The event marks the maiden inbound shipment to Guam via APLs Guam Saipan Express (GSX) service.



We are thrilled to kick-start 2016 with the first cargo shipment on the GSX route, said John Selleck, APL General Manager, Guam/Micronesia. With 75% of Guams inbound freight originating from the U.S. mainland, the GSX service provides essential cargo shipments from the U.S. mainland to Guam and Saipan. Moreover, with the GSXs connections in Yokohama and Busan, we connect Guam and Saipan with the world through APLs global network.



Designed primarily to give Guam and Saipan shippers an alternative option for shipments from the U.S. mainland to these markets and vice versa, the GSX service connects with APLs weekly U.S.-flagged Eagle Express service (EX1) in both Yokohama, Japan and Busan, South Korea.



Prior to calling Guam, the 1,100-TEU APL vessel made its first call to Saipan. Upon returning to Yokohama, APL Guam will begin its regular two-week rotation, calling Guam, Saipan, Busan and Yokohama on Saturday, Sunday, Thursday and Tuesday respectively. In particular, the fortnightly GSX service is scheduled for weekend arrivals for ready cargo availability on Monday mornings in both Guam and Saipan.
Saudi Arabia and OPEC Manipulate Oil Prices to Eliminate Its Competition

About eighteen months ago the international price of WTI Crude Oil, at the close of June 2014, was $105.93 per barrel. Flash-forward to today; the price of WTI Crude Oil was just holding above $38.00 per barrel, a drastic fall of more than 65% since June 2014. I will point out several reasons behind this sharp, sudden, and what now seems to be prolonged slump.

The Big Push

Despite a combination of factors triggering the fall in prices, the biggest push came from the U.S. Shale producers. From 2010 to 2014, oil production in the U.S. increased from 5,482,000 bpd to 8,663,000 (a 58% increase), making the U.S. the third largest oil-producing country in the world.

The next big push came from Iraq whose production increased from 2,358,000 bpd in 2010 to 3,111,000 bpd in 2014 (a 32% increase), mostly resulting from the revival of its post-war oil industry.

The country-wide financial crunch, and the need for the government to increasingly export more to pay foreign companies for their production contracts and continue the fight against militants in the country took production levels to the full of its current capacity.

In addition; global demand remained flat, growing at just 1.1% and even declining for some regions during 2014. Demand for oil in the U.S. grew just 0.6% against production growth of 16% during 2014.

Europe registered extremely slow growth in demand, and Asia was plagued by a slowdown in China which registered the lowest growth in its demand for oil in the last five years. Consequently, a global surplus was created courtesy of excess supply and lack of demand, with the U.S. and Iraq contributing to it the most.

The Response

In response to the falling prices, OPEC members met in the November of 2014, in Vienna, to discuss the strategy forward. Advocated by Saudi Arabia, the most influential member of the cartel, along with support from other GCC countries in the OPEC, the cartel reluctantly agreed to maintain its current production levels.

This sent WTI Crude Oil and Brent Oil prices below $70, much to the annoyance of Russia (non-OPEC), Nigeria and Venezuela, who desperately needed oil close to $90 to meet their then economic goals.

For Saudi Arabia, the strategy was to leverage their low-cost of production advantage in the market and send prices falling beyond such levels so that high-cost competitors (U.S. Shale producers are the highest cost producers in the market) are driven out and the market defines a higher equilibrium price from the resulting correction. The GCC region, with a combined $2.5 trillion in exchange reserves, braced itself for lower prices, even to the levels of $20 per barrel.

The Knockout Punch

By the end of September 2014, according to data from Baker Hughes, U.S. Shale rigs registered their highest number in as many years at 1,931. However, they also registered their very first decline to 1,917 at the end of November 2014, following OPECs first meeting after price falls and its decision to maintain production levels. By June 2015, in time for the next OPEC meeting, U.S. Shale rigs had already declined to just 875 by the end of May; a 54% decline.

The Saudi Arabia strategy was spot on; a classic real-life example of predatory price tactics being used by a market leader, showing its dominant power in the form of deep foreign-exchange pockets and the low costs of production. Furthermore, on the week ending on the date of the most recent OPEC meeting held on December 4th, 2015, the U.S. rig count was down even more to only 737; a 62% decline. Despite increased pressure from the likes of Venezuela, the GCC lobby was able to ensure that production levels were maintained for the foreseeable future.

Now What?

Moving forward; the U.S. production will decline by 600,000 bpd, according to a forecast by the International Energy Agency. Furthermore, news from Iraq is that its production will also decline in 2016 as the battle with militants gets more expensive and foreign companies like British Petroleum have already cut operational budgets for next year, hinting production slowdowns. A few companies in the Kurdish region have even shut down all production, owing to outstanding dues on their contracts with the government.

Hence, for the coming year, global oil supply is very much likely to be curtailed. However, Irans recent disclosure of ambitions to double its output once sanctions are lifted next year, and call for $30 billion in investment in its oil and gas industry, is very much likely to spoil any case for a significant price rebound.

The same also led Saudi Arabia and its GCC partners to turn down any requests from other less-economically strong members of OPEC to cut production, in their December 2015, meeting. Under the current scenarios members like Venezuela, Algeria and Nigeria, given their dependence on oil revenues to run their economies, cannot afford to cut their own production but, as members of the cartel, can plea to cut its production share to make room for price improvements, which they can benefit from i.e. forego its market share.

Its Not Over Until Ive Won

With news coming from Iran, and the successful delivery of a knockout punch to a six-year shale boom in the U.S., Saudi Arabia feared it would lose share to Iran if it cut its own production. Oil prices will be influenced increasingly by the political scuffles betweenSaudi Arabia and its allies and Iran. The deadlock and increased uncertainty over Saudi Arabia and Irans ties have sent prices plunging further. The Global Hedge Fund industry is increasing its short position for the short-term, which stood at 154 million barrels on November 17th, 2015, when prices hit $40 per barrel; all of this indicating a prolonged bear market for oil.

One important factor that needs to be discussed is the $1+ trillions of junk bonds holding up the shale and other marginal producers. As you know, that has been teetering and looked like a crash not long ago. The pressure is still there. As the shale becomes more impaired, the probability of a high-yield market crash looks very high. If that market crashes, what happens to oil? Wouldnt there be feedback effects between the oil and the crashing junk market, with a final sudden shutdown of marginal production? Could this be the catalyst for a quick reversal of oil price?

The strategic interests, primarily of the U.S. and Saudi Arabia; the Saudis have strategically decided to go all in to maintain their market share by maximizing oil production, even though the effect on prices is to drive them down even further. In the near term, they have substantial reserves to cover any budget shortfalls due to low prices. More importantly, in the intermediate term, they want to force marginal producers out of business and damage Irans hopes of reaping a windfall due to the lifting of sanctions. This is something they have in common with the strategic interests of the U.S. which also include damaging the capabilities of Russia and ISIS. Its certainly complicated sorting out the projected knock-on effects, but no doubt they are there and very important.

Ill Show You How Great I Am

Moreover, despite a more than 50% decline in its oil revenues, the International Monetary Fund has maintained Saudi Arabias economy to grow at 3.5% for 2015, buoyed by increasing government spending and oil production. According to data by Deutsche Bank and IMF; in order to balance its fiscal books, Saudi Arabia needs an oil price of $105. But the petroleum sector only accounts for 45% of its GDP, and as of June 2015, according to the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency, the country had combined foreign reserves of $650 billion. The only challenge for Saudi Arabia is to introduce slight taxes to balance its fiscal books. As for the balance of payments deficit; the country has asserted its will to depend on its reserves for the foreseeable future.

Conclusion

The above are some of the advantages which only Saudi Arabia and a couple of other GCC members in the OPEC enjoy, which will help them sustain their strategy even beyond 2016 if required. But I believe it wont take that long. International pressure from other OPEC members, and even the global oil corporations lobby will push leaders on both sides to negotiate a deal to streamline prices.

With the U.S. players more or less out by the end of 2016, the OPEC will be in more control of price fluctuations and, therefore, in light of any deal between Iran and Saudi Arabia (both OPEC members) and even Russia (non-OPEC), will alter global supply for prices to rebound, thus controlling prices again.

What we see now in oil price manipulation is just the mid-way point. Lots of opportunity in oil and oil related companies will slowly start to present themselves over the next year which I will share my trades and long term investment pays with subscribers of my newsletter at TheGoldAndOilGuy.com

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Chris Vermeulen

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Chris Vermeulen is Founder of the popular trading site TheGoldAndOilGuy.com. There he shares his highly successful, low-risk trading method. For 7 years Chris has been a leader in teaching others to skillfully trade in gold, oil, and silver in both bull and bear markets. Subscribers to his service depend on Chris' uniquely consistent investment opportunities that carry exceptionally low risk and high return.

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Monday, Jan. 4

Henry County Board of Supervisors organizational meeting for 2016: 5 p.m. in the Summerlin Board Room, Henry County Administration Building. Includes election of chairman and vice-chairman for 2016.

TOPS Va. 0172 Martinsville, a weight loss support group at McCabe Memorial Baptist Church, 107 Clearview Drive, Martinsville. Weigh-in begins at 5:30 p.m.; meeting at 6 p.m. Visitors and new members are welcome. Call (276) 957-4213 for more information.

Breakfast club for seniors: 9 a.m. at the Sirloin House on Commonwealth Boulevard, Martinsville. The club is sponsored by the Martinsville Senior Center. If you plan to attend, call the center at 403-5260.

Steps to Freedom Group of Narcotics Anonymous, open topic: 7-8 p.m. at Bassett Memorial United Methodist Church, Riverside Drive, Bassett.

Narcotics Anonymous: 8-9 p.m. at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

Alcoholics Anonymous, Martinsville Group: noon, Christ Episcopal Church, 311 E. Church St.; 6:30 p.m. Martinsville Group, Grace Presbyterian Church, 218 Fayette St.; 7 p.m. Bassett Group Step Study, and 8 p.m. Big Book study, both at Pocahontas Bassett Baptist Church, 120 Bassett Heights Road.

Crochet group: 10 a.m. at Martinsville Senior Center. Bring yarn and crochet hooks. Call 403-5260 to sign up.

Game On program for adults: 8 a.m. at the JD Bassett Event Center/EMI in Bassett for exercise, games and crafts. For more information, call Jessica Bowers at 629-1369 or email jdb@emiimaging.com.

Tuesday, Jan. 5

Senior Citizens Tuesday Evening Dance at Rangeley Ruritan Building: 7-9:30 p.m. with music by The Plantation Band. Admission: $5. Public invited.

Virginia Foothills Quilters Guild: 9:30 a.m. until noon at Piedmonts Arts. Bring your own project and 30s fabrics that you already have to share. The discussion will be on the dresses project. Quilters of all levels are invited. Call 956-1775 for more information.

Southwest Piedmont Beekeepers Association: 7 p.m. at the Henry County Administration Building. Learn about how bees pollinate crops and flowers and how they make honey. Speakers will share their knowledge of beekeeping with those who have a love for the outdoors and want to know more about keeping these amazing insects. For more information, call Vern Wood at 276-629-1394 or Julie Shelton at 276-252-1310.

Overeaters Anonymous, a 12-step program for compulsive overeaters and food addicts: 5:30-6:30 p.m. at Calvary Christian Church, 515 Mulberry Road Martinsville. Enter through downstairs back door at the side of the church.

Christian Recovery 12 Step Group: 7-8 p.m. at Mercy Crossing 1978 Joseph Martin Highway, Martinville.

TOPS (Take Off Pounds Sensibly at Ross-Harbour United Methodist Church, Elamsville Road, Patrick County: weigh-in begins at 5 p.m. followed by a supportive meeting at 6 p.m.

TOPS Va. 413, Ridgeway: 5 p.m. weigh-in; 5:30 p.m. meeting at New Life Community Church fellowship hall, 415 Mica Road, Ridgeway; 956-2272.

TOPS Va. 0218, Martinsville: 9 a.m. weigh-in; 10 a.m. meeting at Chatham Heights Baptist Church, 1235 Chatham Heights. Call 957-2523 for more information.

TOPS Va. 0626, Fieldale: weigh-in from 5:30-6:10 p.m.; meeting at 6:15 p.m., Fieldale United Methodist Church. For more information, call (276) 957-3404 or (276) 340-6461.

Alcoholics Anonymous, Martinsville Group, 12 & 12 study: noon at Christ Episcopal Church; Primary Purpose Group, 12 & 12 study: 6:30 p.m. at Stone Memorial Christian Church; 8 p.m. Martinsville Group, beginners discussion, and Al-Anon Group at First Baptist Church, 23 Starling Ave., Martinsville.

Narcotics Anonymous: 8-9 p.m., basic study at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

Wednesday, Jan. 6

Join Henry County Parks & Recreation Senior Services for lunch and fellowship: 1 p.m. at Hugos, located at 10 E. Church St., Martinsville, Hugos offers a special on Wednesdays where seniors can eat for just $3.99. All seniors age 50 and over are welcome. If you have questions, Henry County Parks and Recreation Senior Services at 634-4644.

Game On activities for adults at the Historic J.D. Bassett Event Center, beginning at 8 a.m. Once in you can stay until 4 p.m. Exercising, Bingo, Rook, painting, sewing, basket making, photography and more available. Admittance $1 a day, $10 a month, or $100 a year. Membership levels can proved to be free by taking advantage of 5-15 percent discounts on all chargeable events including food. Those with questions may call Jessica Bowers at 629-1369 or email jdb@emiimaging.com.

Alcoholics Anonymous, Making the Connection Group: 9 a.m. open meeting at 24 Clay St., Martinsville; Axton Group open meeting at noon at Mt. Calvary Church, 350 A.L. Philpott Highway, Axton; Martinsville Group at 8 p.m. at Spencer Friendly Christian Church, 735 Friendly Church Road, Spencer.

The Martinsville Senior Center will have Wednesday morning Bible Study class for men and women aged 50 years or older at 10 a.m. at the Senior Center. Pastor Zeke Zanatos leads the class. For more information call the Senior Center at 403-5260

Calendar items may be mailed to info@martinsvillebulletin.com; faxed to 638-7409; mailed to P.O. Box 3711, Martinsville, Va. 24115; or brought to the office at 204 Broad St.; no phone calls. Notices must have the exact date of the event
After classes resume at Patrick Henry Community College (PHCC) on Jan. 11, students should not be alarmed if they get an emergency message saying that the campus is being locked down.

A lockdown drill is being planned. No actors  such as students or other people pretending to be injured or dead  will be used, but personnel from area law-enforcement agencies will participate to familiarize themselves with the campus in case a real emergency occurs, according to PHCC Police Chief Gary Dove.

It will be the colleges first lockdown, Dove said.

The date and time will be announced before the drill.

I dont want any surprises so as not to cause panic, said Dove, who also is the colleges emergency planning coordinator.

But weve still got a lot of planning to do before the drill is held, he said of PHCC officials.

Rooms on campus now have door locks that can be locked from both inside and outside the rooms, Dove said.

In a lockdown, he said, students and employees in classrooms and offices should immediately lock doors to the rooms, cut off lights and move away from doors and windows so they cannot be seen. They also should stay quiet and silence their cell phones and other personal communication devices, he said.

Officials have said that crime on PHCCs campus is rare and usually minor  such as thefts of personal items left behind in classrooms  but it always is possible for more serious crimes to happen.

No acts of violence have been reported on campus, at least since 2009, statistics on PHCCs website show.

However, incidents of violence at colleges and universities nationwide in recent years have prompted PHCC to make security improvements, Dove said.

The development of a two-officer police department is one of those measures. Those officers include Dove and Reggie Gravely, who recently was hired. Both men previously spent more than 25 years with the Martinsville Police Department.

PHCC also uses security officers, but they do not have arrest powers like campus police do.

Seven emergency call boxes have been installed outdoors on the campus, and six have been placed in buildings. Anyone needing help can press a button on any of the boxes to speak immediately with a police or security officer, Dove said.

PHCCs police department has two-way radio communications with the Martinsville Police Department, Henry County Sheriffs Office and the city-county 911 communications center, all of which can quickly give the college assistance in an emergency, Dove said.

That includes city police officers and county sheriffs deputies backing up the campus police force, he said.

Security cameras now are installed in parking lots as well as buildings, Dove said. He declined to say how many cameras are on the campus.

The 911 center is able to monitor all of the cameras, he added.

Loudspeakers indoors and outdoors across the campus enable college officials to relay emergency information. The college also has the ability to instantly relay such information to any computer on campus that is turned on. A loud tone will be heard, and an emergency message will pop up on the computer screen, Dove said.

Students can also sign up for PH Alert, a program that enables the college to provide them emergency messages via their personal communications devices.

As of the fall semester, PHCC had almost 2,600 students. Dove is asking them to be active in efforts to help keep the campus safe by reporting any suspicious activity they see to the colleges police department.

The request is in line with the U.S. Department of Homeland Securitys If you see something, say something program.

No matter how insignificant a bit of information might seem, Dove said, it may be the link that ties something together to solve a crime that happens on campus or prevent one from occurring.

People who provide information do not have to identify themselves, he emphasized.

Based on things he has heard, he said that some violent incidents that have occurred on college campuses may not have happened if people had more quickly relayed to police knowledge they had about certain situations.

PHCC plans to implement a formal Campus Watch program, which Dove said will be similar to Neighborhood Watch programs in communities nationwide.

No matter how safe that college officials try to make the campus, though, the safety of students and employees cannot be guaranteed all the time, Dove said.

We do have an open campus that is accessible to the public, he said.

A video about PHCCs security efforts has been placed on YouTube. Dove encourages students to watch it.
Out with the Old. In with the New. That was always the encouraging message of New Year. But amidst all the parties and the popping of champagne bottles, there was no sign of any optimism or hope for the future on the part of the ruling class and its strategists. On the contrary, the columns of the bourgeois press are filled with pessimism and foreboding.

On 28 December the Financial Times published an article by Gideon Rachman with the interesting title: Battered, bruised and jumpy  the whole world is on edge. In it we read the following:

In 2015, a sense of unease and foreboding seemed to settle on all the worlds major power centres. From Beijing to Washington, Berlin to Brasilia, Moscow to Tokyo  governments, media and citizens were jumpy and embattled. This kind of globalised anxiety is unusual. For the past 30 years and more, there has been at least one world power that was bullishly optimistic. In the late 1980s the Japanese were still enjoying a decades-long boom  and confidently buying up assets all over the world. In the 1990s America basked in victory in the cold war and a long economic expansion. In the early 2000s the EU was in a buoyant mood, launching a single currency and nearly doubling its membership. And for most of the past decade, the growing political and economic power of China has inspired respect all over the world. Yet at the moment all the big players seem uncertain  even fearful. The only partial exception that I came across this year was India, where the business and political elite still seemed buoyed by the reformist zeal of prime minister Narendra Modi. By contrast, in Japan, faith is fading that the radical reforms, known as Abenomics, can truly break the countrys cycle of debt and deflation. Japanese anxiety is fed by continuing tensions with China. However, my main impression from a visit to China, early in the year, is that this too is a country that feels much less stable than it did even a couple of years ago. The era when the government effortlessly delivered growth of 8 per cent or more a year is over. Concerns about domestic financial stability are mounting, as the upheavals in the Shanghai stock exchange over the summer revealed."

New explosions in the Middle East

The New Year opened with high drama, the scene of which was set, as one might have expected, in the seething cauldron of the Middle East, following the execution of, Sheikh Nimr-al-Nimr a prominent Shia Muslim cleric, a persistent critic of Saudi Arabia's royal family who was involved in anti-government protests that erupted in Saudi Arabia in the period of the Arab Spring, until he was arrested in 2012.

Washington views the situation with a mixture of alarm and helplessness. US state department spokesman John Kirby uttered soothing words: "We will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions. We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential."

But while Washington preaches sweetness and light, its friends and allies in Riyadh are pouring gallons of petrol onto the flames of what was already a highly explosive region. Kirbys words resemble a speech delivered by a vegetarian at a cannibals annual convention. The only difference is that the man who delivered it is the representative of the most cannibalistic power on earth.

The flames that engulf the entire Middle East are the direct consequence of the criminal invasion of Iraq and the continuing interference of US imperialism in that unhappy region. Having destabilised Iraq and reduced it to a smoking, war-torn ruin, the Americans and their allies have aided and abetted reactionary forces in Syria which now pose a serious threat to their interests. But the so-called war against terror that has allegedly been waged by the US and its allies for the past years in Iraq has achieved precisely nothing. The claim of the pathetic and cowardly Iraqi army, which is under US control, to have retaken Ramadi from ISIS, turned out to be a lie.

As I write these lines, the Jihadis remain in control of large parts of that city (or what remains of it) and fighting is still raging. No doubt the Iraqi army will eventually succeed in winning control of a heap of smouldering ruins. But the triumph in Ramadi has only served to expose the Iraqi army as a useless instrument. This shameful farce exposes the hollowness of all the boastful claims of the Pentagon, which pays their wages and puts guns in their hands, which they will throw away as soon as the first convenient opportunity presents itself.

America, Russia and Iran

Having finally woken up to the danger posed by forces that have escaped their control, the Americans are desperately looking around for someone who can help them to stamp out the fires that they themselves have ignited. But who can that be? Reluctantly, grumbling under their breath, the Americans are obliged to turn to the most unexpected and unwelcome of all imaginable allies  Russia and Iran.

Not long ago, the Americans and their NATO allies were constantly repeating the same monotonous chant about isolating Russia. Oh yes! Russia is isolated internationally. That was the mantra, repeated day in, day out. But now, as if by magic, Russia is not at all isolated, but courted, feted, and showered with praise, albeit delivered in a surly, growling sort of way. We have no intention of isolating Russia, We must reach an understanding with Russia, they now repeat constantly, and hope that nobody will notice the change of tune.

That was not the only death-defying somersault performed by Washington in the Year of Our Lord 2015. An even more astonishing leap in the diplomatic circus was performed in relation to Iran. The very same Iran which, like Russia, was doomed to the role of an international pariah, which was subjected to punishing sanctions and was even on the point of receiving the amiable attentions of the US air force, has now become a friend of America. And as we all know, a friend in need is a friend indeed!

The reason for these astonishing diplomatic acrobatics is not hard to see. The only serious military actions against the Jihadis in Syria have been the ones carried out by the Russians in collaboration with the Syrian army of Bashar al-Assad. And the only serious military actions against ISIS in Iraq (apart from the Kurds who will only fight in their own areas) are carried out, not by the so-called Iraqi army and its US backers, but by the Iranian-backed Shia militia and elements of the Iranian military.

In practice, the Americans have been forced to recognise this and accept the demands of Russia and Iran that Bashar al-Assad must remain in power for the foreseeable future. A report in the London Review of Books by the prominent American investigative journalist Seymour Hersh states that, the American Joint Military Staff provided the Syrian Army with security information through Germany, Russia and Israel.

This fits in with the statements made by former Director of the American Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Michael Flynn, who told the same magazine that between 2012 and 2014 his agency sent a number of messages warning of the impact of overthrowing Assads regime. His agency began to provide the regime with intelligence information (without, it seems, the approval of the politicians) to further its war against common enemies.

The Americans and their allies are being compelled by force of circumstance to abandon the ridiculous fiction of a moderate Islamist opposition in Syria. This moderate opposition, as everyone now knows, is made up of extreme Jihadi outfits like the Al Nusra Front, which America had supported, and which is the Syrian branch of al Qaeda. One part of US imperialism (the CIA) wishes to continue this policy, but it is directly contradicted by the Administrations change of line in relation to Russia and Iran. Meanwhile, the Russians continue to bomb all the Jihadi forces to their hearts content, paying not the slightest attention to the howls of protests from Washington.

Saudis and Turks

These splits in Washington create an impression of confusion and indecision, which is personified in the person of President Obama. There can be no doubt whatsoever that the downing of a Russian plane by the Turks was a deliberate provocation on the part of Erdogan, the intention of which was to drive a wedge between America and Russia. As we predicted, this manoeuvre failed utterly.

The execution of Nimr-al-Nimr, a judicial murder ordered by the Saudi royal clique, is of the same order. It was a deliberate provocation intended to stir up sectarian strife between Shias and Sunnis and push the government of Teheran into taking military action against Saudi Arabia, which would then call on the Americans for aid.

The immediate reaction to what was clearly a judicial murder was the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia immediately broke off diplomatic ties with Iran. All this was carefully premeditated. Events have proceeded step by step, like the steps of a ballet dancer. But this ballet is the dance of death. This was a desperate act by a regime that finds itself in deep trouble and faces the prospect of overthrow.

The Saudi gangsters miscalculated in Yemen, where they are involved in an unwinnable war. Now it has stirred up the anger of the Shias who constitute at least twenty percent of the Saudi population and are among the poorest and most oppressed layers. Mass demonstrations have broken out in Saudi cities with slogans like Death to the House of Saud! By overreaching themselves the Saudi ruling clique has sown the winds and will reap a whirlwind.

Refugee crisis

The revisionist pseudo-Marxist Hobsbawm, echoing an idea that was far better expressed by Kautsky, argued that in an age of globalization, national barriers would cease to have any meaning and wars would be a thing of the past. Instead of this, the 21st century has been marked by endless wars, violence and national conflicts of every kind. The Middle East is only one example of this.

The bloody chaos in Syria is causing a massive displacement of people probably not seen since the end of the Second World War. Thousands upon thousands of cold, exhausted, hungry refugees beat with their bare fists against the barbed wire fences that were hastily erected by the forces of law and order of civilized Europe. Nothing can illustrate the cold, cynical hypocrisy of the European bourgeois than their reaction to the refugee crisis.

For many years the people of Europe and America were fed the lie that every act of imperialist aggression was motivated by the purest humanitarian concerns. These concerns have created the biggest humanitarian disaster since the Second World War. Having contributed in no small way to the mess in Syria, the governments of Europe are now busy working out the best way to close the door on the hapless victims of the war.

The situation is no better on the other side of the Atlantic. A hundred years ago America inscribed on its Statue of Liberty the famous words:

Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed, to me:

I lift my lamp beside the golden door.

Now these words sound like a cruel irony. That same America is erecting ever higher fences to keep the poor huddled masses on the other side of the Rio Grande. The leading Presidential contender for the Republican Party publicly calls for a ban on all Moslems wishing to enter the United States. This is the authentic voice of 21st century capitalism: the voice of overt reaction, of chauvinism, xenophobia and barely-concealed racism.

Instead of the revisionist Utopia of a world without frontiers, national barriers are being reinforced everywhere. Border controls are being reintroduced not only on the outer fringes of Europe but also between the member countries of the Schengen Agreement. Nice, democratic Sweden is now introducing checks on travellers coming from nice, democratic Denmark. Nothing is left of the dream of a united Europe, which was always impossible on a capitalist basis.

Europe in crisis

The mood in Europe is a sombre one. The year 2015 was scarred both in its beginning and its end by two bloody terrorist attacks in Paris. The citizens of Munich and Brussels could not even celebrate the New Year in the accustomed style for fear of new terrorist outrages. In Paris the firework display had to be suspended. Fear and uncertainty are everywhere.

All the serious economists expect that the global economy is due another slump, which may start in Asia as a result of the sharp deceleration of the mighty Chinese economy. But it could equally begin in Europe. Germany, formerly the locomotive of Europes economic growth, has stalled and was plunged into crisis by the arrival of more than a million refugees from the Middle East and other war zones.

The Euro, which, together with the Schengen Agreement, was supposed to be the basis for further economic integration, has turned into its opposite. A yawning abyss has opened up between Germany and the nations of southern Europe, while the refugee crisis has driven a wedge between it and countries to the east. The long agony of Greece will continue, since nothing whatsoever has been solved. The exit of Greece from the Euro is only a matter of time.

That in turn will be the cause of even greater pain and suffering for the Greek people, and can act as the detonator that will push other countries towards the door marked exit. Britain is holding a referendum that could end in the United Kingdom leaving the EU. Anti-EU sentiment is building up in France and other countries. The future, not just of the Euro but of the EU itself is in question.

Political ferment

The pessimism of the bourgeois is well-founded. But it is only one side of the coin. The crisis of capitalism inevitably begets its opposite: the birth of a new spirit of revolt that alone can provide humanity with hope for the future. Slowly but surely the consciousness of the masses is awakening. And if the green shoots of economic recovery are only a figment of the imagination of the economists, the first symptoms of a revival of a revolutionary mood are both real and tangible.

It is an elementary proposition of dialectical materialism that human consciousness always lags behind events. But sooner or later it catches up with a bang. That is precisely what a revolution is. And what we are witnessing in Britain is the beginning of a political revolution. Overnight the entire equation has been transformed. That itself is a symptom of profound changes that are taking place in society. Sharp turns and sudden changes are implicit in the present situation.

It is true that consciousness is shaped to a large extent by the memories of the past. It will take time for the old illusions in reformism to be burned out of the consciousness of the masses. But under the hammer blows of events there will be sudden and sharp changes in consciousness. Woe betide those who try to base themselves on the consciousness of a past that is already vanished beyond recall! Marxists must base themselves on the living process and on perspectives for the coming period, which will bear no similarity to what we have experienced heretofore.

Looking for a way out of the crisis, the masses put to the test one party after another. The old leaders and programmes are analysed and discarded. Those parties that are elected and betray the hopes of the people, carrying out cuts in violation of election promises find themselves rapidly discredited. What were considered as mainstream ideologies become despised. Leaders who were popular become hated. Sharp and sudden changes are on the order of the day.

There is a growing anger against political elites: against the rich, the powerful and the privileged. This reaction against the status quo, which contains the embryonic seeds of revolutionary developments, can last well beyond the point where the economy begins to register signs of improvement. People no longer believe what the politicians say or promise. There is a growing disillusionment with the political establishment and in political parties in general. There is a general and deep seated sense of economic malaise in society. But it lacks a vehicle that is capable of giving it an organized expression.

In France, where the Socialist Party swept the board in the last election, Francois Hollande has the lowest approval rate of any President since 1958. In Greece we saw the collapse of Pasok and the rise of Syriza. In Spain we have the rise of Podemos, which came from nowhere to win  together with its allies  69 seats in the Spanish parliament, establishing itself as the only real opposition party.

We see the same process taking place in Ireland in the recent referendum. For centuries, Ireland was one of the most Catholic countries in Europe. Not long ago, the Church held absolute dominion over every aspect of life. The result of the referendum on gay marriage, where 62% voted Yes, was a stunning blow to the Roman Catholic Church. It was a massive protest against its power and interference in politics and in peoples lives. This represented a fundamental change in Irish society.

In Britain, against all the odds, Jeremy Corbyn swept the board in the elections for Labour leader. This was a political earthquake that transformed the whole situation in Britain practically overnight. This development was anticipated by events in Scotland, where the revolt against the establishment was reflected in the rapid growth of the SNP. This was not a movement to the right but to the left. It was not the expression of nationalism but of a burning hatred of the effete elite that rules in Westminster. The Labour Party, as a result of the cowardly class collaborationist policies of its leaders, is seen as just part of that establishment.

For decades the Labour Party under right wing leadership was a pillar of support for the existing system. The ruling class will not abandon this without a ferocious struggle. The first line of defence of the capitalist system is the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) itself. The Blairite majority of the PLP are the direct and conscious agents of the bankers and capitalists in this struggle. That explains their fanatical determination to get rid of Jeremy Corbyn at all costs. The ground is being prepared for a split in the Labour Party that will create an entirely new situation in Britain. All this is an expression of the deep discontent that exists in society and is seeking a political expression. Across Europe there is a fear that the policies of austerity will not be a temporary adjustment but a permanent attack on living standards. In countries such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland these policies have already resulted in deep cuts in nominal wages and pensions without having solved the problem of the deficit. Thus, all the sufferings and privations of the people have been in vain. Everywhere the poor are poorer and the rich are richer.

These processes are not confined to Europe. The US Presidential election presents a most interesting development. It is, of course, impossible to predict the outcome with any degree of certainty, given the extremely unstable and volatile juncture of US politics. The media circus has focussed almost exclusively on the person of the Republican Donald Trump. It seems unlikely that the US ruling class would entrust its affairs to an ignorant clown. But they have done so on at least two occasions in the recent past. Hilary Clinton is surely a safer bet from the standpoint of the ruling class.

But far more significant than Trump or Clinton was the massive support for Bernie Sanders who openly speaks of socialism. The emergence of Bernie Sanders as a challenger for the Democratic nomination for presidential candidate is a symptom of profound discontent and ferment in society. His attacks against the billionaire class and his call for a political revolution resonate with millions of people, as tens of thousands attend his rallies.

The word socialism is now used more frequently in the mainstream media. A 2011 poll found that 49% of those aged 18 to 29 had a positive view of socialism, versus only 47% with a positive view of capitalism. A more recent poll, from June 2014, found that 47% of Americans would vote for a socialist, with 69% of those under 30 in favour.

Large numbers of people, many of them youth, were eager to hear Bernie Sanders message. It is true that this was more akin to Scandinavian-style Social Democracy than genuine socialism. Even so, this is a most significant symptom that something is changing in the USA.

The situation in Russia has marked differences to the rest of Europe. On the surface it may seem paradoxical that Putin has emerged strengthened from the crises in Ukraine and Syria. The efforts of the West to isolate him have been a miserable failure. In Syria he is the man who now calls the shots. And even if the USA persists in maintaining sanctions over Crimea and Ukraine, we can confidently predict that its European allies will quietly drop theirs. The crisis-ridden European economy needs the Russian market and Russian gas just as much as the European bourgeois need Russian help to clear up the mess in Syria and (god willing) halt the unending flow of refugees.

But if we look deeper into the situation, it will become evident that that it is not so stable as it looks. The Russian economy continues to fall, hit by the falling price of oil and western sanctions. Real wages are falling. The middle class can no longer spend pleasant weekends in London and Paris. It grumbles but does nothing. The Russian workers were influenced by the official propaganda on Ukraine. They were scandalised by the activities of the Ukrainian fascists and ultra-nationalists and Putin was able to take advantage of their natural sympathy with their brothers and sisters in eastern Ukraine.

Putin may be able to maintain his grip on power for some time, but everything has its limits and in the end history always presents its bill. The economic crisis has led to a sharp fall in living standards of many workers, especially outside Petersburg and Moscow. The masses are patient, but their patience has definite limits. We saw evidence of this at the end of 2015 when long-distance truckers went on strike. A small symptom perhaps, but a symptom nevertheless that sooner or later the discontent of the Russian workers will find its expression in serious protests.

Gloomy outlook

At bottom, all these phenomena reflect the fact that the capitalist system has reached its limits. Globalization, having exhausted itself, has turned into its opposite. From being a powerful factor propelling growth, it is now helping to drag the whole unsound edifice down. The fact is that the so-called revival  which is no revival at all  is of such a feeble and anaemic character that any shock, whether economic, political or military, will be sufficient to bring the whole recovery to a shuddering halt.

The slowing of the Chinese economy threatens the entire world. China imported huge quantities of commodities from countries like Brazil. Now the Brazilian economy is contracting by 4.5 per cent. Many other so-called BRICS are in a similar position. The predictions of the spokespersons of Capital are increasingly pessimistic about the future. The Wall Street Journal reported the words of Adam Parker, Morgan Stanleys chief U.S. stock strategist: We think that we are likely headed for a choppy year of low returns, and suspect many others think the same.

Hyundai Motor's top executive has said the outlook for this year was "not bright". Group chairman Chung Mong-koo told the heads of the automaker's overseas units growth in 2015 was constrained by a weak global economy, the economic slowdown in the world's second-largest auto market China and a decline in emerging market demand. "Considering many leading indicators, the outlook for next year's auto market is also not bright," he said. Similar examples can be repeated at will.

In the article we mentioned at the beginning, Gideon Rachman draws the most pessimistic conclusions:

The global gloom makes the international political system feel like a patient that is still struggling to recover from a severe illness which began with the financial crisis of 2008. If there are no further bad shocks, recovery should proceed gradually and the worst political symptoms may fade. The patient is vulnerable, however. Another severe shock, such as a major terrorist attack or a serious economic downturn, could spell real trouble.

Here is the real voice of the strategists of Capital. They look to the future with dread. And from their own class perspective they are not wrong. 2016 will produce more turbulence, economic crisis and attacks on living standards, more inequality and injustice, more bloodshed and mayhem.

The New Year will replicate the Old, but with even greater intensity. The wars in the Middle East, Africa and Asia will produce the same tsunami of human misery that will continue to stream towards Europe, where it will be met by a barrier of barbed wire and inhumanity.

Terrorism, which is spreading through the globe like an uncontrollable epidemic, is itself a symptom of the diseased nature of capitalism in the 21st century. Further acts of terrorism are inevitable. The terrorists cannot be halted by police methods. There are not enough policemen in the world to deal with a large number of determined and fanatical individuals who wish to perpetrate acts of murder against unarmed and defenceless civilians.

When Lenin wrote that capitalism is horror without end, he was speaking the truth. It is as useless to complain about these horrors as it is to complain about the pains that accompany childbirth. The task of Marxists is not to moan about the inevitable consequences of capitalist decay. We leave that kind of thing to the preachers and pacifists.

Our task is to work tirelessly to point out to the workers and youth the real causes of these horrors and explain the way in which the problem can be eradicated once and for all. That can only be achieved by a root-and-branch transformation of society. Drastic problems demand drastic solutions. Only the socialist revolution can solve the problems facing humanity. That is the only cause worth fighting for today.

London, 4th January 2016
I guess this means there won't be any Donald Trump rallies coming to Northampton soon.

While Amherst has long been considered the bastion of liberal politics and hippie ethos (Exravaganja, anyone?), Reverb Press just named Northampton the second best "hippie city" in the country for stressed-out progressives in 2016.

The list named a dozen municipalities across the nation, with Mount Shasta, California, taking the top spot due to its location at the base of a volcano, Mount Shasta, a sacred place to Native Amercians and the town's plethora of spiritual teachers, as well as meditation, alternative medicine, and yoga sites.

Northampton's grooviness was based on its hemp stores, Moroccan coffee, rainbow crosswalk, "and a preponderance of Priuses."

The article also noted that "...the streets are full of counterculture artists, street musicians, political activists, and music venues, as well." Smith College and some its famous alums -- Gloria Steinem, Sylvia Plath, and Julia Child (although it's hard to think of Julia Child as a progressive or hippie) were also cited.

Other places on the list included Madison, Wisconsin, (of course), Lawrence, Kansas (somewhat surprisingly), and a small town named Marfa in the western part Texas (far from Austin and even more surprising). The only other New England place named was Portland, Maine, which was tapped for "an openness that welcomes refugees and same-sex couples, tolerates public nudity, and contains both award-winning restaurants and polite panhandlers."
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2401 Kalorama Street in Washington, D.C. By AgnosticPreachersKid (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

Want to live large in the nation's capitol but still feel right at home in New England? The oldest home in Washington, D.C., a 8,820-square-foot house at 2401 Kalorama Street, is a Danvers, Mass. original currently on the market for $10.5 million.

This is not the first time the Georgian-style house has been on the market. According to the home's Zillow feature, 2401 Kalorama, otherwise known as "The Lindens," was built as a Danvers summer home in 1754. In 1934, the home was sold to George Morris, president of the American Bar Association, and wife Miriam, who had the structure dismantled and rebuilt in its current location.

The home, which features six bedroom suites, a gated entrance, two kitchens, a spa, gorgeously designed walls and more, belonged to the Morris family until 1982. The house was listed for sale in 2005 for $12.75 million, and sold in 2007 for $7,165,000.

Interested in living lavishly a little closer to home? Check out grand homes still located in Western Massachusetts in MassLive House of the Week.
SPRINGFIELD - A Springfield man is being held on $500,000 bail following his arrest Saturday with 8,000 packets what police describe as the lethal "Hollywood" brand of heroin.

Juan Perez, 27, pleaded not guilty to one count of heroin trafficking during his arraignment in Springfield District Court.

Perez was arrested late Saturday after Springfield police received a tip that a gold minivan carrying a large amount of heroin would be pulling into the parking lot of a CVS store on Belmont Avenue, Assistant District Attorney Cary Szafranski said.

Police followed the van and arrested Perez

on the corner of Sumner and Ormond streets, according to Szafranski, who said 800 packets of so-called Hollywood heroin were concealed in a fake bumper.

The prosecutor, noting that a batch of Hollywood heroin has been linked to five fatal overdoses in Chicopee and Holyoke since Dec. 30, asked Judge William Boyle to impose $500,000 cash bail.

But defense lawyer Vincent Bongiorni said Perez did not own the minivan and investigators only found the heroin after an extensive search at police headquarters.

Perez is licensed to drive, has a steady work history and no criminal record, according to Bongiorni, who said he poses no flight risk.

He asked for $25,000 bail.

Boyle set bail at $500,000 and continued the case for a pretrial hearing on Feb. 4.

Three other defendants arrested on charges of distributing Hollywood heroin were scheduled for arraignment Monday afternoon. They are Francis Willor, of 455 State St. in North Adams; Elvis Luckham, of 68 Warragan St., Chicopee and Elvin Resto, of 128 Beech St. in Holyoke.
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Don Courtemanche, executive director of the Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce, announced that Julie Marcus will be the new board president.

(Diane Lederman/The Republican)

AMHERST - The Amherst Area Chamber of Commerce has anew president beginning Jan. 12 - Julie Marcus founder and chief operating officer of New England Environmental, Inc.

Marcus, who has been vice president, takes over from current president Nancy Buffone.

Georgia Moore of the Development Office of Cooley Dickinson Health Care will rejoin the board while members Mark Ellsworth and Felicity Hardee will step off the board after many years of service, according to a press release.

Julie Marcus

"The Board will be in good hands with Julie at the helm," said chamber executive director Don Courtemanche.

"Her knowledge of local and regional issues, her tireless civic involvement, and the knowledge she brings to the table as a business owner will serve the Chamber membership well.

"Additionally, we are grateful to the tremendous investment in time and talent that Nancy Buffone has dedicated to our organization."

Marcus in a statement said "I look forward to working closely with the Amherst Area Chamber's business, institutional and non-profit membership this year.

"This is a particularly exciting time in Amherst as we anticipate the addition of Geoff Kravitz, Amherst's new Economic Development Officer.

"The regional economy appears to be heading in the right direction, and I believe this area offers a bright future to our membership."

Kravitz began working Monday.

Marcus becomes president at the board's annual meeting Jan. 12.
Bill Cosby, Camille Cosby

In this Oct. 26, 2009 file photo, comedian Bill Cosby, left, and his wife Camille appear at the John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts before Bill Cosby received the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor in Washington. Camille Cosby released a statement on Monday, Dec. 15, 2014 in support of her husband. The statement is the first public comment from Cosby's long-time wife since a wave of sexual assault allegations began swirling several weeks ago.

(AP photo )

SPRINGFIELD - Lawyers for Camille and Bill Cosby have asked a federal court to delay Camille Cosby's deposition scheduled for Wednesday in Springfield.

A federal magistrate last week ordered Camille Cosby to answer questions about her husband's alleged sexual misconduct. But the Cosby legal team want to appeal that ruling and has asked for a delay.

In court papers field Monday, the Cosby legal team said it tired to work out a delay with the plaintiffs, in this case women who said Bill Cosby sexually abused them and then defamed them by denying publicly their claims of abuse. But plaintiffs instead said they would use federal marshals to compel Camille Cosby to appear at the deposition.

Camille Cosby's testimony would follow a dramatic week in unfolding story of the once-beloved entertainer. Bill Cosby was arrested and charged Wednesday with drugging and sexually assaulting a woman at his home in Pennsylvania 12 years ago.

Eight women are suing Cosby for defamation in federal court. They are among approximately 50 women who have come forward over the last year alleging that he sexually assaulted or had unwanted sexual contact with them decades ago. He also faces a lawsuit in the California state courts.

The eight are Tamara Green, Katherine Mae "Kathy" McKee, Therese Serignese, Linda Traitz, Louisa Moritz, Barbara Bowman, Joan Tarshis and Angela Leslie. All claim in their suit that Cosby allowed his representatives to portray them as liars after they went public with their allegations.

Cosby has also countersued seven of his accusers saying that they defamed him. McKee was not sued because she hadn't filed her complaint when Cosby countersued.

Bill and Camille Cosby have a home in Shelburne.
Over the next decade, economists and business leaders say America faces a shortage of millions of skilled workers for blue collar jobs as Baby Boomers retire. Now, Oregon is planning ahead by ramping up efforts to train Generation Xers and Millennials to fill middle-skill job openings in technical fields. NewsHours Christopher Booker reports.

Full Story: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/how-oregon-is-investing-in-the-next-generation-of-blue-collar-workers/
Chicken will be the best-positioned protein due to its low price position in times of pressure on consumer spending power but rises in production costs and the long-term impact of COVID-19 threaten to disrupt the sector, according to Rabobank.
by Tanya Gazdik , January 4, 2016

With the enormous popularity of the HBO medieval fantasy TV series, its no surprise that a story about Wyndham enlisting a Game of Thrones actor in its marketing activities was the top travel segment story of 2015.

The $100 million global effort is the largest integrated umbrella marketing campaign in the programs history, Josh Lesnick, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Wyndham Hotel Group, told Marketing Daily. The campaign stars Norwegian film actor, producer and writer Kristofer Hivju.

Social media-themed efforts seemed to especially capture readers interest. Other popular stories in the travel category included Loews' Campaign Features Social Media Photos, Holiday Inn Express Hits Road With Pancake Selfie Express and Marriott Partners With YouTube Stars For Original Content.

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Several stories about studies that examined brand perception that crossed all categories also proved to be popular: Apple, Nike, Chipotle Emotionally Engage Millennials and Amazon Remains Best Perceived; Trivago Is One To Watch.

A heartwarming story about Mars Sheba brand donating millions of cans of food to animal shelters was the top pet segment story last year. The campaign was tied to the National Random Acts of Kindness Day.

The company initially donated 2 million cans and then pledged to donate an additional 1 million cans -- one for every share, view or like of a video showing how happy the cats at one of the shelters were about receiving the initial donation through partner organization Rescue Bank. Consumers were encouraged to use the hashtags #ShebaGives and #RAK.

Another Mars brand garnered the second-highest readership in the category: Mars' Temptations Intros 'Snacky Mouse' Treat Dispenser. The story detailed a marketing campaign to back an interactive toy, the Snacky Mouse. The weighted, mouse-shaped wobble toy is designed to dispense Temptations treats as cats bat, bobble and play with it.

In the financial services category, a story about two studies that examined the unique financial mindset of Millennials drew the most readers. Another story about a YouGov BrandIndex analysis looking at insurance companies was also popular. The study found that despite paying less attention to GEICO and Progressive advertising, consumers are still doing the same amount of business with the companies.
by Richard Whitman , Columnist, January 3, 2016

Gillian Vigman. Is her name familiar to you? It should be. Lately, it seems, she's been in practically every ad on the planet. OK -- so that's a blatant over-generalization, but the woman has been in a lot of ads!

Vigman is an actress who has appeared in "The Hangover," "The Hangover II" and "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." She also been in "Cougar Town," "New Girl," "Suburgatory," "Californication," "United States of Tara," "Scrubs," "CSI" and "Supernatural." Oh, and she was also on MADtv. The woman is busy!

As for ads, are you ready? 1-800-Contacts, Chase, Jack in the Box, DirecTV, Swiffer, California Milk, Esurance, McCormick, Hanes, Splenda and Buick.

It's kind of par for the course in advertising. Once you agency folk have latched on to one good thing (be it a song, a location or a particular actor), you all just can't wait to jump on the bandwagon and do the same thing. Or so it seems.
by Philip Rosenstein , Staff Writer, January 4, 2016

At the beginning of January 2008, Hillary Clinton held a 15-point lead over then Sen. Barack Obama in national polls. One of the most recent national polls this cycle, fielded by CNN/ORC, has Clinton up 16 points on Vermont Sen. and presidential nominee Bernie Sanders.

The Democratic primary race, as far as the Sanders campaign is concerned, is nowhere near being decided. Fortunately for Hillary Clinton, there are only three more Democratic debates and only one before the Iowa or New Hampshire primaries. Sanders will have to campaign fiercely as we approach Feb. 1, the date of the Iowa caucuses.

With a Clinton backers taunting quote hanging on the wall of Sanders Iowa HQ -- There is no Sanders organization -- the paid Sanders team in that state has grown to 100. This doesnt include trained volunteers in each of Iowas 1,681 caucus precincts -- crucial cogs in driving election day turnout.

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According to The New York Times, Sen. Sanders told a crowd in Iowa that he doesnt want to get Secretary Clinton nervous, but [he] thinks [the Sanders campaign will] win here in Iowa.

While Clinton leads Sen. Sanders in Iowa polls by 12.8 points in the most recent Real Clear Politics average, a recent poll has Sanders barely five points behind in that state. Additionally worrisome for Clinton, Sanders quickly gained in the final months of 2015, since some polls put him 32 points behind Clinton as recently as early December.

New Hampshire is where Sanders could seriously shake up the primary. If he wins big there, which is plausible, having given Clinton a run for her money (or even winning) in Iowa, we could experience something akin to 2008.

A major similarity between the 2016 Sanders and 2008 Obama campaign is an intense grassroots focus. The Sanders campaign sent out an email to supporters over the weekend underscoring their fundraising success in 2015. Some 2.5 million people have contributed to Bernie Sanders campaign for a whopping $73 million in total donations for the year.

Robust fundraising was especially evident in the last quarter of 2015. $33 million flowed to Sanders compared to $37 million to the Clinton campaign, excluding money raised through the DNC and the Hillary Victory Fund.

President Obamas surge in the 2008 election polls came at the very beginning of the year, starting before the Iowa caucuses. Lets see if the Sanders campaign can recreate the same enthusiasm to propel his campaign to an improbable nomination.
by P.J. Bednarski , Staff Writer @pjbtweet, January 4, 2016

The new year is starting with some bad news for Netflix. Baird Equity Research this morning downgraded the stock from outperform to neutral this morning, and from there, it was katy bar the door.

Shortly after 10:30 this morning, Netflix was trading down by around 6%, and amid a down market today--off 450 points at mid-morning--Netflix was among the most conspicuous nose-divers.

According to an account from Barrons, Bairds William Power readjusted his price target to $1115 from $128 based, in part based on a survey of 3,000 U.S. residents that showed flattish growth.

In our Q4 U.S. survey, 46% of respondents stated that they were Netflix streaming subscribers vs. 47% in Q3 and 35% a year ago. This appears to point to more flattish Q415 U.S. subscriber progress, and, if accurate, potentially raises some questions around the U.S. subscriber growth trajectory, Power wrote. We would also note that Netflixs $1 price increase went into effect for new subscribers on October 8, which could have had a greater impact than we originally anticipated.

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I dont know enough about Netflixs subscriber growth or what rattles investors, but this, by itself, seems a little premature because, as Power otherwise pointed out, Bairds consumer surveys dont appear to be ironclad trend documents.

As our survey is conducted online, we generally view results as representative of broadband-connected homes, Power writes, and notes they typically overstate penetration levels.

On the other hand, Netflix stock advanced 134% in 2015, making it the top S&P 500 performer, so cooling off wouldnt seem to be so unusual, especially on a lousy day on Wall Street. Likewise, Amazon shares are down significantly today. Monness Crespi Hardt lowered its rating to neutral; as Motley Fool points out, Amazons stock zoomed 119% in the last year, so it just might be due for a cooling off, too.

The turndown for Netflix comes as a financial meltdown in China spooked the market. Mainland China stock shares sunk 7% and circuit breakers (brand new in China) halted trading. Economic reports say Chinas economy sank dramatically last month, and that kind of talk makes Wall Street fear a worldwide slowdown. Tensions in the Mideast are also giving investors the jitters.

That China situation probably isnt helping Yahoo, either, because of its increasingly vital interest in Alibaba, which stands as Yahoos major up-side.

Also, according to the New York Posts Claire Atkinson, dissident Yahoo investors are pushing to have the company sell its Internet business instead of splitting it off into its own company, as perpetually-beleaguered Yahoo CEO Marissa Meyer intends. The Post reports hedge fund Starboard Value intends to wage a proxy battle and nominate its own board. Both situations are creating a stir in the stock market today, where Yahoo is also off more than 6% too.

pj@mediapost.com
by Laurie Sullivan @lauriesullivan, January 4, 2016

General Motors is betting $500 million that self-driving cars are the future. On Monday the automotive giant announced an investment in Lyft just days prior to an expected official announcement at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) from Google and Ford that the duo would create a joint venture to build autonomous vehicles and other car-related technologies.

Saudi Arabias Kingdom Holding, Janus Capital Management, and Japanese e-commerce firm Rakuten also contributed to the financing for a total of $1 billion.

In March 2015, Rakuten purchased an 11.9% stake in Lyft, the San Francisco-based ride-sharing service. The company invested $300 million as the lead investor in Lyfts series E investment round. The deal could create a global delivery service for the etailer, as it sets up shop on sites like Chinas JD.com.

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For GM, the 107-year-old American automaker, will create rental hubs countrywide that will make vehicles owned by GM available to Lyft drivers on a short-term rental basis. The ultimate goal will see the two combine experiences in manufacturing, autonomous technology, mobile and consumer software to create a self-driving car network.

The deal marks the first time a large carmaker has joined with a ride-hailing company, but its not the first time an executive at a major car manufacturer has made an investment in a ride-sharing business. Ford Motor Co. Executive Chairman Bill Ford invested personally in one of Lyfts early funding rounds through his venture firm, Michigan-based Fontinalis Partners. Not through Ford.

Lyft also is working on lead generation by getting companies to deep link into their app, mobile search links that lead directly to apps instead of Web pages in mobile browser. It enables consumers in Open Table, for example, to order car service without switching apps.
The addition of 3D enhancements to the worlds biggest database for cancer research and drug discovery should be a huge boost to researchers looking for more effective ways to develop new cancer treatments.

Share on Pinterest The database now holds the 3D structures of nearly 3 million niches on the surface of nearly 110,000 cancer-causing molecules.

Thus conclude researchers who have completed major updates to canSAR, a vast, publicly available cancer database that draws on knowledge from fields like biology, chemistry, pharmacology and structural biology to help interpret experimental data and make predictions useful for drug discovery.

The team, from the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) in London, UK, describes the new enhancements to canSAR in the journal Nucleic Acids Research.

A significant feature of the update is the addition of 3D structures of faulty proteins and maps of cancers communication networks.

Other improvements include better browsing and search tools, new summaries of disease and cancer lines, and enhanced batch analysis tools, note the authors of the Cancer Research UK-funded project.

Senior author Dr. Bissan Al-Lazikani, who has led the development of canSAR, and whose research at ICR focuses on developing and applying multidisciplinary computational techniques to support drug discovery, says:

Our aim is that cancer scientists will be armed with the data they need to carry out life-saving research into the most exciting drugs of the future.

The canSAR database has been going since 2011 and aims to use big data to build a detailed picture of how most human molecules behave.

The database already houses billions of experimental measurements that map the effect of a million drugs and chemicals on human proteins. It has also appended this information with genetic data and results from clinical trials.

Dr. Al-Lazikani explains why the resource is so useful:

Scientists need to find all the information there is about a faulty gene or protein to understand whether a new drug might work. These data are vast and scattered, but the canSAR database brings them together and adds value by identifying hidden links and presenting the key information easily.
The out-of-hospital birth setting in Oregon was associated with a higher risk of perinatal death, while the in-hospital birth setting was associated with a higher risk for cesarean delivery and other obstetric interventions (e.g., induction or augmentation of labor), according a study published today in the New England Journal of Medicine by researchers at Oregon Health & Science University.

"This study continues the national dialogue about the care, setting and health care systems that can provide more women with a safe, healthy birth that meets their birthing preferences," said Jonathan M. Snowden, Ph.D., an epidemiologist and assistant professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the OHSU School of Medicine and lead author of the study. "Our findings show that Oregon women are very likely to have a safe delivery in any setting. While those who deliver at home or in birth centers are much more likely to have a normal, vaginal delivery, there is also a small but statistically significant increase in risk for adverse baby outcomes."

The study, which looked at outcomes for mothers and babies based on birth setting, was conducted using data collected from Oregon birth certificates in 2012 and 2013 on what a mother's intended birth setting was when she went into labor. The study compared two groups of 'low-risk' pregnancies, meaning the babies were head down, close to their due date, and not twins or triplets. One group was planning hospital birth, the other out-of-hospital birth.

"While the overall risk for perinatal death was low in all settings, the stakes can be high," said Aaron B. Caughey, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair in the OHSU Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, associate dean for Women's Health Research and Policy in the OHSU School of Medicine, and paper co-author. "As health care providers, we need to make sure women know what the trade-offs are so they can make an informed choice that reflects their birth preferences."

The key findings were:

While rare in both groups (less than 0.5% in all settings), there was a statistically significant higher risk of perinatal death in planned out-of-hospital births compared to planned hospital births.

Neonatal seizures were also rare in all settings (less than 0.5%), and were significantly higher in planned out-of-hospital births compared to planned hospital births.

The cesarean section rate was significantly lower in planned out-of-hospital births compared to planned hospital birth (24.7% in the hospital, 5.3% out of hospital).

Risk of C-section was 24.7%, making the absolute difference between birth settings large (a difference of 20%). However, risk of perinatal death was very low in all settings, so the absolute extra risk associated with planned out-of-hospital birth was also less than 0.5%.

Mothers who planned out-of-hospital birth had a significantly increased risk for blood transfusion, likely related to postpartum hemorrhage.

Planned out-of-hospital birth was associated with decreased use of obstetric interventions across the board (e.g., augmentation of labor, induction of labor or C-section).

The group planning hospital birth had significantly more mothers with high blood pressure, diabetes or a prior C-section, and overall, they were a higher-risk group.

This is the first birth certificate data set in the country in which women were asked about intended place of birth, regardless of where they delivered. Because the authors knew which women planned a hospital or out-of-hospital birth, they were able then to properly categorize outcomes by the intended place of birth. In the past, a woman may have started labor at home and intended to deliver at home, and then needed to be transferred to the hospital due to complications and delivered in the hospital. If outcomes were not good, the outcome was categorized as a hospital outcome.

This paper also addresses the overuse of C-sections in U.S. hospitals, a topic on which Dr. Caughey and the research team are nationally known experts.

"There is now consensus in the medical and midwifery communities that the U.S. C-section rate is too high, and the desire to avoid a C-section may shape women's choices when seeking out-of-hospital birth," said Ellen Tilden, Ph.D., C.N.M., assistant professor at OHSU School of Nursing and study co-author. "It's really important that we strive to make birth safer in any setting, both through decreasing fetal and neonatal morbidity and mortality out of the hospital but also through supporting safe vaginal birth in hospitals."

Out-of-hospital births in Oregon account for about 4% of total births (2.4% home birth, 1.6% birth center), the highest rate of any state, so about 95% of births take place in the hospital. About 57% of out-of-hospital births in Oregon are attended by licensed direct entry midwives, 20% by certified nurse-midwives, 13% by naturopathic doctors, and 7.7% by unlicensed midwives. These two charts show which providers perform births in which setting, and define the types of midwives and their trainings/certifications.

Nationally there has been a significant increase in the rate of home births. Between 2004 and 2008, the home birth rate increased by 20%, and by another 24% between 2008 and 2012, so about 1.4% of U.S. women had a home birth in 2012.

The authors agree that working to integrate the maternal health care system would be good first steps. Specifically, they recommend focusing on:

Looking to countries with better integrated maternity care systems, like the Netherlands, where midwives are the lead care providers for healthy women

Developing formal guidelines for which women are appropriate candidates for out-of-hospital birth

Improving communication and collaboration between in- and out-of-hospital providers

Creating an agreed upon transfer system where patients can easily be transferred to a hospital when needed

"The history and political tenor of the debate between out-of-hospital and in-hospital birth in our state and nationally has polarized the issue at a time when we sorely need a productive exchange," says Snowden. "It is important to recognize that we all -- families, birth attendants, and policymakers -- share the common goal of helping birth occur with the best possible outcomes for all."
Music festival organisers should ensure partygoers have access to free drinking water, shade, 'chill out' zones, and adequate first aid services to help ensure the safety of patrons, according to the AMA.

AMA President, Professor Brian Owler, said today that a spate of drug-related deaths and hospitalisations at music festivals in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Brisbane late last year, had highlighted the need for organisers and those attending to take care when attending such events.

"Summer can be a great time to get together with friends and attend outdoor events like music festivals," Professor Owler said.

"But sometimes things can go tragically wrong, and the AMA wants people to have fun in safety."

In late 2015 two young people died and dozens were taken to hospital in a critical condition after taking illicit drugs at a series of Stereosonic festivals in the major capital cities.

Professor Owler said taking illicit drugs, particularly in an environment where people are outdoors all day in the sun surrounded by large crowds, was extremely dangerous.

"Taking illicit substances is a dangerous activity, and tragically we have seen the consequences when someone takes a pill, powder, or liquid without knowing the active ingredients," he said.

But the AMA President said it was not just illicit drugs that posed a safety risk.

He said consuming too much alcohol, not drinking enough water, and spending hours in the sun without a hat or sunscreen all put the health of partygoers at risk.

"In everyday life, drinking too much alcohol often leads to harm," Professor Owler said. "But particularly doing it on a hot day at a music festival can result in some serious health problems."

Professor Owler said festival organisers should make fresh drinking water freely available.

"Providing free drinking water is a health prevention measure. Festival organisers have a duty of care to their patrons to ensure that profit is not put ahead of health."

He said they should also provide sufficient shaded places and chill out zones for festivalgoers seeking a break, and they need to ensure there are first-responders and first aid-trained staff commensurate with the crowd size.

He said partygoers also had a role to play in ensuring their own safety by not engaging in risky and potentially harmful behaviour, and by taking some sensible precautions like wearing sunscreen, protective clothing and sensible footwear, and keeping an eye on the weather.
Addex Therapeutics, a leading company pioneering allosteric modulation-based drug discovery and development, announced today that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted orphan drug designation to dipraglurant for the treatment of levodopa-induced dyskinesia associated with Parkinson's disease (PD-LID). Orphan drug status provides Addex with a number of benefits including reduced development costs and seven years US market exclusivity from launch. Dipraglurant is a novel small molecule inhibitor of the metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5) that has successfully completed Phase II proof-of-concept testing in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients suffering from debilitating levodopa-induced dyskinesia (LID), an indication that has no approved treatment options. Addex is currently conducting an mGlu5 receptor occupancy clinical trial and is preparing to start a Phase III pivotal trial in PD-LID.

"Orphan drug status for dipraglurant in PD-LID is an important regulatory milestone for us and recognizes the therapeutic benefits that dipraglurant can bring to PD patients", said Sonia Poli, CSO of Addex. "Dipraglurant has already demonstrated its potential to reduce dyskinesia in PD patients and we have started consultation with the FDA to define the clinical development program in this rare disease."

"Achieving orphan drug designation is a key milestone as we execute our strategy of focusing Addex portfolio of clinical programs in rare neurological disorders", said Tim Dyer, CEO of Addex. "We recently reported positive interim data from our ongoing mGluR5 receptor occupancy clinical trial and now plan to move dipraglurant directly into a Phase III pivotal trial in the US."

About Orphan Drug Designation

Orphan drug designation is granted by the FDA Office of Orphan Products Development (OOPD) to novel drugs that treat a rare disease or condition affecting fewer than 200,000 patients in the United States. The designation provides the sponsor with a seven-year period of U.S. marketing exclusivity from launch, as well as tax credits for clinical research costs, the ability to apply for annual grant funding, clinical research trial design assistance, and waiver of Prescription Drug User Fee Act (PDUFA) filing fees.

About Dipraglurant

Dipraglurant is an oral, small molecule allosteric modulator that inhibits selectively the metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGluR5), a Class C G-Protein Coupled Receptor (GPCR), with potential to be used in combination with levodopa or dopamine agonists or as a standalone treatment for Parkinson's disease levodopa-induced dyskinesia (PD-LID), motor and non-motor symptoms of Parkinson's disease and other movement disorders. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, US and European Phase II study in PD-LID, data showed that dipraglurant met the primary objective of the study by exhibiting a good safety and tolerability profile. Dipraglurant also demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in LID severity with both 50 and 100 mg doses. Dipraglurant reduced dystonia severity in addition to chorea, the two major LID components. Efficacy was measured using the modified Abnormal Involuntary Movement Scale and patient diaries documenting "off-time" (impaired voluntary movement), "on-time" (with or without dyskinesia) and sleep. Additional endpoints include the Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale, the Clinical and Patient Global Impression of Changes scales, and an evaluation of the patient's mood using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. The trial was supported by a grant from The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.

About Levodopa-Induced Dyskinesia Associated with Parkinson's Disease

PD-LID are involuntary movements that appear after 3-5 years of treatment with dopamine replacement therapies. They may affect any body area e.g. face, trunk, limbs, that occur when a patient takes levodopa. Patients suffering from LID commonly present with irregular migrating contractions or twisting and writhing due to dystonia, chorea, however other forms of abnormal movements have also been observed; peak-dose dyskinesia is the most common form and is associated with peak plasma levels of levodopa. Symptoms of LID are serious and can restrict the dosing of levodopa which may result in inadequate control of Parkinsonian symptoms. In addition to the impact on quality of life associated with uncontrollable involuntary movements, patients with LID are easily fatigued, present a risk of injury to themselves as well as caretakers, and suffer pain due to dystonia.
Researchers will soon undertake one of the largest-ever long-term clinical trials of a system designed to help regulate blood sugar levels of individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus. If the so-called artificial pancreas system performs in patients as hoped, it could lead to commercial trials and eventual regulatory approval in the United States and abroad.

With $12.7 million in support from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the system developed by a team of researchers from the University of Virginia (UVA) School of Medicine and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) will be tested in 240 patients at nine sites in the U.S. and Europe. The two six-month trials will begin in early 2016, in collaboration with a half dozen other institutional partners.

Already one of the most common chronic disorders, the incidence of diabetes is increasing worldwide. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1.25 million Americans have type 1 diabetes. In people living with the disease, the body's immune system attacks and destroys the insulin-producing beta cells of the pancreas so that little or none of the insulin needed to regulate blood glucose is produced. Diabetics must vigilantly monitor blood glucose levels and, when necessary, administer doses of insulin either via needle injections or infusion pump. Failure to maintain proper blood glucose levels through insulin management can cause life-threatening hyperglycemia, or low blood sugar, among other complications.

"To be ultimately successful as an optimal treatment for diabetes, the artificial pancreas needs to prove its safety and efficacy in long-term pivotal trials in the patient's natural environment," said principle investigator Boris Kovatchev, director of the UVA Center for Diabetes Technology. "Our foremost goal is to establish a new diabetes treatment paradigm: the artificial pancreas is not a single-function device; it is an adaptable, wearable network surrounding the patient in a digital treatment ecosystem."

Through a marriage of control engineering with medical practice and behavioral science, the artificial pancreas system is designed to supply the appropriate levels of insulin by not only reacting to changes in the body, but accurately predicting blood glucose levels in advance.

The artificial pancreas is not a replica organ; it is an automated insulin delivery system designed to mimic a healthy person's glucose regulating function. The closed-loop system consists of an insulin pump, continuous glucose monitor placed under the user's skin, and advanced control algorithm software embedded in a smart phone that provides the engineering brains, signaling how much insulin the pump should deliver to the patient based on a range of variables including meals consumed, physical activity, sleep, stress, and metabolism.

"The idea is that this can lead to an improved quality of life for individuals with this disease - not a solution to diabetes, but a means to really extend the quality of their healthful living," said co-principal investigator and engineering lead on the project Francis J. Doyle III, dean and John A. & Elizabeth S. Armstrong Professor of Engineering & Applied Sciences at Harvard SEAS.

In the first of the two trials planned as part of the new NIH-funded study, 240 patients with type 1 diabetes will test the safety and effectiveness of the artificial pancreas for six months while going about their normal daily routines. The control-to-range artificial pancreas system for this trial was developed at UVA and is now licensed to TypeZero Technologies. The artificial pancreas will be compared with a standard insulin pump on two key measures: how well blood-sugar levels are controlled and whether the risk of hypoglycemia is reduced.

The second trial will follow 180 patients who completed the first study for an additional six months to test the advanced adaptive control algorithm developed by Doyle's Harvard team. That system is based on zone model-predictive control (zone MPC), a strategy originally developed by Doyle and colleagues in a seminal paper published in 1996. Rather than regulating glucose levels to a specific point in the same way that a home thermostat keeps the room temperature at a precise setting, zone-MPC defines an acceptable zone for an individual's glucose levels and controls variables to stay within that range.

"The biggest challenge in the design of the artificial pancreas is the inherent uncertainty in the human body," Doyle noted. "Day to day, hour to hour, the various stresses that impact the human body change the way it responds to insulin-controlling glucose. Physical stresses, anxiety, hormonal swings will all change that balance. To be able to control for those factors we need to see longer intervals of data. This is the first trial where we'll be looking at multi-month intervals of time with cohorts of subjects where we can actually see a long enough window to learn those patterns, to adapt and fine-tune the algorithms, and to improve the overall level of glucose control."

In addition to UVA and Harvard, the institutions that comprise the International Diabetes Closed Loop Consortium and will participate in the clinical trials include: Mount Sinai Hospital, New York; the Mayo Clinic; Stanford University; the University of Colorado; the University of Padua, Italy; Regional University Hospital Center of Montpellier, France; the Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam; William Sansum Diabetes Center, Santa Barbara; with coordination by the JAEB Center for Health Research in Florida.

The UVA/Harvard award is the largest commitment by NIH under a $20 million program the agency announced in 2014 to fund advanced clinical trials to test the safety and efficacy of artificial pancreas systems. The goal is to acquire the data necessary to satisfy requirements for regulatory approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and other international agencies. NIH announced awards to three other teams earlier this year to: the University of Cambridge ($6.4 million); the Diabetes Wireless Artificial Pancreas Consortium (DREAM) comprised of diabetes centers in Germany, Israel, and Slovenia ($2 million); and Boston University/Massachusetts General Hospital ($1.5 million).

For Doyle, the launch of the clinical trials is the latest milestone in a research pursuit now in its twentieth year. Early in his career, he co-authored one of the first papers on the systems control aspects of a hypothetical artificial pancreas. From theoretical mathematical modeling to clinical testing, his research group has been building on that work ever since, as the technology has evolved from open-loop studies with humans in the loop to closed-loop systems embedded on a chip.

Doyle and SEAS senior researcher Eyal Dassau, collaborators at the University of California, Santa Barbara before joining Harvard in the fall of 2015, are also part of a team working on a pediatric version of the artificial pancreas system as well as an implantable version of the device.

"To be ultimately successful as an optimal treatment for diabetes, the artificial pancreas needs to prove its safety and efficacy in long-term pivotal trials in the patient's natural environment," Kovatchev said. "Our foremost goal is to establish a new diabetes treatment paradigm: the artificial pancreas is not a single-function device; it is an adaptable, wearable network surrounding the patient in a digital treatment ecosystem."
More people than ever before are turning to wearable sensors to monitor their activity levels. However, despite its origin in simple step counting, the market for wearable sensors is expanding into the more complex arena of health monitoring. ...
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Coppini said, "In a few hours, I lost a baby and a unique mamma. Someone has to tell me what happened. Giovanna sent me a text message during the night in which she told me she had very strong pains but that the doctors were not paying any attention to her. She would have been 30 on January 1. She was young and healthy."Ezio Belleri, the hospital's director general, said, "An initial review of Lazzari's treatment had not found any indication of errors. The doctors did everything that could be done. Up to now, nothing indicates that any errors were made. The cause of death had been septic shock brought on by hemorrhaging that was likely the result of an unpredictably rapid spread of a very strong bacterial infection."Health minister Beatrice Lorenzin has dispatched experts to establish what happened in Brescia and three of the other four fatal cases. Their first report is due Monday, January 4, 2016.Lorenzin said, "We have to understand if the recommended procedures were followed or if there were organizational deficiencies. The priority is identifying any errors and preventing other tragedies."In two of the other cases, both of which resulted in still births, the mothers, aged 35 and 39, suffered cardiac arrest during labor, according to reports.Anna Massignan, a 34-year-old doctor from Lonigo, near Vicenza who died on Christmas Day, succumbed after an emergency Cesarean eight months into her pregnancy, reportedly following a fall at home. Her son was delivered alive but died several hours later.The one case not being investigated concerned a 23-year-old from Foggia in southern Italy who was approaching her due date and died suddenly at home. Doctors were able to perform a postmortem Cesarean and save her daughter.A leading gynecologist said some of the victims may have paid the price for inadequate screening for the risk of thrombosis or heart problems emerging during the latter stages of pregnancy.Rosalba Paesano, Professor of Gynaecological Science at Rome's La Sapienza university, said, "With preventative checks we could save so many women in the delivery room. But the health ministry does not say they are required, in reality because they cost too much. The procedures we have in place are obsolete."Consumer group Codacons said, "It would be filing requests on Monday for prosecutors to look into whether regional authorities and the health ministry had been negligent in their instructions to hospitals regarding screening measures and preventative treatment."Antonio Starita, medical director at Rome's San Camillo hospital, told La Stampa, "The one figure that stands out is that 35% of pregnancies in Italy involve women over 35 and, at this age, the maternal mortality risk doubles."Starita said blocks on new hires in parts of the health system could be creating staff shortages, particularly among midwives assigned to home visits who could pick up early warning signs of problems in pregnancy.Source: AFP


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listening to 'California' by GrimesAround July last year I had set a new ambition to complete a year long Happiness Project. A focus on me and doing things that would make me a happier person each morning.It started well enough. I began thinking about how to treat myself better, thinking and saying more positively, making plans with the money I was saving, and spending more time with people who wanted to spend time with me.All in all, it seemed like a good start. I noticed a change in myself, and became excited about doing things like going out to eat at fancy places, and going on trips away from Auckland.It was about a similar time that my church was doing a World Vision pledge. We have one every few months where my church gives an update of what's happening in the community we're sponsoring in Cambodia, what happened on the last mission's trip and so forth. We then say prayers for them, take a missions offering for the community, and then at the end they said if we were interested, we could sponsor a child.I was a bit curious at the kids they had talked about during the service, but at the time didn't have much intention for sponsoring a kid. I mean I had trips to save for. I had birthdays to buy presents for, for a trip to Wellington I had just paid accommodation for, and a trip to Australia I had yet to book anything for. I needed to save that money for my own problems - I couldn't be much help to them.As I stared at the faces of these children, with these excuses running about my head, my friend approached us, and he noticed me staring at the World Vision booklets."You should sponsor one," he encouraged me."Oh...I don't know. I'm just looking at the moment," I said, trying to talk myself out of the subject."They say you should think of your money in four parts. One portion of your money to save, one to spend, one for the church and one portion for charity."At that moment, I thought about the way I had been treating my money. I thought my church donations helped to fulfill charities but I wasn't directly contributing to anyone. In fact, I was pretty selfish. Other than the 10 per cent I give out of my salary to the church each month, I was either spending or saving money for myself, or the people close to me. But giving money to a child's family - that benefits them way more.I became convinced. I may think I don't have that much money, but it's worth hundreds more to a community who values every cent.I looked at the children I could choose to sponsor for a long time, feeling guilty I couldn't just give money to all of them. But eventually I decided on a 13-year-old girl from Cambodia. Mainly cause I was worried that being 13, she'd become ineligible to be sponsored for much longer. I knew people often chose younger kids to sponsor cause they're cuter. But I felt drawn to help her. Life is tough at 13 but I know my life here couldn't compare to hers.I took her photo and put it into a frame which I could put at my desk at work. I didn't actually have any photos on my desk until I put her photo there. I use her photo as a reminder that even when I have a bad day at work, there was a reason why I was there. Someone was counting on me and was appreciating me helping their community, even if I wasn't physically there to do so.A few months later, I got her letter. She told me about her family, her school and how she loved riding her bike the most. I couldn't help but be really stoked to receive it. I've never met this girl in my life but I just felt like I had taken her into my family, to care for her and to hope she's safe.Thank you Sreinuon for giving me another good reason to wake up each morning.[note: this post is in no way endorsed by World Vision or any religious organisation.]---
Iran reacted with fury to the execution of prominent Saudi Shi'ite sheikh Nimr Baqr Al-Nimr by the Saudi authorities on January 2, 2016. Iranian leaders threatened that his death would be avenged, declared that the Saudi regime was nearing its end, allowed enraged protestors to set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran, and changed the names of streets where Saudi representations are located to Sheikh Nimr Street.

The following are excerpts from reactions by Iranian officials and regime bodies.

Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei threatened Saudi Arabia with divine retribution: "The blood of this oppressed martyr, which was spilled unjustly, will have a rapid impact, and the hand of divine retribution will seize the Saudi politicians by the throat. This oppressed senior cleric did not take the step of calling upon the [Saudi] people to take up arms [against their regime], nor did he plot in secret. All he did was openly criticize [the Saudi regime]." Khamenei added that the execution was "a political error on the part of the Saudi regime. God will not relinquish [avenging] the blood of the innocent. The blood spilled unjustly will rapidly deliver a blow to the politicians and officials of this [Saudi] regime."[1] Khamenei's websites in Persian and English posted an image of Al-Nimr, with a quote from Khamenei's statements (see below).[2]

On the same day, Khamenei's English-language website also posted the following images, which equate Saudi Arabia with ISIS.[3]

Any differences?

The front-page headline of Kayhan's January 3 issue read: "The martyring of Ayatollah Al-Nimr was green-lighted by America; The Aal Sa'ud [Saudi Arabia's royal family] have dug their own grave."[4]



Kayhan front page, January 3, 2016

Kayhan's editor, Hossein Shariatmadari, who is close to Supreme Leader Khamenei, called to take revenge on Saudi princes visiting the U.S. or Europe. In a January 3 article, he described an anti-Iranian and anti-Shi'ite camp consisting of the U.S., Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Israel, and claimed that Turkish President Erdogan had collaborated with the Saudi King in Al-Nimr's execution. He wrote: "The execution of Ayatollah Nimr was a frightful crime on the part of the Saudis, who are the willing slaves of the U.S. This heralds a truth that cannot be denied, namely that the Aal Sa'ud family is coming to the end of its road in the course of its evil and criminal life, and therefore it is going mad.

"The Saudis do not deny that they are very afraid for their future. Looking around the region... they see Islamic Iran, whose power is growing from day to day and who is liberating the outposts that were captured by the forces of arrogance [i.e., the U.S.] and handed over to their proxies in the region, such as Aal Sa'ud, and Aal Khalifa [the Bahraini royal family]. Iran is the only powerful opponent of ISIS and of other takfiri terrorist groups that were cultivated by the joint camp of Israel, Aal Sa'ud and Erdogan... Saudi Arabia knows that it has reached the end of its evil, treasonous and criminal life. Today, the more it struggles, the deeper it will sink into the quagmire...

"Saudi Arabia is experiencing the exact same thing that is happening in the West Bank. Undoubtedly, if Saudi Arabia is not more criminal than the Zionist regime, it is [at least] no different from it. Hence, the Muslims must treat the Saudi princes, officials and military sites just as the Palestinian revolutionaries [treat the Zionist enemy]. In particular, we can express a hope that the hedonistic and murderous Saudi princes, who periodically visit America and Europe to travel and to party, will be targets for [those wishing to] avenge the death of Ayatollah Nimr, whose blood was spilled unjustly, [and those wishing to avenge] the blood of the oppressed women and children in Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, Iraq and [all other victims of] Aal Sa'ud's crimes and murders."[5]

Basij commander Mohammad Reza Naqdi said: "Since its establishment by the criminal Britons, the cursed and defiled Saudi regime has done nothing but kill Muslims. The Muslims, both Shi'ite and Sunni, will surely avenge Sheikh Nimr's death, [punishing] especially the main elements [responsible for his execution], namely Britain, the U.S. and Israel."[6]

The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) also issued a statement condemning the Saudi regime, which stated that "the demise of the Saudi regime is imminent" and that it "will surely pay a heavy price for this crime [of executing Al-Nimr]." The statement said further that "the criminal act of Aal Sa'udOC is part of a Zionist plot intended to widen the rift between the nations of Islam and between the Shi'a and the Sunna... Nimr's execution... demonstrates that these crimes emanate from the Wahhabi philosophy and the takfiri Salafi stream whose banner is now borne by ISIS... The blood of the martyred Nimr will cause the banner of this prominent cleric, the banner of resistance and fighting, to be raised aloft in all parts of the Hijaz by the Islamic nation in Saudi Arabia, especially by the zealous youth of the Hijaz. In the near future [this youth] will take powerful revenge upon the criminal Aal Sa'ud and will topple the very foundations of this hated anti-Islamic regime."[7]

The head of the Majlis national security and foreign policy committee, Ala Al-Din Boroujerdi, said that "there is no reason for the diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia to be good," and added: "I asked Foreign Minister [Javad] Zarif to minimize the staff at the Saudi embassy in Tehran."[8]

As another propaganda measure, the Iranian regime changed the names of the streets in Tehran and Mashhad where Saudi representations are located to Sheikh Nimr Street (see photo below).[9]

After, on January 2, enraged protesters set fire to the Saudi embassy in Tehran and broke into the Saudi consulate in Mashhad in northern Iran, the spokesman for Iran's Foreign Ministry, Hossein Jaber-Ansari, called on Iranians to avoid congregating in front of Saudi representations in the country, but expressed understanding for their feelings.[10]

Iranian President Hassan Rohani condemned Al-Nimr's execution, but also the Iranian "extremists" who had rioted outside the Saudi representations, calling their behavior "a disgrace to the [Iranian] regime and a blow to Iran's honor."[11]

The Tabnak website claimed that the torching of the Saudi embassy had been carried out by Saudis in the embassy itself.[12]



Rioters besiege Saudi embassy in Tehran (Image: Facebook.com/Iran.Military, January 3, 2016)

The Fars news agency, which is close to the IRGC, published the following cartoons in response to Al-Nimr's execution:[13]



"Aal Sa'ud beheads itself"



"Aal Sa'ud's sword beheads the martyr Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr"



"Aal Sa'ud, the servants of the Zionists, execute Sheikh Nimr"



"Aal Sa'ud's method of governing"



Endnotes:
On January 2, 2016, Saudi Arabia's interior ministry announced that the kingdom had executed 47 individuals,[1] Sunni and Shi'ite, on various charges, including carrying out terrorist operations and inciting to terrorism; espousing takfiri ideology; attacking the military and security apparatuses; killing security officers and civilians; and acting to undermine Saudi Arabia's economy, standing, interests and its relations with "sister and ally countries."[2] Of those executed, 43 were Sunnis, members of an Al-Qaeda-affiliated group that acted in the kingdom in 2003-2004, targeting the army and security apparatuses as well as oil facilities. The most prominent of the Sunnis was Fares Aal Showil, aka Al-Zahrani, considered to have been one of the group's leaders and chief ideologues.

The other four people executed were Shi'ites. The most prominent of them was oppositionist cleric Nimr Baqr Al-Nimr, one of the leaders of the Shi'ite protests in Saudi Arabia, known for his criticism of the Saudi regime and his support of Iran.[3] In 2012 he rejoiced in the death of then-crown prince Nayef bin Sa'ud bin 'Abd Al-'Aziz,[4] and in one of his sermons he explicitly declared his loyalty to Iran.[5] In July 2012 Al-Nimr was arrested in the Shi'ite city of Al-'Awamiyah, in the Al-Qatif region in eastern Saudi Arabia, on charges of inciting against the royal family and fomenting protest among the city's Shi'ite population. In October 2014 a Saudi court sentenced him to death for "igniting sectarian fitna" in the kingdom and disobeying the king with the aim of creating chaos and toppling the regime. Subsequently, the Saudi appellate court and the Supreme Court rejected Al-Nimr's appeal of the sentence.[6]



Sheikh Nimr Baqr Al-Nimr (Image: alalam.ir)

Saudi Mufti: The Executions Are Sanctioned By The Koran, Sunna

The Council of Senior Clerics, Saudi Arabia's top religious body, voiced its support for the executions, and its head, Saudi Mufti 'Abd Al-'Aziz bin 'Abdallah Aal Al-Sheikh, said that they were "based on the Koran and the Sunna." He added: "The sentences were according to the shari'a, and there is no doubt [regarding their validity], for these are the punishments set out in the Koran and they apply to everyone..." He also praised the independence and fairness of the Saudi judicial system, stressing that every capital case is reviewed by more than nine judges.[7]

Saudi Press: The Kingdom's Security Is A Red Line; This Was A Victory For Justice

The Saudi press also rallied to defend the executions, particularly that of Shi'ite sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr. Front-page headlines declared that justice had been done and the kingdom's security had been defended. Editorials in the government papers likewise claimed that the executions had been justified. They argued that national security was a "red line" and that terrorists who had killed innocent people deserved death; that all the verdicts and sentences were handed down after due process, which demonstrates the fairness of the Saudi judiciary; and that the execution of the 47 terrorists, both Sunnis and Shi'ites, was part of Saudi Arabia's war on terror, which "makes no distinctions of religion, sect or gender," since "everyone is equal before the judiciary and the law."[8]



"Justice Has Been Done" (Al-Sharq, Saudi Arabia, January 3, 2016)



"Justice Has Triumphed, The Kingdom Is Safe" (Al-Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, January 3, 2016)



Cartoon justifies the executions with quote from the Koran (2:179): "In [this law of] retribution there is life for you" (Al-Sharq, Saudi Arabia, January 3, 2016)

It is noteworthy that Saudi analysts and op-ed writers likewise expressed sweeping support for the executions. Tariq Al-Homayed, the former editor of the London-based Saudi daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, wrote that they were necessary in order to protect Saudi Arabia from extremists and terrorists who threatened its security. He noted that the accused had received a fair and protracted trial, while they themselves never granted their victims even a single hour to flee. He also stressed that Saudis should not heed the criticism of Iran and others, because Saudi Arabia's security was more important.[9] Journalist Daoud Al-Shiryan wrote in the London-based Saudi daily Al-Hayat that Al-Nimr was an "Iranian agent" and that "his plan was no different than that of Osama bin Laden."[10] Liberal journalist Mansour Al-Nuqidan justified the executions and called on Saudi Shi'ites to "help the authorities in keeping the adolescents and young people from falling into the abyss of terrorism and the furnace of political extremism."[11]



Report in 'Okaz daily: 'There Will Be No Compromise Or Negligence When It Comes To Homeland Security' (Okaz, Saudi Arabia, January 3, 2016)



Image in Al-Watan daily shows Al-Nimr (right) and Aal Showil side by side, to demonstrate that Saudi Arabia operates against both Shi'ite and Sunni terrorists (Al-Watan, Saudi Arabia, January 3, 2016).

Saudi FM Announces Severing Of Diplomatic Ties With Iran

Al-Nimr's execution sparked a storm in the camp of Iran and its supporters, and senior Iranian officials, headed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, strongly condemned the action and the Saudi regime, and even threatened revenge. Enraged Iranian demonstrators set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and rioted at the Saudi consulate in Mashhad in northern Iran.[12]



Rioters wreak havoc in Saudi embassy in Tehran (Image: Facebook.com/Iran.Military, January 2, 2016)

In response to the Iranian statements, the Saudi Foreign Ministry issued an announcement condemning Iran, accusing it of supporting and harboring terrorists and of flagrantly intervening in the internal affairs of the region's countries and acting to destabilize them. The announcement said that "the statements of the Iranian regime expose its true [character], as expressed by [its] support for terror, and continue the policy of undermining the security and stability of the region's countries... By defending the actions of terrorists and justifying them, the Iranian regime becomes a partner to their crimes, and it bears full responsibility for its policy of incitement and escalation." It was further claimed that Iran harbored known terrorists for years and also financed and operated terror cells that were dispatched to the Gulf countries.[13] Subsequently, Saudi Arabia summoned the Iranian ambassador to Riyadh to protest the hostile statements by Iranian officials, and informed him that it viewed these statements as "a flagrant intervention in Saudi affairs".[14]



Iran, relying on the book of "Sectarianism" that is printed in "Hell," is behind "the burning of the Saudi embassy" (Al-Madina, Saudi Arabia, January 4, 2016)

The tension in the relations peaked later than day when Saudi Foreign Minister 'Adel Al-Jubeir announced at a press conference that Saudi Arabia was severing diplomatic ties with Iran. Al-Jubeir explained that Saudi Arabia refused to work with a "terror-supporting state that spreads chaos and sectarianism throughout the Islamic world," and added: "We will not allow Iran to threaten our security and to assist those who threaten the region's stability."[15]



Tweet by the Saudi Foreign Minister: "The aggressive policy of the Iranian regime against Saudi Arabia and the region is a central reason for severing diplomatic ties with it" (Twitter.com/AdelAlJubeir, January 4, 2016)

The tension was also expressed in acerbic editorials condemning Iran in the Saudi government press. For example, on January 4, 2016, 'Okaz editor Jamil Al-Ziabi published an article titled "Cutting Off the Serpent's Head," and the Al-Iqtisadiyya daily attacked Iran in an editorial headed "Iran Not Only Nurtures Terror But Creates It."



Saudi Arabia works to cut down terror while Iran cultivates it (Al-Iqtisadiyya, Saudi Arabia, January 3, 2015)

Gulf States Align With Saudi Arabia: The Executions A Crucial Measure In Defense Of Saudi Security

Many Sunni Arab states, including Jordan, Egypt, Sudan and Tunisia, hastened to side with Saudi Arabia and condemned the attack on the Saudi embassy in Tehran. Particularly noticeable in their support were the Gulf states, which hastened to defend Saudi Arabia's right to carry out the court's ruling as a punitive and deterrent measure.

The Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Dr. 'Abd Al-Latif bin Rashid Al-Zayani, issued an announcement in which he condemned the "barbaric attacks" on the Saudi embassy in Tehran and the Saudi consulate in Mashhad and placed full responsibility for these "terrorist actions" on the Iranian authorities. He claimed that Iran's failure to prevent them was a grave violation of its commitment to defend diplomatic representations in accordance with international law and the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. He condemned the "aggressive and inciting" Iranian statements regarding Saudi Arabia's execution of the terrorists, calling them a flagrant intervention in Saudi Arabia's internal affairs that had encouraged the attacks on the Saudi diplomatic representations. He declared that the GCC states stood with Saudi Arabia and emphasized their support for its decisions regarding the war on terror in all its forms and regarding the pursuit and prosecution of terrorists and fomenters of fitna and riots.[16]

In a similar vein, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh 'Abdallah bin Zayed Aal Nahyan declared that his country "fully supported the sister [state] Saudi Arabia and the deterrent measures against terror and radicalism that it adopted as a clear message against terror and against those preaching fitna and riots in attempt to divide Saudi society and threaten it." He stated further that "carrying out the sentences handed down to the convicted individuals was Saudi Arabia's fundamental right after it was proven that they had committed the crimes, and a necessary measure to ensure the security of all members of the Saudi nation and all those residing on its soil."[17]

Likewise, in response to the attacks on the Saudi representations in Iran, the UAE summoned the Iranian ambassador to protest these attacks and "Iran's intervention in a sovereign Saudi affair."[18]



The hypocrisy of Iranian officials who protest Al-Nimr's execution while hanging members of Iran's minorities: a "Sunni," an "Ahwazi" and a "Baluchi" (Al-Arab, London, January 4, 2016)

Bahrain also expressed support for the Saudi measures and announced that it too was severing diplomatic ties with Iran.[19] The Bahraini ministry of the interior even threatened to punish anybody criticizing the executions. An announcement it issued said: "It is Saudi Arabia's right to adopt all the security measures that it sees fit to preserve security and stability in its territory. We will take all necessary legal measures against any infringement or negative response to [Saudi Arabia's] execution of the sentences, via an announcement or declaration, and will view this as incitement to fitna and schism and as a threat to public safety."[20]



Front page of Bahraini daily: "The Execution Of The Sentences By Saudi Arabia - A Necessary Measure" (Akhbar Al-Khalij, Bahrain, January 3, 2016)

The Kuwaiti Foreign Ministry also condemned the attacks on the Saudi representations, saying that they constituted a violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention and stressing that the Iranian regime was responsible for the safety of the representations and their staff.[21]

The Qatari foreign ministry, too, issued a statement supporting Saudi Arabia's actions to address the threats it faces and condemning the attack on the Saudi embassy, calling it a "clear violation of international law and treaties" and charging the Iranian government protect all diplomatic representations and take firm measures against lawbreakers.[22]

The sweeping support for Saudi Arabia in the Gulf was also expressed in editorials in the official Gulf press. For example, the Qatari daily Al-Arab published an editorial titled "Support for Saudi Arabia Is an Anti-Sectarian Duty," which rejected the Iranian claim that Al-Nimr was executed for being a Shi'ite. The daily called to support "the big sister" Saudi Arabia and to "protect its internal unity from all biased sectarian calls, especially since Saudi Arabia's strength is in principle the strength of the [entire] Arab and Islamic world..."[23] An editorial in the Qatari daily Al-Raya claimed that this was an internal Saudi matter and no one had the right to intervene in it. The daily claimed further that "the executions were carried out as part of measures that Saudi Arabia is adopting to deter anyone threatening its security and the security of its people and residents... The Saudi judicial system makes no distinction between Sunnis and Shi'ites. It refers only to people, applying objective legal principles regardless of sectarian affiliation. Therefore, intervention and casting doubt upon the Saudi legal system is inappropriate..."[24]



Saudi Arabia fights terrorism (Al-Watan, Kuwait, January 2, 2016)

As for the position of Oman, which is also a member of the GCC but is known to be close to Iran, there were conflicting reports. At first, the Omani foreign minister was quoted as saying that Al-Nimr's execution did not benefit conditions in the region. However, the Omani foreign ministry hastened to deny this on its Twitter account, emphasizing that Oman supported the GCC and its stance on the Iranian attacks and that the initial report was baseless.



Omani foreign ministry's tweet (Twitter.com/MofaOman, January 3, 2016)

Criticism By Shi'ites In The Gulf States

In contrast to their governments, Shi'ites in the Gulf condemned Sheikh Al-Nimr's execution, and protests, some of them violent, were held in the Shi'ite Al-Qatif province in eastern Saudi Arabia. Protestors chanted slogans against King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef, whom they held directly responsible for the execution, and called to topple the Saudi regime, and carried banners with the slogans "Death to the Aal Saud [Family]" and "Death to America."[25]

Kuwaiti Shi'ite MP 'Adnan 'Abd Al-Samad described Al-Nimr's execution as "martyrdom" (istishhad) and warned that it would complicate the situation and provoke widespread responses, particularly since Al-Nimr preached a non-violent struggle.[26] In Bahrain, the Coalition of February 14 Youth, a Shi'ite opposition group that initiated the August 14, 2014 protests against the Bahraini regime, declared a general state of mourning commencing Sunday (January 3) and called for angry demonstrations throughout Bahrain. Demonstrations were indeed held in several locations, including in the Sitra peninsula, a Bahraini Shi'ite opposition stronghold, and the towns of Sanad and Al-Qadam.



Announcement calling for demonstrations (Facebook.com/Coalition14th, January 2, 2016)



Demonstration in the town of Sitra following Al-Nimr's execution (Facebook.com/Coalition14th, January 2, 2016)

* E. Ezrahi is a research fellow at MEMRI; H. Varulkar is Director of Research at MEMRI.



Endnotes:
Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation, is perhaps the most written about personality in the history of India. Our history books would tell us how he won us our freedom with his sheer courage and determination. How he made the British shudder with his simplicity and steadfastness? What new fact do we tell you about him then?

Leaving aside the details of his political achievements, we talk about Gandhi the man. What is it that makes a man so great so as to influence an entire nation and change the course of history? How did a simple boy from Porbandar became the father of the nation? What made Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi a leader powerful enough to lead the masses?

1. Being Politically Correct Goes A Long Way In Making People Agree With You

 Wikimedia Commons

The reason the British found themselves helpless in front of Gandhi was because he was always politically correct. Governments can punish you when you do harm to property or life, but what excuse do they have when all you are doing is sit peacefully with a placard in your hands?

2. A True Leader Never Compromises His Principles

 Flickr/Vinoth Chandar

When there was violence at Kakori during the Civil Disobedience Movement, Mahatma Gandhi withdrew the movement despite the fact that it was going strong at that. The movement was supposed to be a non-violent movement, and that single incident at Chauri Chaura was a violation of this principle. All important leaders of the freedom struggle tried persuading him not to withdraw the movement, but Gandhi was firm. A principle had been violated, a few Britishers had been killed  the movement had to be cancelled. A true leader never compromises his beliefs.

3. Honesty Is The Best Policy Because It Saves Your Ass Minus Risks

 Flickr/thierry ehrmann

Sometimes being honest saves your ass way better than a white lie would. When Mohandas Gandhi was a child, he stole some gold from his brothers bracelet, to clear their debt with the local cigarette seller. Feeling guilty about the incident, Gandhi confessed the truth in front of his father. He expected a harsh scolding, but instead his father broke into tears and hugged the frightened boy. His honest confession had melted the heart of his rather strict and righteous father.

4. Being Yourself Is The Key To Making People Respect You

Imitating someone or something thats in vogue is tempting. Be it clothes, manner of speaking, taste in food or lifestyle  we are imitating the world around us. When Gandhi went to London to attend the Round Table Conference, he did not take special efforts to change his attire to fit in the western country. Rather, he had his humour intact when on meeting the king at Buckingham Palace, he remarked that the king was wearing clothes enough for the two of them.

5. Invest In Yourself Because You Are The Brand You Have To Sell

 Wikimedia Commons

For a true leader has a set of beliefs and ideas. That is exactly what makes him someone worth following. Dont hide or hesitate to own them up in front of the world; give the world something to reject or accept. Build your identity.

Of course, Gandhis strong convictions and ideologies were what made him the Mahatma we know of. But the big lesson we can take from this was how he internalised his ideologies so much so that it started reflecting in the man himself. Today we call it building a brand image. An honest one.

The iconic dhoti had a story behind it. An advocate of cleaniless, Gandhi was appalled when he saw a village woman wearing a very dirty saree. He rebuked her and asked her why she never washed her saree. The woman told him she had only one piece of clothing and she couldnt possibly wash it and wear it at the same time. This was an eye-opener for MK Gandhi who was deeply moved by this state of poverty in India. That day, he decided to further minimalise his lifestyle, and discarded the full-length dhoti for the iconic knee-length dhoti.

6. Never Give Up

This is an oft said but nevertheless understated lesson. If theres one thing thats common in all successful and great personalities in this world, that is determination. They never give up. You fail once, twice, multiple times  keep trying. Thomas Edison invented the light bulb after more than a thousand failed attempts. The one thing that kept Mahatma Gandhi going for decades was perseverance. He faced opposition, backlash, public hostility, but he kept his ground. His relations with his own family are known to have been strained due to his sometimes rigid ideologies, but never did he

7. Give People Free Will And Theyll Always Be Loyal To You

 BCCL

Gandhi never forced his ideology on people. He gave them a choice. His views about eating meat prove this point all too well. Though himself a vegetarian, he supported peoples right to eat beef. Heres an excerpt from the Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 88, published online by the Gandhi Heritage Portal, which documents Gandhis prayer discourse on 25 July, 1947.

In India, no law can be made to ban cow slaughter. I do not doubt that Hindus are forbidden the slaughter of cows. I have been long pledged to serve the cow. But how can my religion also be the religion of the rest of the Indians? It will mean coercion against those Indians who are not Hindus.

No wonder he had followers from all religions.

8. Keep Calm, And the World Will Be Yours

 BCCL

keeping a balanced head on your shoulders is the most important thing to do during a crisis. Nothing annoys your enemies more than seeing you calm and composed when you are down in the pits. Mahatma Gandhis life is an example of this fact. The well-qualified lawyer was thrown out of a train for travelling in a first class compartment. MK Gandhi took that incident as a reason to stay back in Africa and fight against apartheid. And he did, for 21 years.

9. Peaceful Resistance Gives You An Edge

 BCCL

Popularly termed Gandhigiri as in the Bollywood movie Lage Raho Munna Bhai, the philosophy of non-violent resistance is not only a noble concept but also a clever politically correct solution. Aggression and violence can be curbed under the pretext of the law, but a non-violent attack cant. An angered confrontation often blurs out reason and hurts the ego; if you want to make the other person see your point of view, try the soft route. You will always be preferred to someone who blows up at the slightest of disagreements.

10. Knowing when To Say No is As Important As Saying Yes

A no uttered from the deepest conviction is better than a yes merely uttered to please, or worse, to avoid trouble, Mahatma Gandhi, once said. One very important habit that goes a long way in the road to success is being able to say no at the right time. Often, under pressure or due to the fear of displeasing the other person, we unwillingly agree to things we dont want to go ahead with. Be it something as simple as eating out, or something bigger like agreeing to a marketing proposal your boss suggested, we often succumb to outside pressure.

One exceptional quality that sailed MK Gandhi through many years was determination.

Gandhi was no superhero. He was no scholar or genius, and started his life as an average common man. But what he had was determination to build a destiny, and a will to stand true to his principles. People like him have built their lives and careers from scratch, and have faced every challenge with unwavering nerve and sass. They have rebuilt and reinvented themselves, just like Gillette has with its new Gillette Fusion Proglide Flexball.
Leonardo Da Vinci is often dubbed as one of the most gifted persons to have walked the face of the earth, and rightly so, because he was a man of many talents. He was a polymath whose skills were without precedent at that time and his areas of interest included literature, botany, geology and architecture but the love of his life was painting. He is credited for the half-length portrait of Mona Lisa, best known, the most visited, the most written about, the most sung about, the most parodied work of art in the world". So, here are some of the most amazing facts about Leonardo Da Vinci, the universal genius.

1. Leonardo Da Vinci Didnt Have A Fancy Education; Instead He Was Homeschooled

 Wikipedia Commons

Leonardo Da Vinci was raised by a single father and didnt receive a formal education in Greek or Latin. He remained, throughout his life, a self-learner; something which made him one of the most respected intellects of the renaissance era.

2. He Was A Paranoid Dyslexic And Ambidextrous Throughout His Life

Wikipedia Commons

Leonardo Da Vinci was ambidextrous, that is, someone who could draw with one hand and write with another. He also trained himself in the art of writing in the opposite direction to what is normal which means that people would sometimes need a mirror to read the text on the images. This art of reverse writing was very helpful in concealing hidden messages.

3. He Was Not Just An Artist. Leonardo Da Vinci Was Also A Scientist And A Musician

 Facebook

Leonardo Da Vinci was a very talented musician. He created a silver lyre, a string musical instrument, and presented it to Duke Of Milan as a gift to ensure peace.

4. It Is Believed That Vinci Painted Mona Lisa From 1503-1506

 Twitter

Leonardo Da Vincis masterpiece for which he is known worldwide took him 3-4 years to paint. He, however, is believed to have worked on Mona Lisas lips for almost 10 years. He was a meticulous painter who could only complete 15 paintings in his entire lifetime.

5. Vinci Made Over 13,000 Pages Of Notes, Drawings And Designs In His Notebook

 YouTube

Leonardos notes and drawings spread over 13,000 pages contain one of his most famous sketches of The Vitruvian Man. Later when he was allowed to dissect human corpses at hospitals in Milan and Rome he created over 200 drawings with his observations. Other trivial things like grocery lists and the list of people who owed him money are featured in his notebook.

6. Leonardo Da Vinci Was The First One To Explain Why The Sky Is Blue

 YouTube

Leonardo Da Vinci was a curious man and he was the first person in recorded history to explain why the sky is blue. It was this curiosity which also led him to make correlations between the human body and geometry described by the Roman architect Vitruvius.

7. Leonardo Also Appears As A Model In Two Works Of Renaissance Art

 Pinterest

He is believed to have been the model for the bronze stature of David in the Bargello and also the Archangel Raphael in tobias and the angel.

8. Leonardo Was An Apprentice To The Artist Andrea Di Cione In 1466 And He Left Painting When He Saw Vincis Works

 Pinterest

Under the tutelage of Verrocchio, Leonardo Da Vinci flourished as an artist and a painter. He collaborated with Verrocchio for The Baptism of the Christ and Leonardo painted the young angel who held the robe of Jesus which proved a far more stunning portrait than the master himself.

9. One Of His Most Famous Paintings The Last Supper Is Regarded As The Most Mysterious Painting Of All Time

 Pinterest

Leonardo was a master cryptic. He was known for ingraining hidden messages in his work of art and The Last Supper is a reminder of that fact. There have been numerous theories related to the painting which many believe depicts Mary Magdalene sitting beside Jesus instead of John.

10. Leonardo Da Vinci Was A Visionary, He Designed Armored Car, Flying Ships, Pile Driver And A Pully

 Pinterest

Because he didnt care for orthodox learnings and had many masters, Leonardo attained mastery in drafting, drawing, metallurgy, carpentry and a host of other useful skills. Therefore, he was often able to conceptualize things which were well ahead of his time.

And all this was possible because he believed that, Simplicity was the ultimate sophistication, quite similar to the new Fusion Proglide with Flexball technology by Gillette which makes maximum contact over contours of your face and gets virtually every hair, and therefore, makes shaving a seamless experience which every guy looks forward to!

Own a piece of the new Gillette tech here.
Not all heroes wear capesthis is a saying that suits no one better than the soldiers of a country. Its the second day of attack at IAFs Pathankot base and the situation continues to remain grim. The Indian army, as we speak, is engaged in a head-on bullet exchange with 2 terrorists who came out of hiding yesterday. While we are sure that our soldiers will crush these bastards sooner or later, some of our bravehearts gave the supreme sacrifice while saving the IAF base. These are the heroes we will never forget.

1) Captain Fateh Singh (Defense Security Corps)

 ANI

One of the very first soldiers to counter attack the terrorists, Capt. Fateh Singh was a former Commonwealth Gold medalist shooter. Till last year, Singh was posted in Mhow under Dogra Regiment and was transferred to Pathankot later.

2) Corporal Gursewak Singh (Garud Commando)

 NDTV

A brave IAF soldier, Singh was also one of the very first responders to the attack. Singh got married only two months back.

3) Lt. Colonel Niranjan Singh (NSG)

 Facebook

Heading the NSG bomb disposal squad at Pathankot, Niranjan Singh lost his life while neutralizing a grenade in the hands of one of the terrorists. The braveheart is survived by his parents, wife and an 18-month-old daughter.

4) Hawaldar Kulwant Singh (Defense Security Corps)

 ANI

Another DSC soldier who sacrificed his life while safeguarding the IAF base.

5) Hawaldar Jagdish Chandra

 HT

The very first soldier to attack the soldiers bare-handed, Jagdish killed a terrorist with his very own rifle when they barged in shooting in the mess.

6)Sanjeev Singh Rana

 HT

Another hawaldar with the DSC, Sanjeev took bullets to his chest and successfully held up terrorists.

7) Hawaldar Mohit Chand

The latest DSC jawan to succumb to his injuries. More information about him is awaited.

As and when we receive more information on this, we will update this article.
Its the first Monday of 2016 and most of us have been able to drag ourselves to offices after a long weekend of lazying around, binge eating, and general merriment. As we enter the new year with some old and new resolutions, and lessons from the past, lets look at the one inspiring change that happened during the past year. The year 2015 was a year of hope and inspiration. It was the year of the common man. No, we arent talking about the Aam Aadmi Party.

We are talking about the ordinary citizens who became heroes when the situation demanded. We are talking about those who rose above odds, those who went out of their way to help others, those who put self-interest beyond others.

These stories have existed for long, there have been heroes among ordinary citizens for ever, but their stories have come out with such full force only in the recent times. And social media has an important role to play in this.

Be it the 67-year-old retired railway employee in Hyderabad who repairs potholes with his pension money

 Facebook

or the daughter of a sanitation worker who completed a masters degree in microbiology at the age of 13, and graduated from the same college where her father worked as a sweeper,

 Daily Mail

Or the girl who became a badminton champion after she lost her leg in a road accident in Mumbai,

 Facebook

stories of uncommon courage and determination were abound.

These are amazing stories but they are never news, because they didnt happen in a singe day, which is why such stories have always found little space on the front pages of a newspaper or theprime time of a news channel where breaking news is the be-all. And this where internet and the social media stepped in and helped spread their stories.

The struggle and journey of a hero can never be contained in a few words anyway. One of the most impactful mediums of depicting a story is, of course, the silver screen. The heart-rendering tale of Maanjhi, the mountain man, or that of Milkha Singh couldnt have been better explained anywhere else other than a movie.

And It Brought Help And Justice Too

Instant help and justice was a thing of rarity in pre-internet India. It still is, mostly. But then there are rare instances that restore your faith in humanity and in the power of social media. Take for example the case of 65-year-old Krishna whose typewriter was cruelly broken by a merciless cop in UP.

10        50             ,   4    ... Posted by Ashutosh Tripathi on Saturday, 19 September 2015

A photographer Ashutosh Tripathi from Dainik Bhaskar happened to click the pictures of the cop kicking the old mans typewriter, and uploaded what he saw on his Facebook page. As the post went viral on social media, help poured in from across the country and the cop was promptly suspended. We wonder what would have been the scene if the story hadnt gone viral.

Social Media, A Double-Edged Sword That Has The Power To Create As Well As Destroy

Its a double-edged sword  while it brought out inspiring tales of people, it also fell prey to rumours and falseities. One of the most talked-about examples of this was the Jasleen Kaur case in which a simple Facebook post created much furore and ruined the reputation of an innocent man.

 Facebook

As the false story spread and social media (including us) picked it up like a bloodthirsty hound, the world pounced on the mans reputation and shredded it to pieces. Only to realize he was framed. Internet shaming has become a dangerous trend and theres an aggressive mob mentality to it. Passing judgment is best left to the judiciary.

 newint (dot) org

Now theres no way of knowing the truth except what we hear from others, but what is in our control is our reaction to it. Not jumping to conclusions is perhaps the one of the qualities of a rational mind. This is the onus on every media company out there, as well as every reader. As most of us have access to the internet right now, we all have a part to play. Most of us function as cogs in the wheel of internet journalism. With each post about a real story we share on our personal social media profiles, we are contributing to creating a story  small or big. As such we also hold a responsibilty towards the truth.

To sum it up, social media/internet journalism is a double-edged sword. While it certainly helps to spread a story far and faster, it does more harm than good if the story is untrue. But that doesnt mean we go back two steps and let the underdogs, the unsung heroes remain in anonymity. It just means that social media has to achieve a more balanced and responsible stance, and agression should never be a part of it.

To many more stories of hope and inspiration! Happy new year!
Jurgen Todenhofer is the only journalist who spent 10 days with ISIS and returned home still breathing. Along he brought the tales of ISIS-led tortures and atrocities. But he also told the world that ISIS fears only one countrys soldiers in the world. No, they are not American, Russian or British soldiers. They are the Israelis.

 wikimedia (dot) org

Hard to guess, but this is what the German journalist said in an interview and he added that Israel is not included in ISIS' planned "first stage" of colonization in the Middle East. While ISIS continues to make threat videos aimed at Jews and upholds its aim to eradicate Jews from the face on the planet, they also shit their pants when they hear about the Israeli armys supreme guerillas and metropolitan terrorism.

 Newsweek (dot) com

Well, its a very well established fact that the Israeli army is not something to be messed with. They not only have topnotch weaponry but also soldiers who posses the best man-to-man combat skills.
NELLIS AIR FORCE BASE, Nev.  The alarm rings. Yelling is heard from the nearby hallway. As footsteps get closer, Vickie Tippitt knows she is in a world of trouble.

Her grandmother bursts through the door. With a rope in hand, Tippitt feels the wrath of child abuse come down on her by her own flesh and blood.

That was the life of one woman until she finally found her calling in the Air Force.

Tippitt, now a master sergeant and member of the 926th Force Support Squadron and the Nellis Air Force Base Yellow Ribbon representative, said life wasn't always easy growing up in Fort Worth, Texas.

"I remember having a good childhood at 3 years old all the way until I was 7. Once I turned 7, that's when a lot of things changed for me," Tippitt said. "That's when my mother and father decided to separate. There was a lot of fighting, and my dad was very, very abusive to my mother. Then we moved to Arlington, Texas, into an apartment where it was my mother, four siblings and me. That's when everything was just really confusing."

Tippitt's mother worked the night shift every day and still holds the same job today. Tippitt and her siblings were often alone, before her grandmother came for them.

"All of the sudden, I could remember being whisked away from school one day by my grandmother and when we left with her we never got to come back," Tippitt said. "She took us to this house in Fort Worth, and all of a sudden we were in this house for at least a month or two, where all of us kids were alone. We had no lights, no gas, there was nothing really. We had to eat lemon cake mix."

With Tippitt's grandmother scarcely around, the house became a wreck.

"At that age, you do whatever you want. If there is no gas and no water, you are outside going to the bathroom, using the neighbor's water. One time, my brother set the mattress on fire because he was upset," Tippitt said. "More than anything, I remember my grandmother finally coming back to the house after being away for a while and she was very upset. She put us all in a row and beat the hell out of us with a very thick rope that they use to lasso horses or cows."

After being beat by her grandmother, Tippitt and the rest of her siblings moved from place to place before settling in the housing projects.

"We moved to some apartments, and the abuse continued. Mean things were said and done. Then we moved from the apartments to the Butler housing projects," Tippitt said. "It was a chaotic home. I will say that there were a lot of drugs, alcohol, a lot of partying, and drug addicts. There was always someone in the home."

With the house always full of people, Tippitt was counted on to clean up and serve guests while they were there.

"When people came to the house, I always had to keep the house clean, wash the dishes, and basically be a servant to anyone that was there," Tippitt said. "If it wasn't done, I would get the hell beat out of me and also I wasn't able to go to school. School for me was a great place to go."

Tippitt and her sister were often subjected to sexual passes made by the male guests.

"There were several nights where men would try to come into me and my sister's room and they would try to talk us into being with them or touching them," Tippitt said. "I'm blessed that I never got molested. It was like that from 7 to 15 years old."

When Tippitt was 15, she would sneak out of the house with her sister and see her mom to escape the harsh environment in which they lived in.

"I finally ran away when I was 15 years old. We piled our clothes into trash bags and threw them out of our window. When it was time to go to school, we were standing at the bus stop with our trash bags waiting to run away to our mom," Tippitt said.

When Tippitt was a teenager, she worked as a lifeguard in the summer and then, on a whim, she decided to check out an Air Force recruiter's office.

"I was a lifeguard and I was going for lunch one particular day, so I decided to go to the mall to go shopping and I went to a different area of the mall near the back where I noticed there were all these different recruiting agencies," Tippitt said. "They had Navy, Army and then I saw Air Force and I knew when summer time was over I had no idea what I would be doing. So I decided to go into the Air Force recruiting office and as soon as I walked in I told the recruiter I wanted to join the Air Force."

After joining, Tippitt found out how her grandmother had been able to take her and her siblings away from her mother.

"My grandmother called the welfare office and had informed them that my mother had died. She told them that she wanted full guardianship of all of us kids. They told her she needed to produce a death certificate," Tippitt said. "At one point, she used to be a mortician and that fell into her profession. However, she wasn't able to produce a certificate and called back saying that she thought she was dead because she was a drug addict. They believed her and she took full guardianship. My mother spent time in jail for it, and she never did drugs."

Tippitt is part of a new Storytellers program at Nellis Air Force Base and hopes to connect with other Airmen who have experienced similar struggles.

"When Airmen hear these stories, it's going to transform lives," said Lt. Col. Dwayne Jones, the 99th Air Base Wing chaplain. "We are going to hear that there is hope. We can be resilient in difficult times. If life dealt you a bad hand, there is always an opportunity for a new beginning."

Now that Tippitt has fully left her past behind, she looks back in astonishment.

"I never thought I would be smart enough or courageous enough to leave that type of environment," Tippitt said. "Today, I don't consider myself a victim, I just consider myself being able to take care of myself."
Demand for the new tabs had indeed led to small shortages, but the problem was suddenly blown up into something much larger...
Russia has named the U.S. as one of the threats to its national security in a new assessment signed by President Vladimir Putin on Thursday, according to a published report.

Reuters reported the document, "About the Strategy of National Security of Russian Federation," replaces the 2009 version endorsed by former President Dmitry Medvedev, which didn't mention the U.S. or NATO. Russia continues to increase its role in solving global conflicts, which has caused some reaction from the West, according to the document.

It is the first time Russia has officially named the U.S. a national security threat, according to Reuters.

Russia claims its heightened global reach has caused "counteraction from the USA and its allies, which are striving to retain their dominance in global affairs." The document claims that Western pressures will likely lead to increased "political, economical, military and informational pressure" on Russia.

Relations between Moscow and the West became to deteriorate stemming from Russia's annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Western nations have repeatedly accused Russia of funding insurgents in Ukraine despite Moscow's denials.

Russia's security document accuses the U.S. and EU of supporting an "anti-constitutional coup d'etat in Ukraine," which has deepened the rift between Moscow and the West.

The U.S. and European Union have imposed sanctions against Russian companies and businessmen. Russia, in turn, clamped down on food imported from EU countries.

The expansion of NATO also concerns Russia. The document also said the U.S. has expanded its military biological labs in neighboring countries.

According to Reuters, the document fails to mention anything on Russia's ongoing airstrikes in Syria, which has aided the Bashar al-Assad regime in the embattled nation. Assad, a Russian ally, has received military support from Russia in its civil war against U.S.-backed rebels and the Islamic State.
C-141C Hanoi Taxi Exhibit at AF Museum

Restoration crews at the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force recently moved the Lockheed C-141C Hanoi Taxi into the museum's new fourth building. The aircraft, which airlifted the first American prisoners of war out of North Vietnam in February 1973, will be displayed in the Global Reach Gallery. The public will be able to view the aircraft as they move into the fourth building from a designated area on the museum grounds. The 224,000 square foot fourth building is scheduled to open to the public in June 2016. Information on the new fourth building will be updated regularly on the museum's website. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force, located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base near Dayton, Ohio, is the world's largest military aviation museum. For more information, visit the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force website.

For more Air Force news, visit the Military.com Air Force section.
Everything You Need to Know About the Amazon Military Discount, Tips and Tricks

The Amazon military discount is a promotion Amazon.com has given around Veterans Day for its Amazon Prime service.
TWO mid-season television premieres tonight. Join Shnugs as she returns to live blog The Bachelor on ABC a 8/7c pm. The Biggest Loser premieres on NBC at 9/8c pm. Join Steven as he live blogs.

Jordan Smith Set to Perform on Peoples Choice Awards

The Voice winner, Jordan Smith, will perform on Wednesdays Peoples Choice Awards at 9/8c on CBS.

Cant wait for @NBCTheVoice winner @JordanSmithLive to perform at @PeoplesChoice Awards on Wednesday! Tune in at 9/8c on CBS. #PCAs  Roma Downey (@RealRomaDowney) January 4, 2016

Gearing up for Wednesdays Idol Premiere!

#Idol Alert: Tomorrow, @RayvonOwen is taking over our Snapchat account ? (AmericanIdolFox)  American Idol (@AmericanIdol) January 4, 2016

Tori Kelly on What It Feels Like to Have Simon Cowell Call Your Voice Almost Annoying  Even though she has a totally ~fire~ track with Ed Sheeran out now (I Was Made for Loving You), she was once cut from American Idol. Back when she was 16, judge Simon Cowell called her voice almost annoying. Tori was eliminated from season nine. Deep down, I knew I was good, and I knew I could do it, she said. I needed to get knocked down and to build up a thick skin. Who knows what I would have been singing about otherwise? You have to go through things in order to inspire others with your story.  Read more at Seventeen.com

The End of American Idol, TVs Last Cultural Big Tent  The series became an island of mainstream in a sea of niche by embodying contradictions. It grabbed a broad audience by bringing together singers from different pop subcultures  country versus bubble gum, R&B versus rock  and pitting them against one another in a battle of national preferences. It was simultaneously vicious and sentimental, a uniter and a divider. It changed the rules for making pop stardom. Then social media changed those rules again, giving musicians an even more direct conduit to audiences than reality TV did and contributing to the shows eventual downfall.  New York Times

Randy Jackson looks back on 15 years of American Idol (and the elimination that still pains him)  Youve sat through countless auditions  have any songs been completely ruined for you?

Every season we banned songs. People were just killing Alicia Keys, they were killing Adele, they were killing Mariah [Carey]. People love and admire those songs, but sometimes theyre just so terrible its like, my God, come on, save yourself and save us. Save the world! But Alicia Keys Fallin. Alicia, God bless you, baby, but man, I dont know what was goin on with them and your song.  Read more at Entertainment Weekly

Ryan Seacrest gets nostalgic as final American Idol season bows January 6  As Idol lost its mojo in recent seasons, the original judges left, replaced by the current trio of Jennifer Lopez, Harry Connick Jr. and Keith Urban. But there has been one constant: Seacrest. I never finished a season thinking, Gosh, I dont want to do this anymore. Im bored with it. I never felt that. I always look forward to doing the show. Ive always loved hosting it. It never felt right to say goodbye or walk away. Although the show is ending, Seacrest is psyched that they will have an official farewell season. Im excited to re-live some of these great memories. Its been such a great part of my life.  Read more at AJC.com
The Marlins are known to be seeking starting pitching, and the Boston Globes Nick Cafardo reported over the weekend that Miami has had interest in a trade for Yankees right-hander Ivan Nova this winter. The match makes some sense on paper, as Nova, who is reportedly being shopped by the Yankees, will be affordable at a projected $4.4MM (via MLBTR contributor Matt Swartz), which would come in well within Miamis budget. The Marlins have been linked to starters and said to be comfortable in the range of a $12MM annual value, so Novas relatively modest salary shouldnt be a problem. The link to Nova continues somewhat of a recent shift in reports pertaining to Miamis search for rotation upgrades; the Marlins have now been connected to Nova, Doug Fister, Cliff Lee and Edwin Jackson within the past week  all likely one-year commitments. Previously, the team was linked to multi-year deals for starting pitchers and was also said to be eyeing young starting pitching in trade scenarios with a variety of teams, including the Indians and Mariners. Outfielder Marcell Ozuna could yet return a notable starting pitcher, but Miamis asking price on the 24-year-old has been high (he certainly wouldnt be in play in any talks for Nova).

A few more notes from the NL East
DETROIT, MI - General Motors is adding a third shift and more than 500 jobs at its Lansing Grand River Assembly plant.



The Detroit automaker said Monday the additional shift, coming online in the second quarter, is needed to meet forecast demand for the 2016 Chevrolet Camaro.



The positions are both hourly and salaried. The company is in the process of hiring now. The Lansing plant will employ about 2,300 workers once the latest round of hiring is complete.

In November 2014, GM temporarily laid off 350 hourly workers at the Lansing plant. The second shift returned when GM shifted production of the new Camaro from an Ontario, Canada site to the Lansing one.

GM also produces the Cadillac ATS and CTS models at Lansing Grand River Assembly.

The sixth-generation, 2016 Chevy Camaro was unveiled last May in Detroit.

The first wave of the new pony cars started rolling off the assembly line in October and were expected to arrive at dealerships and to other customers by mid-November.

David Muller is the automotive and business reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. Email him at dmuller@mlive.com, follow him on Twitter or find him on Facebook.
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Alexandra Clark, owner and head chocolatier at Bon Bon Bon.

(Elaine Cromie)

HAMTRAMCK, MI - Alexandra Clark has gotten a lot of recognition in national media over the last few months for her work with tiny chocolates in Detroit, and now Forbes Magazine pegged her on its 30 Under 30 list.

Amid other notable chefs, restauranteurs and food and drink names from around the country, the 27-year-old Metro Detroit native is highlighted as the first artisan chocolatier to open a shop in Detroit in about 40 years.

Clark opened Bon Bon Bon in Hamtramck in summer 2014. Since then, she's opened a second location in downtown Detroit, a pop-up (now closed) in Ann Arbor, and she's working on another Detroit location.

(Related: Bon Bon Bon to attempt world's longest box of chocolates)

The bonbons are small, custom hand-made chocolates that come in over 100 flavors. Each piece sells for $3.

Clark told MLive in 2014 her chocolates are "anti-mystery," in that everyone can see exactly what's inside the bonbons.

Bon Bon Bon currently employs nine women, who all have a hand in the chocolate-making process. They make everything from a traditional chocolate ganache-filled shell, to more inspired mixes, like sweet potato pie.

Clark studied chocolate for eight years at various venues and worked for a few high-end chocolatiers before moving back to Michigan to open her own shop.

And that shop took off.

Bon Bon Bon would sell out of more than 2,000 bonbons on a Saturday in Hamtramck -- the only day they were open for retail business.

The 1.5-inch-long rectangular chocolates consistently sell out, despite the team making thousands of chocolates each week.

The popularity stems from the variety. Each chocolate has a unique look and number, and it's not unusual for Clark to offer up samples.

Ian Thibodeau is the business and development reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at ithibode@mlive.com, or follow him on Twitter.
DETROIT - Garlic fiends will soon have to search outside of downtown to get their Bucharest Grill fix.

The most popular Bucharest location -- the place where it all started in 2006 inside of Park Bar downtown -- is closing.

Bucharest owner Bogdan Tarasov told multiple Detroit media it's not his choice to move. In a Detroit Free Press report, Tarasov said he knows a lot of people will be disappointed with the move.

So the small space that had been packed with workers grilling, packaging and serving up quick, hot Middle Eastern grub is moving up the river to a shopping center on East Jefferson avenue by the end of February, according to reports.

Tarasov told the Free Press he was given notice of the move from the Park Bar landlord three months ago.

While initial reports indicated Bucharest Grill was being forced out of the downtown location, Park Bar issued a statement on Facebook Dec. 30, which said the popular shawarma location and the bar were parting on "very amiable and mutual terms."

There are rumors and misleading articles about Park Bar and our good friends at Bucharest Grill; we are not forcing them... Posted by The Park Bar Detroit on Wednesday, December 30, 2015

The downtown Bucharest location was a popular haunt after almost any event at Ford Field, Comerica Park or Fox Theater. Tarasov told the Free Press that "everything starts on that corner" on Park Avenue.

They're most popular for the twist they took on the chicken shawarma sandwich. Most Middle Eastern restaurants wrap grilled or rotisserie-style chicken, beef, lamb or falafel, veggies and hummus, garlic or tahini in a warm, grilled pita. Bucharest packs a pita with all of that and some french fries.

Plus, pungent garlic paste makes their shawarma stick out a little further.

Bucharest just opened their third location at 110 Piquette St. near the city's New Center neighborhood. They also have a location on Michigan Avenue in Corktown.

Tarasov recently confirmed that a fourth location on Livernois in the city's University District is in the works.

According to the Free Press, the downtown location will move to the former Lucky's Pub and Grille location, where there will be seating and free parking.

There's no word yet as to what will fill the Park Bar space.

Ian Thibodeau is the business and development reporter for MLive Media Group in Detroit. He can be reached at ithibode@mlive.com, or follow him on Twitter.
Shandra Martinez | smartinez@mlive.com

Where the DeVos family donate millions

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Where Rich DeVos and family donate millions

Amway co-founder Rich DeVos and his family are among the most generous philanthropists in the nation, ranking 20th on Forbes' annual list of the nation's Top 50 givers. The self-made billionaire and his family reported nearly $1.2 billion in lifetime giving  including more than $94 million in 2014 alone. The family's five foundations gave away $89.1 million in 2013, according to tax records, which reveal how those donations were split among hundreds of charities and institutions. Here are the highlights.

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Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation's 2013 donations

Amway co-founder and Orlando Magic owner Rich DeVos and his wife Helen gave away $48.1 million from their foundation in 2013. The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation had assets of $58.3 million at the end of 2013, according to documents filed with the IRS. That year, the foundation made 148 donations, ranging from $1,000 to $7.5 million. Seventeen organizations received at least $1 million.

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Emily Zoladz

Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation

Dick and Betsy DeVos gave away $7 million through their foundation in 2013. The foundation had assets of $49.9 million at the end of 2013, according to documents filed with the IRS. That year, the foundation made 121 donations, ranging from $250 to $1 million.

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Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation

Dan DeVos and his designer wife Pamella Rolland DeVos donated $7.1 million in 2013. The Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation had assets of $10.58 million at the end of that year, according to documents filed with the IRS. The foundation made 69 donations in 2013, ranging from $500 to more than $2.1 million.

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Emily Rose Bennett | MLive.com

Cheri DeVos' CDV5 Foundation

Suzanne "Cheri" DeVos and her five children gave away $10.7 million in 2013 through their CDV5 Foundation, formerly the VanderWeide Family Foundation. The foundation reported assets of $43.27 million at the end of that year, according to documents filed with the IRS. The foundation made 74 donations, ranging from $500 to nearly $3.3 million.

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Douglas and Maria DeVos Foundation

The Douglas and Maria DeVos Foundation gave $17.87 million in donations in 2013. At the end of that year, the foundation had assets of $99.47 million, according to documents filed with the IRS. The foundation made 155 donations, ranging from $300 to $3.2 million.

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Bryan Smith

The King's College: $7.5M

Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation's biggest donation in 2013 was $7.5 million to King's College, a small but top conservative college housed in the Empire State Building in New York City. Richard and Helen DeVos joined the college's board of trustees in 2013, and the college's Freedom Award is named after the couple.

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Monica Scott | MLive.com

Grand Rapids Christian School: $6.8M

DeVos siblings Cheri and Doug gave their largest donations, $3.3 million and $3.2 milllion, respectively, to Grand Rapids Christian School Association in 2013. Generations of the DeVos family have attended the K-12 private schools. Along with Dick's donation of $300,000 and Dan's gift of $20,400, the association received more than $6.8 million total from the family in 2013.

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Hope College: $4M

Another major donation the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation made in 2013 was $3 million to Hope College. The small Christian liberal arts campus in downtown Holland, affiliated with the Reformed Church in America, has been the beneficiary of DeVos family generosity over the years. Richard and Helen DeVos' only daughter, Cheri, is a Hope graduate, and she also gave $1,050,500 to her alma mater that year. Brothers Doug and Dick contributed $50,000 and $5,000, respectively.

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Grand Valley State University: $3.6M

The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation gave $3 million to GVSU in 2013. Long before two of his grandkids attended the Grand Rapids area public university, Rich was GVSU's biggest donor and a major fundraiser. His son Doug also gave GVSU $598,566 that year.

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National Constitution Center: $3.2M

The National Consitution Center received a total of $3.2 million from Rich DeVos and his son Doug DeVos in 2013. The Amway cofounder, who is a founding board member of the non-paristan history museum in Philadelphia, gave $1.8 million. His youngest son, now the president of Amway and the chairman of the museum, gave $1.4 million.

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Grand Rapids Symphony: $2.24M

The Grand Rapids Symphony Society received $2.24 million from two generations of DeVoses in 2013, receiving gifts from all five family foundations. Rich and Helen donated $1.5 million. Dan DeVos, past chairman of the symphony society board, gave $525,000 from his foundation. His sister, Cheri, gave $70,000; brothers Doug and Dick each gave $60,000.

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Calvin College: $2.2M

Calvin College received $2.2 million from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation in 2013. The Grand Rapids liberal arts college is an educational institution of the Grand Rapids-based Christian Reformed Church. Helen is a Calvin graduate and Rich attended the school for a semester in 1947 before dropping out to go into business. Doug also made a $100,000 gift in 2013.

In the the late 1990s, the couple told The Grand Rapids Press that they stopped giving million-dollar donations to their alma mater for a period of time after hearing from friends that DeVos and his Amway business partner, Jay Van Andel, were being criticized in the classroom by liberal faculty in the late 1960s.

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Cory Morse

Helen DeVos Children's Hospital: $2.1M

In 2013, all the DeVos foundations donated to the foundation of the Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, the health facility named after the family's matriach, Helen DeVos.

Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation gave $1 million.

Douglas and Maria DeVos Foundation gave $642,500.

Dick and Betsy Foundation gave $526,000.

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Whitney Museum of American Art in New York: $2.1M

The Daniel and Pamella DeVos Foundation made its biggest donation - $2.1 million - to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Pamella is on the board of directors of the Manhattan museum that has loaned works to the Grand Rapids Art Museum. Her daughter, Sydney, recently joined the GRAM board.

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GRAM benefits from Whitney Museum relationship

Grand Rapids Art Museum Director and CEO Dana Friis-Hansen discusses the benefits of the museum's relationship with the Whitney in New York.

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Spectrum Health Foundation: $1.7M

The Spectrum Health Foundation, the fundraising arm of West Michigan's largest health care system, which includes Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, received $1.5 million from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation in 2013. Son Doug and Maria DeVos' foundation also gave $231,500 that year.

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Chris Clark

Grand Rapids Public Schools: Nearly $1.6M

Doug and Maria have given millions to Grand Rapids' public education system over the years. In 2013, the couple's foundation donated $444,000 directly to Grand Rapids Public Schools, and another $760,500 to its foundation, Grand Rapids Student Advancement Foundation. The foundation also received significant 2013 gifts from Cheri at $257,500, Richard and Helen at $110,000, and Dan at $25,000.

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Christian Reformed Church: $1.59M

The Christian Reformed Church in North America Foundation received $1.59 million from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation in 2013. Both Rich and Helen have said their giving is driven by their deep faith, and their donations to the CRC have been used to expand the reach of the church.

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MATT GADE

GRCC Foundation: $1.5M

The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation gave $1.5 million to the Grand Rapids Community College Foundation in 2013.

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Northwood University: $1.5M

Dan DeVos donated $1.3 million to his alma mater, Northwood University. He is currently the chairman of the Midland university's board of trustees. The business-focused university holds an annual international auto show. His brother, Dick, also gave $200,000.

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Holland Home: $1.3M

The Grand Rapids-based nonprofit, faith-based senior services provider received $1.3 million from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation in 2013. Earlier this year, Holland Home opened a new $8.5 million rehabilitation and memory care assisted-living center in Kentwood.

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Emily Zoladz

Believe 2 Become: $1.26M

In 2013, Doug and Maria gave $1,265,040 to Believe 2 Become, a neighborhood initiative designed to help Grand Rapids children succeed in school, work and life. One of the group's efforts was a comprehensive program to prepare more children in area neighborhoods for kindergarten.

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Cory Olsen

West Michigan Sports Commission: $1.26M

Dan and Pamella DeVos gave $350,000 to the West Michigan Sports Commission, a nonprofit that supports athletic events in the region. The Grand Rapids Griffins owner led the public fundrasing campaign to build a championship baseball and softball complex in Plainfield Township. Father, Richard, donated $650,000 that same year, along with $100,000 each from siblings Doug and Cheri, and $60,000 from Dick.

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American Enterprise Institute: $1.25M

Doug and Maria DeVos donated $1 million to the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C, in 2013. Father, Richard, gave $250,000; sibling Dick gave $5,000.

(Photo shows President George W. Bush reacting to a question as he speaks at the AEI 2008.)

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Cory Morse | cmorse1@mlive.com

Meijer Gardens: $1.23M

The Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation donated to $1.05 million to Frederik Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park in 2013. The popular Grand Rapids tourist attraction recently opened the $22 million Richard and Helen DeVos Japanese Gardens. All four of his children's foundations also made gifts to the gardens that year: Dan $153,500, Doug $10,000, Dick $10,000, and Cheri $5,000.

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Chicago church gets $1.05M

Dick and Betsy gave $1 million to the Willow Creek Association. The Chicago-area Evangelical Christian megachurch serves pioneering pastors and leaders through world-class leadership experiences and resources, according to its website. Brother Doug contributed $50,000.

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MANUEL BALCE CENETA

Heritage Foundation: $1.03M

Three of the five DeVos family foundations made donations to the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, D.C. in 2013. Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation gave $1 million; Doug and Maria gave $25,000; Dick and Betsy gave $5,000.

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Chris Clark

4 other notable $1M donations from Rich & Helen DeVos

Rich and Helen also gave $1 million donations in 2013 to these five groups:

Gerald R. Ford Presidential Foundation in Grand Rapids

Lee University in Tennessee

Mount Vernon Ladies Association of the Union in Virginia

Yankee Air Force Inc. in Belleville, Mich.

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Lori Niedenfuer Cool

ArtPrize among Dick and Betsy's big gives

Dick and Betsy's other top donations in 2013 include.

$506,000 to ArtPrize, the international art competition in Grand Rapids founded by the couple's oldest son, Rick.

$460,000 to Mars Hill Bible Church, the well-known Grand Rapids megachurch were best-selling author Rob Bell got his start as a pastor.

$315,000 to West Michigan Aviation Academy, the charter school housed at the Gerald R. Ford International Airport started by Dick DeVos.

$301,000 to Potter's House, a Christian school in Grand Rapids that serves urban students. (Rich and Helen also gave $330,000; Doug and Maria, and Cheri each gave $75,000.)

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High school among Dan and Pamella's big gives

Dan and Pamella also made big donations to public education, including $400,000 to Grand Rapids University Preparatory Academy Association. UPrep is part of a public-private collaboration between the Grand Rapids Public Schools and Grand Rapids business leaders including Dan DeVos and Amway chairman Steve Van Andel. Doug and Maria also donated $275,000 to the school in 2013.

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Boys & Girls Club among four $1M donations from CDV5

CDV5 donated $1 million to four organizations in 2013:

Boys & Girls Club of Grand Rapids

Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida

Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida

Wake Forest University in Winston Salem, N.C.

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LINC Community Revitalization leads Doug & Maria's other notable gifts

The Doug and Maria DeVos Foundation in 2013 gave $905,000 to LINC Community Revitalization, a nonprofit business and housing organization in Grand Rapids. Their foundation's other notable gifts included:

Early Learning Neighborhood Collaborative, Grand Rapids: $281,000

The Arbor Circle Corporation, Grand Rapids: $278,000

Wedgwood Christian Services, Grand Rapids: $275,000

Gatherings of Hope Kent County: $266,576

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CORY MORSE

Read more on Grand Rapids philanthropy

Read more about the DeVos family's giving and Grand Rapids philanthropy here, including how and why Amway's DeVos family gives away billions, how MLive analyzed DeVos family's $90.9 million in annual donations and the details of GVSU's relationship with Rich DeVos.

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WYOMING -- A Wyoming family has been busy recently collecting instruments for a new music academy in Zambia.

But their connection with the instruments won't end when the violins, trumpets and guitars are packed up and sent to Africa.

Brad and Amber Howells, along with their children Jaedon, 12, Seth, 10, Owen, 7, and Alenia, 4, are going to Africa, too.

Brad has been teaching music at Vanguard Charter Academy in Wyoming for 13 years. But when this school year is over and all the loose ends are tied up in West Michigan, he and his family will travel to Zambia, where he will begin teaching music in a whole different setting.

Holland-based Poetice International is starting the school, based on a model it has used to start other music academies for orphaned and vulnerable children in Africa. But the academies are often staffed by teachers who are just visiting for a short time, Howells said.

"They're going to launch a new academy in Livingstone, Zambia, and they said they would want me from the ground up," Howells said. "My passion was to go and establish more of a sustainable program."

Howells said he began working with Poetice International's Zambia Instrument Project through a friend at Kentwood Community Church, which the family attends. The church held an instrument drive in 2009 that collected about 40 instruments, and since then, Brad has traveled to Africa a couple times to teach during the summer.

But this will be more of a long-term commitment. The Howells' kids have already begun getting used to home-schooling, since that's how they will be schooled in Africa, he said.

The family plans to stay in Zambia until the academy is well-established. After that, Poetice International may want them to start another school in a different location, or they might return to Michigan, he said.

Right now, they are hoping to gather "as many instruments as we can get our hands on" to take with them, Howells said. Any type of band or orchestra instrument would be welcome, along with keyboards and percussion instruments. Supplies for the instruments, like reeds or repair kits, are needed too. So far they have collected more than 40 band and orchestra instruments, along with a couple of guitars, he said.

"We're trying to see what people aren't using and maybe forgot in a closet somewhere," he said. "We want to put them back into the hands of someone who can really use them."

The music academies in Africa are designed to help students in both practical and intangible ways.

"When students come through they get the skill of music playing, which some can use for income," Howells said. "But a lot is more internal - it's learning how to build a skill, finding the drive and inspiration, inspiring them to dream outside the poverty situations they're in."

More information about the Howells and the Zambia Instrument Project is online at poetice.org/howellsfamily/

Anyone with an instrument to donate may contact the Howells by email at howellsfamily@poetice.org or by phone at 616-206-8978.
Former Grand Rapids Mayor, George Heartwell, attended the recent Climate Summit in Paris, and he returned more optimistic about whether and how the world might move forward to address the challenges and risks associated with climate change.

Heartwell, who stepped down from his term-limited post Dec. 31 after 12 very successful years at the helm of Michigan's second largest city, was one 37 U.S. mayors and over 400 mayors across the globe who attended the summit.

In general, Heartwell was pleased with both the major outcomes of the summit and the fact that, unlike the Warsaw Climate Change Conference he attended in 2013, the mayoral voices were heard during the Paris deliberations.

"Frankly, I went to Paris with somewhat diminished expectations after what I experienced in Warsaw. But the atmosphere in Paris was electric--and we as mayors quickly became cognizant of the seriousness with which we were being treated and the overall respect we were shown."

Another key to the summit's success, Heartwell added, was that, for the first time at a climate gathering, the nations attending were required to promulgate their specific greenhouse gas reduction goals ahead of the meeting. "The fact that each of the 195 countries came to the summit with specific targets for reducing emissions provided an excellent starting point for discussion."

While Heartwell acknowledged that the accord is "strong on transparency but weak on accountability" and does not go far enough with respect to its specific emission reduction targets, "it is better than anything we have had to date, and it may well achieve a significant slowdown in global temperature increases."

Another challenge, Heartwell said, will be whether the developed countries follow through with the non-binding, $100 billion annual pledge to help fund poorer nations which don't have the resources necessary to implement sustainability programs. For example, Congress must approve any U.S. commitment, and Heartwell is admittedly "nervous about whether we will pony up our share given how Congress has reacted to past environmental initiatives by the Obama administration."

But regardless of political differences at the national level, Heartwell is confident that mayors across the world will continue to make substantial progress toward sustainability. "In cities, the rivers are going to flood, there are going to be heat waves, energy decisions have to be made. We can't just sit around and philosophize about and debate climate change; in our cities, we have to get things done."

And getting things done on the sustainability front has characterized Heartwell's tenure. "One thing I am so proud of is the incredible shift in the Grand Rapids culture--in the understanding of the importance of a sustainability ethos. Over the past 12 years, we have gone from passive-aggressive resistance to a widespread embracing of a broad range of sustainability initiatives including energy conservation, water quality management, cleaner, more efficient transportation and social justice."

Heartwell expressed great confidence in his successor, Rosalynn Bliss, previously a city commissioner. "Rosalynn brings experience, high energy and intelligence to the job," he said. "She will be a great leader for Grand Rapids."

In addition to continuing to move such green initiatives as LED street lighting and solar energy generation forward, Bliss also will also face some major challenges, one of which is a double-edged sword.

"Grand Rapids is a growing community; people want to live here. That is the good news. But managing that growth--for example, in the area of affordable housing for lower income residents--will be a major challenge for the new mayor."

During Heartwell's tenure, the United Nations recognized Grand Rapids as a "Regional Center of Expertise in Education for Sustainable Development (2007). In 2010, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce gave Grand Rapids the "Nation's Most Sustainable City" award, and two years later, Heartwell was given the first-place "Climate Protection Award" by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Most recently, he was honored by the National Association of State Boards of Education with its annual "Friend of Education Award."

Please click here to hear my conversation with Heartwell.

And please join me for

every Sunday evening at 7:00 on

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LANSING, MI -- Michigan Rep. Phil Phelps doesn't know whether officials at state agencies manipulated data to mask lead levels in Flint water, but he does know that there's no law stopping somebody from doing so.

"As far as we were able to determine, not directly," said the Democrat from Flushing. "There's no laws on the books that say you can't manipulate data."

When the legislature comes back on Jan. 13 he plans to introduce a bill that would make intentionally manipulating or falsifying information in state reports a five-year felony and fine of up to $5,000.

Phelps said he wasn't saying for sure that anybody did something wrong in relation to the Flint water crisis, but if somebody did in the future it would be a crime under this bill. His understanding is that every other law on the books right now a prosecutor would have to "stretch" to apply to such an instance.

"I'm not a judge, I'm not a prosecutor. I just want to make sure that this is another tool that we have in the future," Phelps said.

The bill language is vague, Phelps said, and he's discussing it with other legislators. It could apply to every level of government employee, not just state employees.

Phelps has had this bill in the works for months but was prompted to action by a recent response from the Auditor General that indicated employees of the Department of Environmental Quality's Office of Drinking Water and Municipal Assistance would only be subject to penalties under state employee rules if they did misrepresent data.

The Auditor General did note that "... we have no specific reason to believe that DEQ willfully misrepresented the information to the EPA."

The bill could act as a deterrent for state employees who are asked to falsify information in the future, Phelps said.

"I'm not targeting low-level staff or high-level staff with this. I would be worried that in the future a department director might request that an employee make a report look good or make a report come out to be an acceptable report under the guidelines," Phelps said.

Phelps plans to formally introduce the bill next week. It would need companion legislation establishing sentencing guidelines, Phelps noted.

Emily Lawler is a Capitol reporter for MLive. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.
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Taxpayers spent $77,000 on legal fees in ousting former Michigan Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat.

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LANSING, MI -- The Michigan House of Representatives spent $77,000 on legal services in the course of ousting former Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat, according to data obtained by liberal advocacy group Progress Michigan.

Progress Michigan filed a Freedom of Information Act request about the cost of hiring the law firm Dickinson Wright in the course of expelling the two representatives. While the House Business Office maintains that it is not subject to FOIA, it does release financial information under House rules.

Lonnie Scott, executive director of Progress Michigan, questioned the expense by House Speaker Kevin Cotter, R-Mt. Pleasant.

"It is troubling and incredibly ironic that two lawmakers were expelled from the House for wasting taxpayer resources, and yet, Speaker Cotter has already spent more than a lawmaker's salary on an outside firm as a result of his bungled investigation," Scott said.

"Speaker Cotter seems to be using taxpayer dollars to cover up his own political missteps. Cotter should use his taxpayer-funded attorney to defend the House and pay for any outside counsel himself. "

Cotter spokesperson Gideon D'Assandro said that to handle legalities around the expulsion situation internally the House would have had to bring on more staff. To outsource it to the Attorney General would have cost taxpayers, too.

"It was a big deal. There's an embarrassing scandal at the heart of this but the particular question we were looking at was invoking a rarely used part of the constitution" to expel two lawmakers, D'Assandro said.

The law firm is also assisting the House in defending itself against the lawsuit brought by former employees of Courser and Gamrat, and the costs for that are still to be determined. That isn't out of the ordinary -- the House spent $85,000 with the same law firm defending itself when a former employee accused Rep. Brian Banks of sexual harassment.

"It looks like a large amount but honestly it's less than we spent on the Brian Banks situation a couple years ago," D'Assandro said.

He said the money for such legal services has come out of the House's general budget. But the $77,000 was an investment to shore up the state's position in case of a lawsuit down the road, he said.

"Obviously we're spending less up front to save the taxpayers from a liability down the road," D'Assandro said.

Emily Lawler is a Capitol reporter for MLive. You can reach her at elawler@mlive.com, subscribe to her on Facebook or follow her on Twitter: @emilyjanelawler.
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Tesla is at the forefront of the electric car industry, however, Michigan automakers are quickly jumping on board on the electronic movement with partnerships with Silicon Valley businesses.

(Neil Blake/MLive.com file)

LOS ANGELES -- You can go to the mall on a Sunday afternoon to buy a pair of shoes in Southern California and come home with a Tesla Model S electric car.

That is, if you can afford the $76,200 selling price.

Tesla sells directly to consumers in California and about 20 other states. Michigan isn't one of them. Our state requires new cars and trucks be sold through franchised dealers, a system Tesla is fighting to upend.

But the long-held dealer franchise system isn't the only part of the auto industry California companies are seeking to disrupt.

California is competing, and in some cases, partnering with Michigan companies to transform the automobile from a mechanical to an electronic marvel.

Ford Motor Co. and other automakers and suppliers have established research operations in Northern California's Silicon Valley to develop various automotive software technologies.

Dragos Maciuca, the director of Ford's new California operation, recently told the Los Angeles Times that Ford is there because of a profound shift away from mechanical engineering -- Detroit's forte -- in the auto industry.

"Now, there is the shift to software -- and the mecca of software is Silicon Valley," said Maciuca, a former Apple engineer.

Ford and Google, which has been testing self-driving cars for years, are rumored to be in talks to jointly build an autonomous vehicle.

This isn't the first time Detroit has come to California seeking new knowledge about the auto industry.

California, the largest auto market in the country, long has been a social and style trendsetter. The hot-rod culture that developed here after World War II, for example, influenced cars from Detroit for decades.

In the 1980s, General Motors jointly operated an assembly plant with Toyota in Fremont, California, that GM used to learn about Toyota's manufacturing techniques.

The plant, known as NUMMI, closed in 2010. Tesla now owns it.

California's auto industry is not a threat to Michigan's in terms of size. Michigan dwarfs California in auto employment, manufacturing plants and engineering centers.

California companies often rely on Michigan businesses when they get ready to build products.

Roush Industries in Livonia is building Google's test fleet of self-driving cars. Last year, Tesla purchased Riviera Tool in Grand Rapids for its metal-bending expertise.

But Michigan's auto supremacy isn't assured just because state automakers have been designing, engineering and building cars for more than 100 years.

Crain's Detroit Business recently asked retired Visteon CEO Tim Leuliette what advice he would give new executives in the auto industry.

"Face reality," he said. "Don't work for a company that makes mechanical parts in an electronic world."

That should send shivers down the spines of those working to ensure Michigan's automotive future.
2016 is shaping up to be an interesting year in Ann Arbor-area education news.

From new state laws to lawsuits, Washtenaw County's districts and schools are grappling with both changes and old problems.

Here's a look at six things to watch in 2016:

1. Gun lawsuit against Ann Arbor Public Schools

Ann Arbor Public Schools has been involved in a gun lawsuit for months after the Board of Education created policies to ban guns from schools in March. In response, Michigan Gun Owners filed suit against the district.

Although a Washtenaw County judge dismissed the lawsuit in September, Michigan Gun Owners filed an appeal in October. The case remains in the Michigan Court of Appeals.

See full coverage of the lawsuit here:

2. Changes to the Michigan teacher evaluation system

In late October, the Michigan Legislature created new mandates for teacher evaluations, which includes a decrease in the percentage of student growth in the overall evaluation.

Districts are in the process of implementing the changes; although it hasn't been a smooth transition everywhere.

Teachers in Ann Arbor Public Schools were upset with some of the local changes, saying they don't fully understand the new version of the tool, which also will create more work for teachers.

The district made some changes to the tool, and will create teams of teachers to work on the system in early 2016.

3. The Washtenaw Intermediate School District special education millage

The Washtenaw Intermediate School District is looking at a special education ballot proposal in May that would ask voters for a 1.5-mill tax increase, providing $22 million annually for special education in the county.

The millage would be a big deal for all nine Washtenaw County public school districts because it would free up money in the districts' general fund budgets to use for general education.

The ballot proposal would renew the existing 3.8-mill levy and increase it to a total of up to 5.5 mills through 2025.

The spring election is Tuesday, May 3.

4. Lincoln Consolidated Schools' budget

Lincoln Consolidated Schools' officials found a way to get the district out of a $1.6 million deficit in its projected 2015-2016 budget. The district had been dealing with a deficit for a few years, landing it under the eye of the Michigan Department of Treasury.

It'll be nearly a year before the district can get rid of its state-approved deficit-elimination plan because the final 2015-2016 budget must go through an audit. Following that, it'll remain under Michigan Department of Treasury oversight until the fund balance is above 5 percent.

The district will need to stabilize it's spending, revenues and student enrollment to ensure it remains in the black in the years to come.

5. Substitute teacher fill rates

Ann Arbor and Dexter school districts raised substitute teacher pay in an effort to attract enough subs to fill in when teachers are off or sick.

Finding enough substitute teachers has been a struggle for districts across Michigan. Pay for subs hadn't risen in about a decade in Washtenaw County.

In four months after Ann Arbor schools raised pay to $100 per day from $75 per day, the district's sub fill rates climbed from 78 percent to 98 percent.

Dexter Community Schools followed suit, raising pay to $90 per day.

As all Washtenaw ISD districts use the same company to find substitutes, it remains to be seen how the disparity in pay across the county affects where substitutes seek jobs.

6. Superintendent searches in Lincoln, Chelsea schools

Both Chelsea and Lincoln school districts are searching for new chiefs.

Sean McNatt is leading Lincoln schools through the school year after Superintendent Ellen Bonter left the district suddenly in September. The Board of Education is waiting until spring to conduct a search when more candidates are available and seeking new positions.

In Chelsea School District, the school board is in the early stages of conducting a search and plans to have a new district leader in place by July 1. Meanwhile, David K. Killips is serving as interim superintendent after Andy Ingall left in June to take a job in Grand Haven.

Lindsay Knake is the K-12 education reporter for The Ann Arbor News. Follow her on twitter or contact her at 989-372-2498 or lknake@mlive.com. Find all Washtenaw County K-12 education stories on MLive.com.
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04.01.2016 LISTEN

Yvonne Nelson on New Year's Day became the first Ghanaian actress and entertainer to record one million followers on popular social media platform Instagram.

1 million, thank you, thank you! I appreciate you guys, it's humbling, she told her followers on the platform.

The trendy actress is one of the most influential female celebrities in Africa and on social media.

She performed creditably on Instagram in 2015 and was the first to be verified on that social media.

Yvonne Nelson also took over CNN Instagram for a while.

She usually posts nice pictures on the platform and speaks for the voiceless in society.

Through Instagram and other social platforms, Yvonne and her friends launched a campaign under the hash tag DumsorMustStop to draw government's attention to the negative effects of Ghana's energy crisis on the citizens.

By Francis Addo (Twitter: @fdee50 Email: [email protected] )
04.01.2016 LISTEN

HIGHLIFE LEGEND, Charles Kwadwo Fosu aka Daddy Lumba, without doubt, produced one of his best live-stage performances in his entire music career on New Year's Day, in Kumasi.

The award-winning highlife music maestro proved to Ghanaians that he is still fresh and can deliver when called upon to perform at any event.

The music icon put up a mind-blowing stage performance at the Miklin Hotel in Kumasi for hours which incensed the huge audience to sing and dance all night long.

Dubbed 'New Year Bash with Daddy Lumba,' the show, which was hugely successful, was organized by Apotiti Consult, owned by ace broadcast journalist, Kwame Adinkra.

The merrymaking event was graced by top personalities, including DCOP Kofi Boakye, Kwame Sefa Kayi, Boris B and media gurus like Omanhene Yaw Adu Boakye, Loving Cee, among others.

The event was kick-started with musicians such as Kofi Nti, Nerox and Shatta Rako, just to mention a few, in turns, putting up brilliant shows to entertain the colossal crowd.

The entire foundation of the venue was nearly turned upside down when Daddy Lumba, who was splendidly dressed in all-white apparel, mounted the stage in the company of the Member of Parliament (MP) for Bantama, Kwabena Kokofu.

The music star, whose demeanour clearly showed that he was in good spirit, sang some of his melodious hit tracks, including the famous 'Yentie Obiaa', drawing the crowd to the dancing floor.

At the show, every music lover was simply in tune with Lumba's household songs.

He mesmerized music fans with his mid-tempo songs and dance moves, proving that indeed he is a force to reckon with in the music industry, as they demanded more of Daddy's splendid shows.

Lumba indeed was a blast. His stage performance was all that was needed to make a statement about the event.

At the tail end of the show, he thanked Ghanaians for their support and gave the assurance that he was going to release 20 more albums before he draws the curtain on his music career.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
04.01.2016 LISTEN

Ghana's most popular television current affairs news talk show "Asem Yi Di Ka" which airs on ATV from Monday-Friday at 3PM-5PM is currently touring the Brong Ahafo and some other regions of Ghana.

The tour is to tackle and interact with viewers on some of the challenges people go through outside the capital. One major problem that took the crew to Teshieman in the Brong Ahafo region is the issue involving the Bank of Ghana and DKM Microfinance.

The show on Monday was telecast live from the Techiman community center with frustrated customers of financial companies with frozen accounts flooding in to share their grievance with the host Speaker Nana Fianko and some leaders of this country including MP for Nkronza North Major Derek Oduro, Hon. Adjei Mensah- MP for Techiman South, Yiadom Boakye-NPP Parliamentary candidate for Techiman South, Nana Afena Nketia Twafohene of Techiman and Nana Afiriyie the Tuobodom Sanaahemaa to assist them get their monies released to them.

The Bank of Ghana froze the accounts of some microfinance companies including DKM and God is Love in May this year. They were accused of violating the Banking Act.

The Bank of Ghana said the companies failed to comply with the terms and conditions stipulated in its licence, as well as holding insufficient assets to meet its liabilities to depositors.

Customers are the worst affected by the Bank of Ghanas action with recent reports having about three people who had accounts with the financial institutions dead due to their inability to access their money, the MP for Nkronza North Major Derek Oduro has confirmed.

Most affected customers from Techiman have vowed not to take part in the general election this year if their monies are not released to them.
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South Africa batsman and captain Hashim Amla plays a shot during the third day of the second Test against England at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town on January 4, 2016. By Gianluigi Guercia (AFP)

04.01.2016 LISTEN

Cape Town (AFP) - Hashim Amla and AB de Villiers batted throughout the third morning on Monday as South Africa sought to fight back after a battering on the first two days of the second Test against England at Newlands.

South Africa were 199 for two at lunch, with South African captain Amla on 91 not out and vice-captain De Villiers on 56 not out.

South Africa were still 430 runs behind England's first innings total of 629 for six declared.

By contrast to the second day, when Ben Stokes and Jonny Bairstow thrashed 196 runs for England before lunch, Amla and De Villiers added only 58 runs in 29 overs before the interval.

England's bowlers toiled on an unresponsive pitch but the tourists put down the only chance of the morning, half an hour before lunch.

Amla, on 76, drove at the first ball of the day sent down by off-spinner Joe Root and edged the ball to slip where James Anderson put down the catch.

The same two players were involved in the only other chance of the partnership, with Root, at second slip, dropping De Villiers on five off Anderson on Sunday evening.

It was largely cautious batting. It took the normally free-flowing De Villiers 116 balls to post his half-century with a straight hit for four off Moeen Ali.

The same stroke brought up his 8000th run in Tests. De Villiers is playing in his 104th Test.

The pair registered a 100-run partnership off 247 balls.
Central African presidential candidate Karim Meckassoua, pictured on December 28, 2015, is among 20 candidates calling for the election to be scrapped. By Issouf Sanogo (AFP/File)

04.01.2016 LISTEN

Bangui (Central African Republic) (AFP) - Twenty out of the 30 candidates vying to be president of the Central African Republic have demanded the election be scrapped after what they said was a tainted first round of voting.

In a joint statement seen by AFP on Monday, the dissenters cited what they described as irregularities and intimidation in ballotting on December 30, partial results of which have been published.

They said refused to be "complicit in this electoral masquerade" and called for the whole process to be "purely and simply stopped."

They invited all players to get around the negotiating table "to draw up ways of safeguarding the nation."

Signatories included heavyweight candidate Karim Meckassoua, a former foreign minister from the minority Muslim community, who had been a pre-election front-runner.

Independent candidate Faustin Archange Touadera, a former prime minister, has taken a commanding lead in the presidential race, garnering more than 23 percent of the vote with a quarter of the ballots counted, electoral officials said Sunday.

The former maths professor had been considered an outsider.

Anicet Georges Dologuele, also a former prime minister, was in second place with Desire Kolingba, son of a former president, in third.

A likely second round is set for January 31.

The election is seen as vital to restoring stability in the former French colony after years of unrest.

Some two million voters were eligible to cast their ballots, for a new president and members of the 105-seat parliament.

Voting passed without major incident and was hailed as a success by the international community.

One of the world's poorest countries, with a history of coups and rebellions, Central African Republic was plunged into fierce sectarian unrest in 2013 after longtime leader Francois Bozize was ousted by a mainly Muslim rebel alliance.

Thousands of people were killed and around one in 10 fled their homes in attacks by rogue rebels on remote villages and brutal reprisals by Christian militia against Muslim communities.

UN and French peacekeepers helped restore a degree of calm in January 2014, when a transitional government took over, but large parts of the country remain lawless.
Khartoum (AFP) - Sudanese rebels have attacked an army garrison in South Kordofan state, a military spokesman said Monday, with both sides giving conflicting versions of the fighting.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North launched the attack at Mazlagan, west of the town of Dilling, after President Omar al-Bashir announced a month-long extension to a ceasefire in the country's conflict-hit border regions.

The SPLM-N "attack on the Mazlagan garrison took place on Saturday and they were repulsed and driven off," military spokesman Colonel Ahmed Khalifa al-Shami told AFP.

More than 13 of the SPLM-N forces were killed and an unknown number wounded while the army suffered no casualties, Shami said.

The rebels gave a different account and said they attacked the garrison on Friday.

SPLM-N forces "killed 30 members of the forces" of the government and destroyed five four-wheel-drive vehicles and burned the garrison building before withdrawing, spokesman Arnu Lodi said in a statement late Sunday.

Four rebels were killed in the clashes, Lodi said.

The SPLM-N also accused government warplanes of carrying out a bombing raid on Blue Nile state on Friday that damaged agricultural land and killed livestock.

Shami denied the claim.

The SPLM-N has been battling Bashir's troops in South Kordofan and Blue Nile state since 2011 when they mounted an insurgency, complaining their areas were being marginalised politically and economically.

Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court over war crimes charges during the campaign he unleashed to crush a separate insurgency in the western Darfur region in 2003.

The latest attack in South Kordofan came amid a period of relative quiet in the war-hit areas.

In September, Bashir announced a two-month ceasefire and extended this by one month in a speech on new year's eve.

Talks between the government and rebels to agree a temporary ceasefire collapsed without result in November and the SPLM-N has reported clashes since.

Shami said the military was "committed" to the ceasefire, but "will not hesitate to defend itself in case of attack".
03.01.2016 LISTEN

As energies and lights of 2015 got sapped and faded out all too fast to give way to 2016, I and many others were apparently having mixed feelings about the future of Ghana. The curious feeling that would have especially engulfed the thoughts of many others was that of the ugly danger associated with the contours of Ghana's political landscape fully occupied by agitation, tension, desperation and disjointedness. Regardless of failures, successes, huge potentials and bright prospects of Ghana, these contours must present a scaring nightmare to all those who have Ghana at heart. It is, nonetheless, a call to more proactive and transformative actions by Ghana's leaders.

The centre could hardly hold in NPP

The unsettling nature of power blocks in the opposition New Patriotic Party (NPP) where the centre could hardly hold did vitiate their strength to give viable alternative policies and programmes to Ghanaians. It also weakened NPP's ability to effectively put the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and its government in check. NPP's Leader and 2016 Flag-bearer, Hon Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo was apparently seen to have been thrown into a mesh woven by flesh eating worms with debilitating prowess far too powerful beyond the containment and survival stamina of an otherwise political colossus and prominent lawyer. He almost surprisingly became a political dinosaur largely due to Overarching Clashes of Personality Interests (OCPI) and Acute Leadership Deficiency Syndrome (ALDS).

Nana Addo simply was overtaken by emotive tendencies as he watched on while NPP appeared disintegrated and non-viable alternative in the eyes of many Ghanaians. Instead of rallying all interest groups in NPP behind him, Nana's unrelenting quest for power may have swayed him into thinking that labeling interest groups as 'spies and crushing them' would pave way for him regardless of how much significant such interest groups were. This sense of reasoning may have been a direct consequence of misleading advice and anti-Nana tagging.

Holding the center in NDC but its government dangled

On the other hand, whereas NDC party appeared well settled at the centre, there was enough simmering dissatisfaction at the grassroots to suggest that all was not too well with the party. As if that was not to be enough, NDC's government led by H.E President John Dramani Mahama appeared to have stepped on the toes of many residents by the way and manner the economy and energy situation of the country was bizarrely handled by a number of the President's appointees and functionaries. The raging grapevine suspicions attributable to this less than expected performance of some of these government functionaries were that while some of them were thought to have been intentionally sabotaging President Mahama's better outlook, others were said to have been busily grabbing the largesse of the Masses as they engaged in murky deals to their selfish gains and to the exclusion and detriment of the interests of President Mahama's government and the people of Ghana.

As President Mahama struggled to effectively put his feet down and go beyond the powerful machinations of general poor attitudes of Ghanaians, inefficiencies of State Institutions, political patronage and godfather/godmother syndrome, it was just about the effectiveness and efficiency of his leadership and government which altogether was to be called to question. Many people kept wondering why an otherwise excellent leader could have allowed himself and his government to be drawn into public dungeon of outrage by few non-performing and clueless elements in very strategic ministries, departments and agencies.

Successes of Political Actors

In the end, before 31st December could help complete the year 2015, Ghana was saddled with competition between joint forces of mediocrity and disillusionment and apathy and frustration which succeeded in making 2015 a 'difficult year' for many businesses and households. However, many good things happened.

For example, after all the internal wrangling in NPP and suspension of their general secretary, chairman and second vice chairman including some constituency chairmen and executives, the party eventually succeeded in rallying forces together and organized a national conference at Sunyani where Parliamentary candidates and the national campaign team of NPP were inaugurated. Party Officials and some MPs thereof were also in the media, at least defending the courses of action taken by the party and chastising almost everything about government albeit without alternative propositions.

President John Dramani Mahama also showed remarkable performance in infrastructural development in essential sectors like health, education and transportation across the country. He also found nerves and disciplined some erring and less performing functionaries of his government. Some of his ministers, of course, performed very creditably and appeared to have put a shine on the overall performance of the government. Many Ghanaians are carefully watching the space to see how the energy and spirit of greater sense of urgency will be pumped into all government functionaries so as to make many more people feel that there will be brighter light at the end of the tunnel.

NDC Party, which President Mahama also leads, especially demonstrably performed well by the way it successfully held the first polling station based elections of MPs and Presidential Candidate where all registered members were eligible to vote. Moreover, it was amazing to see how the party managed to hold different interest groups together after the polls which, of course, suffered some technical challenges.

Demanding a new paradigm in the New Year

However, having crossed over to 2016, indeed in the first few days of the New Year, most if not all of residents of Ghana are looking up to seeing a different political landscape that promises a trouble-free 2016 general elections. Although it will be irresponsible to accredit the self-seeking sensations of doomsayers and war mongers with platinum of relevance and loudspeakers, it will be in the best interest of all and sundry to wake up to face the following reality dispositions head-on.

The kind of performance put up by the NDC government, in 2015, must not be allowed to repeat itself in 2016. We need better performance than that and deserve to be governed more responsibly and proactively, without fail. The urge to galvanize all spirited forces to undertake public business not as usual but with both highest sense of integrity and greatest sense of urgency should not only be inspired by positive desire to win 2016 general elections. It should most importantly be motivated by the passion to leave a lasting positive legacy where every resident of Ghana including opponents will be proud of.

What President Mahama therefore needs to do differently this new year, is to first focus attention on putting more sanity and discipline into his government where his political appointees and public servants will regard him not just as humble and friendly but a man who is very firm, no-nonsense and intolerant for mediocrity, scapegoating /useless excuses, inefficiencies and ineffectiveness in running public business. While also focusing on ensuring that his campaign promises are fulfilled through extra hard work, he should pay very keen attention to ensuring that political actors are treated fairly by State Agencies including Electoral Commission and security services.

Also, we do not need the kind of irresponsible opposition performance, in 2015. We need and deserve a far better opposition organization and activism. NPP should concentrate in sanitizing and reconciling its ranks and come out with credible alternatives and constructive criticisms. They must not be given a hearing on the way they always tried to blame all their woes on NDC and its government. Nana Addo must know how more discerning Ghanaians have become. For him to see any light of the day he must present to Ghanaians united, credible, quality and peaceful party, else he should forget about the presidency. He should not be deceived into thinking that doom saying or war mongering will make many Ghanaians or even the NDC government take him and his NPP party seriously. Nana Addo is a respectful elder and must leverage this to preach to his followers and the larger Ghanaian public that he is more interested in peace and development of this country than being President. That way and together with credible alternative programmes and united party, Ghanaians could choose Nana Addo over President Mahama.

This in the light of the fact President Mahama together with his NDC party is realistically ahead, right now due to their more peaceful and united nature. It is also at the same time that President Mahama has incumbency advantage with huge infrastructural projects to show. He is also seen to be more affable with greater appeal to many people. This presents a tough competition which requires Nana Addo to work extra harder in order to make himself and NPP fraternity more able to favorably compete with President Mahama.

Final remarks

At the end of the day, 2016 must be a year of competitive performance for the overall benefit of everyone in Ghana. Above all, everything possible must be done to ensure that there is peace and unity before, during and after the 2016 general elections regardless which political party emerges the overall winner in Parliamentary and Presidential Electoral Counts.

I submit therefore that while it's very important that political actors must lift up their game to a more exciting level, they must do this with highest sense of responsibility. They must note that everyone will be the ultimate beneficiary when peace, stability, unity and development continue to reign after a winner fairly, transparently and creditably emerges.

Happy and Prosperous 2016!

By Adam Abukari

(International Legal Specialist)

[email protected]
04.01.2016 LISTEN

The Rev. Canon Mpho Tutu, the daughter of former South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu, tied the knot this week with Professor Marceline van Furth in the Netherlands.

According to Netherlands broadcaster Jeanette Chabalala of News24 , the couple reportedly married in a private ceremony held in Oegstgeest in the Netherlands. The couple is set to celebrate their wedding in Cape Town in May.

Tutu is currently the executive director of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, while Furth is a professor in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the Vrije University in Amsterdam, and holds the Desmond Tutu Chair in Medicine at the university.

It is the second marriage for both.

Canon Tutu, the youngest daughter of Desmond and Leah Tutu, was married to Joseph Burris. They had two daughters, Nyaniso and Onalenna. She and her then husband lived in Virginia.

She is an ordained Episcopal priest and also the executive director and founder of the Tutu Institute for Prayer and Pilgrimage, Chairperson Emeritus of the board of the Global AIDS Alliance, Chairperson of the Board of Advisors of the 911 Unity Walk, and a Trustee of Angola University.

In 2010, she wrote a book about human goodness together with her father. The book is called Made for Goodness: And Why This Makes All the Difference . It discusses the scientific basis for the belief that all humans are good by nature.

Her lesbian marriage stands in stark contrast to her parents, who recently renewed their wedding vows on the occasion of their 60th wedding anniversary.

Anglican Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu  fondly dubbed the Arch  and his wife Leah celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary by renewing their vows at St. Georges Cathedral in Cape Town.

Canon Mpho Tutu presided over the part of the ceremony where the couple renewed their vows.

Do you take Desmond as your lawfully wedded husband, for better or for worse? she asked her mother, as she stifled her laughter. For better and for better! joked Leah as the couple broke out in giggles.

Tutus successor as Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Njongonkulu Ndungane, was in attendance alongside Rev. Canon Professor Barney Pityana and the cathedrals Rev. Michael Weeder.

In 1978, Tutu was appointed general secretary of the South African Council of Churches, where he became vocal about unjust racial laws. In 1985, he was appointed the Bishop of Johannesburg, and in 1986, he was chosen Archbishop of Cape Town, the head of the Anglican Church in South Africa  hence his affectionate nickname, The Arch.

He was the first black person to hold the position, the highest in the South African Anglican Church. In 1987, he was also named the president of the All Africa Conference of Churches, a position he held until 1997.

Tutu used his position to call for equality and was a vociferous campaigner for human rights. In 1996, Nelson Mandela appointed him chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the body set up to investigate human rights violations during the apartheid.

-virtueonline
04.01.2016 LISTEN

The last election showed that Ghanaian voters are beginning to value their votes more than handouts. The power of handouts is weakening in the Ghanaian electoral landscape as a result of the secret ballot. Politicians are unlikely to find out how a voter voted. Interestingly, Ghanaians voters are becoming sophisticated over time as most will likely accept money from election candidates but still vote for a candidate of their choice.

Its an uncontestable fact that votes win elections but not what people perceived to be otherwise Therefore, political parties must care about their ground game, their campaign messages and do less worry about the Electoral Commissioner.

Politicians and political observers must determine the characteristics of their voters in the hope that once they are identified, messages could be crafted to push or pull their decisions one way or the other. For political parties contesting in an election, it should be about getting out the vote. To this end, the most important thing is making sure they have ground infrastructure in place, so they can knock on peoples doors and talk to people face to face.

Campaign strategists suggest that persuading a non-voter to vote is more of a psychological and social exercise than a purely rational appeal to ones ideology or preference on any given issue. That is to suggest that the decision to vote is most strongly affected when voters are placed in a social milieu that urges their participation. So in short, personal invitations work, as do visits to a voters home and phone calls.

If political parties focus on their campaign strategies, the best party will come out swinging in this election. Otherwise, there is no need berating the electoral commissioner. She has a job to perform and she knows too well the consequences of her actions and inactions regarding the performance of this job. She is not that stupid nor is she unaware of the burden that she carries in this election. Most importantly, the last election cycle will serve a point of reference for moving forward and moving past all the shortcomings of the last elections. We should all be optimistic about a positive outcome of this election.

Why do we have polling agents at polling stations? As a matter of fact, our elections are won from the polling centers. Votes cast are counted at these centers with agents and observers on standby to observe. Results are then certified by party representatives and transmitted to Electoral Commission (EC). EC then collates the results from these polling stations. Party representatives have the transcripts and manifest of results to compare with the voters register nationally. My guess is that we do have party representatives at the ECs strong room to cross check the submitted results from polling stations across the nation. So how will an electoral commissioner win an election if not the votes?

Let cool heads prevail. Let political parties engage more their polling agents at polling stations. Let political parties representatives at the strong room where the results are collated be engaged and be more vigilant. Added to this, we surely have local and international observers to assuage our fears about electoral malpractices.

In all of this, our hypothesis about election 2016 might turn out to be a null hypothesis, if our suppositions that this election will have negative consequences as a result of manipulation end up having positive consequences with no manipulation at all.

Cletus D Kuunifaa

TMC Group

Can be contacted at [email protected] or follow him on twitter @ckuunifaa
Press Statement

John Kirby Spokesperson,Bureau of Public Affairs

Washington, DC

January 2, 2016

Array

The United States is deeply disappointed that President Paul Kagame has announced his intention to run for a third term in office. With this decision, President Kagame ignores an historic opportunity to reinforce and solidify the democratic institutions the Rwandan people have for more than twenty years labored so hard to establish. The United States believes constitutional transitions of power are essential for strong democracies and that efforts by incumbents to change rules to stay in power weaken democratic institutions. We are particularly concerned by changes that favor one individual over the principle of democratic transitions. As Rwanda moves toward local elections this year, presidential elections next year, and parliamentary elections in 2018, we call upon the Government of Rwanda to ensure and respect the rights of its citizens to exercise their freedom of expression, conscience, and peaceful assembly -- the hallmarks of true democracies. The United States remains committed to supporting the free and full participation of the Rwandan people in the electoral processes ahead.
04.01.2016 LISTEN

President John Dramani Mahama is scheduled to open the one-day annual Ghana Economic Outlook and Business Strategy Conference (EOBS 2016) at the Tang Hotel in Accra on 20th January, 2016 which will be attended by top Ghanaian and foreign industrialists, business-persons and investors from all parts of the world.

Themed "Industrialisation: The Impetus for Ghana's Economic Growth," EOBS 2016 involves a keynote address, individual presentations, panel discussions and networking opportunities which will focus on the multi-faceted aspects of industrialisation. President Mahama will deliver the keynote address while personalities like Dr Ekwow Spio-Garbrah, Dr Micheal Agyekum Addo, CEO of the Kama Group, and Mrs Valentina Mintah, CEO of West Blue will make presentations and moderate the panels.

Leading government officials, captains of industry, policy- and decision-makers, experts, civil society organisations, politicians, foreign businesses and investors, development partners and the diplomatic community, among others, will attend EOBS 2016 and discuss issues emanating from the main theme.

EOBS 2016 is conceptualised to create the platform for the public and private sectors, industries, foreign investors, academia and other stakeholders to meet and deliberate on the ideas, issues and practices that will help Ghana to industrialise and become a fully-fledged middle income country. The EOBS series started four years ago and we have managed to sustain it yearly in January when most business people and investors have returned to work from the long festive break, says Mr Kwadwo Asumaning, Chairman of African Business Media (ABM) Ltd., organisers of the conference and publishers of the award-winning Ghana Business & Financemagazine.

The EOBS series provides business and networking opportunities for local participants and foreign delegates who are seeking to take advantage of the countrys vast potentials. The previous conferences have benefited the government, business community, academia and business students who obtained invaluable practical information. EOBS has also created a platform for the government to gather feedback from participants on the implementation of some recommended policies in the sectors discussed. ABM will continue the yearly event for the benefit of Mother Ghana and we hope our sponsors and partners will continue to support us to grow from strength to strength, Mr Asumaning added.

EOBS 2016 aims to create a conducive forum where key government officials, policy- and decision- makers, the private sector, experts and other stakeholders will address Ghanas delay in implementing the initiatives in the 2011 Industrial Policy; discuss in a frank manner the role of the stakeholders in achieving the main goals outlined in the Industrial Policy; identify and agree on ways and means of increasing the countrys energy supply to boost industrial development and expansion; and create an avenue where local manufacturers can interact with foreign business owners and investors in a bid to explore and exploit opportunities for investments, partnerships and business in general, among others.

EOBS 2016 is targeted at the government, public export promotion agencies, industrialists, manufacturers, local investors, exporters, development partners, the commercial departments of embassies and High Commissions, banks, non-banking financial institutions and civil society organisations. The partners of EOBS 2016 include the Office of the President of the Republic of Ghana, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA), Export Development and Agricultural Investment Fund (EDAIF), Ghana Free Zones Board, Association of Ghanaian Industries (AGI), Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Embassy of China, the European Union Delegation to Ghana, German-Ghana Chamber of Commerce and Association of Ghanaian Bankers.

Issued in Accra by Africa Business Media
04.01.2016 LISTEN

Corruption by public officials was one of the highlights of former President Jerry Rawlings' speech during the 34th anniversary of the 31st December 'Revolution' and wreath-laying ceremony at the Revolutionary Square in Accra last Thursday.

He gave a strong warning that Ghanaians should not be taken for granted.

Corrupt public officials who persist in the practice of corruption, would face the wrath of the people, he said as about 200 cadres and other people, including Nii Laryea Afotey Agbo and Sherry Ayittey, Ministers of Greater Accra Region and Fisheries respectively; George Lawson, a Deputy National Democratic Congress (NDC) General Secretary; Samuel Nuamah Donkor, Chief Executive of distressed STC  now embroiled in financial controversy  and a section of traditional rulers, listened to him.

Former President Rawlings, whose close to 20 minutes' presentation showed traces of ambiguity said, The colour of this democracy is very different from the democracy we knew from the period of 1982  1992 and also very different from the constitutional period 1992  2000.

He said the colour of those 'revolutions' (1982-1992 and 1992-2000) had the strong element of justice, truthfulness, freedom and the spirit of defiance to contain wrongdoing.

He questioned what happened especially from the year 2000 that had given rise to corruption, greed and selfishness, leading to suffering and pain in this country.

Mr Rawlings blamed it on what he referred to as the governments after him lacking the will, ability and capacity to fight corruption.

He said the time had come for us to start looking at those who profited from the change of the colour starting from 2000.

He said the significance of the 31st 'revolution' should never be lost and that it should serve as a constant reminder of what led to the revolt of June 4, 1979 and the 31st December 1981 'revolution.'

While calling for the re-ignition of the spirit of the revolution to restore decency, Jerry Rawlings stressed that the fact that Ghanaians are by nature peace-loving people should not be taken for granted.

He warned, Beyond this point of disrespect for the rights of the masses could lead to chaos. Ghanaians deserve more than the regime of deceits and flattery.

The National Democratic Congress Chairman for Keta, Dr. Kofi Dzokoto, described the 'revolution' as a show of patriotism that revived the nation to insist on justice, probity and accountability.

He reiterated that until the governments of this country projected probity, accountability and social justice, their efforts at creating a better Ghana would always come to nothing.

The 31st December 'revolution' was staged by a group of security personnel who overthrew Dr. Hilla Liman's government in the Third Republic and made President Rawlings a military ruler. He later formed the National Democratic Congress and became a civilian president after a general election in 1992.

The celebration was banned by a court of law, but the former president maintains that the event cannot be swept under the carpet and so continues to commemorate it  including the June 4 uprising.

By Solomon Ofori
04.01.2016 LISTEN

Former National Chairperson of the Convention People's Party (CPP), Samia Yaba Nkrumah, has filed her nomination to contest for the party's flagbearership slot ahead of the 2016 general election.

The party opened nominations in December 2015, for its presidential and parliamentary primaries scheduled for January 30, this year.

Speaking to Citi Fm after filing her nomination forms, Samia Nkrumah reiterated the party's commitment to halting the dominance of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) in governance of the country, saying the two political parties had failed the country woefully.

According to her, the CPP is ready for the polls slated for November this year, adding that the party coming to power is Ghana's best chance of getting out of the current economic quagmire.

It's a good sign for us that we are ready and now I can devote the next two weeks to touching base with our constituencies ahead of our congress to elect our 2016 flagbearer. The CPP is ready and we are looking forward to a very vigorous and active campaign where I'm confident that we're going to convince the people of Ghana that it's time for a revolution at the ballots, Ms Samia Nkrumah stated.

The 'two-party system' has failed and I believe we offer the best alternative for a new way of managing our economy. We are the only party that is clearly saying that the conditions of the IMF are unsustainable, she added.

The presidential aspirants of the CPP are required to pay GH155,000  an amount which had received a lot of criticisms.

However, the National Youth Organiser of the party, Ernesto Yeboah, said the fee would build up the CPP and facilitate the party's activities ahead of the 2016 elections.

He said, Members have agreed that this is the only way by which we could build our party.

Presidential aspirants will pay GH5,000 when they come to pick up forms. After that, they will be required to pay a filing fee of GH150,000 and an extra GH50,000 as development levy.
04.01.2016 LISTEN

The daughter of the Gushegu District Chief Executive (DCE), one Fuseina Alhassan, 8 years old, met her untimely death through a fire outbreak at Chuggu Yapalisi, the residence of the DCE in the Sagnarigu district of the Northern Region.

According to the DCE, Alhaji Alhassan Fuseini, who narrated the incident to DAILY GUIDE, the fire started around 11pm.

He added that he saw smoke coming out of one of the rooms of his daughters' who were asleep and therefore quickly rushed towards the place. He said he shouted for help which woke the children up and three of them managed to come out of their rooms, leaving Fuseina.

The Fire Service personnel who rushed to the scene could not save the life of the little girl  as she had been burnt totally  but managed to bring the fire under control, which had already destroyed virtually everything in the house.

The fire fighters could not immediately determine the cause of the incident, but said they would inform the media when they complete their investigations.

The body of the girl has since been sent to the Tamale Teaching Hospital and preparations were underway for its burial in accordance with Islamic tradition.

FROM Eric Kombat, Tamale
04.01.2016 LISTEN

Dr Zanetor Agyeman-Rawlings is facing an uphill task in her bid to represent the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) in Parliament for the Klottey Korle constituency in the face of petitions against her election aside the suit against her.

The latest is a petition sent to no other person than her father  former President Jerry John Rawlings-founder of the NDC, asking him to advise his daughter to step down.

They claim she does not qualify to hold the position.

The petitioners, numbering 189 and all members of the NDC in the Klottey Korle constituency, said The rank and file of the party feel aggrieved to learn that Zanetor could not vote in the very elections she contested because she is not a registered voter on the Electoral Commission's national voter register  the very register on which compilation of the NDC biometric register was based.

They quoted portions of the 'Guidelines for the Elections of NDC Parliamentary Candidates for the 2016 Parliamentary Elections,' which require persons seeking to contest primaries to meet the requirements of the election of a Member of Parliament (MP) under Article 94 of the 1992 Constitution.

The Article provides that a person does not qualify to contest for parliamentary office if that person is not a registered voter.

If Zanetor were truly qualified to contest the elections, we would have thrown our support behind her to retain for us the Klottey Korle seat. We would have rallied behind her as we would for any qualified member of the party, but we seek to correct the injustice that is being foisted upon us so that we do not set the wrong precedent for future generations to build on the foundations we lay today, they indicated.

They have petitioned the former president to speak against such an anomaly and ensure that the principles of justice, probity and accountability are not treated with contempt.

We humbly pray that you ask your daughter to withdraw her candidature to preserve her dignity, your dignity, the dignity of the constituency and the dignity of the party, the statement said.

Members of the group appealed to Mr. Rawlings, who they described as fair-minded, to look beyond family and personal interest to promote the integrity of the constituency, party and the nation at large since he has over the years reiterated his strong commitment to due process and accountability.

We are of the conviction that you will not support schemes that seek to bend the law to favour a few privileged persons against the general interest of the NDC and the nation, the petitioners added.

By Charles Takyi-Boadu


04.01.2016 LISTEN

The murder in cold-blood of a Bibiani woman by another lady was one of the painful highlights of the twilight of 2015.

Those who heard or read the news could not help questioning how a female could become so bloodthirsty as to undertake that kind of action.

Be it as it may, Mercy Nana Yaa Nyamekye, the suspected killer of Amina Kande Moro, has been arrested after being on the run for a brief period, perhaps unable to hide indefinitely.

The law enforcement agents have done their work so far. But as to whether they would be given the freedom to continue to the next level is beyond our ken.

Although the deceased and the suspect belong to different political parties  the former holding a top position at the constituency level of her grouping  a family member has asked that the matter be treated purely as a criminal one.

We cannot turn our backs on the legitimate demand of the deceased's family which is informed by empirical evidence of interference in police investigations.

It is common for criminal cases to be garbed in politics and treated with inappropriate gloves and eventually confined to the shelves.

Many cases have been treated like this and ended up in deliberate cul de sacs.

Known political activists of a party descended upon their colleagues and killed them near a police station in the Agbogbloshie incident are yet to be apprehended and arraigned.

Similar incidents have been recorded elsewhere across the country.

It is for the aforementioned reason and others not captured in this commentary that we ask that criminal cases be bereft of political coloration so that law enforcement agents would not entertain fears of possible transfers, should they insist on doing the right things under the circumstances.

Various public forums have addressed this subject and concluded that criminal matters be dealt with devoid of politics.

Law enforcement agents have for good reason dreaded cases when these are politicized.

Such coloration gives bad politicians at the helm or whose parties are in power the leverage to incessantly breathe on the shoulders of detectives handling these cases.

We shall not go beyond our stunted growth as a nation when we do not allow our institutions to mature to the level where the human intervention is reduced to the barest minimum.

Those who seek to ascribe the criminality under review to destiny and therefore go to the bereaved families to ask that it be treated as such should forget it.

After all, it is a matter between the Republic and the suspect.

Let politicians with sufficient connections on the corridor of power fear God and not do anything which could taint the quality of investigations needed in this bloody case.
04.01.2016 LISTEN

GHANA POST has planned in advance to go into the financial sector with the opening of savings and loans outlets across the country in 2016.

Mr. Eric Yao, Managing Director (MD), Ghana Post, explained that his outfit wants to be relevant to the public, hence entering into the financial sector.

He said parts of Ghana Post's 340 outlets across the country, would be converted into the saving and loans companies alongside postal services to the people.

Mr. Yao noted that Ghana Post had already started money transfer services to the public in line with the grand opening of the savings and loans project.

He was speaking when he led a powerful delegation from Ghana Post to pay a courtesy call on the Asantehene, Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, in Kumasi.

Mr. Yao and his entourage used the historic occasion to brief Otumfuo about recent happenings in Ghana Post and their plans for the New Year.

He stated that plans are also in the pipeline to revamp all the 340 Ghana Post outlets so that they could offer modern postal services to the people.

Mr. Yao noted that his management also has plans of equipping Ghana Post outlets with 4G internet access services to enhance communications.

He said Ghana Post had started real estate business in Accra, the national capital, and they want to replicate their success story in the Ashanti Region, this year.

Mr. Yao appealed to Otumfuo to assist Ghana Post to expedite the documentation of their lands in the region, to enable them start the real estate project.

The Asantehene, in his remarks, charged Ghana Post to properly position itself so that it could compete adequately in these modern times.

He also tasked Ghana Post to publicize its innovations, notably the savings and loans business, so that the public would patronize them.

Otumfuo commended the outfit for its vision of entering the real estate business, notably in the Ashanti Region, assuring it of his support.

FROM I.F. Joe Awuah Jnr., Kumasi
04.01.2016 LISTEN

Mawuena Trebarh, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC), has called for investment in manpower to match investors' vision and ideas.

She said investing in the requisite manpower would ensure good returns on investments in the country's economy.

The CEO therefore called for a shift in mindset to provide a mix of creativity, experiential learning and skills building.

Mrs Trebarh, in a speech read on her behalf at the first Education Camp Conference held in Koforidua, Eastern Region, called for the strengthening of collaboration between private and government training institutions and industry to shape the current and future skills requirements and demands of industry for all sectors of the economy.

Mrs. Trebarh said innovation and entrepreneurship could help improve education, stating that education in primary and secondary levels should be aimed at developing creativity, initiative, inventiveness and personal qualities that are necessary to adapt to the changing world.

She said as part of governments policy to increase supply and improve entrepreneurial management skills in all sectors of the economy, a National Entrepreneurship Seminar was organised by her outfit in March last year to ensure the building of a more entrepreneurial economy.

Mrs. Trebarh said GIPC also embarked on an annual nationwide investment outreach programme aimed at meeting the local content requirements of the Centres investment promotion mandate, as well as providing a platform to identify and collate domestic data on various investment projects and opportunities.

Very Reverend Abraham Osei Donkor, Headmaster of Ghana Senior High School in Koforidua, who was a participant, called on stakeholders to plan consistently to ensure that resources and infrastructure are delivered to ensure quality education.
I have always declared that energy is the skeleton of the body of a country, and Ghana is no exception at all. Look! There is no gainsaying the fact that dumsor, which is practically above our heads, is the cardinal trouble of the Republic of Ghana today. Dumsor, often described as erratic power supply, has plunged the good people of Ghana into utter distress, putting our dear country on the verge of ruin.

For no absurd politicking or cheap propaganda can overshadow this irrefutable assertion I just made. But I pray we find a lasting remedy for the dumsor disease and its appalling repercussions in the nick of time - not just because the election year, 2016, has been ushered in!

Also, the dumsor phenomenon actually began to prevail in our backward system some four years ago. It was an election year then, that was 2012, and the budding energy crisis was curbed at the eleventh hour against a backdrop of the forthcoming general elections. Gosh, it worked like a magic spell cast on Ghanaians since the incumbent party won again! And now dumsor lingers on even in 2016, making dumsor barely four years old. However, our wayward politicians and the inefficient electricity providers have managed to toy with the Ghanaian masses in the midst of the unresolved power outages. Strangely enough, we recently saw an unwarranted hype around the arrival and commissioning of the 225 megawatts power barge from Turkey; which the government apparently touted as the potent solution to dumsor and its canker.

But the citizenry probably fell into a political trance until we become sober when tariff hikes were consequentially announced, owing to the addition of the power barge to our national grid. Besides, I cannot overlook Dr. Paa Kwesi Nduom's frank pronouncements: "The Minister of Power, the President and the NDC Administration must know that Ghanaians have suffered losses due to dumsor, some of which cannot and will not be erased. These are etched in the memories of industrialists, families and many, many others." Again, the energy stakeholders vehemently allude to the fact that dumsor is a resultant product of breakdown in machinery, intermittent gas supply, low water levels and minimal electricity tariffs.

Surprisingly, "The Ghanaian transmission system has been criticised by the World Bank for its poor financial and operational practices," according to "Dumsor" on Wikipedia. However, we now thank God for successfully bringing us into 2016, a supposed dumsor-free year-cum-election year. So I now ask the general public: "Is dumsor now dead?" Okay, according to an official statement from the Power Ministry released on December 30, 2015 and signed by Kweku Sersah-Johnson, Head of Public Affairs: "The Ministry of Power wishes to inform the public that its Load Shedding programme in respect of electricity supply has been brought to an end." Ha-ha, I doubt it because a small survey I conducted on WhatsApp, seeking public opinions somehow proves otherwise! For ECF (Educated Cocoa Farmer), believes that, "It's on reduction." System, my senior brother, answered that, "Yes of course, because they'll do anything to gain power."

Livy, an avid follower of Sir Article, noted that, "It's a continuous problem which may last longer since no proper measures are being put in place to curb the situation." Phrimpong, the sensational rapper who is credited with the politically incorrect dumsor video, stated that, "Dumsor is on electoral break." Adeaba, a student of UG, Legon, also said that, "Dumsor was on a Christmas break, which is likely to end soon." Again, Aaron, COO of Hyperactive Ghana; declared that, "Yes. To improve their propaganda and after they win, they'll drop." Austin, an NPP sympathiser, argued, saying: "A big no, because I have experienced power outage at Suame, Kumasi. Adding that, politics can't solve dumsor." Obaapa, my dearest friend, cautioned: "Ghanaians shouldn't keep their hopes so high since dumsor will possibly continue."

Moreover, Nii Bavard, a creative writer; told me that, "No. Even when dumsor was declared ended, we had light off." Sheila, a student of UCC, claimed that, "No dumsor since I came home. But you can't trust politicians too." Josephine, my childhood friend in Tema, defiantly indicated that, "Dumsor will not end even in 2016, an election year." Gifty, a resident of a suburb in Accra, lamented that, "No, for my lights were off on January 1." Stevo, my personal technology advisor, uttered that, "It has ended since they want to win the hearts of Ghanaians." Furthermore, Jessica, chief editor of UCC's Valco Hall editorial board; disclosed that, "It has not ended. It'll continue and they'll give us excuses." Valentina, a cynic, stated that, "It'll further reduce but not end." Finally, Bernard, a resident of Obuasi Central; opined that, "Yes, because I haven't experienced dumsor for a month."

Source: sirarticle.blogspot.com
04.01.2016 LISTEN

The President's Special Advisor on governance and corruption, Daniel Batidam has stated categorically that no government can solely deal with the fight against corruption that has bedevilled the country.

I want to say this very clearly, no government by itself alone can tackle corruption unless we are able to mobilise the population,' he asserted.

In line with this, he called on the Judiciary, religious leaders, parliamentarians, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), media, traditional rulers to help in the fight against corruption.

He observed that government was aware that the country had suffered excessively due to corruption, hence various initiatives implemented to fight corruption.

I would say that we are beginning to see more steps through the use of the National Anti-Corruption Action Plan (NACAP) especially at the level of government, I mean the executive. We are beginning to see more steps in the things that we are supposed to be doing,' he remarked.

He admitted that mobilising stakeholders to fight corruption has been difficult.

You and I know that overtime our people have become so cynical, let down, so disappointed by government after government, that mobilising various stakeholders of our society to tackle corruption is not an easy task.

We must begin to renew the hopes of the people, renew the confidence of the people in our collective ability to tackle corruption, he added.

Highlighting mechanisms put in place to fight corruption, Mr. Batidam urged Ghanaians to collectively double their efforts in tackling problems associated with corruption.

One of the issues I would want us as Ghanaians to do in 2016 is to collectively double our efforts towards tackling the problems of corruption which has now become one of the major obstacles of progress of our national development agenda. I hope all of us will accept the responsibility that we have a role to play to bring down corruption to the minimum level where it does not obstruct our developmental agenda, he said.

Speaking on Ultimate breakfast co-hosted by Prince Minkah and Kwame Adinkra of Atinka Fm, he charged Ghanaians to view corruption in its broader perspective.

He further expressed worry about the way Ghanaians perceive corruption, observing that sometimes people base their judgement on one specific aspect or the other which does not usually help matters.

I think by far as a people we have been dishonest in the way we look at corruption. And it has not helped us in dealing with the issue. If we begin to look at corruption from its broader perspective in 2016, beyond delivering certain specific sectors of society as the ones they are corrupt. We should begin to go beyond government. We must be witnesses of what we preach. One of the major things to do is for Ghanaians to do collective examination of conscience of the way we view corruption in the country,' he noted.

Asked how the Mahama-led National Democratic Congress (NDC) government tackled corruption in 2015, he remarked that they managed to mobilize other sectors of society.

I think we as government are beginning to mobilise the population, the other sectors of the society, the judiciary, religious leaders, Parliament, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs), media, traditional rulers. I think this year we have done some work in reaching out to these people in solving corruption, he said.
04.01.2016 LISTEN

The Family Health Nurses Assistant Training School has received approval from the National Accreditation Board (NAB) to begin Diploma in Nursing and Midwifery programmes, Prof WY Kwawukume, board chairman of the Teshie-based facility in Accra, has said.

The school, affiliated to the University of Ghana, has also established a private medical school which serves as the teaching arm of the Family Health Hospital, with the intention of ensuring professional medical education and training for students.

The board chairman made the disclosure at a matriculation ceremony for 230 students at the forecourt of the school.

The event also coincided with the graduation ceremony for 180 nursing assistants who had completed their course of studies.

Prof Kwawukume urged the graduands to adhere to medical standards and play their role in the country's healthcare delivery system in a manner that will project the good image of their alma mater.

He further tasked them to be tolerant in handling patients, adding that it is the hallmark of a professional nurse.

Deputy Minister of Health, Victor Asare Bampoe, commended the school for turning out a number of nursing assistants to augment services in the country's healthcare delivery system.

Principal of the school, Col Monica B. Andoh (rtd), urged the students to take advantage of the learning opportunities available to them to study and excel in their chosen career.

Col Andoh intimated that the school placed seventh among the 27 nursing schools which took part in the licensure examination in November 2014.

She was happy that the institution, since its establishment, continues to make significant progress in its efforts to turn out professional healthcare workers.

According to the principal, the school has a number of qualified staff capable of helping students to achieve sound medical objectives as laid out by the management.

By Solomon Ofori
Turkey, which is classified by the World Bank as a developing country, has been internationally praised for its willingness to accept millions of refugees from Syria and to accommodate their health care, education and social welfare needs. However, Syrians are required to obtain formal sponsorship in order to work, and permits are typically granted only to highly skilled refugees. As a result, more than 2 million Syrians are not legally authorized to work in Turkey, and the burden frequently falls on children.

Although Adils father eventually found a job in the informal economy, kids are often the breadwinners in Syrian refugee families. According to a new study released by the Migration and Politics Research Center at Hacettepe University in Ankara, a Syrian refugee working in Turkey is more likely to be a child than an adult.

Especially in seasonal or labor-intensive sectors like agriculture, construction or textile, Syrian child labor has become the norm, said Murat Erdogan, the studys author and the director of the center. [Syrian refugee children] are easier to manipulate, less demanding and most definitely cheaper than everyone else. Children learn the language more easily, and they acquire the skills required for basic jobs much faster.

Adil, who now speaks fluent Turkish, is an example. When I started working here, I started with basic things like carrying items and running errands. In three years, I learned everything I could. Now I can operate all the machines and do ironing. But my salary is still the same as when I started three years ago, he said.

Ali Attar, a Turkish textile worker and activist, said his young colleagues are disproportionately Syrian. In the Istanbul neighborhood of Caglayan, home to many of the citys textile workshops, more Arabic than Turkish is heard during business hours. On weekdays, its common to see young Syrians going in and out of workshops carrying bundles of clothes. Before the refugee influx, there was a labor shortage in the textile sector in Turkey. Now this gap is filled primarily by young Syrians, he said.
04.01.2016 LISTEN

Sam Ayeh Datey, Coordinating Director of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), has condemned the apathy by residents in Accra towards the National Sanitation exercise.

The exercise, held every first Saturday of the month, was poorly attended last Saturday as most residents failed to come out for the national exercise.

He described the attitude as destructive and has the tendency of killing initiative in the society.

He therefore advised residents to attach importance to sanitation issues.

Mr Datey told Ghana News Agency in an interview after the exercise in Accra, that the assembly had centred its focus on ensuring that open defecation along the beaches and illegal sand collection are stopped.

He said, We have a problem with the collection of refuse that is why the AMA introduced the Pollution Pay System and liaised with its private waste management providers to ensure that Accra is cleaner than before.

Coordinating Director said it is important for members of the public to observe clean environmental practices in their communities and avoid the erroneous perception that the AMA is solely responsible for cleaning the environment.

He said with determination by the AMA and its collaborators, efforts were being put in place to step up education to create awareness among the people to refrain from indiscriminate dumping of refuse into drains and to sustain the cleanup exercise.

Mr Datey joined hands with sub-metropolitan assemblies such as Ayawaso East and West, to undertake the exercise at the 37 Military Hospital area, Osu Klottey, Ring Road, Okaikwei South and Kaneshie.

Other areas were Ablekuma Central at Abossey Okai and Ashiedu Keteke at Agbogbloshie.

GNA
04.01.2016 LISTEN

The problem one has living under the government of the so-called National Democratic Congress (NDC), regardless of which individual controls the reins of governance, is the fact that the NDC has its moorings in a military dictatorship that never full and/or effectively transitioned from the capricious and whimsically feudalist culture of indiscriminately churning out edicts as a matter of policy to an enlightened modern democratic organization.

In this, the National Democratic Congress strikingly shares its moorings with the rump-Convention Peoples Party (r-CPP). It has been extensively observed that by 1960, the ideological parent of the r-CPP, the Kwame Nkrumah-led Convention Peoples Party, or the proto-CPP, had boorishly resorted to the conduct of the peoples business by edict.

This is pretty much the form of ideology that undergirds the decidedly loony decision by the Public Utilities Regulatory Commission (PURC) to raise tariffs on such essential services as water and electricity, a gratuitous measure that has prompted Dr. Charles Wereko-Brobbey (aka Tarzan), the former Chief Executive Officer of the Volta River Authority (VRA), to logically raise Cain (see Tariff Hike: Wereko-Brobbey to Sue PURC Classfmonline.com / Ghanaweb.com 11/10/15). In the main, PURC claims that the upward adjustment of utility bills has become necessary because extra income is needed to improve the quality of services offered the general public.

Well, there are two problems related to this kind of argument, the first of which has been promptly and soundly shot down by the pioneering proprietor of the erstwhile Radio-Eye fame.

And the preceding regards the fact that PURC has a standing rule which enables the governments utilities regulator to raise tariffs only once every three years unless, of course, there exist any emergency provisions permitting PURC to bypass this standing policy. Dr. Wereko-Brobbeys argument is that the next statutorily scheduled date for any consideration of an upward adjustment of tariffs is not due until October 2016.

In sum, according to Tarzan, it would be tantamount to acting arbitrarily if PURCs latest decision to raise utility rates is allowed to proceed unchallenged.

Well, what I see happening here could come in the form of the PURC commissioners appearing before Parliament to successfully argue in favor of the proposed hike which, of course, ought to be absolutely no problem at all, since the caliber of Parliament that the country presently has could be strikingly likened to the sort of legislative rubber-stamp that prevailed under the Nkrumah-led Convention Peoples Party (CPP).

The PURC chair is likely to court and actually win the unstinted sympathy of a government that clearly seems to have yet to learn anything meaningful about fiscal discipline.

At any rate, it is the second problem with which I am most concerned. And it has to do with the fact that PURC does not seem to have any reliable record to prove that, indeed, whenever there has been a hike in utility rates, this has automatically led to a remarkable improvement in the provision and quality of services.

Unfortunately, on this count also, PURC is very likely to get away with murder, literally speaking. For ever since anybody can remember these days, qualitative service is the last item on the agenda of any public utility company in the country.

Still, whatever be the outcome of the unquestionably righteous crusade launched by Dr. Wereko-Brobbey against such wanton exploitation of the average Ghanaian citizen by the rich, powerful and eerily insensitive, quite a salutary precedent would have been set which may yet bode well against any attempt by either the PURC or any other such powerful public regulatory establishment to take the longsuffering Ghanaian taxpayer for a ride.

And it is, of course, the fact that the people are highly unlikely to take such brazen and flagrant socioeconomic abuse lying supine the next time around.
04.01.2016 LISTEN

Monday, January 4, 2016

Folks, when Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia led a team of NPP elements to conduct exercises aimed at proving their allegation that the existing voters register was bloated and incredible, they settled on documents that they regarded as substantial. They spent money and other resources, time, and energy and thumbed their chests at the end of the exercise. The outcome was so rich and pregnant with evidence that they felt vindicated and empowered enough to tell the whole world what they found out.

At a press conference, Dr. Bawumia announced that the NPPs team of investigators had done a comparative analysis of the contents of the voters register of Togo and Ghana and found out that the names of 76,000 Togolese citizens were in Ghanas register as well. These Togolese were Ewes, implying that the Ghanaian electoral roll was infested. He said many more, including the outcome of the facial biometric verification (or recognition?) method used by his team to establish that the photographs of those voters on the electoral rolls of both countries were doctored. In other words, a lot went wrong as far as the NPP was concerned. That was why the NPP was demanding that a new voters register be compiled for Ghana to weed out such undesirables.

As soon as the NPPs version was announced, the rogue and book politics by its functionaries took a different turn for the worse. We heard many insulting comments from them about Ewes infiltrating the system and corrupting the Ghanaian electoral process. But the work done by Dr. Bawumia and his team left many ugly traces behind, which some of us questioned:

What was the primary motivation for choosing the Ewes as the primary focus for this cross-checking of contents in Ghana and Togos voters register? How about Burkina Faso and Cote dIvoire, where similar factors existed for cross-border activities by Ghanaians living in those countries yet exercising and enjoying their birth right in Ghana as Ghanaians? How possible was it for the Togolese authorities to release their voters register to the NPP for the kind of work that it did? Could they also be willing to do same to any other political party or Ghanaian institution seeking information thereby?

We monitored the situation with much reservation, especially considering the roughshod manner in which the NPP were doing their politics with these 76,000 illegal Ewe voters issue, especially when some disgruntled NDC supporters in Northern Volta Region came out to say that they had been contracted to do the registration of those Togolese citizens.

As the NPPs demands heightened, the EC reacted, asking the party to furnish it with its report on the work done by Dr. Bawumia and many other issues to facilitate its own cross-checking of issues to help it determine the way forward. After much hesitation, the NPP claimed to have met the ECs request.

Now, what do we hear? The EC has made it clear that the NPPs allegations couldnt be supported by evidence and that it will not delete the names of the 76,000 voters in Ghanas register just because the NPP is demanding so. The EC says the law doesnt allow that line of action. (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/We-can-t-remove-names-of-Togo-nationals-EC-405014).

The EC has also said that the Togolese authorities refused to release their voters register to the EC when requested. We know that the EC is more credible a political authority than the NPP, especially when it comes to dealing with a sister electoral body in nearby Togo. Here is our question: If the Togolese authorities wont release their register to Ghanas EC, why would they do so to the NPP? How did the NPP have access to that register for Dr. Bawumias work but Ghanas EC couldnt, even when it officially applied to the Togolese authorities?

The picture is clear now: The EC will neither compile a new voters register for Election 2016 nor delete the names of the so-called 76,000 people that the NPP has alleged are Togolese nationals illegally registered to vote in Ghana. On that score, it will be pointless for the NPP to insist on having its cake while at the same time eating it.

What next for the NPP? Reason demands that campaigning for votes should be its prime objective. No litigation, street protests or condemnation of the EC will change the situation; but true to their nature, they have chosen to litigate (See http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/Voters-register-LMVC-to-join-suit-against-EC-405012).

One expects vigilance, not useless militancy, to help run a free, fair, and transparent Election 2016. It is interesting to learn that a room-to-room campaign approach has been adopted and is being used in the Manhyia constituency. Campaigning for the hearts and minds of the electorate should take precedence over sterile approaches involving militancy and insults. What will win electoral victory depends on convincing messages to the electorate about how the NPP will solve the very problems that its members have characterized President Mahama as incompetent in not solving. Then, and only then, will they be making hay while the sun shines. Otherwise, they will be torn into shreds again.

I shall return
Cotonou (AFP) - Benin businessman Sebastien Ajavon has announced his intention to run for president, in a move that will pit two of the country's most famous entrepreneurs against each other in the February polls.

Ajavon, who amassed a fortune in the food industry, will run against fellow tycoon Patrice Talon, a cotton magnate, who is considered the main opponent to President Thomas Boni Yayi's ruling Cowrie Forces for an Emerging Benin (FCBE) party.

French-Beninese investment banker Lionel Zinsou, the country's current prime minister, has been nominated as the FCBE candidate.

"Yes I am your candidate, the candidate of all Beninese," Ajavon said to the crowd at Mathieu Kerekou stadium in Cotonou on Sunday.

"I said yes to your request to be president, regardless of what sex, religion, political affiliation or region you come from."

Ajavon, 50, has stuck to the political sidelines in Benin, in the past making financial contributions to different political parties.

Similarly, Talon funded Yayi's ruling party in 2006 and 2011 before turning to the opposition.

With Ajavon in the presidential race, it "pits the two most powerful traders" in Benin against each other, according to political analyst Francois Alladji.

Yayi, who is completing his second term, has promised his name will "never appear on any ballot."
04.01.2016 LISTEN

Five suspected robbers have shot and killed a middle-aged man who identified them after a raid at the Kumasi suburb of Bokankye residence of a staff of Newmont Ghana.

The gun-wielding assailants fired at Kwame Boateng, also known as Korotwiamansa, when he saw and identified them by names just as they were leaving the scene of the siege at about 7: 30 p.m on January 1, 2015.

Police say he died on the way whilst he was being rushed to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital.

Reports say the masked robbers, armed with two AK-47 assault rifles succeeded in robbing Antwi Boasiako, of one thousand Ghana cedis, two lap-top computers, six mobile phones and a flat- screen television set, at gun point.

According to reports, after the operation, the robbers unmasked themselves as they left the scene.

Just then, Boateng, who was then on his way to visit Mr. Antwi Boasiako came into contact with the robbers.

ASP Yusssif Mohammed Tanko is the Public Relations Officer for the Ashanti Regional Police Command.

Time that they [robbers] entered the house where they robbed, they were wearing mask so they might have removed the mask as soon as they stepped-out of the house to take away any suspicion of anybody who will suspect an eye on them so they removed the mask. And this deceased was able to identify some of them and even believed to have mentioned some of the names so they shot him.

Boateng, who survived by four kids was later picked by a Good Samaritan but died on the way to the Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital where the body is being kept; awaiting autopsy.

Meanwhile, the Abuakwa police say they have arrested one Bismark Owusu, suspected to be a member of the gang.

Weve been able to arrest one Bismark Owusu who we suspect is one of the robbers and hes currently assisting in investigations and we are trying very hard to ensure that through him we are able to link up with others and have them arrested. ASP Tanko has said.
After misinforming Ghanaians that there is a constitutional provision stipulating 7th December as the election date for Ghana, the agency charged with organizing free and fair elections in Ghana has gone pseudo-constitutional again. Read the story below.

The Electoral Commission (EC) is considering barring political parties without offices across the country from participation in the 2016 general elections.

The Constitution stipulates that all political parties must have at least offices in two-thirds in all 216 districts in the country.

The EC is set to embark on a nationwide inspection of offices of political parties and establish whether they meet that constitutional requirement.

Information available to Joy News suggests the EC will use the outcome to determine qualification of parties to contest in the 2016 election.

The EC is wrong with this directive. I am not sure why all of a sudden it issued this fatwa, but coming just after my 2 articles on the performance of the EC Boss in parliament, it smacks of what I call adolescent immaturity. The timing shows this is a reflex reaction.

I will discuss this under 3 headings:

1. Constitutional/legislative

2. Common sense

3. Morality

Constitutional/legislative

Freedom of association (FoA) is guaranteed under our constitution. Every law must aim at encouraging its realization. Formation of political parties is an extension of this right. Any law which discourages freedom of association is unconstitutional. That directive of the EC will frustrate FoA.

We cannot trust the ECs understanding of the constitution, can we? What is the constitutional or legislative position regarding registration of political parties?

THE FIVE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-FOURTH ACT OF THE PARLIAMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF GGHANA ENTITLED THE POLITICAL PARTIES ACT, 2000

AN ACT to revise the statute on political parties to bring the provisions in conformity with the Constitution and to provide for related matters. DATE OF ASSENT: 23rd February, 2000

Conditions for registration

9. The commission shall not register a political party under this Act unless

a. the internal organization of the party conforms to democratic principles and its actions and purposes are not contrary to or inconsistent with the Constitution;

b. the party has on its national executive committee one member from each region;

c. the party has branches in all the regions and is, in addition ORGANIZED in not less than two-thirds of the districts in each region;

d. there is in each district at least one founding member of the party who is ordinarily resident in the district or is a registered voter in the district;

There is NO MENTION of the word OFFICE in the Act. So where did the EC get the word from? I guess from the same place it got the 7th December provision. Are we really safe?

Common sense

Assuming the word OFFICE is in the Act. Does the Act define an OFFICE? What is an office? This takes me back to 1983 when we started Economics. Our teacher asked for the definition of Market. One of my mates got up and pointed to the Dodowa market and wondered why the question at all.

The teacher replied, a market need not be a physical place but any arrangement that brings buyers and sellers into contact. 32years after, an EC led by a lawyer is defining an office as a physical place. Common sense should tell anyone that an office need not be a physical place. My office is in my bag.

The EC presented a budget of Ghc 1.2b to parliament which was cut by a 3rd. Common sense will dictate that under such circumstances, the EC would stick to its core mandate  to conduct free and fair elections starting with a credible voters register and not how many chairs a party has in a district.

How does this ill-advised exercise improve the freeness and fairness of the elections? Does the EC know why it was appointed at all? Does the EC understand the constitution and related Acts of Parliament which it is supposed to be operating with?

This is very worrying but not surprising. The whole system is rotten. The Minority Leader who is supposed to hold the government and its appointees accountable has jumped to support the illegal and totally unnecessary fatwa of the EC.

Where was the Minority leader when the EC Boss misinformed Parliament about a non-existent provision stipulating election date and presented an over-inflated budget to Parliament? The smaller parties also do not see the fraud. The collective brain of the political establishment is in hibernation.

Morality

We know that the Political Parties does not talk about offices, but lets assume it does and further agree that it improves the freeness and fairness of the elections. I am saying the State does not fund political parties so it has no moral right to make such demands on any party.

You do not have any moral right to demand the exams results of a person whose fees you did not pay, do you?

In Australia, political parties are partly funded by the State, so the State has the moral right to demand how the tax payers money is used. EC role is to ensure the practice of democratic principles within political parties and not how may tables and flower vases the parties own in a district.

Parties present their vision to the electorate who decide. The ECs job is to ensure that the outcome of the election reflects the Will of the people. The infrastructure that parties use to communicate with the electorate is not part of the ECs job.

This fatwa is thoroughly thoughtless. It has all the marks of an agency completely out of its depth. The EC is panicky that a yet to be registered party is bringing light to a stuporous political environment, so its invoking the spirit of Herod to kill the infant party before it hits the road. The EC lies bad.

Dr. Nii Amu Darko, Leader African Reform Movement

[email protected]
04.01.2016 LISTEN

Ghanaians are seen all over the world as hospitable people. This is not false but is also not entirely true. In the area of business, there is no trust because of the dubious means of business transactions. Employees treat Fridays as holidays, either going to work late or going but not working. Among local food producers also, inhumane practices which go a long way to endanger the lives of consumers are adopted.

Few months ago, it came to public attention that palm oil is mixed with Sudan IV dye to increase the quantity and subsequently lead to more profits. Plantain chips production is no exception, the producers use a deadly method to make the product crispy and stay longer.

Producers melt plastic carrier bags in very hot oil in order to make the ripe plantain crispy and stay so for a relatively longer time.

The Food and Drugs Authoritys principal regulatory officer in an interview with TV Africa on 21st January 2014 about their view on this practice, his response was: it is a hoax, a way some people are trying to make these plantain chips sellers lose their jobs. He went further to say that before the plantain is fried, the polythene bag traces are removed from the oil .So consumers dont chew the plastic. He emphasized that the only problem they (The Food and Drugs Authority) have is how the producers package the product.

This saddened my heart because, the Food and Drugs Authority is supposed to know better. I began asking myself what might have informed this decision from the Food Drug Authority. Is it the fear of getting some folks out of business? Or there is not enough money to fund the operation or it is sheer incompetence and lack of expertise. Whatever the reason, it doesnt justify this inhumane act which has a high probability of endangering Ghanaian lives.

Plastic carrier bags contain biphenyl, styrene, polyvinyl chloride, polyethylene and polystyrene all of which are systematic polymers. All these chemicals leach gradually anytime they come into contact with hot foods especially oily foods. Strategic accumulation leads to serious health problems like cancer and other hormonal and reproductive complications.

If a person eats hot food items carried in plastic bags for a long period, he or she is very likely to get serious health problems- Dr. M. Madhusudan (King George Government hospital, India). Some of the health problems according to Dr. Madhusudan are cancer and heart diseases, tissue damages, genetic damages, chromosomal errors, miscarriage, birth defects, early onset of puberty and hormonal changes in children. Also, the leaching is intense when the food is oily. I hope you now get why most of the ripe plantain chips we chew are poisonous. According to Dr. Sanjay Mehroha, a cardiovascular specialist, the average person living in the city has 2 to 3 grams of plastic in their system.

The Food and Drugs Authority has no right to throw dust into the eyes of Ghanaians. The chemicals in the plastic carrier bags are leached into the oil before they are taken out, In fact, the crisp nature of this chips is because of the crisp nature of most plastic carrier bags which is also as a result of the chemicals it contains

On behalf of all plantain chips consumers, both ones who know about this menace and those who do not, I plead with the Food and Drugs Authority to check this deadly practice. We do not want it to be obvious that ripe plantain chips have caused serious health problems before the appropriate ameliorative actions are taken.

Frimpong Felix

University of Ghana, Legon

[email protected]
Bolgatanga, Jan. 4, GNA - Mr Mark Woyongo, the Minister of Interior, has proposed a five - year presidential tenure of office for the country to ensure that the winning party fully executes its development agenda.

Mr Woyongo, also the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Navrongo Central, made the proposal in an interview with the GNA after his return from Burkina Faso where in had gone to witness the swearing-in of Mr Roch Marc Christian Kabore , the new president.

'The five years period for the tenure of office of the Presidency will be very ideal for Ghana. There is the need to review the constitutional provision to create a room for that, just like our neigbouring country Burkina Faso which has five years under its constitutional provision for her tenure of the Presidency', the Interior Minister proposed.

The ceremony in Ouagadougou attracted about 5,000 people and various heads of states from Benin, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Ivory Coast, Mali, Niger and Senegal.

Mr Woyongo argued that with the four year period for the Presidential tenure of office in Ghana, it would be very difficult for any political party who emerges as winner to execute all planned development agenda.

He said in the last elections for instance, the initial year was spent in battling the election problem in court leaving only three years for the National Democratic Congress government to execute its agenda.

Mr Woyongo said quite often too, the government in power under the four year tenure system was not able to focus adequately in the fourth year as it is an election year and has to campaign.

GNA
The Ghana Adventist Singing Band Union (GASBU), of the South Ghana Conference of the SDA Church has donated assorted items worth over seven thousand Ghana Cedis to the inmates of the Accra Psychiatric Hospital. The items include; bags of gari and sugar, toiletries, slippers, used clothing's, drinks among others.

Presenting the items, the Executive Secretary Of the South Ghana Conference of the Seventh Day Adventist Church, Pastor Nathan Odonkor said the donation forms part of the church's corporate social responsibility to society.

He again stressed that the inmates are part of God's family and needs to be shown love and care to help speed up their healing process.

Pastor Odonkor further urged Ghanaians to always pray for the inmates and avoid stigmatizing them when they come back into the society.

Receiving the items on behalf of the inmates, Mrs. Elesi Otto thanked GASBU and the entire SDA Church for the kind gesture.

She promised the Union the items will be used for its intended purpose. However Mrs. Otoo just like Oliver Twist, asked for more and called on other benevolent and faith based organisations to emulate the gesture.

Meanwhile, in a group of two, GASBU marched through both the male and female wards with good tunes and popular choruses such as "Oye", "Oh Yehowa" and others. The singing exercise was coupled with prayers for the inmates. The Ministerial and Family Ministries Director, Pastor Acheampong and Elder I. O Amponsem who is the Finance Officer of the Valley View University where also there to support.
Sokwai (Ash), Jan. 04, GNA - Candidates running for this year's presidential and parliamentary elections have been asked to have the courage to respect the will of voters, however, tasteless they might find that.

The General Overseer of the Emmanuel Salvation Church, Senior Apostle Anthony Ahenkan, cautioned that any attempt to subvert the decision of the people would be unhelpful to the peace and stability of the nation.

'That could snowball into something nasty and destroy the democratic progress made over the past two decades', he proclaimed in what he said was a prophetic message to the country through the Ghana News Agency (GNA) at Sokwai near Ntensere in the Atwima-Nwabiagya District.

Apostle Ahenkan called for strong support for the Electoral Commission (EC) to efficiently and independently carry out its constitutional mandate.

It should be provided with what it needed to ensure free, fair, transparent and credible elections, the outcome of which would be accepted by all the political parties.

He said the world would be watching and the expectation was that President John Dramani Mahama would keep his promise of a clean poll, pointing out that, he owed it a duty to himself, the people and posterity, to hold the nation together.

He appealed to him not to do anything that would remotely point to abuse of incumbency or misuse of the coercive powers of the state for unfair political advantage.

He urged everybody to conduct themselves responsibly, remain on the alert and help to prevent cheating during the polls.

Apostle Ahenkan said this was way forward to protect the peace and sustain the nation on the path of multi-party democracy.

GNA
Denmark and Sweden tightened border checks on Monday to stem the flow of migrants and asylum seekers coming in from Germany, dealing fresh blows to the vision of a Europe without national boundaries.

As of midnight Sunday, Sweden demanded that all passengers traveling by train from Denmark show ID, something that hasn't been required since the 1950s.

Within hours of the Swedish measure taking effect, the Danish government announced it was stepping up controls of its border with Germany, to make sure that migrants headed for Sweden don't get stuck in Denmark.

Germany introduced border controls of its own on the Austrian frontier in mid-September.

The government doesn't want Denmark to become a new big destination for refugees, Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said.

More than 190,000 migrants crossed the German-Danish border last year. About 13,000 applied for asylum in Denmark, while others traveled further north to Sweden, Norway and Finland, Loekke Rasmussen said.

The moves were the latest by European Union countries to suspend an agreement to keep internal borders open after 1 million migrants and refugees entered the 28-nation bloc in 2015, most of them by crossing the Mediterranean to Greece or Italy.

Loekke Rasmussen said if the EU can't protect its external border you will see more and more countries forced to introduce temporary border controls.

Refugee rights advocates warned of a domino effect, with European countries tightening their borders one by one and cutting off the main migrant routes through Europe.

When the new Swedish rules were announced last month, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees said they could have the effect of preventing individuals from exercising the right to seek asylum.

To comply with the new rules, passengers on Monday had to show identification to board trains departing from Copenhagen Airport to Sweden across a bridge and tunnel. The move was meant to deter migrants, many of whom are entering illegally.

It appeared to have an immediate effect. Swedish police spokeswoman Ewa-Gun Westford said that as of midday Monday only one asylum-seeker had arrived by train across the bridge. At the height of the migrant crisis a few months ago, more than 1,000 crossed the bridge daily.

In response, Denmark increased its border controls with Germany. The Danish prime minister said the move was necessary because the Swedish rules could lead to more refugees and migrants being stopped on their journey northward, and therefore ending up with us in Denmark.

He said the Danish checks wouldn't be as far-reaching as the Swedish ones, entailing only spot checks on passengers on trains crossing the mainland border on the Jutland peninsula and on ferries arriving in the Danish ports of Gedser and Roedby. He said there would be no problem for ordinary Danes and Germans to cross the border.

His center-right government has taken a series of measures to discourage migrants from coming to Denmark, including a proposal to seize their jewelry to cover their expenses in the country.

Sweden's left-leaning government initially had a welcoming attitude to migrants, but reversed course after more than 160,000 Syrians, Iraqis, Afghans and others applied for asylum in 2015, the highest number in Europe except for Germany.

German officials said Europe's system of passport-free travel across borders is in danger following the Scandinavian moves.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Martin Schaefer said that the so-called Schengen system of passport-free travel is very important, but it's in danger due to the flow of refugees that we in Europe have indeed been struggling to deal with in the past months.

Wire services
04.01.2016 LISTEN

Duayaw-Nkwanta, (B/A), Jan. 4, GNA - Mrs Freda Prempeh, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Tano North Constituency, over the weekend said she has fulfilled almost all the 2008 campaign promises she made to the people.

She asked her constituents to be in expectancy as she lobbied for more development projects that would better their lot this year.

Mrs Prempeh told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in an interview at Duayaw-Nkwanta that all the communities in her constituency had one way or the other benefited from development projects.

She said last year she supported the renovation of the Yamfo Police Post with 100 bags of cement, reshaped the Yamfo-Assen road and provided solar street lights at the Assen Township.

The MP said the Ahyiayem community also benefited from street lights, packets of roofing sheets, as well as health and education support.

Mrs Prempeh said at Susuanso, she supported the construction of the durbar grounds, provided 100 bags of cement to the local Presbyterian mission and streetlights in the town.

She said she supplied the Susuanso traditional council with two computers and two printers, a multi-purpose photo copier machines and funded the construction of several boreholes in most of the rural areas in the Constituency.

Mrs Prempeh expressed appreciation to the chiefs and people in the area for their cooperation and she gave the assurance that with their support, she would be able to help address most of the challenges confronting the people.

She entreated the people to retain her in the general election so that she would be able to complete all the on-going projects she had started.

GNA
Tema, Jan. 4, GNA - TT Brothers Limited, local representative of Parlmalat Pure Joy of South Africa, on Friday, donated 30 bags of rice, assorted food drinks and 15 gallons of cooking oil worthy GH 3,000.00 to Tema SOS Village.

Mr D. D. Ofoe, Board Chairman of the Company who made the presentation on behalf of the Company said it was the policy of the Company to support the community in which it operated.

He said the Company had signed a five-year contract with the SOS Village where TT Brothers would make donation to the Village every New Year and every Easter festivities.

Mr Ofoe said the aim for signing the agreement was to put smiles on the faces of the less-privileged in the society especially during festive occasions.

He pledged the company's commitment of renewing the contract at the end of the five-year period when the contract was expected to expire.

Mr Nicholas Nii Addo, Marketing Manager of TT Brothers Limited, said the company would continue to put on the Ghanaian markets energy fruits and also offer innovative at all times.

Madam Doris Offei, Director of the SOS Village who received the items on behalf of the Village, thanked the company for the kind gesture and called on other corporate bodies and institutions to emulate the shining example of TT Brothers.

The company also entertained the inmates of the Village with food and drinks amidst fun fair and good music.
Sunyani, Jan. 4, GNA - The Right Reverend Dr Festus Yeboah-Asuamah, the Anglican Bishop of the Sunyani Diocese, at the weekend said incessant prayers are required if the country will go through a successful and peaceful general elections.

In addition to the prayers, the Anglican Bishop asked Ghanaians to try as much as possible to tolerate each other and avoid subversive statements that could threaten national peace and cohesion.

Rt Rev Dr Yeboah-Asuamah was speaking at the installation of four canons of the Diocese in Sunyani.

Canons Rev Fr Kofi Anane, Rev Fr Martin Apraku Amankwah, Mr Kenneth Lartey Addo and Rev Fr Erasmus Ashitey are responsible for Guilds and Society, Administration, Convener Lay Ministry as well as youth and children respectively.

Rt Rev Dr Yeboah-Asuamah said the country needs patriotism that would stand before God and pray for the nation, as it prepares for another general election.

He said 2016 is a year of peace, abundant blessings and prosperity but it takes prayer for all these blessings to come to reality.

The Anglican Bishop told the newly installed canons that the work of the ministry required loyalty and total consecration.

He said without commitment, dedication and selflessness they could not be able to fulfill their ministry.

GNA
Accra, Jan 4, GNA - The Police Hospital and the 37 Military Hospital on New Year's Day together recorded 37 new births of which 76 per cent were males.

Corporal Faustina Nunekpeku, the Public Relations Officer of the Police Hospital told the Ghana News Agency in Accra that the facility recorded 27 new births on New Year's Day of which 21 were males; adding three of them were delivered through caesarean sections.

Mrs Cecilia A. Konadu, Deputy Director of Nursing Services (DDNS) at the Military Hospital said the facility chronicled 10 new babies on New Year's Day; consisting of seven males and three females.

She observed that of the 10 babies, half were delivered through caesarean section.

She said the Maternity Department of the Hospital was being over stretched due to the large volume of referrals.

She also explained that maternity units in Accra were being over stretched due to the large volume of cases and therefore, appealed to government and corporate entities to help expand such facilities.

She advised expectant mothers to find someone to donate blood on their behalf to be stored to cater for emergencies during delivery when blood transfusion may be needed.

She advised expectant mothers to report quickly to the nearest health facility anytime they saw signs of labour or abnormality and appealed to corporate bodies to help stock the blood bank of the Hospital by organising regular blood donation exercises for them.

The DDNS advised mothers of new born babies to ensure that their babies were exclusively breast fed for the first six months, to enable them growth healthier.

She also urged them to ensure that their children go through all the vaccinations against the six childhood killer diseases within the first 18 months of their births.

She advised breastfeeding mothers to eat healthy foods and to have enough rest each day; adding that 'they must report to the nearest clinic, anytime there is an abnormality'.

GNA
04.01.2016 LISTEN

Accra, Jan. 4, GNA - Elvis Amoah, a student allegedly involved in a GH83,500 cedi fraud case, was arrested by security officials and handed over to an Accra Circuit Court when he attempted to travel outside the country.

Amoah is alleged to have defrauded Dr Isaac Kwabena Boakye of the stated amount under the pretext of selling to him four plots of land at Kwabenya in Accra.

The said plots, however, belonged to the state.

The Court presided over by Mrs Abena Oppong Adjin-Doku today revoked his 100,000 cedis bail and remanded him into lawful custody to reappear on January 18.

The Court further ordered for the seizure of his new Ghanaian passport and green card.

The GNA gathered that Amoah had prayed the Court to grant him two months adjournment to visit his ailing mother in the Brong Ahafo Region.

The Court, however, at its last sitting declined and gave him two weeks.

On December 30, Amoah attempted to travel outside the country but was nabbed by security officials at the Kotoka International Airport.

As part of his earlier bail condition in May 2015, the Court ordered Amoah to deposit his Ghanaian passport and green card but he managed to secure a new passport and green card and attempted to travel with them on December 30.

Charged with defrauding by false pretences, Amoah had pleaded not guilty.

He was therefore granted GH 100,000 with three sureties one to be a public servant earning not less than GH 500 cedis a month.

As part of the bail conditions he was to deposit his Ghanaian passport and USA green card to the Court.

In the substantive case, prosecuting Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) A.A. Annor said the complainant is a medical practitioner resident in Germany and Amoah is a student of Illinois Institute of Technology in the USA.

In 2010, when the accused person was in Ghana he made the complainant believe that he could secure him four plots of land at Kwabenya in Accra.

Based on that DSP Annor said Amoah collected GH 83,500 from Dr Boakye and allegedly issued the complainant with an Indenture dated November 3, 2011.

According to prosecution the indenture was signed by Nii Adjei Kpobi Asaawa and Ernest Okine.

When the complainant attempted to develop the land he was resisted by another person.

The complainant therefore conducted an official search at the Lands Commission and it came to light that the land belongs to the State.

Accused however disagreed with the complainant's report after the search, failed to refund the complainant money and attempted to sneak out of the country.

Meanwhile on May 14, last year, Ghana Immigration Service Officers at the Kotoka International Airport were served with arrest warrant.

On May 18, last year, Amoah was found checking in to board a KLM flight to Amsterdam when Immigration officers arrested him and handed him over to the Police.

Amoah in his caution statement admitted the offence.

GNA
04.01.2016 LISTEN

A legal practitioner Nana Asante Bediatuo says time and money are no excuse for the Electoral Commission not to compile a new voters' register.

Nana Bediatuo who is in court challenging the decision by the Electoral Commission to use the current register in the 2016 election says the EC can use three weeks if it is minded.

Citing the Nigerian and Kenyan examples, he said those countries managed to compile new registers in 21 days because they know how sensitive the issue of voters' register is to their countries.

He said even in Ghana, all the registration exercises done in the past took three weeks. He added that instead of concentrating on time and money the country should be looking at having a clean, accurate register.

"We cannot appeal to time and say we should do it anyhow," he stated.

The Electoral Commission has shot down a proposal by the New Patriotic Party and other pressure groups for the compilation of a new register.

The proponents for a new register claim it is bloated with names of minors, non Ghanaians, dead people etc.

But the Commission said the arguments for a new register were not convincing. The Commission also questioned the basis on which it has been taken to court.

The former Youth Organiser of the People National Convention Abu Ramadan proceeded to court to challenge the decision by the EC to use the current register.

Among the claims by Ramadan was that the EC, at some point, used the NHIA cards as proof of identification before registering the people but the Supreme Court later ruled the use of the cards were illegal and should be declared null and void.

But the EC says nowhere in the ruling did the court nullify all registration of voters who presented NHIA cards as proof of citizenship.

Nana Asante Bediatuo who is lawyer for Abu Ramadan said the EC position is a "symptom of their misunderstanding of the whole case."

He argued the EC stopped using the NHIA cards because the court said it was unconstitutional and therefore "the regulation (Regulation 1 3b CI 72) which allowed citizens who wanted to register to use the NHIA card, was declared unconstitutional because it did not establish the citizenship of the person registering, then of course everything that is based in that regulation, including the registration is also null and void.

"It is a simple legal analysis," he said.

He also dismissed claims that the nullification of Regulation 1 3 b of CI72 cannot take retrospective effect.
The government has since been criticized by aid agencies for delaying and not admitting the severity sooner while trying to maintain the narrative of Ethiopias great economic renaissance, achieving about 10 percent annual growth for the last decade.

Then theres the hurdle of compassion fatigue: 2015 has seen crises all over the world overwhelm headlines, governments and NGOs.

Aid agencies warn this drought could impact Ethiopias long-term prospects, with significant gains made over the years in food security, education and health are now in jeopardy in parts of Ethiopia. Consequences could ripple through generations, says the United Nations International Childrens Emergency Fund.

To the east of Tigray is its even more arid regionally neighbor: the Afar, famous for its Danakil depression  the hottest place on earth.

This area is normally drought-affected, so the life of the community depends on the government and NGOs, says 40-year-old Dawit Hegos, a schoolteacher in the small Afar town of Mawo. This drought is a big problem. Its unreasonable to expect the government to do everything; other countries with crises need help  its not just Ethiopia.

About a mile from the school is a dam built by ADCS with foreign funds in 2012, creating a small reservoir for the surrounding areas livestock.

Before the dam we had no access to water and had to take cattle far away into the hills to try find rivers, says Hussein Esmael, a member of the local militia, his AK-47 perched on a shoulder. Now its needed even more as animals dont have strength to go long distances to find water.

From many of those living in Tigray and Afar comes a common and ominous refrain: The animals die first. Those working for NGOs now scrabbling for funds point out that historically the effects of a drought get worst from about January onwards, when people have used up all their reserve food stocks.

Already people are cutting back on food. For some a meal consists of coffee and bread, or injera  a spongy pancake-shaped bread  with a little salt, the usual accompanying vegetables and meat sauces absent.

There are a lot of mothers coming to us saying, I have nothing in my breast, give me something for my baby, says 28-year-old Solomon Sibhat, a clinical nurse at a health center in the small town of Alitena. It has got worse. But we have nothing to help. We say we are sorry.

Foreign financial assistance is arriving, totalling about $167 million so far, combined with the Ethiopian government committing an unprecedented $192 million to help prevent deaths from the drought.

But the overall emergency response could cost $1.4 billion, according to aid agencies, especially if El Nino quashes Ethiopias next rainy season. The United Nations estimates such a situation could result in more than 15 million Ethiopians suffering food shortages, acute malnutrition or worse by mid-2016 unless donations increase.

And that mushrooming figure may well prove an underestimate once again, if the current trend of aid agency press releases with ever-increasing numbers is anything to go by.

We really feel guilty when we see what we are supposed to do but cant because of lack of resources and capabilities, says Sister Azalech, director of the clinic at Idaga Hamus.

When asked what needs to happen, among the nuns reply in Tigrinya one word stands out clearly: Geunzeb. Money.
IVA Struggling with debt? Compare your debt options and write off up to 80% of your unsecured debts  from 80 per month Get Started for free

What is an IVA? With an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA) you can make affordable monthly payments towards a percentage of your debt for 5 years. At the end of the 5 year plan, your remaining debt will be completely written off.

Benefits of an IVA

Here is a list of the cost common advantages of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA):



 Affordability  You will only be asked to pay back what you can afford, with allowances taken into account for food, bills, entertainment, travel, childcare and others. You may be sacrificing certain essential costs at the moment. With an IVA they are budgeted for so they will no longer be neglected

 No upfront costs  When you set up an IVA, there are no upfront costs whatsoever. This means that you can put a debt solution in place today without spending a penny

 You have a finishing line  Do you feel like there will be no end to your debt problems? With high interest costs and charges, the balances of your credit accounts may not reduce as you need them to. With an IVA you will become totally debt free at the completion of the IVA (usually 5 years). You can use this as an opportunity to change your financial life, for good

 Confidential  Your IVA is not advertised in the London Gazette or local newspaper. It is your decision whether you would like to disclose it to other people or not

 No more contact from creditors  When you are in an IVA, your creditors will no longer have the right to contact you or refer the debt on to debt collectors/bailiffs. This is a great benefit for most people as it will take away the stress caused by constant calls/texts/emails and home visits

 Stay in your house  Unlike some debt solutions, an IVA will allow you to stay in your current home. This is even the case if the property has a mortgage or is owned outright

 Your pension  An IVA does not have an impact on your pension. You will not have to surrender your pension or withdraw money from it to pay into your IVA

Risks of an IVA

Here is a list of the cost common disadvantages of an Individual Voluntary Arrangement (IVA):

Equity Release  If you own your property and it has value, you may be asked to release the equity in the property

Credit Rating  If you have a perfect credit rating, this will be damaged and you will not be allowed to take out more debt whilst in an arrangement

You must keep up with repayments  If you do not keep up with your monthly repayments, there is a risk you will be made bankrupt

Who qualifies for an IVA?

There is no office guidelines to who qualifies for an IVA. It is a legally binding, Government legislation designed to help all people. Generally speaking, insolvency practitioners (IP) will look at your situation if they think the IVA proposal they submit is beneficial to both yourself (the debtor) and your creditors. This often restricts people to a certain criteria which you will have to meet:

Over 5000 worth of unsecured debt You must have 2 or more creditors of 2 or more lines of credit Must live in England, Wales or Northern Ireland Must be insolvent Must be willing to pay at least 70 per month into their IVA Must have some type or types of regular income

What debts can I include in an IVA?

You can include a wide range of unsecured debts within your IVA. These include:

Credit card debt/credit cards

Loans/loan debt

Payday loans

Council tax arrears

HMRC debt

Overpaid benefits

Catalogues

Gas and electricity arrears

Overdrafts/overdraft debt

Water arrears

Income tax arrears

Debts to friends and family

Other unsecured debts

Note: If you are a resident of Scotland, you will need to apply for a Scottish Trust Deed (legally binding). Speak to our advisors for Scottish Debt Advice.

What debts cant be included in an IVA?

Secured loans

Your mortgage (if you still live in the house)

Car finance (if you still have the car)

Rent arrears for your current property

Court fines/Police fines

Hire purchase arrears (if you still have the product)

Log book loans (if you still have the vehicle that the debts are secured on)

Student loans

Other secured debts

What does I.V.A stand for?

IVA stands for Individual Voluntary Arrangement. It is a formal way to consolidate your debts into one affordable monthly repayment, resulting in the debtor becoming debt free at the end of their payments.

Can I apply for an IVA online?

Use the IVA Calculator to check your eligibility Prepare your IVA proposal and apply for your IVA. When your IVA is accepted, your creditors can no longer contact you. Pay 60 low monthly payments. After 5 years, you are out of your IVA and completely debt free.

Will an IVA affect my employment?

In most occupations, your credit rating or credit scoring is not a factor and it may never have been checked in the past, it may also be likely that it is not checked in the future either.

There is no law to tell you that you must advise your employer that you have entered an IVA or that you owe money. They will not be notified by your insolvency practitioner. If you wanted to keep it a private matter, in most cases this would be absolutely fine. With some roles such as financial advisors, solicitors or bank workers it may make up part of your contract to advise them of changes like this. In these situations we would advise to inform your employers of your intentions before you enter into any arrangements. This way there will be no nasty surprises for you later down the line. More often than not, we find that your employer would not be concerned by your IVA and that it would not affect your employment status. An IVA is a formal solution and could affect some employments, such as if you were a solicitor or accountant for example. We would always recommend that you receive approval from your employers that your job isnt affected before you sign up for anything.

Will an IVA impact my partner?

There are certain situations where you may not want to involve your partner at all in your IVA proposal due to personal reasons. Insolvency Practitioners are very aware of these circumstances and can operate solely via telephone and email and at your convenience, so rest assured that your matters can be kept completely private.

If the debts which you are looking to place into your IVA are in joint names, then this would be different. Your IP would look to place all of your debts into an IVA, including joint debts therefore you would have to inform your partner of your plans.

If your debts are solely yours, then there would be no negative impact on your partner, their credit score would remain unaffected and they would not be entered onto any registers or be tainted in any way.

Will an IVA affect my credit score/credit file?

Whilst you are in your arrangement, you will not be able to get any credit. An IVA will stay on your credit file for 6 years, so 12 months after a typical IVA. When this time has passed and your monthly payments have ended, you will be able to rebuild your credit rating.

What proof will I need to apply for an IVA?

Proof of ID  Passport/driving license/birth certificate/utility bills/national insurance identification/credit agreement Bank statements  3 months bank statements with all transactions displayed Proof of income  3 months payslips/P60/proof of benefits

How long does it take to set up an IVA?

Your initial call will only last around 5-10 minutes. The IVA process will be explained to you and you will be told what further information you will need to provide to proceed with your IVA proposal. Once you have returned the required information, an IVA will usually take between 7-14 days to get into place. You will be protected from creditors within this time, your advisor will provide you with documentation via email.

How long does an IVA last?

Most IVAs will last for a length of five years. The i v a will remain on your credit file for a period of six years and is placed on the Insolvency Register for that period. You can work out what date it will be removed from your credit file, it will be six years from the start date of the IVA term. So if the IVA started on 1 January 2000, it should be removed from your credit file six years from that date, which would be 1 January 2006. When you apply for an individual voluntary arrangement your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) will tell you if you qualify for an IVA, how long it lasts, how much it costs and provide you with any other debt advice which you may need.

How much will debt advice cost for an Individual Voluntary Arrangement?

The advice cost for individual voluntary arrangements is free of charge. Your I.V.A company will tell you if you qualify for an IVA. They will talk to you about your different debts, provide you with free debt advice and check if your creditors are likely to approve your proposal for your IVA for debt.

How does an IVA affect your life?

By taking out an IVA you may affect your overall financial position. You will not be allowed to take out credit for 6 years. You will struggle to get a mortgage or remortgage your existing property. It also may affect any future increase in earnings or windfalls you may receive, as these will need to be paid to your insolvency practitioner. Your insolvency practitioner will take control of your debts for this period, they will deal with all of your creditors and this is legally binding. That means you will not be allowed to take out any more debts whilst in the IVA.

Once the plan is completed, any debts which you accrue will be managed by yourself. Your ability to take out further debts in the future will not be impacted once the IVA has completed.

What is the IVA protocol?

The I.V.A protocol is a voluntary set of guidelines which your Insolvency Practitioner (IP) can sign up for which improves the efficiency of Individual Voluntary Arrangements. When you apply for debt advice, it is important that you understand the steps of the debt solution, so you can decide whether or not the solution is the best one for your circumstances.

How do I know if creditors will accept my IVA?

Generally speaking, most creditors will approve voluntary arrangements for unsecured debt. But some debts can not be included within one formal debt solution. Your Insolvency Practitioner will tell you how likely it is that your creditors will be willing to accept your proposal, based on the voting creditors.

Can I pay in one lump sum?

There are occasions when you may be eligible for a debt solution which is payable in a one off lump sum as a final settlement to your creditors. This is usually when the money is being gifted from some one else, or you have received inheritance or a windfall for example. With a one-off lump sum payment, the advice is usually the same as when you normally apply for an IVA. You wouldnt have to make regular payments into the solution, your IP can provide you with more advice on one off lump sum solutions for your debts. Your IP will provide you with more advice on the debt IVA and explain what is IVA to you.

Who regulates the debt industry?

At present the debt industry is not regulated. Some Insolvency Practitioners offices choose to sign up to the Insolvency Practitioners Association (IPA) or register with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA). You can contact the IPA using the contact details or email address on their website. Your creditors do not regulate the debt industry and your creditors will not be able to impact any decisions which the IPA or FCA make. In our experience, the regulators will take assertive action on any advisers or businesses which do not comply with their strict codes of practice. To check if a person is regulated by the FCA, enter their name into the search box in the FCA website.

Should I use a debt charity?

There are thousands of companies which provide debt help in the UK. You may be looking for an alternative to a private company. You should know that charities usually pass their fee charging products to sister companies which charge fees and disbursements, just like private companies. So what you initially thought was a good option, on further analysis could be different to what you originally thought. Charities do have their part to play though. They can help you if you have a problem with your bank accounts, maintenance arrears, living costs, credit reference agencies, child support arrears, bankruptcy, assets, accountancy issues, mortgages, creditor issues, insurance providers, mobiles, your bank account, rates arrears, PAYE contributions or if you want to work out your expenditure. They can make sure that you speak to an adviser or supervisor and look at proposals to offer your lender. A petition has started with the possibility of a debate in parliament about how charities represent themselves and their services.

Which charities help with debt?

You can contact Money Advice Service, National Debtline, Step Change, Shelter or a combination of the three. Charities are particular useful for a low debt level under 1,000. If the debt is high (such as a debt value of 10,000 or more) you would usually seek an assessment from a professional adviser. If you do decide to use a charity to guide you, make sure you check their charity number and the registration number on their website to make sure you are content that their team can answer your questions in the right ways. A lot of clients of charities have a minimum debt level which does not meet the basis for an IVA, so you could always chat to a charity that is happy to act on your behalf for low debt levels.

Although an I.V.A could be the answer to your debt problem, its important to understand the monthly payment so call us on our free phone number. Anyone customers can receive expert feedback on their rights from debt charities, if they cant help they will usually point you in the director of firms which help with IVAs.

We are homeowners, will lenders see my proposal differently?

In some cases yes. In the majority of cases, if you are a homeowner you will not need to remortgage or take out any additional finances that will effect your property. You will need to sign a additional restrictions which remove your ability to take out additional credit tied to your property, which is something that is restricted once you are in an i.v.a. There are exceptions to this, such as when you have a lot of equity in your property/properties. If you own half of a property and another party owns the other half, only your equity will be affected.

If you are landlord and you are in a position of equity, your IP may review your trading position or business to make sure the figures in question are in order. This is usually the case if you have two or more properties, as sometimes the equity can be used to form a repayment to your creditors. But this usually depends on the amount of value built up in your properties.

Banks and building societies will not change the terms of your mortgage as long as a contribution is still being made for the duration of your arrangement. Your mortgage payments will be added to your expenses and accounted for within your budget, as long as you can provide evidence that you can afford to continue to make payments into your mortgage for duration of the plan.

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Sudan also said Monday it was severing its diplomatic relations with Iran, adding that the decision would take effect immediately. And the state-run news agency of the United Arab Emirates said the country is downgrading its diplomatic relations with Iran to only focus on business relationships. The UAE's Foreign Ministry also said it was recalling its ambassador from Tehran.

Saudi Arabia's U.N. Mission insisted the kingdom granted "fair and just trials" to 47 people who were executed last weekend, responding to concerns raised by the U.N. chief over the fairness of the judicial proceedings.

The Saudi mission, in a statement sent to The Associated Press, expressed "deep regret" at a statement from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's spokesman on Saturday saying al-Nimr and a number of other prisoners executed were convicted after trials "that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process."

The Saudi statement assured the U.N. chief of "the independence and impartiality of the judiciary authority." It said state-appointed lawyers were provided to some of the defendants, and that appeals in some of the cases took up to 10 years.

The statement said the final rulings against the 47 people executed were reached "based on their own criminal and illegal actions" without consideration of their intellectual, racial or sectarian background.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority announced Monday on Twitter that all flights to and from Iran had been cancelled.

Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, accused Iranian authorities of being complicit in the embassy attack, saying that documents and computers were taken during the raid.

He said the Saudi diplomatic representative had sought help from the Iranian foreign ministry when the building was stormed, but the requests were ignored three times.

The developments illustrate Saudi Arabia's new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, the country has led a coalition fighting Shia rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shia power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.

Speaking to Al Jazeera from Beirut, Lebanon, Joseph Kechichian, a Middle East analyst, said the Saudi decision to suspend diplomatic ties was quite a surprise.

This is an escalation that will create havoc in the region, he said, referring to the latest developments.

Ellie Geranmayeh, an Iran expert at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the Saudi decision was likely to have repercussions for the region, particularly concerning the Syrian negotiations.

Western powers must increase efforts to safeguard this process and encourage the Saudis and Iran to continue their participation [in the Syria peace talks], she told Al Jazeera from London.

These events further set back the urgently needed rapprochement between Tehran and Riyadh, and spell further trouble for an already fragile region.

Friction between Saudi Arabia and Iran rose sharply on Saturday after Saudi Arabia announced the execution of al-Nimr along with 46 other prisoners, including three other Shia dissidents and dozens of Sunni Al-Qaeda fighters. It was the largest mass execution carried out by the kingdom in three and a half decades.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in protests by Saudi Arabia's Shia minority until his arrest in 2012, and his execution drew condemnation from Shias across the Middle East.

Prior to the Saudi announcement on cutting diplomatic ties, Iran's top leader had warned Saudi Arabia of divine revenge over the cleric's execution. Riyadh meanwhile accused Tehran of supporting terrorism.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry had summoned the Saudi envoy in Tehran to protest, while the Saudi Foreign Ministry summoned Iran's envoy to the kingdom to protest that country's criticism of the execution, saying it represented blatant interference in its internal affairs.

By early Sunday morning in Tehran, a crowd had gathered outside the Saudi Embassy and chanted anti-Saudi slogans. Some protesters threw stones and Molotov cocktails at the embassy, setting off a fire in part of the building, said the country's top police official, Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, according to the semi-official Tasnim news agency.

He later said police had removed the protesters from the building and arrested some of them, adding that the situation had been defused.

A Tehran prosecutor said 40 people were arrested on suspicion of taking part in the embassy attack and investigators were pursuing other suspects, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, while condemning Saudi Arabia's execution of al-Nimr, also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as extremists.

It is unjustifiable, he said in a statement.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism.

The statement, carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, accused Tehran of blind sectarianism and said that by its defense of terrorist acts Iran is a partner in their crimes in the entire region.

Al-Nimr was convicted of terrorism charges but denied ever advocating violence.

Sunni Saudi Arabia and Shia Iran are locked in a bitter rivalry, and support opposite sides in the wars in Syria and Yemen. Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups, while Riyadh points to Iran's support for the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shia fighters in the region.

The cleric's execution could also complicate Saudi Arabia's relationship with the Shia-led government in Iraq. The Saudi Embassy in Baghdad is preparing to formally reopen for the first time in nearly 25 years. Already on Saturday there were public calls for Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi to shut the embassy down again.

Al-Nimr's supporters protested in his hometown of al-Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia, in neighboring Bahrain where police fired tear gas and birdshot, in Lebanon and as far away as northern India.

The last time Saudi Arabia carried out a mass execution on this scale was in 1980, when the kingdom executed 63 people convicted over the 1979 seizure of the Grand Mosque in Mecca, Islam's holiest city. Extremists held the mosque, home to the cube-shaped Kaaba toward which Muslims around the world pray, for two weeks as they demanded the royal family abdicate the throne.

Al Jazeera and wire services
business Buy ONGC at lower levels: Rajat Bose Rajat Bose of rajatkbose.com is of the view that one can buy ONGC at lower levels.
Village Roadshow is restarting to produce some strength in its momentum. There could be some trading opportunities in the short term

Despite gloom, China bottoms

The All Ordinaries was down on the first trading day of 2016. However, strong stocks were able to withstand todays downward pressure.

Much of the pressure came from a weaker Chinese manufacturing sector. The Shanghai Composite saw a bloody drop by almost 4% at 1pm local time. Being an Australian Chinese, I can tell you its not a good start to the year for Chinese investors.

Talking about superstition, this year is going to be the Year of Monkey for China. Traditionally, people prefer to have children in the Year of Monkey. Couple that with an end of the infamous One-Child policy, we are going to see a lot of birth and infant-related products do well.

In the years to come, infant and child-related products from Australia will get a big boost in demand from China.

As far as the Chinese economy is concerned, I generally see a bottom. The most important indicators such as the property index, retail sales and producer price index are beginning to stabilise.

Manufacturing is still lagging, but that sector-slowdown is expected to last longer.

Another important factor is energy price. With a potential bottom in energy price, this provides a floor for deflation.

Overcapacity in secondary industries continues to be an issue. However, with increasing demand (property index now back into positive growth, to lead real industry demand), a stronger consumer sector and fiscal/monetary supports, we are beginning to see a light in the tunnel.

VRL regains short-term strength

I had Village Roadshow Ltd [ASX:VRL] on my actively-traded portfolio a few weeks ago. I sold it and now I am buying it back.

The stock is restarting to produce some strength in its momentum. Although it is not one of the top-performers and I may not keep it for very long, there could be some trading opportunities in the short term.

Today was an example, while the market pulled back, VRL managed to generate a relatively strong gain for the day.

Ken Wangdong+

Emerging Market Analyst, New Frontier Investor
Woodside Petroleum [ASX:WPL] is up for the start of 2016. Thats right, Australia largest producer of oil and gas is already yielding returns for shareholders.

Woodside Petroleum [ASX:WPL] is up for the start of 2016. Thats right, Australia largest producer of oil and gas is already yielding returns for shareholders. Shares jumped 2.92% this morning to a high of $29.59. Ok, so shares havent skyrocketed  but analysts were predicting further declines in commodities. Thus companies dependent upon commodities, like Woodside, should be declining. So what made shares jump?

Source: Google finance

Woodsides new discovery could mean big bucks

Woodside has been drilling off the shore of Myanmar, west of Thailand, since 2012. Today Woodside announced that their efforts have finally paid off. They found gas.

Along with a consortium, Woodside has explored six different areas within the Myanmar region. The drilling efforts have found gas 129 metres deep. The reports are promising to start commercial production.

But further analysis will be undertaken to understand the full potential of the play, but this de-risks a number of leads which will now be matured, said Woodside CEO, Peter Coleman.

Even if the gas found is not enough to fuel Woodside wildest dreams, the discovery is still promising. This discovery is an encouraging outcome for future exploration and appraisal activity in the area, Mr Coleman said.

And I couldnt have said it better. Myanmar is one of the worlds greatest spots for exploration right now. Political reforms in 2011 allowed international companies to re-enter the market. This gave drilling explorers the green light.

But wait, isnt oil and gas going down in price? Why is it good news that Woodside has found more of a declining commodity?

It seems that prices arent at dire levels. Margins are being squeezed and profits are being hit. Yet companies like Woodside cant bear to leave money in the ground. And obviously investors approve.

Myanmar holds an estimated 3.2 billion barrels of oil and 18 trillion cubic feet of gas. So Woodsides future may be a prosperous one  even if oil and gas prices are declining.

What to do about Woodside shares

If Woodside can manage to obtain sustainable gas production from the Myanmar region then shareholders might be able to regain losses sustained from late last year.

As long as oil gas prices dont fall too aggressively, Woodside could be a smart play for 2016. Timing, however, is important. Share prices are trading around 23% lower than the start of last year. And they could continue to decline.

Harje Ronngard,

Junior Analyst, Money Morning
A strong earthquake hit India's remote northeast region before dawn Monday, killing at least eight people, injuring more than 100 and causing damage to several buildings.

The death and injuries were caused by falling debris. Manipur state's Home Minister G. Gaikhangam said several parts of the state suffered extensive damage. He said the state capital of Imphal was hit hard but did not give any details. Authorities were still assessing the situation, he told reporters.

Three people were killed in Imphal and the other five were killed in other parts of the state, said police officer A.K. Jalajit.

Media reports said five people were killed by the earthquake in neighboring Bangladesh, but there was no immediate official confirmation.

The 6.7-magnitude tremor left large cracks in walls, and a portion of a popular market building collapsed in Imphal. The area is dotted with small houses, with few tall buildings in the region. Police said that one of those few, a newly constructed six-story building in Imphal, collapsed. A bridge also was damaged on the outskirts of the city.

India's Meteorological Department said the epicenter of the quake was in the Tamenglong region of Manipur. It struck 10 miles below the surface, not far from the border with Myanmar, 20 miles northwest of Imphal. The area is remote, with poor cellphone and Internet connections, and information about conditions outside major cities may take time to emerge. Police officer L. Ragui said that dozens of homes were slightly damaged in Tamenglong.

Shangthon Kamei, a teacher in Tamenglong, said the earthquake rattled buildings. "It lasted for about one minute. We were sleeping and were woken up by the earthquake," he said.

Telephone and electricity connections were disrupted in some areas.

Nearly 90 members of the National Disaster Response Force, a specialized federal force for natural disasters, have left to check on remote areas, police said.

People panicked and rushed out of their homes in Guwahati, the capital of neighboring Assam state, as they felt massive shaking at least twice within 60 seconds.

In Imphal, residents said furniture was knocked over, and books fell off shelves. "The ground swayed for almost a minute, jolting people awake in their homes," said one resident, Apem Arthur.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi tweeted that he was in touch with authorities in the northeast. Rescue teams from Guwahati were scrambling to reach Imphal.

People in Bangladesh and the Himalayan nation of Nepal ran from their homes, and the quake was also felt as far away as the Myanmar city of Yangon, about 730 miles to the south, residents said.

Media in Bangladesh reported three people died of heart attacks, and police said at least 90 were injured.

An official at Myanmar's meteorological department in Naypyitaw, the capital, said there were no reports of damage or casualties on the Myanmar side of the border.

Wire services
January 04, 2016

The Saudi War On Everything Iran May Bounce Back As New Houthi Missile

I still believe that, from the Saudi rulers viewpoint, the execution of a bunch of al-Qaeda types and the Saudi Shia rabble-rouser Nimr Baqr al-Nimr was a smart move to divert the attention of their people from the accumulating problems of their rulers and the recent 40% gas price hike. But it comes with now escalating costs.

The biggest danger to the al-Saud family which dictatorial rules over Saudi Arabia is the proven validity of an alternative Islamic system. The Islamic Republic of Iran has such an alternative system and its reintegration into the world after the nuclear deal shows its validity. Some people and Islamic scholars in Saudi Arabia might get the idea that they also could also have a system where every vote counts and policies are decided at the ballot box. This without a kleptocratic, dictatorial family and, importantly, without doing away with their core Islamic values. This, not religion, is why the Saudis have fought Iran since its revolution in 1979 and why they try to curb its influence wherever they can. The al-Sauds fear for their family and its sinecures.

The Saudis, together with Israel, tried everything to sabotage the nuclear deal. They want Iran back in the isolation box. But it is now too late. I have not read one piece in "western" media today that was negative on Iran and/or positive on Saudi Arabia. The wind of international politics has changed and it is now Saudi Arabia that comes under pressure. The impulsive reaction of the current Saudi rulers is to escalate and escalate even more and to fight Iran wherever it is present, like in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon, or even where it is not present like in Yemen.

While the Saudis claim that Iran supports the Houthis in Yemen there is not the slightest proof for that assertion. There have been no Iranians found in Yemen and no Iranian weapons. The Houthis the Saudis fight in Yemen are not Shia like the Iranians but are nearer to Sunni Islam than to Iranian 12er Shia. There has been no evidence that Houthis have received anything from Iran and all stories about Iranian weapon shipment to Yemen turned out to be false.

This is now likely to change.

After the killing of al-Nimr some Iranian hardliners organized a mob that stormed and ransacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran. This was an attack on what they see as appeasement policies of the Iranian President Rouhani. It was stupid of the Rouhani administration to not have foreseen such a move and increase protection for the embassy. It is now bending over backwards to apologize for the incident but to no avail.

The Saudis cut diplomatic relations to Iran and pressed Bahrain and Sudan to do the same. The Bahraini rulers need Saudi protection and Sudan the Saudi money. The UAE only lowered its diplomatic presence in Tehran from ambassador to charge d'affaires. Interestingly the other Gulf countries did not follow the Saudi decision. The Saudis also stopped all civil flights between Iran and Saudi Arabia and forbid their citizens to visit Iran. Business between the countries will be stopped. Iranians on pilgrimage to Mecca are still welcome.

It is unclear what this is supposed to achieve. What could Iran reasonably do that would let the Saudi rulers retract these measures without losing face? This was another impulsive and erratic move that only hurts the Saudis people and the ruling family's international reputation.

More dumb moves are expected. The Saudis will likely up their proxy fight against Iran in Syria and possibly also in Iraq by giving more weapons and financial support to Jihadists of all strife. A new government in Lebanon, on which Iran and Saudi Arabia had recently agreed, is now again far away. The Saudis will also try to escalate the fight against the Houthis and their imaginary Iranian support in Yemen. But after nine month of bombing Yemen's infrastructure to dust there is little to escalate. All ground attacks by the Saudis and their various hired proxies have been fought to a standstill.

This then is the place where Iran can escalate in response. It has the technology and know how to hand the Houthis some serious missile capabilities. Such missiles would allow them to achieve pinpoint hits on Saudi targets. The whole southern Saudi Arabia would then become a Houthi shooting range. Saudi Arabia would have to file for peace or would have to evacuate significant parts of the country.

The al-Nimr execution and the diversion of the Saudi public to strife with Iran will help the Saudi rulers to calm down internal disturbances. But the escalation comes at significant international political costs and may end up, via Houthi missiles, to increase the internal problems the Saudis are so keen to avert in the first place.

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Grace Episcopal Church will host a forum on race relations on Jan. 22 and 23 called, Listen for a Change: Sacred Conversations for Racial Justice.

The forum will be live-streamed from Trinity Wall Street Episcopal Church in New York City to dozens of locations across 34 states and several provinces in Canada. It will feature twelve keynote speakers with backgrounds in academia, theology, media, grassroots activism and more. All have had a particular focus on race during their careers, according to a press release from Trinity Wall Street.

The press release said that forum topics will provide life-giving conversations on the racial issues of our time, including structural racism, mass incarceration, and policy change, (for those) interested in a practical, theological perspective on racial equality.

In addition to the live-stream, Grace Episcopal will offer attendees access to email questions to the speakers during live question and answer sessions. Those attending will also be invited to participate in small group discussions amongst themselves led by trained facilitators to reflect and share on what they hear in the forum.

According to the forums website, www.ti2016.org, Trinity Wall Street has been offering this annual conference for the past 45 years on different topics affecting society. The website said the church leadership felt called to present conversation as a learning opportunity: a chance to engage in deep listening and truth-telling, and as a result, develop the skills to create change within a troubled system.

Grace Episcopal Rector Marshall Jolly said he was inspired to have his church serve as a partner site after attending last years conference, which was on economic inequality. He said he appreciated how Trinity Wall Street brought together people from many different backgrounds to have a formative and educational experience dialoging about what can be a divisive issue.

Im always looking for ways for our church to be a meeting place for people in the community of different perspectives to come together and imagine what the next steps could be to address these issues, Jolly said.

Jolly said he thought this years topic on race relations was incredibly timely, citing recent events in the news. He anticipates that the forum will have a much-needed positive impact.

My hope is that people will leave with a broader perspective of racial relations and reconciliation, and not give in to fear and some of the other unhelpful by-products that arise from misunderstandings and a lack of awareness, Jolly said.

The forum at Grace Episcopal is free, though the church will accept donations. The sessions start Friday at 5 p.m., and continue all day Saturday starting at 8:30 a.m. The church will provide heavy hors doeuvres on Friday and a continental breakfast on Saturday.

The church asks that those interested in attending RSVP by Jan. 15 by calling the church at 437-1133, or emailing them at office@gracemorganton.org.

Tammie Gercken can be reached at tgercken@morganton.com.
Barack Obamas presidency has been marked by heated debates about the Republican Partys racial attitudes. Many liberals have noted the dog whistles subtle cues that play on stereotypes and may trigger taboo sentiments  employed in Republican attacks on the president. Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, for instance, famously called Obama a food stamp president, former Sen. Rick Santorum accused him of giving welfare to blah people, and many conservatives have claimed Obama couldnt have been born in the United States. For the most part, the public abhors and condemns such blatant racism. But recent data on public sentiments suggest that many Americans hold beliefs affirming subtler, structural racism and that the popularity of these believes divides sharply along party and political lines. I began my examination of whether there is a partisan divide on racial issues with the American National Election Studies 2012 survey. The first set of questions I examined measures racial stereotyping, asking respondents whether they believe that black people are hard-working or lazy, intelligent or unintelligent and whether they have too much influence or too little influence in politics  in other words, questions measuring explicitly racist attitudes. The second set of questions I examined measures what scholars call racial resentment. These questions measure perceptions of the persistence of racial inequality and discrimination by asking respondents whether they agree or disagree with these statements:  Irish, Italians, Jewish and many other minorities overcame prejudice and worked their way up. Blacks should do the same without any special favors.

 Generations of slavery and discrimination have created conditions that make it difficult for blacks to work their way out of the lower class.

 Over the past few years, blacks have gotten less than they deserve.

 Its really a matter of some people not trying hard enough; if blacks would only try harder, they could be just as well off as whites.

I also looked at responses to the question How much discrimination do black people face?,as well as whether respondents support government assistance to African-Americans, including employment protections. This second group of questions examines issues related to colorblind racism. As sociologist Eduardo Bonilla-Silva writes in Racism Without Racists, colorblind racism is racism lite, in which instead of proclaiming God placed minorities in the world in a servile position, it suggests they are behind because they do not work hard enough. Among non-Hispanic whites, there are strong and persistent gaps between Republicans and Democrats, with at least 22-point gaps in opinion on each issue I examined. The deepest divide is on whether blacks should work their way up, as Irish- and Italian-Americans supposedly did, which divided members of the two parties by 30 points.

On racial stereotyping, the gaps are smaller, with only an 8-point gap in the share saying black people are unintelligent, but an 18-point gap in the share saying they are lazy. While only 7 percent of Democrats believe that blacks have too much influence over politics, 25 percent of Republicans do. With regard to the governments role in ameliorating racial inequality, the split was even larger, with 35-point gaps on whether the government should help blacks or blacks should help themselves, and on whether or not it is the governments job to ensure fair treatment in the workplace.

Examining self-identified conservatives and liberals gives similar results, with gaps of 26 to 38 percentage points on issues related to colorblind racism, gaps averaging 17 points on the stereotyping questions and gaps averaging 40 points on questions about government aid.

In a piece last year, journalists Nate Silver and Allison McCann investigated whether white Republicans were more racist than white Democrats. They focused on questions that examine racial stereotyping, such as whether blacks are lazier or less intelligent than whites and whether a white person would feel comfortable with a close family member marrying a black person. On many of these questions, partisan gaps have disappeared. However, on the question of whether blacks lack the motivation to pull themselves out of poverty, the partisan gap is large: In the 2012 survey, 57 percent of white Republicans and 41 percent of white Democrats agreed.

In 2005, Republicans apologized for the post-1968 Southern strategy of targeting white voters with thinly veiled racial appeals. But a decade later, they havent stopped using it.
This article is part of Morningstars Guide to Investing Ideas for 2016, click here to get your financial health in order with some new years resolutions for your portfolio.

UK shares disappointed in 2015, with the FTSE 100 losing 5% of its value. The biggest losers were those linked to natural resources, as commodities underperformed all other asset classes for a third successive year and produced their lowest annual returns since the 2008 financial crisis.

Oil, iron ore, copper, gold and corn all lost half their value last year, dragging down mining stocks. In fact the four biggest FTSE 100 losers of 2015 were Anglo American (AAL) which fell 70%, Glencore (GLEN) down 66%, Antofagasta (ANTO) which lost 36% and BHP Billiton (BLT) fell 35%. Rio Tinto (RIO) and Royal Dutch Shell (RDSB) came in eighth and ninth place respectively, losing 23% and 22% over the year.

And there is little respite in sight. Looking into 2016, not one of the leading commentators is bullish on commodities with most recommending underweight positions including Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan and Citi, according to Andy Brunner, head of investment strategy for Morningstar UK.

Liontrust Macro Equity Income fund manager Stephen Bailey says that while demand for commodities has weakened, the bigger problem is that the miners havent adjusted their output accordingly, meaning prices have tumbled.

This has created a vicious circle where miners need to boost supply in order to maintain cash flow and dividends, only leading to further price falls, he said.

The miners have also protected cash flows and dividends by slashing their investment in improving existing facilities or acquiring new sites.

Bailey suggests mining companies should be taking a long-term approach and exploiting the temporary downturn to pick up undervalued assets from distressed sellers such as Glencore.

However he concedes that this would mean they put long-term investor returns ahead of short-term dividends.

What Next for the Oil Giants?

Stephanie Flanders, JP Morgan economist, says that the fall in oil prices suggests that the UK stock market of 2016 may show a similar pattern to 2014 and 2015, with the index underperforming but large parts of the market doing quite well, especially sectors that are close to the domestic consumer.

It is unusual for the consensus trade  avoiding commodity stocks  to deliver such a high degree of outperformance. Sooner or later the tide for commodities will turn and it will be more difficult for managers to beat the index, she said.

Banks Lose Out in 2015

It was not just oil and mining stocks that were hammered in 2015. Banks took a battering as well. Standard Chartered (STAN) suffered from a heavy weighting in troubled China, losing 33%, Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) fell 22% and HSBC (HSBA) shares lost 6%.

Bailey said that regulatory pressures meant he held no UK large-cap high street banks in his fund, preferring to own a selection of smaller challenger banks.

RBS revealed a bill of 967 million for litigation, misconduct and restructuring costs in the third quarter of 2015, while Standard Chartered confirmed rumours of a rights issue and cancelled its final dividend, he said.

On a regulatory level, banks are being forced to increase their capital buffers, an expensive process. And on an operational level they are burdened by a creaking IT infrastructure and an outdated business model.
About Me Andrew Mulenga Andrew Mulenga is a self-taught, freelance arts journalist whose main focus is documenting the contemporary art scene of his home country Zambia. He studied Art & Design at the Africa Literature Centre, Kitwe and began his career as a graphic designer and illustrator at Mission Press in Ndola. He later joined The Post Newspapers Ltd. in the same capacity working his way to an appointment as Deputy Editor of the Education Post while establishing himself as the publications resident art critic. He is the 2012 CNN Multi-choice African Journalist of the year for Art & Culture. In 2014 he received a Media Institute of Southern Africa award for arts journalism. He completed an MA Art History at Rhodes University on an Andrew Mellon scholarship in 2014. He is currently on an Art History and Visual Culture Scholarship for a PhD at the same university. Since 2012 his articles have been regularly adapted in the modules of the Zambian Open Universitys art curriculum. Through his writing as an emerging art historian his current ambition is to encourage Zambian artists to question the sociopolitical, cultural, historical, moral and aesthetic implications of the work they produce. View my complete profile
Professional and community involvement: With a huge team of passionate people in Midland and around the U.S., I encourage 5- to 30-year-olds through Student Community Bible Study and SGY at Stonegate Fellowship. I also serve on teams and committees for Rock The Desert, Watch and Pray, PressOn Productions and China Aid.

What does it mean to serve the community, and how do you do so?

We were all designed by God to live in community  we need others help, and they need our help. God gave each of us different gifts and talents that we are to work to develop. My greatest fulfillment in life comes as I serve in Midland, the USA and the world. The statement There is no I in team is true.

What role does Community Bible Study play in strengthening the community?

Community Bible Study in Midland is available to all  babies, ladies, men, teens, young professionals  and is led by a team of leaders who are passionate to be a friend to others and walk through life with them. I created three CBS programs  After School Kids, teen, and Capstone, for young professionals  that now exist all over the USA.

Working with children, teenagers and young professionals on most every weeknight, I have seen amazing love and made lifetime relationships. I believe that as you have deep conversations about the important things of life centered on the truth of the Bible, the most unexpected things happen. Recently in After School Kids CBS, we were studying about Stephen when he was killed by people who did not believe in Jesus. Stephen's life taught those kids about heaven being a wonderful forever home for Christ followers and also forgiving those who hurt you and about religious persecution.

A few days later, one of our ASK CBS children had his precious father suddenly go to be with Jesus in a plane crash. He was able to comfort himself and his mom because he had just learned about how Stephen looked up to heaven and saw a beautiful place. Death is not the end for a Christ follower, but rather an amazing new place to live with our amazing and loving God and his son, Jesus. The truth of the Bible can help us live encouraged each day in every situation. This lovely child has confidence that he will see his dad again because he knows where he is. Children need strength to overcome discouragement from bullying to divorce to school work issues to parents bad choices.

How long has Midland been your home, and why have you stayed?

My husband, Bobby, and I moved to Midland 39 years ago. He was an Air Force major in Alaska and is now an orthodontist who owns Smiles Inc. He loves helping generations of Midlanders have beautiful smiles. Moving to Midland has been a blessing times a million. I love working for awesome Midlanders as an interior designer through Janice Lane Henry Interiors and The ScreenDoor Showroom. I recently completed the Crownquest Operating offices for Bobby Floyd and Tim Dunn. Midlanders have allowed Bobby and me to serve them from their smiles to their homes and offices. Our hobby is visiting our married children, Kristen, Carrie and Blake, their stalwart spouses and our 10 kind and lovable grandchildren. Attending Stonegate Fellowship is where we have learned that God is committed to our great joy. Midland continues to be a big part of our joy, and we are forever thankful. We continue to PressOn.
Fitness and music often go hand-in-hand and in 2016, the two will combine for an epic collaboration that will reach dozens of cities across the globe. The Ultimate 5K Running and Music Festival, The Music Run, will hit 40 cities in over 18 countries over the course of the year. The Music Run is powered by 24 Hour Fitness and will kick off its national debut at the LA Fairplex in Pomona on Saturday, January 9. The race may be one of the most fun ways to stay fit in the New Year, as each race event includes an after party packed with live music from bands and DJs. Sebu from the indie-pop duo, Capital Cities, will perform a DJ set at the kick-off race in Los Angeles, and the indie-folk band, Magic Giant, is set to perform as well.



(Photo: Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Anheuser-Busch)

Through a music voting app and Spotify, The Music Run allows runners to select the soundtrack of the race by voting for their favorite songs prior to the event. The songs with the most votes become the official run playlist, which will be played out on the race course through 120 speakers on the day of the event. The run will end with the ultimate after-run music festival that features live bands, DJs, dancers, laser lights, LED screens, chill out zones and more.

Other dates scheduled for the event include Austin on February 6 and Dallas on March 12, with many more dates to follow. Although 2016 will push the The Music Run into significant territory, it first kicked off with an event in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in 2014. As it stands, the event has already been experienced by more than 100,000 participants across 12 events and 9 countries from Singapore to Hamburg. Participants can register for the event, which starts at $30, by visiting TheMusicRun.com.

Both Sebu from Capital Cities and Magic Giant are Los Angeles-natives. Capital Cities got their start in 2011 after independently releasing their first EP. After a quick discovery on a Peru radio station, the duo's hit song, "Safe and Sound," went multi-platinum in numerous countries including the U.S., Canada, Germany and Mexico. The track hit the No. 8 spot on the Billboard Hot 100, and the group opened up for Katy Perry on her Prismatic Tour in 2014.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The center of the Traditional Anglican Communion; adhering to the Holy Bible (KJV) in all matters of Faith and Doctrine, a strict reliance on the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion, The two Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion, the Two Creeds, and the Homilies and formularies of the Reformation Church of England.
Tensions have escalated drastically between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia after the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, an outspoken Shiite cleric.

Nimr, who was seen as a moderate, nonviolent voice of protest against the Saudi regime, was a leader in Shiite demonstrations throughout the Sunni majority nation. His execution prompted protests and the burning of the Saudi embassy in Tehran.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned that Saudi Arabia would "face divine vengeance for the execution" of Nimr. Saudi Arabia responded, saying Iran had "revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism." This led the Saudis to cut ties with Iran, saying officials had 48 hours to leave the country. The move signals a nadir in relations between the two regional powers, and raises the specter of sectarian conflict in the two nations.



Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jebier announced the decision at a televised news conference. According to the New York Times, Mr. Jebeir said this was a matter of Saudi Arabia's security, which the kingdom could not let Iran undermine.

The two countries are considered regional powers, and have tried to sway the turn of events in conflicts throughout the region. They are currently engaged in a proxy war in Yemen where the Houthi rebels, supported by Iran, overthrew the Sunni government.

Criticism for the execution of Nimr came almost entirely from Shiite factions throughout the region. In contrast, Saudi's Sunni allies supported the kingdom's actions, and referred to the execution as an effort to fight terrorism.

Along with Nimr, the Saudis executed 46 others for crimes against the state. United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon ,said he was "deeply dismayed" by the execution. He criticized the Saudi justice system, saying that "trials ... raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process."

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
An armed antigovernment group took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge building, operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. The group blocked entrances and built a bonfire in front of the building, saying Sunday it was willing to stay "for years."

Leading the group is Ammon Bundy, son of Cliven Bundy, who recently had a standoff with the government over his use of federal lands for cattle grazing. Bundy, accompanied by his brother and others, said the group will not leave until the people of Harney County "can use these lands as free men."

"We're out here because the people have been abused long enough really," Bundy said in a video posted on Facebook. "Their lands and their resources have been taken from them to the point where it's putting them literally in poverty, and this facility has been a tool in doing that. It is the people's facility, owned by the people."



Dwight Hammond, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, were convicted of arson on federal land after a judge ruled the sentences they had previously served were not long enough. More than 100 people marched through Burns, Oregon, in a peaceful protest that eventually turned violent. When the militants arrived at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Harney County, they quickly took over the federal building and blocked its entrances.

In response to the conviction, Bundy said, "The people cannot survive without their land and resources. We cannot have the government restricting the use of that to the point that it puts us in poverty."

According to the New York Times, the Fish and Wildlife Service said no employees were hurt in the standoff. "While the situation is ongoing, the main concern is employee safety and we can confirm that no federal staff were in the building at the time of the initial incident," a press officer for the agency said.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Recently, Donald Trump called for a halt on Muslim immigrants to the United States until our leaders could "figure what the hell is going on." The announcement, along with other incendiary comments of Trump's, has earned the real estate quite a bit of criticism. Many have criticized Trump for his apparent intolerance, and insensitivity. Now, adding to the list of Trump's opponents is the United Kingdom, which recently publicized a petition barring Trump from entering the country. Although the British government has not committed to disallowing the Republican front-runner from the country, Home Secretary Theresa May left the option open.

In an official statement released by the UK government, Theresa's power to, "exclude a non-European Economic Area national from the UK if she considers their presence in the UK to be non-conducive to the public good," was reaffirmed.

According to CNN, "the Home Secretary has said that coming to the UK is a privilege and not a right," the official statement reads. "She will continue to use the powers available to prevent from entering the UK those who seek to harm our society and who do not share our basic values."

The Prime Minister, David Cameron, has made his distaste for Trump no secret. Cameron apparently told Parliament that Trump was "stupid" and "three times a loser."

"The Prime Minister has made clear that he completely disagrees with Donald Trump's remarks," the statement continued. "The Home Secretary has said that Donald Trump's remarks in relation to Muslims are divisive, unhelpful and wrong ... We reject any attempts to create division and marginalisation amongst those we endeavour to protect."

Although Trump's comments have won him domestic popularity, he has earned the ire of public officials around the world for his remarks about Muslims, illegal immigrants, etc. Trump has made no effort to distance himself from these statements.

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The gloves are coming off in the Republican race for the 2016 presidential nomination. While Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have been dominating polls in Iowa, Marco Rubio, Jeb Bush, and Chris Christie (among others) will try to inch into third place by attacking their nearest rivals. Although the race has already been mired in vitriol, with character assassinations and insults coming from all directions, it appears voters will see an entirely new side of the candidates as they aggressively try to discredit their competitors. As the new year begins, the mud slinging that often remains dormant until the South Carolina primaries has seeped up to the surface.

According to the New York Times, the campaigns of Senator Marco Rubio, Senator Ted Cruz, Jeb Bush, Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee are prepared to release an onslaught of attack ads in the weeks before the February 1st caucus.

"You're going to see even sharper elbows" starting this week, said Jon Seaton, a Republican strategist with no allegiance to any campaign. "And by the middle of January, everybody will have their pads on and helmets buckled."

Although lobbing insults and epithets has worked for Republican front-runner Donald Trump, the tactic has proved more elusive for former Florida governor Jeb Bush. Bush spent a large sum of money on negative ads in Iowa, attacking Marco Rubio for his time in the Senate, Chris Christie for his governance of New Jersey, and John Kasich's record in Ohio. Apparently, these tactics have been more successful than Bush's recent criticism of Donald Trump.

"That's part of the reason why you saw Bush and Christie go after Rubio," said Carl Forti, a Republican strategist not affiliated with any of the campaigns. "They don't gain much from hitting Trump at this point. Cruz is the one who immediately benefits from a Trump downfall."

 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
Steven Moffat, head writer and executive producer of Doctor Who, is allegedly thinking of leaving his showrunner position at the hit BBC series. According to reports, Moffat is "actively engaged" in finding a replacement for himself, but isn't exactly in a hurry to leave just yet. Will the upcoming, 2016 season 10 episodes end up being his last? Check out what Moffat recently revealed in a new interview.

You can check out more buzzing news coverage from Music Times right here!

Rebooted by Russell T. Davies in 2005, Moffat's been in charge of the series since 2010. While Davies wrote for Christopher Eccleston and David Tennant during their reigns as the Doctor, Moffat has also worked with two leads- Matt Smith and Peter Capaldi. So, will he follow in his predecessor's footsteps and step down when Capaldi leaves? If so, season 10 could be his last since, as we previously reported, Capaldi hinted that he might leave after 2016.

Radio Times, which is a superb source for all things Doctor Who, sat down with the Sherlock co-creator to talk about his successful run as showrunner of the Time-Lord series, and asked if he's thinking of leaving the series.

"That is an issue and one I'm actively engaged in but I can't say much about that. Everything is difficult in Doctor Who, including leaving, and I would never do anything to harm it. I would never leave it in the lurch because it means too much to me," he explained, according to Den of Geek. "Yes, it's a problem. Let's not pretend it's not a big problem. But there will be a solution. In terms of the emotional difficulty of leaving, it's hard ... I take it a year at a time and that's the only answer I'll ever give on that one. How hard [will it be to give up], I don't know ... I won't be leaving because I'm suddenly miserable. It'll be because I want to do something else."

He continued, "I've no idea until I'm there. I mean, I can understand Russell [T Davies choosing not to]. I'm gobsmacked by how much Doctor Who I've written - an insane amount."



 2015 MusicTimes.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
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Sacramento, CA  Outgoing Assembly Republican leader Kristin Olsen will soon be leaving public officeat least over the short-term.

Olsen, who represented the Mother Lode prior to redistricting, will be terming out of the Assembly later this year. She had been giving strong consideration to a 2016 state Senate run against Democratic incumbent Cathleen Galgiani in District Five. The seat encompasses parts of several Central Valley communities, including Modesto and Stockton. This afternoon, however, Olsen sent a letter to supporters that she is declining the opportunity to run. She writes, After dozens of meetings, I am convinced that the funding and support needed to win exist. Nevertheless, after much reflection, I have decided not to run.

Olsen notes that the biggest factor in the decision is her family. She adds, Next year, our three children will be in high school, middle school and elementary school. In addition to their schooling, they are involved in numerous extra-curricular activities. Simply put, I want to be more active in their daily lives.

Olsens letter sent to supporters indicates that leaving public office is only short-term. She notes, I anticipate that I will return to public service when the time is right.

She did not specifically detail what her longer-term plans could be, but Olsens announcement was sent from an e-mail account that read, Paid for by Olsen For Senate 2018. As previously reported by Clarke Broadcasting, last year Olsen filed a Statement of Intent to run for Senator Tom Berryhills District 8 seat when he terms out of office in two years. Not running against Galgiani in District Five would leave the door open to that possibility.

Filing the statement of intent allows candidates to begin the process of raising money for a political run.
There are more than 10,000 rape kits that have gone untested in the state, according to survey numbers released Monday by the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

The agency released its results and found there are 13,435 unsubmitted Sexual Assault Kits held in local law enforcement evidence rooms statewide. The FDLE said at least 9,484 of those kits "should be submitted" for testing.



In August 2015, in cooperation with the Florida Sheriffs Association and the Florida Police Chiefs Association, FDLE developed and launched a survey of Florida's sheriff and police agencies to determine the number of unsubmitted SAKs and the reasons the kits had not been submitted to a forensic laboratory for testing.

The term rape kit (or SAKs) actually refers to the kit itself  a container that includes a checklist, materials, and instructions, along with envelopes and containers to package any specimens collected during the exam to maintain evidence.



State law enforcement agencies are expected to use more than $3 million in federal money to get the kits tested. The testing helps identify suspects' DNA, which is then put on file in the state's criminal database.



Each law enforcement agency in Florida will have to apply for funds to pay for rape kits that meet the state's criteria.



Pasco County has about 200 rape kits that should be submitted to FDLE for testing, the most in the Bay area. The Orlando Police Department has 375 kits that should be submitted, the most in Central Florida.



"I am pleased FDLE completed its assessment, providing more information about unprocessed sexual assault kits in Florida," Attorney General Pam Bondi said Monday. "Testing these kits is a public safety issue that must be addressed; and in this upcoming legislative session, I will work with lawmakers, law enforcement and victims advocates to ensure our state crime labs have the resources needed to continue testing unprocessed sexual assault kits."



The Manatee County Sheriff's Office has 90 untested kits. Tampa police has 11 that need testing.



The Miami-Dade Police Department tops the list with 1,350 untested kits.



Bondi said there's a number of reasons why some rape kits go untested.



"Frankly, if we don't have a victim, if a defendant confesses right away and enters a plea," Bondi said. "Technology has changed so much and some of these rape kits that may not have produced results years ago ... now can."



Rape kit testing backlogs has been an issue across the U.S.



In September, federal officials said an estimated 70,000 rape kits in laboratories and evidence collection rooms across the country will be tested with a combined $79 million in federal and New York City funds designed to cut the backlog.
More than 20 years ago when Joseph Raymond was born prematurely, the future looked bleak. Little Raymond suffered both brain damage and was diagnosed with cerebral palsy.



"For the first four years, we struggled to find out basic questions," said Joseph's father, Joe.

A new father at the time, Joe remembers asking the tough questions that seemed to never have an answer.



"What can we expect from Joseph? What is he going to do? What's the path that he needs to go down?" Joe pondered more than two decades ago.



Joe and his wife, Vicky, found little to no help  until Vicky's parents introduced them to a unique program from Europe. They found help in Hungary. The assistance proved so beneficial that the couple brought teachers to Florida and eventually opened the Conductive Education Center of Orlando (CECO).



"There's three main components," Joe says of CECO. "One is the physical, second is the cognitive, and the third is the social. And if you don't focus on all three in trying to better the child and maximize their potential, then it's going to leave a gap and they're never really going to meet that potential."



The program began as a summer program, helping out six children. Today, CECO has grown to help 50 children a week.



In a world where everything is done for constant reinforcement, no accomplishment is too small.



"To many, it looks like he doesn't do a lot, but he does," Vicky Raymond says.

She is quick to point out the victories: "He truly does a lot. He's healthy, he's happy, he's active."



Now based inside a 5,000-square-foot facility, the Raymonds are thinking big. Eventually, they would like to take over an entire complex in Winter Park. The grounds would then employ the people who CECO helps.



CECO offers school programs for students ages 5 to 21. Classes for adults with traumatic brain injuries, those battling Parkinsons and stroke victims are in the works.



"Every child has a chance here, an opportunity to grow. And if Joseph's growth means he's picking up this ball and he's saying, 'Dad,' then that's growth for him, and we will take that," Vicky says.


The Titusville Police Department is looking for a man who they say used a machete to vandalize a mosque.



Investigators say surveillance footage shows an unidentified male entering The Islamic Society of Central Florida Masjid Al-Munin Mosque, 1011 South Washington Ave., around 11 p.m. Friday.



In the video, police say the suspect is seen pulling a machete from a bag and then using it to cause damage to the mosque.



Police said several cameras, lights and windows were broken and bacon was also left by the front door of the mosque. The Quran, the holy book of Islam, prohibits Muslims from eating pork.



Titusville Police detectives said they are analyzing the surveillance footage as well as investigating strong leads.



Anyone with information is asked to call the Titusville Police Department at (321) 264-7800 or can remain anonymous and be eligible for a reward by calling Crimeline at (800) 423-TIPS (8477).

The Orlando Regional Coordinator for CAIR, Rasha Mubarak, released this statement to News 13:

We are calling for a local, state and federal hate crime investigation of the vandalism and attempted desecration of this Titusville mosque  the latest such incident in a recent spike in attacks on Muslim houses of worship nationwide.



A similar crime happened in Las Vegas last week. The FBI said on Dec. 27, a man can be seen in a surveillance video putting bacon on the door handles to the entrances of the Masjid-e-Tawheed mosque.

Earlier in December, a severed pig's head was found outside a Philadelphia worship site.


Town leaders have hired a wildlife trapper after recent sightings of coyotes have residents fearing for their pets' safety.

"We are aware of it. They've been sighted," Indian Harbour Beach City Manager Mark Ryan said.

Officials want pet owners to keep a lookout for coyotes around Gleason Park, a quaint, natural setting where residents jog and stroll -- but it's also a haven for feral cats, a potential ready meal for the wild canines that have set up shop in the woods.

Scott Fee, whose yard backs up to Gleason Park, looked forward to seeing his cat when his family woke up each day.

"Usually, she's waiting on the back porch every morning," Fee said.

But New Year's Day  Ni-kitty, short for 'Nice Kitty'  was nowhere to be found.

Not long after, Scott's wife, Tammy, noticed an unfamiliar paw print in the grass of their house.

"We started going over videotape because of rumors of coyotes in the area," Scott Fee said. The Fees have home security cameras positioned around the exterior of the home.

At about 6 that morning, surveillance video shed light on their cat's disappearance. The video shows their cat darting into the picture frame  and steps behind, a coyote hot on its tail.

Another camera showed the predator walking in the street, then moving into their yard.

Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials told the Fees that the wild animals can be found in all 67 Florida counties, are very smart and difficult to catch.

"FWC has said, 'Good luck with that.' That's why they don't do it," Ryan, the city manager, said.

Wildlife officials told the city it's best to adapt to life among coyotes, as Floridians do with alligators, bears, snakes and other native animals.

It's not much solace for Fee and his family, who are still hoping their cat got away.

"Everyday goes by, and we have a little less hope," Scott Fee said.

Both Indian Harbour Beach and Satellite Beach are about to launch a 'lost pets' program, because on average, some 40-50 pets are reported lost or found each month.


A new billboard asks for help to find Bunnell father missing since May 2015.

This will be a constant reminder: there is a person in our community that's missing and there's a family without a father, Flagler County Sheriff Jim Manfre said.

The billboard showing George Contos, 59, sits along North Ocean Shore Boulevard.

May 7 was the last time anyone heard from or saw Contos. About 10 days later deputies showed up to his home, but there was still no sign of Contos.

After he disappeared, deputies said they found his white town car in the Ace Hardware parking lot on Palm Coast Parkway.

Deputies said they found some evidence in the car but right now they cant share what they found.

The do believe Contos disappearance is suspicious.

There was no body that's been found. For that reason we like to stay optimistic, said Det. Commander Chris Sepe.

Contos son lives out of state but shared a message with the sheriffs office before the billboard was unveiled.

I just hope that this billboard makes more people aware in Florida of my fathers disappearance. Hopefully it can bring somebody with information in to try to help us find my father, said Aaron Thayer.

Months have passed and not only did Contos miss the holidays with his family, but Monday Jan. 4 was his 59th birthday.

All of our information has sort of stopped, Manfre said.

Deputies have followed up on leads, interviewed family members and acquaintances. The one gift everyone is hoping for is to bring him home.

We believe someone out there knows a crucial piece of information that will lead us to what happened to George, Manfre said.

Crime Stoppers is offering a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to Contos return. That number to call is 1-888-277-TIPS (8477).
A Volusia County leader wants to decriminalize marijuana possession in the county.

Councilman Josh Wagner proposed the ordinance during the council's previous meeting Dec. 17, where it was well received by other councilmembers.

Under current state law, possession of pot is a misdemeanor punishable by a fine and jail time.

But under the county ordinance backed by Wagner, a police officer could determine whether a person with less than 20 grams of pot would face a civil penalty with a fine of up to $250.

Wagner says if passed, the ordinance would have a direct impact on county courts and jails. It comes at a time when there is yet another push to pass the legalization of marijuana in Florida.

It's something 41-year-old Micah Gussow and his friends are excited about. He said he doesn't smoke pot right now and hasn't since he was a kid. However, he thinks he might start smoking again if Wagner's proposed ordinance passes.

"This ordinance for the possession under 20 is for everybody," Wagner said.



Asked whether he thinks marijuana should be legalized, Wagner responded, "Personally yes. I think the war on drugs is a complete failure."



If it passes, it would affect primarily medicinal marijuana. Councilmembers will discuss the proposed ordinance again during their upcoming meeting Jan. 7 and decide whether the ordinance can become county law.


Two houses owned by former Enron chief Kenneth Lay and his wife remain on the market after a prospective buyer backed out of a deal to buy one of the properties.

The Lays' 14,179-square-foot, five-bedroom, five-bathroom house in the Oklahoma Flats neighborhood went under contract in the spring.

"The purchaser ended up just not wanting to move forward," said Joshua Saslove, the listing agent for the Lays' properties.

Saslove said he did not know why the buyer decided to withdraw the offer, or whether it was for personal or financial reasons.

The house, which the Lays bought for $4.8 million, is listed for $6.2 million, Saslove said.

The Lays also are selling another home for $6.2 million. Both are furnished.

The couple has already unloaded their Shady Lane cottage, built in 1959, for $10 million, as well as their undeveloped Red Mountain lot for $2 million.

Kenneth and Linda Lay began selling off their properties in the exclusive resort town after the collapse of the Houston-based energy giant late last year.

Saslove said the Lays' remaining properties are attracting interest and that family members have been staying at the houses periodically.

The $10 million cottage was bought by Bradley P. Bell, producer of the soap opera "The Bold and the Beautiful." Carol S. Parks, who bought the Red Mountain lot, is a taxi-company magnate from Boston.
For Steve Modrak of Denver, Colo., his current journey of 2,300 miles to Fayetteville, N.C., began with a few taps of his red-tipped white cane before that first step on Memorial Day.

Thats because 45-year-old Modrak is blind and hes taking his solo trip across the heart of America for the vets. Im doing it to raise awareness for all veterans and particularly those who are disabled.

Of the 3.4 million veterans now living in the United States, 1.2 million are below the poverty level, Modrak explains. And 800,000 are jobless. And the most shocking statistic is that 46 percent of our veterans coming home since 9/11 are disabled. The sad fact is that these injured veterans are not getting the help they need. In most cases, they have to wait in line for as long as five years for treatment and rehabilitation.

Modrak didnt serve in the military himself. I couldnt because of a bad back. But sometimes it takes a non-veteran to explain whats happening to our disabled vets.

As a way of expressing his admiration for all who served, Modrak habitually uses the phrase, I blame those vets for our freedom.

Modrak has been blind for 4  years, since an accidental gunshot wound. I was cleaning my gun and didnt check the chamber before I stopped to answer the phone, he says as he points to the scar on his forehead.

Now living on Social Security disability, Modrak is making is solitary trek to raise awareness and money for veteran causes.

Im doing all this on my own dime, he said. When people stop and ask, I encourage them to give their money to the veterans instead of me.

He does accept rides along the way, as well as occasional meals and lodging.

One of those rides came from Clifford Davis of Plainview, who drove to Stratford on Friday to bring Modrak to Plainview for a multi-day stopover.

Their friendship goes back a number years, to when Davis worked at Lubbock Power and Light. Modrak was employed by the Colorado monitoring lab that serviced the LP&L systems in Davis department.

He can still repair an analyzer, as long as he is using somebody elses eyes, Davis explained.

Aside from the occasional ride, Modrak is traveling on foot, carrying only his cell phone, GPS, white cane and a 70-pound pack. Of course I packed way too many clothes and not nearly enough food and water.

While walking along the highway, Modrak says he tries to keep as far off the shoulder as possible as he uses his cane to check for obstructions. When he encounters a guardrail, Modrak taps the cane until he finds the white line on the edge of the traffic lane. He then stops and listens for traffic. If its clear, I toddle across as fast as I can.

As a safety measure, Modrak has a flashing light strapped to his backpack and wears a head lamp attached to his hat when hes traveling after dark.

He has had many interesting encounters during the first 2 1/2 weeks of his trip.

I was tottering down the road, headed to the last pull-off park on Highway 287 before hitting the Texas border when I heard a diesel engine idling behind me, he recalled. It was some highway department guys. They asked if I was lost, and I told them, Not yet. 

They ended up giving him a ride to Stratford, dropping him off at the Stratford Inn.

I have found many kind people all the way down here, Modrak said.

On one particularly hot afternoon, a Texan stopped and give him a cold can of ice tea.

At Fountain, Colo., Modrak found overnight lodging in a farm workshop on a stormy night. In Pueblo, Colo., a woman drove many miles out of her way to take him to Highway 50. And a band is holding a benefit concert in his name for disabled veterans.

At Campo, Okla., he found overnight lodging with a man named Jess. The next day Modrak was six miles down the road when the local sheriff found him and brought him back to Campo for a second night. Jess had become concerned because a severe thunderstorm was on the way.

Although Modrak is making a solitary trek, he is not traveling alone.

I have a talking GPS I call Howell. It plays music, has books on tape and is a note-taking recorder. And he routinely updates his Facebook page, Steve the blind guy who cares with his smart phone.

Two friends, Donna and Cindy, are keeping track of me at Central Command and Mission Control, he said. Also monitoring his journey are his three siblings Vicki, Cathy and David.

From Plainview, Im heading to Tulsa to see my brother and meet some high school buds. Then Im headed to Memphis, Tenn., to see my oldest sister, and finally to Fayetteville and my other sister and her husband. He just retired as an Army Ranger. In honor of that brother-in-law and other servicemen and women, Modrak wears a Ranger pin and various military patches on his hat.

I figure that if I stay on this path, the entire trip will take about four months. That will put me into Fayetteville by the middle to end of September.

Eventually Modrak hopes to walk all the way to the Florida Keys, and perhaps catch a boat to another country.

Ive always been a little off kilter and an adrenaline junkie, he said. Im a skydiver and a motorcycle rider, but not a bungee jumper. With a parachute youve got two chances, but theres no backup chute with a bungee.

Before he lost his sight, Modraks profession often had him climbing smoke stacks that were from 150 to 1,000 feet tall.

He became an advocate for veterans causes during a motorcycle ride before his injury.

I took a long ride to visit one of the traveling Vietnam Wall memorials, he explained. And I saw a big, burly biker break down when he found his buddys name. He told me the story of how he died, and that started the wheels turning.

Veterans and the disabled are not his only causes. Modrak is letting his hair grow during his trek, so he can donate it at the end his journey to Locks of Love which makes wigs for cancer victims.

To comment:

dmcdonough@hearstnp.com

806.296.1353
Well, I am starting a Wall of Shame for people who show that they have no clue about plants in general. I will be totally fair and I'm not going to expect ...

12 years ago
KINCAID, Ill.  Sharon Stivers mustered a smile as a visitor walked into her muddy yard.



Welcome to my flood sale, Stivers joked, nodding to a tall stack of water-soaked furniture, appliances and belongings pulled from her home and piled high by the road in the flat central Illinois town of Kincaid. You can have the whole thing for 50 cents.



The Mississippi River and most other waterways in Missouri and Illinois flooded last week after 10-14 inches of rain fell over a wide swath of the two states. The water receded in most places Sunday but continued to rise in a few. Cleanup and damage assessment was only beginning, and could take weeks.



Twenty-five deaths in the two states were blamed on flooding, nearly all of them the result of vehicles driving over flooded roadways. The death toll rose Sunday when the body of a second teenager missing for several days was found near Kincaid, a town of about 1,400 residents along the South Fork Sangamon River near Springfield.



The Mississippi River was receding except in the far southern tip of both states. After that, flooding is expected to worsen in Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee and other southern states, though the breadth of the flooding there isnt expected to match what happened in Missouri and Illinois.



The Meramec River, the St. Louis-area tributary of the Mississippi that caused so much damage last week, already was below flood stage in the hard-hit Missouri towns of Pacific and Eureka and dropping elsewhere, just three days after reaching record levels. The worst was still to come along the Illinois River, where near-record crests are expected early this week in the Illinois towns of Beardstown, Meredosia and Valley City.



Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner toured flood-damaged homes in Kincaid and urged residents to be careful, noting the rare cold-weather flood carries its own burdens, including the prospect of hypothermia for those wading into water.



Stivers and many of her neighbors spent Sunday removing ruined items from their homes and placing them along the street for trash crews to pick up. Stivers shares a home with a 45-year-old daughter battling breast cancer, along with a granddaughter and four dogs. Floodwaters got 4 feet into their home, located in an area where flood insurance wasnt available.



I lost my home, Stivers said. My daughter has cancer and lost her home. Am I mad? When Im not crying I am.



In Illinois St. Clair County near St. Louis, emergency management director Herb Simmons said damage assessment began Sunday after the Mississippi started to fall. Though water reached higher than 1993, this flood wasnt as bad, Simmons said.



In 93 that water came up and stayed on the levees for several months, Simmons said. This flood came up quick and went down quick.



St. Louis-area cleanup largely was focused around the Meramec. Two wastewater treatment plants were so damaged by the floodwaters that raw sewage spewed into the river. Hundreds of people who had been evacuated in the Missouri communities of Pacific, Eureka, Valley Park and Arnold were cleaning up the mess and filth left behind.



In southeast Missouri, up to 30 homes and several businesses were damaged in Cape Girardeau, a community of nearly 40,000 residents that is mostly protected by a flood wall. The Mississippi peaked at 48.9 feet Friday night, four-tenths of a foot above the 1993 record, but short of the 50-foot mark projected. Nearby levee breaks and toppings in other places kept the crest down.



Amtrak service between St. Louis and Kansas City was back in business on Sunday, four days after high water that reached the tracks at some locations forced the passenger service to be halted.







Suhr reported from Kansas City, Mo. Associated Press Don Babwin contributed to this report from Chicago.






TEHRAN, Iran  Saudi Arabia has severed diplomatic ties with regional rival Iran following attacks on the kingdoms embassy and consulate in the Islamic Republic over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.



Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the cut in relations late on Sunday and gave Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country. All Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran have been called home after an attack on the kingdoms embassy in Tehran and a consulate.



The decision came after the mass execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others  the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades  laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region. Shiite protesters took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan while Arab allies of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia quickly lined up behind the kingdom.



The standoff illustrates the kingdoms new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shiite power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.



It also represents just the latest turmoil in the two countries long-rocky relationship, which saw diplomatic ties between them severed from 1988 to 1991.



Irans supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saudi Arabia on Sunday of divine revenge over al-Nimrs death, while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting terrorism in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the U.S. and the European Union sought to calm the region.



Al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that the Iranian regime has a long record of violations of foreign diplomatic missions, dating back to the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in 1979, and such incidents constitute a flagrant violation of all international agreements, according to the official Saudi Press Agency.



He said Irans hostile policy was aimed at destabilizing the regions security, accusing Tehran of smuggling weapons and explosives and planting terrorist cells in the kingdom and other countries in the region. He vowed that Saudi Arabia will not allow Iran to undermine our security.



Al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabias Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.



While the split between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the early days of Islam and disagreements over the successor to the Prophet Muhammad, those divisions have only grown as they intertwine with regional politics, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia vying to be the Mideasts top power.



Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Irans backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran also has backed Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Houthis.



In Tehran, a protest outside the Saudi Embassy early Sunday quickly grew violent as protesters threw stones and gasoline bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building ablaze, according to Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, the countrys top police official, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.



Forty people were arrested and investigators were pursuing other suspects, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.



Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabias execution of al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as extremists.



It is unjustifiable, he said in a statement. Another Saudi diplomatic mission also was attacked in Mashhad.



Western powers sought to calm the tensions.



In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration was aware of the Saudis severing of ties with Tehran. We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions, Kirby said.



Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats, according to a statement.



The disruption in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and others spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the civil war. Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin in mid-January.



Across the region, demonstrators took to the streets Sunday in protest over the execution of al-Nimr.



In Bahrain, police fired tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators on Sitra Island, south of the capital, Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabias ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrains ruling Al Khalifa family.



In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called al-Nimr the martyr, the holy warrior, while protests erupted from Turkey to India to Pakistan.



Meanwhile, al-Nimrs family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya village in the kingdoms al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikhs brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.



Early Monday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said a shooting targeting security forces in the village killed a man and wounded a child. It offered no motive for the attack.







Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press Abdullah al-Shihri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, contributed to this report.






The Business Side of Green Blog is where Peter Arpin gets to interact with the community on an ongoing basis. Here, Peter will share his thoughts and ideas when it comes to helping our community move towards a more sustainable future. Peter is also looking for your ideas and thoughts to promote and share through the Arpin Broadcast Network and its affiliates, Arpin Group, Arpin Van Lines and Arpin International Group.
Jourdanton had the lowest crime rate among cities, towns and suburbs in the San Antonio-New Braunfels metropolitan area in 2014, according to the FBI.

The town, home to about 4,175 residents that year, reported 10 crime incidents total for the entire year, according to the FBI's annual Uniform Crime Report.
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A former boot-camp instructor pleaded guilty Thursday to having illicit relationships with two women in technical training and received a 100-day jail sentence, but he'll stay in the Air Force.

A military judge, Lt. Col. Matthew Van Dalen, found Staff Sgt. Christopher Jackson guilty of having sex with two women trainees and telling one to lie if investigators asked about them.

Prosecutors sought a sentence of six months in jail and a bad-conduct discharge, while Jackson's defense attorney sought mercy, and a chance for him to remain in the Air Force.

In addition to spending a little more than three months in jail, Jackson, 29, will do 30 days' hard labor at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, be reduced in rank to airman first class and forfeit $1,500 in pay.These are poor decisions that I made, and I'm ready to accept the consequences of my actions, Jackson, a 10-year veteran, said through tears during a lengthy statement.

One of 30 basic training instructors at Lackland to be investigated for misconduct with 56 female recruits, Jackson initially faced 13 years' confinement in a general court-martial.

The Air Force charged him with having unprofessional relationships with two women, engaging in sex with them and obstruction, but chose to try him under a special court-martial, which limits jail time to one year.

Jackson also admitted to violating Air Force rules prohibiting relationships like the ones he had with the women, who he met in basic training.

Defense attorney Capt. Matthew Deacon sought to portray his client as a standup NCO who worked long hours, received awards and earned respect from others.

Deacon said one Air Force colonel wrote that Jackson didn't make excuses when confronted with what he did.

Another colonel described Jackson as an excellent candidate for rehabilitation, Deacon told the court, adding that his client's ex-wife called him a strong father, and a pastor described the NCO as a man of great character and integrity.

But in her closing argument, prosecutor Capt. Anna Rehder said Jackson was a bad airman, not just a wayward training instructor. Rehder said he merited the punishment because he couldn't follow orders, which are given to recruits on their first day of training.

This is a crime against the Air Force, she said. The women he was involved with don't think they're victims and we're not calling them victims. The Air Force lost in this case.

Both women testified they had relationships with Jackson, who was a basic training instructor until a fellow NCO turned him in.

Peter Vega Maldonado, who was busted to airman and given a light sentence in a plea deal, tipped authorities in other cases as well. He could testify in as many as seven cases.

Vega Maldonado, who revealed he had illicit relationships with 10 women in technical training, got a similar sentence and was allowed to stay in the Air Force.

Lt. Col. Mark Hoover, a lawyer with the Air Force's training command, said commanders may still remove Jackson.

That's a decision that's going to have to be made later, he said.

Jackson had sex with the women while they were in technical training schools at Lackland and Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston. They started with Facebook and text messages but later turned sexual.

He's my friend, and he's still going to be my friend after all this is over, one of the women said Thursday.

A key question in the case turned on whether recollections over text messages exchanged between Jackson and a woman identified as Individual 2 were enough to show he sought to obstruct justice.

One text message asked if I knew what was going on, the woman testified, adding that another said, 'If anyone asks, you don't know me, you don't know anything.'

In his statement, Jackson expressed regret for placing the woman in that situation.

He also told the judge, who heard the case, rather than a jury, that his decision to plead guilty to having had the illicit relationships was the most public apology I could make.

sigc@express-news.net
This year, start building a one-of-a-kind bar with small-batch spirits that stand out from the rest. At Total Wine & More, were constantly on the hunt for unique spirits from small distilleries, so we can introduce you to the best products youve never heard of. Were especially proud of our extensive selection of small-batch Bourbons.

The recipe for Basil Hayden 8 Year-Old dates back to 1796, when Master Distiller Basil Hayden decided to blaze a new trail in Bourbon production by mixing a higher percentage of rye into the corn-based mash. This new recipe gave birth to an extraordinarily smooth spirit with a spicy, warming finish and an inviting flavor profile that includes hints of peppermint, pepper and citrus. More than 200 years after its creation, this Basil Hayden whiskey is still inspiring rave reviews, walking away with a silver medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.
A while ago I was reading a report based on polling done in Scotland related to peoples perception of Christianity. It was revealing. One of the questions allowed respondents to choose phrases that described the church today. Here are the descriptions chosen by many: not relevant to life; offers no hope for the future; not compatible with science; judgmental; out of touch with reality and hypocritical. Now this study was done in Scotland and Scotland may be a bit further down the post-Christian road than Canada is, but maybe not.

Sadly, all these describe a religious institution that has come to a state in which it fails to address human spirituality. Spirituality is the human longings to find meaning in life; to have real connections to oneself, others, the world and the divine; to have hope and faith in an uncertain world and to be part of something bigger than oneself.

Words lose their meaning if they are used carelessly. This is the case with the word Christian. It has become a vague religious category that eludes definition. Years ago Beyonce, the hip hop, rhythm and blues and pop super star was asked about the incompatibility of the way she dresses and the lyrics she sings and her claim to be a Christian. Her unapologetic response: When I perform I am acting, my public persona is an act, it is not the real me. Actor is precisely what the word hypocrite means. For so many years, in so many places, so many people for so many reasons have wanted to identify themselves as Christian without committing to the relationship and lifestyle that being a Christ follower requires. This is hardly legitimate.

At the root of human spirituality is the importance of integrity. If you are a Buddhist, be one. If you are an Atheist, be one. If you are a Mormon, be one. If you are a Muslim, be one. If you are a Christian, be one. But few people are what they identify themselves to be. We wear labels for lots of reasons, most of the time the reason has little to do with integrity. But labels are just labels, they can be worn with little or no intention to speak to the reality of our lives.

However, as old age sets in and death nears, labels fail us. It is easy to pretend when pretense has no apparent consequence. But come to the end of lifes road and see death on the near horizon and pretense fails us. As old age approaches, integrity becomes more important, for many it becomes easier; some believe that authenticity is the right of the old and dying. It should be the passion of all of us.

Who are we? What labels do we where? Why do we wear them? Are we even concerned that the label be a description of our real self? It takes so much energy to be an actor (hypocrite). Some people are physically and emotionally exhausted playing the roles of their lives, so tired that they lose their souls in the roles. Being honest with ourselves about who we are, about what we believe and being unapologetic about it is liberating.

Christian was never intended to be a role we play. Jesus was extremely hard on role players. Christian was never a word that was intended to describe a religion. It was first used to describe men and women who chose to become followers of the living Christ, guided by his teachings and example. Playing the Christian role is alienating and destructive, but being a genuine Christ follower is liberating and enables us to face lifes most difficult realities. The person playing the role fears old age and death; but the genuine Christ follower is able to face the end of life and death knowing that God is with them.
Posted on 01/04/2016, 8:33 am, by Farmscape.Ca

The general manager of Manitoba Pork is encouraging anyone considering building a new hog barn to contact the organization for assistance in navigating the permitting process.

DGH Engineering has prepared a detailed budget estimate on behalf of Manitoba Pork, to construct new hog finisher facilities under current market conditions, using typical 2,000 and 4,000 head finisher barns as models.

Manitoba Pork general manager Andrew Dickson says the documents provide producers a starting point from which they can estimate the real cost of building a hog barn.

The engineering firm took 2 standard designs and proceeded to do materials estimates for the lumber, the concrete, the rebar, the penning, the waterers, the electrical supply, machinery, site preparation, power supply, the construction of the manure storage facility, the plumbing, graveling and so on, that would be required to build these 2 types of barns. We didnt ask them to look at innovative penning layouts or anything like that.

We wanted to use a standard design and then do detailed cost estimates by going and talking to the potential suppliers of these materials and then applying the normal discounts you would have for a commercial business and allow for contingencies in case of cost overruns and also the usual fees that go with requiring a professional engineer to do the design work, preparation of documents for the planning process through municipalities and the licensing requirements that will be required by the province with Manitoba Conservation, with the Office of the Fire Commissioner for the building permit and with Manitoba Hydro.

Dickson notes the documents have been posted to Manitoba Porks web site and he encourages anyone interested in constructing a new barn to contact Manitoba Pork for information and assistance in working through the permitting process.
Posted on 01/04/2016, 1:30 pm, by mySteinbach

The Manitoba government will donate three ambulances to the humanitarian Ambulances for Ukraine project.

Manitobans have a special bond with the people of Ukraine and we stand with them during this crisis and in their time of need, said Premier Selinger. The ambulance project is a practical way Canadians, and in particular, the Ukrainian Canadian community, can help.

The premier added the Ukrainian Canadian Congress  Manitoba Provincial Council is contributing a fourth ambulance to the project. The ambulances are less than eight years old and have had recent safety inspections. The province is investing approximately $40,000 to make any needed repairs to ensure the ambulances are roadworthy and reliable when put into service in Ukraine.

We are grateful to the government and people of Manitoba for their generous gift of three ambulances, which will be used to save lives in Ukraine, said Paul Grod, national president, Ukrainian Canadian Congress. Manitobans continue to be generous in their support of the people of Ukraine  two years ago as they fought for human dignity against an authoritarian president and today as they defend their families from Russias invasion and ongoing war against the Ukrainian people.

The premier noted the Ambulances for Ukraine project will deploy this equipment to front-line medical and health-care workers in Ukraine.

The Ambulances for Ukraine project was one of the first priority projects featured by the Ukraine Appeal, an initiative to focus the support of the Ukrainian Canadian community on the critical needs in Ukraine, said John Holuk, project manager, Ambulances for Ukraine project, and member, co-ordinating council, Ukrainian Canadian Congress Ukraine Appeal. While the first phase of the project was focused on providing care to the numerous victims of the conflict in the east, the second phase will expand the focus to meet the needs highlighted by the United Nations and World Health Organization where the continuing conflict has deprived many communities access to basic medical care.

Ambulances previously donated by emergency services in Saskatchewan and Alberta have been delivered to hospitals treating the wounded from conflict zones and have already made more than 100 trips to care for or transfer the wounded, the premier noted.

There are many close ties between Manitoba and Ukraine, and Im pleased were able to provide help and support to people living in the conflict area, said the premier.

In August 2015, the province announced it would invest more than $6.2 million to purchase 52 replacement ambulances in the province to ensure the comfort and safety of patients.
Let it be light between us,brothers and sisters from the Earth.Let it be love between all living beings on this

Galaxy.Let it be peace between all various races and species.We love you infinitely.

I am SaLuSa from Sirius

Channel:Laura/Multidimensional Ocean

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:Laura/Multidimensional Ocean
Private equity clearly has more money than it can deploy sensibly.

One sign was its enthusiasm for energy plays. Its hard to imagine an investment more out of synch with the classic private equity formula of steady cash flows and solid customer franchises. Fracking, one of PEs recent targets, is highly capital intensive, and the sellers are at the mercy of price swings in a highly volatile end market.

Apparently the private equity crowd fell for the sales pitch of the oil & gas crowd, and convinced themselves that energy prices had nowhere to go but up. Oops.

Similarly, some private equity firms seem to have believed the China hype, that the emerging superpowers trajectory was inevitable Yet as weve stressed, no major economy has made a smooth transition from being export-led to consumer-driven. And for those who were watching China, there were signs in addition to the commodity price declines that all was not well. For instance, about 24 months ago, imports of almonds, a favorite of the emerging middle classes in China, fell abruptly, a sign of consumer retrenchment.

The Financial Times discuses today how charter prices have collapsed, particularly for dry bulk ships, and the Baltic Dry index is at the lowest level since it started to be published, in 1985. Needless to say, the news of the day, that manufacturing indexes in China have weakened for the 10th straight months. Stock prices fell over 7%, enough to trigger a trading halt for the balance of the day under new circuit breaker rules.

Mind you, even by the standards of the highly cyclical shipping business, the current state of affairs is dire. From the Financial Times:

Chinas slowing growth and a glut of ships have hit earnings for vessels carrying coal and other dry bulk commodities so hard that owners face forced sales, emergency capital raisings and possible bankruptcy. Charter fees are not covering vessels operating costs, let alone their financing, in the latest bad news for the many private equity firms that have invested in the sector. Short-term charter rates for Capesize ships  the largest kind  were as low as $4,897 a day on December 23, down from more than $20,000 a day in August. Vessels typically cost around $13,000 a day to operate and finance.

And private equity made this debacle even worse than it had to be by adding to capacity at the peak:

The slide partly reflected growth in the dry bulk fleet as vessels ordered in late 2013 and early 2014, many with private equity funding, were delivered. The net capacity of the world dry bulk fleet grew 3 per cent in the first 10 months of 2015, despite a spike in the number of older vessels being scrapped following the slump in rates.

And it was not as if this problem was not foreseeable. The Financial Times warned early last year that the private equity strategy was wrongheaded, that if it were to invest in tankers at all, investing in older ones rather than new capacity would have been sounder. Since the shipping industry is not a major beat for the pink paper, its not hard to imagine that insiders had been giving warnings privately even earlier. From the 2015 story:

One of Greeces highest-profile shipowners has warned private equity firms they risk destroying markets if they continue to finance new vessels, after excessive deliveries have driven down cargo rates. Private equity, which until the past few years was only a minor contributor to shipping finance, has invested at least $5bn in shipping every year since 2010 and funded about 10 per cent of deals. The cash rescued many companies after the collapse in rates and banks growing caution towards shipping lending after the financial crisis. However, much of the new capital was used to order new vessels at cut rates from desperate shipyards, rather than buying existing vessels from other shipowners.

And as the new story details, low oil prices have further whacked charter rates by reducing transit times and hence lease terms:

The crisis has been made worse by the low oil price. As the price of fuel has fallen, charterers have ordered many shipowners to speed ships up instead of operating them slowly to save fuel. Michael Bodouroglou, chief executive of Paragon Shipping, an Athens-based, New York-listed dry bulk shipowner, said the increased speed was making the oversupply problem worse by increasing the fleets carrying capacity.

Conditions are so lousy that major players, including public companies, are selling ships at distressed prices to raise cash. Monarch Alternative Capital and Oak Tree Capital have large stakes in two of the public companies that are under duress. And given that these deals were levered, you can expect the related debt, which probably at least in part wound up in private equity credit funds, will also show losses.

Mind you, these tanker losses are chump change in term of the total capital deployed by the private equity industry. But the fact that the funds invested on a continued basis, as opposed to a brief fling at bottom-fishing, strongly points to underestimation of the risks (as in a naive belief that they could rise a rising market and get out in time) or sheer cynicism (private equity makes money whether the deals work out or not). And more broadly, as the peak multiples paid in 2015 attest, it also shows too much money chasing too few deals can lead to a remarkable ability to rationalize questionable investments.
By Roy Poses, MD, Clinical Associate Professor of Medicine at Brown University, and the President of FIRM  the Foundation for Integrity and Responsibility in Medicine. Cross posted from the Health Care Renewal website

As I have written before as a physician who saw too many dire results of intravenous drug abuse, I was amazed how narcotics were pushed as the treatment of choice for chronic pain in the 1990s, with the result that the US was once again engulfed in an epidemic of narcotic abuse and its effects. In mid-December, 2015, as reported in the Washington Post,

The nation continues to suffer through a widespread epidemic to prescription opioids and their illegal cousin, heroin. The CDC estimated that 20 percent of patients who complain about acute or chronic pain that is not from cancer are prescribed opioids. Health-care providers wrote 259 million prescriptions for the medications in 2012, enough for every adult in the United States to have a bottle of pills, the CDC wrote. Last week, the National Center for Health Statistics reported that the number of overdose deaths from legal opioid drugs surged by 16.3 percent in 2014, to 18,893, while overdose fatalities from heroin climbed by 28 percent, to 10,574. Authorities have said that previous efforts to restrict prescription drug abuse have forced some people with addictions to the medications onto heroin, which is cheaper and widely available.

This rising tide of death and morbidity seems to have been fueled by reckless, sometimes deceptive, sometimes illegal marketing by the pharmaceutical companies that produced narcotics other than heroin.

Background  Legal Drug Pushing

As I wrote in 2013,

the realization began to dawn that patients, doctors and society were being victimized by a new type of pusher man, this time dressed in a suit and working for an ethical drug company. In the earlier days of Health Care Renewal, we first posted (in 2006) about allegations of deceptive and unethical promotion of fentanyl by Cephalon that lead to its overuse by patients beyond those with cancer who were its ostensible target population. Then in 2007 came the spectacular case of guilty pleas by a subsidiary of Purdue Pharma and several of its executives for misbranding Oxycontin, that is, promoting it far beyond any medically legitimate use in severe chronic pain. Following that various investigations, well chronicled in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, showed how pharmaceutical companies employed deceptive marketing techniques, subverting medical education and research, and creating conflicted key opinion leaders and institutionally conflicted disease advocacy groups, to push more legal narcotics For example, see the Journal Sentinel reports the subversion of : medical schools and their faculty; .medical societies, disease advocacy groups, and foundations; and guideline writing panels. In 2012, we posted about how a drug company paid key opinion leader admitted to second thoughts about his role promoting narcotics.

As I described in that 2012 post, the new narcotic pushers relied on only the most sketchy evidence about the safety of prescription narcotics. In the 1990s, they taught that the rate of addiction caused by prescribing legal narcotics was only 1%, but this was based on a tiny flawed case series of a mere 38 patients. In 1996, a consensus statement from the American Academy of Pain Medicine and the American Pain Society, entitled The Use of Opioids for the Treatment of Chronic Pain, included the following statements,

Pain is often managed inadequately, despite the ready availability of safe and effective treatments. Studies indicate that the de novo development of addiction when opioids are used for the relief of pain is low.

Yet one of the primary proponents of profligate use of narcotics to treat chronic pain later admitted he

erred by overstating the drugs benefits and glossing over risks. Did I teach about pain management, specifically about opioid therapy, in a way that reflects misinformation? Well, against the standards of 2012, I guess I did, Dr. Portenoy said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. We didnt know then what we know now.

Also,

I gave innumerable lectures in the late 1980s and 90s about addiction that werent true, Dr. Portenoy said in a 2010 videotaped interview with a fellow doctor. The Journal reviewed the conversation, much of which is previously unpublished. In it, Dr. Portenoy said it was quite scary to think how the growth in opioid prescribing driven by people like him had contributed to soaring rates of addiction and overdose deaths. Clearly, if I had an inkling of what I know now then, I wouldnt have spoken in the way that I spoke. It was clearly the wrong thing to do, Dr. Portenoy said in the recording.

The CDC Attempts to Moderate the Use of Opioids for Chronic Pain

So to me it seems quite reasonable the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), being cognizant of the rising toll of narcotic addiction, would attempt to do something about it. As reported by the Washington Post,

The government on Monday urged primary-care physicians who prescribe opioids for pain relief to rein in their use of the drugs, proposing new guidelines that call for a more conservative approach than the one that has led to a crippling epidemic of addiction to the powerful narcotics. Just a few days after a new report showed a surge of drug-related overdoses in 2014, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggested in draft recommendations that physicians tackle chronic pain with other methods, such as physical therapy and non-opioid analgesics, before turning to the powerful medications. If opioids, such as OxyContin and Percocet, are necessary, the agency recommended short-acting versions over extended release formulations, the lowest possible dose and short-term prescriptions. It also suggested that doctors ask patients to take urine tests before prescribing opioids and additional urine tests at least once a year if they continue on the drugs, to ensure that they arent secretly taking other opioids or illegal drugs. What we want to just make sure is that doctors understand that starting a patient on an opiate is a momentous decision, said CDC director Tom Frieden. The risks are addiction and death, and the benefits are unproven.

Based on the events since they 1990s, the lack of clear data from well performed randomized controlled trials of the effectiveness of opioids in chronic pain, and their obvious, known risks, that seems like common sense to me.

The Strong but Obscure Opposition to the CDC Guidelines

However,others disagreed. The guidelines attracted immediate opposition, for reasons that were not immediately obvious. Four days after the Post article, the Associated Press reported that the guidelines were in big trouble,

A bold federal effort to curb prescribing of painkillers may be faltering amid stiff resistance from drugmakers, industry-funded groups and, now, even other public health officials.

Also,

Critics complained the CDC guidelines went too far and had mostly been written behind closed doors. One group threatened to sue. Then earlier this month, officials from the FDA and other health agencies at a meeting of pain experts bashed the guidelines as shortsighted, relying on low-quality evidence. They said they planned to file a formal complaint. The CDC a week later abandoned its January target date, instead opening the guidelines to public comment for 30 days and additional changes. Anti-addiction activists worry the delay could scuttle the guidelines entirely.

This, however, did not make much sense. I repeat, the evidence that narcotics are effective for chronic pain other than that due to terminal cancer is very weak. The evidence that opioids have multiple side effects, some fatal, and can cause addiction, which has more side effects, and bad societal consequences, is strong. So the evidence that narcotics have benefits that are worth their harms, both to individuals and society, in this setting is essentially non-existent. So why did these guidelines go too far? Why invoke low quality evidence, when the evidence that is low quality is about the benefits of the drugs? Who should be sued? Furthermore, why did the CDC cave in so readily to these critics?

The AP noted,

But industry-funded groups like the U.S. Pain Foundation and the American Academy of Pain Management warn that the CDC guidelines could block patient access to medications if adopted by state health systems, insurers and hospitals.

Of course they could reduce access. The whole point of the guidelines is to reduce access. But who would want more access to medicines that do more harm than good?

Then there was the issue of just who it was who opposed the guidelines. Much of the opposition seemed to come from rather obscure organizations with authoritative names. Some of the opposition was chronicled by equally obscure, apparently journalistic organizations. (From now on, I will highlight these mysterious organizations by using bold, italic text in this color.) For example, according to the Washington Post, Many of the patient and physician groups opposing the CDC guidelines are part of a larger coalition called the Pain Care Forum, which meets monthly in Washington to strategize on pain issues. Officials from the White House, the FDA, NIH and other agencies have met with the group over the years, according to documents obtained by The Associated Press under the Freedom of Information Act. The Pain Care Forum presents itself as a leaderless collective that does not take formal positions. But most members receive funding from drugmakers, including OxyContin-maker Purdue, whose chief lobbyist helped found the group and remains at its center.

The mission of the Pain Care Forum, its organizational nature (informal group, membership society, non-profit advocacy group, etc), its leadership, and its sources of funding were not entirely obvious from this article. But certainly the drift of the article was that the organization maybe represents pharmaceutical manufacturers, particularly the previously discredited Purdue Pharma (see above) more than others. So why not take what it says with many grains of salt.

But who threatened to sue? Which FDA officials chimed in, and why, given that the FDA does not have a mission that includes writing guidelines? That was not clear from the AP story.

My attempts to gain further clarity produced more mystification. A Medscape article also claimed that the opposition to the CDC guidelines included Dr James Madara, the Executive Vice-President and CEO of the American Medical Association, and some members of the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee [who] criticized the process, according to the Pain News Network. It was not clear whether Dr Madaras viewpoint had broad support in the AMA, which members of the Interagency Pain Research Coordinating Committee opposed the CDC guidelines, and whether this opposition was personal, or reflected the considered viewpoint of the committee. Furthermore, that committees purview does not obviously include clinical guideline development or public health, so why it was commenting on this issue was also unclear.

The Pain News Network story which apparently was the source used by the Medscape in turn referred to a Politico story, but one which is only available to subscribers. The Pain News Network also credited a survey by the Pain News Network and the Power of Pain Foundation.

The Medscape article said nothing more about the Pain News Network.which is not exactly a household word in health care journalism. The Pain News Network story did not give more detail about the Power of Pain Foundation, whose mission, nature, leadership, funding etc was not obvious.

The Pain News Network story also quoted the Washington Legal Foundations chief counsel.

The overly secretive manner in which CDC has been developing the Guideline serves the interests of neither the healthcare community nor consumers.

Similarly, the Washington Post article also credited the Washington Legal Foundations opposition to the CDC guidelines,

The Washington Legal Foundation, a public interest law firm dedicated to protecting the free enterprise system, accused the CDC of trying to formulate them secretly by failing to make public the work of its original advisory committee, the Core Expert Group. The CDC disputes that accusation, but issued the recommendations in draft form Monday and will have them reviewed by another advisory panel after receiving more comment over the next 30 days, Frieden said.

Yet, neither the Pain News Network nor the Post explained why a group supporting free enterprise was so concerned about this issue, or what expertise it might have in this area. It is ironic that a group that proclaims opposition to secrecy seems less than transparent about its involvement in this issue.

Finally, the nature of the Pain News Network, which claims to be a non-profit, independent news source, is also obscure. It appears to be one of those non-profits that has no physical address per its web page of contact information, does not disclose its sources of funding, and if it files US Internal Revenue Service 990 forms, I cannot find them.

The most detailed article I could find about the substance of the complaints about the CDC guidelines was in another obscure source, the Legal News Line. The article mostly described the concerns of

Peter Pitts, a former associate commissioner of external affairs at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and now president and co-founder of the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, can be counted among those critical of how the panel was put together.

Pitts main issue was that a member of the group that developed the CDC guidelines was biased. He said,

So you have to have as open of a mind as possible. And thats exactly where the CDC went wrong, Pitts said, pointing to Jane Ballantyne. Ballantyne served as a member of the CDCs Core Expert Group, which played a key role in developing the agencys opioid guidelines. Ballantyne, a retired professor of anesthesiology and pain medicine at the University of Washington, is a member of the International Association for the Study of Pain, or IASP, and last year was named president of the Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing, or PROP. PROPs mission, according to its website, is to reduce opioid-related morbidity and mortality by promoting cautious and responsible prescribing practices. Not only does she have strong opinions, but extra strong opinions  almost on the lunatic fringe  on pain medicine issues, Pitts said. For the CDC to say, were going to put someone who comes to the discussion with such preconceived notions on such a committee, you have to ask yourself, why? And then why was it hidden from the public?

The Legal New Lines example of supposed journalism did not apparently ask Pitts what was lunatic about wanting to promote cautious and responsible prescribing of opioids. That seems to me like common clinical sense, the opposite of insanity.

Also, Pitts complained that beyond this alleged bias, Dr Ballantyne had a conflict of interest,

Pitts noted Ballantynes connection to law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC  a plaintiffs law firm that is known for its class action lawsuits and has been hired by a number of state attorneys general in recent years, including some of those to whom it donated. Ballantyne reportedly disclosed her services as a paid consultant for Cohen Milstein to the CDC. The firm currently is helping to represent the City of Chicago in a lawsuit filed against a group of pharmaceutical companies over the marketing of opioid painkillers.

Note that in the first paragraph above, the writer apparently meant that the law firm donated to the campaigns of the attorney generals.

More importantly, why the apparent conflict of interest affecting a single member of a large group  the core expert group of which Dr Ballantyne sat included 17 people  was so important was not apparent from Mr Pitts argument. Mr Pitts did not explain how any sort of advisory group that included experts in the field could avoid people who already had strong opinions about that field. The Legal News Line article did not discuss Mr Pitts own background, or provide any information about the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest, which he leads.

I could not find reporting in major news outlets or medical/ health care scholarly publications about the opposition to the CDC guidelines beyond the stories in the Washington Post, AP, and Medscape, and a brief report in Modern Healthcare. I did find numerous articles on yet another little known website called the National Pain Report, (e.g. see this one).

So to summarize so far, the opposition to the new CDC opioid guidelines was apparently strong enough to delay, if not derail them. Yet who was in the opposition, their funding, and their interests remains obscure. The arguments of the opposition remain unclear. Even some of the purported journalists reporting on the opposition remain mysterious. There seems to be a tremendous amount of fog surrounding the opposition to more conservative prescribing of narcotics for non-cancerous chronic pain.

The Common Thread  Stealth Health Policy Advocacy

It was striking that much of the opposition seemed to come from rather mysterious organizations, the Pain Care Forum, Power of Pain Foundation, Washington Legal Foundation, and Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. However, the reporting on these organizations was minimal. Furthermore, some of the news sources reporting on the opposition to the CDC guidelines also were rather mysterious, such as the Pain News Network, National Pain Report, and Legal News Line.

One recent media article, and some of our previous blogging, though suggest that the opposition organizations all have ties to the pharmaceutical industry, and in several cases, directly to one of the major producers of legal opioids. On December 23, 2015, Lee Fang wrote in the Intercept by way of an introduction,

The pharmaceutical companies that manufacture and market OxyContin, Vicodin, and other highly addictive opioid painkillers  drugs that have fueled the epidemic of overdoses and heroin addiction  are funding nonprofit groups fighting furiously against efforts to reform how these drugs are prescribed.

In particular,

An investigation by The Intercept has found that the pharmaceutical companies that dominate the $9 billion a year opioid painkiller market have funded organizations attacking reform of the prescribing guidelines:

The Washington Legal Foundation, a nonprofit that litigates to defend free-market principles, threatened the CDC with legal action if the agency moved forward with the proposed opioid guidelines. The WLG claimed the CDCs advisory panel for the guidelines lacked fair ideological balance, because it included a doctor who is part of an advocacy effort against opioid addiction. The WLF does not disclose donor information, but has filed friend-of-the-court briefs on behalf of Purdue Pharma, the makers of OxyContin. In a recent article with Pain News Network, a spokesperson for Purdue Pharma conceded: Were long-standing supporters of WLF, in addition to several other business and legal organizations. Weve provided them with unrestricted grants.

The Pain Care Forum organized opposition to the CDC prescribing guidelines, mobilizing regular meetings among stakeholders opposed to the idea, according to an investigation by AP reporter Matthew Perrone. A recently re-filed complaint by the City of Chicago found that Burt Rosen, the chief in-house lobbyist for Purdue Pharma, controls the Pain Care Forum. A former drug company employee allegedly told investigators that Rosen tells the Pain Care Forum what to do and how we do it. The Pain Care Forum is funded through contributions by

Purdue Pharma, as well as major opioid manufacturers Cephalon, Endo, and Janssen, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

The Power of Pain Foundation, a group funded by Purdue Pharma, asked supporters to contact the CDC in opposition to the guidelines, claiming that taking away pain medication and making providers afraid to prescribe due to your guidelines is only going to make more abusers, increase suicides, and tear apart the lives of millions.

Fang also noted that the Legal News Line, the source of the story documenting Peter Pitts problems with the CDC guidelines, also is tied to the pharmaceutical industry:

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a corporate lobbying group that represents opioid manufacturers, including Johnson & Johnson, issued a press release masquerading as a news story [published by the Legal News Line] criticizing the CDC guidelines. (The U.S. Chamber operates a public relations effort dressed up as a bona fide media outlet called Legal Newsline, which it uses to disseminate stories that support the political priorities of its member companies.)

In addition, on Health Care Renewal we have previously discussed the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest. Back in 2008, we noted that when writing for the New York Times, Mr Pitts had to disclose that the Center for Medicine in the Public Interest receives pharmaceutical industry funding, including from Pfizer and the PhRMA. At that time, Mr Pitts day job was Senior Vice President for Global Health Affairs at the big public relations firm Manning, Selvage and Lee. Manning, Selvege and Lee had many big pharmaceutical accounts Since then, he moved on to become director for global healthcare at Porter Novelli, also a public relations/ communications company with many health care corporate clients, including pharmaceutical companies, and now appears to be a consultant in the life sciences area for YourEncore. I cannot find any updated information on current Center for Medicine in the Public Interest funding, but there is no reason to think that it is not still funded by the pharmaceutical industry.

Mr Pitts published objections to the CDC guidelines had to do with the supposed bias and conflicts of interests of a single member of the guideline expert panel, and the alleged lack of transparency of the guideline project. Yet Mr Pitts was not very transparent about his own background, and his and his organizations financial interests. For Mr Pitts to condemn the guideline panel members conflict while hiding his own conflict amounts to a garish example of the logical fallacy of special pleading. Similarly, the Washington Legal Foundations objections to the alleged biases of the guideline panel, given that foundation is apparently funded by Purdue Pharma, is another garish example of the same logical fallacy.

On the other hand, the Pain News Network and the National Pain Report remain obscure. The former claims to be a non-profit organization, but I cannot find its federal 990 filing, identify its board of trustees, or even determine its physical address. It does claim an affiliation with the Power of Pain Foundation. The National Pain Report at least has a physical address, which it shares with the equally obscure American News Report. Other details, like its ownership, remain obscure. The failure of supposedly journalistic organizations to publicly reveal basic information about their nature and operations does raise suspicions that they are not really so journalistic.

Summary

In summary, the organizations most widely mentioned as opposing the new CDC guidelines that recommend more conservative use of opioids for chronic pain seem to be heavily involved with the pharmaceutical companies that make such opioids. Thus, the opposition to the guidelines seems to be arising from a stealth public relations campaign leading to stealth health policy advocacy. Furthermore, at least so far, the objections to the guidelines do not seem clearly based on logic and good evidence from clinical research, again suggesting they are more about financial interests than improving patient outcomes and reducing risks.

Overuse and misuse of opioids, which may lead to all the individual and social consequences of opioid addiction, are clearly major, worsening medical and public health issues. We need earnest effort to address these problems, which should be informed by a logical, evidence-based discussion of the clinical and social realities. Such a discussion is only hindered by the growing fog of objections launched by mysterious organizations funded by the companies who have made the most money selling narcotics. So we also need some societal response to the growing domination of the public debate by marketing and public relations, often based on emotional manipulation, logical fallacies, and outright deception.

We cannot address our worsening health care dysfunction when public discussion and policy making blunders about in the fog of stealth health policy advocacy, stealth lobbying, and stealth marketing. If the leaders of big health care corporations really believe they are making good products and providing good services that add value and improve patients and the publics health, they ought to be able to rely on honest and open communications. If they cannot disavow stealth public relations and stealth marketing, we ought to disavow the companies that practice them.
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WASHINGTON  The old admonition about not messing with Texas (expand that to Texans) has become more a reality than ever. If you should happen to be visiting the Lone Star State be careful who you bump into ... literally, that is. He or she might take offense.

At the very time the nation is finally waking up to the dangers of unfettered gun distribution and President Barack Obama is looking for ways to take executive action, the wannabe buckeroos of the Wild West (mainly Republican legislators) have overturned an 1871 Texas state law prohibiting the open carry of firearms. Now, it seems, it takes less time to get through security at the state capitol if you're displaying your six shooters to 9 mm semi-automatics or whatever poison you choose. The unarmed "greenhorns" stand in long lines to go through the metal detectors.

When Obama revealed in a New Year's radio broadcast that he was going to talk to his attorney general about what legal steps he could take without congressional interference to slow down American gun deaths now equal to those in auto accidents, the Texas governor issued a retaliatory tweet that sounded more like an offer for the president to meet him in the street  probably at sundown  than just a political taunt.

"Obama wants to impose more gun control. My response? COME&TAKE IT," Republican Gov. Greg Abbot wrote in a "draw, pardner" demand that seems more than a little out of line.

However, there are those out there attempting to work in the middle of the current controversy with sensible compromises that preserve Second Amendment principles while taking steps to protect the rights and safety of all citizens, including those who don't want to bear arms, if there are any left. Believe it or not the groups for sane solutions include the American Firearms Retailers Association and Evolve, whose aim is to reduce accidental loss of life by promoting gun safety including controversial gun locks and other procedures opposed by gun advocates. AFRA is made up of federally licensed gun dealers and Evolve is a privately funded group which counsels that while owning a gun may be a right, "it doesn't give one a right to be a dumbass."

These groups and others represent "the silent majority" of Americans who believe background checks should be expanded to gun show and Internet sellers and require their licensing, a step Obama reportedly believes can be taken legally through his own order. Expanding background checks is favored by 89 percent of Americans, according to recent polls. Despite its popularity, Obama's efforts to accomplish broadening the background policy through legislation failed in the Senate, mainly because of four votes from members of his own Democratic Party.

The president's efforts have been lagging since that vote until recently when the nation was shocked by a mass murder in San Bernardino, California, by those claiming allegiance to the Islamic State terrorist organization, or ISIS.

The so-called "middle grounders" are in sharp contrast to the fringe operators on the left and right of the gun debate, those who would ban all guns and lobbyists for no laws. The National Rifle Association and the National Shooting Sport Foundation, both mouthpieces for the gun manufacturers, continue their unrelenting opposition to any effort on either state or national levels that restrict the distribution of weapons and ammunition. They argue that the Second Amendment comes without qualification and requires absolute fealty to uninhibited possession anywhere in any venue.

A spokesman for AFRA said it was dedicated to showing there is a middle ground that gets things accomplished by avoiding the extremes on both sides. Legitimate gun dealers, he argued, don't oppose sensible measures but are small business men who get jumped on from all directions when a disaster occurs.

"The ATF targets them, the NSSF ignores them and gun manufacturers continually place them at risk with poorly marked serial numbers and so forth. Many are family-owned businesses (which) work hard to prevent guns from landing in the wrong hands. They get little support."

The action in Texas shows that the "safe and sane" elements have an uphill fight. Surveys show that gun sales surged after San Bernardino and that 50 percent of Americans believe encouraging legal gun carrying is a better reaction to terrorists than new laws. As I said, don't mess with Texas.
Kayakers follow a trail through the estuary. Rookery Bay offers kayak tours through the mangrove tunnels and islands to learn more about our "backyard." Lance Shearer/Eagle Correspondent

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1. Friday: Women's Winter Bible Study Seminar and Luncheon

Marco Presbyterian Church kicks off their Women's Winter Bible Study with a seminar and luncheon on Friday, Jan. 8; registration begins at 9:30 a.m., seminar at 10 with lunch following.

Keynote speaker Jennifer VanderGalien will share how God rescued her from her addictions and how He continues to work in her life. VanderGalien now spends much of each year in Tanzania and supports the women in Shining A Light ministry, a training program that she founded. The ministry both educates women and trains them in the art of sandal-making enabling them to become self-supporting.

The women's Winter Bible Study, featuring Jen Wilkin's "Sermon on the Mount" begins 9:30 a.m., Jan. 15 and will continue every Friday until March 11. The sermon given to Jesus' disciples early in His ministry articulates what the life of a Christ-follower would look like. Both practical and profound, the sermon explores the nature of true righteousness and asks of us today the same questions it posed to its original hearers. How should one relate to sin, to others and to the law? All women are invited.

The church is located at 875 West Elkcam Circle, Marco Island. For advance registration go to the website: marcochurch.com.

Advance registration: marcochurch.com.

2. Wednesday: Marco Island Farmers Market

Every Wednesday through April, at Veterans Community Park, local Southwest Florida vendors will be selling home good items and crafts including: fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods, salsa, sauces, fresh flowers, seafood, soaps, and much more. Information: 239-642-0575 or cityofmarcoisland.com.

3. Rookery Bay guided tours

Unique opportunities to view wildlife while exploring mangrove tunnels and coastal uplands are available November through April during guided boat and kayak tours in Rookery Bay. During the two-hour guided kayak tours, guests paddle through the shallow mangrove forest with an experienced guide and naturalist. Tours are Tuesday through Friday from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. The cost is $59 for the public and $49 for Friends of Rookery Bay members and includes a kayak, all equipment and paddling instruction. Three-hour guided boat tours offer a more personalized experience, as each both has a six-passenger maximum capacity. Several trips are available, each with a different theme, and are offered Tuesday through Friday from 2 to 5 p.m. Tour offerings include Life is a Beach, Treasure Island, Essence of an Estuary and High Points. Sunset to Starlight tours are offered on evenings around the time of the full moon. All tours provide a chance to see diverse native wildlife and offer an excellent opportunity for nature photography. The cost is $89 for the public and $79 for Friends of Rookery Bay members.

Tickets to all guided tours also include admission to the Rookery Bay Environmental Learning Center on the day of the tour. Tour proceeds support the nonprofit Friends of Rookery Bay.

Registration is required either online at rookerybay.org/visit/naturalist-guided-tours or by calling 239-530-5972.
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1. Florida gears up for python hunt in Everglades

Officials are gearing up for Florida's upcoming public hunt for invasive Burmese pythons in the Everglades.

The South Florida Sun Sentinel reports the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's "Python Challenge" will run from Jan. 16 through Feb. 14.

The snake-catching festival attempts to reduce South Florida's population of the giant constrictors. Participants will compete for individual and team prizes for catching the most pythons and catching the longest one.

Spokeswoman Carli Segelson says one of the goals of the event is to make people aware of the non-native species and how to report them.

The previous challenge, held in 2013, resulted in the capture of 68 snakes. Scientists say thousands of pythons are to blame for the decline of native wildlife across Florida's Everglades.

2. Register for Snook symposium by Jan. 6

The last day to register for the Jan.13 Snook Symposium in Orlando is Jan. 6.

The day-long discussion is open to the public and will focus on snook management and research in Florida, including the results of the soon-to-be released 2015 stock assessment, information on population recovery following the 2010 cold kill, and opportunities for improving snook management. Learn more by viewing the agenda at MyFWC.com/Snook2016.

The symposium will be held at the Caribe Royale, 8101 World Center Drive in Orlando.

Email Marine@MyFWC.com or call 850-487-0554 with questions.

Anyone interested in attending must register at MyFWC.com/Snook2016.

3. Sunrise Rotary expands Kops program to include fire rescue

The Rotary Club of Marco Island Sunrise recently announced an expansion of its Kindness On Patrol Service program (KOPS).

The program was initiated with the Marco Island Police Department as a "partner" to benefit the Marco Island community. The Sunrise Rotary board recently voted to expand the program to include Marco Island Fire Rescue and members of Collier County EMS while on assignment to Marco Island.

The KOPS program has been available to reimburse Marco police officers, Community Service officers, reserve officers and auxiliary when they personally pay for something to meet an immediate need of a Marco Islander. Officer Karie Petit was reimbursed for her personal financial assistance of a needy Marco Islander. Including the Fire Rescue and EMS personnel will expand the opportunities to help the Marco Island community.

Expansion of the program was enthusiastically received by Fire Chief Mike Murphy, who expressed his belief the members of his department would "take off and run with it." It is Chief Murphy's thought that members of the public would also bring to the attention of Marco firefighters anyone who is in need and might benefit from the program.

Anyone aware of a person in need that might benefit from the KOPS program can contact Marco Island Police at 239-394-5050 or Marco Island Fire Rescue at 239-394-5405.

For further information about the KOPS program, contact William G. Morris at wgm@wgmorrislaw.com; Rotary Club of Marco Island Sunrise, visit the Club's website at marcosunriserotary.com.
Marine Archaeologist Jeff Moates in scuba gear in this submitted photo.

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By B. Elaine Michaelis

Well-known marine archaeologist Jeff Moates returns to Rose History Auditorium  this time to explore Florida's history of Spanish shipwrecks in a lecture called "Dispatches of the Deep."

The lecture, which is hosted by the Marco Island Historical Society, will be held at 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 5.

Spanish ships have navigated Florida waters for more than 500 years. "Dispatches of the Deep" will highlight the evidence underwater archaeologists have uncovered over the years of failed colonies, far-ranging trade networks and the treasure or plate fleet (from the Spanish "plata" meaning silver) doomed to a watery death by hurricanes, coastal reefs, shallow shores and pirates.

Many of these wrecks have been discovered in waters shallow enough to be explored, and over the years, Moates has been involved in several of these important finds, even training other divers in the art of underwater research.

Raised in Florida and exposed to all kinds of water activities, marine archaeology was just a natural extension of what Moates liked to do as a young boy.

Moates is currently the director of the West Central Regional Center of the Florida Public Archaeology Network (FPAN) in Tampa. Prior to his association with FPAN, he was an underwater archaeologist for the Florida Bureau of Archaeological Research in Tallahassee and also was a curator with the Florida Maritime Museum at Cortez. Moates earned both a bachelor's degree in anthropology and a master's in history/historical archaeology at the University of West Florida in Pensacola.

The Moates lecture is free to members of the Historical Society and $5 for nonmembers. Rose History Auditorium is located at 180 S. Heathwood Drive on Marco Island.

For more information, call 239-389-6447 or visit theMIHS.org.
SHARE "Jungle on the Edge," Tanya Trinkaus Glass. "Kates Cafe," Marianne Crowley "As Good As It Gets," M. Weil. "Soaring on High," Inez Hudson

By Submitted

The Marco Island Center for the Arts will be host to the Southwest Florida Pastel Society Member Annual Show Jan. 7 through 26, at the Center. The show will be open Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m.

The show is not merely an exhibition. All of the outstanding art will be for sale.

The Southwest Florida Pastel Society is a non-profit organization of pastel artists who live and work in Southwest Florida. It encourages and promotes enthusiastic pastel artists in their growth and success and is excited about expanding its public offerings to include the show at Marco Island's Art Center.

Featured works will include "Up from the Sea" by Patti Leavitt, "Coco Nuts" by Tanya Trinkus Glass and "Island Causeway" by Mary Lou Hicks. The show will include a wide selection of pastel artists of Southwest Florida.

The Center will host an opening reception from 5:30 until 7 p.m., Tuesday, Jan. 12, and the public is invited. The reception will have a display of the culinary arts, as the food is provided by The Marriott.

In the Center's La Petite Gallery, the works of Inez Hudson will be featured. Hudson is known for her detailed paintings of figures and tropical birds, but the versatility of her work will be well represented in this show. She is a finalist for the former N Magazine's Enny Award, a poster artist for the 2009 Naples National Art Festival and the recipient of numerous art awards.

The opening of the Pastel and Hudson exhibits coincides with the start of the 2016 class offerings at the Center. Classes include all media including drawing, watercolor, oil, photography, stone and clay. The Center offers a variety of beginner classes for those wishing to try something new in addition to its intermediate and advance offerings.

A complete list of the Center's class offerings may be found atmarcoislandart.org/classes. Registration is available online or by calling the Center at 239-394-4221.

For further information concerning Marco Island Center for the Arts activities, classes, and upcoming exhibits, visit marcoislandart.org.
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OCOEE  Authorities say one teenager is dead and another injured after a fight ended in a shooting in Ocoee.



Orlando Sgt. Daniel Brady said in a news release that the incident happened early Sunday. Brady says there was a large group of people gathered in a parking lot when the fight broke out and numerous gunshots were fired.



Brady says it appears the victims were attempting to leave the area when a car pulled up to the victims' vehicle, firing shots.



Authorities have identified the teenager who was killed as 17-year-old Norris Daquan Adams. Adams, who was a passenger in the car, was pronounced dead at a hospital.



Brady says a 16-year-old passenger was also injured, but is expected to survive.



Authorities are continuing to investigate the shooting.
Florida State Capitol in Tallahassee, Florida.

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By Arek Sarkissian of the Naples Daily News

TALLAHASSEE  A Florida Senate redistricting plan ordered by a Leon County Circuit Court Judge would place Collier County under one district and, some argue, threaten Republican control of the chamber.

In choosing the new map, Judge George Reynolds also rejected a plan by Senate Republican leaders as the most suitable plan for the chamber's 40 seats. The map Reynolds chose, which was submitted by the Florida League of Women Voters and Common Cause Florida, would create a nearly even number of districts favoring each party, and it expanded Southwest Florida's District 23, currently held by the term-limited Naples Republican Garrett Richter. It would also push Collier's only Democratic seat, currently held by Dwight Bullard, away from county lines.

For Collier County, the map would extend Senate District 23 into Ave Maria and Immokalee, where there is not a strong voter base, said Mike Lyster, of the Collier County Republican Executive Committee.

"From one aspect, it kind of helps us," Lyster said Thursday. "It puts all of us in one district so it's easier to hand out campaign materials."

Lyster said the new proposed district map could help state Rep. Matt Hudson, who has a bid for Richter's seat along with fellow Naples Republican state Rep. Kathleen Passidomo and former Naples City Councilman Gary Price. The new map includes much of Hudson's current House district, which includes Immokalee and part of Hendry County.

Hudson said he plans to work hard to campaign for the seat.

"I believe that having already spent four years getting to know the folks of Hendry County in the district is certainly very positive," Hudson said. "My work ethic will not allow me to do anything other than work hard every day and execute my plan."

Passidomo said she had believed Collier County should fall under one district, and it would be particularly easier to represent the county in Tallahassee for economic development issues. Also, she did not believe the new map would affect her bid for the Senate seat.

"It's going to be hard work but I can do it," Passidomo said. "What's unique about our area is that we're conservative Republican no matter how you slice it."

Efforts to reach Price for comment failed.

The largely even number of Senate seats could mean more of a struggle for Republicans as they fight to retain control of the chamber. The lawsuit that led to the redrawn map was brought by a coalition of voter-rights groups who proved in court that the Senate had created a map based on political preference. Former Senate Democratic Leader Chris Smith of Fort Lauderdale, said he believed his party could take the chamber in the next few election cycles.

"I think we have excellent candidates with the resources to win," Smith said.

A spokeswoman for Senate President Andy Gardiner said he was still reviewing Reynolds' ruling. It was not immediately clear of the Senate would appeal.

State Sen. Joe Negron, a Stuart Republican who will become Senate president in 2017 said he was pleased that the maps were fairly drawn for both sides. He was also not concerned that the Republicans would lose control of the chamber.

"Oh, I definitely expect to be on offense," Negron said. "I know we will work hard to raise the resources necessary to make sure that we continue to have a strong majority."

Contact Daily News reporter arek.sarkissian@naplesnwes.com or 850-559-7620
SHARE Roy Mills Roy Anthony Mills (Provided photo)

By Alexi C. Cardona of the Naples Daily News

Roy Mills lived and died a man of his word.

If he said he would be somewhere, he'd be there. If he couldn't go, he would call. If someone needed him to do something for them, he was there to do it. He didn't break his promises.

The night he died he told his sister, Valrie Knight, that he was going to see someone about some work they needed done.

He said he would only be 25 minutes, but he didn't make it home.

More than 100 of Mills' family and friends gathered on Sunday to honor the life of a man whose universe revolved around his family.

"He said he was going to go and come right back," Knight said. "I can't believe I'm burying my brother."

On the night of Dec. 15, Mills, 52, was riding his bike home along Everglades Boulevard near 48th Avenue Northeast when the driver of a minivan struck the back bicycle tire. Mills flew from the bike and struck the minivan windshield. He was flown to Lee Memorial Hospital and died later that evening.

Troopers say the driver who hit Mills, 53-year-old Maricel Lopez, first left the scene but later returned. A search of Collier County arrest records show she has not been arrested.

Relatives and friends gathered at Fuller Funeral Home on Pine Ridge Road to sing, pray and mourn the loss of the family clown and cook.

"He'd always say, 'You can't cook like me,'" said Melissa Mills-Hyatt, Mills' daughter, during a reading of his obituary. "His looks were important to him, too. He was a pretty boy. He'd say, 'You can't pretty like me.'"

He was good with a grill and cooked Indian food best, according to his daughter.

Born in St. Thomas, Jamaica, Mills was one of seven siblings. Knight was his heart.

"My baby brother. He was always with me," Knight said. "He followed me everywhere. If I moved to the moon, he would move to the moon."

Mills was devoted to his mother, Lynette Clarke. He was her nurse while Knight was away at work. He would cook, clean, do laundry, bathe and dress her. The three shared a home in Golden Gate Estates. When he returned home from a trip to Homestead, he brought her an orchid.

After being buried at Palm Royale Cemetery on Vanderbilt Beach Road, the family gathered at Knight's home to share curry and goat soup and to be together.

"I feel like a piece of me is missing," said Michael Maragh, Mills' nephew. "I love him."

The two used to go spearfishing together in Jamaica and regularly spent time outdoors. They would talk every day.

Mills was the family funnyman. He always smiled and did everything he could to make others smile.

"You couldn't be mad at him for more than a minute," said his sister, Rachel Hyatt.

He bought himself a used car  an olive Chrysler Sebring. A machinist and handyman, Mills wanted to get a stable job and move into a new home with his wife of one year, Lucia Francis-Mills.

He had plans and ambition. And while his plans didn't become a reality, his love and legacy are with his siblings, his nephews and nieces, his daughter and his friends.

"He was gentle with me when he needed to be, but firm," his daughter, Mills-Hyatt, said. "He taught me how to be a strong, independent woman. How to be a hard worker. I'm supposed to be married in February, and he can't be here to walk me down the aisle or to see his first grandchild."

His legacy is also in the home he shared with his mother and sister. The backyard of the house is full of trees and plants he cultivated.

"He had a green thumb, he was good with his hands, he fixed things, he worked hard, he cooked, loved his family," said Sonia Lawrence, Mills' niece. "He was a jack of all trades."
The U.S. State Department is warning Americans about the high risk of traveling to Cameroon. In particular, the department said, U.S. citizens should avoid all travel to the north regions because of the general threat of violent crime, terrorism and the targeting of Westerners for kidnappings and murder.

The terrorist group Boko Haram continues to be a presence in the region. Since July 2015, the group has carried out at least 14 suicide bombings in the north, the State Department reported. The northeastern Nigerian Islamist group has been even more deadly than Islamic State this year.

Boko Haram extremists struck the northeastern Nigerian city of Maiduguri for the first time in months last week with rocket-propelled grenades and multiple suicide bombers, witnesses said.

U.S. officials remain concerned about the continued threat of terrorist attacks overseas. Authorities believe there is an increased likelihood of reprisal attacks against U.S., Western and coalition partner interests throughout the world, especially in the Middle East, North Africa, Europe, and Asia.

Italian cities battling heavy smog

Bicyclists had free rein of Milan, Italy's streets last week during a six-hour ban on private cars in a bid to alleviate persistent smog. Pollution levels in Italy's business capital have exceeded levels considered healthful for more than 30 days straight, prompting officials to ban private cars during work hours for three days.

Officials said private motorists, who risked steep fines, widely respected the ban.

Rome, which is also battling smog, has been enforcing alternate-day driving based on odd and even license-plate numbers, while Florence has limited automobile access to the historic center.

De Klerk assails Oxford statue campaign

Nobel Peace Prize winner and South Africa's last apartheid President F.W. de Klerk criticized as "folly" a campaign to remove from Oxford University a statue of British colonialist Cecil John Rhodes.

"It is regrettable that the 'Rhodes Must Fall' folly has spread from South Africa to Oriel College," De Klerk wrote in a letter to the British newspaper the Times.

Oriel College at Oxford University is reviewing whether to leave the statue in place after receiving a petition from the Rhodes Must Fall movement, the college said in a statement last month. Rhodes attended Oriel College and left 2% of his estate to the school on his death in 1902.

"We do not commemorate historic figures for their ability to measure up to current conceptions of political correctness, but because of their actual impact on history," wrote De Klerk. "Rhodes, for better or for worse, certainly had an impact on history."

Justin Bieber defers top spot to a charity song

The National Health Service Choir has beaten Justin Bieber to capture Britain's official Christmas No. 1 song  and he's OK with that.

The Canadian pop star's "Love Yourself" was ahead until Bieber tweeted that he wanted fans to "do the right thing" and boost the charity version of the s ingle to the coveted spot. The NHS, founded in 1948, is a source of national pride for many Britons.

The choir said, "It's a brilliant celebration for the NHS across the country, so well done and thank you everyone."

Proceeds will go to several health-related charities.

Sources: U.S. State Department, staff reports, Associated Press.

travel@latimes.com

Source: State Department warns that Cameroon is a high-risk travel destination for U.S. citizens
Hillary Clinton, right, speaks to Bernie Sanders during a break at the Democratic presidential primary debate Saturday, Dec. 19, 2015, at Saint Anselm College in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Jim Cole)

SHARE Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, and Rand Paul appear during the CNBC Republican presidential debate at the University of Colorado, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2015, in Boulder, Colo. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill) David Albers/Staff - Veronica Vidaurri, top center, stands for a portrait with her daughters and granddaughters on Monday, April 8, 2013, in Naples. Vidaurri is an undocumented worker from Mexico who is traveling to Washington D.C. to participate in an immigration reform march on Wednesday. Commissioner Georgia Hiller speaks to attorney Anthony Pires as commissioners discuss a lawsuit brought against the county manager and purchasing director by the county clerk during a meeting on April 28, 2015. (Carolina Hidalgo/Staff) A view from the street of the Continental building on Fifth Avenue South seen on Thursday, November 20, 2014. The Continental has five condominiums on the top floor of the building. (Scott McIntyre/Staff)

Welcome to the silly season  or the 2016 election year, if you prefer.

It's time again to take a look ahead at the people or issues expected to make headlines in 2016.

Politics will almost certainly take center stage this year (we're looking at you, Donald Trump). In March, Floridians could help bring some needed clarity to the so far unpredictable presidential race. We'll also have a handful of pivotal local elections this year that could change the face of local boards.

But it's not all politics we're keeping an eye on at the Daily News.

We could see another arrest in 2015's most intriguing Southwest Florida crime story. State legislation regulating fracking is a real possibility. And will this be the year the region's home prices come back to Earth?

Here are 10 to watch in 2016, as chosen by Daily News editors:

Presidential candidates

Hillary, Bernie, Jeb!, Rubio, Carson, Cruz, the Donald  get ready to see a lot of them, both on television and in person.

After more than a year of candidacy announcements, fiery debates, outlandish promises and political red meat, Floridians will finally head to the polls on March 15 when the state holds its presidential primary election.

During the last two presidential election cycles, Florida moved its primary date up to January to enhance the state's role in the nomination process. This year Florida, is playing by the rules and waiting until March.

Florida will still have plenty of sway, especially on the Republican side where the state's 99 delegates will all be awarded to a single candidate in the winner-take-all primary.

And just remember, you get to do it all over again for the Nov. 8 general election.

Mark Sievers

The biggest unanswered question from 2015's most captivating crime story: will Mark Sievers be charged with a crime in connection with his wife's killing?

Investigators arrested two Missouri men, Curtis Wayne Wright Jr. and Jimmy Ray Rodgers, on second degree murder charges in connection with the June killing of Dr. Teresa Sievers in her Bonita Springs home.

But court records released in December show that investigators believe Mark Sievers orchestrated the killing, and planned to pay Wright, a longtime friend, for the attack. Will he remain a free man? What will happen with the couple's two daughters?

Barnett vs. Sorey

Two Naples political heavyweights will go head-to-head on March 15 in a mayoral race that promises to be one of the most competitive city elections in recent memory.

Bill Barnett is the longest-serving member of the Naples City Council, including three terms as mayor. Sitting Mayor John Sorey, who has held the job since 2012, is the second longest-tenured council member in Naples history.

The two men agree on most issues. This race will likely come down to style: Barnett's more laid back approach or Sorey's more hands-on style.

Middle-income homebuyers

Will more Southwest Florida middle-income homebuyers be able to afford their slice of the American dream?

The region's home prices continued to increase in 2015, with both the Naples and Fort Myers markets seeing some of the nation's fastest growth. The skyrocketing prices have left many interested buyers on the sidelines, and have squeezed families.

Some experts say the price increases we've seen aren't healthy or sustainable.

Fort Myers witnesses

Gun violence spiked in Fort Myers in 2015, receiving national attention when a man was shot and killed at the annual ZombiCon event. That killing, like so many others in the city, remains unsolved.

Police have upped their downtown patrols and teamed with Lee County deputies in a task force to combat violent crime. But what they need more than anything is help from Fort Myers residents who too frequently are intimidated by criminals and afraid to come forward to report what they know.

Will 2016 see a breakthrough in the city's efforts to dismantle the "snitching" stigma?

Frackers

Oil drilling and hydraulic fracturing have been top of mind in Southwest Florida ever since a Texas-based company performed an unauthorized procedure at a well near Immokalee in 2014.

Bonita Springs and Estero councils both banned fracking last year, but regulatory bills introduced in the state Legislature by Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, and Rep. Ray Rodrigues, R-Estero, would remove local control.

The two leaders say their bills are the most practical means of regulating new oil drilling technology, but are they enough to prevent future drilling scares? Anti-drilling activists say no.

The undocumented

The fate of the nation's estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants could depend on who wins the presidency this year.

Donald Trump vowed to deport them all. Hillary Clinton wants to provide them with a pathway to citizenship. The rest of the presidential candidates seem to fall somewhere between those two positions.

The U.S. Supreme Court could also have a say in 2016 after a federal court ruled against a series of the Obama administration's executive orders meant to shield millions of immigrants from deportation.

Brock vs. Commissioners

A legal battle that has dragged on over a year and cost Collier taxpayers millions could be decided as early as February.

This latest dust up pits Collier Clerk Dwight Brock against county commissioners over who has the power to spend public money. Collier is one of many Florida counties where commissioners allow their county manager to make some payments without direct commission approval  in Collier's case it's for purchases under $50,000.

Brock said only the elected commissioners can legally spend public money, and at one point last year blocked $5.6 million in vendor payments. He sued commissioners. They countersued.

Their case, which could have statewide implications, is set for trial Feb. 24.

Chairs and rears

Several political chairs will have new occupants in 2016, which could mean drastic changes to local boards.

Kathleen Curatolo's seat could tip control of the Collier County School Board to a new majority, some of whom are critical of present district leadership. Tom Henning's seat is drawing a plethora of candidates for an election that could give new direction to the Collier County Commission.

And is Georgia Hiller really going to give up a safe seat on the commission to make a run for the state House?

Speaking of state offices, candidates are lining up to replace Garrett Richter in the Senate, including Rep. Kathleen Passidomo, who is giving up her House seat, and Rep. Matt Hudson, who is term-limited.

Downtown Naples developers

Downtown Naples could have a decidedly different look and feel in 2016 and beyond if local developers have their way.

Developer Phil McCabe, who has already left his mark on downtown with the recently-expanded Inn on Fifth and Avenue 5 restaurant, has proposed a new three-story mixed-use building with underground parking on Fifth Avenue South. Another owner is pushing a project to redevelop the old St. George and the Dragon building on Fifth Avenue South.

McCabe also proposed a four-building project that would bring a new hotel and condos to Fourth Avenue.

Not everyone is enthused. McCabe's mixed-use building would raze three downtown restaurants and at least two other businesses, leaving their workers unemployed and eliminating more than 100 outdoor dining seats.

Could a court challenge filed in late December halt the project?
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla.  A Jacksonville man is facing a 120-year sentence for firing two shots that caused no injuries, The Florida Times-Union reported on Sunday.



The trial of Army Veteran Randal Ratledge, 58, is scheduled to start with jury selection on Monday. Defense attorneys have asked the judge to waive the mandatory guidelines, but court officials said Judge Jack Schemer is bound by the state law.



Ratledge, 58, was charged with six counts of aggravated assault after a 2012 incident involving his neighbors. Authorities said Rutledge fired shots in the air and screamed profanities at the six neighbors. He was charged with one count of aggravated assault on each of the neighbors.



Under Florida's 10-20-Life law, anyone convicted of a crime involving the firing of a gun gets a prison sentence of at least 20 years. Defense attorneys say Ratledge had a bad reaction to the sleep medication Ambien and didn't know what he was doing when he threatened the neighbors.



"The problem with our system now is judges have no discretion," defense attorney Bill Sheppard said. "Prosecutors decide the sentence, not judges."



Sheppard said Ratledge would be willing to plead guilty if prosecutors would allow the judge to impose a lesser sentence.



Sheppard said the best offer Ratledge has gotten is 18 years in prison. He said that would likely amount to a life sentence for someone Ratledge's age.



According to police reports, Ratledge was talking with friends and neighbors near his home in August 2012 when he went into the house and came back with a gun. He fired a shot in the air, then ran at the people outside screaming profanities while firing a second shot in their direction.



State attorney spokeswoman Jackelyn Barnard said prosecutors have been in discussions with defense attorneys over the case.



"While we cannot get into specifics pretrial, the state has considered all options, which include waiving the 20-year minimum mandatory," Barnard said.
Pam Bondi [CHRIS ZUPPA, Times]

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By Arek Sarkissian of the Naples Daily News

Naples Daily News/Tribune Bureau

TALLAHASSEE  With evidence from 13,435 untested Florida rape kits in a holding pattern, the state agency responsible for processing them said Monday it could cost $9.3 million for a private vendor to perform the work.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement revealed that 41 percent of the untested kits cases were never turned over to FDLE for testing because the victim did not wish to prosecute, and another 31 percent did not move forward because prosecutors declined to file criminal charges. The FDLE report was compiled with the help of a survey that included input from 279 law enforcement agencies around the state.

The Collier County Sheriff's Office reported it had 40 rape kits that had not been tested. Eileen Wesley, with rape victims' advocacy group Project Help, said those cases were from more than a decade ago from victims who did not wish to move forward. Also, the kits were used before the Collier County Sheriff's Office updated its policy to submit all kits for testing.

"From the perspective of a rape crisis center, we want to see justice," Wesley said. "And even if the survivor did not want to come forward, there's a chance that DNA sample may line up with someone afterward."

Wesley said the statewide call to test the kits will also provide victims with the courage to come forward.

"And maybe it will get people to think before something happens," she said. "Maybe they'll think twice and say, 'Maybe this person is too drunk.'"

Data provided by FDLE's annual crime report showed an increase in sexual assaults, an increase driven in part by law enforcement agencies pursuing difficult acquaintance rape cases. Due to that trend, the number of sexual assault kits used to collect evidence from victims doubled over the past four years. Data included in the FDLE study showed the agency received 2,239 kit submissions in 2012, and 4,829 submissions in 2015.

FDLE proposed hiring an outside company to process up to 2,800 sexual assault kits each year and then use its own staff to check the work for quality. The plan would pare down the backlog of more than 13,000 untested sexual assault kits that have yet to be submitted by hundreds of law enforcement agencies around Florida.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement responding to the report she would work with lawmakers, law enforcement and victims' rights advocates to allocate necessary resources. In August, Bondi called on FDLE to process more sexual assault kits and to bring more suspects to justice. In response, the Legislature provided FDLE with $300,000 to create the assessment.

The study provided the Legislature with three options to reduce the backlog. One would use $32 million to reduce the backlog in eight and a half years by hiring a company to process burglary cases requiring DNA analysis. Another option, which would reduce the backlog in six and a half years, would cost $23 million to hire vendors for both burglary cases and rape kits, with a $1.2 million grant from the New York District Attorney's Office to process 1,776 rape kits from FDLE's Jacksonville regional lab.

The third option, which FDLE recommends, would combine the grant from the New York District Attorney's Office and $8.1 million in state money to hire a vendor to process 2,800 sexual assault kits per year, reducing the backlog in about three years.

A vendor that would carry out the testing has not yet been chosen, FDLE officials said.

Bondi has argued that the Legislature should consider providing more money to FDLE's six regional crime labs. The report includes a request that lawmakers consider paying crime analysts better so they no longer leave to take jobs in county agencies or in the private sector. Indian River Crime Lab Director Lesley Perrone said her agency, which serves the Treasure Coast, has hired FDLE analysts and they lose analysts as well.

"It's certainly unfortunate when you think about the amount of training involved, only to have them leave," Perrone said. The Indian River Crime Lab currently faces a backlog of about 500 DNA cases, which fluctuates with case load and the priority of a case.

"We tend to put sexual assault cases higher in priority than others," she said.

The results of the study will go before the Florida Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Criminal and Civil Justice, where its vice chair, Sen. Arthenia Joyner, said she would support its recommendation.

"It's going to cost a lot of money but we've got to do it," said Joyner, a Tampa Democrat. "When it comes to public safety, we've got to put that at No. 1."

Contact Daily News reporter arek.sarkissian@naplesnews.com or 850-559-7620
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Irene Ketover, Naples

Goodbye 2015

I have always appealed for educating ourselves and being able to give an intelligent response to some inaccurate and downright false letters and statements.

I thank the writer(s) who have appreciated the thankless job that President Obama has done, despite the lack of any support from the Republican do-nothing Congress.

The misinformation includes blaming President Obama (who asked for a 1.3 percent raise for federal workers) for the lack of increase in Social Security benefits and holding the Democratic administration at fault. The cost of living determines the amount of Social Security benefits. Actuaries determine the action, citing of all things the low cost of gasoline.

Another misinformed writer is affronted that some writers compare Donald Trump to Hitler, citing FDR's refusal to allow 6,500 Jews to land on our shores. "Hitler may have forced the exodus of Jews," the letter stated. News flash for the uninformed writer  Hitler murdered 6 million Jews and 2 million non-Jews. That is very far from a forced exodus.

The 6,500 Jews who were turned away found a welcoming country to accept them, Costa Rica, another democracy in Central America. They were absorbed into society and most have remained and flourished over 75 years.

Amazing that these responses are to letters published on the same day.

My prayers go out to all for a happy and peaceful new year.
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James Hoover, Naples

It's about rights

The recent letter headlined "Read it, repeal it" by John Butcher is just the latest in a string of letters by shortsighted writers calling for the repeal of the Second Amendment to the Constitution based on their interpretation of the language.

However, in order to understand the intent of the framers, you need to read the Federalist Papers.

The Constitution was drafted around a central premise: to ensure the rights of individual citizens. The Second Amendment language clearly states: "A well-regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms shall not be infringed." (Emphasis on people.)

George Mason defined a militia as "the whole people except for a few public officials." In other words, armed private citizens of the U.S. constitute the militia.

Contrary to the liberal revisionism, the Second Amendment was not included in the Bill of Rights to protect the rights of hunters and sport shooters, or to provide protection from the criminal elements of society. It was enshrined in the Constitution to protect individual citizens from a more nefarious entity, our own government. The framers wanted to ensure that the government was afraid of the people.

Maybe those advocating for the repeal of the Second Amendment should ponder the consequences of their proposal. What do you think will happen if the government tries to confiscate nearly a billion privately owned guns? Do you really think the people will just surrender their arms voluntarily? Consider the widespread armed confrontations that would occur.
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E.L. "Bud" Ruff, Naples

Presidential choices?

After watching the last Republican debate, I am convinced most candidates aren't educated.

1. Sen. Ted Cruz: He stated President Clinton deported 12 million illegal immigrants while in office (An AP fact-check article says it actually was 870,000) and said President Bush deported 10 million, but the fact-check says it was around 1.6 million. President Obama deported more than either, approximately 2.4 million so far. Cruz also stated he would carpet-bomb all areas controlled by ISIS, not caring about the hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians living under the control of these sadists. He must be the most disliked man in Congress.

2. Gov. Chris Christie: Said he would tell King Hussein of Jordan how to run his country, except the old king has been dead since 1999. He said President Obama invited Russia into Syria, but Russia has had a naval base in Tartus (Syria) since 1971. He would shoot down Russian planes over Syria; that's likely to start World War III.

3. Ben Carson: Good surgeon, but otherwise not as smart as a fifth-grader. He believes the Egyptian pyramids were built for grain storage. He's against social programs, even though members of his family received food stamps, Medicaid and were raised in public housing (Detroit). He benefited from affirmative action and received medical grant aid from U.S. Public Health Service. That's hypocritical.

4. Donald Trump: We already know this man is a fascist and ego-maniac. He is against immigration reform and Muslims. Now he thinks he can shut down the Internet wherever he wants.

Of course, ISIS is watching and listening to Trump, as can the whole world.
Encore Bank is pleased to announce that William Turner has joined the bank as Vice President, Branch Administration. In this role, Turner will work with all six of Encores branch teams to assist them with operational functions, as well as the implementation of Encores sales and client service initiatives.

Turner comes to Encore Bank with more than 17 years of banking experience as a commercial lender, credit underwriter, branch manager and corporate trainer. He has spent the last 13 years in banking here in Southwest Florida. He is a graduate of the University of Florida with a degree in Public Relations.

Turner is active within the community, having served in such roles as President of the Southwest Florida Gator Club, Lee County Chair for the March of Dimes March for Babies, President of the Edison Festival of Light, and with the Foundation for Lee County Public Schools Golden Apple Teacher selection committee.

Encore Bank CEO Tom Ray said, Bill brings a great amount of banking experience to Encore Bank. His many years in various positions within the banking industry will be a tremendous asset to Encore Bank and our clients.

Turners office is located at 4450 Bonita Beach Road, Bonita Springs.

Encore Bank has six convenient locations, including two branches in Naples at 3003 Tamiami Trail North and 2370 Vanderbilt Beach Road, Bonita Springs at 4450 Bonita Beach Road, Fort Myers at 7920 Summerlin Lakes Dr., Port Charlotte at 2120 Kings Highway, and Sun City Center at 1653 Sun City Center Plaza.

For more information, call 239-919-5888 or 239-594-3177 in Naples, 239-495-0243 in Bonita Springs, 239-278-5505 in Fort Myers, 941-258-3055 in Port Charlotte, or 813-634-8001 in Sun City Center, or visit www.encorebank.com. Member FDIC
Long-time Naples resident Clay W. Cone is proud to announce the 10th anniversary of Cone Communications Company, a full-service agency providing media relations, strategic communications, public relations and marketing. The Naples-based firm specializes in serving the needs of small to mid-sized businesses and not-for-profit organizations.



Cone has over 25 years of experience in the communications field in Southwest Florida. Prior to forming Cone Communications in 2006, Cone served as Senior Vice President and Director of Corporate Communications for TIB Financial Corp., the parent company of TIB Bank. Before that, he was Vice President and Director of Corporate Communications for First National Bankshares of Florida, a $5.6 billion financial services company headquartered in Naples.



Prior to his career in public relations, Cone was a Senior Business Writer for the Naples Daily News. While with the newspaper, he earned numerous state and national awards in recognition of his reporting. Before that, he was a Business Reporter for the Clearwater Sun. Cone earned a Bachelors Degree in Journalism from Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana.



Cone has been actively involved in a number of local civic and charitable organizations, including the Greater Naples Little League, Greater Naples Chamber of Commerce and the Naples Children & Education Foundation (Naples Winter Wine Festival). He currently serves as a Director and Past President of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), Gulf Coast Chapter and is a graduate of the Leadership Collier program. He also has been appointed by the Board of Collier County Commissioners to serve on the Educational Facilities Authority and serves on the Junior Achievement, Southwest Florida Hall of Fame Advisory Board. In 2004, Cone was recognized among Gulfshore Business magazines 40-under-40 professionals.



For additional information on Cone Communications Company and the firms comprehensive services, contact Clay W. Cone at 239-262-8229 or send an e-mail to cone3@earthlink.net.
January is National Mentoring Month, and signing up to be a mentor is a rewarding way to begin the new year. An adult mentor who spends only an hour a week with a mentee can dramatically change the life of a young person.



The Immokalee Foundation is seeking mentors for middle school students who soon will be inducted into their Take Stock in Children scholarship program. Mentors are matched with seventh-grade students who officially enter the TIF program during an induction ceremony at Immokalee High School in April. During the event, the students pledge to maintain a minimum 2.5 GPA, exhibit good behavior, remain crime- and drug-free, and meet with their mentors once a week until they graduate from high school. In exchange, they each receive a scholarship to a Florida college or university.



A large part of TIFs Take Stock in Children students success is the mentoring program; more than 80 mentors now share their time, talent and experience to encourage Immokalee students. These adults open up the world, making the future look so much brighter to their young mentees. As a result of TIFs programs and the involvement of caring mentors, 97 percent of TIFs students in the Take Stock in Children program graduate from high school, compared with 57 percent of all Immokalee High School students.



Often, mentors find the opportunity every bit as rewarding as the students.



The Immokalee Foundation provides a range of education programs that focus on building pathways to success through college and post-secondary preparation and support, mentoring and tutoring, opportunities for broadening experiences, and life skills development leading to economic independence. To learn more about TIF, volunteering as a mentor or for additional information, call 239-430-9122 or visit www.immokaleefoundation.org.
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Brian Kelly

WASHINGTON  Quicken Loans' effort to get a more favorable venue in its legal dispute with the Justice Department has been dismissed by a federal judge in Michigan.

The ruling in Quicken Loans v. United States means the case will be heard in a U.S. district court in Washington, D.C., instead of Detroit, Quicken's hometown.

"This temporary procedural setback does not deter Quicken Loans from exposing the truth about the DOJ's egregious attempts to coerce unjust settlements from its victims including Quicken Loans by using the guise of the heavy hand and power of the federal government in doing so," said Bill Emerson, chief executive of Quicken Loans, in a statement.

The Justice Department was preparing to sue Quicken Loans in April of last year for alleged shoddy underwriting of hundreds of Federal Housing Administration-insured single-family loans and pursuing civil penalties of between $5,500 and $11,000 for each under the False Claims Act.

But Quicken filed a preemptive lawsuit against DOJ in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, alleging the government had "retroactively changed its process of evaluating loans" in pursuing settlements with FHA lenders.

On Dec. 31, U.S. district court judge Mark Goldsmith found that "Quicken's complaint was filed for the purpose of acquiring a favorable forum." He did not give a ruling on the merits of Quicken's complaint.

While there "may have been settlement demands" by DOJ, the judge indicated in his Dec. 31 decision, "Quicken has not yet been deprived of any property interest and it will have an opportunity to be heard at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner prior to any actual deprivation."

In a statement issued by Quicken Loans, the company said it "intends to explore its options in its claims against the government while fighting to defeat the government's retaliatory lawsuit wrongly alleging that Quicken Loans violated the False Claims Act related to a minuscule cherry-picked sample of loans Quicken Loans originated with FHA insurance."

Quicken Loans is still hoping to get the case moved to Detroit.

"We are confident that judge Reggie Walton of the Federal District Court in Washington will recognize that the proper venue for consideration of the government's allegations is Detroit," Emerson said.
Jokowi (pictured here in contemplative pose)) has to walk a fine line on the issue of allowing Papuans a plebiscite which could threaten to break up the unitary state of Indonesia.

Papuan leaders have been calling for a referendum to decide the provinces future since the Papuan Spring of 2000.

INDONESIAN intelligence agencies went into overdrive in recent days to cushion the spillover effects anticipating an announcement by President Joko (Jokowi) Widodo during this weeks visit to West Papua that he will offer a referendum to decide the future of the Melanesian province.

There are other secessionist movements seeking to separate from Indonesia in 17 other regions of the Indonesian Archipelago, and the referendum option for West Papua to decide its political future and separate from Indonesia could create momentum for other regions to follow suit.

According to a security assessment, which faults President Jokowi for accommodating Papuan aspirations for selfdetermination, the promise of a referendum formed Jokowis main campaign platform in West Papua during the Indonesian presidential elections.

Political analyst Arbi Muslims has confirmed the policy shift is already in the pipeline.

"If you look at it, the referendum proposal had been circulated when Joko Widodo built his presidential campaign on the promise for a referendum for Papuans, he told Indonesian national security organs last July.

President Jokowi is trying to prove something now. His solution to deal with outstanding issues at the time came down to the promise of referendum for Papua."

Calls for a referendum picked up a lot of momentum in the highlands of West Papua when Papuans took President Jokowis word that, after he got elected, they would decide their own political future to continue as part of Indonesia or to separate.

The calls for referendum for Papua are final, and Indonesia must anticipate turmoil if the option for referendum is delayed or denied any further," Arbi Muslims said.

However he added that Jokowi was yet to clarify the conditions of his offer and the ramifications for Indonesia.

"President Jokowi should provide the details and clarify the deal reached with Papuans in return for the outstanding issues affecting West Papua to be resolved through the promise of referendum, he said.

The Indonesian Parliament has yet to resolve how to deal with the West Papua issue and says it does not have enough information on the referendum.

But according to Arbi Muslims, the Indonesian parliament needs to move fast.

Papua is a very sensitive issue and many foreign interests are stakeholders in the Papua Conflict, and are manipulating the outcome, he said.

For example, the United States has economic interests which are best served by having Indonesias occupation continue in West Papua and keep it as part of Indonesia because of the great wealth of natural resources.

West Papua has the largest tract of rain forest outside the Amazon, the worlds largest gold and copper deposit and it has one of the worlds largest natural gas deposits.

But West Papuans are not reaping the benefits from this economic development. They are among the poorest people in Indonesia as are their health standards, including a huge HIV epidemic.

Indonesia is not taking care of the West Papuan people, who have been struggling for self-determination for 54 years in circumstances where its one of the worlds forgotten conflicts.

The history of West Papua and its long struggle for self-determination from Indonesia is a story of failed decolonisation. In the 1960s, West Papua was due to be given independence as a former Dutch colony. Then Indonesia invaded.

As a result of negotiations between the US, the Netherlands and Indonesia, Indonesia was to take custody of the territory on condition it gave a vote for self-determination. That vote for self-determination took place in 1969 in sham circumstances where a handful of West Papuan leaders were forced to vote under threat of violence.

Since becoming part of Indonesia against their will and in breach of international law, the West Papuan people have suffered widespread human rights abuses.

It is now 2015, and President Obamas record on the West Papua issue continues to fall short of the expectations of Papuans. He recalls in his book, Dreams of My Father, the stories his stepfather told him about the oppression of the West Papuan people. And he took lessons from that.

His stepfather had said to him, "If you cant be strong, find friends to be strong, because stronger people will take your land and take your women and take your resources." Obama has direct personal experience of how devastating the Indonesian military occupation was through his own stepfather.

When he came into the presidency, Obama said, because of his experience, that he would be able to say things to Indonesia that other leaders had not been able to. But on West Papua, he has failed.

Yet, as the country that brokered the deal between Indonesia and the Dutch which sealed West Papuas fate as part of Indonesia, the US has a historical duty to do the right thing

Jokowi is courting the destruction of his own nation if the referendum option for West Papua is put away. West Papuas history of integration into Indonesia stands to be rectified. The evidence of Indonesias failure to formalise the decolonisation thesis after the Dutch left demands a verdict today.
There had hardly been free and fair voting in past elections and it is most unlikely there will be in 2017.

All the good things we have talked about for 2017 and beyond, including our dream of a good and honest government that will steer PNG out of troubled waters, boils down to this one crucial factor free and fair voting.

ONE of the major challenges for Papua New Guineas Electoral Commission and for its voters in the coming 2017 national election that the ballot should be free and fair.

The bribery, hold ups, hijacking of ballot papers, threats, coercion and multiple voting experienced in the past are likely to be repeated next year unless the Electoral Commission comes up with a strategy that will contain or minimise these problems and produce a free and fair election.

Two important approaches that come to my mind involve biometric electioneering and security.

The Electoral Commission talked about biometric electioneering (e-voting) some time ago and it appears to me as the fairest way for people to cast their votes freely without intimidation or fear.

The system creates equal opportunity for everybody to exercise their right to vote.

Furthermore, it deters and insulates against the violence involved in hijacking ballot papers and other foul play and discrepancies as there are good checks and balances. This means an honest outcome.

Unfortunately e-voting is probably not going to be employed in the coming election because of time limitation as it will involve training, awareness, biometric registration and so forth.

Adding to the lack of time is lack of funding. The system will demand a lot of money and, in the economic crisis the country is facing, the government will not be willing to spend the cash.

The Electoral Commission has already been complaining about underfunding for election preparations. They have publicly voiced that they are not sure how well they are going to get everything ready under current budget constraints.

The second option for a free and fair election is to heighten security especially in violent and trouble-prone polling locations, most of which are in the highlands.

Polling in coastal areas and urban centres has been quite peaceful and orderly in the past. But in the highlands, especially rural areas, it has been violent and aggressive and involving the use of firearms.

The chance of such scenario being repeated in 2017 is high. The most reliable way to stop it is to deploy the army to oversee and provide security for polling officials and voters.

The 2007 election was said to be generally peaceful and orderly in the highlands and elsewhere because the military was deployed in polling places alongside police and correctional personnel.

People were afraid of getting bashed up by the armed forces and behaved well and cast their votes in an orderly way.

It had been different in 2012. Violence, hijacking of ballot papers, gang control and juvenile voting were prevalent because there was a lack of security. Polling in some highlands electorates was declared void because of this.

Women, old people and disabled people were pushed aside. They were not given the opportunity to vote.

I believe the Electoral Commission knows the likely trouble spots. And these are the areas that require a heavy presence of army and other disciplined forces to supervise and control polling so every eligible voter - including women, the old and disabled people - can cast their votes and do so freely.

If we want credible and honest people with qualifications, experience and vision to get into parliament to run the countrys affairs, polling must be free, fair, peaceful and orderly without any form of duress and intimidation. Can this happen in 2017?

My prediction is that, if the government does not deploy the army to control and provide security, 2017 will offer us a flawed election.

We will have desperados using tactics like duress, intimidation and hijacking ballot papers to vote themselves into parliament and get rich.
Bill Nye joins the Monsanto circus

Bill Nye: "You cannot be certain what will happen to the ecosystem"

(NaturalNews) Bill Nye has just joined with Monsanto to push GMOs. He's basically recanted all of his former warnings about GMOs, even though for years he used to question -- and urged others to do the same -- what was in his food. His change of heart stems from a meeting he had with the folks at Monsanto.Now, all has changed on the "teach the children" front, where Bill Nye the "Science Guy" has switched his stance, proclaiming his apparent new GMO love affair, exclaiming that "when you're in love, you want to tell the world." Whatever that means.Everyone now has the responsibility to look at these "circus" endorsements and their front men and decide if they want to continue supporting anything people like this have to say in the future. Tell your kids. If you're a teacher, inform your students. If you're a school administrator, step up to the plate and have intelligent discussions with entire school systems about healthy food choices. Bill Nye is now the "Corporate Fraud Science Guy," nothing more than a talking head who now propagates GMOs.Is Nye becoming the next Neil deGrasse Tyson, who thinks GMOs have been around forever and that you should just eat what's given to you and shut up? This may also remind you of Jon Entine, another shill who propagates GMO myths and has ties to Monsanto.But back to the meeting Nye had with the folks at Monsanto. Looks like he came out of the depths of Monsanto's headquarters after talking with scientists there and has been crowned a champion! After his visit, Monsanto even tweeted a picture of Nye surrounded by others from the GMO-loving company, saying, "Thanks @BillNye for visit & advancing#science understanding. Look forward to more discussion!"It's as simple as that. Corn and soy should cover each child's lunch tray at school. No child should have to multiple choice test their way to the working world without first eating pesticide-filled food from grade school through high school. Kids, just read the literature with pictures of the science shill, who propagates a myth he was once opposed to.Little men in white lab coats and their cohorts mix the genes of bug-killing organisms in their vials and figure out how to kill weeds with toxins that start out growing inside the seeds. At Monsanto's research and development labs, scientists are hard at work producing cancer-causing foods that they believe could help the planet somehow.Genetically mutated Frankenfood has been shown to kill baby lab rats in one month. How long will your good health last eating this Bill Nye-endorsed freak food? What's in your corn and soy? Do you need to ask, or has Bill Nye already taken care of all of that for you? Because last time we checked, Nye was asking questions. Now it seems the question he wants most answered is "How much will Monsanto continue to pay me?"Understandably, Nye has received critical backlash in light of his new stance about GMOs. Once the admired man who warned of GMO dangers decades ago, he's now getting chummy with Monsanto , almost giddy. His post-Monsanto meeting declaration about being in love and wanting to tell the world has worried many who have questioned his intentions on various social media outlets.On Reddit.com, for example, he declared the following:Ah, so when you're not sure about what might happen to the ecosystem, it's best to trust those who seek to upset its fragility? Not being certain about something means it's time to throw our arms in the air and let others toy with our foods and poison our bodies? Obviously, his glossed-over response, complete with deflections about "malnourished fat people," is ludicrous.So, ladies and gentlemen, it's time to forget about Nye. He's a corporate fraud science guy, all buddy-buddy with the likes of Neil deGrasse Tyson and Jon Entine (who committed domestic violence and child abuse, by the way). They're a trio of science propaganda liars.Make sure to tell your kids about this. Then, find organic food and make sure that's what you consume. Read the labels on everything you buy that you might eat, drink or put on your skin, teeth, hair or nails.Question everything, and don't trust those who change their minds about a topic they once warned of, putting the public's health in grave danger.
Time was killer for nearly 1,000 allied troops in Iraq and Afghanistan

Two stage process designed to create optimal survivability conditions

Department of Defense providing funding for the research

(NaturalNews) The Defense Department is working to develop a battlefield "hibernation" procedure for wounded troops so that the critical element of time can be mitigated to the advantage of the soldier.According to the, the Pentagon is working with Dr. Geoffrey Dobson, an Australian researcher with Queensland's James Cook University and the Division of Tropical Health and Medicine to develop hibernation "drugs" that are capable of essentially rewiring "the body's natural response to trauma so that deployed troops have enough time to get their injured comrades to medical attention.""During the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 87 percent of all deaths among allied soldiers occurred in the first 30 minutes, before they could get to a hospital," Dr. Dobson said during an interview with an Australian news website in recent days."Nearly a quarter of these, almost a thousand people, were classified as having potentially survivable wounds. Time was the killer," he said. "The idea of our research is to save that thousand lives.""The first 10 minutes after a troop is shot or wounded in an explosion are the most critical," Dobson said.The Times further reported, citing Dobson's research:"Our treatment cancels out the shock and puts them in a low-blood pressure, hibernation-like state. You want to dial-in the right blood pressure to prevent further blood loss but high enough to keep the major organs, including the brain, going," Dobson told the Australian news site.The emergency drug therapy is designed to be given in two stages; it will direct some 100 milliliters of medication into the wounded troop's veins or blood marrow. That will reduce the need for immediate large transfusions of blood or other fluids, to replace what has been lost, which can then shock the body a second time.According toShot one is intended to kick-start the heart in the critical first few minutes after a severe wounded.Shot two is aimed at reprogramming the soldier's metabolism into hibernation mode, buying enough time to allow an emergency evacuation."You want to stabilize the system because of the long retrieval times in forward areas for these special operations soldiers," said Dobson. "We increase the blood pressure to a low 'optimal' level sufficient for survival, we reduce inflammation and we correct the blood coagulation - stop it getting thinner."The lower, but nonetheless sufficient, blood pressure will also work to protect and preserve brain tissue if that organ has also been injured, Dobson said."The problem is, after a soldier suffers catastrophic blood loss and brain injury, what is a good treatment for the body is not good for the brain and vice versa. If you aim for too high a blood pressure, the casualty will bleed to death, and if you aim too low the brain will be irreversibly damaged," he said, as reported by Britain'snewspaper.Initial studies and trials have been very promising, the Australian researcher said; that has prompted the Pentagon to want to fast-track the drug to the battlefield.The two-drug treatment can also be of service to paramedic and ambulance services in remote, rural areas, in Australia and elsewhere, Dobson insists. It will serve to stabilize traumatically injured patients who must be transported great distances to urban-located treatment centers.The Pentagon, impressed with the results of the initial research, has granted Dobson's team $550,000 to perfect the treatment. The Australian researcher says he hopes to have the experimental drugs ready to deploy within a year.U.S. Special Operations Command is particularly interested in the hibernation treatment technique.As further reported by theSources:
(NaturalNews) 2015 was a dark year for journalists around the world. Heeding the call of confrontation, journalists are standing directly in harm's way, doing very important work in a time of extremes. What's most shocking is that journalists are becoming targets not only in war zones, but also in countries that were once considered safe zones. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 110 journalists were slain in 2015, and a staggering number of those deaths took place in "peaceful" countries. In fact, two-thirds of the deaths took place in places regarded as safe, an extreme shift from the year before, when two-thirds of journalist deaths occurred in war zones.The annual RSF report found that 11 were killed in Iraq and 10 in Syria. The world may never truly understand what's going on in the Middle East because the bearers of truth may never be heard  shot to pieces as their reports disintegrate in the sand or fall into enemy hands.The RSF warned that "non-state groups" such as jihadists and the Islamic State are beginning to target more journalists than ever before. Eight journalists in France, all connected to a satirical magazine called, were murdered by jihadists.Journalists play an important role in exposing the motivations behind atrocities. They are a brave, powerful force of good to help the world see. Truth telling allows the world to see the most evil motivations so that all life can be protected.Sadly, the truth tellers are the most vulnerable in society and may have to move often, change names and protect themselves in ways that the average person would never understand. The RSF reported that 43 journalists were killed in circumstances that were unclear. Perhaps the journalists got in the way of powerful agendas being carried out by billionaires or government agencies. In India, nine journalists were killed in 2015 because they were reporting organized crime being carried out by politicians and illegal mining operations.Some journalists, like those in France, died at the hands of radical jihadists. "Caught between the various parties to the conflict since 2011, journalists are liable to end up as collateral victims, being taken hostage by a non-state group (such as Islamic State, the Al Nusra Front or the Free Syrian Army) or being arrested by the Assad regime," RSF said.The RSF report also brought attention to thewho may be the most vulnerable, because they are not protected by traditional media organizations. Citizen journalists are also often not beholden to any special interest agenda and may even be at risk of interfering with the official story of a mainstream media organization . Journalism can be hijacked and paid off too, to cover up the truth and make a false narrative sound legitimate . After all, official stories serve one purpose: to protect officials and keep the powerful in power. If a story is repeated enough, it is believed and thus becomes religiously true in the minds of the masses. For example, many minds still believe all vaccines are safe and effective and buy into the hype that vaccines should be required to eradicate viruses."The 110 journalists killed this year need a response that matches the emergency. A special representative of the United Nations secretary-general for the safety of journalists must be appointed without delay," says RSF Secretary General Christophe Deloire.Since 2005, a total ofwhile doing their important work. This is not an issue to be passive about.Americans should especially be concerned with the deaths of eight journalists just south of the USMexico border where the US Justice Department was caught running guns to drug cartels. Americans should also be wary of why seven other journalists were killed in Honduras (where the US government supported an illegal, destabilizing coup.)Why aren't we more concerned about this?
(NaturalNews) Thousands of Natural News visitors watched live footage of TalkNetwork.com hosts Pete Santilli and Deb Jordan as they streamed coverage of a Jan. 2 rally in Burns, Oregon, in support of ranchers Dwight Hammond, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46 For those who are unfamiliar with their case, the Hammonds were convicted in 2012 under a federal anti-terrorism statute, of committing arson on federal land overseen by the Bureau of Land Management. Both were charged in connection with a 2001 fire, and Steven in connection with another fire in 2006. The Hammonds had set backfires  a common technique used in rural ranching communities to refresh the soil and clear away dangerous foliage  some of which burned federal land adjacent to the land they leased from the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).A federal court found them guilty of willful destruction and actually charged them with a violation of the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which calls for a minimum sentence of five years in prison. When they were initially convicted, U.S. District Judge Michael Hogan  now retired  gave them lighter sentences because he did not believe they had exhibited malicious intent.Federal prosecutors appealed Hogan's three-month sentence for Dwight Hammond, and one-year sentence for Steven Hammond  which both had served  because they were far short of the minimum. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed and ordered them re-sentenced in October, which they duly were. And now, they are required to report to prison Jan. 4, to finish their five-year sentences.Patriot groups and other supporters of the Hammonds say that the Ninth U.S. Court of Appeals violated the Fifth Amendment's prohibition against "double jeopardy"  that is, "be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb."Others have suggested that perhaps there is another element at play  a religious element, in particular. Like, what if the Hammonds were a part of a politically protected religious and ethnic group?Natural News editor Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, laid it out clearly."If the Hammond family were of Muslim faith, the entire mainstream media would be screaming about how ridiculous this terrorism charge is," he said. "But solely because they are white people living a rural lifestyle, they are condemned by the media and largely ignored even as they face the extreme tyranny of an unjust federal government gone bad."In fact, as evidenced by the live stream supplied by Santilli and Jordan, the only "mainstream media" seen in hours of coverage monitored by Natural News was a news team from, which filed this story As the protect and resultant march by patriots and supporters proceeded through the streets of Burn, there were no calls for violence, no rioting or looting, no threats or intimidation  and, noted at one point by Jordan  no massive police presence. In fact, she said she hadn't seen one officer the entire time.And yet, the Hammonds have been portrayed, literally, as "terrorists" because of accidentally burning some federal land - using a technique that the BLM itself has utilizedthough no one was ever charged or held responsible.Can you imagine a Muslim family being charged thusly for a fire that, say, got out of hand at a campsite on federal land? Those happen all the time.This may sound like apples and oranges, but really the point of this piece is to point out the hypocrisy of the politically correct Left-wing mainstream media , which has gone out of its way to protect Muslims in an age where adherents to the Islamic faith have used it as an excuse to kill Americans (you know -terrorism).Sources:
Political left full of rage and violence against white people (and gun owners in particular)

If the Oregon activists peacefully stand down now, they're already achieved a huge victory

This event has unveiled the extreme violence and genocidal tendencies of the political left in America

(NaturalNews) The number of conservative and patriot voices calling for the armed Oregon activists to stand down is rapidly growing today, with Ted Cruz now asking the protesters to "stand down peaceably." Oath Keepers has also publicly stated that the Hammond family "does not want an armed standoff and nobody has the right to force one on them."Even though the armed ranchers have committed no violence, no arson, no vandalism and no acts of violence whatsoever, nearly the entire leftist media is now referring to them as "terrorists." Keep in mind that when Black Lives Matter protesters set fire to buildings in Ferguson and Baltimore, the media never referred to them as "terrorists." Even when two Muslims murdered office workers in San Bernardino, the leftist media went out of its way to avoid referring to them as "terrorists," instead ridiculously claiming the event was simply "workplace violence."But when Oregon ranchers camp out on public lands while legally carrying rifles on their shoulders, suddenly every leftist media outlet and insane leftist talking head is calling for them to be shot and slaughtered by the federal government. Montel Williams, for example, shamelessly Tweeted "put this down using National Guard with shoot to kill orders." This is Montel Williams calling for an armed government to slaughter private citizens who have a legitimate grievance (and who haven't committed any acts of violence at all).What's emerging from this conflict iswho can't wait to see the Obama regime open fire on anyone who has a legitimate grievance against a corrupt federal land management cartel (BLM).Nowhere in any of the leftist media coverage is any honest analysis of why these ranchers feel so wronged by an oppressive, unjust federal regime known as the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM's land grab and outrageous use of anti-terrorism laws to throw the Hammond family in prison for five years for the "crime" of running a controlled burn brush fire never seems to enter any of the mainstream media coverage.Instead, their entire focus is on depicting these armed ranchers as "terrorists" even though they've committed no acts of terrorism whatsoever. In reality, they are guilty of nothing more than "camping" inside a federal building -- not much of a crime when you consider that half the federal workforce "camps" in federal buildings all day long and gets paid for it!Nevertheless, the armed activists in Oregon are getting no real traction in the media, not even in the alternative media or social media. It is difficult for most of the public to understand what exactly they're trying to accomplish when the Hammond family itself has already turned themselves in to the feds (to face four more years in prison, no less) and doesn't want these armed activists around.By bringing attention to the outrageous crimes of the BLM and federal overreach into private lands, these armed activists have already achieved a legitimate measure of victory. Tactically speaking, they can stand down right now, declare victory, and possibly face relatively minor criminal charges such as criminal trespassing.If they choose to stay in the buildings, the public uproar is only going to become louder and more insane, with more and more media lies being broadcast and irrational, enraged voices on the left calling for the government to slaughter these men and women out of sheer hatred for them. When the left calls for violence, it's always okay with the media, of course. So mass murder conducted by the government is given a green light by everyone on the extreme left.But as I've pointed out in a recent podcast , if the government slaughters these men, it may spark a nationwide armed revolt against tyranny.So let's hope that cooler heads prevail and this ends peacefully, with no casualties on either side.One takeaway we've learned from this, by the way, is that. If the federal government trumps up some bogus charges and sends you to prison for five years while forcing the sale of your land, apparently that's okay with people like Montel Williams (and everybody on CNN). Even more shocking, we've also learned that people on the left are happy and willing to call for the federal government to slaughter anyone they dislike.Whatever happened to "tolerance?" If a group of Black Lives Matter protesters camped out in a federal building, it would be called "social justice." If a group of Muslims camped out in a federal building, they would be called "refugees." But when white men from rural Oregon camp out in a federal building, it's called "terrorism." Isn't it amazing how racist the leftist media has become in its twisted coverage of events? When Black Lives Matter protesters commit mass arson and looting in Ferguson, MO, that's "justified" we're told.What we are really witnessing here is the cultural slide toward precisely the conditions that have historically led to. With each passing day, the USA is becoming a lot more like communist China, where any person who publicly disagrees with the government is quickly "disappeared" while the obedient masses call for more government violence against dissenters.Hear live updates as this event unfolds on TalkNetwork.com
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Humpback whales are slow to return to warmer waters of Hawaii this season as December usually marks the animals' migration from Alaska. Experts are currently investigating what the holdup is.

"This isn't a concern, but it's of interest. One theory was that something like this happened as whales increased. It's a product of their success," Ed Lyman, a Maui-based marine biologist and response coordinator for the Humpback Whale Marine Sanctuary, said in a statement. "What I'm seeing out there right now I would have expected a month ago. We've just seen a handful of whales."

The whales' slow return to Hawaii is of particular interest because these iconic animals are a famous part of winter on the islands and a major source of income for local tour operators. Researchers are unsure exactly how many whales have traveled to Hawaii so far, since population counts are not recorded until the last Saturdays of January, February and March.

Each year thousands of humpback whales migrate upwards of 3,000 miles from Alaska to Hawaiian breeding grounds, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). In order to travel such great distances - the farthest migration of any mammal, in fact - humpbacks spend summer months building up fat stores by filter-feeding on tiny crustaceans.

Humpback whales are protected under the Endangered Species Act and federal law prohibits approaching within 100 yards of them by boat. Despite past population declines threatening the species, experts are not yet concerned about their slow arrival to Hawaii.

"They don't necessarily show up in the same place at the same time every year," former sanctuary co-manager Jeff Walters said.

The whales may also be spending more time up north because of El Nino patterns and warmer waters or because their population has increased., experts say.

"With more animals, they're competing against each other for that food resource, and it takes an energy of reserve to make that long migration over 2,000 miles," Lyman added.

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For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

-Follow Samantha on Twitter @Sam_Ashley13
You know the world is changing in big ways -- or at least our knowledge of it is -- when four new elements are added to the periodic table. That's it, toss out that outdated old one! You no longer need Calcium, anyhow. Just kidding about that last bit. It's good for your teeth.

Anyhow, the four new elements and their atomic numbers will fill out the table's seventh row, and were announced by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) on the next-to-last day of 2015, in a press release. IUPAC is the ultimate source on chemical science.

"The chemistry community is eager to see its most cherished table finally being completed down to the seventh row," said Professor Jan Reedijk president of the Inorganic Chemistry Division of the IUPAC in the release.

So far, the elements have stand-in names: Uut 113, Uup 115, Uus 117 and Uuo 118. And yes, don't worry if you don't find those catchy -- because they're temporary.

The Bay Area's Livermore National Lab was part of the discovery of three of the four new elements, and they will likely propose permanent names and symbols for those.

Scientists from Russia and Japan also contributed to the discovery and will likely help name them too.

There are a few perameters for names -- they should be named after a mineral, a place or country, a mythological concept, a property or a scientist. Once the names are proposed, they'll receive scientific and public review before being finalized and set up on the table.

As it happens, the new elements aren't actually found in nature: They're man-made, and they decay into unknown isotopes of elements that are a bit lighter.

For more great nature science stories and general news, please visit our sister site, Headlines and Global News (HNGN).

-Follow Catherine on Twitter @TreesWhales
Diplomatic relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia have been tense since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, though there have been occasional thaws between the two rivals.

The tensions have now sharply escalated with Saudi Arabia severing ties with the Islamic Republic following attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran. Here's a look at how relations between the two Mideast powers have shifted over the last decades:

PRE-REVOLUTION RELATIONS: Under the rule of Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, Iran had rocky relations with Saudi Arabia, though they improved toward the end of his reign. Both were original members of the oil cartel OPEC.

POST-REVOLUTION: After the overthrow of the shah and takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Saudi Arabia quickly became America's top ally in the region. In the ensuing 1980s war between Iran and Iraq, Saudi Arabia backed Iraq despite its concerns about dictator Saddam Hussein. That war would kill 1 million people.

1987 HAJJ RIOTS: The annual pilgrimage to Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia, required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life, saw bloodshed when Iranians held a political demonstration. Iranian pilgrims later battled Saudi riot police, violence that killed at least 402 people. Iran claimed 600 of its pilgrims were killed and said police fired machine guns at the crowd. In Tehran, mobs attacked the Saudi, Kuwaiti, French and Iraqi embassies, ransacking the first two.

SEVERING TIES: In 1988, Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran, citing the 1987 hajj rioting and Iran's attacks on shipping in the Persian Gulf. Iranians responded by boycotting the hajj in 1988 and 1989. The two countries restored diplomatic ties in 1991.

EASING TENSIONS: Relations between the two nations improved after Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, a political moderate, took office in 1997. Ties warmed further after historic visits by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to Tehran in December 1997 and Khatami to the kingdom in May 1999.

NUCLEAR DISPUTE: Worries about Iran resumed in Saudi Arabia amid international sanctions against Tehran over its contested nuclear program and the increasingly harsh rhetoric of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Iran and Saudi Arabia each backed opposite sides in Syria's civil war, as well as in the civil war in Yemen. Saudi Arabia also grows increasingly suspicious of Iran as it reaches a deal with world powers over its nuclear program.

2015 HAJJ DISASTER: On Sept. 24, a stampede and crush strikes the annual hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. While the kingdom says 769 pilgrims are killed, an Associated Press count shows over 2,400 people were killed. Iran says at least 464 of its pilgrims were killed and blames Saudi Arabia's "incompetence" for the deaths.

SHEIKH'S EXECUTION: On Jan. 2, Saudi Arabia executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others  the largest execution carried out by the kingdom in three and a half decades. The execution of al-Nimr, a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority, sparked protests across the Mideast and attacks on Saudi diplomatic facilities in Iran. Saudi Arabia responded by announcing it was severing diplomatic ties with Iran over the attacks.
The furor over recent Chicago police shootings has legislators considering whether voters should be allowed to recall Mayor Rahm Emanuel or future officials who hold his post.

Illinois state law currently addresses only the recall of a governor, a provision voters approved in 2010 after former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested and impeached. Now, state Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Chicago Democrat, wants voters to also have the power to remove the mayor of the country's third-largest city.

In light of the unrest in the city, Ford said, "It's clearly the right thing to have on the books."

But what about mayors in other Illinois cities? What about state lawmakers? How does Illinois compare to other states when it comes to recalls? Here's a closer look at those questions and the particulars of Ford's measure.

FORD'S RECALL PROPOSAL

Ford introduced his bill on Dec. 9, the day Emanuel addressed the Chicago City Council and apologized for the death of Laquan McDonald, a black teenager who was shot 16 times by a white police officer in October 2014. Emanuel's apology came a couple of weeks after the release of police dashcam video that appeared to show McDonald walking away from officers when he was shot. The video triggered protests and calls for Emanuel's resignation.

Emanuel has said he won't step down.

"We understand there's a desire by some to insert politics into this discussion, but the mayor's focus is not on his own personal politics," Emanuel spokesman Adam Collins said in a statement. "His focus is on taking the action necessary to finally and fully address an issue that has challenged Chicago for decades, and reform the system and culture of policing in Chicago."

Under Ford's proposal, two city aldermen would have to sign an affidavit agreeing with a recall petition and organizers must collect more than 88,000 signatures from registered voters in the city. At least 50 signatures must come from each of 50 wards.

The proposal would pre-empt local law, so it needs approval from two-thirds of each chamber of the Illinois Legislature to pass during the session that starts this month. The bill would be effective immediately if signed into law, a scenario that can pose legal questions because it would target someone currently in office, said David Melton, executive director of the Illinois Campaign for Political Reform.

WHAT ABOUT OTHER OFFICEHOLDERS?

Ford said in the coming weeks he'll be holding town hall meetings in his district to get constituents' thoughts about the bill and whether it should be expanded to include recall provisions for other officeholders, including other mayors. He said he's willing to consider also including lawmakers but said he didn't do so initially because legislators don't wield the same authority as statewide officeholders or the Chicago mayor.

Nineteen states and the District of Columbia allow recalls of state and local officials, according to Joshua Spivak, a recall expert at the Hugh L. Carey Institute for Government Reform at Wagner College in New York City.

Illinois is included in that count but is unique in that its constitution has guidelines for the recall of only the governor.

"There's no jurisdiction I know of that have just one guy (open to recall)," Spivak said.

HOW COMMON ARE RECALLS?

Despite the recall limits in Illinois law, municipalities can adopt their own ordinances. Still, it's a power that's been rarely used. Recall efforts are expensive and time-consuming endeavors.

The last time one happened in Illinois was 2010 in Buffalo Grove, a suburb of Chicago. That's where voters recalled village trustee Lisa Stone.

Jennifer Maltas, Buffalo Grove's deputy village manager, said it's believed to be the only recall ever held in the state, and Spivak couldn't find any other cases.

Across the country in 2015, there were at least 434 attempts to recall local and state officeholders, according to Spivak's research. Of those, only 93 made it to a recall vote.

Only two U.S. governors have ever been recalled  North Carolina's Lynn Frazier in 1921, and California's Gray Davis in 2003.

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott Walker survived a recall election in 2012, becoming the first governor in U.S. history to do so. The recall came after Walker moved to strip most public employees of their collective bargaining rights.
A third body has been found after four young men from Illinois went missing over the weekend on Lake Beulah in Wisconsin, authorities said Monday.

The bodys identity hasnt been released, but officials said it is believed to be one of two men who remained missing after a group of four were believed to have been involved in a canoe accident.

The bodies of the other two men, identified as 20-year-old Lanny Patrick Sack and 21-year-old Christopher J. McQuillen were recovered from the lake Sunday. Search efforts for the fourth man remained underway Monday afternoon.

At the time of the accident, the four were spending the weekend at a lake house in the area with a group of friends. It was believed to be about 2:30 a.m. Sunday when they left the lake house and headed to the boat house, got in a canoe, and went out for paddle, officials said.

It was later that morning at about 9 a.m. when the others staying at the lake house noticed the group was missing and spotted an overturned canoe up against an ice shelf.

The men's friends told police the four were last seen around 2 a.m. when they went outside for a cigarette. Wisconsin officials said alcohol was involved.

Lake Beulah is just over 30 miles southwest of Milwaukee, according to Jason Roberts, the Recreation Safety Specialist for the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.

"There's no indication of any foul play just a tragic accident out in the cold waters," said Roberts. He added the water temperature was near freezing at 34 degrees.

All the men are from Illinois and attended New Trier Township High School, the school said in a statement. They are said to be between the ages of 20 and 31, according to police.

Sack was being mourned at a baseball academy where he coached youths.

Patrick had started to coach for us last year and he was just a dynamite young enthusiastic coach, Lucky Strike baseball academy owner John Fix said of Sack. He had a great rapport with the 13 year-old kids. They're gonna miss him and we're gonna miss him a tremendous amount.

Fix said Sack trained at the academy himself as a kid.

He had a great sense of humor, Fix added. He didn't take things too seriously when he was coaching. He knew the game, he treated the kids with respect.

"It is with immeasurable grief that we learned yesterday of the boating-accident deaths of four young men," Superintendent Linda Yonke said in a statement. "From information received at this point, it appears that all of the men attended New Trier Township High School for all or part of their high school years. Our deepest condolences are extended to the families and friends as they cope with this tragic loss."

"We are deeply saddened by the news of this tragic accident. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families and all who were close to these young men," A spokesperson for Northern Illinois University told NBC Chicago.
SPOILER ALERT: If you are waiting to watch the end of "Making a Murderer" to find out what happens to Steven Avery, do not read this story.

In just two weeks, nearly 183,000 people have been so moved by Netflixs runaway hit Making a Murderer they have signed petitions asking for the president to pardon the documentary series' subject Steven Avery, a Wisconsin man serving life in prison.

Since being created in late December, nearly 20,000 signatures had been collected on a Whitehouse.gov petition by Monday morning and an additional 163,000 had signed a Change.org petition calling for a presidential pardon for Avery and his nephew Brendan Dassey.

They were launched quickly after 'Making a Murderer' began streaming Dec. 18, and have only gained momentum as more viewers push their friends and family to the must-watch, mind-bending real-life thriller.

Both Avery and Dassey are currently serving life sentences for the murder of photographer Theresa Halbach in 2005.

After viewing [the documentary series], I am outraged with the injustices which have been allowed to compound and left unchecked in the case of Steven Avery of Manitowoc County in Wisconsin, U.S.A., the Change.org petition's creator writes. Avery's unconstitutional mistreatment at the hands of corrupt local law enforcement is completely unacceptable and is an abomination of due process.

If the government petition collects 100,000 signatures by January 16, the White House has to respond publicly.

The harrowing and heartbreaking 10-episode series has both enraged and consumed fans, mainly due to the fact that the series follows real people that are still living with the outcome.

Following the murder case over the course of 10 years, the series questions the authenticity of evidence prosecutors used to convict the men, including a coerced confession by Brendan, who was just 16 years old at the time and learning disabled. Brendan soon after said, as shown in the series, he was forced into giving it and fed by officers.

Based on the evidence in the Netflix documentary series, the Whitehouse.gov petition writes, The justice system embarrassingly failed both men, completely ruining their entire lives. There is clear evidence that the Manitowoc County sheriff's department used improper methods to convict both Steven Avery and Brendan Dassey.

Filmmakers Laura Ricciardi and Moira Demos produced the series chronicling the process that led to Averys conviction in Wisconsins Manitowoc County in 2007.

Avery's attorneys fought tirelessly for his freedom, suggesting throughout the series that police wanted to frame his client. In many points, there is a stark contrast to what was told to the public during the time to the reality shown of how the alleged evidence was uncovered by local law enforcement and the tactics used over the course of years to put Avery behind bars.

Prosecutor Ken Kratz has defended himself after the onslaught of criticism and global attention, saying the case is slanted toward the defense. He says the filmmakers didn't give him a chance to answer any of the defense attorneys' allegations. He also says the filmmakers haven't presented as much as 90 percent of the physical evidence linking Avery to the crime.

In response to Kratzs comments, filmmaker Ricciardi told The Wrap: "Ken Kratz is entitled to his own opinion, but he's not entitled to his own facts."

Ricciardi and Demos spent 10 years following the Avery family's struggle, capturing 700 hours of footage throughout the investigation and trial.

Riccardi's partner Demos added to the Wrap: "I guess I would ask Kratz what he would trade it for. We tried to choose what we thought was Kratz's strongest evidence pointing toward Steven's guilt, the things he talked about at his press conferences, the things that were really damning toward Steven. That's what we put in."

After finishing the powerful 10 episodes, thousands of fans have taken to social media expressing sleepless nights spent wondering what legal options are left for both men, and whether any other suspects have emerged since the documentary was released.

Tens of thousands of comments on Making A Murderers Reddit subthread have come up with their own theories or even taken it upon themselves to try to find new facts in the case that they hope can bring the men justice.

Here you can find answers to many questions you might have after watching "Making a Murderer."
State police are looking for a driver that struck a state police cruiser on the Interstate 84 westbound exit 18 off-ramp in Southbury at a DUI spot check, state police said.

A vehicle struck a cruiser while troopers were conducting a DUI spot check in the area on Jan. 2 at 9 p.m. and the car tried to back off the ramp to avoid the sobriety checkpoint, state police said.

The car kept going into Waterbury. The state police cruiser was parked and no one was in it at the time and was moderately damaged. It was driven away from the scene.

State police are looking for the driver and the evading vehicle, which is described as a newer model Silver Infinity four-door sedan with a Connecticut registration plate containing the letters AA. The vehicle was damaged on the passenger side, possibly from the front end to the rear.

State police ask anyone with information about the car or identity of the driver to call Troop A at 203-267-2200 or text TIP711 with information to 236748 and reference Case 16-00003686.

All calls and texts will remain confidential.
Frontier Communications customers experienced outages in their local television service statewide for several hours Monday morning, but the company announced the problem has since been resolved.

The outage was caused by issues with Frontier's coding for data transfer, according to a representative from the company. Local, not national, television channels in Connecticut were affected, but Elizabeth Godbout, a Frontier spokesperson, said just after 11 a.m. that "all local television channels are back up now."

She did, however, say there have still been some sporadic technical issues and some customers have contacted NBC Connecticut to say their service still isn't working.

Frontier had asked customers affected not to reset their set top boxes, Godbout said.
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy says closing Southbury Training School for people with severe intellectual disabilities is a more complicated budget-savings proposition than he first thought.

While Southbury's residential population has declined over the years to 270 as of Thursday  due to death, people moving into community-based settings and the end to new admissions  Malloy said there remains a group of people who still need "exceptional care" costing a lot of money.

"I think the legislature needs to understand that most of the people at Southbury really are extraordinary cases and no matter where they are, they're going to be more expensive to care for," Malloy said in an interview with The Associated Press.

Malloy, who previously voiced support for possibly closing Southbury, said he has visited the facility and since learned more about the unique care that's being provided, acknowledging he was "caught up in a one-size-fits-all" way of thinking earlier.

"We have elderly people who require a much higher level of treatment and it happens to be there. And because it's got a name and because it's got a history, people just kind of group it together," he said of the sprawling campus, which dates back to the late 1930s and has been the subject of various lawsuits.

"Not that I'm saying that Southbury as it once existed, even necessarily as it currently exists, should exist forever. Just that it's a more complicated issue," Malloy said.

The Democrat's comments come shortly after the General Assembly passed a budget-cutting bill that included language requiring the Office of Policy and Management Secretary and the Department of Developmental Disabilities commissioner to provide a plan by Dec. 31 to close Southbury and several regional centers.

The Developmental Disabilities commissioner already has begun soliciting public input about the future of Southbury, requesting submissions in October. Commissioner Morna Murray said she hopes to provide recommendations to Malloy by April 30.

Opinions are strong about the Southbury's future.

A coalition of disability rights groups, led by the Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities, has called for closing the facility by 2020. The group contends any savings realized should be spent reducing the lengthy waiting list for state services for people with disabilities, including supportive housing in the community. Meanwhile, a caucus of state legislators has also announced support for closing six state-run institutions, including Southbury, by 2020.

"There is definite movement now to talk about how the plan is going to go forward," said Molly Cole, director of the Connecticut Council on Developmental Disabilities. "It's just very sad to me that we're having, in this day and age, a conversation about whether to close a place that in today's world would never be opened because it's illegal."

The Home and School Association of the Southbury Training School is an advocacy group that includes relatives of the remaining residents who believe their loved ones are thriving at Southbury. The association argues that closure of Southbury and the other regional sites will cost Connecticut a significant amount of money over many years and exacerbate the current waiting list for services.

"In addition, the residents of these facilities have the legal right to remain there," the group states on its website, "and we intend to defend that right."
The Connecticut Supreme Court is expected to hear several high-profile appeals in 2016, including the state's attempt to put Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel back in prison and a review of its landmark decision declaring the death penalty unconstitutional.

Skakel, a nephew of Robert F. Kennedy's widow, Ethel, was freed in November 2013 after a judge granted him a new trial in the slaying of neighbor Martha Moxley in wealthy Greenwich in 1975, when they were both teenagers. He posted $1.2 million bail and was released after serving more than 11 years of a prison sentence of 20 years to life for murder.

Prosecutors are going before the state Supreme Court to challenge the decision for a new trial by Judge Thomas Bishop, who ruled that Skakel's attorney, Michael Sherman, failed to adequately represent him in 2002.

Prosecutors declined to comment on the appeal. A message seeking comment was left for Skakel's appeal lawyer, Hubert Santos.

The Supreme Court is expected to hear arguments by April. Prosecutors have said that if they lose the appeal, they will put Skakel on trial again.

Justices are scheduled to hear arguments this month in the appeal of Russell Peeler Jr.  a case in which the court will revisit its 4-3 decision last year that declared Connecticut's death penalty unconstitutional.

Peeler was sentenced to death for ordering the killing of a woman and her 8-year-old son in Bridgeport in 1999. The boy, B.J. Brown, was to testify against Peeler in another murder case.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy and state lawmakers in 2012 abolished the death penalty, but only for future murders  leaving 11 men including Peeler still facing execution. A sharply divided Supreme Court ruled in August in the appeal of another death row inmate, Eduardo Santiago, that the 2012 abolishment must be applied to those who remained on death row because the death penalty violated the state constitution.

In a rare move, the court is allowing prosecutors in the Peeler case to address issues decided in the Santiago appeal, setting up a possible overturning of the Santiago ruling abolishing the death penalty. Prosecutors in Peeler's appeal will argue Jan. 7 that, contrary to Peeler's claims, the 2012 law allowing the death penalty for future murders only does not violate the state constitution.

Hartford attorney Daniel Klau said the Supreme Court is "certainly off to a significant start with Peeler in January and Skakel likely to follow."

Also this year, the Supreme Court is expected to decide whether to reinstate the corruption convictions of former Hartford Mayor Eddie Perez. Justices heard arguments in October.

A lower court ruled in 2013 that the state improperly combined two corruption cases into one trial that ended with Perez's conviction and a three-year prison sentence for taking a bribe and attempted extortion. Perez has remained free on bail pending the appeals.

Hartford lawyer Proloy Das said the Skakel, Peeler and Perez cases are unusual in that it is the state seeking reversals of court rulings, not the defendants.

Chief Justice Chase Rogers declined through a spokeswoman to comment on the court's 2016 cases.

The Supreme Court also is expected to hear three other death penalty appeals involving Steven Hayes, Sedrick Cobb and Robert Breton. Hayes is one of two men sentenced to death in the highly publicized murders of a mother and her two daughters in a home invasion in Cheshire in 2007.
If you bought tickets for Janet Jackson's postponed Unbreakable World Tour in Hartford at the XL Center, you'll still be able to use them when the tour is rescheduled.

Janet Jackson posted on her Facebook page on Christmas Eve that she'll have to postpone her world tour until the spring because her doctors are having her undergo surgery.

"Hey you guys Happy Holidays to each and every one of you. I need you to know, I learned today, from my doctors that I must have surgery soon," Jackson posted on her Facebook page Dec. 24. "It breaks my heart to tell you that I am forced to postpone the Unbreakable Tour until the spring. Every date will be rescheduled. Please hold on to your tickets. They will be honored in a special way when the new schedule is announced. Please pray for me, my family and our entire company during this difficult time. There will be no further comment. I love you all so much and am ever grateful for your understanding and your love. Gon' b alright."

Jackson had been scheduled to perform in Hartford on Feb. 27. The XL Center posted that her tour "has been postponed until further notice."

"Tickets that have already been purchased will still be valid for the TBD postponed date," the XL Center posted on its website.

The entertainment venue encourages ticket holders to hold on to your tickets until a new date for the concert has been confirmed, however "refunds can be made at the point of purchase."

Anyone who paid online or over the phone using a credit card can receive a refund by calling 877-522-8499. Customers who bought their tickets in cash at the XL Center box office can return their tickets there to obtain a refund. The XL Center's box office is open Mondays to Fridays from noon to 5 p.m.
President Barack Obama moved Monday to expand background checks to cover more guns sold at gun shows, online and anywhere else, aiming to curb a scourge of gun violence despite unyielding opposition to new gun laws in Congress.

Obama's plan to broaden background checks forms the centerpiece of a broader package of measures the president plans to take on his own on gun control in his final year in office. Although Obama can't unilaterally change gun laws, the president is hoping that beefing up enforcement of existing laws can prevent at least some gun deaths in a country rife with them.

"This is not going to solve every violent crime in this country," Obama said. Still, he added, "It will potentially save lives and spare families the pain of these extraordinary losses."

Under current law, only federally licensed gun dealers must conduct background checks on buyers, but many who sell guns at flea markets, on websites or other informal settings don't register as dealers. Gun control advocates say that loophole is exploited to skirt the background check requirement.

Now, the Justice Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives will issue updated guidance that says the government should deem anyone "in the business" of selling guns to be a dealer, regardless of where he or she sells the guns. To that end, the government will consider other factors, including how many guns a person sells and how frequently, and whether those guns are sold for a profit.

The executive actions on gun control fall far short of what he and likeminded lawmakers attempted to accomplish with legislation in 2013, after a massacre at a Connecticut elementary school that shook the nation's conscience. Even still, the more modest measures were sure to spark a confrontation with Republicans and gun rights groups that oppose new impediments to buying guns.

"We're very comfortable that the president can legally take these actions now," said Attorney General Loretta Lynch.

Far from mandating background checks for all gun sales, the new guidance still exempt collectors and gun hobbyists, and the exact definition of who must register as a dealer and conduct background checks remains exceedingly vague. The administration did not issue a number for how many guns someone must sell to be considered a dealer, instead saying it planned to remind people that courts have deemed people to be dealers in some cases even if they only sell a handful of guns.

And the background check provision rests in the murky realm of agency guidelines, which have less force than full-fledged federal regulations and can easily be rescinded. Many of the Republican presidential candidates running to succeed Obama have vowed to rip up his new gun restrictions upon taking office.

In an attempt to prevent gun purchases from falling through the cracks, the FBI will hire 230 more examiners to process background checks, the White House said. The FBI has a computerized system that can process background checks for many in seconds.

But in instances where the FBI needs more time, the government only has three days before prospective buyers can return and buy the gun without being cleared.

The White House also said it planned to ask Congress for $500 million to improve mental health care, and pledged to move forward with efforts to keep guns out of the hands with people deemed unsuitable because of mental illness. The Obama administration also plans to complete a rule long in the works to close a separate loophole that exempts guns purchased by trusts or corporations from background checks.

Obama planned to announce the new measures at an event at the White House on Tuesday as he continued a weeklong push to promote the gun effort and pushing back on its critics.

He met at the White House on Monday with Democratic lawmakers who have supported stricter gun control, and planned to take his argument to prime time on Thursday with a town hall discussion about gun violence on CNN. The initiative also promised to be prominent in Obama's final State of the Union address next week.

Associated Press writers Eric Tucker and Stacy A. Anderson contributed to this report.
Former Dallas Cowboys defensive end Jason Hatcher didnt play against his former team on Sunday. He sat out with a pinched nerve in his neck. But Hatcher admitted it felt good to be on the winning side of the old rivalry, even if he harbors no ill will toward Jerry Jones or the Cowboys.

"I tell everybody I didn't leave on a bad note," Hatcher said, per the Dallas Morning News. "Me and Jerry [Jones] sat down and we talked like men and he told me what his plans were and I respected that. I'm not like some players, they're mad at the organization. I left on a good note. But it still feels good to beat their butt.

After a career year with the Cowboys in 2013, in which he recorded 11 sacks, Hatcher left for a truckload of money in Washingtonfour years and $27.5 million to be exact, which is a whole lot more than the Cowboys were ready to pay him at the time.

Since then, Hatcher has appeared in 28 games for the Redskins and has 7.5 sacks.
Dallas police are investigating after an officer and a teen were struck by a vehicle Monday afternoon in Dallas.[[364155351,L]]

It happened at about 2:15 p.m. at the Las Lomas Apartments in the 200 block of Stoneport Drive.

Witnesses said a group of teenagers had been fighting in the area. When an officer arrived on the scene, someone got into a car, then slammed into a teenage boy and the officer with the vehicle.

"It was at that point that other suspects who were involved in the disturbance got into a nearby vehicle and drove directly at the officer and the juvenile. That vehicle struck both the officer and the juvenile," said Dallas Police Department spokesman Maj. Max Geron.

The injured teenager was transported to Children's Medical Center Dallas. The teen's condition is unknown at this time.

The officer  who not only was hit, but also dragged by the vehicle for a short time  was transported to a hospital, where he was treated and later released Monday evening.

Officer is in stable condition. One juvenile was taken to the hospital. pic.twitter.com/Mvv3aGBhIk  Dallas Police Dept (@DallasPD) January 4, 2016

Officers located a vehicle possibly related to the original offense nearby, Geron said.

"We've detained a few individuals, we've not identified them as suspects. We've taken a number of witnesses down to talk to us at headquarters, so we'll process that try and identify the individuals involved," Geron said.
Ahead of new developments expected this week in the case of "affluenza teen" Ethan Couch, an expert reveals what the future may hold for his mother, who is accused of helping her son flee the country.

Couch, 18, was sentenced to 10 years of probation for a drunken-driving crash that killed four people in 2013. His attorneys coined the term "affluenza" to describe the teen's privileged upbringing.

Authorities began searching for Couch last month after he missed a mandatory meeting with a probation officer. He was found to have fled the country to Mexico with his mother, Tonya Couch, who is accused of helping him. The pair was found in Puerto Vallarta and arrested Monday.

Although Ethan Couch remains in Mexico, his mother was deported to the United States late Wednesday. She remains detained in Los Angeles pending a hearing set for early this week.

Law enforcement sources in Texas told NBC News the hearing is set for Tuesday. It could happen any time after 10:30 a.m. Central Time at the Los Angeles Superior Court.

Dallas attorney Pete Schulte told NBC DFW the extradition process for Tonya Couch from Los Angeles to a courtroom in Tarrant County, Texas, may not take long.

"If she's not going to fight it, then the minute she walks in and says, 'Your honor, we're not going to fight extradition,' the judge will say, 'OK,' sign the order and off she goes," said Schulte.

Barring unforseen circumstances, Tonya Couch will likely return to Tarrant County by mid-week to face a felony charge of hindering apprehension, law enforcement sources told NBC News. She's being held on $1 million bond.

Tarrant County deputies planned to return from California with Tonya Couch by the end of the week. Her attorney said "she looks forward to being returned to Texas as quickly as possible... and is eager to have her day in court."

"She'll have the condition that if she's able to make the $1 million bond that she'll have to wear an electronic monitor, because she is a flight risk," Schulte said.

Ethan Couch remained Sunday inside a Mexican immigration detention center in Mexico City. Fernando Benitez, a high-profile Mexican attorney known for winning big cases confirmed Friday he would represent Ethan.

"The is the chance down there that the Mexican lawyer is successful, he could get released, and then be left in Mexico," said Schulte. "And then Mr. Couch will be on his way to go wherever he wants, and we kind of start the process over."

Schulte said he believes Ethan Couch is "getting bad advice."

"His Mexican lawyers telling him we should delay, delay, delay. All that's doing is hurting him when he does inevitably get back to Tarrant County in front of a judge here," he said.

On Monday, the Tarrant County District Attorney's office said that Tonya Couch will likely be arraigned in Criminal District Court Two within 24 to 48 hours of her return to the county.

After Ethan Couch was detained in Mexico last week, Tarrant County District Attorney Sharen Wilson announced a Jan. 19 court date in juvenile court to hear a motion that will transfer Ethan's probation from juvenile to adult court.

However, with Ethan still in Mexico it's unclear if that hearing can go on without him. A DA spokesperson said that was still being discussed and determined. If the hearing cannot happen with Couch absent, the DA's office says they'll wait until the day he returns even if it's years from now.

NBC 5's Kevin Cokely and Chris Van Horne contributed to this report.
Denzel Washington has been selected as the recipient of the 2016 Cecil B. DeMille Award, to be presented at 73rd Annual Golden Globe Awards on Jan. 10 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The honorary award is presented by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association (the organization behind the Globes) for "outstanding contributions to the world of entertainment."

Washington, 61, has been nominated for seven Golden Globes and won for "Glory" and "The Hurricane." He won Academy Awards for "Glory" and "Training Day," and has received two Emmy nominations, one Tony Award ("Fences"), one NAACP Image Award and a Grammy Award for his narration of "John Henry."

"Washington's long and storied career is earmarked by his countless roles in front and behind the camera," said Hollywood Foreign Press Association president Lorenzo Soria in a statement. [[361321371,C]]

Washington most recently appeared in "The Equalizer," directed by Antoine Fuqua ("Training Day"). Next up he re-teams with Fuqua for "The Magnificent Seven," also starring Chris Pratt and Ethan Hawke.

"In any craft or artistic endeavor you want to do different things. You want to go to different places, you want to find different ways to go about it," Washington said in 1998 of his profession, per IMDB. "So that's how it is for me as an actor. I couldn't play the same guy eight times and I don't have to. I think I've said all of my career, I'm not a celebrity. I'm not a movie star. I'm just an actor who is more popular right now. I don't even know what a movie star is. And one of the reasons why I keep on going back to make movies that don't have such huge budgets is that it's not as much pressure. You feel like you can take more chances."

After graduating Fordham University in 1977, the Mount Vernon, N.Y. native moved to San Francisco where he began his theater career. National recognition came in 1982 when he joined the cast of the long-running NBC TV series "St. Elsewhere."

Previous recipients of the Cecil B. DeMille award include George Clooney (2015), Woody Allen (2014), Jodie Foster (2013), Morgan Freeman (2012), Robert De Niro (2011), Martin Scorsese (2010), Steven Spielberg (2009), Robin Williams (2005), Harrison Ford (2002) and Barbra Streisand (2000).

Here, five of Washington's most notable and lauded roles:

"Glory" (1989)

Based on the writings of Col. Robert Gould Shaw, the Civil War-era officer who led the US's first all-black regiment, "Glory" solidified Washington's place on the cinematic map and earned him his first Academy Award. Washington played one of Shaw's troops alongside Morgan Freeman and Andre Braugher, with Matthew Broderick in the role of Shaw. [[362650701,C]]

"Malcolm X" (1992)

Taking the title role in the biopic of the of the controversial and influential Black Nationalist leader, Washington earned his third Oscar nomination. Directed and co-written by Spike Lee, the film also stars Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman, Jr., and Delroy Lindo. The role earned Washington a best actor Oscar nomination. Of his Academy Award loss to Al Pacino ("Scent of a Woman"), Lee said, "I'm not the only one who thinks Denzel was robbed on that one." [[362650811,C]]

"Philadelphia" (1993)

Inspired by a real-life court case, "Philadelphia" stars Tom Hanks as Andrew Beckett, an attorney who files a wrongful termination suit against his former firm claiming it was due to his AIDS diagnosis. In the film, Hanks' character enlists personal injury lawyer Joe Miller (Washington) to represent him. While Hanks garnered most of the praise for the film, Washington's subtle turn as a man struggling with his personal beliefs and his respect for the law cemented his place as one of the best dramatic actors working in the 1990s. [[362650951,C]]

"Training Day" (2001)

Known for playing noble, often heroic characters, Washington surprised and dazzles in the role of crooked LAPD detective Alonzo Harris, who is tasked with evaluating straight-shooting new partner (Ethan Hawke). The gritty role earned Washington a best actor Academy Award and a supporting actor nomination for Hawke. [[362651291,C]]

"Flight" (2012)

In the opening scenes of "Flight" Washington's character, respected pilot Whip Whitaker, saves hundreds of lives when he makes a daring landing after his plane malfunctions. But that's just the beginning of the drama when the story shifts to the post-crash investigation where it is revealed Whitaker is an alcoholic who was legally drunk at the time of the crash. [[362651341,C]]
A Glendale mother has been gathering donated baby carriers to make war refugees' journeys a little easier as they trek many miles carrying their children to safety in the Middle East.

Cristal Logothetis is a young mom from Glendale who's busy with her two year old son Leon and a family business which provides translation services.

Everything changed for her when she saw a photo of Aylan Kurdi. He was a 3-year-old Syrian boy who drowned trying to escape war. She knew she had to help.

"It was the last straw," Logothetis said. "I decided I had to do something even if it was a small impact."

Logothetis's family had immigrated to the U.S. from Spain when she was a child. She said she was especially moved by images of mothers carrying young children in their arms as they walked hundreds of miles to safety.

"They're not traversing well-paved roads  they're coming through creeks and ravines and borders and dangerous, precarious locations," Logothetis said.

She started an online fundraising campaign and asked other moms to donate their baby carriers so she could take them to Greece to give to refugees arriving by boat.

Thousands of donations came flooding in from all over the world.

Logothetis organized a team of volunteers to help sort and pack the baby carriers.

"Most of which are moms like myself, who for years have been standing on the sidelines trying to figure out a way to help to make an impact," Logothetis said.

Many of the donated carriers come with love notes to the refugees.

"From one mother to another  peace be with you on your journey," a note read.

In October, Logothetis and her band of mothers traveled to Greece to meet the refugees when they arrived by boat.

They awaited a ferry carrying 1,400 refugees coming from the Greek island of Lesbos so they could pass the carriers out.

The volunteers wore baby carriers holding dolls to show the refugees how they work since the packs aren't generally used in the Middle East.

Due to language barriers, most of the fittings had to be done through gestures, but the message came through loud and clear: People around the world care.

"I would like to know I live in a world where if I was in their shoes somebody would care enough about me to lend me a hand," Logothetis said.

Logothetis is forming a nonprofit called carry the future. They've already distributed 7,000 baby carriers to families in need and plan to continue indefinitely.

"My message to everyone is just help out  that's all that matters," Logothetis said. "You decide how you want to do it: How to make the world a better place. Just do it."

If you'd like to volunteer or donate a baby carrier for a refugee family, visit the site. http://www.Carrythefuture.Org
Mayor Eric Garcetti urged Los Angeles residents to be prepared for El Nino-related storms expected in the coming week.

"This storm is real  and it's coming," Garcetti said at a news conference Sunday evening.

A series of storms was expected to strike in the coming week, bringing rain, snow, and potential flooding beginning Sunday evening.

The stronger storm was expected to make landfall bringing one to two inches of rain on Tuesday.

Residents in Huntington Beach and Ventura County were preparing for the pending storms with sandbags, guard rails and more.

Garcetti said the city has gathered an emergency team dedicated specifically for preparing for El Nino storms in addition to tripling the number of outreach teams.

He urged residents to avoid driving over to where waters were rising.

"That's where people get caught  in their vehicles, in that water, sometimes losing their lives," Garcetti said.

"Tens of thousands of storm drains" were cleared to help prevent flooding, the mayor said.

Garcetti also said there were things residents could do, like clearing storm drains, and getting sandbags from a local fire station if mudslides are a threat.

He also encouraged residents to have a plan to meet loved ones should a crisis occur.

"Last El Nino, the big storm that happened 18 years ago, we lost about 14 people," Garcetti said. "We had billions of dollars of damage. We are determined to get in front of this."

Winter shelters were open, and the number of beds was increased by 50 percent to 1,500, Garcetti said.

There will be spaces available "whether it's for homeless individuals, or people who will become homeless because their homes get destroyed by mudslides or other things," Garcetti said.

Garcetti also said residents could get information from an El Nino preparation site as well as alerts on their smartphones.
A mega church pastor and a former New York mayor offered encouragement and support to thousands of San Bernardino County workers beginning the New Year still reeling from the December terror attack that took the lives of fourteen colleagues.

Even as the Inland Regional Center reopened Monday for the first time since the attack, the county gave workers the afternoon off so they could attend a gathering dedicated to "Remember, Honor and Support." Nearly five thousand attended the event at the Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario.

They remembered the victims of a radicalized Islamic husband and wife who shot and killed 14 people and wounded 23 others on Dec. 2 during a holiday gathering of the county's environmental health services division.

They heard Pastor Rick Warren encourage them to confront their grief and not try to repress it.

"Tears are a gift from God. Tears are not a sign of weakness, but of love," Pastor Warren said.

He also implored those grieving to reject bitterness  not for the sake of the perperpetrators  but for their own healing. Bitterness, said Warren, can "eat you alive."

Former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani spoke of the strength his city showed in recovering from the 9/11 terror attack in 2001, and assured San Bernardino it can do so as well.

Giuliani shared the story of a New York woman who lost her father, husband, and youngest son all in the same year, but nevertheless insisted on allowing her daughter's wedding to go forward.

"You don't forget the good things because of the bad things," Giuliani remembered her saying.

He praised San Bernardino's strength in the face of terrorists.

"They didn't beat you. They didn't accomplish their goal," Giuliani said. "Tell the terrorists, 'Screw You, you can't beat us. We're stronger than you.'"

Like Warren, Giuliani also stressed the importance of unity and compassion and holding to values, and said San Bernardino will make a powerful statement "by coming out of this as an example of how strong people can be when they love each other, care for each other."

Officials beefed up security around the facility for the event, including police dogs and metal detector screeners.

"We want our employees to feel safe and secure," said David Wert, public information officer. "That is a priority of the county."

The formal program ended with Supervisor Janice Rutherford proclaiming, "We are San Bernardino strong."

Many stayed to talk and reflect before heading to the parking lot.

"The message that we should unite and stay strong and look for the good, to counteract the bad, hit home with all of us," said Laurie Hunter, a San Bernardino County employee who works in the CEO's office.

"I was very emotional coming in," said Kendra Theroth, who works on a crisis team. "But leaving, I felt strong."
When Anderson Bonilla became editor-in-chief of the yearbook at his Virginia high school, he decided he wanted to show student life as it really is instead of the glossy, idealized version of high school so often memorialized.

There is a feature about Mount Vernon High School's immigrant students, and another showing classmates who are learning English. There is a page that gives tips on how to help students cope with grief after losing a friend. And there are two full pages dedicated to showing the lives of teenage mothers who attend the school.

"We want to show the real world of what Mount Vernon is,'' Bonilla said. He made the theme of the Surveyor "Where we really live.''

"We wanted to report something worth knowing,'' he said.

But a photo of one of the pregnant teens baring her stomach has ignited a fight between student leaders who want to show "the real world'' and school officials worried about how it might be viewed by students later in life.

According to Bonilla, Principal Esther Manns has said she will not allow the photos of Hannah Talbert, a junior at the school, to be featured in the yearbook.

Manns did not respond to requests for comment, but in a statement, a school spokesman said that Manns "raised concerns'' about some photos and asked for students to make sure they had permission to run them. She has not made any final decisions, spokesman John Torre said.

Talbert took a series of self-portraits and posted them on Instagram. She initially did not know that her photos would be in the yearbook, but after she learned about the plan, she signed off. She said she is proud to be a teen mother balancing the care of a 6-month-old with a full load of International Baccalaureate courses.

"I'm going to buy a yearbook, and me having a baby was a big part of my life," said Talbert, who recently turned 17.

"I'm kind of disappointed that the school wanted to take it out," said her father, Mac Talbert. He believes that showing his daughter in the yearbook could make other young women who find themselves in similar circumstances feel less alone. "Hannah's not the only kid who has had to face this. She's taking it head-on."

The case pits the First Amendment rights of high school students against the concerns of administrators who worry about the long-term impact of the photos, especially in the context of sensitive issues, including teenage pregnancy.

Bonilla said he left his meeting with the principal believing that she had decided the photos of Talbert would not appear in the yearbook. She did not, however, submit any written decision on the pictures. Under the school district's policies, students can appeal a decision in writing.

Bonilla also said he believes that the students are on firm ground in publishing the photos. In the U.S. Supreme Court case Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, justices ruled that principals could censor articles on such sensitive subjects as pregnancy and divorce in student publications since the publication carries the "imprimatur" of the school.

But district policy spells out that principals can censor only material that they believe will cause a disruption or that is "harmful to juveniles."

Bonilla included the photo spread in part to give teen mothers a voice.

"We are actually giving a realistic view of what these girls go through," Bonilla said. "She's still here. She's getting her education. That's what we're trying to show the school."

Having a child and attending high school is not easy, Talbert said. She rises before many of her classmates to get her son ready for day care and has to keep an eye on him while she does homework. She spent part of her 17th birthday at the pediatrician's office with him.

She is not ashamed to be a teen mother and, with financial support and heavy-duty babysitting help from her parents, she plans to pursue her dream of attending Penn State University and becoming a surgeon. And she wants other girls who find themselves unexpectedly pregnant to know their lives aren't over.

"I don't think I'll regret it," Talbert said of appearing in the yearbook. "That would be like saying I regret having my son, and I don't."
Grief counselors were on hand Monday at Coral Reef Elementary School in Palmetto Bay after a student, 7-year-old Amiere Castro, was shot and killed in southwest Miami-Dade over winter break.

Miami-Dade Schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho welcomed students and parents back to the school, making an announcement over the school's speakers.

"I stand with you through the good times and through the bad times, through happy times and sad times," he said.

Annabell Plasencia, whose daughter was in classes with Castro, said it was difficult to explain.

"It was very very scary and sad," she said. "I just told her that he wasn't going to be here anymore, that he had gone to heaven."

Three arrests have been made in the Sunday, Dec. 27 drive-by shooting in which Amiere, who was inside his cousin's house playing with toys, was fatally shot. Amiere had been visiting his family in the southwest Miami-Dade neighborhood of Richmond Heights over the holidays. His mother was on her way to pick him up when he was killed.

Amiere's 12-year-old brother held him until police arrived. Grief counselors will also be available at his middle school on Monday.

According to an arrest report, Michael Tobler, 19, was taken into custody Wednesday in connection with the shooting. Dravein Duke, 19, and Maxwell Trewin, 18, were previously arrested.

Police say Tobler was "responsible for generating the retaliatory shooting" that resulted in Amiere's death. According to a report, Duke, Trewin and several other male teens went to a home in the 15000 block of Jackson Street around 3 p.m. on the day of the shooting to buy marijuana from Tobler.

Duke, Trewin and another teen got out of the car, while two others stayed inside. After the sale was complete, Tobler and Duke got into an argument over a possible stolen firearm, according to police.

Police said Tobler took out a gun and shoved the muzzle into Duke's abdomen, threatening to kill him. Duke, Trewin and the other teen got back into the car and started to drive away when Tobler fired three times at the vehicle, according to police. Trewin, the driver, accelerated and drove off.

Duke and Trewin returned about 20 minutes later, police said. As they drove past the house, Trewin opened fire from inside the vehicle, shooting and killing Amiere as he played in the living room.

However Amiere's aunt, the homeowner, denies claims that the shooting stemmed from an earlier incident.

Amiere was laid to rest on Sunday at Second Baptist Church in Richmond Heights. Family, friends and community members gathered to pay their respects.

"It's something that should not have happened," said Lee Waters Jr. at Sunday's service. "It's something that we feel a great deal of sorrow for the family,"

All three suspects remain in jail awaiting trial.

A Miami-Dade judge increased Tobler's bond to $50,000 and gave him house arrest until he returns to court for his arraignment.
A Jacksonville man is facing a 120-year sentence for firing two shots that caused no injuries, The Florida Times-Union reported on Sunday.

The trial of Army Veteran Randal Ratledge, 58, is scheduled to start with jury selection on Monday. Defense attorneys have asked the judge to waive the mandatory guidelines, but court officials said Judge Jack Schemer is bound by the state law.

Ratledge, 58, was charged with six counts of aggravated assault after a 2012 incident involving his neighbors. Authorities said Rutledge fired shots in the air and screamed profanities at the six neighbors. He was charged with one count of aggravated assault on each of the neighbors.

Under Florida's 10-20-Life law, anyone convicted of a crime involving the firing of a gun gets a prison sentence of at least 20 years. Defense attorneys say Ratledge had a bad reaction to the sleep medication Ambien and didn't know what he was doing when he threatened the neighbors.

"The problem with our system now is judges have no discretion," defense attorney Bill Sheppard said. "Prosecutors decide the sentence, not judges."

Sheppard said Ratledge would be willing to plead guilty if prosecutors would allow the judge to impose a lesser sentence.

Sheppard said the best offer Ratledge has gotten is 18 years in prison. He said that would likely amount to a life sentence for someone Ratledge's age.

According to police reports, Ratledge was talking with friends and neighbors near his home in August 2012 when he went into the house and came back with a gun. He fired a shot in the air, then ran at the people outside screaming profanities while firing a second shot in their direction.

State attorney spokeswoman Jackelyn Barnard said prosecutors have been in discussions with defense attorneys over the case.

"While we cannot get into specifics pretrial, the state has considered all options, which include waiving the 20-year minimum mandatory," Barnard said.
City of Miami Mayor Tomas Regalado said no local government is prepared for the arrival of potentially thousands of Cuban migrants who have been stranded in Costa Rica for months.

Regalado also said organizations that help Cubans once they arrive have not received any guidance from the federal government on the mass migration issue.

An estimated 8,000 Cubans remain stranded at the Costa Rican border with Nicaragua. Last week, Central American leaders agreed on a pilot program for an undisclosed number of people. According to the Costa Rican Foreign Ministry, the Cuban migrants will be airlifted from Costa Rica to El Salvador, then continue by bus to Mexico, and the United States.

"This is Mariel, but in slow motion," Regalado said Monday, referencing the 1980 Mariel Boatlift, in which more than 100,000 Cubans fled the island nation by boat from Mariel Harbor to the U.S.

The state's Maritime mass migration plan was a direct result of the Mariel Boatlift.

Regalado believes many in the group have their eyes on Miami as a final destination. He said immigration is a federal matter, but the city does not have the resources to house the thousands potentially headed their way.

"I don't think that the federal government has a plan. They have not acknowledged that there is a crisis," he said.

The Miami-Dade County Emergency Management team is also monitoring what the team's director called a fluid situation.



The team said it's prepared to adapt the policy for this wave of migration by land.

"In this event if this were to happen this wouldn't be people presenting themselves all at one time here in South Florida," Emergency Management Director Curtis Sommerhoff said. "It would be more of a controlled event. It would be more of a challenge for those along the southwest border."

The U.S. Department of State said it has no plans to alter the current migration policy regarding Cuba. When asked about the Central American deal, a State Department spokesperson said in part: "We refer you to the involved host governments for details of the agreement."

"The plan locally has always been a humanitarian plan," Sommerhoff said.

There's been no word from Central American governments on when the pilot program will begin. Local governments both in South Florida and along the Southwest border are watching how things will evolve.
When an Indiana woman allegedly posted to Facebook that her New Years Eve meal at a downtown Indianapolis restaurant was ruined "by watching a dead person being wheeled out from an overdose," she probably didn't expect the response she received from the restaurant's manager.

Holly Jones is accused of writing on Kilroys restaurants Facebook page that she was dining at the restaurant, as she does every year for the holiday, when her table was "screamed at" while trying to figure out a bill discrepancy.

"The manager told us someone dying was more important than us being there making us feel like our business didnt matter, but I guess allowing a Junkie in the building to overdose on your property is more important then (sic) paying customers who are spending a lot of money," she wrote, in part.

The restaurants manager, Chris Burton, wrote a scathing reply to the womans post, pointing out a major error in her note  the "junkie" Jones allegedly referred to in her message was an elderly woman who suffered a heart attack while dining with her husband and son.

"First of all, the 'overdosing junkie' that you speak of was a 70+ year old woman who had a heart attack," he wrote. "Thankfully she was finally revived at the hospital and survived. It sounds like you were very concerned about her so I thought you should know. This poor lady, who was celebrating New Years Eve with her husband and son, had to be placed on the floor of a completely packed bar and have her shirt removed in front of everyone so the paramedics could work on her. But I can completely understand why you think being intoxicated (expletive) that didnt understand your bill should take priority over a human life."

Burton's reply quickly went viral, generating responses from around the world.

The restaurant has since shared a link to a GoFundMe page for the woman who suffered the heart attack, raising money to help pay for her medical bills. Family members wrote on the page that the woman is in critical care at Indiana University Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.

Jones appears to have taken down her Facebook profile, according to the restaurant, but upset commenters have since targeted a hair salon where she works.

Serenity Salon has acknowledged that a stylist allegedly posted the message to the restaurants page, but said the Facebook post "in no way represents the views" of the salon or its staff.

"We are saddened by events that took place that evening and will continue to pray for the women (sic) who suffered a heart attack at this establishment on New Years Eve," the salon wrote, adding that it plans to "deal with this matter internally and take whatever actions deemed necessary."

The salon also said Jones "does claim she is not the actual person who posted this and is in the process of trying to clear her name. We all do have to take responsibility for our devices and make sure they are pass code protected."

The salon has since posted a $500 donation to the GoFundMe page. Jones could not immediately be reached for comment.

Read the full Facebook exchange below.

WTHR
U.S. consumers will now find it harder to learn where their beef or pork was born, raised and slaughtered.

After more than a decade of wrangling, Congress repealed a labeling law last month that required retailers to include the animal's country of origin on packages of red meat. It's a major victory for the meat industry, which had fought the law in Congress and the courts since the early 2000s.

Lawmakers said they had no choice but to get rid of the labels after the World Trade Organization repeatedly ruled against them. The WTO recently authorized Canada and Mexico, which had challenged the law, to begin more than $1 billion in economic retaliation against the United States.

"U.S. exporters can now breathe a sigh of relief," said Republican Sen. Pat Roberts of Kansas, chairman of the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee. The longtime opponent of the labels helped add the repeal to a massive year-end spending bill. After the law was passed, Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the government immediately would stop requiring the labels.

Consumer groups say the repeal is a disappointment just as consumers are asking for more information on their food packages. Advocates say the labels help people make more informed buying decisions and encourage purchases of American meat.

Before repeal, the labels told shoppers that a particular cut of meat was "born in Canada, raised and slaughtered in the United States" or "born, raised and slaughtered in the United States." Congress first required the labels in 2002 amid fears of mad cow disease from imported cattle. The labels weren't on most packages until 2009, though, due to delays pushed by the meat industry.

Repeal became inevitable once the United States lost all its WTO appeals and the retaliation became a possibility. But the consumer groups criticized Congress for repealing the law for ground meat and pork in addition to the fresh cuts of meat that were the subject of WTO concerns.

The bill was "a holiday gift to the meatpacking industry from Congress," complained the advocacy group Food and Water Watch. Meatpackers who buy Mexican cattle were some of the law's most aggressive opponents.

The repeal also was a big defeat for lawmakers from northern border states where U.S. ranchers directly compete with Canadian ranchers. Those lawmakers insisted on including the labeling in the 2002 and 2008 farm bills and this year fought to replace it with a voluntary program once the WTO rulings came down. But after years of success, this time they were not able to find enough support.

Roger Johnson of the National Farmers Union, which has heavy membership in those states, said the group was "furious" about the repeal.

"Packers will be able to once again deliberately deceive consumers," Johnson said.

Still, there was some good news for food labeling advocates in the spending bill. Despite an aggressive push by the food industry, lawmakers decided not to add language that would have blocked mandatory labeling of genetically modified ingredients. Also, a provision by Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski would require labeling of genetically modified salmon recently approved by the Food and Drug Administration.

The issue is expected to come up again in 2016, with Vermont set to require labeling on genetically modified food this summer.

The day the spending bill passed, Vilsack said he would try to help Congress come up with a middle ground on labeling of engineered foods "in a way that doesn't create significant market disruption, while at the same time recognizing consumers' need to know and right to know basic information."


Saudi Arabia said on Sunday it had severed ties with Iran over the storming of the Saudi embassy in Tehran, in a worsening diplomatic crisis between the regional rivals following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said at a news conference Iran's diplomatic mission and related entities in Saudi Arabia had been given 48 hours to leave, Reuters reported.

According to the semi-official Fars news agency, Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said "Saudi Arabia cannot cover up [the] mistake of executing a religious figure by announcing a cutting of diplomatic ties."

The Foreign Ministry summoned Iran's ambassador and delivered a "strong protest note" objecting to Tehran's failure "to provide the necessary protection for foreign missions according to international relevant agreements and laws," according to the Saudi Press Agency, which added that the kindgo had lodged formal protests with several international bodies, including the U.N. Security Council.
The family and friends of an Escondido native fatally shot by Las Vegas police while holding a cellphone that was mistaken for a gun are demanding justice for their loved one.

"They took somebody's son," said Gabriela Larios, friend of 23-year-old suspect Keith Childress, Jr., who was convicted last month of multiple crimes in Arizona including armed robbery and aggravated assault. "They took our friend. We just want to know what happened and we just want to know why!"

The shooting occurred Thursday after Childress had been under surveillance and fled from federal authorities, Las Vegas police said in a statement.

Childress was found outside a home west of downtown. Police said his right hand held what they believed to be a firearm.

Officers told him to drop the gun and ordered him to stop when he began to move toward them. Police said two officers opened fire when Childress didn't obey their commands. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

Police later said Childress was actually holding a cellphone.

Police Capt. Matt McCarthy of the department's office of Internal Oversight and Constitutional Policing said the officers shot at the man because the confrontation was in a residential area and involved a man wanted for attempted murder who they thought was holding a gun.

Reinhart said Childress' family wants answers and he plans to inquire into the shooting. He said the description from police makes it appear as though Childress wanted officers to shoot him.

"That did not strike me as the type of guy he was. He had two kids and a kid on the way," Reinhart told the Associated Press.

Larios said she is one of many who want answers, adding that there are "non-lethal ways to bring somebody down."

"They paint him to be this horrible monster," Larios said.

"We don't get no answers, no apology," she said.

Las Vegas police identified the two officers who shot and killed Childress on Saturday. Thirty seven-year-old Sgt. Robert Bohanon and 27-year-old Officer Blake Walford are currently on routine administrative leave.

Attorney Brad Reinhart last had contact with his client, Keith Childress Jr., 23, last month when a jury was set to issue a verdict in his trial for stealing marijuana and guns from a Phoenix home in 2013. Reinhart said he texted Childress to be at the courthouse, but he never showed up.

"He didn't show up for the final hearing. They had a warrant out for him," Reinhart told the Associated Press.

Las Vegas police said they were assisting U.S. marshals in arresting Childress because he was accused of multiple violent felonies in Arizona including attempted murder. Reinhart said while Childress' crimes were serious, they never included a charge of attempted murder.

According to Maricopa County Superior Court records, a jury convicted Childress on Dec. 17 of burglary, armed robbery, kidnapping, aggravated assault and theft.

The Clark County Office of the Coroner identified Childress on Saturday and said he died from multiple gunshot wounds. His death was ruled a homicide.

"He definitely got caught up in a bad situation," Reinhart said. "But, he wasn't a violent kind of guy."

Meanwhile, his friend, Larios, is mourning the loss of her friend.

"I'm never going to see him again," she said. "I didn't get to say bye."
Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of a prominent opposition Shiite cleric.

Sudan and the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain said they would sever ties with Iran, as Saudi Arabia did late Sunday. Within hours, the United Arab Emirates announced it would downgrade ties to Tehran to the level of the charge d'affaires and would only focus on economic issues. Somalia also issued a statement criticizing Iran.

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority said Monday on Twitter that all flights to and from Iran have been cancelled.

The aviation authority said it made the decision to cancel the flights based on the severing of diplomatic relations. It urged airlines to work with customers who had pre-booked tickets to travel to and from Iran.

The execution Saturday of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges  the largest mass execution carried out by Saudi Arabia since 1980  laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region. Shiite protesters took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan, while Arab allies of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia lined up behind the kingdom.

The escalating tensions between the two longtime regional rivals looks to further imperil efforts to end the wars in Syria and Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and Iran back rival sides.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in the Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

Bahrain's Sunni monarchy, which quashed mass protests by the Shiite majority in 2011 with the help of Saudi and Emirati forces, enjoys particularly close relations with Saudi Arabia, and shares Riyadh's view that Shiite Iran is intent on destabilizing the region through its various proxies.

Bahraini officials have accused Iran of training militants and attempting to smuggle arms into the country, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. In October, Bahrain ordered the acting Iranian charge d'affaires to leave within 72 hours and recalled its own ambassador after alleging Iran sponsored "subversion" and "terrorism" and funneled arms to militants.

Sudan's Foreign Ministry announced an "immediate severing of ties" over the diplomatic mission attacks. The statement carried by its state-run news agency said it made the decision in "solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the face of Iranian schemes."

The UAE, a country of seven emirates, has a long trading history with Iran and is home to many ethnic Iranians. It said it would reduce the number of diplomats in Iran and would recall its ambassador "in the light of Iran's continuous interference in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states, which has reached unprecedented levels."

Somalia also criticized the attack on Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran as a "flagrant violation" of international law.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the cut in relations late Sunday and gave Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country. All Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran have been called home.

On Monday, Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority suspended all flights to and from Iran, saying the move was based on the kingdom's severing of diplomatic ties.

The move was likely to affect the annual hajj pilgrimage. Lawmaker Mohammad Ali Esfanani, spokesman of the Judicial and Legal Committee of the Iranian parliament, said security issues and the fact that Iranian pilgrims wouldn't have consular protection inside the kingdom made halting the pilgrimage likely, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Both Saudi Arabia and Iran have yet to make any formal announcement about how the diplomatic spat would affect the hajj, a pilgrimage to Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life. The hajj this year likely will begin in early September, though Muslims travel to the holy sites all year long.

When Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran from 1988 to 1991, Iran stopped its pilgrims from attending the hajj. With Saudi diplomatic missions closed in Iran, it will make it difficult for Iranians to get visas for the hajj.

World powers have sought to calm the tensions.

Germany called on both sides to mend ties, with government spokesman Steffen Seibert telling reporters that "relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran are of fundamental importance for solving the crises in Syria and Yemen, and for the stability of the entire region."

A Russian state news agency on Monday quoting an unnamed senior diplomat as saying Moscow is ready to act as a mediator in the escalating conflict. RIA Novosti did not say whether Moscow had made the mediation proposal to either side.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration believes "diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences."

"We will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," Kirby said.

Earlier Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats," according to a statement.

The disruption in relations may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and others spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at ending the civil war.

Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin in mid-January.

Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Saudi Arabia supports the rebels trying to overthrow him.

Meanwhile, al-Nimr's family is holding three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya village in the kingdom's al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikh's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery.

Early Monday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said a shooting targeting security forces in the village killed a man and wounded a child. It offered no motive for the attack, nor for another it said saw a mob beat and briefly kidnap a man driving through the area.
For the first time in more than a decade, a new mayor will be installed in Alexandria, Virginia.

Allison Silberberg won the mayoral race back in November, defeating a last-minute write-in campaign launched by incumbent Bill Euille.

Euille, who has served as mayor since 2003, blamed low voter turnout for his loss in the Democratic primary. He launched a write-in campaign, as it was too late for him to enter the race as an Independent.

Euille never had been opposed prior to the 2015 primary.

Silberberg was elected to the Alexandria City Council in 2012 and has often stood alone on the council on development votes. Her candidacy tapped into simmering discontent among some residents, who believe recently approved projects don't mesh well with the historic character of the city. She also was buoyed by Republican voters permitted to cast ballots in the open primary.

A swearing-in ceremony will be held at T.C. Williams High School at 7 p.m. Monday.
A woman whose loyal pit bull stood guard over her at the scene of a fire last month is charged with arson, according to Prince George's County Fire.

Officials from the fire marshal's office investigating the early morning fire Dec. 2 at a home in the 4800 block of 66th Place in Landover Hills discovered evidence of an unreported fire about 8 p.m. the previous evening.

April Newell, 34, is charged with arson and malicious burning in that fire. According to court documents, after an argument with her son, Newell allegedly went into his room and set some of his clothes on fire. Her son put the fire out and left.

Newell was arrested Thursday and is being held on $500,000 bond.

Prince George's County Fire spokesman Mark Brady said Newell was photographed the next morning lying, apparently unconscious, in a neighbor's yard with her pit bull Precious guarding her after she fled from the burning home.

"Little did we know at that point when the picture was taken that the female that the dog was guarding would soon be charged with arson," Brady said.

Authorities said they believe Newell was faking her injuries.

When her father got out of the burning home, his daughter was already outside and told him she didn't do anything, according to court documents.

Newell's father suffered burns and was taken to a hospital for evaluation.

Precious ended up at an animal shelter with her puppy, Molly, because of Prince George's County's ban on their breed.

The next day, Precious and Molly found a new home with their owner's sister, Megan Sanchez, who lives in Montgomery County. But Sanchez and her family soon found they were unable to care for Precious or her puppy. They were able to re-home Molly, but Precious was left without a family. That's when a friend contacted Jessica Stuby and her organization, Babes 4 Bullies, for help.

Stuby said Precious has been amazing companion since she began fostering her.

Precious suffered from smoke inhalation as a result of the fire and also had fleas. Stuby said she wants to give Precious time to recuperate and will focus on finding her a home in 2016.

Precious made headlines for her act of devotion, and firefighters said they had trouble getting to her owner because the loyal dog was standing over her.

Firefighters tried to call Precious away, but she wouldn't budge and acted aggressively when they approached. They eventually deployed a powder fire extinguisher in her direction, causing Precious to run away and giving them time to get the woman onto a stretcher.

That fire remains under investigation.
Montgomery County police said a motorcyclist was killed after a collision between his vehicle and a car Sunday afternoon.

Police responded to a call in the 1300 block of Spencerville Road just after 3 p.m. Emergency crews transported the motorcyclist to the hospital, where they later died from their injuries.

The car involved in the collision stayed on the scene.

Spencerville Road, also known as Maryland Route 198, was closed as investigators worked at the scene. The identity of the victim has not been released.
Federal authorities are suing Volkswagen over emissions-cheating software found in nearly 600,000 vehicles sold in the United States.

The Justice Department and the Environmental Protection Agency on Monday filed a civil complaint against the German automaker in U.S. District Court in Detroit.

The lawsuit alleges the company illegally installed software designed to make its diesel engines pass federal emissions standards when undergoing laboratory testing. The vehicles then switched off those measures to boost performance in real-world driving conditions. That resulted in greenhouse gas emissions at up to 40 times federal environmental standards.

Volkswagen first admitted in September that the cheating software was included in its diesel cars sold since the 2009 model year. The company could still face separate criminal charges and is negotiating a massive recall with U.S. regulators.
Seventeen people were arrested at an underage drinking party in Gilford, New Hampshire, over the weekend.

Gilford Police said they responded to a noise complaint in the area of Silver Street at 1:19 a.m. Sunday and found that an underage drinking party was taking place. Seventeen people were charged with unlawful possession of alcohol.

GIlford and Laconia police transported the 17 individuals to the police statoin for booking. From there, they were either brought back to the home where the party was taken place or released to sober parties in the lobby.

All 17 are scheduled to be arraigned on Feb. 18 at 8:15 a.m. in Laconia District Court.

Gilford Police said the incident remains under investigation, and all of those involved were from Massachusetts.
A subdued Bill Clinton offered a deeply personal endorsement of his wife's presidential campaign in New Hampshire Monday, telling voters that Hillary Clinton's plans offer the best chance for the country to achieve economic prosperity and a secure future.

In a wide-ranging address that took voters through Hillary Clinton's work as a young lawyer in Arkansas, ways to combat heroin addiction, the political achievements of President Barack Obama and the failings of America's fourteenth president, Franklin Pierce, Bill Clinton argued that the Democratic front-runner offers the best plan to restore "broadly shared prosperity."

The event marked the former president's debut solo appearance for his wife's campaign, part of a broader strategy to deploy Bill Clinton publicly in the run-up to early voting next month.

"I do not believe in my lifetime anybody has run for this job at a moment of great importance who was better qualified by knowledge, experience and temperament to do what needs to be done now," he told several hundred New Hampshire voters gathered in a college auditorium.

His appearance comes after days of attacks over his impeachment and decades-old sex scandal by Republican front-runner Donald Trump.

"I don't really care about Monica Lewinsky other than I think that Hillary was an enabler and a lot of things happened that were obviously very seedy," Trump said in an interview with CNN Monday. "I mean, he was impeached, for heaven's sake. He was impeached over this stuff."

So far, Bill Clinton has remained silent about Trump's slams - following the lead of his wife's campaign, which believes their candidate comes across as more presidential by rising above what they see as the Republican's crass political tactics.

He spoke calmly and quietly in New Hampshire on Monday, methodically describing the issues he sees as motivating voters in the next election. Clinton warned voters that the next president could appoint as many as three Supreme Court justices and reverse the health care law and environmental programs of the Obama administration.

Hillary Clinton, her husband said, offers the best path to economic prosperity, dealing with social problems like heroin addiction and foreign policy that doesn't undermine the American character.

"I think it is the plan that offers the best chance to have the most rapid movement to broadly shared propserity," he said.

Still, some of Trump's attacks seem to have struck a nerve.

At a campaign event in New Hampshire on Sunday, Katherine Prudhomme O'Brien heckled Clinton about her husband's sexual history, accusing her of enabling him to mistreat women.

"You are very rude and I'm not going to ever call on you," Clinton snapped at O'Brien, after repeated shouted interruptions by the New Hampshire state representative.

The former president, too, has been known to become heated when he feels his wife is under attack, as he did during the 2008 primary with remarks about then-Illinois Sen. Barack Obama that angered black voters in South Carolina.

Clinton supporters believe the attacks will backfire, particularly in the general election. Hillary Clinton had some of her highest approval ratings in the wake of disclosures about her husband's affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky.

After months of having her husband focus on private fundraisers, Clinton said in a December debate that she would turn to Bill Clinton for advice should she win the White House, particularly on economic issues.

Their schedules on Monday showed the degree to which the ubiquitous political couple will be able to blanket the early primary states in the next two months as Democrats hold contests in Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina.

While the former president was drumming up support for his wife in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton was starting a two-day "river-to-river" tour of Iowa, holding town hall meetings and organizing events across the state.

Bill Clinton's longstanding ability to raise money will also be an asset in the weeks ahead, with fundraisers on the calendar in New York, Seattle, Phoenix, Albuquerque, N.M., Cleveland and Fairfield, Conn. The finance events will allow Hillary Clinton to spend more time on the ground in Iowa and also in New Hampshire, where polls have shown her trailing Sanders, who represents neighboring Vermont.

The couple's daughter, Chelsea Clinton, was also getting into the act, headlining fundraisers of her own in Boston, Atlanta and Chicago next week.
Some predict 2016 will be the year of the cloud. While that may be up for debate, whats not is that there are a whole slew of cloud computing-related conferences on tap for the year.

+ MORE AT NETWORK WORLD: Rain clouds ahead  10 bold predictions for the cloud market in 2016 | Video: 2015 a Year in Review in the cloud +

Below is a chronological list of the biggest cloud computing conferences scheduled for this year. If there are others weve missed, leave them in the comments. Thanks to ProfitBricks for many of these suggestions.

IBM InterConnect

When: February 21-25

Where: Las Vegas, NV

InterConnect is IBMs conference focused specifically on cloud and mobile. It will feature performances by Elton John and PitBull.

More information: IBM InterConnect

RSA Conference

When: Feb. 29- March 4

Where: San Francisco

While RSA is known as one of the premier security conferences, securing cloud platforms is a major theme each year.

More information: RSA Conference

451 Research Cloud Computing Executive Summit

When: March 8

Where: New York City

Leading analyst and research firm 451 holds an annual summit focused on cloud computing best practices, user stories and networking.

More information: 451 Cloud Computing Executive Summit

Amazon Amazon Web Services Senior Vice President Andy Jassy opens the re:Invent 2015 keynote

Google Cloud NEXT

When: March 23-24

Where: San Francisco

Google Next will feature keynote speeches, technical sessions and a solutions showcase all focused on Googles Cloud Platform. A major highlight will be Diane Greene  the newly appointed head of Googles cloud operations  delivering a keynote, her first major appearance since taking over that role.

More information: Google Cloud Next

Microsoft Build

When: March 30-April 1

Where: San Francisco

This is Microsofts developer-focused conference. Microsoft has four major conferences this year. In addition to Build, Microsoft hosts Convergence, its conference for business leaders April 4-7 in New Orleans; its Worldwide Partner Conference (WPC) is July 10-14 in Toronto; and Microsoft Ignite, which is for IT professionals, is Sept. 26-30 in Atlanta.

More information: Microsoft event lineup

IEEE International Conference on Cloud Engineering (IC2E) 2016

When: April 4-8

Where: Berlin, Germany

IEEE (Institute for Electrical and Electronic Engineers) is a leading engineering organization. Their conferences attract some of the smartest minds across academia and industry to share the latest cutting edge research across a variety of topic areas. In addition to the second annual cloud computing conference, IEEE is also hosting a big data security conference, which will include a track on hosting and securing big data in the cloud. That conference is April 9-10 in New York City.

More information:IC2E and IEEE Big Data Security/Cloud Computing

Martyn Williams The entrance to Salesforce.com's Dreamforce at the Moscone Center in San Francisco on Sept. 14, 2015.

OpenStack Summit

When: April 25-29

Where: Austin, Texas

OpenStack returns to its birthplace in Austin for the domestic version of its semi-annual conference. At each OpenStack conference a new version of the open source IaaS software is released, vendors display the latest distributions and developers plan the next major release.

More information: OpenStack Summit

Cloud Connect/Interop

When: May 2-6

Where: Las Vegas

The premier networking event each year has a track focused specifically on cloud computing, which includes user implementation stories, presentations by vendors and usually a big-name keynote.

More information: Interop Cloud Connect

Cloud Foundry Summit

When: May 24-25

Where: Santa Clara, Calif.

Cloud Foundry is arguably the leading open source platform as a service (PaaS), used by some of the biggest names in technology from IBM to Pivotal and many others. The Summit is a place to discuss user implementations and planning of the open source project.

More information: Cloud Foundry Summit

Red Hat Summit

When: June 28-July 1

Where: San Francisco

Red Hat Summit is the go-to conference for all things related to Red Hat, and many other open source technologies. It has a strong cloud component, particularly focused on the companys OpenShift PaaS and OpenStack IaaS products. The Summit volleys between the east and west coasts each year.

More information: Red Hat Summit

Cisco Live

When: July 10-14

Where: Las Vegas

While Cisco Live is not focused specifically on cloud computing, the topic will certainly be discussed.

More Information: Cisco Live

Gartner Catalyst Conference

When: Aug. 15-18

Where: San Diego

Gartner, the leading research and analyst firm, and its Catalyst Conference offers a variety of tracks focused on new technologies. Catalyst includes a track focused on architecting a cloud-first digital business.

More information: Gartner Catalyst

VMWorld has one of the largest trade exhibits of any cloud conference.

VMworld 2016

When: Aug. 28-Sept. 1 (VMworld Barcelona is Oct. 17-20)

Where: Las Vegas (note VMworld has moved from San Francisco to Las Vegass Mandalay Bay Convention Center)

VMworld has evolved from the go-to virtualization conference to now being the go-to data center conference. With VMware and parent company EMC coming under the wings of Dell, this years conference will be as interesting as ever.

More information: VMworld 2016

Oracle OpenWorld

When: Oct. 18-22

Where: San Francisco

Oracle is attempting to assert itself as a major cloud computing vendor. While it has transitioned many of its applications to a SaaS model, it is still looking to build up its IaaS and PaaS components.

More information: Oracle OpenWorld

Dreamforce 16

When: Oct. 4-7

Where: San Francisco

Dreamforce is the central SaaS conference, attracting more than 120,000 people. Last year Salesforce claimed that Dreamforce had gotten so big that it had to rent a cruise ship to house attendees who could not find a hotel room.

More information: DreamForce

Amazon re:Invent

When: Nov. 28-Dec. 2

Where: Las Vegas

Amazon Web Services re:Invent conference is considered by many to be the major public cloud conference of the year. AWSs usually reveals a couple of big products at the event, which is headlined by keynotes from Amazon Senior Vice President Andy Jassy and Amazon CTO Werner Vogels.

More information: Amazon re:Invent
TV star helps unveil centre at student awards ceremony

TELEVISION star and survival expert Bear Grylls paid a visit to Hungerford recently to help unveil the John OGaunt Schools new 1.5m Bear Grylls Inspiration Centre.

The host of Running Wild, who was this month seen on TV putting President of the United States Barack Obama through his paces in Alaska, made a Christmas visit to the school to open the centre and also congratulate award-winning students.

The pupils received the awards for their successes including high performance in English, maths and other subjects, as well as for a string of other special achievements.

Grylls said: Its a real honour to be part of the launch of the Inspiration Centre.

It is a privilege to help support bringing excellent education to hundreds of children in Hungerford. I hope this serves to inspire many young people to fulfil their potential and to aim for the stars.

The new centre contains thousands of books, as well as iPads and TV screens and also large portraits of inspirational figures including Sir Richard Branson, Steve Jobs, Deborah Meaden, and President Obama.

Headteacher at John OGaunt, Alan Henderson, said: What a wonderful evening.

We are so grateful for Bear to spend time congratulating and inspiring our amazing students.

We want this new new Bear Grylls Inspiration Centre to continue to inspire thousands of students to achieve incredible things and to believe that all things are possible.
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Tim Mitchell is a reporter at The News-Gazette. His email is tmitchel@news-gazette.com, and you can follow him on Twitter (@mitchell6).
Bernard Puglisi talks about flight training on a T-34 in the Marines during the Viet Nam war. At his office in Champaign on Friday, Dec. 18, 2015.
insights from industry Crowdsourcing rare disease diagnosis An interview with Dr. Teri Willochell,

Nicole Boice and Peter Kirk

An interview with Dr. Willochell, Nicole Boice and Peter Kirk, conducted by April Cashin-Garbutt, MA (Cantab)

What are the current main challenges in the diagnosis of a rare disease and how long does it typically take?

Nicole Boice (NB): The main challenges in the diagnosis of rare disease are apparent, there are 7,000 identified rare diseases with hundreds of new diseases being discovered annually. It still takes an average of 7.2 years to properly diagnose a rare disease because our healthcare providers are not equipped with enough information and expertise to make the proper diagnosis right away.

Right now, the healthcare system is still designed to start diagnosis via a general practitioner rather than a specialist. There is a new form of thinking and schooling in development that suggests the first line of defense and diagnosis should be a geneticist, to get to the root of the problem first.

Please can you give an introduction to medical crowdsourcing and the potential impact it could have on the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases?

Dr Teri Willochell (TW): To me, medical crowdsourcing is like the ultimate consult service. A question arises, it is asked on the forum, and you can get answers from multiple specialties within minutes. It is harnessing the brightest minds in one place and using that power to do what we enjoy doing most  helping people.

NB: The more great minds we have to tackle the problem the better chance we have of finding the solution. Over the last few years crowdsourcing has changed business and fundraising models. In regards to healthcare, it truly is the power of varied expertise coming together to help tackle some of the greatest challenges.

Physician social network SERMO and rare disease patient advocacy organization Global Genes recently announced a partnership. How do you hope this will help doctors to diagnose and treat rare diseases?

TW: I believe that this collaboration will help put some of the rare diseases into physicians consciousness when they encounter patients with unusual symptoms. It will also help those physicians taking care of patients with rare diseases not feel so alone. To me, its a win-win situation.

NB: We are very excited about the partnership. We have already seen and continue to see the power of this network help patients through programs like our current RARE Concierge Program.

Can you explain how the new program SERMOheroes will work?

Peter Kirk, CEO of SERMO (PK): The SERMOheroes program connects rare disease patients to targeted physicians through SERMO, the leading global social media network for doctors and the home of medical crowdsourcing.

Global Genes initiates the process, as they regularly work with rare disease patients and their families through the Rare Concierge program. If the patients doctor is not a SERMO member, the patient is paired with a SERMOhero, a physician who volunteers to sponsor (post) their case on the social network.

The SERMOhero works with the patient and their family, Global Genes, and/or the treating physician to collect all relevant information about the case, posts the case in the SERMO community for physicians to consult on and acts as a liaison to gain additional information as requested.

Once a consensus is reached, the SERMOhero provides a brief for the patient and their treating physician.

What impact will this have on patients lives?

TW: Patients will have the advantage of the collective knowledge of hundreds of thousands of physicians worldwide to help with their diagnosis and treatment. All in a short period of time, all at no cost to them.

How is the SERMOheroes service being funded and how do you think this will affect the medical costs associated with diagnosing and treating patients with rare diseases?

PK: SERMOheroes is a partnership between SERMO and Global Genes. The service is free to patients and participating physicians (SERMOheroes and the consulting physicians) are not paid for their participation.

Our hope is to alleviate some of the burden of cost for rare disease patients by using medical crowdsourcing to help them get the right diagnoses and treatments faster.

What will be the main challenges and how do you hope to overcome them?

TW: One challenge will be getting the information between SERMO members and the organization. I will be acting as a liaison along with a few others members of the community and the organization. With email and texting, this shouldnt be as taxing as it would have been even a few years ago.

What do you think the future holds for the diagnosis and treatment of rare diseases and how do you think technology will impact whats possible?

TW: Hopefully, with newer genetic testing and interventions and better diagnostic techniques, rare diseases will become more mainstream; physicians will know more about them and how to better treat them.

What potential does crowdsourcing have for other areas of medicine?

TW: Possible novel treatments for diseases, reporting of drug-drug interactions or adverse reactions, new potential surgical interventions or techniques  the possibilities are endless.

Where can readers find more information?

Infographic - http://www.sermo.com/assets/pdf/Rare_Disease_Infographic_finalv2.pdf

About Dr. Teri Willochell, Nicole Boice and Peter Kirk

Dr. Teri Willochell is a board certified internist in the Pittsburgh area, where she has lived and practiced for the past 18 years. After finishing her residency at UPMC Mercy, she joined the teaching faculty there and taught future physicians for 14 years. Recently, desiring the return to patient care, she made the change to urgent care and now works at MedExpress Urgent Care. She is married and has a 14 year old daughter.

Nicole Boice founded Global Genes in 2008, with the goal of helping families affected by rare disease connect with tools, resources, and much needed support, helping eliminate the challenges of rare disease. Since its inception, Global Genes has impacted hundreds of thousands of patients worldwide.

Nicole was personally touched by rare disease through friends, whose son struggled to find a diagnosis for 2.5 years. Once diagnosed, they learned that there were neither treatments nor cures for their sons disease. She understands the importance of finding a diagnosis, and has built an organization to help address this problem.

Nicole has held numerous consulting, sales, and marketing executive roles in her 25 years of experience. Nicole has worked with world-class organizations in media, pharmaceutical and high tech sectors  Schering Plough, CMP Media, United Business Media, and Burrill & Company. A Graduate of the University of California San Diego, Nicole is a proud wife, mother of two children, and adopted mother of two dogs.

Peter Kirk is the CEO of SERMO. Since launching the company in 2000, Peter has grown the organization into an enterprise with close to 300 employees in 10 global offices and a global network of close to two million healthcare professionals. Under Peters leadership, SERMO membership has increased 100 percent year over year, and the social community now has over 343,000 physicians from over 90 different specialties and sub-specialtiesapproximately 40 percent of all U.S. physicians. Peter holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School.
MUSC researchers received a $1.68 million National Institutes of Health grant to explore a better treatment for chronic pancreatitis, with the hopes that it also may shed light on a future cure for patients with type 1 diabetes.

Hongjun Wang, Ph.D., of the Medical University of South Carolina's Department of Surgery, is leading a collaborative team to study ways to increase the survival of the islet graft following islet cell transplantation for chronic pancreatitis patients. Islets are tiny clusters of cells in the pancreas that produce insulin.

Researchers in Wang's lab earlier piloted a smaller study looking at the protective effects of Alpha 1 anti-trypsin (AAT) in mice islet transplantation using human islets from cadaveric donors. The results showed that infusion with AAT prevented the mice from getting diabetes and improved liver implantation.

AAT is a protein made in the liver. Normally, the protein travels through the bloodstream, helping to protect the body's organs from the harmful effects of other proteins.

The five-year NIH grant involves infusing AAT into patients who have had their pancreas removed for one month by a weekly IV infusion. The study will examine whether humans will replicate the success seen in the mouse model. "The goal is to lessen the number of patients who are diabetic at the end of 1 year," Wang said.

How the anti-inflammatory properties of AAT work remains unknown. "Through studies like this, the investigators seek to understand how AAT works in the body to lessen cellular stress," she said.

"AAT, most commonly used for the treatment of emphysema for more than 25 years, has an excellent safety record," Wang said. "The islet autotransplantation model offers a unique opportunity to assess the direct effect of AAT on human islets in the absence of an immune response.

"While much of the work associated with AAT has been directed at lung and liver disease, it may help in the treatment of other diseases, including chronic pancreatitis, which can be incredibly painful," Wang said.

Chronic pancreatitis is caused by inflammation of the pancreas gland, an organ that has a duct connecting it to the intestine. The pancreas gland is responsible for excreting many of the enzymes that allow us to digest food. These enzymes are inflammatory if they get into the body's tissues. The pancreas gland also secretes hormones into the blood. The most important of these is insulin.

Inflammation and destruction of the pancreas gland is caused by a variety of conditions including some common drugs, high levels of triglycerides and too much alcohol. The duct that leaves the gland can become scarred and blocked and the pancreas enzymes can further destroy the gland. The result is a painful condition that has few cures.

One of the treatments is a pancreatectomy or surgical removal of the pancreas. "But the surgery creates problems, too," Wang said. "It means all of the patient's islet cells also are removed, taking away the patient's insulin and making the patient diabetic, which creates other lifelong complications."

Wang is putting to good use her research expertise in islet cell transplantation, gained at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center at Harvard Medical School. That's where she worked as instructor and assistant professor for almost 10 years before coming to MUSC, where she serves as co-scientific director of the Center for Cellular Therapy. The clean cell facility is the second largest autologous islet transplantation center in the United States.

Islet cell transplantation is a technique in which the pancreas gland is taken to a laboratory after removal while the cells are still alive. The gland is then gently digested to break it into different cell types. The islet cells are separated and injected back into the patient to go the liver in the hope that they will stay in the liver and continue to secrete insulin.

"In the best outcomes, the patient would not be diabetic at all," Wang said. The number of cells that survive determines the severity of a patient's diabetes after removal of the pancreas. This surgery is done at only a small number of specialty centers because of the detail and expertise involved.

According to Wang, the value of working in islet cell transplantation research at MUSC is the expertise of the clinicians. MUSC is a designated National Pancreas Foundation center, focusing on the multidisciplinary approach to the treatment of pancreatitis, including access to expert surgeons in the field of chronic pancreatitis.

"This study is half basic science and half clinical. At MUSC, we have the some of the best pancreatic surgeons in the country, and if we have questions in the research environment, we can work directly with the surgeons to find solutions," said Wang.

"We are excited to be at the cutting edge of translating basic science research into clinical outcomes that will change the way we treat not only patients who suffer from chronic pancreatitis but eventually patients with type 1 diabetes," Wang said. "Just imagine a day when people with type 1 diabetes no longer need to take their insulin. That's the future. That's the direction we are going."
Telemedicine is changing the way patient care is provided in a growing number of intensive care units (ICUs) across the country, and tele-ICU nurses - who see its impact firsthand - say it provides an opportunity to improve care, according to results of a national survey published in the American Journal of Critical Care (AJCC).

The article, "Assessing the Impact of Telemedicine on Nursing Care in Intensive Care Units," reports the results of a two-phase study to assess nurses' perceptions of ICU telemedicine and identify priority areas for tele-ICU nursing.

According to the study, the United States has approximately 45 tele-ICUs with monitoring capacity for more than 6,000 patients at over 200 hospitals, impacting care for an estimated 12 percent of ICU patients in the country. Between 800 and 1,000 nurses currently practice in tele-ICUs, interfacing from remote monitoring sites with another 16,000 staff nurses who are at the bedside.

Lead author Ruth Kleinpell, RN, PhD, APRN-BC, CCRN, is director of the Center for Clinical Research at Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, and a professor at Rush University College of Nursing.

"The majority of participants thought that tele-ICUs enhanced patient care, improved productivity and collaboration and made their job easier," Kleinpell said. "This growing subspecialty of critical care nursing has tremendous potential to affect patients, patients' families and the entire healthcare team."

The national benchmarking survey of tele-ICU nurses identified barriers and benefits to telemedicine with respect to nursing care. The study also assessed priority areas of care for tele-ICU nurses to form the foundation for developing competencies for tele-ICU nursing.

A total of 1,213 nurses responded to the initial online survey, three-quarters of whom were hospital-based bedside nurses who interface with a tele-ICU. Another 13 percent were nurses who work in a remote tele-ICU location, and approximately 10 percent were nurses who work in both capacities.

More than 75 percent of participants agreed or strongly agreed that tele-ICU systems offer nurses an opportunity to improve patient care and that tele-ICU is useful in their job.

A majority also agreed that tele-ICUs improve collaboration, job performance and communication, as well as being useful in nursing assessments and allowing bedside nurses more time for patient care.

Specific benefits to using tele-ICU systems include:

Monitor trends in vital signs

Detect unstable physiological status

Provide medical management

Enhance patient safety

Detect arrhythmias

Prevent self-extubation

Prevent falls

Participants also identified barriers related to tele-ICUs, including technical problems (audio and video), interrupting care, perceptions of telemedicine as an interference and attitudes of ICU staff.

During the second part of the study, 60 respondents developed a ranked list of 15 priority areas of care for tele-ICU nursing. Critical thinking skills, ICU experience, skillful communication, mutual respect and emergency patient care management were ranked as the most important abilities overall.
Prabhas Fans To Get Two Surprises On His Birthday; Know What They Are
Jemal Countess/Getty Images(NASHUA, N.H.) -- Former President Bill Clinton took the high road Monday morning in his first public reaction to Donald Trump since the GOP front-runner began attacking him as a "sexist.



Asked by ABC News whether his sexual history was fair game in the campaign, Clinton said the Republicans have to decide who they want to nominate. I'm trying to tell the Democrats and the country why I think Hillary would be the best president.



I think there's always attempts to take the election away from the people, he continued.



He declined to elaborate on any of Trumps claims.

Clinton spoke to just over 700 supporters at Nashua Community College in New Hampshire as he hit the campaign trail for the first time in 2016, touting Hillary Clinton as the only candidate who could restore America to prosperity.



Hillary Clinton, who held three town halls in New Hampshire on Sunday, has put the brakes on her usual Trump attacks since the New York real estate mogul began highlighting Bill Clintons sexual liaisons in the White House.



At times in 2008, President Clinton was called a liability to his wifes campaign, veering off-message to attack Barack Obama. On Monday, he kept his temper in check, but offered some lines that could be construed as needling Trumps anti-immigration policies.



Bill Clinton said the next president must preserve our individual liberties, and our reputation for being an open country, pointing to the story of a Muslim immigrant who took to his prayer mat after he narrowly avoided armed robbery, praying his family could join him in America.



That guy is more representative of most Muslims in America than what happened in San Bernardino, the former president said to applause.



He also dismissed the notion, held by some Trump supporters, that the business mogul might abandon his more outlandish plans once elected.



Its kind of scary this year, Bill Clinton warned, but believe it or not, most everybody actually tries to do what they say they're going to do when they're running. They're telling you what they believe. And so you've got to take them seriously.



Trump, meanwhile, was slated to speak later Monday in Lowell, Massachusetts, less than 30 miles from where former President Clinton held his first event.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
The mega Cabinet reshuffle took place on Sunday with 17 new faces in the Manmohan Singh government.
The schools in and around Central Virginia will face distinct challenges related to their unique demographics and strategies in the year ahead, but state issues will form an even stronger central theme than usual, especially as new federal legislation returns more accountability to the states.

That legislation, the Every Student Succeeds Act, replaces the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 and brings active state projects and programs to new importance.

Those projects include some tweaks to state accreditation; continued efforts by the new Standards of Learning Innovation Committee; Governor Terry McAuliffes proposed budget, which sets education funding as its top priority; and the continued increase of the funding burden on localities as state funding and enrollment drops in Southern and Central Virginia, as well as ongoing local division issues.

ESSA

Both ESSA and NCLB were updates and reauthorizations to the civil rights-minded Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

NCLB was originally hailed as providing greater accountability for student subgroups, preventing schools from hiding failure to serve groups of students like those who are economically disadvantaged, have disabilities, or are minorities or English language learners behind averages including the majority groups they served better. But NCLB, introduced and authorized quickly in former President George W. Bushs first term, was widely criticized as having a test-and-punish approach to education.

Under No Child Left Behind, I believe that the idea that we could punish schools or punish teachers if individual student scores werent at a certain place  has done a lot of damage to public education, Campbell County Schools Assistant Superintendent Robert Arnold said.

Waivers allowed under NCLB which Virginia took advantage of  helped shape the new law, and mean its impact wont be dramatic, at least initially. The new federally-approved state standards model is similar to Virginias existing state system, but schools wont have two sets of reports to file and accreditations to track and educators are excited to concentrate on meeting state benchmarks.

Lynchburg City Schools Superintendent Scott Brabrand said: You could do well under the state system but fail under the federal system. Weve got to change the whole discussion away from talking about failing schools and more about what [is] necessary to make sure that every kid succeeds.

In particular, some groups are keeping tabs on how well states will track and serve subgroups without as much federal power behind the review, but local educators have said theyre confident Virginias system will maintain attention to these groups.

Change in accreditation ratings

The even greater emphasis on the state system brings its standards to a new level of importance. The state got ahead of the federal game this year with tweaks to its benchmarks designed to highlight whether schools that are not fully accredited have missed by only a narrow margin or are making sizable gains.

Partially accredited and improving schools ratings do not change the rigorous standards adopted in 2009, which led to massive drops in accreditation rates across the state as schools struggled to adjust to new exams in 2011 and 2012, while dealing with severe recession-driven budget cuts. But these added rating sub-classifications may give a more accurate picture of the work schools are really doing.

Frankly I think it was a little demoralizing to teachers to be told every year, Even though youre clearly on the right track, youre clearly making great gains, its fail, fail, fail, State Superintendent Steven Staples said in a telephone interview earlier this fall.

Like the federal decision to replace No Child Left Behind, the change in state accreditation ratings comes from what educators across the area, state and country have said is a need for a better understanding of what makes a good education, a good teacher or a good school  and that the public needs to be aware that a school cannot be reduced to its test scores.

Most people assume if you have low test scores, then your teachers are bad, your schools are bad, and whats missing from that equation is the starting line, Staples said in the fall. We know  where they ended up; we dont know where they started.

To accomplish these purposes, educators have said, changing both federal law and state accreditation standards is only one piece of the necessary effort.

Innovation Committee

One state effort praised by educators in the region is the bipartisan Standards of Learning Innovation Committee, created in the 2014 legislative session to propose ideas on assessment, including more individualized measures of growth; classroom teaching and changes to SOL assessments, especially to better bring them in line with the Standards of Learning themselves.

This is the first step in ensuring that our education system works for Virginias students, teachers and families, Gov. Terry McAuliffe said, according to a news release when the committee was announced. While we have already reduced the amount of SOL tests, the real work begins with enacting reforms to our educational system that will prepare our students for jobs of the 21st century.

In October, the committee approved their second round of recommendations, which emphasize a broader view of achievement by both students and schools.

The recommendations repeatedly call for fewer, shorter, better quality tests; assessments such as portfolios that measure a student meaningfully over time; more collaboration between the state and schools, especially directly with teachers, as well as between divisions; more comprehensive school report cards that dont reduce school quality to test scores and sufficient funding to support the needed development.

The most recent report is available at education.virginia.gov/initiatives/sol-innovation.

Governors budget

McAuliffes proposed two-year budget, announced shortly before schools recessed for winter holidays, seems to answer the call for sufficient funding, though local educators are still parsing the impact it will have.

"The innovative investments the Governor announced today will help us address equity, access, and completion in the Commonwealth's higher education system, said Secretary of Education Anne Holton in a news release from the governors office. We must begin laying the groundwork for success in the new Virginia economy, and it starts here with the Governor's bold agenda."

McAuliffe spoke several times throughout the fall about focusing on K-12 education. The $109 billion plan includes an additional billion dollars for education, including higher education.

Divisions receive specific information from the state on how the budget breaks down for them, and then have to trace how it will affect their own budget needs and requests from their local governments.

The proposed budget includes fully funding the cost of re-benchmarking the Standards of Quality, which was also one of the needs identified by the Innovation Committee, at $429.8 million. A major headline of the plan has been the restoration of teacher positions cut during the recession, with $139.1 million included for 2,500 new teachers.

The state has around 1.3 million public school students and over 2,000 public schools, meaning about one more teacher per 520 students or about one more teacher per school. It is not yet clear how exactly these additional positions will be placed.

The proposal also includes $83.2 million for a 2 percent salary increase for teachers that would not take effect until 2017, disappointing some division officials who hoped for an increase for this year and feel they may need to fund cost of living pay increases locally. Another large line item is $30 million in contributions to fund teacher retirement.

The governors spending plan offers support both to school systems in poverty, with $50 million for dropout prevention, parent engagement, English language learners and similar needs; and to more affluent areas, with $41 million for cost to compete adjustments.

Program-specific education initiatives also include $6.9 million for early childhood grants; $5 million for computer adaptive testing, of which local superintendents have spoken in favor to lessen testing time and student frustration; $5 million for career and technical education, or CTE, for credentialing and equipment and $1.1 million to support computer science training for teachers.
Who are the 13? DC just retconned new Golden Age characters into continuity

Meet the 13 characters retroactively added to DC's Golden Age era in Flashpoint Beyond #6
Almost two years later, five nationals still in Venezuelan prison

Next week Tuesday the five will again be taken to court for yet another hearing. But yesterday, attorney Nafessa Mohammed and activist Umar Abdullah, both of whom have been making representation on the mens behalf, said that confusion still reigns as to what charges, if any, had been proffered against the five by the Venezuelan authorities.

The men are: Wade Charles, Dominic Pitlal, Leslie Daisley, Asim Luqman, Andre Battersby and Joseph Jules. They are from East Trinidad and had travelled to Caracas, but on March 19, 2014, they, together with 20 other nationals of Muslim faith, including three Imams, women and children, were arrested in a hotel in Caracas by Venezuelan police on suspicion of terrorism.

They were there seeking to secure visas to travel to Saudi Arabia to perform a pilgrimage called: Umrah.

On March 25, 2014, the Imams, four women and eleven children, were released and they returned to Trinidad, but the womens husbands, five of them, were detained at Sebin Prison, Caracas.

Since March 2014, there has been a mere six court appearance of Charles, Pitlal, Daisley, Luqman, Battersby and Jules, the latter a Haitian by birth and naturalised citizen of Venezuela who has been living in Trinidad. The men continue to be locked up in a cell under inhumane conditions. Their wives in Trinidad have staged demonstrations and petitioned for their husbands release, whilst Mohammed and Abdullah have continued to publicly appeal to local authorities here in Trinidad and Tobago, to utilise diplomatic channels to secure a definite status as to why the five have not had any court trial on a definite charge.

Mohammed, a former State Attorney in the Office of the Attorney General, told Newsday yesterday that she had been informed that next week Tuesday would be a scheduled court hearing for the men. As to the status of the case hearing, she said that confusion as to whether the men have actually been charged with any offences, still seems to be a hovering as an issue, both in Venezuela, and in Trinidad.

Mohammed said that the men were being represented by attorneys in Caracas, and she had been informed that legal arguments were still in the process of being submitted to a judge to determine the nature of the charges. Mohammed said, As to whether the men have been charged, still remains a controversial issue.

The system there is a bit different than in our jurisdiction. I have since learnt that the prosecution was considering laying money-laundering charges against the men. So, what we have been hearing about terrorism charges having been laid against the men, seems quite odd. When the men were held, it was reported in Venezuelan newspapers that a quantity of United States dollars and cellphones were found in their possession and had been seized.

Mohammed said that certificates of characater and criminal records, which indicated the five men have no convictions or pending criminal cases in Trinidad, have been submitted to the Venezuelan authorities. We continue to press through diplomatic channels, to share as much information to the authorities in Caracas and coorperate fully, to ensure release of these five men, Mohammed said.

Abdullah, who travelled to Caracas on two occasions and stayed there for several months during which he assisted in the provision of food for the men, said yesterday that since the PNM government took office, a delegation had gone to Venezuela, discussions were held and the trial got underway. Abdullah said, Our ambassador in Venezuela David Edghill, represented our nationals at every hearing thus far. The delegation from Venezuela also visited Trinidad and Tobago where further discussions were held. This act of the PNM government made it possible for the matter to be heard expeditiously. Abdullah said that during his recent meeting with National Security Minister Edmund Dillon, he raised the issue, and he (Dillon) gave assurances that all efforts have been made to secure the freedom of all nationals.
US Military Really Didn't Want

You to Know What's in New

Washington Post Investigation
(Newser)  When archaeologists unearthed nearly 30 "talking knots" at the archaeological complex of Incahuasi in Peru in 2014, the 500-year-old bounty was notable because the knots, called khipus, had only previously been documented in graves, reported Discovery at the time. This left scientists little to go on aside from the basic math that could be performed using the knots placed along the cotton or woolen cords. But this Incahuasi batch was found alongside foods such as corn, beans, and peppers, suggesting that they were used for record-keeping. Archaeological conservator Patricia Landa has been painstakingly cleaning and untangling the Inca tools in the hopes that actual context may help researchers read more than just numbers, reports the New York Times.

Khipus consist of several strings (sometimes as many as 2,000) hanging from a main cord, typically made from llama or alpaca hair, with knots in certain locations and styles. Even the string itself can be differently colored and twisted, and is laid out in a base-10 positional system that produced highly complex record-keeping. In fact some 1,500 units of information can be displayed using khipus, reports Asian Scientist Magazine, compared to the fewer than 800 contained in Egyptian hieroglyphs. The ledgers are thought to have helped track anything from taxes to military organization. "We can look at how the chili pepper khipu differs from the peanut khipu and from the corn khipu in terms of their color and other characteristics and we can build up a kind of sign vocabulary of how they were signifying this or that thing in their world," leading khipu expert Gary Urton, who runs the Khipu Database Project at Harvard, tells the Times. "Its tremendously exciting." (This Peruvian mummy predates the Incas.)
(Newser)  Students at a primary school in Scotland are set to get a real-life forensics lesson thanks to a centuries-old skeletonbelieved to be that of a piratefound last year beneath their playground, the Telegraph reports. Workers unearthed the remains while doing survey work for a planned extension at Victoria Primary School in Edinburgh. Initially believed to be from the Bronze Age due to their poor condition, the remains have since been carbon dated to the 16th or 17th century, according to a press release. Based on a facial reconstruction of the skull, it is believed that the skeleton belonged to a man in his 50s. Archaeologists have determined, the press release says, "that the skeleton was likely to have been a murder victimand quite possibly a pirate."

That conclusion is supported by a gibbeta type of gallows the release notes was "commonly used to execute witches and pirates"that stood 600 years ago near where the school is now located. And, the man was unceremoniously buried close to sea, rather than in nearby graveyards. His body was likely "displayed in plain sight of ships to deter fellow pirates" before being "discarded in nearby wasteland," per the release. Given the school's proximity to the harbor in the historic fishing village of Newhaven, workers had anticipated finding remains of the original harbor and shipbuilding. The pupils think its fantastic that a skeleton was found deep underneath their playground," the head teacher says, adding that the archaeologists plan to hold a special lesson for them about the find. (Some ancient bones in Ireland are revealing the origins of early settlers there.)
(Newser)  The protesters who seized control of an unoccupied building at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon over the weekend are armed, angry, and apparently hunkering down for a long stay. "We will be here for as long as it takes," Army veteran Ryan Payne tells the New York Times. He says the goal of protesterswho traveled to Oregon to support father-and-son ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond, facing prison time for burning federal landis to return federal land to the people and there has already been talk of renaming the Malheur Wildlife Refuge the "Harney County Liberty Center." Local authorities have asked people to steer clear of the area for now. In other developments:

The militiamen say they are trying to "restore" people's rights, though Harney County Sheriff David Ward describes them as treasonous. They came to the county "claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States," he said in a statement.

It's not clear how many protesters are actually at the site in eastern Oregon, and the number could be anywhere from 15 to 150, reports the Oregonian, which describes the occupier as "militants." There were no workers on site when the protesters arrived, and law enforcement officials haven't restricted access to the site or blocked roads in the area.

Protest leader Ammon Bundy, son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, said on Sunday that the occupiers have a plan in place that will take several months to accomplishand that the refuge has been a "tool of tyranny" since it was established in 1908, reports Oregon Public Broadcasting. Bundy said the occupiers are there to "defend the people" and they don't plan to use force, but they will if they have to.

Bundy has called for militia members from across the country to join the protest in Oregon, His brother Ryan tells the AP that they want the land to be free from federal oversight, so people can use it for logging, ranching, and mining as they see fit.

Susan Hammond, meanwhile, whose husband and son are due to report to prison Monday morning, tells OPB that she's unsure of the protesters' motives. "I don't even know what 'occupying the refuge' means. I can't judge whats going on out there because I dont know what it is," she said. "I hope theyve got some warm clothes." CNN reports that the Hammonds' lawyer has made it clear that the Bundys and their followers do not speak for them.

(Read more Oregon stories.)
(Newser)  As head of security for public schools in Fairfax County, Va.the nation's 10th largest school districtTom Vaccarello is responsible for the safety of 189,000 kids in 196 schools. It's a big job: Each academic year, he tells the Washington Post, schools in his district receive some 100 threats  about one every other day. "I protect 189,000 presidents now," says Vaccarello, a former Secret Service member. "We can't be complacent." However, he tells the Post, balancing student safety with minimizing disruptions is a difficult task. After all, most threats are not credible. Still, as threats made against schools increaseup 158% from 2013 to 2014, one expert tells the San Jose Mercury Newsmore and more school officials across the US are being forced to strike that balance.

For instance, all public schools in Nashua, NH, were closed Dec. 21 based on what was described as a "detailed threat of violence." The schools opened the next day, the New York Times reports, after an investigation yielded no "current, credible threat." The week before school districts in Los Angeles and New York City (the nation's two largest districts) received similar emails threatening violence. In LA, officials canceled classes for 640,000 students. Their counterparts in NYC, however, determined the threat was a hoax and kept schools open, with New York's police chief telling the Times that officials in LA made a "significant overreaction." Such criticisms notwithstanding, "Youve got to put the safety of the students first. If someones harmed, thats irreversible," Washington College President Sheila Bair, who shut down her campus in November, tells the Times. (Read more threats stories.)
(Newser)  The University of North Texas is mourning a 20-year-old student killed in what police are describing as a road-rage incident on New Year's Eve. Police in Denton say Sara Mutschlechner was driving three friends home from a party at around 2am Friday when an SUV carrying five or six men pulled up alongside her and words were exchanged, the North Texas Daily reports. Police say shots were fired from the SUV and Mutschlechner crashed the car into a utility pole after being shot in the head, reports the New York Daily News. She died Friday evening after around 12 hours on life support.

Family and friends describe Mutschlechnerthe designated driver for her friendsas friendly, fun-loving, and selfless, ABC reports. She "was a beautiful person inside and out and this world is less bright without her," her sorority, Zeta Tau Alpha, said in a Facebook post. No arrests have been made been made in the case, though police say at least two of the men in the SUV had been at a separate New Year's Eve party and they hope more witnesses will come forward, reports ABC. (A Michigan man who shot another driver during a road-rage incident won't be eligible for parole until he turns 96.)
(Newser)  An armed group has taken over a federal building in Oregon, and leaders say they're willing to use force to defend themselves if the feds move in. It's getting news coverage, of course, but a post at Vox makes the case that coverage is nowhere near as intense as it would be if this group were largely Muslim or black instead of mostly white. "Media outlets don't seem to consider this an alarming story, instead treating it by and large as a peaceful protest," writes German Lopez. He notes that after terrorists attacks, pundits often ask the Muslim community at large to denounce them, "but there are no comparable cries demanding that all white people apologize for the militiamen."

It's a case of "implicit bias," writes Lopez, or "subconscious prejudices that can change how we approach and treat people of a different race, ethnicity, and religious affiliation." It's important that media outlets be aware of the problem, he adds, because the resulting coverage can skew how stories are perceived. Not that everyone's taking the threat all that seriously: A Daily Beast headline refers to "Wingnut Woodstock," while al Jazeera notes that the Internet seems to have settled on the name "Y'all Qaeda" to describe the group. Click to read Lopez's full post. (Read more media stories.)
(Newser)  Darius McCollum's addiction isn't booze and pillsit's buses and trains. The New York transit impostor who first commandeered a train at age 15 has been arrested 30 times over the years for transit-related crimes. Most recently, he was nabbed in November behind the wheel of a Greyhound bus that officials say he stole from a depot in New Jersey. Now McCollum, who is 50 and has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, is worried what will happen to him next. He says the obsession that's put him behind bars for half his adult life is out of his control. But instead of more jail time, he says, he needs help. "I can't seem to get myself out of this on my own," he said in an interview with the AP at Rikers Island jail. "But what am I supposed to do? There's no AA for buses or trains."

McCollumwho grew up near the 179th Street subway station in Queens and would go there after schoolhas posed as a transit worker, collected fares, fixed broken tracks, operated New York City subway trains and regional rail lines, and driven commuter buses. If he were a drug user, there'd be substance abuse treatment. If he were violent, there'd be an anger-management class. Even if he had been accused of a sex crime, there would be therapy available for him. "We applied for everything, sought help everywhere, but there's just nothing," says his lawyer, Sally Butler. "This isn't how he should be treated. He shouldn't be behind bars." His latest arrest on charges of criminal impersonation and grand larceny could bring him 15 more years behind bars if convicted. (Read more New York City stories.)
(Newser)  As the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry puts it in a press release, "The 7th period of the periodic table of elements is complete." It has verified the discovery of elements 113, 115, 117, and 118, effectively filling the 7th row and "rendering science textbooks around the world instantly out of date," reports the Guardian. The elements currently have temporary working names and symbols. IUPAC's Dec. 30 announcement will ultimately lead to permanent ones, which the discoverers can now propose; the release specifies that "new elements can be named after a mythological concept, a mineral, a place or country, a property or a scientist." One candidate for the highly radioactive element 113: japonium, per the Japanese government-affiliated Riken Nishina Center for Accelerator-Based Science, which was given credit for the element.

The Guardian notes the element will be the first to have a name bestowed on it from Asia. The AP reports that the Japanese scientists behind the synthetic element started working to create it in 2003 "by bombarding a thin layer of bismuth with zinc ions traveling at about 10% the speed of light." They were in competition with a team of Russian and American scientists who were also gunning for the naming rights after announcing that same element's discovery in 2004. But the honor went to Japan, and the team leader says he intends to spend part of 2016 coming up with it. A bit of science-wow from the AP: "Isotopes of element 113 have a very short half-life, lasting for less than a thousandth of a second, making its discovery very difficult. After twice succeeding to create it, the group tried for seven years before further success, in August 2012." (A sophomoric prank also lurks on the periodic table.)
(Newser)  British GQ has named Britain's 50 best dressed men, and the royal who ranks highest on the list this year is Prince Philip. (A choice that prompted Vanity Fair to declare, "The Man Named Best Dressed in the Royal Family Is Probably Not Who Youd Expect." Perhaps not surprising, though, considering last year then-1-year-old Prince George was the top royal.) The Duke of Edinburgh comes in at No. 12, and the magazine declares that Queen Elizabeth's consort "comes across effortlessly in the way he dresses." Princes Charles and William didn't even make the list, and Prince Harry came in at No. 38. The top 10:

Eddie Redmayne, actor Nick Grimshaw, radio DJ

Sam Smith, singer David Beckham, soccer star Patrick Grant, fashion designer Harry Styles, member of One Direction Skepta, rapper Romeo Beckham, soccer star's son Benedict Cumberbatch, actor David Gandy, model

Click for the full top 50 . (Read more Prince Philip stories.)
(Newser)  Pia Wurtzbach gave her first sit-down as Miss Universe to Good Morning America on Monday, and she graciously pooh-poohed the idea that's been making the rounds that she should perhaps share the crown with runner-up, Miss Colombia Ariadna Gutierrez, who was briefly and incorrectly crowned Miss Universe. "I think it would be a little bit difficult for two girls to share a crown, but I have high hopes that this will give great opportunities for me and Miss Colombia and the rest of the contestants," Wurtzbach, of the Philippines, said. Per GMA, Gutierrez disagrees, recently telling a Colombian radio station she thinks the crown should be shared and adding that the incident was "very humiliating" and "a great injustice."

As for Wurtzbach, she was also gracious on the subject of pageant host Steve Harvey, who was responsible for the mix-up. "Maybe the way it was written, it was a little confusing," she said. "I understand. It was his first time to judge a pageant, but it's OK. He's human. People make mistakes." Should he return as host? "Yeah, why not?" she said. "I think hes a breath of fresh air, he made us feel very relaxed, the contestants. It makes us show our personalities a little bit more. I think that benefits everybody, especially the viewers." (Miss Colombia was a bit less angry-sounding in her first response to the incident.)
(Newser)  Two ranchers whose legal woes spurred an armed takeover of a government building in Oregon are reporting to prison today to serve their sentencesbut will ask President Obama for clemency, the Oregonian reports. Dwight Hammond Jr., 73, is facing up to five years and son Steven, 46, around four years for their 2012 arson convictions. "Dwight and Steven Hammond respect the rule of law," their attorneys said in a statement before the Hammonds arrived at a California prison. "They have litigated this matter within the federal courts for over five years and ... followed the order of the court." The Hammonds have already served "the entire sentences imposed in this case by the judge who heard the evidence at trial," the statement adds.

The statement also saysand NPR concurs, quoting court documentsthat the judge at sentencing called elderly Dwight's five-year sentence a "shock [to] the conscience." Yet the Hammonds have publicly denied wanting the help of armed ranchers led by Ammon Bundy, who took over a building at a national wildlife refuge in eastern Oregon this weekend, KOIN6 reports. The father-and-son ranchers set fire to their property in 2001 and 2006 to guard against invasive plants and wildfires, but the fires spread onto Bureau of Land Management property in both cases, according to court documents. (The militia-style ranchers vow to stay "for as long as it takes.")
(Newser)  Donald Trump's inaugural 2016 TV ad promises Trump will "stop illegal immigration by building a wall on our southern border that Mexico will pay for," as the screen shows people streaming over a border. But, though you may have assumed the footage is Mexicans crossing into the US, it actually shows Moroccans crossing into Melilla, an enclave held by Spain, the Hill reports; Politifact sourced the footage to the Italian television network RepubblicaTV. If you thought Trump's campaign might be embarrassed by the apparent snafu, though, you thought wrong: "No shit, it's not the Mexican border but that's what our country is going to look like if we don't do anything," says Trump's campaign manager Corey Lewandowski, according to NBC reporter Katy Tur. "This was 1,000% on purpose."

Trump himself addressed the issue Monday night on the O'Reilly Factor, dubbing the whole thing "irrelevant." He continued, "You can just take it any way you want, but it's really merely a display of what a dumping ground is going to look like. And that's what our country's becoming very rapidly." NBC News tacks on this emailed statement from Lewandowski: The selected footage shows "the severe impact of an open border and the very real threat Americans face if we do not immediately build a wall and stop illegal immigration. The biased mainstream media doesn't understand, but Americans who want to protect their jobs and their families do." (Read more Donald Trump stories.)
The Lake Superior State University in Northern Michigan has released this year's "List of Words Banished from the Queen's English for Misuse, Overuse and General Uselessness," a tradition that was started in 1976.

The annual list, which is the university' 41st so far, includes 13 words that they believe should never be used again.

These words are, "so" when used in response to a question, "presser" (shortened for press conference, "problematic," "walk it back," "break the Internet," "stakeholder," "join the conversation," "physicality," "price point," "manspreading," "giving me life," "vape," and "secret sauce."

The list is compiled based on words that were nominated by people. For example, for the word "so," Bob Forrest of Tempe, Arizona argued, "Currently, it is being overused as the first word in the answer to ANY question. For instance, 'How did you learn to play the piano?' Answer: 'So my dad was in a classical music club.'"

The overseer of the list, Tom Pink, who is also the University's spokesman, stated that he was surprised to see that political terms were not nominated as often. He had expected to see more due to the fact that campaigns for the 2016 presidential election have been underway for some time now.

Pink added that they do not have an explanation as to why certain words receive so many nominations.

To read some people's argument for why the words should be banned, click here.
Justin Bieber makes out and was involved in a very passionate kiss and posted the photo on Instagram on Sunday night giving rise to questions if his hookup with Kourtney Kardashian is over.

In the Instagram post as mentioned in a report in People, the Canadian crooner is seen making out with Hailey Baldwin, dressed in a breezy white crop top and high waist shorts. Biebs, meanwhile, was showing his tats, while grabbing Hailey's body.

The publication said that the photo was taken after Bieb's performance in Leonardo DiCapio's St. Barth's New Year's Eve Party where he joined other Hollywood pals like Robin Thicke and DiCaprio's pals Kevin Connolly and Lukas Haas.

Other photos of their steamy PDA moments came up in the Bieb's social media account afterwards.

A source from ET via Yahoo News said that the two are spending a lot of time together during the holidays in the Caribbean.

At dinner the other night, Hailey was gently caressing his shoulder while he fed her bread. They're very sensual," the source said.

It also looks like Biebs does not have any regrets or hesitations posting the sexy PDAs as another source said that they are staging the kiss for a lot of people to see.

"Justin and Hailey were making out for everyone to see at a New Year's Eve party thrown by Richie Akiva. They were sucking face for everyone to see at the bar," a source from TMZ via Daily Mail said.

The rumored lovers have been childhood friends and were seen sharing loved-up moments before. In an earlier interview, the 19-year old denied having a relationship with the 22-year old Canadian crooner.

We're just friends. I've known him for a long time, since I was about 13. He's just going through a time in his life where he's transitioning in a really positive way and he needs good people around him. And I'm trying to be a good friend and be there for him and support him," Kevin Baldwin's daughter said on February last year.

Meanwhile, a source from Hollywood Life said that Kourtney Kardashian is ready to move on from her short-term romance with Justin Bieber after Bieb's recent controversial smooch.

"Kourtney is not surprised that Justin kissed another girl on New Year's Eve. It still doesn't make her very happy and she's seriously considering whether she's going to continue seeing him or not. She thought it wouldn't bother her, but deep down it does. It's just a wake-up call that her romance with Justin would never evolve into anything serious," the source said.
The FBI is now in charge of diffusing the armed standoff held by a group of activists at a federal building in Oregon.

FBI agents will be working with local and state officials, which include the Harney Country Sheriff's Office and the Oregon State Police, to find "a peaceful resolution." The FBI did not provide any more details.

"Due to safety considerations for both those inside the refuge as well as the law enforcement officers involved, we will not be releasing any specifics with regards to the law enforcement response," the FBI said in a statement reported by the Washington Post.

The takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge building happened Saturday after an anti-government protest and rally took place. The protest was held in support of two local ranchers who were found guilty of arson. The father-and-son duo, Dwight and Steven Hammond, had started to fire for the purpose of protecting their land from wildfires in 2001. The fire, however, got out hand.

Contrary to the Hammonds' claims, the acting U.S. attorney, Billy J. Williams, stated that they had set the fire to cover up evidence of poaching. The Hammonds stated that they would be turning themselves over to serve their five-year sentences. In regards to the protest and takeover, they have kept their distance.

"These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers," Harney County Sheriff David M. Ward said in a statement Sunday according to the Post. "When in reality these men had alternative motives, to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States."

The leader of the standoff, Ammon Bundy, 40, stated that they would not be leaving the premises until they get what they want.

"We will be here as long as it takes," Bundy told CNN via the phone. "We have no intentions of using force upon anyone, (but) if force is used against us, we would defend ourselves."

Bundy, who is the son of Cliven Bundy, a rancher from Nevada who held a standoff with the government in 2014, added, "This is about taking the correct stand without harming anybody to restore the land and resources to the people so people across the country can begin thriving again."

Bundy and the unknown number of protesters who are with him have not clearly stated in detail what they want from the federal government. During the rally, the protesters accused government officials of convicting the Hammonds as punishment after they refused to sell their land.

Bundy did say, when asked what it would take to end the standoff, "The people will need to be able to use the land and resources without fear as free men and women. We know it will take some time. I would tell any federal agent that the people are enforcing their rights and expressing their rights to restore their land and resources back to the people."

Since news of the takeover surfaced, many people on Twitter and other social media platforms have called out the government, the media and the public, who they believe have a double standard. They argue that since the armed men are white, they are being called protesters and activists as opposed to terrorists.

"We are not terrorists," Bundy said. "We are concerned citizens and realize we have to act if we want to pass along anything to our children."

Bundy is calling for people who support the movement to come and join him.

There were no employees inside of the building when the takeover happened.
Sweden and Denmark have tightened their boarder control checks in an attempt to slow down the arrival of refugees, who are seeking asylum in the respective nations.

In Sweden, travelers coming from Denmark and Germany will now have to show their driver's license or passport before they are allowed to enter. If travelers do not have any forms of ID with a picture on it, they will be turned away. Prior to the updated regulations, travelers were able to enter Sweden via train, car and ferry from the Danish border without having their IDs checked.

The new policy, which is temporary but valid for up to three years, has already caused a lot of delays on Monday since a lot of Swedes commute to Denmark for work.

According to the Swedish government, the number of refugees who are coming into the country is becoming "a serious threat to public order and domestic security." The government said that in 2015, it received more than 160,000 applications for asylum and added that during peak flow, about 10,000 refugees were coming in every day.

In response to Sweden's tighter border control regulations, Denmark has decided to make it harder for people to enter the country from Germany. The Danish Prime Minister, Lars Lkke Rasmussen, announced on Monday that it would be randomly checking IDs at the German border over the next 10 days, with the possibility of extending the ID checks for another 20 days.

"It is clear to all of us in Europe that we need an overall European solution," Rasmussen said reported by the New York Times. "The solution won't be found at national borders between country A and country B."

Denmark previously cut benefits in half for new arrivals. It also put in place very tough language requirements for those who plan on applying for permanent residency.

Out of all the countries in the European Union, Sweden and Germany have taken in the majority of the refugees. Both countries have asked for a wider distribution due to the fact that the amount of refugees coming to live there is taking a toll.

Sweden and Denmark are the latest countries to tighten up their border. Other European nations that have enforced similar ID checks include France, Germany and Austria.
New Delhi:

The body of CPI leader A B Bardhan was today cremated in presence of a number of prominent leaders from Left parties.

Bardhan passed away at the age of 92 on Saturday at the GB Pant Hospital here after prolonged illness.

The last rites were performed at Nigambodh Ghat electric crematorium and attended by CPI-M general secretary Sitaram Yechury, CPIs D Raja, Annie Raja, Gurudas Dasgupta and Suravaram Sudhakar Reddy, CPI general secretary.

Earlier Vice President Hamid Ansari, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Delhi Lt Governor Najeeb Jung, Yechury and Congress leader Raj Babbar were those who visited Ajoy Bhavan, the CPI headquarters, to pay tribute to Bardhan.

Bardhans body was brought to the party office from the hospital this morning.

Liu Jin Song, deputy chief of Chinese Embassy here, also paid tributes to the departed CPI leader.

It is a very big loss, not only to the Communist movement in India but also to the national politics. It will leave behind a void and that void is difficult to fill again, said Yechury.

CPIs National Secretary D Raja said he shared a special bond with Bardhan and it was a difficult moment for him.

My relationship with Bardhan was entirely different. I worked with him for three decades. It is really difficult to sum up our bond at this moment, he said.

Bardhan had steered CPI during the turbulent period of coalition politics at national level.

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Guwahati:

National Disaster Response Force teams have been rushed to earthquake hit areas of North-East early today, Home Minister Rajnath Singh said here as he took stock of the situation.



The Home Ministry is actively monitoring the situation after the earthquake in the Northeastern region. NDRF teams, including from Guwahati, have rushed to the affected areas, he said.



Singh was in Guwahati last night as part of his two-day trip to Assam and experienced the quake.



The Home Minister briefed Prime Minister Narendra Modi over phone about the situation and the steps taken for rescue and relief.



The Prime Minister said in a tweet that he has asked Singh to oversee the situation arising out of the quake.



Singh also spoke to Chief Ministers of the region and took stock of the situation in each state.



A Home Ministry spokesperson said that the National Crisis Management Committee, headed by the Cabinet Secretary, is holding a meeting to review the situation.



The 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit the Northeastern region early today with its epicenter at Tamenlong in Manipur.

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New Delhi:

Are you also one of those who laugh out loud on jokes based on Sikhs and Sardars? If yes, then its time to question yourself their aptness and what impact they leave on a community of over 1 crore people.

While the Sikh communities have shown maturity to not to be offended by such jokes but there are some who take them otherwise.

Supreme court agreed to examine a PIL which seeks to ban jokes on Sikhs and Sardars after the petitioner, Sikh lawyer Harvinder Chowdhury, claimed that such jokes are a violation of a Sikhs right to equality, and an attack on the dignity of the community.

The petition demands the Ministries of Telecom and Information and Broadcasting should either ban the websites, or direct them to remove such jokes since they tend to portray the Sardar community as people of low intellect.

So, if the court decides in favour of the petition, there may no jokes based on Sikh community.

The bench said that matter will be heard along with the petition of the DSGMC.

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Riyadh:

Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir has announced that Saudi Arabia was severing diplomatic ties with Iran after demonstrators stormed its Tehran embassy to protest against Riyadhs execution of a Shiite cleric.



Jubeir also said that all Iranian diplomats must leave Saudi Arabia within 48 hours.



Saudi Arabia is breaking off diplomatic ties with Iran and requests that all members of the Iranian diplomatic mission leave... within 48 hours, he told a news conference yesterday.



On Saturday, a mob attacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran and a consulate in second city Mashhad amid protests at the execution in Saudi Arabia of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.



The 56-year-old, a force behind 2011 anti-government protests in eastern Saudi Arabia, was among 47 convicted men put to death on Saturday in the kingdom.



The others were Shiite activists and Sunnis who the Saudi interior ministry said were involved in Al-Qaeda attacks, with some beheaded and others shot by firing squad.



Iran arrested 44 people over the embassy assault, which President Hassan Rouhani described as totally unjustifiable.



But the Islamic republics supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei condemned Nimrs execution, saying God will not forgive Saudi Arabia for putting him to death.



Jubeir responded yesterday by saying: Irans history is full of negative interference and hostility in Arab issues, and it is always accompanied by destruction.



Relations between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite-ruled Iran have been strained for decades, with Riyadh frequently accusing Tehran of interfering in Arab affairs.



Both countries are also divided over a raft of issues, namely the nearly five-year war in Syria, where Iran is allied with the regime of embattled President Bashar al-Assad, and Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Iran-backed rebels.

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New Delhi:

A Turkish Airlines flight en-route to Istanbul from Mumbai has been called back for security reasons. By the latest inputs, an unattended cell phone was found on the flight after which it was called back at Mumbai Airport.

The plane has been evacuated and the search operation is underway. The news comes a day after a bomb hoax in elite Lucknow Shatabdi Express created chaos to security agencies on Sunday.

The information of both Shatabdi-Express incident and Turkish airlines comes at a time when a massive battle between security agencies and terrorist is underway for now more than 48 hours.

The Boeing 777-300ER plane was scheduled to take off for Istanbul at 0625 hours.

Turkish Airlines flight to Istanbul was called back from the runway at Mumbai airport after a suspicious object was found in the aircraft, a Mumbai Airport spokesperson said.

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Syria:

The ISIS militants in Syria reportedly threw off a teenage boy off a building because he was accused of being a gay. However, the Islamist who raped him was just demoted and was spared a death sentence.



The 15-year-old boy died after being thrown off a building in Deir ezzor province in Syria.



The Islamist who raped the boy is believed to be Abu Zaid al-Jazrawi, who had appeared in a video showing the execution of prisoners by child soldiers.



As a punishment, Abu Zaid al-Jazrawi has been sent to fight on the frontline in Iraq. According to an eye witness, the execution of the boy took place in full public view.



The boy was accused of being engaged in a homosexual relation with the prominent ISIS officer Abu Zaid al-Jazrawi, media activist Sarai al-Din told ARA News.



Abu Zaid was forced to leave Syria and join the fighting fronts in northwestern Iraq. The decision has been taken by the ISIS leadership, al-Din said.

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Beijing:

National Security Advisor Ajit Dovals visit to China from tomorrow for talks with top Chinese leaders has been put off in the wake of the attack by Pakistani militants on the key Air Force base in Pathankot.



The visit has been put off due to scheduling problems, Chinese Foreign Ministry official told PTI here today.



Indian officials said Dovals visit will be rescheduled as he is preoccupied with the handling of the Pathankot incident.



Doval, who is also the Special Representative for Sino-India boundary talks, was due to arrive here tomorrow on a two-day visit during which he was scheduled to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi on key bilateral issues, including the border dispute.



He was also due to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.



Both Doval and Yang are Special Representatives for holding talks on the boundary issue. So far, the two countries held 18 rounds of border talks.



Indian Ambassador to China Ashok Kantha had said Doval was due to have strategic consultations with the Chinese leaders.



The visit is not for the Special Representative-level talks, Kantha said.



Referring to Dovals visit, Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies told state-run Global Times that frequent talks between the two countries will accelerate solving a dispute on the long border, including its western section with Northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and eastern part with Southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region.



Dovals visit to China follows frequent interactions between the two countries top leaders in 2015.



China and India have strengthened cooperation on security issues, including solving the border dispute through talks, Fu Xiaoqiang, an expert on South Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said.



Fu said the two countries have already agreed to solve the border dispute based on mutual understanding and accommodation but its implementation faces many difficulties, including marking the Line of Actual Control in the China-India border areas.



Wang said China and India have agreed to hold quarterly talks instead of annual talks and to enhance discussions on security issues at different levels.



A border dispute settlement could reduce conflicts between the two countries, strengthen mutual trust and maintain regional peace, Wang said.

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Bengaluru:

The body of Lieutenant Colonel E K Niranjan, a bomb expert with the National Security Guard who was killed while defusing a grenade at the scene of the terror attack at Pathankot IAF base, was brought to Bengaluru on Monday.



The last rites will be performed at his hometown in Palakkad in Kerala.



The body arrived at Bengaluru International Airport early this morning between 12.40 am and 1 am. We brought the body wrapped in the Indian Tricolor to our house, E K Sivarajan, the martyrs father, told reporters here.



He was always interested in the army. I am proud of his sacrifice, Sivarajan said.



Niranjans sister said, I look at him as Arjuna (3rd of the Pandava brothers) who fought for his karmabhoomi.



Fellow Army officers in uniform and many prominent and eminent personalities including Rajeev Chandrashekhar, MP, paid tributes to the martyr at his residence.



Thirty two-year-old Niranjan, who has his family in Bangalore, was commissioned in the Engineers Regiment of the Army in 2004.



He hailed from Palakkad in Kerala and is survived by his wife Dr Radhika and a 18-month-old daughter.



Niranjan, head of the elite bomb squad of the NSG, was killed while defusing an IED at Pathankot IAF base, yesterday. He was among seven security personnel killed in the terrorist attack there.



The martrys father Sucha Singh, who is a farmer, had earlier stated that he was proud that his son had laid down his life for the country.



Sucha Singh said that he received information about Gursewaks martyrdom from his elder son, who is an officer in the Army.



My boy had gone to serve the nation. I am proud of him. He has done his duty. We are sad too. Our elder son is also in the Army serving the nation. My younger son gave his life for the country. He was always good in studies and always wanted to join the Air Force, Sucha said.



Gursewaks cousin Harikrishan Singh said, He did his engineering in Bengaluru... We have lost one warrior.



Gursewak, who was described as an intelligent and bright youth, by his father, had cleared the Air Force examination in the first attempt.



Haryanas Health Minister Vij said the whole nation will remember the sacrifice of son-of-the-soil.

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New Delhi :

The United Jihad Council on Monday claimed responsibility of Pathankot attack. The statement was made to a Srinagar based news gathering agency.

According to reports, a spokesperson of United Jihad Council Syed Sadaqat Hussain claimed that Pathankot Air Base attack was carried out by the Kashmiri militants associated with Highway Squad.

The report read: By accusing Pakistan for every attack, India neither succeeded in past to malign the Kashmir Freedom Struggle nor will it get anything in future through malicious propaganda," the spokesperson said.

The attack on Pathankot Air Base from Kashmiri Mujhadeen carries a message to India that no security establishment and garrison are out of reach from militants. Instead of accusing Pakistan, India should read the writing on the wall and without wasting any time should provide an opportunity to the people of Kashmir to decided their future, the statement read.

Top government sources on Monday informed that both the holed up terrorists have been killed taking the figure to 6 militants involved in Pathankot terror attack.

One of the terrorists holed up in the Pathankot air base and was engaging the security forces is believed to have been killed. Another one's body has been found in very bad condition.

Sources said the neutralised terrorist was one of the two who were hiding in a two-storey building, a living accommodation for the personnel.

Still there is no clarity on the exact number of terrorists involved in the attack and whether the terrorist eliminated today was the fifth or the sixth terrorist to be neutralised since Saturday when the terror attack began.

Meanwhile, Punjab Police also arrested 3 suspected from Punjab. They were arrested for holding Pakistani SIM cards and who were

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Dubai:

Bahrain today said it is cutting diplomatic ties with Iran, following the suit of its ally Saudi Arabia as tensions escalate over the execution of a Shiite cleric.

Manama ordered Tehrans diplomats in the tiny Gulf state to leave the kingdom within 48 hours, BNA state news agency said on Twitter.

A Bahraini statement said the decision was triggered by cowardly attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran and increasing flagrant and dangerous meddling by Tehran in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states.

Manama said the attacks on the Saudi missions represent a very dangerous pattern of sectarian policies that should be confronted... in order to preserve security and stability in the entire region.

The Bahraini foreign ministry summoned Irans charge daffaires Murtada Sanawbari and handed him an official note in this regard, said the statement carried by BNA.

Saudi Arabia said Sunday it was severing its ties with Iran after angry crowds set fire to its embassy in Tehran and attacked its consulate in Mashhad a day after Riyadh executed Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr.

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Lucknow:

Samajwadi Party today claimed to have bagged 36 district Panchyat Chairman posts unopposed, including one in Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhis constituency Amethi.

Of 74 districts, where elections for the post of district Panchayat Chairman are going on, the party has won unopposed in 36 districts, including Amethi. Its a big success of the party, SP spokesman Rajendra Chowdhury said.

Today was the last date of withdrawal of nominations. Elections are scheduled on January 7 following which the State Election Commission will declare the formal results.

SP candidates won unopposed in Amethi, Lalitpur and Sant Kabir Nagar after withdrawals.

In an embarrasment to the Congress, the partys Amethi nominee for the post of Chairman of district Panchayat, Krishna Chaurasiya, withdrew her nomination paving way for the unopposed election of SP candidate.

Shiv Kali Maurya is the lone nominee left for the post of Zila Panchayat Chairman in Amethi after the withdrawal of nomination of Congress candidate Krishna Chaurasiya, District Magistrate, Amethi, Jagatraj Tewari said.

There was a direct contest between Congress and Samajwadi Party for the post in Gandhis constituency.

Local unit president of the Congress, Yogendra Misra said that the party has nothing to do with the withdrawal of Chaurasiyas candidature and it was her personal decision.

Had she contested, the party would have extended full support, Misra said.

She has not taken partys advice on withdrawing her candidature and it is her personal decision, said Rahul Gandhis representative Chandrakant Dubey who was present during the filing of nomination by Chaurasiya.

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Colombo:

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today arrived in Sri Lanka on a three-day visit during which several agreements to boost bilateral ties, including in the areas of health and curb terrorism financing, will be signed.

Sharif was received at the airport here by Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe. The Pakistan prime minister will hold talks with President Maithripala Sirisena and other officials tomorrow.

This is Sharifs first visit to Sri Lanka since he attended the Commonwealth Heads of Government summit in 2013.

Several bilateral agreements, including in the areas of health, science and technology, trade, and curb terrorism financing are to be signed during the visit.

Business MoUs including deep sea fishing, cement, power, education and food will also be signed.

During his stay in Sri Lanka, Sharif will visit the historic city of Kandy. He will visit Sri Dalada Maligawa Sacred Temple of the Tooth Relic, International Buddhist Museum and Jinnah Hall in Kandy.

Sharif will also deliver a lecture on diplomatic relations between Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Islamabad and Colombo grew closer during Lankas civil war by supplying arms to fight the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who sought an independent state for ethnic minority Tamils. President Sirisena visited Pakistan from April 5-7 in 2015.

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Mumbai:

An FIR has been registered against the CEO and founder of an e-commerce major for allegedly selling popular Maggi noodles online during the ban period, in five Indian states.

A case was registered yesterday against CEO of Snapdeal Kunal Bahl and its founder Rohit Bansal for online sale of Nestles instant noodles in five states including Rajasthan during the period of ban between June 7 and October 30 last year, police said today.

A complaint was yesterday lodged by Lalit Sharma, a Jaipur-based lawyer following which police registered an FIR under sections 420 (cheating), 120-B (criminal conspiracy), 272 (adulteration of food or drink intended for sale), 273 (sale of noxious food or drink) of the IPC and sections 59 and 63 of the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006.

When contacted, the company spokesperson said they have not received any information on the same.

Last June, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India had placed a ban on sale of Maggi after they found high levels of lead in it.

The Bombay High Court, however, had revoked the ban on Maggi on October 19 paving the way for it to be back on shelves.

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New Delhi :

Deadly extreme weather on at least five continents is driven in large part by a record-breaking El Nino, but climate change is a likely booster too, experts said. The 2015-16 El Nino, they added, is the strongest ever measured.

In fact, El Nino phenomenon has brought warmest December in Delhi in four years in 2015. It was also the driest with not even one chill inducing rainy day. December saw the least number of dense fog days in at least five years, leading to fewer flight and train disruptions.

It is probably the most powerful in the last 100 years, said Jerome Lecou, a climate expert at the French weather service Meteo France, noting that accurate measurements have only existed since the mid-20th century.

Flooding and mudslides unleashed by torrential rains have killed at least 10 people and driven more than 150,000 from their homes in Paraguay, Argentina and Uruguay in recent days.

In central and southwestern United Stateswhere temperatures in Texas are forecast to drop from a balmy 28 degrees Celsius (82 degrees Fahrenheit) Saturday to zero (32 F) on Mondayclashing weather fronts have given rise to snow-packed blizzards, freezing rain and a spate of tornadoes that have claimed at least 43 lives.

Across the Pacific, meanwhile, wildfires in Australia fanned by high temperatures and super-dry conditions have engulfed more than 100 homes outside Melbourne, with hundreds more threatened.

Across south and southeast Asia, monsoon rains essential for life-sustaining crops have been limited, while drought in eastern Africa means millions will require food aid, especially in Ethiopia, according to Oxfam.

The role of El Nino on much of what we are seeing around the planet is obvious, said Herve Le Treut, a climate scientist and director of the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute, which is a federation of French research centres.

El Ninos, which emerge every four to seven years on average and run from October through January, are triggered by a shift in trade winds across the Pacific around the equator.

Warmer surface water that normally accumulates in the western Pacific moves to the east, leading to heavier rainfall along the west coast of the Americas and drier-than-usual conditions in Australasia and southeast Asia.

This years El Nino is the most powerful ever measured, surpassing the one in 1997-98, both in terms of ocean surface temperatureup by more than 3C (5.4F) -- and the surface area affected, said Lecou.

As was true in 1998, this years super El Nino will have contributed to making 2015 the warmest on record, worldwide.

But the reverse may also be true, with climate change boosting the power of cyclical El Nino events.
New Delhi :

Around 25 persons were detained today after they gathered outside the embassy of Saudi Arabia in south Delhis Vasant Vihar locality to protest against the recent execution of a Shia cleric in the kingdom, police said.

Scores of protesters gathered outside the embassy gate today afternoon, following which the police had to resort to water cannons to bring the situation under control, said a police official.

Nobody sustained any major injuries and all the detained persons were released by the evening, the official added.

Saudi Arabias civil aviation authority said today it was cutting all air links with Iran after Riyadh severed diplomatic ties with Tehran amid a mounting diplomatic row.

The authority said that following the kingdoms decision to cut diplomatic relations, it had informed all airlines operating in Saudi Arabia it was suspending and preventing all their flights to and from Iran, according to a statement carried by state news agency SPA.

Germanys Vice Chancellor Sigmar

Gabriel warned Saudi Arabia today Berlin could review military exports to the oil-rich nation in light of Riyadhs mass executions of prisoners two days earlier.

Berlin also urged Saudi Arabia and Iran to restore diplomatic relations after 47 people were executed, including a Shiite cleric, which sparked attacks on the Saudi embassy in mainly Shiite Iran followed by a severing of official ties between the regional powers.

Gabriel, who is also Germanys economy minister, said: We must now review whether in future we should take a more critical stance on defensive armaments which we have so far sold to Saudi Arabia for its national defence.

It turns out we were right not to deliver battle tanks or G36 assault rifles to Saudi Arabia, he added, national news agency DPA reported.

Germany has refrained from selling the Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle and other offensive military weapons to Saudi Arabia but has shipped millions of euros worth of so-called defensive military gear.

Exports last year included patrol boats, all-terrain vehicles, aerial refuelling equipment, drones and parts for combat aircraft and armoured vehicles, said national news agency DPA.

A spokesman for the economy ministry earlier said it was following developments in Saudi Arabia, and that they would come into play when it decides on approval for future defence exports to the country.

Chancellor Angela Merkels spokesman Steffen Seibert called on both Saudi Arabia and Iran to use all means at their disposal to improve their diplomatic relations.

He said Saudi-Iranian ties are of fundamental importance for resolving the crises in Syria and Yemen and for the stability of the entire region.

Germanys opposition Greens and Left parties demanded the government halt all military exports to Saudi Arabia, which reached USD 226 million in 2014, the last full year for which data is available.

Seibert, asked whether Germany planned to sanction Saudi Arabia, stressed that it is in the interest of Germany to have dialogue with Saudi Arabia ... We are committed to a constructive relationship with Riyadh.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius meanwhile called for a de-escalation of tensions between Riyadh and Tehran, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said.

France has an important role in this region as an interlocutor with all the parties, Le Foll said following a cabinet meeting, noting that Iranian President Hassan Rouhani plans to visit Paris in the coming weeks.

Relations between Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia and Shiite-dominated Iran have been strained for decades.

The oil-rich foes have also been divided over the nearly five-year war in Syria, where Iran is backing the regime, and the conflict in Yemen where a Saudi-led coalition is battling Shiite rebels.

Demonstrators took to the streets of

Tehran for a third consecutive day of protests today after Saudi Arabia executed a prominent Shiite cleric and broke off ties with Iran.

Some 3,000 demonstrators gathered in Imam Hossein Square in eastern Tehran, chanting slogans against Saudi Arabias Al-Saud royal family following the kingdoms execution on Saturday of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

His death has sparked fury among Shiites across the Middle East with protests erupting in several countries.

A mob on Saturday firebombed the Saudi embassy in the Iranian capital and a consulate in second city Meshhad, triggering regional and international condemnation.

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NEWTOWN  A two-year search for an accessible yet out-of-the-way spot for the Sandy Hook memorial has ended at a scenic and secluded hilltop meadow overlooking the Fairfield Hills municipal campus.

The selection of the hilltop meadow as the site to memorialize the 26 children and educators slain in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings is problematic, because the land is so environmentally sensitive. But the decision resolves the location question that needed to be settled before the town could start thinking about what design the memorial should take.

A 12-member group in charge of the memorial will now undertake a similarly deliberate process of setting the design parameters and seeking proposals.

We are going to put a specific timeline in place with dates that we would like to see the proposals by, said Kyle Lyddy, chairman of the Sandy Hook Permanent Memorial Commission. So we expect to see something in 2016, but we have always said that there is no timetable, so if we need to change plans, we will.

The group, which includes family members of victims killed at the school, has already met with the towns Conservation Commission, Police Commission and Parks and Recreation Commission about a preliminary proposal that would use less than an acre of the hilltop for the actual memorial, and a path leading to several parking spaces.

The plan received verbal approval from the three-member Board of Selectmen late last month.

I want to encourage you to proceed  and dont rush your work, First Selectman Pat Llodra told Lyddy during a Dec. 21 public meeting.

Creating a memorial that honors the victims and comforts those touched by the shootings is among the important townwide initiatives Newtown is undertaking as it recovers from one of the worst crimes in Connecticut history.

A separate commission is building consensus for a community center that will be funded with a $15 million gift from GE. That process had to be stopped and restarted last year when it was clear more outreach was needed to come up with a design everyone could endorse.

Newtown is looking to hire as many as four trauma-care specialists to replace a team that will be disbanded in March when its federal funding runs out.

The memorial commission began its mission by gathering input from the families of the 26 victims. The commission next spoke with school staff, parents and first responders. Members spoke with planners involved in memorials for the 1999 high school shootings in Columbine, Colo., and the 9/11 World Trade Center attack.

As part of the outreach, 95 percent of Sandy Hook parents said they thought there should be a memorial honoring the shooting victims.

Because the hilltop meadow and surrounding acres have been designated as open space, members of the memorial commission will have to work with the towns Conservation Commission to reduce the environmental impact.

Because the memorial could draw out-of-town attention and potential vandalism by conspiracy theorists, the Police Commission has suggested 24/7 surveillance cameras to provide extra security.

The project has a budget of $165,000 from grants and donations the town received after the shootings.

rryser@newstimes.com; 203-731-3342

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[All images by Weingarten Realty via Atlanta Business Chronicle.]

In the last days of 2015, permits were issued for the redevelopment of the Atlanta Civic Center, paving the way for the site's old buildings to be relegated to history. While dirt won't move until sometime later this year, the procurement of permits, as reported by the Atlanta Business Chronicle, marks a major milestone in the transformation of the underutilized, city-owned facility into a major mixed-use center. The project, announced earlier this year, will bring residences, retail, office space and a grocery store to Piedmont Avenue in the western reaches of Old Fourth Ward, adjacent to north downtown.

The project is being developed by Weingarten, a Texas-based firm who specializes in suburban shopping centers. The first scheme released was a cause of some concern, with a decidedly suburban vibe complete with surface parking lots. A second crack at it resulted in some parking deposited into decks and incrementally more density. Still, the proposal seems more an enclave unto itself than something integrated into the urban fabric of the area.

Despite the uncertainty of the final outcome, the overall news is heartening in a part of town that, while close to development, has missed out on investment to this point. It marks the departure of the City of Atlanta from a significant piece of property, bringing in money from the sale, adding land to the tax rosters and reducing carrying costs. Permits issued will allow for demolition and site work to commence.

With any luck, the design will be tweaked to better contribute to the development of a walkable neighborhood in the area and not just a self-contained site.

 Weingarten files plans for Civic Center redevelopment [Atlanta Business Chronicle; subscriber]

 The Civic Center's Replacement could Look Like This [Curbed Atlanta]

 Civic Center Development Could be a $300M Whopper [Curbed Atlanta]
The National Assembly on Sunday said its members were eager to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari over the Presidents claim that the...

The National Assembly on Sunday said its members were eager to meet with President Muhammadu Buhari over the Presidents claim that the National Assembly planned to spend over N47bn to buy exotic cars this year.The House of Representatives, on its part, stated that a meeting with Buhari would put the records straight on how the President got his figure, since the legislature had not contemplated making such a mind-boggling expenditure.Buhari had, during his maiden Presidential Media Chat on Wednesday last week, wondered that the National Assembly planned to buy cars worth over N47bn, in addition to taking car loans and generous transport allowances.I cant see the National Assembly spending more than N47bn to buy cars on top of transport allowance they collect.I have to revisit that story. The budget for their transport allowance comes up to N100bn. With the kind of money that goes into the National Assembly, we have to look at it conscientiously and see how we can live within our means, he had said.Buhari announced that he would hold a closed-door meeting with the legislators to discuss the issue.However, both the Senate and the House of Representatives in their separate reactions less than 24 hours after the media chat, denied that there was a plan to buy cars worth the amount the President quoted.Speaking with newsmen, House Minority Leader, Mr. Leo Ogor, said the members were prepared to meet with the President, where the lawmakers planned to ask him how he arrived at the figure.Ogor stated that since making the announcement last week, there had been no communication from the Presidency on when the meeting would take place.But he revealed that members were willing to meet with the President to address the misinformation for the purpose of avoiding needless crises.He added, There is no meeting fixed that I am aware of for now.But, as a House, we welcome discussions with Mr. President to avoid unnecessary frictions.The minority leader also pointed out that the President made several assumptions about his powers, especially in relation to the power of appropriation.According to him, Buhari, during the chat, seemed to assume that all the proposals of the executive in the 2016 budget of N6.08tn were sacrosanct and did not require any scrutiny by the National Assembly.We advise that, in keeping with the principle of separation of powers, he should read sections 4,5,6 and 80 of the 1999 Constitution (as amended) jointly for clearer understanding of which arm of government has the power of appropriation.All that is contained in the entire budget remains a mere proposal until approved by the National Assembly the way it deems fit, he added.Ogor added that the National Assembly too would need to be convinced why the Presidency proposed to buy cars worth about N3.5bn this year.He argued that while nobody raised eyebrows over the Presidencys budget on cars, a non-existing figure of N47bn was quoted for the National Assembly as its planned expenditure on exotic cars this year.The lawmaker stated, The Presidency proposed to buy cars for almost N3.5bn, there is electrical wiring of almost N300m.There are so many proposals in the Presidencys budget that we think should be subjected to thorough discussions. Some of the proposals in the Presidencys budget may not even stand.Where we are not convinced, we will remove and take some sub-heads to areas we think they are needed.He claimed that Buhari took the wrong step my starting a media war with the National Assembly in his first media chat.The lawmaker observed that the option of opening discussions with the National Assembly on issues he might not have been adequately briefed on should have preceded the media war.Also, the Senate spokesperson, Senator Sabi Abdullahi, said the red chamber was prepared to meet with Buhari on the proposed plan by the National Assembly to purchase official vehicles for the 469 federal lawmakers.Abdullahi told one of our correspondents on the telephone that media reports on the issue, which quoted various sums of money being the cost of procuring the vehicles, actually misled members of the public on the issue.He explained that the exact amount that the vehicles would cost could not be determined by the National Assembly at the moment because the contract for their procurement had not been awarded.He added, We in the Senate are ready and prepared to meet with the President on the issue. There is no way we can exercise our legislative functions especially in the area of oversight, using our personal cars.We need official vehicles to move around the country because we do not have to rely on government agencies under our supervision for such logistics if we really have to carry out an unbiased exercise.Nigerians should also note that we are not asking for too much by requesting Sport Utility Vehicles as official vehicles because there is no senator or member of the House of Representatives that cannot afford one. So, to us its not a luxury but a necessity to do our work better. Abdullahi appealed to Nigerians, especially the media, to cooperate with members of the National Assembly in the task of performing its constitutional roles of providing necessary checks and balances for effective governance.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday commiserated with the government and the people of Kogi State on the death of Dr. Abdul I. Atta. I...

President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday commiserated with the government and the people of Kogi State on the death of Dr. Abdul I. Atta.In a statement by his Special Adviser on Media and Publicity, Mr. Femi Adesina, the President said he joined the people of the state in mourning the former Permanent Secretary in the Northern Regions Ministry of Health.He said the deceased would always be remembered as an illustrious civil servant who served his region and country very well with his remarkable medical and administrative skills.The statement read in part, The President recalls that Dr. Atta treated his patients with great care and compassion, and also administered the Ministries of Health in Northern Nigeria and the old North Central State with exemplary efficiency.President Buhari urges all who mourn the late doctor and administrator to be comforted by the knowledge that he lived a long, worthy and fulfilled life of service to his country.He prays that God Almighty will receive Dr. Attas soul and grant him peaceful rest.
The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, has said he has yet to be invited for questioning by...

The National Publicity Secretary of the Peoples Democratic Party, Chief Olisa Metuh, has said he has yet to be invited for questioning by the Economic and Financial Crime Commission.Metuh is alleged to be under investigation for allegedly collecting about N400m from the office of the former National Security Adviser, Col. Sabo Dasuki (retd.).The money was alleged to be part of the funds meant for the procurement of arms and ammunition for the fight against Boko Haram in North-East.Metuh had agreed that he collected undisclosed sum of money from former President Goodluck Jonathan.But he said he got the undisclosed amount from carrying out unspecific work as the spokesperson for the PDP for the former President.Metuh, in a statement issued by his Special Assistant, Mr. Richard Ihediwa in Abuja on Monday, said he was being tried by the media.Rather than being invited, he said he had been reading it in the newspapers about the alleged crime he was being investigated for.He wondered why he would be reading about his impending questioning on the pages of newspapers.The statement said, This office wishes to state categorically that the EFCC has never invited the National Publicity Secretary nor questioned him on any matter whatsoever since its inception.If indeed, the report (about his investigation) is from the EFCC, then they should note that only in a period of tyranny are people investigated on the pages of the newspapers as a prelude for abuse and violation of their freedom and rights under the law.It is instructive to observe that a mere media campaign of calumny does not in anyway whatsoever translate to any evidence of guilt.It is rather an evidence of infringement on the rights of the citizenry and manifestation of the reign of tyranny.Metuh said that in a democratic and civilized country, where there are issues that require investigations by such agencies, invitations are duly extended to those concerned.However, he said it was sad to read daily of people being investigated in select newspapers.This, he added, betrayed plots to portray them as guilty of fraud and crime, and targeted to convey the PDP as a corrupt party and the All Progressives Congress as party of Nigerians without sin.He added that, If we now have a system where citizens get to be investigated, tried and executed by planting stories in select newspapers, wherein then lies the need for our judicial process?Finally, we do hope that all concerned will be guided by due process at all times.
The Lagos State Government said on Monday in Lagos that it had begun to seal off houses without standard toilets. Mr. Oluwatoyin Awosi...

The Lagos State Government said on Monday in Lagos that it had begun to seal off houses without standard toilets.Mr. Oluwatoyin Awosika, the Director of Public Enlightenment in the states Ministry of Information and Strategy, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that the closure of the houses was to check unwholesome practices such as open defecation.According to him, the government is also embarking on public enlightenment to educate residents on the dangers of open defecation.We would continue to educate people on the need to stop open defaecation.Again, you dont blame some of these people for doing these things, so many houses dont have toilets.So many houses dont have bathrooms, so naturally, you find these people doing it outside.Government cannot take all landlords and start inspecting all the houses, but the Ministry of Health, Wole, Wole Inspection Officers, the houses they go and they find that there are no toilets, they seal them up.That is an ongoing thing; their own is just to go round the environment, enter any residential or official premises, inspect; once they see any defect, they give them an ultimatum to put such things into practice.And once they are not done, they are sanctioned according to the law.The environmental law is clear, every house must have a standard kitchen, standard toilet, standard bathroom, they must have proper drainages around the house and water system.The education is endless, we do our own, the health officers do theirs; the Lagos State Environmental and Special Offences Office do education.And then when they have done enough education in certain areas, they do the enforcement and the enforcement is, those who run foul are brought before its tribunal.He stated that the state government is working closely with several non-government organisations with a view to changing the attitude of residents towards open defecation.
Lawyers in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT yesterday expressed mixed feelings over the Federal Governments decision not to consider p...

Lawyers in the Federal Capital Territory, FCT yesterday expressed mixed feelings over the Federal Governments decision not to consider plea-bargain being contemplated by treasury looters and their cronies.The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) recalls that the Attorney General of the Federation, Mallam Abubakar Malami, had declared that the Federal Government was more interested in recovering to the last kobo, all public funds stolen and stashed away by top politicians and their cronies under the guise of arms purchase.The government said that such plea bargain only allowed looters to go away with stolen public assets.Speaking with NAN in Abuja, a lawyer, Mr Silas Onu, said that governments stand was in order because plea-bargain was unconstitutional.Plea-bargain is not in Nigerian laws and so the refusal of the government to subscribe to it is not misplaced; government is only strictly following the laws.If you remember, the former Chief Justice of the Federation, Justice Dahiru Musdapher, spoke about the illegality of plea-bargain.EFCC just invented a legal proceeding that is not known to our laws; and the way we even apply it in Nigeria is not as it should be.Plea-bargain has been used in Nigeria as pardon for criminality; but plea-bargain shouldnt be like that.It should be as is operated in America, where it should only earn you a reduction in punishment; it shouldnt set you free, Onu said.Mrs Uche Asiobi, another lawyer, who holds a different opinion, stated that plea-bargain should be considered if it will be to the benefit of the members of the public.I think sometimes you have to lose something to win something.I agree that it is hard, particularly when you are thinking of the economy and what has happened.You will think that these people should pay the full penalty, but if you take that angle, you might not get the full justice you require.So, if you realise that you will gain more through plea-bargain, it is better to apply it and recover more funds.Remember that even with plea-bargain the reputation of these people is already tarnished.So, plea-bargain should be used if the generality of the public will benefit from it instead of just one individual pocketing the loot, Asiobi said.Another lawyer, Ms Grace Ehusani, thinks that though the Federal Government would prefer to uphold justice, applying plea-bargain would encourage more treasury looters to confess.When you provide an opportunity for people to confess and admit to their crimes knowing that because they confessed, the punishment will be lighter, they will be more willing to come to an agreement with the government, she said.The former National Security Adviser, Sambo Dasuki, and several others are currently being investigated and are facing prosecution over alleged diversion of $2.1 billion meant for the purchase of arms.
By Ihechukwu Njoku, After an eight month absence, Nigerian Prophet T.B. Joshua returned to his Lagos-based church, The Synagogue, Ch...

By Ihechukwu Njoku,After an eight month absence, Nigerian Prophet T.B. Joshua returned to his Lagos-based church, The Synagogue, Church Of All Nations (SCOAN), on Sunday 3rd January 2016 with more prophetic revelations concerning Africa.Speaking on the Nigerian political scene, Joshua declared that a minority party would soon rise to significance. One of the minority parties will be lifted up and reckoned with, he told congregants. Let us pray for Gods love and unity in Nigeria.It would be recalled that Joshua allegedly predicted the rise of the current ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), in 2010.Joshua further called for prayers for Nigerias new Agriculture Minister, Audu Ogbeh. We have to pray for God to sustain him because much is expected from him, Joshua declared, alluding to his earlier advice for the government to invest heavily in the agricultural sector.The cleric also prophesied extensively concerning Southern Africa and the challenges the region would face in 2016, particularly the farming industry.There will be little rain at the wrong time, which is not good for farming, Joshua warned. Many farmers will be discouraged, he continued, calling on the government to build dams and irrigation mechanism using available water from the sea.He further warned Southern African nations not to yield to any temptation to surrender their industries to foreign companies because of the challenges that would arise.Speaking in his usual parabolic tone, Joshua called for prayers for the regional leaders as the ending of February to April are very peculiar months in the Southern African sub-region.Joshua further gave a global warning concerning the volatile North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. I am seeing an arrow from there and it will affect the world, he declared, adding that North Korea possessed weaponry that most countries were unaware of.The war we are fighting already in Syria is still there. We cannot afford another one again, he stated, calling for those involved to embrace peace."There are going to be unusual, uncommon challenges this year 2016 but in challenges, we children of God flourish," he added, encouraging congregants and viewers of his popular television station Emmanuel TV.Followers of the Nigerian Prophet were delighted to see his return to the pulpit, claiming his unusual prolonged absence was for spiritual fortification'.Can you see that your pastor did not go on holiday, Joshua jokingly told the crowd after he had moved in the midst of the huge congregation, ministering deliverance and prophecy.The service had over 3,000 foreigners in attendance, including those who had travelled from the Eastern European nations of Ukraine and Russia.Joshuas last public appearance at The SCOAN was in April 2015, shortly before his Miracle Crusade in the Aztec Stadium in Mexico City which allegedly attracted over 150,000 attendees.
Editor's note: Today, Atlanta architect Garfield Peart (MBA, AIA, NOMA, LEED Green Assoc.) concludes a three-part series for Curbed about the Cascade area of southwest Atlanta, tracing its current status as a hub for dignitaries, its controversial history and plans for future enhancements. He writes:



Cascade Heights is a southwest community that is more than meets the eye and can boast many of the same amenities  location, picturesque parks and green space and rich cultural history  that mirror other vaunted Atlanta neighborhoods. Home to Atlanta movers-and-shakers like former Atlanta Mayor Shirley Franklin and former United Nations Ambassador Andrew Young, Cascade Heights traces its history back to the 1920s and prominent Atlanta landscape architect William L. Monroe, Sr. The neighborhood which helped stem the tide of segregationist planning practices  and permanently transformed Atlanta with the Peyton Wall Affair has the opportunity to once again step up to fight today's threatening forces of disinvestment, blight and gentrification by writing the next chapter of its own transformation.

But what are the key elements to starting that transformation process? A 2014 Georgia Tech study by the School of Architecture, Urban Form + Community | identity, place development, commissioned by a dedicated group of neighborhood residents and local Atlanta city councilmembers, provides the definitive blueprint for the future of the Cascade Heights Commercial District. The study notes that "though residents hold great pride in their neighborhood, they are still disconnected" and cites the need for more active community engagement and creation of a clear identity as crucial for the district to once again become a regional destination.

The Bigger Picture

Mostly a single-family residential community, Cascade Heights, like other affluent southwest neighborhoods, has seen social engagement historically through parties and gatherings in private homes  a trend that appears to exist from the segregationist period when blacks were not allowed in many public venues.

Today, successful communities like Inman Park and Virginia-Highland benefit from a more vibrant commercial district of restaurants, retail and active streets that bring neighbors together and attract visitors from all over the metro area. The same group of dedicated neighborhood residents that commissioned the Georgia Tech study serves on the board of the newly formed Cascade Heights Community Development Corporation (CDC).

The CDC understand the trend and are now trying to create a similar experience in the Cascade Heights commercial district.

Formed in 2014, the Cascade Heights CDC "is providing the structure and necessary voice to instigate the change and actions needed," according to CDC member and architect Danita Brown. Another CDC member and notable community activist, Corliss Claire, recalled that the commercial district "looked like a third-world country 15 years ago ... but things are much better today."

Brown, Claire and other residents like famed architect Oscar Harris have made significant progress even before the formation of the CDC. The group was the driving force behind the Atlanta City Council approval of the Cascade Heights Neighborhood Commercial District Ordinance in 2008. The legislation was co-sponsored by Atlanta City Councilmembers Keisha Lance Bottoms, District 11, and C.T. Martin, District 10, who also help fund the Georgia Tech study.

Claire beamed at the success of the legislation and stated that this was one of the "first steps in controlling appearance of neighborhood." Recently updated in 2015, the ordinance is an essential tool in promoting more balanced pedestrian-friendly uses to support a vibrant and sustainable commercial district.

Short-Term Approach

During a tour of the commercial district this past summer with Claire and Brown, the two women saw the vacant buildings and parking lots not as blight but as opportunities for development. The Georgia Tech study concurs and outlines a host of "occupy" initiatives aimed at taking advantage of the inactive streets, vacant buildings and parking lots to encourage social events and interaction. Short-term solutions like facade improvement programs, food trucks, farmers markets, King of Pops popsicle stands, coffee carts and temporary uses like art galleries have all been successful in bringing neighbors together and fostering a sense of community in many intown Atlanta neighborhoods.

Properties like the now-vacant Life Essentials Whole Foods Store near the intersection of Beecher and Cascade roads was a cornerstone of the community for more than 25 years, with a reported annual revenue of $500,000 to $1 million, according to Manta.com.

According to the Cascade Patch, Life Essentials, a former member of the Sevananda Cooperative, "served as the Cascade community's main health food store ... It was a teaching institution, offering classes on herbs, yoga and the Martial Arts; providing tutorials and movies for children, and tie & dye classes for adults."

The business closed its doors in2015. But the CDC asserts that the spirit and support for community-based businesses like Life Essentials lives on, and reusing the vacant building and property as potentially a short-term farmer's market or vendor expo to showcase local and regional businesses can be the catalyst for more long term revitalization.

Activating streets, vacant lots and buildings can also help create a new identity for the neighborhood. New signage, site furnishings and art murals can create vibrant streets and buildings that reinforce the culture and history of the neighborhood. In addition, present-day assets like Cascade Springs Nature Preserve, planned access to the Southwest Atlanta BeltLine Connector through the Lionel Hampton Trail and established regional favorites like the Beautiful soul food restaurant give Cascade Heights a solid foundation for a walkable, sustainable and economically viable commercial core.

Beneficial Diversity

Cascade Heights remains largely African-American, but the neighborhood can benefit from a socially and economically diverse demographic to foster more community engagement and help shape its new identity. According to U.S. Census data illustrated in the Georgia Tech study, the neighborhood had a population of 32,218 in 2010. The highest resident age groups were 15-24, 25-34 and 45-54 which made up approximately 40 percent of the population. Economically, the neighborhood employment rate was 79 percent with over 5,200 households earning between $25,000 and $74,999. The diverse resident demographic, along with the more affluent movers-and-shakers of the neighborhood, are key factors in helping Cascade Heights reach its goals and realize its potential.

In a recent interview for this article, Councilmember Martin discussed the importance of Cascade Heights as a "holding ground [against] some of the gentrification going on in the city." The neighborhood has a history of civil activism that has enriched both Southwest Atlanta and the entire city for decades. The recent Georgia Tech study, led by a strong group of residents and local public officials, provides the blueprint for needed revitalization of the commercial core, which is key to promoting neighborhood pride and attracting local Atlantans and visitors.

The longtime neighborhood of Atlanta's black elite appears to be ready for the next phase of its own transformation. However, it must now draw upon the expertise and resources of the entire community to ensure the plans are fully realized and the neighborhood continues to be a destination for the next generation of Atlanta's movers-and-shakers.

 Part 2: How the Cascade Heights 'Revolution' Transformed Atlanta [Curbed]

 Part 1: Architect: Will the Real Cascade Heights Please Stand Up? [Curbed]
an says it is using all diplomatic channels to pursue the release of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky who was ar...

an says it is using all diplomatic channels to pursue the release of a prominent Shia Muslim cleric Sheikh Ibrahim al-Zakzaky who was arrested by the Nigerian army last month.We have used all those channels to warn them [Nigeria] regarding this issue. So hopefully the government would adopt wise action given the sensitive situation, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Hoseyn Jaberi-Ansari told reporters in the capital, Tehran.Sheikh al-Zakzaky after members of his Islamic Movement of Nigeria (IMN) clashed with the army in the northern city of Zaria.Campaign group Human Rights Watch said at least 300 IMN members were killed and quickly buried in a mass graves during the incident. The Nigerian military denied the claim.The military accuses the pro-Iranian sect of trying to assassinate army chief Gen Tukur Buratai, which it denies.Iran is currently embroiled in a diplomatic row with Saudi Arabia over the execution of a prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Shia are minority in Nigeria but their numbers are increasing The IMN, formed in the 1980s, is the main Shia group led by Sheikh Ibraheem Zakzaky They operate their own schools and hospitals in some northern states They have a history of clashes with the security forces The IMN is backed by Shia-dominated Iran and its members often go there to study Sunni jihadist group Boko Haram condemns Shias as heretics who should be killedBBC


Noted local architect Philip Trammell Shutze made a name for himself as one of the most prolific classical architects of the 20th Century. He left his mark on the city with a multitude of buildings, including the Swan House, the Temple on Peachtree Street, the Academy of Medicine and Grady High School. Among the homes designed by Shutze is this 4,600-square-foot mansion on Tuxedo Road; built in 1937, it isn't one of Shutze's most famous, or most elegant, though sited elegantly on 2.6 acres, it still makes quite an impression. But, maybe, not for long.

According to multiple sources, demolition could be in store for the historic home, with the owner applying for permits to carry out the work last week. The current owner, who bought the home for $2.2 million back in November, filed for permission to tear it down on Dec. 31.

That new owner, Dallas Clement, happens to be the Executive VP and CFO of Cox Automotive  the same Cox of the AJC and WSB  so it's likely he'll be able to throw some weight around. Atlanta has a penchant for demolition, of course, but preservationists in the city are vowing to fight for this home's survival. We'll see if 2016 becomes the year of preservation.


Members of progressive groups chanted. Bon Jovi's "Work for the Working Man" blared on the speakers. And a handful of leaders, including U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez, delivered speeches.

That's how Gov. Andrew Cuomo officially launched the Mario Cuomo Campaign for Economic Justice to raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour in 2016.

In September, Cuomo announced his intent to push for a statewide minimum wage hike during the upcoming legislative session. His plans followed a wage board's decision to raise the minimum wage for fast-food workers to $15 an hour.

Under the governor's proposal, the minimum wage for employees in New York City would increase to $12 an hour at the end of 2016, $13.50 an hour at the end of 2017 and $15 an hour on Dec. 31, 2018.

For workers in the rest of the state, the minimum wage would go up to $10.75 an hour on Dec. 31, 2016, $11.75 on Dec. 31, 2017, $12.75 on Dec. 31, 2018, $13.75 on Dec. 31, 2019, $14.50 on Dec. 31, 2020 and $15 an hour on July 1, 2021.

At a rally on Monday in New York City, Cuomo said they are going to push the state Legislature to raise the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour. If the proposal is approved by legislators, New York will have the highest state minimum wage in the nation.

The campaign named in honor of the current governor's late father  a three-term governor of New York from 1983 to 1995  is supported by a mix of civil rights leaders, labor unions and progressive groups.

A website, nyfightfor15.org, has been created and an online petition invites New Yorkers to urge legislators to support the minimum wage hike.

In addition to the digital efforts, Cuomo said advocates will make phone calls and knock on doors.

"We're going to win this battle the old fashioned way," he said.

The labor groups supporting the proposal include 1199SEIU, the host of Monday's rally, and 32BJ SEIU.

George Gresham, 1199SEIU's president, said raising the state's minimum wage to $15 an hour will help 3 million New Yorkers earn a decent living.

"A hard day's work deserves a good day's pay," he said.

Cuomo's plan should have no problem passing the Democratic-dominated Assembly, but its fate in the Republican-led state Senate is unclear. The GOP previously agreed to raise the minimum wage to $9 an hour, but that was a modest increase over the state's previous $7.25 minimum wage.

So far, Republicans have been reluctant to get on board with the $15 minimum wage proposal.

Another factor in the debate will be the role of business groups in lobbying against the wage hike.

Greg Biryla, executive director of Unshackle Upstate, said upstate New York can't afford a $15 minimum wage.

"The small businesses and farms that power our economy will be devastated, jobs will be lost, consumer costs will skyrocket and taxes will rise," he said. "If you truly support the upstate economy, then you can't support this unprecedented wage mandate."

The issue will be one of many Cuomo and state legislative leaders will discuss during the 2016 session, which opens Wednesday. And it's clear the governor will do everything in his power to make it happen.

Near the conclusion of his speech Monday, Cuomo had a message for legislators who may oppose or already oppose such an increase.

"There are 3 million New Yorkers who need a raise," he said. "You vote against $15, you vote against the 3 million New Yorkers who need it."
ITHACA, N.Y. (AP) - Cornell University is celebrating the centennial of its Lab of Ornithology with a giant mural featuring 270 species from the 243 modern bird families.

The 70-foot by 40-foot mural was done by scientific illustrator Jane Kim. She devoted more than two years to create "From So Simple a Beginning: Celebrating the Evolution and Diversity of Birds."

The mural, which took 16 months to paint, is at the lab's visitor center in Ithaca. It also includes 27 dinosaurs and pre-historic beasts because birds are descendants of those animals.

Kim, who had to use a cherry picker boom to work on the birds of Africa, spent a year doing prep work. That included visits to the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago and the Black Hills Institute of Geological Research in South Dakota.
AURELIUS | The closures continue at Fingerlakes Mall. The steel gate is down at Gertrude Hawk Chocolates, and GNC plans to depart in March for a new location in the Fingerlakes Crossing plaza across Clark Street Road.

Gertrude Hawk's former space is now empty, and all signage has been removed. The chocolate retailer opened there in 2004. Representatives of the Dunmore, Pennsylvania-based company could not be reached for comment Monday.

GNC Regional Manager Ryan York, who oversees nine central New York locations of the national nutrition retailer, said the Aurelius store will be moving out of the mall in order to increase its visibility. It opened there in 1980, the same year the mall did.

"Unfortunately, here in the mall we're just kind of hidden in here, and the mall doesn't really do anything for us in terms of advertising," York said Monday. "And the mall traffic has just completely died away on our side since Sears left."

York said GNC's lease came up this month, and that rent was not a factor in its decision. Sales at the store were positive, he said, but there was little potential for growth at the mall.

At Fingerlakes Crossing, GNC will move into either the building that houses Zoom Tan and Aspen Dental, or the one with Supercuts and Dollar Tree. A date has not been set, York said, but he doesn't expect the move to interrupt service. After its last day at the mall, employees will pack the store's inventory into a moving truck at 4 or 5 the next morning in order to open later that day, fully stocked, in its new location.

"I'm excited to move," York said. "This area is huge in terms of people who work out and stay fit, so it's important for there to be a GNC out there where people can come in and get good advice."

Fingerlakes Mall General Manager Rene Patterson could not be reached for comment Monday.

Gertrude Hawk and GNC are the latest in a spate of closures at the mall, which lost its Sears, Littman Jewelers and Aeropostale stores early in 2015. The second half of the year saw the closures of Regis and Claire's, as well as the announcement that Kay Jewelers and Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft will follow early this year. Signage in the latter lists a closing date of Jan. 21.

Five permanent national retailers remain in the mall: Bass Pro Shops, J.C. Penney, GameStop, Tuxedo Junction and The Shoe Dept.

Also remaining are LV Nails, Savannah Bank, CPS Recruitment, Finger Lakes Karate, Heaven Sent Creations Flowers & Gifts, Erin's Way and Go Calendars, as well as kiosks Animal Riders and Cash for Gold. Joining them are new local jeweler West & Co. in the Littman space, new craft shop Tunison's Treasures in the former Claire's and new wellness business Infinity Healing & Instruction across from Savannah Bank.

Subway/TCBY, Brooklyn Slice and China Max continue to occupy the food court, with Track Cinema adjacent.
Murder suspect, 4 others arrested after minivan carjacked in New Orleans crashes in Harvey
The federal government plans to pour $125 million into the fight against a mysterious disease that has ravaged corals in Florida and much of the Caribbean, and now poses a dire threat to the treasured reefs off the Louisiana and Texas coasts.
WASHINGTON (AP)  The House Jan. 6 committee plans to unveil "surprising" details at its next public hearing about the 2021 attack at the U.S. Capitol. The session Thursday afternoon is likely to be the last public hearing before midterm elections next month. The panel is expected to include new evidence from the U.S. Secret Service about its actions with Donald Trump that day. Ahead of a report later this year, the panel is summing up its findings. The committee says Trump, after he lost the 2020 presidential election, launched an unprecedented attempt to stop Congress from certifying Joe Biden's victory. They say the result was the deadly mob siege of the Capitol.
SKANEATELES | During her lifetime, Julie Sharpe helped out the Skaneateles Festival as a volunteer usher and ticket-taker. Now, even after her death, the late Skaneateles woman will continue to support the month-long celebration of chamber music.

Last month, the Central New York Community Foundation announced the creation of the Juliette Klein Sharpe Fund that the late Skaneateles woman established before her 2014 death with $850,000 from her estate to support seven local non-profit organizations, including the Skaneateles Festival.

Susan Mark, the festival's general manager and a friend of Sharpe, said the festival learned of the gift through a letter sent by the foundation about a year ago notifying the festival of the fund but without further details or a specific amount at the time.

Nonetheless, Mark said, she is pleased that Sharpe thought of the festival in deciding where her money should go.

"It's terrific," Mark said. "What a wonderful gift. Totally unexpected. She was great. She was a hoot, just a terrific, fun lady. ... What a giving person too on every level."

Mark said she first met Sharpe when the two served on the Skaneateles Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors at the same time.

But, for the festival, Mark called Sharpe "a wonderful volunteer" who helped out during concerts as an usher and ticket-taker and also housed musicians during the four weeks of the festival's rehearsals and performances.

"She was terrific," Mark said of Sharpe.

And Sharpe's service to the festival did not take place only when the concerts took place. Mark recalled Sharpe  a massage therapist by trade  helping out the late David Robinson, founder with his wife, Louise, of the now 36-year-old festival, toward the end of his life.

"She helped so many people in that situation, end-of-life kind of thing," Mark said. "She was just a warmhearted, giving person. It's so fitting that she would continue (serving the festival) with this legacy fund."

Though the festival knows neither the exact amount of money it will receive or specifically how it would use the funds, Mark suggested the money may go toward the $1.1 million Festival Future Campaign, which established the Robinson Pavilion Fund and the Artists Fund.

The $600,000 Robinson Pavilion Fund seeks to construct an outdoor concert venue at Anyela's Vineyards to replace Brook Farm, a mile north of the winery on West Lake Road, as the place for outdoor performances during the Skaneateles Festival.

The $500,000 Artists Fund, meanwhile, seeks to raise funding to sustain the festival and enhance the experience by bringing in more premier talent and larger groups to both indoor and outdoor concerts.

"I know she had a wonderful fondness for the Robinsons, so it seems kind of fitting that that's where we would use her gift," Mark said of Sharpe.

After raising $750,000 during a silent portion and launching the campaign publicly in the fall, Mark said the festival is 90 percent of the way toward its total goal for the Festival Future campaign.

The next step, she said, is to take the campaign out to the rest of the community through a mass mailing in the next month or so to let people know what the festival's plans are with the pavilion and for the artists.

"Hopefully we'll finish out," Mark said, noting the festival developed a pamphlet to circulate to the community. "Just to let everyone know what our plans are. It spells it all out. It talks about the funds and the plans for the pavilion, gets the word out to everyone."
Natural history of western North America and beyond.
Science Norths IMAX theatre will be closed for approximately one-month, starting today, while the theatre undergoes a major renovation to replace its projector and sound system with the worlds most state-of-the-art advanced cinema technology  IMAX

Science Norths IMAX theatre will be closed for approximately one-month, starting today, while the theatre undergoes a major renovation to replace its projector and sound system with the worlds most state-of-the-art advanced cinema technology  IMAX with laser.Installation started on Jan. 4 and the theatre will reopen to visitors on Feb. 6.IMAX with laser represents a quantum leap forward in cinema technology  providing audiences with the sharpest, brightest, clearest and most vivid digital images ever, combined with a whole new level of immersive audio.The new Science North IMAX with laser system, which is currently the third of its kind in Canada, is the most advanced cinema technology and a re-imagination of the movie-going experience.The dual 4K laser projection system features a new optical engine capable of projecting an image with up to 1.43:1 aspect ratio with maximum resolution and sharpness, unparalleled 2D and 3D brightness, industry-leading contrast and an expanded colour gamut that will allow filmmakers to present more vivid and exotic colours than ever before.The next-generation sound system delivers greater power and precision for ultimate audio immersion. The new system has been upgraded to 12 discrete channels plus sub-bass, and includes additional side channels and new overhead channels that will improve the systems ability to position sounds that surrounds the audience.Were delighted to bring laser technology to Northern Ontarios only IMAX screen at Science North. The introduction of IMAX with laser further reinforces our commitment to providing world-class experiences to our visitors who will be among some of the first in North America to experience this new technology, said Guy Labine, CEO of Science North in a news release.It reinforces Science Norths position as a world-leading destination for tourists and residents for years to come generating economic and job creation benefits for the tourism industry.IMAX with laser continues a long tradition of innovation at IMAX that is centered around blending art with science to create a unique experience moviegoers cant find anywhere else, said IMAX Chief Technology Officer, Brian Bonnick.With dramatic increases in sharpness, brightness, contrast and colour, as well as an upgraded sound system, patrons at Science North will be able to become immersed in documentaries and Hollywood films like never before.The renovation will allow Science North to offer the best cinematic programming available, whether the film is in the classic IMAX or IMAX 3D format for both documentaries as well as feature-length Hollywood films.When reopened in February, the new lineup of films includes Everest, The Gruffalo, America Wild: National Parks Adventure 3D, Humpback Whales 3D.Coming soon are Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Great White Shark 3D, The Gruffalos Child, A Beautiful Planet, D-day: Normandy 3D and much more.For more information visit sciencenorth.ca/imax
Finlandia launches gym aimed at older adults

A gym that offers free memberships to all seniors in Sudbury officially launched on Saturday, along with a $450,000 fundraising campaign to fully equip the facility with exercise equipment geared toward older adults.

Finlandia CEO David Munch, left, Jimmy Krats, president of Finlandia's board of directors, Betty Parcher, lead fitness instructor, Gerry Lougheed Jr., chair of Finlandia's charitable foundation, and Kate Furlotte, the foundation's executive director, cut the ribbon Saturday to officially open the Seniors Fitness and Wellness Centre. Darren MacDonald photo.

A gym that offers free memberships to all seniors in Sudbury officially launched on Saturday, along with a $450,000 fundraising campaign to fully equip the facility with exercise equipment geared toward older adults.



The Seniors Fitness and Wellness Centre is located in Finlandia Village, and anyone in Sudbury aged 55 and older can receive a lifetime membership for $20  an administration fee that goes to pay the cost of insurance for the facility.



David Munch, Finlandia's CEO, told the crowd Finlandia has promoted healthy activity for a long time.



"Some of you may be aware, we have a therapeutic pool just across the hall, Munch said. This pool has been a community pool for the last 25 years for people to come in an exercise, be healthy and live long. Even as we speak, there's pool volleyball going on with some of our residents.



"We want to encourage more of these activities, get people in this gym that we're promoting here today and for people to live long and stay strong."



With the growing number of seniors in Sudbury, he said more of them want to ensure they remain as healthy and active as possible in their golden years.



"Now that people in our community are getting older, they want to work out in a safe and comfortable environment ... They want to come to an area where they feel comfortable," he said.



The gym feature some specialized equipment geared toward not only older adults, but individuals who may have special workout requirements.



"The way I would characterize this exercise equipment is that it's smart equipment, Munch said. What do I mean by smart? It knows who you are.



"Say for example, you've had a stroke on your left hand side, but your right hand side is fine. The machines can be calibrated to give you negative resistance on your stroke side, and positive resident on your good side -- with the whole goal of getting you back to equilibrium. That's one big thing we can do for people as we age in place."



And the machines can keep track of your workouts and make changes as you get stronger, adjusting workouts for individuals as the progress.



Louise Paquette, CEO of the Northeast Local Health Integration Network, said she's impressed by how officials at Finlandia are able to realize the goals they set.



"As CEO of the Northeast LHIN I can tell you, lots of people have lots of ideas, but they lack in implementation," Paquette said.



"What's impressive here ... you can see people understand the importance of making it real. Because as we age, we need to exercise, exercise, exercise. That's the trick. What Finlandia is doing now is making that real for the people in Finlandia."



Jimmy Krats, president of Finlandia's board of directors, said Saturday's event was the start of the fundraising drive to pay for upgrades to exercise room, change room, sauna and pool. The goal is to have the work done by this summer.



"Some of these upgrades have already taken place -- for example, the floor has been rubberized ... so it's good for your feet and helps ensure people don't slip," Krats said.



"Our goal is to ensure this room is fully equipped to meet the fitness needs of all our seniors."



Gerry Lougheed Jr., chair of Finlandia's charitable foundation, said his New Year's resolution was to get more fit.



"It's a life or death resolution for me, I must tell you that, Lougheed said. As an undertaker, I understand mortality better than anybody else."



He said an example of what lifelong exercise can achieve is Hidekichi Miyazaki, the world record holder for seniors in the 100m sprint.



"Do you know how old he is? 105 years old, and he does the 100 metres in 42 seconds."



He said Finlandia has long been an example for others when it comes to helping people age with sound mind and body.



"A number of years ago, I had the opportunity to sit on the Prime Minister's National Forum on Health, and we looked at aging populations from coast to coast to coast, Lougheed said. And the property they said the rest of Canada should replicate is the one we're standing in right now ... We are the best, not just in our community, but the best in the country.



"When you come here, you're going to rejuvenate your body, you're going to stimulate your mind and you're going to inspire your spirit with goodness and good fitness."



For more information on the facility, call 705-524-3137, or go to http://www.finlandiafitness.com/
Updated at 1:25 p.m.: The election compliance audit committee has rejected a call for an audit of Mayor Brian Bigger's election expenses. The committee made the decision at about 1:20 p.m.

Updated at 1:25 p.m.: The election compliance audit committee has rejected a call for an audit of Mayor Brian Bigger's election expenses.



The committee made the decision at about 1:20 p.m. today that the application by Bernard Garner for an audit of the mayor's campaign spending.



NorthernLife.ca will update this story with more details shortly.The committee tasked with deciding whether to audit Greater Sudbury Mayor Brian Bigger's election finances spent Monday morning getting an overview of their responsibilities, as well as some recent examples of decisions in Ontario.



Original story

The election compliance audit committee first order of business Monday morning was to elect a chair  Karen Galipeau  and vice chair, Jospeh McColeman.



Next, Jody Johnson, a municipal law expert, gave an overview of their responsibilities, which is, she made clear, not to determine guilt or innocence, but whether there are grounds to order an election compliance audit.



She also cited a number of recent examples, including that of former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. An audit concluded Ford had committed various apparent contraventions in his 2010 campaign and exceeded his $1.3- million spending limit by $40,168.



In February, 2013, Toronto's Compliance Audit Committee voted 2-1 against hiring a special prosecutor to pursue charges against Mayor Ford for alleged election finance violations, the report said.



Johnson cited other cases where candidates have been found to have violated the act, but the errors were found to be made in good faith.



She also said there are provisions in place to make complainants pay costs if their actions are seen as frivoulous, but said she's not aware of that ever happening.



Should the committee decide to proceed with the audit, it would appoint a firm to do the work. Once completed, the results would go to the committee, which has 30 days to decide whether to prosecute the case.



Under Ontario's Municipal Elections Act, all candidates must follow specific election campaign finance rules and file financial statements with the city clerk detailing their campaign finance activities.



Failure to do so can result in penalties ranging from a fine up to $25,000, removal from office or imprisonment.



The request from Bernard Garner for the audit alleges Bigger violated several sections of the Municipal Elections Act. Garner is reportedly a friend of Dan Melanson, who lost to Bigger in the October 2014 municipal election.



Bigger has hired the Toronto-based law firm Blaney McMurtry LLP to defend the case. Bigger's lawyer concedes some errors were made in the filings, but says they were so minor that they don't justify a compliance audit. Lawyer Jack B. Siegel argues that minor mistakes in filings do not require an audit, and that Bigger followed the spirit of election finance rules.
Need cash for a Ring of Fire railroad? Try China

KWG Resources ultimate dream of building a Ring of Fire railroad may have to be realized through a Chinese bank.

Toronto-based junior minor KWG is looking to strike a deal with a Chinese firm to build railway infrastructure in and out of its Ring of Fire deposit. File photo

KWG Resources ultimate dream of building a Ring of Fire railroad may have to be realized through a Chinese bank.



A spokesman for the Toronto junior miner is hyping that a turning point has been reached that will jumpstart the stalled development process of the untapped mineral belt in Ontarios Far North.



KWG announced Dec. 29 that a Chinese railroad engineering firm, China Railway First Survey & Design Institute Group, is conducting a feasibility study to determine if it makes economic sense to run rails north to reach the rich chromite and nickel deposits of the James Bay region.



The odds are extremely high, said Bruce Hodgman, KWGs communications director, in categorizing the likelihood of his company securing offshoring financing with a bankable feasibility study of KWGs railroad concept.



I think were making it happen. I think this is a huge turning point for the Ring of Fire.



Last fall, KWG gave China Railway all-access to its technical data for a proposed chromite ore haul railway. The company is now promoting that the Chinese want to take the next step with a more in-depth study.



Besides looking for rail infrastructure money, when KWG president-CEO Frank Smeenk travels to China in mid-January to discuss the parameters of the study, hell be looking to secure chromite offtake agreements from the Chinese.



In return for the design and construction of a railroad, Hodgman said the Chinese could be paid in ferrochrome (processed chromite used in stainless steel production), or possibly semi-finished products.



Do we just make ferrochrome or do we carry this further, as Frank has described in the past, and make stainless steel ingots and take it that far, or billets. Everything is on the table.



Whether China Rail takes an equity stake in KWG will be part of the negotiations, he said.



If we bring the financing for the Ring of Fire railway infrastructure, and we bring the Chinese in with an offtake agreement so youre guaranteeing the market, thats huge.



KWG is also hoping the Chinese can help them commercialize a patent-pending chromite reduction technology that uses natural gas.



However, the cold reality is that building a chromite mine in the Far North is a long way off.



KWG only holds a 30 per cent stake in the Big Daddy chromite deposit, which it shares in a litigious partnership with Noront Resources, and has the right to earn a substantial interest in another nearby chromite deposit through an arrangement with Bold Ventures.



Since the departure of Cliffs Natural Resources from Ontario last spring, no major mining company has emerged with the financial clout or a precise mineral resource calculation that would make banks comfortable to lend money to develop a mine.



However, KWG strategically possesses the best potential rail access route to reach the Ring of Fire.



In an unprecedented move in 2010, the company used mining claims to stake a 340-kilometre corridor, following a path of sand ridges, from a point on the CN main line near Nakina, north into the James Bay lowlands.



But the legality of using claims for such a long corridor has been the subject of ongoing provincial tribunal and court challenges; first by Cliffs Natural Resources and now by Noront, who acquired Cliffs chromite properties last spring.



Whether KWG ultimately keeps control of that staked route has yet to be decided by the courts.



In reality, what does it matter?, said Hodgman, dismissively. It looks like were going to build a railway.



If Noront, on the other side of the argument, decide that they want to build a road over our claims, they have to show the government they have wherewithal to build that road, and I dont think they do. Its irrelevant.



However, Noronts stated intentions are to build a road running west from Pickle Lake to reach its Eagle One nickel deposit in the Ring.



For now, KWG is promoting China Rail for its extensive experience with transit projects in its own country and its aggressive plans to export their expertise worldwide.



China Rail is leading a consortium of six state-owned businesses in joining forces with an American firm to build a high-speed rail link between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.



Theyre used to building much larger projects globally, Hodgman said. If theyre building on our corridor  youre not pushing it through muskeg but on top of a sand ridge. I dont think its as challenging as everybody thinks.



KWG is still wedded to the idea of the publicly owned Ontario Northland Railway (ONR) operating the railroad to haul out the chromite.



Its something were extremely open to and makes the most sense, said Hodgman, and it alleviates the need for the province to fund it (the railway).



Hodgman said the company has always remained in regular contact with the ONR on their concept.
The Indiana House approved Tuesday an amendment to a Senate bill that could significantly change the trajectory of Indiana's energy efficiency programs, which are popular with customers of NIPSCO and other utilities.

Amendment proponents said the House action merely hits the "pause button" on the state's core energy efficiency program, while opponents say it sticks a dagger through its heart. The bill in amended form must now be passed by the House and then go back to the Senate.

Indiana Energy Association Vice President Mark Maassel said the House acted to give regulators and utilities more time to study the effectiveness of the state's energy efficiency efforts, which were projected to rapidly increase in cost in the next five years.

"This is not the General Assembly saying stop energy efficiency in Indiana," Maassel said.

The Sierra Club, an opponent of the original bill that passed the Senate on a 37-11 vote, said the new House amendment would essentially "gut" the state's energy efficiency effort.

"Today's decision by the Indiana House of Representatives will roll back a proven winner, put energy efficiency workers out of their jobs, and threaten to raise electricity bills for all Hoosiers," said Jodi Perras, Indiana representative for the Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign.

The bill as passed by the Senate would have allowed large industrial and commercial customers to stop paying customer surcharges that pay for the programs, saving them from 1 percent to 3 percent on electric bills, according to proponents.

The bill as amended in the House prevents the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission from replacing expiring contracts for Energizing Indiana, which provides home energy audits, a light-bulb replacement program and others. The commission has been preparing to enter into new five-year contracts for the program.

The Senate bill as amended in the House appears to throw responsibility for the energy-efficiency programs back to utilities.

NIPSCO has touted the energy efficiency programs for its customers for the past two years through a broad-based advertising campaign. The NIPSCO program includes rebates on energy saving appliances, appliance pickups and home weatherization. The utility also promotes the Energizing Indiana effort.

NIPSCO also has concerns about the increasing costs of the energy efficiency programs, said NIPSCO spokesman Nick Meyer. NIPSCO residential customers currently pay a monthly surcharge of $2.68 for the programs.

"We support energy efficiency programs that would provide benefits for consumers, but we want to make sure they are done in a cost-effective way and don't put a burden on customers," Meyer said.

NIPSCO and others were still assessing the impact of the House bill on Tuesday. Although utilities have for a decade or more offered limited energy efficiency programs, the broad-based effort that included Energizing Indiana came about as the result of almost a decade of effort by the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission.

Consumer groups were not hopeful about the future of the effort on Tuesday.

"The conversation has shifted from 'Lets get some rate relief for Indiana job creators' to killing energy efficiency programs altogether," said Citizens Action Coalition Executive Director Kerwin Olson.
WASHINGTON | Richard Lugar takes a seat at a well-worn circular conference table. In an office filled with shiny, new fixtures, it's a notable relic from his 36-year career in the Senate.

At this table, two decades earlier, Russian officials sat down with Lugar and Georgia Senator Sam Nunn, to make an unusual request. After the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russia was bankrupt and needed money and technicians to secure its arsenal of nuclear weapons.

"It was one of these situations in history that really could not have been foretold, that a great power would be coming to another great power and saying help disarm us and protect us. But thats what happened," Lugar recounts.

The Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction program secured and dismantled thousands of nuclear warheads, intercontinental ballistic missiles and tons of chemical weapons. The program has continued through several administrations and the retirement of Senator Nunn. In 2005, U.S. Senator Barack Obama joined the effort and made his first trip to Russia with Lugar.

"We had the very unfortunate experience right off the bat in Perm, (Russia) we were incarcerated," Lugar says. "There were allegations that I was actually a spy and the Russians were trying to get on our Air Force plane."

After several hours being held in the basement of the Perm airport, the senators were freed.

As for the table, which had passed from Nunn's office to Lugar's office, it made another journey from the U.S. Capitol to the office building in D.C.'s Dupont Circle neighborhood. Here, a month after leaving the Senate, the 80-year-old Lugar discussed his future plans and his continued focus on securing the world from potential dangers.

Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and space.

Q: It's been a month since you left the senate after a 36-year career. What's the transition been like?

A: It's been a very busy transition. Before we left, I knew that I would have opportunities for affiliation with Indiana University, University of Indianapolis, Georgetown University and German Marshall Fund. In each of these categories, we've had very nice celebrations. Out at Indiana University with President (Michael) McRobbie and the great new international school they're building there is going to utilize hundreds of faculty members. They already have a great language program there. This really will make IU the pre-eminent leader in international studies. And that's very exciting. I'll be on the advisory committee, co-chair with Lee Hamilton, and we'll have some days on campus visiting with students.

At the University of Indianapolis last December, at our annual meeting with the high school students all over the state, we announced there would be a Lugar Academy there, and they're going through, likewise, teaching assignments on campus. Here in this office we're going to be working with interns recruited by the University of Indianapolis to come here for a Washington experience. We will help organize their assignments in various offices as well as I will spend time with them to hopefully enrich their experience.

Q: What kind of activities do you envision the interns doing here?

A: We've had in my Senate office for all 36 years, interns that were there all year-round. In our office, they handled regular affairs, day by day. They worked with staff members. They were on the telephone. They were writing letters. They were reading materials in preparation for hearings and speeches. I spent usually a couple hours with them in question and answer sessions each week, making certain that they were getting the information they needed. It will be different assignments in different offices here.

Q: Are you going to be able to maintain some of your staff in this new endeavor?

A: We're hopeful of doing that. Beyond the assignments I mentioned, the German Marshall Fund deals with ambassadors throughout Washington. I already had a breakfast with 25 ambassadors. We're talking about how there can be much greater understanding between ambassadors and Congress.

But as you mention, we have staff members that have great skills in trying to control weapons of mass destruction and in feeding the world, world nutrition. So we're hopeful that we'll be able to gain some traction through grants by various foundations that would like for me to continue on this work. And if that is so, we will be able to employ some of our most valued staff members in the past who will continue their research, publications, lectures. In other words, we will be a hub of activity in trying to advance these projects.

Q: You mentioned controlling weapons of mass destruction. How do you see yourself out of the Senate continuing to influence these global security issues?

A: Well essentially, I found that even though I'm not in the Senate, most of the people interested in these issues still want to visit with me. I'm in the process of determining how many speeches and appearances that I want to make in the United States and other parts of the world as invitations come in.

This is a new life for me, I've got to try to determine how to allocate time, how much time it takes physically to travel to South Korea or to Baku, Azerbaijan. But in any event, there is considerable interest. So for me, it's a new livelihood and profession. Most of these appearances have substantial honorarium attached to them and also opportunities to be with people in different locations throughout our country or throughout the world.

Q: Food security is high on your list of priorities, can you talk about that issue?

A: Fundamentally, every country in the world is potentially vulnerable. Most countries that have considerable wealth and a backlog of agricultural experience have been able to feed their populations for some time. The facts of life however, are that many countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa have had chronic food shortages. This happens because of lack of production skills or research in proper seed and fertilizer. Climate change and droughts in various countries have created huge shortages. This doesn't work for a stable world.

This was inflicted in Indiana, so close at hand, this past year. On my own farm for example, we were back down to 40 bushels per acre of corn (because of the drought). No amount of scientific farming can overcome that. So to get to your point about what kind of research and ideas are needed, first of all, trade policy. There is no area where things are more gummed up than in the foreign trade of food. And in part, it's because of self-preservation. Some countries, if they are in difficulty, husband everything they have within their country and do not export any of it. Likewise, there are some countries that have protectionist sentiments and are trying to keep certain things out. But it's not a free flow. And the food of the world is becoming more expensive. This is to the benefit of Indiana farmers  the cost of corn and soybeans is terrific. But even in Indiana, feeding chickens and cattle, not so good. The livestock industry has been heading down. But if that's occurring in Indiana, a prosperous place with Purdue's research, heaven help those areas where there are not all these things going for them.

One big argument we're going to have is over genetically-modified seed for example. The genetically-modified argument, is creating tension in over 60 countries that are convinced that somehow genetically-modified anything would be injurious to either the health or the environment. That's particularly true of European countries, that have great influence over Africa. The effect has been to completely stall the progress in Africa. The Gates Foundation, USAID, others have tried to overcome this in a small way. This really calls for a monumental change of outlook in the science itself. People are coming to the conclusion that not only is genetically modified safe, but it's absolutely essential if you're going to get the yields required to feed countries or feed the world. But it's a big argument and one in which I've been engaged and hopefully will be more successful.

Q: Is there also a role for the farm technology we have, exporting that for our economic benefit and to help these issues in other countries?

A: Obviously we have farm equipment and machinery that are the world's best. For example, fields now in Indiana can be planted maybe 100 acres in a day. Frequently, there will have been soil tests so that using computers on board the equipment doing the planting, you can plant a little more here or there, or change the fertilizer mix, or do things that are going to be beneficial for production. And likewise, the harvest can occur with that degree of speed.

So as a result, for example in Indiana, we have increasingly young farmers graduating from Purdue, sometimes they do not have a great deal of money. They rent land from people who are older who are no longer doing the farming, or from families living out of state. Put together maybe 2,500 acres over which they can best amortize the cost of the equipment they have purchased. Bit by bit, they make money, they buy land, often from the people they're renting from, and this is an evolution that makes a younger agricultural group a very good thing for our state, as well as our country.

The problem is how do you translate that to other countries? Obviously, our experience is useful for others to observe. Our equipment is very useful for them to have. Even the computer arrangements and the algorithms involved in agriculture are incredibly important exports of American knowledge.

Q: Indiana, in addition to being a farming state is a very big manufacturing state. You mention international trade. We have our international Port, which you visited during your campaign. We have mayors that have made trips to China. So in this increasingly global environment, how do Hoosiers leverage globalism to enhance the local economy?

A: If I can digress for a moment to the biographical sketch, I came back from the Navy and my brother from service in the Army to a factory my dad tried to manage, my grandfather founded, making food machinery  long band ovens, cutting machines and what have you. The difficulty was that by the time we got there, and we knew this was the case, a wave was about to hit the rocks. Sales were down. The whole situation, given the absence after the death of my father, had created this vacuum. So fortunately, my brother had a Purdue engineering degree. I was purely a liberal arts denizen and the Rhodes Scholarship at Oxford and so forth, and the Navy.

But my contribution was to come over here to Washington; Homer Capehart, the senator from Indiana, got an appointment for me at the export/import bank. This was not a well-known institution in Indiana at that time. As a matter of fact, the loan guarantee that I got from the export/import bank for a sale of our equipment in Mexico was perhaps the first one for a small business in Indiana and certainly, maybe aside from Eli Lilly Co., the only people acquainted with export/import in that part of the world. But this led to exports to Mexico, and then to South American countries, ultimately to the Philippines, and the resurrection of Thomas L. Green Co. so that we were able to employ more people, expand to over 100 persons on the factory floor and had worldwide business in which people came to Indianapolis from these countries to see our equipment and visit with us personally.

To get to the larger point, when I was elected mayor, I had the good fortune of being asked by President Nixon to go with Pat Moynihan  later became Senator Moynihan, but was then in the administration  to Brussels to NATO to represent the cities of America, and so I invited all the mayors of the world to come to Indianapolis the following year, not being bashful about this, and about 50 came. This reinvigorated all of the various nation groups in Indianapolis, whether it was the Germans or the Serbs or whoever, and they all had parties for their nationals who had come. But it also brought the attention to Indianapolis that I was hopeful for so that all these people having made their plane trips sort of understood what was going on. Then I could deal with as mayor and attempted really to invigorate the exports of all of our citizens.

When I came to Washington, I sought membership on the foreign relations committee as one of my first assignments. I didn't get on the committee for a couple years, but I had 34 years of service altogether. This led to very concentrated travel throughout the world, in part for weapons of mass destruction, but a lot of it dealt with trade and dealt with ties to Indiana. For example, we always had a story to tell about some group or some city or some factory in Indiana that were going to be friendly to whoever was there. So we developed a Rolodex that was very substantial. And this I treasured, because it led to all sorts of interesting contacts in Indiana, as well as in Washington as we dealt with this.

Q: Do you know offhand how many countries you visited in your time in the Senate?

A: I should probably make a list sometime, but I'm certain over 50 and probably upwards of that.

Q: When you entered the Senate, the major threat was the Soviet Union. As you leave the Senate, we're in the midst of the Global War on Terror. What do you see as the major security threats 20 or 30 years from now?

A: I think one of them will revolve around the food problem we were just talking about. Although, I'm very hopeful that countries will be enlightened, that they will adopt better agricultural practices starting with seed and fertilizer. I'm not overconfident of this, given the last 50 years or so. If not food, fuel. That will be the other major problem, that supplies of oil, natural gas, biofuels, whatever we have available, may not be enough to take care of all the people that have a rising standard of living.

The Chinese situation is sort of instructive in this with hundreds of millions of people moving from the farms and rural settings where frequently there were no lights, no constant source of power for fuel. They hope to farm enough to feed themselves. They move to cities, where they turn on the lights or heat a small apartment. It's a huge revolution occurring, and so these are going to be situations in which countries covet what they need.

But at the same time, getting back to our earlier business about feeding people, people will fight before they die. Their national sovereignty will really depend on their ability to produce this degree of security and living for people. So in the midst of this, we will continue to have, I suppose, the fractionalization that comes with huge numbers of tribes that have different religions, different economic and political philosophies. We are becoming acquainted with this much more than we really wanted to. As we got into war with Iraq for example, and tried to figure out how to deal with at least three major groups there. In Afghanistan, we have found an even more complex problem of many more tribes that have never been part of a central state, or thought of that. As a matter of fact, (they) don't even recognize the boundaries of Afghanistan, they say these were imposed by Europeans a long while back.

Skipping, because of current events, to Mali, where there is chaos. The French have come in, tried to take over Timbuktu and various ancient situations, but people say "who are the terrorists there? Are they al Qaida?" Well scholars say, "not exactly." But nevertheless, Osama bin Laden before he died often pointed out that al Qaida really could reach out to all sorts of disparate groups who were unhappy, if not actual terrorists. And so you have a sort of amalgamation of these sorts of things. Who tried to knock out the oil plant in Algeria? Well a group of Algerians, but it dates back to how the Algerian government was formed, the authoritarian nature of that and so forth.

So now the United States is coming to sort of an overall policy, although it's not really engraved this way. We would like to have stations in various places where we can get better intelligence to begin with and then if necessary, use drones to strike at people who we believe are potential danger to the United States without having to send a battalion of troops with all the logistic support, which is going to be prohibitively expensive given the number of countries.

All I'm saying is the general lack of cohesion of governance in many Middle Eastern countries, certainly African countries, is apparent and probably is not going to go away in our time. The question will be then, in terms of our own security, are we able to have comprehensive intelligence to know where the malefactors are? And drones and other devices of this variety when in extreme cases in terms of our national security we need to knock somebody out, we can do that. That's part of our security problem.

Q: On the topic of energy, which you mentioned, with energy shortages being a concern, there's a tension between that and the notion of climate change.

A: Yes, and the environment, likewise for instance in the United States where we have a huge amount of new oil.

Q: Exactly, and I wanted to get into your support for the Keystone XL pipeline, which is controversial from an environmental standpoint. How do you balance the environmental concerns with the need for that energy?

A: Well, I believe first of all, that we are going to continually fight until we solve the problem of energy independence in the United States. One president after another in their State of the Union addresses has lamented the fact that we are tremendously vulnerable, as we have been throughout the last century, to the lack of energy supplies in the United States. Franklin Roosevelt attempted to bring a partial solution to this by his treaties or agreements with the Saudi monarchs. This, however, has led to, some would say, huge defense expenditures for the last 50 years in the Middle East to preserve our ability to actually have that oil delivered to the United States.

Likewise, other countries that have oil, that have frequently been unfriendly. But until recently, we were still importing, despite all these entreaties for energy independence, two-thirds of our oil supply. Now one could say, "why don't you do something else?" For the time being at least, our engine  motor system  in the United States has been largely upon oil. Oil by in large is less productive of CO2 than coal. But this has not led to the French or the Chinese from using much more coal than any other country has used on Earth. The British, supplanting the United States in terms of CO2 used in that direction. All I'm saying is that in order for our economy to work, for normal Americans to enjoy having their houses heated, their cars running, other things we take for granted, we need these supplies.

So as a result, the XL pipeline is a good example of a situation of which the Canadians have a supply that's a fairly large one. The production of all that pipeline will create jobs for Americans at a time when the jobs issue is still right upfront. Now furthermore, it provides for us, if we do not need the particular kind of oil  and some would say that the Canadian oil is heavy crude, not the light crude that is better  what if we could export it? This might help our balance of payments. The consequence of not doing this is that the Canadians have said quite frankly that they are going to sell every bit of it to China. So it's going to reappear somewhere in the Earth's atmosphere, but in this case the Chinese would be the beneficiary and we would have lost a good bit of friendship with the close people up in Canada.

Now in the United States, we have a situation with fracking, not only in South Dakota and North Dakota, which has been remarkable, but in Pennsylvania and Ohio. We're now importing only one-third of the oil we use. It's a turnaround that is hard to comprehend in terms of our national argument. It has led on occasion to gasoline prices going down rather than up, even in a time that we've tried to say the only way we can suppress all this is with a carbon tax, some way of at least stopping our use. I'm all in favor of conservation and the legislation that I've produced year after year provided practical ways in which Americans in buildings, either governmental or private, or in their cars or in whatever use they may in their homes on their farms, would use less because it was being used in more satisfactory ways. But the incentive for you as a business, for example, the Empire State Building is a capital case. They spent $15 million revamping their electrical and heating system and they paid that loan back in about two years and they're making money on it. The point is, it's good business as well as conservation. But you have to have at least the confidence that you can produce the BTUs that you need.

Q: I want to get back to education, and it was great seeing the Gary West Side sweatpants you have there. Can you talk about the partnership you have had with the Gary schools during your career?

A: Almost annually I had visits to high schools in Gary. Quentin Smith, a remarkable educator with whom I had very close ties, was very helpful in my understanding of the Gary school situation really from the beginning. So I leaned on him a great deal for information as well as to try to be helpful. But this was really true of my visits around the state. We're always involved with the high school students, and this is why at the University of Indianapolis, we had this annual event in which we invited two juniors from each high school in Indiana to come to Indianapolis for a day in which I would address the group with a comprehensive statement, lots of question and answers for hours. We had other experts come in and so forth. Typically, these students would put this in their dossiers as one of the highlights. And we will continue that.

Q: One of the things we wrestle with in our area in particular is the notion that educating young people  and you have great universities in Indiana  but the issue is after they graduate, the brain drain and the fact that there aren't the quality jobs for college graduates, how do you remedy that?

A: I've worked in the last couple of years especially with Tom Snyder and Ivy Tech, Teresa Lubbers, who had responsibility in the state capitol, was a former staff member of mine, as well as her husband, Mark Lubbers. Because they are working on how do you bridge the gap? In other words, how do you move from whatever level of education a student has to a job? This is illustrated up in the northern part of Indiana where there are several scientific, chemical and medical firms, they're big firms with good jobs, and to their credit, they've been prepared to take on board a good number of students. Some are doing work at Ivy Tech or Ivy Tech is set up in Indiana, sort of way stations for colleges and so forth that match where the industries are, that might have a specific knowledge that would be able to make the transfer. It's absolutely critical. Government can play a definite role in bringing the parties together as opposed to simply counting the statistics and lamenting that it's too bad that folks can't find a job.

Q: How much time are you going to spend here and then back in Indiana working with students in Indianapolis and Bloomington?

A: It remains to be seen, because we're just in the first four weeks of this new life. First of all, it's taken some effort just to move out. I think 1,300 or 1,400 boxes. Now about 1,000 of those have been deposited at IU in the archives. They have a very good archivist, and that's why we made that selection. Lee Hamilton's archives are there, and so it's nice always to work with him. So that left another 300 boxes to come over here, or somewhere en route. We've set up temporarily a situation where there are five offices that are adjoining here. Now whether we'll be able to employ, as I talked about earlier, the talented staff member that I want and need for these projects will depend on our ability to raise the money to do this. So that remains to be seen.

Q: So how are you looking to raise the money and finance the operation?

A: Well, there are many foundations that are interested in what we are doing, so these are conversations that are ongoing and hopefully we'll be successful in the months to come. Meanwhile, I've been doing various appointments, projects, back and forth to Indiana for various things. I'm going back shortly to the Rotary Club in Indianapolis. They're going to celebrate their centennial. They're going to have the international president there, and I'm going to be honored as Rotarian of the Century. I was very moved by that, because it's meant so much to me.

Q: It is a big change for you obviously. We've seen some of your fellow senators leave office expressing criticism of the workings of the Senate. Sen. Evan Bayh comes to mind, who was outspoken in his criticism as he left. Do you share those frustrations, or do you have a little bit of a different perspective?

A: Well I thoroughly enjoyed my service in the Senate. I feel grateful that the people of Indiana gave me that opportunity, and I would not have run for re-election if I did not want to continue to serve. The projects I had under way, the things I was doing all over Indiana all over America, all over the world, were very important to me and still are. And I'm hoping to continue many of them. But I enjoyed my colleagues. I appreciate the comments that are made about the partisanship and the degree of difficulty of getting work done. It reflects this particular time in America where people are very disillusioned because of lack of jobs, lack of opportunities, worry about their families, not certain how this fits in with the rest of the world, not getting the answers they need. So that frustration, I can understand. But at the same time, I'm not going to attribute all of this to the Senate or the Constitution of the United States was drawn up ineptly. It think it's much more a question of trying to be persuasive and trying to make the best arguments. Likewise, being able to listen to other people and to try to work with them to find solutions.

One of the great things about my opportunity to serve in the Senate was that I had very good times in all parts of the state of Indiana. In other words, I thoroughly enjoyed my eight years as mayor of Indianapolis. But the concentration was on Indianapolis. Election to the Senate brought a wonderful new constituency statewide, so I had good reason to travel throughout the state to find new friends and forge great relationships, which I did. I will miss that part of the work.
INDIANAPOLIS | U.S. Sen. Joe Donnelly, D-Ind., is the fourth-most bipartisan senator to serve over the past two decades and the Democrat most willing to work across party lines, according to an analysis from a think tank led by former U.S. Sen. Dick Lugar.

The Lugar Center recently expanded its Bipartisan Index to rate U.S. senators based on how often legislation they sponsored from 1993-2014 attracted co-sponsors from the other political party, and whether a senator co-sponsored measures proposed by someone not of his or her party.

Former U.S. Sen. Lincoln Chafee, R-R.I., who briefly ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, topped the index as the most bipartisan senator. He was followed by U.S. Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both of Maine.

Donnelly, who is in the fourth year of his first term, came in fourth out of the 227 senators who have served in the 100-member chamber since 1993.

"My responsibility is to do what is right for Hoosiers no matter which party an idea may come from," Donnelly said.

"I believe we are stronger and more effective when we work together, and when we prioritize bipartisan efforts we can get things done that will help Indiana and our country."

The namesake of the Lugar Center placed 24th for bipartisanship, just ahead of former Connecticut U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman, the 2000 Democratic vice presidential nominee.

Lugar represented Indiana in the Senate from 1977 to 2013. He said he believes the nonpartisan analysis "illustrates the changing nature of the Congress" and explains in part "why it has become so dysfunctional in recent years.

"But it also shows that some lawmakers with strong ideological views can nonetheless find common ground with members of the other party," Lugar said.

Of the two senators who also represented Indiana since 1993: Democrat Evan Bayh rated 61st on the Bipartisan Index; Republican Dan Coats placed 214th for his work during two nonconsecutive six-year terms.

Two Republicans from Illinois were among the most willing to work with Senate Democrats. Incumbent U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk and former U.S. Sen. Peter Fitzgerald (1999-2005) were rated 18th and 22nd, respectively.

Former U.S. Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, D-Ill., (1993-1999) was the highest-rated Illinois Democratic senator at 93.

She was followed by Paul Simon (1985-97) at 120; Dick Durbin (1997-present) at 126; Barack Obama (2005-08) at 165; and Roland Burris (2009-10) at 221.

The Lugar Center determined the least bipartisan senator over the past two decades was former U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C.

DeMint quit Congress in 2013 to become president of the Heritage Foundation, a leading conservative think tank.

His replacement, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., was the second-least bipartisan senator, followed by U.S. Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas.

Former U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., scored highest (156) for bipartisanship among current and former Democratic senators still running for president this year. At 217, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders was the third-least likely Democrat to work with Republicans.

The Republican presidential candidate most willing to cross party lines was U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., in 122nd place.

He was followed by former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., at 145; U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., at 170; U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., at 222; and Cruz at 224.

Edward Montgomery, dean of the McCourt School of Public Policy at Georgetown University, which co-sponsors the Bipartisan Index, said he hopes it reminds lawmakers that conservative or progressive ideologies shouldn't be a deterrent to political cooperation.

"Our society faces significant challenges both domestically and abroad," Montgomery said. "Now, more than ever, we need our lawmakers to work together to get things done."
WASHINGTON | The Dupont Circle office building is just 2-1/2 miles from the U.S. Capitol, where Richard Lugar built a legacy of statesmanship over the past 36 years.

Bright and open with glass dividers and sleek, modern decor, the cluster of offices are a contrast to the hallowed halls of the Senate. But the surroundings represent a new start for Lugar, who at 80 years old shows no sign of slowing down.

He keeps a full schedule these days working to set up a non-profit organization that will continue the work he did as a senator on global security issues, and partnering with universities to mentor a new generation.

It's a change that he didn't necessarily seek out, losing his 2012 re-election bid in the Republican primary to Indiana State Treasurer Richard Mourdock. Democrat Joe Donnelly assumed Lugar's Senate seat in January after defeating Mourdock in the general election.

One month after leaving the Senate, Lugar invited The Times to his new offices for a wide-ranging exclusive interview.

"It's been a very busy transition. Before we left, I knew that I would have opportunities for affiliation with Indiana University, University of Indianapolis, Georgetown University and the German Marshall Fund," Lugar said.

Lugar is a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, which works with ambassadors throughout Washington.

"I already had a breakfast with 25 ambassadors. We're talking about how there can be much greater understanding between ambassadors and Congress," he said.

On the academic front, Lugar will coordinate a Washington internship program for students at the University of Indianapolis and will lecture there, as well as at Georgetown University.

In January, Indiana University announced Lugar would join the faculty of IU's School of Global and International Studies and serve as co-chair of the new IU International Advisory Committee with former U.S. Rep. Lee Hamilton.

Lugar also deposited 1,000 boxes of his Senate papers at the IU archives.

But his most ambitious plans are to continue his work on global security. Lugar's legacy includes the Nunn-Lugar program, where he partnered with Sen. Sam Nunn, D-Georgia, to secure and deactivate nuclear weapons after the breakup of the Soviet Union. More than 7,600 strategic nuclear warheads were deactivated under the program.

"We have staff members that have great skills in trying to control weapons of mass destruction and in feeding the world ... So we're hopeful that we'll be able to gain some traction through grants by various foundations that would like me to continue on this work. And if that is so, we will be able to employ some of our most valued staff members in the past who will continue their research, publications, lectures. In other words, we will be a hub of activity in trying to advance these projects."

Among Lugar's chief concerns is food security, which he thinks could play a key role in future conflicts. It's a subject where his experience running his family's Marion County farm comes into play.

"Many countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa have had chronic food shortages. This happens because of lack of production skills or research in proper seed and fertilizer," Lugar said. "Climate change and droughts in various countries have created huge shortages. This doesn't work for a stable world."

Lugar says over the years, thanks to better farming techniques and technology, he's seen a quadrupling in yields on the same acreage of his family farm.

"That is going to have to occur throughout the world if the increasing population is to be fed."

But, Lugar adds, trade policy is a big concern with the protectionist sentiments of many countries.

"There is no area where things are more gummed up than the foreign trade of food," he said.

Another big battle on the horizon, Lugar said, is over genetically modified seed, which has met resistance in Europe and stalled progress in Africa.

"People are coming to the conclusion that not only is genetically modified safe, but it's absolutely essential if you're going to get the yields required to feed countries or feed the world."

If not food, Lugar believes conflicts in the coming decades could arise over fuel, as supplies strain to meet the demands of a rising standard of living.

"The Chinese situation is sort of instructive in this, with hundreds of millions of people moving from the farms and rural settings where frequently there were no lights, no constant source of power. ... They move to cities, where they turn on the lights or heat a small apartment. It's a huge revolution occurring."

One of the battles Lugar fought in his final year in the Senate was over the construction of the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring crude oil from the Canadian oil sands region to U.S. refineries and has been stalled by the Obama administration over environmental concerns.

"The production of all that pipeline will create jobs for Americans at a time when the jobs issue is still right upfront," Lugar said. "The consequence of not doing this is that the Canadians have said quite frankly that they are going to sell every bit of it to China. So it's going to reappear somewhere in the Earth's atmosphere, but in this case the Chinese would be the beneficiary and we would have lost a good bit of friendship with the close people up in Canada."

As a former member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Lugar watched with interest the recent hearings held on the embassy attack in Benghazi, Libya, and the confirmation hearings of secretary of state nominee John Kerry and defense secretary nominee Chuck Hagel, both his longtime colleagues in the Senate.

In the case of Benghazi, the death of Ambassador Chris Stevens holds particular importance for Lugar.

"He was one of my staff members six years ago or so. He had an internship of sorts with the Foreign Relations Committee  a brilliant guy. So it was a personal loss."

Lugar saw the Benghazi hearing, where Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was grilled by Republican senators, as a continuation of the 2012 campaign, with Republicans hammering away at what they perceived as a vulnerability.

"So after the campaign is over, everyone wants their due," he said.

Lugar thought that too much of the focus in Hagel's confirmation hearing was about the former Nebraska Republican's past statements, and not enough about the topics relevant to national security.

"In other words, what is the role of the Defense Department in the pivot in Asia? Or the setting up perhaps of a new base for drones in northern Africa? Or how soon should we come out of Afghanistan? Or what's happened in Iraq since we left there?"

Lugar said rumors that the Nunn-Lugar nuclear reduction program would end were concerning to him. And he's gone to the Pentagon to get them "stirred up and moving ahead" on the project. For the Russians, Nunn-Lugar is a jobs issue and one they want to continue, he said.

"This is something that is important to me. I think it's important to our country," he said. "I believe it's going to continue, but it's going to be an argument."

In the fights ahead, Lugar has allies, including former Senate staff members, who remain loyal and committed to the cause.

Andy Fisher, Lugar's communications director in the Senate, is helping get the new operation going and will continue as a consultant while operating his own public relations firm.

Fisher says Lugar still has the energy and vitality to make his new endeavor a success.

"He's always forward looking, always looking at what the future problems are," Fisher said. "He's been through these things before. He's always been a risk taker."
INDIANAPOLIS  A Senate Republican's plan to protect schools from consequences tied to poor student performance on the 2015 ISTEP standardized exam was endorsed Monday by Glenda Ritz, the Democratic state superintendent of public instruction.

Senate Bill 200, sponsored by state Sen. Dennis Kruse, R-Auburn, requires the State Board of Education to assign schools their 2013-14 A-F grades for the 2014-15 school year, unless a school earned a higher grade last year.

Without the change, school grades are expected to drop significantly due to double-digit declines in the ISTEP passing rate, as Indiana transitions to a more difficult test associated with academic standards required by law to be "the highest standards in the United States."

Ritz, who has been pushing for a "hold harmless" provision over the past 18 months, said she is pleased Kruse and other Statehouse leaders now are on board.

"The current version of Senate Bill 200 is common sense legislation that allows schools time to adjust to our new standards and prevents unnecessary economic harm to our schools and communities," Ritz said."This bill has my strong support."

School grades determine which school buildings and districts face accountability consequences, including potential takeover by the state. They also can affect local property values.

The Kruse-led Senate Committee on Education and Career Development is set to review and possibly vote to approve the proposal at 12:30 p.m. Region time Wednesday.

A separate school grades fix aimed at preserving teacher performance pay is expected to be considered by the Republican-controlled House early in the 10-week legislative session that begins Tuesday.

In October, Republican Gov. Mike Pence reversed his longstanding opposition to a school accountability pause, but has not specifically said how he believes schools grades should be changed.

The State Board of Education already has missed its Dec. 31 statutory deadline for assigning 2014-15 school grades.

Kruse's legislation retroactively authorizes the board to still issue the grades.
Officials in Nigeria say the death toll from this year's flooding has risen to 603. Authorities have called the floods the country's worst in more than a decade, blaming the disaster on unusually heavy rainfall and the release of excess water from the Lagdo dam in neighboring Cameroon. More than 1.3 million people have been displaced by the disaster, according to Nigeria's humanitarian affairs minister. Sadiya Umar Farouq is warning that five states are still at risk of experiencing floods up until the end of November. At least 340,000 hectares of land also have been affected, worsening fears of food supply disruptions.
Lake-effect snow showers Monday morning caused problems on area expressways for about an hour before moving out of the Region.

The snow began falling in Lake County just before 10 a.m. and quickly began causing problems on area roadways.

Indiana State Police for the Lowell District said troopers responded to multiple, scattered slide-offs and spin-outs just before 10:30 a.m. One crash initially had all northbound lanes of Interstate 65 closed near Ridge Road.

The lanes reopened by 11:15 a.m. but traffic in the area remained slow.

Indiana State Police for the Toll Road said they had minimal slide-offs and spin-outs early Monday morning, particularly in LaPorte County and points east.

The snow ended for much of region by 11 a.m., but some traffic issues continued to linger.

LaPorte County was under a lake-effect snow advisory until noon.

The forecast calls for drier weather through Wednesday night, with highs in the low to mid-30s. Thursday morning could bring a snow-sleet mix, changing over all rain by Thursday afternoon. Thursday's high is expected to reach 41 degrees.
CROWN POINT  A South Holland man is facing charges alleging he repeatedly kicked a Hammond woman in the head, strangled her and broke her phone when she tried to call 911.

Travis Hamilton, 24, attacked the woman after showing up at her residence unannounced, according to Lake Criminal Court records.

Hamilton is accused of asking to use the woman's phone and becoming enraged after looking at her call records.

He entered her residence, punched and kicked her, threw her to the ground and told her she was going to die as he choked her, a court affidavit says.

The woman tried to call 911, but Hamilton took her phone and smashed it, the affidavit says.

The woman was able to leave after Hamilton went into another room, according to court records. She initially went to the Hammond Police Department and later was taken to Community Hospital in Munster.

Hamilton was charged with two felony counts of criminal confinement, felony strangulation, and misdemeanor counts of domestic battery and interference with reporting of a crime.
SCHERERVILLE  A 49-year-old Crown Point man named as a suspect in his ex-wife's shooting death in Schererville was found dead Sunday at a cemetery in Calumet City, police said.

The cause of Richard James Kalecki's death remained under investigation Sunday night but it appeared he committed suicide, said Robert Byrd, spokesman for the Northwest Indiana Major Crimes Task Force.

Police said Kalecki was seen on surveillance video fatally shooting Alessandra De Moraes-Emiliano, 37, of Merrillville, in an attack at 12:20 p.m. Saturday at Edible Arrangements, a fruit gift shop, in the Lincoln Ridge Plaza in the 200 block of U.S. 30 in Schererville.

Police on Saturday searched Kalecki's house in the 200 block of 127th Place in Crown Point but did not locate him or the murder weapon, Byrd said.

Byrd did not immediately have information about whether any evidence was found in the house.

Byrd characterized the shooting as domestic violence. Witnesses knew Kalecki because of prior encounters at Edible Arrangements, he said.

Lake Superior Court records indicate Richard and Alessandra Kalecki divorced in 2012, months before the Lake County prosecutor's office charged him with three counts of child molesting and three counts of sexual misconduct with a minor.

Kalecki's trial in the molestation case was scheduled to begin in March. He faced a maximum 50-year sentence if convicted.

The victim told authorities she was 13 when Kalecki began sexually abusing her in December 2010, after telling her he wanted to teach her about the "birds and the bees."

Kalecki is alleged to have streamed pornographic videos on a laptop and also recorded his relations with the girl with a handheld camera, which he forced the girl to watch.

The girl told authorities she was afraid of Kalecki, who threatened to kill her if she didn't go along with his wishes, court records state.

If found out and jailed, Kalecki told the girl, "When I get out, I will hurt everyone who ratted me out, including you, and I will kill myself," court records state.

According to court records, a medical doctor confirmed the girl exhibited signs of sexual abuse. The doctor reportedly considered the girl to be suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.

Kalecki is alleged to have repeatedly sexually assaulted the girl until March 2012, when a family member suspected abuse.

Byrd said Sunday police were in contact with the girl and she was safe.

Kaleckis death brings an end to the tragic domestic violence homicide investigation of Ms. De Moraes-Emiliano," Schererville Police Chief David Dowling said. "We have worked very closely with her entire family, and they have our deepest sympathies.
LAPORTE | LaPorte County officials have agreed to close an airport runway and a state highway to bring back a week-long public display of powerful fireworks.

The Pyrotechnics Guild International has scheduled LaPorte for its 2016 convention, but organization's decision to return was initially up in the air.

Losing the convention would have meant a loss of million of dollars for the local economy "we don't normally get," said LaPorte County Commissioner Dave Decker.

To make it happen, the convention will be relocated from the LaPorte County Fairgrounds, where tens of thousands attended in 2012, to a field across Ind. 2 from the fairgrounds.

A recently opened work release center was built too close to the fireworks staging area, forcing the move.

Decker said portable bleachers from the fairgrounds will be relocated to the new launching site.

Members of the PGI will still camp and store their supplies at the fairgrounds.

Ind. 2 will be closed during the convention as a precaution because fireworks and other explosives used to make fireworks on site will have to be moved across the two-lane highway to the new launching site due to state regulations.

"The highway area has to be detoured around for us to make it reasonable for the explosives to cross that road," said Dan Creagan, president of the Lansing, Mich.-based PGI.

The new site also is in the flight pattern for LaPorte Muncipal Airport along Ind. 39 and one of the runways will be closed while the fireworks are shot off. Planes will be redirected to the other remaining runaway, said Decker.

Creagan said the adjustments, the positive response from the community to the last convention and LaPorte's desire to host it again were factors in coming back.

"If they want us there and we want to get there we try to make it happen," said Creagan.

No date has been set for the 2016 convention, but Creagan said it would be held sometime during the first half of August.
VALPARAISO | A new shop has opened up downtown with a consignment plan with locals to promote region artists, writers and designers.

Rusted Oak, a traditional, yet modern, men's clothier located at 19 Lincolnway, opened Nov. 23. It's primary goods are dress and casual wear in addition to custom top coats, suits, sweaters and shoes.

The business also serves as a tuxedo rental shop for black tie events. But what really makes it stand out is the consignment plan, owner Robert Ordway said.

"What makes us unique is our desire not only to serve men and their clothing needs but to serve greater Northwest Indiana," he said. "We believe in community building and that is done by partnerships with folks from all different backgrounds."

On consignment Rusted Oak sells used Barrels from Journeyman Distillery, the "Union Made" book by Valparaiso History professor Heath Carter, "Pretty Raised Ugly" by Gary native Crystal O'Brien and "Gary is a Fish," a children's book with community building themes by Tyler Bush.

"Right now we are moving toward more organic materials and have our own private label beard oil, soap, shampoo, lip balm that is handmade in Fairlane (Ind.)" Ordway said.

Ordway, who was raised in Lake Station "in a union steelworker home," said outside of Wolverine work boots, clothing was the last thing they invested in.

Ordway said he became interested in men's clothing during his undergrad years at Valparaiso University.

"As a finance major, we had to dress for presentations as well as the career fairs," he said. "I didn't know what I was doing so in 2006, I started reading GQ and Esquire but it was too trendy and hard to understand."

In 2009, Ordway read a book called "Dressing the Man" which explained the science behind color and pattern along with a history of how men's clothes came to be (mostly military or royalty inspired). He then started purchasing items from Brooks Brothers and took on a seasonal position there to rebuild his wardrobe. He also did seasonal work for JCrew.

"Outside of a doctor, lawyer, accountant, financial adviser - I believe every man should have a clothier - someone to offer guidance for different occasions while helping them build a wardrobe that functions for their profession, interests and hobbies," Ordway said.

Historically, Ordway said, women have been the main purchasers of clothing but that has changes significantly from Baby Boomers to Millennials.

"Menswear has been outpacing womenswear in growth since 2009," Ordway said. "While the number of tailors is in steady decline, the demand for custom clothing and advice is steadily increasing."

For more information visit www.rustedoak.co.
Giving our children a better chance for success is something we should all agree is the right step for the future of Lake County. Preparing our youngest students to realize their full potential as they start their journey toward graduation is imperative. Educational achievement is perhaps the most effective way to ensure success in life.

Lake Countys current high school graduation rate falls in the bottom 11% of the states average. Appropriately, Lake County was chosen as one of five counties to participate in a state-led effort to help support pre-kindergarten readiness programs and have our 4-year-old children enter school fully prepared.

The need in Lake County is certainly significant. The Indiana Family and Social Services Administration recently announced the following guidelines for eligibility: metro counties must have at least 10 providers, must have at least 300 children in need of early childhood services and these children must be classified as living in poverty. Lake County overwhelmingly aligns in having nearly 2,000 children meet these metrics.

Indiana is strategically piloting this program and will ensure providers are accountable. As a benchmark, any provider accepting grants must be at least level three on the Paths To Quality, a statewide assessment tool aimed at making sure proper education is being delivered. Also, providers on this rating system must meet and maintain certain standards on an annual basis. This assures that children receiving this opportunity are participating in the best programs available.

Alongside One Region, efforts from local professionals such as Kim Olesker, regional director for Early Childhood Initiatives for United Ways; Sandy Kauffman, president of Geminus; Robert Ennis, chief of staff for Chancellor Keon at Purdue Calumet, local providers and educators have also been working diligently to make this program a reality for Lake County. These partnerships are essential for Lake County to stay unified and work collaboratively on this extremely important project.

Although the journey has just begun, the future is bright. In the coming months we will be working to meet the financial obligations of this program and to measure the vital data, information and outcomes to ensure this program is a monumental success. After all, 2,000 4-year-olds in our own back yard deserve it!
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia ran headlong into the leftist meat grinder by questioning whether college admission of blacks with academic achievement levels significantly lower than the rest of the student body is beneficial to blacks. His question came up during oral arguments in Fisher v. University of Texas, wherein the court will rule whether the use of race in college admission decisions violates the 14th Amendment's guarantee of "equal protection of the laws" to all citizens.

Scalia's questions generated news headlines such as "Justice Scalia Suggests Blacks Belong at 'Slower' Colleges," "Scalia questions place of some black students in elite colleges" and "Scalia and the misguided 'mismatch' theory." Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid said, "It is deeply disturbing to hear a Supreme Court justice endorse racist ideas from the bench of the nation's highest court."

The issue for black parents is not whether their sons and daughters should be admitted to an elite college or one that is lower-ranked. The issue is whether their sons and daughters should be admitted to a college where they would not be admitted if they were white.

The question for black parents and black people is: Which better serves our interests  a black student's being admitted to an elite college and winding up in the bottom of his class,or flunking out, or a black student's being admitted to a less prestigious college and performing just as well as his white peers? I would opt for a black student's doing well and graduating from a less prestigious college.

Think of it this way. Suppose you asked, "Williams, would you teach my son how to box?" I say yes, and after your son wins a few amateur matches, I set him up with a match against an elite boxer like Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis. Your son may have the potential to be a world-class boxer, but he is going to get his brains beaten out and have his career ended before he learns how to bob and weave.

It's the same with any student  black or white. Pupils are less likely to succeed if they are placed in a fast-paced academic environment where their academic achievement levels do not begin to match those of their peers. Such students would have a greater chance of success in a slower-paced, less competitive environment, one more in tune with their preparation and where they might receive more personal help.

My recommendation to black parents is: Do not enroll your children in a college where their SAT score is 200 or more points below the average of that college. Keep in mind that students are not qualified or unqualified in any absolute sense. The nation has more than 4,800 colleges, meaning there's a college for most anybody.

There are beneficiaries from admitting black students with little chance of performing at the level of other students. They are college presidents, administrators and campus liberals. Whether blacks graduate or have been steered into useless "Mickey Mouse" courses is irrelevant. Government race overseers are only counting colors. College administrators win kudos for achieving and celebrating "diversity," not to mention the fact that they can keep government higher-education handouts.

Another group of beneficiaries is composed of black staff and faculty who are hired and create campus fiefdoms with big budgets based on the presence of black students. The number of black students enrolled is the key, not the number who graduate or wind up in useless "Mickey Mouse" courses or in the bottom of their classes. In fact, there is an element of perversity. The greater the number of blacks who are on academic probation or do not graduate the more justified are calls for greater budgets for academic support and student retention programs.

I have been asked: If elite colleges do not create lower admission standards, how are they going to have enough black students? My response is: That's their problem. Black people cannot afford to have our youngsters turned into failures in order to support the agendas of diversity race hustlers and to lessen the guilt of white liberals.
In response to John Feaster, professor emeritus of English at Valparaiso University: Democrats owned Washington during President Barack Obama's first two years in office. Republicans couldn't stop Democrats.

It might be a surprise to the professor and David Casson the Democrats didn't do much either. Nothing on gay marriage, abortion or immigration. They passed the buck to the federal courts. They did provide billions of dollars to Wall Street. Good for hedge fund managers, not much for the working poor.

Twice the number of Americans were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in half the time of Bush's wars. Doubled the national debt and the number of people relying on food stamps. Ninety million people were not in the workforce, the lowest rate since Jimmy Carter.

Democrats have lost almost 1,000 local, state and federal seats since 2010.

The country is more divided now than any time since the Civil War. I believe Republicans are putting the country first.

Rick Kellar, Valparaiso
FORT WAYNE, Ind.  In ushering a group of elderly people around, even those who survived the horrors of World War II, life's little indignities are bound to surface.

It's a story that Bob Myer, president of Honor Flight Northeast Indiana, recalls with a smile and some affection.

After landing at Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., for one of the group's tours honoring military veterans, Myer was approached by a woman accompanying her father, one of the veterans on the trip. Incontinent, the elder man needed help in the restroom changing his pants.

No problem. Myer responded, and the vet rejoined the group shortly. The same request came later as the group toured the military women's memorial. Myer again lent a hand. But this time the man wanted to assure Myer that his help was appreciated.

"He said, 'You know, young man, I'm pretty impressed with the way you handled all that,' " Myer recalled. "He said, 'You did such a good job, if you ever run for political office, I'll definitely vote for you.' "

It is a small aside among the many that have been shared by veterans and volunteers since Fort Wayne's first Honor Flight in 2009. The group, one of more than 130 nationwide that fly vets to Washington for a free one-day tour of monuments built in their honor, will make its 19th and 20th flights this spring.

Myer, 68, has been with the group either as a volunteer or president since the third flight in 2010. He is an eager supporter, a 32-year Air National Guard veteran who used his connections to form a partnership between Honor Flight and Fort Wayne's guard base at Fort Wayne International Airport.

Myer, who otherwise likes to hunt and fish in his spare time, coordinates a staff of 14 volunteers who spend hours poring over Honor Flight applications and making follow-up calls to vets and people paying to accompany them, often family members. About 1,160 veterans have taken the tour.

"I wasn't out seeking anything," Myer recalled of his first contact with Honor Flight. "I just thought if I could find something, I was kind of interested in something to do with veterans."

Myer comes from a military family. His dad and three uncles are World War II Navy veterans.

A pilot with Fort Wayne's 122nd Fighter Wing beginning in 1971, Myer flew F-100s, F-4 Phantoms and F-16s. While not deployed to a war zone, Myer said he had a brush with death in 1982. Flying as an instructor in the back seat of an F-4 Phantom during training in Arizona, Myer said he was forced to eject when a fuel leak started a fire. The pilot didn't survive, Myer recalled.

He shared the story this fall with Jerry Yellin, a fighter pilot who flew the final combat mission of World War II and who went on an October Honor Flight.

The mechanics behind WWII ejections  Yelling told Myer he had bailed out of a plane  and those of modern aircraft helped connect the men over decades, Myer said.

"Just to be able to tell stories like that and just be around the guy and listen to his stories  I mean, that was unbelievable," Myer said

Myer retired from the military in 2002. He has lived on Lake Tippecanoe in Kosciusko County since 2009. He was looking for volunteer work when a friend, who went on the first Northeast Indiana Honor Flight, told him about the group. Myer had never heard of it.

Talking to another man going on the second flight reinforced the idea that "You need to talk to Laura and get involved," Myer said.

Laura Carrico started Honor Flight Northeast Indiana to honor her father, a WWII veteran. Carrico, who now lives in Crown Point, said the group couldn't be in better hands.

"Bob with his military background and his contacts at the base was able to get the airmen at the 122nd involved, and that organization just flourished under him," she said.

The program, with four flights a year, has progressed from a small plane carrying 50 people to a 186-passenger jetliner. Eighty-six vets fly free; 86 guardians pay $400 to go with them.

With each flight costing $65,000, community support has been tremendous, Myer said. Several individuals and groups give money.

"It is unbelievable how the community organizations have gotten together to support us," Myer said. "We plan on being in existence for several years. We're excited about getting through the Korean vets and getting into the Vietnam-era vets. So if you need $1 million to do four years, that's a lot of money to raise."

Preparations for flights in April and May began Dec. 3. Myer said he spends about 20 hours a week on Honor Flight preparation during the busiest months leading to a flight. He said his wife, Sandie, works even more hours on the flights.

Applications, found at www.hfnei.org, are scrutinized, with WWII veterans given priority. Myer and other volunteers spend about eight nights, three hours each night, calling applicants to verify information. There are follow-up calls Myer and his wife handle. There are cancellations and seating adjustments that need attention.

There are orientation meetings to coordinate for guardian volunteers. Four tour buses in Washington are scheduled to drive from the airport to tour destinations and back. A motorcycle security escort was recently added to hurry things along.

Vets and their guardians are provided two meals during the day. A doctor is on every flight to attend to medical issues.

Myer's admiration for the men and women in uniform is obvious. Volunteering for Honor Flight Northeast Indiana is his way of paying them back.

"Just showing them the respect and giving them the opportunity to see that WWII memorial, which took almost 60 years to build," he said. "Just being involved in that whole process. And to tell you the truth, just being around those guys and hearing their stories and the gratefulness they show us and the humility."
He said he would continue holding a daily news conference; on Saturday, it drew one reporter and one photographer, so Mr. Bundy used the time to officiate at what was in effect a town meeting with supporters, discussing, in a long, loping discourse, the prevalence of abortion, the abuses of welfare and his views on race.

I want to tell you one more thing I know about the Negro, he said. Mr. Bundy recalled driving past a public-housing project in North Las Vegas, and in front of that government house the door was usually open and the older people and the kids  and there is always at least a half a dozen people sitting on the porch  they didnt have nothing to do. They didnt have nothing for their kids to do. They didnt have nothing for their young girls to do.

And because they were basically on government subsidy, so now what do they do? he asked. They abort their young children, they put their young men in jail, because they never learned how to pick cotton. And Ive often wondered, are they better off as slaves, picking cotton and having a family life and doing things, or are they better off under government subsidy? They didnt get no more freedom. They got less freedom.

A spokesman for Mr. Paul, informed of Mr. Bundys remarks, said the senator was not available for immediate comment. Chandler Smith, a spokesman for Mr. Heller, said that the senator completely disagrees with Mr. Bundys appalling and racist statements, and condemns them in the most strenuous way. A spokeswoman for Mr. Abbott, Laura Bean, said that the letter he wrote was regarding a dispute in Texas and is in no way related to the dispute in Nevada.

The crowds may be beginning to dwindle, but for much of the past two weeks, here at Mr. Bundys ranch in Bunkerville, 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas, the rancher has been a celebrity, drawing hundreds of supporters, including dozens of militia members, many carrying sidearms, and members of Oath Keepers, a militia group, who have embraced him as a symbol of their anger and a bulwark against federal abuse.
PARIS  The police organized an enormous manhunt across the Paris region on Wednesday for three suspects they said were involved in a brazen and methodical midday slaughter at a satirical newspaper that had lampooned Islam.

The terrorist attack by masked gunmen on the newspaper, Charlie Hebdo, left 12 people dead  including the top editor, prominent cartoonists and police officers  and was among the deadliest in postwar France. The killers escaped, traumatizing the city and sending shock waves through Europe and beyond.

Officials said late Wednesday that two of the suspects were brothers. They were identified as Said and Cherif Kouachi, 34 and 32. The third suspect is Hamyd Mourad, 18. News reports said the brothers, known to intelligence services, had been born in Paris, raising the prospect that homegrown Muslim extremists were responsible.
Plenty of restaurants draw a crowd, not because of their cuisine but because of their star-studded clientele. At trendy Bang in the Surry Hills neighborhood of Sydney, a message atop the menu announces that the place is a favourite of celebrities. But that does not mean diners are in for great people-watching at the risk of a lackluster meal.

The line is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, said Nicholas Gurney, who opened the restaurant last January with Tapos Singha, its chef, who is a Bangladesh native. Since its not the sort of place where celebrities flock, we thought it was funny.

Lucky for these two, noncelebrities have flocked for the real attraction: the A-list dishes put out by Mr. Singha that celebrate the street food of his youth. He always adds a twist, as in his favorite, inspired by the spicy omelets he ate as a child: a duck egg version with blue swimmer crabs, green chiles, grape tomatoes and garlic chives. Or a wagyu tri-tip curry with chive flowers and shatkora. The rind of that last ingredient, a citrus fruit from Bangladesh, gives the dish a slightly sour flavor.

Staff uniforms are equally distinctive.

In Sydney, the trend is for waiters to wear white T-shirts and neutral aprons, Mr. Gurney said. But we wanted to counter that with a more unique look.
Eight years ago, Laurie Anderson recalled in an interview, she was backstage with the cellist Yo-Yo Ma at a Rhode Island School of Design graduation ceremony when she turned to him and said, I have this fantasy where I look out, and the whole audience is dogs. He replied: Are you kidding? I have the same fantasy.

Ms. Anderson, the performance artist known for incorporating new technology into her work, got her wish two years later. She and friends put on a concert for hundreds of dogs outside the Sydney Opera House, with the music emitted from speakers at a low, dog-friendly frequency. (She didnt want to risk shocking the dogs with a high frequency.) At the end, they began to bark  even the droolers in the front row. It was a beautiful sound, she said. They barked for five minutes. That was one of the happiest moments of my life.

Until now, Ms. Anderson has not had an opportunity to repeat the scale and sensation of that concert in Australia. But at 11:30 p.m. on Monday, she will get that chance: Dogs and their owners are invited to sit on the red steps of Duffy Square while she performs music that, to passers-by in Times Square, may not sound like much because of the low frequency. Humans can tune in with wireless headphones  there are 350 total  that will be given out beforehand.

The occasion is the January edition of Midnight Moment, a series in which many Times Square billboards become a digital art gallery, if only for three minutes. The series, presented by Times Square Arts and the Times Square Advertising Coalition, has in the past included works by Andy Warhol, Bjork and Yoko Ono. Ms. Andersons contribution is a three-minute cut of her documentary Heart of a Dog  a poetic visual essay about, among other things, the journey from life to the afterlife.
In 1990, hip-hop was a subculture striving to breach the mainstream without losing its soul. The music had matured at breakneck speed in the 1980s. Rappers pushed past boasts and chants with storytelling, complex wordplay and sociopolitical consciousness, as producers vastly extended the sound-collage possibilities of sampling. Yo! MTV Raps, which started in 1988, was expanding the hip-hop audience beyond its urban core, and MC Hammer had a worldwide hit with U Cant Touch This. But at the same time the crack epidemic was closing down the New York City clubs that had been hip-hop laboratories, while radio stations still resisted hip-hops genuine innovators and major labels considered hip-hop a novelty that would run its course. Everyone involved was inventing the music and the business on the spot.

Thats the backdrop for The Breaks, a TV movie produced by VH1 that has its premiere on Monday. Its an affectionate, determinedly credible period piece with lightly fictionalized versions of people and places from the era. Its also what one of its executive producers, the journalist and author Dan Charnas, describes as a backdoor pilot, a two-hour film introducing characters and plotlines that, if well received, could be the basis for a continuing series. VH1 will make that decision after the premiere. Within a week we should probably have a good idea of whether it goes forward or not, Seith Mann, its screenwriter and director, said.

The Breaks arrives after  and perhaps catches momentum from  two flashier hip-hop narratives: Empire, the bling-laden hip-hop soap opera on Fox, and Straight Outta Compton, the hugely profitable biopic about the West Coast gangsta rappers N. W. A. Mr. Mann has directed episodes of The Wire, Homeland, Friday Night Lights and Californication.

The story is by Mr. Mann and Mr. Charnas, and is loosely derived from Mr. Charnass authoritative, extensively researched 2010 book, The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop. Some of Mr. Charnass souvenirs of the era, like a jacket from Profile Records (where he worked) and an E-mu SP-1200 sampler, show up on screen. We were meticulous about constructing this world, Mr. Charnas said by telephone.
Gene Luen Yang often mines his life for his graphic novels. He has explored being a second-generation American, and harnessed his love of computer programming. Starting this week, he will have a whole new experience to draw on.

On Monday, the Library of Congress is to name Mr. Yang the national ambassador for young peoples literature, the first graphic novelist to be so honored since the post was created in 2008.

When I was coming up in the 90s, the comic book industry and the book industry were largely separate  they had their own awards, distribution systems and stores, Mr. Yang said in a telephone interview from his home in San Jose, Calif. But now, these worlds are really converging in interesting ways.

Mr. Yangs stories leapfrog genres and often pose questions about acceptance, identity and culture. Perhaps his best-known graphic novel is American Born Chinese, about Jin Wang, a boy who has trouble fitting in when he moves to a new school in the suburbs. The New York Times greeted the book as a dark exploration of Asian-American adolescence that blends two cultures in inventive, unexpected ways.
Sam Sifton emails readers of Cooking five days a week to talk about food and suggest recipes. That email also appears here. To receive it in your inbox, register here.

Good morning. Julia Moskin has a new guide to cooking eggs up on Cooking, and its super smart and helpful, with terrific videos illustrating the kitchen techniques she champions.

And the recipes! How about some soft-boiled eggs with watercress and walnut ricotta crostini for dinner one night this week? Or poached eggs with yogurt and mint? Scrambled eggs with bay scallops and bacon? Olive-oil fried eggs on top of polenta with Parmesan? Eggs with baked flounder? At the very least you could poach a couple of eggs and slide them onto a country salad, and make like a Jay McInerney character, circa 1984. We are the eggmen (and eggwomen: goo goo gjoob)!

But perhaps you dont eat eggs. Have you made this recipe for roasted squash salad yet? I scored it from Adam Baumgart, the chef who serves it at his Houseman restaurant in New York. It is ridiculously flavorful and easy, and makes for a delicious dinner when paired with good bread and some simply braised greens.
Mr. Carozza, who was born in Italy, moved from Argentina to New York in the 1960s to be part of the citys thriving music scene. He went to work in an accordion store on 48th Street and eventually opened his own shop on the block.

Not long after, Rudy Pensa left Argentina to pursue his dream of finding a place for himself on Music Row. Everyone who was coming to America was coming to 48th Street, he recalled. Every band I was really watching and reading about, you found out they were coming to this place called 48th Street. In 1972, he arrived and looked up Mr. Carozza, who hired him. I came with a hundred bucks and a guitar, Mr. Pensa said.

Before long, Mr. Pensa was on his way to being a purveyor of guitars to the stars. He opened his own shop, which came to be known as Rudys, in the 1970s. He kept it going for four decades until rising rent and a growing downtown clientele spurred him to leave the block for good in August.

Still, Mr. Pensa, 66, remains wistful about the object of his childhood daydreams.

It was a big family there, he said. I used to know everyone. It was really beautiful, man.

It took no prodding to get Mr. Pensa to wax nostalgic about Music Row. It was an experience, he said. You would go store to store. It was beautiful because everybody had different things.

Image Credit... Ramsay de Give for The New York Times

Tourists and wide-eyed teenagers would wander the block hoping for a brush, or at least a glimpse, of a famous musician. They traded tales of spotting Jimi Hendrix, Pete Townshend and other rock stars ordering instruments for their next tours.
Thomas Torres was told he would not amount to much even before he learned at age 13 that he had schizophrenia. His brother called him slow, classmates called him retarded, and he was teased relentlessly.

I was always surrounded by naysayers who said I cant succeed, he said.

Mr. Torres, 35, had hallucinations, usually of male voices mocking him, and bouts of anger that would sometimes compel him to punch himself in the head. Through medication and therapy, Mr. Torres learned to manage the illness but struggled with clinical depression that made him feel alone and empty.

Mr. Torres lives with his mother in public housing in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. As he was growing up, the neighborhood was dangerous, but Mr. Torres managed to stay out of major trouble by heeding his mothers exhortations to stay clear of drugs. (His only brush with the law was for jumping a subway turnstile.)

He spent time on video games, cartoons and sports. But feelings of depression and isolation enveloped him and he dropped out of high school when he was 18. He had accumulated the credits of a freshman, although, at his age, he should have been a senior.
A 19-year-old woman was killed on New Years Day, discovered face down in her bedroom in Queens, the police said; her death is the first homicide in New York City in 2016.

The woman, Joceline Romo, was beaten in the face, Julie Bolcer, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, said on Sunday. Ms. Romo was killed by homicidal violence, she added, including blunt force trauma of head and compression of neck.

No arrests have been made in Ms. Romos death. Her boyfriend, whose name the police did not release, was in custody and undergoing a psychological evaluation in a hospital, according to a person who requested anonymity because the investigation was continuing.

On the block in Woodhaven where Ms. Romo lived, few neighbors knew her, but they were stunned by the news of her death. The timing, they said, seemed to underscore the tragedy.
To the Editor:

Re Real Victims in the Victimhood (Sunday Review, Dec. 27):

Arthur C. Brooks is looking at the wrong end of the equation.

The reason we have an epidemic of victims is that we have become a nation of abusers.

Our role models in government, sports, law and business show great glee in beating up their competitors. Our sitcom laughs are mostly put-downs. And snark rules the Internet.

When our news media and political discourse are filled with gloating and manipulation, the message is dominate or be dominated. Where bullies rule, victims follow. Calling them victims of their own victimhood is only heaping on more abuse.

BILL WEBER

Los Angeles

To the Editor:

When corporate moguls and hedge fund magnates lobby for tax breaks (By Molding Tax System, Wealthiest Save Billions, front page, Dec. 30), we do not call it the culture of complaint or the celebration of victimhood. We call it an exercise of First Amendment rights.
To the Editor:

Re Dying Alone in Prison (Op-Ed, Dec. 28):

Dr. Rachael Bedards essay about compassionate release of prisoners raises the fundamental question that the American citizenry has not answered: What is the purpose of incarceration?

It would seem from the case of her patient that it is clearly not rehabilitation or public safety, that it must be punishment. But should it be punishment above all, even if it erodes our decency, humanity and even the public good?

We should explore dramatically expanding compassionate release for all prisoners with significant medical conditions who do not pose a public safety risk, not just those at the very end of their lives.

JOSIAH D. RICH

Providence, R.I.

The writer, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at Brown University, is director of the Center for Prisoner Health and Human Rights at the Miriam Hospital.
The reform plan reclassified simple drug possession from a felony to a misdemeanor and eliminated mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug possession. It expedited parole hearings for people convicted of nonviolent crimes and simplified the pardon process. The state Legislature approved the package in June with bipartisan support. It also passed a bill Mr. Malloy had pushed to increase police accountability by providing all troopers with body cameras, recruiting more minority officers, and assigning independent investigators to cases where the police use deadly force.

In November, Mr. Malloy announced a new set of reforms to the juvenile justice system. He proposed that Connecticut become the first state in the country to raise the age of adult criminal responsibility to 21 from 18 for all but the most serious crimes. He pointed out that most people aged 18, 19 and 20, who would be sent to the juvenile system under the plan, are arrested on misdemeanor charges. He called for a separate facility to house inmates 25 and younger, citing new research on brain development.

He is also tackling the states unfair bail system, which keeps people awaiting trial locked up simply for lack of a few hundred dollars. In those cases, Mr. Malloy said, releasing low-risk defendants to community supervision would be more just and more cost-effective.

The Legislature will consider these proposals in its 2016 session.

Crucially, Mr. Malloy  himself a former prosecutor and defense lawyer  has the support of key figures in law enforcement. His new correction commissioner, Scott Semple, is moving quickly to convert former prisons into reintegration centers that fight recidivism by providing drug counseling, job training and other services to inmates returning to society.

Will any of this work? Its still too early to know the effect of many of the recent reforms, but earlier efforts are already paying off. For example, after lawmakers raised the age of adult criminal responsibility to 18 from 16, the number of people between 18 and 21 behind bars dropped by more than half. Overall, crime in Connecticut is at a 48-year low, and falling faster than almost anywhere in the country. The states prison population is under 15,600, down from nearly 20,000 in 2008, allowing for the closing of three prisons so far.
You have to be seriously geeky to get excited when the Internal Revenue Service releases a new batch of statistics. Well, Im a big geek; like quite a few other people who work on policy issues, I was eagerly awaiting the I.R.S.s tax tables for 2013, which were released last week.

And what these tables show is that elections really do have consequences.

You might think that this is obvious. But on the left, in particular, there are some people who, disappointed by the limits of what President Obama has accomplished, minimize the differences between the parties. Whoever the next president is, they assert  or at least, whoever it is if its not Bernie Sanders  things will remain pretty much the same, with the wealthy continuing to dominate the scene. And its true that if you were expecting Mr. Obama to preside over a complete transformation of Americas political and economic scene, what hes actually achieved can seem like a big letdown.

But the truth is that Mr. Obamas election in 2008 and re-election in 2012 had some real, quantifiable consequences. Which brings me to those I.R.S. tables.

For one of the important consequences of the 2012 election was that Mr. Obama was able to go through with a significant rise in taxes on high incomes. Partly this was achieved by allowing the upper end of the Bush tax cuts to expire; there were also new taxes on high incomes passed along with the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare.
Leonard Stricklands barbaric and unnecessary death at the hands of prison guards at the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York highlights the need for independent oversight of the states prisons. His beating in 2010, the details of which have only recently come to light, is the latest in a long list of instances of brutality toward inmates in New Yorks prison system.

The states inhumane practices involving solitary confinement have also generated outrage. Thousands of prisoners have been held in extreme isolation, in some cases for years, and often for minor rule violations, at great cost to their mental health and potential for rehabilitation. A settlement announced last month of a lawsuit brought by the New York Civil Liberties Union will reduce both the number of inmates held in isolation and the maximum stay, and will abolish some of the harshest conditions.

While this is a welcome move, it provides for only two years of monitoring once it has been implemented and does not address the many issues that affect inmate health and safety for the overwhelming number not in solitary confinement.

This is why additional governmental oversight is urgently needed to truly change the culture of a system that holds 53,000 inmates across 54 prisons. What goes on inside these prisons is largely hidden from view, and there is little accountability for wrongdoing.
Pop quiz: Who plays the title role in the new Broadway revival of Fiddler on the Roof?

Not Danny Burstein, though he gets top billing as Tevye, the dairyman and father at the heart of the musical. But he is only a fiddler in the metaphorical sense of all the villagers of Anatevka, trying to scratch out a simple tune without breaking his neck.

There are really two artists who can lay claim to the title role: Jesse Kovarsky, the dancer who strikes Chagall-worthy poses onstage while playing the violin version of air guitar; and Kelly Hall-Tompkins, the versatile violinist who makes the music come alive in the orchestra pit.

Kelly is the Fiddler on Broadway! read an email she sent to friends after landing the gig as the orchestras concertmaster, who plays all the solos.

It is, needless to say, a juicy musical for a violinist. I was thrilled to be able to bring my own voice to this, said Ms. Hall-Tompkins, a soloist and chamber musician who is well known in New York music circles but is playing on Broadway for the first time. Theres a lot of virtuosic violin schmaltz, and opportunity for just gutsy, beautiful sounds.
John Holm, a linguist who helped bring the study of creole and pidgin languages into the scholarly mainstream, died on Dec. 28 in Azeitao, Portugal. He was 72.

The cause was prostate cancer, his husband, Michael Pye, said.

While hitchhiking through Mexico and Central America as a teenager, Mr. Holm heard black Nicaraguans along the Caribbean coast speaking a non-Spanish language that seemed oddly familiar. They called it pirate English, a reference to its probable origin as a pidgin spoken on pirate and British Navy ships.

Although Mr. Holm could barely understand what he was hearing, it planted the seed for what would become his lifes work: the study of creole and pidgin languages spoken by millions of people around the world, especially the English-derived creoles of the Caribbean.

A pidgin is a reduced language used by groups with no language in common who need to communicate for trade or other purposes. A creole, by contrast, is a natural language developed from a mixture of different languages, like Haitian Creole, which is based on 18th-century French but absorbed elements of Portuguese, Spanish and West African languages. Semi-creole languages, which Mr. Holm also studied  Afrikaans is an example  share even more traits with their vocabulary-source languages.
ALGIERS  Hocine Ait-Ahmed, a leader of the Algerian war of independence against France that began in 1954 and a major opponent of the Algerian governments dominated by the military since then, died on Dec. 23 in Lausanne, Switzerland. He was 89.

His death was reported by the state news agency, the Algerian Press Service.

Though he spent decades in exile in Switzerland, Mr. Ait-Ahmed remained an influential figure in Algerian politics, pushing for democracy and opposing successive governments.

Of Berber origin, he came from Kabylia, a fiercely independent mountainous region in northeastern Algeria that was the first to resist French rule and remains restive to this day. Mr. Ait-Ahmed was in high school when he first entered politics as a member of the nationalist Algerian Peoples Party, which had been banned by French authorities.

He was a founder of the Special Organization in 1947, a group that became the nucleus of the National Liberation Front, or F.L.N., which unified nationalist factions and led the struggle against the French.
HAIFA, Israel  At Elika, a bar in the Hadar neighborhood of this hilly port city, a 30-something psychodramatist rolled a cigarette and sipped coffee with her father, a well-known actor in Israel. The bartender poured tall beers for two women who wandered in for an afternoon pint. Nearby, a 22-year-old woman with a partly shaved head and colorful tattoos sat alone, working on her laptop.

They were among the many coifed, pierced and tattooed women and men who populate a slice of Haifas social scene that resembles that of the well-heeled hipsters of Tel Aviv. But here the cool kids are Palestinians, and they have unfurled a self-consciously Arab milieu that is secular, feminist and gay-friendly.

Haifa is a center for Arabs, like Tel Aviv is a center for Jews, said Asil Abu Wardeh, the Elika patron who practices a performance-based form of psychotherapy. There is a cultural movement. There is a youth movement. Theres a kind of freedom here.

We have our own parties. Our own places. Our own discos. We dance. We drink. We do it all in Arabic, she added. This all began in Haifa.
Fidelity, one of the few credit card issuers that reward cardholders with a lucrative 2 percent in cash back on every dollar they spend, is making changes to its program.

But even as other credit card issuers have cut back rewards, Fidelitys cardholders need not fear: The generous rewards system will remain intact. Instead, Fidelity is ending a 12-year partnership with American Express, and will offer Visa-branded cards through U.S. Bank.

The company said it believed that the new Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature card would be attractive to a wider group of people, including the coveted millennial generation, generally viewed as people born from about 1980 through the 90s. Visa cards are more broadly accepted by merchants than American Express cards, which was one of the big drivers behind the change.

We think usage of the card will go up, which will help build customer relationships, said Ram Subramaniam, president of Fidelitys retail brokerage business. Its a key value add-on to what we bring to the customer.
The idle musings of a former military man, former computer geek, medically retired pastor and now full-time writer. Contents guaranteed to offend the politically correct and anal-retentive from time to time. My approach to life is that it should be taken with a large helping of laughter, and sufficient firepower to keep it tamed!
ISTANBUL  As an increasingly conservative Turkey grapples with questions of free expression, it might seem to be a risky time for an exhibition examining how Turkish artists fought cultural restrictions a century ago in order to paint the nude figure.

The show, Bare, Naked, Nude: A Story of Modernization in Turkish Painting, at the Pera Museum here until Feb. 7, examines how the genre of the nude emerged from behind studio curtains in the transition from Ottoman rule to a new republican state.

At the Pera, early anatomical studies of men by male artists, and of women by female artists, are set against more stylized, later depictions like Hamam, a 1952 gouache on paper by Bedri Rahmi Eyuboglu that shows a female form cocooned inside a structure with domes and minarets.

The evolving acceptance of the nude figure in Turkish art reflected the countrys wider aspirations, the exhibitions curator, Ahu Antmen, said in an interview at the museum. It was very important at the time for Turkey to show it had become a secular, modernized nation-state, she said.
Commissioned jointly as part of a series by Phyllis Lambert, the architect and Seagram heiress, and the architect Gene R. Summers for their art-infused renovation of the Biltmore Hotel in Los Angeles, the Dine mirror is decorated with plaster casts of construction tools, among them a pair of shears and a hatchet. Guests were taken aback: Try sleeping with that over your head, a visiting pharmaceuticals executive told The Los Angeles Times after the hotel was sold in 1984. The mirror found its way to the Cooper Hewitt not long after  hatchet and all.

In any case, individual objects are not the point. Its an immersive environment, Mr. Browne said. Each object is important, but for me, I like it to be a total experience. I do the same thing with my shows. Of course, I want people to appreciate each piece, but the overall image is initially what I want people to be hit with.

The Cooper Hewitt experience will include not only the reflective wallpaper, donated for the occasion by the London fabric firm Osborne & Little, but also several items from Mr. Brownes studio, among them 60 pairs of silver-plated Thom Browne brogues and a vintage silver-plated Steelcase desk that weighs in at 400 pounds. The whole of it will be presented in a room-within-a-room to be constructed in the museums Marks Gallery, as the rather froufrou music room of this 1902 Andrew Carnegie mansion is now known.
Gianandrea Noseda, an Italian conductor whose international career has recently taken off, has accepted his first major post with an American orchestra. He will be the next music director of the National Symphony Orchestra in Washington, the orchestra announced on Monday.

Mr. Noseda has elevated the reputation of the Teatro Regio Torino, the opera company he has led since 2007, through tours and recordings; conducted high-profile productions at the Metropolitan Opera; and wielded the baton before top orchestras around the world. He will succeed Christoph Eschenbach, who is currently in his sixth season in Washington.

In an interview, Mr. Noseda said that one of his goals with the National Symphony would be to create a kind of feeling of surprise, adding that its performances should retain a sense of wonder for audiences and performers, like a child who sees the sea for the first time in his life.

I think that is the element we should never forget when we are performing, he said by telephone. Mr. Noseda is currently conducting the well-received new production of Bizets Les Pecheurs de Perles (The Pearl Fishers) at the Metropolitan Opera.
Gustave Flaubert  the subject of Julian Barness magical novel-biography-meditation, Flauberts Parrot  argued that great paintings required no words of explanation. But as Mr. Barnes writes in Keeping an Eye Open, an illuminating new collection of essays on art, we remain incorrigibly verbal creatures who love to explain things  put us in front of a picture and we chatter, each in our different way.

Mr. Barnes, not surprisingly, chatters like the gifted novelist he is, using his eye for the telling detail, his narrative intuition and his understanding of the creative process to help us see familiar artists like Degas, Braque and Magritte afresh, and to appreciate the work of lesser-known masters as well  the beautifully harmonic interiors of Edouard Vuillard; the stylized, psychologically intense portraits of men and women in Felix Vallottons Nabi-period canvases, and Howard Hodgkins hot, often scorched use of color.

Mr. Barnes writes with an easy understanding of the tension between life and art and the strange alchemy of imagination; he also conveys an appreciation of artists technique, as it has been learned from predecessors and developed through experimentation and serendipity. He effortlessly situates a masterwork in the context of its creators career, and that career within the larger arc of art history  all, with a light but authoritative hand.

Image The Anabaptists: Pierre Bonnard by Edouard Vuillard, from 1935; Musee dArt Moderne de la Ville de Paris. Credit... Roger-Viollet/Bridgeman Images

While he warns of the hazards of allowing biographical gossip to affect our interpretation of artworks, hes also deft at unraveling the ways in which artists temperaments can inform vision and style. He contrasts the work of the arrogant, dominating Picasso to the calm, almost Zen-like paintings of Braque; and he suggests a connection between Lucian Freuds careless, incorrigibly unfaithful life  running through scores of lovers and fathering at least 14 children  and what he describes as a cold and ruthless quality to his paintings of women.
The government files insider trading charges with much fanfare, declaring that the traders will be brought to justice and investors protected. But it is often years before the cases ever reach a courtroom, and a change in the law in December 2014 is making it more difficult for the Securities and Exchange Commission to prove violations in two cases that will start in the new year.

In the first case, filed in 2013, the S.E.C. brought an administrative charge against Steven A. Cohen over his failure to supervise two employees accused of engaging in insider trading at his hedge fund firm, SAC Capital Advisors. This came after the firm settled criminal charges by paying a $1.2 billion penalty and withdrawing from the management of outside money, leading to its change to a family office operating under the name Point72 Asset Management.

The S.E.C. wants to bar Mr. Cohen from acting as an investment adviser for failing to properly supervise Mathew Martoma and Michael Steinberg, portfolio managers at SAC who were indicted on charges of trading on nonpublic information on behalf of the firm. Juries convicted both men in separate trials, with Mr. Martomas case involving what the government asserted was the largest amount ever involved in insider trading, totaling nearly $275 million in gains and losses avoided. The administrative proceeding was postponed until the criminal cases were wrapped up.
Appeals to conscience and civic duty or a reminder of the public good that taxes makes possible are not nearly as effective as the threat of detection and punishment in reducing evasion.

Poor enforcement encourages people to cheat. If people think theyre not going to get caught if they cheat, or theyre just fed up because they cant get the help they need from us to file their taxes, the system will be put at risk, and voluntary compliance is likely to suffer, the I.R.S. commissioner John Koskinen told a conference of accountants last month.

When you have fewer employees doing compliance work, you end up leaving tax revenue on the table, Mr. Koskinen added, explaining how budget cuts have damaged the agency and cost the government at least $20 billion over the last five years.

Americans acknowledge as much. While people surveyed overwhelmingly say they believe everyone has a responsibility to pay their fair share, a majority admit that it is fear of an audit or third-party reporting that ultimately spurs them to hand over the money.

Still, there is some striking evidence that the rich are different: They are more tempted to push back against the government. In a classic study, Joel Slemrod, a tax expert at the University of Michigan, found that the amount of reported income increased among low- and middle-income individuals after they were told their returns would be closely examined. Higher-income individuals had the opposite reaction  their reported income went down.

The results, Mr. Slemrod suggested, may be explained by the resources available to the wealthy. Backed by an array of legal and accounting experts, the rich view the early warning of an audit as just an opening gambit by the I.R.S. They talk to their accountant, and he says, Calm down, its a negotiation,  Mr. Slemrod said. And so they respond in turn with a lowball offer of payment.

Mr. Slemrod said that what distinguishes the latest wave of research are the field experiments, a version of studying animals in the wild instead of in the laboratory. For example, researchers in the United States and elsewhere have sent different taxpayers different notices, comparing a warning that they have a 50-50 shot of being audited with one that says an audit is a certainty.
LONDON  Oil prices quickly gave back early gains to close lower on Monday after investor concerns about Middle East tensions gave way to a continued focus on weaknesses in global economies.

Earlier in the day, a growing conflict between Saudi Arabia and Iran worried investors, sending oil prices higher during the European trading day.

In the past, a flare-up in the Middle East could send oil prices soaring, but investors these days seem mainly focused on a global glut of petroleum. With so much oil on the world market, even the biggest producer  Saudi Arabia  has only a limited ability to affect prices.

The moderate price reaction to a feud between two of the worlds major oil producers shows how much the dynamics of the oil market have changed in the last two years.
When Honda Motor Company said two months ago that it would no longer use Takata as supplier of its airbags, the automaker said that testing data on the airbags had been misrepresented and manipulated.

Now, newly obtained internal emails suggest the manipulation was both bold and broad, involving open exchanges among Takata employees in Japan and the United States.

Happy Manipulating!!! a Takata airbag engineer, Bob Schubert, wrote in one email dated July 6, 2006, in a reference to results of airbag tests. In another, he wrote of changing the colors or lines in a graphic to divert attention from the test results and to try to dress it up.

The emails were among documents unsealed recently as part of a personal injury lawsuit against Takata and obtained by The New York Times. Takata said in a statement that the exchanges concerned only the formatting of data and were unrelated to defective airbags that are under recall.
Now, each has a one-bedroom independent living apartment on the first floor.

Mr. Geiwitz often meets newcomers roughly his age who are scoping out the place for their parents. They look at me strangely, he said. But to me, this is the future.

You can see his reasoning. In yet another consequence of lengthening life spans, the adult children trying to care for people in their late 80s and 90s are likely to be approaching 70 themselves, or beyond it.

They may be wearying of housekeeping and home maintenance just at the point when their parents need more help. Caregivers over age 75 spend 34 hours a week assisting their elders, a study by the National Alliance for Caregiving and the AARP Public Policy Institute reported last year.

Across the country, about 1,925 continuing care retirement communities  in which residents can go from independent living to assisted living to a nursing home as their needs mount  house roughly 750,000 people, said Steve Maag, director of residential communities for LeadingAge, an industry association for nonprofit senior service providers. Eighty percent are nonprofits.

So far as he and other industry experts know, very few adult children have moved into their parents communities. But it wouldnt surprise me to see more of it, he said. In less expensive regions, a continuing care community could offer a mix of proximity and privacy, and provide the greater levels of care that most older adults of both generations will eventually need.
The awards race resumes with a gallop this week, with campaigners shoehorning celebrity-drenched brunches, lunches, dinners, cocktail hours and teas (whats left  interpretive dance?) into the narrowing window preceding the Oscar nominations on Jan. 14. After the official contenders are announced, such flagrant currying is verboten.

The New York Film Critics Circle awards dinner is on Monday, as are a dinner starring the stars of Creed, teas for both Mad Max: Fury Road and Brooklyn, and a lunch for Spotlight. The National Board of Reviews ceremony (winners were announced already) is Tuesday, following a brunch for The Hateful Eight, a lunch for The Big Short and a tea for The Martian. Wednesday theres a tea for Meru. (The Baggers probably forgetting something, but what?) Thursday everyones toddling off to Los Angeles for W Magazines cant-be-missed Golden Globes soiree at the Chateau Marmont. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts tea party is Saturday in Beverly Hills and the Globes are on Sunday. Sound frenzied? It is! Like overkill? But of course!

Over the weekend the National Society of Film Critics  these are highbrow folks, folks, at least if their Wikipedia page is to be believed  weighed in on matters with its top picks of the year. Nice surprise: Michael B. Jordan won for best actor for his performance in Creed. This isnt necessarily predictive of the big O: last year the group chose Timothy Spall for Mr. Turner and he didnt get an Oscar nomination. In other categories: Charlotte Rampling nabbed best actress for 45 Years; Todd Haynes took best director, for Carol; and Spotlight landed best picture. With the exception of Mr. Jordan, all have strong shots at Oscar nominations.

Lastly, most late or later-breaking Oscar aspirants continue to perform well, box-office-wise. According to BoxOfficeMojo.com, Joy is sitting at about $38.7 million, The Hateful Eight at $29.5 million, and The Revenant, which is only in four theaters at the moment, at around $1.3 million; all three films opened on Christmas. The Big Short, which opened Dec. 11, has made about $32.9 million so far.
Shortly before midnight on Monday, Ms. Garcia appeared in Brooklyn Criminal Court, where prosecutors read the charges against her. They said she had acted in concert with another individual to shoot and stab her mother and her mothers boyfriend. Prosecutors said the boyfriend had been stabbed 30 times, adding that Ms. Garcia had made a videotaped confession. A judge ordered her held without bail, over her lawyers objections.

Chief Boyce said that Ms. Garcia had told detectives that her mother was abusive, physically abusive, to her in the past, but Chief Boyce said that we dont believe that this is at all, initially, an act of self-defense.Mr. Boyce said the investigation is focused on whether other people were in the apartment with the teenager, and on the origins of the gun used in the killings.

The police were alerted to the murders when a man approached a squad car near the building to report that he had passed the apartment and seen that the door was ajar.

Police officers declared the two victims dead at the scene. The double homicide brought the preliminary count of murders last year to 350, up from 333 the year before, officials said.

Neighbors in the Sheepshead Bay neighborhood were left reeling at the killings and the charges against the female victims daughter, saying the family had seemed happy and lively.
Continuing a push for the payment of higher wages for public-sector jobs, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York announced a plan on Monday to raise the minimum wage for state university workers to $15.

Mr. Cuomos action was the latest to address what he sees as subpar wages: He used a state wage board to increase hourly pay to $15 for fast-food workers last summer and unveiled a similar plan for an estimated 10,000 state workers in November. The university plan will affect a larger number of state employees  about 28,000, according to estimates from the governors office  and is designed to include students who use work-study jobs to pay tuition and bills while attending classes.

Many of those jobs currently pay the minimum wage, which last week rose to $9 in New York State. Under Mr. Cuomos plan, wages for such jobs will rise, again, to $9.75 next month at nearly three-dozen campuses across the state. Salaries at the City University of New York campuses will not be increased, though employees at some State University of New York schools in the city, such as Maritime College in the Bronx and Downstate Medical Center in Brooklyn, will see their hourly pay rise to $10.50 in February.

Mirroring the gradual, and geographically based, changes for state workers, wages at SUNY affiliates in New York City will rise annually, peaking at $15 at the end of 2018, while increases outside the city will come slower, eventually reaching $15 in July 2021. When fully enacted, the estimated cost to the state will be an estimated $28 million, administration officials say; that money will be drawn from the budget of the state university system.
The night manager of a McDonalds in the Bronx was stabbed to death outside the restaurant before dawn on Monday and the suspect in the killing fled, leading to a hunt for a man the police described as homeless and mentally unbalanced.

The manager, Adam Garcia, a 28-year-old employee of the McDonalds on Broadway near West 236th Street in Kingsbridge, was attacked just before 4:30 a.m. as he was finishing up his shift, the police said.

It had been a long shift for Mr. Garcia, but he had stayed on a bit longer to help colleagues and possibly give a friend a ride home. A lifelong Bronx resident, Mr. Garcia had worked his way up at the restaurant chain, and those who knew him said he was good-natured and took pride in his work.

Image Mr. Garcia

The attacker was a regular at the restaurant and often used the bathroom to clean up, said a law enforcement official who agreed to speak only on the condition of anonymity because the investigation was continuing.
To the Editor:

Re Saudi Execution of Shiite Cleric Draws Outrage (front page, Jan. 3):

At some point the world has to be firmer in condemning Saudi Arabia on its human rights violations as well as actions that serve only to increase tensions within the region and increase anti-Western sentiment in the Middle East. We are seen as giving a pass to Saudi Arabia because of oil while condemning other dictatorial or oppressive regimes like those of North Korea, Russia and Syria.

If Saudi Arabia wants be a player within the international community, it needs to play by the rules, put a stop to its human rights violations and put those responsible behind bars. The execution of a dissident cleric in Saudi Arabia is both unfortunate and tragic. It does no one any good and should provoke a much stronger moral reaction from those of us in the West through isolation of the Saudis.

Efforts need to be made by the relevant stakeholders to foster peace. Iran should, despite provocation, seek all legal, nonviolent means to register its protest and anger at the actions of the Saudis, as violence would lead to no good. And we in the West ought to register our discontent with Saudi Arabia and pursue long-term alternatives to relying on Saudi Arabia for oil.

JACKSON KENTEBE

Gibraltar

To the Editor:

It is ironic that this article cites Iran as a valid critic of Saudi Arabias executions, going so far as to refer to Iranian propaganda comparing Saudi Arabia to ISIS. The article says the Saudis executed at least 157 people in 2015. According to Amnesty International, however, Iran executed at least 289 people based on official reports (with the real figure probably at least 743) in 2014. Isnt this a case of the pot calling the kettle black?
The execution of the popular Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 other prisoners on Saturday was about the worst way Saudi Arabia could have started what promises to be a grim and tumultuous year in the kingdom and across the Middle East. It is hard to imagine that the Sunni rulers of the kingdom were not aware of the sectarian passions the killings would unleash around the region. They may even have counted on the fierce reaction in Iran and elsewhere as a distraction from economic problems at home and to silence dissenters. Americas longstanding alliance with the House of Saud is no reason for the Obama administration to do anything less than clearly condemn this foolhardy and dangerous course with a more robust response than its call Monday for both sides to exercise restraint.

The immediate consequence of the executions was a burst of hostility between Saudi Arabia and Iran. The two rivals are already backing opposite sides in civil wars in Syria and Yemen. Iranians infuriated by the killing of a revered cleric promptly ransacked and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Though Iranian leaders condemned the action and arrested protesters, Saudi Arabia and its Sunni-led allies in Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates were quick to cut or curtail ties with Iran.

That in turn promised to set back international efforts to resolve the wars in Syria and Yemen and to combat the Islamic State and other Islamist terrorist organizations. Just weeks ago, a series of talks led by the United States and Russia and including the Saudi and Iranian foreign ministers brought rival powers to the table to discuss a road map for peace in Syria. Then, on Saturday after announcing the executions, the Saudis ended a shaky cease-fire in Yemen.

Saudi Arabias income has sharply declined as a result of the prolonged drop in oil prices  caused, in part, by the regimes insistence on maintaining production levels  and the government has announced cutbacks in the lavish welfare spending that Saudis have long taken for granted. The executions provided both a sectarian crisis to deflect anger over the cutbacks and a graphic warning of what can befall critics.
But they are not the only fossil hunters here.

Once a year for the past four years, the quarry has been opened to the public, and citizen paleontologists have come in droves  about 1,500 for the most recent community event last fall.

I found a pile of rocks, said Alexandra Hopper of Mantua, one of the participants. When we rinse them off, were hoping some of them are fossils. The diggers kept the fossils they found, and there are plenty to go around. The doomed creatures in the pit were mostly clams and oysters. But the fossils of animals like crocodiles and sea turtles are here, too, as well as the occasional mosasaur, a ferocious aquatic lizard with two long teeth at the back of its throat that pointed toward its gullet, ensuring that any prey it swallowed would never struggle out.

Fossils are being found throughout the sediment that fills the pit, but the assemblage occupies a single concentrated layer. Bones and shells sometimes pile up when currents sweep dead sea creatures toward a particular eddy, where they accumulate over years or centuries.

But here the skeletons of the larger creatures remain largely intact. That suggests they all died at the same time and then settled gently on the sea bottom.
Q. What exactly is the difference between Gmail and Inbox? I have both apps on my phone and am not sure which one to use.

A. Gmail, initially released as an invitation-only service in 2004, is Googles official web-based email service and a competitor to Microsofts Outlook.com (formerly Hotmail.com), Yahoo Mail and Apples iCloud mail service, among others. Inbox, first released as an invitation-only service in 2014, is a program that attempts to sort and organize your Gmail messages into logical groupings so they are easier to manage  especially on a mobile device.

You do not need an invitation to use either service anymore, but you need to have a Gmail address to use Inbox. Google makes both a Gmail app and an Inbox app for devices running Android and iOS. If you like the way Inbox organizes your messages, you can also use it with your desktop web browser after you have set it up on your mobile gadget; point your Chrome, Firefox or Safari browser to inbox.google.com to use it there.

If you have both apps installed and set up, your messages (and the actions you take with them) are synced between Gmail and Inbox. Messages you archive, delete, create or mark as spam are handled the same way in both apps, no matter which one you are using at the time. Some features appear in only one app, though. You need to create your vacation response messages and certain filters in Gmail, while Inbox Reminders are not visible in Gmail.
After one of her operations, my sister-in-law left the hospital so quickly that she couldnt eat for days; after other stays, she wasnt discharged until she felt physically and mentally prepared. Five days after his triple heart bypass surgery, my stepfather felt well enough to go home, but the hospital didnt discharge him for several more days.

You undoubtedly have similar stories. Patients are often left wondering whether they have been discharged from the hospital too soon or too late. They also wonder what criteria doctors use to assess whether a patient is ready to leave.

Its complicated and depends on more than clinical factors, said Dr. Ashish Jha, a Harvard physician who sees patients at a Boston Veterans Affairs hospital. Sometimes doctors overestimate how much support is available at home and discharge a patient too soon; sometimes we underestimate and discharge too late.

Changing economic incentives  which are not always evident in individual cases  have also played a role in how long patients tend to stay. Recent changes to how hospitals are paid appear to be affecting which patients are admitted and how frequently they are readmitted.
In November, a veteran CNN correspondent was suspended for two weeks over a remark that she later acknowledged was inappropriate and disrespectful.

The Twitter post by the correspondent, Elise Labott, came after the House of Representatives had just passed a bill that would have made it much more difficult for Syrian refugees to enter the United States: Statue of Liberty bows head in anguish.

Even as critics of the suspension, like the journalist Glenn Greenwald, sped to her defense, Ms. Labott apologized for editorializing. She has not posted on Twitter since. Yet hers was one of those utterances that resist erasure, that linger. It spoke of a year in American life roiling with hostility to outsiders.

As millions of Syrians fled a shattered country, the United States departed from its own history to keep them at bay. Please forgive our rudeness, but we have a war in our country, a Syrian man said memorably to the BBC.
Here are several of the underwater photos, and some questions that the investigation has raised.

Image The navigation bridge of the sunken freighter El Faro, which broke loose as the ship sank. Credit... National Transportation Safety Board, via Associated Press

Q. What do we know about the captains route?

A. Federal investigators said that the ship left Florida at 8:15 p.m. on Sept. 29  three hours and 15 minutes after the National Hurricane Center predicted that a storm brewing ahead would become a hurricane named Joaquin. On Sept. 30, the captain emailed a company safety official to say that he planned to take a route south of the hurricanes predicted path. But by 7 a.m. on Oct. 1, he had made a recorded satellite call saying there was a maritime emergency: The ship had lost propulsion and there was water in hold No. 3, the investigative update said. A signal sent by the vessel at 7:17 a.m. indicated that the ships last reported position was about 20 miles from the edge of the eye of the hurricane.

Q. How was the sunken ship found?

A. A side-scan sonar, a 3,600-pound machine about the size of a large office desk, was lowered into the water by fiber optic cable to map the ocean floor and look for signs of wreckage.

Then an eight-foot remote-operated vehicle known as a Curv-21, almost twice as heavy as the sonar, was lowered, carrying still and video cameras as well as gear needed to move objects and cut cables. That machine is capable of reaching depths of 20,000 feet. El Faros wreckage was found at about 15,000 feet.

Q: Were the bodies of the missing mariners recovered?

A. Tom Roth-Roffy, the lead investigator for the N.T.S.B., told The Associated Press that no human remains or personal effects had been found. I think we found one boot, he said.
After running his campaign on a shoestring for months, thanks to the news medias obsessive attention, Donald J. Trump has released his first campaign commercial, promising to stop illegal immigration and defeat the Islamic State, also known as ISIS or ISIL.

On Screen

The entire ad is shrouded in darkness of one kind or another: naval and aerial bombardments, surveillance video of blurry figures swarming what looks like an unguarded border, even the shadowed faces of Hillary Clinton and President Obama  which not-so-subtly give way to shots of the husband-and-wife killers in San Bernardino, Calif., with a body bag being wheeled behind them. Mr. Trump almost shouts his I approve this message statement at the start; a deep-voiced narrator then gets down to the business of button-pushing, saying, as sirens whine: The politicians can pretend its something else, but Donald Trump calls it radical Islamic terrorism.

Mr. Trumps call to bar Muslims from entering the United States is trumpeted, as a photograph of a crowded airport security line dissolves into one insinuating the risk if Muslims are not barred: masked, armed Syrian jihadists in your neighborhood. Same for the promise of a border wall that Mexico will pay for: Without it, the ad implies, you are not safe.

The Message

Fear, centered on immigration, the explosive issue underpinning Mr. Trumps candidacy. Even his promise to quickly cut the head off ISIS  and take their oil is sandwiched between two promises about immigration.
WASHINGTON  President Obama will announce executive actions on Tuesday intended to expand background checks for some firearm purchases and step up federal enforcement of the nations gun laws, White House officials said Monday, once again trying to sidestep a gridlocked Congress on a politically divisive issue.

But faced with clear legal limitations on his authority, Mr. Obama will take modest steps that stop well short of the kind of large-scale changes to the gun trade that he unsuccessfully sought from Congress three years ago. That legislation would have closed loopholes that allow millions of guns to be sold without background checks at gun shows or in online firearm exchanges.

Instead, Mr. Obama will clarify that existing laws require anyone making a living by selling guns to register as a licensed gun dealer and conduct background checks. White House officials said the president would note that criminal penalties already exist for violating those laws.

We have to be very clear that this is not going to solve every violent crime in this country, Mr. Obama said on Monday, ahead of a formal announcement on Tuesday. Its not going to prevent every mass shooting; its not going to keep every gun out of the hands of a criminal.
WASHINGTON  Not long after he took office as Philadelphias district attorney in 1986, Ronald D. Castille made a handwritten note on a subordinates memorandum. Approved to proceed on the death penalty, Mr. Castille wrote, in neat cursive script, authorizing prosecutors to seek the execution of a young murderer named Terrance Williams.

Later, when Mr. Castille was running for a seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, he said he was reluctant to take a firm public position on the death penalty, fearing it would require his recusal from all capital cases.

I can certainly say I sent 45 people to death row as district attorney of Philadelphia, he told a legal newspaper in 1993, adding that voters sort of get the hint. Mr. Williams was the first of those 45.

Mr. Castille won the election and served on the State Supreme Court for 21 years, the last seven as chief justice. One of his final acts, about two weeks before he retired at the end of 2014, was to join a unanimous decision reinstating Mr. Williamss death sentence.
The Oregon protest at a federal wildlife refuge has reignited an already intense debate on social media about policing, race and terrorism.

On Saturday, an armed group of antigovernment protesters occupied a remote federal wildlife refuge in Oregon and warned that they would not leave without a fight. The authorities have held back from attempting to stop the protest.

On social media, that led quickly to questions about a double standard, particularly from liberals and the left, who asked: What if the armed men were Muslim or black? They predicted the authorities would have been more forceful.
KABUL, Afghanistan  Two bombings struck near Kabuls international airport on Monday, killing one and injuring more than 20, Afghan officials said.

The more powerful of the attacks was in the evening, when a truck full of explosives was rammed into the wall of a compound for foreign and Afghan civilian contractors called Camp Baron, said Abdul Basir Mujahid, a spokesman for the Kabul police. One person was killed and 22 others wounded in the attack, all of them civilians, he said. Witnesses reported extensive damage in the area.

Earlier in the day, a suicide bomber detonated his vest near the entrance to the airport, but the vehicle he was driving in, also laden with explosives, did not blow up, security officials said. There were no other casualties.

The truck attack occurred just as an overnight siege of a building near an Indian Consulate in northern Afghanistan ended after 25 hours of fighting between militants and Afghan security forces.
While the barbarians in the articles title refers to Baoneng, Zhao family refers to Anbang, as a signal that the company has backing from Communist Party elites. Anbangs chairman, Wu Xiaohui, married the granddaughter of the Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping. The company lists Chen Xiaolu, a son of the revolutionary military commander Chen Yi, on its board.

The use of Zhao family to refer to powerful figures has since gone viral.

It is a rebellious deconstruction of official language in the Internet age, Qiao Mu, an associate professor of communications at Beijing Foreign Studies University, said in an interview. In the past we called officials public servants, but in fact, its still a case of crony capitalism. In China, rich and powerful families are often the offspring of the Communist leaders. But its politically sensitive to say this out loud, so people are using Zhao family instead, as a form of ridicule.

Mr. Qiao published three articles on a WeChat account he managed discussing the Zhao family and its members dominance in what some mockingly call their country, or China. The account has since been deleted, but the articles have been reposted elsewhere.

 Zhao family refers to rich and powerful families in China, he wrote. Their fathers seized political power, so their children are called second-generation red, people who have used their connections to retain power or amass enormous wealth in business.

Image A portrait of Lu Xun, whose scathing critiques of the pre-revolutionary Chinese social order won him a place in the Communist pantheon. Credit... EYEPRESS NEWS, via Agence France-Presse

Zhao family, as Mr. Qiao pointed out, derives from Lu Xuns celebrated novella. Ah Q, who is from a poor rural family, bullies those weaker than himself while currying favor with the powerful, who despise him. When Ah Q cheers with the Zhaos, a rich landlord family whose son has just passed the imperial examination, the Zhao patriarch slaps him and asks: Do you think you are worthy of the name Zhao?
NEW DELHI  A powerful earthquake of magnitude 6.7 rocked northeastern India before dawn on Monday, sending tremors through neighboring countries and leaving at least six people dead and scores injured.

Those tolls were expected to increase after disaster response teams arrived in Manipur State from the neighboring state of Assam on Monday morning.

In Imphal, the capital of Manipur, casualties were relatively low because most buildings in the city are small, said Nandita Hazarika, a senior official at the disaster relief agency in Assam.

By midafternoon on Monday, Clay Khongsai, inspector general of the police in Manipur, said by phone from the capital that the situation there was not as bad as officials had initially feared.
NEW DELHI  A gun battle at an Indian Air Force base entered its third day on Monday as Indian security officials announced they had killed a fifth gunman.

At least six gunmen infiltrated a large Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, Punjab, near the Pakistan border on Saturday. They have killed at least seven Indian soldiers and wounded at least 20.

The operations are still going on, Dushyant Singh, an inspector general in Indias National Security Guards, an elite commando force, told reporters at a news conference. We have been able to eliminate a fifth terrorist.

Arun Jaitley, Indias finance minister, described the gunmen as a well-trained suicidal squad.

Their main aim was to damage our strategic assets at Pathankot air base, he said.
HONG KONG  The recent disappearance of five men tied to a publisher of provocative books about Chinas top leaders has alarmed many people in this semiautonomous city, some who fear that the historic agreement guaranteeing the former British colony its separate government and legal system may have been dealt a severe blow.

In the worst-case scenario being speculated about, the five were all kidnapped by emissaries of Beijing and are being held in mainland China, to suffocate their voices and ferret out their Chinese sources.

On Wednesday, Lee Bo, an editor at the publishing house, Mighty Current Media, whose wife is one of its three owners, became the latest to vanish. He was last seen that day leaving a warehouse here.

On Saturday morning, he called his wife, Choi Ka Ping, from Shenzhen, across the border in the mainland, saying he was assisting in an investigation, according to Bei Ling, a writer based in the United States who has been following the case and who talked to Ms. Choi.
LONDON  In the days since Saudi Arabia inflamed tensions with Iran by executing 47 people, including a Shiite cleric, European observers have been quick to condemn the action, reflecting broader concern across the Continent about Saudi policy and its role in the tumult rolling through the Middle East.

Opposition in Europe to the death penalty  and harsh corporal punishment, including the flogging of a Saudi blogger who has become something of a cause celebre in Europe  is just one element of the criticism of the Saudi monarchy. Even as European governments continue to view Saudi Arabia as a vital if problematic stabilizing force in the region, as well as a rich market for European arms and other products, European opinion has grown increasingly critical of Saudi support and financing for Wahhabist and Salafist preachers who have contributed to the Sunni extremist ideology that has fueled Al Qaeda and the Islamic State.

In addition, the European Union and six major world powers reached a deal in Vienna over the summer to contain Irans nuclear program, and Iran is seen as essential to ending the five-year-old civil war in Syria, which has fueled a surge of migrants to the Continent, the highest number since World War II.

So for many Europeans, Iran  long a pariah because of its anti-Western rhetoric and its nuclear program  has suddenly become, at least in comparison with Saudi Arabia, an object of sympathy.
LONDON  The Sudanese man who walked the 31 miles through the Channel Tunnel in August only to be arrested in Britain has been granted asylum and can stay in the country, his lawyers said on Monday.

The man, Abdul Rahman Haroun, had been one of the thousands of migrants and asylum seekers living in camps in Calais, France, seeking to get themselves into Britain, where they believe life will be better for them than at home or elsewhere in Europe.

Mr. Haroun, 40 at the time, is believed to be the first person to make it through the tunnel on foot, although he was arrested by the British on Aug. 4, before emerging into the open air after a walk of some 11 hours.

His extraordinary effort won him considerable publicity, and various nongovernmental groups campaigned to let him stay in Britain, even as the Conservative government has been cracking down on illegal immigrants and trying to persuade its European Union partners to even put limits on the benefits received by legal immigrants to Britain.
Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen announced on Monday that Denmark has stepped up border controls at its southern boundary with Germany to stem the flow of migrants. The move comes just hours after Sweden introduced ID checks for all passengers travelling by train from Denmark to Sweden. Rasmussen told reporters in Copenhagen that the temporary measure was a direct reaction to the Swedish decision. He expressed his dismay at having to introduce tighter controls, warning it could have a negative impact on prosperity, and called on European leaders to take collective action to better protect the blocs external borders. RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY Copenhagen - 4 January 2016 1. Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen walking to podium 2. SOUNDBITE (English) Lars Loekke Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister: What we are doing today is that we purely react to a decision made in Sweden. And, previous to the Swedish decision, a decision in Norway and Finland as well. And we expect that the new weeks measures could cause serious disruption of the traffic flows from Denmark to Sweden and we have to respond to that in a very balanced way. So what we are doing today is not implementing one to one the Swedish solution with the Danish-German border. We are introducing temporary border control but in a balanced way, where the police will control buses and trains but still leave room for ordinary people to cross the borders. 3. Rasmussen at news conference 4. SOUNDBITE (English) Lars Loekke Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister: I think its pretty obvious that we are in a situation. If the European Union cant protect the external borders, you will see more and more countries which will be forced into introducing temporary internal border control. This is something we need to take very seriously, because it will have a negative impact on prosperity. Im a true believer of the freedom of movement. This is not a happy moment at all. We have invested billions in infrastructure between Sweden and Denmark, we have invested millions in international branding of the greater Copenhagen region. So this is a step backwards. But I mean, I need to be pragmatic and I must respond to whats going on precisely this day in the Copenhagen area. We tried to do it in a very balanced way, so trade and ordinary people still can cross the borders. So the impact on the ordinary life is as small as possible. 5. Rasmussen at news conference 6. SOUNDBITE (English) Lars Loekke Rasmussen, Danish Prime Minister: What we need now is the European leaders who should respond to this. I mean, we have been pushing and pushing for a European solution. And what we need now is to take decisions about introducing the hotspots in reality. So this is a clear signal that Europe now needs to take decisions which can protect the external borders. If we dont do this it will of course have a potential negative impact on the freedom of movement in Europe and, in the long run, on European prosperity and growth. Thank you very much. 7. Rasmussen leaving news conference ++CONTINUES FROM SHOT 6++
TEHRAN  Three Sunni-led countries joined Saudi Arabia on Monday in severing or downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran, worsening a geopolitical conflict with sectarian dimensions in one of the worlds most volatile regions.

The diplomatic protests from the three countries  Bahrain, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates  came as Iran accused Saudi Arabia of using an attack on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran two days earlier as a pretext for diverting attention from its problems.

Iranian protesters ransacked and set fire to the embassy on Saturday, along with the Saudi Consulate in Irans second-largest city, Mashhad, after the Saudis executed a Shiite cleric who had criticized the Sunni kingdoms treatment of its Shiite minority. The Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, was among 47 people who were executed.

The United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, spoke by phone on Monday with the foreign ministers of Saudi Arabia and Iran, condemning both execution as well as the attack on the embassy. Mr. Ban  who has repeatedly urged the two countries to cooperate on regional conflicts, especially on Syria  called the break in Saudi-Iranian relations deeply worrying.
UNITED NATIONS  The death penalty is steadily receding toward the dustbin of history worldwide, with fewer than two dozen countries relying on it at all as a form of punishment.

Yet a handful of countries have been especially eager to mete out capital punishment, including against those convicted of nonlethal crimes, while some countries that had discontinued capital punishment have resumed the practice, especially in what they consider to be terrorism cases.

All told, in 2014, at least 2,466 people were sentenced to death  a 28 percent increase from 2013, according to an annual tally by Amnesty International.

Among the leading executioners in the world are the archrivals of the Middle East, Iran and Saudi Arabia. Indeed, it was Saudi Arabias execution of a Shiite cleric, Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, on Saturday that led to an unraveling of diplomatic ties between the two nations and raised apprehensions of a widening sectarian crisis in the region.
BEIRUT, Lebanon  Hezbollah attacked Israeli military vehicles on Monday in a disputed border territory, an assault the militant group said was in response to Israels killing last month of Samir Kuntar, a key Hezbollah operative in Syria.

Israeli forces responded by firing artillery into southern Lebanon. The exchange added to rising tensions in the region amid an escalating diplomatic confrontation between Saudi Arabia and Iran. But by nightfall, the situation on the border appeared to be calm.

The exchange fits a pattern that Israel and Hezbollah have followed since their devastating war in 2006, in which they attempt to respond to attacks with enough force to satisfy constituents and save face, but not strongly enough to provoke an escalation from the other side.

Mondays attack took place in Shebaa Farms, an area now held by Israel that has also been claimed by Lebanon and Syria. Israels military said that a bulldozer and other vehicles hit a roadside bomb, causing no casualties. Hezbollahs Al Manar television station said the attack also used missiles, and that it had destroyed a military vehicle, injuring soldiers inside. On the Lebanese side, local media reported that several houses were damaged. The Israeli Army said it had targeted only Hezbollah sites.
JERUSALEM  The United Nations special rapporteur for human rights in the Palestinian territories, Makarim Wibisono, submitted his resignation to the president of the Human Rights Council on Monday, citing Israels refusal to grant him access to the West Bank and Gaza.

Mr. Wibisono assumed the post in June 2014, and his resignation will take effect on March 31.

I took up this mandate with the understanding that Israel would grant me access, as an impartial and objective observer, Mr. Wibisono said in a statement, adding that he had made repeated written and verbal requests for access.

Israel, which has long regarded the Human Rights Council as biased and deeply hostile to its interests, has refused to cooperate with some other council envoys, including those investigating the recent conflicts in Gaza.

Emmanuel Nahshon, the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that Israel admired Mr. Wibisonos personal integrity, but that a lack of balance characterizes not only the mandate of the rapporteur but the conduct of the Human Rights Council as a whole.
One of this nations most abiding myths is that social origins dont matter. Each of us is Gatsby, or can be, with the potential to be reinvented and obliterate the past. This is nowhere more true than in New York City, where, surrounded by millions, each person supposedly stands upon his or her own merits. If we reach a sophisticated urban consensus on how to speak, how to dress, how to live, then who will know what lies beneath the surface? Who will know what any one of us might really mean by words like home, childhood or love?

Elizabeth Strout is a writer bracingly unafraid of silences, her vision of the world northern, Protestant and flinty. Olive Kitteridge, her Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of linked stories, gives life to a woman both fierce and thwarted, hampered in her passions at once by rage and a sense of propriety. The narrator of Strouts powerful and melancholy new novel, My Name Is Lucy Barton, might be a distant relation of Olives, though she is raised in poverty outside the small town of Amgash, Ill., rather than in Maine, and her adult home, where most of the novel takes place, is in Manhattan.

Lucy is a writer  words are her vocation  and yet she, like Olive, hovers at the edge of the sayable, attempting to articulate experiences that have never been and, without the force of her will, might never be expressed. She says she decided in the third grade to be a writer after reading about a girl named Tilly, who was strange and unattractive because she was dirty and poor. Books brought me things, she explains. They made me feel less alone. This is my point. And I thought: I will write and people will not feel so alone!

Lucy Bartons story is, in meaningful ways, about loneliness, about an individuals isolation when her past  all that has formed her  is invisible and incommunicable to those around her. Like the fictional Tilly, she endured a childhood of hardship, shunned even by her Amgash classmates, living in a world incomprehensible to her adult friends in New York. Not only did the family have little heat and little food, they had no books, no magazines and no TV: There was a lot for Lucy to catch up on.
Franklin Roosevelt held an average of 84 presidential news conferences a year  14 times the number given by Ronald Reagan and three to four times the output of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush or Barack Obama. Roosevelt charmed the White House press corps to within an inch of its life, leaked big stories to favored reporters and still made time for writers from obscure trade journals and others who were technically ineligible for press credentials. He nevertheless shunned the Negro press, shutting it out of the White House press corps until the last of his 12 years in office. By avoiding fire-breathing newspapers like The Chicago Defender, The Baltimore Afro-American and The Pittsburgh Courier, Roosevelt insulated himself from questions about what African-Americans saw as the burning issue of the 1940s: the governments decision to embrace segregation in the military. Separating military men and women  and even the plasma in the wartime blood bank  by race, the government ratified racial apartheid in the South and introduced Jim Crow segregation into parts of the country where it had been unknown.

This meant humiliation for black men who rushed to enlist as the country rearmed itself for war. They were either turned away  because there were too few segregated units to accommodate them  or confined to all-black regiments that were mainly designated for jobs like building roads, loading ships and digging latrines. Men who were eager to prove themselves in battle grew demoralized marking time on bases that gave them ramshackle housing and confined them to Jim Crow buses and even colored only sections of movie theaters. The Pentagon made matters worse (if such a thing were possible) by intentionally placing black soldiers under the command of white Southern officers  on the premise that Southerners better understood black people. It should come as no surprise that many military bases were tinderboxes, one matchstick away from explosion.

Roosevelt had no interest in submitting to journalists who might grill him on issues such as these. But as the former Chicago Defender editor and reporter Ethan Michaeli shows in his extraordinary history, The Defender, the Negro press barons attacked military segregation with a zeal that set Roosevelts teeth on edge. The Negro press warned black men against Navy recruiters who would promise them training as radiomen, technicians or mechanics  then put them to work serving food to white men. It made its readers understand that black men and women in uniform were treated worse in Southern towns than German prisoners of war and sometimes went hungry on troop trains because segregationists declined to feed them. It focused unflinchingly on the fistfights and gun battles that erupted between blacks and whites on military bases. And it reiterated the truth that no doubt cut Roosevelt the most deeply: His governments insistence on racial separation was of a piece with the master race theory put in play by Hitler in Europe.

This was not the first time The Defender and its sister papers had attacked institutional racism. That part of the story begins with Robert S. Abbott, the transplanted Southerner who created The Defender in 1905 and fashioned it into a potent weapon. Abbott increased his readership by fully revealing the horrors of lynching and enticing the black people upon whom Southerners relied for cheap labor to move north in the exodus later known as the Great Migration.
Valley police arrested Fransico Bernard St. George, 18, of Lanett and a juvenile also from Lanett Saturday in connection to a robbery that occurred in the 3700 block of 20th Avenue in Valley.

At approximately 7:30 p.m., officers were called to Chambleys Bait and Tackle in reference to a robbery that had just taken place.

Officers met with the store clerk and were told that he was closing for the night when he heard noises coming from the rear of the business that sounded as if someone were trying to enter the building. The clerk, who was armed with a handgun, went to investigate. He then heard voices and movement coming from the restroom. He opened the door and confronted two black males who had climbed in through a window. One of them immediately escaped back through the window. The other suspect charged at the clerk and they started wrestling. While they were wrestling, the gun discharged but no one was struck. The suspect then took the gun from the clerk and left through the window.

While investigating this crime, Valley Police investigators reviewed the stores video surveillance and identified one of the suspects as St. George. Still pictures from the video were sent to a juvenile intake officer with the Chambers County Juvenile Court system, and he was able to identify the second suspect as a 16-year-old resident of Lanett.

Both St. George and the juvenile were arrested approximately three hours after the robbery. The juvenile was arrested at his residence. St. George was arrested at a residence on 16th Avenue in Valley. The stolen handgun was recovered at that residence.

St. George and the juvenile were taken to the Valley Police Department, where they were interviewed and both admitted to their part in the robbery. Both were charged with second-degree robbery and second-degree theft of property.

The Valley Police Department expressed thanks to the Chambers County Juvenile Court, the Chambers County Sheriffs Office and the Lanett Police Department for their assistance in bringing the case to a swift conclusion.
Accounting firm Squar Milner will buy Los Angeles-based Solomon, Winnett & Rosenfield and San Diego-based McLean, Rotherham & Co. Both accounting firms will fall under Squar Milners name and have headquarters in Newport Beach.

About 50 employees will come with the two acquisitions. The firm has 147 Orange County employees as well as 116 employees in Los Angeles, Encino, San Diego and Cayman Islands offices.

Wag!, an app that connects pet owners with dog walkers, has debuted in Orange County. The app is free to download for iPhone users. It will be available to Android users soon. Founded in January 2015, the service is based in Los Angeles.

On the move

Irvine-based investment firm Engaged Capital has nominated three individuals for election to its board at the upcoming 2016 annual stockholders meeting. The nominees are:

 Scott Ward, chairman and interim chief executive of Cardiovascular Systems and former president of Medtronics cardiovascular business

 Shawn McCormick, former chief financial officer of Tornier in Nevada

 Brendan Springstubb, senior analyst of Engaged Capital

Good works

Huntington Beach-based NuVision Federal Credit Union adopted eight Southern California families for the holidays. Employees donated gifts that fit the families wish lists. The families were adopted from Oak View Elementary School in Huntington Beach, Dolores Elementary School in Carson, Hillcrest Elementary School in Monterey Park and Bennett Kew Elementary School in Inglewood.

NuVision also served as collection sites for the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve Toys for Tots program for the 10th consecutive year. More than eight bins of toys were collected for children in the community.

Milestone

Irvine-based Toshiba America Business Solutions e-Bridge CloudConnect application was honored with a Gold Best in Biz Award in the Enterprise Service of the Year category.

The Best in Biz Awards is an independent business awards program judged by members of the press and industry analysts.

Status Update is compiled and written by Angela Ratzlaff. Send business items relating to promotions and new ventures to

aratzlaff@ocregister.com.

Contact the writer: aratzlaff@ocregister.com
BURNS, Ore.  With a group of armed, anti-government protesters in control of federal buildings near here, law enforcement officials are again facing a choice they confronted in past standoffs: whether to act cautiously and risk looking weak and emboldening others, or to react forcefully and risk turning a small group of people into martyrs for their cause.

The past confrontations at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992, and Waco, Texas, in 1993 turned into sieges and ended in violence and death, fueling extreme anti-government views in some quarters. Timothy McVeigh, who bombed the federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, was motivated in part by those clashes.

In contrast, the government retreated from the 2014 confrontation with Cliven Bundy, a Nevada rancher, when supporters rallied around him and threatened a gunbattle with federal officials. For more than two decades, Bundy has refused to pay fees for grazing his livestock on federal land, becoming a symbol of resistance to people who object to federal control of vast acres in the West.

At a glance, the stakes here would appear to be low. The armed group, led by two of Bundys sons, took control over the weekend of the unoccupied headquarters of a wildlife sanctuary, miles from any town, in the dead of winter. Their numbers are small  how small is unclear, with local news reports suggesting as few 15, and the group saying up to 100  and those who have been identified are from outside the area and appear not to have much local support.

For now, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies have taken a low-key approach, and the people occupying the buildings vow that they will not go away.

Heidi Beirich, the director of intelligence with the Southern Poverty Law Center who oversees the centers tracking of extremist groups, said the last Bundy standoff set a bad precedent.

They were emboldened by their ability to run federal officials off at the point of a gun, Beirich said. Now, a year and half later, there have been no prosecutions whatsoever. Pointing a gun at a federal officer is a crime.

The lesson, she said, is that you can beat the federal government, you can do what you want with federal lands and you wont be punished.

The FBI said in a statement that while state and local agencies would remain involved in the current standoff at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, the bureau would take the lead.

Due to safety considerations for both those inside the refuge as well as the law enforcement officers involved, the statement said, we will not be releasing any specifics with regards to the law enforcement response.

The clash stems from the arson convictions of two local ranchers, Dwight L. Hammond and his son Steven D. Hammond, who set fires that burned federal lands. The ranchers said they were fighting wildfires and invasive vegetation, while federal officials said they were covering up poaching on federal land.

This is a sparsely populated region  heavily dependent on ranching and logging  where the federal government owns much of the land. Such areas are common in the West, with frequent conflicts between federal officials who control access to the land and people who want greater freedom to use it.

The Hammonds served prison sentences and were released, but a federal court ruled that they were improperly sentenced, and ordered them to serve more time. They were expected to surrender to federal authorities on Monday.

The case became a cause celebre for anti-government groups, including those calling themselves militias, who contend that the federal government has usurped powers that belong to people and the states. A protest was held here in support of the Hammonds, and some of the protesters broke away and occupied the wildlife refuge buildings.

The Hammonds have distanced themselves from the group and its actions, and it was not clear whether any of its members were from the area.

This county isnt supportive of whats being done here at all, said Dan Nichols, a county commissioner who is a neighbor of the Hammond family. Once again, its a bunch of those who live without the county telling us what we need to do, how we need to be doing it and the repercussions if we dont.

In a statement captured on video, Ammon Bundy, a son of Cliven Bundy, said Sunday that his group was prepared to be out here for as long as need be and would leave only when the people of Harney County can use these lands as free men.

The incident added to a fierce debate on social media, with some people offering support to the anti-government group, and others arguing that if the people involved had not been white, they would have been dealt with harshly.
Local activists say taxpayers should not be on hook for luxury inn

CJ Photos by Don Carrington Some of the costs of construction and property acquisition for The Mayton Inn are covered by a $1.4 million loan guaranteed by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

CARY A Cary watchdog group plans to ask the General Assembly in 2015 to patch what it views as loopholes in state law that allowed Cary officials to help finance a boutique hotel with taxpayer money. The project was slammed as wasteful spending in a high-profile national report."The general statutes are very specific in bidding process, and the whole management of public dollars, and they have completely ignored it," said Cindy Emens, a member of Cary Watch.The citizens group has a long list of objections with how the town approved the $14.2 million, 45-room, four-diamond Mayton Inn and restaurant.Emens said taxpayers have no recourse in objecting to what Cary Watch considers an illegal use of taxpayer funding for some economic development projects. She said the attorney general's office says there is no trigger mechanism empowering it to enforce statutes requiring project developers to submit bid proposals and post performance bonds.Cary Watch members have discussed their concerns with state Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, Sen. Josh Stein, D-Wake, and Vance Holloman, deputy treasurer at the State and Local Government Finance Division of the Treasurer's Office.The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which often redevelops impoverished areas, is providing a $1.4 million loan to Cary to help build the downtown hotel.U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., cited the project as one of the 100 most wasteful uses of taxpayer money in his 2014 Wastebook: What Washington Doesn't Want You to Read. The projects in the list total $30 billion.Asked why a loan is in the Wastebook, Coburn's office replied:"This is an unusual arrangement in which the federal government makes the taxpayer both the lender and the one responsible for repaying the loan if the recipient does not. With an $18 trillion national debt, taxpayers have already [been] put at enough risk for Washington's unnecessary borrowing schemes."Only government bureaucrats and politicians would think it is a good idea to spend HUD funds on a posh boutique hotel to pamper the well off when thousands in North Carolina are homeless or lack stable housing," the spokesman added."We're certainly amused, I guess, to be on the list of 100 most wasteful projects," said Colin Crossman of Durham, who is building the Mayton Inn with his wife, Deanna. The $1.4 million loan is "pretty de minimis" in comparison to other projects on the list, he said.Crossman said there were several inaccuracies in Coburn's report, including criticism that he got the project through a no-bid process."We followed all of the legal requirements" under the state economic development statute, which does not require a bidding process when paying fair market value for land, Crossman said.Emens disagrees, based on a review she and her husband - both of whom are retired city planners - conducted. The state constitution bars giving "special favor to any particular party, and this was a special favor to the Crossmans," Emens said."This is all in violation of the bidding procedures" required by state statutes, she said. There were no solicitations for proposals or bids, and no performance bond posted. The town cited trade secrets to deny Cary Watch requests to view market studies and cost-benefit analyses to verity the project's viability.Critics say the city sold the hotel site to the Crossmans for less than half the price the city paid for it and has promised to forgo more than $1 million in development fees and spend more than $300,000 on demolition, grading, and landscaping for the project.In all, Emens said, taxpayers could lose closer to $6 million if the project fails, not just the $1.4 million HUD loan."The statutes say that there should be indemnification for the taxpayers whereby they could take the land back and could recover the value of the public investment," Emens said. "But they've completely circumvented that.""I don't consider it a wasteful project at all. It's an economic development project that's an important piece of our downtown redevelopment effort, and also it will serve to create jobs," said Cary Town Manager Benjamin Shivar."We have distressed areas within town, and we're an entitlement CDBG [Community Development Block Grant] community, so we do have funds that are used for low- and moderate-income housing support and other projects," Shivar said."The census tract that the downtown is located in is our most distressed, poverty-stricken census tract in Cary," said Phil Smith, long-range planning manager in the town's Planning Department.The HUD Section 108 program financing the hotel project "is specifically directed at economic development," raising property values in the downtown area, and creating jobs, Shivar said. It is the first time Cary has participated in that program."We are always concerned with the optics connected with the expenditure of taxpayer dollars. However, hotels and the hospitality industry are normally good job and economic generators," said Jereon Brown, a spokesman for HUD in Washington.Crossman said the hotel and full-service restaurant would create 60 jobs.The Section 108 program is designed to be a source of financing for local economic development, housing rehabilitation, public facilities, and large-scale physical development projects that benefit low- to moderate-income people and "to encourage private economic activity by providing the initial resources," Brown said.The town used CDBG funds, intended for affordable housing programs for the poor, as collateral for the HUD loan.Smith said forfeiting CDBG grant funds would be "the last resort." The town would have revenue available from hotel owners' payments from business proceeds, and liens on the property and the business assets.The town will pay up to $325,000 for demolition, rough grading, and streetscape work, and to relocate two historic homes onto the site, said Ted Boyd, Cary's downtown manager. The town will waive normal development fees and tax payments.The town is using seller financing for the $951,000 purchase of the hotel parcel. Boyd said the principal and interest will be repaid to HUD. The town is charging an additional 1 percent interest to be used by the town as program income for future CDBG-eligible activities.Town and HUD officials were asked whether well-heeled travelers would pay premium rates to stay in the worst section of town."We have analyzed the business plan of the hotel, and we feel that there is an acceptable risk based on the projections and the business plan that they have presented us," Smith said."This project was thoroughly evaluated and met our underwriting criteria before we considered providing a portion of the necessary funding," Brown said."Our goal is to redevelop our downtown to make it a more vibrant area," Smith said. "The area is distressed because of the older surrounding neighborhoods. We want to revitalize those."
Orange County is experiencing a boom of high-profile restaurant openings, with more than a dozen debuting in the final stretch of 2015.

The spate of new eateries, which includes Amar Santanas highly anticipated Vaca in Costa Mesa, comes as Orange County closes the year with another gain in the number of restaurants operating in the community, according to data from the countys Health Care Agency. As of Dec. 1, the county had 8,639 restaurants, up from 8,529 in 2014.

Since the end of the last recession, the number of restaurants in the county has grown by nearly 600.

The gain comes as the U.S. restaurant industry emerges from a post-recession rut. Restaurants across the country have consistently reported positive same-store sales and growth over the last 32 months ending in October, according a monthly index by the National Restaurant Association, a trade group that tracks industry performance.

Independent research from The NPD Group also shows a brighter future for the industry in 2016.

For the second year in a row, visits to restaurants will inch up 1 percent this year, remaining at roughly 61 billion a year, NPD reported. Consumer spending, however, is projected to increase 3 percent.

It has been a long, slow recovery, but the food-service industry has recovered nearly all of the steep traffic losses incurred after the recession began in 2008, NPD analyst Bonnie Riggs said.

NPD and other industry firms have come up with a list of restaurant trends to watch out for in 2016 that includes breakfast, food delivery, clean foods and no tipping policies.

Breakfast beyond morning

The worlds largest burger chain has put the spotlight on morning grub. In October, McDonalds launched its all-day breakfast menu.

The chain now offers Egg McMuffins and pancakes during operating hours  and for some McDonalds that means 24 hours a day. The menu change has helped lure lapsed customers as well as new diners, both of which have increased visits at lunch, NPD reported.

Expect other chains to emphasis breakfast programs, a popular dining category that is sure to get even hotter in 2016.

Locally, breakfast wars are already playing across the county. Starbucks breakfast menu has been available all day for 10 years, but the chain didnt promote the all-day platform until 2013. That year, drive-through lanes added great for breakfast, lunch, or anytime or breakfast all day on menu boards, the company said. Similar signs have been spotted recently at new cafes inside the Disneyland Resort.

In 2014, Taco Bell entered the fast-food breakfast wars when it rolled out its morning menu nationwide. In ad campaigns, the Irvine chain boldly took aim at McDonalds making it clear they were attempting to lure Egg McMuffin fans.

Clean menus, safe food

In the recent aftermath of multiple food scares that have rocked Chipotle Mexican Grill, industry trend watchers say food safety will be top of mind more than ever in 2016.

Darren Tristano, president of market research firm Technomic, said consumers are looking for menu transparency and corporate responsibility from restaurants. Trust is especially critical given that Chipotle has built its fresh-Mex empire on its food with integrity philosophy.

The clean menu trend will become even more pronounced in 2016, NPD said. Expect more chains to eliminate artificial ingredients from menus and to switch to suppliers who treat animals humanely.

Irvine-based Taco Bell recently announced plans to use cage-free eggs at roughly 6,000 U.S. restaurants by Dec. 31, 2016. Other companies moving to cage-free egg suppliers in the near future include McDonalds, Dunkin Donuts and food giant Nestle. Last week, Carls Jr. announced plans to replace its four-year-old charbroiled turkey burger with one that is made with antibiotic free turkey meat. In 2014, Carls Jr. debuted a grass-fed, free-range beef patty with no added hormones.

Food at your doorstep

Though communal food halls remain a hot trend, diners sometimes want to eat in and they want choices beyond the usual delivery offerings of Chinese food and pizza.

Enter food delivery services such as DoorDash, Postmates and Instacart. The third-party food delivery services are growing like crazy  and that wont change going into 2016.

On demand is definitely a huge trend, said Tristano, referring to the want it now generation that is driving food delivery sales.

Still, he warns restaurants that food delivery is not going to grow the business. Its going to help maintain the business.

Contact the writer: nluna@ocregister.com
BEIRUT  Lebanese militant group Hezbollah struck an Israeli armored patrol with a roadside bomb at the border on Monday and Israel responded by shelling the area, with no immediate word on casualties.

Hezbollah said the attack was carried out by a unit named for Samir Kantar, a prominent Lebanese militant killed in Syria last month. Hezbollah had blamed Israel and vowed to avenge his death, suggesting a possible motivation for Mondays attack.

Hezbollah said it set off a large explosive device as the vehicles passed in the disputed Chebaa Farms area, destroying a Humvee and causing casualties among the soldiers inside.

The Israeli army said vehicles in the area were hit with an improvised explosive device and that it responded with targeted artillery fire. It did not say whether there were any casualties.

Hezbollahs television channel Al-Manar said one of the vehicles targeted was carrying a senior officer.

Tensions on the border have been high since Kantar, who carried out a notorious attack in Israel and spent nearly 30 years in an Israeli jail, was killed in Syria by an airstrike late last month.

Border skirmishes between Israel and Hezbollah have quickly escalated into all-out war in the past, with one cross-border raid by the group in 2006 touching off a monthlong Israeli offensive that included a ground invasion and airstrikes that reached across all of Lebanon.

But with Hezbollah currently engaged in the Syrian civil war on the side of President Bashar Assad, and Israel free to target the group in porous Syrian airspace, both sides seem too occupied elsewhere to opt for a new war in Lebanon.

Later Monday, Lebanese security officials said that more than 50 Israeli shells hit several villages in the area where the Hezbollah operation was carried out. Residents along the border said shelling from Israeli tanks and artillery landed in agricultural areas inside Lebanon, but did not report casualties.

The officials said the patrol was hit near an Israeli army position in the Kfar Chouba hills, which Beirut says is Lebanese land occupied by Israel. The residents requested anonymity, saying they feared for their safety, while the officials did so in line with regulations.

The United Nations force in Lebanon known as UNIFIL said in a statement that it has further reinforced its presence on the ground and intensified patrols in coordination with the Lebanese army.

UNIFIL has launched an investigation to determine the facts and circumstances of the incident, the statement said.

The statement quoted UNIFILs Head of Mission, Maj. Gen. Luciano Portolano, as saying calm has been restored in the area and the parties have reassured me of their continued commitment to maintain the cessation of hostilities.

Just a day earlier, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah vowed to avenge the killing of Kantar, who was the longest serving Lebanese prisoner in Israel before he was released in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in the raid that kicked off the 2006 war. Kantar joined Hezbollah after being released by Israel in 2008.

Kantar was killed on Dec. 19, along with eight others, in an airstrike on a residential building in Jaramana, near the Syrian capital of Damascus.

Israel has neither confirmed nor denied carrying out the airstrikes.
Orange County, California. Home to John Wayne, Mickey Mouse and the Beach Boys Endless Summer. Home to a million We Support Our Troops signs. Also home to a growing homeless veteran community. Further, no one is exactly sure how many homeless veterans live in Orange County because they live in a shadow world, forgotten, ignored or just overlooked.

However many there are, the fact that there are any homeless veterans is a point of shame on our nations character. These are the men and women who defended the country. They come from every conceivable background and are sent off to face the horrors of war, time and time again. Many return whole, some lose a part of themselves, others never return. No one returns unblemished. Many transition to civilian life, go to college and start a career and a family in the suburbs. Some return to years of reparative therapy.

Many weather the vagaries of the American global economy as well as anyone can. Some fall short  they lose a job, are unable to obtain stability or employment, the money runs out and they lose their apartments or homes. They either move in with friends or relatives or are turned out onto the street. Confused, angry, frustrated, too many turn to drugs and suicide or wind up in jail.

One of the most difficult benefits to procure  and the most crucial to many healthy homeless veterans  is a housing voucher. The California Department of Social Services supplies assistance to qualified veterans in the form of Cal-VASH vouchers, Section 8 Housing vouchers dressed up in camouflage. The fly in the ointment is that the Orange County housing market has been flooded with these vouchers, often in direct competition with regular Section 8 housing vouchers. The vacancy rate in Orange County in June was estimated to be about 2.4 percent, and the average rent of a single bed apartment was put at $1,800 per month, far above the means of voucher holders.

Case managers at Operation Healthy Homecoming privately acknowledge that there are about five Cal-VASH voucher holders for each available Section 8 housing opening. Additionally, too often a veteran facing homelessness is forced to deal with a bureaucracy that thinks moving at a glacial pace is akin to drag racing along an abandoned stretch of highway. Waits of 90 days or greater can transpire while a prospective unit waits to pass inspection by a local housing authority. This deprives a landlord of prospective rent and a qualified veteran with a voucher for a home. Often a veterans voucher will expire while waiting for a unit to pass inspection from the housing authority.

Voucher discrimination is another hurdle that homeless veterans have to contend with. Many articles have been written about the crime statistics of census tracts where vouchers are accepted, negative depictions which create resistance among landlords toward voucher holders. Studies by the Furman Center of New York University and the Urban Institute present empirical data that refute the premise that voucher holders bring crime into neighborhoods. Contrary to popular belief, these studies show that voucher holders gravitated to neighborhoods where crime incidents were already high. Voucher activists could make acceptance easier by actively and aggressively educating landlords and the public in general of these facts. Moreover, Cal-VASH administrators and local housing authorities should direct their thinking to reforming the Cal-VASH program to allow greater flexibility in how this program is administered and the choices homeless veterans can make toward their housing.

It grates against conservative principles for any level of government to compel American citizens to conduct their private lives and businesses to the dictates of bureaucrats. It should also grate against conservative principles to see veterans homeless on the streets, casualties of a global economy in turmoil. Is it beyond the pale of political discourse to either incentivize or compel landlords to accept greater numbers of Cal-VASH vouchers as renters? Additionally, cant local authorities stipulate to rental developers that 25 percent of the rental units be made available to veteran voucher holders? Imagine the impact on the homeless veteran population if a quarter of the housing in the Great Park were reserved for those individuals and families.

The Servicemens Readjustment Act of 1944 (more popularly known as the G.I. Bill) has been hailed as the setting stone of Americas postwar economic boom. A similar bill to address the growing homeless veteran population should be fast-tracked through Congress. All Americans owe a debt to the veterans who have fought to preserve our freedoms, and landlords have a moral and civic duty to provide adequate housing for homeless veterans. Every veteran that we take off the street is a life saved and a debt paid.

Christopher Gilbertson is a veteran of the United States Navy. He has worked 20 years at several Southern California law firms and is currently the staff librarian at the Veterans Legal Institute.
One thing is all but certain in 2016.

The immigration issue will continue to frame national political debate and inspire passionate discussions at gatherings throughout the Inland area.

Concern over letting Syrian immigrants come to the United States in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks and questions over how Pakistani Tashfeen Malik, one of the San Bernardino shooters, was allowed here on a K-1 fiancee visa, have inflamed rhetoric on both sides of the issue.

Add to that a potential increase in immigrants voting in the upcoming election presidential primary and general elections, and its clear immigration cant be ignored.

Here is what to look out for in the coming year:

SAN BERNARDINO AND THE IMMIGRATION DEBATE

Before the Dec. 2 shooting that killed 14 and wounded 22 others, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump already was advocating for mass deportation of millions of immigrants living in the U.S. illegally, as well as their American-born children.

Following the deadly Islamic State attacks in Paris, Trump advocated for a government database to track Muslims in the United States.

Trump then called for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States after the San Bernardino massacre that the FBI is investigating as an act of terrorism.

John Berry of the Redlands Tea Party Patriots said people now view immigration as synonymous with national security.

As the Dec. 2 atrocities reveal, the two are inextricably linked, Berry said. People see immigrants as the pipeline for terrorists  because of that, immigration has become that much more important.

Berry said more activists at the local level are urging their elected officials to stand against terrorism, by opposing unvetted immigration.

Jose Munoz, who grew up in San Bernardino and teaches immigration at Cal State San Bernardino, said the immigration implications of San Bernardino will come up often in the coming year.

People are even more fearful about migrants, about border security, Munoz said.

I think people will use it to justify border security and you certainly see what Trump is doing, he added.

FATE OF SYRIAN REFUGEES

Dozens of U.S. governors have vowed to reject Syrian refugees from resettling in their states after the deadly Paris terrorist attacks.

Texas is mounting the most aggressive campaign of the nearly 30 states that have vowed to ban Syrian refugees. Its the only state that has taken the U.S. government to court in an effort to block resettlement. Meanwhile, a federal judge rejected the states request.

Despite the ruling, Texas lawsuit is not over. A hearing is likely in January.

According to The New York Times, the U.S. has accepted roughly 1,800 Syrian refugees since 2012. California is among the 36 states where refugees have settled, per multiple media reports.

Even as governors in some states say Syrian refugees arent welcome, resettlement agencies and volunteer groups with refugees continue welcoming them.

Here in the Inland area, clergy leaders said its the responsibility of the faith community to help them.

The Rev. Bill Freeman of Menifee United Church of Christ declared in November that his congregation is offering to house Syrian refugees. The church received threatening messages after expressing its support for Syrian refugees.

SHIELDING FROM DEPORTATION

The outcome of President Barack Obamas plan to spare about 5 million undocumented immigrants from deportation, could be determined by the Supreme Court.

After a federal appeals court in New Orleans upheld a Texas-based federal judges injunction against his plan, the Obama administration vowed to take the issue to the Supreme Court.

The courts could hold arguments in April with a decision expected in June. If the justices rule for the administration, Obama would have roughly seven months in office to implement his plan.

Inland immigrant rights groups supporting the presidents immigration executive order said theyre hopeful the courts will rule in their favor.

We definitely feel that by June of this coming year, with the Supreme Court hopefully taking the case, that we will know if (Obamas plan) will be reality, said Javier Hernandez, director of the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice.

We feel the Supreme Court will get it right, Hernandez said.

Obamas plan would expand the existing Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, for immigrants who arrived in the U.S. illegally before they were 16. Under the expansion, the former age cap of 31 was eliminated.

The other major part, Deferred Action for Parents of Americans, would extend deportation protections to parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who have been in the country for years.

BECOMING CITIZENS

The anti-immigrant rhetoric in todays political landscape is encouraging immigrants to become U.S. citizens. And the White House has recently promoted a citizenship campaign.

Thats why the Inland Coalition for Immigrant Justice and other immigrant rights groups are planning a number of citizenship drives this coming year.

In November, the coalition held what was supposed to be a legal clinic focusing on health-care access for immigrant children and DACA-related issues, but it became a full-scale citizenship drive when several people expressed interest in filling out citizenship applications.

The group wound up helping about 50 people complete their citizenship applications within about five hours.

We were very shocked to see those types of numbers, Hernandez said.

Hernandez said immigrants are more interested in becoming citizens in order to vote against candidates like Trump who are advocating deportation. The White House campaign also is helping, he said.

President Obama in September launched the Stand Stronger campaign encouraging immigrants to commit to citizenship. The campaigns website features practice citizenship exams, a citizenship class locator, and citizenship applications.

About 8.8 million immigrants are eligible for citizenship, the White House said.

Research shows that at least for Latinos, those who become citizens during a politically charged environment on immigrant issues, vote at rates substantially higher than native-born or longer term naturalized Latino citizens, according to the University of Southern Californias Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration.

CENTRAL AMERICAN MIGRATION

Authorities in 2016 could continue to see a growing number of Central American migrant families attempting to cross the U.S. southern border as violence grips the region.

El Salvador, for example, this year made headlines for reaching levels of violence not seen since the end of the civil war in 1992.

Data show theres been a massive boost in the number of unaccompanied children and families caught trying to cross the U.S. southern border.

Nearly 10,600 unaccompanied children in 2015 were apprehended at the border in October and November, more than twice the amount during the same time period last year, according to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

About 12,500 people traveling as families were caught this year in October and November. Last year, 4,577 were caught during the same time period.

Most of the families are from Central Americas Northern Triangle, which includes Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador.

San Bernardino Guatemalan Consulate Billy Munoz said the Central American migration flow to the U.S. continues, but he said many immigrants are being detained in Mexican territory and never make it to the U.S. border.

Munoz said the Guatemalan Consulate, since its opening in San Bernardino in 2015, has promoted the Central American Minors Refugee/Parole Program that works to reunite Central American immigrants who arelegally in the United States with family members in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.

He said 20 cases of people in the Inland area have so far been identified to potentially benefit from this program that provides certain qualified children in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras a safe, legal, and orderly alternative to the dangerous journey that some children are currently undertaking to the United States, said the U.S. Department of State, which administers the program.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: amolina@pressenterprise.com or 951-368-9462
The man suspected of shooting two people in an Ontario cemetery Saturday, was identified Sunday as 71-year-old Karapet Karajan.

Misak Minasyan, 60, and Hripsime Minasyan, 59 were identified as the two people Karajan killed before taking his own life about 3 p.m. at the Bellevue Memorial Park Cemetary, Ontario police said in a news release.

Both victims were from North Hollywood and were related to Karajan by marriage. Misak Minasyan was Karajans sister-in-law and Hripsime was the brother-in-law of Karajans wife, police said.

Karajan was at the cemetery a day before the fifth anniversary of his wifes death, Sgt. Jeff Higbee wrote in the release. She died after a long battle with cancer and Karajan had difficulty dealing with her death.

He became estranged from the family for over a year, Higbee wrote in the release.

Higbee said in the release Saturday that Karajan had been sitting in his car at the cemetery when three of his family members arrived, according to witness statements.

As his family members were approaching the grave site, Karajan got out of his car with a handgun and quickly shot the two victims before turning the gun on himself.

One elderly woman using a walker who had arrived with the victims was unharmed.
A culture clash separates Californias capital from the Silicon Valley companies that are transforming the states economy. Technology entrepreneurs move fast and see rewards for disrupting the status quo.

In Sacramento, however, decisions unfurl slowly, with lots of pressure to keep things the way they are.

The divide is significant because the stakes are high: A bill likely to spark a big fight in Sacramento in 2016 strikes at the core of the business model for companies like Uber, the app-based service that relies on freelance drivers, rather than employees, to provide rides.

Sacramento is often a challenging place for business interests to be successful. That certainly impacts the innovation economy, said Carl Guardino, president of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group, a trade association that lobbies for tech companies, including Uber.

Though politicians seem fascinated by emerging companies, Guardino said he sees the need for a bridge to be built between our states capital and our innovation capital, where both sides will do better in understanding each other.

For Uber, Guardino said the bridge builder will likely be Aaron McLear, a Sacramento insider and former press secretary to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. McLear is moving his young family to San Francisco to start a new job heading Ubers West Coast public affairs team.

McLear and Uber declined to comment on their plans, but Assemblywoman Lorena Gonzalez, D-San Diego, said she noticed that McLear just started following me on Twitter and liking me on Facebook.

Gonzalez has announced plans to introduce a bill that would have huge implications for Uber and other companies that use independent contractors, rather than employees, to provide services.

Uber is already facing a lawsuit that claims its drivers should be classified as employees. Gonzalezs proposal takes a different approach by allowing independent contractors to form unions and collectively bargain. The Seattle City Council in December passed a similar ordinance, becoming the first city in the country to give bargaining rights to freelance drivers.

With policy fights in cities, statehouses and courts, 2016 looms as a challenging year for Uber. McLears hiring comes as the company is overhauling its policy and communications department and beefing up its political prowess.

In 2014, Uber hired David Plouffe, an adviser to President Barack Obama. In 2015, the company added former Rep. Howard Berman, D-Los Angeles, to the roster of lobbyists retained to do its bidding in Sacramento. Berman served a decade in the Legislature followed by 30 years in Congress. He lost re-election in 2012, but was supported by labor unions that have clout in Sacramento.

In hiring McLear, the company gains a different kind of player, one experienced in image-building and savvy about todays Sacramento. He knows the power dynamics in the statehouse. He has good relationships with the Capitol press corps. Hes close to business interests  including oil and health care  that are influential in Sacramento.

For a company thats run into political challenges during its rapid growth, McLear will likely serve as an interpreter between two different cultures who speak different languages, Guardino said.

It wont be his first time connecting groups with disparate ideas.

McLear encouraged fellow Republicans to embrace same-sex marriage rights as a member of Young Conservatives for the Freedom to Marry. He was the lead strategist for Neel Kashkari, the ex-Pimco executive and Californias Republican gubernatorial candidate last year, whose campaign worked to make the GOP appealing to immigrants and young people.

And despite a resume long on Republican politics, McLear ran an independent campaign  funded largely by tech moguls Ron Conway and Sean Parker  that helped elect Democrat Ed Lee as San Francisco mayor in 2011.

McLear, however, will face challenges as he works to bridge tech and politics in California. He is a Republican in a state dominated by Democrats. He is distant from organized labor. And because of term limits, many of todays legislators were elected after McLear left the governors office at the end of 2010.

Gonzalez, who was elected in 2013, said the evolution toward an economy with millions of workers who dont get the benefits of being an employee  such as minimum wage or workers compensation if theyre injured on the job  will burden Californias safety net.

She wants independent contractors to be able to bargain together, even if theyre not employees.

Im trying to go to the heart of the issue, to spark a discussion, Gonzalez said. Lets catch up with what the economy has done so everyone can be protected, most of all taxpayers.

Labor unions are lukewarm on the proposal so far. While they like the idea of giving Uber drivers the right to organize, theyre concerned that the bill could cement their status as freelancers.

Were still of the position that they are employees of the company, said Steve Smith, spokesman for the California Labor Federation.

Unions are developing legislation for 2016 that would regulate the wild, wild West thats going on with this gig economy, Smith said. Uber to us is a symptom of something bigger: The flow away from the traditional employee-employer relationship to something that is more insecure.

Coming soon: a counter-message from Aaron McLear.

CALmatters is a nonprofit journalism venture dedicated to exploring state policies

and politics.

Contact the writer: laurel@calmatters.org, @LaurelRosenhall
In todays world of Tinder, Grindr and match.com, more of us meet our spouses from websites and apps than ever before. If youve ever done it, youre familiar with how the process works  if youre physically attracted to their profile picture, you read their biography to see if you have anything in common, if you do, you say hello, exchange pleasantries and then youre off to the races.

But before you actually end up meeting them in person, my guess is that you check out their social media accounts. This lets you see more photos, verify claims about educational background and work history and gives you more confidence that theyre not an ax murderer.

If youve done this before, youve compiled more research on your date than the U.S. government does for prospective immigrants.

According the ABC News, the U.S. had a secret policy up until 2014 where officials deliberately ignored social media posts while vetting visa applications. The Obama administration was insistent on this because they were afraid of a civil-liberties backlash and bad public relations.

Since the San Bernardino shooting that left 14 people dead and 22 wounded, we have learned that one of the shooters, Tashfeen Malik, had a long history of posting radical and incendiary remarks online prior to passing three different background checks and being granted a K-1 visa.

The radicalization process was fully complete prior to the Pakistani-born immigrant being allowed into the United States.

In the aftermath of the ABC News report, the government has disputed whatever or not her anti-American, pro-jihadist screeds were posted in a public or private forum. But in the grand scheme of things it really doesnt matter because officials conducting her background check wouldnt have been able to investigate either one.

In response, Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., demanded that the U.S. immediately initiate a program that would check the social media sites of those admitted on visas. He told ABC News, Had they checked out Tashfeen Malik  maybe those people in San Bernardino would be alive.

Additionally, the New York Times reported that we dont check the social media accounts of prospective immigrants for two other reasons  we dont have the manpower to do it, and so many of them say such negative things about the U.S. its impossible to tell if theyre members of ISIS or just a run-of-the-mill America hater.

Heres the Times explaining our dilemma, Social media comments, by themselves, however, are not always definitive evidence. In Pakistan  as in the United States  there is no shortage of crass and inflammatory language. And it is often difficult to distinguish Islamist sentiments and those driven by political hostility toward the United States.

President Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson have rightly faced criticism for our idiotic policy of banning investigators from looking at social media websites. However, their critics are missing a key point  The goal should not just be to find out if prospective immigrants are members of ISIS, lets not forget, Tashfeen Malik got her citizenship well before the rise of ISIS, we should be spying on them to weed out any immigrants who are hostile to the U.S.

If we let people into the country who already hate us, theyre prime targets to become even more radicalized once they get here. And after you grant openly hostile individuals with American citizenship, they have the same constitutional rights as the rest of us, which ties the hands of law enforcement, who have the responsibility to keep us safe.

It may be cruel or politically incorrect to say, but if you hate our guts, we shouldnt devalue American citizenship by letting you live here.

Staff opinion columnist John Phillips can be heard weekdays at 3 p.m. on The Drive Home with Jillian Barberie and John Phillips

on KABC/AM 790.
We recently spotlighted eye-opening reports on government waste from the offices of Republican Sens. James Lankford of Oklahoma and Rand Paul of Kentucky. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., also recently issued a report entitled, with a nod to the new Star Wars movie, Wastebook: The Farce Awakens.

Sen. Flakes Wastebook includes 100 examples of egregious, outrageous and unnecessary government spending totaling more than $100 billion. To see so much money so outlandishly wasted, its clear that Washingtons ballyhooing over budget austerity is a farce, Sen. Flake said in a statement.

Among some of the more expensive items are the tens of billions of dollars wasted each year on improper payments, from student loans to Social Security payments to bogus tax benefits to numerous welfare program disbursements. The Department of Housing and Urban Development spent $448 million on housing subsidies for at least 106,000 ineligible households, while many others remain on long wait lists for housing.

Then there is the more than $1.1 billion spent over the past two years subsidizing the tobacco industry, while simultaneously spending hundreds of millions of dollars on anti-smoking campaigns. The federal government spends $110 million a year to maintain more than 360 empty, unused and excess buildings in Afghanistan, and the Department of Veterans Affairs spent $40 million on artwork and junkets to conferences while veterans continue to struggle to receive adequate health care.

Some examples are in the realm of the ridiculous, such as $1 million to train monkeys to run on a treadmill in a hamster ball, $115,000 in National Endowment for the Arts grants for several puppet shows and $300,000 for a cheese-themed retail store and heritage center in Wisconsin.

California got its share of the pork, too, including $65,000 for an extra virgin olive oil competition at the 2015 California State Fair and $1.8 million to build a zip line on the La Jolla Indian Reservation in San Diego County.

As humorous as some of these examples are, they make it hard to take members of Congress seriously when they talk about rooting out waste, fraud and abuse and addressing the nearly $19 trillion national debt.
SAN ANTONIO  Immigration agents over the weekend conducted the first raids targeting the deportation of families who flocked across the United States southern border over the past two years, a senior government official said Monday.

Jeh Johnson, the head of the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement that the 121 people rounded up during raids in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina were primarily members of Central American families that crossed into the U.S. via Mexico since May 2014. Most were placed in family detention centers in Texas to await deportation.

In the statement, Johnson said the raids should come as no surprise, adding that he has said publicly for months that individuals who constitute enforcement priorities, including families and unaccompanied children, will be removed.

Those targeted in the raids had been issued final orders of removal by immigration courts and had exhausted other legal remedies, including claims for asylum.

The latest actions affect only a fraction of the more than 100,000 Central American family members, mostly mothers with children, who crossed into the U.S. during an immigration surge that began in the spring of 2014. The surge has been linked to a rise in gang-related violence in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras, while many migrants from these countries have also claimed asylum due to domestic violence, or are seeking to reunite with family members already in the United States.

U.S. immigration and Customs Enforcement did not say further raids were planned for the coming days and weeks. However, ICEs official position since November 2014 is that it would continue to conduct enforcement actions daily.

In a news conference Monday, White House press secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that politics did not factor into the decision by Homeland Security officials to conduct raids, despite increased debate about immigration enforcement and policy by Republicans on the presidential campaign trail.

Guatemalas Foreign Ministry said via Twitter that it was monitoring the situation, and promised to offer consular assistance and protection to its citizens living overseas.

It advised Guatemalans in the U.S. that they need not open their doors to immigration agents unless the officers have a warrant signed by a judge. It also recommended that they carry with them at all times phone numbers of family members, a lawyer and the nearest consulate.

You have rights that must be respected.  Immigration agents have the obligation to respect your basic rights, as well as treat you and your family members in a dignified manner, especially when it comes to children, the Foreign Ministry said.

The government of El Salvador issued similar advice to any of its citizens facing enforcement action in the U.S.

SAN ANTONIO  A federal official said immigration agents conducted raids in several states over the weekend and detained 121 adults and children who have been slated for deportation.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson said in a statement Monday that those detained in the raids in Georgia, Texas and North Carolina were primarily members of Central American families that crossed the U.S. border with Mexico since May 2014. Most were placed in family detention centers in Texas to await deportation.

The detentions constitute a small portion of the more than 100,000 Central Americans who crossed into the U.S. during an immigration surge that began in 2014. Johnson did not say whether more raids were planned.

The families targeted in the raids had been issued final removal orders by immigration courts.
ATLANTA  Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal rescinded an executive order trying to stop resettlement of Syrian refugees on Monday, five days after Attorney General Sam Olens issued an official opinion that he didnt have that authority.

Deals one-sentence order cited Olens opinion, and gave no further explanation.

Olens wrote in the opinion released last week that he wasnt aware of any law or agreement that would permit a state to carve out refugees from particular countries from participation in the refugee resettlement program, no matter how well-intentioned or justified the desire to carve out such refugees might be.

Accordingly, it is my official opinion that both federal law and the States agreement to act as the state refugee resettlement coordinator prevent the State from denying federally-funded benefits to Syrian refugees lawfully admitted into the United States, he wrote.

Deal, a Republican, directed state agencies on Nov. 16 to halt any involvement in the acceptance of Syrian refugees until federal authorities changed the process for vetting them. At the time, he and other governors issuing similar directions cited a terrorist attack three days earlier in Paris.

The commissioner of the Georgia Department of Human Services on Nov. 18 directed agency staff not to take or process new applications for any assistance for Syrian refugees, including food stamps. The department received a letter a week later from the federal food stamp program, warning that federal law prevents refusal of applications based on national origin.

Joshua Sieweke, director of the Atlanta office of the refugee resettlement organization World Relief, said a Syrian family  a married couple and their 4-year-old son  arrived Nov. 30 in Georgia. They applied for food stamps and Medicaid benefits, and both are still pending with the state. In the meantime, federal funds and volunteer donations helped the family secure an apartment, food and other needs, he said.

Im hoping now they will truly feel the full welcome they deserve, Sieweke said. Their experience wont be just based on the kindness of volunteers but also will extend to the state.

Immigration legal experts immediately questioned governors authority to prevent resettlement. Deal defended the order but on Dec. 7 asked Olens to weigh in.

Olens wrote in his opinion that the federal government has sole authority when placing refugees. He said the state could end its agreement with the federal government to operate the refugee resettlement program but still would have to provide benefits.

AP-WF-01-04-16 2132GMT
Rail Division head unsure if eminent domain an option

Direct intermodal rail access and new service offerings.

Savings in logistics costs.

Reduced truck traffic on Interstates 95 and 85.

Greater potential access for state ports.

Over 1,500 new direct and indirect jobs in North Carolina.

After receiving the CSX study, Worley said NCDOT determined that it should commission an independent assessment of the facility and hired WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff to conduct it.

Job estimates unclear

RALEIGH The North Carolina Department of Transportation plans to continue its evaluation of CSX's request for $100 million toward a Johnston County intermodal project even though a spokesman for Gov. Pat McCrory said on Jan. 26 the proposed rail hub "does not appear to be a viable option."NCDOT Rail Division director Paul Worley told Carolina Journal on Friday that his office would evaluate CSX's request using the Strategic Mobility Formula the state uses to rank transportation projects. Worley said the final list of projects selected for funding would be released in March.The proposed 450-acre project site is located northeast of Selma, just outside the city limits, adjoining an existing CSX rail line. The facility would allow CSX to shift more container freight shipments now using only trucks to a combination of trucks and rail.Announcing the rail hub Jan. 14, McCrory said, "over time the project could bring 1,500 statewide jobs to North Carolina and provide an estimated $329 million in public benefits to the state." Soon after, the affected landowners learned that CSX threatened to use eminent domain to acquire property if landowners didn't want to sell.After an emergency closed-session meeting Jan. 20, less than a week after McCrory announced the project, the Johnston County Board of Commissioners issued a statement opposing both the project at the current location and the railroad company's threats to seize property if needed.In response to CJ's request for information on the job creation claims associated with the project, Worley's office shared a report titled "Project Scorpion: Evaluation of a Proposed Intermodal Terminal (CCX)." Since the announcement, officials have referred to the project as Carolina Connector, or CCX.Worley said DOT paid for the report, which was written by WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff, a Montreal-based engineering consulting firm with an office in Raleigh. The 91-page report is dated October 2015 with revisions in January 2016. It also is marked "DRAFT." Worley said the report probably would be updated before it is finalized and used in the evaluation process for state funding.Worley said that in June 2014, when CSX brought the project to the Rail Division, the company said it would need the state to contribute $100 million to the $271-million project."We will continue conversations with CSX. We will see if they come up with other sites. Whatever they come up with, we will evaluate it," Worley said.The Rail Division's mission statement says: "Since 1977, the Rail Division has focused on the safe and efficient movement of people and goods on North Carolina's railroads through freight, passenger and safety programs, supporting job creation and economic growth."Worley said the report did not address the possibility of eminent domain for the project. "We are not at that point," he said, adding that he was unaware if eminent domain remains an option. "I don't know. I am not an attorney." He also said the Rail Division never has been involved in a project of this magnitude.The report stated that CSX had conducted a study demonstrating the benefits of a North Carolina facility to the state and the broader U.S. economy. The CSX study concluded numerous benefits would result from the project, including:The conclusion: "The proposed CCX terminal in eastern North Carolina would prove to stimulate economic growth and reduce the adverse impacts of truck transportation producing significant benefits to the state. Increased employment and associated economic benefits would be a result of terminal construction, terminal operations, and local logistics and manufacturing development. The favorable economic impact would be complemented by benefits associated with the reduction in truck traffic including reduced pavement damage, congestion, emissions, and motor vehicle accidents."While McCrory, CSX, and most media outlets have said the project would create 1,500 jobs, the Project Scorpion report details much smaller numbers. (See page 35.)The report estimated that the project's direct, indirect, and "induced" jobs - jobs attributed to local businesses from the spending of employees and customers of the rail hub - would total 452 by 2019 and 632 by 2035. The report then compared those estimates to estimates from CSX's report. CSX estimated that direct, indirect, and induced jobs would total 538 by 2018 and 788 by 2035.In a telephone interview, Worley and officials from WSP Parsons Brinckerhoff could not explain where the 1,500 job figure used by McCrory and most media outlets originated. They also acknowledged the study did not account for lost jobs that would occur in the trucking industry if the project proved to be as successful as the study predicted.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles has released its proposed regulations for driverless cars, after three years  and nearly a year after its statutory deadline to do so. In typical California government fashion, the rules are heavy-handed and will stifle innovation.

Among its 22 pages of draft regulations, the DMV would require numerous applications, permits and certifications; mandate third-party testing of vehicles and force manufacturers to submit monthly reports summarizing accidents, cyberattacks and the total number of hours and miles driven. Consumers would have to complete an autonomous-technology training program to obtain a special certificate from the DMV.

In a blatant violation of contract rights, the rules would also prohibit manufacturers from selling autonomous vehicles to the public, forcing them instead to merely lease the vehicles.

Curiously, and crucially, the driverless-car regulations would prevent cars from actually being driverless, requiring an operator to be present in the vehicle and be capable of taking control in the event of a technology failure or other emergency. This flies in the face of the 2012 legislation calling for the agency to develop regulations for autonomous vehicles with or without the presence of a driver inside the vehicle.

Chris Urmson, the head of Googles self-driving car program, expressed his displeasure with the proposed regulations in a recent blog post. This maintains the same old status quo and falls short on allowing this technology to reach its full potential, while excluding those who need to get around but cannot drive, he wrote.

[W]eve seen in our own testing that drivers cant be trusted to dip in and out of the task of driving when the car is encouraging them to sit back and relax, he added.

We share Googles disappointment and strongly encourage the state to reverse course on its burdensome regulations so that it may allow technological advancements to flourish and improve consumers lives, rather than motivate innovative companies to flee to states, like Texas, that offer greater economic opportunity and freedom.
Comedian, Las Vegas headliner and part-time Orange County resident Rita Rudner will return to the Laguna Playhouse stage this week, joined by Emmy Award-winning actor Charles Shaughnessy, for the U.S. premiere of Act 3 

Directed by Laguna Playhouse veteran Martin Bergman, who is Rudners husband, the dramatic comedy will open with previews Wednesday and regular performances Saturday through Jan. 31. Written by David Ambrose and Claudia Nellens, the two-person show presents a dialogue between spouses who have been together for many years.

The characters performed by Shaughnessy and Rudner are named He and She, representing the two genders and their different dynamics.

Its the universal he and she, so everyone can relate, said Shaughnessy, who played the role of Maxwell Sheffield in the CBS show The Nanny.

I think the audience is going to really love how familiar the characters are. The show is going to amuse them because they wont believe its about them, theyll believe its about their friends.

Rudner is making a quick return to the Laguna stage after her New Years Eve show, Lets Party Like Its 2016. She is a regular at the playhouse, starring in numerous solo performances and plays, including the Bergman-directed Tickled Pink in 2012, based on her best-selling novel of that name.

I love coming back to Laguna because Im friends with everyone here, so its like coming home, said Rudner, who currently splits her time living in Monarch Beach and Las Vegas with her husband and daughter Molly.

This is my first time Ive ever done a two-headed play, and working with Charlie has been a dream. We are having way too much fun; in fact, we want to give our paychecks back every week because were having so much fun.

Although this is the first time the two actors have worked together, it was only a matter of time for this collaboration to happen. Longtime friends, Shaughnessy and Bergman attended college at the University of Cambridge during the 1970s, and over the years Shaughnessy and Rudner have come across one another in show business.

Weve rushed past each other on several occasions, so its a pinnacle time of our careers to finally work together, said Shaughnessy. Being here in Laguna and doing a play this fun with each other is really why we do this.

The show is about two people in the third act of their relationship, which includes secrets and other tribulations. Rudner describes the script as a combination of playwrights Neil Simon and Tom Stoppard, with funny exchanges between the characters but also serious undertones about male and female relationships.

I would like couples in the audience to go home and argue about the show, then sleep in separate rooms, she joked.

The set of the play is described as mobile and modern in an abstract format, which Rudner said Bergman created to show that the characters are a representation of modern marriages. The show runs approximately 100 minutes and does not have an intermission, which Shaughnessy says is great for those who want to be out of the theater in time for dinner.

I believe the audience is going to have as good of time watching it as we are having onstage, said Rudner. Its a very adventurous play and I think everyone is going to be pleasantly surprised.

Contact the writer: jmoe@ocregister.com
TEHRAN, Iran  Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdoms lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of a prominent opposition Shiite cleric.

Sudan and the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain said they would sever ties with Iran, as Saudi Arabia did late Sunday. Within hours, the United Arab Emirates announced it would downgrade ties to Tehran to the level of the charge daffaires and would only focus on economic issues. Somalia also issued a statement criticizing Iran.

The execution Saturday of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges  the largest mass execution carried out by Saudi Arabia since 1980  laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region. Shiite protesters took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan, while Arab allies of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia lined up behind the kingdom.

The escalating tensions between the two longtime regional rivals looks to further imperil efforts to end the wars in Syria and Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and Iran back rival sides.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in the Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabias Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

Bahrains Sunni monarchy, which quashed mass protests by the Shiite majority in 2011 with the help of Saudi and Emirati forces, enjoys particularly close relations with Saudi Arabia, and shares Riyadhs view that Shiite Iran is intent on destabilizing the region through its various proxies.

Bahraini officials have accused Iran of training militants and attempting to smuggle arms into the country, which hosts the U.S. Navys 5th Fleet. In October, Bahrain ordered the acting Iranian charge daffaires to leave within 72 hours and recalled its own ambassador after alleging Iran sponsored subversion and terrorism and funneled arms to militants.

Sudans Foreign Ministry announced an immediate severing of ties over the diplomatic mission attacks. The statement carried by its state-run news agency said it made the decision in solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the face of Iranian schemes.

The UAE, a country of seven emirates, has a long trading history with Iran and is home to many ethnic Iranians. It said it would reduce the number of diplomats in Iran and would recall its ambassador in the light of Irans continuous interference in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states, which has reached unprecedented levels.

Somalia also criticized the attack on Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran as a flagrant violation of international law.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the cut in relations late Sunday and gave Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country. All Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran have been called home.

The move could affect the annual hajj pilgrimage. Lawmaker Mohammad Ali Esfanani, spokesman of the Judicial and Legal Committee of the Iranian parliament, said security issues and the fact that Iranian pilgrims wouldnt have consular protection inside the kingdom made halting the pilgrimage likely, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Both Saudi Arabia and Iran have yet to make any formal announcement about how the diplomatic spat would affect the hajj, a pilgrimage to Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life. The hajj this year likely will begin in early September, though Muslims travel to the holy sites all year long.

When Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran from 1988 to 1991, Iran stopped its pilgrims from attending the hajj. With Saudi diplomatic missions closed in Iran, it will make it difficult for Iranians to get visas for the hajj.

World powers have sought to calm the tensions.

Germany called on both sides to mend ties, with government spokesman Steffen Seibert telling reporters that relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran are of fundamental importance for solving the crises in Syria and Yemen, and for the stability of the entire region.

A Russian state news agency on Monday quoting an unnamed senior diplomat as saying Moscow is ready to act as a mediator in the escalating conflict. RIA Novosti did not say whether Moscow had made the mediation proposal to either side.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration believes diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences.

We will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions, Kirby said.

Earlier Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats, according to a statement.

The disruption in relations may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and others spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at ending the civil war.

Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin in mid-January.

Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Saudi Arabia supports the rebels trying to overthrow him.

Meanwhile, al-Nimrs family is holding three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya village in the kingdoms al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikhs brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery.

Early Monday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said a shooting targeting security forces in the village killed a man and wounded a child. It offered no motive for the attack, nor for another it said saw a mob beat and briefly kidnap a man driving through the area.

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Abdullah al-Shihri in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Malak Harb in Dubai, Nour Youssef and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Frank Jordans in Berlin and Abdi Guled contributed to this report.
Saudi Arabias recent execution of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr could escalate sectarian tensions in the Muslim world even further. The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Sunday that Saudi Arabia, which is ruled by a Sunni monarchy, would face divine vengeance for the killing of the outspoken cleric, which was part of a mass execution of 47 men. Al-Nimr had advocated for greater political rights for Shiites in Saudi Arabia and surrounding countries. Saudi Arabia had accused him of inciting violence against the state.

Here is a primer on the basic differences between Sunni and Shia Islam.

Q: What caused the split?

A: A schism emerged after the death of the Prophet Muhammad in A.D. 632. He died without appointing a successor to lead the Muslim community, and disputes arose over who should shepherd the new and rapidly growing faith.

Some believed that a new leader should be chosen by consensus; others thought that only the prophets descendants should become caliph. The title passed to a trusted aide, Abu Bakr, though some thought it should have gone to Ali, the prophets cousin and son-in-law. Ali eventually did become caliph after Abu Bakrs two successors were assassinated.

After Ali also was assassinated, with a poison-laced sword at the mosque in Kufa, in what is now Iraq, his sons Hasan and then Hussein claimed the title. But Hussein and many of his relatives were massacred in Karbala, Iraq, in 680. His martyrdom became a central tenet to those who believed that Ali should have succeeded the prophet (it is mourned every year during the month of Muharram). The followers became known as Shiites, a contraction of the phrase Shiat Ali, or followers of Ali.

The Sunnis, however, regard the first three caliphs before Ali as rightly guided and themselves as the true adherents to the Sunnah, or the prophets tradition. Sunni rulers embarked on sweeping conquests that extended the caliphate into North Africa and Europe. The last caliphate ended with the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War I.

Q: How do their beliefs differ?

A: The Sunni and Shiite sects of Islam encompass a wide spectrum of doctrine, opinion and schools of thought. The branches are in agreement on many aspects of Islam, but there are considerable disagreements within each. Both branches include worshippers who run the gamut from secular to fundamentalist. Shiites consider Ali and the leaders who came after him as imams. The 12th imam, a boy, is believed to have vanished in the ninth century in Iraq after his father was murdered. Shiites known as Twelvers anticipate his return as the Mahdi, or Messiah. Because of the different paths the two sects took, Sunnis emphasize Gods power in the material world, sometimes including the public and political realm, while Shiites place great value in martyrdom and sacrifice.

Q: Which sect is larger, and where do they live?

A: More than 85 percent of the worlds 1.5 billion Muslims are Sunni. They live across the Arab world, as well in countries like Turkey, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Indonesia. Iran, Iraq and Bahrain are largely Shiite. The Saudi royal family, which practices an austere and conservative strand of Sunni Islam known as Wahhabism, controls Islams holiest shrines, Mecca and Medina. Karbala, Kufa and Najaf in Iraq are revered shrines for the Shiites.

Saudi Arabia and Iran, the dominant Sunni and Shiite powers in the Middle East, often take opposing sides in regional conflicts. In Yemen, a Shiite movement from that countrys north, the Houthis, overthrew a Sunni-dominated government, leading to an invasion by a Saudi-led coalition. In Syria, which has a Sunni majority, the Alawite Shiite sect of President Bashar Assad, which has long dominated the government, clings to power amid a bloody civil war. And in Iraq, bitter resentments between the Shiite-led government and Sunni communities have contributed to victories by the Islamic State.
LOS ANGELES  A leaking natural gas well that has displaced thousands of people from a Los Angeles neighborhood lacks a working safety valve that could stop the release of fumes, a lawyer representing residents said.

The valve might not have prevented the months-long leak, but it could have stopped the flow of fumes into the community of Porter Ranch, said attorney Brian Panish, who represents residents suing over the months-long leak.

There would have been a small runoff of some gas and it would have been over, Panish told the Los Angeles Times about how the valve would work. All these people wouldnt have had to leave and they wouldnt be sick.

Southern California Gas Co. confirmed that its well at the Aliso Canyon Underground Storage Facility did not have the deep subsurface valve, the Times reported Monday.

Such a valve is not required by law, company spokeswoman Melissa Bailey told the newspaper via email.

Until the facts are determined and this assessment is completed, it is premature to comment further on the well or the cause of the incident, Bailey said. In the interim, SoCal Gas will continue to focus its efforts on stopping the leak as soon as possible.

Attorneys for residents said the company failed to replace a deep subsurface valve that was removed in 1979.

The leak has forced the relocation of residents who said the stench made them sick. Workers have been unable to plug the leak and instead have undertaken the painstaking task of drilling two relief wells.

Officials with SoCal Gas estimate the new wells may not be finished until the end of February or later.

An amended lawsuit filed against SoCal Gas on Dec. 29 cited failure by the company to follow laws protecting the community and the removal of the safety valve, which would have been at the base of the well about 8,500 feet below the surface.
Meet Mike Wolfe, the man who has not only embraced his bushy back, but also uses it as a means of creative expression. He comes up with quirky designs and gets his old friend Tyler Harding to manscape them into his back hair every few months.

Up until a few years ago, Mike, like millions of other men, was embarrassed by the thick overgrowth on his back and felt compelled to get rid of it. In fact, he was actually afraid to admit it to his wife on their first date 16 years ago.

He said, I have to tell you something, recalled Jamie, Mikes wife. And Im kind of getting nervous, my hearts beating a little bit. He leans over and whispers, Ive got back hair.

Photo: KTVB

But when he reached the wise old age of 35, Mike decided that it was finally his turn to shine. So instead of shunning his back hair, he set up a salon of sorts in his garage, where he could use all that hair to do something creative. He started with a sketch, and got Tyler Harding, an old friend from college, to carve the design into his back hair. This was in 2008.

Mike says that he had to work up the courage to ask Tyler for help, given the rather delicate nature of his request. But he finally did and Tyler agreed to do it right away. I said, Hey, Tyler, I need an American Flag on my back, and he just laughed and said, I got this, Mike recalled. They called that first creation Am-hair-ica the Beautiful, and they havent looked back since.

Photo: Mike Wolfe/CalendHAIR

It takes Mike four months to grow out the canvas of hair on his back, after which Tyler gets down to trimming it into a recognisable pattern. He then photographs his creation and all the pictures go towards the making of their annual project  CalendHAIR. Each month has a different theme  Happy New YHAIR for JanuHAIRY, HAIRpid for FebruHAIRY, EastHAIR Bunny for April and so on. The 2016 CalendHAIR is priced at $20 in the US an $30 in other countries.

Tyler, who used to be a graphic artist but now works as the assistant principal at Caldwell High School, said: Im just trying to find my niche, trying to find what feels good.

Photo: Mike Wolfe/CalendHAIR

Its disgusting, Mike added. But its funny. You cant deny its funny.

Meanwhile, Jamie thinks its all because of her: Maybe I shouldnt have given him so much confidence in his back hair.

Some of the proceeds from the sale of CalendHAIR will be donated to Gates of Hope, a charity that helps an orphanage in Kenya. And Mike and Tyler plan to spend the rest on a Hair-cation of a Wife-time for them and their wives who have put up with all their nonsense.

via KTVB
A new bar in Melbourne is dedicated entirely to the balding and temperamental Seinfeld character George Costanza. Georges Bar, located in the north-east suburb of Fitzroy, features Costanza-inspired decor, including posters and quotes. A sign outside the bar even encourages patrons to Be more like George.

The owners came up with the idea because they like Seinfeld and couldnt get over how perfect George was as a bar theme. I think he is probably the most suited of any of the characters, explained co-owner Dave Barrett. His humour is fairly dark and dry and fits in with a bar, it probably works more than any of the other characters would.

Also, when we were developing this new venue, one of the names we came up with was Georges, and we to some extent worked backwards on ways to market that and so to some extent that is where George Costanza came into it as well, he added. Their marketing strategy has apparently worked  barely two weeks after opening, stories about the quirky theme have gone viral online.

Photo: Tumblr

Some of the Costanza-inspired decor includes quotes like If you believe it, its not a lie, and Everyone must like me, I must be liked. The theme has influenced the menu as well, with dishes like $5 toasties because George is a bit tight on paying for things. All the toasties are named after him  the Castanza, the Mom and Pop, the Quitter, the Art Vandalay.

Photo: Georges Bar/Instagram

Well be continually doing things and layering the theme, Barrett added. Theres a whole bunch of autographed photos Ive bought that are all in transit, that will all get added to as well. The owners also have plans to bring in Costanza-inspired artwork from local artists in the future. One guy contacted me last night who lives in Melbourne and who is in the middle of eight different George Costanza paintings. We are talking about doing a show with him.

Photo: Georges Bar/Instagram

Despite the homage hes paying to a popular character of a hit show, Barrett says hes aware that its not solely going to contribute to the success of his bar. Cheesy bars in Melbourne arent really a thing, he said. After 20 years in this business I think Ive figured that out so were making it a solid bar in its own right as well.

Photo: Georges Bar/Facebook

Sources: The Sydney Morning Herald, The New Daily
Jessica Del Guercio

Lifestyle publicist Jessica Del Guercio has launched a new agency, Evoke Marketing.

The boutique New York shop will focus on food/beverage, travel and lifestyle PR and social media services, with an emphasis on hotels and restaurant openings.

Evoke Founder Del Guercio, who also serves as Managing Partner, was previously Director at Current, which she joined in 2014. At Current Del Guercio handled accounts such as the Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau, The Setai Miami Beach and Azamara Club Cruises. Prior to Current, Del Guercio was Senior Account Supervisor of Travel at Magrino, where she worked with Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts, The Ranch at Live Oak/Malibu, Philadelphias Rittenhouse, and the Castle Hill Inn in Newport, RI.

Evoke recently signed on two clients: Mochidoki, a New York-based Japanese ice cream company; and Cooperstown Distillery, an Upstate New York micro-distillery that offers handcrafted spirits. The agency also works with Upstate camping retreat Orenda, and the Adirondack Brewery, a microbrewery located in Lake George, New York.

Evokes new headquarters is located in New York Citys Murray Hill neighborhood.
The previous poll on Eastern NC NOW showcased what are many of OUR Constitutional Republic's certain obstacles to remain viable, where the top encumbrance to that continuance as a functioning Republic was the Biden /Harris Wide Open Southern Border. Understanding this overwhelming concern to real America citizens: Do you believe it important to challenge the veracity of those legislated concerns of Democratic Socialists by transporting Illegal Migrants to their Sanctuary cities, counties and states for their direct care?

Yes; test the depth of their sense of well being by giving Democratic Socialists an opportunity to enact all Sanctuary provisions in their communities to test how much they truly do care.

No; the Biden /Harris Wide Open Southern Border Project is designed to only inundate "Red States" to begin their Demographic Upheaval for the benefit of we Democratic Socialists, our politics.
Throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it mattered most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph. Haile Selassie
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Students studying Warren Buffetts investment philosophy have picked 10 companies that they think he would like, and a special $50,000 portfolio fund at the University of Nebraska Foundation puts up the money to see if theyre right.

With Buffetts concepts in mind, teams of graduate students at the universitys Omaha business school compile information about companies that might attract investments by Berkshire Hathaway Inc., the conglomerate that Buffett heads.

If a teams research report earns a top grade, the portfolio buys shares in the company, using the donated money to give the students a real-life chance to invest like Buffett.

Since the investment fund started in the fall of 2013, seven of the 10 choices are in the red, including one that has dropped by half and two that are down by one-third. The biggest winner of the bunch has gained about 19 percent.

The 10 picks are very Buffett-esque, but its not easy to duplicate Buffetts success, said Robert Miles, who has written books about Buffett and who teaches the class, titled the Genius of Warren Buffett. The University of Nebraska at Omaha class is part of the College of Business Administrations executive MBA program.

I dont think most of them will beat Berkshire Hathaway, Miles said, because Berkshire has more financial resources and decades of stock-picking experience by Buffett and his two money managers, Ted Weschler and Todd Combs. They spend hundreds of hours evaluating potential investments before making a choice.

These students have had 36 hours of training, Miles said. Theyre better off being an anesthesiologist or working for Gallup or the power company.

As for the results so far, he said, I would say, more time, please.

The stocks in the fund will remain in the portfolio for at least 10 years. Thats in keeping with the long-term focus of investments by Buffett, an advocate of the joys of compounding who has said his favorite period for holding an investment is forever.

You dont flip these things, Miles said. You buy them and hold them.

Andrew Gassman, who sells advertising for Cox Media, took the Buffett class in the fall of 2014 and graduated in 2015 with an MBA.

His Buffett team picked Cummins Inc., an industrial engine manufacturer, as a potential Berkshire investment. He believed in the research results so strongly that he bought shares of Cummins stock himself.

Its been a tough year for them, he said, with the stock price down nearly 40 percent in 2015 because of a slump in global manufacturing. It hasnt done really well this year, but our investment was a long-term type of thing. I fully expect it to be a strong play.

The teams research was a good starting point, Gassman said. It helped me immensely understand the value of a company and the methods of valuation, some of the foundational beliefs that Warren tries to use.

But he said the students work was compressed to produce a presentation by the class deadline. It may not be as much time as you would spend if it was your own money you were playing with. Its always good to do your own research.

The Genius of Buffett Fund was Miles idea, and he has donated $29,000 since it started. Others have made donations, too, including UNO Business Dean Louis Pol and his wife, Janet, and former students of the class.

Before the fund started, one of the student teams chose Deere & Co. as a Berkshire-style investment. A few weeks later, Berkshire announced that it had, indeed, purchased Deere stock.

It was proof that its possible to teach Buffetts methods, Miles said.

The students look for companies that would meet Berkshire investment requirements, including factors such as being large, understandable businesses with high profits and having good management and durable competitive advantages.

Buffett says such characteristics are hallmarks of a company that can succeed over 10 or 20 years, or longer, and eventually its stock price will reflect its true long-term value.

Sue Kutschkau, a development director for the University of Nebraska Foundation, said setting up the fund to hold the investments was an exception approved by the foundations board of directors.

Generally, when we get a stock, we sell it right away, she said, and put the money into the foundations regular accounts. But because the Genius of Buffett Fund has an educational role, the foundations leaders agreed to let the stocks ride as a separate portfolio.

In promotional material seeking donations to the fund, a disclaimer says that the fund isnt likely to outperform a low-cost stock index fund or Berkshire stock and that the university doesnt recommend or guarantee any of the stocks in the portfolio.

Nor is the fund affiliated with or reviewed by Buffett or Berkshire, the university says, adding that the fund is for educational purposes only.

After 10 years, up to 10 percent of the portfolio will be sold, with the proceeds going to support the executive MBA program and the rest held to generate future support.

The cash and the stocks are held in a TD Ameritrade account, overseen by David Volkman, chairman of the colleges finance department.

Volkman said the shares performance so far has a lot to do with oil-related stocks and the declining price of petroleum, not with the analysis of the companies long-term prospects by the students, presented in reports of 40 or more pages.

They do an excellent job, he said. Nobody has a crystal ball, but their long-term analysis shows that even though stocks may go down at some time, typically the good companies will come back.

I expect after 10 years the portfolio will have a very attractive return. I have a feeling theyre not going to outperform Berkshire Hathaway, but it will be interesting to watch and see.

The Buffett course attracts for-credit and noncredit students. In the spring, the sessions are scheduled around Berkshires annual shareholder meeting. Spring enrollment reflects the presence of shareholders who come to Omaha from around the country and from many foreign nations.

Volkman said teams with foreign students often write research reports about businesses that arent traded in the United States (like a Brazilian tugboat company). If shares of foreign companies trade in U.S. markets, theyre potential investments for the class.

Of the 10 investments so far, four are based in other countries  Ireland, India, South Africa and the United Kingdom.

Each semester, a trio of judges picks the team that makes the best research presentation. The winners split a $1,000 scholarship, also from Miles.

The fall 2015 class was small  four men and four women  and the mens team won with its presentation about U-Hauls parent company, Amerco. But the mens tuition was paid through their employers or the GI Bill, and two of the women also had their tuition paid.

So the men deferred the prize to a woman who was paying her own tuition and to a single mother, who each received $500. Said Miles: It was very moving.

The Omaha World-Herald Co. is owned by Berkshire Hathaway Inc.

* * *

Students in the Genius of Warren Buffett class at the University of Nebraska at Omaha used Buffetts investing philosophy to pick these stocks. Shares, purchased using donated money, are to be held and dividends reinvested for 10 years. The returns are the percentage gains or losses since purchase. The fund also invests in Berkshire Hathaway Inc. stock, which is down 2.21 percent since the fund began.

How their investments are doing BP plc. -32.93% Based in London; explores, produces, processes and sells petroleum-based and energy products and services Caterpillar Inc. -36.27% Peoria, Illinois; manufactures and distributes equipment for construction, mining, transportation and industry Express Scripts Holding Co. 18.78% St. Louis; provides pharmacy benefit management services in North America Eaton Corp. -23.07% Dublin; manages power equipment for electrical, industrial, residential, hydraulic, vehicle and other markets International Flavors & Fragrances 4.89% New York City; creates, manufactures and supplies flavors and fragrances for consumer markets Kellogg Co. 11.92% Battle Creek, Michigan; manufactures and markets ready-to-eat cereal and convenience foods McKesson Corp. 2.29% San Francisco; delivers pharmaceu-ticals, medical supplies, health and beauty care products and health care Principal Financial Group Inc. -18.79% Des Moines; provides retirement, asset management, insurance and related financial services Sasol Ltd. -52.57% Johannesburg; operates integrated energy and petrochemical businesses Tata Motors Ltd. -39.73% Mumbai, India; develops, manufactures, sells and exports passenger and commercial vehicles Source: Genius of Warren Buffett Fund
LINCOLN  The federal judge from Nebraska who emerged as the talk of the legal community before retiring his controversial blog last year is sounding off on social media once again.

Senior U.S. District Judge Richard Kopf has recently been contributing to a blog titled Fault Lines, which defines its mission as monitoring the cracks in Americas criminal justice system. Kopf said he will reflect on general legal topics and stay away from the day-to-day workings of the courtroom, which some court staff members thought unsuitable for public dissemination.

Scott Greenfield, a New York defense attorney and popular legal blogger, encouraged Kopf to give up his brief writing hiatus. Greenfield said Kopfs willingness to let lawyers and laypeople get a glimpse of judges beyond their written opinions or scholarly contributions helps encourage a better understanding of the legal system.

Losing Judge Kopfs writing would be a huge loss for the law, Greenfield said.

Kopf also has launched an Internet column, in which he shares personal vignettes about his life as a husband and father and days spent practicing law. He calls the blog Wednesdays with the Decently Profane.

Since I had been previously indecently profane, I thought the play on words would be fun, Kopf said in an interview.

He was referring to his blog, which he maintained from February 2013 until July 2015. The blog was called Hercules and the Umpire. In it, Kopf described his job as a federal trial judge and in the process he traded the judicial code of silence for what amounted to a digital bullhorn.

There was the time he suggested that Congress go to hell over a budget stalemate that threatened to shut down the government. Or the posting in which he described himself as a dirty old man for leering at a young female attorney and then telling her to tone down her fashion choices or risk being called an ignorant slut behind your back.

Kopf also wrote that it was time for the Supreme Court to stfu, an acronym for shut the (expletive) up.

But the one that got him in hot water involved his view that Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz  based on Cruzs statements about the judiciary  wasnt fit to hold the office. A George Washington University law professor called out Kopf, saying the judge had violated a conduct rule that prohibits judges from opposing or endorsing political candidates.

It crossed the line and I owned up to it, Kopf said, referring to an apology he published on the blog. But by July, he announced Hercules was done, a decision prompted by general agreement among court staff members that the blog was an embarrassment.

While the blog is dead and wont be resurrected, Kopf said, he never vowed to quit writing. In September, he started contributing to Fault Lines, where hes one of several contributors.

So far, his posts have addressed confusion in federal sentencing guidelines, defended federal prosecutors as generally ethical and forcefully denounced the danger of angry political rhetoric being directed at Muslim-Americans. His postings tend to involve more technically legal discussions, but they are still marked by his colorful opinions, humorous asides and penchant for profanity.

He launched his personal blog in October. Among the posts on Decently Profane are one in which he describes losing his son in a dust devil and another where he tells about the Christmas morning he disappointed his young daughter by failing to properly construct her toy pony the night before.

Greenfield, the New York attorney, said that while a few other judges will write posts that more closely resemble law review articles, Kopf is the only guy with a gavel willing to really put himself out there.

Having a judge expose his human frailties and strengths makes some people feel awkward, Greenfield said. But its also what allows people to see that judges arent just cogs in a machine, but human beings who try to do their best to be fair.

Some people get stuck on the frailties, that judges were supposed to maintain that degree of circumspection that would keep them aloof from the rest of humanity, he said. Others, myself included, see Judge Kopf as doing an enormous service to the law and the judiciary by removing the cloak of secrecy.

Thats a view with which Kopf, 69, agrees. When he started blogging, he wanted to practice his love of writing while bringing some transparency to the judicial branch. He quoted federal Judge Richard Posner, who said the public knows more about the CIA than they do about the federal judiciary.

We literally have a monopoly on the third branch of government, Kopf said. Think about that. In a democracy, thats not a particularly good thing. Thus, in my view, the more transparent judges can be, the better we all are.

Contact the writer: 402-473-9587, joe.duggan@owh.com
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of a prominent opposition Shiite cleric.

Sudan and the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain said they would sever ties with Iran, as Saudi Arabia did late Sunday. Within hours, the United Arab Emirates announced it would downgrade ties to Tehran to the level of the charge d'affaires and would only focus on economic issues. Somalia also issued a statement criticizing Iran.

The execution Saturday of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges the largest mass execution carried out by Saudi Arabia since 1980 laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region. Shiite protesters took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan, while Arab allies of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia lined up behind the kingdom.

The escalating tensions between the two longtime regional rivals looks to further imperil efforts to end the wars in Syria and Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and Iran back rival sides.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in the Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

Bahrain's Sunni monarchy, which quashed mass protests by the Shiite majority in 2011 with the help of Saudi and Emirati forces, enjoys particularly close relations with Saudi Arabia, and shares Riyadh's view that Shiite Iran is intent on destabilizing the region through its various proxies.

Bahraini officials have accused Iran of training militants and attempting to smuggle arms into the country, which hosts the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet. In October, Bahrain ordered the acting Iranian charge d'affaires to leave within 72 hours and recalled its own ambassador after alleging Iran sponsored "subversion" and "terrorism" and funneled arms to militants.

Sudan's Foreign Ministry announced an "immediate severing of ties" over the diplomatic mission attacks. The statement carried by its state-run news agency said it made the decision in "solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the face of Iranian schemes."

The UAE, a country of seven emirates, has a long trading history with Iran and is home to many ethnic Iranians. It said it would reduce the number of diplomats in Iran and would recall its ambassador "in the light of Iran's continuous interference in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states, which has reached unprecedented levels."

Somalia also criticized the attack on Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran as a "flagrant violation" of international law.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the cut in relations late Sunday and gave Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country.

All Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran have been called home.

Monday, Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority suspended all flights to and from Iran, saying the move was based on the kingdom's severing of diplomatic ties.

The move was likely to affect the annual hajj pilgrimage. Lawmaker Mohammad Ali Esfanani, spokesman of the Judicial and Legal Committee of the Iranian parliament, said security issues and the fact that Iranian pilgrims wouldn't have consular protection inside the kingdom made halting the pilgrimage likely, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Both Saudi Arabia and Iran have yet to make any formal announcement about how the diplomatic spat would affect the hajj, a pilgrimage to Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life. The hajj this year likely will begin in early September, though Muslims travel to the holy sites all year long.

When Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran from 1988 to 1991, Iran stopped its pilgrims from attending the hajj. With Saudi diplomatic missions closed in Iran, it will make it difficult for Iranians to get visas for the hajj.

World powers have sought to calm the tensions.

Germany called on both sides to mend ties, with government spokesman Steffen Seibert telling reporters that "relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran are of fundamental importance for solving the crises in Syria and Yemen, and for the stability of the entire region."

A Russian state news agency on Monday quoting an unnamed senior diplomat as saying Moscow is ready to act as a mediator in the escalating conflict. RIA Novosti did not say whether Moscow had made the mediation proposal to either side.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration believes "diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences."

"We will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," Kirby said.

Earlier Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats," according to a statement.

The disruption in relations may have implications for peace efforts in Syria.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and others spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at ending the civil war.

Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin in mid-January.

Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Saudi Arabia supports the rebels trying to overthrow him.

Meanwhile, al-Nimr's family is holding three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya village in the kingdom's al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikh's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery.

Early Monday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said a shooting targeting security forces in the village killed a man and wounded a child. It offered no motive for the attack, nor for another it said saw a mob beat and briefly kidnap a man driving through the area.

Copyright 2016 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Strong action by the United States and our allies against the Islamic State is justified and crucial. The Islamic State poses a major international security threat. At the same time, the American public should be under no illusion about the enormous difficulties of restoring stability in Syria, if and when a peace settlement someday is achieved.

Recent reports have described the scale of destruction and chaos in that Middle Eastern country. The specifics, starting with deaths exceeding 250,000, are staggering.

Almost 14 million Syrians can no longer feed themselves, Robin Wright, a longtime analyst on the Middle East, wrote in The New Yorker. More than half are unable to access basic necessities.

Some 14,000 schools are damaged or destroyed. More than 3 million children, traumatized by the war, have no access to education. A whole generation is being lost, Wright says.

Wright reports that the grand city of Aleppo  the formerly bustling heart of commerce, often likened to New York but dating back at least five millennia  is now compared to Stalingrad, because of its devastation.

Foreign Policy magazine says construction and investment estimates for rebuilding the country approach $300 billion, a figure eight times what our government committed to the reconstruction of Iraq.

Eastern Syrian cities and villages outside the immediate war zone are packed with nearly 7 million refugees, outstripping the ability to provide many with basic services  which is why the Syrian regime opened its borders, facilitating the exodus of Syrian refugees into Europe.

Damascus, Syrias capital, and its suburbs now host a population of displaced persons exceeding 1.6 million, a number approaching that of all of Nebraska. The Foreign Policy article described the travails of a displaced woman and her family in Damascus.

We are going back to Stone Age life, she lamented.

The devastation and loss of life are nearly beyond imagining, and the responsibility lies squarely with the Islamic State as well as the government of Bashar Assad. Both have demonstrated no hesitation about launching massive assaults on civilians.

As if all this wasnt terrible enough, there are additional challenges. The war has spurred the proliferation of hundreds of militias without clear loyalties. Some control no more than a neighborhood, Wright reports, but the culture of warlordism has become pervasive.

Yet another worry is Syrias long history of internal divisions, now greatly worsened by the war. Communities and even families have split in terms of their loyalties. Can a population so divided ever forge a stable political system that doesnt entail a dictatorship? Wright asks.

Syria lamentably seems destined for tumult for a long while to come. This will spur big challenges for the Syrian people and our allies in the region and for our own country as well.

Its important for Americans to understand the scale of this situation.
Questiones unanswered in Pathankot terror attacks

Feature

oi-Staff

By Staff

Even when the security forces are battling two terrorists, reportedly holed up in officer's quarters, numerous questions continue to engage Indian minds.

Especially after the Gurudaspur attacks, merely 39 kilometers from the present infiltration scene, a heightened security was expected. However, much to the dismay of Indians, security lapses marred this inciden too. Barring that, there are innumerable other questions that still remain unanswered.

Time of the attack

Did the time of the attack, specifically when State premiers were shaking hands and signing deals for a heightened security and better border administration, mean anything?

[Read: Pathankot attack: Operations on to kill remaining terrorists, says IAF]

While there are ample chances that the attack was masterminded by the ISI, which is unhappy with the 'ties' that lay in future. It can be said that the attack would now divert the attention on the blame game that both the countries are in the habit of playing, thus delaying the friendly ties.

The question now arises, who might benefit from weaker ties?

The uniform and the strategy

The border is porous, agreed, but not when there is constant patrol going on. The BSF said that they had physically checked the entire Punjab border area, but there was not a single evidence that the terrorists had entered India from Pakistan via the Punjab border.

[Read: Timeline of Pathankot terror attack]

Mwanwhile, Punjab Police, in its initial investigation said that the terrorists may have used the river area along the Indo-Pak border of Punjab to enter the Indian territories. If that is the case, how did they go undetected?

Moreover, how did they get the uniform? Getting an army uniform is not easy.

Number of terrorists uncertain: 5 or more?

Rajnath Singh's Tweet on Day 1 brew up a lot of debate. News made rounds that all five terrorists were neutralised, only to be contradicted when there were fresh rounds of firing, killing 2 people.

So there were more? Police, the NSG or the IAF are yet to come up with an answer as the operation rolls into its fourth day. Sources now believe that there may have been two groups of terrorists infiltrating the premises.

Pathankot terror strikes leaves us with fewer bravehearts]

Were there no security checks? Granted, that they were had army fatigues on, but a huge contingent entering the premises together (without any prior official notice) should have drawn attention. Moreover, how come that Pakistani miitants are at ease trespassing the border and moutning high walls without being noticed and the Indian army can do nothing.

Some also believe that the militants had hoodwinked the security officials by trespassing the premises in small groups and waiting for the right time to strike.

Audacity or planned action?

In this case, their journey was more vulnerable and in broad daylight. After crossing the border, they hike and in this case, they summoned a taxi and later hijack Punjab Police SP Salwinder Singh's vehicle.

The official immideately informed the nearby defence encampments, which took more than 12 hours to reach the spot.

Indeed, Pakistani agencies knew exactly when and how to strike as if it is a daily affair.

The second question that arises here is why did the terrorists not strike civilians, schools of bazaars that would have given mass casualty. Experts believe that terrorists have bigger targets so that they remain in media attention. While they make big headlines, the shelf life of these stories is short. That way, the Jammu and Kashmir issue will continue to simmer.

[Read: Pathankot attack: How the intelligence was picked up and deciphered]

All said and done, India has failed to learn from the previous instances. Months ago, the Gurudaspur incident acted as an eye opener, only to be forgotten. Surely, the defence forced will have to sharpen their memories and learn from their past mistakes.
Fact Check: Is RBI planning to introduce currency notes with photos of APJ Kalam, Tagore?

Billion Beats spreads Kalams aura at Childrens Science Congress

India

oi-Oneindia

By OneIndia Defence Bureau

Mysuru, Jan 04: Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, the superstar of Indian Science Congress' (ISC) till last year, was given a fitting tribute in Mysuru today.

During the inaugural session of Children's Science Congress at the majestic amphitheatre of University of Mysore (UoM), a special edition of Billion Beats, an e-paper capturing the success stories of unsung heroes, was launched.

Prof John B Gurdon, Nobel Laureate, Cambridge University, UK and University of Mysore VC Prof K S Rangappa released the issue in the presence of thousands of students from across various part of the country.

Billion Beats, a pet publication that was closer to the heart of Dr Kalam, was relaunched on Children's Day in 2015 at House of Kalam in Rameswaram.

[Fisherman's daughter releases Dr Kalam's e-paper Billion Beats on Children's Day]

Organisers moved by House of Kalam's gesture

Every speaker at the 103rd Indian Science Congress (103ISC), including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, paid their rich tributes to Dr Kalam.

In his inaugural address on January 3, Modi said no one in India was as passionate as Dr Kalam in taking Science and Technology to common man.

"Dr Kalam's life was an outstanding one filled with scientific achievements. His was a heart of boundless compassion and concern for humanity.

For him, the highest purpose of science was the transformation of the life of the weak, the under-privileged and the youth.

And, his life's mission was a self-reliant and a self-assured India that was strong and cared for its people. Your theme for this Congress is a fitting tribute to his vision," the PM had said yesterday.

[PM Modi chants 5E mantra to S&T brains in Mysuru]

Prof Rangappa said that the organisers were humbled when House of Kalam agreed to make Dr Kalam's presence felt though Billion Betas.

"It is a very special gesture and you have seen the kind of response it has evoked from everyone present today. We were thoroughly impressed by the simple and inspiring content and couldn't have asked for more from his family," Prof Rangappa told OneIndia.

Published by Bengaluru-based Inspired Indian Foundation, Billion Beats' special edition 103ISC issue has a compilation of Dr Kalam's speeches from precious ISC events. It packed with inspiring stories contributed by Indians, including students, across the globe.

OneIndia News
Ive been gone a while from the blogging scene. Some of my more regular readers no doubt noticed but did not hassle me about it. Thank you for that. Sinc...

6 years ago
Bihar: When asked to take off hijab to check for bluetooth device, Muslim student leaves exam centre

Jungle Raj returns in Bihar? 578 murders reported in state in last 2 months

India

oi-Mukul

New Delhi, Jan 4: It looks like 'Jungle Raj' has once again returned in Bihar. Reportedly, total 578 murders have taken place in last two months since Assembly election held in the state.

It was hoped that nightmares of nineties (notorious for kidnappings and murders) will not be repeated again after Nitish-Lalu led grand alliance came to power in November 2015. But it seems that Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has failed to maintain law and order in the state.

According to report, in last month only 300 cases of murders and kidnappings were came to light.

Since Nitish Kumar came to power, he has been facing flak for deteriorating Law and order condition in the state. Recently a series of case hit the headlines which exposed Nitish government's tall claim and reveald how nefarious elements rule the roost in the state.

On December 26, unidentified assailants shot dead two engineers of a road construction company in Bihar's Darbhanga district. Three days later, another engineer was found dead with injury marks on his body in Vaishali district.

Facing flak from different quarters, both RJD, JD(U) leaders were found blaming each other for deteriorating law and order situation in the Bihar.

Targetting incumbent Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Raghubansh Prasad Singh who is vice-president of the RJD said, "Sensational murders of engineers in Bihar recently have proved that law and order is not good in the state".

Putting whole responsibility for rising crime rate in the State on JD(U), leader absolved RJD's role in it. He said, "JD(U) people are in the habit of hearing 'jay kaar' (hailing words) which they should end and take strong measures to rein in crime causing disturbance to people."

Later, senior JD(U) leader and former minister Shyam Rajak said Nitish Kumar has the track record of pulling Bihar out of bad days and, hence, needed no advise on law and order situation.

OneIndia news
Mopping operation continues at Pathankot air base

India

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Pathankot (Punjab), Jan 4: Search and combing operation by security forces continued at the Indian Air Force (IAF) base here on Monday morning, over 52 hours after terrorists attacked the frontline air base in Pathankot town of Punjab.

NSG and Army commandos conducted a thorough mopping of the entire area where the terrorists, suspected to be from Pakistan, had been cornered, police said.

Firing could be heard during the night and Monday morning. Officials said this firing could be linked to the mopping operation.

IAF helicopters flew through the night over the air base to assist ground forces in the counter offensive against the terrorists.

Army and para-military forces have surrounded the entire air force base, which is spread in a huge area.

Four terrorists were killed by security forces on Saturday after a 15-hour long gunfight in which the NSG, Indian Army and IAF commandos were involved, assisted by IAF helicopters.

A gunfight between two more terrorists and security forces continued through Sunday.

Seven security personnel, including one official of the National Security Guard, one IAF Garud commando and five Defence Services Corps (DSC) personnel were killed in the counter-offensive against the terrorists.

"Combing operation continued (on Sunday). This operation is at the completion stage. The operation will continue till the whole air base has been cleared of any intruders," Air Commodore J. S. Dhamoon, the Air Officer Commanding (AOC) of the Pathankot Air Force Station told the media.

Smoke could be seen coming out of the IAF air base in Pathankot, 250 km from Chandigarh, on Sunday evening as the gunfight moved to an end.

IANS
BESCOM Recruitment 2022: Apply for 400 Apprentice posts; Check eligibility and more

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News Flash: Will give Pak a fitting reply if it continues spreading terror in India: Gadkari

India

oi-Oneindia

By Oneindia Staff Writer

New Delhi, Jan 4: Occasional sound of firing could be heard from inside as search and combing operations by security forces continued at the Indian Air Force (IAF) base here on Monday, Jan 4, nearly 55 hours after terrorists launched an attack on the frontline facility in Punjab.

Get all the latest national and international news updates of the day here:

10.50 pm: Agar Pakistan aatankwad ka sahara le kar hamare desh me isi prakar ki ghatna karta rahega, to hum eenth ka jawab patthar se denge (If Pakistan will continue spreading terrorism over Indian soil like Pathankot, then we'll give them a fitting reply): Nitin Gadkari.

Agar Pakistan aatankwad ka sahara le kar hamare desh mein isi prakar ki ghatna karta rahega, to hum eenth ka jawab patthar se denge:Gadkari  ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016

9.35 pm: Heartfelt condolences on loss of lives, injuries & damage to property caused by earthquake in Manipur: President Pranab Mukherjee.

9.30 pm: PM Narendra Modi thanked Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani for his message of support at the cross border terrorist attacks and earthquake.

PM deeply appreciated the exemplary bravery & courage of Afghan National Security Forces in thwarting terrorist attack in Mazar-i-Sharif.  ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016

9.00 pm: Saradha chit fund scam case: CBI files supplementary chargesheet. Manoranjana Singh,Sudipto Sen,Santanu Ghosh and other two names included.

8.35 pm: Saudi Arabia will cut off all air traffic between it and Iran, says Saudi foreign minister: Reuters

8.30 pm: Yadav Singh scam case: CBI recovers 2 kg gold from accused Ramendra Singh.

8:22 pm: 20 member team of NIA led by an IG ranking officer has been camping at Pathankot since Jan 2, 2016 to supervise the on-going investigations.

8:15 pm: Three youth who were arrested from Nagpur airport on being suspected of planning to join ISIS, sent to 7 days police remand.

7:55 pm: Pathankot Update: Intermittent firing heard at Air Force base.

7:40 pm: We would encourage NRIs of Uttar Pradesh origin to contribute for the development of the state: Akhilesh Yadav.

7:25 pm: Delhi: Around 600 car owners fined over Odd-Even Formula till 6 pm.

7:15 pm: Bhubaneshwar (Odisha): BJD candle march for martyrs of Pathankot terror attack.

6:45 pm: Operations at the Pathankot air base continued as security forces suspect that two more terrorists may be holed up.

6.32 pm: Mazar-i-Sharif(Afghanistan) attack: Three bodies recovered, three more terrorists believed to be hiding in adjacent building.

6.05 pm: Its unfortunate, in such difficult time, MP Govt will provide whatever assistance required: MP CM on Earthquake.

5.47 pm: President Ghani also briefed PM Modi about terror attack in Mazar -i-Sharif city. PM thanked President Ghani for his support.

5.46 pm: Afghan President Ashraf Ghani calls up Prime Minister Narendra Modi, condemns cross border terrorist attack in Pathankot.

5.42 pm: The operations are still going on, we eliminated the 5th terrorist says NSG Official.

5.41 pm: MoS Home Kiren Rijiju, MoS PMO Jitendra Singh meet Manipur CM Okram Ibobi Singh over Earthquake.

5.40 pm: Let operation get over then Government will take a view-FM Arun Jaitley on Indo-Pak talks.

5.38 pm: Lot has been learnt from Mumbai attacks, this led to our security forces to stop the terrorists at the entrance says FM Arun Jaitley.

5.37 pm: MoS Home Kiren Rijiju conducts aerial survey of areas affected by Earthquake in Imphal.

5.37 pm: The process of recovering the last 2 bodies is going on, security forces over there will brief when bodies recovered says FM.

5.36 pm: Circumference of air base is 24 kilometres, it takes time to comb the area says FM Arun Jaitley.

5.35 pm: Main aim of terrorists was to harm strategic assets in #Pathankot, this was a suicide squad and they were well trained says FM Arun Jaitley.

5.34 pm: All consulate officials in Mazar are safe, latest reports say firing still going on says Arun Jaitley.

5.32 pm: National security council was chaired by PM at 11am, 3 main issues were raised,Mazar i Sharif attack, Pathankot and the NE earthquake says Finance Minister.

5.27 pm: Whatever kind of assistance is required will be forthcoming: Jitendra Singh, MoS PMO.

5.22 pm: Union Minister Jitendra Singh meets victims of #Earthquake at a hospital in Imphal.

5.00 pm: Manipur Govt decides to close all government and private schools for the coming 7 days.

4.58 pm: Fire breaks out in Mumbai's Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Hospital, 5 fire tenders at the spot.

4.43 pm: Government 'mulling options' over Indo-Pak Foreign Secretary Level talks scheduled for Jan 15th in Islamabad.

4.33 pm: Last rites of Subehdar Major (Retd) Fateh Singh in Gurdaspur.

Last rites of Subehdar Major (Retd) Fateh Singh in Gurdaspur #Pathankot pic.twitter.com/vjLFlrvPfm  ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016

4.30 pm: All six terrorists at the Pathankot air force station have been neutralised, sources say. Combing operations however continue.

4.29 pm: Daughter of Subehdar Major (Retd) Fateh Singh pays tribute to her father in Gurdaspur.

4.23 pm: Until there is a structured dialogue between the 2 nations (India & Pak), only diplomatic gestures won't help says Digvijaya Singh.

4. 22 pm: The security forces are trying to retrieve the body of the sixth terrorist. Sources say that the sixth terrorist has been killed, but yet to give an official confirmation.

4.19 pm: Indrani Mukerjea's judicial custody extended till January 16 by special CBI court.

4.12 pm: A team of doctors to be sent to Imphal for medical assistance soon: Kamal Kishor.

4.11 pm: 2 NDRF teams on spot in Imphal: Kamal Kishore (Member,NDMA) on earthquake.

3.55 pm: Terror elements in Pak can't accept India playing a major role in Afghanistan's development says Qamar Agha,Security Expert on Mazar-I-Sharif.

3.54 pm: 7 dead and 52 injured in Manipur earthquake.

3.53 pm: The National Security Advisors of India and Pakistan are likely to meet first before the foreign secretary level talks between the two countries could commence. The NSA level talks are likely to discuss the Pathankot attack first.

3.38 pm: The combing operation to capture or kill the sixth terrorist has commenced at the Pathankot air force station. Officials now confirm that they have killed the 5th terrorist.

3.34 pm: Three arrested with Pak SIM and arms in Punjab had links with smugglers across border,many cases of murder against them.

3.06 pm: Ranjith (IAF official arrested on charges of spying for Pakistan's ISI) sent to 14-days judicial custody.

2.58 pm: Three people arrested with arms, ammunitions and a Pakistan mobile SIM card in Mohali (Punjab).

2.00 pm: Hema Upadhyay murder case: Chintan Upadhyay sent to judicial custody till 11th Jan.

1.20 pm: Mazar-i-Sharif anti-terror operation near Indian consulate.

1.10 pm: We have suggested the legislature to legalize betting with in-built mechanism says Justice RM Lodha on BCCI.

1.05 pm: The visit by the National Security Advisor, Ajit Doval to China on Tuesday, Jan 5, has been put off in the event of the Pathankot attack. Doval was scheduled to visit China on a two day visit starting tomorrow. The NSA has been locked in a series of meetings with the Prime Minister, Defence and External Affairs minister since the attacks at Pathankot commenced on January 2.

12.55 pm: The police is conducting a search operation in a village called Manwal around 4 kilometres away from Pathankot after it was reported by a person that he saw two armed men this morning. There were also reports of a car being snatched, but the same has been dismissed as a rumour. However, no chance are being taken and all angles are being inspected, the Punjab police.

12.51 pm: PM Modi meet with NSA Ajit Doval, Defense Minister Manohar Parrikar, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Senior MEA Officials, ends.

12.40 pm: Security forces are still battling two terrorists who are now holed up in the quarters of air force officials at the Pathankot air force station.

12.30 pm: Suicide bomber detonates himself near Kabul Airport: Afghan Media

12.26 pm: Fresh firing has erupted at the Pathankot air force station. NSG team at the spot says the combing operation is on. The operation is at its final stage says NSG while also adding that all precautions will be taken before declaring the air force station safe.

12.11 pm: Happy to share that whatever discussions we had with Mr.Manohar, he immediately put in action says Justice Lodha on BCCI.

12.10 pm: The Prime Minister, National Security Advisor and the Defence Minister are holding a meeting to review the situation in the wake of the Pathankot terror attack. Additional forces have been sent to Pathankot to flush out the terrorists.

12.05 pm: Saudi Arabia cuts all diplomatic ties with Iran.

12 noon: India's Border security will be reviewed. BSF informs home ministry about infiltration routes into India from Pakistan.

11.55 am: Dutch panel studying Russian role in MH17 crash.

Wreath laying ceremony of Lt Col Niranjan in Bengaluru, tributes being paid #Pathankot pic.twitter.com/7Pq95ncFUt  ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016

11.50 am: Fire breaks out in Naya Nagar slums in Mumbai's Mahim area, five fire tenders rush to the spot.

11.40 am: PM Narendra Modi,Defence Minister Parrikar ,NSA Doval and MEA meeting underway at 7 RCR.

11.33 am: The NIA is questioning Salwinder Singh, the Superintendent of Police of Gurdaspur who was abducted by the terrorists who staged the Pathankot attack.

Last rites of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh in Garnala (Ambala) #Pathankot pic.twitter.com/yM6pu7BvyH  ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016

11.25 am: Istanbul bound Turkish airline flight from Mumbai which was called back for security reasons,to take off shortly.

Wreath laying ceremony of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh in Garnala (Ambala), tributes being paid pic.twitter.com/QoUEGZMki1  ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016

Wreath laying ceremony of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh in Garnala (Ambala) pic.twitter.com/l3LY6fna3f  ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2016

11.00 am: One AN-32 and one Avro of Indian Air Force on the way to Imphal from Guwahati with NDRF team, due to earthquake.

10.30 am: "PM and Home Minister talked to me and offered all possible help", says Okram Ibobi Singh, Manipur CM on earthquake.

10:17 am: Terrorists and security personnel continue to engage in gun fire at the Pathankot air force station. Loud explosions have been reported. The security personnel had indicated yesterday that the operation is at a mature stage.

10:16 am: Mortal remains of Garud Commando Gursewak Singh who lost his life in Pathankot attack, brought to Garnala (Ambala).

10:00 am: National Crisis Management Committee meeting underway to assess the situation after Manipur earthquake.

9:30 am: Children pay tribute to NSG Lt Col Niranjan at Bengaluru's BEL Ground, who lost his life in Pathankot Attack.

9:00 am: We will give compensation- Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah on NSG Lt Col Niranjan who lost his life in Pathankot attack

8:47 am: Family members mourn demise of NSG Lt Col Niranjan as mortal remains arrive at Bengaluru residence Pathankot Attack.

8:45 am: Intermittent firing continued at the Pathankot air force sation where security forces are trying to flush out a surviving terrorist. Fresh troops have also been deployed.

8:38 am: Security deployed outside Indian Air Force Base in Pathankot.

8:34 am: No reports of damage in Arunachal Pradesh so far, CM has sought report from disaster management department: Office of Arunachal CM.

8:19 am: Wall of a building collapsed in Imphal after earthquake hit the region.

8:10 am: NDRF team has been instructed to move from Guwahati to the areas affected by the earthquake: PMO

8:00 am: 35 injured in Imphal after 6.7 magnitude earthquake jolts northeast India, buildings damaged too

OneIndia News
'We demand for RSS to be banned too', says Congress MP on PFI Ban

Now, RSS plans to launch a Christian outfit to earn 'goodwill' of community

India

oi-Mukul

New Delhi, Jan 4: In order to increase its reach among Christian community, Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh is planning to launch its Christian outfit. Reportedly RSS recently held a meeting regarding the same.

Sources said that at the moment Sangh is toying with the idea and wants to form an Christian outfit on the lines of lines of the Muslim Rashtriya Manch.

An event named 'Christmas Message for Love, Peace and Harmony from Indian Soil' was also organized in the presence of several seniors RSS and VHP leaders in Delhi.

When asked about the move, Indresh Kumar, member of RSS' National Executive was quoted by TOI as saying, "On December 17, 4-5 Archbishops, 40-50 Reverend Bishops from across 10 to 12 states met and it was decided to develop a movement. This is preparing the ground to lay the seeds for an organisation".

It is being said that with formation of Christian group, RSS is aiming to earn the 'goodwill' of the community. Experts view the move as an compensatory tactic to douse the fire of intolerance which is bringing bad name to Modi Government. Opposition has been targetting government for not doing enough to earn the confidence of minority.

OneIndia news
Golden intelligence rule: When your cover is blown, you are on your own

Pathankot attack: 2 terrorists provided fire while 4 entered air force station

India

oi-Vicky

Pathankot, Jan 4: New leads in the investigations into the Pathankot terrorist strike suggests that four terrorists entered the air force station using the car that they had stolen from a police officer while two others had reached there in advance.

The NIA which is probing the case has learnt that one of the inmates of the car who was with the Superintendent of Police have overheard that terrorists speaking about a plan to carry out a major strike.

This was also reported by the SP of Gurdaspur, Salwinder Singh to the Punjab police, but was not taken seriously.

Investigations now show that four terrorists used the stolen vehicle to enter the air force station while two others had reached there in advance.

Investigations also suggest that the two terrorists had reached earlier and engaged the security forces while the other four gained entry into the air force station.

It appears as though the two terrorists were providing cover fire for their team members so that they could gain access to the air force station.

The NIA will probe the case in three angles. While one case would relate to the attack itself the other two would be regarding the killing of the taxi driver by the terrorists and the subsequent abduction of the SP.

The NIA would look to gather details on the entry route of the terrorists from Pakistan to India and also see if there were any locals who assisted them.

OneIndia News

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Story first published: Monday, January 4, 2016, 16:56 [IST]
Pathankot attack: How the intelligence was picked up and deciphered

India

oi-Vicky

Pathankot, Jan 4: On Dec 25, 2015, there was chatter that was picked up by the Intelligence Bureau (IB) which suggested a major infiltration bid into India from Pakistan.

There was some amount of confusion over which outfit it would be. On analysing the intelligence, it was felt that an attack could be staged either by the al-Qaeda in the Sub-Continent, Tehrik-e-Taliban or the Jaish-e-Mohammad.

On Dec 26, the intelligence bureau working on these intercepts began to get a clearer picture and it was found that a terrorist group would infiltrate its men into Punjab and there was a major operation being planned on a military installation.

The Chief of the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and the Intelligence Bureau along with the National Security Advisor (NSA), Ajit Doval analysed these intercepts and it was stated that all of them were actionable.

Following this the Border Security Force (BSF) and the Indian Air Force (IAF) were alerted about this intercept and an advisory to step up security was issued.

Who is to blame now?

The job of the Intelligence Bureau is to pick up the alert, analyse it and then issue it once it is confirmed that it is actionable in nature.

The role of a National Security Advisor is to advise the Prime Minister on security related issues.

However, Doval being an intelligence man has taken keen interest in ensuring that there are no intelligence lapses.

The first signals to the BSF and the IAF were issued from Dec 26 onwards. The Home Ministry will seek an explanation from both wings on why the security was not stepped up despite such specific alerts.

How did the terrorists infiltrate and why was the Pathankot air force station not secured?

By December 30, it had become clear that an operation of a major scale was planned by the Jaish-e-Mohammad and they were in particular looking to hit a military base.

The message was sent once again to step up security. In the meantime there were two incidents that took place on Jan 1 in which a taxi driver was killed and a Superintendent of Police abducted.

All this information was analysed and alerts were being issued in a timely fashion. The question now is whose responsibility was it to act on these alerts?

Intelligence Bureau officials say that they are not part of operations and their job is to warn and alert the security forces.

The attack could have been much worse, but due to the alerts the terrorists were kept away from the technical area.

Moreover, it was also ensured that there were no civilian casualties. Had the terrorists been out on the streets, there would have been civilian casualties and it would have been very difficult to contain them.

OneIndia News

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, January 4, 2016, 10:53 [IST]
Pathankot attack: India will give Pakistan 3 days time to act against Jaish-e-Mohammad

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Jan 4: While it was being speculated that India may call off talks with Pakistan following the attack at Pathankot, there is no such decision as yet.

In fact India will wait another three days and tell Pakistan to act against the Jaish-e-Mohammad which is responsible for the attack.

The Punjab police, central intelligence bureau and the National Investigating Agency (NIA) have been instructed to provide all possible inputs and evidence relating to the attack.

The evidence relating to the Jaish-e-Mohammad which is known to operate from Pakistan will be handed over and action sought against the outfit which was also responsible for the Parliament attack in India.

There have been high level meetings that have been held in Delhi since the attack at Pathankot commenced.

While the first one was headed by the Defence Minister, another was chaired by the Prime Minister. During both the meetings it was decided that Pakistan would asked to explain about the role of the JeM.

Further it was also decided that India would tell Pakistan to act against the JeM and make significant arrests in the next three days.

If Pakistan does not act on these demands then a decision on whether to continue with the talks or not will bet taken.

It was decided that India would seek action against the Jaish-e-Mohammad which has been waging war against India.

India will arm itself with evidence which would include call intercepts made by Bhawalpur, Pakistan and also the DNA samples of the terrorists who were gunned down yesterday.

"We will seek the assistance of Pakistan and also urge them to arrest, Maulana Masoor Azhar, the Chief of the Jaish-e-Mohammad," said a senior official.

For India the arrest of Azhar is very important. He was revived recently by the ISI and even moved at least 30 of his men to the PoK.

Azhar is the same person who had planned the Parliament attack following his release in exchange of hostages during the Khandahar hijack.

OneIndia News
Pathankot attack: Who should take responsibility for the lapse?

India

oi-Vicky

Pathankot, Jan 4: Even as security forces continue to engage with terrorists in Pathankot, there are various questions being raised about the response.

Preliminary investigations show that the terrorists had infiltrated into India in two groups. There is clear evidence to show that two vehicles, a Pajero and a Land Cruiser was used to transport the terrorists in Pakistan to the Kathua-Gurdaspur border on December 30th 2015.

It is still unclear as to how many terrorists had infiltrated into India and since the time the attack began on January 2 at 3.30 AM, contradictory numbers have surfaced. [Pathankot attack: Who said what on first terror attack of 2016]

Even Home Minister of India, Rajnath Singh had declared in a tweet that the operation had come to an end with 5 terrorists being killed only to delete that tweet later.

When everyone thought that the operation had come to a close, firing began again on January 4 2016, Sunday and officials said that there were still two terrorists holed up in the Pathankot air force station.

For a change Intelligence was actionable:

One gets to read about Intelligence Bureau alerts being issued every single day. While most of the time these alerts are not entirely actionable, at times these are issued to test the alertness of the police. In the case of Pathankot it was different as the Intelligence was extremely specific.

There is bound to be a blame game very soon over who failed to act, but the fact is that an important installation has come under attack and the security forces are still engaged in a battle for the third day in a row.

A lot has already been written about how the terrorists stole the vehicle of the Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police and even used his phone to make a call.

In addition to this there were four intercepts picked up by the Intelligence Bureau which clearly suggested an attack at Pathankot. After the abduction incident, there was not enough done to trace the terrorists who had a free run for almost 6 hours.

Confusion galore:

The Union Home Ministry has sought a response from both the Punjab police as well as the Border Security Force.

The Punjab police will have to explain why the complaint of the SP was not acted upon. [Punjab police thought Gurdaspur SP was abducted due to personal scuffle]

The BSF on the other hand will have to explain how the infiltration took place in the first place considering that the area the terrorists infiltrated through was highly secure.

It must be recalled that in the month of July 2015, the BSF had deployed additional troops along this border area in question.

Moreover, one must also remember that when the terrorists infiltrated into India to execute the Gurdaspur attack, it was done through the same place.

The NIA which will register a case today will have to find out a lot of details relating to this attack. The first challenge would be how many teams infiltrated into India? Secondly why the complaint and the intelligence was not acted upon.

OneIndia News
Aerial Assassin: How AH-64 E Apache became the world's best Attack helicopter?

Pathankot Terror Attack: Revealed! How was it linked with Modi's surprise visit to Pakistan

India

oi-Nairita

New Delhi, Jan 4: India lost seven of its bravehearts during the terror attack at Indian Air Force (IAF) base in Pathankot, Punjab. Now, it has been reported that the terror attack might have carried out to derail the peace talks between India and Pakistan.

According to a report published by Zee TV, Raheel Sharif, Pakistan Army chief along with Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligences (ISI) allegedly hatched the terror plot.

The media report claimed that Raheel Sharif was unhappy with the progress in peace talks following Narendra Modi's surprise visit to Lahore on Nawaz Sharif's birthday.

[India-Pak heartwarming gesture: When PM Modi touched Pak PM's mother's feet]

The Army chief reportedly wanted to break the tie between the two prime ministers of the neighbouring countries. The terror plot was planned in Rawalpindi, Pakistani and was executed in Pathankot, India.

Pakistan Army chief's aim was to disrupt the upcoming foreign secretary-level talks between India and Pakistan.

Hence, ISI asked the JeM terrorists to carry out attacks outside Jammu and Kashmir. It has been reported that ISI wanted JeM to take the responsibilities of the terror attack.

[Timeline of Pathankot terror attack]

The terror attack, which was planned to take place on Jan 1, hit the air force base in Pathankot on Saturday, Jan 2. More than 10 terrorists infiltrated the border and attacked the IAF base.

A combing operation, which was launched by the Indian security forces in the area on Saturday, is still on.

OneIndia News
Animal Control Officer Cindy Katschke, 52, arrives at the Animal Control office at 7 a.m. sharp, ready for another day of work.

7:30 a.m.

Katschke visits Moore Lane Veterinary Hospital to check on a dog she had picked up after it was hit by a car. Shes saddened to learn that in the night, the dog had passed away. On her way out, she leans down to scratch a canine patients ears. She walks back to her truck and calls the family to give her condolences.

A lot of people dont understand what we do, Katschke said. Last night I was off duty when I was called to that accident. Im just glad I managed to get hold of the owners.

8:34 a.m.

After an hour or so of patrolling, Katschke spots a yellow Labrador wandering the streets near Alkali Creek Elementary. This she calls an on view dog at large sighting. She follows the dog in her truck for nearly 30 minutes, smiling and talking to him, trying to draw him closer. Playfully, the dog lopes along, enjoying this game of cat and mouse.

Hes a playful one, Katschke laughs as the dog manages to escape her catch pole. When you get the chance to laugh in this job, you just gotta laugh.

With the help of a handful of Pupperoni treats, she manages to catch the Lab, who happily jumps into a crate in her truck. She scans him for a microchip and receives contact information for his owner, learning that the pups name is Butch. Half a mile away, she pulls into the driveway of Dan Smith, Butchs owner. After chatting with Smith, she releases Butch, who is all too happy to be home.

You need to be professional and respectful every single day, Katschke said. Youre likely to see the same people over and over again, and they will respect you if you respect them.

10:21 a.m.

Katschke is called to Billings Animal Family Hospital to pick up a stray dog brought in by a good Samaritan. The vet staff greet her by name. The black dachshund mix is shy and nervous, but lets Katschke pick her up and carry her gently to the truck. Katschke learns the dog has no microchip and must be brought back to the office to await a possible owner claiming her.

Im all about trying to educate the people I work with every day, Katschke said. Microchipping, proper training and spaying/neutering their pets: in the end, those are the things that will drastically cut down on euthanizations.

If the dachshund isnt claimed within 72 hours, she will go up for adoption through Yellowstone Valley Animal Shelter.

12:30 p.m.

Katschke escorts a local man to visit his dog who, after showing aggressive behavior and biting someone, is under quarantine at the Animal Control offices. She brings the man back to see his dog and smiles as Snickers whines and jumps with excitement at seeing her owner. Toward the end of his visit, the owner was upset by a number of citations Katschke had to issue him. The owner left angry.

I love my job, Katschke said. But there are days when youre up to here, but you have to learn to let go because this job can be very, very stressful.

Katschke believes in staying alert to and aware of others' emotions.

Some people want to fight, some want to yell and some want to just bawl," she said. "And I have to be able to listen, understand and explain.

1:26 p.m.

Katschke arrives at the Montana State University Billings campus, ready to pick up a stray dog caught wandering the campus. Campus police have locked the dog up in a fenced area. Katschke turns the corner and laughs aloud when she sees a 150-pound (or heavier) Saint Bernard. Speaking in a soft, friendly tone, she leashes him and walks him to the truck. With some help from campus police, she manages to wrestle the big nervous dog into the back of her truck.

Hes a big boy, she shouts, laughing as she tries to coax the Saint Bernard into her truck.

After rubbing his ears, she checks him for a microchip. Finding nothing, she fills out paperwork to take him back to the office.

1:53 p.m.

Katschke visits a North Side mans home to pick up a cat hes trapped. She gently transfers the tiger feline into a wild box and places it in the truck, another animal to be brought to the office. On an average day, Katschke picks up mostly dogs and cats, but Animal Control responds to calls for more unusual animals like porcupines, skunks, raccoons, rattlesnakes and bats, especially in warmer months.

You never know from day to day, she said. Its a new experience every day because you never know what youll see or do.

2:15 p.m.

After a busy day, Katschke returns to the office to log in the Saint Bernard and trapped cat and complete paperwork from the days incidents. She often takes an extra step and checks with local vets for rabies vaccinations and tries to contact possible owners before taking caught animals to the shelter.

The most important thing in my job is to educate people, she said. Its more than picking up dogs and writing citations. If we can help one person, theyre gonna pass that along and say to their friends, You know, Animal Control does a lot of good.
Swachh Bharat mission: Vadodara readies for cleanliness survey

India

oi-PTI

Vadodara, Jan 4: Vadodara is all set to take part in the 'Swachh Sarvekshan', a cleanliness survey of 75 major cities to begin tomorrow, senior civic officials said today.

"The Union Ministry of Urban Development has commissioned the 'Swachh Sarvekshan' to ensure cleanliness in urban areas, as part of the 'Swachh Bharat' mission," Vadodara Municipal Commissioner H S Patel said.

The survey would cover the state capitals and other cities with a population of over 10 lakh, and assess the cleanliness situation therein, through collection of data from urban local bodies, direct observation and the citizens' feedback, he said.

"The survey would collect the data on work done on the construction of household toilets and community toilets, solid waste management, garbage collection, its disposal and processing among other parameters," he said.

"While Vadodara has made significant progress in sanitation and solid waste management, it does face its fair share of challenges, such as lack of disposal sites for construction rubble," he said.

"We have planned measures for the collection of construction rubble and its disposal at a designated site in Atladara on the outskirts of the city," he said. "We have developed a site at Jambuva locality to resolve the problem of unsegregated garbage," Shailesh Mistry, city's Deputy Municipal Commissioner and in-charge of its solid waste management, said.

The Central government's 'Smart City' programme, under which 98 cities have been chosen, also features Vadodara. Patel said he is hopeful of Vadodara faring well in the survey, adding it would help the city to be included in the list of the 20 cities which would be developed in the first phase of the (Smart City) programme.

He urged the citizens to participate in the survey by giving a missed call on toll-free number 18002672777, and give an account of the sanitation problems they face. The survey would be carried out from January 5-20 by the Quality Council of India, and the results would be declared on January 25, he said.

The other cities of Gujarat which stand to be surveyed under the exercise include Gandhinagar, Ahmedabad, Surat and Rajkot, he added. Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched the 'Swachh Bharat' mission on October 2, 2014 on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi's 145th birth anniversary.

PTI
Aerial Assassin: How AH-64 E Apache became the world's best Attack helicopter?

The importance of Pathankot air force station and why terrorists targetted it

India

oi-Vicky

Pathankot, Jan 4: The Pathankot Air Force Station which is under attack by terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad is a tactically important base for various reasons.

Post this attack there is going to a review of the security and also introspection on how terrorists managed to enter such a highly secure zone.

First and foremost the Pathankot Air Force Station acts as the first line of air defence against any attack from Pakistan.

The air station is located on the tip of Punjab which is around 40 kilometres from the India-Pakistan international border.

The importance of the Pathankot air force station:

The air force station which is part of the Western Air Command houses the 108 Squadron Hawkeyes that fly the MiG-21 fighters and also the 125 Helicopter Unit Gladiators.

An air base that spreads over 75 acres, it has been in action during the wars with Pakistan. It has always been the first target of the Pakistanis and an attack on the air base was carried out during the 1965 war.

In the 1971 war Pakistan had launched an air strike on this base in which the run way had been damaged.

Further this air base also provides logistic support to operations that are being carried out in Jammu and Kashmir.

The role of this air base is also to provide an operational range for air raids into Pakistan territory. This air base houses the MIG-21 Bison Fighter jets, the MI-25 and MI-35 attack choppers.

Why did terrorists attack Pathankot air base:

The Pathankot air base has been a target of Pakistan is almost every war that it has fought with India.

The Air Force station is often considered as the Pride of India and hence making a favoured target of Pakistan based militants as well.

The attack on the air force station was an audacious one and would classify as a spectacular attack in terrorist terminology.

While India has lost 7 brave soldiers, the battle against terrorists who come to die is never easy. They have nothing to lose as they are prepared to die which makes the battles against the fidayeens even more difficult.

The choice of Pathankot by the Jaish-e-Mohammad was with an intention of testing the security mechanism and also to cause embarrassment.

For any terrorist organisation an attack on a military installation or base is considered to be a huge moral victory as it determines the strength of the outfit.

OneIndia News
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Police checkpoints along Jammu-Pathankot highway alerted after carjacking in Punjab

Grenade blast near Pathankot, all check-posts put on high alert

Probe underway following grenade explosion at Pathankot

Timeline of Pathankot terror attack

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Jan 4: Here is timeline of Pathankot terror attack.

December 30 2015: Six terrorists of the Jaish-e-Mohammad enter India through the Kathua-Gurdaspur border in Punjab.

January 1, 2016:

At around 8 PM, terrorists hire a taxi booked on a Pakistan number. They kill the taxi driver by slitting his throat.

At around 9.30 PM, terrorists abduct Gurdaspur Superintendent of Police, Salwinder Singh. They drive for 20 kiolmetres before asking SP to get off. Terrorists steal the official car of the SP.

Terrorists use mobile phone of SP to call handlers in Bhawalpur, Pakistan.

January 2, 2016:

Terrorists proceed towards Pathankot air force station.

At 3 PM, terrorists try entering into air force station, but one terrorist is killed while trying to scale the wall.

At 3.30 PM five other terrorists gain entry into domestic area of air force station where they engage in firing with security personnel.

NSG rushed to Pathankot. NIA team also present.

In the gun battle two IAF personnel and one Garuda commando martyred.

Firing continues all through the day and security forces kill three more terrorists.

Several security personnel are injured in the attack.

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, three service chiefs and NSA convene meeting.

At 6 PM firing stops but combing and search operations continue.

January 3, 2016:

Four security personnel including a Lt. Colonel of the NSG succumb to injuries taking toll up to 7.

At around 12.30 PM firing commences. Security personnel say two more terrorists holed up.

Sounds of heavy fire and grenades being hurled are heard.

Security forces claim one more terrorist killed taking toll up to five.

At 5 PM Home Secretary addresses media and says casualty could have been higher if not for prior intelligence.

IAF officials say operation is at a mature stage and almost coming to a close.

Prime Minister chairs high level meeting to discuss Pathankot attack.

Searching and mopping operations continue.

Pathankot attack: India will give Pakistan 3 days time to act against Jaish-e-Mohammad

Security personnel begin operation to flush out one possible remaining terrorist.

Intermittent firing followed by grenade being hurled at the air force station.

Firing continues and security forces say each terrorist was armed with 6 Kgs of RDX.

Operation still at a mature stage says IAF.

Security kill one more terrorist taking number to 5.

One more terrorist suspected to be holed up.

NSG says that operation is still on, only 5 terrorists killed.

January 5, 2016:

Combing and mopping operations resume.

Charred body found, security forces suspect it is of 6th terrorist.

Body being identified to ascertain if it is sixth terrorist.

Security forces say combing will continue until area completely secure.

OneIndia news
Why Pakistan cannot deny its army link to the Jaish-e-Mohammad

India

oi-Vicky

New Delhi, Jan 4: The role of the investigating agencies in pin-pointing the role of the Pakistan army in the Pathankot terror attack will be a challenge.

Pathankot Terror Attack: Revealed! How was it linked with Modi's surprise visit to Pakistan

First and foremost, Pakistan will deny any role in the attack. While investigating details will spill out in the next couple of days, there is a history that shows the links between the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Pakistan army which cannot be denied.

The Jaish-e-Mohammad was the second most important proxy that the Pakistan army created after the Lashkar-e-Tayiba-e-Tayiba. The Jaish-e-Mohammad was created following the Khandahar hijack of 1999.

It was Brigadier Ijaz Shah, a close aide of General Pervez Musharaff who was handler for Maulana Masood Azhar who founded the JeM. After he was released by India, Azhar returned to Pakistan and announced the formation of the JeM at a press conference in Karachi.

The headquarters at Bhawalpur:

Azhar was an important man for the Pakistan army. Following the decision to launch the JeM, he was given a free hand to recruit youth from across the country. So strong was his influence that in the first round, Azhar managed to rope in 2,000 youth into his fold.

In addition to this he was permitted to send the recruits to the training camps that were being run by the Harkat-ul-Ansar. The role of Azhar was to be restricted to Kashmir. When his men were ready he held a meeting with top army officials in Pakistan who assured to assist his boys with fire cover along the Line of Control during infiltration into Kashmir.

While the relationship was hunky dory it went sour in 2003. The JeM decided to get out of the establishment control. Members of the JeM along with some Pakistan air force personnel decided to carry out an assassination bid on General Pervez Musharaff. When investigations proved the role of the JeM, Azhar was pushed to the wall.

The role played by Kayani:

In the year 2005, the tensions between the JeM and the Pakistan army eased out. General Asfaq Kayani, the chief of the army in Pakistan felt that it was time to ease the relationship. The Pakistan army wanted more proxies to fight against alongside the Taliban in Afghanistan against the Western forces.

Two dedicated camps at Lower Dir and Dir in the Khyber Pakthunkhwa were set up to train new fighters. In these two areas, Kayani called upon the JeM operatives to come forward and train.

Questiones unanswered in Pathankot terror attacks

It was at the same time that the JeM with funds from the Pakistan army set up a recruitment centre at Lahore. During this period the JeM also revived the Al-Rehman trust which helped with the fund raising.

While funds poured in, the JeM became stronger with the complete backing of the Pakistan army. Today JeM is as important a proxy as what the Lashkar-e-Tayiba is.

The JeM has once again been allowed to nurture its anti India tirade. While the focus of the JeM has always been Kashmir, the outfit has also been building up plans to hit other parts of India as well.

The main agenda of an attack by the JeM is to challenge the Indian establishment. The Parliament attack and the Pathankot strike suggests just this. The manner in which the operatives go about the operation also shows the kind of precision they have and the skills to hold up at least 500 security personnel for several days in a row. It all points towards extensive training by the Pakistan army.

OneIndia news

For Breaking News and Instant Updates Allow Notifications

Story first published: Monday, January 4, 2016, 15:47 [IST]
Boy dubbed 'Jihadi Junior' is UK-based female terrorist's son: Report

International

oi-PTI

London, Jan 4: A little boy who appears in a new Islamic State (ISIS) video warning Britain against terror attacks is the son of a female terrorist from east London.

Grace Dare, who was brought up in the UK by a Christian family of Nigerian descent before being radicalised online as "Khadija", is the mother of the little black boy who is seen pointing into the distance and calling for the killing of "unbelievers" in the 11-minute film released yesterday.

Dare's London-based father Henry Dare today confirmed to 'The Daily Telegraph' that the boy in the video is his grandson Isa Dare.

"I was surprised when I saw the picture. It's definitely him. Of course I'm worried but there's nothing I can do now. I'm not angry, I would never have expected it. I just hope someone is trying to bring them back," the London taxi driver told the newspaper.

Grace Dare, an Islamic State member who has in the past expressed a wish to become the first woman to behead a hostage, made her way to Syria in 2012 and married a Swede known as Abu Bakr, who is thought have been killed since.

Her son, dubbed "Jihadi Junior" by British media, is dressed in camouflage and a black headscarf with an ISIS logo on it in the new video.

Last July, 22-year-old Grace "Khadija" Dare had posted a picture on social media of Isa aiming an AK-47 automatic rifle that he seemed only just big enough to lift, the newspaper claims alongside the photograph.

Asked about the police response to his daughter's radicalisation, Henry Dare said: "I said they should watch her. She was a Christian, she went to the local Roman Catholic school. She was Christian until she changed. She fell under the influence of some people when she was going to the mosque. She was very observant."

His wife, Victoria, has earlier spoken about how her daughter changed her first name to Khadija after she began attending the mosque.

She said last year: "I still call her our Grace. I want her back in my life. She is the only child that I have and the devil took her away."

Khadija has since appeared on television documentaries about jihadi brides, saying she missed junk food and Chinese takeaways, but said she would never return home.

She used social media to gloat about the beheading of the American journalist James Foley and said she wanted to be the first British woman to kill an ISIS hostage.

PTI
Poor Indian family in UAE living like prisoners get help

India accuses Pakistan of inciting secessionist tendencies during ongoing visit of pilgrims

17 killed in Dubai bus accident, eight Indians among dead

Indian consulate in Afghanistan attacked, two terrorists killed (Fourth Lead)

International

oi-IANS

By Ians English

Kabul, Jan 4: A group of armed men late Sunday attacked the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif, the capital of northern Balkh province, the provincial governor spokesperson told media.

Officials said attackers have taken up positions inside a residential home located in front of the Indian mission and are firing on the consulate.

"The number of attackers were 4, two of them killed but not confirmed by police yet," Afghan news agency Pajhwok Afghan News said in a tweet.

"Two attackers were killed in fighting after insurgents attacked Indian consulate in Mazarisharif city," it said in an earlier tweet.

Sources told Xinhua news agency that there were no casualties on the Indian side.

"Two of the four militants, who targeted the three-member consulate, have been gunned down by Afghan special forces," the sources said.

In a series of tweets, Pajhwok Afghan News earlier said: "Police confirmed blast in gun fires in PD4 near to #Indian consulate in #Afghanistan's Mazar-i-Sharif city."

"Balkh governor spokesman told Pajhwok that attackers entered a house and firing on Indian Consulate in Maza-i-Sharif city."

"Police says, no casualties were reported yet from attack on #Indian Consulate in Maza-i-Sharif city."

"Gun fires resumed after armed people attacked #Indian Consulate in MazairSharif city."

BBC also said explosions and gunfire were heard near the Indian consulate.

The report said it was not immediately clear whether the consulate was directly targeted, as the area also has a building belonging to a local politician.

Indian diplomatic missions in Afghanistan have come under militant attacks earlier too. In 2008 and 2009, the embassy in Kabul was attacked, leaving dozens dead.

In May 2014, gunmen attacked the Indian consulate in Herat, while in August 2013, nine civilians died when the consulate in Jalalabad was targeted.

IANS
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by  Graham Pierrepoint



Facebook, occasionally, has a tendency to really spawn one or two big memes or crazes which, on the face of it, seem fairly unremarkable. Only recently we have witnessed the mass sharing of the photo of a seemingly unassuming dress, with droves of people claiming it to be either white and gold or black and blue. Its hardly a news-shattering piece, but having found its way to Facebook from social blogging platform Tumblr, it is a fantastic example of even the simplest of stories, photos or even puzzles going viral  often for the silliest of reasons!

A trend that has been doing the social rounds this holiday season is one that you may well have seen already  that is, find the panda. In a Wheres Waldo style illustration, Hungarian artist Gergely Dudas asked his Facebook followers to find a lone panda in his cartoon illustration of a crowd of snowmen  some of them dressed more interestingly than others  and, to many, its been a monumental task! However, in an interesting twist, some Facebook users appear to have found the allegedly sneaky bear in a matter of seconds  making some people wonder if the challenge is less to do with the actual difficulty of the picture, and more to do with individual perception skills.

The picture went viral and, in response to the sheer amount of people taking on the panda challenge, Dudas decided to treat his fans and followers to another test  find the one cat amongst a legion of owls! While its a similar concept, some stated that this picture was a little trickier, as the physical difference between the cat and the owls was less obvious than between the panda and the snowmen. Its bizarre to be discussing the merits of a puzzle picture  but this is the nature of viral content!

It seems most people looking to make a splash on the internet today are looking to unlock the secrets of the viral hit  but if Dudas panda challenge is anything to go by, you really cant gauge what will or wont be a big hit online. That is, unless you are willing to conduct hours of research on the matter  but then, how will you ever guarantee that your results go viral? In short, life is short  enjoy a panda picture or two this holiday season and let your worries wash over you!
Students in Papua New Guinea are facing bigger challenges as the use of social media is distracting them from their studies.Director for the Port Moresby Matriculation studies Mr Norman Sike says there a lot bright students in secondary schools but they are spending more time on these latest trends of technology that they no longer prioritize their studies.Many talented students are not doing well to get into higher institutions due to so much distraction from social media and other latest technology We have to constantly remind students that you may be smart and have the knowledge and skills but if dont put in the hard work than your selections to Higher Institutions is not guaranteed  said Mr Sike.He said, smart students need to study like any other average students but it is not the case as more of these bright students are losing focus on their long term goals of being successful and educated Papua New Guineans.
Komfie Manalo, Opalesque Asia:

Once a staunch supporter of Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, activist investor Bill Ackman has decided to reduce his stakes in the controversial drug company citing tax reasons, reported TV Newsroom.

Ackmans Pershing Square hedge fund announced on Dec. 30 it was selling nearly five million shares of Valeant shares after reports emerged that the companys Chief Executive J. Michael Pearson had been hospitalized after suffering from severe pneumonia.

Valeant shares fell by close to 61% from the high they reached in the previous year summer.

In the last quarter, Ackman raised his stake in the drug company to 9.9% from 5.7% in a series of transactions starting in October.

With the recent sale of his shares in Valeant, Ackman now holds less than 30 million shares of the drugmaker or 8.5%, down from a high of 34.1 million (9.9%) shares in November.

Last month, Ackman told investors that 2015 could be his firm's worst ever after his hedge funds suffered double-digit losses.

"If the year finishes with our portfolio holdings at or around cu......................

To view our full article Click here
In the week ending 01 January, 2016, the Asset Management Association of China has announced that 24,625 hedge funds are active onshore in Mainland China (sunshine funds, see also the recent Opalesque Hong Kong Roundtable for more intelligence) as of December 2015, up from nearly 17,000 in January of the same year.

Outlook: Most hedge fund managers say they are looking forward to better opportunities in 2016 and tend to have an optimistic outlook after a challenging 2015. RBC Capital Markets is less enthusiastic about alternative investment stocks in 2015; while Jason Ader said he expects 2016 to be the year of shareholder activism in this underperforming sector of the stock market.

Marko Soldo is planning to launch an equities hedge fund firm, Talarium Capital. and JP Morgan has bared plans to launch an alternative fund, the JPMorgan Diversified Alternative ETF.

Whitebox Advisors plans to liquidate its three mutual funds on Jan. 19 after losses and redemptions in 2015;and Doug Hirsch is returning money to clients from his hedge fund after almost 20 years after his Seneca Capital Investments lost 6 percent in 2015.

The Scotiabank Canadian Hedge Fund Index ended November 2015 up 1.10% (6.12% YTD).

In performance, Blackstone Group, D.E. Shaw, Millennium Partners and Citadel have managed to side-step this years challenges and post double-digit returns; t......................

To view our full article Click here


Jean-Sebastien Debusschere Benedicte Gravrand, Opalesque Geneva for New Managers:

L&J Capital Management is launching a new fund, the Galini Market Neutral Fund, on February 1st. The fund will be advised by Galini Capital Advisors (GCA), a new investment boutique specialized in physical precious metal trading, with offices in Belgium and Colombia. L&J Capital Management is the funds ManCo in the Caymans.

GCA was co-founded last year by Jean-Sebastien Debusschere, the CEO, who previously worked at Paribas, Deutsche Bank and Dexia in their asset management units. In 2005, he founded FourWinds Capital Management, a $1.5 billion hedge fund and private equity group specializing in commodities and natural resources, and served as CIO there until 2013.

"I founded FourWinds in Geneva," Debusschere told Opalesque. "We then opened our main office in 2007 in Boston. At that time, we managed a commodity fund of hedge funds, the Zephyr Commodity Fund, which assets climbed to $600 million. In 2007, we launched the Phaunos Timber Fund, a closed-ended fund listed on the LSE, with over $500 million. The fund invested in timber properties all around the world. We then launched the Aqua Resources Fund, a LSE-listed private equity fund, focused on water and waste private investments. We also launched the Ceres......................

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US Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton would crush GOP candidate Donald Trump, Jeb Bush says, the Republican who is trying to shake up his struggling presidential campaign. "Donald Trump, I dont believe, is going to be the partys nominee, Bush said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday. And if he is, hes going to get crushed by Hillary Clinton. I wanted to point that out. Trump leads the Republican field with 35 percent of support, according to the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls, despite making controversial remarks against Mexican immigrants, women and Muslims.
Reprinted from Dispatches From The Edge

Each year Dispatches From The Edge gives awards to individuals, companies, and governments that make following the news a daily adventure. Here are the awards for 2015

The First Amendment Award to U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter for issuing a new Law Of War manual that defines reporters as "unprivileged belligerents" who will lose their "privileged" status by "the relaying of information" which "could constitute taking a direct part in hostilities." Translation? If you report you are in the same class as members of al-Qaeda.

A Pentagon spokesperson said that the military "supports and respects the vital work that journalists perform." Just so long as they keep what the see, hear, and discover to themselves? Professor of constitutional law Heidi Kitrosser called the language "alarming."

Runner up is the U.S. Military College at West Point for hiring Assistant Professor of Law William C. Bradford, who argues that the military should target "legal scholars" who are critical of the "war on terrorism." Such critics are "treasonous," he says. Bradford proposes going after "law school facilities, scholars' home offices and media outlets where they give interviews." Bradford also favors attacking "Islamic holy sites," even if that means "great destruction, innumerable enemy casualties, and civilian collateral damage."

The Little Bo Peep Award for losing track of things goes to the U.S. Defense Department for being unable to account for $35 billion in construction aid to Afghanistan, which is about $14 billion more than the country's GDP. The U.S. has spent $107.5 billion on reconstruction in Afghanistan, more than the Marshall Plan. Most of it went to private contractors.

The Pentagon response to the report by the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan on the missing funds was to declare that all such information was now classified, because it might provide "sensitive information for those that threaten our forces and Afghan forces." It has since partially backed off that declaration.

While it is only pocket change compared to Afghanistan, the Pentagon also could not account for more than $500 million in military aid to Yemen. The U.S. is currently aiding Saudi Arabia and a number of other Gulf monarchies that are bombing Houthi rebels battling the Yemeni government. Much of that aid was supposed to go for fighting Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), against which the U.S. is also waging a drone war. The most effective foes of AQAP are the Shiite Houthis. So we are supporting the Saudis and their allies against the Houthis, while fighting Al-Qaeda in Yemen, Somalia, Afghanistan, and Iraq.

If the reader is confused, Dispatches suggests taking a strong painkiller and lying down.
Having issued a "Request for Proposal" (RFP) last February to consider its "outsourcing" of district foodservice, the Roanoke City School Board is currently deliberating the matter and expected to report their decision at an upcoming meeting on January 12th. Consequently, but having extended "A Challenge for Local Leaders" a year ago with the intent of initiating a dialogue to aid vitalizing the city's economy, this article examines whether outsourcing would serve to assure the community's overall well-being while simultaneously delivering healthy, high quality, nutritional food to local students.



Although I wrote and issued, "A Challenge for Local Leaders" (McConnell) to Roanoke's City Council (see: "Council Actions 12-15-14") last December in hopes of directing a local citizenry's attention toward disparity gaps in the distribution of (national) wealth and income, I'd done so thinking my efforts might help inform and subsequently support community members in advocacy of their own best interests. Upon reflection though, perhaps my aim was overly ambitious given limits to our shared, civic awareness of even thirteen months ago.

Nonetheless, but more currently, with recent publication of their, The Ecology of Law: Toward a Legal System in Tune with Nature and Community, Fritjof Capra and Ugo Mattei have stepped to the forefront of a notable group of thought leaders including, among others, "David Korten, Vandana Shiva" and "Jeremy Rifkin". Likewise, and as Capra further attests, a mutually shared theme running through these individuals' respective efforts affirms a "fundamental change of world view, or change of paradigms, that is now occurring in science and in society; the unfolding of a new systemic and ecological vision of reality, and the social implications of this cultural transformation" (Capra).

For this reason however, and tracking Western law's expansion over the historical course of modernity's ensuing trajectory, the co-authors note "a fundamental change of metaphors: from seeing the world as a machine to understanding it as a network". Consequently, they've similarly "realized that nature sustains life through a set of ecological principles that are generative rather than extractive" [emphasis added] (Ibid.). As a result, but pointing to "the very theory of the sources of law" related to quantum physics and "a more realist legal vision" involving "the role of the interpreter's subjectivity", Capra and Mattei reveal how "neo-liberal theories" since "the last part of the twentieth century" have effectively co-opted "competition" in displacing "hierarchy as the way in which the machine of justice should operate". Moreover, they similarly disclose how 'market efficiency' has subsequently been appropriated to oversee "the irrationalities of the political process" separately from (its addressing) "the localized needs of communities" [emphasis added] (Capra and Mattei 126).



Figure 1. 'Productivity and Consumption' - Adapted from Slide 8 of 15 (Hartley)

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Figure 1. "Productivity and Consumption" - Adapted from Slide 8 of 15 (Hartley)

Would "Outsourcing" Foodservice Undermine the Community's Well-being?

To this point then, and having already outsourced "bus transportation", "nursing services", and "substitutes" (Gregory), yet with relatively little resistance or opposition from citizen-stakeholders, it appears likely Roanoke's city school board may choose to abdicate its provision of student food service to corporate, for-profit, interests. Annette Lewis however, is just one among "several other board members" who expressed concerns in June about "whether the company chosen"; either Aramark, Chartwells or SodexoMagic, "would keep and maintain the district's contracts with local food, supply and equipment distributors". Concerning these misgivings "Steve Barnett, the "district's assistant superintendent for operations" and evaluation committee member, indicated "the companies are aware of the board's desire to keep local vendor contracts and maintain current benefit levels for staff." He subsequently implied that "it would be possible to incorporate those desires into the contract" but that such "stipulations" would need to be made "during the negotiating process to make sure that our employees are taken care of, as well as local vendors" (Gregory, Schools Negotiate).

In August however, and in response to reservations expressed by "local food, supply and equipment vendors" afraid of being "edged out if the school district" decided "to outsource to a national company", superintendent "Rita Bishop reassured city council members that the district would incorporate into any contract a clause that would maintain relationships with local vendors." When Councilman Sherman Lea voiced similar qualms conveyed by "constituents who work for the district's food services division" about the likelihood they would "lose their jobs if the work is outsourced", Bishop retorted by saying that "our goal is to have no one lose their job". She further contended that "outsourcing would actually give food services employees a chance for greater job growth because of the lager pipeline that comes with a national company" and "that outsourcing would be best for students" (Gregory, School Leaders).

Consequently, but over the last several months in particular, privatization's encroachment into local education is, for me anyway, presenting just cause for apprehension. Yet, and on a more positive note perhaps; beginning with Freeda Cathcart's arranging a screening and panel discussion of Education, Inc. at the Jackson Park Library in August, followed by Delegate Sam Rasoul's and State Senator John Edwards' co-hosting of the Second Annual Education Town Hall a few weeks later, concern for the well-being of Roanoke's school children may nevertheless be moving to the forefront of our community's collective attention.

For these reasons too, but having conducted "A Community Building Workshop" in November to support the New Economy Coalition's - "New Economy Week 2015", in retrospect it seems particularly timely our forum featured a presentation by Bryan Pfeifer from the Virginia Education Association. Similarly, and in addition to the weekly volunteer work I do with Happy Healthy Cooks in facilitating a second grade classroom's appreciation of whole food theRoanoke Education Association's campaign to "Put Kids Before Profits" included a rally on December 7th at the Jefferson Center to "Stop Food Service Privatization in Roanoke.

Likewise, and echoing the sentiments of VEA Vice-President Jeffrey Pennington, a recent Roanoke Times article (December 6th) documenting the county school district's "turnaround" of its food service deficit, offers strong evidence of viable alternatives to outsourcing.



" Bettye Bell, the president of the Roanoke Education Association, said she wants the city to consider making changes internally, as the county has done. Bell sent a letter to school board members earlier this year, outlining her concerns that meal quality would suffer and that workers like her sister, who works in food services for the city, could lose their jobs " [emphasis added] from "Roanoke Co. reports food service turnaround" (Gregory, Turnaround)

Affirming the case for effectively providing food services, after three consecutive years of deficits ($87,000; $213,000; and $92,000) the Roanoke County "school system's assistant superintendent of finance" announced "this fall" that their "nutrition department" had met "the board's request" and successfully turned "the deficit into a surplus of about a half-million dollars" (Ibid.).



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The brutal Saudi execution of Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr has led to protests around the globe, as well as the burning of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran, followed by the Saudi severing of relations with Iran. This exacerbation of Sunni-Shia tensions is the result of the reckless Saudi action against a popular, nonviolent Shia leader. Also reckless is the US government's response, which has failed to condemn the Saudi government and distance itself from the abusive regime.

On January 2, the Saudi government executed 47 people, most of them by beheading. Those executed included Sunnis convicted of Al Qaeda-affiliated attacks, as well as Shia opponents--Sheik Nimr Al-Nimr and three others arrested when they were still juveniles. The killing of Al-Nimr has sparked a massive reaction because he was a prominent religious leader who defended the Shia minority and criticized the abuses--both domestic and foreign--of the Saudi regime. He supported the 2011 anti-government protests in the Eastern Province, protests that erupted in the wake of the Arab Spring. The oil-rich Eastern Province is home to some 2 million Shiites, who have long complained of discrimination by the Sunni government.

In response to increasingly vocal demands for reforms from Shiites, who constitute about 15 percent of the total population, Saudi authorities waged a harsh crackdown. Al-Nimr was arrested and imprisoned in 2012, then convicted of sedition, disobedience and bearing arms. He did not deny the political charges against him, but insisted he never carried weapons or called for violence.

He also distanced himself from sectarian divisions. He called for people to stand up to tyrants regardless of their sect, from the Sunni rulers in Bahrain to Syria's Assad, who is from the Alawite sect of Shia Islam. "Sheikh al-Nimr preached that we should support the oppressed against the oppressor, regardless of religion," said Gulf scholar Ali al-Ahmed. To add insult to injury, Sheik al-Nimr's nephew, Ali al-Nimr, was targeted and arrested at the age of 17 for protesting government corruption, and his since been sentenced to beheading and public crucifixion .

The Saudi government was well aware that killing Sheikh al-Nimr would enrage Shia both inside and outside the country. Their actions abroad have already raised sectarian tensions, such as the 2011 Saudi military intervention in Bahrain to crush a democratic revolt dominated by the country's majority Shiites. The Saudi military intervention in Yemen against the Houthis (a Shiite sect), an ongoing intervention that has killed thousands of innocents and caused a humanitarian crisis, has also angered the Shia community. And Saudi efforts to topple the Iranian-backed Assad regime in Syria also fuel tension between Saudi Arabia's Sunni leadership and its Shiite citizens.

An additional factor fanning ethnic hatred has been ISIL attacks on Shiite mosques in the kingdom. Many Shiites hold the kingdom's religious establishment responsible for the attacks and maintain that Saudi officials turn a blind eye to ISIL's sectarian agenda in the kingdom.

The cleric's execution will also complicate Saudi Arabia's relationship with the Shiite-led government in Iraq, where the Saudi embassy was just reopened for the first time in nearly 25 years.

The US government has expressed concern that al-Nimr's execution risked "exacerbating sectarian tensions at a time when they urgently need to be reduced." The government understands that the explosive reaction to the al-Nimr execution has the potential to bring even more bloodshed to the Middle East, from derailing Syria peace talks to prolonging the war in Yemen to rekindling uprisings in Bahrain.

But instead of insisting on al-Nimr's release during his years in prison and echoing Amnesty International's condemnation of his "deeply flawed" trial, the US government was silent. Even after the execution, the US refused to issue a strong denunciation .

For decades US governments, both Democratic and Republican, have backed the kingdom. The US-Saudi alliance dates back to World War II, when US officials started to see Saudi's oil as a strategic advantage. Since then, the US has blindly supported the Kingdom in almost every political and economic effort, despite the fact that Saudi Arabia is an ultraconservative monarchy rife with human rights abuses.

Saudi Arabia has consistently been ranked by Freedom House as one of the worst humans rights violators in the world. Earning the lowest possible score in all three categories of freedom, civil liberties and political rights, it is one of only ten nations considered "not free."
Seymour Hersh's recent revelations about an effort by the US military leadership in 2013 to bolster the Syrian army against jihadist forces in Syria shed important new light on the internal bureaucratic politics surrounding regime change in US Middle East policy. Hersh's account makes it clear that the Obama administration's policy of regime change in both Libya and Syria provoked pushback from the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS).

That account and another report on a similar episode in 2011 suggest that the US military has a range of means by which it can oppose administration policies that it regards as unacceptable. But it also shows that the military leadership failed to alter the course of US policy, and raises the question whether it was willing to use all the means available to stop the funnelling of arms to al-Nusra Front and other extremist groups in Syria.

Hersh details a JCS initiative in the summer of 2013 to share intelligence on Islamic State and al-Qaeda organisations with other German, Russian and Israeli militaries, in the belief that the information would find its way to the Syrian army. Hersh reports that the military leadership did not inform the White House and the State Department about the "military to military" intelligence sharing on the jihadist forces in Syria, reflecting the hardball bureaucratic politics practised within the national security institutions.

The 2013 initiative approved by the chairman of the JCS, General Martin Dempsey, was not the first active effort by the US military to mitigate Obama administration regime change policies. In 2011, the JCS had been strongly opposed to the effort to depose the Muammar Gaddafi regime in Libya led by then secretary of state Hillary Clinton.

When the Obama administration began its effort to overthrow Gaddafi, it did not call publicly for regime change and instead asserted that it was merely seeking to avert mass killings that administration officials had suggested might approach genocidal levels. But the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), which had been given the lead role in assessing the situation in Libya, found no evidence to support such fears and concluded that it was based on nothing more than "speculative arguments."

The JCS warned that overthrowing the Gaddafi regime would serve no US security interest, but would instead open the way for forces aligned with al-Qaeda to take over the country. After the Obama administration went ahead with a NATO air assault against the Gaddafi regime the US military sought to head off the destruction of the entire Libyan government. General Carter Ham, the commander of AFRICOM, the US regional command for Africa gave the State Department a proposal for a ceasefire to which Gaddafi had agreed. It would have resulted in Gaddafi's resignation but retain the Libyan military's capacity to hold off jihadist forces and rescind the sanctions against Gaddafi's family.

But the State Department refused any negotiation with Gaddafi on the proposal. Immediately after hearing that Gaddafi had been captured by rebel forces and killed, Clinton famously joked in a television interview, "We came, we saw, he died" and laughed.

By then the administration was already embarked on yet another regime change policy in Syria. Although Clinton led the public advocacy of the policy, then CIA director David Petraeus, who had taken over the agency in early September 2011, was a major ally. He immediately began working on a major covert operation to arm rebel forces in Syria. The CIA operation used ostensibly independent companies in Libya to ship arms from Libyan government warehouses to Syria and southern Turkey. These were then distributed in consultation with the United States through networks run by Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. The plan went into operation within days of Gaddafi's death on October 20, 2011 just before NATO officially ended its operation at the end of that month, as the DIA later reported to the JCS.

But the result of the operation was to accelerate the dominance of al-Qaeda and their Islamist allies. The Turks, Qataris and Saudis were funnelling arms to al-Qaeda's Syrian franchise, al-Nusra Front or other closely related extremist groups. That should not have surprised the Obama administration. The same thing had happened in Libya in spring 2011 after the Obama administration had endorsed a Qatari plan to send arms to Libyan rebels. The White House had quickly learned that the Qataris had sent the arms to the most extremist elements in the Libyan opposition.

The original Petraeus covert operation ended with the torching of the US consulate in Benghazi in September 2012 in which Ambassador Chris Stevens was killed. It was superseded by a new program under which Qatar and Saudi Arabia financed the transfer of weapons from other sources that were supposed to be distributed in cooperation with CIA officials at a base in southern Turkey. But "thousands of tons of weapons" were still going to groups fighting alongside the jihadists or who actually joined them as Vice-President Joe Biden revealed in 2014.

By spring 2013, al-Nusra Front and its Islamic extremist allies were already in control of wide areas in the north and in the Damascus suburbs. The Islamic State had separated from al-Nusra Front and established its own territory south of the Turkish border. The secular armed opposition had ceased to exist as a significant force. The "Free Syrian Army," the nominal command of those forces, was actually a fiction within Syria, as was reported by specialists on the Syrian conflict. But despite the absence of a real "moderate opposition," the Obama administration continued to support the flood of arms to the forces fighting to overthrow Assad.

In mid-2013, as Hersh recounts, the DIA issued an intelligence assessment warning that the administration's regime change policy might well result in a repeat of what was already happening in Libya: chaos and jihadist domination. The JCS also pulled off a clever manoeuvre to ensure that the jihadists and their allies were getting only obsolete weapons. A JCS representative convinced the CIA to obtain much cheaper arms from Turkish stocks controlled by officials sympathetic to the CIA's viewpoint on Syria.

But the JCS failed to alter the administration's policy of continuing to support the flow of arms into Syria. Did the military leadership really use all of its leverage to oppose the policy?

In 2013, some officials on the US National Security Council staff pushed for a relatively modest form of pressure on Qatar to get it to back off its continued supply of arms to extremists, including al-Nusra Front, by pulling out a US fighter squadron from the US air base at al-Udeid in Qatar. But as the Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year, the Pentagon, obviously reflecting the JCS position, vetoed the proposal, arguing that the forward headquarters of the Central Command at the airbase was "vital" to US operations in the Middle East.

The political implications of the episode are clear: bureaucratic self-interest trumped the military's conviction that US security is being endangered. No matter how strongly the JCS may have felt about the recklessness of administration policy, they were not prepared to sacrifice their access to military bases in Qatar, Saudi Arabia or Turkey to pressure their Middle Eastern allies.
Reprinted from www.huffingtonpost.com by Omer Aziz

The first thing you need to know about Saudi Arabia is that it is not a country but a financial and religious empire with a million poisonous tentacles stretching across both the West and the Muslim world. Its wealth is built upon the dirty oil under its sands, its legitimacy crafted upon an even dirtier political deal with a totalitarian religious cult known as Wahhabism.

The Saudi Royal Family treats the country as its private property. When the House of Saud conquered the territory known as Arabia, they named the country after themselves, hence the Saudi before the Arabia. It is more of a corporation than anything else, except The Family controls Islam's holiest cities and profits handsomely off them.

Saudi Arabia should have made more news last week than it did. For starters, it was the anniversary of 9/11, and Saudi Arabia played at least an indirect role in Al Qaeda's attacks on Washington and New York. More on that in a minute. But a Saudi billionaire also donated $10 million to Yale University and Yale Law School to establish a Center of Islamic Law and Civilization. The official announcement marked this as a great triumph. The establishment of such a center would have indeed been a victory worth celebrating had the money not originated from such a dubious source.

The Saudi billionaire-donor is named Abdullah Kamel. He is the CEO of the Dallah Albaraka Group, a Saudi conglomerate. Dallah Albaraka Group was a named defendant in a lawsuit brought by the families of 9/11 victims. Many of these suits were eventually dismissed on jurisdictional grounds, but a suit against Dallah Avco, a subsidiary of Dallah Albaraka Group, is currently in the discovery stage. Dallah Avco is an aviation company with ties to the Saudi Air Force -- the same air force dropping bombs on Yemenis this very second, mutilating and killing thousands of them. Dallah Avco employed a man named Omar al-Bayoumi, a Saudi citizen who held a do-nothing job with the company while he was befriending and helping two of the 9/11 hijackers.

The Dallah AlBaraka Group and Abdullah Kamel undoubtedly operate with the blessings of the Saudi Royal Family, whose role in the 9/11 attacks is finally starting to be exposed. Earlier this year, the "20th hijacker," Zacarious Moussaoui, directly accused the Saudi Royal Family of knowing about the 9/11 attacks in advance and funding al Qaeda's plot. The Joint Congressional Inquiry into 9/11 redacted 28 crucial pages dealing with alleged Saudi involvement in the planning and execution of the attacks. Bob Graham, former senator and ex-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, has said in sworn statements that the Saudi government assisted the 9/11 terrorists.

Occam's Razor directs the proponents of any theory to eliminate unnecessary assumptions. In the case of 9/11, 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudis. They came from a country run by absolute monarchs, where information is tightly controlled, where a company known as the Saudi Bin Laden Group is the largest construction conglomerate. Trace the money back to its roots, and you quickly find that this "gift" tarnishes Yale beyond measure.

But the Saudi-Yale deal is about more than Yale or 9/11, much more. It is about elite institutions constantly prostrating at the feet of the Saudi Royal Family. The Family has given Harvard and Georgetown $40 million. They have funded research at leading scientific institutions to maximize Saudi oil output. They have donated to leading foundations, including the Clinton Foundation. They have paid for fundamentalist imams in American prisons. From California to India, they have erected a mammoth infrastructure of Wahhabist madrassas which indoctrinate impressionable young men to the virtues of their cause.

In this last charge alone, the Saudi Royal Family's dollars are drenched in blood. The House of Saud came to power in the 1700s by making a deal with a fanatical preacher named Muhammad Ibn Abd al-Wahhab, who taught that Islam had to be stripped down to its puritan essence. All later adaptations were eliminated because they were seen as sinful. A Muslim had to adhere to the Wahhabists' literal interpretation of scripture or risk being deemed an apostate, and thus, liable to be murdered. Visits to the shrines of saints were criminalized as idolatrous. The Shia, the Sufis, the Ahmadis--all Muslim minorities--were thought to have deviated from the One True Path and so they, too, could be killed. Because Wahhab and his gang claimed to be defending Islam, their violence was legitimated as jihad. Homosexuals and blasphemers were to be put to death. Adulterers were to be stoned. Thieves were to have their hands amputated.

In the Saudi-Wahhab deal, Wahhab pledged to "support the ruler, supplying him with glory and power" if Muhammad Ibn Saud made Wahhabist doctrine his official dogma. In the early 1800s, the Saudis took over Makkah and destroyed the monuments built to the Prophet Muhammad's family. The Prophet's tomb itself was just barely saved. They destroyed the cemetery where members of the Prophet's family were buried. They ransacked the holy Shia city of Karbala in Iraq, mass-murdered women and children, and pillaged the tomb of Husain, the Prophet's nephew and the spiritual leader of the world's Shia.

In more modern times, the Saudis have spent upwards of $100 billion building madrassas around the world. In Pakistan, once a relatively liberal country, the number of Saudi-funded fundamentalist madrassas went from 900 to 32,000 in over a decade. These madrassas did not produce engineers and doctors but religious fanatics. Some of the students in these madrassas became leaders of the Taliban and al-Qaeda. Simply put: You do not get today's Sunni-Shia war without the Saudi Royal Family exporting Wahhabism, an ideology with conflict and plunder inherent in its core.

The legacy of Saud and Wahhab continues, though now with a Las Vegas bent. Makkah--Islam's holiest city and the destination of the Hajj pilgrimage which attracts over 3 million Muslims annually--is surrounded by cranes and construction facilities building hotels and luxury shopping centers that loom over Islam's holiest sites. In recent years, the house of Khadijah, the Prophet's wife, was destroyed to build toilets. The house of Abu Bakr, the Prophet's companion, was razed to build a Hilton hotel. Over 98% of Arabia's religious heritage sites, and thus Islamic history, have been destroyed. If all of this sounds eerily like ISIS it is because ISIS and Saudi Arabia share the exact same ideology. The Saudis just happen to be our friends.

The man who gave Yale that $10 million check hails from the most totalitarian country on earth, second perhaps only to North Korea. Enforced as official dogma in the Kingdom are the two most fundamental and ancient forms of totalitarianism: Man's control over the bodies of women and his control over the thoughts of all citizens. Women live under a segregationist, sexist, apartheid state. The thought-murdering ideology of Wahhabism criminalizes dissent before it can even germinate in individual consciences. The law is not supreme; the House of Saud is. The purpose of the law is not to serve and protect but to preserve the Family and destroy the minds and bodies of its enemies, beginning with the Shia.

The study of Islamic civilization is desperately needed in the West. The writings of ancient Greek philosophers were translated and preserved by Muslim philosophers and scientists in the great libraries of Baghdad. Our numerical system is owed to Persian and Arab mathematicians. Much of our current understanding in physics, calculus, philosophy, political economy, medicine, indeed, the scientific method itself, is owed at least in part to Islam's golden age. Try and get to the Renaissance and Enlightenment without Islam's discoveries and you will find yourself stuck in the Dark Ages. Islamic civilization was open, tolerant, diverse. Wahhabism and the Saudi Royal Family inverted all of that, built a sectarian empire, and with their oil money, bought off those who could be bought, and imposed themselves on everyone else.

The Yale gift makes a mockery of this rich history. Saudi money should not be funding any more programs in the United States or elsewhere because the money is stained with both blood and oil. It was extracted from the ground, but the extractors got to where they are by stomping upon the bones of their fellow Muslims. Let justice be done, though the heavens fall, goes the ancient quote, but justice will never be done if this organized crime family continued to buy our loyalty. Mr. Kamel's check should be returned to him and his Saudi patrons with clear instructions that they spend the money making amends for The Family's many crimes against humanity, their genocide of Islamic civilization.

Follow Omer Aziz on Twitter: www.twitter.com/omeraziz12
More persons died from drug overdoses in 2014 than during any previous year on record.

That Centers for Disease Control and prevention issued that stark statement a week before Christmas, reporting that 47,055 Americans died of drug overdoses during 2014, a 14 percent increase from 2013.

Since the turn of the century, the CDC said, more than half a million Americans have died of drug overdoses.

Opioids (heroin, morphine, OxyContin, Oxycodone, fentanyl and others) are the reason for the surge in overdose deaths. This death trend mirrors the rise in both use of prescription opioids and in the use of heroin.

Montana and Wyoming have joined other states in efforts to curb misuse of prescription painkillers, including creation of statewide prescription drug registries. The Montana Medical Association and the Montana Attorney General's Office are cooperating on provider and public information efforts.

In 2014, Montana reported 125 drug overdose deaths for a rate of 12.4 per 100,000 population, slightly below the national average of 14.7. Wyoming reported 109 deaths for a rate of 19.4. The highest death rate in the region was in Utah, which reported 603 drug overdose deaths for a rate of 22.4. The Dakotas reported overdose death rates below 8 while Idaho reported a rate of 13.7.

"Alarming" is how CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., described the one-year increase. "To curb these trends and save lives, we must help prevent addiction and provide support and treatment to those who suffer from opioid use disorders. This report also shows how important it is that law enforcement intensify efforts to reduce the ail ability of heroin, illegal fentanyl and other illegal opioids."

It's not only illegal drug users who overdose, According to Consumer Reports, about 60 percent of overdoses occur in people who were prescribed the drug by a single physician  not in doctor shoppers with multiple prescribers.

The largest increase in opioid deaths last year involved synthetic drugs that are routinely prescribed by doctors as painkillers, CDC said. There were 5,000 such deaths reported in 2014, nearly double the number in 2013.

Heroin overdoses accounted for more deaths in 2014 (10,574), a 26 percent increase from 2013. The CDC noted a dangerous connection between heroin and prescription opioids: "Past misuse of prescription opioids is the strongest risk factor for heroin initiation and use."

In a September report on "America's Scary Pain Pill Habit," Consumer Reports noted that: "People who take opioids for more than a few weeks often develop tolerance, so they require higher doses, which in turn breeds dependence."

Consumer Reports emphasized that opioid painkillers should be prescribed at the lowest possible effective dose for the shortest possible time with the doctor monitoring for side effects, which can be serious.

The CDC said the latest research indicates four ways to stop the overdose epidemic:

1. Prevent misuse and addiction. Prescriptions for opioid painkillers have quadrupled since 1999. Health care professionals need information to make safer prescribing decisions.

2. Expand access to effective addiction treatment, including medication-assisted treatment.

3. Increase the availability of naloxone, a drug that can reverse the symptoms of an opioid overdose and save lives.

4. Collaboration by local public health, law enforcement and coroners to improve detection and response to address this threat to public health and safety.

The major takeaway from the dire overdose report is that painkillers must be used carefully. Patients and their caregivers need full information, they must read the labels and follow instructions and keep in touch with their doctors about any problems that may be related to their treatment.

Pain management is important and risky. The challenge for patients and prescribers is to alleviate suffering without causing harm.
Congress Switchboard: 202-224-3121

"Kall's Bottom-up explores refreshing yet timeless ways of seeing and ways of thinking about economics, knowledge and wisdom. He presents his message, that decentralized, local and small are both good and healthy in business and economics, in a model that makes sense and offers practical solutions."



Amar Bhide, professor of Economics, Tufts University, former editor, Capitalism and Society, author, The Venturesome Economy: How Innovation Sustains Prosperity in a More Connected World


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Thanks to Tsara Shelton for help with transcript editing.

Rob: Welcome to Rob Kall Bottom Up Radio Show WNJC 1360 AM out of Washington Township reaching Metro Philly and South Jersey. Sponsored by opednews.com My guest tonight is Scott Baker. Scott's one of the managing editors and the economics editor for OpEdNews, he's a lecturer at the New York Henry George School, and the New York coordinator for the Public Banking institute. I'm having him on to talk about his new book, America Is Not Broke-- Four Multi-trillion Dollar Paths to a Thriving America. Welcome to the show Scott.

SB: Thank you. It's good to be here and it's good to talk about the book.

Rob: Yeah, so what's the basic concept of the book?

SB: Well basically, I'm challenging the notion that America is out of money, that we can't afford social programs, that we can't cut taxes on people who need it to be cut such as the middle class. And that we're basically in decline because there's no way we can afford not to be and I'm doing it from a different way, not from the usual way where I just say we should tax the rich more, although we should, but certain kinds of wealth. I'm trying to show that there are four big solutions, four macro-economic solutions that people don't even know about that would put trillions into the economy. So if I can do that, and people understand it at a gut level, then we really have a different conversation.

Rob: Trillions into the economy. Why isn't this being done if it's available?

SB: Well some people they just don't know and the people who do know are not wanting to do it because they're basically rentiers, they're seeking rent. And these things would undermine all of that. For example, money creation itself is a province of the bank, it's a monopoly of the banks. It could be done by the government itself, it has been done by the government under Lincoln's, President Lincoln's administration. We had something called the Greenbacks or the United States Notes, that was sovereign money that was debt free money. It was produced to pay the civil war costs when the banks wanted 24-36% interest. And that's something that's allowed under the coinage clause, which is article 1 section 8 clause 5 of the constitution which SCOTUS, the Supreme Court rather, has upheld in Julliard vs Greenman as being a way that the United States can produce paper money and that it doesn't have to go to a bank or borrow it or even raise taxes. It has this provision where it can produce money as it needs to. So that's one thing, that's of four solutions. There's other ones, there's land value taxation.

Rob: Well wait, why don't you list the four different ones so we have them up front.

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Reprinted from Truthdig

Terror, intimidation and violence are the glue that holds empire together. Aerial bombardment, drone and missile attacks, artillery and mortar strikes, targeted assassinations, massacres, the detention of tens of thousands, death squad killings, torture, wholesale surveillance, extraordinary renditions, curfews, propaganda, a loss of civil liberties and pliant political puppets are the grist of our wars and proxy wars.

Countries we seek to dominate, from Indonesia and Guatemala to Iraq and Afghanistan, are intimately familiar with these brutal mechanisms of control. But the reality of empire rarely reaches the American public. The few atrocities that come to light are dismissed as isolated aberrations. The public is assured what has been uncovered will be investigated and will not take place again. The goals of empire, we are told by a subservient media and our ruling elites, are virtuous and noble. And the vast killing machine grinds forward, feeding, as it has always done, the swollen bank accounts of defense contractors and corporations that exploit natural resources and cheap labor around the globe.

There are very few journalists who have covered empire with more courage, tenacity and integrity than Allan Nairn. For more than three decades, he has reported from Central America, East Timor, Palestine, South Africa, Haiti and Indonesia -- where Indonesian soldiers fractured his skull and arrested him. His reporting on the Indonesian government massacres in East Timor saw him branded a "threat to national security" and officially banned from occupied East Timor.

Nairn returned clandestinely to East Timor on numerous occasions. His dogged reporting of torture and killing of civilians by the Indonesian military contributed to the U.S. Congress suspending military aid to Jakarta in 1993. He exposed U.S. complicity with death squads and paramilitary organizations carrying out murderous rampages in El Salvador, Guatemala and Haiti. During the 2014 presidential elections in Indonesia, where he spends much of his time, Nairn was threatened with arrest for exposing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto's role in atrocities. Nairn's reporting on army massacres was an important component in the trial of former Guatemalan President Efrain Ros Montt. Gen. Montt ordered the killing of over 1,700 people in the Ixil region of the country in the early 1980s and was convicted in 2013 of genocide and crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison. The conviction was later overturned.

Nairn, whom I spoke with in New York, reaches back to the genocide carried out against Native Americans, the institution of slavery and the murder of hundreds of workers and labor union organizers in the 19th and early 20th century to explain the roots of American imperial violence. He noted that, although wholesale massacres have become taboo on American soil in recent generations, the FBI was carrying out selective assassinations of black radicals, including Fred Hampton, in the 1960s. And police show little constraint in gunning down unarmed people of color in poor communities.

But overseas there are no restrictions. The indiscriminate slaughter of real or imagined opponents is considered a prerogative of imperial power. Violence is the primary language we use to speak to the rest of the world. Equivalents of Wounded Knee and My Lai take place beyond our borders with an unacknowledged frequency.

"To this day," Nairn said, "it is politically permissible for U.S. forces to carry out or sponsor assassinations of civilians -- students, journalists, religious leaders, peasant organizers, whomever. In fact, in U.S. politics, if presidents are reluctant, or seem reluctant to do this, they get castigated. They get called a wimp. George Bush Sr. came under vicious attack when he attempted through covert means to mount a coup in Panama against [Manuel] Noriega and it failed. And there was a cover[of Newsweek, with the headline 'Fighting the "Wimp Factor"'] where they were attacking Bush Sr. for not being strong enough."

"I think it was within a week after that he invaded Panama formally, an invasion that included the burning of the neighborhood called El Chorrillo, where hundreds were killed, a poor neighborhood. The New York Times then ran a front-page analysis by R.W. Apple which said that Bush Sr. had completed his presidential initiation rite by demonstrating his willingness to shed blood," Nairn went on. "Not his own blood, but the blood of foreigners, including of foreign civilians."

"It's basically a refusal on the part of American society to enforce the murder laws when the killings are done by presidents or generals, and where the victims are foreigners," he said. "Now, all big powers do this. But in the recent period, because the U.S. has been the dominant power, the U.S. has the biggest death toll. If you added all the operations up it would go into the several millions. Just to list the ones that I've personally seen and tried to expose and fight against: Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, South Africa, Palestine, East Timor, Indonesia, southern Thailand. I'm sure I'm leaving out a few. The U.S. has used the Pentagon, the CIA, occasionally the State Department to set up or back local forces, help them gather intelligence on dissidents, and help them provide the means to carry out systematic assassinations."

Assassinations and torture are often accompanied in these wars and proxy wars by massacres by government troops that routinely "wipe out whole villages," Nairn said,

"The Guatemalan military did that, especially during the early '80s when the Reagan administration was backing them enthusiastically under the time of the dictator Gen. Rios Montt," Nairn said. "They would go into villages in the Mayan highlands in the northwest. ... I was there, I spoke to the soldiers as they were doing it, I spoke to survivors ... [and] they would decapitate people. They would crucify people. They would use the tactics that ISIS today puts on video that are now shocking the world."

"The powers have always been willing to use these tactics," he said. "And for centuries they were proud of it. All you have to do is look at the holy texts of the major religions -- the Bible, the Quran, the Torah. They're full of one massacre after another. People forget. The story of David and Goliath is put forward as a great story. At the end of that story David decapitates Goliath. He parades around holding up his head. For years and years the powers were proud of these tactics. They advertised it."

"As recently as the presidency of Teddy Roosevelt, U.S. presidents were still boasting about it," Nairn said. "Go back and read [Roosevelt's] writings. He's repeatedly ... talking about the necessity to shed blood, the necessity to kill. Otherwise a person could not be healthy, otherwise a polity could not be healthy. This was Teddy Roosevelt. You can't do that in today's U.S. You can't do that really in any major country today. The only partial exception to that at the level of rhetoric is Israel. Israeli generals and politicians still talk openly about the need to shed Palestinian blood. But they're really the only ones. Everywhere else -- Europe, Russia, China, the U.S. -- they have to hide their [activities]."

I first met Nairn in 1984 while I was covering the war in El Salvador. In that year he published an explosive investigative piece in The Progressive magazine titled "Behind the Death Squads." The article detailed U.S. backing, training and arming of the death squads in El Salvador that were murdering, and often torturing and mutilating, hundreds of people a month. His article led to an investigation by the Senate Intelligence Committee.

U.S. commanders in Iraq, attempting to quell the Sunni insurgency in 2004, reached back to the terror tactics used in El Salvador. They formulated a plan called "The Salvador Option" to train and arm Shiite paramilitary units. Former U.S. Army Col. James Steele, who in the 1980s in El Salvador headed the U.S. Military Group or MilGroup, which advised the Salvadoran army during the war, was sent to Iraq by Donald Rumsfeld as a civilian adviser. Steele, who had fought in Vietnam, was assigned to the Iraqi paramilitary Special Police Commandos, a unit known as the "Wolf Brigade."
Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister announcing cutting diplomatic ties with Iran

So what to make of Saudi Arabia cutting all diplomatic ties with Iran?

This after hundreds of Iranian's stormed and ransacked the Saudi embassy in Tehran in reaction to the Saudi monarchy executing Saudi Shiite cleric Sheikh Nims al-Nims-along with 46 others-who called for the overthrow of the Saudi monarchy.

It certainly won't be on the radar of most Americans-beyond the brutality of the multiple executions- which will soon be forgotten.

Be that as it may, the enmity between Shiite Iran and Sunni Saudi Arabia go back centuries up to and including present day- what with the Saudi's, a feudal Sunni Wahhabi indoctrinated majority illegally bombing neighboring Yemen for the last 10 months, this after accusing Shiite Iran of supporting the Shiite Yemeni Houthi's who had overthrown the Sunni led government of President Abd Mansur Hadi in Sanaa.

The two countries are on opposite sides of the Syrian conflict with the Saudi's bankrolling the Islamic State (IS) and assorted al Qaeda mercenary rebels fighting against the Shia Alawite sect of Bashar Assad's regime in Syria with the Iranian's fighting alongside Assad's Syrian Arab Army.

The countries face each other across the Persian Gulf not only divided by the Sunni-Shiite sectarian divide but are the primary Islamic powers influencing the region.

Though Iran's demographic of 75 million is four times the size of Saudi Arabia's 18 million nationals, the Saudi's close military alliance with the US and recent entente with Israel make it a formidable opponent of Iran.

Add to the volatile mix is the 15% Shiite minority in Saudi Arabia located in the east of the country, the largest oil producing area where Sheikh Nims was the spiritual leader for Shiite's protesting against the regime.

And let's not forget this whole Sunni-Shiite divide was further exacerbated by the US invasion and occupation of Iraq in 2003 overthrowing the minority Sunni led regime of Saddam Hussein, then subsequently installing a majority Shiite led government in Baghdad that repressed the Sunni minority giving birth to al Qaeda in Iraq that metastasized itself into IS in Syria and Iraq.

So this latest split between Saudi Arabia and Iran over the execution of a Shiite cleric and Iranian's storming the Saudi embassy in Tehran resulting in the complete break of diplomatic ties between the two is an escalation but hardly a game changer.

Not while the Saudi monarchy, though a brutal, autocratic regime and a main financial, proxy backer of IS-the avowed enemy of the US-remains a staunch US ally. This also reveals the schizophrenic nature of US foreign policy to which most Americans seem oblivious to even as the alliance remains the most odious of US foreign entanglements.

Not that Americans would hear it put that way by the fawning corporate MSM which treats the Saudi's with kid gloves, certainly not condemning them even though they are the primary financial backer of terrorists in the world.

Maybe those repulsive executions carried out by the Saudi monarchy will catch the eye of people everywhere revealing the barbaric nature of the regime beyond the sectarian divide in Sunni-Shiite Islam.

Then again, there's the mindless gun violence in the US showing the extent of our barbarism that goes unabated.

At times it seems madness, rather than sanity, is raging in the world leading to what...the unthinkable?
The Memphis Grizzlies defeated the Portland Trail Blazers 91-78 at the Moda Center.

Damian Lillard, who had missed the last seven games with left foot plantar fasciitis, played in his first game since Dec. 20, recording 17 points and seven assists in 36 minutes. But the two-time All-Star made just 4 of 14 shots, including 2 of 10 three-pointers, and committed seven turnovers in a rusty performance.

Zach Randolph finished with 26 points and 18 rebounds for Memphis.

Check out the comments section below to offer your thoughts on the Blazers and tonight's game. Afterward, visit OregonLive.com/blazers for a recap and more coverage.

--Joe Freeman | jfreeman@oregonian.com | 503-294-5183 | @BlazerFreeman




We are also referring to them as "self-styled militia" to recognize that the terms "militia" and "militiamen" were originally widely used to describe the activists who descended on Burns over the past few weeks. They have occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a federal facility.



We're not alone in wrestling with the issue of how to label the protesters. Here's the The Oregonian/OregonLive is referring to the group that has taken over a federal building in rural Oregon as militants, deciding that word best describes the loosely organized protesters vowing to fight the federal government.We are also referring to them as "self-styled militia" to recognize that the terms "militia" and "militiamen" were originally widely used to describe the activists who descended on Burns over the past few weeks. They have occupied the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, a federal facility.We're not alone in wrestling with the issue of how to label the protesters. Here's the Washington Post's article on the subject:

Almost all major news outlets surveyed on Sunday said they were avoiding the use of the words "terrorist" and "terrorism" in connection with the Oregon protest, saying it was unclear that the group's action was designed to terrorize or harm anyone.

"We are mainly referring to them as 'protesters' or 'armed men who are occupying the refuge headquarters,' " said Kim Murphy, the assistant managing editor for foreign and national news at the Los Angeles Times.



"Patriots or domestic terrorists?" was the Christian Science Monitor's "Patriots or domestic terrorists?" was the Christian Science Monitor's online headline.

Words matter in journalism. Is water boarding torture? Is someone anti-abortion or anti-choice? Is a politician liberal or progressive?



The dictionary defines "militia" as this: "a group of people who are not part of the armed forces of a country but are trained like soldiers." There is no indication that members of the group at the Malheur refuge are trained like soldiers. A fuller definition is: "a: a part of the organized armed forces of a country liable to call only in emergency b : a body of citizens organized for military service."

Those definitions, from Merriam-Webster, do not seem to fit. However, editors recognize that language is a living thing and dictionary definitions do not always fully capture the cultural and contextual meaning words take on.

But at the end of the day, to us, "militant" seems more accurate than "militiaman." Militant is defined as "having or showing a desire or willingness to use strong, extreme, and sometimes forceful methods to achieve something."

What do you think? Watch the video and tell us in the comments.


By the editors of Yomiuri Shimbun

How do we restore stability to the international order? The world is now facing a critical challenge.

The indiscriminate terrorist attacks in Paris by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) extremist group caused great distress to international community. In reaction to the wave of terrorism and the huge influx of refugees from the Middle East, exclusionary moves are gaining momentum in Europe and in the United States.

Attempts to change the status quo by force are rampant as Russia's annexation of Crimea continues and China continues to build mili-tary strongholds on artificial islands in the South China Sea.

The world looks as if it is going to fall apart as freedom, equality, rule of law and other values that should be deemed as common falter. If the international order collapses, Japan's security also will be threatened. We need to be more aware of impending crises and confront the threats squarely.

A presidential election will be held in the United States this year. The country's leadership will be on the wane. Japan, under such circumstances, will host the Group of Seven summit (Ise-Shima summit) and also become a nonpermanent member of the U.N. Security Council. Responsibilities heavier than ever before will be thrust upon Japan to help unite international community and coordinate varying interests.

Domestically, it has the urgent task of boosting economic growth as the population dwindles. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration, along with its initiative to promote "a society that enables the dynamic engagement of all citizens," will face the judgment of voters in the House of Councillors election in summer. A plan to further ensure economic recovery should be initiated.

To brighten the future of Japan in a tumultuous world, we hope this will be a year of progress.

'Antiterrorism' unity urgent

Young people and others who sympathize with the extremist ideas of ISIL are wounding and killing defenseless people around them. Terrorist acts have spread around the world. Fear is inducing actions to eliminate anything that is foreign.

Within the boundaries of the European Union, border inspections are being reinstalled one after another - contrary to the Schengen Agreement, which in principle states that such inspections are unnecessary. The idea of free movement of persons, a cornerstone of European integration, is wavering.

Even in the United States, a nation of immigrants, an undercurrent of refusing the entry of refugees and Muslims has gained strength.

If the movement of people, goods and capital across borders is threatened, this could indeed become a destabilizing factor for the world economy.

The world does not have a future unless we are victorious in the "war on terror" to eliminate the threat posed by ISIL and contain acts of violence.

The Syrian civil war is the epicenter of all this. The United States, European nations, Russia, Turkey and other countries involved should coordinate efforts swiftly with regard to military operations and transition of power.

ISIL has declared that Japan is also a terrorism target.

With the upcoming summit in mind, antiterrorist measures within Japan's boundaries are inadequate. If information-gathering on extremist groups and steps taken to prevent terrorism based on such information are inadequate, Japan will end up as the weakest link in international efforts to fight terrorism.

The legal system should be inspected for any flaws and revamped to fulfill Japan's political responsibilities.

China's maritime territorial claims in the South China Sea are baseless under international law. However, they are aiming to make these claims a fait accompli. Actions that threaten the safety of the sea line of communication are contrary to the interests of international community.

To rein in such moves, the United States has sent warships to areas surrounding the artificial islands and engaged in other operations.

It is necessary for Japan, Australia, India and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to further strengthen cooperation and use every opportunity including international forums to demand that China restrain itself.

In order to counter Chinese pressure in areas surrounding the Senkaku Islands, the security-related laws must be implemented properly to enhance the deterrent powers of the Japan-U.S. alliance.

Make good use of security laws

China, the world's second-largest economic power, is currently experiencing a worsening business slowdown.

The state of affairs could disturb the world due to such factors as a drop in resource prices. Developed nations - including Britain and Germany, both of which are becoming closer to China in economic terms - should make concerted efforts to cope with the situation. In pursuit of that goal, these countries should urge China to trim excessive production capacity and promote other structural reforms.

In addressing issues such as those related to North Korea's nuclear weapons and missiles and the Ukraine situation, Japan should also strive to form a consensus among pertinent nations at the summit meeting and U.N. conferences.

Three years have passed since the inauguration of the second administration of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Despite corporations' improved business performance and higher stock prices, the sentiment that the economy has improved has not prevailed. As circumstances stand now, little headway is being made in efforts to achieve economic revitalization through the Abenomics economic policy.

The root of this situation is clear. The government's growth strategy has not yet fully worked to fight a decline in the nation's potential growth rate due to a population decrease.

The prime minister has unveiled a fresh set of policy targets dubbed the "new three arrows," the first of which will seek to raise our nation's gross domestic product to Y=600 trillion in nominal terms. Reinforcing the growth policy is the only way to achieve that goal.

Required measures include promoting deregulation in the fields of medical and nursing care services, agriculture and others. Efforts should be made to ensure that technological advancement in such fields as information technology and robotics lead to further industrial development. It is also necessary to make the most of a broad agreement reached in multilateral talks over the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact last year.

The measures hammered out up to now should be reinforced to ensure that their purposes are better served. Another case in point is how to make efficient use of such resources as household financial assets totaling a hefty Y=1.7 quadrillion and internal reserves worth Y=350 trillion kept at corporations. The question is whether there are any ways to better use these resources for the pursuit of growth. It is necessary to exercise wisdom in devising bold new policy measures.

It has been about 25 years since the collapse of the bubble economy. Under protracted deflation, households and corporations became strongly negative about spending money, a state of mind that is firmly entrenched among them. Few households are willing to increase consumption, despite expanded employment and higher wages. Meanwhile, corporations remain cautious about investment, notwithstanding their success in generating profits at record high levels.

Dispel fear of spending

To lay such a deflationary mind-set to rest and elicit positive behavior, it is necessary to implement measures aimed at dispelling the anxieties felt by households and corporations.

Nonregular employees account for a considerable 40 percent of the total labor force. Lower wages and unstable employment status leave such workers apprehensive about their future. Therefore, nonregular employees are reluctant to increase consumption despite hikes in their wages.

The second arrow to be released as part of Abe's new policy package is to achieve the hopeful fertility rate target of 1.8 - a numerical goal that would be accomplished if women had babies as they wished. The third one is to attain the goal of making sure no one must quit his or her job to provide nursing care for relatives.

We believe the government is on the right track as it seeks to dispel the anxiety felt by people about raising their children and nursing their relatives, combined with efforts to increase the workforce, including women. However, such efforts alone will not be enough to achieve the intended goals.

Further efforts are needed to help nonregular workers, who tend to be younger employees, to become regular workers. Companies should reform work methods, such as by reducing long working hours and helping employees develop their skills and abilities, to give people in the workforce a brighter future.

Corporate anxiety originates from the view that Japan's shrinking population will cause domestic markets to shrink, which will make turning a profit impossible even if a company makes investments. It is important to push ahead with ongoing efforts to widely lift the aspirations of businesses, such as by easing regulations in an effort to create new markets.

Discussions between the public and private sectors, namely between the government and the Japan Business Federation (Keidanren) and other entities, resulted in the effective corporate tax rate being trimmed ahead of schedule. We hope both sides will continue to productively use forums in which they can exchange opinions.

In industrial circles, there are demands for a reduction in electricity charges, which have remained at a high level, to help cut operating costs. To achieve this, it will be necessary to restart nuclear power plants that have been confirmed safe to operate, and to steadily construct new plants.

To eliminate people's unease about the future, it will be essential to restore the health of the central government's finances, which are in a critical state, and to maintain a stable social security system.

The government has set a target of achieving a surplus in the primary balance in fiscal 2020. To reach this goal, the government should continue to seek ways to spend its money more efficiently, and not rely too much on recent efforts to increase tax revenue.

In April 2017, the consumption tax rate will be hiked to 10 percent. This tax is a source of funds for social security. The rate increase must be implemented smoothly, alongside the introduction of a reduced tax rate.

Political stability is crucial for dealing with the pile of domestic and international problems facing Japan. A long-term administration that can smoothly communicate with leaders of other nations has major advantages when it comes to enabling Japan to play its role, especially on the international political stage.

Abe govt's footing depends on poll

This summer's upper house election will portend whether Abe can maintain a stable administration for an even longer period. If the LDP wins a majority in the upper house on its own, it would be the first time in 27 years. However, the LDP's recovery in recent years has been strongly supported by the cooperation of its coalition partner, Komeito, in elections. Even if the LDP emerges victorious in this election, it will not be in a position to be completely optimistic about the future.

A major focus of this election will be whether forces positive about revising the Constitution - including the LDP, Komeito, Osaka Ishin no Kai and the Party for Japanese Kokoro - will be able to gain more than two-thirds of the seats.

Opinion is widely split over whether the Constitution should be revised. Before getting into a confrontation over the merits or otherwise of revising the top law, precisely what the nation wants from the Constitution needs to be debated in detail. Serious consideration should be given to including an emergency-related article that defines preparations to be made to better cope with major disasters.

The planned transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station to Henoko, Okinawa Prefecture, has been dragged into the courts as a case between the prefectural and central governments. We think shifting the base from its current location in Ginowan in the prefecture to Henoko is the most realistic option for maintaining the deterrent of U.S. forces stationed in Japan while simultaneously easing Okinawa's burden of hosting U.S. military bases.

The central government needs to steadily move ahead with this plan while continuing efforts to win the understanding of Okinawa residents and authorities.

Opposition parties and other groups have reacted angrily to the base transfer to Henoko and to last year's passage of security-related bills. It is vital to debate the specifics of where the problems reside and attempt to form a consensus. This is especially so for issues requiring a long-term perspective, such as constitutional revision.

During last year's deliberations on the security bills, opposition parties constantly resorted to emotional objections. Using such tactics again would be troublesome. The public demands fruitful policy debates conducted with a sense of urgency.

(c) 2015, Yomiuri Shimbun
Note: An editing error by The Billings Gazette incorrectly identified Pennsylvania Power and Light. The online copy has been changed with the correct identification.

In a Dec. 19 Guest opinion, Colorado attorney Russ Doty asserted that NorthWestern Energy should be doing more to develop wind and solar electricity production and to promote energy efficiency. He suggested Montana should follow the energy path of California.

While California has a renewable energy goal of 50 percent by 2030, today NorthWesterns 60 percent carbon-free electric production is already better and less expensive than Californias long-term goal. According to recent information from the Edison Electric Institute, electric rates in Montana are 21 percent below the national average, while California rates are among the highest in the nation.

Invested in hydropower

In recent years, NorthWestern has invested more than $1 billion in clean energy. These investments mesh very well with our thermal generation, which provide necessary back-up for the unpredictability of wind generation. The purchase of Montana hydroelectric facilities from Pennsylvania Power and Light in late 2014, combined with existing wind generation, created a portfolio dominated by carbon-free sources. We now have a made-in-Montana hydro-based generation system. Hydro is the very best renewable.

We disagree with Dotys statement suggesting that wind can easily replace coal in our generation portfolio. NorthWestern Energy owns 30 percent of Colstrip Unit 4, the newest and cleanest of the Colstrip generating units. The electricity dependably produced at Unit 4 provides a little more than 25 percent of the electricity we need to serve our Montana customers.

Coal and natural gas provide reliable generation during periods of peak demand, typically the coldest days of winter and warmest days of summer, when the wind often doesnt blow. This Thanksgiving was a great example: The cold was blistering, the wind wasnt blowing, and although we have about the same nameplate capacity of wind and coal on our system, it was our hydro and thermal resources that kept us safe and warm. After our recent purchase of the dams, our greatest need is for generation that can meet the peak-demand needs of our customers. Wind simply doesnt meet those needs.

Fair prices for dams

We paid about $1,000 per kilowatt less than a recent sale of other dams by Talen Energy (formerly PPL). Most importantly, Montanas dams are now dedicated to serve our Montana customers at prices based on the cost of production. That will benefit our current customers, their children, and their grandchildren.

Doty ignores that fact we are responsible for 80 percent of the efficiency programs in place in Montana. We see the value of cost-effective efficiency measures and have offered efficiency programs for over two decades to help our customers save energy. We have worked with others in the region on efficiency efforts, including successful market transformation programs.

Unfortunately, Montana is behind other states in policies that support utility efficiency programs. Doty is passionate about LED light bulbs, and we agree. Company officials are working to measure their cost effectiveness and are sharing that information with local government officials interested in street-light conversions and other uses.

NorthWestern recognizes the utility industry in Montana and across the United States is changing rapidly. We believe it is critical to take a realistic view of the relevant issues and rely on facts while looking at ways to help shape Montanas energy future.

Rick Burt is director of community relations for NorthWestern Energy, a company based in South Dakota.
MOSCOW, Idaho  Around the turn of the 20th century, as early loggers put their sweat and blood into the harvest of timber and the Great Northern Railroad began winding its way west  supported by the timber industry  the Somers Sawmill was established along Flathead Lake in Montana.

The family-owned mill experienced a windfall from the burgeoning railway, which ordered railroad ties created from logs floated down the Flathead or Swan rivers to the lake that fed its saws.

Over the years, thousands of larch and pine logs sank, spending a century in the silt and mud on the lake bottom.

Until now.

After a battle between the family who owned Somers Sawmill and the State of Montana over which party the logs belonged to, Moscow's Northwest Management Inc. was hired by the victorious DeVoe family to find and recover the logs, which bear the Great Northern brand  a circle with an N in it.

"The DeVoe family hired us initially to do permitting to recover logs that had sunk in the lake after floating down the Flathead River around the turn of the century," project manager Mark Corrao said. "The family had kept the records so they knew how many logs they essentially paid for and never got."

While more than 100 years submerged would be detrimental to many things, not so for timber, which is essentially preserved by the cold lake-bottom water and lack of oxygen. They are also made, some say, more attractive by their stay beneath the waves, where they are slowly stained shades of black, green, violet, peach, charcoal and blue by the silt and minerals surrounding them.

If a rainbow of color isn't enough to make this lost-and-found timber distinctive, the sheer size and age of it must be  at least to those who dive for it.

"We have one that's 38 inches in diameter, 392 years old with a 1924 stamp on it," Corrao said. "Somewhere in the 1530s it started growing."

While the job began with permitting and water sampling, before long Northwest Management was tasked with raising the sunken treasures  and doing so in an environmentally friendly manner.

The beginning of the process found a great amount of resistance from environmental agencies that were concerned about how the disruption of sediment from the lake bottom would affect fish and other wildlife.

"We did all of these tests and found there was no harmful sediments, and the sediment settled quickly," Cancroft said.

Also, he said, the logs were not a natural part of Flathead Lake.

Log ponds in themselves are known not to be environmentally friendly, as the tannic acid leaching from the logs can raise the water's pH, so carefully extracting the sunken logs can be beneficial for bodies of water, if done correctly.

"We do it all by hand," Corrao said, using diving ropes and a pontoon boat. "We literally hand line them to the surface, tie them off on the boat and as you move the boat forward the log swings up under the boat, you put a chain under it to hold it there and float it over to a (submerged) flatbed trailer at the boat ramp."

After the logs sink onto the flatbed, they are tied down and transported to a storage facility to dry, a long process.

"It takes a good six months or so for them to dry," said Jim Cancroft, who works for Northwest Management on the Flathead River site.

And no one would want to be near them until they do.

"They have a pungent odor," Cancroft said.

Once dry, the logs are transported to a small sawmill as similar to the Somers Mill  which burned in 1957  as possible.

"We take them to a third-generation owned sawmill that still uses the big 50-inch circular saw," Corrao said.

The results are formed into furniture, flooring, wall hangings and commemorative wooden boxes that are sold from Nantucket Island to Spokane  and beyond.
MISSOULA  When a grizzly bear killed a hiker in Yellowstone National Park last year, millions of people took it personally.

The public response was 100 percent different than two years ago, said Kerry Gunther, Yellowstones bear manager. Twenty-five grizzly bears a year die in Yellowstone Park, but this one had a name.

Her name was Blaze, according to the outpouring of outrage on Facebook, Twitter and other social media outlets that appeared within a day of the Aug. 11 incident. Gunther and other park officials still arent sure it was that particular, often-photographed sow with two cubs (there were four such females with two cubs in the area). But they are sure their decisions  and all future debate about managing grizzly bears in the Rocky Mountain West  are under a new level of scrutiny.

The attack took place on a Thursday. It was reported to rangers at 9:01 a.m. Friday. By noon, a search team had found the hikers body and saw a bear leaving the scene. They spent that afternoon combing the area by air and setting up a culvert trap 9.4 meters away from the bodys location. The bear was caught shortly after midnight, and a news release was issued Saturday morning.

It totally blew up on Saturday afternoon, Gunther said. Very quickly, my email and voicemail were overloaded. I was getting letters from all over the world. Our office was getting hate mail and death threats. One person even had her children threatened. We had law enforcement patrolling their houses.

Shortly after the controversy got rolling, someone created a petition asking Yellowstone Superintendent Dan Wenk to not kill Blaze, the Yellowstone grizzly sow and her infant cubs. The petition was closed after the announcement that the bear was killed but not before it gathered 143,170 signatures.

Just think if everyone who signed that donated $25 for habitat conservation, Gunther said. Bears would be a lot better off. I wish we could find a way to funnel that hatred and passion into conservation.

It also overwhelmed the parks media office. Aware that the case was going viral, the investigators tried to publish results of their efforts as soon as they got them. But other commentators kept adding different scenarios that conflicted with what the rangers had on record.

There are no good answers to that, said Sandy Snell-Dobert in Yellowstones Office of Strategic Communication. With all the ongoing discussion going about this, youll see us much more trying to be proactive and trying to get ahead of things. But just trying to monitor everything thats out there is more than a full-time job.

One meme stated that a large male grizzly had fed on the hikers body, so the female was falsely accused and killed. Yet another described the final moments of the incident, claiming the hiker ran from the bear and at one point punched it in the nose.

But the evidence from the scene showed no adult male paw prints in the area, only female bear bite marks on the hikers body, and only the suspect females DNA on the hikers wounds. Those DNA samples were flown out of the park to a lab in Bozeman, with results delivered 36 hours later.

DNA test confirms captured grizzly killed hiker; bear euthanized Thursday A grizzly bear was killed Thursday after DNA tests showed it killed a hiker in Yellowstone N

The hiker had defensive wounds on his arms and face, indicating he tried to protect himself as the bear attacked. There were no tracks indicating he ran from the initial encounter. There was no GoPro or dash-cam footage to record the battle.

That didnt stop scenarios accusing the hiker of jogging through bear country in what Gunther called an attempt to cast blame on the hiker instead of the bear. But the jogging idea failed to account for the hikers leather boots, canvas pants, button-down shirt and previously sprained ankle.

Others pounced on the facts that the hiker was traveling alone and wasnt carrying bear spray. Gunther agreed that traveling in groups and with bear spray have been shown to deter bear attacks. But he also noted that trail-use surveys have found 60 percent of Yellowstone hikers travel in groups of three or less and just 14 percent carry bear spray.

He wasnt following recommendations, Gunther said. But he wasnt doing anything unusual either.

The story added new levels. Some commenters posted that Blaze was related to Lightning, another socially popular bear that was killed after attacking a hiker in 2011. Yellowstone officials reported the DNA test showed no family link between last summers dead bear and Lightning, but that didnt stop the discussion.

Instead, it rekindled suppositions that Lightning was killed after ripping open an unattended backpack looking for food. For the record, the hiker in that case was using his pack to fend off the bears attack and it got torn open in the clash.

Commenters moved on to the National Park Services motivations. Some claimed it was fear of litigation from the hikers family that prompted the kill order for the bear.

We wanted to make sure this bear couldnt do this again to another hiker, Gunther said. Our guidelines state that removal from the population is called for when serious injury or loss of life is involved.

States divvy up Yellowstone-area grizzly hunt Wildlife officials have divvied up how many grizzly bears can be killed by hunters in the Ye

Guidelines for bear management may get a lot more complicated next year when the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee releases a new proposal for removing federal Endangered Species Act protection from grizzlies in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. More than 700 grizzlies live there now, and IGBC biologists argue thats about the carrying capacity for the area.

In 2015, 55 grizzly bears died and four were removed in the GYE. Thats a record high year for bear losses in the GYE, beating the previous high of 56 in 2012. In 2014, a year with good bear food availability, 28 grizzlies died or were removed.

Wildlife managers killed 24 bears after conflicts with people or livestock in 2015. Four were hit by vehicles, and eight were killed by hunters. And 19 incidents remain under investigation.

The four removals were orphaned cubs sent to zoos, including the two belonging to the bear that killed the hiker in August. They are added to the loss total for the area, bringing it to 59.

The delisting proposal isnt public yet, but its already stirred up its own social media debate. Many people are using the Blaze incident as a talking point.

A lot of the photographer community is divided whether they should have killed her or not, said Daryl Hunter, an Idaho professional photographer whos reasonably certain hes seen the suspect bear for years. A lot of regular photographers agree with the decision. I do. I lead tours out here, and I tell people well be seeing bears out here. They dont associate us with a food source. But bears are quick learners. Those who are out there often dont want bears that have eaten people out there with us.

Hunting grizzlies isnt an easy solution, however.

Im one of those people in the middle, Harris said. Im a political conservative and a wildlife photographer. The Endangered Species Act is a double-edged sword. Weve recovered the grizzlies pretty well, and I think its OK to delist it and have a hunting season.

But photographing and watching bears is a huge business in Grand Teton and Cody and Gardiner. The bears we see are an economic resource. (The delisting plan) has a 20-mile section between Grand Teton and Yellowstone that would be open for hunting. When hunting opens, thats going to eliminate all the bears that are not afraid of us.

Frequently seen bears like Blaze, 399, Scarface and other roadside attractions have almost become a pseudo-subspecies from grizzlies that live in more remote wilderness, according to biologists. They develop a different social structure, tolerating one another in closer quarters instead of getting into deadly territorial battles. They also tolerate human activity, learning to avoid the temptation of people food that wilder bears investigate. Living along road corridors adds to their notoriety.

Having hung out in some of those Jackson Hole bear jams, its not my cup of tea, but I found the whole phenomenon fascinating, said Louisa Willcox of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a frequent critic of the Interagency Grizzly Bear Committee. It is really meaningful for people. Its a way of understanding the ecosystem, the world in a really different way. And then they write about it on Facebook.

Willcox said the reaction to incidents like the killing of Cecil the Lion in Namibia last summer was an example of the kind of energy social media can spin up.

A lot of other lions were killed around the park, but that lion had a name and a fan club, Willcox said. It had an emotional resonance with people. I think these bears are part of bigger phenomenon going around the country and the world, elevating the rights of animals. They have families and feelings just like we do.

Bringing these other voices to the debate could change the way public wildlife agencies function, Willcox said.

Right now, thats what they do  they hunt things, Willcox said. Yes, they also promote coexistence with grizzly bears and wolves, but theyre based around killing things. Thats their financial framework. But in other parts of the country, theres been great deal of reform of culture and financial makeup of state game agencies. People are saying 'whoa  animals have a right to be treated differently.' Isnt the hope in having more diverse voices that theres some promise of more representative democracy?

Unfortunately, theres no voting booth in the Twitterverse.

I guess what this shows is theres a lot of passion out there for bears, bear manager Gunther said. But all that passion didnt do anything for bear conservation or for Blaze.
LANDER, Wyo.  Like a holiday reveler headed for the gym after a season of feasting, the energy industry enters 2016 on the heavy side. Surpluses of coal, oil and natural gas continue to weigh down prices and threaten companies' balance sheets. Each sector needs to work off the excess fat. Their success in doing so will go a long way in determining whether energy markets remain in a slump or begin to rebound in 2016.

But in each case involuntary supply cutbacks  read bankruptcies  may be required to bring coal, oil and natural gas inventories back into balance with demand.

Coal faces perhaps the toughest road. The industry continues to face difficult market conditions, and that is before taking into account the regulatory challenges confronting the sector.

Utilities have continued to build up coal inventories, even as they shift toward natural-gas-fired generation. The result is lower coal demand at a time when utilities already have more of the fuel than they need.

Analysts typically judge coal stockpiles by the number of days it would take a power plant to burn off its reserves. By that standard, burn rates are near a five-year high.

American utilities using the type of subbituminous coal mined in Wyoming's Powder River Basin had, on average, 80 days worth of reserves in October, the last month for which data is available, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. But working off those reserves will be more difficult when utilities have a growing taste for cheap natural gas, which ended 2015 near 16-year lows.

Jim Thompson, a coal analyst at the consulting firm IHS Energy, reckons miners need to cut 100 million tons to 200 million tons of production in 2016 to bring supply back in line with demand.

"Nothing looks good for 2016," he said. "Whats it's going to take is time. Thats the big problem for coal producers. Time is not their friend."

Arch Coal, the country's second-largest coal miner by volume, is a case in point. The St. Louis-based company invoked a 30-day grace period on a $90 million interest payment in December in a bid to stave off bankruptcy. Arch's creditors have thus far been reluctant to agree to a deal that would relieve some of the miner's financial stress.

If there is to be positive news for the coal sector in 2016, it is likely to come from the Powder River Basin. Production cutbacks are most likely in Appalachia, where companies are closing and idling mines, and to a lesser extent in the Illinois Basin. Low production costs make Wyoming mines unlikely candidates for closure, and they may even rebound slightly with a modest increase in natural gas prices.

But whether natural gas prices begin to strengthen in 2016 remains an open question. Some analysts have pointed to the wave of coal plant retirements and increasing natural gas burn as evidence of growing demand for the fuel.

Yet American natural gas production and inventories are near record highs, despite consistently low prices throughout much of 2015. U.S. production was nearing 80 billion cubic feet per day in September.

Inventories, meanwhile, are near all-time highs. The 3.8 billion cubic feet of gas in storage the week of Dec. 11 was 9 percent above the five-year average, according to EIA figures. While prices edged up this week as temperatures in the east dropped, it will take a colder than normal winter to work-off the excess supply, said James Williams, president of WTRG Economics.

Oil, meanwhile, finds itself in a similar predicament. U.S. crude output was almost 9.2 million barrels a day for the week of Dec. 18. That was nearly identical to production levels recorded during the same period last year, and came despite a 64 percent year-over-year drop in the U.S. rig count.

High U.S. crude production owes itself in large part to the efficiency measures of American oil companies, who have slashed production costs in response to low prices. Effectively U.S. firms pumped more oil at a lower cost in 2015.

The result is a global surplus of crude that averaged 1.7 million barrels per day in 2015. And while U.S. production cutbacks are likely in 2016, international output is likely to remain high.

Saudi Arabia reaffirmed this week that it has no intention of curtailing its production. Iran is expected to bring 500,000 barrels per day of additional crude onto the market once economic sanctions are lifted. And countries like Russia, Brazil and Norway, all larger producers outside the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, have shown little sign of pumping less.

Analysts, meanwhile, are more skeptical of U.S. supply cutbacks after a year that saw few wells shut-in. The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas estimates a surplus of 600,000 barrels per day will linger throughout much of 2016.

"Almost by default people are looking to demand instead to mop up the surplus barrels," said Geoffrey Craig, who covers the industry at Platts, a trade publication.

Many observers will be watching China, he noted, which powered much of the recent growth in crude demand, but saw its economy falter in 2015. Analysts are increasingly predicting a new era in China's economic growth, one where the country grows at slower rates and relies less on commodity-heavy industries like manufacturing, Craig said.

But with much uncertainty surrounding the prospects for global economic growth in 2016, a good deal of focus remains on American producers. U.S. producers were reluctant to curtail production in 2015 for fear of damaging their cash flow.

A period of $20 crude would prompt a wave of bankruptcies and force production cutbacks, helping to right the market, said Williams, the WTRG president.

"No one is going to cut voluntarily," he said. "No one is going to stop a producing well, and thats your problem."

In that respect, the energy industry is very much like the average holiday reveler. They know they need to go the gym, but they just can't force themselves to do it.
LANSING (AP)  Kevin Cotter has four chief priorities as he prepares to lead a more unified Republican caucus into his second and final year as House speaker, and an overhaul and bailout of Detroits financially and academically failed school district is not among them.

Auto insurance changes, an update to energy laws, criminal justice spending and the broader state budget will top the agenda, at least for now. He said he is greatly concerned with a key component of GOP Gov. Rick Snyders education plan  creating a commission of gubernatorial and mayoral appointees to hire a manager who could close or reconfigure poor-performing Detroit public schools, regardless of whether they are traditional ones, independent charters or those overseen by a turnaround entity.

Charter schools that are performing well, I dont see why they would need to be tangled up in that mess, Cotter told The Associated Press in a recent interview. I would be happy to look at anything. If there are charters that are not performing well, if we were to look at some accountability measures, certainly. But I think charters offer a tremendous opportunity to families to choose to attend.

Snyder outlined his Detroit Public Schools proposals in March and October, but no legislation was introduced before lawmakers adjourned for the year. Snyder has said the most urgent issue is providing $715 million in state funds over a decade to pay off the districts debt and spin off a new district  a tough sell for legislators a year after they helped bail out the bankrupt city  but he also wants to hold schools accountable for students poor learning.

That process could get very political. I dont want to suggest for a moment that I have concerns about the current mayor. I dont know who will follow the current mayor someday, Cotter said.

He enters 2016 months after a turbulent period in which the House expelled one Republican and forced the resignation of another over their extramarital affair and a strange attempt to make it less believable if it was exposed, apparently by the husband of one of the legislators. Two former legislative aides to ex-Reps. Todd Courser and Cindy Gamrat recently sued the House, alleging they were wrongfully fired and publicly humiliated after reporting the affair and other misconduct to Cotters office.

He said true evidence did not exist until the scandal broke in August when The Detroit News published secret audio recorded by one of the staffers.

My office handled this correctly based on the information known at the time, said Cotter, who is in his third and last House term.

He said the 61-member GOP caucus is much more effective than when it had 63 representatives, saying that the group is tighter and more willing to work together. Republican candidates are favored to fill the two vacant seats in March special elections.

In the fall session, House Republicans mustered enough votes to approve a road-funding plan, including increased fuel tax and vehicle registration fees, without Democrats support  a huge accomplishment in Cotters words. The majority also voted mostly along party lines for a bill to hold back third-graders lagging behind on state reading tests and most recently sent Snyder legislation to eliminate the straight-ticket option from ballots.

The Houses most immediate issue when it returns in January may be energy bills, which have not cleared either chamber despite pressure from major utilities to act in 2015. School districts and some big companies are fighting the legislation they fear would further limit competition in a partially deregulated power system.

State law guarantees DTE Electric, Consumers Energy and smaller utilities 90 percent of electricity sales in their regions. Alternate suppliers can sell the remaining 10 percent.

Will we ultimately maintain 90-10 as it exists today? How will schools be affected, their ability to participate in that? Id say thats the single largest piece of the debate, Cotter said. He said he is focused on getting it done right rather than moving too quickly.
In his initial attempt to represent the 99th State House District, Mount Pleasants Bryan Mielke ran a competitive race against a tough opponent.

The Democrat came up 671 votes short of House Speaker Kevin Cotter in 2014. Cotter is term limited and cant seek re-election in 2016.

In announcing his plans to seek the 99th seat this year, Mielke said he is optimistic about his chances of being elected to represent Edenville, Geneva, Greendale, Hope, Ingersoll, Jasper, Mills, Mount Haley, Porter and Warren townships in Midland County along with Isabella County.

I have credibility because we came so close in 2014, people take me seriously now, he said. The energy Im getting from so many is astounding. I have raised more money this first month than I did in the first six months last time.

So far, a Republican challenger has not stepped forward to face Mielke in the general election of November 2016.

We have got momentum and we are not going to let it go, he said recently as he spoke to a roomful of supporters during the Democratic Holiday Brunch at Grand Traverse Pie Company.

Mielke, who owns DCG, Inc., a software development company, won Isabella County in 2014 by 56 votes, but Cotter earned enough votes from GOP-heavy Midland County for the win.

A Michigan native, Mielke holds two degrees from Central Michigan University: a bachelor of science in mathematics and computer science along with a masters of science. His wife of 30 years, Debra, is employed by Mount Pleasant Public Schools as an at-risk counselor.

He sees education as his main focus along with roads, tax fairness and job creation.

Education is my number one issue, Mielke said. (Debra and I) are where we are in life because of the opportunities we were given and the access we had to public education.

Citing a lack of funding in the classroom, Mielke would take a serious look at for-profit schools. He said 20 percent of all students in the country attend a for-profit school.

Michigan right now is ranked 42nd in education quality, he said of a report by Education Week. School reform in Michigan is not about education, its about for-profit and its time to stop attacking our teachers and villainizing them. It is time to stand up and say, education is about education, not money.

Mielke also took issue with the recently passed road package, calling it gross negligence.

They raised $400 million and said, here is another $800 million we are going to put in the pot, but we dont know where it is coming from. This is the part I feel is very negligent. If it is coming out of the general fund, that is fine, but identify where it is coming from, he said.

Mielkes concern is that the $800 million will end up coming from dollars previously earmarked for local communities, education and social services.

It is evident we dont have leadership in Lansing. Five years Republicans had entire control of our government and couldnt come up with a solution for the road problem, he said. When I am elected, I promise to work to get a comprehensive road package. Ill have to work across the aisle to do that.

Mielkes foray into politics began with service through his church but his political involvement actually started during the 2008 presidential campaign.

Seven years ago, I had no interest in politics or government. I was busy raising a family and running a small business, Mielke said. Then along came Sen. Barack Obama. He is so inspiring. So, I went out and knocked on doors for him.

After knocking on doors, Mielke was appointed to the Union Township Planning Commission, earned election as a trustee to the township board and ran for the 99th District.

I loved seeing the decisions made in the planning commission happen overnight in the community, he said. Union Township is the fastest growing community in Michigan. The challenge was management of growth.

For more information on Mielkes campaign, visit bryanmielke.com.
The early bird discount for the 2016 Great Lakes Crop Summit ends Friday. This years event takes place Jan. 27-28 at Soaring Eagle Casino and Resort in Mount Pleasant.

GLCS is an educational and social event for Michigan corn, soybean and wheat growers. Last year, more than 700 people attended the educational sessions, trade show and networking opportunities and this years event is on track to be even bigger.
In 2010, the Midland Center for the Arts faced many challenges.

The economic downturn had hit the organizations funding and endowments hard. The aging building was in need of improvements. Plus, longtime leader Bill Henningar died unexpectedly.

I was on the board of directors at the center during those tough times so I knew what we were dealing with, said Mike Hayes. We just werent finding the kind of person who we needed then .. what we needed was someone who understood the bigger picture.

That person ended up being Hayes. Now, after guiding the center for five years, he is stepping down as president and CEO of the MCFTA. Terri Trotter will take over.

When Hayes was hired in 2010, he was charged with looking at MCFTA operations from a business and financial standpoint. Cuts were needed and projects were overdue.

It has a wonderful 40-year history, he said. I wanted to look at the things I could do to set the center up for another 40 years.

Hayes came to the position without a background in the arts. He graduated from Central Michigan University and worked as a probation officer before he was Midland County clerk. He served in the Michigan legislature and then joined The Dow Chemical Co. working in business and government relations, before retiring as a vice president in that area. As for the arts, Hayes refers to himself as a terrific audience member.

Mike stepped in and I think in every aspect has provided extraordinary leadership, said Bill Collins, board chair. He has reorganized our staff. He has mentored our employees to get the best use of their talents, hes maintained wonderful relationships in our community with our patrons and funders. He kept the focus on quality programming for the center.

It was Hayes business background that drew the interest of the MCFTA board of directors when searching for a new leader.

The Center for the Arts is an enormous organization; I dont think theres anything like it in the country, said Stephen P. Carras, Midland County Circuit Court judge and co-chair of the centers board. The governance of a body like that is challenging.

Major projects included fixing the roof along with updating the heating and air conditioning systems.

He left us very well situated for the future in terms of structure, Carras said.

Another project more noticeable to visitors and guests are the upgrades to the Alden B. Dow Museum of Science and Art on both the top level and in the Hall of Ideas. Other upgrades included revamped green rooms, a new auditorium stage floor and new carpet in the auditorium designed to match the original carpeting.

The center also opened the Saints and Sinners Lounge recently, a full-service bar which gives visitors a place to relax before or after shows.

Im very proud of that as a feature our ticket buyers can enjoy, he said.

Another issue was the Doan History Center. Financial concerns kept the building closed to the public a good portion of the year.

Here you sit with a beautiful building, Hayes said, and its closed half the year.

MCFTA was able to strike a deal with Northwood University to keep the Doan History Center open year-round, providing more opportunities to the public.

The center also worked to expand programming over the past five years. MATRIX:MIDLAND previously hosted events the first part of summer with a few additional events during the year. Now, MATRIX hosts more events year-round.

Plus, educational programs expanded. The center acquired the Childrens School of Music, providing instruction to students up to the fourth grade. Summer programs are growing.

Our summer camp program the past three years has set records  we were up to 1,000 kids last summer, he said. Thats 1,000 kids that get exposed to the arts and history.

Hayes sees those students as the future of the center, both as volunteers and patrons.

He is now at a place where he can retire comfortably from the center. He will be reopening his consulting business, Main Street Consulting, but is looking forward to not having to manage a budget.

I feel like I accomplished a lot of what I wanted to do so I felt I could step down  otherwise Id still be there, he said. The endowment is back up, the donor base is strong and financial discipline is in place.

Hayes is still active on a few state commissions and plans to stay in Midland and support the center as a patron because, he said, the MCFTA is a unique, valuable asset for a community the size of Midland.

Its like any gem, you have to polish it and keep it shiny, he said.
BURNS, Ore. (AP)  People in this rural eastern Oregon town are used to worrying about friction between the federal government and locals, but the armed takeover of a nearby national wildlife refuge is raising concerns to a new high.

Keith Landon, a longtime resident of Burns and employee at the Reid Country Store, said he knows local law enforcement officials who fear their kids will be targeted by angry militia members. The mother of one of his kids is now involved with an officer, Landon said, and they decided to send their children to another town after they were allegedly threatened by an angry protester.

"I'm hoping most of it's just muscle, trying to push," Landon said. "But it's a scary thing."

Armed protesters, who police say are coming from outside the area, took over the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge south of Burns on Saturday after participating in a peaceful rally over the prison sentences of local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond.

The Hammonds were convicted of arson three years ago for fires that burned on federal land in 2001 and 2006. Though they served their original sentences for the conviction  Dwight serving three months, Steven serving one year  an appellate judge ruled in October that the terms were too short under federal minimum sentencing laws.

Both men were ordered back to prison for four years each. They have said they plan to turn themselves in Monday.

The decision to send the man back to prison generated controversy and is part of a decades-long dispute between some Westerners and the federal government over the use of public lands.

Brothers Ammon and Ryan Bundy are among those occupying the refuge. Their father, Cliven Bundy, was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights in Nevada.

Ryan Bundy told The Associated Press on Sunday he hopes to turn the land over to local authorities so people can use it free of federal oversight. He said he hopes the takeover of the property will prompt others to take action across the country to seize local control of federally managed land. Ammon Bundy has previously called on members of militia groups to take a stand with those at the refuge.

On Sunday afternoon, several pickup trucks blocked the entrance to the refuge and armed men wearing camouflage and winter gear used radios to alert those at the refuge buildings when reporters were allowed onto the property.

A small flock of pheasants wandered across the refuge driveway, scattering as men driving utility vehicles traversed the property. Ryan Bundy declined to say how many people were at the site.

"The end goal here is that we are here to restore the rights to the people here so that they can use the land and resources. All of them," Bundy said. That means ranchers can graze their cattle on the land, miners can use their mineral rights, loggers can cut trees and hunters and fishers can recreate, he said.

He said they planned on staying at the refuge as long as it takes. If the situation turns violent, Bundy contends it will be because of the federal government's actions.

"I mean, we're here to restore order, we're here to restore rights and that can go peacefully and easily," Bundy said.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said in a statement Sunday that the group of armed protesters came to town under false pretenses.

"These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to over throw the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States," Ward said.

The sheriff says he is working with local and federal authorities to keep the citizens in his county safe and to resolve the situation as quickly and peacefully as possible.

At a restaurant near the refuge Sunday, a local man eating supper said he understood the sentiment but didn't necessarily support the methods of the group. He wouldn't give his name because he said he feared being caught between the federal government and the militia.

Landon, who was a logger until the federal government declared the spotted owl a protected species in the 1980s, damaging the local logging industry, said he also sympathizes with the frustrations expressed by the Bundys.

"The spotted owl started the downfall of our community, then (President) Clinton made the Steens Mountains a wilderness area or whatever. Five generations of ranchers that had been on the Steens, kicked them off. And then management of the wildfires, it totally changed the region," Landon said. "It's hard to discredit what they're trying to do out there. But I don't want anybody hurt."

He said on the surface, it doesn't look like much has changed in Burns, a high desert town of about 2,700 people.

Most of the hotels in the area are booked full, and he's noticed that law enforcement officers are now doing their patrols in pairs instead of singly. But the biggest difference since the takeover is the undercurrent of worry, he said.

"It's weird  I woke up this morning expecting the town to be crawling with this and that agency. But you don't see any of it. They're keeping a low presence," Landon said.

Landon was happy the protesters seized land outside of Burns.

"I'm glad they took the refuge because it's 30 miles away. I mean, they could have took the courthouse here in town."
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BURNS, Ore. (AP)  The remote high desert of eastern Oregon became the latest flashpoint for anti-government sentiment as armed protesters occupied a national wildlife refuge to object to a prison sentence for local ranchers for burning federal land.

Ammon Bundy  the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights  is among the people at the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. It was unclear exactly how many people were taking part in the protests.

Ammon Bundy posted a video on his Facebook page asking for militia members to come help him. He said "this is not a time to stand down. It's a time to stand up and come to Harney County," where Burns is located.

Bundy and other militia members came to Burns last month, a small town about 280 miles southeast of Portland, Oregon. They were upset over the looming prison sentences for local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. They went to the wildlife refuge Saturday evening following a peaceful rally in Burns to support the ranchers.

Dwight Hammond, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit the fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires.

The two were convicted of the arsons three years ago and served time  the father three months, the son one year. But a federal judge ruled in October that their terms were too short under U.S. minimum sentencing law and ordered them back to prison for about four years each.

The decision generated controversy and is part of a decades-long dispute between some Westerners and the federal government over the use of public lands. The issue traces back to the 1970s and the "Sagebrush Rebellion," a move by Western states like Nevada to increase local control over federal land. Critics of the push for more local control have said the federal government should administer the public lands for the widest possible uses, including environmental and recreation.

In an interview with reporters late Saturday night posted on Facebook, Bundy said he and others are occupying a building at the refuge because "the people have been abused long enough."

"I feel we are in a situation where if we do not do something, if we do not take a hard stand, we'll be in a position where we'll be no longer able to do so," he said.

Bundy said the group planned to stay at the refuge indefinitely. On Sunday, supplies were seen being delivered to the refuge area, which is remote even by rural Oregon standards.

Dwight Hammond has said he and his son plan to peacefully report to prison Monday as ordered by the judge.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward told people to stay away from the building as authorities work to defuse the situation.

"A collective effort from multiple agencies is currently working on a solution," Ward said in a statement.

Beth Anne Steele, an FBI spokeswoman in Portland, said Saturday that the agency was aware of the situation at the national wildlife refuge. She made no further comment.

Not all local residents have welcomed the outside groups, fearing for the potential of violence. A peaceful rally Saturday in support of the Hammonds featured speeches, flags and marching.

As marchers reached the courthouse, they tossed hundreds of pennies at the locked door. Their message: Civilians were buying back their government. After the march passed, two girls swooped in to scavenge the pennies.

A few blocks away, Hammond and his wife, Susan, greeted marchers, who planted flower bouquets in the snow. They sang some songs, Hammond said a few words, and the protesters marched back to their cars.
CHEYENNE, Wyo.  An Australian man who insisted on representing himself at trial won't get his bank robbery conviction overturned by claiming he didn't have an adequate defense, a federal judge has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson of Cheyenne dismissed a legal challenge Dec. 30 filed by Corey Donaldson that sought to set aside his conviction and 70-month prison sentence.

Donaldson was convicted of taking more than $140,000 from a U.S. Bank in Jackson on New Year's Eve 2012. According to trial testimony, Donaldson took the money after telling the bank manager that the building had been rigged with explosives.

Law enforcement officers arrested Donaldson a few weeks later while he was staying at an upscale hotel in Utah. Officers testified they recovered more than $30,000, including $11,000 stuffed into envelopes addressed to Donaldson's relatives.

Donaldson represented himself at trial, telling the jury that he was a modern-day Robin Hood and had used much of the money to help the homeless.

"Even if the death penalty were available to you, I would still have done what I did to alleviate human suffering," Donaldson told the jury.

In sentencing Donaldson in mid-2013, Johnson said the bank robbery was "fueled by deceit." He cited a pre-sentencing report that stated Donaldson had written to publishers to drum up interest in a book about the crime.

From a federal prison in North Carolina, Donaldson has keep up a steady stream of court filings, including repeated efforts to get a federal appeals court in Denver to order Johnson to act on his case faster or overturn his conviction altogether.

In his Dec. 30 order, Johnson noted the courts have ruled that people who insist on representing themselves can't argue later that they received ineffective assistance of counsel.

Jim Barrett, a veteran assistant federal public defender, served as standby counsel for Donaldson at trial. Barrett's office said Monday he was unavailable for comment.

In an interview last month, Barrett said, Donaldson "has a different point of view of his place in life, his treatment by life and society in general."
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GIBSON CITY  GCMS Project Ignition leaders will head to Minneapolis in late March to make a presentation at the National Service-Learning Conference.

GCMS High School is one of three schools in the United States selected this year for Project Ignition.

GCMS has participated in the program, in which young people educate other teens about using seat belts, since 2005. In its first year of participation, the school won the Best of the Best National Champion award.

As a Project Ignition National Leader School, GCMS has collaborated with other high schools in the past, including Fieldcrest. This year, GCMS Project Ignition was selected to mentor Clifton Centrals SADD program.

GCMS High School Project Ignition adviser Judy Weber-Jones said she and the GCMS students are excited about being chosen to assist a nearby school.

I have always wanted to get Clifton Central and their adviser, Eva McGill, involved in Project Ignition. They have applied but were never selected, Weber-Jones said. Now we finally get to share the great experience with them."

The two groups recently worked together to design T-shirts to raise awareness.

Students at both schools are comparing the seat belt usage surveys they took at the beginning of the project and are discussing activities that will improve seat belt usage at both schools.

In March, Clifton Central SADD leaders will join GCMS Project Ignition leaders in Minneapolis to share their experiences.

"These opportunities do not come along every day. When they do, we have to take hold of them, McGill said. It's great that our students get a chance to work with students from another school and leave the cornfields to see a different part of our country and spread an important message at the same time."

Project Ignition is sponsored by the National Youth Leadership Council and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. GCMS will receive $1,500 from NLYC to start the project and an additional $500 at the midpoint of the project. GCMS Project Ignition was also awarded $5,000 to attend the NSLC in Minnesota.
NORMAL  Work on a new fire station that will serve as Normal Fire Department headquarters is expected to begin next year.

The City Council on Monday approved a contract with BLDD Architects of Bloomington to design the station that will replace the department's No. 2 Station at 604 N. Adelaide St. but be built at a different location.

The town is in talks with Illinois State University about a possible land swap; ISU would get the Adelaide Street site and Normal would get another university-owned property for the new station.

"They earned this job," said City Manager Mark Peterson of the contract with BLDD. "We received 19 proposals; it was a very popular project. We received some outstanding proposals but BLDD rose to the top after rigorous review."

The contract is for $230,000 and is based on a $7 million facility. Deputy City Manager Pamela Reece said the town staff believes the project will be closer to $5.5 million or $6 million but because a site hasn't been finalized, it was decided to base it on $7 million.

The site is expected to be determined in September, she said.

In the meantime, BLDD will work with fire department officials to determine what is needed at the new facility. Because it will be an urban-type location on likely less than 2 acres, the building will have to go vertical rather than horizontal.

Fire Chief Mick Humer said one of the biggest needs is space for apparatus that has gotten bigger through the years. The department also has more types of equipment.

Humer said the new station will have a lot of data capabilities allowing for such things as teleconferencing between the department's three stations.

That means training could take place without crews having to leave their station. That, Humer said, will help with response times if a call came in during training.

The department's response times, equipment and training, and the town's water system were among items recently considered by the Insurance Services Office, which determines fire service ratings. Peterson said the results, which came Monday, show the town has retained it's Class 2 rating. A Class 1 rating is the highest.

ISO rates 49,010 communities, he said. Sixty earned a Class 1 rating; 750, a Class 2 rating.

"We're in the top 860 communities out of nearly 50,000," he said. "That's a pretty tremendous accomplishment."

The ratings are a factor in insurance rates particularly for commercial businesses. The better the rating, the lower the premium.
NORMAL  The Normal City Council will kick off 2016 with new details on one of its biggest projects of the new year.

"The design team is prepared to present station design details to council and is seeking council authorization to move forward," according to town documents.

The council also will consider approving an increase in the project's cost from $7 million to $7.96 million.

"The (increase) reflects additional time spent by the BLDD team on schematic design and (review of) possible design alternatives, including the addition of a basement and reducing the building footprint by increasing the floors in the office and living areas," according to documents.

Staff expects to take bids for the project in April, approve a construction contract in May and see construction begin in June.

"My guess is something like this is probably eight to 10 months (of construction), so we're probably looking at early 2017 for occupancy," said City Manager Mark Peterson.

Normal acquired the South Main Street site from Illinois State University in exchange for the site of its current No. 2 fire station at 604 N. Adelaide St. and other land.

Peterson described the Adelaide Street site as an "old station that is functionally obsolete and physically obsolete."

The town also plans to move its other two stations  the current fire department headquarters at 1300 E. College Ave. and station No. 3 at 1200 E. Raab Road  to help improve fire call response times across the community.

Peterson said the College Avenue station could be replaced in 2021, and the remaining station in 2026.

"We've started identifying potential sites on which we would construct a new station on the east side of town (to replace the current headquarters)," he said.
DECATUR  When Jennifer Dahn answered the call to help the recovery effort at a tornado disaster area in Washington in November 2013, she had no idea she was about to get a vision that would result in smiles and encouragement for thousands of people across Central Illinois.

During her volunteer work, she was deeply moved as she witnessed how therapy/comfort dogs visiting with tornado victims could elevate some of the lowest of spirits. In those moments, the inspiration for PawPrint Ministries was born.

Dahn returned to Decatur, ignited with a passion to start a faith-based comfort dog ministry that would bless her hometown and expand outward. Just five months later, in April 2014, she had turned her faith into fruition, founding PawPrint Ministries with her husband, Mike.

Since then, Jennifer and her team of dog handlers have visited people of diverse demographics, from terminal cancer patients to disaster victims, with the intent of touching lives through the empathy and compassion of their registered therapy dogs.

When my dog comes into that psych ward, he can do things for those patients that no medication can do, Dahn asserted. On more than one occasion, nurses have been surprised to witness patients, who have been unresponsive for long periods of time, suddenly talk or move after a sight or touch of a PawPrint golden retriever.

The ministry has earned a growing following and often sees fans at nursing homes and assisted living facilities waiting at the entrance, eagerly anticipating the monthly arrival.

When my dog approaches a situation, he doesnt judge, he doesnt speak, he just comes in with compassion, and thats so often what they need. My dog is a bridge that allows that person to come and sit next to me, explained Dahn about the abilities of her dogs.

The group also focuses on outreach for people in non-life-threatening situations, such as teaching Girl Scouts about serving the community and giving preschoolers a fun break with the dogs. One of the newest manifestations of their mission is Dog Church for people with special needs at Macon Resources Inc. They offer a brief monthly service of singing, a message and prayers, along with interactions before and after with the dogs. The meeting has quickly become popular since its October inception.

More than faith is growing at the ministry. From September 2014 to today they have expanded from one registered therapy dog to six, with some having specialized focuses such as wounded warriors, veterans and sexual assault victims.

The handlers have found a deeper connection with their dogs over the course of a year or more. Theyve worked together through challenging and inspiring visits, while building an intuitive relationship through regular training.

At first he was just one of the dogs in PawPrint Ministries, but he now has come into my heart and my husbands heart and he sleeps on our bed, vice president and dog handler Judy Koshinski said with a laugh about her comfort dog, Eli.

Jennifer Dahn goes almost everywhere with her dog, Payton, even church. She trains with him twice a week, working on continuing skills. He knows when Im anxious  when Im excited. He knows how to keep me calm. I think we work very well together as a team, she said.

The group has experienced a growing need for its comfort dog services. The organization is looking for more handlers and plans to train additional teams to keep up with the demand. They see the potential for growth nationally, with one dog in Benson, Minn., already added to the Decatur-based ministry.

Dahn said that the joy and smiles she has witnessed over the past year and a half of working with comfort dogs has given her a feeling that is indescribable.

However, when asked about her outlook for the future of PawPrint Ministries, Dahns words were exact: The skys the limit.
There is an outbreak of Norovirus or stomach flu in California. It is confirmed by California Department of Public Health (CDPH) that there are 32 outbreaks of Norovirus in the state since Oct. 1, 2015.

Doctor Karen Smith, director of the California Department of Public Health appeals to the people to observe safety measures to prevent the virus from spreading, the Insight Ticker reported. "One of the most important things you can do to avoid norovirus and other illnesses this holiday season is to wash your hands frequently with soap and running water for at least 20 seconds," she said." This is especially important after using the bathroom, changing the diapers, and before preparing or eating food. Hand sanitizers are not effective against Norovirus."

Defining Norovirus, it is a group of viruses that cause infection of the large intestine lining in the stomach, according to Webmd.com. It is also called food poisoning.

This virus is the main cause of gastroenteritis in the United States. People, who eat drink liquids and eat foods that are tainted, consume raw vegetables, fruits and oysters might be infected with Norovirus. If you also touch objects that are unsanitary with the virus then you will also get infected by it.

Meanwhile, there is an outburst of Norovirus in Minnesota too. "Every few years, a strain of norovirus emerges and causes many illnesses. We don't know yet if this new strain will lead to an increase in the number of outbreaks reported, but it could," Amy Saupe of the Minnesota Department of Health (MDC) said. "If we're meticulous about washing our hands and handling food properly, one may be able to limit the impact."

ABC News reported that in Boston, about 136 patrons became infected with Norovirus in Chipotle restaurant. The outbreak started from the restaurant's sick employee. It was closed on Dec. 7, 2015, and reopened after a few days.

With the above reports, precautions must be observed to prevent the virus from spreading. These include washing hands regularly, maintain good hygiene, and avoiding foods and liquids that are contaminated with the virus.
Google is facing trouble in the United States. A privacy non-profit organization has filed a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission that accuses the tech behemoth of spying on children in the U.S.

The complaint particularly mentions Chromebooks, a line of cheap laptops running Google-made software, that is being used by more than half of K-12 students across the U.S. Around the world, The Washington Post reported, that 50 million children and teachers are using programs from the Mountain View company.

According to the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Chromebooks has a 'Sync' feature that is tracking and collecting information including the websites the student visits, links clicked, YouTube videos watched, terms typed on the search engine, and even passwords saved using Google Chrome Browser. The non-profit organization alleges that the search engine company is using this information by creating profiles and pushing 'targeted ads' not strictly about education to students.

Moreover, the privacy watchdog claimed that the multi-billion-dollar company has violated the Student Privacy Pledge which Google signed a promise to not collect or share student records except when authorized for educational purposes. Microsoft Corp., Apple Inc., and 200 other companies signed the pledge to protect children against online espionage.

"Despite publicly promising not to, Google mines students' browsing data and other information, and uses it for the company's own purposes," said Nate Cardozo, EFF Staff Attorney, on a press release. "Minors should not be tracked or use as guinea pigs, with their data treated as a profit center."

Cardozo added that if Google wants to "improve" its services by collecting user data from Google Apps for Education (GAFE), the company must first ask permission from parents.

Jonathan Rochelle, the director for GAFE, wrote on Blogspot that the company is "firmly committed" to uphold the privacy and security especially of children's personal information online. That said, Google is confident that none of the programs provided to children is in violation of the Student Privacy Pledge. Rochelle added that educators and administrators can always manually choose which information can be synced in the settings menu or completely disable the feature from Chrome.
It's not every day that I receive a mail from a reader who loved my book or otherwise. There are not many readers, and not many readers ...
Tucked away in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont sits a brewery many consider the mecca of craft beer. Shaun Hill, the Founder and Head Brewer at Hill Farmstead, has been on top of the beer world ever since he opened his doors to the brewery more than five years ago. Since then, beer lovers from around the country have made the pilgrimage down the dirt roads of Greensboro Bend, Vermont to get a hold of his beers.

With the recent expansion of the brewery, adding a tap house for on-site consumption, and a desire to travel more, Shaun has been busier than ever, so we were lucky when he agreed to spend a few minutes with us to talk about Petes Wicked Ale, decreasing production and Civil Disobedience.

Paste: Your first home-brew was for a science project when you were 15 and you were the head of a homebrew club in college. Was there a beer or brewery that inspired you to get into brewing?

Shaun Hill: I started the homebrew club my senior year in college. There were several influences in those early days. When I was 15 ,things such as Petes Wicked Ale, Boston Beers Cream Stout, Magic Hat #9I still remember the first time that I saw a bottle of #9.

Paste: Have any of those recipes/ideas from your home-brewing period made it into the tanks at HF?

SH: Nothing from the early period  age 15 to 21  was ever worthy of recreation! However, some of the beers that I created later on during my homebrew and early professional career (2003 to 2006) have morphed into the existing beers.

Paste: This year you added the new tap room to the brewery. What was the event or moment that made you realize that you had to add the taproom and increase production? Are you planning to make any more additions to the brewery?

SH: The tap room is really more of a growler filling station. We had to decide between continuing to fill growlers or to make the shift to packaging beer. For now, the decision was to make the customer onsite experience as enjoyable as possible by shortening the lines for growler fills and to allow onsite consumption of some of the beers. The new tap room will also allow us to release beers for onsite consumption only But there are no more additions as far as I know!

Paste: Lately, there has been a consistent flow of kegs out of state to places like NYC and Philly. Do you have any plans for a larger distribution?

SH: Absolutely no plans for increased distribution. In fact, we are now beginning to plateau and even decrease our production.

Paste: Ive heard that you have been speaking with Dom Perignon chef de cave Richard Geoffroy. How has he influenced your barreling/cellar process?

SH: Interestingwhere did you hear this? I met him on a trip through France and a visit to Moet. It is always refreshing to meet someone that is a kindred soul, curious and driven to refinement. There has been no influence on barreling (they dont barrel age or use wood) and much of our conversations at this time have been in relation to bottle conditioning. We are among a very small minority of American brewers that utilize bottle conditioning and have extended aging times of more than a year of bottle conditioning prior to release

Paste: For the Civil Disobedience series, each beer is a blend. Is there a process you follow to decide which beers to blend?

SH: The process is quite simple, really. Generally, we do not set out to brew a beer for the Civil Disobedience series, but rather find ourselves blending orphan barrels of beers that possess the qualities of unique expression, but are not as singular in their focus as Ann, Art, and Flora

Paste How do you know you will achieve what you are looking for? Are there cases where you have to dump blends?

SH: We blend on a very small scale, of course, first, before just dumping barrels into each other.

Paste: There are several beers like Mimosa and Juicy that have only been brewed once. Which of the beers that you have only brewed once would you re-brew and why?

SH: There is actually a new iteration of Juicy that will be released quite soon. Mimosa was a magical happenstance beer, something akin to it will be released again, surely, but it wont be Mimosa. Perhaps I made the mistake of not vintage dating some of these earlier beers, so that they might be referenced in relation to their seasonal/yearly/happen-stance driven creation.

Paste: You have brewed a lot of incredible beers over the years. If you had to pick one beer that has been your favorite beer to brew/drink what would it be?

SH: Difficult question! My favorite beer to drink (that we make) is Art.

Paste: If you could do a collaboration with any brewery in the world, who would it be with, what would you be brewing and why?

SH: Im reaching the end of the collaborative process feeling that Ive brewed with most of the folks with whom I had wished to work.

What is your favorite non-Hill Farmstead beer to drink right now?

SH: Sierra Nevada Celebration. Im also liking the hoppy beers that are being produced by Fat Heads

Paste: Ive seen photos of Apple Brandy barrels, Coolships, and rumors of a beer called Clover. What can you tell us about your plans for 2016?

SH: Believe it or not, I have not finalized what this plan is! Id like to travel more, brew less, and connect with my creative self in a new way. I am working on different production modelsrearranging our brewery and our processand planning to focus on our onsite experience. Clover will be released. Juicy will be released

Paste: If you could change one (or multiple) things about the craft beer world as it is today, what would it be?

SH: The illusion that we are all in this together, or that brewers are somehow obligated to openly share information with each other and with home brewers and aspiring future brewersas if the common theme is that we are all bonding together to take down the establishment and to create as many breweries as possible. Im no longer sure what it means to be in this, or what the industry is.

I also wish that people would stop using the word saison as a catch-all for any beer that does not fit within a conventional and defined category. A no boil, 100% wheat beer fermented with lactobacillus and double dry hopped is now called a saison.
In February, Obama told Re/code that he wanted to start wearing a device while working out and said he was interested in the Apple Watch. The President noted that "I don't have a Fitbit yet, but I work out hard. Word is these Apple Watches might be a good companion for my workouts. So I'm gonna see, I'm gonna test it out. I don't want to give [Apple CEO] Tim Cook too big of a plug here until I've actually seen the product, [but] he tells me it's pretty good." Well I guess the Apple Watch didn't pan out as first hoped for as the President finally went with Fitbit as noted in the photo above from the Jerry Seinfeld show "Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee."

As the DailyDot notes, the president isn't allowed to have a smartphone that has a recording device, so that may be one reason why he went with Fitbit over an Apple or Samsung product.





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Portrait of John Calvin (1509-1564 ) from the 16th century (unknown) [public domain / Wikimedia Commons] * * *

(9-17-09) * * *

This paper deals with John Calvins arguments in Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book IV, 12:23-28 (using the online public domain version). Ive abridged his portions in a few portions for the sake of better flow of dialogue. Anyone wishing to read all his words or see the complete context can consult the online version. Calvins words will be in blue.

* * * * *

23. Of the celibacy of priests, in which Papists place the whole force of ecclesiastical discipline. This impious tyranny refuted from Scripture. An objection of the Papists disposed of.





In one thing they are more than rigid and inexorablein not permitting priests to marry. It is of no consequence to mention with what impunity whoredom prevails among them, and how, trusting to their vile celibacy, they have become callous to all kinds of iniquity. ***





Sure, there was a lot of corruption in that time. But that calls for reform of the thing (the virtue of celibacy), and spiritual revival, not destruction of a practice good in and of itself, and altogether biblical (1 Corinthians 7).

***

The prohibition, however, clearly shows how pestiferous all traditions are, since this one has not only deprived the Church of fit and honest pastors, but has introduced a fearful sink of iniquity, and plunged many souls into the gulf of despair. ***





Anyone who is not called to celibacy should avoid it, and get married. Is this not utterly obvious? Priests are not pressed into service at gunpoint, or involuntarily castrated. One wearies of the continual nonsense that is spouted by Protestants in their detestation of a wonderfully pious practice. ***

Certainly, when marriage was interdicted to priests, it was done with impious tyranny, not only contrary to the word of God, but contrary to all justice. ***





All institutions in life have requirements. Why should the Catholic Church be any different? Its not required of everyone; only those who wish to be priests, by Gods calling.

***

First, men had no title whatever to forbid what God had left free; ***





Then why did Calvin rule Geneva with such a dictatorial hand, if he was so intensely concerned with personal freedom? ***

secondly, it is too clear to make it necessary to give any lengthened proof that God has expressly provided in his Word that this liberty shall not be infringed. I omit Pauls injunction, in numerous passages, that a bishop be the husband of one wife; ***





Sure; if a bishop is married at all. He should not be guilty of bigamy or divorce and remarriage! That doesnt mean that the Church has no jurisdiction to require celibacy if she so desires. ***

but what could be stronger than his declaration, that in the latter days there would be impious men forbidding to marry? ( 1 Tim. 4:3 )



Catholics do not forbid anyone to marry, strictly speaking. The Church simply says that she (and not even in its entirety, as Eastern Catholics allow married priests) wishes to draw for her priests exclusively from that portion of men who are already called by God to celibacy (1 Cor 7:17), in order to secure an undistracted devotion to the Lord (1 Cor 7:32, 35). The Church is not approaching a man who wants to be married and forbidding him to do so (i.e., going against his existing vocation and station in life); rather, she is receiving men who voluntarily follow the divine vocation of celibacy and who are voluntarily following a call by God to be priests.

Why this is the least bit controversial has always been a complete puzzle to me. I can only chalk it up to good old prejudice. Its a way to lie about and bash the Catholic Church, and it is an emotional subject, so it is used for propaganda, with little regard for reason or biblical rationale. It plays well to the crowds. Its demagoguery, pure and simple. ***

Such persons he calls not only impostors, but devils.





Yes, but Calvin simply assumes this is applying to a practice such as that of the Catholic Church, rather than pseudo-ascetic extreme sects like the Manichees and Gnostics and (later) Albigensians and suchlike. The Catholic Church is following the advice of St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 7. If Calvin doesnt like that, he needs to attack the Apostle Paul directly. That is his burden. Many Protestant commentaries agree with my assessment of 1 Timothy 4:3, over against Calvins anti-Catholic fantasies:

The ascetic tendencies indicated by these prohibitions developed earlier than these Epistles among the Essenes . . . who repudiated marriage except as a necessity for preserving the race, and allowed it only under protest and under stringent regulations . . . The prohibitions above named were imposed by the later Gnosticism of the second century. (Marvin Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament , Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 1980 [originally 1887], Vol. IV, 245) See Col. 2:16, 21f., where Paul condemns the ascetic practices of the Gnostics. The Essenes, Therapeutae and other oriental sects forbade marriage. In 1 Cor. 7 Paul does not condemn marriage. (A. T. Robertson, Word Pictures in the New Testament , Nashville, Tennessee: Broadman Press, 1931, Vol. IV, 578) The assertions of these verses are significant when studied in relation to the Gnostic and dualistic views that matter is evil and not created by God. ( The Eerdmans Bible Commentary , edited by D. Guthrie et al, Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 3rd edition, 1970, 1173)

***



We have therefore a prophecy, a sacred oracle of the Holy Spirit, intended to warn the Church from the outset against perils, and declaring that the prohibition of marriage is a doctrine of devils.





We agree, and we deny that this applies to the Catholic position. Calvin  perhaps because of his rush to condemn Catholicism from top to bottom  doesnt grasp the fundamental distinctions involved. ***

They think that they get finely off when they wrest this passage, and apply it to Montanus, the Tatians, the Encratites, and other ancient heretics. These (they say) alone condemned marriage; we by no means condemn it, but only deny it to the ecclesiastical order, in whom we think it not befitting.





Much better. This approaches a position of actually understanding that which he opposes. ***

As if, even granting that this prophecy was primarily fulfilled in those heretics, it is not applicable also to themselves;





But its not, because our position (rightly understood) is also St. Pauls. If Calvin wants to attack it, he should, to be consistent, go after Paul too. But of course he does not. Hed rather play sophistical games. ***

or, as if one could listen to the childish quibble that they do not forbid marriage, because they do not forbid it to all. This is just as if a tyrant were to contend that a law is not unjust because its injustice presses only on a part of the state.

I repeat: all institutions impose rules and regulations. All organizations have entrance requirements. It is a part of life and reality. The Catholic Church has a perfect right and liberty under God to have this restriction, based on the teachings of St. Paul. I dont think it is even arguable. This discussion is often conducted on a purely irrational, emotional plane. ***

24. An argument for the celibacy of priests answered.





They object that there ought to be some distinguishing mark between the clergy and the people; as if the Lord had not provided the ornaments in which priests ought to excel.





St. Paul seemed to think that celibacy was a desired spiritual state, as long as one is called to it. Jesus was single. All of His disciples appear to have been also (Peter seems to have agreed with his wife to separate for the sake of ministry). We treasure celibacy and we treasure marriage (making it a sacrament, whereas Calvin and Luther removed sacramentality from it). This is the biblical, Pauline, both/and. But Calvin has no place for Pauls extolling of celibacy for the sake of greater service to the Lord, in his system. So which outlook is more biblical and well-rounded? Is it not utterly obvious? What would Calvin do with, for example, the following passage from the lips of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?:

Luke 18:28-20 And Peter said, Lo, we have left our homes and followed you. [29] And he said to them, Truly, I say to you, there is no man who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, [30] who will not receive manifold more in this time, and in the age to come eternal life.

Why should we Catholics disagree with Jesus? The Catholic Church is not even requiring this much. She doesnt command a man to leave his wife or children or parents. Rather, she accepts men who have already felt the call or vocation of celibacy. Again, Calvins beef is with Jesus Himself, Who sanctioned far more of a deprivation of liberty or imprisoning conscience than the Catholic Church ever supposedly did. ***

Thus they charge the apostle with having disturbed the ecclesiastical order, and destroyed its ornament, when, in drawing the picture of a perfect bishop, he presumed to set down marriage among the other endowments which he required of them.





At times there have been married bishops, because this is a disciplinary matter, not a dogmatic one. Its neither here nor there. ***

I am aware of the mode in which they expound thisviz. that no one was to be appointed a bishop who had a second wife. This interpretation, I admit, is not new; but its unsoundness is plain from the immediate context, which prescribes the kind of wives whom bishops and deacons ought to have. Paul enumerates marriage among the qualities of a bishop; . . . ***

We have married priests today in the Eastern Rites, and there have been married bishops in the past. Both/and. But Calvinism and general Protestantism sure dont have much of a tradition of single pastors, do they? They accept one-half of Pauls teaching and not the other, and this is the problem. ***

Let every one consider with himself from what forge these things have come. Christ deigns so to honour marriage as to make it an image of his sacred union with the Church. What greater eulogy could be pronounced on the dignity of marriage?





None, but it is irrelevant to the point at hand. ***

How, then, dare they have the effrontery to give the name of unclean and polluted to that which furnishes a bright representation of the spiritual grace of Christ? ***

The same way that Jesus Himself (along with Paul) does:

Matthew 19:10-12 The disciples said to him, If such is the case of a man with his wife, it is not expedient to marry. [11] But he said to them, Not all men can receive this saying, but only those to whom it is given. [12] For there are eunuchs who have been so from birth, and there are eunuchs who have been made eunuchs by men, and there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. He who is able to receive this, let him receive it.

Obviously, then, Calvin and many Protestants are among those who cant receive this plain teaching of Jesus. Thats not our problem, that they are so unwilling to accept certain parts of inspired divine revelation. We show no such reluctance and lack of faith and trust in Gods designs. ***

25. Another argument answered.





Though their prohibition is thus clearly repugnant to the word of God,





Really? I should think that the truth is clearly quite the opposite, once all the relevant biblical data is examined, and clear thinking brought to bear, rather than irrational emotionalism and a slanderous anti-Catholic motivation. ***

they, however, find something in the Scriptures to defend it. The Levitical priests, as often as their ministerial course returned, behoved to keep apart from their wives, that they might be pure and immaculate in handling sacred things; and it were therefore very indecorous that our sacred things, which are more noble, and are ministered every day, should be handled by those who are married: as if the evangelical ministry were of the same character as the Levitical priesthood. . . . the apostle declares distinctly, without reservation, Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled; but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge (Heb. 13:4). And the apostles showed, by their own example, that marriage is not unbefitting the holiness of any function, however excellent; for Paul declares, that they not only retained their wives, but led them about with them (1 Cor. 9:5). ***

Why is 1 Corinthians 7 overlooked throughout the entire section of Calvins wrongheaded, unbiblical rantings against celibacy? The Levitical priests offer one analogy, but Calvin neglects to see it based on sweeping bigotry [a portion of the deleted portion above]: ecclesiastical pastors do not sustain this character in the present day. This is hardly intellectually impressive. ***

26. Another argument answered.





Then how great the effrontery when, in holding forth this ornament of chastity as a matter of necessity, they throw the greatest obloquy on the primitive Church, which, while it abounded in admirable divine erudition, excelled more in holiness. For if they pay no regard to the apostles (they are sometimes wont strenuously to contemn them),



Who is not paying attention? Calvin has ignored 1 Corinthians 7, and he has ignored the fact of Pauls and the twelve disciples celibacy and separation from wives in some cases, for the sake of ministry. ***

what, I ask, will they make of all the ancient fathers, who, it is certain, not only tolerated marriage in the episcopal order, but also approved it?





Nothing, as it is irrelevant: celibacy being a matter of discipline, not dogma. ***

They, forsooth, encouraged a foul profanation of sacred things when the mysteries of the Lord were thus irregularly performed by them. In the Council of Nice, indeed, there was some question of proclaiming celibacy: as there are never wanting little men of superstitious minds, who are always devising some novelty as a means of gaining admiration for themselves.



St. Pauls express teachings are superstitious novelties? That is an odd (beyond bizarre) thing for a Protestant to imply. ***

What was resolved? The opinion of Paphnutius was adopted, who pronounced legitimate conjugal intercourse to be chastity (Hist. Trip. Lib. 2 c. 14). The marriage of priests, therefore, continued sacred, and was neither regarded as a disgrace, nor thought to cast any stain on their ministry. ***

They were less conformed to the Pauline model in those days, but that doesnt mean the Pauline model cannot be followed should the Church decide to make it normative. ***

An argument drawn from the commendation of virginity as superior to marriage. Answer. 27.



In the times which succeeded, a too superstitious admiration of celibacy prevailed. Hence, ever and anon, unmeasured encomiums were pronounced on virginity, so that it became the vulgar belief that scarcely any virtue was to be compared to it. And although marriage was not condemned as impurity, yet its dignity was lessened, and its sanctity obscured;





No; only from Calvins dichotomous either/or mentality does this follow. Catholics think in both/and terms. ***

so that he who did not refrain from it was deemed not to have a mind strong enough to aspire to perfection.





We can strive for perfection in whatever state of life God has called us to. ***

Hence those canons which enacted, first, that those who had attained the priesthood should not contract marriage; and, secondly, that none should be admitted to that order but the unmarried, or those who, with the consent of their wives, renounced the marriage-bed.



That is, just as Jesus Himself sanctioned (Luke 18:29). ***

These enactments, as they seemed to procure reverence for the priesthood, were, I admit, received even in ancient times with great applause. But if my opponents plead antiquity, my first answer is, that both under the apostles, and for several ages after, bishops were at liberty to have wives: that the apostles themselves, and other pastors of primitive authority who succeeded them, had no difficulty in using this liberty, and that the example of the primitive Church ought justly to have more weight than allow us to think that what was then received and used with commendation is either illicit or unbecoming.





Scripture itself: the words of our Lord and the Apostle Paul carry as much weight in the scheme of things as the prevailing practices of the early Church (assuming for the sake of argument that it was as Calvin describes). ***

My second answer is, that the age, which, from an immoderate affection for virginity, began to be less favourable to marriage, did not bind a law of celibacy on the priests, as if the thing were necessary in itself, but gave a preference to the unmarried over the married.





Hence, the Western, Latin Rites in Catholicism take one path, and the Eastern Rites another. Both/and. But Protestantism mostly teaches Only, only. Celibacy is frowned upon, especially in pastors, and this is an unbiblical, un-Pauline attitude. ***

28. The subject of celibacy concluded. This error not favoured by all ancient writers.




A Christian university offers a free course so its students can get a license to carry a concealed firearm? Why are guns so important to the folks at Liberty that they offer a course on concealed carry free of charge? If a Christian college offers free courses on carrying guns, but charges money for courses on the Gospels and the letters of Paul, what does this say about the schools priorities and mission?

The quote comes from Larry Behrendts blog Jewish-Christian Intersections.

Of related interest, the AAR and SBL annual meeting is in Texas next year, and Texas has recently passed an open carry law. For those from saner parts of the world than my own country, that means that not only can you carry a weapon, but you can carry it openly, e.g. hanging over your shoulder as you walk around a store or in a restaurant. For those of us who think that is dangerous, we might want to ask AAR and SBL to ensure that firearms are prohibited on the premises of the conference, and to ask that restaurants in the vicinity post their policy visibly so that conference attendees can make an informed choice about whether to dine at their establishment.

For what its worth, Indiana also has an open carry law, but I have never seen people wandering around Indianapolis with a firearm. Then again, to my knowledge Indianas governor has never challenged Obama to come and take his guns.

If you attend the annual meeting in November, you might want to print some of the cards below. I would certainly leave immediately from anywhere I was if I saw someone with a gun there, without hesitation, and so it might be useful to have something to leave behind by way of explanation, since I certainly wouldnt stop to have a conversation while some person with a deadly weapon is present.
This afternoon I learned that an armed militia group has occupied a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon. As I peruse twitter and read about the militants calls for all true patriots to bring their guns and join them, I am reminded of the summers I spent as a teen at a small camp in the midwest in the early 2000s. We didnt drill or shoot gunsthe camp was held at state parks, and I suspect that wasnt permittedand the camp was ostensibly about teaching young people how true constitutional principles and Christian religion, not about creating a paramilitary force. Still, every time something like this happens I am taken back to those summers and that camp.

It was at that camp that I learned about the ostensibly unlawful federal control of much of the U.S. land mass. We talked about the possibility of declaring your individual land sovereign territory, and personally seceding from the U.S. We learned about individuals who had done just that, and about the governments unlawful attempts to collect property taxes from these sovereign citizens. It was clear that the camp leaders and speakers were inspired by the ostensible patriotism of these individuals, whether or not they personally took this path themselves.

We learned other things about land too. For example, we were taught that in the early 1990s a U.N. agreement very nearly turned the vast, vast majority of the U.S. into uninhabitable nature preserves. Years later I became curious and looked this up. What I found was Agenda 21. According to the Daily Beast:

While the name might sound a bit ominous, Agenda 21 is a voluntary action plan that offers suggestions for sustainable ways local, state and national governments can combat poverty and pollution and conserve natural resources in the 21st century. (Thats where the 21 comes from. Get it?) 178 governmentsincluding the U.S. led by then-President George H.W. Bushvoted to adopt the program which is, again, not legally binding in any way, at the 1992 U.N. Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro.

One of the speakers told us that back when the agreement was being discussed he read through the entire thing and taken a map and marked up what land would be considered inhabitable and what land would be completely off limits to humans, as dictated by the agreements provisions. He told us that the map he created left only tiny slivers for human habitation, and that he was able to present the map to Congress in time to prevent Congress from implementing the agreement. We listened in awe, thankful that we were not living in the futuristic dystopia he outlined.

There was a lot of talk about the overreach of the federal government, but there was even more talk about the overreach of the U.N. One of the speakers explained us that the U.N. was seeking to take control of the world through environmental treaties, which were illustrated as ropes binding independent countries so that their sovereignty disappeared. In fact, we were taught that environmentalism itself was a U.N. conspiracy to take over the world. I nodded in agreement, moved by the speakers insistence that we must get the U.S. out of the U.N.

In keeping with this opposition to environmentalism, we learned that shoot, shovel, and shut up was the correct response for landowners dealing with endangered species on their land. After all, what the federal government didnt know about it couldnt prosecute, and environmentalism was a way for the federal government to exert unlawful and oppressive control over private property. We learned that the Environmental Protection Agency itself was illegitimate, and that the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act should never have been passed. OSHA violations resulted in extra points during cabin inspections.

We were taught that the ideal position was to be an independent business owner living on ones own property and homeschooling ones childrenthat such a household was not beholden to anyone. I cant remember whether this ideal included alternative energy sources and a reliance on well water, though Im sure it would today. I do remember some emphasis on prepping, and there was a definite emphasis on gun ownershipindeed, we were taught that gun ownership was central to being a free and independent citizen, rather than a slave of the government.

I would be remiss if I didnt mention the songs we sang around the campfire at night. I wish I had saved a copy of the camp songbook, because it was quite a specimen. Some of the songs were your standard patriotic songs, but others were far, far different. There were anti-UN songs, for example, and anti-government songsironic for an ostensibly patriotic camp. And perhaps that is the central irony of the camp. The camps byline was where Gods Word and patriotism go hand in hand, and yet the camps content was soundly and profoundly anti-government.

A lot of the things Ive said above may seem a bit kooky, but you have to understand the atmosphere of the camp. Quite a number of the parents stayed, interested in hearing the speakers themselves. Indeed, the respect they showed toward the speakers spoke volumes to me, as a child. We were told that we were incredibly blessed to have important experts take the time to come speak at our camp, and that we should not take our opportunity to learn at their feet for granted. Who was I to question people my parents held in high esteem as experts? I lapped up every word.

At this camp I learned the ideas that motivate todays militia movement, including those currently occupying a federal wildlife refuge in Oregon. We may not have practiced our marksmanship, but we learned that federal control of Western land is illegitimate and that the government had become oppressive to private property rights and the liberties of independent citizens. We were taught to see the government as illegitimate, and were told that guns and ammunition were central to protecting our rights and freedoms from this illegitimate and oppressive force. These are the ideas that inform todays armed militia members in their occupation of federal land.

Ironically, some the things I was taught at this camp, as well as at home, ultimately prompted me to question and reject the conservative mindset I adopted as a teen. Both my parents and the camp speakers urged me to question experts and think for myself. They believed this would inoculate me against the liberal party line, but didnt realize I wouldnt stop there. When some of the things Id learned didnt line up I realized I needed to question conservative experts as well as liberal experts, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Over time I came to understand that no citizen is truly independent of every other citizen, that we are all interconnected. I realized that even a private business owner living on their own land and homeschooling their children relies on government roads and government police forces, to scratch the surface. This sort of militia ideology ignores the social contract, the importance of our interdependency and the necessity of the government in providing for the public welfare. This is where the militia movement, and with its anti-government ideology, fails.

Still, as long as I live, I will always remember those summers at militia camp.
ISHMAELS CHILDREN IN AMERICA: A SONG OF ISLAM

James Ishmael Ford

3 January 2016

Pacific Unitarian Church

Rancho Palos Verdes, California

When I was a young Zen monk living in a monastery in Oakland, we were informed that we were getting a VIP visitor. His name was Samuel Lewis, and while he was mostly known as a Sufi master, he had also been acknowledged for his insight by spiritual teachers in a number of traditions, one of which was Zen. Ours was a bit more mainstream Zen Buddhist community and so most of us were expecting for us something on the rather exotic side, sort of a Zen zebra.

We werent disappointed. When he arrived I was on the hospitality team, and answered the door. Standing on the front step was an elderly man only a few inches more than five feet tall. He had shoulder length grey hair, a full beard, and oversized black plastic framed glasses. He was wearing the robes of a Korean Zen priest, I later learned put on special for the occasion. Before I could say anything, actually before I could take a full breath he brushed past me and looked around. His first words were, Wali Ali, take a letter. A young somewhat pudgy man followed along after him trying to write in a stenographers notebook. As the Zen and Sufi masters entourage of four or five followed he proceeded to examine the large old building that had been converted into a Zen monastery dictating his observations along the way, mostly, although not a hundred percent positive.

After his inspection the murshid, a Sufi title meaning guide or teacher, finally went to the roshis private rooms, and spent an hour or so with her. His students and we Zen monastics went into the kitchen, drank tea and talked about the spiritual scene in the San Francisco Bay Area at the end of the nineteen sixties. We had a lot to discuss. When Murshid Sam, as he was best known, and his students left and we returned to our accustomed silence, I was acutely aware how he had left a physical impression on the space that took days to fully dissipate.

Fast forward a lot of years. I was living in San Diego, working in a bookstore. Id long left the monastery, and at the time Id thought Id left Zen, as well. My marriage had collapsed, I felt pretty lost. And while Murshid Sam had died, almost on a whim I decided I would go back up to the Bay Area to San Francisco and study with one of his principal successors, the formerly pudgy young man called Wali Ali. Spent a couple of years in that Sufi kankhah, their residential center, and while my own spirituality eventually took me in other directions Ive always had a soft spot in my heart for them. The Ishmael in my name was presented to me in those days by one of their sheikhs, or teachers. And Ive proudly kept it as a token not only of those days, but, of the importance those days continue to occupy in my heart.

Now, to be clear, this was a school of Sufism that no longer saw itself as exclusively Muslim, and many orthodox Muslims wouldnt consider them part of the faith at all. But in fact a number of the residents and associated practitioners were practicing Muslims. And, it was knowing and watching them that I came to have a sense of a vastly different Islam emerging here in the West than we hear about on the news. And that opens what I would like to reflect on with you today.

We are up to our eyeballs engaged in the Middle Easts struggles sometimes with justification, and even for good and noble reasons, and sometimes, truthfully, its hard to find any good reason why we do what we do there. Frankly, it would be foolish to miss how in our military presence we have fanned and continue to fan the flames of fundamentalism as a form of resistance to the foreigners that pretty much everyone in that region see as invaders, even when wanted were seen as a necessary evil. So, I suggest we can profitably do a little soul searching about all that. But, also, Islam is very much on our collective minds. And it should be.

We need to understand it. And in particular we need to understand Islam in this country. I suggest what were seeing in the popular media and particularly what were hearing from politicians is for the most part not accurate. The biggest problem is reducing Islam to its fundamentalist versions. For instance the religion of Al-Qaeda or the Islamic State is Sunni Wahhabi fundamentalism. Understanding that fundamentalist form of Islam is important, just as we need to see the agenda of fundamentalist movements in Christianity like Dominionist theology. But, and this is so important, like with Dominionist Christianity, as dangerous and frightening as that is, theres vastly more to either faith than that twisted distillation of fear of the other with a quest for the purity of true belief, which is fundamentalism in whatever flavor you prefer.

In fact the vast majority of Muslims in the world are not fundamentalists, quite likely not much larger a percentage than within world Judaism or Christianity. And specifically, the face of American Islam is in fact, largely, the face of a religion that is about as moderate as Christian Methodists or American Baptists, or, at worst, if you will, most like Southern Baptists. They take their faith seriously, but they are also many other things, genuinely part of the fabric of our larger culture. All in all American Muslims are much more about their faiths many attractive features than any of the scary things we hear associated with Wahhabism or other Islamic fundamentalisms.

Im not going to spend our time today exploring the basic principles of Islam, such as the five pillars. A simple google search will give you that. Rather, I want to address a more important point too often missed. What I want to hold our focus to here today, is how a rather rich, a startlingly beautiful, and a genuinely interesting Islam is emerging here within the great multicultural experiment that is America.

Now the lists of our sins in this country are numerous. But, despite the fact the majority of us are Christian thanks to the founders who wrote it into our Constitution, we have been able to resist any attempts to create theocratic control in any lasting way. At least so far, so good. And as a result both moderate and liberal forms of Islam have been able to flourish here without significant hindrance. So far. Now as you look at the range of Muslims here, some are indeed fundamentalists. And I have big concerns about Saudi money trying to purchase influence here, particularly underwriting mosques. That noted, most American Muslims are moderates. And the rising influence of organizations like the American Islamic Forum for Democracy and the Center for Islamic Pluralism speak to that moderate voice finding its place here in America. Also, I notice how even those who take Saudi money seem as often as not happy to get the cash, but continue on a much more moderate course than their benefactors might have thought they were buying.

But, truthfully, the ones I really find fascinating are the liberals and progressives. There has been a current of liberal and progressive Islam for, well, pretty much as long as there has been an Islam. But, in authoritarian and theocratic regimes, and these days in states that feel under assault by the West, liberals and progressives of all sorts have suffered considerable persecution. But here in America, a place with an unparalleled freedom of religious expression that liberal impulse is beginning to be explored to the full.

Another major factor in this are our black American Muslims. Theyre worth an entire field of study. In the early twentieth century Americans of African decent were first evangelized by the only nominally Muslim Nation of Islam. But the vast majority who found Islam something important quickly moved on to more normative forms. However, here we have both American converts and now several generations who bring are both genuinely Muslim and completely American culturally. And, the degree of their influence on the immigrant Muslim communities that have been following is hard to overstate.

Thanks to these conditions what is emerging is fascinating. This liberal, this progressive Islam is beginning to take shape. Number one among their principals has been holding up the right of the individual to interpret the texts, both the Quran, and the commentarial Hadith. And, actually, with a trend among the most progressive among them, to reject that authority of the Hadith, at all. Like with Judaism, these progressive Muslims believe the ability to discern right and wrong comes with being human and is independent of any particular prophets revelations, opening them to full dialogue with any other tradition. Also, right up there with the right of conscience these liberal Muslims fiercely advocate the complete equality of women and men. This is rich stuff. I suggest those who call for a Muslim Reformation, well, this is it, happening now, happening here.

Here everything is on the table, even the institutions are open to challenge. Actually, according to a Pew study Gen X and Millennial Muslims in ever-increasing numbers flatly reject mosque cultures and those questionable influences from those willing to build the buildings and pay the clerics. Instead they look for new and creative ways to live and to engage with each other and their faith. We see something similar happening with the Emerging Christian movement, not institutionally dependent, built around small groups of friends. Open. Questioning. Deeply fertile.

And, heres another thing worth noticing. Despite the fact that over three quarters of Republicans and too many others agree with the statement that Islam is incompatible with the American way of life, American Muslims have in fact been wildly successful integrating into our culture. This is backed by statistics. They tend to be better educated than most, about forty percent as opposed to the shy of thirty percent of the general population having at least an undergraduate degree. And, I think this a terribly important number, according to a Gallup poll taken in 2009, fully seventy percent of American Muslims consider themselves politically liberal, at least by the definitions we use in this country. Of course, knowing those other currents among American Muslims, this should hardly be a surprise.

And, of course, then there are the Sufis. Totalitarians dont like them. Fundamentalists hate them. And here in this country theyre flourishing in all sorts of varieties. For me this is the most interesting of all the forms of Islam. Theres a reason I cherish what has become my middle name. And it is the Sufis. Our own popular culture, and for many of us, our very spirituality, wide and inviting as it is, is being enriched most directly by Sufi poets, and of those most deeply and pervasively Jalaluddin Rumi. As many here know the most popular poet in America today is this thirteenth century liberal Muslim Sufi. Theres a reason he fits into our Unitarian Universalist hymnal.

You want to find the wisdom that emerges in a multi cultural nation where all religions and those with none claim a right to be at the table? You want someone who from such wild openness proclaims our deepest possibility, what is happening here, now, just because of our genuine welcoming? I suggest you need look no farther than that Muslim Jalalluddin Rumi, who some eight hundred years ago sang to us of what he called the one song. Here in Coleman Barks translation.

Every war and every conflict between human beings

has happened because of some disagreement about names.

It is such an unnecessary foolishness,

because just beyond the arguing

there is a long table of companionship

set and waiting for us to sit down.

What is praised is one, so the praise is one too,

many jugs being poured into a huge basin.

All religions, all this singing, one song.

The differences are just illusion and vanity.

Sunlight looks a little different on this wall

than it does on that wall

and a lot different on this other one,

but it is still one light.

We have borrowed these clothes,

these time-and-space personalities,

from a light, and when we praise,

we are pouring them back in.

Okay. We may yet be a ways from when it is common for a Sufi murshid to also be acknowledged as a Zen master, but I am sure that one song is being sung even today, and without a doubt, it is being sung here. Here, in this strange, troubled, conflicted, and wondrous country. This is what gives me hope.

What I am sure of is that the table has been set. And the conversations have begun. Christians and Jews, Muslims, and Hindus, Buddhists and humanists, and more, many, many more; were all at the table. And now we just need to look into each others hearts. I have no doubt as we do, we will see our place. And, with that we can find our hope. Hope. Hope.

So be it. Blessed be. And, amen.
Patna: Hundreds of supporters of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) in Patna on Thursday took out a victory march to celebrate the party's spectacular show in the Delhi Assembly polls.

Led by AAP leader and former Janata Dal  U minister in the Nitish cabinet Parveen Amanullah, the road show began at Kankarbagh and after passing through several major streets like Exhibition Road and Gandhi Maidan before culminating at the busy Dak Bungalow Crossing.

Chanting pro-Arvind Kejriwal slogans, AAP supporters said that after unfurling the victory flag on the nation's capital, it was time for Bihar where AAP will do an encore of its Delhi performance.

"AAP has arrived in Patna and those who encourage or participate in corruption better not forget it. Corrupt politicians with big egos are only concerned with power while the common man pays the price. By continuing to play the caste and communal cards, these people keep the people backward. AAP is going to tackle all these issues in the upcoming Assembly elections in Bihar," Amanullah said.
FARGO -- When Donald Trump is on TV, Richard Omar changes the channel.

"I had respect for him years ago, but I don't anymore," Omar said.

The 65-year-old retired electrician once admired Trump the businessman. But he has no patience for Trump the presidential candidate and his proposal to ban Muslim immigration to the U.S.

The issue is personal for Omar. He's one of a dwindling number of North Dakotans with strong ancestral ties to a little-known enclave of Lebanese Muslims that built America's first mosque in 1929 on a piece of prairie in Ross.

These days, when terrorism concerns are influencing the debate about Muslim immigration, including whether to allow entry to Syrian refugees, the enclave is a reminder of just how long Muslims have called North Dakota home.

Omar, who lives outside Stanley, not far from the site of the Ross mosque, said Trump, with his proposed immigration ban, has effectively grouped all Muslims into the terrorist category.

Charlie Juma Jr., a Stanley native whose grandparents were Muslim settlers, said the proposal is just another example of Trump's bluster.

"He's doing a lot of talking and making a lot of threats," said Juma, an 81-year-old retired farmer and rancher. "It's not only the Muslims that's causing trouble in the world."

Syrian refugee crisis

North Dakota's early settlement of Arab immigrants came from what is now Lebanon, said William Sherman, a retired priest and sociologist who's researched the topic.

When these settlers emigrated in the early 1900s, Lebanon was not yet an independent country. It was part of Syria, which was controlled by the Turkish Empire. Consequently, U.S. immigration records listed the settlers as Syrian, said Sherman, who co-wrote a book about the group titled "Prairie Peddlers: The Syrian-Lebanese in North Dakota."

The Syrian designation stuck enough that the settlers formed Syrian clubs in North Dakota, and even today, some descendants refer to themselves as Syrian. After World War I, Lebanon became a separate nation that borders Syria.

Recent violence in Syria has prompted millions to flee the country, and many have made long journeys to Europe to seek asylum. It's a state of affairs that depresses Juma. "I don't know what in the world is going on over there," he said.

In September, President Barack Obama announced plans to allow some 10,000 Syrian refugees into the U.S. But in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks in November, more than half the country's governors, including North Dakota Gov. Jack Dalrymple, demanded that the flow of Syrian refugees be halted, citing concerns that the federal government's screening process is inadequate to weed out terrorists.

On this issue, Omar and Juma side with Dalrymple and the other governors. "It's not that I don't want to let refugees in. But at this time, no," Omar said.

For Juma, the current situation is too uncertain to admit the refugees. "My opinion is leave them where they're at," he said.

Syrians have not been part of North Dakota's refugee resettlement program in the past, but other refugee groups with Muslim populations, including Somalis and Bosnians, have come here in large numbers.

'Understand your roots'

Like other homesteaders who arrived in North Dakota in the early 1900s, Lebanese settlers were drawn here by the prospect of free land, which they learned about through word-of-mouth and through reports in Arabic-language newspapers, Sherman said.

About 2,000 settled throughout the state. Most of them were Christian, but about 400 were Muslim, he said.

Among the Lebanese Christian immigrants was Vernon Owan's father, Charles, who traveled from Beirut to the U.S. by himself in 1906 at the age of 13. He came through Mexico and then Sioux City, Iowa, before heading to North Dakota.

"He started peddling dry goods just from horse and buggy," Owan said. "He peddled them all the way to North Dakota."

Owan, 81, said he disagrees with Trump's call to ban Muslim immigration. "I don't believe in just a free country. I believe in a free world," said Owan, who visited Lebanon and Syria in 1980.

As for Syrian refugees, Owan said he empathizes with them and believes they should be allowed into the U.S. "I really feel for them because I'm one of them," he said. "You have to understand your roots."

Owan grew up on a farm 20 miles northwest of Williston. "All the friends we had that came over, Arab friends, spoke Lebanese. And of course, I learned it from listening to my daddy, relatives talk," said Owan, who can still speak the language.
Events in Iraq, Iran converge to produce hope

01/04/16

Opinion/Column by R. K. Ramazani (First published by The Daily Progress on January 3, 2016)



U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in New York in September 2015

(photo by Islamic Republic News Agency)



After years of discussion, Irans nuclear agreement of July reached a turning point last week on Dec. 28. A Russian shipment carried almost all of Irans stockpile of low-enriched uranium out of the country, a major step toward implementing the nuclear deal struck last summer. For the first time in nearly a decade, Iran was left with too little fuel to manufacture a nuclear weapon.

Secretary of State John Kerry called it one of the most significant steps Iran has taken toward fulfilling its commitment. On implementation day, roughly $100 billion in Iranian assets will be unfrozen, and the country will be free to sell oil on world markets and operate in the world financial system.

At the same time, Iraqi forces backed by American airstrikes reportedly recaptured central Ramadi, a provincial capital 60 miles from Baghdad, overrun by the Islamic State seven months ago. It is estimated that the Islamic States control of Iraqi territory has shrunk by 40 percent since last year.

President Obama has increased the level of American troops in Iraq to 3,500; and since July, the United States-led coalition has supported Iraqi troops with 630 airstrikes against Islamic State targets in and around Ramadi. The United States and its coalition allies have pledged $50 million to the newly liberated city.

But a single military victory by Iraqi forces isnt the whole story: The raised morale of the Iraqi security forces would seem to point toward the recapture of Mosul, Iraqs second-largest city. Such a victory could well lead to the destruction of the Islamic State and its propaganda instruments.

Since the United States and Iran are two of the leading opponents of the Islamic State, these concurrent events - the first important step toward implementing the nuclear deal and the first significant victory of the U.S. plan for defeating the Islamic State - may signal a shift in the seemingly unstoppable momentum toward an ever grimmer state of affairs in the Middle East.

Irans willingness to engage diplomatically, despite its revolutionary ideology, is not altogether new. Even at the height of the Iranian hostage crisis (1979-1981), the founding father of the Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, admonished the Islamic zealots who objected to his decision to establish relations with Turkey and Germany.

He said that establishing relations with other countries is compatible not only with the Islamic prophetic tradition but also with Iranian national interests. Failure to establish relations, he warned sternly, would mean defeat and annihilation for Iran.

Contrary to the assumption that Khomeini forbade talk with America, he left the door open to negotiations, indicating Irans willingness to resume relations with the United States if America behaves itself ( agar adam beshavad ) - that is, if America refrained from attempting to dominate Iran.

Given the many distrustful pronouncements by Ayatollah Khamenei, Supreme Leader of Iran, it is sometimes assumed that he wishes for no relations with the United States. Yet, as a matter of fact, when he endorsed Hassan Ruhani as prime minister and Javad Zarif as his foreign minister, he created a pathway to establishing relations with the United States. In this sense, he gave his blessing to diplomatic engagement with America.

The simultaneous fulfillment of the Iranian nuclear agreement with the United States and the victory of Iraqi forces were expected by few, but they have come together as an omen of the normalization of Iran as an international actor, and of better prospects for Iraq, for Syria, and even for the wider Middle East, with the curbing of nuclear proliferation.

After an especially bleak period in the history of the region, cautious optimism for the new year might not be misplaced. Now that the nuclear deal is becoming a reality and Irans assets may soon be unfrozen, there is reason to hope for better relations between Iran and the United States and for a successful if tacit collaboration between the two countries in routing the Islamic State.

R.K. Ramazani is the Edward R. Stettinius Professor Emeritus of Government and Foreign Affairs at the University of Virginia. His latest book is "Independence without Freedom: Iran's Foreign Policy."




Tehran air pollution takes fatal toll on disabled students

01/04/16

Source: Radio Zamaneh

The head of the Tehran Board of Special Education says three disabled students in Tehran have died due to severe pollution in the city. The state television network Seda va Sima reported on Saturday January 2 that the three students were hospitalized due to respiratory complications and later passed away in hospital.



The last selfie

(cartoon by Amin Montazeri, Shargh daily)





In recent weeks, the average air quality index in Tehran was above 150, and Vajihollah Parvizi, the head of special education, emphasized that anything above 120 would be hazardous to many of their students.

Mehdi Chamran, the secretary of Tehran's City Council, said last week that air pollution had increased the number of deaths in the capital to 180 per day, up from 150.

After three weeks, air pollution in the Iranian capital has finally dipped to acceptable levels due to precipitation.

Most recent reports from the Department of the Environment indicate that the "air quality index on Saturday morning was at 60 and in the healthy range."
LAS VEGASEven though CES 2016 is mostly consumer products, PC makers like Lenovo often showcase their new business offerings in Las Vegas as well. This year, Lenovo is featuring Chrome and Windows 10 systems, including ultra-thin business tablets with 2-in-1 functionality, traditional laptops, innovative desktops, and a lot in between.

The highlight this year is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Tablet, a modular slate tablet that's an extension of the brand originated by the ThinkPad X1 Carbon ($1,281.75 at Lenovo)(Opens in a new window) . The X1 Tablet features an Intel Core m7 processor, 10 hours of battery life, and a modular connector that clips to a Productivity module (a 15-hour battery pack), Presenter module with pico projector and HDMI port, or the 3D Imaging module (Intel RealSense camera). The X1 Tablet also has a detachable ThinkPad keyboard with integrated TrackPoint, and weighs 2.4 pounds with the keyboard attached. The ThinkPad X1 Tablet starts at $899 and will be available in February.

Other extensions and upgrades to the X1 line include the ThinkPad X1 Yoga, a convertible-hybrid laptop with a multimode design and an optional OLED screen. Rounding out the trio is the updated ThinkPad X1 Carbon, which tips the scales at 2.6 pounds. All three X1 products are available with 1TB SSD storage, Qulacomm Snapdragon X7 4G LTE modems, optional WiGig docking, and TPM security. The X1 Yoga starts at $1,449 and is available in January, while the X1 Carbon starts at $1,299 and is available in February as well. ThinkPad X1-branded accessories including a wireless touch mouse, in-ear headphones, and a WiGig docking station will also be available at the end of this month.

Desktops aren't dead: Witness the Lenovo ThinkCentre X1 AIO with a 23.8-inch screen that's only 11mm (0.43 inch) thick. Dust kills hardware components via overheating, so the X1 AIO is made to run for a decade or more, thanks to a dust-resistant design. It arrives in March, starting at $1,029.

Joining the X1 AIO are the second-gen ThinkCentre-in-one (TIO) 22-inch and 24-inch, a pair of Full HD displays with integrated slots that hide removable desktops like last year's Lenovo ThinkCentre M83 Tiny and Chromebox Tiny.

Lenovo's traditional laptop lines also receive updates, with the new ThinkPad T460 (14-inch Full HD display) and T560 (15.6-inch, up to 3K resolution). Joining them in the T-series are the ThinkPad T460s, a slim ultraportable that weighs 3 pounds, while the T460p is the power user's desktop replacement model. All of the ThinkPad T-Series laptops feature sixth-gen Intel Core processors, SSD options up to 512GB, and up to 24GB or 32GB of system memory. They will be available in February starting at $909 for the T460 and up to $1,249 for the T460p.

Businesses and schools on a budget will be attracted to the ThinkPad 13 (above), which starts at $499 for a Windows 10 model, and $399 for one with Chrome OS. The ThinkPad 13 is Mil-Spec tested, so it will withstand the rigors of a day-to-day use. You'll find a USB-C port on the system, along with an SSD up to 512GB and up to 16GB of memory. The Windows version is available in April, with the Chrome model following in June.

Rounding out the business announcements are the ThinkPad X260, a 12.5-inch ultraportable with up to 21 hours of battery life with Power Bridge dual batteries, starting at $929.

The ThinkPad L460 and L560 are value-priced desktop replacement laptops starting at $749.

Business editions of Lenovo's Miix 700 2-in-1 tablet and Yoga 900 will come with TPM chips for security, but are physically similar to their consumer-based counterparts. The latter two will be available by special order, priced on a case-by-case basis.
CES 2016 kicks off in Las Vegas this week, and PCMag will be there will all the news. Already, Lenovo has introduced new Chrome and Windows 10 systems, while Livestream is getting into the hardware market with its new Movi camera.

The show floor doesn't open until Wednesday, but Tuesday is press conference day, when the top gadget makers in the world (minus Apple) will show off their 2016 lineups in conference rooms across Las Vegas. Before they take the stage, here's a brief overview of what you can expect from each product category. Click the link on each topic for more in-depth analysis.

HDTVs:

The HDTVs at CES will make 4K's place in the world of HDTVs clear, according to PCMag's Will Greenwald. Expect virtually every HDTV manufacturer in the industry to expand their 4K lines significantly, with choices ranging from wallet-friendly to big, expensive flagship models. 4K series will start to outnumber 1080p HDTV series, and that trend will only continue. Meanwhile, Ultra HD Blu-ray is finally moving past the theoretical stage, so look for 4K Blu-ray players and the physical media to go along with them. Streaming 4K content will also continue to expand, and we could see the first glimpses of consumer-available 4K broadcast content as well.

Phones and Tablets:

Phone makers usually reserve their big announcements for Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, so don't expect a big blowout from Samsung in Vegas. Apple, meanwhile, never attends these big trade shows. That leaves a bunch of lower-key phone makers, and Windows PC vendors with Windows tablets, holding the floor for mobile at CES. HP, Lenovo, and Dell may be updating their Windows tablet lineups at the show, although we don't have any more specific details about any of those. Huawei and ZTE are both big global brands, but they've had some trouble penetrating U.S. consumers' minds. They'll try again at CES.

Digital Cameras and Drones:

The most intriguing camera-related story going into CES, according to PCMag's Jim Fisher, is about Samsung's place as a camera maker; a recent spate of rumors and news have left the future of the company's mirrorless NX line in question. Aside from that, pro photographers can usually ignore CES. But smaller, GoPro-style action cams will be plentiful at CES, as will drones.

Wearables and Fitness Gadgets:

Since there's a whole section of the show dedicated to wearables this year, expect every company, large and small, burgeoning and unknown, to display their wares. Google's Android Wear will likely forego any major updates since it just had one a few months ago, so any updates we'll see will likely be cosmetic. Fitbit, meanwhile, is holding the only wearables-dedicated press conference of the show. The news will undoubtedly be good, but it's uncertain whether it will be a brand-new device, like an upgrade to the Fitbit Charge HR, or some kind of software platform update.

Smart Home:

Though Apple won't have an official presence at CES, look for a number of home gadgets that connect with its HomeKit smart home protocol. PCMag's Tim Torres suggests we also be on the lookout for Bluetooth mesh networking, a new standard that will extend the distance for Bluetooth technology. We'll also probably see our fair share of robot vacuums, connected fridges, and bizarre gadgets.

Cars:

Autonomous driving will undoubtedly take center stage at CES, and rumors have been swirling that Ford and Google will announce a partnership at the show. But we do know that Kia will jump into the self-driving car fray for the first time, and Nevada DMV documents also reveal that Mercedes-Benz is planning to showcase autonomous E-Class models that will reportedly launch in 2017. But keep an eye on a mysterious car company known as Faraday Future, and let's see what Volkswagen has to say for itself during a Tuesday night keynote.
Mark Zuckerberg wants to build a robot butler.

Every year, the entrepreneur sets a personal goal, and in 2016 he wants to build a simple AI bot "to run my home and help me with my work."

"You can think of it kind of like Jarvis in Iron Man," he wrote in a Facebook post(Opens in a new window).

Zuckerberg is diving in by exploring current technology, like voice and facial recognition, data visualization, and automated nannying.

"I'll start teaching it to understand my voice to control everything in our homemusic, lights, temperature and so on," Zuck said. "I'll teach it to let friends in by looking at their faces when they ring the doorbell. I'll teach it to let me know if anything is going on in Max's room that I need to check on when I'm not with her."

And while Zuckerberg's New Year's resolutions routinely focus on non-Facebook projectsreading two books each month, learning Mandarin, meeting a new person every daythe AI project will have a business aspect.

"It'll help me visualize data in VR to help me build better services and lead my organizations more effectively," he wrote.

This year's theme of "invention" is not new to Zuckerberg. He has been working with engineers to build solar-powered planes and Internet-beaming satellites, virtual reality controllers and software, and a virtual personal assistant.

"At Facebook I spend a lot of time working with engineers to build new things. Some of the most rewarding work involves getting deep into the details of technical projects," he said. "But it's a different kind of rewarding to build things yourself, so this year my personal challenge is to do that."

In November, Facebook announced "new milestones" in long-term artificial intelligence research, including a state-of-the-art system that distinguishes between objects in a photo 30 percent faster and using 10 times less training data than previous industry benchmarks.
When Microsoft began shipping its Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL last year, Windows Phone fans finally had the flagship phone they craved. But overseas buyers will actually be able to choose between premium phones, as Acer has formally announced the Liquid Jade Primo phone for Europe and other regions.

In September, Acer took the wraps off what it then called the Jade Primo, revealing the new PC phone at a press conference at the IFA show in Berlin. At the time, Acer executives wouldnt say whether or not the phone would ship to the United Statesand it still wont.

According to Acer, the Liquid Jade Primo will cost 569 euro ($618) when it begins shipping to Europe and the Middle East in February. It will be gradually rolled out to other regions, Acer added, without specifying what those regions will actually be. Acer also indicated that the price of the phone would vary by region.

Acer The back of the Acer Liquid Jade Primo.

Right between the Lumia 950 and 950XL

Acer said in September that the phone would include a 5.5-inch super AMOLED display on the front, alongside a pair of impressive cameras: 21 megapixels, with dual flashes on the back; with a front-facing 8MP camera as well. Inside, Acer said then, will be a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808 chip.

Acer now adds that the Liquid Jade Primo will include 3 GB of RAM as well as 32 GB of internal storage, and that the display is Full HD, or 1080p, and backed by a 2.5D Corning Gorilla Glass screen. (Acer didnt mention an SD card option or removeable battery.) The phone will connect via LTE Category 6 as well as 802.11ac MIMO Wi-Fi. The rear-facing f/2.2 camera will be capable of 4K video recording, while the front-facing f/2.2 wide angle camera can record up to 1080p.

That display size puts the Liquid Jade Primo squarely in the middle of Microsofts own flagships, the $549 5.2-inch Lumia 950 and the $649 5.7-inch Lumia 950XL. Like the Liquid Jade Primo, the Lumia 950 includes a Qualcomm Snapdragon 808, while the the XL uses a Snapdragon 810. Both of Microsofts phones, however, boast a 2,560 x 1,440 (quad HD) display.

Acer also made clear that the new phone will work with the Display Dock that allows Microsofts two new Lumia phones to be connected to an external display and resize their output accordingly, also known as Continuum. They will be charged and connect to the Display Dock via a USB-C connector.

Hardware isnt the problem with Windows Phone

Besides the Windows Hello capability built into Microsofts Lumia phones, the latest Windows Phone hardware hasnt proven to be much of an issue, with the Lumia 950. Microsofts Windows 10 Mobile operating system and apps, however, included several bugs at launch, which Microsoft has been busy fixing with software patches and with a new firmware update for the Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL that began rolling out overseas just before Christmas. It remains to be seen how the Liquid Jade Primo will measure up in that department.

The fact that third-party companies continue to support Windows Phone, however, should be an obvious relief for Microsoft. HTC shipped a Windows Phone version of the M8 in 2014, a program that was supposed to usher in a wave of Android phones offering Windows variants. That didnt happen.

Overseas buyers continue to support Windows Phone more than domestic buyers, however, which explains why Acer is launching its new phone in EMEA first. In the U.K., for example, Windows Phones market share was about 7.6 percent in the first quarter of 2015 according to Canalys, while WPs share languishes under 3 percent in the United States, comScore reports. For Acer, overseas Windows Phone customers will get priority.
Microsoft said Monday morning that over 200 million devices per month are running Windows 10, adding that its new operating system is on its fastest growth trajectory of any OS its ever shipped.

Third-party firms had claimed that Microsofts Windows 10 powered about 165 million PCs or 10 percent of the market by the end of 2015, slightly less than Microsofts own tallies. Microsoft said Monday that Windows 10s growth outpaced Windows 8 by nearly 400 percentas well as the earlier, much loved Windows 7 by 140 percent.

We continue to be excited  and humbled  by the incredible response to Windows 10, Yusuf Mehdi, the corporate vice president responsible for Windows and Windows devices, wrote in a blog post in advance of the CES show in Las Vegas. Microsoft isnt expected to make any major announcements at CES, although many of its partners will show Windows 10 PCs.

We are even more excited that these customers are loving Windows 10, Mehdi added. Overall, we are seeing significantly higher customer satisfaction with Windows 10 than any prior version of Windows.

Little love for Edge

Microsofts new OS allows it to gather some anonymized data on its users, including the amount of time that customers have used Windows 10. Microsoft said that in December, customers had spent over 11 billion hours with Windows 10, along with 44.5 billion minutes (742 million hours) with Microsoft Edge. (That means that customers spent about 7 percent of their time with Microsoft Edge.) Customers have asked Cortana over 2.5 billion questions since the launch of Windows 10, Microsoft said.

Microsoft also said that customers had asked 30 percent more queries of Bing per Windows 10 device versus prior versions of Windowsnot that surprising, as Bing is the default search engine for Cortana and Edge. Over 82 billion photos have been viewed using the Photos app, Microsoft added, and gamers spent 4 billion hours playing PC gamesstreaming 6.6 million hours of Xbox One games to the PC, to boot. In fact, Microsoft claimed that 2015 was the best year in Xboxs history, in terms of engagement and overall sales.

Microsoft also said that it saw a twofold increase in paid app sales from PC and tablet customers. In December, Windows 10 generated more than a 4.5X increase in revenue per device, it added, compared to Windows 8. Microsoft didnt release actual numbers, however, nor go into any detail about how it compared Windows 8 versus Windows 10 app sales. Still, the fact that its actually generating app revenue is noteworthy.

Rob Schultz The Lumia 950 and the Lumia 950XL apparently sold out, according to Microsoft.

More Surface Books overseas

Microsoft also added a few tidbits of device news: the Surface Book will be available for pre-order Tuesday in Austria, Australia, the UK, France, Germany, Switzerland, and New Zealand, with Japan and India added soon. Microsoft also claimed that initial demand had outstripped the supply of its Lumia 950 and Lumia 950XL phones, and it was working to increase shipments.

The Microsoft HoloLens Development Edition is coming soon, Microsoft said.

Besides the 200 million devices Microsoft now says are running Windows 10, Microsoft didnt release any raw numbers that could explain how Windows 10 is really doing. Microsoft also released one factoid thats a bit confusingmore than 40 percent of new Windows 10 devices were activated since Black Friday, implying that the majority werent activated? (Microsoft has so far declined to comment further.) But theres enough circumstantial evidencethe growth trajectory, the number of devices, to accept that Windows 10 got off to a fast start. Whether it can continue its pace is the next question.
The 2016 presidential election has defied all expectations so far.

An enormous field of GOP candidates, still a dozen strong with a month to go before the leadoff Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1. The billionaire outsider who has tapped into the anger and fears of a nervous nation. A son and brother of presidents who is struggling to connect with voters despite his tremendous financial advantage.

In less than a month, voters will begin having their say in what could turn out to be a bitter, months-long fight for the Republican nomination. On the Democratic side, front-runner Hillary Clinton is banking on neatly locking up the nomination as her GOP rivals tear each other down.

Some things to watch for in the four-week sprint to the Iowa caucuses:

DONALD TRUMPS CHECKBOOK

To date, wealthy businessman Donald Trump has run a frugal campaign, skipping expensive television advertising as his Republican rivals and their affiliated super political action committees spend tens of millions of dollars on air time.

Trump has promised that thats about to change, announcing plans last week to spend $2 million a week on the air in three early voting states. Will Trump follow through on that promise? Television ad prices are only increasing as the voting draws closer, and Trump has yet to reserve any airtime.

CRUZS CLERGY

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz is building a large organization of support in Iowa, amassing county leaders across the state and tapping a member of the clergy in each of the 99 counties.

The son of a preacher, Cruz aims to take a well-worn path to victory in Iowa: Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2008 and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum in 2012 generated similar support among the states evangelical voters, and each won the caucuses. The question is whether that network of religious conservatives will coalesce behind Cruz this time or splinter.

Cruz has made strides, picking up the endorsements of Iowa evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats and Focus on the Family founder James Dobson.

ESTABLISHMENT CHOICES

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who entered the race in June as the front-runner, jokes that his father, former President George H.W. Bush, has taken to throwing shoes at his television set in response to Trump.

But as the caucuses near, the laugh lines have given way to persistent frustration among party elders and its professional class that Trump remains a viable candidate. Several have said an effort must be mounted to take down Trump, but a coordinated campaign of negative ads has so far failed to materialize.

Thats due in part to concerns that it could backfire and further motivate Trumps supporters, but also because several candidates vying to be the establishment choice are still in the race.

Will there be an attempt to undermine Trump? Will Bush  or Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, Ohio Gov. John Kasich or New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie  emerge as the clear alternative to Trump before Trump or Cruz collects too many delegates for that to matter?

DEPARTURE LOUNGE

Two low-polling Republicans quit in December: South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and former New York Gov. George Pataki. While all the remaining candidates insist theyre not going anywhere, pressure could grow on other candidates to bow out and narrow the field.

Among those feeling the heat: Santorum, who has failed to produce the kind of excitement that propelled him to that Iowa victory four years ago. If he and others at the bottom dropped out and endorsed the same candidate, it could give rise to the Trump alternative for which some are desperate.

CLINTONS TEST

A third-place finish in 2008 in Iowa completely disrupted Clintons strategy to win the Democratic nomination and she never could catch then-Sen. Barack Obama. This time, Clinton has poured significant resources and staff into the state. Polls show her with an edge over her chief rival, Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent.

If Clinton wins Iowa, a loss in New Hampshire to Sanders would be easier to contain. Back-to-back losses in Iowa and New Hampshire would generate fresh worries among Democrats about their front-runner.

JANUARY SURPRISES

The attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, California, shifted voters focus to national security issues. That was to the detriment of less experienced and less hawkish candidates, including retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson on the GOP side and Sanders.

Another attack, especially on American soil, could further diminish candidates without experience in office or those uncomfortable with a campaign focus on foreign policy.

FINAL DEBATES

The Republicans have two more debates  Jan. 14 in South Carolina and Jan. 28 in Iowa  before the Feb. 1 caucuses. Democrats will debate Jan. 17, also in South Carolina.

The GOP debates in 2015 broke viewership records, and the next two probably may provide make-or-break moments as undecided voters begin making up their minds.
San Bernardino County employees took time off work Monday, Jan. 4, to fill an arena and honor their colleagues who were killed or injured in the Dec. 2 mass shooting.

The 2 p.m. ceremony at Citizens Business Bank Arena in Ontario featured a religious speech from Pastor Rick Warren, of Saddleback Church in Orange County, pondering how to grapple with such a tragegy. It also saw former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, who led the city during 9/11 and its aftermath, deliver defiant remarks against terrorism.

Come to San Bernardino and spend money and tell the terrorists screw you,' he said to loud applause. You cant beat us. Were stronger than you are.

Giuliani got a standing ovation after his speech.

MORE: All the latest developments related to the San Bernardino shooting

As for Warren, he posed a tough question that was likely on the minds of many.

How do you find the strength to go on? What do you do when your heart has been broken in a thousand pieces?

The grieving process will take time, he said.

You dont get over it, he said. You get through it.

Warren told the crowd, You need to feel your feelings and let it out.

He talked about how he and his wife overcame grief when their youngest son took his own life.

You need to release your grief  let it come out, he said.

Grief is a good thing, he said.

Grief is a tool God has given us to get through the transitions of life. Its healthy.

Never tell someone you know how it feels, he said. There is only one appropriate response for grief.

Im sorry for your loss, he said.

Its important to receive help from others, he said, and not to feel bad about what happened.

Bitterness will eat you alive.

You cant hold onto hurt, said Warren, who launched what became one of the nations largest megachurches and now includes 10 Southern California campuses.

Warren called the shooting evil and quoted a Bible verse about how God will lead mourners through the valley of the shadow of death.

What do you do when you are going through hell? You walk on, he said.

Then Giuliani spoke, telling the audience he felt sympathy and empathy for them and offered prayers and condolences.

He was mayor when terrorist hijackers slammed planes into the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2011.

I know what youre going through, he said. I lost so many of my fellow citizens and 10 of my closest friends.

You can make us mourn, you can make us cry. Theres one thing you cant do. You cant break our spirit, Giuliani said to loud applause.

He urged the crowd to tell people to visit San Bernardino as a strike against the attackers.

Fight back. Make something good come out of this, said Giuliani, who also told them not to blame Muslims for the tragedy.

Of the shooters, he said: They cannot beat us.

This is psychological warfare, he said. They want you to be afraid.

Come to San Bernardino and spend money and tell the terrorists screw you,' he said to loud applause. You cant beat us. Were stronger than you are.

Let this become a turning point for San Bernardino, Giuliani said. You got the whole country behind you.

This is a long war with a very sick and determined adversary, he said.

There will be more terrorist attacks.

People around the world are planning to kill us. We have to stand together, he said.

The crowd gave Giuliani a standing ovation after his speech.

Next up was San Bernardino County Supervisor Janice Rutherford.

She told employees We have to be careful not to spread sorrow. Find the good things (in life) and spread good cheer.

She applauded county workers for their courage, bravery, compassion, dignity and grace in facing the tragedy.

In the worst moments, the best of our characters come out, she said.

As employees took their seats for the 2 p.m. service, instrumental music played in the background. An image of a desert landscape and mountains appeared on a large screen behind the stage with the words: Remember, Honor and Support.

Thousands of county employees were expected at the ceremony, which was attended by Gov. Jerry Brown and California Attorney General Kamala Harris.

Giuliani waived his usual speaking fee for the event, county spokesman David Wert said. Giuliani typically makes between $100,000 to $300,000 per speech, according to articles in the New York Times, Huffington Post and Washington Post.

San Bernardino County Board of Supervisors Chairman James Ramos welcomed the audience of San Bernardino County employees to the private memorial service.

The tragedy has brought together workers who have shown resilience despite the loss of their colleagues and friends, he said.

As a county we will never forget Dec, 2, 2015, Ramos said. The events of that day could have torn us asunder  but they have driven us closer together to fulfill our mission of public service.

Outside the arena before the event, security was tight.

A sheriffs deputy cruised the aisles of the parking lot in an SUV and a command trailer was positioned in sight of the arenas entrance.

Kristin Stevens, who works for the San Bernardino County library system, said the mood at work has been solemn, but employees are supportive of each other and have an attitude of perseverance through difficult time.

Over the long term, Stevens said, she expects residents and county employees to have maybe a greater sense of community and the necessity to be aware and to support one another.

Beryl Holman, who works in the countys preschool services department, said some county employees have been on edge since the shooting.

The office has been not a happy place, she said. Everybodys been pulling together, but I also know a couple people that were scared to come (to the memorial).

Holman said the attack didnt make her feel significantly less safe at work.

My opinion is it could have happened anywhere, she said.

For Lorraine Aguirre, a victim advocate in the San Bernardino County District Attorneys Office, said the shooting and the aftermath hit really close to home.

Her office has been helping shooting victims and their families.

She and her co-workers have been so busy in recent weeks that there hasnt been time to process their emotions. What happened still seems surreal, she said.

I think once everything has kind of calmed down, it will affect people even more, Aguirre said.

She used to think the multiple layers of safety precautions her office already takes were excessive, but she no longer feels that way.

Aguirre said shes noticed her fellow employees seem more fearful, even if its below the surface.

Theres an awareness that any day, any time, something like (the attack) can happen.

But Aguirre and other employees said the memorial event is an important opportunity for them to show their support for each other and try to begin healing.
The man suspected of shooting two of his deceased wifes family members before turning the gun on himself in an Ontario cemetery on Saturday, Jan. 2, left a four-page suicide note and made arrangements before the shooting occurred, police say.

Karapet Kalajian, 71, was sitting in his car near the Bellevue Memorial Park Cemetery about 3 p.m. before he walked up and shot 60-year-old Misak Minasyan and 59-year-old Hripsime Minasyan as they approached the cemetery. Police say Kalajians wife is buried in that cemetery and it was the day before the fifth anniversary of his wifes death.

Ontario police Sgt. Jeff Higbee said on Monday that Kalajian had recently made burial arrangements for himself and had begun to dissipate his own belongings.

His cars title, for example, had been transferred to someone else, Higbee said.

Kalajians suicide note was found as officers were executing a search warrant at Kalajians home on the night of the shooting, Higbee said. It was written in Armenian and officers were still working to translate it Monday.

igbee said officers didnt know Monday what motivated the shooting or how long Kalajian had been planning the attack.

The Minasyans, both from North Hollywood according to a release from the Ontario Police Department, were the brother-in-law and sister of Kalajians wife.

Kalajians wife suffered a long battle with cancer before her death. Kalajian struggled after losing his wife and was estranged from the family for over a year, the release said.
Author: Richard Edwards.

Title: Natives of a Dry Place -- Stories of Dakota Before the Oil Boom.

Publisher: South Dakota historical Press, 2015. 180 pages of text, 18 pp. of source and index.

Richard Edwards was born in Stanley, N.D., in 1944, the youngest child of his parents, Roy and Winnie Edwards. In 1956, his family moved out of state. Edwards received a PhD in economics from Harvard and taught at Exeter and the University of Nebraska. He is the author of several histories. Natives of a Dry Place is about what Edwards calls Old Stanley which he has nicely captured through interviews with his family and others with memories of Stanley mostly before 1956. I enjoyed his Chapters 1 through 8 book-ended between his introduction and afterword.

The first six chapters and part of the Introduction are very interesting glimpses of Stanleys history reflected in stories of its early citizens. The story of his uncle Carol Swede Edwards being lowered into an abandoned well to recover the body of a young father who had fallen in while collecting scrapes of wood in October 1923 shows how hard life could be and the resoluteness of the community in finding and recovering his body from more than 130 feet below the surface.

Edwards writes lovingly of his father Roy and his struggles to build a life for his family in Old Stanley, working most of his career as a rural letter carrier while pitching in as a community stalwart. Several of his stories feature remarkable people such as Dr. M.G. Flath, a physician who traveled the county delivering babies for modest payments -- or no payment at all. His wife, Isabel Flath, was a church choir director, Sunday school teacher and cultural leader of the community, and his brother, Dr. G.O. Flath, was a dentist. They faithfully served Stanley throughout their lives. His older sisters found jobs as welders in the Kaiser shipyard in Portland, Ore., during World War II. Arne and Irene Springan, childhood and high school sweethearts who married others, found themselves still in love with each other when they married in 1968.

These first six chapters will bring back memories to people who grew up in Stanley, and those of us who grew up all across North Dakota, even those of us who grew up in the big city of Minot. I remember in the late 1950s when my dad found an old bill for the delivery of my sister that he couldnt pay at the time and the nice note he received from the doctor when he paid him all those years later. Like the patients of Dr. G.O. Flath, I too had cavities filled without Novocain. Lets save your dad some money, was what my dentist said.

I enjoyed reading about Arne and Irene Springan as I met Irene when I was a law clerk for the Supreme Court in 1970 and Irene was the legal secretary for Chief Justice Obert Teigen. Arne and Irene were a great couple. I have known people who were meant for each other, but who were not around when one person was ready for a committed relationship. These six chapters alone are very worthwhile reading.

In Chapter 7 Edwards writes of bringing his 11- and 8-year-old sons to North Dakota in 1990 to canoe the Missouri River from Garrison Dam to Bismarck. They didnt make it due to a violent storm and adverse winds. Those of us who have canoed the Missouri River know the good days are great and the bad days paddling into the wind are horrible.

My problem with this book is that Edwards Introduction and afterword are simply too negative for me. The oil boom for him has essentially wrecked Old Stanley and changed it for the worst forever. In the introduction he does write a good brief history of Mountrail County and Stanley being settled, but his emphasis in 2015 is on all that is bad about the changes oil development has brought. I particularly think it is poor scholarship to repeat a reporters slap at a friend of mine as being the biggest crook in Mountrail County without bothering to try to dig into such libel. Later in the book he takes a swipe at Banker Nelson. Certainly there are good and bad as well as winners and losers in all communities, but a little balance is appropriate with an acknowledgement that winners and losers are often set apart by a willingness to take risks.

Edwards acknowledges that change is the essence of life, but I dont think hes nostalgic about Old Stanley. If he was it seems he would have shown it to his sons in 1990 when they came to North Dakota for a canoeing adventure, but Im certain he knew even then his Old Stanley was already gone. Mountrail Countys population peaked in 1930 at 13,544. It was down to 9,418 in 1950 and 6,631 in 2000.

Today its almost up to 10,000. Edwards describes the cause of death of towns, those larger forces that erode the uniqueness of small places everywhere: the loss of local civic connections because of television and the Internet, the rise of hyper-individualism, increasing exposure to mass-market culture, and a growing national culture that divides us into celebrities and nobodies." Sure the oil boom has brought challenges, but it has also brought opportunities and new life.

(Robert O. Bob Wefald is a retired North Dakota State District Court judge, who served for 12 years. He was attorney general from 1981 to 1984. Wefald served on active duty as a naval officer from 1964 to 1967 followed by 24 years in the Naval Reserve, retiring in 1991.)
President Barack Obama is slated Monday to finalize a set of new executive actions tightening the nations gun laws, making his first order of business in 2016 a clear signal the president in his final year doesnt intend to go quietly.

At a meeting with Attorney General Loretta Lynch, FBI Director James Comey and other top law enforcement officials Obama is expected to sign off on a package of proposals aimed at curbing gun violence and cracking down on unregulated gun sales.

At the top of the list is an effort to expand background checks on gun sales by forcing more sellers to register as federally licensed gun dealers. The changes would be aimed at some unregistered sellers who skirt the background check laws by selling at gun shows, online or informal settings. Other moves being considered include improving reporting of lost and stolen weapons and beefing up inspections of licensed dealers, according to a person familiar with the plans who would not be named discussing proposals before they are finalized.

The package includes measures this White House has long considered but not completed, mindful of the legal fight sure to follow as well as the potential for political backlash for some fellow Democrats.

But after a steady string of mass shootings  including the San Bernardino terror attack  and with the clock on his tenure ticking down, Obama appears primed to push further than he has in the past.

We definitely think there are things he can do, said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence, which advocates for expanding background checks. Gross says his recent conversations with White House aides have left him hopeful.

Its very clear that the White House is feeling emboldened, he said.

Even before the presidents formal announcement, Republicans were registering their opposition.

The president is at minimum subverting the legislative branch, and potentially overturning its will, House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wisc., said in a statement.

Obama announced the meeting with Lynch in his weekly address from his Hawaii holiday vacation. On Thursday, hell take his argument to prime time, participating in a town hall discussion of gun violence on CNN. Hes slated to make his case for changes in his State of the Union address on Jan. 12.

The high-profile rollout reflects a White House continuing to look for ways to wrap up unfinished business, despite an uncooperative Congress.

After all but ignoring the issue in his first term, Obama changed course after the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary in December 2012. Nevertheless, the president failed to push a package of gun measures through Congress, including one expanding background checks.

At the same time, Obama took nearly two dozen executive actions to tighten gun laws, but left a major expansion of background checks out of the mix.

But after the shooting at a community college in Roseburg, Oregon in October, a weary and angry Obama ordered his staff to redouble the effort to look for ways to work around Congress.

Under current law, federally licensed firearms dealers are required to seek background checks on potential firearm purchasers. But advocacy groups say many sellers are currently exempt from having to register, increasing the chance of sales to customers prohibited by law from purchasing a gun.

The administration is expected to reclassify some of those dealers using a mix of criteria, such as the number and frequency of guns sold, whether sellers profit off sales, whether they advertise, rent space or tables at gun shows and pay taxes. White House officials have not yet disclosed the details of the proposal.

Obamas plans immediately set off a political debate on the presidential campaign trail, both over the policy and whether the president has the authority to make it.

Democrat Hillary Clinton, who has already proposed an executive action to close the gun show loophole, cheered Obamas plans.

I am absolutely convinced we can have gun safety measures consistent with the Constitution, she said during a presidential campaign event in Concord, New Hampshire. I will take on that fight. Im very hopeful and excited that the president is going to take some action with executive action in the next week or two  but if its a Republican who walks into the White House within the first day, the executive orders will be reversed.

Rival Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, told ABCs This Week he wished Congress could find consensus but added the move was the right thing to do.

Republicans candidates rejected the proposals, including those who have backed some gun control measures in the past.

This president is a petulant child, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday on Fox News Sunday. The fact is if he wants to make changes to these laws, go to Congress and convince the Congress that theyre necessary. But this is going to be another illegal executive action which Im sure will be rejected by the courts.

I dont like changing anything, Donald Trump said on CBS Face the Nation. Right now, they have plenty of rules and regulations.
A 21-year-old man was shot to death Sunday morning. Jan. 3, in San Bernardino.

Rayshawn Sandy, of San Bernardino, was transported to a local hospital via private party after the shooting occurred about 9 a.m. in the 1400 block of North Sepulveda Boulevard, according to a San Bernardino Police Department news release.

The news release, which was issued Monday morning, contained limited information about the shooting. Its unclear if a suspect is in custody.

This story is developing. Check back for more information.
TEHRAN, Iran (AP)  Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdoms lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of a prominent opposition Shiite cleric.

Sudan and the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain said they would sever ties with Iran, as Saudi Arabia did late Sunday. Within hours, the United Arab Emirates announced it would downgrade ties to Tehran to the level of the charge daffaires and would only focus on economic issues. Somalia also issued a statement criticizing Iran.

The execution Saturday of Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges  the largest mass execution carried out by Saudi Arabia since 1980  laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region. Shiite protesters took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan, while Arab allies of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia lined up behind the kingdom.

The escalating tensions between the two longtime regional rivals looks to further imperil efforts to end the wars in Syria and Yemen, where Saudi Arabia and Iran back rival sides.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in the Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabias Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

Bahrains Sunni monarchy, which quashed mass protests by the Shiite majority in 2011 with the help of Saudi and Emirati forces, enjoys particularly close relations with Saudi Arabia, and shares Riyadhs view that Shiite Iran is intent on destabilizing the region through its various proxies.

Bahraini officials have accused Iran of training militants and attempting to smuggle arms into the country, which hosts the U.S. Navys 5th Fleet. In October, Bahrain ordered the acting Iranian charge daffaires to leave within 72 hours and recalled its own ambassador after alleging Iran sponsored subversion and terrorism and funneled arms to militants.

Sudans Foreign Ministry announced an immediate severing of ties over the diplomatic mission attacks. The statement carried by its state-run news agency said it made the decision in solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the face of Iranian schemes.

The UAE, a country of seven emirates, has a long trading history with Iran and is home to many ethnic Iranians. It said it would reduce the number of diplomats in Iran and would recall its ambassador in the light of Irans continuous interference in the internal affairs of Gulf and Arab states, which has reached unprecedented levels.

Somalia also criticized the attack on Saudi diplomatic posts in Iran as a flagrant violation of international law.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the cut in relations late Sunday and gave Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country. All Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran have been called home.

The move could affect the annual hajj pilgrimage. Lawmaker Mohammad Ali Esfanani, spokesman of the Judicial and Legal Committee of the Iranian parliament, said security issues and the fact that Iranian pilgrims wouldnt have consular protection inside the kingdom made halting the pilgrimage likely, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Both Saudi Arabia and Iran have yet to make any formal announcement about how the diplomatic spat would affect the hajj, a pilgrimage to Islamic holy sites in Saudi Arabia required of all able-bodied Muslims once in their life. The hajj this year likely will begin in early September, though Muslims travel to the holy sites all year long.

When Saudi Arabia severed ties with Iran from 1988 to 1991, Iran stopped its pilgrims from attending the hajj. With Saudi diplomatic missions closed in Iran, it will make it difficult for Iranians to get visas for the hajj.

World powers have sought to calm the tensions.

Germany called on both sides to mend ties, with government spokesman Steffen Seibert telling reporters that relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran are of fundamental importance for solving the crises in Syria and Yemen, and for the stability of the entire region.

A Russian state news agency on Monday quoting an unnamed senior diplomat as saying Moscow is ready to act as a mediator in the escalating conflict. RIA Novosti did not say whether Moscow had made the mediation proposal to either side.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration believes diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences.

We will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions, Kirby said.

Earlier Sunday, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats, according to a statement.

The disruption in relations may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and others spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at ending the civil war.

Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin in mid-January.

Iran is a key ally of Syrian President Bashar Assad, while Saudi Arabia supports the rebels trying to overthrow him.

Meanwhile, al-Nimrs family is holding three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya village in the kingdoms al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikhs brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery.

Early Monday, the state-run Saudi Press Agency said a shooting targeting security forces in the village killed a man and wounded a child. It offered no motive for the attack, nor for another it said saw a mob beat and briefly kidnap a man driving through the area.
BURNS, Ore. (AP)  An armed anti-government group took over a remote national wildlife refuge in Oregon as part of a decades-long fight over public lands in the West, while federal authorities are keeping watch but keeping their distance.

The group came to the frozen high desert of eastern Oregon to contest the prison sentences of two ranchers who set fire to federal land, but their ultimate goal is to turn over the property to local authorities so people can use it free of U.S. oversight.

People across the globe have marveled that federal authorities didnt move to take back the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Residents say they have not seen a large presence of officers, and the governments tactic generally is to monitor protesters from afar but leave them be as long as they dont show signs of violence.

Thats how federal officials defused a high-profile 2014 standoff with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy over grazing rights. Now, Bundys two sons are leading the push in Oregon.

Ryan Bundy told The Associated Press on Sunday that he hopes the takeover will prompt others to take action across the country to seize control of federally managed land.

The end goal here is that we are here to restore the rights to the people here so that they can use the land and resources. All of them, Bundy said.

That means ranchers can graze their cattle, miners can use their mineral rights, loggers can cut trees, and hunters and fishers can shoot and cast, he said.

The latest dispute traces its roots to the 1970s and the Sagebrush Rebellion, a move by Western states like Nevada to increase local control over federal land. While ranchers and others complain of onerous federal rules, critics of the push for more local control have said the federal government should administer the public lands for the widest possible uses, including environmental and recreation.

Residents of the tiny town of Burns, 30 miles south of the wildlife refuge, are concerned about the potential for violence.

Keith Landon, a longtime resident and employee at the Reid Country Store, said he knows local law enforcement officials who fear their kids will be targeted by the group.

Im hoping most of its just muscle, trying to push, he said. But its a scary thing.

If the situation turns violent, Bundy contends that it will be because of the federal governments actions.

I mean, were here to restore order, were here to restore rights, and that can go peacefully and easily, he said.

The ranchers whose cause has been the rallying cry also reject the groups support. Dwight and son Steven Hammond were convicted of arson three years ago for fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006. They served their original sentences  Dwight, three months and Steven, one year  but a judge ruled that the terms were too short under federal minimum sentencing laws.

Both men were ordered back to prison for four years each. They have said they plan to turn themselves in Monday.

The Bundy brothers say the group plans to stay at the refuge as long as it takes. They declined to say how many people were at the property where several pickup trucks blocked the entrance and armed men wore camouflage and winter gear.

Were planning on staying here for years, absolutely, Ammon Bundy told reporters over the weekend. This is not a decision weve made at the last minute.

The FBI is working with local and state authorities to bring a peaceful resolution to the situation, the bureau said in a statement late Sunday. It said it is the agency in charge and would not release details about the law enforcement response to ensure the safety of officers and those at the refuge.

Some are criticizing the lack of action, saying it is because those occupying the property are white.

Landon, the longtime Burns resident, said he sympathizes with the Bundys frustrations. Landon was a logger until the federal government declared the spotted owl a protected species in the 1980s, damaging the local logging industry.

Its hard to discredit what theyre trying to do out there. But I dont want anybody hurt, he said.

Landon said that on the surface, it doesnt look like much has changed in Burns, a high desert town of about 2,700 people.

Its weird  I woke up this morning expecting the town to be crawling with this and that agency. But you dont see any of it. Theyre keeping a low presence, Landon said Sunday.

However, most of the hotels in the area are booked, and hes noticed that officers are doing their patrols in pairs instead of alone. The biggest difference since the takeover is the undercurrent of worry, he said.

Im glad they took the refuge because its 30 miles away, Landon said. I mean, they could have took the courthouse here in town.
PennLive beer brackets - Federal Taphouse

The Federal Taphouse at 234 N. Second St. in Harrisburg will host a Beer & Bacon Bash. File photo, Dan Gleiter | dgleiter@pennlive.com

What's better than bacon paired with craft beer? For the third year, the Federal Taphouse in Harrisburg is hosting a Beer & Bacon Bash.

The event will take place Jan. 9 upstairs at the Taphouse at 234 N. Second St. in Harrisburg. To meet growing demand, two sessions will be held this year from 1-3 p.m. and 5-7 p.m.

Beer from eight craft breweries will be paired with bacon dishes created by Taphouse executive chef David Clarke. Taste such dishes as a Rosemary Smoked Lamb Bacon with Pecorino Croquettes to a Chocolate and Bacon Ice Cream dibs rolled with Crystalized Bacon or Hop Dusted Chicharrones.

"Everyone loves bacon and there's not a better complement to bacon than beer," said Judd Goodman, owner of the Taphouse.

Brewery representatives will be on hand to assist with the pairings.

Participating breweries include: Troegs Independent Brewing in Hershey; Victory Brewing in Parkersburg; Founders Brewing Co. in Grand Rapids, Michigan; Evil Genius Beer Company in West Grove, Boulevard Brewing Company in Kansas City Missouri; Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland Ohio, Free Will Brewing in Perkasie and Evolution Craft Brewing Company in Salisbury, Maryland.

Tickets cost $35 and can be purchased at Federaltaphouse.com. Proceeds benefit the Central PA Food Bank.
Sue Gleiter | sgleiter@pennlive.com

There's no shortage of restaurant openings in the Harrisburg region planned for 2016. Here's a list of some of the up and coming openings to watch out in the early part of the year.

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Sue Gleiter| sgleiter@pennlive.com

Soul Burrito

This locally owned burrito chain is on the move. In February 2016, its owners Obi and Nicole Linton will open their second full-service restaurant.The couple has signed a lease at the Dauphin Plaza at 3830 Union Deposit Road in Susquehanna Township. It's in the same complex as Waffle House and TGI Fridays Restaurant.

The Lintons started with a mobile food truck followed by a stand at the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg. In the summer of 2015, they opened a Soul Burrito restaurant at 405 Walnut St. in Harrisburg.

The new restaurant will serve the same Soul Burrito core burrito menu of favorites such as the Greedy, Big Beef and Tree Hugger as well as tacos, rice bowls, salads and signature Mac Attack, macaroni and cheese.

The restaurant will be open six days a week and closed on Sundays.

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File photo, Dan Gleiter, dgleiter@pennlive.com

Sue Gleiter | sgleiter@pennlive

Cork & Fork

Restaurateur Nick Laus aims to bring his Cork & Fork restaurant to the west shore. If all goes according to plan, Laus will open the restaurant at 4444 Carlisle Pike at the former Sun Motor Cars in Hampden Township.

He has the support of the Hampden Township commissioners who have passed a resolution supporting his search for an available liquor license to transfer to the new location.

The original Cork & Fork opened off of North Second Street in 2014 in Harrisburg and has become a popular destination for its artisan pizzas, cocktails and lively vibe.

"For a number of years, people have asked me to come to the West Shore," Laus said in November. "There have been a number of chain restaurantsthey'd like to see something different."

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Sue Gleiter | sgleiter@pennlive.com

V

Nearly six years after residents voted on a measure that reversed the town's dry status, Vrai will be the first restaurant in Lemoyne to serve liquor.

It is projected to open in early 2016 at 1015 Market St. in a former Verizon store. Its owners Mike and Shelly Page have received pre-approval from the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board for a restaurant liquor license they acquired from the former Coakley's Restaurant & Irish Pub in New Cumberland.

The food and wine-focused restaurant will emphasize wood-fired pizzas, homemade pastas, entrees and salads. Vrai will serve signature cocktails, craft beer and a wide selection of wines stretching from Pennsylvania and Maryland varieties to a short list of highly rated "collector type" wines.

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File photo by Dan Gleiter, dgleiter@pennlive.com

Sue Gleiter | sgleiter@pennlive.com

Burger Yum

In spring 2016, Burger Yum is due to open at the former Buddha Buddha off of North Second Street in Harrisburg. Previously, the space had housed Zephyr, Mars and Egypt. Nick Laus, who started such concepts as Cafe Fresco and Home 231, is the brains behind the Shake Shack style concept. The 30-seat restaurant will specialize in burgers, hot dogs and milkshakes. Of course, wine and beer will be served.

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Photo provided by Waxman Photography

Sue Gleiter| sgleiter@pennlive.com

Greystone Public House

Lots of questions arose when Mount Hill Tavern in Lower Paxton Township closed in the summer of 2015. Who would take over the landmark property?

A familiar chef in the Harrisburg region will co-partner a new restaurant. Jason Viscount, who worked as executive chef at Bricco in Harrisburg for nine years, will open Greystone Public House with John G. Frisch, owner of Higher Information Group in Harrisburg. The restaurant is expected to open in February.

The menu will cover everything from burgers and sandwiches to entrees. There also will be a bar menu.

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Sue Gleiter, pennlive.com

Sue Gleiter | sgleiter@pennlive.com

Chick-fil-A

When will the Chick-fil-A in Swatara Township open? That has been the question for more than a year since the chain announced in 2014 it would build a restaurant off of Lindle Road in the parking lot of Wolf Furniture. According to a Facebook post, the restaurant will open in February. Good news for those craving the chicken sandwiches and milkshakes.

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Sue Gleiter | sgleiter@pennlive.com

Boneshire Brew Works

This newcomer doesn't exactly fit under the new restaurant category but we've added it to the list, simply because owner Alan Miller plans to have a tasting room at the new brewery when it opens this spring. Boneshire is a spinoff of the dissolved Millbock Brewing Co. of which Miller was a partner. His latest project will open in a shopping center at 7462 Derry St. in Swatara Township. Boneshire will produce about 700 barrels of beer in the first year, emphasizing multiple styles such as IPAs, stouts, wheat beers and Belgian beers, Miller said.

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Sue Gleiter | sgleiter@pennlive.com

Looking for more food news? We've got you covered. Check out Pennlive.com/food for more stories including PennLive restaurant critic Mimi Brodeur's top 10 restaurants of 2015.
Lee Thomas Pottle.png

Lee Thomas Pottle

(crime stoppers)

Authorities believe a man wanted by Nevada authorities for allegedly raping a child there may have fled to Lancaster County.

Lee Thomas Pottle, 45, was charged with sexual assault of a child and sexual seduction of a child in July of 2014. He was later released, with bail reportedly set at $70,000.

He is believed to have then fled to Lancaster County, although the exact city, township or borough has not been determined.

The Washoe County Sheriff's Office in Reno, NV reportedly received information that Pottle had fled Nevada and may be staying somewhere in Lancaster County, Pa., although the nature of that information was not immediately clear.

Anyone with additional information on Pottle's whereabouts is asked to contact Police at (717) 664-1180 or Lancaster Crime Stoppers at (800) 322-1913. Tips can also be sent to Crime Stoppers by texting LANCS plus the tip to 847411. Callers may remain anonymous.

Pottle is described as 5-feet-7 inches tall, 181 pounds, with brown hair and brown eyes.

An unspecified cash reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest and prosecution of Pottle.

The age of Pottle's alleged victim was not released by authorities, nor were details of the alleged crime.

Pottle was featured in Nevada law enforcement attempts to use social media to track down fugitives like him, KOLOTV.com reported in November of 2014.

UPDATE: This article has been updated to include Nevada media coverage of law enforcement attempts to track fugitives like Pottle on social media in November of 2014. The article was also updated to include Pottle's bail amount.
Results of an independent investigation of the North Dakota Department of Transportations Motor Vehicle Division office will be sent to the DOT within a few weeks, the head of the agency conducting the investigation says.

North Dakota Human Resources Management Services Director Ken Purdy said staff interviews began in October and were recently completed.

The reports being prepared. Then it will be sent to legal for review (and) then given to the agency, Purdy said.

How long the HMRS legal division takes to review such reports can vary depending on the complexity and length of the report.

Its as short as a few days and as long as a couple weeks, Purdy said.

The report will be in the DOTs hands sometime this month. A DOT spokeswoman said the agency will review and determine what the next steps are after the report is received from HMRS. The DOT declined further comment saying it doesnt discuss active investigations.

The investigation began in late September, stemming from a dispute between an employee and supervisor earlier in the year in which the employee was fired and later offered a new position after twice appealing her termination. The investigation is centered on the work environment in the motor vehicle division, which former employees have previously described to the Tribune as being stressful and, at times, hostile.

Purdy met with DOT leadership to discuss the sequence of events from the DOTs internal investigation regarding the employee and supervisor before proceeding.

The original incident involved a licensing specialist and one of her supervisors. The relationship between the two soured over a period of months in relation to work performance and the employee receiving a performance improvement plan.

After a few months the employee was terminated. She appealed and an internal investigation found the supervisor had been justified in the decision to terminate. Another appeal was made by the employee and additional evidence was provided, prompting the DOT to offer the employee a similar position in another division of the department, which she accepted.

Once the report is passed on to DOT, Purdy said their work is done.

They would need to decide what actions are warranted. Theyll have to decide what impact the report has on them, Purdy said.

He said in speaking to the staff tasked with conducting the interviews the interviews went smoothly and most staff were open.
Pennsylvania Judicial Center

The Pennsylvania Judicial Center

(Mark Pynes | mpynes@pennlive.com )

A painter who was fired after cursing, poking and threatening his boss has lost his bid for unemployment compensation.

The defeat came when a Commonwealth Court panel concluded that Nathaniel J. Johnson's actions were a blatant example of willful misconduct. The judges rejected Johnson's argument that he was provoked by his boss, whom he portrayed as a racist and a bully.

According to the court's recent opinion by Judge Bonnie Brigance Leadbetter, Johnson had been working for the Philadelphia Housing Authority for more than 16 years when the blow-up that led to his firing occurred on Oct. 23, 2014.

His boss spoke to him about his failure to to record his time on his trip sheet. Johnson replied that "it was not his (expletive) job, he was not a (expletive) secretary," Leadbetter wrote. He next poked his superintendent with a finger, cursed at him and vowed to "(expletive) him up." Johnson had to be restrained by co-workers, the court ruling states.

Johnson was fired for violating the authority's policy banning threats and violence in the workplace. He appealed to the court after the state Unemployment Compensation Board of Review upheld the denial of his jobless aid.

Johnson claimed on appeal that he had previously reported his boss to the authority's human resources department for "being a harasser and a bully," for calling him a racial slur and for "denigrating his intelligence," Leadbetter noted. She wrote that Johnson claimed the incident that got him fired was triggered when his boss "hurled a racial epithet at him," although Johnson conceded no one else saw that exchange.

In upholding the comp denial, Leadbetter noted that, while there is evidence Johnson and his boss "did not have a good working relationship," Johnson's threat to beat up his supervisor undeniably violated his employer's work rules.

She noted, too, that Johnson didn't make his claim that he had been provoked by his boss during hearings before an unemployment comp referee or the review board. He only raised that issue when he appealed to her court.
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A Pa. man's firing suddenly became a police matter when the fired employee allegedly spat in the face of one manager and shoved another.

(File)

A Pa. man's firing at a Texas Roadhouse restaurant suddenly became a police matter when the fired employee allegedly spat in the face of one manager and shoved another.

Our sister website, LehighValleyLive.com, reports that the accused ex-employee is Nicholas Robert Ritter of Allentown, Pa. He was fired from his job at a Texas Roadhouse in Lower Macungie Township, Lehigh County, on Friday afternoon when he allegedly reacted badly.

According to Pennsylvania State Police, Ritter spit in the face of one of the restaurant's managers and shoved another manager as he left the establishment, the website reports, adding:

The victims were two men, one aged between 30 to 35 and the other, aged between 20 to 25.

Ritter, whose age was not provided by police, faces two counts of harassment.
suspect Manor-Shopping-Center-Fulton.jpg

Police said the man handed a note to a bank clerk stating that he was robbing the bank, at around 1:15 p.m. Dec. 31 at the Fulton Bank on the 1200 block of Millersville Pike.

(Manheim Township police)

Manheim Township police are looking for a man accused of robbing a Fulton bank New Year's Eve.

Police said the man handed a note to a bank clerk stating that he was robbing the bank at around 1:15 p.m. Dec. 31 at the Fulton Bank on the 1200 block of Millersville Pike in Lancaster Township. The man fled the scene with an undisclosed amount of cash, police said in a news release.

The suspect is described as a white man 30 to 35 years. He was wearing a gray knit hat, sunglasses, a black pullover shirt and a messenger bag at the time of the robbery.



Anyone with information on the robbery is asked to contact Manheim Township police at 717-569-6401 or call the anonymous tip line at 717-569-2816.
marijuana arrest

The York County Drug Task Force with the help of and police agencies from the region last week seized 247 pounds of marijuana during a traffic stop. Three men, including a sheriff's deputy from California, have been charged in connection to the seizure. All three posted $1 million bail each.

(Ivey DeJesus/PennLive)

A sheriff's deputy is among three California men charged by police in York County in connection to 247 pounds of marijuana seized last week after a traffic stop in the Hanover area.

Christopher Heath, 37, of Bangor, had his badge and service weapon when he was arrested last Tuesday, along with Ryan Falsone, 27, of Oroville, and Tyler Long, 31, also of Bangor. All three have been charged with delivery of marijuana, criminal conspiracy to deliver marijuana and possession with intent to deliver marijuana.

The three, who were arrested last Tuesday after a traffic stop, have all posted a respective $1 million bail.

"Suffice it to say it was not a routine traffic stop," said York County District Attorney Tom Kearney, speaking at a press conference in Penn Township, Hanover on Monday morning.

"We knew who we were going to stop and why," Kearney said. He said police had been working on "intelligence received."

Kearney, flanked by law enforcement agents from several agencies, said the arrest had been part of an ongoing coordinated effort by the York County Drug Task Force and surrounding police agencies.

The seized drug, laid out across four large tables, was seized in double wrapped packages and has a street retail value in excess of $2 million.

"This was very sophisticated operation that was ongoing," Kearney said.

The arrest was made in the early morning hours of Dec. 29 in the Hanover area with the assistance of West Manheim Township police. The three men were in the car. In addition to the drug, police seized $11,000 in cash, a gun, three duffle bags and a T-shirt emblazoned with "Triple Cross Pitbulls," which Kearney said has a connection to the drug operation.

The weapon - a Glock 40-caliber - is Heath's service weapon, Kearney said. Kearney said police did not know ahead of time that Heath was a law enforcement agent. He would not provide information as to what the men's intentions were or if any of it had been distributed, he said, adding that the information was part of the ongoing investigation.

The three men surrendered peacefully to police, Kearney said. He said that while no federal charges have been charged yet, they will likely face several as the drug was transported across states lines.

Christopher Heath, 37, of Bangor, Calif., is a sheriff's deputy, who has been charged in connection to a drug bust in York County.

Kearney praised the work of law enforcement agents from across several agencies, saying the men and women of these police and law enforcement agencies "risked their lives every day doing a very, very dangerous job."

Also present at the press conference were: Chief Deputy District Attorney David Sunday, Capt. Adam Kosheba, Pennsylvania State Police, Chief Jim Laughlin, Penn Township Police Department, Chief Dan Stump, Springettsbury Township Police Department, Chief Chad Martin, Hanover Borough Police Department and Chief Tim Damon, York Area Regional Police Department.
Bankrob1.4.15.jpg

Police are looking for a robbery suspect that is pictured in the surveillance photographs above.

(South Lebanon Township police)

Police are looking for a man they say used a pump action shotgun to rob a Lebanon County bank Monday morning.

The man carried what appeared to be a shortened pump action shotgun around 9 a.m. Monday when he robbed the M&T Bank on State Drive in South Lebanon Township, according to a Monday news release from township police.

Police describe their suspect as a 5-foot-8 to 5-foot-10 black male, weighing 250 pounds. He reportedly wore a hooded black winter jacket, a face mask, dark colored sweatpants and white or light colored running shoes at the time of the incident.

Police said the suspect was last seen running toward South Hills Park in the area.

Anyone with information is asked to call South Lebanon Township police at 717-274-0481.
How shall we remember 2015? Or shall we try to forget it?

It is always hard to know when a turning point has been reached, and usually it is long afterward before we recognize it. However, if 2015 has been a turning point, it may well have marked a turn in a downward direction for America and for Western civilization.

This was the year when we essentially let the world know that we were giving up any effort to try to stop Iran  the world's leading sponsor of international terrorism  from getting a nuclear bomb. Surely it does not take much imagination to foresee what lies at the end of that road.

It will not matter if we have more nuclear bombs than they have, if they are willing to die and we are not. That can determine who surrenders. And ISIS and other terrorists have given us grisly demonstrations of what surrender would mean.

Putting aside, for the moment, the fateful question whether 2015 is a turning point, what do we see when we look back instead of looking forward? What characterizes the year that is now ending?

More than anything else, 2015 has been the year of the big lie. There have been lies in other years, and some of them pretty big, but even so 2015 has set new highs  or new lows.

This is the year when we learned, from Hillary Clinton's own emails, after three long years of stalling, stone-walling and evasions, that Secretary of State Clinton lied, and so did President Barack Obama and others under him, when they all told us in 2012 that the terrorist attack in Benghazi that killed the American ambassador and three other Americans was not a terrorist attack, but a protest demonstration that got out of hand.

"What difference, at this point, does it make?" as Clinton later melodramatically cried out, at a congressional committee hearing investigating that episode.

First of all, it made enough of a difference for some of the highest officials of American government to concoct a false story that they knew at the time was false.

It mattered enough that, if the truth had come out, on the eve of a presidential election, it could have destroyed Obama's happy tale of how he had dealt a crippling blow to terrorists by killing Osama bin Laden (with an assist from the Navy's SEALS).

Had Obama's lies about his triumph over terrorism been exposed on the eve of the election, that could have ended his stay in the White House. And that could have spared us and the world many of Obama's disasters in the Middle East and elsewhere around the world. That is why it matters, and will continue to matter in the future.

Lying, by itself, is obviously not new. What is new is the growing acceptance of lying as "no big deal" by smug sophisticates, so long as these are lies that advance their political causes. Many in the media greeted the exposure of Clinton's lies by admiring how well she handled herself.

Lies are a wall between us and reality  and being walled off from reality is the biggest deal of all. Reality does not disappear because we don't see it. It just hits us like a ton of bricks when we least expect it.

The biggest lie of 2014  "Hands up, don't shoot"  had its repercussions in 2015, with the open advocacy of the killing of policemen, in marches across the country. But the ambush killings of policemen that followed aroused no such outrage in the media as any police use of force against thugs.

Nor has there been the same outrage as the murder rate shot up when the police pulled back, as they have in the past, in the wake of being scapegoated by politicians and the media. Most of the people murdered have been black. But apparently these particular black lives don't matter much to activists and the media.

No one expects that lies will disappear from political rhetoric. If you took all the lies out of politics, how much would be left?

If there is anything that is bipartisan in Washington, it is lying. The most recent budget deal showed that congressional Republicans lied wholesale when they said that they would defund Obamacare, Planned Parenthood and other pet projects of the Democrats.

As for 2015, good riddance. We can only hope that people who vote in 2016 will have learned something from 2015's disasters.

(Thomas Sowell is a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif. His syndicated column appears Mondays.)
An Iranian woman holds up a poster showing Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, a prominent opposition Saudi Shiite cleric who was executed last week by Saudi Arabia, in Tehran, Iran, Monday, Jan. 4, 2016. Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdom's lead and began scaling back diplomatic ties to Iran on Monday after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of al-Nimr. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
US regulators recently approved AstraZeneca gout therapy Zurampic, offering patients a new approach to treating the condition.

Gout is a serious and debilitating form of inflammatory arthritis caused by excess serum uric acid levels. It affects millions of people around the globe, many of whom do not reach recommended serum uric acid treatment goals despite standard treatment with xanthine oxidase inhibitors (XOI), which decrease production of uric acid.

For patients who remain inadequately controlled on XOIs, the addition of a urate-lowering therapy, such as Zurampic (lesinurad), to increase excretion of uric acid may help them to achieve treatment goals, according to AZ.

In the US, physicians can now prescribe the drug in combination with an XOI for the treatment of gout-associated hyperuricaemia in patients who have not achieved target serum uric acid levels with an XOI alone.

A new approach to treating gout is long overdue given there has been limited therapy innovation over the last 50 years, said Lawrence Edwards, chief executive of the Gout and Uric Acid Education Society (GUAES). Combination therapy with Zurampic is an important addition to the medicines available to physicians that will help more gout patients reach their serum uric acid treatment targets, which may ultimately relieve their suffering from this painful disease.

Zurampic is also currently under regulatory review in the European Union, where the European Medicines Agencys Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use recently recommended its approval.
Shire is reportedly in advanced talks to acquire Baxter's biopharma spin-off Baxalta and may announce a deal this week.

According to Bloomberg, sources familiar with the matter have said that the Irish firm could buy Baxalta for $32 billion, or $46.50-$48 a share. The deal is expected to contain a cash component.

After Baxaltas management rejected an initial bid, Shire went public with a $30 billion unsolicited offer in August 2015, only a month after Baxalta was spun off from Baxter.

After shareholders agreed with the board that this offer was too low, rumours swelled in November that Shire was looking to make a second approach and had asked its advisers to construct a new deal.

Flemming Ornskov, chief executive officer of Shire, has said that the companies could deliver $20 billion in product sales by 2020.
FORT TOTTEN --The Pioneer Daughters Museum is homeless, at least for a while.

But the museum at Fort Totten State Historic Site is not about to become part of history.

Housed for the past 55 years in the former military hospital, which later became a Native American boarding school cafeteria at Fort Totten State Historic Site, the museum's artifacts were placed in storage in October, when the State Historical Society of North Dakota and Fort Totten State Historic Site Foundation started construction on a $600,000 renovation project.

The project is just the latest in a decades-long program to renovate and restore Fort Totten, considered one of the best-preserved frontier military forts in the nation.

"It has been ongoing for many, many years," said Julie Schuler, foundation president. "Because of lack of funds, nothing was done for a long time. We were worried that some work that had been done would have to be redone."

Historic past

Fort Totten was built in 1867 as a military post, one of scores of forts built in the Great Plains during the latter half of the 1800s.

After it was decommissioned in 1890, it became the property of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, serving as a boarding school for Dakota and Chippewa students until 1935. Enrollment was as high as 400, according to State Historical Society of North Dakota literature.

From 1935 until 1939, it was a federal tuberculosis preventorium, providing care and education to small groups of Dakota children who either had or were susceptible to tuberculosis.

The facility then became a reservation community and day school, with more control transferred to local tribal leaders.

Fort Totten became a North Dakota Historic Site in 1960 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

"It's the most complete frontier military fort from between here and Texas. Considering all the forts there were between here and Texas, it's pretty remarkable," said Guinn Hinman, a historic sites manager with the North Dakota Historical Society.

Community support

One reason it has persevered, Hinman said, is that it served as a school for a long time, much longer than it served as a military establishment.

The other reason is community support.

The local foundation started raising money for the present project about three years ago. Then, foundation leaders went to the North Dakota Legislature in early 2015 with a renovation plan and a funding request. The Legislature agreed to set aside $500,000, with the stipulation that the foundation raise an additional $100,000.

So far, the group has raised about $75,000, Schuler said.

The main fundraiser is an annual fall dinner-theater production, held over one weekend.

It starts with dinner at the Totten Trail Historic Inn, a former officers' quarters that was restored from 2001 to 2002. Then guests move to the Fort Totten Little Theater -- on the opposite side of the fort's courtyard--for a play, which is staged within the context of a TV game show.

Each of the two events has raised about $25,000. The foundation also held its first holiday radio hour in December. The variety show, which featured local performers singing holiday classics, popular show tunes and other musical favorites, raised about $12,000.

"Membership is rising. The community has responded," Schuler said.

The foundation also receives revenue from the Totten Trail Historic Inn -- from overnight room rentals to catering meetings and events.

The present restoration phase includes exterior rehabilitation, including the roof and foundation, as well as repairs to stone, replacement of missing bricks, tuckpointing and painting. It also includes stabilizing walls, replacing interior floor joists and floor decking, as well as asbestos abatement and window replacement.

Past projects

Totten Trail Historic Inn:

The 10-room Totten Trail Historic Inn is a bed and breakfast housed in the former officer's quarters, which was renovated in 2000 with a combination of federal grants and local matching funds.

Open year-round, with its busiest season being May to September, it features bed-and-breakfast accommodations furnished in period style, from 1870 to 1910.

The rooms are named for sponsoring Lake Region families, each one with a different themes and memorabilia that depict the family's business history or interests.

The inn is used for the dinner-theater productions, too.

Fort Totten Visitor Center:

The Visitor's Center opened in 2011 after renovations to the former fort commissary were complete, site supervisor Lisa Alberts said.

The center welcomes visitors with refurbished wood floors leading to a display that gives an overview of the fort's history.

Fort Totten Little Theater:

The 200-seat theater, located across the courtyard, was built during the boarding school area.

The theater opened in 1963. When the theater celebrated its 50th anniversary, board members said they estimated that 1,100 people from around the region had performed in local productions of major plays over the years, beginning with Rodgers and Hammerstein's musical, "Oklahoma."

Original paintings on the back wall have been restored.

Looking ahead

The hospital renovation project will continue, with future phases including replacement of the mechanical and electrical systems, as well as the repair and painting of walls and the pressed tin ceiling.

"The rest depends on the money we can get from the Legislature," Schuler said.

The group also hopes to restore the original entry, wing porches and the roof dome to match the original military hospital appearance.

"The other cool thing is we will be rebuilding a historic dome on top of it," Hinman said. "It was a frontier military hospital ether dome. They did surgery there because there was light."

Ether domes, also known as surgical operating amphitheaters, were built under sunlit domes on the top floors of many hospitals across the U.S. throughout the 1800s.

When the rehabilitation is completed, the Pioneer Daughters Museum will reopen in the building.

"The projects that have been finished are wonderful," Alberts said. "This is going to be nice. Sometimes I sit here and think: I'm so fortunate to work here. So much history right here."
FARGO, N.D.  Sanford Health is launching a sonography program in February to meet the growing demand for ultrasound specialists.

The first class of the 18-month program will finish just in time for the opening of Sanfords new hospital, a $494 million facility going up south of Interstate 94 and east of Veterans Boulevard.

Thats probably one of the biggest reasons that this came to light, said Chris Walski, manager of general and vascular ultrasound at Sanford in Fargo. That need alone was going to be soon approaching.

Walski and her sister Jessica Brendsel, manager of Sanfords echocardiography lab, spearheaded the new programs creation, which they said was imperative as sonography is incorporated into more areas of medicine, such as orthopedics and neurology.

We are growing as a modality so quickly, and we just dont have the educational opportunities around in this region, said Brendsel, 35, who has counted just seven other programs in North Dakotas four neighboring states, the closest of which is in St. Cloud, Minn. There are no other sonography programs in North Dakota.

Sanfords program will offer two concentrations: general/vascular, which is Walskis area, and cardiac, which is Brendsels area.

General/vascular includes monitoring pregnancy, while cardiac focuses on the heart. If a patient comes in with chest pains, a cardiac sonographer checks to see whether a portion of the heart is damaged, Brendsel said.

Jobs in both concentrations are projected to grow about 40 percent by 2022, which is much faster than the average for all occupations, according to Sanford.

But the Sanford program is starting small, with just six students: four in general/vascular and two in cardiac. Applications are due Jan. 8, and classes start Feb. 29.

The program will integrate classroom and clinical learning, all taught by current employees.

So what they learn about in the morning, they could be scanning in the afternoon, with real patients, said Walski, 38.

Walski said the only new hire was a general/vascular program director.

The program is not affiliated with a college, which is a first for Sanford, Brendsel said.

For the past year, staff worked long hours to develop the curriculum, which will likely undergo regular updates.

Its like smartphones, Walski said of sonography. The second we get (a new technology), it bumps up to the next version.

Take 3-D imaging, which was this out-there thing when Brendsel started 10 years ago. Today, its standard practice.

Thats the exciting thing about our profession, Brendsel said. Were not going to be static.
At the local police headquarters , David Bowdich, assistant director in charge of the FBI's Los Angeles Field Office, discusses the case. BRIAN VAN DER BRUG / Los Angeles Times/TNS Read more

SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. - Authorities now believe that the two attackers who killed 14 people last week were both radicalized and had been for quite a while, an FBI official said Monday.

"Both subjects were radicalized and have been for some time," David Bowdich, the assistant director in charge of the Los Angeles Field Office, said at a news conference.

Bowdich touched on the question of whether one of them guided the other down the path of radicalization, saying that police did not know yet when or how this occurred.

"How did that happen and by whom and where did that happen?" he said. "I will tell you right now, we don't know those answers at this point." He added that it was possible there was no "who" responsible for this, but said investigators were still exploring all possibilities.

The couple died in a gun battle with authorities several hours after the attack.

Investigators have found evidence of "preplanning," Bowdich said. Both attackers went to shooting ranges in the Los Angeles region for target practice, including one such visit just days before the shooting, he said.

The federal investigation - which Bowdich described as "massive in scale" - has involved more than 400 interviews, he said.

County officials had said earlier Monday they were returning to work in an attempt to resume normal business, five days after 14 people were killed in a massacre at an event for government workers.

The only exception is the Division of Environmental Health Services, where work will be suspended for at least another week, county officials said at a news conference. One of the two killers, Syed Rizwan Farook, was a department employee.

In an effort to help employees cope with the effects of last week's violence, the county has established a counseling center and hotline, and managers in county government have been asked to look for signs of stress among their staff.

San Bernardino has already taken steps since the Dec. 2 shooting at the Inland Regional Center to enhance security in county facilities, including increasing the number of armed guards at certain facilities, and is considering additional measures.

County officials and physicians from hospitals that treated shooting victims stressed that San Bernardino would seek to remain united and would rally around those affected by the massacre.

"The purpose of terrorism is to make ordinary people afraid to do the ordinary things that make up their lives," said Janice Rutherford, a member of the county Board of Supervisors. "We can't be afraid of our lives, of our community, of our neighbors, of our coworkers."

Of six victims who were admitted to Arrowhead Regional Medical Center after the attack, five have gone home.

The wide-ranging investigation into the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil since Sept. 11, 2001, continued Monday, as officials sought answers about the attack, the suspects, and any ties they may have to other people.

Law enforcement agents on Sunday again searched the home of a man suspected of providing Farook with the military-grade rifles he and his wife used to gun down 14 people.

A team of three officials spent about 30 minutes inside the home of Enrique Marquez, a former neighbor of Farook's, and left carrying a large cardboard box. The box's contents were unknown, and the officials declined to identify themselves or their agency to reporters outside.

The search at the modest suburban home, the second in two days, took place as new details surfaced about Marquez, who officials say bought the DPMS and Smith & Wesson AR-15 rifles that Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, used in the Dec. 2 rampage.

Marquez, who works as a Walmart security guard, checked himself into a mental-health facility Friday; it is not yet clear whether he has already been questioned by authorities or if he will be charged.

On Monday, Bowdich said he would not comment on Marquez's status.

A picture has begun to take shape of the couple's past and their apparent radicalization even as their lives followed a seemingly ordinary course: work, marriage, a child. The couple's daughter, born in May, is in the care of child protective services.

The Marquez and Farook families lived next door to each other on a quiet residential street in Riverside, Calif., for years. Like Farook, Marquez, 29, attended La Sierra High School. Both young men shared a love of cars.

Neighbor Jared Rork said Farook and Marquez would sometimes be seen working on cars and listening to music in one of their garages. "They seemed like everyday, normal Americans," he said.

One of his coworkers at Walmart, who asked to go only by his last name, Dandy, said Marquez had worked at the store only a few months.

When he heard about Marquez's possible role in supplying the weapons used on Dec. 2, Dandy was shocked.

"I was just blown away, man," he said. "I couldn't believe something like that could come here."

Friends and family described Farook, who was born in Illinois and grew up in California, as devout and conservative. Those who prayed with him at local mosques said the 28-year-old spoke about his personal life to few people.

On Sunday, Italian publication La Stampa published an interview with Farook's father, also named Syed, in which he said his son had harbored anti-Semitic animosity.

Reached at his son Raheel's home on Sunday morning, the elder Farook said his views differed from those of his son.

"He was going towards conservatism," he told reporters through the gate of the home. "His views were conservative; my views were liberal."

He also said that Syed Farook had quarreled with a Jewish coworker. One of the fellow county health inspectors killed in the attack was Nicholas Thalasinos, who converted to the Messianic Jewish movement of Christianity three years ago and who frequently posted online about Israel and politics. Thalasinos had been a health inspector in Cape May County more than a decade ago.

Kuuleme Stephens, a friend of Thalasinos', said she had spoken with him by phone about two weeks before the attack, reaching him when he was having a conversation with Farook about the nature of Islam and Israel's place in the Middle East. But "it wasn't an argument," she said.

Investigators are also working to determine what other attacks the couple may have planned.

The rifles they used had been altered to make them more lethal, and a major arsenal was found in their two-story townhouse.
Three days before Christmas, the Rev. Adolphus C. Prince, the ousted pastor of Zion Baptist Church, filed a lawsuit against the historic church of the late Rev. Leon H. Sullivan, seeking $50,000 and reinstatement as pastor.

The suit seeks temporary and permanent injunctions to stop the congregation from having a second vote, scheduled for Jan. 9, on whether Prince should return.

In the Dec. 22 filing, Prince asks Common Pleas Court to overturn the July 2014 vote, saying that he "was pastor of Zion Baptist Church from January 2012 until he was illegally removed on July 12, 2014."

Prince's suit names as defendants the church, the deacons board, deacons board chairman Frank K. Richardson Jr., the trustee board, and trustee board chairman Ronald J. Harper.

The church, on Broad Street at Venango, was made famous by Sullivan, known worldwide as the "Lion of Zion" and an advocate for civil and human rights. He was pastor from 1950 to 1988.

Prince, who formerly went by the name A. Carl Prince, apparently had been part of a group of Zion church members who agreed last fall to have a second vote about his firing. Ads were placed in the Philadelphia Daily News and other newspapers on Oct. 5 announcing:

"Zion Baptist Church Plaintiffs and Reverend Dr. A. Carl Prince just won a court approved settlement that overturned the July 2014 pastoral election as the church by-laws had been violated.

"The settlement also outlines the procedures and restrictions that will be applied to the next Pastoral Election."

Neither Prince nor his lawyer Robert T. Vance could be reached for comment yesterday.

The Daily News reported in 2014 that Prince, then 55, had kept his former church, Mount Hope Baptist Church in Prince George County, Va., in litigation for several years. After agreeing to leave that church in December 2011, he arrived at Zion in January 2012.

Yesterday, a sizable crowd heard the Rev. Albert Campbell, retired pastor of Mount Carmel Baptist Church, sermonize on the importance of prayer at a time of crisis. He said that Jesus prayed before his crucifixion that his 12 disciples would remain "as one, united and not torn and splintered apart."

Campbell said that, since its founding in the 1880s, "Zion has faced a crisis of transition from then to now, through at least 10 pastors, and Zion still stands."

The congregation applauded.

"This crisis will make us stronger," Campbell said.

At a members-only meeting after the service, many church members learned that Prince had sued the church to be reinstated, according to longtime member Jessie Frisby.

In February 2015, a lawsuit was filed against church officers by 37 members seeking information about church finances. The suit is pending in Common Pleas Court.

russv@phillynews.com215-854-5987
Essays in philosophy, politics and economics by Thomas R. Wells
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A new Pew Research Center analysis of survey data shows that younger generations tend to have more-positive views than their elders on a number of institutions that play a significant role in American society.

Here are 7 figures you should know from the report:

1. Millennials rating of churches and other religious organizations dropped 18 percentage points from 2010 to 2015. In 2010, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) said churches have a positive impact on the country; today, only 55 percent make that same claim.

2. As of 2015, 86 percent of Millennials say small businesses have a positive effect, up 15 points since 2010.

3. Evaluations of large corporations have similarly improved among Millennials (an increase from 28 to 38 percent), though they also remain more negative than positive.



4. Five years ago, just 35 percent of Millennials said banks had a positive impact on the nation; today 45 percent say the impact of banks is positive.

5. Labor unions are also seen more positively today than they were five years ago (45 percent now say they have a positive impact on the country, up from 32 percent in 2010). And Millennials remain much more likely than their elders to view unions positively.

6. While about half of Americans (48 percent) view the energy industry as having a positive impact on the country, this view is somewhat more common among those in younger generations than older: 54 percent of Millennials and 52 percent of Xers say this, compared with just 42 percent of Boomers and 35 percent of Silents.

7. In 2010, four-in-ten Millennials said the national news media was having a positive impact on the way things were going in the country. Now, just 27 percent say it has a positive impact, compared with 26 percent of Generation Xers and Silents and 23 percent of Boomers.
22-Year-Old Fedor Holz Wins Triton Super High Roller $200,000 Cali Cup for $3,072,748

January 04, 2016 Donnie Peters

After winning the World Poker Tour $100,000 Alpha8 Las Vegas for $1.589 million in December to close out 2015, Fedor Holz continued his momentum into 2016 with a huge win in the Triton Super High Roller Series $200,000 Cali Cup at WPT Philippines from Solaire Resort and Casino in Manila. Holz's win at Bellagio in Las Vegas saw him top a field of 45 entries, and this time around he defeated a field of 52. Holz scored $3.072 million for this victory.

Triton Super High Roller Series $200,000 Cali Cup Results

Place Player Prize 1 Fedor Holz $3,072,748* 2 David Peters $2,699,752* 3 Devan Tang $1,405,500 4 Steve O'Dwyer $953,700 5 Phil Ivey $656,500 6 Daniel Colman $502,000 7 Paul Phua $401,600 8 Mike McDonald $351,320

*Denotes heads-up deal

Coming into this event, Holz had built up a total of over $3.8 million in live tournament earnings. This win nearly doubles his total to over $7 million. The young German superstar is certainly making a name for himself in poker, as he pushed past a very tough field at the final table.

With 40 unique players and 12 reentries, the event generated a prize pool of over $10 million. Thirty-three players returned for Day 2 action, and it was Stanley Choi who was eliminated on the bubble in ninth place. Following his exit, Mike McDonald hit the rail in eighth, and then Steve O'Dwyer took out Paul Phua in seventh.

It was at this point that O'Dwyer had the lead and it looked as though another big buy-in title was going to come his way, but he then bluffed off some chips before Devan Tang assumed the lead.

Tang then busted Daniel Colman in sixth place to land Colman a payout of $502,000. That score was Colman's 11th six-figure cash in under a two-year period, and his eighth in an event with a buy-in of $50,000 or higher over the same time period.

A handful of hands after Colman's bust, Holz got a big break when he spiked a lucky double against Phil Ivey. It was reported that Holz had opened with a raise from under the gun to 90,000 with the blinds at 20,000/40,000/5,000, and Ivey reraised from the small blind to 270,000. Holz opted to move all in for 1.15 million, and Ivey instantly called with the . He had Holz's in a world of hurt, but the flop changed all of that. Holz had vaulted into the lead and held after the turn and river.

Shortly after Holz doubled through him, Ivey was eliminated in fifth place when his fell to the of Holz.

During four-handed play, Holz doubled up David Peters, but fought his way back up the leaderboard and back into the lead. He then took out O'Dwyer in fourth place to get even more chips, and O'Dwyer earned $953,700 for the result. For O'Dwyer, he was also coming off a highly impressive month of December to close out 2015. He had three cashes that month for $874,440, which included a big win in the European Poker Tour Prague 50,000 Super High Roller for 746,543 ($809,752).

On Twitter, O'Dwyer said that he has plans to go from the Philippines to the Bahamas for the PokerStars Caribbean Adventure and play all of those big buy-in events before he jets off to Australia for the Aussie Millions, so we will likely be hearing much more from him in the first month of the new year. O'Dwyer will be looking to defend his title after he topped a record field in the 2015 PCA $100,000 Super High Roller to win $1.873 million.

Holz extended his lead over Tang and Peters in three-handed play, but Peters was able to double through him once and then knock out Tang in third place so that he wasn't totally crushed going into heads-up play. Despite that, though, Holz did have a 2-1 lead when the duel began  6.88 million to 3.525 million.

After a short break, the two players opted to shorten the blind levels to 20 minutes and jump from 40,000/80,000/10,000 to 75,000/150,000/25,000. That sped things up, and the match only took four hands from there.

On the final hand, Peters opened to 350,000 from the button, Holz made it 1 million to go, and then Peters jammed. Holz called with the , and Peters was flipped for his tournament life with the .

The board kept the sevens in the lead for Holz and sealed the deal.

For Peters, who finished off 2015 with a $426,240 win on Dec. 20 in the last ARIA $25,000 High Roller of the year, banked $2.7 million and pushed his total live tournament earnings to nearly $10 million. This result also proved to be the largest of his career.

With $3.072 million in his bank account and another prestigious poker title in his trophy case, Holz is the early frontrunner for player of the year and top money earner for 2016. We can certainly expect to see many more results from him this year, and those should all start with the PCA and Aussie Millions up next.

*Photo courtesy of the WPT.

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Officer Nicholas Powell was shot and dragged after a traffic stop. (Photo: WXII TV screen shot)

A Winston-Salem, NC, police officer and a suspect were wounded in a shooting following a traffic stop early Monday morning.

The incident was reported just before 2 a.m. on Business 40 east near Lowery Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Drive. Officer Nicholas Powell, 27, was dragged a quarter mile and shot multiple times, while the suspect, Gary Lynn, 26, of Raleigh, had a single gunshot wound, said Winston-Salem police Chief Barry Rountree.

None of the injuries are considered life-threatening, and both were treated at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Rountree said it appears all the shots were fired from Lynn's weapon, and no law enforcement officials fired shots, WXII TV reports.
 CNN's Brianna Keilar: Tel Aviv Is Israel's Capital | Main | Palestinian Officials Continue to Promote Antisemitic Blood Libel 

January 04, 2016

Media Reports Iranian Anger at Saudi Executions But Ignores Iranian Executions

Kurds executed in Iran

The news media has reported on worldwide reaction to Saudi Arabia's execution of 47 prisoners. Among those executed was a prominent Shiite activist, Nimr al-Nimr. His execution has prompted considerable discussion of the harsh nature of the Saudi regime. Many Western news outlets have made a point of noting the angry recriminations voiced by Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei.

The Saudi regime carries out numerous executions every year. In 2015, the BBC reports the Saudis executed 150 prisoners. However, the Iranian condemnation is truly a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Iran executes hundreds every year. Yet these executions, usually by hanging, receive little attention in the Western media.

An article in the English language version of the London-based Arab newspaper, Ashaq al-Awsat, reports that Iran executed 750 political prisoners in the last nine months of 2015. The majority of those executed were ethnic Kurds, the largest Sunni muslim group in Iran.

According to the article, the Vice President of the Iranian Kurdistan Freedom Party, Hussein Yazdan Bina stated,



In order to hide the facts from the international public opinion, the Iranian regime fabricated the charge of narcotics trafficking. In reality, trafficking is being carried out by Iranian authorities and by officials of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the Iranian Intelligence in a project to suppress the Kurdish people in Iran. Iran has deluded the international community into thinking that the executions are not based on political grounds.?

The rate of executions has increased with the advent of the Iranian nuclear agreement. According to the article,

Yazdan Bina also pointed out that the nuclear deal concluded by Tehran with the great six powers has set the Iranian regime into carrying out more execution campaigns against the Kurds in eastern Kurdistan...

Posted by SS at January 4, 2016 02:09 PM

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MINNEAPOLIS  Major decisions on copper-nickel mining, a water quality summit and a push to reduce carbon emissions by Minnesota's utilities will be among the top issues on Minnesota's environmental agenda for 2016. Some of the debate will be very public, while much of the work on issues such as oil pipelines and wild rice will take place behind the scenes, within state agencies that will be conducting environmental reviews and developing regulations. Here's a look ahead:

Polymet

Department of Natural Resources Commissioner Tom Landwehr plans to decide "about February" whether to certify as adequate the final environmental impact statement on the proposed PolyMet copper-nickel mine. He has already said he expects to approve the 3,576-page document. Once he does and federal agencies sign off, PolyMet Mining Corp. plans to quickly start applying for the permits it needs to build Minnesota's first copper-nickel mine. Environmentalists are expected to fight the permits, and the dispute could end up in court. PolyMet says it hopes to start mining in 2018.

Water quality summit

Gov. Mark Dayton plans to convene a summit in February to address water quality challenges across the state. Participants will include researchers, farmers, lawmakers, regulators, and business and local leaders. When Dayton announced the summit in November, he told farm groups that modern agriculture contributes to the state's critical water quality problems, but urban areas face their own serious water issues.

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Clean Power Plan

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency staffers will hold listening sessions around the state in February on how the state should meet its obligations to cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants under the Obama administration's Clean Power Plan. The agency is required to give the Legislature a status report in March. A bigger deadline comes in September when the MPCA has to give the Environmental Protection Agency an outline of its plan for complying.

Mille Lacs

Lucky ice anglers can keep one walleye of the right size from Mille Lacs Lake this winter. The popular lake's changing ecosystem has contributed to a sharp decline in its walleye population, though its bass and northern pike are doing well. The DNR closed the lake's summer walleye season in August. The struggling local economy should get a boost from the 2016 Toyota Bassmaster Angler of the Year Tournament Sept. 15-18. Organizers say it could bring more than $3 million to the area. The DNR plans a pilot project in 2016 for stocking the lake with walleye fry in case the agency needs to do larger-scale stocking someday.

Buffer strips

Officials will be working to implement Dayton's buffer strip law, which will require farmers to leave vegetation buffers of up to 50 feet along streams and ditches to help filter out phosphorus, nitrogen and sediment to improve water quality. The DNR will produce final maps by July of public waters and ditch systems that will require buffers. Preliminary maps are expected late this winter. The maps will help landowners identify whether they need to create buffers and, if so, how wide.

Wild rice

The MPCA will digest public comments on its proposed new water quality standards for protecting wild rice. Minnesota's existing limit on sulfate discharges into wild rice waters is 10 milligrams per liter. The MPCA proposes to replace that with a site-by-site approach. The issue pits mining and other interests against tribal and environmental groups, and the proposal hasn't gone over well with either side. The MPCA anticipates hearings in 2017 and enacting the final rule in 2018.

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Pipelines

State officials will conduct a full environmental review for two proposed crude oil pipelines across northern Minnesota. Enbridge Energy wants to build the Sandpiper pipeline to carry light crude from North Dakota, and to replace its aging Line 3, which transports Canadian tar sands oil. The company wants a green light in time to start construction in 2017. But the Public Utilities Commission has declined set a deadline for completing the review.

State parks

Minnesota State Parks and Trails will celebrate its 125th anniversary all year. Commemorations kick off Friday at Fort Snelling State Park. The DNR plans to break ground this spring on a new campground on higher ground at Whitewater State Park, where a 2007 flood caused extensive damage. The DNR also hopes to open the campground at Minnesota's newest state park, on Lake Vermilion, sometime this fall but isn't promising that.
For the record, Im a bit of a fan of Tesla electric cars, though to be clear they are for the time being a luxury good, and moreover in states with lots of coal-fired electricity they actually increase total greenhouse gas emissions on a net basis. (One friend in a coal-heavy state has a sticker on his Tesla: How do you like my coal-powered car?)

But with all the media attention on the fires occurring on Hoverboards over the holiday season, wed be remiss if we didnt note this story:

Tesla Model S Bursts Into Flames While Charging On New Years Day, a Tesla owner in Norway plugged in his Tesla Model S at a SuperCharger station near Kristiansand in the Aust-Agden region and went off to do some shopping while his battery recharged. A few minutes later, his car burst into flames and was destroyed. The duty officer at the campus police office of Jon Kvitnes College told Norways VG News, We received notification at 2.29 pm that a car was on fire near a cafe on Brokelandsheia. We came out with the fire brigade and police, but it turned out that this car was burned out when the emergency services arrived at the scene. Fortunately, there was no one in the car at the time and there were no injuries. . .

According to Leif Hansen, who lives in Norway, the following statement was made to the local news media by Anders Torbjrnsen, a member of the fire brigade operations center at the college. It is not possible to extinguish EV fires with water , so the fire department closed the area around the powerful SuperCharger and used a special foam to control the flames. The world renowned electric car has batteries made of lithium, a metal that is highly flammable , and that makes firefighting difficult.
Hillary Clinton has many weaknesses as a presidential candidate. One of them used to be her primary asset: her husband Bill. Indeed, we never would have heard of Hillary if she hadnt married Bill, and her appeal to Democrats consists largely of nostalgia for his relatively successful administration.

But in an era that is exquisitely sensitive to sexual assault, serial sexual assaulter Bill Clinton may be turning into a liability. The most serious of the several credible charges against Clinton was asserted by Juanita Broaddrick, who says that Clinton raped her. Today in Derry, New Hampshire, Hillary was conducting a town meeting when a woman repeatedly stood up and tried to shout questions about Broaddrick. Hillary ignored the woman, and finally said: You are very rude, and Im not going to ever call on you. Here is the video:

The pro-Hillary crowd naturally cheered her handling of the heckler. Moreover, the woman who tried to ask about Juanita Broaddrick is reportedly a GOP legislator from Derry and is being dismissed on that basis. But I wonder. It will always be true that Bills transgressions will be raised by Hillarys political opponents. But what if they are raised often? What if everywhere Hillary goes, someone tries to bring up Juanita Broaddrick? What if people start paying attention to Kathleen Willey, who is alive and well and who says that Bill Clinton assaulted her in a room adjacent to the Oval Office?

Paul thinks that if Bills sexcapades didnt hurt him (much) years ago, they will hardly hurt Hillary now. That may well turn out to be right. On the other hand, the Broaddrick and Willey stories were largely buried (compared with Monica Lewinsky, whose case was completely different) when Bill was president. It isnt so easy to bury stories nowadays. Then, too, there are Bills rides on the Lolita Express with Jeffrey Epstein, who preyed on underage girls. Those havent yet been brought up on the campaign trail, but they could be.

If Bill is Hillarys campaigner-in-chief, she can hardly complain if his own personal war on women gets mentioned. Currently, I doubt that ten percent of voters have any idea who Juanita Broaddrick is. But that will change if Hillarys opponents are persistent. It seems to me that there is a real possibility that Broaddrick et al could become a millstone around Hillarys neck, especially with younger voters who do not share the geriatric sets warm feelings toward Bill.

UPDATE: Paula Jones is getting into the act, too. No doubt Hillary would like to call Jones a liar, but Bill paid Jones $850,000 to settle her sexual harassment suit. Can you imagine the fun Donald Trump, for one, would have with that? Plus, it was Bill Clinton, not Paula Jones, who was found by the presiding federal judge to have committed perjury.

There is no way Hillary can touch the Paula Jones case, but what if people start talking about it? Jones says:

And how dare her. You know what? She dont care nothing about women. Because if she did she would believe what I had to say. She would believe what the other women had to say.

When Hillary cranks up her feminist shtick, who can deny that Jones has a point?
The Washington Post features a story about Rahm Emanuels Chicago woes. The headline is In Chicago, distrust toward mayor has turned personal. I cant think of any reason why it shouldnt have.

There are two key passages in the Posts story. Heres the first, which appears early on:

On the streets of Chicago, the list of grievances is long  especially in the citys black wards, where Emanuel won strong initial support from voters because of his service as chief of staff to the nations first African American president, and he managed to hold on to a majority there when he won reelection last year. But over the years, community activists say that Emanuel has done much to abuse their support. They point to his feud with the teachers union and say he has plowed cash into big, splashy projects downtown at the expense of desperate needs in their neighborhoods.

Heres the second, which comes near the end:

There is no legal mechanism to force [Emanuels] resignation. . .The more practical question, local leaders say, is how Emanuel will govern in the face of near-daily protests. At the policy level, he has promised reforms in the Chicago police, starting with a plan unveiled Wednesday to reduce police shootings by equipping every officer responding to calls with a less-lethal Taser. And in recent weeks, Emanuel has reached out to black leaders. Two prominent ministers, the Revs. Marshall Hatch and Ira Acree, said they were called to a private Dec. 8 meeting in which Emanuel seemed to be trying to assess their level of support. We told him how diminished his own credibility was, Acree recalled. We said if you really want to build trust, you have to go beyond your scurrilous minions in Washington and listen to people who have different views.

(Emphasis added)

Taken together, these passages suggest that the only way for Emanuel to regain the support hell need to govern is to back off of his reformist agenda  e.g., stabilizing finances and pensions, education reform, and economic development downtown  and kowtow to the ruinous demands of black leaders. In short, to make Chicago more like Detroit.

At a minimum, Emanuel will have to kowtow when it comes to policing, a process that has already started according to the Post. This raises the prospect that crime will increase due to less effective policing, as it seems to have done in Baltimore for example.

This would be a terrible outcome for a city where gun violence is already out of control. Indeed, Emanuel himself has blamed increased crime in Chicago on police officers becoming fetal out of concern they will get in trouble for actions during arrests  i.e., the Ferguson effect.

More broadly, we can expect to witness in Chicago the victory of what Walter Russell Mead calls short-termism, ethnic demagoguery, and fiscal irresponsibility over the imperatives good governance and urban development.

This is the hidden agenda of the Black Lives Matter movement, which now has Chicago right where it wants it. As Emanuel might say, never let a crisis go to waste.
Nebraska attorney David Begley continues his series of reports for us on the appearances of the presidential candidates in Iowa as the Iowa caucuses approach. Yesterday afternoon Dave attended the appearance of Democrat Martin OMalley in Council Bluffs. Omahas KETV 7s report is here. Daves report is below, with Daves newsworthy question at the top. Todays New York Post carries a brief editorial bearing on the question that OMalley declines to answer:

I asked Governor OMalley the following question: Over 1,200 of Secretary Clintons emails contained classified information. The FBI has said it would make a decision on a criminal referral to the Justice Department by the end of 2015. Should the FBI disclose to the public its decision?

I caught him off guard. He paused for a long time. He then said,  Do I have to answer every question? The crowd laughed. He added: I will leave that to Secretary Clinton and her lawyers to answer.

Note that I asked him about what the FBI should disclose. I didnt ask him what the target of the criminal investigation should say. He dodged the question.

OMalley is angling to join Hillarys ticket or keeping himself available for the nomination in the event Hillary is indicted. By answering my question the way he did he preserved his viability with the Clinton base. When it comes to promoting his own interests, anyway, OMalley is no dope.

OMalley gave a version of his summer stump speech. He is a former Blue State governor promoting the Blue State model. If he deserves credit for anything, it would be for paving the way for Republican Larry Hogan to succeed him. Thats quite an accomplishment in a state as massively Democratic as Maryland.

OMalley wants to strengthen Social Security and unions. He advocates big spending on public education and public works projects. He wants to raise wages but dont ask him how other than increasing the minimum wage. He was onto something when he noted that renewable energy is a great business opportunity but he omitted the higher costs to consumers and taxpayers. And forget about the sunk investments in oil, natural gas and coal. Solar is simply magic! He wants a 100 percent Green grid in short order.

He thinks that putting illegal aliens on the books will add to FICA payments but he skipped over the wage suppression and unemployment of American workers. He courted the youth vote with a debt-free college plan.

He said Donald Trump was overtly fascist and that Trump is calling for identity cards listing ones religion. Really? I dont think so.

OMalley said he spent a lot of time fighting mass incarceration. Translated into politically incorrect English, that means he opposed law enforcement in minority communities. Fred Siegel doesnt see it that way. The Washington Posts Paul Schwartzman and John Wagner dont see it that way either. The Baltimore Suns Dan Rodrick doesnt see it that way either. In a sane party, OMalley might be able to offer a relatively straightforward defense of his record.
The New York Times made itself a fool for the Rathergate film Truth. The Times not only published Stephen Holdens breathless review of the film, the Times celebrated the film in a TimesTalks event featuring Robert Redford, Cate Blanchett, Dan Rather, and Mary Mapes, hosted by Times Magazine staff writer Susan Dominus. Holden also included Truth in his year-end best-of-2015 list (its number 7!). The Times went all in for this tribute to the greatest journalistic fraud of our era, as I noted in the City Journal column Truth and the New York Times.

In its year-end review of possible Oscar contenders, however, Times op-ed columnist Joe Nocera stumbles onto the truth and blurts it out. Doesnt this require some kind of a trigger warning for Times readers?

Nocera observes that Truth is a tribute to bad reporting. Of course, Nocera is right about that. We tried to help Holden and Dominus out on this point in our Weekly Standard article Rather shameful.

Nocera contrasts Truth with Spotlight, a film that depicts the Boston Globes investigation of sexual abuse in the Catholic Church. Nocera is right about that too. Spotlight is an excellent film.

As for the contrast between the two films, Nocera makes this elementary observation:

[W]hile Spotlight shows reporters at their best  tackling a huge, important story while taking on Bostons biggest sacred cow  the journalism that Truth views as heroic is anything but. In her eagerness to run a tough story, Ms. Mapes didnt bother to nail down the authenticity of those documents. Nor did Mr. Rather push her to do so. And while the films writer and director, James Vanderbilt, nods at their errors, his underlying message seems to be that the larger truth they were trying to tell  the suggestion that Mr. Bush was given preferential treatment during his National Guard service in the early 1970s  should not have been undermined just because they were fooled by a few fake documents. Hence, I suppose, the movies title. They werent attacked about the substance of their story, Mr. Vanderbilt told me recently. They were attacked on the documents. Which suggests that even though he wrote the screenplay for a previous film involving journalism  David Finchers 2007 thriller, Zodiac  he really doesnt understand the difference between good reporting and bad.

Nocera seems not to be aware that Mapes and Rather got the substance of the story regarding Bushs alleged preferential treatment wrong too. In Mapess case, this was no error. She certainly knew better about Bushs alleged preferential admission to serve in the Texas Air National Guard, as the Thornburgh report establishes beyond a reasonable doubt. But at least Nocera recognizes the anomalous nature of Truth, in which knaves and fools are turned into heroes.

Now, I guess, the truth can be told, more or less. What still cant be told  cant be told in the Times anyway  is how the Times has made itself a fool for Truth.
As Change the Rule, is pushing for the CPD to include independent candidates in debates, the top candidates plan their own.

Top Independent Candidates For The US Presidency To Face Off In Lake Charles, Louisiana

PR-Inside.com: 2016-01-04 06:55:49

Press Information

IndependentDebate2016.com

6 East Lake View Dr Suite 5 Cincinnati, Ohio 45237



Glenn Thomas

PR Coordinator

5134944255

email

http://www.IndependentDebate2016.com





# 345 Words

6 East Lake View Dr Suite 5 Cincinnati, Ohio 45237PR Coordinator5134944255

LAKE CHARLES, La. - Jan. 3, 2016 - PRLog -- LAKE CHARLES, LOUISIANA - In direct response to being frozen out of the current Presidential Debates under rules established by the little known Commission on Presidential Debates and in response to the calls for rule reform by such entities as changetherule.org and a host of of policymakers, several political parties have joined forces to hold a series of Independent Presidential Debates. For the men and women who run for president and vice president of the United States, the national debates are a great rite of passage in the long political campaign. Every four years, tens of millions of Americans watch the nominees make their case to the voters in the final weeks before Election Day. Some voters decide who "wins" each debate; others use the debates as the means to decide for whom to vote.It has been 23 years since an Independent Candidate shared a Presidential Debate stage and under the current rules they never will. Declared Independent Presidential candidates from around the country will come together and debate the issues that affect our nation to make themselves known to the American Voter. Debate Organizers are planning to broadcast the debate live online and are still in discussion with several news organizations to air over television and radio.The first official Independent Presidential Debate of 2016 will be held Thursday January 28, 2016 6pm at The Reeves Uptown Conference Center located at 1639 Ryan St, Lake Charles LA 70601.It will be hosted By The National Whig Party and moderated by Derick Kee President The V.I.S.A. Coalition and Jackie Semien former Anchor of ABC News affiliate KBMT/ http://www.12newsnow.com Confirmed Debating Declared Presidential Candidates are: Dr.Jill SteinJohn Fitzgerald JohnsonRobert DionisioVerone ThomasChris KenistonVal KittingtonDr. Lynn S. KahnZoltan IstvanRoger E. NicholasDarryl W. PerryRhett SmithAdditional information and website links to each candidate's website may be accessed at http://www.IndependentDebate2016.com For More Information Please contact The Independent Presidential Debates 2016 Team at admin@ IndependentDebate2016.com
PR-Inside.com: 2016-01-04 04:01:02

Herbalife Appoints Filipino Doctor to Its Nutrition Advisory Board

Media Enquiries:

Herbalife Asia Pacific

Daliea Mohamad-Liauw, +852-3589-2643

Vice President, Corporate Communications

dalieal@herbalife.com

or

Herbalife Philippines

Barbs A. Soliven, 632-555-2828

Corporate Communications Manager

barbettes@herbalife.com

Global nutrition company, Herbalife welcomes Dr. Francis Gregory Samonte, an expert in pediatric neurology, to become the first Filipino appointed to its prestigious Nutrition Advisory Board (NAB), effective January 1, 2016.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201601030050

A photo of Dr Francis Gregory Samonte (Photo: Business Wire)

The Herbalife Nutrition Advisory Board is comprised of leading experts from around the world in the fields of nutrition and health who inform, educate and train Independent Herbalife Members on the principles of nutrition, physical activity and healthy lifestyle.

Samontes appointment further strengthens the Herbalife Nutrition Advisory Board members to 30. His addition also reflects further expansion of nutrition and health experts from Asia Pacific in the Nutrition Advisory Board who will play a central role in raising public awareness and leading educational programs on balanced nutrition and healthy active lifestyle in 15 countries across the region as part of Herbalifes Asia Pacific Wellness Tour initiative.

Samonte is among the Philippines' premier experts in pediatric neurology, and is currently based in Manila. He graduated from De La Salle University College of Medicine in 1995, and has since studied at institutes including John Hopkins University and Harvard Medical School, USA. He was a recipient of the Chairmans Achievement Award, Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville, Kentucky, and his affiliations include the Philippines Medical Association.

In tandem with his distinguished career in medicine, Samonte is active in supporting charities, notably through being a member of the Board of Directors of Community Based Resources in Zambales.

Herbalife Nutrition Advisory Board

The board is chaired by David Heber, M.D., Ph.D., Founding Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)*, who was recently in Manila for Herbalife's fourth Asia Pacific Wellness Tour, which included an obesity seminar given to Filipino medical practitioners. Other members of the NAB include Dr. Lou Ignarro, a Nobel** laureate in Physiology or Medicine in 1998 for his discovery of nitric oxides health benefits; Dr. Gary Small, a specialist in brain health and aging, who has received numerous awards and honors, including the Senior Investigator Award from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.

* The University of California, as a matter of policy, does not endorse specific products or services. Dr. Hebers credentials as a professor are for identification purposes only.

**The Nobel Foundation has no affiliation with Herbalife and does not review, approve or endorse Herbalife products.

About Herbalife

Herbalife (NYSE:HLF) is a global nutrition company that sells weight-management, nutrition and personal care products intended to support a healthy lifestyle. Herbalife products are sold in more than 90 countries to and through a network of Independent Herbalife Members. The company supports the Herbalife Family Foundation and its Casa Herbalife program to help bring good nutrition to children. Herbalife's website contains financial and other information about the company at www.herbalife.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/201601030050
A Lagos State High Court sitting in Ikeja on Monday sentenced Tajudeen Folaji, a stockbroker, to seven years imprisonment for fraudulent sale of shares.

The convict was found guilty of a one-count charge of unauthorized sale of shares and stealing contrary to Section 390(8) (b) of the Criminal Code Law, Cap C17, Vol. 2 Laws of Laws of Lagos State 2003.

While Mr. Folaji is to serve prison term, his company, First Alstate Securities Limited, where he was the managing director, was fined N20 million by Justice Kudirat Jose.

Mr. Folaji was arraigned by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, following a petition from the Security and Exchange Commission in 2010 that he fraudulently sold the shares of Adesoye Holdings Limited in IPWA Plc.

After diligent investigation by the anti-graft commission, it was discovered that the convict fraudulently sold 31,886,200 units of Adesoye Holdings Limited shares in IPWA Plc worth millions of naira.

Aside the seven years imprisonment, the court also made an order that the EFCC should trace the properties of Mr. Folaji and cause same to be sold with the proceeds forfeited to Adesoye Holdings Limited.
The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Christine Lagarde, arrived Abuja on Monday to begin a four-day visit to Nigeria.

The visit is part of a two-nation West African region tour to engage policy makers and top officials of Nigeria and Cameroon on economic developments affecting both countries and the West African sub-region.

Prior to Ms Lagardes arrival, the IMF had explained that the visit would underline the Funds strong relationship with its African member countries.

The visit to Nigeria will provide an opportunity to strengthen the Funds partnership with the largest economy in sub-Saharan Africa, the statement said.

While in Abuja, Ms. Lagarde would meet with President Muhammadu Buhari, the Minister of Finance, Kemi Adeosun, and Central Bank, CBN governor, Godwin Emefiele, along with members of the National Assembly, top business leaders, and civil society representatives.

Nigeria is working hard to improve its business environment, promote opportunities for growth in the private sector, and strengthen social cohesion, all areas where the government has an important role to play, the IMF boss said.

She said discussions with President Buhari would focus on various economic issues, particularly the impact of the declining crude oil prices on the countrys economy.

The IMF has been one of the international finance organisations that have been critical of some policies by the Buhari administration, particularly the CBNs monetary policy on restriction of access to foreign exchange to strengthen the Naira and stabilize the Nigerian economy.

The CBN had removed 41 items from accessing its foreign exchange window on grounds that they could easily be produced in Nigeria rather than spend the countrys reserves on importing them.

But the Funds Director, African Department, Antoinette Sayer, had said that measures put in place by the CBN was detrimental to the countrys economy, as it was exerting undue pressure on the national currency, rather than stabilize it.

Mr. Sayer said the introduction of the administrative measures to limit access by some items to foreign exchange and ban certain imports as a way of restricting the demand for foreign exchange was hindering private sector investment in the economy.

It is not something we think is sustainable or advisable, he said. We hope that there will be an opportunity to review those restrictions and permit the exchange rate to continue to adjust, he added.

Although the agenda of Ms. Lagardes meeting with President Buhari during the visit was not made public on Monday, close watchers said that, apart from the impact of the drop in global crude oil price, the review of the CBN policy was likely going to be one of the key issues to be discussed.
The Director-General of African Affairs at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing, Lin Songtian, on Monday, restated his governments commitment to support the development of African countries in the next three years.

Mr. Lin told the News Agency of Nigeria in Lagos that the Chinese government would in the next three years follow up on the outcome of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation Summit.

Let me reassure African countries, including Nigeria, that the 10 areas of cooperation announced by President Xi Jinping at the Summit would be completed within the next three years.

Whenever the Chinese government makes any promise, we always ensure that such promises or development projects are executed, he said.

Mr. Lin, who is also the Secretary General of the follow-up committee on FOAC, said the Chinese government would, within the period, support African countries in industrialisation, agricultural modernisation and infrastructure development.

He also listed other areas of cooperation to include financial, green development, trade and investment facilitation, poverty reduction, public health, cultural and people-to-people interaction, as well as peace and security plans.

The Chinese official said the move was to make African countries self-dependent, as well as fast-track their overall development.

Mr. Lin, an ambassador, said the Chinese government had already set aside huge sums of money towards the realisation of these set areas of cooperation within the period.

We earnestly want African countries to develop because we regard African countries as our brothers and partners in progress.

We are committed to promoting our win-win-cooperation with our dear African countries and friends.

We want to see these countries develop in all areas, so that they also become self-dependent, he added.

(NAN)
By Johnnie Carson

Washington, DC  After seven years in office, President Barack Obama has already engaged more broadly on Africa than any previous American president, but with one year remaining in the White House, there are still a few things he should do before he leaves, writes Johnnie Carson, the United States top policy-maker on Africa in the first Obama administration.

President Obama has significantly elevated and transformed Americas engagement with Africa, traveling widely across the continent, championing the renewal of several old programs and launching a series of highly focused new initiatives that could help speed-up Africas economic development.

He has been particularly active in promoting economic and development issues.

He fought successfully for the renewal and extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), Americas most important trade legislation with Africa; he hosted the first U.S.-Africa Leadership Summit, attended by 37 heads of state; and he has established several important new economic programs, including Power Africa  to expand significantly electrical access across the continent; Feed the Future  to increase household food production and to generate a green revolution throughout Africa, and Trade Africa  to expand substantially trade between Africa and the United States.

Recognizing the growing role of the continents next generation of young leaders, President Obama established YALI  the Young African Leaders Initiative, a program that will bring 500 young African entrepreneurs, professionals and community organizers to the U.S. each year for the next several years for five weeks of leadership, organization and management training.

But what next?

Despite his rather impressive list of accomplishments, here are ten things the president should do before he leaves office in January 2017:

Visit Nigeria: President Obama has traveled to Africa five times during his presidency  but he has not visited Nigeria, the continents economic, political, communications and petroleum giant, and its most important state. It is the continents largest economy  almost twice the size of South Africas and a third larger than that of Egypt.

It is also the continents most populous state, with 180 million people, its largest Muslim country, and its largest democracy.

The president has visited every major country on the continent except Nigeria, and it would be a mistake for him to leave the White House without a stop in Lagos or Abuja.

Some have suggested that security may be a concern because of Boko Haram, but if the president can travel safely to Nairobi, where al Shabaab has carried out high profile attacks in the center of the city, he should be able to travel safely to Abuja or Lagos. He is bound to make one more trip to Europe, and a stop in Nigeria  similar to his 2009 visit to Ghana  would not be a major diversion.

Co-host a regional summit on democracy in west Africa: Strengthening democracy institutions, promoting good governance and supporting free and fair elections has been a major priority for the Obama administration in Africa.

During his first official visit to the continent as president in July 2009, President Obama spoke eloquently before the Ghanaian Parliament about the importance of democracy and good governance and the need to create more strong institutions, not more strong men. With a growing number of African leaders attempting to extend their terms of office, democracy remains fragile across the continent. The president could give democracy in Africa a boost and reaffirm Americas strong commitment to Africas political progress by hosting a conference in West Africa with the democratically-elected leaders of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Liberia, Niger, Nigeria, Mali, Mauritania, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo.

Support Nigerias permanent membership in the G20: President Obama has said that he wants to ensure that Africa has a place at the table to participate in the deliberations concerning major global political and economic issues. One way to accomplish that is to expand or reorganize the G20 group of nations to include Nigeria as a permanent member of this important global organization.

Nigeria is already more important than several of the current G20 members, notably Argentina and South Africa, and over the next two decades it will become one of the worlds mega states, eclipsing several other G20 members in the size of its economy, population and regional influence. It would also be one of the G20s largest democracies. The administration should make the inclusion of Nigeria a priority over the next 12 months.

Press for the passage of the Electrify Africa legislation: Power Africa is one of President Obamas most important signature initiatives. In the worlds most energy deficient and starved continent, it is intended to increase Africas power output by 30,000 megawatts over the next decade or two.

But like a number of recent White House initiatives, Power Africa is not backed by any legislative mandate and could be easily brushed aside after the Obama administration leaves office. The program enjoys bi-partisan support in the Congress and the administration needs to work with congressional leaders to prioritize the passage of the Electrify Africa legislation. At the same time, the administration needs to create a senior level Power Africa czar to manage the program and consider moving interagency responsibility for oversight from USAID to a cabinet level department.

Instruct USAID to establish a permanent democracy fund: If democracy promotion is an important priority, it should be funded adequately and on a long-term basis. Today that is not the case. Funding for democracy has declined sharply during Obamas second term despite the presidents recent speeches in Nairobi and Addis Ababa, and at the 70th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Dedicated and hard-to-reprogram funds should be allocated to strengthen African judiciaries and legislatures, to promote civil society groups and the media, to assist womens organizations and youth groups and to support domestic and international election monitoring. Funds should also be made available to assist local organizations to undertake parallel vote counts, to aid local election commissions and to prevent pre- and post-election violence.

Invite Tanzanias newly elected President John Magufuli to the White House: Tanzania is the most populous state and the largest democracy in East Africa. It is also one of the largest recipients of U.S. development assistance and a participant in all of Washingtons major economic initiatives.

In late October, Tanzania held presidential and parliamentary elections. The elections on the mainland went well, but those on the island of Zanzibar were disputed. President John Pombe Magufuli, a reform-minded academic-turned-politician, was elected without dispute, making him Tanzanias fifth democratically-elected president in a row. Although the Zanzibar election remains unresolved, it is important to reach out to Tanzanias new president early in his tenure to continue to foster the strong relationship between Dar es Salaam and Washington.

This is particularly important since President Magufuli does not have any major ties with the United States.Tanzania also has a critical role to play in East African peace-building issues, particularly in Burundi and the eastern Congo. Early political consultations with President Magufuli and his new foreign minister, Dr. Augustine Mahiga, could prove valuable in promoting stability in the Great Lakes region.

Send Secretary of State John Kerry to Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Uganda and the Republic of the Congo: The Great Lakes Region of Central Africa is one of the most volatile and unstable regions in Africa, with daily political and ethnic violence in Burundi, and with the leaders of Rwanda, the DRC and the Congo threatening to extend themselves in office in violation of their constitutions.

Although time is running out, there is still an opportunity to prevent further democratic backsliding and the serious instability and violence that will almost certainly be unleashed  as we are already seeing in Burundi. High level engagement with the leaders in the region is required.

An extended visit by Secretary Kerry to the DRC, Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi would be a strong signal of Washingtons deep concern and interest in the regions negative political and security trajectory. Without serious engagement with the leaders on the ground, there will be no meaningful progress.

Open a U.S. consulate in northern Nigeria and a full embassy in Mogadishu: The establishment of a consulate in northern Nigeria is long overdue. More than half of Nigerias 180 million people live in the northern part of the country, an area of serious political and security concern. It is also the largest Muslim region in Africa and the largest Muslim region in the world where there is no full-time U.S. diplomatic presence.

A U.S. diplomatic mission would advance long-term political, economic and security interests in the region and help Nigeria to deal with the economic, social and security challenges it faces there. A consulate in Kaduna, which once had one, or Kano would convey a strong signal to the Muslim community that Washington genuinely cares about the people in the region.

Once the global poster child of a failed state, Somalia has made significant progress over the past seven years. In recognition of the progress, the U.S. re-established formal diplomatic relations with the Somali government in Mogadishu in January 2013.

Before he leaves office, President Obama should take one more step. He should reaffirm Washingtons commitment to Somalia and recognize the countrys continuing progress by appointing a Senate-approved ambassador and opening a small, secure diplomatic embassy compound in downtown Mogadishu.

Elevate U.S. diplomatic relations with Sudan: Relations between Washington and Khartoum have been prickly and frequently difficult for over two decades and the U.S. has not had a fully accredited, Senate-approved ambassador in Sudan since 1997.

The Khartoum government has not been a good international actor. (Nor have Cuba, Myanmar or Iran.) The regime in Sudan has carried out mass atrocities in Darfur, prevented UN organizations from delivering food aid and humanitarian assistance to those in need and meddled in the affairs of several of its neighbors.

But U.S.-imposed comprehensive sanctions on Khartoum have not isolated the country nor weakened its government. The U.S. should review its current policies toward Khartoum, and consider elevating its diplomatic relationship to full ambassadorial status in order to expand Americas dialogue and probe for new openings to resolve some of the countrys domestic and regional issues. The U.S. can do this while maintaining its sanctions regime on the government and its demands that President Omar al-Bashir address the serious human rights charges against him.

Provide a status report on the results of the U.S.-Africa Leadership Summit: The U.S. Africa Leadership Summit has been one of the high points in the Obama administrations engagements in Africa.

Leaders from 50 different countries participated in this first-of-a-kind gathering in Washington. A number of new programs were announced and a major business conference associated with the summit brought dozens of senior American business leaders into direct contact  many for the very first time  with African heads of state and prominent business leaders from the continent.

The administration has never released a comprehensive report on the summit or a one-year progress report on the implementation of summit agreements. The issuance of some type of status report would be a useful vehicle for identifying summit objectives and initiatives as well as tracking the progress of the administrations efforts. The administration should do everything it can to sustain the goodwill and policy initiatives that emerged from the summit to help ensure that it does not become a one-off event.

The administration should be applauded for its continuing efforts to promote greater American trade and commerce with Africa. The president has already announced that he plans to host another U.S.-Africa Business Summit similar to the day-long event his administration hosted during the 2014 Leadership Summit. The Business Summit is important, but it should not be the only thing on President Obamas Africa agenda for 2016. He has time to do more, and he should. Twelve months is a long time in the life of an administration and his foreign policy team should be building a more robust African agenda for his last year in office.

Ambassador Carson was the U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs from 2009 to 2012. He is currently a Senior Advisor at the United States Institute of Peace.
Akesan, the central market in Oyo town was shut Monday morning, as rival gangs unleashed violence on the market and adjoining areas.

The violence, the latest in what residents say has now become a regular occurrence, was between dreaded rival gangs known as Agunpopo and Ilaka.

Guns, bottles, machetes and other dangerous weapons were freely used in the fighting.

Those familiar with the immediate cause of the clash told PREMIUM TIMES the group from Ilaka had gone to Agunpopos carnival on Saturday night to cause trouble.

The reprisal attack by the Agunpopo group on the Ilaka gang on Monday morning has now effectively shut down Akesan market, the usual battlefield of the two camps, traders and security officials said.

Traders were prevented from opening their shops on Monday.

Residents are now asking road users to divert from all roads leading to the market, including Apinni, Kanga, Garage and Palace roads.

The actual number of casualties cannot be immediately ascertained, but a witness simply identified as Rasaq said one person was killed.

The Oyo State Police Command could not be reached immediately for comments.
The National Broadcasting Commission on Monday said its target was to switch over 80 per cent of Nigerians on Free-To-Air television services to digital services before the June 20, 2017 deadline.

The Director General of NBC, Emeka Mba, made this known in a statement.

Mr. Mba said Nigerians had been given detailed explanation on why the commission could not meet the International Telecommunication Unions June 17, 2015 deadline.

The ITU had set June 17, 2015 for the switchover from analogue to digital broadcasting.

He said that the inability to meet the deadline was largely due to lack of funding.

But we have also seized the initiative by working with our neighbours in the ECOWAS.

ECOWAS are also looking up to us for leadership and partnership and we have agreed on a new Digital Switch Over (DSO) deadline of June 20, 2017.

We in Nigeria are working day and night to meet this new deadline.

Our target is that by that date, more than 80 per cent of Nigerians that depend on free-to-air television services are given adequate coverage before the final switchover.

We cannot afford to leave anyone behind. Indeed, we are not leaving anyone behind, Mba said.

He said that the commissions pilot state, Plateau, already had full digital signal coverage.

Mr. Mba, however, recognised that the large majority of people who receive free-to-air television were yet to be on digital and could not afford digital television sets, nor subscribe to pay platforms.

According to him, they will need Set Top Boxes to enable them enjoy the digital experience.

He said the commission had, therefore, put in place a strategy for securing STB, which would enable everyone join the digital platform.

Our STB strategy is to manufacture it here in Nigeria.

In that regard, we are already working with 18 Nigerian companies which are at various stages of starting local production of STB.

This will not only provide the needed equipment, but will also provide badly needed jobs for Nigerians.

However, the first batch will be manufactured offshore, in order not to further delay the transition.

Plateau State is almost ready for deployment, and we are already looking to the next set of states that will join the digital platform.

We are at the same time encouraging the development of the digital platforms through the Pay TV services, now available in about 32 cities across Nigeria, Mr. Mba said.

He said the NBC will start its public enlightenment this month.

He said the commission would carry out grassroots campaigns to make sure that people were adequately and accurately informed of the change that was coming. (NAN)
The outgoing Theater Commander of Operation Lafiya Dole, Yushau Abubakar, a major general, has described officers and men of the theater as heroes, as many of them have put their lives on the line in defence of the nation.

Mr. Abubakar, who is now Chief of Training and Operations at the Nigerian Army Headquarters, stated this while handing over to the new Theatre Commander, Hassan Umaru, also a major general.

I am very delighted today, as I am leaving the leadership of the Operation Lafiya Dole a happy man because we have successfully done what is best to the military and the country at large, as we have degraded the capacity of the terrorists and Nigerians should appreciate hard work performed by the military and I am leaving the scene to a person who is already in the theater of war and is familiar with the terrain in the area of the operation, Mr. Abubakar said.

I consider all of you as my heroes, as all of you have contributed to the feat we achieved in the war against insurgency within the theater. My redeployment to the Army headquarters is an indication of the confidence the military high command has in us and I urge you to extend the gesture to my successor.

Also handing over, the General Officer Commanding (GOC), 7 Division of the Nigerian Army, Maiduguri, Lamidi Adeosun, a major general, urged officers and men of the Division to cooperate with his successor, Victor Ezugwu, a brigadier general, who he described as a fine infantry officer that will continue the good work until the terrorists are completely wiped out.

Mr. Adeosun is now heading to the Multinational Joint TaskForce (MNJTF), with headquarters in Chad.
The members of the #BringBackOurGirls movement will be marching to the State House, Abuja, on January 14 to re-engage with President Muhammadu Buhari, the group has said in a statement.

The families of the kidnapped Chibok girls, the Chibok community, and sympathisers of the girls who were abducted from Government Secondary School, Chibok, in April 2014, are expected to be part of the march.

The group said it noted with great dismay that the issue of rescue of the kidnapped girls and other citizens in Boko Haram captivity did not feature in the presidents New Year address to the nation.

The implication of such a deliberate omission is not lost on us, the group said in a statement signed by its coordinators  Aisha Yesufu, Oby Ezekwesili, and Hadiza Bala Usman.

We shall meet at Unity Fountain as from 8.30 a.m. that day to proceed on the march. We have already despatched a letter to the president, duly acknowledged by State House officials.

It would be exactly 21 months on January 14 since armed Boko Haram terrorists stormed the girls school hostel in Borno State, in the dead of the night, to abduct over 200 girls.

Despite repeated promises by the government that it would rescue the students, their whereabouts remained unknown.

During his maiden presidential chat last week, Mr. Buhari said he was yet to get a credible intelligence on the girls location.

The #BringBackOurGirls movement noted that the president, during his inaugural speech on May 29 last year, declared that his government would not claim to have defeated Boko Haram until the kidnapped girls and other hostages have been rescued.

In October last year, Mr. Buhari issued a December 31 deadline for the final routing of the terrorists, one month after he told the BBC that security agents could spot the girls location in Sambisa forest.



It was utterly shocking when the president declared in a BBC interview on 24 December that the terrorists had been technically defeated without referencing the rescue of our Chibok girls whom he had set as the benchmark for measuring such success. 

We are extremely disappointed that seven months after his strong promise at inauguration and six months after his pledge to the parents, Chibok community and our Movement that he would rescue the 219 daughters of Nigeria, his statement was lacking in urgency and assurance of strategy for result.

Further, that the President gave the impression of a reactive approach of waiting for credible Boko Haram leadership to tell us whether our girls are alive or not, falls disappointingly short of the proactive feedback we expected.

Our Movement therefore refuses to accept that lack of credible intelligence on our girls whereabouts as a tenable reason for the evident lack of progress in rescuing our ChibokGirls.

The group urged the federal government to make public the General Sabo fact-finding committee report on the abduction of the Chibok girls.

The federal government should investigate all statements preciously made by state actors and/or high-ranking military officers that we know where the Chibok girls are, with the view to getting at the bottom of the matter on our girls whereabouts.

The federal government should immediately set up a search and rescue team to find our Chibok girls.



KADA (the Chibok community) strongly demands that President Muhammadu Buhari gives the rescue of our abducted Chibok girls the priority attention it deserves; as Boko Haram cannot be said to have been defeated  technically or otherwise  without the safe return of our abducted daughters.
Many people expressed pity for Kwasi Kwarteng as he was summarily thrown under the bus by PM Liz Truss on...
Internally displaced persons in Adamawa State who received food and relief items in December put religious and sectarian differences aside to thank their benefactors and pray for them.

At Churches and Mosques in Jimeta-Yola, and at other distribution points in the seven Local Government Areas most hit by the insurgency, grateful IDPs offered prayers for the donors, as well as for the members of the Adamawa Peace Initiative, for continuously supplying the breadlines, even as governments and local NGOs battle to contain the humanitarian crisis in the northeast region of the country.

Medicines, blankets, vegetable oil, spaghetti, seasonings, salt, sugar, and rice that the IDPs received were bought with donations from three prominent philanthropists: Mohammed Indimi, Aliko Dangote, and AUN Founder, Atiku Abubakar.

The AUN founder has been a leader in supplying continuous financial support for the IDPs since the universitys involvement with their feeding more than a year ago.

At the St. Theresa Catholic Cathedral Church, Jimeta, where 15,500 families were served in three distributions, a Muslim woman, Amina Mamman, joined the Bishop of Yola Catholic Diocese, Stephen Mamza, in leading prayers for peace in Nigeria and in expressing appreciation to those who made the donations to support IDPs in the state.

Six hundred families received food and relief items at the Adamawa State headquarters of the Jamatu Nasril Islam, in Jimeta, on December 13, where JNI officials, Gambo Jika and Fadimatu Ahmad Marafa, led IDPs to offer prayers.

It was a similar story at the New Life Gospel Centre, Demsawo, Deeper Life Camp, and at other centres, where volunteers from the American University of Nigeria and Adamawa Peace Initiative distributed the food and relief items donated by Dangote Foundation.

IDPs and local officials took turns to thank the donors, the peacemakers, Governor Mohammed Jibrilla of Adamawa State, and the volunteers who had worked tirelessly to alleviate their suffering during the year.

All through December, the AUN-API Team supplied food, medicines and relief materials to over 163,500 households through local religious and community-based organizations in the state.

Humanitarian aid was also sent to IDPs who had relocated to their destroyed homes in the most insurgency-hit areas, through local contacts networking with AUN-API.

According to the Coordinator of Relief for AUN-API, Bello Abdullahi, supplies were sent to IDPs in Maiha, Mubi North and South, Hong, Gombi, Michika, and Madagali LGAs through trusted API members working in those areas who ensured effective and accountable distribution of relief materials.

Coordinator of the Madagali distribution and President of Kinjir Foundation, Saleh Kinjir, confirmed that over 552,000 households received supplies from the Adamawa Peacemakers since the crisis peaked in 2014 through local partners of AUN-API including Kinjir Foundation, JIBWIS, Upper Room Cathedral and the Adamawa Muslim Council.

The food and medicines sent to IDPs in the seven most affected Local Governments were procured with a N100million donation which came from oil and gas tycoon, Mohammed Indimi, and which was passed on to API by the Governor of Adamawa State, Mohammed Jibrilla, as well as funds given by former Nigerian Vice President, Atiku Abubakar.

On October 14, an AUN-API team led by Bishop Mamza, Imam Dauda Bello and AUNs Head of Security, Dr. Lionel Rawlins, dispatched supplies in a military-backed convoy to most of the worst-hit areas accompanied by foreign and local journalists.

Meanwhile, AUN President, Dr. Margee Ensign, who chairs the API, said the organization has initiated numerous programmes in the community to benefit both indigenes and IDPs. We have the all-year-long Peace Through Sports program, two major income-generating projects for community women, and a new literacy program christened Technology Enhanced Learning for All.

Under the literacy programme, funded by the US Government, 20, 000 vulnerable youth, including out-of-school children, displaced children, and those disadvantaged in schools who are not now learning how to read, will benefit.

It has not been an easy year, or an easy Christmas, in this part of Nigeria, she concluded. But there has always been hope, there has always been remarkable generosity, and, as befitting this season, there has always been goodwill.
At least 149 drug dealers arrested by the Lagos State Command of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency were convicted in 2015, the agency has said.

In a statement Monday, the NDLEA said the convicts included three culprits who bagged life imprisonment with hard labour.

One of the convicts will spend 25 years behind bars and another will spend 17 years in prison, a statement by agencys spokesman, Mitchell Ofoyeju.

Four others got 15 years each. Another four convicts were sentenced to 10 years each while 19 others got five years each, it said.

All the suspects were convicted by the Federal High Court in Lagos.

NDLEAs acting chairman, Roli Bode-George, described the convictions as impressive and capable of discouraging people from drug trafficking.

These convictions are strong enough to deter other from drug trafficking, said Mrs. Bode-George.

This is highly impressive and motivating to the agency for the time and material resources spent in arrest and prosecution of drug dealers, she said.

The Lagos State commander of the NDLEA, Sule Aliyu, said in 2015, about 164 other cases were pending as at December 31.

The command in 2015 also seized a total 7,345.87 kilogrammes of various narcotic drugs mainly cannabis which is commonly called hemp and arrested 531 suspected drug dealers comprising 507 males and 24 females, he said.

According to the NDLEA, those who got life sentence include Abiodun Elemoro, 29, of Palm Church Street, Lagos Island, convicted on January 29, 2015 for being in possession of 30.5 grammes of cocaine; Sule Ibrahim, 37, of Mopo Alayo village Okun Ajah Lagos, convicted October 20, 2015 for possessing 11.8kg of cannabis and; Aluagwu Lawrence, 32, of Iju Ishaga Lagos convicted December 9, 2015 for possessing 220 grammes of cannabis.

Also, Amaechi Igwe, 37, of Mile 12 Market, Lagos got twenty-five years imprisonment for dealing in 2.7 grammes of cocaine.

Jeremiah Aernan, NDLEA Lagos State Command Prosecuting Counsel, said the command surpassed its previous number of convictions in 2014.

Winning 149 cases in a year is massive, he said.

This has surpassed the 123 convictions recorded in 2014. Although the work load is tasking as the only prosecutor in the command, I am glad with the quality convictions, he added.
One of Nigerias foremost anti-corruption coalitions, the Civil Society Network Against Corruption (CSNAC), has challenged all the 36 ministers in President Muhammadu Buharis cabinet, to publicly declare their assets in the light of the ongoing war against corruption

In a statement Sunday, the coalition said through its chairman, Olanrewaju Suraju, that by publicly declaring their assets, the ministers would be demonstrating their readiness to complement the presidents zero tolerance for corruption and promise of a transparent government.

According to CSNAC, President Buhari and his vice, Yemi Osinbajo, have laid a good precedence by keeping in line with Section 140 of the Federal Republic of Nigeria 1999 (as amended), by declaring their assets publicly.

This was also in fulfilment of their campaign promise of running a transparent government as well as eradicating corruption in the country.

Public declaration of assets usually aids the assessment of public officers and will help in monitoring of public office holders and ultimately reveal those who corruptly enriched themselves while in office, paving way for proper punishment and sanctions against them.

As public officers it is expected that the ministers should also declare their assets in line with this administrations quest to run a transparent and corrupt free government. With the President and his Vice having shown a great example by declaring their assets, the ministers should also follow suit without further delay. The President, in his my covenant with Nigerians, promised to encourage his ministers to publicly declare their assets. The President is hereby reminded of his promise and called to act appropriately.

CSNAC therefore calls on all ministers to publicly declare their assets as a matter of priority. By so doing, they will have shown their readiness to complement the Presidents zero tolerance for corruption and promise in the actualisation of a transparent and corrupt free Nigeria.
The social intervention programmes of the Buhari presidency for which about half a trillion naira has been proposed in the 2016 budget, is not a one-off scheme, but a combination of several well-thought out programmes emphasizing direct connections with the extremely poor, and the needy among other categories of Nigerians.

This explanation was offered Sunday by Laolu Akande, the Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity in the Office of the Vice President, during a chat with the journalists.

According to him, the plan of the Buhari presidency is not only comprehensive but has taken care of some of the factors that led to the failure of previous poverty alleviation schemes put in place in the past.

One of the major difference here is that the social intervention programme such as the Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT, would be a direct transfer of N5000 monthly to the extremely poor among us, Mr. Akande said.



And this is a safety net that several advanced nations have put in place long time in their history often at times of economic challenges.

The money would be paid directly to the people concerned on the condition of school enrollment and immunization. This way we are expanding school enrollment and also assuring physical well-being.

Besides, he explained that the School Feeding Programme, another aspect of the social intervention programmes, would be entirely homegrown, unlike previous federal government plans in the past which relied on importation.

He said the homegrown school feeding programme will commence in public primary schools in the new year, providing adequate nutrition to school children, promoting local farming, boost agriculture and create jobs and wealth locally.

We have experts working in the presidency, collaborating with experts from global bodies who together bring to bear international best practices working on how best to implement these programmes.

I can tell you that no sooner President Buhari resumed work, that many of this experts have been meeting and planning on how best to implement these plans. We are not talking here of something hurriedly put together or a programme where some consultants would take the huge chunk of the resources.

Also, as part of the half a trillion Naira to be spent, there is in the budget proposals a provision of no fewer than one million jobs in 2016, including 500,000 graduate-youths to be engaged as teachers and another 500,000 non-graduate unemployed people who would be trained as artisans, making a total creation of about one million direct jobs, Mr. Akande said.

He added that the presidency is aware of past failures in the poverty alleviation efforts and determined not to repeat them.

As the President disclosed during the budget speech, he has asked the Vice President to coordinate the programmes and I can tell you that serious work is already apace, Mr. Akande added.

He reiterated that for the first time in Nigerias budgetary history, the federal government would be directly intervening in lifting people out of poverty through a series of measures already proposed totaling N500B, or about nine per cent of the budget itself.

Through these measures and for the first time, the budget is paying attention to the problem of poverty in a proper and direct way.



Besides, another one million extremely poor and disabled Nigerians would also benefit from the first phase of the Conditional Cash Transfer, CCT Scheme proposed in the 2016 appropriation bill to enable them live decently.

There will also be the provision of affordable, very low cost loans to market women and artisans to enable them enlarge and expand their trades, he added.
Suspected gunmen attacked two settlements in Udeni Ruwa District, Nasarawa Local Government Area of Nararawa state, on Sunday night, killing 12 people.

Five of the victims drowned while trying to escape to the hinterland.

A witness, John Ogah, in a telephone interview with PREMIUM TIMES on Monday, claimed the attackers were herdsmen who invaded Okpaya, a riverine village. That could not be independently verified by this newspaper.

Mr. Ogah said the attackers touched a part of Udeni Ruwa, and killed eight persons, five from Okpaya and three others from Udeni Ruwa.

According to our source, a family of five drowned in the River Benue.

My brother, it is unfortunate, Fulani people attacked Okpaya, killed five of our people, burnt down the entire village on their way and attacked some persons in Udeni.

They killed three people and all of us from Okpaya ran to neighbouring villages. The most annoying part is that a family man, lost his wife and three children while they were on their way to Loko through a boat.

The police in the state are yet to confirm the incident, but residents of the area say the local police stationed in Udeni Ruwa had visited the scene.

Mr. Ogah explained that the attackers invaded Okpaya village at night, at about 11:00 p.m. Sunday night. He said the entire village was razed by the attackers.

Udeni Ruwa district is the boundary between Nasarawa and Benue states.

Following the incident, residents from nearby villages of Ogoboh, Akum, Kpandera, Akpanaja and Amaku are now living in fear.

Already, some have relocated their children and their aged relatives to neighbouring communities.
The Minister of Labour and Employment, Chris Ngige, on Monday in Abuja denied an online publication calling for the submission of Curriculum Vitae (CV) by unemployed youths to the ministry.

A statement signed by the Deputy Director of Press in the Ministry, Samuel Olowookere, said that the attention of the minister had been drawn to the online publication requesting unemployed Nigerian youths to submit application for employment in the ministry.

It noted the online publication requested unemployed Nigerian youths to submit the CVs at the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment Headquarters and its Zonal offices nationwide.

The general public is hereby advised to disregard this false directive as it did not emanate from the Federal Government through the Federal Ministry of Labour and Employment.

In view of the apprehension the above false information has generated, it is pertinent to point out that the present administration is committed to the creation of decent employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed Nigerians.

It has perfected plans for massive job creation through well thought out programmes such as Graduate Teachers Conversion Programme and Graduate Internship Scheme (GIS), among others.

The statement said that the general public would be informed in due course when any of these programmes/scheme would be rolled out.

It, therefore, warned members of the public to disregard the publication, stressing that any person who does otherwise does so at his or her own risk. (NAN)
The Office of the National Publicity Secretary of the PDP, Olisa Metuh, has stated that the PDP spokesperson is not aware of any investigation by any agency of government on his activities contrary to media report on Monday.

The party said a news report that Mr. Metuh was undergoing investigation by the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was not correct.

This office wishes to state categorically that the EFCC has never invited the National Publicity Secretary nor questioned him on any matter whatsoever since its inception.

If indeed, the report is from the EFCC, then they should note that only in a period of tyranny are people investigated on the pages of the newspapers as a prelude for abuse and violation of their freedom and rights under the law.

It is instructive to observe that a mere media campaign of calumny does not in any way whatsoever translate to any evidence of guilt. It is rather an evidence of infringement on the rights of the citizenry and manifestation of the reign of tyranny.

In a democratic and civilized country, where there are issues that require investigations by such agencies, invitations are duly extended. However, to read daily of people being investigated in select newspapers betrays plots to portray them as guilty of fraud and crime, and targeted to convey the PDP as a corrupt party and the APC as party of Nigerians without sin.

If we now have a system where citizens get to be investigated, tried and executed by planting stories in select newspapers, wherein then lies the need for our judicial process?

Finally, we do hope that all concerned will be guided by due process at all times, the party said in a statement signed by Mr. Metuhs assistant, Richard Ihediwa.
A top chieftain of the Peoples Democratic Party, in Akwa Ibom State, Eseme Eyiboh, on Sunday announced his resignation from the party.



Mr. Eyiboh who made this known in a statement to PREMIUM TIMES, said he will officially join the All Progressives Congress on January 6.



As a member of the PDP, he said he was the partys financial secretary in the state, executive chairman, Akwa Ibom Ethical and Attitudinal Reorientation Commission, and later a member of the House of Representatives.



According to him, his progress indicated the foundational vision of the progenitors of PDP as a leadership recruitment nursery.

But currently, he said, the PDP has breached the philosophy of its founding fathers by nurturing economic choristers who he said have converted the states commonwealth into their pockets.



Its (PDP) present system has produced unprecedented crop of political dealers instead of inspirational leaders occasioning the increasing deficit in revenue yielding assets and sundry incentives to trigger community growth and prosperity, Mr. Eyiboh said.

It is worthy to note that, as the reign of this development eclipse, poor ethical integrity and deteriorating institutions subsist, it is imperative for people with development orientation and appropriate mindset to come together and inject a new deal to stimulate the collective urges and aspirations of our people with functional confidence.



I have, therefore, taken the hard choice of resigning from the Peoples Democratic Party and in preference for the platform of All Progressive Party where I hope to further my contributions to the development of the state and Nigeria.

Mr. Eyiboh said the decision is predicated on the massive presence of people with ideas, capacity and character in the APC, who he said are capable of driving sustainable change in the state.


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Singing River Health System has agreed to a settlement of federal litigation under which the health system will pay $149 million into the struggling employee pension fund, attorneys for both SRHS and retirees announced Monday.

(File photo/Gulflive.com)

PASCAGOULA, Mississippi -- Attorneys for a group of Singing River Health System retirees and SRHS both announced Monday a settlement of the health system's retirement fund litigation under which SRHS will pay $149 million into the pension fund over the next 35 years.

Jim Reeves

Attorney Jim Reeves, who represents a group of retirees in federal litigation against the health system, said the agreement ensures retirees will receive 100 percent of the pension payments owed.

"Essentially, Singing River Hospital has agreed to pay back everything they were owed into the retirement plan while making key changes at the hospital, including resignation of trustees so that new leadership will be in place going forward."

In addition to the payment of $149 million into the pension fund, SRHS has agreed to pay attorneys fees up to $6.45 million and $125,000 in expenses.

The agreement has been submitted to U.S. Magistrate Louis Guirola Jr. for approval. Once Guirola signs off on the deal, a fairness hearing would likely be scheduled within the next 60 days, Reeves said.

Health system attorney Kelly Sessoms said SRHS agreed to the deal "for the best interests of all involved."

Kelly Sessoms

The agreement will settle the federal class-action suits, as well as "some" of the state court cases, Sessoms said.

"The proposed settlement has been the subject of intense negotiations among the attorneys for the respective parties," Sessoms said, "including three separate mediations in which all parties had the opportunity to participate, along with the able assistance of Judge David Houston as the mediator.

"Singing River Health System believes that the proposed settlement is fair and reasonable for all concerned and will allow it to focus on its mission of providing quality health care to the citizens of Jackson County.

Last month, the Jackson County Board of Supervisors approved an agreement under which the county will pay $13.6 million to the health system over the next 10 years for indigent care and to prevent bond default.

Reeves said the combined amounts of the settlements represents the total amount SRHS failed to contribute to the pension plan between 2009 and 2014.

Matthew Mestayer

"Over the past year, our goal has been to obtain, for those in the pension plan, the benefits they were promised, said attorney Matthew Mestayer, Reeves' partner. "Jim and I have reviewed thousands of documents pertaining to SRHS's failed pension plan in our pursuit of this settlement that will secure the pension well into the future."

The agreement also calls for the replacement of several members of the SRHS board of trustees as well as the appointment of a special fiduciary to monitor the settlement, pension fund and health system's financial status. The county's agreement with SRHS last month also contained those two provisions.
The police in Ebonyi State have rescued a five-year-old boy abducted at Okwu-Ngbo, Ohaukwu Local Government Area of the state.

The state commissioner of police, Peace Abdallah, confirmed the incident, saying the victim was kidnapped at 9:45 pm on December 30.

She said the prompt action of the police anti-kidnapping squad led to the timely rescue of the child.

Ms. Abdallah added that with intelligence gathering and collaborative efforts of the family and the community, an aggressive search was launched.

She said the search led to the victims rescue on January 3, after an attempt to collect ransom was foiled.

On December 30, the boy and his two other siblings were said to have gone to their fathers provision store.

When they reached the shop, their dad left the shop in their care and went to the house. Unfortunately, forgot his phone and asked the children to bring it while coming back to the house after the days business.

The child is smart and used to holding the dads phone. The child was asked to take the phone to him where the dad was relaxing at about 9:45pm but the child diverted to another route that led to his kidnap.

I visited the family myself with the AC CID. By the evening of January 2, after threatening to sell the child in Cross Rivers, they had to reduce the ransom from N1.5million to N100, 000.

And you know, if you pay the ransom and you are not careful, you might also lose the child, said the commissioner.

She said three persons had been arrested in connection with the kidnap.

The police boss blamed the childs guardians for sending him on an errand at night.

She admonished parents and guardians that it was illegal to think that a child should do any role in the family, especially at night.

The CP further advised the public to be vigilant and inform the security agencies on suspicious movements around them.
The All Progressive Congress (APC) has won all the chairmanship positions in Saturdays local council election in the state.

The Chairman of the Zamfara State Independent Electoral Commission, Garba Muhammad, said on Sunday in Gusau that all the candidates of the party in the 14 councils had met all the provisions of the electoral law and had been declared winners of the election in their respective councils.

He said 14 political parties including the Peoples Democratic Party, participated in the election.

The PDP, however, in a statement signed by its State Chairman, Hassan Nasiha, on eve of the election, said it was boycotting the election.

The party also said since it was still challenging the election of Governor Abdulaziz Yari at the Supreme Court, it would not participate in the election.

Mr. Muhammad, Zamfara electoral agency boss, commended all stakeholders, including security agencies, for ensuring the success of the election. (NAN)
The Executive Secretary, Kano State Primary Health Care Management Board, Nasir Muhammad, on Monday, said the state government would spend over N500 million to upgrade its facilities.

Mr. Muhammad, a medical doctor, disclosed this in Kano when he appeared before the state House of Assembly to defend the budget estimate for the board.

He said the upgrade and renovation would cover primary healthcare centres across the 44 local government areas of the state.

The scribe said the state government had also proposed a total budget estimate of N1.5 billion for the board in the states 2016 spending plan.

He added that the board would embark on awareness campaign on protection against communicable and non-communicable diseases.

The executive secretary explained that the campaign was part of measures to ensure healthy and productive environment in the state.

The executive secretary expressed the boards commitment toward proper utilisation of the fund if approved.

Meanwhile, the commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Rabiu Bako, said the state government proposed to spend N10 million on the construction of model village markets across the 37 local government areas of the state.

The commissioner stated this while also defending the budget estimate of the ministry.

He said out of the proposed N6.1 billion for the ministry, over N20 million was earmarked for youth and women skills acquisition programmes across the state.

(NAN)
At least seven people were killed while 17 others sustained various degrees of injuries on Monday, in an auto accident along Lagos-Ore-Benin Expressway.

A witness said the crash occurred at the Sagamu/Iperu Remo junction when a Toyota Hummer passenger bus with Lagos registration number, BDG 789 XJ, crashed into a Mazda passenger bus with Ondo registration number, REE 248 XA.

He said the Toyota was carrying passengers who were returning to Lagos from their Christmas festival in the Eastern part of Nigeria.

According to him, the driver of the Toyota lost control and veered off his lane, crossing the median and crashing into the Mazda going outwards Sagamu.

When contacted, Ogun State Sector Commander of the Federal Road Safety Commission, FRSC, Adegoke Adetunji, confirmed the accident to journalists in Abeokuta.

While attributing the accident to speed, Mr. Adetunji explained that seven people died out of the 28 passengers involved in the crash.

The FRSC chief further explained that those rescued alive had been taken to Olabisi Onabanjo University Teaching Hospital, Sagamu for medical attention.

He said the bodies of the deceased had been deposited at the morgue of the same hospital.

The commander also added that it took the combined efforts of officers from his corps, the police as well as those of the Traffic Compliance and Enforcement Agency to clear the expressway to prevent another road crash as well as traffic gridlock in the area.
( Read 5038 Times)

Its an important achievement in the Indian history when Acharya Sri shall initiate the journey of 300th book, who has been trying to safeguard the Indian literature and its values. On this auspicious occasion, a 10 days event called YATRA 300 is being organised to create worldwide positivity and Virtuousness. YATRA 300s message is FEEL THE CHANGE. The event of YATRA 300 is being organised at Somaiya ground located at Chunnabhatti- Sion.Since Acharya Sri has been able to make this memorable journey of literature with the blessings of Goddess Saraswati, YATRA 300 will also witness the 40ft high idol of Goddess Saraswati and its temple.Due to Innate belief of followers on the famous Jain pilgrimage, Sankeshwar Tirth, a replica of Sankeshwar Tirth shall be `crafted for the first time in Mumbai. The key problem of todays society is that the youth is distancing away from the traditions. YATRA 300s 4 Exhibitions Zone shall also try to re engage the youth community with the tradition. The 4 Exhibitions Zones are technology based zones. Out of which, the first zone is Fly Zone , the Smart city. The Smart City displays the collection of Acharya Sri 300 books in an innovative manner.The smart city has houses, schools, stock exchange, malls, hospitals etc and each one of this shares life saving message. For instance, the house displays the family based books along with the techniques to revive the broken relationships, the school in the Smart City shall teach the importance of Moral Education through career guidance by Acharya Sri, the stock exchange in Smart City will teach us the conduct ethical behaviour in our professional life.To conclude in brief, we are assured that all visitors shall experience the change in event of YATRA 300. The event shall be a exceptional guide to lead a happy life and one shall feel rejuvenated with lots of confidence imbibed in them. You will miss a life time opportunity if you fail to visit. So please make your availability to attend this event.Anandi Ben Patel,Chief Minister of Gujrat came specially to take blessing of Param Pujya Acharya Ratnasunderji Maharaj saheb .RSS President Mohan Bhagwat was happy to be part of this event.
Wendy's has pledged that it will switch exclusively to cage-free eggs by 2020 throughout its U.S. and Canadian locations. Photo by David Paul Morris/For The HSUS

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Were starting 2016 where we left off in 2015  with major news in our ongoing campaign to end the era of intensive confinement of hens and breeding sows. Today we announce with Wendys, the worlds third largest fast food chain, that the company is taking another big step forward on the farm animal welfare front. Working with The HSUS, the Ohio-based fast-food giant has pledged that it will switch exclusively to cage-free eggs by 2020 throughout its U.S. and Canadian locations.

This isnt the first time Wendys and The HSUS have worked together on continued progress for animals. In 2012, Wendys committed to eliminate gestation crates from its supply chain with a timeline. In 2014, it began requiring updates from its pork suppliers on their progress shifting to group housing. This past year, the company also began offering an all-vegan black bean burger at test locations, hoping it would become a fixture on its national menu.

Im not sure anyone couldve predicted the cascade of announcements on cage confinement of laying hens that The HSUS has generated in the past year. Nearly every top restaurant chain (McDonalds, Burger King, Wendys, etc.), food manufacturer (Nestle, Unilever, General Mills, etc.), and food service company (Compass Group, Aramark, Sodexo, etc.) has committed to going 100 percent cage-free with timelines. Costco became the first major supermarket chain to announce a commitment in December, and it alone sells more than four billion eggs a year.

The Wendys commitment coincides with Smithfield, the worlds largest pork company, announcing today that 81.8 percent of its domestic company-owned operations have shifted to sow group housing and the completion to 100 percent will occur by 2017. According to its plans, its international operationsincluding those in Mexicoand its U.S. contractors, will all exclusively use sow group housing by 2022.

A decade ago, there was a smug view within certain sectors of animal agriculture that these confinement systems were untouchable, and that they were the only practical means of production in a world with an expanding human population and a consumer base that demanded the most inexpensive food. That was a gross misjudgment on their part. Change is here, and its happening on so many fronts  on the production and retail side  and its being driven by a firm view among consumers that animals built to move should be allowed to move.

Stay tuned as we make 2016 the year in which no major food company is left without a policy to eliminate cages and crates from their supply chains. Thats our goal, and we want you to join us in achieving this outcome, in order to improve the lives of tens of millions of creatures who need our voices and depend on our resolve and, ultimately, our success.

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For the New World Order, a world government is just the beginning. Once in place they can engage their plan to exterminate 80% of the world's population, while enabling the "elites" to live forever with the aid of advanced technology. For the first time, crusading filmmaker ALEX JONES reveals their secret plan for humanity's extermination: Operation ENDGAME.

Jones chronicles the history of the global elite's bloody rise to power and reveals how they have funded dictators and financed the bloodiest warscreating order out of chaos to pave the way for the first true world empire.

Watch as Jones and his team track the elusive Bilderberg Group to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III.





to Ottawa and Istanbul to document their secret summits, allowing you to witness global kingpins setting the world's agenda and instigating World War III. Learn about the formation of the North America transportation control grid, which will end U.S. sovereignty forever.





Discover how the practitioners of the pseudo-science eugenics have taken control of governments worldwide as a means to carry out depopulation.





View the progress of the coming collapse of the United States and the formation of the North American Union.

Never before has a documentary assembled all the pieces of the globalists' dark agenda. Endgame's compelling look at past atrocities committed by those attempting to steer the future delivers information that the controlling media has meticulously censored for over 60 years. It fully reveals the elite's program to dominate the earth and carry out the wicked plan in all of human history.

Endgame is not conspiracy theory, it is documented fact in the elite's own words.




Jennifer Diaz, Esq., former shareholder and chair of the Customs and International Trade practice group in the Miami office of law firm Becker & Poliakoff, has announced the opening of DIAZ TRADE LAW, P.A.

Jennifer Diaz - Headshot

Contact

Diaz Trade Law, P.A.

Ina Melceras, Press Contact

***@diaztradelaw.com Diaz Trade Law, P.A.Ina Melceras, Press Contact

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-- Jennifer Diaz (http://diaztradelaw.com/jennifer-diaz/), Esq., former shareholder and chair of the Customs and International Trade practice group in the Miami office of law firm Becker & Poliakoff, has announced the opening of DIAZ TRADE LAW, P.A., specializing in Customs and International Trade Legal Services.Ms. Diaz is Board Certified in International Law by the Florida Bar. She received a law degree from Nova Southeastern University and a bachelors degree from the University of Miami. Throughout her career, Diaz has been recognized as an outstanding leader and since 2012 has been named a Rising Star by Super Lawyers, is AV Rated, and has received numerous awards and accolades including: 40 Under 40 Outstanding Lawyers of South Florida award, Cystic Fibrosis Foundation; Winner of 2015 AXA Advisors Global Businesswomen of the Year Award; Outstanding Committee Outreach Award, Young Interest Network (YIN) Co-Chair, American Bar Association;International Womens Day Honoree, World Trade Center.Ms. Diaz is an expert in working with the many Federal agencies that regulate trade and prides herself on being proactive and results oriented on behalf of clients. She is a sought after professional speaker and writer, known for engaging her audiences and easily explaining dense subject matter.Diaz Trade Law represents global clients of every size, from individuals and small businesses to Fortune 500 companies in import and/or export compliance and enforcement mitigation services. The firm has expertise in assisting companies in successfully complying with the vast U. S. federal laws and regulations for import and export transactions as well as supply chain security. We are passionate about developing strategies with clients to achieve successful results while complying with U.S. government agencies. For more information, visit: www.diaztradelaw.com
The Mitsubishi crossover utility vehicle just earned the highest safety award from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and is available now to Fishers and Indianapolis drivers.

1 2 3 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander

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-- Andy Mohr Mitsubishi is proud to announce that the 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander was just awarded the Top Safety Pick+ award by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Available to Indianapolis area drivers at the Fishers Mitsubishi dealer, the Outlander is the latest in a long line of family-friendly vehicles with off-road capabilities, and this new safety award likely cemented its place in many area drivers' garages.Don Swearingen, Mitsubishi Manufacturing North America's executive vice president, responded to the news by saying, Since its redesign in 2014, the Mitsubishi Outlander with available Forward Collision Mitigation has been an IIHS TOP SAFETY PICK+. With over 100 improvements from the previous model year, the 2016 Outlander truly serves as an ambassador for the brands dedication to superior safety and reliability."In order for a vehicle to earn Top Safety Pick+, it not only has to earn the highest safety score  good  from the IIHS on its crash tests, but must also feature an advanced or superior level of forward collision prevention/warning technology. Drivers who opt not to add on the new SEL Advanced Safety Package with forward collision warning will still have a Top Safety Pick vehicle, and unlike many competing models, that safety package and the coveted + can be added on at any trim level.In addition to receiving such high marks from the IIHS, the Outlander has a wide variety of standard and available features that make it easy to fit the needs of nearly any family or business. Four different trim levels and two different engines let drivers mix and match to build their ideal Outlander.To learn more about the 2016 Mitsubishi Outlander , Fishers and Indianapolis drivers are encouraged to take it for a test drive at Andy Mohr Mitsubishi. Contact their sales team at 855-735-8727 or drop by their dealership at 13927 Trade Center Rd in Fishers. After a test drive, their on-site finance team will work to find the best solution to put a driver behind the wheel of this safe new SUV.
Online Industry Gathers in Two Weeks for 8th annual Congress on Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry

By: SMi Group

Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry

Contact

SMi Group

***@smi-online.co.uk SMi Group

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-- A snap shot of confirmed participants has just been realised for SMi's 8th annual conference ontaking place in 2 weeks time. The event has once again attracted a global audience featuring attendees from Denmark, Egypt, France, Germany, Italy, Pakistan, Switzerland, United Kingdom and USA.Leading pharmaceutical marketing practitioners will gather in a fortnight to participate in debates on "pharma-safe"social media platforms, the reliability of mApps, online engagement, compliance, information sharing and future outlooks.As well as featuring two panel discussions and two pre-conference interactive workshops, the event will include over 15 topical presentations aimed to provide the pharmaceutical sector with effective social media strategic guidance and key updates on the latest online tools.Market expert Daniel Ghinn from Creation Healthcare, will open the conference by discussing the latest industry developments and exploring techniques to strengthen digital platforms for patients and pharma.Other event highlights include guidance on leveraging social media for patient insights and pharmacovigilance by ZS Associates; an industry perspective on strategy from Actelion; a clinical trials case study from Bristol Myers Squibb; a keynote address on patient leadership from NHS England, plus much more!This is just a snap shot of what will be covered. Visit the website to see the full agenda featuring presentations from Pfizer, Novo Nordisk, GE Healthcare, Lundbeck A/S and the Patient Information Forum.For those who are interested in attending, registration will be closing in two weeks time. Booking can be made online at: http://www.smi- online.co.uk/ pharmaceuticals/ uk/social-med... A snap shot of confirmed attendees is available in the downloads tab.Social Media in the Pharmaceutical Industry20 - 21 JAN 2016 | Holiday Inn Kensington Forum, London UKwww.social-media-pharma.comSponsored by Creation Pinpoint, Janrain and SynexusFollow the event on Twitter at #pharmasocialmedia--- end ---About SMi:Established since 1993, the SMi Group is a global event-production company that specializes in Business-to-Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and online Communities. We create and deliver events in the Defence, Security, Energy, Utilities, Finance and Pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on having access to the worldis most forward thinking opinion leaders and visionaries, allowing us to bring our communities together to Learn, Engage, Share and Network. More information can be found at http://www.smi- online.co.uk
RNA Therapeutics 2016, 15th & 16th February, Holiday Inn Kensington Forum, London UK

By: SMi Group

RNA Therapeutics 2016

Contact

Teri Arri

***@smi-online.co.uk Teri Arri

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-- SMi are delighted to have, Vice President of RNA Formulation and Drug Development at, present at the 7annual conference on RNA Therapeutics when it returns to London next month.With over 20 years of experience in academic research and pharmaceutical development, Dr Heinrich Haas helped build the formulation development and analytics unit which develops formulations for delivery of RNA and small molecules at BioNTech.Dr Haas has an active record of publications in peer-reviewed journals and patent applications in the field of drug delivery. His current professional focus is on liposome / nanoparticle products and formulations for targeted drug delivery.With a focus on chemical modifications of mRNA , his presentation entitled: The Therapeutic Utility of mRNA for the expression of Therapeutic Proteins, will discuss how to optimise expression of the specific therapeutic protein; robust delivery and release to minimize dosage frequency, immunogenicity and toxicity; and assesse intracellular function and human translatable results.Exploring game-changing developments of RNA-based nanotechnologies, the new agenda for RNA Therapeutics 2016 will provide progressive insights from many other industry leading biopharmaceutical companies such as: Sarepta Therapeutics, Rigontech, Isis Pharmaceuticals, Curevac, MiNA Therapeutics, Sylentis, GlobalAcorn, plus many more.A full speaker line-up and detailed conference agenda is available to download online at http://www.smi-online.co.uk/pharmaceuticals/uk/rnai-nano-technologyRNA Therapeutics15th and 16th February 2016Holiday Inn Kensington Forum, London UK---END---About SMi:Established since 1993, the SMi Group is a global event-production company that specializes in Business-to-Business Conferences, Workshops, Masterclasses and online Communities. We create and deliver events in the Defence, Security, Energy, Utilities, Finance and Pharmaceutical industries. We pride ourselves on having access to the worldis most forward thinking opinion leaders and visionaries, allowing us to bring our communities together to Learn, Engage, Share and Network. More information can be found at http://www.smi- online.co.uk About BioNTech AG:BioNTech AG (Biopharmaceutical New Technologies, Mainz, Germany) develops innovative therapeutics and biomarker-based diagnostics. The company, founded in 2008, is the result of years of pioneering research and groundbreaking achievements. BioNTechs initial three digit million first-round financing was among the largest initial financing rounds in the history of the biopharmaceutical sector. BioNTech AG is a holding company; together with its subsidiaries, the company offers a spectrum of competencies, innovations and products under one strategic umbrella. More information can be found at http://biontech.de/
New Partner Rebecca E. Gwilt Joins Nixon Law Group, Health Law Firm, Establishes Richmond Healthcare Practice

Contact

Carrie Nixon, Managing Partner

carrie.nixon@ nixonlawgroup.com

703.795.9763 Carrie Nixon, Managing Partner703.795.9763

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-- Nixon Law Group, a Virginia law firm focusing on healthcare law and the Affordable Care Act reforms, kicks off 2016 by welcoming Rebecca Gwilt, Esq. as Partner. Ms. Gwilt brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in health law, serving previously as counsel at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services ("CMS"). In her new role, she will also lead the Richmond office of Nixon Law Group."I am so pleased to have Rebecca as a Partner at NLG," said Carrie Nixon, Esq., Managing Partner of Nixon Law Group. "She is an excellent lawyer, and her understanding of healthcare reform is a real asset to clients as they prepare for success in this new era of healthcare."Ms. Gwilt provides legal, regulatory, and business guidance to her clients, which include healthcare providers, payors, startups, and vendors serving the healthcare industry. She focuses in Health Information Technology (including mHealth and telehealth), value-based care models, healthcare privacy and security (including HIPAA), fraud and abuse counseling, and payor contracting. After graduating from the top-ranked Health Care Law program at the University of Maryland Francis King Carey School of Law, Ms. Gwilt served at CMS, where she worked with the Presidents domestic policy counsel to develop Affordable Care Act (ACA) policy, guidance, regulations and technology contracts. She currently serves on the Boards of the Beacon Tree Foundation and the Powhatan Free Clinic, whose missions are to increase access to affordable health care services for under-served populations.Nixon Law Group, LLC is a healthcare law firm representing providers, payors, startups, and other players in the healthcare industry. We serve clients nationwide, with offices in Fairfax, VA, Richmond, VA, and Washington, DC. Nixon Law Group is a founding member of Healthcare Solutions Connection. Visit www.nixonlawgroup.com to learn more.
Bail-Buddy announces full support for militia members serving Oregon territory with blanket coverage.

By: CAA Inc.

Screen Shot 2016-01-03 at 7.04.13 PM

Contact

Nathan Rothchild

***@bail-buddy.com Nathan Rothchild

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--CAA: The occupation of Malheur National Wildlife Refuge 30 miles southeast of Burns, Oregon is ground zero for an event that will sculpt American militia policy. Dwight Hammond (age 73) and Steven Hammond (46) where convicted of arson and scheduled to report to federal prison located in San Pedro, California.In 2001, the father and son duo organized controlled burns to 130 acres to ward off wildfires and reduce invasive plant species growth. Prosecutors claimed it was an attempt to cover up poaching and the two where convicted then sentenced to serve five years in federal prison. The Bundy family patriarch Ammon Bundy stated, that militia does not want to resort to violence but will not rule it out if authorities attempt to remove the occupiers.Bail-Buddy is a member only organization that functions as incarceration insurance. In short, an exclusive service that accepts calls coordinates releases and pays for member release from jail nationwide. Briefly after the story was published, Bail-Buddy released this statement. Founder/CEO of Bail-Buddy.comBail-Buddys political position in all of this is each American is endowed with civil liberties and rights from our founding fathers of the Nation at birth. Our objective is to restore the enjoyment of those liberties by attenuating economic hardships that inhibit freedom. We believe that every American, regardless of ethnical heritage and political background without diplomatic immunity should ask themselves one important question.Whos your Bail-Buddy?PLEASE DONATE, more information can be found at http://www.bail- buddy.com
Dr. Huzaifa Khorikiwala of Wockhardt, Mr. Varun Khanna of BD India, Emcure Pharma, Slim Sutra, Bajaj Allianz,Abbott India,Molecule Communications,Koye Pharma shined at Pharma Leaders 8th Annual Awards 2015

Pharma Leaders Academy

Contact

Pharmaleaders

***@network7mediagroup.com Pharmaleaders

End

-- Mumbai, Maharashtra India. The 8Annual Pharmaceutical Leadership Summit & Business Leadership Awards was successfully concluded at the financial capital of india in Mumbai at Hotel Hilton today where more than 300 top leaders of the healthcare industry had gathered to be the part of the historic debate on Pharma Leaders 2015, Brand India Winning. Widely acclaimed in the healthcare industry as the pioneer in recognising the leaders of today & tomorrow, Pharma Leaders brought together veteran healthcare leaders under one plattform. The leadership Summit in the afternoon session debated crucial topics such as Healthcare Insurance, Medical Tourism, Challenges of Indian Pharma Industry. Hinduja Hospital CEO Mr. Gautam Khanna debated on the challenges of Indian Healthcare Insurance while Padma Sree Prof Dr. Shashank Joshi addressed on Brand India.Satya Brahma, founder of Pharmaleaders in the opening address lambasted the union government for the faulty healthcare reforms & policy paralysis. In a scathing attack to the policy makers, Satya said the Healthcare Challenges in India at present are of different dimensions & more of cleaning the system at the helm who are responsible for formulating laws, rules & regulations. While we cant ignore the concerns of the pharma companies facing complex issues in regulatory legal hurdles in IPR challenges, pricing &other issues related to patent regime. Pharmaleaders believe that the evolving global and domestic market dynamics are likely to result in significant opportunities and challenges for pharma companies operating in India, both Indian companies as well as Indian affiliates of MNC companies. Some key issue areas are already starting to capture the attention of leadership teams within the industry.The highlight of the seminar was the panel discussion on Will Innovations in India drive the next generation of global cosmetics Dermatology trends ? where countrys top doctors & industry debated on the latest innovations in the cosmetic Dermatology field. The panellists argued that the skin care category is going to be the the next big business area of the sector the world over & hence the industry will have a unique opportunity to see the latest technologies in this segment, presented by companies from different countries at the forthcoming in-cosmetics also the treatment process of the Cosmetic Dermatologists. India is considered by many as a hotbed of innovation. However, innovating successfully in India is far from easy. But, as we debate Breakthrough Innovation & Path-Breaking Treatment Process, success is rooted in three core principles of Demand-driven Innovation: demand-driven insight, demand-driven development, and pervasive leadership. Noted Plastic and Cosmetic Surgeon Dr. Viral Desai, Dr Manoj Khanna,Dr. Rashmi Shetty, Dr Nilyini G,Ms. Kiren Shrivastav, of Molecule Communications were among those part of the brainstorming session.Addressing the industry leaders & leading faces of the medical profession, Mr. Louis Banks who has often been referred to as the Godfather of Indian Jazz & the iconic music composer was the Chief Guest of the evening conferred to top achievers of the country & urged the industry to provide affordable medicines to the common masses in india.The Evening Award ceremony was marked by the presence of the top business leaders, Industry stalwarts, politicians, eminent healthcare leaders, medical professionals.
Devart has released the upgraded version of dbForge Data Generator for SQL Server v3.8 with  new Check Constraint generator.

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-- Devart is a recognized vendor of professional DBtools for developers and DBAs.The company has announced a releaseof dbForge Data Generator for SQL Server v3.8 with Check Constraint Generator.The updated toolcontainstheCheck Constraint generator, which is automatically assigned to a column, for which a check constraint is defined. The generator yields values that satisfy the check constraint expression specified for the column.Additionallythreshold values can be set for Numeric and Date/Time columns from a generator that is next by relevance, i.e. the generator which would have been assigned to the column in case there was no Check Constraint generator.dbForge Data Generator for SQL Server is apowerful GUI tool for a fast generation of large volumes of SQL Server test table data. The productsupports all column data types and allows to define tables and columns for data generation, set value ranges, customize parameters for each column data type, preview data before generation, edit and save data generation scripts for the future use.To learn more visit https://www.devart.com/ dbforge/sql/ data-generator/ The new version of dbForge Data Generator for SQL Server is available for free during a 30-day trial period or theStandard Edition for $249.95.Devart is a recognized vendor of database connectivity solutions for Microsoft .NET and Embarcadero Delphi development platforms as well as database development and management software.Company's solutions support such databases as Microsoft SQL Server, Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, InterBase, Firebird, DB2, SQLite, etc.Along with database-oriented software, Devart offers productivity tools for Visual Studio and Skyvia, thecloud service for data integration, management and backup.For additional information about Devart, visit https://www.devart.com
Kansai Nerolac Paints has partnered with Delhi, I Love You, (DILY), a 30-month movement of love. Initiated by film-maker Thomas Ellis and sculptor Aastha Chauhan the #mydillistory campaign is part of this movement to empower the people of Delhi.

By: Kansai Nerolac

Contact

Jasmita Dhoni

***@nerolac.com Jasmita Dhoni

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-- ~ Six winning #MyDilliStory tweets painted at one of Delhis busiest locations ISBT, Monastery Market ~inaugurated this collaborative initiativeKansai Nerolac Paints Ltd (KNPL), Indias leading industrial coatings manufacturer and the third largest decorative paint manufacturer, has partnered with Delhi, I Love You, (DILY), a 30-month movement of love. Initiated by film-maker Thomas Ellis and sculptor Aastha Chauhan the #mydillistory campaign is part of this movement. It is a way to empower the people of Delhi to reclaim the city and increase a sense of belonging among them.This unique city painting campaign by https://www.nerolac.com/decorative-paints will see winning tweets about peoples love for Delhi being painted along some of the citys busiest streets. Shri Kapil Misra, Delhi Minister for Tourism, Arts, Culture & Languages, Water, Gurudwara Elections inaugurated this campaign by joining in the painting of six winning stories at the ISBT flyover, near Monastery Market. This marks the beginning of the campaign as tweets will now be painted across 40 prominent locations in Delhi. These stories were part of the entries in competition #MyDilliStory organized by Delhi, I Love you., Art and languages form an important part of Delhi and its culture. #MyDilliStory, an initiative curated by Delhi, I Love You and supported by the Delhi Government is one such initiative that aims to promote the use of 3 key languages of Delhi-Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi. It is a perfect blend of using local dialects to share the stories of Delhi by the people of Delhi and expressing them through art using public spaces."Paint is one of the best gifts you can give your home. Most of us repaint our homes during the festive season. Our city is also close to our hearts and is our home.The #MyDillyStory campaign is an initiative that celebrates Delhi, the beauty of this city, its people and their heart-warming stories. Painting positive memories and thoughts is a simple but powerful process that can transform the urban environment. While the winning stories that people from Delhi have shared will be hand-painted on prominent public walls and flyovers around the city, for us this initiative goes much far beyond this as we look at the city itself as a new creative canvas.states, "#MyDilliStory story is in fact the perfect example of what we at DILY are about. It is a project that got the government, private & educational institutes as well as creative practitioners together. A project that celebrates the city, its languages and its people."In partnership with The Delhi Government, Delhi Tourism, Nerolac Paints and support from PWD, Delhi, I Love You launched the #MyDilliStory campaign in September this year. This Twitter based competition invited people to share their stories, poems and quotes to celebrate the lively, rich and youthful spirit of Delhi. Out of the 8000 entries, 40 lucky winners were selected by a jury of eminent personalities from Delhi and their quotes are now being hand-painted on prominent public walls, flyovers around the city (with due credit given to the authors) by the city's signboard painters.The entries received were in Hindi, Punjabi, Urdu and English which are also the key languages of Delhi. This project is also aimed at supporting signboard painters who have lost livelihood due to digital printing techniques, by giving them visibility on a local and international platform.The project has been a success with the gracious support of Shri Kapil Misra, Delhi Minister of Tourism and Shri Satyendra Kumar Jain, Delhi Minister for Health, Home, Public Works Department, Industries, and Power.With a rich heritage of over 90 years in the paint industry, Kansai Nerolac Paints is the leader in industrial coatings one of the largest paint companies in India with a significant presence is Sri Lanka and Nepal as well. A wholly owned subsidiary of Kansai Paints, the sixth largest paint company worldwide, Kansai Nerolac manufactures a diversified range of products ranging from decorative paint coatings for homes, offices, hospitals and hotels to sophisticated and high performance industrial coatings.Kansai Nerolac has established itself as a leader in product innovation with its recent Eco-friendly range of paint with low VOC and no added lead. The Impression Eco-clean & Impressions 24 Carat High definition paint in particular is powered by Micro Embedded Brightness Boosters  MEBB technology that ensures unmatched brightness and vibrant colours. Through its green product portfolio, manufacturing process and awareness campaigns among influencers and customers Nerolac is actively promoting a sustainable future.Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/ NerolacPaints.India Ameya BundelluPerfect RelationsM: 9820493003Email: abundellu@perfectrelations.com
The Florida CANE Distillery will move Distillery and Tasting Room to Ybor City in Spring 2016.

By: The Florida CANE Distillery

The Florida CANE Distillery, Ybor City, FL

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-- The Florida CANE Distillery will be relocating their Brandon, Florida tasting room and distillery to Ybor City to take advantage of the friendly Craft Distillery specific zoning changes Tampa City Council implemented last year. With a projected opening date of March 16, they will be moving into the historic El Encanto building on the corner of 15St and 8Ave, next to Cigar City Cider & Mead and across the street from the soon to open Rock Brothers Brewery.After over a year of exploring locations in Seminole Heights, Tampa Heights, and Channelside, we chose a historic building in an up and coming section of Ybor City that best embodies our brand and who we are, said co-founder Pat OBrien. The Ybor location will allow us to open our doors full-time for tours and tastings, expand our production capacity, enable us to continue to launch new brands, and continue to experiment with new spirits.The Florida CANE Distillery tasting room will have regular hours for bottle sales, tours and distilling classes, while also featuring locally made items for sale in the gift shop. The current Brandon distillery and tasting room will remain open until the end of February. Since opening in September of 2013, there have been over 15,000 visitors to the tasting room, making it one of the most popular craft distilleries in the state.Co-Founder Lee Nelson is excited about taking inspiration from both the historic elements Ybor has to offer and the established artists and craftsmen that give Ybor its own unique style. Nelson said, This distillery was all about an idea  taking the great resources we have here in Florida and Hillsborough County and aligning them to produce a world class product. In the past three years, weve seen bakers use our Key Lime flavors, local food trucks cook with our Jalapeno vodka, and ice cream parlors make decedent creations with our moonshine. When we embed our distillery into a creative community, particularly one that is surrounded by great bars and restaurants, well be able to get immediate feedback on our ideas and new products so we can innovate quickly.The Florida CANE Distillery has been steadily building an almost cultish following since it was founded in 2012. With three appearances at the Epcot Food and Wine Festival and 8 awards at international spirits competitions, the small batch, hand crafted spirits are available across the state in over 300 retail locations. They currently produce Florida CANE flavored vodkas, Sunshine Moonshine, and Tamiami Gin.
Already one of the bestselling westerns of 2015- Blood on the Plains picks up a prestigious award from one of the biggest writing groups in the world.

By: Outlaws Publishing

Blood on the Plains From John D. Fie Jr.

Contact

Outlaws Publishing

***@outlawspublishing.com Outlaws Publishing

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-- Western writing star John D. Fie Jr. kicked off 2015 by receiving the prestigious Best Western award from the Writers Group. This group has over 30,000 members who vote for their favorite books in several genres.Fie, who signed with western speciality publisher Outlaws Publishing last year has released two bookshis first Blood on the Plains has been a constant bestseller and spent the holiday season riding high on the bestseller charts.Blood on the Plains tells the story of Matt Hutchins who survives a wagon train massacre to be taken in by the Indians and learns their ways.John D. Fie Jr. is currently working on his next book, and was unavailable for comment. Outlaws Publishing Chairman J.C. Hulsey was quoted as saying I always knew Blood on the Plains was a great readit should be one of the major hits of 2016.You can learn more about John D. Fie Jr. and Outlaws Publishing by visiting www.outlawspublishing.com. You can also find out more by emailing the office of J.C. Hulsey at jc@outlawspublishing.com
By: Shelter Animal Reiki Association

Contact

Kathleen Prasad

***@animalreikisource.com

415-420-9783 Kathleen Prasad415-420-9783

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-- Entrepreneur, author, animal Reiki leader and animal lover Kathleen Prasad, together with her nonprofit Shelter Animal Reiki Association (SARA), announces the creation of the worlds very first World Animal Reiki Day, to be celebrated on February 5, 2016.The days mission is to raise awareness on a global scale of the healing benefits of Reiki for animals, as well as honor all animals as our spiritual teachers.I was inspired by my experience at the 2015 ARC International Reiki Conference in Australiawhen so many teachers from different lineages came together in unity for Reiki, says Prasad. I thought I would love to see that kind of unity and community in the world for animal Reiki. Just think how we could do so much good for animals all around the world by joining hands with Reiki!February 5 is a special day for Prasadits also the birthday of Dakota, a very special puppy she rescued from animal control in 1992. Since he is my first animal Reiki teacher, this day is also to honor him and his role in leading me on this path, she says.On Friday, February 5, from noon to 3 p.m. (PST), Prasad will mark the day by leading a special SARA-sponsored animal Reiki share at BrightHaven Holistic Animal Sanctuary in Sebastopol, California. Then at 1 p.m. on Google+, she will share a live message of healing and light for the global Reiki community, dedicated to the animals of the world. A photo contest will be held on SARAs Facebook page February 1-4; winners will receive a free treatment or signed copies of Prasads books.Shelters, sanctuaries, animal-welfare organizations, veterinary clinics, animal-related businesses and individuals worldwide who love animals are encouraged to organize World Animal Reiki Day celebrations and events in their local communities. They can also tweet their support with the hashtag #WorldAnimalReikiDay.SARA is a nonprofit organization that improves the lives of animals by promoting the use of Reiki in animal shelters, sanctuaries and rescues worldwide through education, training and the advancement of Reiki programs that meet the highest standards of integrity and professionalism.
CMC has announced a new partnership with Family Reach, a foundation that provides support for the challenges of families dealing with cancer.

By: CMC Food Inc.

Contact

Michael Culley

***@cmcfood.com Michael Culley

End

-- CMC Food Announces Partnership with Family Reach FoundationFanwood, NJ USA  January 4, 2016  CMC has announced a new partnership with Family Reach, a foundation that provides support for the challenges of families dealing with cancer. As a financial lifeline for families fighting cancer, Family Reach was established in 1996 to assist families with a child or parent afflicted with cancer deal with the overwhelming aspects of the disease, from the financial to emotional burdens. Cancer treatment costs can be astronomical, which is where Family Reach comes in to help those families cover out-of-pocket medical expenses and everyday living costs, such as mortgage or rent payments, transportation, utilities, and even groceries.Family Reach collaborates with hospital social workers to provide urgent assistance to families nationwide in an effective manner. CMC recently vowed to contribute a share of the proceeds from The Farmers Hen eggs in an effort to make a difference for families in their communities and beyond. Purchasing a carton of The Farmers Hen eggs allows a portion of the proceeds to benefit the Family Reach cause and go to a family in need.CMC Food, together with Family Reach, believes everyone deserves a fair shot at beating cancer. However, with such high costs of treatment, many families are having to make the difficult choice whether to put food on the table or get cancer treatment for their child. Family Reach has made a commitment to ensuring that doesnt happen, and since 2003 has helped 25,000 people with the overwhelming financial burden that accompanies this devastating disease.CMC Food is a family-owned and operated egg supplier selling fresh shell eggs and egg products throughout the Northeast, with headquarters in Fanwood NJ. CMC is proud to service private label, local label and national branded eggs and egg products. Led by president Michael Culley, this retail and wholesale egg provider sells eggs of all kinds and sizes, such as cage free, organic, omega 3, and all-natural eggs, plus hard cooked peeled and shell-on eggs. Local and national branded products include Natures Design, Egglands Best, 4 Grain, and The Farmers Hen, available in cage free, organic, vegetarian, all natural and low cholesterol varieties to meet the growing health concerns of Americans.Now, when consumers buy a carton of The Farmers Hen eggs, a portion of the proceeds will benefit the efforts of Family Reach thanks to this new partnership.To learn more about Family Reach, please visit http://familyreach.org/ . For any questions regarding this press release or CMC Food in general, please contact CMC Food toll free at 888-569-5900 or locally at 732-382-5900, 282 South Ave Suite 104, Fanwood, NJ 07023. Visit www.cmcfood.com or http://cmcfood.com/giving-back/to learn more.
By: Active Interest Media Equine Network

Contact

Active Interest Media Equine Network

***@aimmedia.com Active Interest Media Equine Network

End

-- Hope for Horses equine rescue was randomly selected by A Home for Every Horse to receive a $1,000 donation for horse health and veterinary expenses from Zoetis as the winner of the Picture Your Rescue giveaway. The Galt, California, based rescue plans to use the donation towards veterinary care, vaccinations and diagnostics for the more than 10 horses it helps to rehome each year.Zoetis sponsored the Picture Your Horse giveaway to promote meeting the health needs of all horses as a part of the launch of the first and only equine leptospirosis vaccine, LEPTO EQ INNOVATOR. A Home for Every Horse and Zoetis continue to encourage horse owners and enthusiasts to complete the online Leptospirosis Risk Assessment (http://bit.ly/EvaluateYourRisk)(http://bit.ly/EvaluateYourRisk)and evaluate their horses risk for equine leptospirosis.Equine leptospirosis is a costly and underdiagnosed disease that can affect the entire equine industry. Horse owners can now answer a few simple questions to help determine if their horse is at risk for leptospirosis and are able to print the results to initiate a conversation on prevention with their veterinarian.Zoetis continues to partner with A Home for Every Horse by providing rescues with assistance through the donation of health care products including STRONGIDPaste and WEST NILE-INNOVATOR. Rescue horses have many needs when they first arrive at rescues, and Zoetis actively supports A Home for Every Horse and shelters around the country helping provide rescues the ability to foster each in-coming horse.Equine.com and the Active Interest Media Equine Network joined forces with the American Horse Councils Unwanted Horse Coalition to launch A Home for Every Horse Project. If you want more information on rescue horses or you want to locate a rescue near you, please check out AHomeforEveryHorse.com This project helps find homes for Americas 170,000 to 200,000 horses in need of care and shelter. Heres how it works: Begin the search for your next equine partner at Equine.com ( http://www.equine.com/ ). You can search horses waiting for homes at nonprofit shelters across the country. Browse by rescue horse, or find a rescue organization in your area. Visit the sites servicessection to learn about your local rescue organizations. Find out how you can volunteer, donate, or simply spread the word. Look for upcoming stories on AHomeforEveryHorse.com related to horse rescue.If your 501(c)(3) rescue organization would like to join the A Home for Every Horse project please fill out the online application at AHomeforEveryHorse.com/join. Equine.com is part of the Active Interest Media Equine Network.The Equine Network provides, creates, and distributes relevant content and services to passionate horse enthusiasts while connecting them to each other and the marketplace. The Equine Network is the publisher of award-winning magazines: Horse&Rider, EQUUS, Dressage Today, The Trail Rider, Spin to Win Rodeo, American Cowboy, and Practical Horseman. The Equine Network also publishes a proprietary line of books and DVDs for sale through its store, HorseBooksEtc.com. The Equine Network also provides emergency roadside assistance through USRider, and is home to several websites including: EquiSearch.com, Equine.com, MyHorseDaily.com, DiscoverHorses.com, AmericanCowboy.com, and Horse-Journal.com.Zoetis (zo-EH-tis)is the leading animal health company, dedicated to supporting its customers and their businesses. Building on more than 60 years of experience in animal health, Zoetis discovers, develops, manufactures and markets veterinary vaccines and medicines, complemented by diagnostic products and genetic tests and supported by a range of services. In 2014, the company generated annual revenue of $4.8 billion. With approximately 10,000 employees worldwide at the beginning of 2015, Zoetis serves veterinarians, livestock producers and people who raise and care for farm and companion animals with sales of its products in 120 countries. For more information, visit www.zoetisUS.com. (https://www.zoetisus.com/)


Real-time web monitoring service launches out of limited beta Opserv.io is monitoring system built on top of the Google Analytics service By: Opserv.io MIAMI - Jan. 4, 2016 - PRLog -- Opserv.io, a service for real-time website monitoring and alerts, released its production offering today. The service is designed for software development teams and companies with medium- and high-load websites, and provides unobtrusive monitoring using their existing Google Analytics installations. We are encouraged by the feedback received during the limited beta release, which included two major telecommunications companies from both the U.S. and Europe, said Opserv.io CTO Dmytro Salko.



I consider this product a missing part of the Google Analytics package, stated Salko. When website traffic means money, you cant just rely on simple ping monitoring. You need to know there are real visitors who are taking real actions.



Initially developed for internal use on a high-volume web traffic project, the service was expanded for public usage. The Opserv.io solution does not require any server-side integration because it connects to the Google Analytics API; a user of Googles analytics service needs only to configure their observers in their Opserv.io account to begin monitoring.



While Google Analytics itself provides basic alerts, these alerts lack the sophistication and granular monitoring provided by Opserv.io observers, which allow for virtually limitless triggers over much shorter periods of time. As a result, high-traffic website owners are finding that they can increase the precision and accuracy of monitoring, accomplishing tasks not otherwise possible in Google Analytics alone. There are several interesting use-cases for Opserv.io, such as monitoring real-time error frequency, measuring changes to normal levels of incoming traffic from partners, and being alerted to aberrations with goal conversions as they occur.



Contact

Keith Ring

***@opserv.io Keith Ring End -- Opserv.io, a service for real-time website monitoring and alerts, released its production offering today. The service is designed for software development teams and companies with medium- and high-load websites, and provides unobtrusive monitoring using their existing Google Analytics installations. We are encouraged by the feedback received during the limited beta release, which included two major telecommunications companies from both the U.S. and Europe, said Opserv.io CTO Dmytro Salko.I consider this product a missing part of the Google Analytics package, stated Salko. When website traffic means money, you cant just rely on simple ping monitoring. You need to know there are real visitors who are taking real actions.Initially developed for internal use on a high-volume web traffic project, the service was expanded for public usage. The Opserv.io solution does not require any server-side integration because it connects to the Google Analytics API; a user of Googles analytics service needs only to configure their observers in their Opserv.io account to begin monitoring.While Google Analytics itself provides basic alerts, these alerts lack the sophistication and granular monitoring provided by Opserv.io observers, which allow for virtually limitless triggers over much shorter periods of time. As a result, high-traffic website owners are finding that they can increase the precision and accuracy of monitoring, accomplishing tasks not otherwise possible in Google Analytics alone. There are several interesting use-cases for Opserv.io, such as monitoring real-time error frequency, measuring changes to normal levels of incoming traffic from partners, and being alerted to aberrations with goal conversions as they occur. Email : ***@opserv.io Tags : Uptime , Monitoring , Analytics , Real Time Monitoring Industry : Internet , Marketing , Software Location : Miami - Florida - United States Subject : Services Account Phone Number Disclaimer Report Abuse Account Email AddressAccount Phone Number


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-- CUSIP  98977W 20 OTCBB Symbol  ZORM (Delisted)TUCSON, ARIZONA--(12/31/15) - Zoro Mining Corp. (OTCQB- ZORM Delisted)Zoro Mining Corp. (the Company) announces that, effective December 31, 2015, Frank Garcia, its CFO, has resigned to pursue other business opportunities.On Behalf of the BoardZORO MINING CORP./s/ Harold GardnerHarold GardnerInterim President and CEOSAFE HARBOR STATEMENTThis document may contain "forward-looking statements". Statements in this document, which are not purely historical, are forward-looking statements and include any statements regarding beliefs, plans, expectations or intentions regarding the future. It is important to note that actual outcomes and the Company's actual results could differ materially from those in such forward-looking statements. Actual results could differ from those projected in any forward-looking statements due to numerous factors. The risks and uncertainties that could affect future events or the Company's future financial performance are more fully described in the Company's quarterly reports (on Form 10Q filed in the United States), the Company's annual reports (on Form 10K in the United States) and the other recent filings on Form 8K filed in the United States. These filings are available at www.sec.gov in the United States. There are numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and the Company's plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking information, including: (i) Actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such information. These and all subsequent written and oral forward-looking information are based on estimates and opinions of management on the dates they are made and are expressly qualified in their entirety by this notice.
Media Contact

Carrie Miller

***@peconiclanding.org

6315938247 Carrie Miller6315938247

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-- Peconic Landing has launched an aggressive recruitment campaign to highlight new career opportunities available at the Lifecare Retirement Community. The organization plans to fill approximately 60 full and part-time positions with openings at both entry and professional levels.The not-for-profit organization in September 2014 broke ground on a $44 million expansion to add 46 new apartments for Independent Living, a 16-suite Memory Care Center, a new 16-suite Short-Term Rehabilitation Center, as well as renovations to refresh its existing Community Center amenities. Completion of expansion efforts is on track for a Spring 2016 opening, with recruitment and job training beginning in January.We are excited to welcome new talent to our ever growing team and strive to make Peconic Landing an outstanding place to work, said Robert J. Syron, President and CEO. Peconic Landing truly values its team members as they are the greatest asset we have in achieving our mission and providing award-winning care.More than half of the available jobs are in the healthcare sector, including newly created positions to manage its state-of-the-art Memory Care Community. Additions to its Skilled Nursing Center, The Shores at Peconic Landing, have also opened up opportunities for RNs, licensed practical nurses, certified nursing assistants, and certified home health aides.The community will continue to offer educational opportunities for those interested in becoming a certified home health aide or a certified nursing assistant. All new employees will be required to complete memory care training, which will be provided on campus.Our innovative memory care model offers a unique opportunity for those who enjoy caring for others, said Gregory J. Garrett, Executive Vice President and Administrator of Health Services. While there will be extensive job training, caregivers will find this new model of resident-centered care truly rewarding.Additional hospitality positions throughout the community include cooking and server staff; security, grounds, maintenance, housekeeping, and drivers among other administrative positions. A full list of job descriptions and an employment application are currently available online at http://peconiclanding.com/ careers/job- opportunities/ Peconic Landing will host two job fairs for prospective employees to find out more about these opportunities on Thursday, January 14 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m., or Saturday, January 23 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. On-site interviews will be held for qualified candidates who are encouraged to bring their resume.With more than 220 employees, the organization is currently the second largest employer in Southold Town, and one of the largest on the East End. It will be investing more than $14.2 million on salaries and benefits for new and current employees in 2016, up from about $11.9 million in 2015.More than eighty-percent of our current staff resides within the Town of Southold, said Jane Willsey, Director of Human Resources. To meet our employment needs, we are going to have to attract talent from the Riverhead and South Fork community as well as the North Fork, which could be a challenge.In June, Peconic Landing was named the 6th best company to work for in the small/medium size business category by The New York State Society for Human Resource Management. The annual distinction program evaluates and ranks the best places of employment based on employee satisfaction and engagement, workplace benefits, practices, and policies.The New York State Society for Human Resource Management is an affiliate of the nations largest association devoted to human resources, serving the needs of and advancing the interests of the HR profession.# # #Peconic Landing is an innovative, not-for-profit CCAC-CARF-accredited continuing care retirement community (CCRC) located on the waterfront in Greenport, N.Y., on the North Fork of Long Island. Among its long list of achievements, Peconic Landing is the only equity-based LifeCare community in the state of New York. It is a member of LeadingAge and LeadingAge New York and embraces a healthy, active lifestyle infused with a sense of exploration, creativity and generosity of spirit.
Wake Tech is the third fastest-growing large community college in the U.S., according to an analysis by Community College Week.

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--Wake Tech is the third fastest-growing large community college in the U.S., according to an analysis by. The publication reports that while many community colleges are seeing enrollment declines, Wake Tech continues to buck the trend. Its analysis of the U.S. Department of Educations Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) found that Wake Tech grew by 10.4% from fall 2013 to fall 2014. That puts Wake Tech third on the fastest-growing list of public two-year colleges with enrollments of 10,000 students or higher. Wake Tech was one of only four that had double-digit increases.Wake Tech President Dr. Stephen Scott credits the strong enrollment growth to the countys growing population and the high-quality programs the college offers  programs that put people to work and help businesses prosper. We work with business and industry to stay relevant, he says. Economic development officials identify clusters of need and we design programs to meet those needs.IPEDS counts full-time, first-time students enrolled in for-credit programs leading to degrees or other recognized credentials. Read the full article on www.ccweek.com
Mosaic Harmony, an interfaith, multicultural community choir based in Northern Virginia proudly announces their participation and hosting of a concert in celebration of the 2016 United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week,on February 1, 2016 at 7pm.

Mosaic Harmony Celebrating Over 20 Years

Contact

David North

***@mosaicharmony.org David North

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-- (Oakton, VA)  Mosaic Harmony, an interfaith, multicultural community choir based in Northern Virginia proudly announces their participation and hosting of a concert in celebration of the 2016 United Nations World Interfaith Harmony Week, at Unity of Fairfax Church in Oakton, Virginia on February 1, 2016 at 7:00pm. Invited choirs from various faith traditions will join them on the program and will be announced later this month. World Interfaith Harmony Week held annually, brings together thousands around the world. The February 1 concert, open to all, is entitled , celebrating the ability of the language of music to bring people together and focus on our common humanity rather than the differences that set us apart.Over their twenty-two year history, Mosaic Harmony has garnered praise and developed close ties from their varied performances at fundraisers, corporate events, educational institutions, churches, government agencies and private events in the Washington metropolitan area. The choir has received many awards most notably in 1997, they were chosen by the Fairfax County Human Rights Commission to receive its prestigious Human Rights Award and in 1998, were the recipient of the President's Initiative on Race as a model program that encourages participation of people from different racial backgrounds.. Mosaic Harmony was included on the White House web site as one of the country's Promising Practices, which highlights efforts to improve race relations and build One America. Other performances have included: the Bahai Black Awards Banquets/Bahai Conferences on Race Amity; a Millennium Celebration program at Addas Israel, Washington, DC (a conservative Hebrew temple) designed by the Interfaith Conference of Washington to bring together youth of nine major world religions; a sunrise ceremony millennial celebration beginning in Samoa, which spread across 27 countries; a wave of peaceful intention sponsored by the International Club of Budapest, consisting of former statesmen, Nobel laureates, writers, and scientists; the Finnish Embassy  event; travel to Germany and Slovenia on a Goodwill Tour; sponsored a reciprocal visit by, the internationally known Slovenian choir that hosted Mosaic Harmony. In 2004, Habitat for Humanity, Northern Virginia Chapter was celebrated by a joint benefit concert venue shared with the Slovenian choir,, during their reciprocal Goodwill visit. In 2006, Slovenian choir, , silver medalists in the International Choir Olympics, was home-hosted and offered venues by Mosaic Harmony. Additional repeat performances at the Interfaith Choir Festival of Reston, Homeless in DC and Annapolis; the Lakota Nation; BODYWISE (a fitness program for seniors); Open Books, Open Hearts tutoring program; efforts to build a church in Dominican Republic, work with inner city youth in Atlanta, the Medical Benevolence Foundations home-based orphan care program for HIV/AIDS in Africa; Katrina flood relief; brain tumor cancer research all in an effort to assist these organization with their fundraising goals. The choir was also recognized Changemakersby Ashoka (www.Ashoka.org)and in 2006, provided, through their international newsletter, the seeds and structure for two interfaith childrens choirs in Jerusalem, Israel. Says North, producing a concert with friends for World Interfaith Harmony Week was a no brainer, clearly this is our wheelhouse, we live and believe in this mission.North, a successful songwriter in his own right, wrote the song One Humankind upon which the theme of the concert is based, with the intention of specifically using it in Mosaic Harmonys concerts and a natural tie in to their theme Make Us One. North invited other choirs who are like-minded in their approach to music and their place in the world to participate in the February 1 event, which Mosaic Harmony has committed to producing annually at various venues in the area. The free concert will be an opportunity to meet choirs from the area and to show that music is indeed the universal language that brings people together.For more information on Mosaic Harmony, please visit www.mosaicharmony.org . Media inquiries please contact promotions@mosaicharmony.org . For additional information on 2016 World Interfaith Harmony Week please visit www.worldinterfaithharmonyweek.com
Honors included Professor and Employee of the Year, Service Awards, and More

Media Contact

tiffany@getpushing.com

End

-- Hodges University celebrated its 25th Anniversary in December with a holiday party and employee recognition ceremony. Dr. David Borofsky, Hodges University president, presented many honors, awards, and recognitions including service awards to employees ranging from 10 to 25 years at the university and partnership pins presented to long-time supporters of the institution. Some of the greatest honors of the evening included the naming of Professor Emeritus as well as Professor of the Year and Employee of the Year awards.Dr. Karen Locklear was named Professor Emeritus. Locklear, who retired in April, began her career at Hodges University as an assistant professor in 2003 and subsequently served as associate professor, program director, professor and chair. She was serving as dean of the Nichols School of Professional Studies when she retired.The Professor of the Year award was presented to Dr. Donald Forrer. A Johnson School of Business faculty member, Forrer has been with the university for 15 years and has built a great reputation for his dedication and loyal service. He built the first online department, implemented the Blackboard learning management system, put together the masters in public administration (MPA) program on campus, as well as strengthened the masters in business administration (MBA) program and chaired it for several years. He is well respected by his students and has published many journal papers with Hodges graduate students. Forrer has presented at several local and international platforms, and most recently was the keynote speaker at the Clute Institute International Business Conference in London, England. This past summer, Don redeveloped the MPA Program into a self-paced delivery format. Today, he is involved with the Strategic Planning Committee, The Hispanic Institute as well as other committees within the Johnson School of Business and the university. Don is an incredible and valuable asset to the Johnson School of Business and Hodges University commented Borofsky. When the university was in the process of strategic planning, Don did not hesitate to take the responsibility and assisted the president in facilitating the daylong planning event.The Employee of the Year award was presented to David Sanchez, maintenance supervisor at the universitys Naples campus. Sanchez is known among his peers for his high level of commitment, dedication and reliability. The community and guests of the university have seen him on campus ensuring events run smoothly and are successful, and can recognize him by his contagious smile and positive attitude. He has been a great team member with endless patience, commented Borofsky. Although I know that he does not have enough time in the day, he puts a smile on his face and gets things done. He finds solutions to our problems.For more information about Hodges University, please visit hodges.edu or call (239) 513-1122.Founded in 1990, Hodges University is a private, non-profit and one of Floridas leading institutions of higher learning. With campuses located in Naples and Fort Myers, the university uses its local roots and global reach to provide transformational, learner-driven educational opportunities for its students. In addition to offering associate, baccalaureate and graduate degrees in a variety of disciplines and delivery options, Hodges University enhances the ability of students to achieve personal and professional objectives through diverse educational experiences and programs including English as a Second Language and the Center for Lifelong Learning. For more information, call (239) 513-1122 or visit hodges.edu.
Contact

Alec Peche, GBSW Publishing

***@alecpeche.com Alec Peche, GBSW Publishing

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--Morgan Hill, CA. January 4, 2016- Author and resident Alec Peche releases her sixth novel - Murder At The Podium. This is the sixth book of the Jill Quint, MD series and its set in Texas. A nurse is murdered while delivering a presentation at a conference. Its a murder thriller filled with stories of the oil industry, drug cartels, poison, and along the way, a tour of the cities of Dallas and Odessa, Texas.Fictional protagonist Jill Quint, MD retired early from a state crime lab to operate a vineyard in California, but soon found herself offering second opinions on the cause of death. She is joined in murder investigations by three friends that bring unique skills to each case. Each book is set in a different region of the world.Murder At The Podium is Alec Peches sixth mystery novel. She is a native of Detroit, and was raised in San Jose, CA. Alec graduated from the University of California, Berkeley, Columbia University, and the University of Florida. This is her sixth novel in the mystery genre. Murder At The Podium will be released January 12, 2016 and is available for pre-order now. The books and the entire series are available worldwide.A seventh novel in the Jill Quint, MD, Forensic Pathologist series, "Castle Killing, is a work in process and is planned for release in the Summer of 2016.CONTACT: Alec PecheGBSW PublishingVials@alecpeche.com(408) 706-5033
By: Radix Bay

Media Contact

Greg Lovette

***@radixbay.com Greg Lovette

End

-- Radix Bay, a world-class business IT consulting and solutions provider, has been chosen to perform an Oracle Health Check for an aircraft engine manufacturer.The client is a global leader in jet engine technology, operating as part of a multi-national joint venture consisting of several organizations.The client reached out to Radix Bay to perform a health check on their Oracle databases and the Oracle Exadata appliance on which they are hosted.The Oracle systems are critical to the future success of the company. The health check will give the organization an accurate picture of the current state of their systems and an action plan for the future.After recently completing a data warehouse project for the client we are pleased to be chosen for another important engagement,said Greg Lovette, CEO of Radix Bay. Our experts will assess the performance of the organizations Oracle systems and ensure the database platform is operating at maximum efficiency.The Oracle project follows the design and development of an integrated data warehouse. The data warehouse centralized complex structured and non-structured data sets, giving stakeholders the ability to search data related to the entire engine lifecycle.About Radix BayRadix Bay delivers world-class Business IT Consulting, Solutions, and Managed Services to global clients. The company has a proven track record of developing advanced technologies, process innovations, and business transformation programs across a wide range of Fortune 500 clients, high-growth companies, and government entities. As an Oracle Gold Partner, Microsoft Silver Partner and Salesforce partner, Radix Bay provides specialized services for cloud and on premise enterprise solutions. The company is headquartered in Charlotte, NC, with offices in Atlanta and India. Learn more at http://www.radixbay.com
POWERS Insurance and Benefits, Clayton Capital Partners to highlight ways to combat cybercrime

By: POWERS Insurance and Benefits

Adam Connor

Contact

JD Powers

***@powersinsurance.com JD Powers

End

-- POWERS Insurance and Benefits, one of the largest family owned and operated independent insurance agencies in the bi-state region, and Clayton Capital Partners, one of the nations top independent investment bank firms for the middle market, will host Cyber Summit on Wed., Jan. 20 from 7:30 to 9 a.m. The presentation, which is free and open to the public, will be held at Clayton Plaza Hotel located at 7750 Carondelet in Clayton, Mo.The Cyber Summit will focus on how to deter hackers, identify common system vulnerabilities, develop a preventative strategy, and establish a comprehensive breach resolution. Guest speakers include Adam Connor and Kyle Daddio. Connor works at the Strategic Insurance Agency Alliance as a national consultant for management and professional liability, specializing in the field of cyber liability. He assists numerous organizations and associations in creating cyber programs and best practices for the betterment of their security. Daddio is a senior consultant for Crowe Horwaths risk practice. He specializes in assisting clients with fraud, anti-money laundering, and cyber security engagements.Cybercrime is on the rise, and we want people to understand how to better protect themselves,said POWERS Insurance and Benefits president JD Powers. The numbers are staggering: According to the 2015 Symantec Internet Security Report, 60% of cyber-attacks last year struck small to medium sized businesses along with 34,529 known computer security penetration incidents per day.Reservations are recommended since seating is limited. The event includes a continental breakfast, presentation, and question and answer segment.POWERS Insurance and Benefits provides personal and business insurance, surety, risk management and employee benefits. Founded in 1991, the company is headquartered at 7745 Carondelet Ave. in Clayton, Mo. For more information, call (314) 725-1414 or visit http:// www.powersinsurance.com
Rothbury Farms, Rebel Fish from Marine Harvest, & Mira Fitness Take Center Stage on First Show of the Year on January 4, 2016 on Lifetime

By: BrandStar

BA_logo NEW

End

--BrandStarpsteele-unger@brandstar.com (mailto:Pamela@o2mediainc.com)(844) 200-2525(POMPANO BEACH, Fla.  PR LOG  January 4, 2015) The New Year ushers in a chance to start fresh and live healthier so the award-winning morning show The Balancing Act will help kick your health and fitness into high gear with the hottest names in healthier soups, fashionable fitness tracking and easy to make SuperFish on Monday, January 4 and January 11, 2016 at 7:30 a.m. (ET/PT) on Lifetime. Tune in as The Balancing Act hosts help jump start the day with lively conversations and trusted information to empower a womans life.Dont miss these featured segments taking center stage on The Balancing Act:Soups on! How about kicking off the New Year with healthier soups? Many soups are very healthyand are low in calories and high in nutrients and vitamins. And to help you create recipes that make sure your soup is packed with protein, fiber and other healthy ingredients, The Balancing Act heads to the kitchen with A.J. Shepler, Culinary Chef and Food Scientist at Rothbury Farms. Chef will cook up delicious recipes that are easy on the waistline such as Black Bean/Lentil Soup and Asparagus Soup and for extra crunch hell add in some croutons for garnish. Rothbury Farms, a 4generation family-owned business that started in 1923, makes its croutons from fresh baked bread. Rothbury Farms Croutons have received the Chefs Best  Best Taste Award, EVERY YEAR since 2004. Learn more at http://rothburyfarms.com/ If youre searching for a healthy protein, salmon is an excellent food choice to help us get -- or stay on a healthy track. But many people feel that preparing fish isnt easy or convenient. Join Celebrity Chef Lindsay Autry as she cooks up fish tacos and tells us about Rebel Fish Salmon  fresh, sustainable salmon thats ready to eat in just 90-seconds. Rebel Fish Salmon can be microwaved, baked, cooked on your stove or grilled. And it comes with six delicious rubs: Cilantro Lime, Lemon Pepper Herb, Barbeque, Maple Mesquite Smoked Sea Salt, Cajon Blackened and Thai Chili. A 6- ounce portion is less than 300-calories, has 36-grams of protein, is loaded with Omega3s and provides 110% of the recommended DV or Vitamin Dnow thats a SuperFood! Rebel Fish Salmon was inspired by restaurants and global culinary flavors. Learn more at: http://www.rebelfishsalmon.com/ Are you ready to get in the best shape of your life? The Balancing Act is ready to help you kick off the New Year with fitness fashion! Join Suzanne EL-Moursi, Creative Director, Mira Fitness, LLC, who will discuss wearable tracking devices. Mira is on a mission to combine tracking technology and style in a way that encourages women to wear their fashionable smart bracelet every day, allowing women to get deeper insight on their daily activity and wellness behaviors. Learn how the Mira smart bracelet, inspired by the modern womens lifestyle, can help you keep your New Years resolution to get in the best shape of your life. Not only does this device monitor your journey, but it also encourages you along the way -- and celebrates your successes! Learn more at: www.mymirafit.comEntering its 8th season, The Balancing Act continues to empower women in all aspects of their lives. The mission at The Balancing Act is simple - to help todays modern woman balance it all by bringing them positive solutions to enrich and empower them. Entertaining, educational and trusted by women, viewers can tune in to Americas premier morning show The Balancing Act on weekday mornings Monday through Friday at 7:30 am (ET/PT) on Lifetime television. For additional information or to view a segment visit: www.thebalancingact.comJoin the Conversation!Like us on Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/TheBalancingActFansFollow us on Twitter at: http://twitter.com/balancingacttv (http://twitter.com/)Watch us on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/thebalancingact
Pushing the Envelope Announces 2nd Annual Grant and Open House

By: Pushing the Envelope, Inc.

Contact

samantha@getpushing.com

2392212858 2392212858

End

-- Pushing the Envelope, Inc. is celebrating double-digit success, marking its 10-year anniversary this month. Since opening its doors in 2006, Pushing the Envelope has experienced tremendous growth and success, receiving numerous awards and recognition of excellence in the industry. What started as a direct mail and printing business has grown into an award-winning marketing communication firm, servicing both local and national brands such as Harley-Davidson, Hodges University, BB&T  Oswald Trippe and Company, Gulf Coast Humane Society and more.Although Pushing the Envelope has evolved over the past ten years, the company has held steadfast to its commitment of giving back to the community. This commitment stretches beyond the volunteer efforts put forth by staff, to include guiding clients and corporate partners in their support of charitable causes and efforts, to support the community.As a part of the anniversary celebration, Pushing the Envelope will once again offer its annual Push-it-Forward Grant, awarding 20 service hours to an eligible, nonprofit organization, paying it forward two-fold.In addition, Pushing the Envelope will be opening its doors to clients, partners and community members to join in on this milestone anniversary celebration with an open house. The event will take place on Jan. 29 from 5 to 7 p.m. and will include light hors doeuvres, refreshments and socializing. The Pushing the Envelope office is located at 9111 West College Pointe Drive, Suite 110 in Fort Myers.Please RSVP by Jan. 22 by visiting getpushing.com/about/10-year-anniversary.Existing to help businesses proposer through strategic and creative communication, Pushing the Envelope is a privately held, award-winning marketing communication company based in Fort Myers, Florida. They work with companies in a variety of industries from motorsports and attractions to medical and technology, both regionally and nationally. For more information, please call (239) 221-2858 or visit GetPushing.com.
Bay State Branded Environment Specialists Design Custom Branded Environment for Top 25 Global Tire Manufacturer at 2015 SEMA Show

By: Hill & Partners

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--Hill & Partners team of branded environment specialists partnered with Aeolus Tires, the 6largest tire company in China and top 26 global tire manufacturer, at the 2015 Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) Show in Las Vegas, NV, November 1- 4. The SEMA Show was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center.This was the second consecutive year that Hill & Partners has worked with the Aeolus Tire brand at the SEMA Show. In 2014, Hill & Partners teamed up with the industry leaders U.S. distribution group, Alliance Tire Americas, to create an uniquely attention grabbing, branded environment for SEMA.Aeolus Tires is one of the most recognizable tire manufacturers in the world and it was an honor to team up for the 2015 SEMA Show, said Hill & Partners President Michael McMahon. Our design team created a product that effectively communicated Aeolus brand image to all in attendance and created a visually striking environment with intricate attention to detail.The Aeolus Tire exhibit at the 2015 SEMA Show consisted of a 50x60 space designed around the AE46, a 3000lb Aeolus Transport Heavy Duty Dump Truck Tire, with a rugged visual presentation that included dirt and plants to generate a natural outdoor setting. Additionally, the Hill & Partners team produced graphical inserts for the tires to incorporate the design element and product information into the display without adding extra weight to already hefty tires.Hill & Partners showcased the China-based Aeolus Tyre sponsorship of the Dongfeng Race Team at the 2015 Volvo Ocean Race through a replica structure of the sail. This accompanied a promotional video streamed on a 90 monitor to communicate the relationship between the two brands.Hill & Partners utilized large-scale graphics printed on various materials including a mix of direct print to standard PVC and frosted Plexiglas. These elements were seamlessly integrated into the environments existing tire displays and created a window into the private meeting space on the other side of the wall. The final result was an eye-catching exhibit space that captured the attention of all in attendance.Hill & Partners is a full-service team of branded environment specialists with a network of skilled partners throughout the country and world. Hill & Partners have provided professional exhibit management services that help clients manage and improve the results of their trade show exhibit program for over 20 years. Experience is a key factor in their long running relationships with clients including Polartec LLC, Dunkin Brands, IGT, Demandware, Samsonite and General Cigar. Hill & Partners, established in 1995, has received numerous awards and accolades including being named by the Boston Business Journal as one of the Boston area's fastest growing companies. For additional information, please call 617.471.7990 or visit www.hillpartners.com
By: HR Knowledge

HR Knowledge Ribbon cutting

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-- HR Knowledge (www.hrknowledge.com), an integrated human resources service that offers HR, payroll and benefits services to approximately 300 clients with a concierge-level approach, celebrated the doubling of their space with a ribbon-cutting at their new location at 15 Berkshire Road in Mansfield last month.Approximately 150 people turned out to congratulate HR Knowledge Partners Jeff Garr of Mansfield and Ken Bettenhauser of Sudbury. The company also received congratulations from Massachusetts State Representatives Elizabeth Poirier and Jay Barrows, who attended the event and presented the partners with an official proclamation from the House of Representatives. Mansfield Selectman Jess Aptowitz, who also works with State Senator James Timilty as his District Policy and Budget Director, attended and presented an official proclamation from the Senate on behalf of the Senator, who was unable to attend.In addition, Mansfield Town Manager Bill Ross and Tri-Town Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Kara Griffin both congratulated the firm on its growth and the positive work environment they have fostered.HR Knowledge moved into their new space in mid-October, which allowed them to more than double their office space (from 5,200 square feet to 11,000 square feet). The larger area better meets the needs of the growing company, which has expanded from 20 employees just four years ago to 50 employees now.HR Knowledge, which was founded by Garr and Bettenhauser in 2001, was named aPacesetterin 2015, in recognition of the company as one of the 70 fastest growing firms in the region.We are so glad to have had the chance to introduce our clients and neighbors to our new space, and to show them, and our employees, our appreciation,said Garr. It was a wonderful night, and we are grateful to be able to share this celebration with them.Photo caption:Ribbon-cutting:HR Knowledge in Mansfield recently hosted a ribbon-cutting and client appreciation event in honor of the firms relocating its offices to 15 Berkshire Road, Mansfield, doubling its previous office size. On hand to participate in the ribbon-cutting at the new location are, left to right, William Ross, Mansfield Town Manager; Jeffrey Garr, Mansfield resident and co-owner of HR Knowledge; Ken Bettenhauser of Sudbury, co-owner of HR Knowledge; Jess Aptowitz, Board of Selectmen, Town of Mansfield, and also representing the office of State Senator James Timilty; and State Representative Jay Barrows.Founded in 2001, HR Knowledge ( www.hrknowledge.com ) provides integrated outsourced HR services tailored to their clients needs. Their full array of human resource offerings includes managed payroll; employee benefits administration;and HR consulting and support services, such as training, compliance, electronic onboarding, electronic employee self-service solutions and recruiting. Their major markets are fast-growing small- and medium-sized businesses, many of which are venture-capital-backed; foreign companies expanding into the States; and certain key education markets including charter schools and nonprofit enterprises. Businesses that partner with HR Knowledge can reduce their administrative costs, minimize their legal risk, help them find and develop talent, and free them up to focus on their core business.The firm was named a 2015 Boston Business Journal Pacesetter,recognizing the company as one of the 70 fastest growing firms in the region. HR Knowledge is located at 15 Berkshire Road, Suite B, Mansfield, Massachusetts. For more information, please email sales@hrknowledge.com or call (508) 339-1300.
Good Monday Morning, Fellow Seekers.

Welcome to the start of the first, full working week of 2016. We hope your holiday was a good one, spent among family and friends. But much like the mob, state politics is inescapable. So let's dive right into it shall we?

We begin this morning with a reminder that actions have consequences.

For instance, touch a hot stove, you'll get burned. Play for the Eagles, and you live with the knowledge that you may never wear a Super Bowl ring.

Most of us learn from these lessons and move on.

The same holds true, it seems, for 49 other General Assemblies across this great land of ours. There, lawmakers have learned, state budgets tend to pass faster if there are consequences for inaction.

That's the result of a study by the Greater Pittsburgh Nonprofit Partnership, one of innumerable nonprofits affected by Pennsylvania's 1,345-day-long budget impasse.

As our pal Natasha Lindstrom of The Tribune-Review reports, Ohio state government goes into a full-on shutdown if the Buckeye State Legislature ends its session without coming up with at least an "interim" spending plan.

In Virginia (where the governor serves a single, four-year term), the chief executive presents a budget proposal in December. And the Old Dominion's part-time Legislature stays in session until it passes the thing. That typically happens by February, Lindstrom reports.

And in scenic California, state officials have considered removing the governor and lawmakers from office if they burn through the June 30 deadline. The Golden State's Constitution also bars lawmakers from claiming travel or living expenses until a budget is enacted, Lindstrom reports.

And in Pennsylvania???

Ummmm .... nothing much happens at all.

Thanks to a 2009 state Supreme Court decision, government shutdowns are pretty much a thing of the past. Bills that would keep lawmakers and the Guv and LG from getting paid come and go with each stalemate without drawing so much as even a hearing.

Yes, school districts and nonprofits are borrowing money to keep their doors open - racking up hundreds of millions of dollars in interest and other charges. But so far, none of them have shut their doors yet.

And while some lawmakers aren't claiming per-diem payments during the impasse, they are stockpiling them, we've learned. That means they'll be hoovering up a mess of expense payments once Gov. Tom Wolf affixes his official John Hancock to an approved budget.

Thus, if you watch carefully, you may actually be able to see the banknotes flying out of the Capitol's windows sometime very soon.

The rest of the day's news starts now.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Adolph, R-Delaware, will retire at the end of his current term, PoliticsPA reports.

Our Capitol colleague Wallace McKelvey has a Porngate primer - just in time for a new year's worth of scandals and kerfuffles.

Because it's never too early to start planning ahead, PennLive's Candy Woodall has this year's primary calendar all mapped out for you.

And a few predictions, to boot.

No, seriously, the state Legislature is looking at overhauling lobbying laws, The Post-Gazette reports. The reaction, as you might expect, is mixed.

PhillyMag looks at what's in store for incoming Mayor Jim Kenney, who takes office this month.

Their chips are addicting. Their overtime practices? Not so much. Snack-maker Utz faces a lawsuit on overtime pay, WITF-FM reports.

NewsWorks/WHYY-FM has its own look at today's inaugural ceremonies in City Hall.

The search for the missing autistic child who perished over the holiday brought out "the best of the Lehigh Valley," The Morning Call reports.

Stateline.org looks at state governments' efforts to unload "money pit" buildings.

Politico looks at the "thousands" of new regulations the Obama administration will be pushing as it enters its final year.

The National Journal looks at the 11 challenges that will define Congress in 2016.

What Goes On.

The state House and Senate remain on a six-hour call until there's a final budget agreement.\

Heavy Rotation.

Here's a classic from the Harry J. All-Stars. From 1969, it's "The Liquidator.:

Monday's Gratuitous Hockey Link.

Winnipeg dropped a 4-1 decision to Anaheim in a late game on the West Coast on Sunday night.

And now you're up to date. See you all back here in a bit.
15 instructor update events scheduled over next several months

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The American Heart Association, a U.S.-based nonprofit and one of the world's largest volunteer organizations committed to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, is hosting a series of conferences to teach instructors the latest science and updated training based off its recently published 2015 Guidelines Update for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) and Emergency Cardiovascular Care (ECC).

Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151216/296712LOGO

The Guidelines Instructor conferences, designed for AHA Instructors, provide an update of new science released in the latest guidelines, and offer the guidance and tools needed to continue training until translated products are released. The 2015 AHA Guidelines for CPR and ECC, published on Oct. 15, call for integrated systems of care that participate in continuous quality improvement and that provide a common framework for both community and healthcare-based resuscitation systems.

"At the American Heart Association, we believe everyone deserves to live a healthier, longer life. That's why we are committed to the expansion of science-based lifesaving training solutions in the Middle East and North Africa," said Monica Kleinman, MD, of Children's Hospital Boston, who is also an author on the guidelines writing committee and a member of the AHA's Emergency Cardiovascular Care committee.

"It's very exciting to unveil the 2015 Guidelines to instructors, training centers and educators who can help deliver the latest science and educational information to their students," said Kleinman.

AHA courses are designed to reduce disability and death caused by cardiovascular disease and stroke  the leading cause of death in the world, and throughout the Middle East and North Africa. With the help of a global network of international training centers, the AHA trains more than 17 million people a year globally in lifesaving first aid, CPR and advanced cardiovascular care.

From its regional office located at Dubai Healthcare City (DHCC) free zone in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, the AHA supports program development and works with 134 training centers and 120 sites throughout the Middle East and North Africa providing lifesaving training courses in the region.

The AHA has about 3,000 staff and more than 22 million volunteers and supporters worldwide. It has a network of 400,000 instructors and 3,500 affiliated training centers.

The schedule of regional events: (Please note some have already taken place.)

November 2015

22 Nov. Sharjah, UAE

26 Nov. Doha, Qatar

28 Nov. Lahore, Pakistan

December 2015

1 Dec. Muscat, Oman

4 Dec. Cairo, Egypt

8 Dec. Jebail, Lebannon

10 Dec. Abu Dhabi, UAE

15 Dec. Dubai, UAE

17 Dec. Kuwait City, Kuwait

19 Dec. Amman, Jordan

January 2016

5 Jan. Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

7 Jan. Al Ain, UAE

18 Jan. Manama, Bahrain

21 Jan. Jeddah, Saudi Arabia

30 Jan. Al-Khobar, Saudi Arabia

Events will be hosted by: UAE Ministry of Health Training Center in Sharjah, Primary Health Care Corporation ITC in Doha, College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan in Lahore, Sultan Qaboos University Hospital Training Center in Muscat, National Heart Institute Training Center in Cairo, Lebanese American University Clinical Simulation Center in Jebail, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi LLC in Abu Dhabi, American Hospital Dubai in Dubai, Emergency Medical Services Training Center in Kuwait, The Specialty Hospital Life Support Training Center in Amman, King Khalid University Hospital in Riyadh, Tawam Hospital in Al-Ain, King Hamad University Hospital in Manama, King Saud Bin Abdul Aziz University Health Science in Jeddah and Saad Specialist Hospital in Al-Khobar.

Both United States and Regional Speakers will be traveling to be the lecturers at these events.

The AHA guidelines, which are based off the latest resuscitation research, have been published since 1966 to provide science-based recommendations for treating cardiovascular emergencies  particularly cardiac arrest in adults, children, infants and newborns.

For almost 50 years, the American Heart Association's CPR and ECC guidelines have been used to train millions in CPR, first aid and advanced cardiovascular care around the world. These guidelines are based on an international evaluation process that involved hundreds of resuscitation scientists and experts worldwide who evaluated thousands of peer-reviewed publications.

This year's update provides recommendations on the data where new evidence requires a systematic review, in part, due to a network of trainers who regularly implement the CPR and ECC guidelines and rely on the science to inform the most effective care.

To learn more about the American Heart Association's emergency cardiovascular care programs and other efforts around the world, visit international.heart.orghttp://www.global.heart.org/.

About the American Heart Association

The American Heart Association is a global leader in the discovery and dissemination of heart disease and stroke science, and is widely known and highly respected as one of the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to preventing, treating and defeating cardiovascular diseases and stroke. We team with millions of volunteers to fund innovative research, fight for stronger public health policies, and provide lifesaving tools and information to prevent and treat these diseases. To learn more about the AHA, visit heart.org or call +1-800-242-8721. At this time, our call center only supports English inquiries. To learn more about the American Heart Association's emergency cardiovascular care programs and other efforts around the world, visit international.heart.orghttp://www.global.heart.org/.

Related Links

http://www.americanheart.org



SOURCE American Heart Association
ZHOUZHUANG, China, Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- On Jan. 3, Zhouzhuang hosted a Wansan yellow rice wine tasting on the gaily painted boat, guests toured around the water town down the ancient canals while savoring the wine aged to perfection.

Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160104/318789

The wine sampled at the seminar were from Yuanfengshun, the largest folk yellow rice wine brewery in town, which was founded in 1821 during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1912). The brew workshop opened in 2001 is housed in an ancient stone and brick building where visitors can buy authentic yellow rice wine and learn about the wine culture at the same time.

Huang jiu, which translates into yellow wine, is a unique Chinese alcoholic beverage made with water and cereal grains.

"Good water makes better wines, and Zhouzhuang is a town surrounded by four lakes  Cheng Lake, Baixian Lake, Dianshan Lake and South Lake, which promises the best quality," said Huang Guoxing, a wine maker in Zhouzhuang. "Yellow rice wine is rooted in our daily life, it is indispensable in every household."

Huang, now in his 60s, has 40 years of wine making experience. To make the yellow rice wine, he sources good quality rice and wheat from local farmers and brews in the traditional method.

The ancient craftsmanship of making yellow rice wine by hand includes eight steps from steaming the rice, fermentation to pressing and boiling the wine.

The newly brewed yellow rice wine is strong and sweet, and most people prefer the aged brews with mellower and richer taste, said Huang.

The history of yellow rice wine in Zhouzhuang traces back to early Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) when Shen Wansan, the richest man across the region at the time, brought yellow rice wine every time he sailed away from home. He drank the wine to heal the nostalgia, gifted the wine to explore new opportunities and sold the wine to profit.

The wine is best enjoyed as a warm beverage to bring out a mild and aromatic flavor different from other liquors and help with the cold winter days.

Young people also prefer to drink chilled yellow rice wine, even make it into cocktails by mixing with lemon, candied plum and soda water.

"People in Zhouzhuang has a long history of drinking yellow rice wine, its distinct taste combined with medicinal values makes it the most popular beverage for hundreds of years," Huang said.

The yellow rice wine also packs amino acids, vitamins and minerals. It's often paired with rich and bold flavored dishes such as steamed hairy crab, a seasonal favorite as well as the famous Wansan braised pork knuckle that one can only find in Zhouzhuang.

In recent years, Zhouzhuang has hosted many events joined by master winemakers and yellow rice wine lovers to celebrate the history and heritage of winemaking in Zhouzhuang.

"Yellow rice wine is part of the Zhouzhuang lifestyle, the well preserved distilleries are passed down through generations where visitors can travel back in time to experience the ancient brewing process, savoring wine and history at the same time" said Mr. Zhang, general manager ofJiangsu Water-town Zhouzhuang Tourism Company.

About Zhouzhuang

As the oldest and best preserved water town in China, Zhouzhuang's 900 years of Chinese history and culture present visitors the opportunity to immerse in an original lifestyle. The food scene in town brings a unique dining experience that combines ancient tales and mouthwatering delicacies. Zhouzhuang is one of the only two Chinese locations listed on the New York Times' World's 52 Places to go in 2015.

CONTACT:

Zou Lei

+86-150-5023-9114

mailto:zl@zhouzhuang.net

SOURCE Jiangsu Water Town Zhouzhuang Tourism Co, Ltd.
Long before prom queens became a focus of reality TV, South Philadelphia's Zinni family was outfitting young women for the big dance.

What Jennie and Louis Zinni did not have to contend with when they opened for business on South 12th Street in 1946 was social media.

In the retail business, it can be both a blessing and a curse, said Carolyn Zinni, the daughter who carries on Zinni's of Philadelphia, albeit in Springfield, Delaware County.

Lousy reviews on Yelp or snarky remarks on Twitter can reach thousands in no time and ruin a business. But social media also are a customer-development tool impossible for merchants to ignore, especially if they want to reach millennials, Zinni said.

"I am exploring ways I can leverage that to scale our business while also maintaining our boutique charm," she said as the store celebrates 70 years.

Image: teal bridesmaid dresses

In the meantime, defensive moves protect against online-assisted competition. Picture-taking is banned in the shop, and style numbers on dress tags are recoded to make it harder for customers to use the store for browsing and then purchasing elsewhere.

Saturday marked the new season's debut of prom fashions at Zinni's of Philadelphia. Some dresses even sold during Christmas week, Carolyn Zinni said.

Proms make up 70 percent of the shop's sales. An in-house registry helps staff members - typically three or four, up to seven in peak seasons - execute a store policy that tries to ensure that the same dress is never sold to more than one student at a school.

"There's a lot of joy, but you also see girls here stomping their feet because they didn't get the dress they wanted," Zinni said of life in her boutique on Baltimore Pike, from which 780 prom dresses were sold last season at an average $450 each. Dresses run as high as $2,000; 25 a year are donated to the needy.

Zinni, 58, never attended a prom, so hers might seem an unlikely career choice - until you learn how dresses were the fabric of her upbringing.

"We grew up there," she said, the we also referring to her two sisters and a brother. There meant the shop her parents operated at 2024 S. 12th St. until the 1970s.

It started as a men's store. Zinni's was robbed of everything but the racks its first year, Carolyn said. Her mother took it as a sign, so they reopened as a dress shop, with Jennie doing the buying and selling, and Louis the books and alterations.

In the 1970s, the Zinnis moved the shop to bigger quarters on East Passyunk Avenue.

Jennie Zinni, now 92 and trying to get discovered as a songwriter - "I do want to get famous" - said she always had a knack for stylish dressing, so the dress business "came natural."

Even in retirement, she offers critiques of Carolyn's inventory and displays. And she's been known to demand mystical actions, such as salt at the store's doorstep, to ward off any bad vibes.

By the time Carolyn was a teenager, she wanted no part of her parents' store. In 1983, she moved away, her marriage to a doctor-in-training taking her to Mexico, Ohio, New York, and Florida. She returned to the Philadelphia area in 1993 and went to work at Latrice, a Bryn Mawr shop specializing in sportswear and evening wear that is owned by her sister Angela Abruzzese. Sister Maria Bennett owns Mia's of Philadelphia, a women's clothing store on Passyunk Avenue, at their parents' former location.

In 2004, Louis Zinni's health was fading as Carolyn, a divorced mother of three boys, was harboring "a fantasy of my dresses hanging in the window" of a storefront on Baltimore Pike near her Springfield home.

With a $100,000 loan from her father, she opened Zinni's of Philadelphia there as her parents closed the city store. With it came something in short supply on Passyunk: parking, "25 spots in front, 75 in back," Zinni boasted.

More than doubling the number of schools her parents sold to - 306 today, from a 20-mile radius - Zinni paid off the loan in 24 months. While not disclosing financials, she said she has increased sales each year since opening.

"Despite the proliferation of online shopping, we believe there will continue to be a vibrant brick-and-mortar need as customers are still interested in the experience of shopping," said William J. Park, a partner and retail expert at Deloitte & Touche. "That experience includes store visualization, product display, and personal service."

At Zinni's of Philadelphia, it includes mimosas for the adults and fashion shows on flat-screen TVs.

Carolyn Zinni quit high school in 10th grade - "I could not conform to a formal education; I was so distracted," - and found beauty school a better fit. She worked in the hair salon at Nan Duskin on Walnut Street for five years, returning to school at 35 to get her general education diploma.

Her focus now is on business and personal growth, the latter a project since her engagement to former State Sen. Vincent J. Fumo ended over the summer.

"I've learned to be so vulnerable, and I feel it's my greatest asset," Zinni said at her shop, where she sees plenty of vulnerability. She tries to boost confidence by getting girls in the right dress.

"Prom girls know what they like," she said, "but not what they look good in."

Also Read: http://www.kissybridesmaids.com/orange-peach-bridesmaid-dresses
Eileen Crane, CEO and Founding Winemaker Domaine Carneros Participants in A Taste of Life become members of a social club that offers fine dining, delicious wines and added exclusive activities and amenities.

MmMmTravel is announcing Domaine Carneros Winerys 2016 Taste of Life wine cruises. The sailings, a SeaDream Caribbean cruise over Valentines Day from Bridgetown, Barbados to Marigot, Saint Martin and an early June Silversea Mediterranean Silver Spirit cruise from Rome to Istanbul are both hosted by Eileen Crane, Founding Winemaker and CEO. Both journeys feature luxury vessels offering ideal ways to experience these delightful parts of the world.

Eileen Crane, often referred to as Americas Doyenne of Sparkling Wine, has spent 35 years in the wine industry. Eileen is one of a handful of women who are now in the forefront of the wine industry in California. Recognized by Forbes as the most powerful woman in Napa Valley, Eileen is actively involved in numerous wine and civic organizations

Taste of Life vacations are organized by Michael Mastrocola's MillenniuM. As participants in A Taste of Life, guests become members of a social club that offers fine dining, delicious wines and added exclusive activities and amenities. Led by wine and culinary professionals, guests are encouraged to expand their experience via small group discussions, tastings and demonstrations onboard, elevating their vacation enjoyment while taking the journey at their leisure and shunning the traditional tour group feel. For luxury travelers, this translates into unparalleled culinary and wine experiences at no extra cost.

SeaDream Yacht Clubs motto is, its yachting, not cruising. A celebration of the yachting lifestyle, casual dress, relaxed itineraries, an onboard watersports marina and superlative service all keep guests returning annually to their yacht. This sailing visits St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, St. Kitts & Nevis and the French West Indies.

Silversea Cruise Line is known for their small ultra-luxury ships and all-inclusive value. Amenities include pre-paid gratuities, all-suite accommodations, complimentary beverages onboard including wine and spirits and daily wifi. Countries visited on this June 1 to 11food & wine cruise include Italy, Malta, Greece and Turkey. A pre-cruise program to Florence is available, and customized post sailing programs are available in Turkey.

Those wishing for more information or to participate need to contact Michael Mastrocolas MillenniuM.
David M. Rubenstein, the co-founder and co-chief executive officer of The Carlyle Group, will deliver the graduation address at the commencement ceremony of the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School on Tuesday, May 17, 2016, at the Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore.

The Carlyle Group, co-founded by Mr. Rubenstein in 1987, is a global alternative asset manager with more than $188 billion in assets under management.

Mr. Rubenstein is a very successful business leader and exemplary citizen with a longstanding commitment to higher education. He has served as an emeritus member of the Johns Hopkins University board of trustees, and he is a current member of the Johns Hopkins Medicine board of trustees, as well as many other boards, said Bernard T. Ferrari, dean of the Carey Business School. I know our graduates will benefit from his insights.

A native of Baltimore, Rubenstein graduated magna cum laude from Duke University, where he was elected Phi Beta Kappa. After Duke, he earned his law degree from the University of Chicago Law School, where he was an editor of the Law Review.

Before founding The Carlyle Group, Rubenstein practiced law in New York with Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison. He later served as chief counsel to the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committees Subcommittee on Constitutional Amendments. During the Carter Administration, he was deputy assistant to the President for Domestic Policy. After his White House service, Rubenstein practiced law in Washington with Shaw, Pittman, Potts & Trowbridge (now Pillsbury, Winthrop, Shaw Pittman).

Currently, Mr. Rubenstein is chairman of the boards of trustees of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and of Duke University, a regent of the Smithsonian Institution, co-chairman of the Brookings Institution, vice-chairman of the Council on Foreign Relations, a trustee of the National Gallery of Art and president of the Economic Club of Washington.

In addition to his role at Johns Hopkins Medicine, he is also on boards of the University of Chicago, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, the Institute for Advanced Study, and the boards of the Smithsonian Institutions National Museum of American History and the National Museum of Natural History.

Mr. Rubenstein is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Business Council (vice-chairman), visiting committee of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, the Harvard Business School board of deans advisors, the board of trustees of the Young Global Leaders Foundation, advisory board of the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University (chairman), the Madison Council of the Library of Congress (chairman), and the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum.

Founded in 2007, the Johns Hopkins Carey Business School supports business knowledge development and education through its own initiatives, innovations, and collaborative programs across the Johns Hopkins University. The Carey Business School creates and shares knowledge that shapes business practices while educating business leaders who will grow economies and societies, and are exemplary citizens.
Cubic Global Defense(CGD), a business unit of Cubic Corporation (NYSE: CUB), today announced the award of a three-year, $15 million task order to provide the Future Warfare Division (FWD) with Future Study Plan (FSP)/Unified Quest (UQ) events services under the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC)s Capabilities Integration Center(ARCIC). Cubic will support ARCICs overall efforts for FSP/UQ events including, planning, preparation, execution, assessment and analytical integration.

FSP/UQ events are the Army Chief of Staffs study plan designed to explore complex strategic and operational challenges, identify issues and explore solutions critical to current and future development. UQ assists senior Army leaders in making decisions using a variety of realistic mid- to long-range strategic settings to develop or examine a broad set of ideas about future conflict that could impact the Army.

Team Cubic (composed of four industry partners: Abrams Learning and Information Systems, Inc.; J.L. Marshall and Associates; Virginia Modeling and Simulation Center; and Infinite Services and Solutions, Inc.) fulfilled the capability requirements of the FSP/UQ events task order based on innovative and adaptable processes, proven planning capabilities and the ability to form a highly qualified team to complete the tasks.

Cubic looks forward to partnering with ARCICs FWD to deliver an integrated and measurable business plan that assigns responsibility, defines milestones and shows performance-based results across each requirement and event, said Bill Toti, president of Cubic Global Defense. Our team has the technical knowledge and leadership to support FWD, and we will continue to make great effort to support the Army in achieving their Force 2025 and Beyond initiative.

TRADOCs ARCIC is responsible for the development of requirements, concepts and products across all elements of doctrine, organization, training, material, leader development and education, personnel and facilities (DOTMLPF) for the transformation of the Army. Introduced in 2014, the Force 2025 and Beyond is the U.S. Armys comprehensive strategy to change the Army and deliver landpower capabilities as an instrument of the future Joint Force.

# # #

About Cubic Corporation

Cubic Corporation designs, integrates and operates systems, products and services focused in the transportation, defense training and secure communications markets. As the parent company of two major business units, Cubics mission is to increase situational awareness and understanding for customers worldwide. Cubic Transportation Systems is a leading integrator of payment and information technology and services to create intelligent travel solutions for transportation authorities and operators. Cubic Global Defense is a leading provider of realistic combat training systems, secure communications and networking and highly specialized support services for military and security forces of the U.S. and allied nations. For more information about Cubic, please visit the company's website at http://www.cubic.com or on Twitter @CubicCorp.

Media Contact

Laura Chon

Corporate Communications

Cubic Corporation

858-505-2181

laura(dot)chon(at)cubic(dot)com
Through this partnership, we will be able to assist more companies in the region either directly or through collaboration with incubators and consultants interested in offering the greenlight.guru platform to their incubatees and clients.

INDIANAPOLIS and SINGAPORE: greenlight.guru, the software company that produces an award-winning electronic quality management system (eQMS) solution for medical device companies, and Yeng & Leong MedTech Consultancy, a medical device regulatory consultancy firm, announced a new strategic partnership today to distribute the software in Asia.

With Yeng & Leong MedTech Consultancys regional experience and innovative approach to regulatory consulting, the partnership is focused on introducing greenlight.gurus eQMS platform to MedTech companies, incubators and consultants in the Asian markets.

greenlight.guru and Yeng & Leong MedTech Consultancy will help medical device companies to navigate the ever shifting regulatory environment, enabling them to bring safer products to market faster. David DeRam, greenlight.guru CEO and co-founder, said, The regulatory landscape is changing and global regulatory bodies are becoming more risk-centric. Companies are adopting new technologies to navigate these hurdles. Working with strategic partners like Yeng & Leong MedTech Consultancy in Asia allows us to reach out to more MedTech companies in this part of the world.

Some of the most innovative medical device companies in the world, spanning four continents and nine countries, use greenlight.gurus beautifully simple eQMS solution to help them ensure compliance, reduce risk and improve team collaboration from the idea stage all the way through post-commercialization. This strategic partnership will allow the same for clients in the Asian medical device commercial market, which is valued at more than USD $55 billion in 2014.

"We started this company with the aim of helping more companies in Asia bring their medical devices to market by helping them to overcome regulatory hurdles, said Jason Lim, CEO and co-founder of Yeng & Leong MedTech Consultancy. Through this partnership, we will be able to assist more companies in the region either directly or through collaboration with incubators and consultants interested in offering the greenlight.guru platform to their incubatees and clients.

About Yeng & Leong MedTech Consultancy:

Yeng & Leong MedTech Consultancy helps companies establish quality management system (QMS) compliant to medical device industry standards and provides guidance necessary for navigating through the global regulatory landscape. We work with our international partners for regulatory, clinical and manufacturing support to provide our clients a comprehensive, one-stop solution so that medical devices are on track to being approved for sale in target markets. Visit http://www.ynlmedtech.com and contact us to schedule a meeting today.

About greenlight.guru:

greenlight.guru produces beautifully simple software solutions for medical device companies to allow them to bring high quality products to market faster, while reducing risk and simplifying regulatory compliance. greenlight.gurus QMS software solution provides device makers a Single Source of Truth by integrating the management of design controls, risk, controlled documents, and quality processes in one, easy to use platform. To learn more about how greenlight.gurus quality management software solution can help your team get its product to market faster, visit http://www.greenlight.guru or call 317-762-5311 to schedule a personal demo today.

Media Enquiries / All enquiries can be directed to:

Jason Lim: jason(at)yengandleong.com

Nick Tippmann: nick.tippmann(at)greenlight.guru
Our goal is nothing less than continuing to raise the bar for the destination wedding travel industry while innovating new and creative ways to address the unique needs of all of our couples worldwide.

Industry leading consumer wedding and media company, TheKnot.com, has awarded Destination Weddings Travel Group (DWTG) the Best of Weddings 2015 award, rounding out what can only be described as a banner year of recognition and accomplishment for the brand.

Best of Knot winners represent the highest rated wedding professionals as reviewed by couples, their families, and their guests on TheKnot.com. Only 2% of the sites local wedding professionals are selected as winners of the highly competitive annual award.

We are deeply honored to receive the coveted Best of Knot award, and are especially appreciative of our couples for sharing their experiences on TheKnot.com. This award caps off an incredible year of recognition for DWTG. We are humbled by the accolades that we have received for our innovation and quality of service, and are dedicated to continuing to provide couples with unmatched experiences, shares Richard Calvert, CEO of Destination Weddings Travel Group.

DWTGs 2015 awards include the Travel Weekly Magellan Award, honoring the brand for its travel agent innovations with GayDestinationWeddings.com; the Travel Impressions Best of the Best Global Award 2015, bestowed upon top performing agencies and consortia partners of Travel Impressions; and two Palace Resort Awards for top destination wedding producer and top overall producer. DWTG is also a finalist for the Travvy Award which honors excellence in the travel industry.

Additionally, in tandem with the Magellan Award from Travel Weekly, DWTG is proud to work with the Human Rights Campaign in an effort to safeguard workplace equality for LGBT employees around the world as a part of the Clinton Global Initiative.

DWTG will enjoy little time to celebrate, however, as the brand sets its sights on 2016. Calvert forecasts the companys direction in the new year, stating, Our goal is nothing less than continuing to raise the bar for the destination wedding travel industry while innovating new and creative ways to address the unique needs of all of our couples worldwide.

About Celebration Travel Group

Celebration Travel Group represents a number of award-winning tourism brands, including Destination Weddings Travel Group, with the common goal of creating destination celebrations worldwide. From dream weddings and romantic honeymoons to memorable anniversaries, luxury escapes and all-inclusive vacations, we pair the value of exclusive offers and savings with the convenience of complimentary expert planning services to ensure that each customers personalized vision becomes a reality. Find out more about Celebration Travel Groups services in their online publications, Get Married Away and Voyage.
Expanding our service offerings allows us to tailor a plan for clients for their online presence from beginning to end...Its now a seamless process.

Excel Placement Partners, LLC is excited to announce new expanded service offerings in the area of web design. Excel Placement Partners has been a leader in SEO and PPC at the local and national level, but felt they were missing out on an opportunity to help businesses that are looking for a convenient, all-in-one approach to their online marketing, authority, and overall presence.

Providing the highest level of customer service is always Excel Placement Partners' top priority, and now with the ability to offer web design services they will be able to take clients through all phases of their internet presence. Recent Google updates favoring mobile sites have also made it vitally important for businesses to have quality content and design in that space.

Overall, it seems more and more people are realizing investing in digital marketing, as well as having an aesthetically pleasing, mobile friendly, and responsive web site is not only a sound decision, but a profitable one.

Excel Placement Partners hired a team of web designers that has over 12 years of experience and the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive thus far. The agency has already seen an increase in business and has even attracted a few high-profile professional athletes looking to improve their websites.

"Offering web design services will allow us to grow as a company," said Michael Krost, President of Excel Placement Partners. Expanding our service offerings allows us to tailor a plan for clients for their online presence from beginning to end; from the creation of their website to maintenance, to reconstruction of content, and transition that right into marketing. Its now a seamless process that better serves our customers.

Krost believes providing web design services may also slightly boost SEO business in general, as some businesses may not know the importance of it when they come in for a new website. Clients will no longer have to work with multiple companies to achieve these related results, streamlining the entire process and eliminating the potential for miscommunication between two different agencies working on a business's internet infrastructure.

In celebration of the move towards a more full-service company, Excel Placement Partners is also offering a 10% discount on all web design work done through the end of January 2016.

About Excel Placement Partners, LLC

Excel Placement Partners offers full-service search engine optimization, helping businesses to turn rankings into traffic. They can help with local SEO, PPC, and more, and work to tailor their SEO strategy to your budget. To learn more, visit http://www.excelplacementpartners.com.
Jarred Kotkas I want to first and foremost help individuals who struggle with their health

Jarred Kotkas, owner of the Lethbridge Fit Body Boot Camp, will be holding a Grand Opening celebration on January 16th from 10am to 2pm at 1218 2nd Ave, South Lethbridge, Alberta T1J0E3 for the new Canadian location. Kotkas will be giving away memberships, holding boot camps, doing a meet and greet along with hosting a podcast while the event is going on. The Lethbridge Food Bank will also be accepting cash and non-perishable food donations at the event as part of their food share program to provide meals to families in need.

Fit Body Boot Camp is the worlds fastest growing and most popular indoor fitness boot camp brand, with hundreds of locations worldwide. The boot camps unique brand of fitness combines individualized personal training from licensed professionals, clinically proven Afterburn workouts, and nutritional guidance to guarantee weight loss results.

Jarred has been passionate about helping others get in shape for several years now, and believes in donating to food banks as part of his mission for health.

We opened a Fit Body Boot Camp because we wanted to reach out and support as many people as possible in finally getting fit and healthy, said Kotkas. I want to first and foremost help individuals who struggle with their health, but we feel it is important to support organizations [like Lethbridge Food Bank] because everyone deserves to be able to feed and nourish their mind, body and soul.

At the event Jarred is going to be doing drawings for memberships along with several boot camp sessions. He will also be doing meet and greets with attendees along with a podcast.

Local businesses such as Red Engine Roasting, Brio Salon, Urban Grocer, Human Powered and One Tooth Active Wear will all be contributing to the event as well to bring the community together. The Lethbridge Food Bank will be there collecting non-perishable donations as well.

Lethbridge is a quickly growing area, and the Lethbridge Food Bank relies on donations from the surrounding community in order to help families in need through their food share program. They see this program as a short term solution to a larger problem and work to help people in the long term while providing immediate assistance.

About Lethbridge Fit Body Boot Camp:

Lethbridge Fit Body Boot Camp is a part of the Fit Body Boot Camp family of indoor fitness boot camps, whose global goal is to engage 20% of the worlds population in a healthy and fit lifestyle by the year 2020. Lethbridge Fit Body Boot Camp is owned and operated by Jarred Kotkas. Kotkas is committed to helping members of the Lethbridge community set and accomplish their own health and fitness goals.

For more information about Lethbridge Fit Body Boot Camp, please call: (403) 795-1137

Visit their website at: http://www.canadafitbodybootcamp.ca/lethbridgefitnessbootcamp/

Or their Facebook page at: https://www.facebook.com/LethbridgeFitBodyBootCamp/
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Episcopal Relief & Development welcomes five new members to its Board of Directors, effective January 1, 2016:



Ms. Rosalie Ballentine of the Episcopal Diocese of the Virgin Islands;

Ms. Sophie Hollingsworth of the Episcopal Diocese of Washington;

The Rev. David C. Killeen of the Episcopal Diocese of Florida;

Mr. John A. Jock MacKinnon of the Episcopal Diocese of New York; and

Ms. Laura Ellen Muglia of the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia.

I welcome our five new board members with much gratitude and anticipation of the meaningful work we will do together, said Neel Lane, Chair of Episcopal Relief & Developments Board of Directors. Each of our new members brings unique gifts and talents to the table, as we seek constantly to elevate the organizations work and strengthen Episcopalians connection to this Church-wide ministry of global outreach.

Ms. Rosalie Ballentine is an attorney in private practice in the US Virgin Islands, formerly serving as Solicitor General and as Attorney General of the Virgin Islands. Ms. Ballentine has extensive experience in church governance, both in The Episcopal Church and in the Anglican Communion. In 2013, she succeeded fellow Episcopal Relief & Development board member Josephine Hicks as lay representative of The Episcopal Church to the Anglican Consultative Council.

Ms. Sophie Hollingsworth is a Program Officer for the International Conservation Caucus Foundation. Currently working in international development on agriculture and environmental conservation, she has a background in International Relations with on-the-ground experience in Tanzania and Rwanda. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Roy A. Hunt Foundation, serving on the International Development Committee.

The Rev. David C. Killeen is Rector of St. Johns Episcopal Church in Tallahassee, Florida, where he and the congregation created Visioning the Vineyard, a prayerful, grassroots, five-year plan for the future of St. Johns, resulting in congregational growth and vitality. In addition to strategic planning, Mr. Killeen also has deep experience in parish ministry and faith formation, helping children, youth and families learn how to live their faith through local and global outreach.

Mr. John A. Jock MacKinnon is a partner in the law firm of Sidley Austin LLP in New York. From 2002-2014, he served as a member of their Executive Committee and as co-chair of the global investment management practice. His expertise in financial auditing has made him a valuable member of Episcopal Relief & Developments Audit Committee in his six years as an adviser. He has also traveled with the organization to visit programs in El Salvador and Ghana.

Ms. Laura Ellen Muglia has focused the past decade of her life on furthering initiatives to end global poverty through investing in health and economic development. She was Co-Chair of the NetsforLife Inspiration Fund, a Church-wide campaign to raise $5 million for Episcopal Relief & Developments malaria prevention programs, and led the Episcopal Diocese of Olympia in raising $350,000 for the effort. As a consultant, she contributed to the formation of the Anglican Alliance, of which Episcopal Relief & Development is part.

I am grateful for the addition of these five new members as we embark on the visioning process for our next strategic plan, said Rob Radtke, the organizations President. Their insight and expertise will provide critical guidance for Episcopal Relief & Developments continual improvement as an agency and as a faithful ministry of The Episcopal Church.

New board members are nominated by the Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church and the Chair of the Board of Episcopal Relief & Development, in consultation with the Boards Governance Committee. Candidates are then elected by the Board, and the election takes effect when ratified by the Executive Council of The Episcopal Church. Board members are invited to serve three-year terms, which may be renewed once.

As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization operating under the General Convention of The Episcopal Church, Episcopal Relief & Development is governed by a 21-member Board of Directors that includes clergy and lay leaders from around the country. Previous Board Chair The Most Rev. Michael B. Curry transitioned to the role of Honorary Chair upon his installation as Presiding Bishop of The Episcopal Church on November 1, 2015; he is succeeded by current chair Neel Lane.

For over 75 years, Episcopal Relief & Development has served as a compassionate response to human suffering in the world. The agency works with more than 3 million people in nearly 40 countries worldwide to overcome poverty, hunger and disease through multi-sector programs, using the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as a framework. An independent 501(c)(3) organization, it works closely with Anglican Communion and ecumenical partners to help communities create long-term development strategies and rebuild after disasters.
Giving assistance to those in need is something we do every day. During the holidays, we're more motivated to reach beyond the clinic.

This Christmas season, AFC/Doctors Express Portland urgent care clinics in NE Portland, NW Portland, and Lake Oswego adopted a family through the Christmas Family Adoption Program.

The Christmas Family Adoption Foundation is a non-profit organization that identifies families who need help during the holidays in Oregon and Washington. They are the region's most active charity every Christmas, providing less fortunate families with household essentials and gift certificates for a wonderful holiday meal.

The entire AFC/Doctors Express Portland team contributed to helping one special family this holiday season, including physicians, clinical staff, the sales team, and others. Donations were collected throughout December with dozens of great gifts being purchased and wrapped during the week of Dec. 14.

Linda Stone, Lake Oswego Clinic Manager and lead coordinator of the Adopt a Family Project for AFC/Doctors Express Portland, could not contain her pride and excitement when asked about the urgent care clinic's involvement in the foundation.

"It's really about executing our Core Purpose at Doctors Express. It says that we 'value each individual and commit to improve every life we touch with dignity, care, and compassion,'" Stone said.

"Being involved in projects like this, in reality, is really just a small way to further achieve our purpose. We're very honored and fortunate to help this family. Giving assistance to those in need is something we do every day. During the holidays, we're more motivated to reach beyond the clinic," Stone added.

Gifts that were donated on behalf of AFC/Doctors Express Portland included toys, puzzles, clothes, and gift cards to local retail and grocery stores. The entire gift package was excitedly delivered to The Christmas Family Adoption Foundation on Dec. 15.

Upon arriving at the foundation, the gifts were then redelivered to the SE Portland family the next day -- an expecting single mother of three children ages 16, 8, and 2 with the baby girl due in March.

This is the third year that AFC/Doctors Express Portland has participated in the annual Adopt a Family holiday giving project. Stone added that the entire clinic is looking forward to next year's Adopt a Family program and they hope their donations helped to give this year's family a holiday that they'll never forget.

About AFC/Doctors Express Portland

AFC/Doctors Express Portland offers the care patients need, whether it's treatment for injuries or illness, lab testing, vaccines, or physicals. AFC/Doctors Express Portland has experienced providers, a pharmacy, and an onsite lab for one-stop convenience. To learn more, visit http://www.doctorsexpressportland.com.
Gaia logo The I Live Yoga Tour is designed to inspire and encourage participation in healthy personal transformations through the practice of yoga. And, we're looking for two dynamic yoga practitioners to represent the tour across the country...

Gaia and Yoga Journal today announced the launch of the first ever Live Be Yoga Tour, an interactive, community outreach program, and the search for two brand ambassadors.

The Live Be Yoga Tour is designed to inspire and encourage participation in healthy personal transformations through the practice of yoga, said Carin Gorrell, Yoga Journal editor in chief. Were looking for two dynamic yoga practitioners to represent the tour across the country at events, in the communities and on-camera.

Selected brand ambassadors will be on the inaugural Live Be Yoga Tour from April through September 2016. In addition to a paycheck, Yoga Journal and Gaia will provide the tour vehicle as well as the costs of gas, food, and lodging.

Interested yoga practitioners should apply at yogajournal.com/livebeyoga.

Yoga Journal and Gaia are coming together with their shared vision to help transform peoples lives to be happier, healthier, and more fulfilled both on and off the yoga mat. The Live Be Yoga Tour will visit more than 50 yoga studios, festivals, events, and more around the country. At each stop, the Live Be Yoga Tour will ask yogis to share on camera their inspiring stories of how they discovered yoga in the studio and at home, how it transforms their lives, and how they continue to find life balance through living their yoga. The tour will also discover and spotlight the countrys most talented yoga teachers and top locations for yoga practice, retreats, and teacher-trainings.

The tours full schedule will be determined in Q1 of 2016, but has some milestone stops at YJ Live! events where practitioners connect with their local yoga communities. The Live Be Yoga Tour will begin at YJ LIVE! New York City in early April, make its way across the country to YJ LIVE! San Diego in June, and wrap up at YJ LIVE! Estes Park Colorado in September.

The #LiveBeYoga movement can be followed online at yogajournal.com/livebeyoga, where viewers will be able to access exclusive content, interviews, and teachings.

About Yoga Journal

Founded in 1975 by members of the California Yoga Teachers Association, Yoga Journal (yogajournal.com) offers all practitionersfrom beginners to mastersexpert information on how to live a healthier, happier, more fulfilling life both on and off the mat. Every day, Yoga Journal engages its print, online, and live audience with top teacher insights and in-depth reporting on poses, breathing, meditation, nutrition, health, trends, and more. Always informative and inspiring, the magazines welcoming, inclusive point of view puts every reader in front of the worlds best teachers. With 12 international editions spanning 28 countries, and five national live events annually, Yoga Journal is the worlds largest and most influential yoga brand.

About Gaia

Gaia, previously Gaiam TV, is a streaming video subscription service offering exclusive streaming conscious-media content. Gaias library contains more than 7,000 films, documentaries and original programs to guide its viewers on their journeys of personal growth, spirituality and seeking truth. Gaia offers members the unique capability to download content for offline viewing. Gaia is currently available on the Apple TV, iPad, iPhone, Google Chromecast, Roku and internet browsers. For more information, visit http://www.Gaia.com.

###

For more information contact:

Dayna Macy, dmacy(at)aimmedia(dot)com

415-591-0729

or

Nicole Gladden, ngladden(at)dstreetpr(dot)com

404-861-4440
SMC and The Technology Association of Georgia Supply Chain & Logistics Society cordially invites its members and the logistics community at large to attend the inaugural 2016 SMC Logistics Technology Summit.

This year, TAG is partnering with SMC as the organization works to bring this new offering to technology professionals throughout Georgia. The event, which will be hosted on January 19 at the Loews Atlanta Hotel, serves as a TAG monthly society meeting for the supply chain and logistics chapter of its membership. For more information and to register, visit https://www.123signup.com/event?id=pbtbb.

The supply chain technology event, which offers attendees a full day of sessions focused on emerging IT trends and opportunities, is part of SMC three-day Jump Start 2016 conference. SMC has picked topics for the LTS that will stimulate discussion about the technology of transportation and strengthen the tech community within Georgia and nationwide. To accomplish this task, panelists and speakers will discuss the evolution of tracking technology, surviving the data explosion, emerging tools for 3PLs, and autonomous delivery vehicles. Jump Start audiences include representatives from some of the most recognized regional and national trucking, shipping, logistics and technology companies, so first-time attendees are sure to witness lively, interactive discussion among attendees as they analyze industry trends and topics.

The Logistics Technology Summit brings together some of the top thought leaders in the industry. Panelists and speakers include Jon Fox, vice president of strategy, Load Delivered Logistics; Chris Jones, executive vice president of marketing and services, Descartes; Jeff Metersky, vice president of Solutions Strategy, Llamasoft; and Ken Pehanick, president and CEO, SaaS Transportation.

Please note: attendees interested in attending the IGNITE networking event from 4:00  6:30 should contact Amy Stankosky, Phone: 770.486.5802, E-mail: astankosky@smc3.com

About TAG Supply Chain & Logistics

The goal of the TAG Supply Chain & Logistics Society is to bring together industry professionals from logistic functions to share insights and leading practices. Together we will be the catalyst for identifying current and future value driven practices and innovative technology solutions to support the global supply chain. As a result, we will deliver sustainable ideas, new ways of working together, information sharing, and professional growth that will help the community positively improve the flow of goods and services to meet customer's requirements in the 21st century.

About The Technology Association of Georgia (TAG)

TAG is the leading technology industry association in the state, serving more than 28,000 members through regional chapters in Metro Atlanta, Athens, Augusta, Columbus, Macon/Middle Georgia, and Savannah. TAGs mission is to educate, promote, and unite Georgias technology community to foster an innovative and connected marketplace that stimulates and enhances a tech-based economy.

The association provides networking and educational programs; celebrates Georgias technology leaders and companies; and advocates for legislative action that enhances the states economic climate for technology. TAG hosts over 200 events each year and serves as an umbrella organization for 34 professional societies. For more information visit the TAG website at http://www.tagonline.org.

About SMC

SMC is the leading provider of data, technology and education as an integrated solution to the freight transportation community. SMC delivers its core competencyLTL pricing expertisethrough collaborative pricing technology that supports end-to-end, ongoing predictability in shipper/3PL-carrier relationships. Best known for its CzarLite, Bid$ense and RateWare solutions, the company serves more than 5,000 customers throughout North America, including shippers, carriers, logistics service providers and freight-payment companies. The company also partners with leading transportation software developers for complete interoperability.
The beauty of the Diagnotes platform is it allows our members to use it in any way they want. It makes our providers more accessible, with a technology platform that is secure, HIPAA compliant, and easy to use.

Physicians, patients, nurses, caregivers and others in central Indiana will be able to collaborate on a secure texting platform, thanks to a new agreement signed between Suburban Health Organization (SHO) and Diagnotes, an Indiana-based Health IT company. Nine SHO member organizations can now more readily utilize Diagnotes to send and receive HIPAA-compliant text messages, consolidate on-call schedules, access patient medical records and more, potentially connecting them to any patient or physician in their community.

Major Hospital has been using Diagnotes for more than a year. Hancock Regional Hospital, Hendricks Regional Health and Margaret Mary Health recently signed on with Diagnotes, and officials at SHO say other member hospitals are now considering adding on the service.

SHO is an organization of independent central Indiana hospitals/hospital systems working together to promote clinical alignment, to maximize quality performance, and to provide shared services across its member organizations. Our Suburban Hospitals have varied needs for secure communication practices, said Dr. Craig Wilson, CMO of SHO. Some want to more effectively connect with patients. Some want to connect employed and independent ambulatory physicians with the care teams at their hospitals. Others may want to have texting connections with caregivers at their long-term care centers in order to maximize safe post-acute transitions of care. The beauty of the Diagnotes platform is it allows our members to use it in any way they want. It makes our providers more accessible, with a technology platform that is secure, HIPAA compliant, and easy to use. We expect it to improve operational efficiencies and facilitate better healthcare delivery for our members who choose to use it, he said.

With 600 employed physicians and many more who have hospital privileges, the impact of a move to Diagnotes by any one of the SHO Hospitals could be significant. In aggregate, SHO Hospitals currently staff over 750 inpatient beds, are affiliated with over 200 nursing homes, and oversee approximately 23,000 inpatient discharges and 1 million outpatient visits annually. Diagnotes makes it possible for physicians and care teams to record their communications back and forth with each other as they collaborate on one patient, both one to one, and in team-based messages.

Beyond secure texting, SHO members can record the work physicians and nurses do when handling patient calls and conferencing with each other on patient care. This may allow them to receive reimbursement from Medicare for the time they spend on non-face-to-face care of patients with chronic conditions like Diabetes or Heart Disease. The technology will allow the organization added flexibility to offer patient care and place a renewed focus on patient education and outreach, Wilson said.

We are excited about the potential our technology has for Suburban Health Organization, said David Wortman, CEO of Diagnotes. We believe it will help the hospitals rethink the way they communicate with patients, and with each other. Other clients have used our platform to deliver care to patients in a more collaborative way. The beauty of this agreement is it will allow SHO member health systems to leverage our communication platform in ways that work best for them, he added.

About Diagnotes:

Diagnotes, Inc. is an Indianapolis-based health IT company, dedicated to providing trackable and HIPAA-compliant communications between patients, physicians and their care teams. With Diagnotes, users can exchange messages and access key information from a patients electronic medical record from any location on any device  ensuring compliance while improving care team effectiveness. By enabling more effective collaboration, Diagnotes increases revenue, decreases cost, and enhances both provider and patient satisfaction. For more information about Diagnotes, visit http://www.diagnotes.com.

About Suburban Health Organization:

Suburban Health Organization (SHO) is a partnership of Central Indiana Hospitals that work together to promote quality, efficiency and patient access. SHO supports its hospitals, its physicians and the communities they serve through the development of strategic initiatives and shared services. From quality initiatives and physician recruitment, to managed care contracting, and a risk retention group, the strength and diversity of these services help make SHOs hospitals and physicians one of the leading provider networks in Central Indiana. For more information about SHO, visit http://www.suburbanhealth.com.
Im tremendously proud of what we were able to give back this year. The dedication of all our supported dentists and team members made it possible.

Heartland Dental, LLC, the largest dental support organization in the United States, provided over $3.6 million in charitable donations in 2015. This total includes free dental care, as well as other donations and sponsorship opportunities.

Giving back has always been a pillar of Heartland Dental, both in donating to worthy causes here in the Effingham community and nationwide, said Rick Workman, DMD, founder and active executive chairman at Heartland Dental. Im tremendously proud of what we were able to give back this year. The dedication of all our supported dentists and team members made it possible. I cant wait to continue this trend into the New Year.

Heartland Dental donated over $3.2 million in free dental care alone. This includes over $2.1 million from free dentistry events held by Heartland Dental supported offices, as well as over $930,000 from Heartland Dental supported continuing education initiatives, such as the Aesthetic Continuum. Over $390,000 was also given to various donations and sponsorships.

Dentists attend dental school to learn the skills and knowledge that allow them to provide the gift of oral health. As dentists, that is their mission  to support the health and livelihood of the communities they serve. But in addition to every day service, there are many more opportunities for dentists to expand community involvement on a mass scale. These opportunities help them reach out to even more patients in need, showcase their commitment, build long-lasting, positive reputations and unite their teams under the same cause and mindset, added Dr. Workman. Im thrilled that so many Heartland Dental supported offices are donating their time and effort to help those who do not have regular access to dental care.

About Heartland Dental

Heartland Dental, LLC is the largest dental support organization in the United States with more than 700 supported dental offices located in 32 states. Based in Effingham, Illinois and founded by Rick Workman, DMD, Heartland Dental offers supported dentists and team members continuing professional education and leadership training, along with a variety of non-clinical administrative services including staffing, human relations, procurement, administration, financial, marketing, and information technology. For more information, visit http://www.Heartland.com. Follow Heartland Dental on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
My team and I are pleased to become a part of Murchison & Cumming and look forward to adding to dynamic hospitality team, said Eiler.

Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce that James O. Eiler has joined the firms Los Angeles office as a Partner in the Hospitality Law practice group. Through the span of nearly 30 years, Mr. Eiler has become one of Californias most recognized hospitality law attorneys. Having represented a variety of claims including general negligence, premises liability, food borne illness and foreign objects, Legionella and other toxic torts, civil rights, ADA, franchise litigation and many more, Mr. Eiler understands risks associated with the hospitality industry.

Mr. Eiler grew up in the hotel and restaurant industry in Las Vegas. With a father who helped opened the Stardust Hotel in 1958 and a mother who was employed at the Sands Hotel, he has worked nearly every department there is in the hotel industry. Mr. Eiler has more than 10 years of hotel operations experience, even working full time during his first year of law school as a front office manager for a resort hotel in Anaheim, California.

A sought after author and speaker, Mr. Eiler brings his years of experience as a thought leader and industry expert to the Hospitality Law community. As an active participant in several key trade industry associations, he also helps shape regulations and legislation affecting the hospitality industries on an ongoing basis.

We are very excited to have James and his team join our firm in general, and our hospitality practice group in particular, said Managing Partner Dan L. Longo. We look forward to combining our experience in this area with the new clients that James brings with him.

Mr. Eiler lectures on Hospitality Law at California State University Long Beach and is a former Adjunct Professor of Hospitality Law for the William F. Harrah School of Hotel Management at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, dedicating much of his career to mentoring young lawyers as his way of giving back to the legal profession.

My team and I are pleased to become a part of Murchison & Cumming and look forward to adding to dynamic hospitality team, said Eiler.

A graduate of University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a B.S. in Hotel & Restaurant Administration, Mr. Eiler continued onto law school at Western State University College of Law where he was awarded the American Jurisprudence Award for Contracts, profiled in Who's Who in American Law, and was on the National Dean's List.

About Murchison & Cumming, LLP

With a firm history dating to 1930, Murchison & Cumming, LLP is a premier, AV-rated civil litigation firm with five offices in California and Las Vegas, whose attorneys specialize in the defense of domestic and international businesses, insurers and individuals, at trial and on appeal. The firm's attorneys also handle employment matters and business transactions. The firm is a member of the USLAW and Insuralex Networks.
Michael J. Nunez I am honored and humbled by the trust that the senior partners have placed in me and I look forward to many more years in the office and in this market, said Mr. Nunez.

Murchison & Cumming, LLP is pleased to announce that Michael J. Nunez has been named a Senior Partner. This marks the first time that a Las Vegas Partner has been elevated to a Senior Partner since the branchs founding in 2001. Mr. Nunez focuses his practice on general and professional liability, hospitality, HOA, D&O, breaches of fiduciary duties, and employment related matters. He brings a unique background to his practice, being both an experienced trial lawyer and experienced appellate lawyer.

Michael exemplified hard work and dedication from the moment we hired him way back when, I am happy and proud to welcome him as an equity partner in the firm, said Edmund G. Farrell, Senior Partner and Partner-in-Charge of the Los Angeles office. He has taken on every challenge thrown his way with dedication and resolve; he is a great asset and will help guide the firm to new heights in the future.

A lifelong Angelino, Mr. Nunez found a home at Murchison & Cumming working with exceptional lawyers and making invaluable connections. When the opportunity presented itself to become the Partner-in-Charge of the Las Vegas office, Mr. Nunez saw this as perfect timing to increase the firms visibility in the market. He quickly became involved in the legal community and was a founding member of Las Vegas Defense Lawyers, the defense bar of Clark County, Nevada which now has more than 150 members. Mr. Nunez continues to serve on the Board of Directors.

With a great team in place, Mr. Nunez has exciting prospects for the future development and expansion of the firms Las Vegas office. New and innovative businesses continue moving to Las Vegas, which increases the opportunity to service the clients in the community.

I am honored and humbled by the trust that the senior partners have placed in me and I look forward to many more years in the office and in this market, said Mr. Nunez.

Mr. Nunez is a graduate of University of California, Los Angeles and University of California, Hastings College of Law. He is AV rated by Martindale-Hubbell and is licensed to practice law in both California and Nevada.

About Murchison & Cumming, LLP

With a firm history dating to 1930, Murchison & Cumming, LLP is a premier, AV-rated civil litigation firm with five offices in California and Las Vegas, whose attorneys specialize in the defense of domestic and international businesses, insurers and individuals, at trial and on appeal. The firm's attorneys also handle employment matters and business transactions. The firm is a member of the USLAW and Insuralex Networks.
Source Marketing Not many people get to self-actualise and see the physical evidence of their dreams being fulfilled, but it is important to remember that happiness and success are not finite resources.

Simply put the notion is centred around the principle that mankind attracts the experiences that it thinks about - good or bad. In this way the concept suggests that realities are a mirrored reflection of the thoughts that exist in the mind, and should be kept positive in order to achieve happiness and practically enhance the quality of life.

About Source Marketing

Direct: http://sourcemarketingdirect.com/

Advocates and believers of the principle suggest by envisaging or visualising ambitions and life goals instead of current situations or realities can have significantly positive impacts on personal lives. At the same time being upset or disappointed with something only attracts more negative emotion, and magnifies even the smallest of setbacks.

Source Marketing Directs Managing Director Hector Montalvo argues that thinking about something means inviting it in to the psyche, even unwittingly. One of the key principles of the law is the understanding that constantly thinking about a certain idea makes it grow bigger, and more powerful. Hector Montalvo believes that this metaphysical principle causes ones thoughts to exert a tangible impact on success in an entrepreneurial or business environment:

The world is full of entrepreneurs and business owners who had big ideas, dared to dream big, and now have reaped the rewards in both their business and personal life. Not many people get to self-actualise and see the physical evidence of their dreams being fulfilled, but it is important to remember that happiness and success are not finite resources.

There is an abundance of scientific research that demonstrates the benefits of positive thinking, and realigning business mentality with positivity can also produce more short-term, everyday benefits. Montalvo believes that its important to channel this mind-set for success:

It is also possible to utilise the law of attraction to aid more practical business targets of attracting new clients, increasing sales and constructing new business ventures. Wanting and desiring to achieve a goal means associating it with a positive emotion, so when you think about it you only feel positive. The role of mentality cannot be overstated enough - and once harnessed properly can bring us prosperity in both our personal and business spheres of life.

Source Marketing Direct is an outsourced sales and marketing firm based in London. The firm provide productive solutions for clients needs; resulting in clients increasing their customer base and revenues so they can stay competitive within their own market. The Managing Director still expects to continue his success into 2016, both personally as an entrepreneur, and with his business Source Marketing Direct.
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If you thought the recent lull in K-12 talk on the presidential campaign trail meant candidates had forgotten how to throw shade when it comes to the Common Core State Standards, think again.

In a speech last Tuesday in Waterloo, Iowa, Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., excoriated the federal government under President Barack Obama for, among other things, trying to take over our schools with common core.

I will repeal every single one of his illegal, unconstitutional executive orders that he has put in place, and Ill do it on my first day in office ... that means we are stopping any and all work on imposing common core on this country, Rubio told the crowd. See the video of his Waterloo remarks on common core below, at the 3:25 and 7:40 marks:

Rubio got into a debate about the standards with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, a common-core backer, during a GOP presidential debate last year.

Common core isnt the subject of any presidential executive order , and the Obama administration hasnt required states to adopt it. (To the extent that standards were an issue in states waivers from No Child Left Behind, which the U.S. Department of Education used along with Race to the Top to encourage states adoption of the common core, they have been the subject of executive action.)

But heres the key point: the new Every Student Succeeds Act prohibits the federal government from incentivizing, coercing, or otherwise pushing and nudging states into adopting any set of standards, including the common core.

To be fair, many common-core opponents on both the left and right might not think thats much help at all. After all, ESSA doesnt ban the common core or discourage states from using it. But ESSA ostensibly gives Rubio what he wants concerning common core. Here, its worth noting that when Rubio had a chance to vote up or down on ESSA, he skipped last months vote . Fellow presidential hopeful Sen. Bernie Sanders, D-Vt., also declined to vote on ESSA.
The percentage of rural residents who have completed high school and some college increased between 2000 and 2014, although educational attainment levels remain lower for rural minority residents, according to a recent report.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture examined rates of rural employment, poverty, and education levels for Rural America At a Glance 2015 . The report found that between 2000 and 2014, the percentage of rural adults with a four-year college degree increased by 4 percentage points while the percentage of rural residents without a high school diploma or GED decreased by 9 percentage points. Although this rate still lags urban areas, the report found that the percentage of rural adults who have an associates degree or have completed some college is now greater than that in urban areas.

According to the USDA, educational attainment levels are lower for rural minorities, including black, Hispanic, and Native American residents. In 2014, only 13 percent of white rural residents had less than a high school diploma, compared to 40 percent of rural Hispanic residents and 25 percent of rural black residents. These attainment levels directly correspond to unemployment rates, according to the report. Rural residents with more education are more likely to be employed, due to a demand for more highly-skilled labor in rural areas.

The report also looked into how education attainment rates have impacted rural child poverty and found that child poverty rates are higher in rural areas that have lower educational attainment rates. Overall, rural child poverty rose during the recession and has increased in post-recession years. In 2014, 25.2 percent of rural children lived in poverty compared to about 22 percent in 2007.
How Much Does a Criminal Defense Attorney Cost?

Criminal defense lawyers vary widely in quality and price. You can pay a lot for an attorney's fancy office but that is no indication of skill in court. Or -- if you are indigent -- you could end up with a truly top notch attorney with lots of experience, appointed by the state, whose fees you do not pay.

Apart from how much a lawyer charges, there are many other factors that influence what you'll pay for a criminal defense attorney. Let's take a look at them here, so you can know what to expect when you hire a lawyer.

Factors at Play

How much you will pay for a lawyer depends on a lot of factors, including your charges, or the crimes in question, your goals and tolerance for legal process or your defense strategy, and your location. There is also the lawyer's fee structure to consider. Some lawyers charge on a per case basis and some at an hourly rate, while others might name an initial fee and adjust as the case continues.

The severity of the charges you face also influence fees. A misdemeanor charge is less severe than a felony, for one, and then there are the facts of your case. If the state is operating with little evidence and your lawyer believes that a dismissal is possible, you might pay for initial court appearances and some negotiations with the prosecutor and be done with the matter.

But if it is more complicated -- and most cases are -- you will have to decide whether to take a negotiated plea or go to trial. Sometimes the cost of pleading guilty is more than anyone can afford, and so a trial is necessary. And sometimes people cannot afford to take the risk of an unknown outcome at trial and their whole goal is just to negotiate a reasonable plea and move on.

If you are accused of a crime and you are subject to incarceration, you are entitled to representation. This is unlike any other area of the law and the reason for the guarantee is that freedom is at stake. Where the state can take someone's liberty, the need for a fair process is highlighted, so the indigent accused are guaranteed a public defender. In other words, everyone needs a criminal defense attorney and money ought not be a factor in justice.

Consult With Counsel

Do not pick your lawyer by the price alone. Meet with the person, assess the attorney's communication skills, and hear what they have to say about your case. Do not assume that a high fee is a guarantee of good representation or that a very busy law office is a sign of successful representation. Some lawyers are good at business and not great representatives.

A good defense lawyer will explain your case to you and give you realistic options. The best defense lawyer for you is the one who has the time and skills to handle your case the way you need it handled.

Related Resources:
News

From Bulgaria

Bulgarian PM Borisov Saw Insolence in the Overgas  Gazprom Situation

The Bulgarian PM stressed that the Russian side has expressed comprehension in the light of the extraordinary events

AUTHOR: publics.bg

Bulgarian PM Borisov shows a document said to be proving the nonexistent gas supply orders of Overgas

 bTV



Bulgarian PM Boiko Borisov saw insolence in the situation with unsecured natural gas deliveries to domestic consumers in Bulgaria, which saw gas distribution company Overgas ask state-owned Bulgargaz to take over deliveries at 18.30 EET on December 31, 2015.

Mr. Borisov explained this morning in the studio of bTV, that the government also envisaged using quantities from the Russian transit, if the need had arisen, even though this would have cost Bulgaria and extra 10 percent on the gas price. The Bulgarian PM stressed that the Russian side has expressed comprehension in the light of the extraordinary events. He explained this with the willingness of Moscow to have two pipes with a capacity of 10 bn cub. m each at the interconnector (Note from the editor: Mr. Borisov is most likely alluding to the Bulgaria  Romania gas interconnector which is currently under construction).

Returning to the gas supply situation, Bulgarias PM said that there could have been a failure in the countrys energy system, should all consumers using gas had switched to electricity for heating.

Mr. Borisov went on to show a paper showing that the gas orders of Overgas to Gazprom were zero next to a zero.

Gazprom warned us through the Bulgarian Energy Holding and Bulgargaz that one of our main distributors, responsible for the households supply is not making any orders, Mr. Borisov stated.

The PM said that his relations with Mr. Sasho Donchev, CEO of Overgas remain rather good, despite the critical stance towards the government assumed by newspaper Sega, owned by the latter.
What young readers need is a superheroor, at least, someone who knows how to write about one. The new National Ambassador for Young Peoples Literature is Gene Luen Yang, the current writer of DC Comics Superman series, winner of the Printz Award, and two-time National Book Award finalist.

I was on my way to a middle school in October when my editor, Mark Siegel, called to tell me Id been chosen and swore me to secrecy, Yang recalled. I wasnt allowed to tell anyone, not even the escort who was taking me to the school. But I was super excited. Does anyone say no to this? Its an amazing opportunity.

Yang succeeds Kate DiCamillo, who served on the seven-member committee of educators, librarians, and booksellers that selected her replacement. I did love these two years even more than I expected to, said DiCamillo. But its a lot of traveling so Im tired, but thrilled to be handing the torch to Gene, who is just a brilliant artist. DiCamillo said she had read Yangs graphic novel duology, Boxers and Saints, which knocked my socks off, but was also impressed by his ability to connect with the ambassadors key constituencies: the adult gatekeepers of childrens literature as well as the target audience.

[Gene] can give a great presentation on the history of comics to a room full of adults but he is also fantastic with kids, DiCamillo said. Thats what you want: someone who is really good with both groups.

The ambassador program was established in 2008, by the Childrens Book Council, Every Child a Reader, and the Center for the Book in the Library of Congress, to highlight the importance of young peoples literature in developing a literate, tolerant, informed citizenry. Yang will serve a two-year term, traveling the nation to champion diversity in all formsand formatswith his platform, Reading Without Walls.

Reading breaks down the walls that divide us, he said. By reading, we get to know people outside of our own communities. We gain knowledge others dont expect us to have. We discover new and surprising passions. Reading is critical to our growth, both as individuals and as a society.

In 2006, Yangs graphic novel, American Born Chinese (Macmillan/First Second) became the first graphic novel to be named a finalist for a National Book Award and the first to win the American Library Associations Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in young adult literature. It also won an Eisner Award. Boxers and Saints (Macmillan/First Second), his two-volume graphic novel about the Boxer Rebellion, was a 2013 National Book Award finalist and won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Young Adult Literature. He is also the author of the Secret Coders series (with artist Mike Holmes). In addition to his work on the Superman comic book series, Yang is also the current writer for Nickelodeons Avatar: The Last Airbender comics.

Yang is the first-ever graphic novelist to be selected as ambassador. In addition to DiCamillo, the post has been held by Jon Scieszka (20082009), Katherine Paterson (20102011), and Walter Dean Myers (20122013).

What an inspired choice the selection committee has made, said Jon Yaged, president and publisher of Macmillan Childrens Publishing Group. [Yang] is a brilliant storyteller who makes meaningful and profound connections with readers of all ages. And he has been a de facto ambassador for reading, inclusion, and graphic novels for years.

An inauguration ceremony will take place on January 7 at 11 a.m. in room LJ-119 of the Library of Congresss Thomas Jefferson Building in Washington, D.C. The event is open to the public; no tickets are required. Yang says his speech may also include a first. Im using slides. I dont know if the other ambassadors used slides but I always do, he said. Its a crutch.
Michael Geist has rung in the new year with the first in a series of posts that set out, in eye-watering detail, the bowel-loosening terror of the effects that the secretly negotiated Trans Pacific Partnership would have on Canada if the country ratifies it.

The first installment compares early, leaked drafts of the TPP with the final language to show how US negotiators ripped out all balance and safeguards in the "intellectual property" chapter. The earlier text, supported by New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, and Mexico, would have promoted the public domain, required "quality examination procedures during the granting of intellectual property rights," and supported each member's right to support public health.

But once the US negotiators were done with the chapter, all of that was gone, replaced with this tepid language:

The protection and enforcement of intellectual property rights should contribute to the promotion of technological innovation and to the transfer and dissemination of technology, to the mutual advantage of producers and users of technological knowledge and in a manner conducive to social and economic welfare, and to a balance of rights and obligations.

Geist has future installments planned on "copyright, privacy, Internet governance, and many other issues," one a day, until Feb 4.



The Trouble with the TPP, Day 1: U.S. Blocks Balancing Objectives [Michael Geist]
BURNS, Ore. (AP)  Federal authorities kept their distance and made no immediate attempt Monday to retake a wildlife refuge in the remote high desert of Oregon after armed anti-government protesters seized it as part of a decades-long fight over public lands in the West.

The group came to the frozen high desert of eastern Oregon to contest the prison sentences of two ranchers who set fire to federal land, but their ultimate goal is to turn over the property to local authorities so people can use it free of U.S. oversight.

People across the globe have marveled that federal authorities have not moved to take back the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. Residents say they have not seen a large presence of officers, and the government's tactic generally is to monitor the situation from afar but leave them be as long as they don't show signs of violence.

That's how federal officials defused a high-profile 2014 standoff with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy over grazing rights. Now Bundy's two sons are leading the push in Oregon.

Ammon Bundy told reporters Monday that the group wants authorities to look into claims that local ranchers have been intimidated by the federal government.

Bundy spoke at the refuge south of Burns, Oregon. He said the group calls itself Citizens for Constitutional Freedom and has sent a "demand for redress" to local, state and federal officials.

They want a response within five days. Bundy did not say what the group would do if they get no response.

Reporters have seen roughly 20 people at the remote national facility.

The latest dispute traces its roots to the 1970s and the "Sagebrush Rebellion," a move by Western states like Nevada to increase local control over federal land. While ranchers and others complain of onerous federal rules, critics of the push for more local control have said the federal government should administer the public lands for the widest possible uses, including environmental and recreation.

Residents of the tiny town of Burns are concerned about the potential for violence.

Keith Landon, a longtime resident and employee at the Reid Country Store, said he knows local law enforcement officials who fear their kids will be targeted by the group.

"I'm hoping most of it's just muscle, trying to push," he said. "But it's a scary thing."

If the situation turns violent, Bundy contends that it will be because of the federal government's actions.

"I mean, we're here to restore order. We're here to restore rights, and that can go peacefully and easily," he said.

The ranchers whose cause has been the rallying cry also reject the group's support. Dwight and son Steven Hammond were convicted of arson three years ago for fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006. They served their original sentences  three months for Dwight and one year for Steven  but a judge ruled that the terms were too short under federal minimum sentencing laws.

Both men were ordered back to prison for about four years each. They have said they plan to turn themselves in Monday.

Kendra M. Matthews, an attorney for the men, said Monday they will seek clemency from President Obama.

The Bundy brothers say the group plans to stay at the refuge as long as it takes. They declined to say how many people were at the property where several pickup trucks blocked the entrance and armed men wore camouflage and winter gear.

The FBI is working with local and state authorities to "bring a peaceful resolution to the situation," the bureau said in a statement late Sunday. It said it is the agency in charge and would not release details about the law enforcement response to ensure the safety of officers and those at the refuge.

Some are criticizing the lack of action, saying it is because those occupying the property are white.

Landon, the longtime Burns resident, said he sympathizes with the Bundys' frustrations. Landon was a logger until the federal government declared the spotted owl a protected species in the 1980s, damaging the local logging industry.

"It's hard to discredit what they're trying to do out there. But I don't want anybody hurt," he said.
Karapet Kalajian, 71, was waiting in his car at Bellevue Memorial Park in Ontario on Saturday  the eve of the anniversary of his wifes death  when three family members arrived in another car, Ontario Police Sgt. Jeff Higbee said.

The three relatives walked toward the grave of Kalajians wife, who died Jan. 3, 2011, of complications from cancer, Higbee said.

Kalajian then stepped from his car and walked toward his wifes sister, Hripsime Minasyan, 59, and her husband, Misak Minasyan, 60, and opened fire. The couple, who lived in Los Angeles, died of their injuries.

Kalajian then shot himself. The third relative, an elderly woman, was unharmed. Her identity was not released.

Higbee said the murder-suicide was motivated by Kalajians difficulties in the years since his wifes death.

For more than a year, Kalajian had become estranged from his extended family, Higbee said.
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In the classic film It's a Wonderful Life, protagonist George Bailey has to seeliterally see with his own eyeswhat life would be like without him before realizing his true worth. As an alternate reality unfolds before him, a despondent George slowly learns that the sacrifices he's made for his family and community are undeniably heroic. George Bailey's heroism is quiet. It is everyday.

Right now, 5.5 million Americans are serving in similar anonymity. They are America's military caregivers: family and friends who care for America's ill or wounded service members and veterans. Military caregivers provide a range of indispensable services, saving the United States billions of dollars in health and long-term care costs.

In the wake of recent research we undertook to shed light on the contributions and plight of this invisible yet indispensable population, we ask a question much like that posed to George Bailey: What would a world without America's military caregivers look like?

Our research suggests that the answer is clear: A world without military caregivers would be a harsher one for all, particularly for those who have served. Military caregivers' sacrifices improve the lives of wounded, ill, and injured service members and veterans, more of whom would suffer without them. A world without military caregivers would add to

But caregiving does not come without a cost. Compared to non-caregivers, military caregivers consistently have worse health, more workplace problems, and greater strains in family relationships. This is worst among caregivers of those who served after September 11th.

This burden is exacerbated by some very real risks. Aging parent caregivers, for instance, will not be able to provide support indefinitely. Meanwhile, young marriages between service members and veterans and their spouse caregivers may not survive the strains of the situation. (As many as one-third end in divorce.)

But it doesn't have to be this way.

Today, RAND releases the most comprehensive study of America's military caregivers to date.

Funded by Caring for Military Families: The Elizabeth Dole Foundation, our report quantifies military caregiving in the United States, including how it affects individuals, their families, and society. We also examine current policies and programs that support military caregivers and identify gaps where caregivers' needs could be better met. Finally, we provide recommendations for Congress, health providers, and employers to better support our nation's hidden heroes.

It's a Wonderful Life closes with George Bailey's friends and family uniting to lift him out of bankruptcy and depression. In one sense, they're helping him during a dark, difficult chapter in his life. In another, they're repaying him for years of service and selflessness. They're acknowledging his quiet heroism.

Our research provides a starting point for the government, private sector, nonprofits, and society at large to now do the same for America's military caregivers. Because a world without them is simply unimaginable.

Rajeev Ramchand is a senior behavioral and social scientist and Terri Tanielian is a senior social research analyst at the nonprofit, nonpartisan RAND Corporation.

Commentary gives RAND researchers a platform to convey insights based on their professional expertise and often on their peer-reviewed research and analysis.
Donald Daniels passes beneath a wooden sign on his way to class every morning, its surface chipped and scratched with graffiti. Its message, in all-capital letters, could have been the title of a recent RAND report that helped shift the very foundation of criminal justice reform efforts. EDUCATION, it says, KEY TO THE FUTURE.

Daniels is an inmate at the California Institution for Men, a sprawling prison complex about 35 miles east of Los Angeles. He's 49 years old, a prison veteran with 14 felony convictions on his record. His latest offense, for making criminal threats, helped land him in one place where RAND's study showed he stands a good chance of turning his life around: a prison classroom.

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Pro Photography Network

Inmates who participate in any kind of educational program behind barsfrom remedial math to vocational auto shop to college-level coursesare up to 43 percent less likely to reoffend and return to prison, the study found. They also appear to be far more likely to find a job after their release, and the social stability that comes with it.

Every dollar invested in correctional education, RAND concluded, saves nearly five in reincarceration costs over three years.

For Daniels, something clicked in the basic-education prison classroom where he spends every afternoon; as evidence, he produces a red file folder stuffed with his schoolworkin which I'm getting A's! He speaks with the zeal of a new convert about finally getting his GED.

Inmates who participate in any kind of educational program behind bars are up to 43 percent less likely to return to prison.

I'm tired of society looking down at me, he says. I knew that I had to begin doing something different with my life. What I had been doing wasn't working. Education was the peek in the door that opened up my mind.

A few numbers underscore the impact and importance of RAND's findings:

More than 2.2 million people were locked up in American prisons or jails in 2013, the most recent year for which data are available; that's more than the state population of New Mexico. They are more likely to struggle with reading, to have learning disabilities, to have broken work histories and fewer job prospects. Around a third of all state prisoners never graduated from high school.

And every year, more than 700,000 state and federal prisoners are released back into their communities, often with no greater life skills than they had when they went in. The result: Around 40 percent of them commit new crimes or violate their parole, and find themselves back behind bars within three years of walking free.

Education, RAND showed, helps break that cycle.

RAND's study, the largest of its kind ever undertaken, reviewed decades of research on correctional education and outcomes. It showed that education works regardless of the education level of the inmates, from those needing the most basic reading and math skills to those studying for college. It also showed that it was education itselfrather than something inherently unique about the inmates who enrolledthat made the difference.

It really, for the first time, dispelled the myths about whether or not education helps inmates when they get out, said Lois Davis, a senior policy researcher at RAND who led the study. Education is, by far, such a clear winner.

Regardless of what you think about inmates, what do you want for your community? she added. You have to understand that they all come back eventually. If you don't rehabilitate them, how are they going to successfully rejoin society?

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Pro Photography Network

Reshaping the Conversation

RAND's findings were so conclusive that they helped refocus the national debate over prison reform, from questions of whether correctional education could play a role, to how best to expand that role. State and federal correctional leaders, reform advocates, and editorial writers have since pointed to the RAND study as they call for more educational opportunities for inmates.

RAND's findings were so conclusive that they helped refocus the national debate over prison reform.

Arne Duncan, then U.S. Secretary of Education, cited the RAND research last year when he announced a pilot program to restore Pell college grants for some prisoners. Congress had banned prisoners from receiving the grants during the get-tough prison reforms of the 1990s.

The current system works for no one, said Glenn E. Martin, who earned his associate's degree while serving six years in New York state prisons for armed robbery. He became a national spokesman for prison-reform efforts when he got out, founded a group called JustLeadershipUSA that seeks to halve the national incarceration rate, and recently met with President Obama to discuss prison reform. Government has a responsibility to do more of what works, he said, and less of what doesn't.

A Second Chance

Terry Keller just wants his GED. He sits near the front of the same basic-education classroom at the California Institution for Men, where Donald Daniels spends his days. Kellera wiry spark of a man, always quick with a hand when the teacher poses a questionis serving a three-year sentence for dealing cocaine.

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Pro Photography Network

I chose as a grown man to sell dope, he said during a recent class. If I wait for someone to give me [something else] to do, I'm going to be here forever. I have to go within myself and say it's time to start being a man. I take it upon myself.

He boasts that he has never missed a class, that he's one math test away from getting that GED. It means strength, respectself-respect, you know? he says.

Keller is 51 years old. Until now, he barely had an eighth-grade education. His story is not at all unique inside the American prison system. Research has shown that minorities, and especially African-American men like him, are vastly overrepresented in underperforming schools, dropout rates, suspension and expulsion statisticsand prisons.

That puts prison education programs in a unique position to make up for some of those disparities, to offer a second chance to inmates like Keller. We've kind of failed them on the education piece, on the front end, RAND's Davis said. Once they're in the system, let's address that.

America's support for correctional education has historically climbed and crashed as society's attitude toward prisoners swung between two extremes: reform-and-rehabilitate, or throw-away-the-key. Prison experts say we are in the midst of one such shift, as the tough-on-crime policies of the 1990s give way to a greater push for education and other programs to help prisoners reenter society.

Yet challenges remain.

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Pro Photography Network

The recession squeezed prison budgets, and educational programs in particular. As part of its analysis, RAND surveyed correctional education directors in almost every state and found that most had cut their education budgetsin some cases, by more than 20 percent. A majority of the states had fewer teachers on prison payrolls, fewer courses on offer, and fewer students taking classes.

Even as the recession ebbs, financial concerns continue to haunt efforts to reform prison education. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo had to back away last year from a proposal to provide college courses in state prisons after legislators rebelled, in part over the cost. The Obama administration's push to reintroduce Pell grants for some prisoners was met by a bill in Congress, the Kids Before Cons Act, to block it.

This is spending money that we don't have, said New York Congressman Chris Collins, the bill's sponsor. He said he supports GED classes and vocational training in prisons, but not willy-nilly college courses. We don't have enough money to pay today's bills, he added, let alone the president's trial program.

Human Nature

Photo by Jayne Kamin-Oncea/Pro Photography Network

Sara Spencer teaches basic adult education in Classroom 4 at the California Institution for Men, where both Donald Daniels and Terry Keller spend their afternoons. She considers the classroom sacred ground, a place apart from the tough realities all around it.

She knows that none of her students would likely choose to be there, learning algebra and social studies behind the walls of a prison. But she runs her classes with the passion of a true believer that education can open minds and change lives. My job isn't to punish them, she says. My job is to help empower them.

She posed a question to the class on a recent afternoon: What is human nature? Donald Daniels sat up with an answer.

Humans were born with choices, he offered, as other students in the class nodded. My choices have led me to this place for the past 29 years, in and out.

Do I want to keep surviving, or do I want to live? Now I realize that I'm in a place to have that choice. If I want to keep going down a dead-end street, then I'm going to get to a dead end.

 Doug Irving
The domestic terrorists who occupied the Malheur National Widlife Refuge Building in Burns, Oregon were mobilized over the plight of ranchers Dwight and Steve Hammond who were convicted of arson, sentenced to a year in prison, released after time-served, and then re-sentenced after the fed prosecutors appealed the judge's sentence.

The Hammonds appear to have lied ferociously about why and how they were setting fires on their land (fires that spread to nearby federal land), and the judge who said that the five year minimum sentence for arson would violate their 8th amendment rights to be safeguarded against "cruel and unusual punishment" has a very selective view of how his colleagues sentence other people, especially black people, for much lesser offences.

But when the feds went to an appeals court to get a longer sentence imposed, was there anything untoward going on? As former federal prosecutor Ken "Popehat" White explains, this is pretty much business-as-usual in the American justice system. It may be unfair, but it's not uncommon.

Back in the 1980s and 1990s, before the Supreme Court ruled that the United States Sentencing Guidelines must be treated as recommendations and not as mandates, the government routinely appealed sentences when they concluded that the judge had mis-applied the Guidelines in the defendant's favor. Now that the appellate standard is "reasonableness" of the sentence, the government appeals on that basis less often, but still does so. The United States has always routinely appealed sentences when a district judge has refused to impose a mandatory minimum sentence. Traditionally the Department of Justice has jealously guarded the mandatory nature of mandatory minimum sentences, appealing judicial defiance of them even in otherwise unappealing cases. It's therefore not unusual at all that the government appealed the Hammonds' sentence. Nor is the Hammonds' return to prison unprecedented. If the trial court imposes a short sentence and the appellate court overturns that ruling and requires a longer sentence, that's the result. The alternative would be that trial judges could avoid appellate review of sentences by making them short enough that defendants would be done with them by the time the appellate court could review them. That might be appealing to defense lawyers, defendants, and judges who believe in the primacy of trial court discretion, but it's not the law. The U.S. v. Hammond appeal, reversal, and resentencing are not remarkable in the context of federal criminal law. Maybe they should be, but they aren't. Any suggestion that the proceedings represent a departure from the norm are incorrect.

What Happened In The Hammond Sentencing In Oregon? A Lawsplainer

(Image: gavel, bloomsberries, CC-BY-SA)
A group of hackers that intend to target Islamic State (IS) online has claimed it was responsible for the recent cyber attack on the BBC, undertaken to test its own capabilities.





It was only a test, we didn't exactly plan to take it down for multiple hours, the New World Hacking group said in a message to BBC technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, which he later posted on Twitter.



We realise sometimes what we do is not always the right choice, but without cyber hackers ... who is there to fight off online terrorists? they added.



The attack resulted in the British broadcasters popular online news and iPlayer catch-up services being taken down for a few hours on New Years Eve.



The US-based group claims it carried out a distributed denial of service attack, which tries to knock a site offline by swamping it with more traffic than it can cope with.



The reason we really targeted [the] BBC is because we wanted to see our actual server power.



The BBC has refused to comment on New World Hackings claim that it was responsible for the cyber attack.



A member of the group, nicknamed Ownz, told BBC News website that the 12-strong groups other recent activities have included taking part in a campaign against the Ku Klux Klan and the #OpParis effort to identify IS social media accounts following the November attacks on the French capital.
Russian environmental watchdog files lawsuit against Father Frost

MOSCOW, January 4 (RAPSI) - The environmental protection authority, Rosprirodnadzor, has filed a lawsuit against Father Frost from the town of Veliky Ustyug seeking recovery of 15,000 (206$) rubles in compensation, RIA Novosti reported Sunday citing the Vologda Region Commercial Court.

Parties have to present evidence in the case until January 21.

The courts representative could not specify the cause of the watchdogs claim against Father Frosts residence in Veliky Ustyug.

Veliky Ustyug became home to Father Frost in 1998. According to the official site of the Vologda Region, the project "Veliky Ustyug - Hometown of the Russian Father Frost" was initiated by then Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov and Governor of the Vologda Oblast Vyacheslav Pozgalyov. The main purpose of the project is to acquaint the younger generation with the Russian national traditions and the culture of the Russian North as well as to attract Russian and foreign tourists to Veliky Ustyug, the site says.
Russian lawmaker suggests banning officials relatives from doing business

MOSCOW, January 4 (RAPSI) - Vadim Solovyov, a parliament member representing the Communist Party, is drafting a bill that would prohibit spouses and children of public officials, ministers, governors, heads of regional parliaments from doing business, RIA Novosti reported Sunday.

The Anti-Corruption Fund led by opposition politician Alexey Navalny earlier released a publication that accused two sons of Russias Prosecutor General Yury Chaika, Artyom and Igor, of exploitation of their fathers contacts in their own interests. The authors of the article also accused several highest-ranked executives of the Prosecutor Generals Office of illegal assistance to the brothers business.

Chaika said that the disseminated information is misleading and baseless. According to Prosecutor General, the article was written by order of chief executive of Hermitage Capital Management William Browder and intelligence agencies standing up for him.

We have analyzed the situation related to Prosecutor Generals sons business and took a look at similar situations when children and spouses of some governors were actively involved in business. We came to a decision that the Civil Service Law should be amended, Solovyov said.

The bill prohibits wives and husbands as well as children (irrespective of age) of high ranking officials appointed to their posts by the presidential decree or by other government authorities upon the recommendation of President, members of parliament and chairmen of regional legislative bodies, from participation in business activities.

If spouses fictitiously annul their marriage but continue running house or business together, they would face fines of up to 1 million rubles ($13,700) and dismissal from office.
Its very important to think about the different scenarios that youre going to plan for and be realistic about that, says Brookes about setting climate change targets, but also to set up a framework and approach that can be flexible as you do that.
Call it the most tantalizing 2.6 seconds of streaming video, at least for the geopolitical geek set: A live shot on official Russian TV of a military briefing for President Vladimir Putin -- with a cutaway to an over-the-shoulder shot of a Russian general's briefing book, open to a page titled "Ocean Multipurpose System Status-6," with schematics of what appears to be a drone submarine -- armed with a nuclear warhead.

What's it for? According to translations of the Russian text: "Purpose -- the defeat of the important economic facilities in the area of the enemy coast ... causing unacceptable damage to ... the country through the establishment of extensive zones of radioactive contamination, unsuitable for implementation in these areas of military, economic, business, or other activity for a long time."

So, was this real -- an errant glance behind Russia's nuclear curtain? Or is this nuclear peekaboo a throwback to Soviet maskirovka -- staged deception to wrong-foot adversaries by making the mythical look real?

Whatever the case, the reveal of Status-6 follows the unquestionably real November test of Russia's Nudol, a direct ascent anti-satellite missile -- which itself followed China's test of its own anti-satellite missile, the Dong Neng-3. In addition to demonstrating the capability to disable a U.S. satellite by "kinetic means" -- a collision at more than 10 times the speed of sound -- the impact would scatter space debris that could remain floating in orbital paths for centuries.

The common thread? A desire by both countries to not only destroying enemy forces, but also enemy infrastructure. In the old nuclear strategy dichotomy of counter-force versus counter-value, this is a new category -- not aimed at military, nor civilian mass casualties, but something between: critical infrastructure, for military and civilian, whether in space or on land.

Add these threats to the constant drizzle of cyberattacks on our financial networks, energy grid, and the like -- whether from Tehran, Pyongyang, or an Internet cafe in Raqqa -- and the odds grow shorter. Sooner or later, expect a hit.

An unpleasant prospect, to be sure. What would it take for the U.S. to reconstitute the Internet -- or the global positioning system -- or major shipping and transportation corridors, or power grids - or any and all combinations of the above, and to do it from a standing start, when all of these incredibly complex systems have been evolved and improved over years and decades?

The fact that we would rather not imagine these hypothetical horribles is no excuse for failing to anticipate how the task would be addressed. One thing is certain: As each of these systems is dependent on highly engineered materials, we would need more of the raw inputs -- more of the metals, materials, and composites which our modern dreams are made of -- and we'd need them absolutely, positively overnight.

That would take more than merely punching up a website order form and submitting a request for hundreds of tons of the Periodic Table, with free shipping from some future FedEx drone fleet. In our world of just-in-time manufacturing, where piece-parts of the simplest objects are miraculously sourced from around the globe, we'd find out in a hurry where our raw materials come from -- and whether their nations of origin are inclined in time of crisis to fill or orders, or to let us do without.

And that's the problem. Since the close of the U.S.-Soviet Cold War, the United States has forgotten that certain metals and minerals have strategic value, and where they come from matters. Instead, in a period of rapid globalization aided by the siren-song of becoming a "post-industrialized economy," the U.S. has seen its share of global mineral exploration spending drop from around 20 percent to less than 10 percent, leaving it largely dependent on other countries for key metals and minerals.

As for where these metals and minerals come from, the implications for America's defense preparedness are ominous. In the Department of Defense's most recent National Defense Stockpile Requirements Report, of the 12 materials with identified shortfalls that the Pentagon report recommends for stockpiling, China is a significant supplier of all 12. As for Russia, the Soviet Union twice used resource access as a weapon, cutting off U.S. supply of chromium and manganese during the Berlin Blockade and the Korean War. Today, Russia is a key supplier of chromium, cobalt, palladium, and scandium. As a student of Soviet history, this lesson will not be lost on Russia's current leader.

Of course there are redoubts within the U.S government, where serious experts express serious worry about our critical material shortfalls and the risks they pose. There are periodic reports that sound alarms, punctuated by stories about counterfeit parts or waivers for Chinese magnets on our advanced fighters -- even a "60 Minutes" expose on the subject. But nothing changes at the level of policy.

Take the most publicized case of the rare earth elements, used in all manner of devices from smartphones to smart bombs, for which after decades of dominance, the U.S. found itself 100 percent dependent on Chinese supply. In 2015, after years of struggling to rebuild U.S. production capacity, the lone American rare earth mine went bankrupt. In the case of another U.S. proposed rare earths mining project, federal bureaucrats -- who took a year simply to put someone in charge to evaluate the project -- announced this month without explanation that there will be another year's delay in the review process.

In 2011, the Obama administration launched an initiative to "support U.S. institutions in the effort to discover, manufacture, and deploy advanced materials twice as fast, at a fraction of the cost." Meanwhile, the time it takes to bring an American mine through permitting and into production -- already twice as slow as other mining nations -- is growing even longer, to a world's-worst seven to 10 years. It's going to prove difficult for American innovators to be twice as fast when it takes twice as long to produce the materials that are key to modern technology.

The sad fact is that there is no reason for the U.S. to pursue a policy of unilateral disarmament in the resource wars.

In the geological sense, the U.S. has the resources it needs to power the development of the world's most advanced military -- and, in the worst-case scenario, to recover from an attack aimed at knocking out vital space and terrestrial infrastructure. It's getting those resources out of the ground and into the hands of the scientists and engineers that's the problem today. No one's connecting the dots between the advanced apps that define our modern life, and the metals and minerals they're made of.

Until we do, we'd better hope the horrific weapons like the one shown for a split-second on Russian TV are an elaborate ruse, and not a glimpse of our unfortunate future.
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An honest essay has numerous characteristics: original thinking, a good structure, balanced arguments, and plenty more.

But one aspect often overlooked is that an honest essay should be interesting. It should spark the readers curiosity, keep them absorbed, make them want to stay reading and learn more. An uneventful article risks losing the readers attention; whether or not the points you create are excellent, a flat style, or poor handling of a dry subject material can undermine the positive aspects of the essay. The matter is that a lot of students think that essays should be like this: they believe that a flat, dry style is suited to the needs of educational writing and dont even consider that the teacher reading their essay wants to search out the essay interesting. You might want to have online essay editor service to boost your confidence in writing with an error-free output. Academic writing doesnt need to be  and shouldnt be  bland. The excellent news is that there is much stuff you can do to create your essay more attractive, while youll be able only to do such a lot while remaining within the formal confines of educational writing. Lets study what theyre.

Have an interest in what youre writing about

Dont go overboard, but youll be able to let your passion for your subject show.

If theres one thing bound to inject interest into your writing, its being fascinated by what youre writing about. Passion for a subject matter comes across naturally in your essay, typically making it more lively and fascinating and infusing an infectious enthusiasm into your words  within the same way that its easy to talk knowledgeably to someone about something you discover fascinating.

Include fascinating details

Another factor that may make an essay boring maybe a dry material. Some topic areas are naturally dry, and it falls to you to form the article more interesting through your written style and by trying to seek out fascinating snippets of knowledge to incorporate, which will liven it up a small amount and make the data easier to relate to. A way of doing this with a dry subject is to create what youre talking about that seems relevant to the critical world, as this is often easier for the reader to relate to.

Emulate the fashion of writers you discover interesting

When you read lots, you subconsciously start emulating the fashion of the writers you have read. Reading benefits you a lot, as this exposes you to a spread of designs, and youll start to require the characteristics of these you discover interesting to read.

Borrow some creative writing techniques

Theres a limit to the quantity of actual story-telling youll do when youre writing an essay; in the end, essays should be objective, factual and balanced, which doesnt, initially glance, feel considerably like story-telling. However, youll apply a number of the principles of story-telling to create your writing more interesting.

consider your own opinion

Take the time to figure out what its that you think instead of regurgitating the opinions of others.

Cut the waffle

Rambling on and on is dull and almost bound to lose the interest of your reader. Youre in danger of waffling if youre not completely clear about what you wish to mention or havent thought carefully about how youre visiting structure your argument. Doing all your research correctly and writing an essay plan before you begin will help prevent this problem.

Editing is a vital part of the essay-writing process, so edit the waffle once youve done a primary draft. Read through your essay objectively and eliminate the bits that arent relevant to the argument or labor the purpose.

employing a thesaurus isnt always a decent thing

Avoid using unfamiliar words in an essay; theres too great a likelihood that youre misusing them.

You may think that employing a thesaurus to seek out more complicated words will make your writing more exciting or sound more academic, but using overly high-brow language can have the incorrect effect.

Avoid repetitive phrasing

Please avoid using the identical phrase structure again and again: its a recipe for dullness! Instead, use a variety of syntax that demonstrates your writing capabilities and makes your writing more interesting. Mix simple, compound, and complicated sentences to avoid your paper becoming predictable.

Use some figurative language

Using analogies with nature can often make concepts more accessible for readers to know.

As weve already seen, its easy to finish up rambling when youre explaining complex concepts  mainly after you dont know it yourself. One way of forcing yourself to think about a couple of pictures, present it more simply and engagingly is to form figurative language. This implies explaining something by comparing it with something else, as in an analogy.

Employ rhetorical questions

Anticipate the questions your reader might ask.

One of the ways ancient orators held the eye of their audiences and increased the dramatic effect of their speeches was by using the statement. A decent place to use a statement is at the top of a paragraph, to steer into the following one, or at the start of a replacement section to introduce a brand new area for exploration.

Proofread

Finally, you may write the top interesting essay an instructor has ever read. Still, youll undermine your good work if its plagued by errors, which distract the reader from the particular content and can probably annoy them.
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HOME > Duck Dynasty 'Duck Dynasty's Korie and Willie Robertson adopt a boy as adult foster daughter Rebecca Lo Robertson gets engaged

By Elizabeth Kwiatkowski, 01/04/2016



stars are celebrating some big news, kicking off 2016 with a bang.



ADVERTISEMENT Rebecca Lo Robertson, the foster daughter of Korie and Willie Robertson who joined the family at age 16 in 2004, has gotten engaged to boyfriend John Reed Loflin. In addition, Korie and Willie have decided to adopt a young boy.



On Saturday, Rebecca shared her engagement news on Instagram by posting a picture of the couple looking out into the ocean together on a quiet beach.



"Our story starts here......I said yes to my best friend for life," she



The story begins with the 27-year-old reality TV star and Loflin, 29, looking for shells at sunset on a beach in Florida on New Year's Eve.



"I was determined to find the best shell that day," Rebecca



"We had been walking, searching for about an hour, and I saw this beautiful swirly shell hidden in the sand, and the ring was also hiding in there, and he got on his one knee as I pulled the ring out, and he said, 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you spend the rest of your life with me?'"



Rebecca said she was completely surprised and cried right away, yelling, "Yes!" Loflin then "teared up a little" as well.



Loflin reportedly popped the question with a 14-karat-gold art deco-style ring with a large oval-shaped opal, Rebecca's birthstone and overall favorite stone.



"Apparently all my friends and family knew, but everyone did a really good job hiding it from me; they have got some really good acting skills!... We are thinking nine months to a year [for our wedding]. That way we can calmly plan everything and go over fine details that we want," said Rebecca, who met Loflin on Halloween 2014 at a festival in New Orleans.



"I knew from the first moment I met her [that I'd propose]," Loflin told Us. "I have been planning in my head to ask her for a long while now. I know we both want to start our lives together. And we would love to have children at a point as well!"



"We are beyond happy and thankful for our family for leading up to this chapter of our lives," added Rebecca, "and we are so excited to see what God has in store for our future."



Her sister, former Dancing with the Stars finalist Sadie Robertson, congratulated the pair on social media to express her excitement.

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"MY SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED TO HER BEST FRIEND!!!! I'm so happy for you Rebecca. John Reed...good luck joining our crazy family," she



As for the second important announcement, Korie revealed on Instagram Sunday there's a new addition to their family.



"We've had lots of questions about the cute kid popping up in our photos lately. We are excited to be in the process of adopting a new son! He's been with us since May, but we wanted some privacy and time for him and our family to bond before telling the world," Korie, 42,



"He's amazing, and we are all so thrilled to have another kid around the house. Couldn't keep the good news to ourselves any longer! We appreciate your prayers and support for our family! Love, The Robertsons."



Korie and her husband Willie, 43, share John Luke, 20; Sadie, 18; and Willie Jr. and Bella, both 13. In addition to Rebecca -- who joined for its fifth season -- the couple also adopted Willie Jr. when he was a baby.





About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski

Elizabeth Kwiatkowski is Associate Editor of Reality TV World and has been covering the reality TV genre for more than a decade.

FOLLOW REALITY TV WORLD ON GOOGLE NEWS stars are celebrating some big news, kicking off 2016 with a bang.Rebecca Lo Robertson, the foster daughter of Korie and Willie Robertson who joined the family at age 16 in 2004, has gotten engaged to boyfriend John Reed Loflin. In addition, Korie and Willie have decided to adopt a young boy.On Saturday, Rebecca shared her engagement news on Instagram by posting a picture of the couple looking out into the ocean together on a quiet beach."Our story starts here......I said yes to my best friend for life," she captioned the image on Saturday. "Thanks to everyone's love & blessing over our engagement! We are beyond excited!"The story begins with the 27-year-old reality TV star and Loflin, 29, looking for shells at sunset on a beach in Florida on New Year's Eve."I was determined to find the best shell that day," Rebecca told Us Weekly."We had been walking, searching for about an hour, and I saw this beautiful swirly shell hidden in the sand, and the ring was also hiding in there, and he got on his one knee as I pulled the ring out, and he said, 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you spend the rest of your life with me?'"Rebecca said she was completely surprised and cried right away, yelling, "Yes!" Loflin then "teared up a little" as well.Loflin reportedly popped the question with a 14-karat-gold art deco-style ring with a large oval-shaped opal, Rebecca's birthstone and overall favorite stone."Apparently all my friends and family knew, but everyone did a really good job hiding it from me; they have got some really good acting skills!... We are thinking nine months to a year [for our wedding]. That way we can calmly plan everything and go over fine details that we want," said Rebecca, who met Loflin on Halloween 2014 at a festival in New Orleans."I knew from the first moment I met her [that I'd propose]," Loflin told Us. "I have been planning in my head to ask her for a long while now. I know we both want to start our lives together. And we would love to have children at a point as well!""We are beyond happy and thankful for our family for leading up to this chapter of our lives," added Rebecca, "and we are so excited to see what God has in store for our future."Her sister, former Dancing with the Stars finalist Sadie Robertson, congratulated the pair on social media to express her excitement."MY SISTER IS GETTING MARRIED TO HER BEST FRIEND!!!! I'm so happy for you Rebecca. John Reed...good luck joining our crazy family," she wrote . "So excited for y'all to began y'alls journey of life together. 1.1.16."As for the second important announcement, Korie revealed on Instagram Sunday there's a new addition to their family."We've had lots of questions about the cute kid popping up in our photos lately. We are excited to be in the process of adopting a new son! He's been with us since May, but we wanted some privacy and time for him and our family to bond before telling the world," Korie, 42, wrote "He's amazing, and we are all so thrilled to have another kid around the house. Couldn't keep the good news to ourselves any longer! We appreciate your prayers and support for our family! Love, The Robertsons."Korie and her husband Willie, 43, share John Luke, 20; Sadie, 18; and Willie Jr. and Bella, both 13. In addition to Rebecca -- who joined for its fifth season -- the couple also adopted Willie Jr. when he was a baby. DUCK DYNASTY MORE DUCK DYNASTY NEWS << PRIOR STORY

Lamar Odom's son shares first picture of former NBA star since October hospitalization NEXT STORY >>

'The Voice' winner Jordan Smith proposes to girlfriend Kristen Denny

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Augusten Burroughs who authored "Running with Scissors," "Dry," and "Wolf at the Table," wants to sell his condo. The Battery Park City studio condo of the author at 225 Rector Place is plain and neutral and void of any whistles and bells.

The property was purchased by Burroughs's past partner Dennis Pilsits for $600,767 in 2008, and transferred it over to Burroughs in 2011, presumably as a settlement of their split. According to city records, the #1 bestselling author is selling his pad for only $637,000 as reported by 6sqft news.

The 615-square-foot condo offers picturesque views of Hudson and East Rivers and the Statue of Liberty. The interior of the condo looks pretty, and the floors and kitchen still looks nice and new. The building has a roof deck, a full-service gym, and indoor pool with a steam room.

The Battery Park City condo of Burroughs is the first apartment he's ever owned.

Yair Levy, the developer of Mr. Burrough's condo at 225 Rector Place, had actually fled the country, and it is true that the ill-fated conversion process of the building has been miserable as a tale from Mr. Burrough's own famously miserable childhood.

Mr. Burroughs was worried that he had brought his bad fate to the building. In fact, when Mr. Burroughs built a house in 2005 with his former partner, Dennis Pilsits, in Amherst, Mass., he said he installed lightning protection, "because I'm the sort of person who gets struck by lightning." The house instead was flooded, wrecking the couple's first Christmas there as reported by the New York Times news.

Mr. Burroughs's apartment is a comfortable home. "It fits the person I am," he said. "Not the person I'd like to be."

Mr. Burroughs has skipped college and most of his high school, but he did spend nine months at the Control Data Institute.

Born Christopher Robison, Mr. Burroughs changed his name on his 18th birthday to Augusten Xon Burroughs, where his last name derived from a manufacturer of mainframe computers.
Greg Barnette/Record Searchlight John Mac McCraw had only been the Shasta County veterans service officer since July when he resigned last week.

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By David Benda of the Redding Record Searchlight

On the job for less than six months, John "Mac" McCraw is out as Shasta County veterans service officer.

Interim veterans service officer Dave Lanford said this morning that McCraw resigned Dec. 28 and took a teaching job either in Mississippi or Louisiana. Lanford wasn't certain where McCraw is teaching.

"I very briefly met with Mac. He came in to pick some things up .. and he was gone fairly quickly," said Lanford, who was county veterans service officer for eight years until he retired in February 2010.

Lanford, 67, did not know why McCraw chose to leave the post after just five months.

"He was not fired. He resigned. That is pretty much what I know," Lanford said.

Shasta County CEO Larry Lees said he was surprised McCraw resigned.

"Yeah, I was not planning on this," Lees said, adding that he did not know why McCraw left. "He did not talk to me about his resignation."

McCraw did come to Lees before Christmas and asked for vacation time because he wanted to visit family, Lees said.

"I said, 'You bet. Enjoy yourself,'" Lees said.

Lanford said the office is carrying on.

"Right now, veterans are coming in here right and left. We are helping veterans. There is no change in what we are doing," Lanford said.

Lees believes the office is in good hands with Lanford, a Redding resident since 1994.

"So we are very fortunate, and I am very fortunate," Lees said. "Dave said he is willing to do whatever it takes."

McCraw was hired in May and formally started as county veterans service officer on July 13. He is a 20-year-plus U.S. Air Force veteran.

His appointment came after former veterans service officer L. Duke Medeiros was let go over allegations of inappropriate comments.

"We actually have an existing list (of candidates) because Mac wasn't there too long and we will go back to that list first to see if anybody is willing and eligible and who would meet our requirements," Lees said, adding that he hopes to have a permanent replacement on board in about two months.
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By Jim Schultz of the Redding Record Searchlight

A Shasta County Superior Court judge has thrown out a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of a Redding teenager who died of alcohol poisoning at a friend's home in December 2008.

Judge Monica Marlow ruled Monday there was no legal basis upon which Steve and Debbie Allen could prevail at trial in their lawsuit against Wallace Liberman, his wife, Debby, and their daughter.

Redding attorney Patrick R. Beasley said Wednesday that he and the Liberman family welcomed Marlow's ruling.

"It's been a major relief for everyone," he said, adding that the case has been difficult for all of those involved. "It's wonderful to have this behind them."

Marlow's ruling, however, can be appealed to the Third District Appellate Court in Sacramento.

Beasley said the attorney for the Allen family, Mark R. Swartz of Gold River, told Marlow at Monday's court hearing he would file an appeal.

Swartz was in trial on Wednesday and was unavailable for comment.

Steve Allen said Wednesday he disagreed with Marlow's ruling and it will be appealed.

"It's about failure to provide care to a sick person," said Allen. "If it (his daughter's death) involved anything other than alcohol, the judge wouldn't have tossed out the lawsuit."

Although a Dec. 5 status conference also has been scheduled concerning the lawsuit, that Superior Court hearing is expected to be canceled once all the final court paperwork has been filed.

Steve and Debbie Allen sued the Liberman family last year, alleging the family was negligent in allowing their daughter to die at their home.

But Marlow, citing case law and describing the events that took place that night and morning, determined otherwise.

Shelby Allen, a 17-year-old Foothill High School junior, died Dec. 20, 2008, after a night drinking with the Libermans' daughter and another teen at the Libermans' Old Alturas Road home. Sheriff's investigators said the teens had been drinking heavily while the Libermans slept upstairs.

"It is an undisputed fact that Wallace and Debby Liberman did not authorize" the drinking by the teens, Marlow wrote in her decision.

But whether they told the girls outright that they were not to drink, or if they simply implied it, is a matter of dispute.

Their daughter is not being identified by the Record Searchlight because she was a minor at the time of Shelby's death. She had been charged by Shasta County's prosecutors with involuntary manslaughter, but the case was dismissed in November 2009 by a juvenile court judge.

In the 17-page wrongful death lawsuit filed last year by Steve and Debbie Allen, they claimed Wallace and Debby Liberman were negligent because they maintained an "open bar" at their home on the night in question and failed to check on the welfare of Shelby Allen when she was a guest there.

Had they checked, the lawsuit says, they would have discovered that Shelby was unconscious from drinking 15 shots of vodka and lying on the floor of a bathroom.

They then could have helped the girl and called an ambulance, the lawsuit claims.

But in her decision, Marlow, who cited a state law and other cases, said that "social hosts" who furnish alcoholic beverages to a person may not be legally accountable for damages suffered by that person resulting from the consumption of those beverages.

"It would be anomalous for a social host to be immune from liability when the social host offers alcoholic beverages to guests, but deny such immunity when guests help themselves to the host's alcoholic beverages," Marlow wrote.

That social host law since has been amended by the California Legislature to say adults who "knowingly" provide alcohol to minors at social gatherings could be held liable if the minors are subsequently injured or killed, but that amendment is not retroactive.

Since the death of her daughter, Debbie Allen has worked to educate children about the dangers of binge drinking and alcohol poisoning and also created Shelby's Rules, an alcohol poisoning education foundation.
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In the 1960s, a flip but effective phrase summed up youth's rebelliousness: "Don't trust anyone over 30." It's more fitting for today's student activists than it was 50 years ago. The post-millennials now face a far deeper generational divide than the one between baby boomers and their parents. And the nation faces a crisis if the divide persists.

The mostly white, mostly middle-class boomers on college campuses in the 1960s got swept up in a variety of causes  Vietnam, civil rights, feminism  questioning authority more than their Depression- and World War II-era parents. Yet it could be argued that most of them had little reason in general to object to the status quo. They had benefited from post-World War II prosperity and government programs, such as the GI Bill, that allowed their parents to raise them in comfortable suburban homes and send them to free, decent public schools. Later, Great Society initiatives such as the Higher Education Act of 1965 enabled them to attend college in historic numbers at a reasonable cost, with jobs awaiting.

Back then, public investments in America's families and youth were embraced by older generations. The situation  and the demography  is much different today.

Youth in the U.S. is now highly diverse. Racial minorities, not always from the middle class, represent half of the students in the nation's K-12 public schools. That diversity will increase: Since the 2010 census, in 46 out of 50 states and in nearly 9 out of 10 of the country's 3,100 counties, more white youths have turned 20 than were born or in-migrated. By 2023, whites will comprise less than half of the U.S. population under age 30. More important, the entire white working-age population will decline by 12 million over the next 15 years because of aging and retirement; young Latinos, blacks, Asians and others must take their place.

This new majority of young people will have far fewer advantages compared with the white-majority boomers in the '60s. Four-year college enrollment for black and Latino students is well below whites', compounded by high attrition rates. Should this continue, the nation will see a drop in college graduates after 2020. Moreover, income inequality hits the younger minorities particularly hard, shown by their high rates of child poverty. Many blacks and Latinos attend highly segregated, under-resourced public schools and lack the finances and guidance to get into programs that are pathways to the middle class.

These facts, and America's demographic future, put recent campus protests into perspective. The complaints voiced by black, Latinos and others (and their white allies) indicate that a racially prejudicial environment still exists at four-year colleges, which remain more white (61 percent) than the students in the K-12 pipeline. Yet these slow-to-change institutions must successfully invest in diversity, making minorities' contributions, voices and concerns central to their educational mission.

The message needs to be heeded beyond college campuses as well, by public officials, corporations, even city police forces: Investing in the success of today's diverse youth is critical for the entire nation, which needs a productive labor force and its contributions to social programs.

Those baby boomers more concerned with lowering their taxes than investing in the younger generation in particular need to hear the message. Given the choice of a larger government with more services and a smaller government with limited services and lower taxes, more white boomers than millennial or Gen X minorities choose the latter, according to a 2013 Pew survey. And those states with the largest gains in minority children, but mostly white seniors  Texas, California, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina and Arizona  rank among the lowest third of states on a measure of child education, health and other areas.

Such attitudes among many older whites shouldn't necessarily be interpreted as racist. Instead they reflect a fear of the unknown, potential negative economic consequences for themselves, and a lack of personal connection with the younger generation.

It would be understandable if college students chanted: "Don't trust anyone over 30, and especially don't trust anyone over 50." Older, white Americans must recognize diversity's importance to our future.

William H. Frey, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution and a population studies professor at the University of Michigan, is author of "Diversity Explosion: How New Racial Demographics are Remaking America." He wrote this for the Los Angeles Times.
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Since Congress created the first inspectors general for federal agencies in 1978, these in-house watchdogs have proved their worth again and again. Inspectors general have investigated the CIA's inhumane "enhanced interrogation methods," revealed abuses in the FBI's acquisition of telephone and other records, and documented the selective enforcement by the Internal Revenue Service of regulations governing political spending by tax-exempt groups.

Given the nature of their mission, it is not terribly surprising to learn from inspectors general for several federal agencies that their work is being hampered by the unwillingness of the officials they monitor to provide some necessary information  despite the fact that the Inspector General Act requires that inspectors general have access to "all records, reports, audits, reviews, documents, papers, recommendations or other material" necessary to do their job.

The Justice Department has come under particular  and deserved  criticism for stymieing the work of its inspector general. Beginning in 2010, FBI lawyers argued that some records couldn't be shared because of protections in federal law. In July, the department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded that the inspector general could be denied access to some information in three categories: the contents of wiretaps, grand jury proceedings and credit information.

The author of that opinion, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Karl R. Thompson, concluded that the Inspector General Act's requirement that inspectors general have access to "all records" must be qualified in light of the provisions of the federal Wiretap Act, the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure and Section 626 of the Fair Credit Reporting Act. His opinion said that the department could provide the inspector general with information protected by these laws for "many, but not all" of its investigations.

That isn't good enough for Michael E. Horowitz, the department's inspector general, who said that without greater access "our office's ability to conduct its work will be significantly impaired." But the problem isn't confined to the Justice Department. In a letter to congressional leaders, the council representing inspectors general from throughout the government warned that the Office of Legal Counsel's opinion "represents a potentially serious challenge to the authority of every inspector general and our collective ability to conduct our work thoroughly, independently and in a timely manner."

In fairness to the Justice Department, laws must be read in conjunction with others. And, legal interpretation aside, it's important to protect the privacy of personal information, including financial records and the products of electronic surveillance, which can capture private conversations of innocent people. But in such sensitive situations, information can be provided to inspectors general with the understanding that it will be redacted in any public report.

A Justice Department spokeswoman said that the department would support legislation to clarify Congress' intent. Fortunately, there is a bipartisan effort in Congress to make it clear that, irrespective of other laws, inspectors general are entitled to "all records" necessary for them to perform their vital function. Enacting such a law must be a priority when Congress returns to work.

Los Angeles Times
Nathan Solis/Record Searchlight

Bert Lunford of Anderson, enjoyed a brief pause between the winter storms Sunday at Anderson River Park as he fished for bass.

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By R-S Staff, News Services

Forecasters said a series of storms are expected to bring heavy rainfall and snow to drought-parched California, including Redding, this week.

The storm that moved in Sunday morning was expected to pick up strength and cover a larger area of Northern California later in the day, the National Weather Service said.

A second, stronger storm is forecast to arrive Monday night and Tuesday and bring in about a half an inch of rain. That system will be packed with gusty winds and heavier rain, said forecaster Johnny Powell.

Redding is expected to receive 2 inches of rain starting today and into Tuesday, according to meteorologist Idamis Del Valle with the National Weather Service in Sacramento. Since Oct. 1 Redding has received 9.86 inches of rain, slightly below an average of 13.24 for this time of year. Tuesday will see a high of 50 in Redding, according to the weather service, with heavy showers persisting into the evening.

Yet another round of rain and gusty winds is expected Wednesday and Thursday, when heavy rain is forecast for the Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia mountain ranges.

"Friday looks like a dry, clear day but more rain is expected Saturday," Powell said.

Powell said about 2 feet of fresh snow are expected to fall this week in the Sierra Nevada's highest points.

Snowpack levels for Northern California, like in the northern Sierra, are 113 percent of average, but according to meteorologist Brian Garcia with the National Weather Service in Eureka, this is just above average.

"Come spring melt, this can go toward filling up the reservoirs in Northern California and it might put a dent in the drought conditions. But no matter what happens this water year, conservation measures still need to be applied. We will not be out of our long term drought with this year's snowpack levels," Garcia said.

With recent rainfall Lake Shasta has seen a slight uptick in its storage of water, according to the Department of Water Resources. Currently Lake Shasta is at 31 percent water capacity and about 50 percent for this time of year.

Other regions measuring snowpacks, Central and Southern Sierra, show 122 and 91 percent compared to normal averages, according to the Department of Water Resources.

As Northern California sits on the fulcrum of El Nino, it will not receive as much rain as Southern California, but Garcia agrees it will be a wet season all the same. Meteorologists agree we are beginning to see signals of the coming El Nino season, but how many strong storms the North State will see during this wet season is anyone's guess.

Meanwhile Southern California is bracing for a series of storms expected to begin late Sunday that could last all week.

The service said persistent rainy conditions could put some Los Angeles County communities at risk of flash flooding with mud and debris flows, especially in wildfire burn areas.
Meat labels are seen at a grocery store in Washington in this 2015 photo. After more than a decade of wrangling, Congress repealed a meat labeling law last month that required retailers to include the animals country of origin on packages of pork and beef. (Andrew Harnik / AP)

Since 2013, American consumers have seen labels on their meat telling them where the animal was born, raised and slaughtered. But in late December, Congress repealed the law that requires Country of Origin Labeling, otherwise known as COOL.

So is this a good thing or a bad thing? That depends on whom you ask. It's an issue that has created some strange bedfellows in industry, politics, agriculture and trade circles. Here's what you should know:

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What proponents say: For supporters of COOL, the debate is about consumers' rights to know where their meat comes from. They cite reasons of food safety, sustainability and support for domestic farmers.

"Some people just want to spend their dollars closer to home," says Patty Lovera assistant director of Food & Water Watch, which supports COOL. "But there are also countries that we take products from that have had problems with mad cow disease and foot and mouth disease. Some folks might look at that (information) and think this is a risk, but how are they supposed to know if it's not labeled?"

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What opponents say: For opponents of COOL, the regulation represents costly tracking and labeling; more than a billion dollars in potential retaliatory tariffs and a signal to our trading partners that the U.S. is not willing to abide by international trade decisions.

Representatives of industrial meatpacking and processing say they don't want to stop Americans from knowing where their meat comes from, but claim that there are other ways to find out.

"If meat comes from another country direct to retail it must be labeled from that country," says Eric Mittenthal of the North American Meat Institute. "That has long been the law. Otherwise if it's processed in a U.S. facility under (Department of Agriculture Food Safety and Inspection Service) inspection it is marked as such. If companies decide to offer more detail they may, but we believe that should be voluntary so that consumers may be the ultimate judge of what they value."

What consumers think: Each faction cites conflicting studies to support its point. COOL opponents cite a 2012 University of Kansas study showing minimal demand. But COOL supporters cite a 2013 poll by the Consumer Federation of America suggesting that 87 percent of consumers want COOL labeling.

Some meats are exempt: The final repeal applies to pork and beef but not to chicken (as was suggested in some proposals) and lamb products, which both still do need labels.

Eat. Watch. Do. Weekly What to eat. What to watch. What you need to live your best life ... now. >

This wasn't a solo act: The repeal came stuffed into a $1.15 trillion omnibus spending bill that contained a lot of controversial food and agriculture provisions baked right into it like a dense holiday fruitcake. Many of the provisions were favorable to the groups who oppose the repeal.

American livestock groups stand divided: The giant North American Meat Institute (which represents U.S. meatpackers, processors and their suppliers) favors the repeal. But the National Farmers Union and Ranchers Cattlemen Action Legal Fund, which represents smaller domestic producers of livestock, strongly support the label.

Canada and Mexico are mad: Our neighbors to the north and south say COOL has caused them more than $3 billion in damages. WTO estimated it was about a third of that.

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COOL could've brought heavy penalties: The World Trade Organization has ruled multiple times against COOL as written  saying it unfairly discriminates against meat imports and gives the advantage to domestic meat products. Earlier this month, WTO approved $1.1 billion in retaliatory tariffs on U.S. products like furniture, metal tubing, jewelry and more. Many of those industries were involved in lobbying Congress for the repeal.

Supporters say "negotiate don't repeal": Food & Water Watch executive director Wenonah Hauter wrote in a statement that the "U.S. Department of Agriculture should immediately promulgate rules to address the WTO concerns over COOL while maintaining mandatory labels. The United States has been modifying its dolphin-safe tuna rules for nearly three decades to address WTO concerns; the USDA should do the same to protect mandatory COOL."

The fight isn't over: COOL opponents see the repeal as a victory, but supporters say they'll work toward legislation to reinstate COOL in 2016.

Monica Eng is a food and health reporter for WBEZ Chicago Public Media.
It's time for everyone to get back to grind!

After biding adieu to 2015 in style with friends and family, quite a few Bollywood stars were spotted at the Mumbai airport as they returned back from their New Year holiday.

A look at the airport pictures.

Shah Rukh Khan and veteran actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha pose together for the cameras.

King Khan, who will next be seen in Maneesh Sharma's Fan, celebrated New Year in Dubai with his family.

Caught candid: SRK chatting animatedly with Shotgun Senior!

Gauri Khan walks ahead as Suhana carries her little brother AbRam.

Arjun Kapoor, who was holidaying in Maldives with his sisters -- Sonam and Rhea -- is back in the city too.

The actor will next be seen in R Balki's much-awaited rom-com Ki and Ka along with Kareena Kapoor Khan.

Sonam makes her way out of Mumbai airport but looks like she is still in the holiday mood!

Can't blame her. After all, she had one helluva vacation in Maldives!

Rhea Kapoor.

Shriya Saran is all smiles as she arrives in the city.

Urvashi Rautela sure knows how to keep her airport attire stylish!

The actress, who represented India this year at Miss Universe pageant, was in Goa for New Year's.

Photographs: Pradeep Bandekar
'India has already suffered in the raid of January 2, and taken punishment. If comparable or higher retribution does not visit Pakistan, there is no reason why it should not undertake such a misadventure again,' says Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi (retd).

IMAGE: An armoured vehicle moves into the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, January 3. Photograph: PTI Photo

The raid on the Indian Air Force base at Pathankot that began on the 2nd January has continued.

The worst seems to have been averted by the ongoing heroic actions of our armed forces, all of whom have promptly answered the call of duty. Some of them have paid the ultimate price.

Details are pouring in: The origin of the terrorists, their organisation and preparations, and their commitment to their cause -- militant Islam. Coming in the wake of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's internationally acclaimed surprise visit to Pakistan on Christmas day, the raid from Pakistan was not totally unexpected.

Of course, what else does one expect from the extremist radicals in Pakistan? They are certainly bent on ensuring Pakistan's confrontation with India, and detest the lowering of tension between the two countries.

The rabid terrorists who are carrying out the raid have put on display their place of origin and the organization that they represent, namely Jaish-e-Mohammed. This is a subterfuge invented by their launchers in Pakistan for the benefit of the credulous in and outside India. It makes it convenient for the Pakistan government to deny its accountability.

As far as we in India are concerned, it is a Pakistan raid, it does not greatly matter to us if it is carried out by Jaish, or by Pakistan special forces. Deniability by Pakistan suits the US too, although the US could not have known of the raid before it was launched.

We in India have no reason to create and offer an alibi for Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. The onus of proving that he is not playing both ends against the middle must lie with Pakistan in general and Sharif in particular. We have no reason to script his lines for him. It is none of India's concerns if there is this demoniac ISI that is not amenable even to General Headquarters in Rawalpindi.

If General Raheel Sharif, quite rightly, is fighting the extremists on the western border, it is for Pakistan to realise that the chickens are coming home to roost, and India has no reason to show special consideration. Pakistan's actions must vindicate its stand that it does not back the 'good terrorist' any longer.

If Jaish-e-Mohammed is behind the raid, then the Jaish leadership has to be dealt with by Pakistan. It is for Pakistan to conclusively demonstrate to the world at large that it is not covertly backing terrorists.

This flows out of the fact that Pakistan had hidden and protected Osama bin Laden even from its closest ally, the US. Ploys of not producing sufficient evidence against the organisers of similar raids have been used, and used up, by Pakistan in its courts of law already.

This time around, if it wishes to deny accontablity, Pakistan would have to come up with something more imaginative.

It is only right that we honour our martyrs who have limited the damage that the raiders could possibly have inflicted, and also be grateful that nothing worse happened. This logic is somewhat comforting, but what does it do to prevent the next raid from Pakistan that could well be in the works already? It has to be prevented because if successful, it could well inflict unacceptable damage.

No matter how good the defensive preparations, they will do nothing to deter the next raid from Pakistan. The wages of inaction now could well be another raid from Pakistan.

Defence by itself does not suffice; conceptually, it is meant to protect assets but it does not deter the adversary's offensive action.

Say, nine brigades constituting three divisions are spread out across International Border fences, minefields and all to guard against aggression along a particular approach. Understandably, there would be a similar or comparable deployment across the IB. The fact that such a deployment is considered necessary would be indicative of mutual distrust.

In such a situation, stability of sorts may well prevail, but if adversary A were to turn inimical, he could concentrate one of his divisions, redistribute the two remaining brigades to hold ground, and threaten any of adversary B's defended sectors, at any point of his choice.

If he does so by surprise, he may possibly succeed at marginally additional risk to himself. This is an advantage intrinsic to aggression.

Absolute superiority is not necessary for aggression, although it is of help. It is the attitude that matters. An adversary who is avowedly committed to purely defensive measures, and so announces 'first strike', voluntarily abjures an advantage that can be exploited to his own advantage.

In fact, voluntary foregoing of offensive operations points to the absence of a strategic culture which, over a period of time, could well permeate into the armed forces, and reduce their effectiveness.

In such a situation, there is no reason why the adversary should not concentrate even a larger strike force. Defence, by itself, imposes progressively additional costs on the defender.

To maintain the right balance, offensive forces have not only to be maintained, but their full effectiveness has to be demonstrated from time to time. This confers credibility without which even the available deterrence is less than effective.

The punishment for provocation must be fully spelt out and credibly backed by periodic demonstrations.

India has already suffered in the raid of January 2, and taken punishment. If comparable or higher retribution does not visit Pakistan, there is no reason why it should not undertake such a misadventure again.

If the raid was also a surprise for Pakistan's civilian government, the compulsion and the urgency to prove its credentials must lie with Pakistan.

There is a need to spell out to Pakistan -- alike to the common man and its government -- the the cost of misadventure against India so that potential mischief mongers stop in their tracks.

India is not required to train 'non-State' actors for this purpose.

Intense but calibrated and controlled bombardments across the Line of Control could well be planned in advance. Then such a response could be activated even with a code word by the empowered authority whenever there is mischief in evidence.

Even as the electronic media in India starts covering the misadventure by Pakistan, the news of retribution should flood Pakistan. If it leads to escalation, so be it. If escalation leads to terrible things, the common man in Pakistan must be made aware that his accountability for inviting the disaster is not any the less than that of his government.

It seems that the terrorists from Pakistan do bask in some kind of public approval. Have a look at the internationally known terrorists who belong to or have been associated with Pakistan. This would not have been the case if there was public disapproval of terrorism.

If escalation were to take place unavoidably, Pakistan will fully realise the implications of lack of depth. But India need not go that far; more imaginative ways can be found to create a nuanced scale of conventional and non-conventional deterrent measures that will keep Pakistan away from misadventures.

In the meantime, peace talks must continue without let or hindrance. Goodwill needs to be cultivated even as the wages of perfidy are spelt out to Pakistan.

Lieutenant General Ashok Joshi, PVSM, AVSM, saw active service in Jammu and Kashmir in the 1965 and 1971 wars. General Joshi was Director General of Military Training, overseeing the policy and planning of training in the Indian Army during the final two years of his long and distinguished service to the nation.
All Indian prime ministers must know that the route to their Nobel Peace Prize doesn't go through Pakistan, says Rajeev Sharma.

IMAGE: Soldiers conduct a search operation in a forest area outside the Indian Air Force Base in Pathankot, January 3. Photograph: PTI Photo

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has done his best to improve relations with Pakistan, but he is not the first Indian prime minister to have walked the extra mile with the wily neighbour only to get stabbed in the back soon after a peace mission.

Modi must be realising now what it means to take a giant leap of friendship with Pakistan and seeing everything come unstuck soon thereafter.

Modi's Pathankot moment is a sort of deja vu for the Bharatiya Janata Party government which had been slapped back with the Kargil war soon after the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had undertaken a historic bus trip to Lahore in February 1999.

Unfortunately, Lahore has emerged as a jinxed destination for prime ministers belonging to the BJP, as just six days after Modi's surprise stopover in Lahore came the well-planned, audacious terror attack on the Pathankot air base.

The Pathankot terror attack, launched on New Year Day, is continuing till the time of writing this article on January 4 evening.

The same fiasco had happened in between the two Lahore visits by an Indian prime minister belonging to the BJP -- the Agra summit of July 14-16, 2001. The world knows to what extent India-Pakistan relations plummeted after the failed Agra summit, so much so that the two nuclear armed enemies had their armies deployed against each other in forward positions for 10 months in the wake of the terror attack on Parliament.

Modi has already had five meetings with his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif during his 19-month tenure and was seriously considering a sixth meeting in Davos, Switzerland, in the third week of this month and the seventh one in Washington, DC, on the sidelines of a nuclear summit in March.

In contrast, the United Progressive Alliance government had been rather sedate and cautious in its engagement with Pakistan. During his entire decade-long tenure as prime minister from 2004 to 2014, Manmohan Singh met his Pakistani counterparts only 10 times, which means one summit meeting per annum on an average.

In hindsight, this probably was a better way of engaging with Pakistan as the international community was also kept quiet while the UPA government held talks with Pakistan for the sake of holding talks without much substantive agenda on the table most of the time.

Significantly, Dr Singh never visited two SAARC countries even once during his entire two back-to-back full tenures: Pakistan and Nepal. In hindsight, he did not lose much. And, yes, he got the 'reward' of engaging with Pakistan when India got a taste of its own 9/11 moment in the shape of the five-day-long siege of Mumbai by Pakistani terrorists in November 2008.

The moral of the story in engaging with Pakistan is three-fold.

There is no point in holding peace talks with Pakistan's civilian government as the real power vests with the military leadership. The much talked about army chief-level talks is never going to happen because the army chief of Pakistan is way up in the power hierarchy in comparison to the Indian army chief. It is common knowledge that while other countries have an army, in case of Pakistan it is the army which has a country. So folks, pragmatic protocol issues will not allow the Pakistan army chief to hold talks with his Indian counterpart. Even holding national security advisor-level talks don't cut much ice though the current Pakistani NSA, General Nasir Khan Janjua, is a former military commander. He will remain a Shikhandi. But that suits Rawalpindi because ostensibly, India is dealing with the Pakistani army when it is dealing with General Janjua, but actually it is not and the Pakistan army is free to do what it wants to do. Pathankot is a classic example of the Pakistan army's 'eating the cake and having it too' kind of strategy. Keep the level of engagement with Pakistan for engagement sake only, with the bottom line being 'Trust, but verify.' Indian prime ministers must remember always that their route to the Nobel Prize doesn't go through Pakistan. The Indian prime minister, whoever he or she is and belonging to whichever party, must not be overtaken with the Pakistan itch.

Rajeev Sharma is a New Delhi-based journalist and strategic analyst who tweets @Kishkindha.
The Narendra Modi government is likely to ask Pakistan in clear terms to take tough action against terror group Jaish-e-Mohammad, which is believed to have carried out the attack on the Indian Air Force base in Pathankot, before the foreign secretary-level talks take place.

Indian may raise the issue of the Pathankot attack with the Pakistani government on Monday and is expecting a response within 72 hours.

The officials investigating the attack have reportedly recovered a note which points to a possible JeM role in the attack.

During Monday's meeting, India is likely to press Pakistan to act on the intelligence inputs and the evidence gathered against the terror group. It also wants Pakistan's military court to take actions against the terrorists.

With the Centre making clear that terror and talks cant go together, the future of the foreign secretary-level talks depends on what action Pakistan takes against JeM.

On Sunday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a high-level meeting with National Security Advisor Ajit Doval, Foreign Secretary S. Jaishankar and other top officials to take stock of the Pathankot attack.
An intense 25-hour gun-battle between security forces and terrorists outside the Indian consulate in Mazar-e-Sharif came to end on Monday night with the killing of all the attackers who attempted to storm the Mission building.

While three of the attackers were killed in the gunfight overnight, the remaining were neutralised by the night.

"Afghan officials have confirmed that the operation has ended," said a Indian government source.

"The clearance operation is over and all the terrorists have all been killed," said provincial police chief Sayed Kamal Sadat, according to AFP.

Some reports said one of the attackers was captured alive but there was no confirmation about it. A group of terrorists had attacked the Consulate at around 9.15 pm yesterday with an aim of storming the building but their plan was thwarted by the security forces.

Earlier, official sources said special combat units of the Afghan National Police had recovered three bodies from outside the Indian consulate.

Subsequently, some more terrorists were holed up in a five-storey building about 100 metres across the road from the Indian consulate and security forces had launched a daunting onslaught to neutralise them.

"Our search operation is still going on inside the building," AFP quoted government spokesman Shir Jan Durrani as saying.

According to him, one policeman was killed and 11 others injured in the encounter.

Earlier on Monday evening, Afghan President Ashraf Ghani called up Prime Minister Narendra Modi who told him that India will always stand with the people of Afghanistan notwithstanding the terror attack on the Consulate.

Ghani briefed Modi about the incident and Modi expressed deep appreciation for the exemplary bravery and courage shown by the Afghan National Security Forces in thwarting the terrorist attack and ensuring security and safety of the Indian consulate and personnel.

Officials said the consulate came under attack at around 9.15 pm on Sunday night with at least two militants trying to "storm". Indo Tibetan Border Police Force guards deployed on the sentry post foiled their attempt by raining heavy fire on them.

They said at least seven rocket-propelled grenade rounds were fired in the direction of the Consulate but all missed it.

Officials added that while there has been no damage to the five-storeyed and pink-coloured consulate building. A strong contingent of over four-dozen ITBP commandos has been securing this facility from 2008 apart from three other missions in the country and the main Embassy in the capital, Kabul.

The security of these sensitive facilities were recently heightened after the ITBP deployed over 35 commandos at Indian missions in Kabul, Jalalabad, Herat, Kandhar and Mazar-i-Sharif.

Image: Afghan National Army personnel keep watch during an operation near the Indian consulate in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan. Afghan Special Forces prepared to clear insurgents barricaded in a house near the Indian consulate in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif on Monday after an overnight attack that coincided with an assault on an Indian air base near the border with Pakistan. Photograph: Anil Usyan/Reuters
National Security Advisor Ajit Dovals visit to China from Tuesday for talks with top Chinese leaders has been put off in the wake of the attack by Pakistani militants on the key Air Force base in Pathankot.

The visit has been put off due to scheduling problems, Chinese Foreign Ministry official said on Monday.

Indian officials said Dovals visit will be rescheduled as he is preoccupied with the handling of the Pathankot incident.

Doval, who is also the Special Representative for Sino-India boundary talks, was due to arrive in China on Tuesday on a two-day visit during which he was scheduled to hold talks with his Chinese counterpart Yang Jiechi on key bilateral issues, including the border dispute.

He was also due to meet Chinese Premier Li Keqiang on Wednesday.

Both Doval and Yang are Special Representatives for holding talks on the boundary issue. So far, the two countries held 18 rounds of border talks.

Indian Ambassador to China Ashok Kantha had said Doval was due to have strategic consultations with the Chinese leaders.

The visit is not for the Special Representative-level talks, Kantha said.

Referring to Dovals visit, Wang Dehua, director of the Institute for Southern and Central Asian Studies told state-run Global Times that frequent talks between the two countries will accelerate solving a dispute on the long border, including its western section with Northwest Chinas Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region and eastern part with Southwest Chinas Tibet Autonomous Region.

Dovals visit to China follows frequent interactions between the two countries top leaders in 2015.

China and India have strengthened cooperation on security issues, including solving the border dispute through talks, Fu Xiaoqiang, an expert on South Asian studies at the China Institutes of Contemporary International Relations, said.

Fu said the two countries have already agreed to solve the border dispute based on mutual understanding and accommodation but its implementation faces many difficulties, including marking the Line of Actual Control in the China-India border areas.

Wang said China and India have agreed to hold quarterly talks instead of annual talks and to enhance discussions on security issues at different levels.

A border dispute settlement could reduce conflicts between the two countries, strengthen mutual trust and maintain regional peace, Wang said.
As the anti-terror operation continued at the Air Force base in Pathankot for the third day on Monday, residents expressed anger over frequent cross-border strikes and sought enhanced border security and strengthening of the police set-up even as they feared that such attacks will put their lives in peril.

"We want the government to take immediate measures to enhance security along the border with Pakistan, stop infiltration and strengthen police set-up in these areas to prevent such attacks in future," Ravi Sharma, a local resident and president of the Punjab unit of Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Suraksha Committee, told PTI in Pathankot.

"This is the second and the longest drawn terror attacks in Punjab border districts in the past less than six months. It has created a fear psychosis among the people who had seen the worst days of terrorism in Punjab in the past.

"We want to live in peace as we have already seen the worst and deadly time of terrorism here. We have lost our kith and kins in that terrorism," Sharma said.

The people of Pathankot do not want to see the re-birth of terrorism as they have paid huge prices earlier to bring peace to these border areas.

"We cannot afford to see return of terror to this border state. People are now in perpetual fear while travelling on highways and along the border areas due to apprehension of further attacks," Sharma said.

Similarly, 53-year-old Avtar Singh, who runs a furniture shop near the Pathankot Air Force station, fears that the localities around defence installations and highways have become target of terrorists from Pakistan.

"My shop is very close to this station and is closed for past three days following the attack. Bullets landed up hitting walls of our house. We were scared throughout the night," Singh said, adding the government must take measures to instill confidence in the people and ensure that such attacks do not reoccur.

The attack at Pathankot Air Force Base, in which seven security personnel including one Lt Col of NSG have been killed, came nearly six months after a group of terrorists took over a police station in Gurdaspur in July last year. Seven persons were killed in the July attack.

The residents held dozens of anti-Pakistan protests and burnt effigies of Pakistan as the anti-terror operations continued for the third day.

The Air Force station and its surrounding areas have become a theatre of battle since January 2 as scores of bullets damaged the walls of neighbouring houses and several rounds of bigger ammunition landed on their rooftops, spreading fear among the residents.

"Is this what we get in return from Pakistan... A major terror attack for Prime Minister's peace initiative of extending hands of friendship to Pakistan... This cannot be tolerated," said Amlok Singh, another resident.

The Punjab government has announced a roadmap to check infiltration. Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal had yesterday announced deployment of a commando battalion and a special SWAT team in Pathankot as a "second line of defence" and also sought deployment of more BSF troops along the state's border with Pakistan.

"It has happened in our territory so we need to take our own initiative and come up with second line of defence," he said.

"I request the Government of India to increase the security along the border with increase in the deployment of BSF at par with that in Jammu and Kashmir," Badal said.
A fire erupted at a slum in Mumbais Mahim area on Monday in which some hutments suffered minor damage, officials said.

No one was reported hurt or killed in the mishap, they said.

The blaze occurred at a slum establishment on S L Raheja road in Mahim. About half-a-dozen hutments came in contact with the flames, a fire control room official said.

The control room got a call around 11 AM about the blaze following which five fire tenders were immediately rushed to the site, he said.

Efforts were on to douse the flames, he said adding that the cause of the fire was yet to be ascertained.

Photographs: Afsar Dayatar, Hitesh Harisinghani/Rediff.com
Saudi Arabia has severed diplomatic ties with regional rival Iran following attacks on the kingdom's embassy and consulate in the Islamic Republic over the execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the cut in relations late on Sunday and gave Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country.

All Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran have been called home after an attack on the kingdoms embassy in Tehran and a consulate.

The decision came after the mass execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region. Shiite protesters took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan while Arab allies of Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia quickly lined up behind the kingdom.

The standoff illustrates the kingdom's new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shiite power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.

It also represents just the latest turmoil in the two countries' long-rocky relationship, which saw diplomatic ties between them severed from 1988 to 1991.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saudi Arabia on Sunday of "divine revenge" over al-Nimr's death, while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting "terrorism" in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the US and the European Union sought to calm the region.

Al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that the Iranian regime has "a long record of violations of foreign diplomatic missions," dating back to the occupation of the US Embassy in 1979, and such incidents constitute "a flagrant violation of all international agreements," according to the official Saudi Press Agency.

He said Iran's "hostile policy" was aimed "at destabilizing the region's security," accusing Tehran of smuggling weapons and explosives and planting terrorist cells in the kingdom and other countries in the region. He vowed that Saudi Arabia will not allow Iran "to undermine our security."

Al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Iran's backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran also has backed Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Houthis.

In Tehran, a protest outside the Saudi Embassy early Sunday quickly grew violent as protesters threw stones and gasoline bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building ablaze, according to Gen Hossein Sajedinia, the country's top police official, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Forty people were arrested and investigators were pursuing other suspects, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Saudi Arabia's decision to cut ties with Iran after attacks on the kingdom's diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic will not distract from Riyadh's "big mistake" of executing a top Shiite cleric, a senior Iranian official said on Monday.

"By deciding to sever (diplomatic) relations, Saudi Arabia cannot make (the world) forget its big mistake of executing a cleric," deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said, according to the IRNA agency.

He added that Saudi Arabia had committed a "strategic error in adopting rash and hasty decisions that have spread instability and caused the development of terrorism in the region".

The brother of Nimr al-Nimr, the Shiite cleric executed in Saudi Arabia at the weekend, on Monday condemned retaliatory attacks on the kingdom's diplomatic missions in Iran, insisting: "We love our country".

"We appreciate your love towards the martyr #Sheikh AlNimr who lives in our hearts but we refuse attacks on #Saudi ambassies in #Iran or others," Mohammed al-Nimr tweeted in English.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as "extremists."

"It is unjustifiable," he said in a statement. Another Saudi diplomatic mission also was attacked in Mashhad. Western powers sought to calm the tensions.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration was aware of the Saudis' severing of ties with Tehran. "We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," Kirby said.

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats," according to a statement.

The disruption in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. US Secretary of State John Kerry and others spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the civil war.

Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin in mid-January.

Across the region, demonstrators took to the streets Sunday in protest over the execution of al-Nimr.

In Bahrain, police fired tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators on SitraIsland, south of the capital, Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifa family.

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called al-Nimr "the martyr, the holy warrior," while protests erupted from Turkey to India to Pakistan.

Meanwhile, al-Nimr's family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya in the kingdom's al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia.

The sheikh's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, said that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.

People protest in front of Saudi Arabia's embassy during a demonstration in Tehran. Iranian protesters stormed the Saudi Embassy in Tehran early on Sunday morning as Shiite Muslim Iran reacted with fury to Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric. Photograph: Mehdi Ghasemi/ISNA/Reuters
Two teams of terrorists attacked the Pathankot air base on Saturday, and they had -- in all likelihood -- reached there in different vehicles, security sources revealed.

Since combing operations in the forest near the base have not helped the security forces to find any vehicle used by the second team of terrorists, it is assumed that a local Jaish-e-Mohammed unit must have dropped them close to the base.

The first team of terrorists -- four youths in army uniform -- hijacked a car at Kolian on Thursday and traveled about 1,000 kilometre to Pathankot. They abandoned the vehicle at Tajpur village on Friday after slitting the throat of one of the passengers Rajesh Verma, a jeweler from Gurudaspur.

Sources said all the phone calls made by the terrorists to Pakistan were on numbers identified as that of JeM by the security establishment for a long time now.

The police are also scrutinising footage acquired from the toll plaza on the Gurdaspur-Pathankot highway  besides various police and BSF checkpoints on the Bamiyal-Pathankot road  for clues.

One more terrorist was gunned down on Sunday during combing operations.

Were sure there are at least two terrorists or more holed up as firing has resumed from two areas. Well come to know the number of terrorists holed up at the base only after the completion of the operation and body count, union home secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said in Delhi.
The MPI for Psycholinguistics in Nijmegen, Netherlands is inviting scholars to visit in 2016 and 2017 to participate in Language Evolution research.

Under the running guest programme of the Institute, special opportunities are available in 2016-2017 for visitors  both senior scholars and post-docs  participating in the research theme Evolution of Language, starting at any time in 2016. The theme will be hosted by the Language & Cognition department (run by Stephen Levinson) in collaboration with the other departments at the Institute.

The MPI for Psycholinguistics and its partners in Nijmegen offer an exciting environment in which to explore the evolution of language, both in its biological and cultural dimensions, and the interactions between them. The MPI has departments in language and genetics, the neurobiology of language, the psychology of language, language and cognition, and (in development) the acquisition of language. The MPI is a partner in the Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition & Behaviour, Centre for Language Studies, and the Language in Interaction consortium, which bring together many different perspectives on language evolution.

Senior Visitorships are available for any period from one month up to one year until the end of 2017, and Postdocs are available for up to one year starting at any time in 2016.

More details here.

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Top area high school football players to watch this postseason

Indiana's high school football postseason has arrived. Here's a look at what players to look for from Martinsville, Mooresville, Monrovia, DC and IC.
For more than 41 years, Tim Hall was dedicated to serving agricultural producers.

Last month, he retired as director of the Taylor County Farm Service Agency.

Hall is a native of Nolan County, and along with his three siblings, was raised on a cotton and livestock farm near Sweetwater. Since his father worked at Lone Star Cement, the Halls all worked together to maintain the family farm, giving Hall his strong agricultural background.

Hall attended Texas Tech University and earned a bachelor of science degree in agricultural economics.

In 1974, he began his career with USDA as a crop appraiser and later trained and became a county director. His first position was in Howard County. The past 26 years Hall served Taylor County.

Over the course of his career, Hall experienced many events and changes in local agriculture.

"When I started in 1974, a drought was in place in all of Texas, everything was manual with no automation, cellphones or GPS units. We had to do everything with tablet and pencil," he said.

Hall remembers the years of 1975 and 1976, dealing with cotton loans in Howard County. Each bale placed under the CCC loan was calculated for loan value by computing pounds in the bale times the value of the loan price, which was different for each bale due to quality classification.

"It was a lot of late nights," he said.

During this time the American agriculture movement was underway, because of low commodity prices and lack of profit for the farmers. Hall recalls the "tractorcades" by farmers to Washington in protest of the government's ag policy.

The Farm Service Agency is the primary organization charged with the implementation of the Farm Bill. Hall said each of the different farm bills under which he has (an) operation has been different.

"In the old days what was known as 'set asides' with the supplies of crops in surplus, a management tool of drawing those surpluses down, was managed through acreage cutbacks to every participating farm in the whole county," according to Hall.

Today crop insurance has changed the way business is conducted and has become a big part of the current farm bill.

Hall has always been a team player with local agricultural agencies, such as the Extension and Natural Resource Conservation Service. Citing the need to inform producers though education, Hall was a major part of USDA educational programs jointly sponsored by Texas AgriLife and NRCS.

"Tim has always been supportive, professional, and there to help" said Lee Knox of the NRCS.

Hall is a past recipient of the Taylor County AgriLife Extension Cooperator of the Year Award.

Hall gives much credit to his staff in Taylor County. He said each had their own unique characteristics, but a melding together formed a great unit.

"The next person as the Taylor County FSA director shall be the luckiest director in the county, he said.

Hall and his wife, Sheree, have two children, Jonathan and Whitney. Plans are to remain in the region, devoting as much time possible to his church in volunteer work, and watching as many sporting events as possible.
Can you bear to be apart from your stuffed animal? If so, check it out
MONDAY

Overeaters Anonymous, noon, Hinds Square Building, 100 Chestnut St., Room 112.

Schizophrenia Support Group, 1-2 p.m., Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St. 325-673-2300.

Blood drive, 1-6 p.m., Country Store, Rotan.

Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 5:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St.

Anorexics Bulimics Anonymous, 6 p.m., Shades of Hope, 402A Mulberry St., Buffalo Gap. 800-588-4673.

Central Texas Gem & Mineral Society of Abilene, 7 p.m., 7607 Highway 277 South. 325-692-0063.

Abilene Toastmaster's Club 1071, 7 p.m., Conference Center, Texas State Technical College, 650 E. Highway 80. 325-692-7325 or abilene.toastmastersclubs.org.

Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 1501 N. Broadway, Ballinger. 817-689-2810 or 325-977-1007.

Mid-City Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First Christian Church. 325-670-4304.

Memory Men (4-part a cappella singing), 7 p.m., Calvary Baptist Church, 1165 Minter Lane. Park on east side, enter through kitchen. 325-676-SING.

Taylor County Libertarian Party, 7 p.m., Winery at Willow Creek, 4353 S. Treadaway Blvd. 325-675-0266.

Dirty Drawers Figure Drawing Group, 7-9 p.m., Center for Contemporary Arts, 220 Cypress St.

Abilene Community Band rehearsal, 7:30 p.m., Bynum Band Hall, McMurry University. 325-232-7383.

South Pioneer Al-Anon Group, 8 p.m., 3157 Russell Ave.

Alcoholics Anonymous/Narcotics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Avoca United Methodist Church. 325-773-2611.

Survivors of Childhood Sexual Abuse Group. 325-676-1400.

TUESDAY

Veterans benefit meeting, 10 a.m. to noon, Disabled American Veterans, 2555 Grape St. 325-793-9699 or 325-480-6175.

Mission on the Move Soup Kitchen, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Southwest Drive Community United Methodist Church, 3025 Southwest Dr.

Abilene Southwest Rotary Club, noon, Beehive Restaurant, 442 Cedar St.

High Noon Al-Anon, noon, Southern Hills Church of Christ, 3666 Buffalo Gap Road (south end; follow the yellow signs).

Blood drive, 1-6 p.m., First Baptist Church, Albany.

Stroke/Aphasia Recovery Program support group, 1:30-2:30 p.m. West Texas Rehabilitation Center boardroom, 4601 Hartford St. 325-793-3535.

Betty Hardwick Center board of trustees, 5:15 p.m., Betty Hardwick Center, 2616 S. Clack St., Suite 150.

Dystonia Support Group, 5:15-6:15 p.m., Not Without Us, 3301 N. First St. Suite 117.

Take Off Pounds Sensibly (TOPS), 5:30 p.m., Brook Hollow Christian Church, 2310 S. Willis St. 325-232-7444.

Legacies Al-Anon Family Group, 5:30-6:30 p.m., Open Door Building, 3157 Russell Ave. 325-280-7584.

Dining For Women  Abilene Chapter, 6 p.m., First Christian Church, 1420 N. Third St.

Overeaters Anonymous, 6-7 p.m., Highland Church of Christ, 425 Highland Ave., Room 111.

Anorexics and Bulimics Anonymous, 6-7 p.m., Highland Church of Christ, 425 Highland Ave., Room 108.

Family (of Mental Health Consumers) Support Group, 6-7 p.m., Mental Health Association in Abilene, 333 Orange St. 325-673-2300.

MHAA Bipolar/Depression Peer Support Group, 6-8 p.m., Ministry of Counseling & Enrichment, 1502 N. First St. 325-673-2300.

Free certified nurturing parent class (pregnancy to toddler), 6-8 p.m., Mission Church, North Third and Mockingbird streets. 325-672-9398.

Abilene Star Chorus, 6:15 p.m., First Baptist Church, 1333 N. Third St. 325-829-1470.

Al-Anon Parents Group, 7 p.m., Hillcrest Church of Christ, 650 E. Ambler Ave. Use Church Street entrance.

Al-Anon, 7 p.m., Doug Meinzer Activity Center, Knox City. 940-658-3926.

Abilene Society of Model Railroaders, 7-8:30 p.m., 2043 N. Second St.

Parents, Family, Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG) of the Big Country, 7-9 p.m., Unity Church, 2842 Barrow St. 325-232-4726, www.pflagbc.weebly.com.

Unity Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St.

WEDNESDAY

Overeaters Anonymous, 8 a.m., St. Mark's Episcopal Church, 3150 Vogel St. Meets for Step Study.

Blood drive, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Sweetwater Lions Club.

Abilene Cactus Lions Club, 11:45 a.m., Cotton Patch Cafe, 3302 S. Clack St.

Abilene Wednesday Rotary Club, noon, Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway. $12 for lunch. Jo Ann Wilson, 325-677-6815.

Kiwanis Club of Abilene, noon, Abilene Country Club, 4039 S. Treadaway Blvd.

Clearly Speaking Toastmaster Club, noon, Westgate Church of Christ, 402 S. Pioneer Drive. 325-795-5570.

Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 5:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St.

Veterans Peer Support Group, 6 p.m., Ministry of Counseling & Enrichment, 1502 N. First St. 325-672-9999.

Mid-week Al-Anon Family Group, 6-7 p.m., Open Door Building, 3157 Russell Ave. 325-698-4995.

Advanced Square Dancing, 6:30-8:30 p.m., Wagon Wheel.

Al-Anon, 7 p.m., First United Methodist Church, 1501 N. Broadway, Ballinger. 817-689-2810 or 325-977-1007.

DivorceCare support group, 7 p.m., Hillcrest Church of Christ, 650 E. Ambler Ave. 325-691-4200.

THURSDAY

Coloring Club

The Coloring Club, a new coloring program for adults, will begin at 6:30 p.m. at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St. All required materials will be provided, but participants are invited to bring other coloring books and supplies. Admission is free.

Other ...

Blood drive, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Clyde High School.

Veterans Association Club, 10 a.m., Rose Park Senior Citizens Center (in Rose Park, South Seventh and Barrow streets).

Chronic Pain and Depression Group, 11 a.m. to noon, Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St., 325-673-2300.

Abilene Founder Lions Club, 11:30 a.m., Al's Mesquite Grill, 4801 Buffalo Gap Road.

Kiwanis Club of Greater Abilene, noon, Beehive Restaurant, 442 Cedar St. 325-695-0092.

Retired Military Wives Club business meeting, 1 p.m., Rose Park Senior Activity Center, 2625 South Seventh St. 325-677-9656 or 325-793-1490.

Mental Illness Open Support Group, 1-2 p.m., Mental Health Association of Abilene, 333 Orange St. 325-673-2300.

Abilene 42 Club, 6 p.m., Rose Park Senior Center.

Teen Recovery Group, 6-7 p.m., Mission Abilene, 3001 N. Third St.

Free certified nurturing parent class (all ages), 6-8 p.m., Mission Church, North Third and Mockingbird streets. 325-672-9398.

Free swim class for people with multiple sclerosis, 6:30 p.m., YMCA, 3250 State St.

Gambler's Anonymous, 6:30 p.m., Unity Spiritual Living Center, 2842 Barrow St. 325-338-2575.

Round Dancing, 7 p.m., Wagon Wheel. 325-829-1517.

Old Town Abilene Neighborhood Association, 7 p.m., Shining Star Baptist Church, 302 Palm St. 325-676-4068.

Big Country Audubon Society, 7 p.m., Rose Park Senior Citizens Center.

Key City Coin Club, 7 p.m., Rose Park Senior Citizens Center, Room B. 325-675-0266.

American Legion Post and Auxiliary 661 meeting, 7 p.m., Lueders Legion Hall, Highway 6, Lueders.

South Pioneer Al-Anon Group, 8 p.m., 3157 Russell Ave.

Unity Group of Alcoholics Anonymous, 8 p.m., Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St.
Coloring Club

The Coloring Club, a new coloring program for adults, will begin at 6:30 p.m. Thursday at the Abilene Public Library, 202 Cedar St. All required materials will be provided, but participants are invited to bring other coloring books and supplies. Admission is free.

Healthcare marketplace enrollment

Certified navigators will provide free assistance with enrollment into the health care marketplace from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Friday at Holmes Plaza, 402 Butternut St. Open enrollment ends Jan. 31.

'Auntie Mame'

As part of the Paramount Film Series, a showing of "Auntie Mame" will begin at 7:30 p.m. Friday and at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Paramount Theatre, 352 Cypress St. Tickets are $6 for adults and $5 for students, seniors, military and children. For more information, visit paramount-abilene.org.

Chautauqua

The Chautauqua Learning Series will continue with a presentation by Sam Gaylon, "Uniforms and Textiles in the Confederate Trans-Mississippi," from 11 a.m. to noon Saturday at Buffalo Gap Historic Village, 133 N. William St. in Buffalo Gap. Admission is free.

Texas Gun & Knife Show

The Texas Gun & Knife Show will be open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at the Abilene Civic Center, 1100 N. Sixth St. Admission is $5.

Chamber music

Key City Winds will present a chamber music concert at 5 p.m. Sunday at Episcopal Church of the Heavenly Rest, 602 Meander St. For more information, call 325-677-2091 or go to www.heavenlyrestabilene.org.

Pet sale

Rescue the Animals, SPCA and the city of Abilene will conduct an after-Christmas sale from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Abilene Animal Shelter, 925 S. 25th St. Prices on all animals have been discounted to $15, after a $20 mail-in spay/neuter rebate. For more information, call 325-698-0087.
DEAR ABBY: My husband went to Florida three months ago to care for an ailing former lover. He told me she will be leaving him a sizable inheritance and he needs to protect her from "vultures." I admit I am suspicious of his motives. I think there may be more going on than what he's telling me, but he has been painting a pretty picture of how rosy our future will be with her gift.

He has now suggested that we get a temporary divorce so he can marry her in order to get her entire estate! He claims it will be nothing more than a business arrangement. His suggestion left me flabbergasted. Even though our marriage has been rocky at times, I have never seen this side of him. I don't know whether to believe him and be simply disappointed at his callous behavior, or not believe him and conclude that he really wants a divorce so he can marry her. Any thoughts?

 Heartsick In South Carolina

DEAR HEARTSICK: Your husband appears to still be carrying a torch for his old flame. Are you sure she is really sick? If it's the truth, then the "vulture" I see on the horizon may be him.

I hope you appreciate how extremely manipulative your husband appears to be. Because of it, and since he has spoken the "D" word, consult a lawyer to ensure that your interests will be protected regardless of his motives. I'm saying that in case the woman turns out to be healthier than both of you.

DEAR ABBY: How do you help someone who doesn't want to be helped? My adult son, "Greg," who lives with me, is slowly drinking himself to death. He was laid off two years ago, and I know he is depressed and has given up on life.

It has reached the point where he is showing signs of cirrhosis, but he refuses to do anything about it. The last time he saw a doctor was three years ago. The doctor said Greg's liver functions were not normal and he needed to stop drinking. I've tried to make my son listen to reason, to no avail.

My sister tells me if I don't get Greg some help, I could be charged with adult neglect. But I don't know how to fix this. The outcome is increasingly bleak. What can I do?

 Mom With A Problem

DEAR MOM: If the inability to convince a substance-addicted adult relative to get help were against the law, there wouldn't be enough prisons to hold all the "offenders."

As much as you love your son, you can't "fix" his alcohol addiction. You should, however, find the nearest Al-Anon group and attend some meetings. And while you are at it, bring your sister with you because she has a lot to learn. Chief among the lessons is that someone else's drinking is not another person's fault or responsibility to control. I am sorry for your pain, because I'm sure it is considerable.

DEAR ABBY: I'm an attorney. Recently at a party, an acquaintance was talking about some litigation his company is involved in. I commented briefly on something he said, and he responded, "We take advice from attorneys we PAY," and walked away. Should I have stayed out of the conversation to begin with?

 Hurt Feelings In Florida

DEAR HURT: Some people think that anything that's offered for free is without value, and it appears the man you encountered is one of them. Because this is his world view, try not to take it personally. Your motives were generous. I see no reason to muzzle yourself in the future if you think you have something helpful to say.
RULE  It's been a blue post-Christmas for the Tower Drive-In. The storm that rolled through here Dec. 26-27 may have sealed the local landmark's fate.

"They guessed the screen blew down sometime between Saturday night and Sunday morning," said Teresa Sorrells, city secretary at Rule City Hall. "We had been told when we were out putting out cones for the trees that had blown down."

It was the north wind striking the movie screen that faced the same direction that finally claimed it.

"I think we had some 60 mile-per-hour winds," Sorrells said.

Forecasters at the National Weather Service office in San Angelo said that was a possibility. They reported 54 mph gusts in nearby Haskell and gusts hitting 64 mph down in Sweetwater.

"Those were the peak gusts, there could have been others around 50 mph or so," meteorologist Mark Cunningham told me. Estimated sustained winds over the area were at least 45 mph, he added.

That kind of sustained pressure, combined with damp earth, ice on the structure and the effects of past storms appeared to be enough to pull the movie screen out of the ground. The drive-in is about a mile north of town on State Highway 6; several trees also had fallen in Rule, some on roofs and one on a pickup.

This wasn't the first time wind had blown down a movie screen at the Tower.

"There were those of us who grew up with it and (still) wanted them to keep going," said Cathey Casey, a longtime resident of the town.

That was May 8, 1998, according Reporter-News archives. Jackie Whorton, who closed the drive-in theater in 2001 and then sold it in 2004, recalled what happened after the screen came down. His mother, Allene, was running the business then, his father, E.B. Whorton, having passed away.

"Herbert Williams, my momma's cousin, and some of the farmers just got to talking around the cafe, said they were going to help that lady out," he said.

Going without the drive-in seemed unthinkable, and so schemes were hatched over coffee and pie.

"That's when the town, and all the people around, all said, 'No we want that back,'" Whorton recalled.

The old screen, made from old telephone poles and framed out with more wood, had rotted away. This new screen, made from welded iron poles, was anchored by I-beams and heavy weights buried in the ground beneath it.

The whole thing went up like an old-fashioned barn-raising.

"It really was," Whorton agreed. "They did that for my momma."

It affected her quite deeply, he recalled.

"She was all tore up about them doing it, she couldn't even go out there," Whorton said. "But they all jumped in there and fixed it up."

It's a testament to the skill of the volunteers who built it that the screen seemed to retain its shape even after it fell during last week's storm. When it did, it crushed the marquee in front, splintering the plastic sign carrying the drive-in's name.

According to Reporter-News archives, Whorton sold the drive-in to Adam Hulin, who sold it in 2008 to Deon Gordon. She was featured in the Jan. 28, 2013, Big Country Journal.

At the time, she was attempting to raise money to upgrade to a digital projector. Her Kickstarter campaign failed, however, and for some time now a "For Sale" sign has been hanging outside the drive-in. Efforts to reach Gordon for comment were unsuccessful.

It's a story repeated all across the nation as drive-ins and small-town movie theaters have been forced to close. Movie studios stopped distributing their properties on film as a cost-saving measure two years ago without regard to these smaller businesses.

Reached at her home in the Metroplex Sunday, Gordon said she hasn't seen the screen yet. The larger issue of the drive-in's state has weighed on her mind.

"I'm really spending a lot of time thinking about it," she said. "I have a couple of ideas about how it might be resurrected, any scenario is going to require participation from the community to be successful."

The projectors needed to show these films can run five figures or more. Gordon was asking for $39,000 at the time, she said these days it may only require half that amount now for a used one. But without a projector, this and the neighboring counties have watched another piece of their community drop to the cutting room floor.

It was an oddly familiar song to Whorton.

"My daddy said TV was going to get us, but it didn't," he said. "That digital did it."

Whorton said he wouldn't mind buying the property back, if at least for sentimental reasons. Maybe he'd even prop the screen back up in the hopes that digital projectors might some day become affordable to a small-town drive-in.

"I'm afraid somebody will just tear it all down and put it back in some kind of pasture or something," he said. "I'd hate to see that, too much went on out there on those little three or four acres."

Like what? Whorton laughed at the question.

"Well, as a matter of fact, one time I was selling tickets," he began. "This was in the '90s or something, and a guy and his wife pulled up."

The driver, about 30 years old, drove there from Dallas. He asked if this were the only drive-in theater around and Whorton said it was.

"My daddy told me this was where I was conceived," the driver declared.

"You're kidding me," Whorton replied.

No, the man answered, it was the truth.

"Well, you just got yourself a free pass," Whorton told him. "Go on in."

Probably not the only one, Whorton thought.

"I said, 'Get in the back row somewhere, that's probably where it happened," Whorton said. He laughed again.

"I wasn't about to charge him," he said. "He got in free the first time, so he can get in free the second."
MARYNEAL  A man was shot to death here Saturday afternoon and his suspected killer later shot in Nolan County when confronted by law authorities.

The suspect was reported to be hospitalized in critical condition.

Few details were provided by the Department of Public Safety, which joined Texas Rangers, Sweetwater police and the Nolan County Sheriff's Office in the investigation.

According to DPS spokesman Frederick Biddle, a man was shot about 4 p.m. in the small community about 24 miles south of Sweetwater. The suspect fled the scene northbound in a vehicle.

The vehicle was spotted by a DPS officer south of Sweetwater and a pursuit ensued, ending at the intersection of State Highway 70 and Interstate 20 in Sweetwater. During the attempted arrest, "the subject was shot," Biddle reported.

Updated information was not available Sunday.
Sayed Rizwan Farook and his Pakistani wife averaged seven murders each during their recent terroristic slaughter in San Bernardino. Their statistics pale in comparison to the 19 hijackers who each averaged 156 murders on 9/11.

They all have something insidious in common, and it is not just being dead now or Muslim when they lived  they shared a hatred for Israel. Anti-Semitism is the main thread that binds jihadi terrorists. We should follow that thread and severely restrict tourists, refugees and immigrants from nations that are not NATO allies or nations having a history of hostility toward Israel.

Tourism and immigration today need to be constrained by three priorities outlined in our 18th century Constitution. Responsible immigration policy should:

'Insure domestic tranquility.'

'Provide for the common defense.'

'Promote the general welfare.'

Allowing foreign nationals from populations having a history of hatred toward any of our trusted allies spits in the face of our U.S. Constitution.

As possibly our most trusted ally, Israel receives about one-third of all U.S. foreign aid. With the exception of 1950, we have provided Israel with military weaponry and/or financial aid every year after 1948, the year their independence was declared. Our almost unending support of Israel has made America a big blip on jihadi radar. We now have one of two choices: support Israel or support current immigration policy allowing Israel's enemies within our borders. To embrace both is a recipe for disaster and is like mixing white fuming nitric acid with nitrating glycerol (nitroglycerin tends to explode under unstable conditions).

Would you invite a family to live in your home and interact with your children if you knew many of them wanted to kill your children's best friends? Allowing the historical enemies of Israel to live amongst Americans is tantamount to allowing C-4 time bombs to be hidden throughout our cities  time bombs just waiting to explode, especially if we support Israel during any future war against jihadists.

These time bombs will surface not just as mass shootings and bombings, but likely escalate into eco-terrorism as well. According to the Department of Homeland Security's office of intelligence and analysis, the setting of forest fires near densely populated areas is a tactic currently being advocated by al-Qaida. If we are not prepared for eco-terrorism, then we are not prepared to accept refugees and immigrants from nations peppered with jihadists  period!

Eco-terrorism is a cheap and anonymous way to wreak tremendous amounts of havoc on our economy and is surely coming our way  it's just a matter of time. Imagine the damage one terrorist with a match could do; now imagine what 40 terrorists simultaneously lighting fires in our national forests could do. Accepting tourists, refugees and immigrants from nations with widespread ill will toward Israel almost guarantees traditional terrorist attacks will increase and that eco-terrorism will strike our soil sooner than later.

We have 27 NATO allies and 16 other nations designated as MNNA's (major non-NATO allies). For now, allowing visitors from these 43 allied nations (minus those hostile toward Israel), is enough to handle.

All 19 of the 9/11 hijackers were given the American benefit of the doubt when coming to our nation. Blindly giving this benefit of doubt to tourists, refugees and immigrants from nations that historically harbor resentment toward Israel is not a reasonable option given our current geopolitical climate. We must plan for the worst and hope for the best rather than hope for the best and plan for the worst after the fact.

We made that mistake on 9/11.

Email Lance Voorhees, a former Hollywood actor and radio talk show host, at lance@LanceVoorhees.com or follow him on Twitter: @LanceVoorhees.
There are many ways to wake up.

Last fall, I could dispense with an alarm because every dawn was welcomed by the call to prayer sounding from the mosque 2 blocks from my apartment in East Jerusalem. There, I had the privilege of living for four months at a research center just outside the Old City's walls. This neighborhood of Palestinian Muslims and Christians provided a temporary home in a city of many nations and three major religions living together, often in surprising harmony.

I often have thought about this time abroad while listening to the overheated political rhetoric birthed and nurtured by our 24-hour news cycle with its bias toward unfiltered negative emotion. Yes, there always have been self-appointed guardians of the people, both journalists and politicians, who exploit willful ignorance and runaway fear. The descendants of Joseph McCarthy have the microphone today, but history will catch up with them.

In the meantime, we also can learn from good experiences, as I did from having Christian, Jewish and Muslim neighbors. The daily calls to prayer in Jerusalem, as well as the church bells and the cheerful walk of families to synagogue on Shabbat  all these steady realities seem to say, 'Think about what matters.' Life and death, love and trust, joy and sorrow lie at the core of religious experience. It should be easy to respect people who pray to God on their hands and knees five times a day, give alms to the poor and sacrifice time and money to make pilgrimage. This happens every day from Istanbul to Jakarta, as well as in our own country.

In short, I have come to believe that the West does not have a Muslim problem. We have a truth-telling problem. We cannot face the truth of our own violence, our degradation of the poor, our limited moral purity.

To recognize these truths is not to ignore the tragedy of terrorism or to imagine that pretty words will whisk it away. They will not. The governments of the world will have no choice but to end some of the violence by violence. But the failure to measure that violence, to temper it with justice, will beget more violence. For the only thing stopping ISIL and al-Qaida in the end will be the conviction that human beings do not live alone and that none of us can speak for God. We can only listen to what God has said.

Christians and Muslims must work together for a solution. The alternative is continuous strife.

As a Christian reflecting on what I can do and value in my own life, I think that certain things are indisputable: I have no reason to fear my Muslim friends for I know from experience that we want many of the same things. We all worship the One God, even though our understandings of God differ in important ways. Like all other human beings, Muslims are among those whom the person I believe to be the final prophet, Jesus of Nazareth, taught me to treat as I want to be treated. As a Christian, I cannot allow the hatemongering politicians to use my faith to get elected. Enough already.

So, what lesson must we learn now at this painful moment? Not just that a government that can close mosques today can close churches tomorrow. Nor that Americans in the information age have no excuse for being as ignorant about the faith of 1.4 billion people as many of us are. We should have learned these things long ago from our own history.

Perhaps the key lesson of the moment is that, though there are many ways to wake up in the morning, we all wake up in the same world. We are all small, frail creatures groping toward understanding. Whatever our religion, many of us pray to God to make us better people because we realize we have not yet arrived at wisdom.

We had better learn to live together so that our children will not wake up in a world in which both the Cross and the Crescent symbolize humankind's age-old lust to destroy itself. It is not too late, but we must hurry, and we must speak out.

Email Mark Hamilton, professor of Old Testament at Abilene Christian University, where he has taught since 2000, at mark.hamilton@acu.edu
Today in history: On Jan. 4, 1847, Samuel Colt wins a contract with the U.S. government to purchase 1,000 of his .44-caliber revolvers. Handguns were not a factor in U.S. history until Colt began to mass-produce them. They cost a lot to make and had not been particularly accurate. Americans preferred knives for close combat. The repeat-revolver, introduced in 1836, began to change that. Though not as accurate as a rifle, the handgun were deadly at 30 to 40 yards. By the 1850s, Colts were popular in the American West.
EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is a press release from the Abilene Police Department concerning a shooting shortly after midnight Monday.

UPDATE

After being released from Hendrick Medical Center, Derek Lee Casey, DOB 7/12/84, was formally arrested and charged with two counts of Aggravated Assault on a Peace Officer. Casey was booked into the Taylor County Jail just before 5:00 am. His bond was set by Judge Sparky Dean at $250,000 per count.

Other charges could be filed against Casey pending the outcome of this investigation. The officers involved remain on administrative leave as per policy.

ORIGINAL STORY

On January 4, 2016, at 12:13 am, Abilene officers were dispatched to a call in the 1100 block of Burger Street. The caller reported a known male was outside of her home and was armed with a gun.



The caller believed the suspect was on some type of drug, and she indicated that he was possibly trying to get into the home because he was after his girlfriend.



The suspects girlfriend was inside the home with the calling party, along with two other occupants. The home was locked, but the suspect reportedly tried to get into the house.



When officers arrived, they approached from the front and the rear of the residence. The two officers in the alley observed the suspect near the back door.



They gave him verbal commands, whereupon early information indicates the suspect fired at the two police officers. The officers returned fire, striking the suspect.



Officers then provided immediate life-saving measures until the Fire Department and EMS arrived. The suspect was transported to Hendrick Medical Center where he remains at the time of this media release. His condition is not believed to be critical. He is identified as 31-year old Derrick Casey.



The suspect is in police custody and will likely be charged with two counts of Aggravated Assault against a Peace Officer. Other charges may be filed as the investigation continues.



The two involved officers were not injured, nor were any other persons. The officers have been placed on administrative leave in accordance with policy.

Additionally, the Police Department contacted the Texas Rangers and requested an independent investigation.



This is an active investigation. More information may be released at a later time.
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As a goodwill gesture, the North Korean governments agreement to send the countrys most famous pop group  the Moranbong Band  to Beijing for a concert turned into a major flop. The visit by the girl group famous for tight dresses, high heels, sanitized western pop songs and North Korean revolutionary standards marked a high-profile attempt to repair relations between China and North Korea which have been in a rather sorry state since 2012. Instead of a new show of cooperation, the Dec. 12 concert turned into no show at all.

The band holds a special place in modern North Korean popular culture. It is essentially the creation of the young North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un, who maintains contact with the group. While no one would confuse a Moranbong performance with its heavily-edited lyrics and homages to Kim with a Lady Gaga concert, their emergence in 2012 was seen as a sign of change, and so was the groups first performance in China.

In the days preceding the scheduled performance, the North Korean media was full of stories about expectations in Beijing  the inhabitants of which were said to be eagerly waiting for the world-famous band. It was clearly an exaggeration, but the Chinese side had indeed arranged for a rather high-level performance, and a number of high-level officials were expected at the bands opening night

Things did not turn out as expected.

The Moranbong band suddenly left Beijing without explanation that afternoon. In essence, the entire band rushed out of their hotel with luggage in tow, boarded cars and went to the airport where a plane departing for Pyongyang was waiting for a few hours for the band.

All of this was accompanied by frantic heavyweight diplomatic activities, with the North Korean ambassador and a number of Chinese political bigwigs negotiating in the hotel where the band was staying. The girls departure was so sudden that there was no way to warn spectators in time about the cancellation. Most arrived at the highly prestigious venue, only to learn that the promised act had disappeared.

This incident remains unexplained, and a number of stories have been floating around in the last week or two. One insists that the North Koreans were unhappy with a Chinese guest list that was short on top officials. According to another account, China and North Korea could not agree on which songs should be performed.

Regardless of the reason behind this strange and perhaps unprecedented incident, it is certain to have some impact on relations between China and North Korea. The incident became a major embarrassment for the Chinese government, and it is likely to be remembered as such for years to come.

Whether the Moranbong Band Affair will hamper any improvement of relations between the two nations is an open question. The strategic decisions of major countries are not often determined by emotions, contrary to what many might believe, and the bruised egos of politicians have very little impact on policy decisions -- at least so far as the Chinese are concerned. Improving relations with North Korea generally serves Chinas long-term interests, no matter what North Korean pop bands do or do not do in Beijing.

Still, there are indications of unease. Immediately after the incident, Chinese censors began to delete all comments on the Moranbong Band girls escape, in what looked like an effort to prevent an outburst of wounded nationalism on social media  a frequent occurrence in China. Statements of Chinese officials have also been remarkably careful and almost comically nebulous.

At the end of the day, The Moranbong Affair does further reinforce the impression of North Korea as a bizarre and mercurial place, where pretty much anything could happen. The Chinese have never seen the North Koreans as trustworthy partners, and now, a highly visible and widely reported incident once again confirms this perception. This will not probably have an immediate impact on relations, but in the long run, its not going to do North Korea any good.
China's embattled human rights lawyers have called on the ruling Chinese Communist Party to improve its treatment of their colleagues in 2016.



By Dec. 30, authorities across China had detained, questioned, or otherwise sanctioned at least 316 rights lawyers, law firm employees, rights activists, and family members, the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group said in a statement on its website.



The crackdown began with the detention of lawyer Wang Yu and her colleagues at Beijing's Fengrui law firm on the night of July 9, 2015, the rights group said.



Some 22 people remain under residential surveillance or house arrest, eight are being held under criminal detention, while four have "disappeared."



Some 20 people are believed to be being held on suspicion of "endangering state security," the group said.

The authorities have yet to inform the families of a number of those detained of their status and whereabouts, and those who are incommunicado have been so for up to 224 days in some cases, it said.



'A cold fear'

While 266 people have been released after initial detention or questioning, at least 30 of them, including close family members, have been denied permission to leave the country.



"Gradually, and at different times, the people around us have been taken from us and put in jail," the Association of Chinese Human Rights Lawyers, a mainland group, said in a statement to mark the New Year.



"There is a cold fear that has seeped into every corner of our lives, and the authorities are turning up the pressure, so we have very little room for maneuver," it said.



"But human rights lawyers have stayed steadfast through it all, remaining at the forefront of the rule of law and human rights [in China]," it said.



The group called on the government to protect the rights of all citizens under the terms of international rights covenants.



"We must stand up in the face of this omnipresent, omnipotent power and tell them that human rights are universal, and should apply to all human societies," the statement said.



"The spirit of the times is on our side," it said.

Frequent target



The wife of detained rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang, Li Wenzu, called on the authorities to release him as soon as possible.



"We definitely want him back at home as soon as possible, but we don't even know his status for sure, or what the authorities are planning, nor what the outcome will be," Li said.



"He has been a rights lawyer for so many years, and things have been so difficult," she said. "He is frequently the target of persecution."



"I am worried about his health and personal safety, and I have that worry hanging over me every day," she said.



"But we need people like him to advance the rule of law [in China]. What would happen if nobody did it?"



Nationwide crackdown



Hunan-based rights lawyer Cai Ying said the crackdown on lawyers comes amid a nationwide attack on freedom of expression by the administration of President Xi Jinping.



"The authorities are hoping that fewer and fewer people will speak out after this latest round of persecution," Cai said. "Some people have given up [rights work], while others are afraid to speak out."



"But some lawyers have kept going with courage, so they haven't achieved their aim."



And Guangdong rights lawyer Liu Shihui agreed, citing the targeting of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) throughout the year.



"There were a lot of people who fell victim to this in other human-rights related areas last year," Liu said. "The damage done to human rights work was broader and deeper than at any time in history."



Henan rights lawyer Chang Boyang said 2015 was a terrible year for human rights in China, and for the legal profession in particular.



"2015 was a year in which the rule of law was trampled underfoot," Chang said. "It was a year of disasters, and we should ... reflect on that."



"I hope that the rule of law will find a new direction in 2016."



Reported by Wen Yuqing for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Yang Fan for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.




Hong Kong chief executive Leung Chun-ying on Monday hit out at the 'disappearance' of a fifth bookseller and publisher linked to a bookstore known for selling political gossip about the ruling Chinese Communist Party.



But he stopped short of confirming that the owners and employees of Causeway Bay Books and its parent publishing company had indeed been detained by Chinese police or their agents in Hong Kong, which has maintained its status as a separate jurisdiction since the 1997 handover to China.



"No other law enforcement agencies outside of Hong Kong have such authority," Leung, who has often been accused of kowtowing to Beijing, told reporters.



"In Hong Kong, the only people who can exercise the power of the law are our legal enforcement agencies of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government," he said. "The law protects the rights, including the freedom and safety of everybody in Hong Kong."



"It would be unacceptable if mainland law enforcement agents enforce laws in Hong Kong because this violates the Basic Law," Leung said, in a reference to the territory's mini-constitution.



Leung told reporters that the government is "concerned" about the case, and will be following up on it.



Lee Bo, 65, who manages Causeway Bay Books, was last seen last Wednesday in the Chai Wan warehouse of Mighty Current, the publishing house that owns the shop, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported on Monday.



Four of his business associates, publisher Gui Minhai, general manager Lui Bo and colleagues Cheung Jiping and Lam Wing-kei have gone missing under similar circumstances since October, although some have called to let their families know they are alive and well, suggesting they are now in detention in China.



Rights lawyer and pan-democratic lawmaker Albert Ho said the booksellers' disappearances are likely linked to a planned book on President Xi Jinping's love life.



"It probably has to do with ... a book containing a story about a girlfriend [of Xi's] ... from some years ago," Ho told a news conference in Hong Kong on Sunday.



"The publishers were warned not to publish this book ... [which] probably hasn't gotten as far as the printing stage yet," he said.



In an interview with RFA, Ho said the case of the missing booksellers is the latest in a long line of assaults on Hong Kong's traditional freedom of expression and publication.



"The mainland is targeting our publishing industry and our journalists in a policy that could be described as white terror," Ho said.



"This has been going on for some time now, and now we can see the long arm of Chinese law enforcement reaching into Hong Kong."



Retaliation and protests



The hacker group Anonymous has vowed to attack Chinese government websites in retaliation for not allowing Hong Kong to maintain the high degree of autonomy it was promised before the handover, according to a video posted to YouTube.



The 'disappearances' have sparked protests in Hong Kong, as well as growing calls for the government to investigate whether the "one country, two systems" principle agreed with the city's outgoing British rulers had been violated.



Lees wife told Hong Kong's Cable TV that her husband had called her from neighboring Shenzhen the night he disappeared, speaking Mandarin rather than the couple's native tongue, Cantonese.



"He said he will not be coming back any time soon. He said he was assisting in an investigation," she said.



"I asked him if it was about the previous cases, he said yes. It was about the missing [associates]," she said, in comments translated by the SCMP, which also quoted Hong Kong police sources as saying they had no record of Lee going through immigration on his way out of the city.



Richard Choi, of the Alliance in Support of the Patriotic Democratic Movement in China, said there are fears that the five men may be in extrajudicial detention.



"We don't know where these people are, and that is a serious violation of their human rights," Choi told RFA. "[Lee's] wife said he called her from Shenzhen, but how did he get there?"



"It is likely that he was illegally kidnapped by the Chinese police or the state security police in Hong Kong, which is a serious violation of the one country, two systems principle," he said.



Lawmaker and Labour Party chairman Lee Cheuk-yan said the idea that Chinese law enforcement could act of their own volition in Hong Kong was "terrifying."



"If we have one territory, two policing systems, then this is really asking for trouble, and it is a total violation of the Basic Law," he said.



Mountain out of a molehill



While Beijing has made no comment so far on the 'disappearance' of the five men, the Global Times newspaper, which has close ties to the Communist Party, said Hong Kong people were "making a mountain out of a molehill" by speculating on Lee's fate.



"The hottest theory is that Lee Bo was detained by mainland law enforcement personnel in a so-called cross border operation," the paper said in a signed commentary article on Monday, pointing to the content of books sold in Causeway Bay Books as a contributing factor.



"A lot of the books they sold harbored malicious content which constituted a serious threat to the right of reputation," it said, without detailing whose reputation had been threatened.



It said such books had begun to circulate across the internal border in mainland China, where political writings are tightly controlled by party censors, "acting as a source of political rumors and causing a certain amount of pernicious impact."



The article, signed by Shan Renping, accused the bookstore of peddling "forbidden books" deliberately targeting mainland Chinese tourists who then bring the books back home with them.



"Some people are crazy enough to want to turn Hong Kong into the last bastion of political opposition to Beijing," it said.



Inquiries made by RFA with Beijing's Central Liaison Office in Hong Kong on Monday had met with no reply by the time of writing.



In May 2014, a court in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen on Wednesday handed a 10-year jail term to 79-year-old Hong Kong publisher Yiu Man-tin after he edited a book highly critical of President Xi Jinping.



Earlier this year, the Central Liaison Office acquired control of Hong Kong's Sino United Publishing Co. in a move that gave it control of 80 percent of the book publishing market in the territory.



The liaison office already owns a number of Chinese-language media, including the Wen Wei Po, Ta Kung Pao and Hong Kong Commercial Daily newspapers, as well as the online Orange News.



Reported by Dai Weisen for RFA's Cantonese Service, and by Xin Lin for the Mandarin Service. Translated and written in English by Luisetta Mudie.
Afghanistans Interior Ministry says a suicide bomber has carried out an attack on a police checkpoint near Kabul airport, killing himself but causing no other fatalities.

City police in Kabul said the suicide bomber detonated his explosives inside a vehicle on January 4 in an area close to where a suicide bomber last week had killed one other person and wounded 33.

But an Interior Ministry official said the suicide bomber approached the police checkpoint on foot.

There also was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack.

The attack came as Afghan special forces early on January 4 were battling militants who barricaded themselves in a house in the northern Afghan city of Mazar-i-Sharif after a failed attempt to storm into the nearby Indian consulate.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP
An opposition activist in Armenia has been arrested and remanded in pretrial custody after he and other members of a radical group seeking to topple the government clashed with riot police on New Years Eve.



Police used force against the New Armenia Public Salvation Front activists as they attempted to place a Christmas tree in Yerevans Liberty Square, the scene of antigovernment rallies staged by the group in December.



Gevorg Safarian and four other protesters were detained.



All were released within hours except Safarian, who was charged with assaulting a police officer.



Safarian denies the charges, which carry a penalty of up to five years in prison if he is convicted.



Safarians lawyer, Tigran Hayrapetian, says it was the police officer who attacked Safarian during the incident.



Other activists have accused the police of violence during a rally outside police headquarters in Yerevan to condemn Safarians prosecution.
Afghan officials say the siege near India's consulate in northern Afghanistan has ended after all the attackers were killed.

Balkh Governor Atta Mohammad Noor, who had been coordinating the operation in the provincial capital, Mazar-e Sharif, made the announcement on Facebook late on January 4.

The provincial police chief, Sayed Kamal Sadat, confirmed the 25-hour "clearance operation is over" and that the attackers had been killed.

The operation began late on January 3 after gunmen tried unsuccessfully to break into the consulate.

Afghan forces successfully flushed out the militants who were holed up in a building -- located in a residential area -- near the consulate.

Sarwar Hussaini, a provincial police spokesman, was quoted by the Associated Press as saying on January 5 that 10 people were wounded during the clashes, including five civilians who got caught in the crossfire.

Hussaini said there were three gunmen and all were killed.

Earlier, Muneer Ahmed Farhad, the government spokesman in Balkh Province, told RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan that at least two members of the Afghan security forces had been killed.

The Indian ambassador said all the consulate staff were safe.

Indian Attacks

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack, which is the latest in a series of assaults on Indian installations in Afghanistan.

The incident occurred while Indian security forces were still trying to suppress an attack on an air base in Pathankot, near the border with Pakistan.

In 2008 a car bomb at the Indian Embassy in Kabul killed 60 people and the facility was again hit by a suicide strike in 2009.

Nine civilians, including seven children, were killed in August 2013 when suicide bombers targeted the Indian Consulate in the eastern city of Jalalabad.

In 2014, India's consulate in the western Afghan city of Herat was hit by heavily armed insurgents including suicide bombers.

The most recent attack came amid renewed efforts to reduce long-standing tensions between New Delhi and Islamabad and restart peace talks with the Afghan Taliban as part of a broader drive to improve stability in the region.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and Reuters
A British man who compared a local delicacy in Kyrgyzstan to a horse penis has been ordered to leave the country.

The deportation order by Karakols city court was issued on January 4 against Michael McFeat, an employee of the Canadian mining firm Centerra Gold.

The order says McFeat must leave Kyrgyzstan by January 5.

McFeat had posted a remark on Facebook photos that showed Kyrgyz employees of Centerra Gold at the companys New Year celebration lining up to eat chuchuk -- a sausage made from horse meat and intestines.

He said the employees were preparing to eat a Kyrgyz special delicacy, the horses penis.

McFeat apologized for the remark after it prompted Kyrgyz workers at the Kumtor mine to stage a strike on January 2.

The Kumtor mine is at the center of a dispute between Kyrgyzstans government and the Canadian mining company.

With reporting by Reuters and AFP
Just days after Federal Nationalities Minister Igor Barinov apologized for branding three respected Daghestani weeklies as coming close to betraying Russia's national interests, a potential new threat has emerged to the publications in question.

One of the three, Chernovik, reported in its December 25 issue that Republic of Daghestan head Ramazan Abdulatipov has tasked one of the law enforcement agencies with compiling a list of media outlets, journalists, and bloggers whose writing qualifies as "subversive" and "supporting extremism."

That development is particularly disturbing insofar as Daghestan is one of the few federation subjects with independent media outlets whose reporters remain uncompromisingly committed to upholding a degree of media freedom absent elsewhere (especially in the North Caucasus), sometimes at the cost of their lives. No fewer than 15 Daghestani journalists, including former Chernovik editor Gadzhimurad Kamalov, have been killed over the past 20 years (although none since Abdulatipov was first named acting republic head three years ago). None of those killings has been solved.

What is more, some observers infer that Abdulatipov was behind Barinov's critical remarks. Addressing the Third Forum of North Caucasus Media in Pyatigorsk on December 10, Barinov claimed that three Daghestani newspapers -- Chernovik, Novoye Delo, and Svobodnaya Respublika -- had positioned themselves in opposition to the Daghestani and possibly even the federal authorities, and "overstepped the mark beyond which...this borders on the betrayal of national interests."

Barinov further said those papers make no distinction between the Russian pilots currently deployed in Syria and "terrorists," and accused them of seeking to justify the shooting down by Turkey in late November of a Russian warplane. He opined that in this situation "the state should use force and its authority" against the papers in question.

Abdulatipov, who was sitting next to Barinov, reportedly expressed approval of Barinov's allegations.

North Caucasus Federal District head Sergei Melikov, however, whose family hails from Daghestan and also attended the forum, immediately took issue with Barinov. Melikov denied the three papers are in any way subversive, and stressed the importance of the role of independent media in reporting on domestic political problems in such a turbulent region as Daghestan.

In a statement to the website Kavpolit.com the same day, Chernovik editor Mairbek Agayev categorically rejected the accusation of betraying national interests. He said that the three papers are the only sources in Daghestan of an alternative viewpoint, and that his paper's editorial line can be summarized as "don't steal and don't violate the rights of the people."

Agayev further suggested that Barinov had been induced by Abdulatipov to criticize the three papers publicly. Barinov himself acknowledged at the forum that he had just visited that republic and had traveled from there to Pyatigorsk in Abdulatipov's company.

Barinov had reportedly been displeased by the failure of some Daghestani students forced to attend an official function in Makhachkala to rise to their feet when the state hymns of Russia and Daghestan were played. The website Onkavkaz.com suggested that Abdulatipov's aides had told Barinov that the three newspapers were directly responsible for the students' "lack of patriotism."

The day after the forum, the heads of various federal and Daghestani agencies received phone calls from Abdulatipov's office asking them to stop providing the three publications with information.

Novoye Delo editor in chief Gadzhimurad Sagitov similarly commented that Barinov's assessment was in all probability due to his taking at face value the information fed to him by Abdulatipov's entourage, given that anyone who read the paper regularly would know such criticism was groundless.

Novoye Delo wrote to Barinov seeking to clarify the reasons for what it termed "a stab in the back." In an editorial, it asked how long he had been reading the paper, and on the basis of which specific articles he had reached his conclusions.

Barinov has apparently not yet responded to those questions. His office did, however, contact Chernovik to offer apologies.

Like their Chernovik colleagues, the editorial staff of Novoye Delo denied ever taking up a position in opposition to the federal authorities and reaffirmed their readiness for "constructive cooperation" with the Federal Agency for Nationality Affairs that Barinov heads.

The paper then cited largely positive comments on its coverage from 10 republican officials and public figures and Caucasus experts, including journalist Maksim Shevchenko, who thought Barinov had been set up, and physician Magomed Abdulkhabirov, who suggested the three publications should take Barinov to court.

By contrast, Svobodnaya Respublika declined to respond to Barinov's accusations. Its political commentator, Zaur Gaziyev, was quoted by the news portal Caucasus Knot as saying simply that "we don't know" what they were based on.

Whether or not Barinov's criticism of the three newspapers was based on distorted information originating with Abdulatipov's entourage, Abdulatipov has good reason to resent their efforts to provide objective analysis of both political developments and economic affairs. Chernovik reported in detail on the two successive trials of former Makhachkala Mayor Said Amirov on charges of murder and terrorism that the prosecution struggled to substantiate.

More recently, Chernovik has relentlessly chronicled the republican authorities' disastrous handling of measures to renovate the ancient southern town of Derbent in the run-up to the September 2015 celebration of the 2,000th anniversary of its foundation. Moscow provided the lion's share of the funding for those measures, but neither Russian President Vladimir Putin nor Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev traveled to Derbent to take part in the festivities. Their absence was widely construed as a reflection of official displeasure.

Abdulatipov's apparent desire to muzzle such newspapers is understandable if he believes his standing vis-a-vis Putin is being eroded as a result of their reporting. Ironically, Putin himself is on record as having ordered investigators to work more intensively on solving the killings of Daghestani journalists.

In his annual address to the Daghestani parliament in January 2015, Abdulatipov gave the number of slain journalists as 12, adding that 11 of those killings had been solved.
Russia's use of Iranian-made drones to attack Ukraine shows that Russia is both politically and militarily bankrupt, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on October 18 after saying that Russian air strikes in the past week had destroyed almost one-third of Ukraine's power stations.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine RFE/RL's Live Briefing gives you all of the latest developments on Russia's ongoing invasion, Kyiv's counteroffensive, Western military aid, global reaction, Russian protests, and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war, click here.

Zelenskiy said for decades Russia spent billions of dollars on its military-industrial complex, "and in the end they bowed to Tehran to get rather simple drones and missiles."



Speaking in his nightly address, he said that strategically, this will not help Russia in any way.



"It only additionally proves to the world that Russia is on a losing path and is trying to draw someone else into its accomplices," he said. "We will definitely ensure an appropriate international reaction to this."



Iran denies supplying drones to Russia, and the Kremlin said it had no information about whether Iranian kamikaze drones were used.



But British intelligence early on October 18 identified the drones used by Russia as being Iranian-made, and the U.S. State Department assessed that Iranian drones were used on October 17 in an attack on Kyiv.



White House spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre accused Tehran of lying when it said Iranian drones were not being used by Russia in Ukraine.

Jean-Pierre on October 17 told reporters that the White House "strongly condemns Russia's missile strikes" and that the attacks continued "to demonstrate [Russian President Vladimir] Putin's brutality."

The U.S. State Department, meanwhile, said Washington would "not hesitate to use sanctions or take actions" against companies and countries working with Iran's drone program.

State Department spokesman Vedant Patel also said a deepening alliance between Russia and Iran "is something the whole world -- especially those in the region and across the world, frankly -- should be seeing as a profound threat."

Moscow began the recent wave of air attacks last week, hitting residential areas in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities.

Zelenskiy tweeted early on October 18 that the attacks had caused massive blackouts across Ukraine and that there was "no space left for negotiations" with Putin.



Kyiv's prosecutor office said two people were killed in the October 18 strikes in Kyiv after five others lost their lives in the drone attacks of the previous day in the capital.



NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said the alliance will deliver air-defense systems to Ukraine in the coming days. Speaking at a security conference in Berlin, Stoltenberg said the systems would help Ukraine defend itself against attacks, including by drones made in Iran.

"The most important thing we can do is deliver on what allies have promised, to step up and deliver even more air-defense systems," Stoltenberg said.

Earlier on October 18, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of Ukraine's presidential office, said there had been three Russian strikes on an unspecified energy facility in northern Kyiv.

"The situation is critical now across the country. It's necessary for the whole country to prepare for electricity, water, and heating outages," Tymoshenko told Ukrainian television.

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the attack was on "critical infrastructure."

The northern Ukrainian city of Zhytomyr was left without water and electricity supply after Russian air strikes, but its mayor told RFE/RL that the services had been largely restored.

"Around noon, we connected the main sewage plant, and the water supply was more or less operational. Currently, approximately 80 percent of the city has electricity, but the central part of the city remains without it," he said.

Russian troops also shelled energy facilities in Dnipro and blasts were reported in Kharkiv.



Explosions also shook the cities of Kriviy Rih and Mykolayiv, local officials said, a day after Russia launched waves of kamikaze drone strikes that killed at least seven people, four of them in Kyiv, and damaged infrastructure in the Ukrainian capital and several other cities across the country.

"Kriviy Rih. Explosions in the northern part of the city. We are in shelters," Oleksandr Vilkul the head of the central Ukrainian city's military administration said on social media, adding that so far there were no reports of casualties or damage.

In the southern port of Mykolayiv overnight shelling killed at least one person, Mayor Oleksandr Sienkovych said early on October 18.

The Russian-appointed head of the Kherson region announced on October 18 that the civilian population will be evacuated from part of the region as he warned of an expected escalation of hostilities.



Vladimir Saldo on October 18 announced an "organized, gradual displacement" of civilians from four towns on the right bank of the Dnieper River.



The new commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, Sergei Surovikin, said the situation in Kherson "is difficult," telling state-owned Rossia-24 television news channel in an interview, "The enemy is deliberately striking infrastructure and residential buildings in Kherson."

With reporting by Reuters, AP, dpa, and AFP
Saudi Arabia has cut diplomatic relations with its regional rival, Iran, after attacks on the Saudi Embassy and consulate in Tehran over the execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric by Riyadh.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the severing of ties late on January 3 and gave Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country.

All Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran have been called home after the kingdom's diplomatic compound in Tehran was attacked in the early morning hours of January 3, with intruders setting fires and throwing papers from the roof.

The moves come amid increasingly harsh rhetoric between Riyadh and Tehran, with Iran's supreme leader warning of "divine vengeance" for the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that the Iranian regime had "a long record of violations of foreign diplomatic missions," dating back to the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in 1979.

He said such incidents constituted "a flagrant violation of all international agreements," and that Iran's "hostile policy" was aimed "at destabilizing the region's security."

Jubeir also accused Tehran of smuggling weapons and explosives and planting terrorist cells in the kingdom and other countries in the region.

He vowed that Saudi Arabia would not allow Iran "to undermine our security."

Saudi Arabia's civil aviation authority says all flights to and from Iran have been canceled.

Meanwhile, the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.), an ally of Saudi Arabia, downgraded its diplomatic representation with Iran on January 4, recalling its own envoy from Tehran and reducing the number of Iranian diplomats it allows in the U.A.E.

Bahrain and Sudan on January 4 also announced they were cutting diplomatic ties with Iran.

Kuwait also condemned the attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran and expressed support for the kingdom, but stopped short of saying it would cut off diplomatic ties with Tehran.

WATCH: Shi'ite groups in Pakistan added their voices to protests around the world against Saudi Arabia's execution of prominent Shi'ite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr. Hundreds of protesters gathered in Karachi and chanted death to the Saudi royal family.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry called both countries' foreign ministers to urge calm.

The White House urged Saudi Arabia and Iran to not let their diplomatic spat derail talks to end Syria's conflict.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said Washington was concerned about the situation and wanted Saudi Arabia and Iran to show restraint. He urged both nations not to inflame tensions or further sectarian conflict.

The UN envoy for Syria is heading to Saudi Arabia and Iran to gauge the impact of the rupture in relations between the two longtime regional rivals on efforts to end the Syrian conflict.

UN deputy spokesman Farhan Haq says Staffan de Mistura was en route to Riyadh and will visit Tehran later this week.

Turkey, another player in the Syrian conflict, urged both Saudi Arabia and Iran to ease tensions, saying the Middle East region is "already like a powder keg" and cannot withstand a new crisis.

Sectarian Struggle

Saudi Arabia, ruled by a Sunni-led royal dynasty, is engaged in a power struggle with Shi'ite-led Iran throughout the Middle East.

Both sides have used proxy forces to struggle for or maintain influence in places like Yemen, as well as Bahrain, Iraq, and Syria.

The standoff illustrates the kingdom's increased defiance of Iran across the region under King Salman.

During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shi'ite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shi'ite power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal in July 2015 with world powers.

The execution of Nimr, announced on January 2 by Saudi Arabia, was expected to fuel further outbreaks of proxy violence.

Nimr was a central figure in protests by Saudi Arabia's marginalized Shi'ite minority until his arrest in 2012 and later conviction on terrorism charges. His execution drew condemnation from Shi'a across the region.

WATCH: Thousands of people gathered in the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, to protest against the execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric by Saudi Arabia.

In addition to Nimr, 46 others, including three Shi'ite dissidents and several Al-Qaeda militants, were put to death.

Speaking on Iranian state TV, Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said that by cutting diplomatic ties, Riyadh could not cover up "its major mistake of executing Sheikh Nimr".

The United States called for leaders in the region to take "affirmative steps" to reduce tensions.

"We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," an official of President Barack Obama's administration said.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a statement on January 3 that Nimr "neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism."

Iran's President Hassan Rohani condemned Nimr's execution but also denounced attacks on the Saudi Embassy and consulate as "totally unjustifiable."

"The buildings should be legally and religiously protected in the Islamic Republic of Iran," he said.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, a powerful, elite paramilitary organization, called the execution a "shameful act."

Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami, a member of Iran's Assembly of Experts, denounced the execution as a crime by Saudi Arabia's "infamous regime."

"This...blood will stain the collar of the House of Saud and wipe them from the pages of history," Khatami was quoted as saying on January 2.

In Iraq, where the Shi'ite-led government is close to Iran, prominent religious and political figures demanded that ties with Riyadh be severed.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi warned that Nimr's execution would have repercussions on regional security.

His predecessor, Nuri al-Maliki, said Nimr's execution would "topple the Saudi regime."

In Baghdad, hundreds of protesters organized by influential Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, called for the severing of diplomatic ties with Riyadh. Young men burned U.S., British, and Israeli flags.

Thousands of Iraqis also demonstrated in the cities of Najaf and Basra.

With reporting by Reuters, dpa, AFP, AP, the BBC, IRNA, Fars, Mehr, WAM, TASS, and Interfax
A university lecturer who went missing in Russia's Chechnya region last month was found dead on New Year's Day.

The body of Khizir Yezhiyev, a teacher of economics at Grozny State Oil Technical University, was found late on January 1 on the outskirts of Roshni-Chu in Chechnyas Urus Martan district, southwest of the regional capital.

Students at the university said they saw Yezhiyev being detained by law enforcement officials in Grozny on December 19.

But Chechnyas Interior Ministry did not confirm that he had been detained and his whereabouts had remained unknown.

Some media reports from Chechnya said Yezhiyev had been kidnapped.

Unlawful detentions by security forces are a long-standing problem in Chechnya, where activists say Kremlin-backed regional head Ramzan Kadyrov rules through fear and abuse.

With reporting by Caucasian Knot
Pakistans Law Minister Rana Sanaullah says authorities in Punjab Province have arrested 42 suspected militants with alleged links to the Islamic State extremist group.

Sanaullah said the arrests were made during the weekend in four cities across the Punjab Province as a result of evidence gathered during a raid in late December.

On December 29, Sanaullah announced that police had arrested eight suspected members of the IS group in the town of Daska, in central Punjab Province, on charges that they were planning to establish a terrorist network and carry out attacks in Pakistan.

Before the December 29 raid in Daska, Pakistans government had officially denied that IS was operating in Pakistan -- despite years of extremist violence in the country linked to Al-Qaeda, Taliban militants, and other Islamic extremists.

In May 2015, IS militants claimed responsibility for an attack that killed 43 members of the Shiite Ismaili minority in the southern port city of Karachi.

Based on reporting by AFP, The Express Tribune, and the International New York Times
The Kremlin says the head of Russia's military intelligence agency, which is known as the GRU, has died unexpectedly.

A statement posted on the Kremlin website on January 4 said that General Igor Sergun, 58, had suffered a "sudden death," but gave no details as to the cause, timing, or circumstances. The state-run news agency TASS said he died on January 3.

The statement quoted President Vladimir Putin as giving his condolences, saying that Sergun had dedicated his "entire life...to serving the homeland and the armed forces."

Sergun took over from General Aleksandr Shlyakhturov, who stepped down in 2011 at age 64. No replacement for Sergun was announced.

His death comes at a time when clandestine, paramilitary, and espionage agencies in Russia have taken a central role in executing key policy decisions under Putin, himself a former chief of the lead domestic spy agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB).

"Sergun was an extremely important figure in the revival of the fortunes of the GRU, an agency that was pretty much at rock bottom when he took it over at the end of 2011," Mark Galeotti, a New York University professor and authority on Russia's security apparatus, wrote in a blog post on January 4.

The GRU -- formally subordinate to the Russian Armed Forces' General Staff -- is widely believed to have played a central role in the stealth operation to take control of Ukraine's Crimea region in early 2014, when masked, camouflaged, armed soldiers appeared suddenly throughout the Black Sea peninsula.

Western analysts and officials believe the agency was also instrumental in coordinating and overseeing the insurgency in eastern Ukraine, where a conflict between Russian-backed separatists and government forces has killed more than 9,000 people since it erupted in April 2014.

Despite overwhelming evidence, Moscow has repeatedly denied its involvement in eastern Ukraine.

A Russian captured in Ukraine last year said he and a fellow captive were active GRU officers when they were seized, while the Russian military said they were not serving at the time.

Sergun's position as GRU chief landed him on the sanctions lists imposed in early 2014 by both the United States and the European Union, which specifically cited his oversight of "the activity of GRU officers in eastern Ukraine."

The sanctions imposed on Sergun were "good Western recognition for the role of GRU in this conflict," says Michael Kofman, a Russia analyst most recently with the Wilson Center's Kennan Institute in Washington.

The operations in both Crimea and eastern Ukraine have been characterized by what experts say is a resurgence of Soviet-style "hybrid" or "nonlinear" warfare, which employ conventional weaponry, but also stealth deployments, misinformation campaigns, and cyberwarfare to keep an adversary from knowing how to respond.

In a speech in April in Moscow, Sergun blamed the United States and its allies for the emergence of Islamic State, the radical Islamist movement whose fighters have seized parts of Iraq and Syria and recruited thousands of people from around the world.

Sergun cited the U.S. decision to supply Afghan mujahedin fighters battling Soviet armed forces in the 1980s as one cause for the emergence of Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups.

With reporting by TASS
Explosions rocked two Sunni mosques in central Iraq early on January 4 amid fears of renewed sectarian violence following Saudi Arabia's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric.

Authorities said a Sunni muezzin -- the person appointed to recite the Muslim call to prayer -- also was shot dead near his home in the town of Iskandariyah early on January 4.

Iraqi police say the Sunni mosques in and near the city of Hilla were bombed by groups of men who were wearing military uniforms.

The attacks were in a predominantly Shiite area to the south of Baghdad and about 50 kilometers east of the Shiite holy city of Karbala.

One of the targets of the attack was the Ammar bin Yasser mosque in the Bakerli neighborhood of Hilla.

Ten nearby houses also were damaged by that blast and three people were injured.

The other attack targeted the Al-Fateh mosque in a village called Sinjar, just outside of Hilla.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP
A social network account belonging to Russia's communications minister has been blocked briefly by hackers identifying themselves as a Turkish activist group.

Minister Nikolai Nikiforov's Instagram account was blocked by "The Bortecine Cyber Team" hackers, according to screenshots of the account, published by Russian and Turkish media on January 3.

A warplane, Turkish flags, and a portrait of Turkey's founding father Mustafa Kemal Ataturk were paraded on the account.

Instagram, where users post their pictures and videos, later restored Nikiforov's account and his profile photo. However, the minister complained Instagram was slow to respond, taking more than nine hours to tackle the problem.

Ties between Russia and Turkey have been strained since a Turkish fighter jet shot down a Russian warplane near the Turkish-Syrian border in November.

In late December, Turkish media suggested Russian hackers could have been behind recent cyberattacks on Turkish Internet servers handling more than 300,000 websites.

On December 25, Turkish banks reported sporadic disruption to credit card transactions.

Based on reporting by Reuters
It was with heartbreaking irony that the Richmond 80s-era rock group, the Dads, performed their reunion show the same week former member Bryan Harveys murderer, inmate No. 1100057 at Sussex State Prison in Waverley, lost an appeal in the Federal 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to save his own life.

Harvey, his wife Kathyrn and daughters Stella and Ruby along with Percyell and Mary Tucker, their daughter Ashley Baskerville, Treva Terrell and Sheryl Warner were all victims of Offender No. 1100057 and his nephews murdering rampage from late 2005 to New Years Day 2006.

Convicted and sentenced to death for the unspeakable murders of nine-year-old Stella and four-year-old Ruby Harvey, No. 1100057 has now spent an entire decade on death row at Sussex maneuvering through the labyrinthine appeals process trying to evade execution. Despite this most recent setback, he can still appeal to either the entire 4th Circuit or the U.S. Supreme Court. This is all death penalty protocol, designed to provide condemned inmates all the considerations they never gave their victims.

Social media and the Richmond Times-Dispatch comments section reflected deep-rooted vitriol toward No. 1100057s seemingly endless appeals process Fry him, reader after reader wrote, just kill him already.

Dont fry No. 1100057  it lets him off too easily. Heres why:

According to a complaint filed in United States District Court in Alexandria on Nov. 20, 2014, No. 1100057 was a party with first four, then three other plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Virginia Department of Corrections Director Harold Clarke and Sussex 1 Prison Warden Keith Davis. The suit protests cruel and unusual punishment at that maximum-security facility.

***

The suits document is a sobering look at No. 1100057s first decade on death row. He is locked in a 9-foot by 8-foot concrete box for 22 or 23 hours a day, with only a sink, toilet, a thin mattress and 4-inch wide window. The door is solid steel, with a tiny slit at eye level and a slit at the bottom for meal delivery. The lights are never completely turned off. He is video-monitored 24/7 from a computerized control room, where corrections officers armed with shotguns can blast him if necessary with rubber pellets from ports built in the walls.

Up until October, No. 1100057 was only allowed to leave his cell for a supervised 10-minute shower three days per week, and for one hour of outdoor recreation five times per week in a small outdoor cage with no exercise equipment. The document reiterates that No. 1100057 is not allowed to use the gymnasium or prison yard, nor is (he) given an opportunity for in-pod recreation.

More specifically, No. 1100057 is cut off from human contact and spends nearly every minute of every day alone. Although Sussexs death row currently houses seven inmates, they are separated by several empty cells within a 44-unit pod, making communication impossible. No. 1100057 is never allowed access to general-population inmates for any educational, vocational, or behavioral programming, and he is not allowed to attend group religious services.

According to the complaint, No. 1100057s treatment inflicts great mental suffering as well as physical distress. It is unrelated to any legitimate penological goal, and constitutes a form of psychological torture that amounts to the gratuitous infliction of cruel and unusual punishment upon (him).

***

In the face of this legal challenge, Virginia quietly granted a few more privileges to death row inmates, but its policies are still among the most stringent in the nation. For example, instead of one hour, the prisoner now gets 90 minutes a day in the dog yard. He was granted restricted television privileges and a few minutes a day to send monitored emails.

Certainly no one who knew and loved the Harvey family feels sorry for those who inflicted such cruel and unusual punishment on them. But we are a far more civilized people than No. 1100057 and his nephew. Instead of exercising vengeance, Virginia should keep twisting the screws of this deliberate form of execution  a lingering, eventual death at the end of a deprived and unnatural existence.

While the Dads musical reunion celebrated the lives and talents of our friends, it should also serve as a reminder that the Harveys killer is a lifeless shadow, sealed inside a 71-square foot cement coffin. There will never be scholarships or remembrances in his name. Let the appeals end, and leave him to an unbearably sluggish minute-by-minute, decades-long existence of denied freedoms, maddening isolation and constant armed surveillance.

Forget the death penalty. No. 1100057 should survive for his crimes. Alone and forgotten, just a shackled and fading number on a prison ledger.
Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently got into a tussle over their differing foreign policy visions at the Democratic presidential debate in New Hampshire.

Sanders criticized Clinton for being too hawkish in the Middle East.

I think  and I say this with due respect  that I worry too much that Secretary Clinton is too much into regime change and a little bit too aggressive without knowing what the unintended consequences might be, he said during Dec. 19 debate in New Hampshire.

Yes, we could get rid of (former Iraqi leader) Saddam Hussein, but that destabilized the entire region, Sanders said. Yes, we could get rid of (former Libyan dictator Muammar) Gaddafi, a terrible dictator, but that created a vacuum for ISIS. Yes, we could get rid of (Syrian dictator Bashar) Assad tomorrow, but that would create another political vacuum that would benefit ISIS. So I think, yeah, regime change is easy, getting rid of dictators is easy. But before you do that, youve got to think about what happens the day after.

Clinton shot back, With all due respect, senator, you voted for regime change with respect to Libya. You joined the Senate in voting to get rid of Gaddafi, and you asked that there be a Security Council validation of that with a resolution.

We wondered if Clinton was right  that Sanders previously wanted the Libyan leader gone, even though he now views Gaddafis ousting as a cautionary tale.

The vote

The U.S. military spent about $2 billion and several months backing the Libyan uprising against Gaddafi, who had held power for decades. The uprising  part of the Arab Spring  toppled Gaddafi in August 2011, and rebel forces killed him the following October.

Congress never voted to authorize U.S. military action in Libya, so what is Clinton talking about?

On March 1, 2011, the Senate approved a resolution strongly condemning the gross and systematic violations of human rights in Libya.

The Senate approved the resolution by unanimous consent, so senators never actually voted on it. But Sanders showed his support by joining in as one of 10 co-sponsors.

The resolution called for peaceful regime change, saying Gaddafi should desist from further violence, recognize the Libyan peoples demand for democratic change, resign his position and permit a peaceful transition to democracy.

A Senate resolution carries very little weight. It has no legal teeth and is more like a statement expressing the general sense of Congress, said Joshua Huder, senior fellow at the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University.

In effect, all this resolution does is say, Gaddafi is a bad person and should stop,  Huder said, noting that this document cannot be interpreted as an expression of congressional intent to take specific action to oust Gaddafi.

Sanders campaign said Clinton was misrepresenting his record because the Senate resolution was nonbinding and not a show of support for U.S. military action.

In a March 28, 2011, interview, Sanders described his position toward regime change in Libya. He wanted Gaddafi gone, but not at all costs.

Look, everybody understands Gaddafi is a thug and murderer, Sanders said to Fox News. We want to see him go, but I think in the midst of two wars (in Iraq and Afghanistan), Im not quite sure we need a third war, and I hope the president tells us that our troops will be leaving there, that our military action in Libya will be ending very, very shortly.

Clinton also said Sanders vote signaled support for United Nations action to get rid of Gaddafi.

The Senate resolution asked the United Nations Security Council to take such further action as may be necessary to protect civilians in Libya from attack, including the possible imposition of a no-fly zone over Libyan territory.

The two related U.N. resolutions  1970 and 1973  called for drastic measures to pressure Gaddafi to stop his alleged human rights abuses, including establishing a no-fly zone and imposing an asset freeze on members of the regime. Neither resolution explicitly calls for regime change, though.

But Clinton as secretary of state and leaders from other countries did use the two U.N. resolutions as a platform to take actions that they hoped would pressure Gaddafi to step down and allow a transition to democracy.

While our military mission is focused on saving lives, we must continue to pursue the broader goal of a Libya that belongs not to a dictator, but to the Libyan people, Clinton said at the International Conference on Libya March 29, 2011.

Our ruling

Clinton said Sanders voted for regime change with respect to Libya.

The reality is a bit more complicated than the sound bite. Sanders supported a nonbinding Senate resolution that called on Gaddafi to resign his post in a peaceful, democratic transition of power. While the Senate passed the resolution by unanimous consent  meaning no one actually voted on it  Sanders was one of 10 co-sponsors.

At the time, Sanders told the media he wanted Gaddafi out of power, but it might not be worth it if it required sustained U.S. military involvement.
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Jeffrey Marks, the president and general manager of WDBJ (Channel 7) who guided the station through the shock, mourning and recovery that followed the on-air killings of two Channel 7 employees last year, will leave Roanokes top-rated television station for a role with its new corporate owner.

Marks said he will become director of talent development for Gray Television, the Atlanta-based media company that is buying WDBJ and several other television stations from Schurz Communications of Mishawaka, Indiana. The sale of the stations could be complete by Feb. 1, according to a Schurz executive.

Marks said he decided to stay at WDBJ through the sale. In his new job, he said that he will help recruit and develop new talent for Grays stations, which will number 50 after the sale. He plans to stay in Roanoke for the time being and will work from home and on the road.

I expect Ill be working out of my briefcase, he said. Its a big job, and one I think I will enjoy. Gray wants to step up their recruitment of talent and development of talent. This is something I can really sink my teeth into.

Marks, 63, has been the boss at WDBJ since 2007 and is just the fourth general manager in the 60-year history of Roanokes CBS affiliate. His leadership came during a tumultuous time for news organizations, including broadcast outlets, as more digital offerings pried eyeballs away from traditional newscasts. WDBJ was also hit with a record penalty from the Federal Communications Commission after a 2012 newscast included a televised image from a website that briefly showed male nudity. WDBJ has appealed the FCC fine.

Still, nothing could compare to the tragedy that unfolded on Aug. 26 when reporter Alison Parker, 24, and cameraman Adam Ward, 27, were shot and killed by a former WDBJ employee during a live segment aired on the News 7 Mornin  broadcast.

Following the deaths of Parker and Ward, Marks became a national voice for WDBJs anguish. He conducted interviews with dozens of national media outlets that camped in Channel 7s parking lot, spoke at memorial services and continued to make sure the station produced daily newscasts while reporters and co-workers processed their grief, sometimes during emotional broadcasts.

When August 26 happened, I was so thankful to have him there, said Marci Burdick, senior vice president of broadcasting for Schurz. Burdick praised Marks ability to manage all of the external forces, all while never taking his eye off the way the staff was feeling inside. He never thought about himself, it was always about the staff. Thats the mark of a true leader.

A native of Lexington, Kentucky, who was inducted into the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame last year, Marks came to Roanoke from WAGT in Augusta, Georgia, in July 2007. His broadcasting career began in 1971, when he was a student at the University of Kentucky, and he has been a radio reporter, TV news producer, editorial producer and general manager. He was an executive news producer at WJLA in Washington, D.C. and worked at stations in New York, New Jersey and Maine before joining Schurz in 2005.

Marks also presided over a transitional period for WDBJ, the longtime leader in the Roanoke-Lynchburg TV market. The station saw the departures of longtime anchorman Keith Humphry, sports director Mike Stevens, news director Amy Morris and other veteran reporters. Marks 2011 hiring of then-23-year-old Chris Hurst as co-anchor alongside Jean Jadhon at the signature 6 p.m. newscast was a surprise move at the time.

Now, four and a half years later, WDBJ is still the market leader in broadcast news. The stations newscasts are the most-watched from morning until night.

Kevin Latek, a senior vice president for Gray Television, said the WDBJ job will be advertised after acquisition of the Schurz stations is completed. He said that Marks experience will benefit his company, which will expand from 30 markets in the United States to 50 after the deal.

News is incredibly important to us, and we want to marry his skills with our needs, Latek said. Were a company thats expanding, and we want to make sure we keep up with training talent as we should. Jeff has decades of experience in television and television news. Were grateful hes not ready to retire yet.

Marks has also been active in Roanokes charitable and cultural circles. He has chaired the boards of United Way of Roanoke Valley and Opera Roanoke and has been on the board of the Roanoke Valley Convention & Visitors Bureau.

Ive never had so much career enjoyment as Ive had here, Marks said. That stands in stark contrast with the last five months. Its really hard to balance that out. Its still enjoyable but the meaning has changed. Everything has taken on a new perspective.
PULASKI  A motion to move the trial of the mother of 5-year-old Noah Thomas  the Dublin boy found dead in a septic tank last spring  was tabled until lawyers can attempt to seat a jury.

Testimony was heard on the motion Monday. Kelsey Bulger, the lawyer for Noah Thomas mother Ashley White, wrote in the motion that White cant receive a fair Pulaski County trial in a community that is warped by its desire for perceived retribution, one that is incapable of remaining unbiased in the face of continuing media reports and speculation.

White is charged with two Class 6 felony charges of abuse and neglect relating to Noah and the care of his infant sister. Class 6 felonies are punishable by a maximum of five years on each charge. A grand jury also indicted her on a Class 4 felony charge of abuse and neglect relating to the care of Noah. A Class 4 felony is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. Her three-day jury trial is scheduled to begin on Feb. 8.

White was previously charged with felony homicide, but a judge determined there was not enough evidence to present that charge to a grand jury.

Noahs father, Paul Thomas, faces two Class 6 felony charges of abuse and neglect relating to Noah and the care of his infant sister. His trial is scheduled to begin on Jan. 25.

Six media outlets  including The Roanoke Times  were subpoenaed for the change of venue hearing on Monday. More than a dozen folders full of press clippings, website printoffs and a box with 64 DVDs were presented to Circuit Court Judge Bradley Finch as he weighed out whether or not a jury could be seated.

Bulger  with the help of the public defenders investigator Brian Porter  also presented a litany of social media posts via Facebook community pages like Noah Thomas our Small Town Angel,  which has more than 20,000 likes and, according to Bulger, is used to memorialize the boy. Justice for Children Without Voices In Memory of Noah Thomas has more than 7,000 likes, and that page is focused on punishing individuals whom the online mob labeled as child abusers, Bulger wrote.

Many of the comments cited on those pages were laced with profanity and called for White to be punished or killed alongside Noahs father, Bulger said.

As Bulger presented specific posts Monday about Noah Thomas being found in a septic tank and a specific post calling for White to be put down like a dog, White wept. For much of the hearing, she sat stoic.

Bulger also argued that legal precedence from Pulaski County is a compelling reason to move the trial.

She cited the Tara Munsey murder case in which the Virginia Supreme Court threw out a conviction and death sentence handed down by a Pulaski County jury to Jeffrey Allen Thomas in the January 2000 shooting death of the 16-year-old. The court ruled that Circuit Court Judge Colin Gibb should have moved the trial after it took 13 days to seat a jury in the high-profile case.

County Commonwealths Attorney Mike Fleenor argued Monday that a jury could be fairly seated in the Noah Thomas case, and at that the court owed it to the community to at least try. He said he believed a jury of Pulaski County residents could determine the value of information presented in the courtroom versus what some crackpot put on Facebook.

Fleenor, who was the county prosecutor in the Munsey case, did concede that plenty of media and online attention has been given to the current case. However, the court must at least attempt to put together a jury before changing the venue of Whites trial, he said.

Finch said that he would take the matter under advisement and that hell keep the issues in mind as lawyers question potential jurors when White goes to trial.

Finch did advise the attorneys that seating a jury will be atypical in the case. He said that attorneys will be required to submit questions for potential jurors in writing well in advance of the start of the trial.

He also said jurors would be selected from a larger pool and that three at a time be given questions rather than questioning all the jurors at once.
Virginia firearm sales spiked in December after the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings that killed 14 people, boosting an overall 9.5 percent rise in Virginia gun transactions in 2015, newly released figures show.

Estimated firearm sales based on mandatory criminal background checks of gun buyers rose from 405,838 in 2014 to 444,627 last year, according to Virginia Firearm Transaction Center figures. That total is second only to 2013s record year of 479,253 transactions.

Decembers total of 70,626 transactions is the highest for the month of December since 2012, when 75,120 transactions were recorded. The 2012 record occurred after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn., that killed 20 children and six adults, and prompted calls for increased gun control.

A similar phenomenon appears to have occurred this past December in Virginia after the Dec. 2 San Bernardino attack that killed 14 and wounded 22 after the perpetrators targeted a San Bernardino Department of Public Health training event and holiday party of about 80 employees.

President Barack Obama and Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe have been among those calling for tighter firearm restrictions that gun rights groups have decried.

Gun transactions increased every month but two from 2014 to 2015 and rose most significantly in December, jumping 46 percent from 48,428 transactions in 2014 to 70,626 last year, figures show.

Last years 9.5 percent rise in gun transactions followed a 15-percent drop in 2014 that ended three consecutive years of steep growth statewide. Those increases were fueled in part by the buying that generally follows high-profile shootings and calls for increased gun control as a response, criminologists say.

Exact sales of firearms in Virginia are neither reported nor recorded, but the background check records provide a rough estimate of the number of firearms sold. There is not a one-to-one correlation between background checks and the number of guns sold because some customers buy multiple firearms.

Also, about 1 percent of the background checks in Virginia typically result in people being denied permission to buy a weapon. The background checks also do not reflect activity between private parties, such as family members or collectors at gun shows.
Images: Gala Tent

Founded in 1999, Gala Tent has grown to sell over 15,000 tents and marquees each year, along with around 100,000 event accessories and furniture products. It grew from a table top operation in Grimethorpe to a company with a turnover of 10m having moved into new 53,000 sq ft headquarters at Fairfield Park in Manvers in 2011.Having entered into a financial partnership with HSBC in 2012, the bank continues to back Gala Tent's growth plan and has also provided a further 1m facility, enabling the business to immediately hire six new employees to support the latest premises, with further local jobs to be created in the area.An equipment finance facility of 250k has helped Gala Tent invest in state-of-the-art equipment, making it the first and only UK business to be capable of printing high definition images and graphics on marquees. This investment will allow Gala Tent to upgrade its manufacturing process.Other aspects of the finance package include foreign exchange and electronic banking facilities, which are primarily used by Gala Tent to sustain its import activities.Jason Mace, founder and managing director at Gala Tent (pictured left), said: "Our partnership with HSBC has helped us realise our expansion plans, while enabling us to hire new talent. From investing in more sophisticated technology to demonstrating credibility to global suppliers, our partnership with HSBC has been instrumental at every step of our growth."Mike Swift, head of corporate Banking in South and West Yorkshire at HSBC, added: "Gala Tent is a market leader in its field and is actively expanding its range of operations, products and services. It is a growing business with ambitious plans, and we are pleased to be part of this exciting period, supporting its growth."Further plans include developing the export side of the business. A set of websites were created by the Gala team and taken on by overseas distributors with their own warehouse space who could then translate them and do the selling in return for exclusivity.Eleven distributors are in place in the EU, along with one in Iceland.At the end of 2015, the award-winning company revealed that Sir David Richards, chairman of the FA Premier League and former chairman of Sheffield Wednesday (pictured, right), had invested in a Gala Tent.
As the third largest transportation agency in the nation, the Los Angeles Metropolitan Transportation Authority (LACMTA) is responsible for transporting millions of passengers safely and efficiently to their destinations every day. Additionally, the agency manages one of the largest public works projects in the nation with three major rail lines currently being constructed and another two rail extensions near opening.

LACMTA said that it has made substantial progress this year with some of its major milestone including:

 Metro Rail celebrated 25 years of service. The Metro Rail system began operation in July 1990 with the opening of the Blue Line and has since expanded to six rail lines spanning 87 miles with approximately 103 million rail passenger boardings annually.

 Initiated the process for regional collaboration in the development of a potential ballot measure and secured passage of Senate Bill 767 that would allow LACMTA to seek an additional sales tax via ballot measure to potentially fund projects in LACMTAs Traffic Solutions Plan.

 Published the first annual report to the community in an easily digestible format to increase public awareness of the many programs overseen or underway at LACMTA.

 Secured funding for the Purple Line Extension and the Regional Connector and advanced the construction of Crenshaw/LAX, Purple Line Extension and Regional Connector.

 The Gold Line Foothill Extension to Azusa reached construction substantial completion and an opening date of March 5, 2016, was announced. Meanwhile, the first train cars in more than 60 years passed through West L.A. and downtown Santa Monica as testing for the Metro Expo Line Phase 2 to Santa Monica began.

 Launched a trio of campaigns to enhance safety and security on the Metro system, including the Its Off Limits anti-sexual harassment campaign, a campaign to increase awareness of human trafficking, and invested in new security kiosks and state-of-the-art mobile security towers.

 The Metro Board appointed Phillip Washington, the former chief executive officer of Denvers RTD transit agency, as LACMTAs new CEO.

 Launched the Business Solution Center and Business Interruption Fund programs to assist businesses in areas impacted by construction. The first businesses to receive assistance were located near the Crenshaw/LAX project.

 All 26 regional transportation agencies in L.A. County joined the TAP system. The milestone signified that all municipal transit agencies in L.A. County accept TAP as universal media and passengers are able to transfer to bus or train from any transit provider.

In addition to these accomplishments, LACMTA also developed a $5.6-billion budget with no fare increases or any cuts to bus service hours for the fiscal year 2016. And to help improve the rider experience, LACMTA worked with Google to provide real-time bus and train information in the companys Google Maps application.

LACMTA, with safety on its mind, installed protective barriers, passenger-facing video monitors. The agency also secured a $38.4-million state grant to make safety and other enhancements at the Blue and Green Line Willowbrook/Rosa Park Station.

Carrying forward on the progress of 2015, anticipation is extraordinarily high for 2016, notes LACMTA. There will be two new rail extension openings resulting in 18 more miles of rail, construction on LACMTAs three major rail projects are expected to continue and intensify and the agency will potentially seek out funding for additional projects from multiple sources.

Milestones the agency is looking forward to in 2016 include:

 The Gold Line Foothill Extension to Azusa is set to open on March 5, 2016. The extension will add an additional 11.5 miles and six new stations to the existing Gold Line that currently runs from East L.A. to Pasadena. The opening will coincide with the launch of express bus service that will connect the Gold Line in Pasadena to the Metro Red and Orange Lines in North Hollywood.

 The Expo Line Phase 2 to Santa Monica is also expected to open in the first half of the year. The extension will add seven stations and 6.6 miles to the existing Expo Line that currently runs from downtown L.A. to Culver City, extending the line to downtown Santa Monica and only steps away from the Santa Monica Pier.

 Construction will continue for LACMTAs three major rail projects. The Crenshaw/LAX project is expected to reach 50 percent construction completion. Both the Crenshaw/LAX and Regional Connector projects anticipate the beginning of tunneling that will be performed by multi-million dollar tunnel boring machines.

 The Purple Line Extension Segment 2 will seek a full funding grant agreement from the federal government to provide critical funding to pave the way for major construction on the 2.6-mile segment of the new line between La Cienega and Century City along Wilshire Boulevard.

 LACMTA will continue to educate the public on how the agency can further ease traffic sooner rather than later through a potential ballot measure for the November 2016 election. LACMTA may seek an additional half-cent sales tax and look to extend the Measure R half-cent sales tax until 2057 to fund more projects sooner rather than later. The LACMTA Board will decide in late spring/early summer whether to put the measure before voters in November.

 The agency will hold the first ever Industry Forum on February 11 to garner industry participation and potentially forge financial partnerships on LACMTA projects from Fortune 500 executives and companies.
Indian shares look set to open lower on Monday, tracking subdued Asian cues. The terror attack on the Pathankot airbase may also weigh on investor sentiment. Heavily-armed Pakistani terrorists on Sunday attempted to storm the Air Force base in Pathankot, triggering a day-long gunbattle in which at least four attackers and seven Indian soldiers have died so far.

Asian stocks traded mostly lower this morning even as energy stocks rallied on higher oil prices. Crude prices jumped about 3 percent in Asian deals after Saudi Arabia decided to cut off diplomatic relations with regional rival Iran in response to the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

The benchmark indexes in China, Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan were down 2-3 percent. Amid lack of fresh cues from the U.S. and Europe, investors look ahead to manufacturing PMI readings from China, South Korea and Singapore due out later in the day for further direction.

Close home, the benchmark index Sensex rose over 300 points or 1.24 percent to close above the psychological 26,000 level last week and the Nifty index gained 1.29 percent to settle at 7,963.20 as crude prices fell, rupee stabilized and foreign investors resumed buying.

Markit Economics will unveil the outcome of a monthly survey on India's manufacturing sector for December later in the day, while the PMI reading on the services sector is slated for release on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, India has emerged as the world's fastest growing notwithstanding global demand slowdown and four droughts, Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian tweeted.

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Market Analysis
Science and its advances have time and again established their inevitability to mankind and a recent development cannot but vouch for the fact.

For the first time in the U.S., a 14-year-old boy named Dallan Jennet who had disfigured his face after falling on a live power line, successfully underwent a nose transplant using 3D printing .

Until now, doctors in the U.S. had not been able to restore the nose to its full functionality, even as reconstructive surgery on the body part is not uncommon.

Jennet is from the Marshall Islands, near the equator in the Pacific Ocean. He fell onto a live power line at the age of 9, which left him with a severely burnt face and the loss of his nose. Last year, he came to New York Eye and Ear Infirmary of Mount Sinai in New York, to undergo multiple surgeries to restore sense of smell and taste.

In early 2015, doctors input expanders under the remaining skin of his nose to provide space for the reconstructed body part.

Many surgeries followed, and the doctors created Jennet's 3-D nose graft by replicating the structure of his family's noses. They inserted the graft, and reconstructed the skin over the 3-D implant.

The 3-D printed implant will grow with Jennet, which will prevent the need for additional reconstructive procedures.

A California-based nonprofit Canvasback Missions Inc. funded Jennet and his mother's travel and medical expenses to New York. The doctors collaborated with Oxford Performance Materials Inc, a Windsor, Connecticut-based 3-D printing company.

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Business News
Editors Pick

Investment banking major Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS) reported Tuesday that net profit for the third quarter declined 44 percent from last year, reflecting a 12 percent drop in net revenues, 17 percent rise in operating expenses and higher provisions for bad loans. However, earnings per share and quarterly revenues topped Analysts' estimates.

Pizza Hut, a subsidiary of Yum! Brands, Inc. (YUM), announced the launch of a new dish, Pizza Hut Melts, aiming to provide more individual meal-time options. The company said it is entering the handheld category with Pizza Hut Melts, which is cheesy, crispy, loaded with toppings, and served with a dip.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has awarded 19 new grants and two new contracts totaling more than $38 million in funding mainly to develop medical products to treat rare diseases. The funding over the next four years will support clinical trials, natural history studies and regulatory science tools related to rare diseases, including Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS.
Shares of Metso (MXCYY.PK) were declining around 4 percent in the early morning trading in Finland after the Finnish maker of rock crushers said it will reduce a total of 44 positions, mostly in Tampere, following the conclusion of employee negotiations in its Minerals in Finland.

The original estimated reduction need was approximately 75 jobs. The concluded employee negotiations are part of Metso's transformation in to a more focused company with leaner and more agile operating models to drive growth and profitability.

Metso said it will also continue temporary lay-offs in its Minerals operations in Finland during 2016. The number and duration of the temporary lay-offs depends on the work load and the volume of orders received and may affect all personnel groups.

Markku Simula, Head of Metso's Aggregates business line, said, "Our order volumes are affected by the market downturn in the minerals industry. The decisions that have now been made are necessary in order to maintain our competitiveness and achieve our financial targets. We need to increase the efficiency and productivity of our operations."

Metso is helping the personnel affected by the lay-offs through its employment support program, which offers assistance with re-employment and possible relocation support.

Currently, Metso has a total of 1,755 employees in Finland, with 725 of them employed in the Minerals business.

Metso shares were trading at 19.80 euros, down 4.35 percent.

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Business News
German employment growth, which has lasted over a decade, continued in 2015 with the number of those with jobs setting a reunification-high, largely helped by a resilient and immigration of foreign workers.

The number of residents in employment rose by 324,000 persons or 0.8 percent to 43 million last year, provisional data from Destatis showed Monday. The pace of increase slowed slightly from the 0.9 percent registered in the previous year.

Employment grew for a tenth consecutive year since stagnation. Higher labor force participation of the domestic population and the immigration of foreign workers offset negative demographic effects, the agency said.

Meanwhile, the number of unemployed fell by 140,000 persons or 6.7 percent to 1.95 million. The figure fell below 2 million for the first time since the German reunification.

The ILO unemployment rate declined to 4.3 percent from 4.7 percent, which was just below the EU average rate.

The active labor force, combining those employed and unemployed, grew by 184,000 persons or 0.4 percent to 44.9 million.

The number of employees resident in Germany increased by 421,000 or 1.1 percent to 38.7 million.

Further, the number of persons whose place of employment was in Germany exceeded 43 million for the first time. The figure rose by 329,000 or 0.8 percent from the previous year.

The difference between the number of persons in employment who are resident in Germany and the number of those whose place of employment is in Germany can be explained by the balance of non-residents working in Germany and residents working abroad, Destatis said.

The number of non-residents working in Germany exceeded the number of residents working abroad by 68,000 persons.

According to a newspaper report last week, Germany took in more than a million refugees in 2015, five times greater than last year's figure, and the biggest since reunification in 1990.

Policymakers are yet to assess the economic impact that the migration has on the euro area economy, though some German lawmakers see the rising number as a blessing to tackle the skills shortage and a labor force shrinkage in future. Germany has thus far welcomed the maximum number of migrants than any other EU state.

In December, the Bundesbank said the German labor market will experience shortages to a growing extent, driving up wage increases, despite the expansionary effect which immigration is having on the labor supply.

The Federal Labor Agency is set to release the labor market figures for December on Tuesday. The number of those claiming jobless benefits is forecast to drop by 8,000 from the previous month and the unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at a record low 6.3 percent.

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Business News
Uber has shut down its office in Frankfurt, Germany after just eighteen months of operations. However, the ride-sharing service has not completely withdrawn from Germany, and continues to operate licensed services in Berlin and Munich.

In early November 2015, Uber retreated from Frankfurt, which has a population less than that of Uber's hometown of San Francisco. Uber's low-cost service UberPop, similar to UberX in the U.S., had relied on unlicensed drivers.

But Uberpop faced legal challenges and was banned in March 2015 by a German court from running services using unlicensed cab drivers. Germany has tough transport rules that involve security checks, exams and state-issued licenses for all taxi operators.

Uber also pulled out of the German cities of Hamburg and Dusseldorf last year, after less than two years of operations in those cities.

In early 2014, Uber arrived in Frankfurt by hiring primarily unlicensed drivers, who had not passed the exams and health checks required of licensed drivers.

In addition, the company's discounted rates that were about one-third cheaper than those of the city's licensed operators met with stiff opposition from German trade associations.

Taxi Deutschland, a German taxi operator group, filed a lawsuit against Uber in mid-2014, claiming that the company's drivers did not have licenses to operate nationwide.

In March 2015, a Frankfurt judge ruled that all Uber drivers must hold official licenses to operate. Uber then tried to hire licensed operators, but received a cold response from them.

The company then shut down UberPop nationwide in May. Uber now only offers licensed taxi services in Berlin and Munich.

UberPop service has also been banned in other European countries, including France, Spain, Italy and Belgium.

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Business News
Flavonoids or phytonutrients in cotton petals are expected to improve memory in patients with Alzheimer's disease.

Researchers in China have been trying to find out the positive impacts of the flavonoids and the animal models have yielded promising results. Now they have initiated clinical trials to prove that.

Naturally aged mice showed some improvement in memory when flavonoids from cottonpetal were given. The scientists are trying to replicate the same chemical structure in tablets. Xinjiang Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry said they are pursuing the positive impacts of cotton petal flavonoids since 2003.

Flavonoids can protect the human cells from free radicals and can reduce inflammation.

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Business News
After sitting on the sidelines for much of last year, former President Bill Clinton hit the campaign trail in support of his wife and Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton on Monday.

In his first solo campaign appearance in New Hampshire, Clinton praised all that his wife has accomplished despite facing the challenge of sexism.

"I do not believe in my lifetime, anybody has run for this job at a moment of greater importance who was better qualified by knowledge, experience and temperament to do what needs to be done now," Clinton said.

The former president also referenced his wife's potential Republican rivals, suggesting that the rhetoric of some of the GOP candidates is "scary."

"It's kind of scary this year, but believe it or not, most everybody actually tries to do what they say they're gonna do when they're running," Clinton said. "They are telling you what they believe."

He added, "So, you gotta take 'em seriously, but you also have to take seriously whether they have any chance of doing what they say they're gonna do or any record of doing it."

Clinton's remarks were seen as a veiled shot at Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, who has recently attacked the former president's past sexual infidelities.

The former president also repudiated Trump's proposal to ban Muslim immigration into the U.S. as part of an effort to fight terrorism.

"It's very important that we stand against terrorists who try to abuse religion for any purpose in any religion to murder people," Clinton said. "But we don't want to run away from the place we've been."

He added, "America is a place that welcomes all people who are willing to treat other people like they want to be treated, willing to follow the law."

Clinton is a skilled politician but is also seen as a potential liability for his wife's campaign due to past allegations of sexual abuse.

A local New Hampshire politician heckled Hillary Clinton at an event on Sunday, accusing her of enabling her husband to mistreat women.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Benefiting from their appeal as a safe haven amid a global stock market sell-off, treasuries moved higher during trading on Monday.

Bond prices showed a strong move to the upside in early trading but gave back some ground going into the close. Subsequently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, dipped by 2.4 basis points to 2.245 percent.

The strength among treasuries came as stocks around the world fell sharply amid renewed concerns about the global .

Chinese stocks showed a substantial drop on the day, dragging the Shanghai Composite Index down by 6.9 percent and triggering a trading halt.

Disappointing manufacturing data contributed to the weakness among Chinese stocks, as a report from Markit and Caixin showed that their index of Chinese manufacturing activity continued to indicate a contraction in December.

Treasuries also benefited from the release of some disappointing U.S. data, including a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing a continued contraction in manufacturing activity.

The ISM said its purchasing managers index edged down to 48.2 in December from 48.6 in November, with a reading below 50 indicating a contraction.

The modest drop came as a surprise to economists, as the consensus estimate called for the index to inch up to a reading of 49.2.

With the unexpected decrease, the manufacturing index dropped to its lowest level since hitting 45.8 in June of 2009.

A separate report from the Commerce Department showed an unexpected decrease in construction spending in the month of November.

Amid a quiet day on the U.S. economic front, trading activity on Tuesday may be somewhat subdued as traders look ahead to key reports due later in the week.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Market Analysis
The newest guidelines set out to make school lunches healthier are having the desired effect, according to a new study from researchers at the School of Public Health at University of Washington. For the study the researchers examined the differences made by changing school lunches in three middles schools and three high schools in Washington.



They found that after the healthier lunches were introduced, kids in the schools displayed higher levels of several key nutrients including calcium, vitamin A, vitamin C, iron, fiber and protein.

"This is, in my mind, really verification that implementing these changes are first of all doable," said Donna B. Johnson, professor in the School of Public Health at University of Washington. "Our thinking was, if it's going to work for these older students who have more options, that's really a powerful statement."

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Health News
Highwoods Properties Inc. (HIW) announced after the close Monday that it has agreed to sell substantially all of its wholly-owned Country Club Plaza portfolio in Kansas City to a joint venture between Taubman Centers Inc. (TCO) and Macerich (MAC) for $660 million. The stock is now up 1.49 on 11K shares.

Highwoods Properties gapped open lower Monday, but traded in a range throughout the session. Shares finished with a loss of 0.41 at $43.19.

For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com

Business News
Two IEDs dismantled in Hodaida





HODAIDA, Jan. 03 (Saba) - A bomb disposal expert team managed on Sunday to defuse two improvised explosive devices (IEDs) in Hodeida province.



People found the IEDs were planted inside al-Shaheed School in Bajel district and informed the security authorities, a security official said.



Investigations are underway to identify those who are behind this crime, he added, praising the citizens' cooperation with the security authorities to stop crime before it happens.



He also called on all citizens to quickly report any suspicious objects in order to maintain their lives and properties.



HA/AF

Saba

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[03/January/2016]
Saudi aggression bombs Sabeen Hospital, Gas Company in Sana'a





SANA'A, Jan. 04 (Saba) - The Saudi-led coalition bombed on Monday evening a number of civil areas and facilities in the capital Sana'a.



The hostile warplanes launched airstrikes on al-Sabeen area, a security official in Sana'a said.



The bombing caused serious damage to the al-Sabeen Hospital for Motherhood and Childhood and many nearby houses, he said, stressing that no casualties were reported.



Moreover, the coalition warplanes struck at dawn on Monday the western side of the capital Sana'a targeting the Gas Company at Asser area.



The capital's fire crew suffered for hours until putting out the fire set on the Company by the bombing, the official said.



AF

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[04/January/2016]
Mallikarjun Kharge was on Wednesday elected as the new Congress President after he received 7,897 votes, while his rival Shashi Tharoor managed to sec ...


Create good stuff.

The rest will take care of itself.
This post is outside my normal realm of attention, but I think it is nonetheless important for us to consider. For those of us who are...
Quakertown, PA -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/04/2016 -- Quakertown Mitsubishi is still in the holiday spirit with their ample selection of seasonal savings opportunities. The Mitsubishi dealership is offering Doylestown and its surrounding areas deals on popular models like the Outlander, Mirage and Lancer. With prices on these vehicles, Quakertown Mitsubishi has something for everyone.



Families can lease the spacious 2015 Mitsubishi Mirage DE for $178 a month for 36 months at Quakertown Mitsubishi. Weekend warriors and others who embrace an active lifestyle can purchase a 2015 Outlander GT for as little as $29,729  that's a savings of almost 18% off the $36,205 MSRP  or lease a 2015 Outlander Sport FWD at $229 a month for 36 months. Quakertown Mitsubishi is also offering deals on the tristate area's largest selection of Evos with their Sayonara 2015 Evolution Edition.



Quakertown Mitsubishi accommodates any lifestyle with their vehicles and any financial situation with their Buy Here Pay Here program. Customers with bad credit or no credit can work with Quakertown Mitsubishi to set up a payment schedule that suits their income. Participants of Buy Here Pay Here make payments directly to Quakertown Mitsubishi because the dealership's lending partner provides their auto loans, not a bank.



To learn more about these and other Quakertown Mitsubishi deals, like their $0 down, 0% APR for 72 months options, car shoppers can call at 888-419-2483 or stop by to speak with a representative. More information about the dealership's other services, like auto repair in Quakertown, PA, can be found on their website.



About Quakertown Mitsubishi

Quakertown Mitsubishi is a high-quality brand vehicle dealership that also conducts automotive repairs in Pennsylvania. Owning up to their motto "Our business is YOU!" the dealership is dedicated to serving the residents of Perkasie, Emmaus, Allentown and Bethlehem. Excellent customer service includes sales personnel who assist with financing options and technician experts who conduct vehicle services such as maintenance and collision. The dealership accepts Mitsubishi automobile trade-ins and sells pre-owned cars.



Pricing is based on rebates and incentives and may change at any time without official notification. For more information about Mitsubishi vehicles, please visit their website at http://www.quakertownmitsubishi.com.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/04/2016 -- Home healthcare devices and services help the patients to be self-sufficient towards their health. This is been increasingly accepted by the patient population owing to its cost effective nature, less number of visits to hospital and patient comfort. The Latin America home healthcare market has witnessed significant growth in the past due to factors such as increasing number of patients diagnosed with chronic diseases like diabetes, cardiac disorders, respiratory diseases and others. At the same time, economic instability and reimbursement issues related to home healthcare services are the factors restraining the market growth during the forecast period from 2014 to 2020.



Complete Report with TOC @ http://www.mrrse.com/latin-america-home-healthcare-market



This report provides an in-depth and comprehensive analysis of the Latin America home healthcare market on the basis of device types, services and the major Latin American geographies. In device types segment, the report covers different types of diagnostic and monitoring devices, therapeutic devices, medical supplies and home mobility assist devices that are used by the patients. Diagnostics and monitoring devices segment includes devices such as blood glucose monitors, blood pressure monitors, sleep apnea monitors, pregnancy test kits, pulse oximeters, heart rate monitors, temperature monitors, pedometers and coagulation monitors. Therapeutic devices segment comprises insulin delivery devices, nebulizers, ventilators and CPAP devices, IV equipment and dialysis equipment. The home mobility assist devices segment is further categorized as wheelchairs, cranes and crutches and other mobility assist devices and medical supplies segment includes feeding tubes and syringes. The market size and forecast for each device type has been provided for the period 2012 to 2020, considering 2013 as the base year. The report also provides the compounded annual growth rate (% CAGR) for the forecast period 2014 to 2020 for each segment.



Latin America home healthcare market, by services is segmented as rehabilitation services, respiratory therapy services, infusion therapy services, telehealth and telemedicine services and unskilled home healthcare services. The market size and forecast in terms of USD million for each service type has been provided for the period 2012 to 2020, considering 2013 as the base year. The report also provides the compounded annual growth rate (% CAGR) for the forecast period 2014 to 2020 for each segment.



Geographically, Latin America home healthcare market is segment as Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and others. Additionally, market revenues of segments such as device types and services are estimated and forecasted for all the above mentioned geographies. The market size and forecast in terms of USD million for each geography has been provided for the period 2012 to 2020, considering 2013 as the base year. The report also provides the compounded annual growth rate (% CAGR) for the forecast period 2014 to 2020 for each segment.



Inquiry on this report @ http://www.mrrse.com/enquiry/1319



The market overview section of the Latin America home healthcare market report discusses detailed qualitative analysis of the factors responsible for driving and restraining the growth of the home healthcare market and future opportunities are provided in the report. PESTLE analysis has also been done while estimating individual geographies in order to provide current as well as future status. A list of recommendations for existing as well as new entrants has been discussed in the study to help in decision making. The report concludes with company profiles of key players operating in various segments of the market. Each company profile includes business overview, financial overview, product portfolio, business strategies and recent developments of the respective company.



Some of the prominent players in the Latin America home healthcare market that have been profiled in this report are Medtronic, Inc., Omron Healthcare, Inc., Phillips Healthcare, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Teleflex Corporation, Bayer Healthcare, ResMed, Inc., Praxair Technologies, Inc., GE Healthcare, Gentiva Health Services, Inc., Invacare Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Cardinal Health and others. Market players are profiled in this report on the basis of attributes such as company overview, financial overview, business strategies adopted by the companies to ensure sustainability and maximize profits and product portfolio, and recent developments.



Request a Free Sample Copy of the Report @ http://www.mrrse.com/sample/1319



About MRRSE

MRRSE stands for Market Research Reports Search Engine, the largest online catalog of latest market research reports based on industries, companies, and countries. MRRSE sources thousands of industry reports, market statistics, and company profiles from trusted entities and makes them available at a click. Besides well-known private publishers, the reports featured on MRRSE typically come from national statistics agencies, investment agencies, leading media houses, trade unions, governments, and embassies.
Albany, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/04/2016 -- Magnetic field sensor is a device which is used for studying the field around electrical devices, coils and permanent magnets. These sensors were previously used only for direction finding or navigation by sensing the Earth's magnetic poles. However, the application of magnetic field sensors have expanded vastly as different industries have adopted a variety of these sensors to detect the direction, presence or strength of not only earth's magnetic field, but also from magnetized soft magnets, permanent magnets, vehicle disturbances and fields generated from electric currents. Demand for better efficiency and high sensing performance is fuelling the adoption of these sensors in various applications. The global magnetic field sensors market has been segmented on the basis of technology, types, applications and geography. A cross sectional study of the market broadly across four major regions has also been covered under the purview of the study.



Complete Report with TOC @ http://www.mrrse.com/magnetic-field-sensors-market



Many factors, such as surge in demand for these sensors in the automobile industry, increase in demand for consumer electronics and appliances and growing popularity of electronic compasses are driving the growth of overall magnetic field sensors market. Stringent government regulations across North America and Europe are encouraging the widespread adoption of energy-efficient and eco-friendly devices. Magnetic field sensors are one of the core components of these products. Therefore, increasing demand for power efficient and smarter electronic devices has significantly increased the demand the usage of these sensors over the last decade. Furthermore, the healthy economic growth of emerging markets such as China, India and Taiwan is also boosting the growth of the latest technologies, which is in turn, fuelling the demand for magnetic field sensors. The conjoint effect of all these trends and drivers is thus set to bolster the growth of the global market during the forecast period.



Various government policies globally are setting standards for lower fleet-average fuel consumption and providing financial incentives for vehicle electrification, which is triggering the drive to reduce fuel consumption in the automotive sector. This in turn has resulted in the growing demand for electrified vehicles. The usage of advanced magneto-resistive sensors is anticipated to steadily increase in the field of electric drives. This is expected to offer potential growth opportunity to the global magnetic field sensors market. Moreover, emerging economies such as India and China, with their massive population are providing an enormous market for the new innovations in automotive sector. Rising awareness among consumers has given rise to favorable conditions for the consumer electronics market in Middle East and Africa. This in turn, is expected to further bolster the market growth of magnetic sensors.



The competitive profiling of the leading players in the global magnetic field sensors market across four major geographic regions is also covered under the scope of the report. These include various business strategies that have adopted by the major players and the recent developments as per the secondary data available. In order to provide a competitive insight of global magnetic field sensors market, the market attractive analysis has been provided in the report.



A comprehensive analysis of market dynamics that include the market drivers, restraints and opportunities is included under the purview of the study. Market dynamics are the distinct factors which exert an influence on the growth of a particular market and therefore help in studying the current trends of the global market. Thus, this report offers an inclusive study of the global magnetic field sensors market, along with providing the forecast of the market for the period from 2015 to 2021.



Request a Free Sample Copy of the Report @ http://www.mrrse.com/sample/1325



Some of the major players in the market are: Infineon Technologies (Germany), Allegro MicroSystems LLC (Massachusetts), Austria Microsystems AG (Austria), Honeywell International (U.S.), NXP Semiconductors (Netherlands), Asahi Kasei Co (Japan), Micronas Semiconductors Holdings AG (Switzerland), Melexix NV (Belgium) and Memsic Inc. (Massachusetts) among others.



About MRRSE

MRRSE stands for Market Research Reports Search Engine, the largest online catalog of latest market research reports based on industries, companies, and countries. MRRSE sources thousands of industry reports, market statistics, and company profiles from trusted entities and makes them available at a click. Besides well-known private publishers, the reports featured on MRRSE typically come from national statistics agencies, investment agencies, leading media houses, trade unions, governments, and embassies.
Houston, TX -- (SBWIRE) -- 01/04/2016 -- In an age where the concept of social corporate responsibility and being community-minded is alien to a number of businesses, Jet Spectrum a company that provides world class first service; Private Jet Charters, Cargo and First & Business Class Travel, recently took it upon themselves by putting smiles on the faces of several people in Nepal, helping them to have a great Christmas and one that they will never forget as long as they live.



Headquartered in Switzerland, but providing a seamless way of chartering private flights to and from any destination in the world, going to Nepal to organise a Christmas Charity Dinner is an indication that the whole world is Jet Spectrum's community.



A quick glance at the organisation's purpose reveals that it views charitable generosity not as an option but as a responsibility to the world.To know more about this, visit  https://www.jetspectrum.com/2015/12/29/from-jet-spectrum-to-nepal-disability-centre-kathmandu-charity-for-christmas/?utm_campaign=pr02&utm_medium=press&utm_source=pressarticless



Speaking about the event, Gavin Nathan, the Founder and Chairman of Jet Spectrum commented thus; "With 2015 coming soon to an end and the festive season of Christmas around the corner, myself and the team wanted to do something special this year. Our company mantra of 'every jet, every hour, every dollar, 20% goes to combating food and water shortages around the world' is at the core of our mission."



"I remember saying to the team that being our first Christmas we should make a difference by giving back even though we have not officially launched yet. With our combined strengths and driven by our passion we were able to feed 60 kids and 22 adults on Christmas day at The Nepal Disability Centre Kathmandu" he added.



Having being torn apart and experiencing loads of shortages due to series of earthquakes in Nepal, a member of the team had to travel to India to purchase cooking gas and supplies. Other volunteers also joined in making the occasion a memorable one, and worth mentioning is Mesh Hair by Adriana Moser.



"We hope more businesses will join in supporting more of our events and help bring a little more joy to the world. Please contact us if you want to help and remember our mantra - every jet, every hour in the air, 20% of our profit goes to charity" Nathan concluded.



About Jet Spectrum

Jet Spectrum is a private jet charter broker providing a superior service through our network partners across the globe from Los Angeles to Hong Kong. Jet Spectrum steps into the new wave of aviation entrepreneurship with social responsible beneficence at the core of the business. We support various global causes but have a special focus on food, water and humanitarian relief efforts.



To know more about Jet Spectrum and their services, visit - https://www.jetspectrum.com/



Media Contact:

Jet Spectrum

Name: Gavin Nathan

Position: CEO

Location: Houston

Tel: 713-589-9542

Email: press@jetspectrum.com

URL: www.jetspectrum.com/press
A tuberculosis drug specifically designed for children  combining sweet flavours and the correct dosage in a dissolvable tablet  is expected to hit markets early this year, according to the TB Alliance, a non-governmental organisation.

The tablets, which were developed through a partnership between the TB Alliance, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States government, are meant to improve drug regime adherence among children in the developing world. The drug is not new, but will be an improved combination of existing TB treatments such as rifampicin, isoniazid and pyrazinamide, specifically designed for children.

Since the adult tablets were fixed drug combinations it meant redesigning the tablet according to the ratios [for children]. James Seddon, Imperial College

At a conference in Cape Town, South Africa, in December, TB Alliance representatives told the audience that doctors and parents in many developing countries rely on crushing or splitting tablets with adult dosages when treating children with TB. This means drug dosage is difficult to control and many caregivers struggle to regularly administer the bitter-tasting, sharp-edged tablet fragments for the usual six-month course.

Since the adult tablets were fixed drug combinations it meant redesigning the tablet according to the ratios [for children], says James Seddon, a paediatric TB researcher at Imperial College, London in the United Kingdom.

Juliana Odindo, a Kenyan campaigner with Y+, a global network of young people with HIV, says the dissolvable drug is a huge improvement on her own treatments, which involved biting off small pieces of an adult tablet and swallowing them. It is great news that child-friendly TB medication is finally being made available so that children do not have to gamble with their dosages like I did, she says.

The WHO estimates that around one million children fell ill with TB in 2014, and 140,000 died from the disease. However, only around a third of those who catch the disease are officially diagnosed and put on treatment, the organisation warns.

According to Brenda Waning, head of global drugs at the Stop TB Partnership, drugs for children with TB make up a low-volume, low-profit market and are therefore not of interest for pharmaceutical companies. However, the partnership behind the child-friendly drug has pooled funding with UNITAID, an intergovernmental health initiative overseen by the WHO, to get the product to market.

Manufactured by Indian pharmaceutical company Macleods, the drug is likely to be available early in 2016, the TB Alliance has said. Kenya, which has one of the highest burdens of TB, could be one of the first markets where the drug will be sold, according to Evaline Kibuchi, the TB manager at Kenya Aids NGOs Consortium.

Our grassroots activists and civil society organisations have been advocating for child-friendly TB drugs over the last year, she told SciDev.Net, adding that the only challenge remaining is approval by Kenyas government.
A new study into magma ascent by geoscientists at the University of Liverpool has found that temperature may be more important than pressure in generating gas bubbles which trigger explosive volcanic eruptions.

In a paper published in Nature, researchers at the University's School of Environmental Sciences showed that as magma ascends in volcanic conduits, it heats up which can melt its crystal cargo and force the formation of bubbles. Importantly, they also showed that more bubbles are formed by heating than through decompression, which had been previously thought.

The study, which combined field observation, interpretation of monitored data and controlled laboratory experimentations, provides a strong argument for the integration of temperature as a key control in volcanic eruptions models.

Yan Lavallee, Liverpool Professor of Volcanology who led the research, said: "A good analogy to this is peanut butter: when it is too cold and viscous, we plunge a knife into it and stir to warm it up and make it more runny. With volcanoes, magma ascending in volcanic conduit also heats up and this helps them foam and erupt explosively."

He added: "The fact that temperature may be more important than pressure in the generation of gas bubbles in ascending magmas is astonishing and requires immediate consideration from the scientific community. The fundamental nature of this thermal process will very likely find other important applications in earth sciences as well as in engineering in the years to come. "

Understanding magma ascent is central to forecasting volcanic disasters. It is not possible to always successfully predict volcanic events due to the lack of complete knowledge of the signals leading to catastrophes.

To reproduce the volcanic process, the researchers designed laboratory experiments to study friction in volcanic rocks. They found that friction causes a substantial amount of heat between two rocks which melts the rock and makes it foam.

In the study, they were also able to show how the action of ascending magma can be understood using seismometers to monitor earthquakes and tiltmeters to measure ground deformation.

Volcanic eruptions are often compared to uncorking a bottle of Champagne. Pop the cork out slowly and the wine bubbles up (foams), gas comes out and the wine settles. When it is uncorked rapidly, the cork shoots up in the air, followed by a messy splash of wine across the kitchen.

These two opposite scenarios also occur with volcanoes which can erupt lava flows or explosively erupt fragmented bits of lava, including volcanic ash.

It had been thought that the decrease in pressure experienced by magma as it ascends through the crust and erupts at Earth's surface, causes it to foam. This new work suggests that heating may be more important than decompression in controlling eruptions.
Hawaii has welcomed not only the new year but also a new policy. Starting Jan. 1, 2016, the state has officially become the first in the United States to increase legal age smoking from 18 to 21.

Hawaii has become the first state to increase tobacco sales to 21. This new law covers that consumers should be at least 21 years old to buy tobacco commodities including electronic smoking devices. Governor David Ige signed a new legislation last June to help address preventive smoking measures among adolescents.

"We are proud to once again be at the forefront of the nation in tobacco prevention and control," the state's health director Virginia Pressler stated. And this initiative purportedly conforms with Hawaii being among the healthiest people in the country.



Establishments that will be seen selling cigarettes and any of its kinds to adolescents below 21 years old can be penalized from $500 to $2,000, based on the new policy. And underage consumers caught buying or possessing these products are also subject to fines between $10 and $50, plus community service.



To give time to adjust to the new policy, a grace period of three months is allocated. Instead of directly imposing fines and punishments, warnings will be issued first. The new law also enforces strict compliance on display of these products, for example, it requires all tobacco products to be placed behind or below the counter and displays should be locked in a cabinet or drawer with access given to employees only.



In addition, the state has also incorporated e-cigarette smoking in its smoke-free laws. This means that Hawaii now forbids the use of e-cigarettes in places where smoking is not prohibited. As written in Acts 19 of the new law, people are protected from inhaling the harmful substances generated by e-cigarettes, tobacco products and other cancer-causing chemicals including formaldehyde, nitrosamines and metals.



Based on research, of the adult smokers in the United States, at least 95 percent of them began smoking before 21. Although the Department of Health noticed a decline of smoking rates among young ones, a spike of e-cigarette use has been evident. While Hawaii is the first state to implement such policy, over 100 cities across the country including New York and Boston have already enforced it.
A group of attackers admitted to hacking the BBC website to show that it is able to target the online activities of the Islamic State (IS) group as well. It has claimed that the recently performed hacking is a "test of its capabilities."



Branding itself as the New World Hacking, the group was able to shut down the oldest and largest national broadcasting organization in the world on New Year's Eve. One of BBC insiders described it as a "disturbed denial of service" attack.



BBC neither confirmed nor denied the said phishing activity, and its press office stated that it will not be giving any comments with regard to the issue. The recent hacking put down the site by flooding it with traffic it cannot manage.



"Who is there to fight off online terrorists? The reason we really targeted [the] BBC is because we wanted to see our actual server power," the New World Hacking stated. It further admitted that the hacking was just a mere test, and it does not have any intentions to prolong the shutdown.



Nicknamed as "Ownz," the group member told BBC News website's Leo Kelion that the New World Hacking was first organized in 2012. The group is composed of 12 individuals with eight men and four women. Ownz further revealed that aside from the BBC attack, they are also actively participating on campaigns against the Ku Klux Klan and are up to tracking IS social media accounts for the #OpParis efforts after the tragic Paris attack in November.



The error on the BBC websites started at 07:00 GMT on Thursday. It did not only targeted the news agency primary site but also its associated services like iPlayer catch-up and iPlayer Radio app.



On the microblogging site Twitter, #BBCDown co-trended with #HappyNewYear on Thursday morning. In response, the broadcasting house officially tweeted on its Twitter account and pointed the problem as a technical issue. It further affirmed readers that it is already in the process of working on the site to make it accessible again.



After about three and a half hours, the site was back, but some pages took a bit longer to load than usual. At midday, BBC announced that its website is back to its normal operation and has extended an apology for the inconvenience.
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The South Carolina Agritourism Association has launched its inaugural Passport Program. Throughout 2016, visitors to participating South Carolina farms can have a "passport" stamped to earn Certified SC prizes.

Passports are available at any of the 44 farms taking part in the program. Visitors to the participating agritourism destinations should ask the owner/manager/farmer to stamp the passport, much like international travelers get their passports stamped. The more stamps received, the more prizes that are earned.
FLORENCE  NAMI of the Pee Dee, the Florence area organization of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, will offer its Family-to-Family education program, beginning Feb. 7 and continuing through May 1, from 2:30-5 p.m. on Sunday at Central United Methodist Church in Florence.

NAMI Family-to-Family is a free, 12-session education program for family, partners, friends and significant others of adults living with mental illness. The course is designed to help all family members understand and support their loved one living with mental illness, while maintaining their own well-being.

The course includes information on illnesses such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, major depression and other mental health conditions. Family-to-Family was designed and written by mental health professionals who have direct experience caring for a relative with mental illness. The program is taught by trained teachers who are also family members and know what it is like to have a loved one living with mental illness.

The course balances education and skill-training with self-care, emotional support and empowerment. It provides information about schizophrenia, major depression, bipolar disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), borderline personality disorder, panic disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), and co-occurring brain disorders and addictive disorders. Basic information about medications commonly used to treat these illnesses and the side effects of these medications is presented.

Skills which will be covered include coping skills, handling crisis and relapse, listening and communication techniques, problem solving and limit setting. The course employs role-playing workshops to help participants learn some of these skills.

Family-to-Family also covers how to provide emotional support by understanding the actual experience of people suffering from mental illness as well as how to recognize and deal with the normal emotional reactions families have to the chronic worry and stress they face. In addition, the course covers how to connect with appropriate community services and community supports. It also promotes empowerment and advocacy to bring about better mental health services and fight the stigma and discrimination mentally ill persons often face.

Advanced registration by Jan. 22 is required. For information or to register, call Lou Hanna at (843) 413-1500 or Robert Bowermaster at (843) 669-8714. E-mail inquiries can be sent to Hanna at lbhanna3@joimail.com or Bowermaster at unique_29506@yahoo.com.
The appropriately named APL Guam called in Guam for the first time on 1 January arriving from the Japan as part of the Guam Saipan Express (GSX) service. Prior to calling Guam the 1,100 teu capacity vessel had called in Saipan.

The maiden US-flag call in Guam had been expected to take place on 6 December 2015, however, tougher US Coast Guard checks on US-flagged vessels following the fatal sinking of the El Faro in October meant the start of the new service was delayed.

From Guam the APL Guam will return to Yokohama to begin a regular two-week rotation, calling Guam, Saipan, Busan and Yokohama.

With 75% of Guams inbound freight originating from the US mainland, the GSX service provides essential cargo shipments from the US mainland to Guam and Saipan, said John Selleck, APL gm Guam/Micronesia.

Moreover, with the GSXs connections in Yokohama and Busan, we connect Guam and Saipan with the world through APLs global network.
Zhoushan Intermediate Peoples Court said it has accepted a filing by Zhejiang Shipping Group regarding the bankruptcy of Wuzhou Shipyard, one of its subsidiaries.

The latest case makes Wuzhou Shipyard the first state-backed shipbuilder to go bankrupt, as Chinas shipbuilding sector undergoes a severe recession.

The local court has frozen the assets of Wuzhou Shipyard, which has accumulated debts of approximately RMB911m ($140.3m).

Established in 2001, the Chinese yard started facing financial difficulties last year, according to a Caixin report citing a source.

At present, Wuzhou Shipyard has yet to complete the construction of four ships, including one 2,500 teu boxship, two barges and one tugboat. The yard last delivered a 2,500-teu boxship to Shanghai Zhonggu Xinliang Shipping on 17 July last year.
Leaving from Malaysias Port Klang the Malta-flagged vessel unloaded 3,800 containers at DP World London Gateway terminal as its first port of call in Europe, instead of Felixstowe as originally scheduled, on UASCs two-week AEC1 service. The vessel is now en route to Rotterdam.

Delivered in August 2015, the vessel is one of a recent breed of A19-class ultra-large container (ULCs) vessels, with a total capacity of 18,800 teu. The line has four ULCs in its fleet and a further two on order. There are 74 vessels of 18,000-teu-or-above currently on order internationally.

Measuring 400 m in length, with containers stacked 11 storeys high above deck and 23 across, UASC is claiming the vessel is the greenest in the world, according to coo of UASC Waleed Al Dawood. This voyage marks a very important milestone in our newbuilding and environmental sustainability program with this being the highest utilisation of our 18,800 teu eco-efficient class to date.

The ships Master, Captain Spisak Andrezej and I, were able to wish each other Happy New Year whilst watching London Gateways port cranes unload four containers at a time using our quad-lift innovative technology. Trucks picking up containers are able to pick up faster and safer than ever before.

Moore added, As we enter 2016 in full swing, we look forward to opening berth three in the summer. The start of 2016 is seeing record volumes moving across the port.
Press Release

January 3, 2016 Sen. Marcos Pushes Organic Farming Of High-Value Crops Senator Ferdinand "Bongbong" R. Marcos, Jr. today urged the government to aggressively pursue programs to promote organic farming, particularly of high-value crops. Marcos aired the proposal as part of his call for safety nets meant to cushion the adverse impact on local farmers of the influx of duty-free commodities expected after the Asean Economic Community came into force last December 31. The Senator said that the government should not only provide assistance to small and medium-scale farmers who wish to produce traditional crops but also ramp up the drive to promote the shift to organic and high-value crops. "Shifting to organic, high-value crops could provide our small farmers the edge they need to compete with their counterparts in our neighboring countries as demand for organic food continue to increase worldwide," Marcos said. He noted that according to the market research company Organic Monitor, global market for organic products in 2013 reached $72 billion, with the United States as the leading market, followed by Germany and France. While the US was once a net exporter of organic food, increasing demands have outstripped the capacity of local suppliers so much so that reports said it now spends around $1 billion annually in imported organic food. Marcos noted that the High-Value Crops Development Act of 1995 already provides incentives and cheap credit facilities for the production of high-value crops in addition to available foreign funding for the purpose. "We can go a step further by promoting organic farming to increase the value and competitiveness of our agricultural products in the world market. As a bonus, going organic will help protect our environment," Marcos said. To be able to do this, Marcos said the government must provide funding assistance to farmers during the initial phase of the transition to organic farming when production output normally declines, tap cooperatives and organizations to share best practices in organic farm management. In addition to vital infrastructures such as irrigation, roads and electricity, Marcos said the government must also invest in modern post-harvest facilities to ensure a high quality of organic produce upon delivery to the market. Moreover, the Senator said the government must conduct an aggressive marketing campaign for our organic and high-value crops in the international market.
Koko seeks the creation of San Pedro City

as a separate congressional district

Senator Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III is seeking the separation of the City of San Pedro from the first legislative district of Laguna province to constitute a lone congressional district.

Pimentel filed Senate Bill No. 3029 recently for the creation of the City of San Pedro as a separate district to commence in the next national and local elections.

He said that a city may qualify as a legislative district if it has a population of at least 250,000 and the reapportionment is done within three years following the return of every census.

The City of San Pedro has a registered population of 294,310 inhabitants as of the 2010 Census of Population and Housing.

Moreover, the City of Santa Rosa is also a candidate for lone congressional seat with registered population of 284,670 inhabitants.

Pimentel, who is the chairman of the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights, said there is a gross disproportion between the current population of some local government units (LGUs) and the number of congressional districts.

To illustrate the situation, he said the City of Binan with population of 283,396 has one legislative district and the City of Las Pinas with population of 552,573 has also only one legislative district.

"This disparity shows that there is no equal representation and voice of the people in Congress," said Pimentel.

He said to remedy the situation Congress may enact laws to create separate legislative districts once the population criterion is met.
POE: CHARGE PERSONS SHOWN FIRING WEAPONS ON FACEBOOK

Lambasting the irresponsibility of some gun owners, Sen. Grace Poe asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) to immediately track down and criminally charge the persons who had the temerity to brag about firing their weapons during the New Year revelry on Facebook.

Poe, who chairs the Senate Committee on Public Order and Drugs, said authorities should make an example of those who blatantly violate the law and put other people at risk of injury and even death.

The PNP reported 61 stray bullet-related incidents during the holidays.

"Time and again, people have made a woeful excuse of merry-making during New Year just to satisfy their desires to fire their weapons. This has to stop," Poe said. "Innocent people die from such irresponsible, insensitive and unlawful acts."

Poe was reacting to videos posted on Facebook that show people indiscriminately firing not just pistols but even high-powered firearms during the New Year revelry. In some videos, usually lasting two minutes, some were seen taking turns firing a gun at a dangerous trajectory.

"Our authorities should move quickly against these irresponsible persons, or else, they will never learn," Poe said.

With social media, she said the PNP would not have a difficult time tracking down those seen discharging firearms in the FB posts.

"We have to show we are really sincere in stopping the irresponsible use of firearms. These weapons are meant to protect not kill civilians," Poe said.
Press Release

January 4, 2016 Trillanes appeals to PNoy: Include AFP-PNP retirees in SSL4 Senator Antonio "Sonny" F. Trillanes IV appeals to President Benigno S. Aquino III to include the retired members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines, Philippine National Police and other uniformed services in the proposed Salary Standardization Law 4. Trillanes, principal author and sponsor of Senate Bill No. 2671 or the proposed SSL4, said that under his original bill sponsored in the Senate, the pension levels of the retirees will also increase along with the increase in the salaries of other government workers, consistent with Presidential Decree 1638 and Republic Act No. 8551. However, under the proposed Malacanang version, this provision, known as the indexation of military pension, was suspended due to severe budgetary constraints according to the Department of Budget and Management. The Congress was not able to approve the said bill before the session adjourned last December because the Senate version included the pensioners in the planned salary adjustment, while the House of Representatives decided to adopt the Malacanang version excluding them. Trillanes is expecting that the Malacanang will oppose the inclusion of the indexation provision in the SSL4, which could delay the law's implementation and would affect other government employees, the reason for Trillanes' appeal to the President. "We believe that the retirees of the AFP, PNP, and other uniformed services have earned it. They have risked their lives just to keep us safe, and to let us enjoy the fruits and blessings of democracy. So we believe that they deserve this indexation," Trillanes explained. In the P3.002-trillion national budget for 2016, P57.9 billion was included for the implementation of the first tranche of the SSL-4. An additional P9 billion would be needed for the indexation of military and police retirees in the first year of the implementation. Trillanes added, "These military and police retirees are now in the twilight of their lives. The government should show a little compassion, if not gratitude owing to the sacrifices they and their families have given over the years. I hope that Malacanang could see this issue in this light because the lives and welfare of our retirees are beyond any alleged budgetary constraint."
Paul Sakuma/Paul Sakuma Photography

A recreational drone possibly crashed into a Pacific Gas and Electric Co. overhead conductor Sunday evening, causing a power failure that lasted more than an hour in a small section of San Francisco.

A witness, Scott Kurth, was working at his computer when he saw a flash of light and heard a loud pop on a power pole at the intersection of Peralta Avenue and Hampshire Street, in the northern corner of Bernal Heights. The power went out in 34 homes at 5:04 p.m, according to PG&E spokesman J.D. Guidi.
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San Franciscos public schools chief is staying put.

Superintendent Richard Carranza said Monday he isnt going anywhere, despite persistent reports and rumors that he was courted heavily by Los Angeles Unified, the states largest district, and was among the top candidates for the job.

I think Los Angeles is an incredibly important school district in the state of California, Carranza said in an interview. Theyve got a lot of good things happening. But, he added, Im just really happy with the work were doing in San Francisco.

Carranza said hes proud of the success hes seen in the city, but has more on his to-do list, including a revamp of the always controversial student assignment system.

Still, speculation about his departure was understandable, as the average tenure for a superintendent is about three years. Carranza has been on the job for 3 years and has spent a total of seven years in the district.

It is an extremely political, very, very complicated role, Carranza said. Unfortunately (a long-term superintendent) is an anomaly, but I think its an opportunity (to do more) in San Francisco.

Feeding minds, bodies

Carranza said San Francisco is ahead of the curve in ensuring teachers have the training and support to teach the new Common Core standards. That preparation, he said, paid off in above-average test scores for the district.

In addition, the district has worked to make certain that students have a safe and supportive place to learn, he said. That has meant paying for higher quality school food, allowing students to eat breakfast in the classroom and providing supper.

Suspensions are down, with policies and procedures in place to help students see and correct bad behavior, rather than kicking them out of school.

Making those kind of changes takes time, Carranza said.

All of those things dont happen in one year or two years or three years, he said.

But Carranza has in a short period made a national name for himself as a young superintendent, bringing a blue-collar, English-learner background, fluency in Spanish and a reputation for playing well with others.

We recognize he is one of the top superintendents in the country, and we also recognize that he gets recruiting calls regularly, said school board President Emily Murase. Theres a lot of work to be done and we make a great team, so were just happy we can continue with the leadership in the district.

Parent, teacher complaints

Carranzas tenure hasnt been without tension. He was highly criticized for eliminating algebra classes in middle schools, which some parents saw as an assault on advanced students in the name of equity.

The teachers union vocally opposed the superintendents effort to increase the number of Teach for America teachers, recent college graduates who sign up for a two-year stint.

And there could be tough challenges ahead. Schools need more resources, teachers with better pay and training, and more teachers aides, said Lita Blanc, president of the United Educators of San Francisco.

The big issues remain  like the affordability crisis for (teachers aides) and teachers, she said. That's going to have to translate into serious dollars next fall when we (renegotiate) on salary.

Los Angeles officials reportedly pressed hard for Carranza while searching for a leader with a proven record in urban education and an ability to restore trust and respect. The district is replacing Ramon Cortines, a former San Francisco superintendent, who stepped in last year as a temporary replacement for the more controversial and reform-minded John Deasy.

Carranza was listed among the presumed top contenders, along with Fremont Superintendent Jim Morris and Los Angeles Unified Deputy Superintendent Michelle King. District officials said they expect to name a new superintendent this month.

Next steps

Now that Carranza has officially pulled his name from that list, he is looking at whats next in San Francisco schools. He said Monday he wants to see suspension rates fall further, along with time students spend out of class due to behavior.

And he wants to take a broad look at the student enrollment process. Currently, siblings of students get first priority in school choice, and families living in census tracts where students post the lowest test scores get second priority, ahead of those in a schools attendance area.

Carranza questioned whether the system is effective given that schools have become less diverse and the process leaves parents guessing where their children will go to school, despite an effort to address both concerns.

I think its time for us to really re-examine our student assignment system, addressing both the lack of predictability and diversity in schools, he said. We do want to have predictability for our students and families as well.

Jill Tucker is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: jtucker@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @jilltucker
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Leafy greens jutted from paper bags on a playground picnic table as kids piled out of Berkeley's Malcolm X Elementary School on Wednesday afternoon. Parents grabbed bags of produce labeled with their names and the contents. PTA volunteer Rebecca Matthews distributed meat and dairy items from a cooler.

They're all subscribers to Farmigo.com, a mashup between a food co-op and a farm's community-supported agriculture (CSA) boxes. The website lets customers place weekly orders of organic produce and artisanal food directly from scores of farms. Farmigo then packages and delivers the orders to pick-up spots.

"We're able to collapse the food chain and create direct ties between consumers and farmers," said Farmigo CEO and founder Benzi Ronen, who coupled his tech background with his knowledge of kibbutz farms in his native Israel to start the company in 2009.

Farmigo is one of many tech startups seeking new ways to connect consumers to farm-fresh goods. Its twist is to cut logistics costs by having customers form buying clubs - a kind of virtual food co-op - of at least 10 families, who pick up weekly orders from a central location. Each community's organizer earns a 10 percent rebate on orders, providing a way for schools, churches and nonprofits to raise funds, or for motivated consumers to make a little extra money.

"We're doing economies of communities, versus the economies of scale like Walmart," Ronen said. The pick-up model lets Farmigo pay farmers 60 or 70 percent of the sales price - far more than they reap through other channels, he said. "We're asking the consumer to be part of the solution by starting or joining a community."

Current model

But that unique feature could also slow Farmigo's growth. The Brooklyn company operates in the Bay Area and New York, but aspires to go nationwide. Farmigo adopted its current model 18 months ago, after initially focusing on software to help farms manage CSA programs.

The 30-person company has $10 million in venture backing. Its average order size has tripled to $45. Ronen won't comment on revenue or number of customers, but said it adds about 30 buying clubs a month.

San Francisco's Good Eggs, which raised $21 million this month on top of $8.5 million in previous funding, also provides a virtual farmers' market for people to select farm items online, but has direct-to-door deliveries. The new funding will help it expand beyond the Bay Area and its pilot programs in Brooklyn, Los Angeles and New Orleans.

Some reviews say Good Eggs' prices are higher than Farmigo's - but Farmigo's prices are similar to the slight premiums commanded at farmers' markets.

"It's worth it because it supports the school PTA," said Malcolm X's Matthews, who puts in about 1 1/2 hours a week coordinating the orders. "Last year we made $2,700 from Farmigo."

When it comes to variety, Farmigo has an edge over CSAs, which limit products to that week's harvest at a specific farm (a frequent CSA complaint is too many potatoes).

"In context with the locavore movement, Farmigo is an interesting extension of the CSA model that's more attainable and approachable," said Brita Rosenheim, founder of Rosenheim Advisors, which does food-tech industry consulting. "It gives people the ability to control what they get, and also feel like they're supporting local farmers and getting high-quality organic foods."

Niche status?

She said it's too soon to say if the buying clubs/pick-up model will relegate Farmigo to niche status, adding that it may evolve its approach.

"Delivery and distribution costs are so high that requiring a little extra effort from the consumer to pick up orders is an interesting hybrid," she said. "It's also a sociological experiment: Do people respond to this community aspect?"

Farmigo's Ronen acknowledges that the pick-ups won't work for everyone. City dwellers, with the advantage of dense living, can still command home deliveries. But for those in the far-flung suburbs, door-to-door is a lot more expensive, he said.

The field of online grocers is crowded with behemoths like Google Shopping Express and AmazonFresh, not to mention delivery options from Safeway, Walmart and Whole Foods. Instacart (which works with Whole Foods) sends personal shoppers to grocery stores. Most of those simply take the store model online.

For farm-to-table connections, there are lots of startups focused on specific regions, Rosenheim noted, ticking off examples including FreshDirect, RelayFoods, Fresh Nation, Wholeshare and Mile High Organics. She thinks consolidation among them is likely as the space continues to heat up.

For farmers, new channels that net them more money are a boon.

"Farmigo is a small revolution," said Shankar Venkataraman, founder of Hillview Organics, which grows 50 types of vegetables and a dozen fruits on 23 acres in Vacaville. "It literally saved my business by buying from me."

With Farmigo, he makes up to 65 cents for every $1 in orders, he said. Grocery stores, where multiple middlemen take a cut, leave the farmer with 20 cents for each $1. With restaurants, he sells wholesale, netting about 50 cents on that same $1 of produce.

"As a small farm competing with industrialized organic farms, that makes a huge difference," he said.

Farmigo e-mails him orders at 2 a.m., Venkataraman said. His workers start picking them at 6 a.m. and they're in a cooler by noon. He then delivers them to Farmigo's San Mateo warehouse. Customers get them within 48 hours of harvest.

That quick turnaround from field to table, "can't be matched in freshness, flavor and quality," he said. "Organizations like Farmigo allow the small farmer to connect directly with the public."
Donald Trump released his campaign's first television ad on Monday  but there aren't any big surprises.

He's going to build a wall and not pay for it, he's going to behead ISIS and he reiterates that he says the words "radical islamic terrorism" while some other politicians appearing in an ominous, grainy photograph (ahem, Obama and Clinton) do not say said words.
From an operatic space epic to the shameful story of a South Texas internment camp, the best books of the year made readers think about the choices we make as individuals and as a society. Beyond such weighty proclamations, they were just darned exciting to read.

FICTION

Seveneves

By Neal Stephenson

HarperCollins, $35

In the first sentence of Seveneves, Neal Stephenson blows up the moon. Then, over more than 850 pages, he takes readers on a fictional journey with imperiled humanity that doesnt stop until a remarkable contact 5,000 years later. Seveneves is a novel with ambitions as big as the galaxy, but is ultimately about the people who are literally tasked with saving the human race. This is one youll find yourself thinking about long after turning the last page.

Fortune Smiles

By Adam Johnson

Random House, $27

The fact that critics have compared Adam Johnson to Kurt Vonnegut, David Mitchell and George Saunders is enough to pick up both his novel The Orphan Masters Son, which won the Pulitzer Prize last year, and his story collection Fortune Smiles, this years National Book Award Winner. Then you read them and you are absorbed into worlds you never thought youd enter. Despite the lofty literary comparisons, its a safe bet that nobody could write so instinctively about a former East German prison warden or a pedophile abused as a child and make both characters interesting and sympathetic.

Paradise Sky

By Joe R. Lansdale

Little, Brown, $26

East Texas writer Joe R. Lansdales Paradise Sky is both a sweeping Western epic on the scale of Lonesome Dove and an intimate look at the travails of African Americans in the post-Civil War American West. Its also Lansdale at his funniest and most energetic. Lansdale writes in a voice thats both raw and educated, with dialogue reminiscent of Elmore Leonard and Charles Portis. Thats what makes Paradise Sky addictive fun, even if youre not particularly fond of Westerns.

The Visiting Privilege: New and Collected Stories

By Joy Williams

Knopf, $30

In Joy Williams short stories, humor and cruelty are crushed into a fine blend. A father says to a boy about his 10-year-old daughter: Jane will not have friends. Jane will have husbands, enemies and lawyers. The mental heat Williams stories give off places them at the far end of the Scoville scale. The Visiting Privilege is a 50-course, full-tilt tasting menu of misanthropy and guile.

A Little Life

By Hanya Yanagihara

Knopf, $30

Hanya Yanagiharas doorstopper of a novel A Little Life, about the lives of four college roommates who remain lifelong friends, is a considerable achievement. Due to its exceptionally graphic depictions of physical abuse, sexual abuse and self-harm, and the way those depictions infect the narrative like a cancer, its one of the few pieces of art that deserves a content warning, even for adult readers. A Little Life feels simultaneously like essential reading and a book that its more than reasonable to reject.

Loving Day

By Mat Johnson

Spiegel & Grau, $26

Mat Johnsons new novel, Loving Day,  takes its title from an unofficial holiday, one his narrator likens to Mulatto Christmas. Its the observance of the Supreme Court ruling in Loving vs. Virginia, which in 1967 decriminalized interracial marriage in America. Johnson is himself the product of such a marriage  his mother is black, his father is Irish white  and the politics of his own racial mix is a topic he writes about with discernment and a rumbling wit.

The Marchers

By Mo H. Saidi

Word Design Press, $24.95

San Antonio retired physician and poet Mo H. Saidi does something remarkable in The Marchers, his debut novel set against the backdrop of the 1979 Iran Revolution: he shows us a people who far from being the other  are much like ourselves, with the same needs and desires. We cant help but get caught up in the lives of these characters, who face injustice and even savage torture in a closed society, but never lose their faith and hope.

The Last Pilot: A Novel

By Benjamin Johncock

Picador, $26

In The Last Pilot,  debut novelist Benjamin Johncock evokes the years of the United States ramp-up to the space program so skillfully, a reader can almost feel the sandblasted landing strips. For an English writer born in 1978, many years after most of the real-world events reflected in this novel, Johncock shows a fine grasp of the times and place. Hes earned his right stuff merit badge.

Untwine: A Novel

By Edwidge Danticat

Scholastic, $16.99

Scholastic Press targeted Edwidge Danticats latest novel Untwine at readers 12 and older. But this tale of grief and resilience should appeal to people who love Danticats fiction for adults, too, such as Claire of the Sea Light. The story of Haitian twin girls, it recounts a sundering so painful it is like the chilling description in El Cid: como la una de la carne (like the nail from the flesh). But Danticat delivers with remarkable restraint, a Sade of prose who sings about heartbreak in the coolest of voices.

From the Moon, Earth Is Blue

By Wendy Barker

Wings Press, $18

In her latest collection, San Antonio poet Wendy Barker writes poems that are evocative as frames for a museum of the mind, responding directly to five art works. There are a few riffs on colors, such as Apologia for Brown  Least glamorous of pigments./The impressionists got rid of it. The final poem  on Ellsworth Kellys 1960 painting High Yellow  celebrates colors, and Barkers open mind accepts pure perception. Barker perceives natural mysteries with a fresh and imaginative approach. A remarkable book.

Randoms

By David Liss

Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, $17.99

In San Antonio author David Liss YA novel Randoms,  12-year-old Zeke Reynolds is a devoted sci-fi geek. So he is understandably excited to learn that science fiction is actually fact. Aliens, starships traveling at the speed of sound and even lightsabers are all real. Randoms is a truly unique story, and it would be amazing to see it become something more  like an animated series.

Black-Eyed Susans

By Julia Heaberlin

Ballantine, $26

Eighteen years past, Tessa Cartwright became known as the only surviving victim of a serial killer. But new evidence suggests she IDd the wrong guy, about to be executed on Death Row. In her brilliant novel of suspense, Black-Eyed Susans, Texas writer Julia Heaberlin keeps her protagonist in constant, page-turning peril while also leading the reader down paths of thoughtful exploration into the worlds of child psychiatry, death-penalty law and forensic DNA.

Lawyer for the Dog

By Lee Robinson

St. Martins Press, $24.99

For San Antonio author Lee Robinson, law and literature have been intertwined all her writing life. In her latest novel, she takes on a case that could easily have been the script for a silly rom-com film. But Lawyer for the Dog is the frequently funny and sometimes poignant tale of an attorney who is appointed by the court to represent a pet Schnauzer in a couples acrimonious divorce. A real-life attorney, Robinson said, Ive had cases hung up over issues seemingly much less important than a pet, so it wasnt a stretch for me to imagine that a couple might go to the mat over a dog.

NON-FICITON, BIOGRAPHY

Between the World and Me

By Ta-Nehisi Coates

Spiegel & Grau, $24

Written by Coates as a letter to his adolescent son, Samori, this book isnt simply about being black in the era of Black Lives Matter. Its about being black in the historical life of the United States of America. Its about the vulnerability of black bodies, from slavery to today. But the author does believe that an honest reckoning of our past can lead to something better. It is an ongoing struggle, but for this man who so loves his son and this world, its a struggle made beautiful by the act itself.

Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS

By Joby Warrick

Doubleday, $28.95

Joby Warrick has a gift for constructing narratives with a novelistic energy and detail, and in Black Flags, he creates the most revealing portrait yet laid out in a book of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the founding father of the organization that would become the Islamic State (also known as ISIS or ISIL).

A House of My Own: Stories From My Life

By Sandra Cisneros

Knopf, $28.95

Readers have waited a long time for A House of My Own, Sandra Cisneros newest book  a collection of essays, letters and literary tributes. The reader time-travels chronologically over 30 years with Cisneros, who now lives in Mexico. With house in the title, we of course think of her famous purple house in King William. But Cisneros doesnt feel regret at leaving the purple house shed thought would be the last one shed live in, one of pure love that echoes in memory and story in this compelling new collection.

My Unsentimental Education

By Debra Monroe

University of Georgia Press, $24.95

I wanted to be the angel in the house, Debra Monroe tells one of her students at Texas State University in her bold, brave and somewhat bawdy memoir My Unsentimental Education. Is that a New Age idea? the student asks. No, Monroe tells her, its an old idea. Growing up with June Cleaver on one shoulder and Gloria Steinem on the other, Monroe shrugs off her waitress uniform to eventually become a respected scholar and writer. Her memoir, full of humor, insight and premeditated sex, is a blunt reminder of how far weve come, and yes, how far we still have to go.

Drinking in America: Our Secret History

By Susan Cheever

Grand Central, $28

In Drinking in America, Susan Cheever, a recovering alcoholic, looks soberly at Americas strange and sordid relationship with booze. For instance, while Lincoln watched a play at Fords Theater, his bodyguard was in a saloon next door. Drinking is a highly readable, in-your-face look at not only the destructive power of alcohol in America, but the strange way it shaped our history.

The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin

By Steven Lee Myers

Knopf, $32.50

The New Tsar, by Steven Lee Myers, should be read first by President Barack Obama, who has the formidable task of trying to understand and interact with Putin for the remaining months of his term. Next on the list of readers should be any of the numerous geniuses (listening, Donald Trump?) who think they have a chance of succeeding Obama as U.S. president. Its that revealing a portrait; Meyers was a New York Times correspondent in Russia for seven years.

Legend

By Eric Blehm

Crown, $27

Eric Blehms Legend is a story of extraordinary combat heroism centering on Army Sergeant and Medal of Honor recipient Roy P. Benavidez, a Texan who endured more than 30 bullet, bayonet and shrapnel wounds while rescuing fellow soldiers from a covert mission in the jungles of Cambodia. Its a fascinating tale of one mans fortitude, honor and will to survive in a war still yearning to find its rightful place in American history.

Skyfaring

By Mark Vanhoenacker

Knopf, $25.95

The workaday life of an airline pilot may not seem the most exciting topic, but in the hands of writer and pilot Mark Vanhoenacker, Skyfaring launches reader imaginations. Vanhoenackers book takes airline flight beyond getting from point A to point B. The expansiveness of travel, the journey itself, is realized in Skyfaring. Even travelers weary of airline flights will find deeper appreciation and broader awareness of the total experience.

Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock n Roll

By Peter Guralnick

Little, Brown, $32

Sam Phillips, the founder of Sun Records in Memphis, is frequently remembered for a single sound bite: If I could find a white man who had the Negro sound and the Negro feel, I could make a billion dollars! He seems cynical at best, racist at worst. In his beautiful and meticulous biography, Sam Phillips: The Man Who Invented Rock n Roll, Peter Guralnick goes out of his way to set that Negro feel comment into deep context. The essence of that context is that Phillips was anything but a cynic or  for his era, at any rate  a racist.

The Train to Crystal City: FDRs Secret Prisoner Exchange Program and Americas Only Family Internment Camp During World War II

By Jan Jarboe Russell

Scribner, $30

San Antonio author and former Express-News columnist Jan Jarboe Russells exquisitely researched and thoroughly riveting The Train to Crystal City broke down a closed door of complicated American history. Crystal City, in the mid-1940s, was the site where more than 6,000 men, women and children of Japanese, German and Italian descent  many who were American citizens  were held prisoner in an internment camp and traded for more important Americans behind enemy lines. The New York Times named the book one of 2015s best.

Its a tragic story, Jarboe Russell said. It was hard

to write.

sbennett@express-news.net
iStock/Thinkstock(TEMIXCO, Mexico) -- A Mexican mayor is dead barely a day after taking office.

According to BBC, Gisela Mota was killed when gunmen opened fire at her home in Temixco on Saturday. Hours before her death, she took her oath of office on New Year's Day.

The 30-year-old was leftist and had previously served as a federal congresswoman, reports BBC.

A motive for the killing is unclear so far.

Temixco, in the state of Morelos, is about 60 miles south of Mexico City and home to issues with organized crime and drug trafficking. Mota had promised voters she would work to clean up the city.

Copyright  2016, ABC Radio. All rights reserved.
A mentally unstable man tried to torch himself on the busy streets of downtown San Francisco on Monday morning, officials said.

The man, who was not identified, was trying to light himself on fire in a plaza in front of 1 California St., a bustling part of the citys Financial District along Market Street near the Embarcadero, around 9:30 a.m., said Officer Albie Esparza, a San Francisco police spokesman.
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An Oakland couple rented out their home on Airbnb for New Year's Eve to someone they thought was an older man from Chicago.

Instead, they say, the renter turned out to be a teenager who threw an 18th birthday party and invited 200 of his closest friends.

Reshma Vasanwala and Jim Santi Owen were notified of the party through a neighbor who saw a parade of teens and police coming in and out of house.

"Next door neighbor texts me and says, 'There are 40-50 youths here throwing a party, they've been shouting for over an hour and there's 4 or 5 police out here," Owen told CBS5.

The couple came home to find dirtied furniture, beer cans everywhere, cigarettes, broken glass and even blood stains on a wall.

The person who rented the place returned and was arrested by police for vandalism. Owen told SFGATE that, as of now, he plans to press criminal charges and file a civil suit against the teen renter -- although officers told him 200 to 300 kids were found in the area following the party.

"Obviously he's, as far as we know, ultimately responsible, but so are those 200 or 300 kids," Owen said.

The cleanup of the house has taken two days, but there is still more work to be done. The couple is taking bids from contractors to fix damage to their floors, fence, walls and upholstery  Owen said the teens smoked cigarettes, cigars and marijuana inside the home.

The couple will also have to purchase new furniture for their home and are looking into a new security system, after a partygoer came back to their home.

"At least one person came back at 6 a.m. that same morning and was trespassing on our property," Owen said. "We had to call 911, so it's been pretty nonstop."

Airbnb told news outlets they banned the guest from their site and that they will work with the homeowners under their $1 million host guarantee.

Owen said it took nearly 14 hours to receive a phone call from Airbnb about the situation, which made him frustrated.

"It was an emergency, urgent kind of situation and it would've been nice to feel that they really had our back as all this was going on," Owen said. "We don't know for sure if they're going to pay, we'll have to see. They're communicating in such a way both to us and the press, that they will take responsibility, but we don't know that."

The Oakland couple told ABC7 that they should have screened their guests more, but they don't plan on renting out their home again.
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Des Moines, Iowa

It's been a year of town halls and weekend forums and lunchtime meet-and-greets for those who would be president, with nights spent sparring in televised debates and endless days fundraising to pay for TV ads, direct-mail fliers and organizers to get out the vote.

All of it is aimed at people like Jocelyn Beyer, a Republican from the small town of Sully in rural central Iowa, who says despite the many months of political clamor, she's only just now starting to think about her vote for the White House.

"I can't say I've paid much attention," Beyer said. "The moral issues are what I focus on. If I had to vote today, I'd vote for Ted Cruz."

While that's not a solid "yes" for the Texas senator, at least he's doing better with Beyer than he is with Brian Metcalf, a Republican from nearby Pella. Metcalf is thinking about Cruz, but also former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla.

That is, when he's spending any time thinking about the race.

"Until now, it's just been noise," he said. "But I'd like to see someone with a Reagan-esque approach."

For all the attention showered on early state voters in the past year by candidates, their unpaid volunteers and high-dollar admakers  and, yes, journalists, too  the truth is that what happened in 2015 was only the pregame show.

The race for the White House starts in earnest this week as voters such as Beyer and Metcalf begin to tune in and the candidates try to win them over during a four-week sprint to the leadoff Iowa caucuses on Feb. 1. It's then that voters have their first say and push pundits, predictions and polls aside.

"The race is still fluid," said Beth Myers, who managed 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney's campaign and supports Bush in 2016. "There's still a twist or two in this primary story that we don't know yet."

Where to begin?

It's easier to start with the Democrats.

Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont hopes an upset in Iowa and a victory in the New Hampshire primary a week later will dent the apparent inevitability of front-runner Hillary Clinton. Wins in the first two states for the former first lady, New York senator and secretary of state would all but cement her place atop her party's ticket.

There is no such clarity in the Republican race.

Despite shedding five candidates before New Year's Day, the GOP contest is an unpredictable mix of a dozen hopefuls with vastly different visions for the party and the country.

Ahead now in Iowa is Cruz, who spent 2015 quietly building a traditional campaign organization and will kick off his month with a bus tour  six days, 28 cities  covering the state's most fertile ground for Republicans.

While Cruz has edged ahead in preference polls of Iowa voters in recent weeks, nationally, he still trails the unquestioned political star of 2015: Donald Trump.

The billionaire real-estate mogul has so far forgone the grind-it-out approach in favor of free media exposure and a few rallies a week in front of largely adoring crowds. "He says what everybody's thinking, and he's not afraid to say it," said Trump supporter Bill Kullander of Des Moines.

Neither Cruz nor Trump will win the nomination with a victory in Iowa, but caucus-goers probably will deliver a verdict on whether several GOP candidates continue on to New Hampshire.

Count Rick Santorum and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the caucuses in 2008, in that group, and maybe retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, too.
We've all watched the ads on television for BlackPeopleMeet.com and even seen the recent sponsored ads on Instagram for JSwipe, a mobile Jewish dating app. During the New Year's holiday a new dating site made its debut, WhitePeopleMeet.com, with a billboard along Highway 201 in West Valley, Utah.

The massive ad features a happy couple, along with the cost of membership, a $4 fee. It appears only heterosexual matches are allowed on the site although there are no restrictions for individuals who identify themselves as married.

The dating site's About Us section declares people of all races can join and also states they believe all people have the right to "Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."

Since the launch of the website the billboard has gone viral, and with its placement in a city that's 91 percent white, it has definitely turned some heads.

NAACP Salt Lake branch President Jeanetta Williams claimed it to be "odd."

"I just thought it was kind of strange they would put it in Utah," Williams told the Salt Lake Tribune. "A large population here is white. So you're going to put up billboards here so you can meet other white singles? Every day you can meet white singles."

This is a billboard along SR 201 in West Valley City. What we know about it: http://via.fox13now.com/yT76M Posted by Fox 13 News on Thursday, December 31, 2015

When asked by Fox 13 News, many Utah residents were not happy about the billboard and even spoke out against it.

"I have a lot of friends who are biracial couples and they're in love and they're happy," Kayla Lemmon told Fox 13. "I don't think we should have a dating site with only one race. I think it excludes someone who could be your soul mate and is a different color than you."

Some Facebook users said they support the idea.

Facebook user Joseph Takacs commented "You already 'Filter' when searching on any dating site based on preference of height, body type, hair color, race etc. This just removes one filter setting from the search. Am I racist because I am white and am not interested in dating an asian etc, or going out with a gay person? Wake up and grow up. Everyone in the world will discriminate against someone."

Whether some may like it or not, it appears WhitePeopleMeet.com is here to stay.
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Baghdad

Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran on Sunday and gave all Iranian diplomats 48 hours to leave the kingdom, as escalating tensions over the execution of an outspoken Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia marked a new low in relations between the two Middle Eastern powers.

The surprise move, announced in a televised news conference by Adel al-Jubeir, the Saudi foreign minister, followed harsh criticism by Iranian leaders of the Saudi execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and the storming of the Saudi Embassy in Tehran by protesters in response.

Al-Jubeir said that the kingdom would not allow Iran to undermine its security.

The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saturday that Saudi Arabia would face divine vengeance for the execution of al-Nimr, a day after protesters ransacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Saudi Arabia, which put the cleric to death in a mass execution of 47 men accused of terrorism-related offenses, fired back, saying Iran had "revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism."

The heated rhetoric underscored the mounting tensions between the two powers, each of which considers itself the leader of the Islamic world and supports opposing sides in conflicts across the region.

Setting off this round of recriminations was the execution Saturday of al-Nimr, a Shiite cleric from eastern Saudi Arabia who often criticized the Saudi royal family and called for Shiite empowerment. Al-Nimr had become a leader in Shiite protests, and the government accused him of inciting violence.

Most of the reaction in the region to the execution broke cleanly along sectarian lines, with Shiite leaders in Iraq, Yemen, Lebanon and elsewhere criticizing the Saudis for killing a man they called a peaceful dissident while Saudi Arabia's Sunni allies applauded what they called the country's efforts to fight terrorism.

Most of the 47 executed had been convicted of being involved with al-Qaida in a wave of deadly attacks in the kingdom a decade ago and included prominent leaders and ideologues. Four, including al-Nimr, were Shiites accused of participating in violent demonstrations in which demonstrators and police were killed.

The BBC reported that one of those executed, Adel Al-Dubayti, had been convicted of fatally shooting Simon Cumbers, a journalist on assignment for the BBC in Riyadh in 2004. The attack also left a reporter, Frank Gardner, critically wounded.

Most of the men were beheaded; some were shot by firing squads. Unlike most Saudi executions, those Saturday were not public.

Outside the Middle East, some criticized the Saudi justice system and the mass execution, the largest in the kingdom in decades.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, said Saturday that he was "deeply dismayed" by the execution of al-Nimr and the other men after "trials that raised serious concerns over the nature of the charges and the fairness of the process."

Zeid Ra'ad al-Hussein, the U.N.'s high commissioner for human rights, called the mass execution "a very disturbing development, particularly as some of those sentenced to death were accused of nonviolent crimes."

Al-Hussein, a Jordanian prince, also questioned whether due process had been observed during the men's trials.

In the United States, Benjamin Rhodes, President Barack Obama's deputy national security adviser, refused to comment specifically on the execution of al-Nimr but said the United States had been complaining to the Saudis for years about human rights issues.

"We also would like to see steps taken by Saudi Arabia and other countries to reduce sectarian tensions in the region," Rhodes said.

The European Union, which opposes the death penalty, said that al-Nimr's execution in particular "raises serious concerns regarding freedom of expression and the respect of basic civil and political rights."

Yet calls for restraint went largely unheeded in the Middle East.

"God's hand of retaliation will grip the neck of Saudi politicians," Khamenei said.

"The oppressed scholar neither encouraged people to take armed action nor engaged in secret plotting," Khamenei said of al-Nimr.

The Iranians did, however, appear to be taking steps to prevent the dispute from escalating further. Forty Iranians were arrested in the anti-Saudi mayhem  a sign that the authorities were trying to contain public outrage.

Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, Sunday also condemned the execution but said that the attacks on the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and the Saudi Consulate in Mashhad had damaged Iran's reputation.

"We do not allow rogue groups to commit illegal actions and damage the holy reputation of Islamic Republic of Iran," he said in a statement. "What happened last night in Mashhad and Tehran and collateral damages in Saudi consulate and Embassy is not acceptable and justifiable."
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The state Supreme Court cleared the way Monday for Californians to vote in November, if the Legislature approves, on whether to urge Congress to amend the U.S. Constitution and overturn the Citizens United ruling, which allowed corporations to spend unlimited amounts on political campaigns.

The state justices had blocked a vote on the same measure initiated by the Legislature in 2014, saying it was not clear that California lawmakers had the power to put an advisory measure on the ballot. But in a 6-1 ruling Monday, the court said the Legislatures power to investigate issues includes asking the public for advice on whether to seek a nationwide constitutional amendment.

The principles of a democratic republic generally permit representatives to inquire of the people on fundamental matters, even though the public vote would not be binding, Justice Kathryn Mickle Werdegar said in the majority opinion.

She also noted that since 1849, the California Constitution has guaranteed to the people the right to instruct their representatives.

Dissenting Justice Ming Chin said the state ballot was intended for electing representatives and making laws, not for voting on legally meaningless advisory measures. He noted that the court had ruled in 1984 that initiatives, placed on the ballot by the public, could not be used for advisory votes. Chin said the same restriction should apply to legislative ballot measures.

The Legislature should not be permitted to hijack the ballot to serve its own agenda, Chin said.

The ruling does not guarantee that the measure will be on the November ballot. Legislators approved the bill calling for a ballot vote in 2014, which the court then blocked, and would have to pass another bill calling for a vote this year. Gov. Jerry Browns support is not guaranteed, as he declined to sign the 2014 measure but allowed it to move ahead without his signature.

A lawyer for the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, the conservative group that challenged the ballot placement, said he hoped lawmakers would refrain from cluttering up the ballot with an advisory measure.

It looks like the 2016 ballot will have at least a dozen important initiative and referendum measures, all of which deserve voters attention and focus far more than a nonbinding question, said the attorney, Thomas Hiltachk.

But supporters of the proposed ballot measure said they were confident that voters would be able to consider and approve it and send a message to Congress.

Californians will now have a chance to remind members of Congress who they work for by instructing them to get big money out of politics and to start listening to ordinary voters, said Derek Cressman, a former candidate for California secretary of state and manager of the short-lived committee for the proposed 2014 ballot measure.

Citizens United, a 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in January 2010, said the rights of corporations and labor unions to spend money on federal political causes was protected by freedom of speech.

The California Legislature, and several others with Democratic majorities, have already urged Congress to call a constitutional convention to consider an amendment to overturn the ruling. The proposed ballot measure would instruct Congress itself to pass the amendment  declaring, among other things, that money is not speech  and submit it to the states for ratification.

Such public expressions, though not legally binding, can be effective, Werdegar said in Mondays ruling. She said California lawmakers asked the voters in 1891 whether U.S. senators, then chosen by the Legislature, should instead be elected by the people, and 93 percent voted yes  a step, Werdegar said, toward eventual national ratification of the 17th Amendment in 1913.

The case is Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association vs. Padilla, S220289.

Bob Egelko is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: begelko@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @egelko

Online: To read the ruling: http://bit.ly/1Jq1T2N.
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Santa Cruz County is a pioneer in organic agriculture, with trendsetting organic farms, restaurants and specialty foods. But even here, in the alternative heartland, organic vineyards are few and far between.

Only 40 acres of Santa Cruz County wine grapes, about 6 percent of vineyard acreage, are certified organic, according to crop reports. Even the farmers who tend them say the practice defies economic sense.

Unlike most organic produce, certified wine grapes do not often bring a higher price than conventionally grown fruit. While this is also true elsewhere, Santa Cruz growers view this as the result of a lingering association with organic wine, which rather than being a premium product was once associated with flawed, hard-to-drink wines.

While any wine can be made with organic grapes, a by-the-book "organic wine" must be made without the addition of the preservative sulfur dioxide. They have become a vanishingly small segment of wine production.

"There's a stigma around organic wines," said Bradley Brown, who grows 10 acres of certified organic Rhone-native varieties at Big Basin Vineyards, high in the Santa Cruz Mountains. "But organic grapes and organic wines are completely different things, and many people are confused about this."

Considering the embrace of organic farming in other wine regions - in organics-friendly Mendocino County, for instance, more than one-quarter of vineyards are farmed that way - such confusion might be open for debate. But vineyard land is scarce in the Santa Cruz Mountains and farming costs are high. Without a price premium for grapes, and given the extra costs for organic production and often lower yields, organic wine grapes are an expensive proposition.

"I understand why people don't do it," said Richard Alfaro, who grows both certified organic and conventional grapes at his Alfaro Family Vineyards in Corralitos. "Growing organic is a huge commitment and risk."

Cool, moist conditions in the Santa Cruz area produce interesting and nuanced wine grapes, Alfaro said. But the moisture is a double-edged sword.

"Because of the ocean influence, we're very susceptible to botrytis and powdery mildew," Alfaro said. "We get fog, big temperature swings, and the vines are often dripping wet in the morning."

Organic farmers are allowed to use approved fungicide sprays, but the products are more expensive and don't last as long as systemic products used by conventional growers, which are sucked into the plant and linger in its tissues.

"The organic product might last a week, and the conventional spray probably three weeks," Alfaro said. "So when you're battling an outbreak you're paying for three times the tractor use, three times the amount of chemical, three times the labor. Not everyone can afford to do that."

Weeds are another deal-breaker, according to viticultural consultant Prudy Foxx, who works with more than 30 clients in the area.

"Weed control is actually a really big concern," Foxx said. "I would say that herbicides are the No. 1 product used on vineyards preventing them from being organic."

Brown, Alfaro and Jerold O'Brien of Silver Mountain Vineyards outside Los Gatos use all of their organically grown grapes in their own estate wines, though only O'Brien mentions "organically-grown grapes" on the label. None of them produce organic wine.

"I bottle the wine from my organic grapes separately," Alfaro said. "It's not labeled, but is in fact all separate from the noncertified grapes. I want to see if my organic vineyards seem healthier, and the vines seem healthier, and to see if they make better wine."

By stripping down the agricultural inputs and relying more on natural vineyard treatments, organic winegrowers hope to isolate the flavor characteristics that make the Santa Cruz Mountains appellation unique.

"The Europeans believe that organic allows wine to truly express its origins," Foxx said. "Whether you like a wine or not, if it truly expresses its place of origin, you've succeeded."

Since financial incentives aren't a factor, Santa Cruz growers who invest in organic certification - which can cost several thousand dollars - are driven by personal convictions.

"My vineyard is organic and certified because of my personal philosophy," O'Brien said. "I believe in living my life in harmony with Mother Nature. That is my bottom line."

O'Brien's mountainside vineyard of Pinot Noir and Chardonnay has been organic since he began planting in 1980, and he is fiercely proud of his organic status.

O'Brien also claims to operate "the most sustainable winery operation anywhere," with a naturally cooled artificial cave for aging, gravity feeds instead of pumps, and the largest solar array in the Santa Cruz Mountains, which doubles as a rainwater collector feeding a 45,000-gallon cistern.

Bradley Brown's commitment to organics similarly transcends economics. His mother and sister were both diagnosed with breast cancer, which he attributes to man-made toxics in the environment. He buys organic food for his family, and is convinced that the rest of the winemaking industry will eventually recognize the necessity, and superiority, of nontoxic farming.

"I am personally committed to organic," Brown said. "And I'm absolutely convinced that organic methods will produce healthier vines, better grapes and wines of greater character."

Chronicle wine editor Jon Bonne contributed to this story.
Narinder Nanu/AFP / Getty Images

PATHANKOT, India  Indian troops were still battling at least two gunmen Sunday night at an air force base near the border with Pakistan, more than a day and a half after the compound came under attack, a top government official said. At least seven troops and four gunmen have been killed in the fighting so far.

The two suspected militants were discovered shortly after noon Sunday and hours later appeared to have been cornered, Home Secretary Rajiv Mehrishi said.
HONG KONG  Hong Kong pro-democracy lawmakers said Sunday that they will press the government for answers after a fifth employee of a publishing company specializing in books critical of mainland Chinas leadership went missing.

Lawmaker Albert Ho said the city was shocked and appalled by the disappearance of Lee Bo. Like the four others who have disappeared in recent months, Lee is associated with publisher Mighty Current.

While theres been no official word on what happened to the five, Ho said it appears their disappearances are linked to the publishing companys books.

From the available information surrounding the disappearance of Mr. Lee Bo and his partners earlier, we have strong reason to believe that Mr. Lee Bo was probably kidnapped and then smuggled back to the mainland for political investigation, Ho said.

Ho said one possible explanation for the disappearances was that the publishing company is being pressured to scrap plans for an upcoming book rumored to be about an old girlfriend or mistress of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Its not uncommon in mainland China for company executives and dissidents to be detained for lengthy periods by the authorities or vanish without anyone claiming responsibility, but the disappearances are unprecedented in Hong Kong and have shocked the citys publishing industry.

A few dozen protesters marched to Beijings Liaison Office on Sunday to demand information about Lee, Mighty Currents chief editor. Lee, 65, is also one of the companys major shareholders, the South China Morning Post reported.

The companys co-owner, Gui Minhai, is also among those missing, as are three staff members.

Mighty Current and its Causeway Bay Bookstore are known for gossipy titles about Chinese political scandals and other sensitive issues popular with visiting tourists from the mainland.

Books by Mighty Current are banned on the mainland but are available in Hong Kong, which enjoys freedom of the press and other civil liberties unseen on the mainland. But the disappearances highlight growing concern that Beijing is moving to tighten its grip on the former British colony as Xi clamps down on dissent.

The Hong Kong-Macau Affairs Office, which is under Chinas State Council, could not be reached Sunday for comment.
1 Skyscraper fire: The developers of the skyscraper that caught fire on New Years Eve in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, and burned through the citys annual fireworks display say they will quickly repair the building. Emaar Properties said Sunday that a team of consultants is already working to repair the damage to the 63-story the Address Downtown tower. Officials also said the building was not fitted with any fireworks for the New Years display when it caught fire Thursday night. An investigation into the cause of the blaze is continuing. At least 14 people were injured, officials say.

2 Mexico violence: The mayor of a city south of Mexicos capital was shot to death Saturday, less than a day after taking office, officials said. Gunmen opened fire on Mayor Gisela Mota at her house in Temixco, said the government of Morelos state, where Temixco is located. Two assailants were killed and three others detained following a pursuit, said Morelos security commissioner Jesus Alberto Capella. Morelos Gov. Graco Ramirez blamed Motas killing on organized crime. Cartels seeking to control communities have often targeted local officials in Mexico.
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  Allies of Saudi Arabia followed the kingdoms lead Monday and scaled back diplomatic ties to Iran after the ransacking of Saudi diplomatic missions in the Islamic Republic, violence sparked by the Saudi execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

Sudan and the tiny island kingdom of Bahrain said they would sever ties with Iran, as Saudi Arabia did late Sunday. Within hours, the United Arab Emirates announced it would downgrade ties to Tehran to the level of the charge daffaires, while other nations issued statements criticizing Iran.

The concerted campaign by Sunni-ruled Saudi Arabia highlights the aggressive stance King Salman and his son, Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, have adopted in confronting Iran, a longtime regional rival.

What we have seen during the last 24 hours is unprecedented. ... It shows you Saudi Arabia has had enough of Iran and wants to send a message, said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a political science professor at Emirates University. This is the Saudis saying: There is no limit to how far we will go.

The standoff began Saturday, when Saudi Arabia executed Shiite cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr and 46 others convicted of terror charges  the largest mass execution carried out by the kingdom since 1980.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in the Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabias Shiite minority, who long denied advocating violence. News of his execution has sparked Shiite protests from Bahrain to Pakistan.

In Iran, protesters attacked the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad. By late Sunday, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir announced the kingdom would sever its relations with Iran over the assaults, giving Iranian diplomatic personnel 48 hours to leave his country.

On Monday, Saudi Arabias civil aviation authority suspended all flights to and from Iran, saying the move was based on the kingdoms cutting of diplomatic ties.

Iran expressed regret over the attacks on the diplomatic missions in a letter to the United Nations on Monday and pledged to arrest those responsible.

Saudi Arabia and Iran have long vied for influence in the Middle East, with their rivalry deepening after the toppling of Saddam Hussein in Iraq, which allowed Iran to assert dominance there, and the chaos of the Arab Spring, which gave rise to proxy wars in Syria and Yemen.

The U.N. envoy for Syria, Staffan de Mistura, was en route to Riyadh on Monday with plans to later visit Tehran. Iran, a staunch supporter of embattled Syrian President Bashar Assad, and Saudi Arabia, a key backer of the opposition, have participated in three rounds of international talks aimed at ending the conflict. De Mistura has set a Jan. 25 target date for a fourth round of talks.

The White House urged Saudi Arabia and Iran on Monday to not let their dispute derail efforts to end the Syrian civil war.
PATHANKOT, India  A fifth gunman was killed Monday on the third day of a siege at a heavily fortified Indian air base near the border with Pakistan and at least one attacker remained as troops worked to secure the sprawling compound, a military official said. Seven troops have been killed.

The search operations at Pathankot air force base will continue until all areas have been completely secured, said Maj. Gen. Dushyant Singh, from Indias elite National Security Guard.

The attack has dragged on since early Saturday as government troops struggle to contain the heavily armed attackers. At least twice over the weekend it appeared that the attack had ended but fresh gunfire and explosions erupted both times.

Four attackers were reported killed by Saturday evening, and at least two were said to have been exchanging gunfire with troops as of Monday morning. By evening one had been shot dead, Singh said.

Defense officials have said authorities had been alerted about a potential attack in the area on Friday, and that aerial surveillance at the base spotted the gunmen as they entered the compound, leading to criticism of the handling of the situation.

Singh told reporters in Pathankot that it will take a long time to declare the base completely secure because of its size and geography. It is spread over more than 2,000 acres, including forests.

The base has a fleet of Indias Russian-origin MiG-21 fighter jets and Mi-25 and Mi-35 attack helicopters, along with other military hardware. Officials have said no military hardware has been damaged in the fighting.

The killings of soldiers inside a military base despite intelligence alerts have angered many in India.

The biggest problem is the multiplicity of command and control. Nobody knows who is really in charge, said Rahul Bedi, an analyst for Janes Information Group.

The air force base is on the highway that connects Indias insurgency-plagued Jammu and Kashmir state with the rest of the country.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in its entirety by both. Rebels in Indias portion of Kashmir have been fighting since 1989 for independence or merger with Pakistan.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the insurgents, a charge Islamabad denies, and the attack is being viewed as a possible attempt to unravel recent progress in their relationship.
Obama Seeks to Curb Gun Violence

At the start of the year,

are making it even easier to carry a gun to work, into shopping centers and even into state buildings, including the capitol rotunda in Texas. That trend isnt stopping President Barack Obama, who has been concerned about the uptick in mass shootings. Hell meet with the US Attorney General today to see what kinds of

he can issue to curb the almost weekly mass shootings and daily gun violence in America.

Violence Creeps into Posh Neighborhoods

Blogger Joe Monahan isnt feeling very optimistic at the beginning of the new year. He thinks an increase in

as long as police departments remain understaffed.

Blocking LGBTQ Discrimination

Before the start of the 2016 Legislature, newly elected Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis is asking the council to

a House bill that would allow businesses to deny services to people who are gay or transgender, if it violates their religious beliefs, according to Dan McKay.

Sanders Hires Chacon

Broadcast journalist

, who worked at the old KGGM TV station in the 1980s before moving to Chicago, is now working for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign.

Griego Weighs Comeback

Every state Senate seat is up this year, and Ringside Seats Milan Simonich hopes

, who resigned his seat last year, runs again, so voters can formally reject the disgraced politician at the ballot box, writing, That outcome would be a sign that the old guard, the crony system and embarrassingly low standards arent acceptable anymore in New Mexico.

Previewing Papal Visit

Journalist Lauren Villagran, who will be covering

visit to Mexico in February, traveled to Ciudad Juarez to write this preview story. Residents there, she reports, hope the pope can help turn the page on the citys dark past.

Innovation and Dysfunction at LANL

As the management contract at Los Alamos National Laboratory goes out for competitive bid, veteran reporter

is taking a long look at the facility's legacy of innovation and dysfunction.

Lynnes Faces Challenges at KAFB

Ollie Reed reports Kirtland Air Force Base is getting some big time help from a former New Mexico Environment Department employee whos determined to keep more jet fuel from leaking into Albuquerques drinking wells. Meet

.

Renewable Energy Sources Gain Popularity

Even as the Public Service Company of New Mexico doubles down on coal- and nuclear-generated power, most of the country is

in spite of bargain prices for fossil fuels.

Bullet Train Anyone?

While New Mexicans still debate the effectiveness of the states Rail Runner, three New Mexico State University engineering graduates are in California, helping to build

.

New Mexico's Missing Recipe

If you spent the recent holidays baking, you probably know that

needs some smarter employees. When the General Mills brand managers forgot to include a recipe for New Mexico, a few smart residents chimed in to remind them weve been a state for more than 100 years.

Polar Bear Plunge

It was a cold start to the New Year for about 70 people brave enough to take the polar bear plunge into

26 degree water on Friday morning.

Santa Fe Reporter
New Mexico's statutory framework of regional water planning is in the midst of an overhaul that's shifting from a bottom-up approach to a more top-down method that has state staff and the Interstate Stream Commission calling more of the shots. Many regional water planners will see the proposed plan for water in their regions at the upcoming New Mexico Water Dialogue statewide meeting on Jan. 7.

"That's where we sort of figure out what we're facing and what we should do about it," says Consuelo Bokum, New Mexico Water Dialogue board of directors member representing Santa Fe. The thrust of the meeting is about understanding the context of water planning and the big issues ahead. Bokum says, "It's just part of the state evolving and enhancing its ability to plan and think about the future."

Panel discussions are set to explore other water planning efforts around the world, applicable scientific research and the latest news from the Interstate Stream Commission. Keynote speeches from Sen. Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, and Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, both from the New Mexico Legislature Water and Natural Resources Interim Committee, will brief attendees on relevant upcoming legislation.

The state's regional water planning framework was created by the New Mexico Legislature in 1987.

"Because we'd never done it before, it was sort of chaotic," Bokum says of those early years of water planning. "So the dialogue was formed as a chance to get people together from all over the state to talk about what issues were coming up."

It took more than 10 years for the 16 regions to complete their plans for addressing demand that clearly exceeded supply through a "bottom-up" approach. According to the Water Dialogue's fall newsletter, Interstate Stream Commission Director Deborah Dixon told dialogue members during a July meeting, "We no longer have that leisure."

The Interstate Stream Commission's staff refused to be interviewed for this story. Its spokeswoman, Melissa Dosher, writes SFR via email that during the Water Dialogue meeting, representatives from the commission will "be discussing the basis for the current Regional Water Plan update process and the status of the updates, as well as responding to feedback that we have received." The focus will likely remain on technical approaches, integrating water planning and funding for water infrastructure projects.

The drought in 2013 fueled the state's decision to update the State Water Plan and ask for regional updates to incorporate into that plan. State officials decided to streamline the process via a "top-down" model to increase consistency, particularly for defining water supply and demand data, take some of the burden off regional volunteers, allow all plans to be simultaneously updated and more easily incorporate regional plans into the state water plan, according to Dosher. Regions and consultants completed draft plans, and the ISC has been "reviewing each draft for accuracy and consistency" and releasing revised draft plans to regions, as they're available, she writes, adding that seven of 16 regions have received those drafts for review, four more expected to be released in early January and the last five by the end of the month.

The process of finalizing those plans will include public meetings for the rest of the state's residents to weigh in on the new plans. With the city and county having also been proactive in initiating research on how to plan for and conserve water, Bokum says, "It's not like this is the only game in town."

A report commissioned by the city and county of Santa Fe and released in August called for planning to manage water resources in the face of potential decreases in the surface water supply as the climate changes. In the 21st century, water piped over the Continental Divide from Colorado's San Juan and Chama rivers is projected to decrease overall by one-quarter, see earlier spring runoff dates and lower flows in summer, leave less water in Heron Reservoir and in general be able to meet all contractual allocations less frequently.

Shortages in the Colorado River Basin could also lead to those water users calling water from the San Juan River to meet those demands, taking more water from New Mexico. The report found that with projected population growth, without adaptation measures taken, the Santa Fe Basin faces an annual deficit of 9,000 acre-feet of water, even if climate change brings warm, wet weatherand a 14,000 acre-foot annual deficit if the weather turns hotter and drier.

Santa Fe Reporter
Here is some stuff in the news today... RIP Natalie Cole , who has died at age 65. Cole was probably most well-known for her 1991 single "Unforgettable," on which she dueted with the voice of her late father, Nat King Cole, "and the track gave her a top 20 pop hit in both Britain and the US. The single won her Grammys for Record of the Year and Best Traditional Pop Performance, while thealbum, a chart-topper in the US, won Album of the Year. It also sold 7m copies in the US alone, and doubled that figure through international sales." My condolences to her family, friends, colleagues, and fans.[Content Note: War on agency] Reproaction's Erin Matson and Pamela Merritt write: " 2015 was a terrible year for abortion rights. 2016 does not have to be 2015 ." And Imani Gandy and Jessica Mason Pieklo write: " Here's Why 2016 Could Be the Biggest Year for Reproductive Rights and the Courts in Decades ." Two must-reads for today.[CN: Violence; religious extremism] Oh fuck: "Saudi Arabia rallied Sunni allies to its side in a growing diplomatic row with Iran on Monday, deepening a sectarian split across the Middle East following the kingdom's execution of a prominent Shi'ite cleric. Bahrain and Sudan cut all ties with Iran, following Riyadh's example the previous day. Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters Riyadh would also halt air traffic and commercial relations between the rival powers. He blamed Iran's 'aggressive policies' for the diplomatic action, alluding to years of tension that spilled over on Saturday night when Iranian protesters stormed the kingdom's embassy in Tehran. The United Arab Emirates (UAE), home to hundreds of thousands of Iranians, partially downgraded its relations but the other Gulf Arab countriesKuwait, Qatar, and Omanstayed above the fray."[CN: Misogyny; assassination] How utterly horrible: "The newly installed mayor of the Mexican city of Temixco was killed on Saturday , according to a tweet from Morelos state Governor Graco Ramirez. Gisela Mota, 33, formally took office with the new year on Friday. Mexico City newspapersaid she was attacked at her home by four armed gunmen. Around 7:30 a.m., the assassins entered Mota's home, beat her, and then shot her in the head, according toParamedics arrived at 7:50 a.m. and confirmed she was dead. Afterward, the suspects tried to flee in a van, but police followed in hot pursuit and exchanged fire with the suspects before killing two of them. The other two were taken into custody, according toRamirez referred to Mota as a 'young and beloved companion,' but said he would not be intimidated by her death. 'We will not relent,' he wrote." Killedafter she took office. I don't even have words.Welp! "The furor over recent Chicago police shootings has legislators considering whether voters should be allowed to recall Mayor Rahm Emanuel or future officials who hold his post. Illinois state law currently addresses only the recall of a governor, a provision voters approved in 2010 after former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested and impeached. Now, state Rep. La Shawn Ford, a Chicago Democrat, wants voters to also have the power to remove the mayor of the country's third-largest city." Get rid of him. One way or another. Rahm needs to go.[CN: Privacy violations; profiling] Goddammit: "The Transportation Security Administration's new rules for screening passengers with its controversial full-body scannerswhich were quietly changed just before the busy holiday travel seasonrepresent a significant policy reversal that could affect your next flight. Getting checked by the TSA's advanced-imaging technology used to be entirely optional, allowing those who refused a scan to be subjected to a pat-down. ...But on a Friday in late December, the TSA revised its rules, saying an 'opt out' is no longer an option for certain passengers. ...'Most people will be able to opt out,' says Bruce Anderson, a TSA spokesman. 'Some passengers will be required to undergo advanced-imaging screening if their boarding pass indicates that they have been selected for enhanced screening, in accordance with TSA regulations, prior to their arrival at the security checkpoint. This will occur in a very limited number of circumstances.'" The fuck.Time to update your Periodic Table tattoos, nerds! " Four new elements have been added to the periodic table, finally completing the table's seventh row and rendering science textbooks around the world instantly out of date. The elements, discovered by scientists in Japan, Russia, and America, are the first to be added to the table since 2011, when elements 114 and 116 were added. ...The four new elements, all of which are synthetic, were discovered by slamming lighter nuclei into each other and tracking the following decay of the radioactive superheavy elements. Like other superheavy elements that populate the end of the periodic table, they only exist for fractions of a second before decaying into other elements." The elements will be officially named later this year.[CN: Disablism; abuse] This Indianapolis bar's response to an unfathomably rude patron, who was annoyed at being inconvenienced by another patron almost dying, is tremendous.[CN: Images may be NSFW] Beautiful: " The Body Shapes of Dancers by the Outstanding Photographer Howard Schatz ."[CN: Video autoplays at link] And finally! Won't somebody PLEASE play with this French bulldog ?!


Goat|Paperclip 2016: Because the actual Republican candidates are a waking nightmare.

The blowback outside the campaign [after Weaver made shitty misogynist comments in an October interview with Bloomberg Politics] was fierce. But there was also blowback within the Sanders campaign as well, as some aides said the language crossed a line. Mr. Sanders said on MSNBC that the comment "was inappropriate," although it is not clear whether he suggested that Mr. Weaver apologize.



However, others in the campaign did. The Sanders campaign's New Hampshire state director, Julia Barnes, asked Mr. Weaver to apologize for the comments, and voiced her displeasure to him in clear terms. He never did, telling unhappy staffers on a conference call after the report aired that their team needed to be mindful that the Clinton campaign was about to unleash attacks on Mr. Sanders, according to three people with direct knowledge of the episode.

We are now a mere TEN MONTHS away from the presidential election, and we know two things for certain: 1. All of the Republican candidates are garbage nightmares; and 2. None of them should be allowed anywhere near the Oval Office.Let's see what the Dirtbag Dozen are up to today!Front runner and gold toilet aficionadocontinues to be suuuuuper terrible! And his daughter and surrogate spokesperson Ivanka appears on the cover of(because obviously) to tell us all that he is not a misogynist and is, in fact, "one of the great advocates for women." Sure. "I think my dad is highly gender-neutral. ...He 100 percent believes in equality of gender." Case closed, Your Honor!Joe McCarthy impersonatoris raffling off an engraved shotgun , because of course he is.Thirsty jerkcontinues to say many smart and decent things , like "President Barack Obama 'has deliberately weakened America' by making an effort to 'humble' the nation on the world stage" and "Not only is Hillary Clinton incompetent, shes also a liar." He seems neat!Meanwhile, pugilist, mixing Cruz's gun fetishization with Rubio's condescending commentary about the President, " called President Barack Obama 'a petulant child' for using executive action to curb gun violence." This fucking guy.Something somethingliberty isolationism Jesus.Shyamalanian surprise less smart brotherhas a terrific plan to rescue his candidacy from swirling around the bottom of the bowl. Spoiler Alert! It's very basic politics and it's definitely not going to work!Sweater vest supermodelis taking aim at Cruz by mocking him for having readon the Senate floor during a filibuster in 2013. Good one, Santorum. A compelling argument.Professor of Bible bigotryis also going after Cruz, with ads that essentially say he's not homophobic enough to be president. Cool argument, bro!Reverse surging oddballhas unveiled his flat tax plan . Terrific. "The plan, which Carson announced during an interview on Fox News, would tax individuals and corporations alike at 14.9 percent and would eliminate tax deductions and loopholes." Sounds amazing. A+ venue.Corporate power-failureis being criticized for tweeting that, although she loves her alma mater Stanford, she was "rooting for a Hawkeyes win today." Whooooooops! "It earned her criticism for what many saw as an attempt to pander to voters in Iowa, the influential first-caucus state. But an interview with Dana Bash on CNN on Sunday, Fiorina said her tweet was clearly 'tongue in cheek.' 'Can't a girl ever have a little bit of fun?' Fiorina said." THAT'S ALL THEY REALLY WANT TO HAVE! Fiorina doesn't get that people understand it's a joke; they just think it's a shitty one that reveals something about her opportunistic nature. Add that to the list of things Fiorina doesn't understand about politics and policy, which currently includes"Moderate""is airing his first television advertisement in New Hampshire this week , hoping to break through in the chaotic Republican presidential race with a debut spot that highlights his rough upbringing, personal resilience and governing achievements. The intended takeaway from the 30-second ad, which uses arresting imagery and is heavy on biography: 'John Kasich never gives up.'" Hahahaha even when he definitely should! Give up and go home, John Kasich!is still a real person who is running for president.Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle...has not dropped out![CN: sexual assault; video may autoplay at link] responded to a heckler with: "You are very rude and I'm not going to ever call on you." Haha! The heckler was Republican New Hampshire State Representative Katherine Prudhomme O'Brien, and she later "told reporters she was trying to ask Clinton about Juanita Broaddrick a woman who in 1999 made rape allegations against Bill Clinton." This, after Trump has taken to using Bill Clinton's history of sexual misconduct against Clinton, tweeting : "If Hillary thinks she can unleash her husband, with his terrible record of women abuse, while playing the women's card on me, she's wrong!" Clinton's got to come up with a good response to this line of attack, and I frankly think it should be something like: "Mr. Trump, if you think I've never had words for my husband about his misogyny, then you obviously don't know me very well. But my husband isn't running for president: You are. And I will continue to have words for you aboutmisogyny."Y'all are well familiar by now with my disdain for' campaign manager Jeff Weaver, and buried deep in this piece on Weaver comes this tidbit:So, a female state campaign director asks Weaver to apologize for misogynistic comments about Clinton, and not only does Weaver not apologize, but instead just demonizes Clinton.I really dislike this guy. And I really find it difficult to trust Sanders when he puts so much stock in someone who is such an asshole.Talk about these things! Or don't. Whatever makes you happy. Life is short.
NEW YORK: A U.S. judge has cleared a class-action suit against social networking giant Facebook from investors claiming it failed to fully disclose its risks at the time of its 2012 share offering, a media report said.

Judge Robert Sweet on December 11 certified the class-action suit which claimed Facebook failed to provide adequate information to all its investors, phys.org reported. In the case led by the North Carolina Retirement Systems, Raleigh, and other public pension funds, the plaintiffs claimed Facebook withheld key financial information ahead of the initial public offering in 2012.

The judge said there was evidence presented that some investors failed to get the same information as investment banks and other institutional investors that were close to the underwriters. He said the case could move forward with subclasses of retail and institutional investors

Facebook has denied the accusations and said it would appeal against the decision.

Also Read: Government Focusing On Backyard Poultry To Help BPL Families

10 Things to Know About the New Bankruptcy Code
HYDERABAD: Taking the first step towards redesigning the entire road network in Hyderabad, the Telangana government today laid the foundation stone for multi-level flyovers at three places in the city.



State Information Technology Minister K. Tarakarama Rao laid the foundation stone for the multi-level flyovers under the Strategic Road Development Plan (SRDP) at KBR Park in Banjara Hills and at Mindspace and Rajiv Park in Hitec City.



Union Labour Minister Bandaru Dattatreya, Telangana Deputy Chief Minister Mahmood Ali and other state ministers attended the foundation stone laying ceremony.



Tarakarama Rao, the son of Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao, said multi-level flyovers and skywalks like those in cities across the world would be built in Hyderabad in three years at a cost of over 20,000 crore.



"We will go ahead with the major plan for road improvement with or without anybody's help," he said in an oblique reference to the central government.



He said the SRDP was prepared to meet the growing requirements of the city, which has a population of over one crore.



Under the plan, multi-level flyovers, skywalks and signal-less junctions will be developed at 54 places in the city.



Under the first phase, 50 flyovers will be built at 18 junctions at a cost of 1,096.71 crore



At three places where foundation stone was laid today, 26 flyovers will be developed at 10 junctions at a cost of 886 crore.



Around the sprawling KBR Park, which connects the posh Banjara Hills and Jubliee Hills to the Hitec City, multi-level flyovers will be constructed at six junctions at an estimated cost of 510 crore.



The TRS government laid the foundation stone for the mega project with an eye on the elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), likely to be held this month.



On the occasion, Mr Dattatreya -- who is the Lok Sabha member from Secunderabad -- said Hyderabad would become the No.1 state capital in the country.

Read Also:

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BANGALORE: More of Indians, not just students but people travelling on work, tourist and business visas have been deported from U.S. recently, reports ET.

As per another advisory, travelers from India, not just the students, are asked to carry all the valid data and documents. The deportations have made India strongly emphasize the need to honor the visas issued by U.S. itself.

Indians have been asked by the government to carry the supporting documentation that would clearly state the location of stay, financial support sponsorship and other details.

"Government of India continues to remain closely engaged with the US Government on this subject. We have strongly emphasized the need for the US authorities to honor the visas issued by their own Embassy/Consulates,'' said the advisory.

Earlier, Indian students were denied entry who were travelling to seek admission in Silicon Valley University, San Jose and Northwestern Polytechnic University, Fremont. Even though the students carried their valid visas they were restricted from entering and were deported.

As per MEA, blacklisting of the universities is not the reason behind the deportation. Assessment of individual applicants by the immigration authorities has led to this decision. The border patrol agents did not find the information presented by the student consistent with the visa status and thus they were deported.

According to the universities, visa regulations have been tightened after the Paris terror attacks and these deportations have got nothing to do with the blacklisting.

Gauging the decisions, the government has suggested the Indian students to ensure the proper authorization and capacities of the universities they are applying to.

Students are asked to carry along healthcare arrangements, study plans, financial support, housing and other documents for interviews with the U.S. immigration officials.

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MUMBAI: To reduce pollution and work towards a cleaner environment, the Maharashtra government is expected to waive value added tax, road tax and registration charges for electric vehicles, Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal said.

"I am committing to you publicly that Mahashtra will waive VAT, Road Tax and registration for all electric vehicles in the state," Goyal told reporters after inaugurating the bio-CNG plant at Mahindra World City near here.

Stating that the government would extend its support towards "cost-effective solutions" that would make India cleaner and greener, Goyal said he had taken up the issue of waiving registration charges of electric vehicles with the union government and was hopeful of implementing it.

"I spoke to the Chief Minister (Devendra Fadnavis) about 15 minutes ago. I am hopeful of meeting him tomorrow to carry this programme further. I can assure you that we will make that happen. We want to see faster roll out of electric vehicles not only (Mahindra Group's electric vehicle) Reva but all electric vehicles in the country", he said.

Asked about time frame for launching the scheme in Mahashtra, ruled by the BJP, he said, "if you look up the last 18 months on how fast the Ministry (was working), you will get the answer. I think initially we should launch it in some cities of Maharashtra", he said.

Talking about the Bio-CNG plant situated at Mahindra World City, Singaperumalkoil about 55 km from here, he said, the plant would contribute to greening of India and make the country a better place to live in.

"Our government will support any initiative than can provide cost-effective solutions towards making India cleaner and greener", he said.

To a query, he said the Ministry was working on providing feature in which gasoline stations also have charging points for electric vehicles. "We are working towards building up that infrastructure. It could be a public-private partnership.", he said.

On the rural electrification programme, Goyal said for the first time in the country, December 29 had "zero shortage of power" and everybody who wanted electricity had 100Percent "availability".

"For the first time in the history of India, 100Percent power was met and you had grid connectivity for all at one price which was as low as Rs 2.31. This is for the first time in the history of India", he said. The bio-CNG facility has been set up to create carbon neutral ecosystem at Mahindra World City.

Spread over 1,000 square metres, the facility would have the capacity to convert eight tonnes of food and kitchen waste generated daily at Mahindra World City into 1,000m3 of raw biogas. Further the raw bio gas can be enriched to yield 400 kg per day of purified CNG grade fuel which is equivalent to a 200 kW power plant, an official said.

To a query about the status of the rural electrification programme, Goyal said the goverment would increase the programme from the present coverage of 100 villages to 200 villages per day. "Currently, we are electrifying about 100 villages a day and we are going to ramp it up to 200 villages a day. So our plan is to electrify 18,452 villages..", he said.

He recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day speech last year said country would have total electrification of villages by 1,000 days.

Out of the 5.97 villages in the country, 5.79 lakh received grid power as of May 31, 2015. The Centre plans to provide electrification to remaining 18,452 villages by May 31, 2018. On promotion of LED bulbs by the ministry, Goyal said, "the government has planned to distribute seven crore LED bulbs during the current financial year".

"Govt will distribute 7 crore LED bulbs in current year. Six lakh bulbs were distributed in 2013-14. But it became seven crore in current year. Price of LED bulbs came down by 76Percent. We are distributing four lakh bulbs every day", he said.

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Foundation Stone Laid For Multi-Level Flyovers in Hyderabad

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BENGALURU: Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for integrating Yoga and traditional Indian medicine more closely into the health care system and make wellness a part of life for all in India and rest of the world.



Inaugurating an "International Conference on Frontiers in Yoga Research and its Applications" at Jigani, about 30 km from Bengaluru, he asked health professionals, policy makers, government organizations and industry to bridge the distance between the various forms of medicine systems.



"I hope that you will integrate yoga and traditional Indian medicine more closely into our health care system...," Modi told the gathering at the Vivekananda Yoga Anusandhana Samsthana, a deemed university.



"My vision for health care is an integrated system that understands and builds on the best and most effective of different traditions," the Prime Minister said.

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WTC Observatory

Of 150 U.S. cities included in the Wallethub's 2016's Best & Worst Cities to Find a Job study, the Big Apple only ranked 108.

(AP/Bebeto Matthews)

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Is your new year's resolution to find a good job?

If so, New York City might not be the best place to start looking, according to a new study.

Of 150 U.S. cities included in WalletHub's 2016's Best & Worst Cities to Find a Job study, the Big Apple ranked 108th. In other words, New Yorkers have a below-average chance of finding a job, according to the report.

Plano, Texas, was the easiest city in the country to score a new job, the study found.

In order to identify the strongest local job markets in the country, WalletHub's analysts compared the 150 most populated cities in the country. The data set ranges from job opportunities to employment growth to monthly median starting salary.

"New York ranked 90th for its job market, mostly due to the low number of job opportunities at just .32 (119th in the study) per capita, and the low average monthly median starting salary at $2,208 (111th in the study)," said Jill Gonzalez, WalletHub analyst.

"New York also has a low percentage of persons with disabilities employed at just 29.7 percent (ranked 110th in the study)," she added.

In terms of the socioeconomic environment, New York ranked No. 143, having the 10th worst median annual income at $32,695, she said.

"Residents here spend the most time working and commuting with an average of nine hours per day. The city has the seventh worst housing affordability and a low percentage of employees with private health insurance at 69.5 percent."

Thankfully, there's some good news for borough residents.

The number of jobs and the average weekly wage paid to Staten Island workers have gone up over the past year, according to data recently released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The more things change, the more they stay the same.

In celebration of its new ambulance fleet, Northwell Health tweeted a picture Monday comparing a historical Staten Island ambulance with its newest design.

A Staten Island ambulance in 1917 - nearly 100 years later we're rolling out the new #Northwell Health fleet. pic.twitter.com/0XAaM6IVdy  Northwell Health (@NorthwellHealth) January 4, 2016

The first picture shows a man in a white suit standing in front of an old ambulance. The ambulance is small, dark and boxy. Its spare tire is visible in the photo. The body of the ambulance reads: "The Staten Island Hospital Ambulance, Borough of Richmond, No. 3."

Below the historical picture is a picture of one of the new Northwell Health ambulances, donated by Sondra and David S. Mack. The color of the ambulance is now white and blue, and the back section appears to be larger. An ambulance driver is not pictured.

What do you think of the new design?
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Well, that didn't take long.

The North Shore of Staten Island, which saw an increase in murder and shootings in 2015, has already seen its first shooting of the new year.

A 19-year-old was shot in West Brighton on Sunday night, the third day of 2016. Police said some kind of verbal dispute got out of hand. Maybe somebody was upset that the Jets got bounced out of the playoffs.

The man was shot in the leg on Henderson Avenue, outside of the West Brighton Houses complex. Police are still searching for the gunman.

It's a refrain we heard all too often in 2015. The Advance did an interactive map recently, showing where all of Staten Island's 13 homicides of 2015 took place. Ten of them were within the confines of the 120th Precinct on the North Shore.

One murder involved a member of a so-called "youth group" known as the Young Paper Chasers. The victim in another had a history of drug arrests. A murder of two brothers grew out of a dispute in an after-hours club. Another came on the heels of an attempted robbery. One involved a love triangle. An early morning shooting in Clifton that killed one and wounded another remains unsolved.

Killings took place on Jersey Street in West Brighton. Or Vanderbilt Avenue in Clifton. One murder was actually inside of the West Brighton Houses. Other shootings took place in those and other areas of the North Shore, areas where much of Staten Island's poor and black populations live, where the borough's public and private housing developments are.

Hasn't that always been the way, though? We can have marches for Eric Garner, and hoodie-wearing demonstrations for Trayvon Martin. The Twitterverse lights up every time there's a mass shooting someplace. But where is the outrage for the every-day victims of gun violence?

Take a look at the Advance's interactive map, look at the faces of the victims. They are the faces of gun violence here, as they are in a lot of other major American cities. Let's make that part of the gun debate in this country.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has rung in the new year by promising to use executive action in the battle against gun violence in America.

The president hasn't made all his plans public yet, but the main thrust will be ways that background checks can be expanded with an eye toward closing the so-called gun show loophole.

Well, better late than never for Obama, we guess. But if the issue is so important to the president, why did he wait until literally his last year in office before putting this marker down?

If he couldn't achieve anything on guns during his first seven years in office, including during part of his first term when he had a Democratic Congress as well, how is he going to do it as a lame duck?

In any event, the measures are unlikely to do anything to curb violence wrought by illegal guns. It's not going to do much to stop the gun violence that we continue to see on the North Shore of Staten Island. But it's sure to win the meme war on Facebook.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- There are some things that are best left to the professionals. For instance: Surgery, tattoos -- and your fanciest little black dress or suit.

That's why we asked readers who they trust their clothes with as part of the 2015 Best of Staten Island Shopping & Services poll. Here's your "Best Dry Cleaner" winner:

MARIO'S FRENCH DRY CLEANERS, 191 New Dorp Lane, New Dorp (298 votes)

Perhaps Mario's French Dry Cleaners was voted the best because it's been cleaning customers clothes for 52 years. The first location was opened in Brooklyn in 1963 by Mario Desantis, an immigrant from Italy who learned how to tailor from his father. They moved to their New Dorp location in 1979, and the business has been operated by family ever since.

"What sets us apart is our experience," said Elena Desantis, Mario's daughter and the current owner. "We know our customers, we've had the same customers since my father started this business."

Desantis even says some people travel from Brooklyn to their Staten Island store, because they only trust their clothes with them.

They offer their services for every type of fabric, wedding gowns, table and bed linens and even area rugs. They also offer same day cleaning, if the customer requests it and tailor services for customers clothing.

"We want to thank our customers, they've been coming to us for over 40 years and it's amazing," said Desantis.

AND THE RUNNERS UP ARE:

Dazzle: 203

Kariss Dry Cleaners: 160

Kim's: 122

Charming Cleaners: 113

Danielle's Dry Cleaners: 99

Hollywood Dry Cleaners: 85
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Jury selection for murder suspect Dante Viggiano's trial could begin as early as Monday.

At a conference in November, state Supreme Court Justice William E. Garnett told prosecutors and the defense he intends to start jury selection Monday or immediately thereafter.

Viggiano, 21, may present an insanity defense. His lawyer, Eric Nelson, has declined comment.

Authorities allege Viggiano broke into Peter Gialluisi's Venus Place home in Huguenot around 9:50 p.m. on Aug. 31, 2014. When Gialluisi and his wife, Vincenza, came home and interrupted the break-in, he stabbed them, police allege.

Peter Gialluisi, 66, died of his wounds, while Mrs. Gialluisi, now 67, was badly injured.

Sources with knowledge of the case told the Advance that Viggiano had previously been at the victims' home.

He showed up there at about 4:30 p.m. on July 20 of last year, said sources.



Viggiano rang the doorbell, and when Mrs. Gialluisi answered, he said his name was Mike, and was looking to speak with her husband, sources said. Mrs. Gialluisi didn't know him, though, and when he became incoherent, she brushed him off, said sources.



Viggiano returned again at 9:30 p.m. and rang the doorbell, but fled on foot, sources said. That led Mrs. Gialluisi to file a harassment complaint.



She told police her husband didn't know him, sources said.

Viggiano was also charged in a July 19, 2014 case in which he's accused of stealing a car in Rossville. Cops say he gave a bogus name, address and date of birth when arrested. Viggiano identified himself as Johnathan Rameriz, said a criminal complaint.

A 31-count indictment, which encompasses all the alleged incidents, charges Viggiano with first- and second-degree murder, attempted murder, assault, burglary, criminal weapon possession, grand larceny, stalking, false personation and stolen-property possession.

The defendant has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Assistant District Attorneys Adam Silberlight and Natalie Barros are prosecuting the case.

The deadly episode has spawned a lawsuit.

Vincenza Gialluisi recently sued the city and the Health and Hospitals Corporation in state Supreme Court, St. George.

Her civil complaint alleges Viggiano was treated at an undisclosed city hospital sometime prior to the deadly episode and was released "without proper medical care or follow-up" and without "proper medication," despite a doctor's knowing he was "a danger to the community."

Viggiano is not a named defendant.
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Bob Fife: Knuckledragger

A Modest Proposal (NP)

Settled Science Series

Y2Kyoto Series

SDA: Reader Occupation Survey

Brett Lamb Sheltered Workshop

Flakes On A Plane

All Your Weather Are Belong To Us

Song Of The Sled

The Raise A Flag Debacle

(Now on Youtube!)

(.mwv Video)

Abuse Ruins Life Of Girl

Trudeaupiate

Kleptocrat Jeans

Child Labour

I Concede

Small Dead Feminist

Protein Hoser: THK Interview

The Werewolf Extinction

Dear Laura (VRWC)

We Wait

Blogging The Oscars

Jackson Converts To Islam

Just Shut The HELL Up

Manipulating Condi

Gay Equality Rights


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Deepening concerns over the weakness of the Chinese economy saw sharemarket trading there suspended on Monday after steep falls wiped hundreds of billions of dollars in value off China's bourses, the sell-off spilling over to other countries in the region, prompting a heavy sell-off in the Australian dollar.

Shares were dumped in China and Japan, and trading was suspended on China's CSI300 index after it lost 7 per cent in value - equivalent to roughly $400 billion.

Trading was suspended on China's CSI300 index after it lost 7 per cent in value. Credit:Reuters

The losses flowed through to Australia's benchmark S&P/200 index, which shed 0.48 per cent, or 25.42 points, to close on 5270.48 points.

The Australian dollar was also dumped, fetching just US72.28 in late afternoon dealings, compared with US73.04 at the same time on New Year's Eve.
Babies, retirees and unicorns: initial public offerings on the Australian sharemarket this year are set to be dominated by companies trying to tap into the themes that made market darlings in 2015.

The successful floats in the past few years  an extreme example of which is baby formula maker Bellamy's Organic, whose share price is up almost 1000 per cent on its June 2014 listing date  signal a shift in the Australian economy, according to Richard Sleijpen, executive director at UBS Equity Capital Markets Syndication.

"Many IPOs have tapped into some of those very specific trends and the ability for smaller companies to achieve growth in what has been a pretty lacklustre economic environment," he said.

The success stories have and will come from the China-led consumer appetite for Australian health food, the rise of the entrepreneurial tech companies and the aged and healthcare sectors.

Most of these success stories are in the small cap world, Sleijpen said, and it's drawing investor attention away from the big caps. "We see in our transactions an increased amount of essentially big cap money playing in small cap deals to gain an exposure to those dynamics."

The number of deals coming to market in 2016 should be in line with last year, Sleijpen said. In 2015, 66 companies floated, according to Dealogic data.

Here's more ($)
I confess that my own map-reading technique goes along the lines of  "Uluru? Oh yes . Head for David Jones then turn right." But it's better than the male refusal to ever admit that they're lost. Even after you've spent what seems like an entire week on one seven-lane, sub-orbital ring road and everyone in the car has started to resemble a passenger on the raft of the Medusa, men would rather die than ask directions.

You see, the trouble with family car trips is that every man thinks "rally driver" is his true vocation. He's so convinced that he's an excellent driver that when he gets a note under his windscreen saying "parking fine", he just presumes it's a complimentary comment on his driving skills. The average male also thinks he has an inbuilt compass which makes him a superior map reader. This blind belief in his navigational abilities makes holiday road trips extremely hazardous; show me a woman who criticises her husband's driving or route-planning prowess and I'll show you a woman in a singles bar.

Especially if a hoon in a hotted-up vehicle which is as macho as an automobile can get without actually growing a penis as a hood ornament pulls alongside. Women understand that men only drive such ridiculous cars because it's illegal to masturbate in public. But just when you're about to share this insight with your mild-mannered husband he suddenly narrows his eyes and, as the lights change, lets rip with a rev so loud it blows out residential windows and causes shingles to fly off roofs. It's clearly time he bought a Meno-porsche.

In every car snaking its way along the coast for the annual family holiday today, there'll be a woman sucking in her breath, clenching the dashboard and making a gasping, panic-stricken noise. When her husband asks what's the matter, she'll just grab her chest and whimper, "Oh nothing."

New research reveals that men are so appalled by the idea of requesting navigational guidance that they walk the equivalent of 900 unnecessary miles in a life time. Apparently, the average bloke is so stubborn he would rather stride on, lost and clueless, than admit defeat. Wrong turns mean that the typical male will travel 1.5 unnecessary miles a month. Which is 18 miles a year. Only 6 per cent of men will ask for directions or check a map, which perhaps also explains their inability to find the G-spot. (Just ask us boys, and we can direct you straight there!)

Anyway, the results of the poll carried out with nearly 1000 adults by TrekAce, a forearm-mounted directional aid for walkers, reveals that 94 per cent of respondents said women generally had better directional skills, even if men were reluctant to admit it. (Ladies, feel free to momentarily exceed the daily recommended allowance of Smug Gloating.) Results also revealed that over a third of couples fight about navigational issues.

Family road trips are definitely the time when a woman finds herself wondering why she married a man who regards asking for directions as a genetic weakness. Although on our annual road trip down the coast, I've learned to be quite restrained  it's been at least five years since I stuffed a road map up my husband's nose.

And, except for nights out, when husbands suddenly just expect their wives to eschew the champers and drive home, most men are unwilling to let women behind the wheel. This is because a bloke's greatest love affair is with his car. He's committed to it, in sickness and in health  till repayments do they part.

My own darling Dad mainly communicated with his four cherished daughters through our vehicles. Not one for great emotional displays, he demonstrated his love through car maintenance. He patiently taught us to drive, then fixed up our various rust buckets. When I was in my early 20s, Dad and I had a silly disagreement. I only knew all was forgiven when I dropped by for Sunday lunch and, while I was chatting to Mum, he rotated my tyres. During my next visit, he cleaned my carburettor and fixed my head gasket. (Whatever the hell that is. You might as well ask me to dismantle a nuclear reactor.) Soon after, he rang to ask how many miles I was getting to the gallon  It was the equivalent of a Shakespearean love sonnet.
Hoang Co Minh was a former navy officer. While it is unlikely the violence was as pronounced outside the US, there were deep tensions among Australian Vietnamese in the 1980s. It is possible people within the Front lashed out at those who slighted them without the expressed consent of the movement, according to law enforcement sources and community members. The FBI documents provided to Fairfax Media by ProPublica include an excerpt from the Chuong Saigon newspaper, which was sympathetic to the anti-communist movement. The excerpt claims the Canberra meeting was ambushed as it was "comprising a number of pro-communist henchmen".

The meeting was called to revive a group known as the Union of Vietnamese, the article claimed, which had been "paralysed and dislocated by the growth and strength of the Vietnamese refugee community throughout Australia". "A group of our refugee compatriots in Canberra immediately arrived and smashed the ... plot," it said. "The ... company fled in panic and disorder. One of them was captured and had to plead and beg for his life! "This ambush enabled the refugee compatriots in Canberra to identify a number of those who 'eat nationalist rice but worship the communist ghost'." Another article contained in the FBI documents states that the excerpt may be a "colourful" account of the ambush, and that the actual disruption could have been less violent.

Vietnamese community members across Australia recall intimidation and stand-over tactics being deployed by the Front in order to raise funds and support among refugees after the fall of Saigon in 1975. This tension was particularly pronounced in large Vietnamese communities in Melbourne, Sydney and Adelaide. Vietnamese Community in Australia president Phong Nguyen said most refugees were sceptical of the Front's claims that they had thousands of soldiers ready for deployment. Other refugees, while anti-communist, wanted to start afresh and leave their previous lives behind. Mr Phong remembered a fiery confrontation with a Front leader who was trying to convince refugees around Footscray about the merits of their movement. "I said, 'Why should we replace the communist pile of shit with another pile of shit?'

"Unless you behave properly and with honour, why should you replace them?" But Mr Phong said that while there were rumours of bashings, and some refugees felt intimidated, he did not know of any confirmed incident of violence involving the Front. Similar sentiments were raised by community leaders in Sydney, which was awash with gang-related Vietnamese violence in the 1980s, but appears to have escaped political clashes. It was harder to confirm the situation in South Australia, which a source said was a stronghold of the Front. The source said Adelaide also remained a stronghold of the Viet Tan, the modern incarnation of the Front, which has denounced violence and describes itself as pro-democracy, rather than anti-communist.

There was one violent incident involving an Adelaide businessman that bore some similarities to attacks by the Front in the US. Vo Van Ngo was in Melbourne looking for a site for a factory for his dressmaking and sewing business when he went missing in December 1985. He was last seen boarding a tram in Richmond. His body was found in a car on the Hume Highway about 10 kilometres north of Wangaratta. He had been stabbed and bashed. At the time, police said the killing did not appear gang related. A Victoria Police spokeswoman was unable to confirm whether the Front had been investigated as part of the investigation into Mr Vo's murder, and Fairfax Media was unable to contact his family.

There are several similarities between Mr Vo and victims of the Front in the US: he was middle-aged and prosperous, and therefore likely to have wielded influence in the burgeoning refugee community. Emeritus professor Carl Thayer, of the University of New South Wales, has written extensively about anti-communist Vietnamese groups. He was living in Canberra about the time of the picnic attack, but did not know of the incident. He said there were two other violent acts involving the Vietnamese population in Canberra in the 1980s that could also be linked to the Front: shots fired at the Vietnamese embassy in O'Malley, and the bashing of Vietnamese students who were staying at the Canberra College of Advanced Education. "You can't say there weren't elements in the Front that were responsible for violence."

Hoang, the Front leader, was killed while trying to cross into Vietnam from Laos with other guerillas in 1987. While that was effectively the end of the push to take back the country, the Viet Tan continued to lobby for a democratic Vietnam, and retain a strong presence in Australia. Phong Do Thanh Nguyen, a Viet Tan spokesman, denounced the US reporting of the Front as inaccurate, but welcomed any investigation into the Front, either in Australia or the US, that would give the group a chance to clear its name. He was confident refugees in Australia had not been assaulted or intimidated during the 1980s. "There are a lot of accusations but no clear evidence about anything," Dr Phong said.
Voice recognition experts working for the security services were last night urgently scrutinising the IS video amid the suggestion that the Islamist's voice matched that of Dhar. The militant being called the new 'Jihadi John' in a video from Islamic State. An IS militant has reportedly executed his mother after she tried to convince him to leave the Islamist group in Raqqa, Syria. Credit:AP Meanwhile in other developments: * A child who also featured in the video was positively identified as the son of jihadi bride, Grace Dare, from Lewisham, south-east London. * David Cameron, denounced the video as "despicable" but said people should watch it to remind themselves of IS's "ghastly" tactics.

If Dhar's identity in the terrorist outrage is confirmed it will lead to uncomfortable questions for the security services, who allowed him to leave the country just hours after the police granted him bail. Speaking at the family home, his mother, Sobita Dhar said she could not rule out that the man in the video was her son. She said: "I heard the voice, yes, but I don't know, I'm not sure of the voice. These are the most difficult questions to answer. I just cannot say. "I'm not sure within myself whether it is the truth or not." His sister, Konika Dhar, from north London said she did not want to believe her brother could be responsible for the outrage, but conceded the voice on the video "did sound like him". She said: "I can't believe it. This is just so shocking for me. I don't know what the authorities are doing to confirm the identity, but I need to know if it is." She said he had converted more than 10 years ago, and her memories of her brother are from when they were children and teenagers.

She said: "He was a very pleasant boy, and I know it may be hard to believe but he still is, and I still believe that he still can be that person." Dhar, who was brought up a Hindu, ran a firm hiring out bouncy castles, before marrying his Muslim wife Aisha and becoming radicalised. Former neighbours in Walthamstow, east London, claimed Dhar's wife was more devout than him and suggested she may have put him on the path to extremism. In the months leading up to his arrest Dhar was accused of burning poppies and calling for the imposition of sharia law in Britain. He was a key member of al-Muhajiroun and offshoot groups such as the Shariah Project, masterminding "roadshows" in London that aimed to recruit troubled youngsters to Islam. In one interview around that time he said: "We believe that whenever the sharia is established, the pure Islamic state maybe in Iraq or Syria, one day the leader will wage jihad and annex Britain into the Islamic state.
The library had closed in May 2015, with the librarian finishing in September, and decisions still being made on where to house the collection of documents, he said.

Australian Academy of Science president Andrew Holmes, of Melbourne University, confirmed the closure of the Basser Library and Fenner Archives, in the well-known Shine Dome.

A decision to close an Academy of Science library of scientific manuscripts and personal papers has upset scientists and left the future of the collection in limbo.

Faced with a limited budget, the academy had "developed a very rational process for ranking priorities". Maintaining the library and archives was a lower priority than other projects, including a drive to get more women into senior positions in science, he said.

The Basser library was opened in 1962 for collections related to the history of Australian science. It holds scientific books but also manuscripts, journals, lab notes, photographs, diaries and correspondence from individual scientists who have used it as a repository for their own papers, often on retirement, and archives from learned societies. Papers of the Australian Institute of Physics and the Geological Society of Australia are among the largest collections.

Professor Holmes said a taskforce was now considering the future of the documents, with the hope that the National Library or the National Archives would agree to take some of the collection. Learned societies had been offered their records back.

"The range of answers vary from "we didn't know they were there", to "these are important we'd like to have them back", to "these are important but we'd like you to make sure they are properly maintained and archived for the future"," he said.

"The worry for those who have expressed concern is that we might be abandoning a body of knowledge and that, I want to assure everybody, is not the case. Our taskforce is charged with making sure that they do this in a way that doesn't involve any compromises."
With a royal pair of monikers topping Canberra's most popular baby names, you could be forgiven for thinking Canberra is a city of monarchists.

William and Charlotte were ruled the most popular baby names in the ACT in 2015, according to a list released by Access Canberra on Monday.

William Klefisch, 4 months, of Higgins, with mother Katherine Klefisch. The decision to name him William was personal. Credit:Graham Tidy

Of the 5586 babies registered in the ACT in 2015, 58 were named William and 42 named Charlotte.

This year's suite of traditional names could reflect our renewed affection for the royal family thanks to the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, an Access Canberra spokesman said.
More than 150 people travelling on a musical cruise featuring Australian and international stars and Opera Australia performers were struck down by gastro in October.

It's the third cruise ship leaving from Sydney in the past two months that has had multiple reported cases of gastro affect passengers, and the second by the same operator Royal Caribbean.

There was a gastro outbreak on the Radiance of the Seas ship that left Sydney Harbour in October. Credit:Michel Verdure

Touted as a "floating stage", the Radiance of the Seas left Sydney Harbour on October 24, for an eight-day voyage on which opera, classical and musical theatre performances were scheduled to take place.

Australian performers Anthony Warlow, Jonathan Welch and Mark Vincent, and Broadway star Liz Callaway were all booked to perform.
With crude prices at 11-year lows, the world's biggest oil and gas producers are facing their longest period of investment cuts in decades, but are expected to borrow more to preserve the dividends demanded by investors.

At around $37 a barrel, crude prices are well below the $60 firms such as Total, Statoil and BP need to balance their books, a level that has already been sharply reduced over the past 18 months.

2016 will be the first time time since 1986 that investment has declined for two year in a row. Credit:Jessica Shapiro

International oil companies are once again being forced to cut spending, sell assets, shed jobs and delay projects as the oil slump shows no sign of recovery.

U.S. producers Chevron and ConocoPhillips have published plans to slash their 2016 budgets by a quarter. Royal Dutch Shell has also announced a further $5 billion in spending cuts if its planned takeover of BG Group goes ahead.
When a Sydney vascular surgeon, Gabrielle McMullin, warned last March that parts of the medical profession were tainted by a toxic culture of bullying and harassment, the reaction was not, as might be expected, universal condemnation. Some surgeons criticised Dr McMullin, and the then president of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons described her comments as "appalling"  no surprise there.

To its credit, however, the college later apologised and published an action plan pledging to "reshape the culture of surgery on foundations of collaboration and respect". Other "stakeholders" initiated their surveys to determine the extent of the problem, with the promise that appropriate remedial measures would be undertaken.

One such group, the Australian Medical Association (ACT) recently released the findings of a survey of interns, registrars and registered medical officers working in and around Canberra. Conducted over two weeks in November, it found that half of the junior doctors reported being bullied over the previous 12 months, with about 4 per cent saying they had been sexually harassed in that time. Sixty-three per cent of respondents said they felt unable to raise concerns about this or other bullying forms of bulling, such as being pressured into working unpaid overtime.

The AMA report's findings largely mirror those of a KPMG report into training programs at Canberra Hospital which the ACT government commissioned after the RACS withdrew the hospital's training accreditation for urology services in June. It recommended, among other things, that the hospital compose new statements of culture, hone its communication campaigns, and revise recruitment processes. The AMA has been less prescriptive, however, with ACT president Elizabeth Gallagher suggesting that doctors, medical colleges and the government need to work together to effect lasting change. "This is a big problem that's been going on for many years, and we can't just change a culture overnight. I think we need to [take] baby steps and gradually chip away at the situation".
This is happening right now in the country in which you live. It's staring or leering, it's unnecessary familiarity. It's a peck on the cheek or neck, or an uncomfortable hand on the back. And that's the stuff that's 'legal'. It can also be, as the AHRC says, "behaviour that may also be considered to be an offence under criminal law, such as physical assault, indecent exposure, sexual assault, stalking or obscene communications".

Human resources departments should work in the same way as vaccinations  preventative medicine. They are failing to do that right now and instead have to work as emergency departments, cleaning up a mess for which they are partly responsible. HR departments are meant to be setting the tone, improving the culture. They are not.

The fact that Briggs resigned shows that Malcolm Turnbull  at least  understood that this would turn out to be a terrible problem for a government which struggled to have any kind of relationship with women voters. The Abbott months were catastrophic for women voters, as polls showed; and the Briggs incident would only serve to prove that nothing, nothing, had changed.

Of course, this is not just about sexual harassment. It's about the way men treat women in the workplace in general  and sexual harassment is just one way in which women are kept in their place. We are subject to policing by men every single day  from when and how it is appropriate to speak to when and how it is appropriate to climb the ladder. And the way in which we are policed and monitored is a series of subtle and not-so-subtle indicators from the men with which we work.

I absolutely applaud the young diplomatic staffer for speaking out because too many of us are frightened to say anything. She has shown enormous courage and bravery to be able to say that she felt uncomfortable. Complaining about the behaviour of a senior person in your workplace can be terrifying and it's so encouraging that she had the confidence and presence of mind to be able to articulate how Briggs's behaviour made her feel.
Participants at this year's New Year's Day Field Day festival recall being offered capsule drugs in orange Tic Tac packs and viewing youths sitting in a circle and rubbing powder into their gums.

The inordinate prevalence, too, of nasal inhalers suggested various drugs had made it past police sniffer dogs stationed at the entrances into The Domain.

Almost 200 people were charged with drug offences at this year's Field Day music festival in The Domain in Sydney. Credit:Nicole Elphick

Paramedics are reported to have treated more than 200 people, with almost as many charged for drug offences. A 23-year-old woman was taken to St Vincent's Hospital in a critical condition but mercifully recovered rapidly and was discharged a day later.

Expressing the fears shared by many parents, Premier Mike Baird and Police Minister Troy Grant have called for a clampdown by organisers about drug use at such events, saying "enough is enough".
More than a year ago, I talked to movie director Adam McKay, who was receiving an award from the Brady Centre to Prevent Gun Violence. I asked him how he might take on a figure like Wayne LaPierre, the executive vice-president of the National Rifle Association, who represents some of the same cultural phenomena run amok that McKay has skewered in films such as Talladega Nights. McKay told me it might be impossible  that LaPierre represented a darkness that not even he could exaggerate.

But at the time, McKay was working on a different sort of straightforward movie about a piece of US history so absurd that it defied parody. And now that we have the results of McKay's adaptation of The Big Short, Michael Lewis' chronicle of the housing bubble and the resulting Great Recession, it's fascinating to see how McKay's career has been leading to this sort of outraged, but not quite predictable, storytelling all along.

I've found myself coming back again and again to McKay's comedies not just because they're very funny but also because of their sly political intelligence. His muse is Will Ferrell, who under McKay's direction has played a San Diego newsreader outraged at having to share his desk with a talented woman in Anchorman; a NASCAR driver corrupted by fame and money in Talladega Nights; a petulant man-child in Step Brothers; and a cop with a dark side (and an extremely frisky relationship with his wife) investigating financial wrongdoing in The Other Guys.

Liberal political rhetoric often scorns the sort of embattled white men McKay and Ferrell explore with such love and humour. It's this kind of contempt that leads liberals to mock conservatives for voting against what liberals perceive to be their self-interest, or to vilify them for trying to hold on to privileges that are rapidly losing their value. This kind of self-satisfaction is precisely what McKay rejects. Movies such as Anchorman and Talladega Nights persuade everyone to empathise with Ron Burgundy and Ricky Bobby, and to get outraged at the distorting, winner-takes-all systems that surround them instead.
There are some real clowns at Arts Centre Melbourne this month. No slur intended, and no surprise to anyone who's set foot inside the building recently.

On top of the much lauded West End production of The 3 Little Pigs occupying the Playhouse, the Fairfax Studio is about to host two works of physical performance that are both family friendly and worth serious consideration.

Frank Woodley's Noodlenut. Credit:Ken Merrigan

Thomas Monckton's The Pianist scored a "best circus" gong at the 2014 Edinburgh Fringe. The New Zealand-born physical artist is a graduate of Jaques Lecoq's L'Ecole Internationale de Theatre in Paris.

The show centres on a piano recital that devolves into chaos and catastrophe.
Footscray Community Arts Centre's Wominjeka Festival enters its sixth year of celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and while this time the size of the music and visual arts sections are greater than the performance counterpart, the quality of the theatrical offerings means they punch above their weight.

Ian Michael's solo show, HART, employs testimonials and a rich visual vocabulary to bear witness to the stories of the Stolen Generation. It won three awards at last year's Melbourne Fringe (Best Emerging Indigenous Artist and two touring awards to South Australia and New Zealand).

Ian Michael's HART has won three Melbourne Fringe awards, including Best Emerging Indigenous Artist.

Choreographer and artist Carly Sheppard is one of the busiest dance makers around, too. Sheppard was awarded a spot in last year's Accelerate program in Britain. She returns with Moving House, in which Sheppard becomes a dancing puppeteer wired up to an installation of moving parts.

The festival runs from January 15 to 17.
It's hardly news these days when a drama or comedy series features a gay character, but there was a time - ridiculously recently, too - when that wasn't the case, or when a gay character was storyline-of-the-week rather than merely a character. Then there were the often token gay characters who were as hammy as a pantomime dame (hello Are You Being Served?)

But times have changed, particularly on prime-time telly. Starting in the 1980s, here are some of (arguably) television's best gay characters.

Orange is the new Black - Alex and Piper Credit:supplies

Leon and Nancy in Roseanne

Back when True Blood would have been considered porn, Roseanne, one of the greatest sitcoms of the 1980s, had not one but two main characters who were gay. Unheard of!
Despite heavy rainfall expected to continue across south-eastern NSW over the next 24 hours, Moruya has been issued with a final flood warning, and Bega remains on a minor flood warning.

Shortly before 8pm, NSW SES region controller at Illawarra south coast, Greg Murphy, said the Moruya river at Wamban had peaked at 3.7 metres  0.7 metres below what was expected.

"The river is expected to fall from this point, but the warning stays in effect, probably for another 24 hours," he said.

"The only other flood warning remaining in place is for Bega, at a minor flood warning."

There is also a flood watch for coastal rivers in NSW, although Mr Murphy is not aware of any highway closures.
A leading emergency doctor has slammed the NSW government's ultimatum to festival organisers that they will be shut down if drug overdoses continue, saying it will push festivals underground and lead to more deaths.

Dr David Caldicott, an emergency specialist at Canberra's Calvary Hospital, said the proposal advocated by NSW Deputy Premier Troy Grant and backed by Premier Mike Baird was based in the regressive ideology of drug prohibition, which he likened to the "ideological equivalent to climate change denialism".

The Baird cabinet apparently won't even be given the opportunity to debate a trial of drug checking. Credit:Viki Yemettas

"What will happen is that these festivals will go ahead, they just won't go ahead in any sort of supervised environment," he said.

"You'll get what happened in the United States in the 1980s which was a wide variety of unsupervised raves and a vast number of people getting hurt and killed."
Federal public servants cannot be given hard and fast rules about the dangers of commenting publicly on policy because the law surrounding it is still unfolding, the Australian Public Service Commission says.

Bureaucrats now have to consider two court cases - which each had very different results - when working out whether they should voice their opinions.

Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd. Credit:Jay Cronan

One of the cases ended with an army reserve officer's termination being overturned while the other saw a public servant sacked for commenting on social media.
A decision on legal challenges that could affect how much NSW customers pay for electricity and the price the NSW government gets for its remaining power assets has been delayed for three months.

But Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian denies the delay will blow out timing of the part-privatisation of distributor Ausgrid, which follows last year's long-term lease of transmission firm Transgrid for $10.26 billion.

NSW Premier Mike Baird and Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian announcing the result of the Transgrid privatisation in November Credit:Peter Rae

The Australian Competition Tribunal has extended the deadline by which it must make a decision on the challenges, brought separately by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and Networks NSW, to March 15.

The decisions were initially due on December 15 last year.
A man has died after a brawl at a home in Claymore in Sydney's south west on Monday night.

Police found the 33-year-old man unconscious at a Leigh Crescent home, which they went to after receiving reports a number of people were fighting.

Police have arrested three people following a brawl that turned fatal. Credit:Erin Jonasson

The man was taken to Campbelltown Hospital where he was pronounced dead. Investigations into the cause of his death are continuing.

Two women, aged 32 and 33, were arrested and taken to Macquarie Fields Police Station where they have been assisting with the investigation.
A man has been arrested at Sydney Airport years after he allegedly infected another man with HIV.

In 2012, police began investigating an allegation that a 33-year-old man became infected with HIV after a relationship with another man.

It was alleged the other man did not tell his partner of his HIV positive status.

HIV is transmitted via bodily fluids and attacks the immune system.

Under NSW law, HIV positive people must tell anyone with whom they intend to have sex about their status, even if a condom is used, according the state's Health Department website.
Wearing a black T-shirt, and with a bandage on his left arm. a Sydney man has appeared in court accused of infecting another man with HIV.

Martin Peter Jaksic, 28, appeared via audio-visual link in Central Local Court on Monday afternoon, after being detained by Australian Federal Police at Sydney Airport on Sunday night.

He was due to catch a domestic flight out of Sydney.

Surry Hills police later charged him with recklessly inflicting grievous bodily harm.

In 2012, police began investigating an allegation that a 33-year-old man contracted HIV from Mr Jaksic.
Drug law reform advocate Dr Alex Wodak says deputy premier Troy Grant's claim that recreational drugs can contain substances such as rat poison is all the more reason to offer pill testing at festivals.

Mr Grant - who is also police minister - has ruled out any consideration by the Baird government of introducing pill testing in the wake of the latest suspected drug overdose at a large music event.

A 23-year-old woman was admitted to St Vincent's Hospital in a critical condition on Friday night after collapsing at the Field Day festival at the Domain. She was discharged the following day.

Premier Mike Baird and Mr Grant have threatened to "crack down" on dance festivals.
Umbrellas will get another workout in south-east Queensland on Tuesday, with up to 35mm of rain predicted to fall and temperatures expected to be in the mid 20s.

The Bureau of Meteorology says there is a 90 per cent chance of showers in Brisbane, with late morning and afternoon the most likely time.

The weather is expected to dry up somewhat over Wednesday and Thursday, although some showers are still possible on those days. Maximum temperatures should return to the low 30s on these days.

The Gold Coast is expected to also receive up to 35mm of rain on Tuesday, while parts of the Sunshine Coast could receive up to 45mm.
An application to appeal Queensland wife-killer Gerard Baden-Clay's downgraded conviction has been lodged in the nation's highest court.

The Queensland Court of Appeal last month downgraded Baden-Clay's murder conviction to manslaughter for killing his wife Allison in 2012.

Gerard Baden-Clay was convicted of his wife's murder, a charge that was downgraded to manslaughter on appeal. Credit:Network Ten

State Attorney-General Yvette D'Ath on Monday said the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) Michael Byrne QC formally applied for special leave to appeal Baden-Clay's acquittal in the High Court.

"It is important that this matter now is able to progress unhindered," she said.
Fiona O'Hehir the founder and chief executive of environmental trader Greenbank Environmental is funding the replacement of non-genuine solar panels on 182 homes and businesses.

Australian Energy Group (AEG) installed the panels but O'Hehir is stepping up to replace them at a cost of almost $1 million in order to maintain trust in the solar industry.

Fiona O'Hehir, chief executive and founder of Greenbank Environmental, is paying $1 million to rectify the shoddy work of a solar panel supplier.

O'Hehir's business Greenbank Environmental is the largest and oldest trader of environmental certificates in Australia and employs 18 staff with a turnover of $100 million last year.

O'Hehir says two years ago Greenbank Environmental created certificates for AEG "quite legitimately" but six months ago, after one of the panels failed, a manufacturer investigated and found the solar panels were dodgy imports.
Visitors are driving for hours to see a giant mural on disused wheat silos overlooking the tiny, drought-stricken Wimmera community of Brim.

On Monday, cars pulled off the Henty Highway, 75 kilometres north of Horsham, to watch artist Guido van Helten put the finishing touches on his 30-metre high portrait of four farmers.

Van Helten, from Brisbane, has slaved in a super cherrypicker for three weeks, including Christmas Day and New Year's Day, to create the work using spray paint and acrylic house paint.

He has worked for up to 10 hours a day in frequent 40-degree heat and strong winds to produce the mural.
Pathankot, India: Renewed ties between India and Pakistan appear to be in jeopardy, as Indian security forces battle for the third day to clear out militants who attacked an air base, killing seven soldiers.

The foreign secretaries of the nuclear-armed neighbours are due to meet for talks on January 15, building on a thaw in relations after a surprise visit by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif last month.

Soldiers patrol the Pathankot air base on Monday. Credit:Channi Anand

But an Indian government official said India was now considering whether to go ahead with the talks or not, and that a final decision would be taken once the operations to secure the Pathankot Air Force base in Punjab state were over.
Canterbury: Britain has granted asylum to a Sudanese man who made global headlines in August when he walked 50 kilometres through the Channel Tunnel from France to England, highlighting the desperation of many migrants seeking a better life in Europe.

Abdul Haroun, who was arrested at the English end of the tunnel on August 4 and charged with obstructing a railway under an obscure 19th century law, has been held in prison since then and was due to face trial this month.

In a brief hearing on Monday at Canterbury Crown Court where Mr Haroun appeared by video link from prison and spoke only to confirm his name, prosecutor Philip Bennetts said Mr Haroun had been granted asylum on December 24.
Open call for potential team members

PHILIPSBURG:--- The St. Maarten Hospitality and Trade Association, the largest private sector representative, announces the proposed re-entry of St. Maarten in the Taste of the Caribbean Competition 2016. After being absent from the competition for several years, St. Maarten is considering re- entering this prestigious culinary competition. The eventual team that would be representing St. Maarten will consist of chefs and bartenders from both sides of the island participating as a unified team. Through this initiative SHTA endeavors to showcase the multitude of Culinary and Bartending talent on St. Maarten.

To build the team SHTA announces an open call for Chef's and Bartenders that would like to participate in the June 2016 CHTA competition in Miami, representing St. Maarten/St. Martin team. The open call starts today January 4th, 2016 and will close on January 15th, 2016. Chefs and Bartenders who have registered will compete for a spot on the culinary team during a local competition.

Since 1993, Taste of the Caribbean has been the one Caribbean Culinary competition not to be missed! This is an annual opportunity to network, polish professional skills and cheer on colleagues in competition, before a large audience of industry peers and food & beverage veterans. Taste of the Caribbean provides education and inspiration through tastings and demonstrations, created to enhance performance, style and profitability in food and beverage operations. A forum for gathering practical information, sampling, purchasing, strengthening established supplier relationships and meeting new vendors, all on hand to help Taste of the Caribbean registrants build food and beverage business  and yield benefits on the bottom line. Teams from all over the Caribbean will be vying for the titles of

Culinary Team of the Year, Caribbean Chef of the Year, Caribbean Junior Chef of the Year, Caribbean Pastry Chef of the year, Caribbean Bartender of the year, and Apprentice of the year.

SHTA is calling on the St. Maarten Tourist Bureau and the business community to support this effort by way of sponsorship for the team. This is an excellent opportunity to showcase a quality St. Maarten team with a private / public partnership through both Government and businesses participating as sponsors. Several prominent businesses have already indicated their interest in being part of this great opportunity. We hope that the public entities and the private sector join in the effort to put this team together and ensure their participation in the competition by way of their sponsorship. St. Maarten has always performed well at these competitions and we have all expectation of continuing to do so; but it can only be done by providing the team members with the correct resources and tools to execute their skills at the highest caliber said SHTA.

Interested Bartenders and Chefs can submit an email indicating their interest to the SHTA office at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with the subject line Taste of Caribbean Open Call.

The SHTA is dedicated to bringing quality to all aspects of life on St. Maarten by promoting sustainable economic development for its members in cooperation with the social partners and the creation of a fair marketplace. For more information please contact our offices at 542-0108 or visit our website at www.shta.com
ZyXEL Will Exhibit Gigabit-Generation Wi-Fi Gateways and Home Connectivity Devices for Service Providers at CES 2016

LAS VEGAS, NV  (Marketwired)  01/04/16  , a leading provider of secure , and products, will exhibit a range of innovations covering broadband access and home networking at CES 2016, January 6-9. The new solutions are engineered for service providers with the latest Wi-Fi standard and sophisticated features for carrier-class performance to meet growing consumer demand for mobility and full-home Wi-Fi coverage.

Consumers predominantly favor Wi-Fi as the home networking technology of choice and demand superior performance everywhere, and on every device, said Brian Feng, senior vice president for ZyXEL. ZyXEL offers service providers a family of device options that are integrated with intelligent software capabilities to exceed their subscribers wireless needs.

ZyXEL will hold a series of live demonstrations in private meetings which will include wireless delivery of Hybrid TV service and intelligent complete home network monitoring (One Connect) and remote management capabilities for service providers.

One Connect service, available on ZyXEL broadband gateways, is an intelligent network monitoring and management solution. It is accompanied with an intuitive mobile application that gives users a graphical view of all the devices connected to the home network.

The app also features parental control, guest Wi-Fi set-up and network performance checks. Using industry standard TR-069 the same full-home network visibility can be relayed to the service provider for remote monitoring and management. This will help service providers obtain useful information on device behavior and Wi-Fi diagnostics to anticipate and resolve subscribers issues quickly, thus enhancing user experience and loyalty.

The live demo will also include G.fast broadband gateway. ZyXELs G.fast solution will enable service providers to extend their copper investment in combination with FTTN deployments for gigabit broadband offering. A Community Wi-Fi service provisioning through ZyXEL gateways will also be demonstrated.

The demonstrations will be held in ZyXELs private suite at the Renaissance Las Vegas Hotel for customers and media by appointment. For more information on ZyXEL solutions or to schedule an appointment at CES please email ZyXEL at .

ZyXEL, a pioneer in IP technology for over two decades and trusted brand for over 25 years, provides a complete portfolio of multi-service LTE, fiber and DSL broadband gateways, home connectivity solutions, smart home devices and enterprise-class Ethernet switches, security and Wi-Fi equipment for small to mid-size businesses. ZyXEL offers integrated, interoperable network solutions based on open standards. Headquartered in Anaheim, California, ZyXEL offers its partners service-rich solutions backed by a domestic team of logistic, sales, and technical support professionals.

Don Nguyen

ZyXEL Communications Inc.

714-632-0882 ext. 184
Certive Solutions Inc. Announces the Exercise of Warrants and the Granting of Stock Options

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA and SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA  (Marketwired)  01/04/16  Certive Solutions Inc. (the Company) (CSE: CBP)(OTCQB: CTVEF) is pleased to report that various warrant holders have exercised an aggregate of 6,976,922 common share purchase warrants at an exercise price of US$0.11 per share for gross proceeds to the Company of US$767,461. After the exercise of warrants the Company has 61,496,604 issued and outstanding common shares.

Certive Solutions Inc. (the Company) also announces that subject to formal board approval it intends to grant an aggregate of 7,367,417 stock options to directors, advisory council members, officers, employees, and consultants of the Company, such options exercisable into 7,367,417 common shares of the Company at a price of CDN$0.25 per share for a five-year term expiring December 31, 2020. The stock options are granted under the Companys incentive stock option plan, which was adopted by the shareholders on August 7, 2015, and which provides for the reservation for issuance of up to 20% of the issued and outstanding common shares of the Company.

For additional information please refer to the Companys profile on The Canadian Securities website () under its trading symbol CBP.

Van Potter, CEO of the Company, and Brian Cameron, CFO of the Company, are pleased to welcome all of the Companys directors, officers, advisory council members, and consultants to the Certive team. In a joint statement, they confirmed, the granting of the options is a significant reflection of both the years of experience in business generally, and in healthcare specifically, offered by this highly accomplished group of individuals. We are most appreciative of the time and talent each and every one brings to Certive.

About Certive Solutions Inc.

Certive Solutions Inc. (Scottsdale, Arizona) provides revenue cycle management solutions to the U.S. healthcare market. Certives claim audit and recovery services, billing services, and software solutions help providers work with payers to efficiently manage the reimbursement process and improve financial performance. Certives highly skilled and experienced management team, combined with proprietary workflow and analytics, audit and identify, and bill and collect, underpayments in accordance with contractual obligations between the public or commercial insurance carrier and the designated provider. The healthcare market is changing. Certive works with clients to provide efficient and effective solutions aligned with reform initiatives to improve healthcare and reduce costs.

Contacts:

Certive Solutions Inc.

Brian Cameron

Chief Financial Officer

480-922-5327
ModiFace Launches HD Augmented Reality Mirror

TORONTO, ON  (Marketwired)  01/04/16  ModiFace, the leading provider of augmented reality technology for the beauty and medical industries, today announces the launch of the ModiFace Mirror HD, a high definition augmented reality platform that showcases beauty effects such as makeup, skin-care, anti-aging, teeth whitening, and contact lenses on users live videos as they look into an actual mirror. The high definition system is able to simulate effects with an incredible level of precision and realism.

The new ModiFace Mirror HD, which is immediately available for brands to customize for their own products and use in stores, features the latest generation of ModiFace face tracking and facial simulation technology that will be unveiled for the first time at CES 2016. Also at CES, several prominent beauty brands who are best using ModiFaces augmented reality technology for their own marketing purposes will be featured.

Augmented reality has now become mainstream in the beauty community. What will now differentiate and excite the industry is a focus on quality and functionality  being able to see results that are indistinguishable from actually wearing makeup or trying on a hair color in real life, said Jennifer Tidy, Vice President of Partnerships at ModiFace.

The ModiFace Mirror HD also features:

First-of-its-kind that provide step-by-step live video instructions to users regarding how to get specific makeup looks

The worlds first that can simulate live 3D reshaping of the eyebrows

Realistic simulations

and dental simulation studio

Professionally rendered makeup looks that are simulated in live 3D on the users video

that allow users to change lipstick colors by kissing the camera or changing their eye products by raising their eyebrow

The worlds first augmented reality enabled HD mirror

When it comes to face-focused augmented reality, the ModiFace Mirror HD will be the definitive leading edge technology with a level of realism and definition that has never been achieved before. The best part is that the ModiFace Mirror HD is not a futuristic prototype  it is a technology that is ready for deployment today, and we will be showcasing three large beauty brands that are best using this technology.

The ModiFace Mirror HD will be available for testing and previewing at CES starting on January 6th at booth #26720 in Tech East-LVCC South Hall. Alongside the Mirror HD, ModiFace will also show example customized augmented reality mirrors for LOreal, Allergan, and Jane Iredale.

For more information, please contact: or (647-350-6525).

ModiFace is the leading creator of augmented reality technology for the beauty industry, providing custom web/mobile try-on apps, in-store mirrors, and visual e-commerce. ModiFaces patented technology, which is based on over a decade of research at Stanford University, powers over 150 custom augmented reality apps for beauty brands such as Allergan, Procter and Gamble, LOreal, Unilever, Yves Rocher, and Sephora. For more information, visit .

Dina Magdovitz

Uproar PR for ModiFace

321-236-0102 x225
                            ,   ...
For dinosaur museum, South Bend Chocolate founder requests $2.7 million

South Bend Chocolate Co. founder Mark Tarner plans to build a dinosaur museum with bones he's excavated at a private site in Montana.
Suburban schools grow slightly, or lose less than state average

Numbers from the state Department of Public Instruction show that in suburban Milwaukee, about 27 school districts grew last year, or lost fewer students than average.
The layers of Earth's atmosphere. A mysterious decline in the concentration of free electrons occurs in the D-region of the ionosphere, a phenomenon known as the D-region ledge. Now, researchers suggest the ledge can be explained by the burn up of tiny meteors in the atmosphere.

Scientists may have finally found the cause of a mysterious disappearance of electrons dozens of miles above Earth.

It turns out that a layer of invisible meteor dust falling to Earth every day may be sucking up electrons coming from higher in the atmosphere, creating the so-called "D-region ledge," where the concentration of electrons suddenly plunges, Earle Williams, an atmospheric electrician at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said earlier this month at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union.

Physicists have long been hunting for the disappearing electrons, and had turned to everything from high-flying ice clouds to electrically charged water clusters in the atmosphere to explain the sudden drop-off in this region, he said. [Infographic: Earth's Atmosphere Top to Bottom]

"It's the most dramatic gradient anywhere in the ionosphere," Williams said, referring to the part of Earth's upper atmosphere where the D-region ledge is found. "It really is very conspicuous, so it's begging for an explanation."

The case of the disappearing electrons

Far above Earth's surface, ultraviolet rays from the sun interact with nitric oxide in the atmosphere to produce electrons that travel toward Earth. But since the 1960s, scientists have known that there is an sharp drop in the number of electrons present in the atmosphere at night. This drop was found when rockets first breached the upper atmosphere to sample its temperature, pressure and electron density. This "electron ledge" occurs within the ionosphere's D-layer, which stretches between 37 miles and 56 miles (60 km and 90 km) above the Earth's surface.

The D-region ledge plays a critical role in modern communication. The planet itself conducts electricity, as does the layer of the ionosphere above the ledge, but electromagnetic waves don't travel through nonconductive materials, like the electron-depleted region below the ledge. Below the ledge, the electron-depleted air acts as an insulator, forming a layer between the Earth and its atmosphere that enables radio wavesand very low frequency electromagnetic waves to circle the globe. [Quiz: The Science of Electricity]

The D-region ledge appears most strongly at night and shows up equally in the atmosphere above the poles, the equator and everywhere in between. Yet no one knew why it was there.

Exhausting the possibilities

In the new study, Williams and his colleague, Joanne Wu, a doctoral candidate at the National Cheng Kung University in Taiwan, say that they and other colleagues had looked at many of the prevailing hypotheses to explain the ledge and found most lacking. For instance, some researchers had proposed that ice clouds could be absorbing the free electrons. But ice clouds tend to clump closer to Earth's high latitudes, whereas the D-region ledge is equally prominent everywhere from the poles to the equator.

Then they came upon a 1980 paper in the Journal of the Atmospheric Sciences, which suggested that another layer of the atmosphere, called the sodium layer, could be attributed to fine dust from meteoroids. In that explanation, as space rocks travel through the thin upper atmosphere, they jostle nitrogen and oxygen molecules, heating up in the process. As they fall farther, they collide with more atoms in the more densely packed atmosphere, becoming hot enough to boil, at which point individual sodium atoms peel off from the meteoroid.

That made the team wonder: Could the heating of tiny meteors also explain the D-region ledge?

Electron sink

In this new theory, minerals such as iron and silicon, which make up a much greater part of meteoroids than sodium, would also boil off the meteoroid, forming a cloud of smoke and dust. Free-floating silicon and iron atoms would then smash into oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere, knocking free electrons in the iron and silicon atoms' outer electron shells. The electrons from the meteor boiling would then transform into faint glimmers of light too small to see with the naked eye.

Meanwhile, the meteor dust itself would bind to the free electrons that were formed when the sun's ultraviolent rays interacted with the atmosphere. The reason the D-region ledge is so prominent at night is because ultraviolet radiation from the sun during the day is 100 times greater than at night, so the production of free electrons dwarfs the ledge effect during the day.

If the theory is right, then "you'll form a thick zone of dust descending very slowly due to gravity," Williams said. "Eventually all this dust comes to the Earth's surface. It's about 100 tons per day worldwide," but we can't easily detect it because the tiny particles are so small.

Lots of small rocks

But why does this ledge occur 53 miles (85 km) above Earth? In the researchers' theory, the meteoroids at this height are mostly the right size and are traveling at the right speeds to burn up at that height in the atmosphere. The meteors that could explain the ledge would need to be small: roughly about 10 micrograms. And they would need to be "slow," traveling about 29,000 to 33,500 miles per hour (13 to 15 km/s)  just above the escape velocity of Earth, Williams said.

There may be plenty of these small, slow meteors. Both radars, which show little pings of electricity when teensy meteoroids burn up in the atmosphere, as well as a few satellites, which have been pockmarked by the barrage of myriad tiny meteoroids, suggested that the vast majority of space rocks that bombard the Earth every day are these small, unimpressive specimens. Though they don't leave a stunning light trail like so-called shooting stars, small meteors could be a thousandfold more numerous than the cosmic debris that lights up the night sky, Williams said.

"It's a very plausible idea," said Morris Cohen, an ionospheric physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, who was not involved in the study. "There's a lot of circumstantial theory to back up to the idea, it's all consistent."

However, it will be tough to test the idea directly, as that region of the atmosphere is so inaccessible, Cohen said.

"It's too high to reach with balloons, and it's too low to hit with satellites," Cohen told Live Science.

The D-region ledge is not the only strange boundary in that portion of the atmosphere  the region between 50 and 62 miles (80 and 100 km) above the surface also has an "airglow" layer, caused by the sharp rise in the ionization of hydroxyl, as well as multiple sodium layers, said Steven Cummer, an electrical engineer at Duke University in North Carolina, who was not involved in the study.

"This region is so hard to measure that little work has been done to see if these boundaries are connected," Cummer told Live Science in an email. "But the idea that a fundamental feature of Earth's atmosphere is created by the continual deposition of material by meteors is pretty exciting."

Follow Tia Ghose on Twitter and Google+. Follow Live Science @livescience, Facebook & Google+. Original article on Live Science.
The first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX landed during an orbital launch on Dec. 21, 2015, rests in a hangar at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

The rocket that SpaceX landed in a historic first last month is in great shape and ready to be fired again, company CEO Elon Musk says.

On Dec. 21, SpaceX successfully brought the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to Earth for a soft landing at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida  the first time this had ever been done during an orbital launch. The achievement is a big step forward in SpaceX's quest to develop fully, rapidly reusable rockets, which Musk has said could slash the cost of spaceflight by a factor of 100.

Now there is more good news for SpaceX: The Falcon 9 stage appears to have survived its liftoff and landing with no ill effects, Musk said. [SpaceX's Epic Falcon 9 Rocket Landing in Pictures]

"Falcon 9 back in the hangar at Cape Canaveral. No damage found, ready to fire again," Musk wrote in an Instagram post on Dec. 31, which accompanied a photo of the booster.

SpaceX plans to perform a "static fire" of the landed rocket stage on the ground at Cape Canaveral at some point, to confirm that all of the stage's systems are working well and that the booster could achieve full thrust during a re-flight mission, Musk said during a teleconference with reporters on Dec. 21 shortly after the landing. On Dec. 23, NASA released a video showing new views of the Falcon 9 landing.

This particular Falcon 9 stage will not take to the skies again, however; SpaceX aims to preserve it as a sort of museum piece, Musk added. But the company does intend to land and then re-fly a booster in the near future, he said.

"We have quite a big flight manifest, and we should be doing well over a dozen flights next year," Musk said during the Dec. 21 teleconference. "So I think, probably sometime next year, we will aim to re-fly one of the rocket boosters."

Close-up of the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket that SpaceX landed during an orbital launch on Dec. 21, 2015. (Image credit: SpaceX)

The rocket landing occurred during a launch whose main purpose was lofting to orbit 11 satellites for SpaceX customer Orbcomm. That part of the mission also went well, with all spacecraft achieving their intended orbits, SpaceX representatives said.

The Dec. 21 liftoff was the return-to-flight mission for SpaceX and the two-stage Falcon 9, which had failed during a June 28 launch of the company's robotic Dragon cargo capsule toward the International Space Station for NASA.

SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to fly at least 12 such uncrewed re-supply missions. The next one is scheduled to liftoff sometime this month.

The June 28 failure was traced to a faulty steel strut in the Falcon 9's upper stage. In the aftermath of the accident, Musk vowed that the company would test every one of the hundreds of such struts that go into each Falcon 9.

SpaceX isn't the only entity working to develop reusable rockets. In November, Blue Origin, a spaceflight company led by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, successfully landed its New Shepard booster during a test flight that reached suborbital space.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter @michaeldwall and Google+. Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook or Google+. Originally published on Space.com.
About the Author  Ashley B

Ashley is as serious as a sleeping curse when she says television is her life. Professional event planner, avid movie viewer, convention enthusiast, and resident sass master, Ashley writes reviews for ABC's Once Upon a Time, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, and Galavant, as well as Showtimes Penny Dreadful. She looks forward each week to the weird and wonderful world her favorite television programs provide. All Reviews)

Recent Reviews by Ashley B

Well we are back in fine form withand I have to say so far Im enjoying this season even more than the last. I think thats mostly due to the fact that we know all of our main players now which leaves more room for the writers to play with comedy aspects of their character. There were a few things that bugged me with this premiere, but on the whole I thought it was a strong re-introduction to the musical world ofand a glimpse at the great season ahead of us.The first episode revolved around Galavant and King Richard and explored their journey back to the kingdom, as well as their growing friendship. King Richard steals every scene hes in with his childlike demeanor which surprisingly isnt off putting or annoying. You dont grow tired of his attitude instead youre just waiting for what crazy line will come out of his mouth next. The scenes with Galavant and King Richard at the Enchanted Forest club far overshadowed the scenes with Isabella and her family, as well as those with Madalena and Gareth. I kept waiting for the action to go back to the Enchanted Forest.The musical numbers in this episode were just as giggle-inducing and clever as I remembered from season one. A good chunk of the episode was taken up by the opening number which revolved around poking fun at the show and proclaiming whats in store for the new season. I love this song. As much as it was fodder for the promos, the ridiculous amount of self-depreciating comedy still made me grin. The other key musical number was performed by guest star Kylie Minogue and that was pure fan service, though not for the obvious reasons. However briefly the guest stars onGalavant appear, their presence always adds something special. It was a very catchy musical number and I enjoyed seeing the pop star as this siren figure ruling over the medieval mens club. I also especially enjoyed Simon Callow as the fortune teller in the second episode. When he pulled that elementary school cootie catcher out as a way of soothsaying, I had to wipe tears from my eyes from laughing. Its that type of goofy comedy that makeswork. The show doesnt take itself seriously at all and neither should you.The second half of this premiere is where we come into a bit of conflict between Galavant and Isabella. Their duet regarding their first kiss says it all; perhaps they rushed into this fairy tale romance too quickly and arent quite a good fit. That doubt (and a crystal ball with poor reception) causes Isabella to believe that maybe her new prince charming isnt that in to her. What I enjoy most about their duet is exactly what makes thegroup songs stand out to me. Its the clever lyrics and timing of aside comments, the negative observations that clang jarringly enough with the beautiful, Disney-esque music they cause the listener to do a double take and give a chuckle. The only thing I didnt like about this development with Galavant and Isabella is how it came about. The all too convenient mishearing of a message which results in conflict that will only be resolved when the characters are finally reunited. Weve seen this before, but then againis all about playing with tropes. I just wish they would have played with and warped this one a bit more. This second episode also seems to be building things up for King Richard. Obviously we are going to explore a storyline regarding his virginity if that clingy unicorn is anything to go by, and its not just coincidence he picked up a legendary sword like you or I would pick up milk at the store. The first half of the hour may have been a welcome back, but the second dove right in to the plot of this new season.The secondary characters onreally make this show special. I always find that Chef steals every scene he's in, but this season he is getting some particularly great material. His poking and prodding of intentional continuity errors was part of that self-depreciating humor mentioned earlier. And his reaction to Isabella getting her Disney princess solo in and forgetting about him was one of the funniest moments of the episode. Just the deadpan delivery and sheer annoyance radiating off Chef, it gives you an idea of what its really like to live in a musical. Also, I have to mention the Queen of Valencias naughty spank bank line cracked me up to thoroughly I had to pause the episode. However, I hope Sid has more to do this season, he seemed rather underused. Time will only tell.The one thing that really irked me about these newepisodes was how much they referenced current fantasy shows, namely Game of Thrones. I understand that Game of Thrones is an ever-present pop culture phenomena but it seems like an easy target and almost dates the material.is strongest when it parodies fantasy in general, when it takes timeless elements like princes and maidens in distress out for a spin. Things like name checking White Walkers was just jarring and upset the flow of the episode for me.As the opening musical number ofstates, we have a new season of upon us. And as the opening musical number of shows, this Galavant will be doing more leaning on the fourth wall, drawing not only from common fantasy themes for its laughs but from itself.is a show that always knows what it is, a show thats goofy and not to be taken seriously, and this second season so far is proving thatis wallowing in that aspect of itself. Who really knows what will happen next with this adult themed Disney extravaganza, but this premiere has whet my appetite and made me want more.
Hello, Warriors! The Army Aviation Corps is a component of the Indian Army which deals with the flying of aircraft to provide battle support, transport and other operations in need to the mainstream fighters of the army.

Formed on 1 November 1986, the Air Observation Post units were transferred from the Indian Air Force to the Indian Army to form the Army Aviation branch. Using nine helicopter squadrons, Army Aviation has supported ground units by carrying men and material in the highest battlefield on earth, culminating in the conquest of the entire 72 km of the Siachen Glacier.

Since then, the Army Aviation Corps has come a long way and has inducted many aircrafts in its fleet. Here are the some of those:

HAL Chetak:

Originated as Aerospatiale Alouette III in France, it is a single-engine, light utility helicopter developed by Sud Aviation. It was manufactured by Aerospatiale of France, and under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics in India as Hal Chetak, which built over 300 units of the helicopter till date. They were primarily in service with the Indian Armed Forces in training, transport, CASEVAC (Casualty Evacuation), communications and liaison roles. The Chetak is being replaced by HAL Dhruv in the armed forces.

HAL also exported Chetak helicopters to Namibia and Suriname. India has also donated used Chetak helicopters to other countries such as Bangladesh and Nepal.

HAL Cheetah, Cheetal & Lancer:

Also from France, the Aerospatiale SA 315B Lama is a single-engined helicopter developed to meet hot and high operational requirements of the Indian Armed Forces.

The helicopter have been built under licence by Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) in India, known as the Cheetah.

HAL later developed an upgraded variant, powered by the Turbomeca TM 333-2M2 engine, which is known as the Cheetal.

Lancer is the modified armed combat variant. Changes include composite armouring, toughened glass, and can carry two 12.7 mm machine guns and up to six 70 mm rockets.

HAL Dhruv:

The HAL Dhruv is a utility helicopter. The development of the Dhruv was first announced in November 1984, and it was subsequently designed with assistance from MBB in Germany. It has been used in both military and civil use. Military versions in production include transport, utility, reconnaissance and medical evacuation variants. Based on the Dhruv platform, the HAL Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) a dedicated attack helicopter and HAL Light Utility Helicopter (LUH), a utility and observation helicopter, are currently being developed. As of August 2013, more than 200 HAL Dhruv have been produced for different customers.

Now, coming to the mainstream fighter choppers,

HAL LCH:

HAL Light Combat Helicopter is a multirole combat helicopter being indigenously developed for use by the Indian Air Force and the Indian Army. The LCH is a derivative of the HAL Dhruv, which was inducted into the Indian Armed Forces.

The Indian Air Force is to acquire 65 LCHs and Indian Army is to acquire 114 LCHs.

It is intended for use in air defence against slow moving aerial targets (e.g. aircraft and UAVs), Counter Surface Force Operation (CSFO), destruction of enemy air defence operations, escort to special heliborne operations (SHBO), Counter-insurgency operations (COIN), offensive Employment in Urban Warfare, support of combat search and rescue operations (SAR) operations, anti-tank role and scout duties. It will also be capable of high-altitude warfare (HAW).

HAL Rudra:

Also known as ALH-WSI (Weapon Systems Integrated), it is an armed version of HAL Dhruv. Rudra is equipped with Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) and Thermal Imaging Sights Interface, a 20 mm turret gun, 70 mm rocket pods, anti-tank guided missiles and air-to-air missiles.

The ALH-WSI has two main versions:

Mark III which has Electronic Warfare, countermeasures, sensors and targeting systems installed, but does not feature weapons.

Mark IV which is to have a French Nexter 20 mm turret gun, Belgian 70 mm rockets, and MBDA air-to-air and air-to-ground missiles, such as the anti-tank Helina missile. All these systems have been tested individually.

Innumerable skirmishes and confrontations are taking place in the ongoing operations in the Siachen Glacier and the Army Aviation Corps is providing the required support for sustenance of our troops. The aviation arm is headed by a Director General of the rank of Lt General at the -Army HQ, New Delhi and it will starve to keep the name of these mighty choppers high.
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HARTFORD - A State Department economist who became the public face of the Iranian Embassy crisis 36 years ago credits U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal with helping create a multibillion-dollar fund that will use seized assets to reimburse former hostages like himself.

The effects of this experience are in many cases, simply lasting, said Moorhead Kennedy, a Maine resident who joined Blumenthal with his son Philip Kennedy of Madison, for a Monday morning news conference.

Kennedy, who along with 52 other hostages was submitted to mock executions among other torture tactics, said that psychotherapy eventually helped him cope with post-traumatic stress. I came home, waking up at night, screaming. This wasnt just a detention, Kennedy said.

The seizure of the hostages in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979, prompted a nationwide remembrance, including yellow ribbons tied around the trunks of trees in support. The new billion-dollar fund for hostages was part of last months bipartisan budget agreement in Washington and will be funded by sanctions against countries and individuals.

Those eligible for the fund will include other American hostages.

Blumenthal, who was U.S. Attorney for Connecticut in 1979, said he expects reimbursements to the Iran hostages to begin flowing soon, including $3.8 billion from a pending court case involving Bank BNP Paribas of France, and the U.S. Treasury will make available more than $1 billion.

Kennedy said the alternative was no compensation.

I figured it was just better to hope for it and work for it, said Kennedy, now 85, who had doubts over the decades that he would win a payment for his suffering.

Kennedy is eligible for $4.4 million, $10,000 a day for the 444 days he spent in captivity.

I think that what has kept us going is not just the compensation, which means a great deal, but its the feeling that justice should be done that this was an international wrong. It should be compensated for.

Kennedy, who had been in the embassy for less than three months before taken hostage, believes that 37 of the 53 hostages are still alive.

I dont know what the numbers are, but there are quite a few that have never fully recovered, that are permanently damaged by this experience, said Kennedy, who believes the movie Argo returned the crisis to the public eye.

The 1981 deal to release the hostages, following the election of President Ronald Reagan, included holding Iran harmless for monetary damages.

I still remember the 24/7 horror show, said Philip Kennedy in the Legislative Office Building. This was unrelenting media coverage of a group of people that you had absolutely no idea, day-to-day, of what they were going to do. There was disinformation. There was absolutely no relief for 444 days. Basically Iran took a year and a half of our lives away.

Blumenthal co-sponsored the bipartisan legislation for compensation that ended up in the omnibus budget bill.

We are indebted to Sen. Blumenthal, first for his personal commitment to seeking justice here when justice has been long overdue, said Terry Reed, an attorney for the Iran hostages for the last 16 years. Second, for his leadership in seeking a legislative solutions for a problem that has festered for decades.

Mock executions were routine, along with charges from their Iranian captors that the hostages were spies for the United States.

The United States did almost nothing to help him or the other hostages who suffered severely, physically and psychologically as well as financially, Blumenthal said. Moorhead Kennedy is a patriot. He is a great public servant. This financial recognition is the least that America can do to recognize his great sacrifice for our nation and the unspeakable terror and horror that he endured.

kdixon@ctpost.com; twitter: @KenDixonCT
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U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn. applauded Virginia Attorney General Mark Herring in a Dec. 22 statement for his announcement that the state will terminate its concealed carry reciprocity agreements with 25 states.

Effective Feb. 1, concealed carry permits issued outside of the state will no longer be recognized in Virginia.

Attorney General Herring today put Virginians and their safety first, taking an important step in the effort to keep lethal weapons out of the hands of potentially dangerous individuals, Blumenthal said. Attorney General Herrings action to terminate Virginias concealed carry reciprocity means that every person in the state is subject to the same uniform standards.

Increased transportation funds

U.S. Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and state Rep. Terry Adams, D-146, joined state Department of Transportation Commissioner Jim Redeker at the Stamford train station last Monday to celebrate more than $1.4 billion of investments in Amtrak and rail safety along the Northeast Corridor.

More Information How to reach them U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, (203) 330-0598. Email: blumenthal.senate.gov/contact- U.S. Sen Chris Murphy, (860) 549-8463. Email: murphy.senate.gov/contact U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, (866) 453-0028. Email: himes.house.gov/contact-me/email-me- State Sen. L.Scott Frantz, (800) 842-1421. Email: ctsenaterepublicans.com/contact-frantz State Rep. Livvy Floren, (800) 842-1423. Email: livvy.floren@housegop.ct.gov- State Rep. William Tong, (800) 842-8267. Email: william.tong@cga.ct.gov State Sen. Carlo Leone, (800) 842-1420. Email: carlo.leone@cga.ct.gov- State Rep. Patricia Billie Miller, (800) 842-8267. Email: patricia.miller@cga.ct.gov State Rep. Caroline Simmons, (800) 842-8267. Email: caroline.simmons@cga.ct.gov - State Rep. Terry Adams, Tel: (800)842-8267. Email: terry.adams@cga.ct.gov State Rep. Daniel Fox, (800) 842-8267. Email: dan.fox@cga.ct.gov - Find your district: cga.ct.gov See More Collapse

Murphy, a member of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development, helped secure $19 million more toward Amtrak spending within the federal budget that passed Congress in December.

Congress just passed a federal budget that has in it a lot of good news for rail construction here in Connecticut, Murphy said. On the Appropriations Committee, I fought very hard to build into this budget a substantial increase for transportation funding and to break a string of budget cuts in the transportation account.

Himes presents medals

U.S. Rep. Jim Himes, D-4, was in Stamford on Dec. 21 to present medals to Anthony A. Viesto, a World War II veteran. Viesto was presented with the Combat Infantryman Badge, the Bronze Star, the American Campaign Medal, the European-African Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, the World War II Victory Medal, the Army Occupation Medal with German Clasp and the Honorable Service Lapel Button.
T he scourge of smart-phones and (whisper it) festive boredom that descends on workaholics long before the decorations come down means that the idea of returning to work on Monday to a bulging in-tray is an old-fashioned one.

However, the woman responsible for making sure that iPhones and BlackBerrys bleep with emails in the furthest reaches of Britain knows she must hit the ground running in 2016, no matter how much work her team put in over Christmas and New Year.

For Sharon White, chief executive of communications regulator Ofcom, decisions and discussions in the first half of this year will lead to the redrawing of Britains digital landscape, over which big beasts increasingly roam.

First up, BT. The path looks clear for the phone giants 12.5 billion acquisition of mobile operator EE but it faces a tougher time hanging on to Openreach in its present form.

The unit that powers the broadband service for BTs own customers as well as millions of those of its rivals is under pressure. The structural separation of Openreach from the rest of BT and forcing it to offer so-called equivalence of service have not been bad for the industry but, as demand for faster connection speeds has increased in rural areas as well as in the centre of London, it is clear it could be improved on.

"How much better-served could Londons entrepreneurs be if it was insisted that competing broadband services were run over Virgin Medias impressive infrastructure too?"

White is minded to shake things up even though Digital Minister Ed Vaizey is sceptical of anything as radical as breaking up BT.

There is a bigger picture to consider. How much better-served could Londons entrepreneurs be if it was insisted that competing broadband services were run over Virgin Medias impressive infrastructure too?

White, a former Treasury high-flier, is modelling herself as a consumer champion, which explains her scepticism about the merger of mobile operators O2 and 3.

European Union competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager has ordered a probe into the market impact of the tie-up but White, who would be heavily involved in enforcing remedies were it to be approved, has already flagged worries it could lead to higher phone bills.

One route would be to ring-fence some of Britains airwaves for the benefit of a fourth, smaller operator.

If that was TalkTalk, it would have to do better in proving it can keep its customers data safely under lock and key.

Ofcom is also taking a fresh look at Royal Mail, particularly in light of the troubles experienced by rival delivery firm Whistl last year.

Surely not another opportunity to hike stamp prices? Shares in the company would not have raced so high without a lenient regulatory environment. But despite the decline in letter volumes, it is politically too soon to let the postman reduce his rounds to anything less than six days a week.

Then there is the BBC. Very soon, former Prudential chairman Sir David Clementi will unveil his thoughts on how the corporation should be regulated once the BBC Trust turns to dust a year from now.

The Beebs critics would rather the job was bundled into Ofcom, as if that swept away the broadcasters special status once and for all.

More likely, the BBC will get a unitary board with a strong chairman to hold director-general Tony Halls feet to the fire, with issues of bias and impartiality left to Ofcom, which already monitors its output for decency. There are problems, not least the volume of work the BBC creates. And Ofcoms scope is different to the Trust, which regulates the BBCs online content, not an area into which Ofcom regularly strays. Does that mean the BBC would enjoy a lighter touch under Ofcom?

All change: BBC director-general Tony Hall will have to adapt to a new structure (Picture: AFP/Getty Images) / Leon Neal/AFP/Getty Images

I wonder if Whites biggest challenge for 2016 has not even emerged yet. Now that Rupert Murdoch has been informed his newspaper empire will face no further charges over the phone hacking scandal, the way is clear to carry on where he left off five years ago.

After entertaining David Cameron and George Osborne at his Christmas soiree, dont be surprised if the mogul again tries to acquire the shares in Sky his company doesnt already own.

Ofcoms role last time was assessing whether the integration of Sky with News Corps newspapers would create a giant that reduced media plurality in Britain.

It ruled that it would, but the then Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt said he was happy for the takeover to proceed with some remedies.

What is different now is that Sky has grown into a business that operates across Europe. More importantly, the acquiring company would be 21st Century Fox, so Sky would technically come no closer to Murdochs newspaper assets because they have been demerged into a separate entity. So does the plurality problem still apply?

Dont book that summer break yet, Ms White.
A ll that London chief executives needed to know about Chinas course for 2016 has been laid bare since January 1.

A Hong Kong publisher known for investigating Chinese politicians went missing, presumed extradited to the mainland; the former president of a financial news company was jailed in Shanghai amid a crackdown on the media and, today, manufacturing data shed more disappointing news on the countrys economy.

Naturally, the countrys poor manufacturing data and the accompanying stock market plunge drew all the attention today.

It set the tone for another year of low demand for UK commodities giants and exporters, and more weak yuan, strong dollar policies from President Xi.

But dont underestimate the impact for UK businesses of Chinas increasing human rights abuses, particularly in Hong Kong.

This year will doubtless again see the likes of HSBC, the Pru and Standard Chartered threaten to move their headquarters there, grumbling about UK and European regulations and tax.

More belligerence from Beijing, combined with a slowing Chinese economy, makes those threats sound increasingly hollow.
L ondon-listed oil explorer JKX Oil & Gas has fired both barrels at one of its biggest shareholders, accusing it of trying to win control of the business without paying a premium.

Russian fund Proxima  which owns 20% of the company  broke cover last month with proposals to remove seven of the current nine board members of JKX, replacing them with five of its own nominees.

Proxima accuses JKX, whose assets are based mostly in Ukraine and Russia, of years of under-performance and has called for a thorough review of operations.

It has called an extraordinary meeting for January 28.

JKX hit back saying Proxima was attempting to seize control and warned wholesale changes would eliminate at a stroke extensive experience.

It also accused Proxima of disguising its real intentions, lacking experience of running an oil and gas firm, and said a Russian-led fund could face difficulties in Ukraine after recent conflict.

JKX said its strategy was robust amid weak oil and gas prices.

Sources close to Proxima said its chief executive, Vladimir Tatarchuk, had extensive experience at Russias Alfa Bank and ran its Ukrainian business.
L arry Gagosian, one of the worlds most-influential art dealers, has helped spearhead a wave of American investment in Mayfair galleries, new research has shown.

Of eight overseas galleries opening in London since 2011, six are from the US, most of which have headed to affluent Mayfair, according to property agent Savills.

The Gagosian gallery, which has exhibited works by sculptor Henry Moore, opened at the agents former Grosvenor Hill headquarters in October.

David Zwirner and Michael Werner are among those that have also moved here. They are joined by entrants from France and Switzerland  Almine Rech on Savile Row and Dominique Levy on Old Bond Street.

The UKs art market grew 17% in 2014 to 11.2 billion (8.26 billion) according to the European Fine Art Foundation.

The Gagosian Gallery has a Mayfair location / Savills

But Mayfair  an area which is best-known for selling designer shoes and handbags  is a specific target for investors said Oliver Green, Savills central London retail director.

He explained that gallery owners like the global luxury status of the area and the attraction to wealthy visitors, adding: London is a gateway to other European markets.
M any, probably most, commuters will warmly agree with the sentiments of Labours mayoral candidate, Sadiq Khan, when he takes issue with the fare increases that came into force in the New Year. As he observes, London is now more expensive for commuters than any major city in the world, and this at a time when the enormous cost of housing means that more and more people are having to commute ever greater distances to work.

Mr Khans solution, if elected, would be to freeze fares for the full four years of his mayoralty, a proposal he has advanced for some time now. Few commuters would not find that option attractive. Their sentiments are not shared, however, by TfL, which has insisted that if fares were frozen there would be a price to pay in a dearth of funds for investment. The Mayor has put the cost of a fares freeze at 2 billion over four years  far more than Mr Khans estimate of around 450 million.

So the question is, what cuts elsewhere does Mr Khan propose in order to fund the freeze without diminishing investment? He proposes a number of options, from ending funding for the Emirates cable car to freezing purchases of the new Routemaster and curbing fare evasion. He also suggests that perennial favourite, cutting back on TfL back-office operations and the overuse of agency staff. (Many passengers would actually like more staff, not fewer, by reopening ticket offices.)

Each of these proposals has differing merits but it is questionable whether they are sufficient to fill the funding gap. A fares evasion crackdown is, for instance, desirable but if it were easy it would have been done already. A more detailed breakdown of savings would be necessary before we can take for granted that this populist and popular policy would work as intended. Or else Mr Khan can admit that it is not in fact possible to square the circle; some investment would have to go, at least temporarily, to help commuters. The third option  greater funding from the Treasury to make up the funding shortfall  is, to put it mildly, improbable.

A new Jihadi John

IT does not come as a surprise that Islamic State appears to have found another executioner, speaking with a British accent, to replace so-called Jihadi John, ISs best known front man. Indeed for good measure he is joined on the organisations latest execution video by a small boy, speaking with a London accent, who promises to kill the kuffar. We know that hundreds of British Muslims have gone to Syria and Iraq to join IS, including entire families. The new Jihadi John talks just like the old one  Mohammed Emwazi, killed by a drone. He promises retribution for Britains involvement in air strikes against IS.

The video should strengthen the Governments resolve to prevent other Muslims leaving Britain to fight with IS. But we should bear in mind that IS is suffering setbacks in Iraq, and the Vienna accord between the US, Russia and Iran has resulted in more co-ordinated attacks on its forces. This video is a sign of weakness, not strength.

Sweetness and light

THE gloom of January will be lifted this year by the first Lumiere London festival, which will see several of the capitals most famous buildings transformed by artworks of light. Among the locations to be given a makeover will be the facade of the Bafta building on Piccadilly: it will be illuminated, appropriately enough, with images of some of Britains biggest screen stars. Forget the January blues: this month London itself will be a dazzling, multicoloured canvas.
L ets go back to last weekend. It is the second day in January, and I am in mums kitchen learning how to slice an onion. But I havent got a teacher in the same room as me; hes in London and hes instructing me via a video tutorial.

Now Ive learnt over the years to have the confidence to throw ingredients about and follow recipes, but that also means I have to suffer continual hit-and-miss results. Having never actually learnt the basics, Im certain that were a professional chef to check up on my knife skills, theyd be unimpressed.

Ill wager that learning to cook regularly crops up in new years resolutions lists. Sure, many people passed the fundamentals of cookery years ago. But what if you never did? What if you got left behind when this countrys recent food revolution began and you still cant roast potatoes, or you still regularly buy packets of pre-chopped vegetables to make stir-fries with? Exactly. So just before procrastination could sneak up on me, I decided that this months Cookbook Challenge would be to learn the basics - with no cookery book required.

You may know the grocery box delivery slash home cooking aid service HelloFresh. Its head chef and co-founder Patrick Drake quit his job as London lawyer after realising that his real passion was to teach people how to cook. After this he did a few circuits in some of Londons top kitchens. A few years and some scratchy YouTube tutorials later, he decided that the best cooking tutorials (or any tutorials for that matter) always took time to find and most videos were full of waffle and badly shot. There was some paid content too, but it always came across as very serious; shot in intimidating stainless steel kitchens. The gap he wants to bridge, is short-form, beautifully shot, super informative but friendly cooking content for beginners. So he had a go.

Victoria Stewart's basic creations...

The result is The 60-Second Chef, a new online cooking course filmed in Drakes spare time. It involves a series of 77 one-minute-long videos explaining everything from basic nutrition to using kitchen utensils and how to slice vegetables, building up to full recipes. You sign up, pay the 49 fee (slightly eye-watering but remember you're getting over an hour of both video content and notes), and start watching.

I begin with the intro video. This is the worlds fastest cooking course. It tells you each fundamental cooking technique you need to know in only 60 seconds and its designed to give you confidence in the kitchen, says the good-looking chap in front of the camera. He promises no waffle, no fancy terminology, and explains that itll be divided into three parts: nutrition, essential skills and recipes. Being used to the matey Jamie Oliver approach, Patricks a little too squeaky clean for my liking but so far hes making sense.

Things dont get off to a good start as the first ten videos are essentially a lesson in how to be healthy, with things like what is a calorie?, what are the good/bad fats? and whats the deal with salt? When it comes to Drake telling me to only drink water and never drink cordials as they will just make you fat I nearly give up. I thought this was a cooking class, not a lifestyle tutorial! Im all for healthy cooking and learning how the body works, but I came here to learn to cook, and I dont want to be told off before Ive even started. Plus, cooking should be fun.

Still, I press on. In getting started in the kitchen, Im reminded of the importance of sharpening knives - mums are all dented, as I duly find out, making it risky chopping anything - looking after equipment, and how to tell when a pan is hot enough to start cooking. Drake, it turns out, has a kind, informative and authoritative presenting style. The videos arent rushed, and each one is carefully and beautifully produced. There are brief, helpful notes written underneath, a timer on the bottom right of the screen to show you how far through you are, and you can easily move to the next video.

Next its onto those dreaded knife skills. Drake tells me I neednt slice the first half of an onion all the way to the root as its that that holds everything together. Doh! This is why mine always fall apart half way through There are videos explaning how to de-bone chicken thighs, how to slice awkward veggies, sweet potatoes and what he describes as the armoured tank of the vegetable world, the butternut squash. Onto cooking meat, there are lessons on how to marinade, how to poach, roast and grill chicken, stir-fry, and so on. Using the how to fry fish guide, I manage to cook salmon perfectly, using Drakes simple pan frying, grilling and frying process: it has a slight crunch on top, and is so tender and flaky on the inside.

There is much to take from the prepping and cooking veggies section, and my crunchy roast potatoes really do turn out to be crunchier than ever whilst retaining fluffy insides. I do wish he wouldnt pronounce bolognese as bol-o-nyaysay, though. We are not in Italy. In cooking starches Im taken through perfect pasta, basic risotto, and cooking cous cous, followed by basic balsamic, simple vinaigrette and homemade gravy in sauces, dressings and garnishes. Meanwhile, breakfast and brunch is, unsurprisingly, egg-heavy. I learn to season my scrambled eggs later on than I usually do, to great effect, and, having failed regularly using that famous swirling technique, I finally manage to perfectly poach an egg after dropping some white wine vinegar into the water. The recipes at the end include firecracker shrimp, easy paella, and sugar-free scones but since Ive already made enough for lunch and dinner already, I leave these out.

So Drake has a good thing going here. I know there are plenty of people who want to be told how to eat, but I dont. So if youre like me and youre thinking of buying this, just skip the first section and get straight to the cooking stuff. Thats where the real market is.

the60secondchef.com

Follow Victoria on Twitter @vicstewart
A continent that speaks in more than 50 tongues, Europe is home to a stunning range of architecture and offers up delicious delicacies - and is right on our doorstep. Sawday's has rounded up its favourite B&Bs in Britain and beyond for the perfect city break. In these charismatic urban hotspots, you'll feel like you're in a home away from home.

Les3chambres, Paris

Colour, comfort, family antiques and atmosphere are here in buckets thanks to the owner Laurent's flair for interiors and his love of meeting people. Easy and relaxed, he is a walking encyclopaedia on Paris and serves a succulent breakfast. Storm blue fades into bright turquoise, khaki is married to terracotta, old floorboards meet thick new carpet, gilt-framed oils hang beside good contemporary works, and purple plush lifts modern sofas and brocades flatter old fauteuils.

From 199 per night,

Book here

Les3chambresPress / Press

Chez Papa, Barcelona

Just a five-minute walk from the Sagrada Familia, welcome to a jolly mix of eclecticism and bonhomie. Opinionated and extrovert, the French host Herve is devoted to organic foods and ensures that breakfasts are as entertaining as can be. Find a colourful hotchpotch of flea market finds; the bedrooms are dotty and inviting and the decor could be that of your grandmother's house  but for the wildly creative addition of hand-painted walls.

From 75 per night, Book here

Chez PapaPress / Press

Al Battistero d'Oro, Parma

This grand two-storey yellow palazzo lies off a tranquil square tucked behind the Duomo. In the dining room, awash with light from tall windows, are family antiques and a big oriental rug, a long table at which breakfast can be served, and a cosy real fire for winter stays. Your hostess Patrizia is accommodating and delightful and gives guests two elegant bedrooms with handsome beds, fluffy towels and beautiful toiletries. Outside there's history-rich Parma, with its wine bars, delis, trattorias and passion for gastronomy, and the Teatro Regio, one of the three great homes of Italian opera.

From 90 per night, Book here

Al Battistero d'OroPress / Press

My Navona, Rome

Both apartments at this peachy, classic 18th-century palazzo are perfect; one is more contemporary with stripped doors, architectural drawings, modern lighting and light grey walls, the other has period paintings, antiques on parquet floors and gorgeous fabrics for curtains, bedspreads and cushions. Knowledgeable hosts - an interior designer and an architect - couldn't be more helpful. Enjoy breakfast royally in your room on a large trolley with porcelain cups, cake, toast, homemade jams, yogurt and cereal.

From 150 per night, Book here

My NavonaPress / Press

22 York Street, London

A Regency townhouse in W1 and a family home for over 60 years. Hosts Liz and Michael, friendly and easy-going, keep things as informal and unfussy as possible. Lively breakfasts are taken communally around a curved wooden table. The house has a huge sitting room with books, backgammon, and a piano. Expect good beds with pretty quilts and lots of space in the bedrooms: all are spotless and very comfy with antiques and rugs.

From 95 per night, Book here

22 York StreetPress / Press

Cima Rose, Venice

In magical Venice, take a water taxi to a 15th-century palazzo that overlooks the Grand Canal and oozes all the elegance a stylista could wish for. Bedrooms have marble tiles, exposed beams and inspirational views across the canal. Owners Brittany and Danielle are both architects and interior designers that know all of the best antique shops and museums; the ubiquitous gondola calls those seeking something more traditional.

From 155 per night, Book here

Cima RosaPress / Press

10 London Street, Edinburgh

A Roman X marks this special spot: a beautiful Georgian terraced house in Edinburgh's world heritage New Town, home to descendants of Scots author John Gibson Lockhart. Step into a family home of period elegance and charming informality: accept a dram by the fire in the sash-windowed drawing room, relax at the dining table over a leisurely continental breakfast. Sleep undisturbed in 'Beauregard', with its lovely views and paintings; or 'Gibson' with its off-courtyard privacy and self-catering option.

160 per night

Book here

10 London Street Press / Press

Le Loft 13, Strasbourg

Eight floors high in central Strasbourg, this loft is a warm, spacious and opulent place, with wonderful views of ancient rooftops, cathedral spires and the Vosges peaks beyond. Homemade Lebanese cheese is a breakfast speciality, though you can have a full British if you fancy. Plush, beamed bedrooms have white linen and rich colours, and the suite has a Jacuzzi. Bold paintings, rugs and artefacts complete Le Loft-scape.

From 150 per night, Book here

Le Loft 13Press / Press

Duke House, Cambridge

Opposite Christ's Pieces, one of the city's oldest green spaces, and right in the centre. Settle into the guest sitting room and sleep soundly under Irish goose down in beautiful bedrooms all named after dukes; the Cambridge suite on the top floor has a romantic balcony. The lovely breakfast room has separate tables overlooking a little plant-filled courtyard; host Liz serves an excellent organic and homemade spread.

From 120 per night, Book here

Duke HousePress / Press

The Art House, Hove

Peaceful, close to the sea and in the heart of Hove, this Victorian villa is a friendly town treat. Bedrooms on the top floor are furnished in an eclectic style, mixing antique finds with quirky light-fittings; art books, flowers, splashes of colour and brand new marble and mosaic bathrooms. Hosts Dexter and Liz give you a breakfast feast: muesli, fruit salad, patisseries fresh from the bakery that morning, eggs, smoked salmon, hash browns. Liz runs mosaic courses and her wonderful work decorates the house.

From 95 per night, Book here

The Art HousePress / Press

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E very new year brings a host of new reasons to shake-up your travel schedule, with new destinations offering everything from wild adventure to peaceful seclusion. Here are the hot destinations to head to this year.

Costa Rica

Theres no shortage of UK travellers keen to sample the biodiverse delights of Costa Rica. But the Central American hotspot has long been awkward to access. In November, Thomson Airways (thomson.co.uk/flight) resurrected direct weekly flights from Gatwick to the north-west cowboy hub of Liberia  a laid-back entry point for the steaming volcanoes of Rincon de la Vieja National Park and the turtle beaches of Nicoya Peninsula. And in May, British Airways resumes direct, twice-weekly flights from Gatwick to the capital San Jose (flight time 11 hours; ba.com), from where Costa Ricas wildest spots  such as Arenal Volcano and Monteverde Cloud Forest  are easily accessible.

East Iceland

Both British Airways (from Heathrow; ba.com) and easyJet (from Stansted; easyjet.com) launched new flights to western Icelands Keflavik Airport in late autumn 2015. But more intriguing is tour operator Discover the Worlds new flight to Egilsstair, which will operate twice weekly from May to September this year (discover-the-world.co.uk). This is the first direct link between the UK and Icelands lesser-explored east, previously only accessible via internal flight or lengthy drive from Reykjavik. It will make exploring this side of the island easier, and possible in a long weekend. Highlights include Dettifoss waterfall, the charming fishing village of Seyisfjorur and Borgarfjorur Eystri where, according to legend, the elf queen resides.

Australia

First, the Australian dollar fell to a six-year low in autumn 2015, making the country appealingly affordable. And theres lots happening down under this year. In the Red Centre, Bruce Munros Field of Light  an art installation of more than 50,000 coloured spheres  will illuminate the desert from April 1 until March 31 2017 (ayersrockresort.com.au). Trekkers should try Tasmania. In December the four-day, 46km Three Capes Track (threecapestrack.com.au) opened, linking wild headlands via comfortable cabins. Lastly, wildlife-lovers might be inspired to follow Attenborough to the Great Barrier Reef, currently the star of Sir Davids big BBC series, where tourist organisations the length of this 2,300km wonder are capitalising on the increased interest with special travel packages.

Fish swimming in the Great Barrier Reef / AFP

Bordeaux, France

In 2016 Bordeaux is hoping to reinforce its wine capital reputation with the Cite du Vin (laciteduvin.com), due to open in spring. This glitteringly modern museum of viticulture is gunning to do for Bordeaux what the Guggenheim has done for Bilbao. Set by the River Garonne, the buildings design  a swirl of golden glass and aluminium  is supposed to evoke a knotted vine or wine being swilled in a glass. Inside, visitors will be able to trace the history of grape-growing from 5500 BC via interactive exhibits, a world vineyard tour and tasting laboratories.

St Helena

The remote South Atlantic island of St Helena  perhaps best-known for detaining Napoleon  is finally getting an airport. Long-mooted and much stalled, the terminal will open in May 2016. Until now, the island has only been accessible via a five-day Royal Mail Ship voyage from Cape Town, a nostalgic journey filled with star-gazing, whale-watching and shuffleboard. The ship will retire from the route in July. The new weekly flight, operated by Comair South Africa (comair.co.za) will leave from Johannesburg, take just 5 hours, and is expected to cost around 500-600 return, making a visit to the far-flung British isle a lot quicker  if less romantic.

Wrocaw, Poland

Along with San Sebastian in Spain, Polands fourth-largest city has assumed the mantle of 2016 European Capital of Culture (wroclaw2016.pl). Good timing. Since the destruction of Wrocaw (pronounced vrots-waf) during the Second World War, the medieval old town has undergone painstaking reconstruction; now, its palaces and townhouses are again resplendent, and largely stag/hen party free  despite good low-cost airline connections. There will be almost 100 cultural events taking place during the ECC opening weekend alone (January 15-17); throughout the year, the new National Forum of Music (opened September 2015) will host concerts. The city is also Unescos 2016 World Book Capital City, so expect literary happenings aplenty too.

Fishing Boats, Iceland / Alamy Stock Photo

United States

One hundred years ago, in August 1916, President Wilson formed the US National Park Service (nps.gov). So, with the presidential election taking place in November, expect a buzz around both ballot box and the big outdoors in the States this year. The US has 58 national parks, plus many national monuments, and events will be held across the country, from Acadia NP, Massachusetts, to Volcanoes NP, Hawaii. The focus will be on encouraging people to get out and enjoy these vast, varied places; the talk will likely be about wholl make it into the White House (which, incidentally, also comes under NPS protection).

Wales

The Welsh tourist boards declaration that 2016 is its Year of Adventure is more a reminder than breaking news. The country, so well-endowed with climbable peaks, bike-down-able hills and traceable seashore, has built up a reputation for its outdoorsy adrenalin-pumping fun in the past few years. New zip-wires, kite-surfing operators and mountain-bike trails have become par for the course; in spring, Surf Snowdonia (surfsnowdonia.co.uk), home to the worlds longest man-made surfable waves, will open for its first full season. Details of events have yet to be released, but on the cards are active foodie experiences and Dark Sky Wales programmes to encourage night-time adventures.

Nepal

Nepal needs you! One of the most devastating long-term effects of the earthquakes that hit the country in April 2015 has been travellers staying away and not pumping their tourist dollars into communities that have never needed them more. The good news is that, in October, the UK Foreign Office changed its stance, no longer advising against all-but-essential travel to the majority of the country; at the time of writing only two small areas were still off-limits. Most of Nepals trekking routes  including the popular Everest and Annapurna regions  are now safe and open, and are blissfully crowd-free.

Trekking in Nepal / AFP

Cambodia

Cambodia has always been playing catch-up with its neighbours in terms of top-end tourism. But this might just be its year, with several plush resorts set to open. Both easily accessible from Sihanoukville, and both opening this summer, are Alilas sustainably luxurious Koh Russey Villas (kohrussey.com) and the Arovada by Akaryn Retreat (akaryn.com), a private island hideaway conceived by Japanese-French fashion designer Kenzo Takada. Set amid the jungle near Siem Reap, close to the temples of Angkor, Phum Baitang (phumbaitang.com) launched formally in September 2015. Its stilted villas have private terraces or plunge pools, and marry Cambodian style with five-star luxury.

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A n American school attended by Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes daughter Suri is planning on opening a London academy.

The elite 'Avenues: The World School' is scouting potential sites for its first branch outside of the US after enlisting the help of property experts Savills.

It was founded by former Esquire publisher Alan Greenberg and former Yale University president Benno Schmidt, who raised $85million to develop the first Manhattan campus inside a refurbished warehouse building.

It is understood founders are looking at sites in Earls Court and near the new US Embassy site in Battersea for its London branch.

Its New York branch charges parents 29,400 ($43,500) a year and offers Spanish and Mandarin to nursery age pupils.

It has been oversubscribed since it opened in 2012 and has proved increasingly popular with wealthy hedge fund managers, tech entrepreneurs and fashion designers.

Children are given iPads from the age of five and are taught digital citizenship alongside lessons in social skills and academic pursuits.
T wo men who stole almost 200,000 worth of mopeds and motorcycles from across the capital have been jailed.

Between April and June 2014, 18-year-old Lufti Guney and Paul O'Farrell, 23, stole more than 20 vehicles from streets in Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Southwark and the City of London.

The pair stole motorbikes including a rare MV Augusta 750 motorcycle, worth 45,000, which was taken from an underground car park in Chelsea.

They cut through two heavy-duty security chains in order to steal the motorbike, which was one of only 300 that were ever made in Italy.

Jailed: Lufti Guney / Metropolitan Police

It is thought that the mopeds and motorcycles, which between them had an estimated value of 180,000, have all since been broken up or shipped abroad.

The pair were charged in November 2014 after the Met's London Crime Squad launched an investigation and covert operation to catch the perpetrators, after they identified that numerous thefts were being carried out across London using the same method.

Detective Sergeant Richard Evans of the London Crime Squad, said: "Guney and O'Farrell drove around London on stolen mopeds and with a stolen van, looking for high-value motorcycles.

"When they found one they liked, they used hammers, screwdrivers and crow bars to cut off steering locks, padlocks and chains. They then pushed the bikes into the stolen van and drove off."

Prison: Paul O'Farrell / Metropolitan Police

Guney, of Dunkin House, Rennie Estate, Southwark pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit theft on July 6 last year, and O'Farrell, of Brideale Close, Southwark initially claimed he was innocent, but pleaded guilty at the start of his trial on November 30.

The pair were jailed on Monday at Southwark Crown Court, with O'Farrell sentenced to 15 months' imprisonment, reduced by 145 days due to bail conditions imposed at the beginning of criminal proceedings.

Guney was jailed for 10 months, reduced by 148 days due to bail conditions imposed at the beginning of criminal proceedings.
A university lecturer stabbed to death on his doorstep was a lovely person who doted on his newborn girl, friends said today.

Dr Jeroen Ensink, 41, celebrated the birth 10 days before he was knifed outside his Holloway home. Paramedics tried to save him but he was pronounced dead there at 1.50pm on Tuesday.

The biologist, originally from Holland, had been a lecturer in public health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in Bloomsbury since 2008.

His wife was too distraught to speak but friend Bernard Sexton, 86, said: He was a lovely person, he would help you with anything, we all just cant understand it. He had just had a baby that was just 10 days old, a lovely little daughter. His wife had only been out of hospital a week after having the child.

Another friend said: He was a lovely, mild-mannered guy. His wife is devastated. He doted over the baby.

Timchang Nandap, 22, of Woolwich, was due to appear at the Old Bailey today accused of Dr Ensinks murder.
P rimary school children are to be forced to sit a Countdown-style times tables test by the age of 11.

Pupils multiplication skills will be tested against the clock under a new government initiative.

Education Secretary Nicky Morgan said on-screen maths checks will help pupils struggling at secondary school.

Ms Morgan said They will help teachers recognise those pupils at risk of falling behind and allow us to target those areas where children arent being given a fair shot to succeed.

It will be the first use of on-screen technology in National Curriculum tests.

Labour labelled the plan as a gimmick and blamed the governments failure to recruit new teachers as being at the heart of the nations maths problems.

Shadow Education Secretary Lucy Powell said: This announcement smacks of a government which has run out of ideas for educational improvement.

The new test will be piloted at 80 schools this summer and is hoped to be rolled out across the country by 2017.
T housands of junior doctors across England are set to strike next week after talks broke down in a bitter row with the government over a proposed new contract.

They will provide emergency care only from 8am on Tuesday, January 12, the British Medical Association said.

Dr Mark Porter, the BMAs chair, said junior doctors were "left with no option after the latest talks failed to secure an agreement with the government.

The strike could also be followed by two further days of action. If they go ahead, junior doctors will provide emergency care only from 8am on Tuesday, January 26, before a full withdrawal of labour on Wednesday February 10, from 8am to 5pm.

The strikes would lead to disruption for thousands of NHS patients. Suspended strike action in November led to the cancellation of thousands of operations, procedures and appointments.

Dr Porter said: After weeks of further negotiations, it is clear that the government is still not taking junior doctors' concerns seriously.

We sincerely regret the disruption that industrial action will cause, but junior doctors have been left with no option.

It is because the Government's proposals would be bad for patient care as well as junior doctors in the long-term that we are taking this stand."

The basis for the current round of negotiations was the government's offer from early November, including an 11 per cent rise in basic pay for junior doctors.

This is offset by plans to cut the number of hours on a weekend for which junior doctors can claim extra pay for unsocial hours.

The BMA has said the increase in basic pay is misleading due to these changes. It also has concerns over flexible pay plans for some specialities.

Some 98 per cent of junior doctors who voted in the BMA ballot were in favour of strikes, with 2 per cent against.

More than 37,000 doctors were balloted by the BMA, and 76 per cent took part in the November vote.

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: "It is extremely disappointing that negotiations have failed to break the impasse between the government and the BMA over proposed contracts for junior doctors. Once again patients are being caught in the middle of this bitter dispute.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
L ondon Ambulance Service has been criticised by a coroner after failing to respond quickly enough to save the life of a man collapsed in the street.

The case, which can be revealed for the first time today, was the second within months where 999 call handlers failed to realise a patient was unconscious and in immediate danger and took too long to send an ambulance.

David Sweeney, 28, suffered a cardiac arrest minutes before paramedics finally arrived on the scene  an hour and 40 minutes after first being called  and died in hospital a week later.

His death, on April 25 last year, came three months after five-year-old Yusuf Abdismad died from meningitis when a LAS 999 operator believed he was asleep at a time he was probably unconscious. St Pancras coroner Mary Hassell was so alarmed by both cases that she issued LAS with two prevention of future death reports, ordering immediate improvements to prevent further tragedies.

In her most recent report, obtained by the Standard via a freedom of information request, she said: I am extremely concerned a theme may be emerging in the handling by LAS of calls regarding unconscious patients.

Mr Sweeney had been drinking and was found in West Hampstead lying on the ground vomiting by a passer-by who called 999 at 4.47pm on April 18. The caller said Mr Sweeney had been unconscious but replied yes when asked by the LAS dispatcher whether he was a little bit awake.

This meant the call was categorised as being to someone who was sick rather than unconscious, which would have resulted in an ambulance arriving within eight minutes. The ambulance only turned up when a further call to LAS was made by police who came upon Mr Sweeney still lying in the street.

An emergency doctor told Mr Sweeneys inquest in August that he probably would have survived the cardiac arrest if he had been in hospital at the time.

Ms Hassell recorded that his death was caused by hypoxic brain injury  a lack of oxygen to the brain  and acute alcohol toxicity. She said: An opportunity for earlier medical intervention  which might have saved him on this occasion  was lost when a call to the ambulance service was not categorised as a priority.

LAS chief executive Dr Fionna Moore admitted assessing the level of consciousness by phone was challenging and an area where more errors are likely to be made.

She said a new system was being trialled after international advisers spent time in the LAS control room, with both deaths being used as case studies to ensure lessons were learned.
S mokers may soon be offered e-cigarettes on the NHS after they were licensed as medicines for the first time.

The e-Voke vaping device, which is produced by the worlds biggest tobacco company, British American Tobacco, has been approved as safe and effective by the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency.

The move paves the way for GPs to prescribe e-cigarettes on the NHS to help people quit smoking.

It comes despite many experts still holding significant concerns about the unknown effects of the devices.

The British Medical Association and the Royal College of GPs have both been cautious about recommending the devices as there is still uncertainty about their benefits.

TODO: define component type apester

Dr Tim Ballard, of the Royal College of GPs, was quoted by the BBC as saying: At the moment there isn't the evidence and the guidance hasn't been written to help GPs make those decisions.

Public Health England, though, has urged smokers to switch to vaping, saying they are far less harmful than normal cigarettes.

Deborah Arnott, of the charity Action on Smoking and Heath, welcomed the move, saying e-cigarettes are a much safer alternative source of nicotine, but added: That doesn't mean they are risk-free and we would discourage anyone who's not a smoker from using them.
A n advertising company is being investigated over whether it flouted planning rules by replacing an iconic 1950s Lucozade sign with a giant digital screen.

People living near the giant retro sign have reacted with fury after it disappeared from the site overlooking the M4 motorway in West London.

Planning officials at Hounslow Council have launched a probe into whether the signs owners have broken planning rules by replacing it with the huge digital advertising hoarding.

The sign, featuring a pouring bottle logo and the replaces lost energy slogan, dates back to 1953 and was on the side of five-storey York House in Brentford.

It first appeared 100m away on the Lucozade Annexe where the fizzy energy drink was manufactured by Beechams at the time.

Brentford-based advertising firm JC Decaux applied in 2013 to replace the original advertisement, an example of kinetic architecture common in the post-war 1950s Festival of Britain era.

The sign was replaced by a Mercedes advert / Brentford Heritage

Hounslow Council rejected the application to alternate a digital reproduction of the original sign with the modern Lucozade logo but the decision was overturned last year by the Planning Inspectorate, which said that the new sign should be allowed.

The Planning Inspectors ruling said that the replacement sign should be allowed on the basis that it replace and replicate the existing Lucozade sign in a modern format.

But a picture posted online by campaign group Brentford Heritage showed the sign advertising the Mercedes Citan van.

Councillor Steve Curran, leader of Hounslow Council, said that he would be ordering planning officials to look into whether there had been a breach of the rules.

He said: Its a really important local landmark that we wouldnt want to lose. We need to find out who removed it and why.

TODO: define component type apester

Its a culturally iconic landmark and Ill be asking officials to assess whether there has been any breach of planning guidance.

Local councillor Guy Lambert added: Its not just people in the area who are very attached to it, its recognised by millions of people as a landmark telling you youre coming into London. It would be very sad if it was replaced by generic advertising.

The original sign bore the legend, Lucozade Aids Recovery, before it was changed to the current Lucozade replaces lost energy in the 1980s.

After Hounslow council was told by English Heritage that it could not be listed, the original sign was donated to Gunnersbury Museum in 2004 after owners GlaxoSmithKline decided to sell the old Beechams lab.

A public campaign to save the sign led to a replica being placed at York House in 2010.

Among those to express their dismay online at the removal of the sign was BBC presenter Jeremy Vine, who tweeted that its replacement was a neon nightmare.

An online petition calling for the old advert to be brought back has also been launched.

JC Decaux declined to comment.
R esidents of one of Londons most prestigious postcodes have hit out at plans for a five-day Oktoberfest party to be held there.

German entrepreneur Carsten Raun is in talks with Ealing Council to host a festival for thousands of drinkers in leafy Chiswick this summer.

Alongside the boozing, proposals include live oompah music and dancing, plus a shop where revellers can hire their own lederhosen.

But residents groups say the event is an imposition and that it is too large for the proposed site on Acton Green near Turnham Green station.

Nigel Walley from the Bedford Park Residents' Association said the green space was normally used for a book festival rather than hosting 1,500 thirsty beer drinkers a day.

Residents in Chiswick are concerned about a beer festival on their doorsteps / Carsten Raun

He said: To be fairly honest we dont know what to expect.

This is a new thing thats come out of the blue. I think its out of place for a number of reasons. Its a drinking festival in the middle of a reasonably genteel suburb.

He went on: I dont know if its intended as an event for the German community in west London.

Wed much rather this wasnt happening because its not come out of or from the community here. Its very much an imposed event from outside.

Mr Walley also questioned why, when it was billed as a small festival, the plans showed it required a string of temporary toilets and a phalanx of security guards to stop people making a nuisance of themselves.

He said: Its very hard at the moment to find someone who wants to speak in favour of it. Its the kind of thing residents will have to hold their nose about because I dont think we have the option to agree or disagree.

The event is one of four r Raun wants to hold in the capital across seven weeks this summer, with a fortnight-long festival also planned for Millwall Park and two more in unconfirmed central London locations.

And the German, whose Oktoberfest events last year attracted crowds totalling 25,000 people, insisted that Chiswick residents had nothing to fear from the plan.

He said: We are trying to make it a very cooperative approach with the residents, to listen to them and try to work any concerns out.

The plan for Chiswick is five days and thats also one of our ideas. It is shorter and will have less impact for the residents. The whole things a small event, only planned for 1,500 people.

Weve tried to fit it into the area. We think, with the public transport link that we have at Turnham Green, thats a perfect location for people to come and go.

He added: We want to show the Londoners and local people in west London what the best stuff about German culture is.

Were really open if people would like to give ideas or have comments to tell us.

The festival would run from a Wednesday to Sunday at a date to be agreed in August or September, with last orders at 10.30pm each night.

A spokesman for Ealing Council said: Ealing Council is consulting with residents associations and other interested parties following an application to hold an Oktoberfest event on Acton Green in August.

Any concerns raised during the consultation will be taken into account before a decision on whether permission will be granted is made.
T he red-trousered of Pimlico have spoken, and they say NO. No, specifically, to the proposed cycle-pedestrian bridge that will connect them with the Nine Elms development on the other side of the river, soon to be home to the American, Dutch and Chinese embassies.

Original Sloane Ranger Peter York is leading the corduroyed charge against the bridge, in his role as co-inventor of the Pimlico Club, an informal residents association. According to York, the bridge is being built purely as a thoroughfare for the embassy workers (cruelly ripped from Grosvenor Square and trying to reach the fleshpots of Mayfair) and the Chinese and Malaysian off-plan-bought flat-owners who York reckons have snapped up the 20,000 properties on the massive Nine Elms estate. They will ignore the glories of Pimlico, such as the church of St James the Less with its G F Watts frescoes, in their blinkered bid to reach Piccadilly Circus.

York described to us a meeting filled to the rafters of 150 people from both sides of the river at the local St Saviours Church. In a show of hands pro- and anti-bridge, says York, it was two for, 148 against  and those two were from south London anyway. They were probably academics, or nutty, or something.

The loafered lot follow the lead of their neighbouring Chelsea set, last seen stomping their Louboutins over the Crossrail 2 development on their beloved Kings Road. Perhaps York could instigate border control on the banks to prevent anyone not wearing red trousers from entering? We sense an Ealing comedy brewing.

***

A festive period of calling the kettle black for Jeremy Paxman. Before Christmas he said that everyone on the telly is a show-off in the FT before describing subject Jeremy Clarkson as an accomplished deipnosophist. Not a show-off at all, of course, as several readers commented on Friday. Later that day he hosted the final of the alumni special of University Challenge, where classicist Robin Lane Fox displayed his Cicero expertise. God youre patronising, Paxo sniggered. A word never thrown at him, of course.

Labour MP in a muddle over honours list

Oh, for MPs with longer memories (and no Twitter accounts). On December 26, Labourite Chris Bryant tweeted: I suggest a new rule: any knighthood that is pre-leaked to press should be rescinded.

This was, The Londoner guesses, a not-so-subtle dig at Lynton Crosby, the Australian strategist who helped Cameron win the election and was knighted in the New Years Honours.

Another name that had been floating around was Rosie Winterton, the Labour chief whip, who also got a title. And this time it didnt bother Bryant, who tweeted on the 29th: Really Delighted for Rosie Winterton... #there isnothinglikeadame. Were saying nothing.

No rest for Paul and Saorise

The bells have rung in a new year, and some will be taking it easy this January. Sympathy for actors Paul Dano and Saoirse Ronan, pictured, therefore, whose chances of awards glory this year mean a busy month of campaigning.

The pair were at the Parker Hotel in California this weekend following the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and both will be hoping for a full trophy case come February. Ronan has received plaudits for her performance in romantic drama Brooklyn, while Danos portrayal of Beach Boy Brian Wilson in Love and Mercy may just get him an Oscar nomination. Wouldnt that be nice?

War breaks out over TV Tolstoy

Another period drama, another delicious opportunity to spot the mistakes. Last night the BBC aired its first episode of War and Peace, the six-part adaptation of the Tolstoy doorstop. Lily James took the lead as swooning heroine Natasha Rostova, but social media responses focused on the beautiful dresses, actor James Nortons cheekbones and the eternally pesky incest subplot.

Others, however, couldnt get past certain idiosyncrasies that either went unnoticed in the production process or were ignored to appeal to the young whippersnappers who may never have attempted the classic tome.

I studied literature at a fine university, writer and actress Emma Kennedy tweeted, and I still dont know one single person whos ever finished War and Peace Somewhere, on the internet, a pedant is fuming because a quadrille from 1815 is being danced in 1812.

Author and scriptwriter Andrew Collins, meanwhile, took issue with modern phrases. Plenty to love about War and Peace but did they say cramp your style and its complicated and bye! in early 19th-century Russia?

Historian Helen Rappaport, an expert on the Romanov dynasty, had follicular concerns. Natashas Sixties schoolgirl fringe? she tweeted. This is 1805, FFS.

Maybe it just took a few centuries to reach our shores.

***

After evil suffragettes were revealed as the culprits in the Sherlock Christmas special, how about rebalancing the scales? Catherine Mayer, founder of the Womens Equality Party, suggests using two of the shows prominent women. What would be great is a spin-off starring Amanda Abbington and Louise Brealey, she tweeted. Oh wow! Abbington responded. Yes!

Jezzas Saudi crystal ball

Was it Corbyn wot said it first? Tories chuckled and moderates whined when the new Labour leader gave his party conference speech on September 29  no mention of the election defeat. Instead an opening about Saudi Arabias human rights record. Odd.

A few months later though, critics may have to eat their hats: Saudi Arabias execution of 47 people on January 2, including prominent cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, horrified the world. The name al-Nimr, however, should sound familiar: his nephew, Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, was sentenced to death as a teenager for taking part in the Arab Spring protests. Corbyn had, in his speech, called on Cameron to stop the execution.

It is believed that Ali Mohammed is still alive but Cameron and Jezzas detractors may now wish they hadnt giggled at Jeremy in September.

Detox of the year: Tatlers Sophia Money-Coutts laments that the Vogue House canteen had sold out of avocado by 8.45am today. Isnt avocado a bit 2015?
S adiq Khan today pledged to fund his four-year fares freeze by ditching expensive vanity projects such as Boris Johnsons Thames cable car.

Labours mayoral candidate claimed he would make tough decisions about where the axe would fall to raise the 450 million needed for his fares policy.

He would also boost Transport for Londons income by allowing it to bid to run bus, Tube and train networks in other British cities and around the world.

It came as thousands of Londoners returning to work after the Christmas break saw the cost of their journey going up by one per cent.

Mr Khan said: The Tories have put fares up year after year and today is no exception. A fares freeze is absolutely affordable but I want to be totally honest with Londoners - it will mean taking some difficult decisions.

Senior TfL figures are wary about any reduction in planned income as it could affect future investment plans and transport chief Mike Brown has warned mayoral candidates he will make the case against them loudly and clearly.

Tory candidate Zac Goldsmith, who has said only that he wants to bear down on fares, said: We know that demand for TfL services will continue to soar, and that we need to grow the network to unlock land to build new homes.

Sadiq Khan says he will find savings, but everyone knows these will be bitterly opposed by the unions who fund his campaign.

Mr Khans decision to scrap public funding of the Emirates cable car - one of Mr Johnsons flagship transport projects - as soon as the contract ends could result in its closure. However, there was some doubt over projected savings as TfL would have to pay to get out of the deal.

He also pledged to freeze further purchases of new Routemaster buses, which have been criticised for being too pricey and not green enough.

The Labour hopeful said he would raise additional funds by halving the 383 million a year spent by TfL on agency staff and consultants, cutting down on 61 million a year fare evasion, and merging engineering on the Tube and Overground.

He would also boost revenues by building more homes on TfL land and bolstering the transport bodys commercial arm - selling its expertise in engineering and operations around the world and ploughing the profits back into the capital.
J eremy Corbyn was warned against looking petty and divisive as he began talks with close advisers on a major shadow cabinet reshuffle expected imminently.

Labours leader is set to tighten his grip by purging or moving big names who oppose him on key policies, including shadow foreign secretary Hilary Benn and shadow defence secretary Maria Eagle.

He rebuffed questions during a brief appearance this morning at Kings Cross station in London to protest about rail fare rises. Im not talking about the reshuffle this morning, he declared. But his term the reshuffle confirmed one was coming - and insiders said things would become clearer this evening.

Diane Abbott called rumours that she will replace Mr Benn as poppycock and piffle, saying: Ive never been offered the job of Foreign Secretary. The Hackney North & Stoke Newington MP is among left-wingers and loyalists tipped for major promotions. Mr Benn championed air strikes on Syria, contradicting his leaders stance.

Former soldier Clive Lewis, who only entered Parliament in May last year, said he would be inclined to decline the post of shadow defence secretary if offered.

But he conceded: If Jeremy Corbyn offered me that and said, I need you to do it, this is essential that you do it, I would have to think about it. Ms Eagle backs Trident renewal, which Mr Corbyn flatly opposes.

Mr Corbyn went into private talks with his closest aides later this morning.

A reshuffle tonight or tomorrow morning would see a new team in place for tomorrows scheduled shadow cabinet, the first of 2016.

But a leading Labour moderate said Mr Corbyn should avoid a revenge reshuffle of moderates who backed Syria air strikes.

Shadow Europe minister Mr McFadden, a deputy to Mr Benn, said Mr Corbyn had a long record of disagreement with party leaders and should not punish others who disagreed with him.

I think there is a danger for him in this, in carrying out a reshuffle as a punishment for shadow minister who disagree with him.

He has talked of an open, pluralist kind of politics but a reshuffle for that reason could end looking more petty and divisive than open and pluralist politics. I think that is a risk for him if he proceeds for that reason.

Shadow culture secretary Michael Dugher, seen as vulnerable, yesterday urged Mr Corbyn to see Labour as a broad church not a religious cult.

With tensions rising ex-minister Kim Howells described Mr Corbyn and his team as superannuated Trotskyite oppositionists who had brought the party to its knees.

London MPs tipped for promotion

Islington South and Finsbury MP Emily Thornberry

Emily Thornberry, 55, Islington South & Finsbury:

The daughter of a UN diplomat is mooted as a potential replacement for Hilary Benn as shadow foreign secretary.

Unlike Mr Benn, she backed Jeremy Corbyns stance on military action in Syria. The former shadow attorney general holds the constituency neighbouring Mr Corbyns and the pair are said to be good friends. She nominated him for leader despite eventually backing another candidate.

She was forced to resign from Ed Milibands front bench after being accused of snobbery for tweeting a picture of a house decked out in England flags on the day of the Rochester and Strood by-election.

Edmonton MP Kate Osamor

Kate Osamor, 47, Edmonton

Osamor drastically increased Labours majority in Edmonton when she won the seat in May.

The former NHS worker and trade union activist backed Corbyns leadership and was then tipped as a rising star on becoming the new leaders Parliamentary aide.

The job sees her liaise with Labour MPs on the leaders behalf, acting as his eyes and ears in the Commons.

Her mother was also a Labour activist and campaigned for fairer representation for ethnic minorities in Parliament.

Martha Osamor was blocked from standing in the 1989 Vauxhall by-election by Labours nation.
T he father of brain cancer survivor Ashya King has said he is "proud" as his son returns to school full time.

Brett King said the youngster was "doing very well" after recovering from proton beam therapy to treat his rare condition.

Mr King, and his wife Naghmeh, sparked an international manhunt after they took Ashya, then aged five, from Southampton General Hospital without doctors' consent in August 2014.

The couple were arrested a few days later in Spain, where they were forced to spend several nights in prison away from their son before being released.

A High Court judge later approved the move to take Ashya to Prague for proton therapy.

A report by Portsmouth Safeguarding Children Board found their actions had "put him at risk" but Mr King again defended his decision on Good Morning Britain.

He also said that while his son still faced a few problems, he was delighted the child would be back in full-time education.

He told the programme: "He is doing very well. We are so proud of him.

"There are still a few issues - he is wobbly on his legs and his speech is a bit strained but he is a fighter, he does not give up and he is prepared to try anything."

He added the couple found it difficult "just a short time ago, to think he might be going to school for the majority of the day".

And he said: "We expect him to make a full recovery to the boy we had before."

The proton therapy was not offered to Ashya on the NHS, although the health service later agreed to fund his treatment. Several new proton beam therapy centres will open in the UK from this year.
A delegation of MPs including two government ministers were reportedly left red-faced after they allegedly found themselves stranded on the wrong side of the collapsed bridge.

The group, which included Floods Minister Rory Stewart and Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin, had apparently been due to meet Cumbrian residents to discuss rebuilding efforts to in the wake of the recent floods.

However, according to local resident Leeroy Fowler, when they turned up to meet villagers from Soulby and Pooley Bridge they realised they were on the wrong side of collapsed Pooley Bridge.

Mr Fowler said the delegation then had to make a 20-mile round trip to the opposite bank of the River Eamont.

So the whole village turned out yesterday afternoon to attend a meeting with our member of parliament Rory Stewart and... Posted by Leeroy Fowler on Monday, December 28, 2015

Mr Fowler wrote on Facebook: "So the whole village turned out yesterday afternoon to attend a meeting with our member of parliament Rory Stewart and the Secretary of State along with the British Transport minister to discuss the future of our village.

"They turned up 20 minutes late on the wrong side of our washed away bridge. A local farmer had to make a 30 minute journey via quad bike to get them here whilst the entourage made the 20 mile journey via road to get to where this picture was taken. You couldn't make it up."

Thank you to everyone yesterday in Pooley Bridge, Howton, Eamont Brg, Warwick Brg, Crosby, Rickerby - partic thanks to BT around Ullswater  Rory Stewart (@RoryStewartUK) December 12, 2015

And to add to the embarrassment, the local MP for for Penrith and The Border is Floods Minister Rory Stewart himself, who is known to have visited Pooley Bridge at least once since it collapsed.

However, a spokeswoman for the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs refuted Mr Fowler's claims however, saying the delegation had always intended to examine the damage on the other side of the bridge.

She said Mr Stewart had only made informal arrangements to meet villagers, and therefore was not late to the appointment.
T he former headteacher of a school linked to the so-called Trojan Horse scandal in Birmingham has been banned from teaching.

Jahangir Akbar, 38, has been barred from teaching for at least five years after investigators found he "failed to uphold public trust in the profession and maintain high standards of ethics and behaviours".

Mr Akbar, who was acting principal at Oldknow Academy, was found to have decreased the diversity of religious education for pupils - aged seven to 11 - and banned the school from holding Christmas performances or putting up a Christmas tree "in order to have more time to focus on teaching and learning".

His actions and inactions also "undermined fundamental British values of mutual respect and tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs", the National College for Teaching and Leadership panel found.

In a ruling published by the government, the panel said that "by decreasing the diversity of religious education and eliminating a diverse range of cultural events, there was a failure (by Akbar) to promote the spiritual, moral, cultural and mental development of pupils at the school".

Mr Akbar also "reacted inappropriately" by shouting at a parent when challenged about his daughter's education, and said he was "glad" when a pupil was said to have been bullied.

He was said to have acted dishonestly and also put pressure on staff to countersign cheques for expenditure which had not been properly authorised.

The acting principal also allowed members of the school's parents' association to have unrestricted and/or unaccompanied access to the school, without them having undergone police checks - a safeguarding risk, the panel found.

Oldknow was inspected by the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and Ofsted when the Trojan Horse scandal broke, with an explosive and anonymous letter alleging hardline Muslims were involved in a co-ordinated plot to take over some schools in Birmingham.

The previously outstanding school was rated as "failing", with "inadequate" ratings for behaviour and safety, after the inspections in April 2014.

It converted to an academy two years earlier, meaning it was not required to teach religious education from an agreed syllabus.

Oldknow Academy has subsequently been renamed as Ark Chamberlain Primary Academy.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.
P olice are investigating the death of a fox during a New Year's Day hunt.

Cambridgeshire Police were at the annual Fitzwilliam Hunt in Wansford to ensure there was no breach of the peace and officers were told on the day that a fox had been killed, police said.

The force said officers were made aware the animal had been killed once the hunt reached the village of Elton at about 2pm.

Sergeant Dave Walker said: "We policed the event to ensure both the hunters and the saboteurs could carry out their activity peacefully.

"An investigation has been launched to establish whether the killing was lawful or not, and we have been speaking with a number of independent witnesses, as well as participants of the hunt and the saboteurs.

"We are taking this matter seriously and will conduct a thorough investigation to establish whether a crime has been committed."

Fox hunting with dogs was made illegal in the UK in 2005, but many hunts have continued operating within the law.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to contact police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.
T hames Water has been hit with a record-breaking 1million fine for polluting a canal.

The Environment Agency brought the prosecution after waste from the Tring sewage treatment works repeatedly leaked into the Wendover Arm of the Grand Union Canal in Hertfordshire.

Thames Water Utilities Limited was also ordered to pay costs of 18,113.08 and a victim surcharge of 120, and the fine is the highest ever for a water company in a prosecution brought by the EA.

The sentencing judge said the 1 million punishment underlined the need for "very large organisations" to "bring about the reforms and improvements for which they say they are striving."

The company pleaded guilty at Watford Magistrates' Court in May to two charges under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010, relating to repeated discharges between July 2012 and April 2013.

The court heard that poorly performing inlet screens caused equipment at the works to block, leading to sewage debris and sewage sludge being discharged into the canal.

Routine samples of the discharge taken on January 31 2013 contained high levels of iron and aluminium, and showed a high chemical oxygen demand.

The EA received complaints from members of the public and the Canal and Rivers Trust about pollution in the canal, leading officers to visit the site on several occasions.

The officers saw sewage debris including sanitary products and ear buds in the vicinity of the outfall, the court heard.

Thames Water told the court that it spent 30,000 on replacing the equipment at Tring, and had taken steps to avoid further incidents.

The EA said there had been a significant improvement in its recent environmental performance.

Sentencing at St Albans Crown Court on Monday, Judge Andrew Bright QC said: "The time has now come for the courts to make clear that very large organisations (such as Thames Water) really must bring about the reforms and improvements for which they say they are striving because if they do not the sentences passed upon them for environmental offences will be sufficiently severe to have a significant impact on their finances."

Emily Rowland, EA environment officer, said: "We welcome the court's decision to penalise Thames Water for serious breaches of its environmental permit, which led to pollution of the Grand Union Canal.

"We take these types of incidents very seriously and will do everything within our powers to safeguard the environment and people affected, and that includes holding to account those whose actions put the environment at risk."
O n one bank of the Chobe River, elephant carcasses can be found, the victims of hunters and poachers. On the other bank, herds emerge from the surrounding floodplain each evening to drink and bathe in the rivers mud.

It is a stunning contrast, one that illustrates the state of one of the most iconic, and under threat, of African animals in the two countries whose border is defined by the waterway.

On the Namibian side hunting is still allowed and, despite efforts by the countrys government, elephants are lost to those illegally seeking ivory.

On the Botswana side, in the Linyanti Wildlife Area and the neighbouring 7,270-square mile Chobe national park, some 80,000 elephants roam free as their ancestors did across the continent for millennia.

The rising price of ivory in Asia has led to a slaughter of elephants in recent years. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo poachers used helicopters to shoot herds from the air.

In Zimbabwe, waterholes were poisoned with cyanide. Throughout last year one elephant was killed every 20 minutes on average.

Amid this, Botswana has shone as a rare bright spot. Blessed by being the least corrupt country in Africa and with a small population, it is home to about 200,000 savannah elephants, a third of all that remain in Africa.

It is why this newspaper is delighted that Botswana, through its newly established endangered species trust, Tlhokomela, has signed a declaration making it the fourth country to join the Giants Club, our elephant-protection initiative to combat the illegal ivory trade.

It joins Kenya, Gabon and Uganda in its commitment to saving Africas elephant populations from extinction in the wild.

With the Giants Club implementation charity Space for Giants, work is now under way to continue building the capacity of the wildlife departments anti-poaching units and implement programmes to ensure human-wildlife coexistence in areas where elephants roam in traditional farmlands. The Tlhokomela Trust is a private-public partnership, one established to benefit Botswana by protecting its precious wildlife.

Its patron is the countrys president, Lieutenant-General Seretse Khama Ian Khama, who has long been at the forefront of conservation, most recently by hosting the International Summit on the Illegal Wildlife Trade this summer.

One live elephant is worth so much more than all the pieces of art made from ivory gathering dust in homes far removed from the African plains, the president stated.

In this struggle, he has been aided by his brother, the minister of environment, wildlife and tourism, Tshekedi Khama. Under him, the countrys anti-poaching teams have been strengthened, community action empowered and new wildlife relocation projects introduced.

Celebrating the partnership between the Giants Club and Tlhokomela, Mr Khama said that Tlhokomela means to look after and protect but this comes at a big cost to the government.

Some of our neighbouring countries do not attest to the same sort of level of protection to endangered wildlife species as we do, he warned, and as a result we have a tremendous migratory pattern of wildlife from neighbouring countries into this country.

He continued: As Botswana has been listed as a middle-income economy our traditional donors have stopped donating or giving us assistance in wildlife protection, and this has obviously presented us with several challenges as to what we are able to do and the resources my ministry has.

That is why he hopes international funders will now recognise that in Botswanas success in protecting its herds there is ample evidence of why it deserves particular assistance.

Dr Max Graham, the founder of Space for Giants, said: With the illegal wildlife trade becoming increasingly sophisticated, the spiralling cost of maintaining one of the last wildlife strongholds on the planet is becoming too much, even for a country as enterprising as Botswana. That is why we are determined to help Botswana secure its priceless wildlife heritage  not for today, not for tomorrow but forever.

Tracking skills: Tim Blackbeard, centre, and members of his anti-poaching unit

Thousands apply to join ranger training deep in the forest

A vehicle passing the wildlife departments new ranger training centre would not even know it was there. The lines of tents and practice yards are hidden deep in the forest of northern Botswana, so the raw recruits gain an experience as close as possible to what they will experience in the field.

They learn to track animals, gather intelligence and act as a team while on patrol, which can involve living for days in the bush, sleeping under the stars.

The training centre is part of the countrys commitment to develop elite teams of rangers. Botswana has already deployed much of its military to stop the illegal wildlife hunters. Now the Department of Wildlife and National Parks director, Otisitswe Tiroyamodimo, is providing more men and equipment for its anti-poaching unit. A new chief was also appointed, former Botswana army officer Timothy Blackbeard. Such is the popularity of the initiative, some 10,000 applications are received for every 100 new places.

It is this unit that the Giants Club will now be supporting. Our wildlife must be protected, said one of its principal wardens, Tumediso Habala, 48. They are needed.

First aerial census tracks progress of conservation effort

THERE is no lack of data on how many elephants are being killed across Africa. Those numbers are known from the carcasses left strewn on the savannahs where they were slaughtered.

But, until now, there was no equivalent measure on how many are alive. To meet the need for accurate information about elephant populations, Dr Mike Chase, founder of Elephants Without Borders and a Tlhokomela trustee, together with Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, established The Great Elephant Census, a high-quality aerial survey of African savannah elephants.

The census took place in 20 countries over the last two years. It is the largest survey ever conducted for a single terrestrial species and was co-ordinated with the support of the local governments.

Already its preliminary results have encouraged Tanzania and Mozambique to increase efforts to monitor elephants, conserve their habitats and fight poaching. The continent-wide findings are to be released this year.

Botswana-born Dr Chase, pictured, has studied the ecology of elephants for nearly 20 years. I am delighted Botswana has been able to lead this first ever continental-scale survey of elephants, he said. These results should serve as a baseline for future elephant surveys and will help gauge the success or failure of all future conservation projects.

Rhinos that had Prince Harrys backing

IT IS not only elephants that Tlhokomela and the Giants Club will work to protect in Botswana. The country has seen a sixfold increase in its population of rhino during the last decade as the security its plains offer resulted in the animals being relocated from neighbouring countries targeted by poachers.

South Africa lost more than 1,200 rhinos in 2014, killed to get their horns which can secure up to 500,000 on the black market.

But the authorities know the rate of relocation to Botswana means the threat from poachers is likely to grow. Map Ives, the countrys national rhino co-ordinator who is also a Tlhokomela trustee, warned: We have no doubt that the syndicates are highly organised.

The result is increased intelligence networks and high-tech anti-poaching operations. If any threat comes here, it is very dangerous to them, Mr Ives said. Prince Harry witnessed Botswanas rhinos at first hand last year. He worked alongside the regions conservationists and released a video on his Instagram account of him helping a relocated animal.

Trying to stop a three-tonne rhino with a rope and blindfold isnt easy, he wrote, before celebrating Mr Ives and his team for doing everything they can to protect their newly reintroduced rhino population.
A man who had too many drinks on a night out with friends reportedly woke up in a morgue after being mistaken for dead.

The unnamed Russian man is believed to have passed out and was pronounced dead by medics, newspaper Khasanskiye Vesti reported.

The man was then said to have been taken to a morgue in the Khasanky region, which was filled to capacity, and his body was put on the floor of the freezer room.

A police spokesman told the newspaper: At some point, the man woke up, failing to understand where he was.

It was very dark and cold. In addition his brain was foggy due to the influence of alcohol.

In the darkness, he felt someones completely cold limbs and in fear rushed to the door. But it was locked.

The man reportedly screamed for help before doctors and the police were alerted by the morgues guard.

After leaving the morgue the man was questioned by police.
D akota Johnson has hit out at the brutal ageism in the film industry.

The Fifty Shades of Grey star, 26, might be hot Hollywood property but she has admitted that her mother Melanie Griffith, 58, and grandmother Tippi Hedren, 85, are struggling to find work.

In an impassioned interview with Vogue magazine, Johnson described Hollywood as being cut-throat and absurd.

Why isn't my mother in movies? She's an extraordinary actress! Why isn't my grandmother in movies? This industry is f**king brutal, she said.

Celebrity Offspring To Watch Out For In 2016 1 /13 Celebrity Offspring To Watch Out For In 2016 Willow Smith Forget Will Smith, his daughter Willow is forging her career as a singer and this year released her debut album, ARDIPITHECUS. She has won a handful of awards for her music including a BET. Scott Dudelson/Getty Images Rafferty Law Rafferty Law has shunned his father Jude Law's acting career in favour of modelling. The 19-year-old son of Jude and Sadie Frost made his fashion debut as a model for DKNY, and Tiger of Sweden, as well as appearing in the pages of British Vogue. He also gigs in London with his band, The Dirty Harrys. OLIVIER MORIN/AFP/Getty Images Dakota Johnson Melanie Griffith's daughter Dakota Johnson said hello to her biggest film role to date in 2015. The actress starred as Anastasia Steele in the eagerly anticipated adaption of E L James' novel 50 Shades of Grey. Johnson will star in the second installment in 2016 as well as comedy film, How To Be Single. Jason Merritt/Getty Images for LACMA Eliot Sumner Sting and Trudie Styler's daughter Eliot Sumner is following in her father's musical footsteps. She released her debut album under the moniker I Blame Coco in 2010 and supported Lykke Li earlier this year. In January 2016 she will release her second studio album, Information. Mike Windle/Getty Images Micheal Neeson Living with Liam Neeson and his late mother Natasha Richardson it was no surprise that Michael Neeson would find a flair for acting. He has been cast as Michael Collins  the same Irish revolutionary played by his father almost 20 years ago. Dave Benett Kaia Jordan Gerber Kaia Jordan Gerber is keen to make a name for herself. Cindy Crawford's daughter landed her first film role in Sister Cities just months after The famous offspring will star as after making editorial debuts in Vogue and CR Fashion Book. Even her mother admitted to be jealous of her! Michael Kovac/Getty Images Brooklyn Beckham Not so keen on following in David Beckham's footsteps and becoming a famous footballer. Brooklyn Beckham landed his first cover shoot with Miss Vogue and modeled for Reserved clothing. He also found time to make his acting debut in a music video for The Vamps. Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Glamour Anais Gallagher Noel Gallagher's daughter Anais Gallagher started making waves in the fashion world in 2015. The teen daughter of Noel and Meg Matthews was unveiled as the face of Accessorize's new tween collection, STAR. Dave Benett Gabriel-Kane Day-Lewis has proved to have many strings to his bow. The famous offspring of Daniel Day-Lewis has paved a career as a model for brands including Calvin Klein. He also starred in the Alex Wolff directed short, Boots. And next year he is set to release his EP, Every Scar is a Healing Place. Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images Lily Rose Depp Lily Rose Depp has some serious famous parent baggage to shake in the form of Johnny Depp - but the teen is well on her way to making a name for herself. Lily Rose made her debut as a model for Chanel in July. Not happy with just being a model, Lily Rose was also cast as Isadora Duncan in Stephanie Di Giusto's directorial debut The Dancer. Rindoff/Le Segretain/Getty Images

No matter how tough you are, sometimes there's the feeling of not being wanted. It's absurd and cut-throat.

She added: Whenever I have downtime, I'm unsure that I will ever work again. I don't know what it is, but it's a definite thing that happens to me.

Johnson, who rose to worldwide prominence in the film adaptation of EL James best-selling novel went on to admit that her name may have helped open doors.

She said: I'm proud of Fifty Shades of Grey. I don't need to distance myself from that.

"The more work I do, the more the general public sees the different things I can do. Do I think it opened doors? Yeah. More people know my name."


LINCOLN  Nebraskans shouldnt get their hopes up for major tax cuts from the Legislature next year.

With a $110 million budget shortfall looming, recent tax talk at the State Capitol has been more about gradual change than sweeping reform.

Even Gov. Pete Ricketts, who has made property tax relief his top priority, is saying that reducing those taxes will have to be a multiyear effort.

Were going to address those in an incremental way, he said in an interview last week. Anything we do will have to fit within the overall context of the ... budget.

Ricketts said he is working with key lawmakers in hopes of making at least some progress toward easing property taxes in 2016.

Speaker of the Legislature Galen Hadley of Kearney predicted that the Legislature will get something done to address property taxes during the next session, which starts Jan. 6.

I would be surprised if there wasnt, he said.

The most likely steps will be to temper sharp increases in property valuations and tighten up budget limits on local governments.

Both changes could help curb the growth of property tax bills with minimal impact on the state budget, said State Sen. Mike Gloor of Grand Island, the Revenue Committee chairman.

Slowing the growth of property valuations would reduce statement shock for ranch- and farmland owners, who have seen steep increases in their property assessments in recent years.

Tightening budget limits would rein in spending by local government entities, which means they would not need as big an increase in property tax support.

Gloor acknowledged that neither step would have a very visible effect on property taxes or provide as much relief as many people want.

But he said reducing Nebraskas heavy reliance on property taxes will require prolonged struggle. Future Legislatures could build on steps taken next year.

We need to look at things that can be added to and expanded over time, Gloor said. This needs to be a sustained effort.

Proposals that would make a bigger splash are unlikely to succeed next year because of the budget situation, said Sen. Heath Mello of Omaha, the Appropriations Committee chairman.

A November report from legislative fiscal staff said the state faces a $110 million gap between projected state revenues and estimated state spending for the two-year budget period ending June 30, 2017.

The gap widened this month when State Health and Human Services officials revealed that they needed $11.3 million to repay the federal government for Medicaid errors.

The reality is our first obligation is to balance the state budget, and that is going to be difficult to do, Mello said.

Lawmakers could close the gap by cutting back on planned state spending or by dipping into the cash reserve, which is expected to reach a record $728.6 million by June 30.

Increasing state taxes would be a third option, but one unlikely to win support in the Legislature.

Hadley said the budget gap may shrink when Nebraskas economic forecasting board meets again at the end of February.

The board will review its projections of state tax revenues, which lawmakers and the governor use in setting the state budget.

Absent a major change in the projections, however, any proposal to cut sales or income taxes would add to the budget gap.

So would any measure to reduce property taxes by boosting state-funded property tax credits or increasing state aid to schools. About 60 percent of property tax revenue goes to fund K-12 education in Nebraska.

Every time you give $1 away in tax cuts, that $110 million grows, said Sen. Mike Groene of North Platte, who is normally a supporter of tax-relief proposals.

That fiscal reality has squelched hopes of making a major dent in property tax bills, which had been the goal of a legislative supercommittee that met during the summer and fall.

Members of the Revenue and Education Committees, along with Mello and Hadley, spent several days studying possibilities.

The outcome of their effort showed that providing property tax relief could have been difficult even without the states budget shortfall. The study ended without consensus about changes worth pursuing in legislation.

Gloor, however, said the study was useful because the group agreed about the value of the states existing property tax credit program.

The program provides credits to property owners, which appear as a line on the annual property tax statements. The program began in 2007 under then-Gov. Dave Heineman.

This year, Ricketts and lawmakers boosted the amount going into the Property Tax Credit Fund by 45 percent, up to $204 million annually.

Thats a big chunk of change, Gloor said.

State officials sent out postcards this month to highlight the credit, which taxpayers often had overlooked in previous years.

The increase meant that the owner of a property valued at $150,000 got a $141 credit for 2015, about $34 more than in the previous year.

While members of the supercommittee were divided over how to approach property tax relief, legislative leaders said proposals for major income or sales tax relief face even more difficulty winning majority support.

We have too much of an imbalance in taxes now, said Sen. Kate Sullivan of Cedar Rapids, the Education Committee chairwoman. The property taxes that are supporting schools are on the backs of too few people.

But Sen. Jim Smith of Papillion said he plans to continue working on Legislative Bill 357, his proposal to cut income tax rates for the top and bottom brackets.

He maintains that Nebraska could gain economically from moving the needle a little bit on income taxes.

What were looking for here is an economic signal, Smith said.

LB 357 did not make it out of the Revenue Committee this year. Smith said he could not predict whether it could garner any more support in 2016.

Gloor said he expects there will be plenty of other tax cut proposals presented to the Revenue Committee next year. How much consideration they get will depend on the evolving budget situation.

I do think there will be an effort to come up with as much money as we can for tax relief, he said.

Contact the writer: 402-473-9583, martha.stoddard@owh.com
While you may have heard about the research and development (R&D) tax incentive  the Australian Governments tax incentive to encourage innovation  you may be unsure how to apply for the incentive, or...
| By Nicole Williamson

StartupAUS CEO Peter Bradd published a brilliant wrap-up of the year for startups in Australia and challenged the startup community to name its own top 10 moments in Australian tech, so I decided to crowdsource a list of badass moments for Australian women in tech.

These women are role models and super achievers of today inspiring the next generation of young women to be scientists, entrepreneurs and tech community leaders.

1. Government and industry backing Professor Michelle Simmons and quantum computing





Disruption is the most overused word in the tech world but quantum computing is the real deal. After 15 years working out of the spotlight, University of NSW physicist Professor Michelle Simmons picked up $46 million in the Australian Governments Innovation Statement and from the Commonwealth Bank and Telstra. The funds will be used to build a quantum computer prototype with the potential to be a million times faster than todays computers.

Simmons does the showbiz razzle dazzle brilliantly with the ability to translate complex information for mainstream industry and government audiences, inspiring confidence that Australia may be two to three years ahead of international competitors in creating the first truly quantum computer.

2. Real progress in encouraging girls to code





In 2015, the Australian government fully embraced the concept that children need to learn to code early in primary school. This development means all girls and boys will learn computational thinking and computer science and has huge potential to inspire more girls into STEM. Decembers announcement of $1 million in funding from the federal government and Telstra also sealed a brilliant year for the not-for-profit community group, Code Club Australia.

Theres still a long way to go but big wins from high-profile female founders provide role models for women starting tech businesses.

There were so many high points in 2015 for female founders, including Melanie Perkins from Canva and Jodie Fox from Shoes of Prey closing big funding rounds and Kate Kendall launching CloudPeeps in San Francisco.

Jo Burston has a goal of 1 million more female entrepreneurs by 2020 and she continues to inspire, launching a second Rare Birds book and a new online funding platform designed to connect female tech entrepreneurs with investors from four Australian venture capital funds.

In October, Liza Noonan was appointed as head of CSIROs ON accelerator program, which is designed to develop the startup mentality and build connections to the Australian entrepreneurial community. Noonan was previously general manager of Springboard Enterprises Australia, an accelerator program for female entrepreneurs. If Marshall is successful, the ON accelerator could go a long way to reinvigorating CSIRO, liberating ideas deep from within the organisation and making it a major hub for innovation in Australia rather than a constant target for government cost-cutting.

According to data provided by Laura McKenzie, who is CEO of Scale Investors, at Octobers #PolicyHack, 96% of tech investors are male and only 4% of funded tech businesses are led by women.

Dr Elaine Stead from Blue Sky Venture Capital hates Women Only Lists and looks forward to the day when theres no discussion around the issue any more. But even Stead acknowledges the need for heroes, so shes here on this list as one of the few highly visible female venture capitalists in Australia. Closing out a very successful year of expansion, Brisbane-based Stead has spearheaded the launch of a new $200 million fund tapping institutional investors and super funds.

Women continue to be the heart and soul of for-purpose hackathons. Pia Waugh is the long-time convenor of GovHack Australias largest community Hackathon which now attracts significant attention from the Australian government. Octobers inaugural Policy Hack included a 50% female policy, thanks to planning by Alan Jones from Blue Chilli and assistant minister for innovation Wyatt Roy

The AWShine Diversity Hackathon run by Amazon Women in Sydney and Melbourne was open to all genders, but special priority was given to female entrepreneurs and hackers. Organisers say they achieved 50-50 participation rates.

7. The establishment of meet-up groups





There was tons of womens business networking groups helping to connect and build community established in 2015. Gen George, founder of OneShift and Jane Lu, founder of ShowPo, have built a group with 800 members in Sydney and have just launched in Brisbane and Melbourne. Another meet-up that showcases up-and-coming female founders in Sydney and Melbourne has grown insanely according to organiser Sally-Ann Williams.

In March, serial entrepreneur Dr Catriona Wallace launched Australias first co-working space catering specifically to women-led technology businesses. This morphed into One Roof when Wallace joined forces with LA-based Gianna Wurzl and Melbourne-based corporate lawyer Sheree Rubinstein. The trans-Pacific partnership now has locations in Melbourne, Sydney and Los Angeles and will provide a platform for Australian women to expand, in a supported way, to the US.

In 2014, Nikki Durkin wrote a brutally honest blog that went viral globally about the failure of her startup. Embracing failure has become an overused startup cliche but Durkins post talked about the excruciating pain and loneliness of watching the business she founded as a teenager and taken to the US finally tank.

Since then, Durkin has come back to Australia, taken time out, learned to code and is back working on her next startup. Shes a key role model for other entrepreneurs because she represents the kind of early appetite for risk that Australia needs to encourage in young women to develop a more entrepreneurial culture.

10. Hacking all-male panels

While its great to see to see a lot of hard work going into making systemic changes, sometimes simple, spur of the moment actions can have major impact too.

My award for the most badass action by a guy in support of women in tech goes to Andrew Grill, a globetrotting Aussie based in London for IBM. In May, Grill found himself on an All Middle-Aged Corporate Guy Conference Panel in Cardiff. When challenged by a young woman in the audience, he offered his place on the panel to her. Miranda Bishop wasnt the most experienced or highest profile woman in the room and taking up Andrews offer took real courage but she brought the fresh perspective of a young female startup entrepreneur to the panel.

Heres hoping that 2016 will be an even bigger and better year for women in tech in Australia.

Nicole Williamson is a startup advisor and investor.
Monday, 04 January 2016 12:13:51 (GMT+3) | Istanbul

The European Commission has announced that the EU and Ukraine have concluded an association agreement. The treaty creates a so-called 'Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area' (DCFTA) that covers the territories of both the EU and Ukraine . The free trade area came into effect on January 1, 2016. From this date on, the EU and Ukraine will offer each other privileged access to their markets.





According to the European Commission, Ukraine 's exports to the EU are mainly commodities of iron and steel, mining products, agricultural goods and, to a lesser extent, chemicals and machinery. In the longer term, the agreement is expected to support Ukraine 's economic development and generate more demand for European products and services. In addition, the DCFTA offers good opportunities for modernizing Ukraine s economy. With the agreement, an improved regulatory framework and easier access to the EU market is expected to increase trade and make Ukraine more attractive to European investors.




Monday, 04 January 2016 23:42:58 (GMT+3) | Sao Paulo

Iron ore production at Peruvians only producer, Shougang Hierro Peru , declined 13 percent in November, year-on-year, according to data from the nations mines and energy ministry.





Shougang produced 418,793 mt of the commodity in November, down from 481,532 mt in the same period of 2014.




Monday, 04 January 2016 17:40:06 (GMT+3) | Istanbul

As stated by the Turkish Iron and Steel Producers' Association (TCUD), Turkey s steel imports from China continued to rise rapidly in November last year in parallel to the increase in supply of dumped products.





According to the new TCUD data, in the January-November period last year Turkey 's steel imports from China surged by a massive 263.8 percent to 2.73 million mt, with a value of $1.92 billion, up 68.8 percent, both compared to the same period of 2014.





As indicated by the TCUD, in the first eleven months of last year Turkey 's overall billet imports from China amounted to 1.33 million mt, compared to zero billet imports from China in the same period of 2014. As regards Turkey 's other steel imports from China in the January-November period last year, Turkey 's flat steel imports reached 766,000 mt, up 215.3 percent, long steel imports amounted to 214,000 mt, rising by 31.8 percent, and steel pipe imports increased by 58 percent to 289,000 mt, all year on year.




Monday, 04 January 2016 11:25:18 (GMT+3) | Shanghai

During the week ending January 4, common carbon and low alloy steel medium plate prices in the Chinese domestic market have indicated an overall upward trend, though shipbuilding plate prices have moved on a stable trend, while transaction activity in the overall market is now at decent levels. Average steel plate prices in China are presented in the tables below.



During the given week, since shortages of supply have continued to be seen, bullish sentiment has prevailed among market participants and they have increased their steel plate prices. After the New Year holiday, new supplies arriving in the market are at low levels. Currently, inventory levels in the market are relatively low, providing support for steel plate prices. It is expected that steel plate prices in the Chinese domestic market will likely continue their uptrend in the coming week.

Product Name Category City Steel Plant/Origin Price (RMB/mt) Price ($/mt) Weekly Change (RMB/mt) 8 mm common carbon medium plate Q235 Shanghai Xinyu Steel 2,170 332 90 Tianjin Tiangang Steel 2,200 337 50 Lecong Shaoguan Steel 2,490 381 60 Average price - 2,287 350 67 20 mm common carbon medium plate Q235 Shangai Magang 2,000 306 60 Tianjin Tiangang Steel 1,900 291 50 Lecong Shaoguan Steel 2,160 331 70 Average price - 2,020 309 60 30 mm common carbon medium plate Q235 Shanghai Magang 2,020 309 60 Tianjin Tiangang Steel 1,920 294 50 Average price - 1,970 302 55 20 mm low alloy medium plate Q345 Shanghai Magang 2,110 323 30 Tianjin Tiangang Steel 2,100 322 50 Average price - 2,105 322 40

Boiler and container plate prices in local Chinese market

Product Name Spec, Category City Steel Plant/Origin Price (RMB/mt) Price ($/mt) Weekly Change (RMB/mt) Boiler plate 20 mm 20G Shangai Xinyu Steel 2,200 337 0 Beijing Anyang 2,130 326 0 Guangzhou Liuzhou Steel 2,550 391 0 Ortalama - 2,293 351 0 Container plate 8 mm 16MnR Shangai Xinyu Steel 2,700 413 0 Guangzhou Jinan Steel 3,100 475 0 Ortalama - 2,900 444 0 20 mm 16MnR Shangai Xinyu Steel 2,300 352 0 Beijing Jinan Steel 2,230 342 0 Guangzhou Liuzhou Steel 2,650 406 0 Ortalama - 2,393 366 0

Shipbuilding plate prices in local Chinese market

Product Name Spec, City Category Place of Origin Price (RMB/mt) Price ($/mt) Weekly change (RMB/mt) Shipbuilding Plate 8 mm Shanghai CCSA/B Xinyu Steel 2,380 364 0 Jinan CCSA/B Jinan Steel 2,070 317 0 Guangzhou CCSA/B Shaoguan 2,360 361 0 Average - - 2,270 348 0 20 mm Shanghai CCSA/B Xinyu Steel 2,100 322 0 Jinan CCSA/B Jinan Steel 1,900 291 0 Guangzhou CCSA/B Shaoguan 2,100 322 0 Average - - 2,034 311 0



17 percent VAT is included in all prices and all prices are ex-warehouse.



$1 = RMB 6.53
According to market sources, Turkish steel producers' merchant bar export prices have remained stable week on week in the range of $370-410/mt FOB. Demand for Turkish merchant bar in the export market has remained quiet following the New Year holiday, while buyers are in no rush to conclude new transactions.
Updated at 2:16 p.m.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates  At almost any other time, an escalating diplomatic conflict between OPEC members Iran and Saudi Arabia should mean a spike in oil prices.

That the rally this time couldn't be sustained shows just how abnormal things are in the oil market. Brent crude erased an initial gain of more than 4 percent as a global supply glut and the slowest Chinese growth in a generation trumped mounting strife between the nations on either side of the world's busiest waterway for oil tankers.

"When oil supplies were tight, we've seen bigger reactions to geopolitical tensions," Tushar Tarun Bansal, a senior oil analyst in Singapore at industry consultant FGE, said by phone. "Now the price rise has actually been quite muted because the world is in a surplus situation."

There was little more than a blip in crude futures when Saudi Arabia severed diplomatic ties with Iran, as investors focused instead on record stockpiles and rising supply. As Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates lined up to support Riyadh, the internal divisions that prevented the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries from making production cuts even as prices plunged to an 11-year low appeared more entrenched than ever.

Saudi Arabia gave Iran's ambassador 48 hours to leave after protesters set its embassy in Tehran on fire following the execution of Saudi cleric Nimr al-Nimr, a critic of the kingdom's treatment of its Shiite minority. It was the worst clash between the nations since the 1980s, adding to proxy wars they were already fighting from Syria to Yemen in a quest to gain influence in the Middle East.

The impact of the tensions between the two regional powers is limited because the oil market remains oversupplied, Macquarie Group Ltd. analysts including Vikas Dwivedi said in a note. The events "may severely limit the possibility of peace in surrounding countries, but do not directly threaten crude oil production," the bank said.

The world is awash in oil after OPEC members led by Saudi Arabia committed to a strategy of increasing market share by pressuring high-cost producers, rather than cutting output to support prices. This policy has resulted in record oil inventory levels that will probably keep growing for most of the year, the International Energy Agency said last month. This provides a cushion against any unexpected turmoil.

Brent futures, the global benchmark, rose as much as 4.6 percent to $38.99 a barrel Monday, before erasing the gain to trade 0.6 percent lower at $37.06 at 5:42 p.m. on the London-based ICE Futures Europe exchange (11:42 a.m. Central).

Should violence break out in the Eastern province of Saudi Arabia, home to most of its Shiite community and its richest oil fields, the impact on prices could be more significant, according to Alexandre Andlauer, an oil analyst at AlphaValue SAS in Paris.

"The Saudis will move quickly to quash any violence, but the question will be whether they can keep any protests from flaring out of control," Andlauer said.

The dispute strengthens the biggest bearish factor in the oil market in the past year  OPEC's decision to keep pumping amid falling prices.

Saudi Arabia and Iran are the largest and fifth-biggest producers in OPEC, respectively. Their worsening relations make it even less likely the group could overcome internal differences and agree to an oil-output cut to boost prices, Macquarie said.

Last month, OPEC effectively abandoned any limits on output and boosted production, according to a Bloomberg survey. The group would need to reach a consensus before making any change of policy that could reduce the glut.

While Iran is set to boost to oil production as sanctions on its nuclear program are lifted this year, it has called on other OPEC members to cut output. This is opposed by Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies, who also voiced support for the kingdom Monday.

The U.A.E. reduced its representation to Iran, while Kuwait said it backed "all measures adopted by Saudi Arabia to maintain its security and stability," according to an unnamed Foreign Ministry official cited by the KUNA news agency.

"When you see an escalation of this sort  which is sectarian in nature and involves the broader OPEC group  it just makes things even more difficult," Virendra Chauhan, a Singapore-based oil analyst at consultant Energy Aspects Ltd., said by phone. The organization is now "less likely to come to some kind of broader output cut," he said.

_______

Our earlier story, from Reuters, posted at 1:19 p.m.

NEW YORK  Oil prices weakened on Monday in volatile trade, erasing an early rally as concern about Middle East tensions gave way to worries about slowing global economic growth and sliding stock markets.

U.S. crude prices were also pressured by worries that record inventories could swell further at the Cushing, Okla., delivery hub.

Floods in the Midwestern United States prevented oil from getting to some refineries last week.

Brent, the global oil benchmark, was down 20 cents, at $37.08 a barrel by 1:40 p.m. EST (12:40 p.m. Central). In early trade, Brent hit $38.99, its highest in nearly three weeks.

U.S. crude's West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures fell 30 cents, to $36.74. It had traded as high as $38.39.

WTI also weakened after data from market intelligence firm Genscape showed a build of more than 480,000 barrels in Cushing supply for the week to Jan. 1, traders who saw the data said.

Two pipelines that feed Phillips 66's Wood River Refinery in Roxana, Ill., closed briefly last week due to caution about the floods, which rekindled memories of a deluge in 2011 that affected 13 percent of U.S. refining capacity.
ALBANY, N.Y.  Food cooperative programs that allow members to scoop rice, sort organic vegetables and ring up sales in return for grocery discounts are fading fast amid a changing marketplace and fears of violating labor laws.

The member labor or volunteer programs are intertwined with the do-it-yourself idealism that launched a wave of co-ops in the '70s. But they have become rare. At Albany's Honest Weight Food Co-Op, an effort to drop its volunteer program has riled members, illustrating its cherished place in co-op culture.

Supporters say the involvement of member-owners differentiates co-ops in an age where even strip-mall supermarkets sell locally grown arugula.

"It changes people's relationship with the store," said Nate Horwitz, a 28-year member who became board president last month. "Where people work together, you have a very different feeling in the store. You have a very different loyalty to the store."

Working member programs were a basic feature of co-ops, launched decades ago during a flush of interest in natural living and alternatives to big capitalism. The programs offered cheap labor for stores with little capital and fit in snugly with co-op principles like open membership and democratic control.

"Everybody pitched in  'Let's make the staff!'  and they did it with almost no money to start these businesses," said Stuart Reid, of the Food Co-op Initiative, which helps groups organize food co-ops. "And that's evolved a lot. Now we're competing against very sophisticated natural food marketers. And we're not running out of a cigar box on the counter anymore."

Early co-ops foreshadowed the wider public's interest in local, wholesome food and then benefited once the wave hit. Honest Weight began in a cramped side-street store and is now a bright, modern market that rings up about $25 million annually in sales. It is among more than 200 co-ops nationwide that have combined sales of over $1.8 billion, according to a trade group.

Honest Weight's former board president mentioned the inefficiency of having roughly 1,200 working members cover shifts in explaining a board vote this fall to discontinue the program on the store's floor. Board members rescinded that vote after being told they overstepped their authority. But the initial uproar led to a shake-up of the board that cost the president his position.

The larger issue weighing on the board at Honest Weight and other co-ops is the fear that labor officials could classify their working members as employees rather than volunteers, leaving them open to charges they are violating minimum-wage rules. A small number of co-ops nationwide have settled complaints over the decades instead of testing that interpretation, according to longtime observers.

At Honest Weight, Horwitz believes there's no real evidence of a threat until labor officials go after co-ops. His belief is: Why change now?

But Honest Weight representatives who met with state labor officials this month said they were told that "the potential risks of being found out of legal compliance were high."

"The time to make a change is now, before we have a complaint filed against us," said board member Deborah Dennis. "And I don't think our membership is there yet. I don't know what's going to happen."

It's not clear how many food co-ops still maintain their programs, though the list gets shorter each year.

City Market in Burlington, Vermont, this year finished phasing out of its traditional member work program in favor of one that gives members credit for out-of-store community volunteering. East End Food Co-op in Pittsburgh ended its volunteer program last September. Bloomingfoods of Bloomington, Indiana, ended its limited program recently after implementing its first union contract for employees.

One big exception is the 16,700-member Park Slope Food Coop in Brooklyn, which requires most of its members to work. The Brooklyn co-op is structured a bit differently from many others; significantly, members don't get discounts, and the store is not open to non-members.

General coordinator Ann Herpel said the program has never run into trouble.

"It's a cultural value we have," Herpel said. "We think that cooperatives are about working together."

In Albany, the co-op board with Horwitz and two other new members is discussing what to do next. The program's fate will ultimately be up to members, but that is not expected to happen soon.

"I really expect that the board will be wrestling with this for the next few months," Dennis said.
St. Louis police officer Don Re says he still thinks of Marcus Johnson. And probably always will.

How can he not? He has a son who is the same age as the 6-year-old boy, shot to death during a family outing to OFallon Park in March.

Re was on duty that night and helped block traffic while a fellow St. Louis police officer raced Marcus to Barnes-Jewish Hospital with a gunshot wound to his chest. Despite efforts to save his life, Marcus was pronounced dead at the hospital. Re later wrote a heartfelt blog post about the experience that was shared widely.

He is just one of the children tucked among the number of last years surge in homicides. Their lives were cut short at the hands of those entrusted with their care, or claimed as collateral damage during violent encounters between others.

Marcus being in that car at 6 years old cant say, Lets not shoot, this is not right, like a 22-year-old can, Re said. Children need us to make those decisions for them.

When a kid gets killed, its like, How much lower can we get as a society? I dont want to say its like we failed, but somebody failed for sure.

Below are some of the victims counted in 2015s murder totals. Not included are some cases in which details are still too murky, or the Missouri castle doctrine permitting deadly force in the face of reasonable fear may apply, making the cases unlikely to fit definitions used by police in tallying criminal homicides.

Shooting victims

 Marcus family took him to OFallon Park to enjoy the weather March 11 after having undergone heart surgery the week before. His parents, four siblings and a 69-year-old friend piled in the minivan.

His family believes trouble started when the boys father, Marcus Johnson Sr., spotted an acquaintance in a passing car, who stopped to talk. Another man approached, upset that traffic was blocked. He left, but the family had a bad feeling about the man and they decided to leave.

A vehicle followed them, and bullets started striking the van before they got out of the park. Marcus mother, Quiana Johnson, handed her husband her gun and he fired back, afraid they would all be killed if they didnt defend themselves. They got away and called police, who rushed Marcus to a hospital, but it was too late. Police are still searching for his killer.

 Jamyla Bolden, 9, was doing her homework on her mothers bed when police say DeEris Brown, 21, of OFallon, Mo., fired shots into the girls home in Ferguson on Aug. 18, fatally wounding her.

Her mother was also hit, suffering a gunshot wound to the leg. She was treated and released.

The death prompted vigils and a manhunt for the suspect.

Ultimately, investigators with the Major Case Squad working on a case in another municipality got a tip about Brown.

Sources say Brown believed someone else was in the home at the time he opened fire, and he cried during his statements to police over the death of Jamyla.

 Alexis Churchs grandmother picked her up early from school Sept. 28 to stay at a hotel as they had done several times before, calling it a girls night out.

But sometime late that night or the next morning, Colleen Church, 50, fatally shot her granddaughter, 6, before killing herself in a first-floor room at the Holiday Inn near Six Flags.

Hotel staff found their bodies at 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 29. An autopsy determined they each died of a single shot to the head.

Eureka police did not find a suicide note but learned from relatives that pressure had been mounting in Churchs life, and she had untreated depression. One of her two sons had died of a drug overdose. Her husband had also died. Church had custody of Alexis, who had some emotional issues and needed special attention. And Churchs mother, 81, who had Alzheimers, was about to move back in with her, her son and Alexis at their home in west St. Louis County, with Church as caretaker.

A day before she checked into the hotel, Church posted on her Facebook page a photo that said, in part: You never truly know the daily struggle of others.

 Tahnaizja Smith, 15, was found shot to death along with her sister, Antquonette Hale, 20, on May 2 in a vacant lot in the 3000 block of North Vandeventer Avenue in St. Louis. Both had been shot, Hale in the back and Smith in the face, arm and chest.

Witnesses told police they heard gunshots and found the victims in the vacant lot, but police had no information on suspects.

The girls grandmother, Lorina Spraggins, 64, of the 3900 block of Oregon, said police initially had the wrong name for Smith because she was carrying an older sisters identification. The discrepancy was sorted out only when family went to identify the bodies.

Spraggins said the girls had recently moved to a home in north St. Louis County and had been inseparable.

They were typical teenagers hanging out with the wrong crowd, Spraggins told the Post-Dispatch at the time. They were not trouble-makers. I love them.

Abuse victims

 Ryder Vercoglio, 3, of Gillespie, died Jan. 5, two days after police say his mothers boyfriend, William R. Bolin, 24, of Livingston, beat him to death. Bolin has been charged with involuntary manslaughter and aggravated battery.

 Aiden Bunch, 3 months, of Festus, died Jan. 10 of a traumatic brain injury four days after police say his father, Cody Bunch, 22, of Festus, fatally beat him. Cody Bunch has been charged with child abuse.

 Mya Miller, 5 months, of Pevely, died Feb. 27, four days after Pevely police say her father assaulted her, causing a fatal brain injury. The girls father blamed the injuries on her toddler brother, police said. Doctors said the babys injuries were not consistent with the fathers explanation. Police submitted their investigation to the Jefferson County Prosecutors Office to determine whether charges should be filed.

 Layla Fast, 19 months, of Festus, died April 19 after police say she was abused. Her mother, Taylor Lynn Fast, then 21, has been charged with felony child endangerment. Her boyfriend, Dewayne Boyer, has been charged with abusing her son, 3, who suffered a broken leg.

 Sawyer Schnell, 3 months, died Oct. 8, after Lincoln County sheriffs deputies say his father, Steven Schnell, 25, shook him and caused severe brain injuries. Steven Schnell was charged with child abuse and released from jail Dec. 21 after posting a reduced bail ordered by Judge David Beck.

 Carmya Wright, 2, of Florissant, died Oct. 15, after police say her father, Lebroam Wright, 33, shook her to death. He has been charged with second-degree murder and abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death.

 Daylen Brown, 3, of St. Louis, died Dec. 8 in the care of foster parents. The St. Louis Medical Examiner ruled his death a homicide, saying he suffered internal injuries. No one has been charged with his death.
FERGUSON  Police arrested two men after they allegedly used a gun to rob a man of his cellphone.

According to a Ferguson press release, the victim had expected to sell the men the phone at a gas station at 1032 South Florissant Road at about 2 p.m. Thursday.

But the deal went bad when one of them pulled out a gun, demanding the phone, the release said.

Information from witnesses led police to a home in the 5900 block of Laurette Avenue less than a mile to the east.

Police ordered the men, who are in their mid-20s, out of the home, taking both into custody without incident, the press release said.
JEFFERSON CITY  Missouri lawmakers may try again this year to put the brakes on red-light cameras.

In a proposal filed in anticipation of the start of a new legislative session on Wednesday, state Rep. Bryan Spencer, R-Wentzille, is looking to ban the automated cameras that had become a major revenue generator for some cities.

The measure comes less than five months after the Missouri Supreme Court struck down red-light camera laws in St. Louis, Moline Acres and St. Peters.

The high courts ruling found problems in each of the local ordinances, but did not specifically ban the cameras. Spencer said the legal decision may help sway his colleagues this spring.

It doesnt hurt. This would put a barrier up and shut down a lot of loopholes, Spencer said Monday.

Like others, Spencer said he believes cities began using the cameras not to promote safety, but to generate revenue.

It has become a money grab, Spencer said.

After the court ruling, St. Louis stopped issuing tickets, dismissed all pending cases and offered refunds to people who had recently paid tickets.

City officials, however, said they were considering a new ordinance that would comply with the Supreme Court decision.

Spencer, who sponsored similar legislation in 2014 and 2015, said he also opposes the cameras on privacy grounds.

Im not ready to turn the world over to Big Brother, he said.

The legislation is House Bill 1945.
ORLANDO, Fla.  A recently fired caricature artist at Universal Orlando Resort tried to kill his manager by stabbing him in the neck with scissors on New Year's Day, according to a police report released Monday.

Frederick Torres, 33, was charged with attempted first-degree murder for his attack on Glenn Ferguson at the Islands of Adventure park. Both artists draw caricatures at Universal's parks but work for an outside firm, Orlando-based Fasen Artists, Inc.

The general manager of the firm, Anthony Fasen, told detectives he had fired Torres the day before the attack. On New Year's Day, Torres called Fasen, who said he reiterated that Torres was fired. Torres then said he was going to kill Ferguson, according to the police report.

"Fasen advised specifically that Torres had said, 'I'm going to slit Glenn's throat' and 'I'm going to kill your number one artist,'" the police report said.

Stephen Fasen, the president of the company, didn't respond to an email. Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said in an email that he couldn't comment.

The stabbings cut an artery in Ferguson's neck and caused brain leakage, according to the police report. He underwent surgery and was still hospitalized Monday, but his condition wasn't immediately known. The police report did not list his age, but Orlando Police spokeswoman Michelle Guido said Monday that he is 42.

Court records do not list an attorney for Torres, who was being held in the Orange County Jail on Monday.

Witnesses told detectives that they saw Torres chasing Ferguson through Islands of Adventure before the attack Friday morning. A security guard got between Torres and Ferguson, and another guard showed up at the scene. Despite that, Torres lunged at Ferguson and struck him several times. Ferguson tried to get up to run but fell to the ground, according to the police report.

Fasen Artists specializes in providing caricature artists to theme parks and casinos. It has contracts with Universal parks in Orlando, some Six Flags parks and several Las Vegas casinos.

___

The extended headline of this story has been corrected to reflect that the artist was charged with attempted murder, not murder.
LONDON MARKET OPEN: Cold start after hot UK inflation reading

Wednesday, October 19, 2022 - 09:16

Stock prices in London opened lower on Wednesday, after a release before the market open confirmed the UK returned to double-digit inflation last month, all but ensuring a big interest rate hike by the Bank of England next month.

The FTSE 100 index was down 16.99 points, or 0.2%, at 6,919.75 on Wednesday morning. The index is on a four-day winning streak, however.

The FTSE 250 was down 75.09 points, or 0.4%, at 17,454.22. The AIM All-Share shed 3.41 points, 0.4%, at 792.07.

The Cboe UK 100 opened 0.4% lower at 691.32, the Cboe UK 250 slipped 0.7% to 14,932.60, and the Cboe Small Companies traded 0.3% higher at 12,490.11.

In European equities on Wednesday morning, the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.1%, though the DAX 40 in Frankfurt both rose 0.2%.

The pound fell to $1.1289 early Wednesday from $1.1291 late Tuesday, despite another hot consumer price index print lifting the likelihood of the BoE digging deeper to contain inflation.

CPI rose by 10.1% in September from a year before, according to the Office for National Statistics. The inflation rate picked up from 9.9% in August and returned to the same rate as recorded in July.

The latest figure came in marginally hotter-than-expected, with a reading of 10% foreseen by the market, according to FXStreet.

The reading is likely to ensure another chunky rate hike by the Bank of England next month, potentially a 75 basis point lift to the bank rate. Last month, the central bank raised the key rate by 50 basis points for the second time in a row. The next scheduled Monetary Policy Committee meeting is on November 3.

The inflation reading comes as the BoE also moves to contain wild bond markets.

The Bank of England has said it will delay the sale of government bonds to November 1 due to the fiscal announcement later this month. The central bank had been due to start selling new UK government bonds, called gilts, on October 31.

The announcement came after the bank denied a report earlier on Tuesday that it would postpone the bond sale programme in an attempt to allow battered gilt markets to recover following the UK government mini-budget chaos. The BoE had initially dismissed a report from the Financial Times which stated it would delay a planned sale of 838 billion of UK government bonds purchased under a quantitative easing programme.

The inflation reading also came after new UK Chancellor Jeremy Hunt reversed a litany of tax cuts outlined in last month's mini-budget.

"There is growing speculation that the UK government will need to cut budget spending further after the fiscal U-turn. We already estimate that the change in the energy price guarantee will cause higher inflation, a deeper recession, and may cause the BoE to hike by 75bp rather than 100bp," analysts at ING commented.

The Dutch bank sees "downside" risks to the pound persisting.

The euro traded at $0.9832 early Wednesday UK time, up slightly from $0.9826 at the time of European equities close on Tuesday. Inflation data from the eurozone is reported at 1000 BST.

The dollar rose to JP149.39 early Wednesday from JP149.24 late Tuesday.

Stocks in Asia were mixed on Wednesday. In China, the Shanghai Composite ended down 1.2%, while the Hang Seng in Hong Kong was 2.2% lower in late trade. The Nikkei 225 rose 0.4% in Tokyo, while the S&P/ASX 200 added 0.3% in Sydney.

In London, Asos shares jumped 13%. The online clothing retailer reported a swing to annual loss, though it outlined plans to revive its fortunes after performing a "diagnostic" on its issues.

Revenue in the financial year that ended August 31 rose 0.7% to 3.94 billion from 3.91 billion a year earlier. However, Asos reported a swing to an annual pretax loss of 31.9 million of 177.1 million.

Among its issues, Asos said, is an underperforming international arm, its supply chain operations, its "customer acquisition and commercial model", and the need for data and digital improvements.

"Over the next 12 months, ASOS will deliver on four actions targeted at improving its ability to navigate the existing uncertainty, focused on: renewing its commercial model and improving inventory management; simplifying and reducing its cost profile; ensuring a robust and flexible balance sheet; and reinforcing the leadership team and refreshing the culture," Asos said.

It expects a 100 million to 130 million non-cash stock write-off for the new financial year. Capital expenditure, at 175 million to 200 million, will be below the mid-term range of 200 million to 250 million.

Davy Research said Asos's annual revenue of 3.94 billion was below market consensus of 4.00 billion, while adjusted pretax profit of 22.0 million was below consensus of 24 million.

"Today was all about the FY23 guide  a mass of caution and uncertainty and no guide, aside from a free cash flow move of 0 to 100 million outflow. On the face of it, not enough to stress the balance sheet, although the assumption set around FY23 trading is unknown," Davy said.

Elsewhere in London, IOG tumbled 55%.

The North Sea-focused gas and infrastructure operator has suspended its Southwark A1 well due to more fluid losses.

"Drilling the Southwark A1 well has continued to be very challenging with further fluid losses at the base of the Bunter Shale. To preserve the opportunity to deliver first gas in this quarter, we have decided to suspend operations on A1 in order to ensure that A2 stimulation work proceeds in the scheduled window," Chief Executive Andrew Hockey said.

Over in New York, Netflix was up 14% in pre-market trade. The streaming service reported subscriber growth in the third quarter, ahead of the launch of its advert-subsidised offering.

In the three months to the end of September, net income slipped to $1.40 billion from $1.45 billion, though revenue improved to $7.93 billion from $7.48 billion.

Global streaming paid memberships stood at 223.09 million at the end of the third quarter, up from 213.56 million a year prior and rising from 220.67 million at the end of the second quarter.

Gold traded at $1,639.56 an ounce early Wednesday, down from $1,647.70 at the London equities close Tuesday. A barrel of Brent oil rose to $90.10, from $88.97.

Still to come on Wednesday's economic calendar are US housing starts at 1330 BST.

Copyright 2022 Alliance News Limited. All Rights Reserved.
One of the best cigars I smoked in 2015, and one of only six to receive our top rating, was the Paco Robusto size of the debut blend from Las Cumbres Tabaco: Senorial. So, in 2016, Im resolving to smoke my way through the remaining four vitolas in the Senorial catalog to see which size best suits my palate. Today Im reviewing the Corona Gorda No. 5.

To refresh your memory on the background of this blend, recall Jose Blanco left Joya de Nicaragua in 2013 after creating the critically acclaimed CyB cigar line (formerly Cuenca y Blanco). Some speculated CyBs sales never lived up to expectationsnotwithstanding virtually unanimous praise from the online cigar community.

Blanco, a longtime industry veteran and roving cigar ambassador who is well known for his tasting seminars and extensive travel to cigar shops, headed back to the Dominican Republic (before joining Joya, he spent 29 years at La Aurora). He announced the creation of Las Cumbres Tabaco in February 2014. The venture, which translates to summits of tobacco, includes a partnership with Tabacalera Palma, operated by Blancos cousin, Jochi Blanco, in Tamboril, Santiago.

The first Las Cumbres blend was officially launched June 2014. Called Senorial (Spanish for lordly), it boasts a Habano Ecuardor wrapper, a Nicaraguan binder from Esteli, and Dominican filler tobaccos of the Piloto Cubano and Corojo varieties. Marketed as full-bodied and truly full-flavored, it is offered in 5 sizes that retail for $7 to $11: Paco Robusto (5.25 x 52), Toro Bravo (6 x 54), Le Grand (6 x 60), Belicoso No. 2 (6.25 x 52), and Corona Gorda No. 5 (5.5 x 46).

The latter boasts a clean, oily wrapper thats silky to the touch and traversed by a network of veins that range from thin to prominent. Moderately spongy to the touch, the unlit cigar smells of cinnamon, apricot, and sweet hay. A simple punch cut is all thats required to reveal a smooth cold draw.

After setting an even light with a single wood match, a toasty profile emerges with notes ranging from red pepper and cedar spice to cinnamon butter and dry wood. Unlike the Paco Robusto, my palate doesnt find much dried fruit or creamy nut, though there is some molasses and black pepper towards the halfway mark and into the final third. Green raisin makes an appearance from time to time in the medium-bodied blend.

The physical properties were outstanding across the several samples I smoked for this review. Expect a solid white ash, clear draw, even burn line, and above-average smoke production.

In my review of the Paco Robusto, I wrote, Senorial is the kind of blend that makes you want to expect more from cigars. And its the kind of cigar that makes you want to light up another as soon as its finished. It delivers handsomely in the departments of flavor, balance, complexity, and construction. All this remains true in the Corona Gorda No. 5 format, though I have to give the slight edge to the Paco Robusto sinceto me, anywaythat shorter, thicker smoke is a little more complex. Still, this is a tremendous cigar, and one thats worthy of a very commendable rating of four and a half stogies out of five.

[To read more StogieGuys.com cigar reviews, please click here.]

Patrick A



photo credit: Stogie Guys
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040115CHIEF WANTS WORK TO BE DONE DIFFRENTLY STARTING THIS YEAR

By Aloysius Laukai



The Acting Chief Secretary for Bougainville, PAUL KEBORI is calling on all Bougainville public servants to do things differently this year.



In his Christmas and New Year message last week, MR KEBORI called on all public servants to be more prudent and transparent and take pride in doing the right things.



He said that the Government and the people of Bougainville have expectations that must be met.



And they are here to make sure that the outcomes from our everyday work as Public Servants are tangible.



MR. KEBORI warned that 2016 will be a tough year in terms of implementation of Government policies because of the budget cuts been experienced throughout the Papua New Guinea.



Ends

Newdawnpic of Chief Administrator Paul Kebori in one of the Veterans Meeting in Tsiroge






Wellesbourne Airfield

On 8th November the family received the call they had been anxiously awaiting, a heart donated by a family in Germany was available. Kate said: We got the call in the morning when my husband was just about to feed Archie his porridge, the transplant co-ordinator came rushing in and said you might want to hold off on that because weve had a heart come in.

You feel so many emotions at that point, fear, sadness and excitement. We got confirmation that we would be going in for the operation at 11.30am and we were good to go.

We were scared because a heart transplant is the most dangerous operation a person can have, when he was in there all we were thinking was: when are we going to get the call? Is he going to be OK?

He was put on an ECMO machine straight afterwards, which does the work of the heart and the lungs, to give the new organ time to settle in. Not all children need to go on it but Archie did, its an amazing machine, it probably saved his life.

Despite the risks, the eight-hour operation was a success and Archie, who celebrated his second birthday last Wednesday, 30th December, has been recovering well ever since.

Kate said: Hes made good, steady progress since the operation, were so happy weve got our little boy back, were looking forward to a happy and healthy 2016. Weve still got a few hoops to jump through but were hoping to have him back in Warwickshire by the end of January.

The staff at the Freeman Hospital have been incredible, we couldnt have coped as well as we have done without them, they are such a fantastic support network and I now consider many of the nurses to be good friends.

Our life has just been on hold since March really, in the New Year Im just looking forward to a normal life, having time in our own home. Were excited to get our dogs back, theyve been staying with my family in Ireland, and itll be great to have all the family together again. I cant wait to get back to Stratford.

I think the family who donated the heart to Archie are incredibly brave and generous to do what they did at a time that is the worst moment of their lives. We will be eternally grateful for what theyve done for Archie.

Kate said that due to the immunosuppressants Archie is taking they will not be holding a big celebration to welcome him back straight away, but they may do something in the summer. Prior to Archies operation, Kate launched her own campaign to draw attention to the issue of organ donation.

She created a moving video about the long wait for a new heart featuring family, friends and nursing staff. The video was watched by more than 300,000 people on Facebook, and Ant and Dec, who are involved with the Sick Childrens Trust, retweeted the film. Fundraising for the charity has also been a key focus for Kate, who completed the Great North Run in September in aid of the Sick Childrens Trust.

She has collected more than 4,400 for the charity and though her own fundraising page has now closed she would urge people to donate to the Childrens Heart Unit Fund.

Kate said: People couldnt have been more supportive with the fundraising weve done, I just cant believe we raised that amount. I did the Great North Run and weve also had donations from people we dont even know, whod heard about Archies story.

I have had messages from people who said they had never thought about organ donation before but had signed up after hearing about Archie. If we can get people to talk about it and sign up then that can only be a good thing.

I feel very lucky that we were able to get a heart for Archie, not everyone gets the organ they need in time. We are just so grateful to the donor family.

To donate to the Childrens Heart Unit Fund visit www.chuf.org.uk
Wellesbourne Airfield

Proprietors Paula Auchincloss and Rachael Hand describe closing down the business as a heartfelt shame and warn that Stratford is in danger of becoming a faceless town".

Weve given it everything, but while we have a beautiful location its not somewhere you would automatically go to on a trip into town. Our business is also seasonal. We do well from April to September but when visitor numbers are down we suffer and weve got bills to pay so weve had to close the shop, Paula said.

We loved being part of the community and visitors loved the very Britishness of our products, whether its pottery, prints, jewellery or fabrics. Im worried that Stratford is in danger of becoming a faceless town if it loses its unique independent businesses. Then it will look like any other town, said Paula.

Mr Zahawi said: It is always sad to lose an independent local business, Rachael and Paula contacted me about closing down.

Footfall had been especially difficult this year and rents in town remain high. We have agreed to meet in the new year to discuss the pressures on small business.

The Government is carrying out a review of business rates, as well as announcing that they will be devolved to local government. Feedback from small business is crucial.

I wish Rachael and Paula all the very best for the future. Entrepreneurs are the heroes of our society and they should be celebrated in success and recognised for their hard work, even when there is a set back like this.

The Arter was a great independent business, hence why it won the business award last year. I am certain Rachael and Paula will be back.

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust will open a gift shop in the space vacated by The Arter.

Swarovski in Wood Street, Stratford, also closed over Christmas.

Other empty units include: the old HMV and Marlowes restaurant in High Street; Time Warp in Henley Street and, in Wood Street, The Framing and Mirrors Shop while Country Casuals is set to close soon.

What do you think of the town centre and the shops it has to offer. Send your views to be featured on the Herald's weekly letters page to news@stratford-herald.com
Vishay Precision Group, Inc. (NYSE: VPG) announced that it has completed its acquisition of Stress-Tek, Inc. of Kent, Washington, a privately held company. The purchase price was approximately $20.0 million, which includes the acquisition of real estate valued at $5.5 million, subject to customary post-closing adjustments. VPG financed the acquisition through a combination of cash on hand and borrowings under its credit facility.

Stress-Tek is a designer and manufacturer of state-of-the-art, rugged and reliable strain gage-based load cells and force measurement systems primarily servicing the North American market. Their sensors and display systems are used in a wide range of industries, predominantly in transportation and trucking, for timber, refuse, aggregate, mining and general trucking applications.

In commenting on the acquisition, Marc Zandman, Chairman of the Board of VPG said, We are pleased to complete this important step in implementing our growth strategy.

Ziv Shoshani, VPGs Chief Executive Officer said, Stress-Tek is an excellent fit for our onboard weighing product line and we are excited to have them join our company. We hope to leverage Stress-Teks strong reputation and technology to enhance market share and customer recognition for VPG onboard weighing products on a global basis.

Vishay Precision Group, Inc. signed a definitive agreement to acquire Stress-Tek, Inc. on December 14, 2015.
BERLIN, GERMANY -- (Marketwired) -- 01/04/16 -- Brookfield Property Partners L.P. (NYSE: BPY) (TSX: BPY.UN) ("Brookfield") announced that one of its subsidiaries has completed the acquisition of Potsdamer Platz in Berlin with its joint venture partner, an Asian sovereign wealth fund. The parties are not disclosing the purchase price.

The trophy, mixed-used estate comprises 17 buildings, 10 streets, and two squares covering a gross area of more than 2,900,000 square feet in the center of Berlin. The buildings are a mix of office (1,376,000 square feet), retail (493,000 square feet), residential (271,000 square feet), leisure (446,000 square feet), and a hotel (138,000 square feet) and are home to more than 480 national and international companies.

Ric Clark, Chairman of Brookfield Property Partners, commented: "Potsdamer Platz is one of the world's iconic properties, and we are pleased to be adding it to Brookfield's growing portfolio of world-class assets."

A prime asset at the geographical center of Berlin, Potsdamer Platz is the meeting point of the city's five most bustling streets in a star-shaped intersection. Redeveloped by Daimler in the 1990s and designed by an international team of world-renowned architects including Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and Hans Kollhoff, Potsdamer Platz sits among Berlin's historic, creative, and government districts and attracts more than 100,000 visitors every day.

Potsdamer Platz is also a transport hub served by U-Bahn, S-Bahn, regional express trains and bus services and with a direct connection to the new Berlin Brandenburg International Airport in 2017.

James Tuckey, Chairman of Brookfield Properties Europe, has relocated to Berlin where he is heading Brookfield's Berlin office. He commented: "Berlin represents a fantastic opportunity for Brookfield. I look forward to working with our management teams to further our plans for Potsdamer Platz and harness the opportunity that we are seeing in the German market."

Brookfield Property Partners

Brookfield Property Partners is one of the world's largest commercial real estate companies, with over $65 billion in total assets. We are leading owners, operators and investors in commercial property assets, with a diversified portfolio that includes over 130 premier office properties and over 150 best-in-class retail malls around the world. We also hold interests in multifamily, triple net lease, industrial and hospitality assets. Brookfield Property Partners is listed on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges.

Brookfield Property Partners is the flagship listed real estate company of Brookfield Asset Management, a leading global alternative asset manager with approximately $225 billion in assets under management.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2944287 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2944289 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2944294 Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=2944296

For more information, please visit our website at www.brookfieldpropertypartners.com or contact: Media: Melissa Coley VP, Communications Brookfield Tel: +1 212 417-7215 Email: Email Contact Investors: Matt Cherry VP, Investor Relations Brookfield Tel: +1 212 417-7488 Email: Email Contact

Source: Brookfield Property Partners
HONG KONG--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Global nutrition company, Herbalife welcomes Dr. Francis Gregory Samonte, an expert in pediatric neurology, to become the first Filipino appointed to its prestigious Nutrition Advisory Board (NAB), effective January 1, 2016.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160103005079/en/

A photo of Dr Francis Gregory Samonte (Photo: Business Wire)

The Herbalife Nutrition Advisory Board is comprised of leading experts from around the world in the fields of nutrition and health who inform, educate and train Independent Herbalife Members on the principles of nutrition, physical activity and healthy lifestyle.

Samontes appointment further strengthens the Herbalife Nutrition Advisory Board members to 30. His addition also reflects further expansion of nutrition and health experts from Asia Pacific in the Nutrition Advisory Board who will play a central role in raising public awareness and leading educational programs on balanced nutrition and healthy active lifestyle in 15 countries across the region as part of Herbalifes Asia Pacific Wellness Tour initiative.

Samonte is among the Philippines' premier experts in pediatric neurology, and is currently based in Manila. He graduated from De La Salle University College of Medicine in 1995, and has since studied at institutes including John Hopkins University and Harvard Medical School, USA. He was a recipient of the Chairmans Achievement Award, Department of Pediatrics, University of Louisville, Kentucky, and his affiliations include the Philippines Medical Association.

In tandem with his distinguished career in medicine, Samonte is active in supporting charities, notably through being a member of the Board of Directors of Community Based Resources in Zambales.

Herbalife Nutrition Advisory Board

The board is chaired by David Heber, M.D., Ph.D., Founding Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)*, who was recently in Manila for Herbalife's fourth Asia Pacific Wellness Tour, which included an obesity seminar given to Filipino medical practitioners. Other members of the NAB include Dr. Lou Ignarro, a Nobel** laureate in Physiology or Medicine in 1998 for his discovery of nitric oxides health benefits; Dr. Gary Small, a specialist in brain health and aging, who has received numerous awards and honors, including the Senior Investigator Award from the American Association for Geriatric Psychiatry.

* The University of California, as a matter of policy, does not endorse specific products or services. Dr. Hebers credentials as a professor are for identification purposes only.

**The Nobel Foundation has no affiliation with Herbalife and does not review, approve or endorse Herbalife products.

About Herbalife

Herbalife (NYSE: HLF) is a global nutrition company that sells weight-management, nutrition and personal care products intended to support a healthy lifestyle. Herbalife products are sold in more than 90 countries to and through a network of Independent Herbalife Members. The company supports the Herbalife Family Foundation and its Casa Herbalife program to help bring good nutrition to children. Herbalife's website contains financial and other information about the company at www.herbalife.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160103005079/en/

Media Enquiries:

Herbalife Asia Pacific

Daliea Mohamad-Liauw, +852-3589-2643

Vice President, Corporate Communications

[email protected]

or

Herbalife Philippines

Barbs A. Soliven, 632-555-2828

Corporate Communications Manager

[email protected]

Source: Herbalife
Electorate queue to cast their ballots at a polling station set up at the Hotel De Ville during the presidential election in Bangui, the capital of Central African Republic, December 30, 2015. REUTERS/Media Coulibaly

By Crispin Dembassa-Kette

BANGUI (Reuters) - Two thirds of the 30 candidates standing for president of Central African Republic on Monday demanded the authorities halt the vote count because of what they said were irregularities in the ballot.

Many voters hope the Dec. 30 poll will restore peace after three years of conflict between Muslim rebels and Christian militias in which thousands of people have died and around 1 million have fled their homes.

The protest by the candidates could mean the final result is contested, but it may be seen by some voters as a last cry by people who see their chances of winning the election slipping away.

"The election ... revealed a grave lack of organization, multiple irregularities and intimidation in the way the vote took place that fundamentally call into question the sincerity and transparency of the election," said candidate Theodore Kapou.

"We demand pure and simply that this set-up be stopped and we invite all relevant actors to sit round a table to figure out the best way to save the nation," said Kapou, who spoke on behalf of the others.

Results have trickled out slowly but with 34 percent of the vote counted, former prime minister Faustin Archange Touadera was leading with 139,498 votes, followed by another former prime minister, Anicet Georges Dologuele, with 96,728 vote.

The most prominent candidate at the news conference was Bilal Nzanga-Kolingba, son of a former president, who was running fourth with 50,332 behind Jean Serge Bokassa, the son of a late dictator, who had 66,229 votes, said Julius Rufin Ngouade Baba, national election authority spokesman.

Mainly Muslim rebels from a group called the Seleka seized power in the majority Christian nation in early 2013, provoking reprisals from Christian anti-balaka militias and a cycle of religious and inter-communal killings.

A U.N. peacekeeping mission and French forces are active in the impoverished country whose resources of cotton, gold, diamonds and uranium are under-exploited.

(Writing by Matthew Mpoke Bigg; Editing by Richard Balmforth)
Poland's Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski speaks during an interview with Reuters in Warsaw, Poland December 30, 2015. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

By Wiktor Szary and Justyna Pawlak

WARSAW (Reuters) - Poland could be open to compromise over British demands to limit the rights of European Union migrants if London helps it bolster the NATO presence in central Europe, Foreign Minister Witold Waszczykowski told Reuters.

With hundreds of thousands of Poles living in Britain, Warsaw is one of the EU's staunchest critics of Prime Minister David Cameron's proposal to cut benefits for migrants as part of his planned overhaul of Britain's EU membership terms.

Cameron has set a deadline of the end of 2017 for an in-out referendum on Britain's membership of the EU, but recently gave his strongest suggestion yet that he hopes to hold it in 2016.

Cameron left Warsaw empty-handed last month after a visit to discuss his push, with Poland's Prime Minister Beata Szydlo saying further talks were needed.

Szydlo's new conservative government, however, is keen to score a diplomatic victory at a summit of the NATO military alliance due to be held in Warsaw in July.

Waszczykowski said the issues were being discussed in tandem.

Asked whether Britain could offer Poland something to soften its opposition to Cameron's proposal, Waszczykowski said: "Of course. Britain could offer something to Poland in terms of international security.

"We still consider ourselves a second-class NATO member-state, because in central Europe ... there aren't, aside from a token presence, any significant allied forces or defense installations, which gives the Russians an excuse to play this region," he said.

In 2014, Poland's then foreign minister said he wanted the alliance to station two NATO heavy brigades - typically between 3,000 and 5,000 troops - on Polish soil in response to Russia's intervention in Ukraine, where Moscow denies it is actively assisting pro-Russian rebels.

The alliance is reluctant to permanently station troops in central Europe, with some states wary of violating a 1997 NATO-Russia agreement on the size of forces the alliance can have in former Warsaw Pact countries, of which Poland is one.

Moscow would almost certainly regard the establishment of a standing NATO presence on its borders as a hostile act.

Some western European allies have also been skeptical about basing large numbers of troops and equipment in Poland at a time when defense budgets are tight and question the military logic of tying down large numbers of troops in one place.

"Britain could support our expectations related to an allied military presence on Polish territory," Waszczykowski said.

ELABORATE COMPROMISE

Waszczykowski said Poland wanted to offset the impact of any benefit cuts for its citizens living in Britain by planning to offer a monthly cash payment to families with children, in the hope Polish workers will stay in Poland instead of emigrating.

He said Warsaw opposed any cuts in benefits in Britain that singled out potential recipients based on their origin.

"We're aware that the British welfare system is very elaborate and that it may not be able to bear it. We are therefore addressing this by increasing our benefits, and we also want to raise salaries in Poland," he said.

EU heads of state are due to discuss British proposals at a summit in February.

NATO defense ministers are scheduled to meet next month in preparation for the NATO summit.

"It would be very difficult for us to accept any discrimination," Waszczykowski said, referring to the migrant talks with London. "Unless Britain helped us really effectively with regard to the Polish defense ambitions at the summit in Warsaw."

After Russia's annexation of the Crimean peninsula, NATO suspended practical cooperation with Moscow. But after Russia's involvement in Syria, some alliance members, notably Germany, have called for talks with Moscow to be reopened to avoid incidents like the downing of a Russian jet by NATO-member Turkey.

Poland, which has been a staunch critic of Moscow's actions in Ukraine, is ready to accept this, Waszczykowski said, but only if NATO members agree to bolster the alliance's eastern flank first.

(Additional reporting by Pawel Sobczak; Writing by Justyna Pawlak; Editing by Andrew Bolton and Janet Lawrence)
CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. cities, states, schools and other issuers sold $377.6 billion of debt in the municipal market in 2015, up 20 percent from 2014 and the biggest annual issuance since 2010, Thomson Reuters data showed on Monday.

Bank of America Merrill Lynch (NYSE: BAC) was last year's top bookrunning underwriter with 468 deals totaling $49.3 billion, followed by Citi (NYSE: C) with 484 deals totaling $43.49 billion.

New York State's Dormitory Authority was 2015's biggest issuer with $9 billion of bonds in 34 deals. California came in second with $6.38 billion of debt in 11 deals, followed by the New York City Transitional Finance Authority with $5.47 billion of debt in 15 deals.

The largest long-term bond issue, totaling $2.178 billion, was sold by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority in August.

The amount of insured bonds climbed 36 percent to $25.2 billion with Assured Guaranty Municipal Corp retaining its No. 1 ranking by backing $14.2 billion of bonds in 857 deals. The use of bond insurance by muni issuers began to rise in 2014 after falling dramatically from 2008 to 2013.

Private placements of muni bonds were down 4 percent from 2014 at $20.58 billion in 937 deals with half of the proceeds earmarked for healthcare and education projects.

(Reporting by Karen Pierog; Editing by James Dalgleish and David Gregorio)
040116POLICE REPORT ONE DEATH IN BUIN

By Aloysius Laukai



Police in Buin are appealing to the people of Buin not to resort to jungle justice to settle problems occurring in their communities.



Commander for the South Bougainville Police, SENIOR SERGEANT JOHN POPUI made this comment when releasing the name of the person killed by another person in Buin over the weekend. The deceased is RAYMOND KITARE with the suspect ROBERT KOMETE are both from Morou village in Buin.



Commander, POPUI said that the incident happened after the two men met on the way to the Buin market and started punching each other and in the process the other person removed a grass knife from the other and stabbed him.



He later died from loss of blood.

Commander POPUI said that the two had some outstanding family issues that they could have solved by going to the courts instead of settling it through the jungle justice system.



Commander POPUI said that the Legal system was already in Buin with the establishment of the Buin Court house and also a resident magistrate is also based in Buin.



The South Bougainville Police Commander said that suspect surrendered to the ORIA community Police this morning and was transferred to the Arawa Police lockup for his own safety.



Ends






Form 8-K TTM TECHNOLOGIES INC For: Dec 29

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 8-K

CURRENT REPORT

Pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d)

of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934

Date of Report (Date of earliest event reported): December 29, 2015

TTM TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

(Exact name of Registrant as specified in its charter)

Delaware 0-31285 91-1033443 (State of Incorporation) (Commission

File Number) (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)

1665 Scenic Avenue, Suite 250, Costa Mesa, California 92626 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

Registrants telephone number, including area code: (714) 327-3000

N/A

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Check the appropriate box below if the Form 8-K filing is intended to simultaneously satisfy the filing obligation of the registrant under any of the following provisions:

 Written communications pursuant to Rule 425 under the Securities Act (17 CFR 230.425)

 Soliciting material pursuant to Rule 14a-12 under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14a-12)

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 14d-2(b) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.14d-2(b))

 Pre-commencement communications pursuant to Rule 13e-4(c) under the Exchange Act (17 CFR 240.13e-4(c))

Section 1  Registrants Business and Operations

Item 1.01. Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement.

Amendment to the Registration Rights Agreement

As described herein on this Current Report Form 8-K, on the evening of December 29, 2015 (December 30, 2015 at approximately 9:00 a.m. Hong Kong time), TTM Technologies, Inc. (the Company) entered into the First Amendment to the Registration Rights Agreement, originally dated as of April 9, 2010 (the First Amendment to the Registration Rights Agreement), with Mr. Tang Hsiang Chien (Mr. Tang) and Su Sih (BVI) Limited (Mr. Tang and Su Sih (BVI) Limited are collectively referred to as the Principal Shareholders). Pursuant to the First Amendment to the Registration Rights Agreement, the Principal Shareholders will have the right to require the Company to use reasonable efforts to effect the registration of the Companys common stock owned by them under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, up to such number of registrations upon demand equal to five. Previously, the Principal Shareholders had the right to demand registration up to four times. No other changes were made to the prior agreement.

The foregoing is a summary only and does not purport to be a complete description of all of the terms, provisions, covenants, and agreements contained in the First Amendment to the Registration Rights Agreement, and is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to the First Amendment of the Registration Rights Agreement attached hereto as Exhibit 10.1, which is incorporated by reference into this Item 1.01.

Amendment to the Shareholders Agreement

In addition, the Company entered into a Second Amendment to the Shareholders Agreement, originally dated as of April 9, 2010 (the Second Amendment to the Shareholders Agreement), with the Principal Shareholders and two of Mr. Tangs adult children (the Tang Siblings).

The Second Amendment to the Shareholders Agreement provides that with respect to various matters relating to, among other things, governance of the Company; business combinations; amendments to the Companys governing instruments; the size, composition, and qualifications of the Companys board of directors; voting arrangements; and severance arrangements, the Principal Shareholders and Tang Siblings will be required to bifurcate their vote as follows: (i) the Principal Shareholders, the Tang Siblings, and their affiliates may vote in their sole discretion up to 28%, up from 23% previously, of the total voting power (the Maximum Unrestricted Voting Percentage), and (ii) with respect to any voting securities beneficially owned by the Principal Shareholders, Tang Siblings, and their affiliates in excess of the Maximum Unrestricted Voting Percentage, the Principal Shareholders, Tang Siblings, and their affiliates will be required to vote such securities in direct proportion to the vote cast by the Companys non-affiliate stockholders. The Principal Shareholders and their affiliates may continue to vote all of their voting securities in their sole discretion with respect to (i) the election of their board nominee to the Companys board of directors, or (ii) any amendment to the Companys certificate of incorporation or bylaws that would have the effect of circumventing any rights of the Principal Shareholders under the original Shareholders Agreement.

In addition, the Second Amendment to the Shareholders Agreement provides that the Principal Shareholders with respect to each of the subsidiaries of the Company formerly owned by Meadville Holdings Limited (Meadville) that comprise, and operate the former Meadville Printed Circuit Board manufacturing business (the Meadville PCB Subsidiaries) the Principal Shareholders and Tang Siblings are entitled to nominate directors comprising a minority of the board of directors of each such company, and the nominating and corporate governance committee of the Companys board of directors will be entitled to nominate the remaining members of the directors of each such company. Prior to the agreement of the Second Amendment to the Shareholders Agreement, the Principle Shareholders and the Tang Siblings were able to nominate the majority of the members of the Board of Directors of the Meadville PCB Subsidiaries.

The foregoing is a summary only and does not purport to be a complete description of all of the terms, provisions, covenants, and agreements contained in the Second Amendment to the Shareholders Agreement, and is subject to and qualified in its entirety by reference to the Shareholders Agreement attached hereto as Exhibit 10.2, which is incorporated by reference into this Item 1.01.

Section 9  Financial Statements and Exhibits

Item 9.01. Financial Statements and Exhibits.

(d) Exhibits .

See the Exhibit Index which is hereby incorporated by reference.

SIGNATURES

Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the undersigned hereunto duly authorized.

TTM TECHNOLOGIES, INC. Date: January 4, 2016 /s/ Todd. B. Schull By: Todd B. Schull Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer, Treasurer and Secretary

EXHIBIT INDEX

Exhibit

Number Description 10.1 The First Amendment to the Registration Rights Agreement, originally dated as of April 9, 2010, by and among Meadville Holdings Limited, MTG Investment (BVI) Limited, and TTM Technologies, Inc. 10.2 The Second Amendment to the Shareholders Agreement, originally dated as of April 9, 2010, by and among Meadville Holdings Limited; Su Sih (BVI) Limited; Tang Hsiang Chien; Tang Chung Yen, Tom; Tang Ying Ming, Mai; and TTM Technologies, Inc.

Exhibit 10.1

FIRST AMENDMENT

TO

REISTRATION RIGHTS AGREEMENT

This FIRST AMENDMENT TO REGISTRATION RIGHTS AGREEMENT (this  Amendment ), dated as of December 29, 2015 is entered into by and among (i) TTM Technologies, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the  Company ); (ii) Su Sih (BVI) Limited, a corporation organized under the laws of the British Virgin Islands ( SSL ); and (iii) Tang Hsiang Chien, an individual residing at Flat 6B, 20 Fa Po Street, Yau Yat Chuen, Kowloon, Hong Kong (Mr. Tang).

RECITALS

A. The Company, SSL and Mr. Tang entered into that certain Registration Rights Agreement dated as of April 9, 2010 as supplemented by an Addendum thereto dated as of September 21, 2014 (the  Original Agreement ). Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in the Original Agreement.

B. The Company, SSL and Mr. Tang have agreed that the number of registrations of Registrable Securities pursuant to section 2.1 of the Original Agreement to which the Holders are entitled following the Initial Registration Period shall be increased to the number that is equal to the difference between (x) five (5) and (y) the number of registrations of Registrable Securities pursuant to section 2.1 of the Original Agreement effected during the Initial Registration Period.

AGREEMENT

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the promises and mutual agreements set forth herein and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows:

1. Amendment to section 2.1(c) of the Original Agreement . Section 2.1(c) of the Original Agreement shall be deleted in its entirety and shall be replaced with the following new section 2.1 (c):

(c) The Holders shall be entitled to an aggregate of (i) not more than three (3) registrations of Registrable Securities pursuant to this Section 2.1 during the period beginning on the Closing Date and ending on the five year anniversary of the Closing Date (the Initial Registration Period), and (ii) following the Initial Registration Period, the number of registrations of Registrable Securities pursuant to this Section 2.1 equal to the difference between (x) five (5) and (y) the number of registrations of Registrable Securities pursuant to this Section 2.1 effected during the Initial Registration Period; provided, that a registration requested pursuant to this Section 2.1 shall not be deemed to have been effected for purposes of this Section 2.1(c) unless (A) it has been declared effective by the SEC, (B) it has remained effective for the period set forth in Section 2.4(a) and (C) the offering of Registrable Securities pursuant to such registration is not subject to any stop order, injunction or other order or requirement of the SEC; provided, however, that in the event the Exercising Holder revokes a Demand Registration request (which revocation may only be made prior to the Company requesting acceleration of effectiveness of the registration statement) then such Demand Registration shall count as having been effected unless the Exercising Holder pays all Registration Expenses in connection with such revoked Demand Registration within seven (7) days of written request therefor by the Company.

2. Effectiveness . This Amendment shall be effective only on the date first written above.

3. Counterparts . This Amendment may be executed in two or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be the same document.

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4. No Other Amendments . Except as amended herein, all of the terms and conditions of the Original Agreement shall remain in full force and effect in accordance with their terms.

5. Governing Law . This Amendment shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware, without regard to its choice of law principles.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have executed this Amendment as of the date first written above.

TTM TECHNOLOGIES, INC.: By: /s/ Thomas T. Edman Name: Thomas T. Edman Title: Chief Executive Officer and President SU SIH (BVI) LIMITED: By: /s/ Tang Chung Yen, Tom Name: Tang Chung Yen, Tom Title: Director TANG HSIANG CHIEN: /s/ Tang Hsiang Chien Tang Hsiang Chien

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Exhibit 10.2

SECOND AMENDMENT

TO

SHAREHOLDERS AGREEMENT

This SECOND AMENDMENT TO SHAREHOLDERS AGREEMENT (this  Amendment ), dated as of December 29, 2015 is entered into by and among (i) TTM Technologies, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the  Company ); (ii) Tang Hsiang Chien, an individual residing at Flat 6B, 20 Fa Po Street, Yau Yat Chuen, Kowloon, Hong Kong ( Mr. Tang ), (iii) Su Sih (BVI) Limited, a corporation organized under the laws of the British Virgin Islands ( SSL ) and now owned as to 83.4% by Mr. Tang and as to 16.6% indirectly by another member of Tang family, (iv) Tang Chung Yen, Tom, an individual residing at House 58, Sunderland, 1 Hereford Road, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, and the son of Mr. Tang ( Tom Tang ), and (v) Tang Ying Ming, Mai, an individual residing at Flat B, 6th Floor, 20 Fa Po Street, Yau Yat Chuen, Kowloon, Hong Kong, and the daughter of Mr. Tang ( Mai Tang  and, together with Tom Tang, the  Tang Siblings ).

RECITALS

A. The Company, Meadville Holdings Limited, an exempted company incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands with limited liability ( Seller Parent ), Mr. Tang, SSL and the Tang Siblings entered into that certain Shareholders Agreement dated as of April 9, 2010 as amended by a First Amendment dated as of September 14, 2012 (the  Original Agreement ). Seller Parent was dissolved in December 2010 and no longer exists as an entity. Capitalized terms used but not defined herein shall have the meanings ascribed to such terms in the Original Agreement.

B. The Company, SSL, Mr. Tang and the Tang Siblings have agreed that the constitution of the board of directors of the Asia Holdco and the Asia PCB Entities shall be changed such that the Company shall nominate the majority of the members of each of the Asia Holdco and the Asia PCB Entities.

C. The Company, SSL, Mr. Tang and the Tang Siblings have also agreed to amend the Maximum Unrestricted Voting Percentage defined in section 1.1 of the Original Agreement from 23% to 28%.

AGREEMENT

NOW, THEREFORE, in consideration of the promises and mutual agreements set forth herein and for other good and valuable consideration, the receipt and sufficiency of which are hereby acknowledged, the parties agree as follows:

1. Amendment to the definition of Maximum Unrestricted Voting Percentage in Section 1.1 of the Original Agreement . The definition of Maximum Unrestricted Voting Percentage in Section 1.1 of the Original Agreement shall be deleted in its entirety and shall be replaced with the following new definition of Maximum Unrestricted Voting Percentage :

 Maximum Unrestricted Voting Percentage means, on any date, with respect to the Principal Shareholders and their respective Affiliates, shares of Company Common Stock having 28% of the Total Voting Power, where such 28% is based on the percentage of total outstanding shares of Company Common Stock owned by the Principal Shareholders as of November 27, 2015, which is approximately 28%.

2. Amendment to Sections 4.3 (a) - (f) of the Original Agreement . Sections 4.3 (a) - (f) of the Original Agreement shall be deleted in their entirety and shall be replaced with the following new Sections 4.3 (a)  (f):

Section 4.3. Board Representation of Asian Holdco and Asian PCB Entities ; Governance

(a) The parties hereby agree that during the Effective Period, a majority of the directors

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constituting the board of directors of Asian Holdco shall be nominees of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee (the Nominating Committee) of the Board in consultation with the Government Security Committee (the GCS) of the Board (collectively, TTM Nominees), and all of the other directors constituting such board shall be nominees of the Principal Shareholders (collectively, Shareholder Nominees, and individually, a Shareholder Nominee). In furtherance thereof, on the Closing Date, the parties hereto shall take all action necessary to (i) either increase the total number of directors constituting the board of directors of Asian Holdco or cause the removal or resignation of directors thereon so that upon such increase and such removals and resignations, as applicable, such board shall consist of a total of five directors, (ii) elect three TTM Nominees to serve as directors on such board and (iii) elect two Shareholder Nominees to serve as directors on such board. The Principal Shareholders shall have the right, upon written notice delivered to the Company, to request that any Shareholder Nominee be removed as a director of Asian Holdco. Upon the receipt of such notice, the Company shall cause such Shareholder Nominee to be removed as a director of the Asian Holdco.

(b) The parties hereby agree that during the Effective Period, at least a majority of the directors constituting the board of directors of each of the Asian PCB Entities shall be TTM Nominees and all of the other directors constituting each of such boards shall be Shareholder Nominees. In furtherance thereof, on the Closing Date, the parties hereto shall use commercially reasonable efforts to, to the extent permitted by Applicable Law and the organizational documents of the applicable Asian PCB Entity, (i) increase the total number of directors constituting the board of directors of the Asian PCB Entities or cause the removal or resignation of directors thereon and (ii) elect (or cause to be elected) the TTM Nominees to serve as directors on such boards, which nominees shall constitute at least a majority of the directors on such boards (each a  Asian PCB Nominee and, collectively, the  Asian PCB Nominees ).

(c) During the Effective Period, upon the death, resignation, retirement or removal from office of any TTM Nominee or Asian PCB Nominee, the Nominating Committee in consultation with the GSC shall be entitled promptly to nominate a replacement TTM Nominee or Asian PCB Nominee, as applicable, who meets the qualifications of a director of Asian Holdco or the applicable Asian PCB Entity, and the parties shall to the fullest extent permitted by Applicable Law, take all action necessary to cause the election of such replacement TTM Nominee or Asian PCB Nominee as a director of Asian Holdco or the applicable Asian PCB Entity, to the extent permitted by and subject to the requirements under Applicable Law.

(d) From and after the Closing Date, upon the death, resignation, retirement or other removal of any Shareholder Nominee from the directorship of any Asian Holdco and Asian PCB Entities, the Principal Shareholder shall be entitled promptly to nominate a replacement Shareholder Nominee who meets the qualifications of a director of Asian Holdco or the applicable Asian PCB Entity (as the case may be), and the parties shall use their respective commercially reasonable efforts to elect or cause the election of such replacement Shareholder Nominee as a director of Asian Holdco or the applicable Asian PCB Entity (as the case may be), to the extent permitted by and subject to the requirements under Applicable Law.

(e) All Shareholder Nominees elected pursuant to this Section 4.3 shall execute and deliver, and a Principal Shareholder shall obtain from all such Shareholder Nominees, an irrevocable written resignation from the board of directors of Asian Holdco, as applicable, conditioned and effective immediately upon the Principal Shareholders and their respective Affiliates ceasing to Beneficially Own shares of Company Common Stock representing at least 9.9% of the Total Voting Power.

(f) From and after the Closing Date, if at any time the Principal Shareholders and their respective Affiliates do not Beneficially Own shares of Company Common Stock representing at least 9.9% of the Total Voting Power, and any Shareholder Nominee shall not have otherwise resigned in accordance with Section 4.3(e), then the Principal Shareholders shall use commercially reasonable efforts to cause all of such Shareholder Nominees to resign and vacate the board of each of Asian Holdco and the applicable Asian PCB Entities. In the event of a resignation of Shareholder Nominee pursuant to this Section 4.3(f),

the resulting vacancies shall be filled by a director recommended by the Nominating Committee in consultation with the GSC.

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3. Effectiveness . This Amendment shall be effective only on the date first written above.

4. Counterparts . This Amendment may be executed in two or more counterparts, each of which shall be deemed to be the same document.

5. No Other Amendments . Except as amended herein, all of the terms and conditions of the Original Agreement shall remain in full force and effect in accordance with their terms.

6. Governing Law . This Amendment shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the state of Delaware, without regard to its choice of law principles.

[REMAINDER OF PAGE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK]

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IN WITNESS WHEREOF, the parties hereto have executed this Amendment as of the date first written above.

TTM TECHNOLOGIES, INC.: By: /s/ Thomas T. Edman Name: Thomas T. Edman Title: Chief Executive Officer and President SU SIH (BVI) LIMITED: By: /s/ Tang Ying Ming, Mai Name: Tang Ying Ming, Mai Title: Director TANG HSIANG CHIEN: /s/ Tang Hsiang Chien Tang Hsiang Chien, individually TANG CHUNG YEN, TOM: /s/ Tang Chung Yen, Tom Tang Chung Yen, Tom, individually TANG YING MING, MAI: /s/ Tang Ying Ming, Mai Tang Ying Ming, Mai, individually

[Signature Page to Second Amendment to Shareholders Agreement]

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A "lovely old man" with a million dollar view may have lost everything after a fire gutted his Wellington home.

Fire crews were busy putting out a blaze on Hornsey Rd, Melrose, on Monday afternoon after they were alerted to smoke billowing from the hillside property just before 2pm.

At least 6 fire engines and about 20 firefighters along with specialist support vehicles were called to the property.

1 of 7 Ella bee Firefighters battle a house fire in Wellington. 2 of 7 Ella Bee Firefighters are at a house fire in Wellington. 3 of 7 Nicholas Bennett Fire crews battle house fire in Wellington 4 of 7 Nicholas Bennett Fire crews are fighting a house fire in Melrose, Wellington. 5 of 7 Nicholas Bennett Fire crews battle house fire in Wellington. 6 of 7 Thomas McQuillan A house fire in Melrose as seen from Lyall Bay, Wellington. 7 of 7 Bruce Rice Fire crews battle house fire in Wellington.

Assistant area commander Mike Dombroski said one side of the house was already burning fiercely when the firefighters arrived, and access was initially hampered by poor access through the "zig-zag" narrow roads.

While the fire was extinguished within half an hour, it had already ripped through the house, leaving it structurally unstable.

At one stage it had threatened a neighbouring property but it was bought under control before the fire could spread.

Nicholas Bennett Firefighters are at a house fire in Wellington.

No one was home at the time but neighbours said an older man had owned and lived in the house for decades.

Sue Coventry's home overlooks the house and she was out on the deck admiring the view over the bay when she noticed a wall on fire on the house below.

"I yelled, 'Get out Peter, if you're in there get out'."

When the fire looked like it might spread to the house directly below her, Coventry went down to try and use their hose to put it out.

"The heat was just too intense."

Niki Partsch returned home to find her next door neighbour's home gutted by the fire.

She said the occupant was a "lovely old man" who had likely lost everything.

"I'd say everything he has is in there."

Fire Service central communications centre shift manager David Barham said the house was fully ablaze when crews arrived.

Firefighters had checked the house and confirmed all occupants were accounted for with no reports of injuries, Barham said.

The situation had been downgraded and some fire crews were leaving the scene by about 3.30pm.
Olga Afanassieva was walking to the bus stop, when two vicious dogs attacked and dragged her to the ground.

Olga Afanassieva thought she was a goner when she was attacked by two dogs on her way to the beach.

Instead, her arms and legs were left bloody and punctured, she is now calling on authorities to do more to crack down on the aggressive fighting dogs and their irresponsible owners.

The 78-year-old was set upon by a pitbull terrier and a bulldog in Cannons Creek, Porirua, as she made her way to a bus stop for trip to the beach on New Year's Day.

ROBERT KITCHIN/ FAIRFAX NZ Porirua pensioner Olga Afanassieva says authorities need to clamp down on dangerous breeds after she was attacked by a pitbull terrier on New Year's Day.

"The dogs jumped on me and I thought they were going to eat me to my bones."

READ MORE:

*Dog attack victim says owners must be prosecuted

*Hundreds of Wellington dogs put down because of irresponsible owners

*Lawyer sentenced after dog attack left woman without lip

The two dogs burst out of nearby property on Mungavin Ave, knocking Afanassieva to the ground as she tried to defend herself with her bag.

She suffered a deep puncture wound on her arm as well as bad cuts and bruising to her hands, chest, belly and legs and back pain.

A passing motorist managed to call the dogs off before the partner of the dogs' owner gave Afanassieva disinfectant and plasters for her wounds.

Despite being bloodied and battered Afanassieva said she was still high on adrenaline after the attack and continued onto the beach where she washed her wounds in the saltwater.

It wasn't until the next day that fatigue and stress kicked in, leaving her bedridden on painkillers for two days before finally seeking medical help.

She said the attack had spoiled what had been a promising start to 2016 and had ruined plans to visit friends in Upper Hutt in the New Year.

Afanassieva, a retired translator and Russian emigre, said she did not frighten easily.

The attack would not diminish her love of dogs but she would recommend the pitbull terrier be put down to protect others.

"It's not the dog's fault, it's the irresponsible owners - we need to be careful about human beings too.

"I think it should be prohibited to have these aggressive breeds...fighting dogs. Why do they need them in the city? I understand why farmers would have them where they live alone but not in a residential area," Afanassieva said.

Porirua City Council spokeswoman Moana Wyatt said the pitbull terrier had been impounded as an investigation continued.

The bulldog, who was not thought to be a main aggressor, had not been impounded.

Wyatt said Afanassieva would be visited by an animal control officer on Tuesday who would collect her version of events and then talk to the owners of the dogs.

A recommendation would then be made on whether the pitbull would be put down or not, she said.

Wyatt said Porirua was no more dangerous than any other part of the country for dog attacks.

Last year ACC paid out nearly $4.5 million in claims to 12,817 dog bite victims - up from 10,494 attacks and about $2m in 2006.

DODGY DOGS: THE LAW

* BANNED: American Pit Bull Terrier, Dogo Argentino, Brazilian Fila, Japanese Tosa and Perro de Presa Canario - these breeds cannot be imported into the country.

* MENACING: A council may declare a dog menacing if it is deemed a threat to people, or animals because of its behaviour or traits associated with the dog's breed. Menacing dogs must be muzzled in public and a council can require them to be neutered.

* DANGEROUS: A council must classify a dog as dangerous if its owner has been convicted of a "rushing" offence, or if the dog poses a threat to the safety of people or animals.
The very first vintage from new Spring Grove vineyard Falcon Ridge Estate has impressed New Zealand wine judges.

Falcon Ridge's 2015 sauvignon blanc was recently awarded a silver medal at the New Zealand International Wine Show, a bronze at the Bragato Wine Awards, and a pure bronze at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards.

Owner Alan Eggers was pleased with the result, saying it reflected his commitment to building the right soil and conditions for growing.

"It all starts in the vineyard."

Nelson wine writer Neil Hodgson said it was "a remarkable result" for a first vintage. Sited as it was along the Great Taste Trail, with a cellar door and restaurant to come, Hodgson said the development was going to be a wonderful addition to the region.

He said Eggers, a geologist by training, had put an immense amount of effort, thought, time, and money into creating the perfect conditions for wine on the rolling ridges of his Higgins Rd property, and it was generating good results immediately.

"All the hard work you can see in the first vintage is a sign of things to come."

He had also tasted Falcon Ridge's pinot noir and syrah from tanks - they are not bottled yet - and said they were "outstanding".

"When the red wines are bottled, people will be surprised at the quality."

The sav was made by Brightwater Vineyards' Tony Southgate, New Zealand Winemaker of the Year in 2012. Brightwater makes Falcon Ridge's wine under contract, and it also took out a haul of medals at the Air New Zealand Wine Awards recently. Southgate said Falcon Ridge wines would "go from strength to strength, without a doubt".

"He's got a great site and site is incredibly important.

"I'm using the same philosophies I use for Brightwater's wine for Falcon Ridge; we don't aim for any sort of low-end market, we try and do the best we possibly can, and it happens to be at a good price point."

Eggers grew up in Motueka and studied geology, moving to Australia and getting involved in mining. He was the founding director, substantial shareholder and managing director of Summit Resources Limited, a uranium company that had a market capitalisation of $1.2 billion at the time it was taken over by Paladin Energy Ltd in May 2007.

He is now executive chairman and majority shareholder of uranium exploration and resource development company Manhattan Corporation and Trans Tasman Resources, which last year lost an application to mine iron ore from the South Taranaki seabed, and is now applying for a new permit.

Eggers said he was keen to invest in the former farmland at Spring Grove to bring back native biodiversity and create something special for future generations.

"I see no reason why Nelson cannot produce premium wines that compete with North Island reds, Central Otago pinots and Marlborough sauvignons."

Hodgson praised Eggers using his understanding of science to plant the right varieties in the right place, with appropriate fertilisers to ensure the vineyard could produce "right from the word go".

"I think he's going to stand out as a producer. If he keeps going the way he's started he's going to become one of Nelson's better producers very quickly.

"Here's a guy who's come from Nelson, gone away, done great stuff internationally, and then come back using that skill to create something special."
The Greenlea Rescue Helicopter was called in to rescue three men stuck in dense bush.

Three men have been rescued from a river near Taupo after attempting to swim back to the lake and getting stuck in dense bush.

The trio from Auckland and Wellington spent the night in a local marae after being rescued with the help of a boat belonging to local campers.

Their adventure began earlier in the day when they set out walking from the end of Waihaha Rd at the western end of Lake Taupo.

Taupo senior Constable Barry Shepherd said the men, all aged 25, walked through a bush reserve down to the edge of Lake Taupo before taking a track up the river towards Waihaha Falls.

But Shepherd said the track was overgrown and difficult to follow so the three jumped into the river to swim three kilometres back to the lake.

By 7pm they were tired and cold, and still some distance from their destination, he said.

"They decided to get out of the river, and tried to walk to the lake, but the bush was so thick they could not get through."

With daylight running out and their energy levels running low, one on them called his father, who alerted police.

Lake Taupo Volunteer Coastguard rescue vessel with a LandSAR team onboard was dispatched and arrived at Waihaha Bay about 9pm.

Strong south-easterly winds and big waves made it impossible to land on the beach and the Taupo-based Greenlea Rescue Helicopter had to fly another LandSAR team to the Bay.

A helicopter spokesperson said crew used Night Vision Goggles and had two search and rescue members onboard.

After landing there at about 10.30pm, the team was taken up the river in a boat provided by people camping at Waihaha.

"In a very short time the missing trio was found and taken to the Marae at Waihaha where they would be spending the night, thanks to the generous hospitality of the locals," Shepherd said.

Apart from been cold and hungry, the trio were ok.
Police want to speak to this man about a robbery at a Turf Bar last week.

Police have released an image of a man wanted in relation to the gunpoint robbery of a bar in Cambridge.

Cambridge Group One Turf Bar, south of Hamilton, was robbed by a lone man armed with a cut-down shot gun on Wednesday, December 30.

Police said earlier the man entered the premises about 9.30am armed with a gun.

AARON LEAMAN/FAIRFAX NZ Police are investigating an aggravated robbery at the Group One Turf Bar in Cambridge.

He demanded cash from a staff member who was having a coffee with the cleaner.

READ MORE: Shot gun used to target Cambridge Turf Bar

It was understood he fled on foot with about $4000 and was last seen running down Commerce St towards Milicich Street.

Acting Detective Sergeant Dean Schrader, of Te Awamutu CIB, said police now also believe the man had been in nearby Fort St prior to the robbery.

"We are interested in hearing from anyone who saw that person in the area."

From the route the man took, it was clear he knew where he was going, said Shrader.

"Information from members of the public has been great and has provided us with some lines of inquiry."

Police described the offender as a Maori man, who was wearing a dark coloured hoodie top covering his head.

He was also wearing dark coloured shorts, covered footwear and was carrying a dark coloured bag.

The image, which police apologised for the quality of, shows the man's shoes, shorts, socks and hoodie.

"We are particularly interested in the shoes he was wearing, they are distinctive and someone may recognise them."

Shrader said police were hoping to obtain better quality footage in the next few days.

The female bar worker involved in the incident was uninjured and returned to work the following day, he said.

Anyone recognises the clothing, or knows anything about the incident, is asked to contact Hamilton police on 07 858 6200 or leave information anonymously via Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.






040116WORKERS ACKNOWLEDGED FOR THEIR WORK

By Aloysius Laukai



The Acting Chief Secretary for Bougainville, PAUL KEBORI last week thanked the public servants on Bougainville for performing their duties to serve the government and people of Bougainville in 2015.



In his Christmas and New Year message to the public servants, MR. KEBORI acknowledged their commitment to work under very trying circumstances.



He called on all Public servants starting from the cleaner, drivers, to the rank and file at Districts and headquarters, Middle Management, Advisors and Departmental heads to work together as a team in 2016, to implement strategic policies and visions of the Autonomous Bougainville Government under the leadership of President, Chief DR. JOHN MOMIS and his Vice President PATRICK NISIRA.



MR. KEBORI said that and I QUOTE Let us prove ourselves that we are not the lazy corrupt Public Servants that the society thinks we are End of Quote.



Ends


Maithris Yahapalana at stake over Hirunikas kangaroo court Government faces make or break credibility test View(s): View(s):

When a slip of a girl is suddenly elevated to the ranks of parliament and, with pride swelled crest and power bloated head, holds court in her political office and dispenses the Bharatha Lakshman brand of summary street justice to one kidnapped by her goons and forcibly brought to her feet, it is time President Maithripala Sirisena took serious note and asked himself whether his vision of creating a just society, governed by the much vaunted principles of yahapalanaya, is now perilously poised to vanish in a whiff of scandalous smoke.

One year ago, Maithripala was the inspired hope of a nation. His vision of ushering just governance where, amongst other commendable principles of democracy, the rule of law would prevail and abuses of power would end; where selective law enforcement would cease to dictate the police log and sacred cows would be slaughtered in the name of equality to all, moved a long suppressed people to rise from their darkness, to break free from their shackles, to breathe anew the first fresh bracing breaths of freedom reborn.

But did the laboured painful birth assisted by millions of Lankans produce a delicate blue eyed cherub only to be strangled by a female member of his own national government, even before it had stepped out of its bassinet?

Hirunika Premachandras conceited belief that she is the fountain of justice in her Kolonnawa electorate and her capricious bent two weeks ago to hold a kangaroo trial at her office and to question one forcibly abducted by eight of her henchmen and brought before her against his will, has forced the President and his Government to make its much propounded and extolled yahapalanaya face the first real acid test even before an year has passed since its introduction as the guiding base of a new political order.

For isnt the tenet that no one will be allowed to take the law into ones own hands and, if they do, that the normal due process will swiftly follow without fear or favour, no matter the position or power of the personage, the very touchstone of yahapalanaya as expounded so eloquently by the joint opposition candidate exactly an year ago in the run-up to Januarys presidential election?

The strongest steel is that which has gone through the furnace, the mettle of which has withstood the test of fire. The principles of yahapalanaya are no different. If the practical application of its principles fails to meet the rigid test, it becomes moribund and not all the professed hallelujahs sung thereafter to infuse new life and blood into it again can raise it from its comatose state.

First, consider the scenario of events that took place in these last two weeks. On the afternoon of Monday December 21, six men walk in to Lucky Stores, a drapery shop at Dematagoda. They stride briskly with a singular sense of purpose. It is clear from their demeanour that they hadnt strolled in here to indulge in a spot of seasonal shopping nor to land the bargain of the year. They are here to question a certain man who is having an affair with a Pettah pavement hawkers wife. The little girl accompanying the six member gang is the daughter of the cuckolded husband who is also present. The small child has been brought here to identify her mothers paramour.

The gangs purpose becomes clear when CCTV footage shows them surrounding a man and then, as he tries to escape, grabbing him by the collar and dragging him out of the shop to the busy street. He is then bundled into a black defender vehicle and driven away. Later the vehicle is identified as one belonging to Hirunika and the men as members of Hirunikas staff, presumably her body guards.

The whole operation had been staged in typical gangland style abduction. The thugs hadnt given a fig for the crowd present or the CCTV cameras recording their movements. They had acted as a law unto themselves and hadnt shown the slightest diffidence to the presence of shoppers and people on the street. But none had dared to prevent the abduction or to raise cries.

Later the news breaks and it transpires that the abducted man had been brought to Hirunikas political office in Kolonnawa and had been subjected to an interrogation by her. The following day Hirunika Premachandra, who entered politics only two years ago, holds a media conference with a lawyer by her side for assistance. She states that she knows a certain pavement hawker in Pettah who practices his trade down Second Cross Street. He and the association of pavement hawkers numbering around 400 had helped her enormously, she says, during the general election. The pavement hawker had come to her office the previous day with his two children, a daughter aged 12 and a son aged 8.

Describing what occurred thereafter, Hirunika says, He had met her bodyguards with whom he and the other hawkers are very friendly and had told them that his wife had been taken by a man. He had told them he had gone to the Wellampitiya police and sought their help to get his wife back but the police had told him there was nothing they could do if the wife went with another man and that it was something he would have to sort out by himself. He had asked my guards what he should do. Since the daughter could identify the man who had gone with the woman and the mans workplace was known they had taken my defender vehicle and gone with the husband and the daughter.

Hirunika then places before the nation her cast iron alibi. She says that at the time of the abduction, she was at the 150th anniversary celebrations of the Colombo Municipal Council and was hobnobbing with no less a personage than President Maithripala who was participating in the event.

Earlier she had made the same statement outside the Chief Magistrates court. A lot of people are asking how these people could have done this without my knowledge. Actually the abduction was done without my knowledge. I was with the President at the 150th CMC commemorations. I was there and there were also a few ministers present at that occasion. She even urged the gathered TV personnel to check for themselves. You can look at the TV images and compare the place with the time. Anyone can look at it. I have no reason to lie, anyone can look at it. So it is without my knowledge that this incident took place, Hirunika states in a manner that seems to convey that her physical absence at her office at the relevant time was all that was required to absolve her of any possible involvement in the abduction.

She then proceeds at her media conference to relate what had occurred when her bodyguards had visited the drapery store. She says, My men met the man and asked him to come out. When he refused, they had caught him by the neck, as the CCTV cameras show, and taken him out and had brought him here. Though he says he was assaulted there was no scar or anything to show that he had been and it is a complete lie. Then the woman was brought here. I talked to all of them and settled the problem. I even told the man that if he loses his job at the drapery store as a result of this, I will find him a job also. It was only after talking all that and settling the problem that the man had gone and made a complaint at the police station.

But the 34-year-old man, Amila Priyanga Amarasinghe, who was forcibly taken out from his workplace and bundled into Hirunikas vehicle by Hirunikas men emerged from the shadows the following day, Wednesday, to tell his side of the story to the media. In a TV interview with the Daily Mirror on December 23, he states, Some men came to the shop in Dematagoda where I work and ordered me to come outside and talk with them. I told them to ask my boss for permission to take me out. They then scolded me and assaulted me. As I tried to dodge them they held me by the neck and one grabbed at my T shirt which tore. Then they dragged me out of the shop by my collar while assaulting me, and put me into a black Defender vehicle. But before they did it, they assaulted me thoroughly, hitting me on the head, stomach and other areas of my body. I asked them where they were taking me and they said, to a police station. But they took me to Ms. Premachandras office building.

The place was crowded, Amarasinghe continues, and the abductors dragged me through the crowds and then threw me into Hirunikas office as if they were going to kill me. She was inside the office seated behind a desk. She looked and asked the abductors, is this the man? Then she got up from her chair and came round and sat on the table. She then spoke to me that I had been abducted at the request of one of her supporters who had helped her greatly at the election time. Then she said she knows the law and can lift me at any time she wishes.

Then after about fifteen minutes she got a call saying that my boss had lodged a complaint at the police station regarding my abduction. She then turned to me and told me to go and get the complaint removed. She asked me to tell my boss that they hadnt hurt me and had brought me back safe and sound. They told me not to worry and that if I was sacked to come to them and they will get me a job. They continued to threaten me and asking me to get the compliant withdrawn. Then it was around six and I was allowed to leave. I then returned to my work place and then went with my boss to the police and made my complaint.

On Monday when the abducted man was finally released in the twilight hours of the evening it may have seemed to Hirunika that it was a case of alls well that ends well. She had managed to patch up the cuckolded husband with his unfaithful wife and even guaranteed the paramour that he would be found a job should he be sacked from the drapery stores as a result of this episode. But it soon became clear that her clumsy effort to play Agony Aunt to Kolonnawas heartbroken had landed her in a soup. And put the government in a pickle.

At her press conference on Tuesday, she explained that after she was informed late Monday that her bodyguards had brought the paramour by force, that he had made a complaint of abduction at the police and that the police had issued a warrant for their arrest after identifying them with the aid of the CCTV camera footage, she had great difficulty in contacting them. She stated, They had not come out and surrendered to the police because they were scared of me. They were scared of me that I will get angry. That I will shout. Actually they accepted they did wrong. But they didnt come out thinking I would blackguard them. So I told them dont be scared, there wont be any problem. Come out and surrender. I will even take the responsibility. Only then did they come out.

What a pity that this awesome dread of Hirunika and the all enveloping paralysing fear of her wrath felt after the act was not present in the minds of these thugs on her payroll before they abducted a drapery store salesman and forcibly brought him to her office in her own car without her consent? No wonder, as she said, a lot of people were asking her how these people could have done this without her knowledge.

Furthermore, she should also give an explanation as to what she meant by her statement to her thugs who were charged by the police for abduction, for being members of an unlawful assembly and for assault and injury, when she told them Come out and surrender. I will even take the responsibility? Responsibility for what? As she herself declared at her press conference, she is not a lawyer, so perhaps the man seated next to her at the conference, answering questions on her behalf, should have advised her that, in criminal law, one cannot voluntarily take responsibility for offences one personally has not committed.

But it is not only Hirunika who is in the nations dock. She is only a small catalyst to test yahapalanaya and to determine whether its found wanting. Initially it seemed to be working well when the police creditably recorded the complaint of the victim made against a powerful local politician. During the past regime there have been instances where such complaints against the Rajapaksa cronies would not have been even tolerated with the victim punished for daring to think of lodging a complaint against a sacred cow. Furthermore the police have arrested the eight suspects who physically took part in the abduction. They are presently in remand and their case comes up tomorrow. But suddenly yahapalanaya seems to have hit a rut and the first cracks have begun to surface. After the servile minions had been arrested, investigations as to whether there was a phantom puppeteer seem to have hit the buffers.

Up to now Hirunika has given two statements to the police. Last Saturday the Colombo Crime Division obtained yet another statement from her. On Tuesday, the Police announced that it had sought an opinion from the Attorney General. Then on Thursday the Police obtained an order from the courts to make the TV stations hand over their video footage of Hirunikas press conference to be forwarded to the AG. All will rest on the AGs decision as to what course of action should be taken in respect of Hirunika.

Since the abduction took place on the 21st of last months, a political storm has broken out over Hirunika. The UNPs General Secretary Kabir Hashim stated last week that she is not a member of the United National Party. SLFP spokesman Dilan Perera said she is no longer a member of the party. Thus there is no question of our party taking action against her effectively rendering Hirunika as a nobodys child. JVP Vijitha Herath charged that the Police were under heavy pressure not to deal with Ms. Premachandra.

And Mahinda Rajapaksa when asked to comment on this incident involving Hirunika who, not even two years ago, continuously called him her adopted father and relished relating stories of her childhood days and being the daughter Mahinda never had, quipped five suspects taken, one left behind.

Yet it still does not call for presidential or prime ministerial intervention. It is not yahapalanaya if the president has to intervene in police duties or if he has to personally set in motion the wheels of law enforcement. The police seem to be batting on as they should. And it is to the credit of the Presidents Yahapalanaya that no slip is showing so far.

But a storms brewing in the distance which does not bode well for yahapalanaya. In recent times it has become common place to submit politically awkward cases to the AG and many controversial cases have been relegated to the pits of oblivion simply because the AG has ruled that there is no sufficient evidence to launch a prosecution. It may well be the case. But isnt such discretionary power vested in the hands of one man which makes him the final arbiter of whether to prosecute or not, conflict with the transparency component contained in Yahapalanaya? Unlike judges who have to give reasons for their decisions, the AG does not have to reveal his reasons to the public. The decision is taken in the dark, the reasons only known to insiders in his department and his ruling is final. It is not open to public examination for the people to consider whether the reasons given merit the decision.

Whatever his exalted constitutional position may be, the Attorney General is only another lawyer and his opinion is as good or bad as any other counsel. To allow such unfettered discretion to rest in the hands of one man is to allow him to usurp the role and duty of judges in criminal courts to determine whether or not the evidence is sufficient for the case to be entertained. As a result, should the AGs final ruling be unfavourably and suspiciously viewed by the public, it will reflect badly on yahapalanaya. It will put yahapalanaya at stake.

The question on peoples lips is: if any employees use a vehicle belonging to their employer to abduct a man whom they think the employer would be interested in meeting and then forcibly bring him to the employers residence where the employer questions him on his private sex life and later releases him, will not the police arrest the employer first and obtain statements later? Isnt it the normal procedure for the police to then produce him in court for the magistrate to determine whether the person should be remanded or not?

Even as justice must not only be done but must be seen to be done, yahapalanaya too must not only be practised but visibly practised. Else a blanket fog of disillusionment will descend upon the land. And the floodgates will be open for any politician lording over his electorate to send in the goons at whim. To ignore this episode would be to set a bad precedent for others to follow.

It should be remembered that Mahinda Rajapaksa was not toppled by the people because of cost of living issues. Apart from his own abuses of power, he was overthrown by the people because he committed the folly of extending to his MPs and Ministers the prerogative of the harlot  power without responsibility.
Policy reversal: Foreign vessels to fish under Lankan flag View(s):

Foreign fishing companies are to be invited again to carry out fishing operations under the Sri Lankan flag, but under strict regulations, including an observer on board, a senior official said yesterday. Fisheries Director General M.C.L. Fernando told the Sunday Times that foreign vessels would have to adhere to regulations which had been gazetted and would be presented in Parliament next week for approval.

The move to invite foreign vessels comes after the new Government cancelled eight fishing licences issued to a Chinese company following allegations that some of its vessels were engaged in Illegal Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing methods and transferred their catch to a third party in mid sea.

The new regulations would also prohibit foreign vessels from transferring their catch to any other boat or port without prior approval from the Director General. Mr. Fernando said that due to these problems, no licences had been issued to foreign vessels, but now licences would be issued on a guarantee of responsible fishing practices.

Under the new regulations, the Director General would be authorised to deploy a scientific observer on the foreign vessel for inspection and data collection during fishing operations and to ensure no unauthorised fishing gear was carried.

Satellite-based Vessel Monitoring System (VMS) equipment also will be installed in the vessels to monitor their location and the data will be transmitted to the nearest monitoring centre, he said.

He said that with the new regulations, Sri Lanka could eliminate the shortcomings pointed out by the European Union before the imposition of the ban on Sri Lankan fish exports. In a related move, the Government has also gazetted regulations requiring Sri Lankans wishing to serve in a foreign flagged fishing vessel to obtain a licence from the Fisheries Department.

Sri Lankans will also be prohibited from working for a vessel or company that has been found to be involved in IUU fishing.
My story Prof. Channa Ratnatunga recounting his remarkable recovery from a potentially deadly stroke, calls for life-saving stroke units to be set up in hospitals around the country View(s): View(s):

I was a perfectly healthy individual who had only a mild elevation of blood pressure, kept under control with medication. I did not smoke and always had normal cholesterol levels and blood sugar. A very active seventy two to boot.

In March of 2015, I had a stroke. It was a Basilar stroke, the worst kind. When afflicted by this kind of stroke, one usually died 80-90% of the time if no active treatment was done.

As you can see I survived and am writing this, eight months into rehabilitation. I am walking around the house now and am able to function almost independently. The progress has been steady though slow.

I am confident that I will be able to reach a normal level of functionality within the next few months. The journey from March up to now has been challenging to say the least, for all concerned.

I feel that my story will help many out there who are afflicted by, or are caring for someone suffering from a stroke, as well as open the eyes of those who are yet to face this challenge, on the treatment options that are now available.

I also hope to motivate the powers that be to invest in the technology that helped save my life, so that it may be made available to all.

I write my story with the hope that it will inform all who suddenly have to make decisions as to what to do when a near and dear one is afflicted with a stroke.

I am a doctor working in Kandy and was in hospital at the time going about my usual routine, when I suddenly felt dizzy. I had a sense that something was amiss and a little more out of the ordinary than just feeling under the weather.

Having sat down, I soon found myself collapsing and unable to speak or swallow. And so it began at about 5 p.m. that Saturday at the end of March 2015.

A large blood clot had wedged itself in a major artery (Basilar artery) that supplied the lower part of my brain,  the brain stem. My saving grace was that this event happened at a hospital, where my colleagues Dr. Vasanthi Pinto and Professor Indika Bandara Gawarammana among many others were on hand to assess, diagnose and respond within minutes.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of Dr. Manoji Pathirage, Dr. Indunil Wijeweera, and many other doctors, I was rapidly administered medication to dissolve the clot in my brain that had made me by this time paralysed.

With hours ticking by, there was no improvement. I had been made unconscious to minimize the damage to my brain. I was in the ICU overnight at the Teaching Hospital Kandy.

The following morning CT scans were done to assess whether the medication given to dissolve the clot had done its job. However it was not to be and things were looking ominous.

My colleagues in Peradeniya and Kandy hospitals, many of them my students, too many to mention individually, rallied around me, and did everything possible in Kandy. I am ever thankful to them.

After much deliberation, my colleagues, along with my family decided to move me to a private hospital in Colombo, which had a team of skilled doctors able to perform a procedure which would extract the clot from the artery in my brain.

This procedure is relatively new to Sri Lanka though practised in some technologically advanced centres abroad.

I, who was unconscious and on a ventilator in the Neurosurgical ICU at the Kandy Teaching Hospital at the time, was to be airlifted by helicopter courtesy of Sri Lanka Air Force, arranged by my colleagues, to whom I am eternally grateful. Time was of the essence. Already twenty hours had elapsed.

I was airlifted under the expert care of Dr. Udaya Karunaratne who ensured that I was kept alive during the transfer.

I was pleased to learn from my son (who accompanied me), himself a doctor at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka (NHSL), that the skilled Air Force pilots flew low over the hills, in order to prevent any drop in atmospheric pressure which could have been lethal to me. It took only thirty minutes flying time to arrive in Colombo.

I was picked up at the airfield by a waiting ambulance, and whisked off to the Central Hospital on Norris Canal Road. A highly skilled team consisting of two Interventional Radiologists: Dr. Nihal Wijewardena, Dr. Lakmalie Paranahewa and a Stroke Physician Dr. Thurul Attygalle immediately took me up for the procedure.

Because I had arrived some 20 hours after the event which was well outside the recommended interval for performing this procedure, they hesitated at first, but eventually decided to take on the challenge.

I am glad that my colleagues decided to do so, intervention giving me the best chance of a recovery, by removing the clot.

Within minutes, I gather, they had inserted a catheter through my femoral artery in the upper thigh and had reached the basilar artery in the brain and taken the clot out.

The skill required to navigate to and reach the Basilar artery in the brain from my thigh, in the first attempt, for those who know the perambulations of the human arterial tree, beggars description.

We in this country know little of what human treasures we have, who go about their normal work without much ado, unheard, unsung. I am personally ever grateful to them.

I regained consciousness next morning. It was a Monday. I could feel my whole body, my mind was normal, but all four limbs were paralysed. I could move only my eyelids.

Its called the locked in syndrome. However my children devised a method of getting me to communicate by blinking on a written alphabet they held up. I was in touch at least with the world outside!

As I was at risk of inhaling my own saliva and whatever liquids I drank, Dr. Attygalle, in consultation with the NHSL Neurologist Dr. Padma Guneratne, recommended that I have a tracheostomy (a tube through my neck, to the airway so protecting it) and a tube inserted into my stomach (percutaneous endoscopic gastostomy-PEG for feeding) which were expertly done by Dr. R. P. Dayasena and A. Somaratne respectively.

They were safely done by them despite me being on a blood thinning drug which wont allow the blood to clot.

To cut a long story short, I was transferred after one week at the Central Hospital ICU.

I was fortunate to be offered care in the Neuro-trauma ICU II at the National Hospital of Sri Lanka. (NHSL), after a confirmatory MRI and MRA which showed up a significant area of infarction in my brain stem.

I was under the expert care of Neurologist Dr. Padma Guneratne and Neurosurgeon Dr. Saman Wadenambi (both happened to be my students), and the Consultant Anaesthetist, Dr. Shirani Happuarachchi leading a team of intensive care doctors and nurses.

They offered me a level of medical care I would be hard pressed to find anywhere in the world. I was looked after royally by the nurses and the minor staff under Sister Wijeyanthi who was the Sister in-charge of the ICU.

The quality of care I received at this unit was par excellence. Having spent 40 years in the government health sector myself as a doctor, I suddenly realized how hard the ICU nurses worked under difficult conditions and hours, and the sacrifices and compromises they had to make in their personal lives, due to their unwavering commitment to their profession.

The brilliant team of Physiotherapists in the Neuro-trauma unit, under Amal Gunerathne, were miracle workers.

The team including Mahesh Herath, Eranga Gunawardane, and Lahiru Laknath, coaxed my completely paralysed body to walk within four months; a feat almost unheard of in patients suffering a brain stem stroke.

I had almost complete paralysis of my hand muscles which made it impossible for me to achieve the simplest of manual tasks.

I couldnt even press a button on a bell or hold a pen, let alone write. Daily occupational therapy sessions by the dedicated, everpatient Ms. Lasanthi Siriwardana, occupational therapist of the Neurology Rehabilitation Unit under Dr Padma Guneratne at the NHSL helped me progress to a level that I could hold a pen and scribble illegibly at four months to legible formed writing by seven months.

Initially I could not speak, swallow nor make any form of facial expression due to the paralysis. From that state to my current ability to eat and drink normally with full facial muscle control and near normal speech was due to the hard and patient work put in by Ms. Prabhani Dineshika, Asanka Weerasinghe and Asanka Wijerathne, speech therapists of the team at the Speech and Language therapy unit at NHSL.

After four months of intensive rehabilitation at NHSL I came home to Kandy where I have been on a regimented physiotherapy and rehabilitation schedule under the able guidance of Senaka Divaratne and his team at the Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, where I had worked for the better part of my life.

I am now close to normalcy with the tracheostomy, urinary catheter and PEG out, and ambulant without support, inside the house, though I have made a few sorties outside. Considering the significant delay wherein there was a relative shortage of blood supply to my brain stem, I am very lucky to have escaped almost scot free.

Having since gone through the medical literature I was surprised to find that in the current day and time, it is not only that the stroke could be prevented but it could be effectively treated with many newer modalities of treatment. Many of these facilities are not known to most Sri Lankans.

Knowledge on the urgent need for treatment and the availability of basic and advanced facilities in major hospitals would avert disability and many deaths that are caused by this deadly disease, stroke.

Intensive care for stroke patients, facilities for dissolving the clot by the clot buster within the first 4.5 hours and removing the clot stuck in bigger blood vessels within six hours, and multi-disciplinary rehabilitation in stroke units are basic facilities that should be established in any teaching hospital including in my own district Kandy.

In the meantime the facility and the expertise, exists in Colombo, in the hospital that attended to me. In the event of a stroke, the attending stroke physician decides on the nature of the stroke, its cause and whether it is amenable to intervention.

Most stroke units in the western world offer immediate dissolution of the clot and if it fails -which occurs about fifty percent of the time- would attempt its removal by the procedure that I underwent.

That is to take it out by interventional radiology. If the patient arrives at the Stroke centre within four hours, (some even say eight hours) the result is likely to be significantly better e.g. sometimes be able to walk out of the hospital in the next few days. That such a facility exists in Sri Lanka, unheard and unsung, was an eye opener to my family and myself.

I am writing this to make the public aware of this facility which enables better results from this common ailment. It is very important to bring your patient to the unit as early as possible for any form of treatment.

I am aware that to equip an interventional lab to perform this procedure is rather expensive. But when one thinks of the cost of rehabilitating a stroke patient and the handicaps he/she will have afterwards, it is well worth it certainly well within the national budget for health.

Now that budgetary provision has been allocated for stroke units, the Ministry of Health, should go ahead by first establishing them in the government teaching hospitals.

I would like to substantiate what I say to the doctors in the readership by asking them to read the reputed New England Journal of Medicine in January and June of 2015.

I would like to digress a bit at this stage. In 1975 a close friend of mine, Dr. Gamini Wijesekera (who unfortunately died in the bomb blast on that tragic day in the port some years ago) often told me of the trials and tribulations of the Consultant Physician Dr. Ivor Obeysekera whom he had worked with.

At that time, Dr. Obeysekera was the appointed Cardiologist to the General Hospital Colombo, and his dream was to establish a Cardiology Unit in the hospital. The impression he gave me was that Dr. Obeysekeras own colleagues with vested interests brought up several arguments opposing this venture.. eg

 heart patients belong to the old non-contributory section of society, so why spend money on them..They had claimed that they had the experience to look after the heart patients in the general wards.

Like the true pioneer that he was, Dr. Ivor Obeysekera fought tooth and nail and today we reap the benefits of a Cardiology Unit on par with those anywhere in world  thanks to him and the yeoman service rendered by the many distinguished Cardiologists who followed.

I quote the above anecdote to indicate how difficult it is to establish a unit in this country. I reiterate, we are in desperate need of stroke units in every district. They will definitely save lives and certainly minimise the handicaps that such persons suffer.

Like the cardiology units that have since proliferated throughout the country, and have been doing yeoman service all over this land, Stroke units too are needed to fill the huge void in the prevention and treatment of this common Non Communicable Disease (NCD) in Sri Lanka.

Several individuals have been trying their best to pioneer interventional therapy in Sri Lanka which has been an up hill struggle so far. They need public support to garner a receptive ear from the powers that be.

To reiterate, stroke care has been given stepmotherly treatment by the (public) health sector. There is now hope with the thrombolytic (clot dissolution) drugs, and this new procedure, to give a better deal to stroke patients.

I am in debt to all my colleagues and staff in Peradeniya and Kandy hospitals, Suwasevana Hospital Kandy, Asiri Central Hospital Colombo, and the National Hospital of Sri Lanka, for their untiring efforts to support my recovery.

I have to thank all my family members, friends and colleagues who supported me during my long journey, and my wife and two children, without whose daily unstinted care and concern, this dramatic recovery, would not have been motivationally possible.
Pointing out the need to transcend parochial religious sentiments View(s):

The Good Life: An Introduction to Religion and Consciousness by Iromi Dharmawardhane is a welcome addition to the scholarly writings on religion and philosophy as well as on the moral foundation and cultural values in the contemporary world.

The author extracts key moral and philosophical guidelines in four world religions, namely Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism and Islam, and presents these teachings side by side to show the commonalities that exist between them, and also in relation to social philosophies of visionary thinkers such as Socrates.

Even though this book has wider relevance in the light of the religious turn of social and political tension in the modern world, this work has special relevance to Sri Lanka, the author being Sri Lankan and the four world religions examined in this work guiding the pulse of Sri Lankan sensitivities.

Above all, this book points to the urgent need to transcend parochial ethnic or religious sentiments.

In the authors own introductory words, If we define ourselves by our ethnicity, religion, nationality, class, caste or any other dividing classification, we are working to separate ourselves from the connectedness of all conscious and sentient beings, and we are distancing ourselves from understanding the nature of existence.

The book consists of 13 chapters. Titled The Peace We Seek, the first chapter stresses the point that all religions strive to cultivate inner peace and through it peaceful coexistence among individuals, groups and nations.

Chapters Two to Five are written on specific celebrations in each religion, namely Ramadan, Mahashivaratri, Good Friday and Phagguna Full Moon Uposatha (Poya) Day, to illustrate how their messages, practices and rituals help to overcome an individuals desires and attachments as well as foster a common bond among people.

The next five chapters describe the meditation practices within the different religious traditions. In many ways these five chapters constitute the core of this book.

The book lays out how meditation runs deep in each religious tradition and how this reflective and introspective mode is closely tied to the path to liberation in each religion.

Book launch The Good Life: An Introduction to Religion and Consciousness by Iromi Dharmawardhane will be launched on January 9 at 4.30 p.m. at the Lakshman Kadirgamar Institute, 24 Horton Place, Colombo 7. The launch is open to the public. The guest speakers will be Ven. Olande Ananda Thera and Prof. Kalinga Tudor Silva. The author will read from her work.

The last three chapters of the book, though not organically linked with the preceding chapters, deal with important relevant themes. Chapter Eleven summarises the moral guidelines relating to the bond between husband and wife in different religions.

Chapter Twelve examines the similarities between Buddhist and Socratic Philosophies, and how these philosophies stand in opposition to Postmodern Philosophy. Finally, Chapter Thirteen points to the manner in which mediation of sexuality through the mass media, particularly pornography, contributes to the downfall of the individual and society, in ways that also convey the moral degradation in the contemporary world.

The book suggests that a life of morality enriched by the teachings of the great visionaries is essential for an individuals development and the functioning of a just society.

In my view, this book is essential reading for the students of religion, philosophy and social sciences as well as the general public. Its translation into Sinhala and Tamil will obviously make it more accessible to the readership in Sri Lanka.

(Prof. Kalinga Tudor Silva is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Peradeniya)

Book facts The Good Life: An Introduction to Religion and Consciousness by Iromi Dharmawardhane (Stamford Lake Publications 2016).

Reviewed by Prof. Kalinga Tudor Silva
Unravelling deep insights in familiar Jataka tales View(s):

In literary, as well as in common usage in Sinhala, the word vahanse added as a suffix to a noun denotes reverence, respect, or sanctity, eg. Bodhinvahanse, Swameenvahanse. Sometimes it is used even when reference is made to the mother or father maniyanvahanse/ piyananvahanse.

However, when it comes to books, this suffix has been used only in two instances.Piruvanapothvahanse and Jataka pothvahanse.

The former being in Pali, Jataka pothvahanse is the only Sinhala literary work to which this reverential term has been made. This fact alone signifies the high esteem in which the Sinhalese for centuries, held the Jataka pothvahanse.

It was the source of inspiration as well as the source of material for the writer, particularly the poet, the artist, the dramatist and the Maha Sangha and the general public. They naturally looked at the Jataka potha from a spiritual perspective.

It was Martin Wickremasinghe who first saw the literary and psychological aspects of the Jataka stories. As to be expected he dwelt more on the literary aspect.

I have made an attempt to introduce the reader to the literary aspect of a few selected Jataka stories said Wickremasinghe in Buddhist Jataka Stories and Russian Novel.

In that he had tried to find common ground between the Jataka stories and the Russian novels. But in doing so, he also found certain Jataka stories in which attempts, of course unintentional, have been made to reveal the working of the subconscious mind (page 5).

But it was left to psychiatrist Dr. D.V.J. Harischandra, also an eminent Buddhist scholar to delve deeply into the psychological aspects of Jataka stories.

In 1990 he had read a paper on Psychiatric Aspects of Jataka Stories at the Sri Lanka Psychiatric Association which he had expanded to his present work with the same title.

Dr.Harischandra, quoting Curran and Guttmann, the authors of Psychological Medicine defines psychiatry as that branch of medicine, whose special province is the study, prevention, and treatment of all types and degrees of mental ill-health, however caused.

He further says that these objectives enunciated in this modern definition of psychiatry were known to our ancestors.

Modern psychiatric treatment has two major areas: physical and psychological. The latter does not require the use of anything physical and is based on psychological theories.

The term psychotherapy is applicable to any such treatment for which the therapist employs a combination of listening and talking, restoring morale, and making problems more soluble.

The Jataka stories have provided the author with enough examples in both these areas as well as in their sub areas. In Darimuka Jatakaya it is mentioned that there are eight categories of unmade meaning psychiatric disorders.

Kunala Jatakaya he cites as a case where a bodily defect could be a strong sexual stimulus. In this story, a queen who has a handsome husband, offers herself to an ugly cripple with all four limbs deformed.

In another story Maha Paduma Jataka a bedroom scene outlines a serious attempt at incest by a stepmother. While Jataka stories are a storehouse of psychological material the Tripitaka itself provides enough evidence on the importance Buddha attached to the psyche.

The first verse in Dhammapada says, Mind precedes things, dominates them, and creates them. In citta wagga in Dhammapada mind is referred to as flickering, fickle, difficult to guard and difficult to control.

As for psychotherapy the Buddha had provided the seed which thousands of years later developed into the modern psychotherapy.

Jenny Quek in her much researched book Buddhas Techniques and Practice of Counseling as Depicted in the Pali Canon states: All the techniques which the Buddha had so skilfully applied 2,550 ago are being used by psychotherapists and counsellors on one occasion or other today.

The counselling techniques used by Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Albert Ellis, Fritz Perls, William Glasser, Virginia Satir, Eric Berne, Steve de Shazer and Insoo Kim Berg and many other psychologists and psychotherapists are similar to those applied by the Buddha (pg 10).

In this treatise Psychiatric Aspects of Jataka Stories, Dr. Harischandra has ventured into an area which had not been traversed by any scholar earlier and unravelled much information and data in relation to Jataka stories and analyzed them, thus contributing immensely to the study of psychiatry.

Book facts Psychiatric Aspects of Jataka Stories by Dr. D.V.J. Harischandra. Reviewed by Dr. P.G. Punchihewa
This is a 3x3 magic square. In order to solve it numbers from 1 to 9 should be filled in the empty cells so that the sum in each row, colu...
Accountability for policing remains in abeyance By Tassie Seneviratne View(s): View(s):

The police function is an essential component in the rule of law and is the most important link in the Criminal Justice System. Hence the question as to who is accountable for the Police function is of paramount importance. Under normal circumstances the Inspector General of Police (IGP) obviously would be held accountable for the police function. But under the 19th Amendment to the Constitution all powers for appointments, promotions, transfers, punishments are vested in the National Police Commission as it was under the 17th Amendment.

It is a universally accepted fact that authority and accountability cannot be separated. Former IGP Dr Frank de Silva has laboured hard to make this point in a Treatise under Accountability in his book, Police Role in Sri Lanka. I quote some excerpts : The Law in the Police Ordinance laid down at Sec.20: The administration of Police in Sri Lanka shall be vested in the Inspector General of Police, Superintendents, Assistant Superintendents, Inspectors, Sergeants and Constables. The line is clear. This principle governs the Police. Here is even a plain managerial principle. In plain common sense too, authority and responsibility are but one, the two together, each the obverse of the other.

Authority and responsibility are now cast on two different entities, the Police Commission exercising authority over the staff while IGP is held accountable and responsible without administrative control over his subordinates. The recent history of the policing service is therefore of a chequered nature. The results are near chaotic. The NPC owes no allegiance to anyone  that is what independence to NPC is said to mean. The IGP is however committed to the Minister and through the Minister answerable to Parliament for the responsible discharge of his functions. This line of accountability through the Minister of Parliament was a time honoured order for good governance. Strangely this arrangement was thrown overboard with the 17th Amendment. This country even witnessed a soap box opera conflict between the Chairman NPC and the Minister in charge of the subject of Police. When peace and order was disrupted by serious crimes as assassination, murder, gang robbery and the like, the question was asked who is responsible. The Chairman NPC pointed to the Minister.The Minister threw the charge back to the NPC. The media exposed the malady in governance.

Many reasons were publicly given for these administrative changes. None spoke of the breach of general principles of administration. The days of the 17h Amendment were therefore numbered from day one. The bureaucratic costs incurred for the NPC did not either bring in commensurate returns in law and order.

Now the same Dr Frank de Silva is a member of the National Police Commission. I reproduce below two letters I have written to the National Police Commission seeking clarification as to who is accountable for the police function, and the acknowledgements for the two letters:-

October 29 -2015

Secretary NPC,

I have read the powers vested in the NPC.

May I know if the NPC is taking on accountability as well for the performance by the Police Force.

Thanking you

Faithfully

T. Seneviratne

October 29  2015

NPC Information

Your email is hereby acknowledged  Regards

N. Ariyadasa Cooray Secretary(Acting)

December 21 -2015

Secretary NPC,

Dear Sir,

I refer to my email to you and your acknowledgement dated 29 Oct. 2015. I regret that I have not yet had the clarification that I had sought.

In the interest of transparency and accountability may I have the clarification without further delay please.

Yours faithfully,

Tassie Seneviratne

 December 21- 2015

NPC Information.

Your e-mail is hereby acknowledged.

N. Ariyadasa Cooray

Secretary/NPC 

Other than acknowledging my e-mails, I have not been furnished with the clarification that I have sought.

Accountability appears to be as much in abeyance as it was under the 17th Amendment and will the results be as chaotic as before!

(Tassie Seneviratne is a retired Senior Superintendent of Police)
The body of an Auckland man who died while canyoning alone in the Coromandel has now been recovered by Waikato Police Search and Rescue.

The 32-year-old mans body was discovered by professional canyoning staff in the Te Atuatemoe stream in the Kauaeranga Valley near Thames on Saturday night.

Due to poor weather conditions, his body lay in the stream overnight and was eventually recovered by Waikato Police SAR on Sunday.

A MetService sign had been placed at the entrance to the area warning people of the dangers, while canyoning company CanyoNZ had cancelled their own trips due to poor weather and high rivers.

Following the mans death police are urging people to observe weather warnings and encourage those who venture into the outdoors not to do so alone.

Waikato Police SAR sergeant Warren Shaw wishes to thank CanyoNZ, Land SAR Waikato and the Auckland Westpac Rescue Helicopter Trust who assisted in retrieving the mans body.

The mans death has now been referred to the coroner.
The Whakatane District Council has approved additional funding to refine the proposal for an integrated wastewater solution for the Matata, Edgecumbe and Whakatane communities.

Council agreed at its December 17, meeting to approve further expenditure estimated at $225,000 to refine the project costs and prepare the Design Review Report for submission to the Ministry of Health.
An amazing array of backflips, ruler and superman moves will all be on display at freestyle motocross icon Mitch McHardy takes to the skies.

Mitch will join other riders in performing at the Wheels for Cure Kids event at Fraser Cove on January 16.
Bay of Plenty Police are on the hunt for a man who was filmed assaulting another reveller in Mount Maunganui on New Years Eve.

Video of the assault was uploaded to the Mt Maunganui New Years 2016 Facebook page  this is the same pagewhich came under fire from police and the community for the flood of explicit comments posted to it.



Police are looking for a man who punched another man during the New Year festivities in Mount Maunganui. Photo: Facebook.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please support Super Punch by following the affiliate links and buying from Amazon and eBay . This site also uses tracking cookies.Logo by Adam Koford Download the Super Punch Chimera paper toy.
The challenges facing the province for the next four years are mainly economic, with a need to create jobs, fight poverty and encourage reindustrialisation. Several infrastructure projects are still pending, and some new ones are also badly needed

Developing the Guadalmedina river area is a priority. :: ALVARO CABRERA KEY FIGURES M Carmen Garcia Pena, M.D. of Ciedes: The Guadalmedina is our obsession. The project wont be finished by 2020 but it should be under way. Salvador Moreno Peralta, Architect: This is Malagas real golden era, and that is why now is the time to set new challenges. Antonio Garcia Lizana, Lecturer at the UMA: Poverty is an economic as well as social problem because it slows down our productive capacity. Felisa Becerra, Analistas Economicos: We have a highly tertiary economy; we have to be more committed to the industrial sector. Javier Higuera, Architect: Extending the AVE to the airport and the suburban line to Marbella are essential projects

Four years can be a long time or hardly any time at all, depending on how you look at it. If you think about the recent history of Malaga city, and specifically projects which have been paralysed such as the Guadalmedina Plan and the Banos del Carmen, it may seem a short time. However, this is the time period the European Union has set for some ambitious challenges to be met, such as reducing the emissions of greenhouse gases by 20 per cent or removing at least 20 million people from poverty.

The determination and intelligence of those who take decisions which affect the province - not only politicians but also entrepreneurs and other social agents - are crucial factors if there are to be real advances in the city and the province in the next four years. 2020 is a good date to set objectives; not just because it is a nice round figure or because it marks the end of the legislature which has just begun, but because Europe has chosen it to create a common framework for development based on intelligent, sustainable and inclusive growth.

What objectives should Malaga set itself, to be carried out by 2020? According to experts, in terms of the economy there are three principal challenges and they are inter-related: job creation, the fight against poverty and reindustrialisation.

With an unemployment rate still dangerously close to 30 per cent, it is obvious that the priority for economic policy should be employment. That is included in the revised Strategic Plan for Malaga between now and the end of this decade, which also endorses the objectives of Europe 2020.

Employment is the key part of our road map. All the projects that we have defined need to be linked to job creation, says M Carmen Garcia Pena, managing director of the Ciedes Foundation. But what is the objective which needs to be met? The studies coordinator of Analistas Economicos de Andalucia, Felisa Becerra, didnt want to specify any figures for Malaga, but she refers to the EU target: that 75 per cent of the population between the ages of 20 and 64 are working by 2020. That is an ambitious challenge when applied to Malaga province, bearing in mind that according to the latest survey of the active population, the percentage of people in that age range who are in work is no more than 55 per cent.

Reindustrialisation

How can that much employment be created? This is where the experts all come up with the same word: industry.

If we want to fight structural unemployment, which is the type that remains even during the peak tourist season, we have to diversify the economy of Malaga. We need to decide in which sectors we can be most competitive, says Antonio Garcia Lizana, a lecturer in Applied Economics at Malaga University.

Felisa Becerra agrees: We need to diversify the productive sector. We have a highly tertiary economy and we need to focus more on industry. The most industrialised regions are the ones which coped better with the crisis because that is the most stable sector, she says.

Both experts believe the agricultural and technology sectors are Malagas main assets for progressing towards reindustrialisation. And at the Ciedes Foundation, they point to a third: the port. Malaga is not taking advantage of the potential of its strategic location for freight traffic, says M Carmen Garcia Pena. Ciedes proposes that there should be a vehicle assembly industry linked to the port and logistics, similar to the one in Barcelona.

In this sense, the port is taking steps to increase its activity, by substituting the container cranes with machinery to move bulk materials, for which there is the greatest demand.

The fight against poverty is a challenge which experts say is not only a social problem but also an economic one. Poverty is a very important restriction on the working of the economy, because it slows down demand and the training of human resources... the regions and countries with the highest poverty index have suffered most in the crisis, explains Antonio Garcia Lizana.

In Malaga at present around 31 per cent of the population is at risk of poverty. The Spanish average is ten points lower, so there is a great deal of work to be done.

Apart from stressing the link between poverty and unemployment, the Ciedes Foundation proposes that the work of associations and public institutions should be coordinated in order to provide a complete service to families and break the vicious circle of poverty.

When it comes to infrastructure, architect Salvador Moreno Peralta says the projects which are pending are extremely well-known. The Astoria, Campamento Benitez, the new hospital, improvements to the historic city centre north of Calle Alamos-Carreteria, the Banos del Carmen, the auditorium, the Guadalmedina river.... beyond this, though, he stresses that Malaga is in its golden era, and believes that it should see itself as a leading metropolitan city, which starts in Maro and ends in Manilva.

He believes it should be a priority to create a second eastern bypass concordant with the super ring-road to the west, the suburban railway line should be extended to Marbella as a first step and the AVE high speed rail link should be extended to the airport.

For Javier Higuera, a partner in HCP Arquitectos y Urbanistas, the key to designing the Malaga of the future lies in transforming the Guadalmedina river. Like other experts, he is sure this cannot be done by 2020, but hopes it will at least be under way.

ECONOMY

Creating jobs with a view to 75% of the active population being in work

Jobs are being created in the province, but there is a long way to go until employment reaches pre-crisis levels (some say it will take at least a decade). The EU has set a target for 2020: 75% of the population aged between 20 and 64 should be in work. At present, the figure for Malaga is about 55%. Diversifying the economy is crucial to end structural unemployment.

Increasing the weight of the industrial sector

This is essential in order to create quality employment. Industry is the most stable sector and it generates more stable jobs. Malaga province has a serious imbalance in this respect: less than 5% of those in work are employed in the industrial sector.

The experts say the solution lies in deciding in which sectors Malaga can be competitive and making strong efforts in the public and private sectors to attract investment.

Reducing the percentage of the population at risk of poverty by ten per cent

In Malaga 31% of the population is at risk of poverty, nearly ten points higher than the national average. As well as being a social problem, this holds back economic development. Reducing this percentage is one of the priorities marked by the Ciedes Foundation for 2020, following guidelines from the UE. Experts want additional services for families, to break the cycle of poverty.

Take advantage of the potential of the Port

The II Stategic Plan for Malaga indicated the need to take advantage of the opportunities of being a coastal and port city. In terms of tourism this has been achieved with the cruise ships, and Muelle Uno and El Palmeral have brought local people leisure facilities beside the sea. But more needs to be done to boost the economy: more freight traffic should be handled by Malaga Port and new initiatives are needed which are linked to the blue economy, i.e. the sea.

INFRASTRUCTURE IN MALAGA CITY

Find a solution for the Guadalmedina

Architects are sure no solution will be found for the Guadalmedina river by 2020, but they hope that a project will be under way by then. By 2020 there should be agreement about what to do and a schedule of works should have been drawn up, say sources at the Ciedes Foundation. They suggest the necessary works should be carried out in stages, because the total cost could exceed 150 million euros.

Recover the Banos del Carmen

This is another project which has taken too long to complete. Apart from the present complicated situation regarding this symbolic enclave - which is the subject of a legal dispute between the concessionaries and the Junta - the present concession expires in 2018, so it is hoped that by 2020 the administrations involved - Junta, City Hall, Coastal Authority -will have resolved their differences and the Banos del Carmen resort will be up and running again.

Decide on a use for the Astoria building

Whether or not to demolish the buildings which housed the Astoria and Victoria cinemas; whether to replace them with a museum, a gourmet market, a concert hall or all three; whether the new venue should be privately run or not; there is still a great deal of indecision regarding one of the most emblematic buildings in the historic city centre. The ball is in the court of Malaga council.

PROVINCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE

Clarify Marbellas town planning situation

The anullment by a Court of the Urban Plan for Marbella has had a serious effect on town planning in the municipality, and it is also jeopardising the recovery of the property sector on the Costa del Sol, which was influenced by the PGOU. Although temporary solutions can be found, it is crucial that before 2020 a new Plan is drawn up to put an end to the uncertainty once and for all.

Build more sewage treatment plants

It is embarrassing that adequate sewage disposal should be an objective for 2020 because it has been a problem for four decades. Also, 1st January 2016 is the deadline to comply with the EU directive to guarantee that all sewage is properly treated. However, zero dumping has still not been achieved and about 30 projects have still to be carried out. The worst black spot for sewage disposal is no longer the Costa del Sol, but is the Guadalhorce.

Boost the advantages of La Axarquia

Architect Salvador Moreno Peralta is one of the many voices who insist that this is La Axarquias moment. With its exceptional natural resources and an agricultural sector which is gaining in strength, the eastern regions principal challenges are to guarantee the water supply and work on its brand image to make the most of its myriad and diverse attractions for tourists.

MOBILITY

Extend the AVE as far as the airport

This infrastructure is necessary not only for Malaga but also for the other cities in Andalucia. In fact, the mayors of Malaga, Seville, Cordoba and Granada have recently agreed to call on the goverment to build a high speed rail connection to Malaga airport because it is the main gateway through which visitors to Andalucia arrive. If this were to be done, the entire region would become more competitive in terms of tourism.

Finish all the lines on the Metro system

The regional governments Minister for PublicWorks, Felipe Lopez, recently announced that the remaining works on the Malaga Metro would be finished by the summer of 2018. The extension of the suburban line to the Civil Hospital as an extension to Line 2 will be the final part of this project. It has still not been decided whether the Metro will eventually be extended to Ciudad Jardin and the eastern side of the city, as per the original plans.

Connect Malaga and Marbella by rail

The coastal railway is one of the electoral promises made by different political parties during the last campaign. So far, the project has progressed no further than the study phase. At present, the environmental impact of extending the Malaga-Fuengirola suburban line to Marbella and Estepona is being reviewed. If the existing plan goes ahead, it should be completed by 2020 but if a new route has to be chosen it is hoped that the works will at least have begun.

Create an access to the PTA by train or Metro

At present, more than 15,000 people work at the Technology Park. By 2020, if the director of the PTA, Felipe Romero, is correct, that figure will have risen to 40,000. For that reason, it is essential to find a sustainable solution for the mobility of these workers. Extending the suburban railway line (C2) or the Metro 0are two options which have been proposed, but no further action has been taken on either of them.
Syracuse, NY -- A nine-time felon was close to being freed from state prison last May when he stabbed a doctor, a nurse and two corrections officers at Upstate University Hospital.

Warren Temple, 50, of New York City, lunged at a doctor with a sharp object in a May 13 attack. The doctor, a nurse and a corrections officer struggled to subdue him. More corrections officers outside the hospital room rushed in and restrained Temple.

None of the injuries were life-threatening, though the doctor suffered shoulder and chest wounds, according to the state Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.

It wasn't clear what medical condition Temple was being treated for, but he has a tracheotomy making it difficult for him to speak.

At the time of the hospital attack, Temple was eight months from being released after serving a 9-year sentence for a Brooklyn robbery.

The New York City man did not appear to have committed any crimes out of custody in Central New York. He was imprisoned at the Cayuga Correctional Facility, in Moravia, at the time of his treatment. He would have been released from prison this month.

Today, Temple was sentenced to 13 years to life in prison for the hospital incident. He tried a few times to take back his plea, even suggesting that one of his prior convictions was wrong.

But County Court Judge Thomas J. Miller wasn't buying it. He noted that Temple was a nine-time felon who knew exactly how the system worked when he pleaded guilty last November.

At that point, defense lawyer Nick Demartino noted that he'd gone over the plea deal carefully with his client in a back-and-forth that lasted three hours.

Miller noted that, given Temple's extensive record, the 13 years to life sentence was the minimum allowed under law. Typically, Temple's crime would be punishable by a maximum of 15 years in prison.

But Temple has a history of violent crimes -- a 2008 robbery and a 1998 assault -- making his punishment worse.

Because he committed a crime in state custody, Temple was not brought to court with the other prisoners, who wait in a holding cell. Instead, a special detail of state officers brought the shackled Temple to court through the front door.
Megyn Kelly, Vanity Fair

Syracuse University alumna Megyn Kelly appears on the cover of Vanity Fair's Feb. 2016 issue.

(Vanity Fair)

Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly graduated from Syracuse University, but she didn't attend the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications like other famous broadcasters such as Bob Costas, Steve Kroft and Mike Tirico. In fact, she couldn't even get in to Newhouse.

"I wanted to go to Newhouse but I didn't get in," the "Kelly File" host told syracuse.com in 2013. "So I went over to the Maxwell School, which is also a great school, and decided to major in political science [and] I took a bunch of classes over at Newhouse."

She said a lot of people assume she graduated from Newhouse because she went to SU and works in television, "but all is forgiven and I'm loyal to my peeps at Maxwell." However, since her star power continues to rise in the wake of her showdown with presidential candidate Donald Trump, she says the journalism school has started claiming credit for her success.

"Now they tell people I went there," Kelly tells Vanity Fair in a new cover story. "I'm like, 'Oh, I did not!'"

According to the magazine, Kelly "delights in recalling past instances when people stupidly underestimated her," such as when Newhouse turned her down.

Professor Hub Brown, associate dean at Newhouse, denies the school has ever claimed her as an alumnus of its programs.

"No one here says that," he tweeted Monday after seeing the article shared on social media.

Kelly is described as a 1992 Maxwell alumna on SU's website, with no reference to Newhouse. syracuse.com has reached out to Kelly and Fox News for a response.

Kelly, 45, was born in Syracuse and attended Tecumseh Elementary School in the Jamesville-DeWitt school district. When she was nine years old, her family moved to the Albany area, but she later returned to Central New York to attend SU. She then went to Albany Law School and worked as a lawyer for eight or nine years before shifting careers as a reporter with WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., and catching Fox News' attention.

She's now earning as much as $9 million a year, according to Vanity Fair, and sometimes beats the network's other big star -- Bill O'Reilly -- in the ratings. Kelly got to be a moderator for the first GOP presidential primary debate for the 2016 election, but told the publication she nearly missed out when she fell "violently ill" that morning.

"I would have crawled over a pile of hot coals to make it to that debate. No one was going to be sitting in for me, reading my questions," she said.

Kelly also said Trump tried to curry favor with her long before she asked him about alleged sexism, even before he announced his bid for the White House.

"He would send me press clippings about me that he would just sign 'Donald Trump.' And he called me from time to time to compliment a segment," she said. "I didn't know why he was doing that. And then when he announced that he was running for president, it became more clear.

"But I can't be wooed. I was never going to love him, and I was never going to hate him."

Kelly's cover story appears in the February 2016 issue of Vanity Fair.
healthinsuranceclaim.jpg

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- An Eastwood company that processes claims for a financially troubled health insurer laid off another 35 employees today.

POMCO said more job cuts related to the shutdown of Health Republic of New York may occur during the first half of the year.

Health Republic is an insurance company that debuted in 2013 and sold plans on the New York health insurance exchange to capture new business generated by the federal Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, which requires nearly all Americans to have health insurance. It contracted with POMCO to administer claims and provide other back-office services.

Regulators ordered Health Republic to cease operations because it was going broke. The company hit the financial skids after selling insurance at rock-bottom prices and receiving less money than expected from the federal government.

POMCO hired 125 people to handle claims for Health Republic. Since October, POMCO has cut 112 of those jobs.

"Services related to the wind down of Health Republic will continue during the first half of this year with some remaining staff changes during that time," POMCO said today in a prepared statement.

Contact James T. Mulder anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2245
medicalmisconduct.jpg

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- An 84-year-old Syracuse psychiatrist accused of illegally selling a prescription to an undercover detective has been barred by the state from practicing medicine.

Kiyoshi Kimura was charged in 2014 with selling a prescription for Suboxone, a drug used to treat heroin addicts, for $350 to an Onondaga County Sheriff's Office detective. He pleaded guilty on Sept. 22, 2014, to criminal possession of a controlled substance and willful violation of state health laws, both misdemeanors. He was sentenced to a one-year conditional discharge and fined $250.

Doctors and other licensed health professionals convicted of crimes are automatically charged by the state Health Department with professional misconduct.

In a signed consent agreement, Kimura did not contest the misconduct charges. Kimura agreed in May of 2014 not to practice while the state was investigating him.

The state ordered Kimura to notify all patients that his medical practice has closed and make arrangements for the transfer and maintenance of all patient medical records.

He used to operate an office at 725 Erie Boulevard West.



How to check up on your doctor

Contact James T. Mulder anytime: Email | Twitter | 315-470-2245
Hillary Clinton

Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton has raised more money in New York state than the combined total for 20 of her Democratic and Republican rivals, according to Federal Election Commission records. Clinton is shown after speaking at the Atlantic Council Women's Leadership in Latin America Initiative in Washington, Monday, Nov. 30, 2015.

(Pablo Martinez Monsivais | The Associated Press)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - In the 2016 presidential election battle for campaign donations, Hillary Clinton is off to a dominating start in her adopted home state of New York where she raised more money than the combined total for all Democratic and Republican candidates.

Clinton raised almost $11 million in New York, or about 60 percent of the money donated to presidential candidates in the state through Sept. 30, according to a syracuse.com analysis of Federal Election Commission data.

Look up which New York residents donated to presidential candidates and how much money they contributed.



The 20 other presidential candidates who accepted donations from New York residents took in a combined $7.5 million during the same period, according to the FEC data.

Republican Jeb Bush was the only other candidate to receive widespread financial support in the Empire State, comfortably leading the Republican pack.

Bush, the former Florida governor, took in about $2.9 million or 16 percent of all donations from New Yorkers.

The next closest competitors in the cash race - Democrat Bernie Sanders and Republican Marco Rubio - each accounted for less than 5 percent of all the campaign donations from New Yorkers.

GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has not actively raised money for his self-funded campaign, but he still received $71,950 in unsolicited contributions from New Yorkers, according to disclosure reports filed with the FEC.

The story is much different in Central New York, where Bush ($24,300) and Clinton ($23,136) are locked in a competitive battle for the highest total of campaign donations in the region.

Sanders is not far behind the two frontrunners for total contributions from the six counties surrounding Syracuse.

Sanders took in $20,220 or about 17 percent of all the donations from Onondaga, Oswego, Cayuga, Madison, Oneida and Cortland counties, according to the FEC data.

Sanders also raised more money than any of the presidential candidates in three regions of the state - the Finger Lakes, North Country and Adirondacks, according to a syracuse.com analysis of the data.

 Graphic: New Yorkers contributions to presidential candidates

Clinton led the pack in New York City, Long Island, the Albany and Rochester areas, the Southern Tier and Hudson Valley.

Bush led all other candidates in donations from Western New York and the Mohawk Valley, in addition to his small edge in Central New York.

George Pataki, the former three-term New York governor, continued to struggle to attract much support - even in his home state - finishing tied for 9th statewide and 11th in Central New York.

Pataki suspended his campaign last week after averaging less than 1 percent in national polls.

Pataki received only a single $1,000 donation from any part of Central New York: It was from a longtime supporter who considers the former governor part of his extended family.

Guy Van Benschoten, the assistant fire chief in Ithaca, said he donated $1,000 to Pataki's campaign because their fathers were friends and co-workers back in Peekskill, N.Y.

"We're homeboys," Van Benschoten said in an interview with syracuse.com. "His father and my father worked together at the post office. He's the only politician I ever gave money to."

Asked if he would support a different candidate now that Pataki has dropped out of the race, Van Benschoten said that it's unlikely. He's not registered with a political party and sees no candidate that appeals to him more than Pataki.

"I think he's a good true honest man and I'm sorry that the funding wasn't there for him to go farther," Van Benschoten said.

All told, New Yorkers donated about $18.5 million to the 2016 presidential candidates through Sept. 30, the last quarter for which reports from all candidates are available.

Over the weekend, the Clinton campaign reported raising $37 million nationwide in the final quarter of the year, and Sanders reported raising $33 million. A state-by-state breakdown is not yet available.

The pace of fundraising efforts will pick up across the region this year as the primary season begins next month. One of the first mass fundraisers will be a $20 per ticket fundraising event sponsored by local musicians for Sanders. The event will be 5 p.m. Friday at the Palace Theater in Syracuse.

New Yorkers won't have a chance to vote in a presidential primary until April 19, after about 30 other states selected candidates in primaries and political caucuses.

The database below contains records for more than 26,000 contributions made to presidential candidates from New York state through Sept. 30. More than 600 of those donations came from Central New York. In some cases, a single donor gave multiple contributions, each of which is listed separately.

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Travel-Universal Orlando-25 Years

In this Thursday, Oct. 22, 2015 photo, park guests relax in the shade of rotating globe at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla.

(John Raoux | The Associated Press)

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- A recently fired caricature artist at Universal Orlando Resort tried to kill his manager by stabbing him in the neck with scissors on New Year's Day, according to a police report released Monday.

Frederick Torres, 33, was charged with attempted first-degree murder for his attack on Glenn Ferguson at the Islands of Adventure park. Both artists draw caricatures at Universal's parks but work for an outside firm, Orlando-based Fasen Artists, Inc.

The general manager of the firm, Anthony Fasen, told detectives he had fired Torres the day before the attack. On New Year's Day, Torres called Fasen, who said he reiterated that Torres was fired. Torres then said he was going to kill Ferguson, according to the police report.

"Fasen advised specifically that Torres had said, 'I'm going to slit Glenn's throat' and 'I'm going to kill your number one artist,'" the police report said.

Stephen Fasen, the president of the company, didn't respond to an email. Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said in an email that he couldn't comment.

The stabbings cut an artery in Ferguson's neck and caused brain leakage, according to the police report. He underwent surgery and was still hospitalized Monday, but his condition wasn't immediately known. The police report did not list his age, but Orlando Police spokeswoman Michelle Guido said Monday that he is 42.

Court records do not list an attorney for Torres, who was being held in the Orange County Jail on Monday.

Witnesses told detectives that they saw Torres chasing Ferguson through Islands of Adventure before the attack Friday morning. A security guard got between Torres and Ferguson, and another guard showed up at the scene. Despite that, Torres lunged at Ferguson and struck him several times. Ferguson tried to get up to run but fell to the ground, according to the police report.

Fasen Artists specializes in providing caricature artists to theme parks and casinos. It has contracts with Universal parks in Orlando, some Six Flags parks and several Las Vegas casinos.
Mideast Iran Saudi Arabia

Iranian demonstrators chant slogans during a protest against the execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, shown in posters, a prominent opposition Shiite cleric in Saudi Arabia, in front of the Saudi Embassy, in Tehran, Sunday, Jan. 3, 2016. Saudi Arabia announced the execution of al-Nimr on Saturday along with 46 others. Al-Nimr was a central figure in protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012, and his execution drew condemnation from Shiites across the region. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Saudi Arabia announced Sunday it was severing diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran amid escalating tensions over the Sunni kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

The move came hours after

and followed harsh criticism by Iran's top leader of the Saudis' execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iranian diplomatic personnel had 48 hours to leave his country and all Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran had been called home.

The mass execution of al-Nimr and 46 others -- the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades -- laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region as demonstrators took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan in protest.

It also illustrated the kingdom's new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shiite power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saudi Arabia on Sunday of "divine revenge" over al-Nimr's death, while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting "terrorism" in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the U.S. and the European Union sought to calm the region.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia put al-Nimr and three other Shiite dissidents to death, along with a number of al-Qaida militants. Al-Nimr's execution drew protests from Shiites around the world, who backed his call for reform and wider political freedom for their sect.

While the split between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the early days of Islam and disagreements over the successor to Prophet Muhammad, those divisions have only grown as they intertwine with regional politics, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia vying to be the Mideast's top power.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Iran's backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran also has backed Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Houthis.

Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, condemned al-Nimr's execution, saying Sunday the cleric "neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism."

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saudi Arabia's "medieval act of savagery" would lead to the "downfall" of the country's monarchy.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had "revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism."

In Tehran, a protest outside the Saudi Embassy early Sunday quickly grew violent as protesters threw stones and gasoline bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building ablaze, according to Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, the country's top police official, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Forty people were arrested and investigators were pursuing other suspects, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as "extremists."

"It is unjustifiable," he said in a statement.

Hundreds of protesters later demonstrated in front of the embassy and in a central Tehran square, where street signs near the embassy were replaced with ones bearing the slain sheikh's name.

Western powers sought to calm the tensions.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration was aware of the Saudis' severing of ties with Tehran. "We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," Kirby said.

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats," according to a statement.

The disruption in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and others spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the civil war. Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin in mid-January.

Across the region, demonstrators took to the streets Sunday in protest over the execution of al-Nimr.

In Bahrain, police fired tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators on Sitra Island, south of the capital, Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifa family.

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called al-Nimr "the martyr, the holy warrior," while protests erupted from Turkey to India to Pakistan.

The cleric's execution has also threatened to complicate Saudi Arabia's relationship with the Shiite-led government in Iraq, where the Saudi Embassy is preparing to formally reopen for the first time in nearly 25 years. On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.

Meanwhile, al-Nimr's family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya in the kingdom's al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikh's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.
Maribeth Renne Columnist SHARE Each month at The Wave Kitchen and Bar, a chef and hosting winemaker put their heads together to offer a special evening of wine and cuisine. (MARIBETH RENNE/TREASURE COAST NEWSPAPERS)

Each month at The Wave Kitchen & Bar, a chef and hosting winemaker put their heads together to offer a special evening of wine and cuisine.

For those who have never been to a wine dinner, this is an opportunity to learn about wines, eat foods designed to pair with each wine and do so under the best of circumstances.

The Wave Chef Omar Ocasio applied just the right amount of careful analysis, creativity and finesse to partner brilliantly with his guest winemaker Robert Rex of Deerfield Ranch Winery.

While everyone was arriving, restaurant manager Walter Ruiz treated us all to a glass of Champagne.

Once the room was filled, we were summoned to the kitchen to learn to create Ensalada Templada de Bacalao, a moist and flavorful marriage of salt cod, tomato, avocado, onion, cilantro, hard-cooked egg, capers and potato. The secret to this salad, we learned, is soaking the salt cod in olive oil and water for a day.

It was paired with Deerfield Ranch Winery's White Rex 2013, a smooth, soft white blended wine.

As Rex explained, the best dishes are combinations of flavors and wine is the same. White Rex is a blending of 52 percent pinot grigio, 19 percent white riesling, 17 percent sauvignon blanc, and the remainder is chardonnay.

Ocasio grew up in Puerto Rico, learning the secrets of Latin cuisine at his grandmother's side. He later moved north, where he interned with New York-trained chefs to develop his own unique style. His first course, Latin spiced Cornish hen, was braised and oven-finished with oregano, thyme, cumin and olive oil, and served with tiny black garbanzo beans in a piquillo pepper chimichurri sauce. Never having had black garbanzo beans, I fell in love at first bite.

This course was paired with Blonde Ambition 2013, a blend of Chardonnays. The success of the wine, Rex said, is all in the details. Growing grapes on east-facing slopes avoids harsh afternoon sunlight. As a result, outstanding flavor comes from the delicate skins of the pampered grapes.

A most tender osso buco, braised veal shank, was served with malanga mas, a mashed root vegetable, salsa criolla, and red-wine braised cipollini onions. Merlot Cuvee 2011 paired beautifully. Deerfield Ranch wines are held until all sulfites are inactive, making them "clean" wines that help consumers avoid wine headaches.

Pan-seared duck breast served atop a banana leaf came with purple and sweet potato hash with asparagus tips and a fig and honey compote, comprising the third course. Red Rex 2009, a robust red blend, complimented this dish.

Chef Ocasio shared this was his first try at white chocolate panna cotta. Accompanying this success was a tawny port.

Maribeth Renne dines anonymously at the expense of Treasure Coast Newspapers for #TCPalm Social. Contact her at maribeth.d.renne@gmail.com or follow @mebpeb on Twitter.

THE WAVE

Cuisine: New American, Cuban

Address: Costa d'Esta Beach Resort, 3244 Ocean Drive, Vero Beach

Phone: 772-410-0100

Reservations: Yes

Next wine dinner: 6:30 p.m. Jan. 29. Seating is limited. This five course wine dinner will be hosted by Winemaker Stacia Williams and her husband, Edwin Wiliams from Cairdean Estate Winery in St. Helena, Napa, California.

For more information: www.costadeste.com/verobeach_restaurants/special_dining_experiences
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Juan De Los Santos, 24, 1500 block of 14th Court, Vero Beach; warrant for violation of probation, battery.

Edward Marshall, 42, 600 block of 21st Street, Vero Beach; warrants for possession of oxycodone, possession of hydromorphone, failure to appear, sale of heroin, possession of heroin, possession of cocaine, possession of oxycodone, possession of hydromorphone.

Malik Hayes John, 19, Riviera Beach; grand theft auto; possession of burglary tools.

Tory Boldin, 18, Riviera Beach; carrying a concealed weapon; grand theft auto.

Ricardo Brito, 25, 600 block of 17th Street, Vero Beach; petty theft, fourth offense.

Warren Peeples, 55, 1700 block of 27th Street, Vero Beach; warrants for grand theft, uttering a forged or counterfeit bill.

Thomas Cokley, 28, 3900 block of Lincoln Drive, Vero Beach; warrant for violation of probation, aggravated battery on a pregnant woman.

Darneill Clark, 29, 4800 block of 34th Avenue, Vero Beach; possession of cocaine; possession of a controlled substance (hydromorphone) without a prescription.

Daniella Morlanne, 44, 1400 block of 39th Avenue, Vero Beach; warrant for grand theft.

Timothy Sposato, 37, 900 block of Schumann Drive, Sebastian; driving with license suspended.

Darren Glass, 45, 4200 block of Fifth Place, Vero Beach; possession of cocaine.

Rondal Powell, 53, 1400 block of St. Davids Lane, Vero Beach; burglary of an occupied dwelling.

Holly Thornton, 34, 6200 block of Fifth Street, Vero Beach; out-of-state warrant, fugitive from justice, Missouri, fraud/insufficient funds.

Ryan Marcil, 24, 3600 block of Indian River Drive, Vero Beach; burglary of a conveyance.

Roel Brown, 29, Kileen, Texas; warrants for attempted murder with a weapon, burglary of an occupied dwelling while armed, discharging a firearm in public or on residential property, shooting into a dwelling, criminal mischief, violation of probation, possession with intent to sell cocaine.

David Bedford, 23, 1400 block of Wyn Cove Drive, Vero Beach; possession of cocaine.

Isaac Jackson, 33, 4500 block of 38th Court, Vero Beach; aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.

Mark Bohannon Jr., 41, 8800 block of 93rd Avenue, Vero Beach; possession of a controlled substance (cocaine); grand theft auto.

Moises Tinoco, 42, 4200 block of 13th Street, Vero Beach; aggravated assault.
Roel Brown

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By Lamaur Stancil of TCPalm

SEBASTIAN  A Texas man who previously lived in Indian River County was charged Friday with the Nov. 30 shooting that wounded a Sebastian man, police said.

Roel Reando Brown, 29, of Killeen, Texas, fired shots into Kevin A. Richards' home in the 1000 block of Persian Lane, Sebastian police said. The 31-year-old Richards was wounded and treated for his injuries, police said.

Detectives said another man was alongside Brown, but police determined they had no probable cause to bring charges against him, Sebastian police spokesman Commander John Blackledge said.

Brown was charged with attempted murder, burglary of an occupied dwelling, shooting or throwing a deadly missile, discharging a firearm in public and criminal mischief with property damage. He was taken into custody last month by authorities in Killeen and extradited to Indian River, Blackledge said.

Brown was being held at the Indian River County Jail on Monday without bail.

Detectives issued a warrant for Brown a few days after the shooting. Brown and Richards were in a music business partnership before Richards severed the relationship, police said.
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William Ash, 33, Sugar Grove, Illinois; warrant for failure to appear, felony charge. (

Thomas Delacruz, 23, 3700 block of Indian River Drive, Jensen Beach; warrant for violation of probation, felony charge.

Krystal Long, 31, 3100 block of Cypress Street, Stuart; possession of a controlled substance. (FIRST NAME CORRECT PER RECENT BOOKINGS PAGE/JAIL INMATE SEARCH PAGE)

Jonathan McKinney, 25, 1900 block of Mandrake Circle, Port St. Lucie; warrant for violation of probation, felony charge.

Brian Tobler, 33, 6800 block of Morningside Drive, Jensen Beach; burglary of a structure/conveyance while unarmed; warrant for violation of probation, felony charge.

Alexi Verdecia-Guzman, 42, Miami; burglary; grand theft.

Michael Battaglia, 30, Jupiter; possession of a controlled substance (Xanax); warrant for violation of probation, felony charge.

Renee Decker, 35, no address; possession of a controlled substance tampering with or fabricating physical evidence; possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell.

Ann Gunsolus, 55, 3200 block of Evergreen Avenue, Stuart; sale/delivery of cocaine within 1,000 feet of a convenience store.

Corey Heulitt, 36, Lanoka Harbor; possession of a controlled substance.

William Lyster, 49, Newtown, Pennsylvania; fleeing/attempting to elude an officer.

DeForest Mack, 31, 17200 block of Palm Beach Street, Indiantown; possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell/deliver; possession of a controlled substance (cocaine).

Ivan Santiago, 39, Miami; possession of a controlled substance.
By Janet Begley, Special to Treasure Coast Newspapers

FORT PIERCE  There's a new tool for the Fort Pierce Police Department to respond to situations along the shoreline, courtesy of the South Beach Property Owners and Business Association.

The association funded two all-terrain vehicles police officers will use to patrol the beach, parking lots and streets on the island. About 700 individuals and local businesses contributed to the $20,000 donation to the police department, with $5,000 coming from the association's membership dues.

"Our beaches are a major tourist attraction," said Bruce Murray, a director of the South Beach Association and the leader of the citizens' patrol on South Beach. "They are often very crowded and the parking lots get jammed up, making it difficult for the police to respond. But the ATV's will allow the police officers to patrol the beach more easily, increasing their response time, especially during medical emergencies."

Along with improved response times, Fort Pierce Police Chief Diane Hobley-Burney said the ATVs will enable police to more effectively respond to calls for service in areas where a normal police vehicle would not be able to access. The ATVs will also allow officers to intermingle with the community and talk with citizens as they conduct regular patrols, she said.

A similar program began with the New Orleans Police Department in the French Quarter, where police have seen a 35 percent reduction in crimes against people and a 10 percent reduction in property crimes, Louisiana police officials said.

The Polaris four-wheelers are able to navigate along the narrow streets more easily and can travel through crowds more quickly, cutting response time significantly, NBC News reported recently. Before the ATVs, response time to 911 calls in the French Quarter were averaging 30 minutes. With the ATVs, police officers get there in four to eight minutes.

Murray is hoping for similar response times along South Hutchinson Island once the new ATVs are put into service. They will be introduced to the community at a special event at South Beach Park on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

"Although they are ATVs, they are actual police vehicles," Murray said. "They can go out on the sand, and in the case of a medical emergency, transport someone right off the beach. I think having the marked vehicles on the beach patrolling will be very helpful."

CHECK IT OUT

Citizens can see the Fort Pierce Police Department's new ATVs on Jan. 5 at 4 p.m. at South Beach Park, 800 South Ocean Drive in Fort Pierce.

For more information, contact Bruce Murray at 772-285-1755.
By Dacia Johnson of TCPalm

Fodor's Travel, a website providing travel resources, named Vero Beach to its list of "10 Under-the-Radar Florida Beach Towns to Visit This Winter."

The website says, " ... most of our picks for under-the-radar Florida beach towns wont ring a bell, but consider that a good thing. Get away from the vacationing masses for a taste of old Florida in these spots where the simple thingssun, surf, and a no-worries attitudestill reign."

The Driftwood Resort, Waldos and Wave Kitchen & Bar were mentioned in the discription of Vero Beach.

Also mentioned were biologist-led tours of turtle nesting and the Sebastian Inlet State Park as one of the best spots in the state for surfing and fishing.

Included on the list were Deerfield Beach and the Ponce Inlet. See the full list
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The Conservation Alliance of St. Lucie County has filed notice it will appeal a federal judge's ruling paving the way for construction of Port St. Lucie's Crosstown Parkway bridge over protected wetlands along the North Fork of the St. Lucie River.

U.S. District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks ruled in November the Federal Highway Administration and U.S. Department of Transportation carefully considered the environment when choosing a route for the bridge that displaces no businesses and 100 households, the fewest of six alternatives Port St. Lucie and the federal agencies reviewed.

The alliance and the Indian Riverkeeper sued the federal agencies on grounds the route would cut through about 15 acres of park and conservation land and damage about 11 acres of wetlands and about 4 acres of upland forest habitat.

The court clerk will set a deadline to file the appeal, usually within 60 days.
Bee Gum Point in Indian River Shores. (FILE PHOTO)

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By Ken Grudens

The Indian River Land Trust fully supports the installation of a cell tower in the town of Indian River Shores to provide residents and visitors with reliable cell service. However, we believe it is extremely important that town leaders constructively and thoughtfully consider all options and factors, including reception reliability and environmental impacts, in its deliberations on where best to place a tower.

It is well established that the construction of towers close to important bird habitat, such as that found on Bee Gum Point, can significantly impact the birds using these natural areas.

The Indian River Land Trust owns and manages the 111-acre Bee Gum Point Nature Preserve in Indian River Shores. The primary purpose for purchasing Bee Gum Point was to protect and enhance the important habitat for wetland-dependent residents and migratory birds. Comprised of environmentally sensitive coastal wetlands and containing a mile of Indian River Lagoon shoreline, its protection supports the major objectives of the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. That is why the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service supported the preservation of Bee Gum Point by providing a $1 million grant toward its acquisition in 2011.

The North American Wetlands Conservation Act was enacted in 1989 in an effort to provide matching grants to carry out wetlands conservation projects across the United States, Canada and Mexico for the benefit of wetlands-associated migratory birds and other wildlife. The act conserves North America's waterfowl, fish and wildlife resources while producing a variety of environmental and economic benefits. Its success is driven by partnerships involving federal, state and local governments, and nonprofit organizations like the Land Trust.

Many of the bird species at Bee Gum Point include state or federally-listed species. More than 135 species of birds have been documented using this preserve, including the federally threatened wood stork. Many birds use this sanctuary to feed and rest as they migrate along the Treasure Coast and beyond on the well-documented Atlantic Flyway. Others nest there and live on the preserve year-round.

The proliferation of new cell towers and studies conducted by wildlife biologists have brought the issue of avian (bird) collision mortality to the attention of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. It is estimated that as much as 90 percent of bird mortality could be avoided by implementing simple conservation measures such as considering the location of towers with regard to bird concentration areas.

Indian River Shores and other coastal towns in the region can help achieve better protection of migratory and endangered birds by following U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service guidelines when considering the location of a new communication tower. Specifically, the guidelines state towers should not be sited in or near wetlands, other known bird concentration areas, in known migratory or daily movement flyways, or in habitat of threatened or endangered species. Additionally, the guidelines state if significant numbers of breeding, feeding or roosting birds are known to habitually use the proposed tower construction area, relocation to an alternate site should be recommended.

The Indian River Land Trust is encouraging Indian River Shores to continue to protect our local wildlife by constructing a tower at other proposed sites that would have less of an impact on birds and wildlife, rather than next to the critical coastal wetlands of the Bee Gum Point Nature Preserve.

Ken Grudens is executive director of Indian River Land Trust.
911er BHPian



Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Mumbai Posts: 87 Thanked: 101 Times

View My Garage





THE BACKGROUND



In January '15, I drove from Mumbai to Ranthambhore; on the way taking a detour to Little Rann of Kutch. Unfortunately, I couldn't extend my stay there because there were no rooms available in the area. That's when I thought about having a vehicle so I could drive up to such places and camp out for a few days. Me having such thoughts wasn't unusual, but those thoughts lingering on for more than a few days in my ever-occupied head, was.





I was now back in Mumbai but I still couldn't completely let go of the idea of having such a vehicle. I figured I'd need a reliable and comfortable 4x4 LWB vehicle to drive long distances. It would need to have room at the back for my stuff and still have some left for me to sleep. The vehicles I kept coming back to were Scorpio, Safari or a Xenon. But neither did I have the means, nor the need to justify buying a new vehicle and chopping it up for a project like this.



What I did have was a Thar. I knew it wasn't the ideal vehicle. But it's not a bad option either, I thought - half lying to myself. There were a couple of huge problems glaring before my eyes, the biggest one being the soft top. This meant the vehicle wouldn't have any security. The other was it being a SWB vehicle. This meant it had a lot less space. Though these were big disadvantages, they were by no means deal-breakers, I lied to myself. Again. Somehow I convinced myself that it was a perfect way to test if I actually liked overlanding. Having a vehicle of my own which I could drive into remote wilderness was too tempting to resist. I gave in...



THE PLANNING



I got on the internet and researched overlanding vehicles from Africa. I also found some excellent YouTube channels and some great blogs which discussed such builds in detail. One vehicle I referenced a lot were the older Land Rover Defenders. Since these were the smallest of the commonly used vehicles, the builds, I thought, would be the easiest to adapt those builds to the Thar.



Given the budget I had, I ruled out rooftop tents or even converting to a hardtop quite early on. I would first concentrate on building the storage and sleeping area, then upgrade to these later. The main work would be in the rear half of the car which roughly measures 5'x5'. I decided on making the entire rear cab into a storage area, the top of which would double as bed.



This was the underlying build design for a lot of basic vehicles. It was tried and tested, except all of those were LWB vehicles. This meant the area was a comfortable 6' or longer. This gave them the option to have two separate storage spaces.





My initial design plans were based on this concept, which is why you see two storage areas in photos above. But once I realised it wasn't possible with the area I had, I simply removed one of the storage areas, the one commonly used for batteries and tools.





THE PREPERATION



Once I had a rough idea of what I wanted to make, the first job was removing the rear seats. A simple enough process if you have enough WD-40.





I should probably add here why I was so excited about this project. This was the first ever DIY project I'd taken up. The only other time I'd worked on the car was replacing the front bumper of the Thar with the expedition edition one. I understood the consequences of screwing this up but let's just say my judgement was clouded.



Having removed the seat, I now had a better idea of how much space I actually had. Honestly, it wasn't ideal but my first project had begun and there was no way I was backing out now.





Before cutting through any plywood, I made a template of the entire storage box with 1" heatlon foam. This gave me an idea of how things would look and I realised a few mistakes I'd made, which I corrected. One thing I always did was make templates. It was quick and easy to work with and correcting mistakes saved a lot of valuable time and materials.





One problem I always had with the Thar was the lack of sound and heat insulation in the entire vehicle. There were products like dynamat but it was just too expensive to cover the entire car in it. Now I had no choice, I couldn't have wood rubbing against steel. So, after talking to a few people I found the best option for me, heatlon foam. It worked well to insulate sound and also kept the heat out.



Quote: TIP: Speb7 is the best adhesive for this foam. Also, make sure you know where everything goes because once you stick it, it doesn't come off clean.





I also covered the insides of the soft top with heatlon. This worked out better than I'd expected. Because it was heavier how, it flapped a lot less on the highway and outside noise was also noticeably reduced. It looks positively ugly, though. I still haven't figured out how to correct that!





THE BUILDING





It was only a couple of days later when the plywood and other materials were delivered to my house that it suddenly got all too real. Woodwork/carpentry was something I had absolutely no experience in and I understood how crucial it was to get everything right. Instead of taking any chances, I took help from a friend. It took us a few days more but we eventually got everything just right.



List of Materials Used

12mm marine ply (2 sheets)

24" heavy duty channels (4 pieces)

48sqft grey (speaker box) fabric

20' Aluminium 'L' strip (1/2" thick)

20' Heatlon foam (8mm thick)

3 litres Speb7 Adhesive

2 litres Fevicol

8' x 6' tarp

10' PVC tubing (1" thick) + 2 1" couplings

3 cans of black spray paint, 1 can of Rustoleum LeakSeal

Misc. screws, nails, angle bracket, handles, etc. not accounted for.

Quote: TIP: If you remove the soft top from the side (like the photo above), it's impossible to pull it back into place by hand. Instead, use a screwdriver to hold the top down, while screwing in the next nut.



My design originally had two 2'x4' pull out drawers. It was only when I placed the wood that way I realised I'd be wasting a lot of space if I went with this configuration. Not only would I have to leave space for two more channels, I would also need to have 1 supporting piece of plywood running through the centre. Eventually I would only end up with 12" wide drawers, so instead I decided on making a single large drawer and maybe add a divider inside.



The only way to slide in the top sheet of ply was by opening the top from one side and sliding it in. The sides and the bottom were nailed and glued into place outside and then slid easily into place from the back. Once that was fixed to the top, the entire box was bolted to the body using the holes which were meant for the seats. 3 on each side.



The single most frustrating thing in this entire project was getting the channels levelled. I tried for a half a day before realising I'd have more holes than wood in the sides of my drawer and I asked a friend's help. That's the only thing that I didn't do by myself.





Adding this extension was the trickiest part of the build. Given the dimensions of the rear cab, the length of my bed would only be 4'. It would be impossible to sleep on (I'm 6'). I needed at least 5' so I had to improvise.



I took a piece of 1' long plywood, attached a collapsible bracket under it on either side and screwed it at the far end; between the front seats and the storage box. Getting this right took some time, as drilling holes in the area was particularly difficult, given the angle and the space in the area. But it was manageable.



The only way to pull it up would be if both the front seats were pushed fully ahead. It wasn't the prettiest thing, but I got another foot to sleep on. That's what mattered more.





Quote: TIP: Before cutting any fabric, place it flat and trace a paper template of each part you need, over it. This ensures you waste the least amount of fabric.



With the drawer in place, sticking the fabric was simple and straightforward. Next was putting the handles to pull open the drawer and aluminium 'L' strips around the edges to ensure the fabric doesn't come off with regular use. I'd spray painted these black beforehand. Which, obviously is optional. Next, all the visible edges which didn't have fabric were painted black.





It was ready, for now.



















I use that space to store PVC pipes for an awning and an umbrella.











Quote: The two elastic ropes are used to store my sleeping bag, blanket and anything else which I want out of the way temporarily. I'm still looking for a sturdy cargo net to replace this, I plan on hanging one up in the entire top of the rear cab. In January '15, I drove from Mumbai to Ranthambhore; on the way taking a detour to Little Rann of Kutch. Unfortunately, I couldn't extend my stay there because there were no rooms available in the area. That's when I thought about having a vehicle so I could drive up to such places and camp out for a few days. Me having such thoughts wasn't unusual, but those thoughts lingering on for more than a few days in my ever-occupied head, was.I was now back in Mumbai but I still couldn't completely let go of the idea of having such a vehicle. I figured I'd need a reliable and comfortable 4x4 LWB vehicle to drive long distances. It would need to have room at the back for my stuff and still have some left for me to sleep. The vehicles I kept coming back to were Scorpio, Safari or a Xenon. But neither did I have the means, nor the need to justify buying a new vehicle and chopping it up for a project like this.What I did have was a Thar. I knew it wasn't the ideal vehicle. But it's not a bad option either, I thought - half lying to myself. There were a couple of huge problems glaring before my eyes, the biggest one being the soft top. This meant the vehicle wouldn't have any security. The other was it being a SWB vehicle. This meant it had a lot less space. Though these were big disadvantages, they were by no means deal-breakers, I lied to myself. Again. Somehow I convinced myself that it was a perfect way to test if I actually liked overlanding. Having a vehicle of my own which I could drive into remote wilderness was too tempting to resist. I gave in...I got on the internet and researched overlanding vehicles from Africa. I also found some excellent YouTube channels and some great blogs which discussed such builds in detail. One vehicle I referenced a lot were the older Land Rover Defenders. Since these were theof the commonly used vehicles, the builds, I thought, would be the easiest to adapt those builds to the Thar.Given the budget I had, I ruled out rooftop tents or even converting to a hardtop quite early on. I would first concentrate on building the storage and sleeping area, then upgrade to these later. The main work would be in the rear half of the car which roughly measures 5'x5'. I decided on making the entire rear cab into a storage area, the top of which would double as bed.This was the underlying build design for a lot of basic vehicles. It was tried and tested, except all of those were LWB vehicles. This meant the area was a comfortable 6' or longer. This gave them the option to have two separate storage spaces.My initial design plans were based on this concept, which is why you see two storage areas in photos above. But once I realised it wasn't possible with the area I had, I simply removed one of the storage areas, the one commonly used for batteries and tools.Once I had a rough idea of what I wanted to make, the first job was removing the rear seats. A simple enough process if you have enough WD-40.I should probably add here why I was so excited about this project. This was the first ever DIY project I'd taken up. The only other time I'dwas replacing the front bumper of the Thar with the expedition edition one. I understood the consequences of screwing this up but let's just say my judgement was clouded.Having removed the seat, I now had a better idea of how much space I actually had. Honestly, it wasn't ideal but my first project had begun and there was no way I was backing out now.Before cutting through any plywood, I made a template of the entire storage box with 1" heatlon foam. This gave me an idea of how things would look and I realised a few mistakes I'd made, which I corrected. One thing I always did was make templates. It was quick and easy to work with and correcting mistakes saved a lot of valuable time and materials.One problem I always had with the Thar was the lack of sound and heat insulation in the entire vehicle. There were products like dynamat but it was just too expensive to cover the entire car in it. Now I had no choice, I couldn't have wood rubbing against steel. So, after talking to a few people I found the best option for me, heatlon foam. It worked well to insulate sound and also kept the heat out.A few rolls of foam and a few tins of Speb7 later, every inch of the rear cab was insulated. During this process, I realised I'd have no way to move wires around to the back of the vehicle once the storage was in place so I cut half an inch from either side and added wire casing to all 4 sides. Before, I had wires for a rear work light and the speakers running below the carpet. All these ran neatly in the casing now.I also covered the insides of the soft top with heatlon. This worked out better than I'd expected. Because it was heavier how, it flapped a lot less on the highway and outside noise was also noticeably reduced. It looks positively ugly, though. I still haven't figured out how to correct that!It was only a couple of days later when the plywood and other materials were delivered to my house that it suddenly got all too real. Woodwork/carpentry was something I hadno experience in and I understood how crucial it was to get everything right. Instead of taking any chances, I took help from a friend. It took us a few days more but we eventually got everything just right.My design originally had two 2'x4' pull out drawers. It was only when I placed the wood that way I realised I'd be wasting a lot of space if I went with this configuration. Not only would I have to leave space for two more channels, I would also need to have 1 supporting piece of plywood running through the centre. Eventually I would only end up with 12" wide drawers, so instead I decided on making a single large drawer and maybe add a divider inside.The only way to slide in the top sheet of ply was by opening the top from one side and sliding it in. The sides and the bottom were nailed and glued into place outside and then slid easily into place from the back. Once that was fixed to the top, the entire box was bolted to the body using the holes which were meant for the seats. 3 on each side.The single most frustrating thing in this entire project was getting the channels levelled. I tried for a half a day before realising I'd have more holes than wood in the sides of my drawer and I asked a friend's help. That's the only thing that I didn't do by myself.Adding this extension was the trickiest part of the build. Given the dimensions of the rear cab, the length of my bed would only be 4'. It would be impossible to sleep on (I'm 6'). I needed at least 5' so I had to improvise.I took a piece of 1' long plywood, attached a collapsible bracket under it on either side and screwed it at the far end; between the front seats and the storage box. Getting this right took some time, as drilling holes in the area was particularly difficult, given the angle and the space in the area. But it was manageable.The only way to pull it up would be if both the front seats were pushed fully ahead. It wasn't the prettiest thing, but I got another foot to sleep on. That's what mattered more.With the drawer in place, sticking the fabric was simple and straightforward. Next was putting the handles to pull open the drawer and aluminium 'L' strips around the edges to ensure the fabric doesn't come off with regular use. I'd spray painted these black beforehand. Which, obviously is optional. Next, all the visible edges which didn't have fabric were painted black.It was ready, for now.I use that space to store PVC pipes for an awning and an umbrella. Last edited by GTO : 6th January 2016 at 15:35 . Reason: Adding latest images to the opening post itself :). Thanks for sharing!




You're a douche.

Your blog keeps getting better and better! Your older articles are not as good as newer ones you have a lot more creativity and originality now keep it up

Hey  it's a shame that you have little to do with your meagre talents but pedal your sub hack film reviews as 'writing'. You are a facile bottom feeding cunt

I agree  this this little gem deserved better than a direct to DVD release. But then again, I directed it, so I'm probably biased...

Great write up

LOLOL funny shit! really enjoyed this. i just downloaded this movie and now I wonder  why the heck did i waste my bandwith. Ur comments are funny as hell. Do u have any comments on the recent beowulf and grendel flicks

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

You're kind of an asshole.

[Anonymous @ The Dark Lurking [Anonymous @ Leviathan [Anonymous @ James & the Giant Peach [Connor Black @ Kamikazi 1989 [Anonymous (P.J. Pesce) @ From Dusk till Dawn III: Hangmans Daughter [William S. Wilson  Deranged ? [Anonymous (rajivness@gmail.com) @ Beowulf [Graciela @ Come Back, Charleston Blue [Anonymous @ The Quiet Earth [Anonymous @ The Quiet Earth [Anonymous @ Diler Indian Jones
gmhossain BHPian



Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: Kalyani, WB Posts: 608 Thanked: 2,849 Times

re: A week in Odisha: Konark, Nandankanan, Panchalingeswar and a bit more Day 6: Drive from Panchalingeswar to Kalyani



Finally the day had arrived. We were supposed to drive back home. Ananda and Sakuntala would stay back there for another night. While loading our luggage, the rear-right tire of our car looked a bit under-inflated to me than usual. I asked Ananda about it and he agreed with me. However, it was not fully flat either. So we planned to top-up the air pressure in the first available shop on our way.



It was the morning after Dussehra festival and the road appeared mostly empty. We drove for more than an hour since morning but we could not find a single road-side tire-repairing shop which was open. The stretch of NH-60 between Balasore and Kharagpur was mostly deserted anyway. I was getting bit worried about the possibility of having to change the tire in the middle of nowhere with having wife and daughter on-board.



Having driven close to 50 KM since morning, we could finally find a small tire-repairing shop which was open. A boy was standing next to it. I asked him whether he could fill the air. He answered in affirmative. He brought the pressure-gauge and started checking the air-pressure of the front tire. It was 30 psi. I was about to tell him to make it 32. However, suddenly I stopped and asked him to check the pressure in the rear-right tire first. When I enquired him about the reading, he told me that it was 14. I asked him again and he confirmed that it was indeed 14 psi I was bit shocked but anyway asked him to make it 30 psi. He also checked the other tires which were already at 30. He charged me just 5 rupees for everything.



I was feeling relaxed a bit but not entirely. Anyway, we resumed our onward journey from there. Jaleswar border crossing turned out to be rather smooth affair this time. We crossed Kharagpur at around 10:15 am and decided to take a small break at a tea-shop. I checked the tire again which looked alright to me. Next we stopped at Sher-e-Punjub dhaba to have an early lunch. We reached home at around 1:20 pm. However, I was still uneasy about the tire episode.



So I decided to re-check the tire in the afternoon and then I was able to locate a big nail which was embedded in the thread. Almost immediately, I took the car to a nearby tire-repairing shop. In less than 10 minutes, the nail was pulled out from the tire and the puncture was plugged-in with a tubeless tire-repairing kit. It cost me 60 rupees. At the end I was happy for being able to reach at a logical conclusion regarding loss of tire-pressure.



I was thinking of buying a portable tire-inflator for quite sometime. This incident gave me the final kick. After reading various reviews at Team-BHP, I ordered a RESQTech tire-inflator through Amazon which was delivered within a week. I have been happily using it for last two months. Let it be the end of our travelogue, good bye!



Day's Summary:



Distance Driven: 322 KM

Route Taken: Panchalingeswar, Balasore, Kharagpur, Birati, Kalyani



Route Map for the Day 6





Overall Trip Summary:



Duration: 5 Nights and 6 Days

Total distance driven: 1439 KMs

Petrol Consumed (approx): 72 Litres

Fuel efficiency (with AC mostly on): 19.9 KM/L



Overall Expenditures:



Petrol cost:  4426

Toll Tax:  1354

Accommodation (5N at OTDC: 4 AC and 1 Non-AC):  6197

Total expenditures (including food and misc; approx):  17000 Finally the day had arrived. We were supposed to drive back home. Ananda and Sakuntala would stay back there for another night. While loading our luggage, the rear-right tire of our car looked a bit under-inflated to me than usual. I asked Ananda about it and he agreed with me. However, it was not fully flat either. So we planned to top-up the air pressure in the first available shop on our way.It was the morning after Dussehra festival and the road appeared mostly empty. We drove for more than an hour since morning but we could not find a single road-side tire-repairing shop which was open. The stretch of NH-60 between Balasore and Kharagpur was mostly deserted anyway. I was getting bit worried about the possibility of having to change the tire in the middle of nowhere with having wife and daughter on-board.Having driven close to 50 KM since morning, we could finally find a small tire-repairing shop which was open. A boy was standing next to it. I asked him whether he could fill the air. He answered in affirmative. He brought the pressure-gauge and started checking the air-pressure of the front tire. It was 30. I was about to tell him to make it 32. However, suddenly I stopped and asked him to check the pressure in the rear-right tire first. When I enquired him about the reading, he told me that it was 14. I asked him again and he confirmed that it was indeed 14I was bit shocked but anyway asked him to make it 30. He also checked the other tires which were already at 30. He charged me just 5 rupees for everything.I was feeling relaxed a bit but not entirely. Anyway, we resumed our onward journey from there. Jaleswar border crossing turned out to be rather smooth affair this time. We crossed Kharagpur at around 10:15 am and decided to take a small break at a tea-shop. I checked the tire again which looked alright to me. Next we stopped at Sher-e-Punjub dhaba to have an early lunch. We reached home at around 1:20 pm. However, I was still uneasy about the tire episode.So I decided to re-check the tire in the afternoon and then I was able to locate a big nail which was embedded in the thread. Almost immediately, I took the car to a nearby tire-repairing shop. In less than 10 minutes, the nail was pulled out from the tire and the puncture was plugged-in with a tubeless tire-repairing kit. It cost me 60 rupees. At the end I was happy for being able to reach at a logical conclusion regarding loss of tire-pressure.I was thinking of buying a portable tire-inflator for quite sometime. This incident gave me the final kick. After reading various reviews at Team-BHP, I ordered a RESQTech tire-inflator through Amazon which was delivered within a week. I have been happily using it for last two months. Let it be the end of our travelogue, good bye!Distance Driven: 322 KMRoute Taken: Panchalingeswar, Balasore, Kharagpur, Birati, KalyaniDuration:Total distance driven:Petrol Consumed (approx):Fuel efficiency (with AC mostly on):Petrol cost:Toll Tax:Accommodation (5N at OTDC: 4 AC and 1 Non-AC):Total expenditures (including food and misc; approx): Last edited by Aditya : 4th January 2016 at 10:45 . Reason: Spacing
New Delhi, India, January 04, 2016: MySmartPrice, leading comparison has conducted a study on top selling mobiles, electronic and fashion categories for 2015. MySmartPrice has witnessed more than 106 million unique users this year. The company generated a GMV of $140 million with more than 2.3 million orders placed during this year.

According to the study, the top selling category was mobile followed by computer, fashion and electronics. The study also takes into account the top searched and sold smartphone brands in 2015.

Sulakshan Kumar, Co-Founder and CEO MySmartPrice, said, MySmartPrice has prepared the list of top selling mobiles, electronics and fashion categories on the basis of sales registered by its merchants. MySmartPrice observed that unique deals, discounts and promotions offered by the brands has helped them getting a favorable position in the list of top five this year.

The top selling mobile phone in 2015 was iPhone 6s while Lenovo A6000 Plus and Microsoft Lumia 535 were in second and third positions respectively. Lenovo K3 Note and Apple 5s made it to the fourth and fifth positions. 2015 witnessed the launch of 128 mobile and accessories brands in India.

Intex introduced maximum number of mobile and accessories this year followed by Micromax. The consumer have shown trust towards Apple and the popularity of the brand has gone up by 32%.

The most trusted electronic brand in 2015 was Sony and PUMA was the favorite fashion brand this year.

 Technuter.com News Service
New Delhi, India, January 04, 2016: Dell today announced a new, full range of security solutions that enable customers to implement a comprehensive enterprise security strategy to protect their organization from evolving threats while strengthening business agility. New future-ready solutions from Dells security portfolio include: a new approach to detecting and blocking advanced persistent threats; expanded user security for cloud apps with multi-factor authentication; enhancements to the Dell Data Protection (DDP) suite of data security solutions; management and policy integration across Dell next-generation firewalls (NGFWs), the switch and wireless access point; and new application security services.

Murli Mohan, Director and General Manager, Dell Software Group says, In todays dynamic social marketplace, network integrity continues to be on top of a CIOs business priorities. Unfortunately, cyber criminals find newer and more sophisticated ways to attack business assets and hunt for vulnerabilities constantly. It becomes imperative that companies explore a more holistic and layered security solution that will help them protect their networks. Additionally, investments need to be made in robust security solutions that will help detect and protect from observable threats in real time. Dells newly launched security solutions will help businesses safeguard their data against all forms of evolving threats through a complete suite of next-generation firewalls , user security and access, and end point controls.

Dells approach to security is based on simplicity, efficiency and compliance connectivity that tie together the siloed aspects of IT security into a modular and integrated solution capable of sharing insights and control across the organization. It also makes security simpler, so that business users can manage the rules and policies, and end users can easily comply. Dell delivers on this promise with new and updated offerings to the Dell Security portfolio announced today.

Network Security

To protect customers against the increasing dangers of advanced persistent threats (APTs), Dell is offering a technology preview of the Dell SonicWALL APT Protection Service at Dell World. This new service  available on both firewalls and email security solutions  scans files of any size and holds potentially malicious unknown files until a verdict can be reached. This solution is built on multi-layered sandbox technologies that use both system emulation and virtualization techniques to detect more threats than competitors single engine solutions and leverages the SonicWALL GRID, our cloud forensics platform which leverages real time analytics from over 500K connected NGFWs. Customers benefit from fast response times, high security effectiveness and reduced total cost of ownership.

Additional offerings from Network Security include:

New integrated management of Dell Networking X-Series switches through the Dell SonicWALL firewall interface, allowing customers to manage and enforce security policies across their network security, switching, wireless and WAN acceleration from a single pane of glass. This reduces complexity, increases operational efficiency and ultimately leads to better network security for multi-unit deployments.

Dell SonicWALL Email Security increases effectiveness with the addition of Cyren anti-virus signatures. Dell Hosted Email Security and Email Security appliances and software running release 8.2 now feature best in class multi-layer AV protection including DELL SonicWALL GRID AV, McAfee AV, Kaspersy AV and Cyren AV.

Identity & Access Management

The new Dell One Identity Cloud Access Manager 8.1 enables secure access to all internal and cloud-based web applications, enforcing security policies and controls while improving user productivity, and the new version adds SaaS-based, multi-factor authentication via Defender as a Service.

Dell also expanded the Security Analytics Engine included with CAM, to gather information from more sources to further expand the ability to make context-aware security a reality with real-time, adaptive decisions and enforcement.

Data Security Solutions

Todays business needs means data is travelling between more locations than ever before. Dell Security Solutions is announcing three new solutions to the Dell Data Protection (DDP) portfolio to ensure data is protected wherever it goes.

Dell Data Protection | Cloud Edition 2.0 allows businesses to encrypt their data and enact enterprise-class policy controls as the data moves from the endpoint to leading public cloud platforms. The latest edition of DDP | CE 2.0 encompasses Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive for Business in addition to Box and Dropbox. DDP | CE 2.0 also allows businesses to retain control of their encryption key making it easier to easily meet compliance and empower seamless collaboration amongst employees.

allows businesses to encrypt their data and enact enterprise-class policy controls as the data moves from the endpoint to leading public cloud platforms. The latest edition of DDP | CE 2.0 encompasses Google Drive and Microsoft OneDrive for Business in addition to Box and Dropbox. DDP | CE 2.0 also allows businesses to retain control of their encryption key making it easier to easily meet compliance and empower seamless collaboration amongst employees. With customers storing more information on remote servers outside data centers with traditional security infrastructures, sensitive data is becoming increasingly exposed. Dell Data Protection | Server Encryption provides comprehensive software encryption for Windows servers in branch or remote offices, including state and local government offices, retail outlets and law offices handling confidential client data. DDP | SE enables businesses to better protect data on vulnerable servers and enjoy easier management and compliance reporting.

provides comprehensive software encryption for Windows servers in branch or remote offices, including state and local government offices, retail outlets and law offices handling confidential client data. DDP | SE enables businesses to better protect data on vulnerable servers and enjoy easier management and compliance reporting. The new Dell Data Protection | Endpoint Recovery solution will provide customers with simple continuous backup for laptops, desktops and tablets, designed to minimize data loss and enable fast, easy recovery.

Dell SecureWorks

Dell SecureWorks recently announced the general availability of its new on-demand Emergency Cyber Incident Response (ECIR) capability for clients deploying assets on Amazon Web Services (AWS). This new offering is in response to the growing enterprise adoption of production workloads on AWS and customer demand for on-demand incident response solutions optimized for the dynamic and agile operating environment of the cloud. Designed and refined through collaboration with AWS, Dell SecureWorks Emergency Cyber Incident Response helps organizations investigate cyber incidents affecting their assets deployed on the AWS Cloud. Though cloud infrastructure does not change the fundamentals of incident response and digital forensics, cloud infrastructure requires modifications to the process for efficient and effective containment, mitigation, data collection, and analysis within the cloud. As a result, Dell SecureWorks has codified these techniques in order to perform highly efficient and scalable cyber incident response investigations.

Dell Services

Dell Services is introducing Dell AEGIS, a tool that helps enterprise customers identify and assess the vulnerabilities associated with a companys mission-critical applications and take preventive measures. AEGIS is in addition to Dells Managed Security Services, which bring together an end-to-end portfolio of security services for all industries to protect key information assets across public and private cloud, networks, hosts and applications. Dell Services security experts become an extension of customers in-house IT staff and provide security analysis, device and technologies configuration, alert management and 247 monitoring.

Availability

Dell One Identity Cloud Access Manager 8.1 is available on October 28 worldwide.

Dell SonicWALL Email Security is now available worldwide.

Dell SecureWorks on-demand Emergency Cyber Incident Response (ECIR) capability for clients deploying assets on Amazon Web Services (AWS) is available now in the North America, Latin America, EMEA, APJ and ANZ regions.

Dell Data Protection | Cloud Edition 2.0, Dell Data Protection | Server Encryption and Dell Data Protection | Endpoint Recovery are available today in the United States and select countries around the world.

Additionally, the integrated solution of X-Series switches, TZ Series UTM firewalls, SonicPoint Series wireless access points, WAN Acceleration Series and GMS will be available in 2016.

 Technuter.com News Service
You can always count on Lenovo to have a big showing at CES and this year is no different. The business-minded PC maker has refreshed much of its lineup for 2016 but perhaps the most intriguing products are a trio of models from the ThinkPad X1 series.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon is described as the lightest 14-inch business Ultrabook around, measuring just 0.65 inches thin and tipping the scales at 2.6 pounds. It's powered by Intel's latest 6th generation Core i7 processor, up to 16GB of memory and up to a 1TB PCIe NVMe solid state drive. That 14-inch display arrives in your choice of 2,560 x 1,440 or 1,920 x 1,080 configurations.

The ThinkPad X1 Yoga, meanwhile, is being heralded as the world's first convertible with an OLED display. It, too, can be configured with up to a 6th generation Core i7, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD as well as the aforementioned 14-inch OLED 2,560 x 1,440 touch display (or a less exciting 1,920 x 1,080 panel).

Last but certainly not least is the ThinkPad X1 Tablet, a Surface-minded tablet with serious power. The X1 Tablet can be equipped with up to a 6th generation Intel Core m7 processor, 16GB of RAM and yep, you guessed it, a 1TB PCIe NVMe SSD. Its 12-inch display is available in a single resolution: 2,160 x 1,440.

By far, the X1 Tablet's most interesting feature is its Ultra Connect modular design which lets you use optional clip-on modules to increase battery life, utilize a rear-facing Intel RealSense camera or install a pico projector. Likely to be a favorite among road warriors, the battery module increases use up to 15 hours total.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon goes on sale in February starting at $1,299 while the ThinkPad X1 Yoga can be yours later this month from $1,449. The new ThinkPad X1 Tablet begins at $899 in February with modules ranging in price from $149 to $299 and availability starting in February.
CES 2016 is almost here, and the numerous tech companies who will be on show at the event are giving us a glimpse of what they have in store. The latest is Taiwanese firm Acer, which is bringing new iterations to many of its product lines, including the world's first Chromebase with an Intel Core processor, a curved gaming monitor, an updated version of its Liquid Jade smartphone, and several notebooks.

First up is the Acer Aspire Switch 12S 2-in-1 Notebook. An upgrade from the Aspire Switch 12 laptop/tablet hybrid, the 12S is visually similar to its predecessor but this premium model has a slightly redesigned hinge mechanism that uses magnets to keep the tablet locked to the keyboard dock. But the real difference from the Switch 12 is inside the device: an Intel 6th generation Core M processor, Skylake architecture, a lower Thermal Design Point, and a USB 3.1 connector. Best of all, there's going to be a 4K version available alongside the 1080p model. It will be available in the U.S. in February, starting at $999.99.

The Acer Chromebase 24 is the latest version of the company's chrome-OS-based, all-in-one desktop. Acer says this will be the first Chromebase to feature an Intel Core processor and it will have the largest screen of all Chrome OS devices on the market - a 23.8-inch Full HD (1920 x 1080) display with IPS technology. It also features 8GB of DDR3L, 802.11ac wireless, and four digital microphones with noise cancelling technology. Availability and pricing is TBD.

Acer will be revealing its new flagship smartphone at CES. The Liquid Jade Primo will run Windows 10 mobile and feature Continuum, which will allow the device to attach to a monitor, mouse and keyboard in order to create a desktop-like experience. The Liquid Jade Primo has a 5.5-inch display, 3GB of RAM, a Snapdragon 808 processor, a 21MP rear camera and an 8MP wide-angle selfie cam. Price and availability TBD.

The company's Chromebook 11 line gets a refresh with the new CB3-131 model, which will boast a more durable design featuring a premium nano-imprinted cover. It has a 1366 X 768 display, 2GB or 4GB of memory and 16GB or 32GB eMMC storage. The model will be available in the US in February, starting from $179.99

As well as computers and tablets, Acer will be showing off some new monitors later this week. The 25-inch and 27-inch entries in the H7 series will be the first monitors in the world to support USB type-C and will both feature WQHD (2560 X 1440) displays. Acer will also introduce the R1 series, the world's thinnest monitors with under 7mm thickness, which are intended for everyday use.

For gamers, there's the latest generation of the XR Series - the XR342CK. This 34-inch, curved, 21:9 panel offers an UltraWide QHD (3440 X 1440) resolution and features AMD Freesync technology along with 100 percent sRGB gamut technology. All of Acer's monitors will use IPS technology. The H7 series will be available in February starting from $499 and the R1 series in Q1 with prices starting from $129. Acer hasn't said when the XR342CK will get a US release or how much it will cost, but it will be available in Europe in March with prices starting at 1,099 ($1198).

Acer's CES lineup will also include the Iconia One 8 (B1-850) Tablet - an 8-inch, low-priced ($99.99) IPS Android tablet aimed at families and children - and the Aspire Nitro V Black Edition notebook (starting $1099) that will feature the latest Intel RealSense short range camera with enhanced 2D and 3D image quality. And finally, Acer will be showing off the TravelMate P648 commercial notebooks ($1099), the industry's first notebooks to feature tri-band 802.11ad.
According to a study undertaken by kitty enthusiasts from the University of Utrecht, cats show lower signs of stress and have faster recoveries, if they are given access to boxes. The scientists concluded that cats in shelters and clinics should be given their own boxes, to give them a sense of security and reduce stress, promoting healing and psychological health.

9. Nonprofit Greenpeace did some major sleuthing when it caught climate change "skeptics" taking secret money from what they thought were coal and oil companies, to write papers challenging the established science of climate change.

The very same week the academics were caught, one of them testified as an "expert" on climate change at a Senate subcommittee hearing, chaired by the eternally-worried-looking Ted Cruz.

Read more about this story, here.

8. In the "weird" category, we have this story courtesy of the International Space Station, where an astronaut tweeted an innocent and beautiful story from the dark night of space, only to wake up to countless people asking him if he had just shared evidence of a UFO.

Tech Times got to the bottom of it, confirming that the "UFO" was just a window on the Space Station, from a distance.

Read more about this story, here.

7. In October, a team of astronomers from the University of Maryland announced that they observed a tidal disruption in a galaxy 290 million light years from Earth. It's the biggest tidal disruption they've seen in a decade, and it indicates that a massive black hole is eating a star alive.

Read more about this story, here.

6. We learned that a North Carolina town didn't outlaw solar panels for sucking up the sun, even after it was widely reported that the allegedly science-ignorant town had done just that.

Although outlets like The Independent, Mashable, Fusion, Ars Technica, Fox, Engadget, Boing Boing, MTV, the Telegraph, and others reported that the tiny town had banned the panels due to community outcry about the panels sucking up the sun's energy and keeping plants from photosynthesizing, Tech Times reached out directly to the town council and found that these reasons actually had nothing to do with the moratorium, which was put in place because of an already high number of not-so-pretty panels in the town may be driving away residents and businesses.

Read more about this story, here.

5. Huge news in breast cancer treatment this year, as University of Maryland cancer specialists announced a new way to target radiation treatment directly at breast tissue, while patients lie comfortably on a couch.

The new "GammaPod" could mean infinitely more comfortable treatments for victims of the most common cancer in American women.

Read more about this story, here.

4. Japanese scientists announced that they are mere steps away from a shot or pill that would give men the same kind of temporary birth control that has been available to women for over 50 years.

The successful drug has so far only been studied in mice, so the results can't be verified until they have moved on to human trials, but scientists are hopeful that this could mean men will finally have control of their reproductive destinies (as well as taking the burden of total responsibility off women alone).

Read more about this story, here.

3. The World Health Organization announced this year that it had conclusive data showing that most of the meat eaten by Americans is cancer-causing, and that the bacon craze is primed to kill us all.

While cigarettes are a worse cancer threat than meat, the WHO adds that the strength of the evidence between mammal meat and cancer is just as sound as the evidence between cigarettes and cancer. Which is to say, there's no question.

Read more about this story, here.

2. NASA confirmed this year that its scientists had found evidence of water flows on Mars  one key sign that life may have once thrived there. This could mean that creatures once roamed the red planet, or maybe even intelligent life.

Read more about this story, here.

1. Our top science story of the year may sound like old news, and that's because it is. This year is the hottest on record, as have been the last several years. Every single year, our average temperatures are getting hotter and hotter, demonstrating incontrovertibly that climate change is happening rapidly. Read more, here.

Unless we fix it, we're all going to die.

Happy New Year!
Apple faces a $5 million class-action lawsuit after it allegedly slowed down iPhone 4s handsets with an iOS 9 software update to force users to upgrade to newer models.

Plaintiff Chaim Lerman filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in a New York District Court, accusing the company of ruining their iPhone 4s experience upon updating the device into iOS 9.

"The update significantly slowed down their iPhones and interfered with the normal usage of the device, leaving Plaintiff with a difficult choice: use a slow and buggy device that disrupts everyday life or spend hundreds of dollars to buy a new phone," says the lawsuit. "Apple explicitly represented to the public that iOS 9 is compatible with and supports the iPhone 4s. And Apple failed to warn iPhone 4s owners that the update may or will interfere with the device's performance."

The lawsuit cites particular issues the plaintiff and other class members encountered following the update, including performance problems in the phone's core functions, such as email, contacts, text messages and more. It also says that their phones experienced crashes, freezes and delays when launching apps and touch interactions.

Because their iPhones were no longer functional, a few class members were forced to purchase new phones.

The case also criticizes the company for not letting iPhone users return to the earlier but better functioning iOS versions, adding how Apple failed to provide notice that the update is irrevocable.

Moreover, the lawsuit notes that Apple did not let iPhone 4s users know of the possible issues through its website, advertisements or any other means.

"Apple only touts the improvements of the new software over the previous version," the lawsuit says.

Plaintiffs say the company's promise of enhanced security, faster performance, longer battery life and convenient updates is deceptive, since their phones are slower with iOS 9.

The complainants are convinced that the company "is aware and has been aware" that the performance and functionality of the device are adversely affected by the update.

Judge Sterling Johnson Jr. of the New York District Court will preside over the case.

In the meantime, hearings for the case have yet to be set.

Late last year, a man won his legal fight against Apple after one of its employees wiped out his honeymoon photos along with other important data. Deric White is convinced that the ruling of the court is a victory for the common man.

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The ancient Romans may have been on to something when they hailed Jupiter as the supreme god because, according to scientists in the present time, Jupiter - the planet this time, not the god - has a big influence over how life on Earth began and why humans have to adapt to the ever-changing climate.

According to several studies, Jupiter has a part in supporting life on Earth and possibly even jump-started it billions of years ago. When the whole universe was still in a hot dense state, Jupiter didn't seem to like its company so it hurled them into the sun and straight out of existence. Yes, we're still talking about the planet, not the god.

For decades it's been believed that our biggest neighboring planet, along with fellow giant, Saturn, has been protecting our solar system from rogue asteroids and massive comets called centaurs. However, studies done by various researchers seem to show that, unlike our earlier belief that Jupiter plays the hero, the Earth is actually in a possibly fatal interplanetary dodgeball game against the giant planet.

Dodgeball With Jupiter

It's not that Jupiter is aiming at Earth and seeking to destroy our planet. It's just that, unlike the earlier idea that Jupiter and the other outer planets have been protecting the inner planets from rogue celestial bodies, the truth is the opposite. According to a study, Jupiter's gravitational field is actually the reason why some centaurs get hurled towards Earth and the Earth is just lucky that none of the centaurs have had deadly effects to human life.

Gregory Laughlin, professor of astronomy and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and Konstantin Batygin from the Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences at the California Institute of Technology proposed that our solar system was actually composed of planets larger than Earth in its early stages but that Jupiter was responsible for sending those planets towards the sun.

A bit scary, but astronomers have yet to find evidence that Jupiter is discreetly pushing the Earth toward the sun so that may be a good sign. "Jupiter may prove to be a questionable shield, a jovian planet may be useful, instead, to deliver necessary life-enabling volatile compounds to the inner solar system," Kevin R. Grazier wrote. This brings us to the next Jupiter hypothesis.

Jupiter: Earth, I Am Your Father

In accordance with the University of Buckingham and Armagh Observatory study published on Dec. 22 in the Royal Astronomical Society's journal Astronomy & Geophysics and the proposal above, Jupiter's act of sending centaurs towards the Earth's orbit was also one of the ways how life on Earth began.

According to Grazier's study published in the journal Astrobiology, a Jupiter-Saturn team exists and it is the work of these two planets which led to the formation of our solar system as it is today. Grazier performed a series of simulations with different computations to determine whether Jupiter really acts as a shield for the inner planets or a bouncer.

His computations showed that Jupiter did throw celestial objects out of the solar system. However, it was also responsible for hurtling centaurs towards Earth. Likewise, the simulations showed that Saturn played an active role with regard to the purging of life-threatening celestial bodies.

"Without Jupiter, far fewer objects were ejected from the solar system; without Saturn, far fewer objects were perturbed into Jupiter's path. Though Jupiter has primarily been credited with clearing of the outer solar system, Saturn was an important accomplice," Grazier concluded.

Jupiter's Effect On Earth's Climate

This part is mostly hypothetical since the simulations that Jonathan Horner, Dave Waltham and F. Elliot Koch did involve repositioning Jupiter. Specifically, the team wanted to determine what would happen if Jupiter had an eccentric orbit, or an orbit that is more like a circle than an ellipse.

The result is that the position of Jupiter had little effect over Earth's Milankovitch cycles, or the variations in Earth's orbit and tilt that result in changes in climate. However, the limitations they set for their research, that is, charting results at 100-year intervals for only a span of a million years, may have affected the outcome.

The team believes that a longer time period for the simulation may indicate more accurate results. Waltham is looking forward to patching up the discrepancy that was formed between his old research and the new results.

So What Does It Mean For The Earth?

Well, for one thing, it gives our solar system a huge boost in morale to know that we're really quite unique. For another, it gives us a clearer idea of how our solar system actually works. Sure, we know that Mars is red, Saturn clearly isn't single because someone or something put a ring on it and that planets can also be bullied just like what scientists did to Pluto, but what these studies about Jupiter show us is that our solar system isn't just a bunch of giant rocks in space and that, one way or another, each has a purpose for the other.

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The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating Blue Bell Creameries for its handling of an ice cream contamination incident. The case is connected to 10 documented listeriosis cases among consumers. Three people died from complications caused by consuming Blue Bell frozen treats.

U.S. prosecutors are investigating Blue Bell Creameries executives engaged in any transgressions during the company's course of action after the listeria outbreak. Listeria was first found on the food service cup in March 2015. Blue Bell Creameries responded by gradually recalling its frozen treats. On April 20, 2015, the company finally pulled out all of its frozen treats including sherbet, ice cream and frozen yogurt products in 23 states.

Unfortunately, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) investigation found that the listeria outbreak started way back in 2010. The U.S. health agency connected the listeria patients back in 2010 to 2015 to the current outbreak. The connection was made through database comparisons of the bacteria's DNA.

"...the fact that it was the same strain over the last five years suggests it could have lurked somewhere in the factory the whole time," said CDC's Dr. Robert Tauxe back in April. Tauxe is the deputy director CDC's Division of Foodborne, Waterborne and Environmental Diseases.

Listeria Symptoms And Risks

The germ listeria causes a deadly infection called listeriosis. Typically found in water and soil, listeria is also present in poultry and cattle, thus extending to raw milk. Unlike other germs, listeria can reproduce in cold temperatures such as food processing facilities and even in a refrigerator.

According to the CDC, people with weakened immune systems such as newborns, pregnant women, patients and senior adults are at most risk to listeriosis. In pregnant women, listeriosis can lead to a premature delivery or worse, a miscarriage and stillbirth, putting the lives of both the mother and the newborn at risk.

Those with milder cases of listeriosis can suffer from diarrhea, vomiting, fever, general fatigue and stiff neck. For senior adults, whose immune systems are not as strong as young people, listeriosis symptoms can lead to meningitis and even septicemia, a severe blood infection.

Foodborne Diseases

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, about 48 million Americans (one out of six people) get sick from foodborne disease annually. This results in over 128,000 hospitalizations and about 3,000 deaths yearly due to largely preventable fatal infections.

In September 2015, Stewart Parnell, who was then CEO of the now-closed Peanut Corporation of America, received a 28-year sentence for playing in a role in the 2008 salmonella outbreak. The incident resulted in nine deaths and 714 documented cases of infections spanning 46 states.

U.S. prosecutors proved that Parnell was aware that the company was selling peanut butter paste contaminated with salmonella. The Peanut Corporation of America's recall was one of the biggest in the country's history.

Photo: Jonny Hunter | Flickr

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Traditional auto shows are a great place to see the latest achievements in the auto industry, but if you want to witness the absolute technological edge in the field, CES is the place to go.

Most exhibitors keep their cards close to their chests when it comes to CES releases. While some of them were bold enough to reveal their releases ahead of time, others only hinted at what is coming. For both categories, Las Vegas is the place where the results of last year's research and development will come to light.

Last year, Mercedes-Benz stole the show when it showcased its avant-garde looking F015 Luxury in Motion concept car, an autonomous vehicle that looked like the uni-body variant of cars. It is very likely to see autonomous driving pop up on the main stage this year. 2016, however, will be different, as other brands will come forth to boast their autonomous technologies.

The end of 2015 brought numerous rumors about Google and Ford in talks to announce a partnership at CES. Ford kept the lid on the details, but a spokesperson answered PC Mag's questions about the possible cooperation.

"We [...] will continue working with many companies [...] for our Ford Smart Mobility plan," the Ford spokesperson noted.

The spokesperson added that Ford refuses to comment on speculations.

However, some big names in the automotive industry confirmed their commitment to the autonomous technologies. Kia, for example, wrote in its CES press conference that it will present the first Kia vehicle with sports-dedicated autonomous driving features.

Nevada DMV received two permit filings from Kia, who asked permission to have two autonomous Kia Soul Electric Vehicles in the state. Hyundai also filed for the same type of permit for a Santa Fe, but will not bring it out at CES because it alternates its yearly stage-time with Kia.

At CES 2016, a lot of automotive enthusiasts look forward to see what newcomer Faraday Future will showcase. Rumors hinted that the company was actually a front for Apple's autonomous driving project, but so far no evidence exists to support that claim.

What we know is that the discrete startup receives support from a Chinese billionaire and it will reveal a concept at the beginning of the show. It is very likely to be an electric vehicle, but whether or not it has autonomous capabilities remains a mystery.

From the German automakers, Audi and Mercedes-Benz both plan to showcase cars that feature self-driving technologies.

Volkswagen aims to clean up its image after the Dieselgate scandal with a new electric concept car. Recently, the Wolfsburg-based company revealed an EV Microbus concept in a 10-second video. Sources familiar with the matter say it's ready to go into manufacturing, and it is equipped with autonomous driving technologies.

Aside from self-driving tech, the Las Vegas show has other surprises in store. For instance, gesture control and infotainment interfaces are some of the coveted technologies that should make drivers' lives easier and more pleasant.

Bosch announced that it is developing a new haptic technology which permits conventional touch screens to resemble physical textures in such a high degree that drivers can use it without directly looking at it.

AirTouch from BMW is another innovation that CES participants will witness. According to the Bavarian automaker, the new technology makes sure that the display in the dashboard can be operated without having to physically touch it, and promises to reveal more visionary technologies on stage. This should allow the drivers to work their way through infotainment features by simply using hand gestures.

If these bits and pieces of info raised your interest, stay tuned as we bring you the latest CES news.

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Cancer patients may no longer need to experience the excruciating process of chemotherapy and its side effects. A new treatment that involves a simple injection has just been approved by the FDA, paving the way for a potentially groundbreaking anti-cancer therapy.

Medical experts say the new treatment can spark a landmark triumph in the way all cancers are being managed.

The drug is being developed by doctors and researchers from Baylor's Mary Crowley Cancer Center in Dallas, Texas.

How Does It Work?

First, doctors will extract cells from the existing tumor inside the patient's body. From those cells, they will then develop a formulation that works like a vaccine. Once the solution is injected into the patient, it will enhance the immune system's ability to keep track of the cancer. The cancer will also find the immune system hard to resist and thus reduce its destructive powers.

Changing Cancer From Acute To Chronic

The new treatment does not cure the cancer; it only controls it. In other words, it tames down an acute disease, makes it chronic and controls it from there on. Such strategy is said to be far less excruciating than chemotherapy.

"Change from an acute deadly disease to a chronic disease, probably we do the same for hypertension or diabetes," said Dr. Maurizio Ghisoli, a pediatric hematologist/oncologist.

Simple Injection Every Month

If the treatment is approved, patients prescribed this regimen will have to go to the clinic for a simple personalized vaccine every month.

The strategy is really like getting your regular dose of a flu shot. For the pioneering mind behind the regimen, Dr. John Neumunaitis, that is the dream. He said the treatment identifies the cancer where before it couldn't, and that's how flu shots really work.

"It changes the immune system," he said.

Promising Results of Clinical Trials

The treatment has changed the lives of patients who were put under clinical trial.

One example is the story of Carly Rutledge. She was diagnosed with a type of bone cancer called Ewings Sarcoma when she was 15 years old. She remembered being transported to the operating room one day, without being given much time to process the situation.

She underwent chemotherapy, which she described to be five days of intense hospital treatment. She then went to Baylor's Mary Crowley Cancer Center for the clinical trial of the new immunotherapy. Rutledge said it was the exact opposite of chemotherapy.

"I would fly in and out in one day and get a shot," she said.

Now, Rutledge is in college. She is in remission and does not experience any side effects. She is one of the reasons why the treatment has advanced in the FDA approval process.

Another patient whose life was changed by the new treatment is Grover Cummings. Neumunaitis said Cummings was diagnosed with cancer a few months before his daughter was about to get married. The patient wanted to walk her daughter down the aisle and wished that he could live at least until that moment. This story of Cummings happened 20 years ago. Now, he is still alive and cancer-free and enjoys the company of his 16-year-old granddaughter.

Patients Flying In

The news has already reached some parts of the world. People from across the globe have been flying in to Texas. For example, the Baron family from Italy brought their son, saying they could not find a promising treatment in Europe and that Dallas is quite unique in offering this therapy.

True enough, Ghisoli said Baylor is the only place in the world offering such breakthrough treatment.

The doctors at the medical center believe that this treatment can get past through all the stages of the FDA approval process. They anticipate the entire process to take four to five years. So at present, no matter how promising the treatment sounds, it is still considered under clinical trial.

Photo: Steven Depolo | Flickr

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Explorers discovered numerous snow-covered artifacts at the Mawson's Huts in Antarctica. Heritage experts believe that the said items are century-old.

Ian Godfrey, the chief conservator of the Mawson's Huts Foundation says the group was able to uncover a number of personal items used by the Australasian Antarctic Expedition (AAE). The items include boxes, cans, a broom, boots and a wool balaclava.

"For me that was a highlight because it was the classic Mawson-style wool balaclava and it was in great condition," Godfrey said.

Good Early Results

A group has been sent to Cape Denison, about 2,500 kilometers (1,553 miles) south of Hobart, to work on the home of an AAE exploration team who set out on an expedition from 1911 to 1914.

The goal of the group now is to restore the hut to how it looked like some 100 years ago.

Field expedition leader Marty Passingham believes that his team was able to yield good results early in the mission. He said his team looks forward to removing large amounts of ice and snow so that they can expose more artifacts when the exploration mission ends in three weeks' time.

Tough Work

With the extremely cold temperature and the massive amounts of ice and snow on the field, it certainly is not a walk in the park for the restoration team. In fact, their work has been suspended three times due to blizzards. The team had no choice but to stay inside their small base camp near the subject hut.

Passingham said they prepared for the mission by ensuring that all the things they need are in place and that they have sufficient amount of food, gas and fuel that can sustain them for a number of days.

Sir Douglas Mawson

Sir Douglas Mawson was an explorer who became famous because of his lone travel across the polar ice cap. He braved the area alone after his two colleagues died.

Mawson arrived at their base in Cape Denison a couple of weeks behind the target schedule. When he reached the place, he discovered that his ship had travelled back to Australia on that same morning. Because of this, he was left to stay in Antarctica alone for one more year.

He stayed in the infamous hut that the present restoration team is now working on. Mawson left the hut in 1914.

About The Mawson's Huts Foundation

The Mawson's Huts Foundation was founded in 1997 and was supported by the federal government of Australia.

The foundation has already organized about 10 major missions to the site. The first expedition was performed from 1997 to 1998. Before this, a heritage conservation expert and an architect/photographer set out to the site during the summer to evaluate the area and formulate a detailed program plan. After a year, a 15-man team arrived to do the pioneer work for the hut.

The arrival of the first heritage specialists to the site was said to have saved the hut from imploding and being swayed into the Southern Ocean. The storage platform beneath the apex of the hut's living area which was covered with ice and snow caused the support beams of the hut to be fractured. Hence, if the building collapsed, it would certainly destroy the historic site and create irreparable damage.

Photo: AndrewJohnMitchell | Flickr

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A straight-tusked elephant fossil that is about 100,000 years old was found protruding from the sands of Isle of Wight in England.

A local resident named Paul Hollingshead was the one who unearthed the shoulder bone fossil, which experts said belonged to an extinct elephant called Palaeoloxodon antiquus and most probably dates back to the Ipswichian period.

Surprise Discovery

Hollingshead did not intend to look for a fossils during the time of discovery. He was just walking on the sands when he saw the protruding bone. He stopped to look at it and later realized that it was a bit bigger.

The next thing he did was dig through more sand and stones to clear the area. He spent about two and half hours doing this before he was finally able to retrieve the entire fossil.

Fossil Finally Displayed

The bone has been placed on display at the Dinosaur Isle museum in Sandown. Although the fossil was first discovered by Hollingshead in March 2015, it took a couple of months before the staff at Dinosaur Isle was able to restore the fossil according to the standards for display.

Now, the conservation work is finished and the bone can now be viewed at the museum.

Alex Peaker from the Dinosaur Isle said the Isle of Wight is not usually associated with elephant fossils, but the discovery was able to suggest that the animals may have roamed around the island many years ago.

Hollingshead did not expect the results of the investigations either.

"I was hoping it was a dinosaur bone, so was quite shocked to find out it was from an elephant," he said.

Hollingshead donated the fossil to the museum and for this, Peaker and his colleagues are thankful.

Facts About Straight-Tusked Elephants

Experts say that straight-tusked elephants existed in the world appxoximately 100,000 years ago. The species lived in Europe during the Middle and Late Pleistocene, but were closely related to present-day Asian elephants.

The elephants weighed around 12 to 15 tons and stood about 13 to 14 feet tall. The legs were a bit longer than living elephants and its tusks were long and slightly curved upward.

Bronze Age Art Controversy

Straight-tusked elephants went extinct some 24,000 to 34,000 years ago. In a study, however, Chinese researchers said the species lived in northern China for much longer.

Their basis? The bronze statues of the species that extended up to the time of China's Shang and Zhou Dynasties, which transpired from 1,000 BC to 2,000 BC.

Lead author Ji Li from Shaanxi Normal University said they found historic elephant structures that had two "fingers" on top of its nose.

"I do not think this phenomenon is just a pure coincidence," Li says.

Not all experts agree with the statements of the Chinese researchers. While art may be suggestive, it does not ultimately determine historical facts; it all comes down to the bones, the fossil bones that is.

Although enigmatic art may provide ideas, hard evidence must be available to confirm the dates when species existed on Earth.

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New details regarding the purported upcoming Samsung Galaxy S7 edge+ have leaked online, suggesting that the phone will come packed with a 12-megapixel snapper. Additionally, rumor has it that the upcoming flagship could house a larger sensor.

Samsung's Galaxy S7 lineup has been dominating headlines ahead of its introduction. Rumor suggests that the phone maker could be working on no less than four Galaxy S7 variants, which include two phones with regular, flat screens and two versions featuring dual-curved screens. Needless to say, the latter versions could be part of the lineup's Edge series.

It was not too long ago when a report emerged saying the regular variant could come equipped with 5.2-inch display.

On Jan. 3, a photo showing off the specs of the alleged S7 edge+ variant has cropped up on Reddit, showing that the phone will feature a 5.7-inch display that is curved with 1,440 x 2,560 pixels.

What's more, the leaked photo shows that this S7 edge+ variant could be powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 chipset which incorporates Adreno 530 GPU, implying that this phone could be powerful.

In terms of its camera, it will reportedly tout a 12-megapixel main camera and 5-megapixel front-facing camera for selfies and video chats.

Additionally, the photo suggests the phone will have 4 GB of RAM.

Larger Sensor

A few months ago, a rumor made rounds on the Internet saying a 12-megapixel shooter with a sensor larger than what is integrated into the 16-megapixel snappers of the Galaxy S6 lineup could be in the works. That said, it is likely that Samsung could include this more humongous sensor into its Galaxy S7 handsets.

If the rumor is true, this will mean that loyal fans could benefit from a higher image quality, in spite of having a bit lower pixel resolution. This also signifies that the 12-megapixel camera is not a downgrade from the 16-megapixel shooters included in the Galaxy S6 phones.

Release Date

Rumors claim that the company is not expected to unveil the Galaxy S7 edge+ alongside its other siblings until next month. The lineup is believed to be launched during the Mobile World Congress 2016.

At this point, however, Samsung has made no actual mentions of when it intends to take the wraps off its new flagship devices and how much these phones could be priced.

As always, it is wise to take reports like these with a huge grain of salt. We will be sure to keep you updated on any new details with regard to this smartphone.

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Working from home might seem to be an ideal set-up for modern employees because it offers flexible working hours, less stress of commuting to work, fewer work distractions and more time with the family. However, flexible working hours can do more harm than good to employees' health, experts from the United Kingdom have warned. With easy access to work, they are working in an "always on" pace that poses heavy psychological toll.

With flexible working hours, workers find it hard to "switch off" from work. They are also isolated from social networks and career opportunities while having an "on-the-go" attitude that can be harmful to health because of increased levels of stress hormones.

Telecommuting, which means working outside the traditional office or at home, may be detrimental to health because employees tend to be online more and work longer hours than their counterparts in the office. While there are many benefits of telecommuting, its effects on health may outweigh its perks.

Telecommuting Is Not For Everyone

Though working at home may benefit single parents and those people with disabilities, it isn't a one-size-fits-all style of working. Some people who have the coping mechanism and have high organizational skills to blend work with their personal lives often do well with telecommuting.

However, for those people who have higher levels of work-family conflicts, it may cause exhaustion, stress and mental fatigue. They often struggle to establish boundaries between job and family if both are in one location.

"The flip side of flexibility is that many workers feel pressured  often by their peers  to be available anytime and anywhere," said Tracy Haugen, a director in Deloitte Consulting's human capital practice.

"Learning how to disconnect is a new skill for many people," she added.

Why Working At Home Can Make You Ill

Working at home, though filled with a lot of perks, may increase the risk of certain diseases that may take a toll to a person's physical, mental and emotional health.

"Teleworking offers a lot of benefits to both the employer and employee, but only if it is done right," said Timothy J. Kane, president of the International Telework Association and Council (ITAC).

"Some companies make the mistake of giving their employee a DSL line and that's it. But there are a lot of other considerations to make a program successful," he added.

A successful telecommuting program must make sure the employee is working in a safe environment. Just like in the office, employees may face work-related injuries and disabilities. The employer must make certain that regulations regarding working stations are implemented.

According to Professor Gail Kinman, an occupational health psychologist from the University of Bedfordshire and the British Psychological Association, one problem people who work from home experience is "grazing" through work by checking emails or receiving calls outside working hours. They remain online almost the whole day which adds up the work task stress levels.

"If you keep picking at work, worrying about it, your systems never really go down to baseline so you don't recover properly. You might sleep, but you don't sleep properly, the effectiveness of your immune system reduces," Kinman said.

If there are increased levels of work-induced stress, physical symptoms may manifest such as headache, muscle tension, chest pain, fatigue, and sleep problems. Aside from affecting a person physically, it also results to mood changes like anxiety, restlessness, lack of motivation, irritability and depression. It affects the behavior in terms of overeating or under-eating, angry outbursts, social withdrawal, and increased risk of alcohol abuse and smoking.

To reduce the negative effects of telecommuting in health and stress levels, companies are urged to provide flexible hours. For workers, they are encouraged to set a separate work station at home where there will be no distractions, having a fixed schedule and reducing stress levels by getting up every 2 hours.

Photo: Takanori Nakanowatari | Flickr

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CES 2016, the global electronics and consumer technology trade show, is ready to launch on Jan. 6, lasting for four days until Jan. 9.

The CES is tagged as the biggest annual technology conference, and is the event that predicts the upcoming trends in the global industry for the whole year. While certain concepts exhibited at the CES do not go on to become actual products, there are some that continue to develop into high-impact technologies such as virtual reality, high-resolution televisions and self-driving cars.

With days to go before CES 2016 goes online, here are the top tech trends to watch out for in the annual event.

Virtual Reality

Wearable devices were the star of CES 2015, and for this year's edition, it seems virtual reality is the technology poised for a breakthrough. The show floor will feature over 40 booths focusing on virtual reality (VR) or augmented reality (AR) that would be pitching different devices and services using the technology.

Sony, HTC and Oculus will be launching their virtual reality headsets in upcoming months, and Samsung will be featuring the Rink at the show, which is a motion controller worn on the wrist to work alongside the company's Gear VR headset.

The technology has a wide array of uses, ranging from video games to business applications, and all of them should be expected to be in full display at CES 2016.

Self-Driving Cars

Toyota said it will be revealing autonomous car technology at CES 2016, and the car company is set to unveil a new mapping system that uses GPS and cameras in self-driving cars. The information will then be sent to data centers to update database information, with cross-checking between the data sent by different cars. An actual self-driving car by Toyota, however, will not be part of the show.

Kia, on the other hand, will be launching its autonomous driving program at CES 2016, and is planning to reveal its moves in connected car technology. Mercedes is also set to discuss its autonomous car development at the event, and even graphics card maker Nvidia is joining in on the industry with a planned announcement on an innovation for autonomous cars. CES 2016 should include a number of other auto technology innovations as well, shaping up the future of auto.

Drones

Drones are set to be an integral part of the event as well, with Qualcomm's tease that it will be revealing the next step in the company's development of autonomous drone technology at CES 2016. Not to be outdone, rival chip maker Intel will also be revealing its developments in drone technology.

One name to look out for is GoPro, with the action camera maker having previously stated that it will be launching a drone named Karma, which was used to capture scenes for "GoPro: Karma is Coming" last year. Rumors are claiming that the drone will be able to shoot with 360-degree views and have collision avoidance systems, but it is unknown whether it will be a part of GoPro's CES 2016 plans.

Ridables

Hoverboards were all the craze this holiday season, despite the scare of certain cheaper models posing risks of fire hazards due to batteries that could explode. With the popularity of the personal transportation device, expect CES 2016 to feature more ridables in the form of electric skateboards, scooters and bicycles.

Arcimoto will be showing off a three-wheeled electric cart, Inboard will feature an electric skateboard with motors at the wheels and Segway is also planning a big launch event at the conference.

Ironically, hoverboards are banned from being used at CES 2016.

Robots

This category is seeing a massive increase compared to last year's CES, with 71 percent more space dedicated to robots this year.

Among the robots that will be at the show are Jibo's social robot, French robots Buddy companion robot and Leka, which is a machine that stimulates children with developmental disorders such as autism, and Japanese Flower Robotics with its aesthetically pleasing robots.

Streaming Media

Streaming media will be a major topic at CES 2016, with YouTube and Netflix both slated to give speeches at the event.

With media steadily transferring online and customers looking for reliability and affordability in streaming services, having two of the top names in the industry at the event makes sense. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings will be discussing the plan for Netflix to go global by the end of the year.

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CES 2016 has come knocking again, bringing in its folds a gamut of new technologies that will make one watch in wide-eyed wonder.

LG Display, for one, is set to unveil a slew of products which will set the bar high for other OEMs at the CES 2016. Wondering what plans LG has to stir up the consumer space?

The company intends to show off an 18-inch display that can be rolled up. It also has paper thin OLED TVs in the pipeline, and if you didn't pick up a 4K TV during the holiday season, this news will take your breath away  a 98-inch TV with an 8K display, which is the first ever in the world, will be unveiled by LG as well.

The cutting-edge technologies LG will show off at the major event will be displayed at its private showroom at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The South Korean company is marketing its upcoming products under the tagline "Your Imagination, Our Innovation."

In keeping up with the slogan, LG Display will be giving a peek into its prototype 18-inch flexible screen which is able to roll up like it's a piece of paper. The technology is based on LG's rollable, bendable and curving OLED displays.

At the CES 2014, LG revealed that it was developing 30R 18-inch OLED panels which could be rolled up just like newspapers. Now, the company is ready to show off the svelte concept to the world.

"The company will also showcase futuristic concept displays that highlight the dynamic forms that OLED can achieve, including the world's first 30R 18-inch rollable display that can be rolled-up like a newspaper; a 55-inch design concept OLED TV display that is paper-thin since the electric circuits are installed separately; and a matching pair of 65-inch extreme-curve concave/convex OLED displays," said LG.

In 2014, LG let on that its rollable OLED panel featured a resolution of 1200 x 810 pixels. The panel was said to have a radius of 3 centimeters (1.18 inches) when rolled up into a cylindrical shape. At the time, LG said it was able to achieve this flexibility thanks to the use of a "high molecular substance-based polyimide film" instead of traditional plastic for the backplane.

Whether or not LG Display has retained the resolution for the rollable display will be revealed when the prototypes go on display.

LG also has an ultra-thin OLED TV display up its sleeve which measures 55 inches. The paper-thin display is made possible owing to the separate installation of the electric circuits. LG is also poised to introduce a 55-inch dual-sided display, which is able to show off different images on each side. This will increase OLED's commercial viability as the TV could be used for signage purposes.

LG said it is upping the ante and has come up with a mammoth 98-inch TV which is 8K in a bid to make the TV space more exciting. The Super UHD TV from the company will have the model number UH9800 and will make its way to consumers in H2 2016.

"At CES, LG will also take the wraps off its first production-ready 98-inch 8K SUPER UHD TV (model UH9800)," announced the company on Saturday, Jan. 2, 2016.

For those eager to catch a glimpse of the SUPER UHD TV with HDR from the company, they can head to LG's booth at the CES 2016 from Jan. 6 to Jan. 9. With LG Display claiming it has pumped in nearly $8.7 billion into its OLED development, the fruits of its labor will soon be up for expert and consumer assessment. Whether the new technologies will find takers and be commercially viable remains to be seen.

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Armed protestors have taken over a government building in Oregon and many people are using #YallQaeda to mock the government for its slow response.

Armed anti-government protestors, mainly white, took control of the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in southern Oregon. The protestors have taken control of the government building to protest land disputes with the government and also the jail sentences of two men, Dwight and Steven Hammond, who set federal land ablaze.

Prosecutors claim that the Hammonds burned around 130 acres of government land in 2001 to cover up poaching. However, the Hammonds say that they set the fire to reduce invasive plant growth and protect their property from wildfires.

The militia group seized the building on Saturday, Jan. 2 and Ammon Bundy, one of the armed men, told CNN that they will defend themselves if force is used by the government. However, Bundy also added that the militia group was not comprised of terrorists.

Harney County Sheriff David M. Ward warns that the militia group's intent was nothing less than overthrowing the government. Many people from other regions have also joined the protest.

"These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives, to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States," says Ward.

Oregon Senator Ron Wyden has also confirmed that the state, local and federal authorities are also monitoring the situations in Oregon.

Debates have also began online - some people are backing the Oregon protest while others are against the militia group. Twitter users are also voicing their opinions about the incident on #YallQaeda, which sounds similar to the terrorist group Al Qaeda.

Since 2011, #YallQaeda has been used for referring various anti-government protest groups and now Twitter users have used the hashtag more than 35,000 times

"#YallQaeda waging #YeeHawd on America and we're still calling it a 'peaceful protest,'" commented a user on #YallQaeda. "It's domestic terrorism and we need to shut it down."

"Whoever coined #YallQaeda for the Oregon militia can just take the rest of the week off," tweeted another user on #YallQaeda.

While some Twitter users mocked the militia group for forcefully capturing the federal building some people were in defense of the incident, comparing it to other incidents in the country.

"Every successful revolution starts with takeover of closed visitor center with gift shop," tweeted another user.

"Justified or not, it's a protest against government abuse of power. If Oregon is terrorism, then so is #BlackLivesMatter," said another Twitter user.

Some people believe that the government is slow to respond because the protestors are primarily white. Elon James White, a journalist and CEO of This Week In Blackness, started another hashtag - #OregonUnderAttack. White argues that people can perceive an incident differently based on the race of the people involved in it.

It remains to seen how swiftly the authorities are able to take control of the Oregon standoff.

Photo: Julian Carvajal | Flickr

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Vancouver-based health hardware manufacturer Mios showing off its brand new Slice Activity tracker just ahead of the CES kickoff this week. The slim new band displays the usual cross section of fitness results, including steps count, calories, distance, and features sleep tracking.

The most interesting addition here, however, is what the company refers to as the Personal Activity Intelligence (PAI). Culled from the results of an extensive health study of 60,000 people, the metric is said to offer more customized health results than most one-size-fits-all metrics.

PAIs goals are loftier than the standard New Years resolution weight loss targets. According to press material issued by the company, hitting the target score can help individuals maximize [their] lifespan and reduce [their] risk of lifestyle-related diseases

The new Slice tracker will be the only of Mios products to directly display the PAI score, though others be able to calculate it through the companys proprietary app.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
The Xbox One exclusive video game ReCore that was first revealed at E3 is adding another prominent name to its roster.

Developed by Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune and Armature Studio, the studio behind Metroid Prime, ReCore follows the story of a female character named Joule who is the last person remaining on a desert planet, and is tasked with getting help from robots to revive the human race.

And according to The New York Times, writer Joseph Staten will pen the story of the female heroine.

"The male gender does not have the monopoly on heroism," Staten told The Times. "Joule is emblematic of this conviction, and we hope she's a character who stands strong and stands out in a market filled with male heroes."

And with his other successful titles already under his belt, ReCore's Joule might give Lara Croft a run for her money. Staten was a member of the Bungie writing team up until 2013. He was the lead writer on Destiny and Halo, as well as managing the extended universe tie-ins regarding the latter.

The Microsoft exclusive video game is currently being developed at Comcept and Armature Studios. ReCore is set to be released in spring of 2016.

Source: The New York Times

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Graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang, a two-time National Book Award nominee, has been named the latest ambassador for Young People's Literature, marking the first time a comic book creator has assumed the role.

This isn't the first time one of Yang's, well, firsts has made headlines. His debut work American Born Chinese was the first graphic novel nominated for the National Book Award for YA literature back in 2006. Though the anthology  three intertwined tales about Chinese identity and intersectionality  lost out to M.T. Anderson's The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, it was highly lauded, making the top 10 lists for TIME Magazine, Booklist and NPR, and won the 2007 Harvey Award for Lark Pien, the novel's colorist. American Born Chinese was also the first comic to win the Printz Award, which is delegated for excellence in young adult literature.

"Gene Yang continues to prove himself as a pathfinder for publishing, for comics, and for literature in our changing times," said Mark Siegel, editorial director of First Second (Yang's editor for American Born Chinese and his two-story follow-up about the Boxer Rebellion and Joan of Arc in Boxers and Saints), in an exclusive interview with School Library Journal. "This is another great honor ... for graphic novels as a form ... a vital, timely, flourishing form of human expression."

Yang is expected to assume the mantel of ambassador on Jan. 7 in a ceremony at the Library of Congress. The appointment, which will last two years, includes duties such as touring the country to speak to children, teens, teachers, and parents about the imperative nature of reading, as well as his own experiences as a young reader and writer.

Yang will receive his new title from former ambassador Kate DiCamillo, author of the award-winning The Tale of Despereaux, who calls Yang "a talented writer" and "a brilliant artist."

"His stories are thought-provoking, genre-bending, utterly original examinations of the human heart," she added.

Source: School Library Journal

Photo: mliu92 | Flickr

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
We already know that Netflix will be doubling its original content in 2016, with one of those new titles including a comedy about relationships created by Judd Apatow.

Known for developing TV series like Girls and Freaks and Geeks, and movies like Bridesmaids, Get Him to the Greek and Trainwreck, Apatow has joined forces with Paul Rust and Lesley Arfin to write the new Netflix original series, called Love. Apatow will also serve as executive producer alongside Brent Forrester (The Office, The Simpsons).

The romantic comedy series will follow the story of two people who are polar opposites who fall in love. Rust (Inglorious Basterds, I Love You, Beth Cooper) will play the male lead, Gus, who is best described as a nice guy, with actress Gillian Jacobs (Community, Hot Tub Time Machine 2) playing the female lead, Mickey, who is his wild counterpart. The series will explore the rollercoaster of emotions people face in relationships, including humiliation regarding intimacy and commitment.

Now, Netflix has revealed the series will be released on Feb. 19, 2016 in a new teaser trailer.

The teaser doesn't give away much about what Netflix subscribers can expect, and doesn't even show the lead stars in their roles. Instead, the teaser features a montage of phrases in red that flash on the black background, including "eat gluten again," "fix breath issue" and "stop Googling him."

The first season of Love will feature 10 episodes, and Netflix is already on board for a 12-episode second season that will debut in 2017.

Check out the Love teaser trailer below.

 2022 TECHTIMES.com All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
A 40 anos de Malvinas

"Revisar el pasado es pensar el futuro". La frase de la presidenta de Telam, Bernarda Llorente, resume el espiritu del documental coproducido entre la agencia de noticias y el canal publico de TV sobre la cobertura que los medios de comunicacion hicieron del conflicto, plagada de censura y mentiras. Una autocritica necesaria para mirar hacia adelante en un (ya viejo) contexto de fake news y negocio informativo.
Asked about the police response to his daughter's radicalisation, he said: "I said they should watch her. She was a Christian, she went to the local Roman Catholic school. She was Christian until she changed. She fell under the influence of some people when she was going to the Mosque. She was very observant."
During the day, the guides will take you and a maximum of seven other guests through the rainforest, pointing out the various flora and fauna along the way. They know where the gorillas are likely to be, so the chances of an encounter are excellent.
Most of us take the twinkling stars of the night sky for granted. But if you ever get the chance to view the heavens from a truly dark place, in crystal-clear air, be prepared to reassess your perception in jaw-dropping style.
The President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, said the Ministry of Equality and Equity would be a central agency of the Executive Branch. | Read More
T MLAs to get camp office in constituencies

Hyderabad, Jan 3 (INN): Roads & Buildings Minister Tummala Nageshwara Rao on Sunday informed that the Telangana Government proposes to construct camp office for all MLAs in their respective constituencies.



Speaking to media persons here, Tummala said that tenders for construction of camp offices in all 119 Assembly constituencies would be invited this this month.



Tummala also informed that Union Minister Nitin Gadkari would visit Telangana on Monday. He will inaugurate the bridge constructed on Godavari River at Etunagaram of Warangal district. Later, the Union Minister will lay the foundation stone for four-laning of Warangal-Yadigirigutta roads. Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, State Ministers, legislators and senior officials will also participate in the function.



The minister said that the Centre would be asked to sanction more number of highways in the State. He said expansion of highways and construction of bridge over Godavari River would reduce the travel distance to Chattisgarh and Maharashtra. He said representation would be made to the Centre to start water ways on Godavari River, especially for transportation of goods.









News Posted: 3 January, 2016








Horticulture University foundation stone laying on Jan 7

Hyderabad, Jan 3 (INN): Telangana Agriculture Minister Pocharam Srinivas Reddy on Sunday informed that the foundation stone for Horticulture University will be laid in Medak district on January 7.



Speaking to media persons here, Pocharam said that foundation laying ceremony will be attended by Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekhar Rao and other dignitaries. He said that the university would be established at a cost of Rs. 1,831 crore which includes the cost of construction and other amenities. He said that the Centre has sanctioned Rs. 31 crore for the university while agreeing to release another Rs. 200 crore.



Pocharam said that the State Government was taking several steps to promote agriculture sector. Besides waiving off crop loans, farmers are being provided sees and fertilizers at subsidised cost. They are also being given input subsidy. He said Rs. 1,000 crore have been allocated in the annual budget for drip irrigation.









News Posted: 3 January, 2016








Ex-minister Vijayrama Rao joins TRS

Hyderabad, Jan 3 (INN): Former minister and ex-CBI Director Dr. K. Vijayarama Rao joined the Telangana Rashtra Samithi here on Sunday.



Vijayarama Rao was welcomed into the party by Cheif Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao by offering him a 'khandwa' at TRS Headquarters Telangana Bhavan. Several ministers, legislators and other leaders were also present on the occasion.



The former minister had recently resigned from the Telugu Desam Party. The same day, Panchayat Raj Minister K. Tarakarama Rao met Vijayarama Rao and invited him to join the TRS.









News Posted: 3 January, 2016








Bomb Threat to Actor's Father

Kollywood young hero Simbu's father and veteran actor T Rajender, who has been facing severe criticism and pressure from women organizations over the 'Beep Song' sung by his son had to face another jolt the other day. An unidentified person called up T Rajendar and stated that a bomb has been planted in his bungalow located at Perur on Saturday.



The director immediately called 108 and the police control room. Police teams who rushed to the bungalow thoroughly searched the place and concluded that it was a hoax call. As soon as police got the information, they reached to his house and thoroughly checked and confirmed it as hoax call. When they called back to that number, a woman answered the call.Police concluded that an unknown woman made the call in man's disguise only with the intention of troubling Simbu's family. Police believe a member of one such organisation might have made the call.



It may be recalled that the 'beep song' created by Simbu had enraged woman organisations in the state. It all started on December 11, when a song allegedly composed by Anirudh Ravichander and sung by Simbu was leaked on YouTube. The obscene lyrics of the song denigrating women went viral on the Net, earning the wrath of several women groups, political and student organisations.









News Posted: 4 January, 2016








Gadkari assures KCR of cooperation

Hyderabad, Jan 4 (INN): Union Minister for Road Transport Nitin Gadkari and Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao, before leaving for Warangal District for laying foundation stone of four laning Yadagirigutta ' Warangal section of NH 163, had luncheon meeting at official residence on Monday. Earlier, the Chief Minister received the Union Minister with bouquet on his arrival to his official residence.



After the lunch, the Chief Minister, in a discussion with the Union Minister, mentioned about proposed Telangana Irrigation Projects across Godavari River within the vicinity of Maharashtra borders. The Union Minister assured KCR of his full cooperation for Telangana Projects.



Assembly Speaker S. Madhusudana Chary, R&B Minister Tummala Nageshwara Rao, Special Representative of Telangana at New Delhi Venugopala Chary, Chief Secretary Rajeev Sharma, R&B Principal Secretary Sunil Sharma, DGP Anurag Sharma and Member of Parliament B. Patil were present in the luncheon meeting.









News Posted: 4 January, 2016








KCR assures Rs. 2083 Cr per month

Hyderabad, Jan 4 (INN): Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao has reiterated that the Telangana Government would spend Rs. 25,000 crore on irrigation projects every year. Further, he said that the State Government would release Rs. 2083 crore per month.



The Chief Minister on Monday conducted a meeting at his camp office to review the project of irrigation projects being constructed on Godavari and Krishna Rivers. He also reviewed the status of pending irrigation projects in the State.



The review meeting was attended by Irrigation Minister T. Harish Rao, Planning Board Vice-Chairman Niranjan Reddy, Advisor to Govt Vidyasagar, Irrigation Secretary S.K. Joshi, Engineer-in-Chief Muradhar Rao and other senior officials.



The Chief Minister directed the officials to complete the tender process within two weeks for Palamuru Project of Mahabubnagar and Penganga of Adilabad districts. He authorised Chief Engineer level officials to take decisions on their own to expedite works on these projects. He also informed that the works on Kaleshwaram barrage ner Mediguda would be initiated soon. He asked officials to invite tenders for Dindi project.









News Posted: 4 January, 2016








The State Bank of Vietnam reduced the dongs reference rate for the first time since August, after saying over the weekend that it is moving to a more market-based methodology in setting a daily reference rate versus the dollar.

It lowered the fixing by 0.03 percent to 21,896 against the greenback on Monday, after the currency sank to the limit of its permitted trading range in late December. The monetary authority had kept the rate unchanged since Aug. 19, when it cut the fixing by 1 percent and increased the currencys trading range to 3 percent on either side.

That followed another band widening on Aug. 12. The central bank also cut the reference rate by 1 percent in both January and May of 2015. The currency ended 2015 at 22,495 per dollar, 2.7 percent weaker than the central banks Dec. 31 reference rate of 21,890. It was trading little changed on Monday at 22,498.

The dongs daily reference rate will make it easier for market stakeholders, Do Ngoc Quynh, Hanoi-based head of treasury at Bank for Investment & Development of Vietnam, said by phone. It also helps policy makers avoid accumulated pressure on the dong and allows them to be more proactive in coping with changes in global markets.

The State Bank said over the weekend that the new mechanism will take into account movements in major foreign currencies that are relevant to Vietnams trade and investment activities. The rate will also reflect domestic and international money-market developments, the central bank said, adding that it is willing to sell dollars to stabilize the money market and ensure the dong can fluctuate within its trading band. It didnt release a statement on Monday.

The move comes as tightening monetary policy in the U.S. boosts demand for the greenback and a depreciating yuan drags currencies lower across Asia. The dongs 4.8 percent loss last year compares with slides of 19 percent for Malaysias ringgit and 10 percent for Indonesias rupiah, the regions two worst-performing currencies. Supporting the exchange rate has come at a cost to the Vietnams foreign-currency reserves, which tumbled by $6.7 billion to $31 billion in the third quarter, according to Trinh Nguyen, a Hong-Kong based senior economist for emerging Asia at Natixis SA.
Linzi Macdonald has always had an eye for style but it wasn't until her daughter, Maddie, was born two years ago that she discovered a passion for decorating doll's houses.

Inspired by a desire to create "something really special" for her daughter, Macdonald found a second-hand doll's house online and filled it with miniature versions of real world designer furniture.

A doll's house decked out by Linzi Macdonald. Credit:Steven Siewert

"Once I started, it became something of an obsession," she explained.

The Ashfield designer has just finished renovating her second doll's house, a three-storey masterpiece which took six months to complete.
A man who is accused of lighting the Christmas Day Sunbury fires was out on bail on other arson-related charges, according to a media report.

The fast-moving fire on Melbourne's northern fringe sent residents fleeing family lunches around 12pm.

A helicopter helps the effort to control a fire in Sunbury on Christmas Day. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer

The 47-year-old man accused of lighting that fire is also alleged to have lit another one in the region four days later on December 29. He was charged on January 2 with 13 offences over the two incidents.

According to a Channel Nine news report, the man who is alleged to have lit the fire was out on bail on October 27, 2015 for a previous arson charge.
"How do you prefer your taxes to be spent? Apple or Microsoft?"

That's the question one Canberra father believes his son's new school is asking, after its inclusion of Apple iPads and notebook computers on a list of back-to-school equipment is threatening to set parents back thousands of dollars.

Mark Wilson is angry the book pack for his son for Melba Copland Secondary School this year will cost $2794.67. Credit:Jeffrey Chan

Mark Wilson's son  whose name Fairfax Media has chosen to withhold  is enrolled to begin year seven at Melba Copland Secondary School this year.

Mr Wilson said he was shocked when he received a list of essential requirements for the 2016 school year in the post. It came at a cost of $2794.67.
Insurance group IAG has secured $7 billion worth of reinsurance cover for 2016 as it braces for potentially devastating bushfire, hail and storms this Australian summer.

IAG's new program, which started on January 1, has been placed for 80 per cent of its risk with the remaining 20 per cent held by US insurance giant, Berkshire Hathaway.

Investing guru Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway struck a 20 per cent quota share deal with IAG in June. Credit:Bloomberg

It is understood the cost of reinsurance had not changed significantly since last year.

Reinsurance cover is an important risk management component to insurers' businesses, as it helps to buffer the amount of losses companies suffer in the event of major natural disasters.
Getting ready to go back to school was always a little bit different for Luke Slattery.

While his classmates and their parents lined up outside Action Books in Melbourne east, he was in the store's back room busily bundling up boxes of pencils, protractors and exercise books.

Luke Slattery, creative manager at Typo, has seen school stationery change dramatically since his days helping out at his parents' shop. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer

"It would get to the final week of January and there would be a queue out the door and around the block of all the parents trying to get their kids ready," says Slattery, now 41, recalling the summers he spent as a teenager helping his parents at their school supplies store.

"One of my fondest memories was when they first bought the business, and mine and my brother's job was to stocktake all the pencils.
Our family place at Separation Creek was shared. As with so many of the holiday houses there and at Wye River, its informality provided a particular welcome to friends, friends of friends, and well beyond. Redolent of sea salt and eucalyptus oils, a generally musty smell folded around you every time you re-opened the house after being away.

It must be something about wetsuits, old newspapers, shells, and slightly too well worn rugs and couches that unite to provide an unmistakable "holiday ahead" aroma. Within a day or two the aroma would be augmented by cooking and transmogrify to become the "Wye River sleeping sickness"  an aura of relaxation and happiness combined such that people slept  on couches, in chairs, in hammocks and banana lounges, as well as in beds  at all hours, in between swims, surfs, coffees, nippers, fetes, meals and beers.

As fires raze hundreds of homes in WA towns such as Yarloop, authorities have encouraged residents to evacuate unless they were confident they could defend their homes. Credit:Tom Jacobs

The character of our place was typical of the "owner-built" houses that dotted the slopes of our twin hamlets. Sure, we cheated and had great professional help, but the investment of time and family that is literally built into such houses cannot be replaced by million-dollar budgets.
It has hardly been either the quiet or auspicious start to the year that Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull would have wanted for his government.

His cities minister Jamie Briggs has stepped down, his minister of state Mal Brough has moved to one side, and now his Immigration Minister Peter Dutton has been revealed as sending a text message inadvertently to a journalist that had been intended for Mr Briggs.

In the message he calls the News Corp journalist Samantha Maiden a "mad f---ing witch" in response to a column she wrote about Mr Briggs. Mr Dutton has apologised, Ms Maiden has accepted the apology. She was, she says, "not offended by it". Mr Dutton said: "Sam and I have exchanged some robust language over the years, so we had a laugh after this and I apologised to her straight away which she took in good faith."

So, should that be the end of it? According to Education Minister Simon Birmingham, Mr Dutton has been almost noble: "[He] ... has come out and publicly acknowledged that it was him, to avoid there being a witch-hunt or blame being pointed in other directions."

It is not the end of it. Mr Briggs resigned because he acted inappropriately towards a female diplomat in a Hong Kong bar. It was not a misunderstanding, as initially portrayed, but, according to Mr Turnbull, a "serious matter. Ministerial standards were breached."
A vicious cycle The difficult environment caused by low staffing levels is compounded by added stress on the registered nurse in charge, who must not only supervise/educate the poorly trained carers, but deal with the often valid complaints from residents and families. This is driving away experienced nurses, which lowers the standard of care even further. Jacqui Smith, Murrumbeena So little accountability Why are taxpayers not asking more questions as to why aged care is sliding as profits for operators soar? Some 15 years ago your reporter Peter Ellingsen asked the same question, concluding that "except for (accreditation) the aged care industry is not held accountable for the billions it gets each year". Since the system was deregulated, "proprietors can spend the money any way they like". Before the introduction of the 1997 Aged Care Act (introduced under Bronwyn Bishop) proprietors were obliged to allocate a certain proportion of their funding for resident care  i.e. for staffing.

Glenda Addicott, East Ringwood Misogyny thrives As soon as Jamie Briggs' ministerial demise became known he was supported by male MPs including a senior minister. "He's a good bloke," we were told. Then we learn that, in an attempt to demonstrate "she was fine on the night", Mr Briggs sent photos of the unfortunate public servant to mates, at least one of whom, in an effort to assist his friend, sent it on to a news organisation. The move was successful. An opinion writer with that organisation has suggested that Briggs was appallingly treated. Another senior mate, trying to comfort his erstwhile cabinet companion, has described the journalist who provided background to the story as a "mad f---ing witch". No matter that Peter Dutton has apologised. His attitude to the entire matter is plain.

So we have a bunch of males, sympathetic to those who step out of line after drinking, and who have no idea how appalling this looks, not only to most Australians but to those in countries in which Mr Briggs was transacting our business. Whatever the definition of "misogyny", it's alive and well in cabinet. Ian Dunn, North Fitzroy Indicator of violence And we are trusting these people to tackle the domestic violence crisis in this country? The fact that Peter Dutton thinks it's OK to call a female journalist a "mad f---ing witch" and even tries to laugh it off just shows how out of their depth this country's leaders are. It's called verbal abuse, Mr Dutton, and it's on the list of domestic violence indicators. Jess Langhorne, West Footscray

New problem for PM The right question is who should Mr Dutton really be angry with. If not his colleague for not knowing the boundaries of professional conduct, then perhaps himself for not recognising the gravity of his colleague's misconduct and for not being able to use his technological device wisely. Regardless, Mr Turnbull has a new problem requiring swift redress. Jelena Rosic, Mornington Bench warmers When politicians relinquish ministerial portfolios because of unacceptable behaviour, why are they still considered fit to continue as lawmakers or voter representatives? Shouldn't they leave Parliament, rather than simply reverting to a backbench role, often temporarily, on a very good salary?

Bill Farrell, Wodonga Programs in jail vital I usually like Amanda Vanstone's down-to-earth approach. But this time she is off the mark (Comment, 4/1). I have worked for more than 30 years in the area of domestic violence here and overseas. Using assault laws is not sufficient. How can one measure "controlling" behaviour, financial abuse and or non-verbal "assaults"? There need to be separate laws dealing with the specifics of domestic violence, especially the effects on children. Locking up men is probably the least effective. Clearly jail is necessary when mandated by law and for community safety. But where are the programs in jail to tackle the problems of men's violence towards women? Without them, nothing changes. Violence does not start in a vacuum. Tackling the causes in individual men is an important part as is tackling cultural norms. There are excellent programs available for schools that address violence prevention. All can be incorporated within philosophy, ethics, citizenship, personal and social health curricula. Sadly, they have never been funded properly and people keep wanting to re-invent the wheel by rewriting them, thus wasting what money is there.

There is no single answer. We all need to take responsibility individually for our own behaviour and collectively for this scourge. Di Margetts, Bulleen Bullying the bullies? Amanda Vanstone suggests we put "a few more bullies in the slammer ... where they might experience violence from other thugs". Is she advocating the mistreatment of prisoners in state detention as a form of punishment? If so, it would be illegal, a human rights violation and premeditated torture. Confusingly, she writes that laws against murder have been ineffective, but then suggests harsher penalties against domestic violence will be effective. Greg Keogh, Cheltenham

Obama under the gun Barack Obama is pressing ahead with gun control measures in the US following mass shootings there. How hypocritical, given that under his administration there has been a surge in arms exports to the Middle East, and the US is now the world's largest arms exporter. Small arms killed up to half a million people last year and were a major cause of civilian deaths in conflict areas. Leigh Ackland, Deepdene Who's more barbaric? In a black humour sort of way, I find it somewhat amusing to listen to the rhetoric between the Iranians and the Saudis regarding the latter's decision to execute 47 people at the weekend including a Shiite Muslim cleric. In effect the executioners are calling out the (other) executioners. Both countries hold shameful human rights records. And we should remember that in 2013 Saudi Arabia was voted on to the UN Human Rights Council with the help of the British vote. More recently, the UN Saudi ambassador was elected to head the panel of "independent experts" of this same UN council. Makes a mockery of the UN.

Rosie Elsass, East Brighton Residents left in dark Planning Minister Richard Wynne implies Ascot Vale residents are being misleading (Letters, 31/12), yet the fact is we have been left in the dark since mid 2012 over the opaque Flemington Racecourse planning process. For a development of this scale and impact, what description other than "waving through" can be applied to a five-week exhibition period, commencing on January 11 with public input via hearings to be held "as required" during three weeks in March and the committee's recommendation to be within a further eight weeks? Any meaningful input will be likely compromised with the minister's advisory committee having already provided "riding instructions" to the developers as to resubmission of their application material to be made after the public exhibition period. Meanwhile, residents have been left to their own devices in responding to the panel hearings. It is unreasonable that a proposal of such massive scale and that seeks fundamental change in planning controls should be so hastily considered. Anyone seeking a planning permit for a house extension would be thrilled to get an approval in such a time frame.

Peter Burke, Ascot Vale Pressing concern I watched with concern television footage of the crowds queueing to enter the MCG. Surely the greatest danger is not a terrorist attack, but the risk of patrons being crushed to death trying to exit the ground at any cause for alarm. Carol Boothman, Burwood East Lesson in economics

Professor Richard Teese makes very good points about the effect of funding on educational outcomes, equity and opportunity (Comment, 31/12). There is also the macroeconomic question of how education drives economic growth. The public education system is the foundation of the modern economy  it is an investment in our human capital that repays itself many times over through increased income and other taxes, and reduced welfare needs over the course of an individual's life. In purely economic terms, public education is an excellent investment. The continuing underfunding of the state school and university systems is a drag on our economic performance. In backing away from the Gonski reforms, we are not saving money; we are shooting ourselves in the economic foot. Richard Fone, Camberwell Standards pay off Tom Switzer attacks "command-and-control" mechanisms as a way of reducing carbon emissions (Comment, 29/12). Citing the carbon tax as an example, Switzer claims these mechanisms lack broad public support and impose higher prices. In fact, command-and-control mechanisms, better known as regulations, can reduce emissions while saving people money. And unless they are politicised, as the carbon tax was, the public  and the planet  would quietly reap the benefits.

Consider one regulation: minimum energy performance standards on appliances. The last fridge I bought  "a cheap model"  uses less than half the electricity of my previous fridge, saving me more than $100 per year. According to a 2014 review, minimum energy performance standards reduce Australia's emissions by about 4 per cent, while saving us $4.60 for every $1 spent. Making our buildings, equipment and vehicles more energy efficient is probably the most cost-effective way to reduce emissions. But we can only capture these savings by requiring manufacturers and builders to comply with performance standards. Andrea Bunting, Brunswick AND ANOTHER THING ... Peter Dutton

Time to ditch another misogynistic bungler. Christine Weatherhead, Glen Waverley Peter, three strikes and you are out. Sheridan Rodgers, Berwick Peter "foot-in-mouth" Dutton appears to have modelled himself on Tony Abbott. Another gift that keeps giving.

David Seal, Balwyn The only rational explanation for Mr Dutton's continued presence in thecabinet is that he knows where Mr Turnbull's skeletons are hidden. Ross Hudson, Camberwell To whom should he apologise? He has mocked civil society, trivialised parliamentarians and dismayed hiselectors. Ellie Bastow, Hawthorn

Interesting that Mr Dutton has News Corp journalists on speed dial. Given Samantha Maiden's emollient response, can we assume we have just discovered one of her sources? Andrew Watkins, Hampton Politics So much for Jamie Briggs and generational change. Malcolm, you'd better go with the proven performers Eric Abetz, Kevin Andrews and Ian Macfarlane. Phil Lipshut, Elsternwick

Recent performances by Messrs Briggs and Dutton of the Canberra Boys Club reveal an alarming lapse in standards since the Prime Minister for Women left the building. Norman Huon, Port Melbourne It's so pleasing to see the Liberal Party's merit selection policy working so well. Tony Kruger, Fitzroy How do these thugs and bullies get picked? Dyson Heydon might have an opinion.

John Davies, Kambah, ACT Who sent the images to the news outlets? Quick, get out the metadata. Donald Newgreen, Brunswick West Calls to bring back Mr Abbott are an attempt to keep the cracks in the LiberalParty from widening. John Hensler, Tesbury
For many agricultural export-oriented businesses, brand Australia is code for green and safe. Visy Chairman Anthony Pratt said as much about Australia two years ago: "Asia's 'clean, green food bowl' can be more than a marketing slogan. But for that to happen, we need imagination." There is nothing more important to a company than its image. Brands are built, refined and carefully protected by armies of marketers and public relations consultants. In short, business gets symbolism. But there are virtually no public utterances from business leaders on the dated symbols of a foreign hereditary head of state, knights and dames or the Union Jack.

Meanwhile, most of our major companies regularly undergo facelifts of brands and market positioning. For instance, Insurance Australia Group underwent a complete brand refurbishment in November, with a new logo and preferred name: its acronym IAG. In recent years, Coles and McDonald's have completely revised their market positioning. Coles is now a gourmet chef's delight with Curtis Stone and Masterchef. McDonalds makes salads and proudly screams how "unMcDonalds" it has become. Business invented branding and repositioning but ducks for cover on national symbols.

However there are exceptions. Qantas chief executive Alan Joyce and NAB chairman Ken Henry have joined the Australian Republican Movement. For this to be a genuine fillip, other CEOs need to follow. The onus is now on Joyce and Henry to include republican advocacy in their array of breakfast and lunch speeches to business councils and trade associations. The second point to interrogate is simply that corporate Australia has never been afraid to back a cause. Corporate logos adorn a broad range of social and economic causes. Corporate support can make or break a cause. Money is often not the most important component. Business leaders have readymade platforms and networks which few others enjoy.

There are set-piece speeches, annual general meetings, continuous news stories on their companies, parliamentary inquiries, personal networks and now social media. Business leaders usually have tremendously useful networks of people who can give a cause a fighting chance. Social media can now supercharge this impact. Australian CEOs are starting to take to Twitter. Telstra's CEO Andy Penn and ANZ's recent CEO Mike Smith have 27,000 and 33,000 followers respectively. Social media gives CEOs the opportunity to directly engage with the community and an ability to speak to broader issues in the national interest. We have seen corporates pile in on marriage equality. Australian Marriage Equality has almost 800 corporate supporters including the four major banks, Qantas, Wesfarmers, McDonalds and Airbnb.

This follows strong public advocacy from the daddy of all modern corporations  Apple. Marriage equality in the US is strongly supported by the CEO, Tim Cook. In recent years we have seen mental health awareness receive similarly strong support. Financial resources and strong leadership from prominent mental health advocates has led to significant changes in community perceptions on mental illness in just a decade. Corporate support for these causes is priceless. Business backing doesn't always work. Despite the advocacy of many CEOs, Australia has made little progress on increasing the number of women in leadership positions. Embarrassingly, just five per cent of CEOs in the ASX200 are women. We have not achieved cultural change. Increasing the number of women in leadership and achieving an Australian republic have something in common.
Installation view of Conservation piece by Kirsten Pieroth, part of the exhibition, The Biography of Things, at the Australian Centre for Contemporary Art. Credit:Andrew Curtis

Still from Camille Henrot's video Grosse Fatigue, part of Biography Of Things at ACCA. Credit:Simon O'Dwyer

On a shelf mounted to the wall are several bottles and jars of lightly-coloured liquid, each labelled with The New York Times of a certain date. The bizarre decoctions were obtained by boiling respective editions of the newspaper, always with the same amount of water each day. The intensity of the colour depends on the amount of newsprint and area devoted to dark pictures.

Created by Kirsten Pieroth, the liquor on display at ACCA distils the reportable world to fit in homely receptacles, such as you might keep for making jam. It is the ultimate boiling down, an extract of today's belligerence in Afghanistan, motor accidents and shootings: there you have it in a thin wash, all the debates, the suits, the market analysis, mortalities and culture.

Called Conservation piece  which at a glance looks like "conversation piece"  the inscrutable jars neither conserve nor converse. When today's stories are all boiled down to such a degree, all triumphs and catastrophes end up looking the same; and only their bulk or coincidental volume of advertising makes them look thicker or distinguishes them in their collapse into broth.

Pieroth's witty brew is part of a curious exhibition called The biography of things. Curated by Juliana Engberg, Annika Kristensen and Hannah Mathews, it alludes to the history or former life of inanimate objects. Pieroth's liquor is at an extreme, taking an object packed with information and deriving its purest fraction as a trace, as if transitioning to vapour, the elixir of newsworthiness, the essence of noise, the very humours of chaos.
The Wombats - there are still too many songs that struggle to get out of second gear.

Frequent visitors to these shores, having chalked up three visits in the past 11 months, it is easy to forget Liverpool's The Wombats released just their third album, Glitterbug, in April.

Back in town for their sole headline show after appearances at the Falls Festival and Field Day, the trio drew heavily on Glitterbug, playing it almost in its entirety with only a few nods to 2011's This Modern Glitch and 2007's A Guide to Love, Loss and Desperation.

Things begin strongly with opener Give Me a Try, an impressive light show and cityscape backdrop accompanying a rawer rock sound that has been missing since that debut album.

Jump in the Fog boasts a far more rhythmic stomp than on the record, before Moving to New York gets the night's first big cheer. Unfortunately, it all goes downhill from there.

The middling 1996 brings with it its own celebration of irony (if there's a truer lyric Matthew Murphy has written than "so hard to beat those Teenage Kicks", it wasn't offered up on Sunday night), while the Pulp-lite of Techno Fan, from This Modern Glitch, has you wondering whether anyone has actually used that term since Eminem.
Teaser provides a taste of Midsumma

Midsumma Festival's 2016 program features  appropriately enough  no shortage of events that defy conventional categories, but even by the strictest of definitions its performing arts line-up has expanded to the point where no one person can catch every show.

Frank Woodley Noodlenut Credit:Ken Merrigan

This can make for a daunting browse of the three-week calendar, especially when most works are local (if not world) premieres.

A Taste of the Festival night at fortyfivedownstairs may offer some relief: 12 acts from the broader program will serve up samples of their full-length shows from 7.30pm on January 19, with full price tickets only $15.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has broken his silence over the controversy surrounding Peter Dutton, saying the Immigration Minister's language in a text message was "clearly inappropriate".

Acting Opposition Leader Penny Wong said just four days into the 2016 election year the government was "in chaos" and that Mr Dutton's texting mishap, in which he labelled a senior female journalist a "mad f---ing witch", warranted a strong response from Mr Turnbull.

"It's all very well to talk about increasing the role of women and stronger ministerial standards - today is the day Malcolm Turnbull must put all that talk into action," Senator Wong said.
Australian companies say the Turnbull government is poised to cripple their business and hand dominance of a $12 billion market to four large international trading houses that conducted a slick lobbying effort in Canberra.

Four days before Christmas, Treasury released a policy paper that proposes to force local trading institutions to hold client money - including that of so-called 'mum and dad investors' - in trust.

Currently, small and medium-sized Australian trading firms use client money to hedge against risk. The process is similar to a bookmaker laying off bets with other bookies to reduce exposure to a large payout.

The sector affected, known as contracts-for-difference (CFD) and foreign exchange (FX), is worth $12 billion a year.
An Australian man has been killed and his wife seriously injured in a New Year's Day snowmobile accident at a popular Whistler resort, according to Canadian media.

The 65-year-old man lost control of the snowmobile as he descended Blackcomb Mountain and crashed into a tree about 11pm.

Whistler Blackcomb at dusk. Credit:Mike Crane

His passenger, a 54-year-old reported to be his wife, was seriously injured and taken to a Vancouver hospital.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said the man was driving directly behind the Canadian Wilderness Adventures tour operator when he went off the trail.
A vigil will be held on Monday night for Cole Miller, the teenager who died following an alleged king hit in Fortitude Valley on Sunday morning, at the site of the attack in Chinatown Mall.

Cole Miller, 18, died in hospital on Monday as a result of head trauma caused by an alleged assault about 3.30am on Sunday.

The rising water polo star had been out on the town with a friend and was heading for a cab rank on Ann Street when the alleged attack occurred.
"While there were some teething issues when the new Epping site first opened, vegetable growers are working with the Melbourne Market Authority to ensure tenants and buyers are able to conduct business as smoothly as possible," AUSVEG Victoria state manager Kurt Hermann said. Mr Hermann said the market's location was still a niggling issue for some growers, with curfews on heavy vehicles through the north-eastern Melbourne suburbs of Watsonia and Heidelberg causing difficulties. Traders in action early in the morning at the new wholesale fruit and vegetable market in Epping. Credit:Paul Jeffers "No matter where the market is located, you cannot please every grower, given that fruit and vegetables are grown all across Victoria," he said. "That being said, the facilities at the Epping location are state-of-the-art and the overall responses to the new market we have received have been positive. However, the curfew that has been implemented on Lower Plenty Road and Rosanna Road has caused a great deal of inconvenience for growers based at the markets."

Financially tough For some traders, the biggest challenge has been dealing with the uncertainty over the market's relocation for the past 10 years. Grant Nichol, wholesale business manager of hydroponic tomato grower and wholesaler Flavorite, said there was an element of the unknown for traders with the relocation. There's still guys here today who haven't completed their fitout works, but they're still operating inside their premises in some form or fashion. Shane Schnitzler "You know how your business trades in the current environment, but to be put in a new market with new neighbours and everything like that ... there's no guarantees in business in any case, but it's really an educated guess as to what layout is going to work the best and flow the best as far as stock receivables and what have you."

While Flavorite, which has about 380 employees, was ready for the move, some smaller traders found it tough, Mr Nichol said. "For a lot of the smaller business, it would have been a struggle, financially," he said. "A lot of the infrastructure they have is all paid off, but all of a sudden, they are in a position where they are going to a new market where there's uncertainty of trade and what have you, and having to finance an extensive amount of money as far as fitting out of the store and things like upgrading IT. "It's not the sort of thing people do every year  relocate their business and have to go through the negotiations with the builders, contracts and things like that. It can be pretty daunting." Mr Nichol also said curfews on heavy vehicles through suburbs connecting the market's northern suburb location to the south-eastern suburbs were proving troublesome for some growers, but on the whole, "Epping works quite well as a location".

White elephant claims The market relocation has been a sore point for successive Labor and Liberal-led Victorian governments since it was first announced in 2005 by Labor premier Steve Bracks. Market tenants were largely against the move and many fought tooth and nail to stop it. In 2011, wholesaler representative group Fresh State instigated a class action against the state government, with its then chief executive calling the Epping relocation project a "white elephant". Fresh State also proposed the building of an alternative, privately funded market in the south-eastern suburb of Dandenong. Fresh State president Shane Schnitzler said much of the rancour surrounding the move had died down, with wholesalers keen to work with the Melbourne Market Authority and get on with business. "I would go as far as to say most people I speak to, and including my own business, are very satisfied with the facility. It's hard to argue; it's a very modern, fantastic, streamlined facility. Everything works," Mr Schnitzler said.

He said some smaller traders struggled with getting their stores fitted out, but that might have come down to a shortage of expert suppliers. "In terms of businesses not being ready, it was because of their own fitouts. If you put it simply, there's not enough expertise in Australia to be able to do as much mass work as they could all the time, and maybe a lot of the industry is leaning on the same sort of people. "So there's still guys here today who haven't completed their fitout works, but they're still operating inside their premises in some form or fashion." Embracing change Mr Schnitzler said one of the biggest adjustments had been the change in atmosphere, with traders going from the grungy old market, which was about 35 hectares in size, to the shiny new one, which is about 60 hectares, with about 120,000 square metres of warehousing space.
It was a photograph that so perfectly encapsulated the New Year's Eve experience that it went viral around the world. But not all is as it might seem, as one of the people in the celebrated picture has revealed.

First, a bit of background. The photo, by freelance photographer Joel Goodman, primarily depicts police tussling with a man amid a busy New Year's scene in the English city of Manchester.

But it was another man, in the background, who captured the world's imagination.
The 'hoverboard' had been charging for 13 minutes in a back bedroom at a house in Lebanon Street when a smoke alarm was heard just before 7pm on Monday. The Strathmore home destroyed by a fire believed to have started by a charging 'hoverboard'. Credit:Justin McManus Ines, 14, went to investigate and found sparks flying out of 10-year-old India's 'hoverboard' and part of the bed on fire, Mr Ibraheim said. "I went to investigate because they are sometime prone to exaggerate but then I saw the fire," Mr Ibraheim said. The bedroom where it's believed a 'hoverboard' started a fire. Credit:Christine Ahern, Channel Nine

He tried to get a bucket of water to douse the flames. "But I fell onto my back, by the time I got back up and got more water, it was too late and we had to get out," he said. Mr Ibraheim said he could not recall the product's brand. "I made sure they were all compliant with Australian safety standards," he said. Mr Ibraheim said instructions told consumers not to charge 'hoverboards' for more than two hours.

Ines had set an alarm for 40 minutes to remind her to check the toy on the charger. "It was only on for 13 minutes," Mr Ibraheim said. Metropolitan Fire Brigade Western Zone Commander Guy McCrorie said Ines had closed the door when she discovered the fire. "When she realised there was a fire, she closed the door and got out out of there. I suppose she was being a kid and thinking it might go away," Commander Guy McCrorie said. Commander McCrorie said the damage was estimated at $500,000 and the house was a "pushover job" beyond repair.

Mr Ibraheim, a single dad, said he did not think the house's contents were insured because he had bought a block of land and was planning to begin building in February. The house's Singaporean owner inspected the damage on Tuesday with Mr Ibraheim. MFB acting Commander for Western Zone, Phil Smith described the house fire as sad for the family. "It was one of those 'hoverboards' that are all the rage at the moment and the family had a couple of them," acting Commander Smith said. "The house is a mess, it's very sad."

Acting Commander Smith said anything that took an electrical current had the potential for fire but this was the first 'hoverboard' fire he had attended. The family was not injured in the fire and have found alternative accommodation. It took 25 firefighters 30 minutes to bring the fire under control. "Given what's happened, people have to be aware there is a potential for fire risk when you are charging an electrical product," acting Commander Smith said.

"It was in a kid's bedroom, down the back of the house, where no one is able to supervise it. "I would suggest that if a person has one of these devices, it needs to be supervised while charging." In December the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recalled five 'hoverboards'. These include the Moonwalker, a two-wheel scooter by Hunter Sports because it was sold with a non-compliant battery charger and cord. The ACCC also issued a warning, saying faulty designs had caused fires overseas and users could be injured in falls. The ACCC called for consumers to check all electrical products complied to Australian standards.

All compliant products are marked with the Australian regulatory compliance symbol or RCM  a tick surrounded by a triangle. ACCC deputy chair Delia Rickard said consumers should always use the approved battery charger that came with the product. Signs of damage near the battery need to be checked by a professional, she said. Actor Russell Crowe complained through Twitter his children's 'hoverboards' were not allowed onto a Virgin flight. Virgin replied that that "due to safety concerns over the lithium ion batteries in hoverboards, these have been banned on all major ... Australian airlines and many around the world".
A 12-year-old boy has been charged over a fire on Monday afternoon in Endeavour Hills, south-east of the Melbourne CBD.

Victoria Police spokeswoman Belinda Batty said the large fire on Gunns Road Reserve was observed near the Monash Freeway about 3pm, before being extinguished.



Ms Batty said the Casey Crime Investigation Unit detectives charged the Hallam boy with recklessly causing a bushfire.



"He has been bailed to appear at a children's court in February," she said.



"Police are urging anyone who may have witnessed the fire or has any information to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000."
Victoria's national parks are increasingly struggling to cope with feral animals, weeds, fire threats and degraded infrastructure after deep budget cuts.

Parks Victoria's most recent annual report shows direct funding from the state government has collapsed by 37 per cent in nominal terms over the past three years, from $122 million in 2011-12 to $76.8 million in 2014-15.

National parks are said to be vulnerable to weeds, deer, horses, foxes and cats. Credit:Jason South

Over the same period, the organisation slashed its spending by more than 16 per cent. Even after adding in cash from trusts and other sources, total income was still down almost 20 per cent, leaving Parks Victoria $6.2 million in the red.

"This was in line with expectations and follows a challenging financial period due to a decline in funding for Parks Victoria's core operations," the annual report says.
Tonyi, the much-loved leader of the elderly African lion pride at Werribee Open Range Zoo has died, leaving his adoring brother Tombo behind.

Veterinarians and keepers made the decision to euthanise Tonyi as his health deteriorated on New Year's Eve.

Tonyi, the leader of the elderly pride at Werribee Open Range Zoo has died after struggling with kidney failure and age.

An autopsy performed over the weekend at the University of Melbourne revealed Tonyi suffered renal failure and arthritis.

Russel Traher, general manager of life sciences with the zoo, said Tonyi was especially close with his brother who was born in the same litter at Philadelphia Zoo in 1996. The pair spent time at the Auckland Zoo before joining Werribee in 2004.
Madrid: Spain's political deadlock has deepened with the industrial region of Catalonia stumbling towards fresh elections, further complicating an ongoing impasse over the formation of a new national government.

Barcelona followed Madrid into uncertainty on Sunday as acting Catalan President Artur Mas failed to win support from the anti-capitalist CUP party for his bid to piece together a regional government dedicated to securing independence from Spain. That raises the likelihood of early elections in March in a region that accounts for about 20 per cent of Spain's output.

Spain's acting Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy hasn't found the numbers to form a new government. Credit:Francisco Seco

Catalonia descended into further instability just as political leaders in Madrid struggle to chart a path out of the deadlock left by last month's general elections that saw two insurgent groups vying with the established blocs, but no party able to secure a clear majority.

The political mix, already complicated by national party leaders lining up on either side of the Catalan independence debate, is still harder to predict with the collapse of efforts to form a regional government.
SAN FRANCISCO -- January 4, 2016: Lyft, Inc. (" Lyft ") today announced that it is closing $1 billion with a $500 million investment from General Motors. GM will also have a seat on Lyft's board. Kingdom Holding Company invested $100 million making the total investment of Kingdom Holding and its affiliates approximately $250 million. Several new and existing Lyft investors were also in the round including Janus Capital Management, Rakuten, Didi Kuaidi and Alibaba. Following this latest round, Lyft is valued at $5.5 billion, post money.

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In addition to GM's investment in Lyft, the companies are creating an Autonomous On-Demand Network. GM is at the forefront of autonomous vehicle development and Lyft is the leading innovator of software to automate ride matching, routing and payments. Together, the companies will work to help make this integrated network of on-demand autonomous vehicles part of people's daily lives.

Lyft and GM will also work together on a series of national rental hubs where Lyft drivers can rent short-term vehicles, unlocking new ways for people to earn money without having to own a car.

Lyft is the fastest-growing rideshare platform in the United States, completing 7 million rides per month in more than 190 cities. In October, Lyft reached an annual gross run rate of $1 billion and surpassed more than 40 percent market share in San Francisco and Austin. Since 2013, Lyft has raised more than $2 billion.

John Zimmer, Lyft's president and co-founder, said: "This raise and collaboration with GM are exciting milestones in our three-year history that continue Lyft's leadership in redefining traditional car ownership. We are thrilled to take this momentum into the new year and continue improving life in our cities through more affordable, accessible and enjoyable transportation."

GM president Dan Ammann said: "We see the future of personal mobility as connected, seamless and autonomous. With GM and Lyft working together, we believe we can successfully implement this vision more rapidly."

Prince Alwaleed said: "Lyft is a solid partner for us in line with our investment strategy of creating value for our shareholders. Lyft has built a strong business with fast growth and we believe in their long term success."

About Lyft

Lyft was founded in June 2012 by Logan Green and John Zimmer to reconnect people and communities through better transportation. Lyft is the fastest growing rideshare company in the U.S and is available in more than 190 cities. Lyft is preferred by drivers and passengers for its safe and friendly experience, and its commitment to driving positive change for the future of our cities.
LAS Vegas -- January 4, 2016: Toyota Motor Corporation has entered into an agreement with Ford and Livio to establish an industry development and operation framework to deploy Livios SmartDeviceLink (SDL). Other automakers and app developers are welcome to join this collaboration. Toyota will also commercialize a telematics system using SDL.

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SDL is an open source platform for smartphone apps and car connectivity where customers can use apps in their vehicle through voice recognition function and operation panel.Shigeki Terashi, Executive Vice President of Toyota Motor Corporation, said: Developing a safer and more secure in-car smartphone connectivity service which better matches individual vehicle features is exactly the value and advantage an automaker can offer customers. We expect that many companies share our view and will participate in the industry SDL collaboration.In August 2011, Toyota and Ford entered a collaboration agreement for next generation in-car telematics system standardization. In June 2015, Toyota entered into an agreement with Ford and Livio to explore SDL introduction to its vehicles. Toyotas investigation and consideration of SDL has been completed successfully, and the company found SDL suitable for its in-car app connectivity.With SDL, automakers can offer smartphone apps which match each companys in-car system characteristics and interface. This enables customers to use apps they want more safely and comfortably.At the same time, if more automakers apply SDL, app developers can develop apps which are compatible with multiple automakers telematics systems at one time, meaning more apps available to customers in a shorter development time.At 2016 CES, Toyota will demonstrate an SDL integration in the Livio exhibit, LVCC  North from January 6th through the 9th. On Wednesday, January 6, 11:30 a.m.  1 p.m., Ken-ichi Murata, General Manager of Toyota BR Connected Strategy and Planning, will appear at the SDL Summit. Murata and officials from Ford, Livio and others will deliver remarks followed by a Q+A session.
MINI Hatch Awarded Best Supermini in The Sunday Times Top 100 Cars







Engine technology, comfort and style praised by judges

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FARNBOROUGH, UK -- January 4, 2015: Its a New Year and a new win for MINI, as the British brand is named best Supermini in The Sunday Times Top 100 Cars of 2016.

Fending off stiff competition in its category, the MINI Hatch was commended by The Sunday Times judges for its hi-tech engines coupled with its refined ride, road noise and comfort.

MINI Hatchs build quality was also praised, with the judges commenting: MINI has not lost its touch when it comes to creating a cabin thats distinctive, luxurious and stylish.'

MINI 3-door Hatch starts from 13,935 and, with more space than ever before, has been finished to an even higher standard. First-for-class features such as LED headlamps and Emergency Calling (E-Call), as well as a suite of advanced three and four-cylinder engines ensures that it will stay ahead of its rivals for years to come.

Its larger sibling, the MINI 5-door joined the range in September 2014 and has been a runaway success since launch. As well as sporting two extra rear doors, the MINI 5-door has improved legroom, a practical third rear seat and larger boot.
The family of Lilia Esperanza Aucapina, the Hamptons mother who vanishedand who was found weeks later hanging on a tree near her homeis demanding police reopen her case, as activists claim cops wiped their hands of the investigation because the victim was Hispanic.

The 40-year-old housekeeper and native of Ecuador disappeared Oct. 10mere days after a judge issued a restraining order against her husband, Carlos, as part of divorce proceedings.

Six weeks later, a hunter discovered Aucapinas body hanging on a low-lying branch several hundred feet from her Sagaponack residence, in an area authorities claimed they swept multiple times with K-9 units, all-terrain vehicles, and police choppers.

Police called her death a suicide. But to date, relatives say they havent received answers from authorities, nor an autopsy report or certificate of death. They dont believe the devoted mom and charity volunteer would have killed herself.

We, as her family, are not even sure if it was Esperanza who we buried, Maria Duchi, the victims niece, told The Daily Beast, adding that the family wasnt allowed to see the decomposed body or autopsy results.

Southampton police and the town supervisor did not respond to The Daily Beasts requests for comment.

Aucapina isnt the first Latina woman whose suspicious death was quickly ruled a suicide by local police.

In an eerily similar case last year, Ecuadorian immigrant Andrea Gabriela Armijos was discovered hanging by her sweater in woods not far from her East Hampton home. Cops also ruled the 21-year-olds death a suicidethough relatives arent convinced.

Watchdogs say this is all part of a disturbing pattern: town police in the wealthy East End allegedly shirking their duties when it comes to crimes against poorer Latino residents.

It seems to be a lack of concern or care to do a meaningful investigation. Is it straight racism or is it something else? We want to know why, said Foster Maer, senior litigation counsel for LatinoJustice.

The families know they have not been given an equal treatment here, and theyre determined to get that, Maer told The Daily Beast.

For her part, Duchi said, We dont think they care about the Latino community.

Lilia Aucapinas family says her so-called suicide stands at odds with her claims of abuse by her estranged husband.

Indeed, Aucapinas Sept. 4 petition seeking an order of protection against Carloswhich was reviewed by The Daily Beastreveals shocking allegations of stalking, harassment, and sexual abuse.

I have tried to keep Mr. Aucapina away from me, but he continues to break into my locked bedroom and sexually assault me, Aucapina alleged in the petition filed in Suffolk County family court. I am seeking an order of protection to keep him away from me and my home so I can feel safe sleeping at night.

The document shows Carlos allegedly violated a previous order by coming to Aucapinas house and bringing her flowers. In her petition, Aucapina wrote that she called police and Carlos was arrested. (The Daily Beast could not confirm this arrest with police.)

In the document, Aucapina said she woke at 5 a.m. on Sept. 1 to discover Carlos kneeling at her bed, even though she had locked her door.

I asked him what he was doing there, and he said he was praying because he had had a bad dream about me, Aucapina recalled. I asked him how he entered my room because the door was locked and he refused to tell me.

On Aug. 30, her pastor allegedly called her into his office when she arrived at her Southampton church. Soon after, Carlos entered the room. He had given the pastor various photos that he took from my Facebook page and used them to accuse me of cheating on him, Aucapina wrote in the petition.

The pastor allegedly asked Aucapina about the photos, which included one her son sent her of his leg to show off his tan. Mr. Aucapina stated it was my boyfriend, Lilia wrote.

Aucapina describes how, on another occasion, Carlos tried crawling into her bed at 1 a.m. I moved to a separate bedroom in July and I always keep the door locked at night, she wrote in her petition. He had broken into the room by using something to open the lock. I told him to get out and he refused, he wanted to have sex with me but I did not want to.

I had to push him away from me because he was trying to hug and kiss me. Finally he left, she said.

In the document, the mother of two describes how Carlos would allegedly show up when Aucapina was out with her daughter, even though they didnt disclose their plans. He also allegedly appeared at Aucapinas brothers home, where Aucapina would have dinner. During one July incident, Carlos allegedly took away her cellphone and car keys so she couldnt attend church.

Mr. Aucapina got a printout of all my calls on my cell phone and went through the numbers to try to prove Ive been cheating on him, Aucapina wrote.

Colin Astarita, an attorney for Carlos Aucapina, who owns a contracting firm in the Hamptons, didnt return e-mails left by The Daily Beast on Thursday.

In November, Astarita said Carlos had offered to take a lie detector test after Lilia disappeared and wanted to assist police in any way possible.

There was never any threats or any indications of any violence in family, Astarita told The Daily Beast in November. I dont think hes ever even had a traffic ticket.

Regarding the order of protection, the attorney said Carlos agreed to it. It wasnt something he fought. He agreed to live next door.

Carlos Aucapina did not respond to requests for comment on this article from The Daily Beast.

In November, Carlos Aucapina told the East Hampton Star he consented to his wifes request for a protective order because she needed more space.

As The Daily Beast previously reported, Lilia Aucapina was last seen Oct. 10 at a medical practice parking lot in Wainscott.

That morning, Carlos Aucapina had confronted Lilia and a male friend in a heated encounter that prompted the friend to call police, authorities said. Aucapina had reportedly brought along Lilias brother, Carlos Parra, and both left before cops arrived, relatives confirmed.

Lilias college-aged son reported his mother missing that night after relatives were unable to reach her.

Southampton and East Hampton police separately arrested Carlos for violating the order of protection shortly after Lilias disappearance. Its unclear whats become of criminal contempt charges against him.

Meanwhile, Duchi told The Daily Beast that the day Lilia Aucapina got the protective order, She was so happy. It was the best day of her life.

On behalf of Aucapinas family, advocacy group LatinoJustice sent a letter to Southamptons town supervisor asking for the Aucapina case to be reopened by the Suffolk County Police Department, whichunlike local departmentshas a dedicated homicide squad.

The Dec. 15 missive highlights what activists call a weak investigation, especially since Aucapinas body was found in plain view in this lightly wooded area, 27east.com reported.

Whatever their exact reasoning, the Town Police viewed the discovery of her body as confirmation that she had committed suicide and continued their refusal to expand the investigation or have trained homicide detectives take over, the letter states.

The letter came one week after 100 people gathered outside Southamptons town hall to demand justice for Lilia, holding poster boards with her photo, and signs that read, 40 days to find body that was 4 mins. from home. Incredible.

Even if [police] completely blew the search or this was a staged suicide, theres evidence of criminality, or certainly they should have continued to look at it as a crime, Maer said.

Maer told The Daily Beast that Aucapinas family wanted to search for her but police warned against it.

And Duchi told the The Daily Beast, We wanted to search around her house and in the area, and the detective kept telling us not to do it because we were going to get in trouble if we did, telling us that we could damage their investigation.

And we all know that this was not a good investigation due to the fact that with cadaver dogs and so much help from different agencies, they couldnt find her body, she said.

When asked why cop canines didnt find Lilias body, Southampton police Lieutenant Susan Ralph told 27east.com, It can be the wind direction and if the wind is blowing the scent away from the dog, the dog wouldnt pick it up.

It was heavily foliaged, plus the ground cover was high so it is thickets that you would have to be able to get into, Ralph added. With all those factors, she was missed.

Astarita, Carlos Aucapinas lawyer, also seized on the foliage explanation, telling 27east.com, Police had searched the area, but in the last six weeks the leaves have dropped and the area has been more accessible.

But advocates for Lilia Aucapina arent buying it.

What stunned everybody here is that she is hanging in the woods a couple hundred feet from her house, a couple hundred feet from the street, Maer told The Daily Beast. Police said they did repeated searches throughout the area, that very same spot.

At first we presumed, boy, they did a really bad job, unbelievably bad that they could leave body hanging at eye level, he added.

But then LatinoJustice called police expert Dan Montgomery to independently evaluate Aucapinas case.

LatinoJustice had previously used Montgomery, a retired Colorado police chief with 53 years experience, to analyze Gabriela Armijoss death. Like the Aucapina clan, Armijoss family is also calling for a new investigation by Suffolk County police instead of the Hamptons cops.

Armijos had left Ecuador for East Hampton in summer of 2014. In Sept. 27 of that year, she went to her job at a hair salon and never returned. Her family reported she often walked through a wooded area to get there.

They say they checked the supposed no-mans landwhich is littered with liquor bottles and broken lawn chairs and is reportedly a hangout for drinking and drugsthen called police, 27East.com reported.

The womans body was discovered there the next day by a family friend searching the area.

According to 27east.com, Armijos was seeking asylum in America after escaping an abusive childhood with her father.

Days before Armijoss death, her family grew concerned when she came home late with her clothes mysteriously covered in dirt. Armijos told her sister shed gotten lost on her way back from work.

In his September 2015 report for LatinoJustice, which was reviewed by The Daily Beast, Montgomery observed that police unreasonably refused to go into the woods to search for Ms. Armijos because it was reportedly too dangerous for them to do so the night before her body was found.

Montgomery also questioned the East Hampton police work, saying investigators allegedly failed to secure the crime scene to protect potential evidence, among other alleged oversights.

Armijoss brother-in-law told crime scene investigators he saw two sets of footprints about 30 feet from the womans body, according to Montgomery. Investigators allegedly never took photographs of the prints, nor they did examine an abandoned mattress nearby, Montgomery said in his report.

Investigators also failed to thoroughly investigate and interview an ex-boyfriend Armijos had broken up with before her death. The man met Armijos online before she moved to the United States, and she dumped him because he provided a false profile photo of himself, Montgomery wrote.

This matter needs to be fully investigated by trained homicide investigators, Montgomery concluded in his report. There are simply what seasoned investigators call, too many loose ends.

East Hampton police havent commented on Montgomerys report, which became public in October.

Back then, police captain Chris Anderson told The Independent, All I can say is after an investigation was conducted in conjunction with the Medical Examiners Office it was ruled a suicide and the case was closed.

Armijoss sister, Alexandra Pucha, told The Daily Beast that reports of Lilia Aucapinas disappearance hit too close to home.

For me, it was very difficult, the 29-year-old said through a translator. It was like seeing [my sisters] case all over again.

Im not convinced by what police said happened to her, Pucha said about her sisters alleged suicide.

Whenever I asked [police] questions they never answered them, and they didnt really respond until the media got involved, she added. There simply wasnt an investigation.
The American left created Donald Trump.

When I say the left, I do not mean the Democratic Partyor, solely the Democratic Party. Rather, the pestilence that is the Trump campaign is the result of a conglomeration of political, academic, media, and cultural elites who for decades have tried to act as the arbiters of acceptable public debate and shut down any political expression from Americans with whom they disagree. They, more than anyone else, created Donald Trumps candidacy and the increasingly hideous movement he now leads.

These are fighting words, not least because no one really wants the blame for creating the Trump phenomenon, and understandably so. Democrats want to perma-glue Trump to the Republicans so that the GOP will never get his stink off the party even after hes been defeated. Republicans, for their part, cant post enough pictures of Trump and the Clintons, or play enough clips of Trump noting that he voted for President Obama and showering praise on Hillary.

This is what parties do, and its natural for both the Democrats and the GOP to see who can hang Trump on the other. Of course, it all misses the point: Trump is too uncontrollably narcissistic to be genuinely attached to either party. As much as Republicans point out the money he gave to Hillary Clinton, for example, the fact is that Trump would have given money to Yuri Andropov if he thought there was a photo op in it. (Exhibit A: his creepy, un-American attachment to Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.) Democrats can try to tar the GOP with Trump, but Trumps a GOP newcomer whose views on abortion, health care, and taxes are mostly anathema to actual conservatives.

Its pointless to try to explain Trump in terms of political platforms because Trump himself is too stupid and too incoherent to have any kind of consistent political views about anything beyond hating minorities and immigrants. Nuclear weapons? With nuclear, the power, the devastation is very important to me. Drugs? That whole heroin thing, I tell you what, we gotta get that whole thing under control. A random word generation program could do better.

To understand Trumps seemingly effortless seizure of the public spotlight, forget about programs, and instead zero in on the one complaint that seems to unite all of the disparate angry factions gravitating to him: political correctness. This, more than anything, is how the left created Trump.

I am not referring here to the daily political correctness that became normal after the 1970s, the reflexive self-editing that weve all learned to do, almost unconsciously, in the name of being nice to other people. This early correctness was always awkward and artificial, but it wasnt overly onerous. Richard Russo penned a satire of academic life in the 1990s called Straight Man in which one of the professors reminded his colleagues so often to include female pronouns that his nickname was Orshe, as in he, or she, and while that kind of person might be annoying, much of that stuff was actually rooted in well-meaning ideas about inclusive language.

Today, however, we have a new, more virulent political correctness that terrorizes both liberals and conservatives, old-line Democrats and Republicans, alike. This form of political correctness is distinctly illiberal; indeed, it is not liberalism at all but Maoism circa the Cultural Revolution.

The extremist adherents of this new political correctness have essentially taken a flamethrower to the public space and annihilated its center. Topics in American life that once were the legitimate subjects of debate between liberals and conservative are now off-limits and lead to immediate attack by the cultural establishment if raised at all. Any incorrect position, any expression of the constitutional right to a different opinion, or even just a slip of the tongue can lead to public ostracism and the loss of a job. (Just ask Brendan Eich.) There is a huge vacuum left by this leftist attack on speech, and Trump is filling it.

Many liberals, I know, will scoff at this because they believe that American public discourse has shifted irretrievably to the right. But thats because to them, political discourse in the United States is already where they think it should be: firmly centered on liberal ideas. They see conservative objections as aberrations, not as the views of half the population. Liberals won Americas culture warand they did, even if conservatives undeniably won the contemporaneous economic warand so liberals dont really notice what they consider to be nothing more than mopping up operations on abortion, gay rights, immigration, and other hot-button issues.

Gay marriage is a good example. Liberals wanted gay marriage to win in the Supreme Court, and it did. Leftists wanted more: to silence their opponents even after those opponents completely lost on the issue. Ugly language that good liberals would normally deplore emerged not in the wake of defeat, but of victory: actor and gay activist George Takei, for example, actually called Justice Clarence Thomas a clown in blackface and said Thomas had abdicated his status as an African American. Thats heavy stuff, and it would likely scan better written in Chinese on a paper dunce cap.

I could reel off many other examples. When The New York Times tells the rubes that its time to hand in their guns, when The Washington Post suggests that Jesus is ashamed of them for not welcoming Syrian refugees the week after a terrorist attack, people react not because they love guns or hate Syrians, but because their natural urge to being told by coastal liberals that theyre awful people and that they should just obey and shut up is to issue a certain Anglo-Saxon verb and pronoun combination with all the vigor they can muster. And if they cant say it themselves, theyll find someone who will, even if its a crude jerk from Queens who cant make a point without raising his pinky like a Mafia goon explaining the vig to you after youve had a bad day at the track.

These brutish leftist tactics radicalized otherwise more centrist people toward Trump not because they care so much about gay marriage or guns or refugees any other issue, but because theyre terrified that theyre losing the basic right to express themselves. Many of these people are not nearly as conservative or extreme as the white supremacists, nativists, and other assorted fringe nuts who are riding along on Trumps ego trip. But they are cheering on Trump because they feel they have nowhere else to go. And for that, liberalsespecially those who have politely looked away as such methods were employed in the public squaremust directly shoulder the blame.

The great mistake made by both liberals and their most extreme wing on the American left is to assume that ordinary people, once corrected forcefully enough, will comply with their new orders. This is, of course, ridiculous: Americans do not magically become complacent and accepting multiculturalists just because theyve been bullied out of the public debate. They will find a new vessel for their views, and will become more extreme with each attempt to shut them down as the issue moves from particular social positions to the far more encompassing problem of who has the right to tell whom to shut up, and to make it stick. Nixons Silent Majority increasingly feels itself to be a silenced majority, and Trump is their solution.

Note, for example, how Trump turned the incident in which Black Lives Matter activists humiliated Sen. Bernie Sanders to his own advantage. He didnt bother drawing partisan lines or going after Sanders. Trump and his supporters couldnt care less about any of that, and Trump until that point almost had almost never mentioned Sanders.

Instead, he made it clear that hed never allow himself to be shut down by a mob. That, for his loyalists, was the money shot, especially when Trump pretty much dared BLM to disrupt a Trump event, in effect inviting them for an ass-kicking. A lot of people loved that shtick, because they want to see someoneliterally, anyonestand up to groups like BLM, even if its in defense of poor Bernie, because they worry that theyre next for that kind of treatment.

For the record, I despise Donald Trump and I will vote for almost any Republican (well, OK, not Ben Carson) rather than Trump. Im a conservative independent and a former Republican. I quit the party in 2012 because of exactly the kind of coarse ignorance that Trump represents. The night Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina primary on the thoughtful platform of colonizing the moon, I was out. If in the end God turns his back on America and were left with only the choice of Trump or Hillary Clinton, I will vote for a third candidate out of protesteven if it means accepting what I consider the ghastly prospect of a Clinton 45 administration.

But I understand the fear of being silenced thats prompting otherwise decent people to make common cause with racists and modern Know-Nothings, and I blame the American left for creating that fear.

With that said, we have to consider the GOP elephant in the room. If regaining their voice is all that Trump supporters really want, then why havent they turned away from him as his statements have become increasingly insane? Trump reveled in the endorsement of Putin, an avowed enemy of the United States; if Obama had accepted a similar endorsement, conservatives would have impeached him. (Recall that when the U.K.s David Cameron said a nice word about Obama in the 2012 campaign, people who no doubt now approve of Trumps bromance with Putin went berserk at this foreign interloping from one of our closest allies.) Whats it going to take?

Trumps staying power, however, is rooted in the fact that his supporters are not fighting for any particular political outcome, they are fighting back against a culture they think is trying to smother them into cowed silence. What they want, more than any one policy, is someone to turn to the chanting mobs and say, without hesitation: No, I will not shut up. How long this will go on, then, depends on how long it will take for those people to feel reassured that someone besides Trump will represent their concerns without backing down in the face of catcalls about racism, sexism, LGBTQ-phobia, Islamophobia, or any other number of labels deployed mostly to extinguish their dissent.

In the end, the significant cadre of kooks attached to Trump will likely scare the normals away from their flirtation with all this little-league brown-shirting. But the point remains that this is happening not because of an overly rightist GOP, but because American liberals, complacently turning away from the excesses of the left and eviscerating their own moderate wing, have damaged the two-party system to the point that an unhinged billionaire demagogue is raking in support from people who are now more afraid of leftists controlling the Justice Department than they are of Putin or ISIS.
CISCO, Texas  Right outside this little town, theres a tiny church that wants to change the world. And, thanks to the billionaire pastors backing, it just might be able to get that done.

The church is the Assembly of Yahweh, and its pastor, Farris Wilks, happens to be one of the most powerful new players in presidential politics. Farris, along with his brother Dan, made his fortune off the fracking boom and is using part of it to back Sen. Ted Cruz in his bid for the White House.

But new wealth didnt dint his commitment to old-time religionand to the culture war (read: anti-gay) politics that defined George W. Bushs presidential campaigns. Now, Cruz is taking a page out of Karl Roves playbook, looking to galvanize evangelical voters as a way to make the Republican Party competitive again. And Farris Wilks is just the guy to fund that effort.

The Wilks brothers and their wives have given $15 million to one of Cruzs super PACsone of the biggest contributions of this campaign cycle, in either party.

And their generosity that has changed the contours of the Republican presidential primary is newfound: The Center for Responsive Politics notes that the brothers and their wives had only given $263,000 to federal candidates before going all in for Cruz this cycle. Farris Wilks didnt speak with The Daily Beast for this story, but a visit to the church he pastors may shed light on the way the billionaires faith informs his commitment to bankrolling a culture warrior like Cruz.

At the end of December, the brothers hosted Cruz and conservative Christian leaders for a fundraiser at Farriss homestead in Cisco, as The Washington Post detailed. And it recalls a central element of Cruzs campaign: Hes said he can win the White House by dramatically boosting turnout among evangelical Christians (never mind that his strategy may have a math problem).

The last time Republicans won the White House, way back in 2004, evangelical turnout was the clincher. So, Cruz argues, its worth another shot. And Wilkss little church provides a tiny preview of what Cruzs evangelical army could look like.

Assembly of Yahweh is just off a ruler-straight two-lane highway that runs between Cisco, Texas, (population 3,820), and Rising Star (A Small Town With A Big Twinkle, population 799), and a few miles down from the ornate gates to Wilkss home. The roadside is dotted with longhorn cattle, cemeteries, and small oil pumpjacks. Suburbans and pickup trucks whip around you if you drive even a hair below the 75 mph speed limit.

The building itself is simple, with tan bricks and clean lines. Theres a large playground out front and a pavilion behind. Two young girls swing open the pair of glass entrance doors when I walk up, and the younger onewho looks about 7 years oldyells, Go through mine, go through mine! Then she gives me a hug.

Right inside, theres a table with a purple sign that says, The Salt & Light Ministry Biblical Citizenshipa project that encourages churchgoers to contact their elected representatives about a different policy issue every month. Its affiliated with the Liberty Counsel, the group that represents Kentucky county clerk Kim Davis. This is no accident, since Farris Wilks supports Liberty Counsel (according to Reuters, which reports hes given the group $1.5 million).

Cruz recently told backers at a private Manhattan fundraising event that marriage wasnt one of his top three issues, but it gets top billing at his benefactors church. There is a section for topics they always pray forthe Peace of Jerusalem, All Brethren Everywhere, Hopeful Couples (Yahwehs blessings for couples eagerly awaiting children), as well as young people, pregnant women, and the unemployed. Then there are a few new items: attendees who are ill, facing surgery, or recovering from it. And finally, there is a list of continued prayers, including about two dozen people from the area facing various health problems.

Then theres an entry for Obergefell v. Hodges.

The Supreme Court has issued a ruling recognizing homosexual marriage in the United States, thereby forcing all states to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples within their states, and recognize as valid homosexual marriages issued in other states, it reads. Please pray for our nation as we enter a time of upheaval, and pray for those public officials who are fighting to maintain their religious beliefs. (7/4/15)

And, finally, theres the space for Kim Davis.

Kim Davis, the County Clerk of Rowan County, KY, was jailed on 9/3 for Contempt of Court after refusing to issue same sex marriage licenses, it says. Liberty Counsel is representing Mrs. Davis. Many other government officials are also refusing to comply with the supreme court decision, however Mrs. Davis is the first to be jailed for her convictions. (9/5/15)

Like Kim Daviss Apostolic Pentecostal Church, the Assembly of Yahweh rejects the doctrine of the trinitythat God is one but exists as three persons, the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit. Instead, the church teaches that Yahweh is the only god and that Yahshuah (Jesus), is a separate being. (Daviss denomination teaches that Jesus, the Holy Spirit, and God are different names for the same beingalso a rejection of trinitarian doctrine, but in a different way.)

Though their theology isnt identical, Davis and Wilks share a committed opposition to same-sex marriage. According to sermons transcribed by the liberal group Right Wing Watch, Wilks has preached that LGBT people endanger children.

If we all took on this lifestyle, all humanity would perish in one generation, he said in one sermon. So this lifestyle is a predatorial lifestyle, in that they need your children and straight people having kids to fulfill their sexual habits. They cant do it by their self. They want your children But were in a war for our children. They want your children. So what will you teach your children? A strong family is the last defense.

The Assembly of Yahwehs teachings on Israel and Jewishness are also interesting. A pamphlet called Doctrinal Points says, [We believe] That the true religion is Jewish (not a Gentile religion) [T]he Gentiles must be adopted into the Commonwealth of Israel. This is done by baptism into Yahshua.

The pamphlet says that the congregation does not observe the religious holidays of the Gentilesincluding Christmas, Easter, Valentines Day, and Halloween. Instead, they celebrate feasts mentioned in the Old Testament. In particular, the congregation sleeps outside in tents or campers for a week in the spring to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and again for a week in the fall to celebrate the Feast of the Tabernacle. Ruth York, a member of the congregation, said the weeklong celebrations take place on church property and include bounce-houses for kids, cookouts, and softball games.

They follow the Old Testament teachings on eating laid out in Leviticus 11, which means no pork and no shellfish. And the church teaches [t]hat homosexuality is a serious crimea very grievous sin. So is getting drunk. It is debauchery, the pamphlet on doctrine says. Drunkenness is classed with such grievous crimes as robbery, sexual perverts, adultery, and idolatry. Do not be deceived; no drunkard will enter the kingdom of Yahweh.

They worship on Saturdays. Farris Wilkss parents, Voy and Myrtle Wilks, were founding members of the church back in 1947, according to a separate pamphlet on the congregations history. Farris is now the congregations pastor.

Besides its literal reading of much of the Old Testament, the church also distinguishes itself in its political advocacy. Beside the bulletins is a pamphlet from a group called Stand Up Texas, praising Molly Crinera clerk of Irion County who issued a declaration this summer through Liberty Counsel promising to refuse to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples.

The church service itselfkicked off with three blasts of a shofar by a teen named Isaacwas largely apolitical. There are tons more kids and no Sunday school, so the sanctuary is filled with their muffled humcoloring in their bulletins, crying, pushing their siblings, giggling, and wandering about. A towheaded toddler in the row in front of me keeps herself busy with a pink plastic castle. At one point during opening worship songs, an orange ball bounces across the aisle. Its taken in stride.

After the service wrapped up, an announcer noted that it was Salt & Light Sunday, which comes once a month. York explained that the congregation became part of the ministry several months agoa project affiliated with the Liberty Counsel (which works with Davis and Criner). Churches that participate in the Salt & Light ministry have a table set up once a month that encourages attendees to call or write postcards to their representativesin the state legislature and in Washingtonabout a different topics. This month, one focus is the Texas Advance Directives Act, a law that affects end-of-life care decisions. York, the volunteer liaison for Salt & Light, tells congregants that the law means hospitals could pull the plug on patients against their expressly stated wishes.

Then Jo Ann Wilks, Farriss wife, stands up for a quick interjection, frustrated with the quality-of-life rationale she says is sometimes used in these situations.

We will put away murderers that do horrific crimes, and pay for their pathetic quality of life, and they have no qualms about that, she said.

Its not just end-of-life issues. Visitors to the Salt & Light table were also encouraged to write their representatives about the transgender bathroom debate, as well as to urge their representatives to call for public hearings on the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. If that wasnt enough to keep Salt & Lighters busy, a bulletin insert also suggested that the recent Paris climate change deal could mean we are misusing our yah-given dominion.

That refers to a verse in Genesis where God calls on Adam and Eve to have dominion over the Eartha passage often cited by opponents of laws designed to curb climate change.

Man, created in Yahwehs image, is to exercise dominion over all the earth, the insert says. Yet disagreements in the scientific community give pause concerning the wisdom of the recently-adopted climate change accord.

An attached postcard encourages members to write to their representatives asking for public hearings on the Paris deal.

The program is an innovative way for conservative Christian pastors to keep their congregations engaged with policy issues even when Donald Trump isnt yelling about them. It wont result in the instant materialization of Cruzs Christian soldiers. But itand Assembly of Yahwehis a reminder that though the Christian right has been set back on its heels for the past eight years or so, its far from cowed.

We are not called to isolation, the pastor said. We are called to change the world.
MOSCOW  A lot has been happening to former oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in Russia since he left that country. The 52-year-old opposition leader, who now lives in exile in Europe, is once again wanted by the Russian courtsand this time Khodorkovsky is accused of murder.

The once-powerful owner of the Yukos oil company has already spent over 10 years in Russian prisons for alleged fraud, and clearly has no intention of going back to be locked up again. But days before Christmas the Russian Investigative Committee issued an international warrant for his arrest and the court in Moscow endorsed it.

The alleged crime involves the murder of a mayor in Siberia back in 1998, and given how long Khodorkovsky was in prison without these charges being brought against him, one might assume the real crime, in the view of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was rather more recent.

A few days before the decision, Khodorkovsky spoke at a press conference in London: A revolution in Russia is inevitable, the former oil tycoon said.

Many in Moscow were, shall we say, irritated? And not only Putins partisans. Even if people would like less of a heavy hand from the Kremlin and more freedom to express themselves, theyre hoping for modernity and stability, not upheaval.

In the wake of Khodorkovskys remarks, pressure on his supporters increased both in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Several dozen policemen searched for criminal evidence around apartments, offices and even a private vehicle that belonged to employees of Open Russia, a community of activists supported and financed by Khodorkovsky. The movements website, openrussia.org, has posted investigative reports and opinion pieces exposing human-rights violations and large-scale corruption among top officials in Russia.

Why did the Kremlin go after Khodorkovsky more than two years after Putin pardoned him? Its not just the press conference, certainly.

To hear Khodorkovsky tell the story, Putins afraid of him. Putin sees me as a threat, economically, because of the possible seizure of Russian assets abroad, Khodorkovsky told the press. The Kremlin denied that Putin had anything to do with the new arrest warrant.

A Duma deputy, Dmitry Gudkov, suggested just how big the monetary question might be: Authorities do not want to pay over $50 billion compensation to Yukos.

In 2014, a tribunal in the Hague ruled the Russian state had forced bankruptcy on Yukos, the biggest private oil company in the country, in order to appropriate its assets and prevent Khodorkovsky from entering politics.

The court imposed $50 billion in damages, which was roughly 2.5 percent of Russias GDP at a time it was already in recession.

Since then, the Duma has been working to change legislation to help avoid international court decisions, but by putting Khodorkovsky on trial for murder, even in his absentia, authorities shift the focus from them to him.

They are preparing the world for Russias decision not to pay the money, Gudkov told The Daily Beast in a recent interview.

For Khodorkovsky, the exiles life in France, the U.K., or in Switzerland was never the same as in Moscow, where he had a team of young activists working for him. His former partner, and head of the Yukos-Moscow management company, Aleksei Kondaurov, told The Daily Beast that this third trial against Khodorkovsky is Moscows revenge for several big Yukos victories in international courts, including the Strasbourg Court of Human Rights as well as The Hague.

This is also a revenge for Khodorkovsky and his Open Russia supporting opposition candidates at elections, Kondaurov said. Last week, Khodorkovsky told BBC that he was thinking about asking the U.K. for asylum.

Meanwhile in Moscow, the old patterns from Soviet dissident days decades ago are coming back. Friends in the Open Russia community called each other on the phone with a question: Did they come to you?

Zoya Svetova, a journalist and human-rights defender at Open Russia, remembered the arrests of her dissident parents in the 1980s: When the KGB came to arrest my father, my husband helped to burn some family papers; now, my colleagues delete documents from their computers. We exchange a memo, an instruction for what to do, when they come: do not open the door, immediately call your lawyer, Svetova told The Daily Beast.

Many Russians look on Khodorkovsky favorablyat least 33 percent of the population approved of his release from prison in 2013. But seeing what pressure the opposition movement has suffered, not many have been willing to join.

Last year only 2 percent of Russians said they would vote for Khodorkovsky in the next presidential elections.

The idea is to discredit him with the murder trial, so Russian politicians would not take his money, people would be afraid of working with him, Kondaurov told The Daily Beast.

Of course, such pressure is nothing new for the former tycoon. Vera Chelysheva, the author of Prisoner #1, a book about Khodorkovsky, has been covering his trials for many years. I cannot see how the unbreakable Khodorkovsky I know could be stopped by more falsified accusations, by more pressure, after what he has suffered through, said Chelysheva. He is a free spirit, he will not stop his struggle.
On a recent episode of Red Eye with Tom Shillue, guest Alan Dershowitz opined that Ted Cruz, whom he taught at Harvard Law back in the day, was very libertarian. Thats news to me and its news to Rand Paul, the most libertarian-leaning contender for the GOP presidential nod, who tweeted the following New Years resolution: I resolve to give @TedCruz more lead time before I announce my policy positions, so he can replicate them faster.

Indeed, to most libertarians I know, Cruz comes across as a conservative pretty much straight out of Central Castingthe retro-wet-look hair even invokes the late, unlamented Sen. Joe McCarthy. Sure, he peppers his conversations with references to Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek, two Austrian School economists important to libertarians, and he genuflects regularly in the direction of cutting the size, scope, and spending of government (one loose definition of libertarian politics). That is, unless youre talking about defense spending, which can always be jacked up even without paying for any increases.

The plain truth is that Ted Cruz is not at all libertarian, but if he wants to succeed in the GOP nominating processand especially the general election in Novemberhe might want to start following Mises rather than merely invoking him. Men are fighting, Mises, an arch internationalist and cosmopolitan, once surmised, because they are convinced that the extermination of adversaries is the only means of promoting their own well-being.

Such sentiments are very much at odds with Cruz, who has ranted about carpet bombing the Middle East so that we will be able to answerfinally!the age-old question of whether sand can glow in the dark. Libertarians are not pacifists or isolationists by any stretch of the imagination, but neither are we at one with the war hysterics possessing the folks gunning for the GOP (and Democratic, if youre Hillary Clinton) nomination.

As a rule, libertarians also support making the borders more open to more people and goods from abroad, while Cruz is arguably even more anti-immigrant than Donald Trump. Trump, after all (PDF), would let the good Mexicans back in after deporting them. Meanwhile, Cruzs flip-flopping on trade-promotion authority and the Trans-Pacific Partnership seems far more motivated by politics than principle.

And it seems that Cruz rarely goes a day without palling around with death-to-the-gays evangelicals and insisting that any president who doesnt begin every day on his knees isnt fit to be commander-in-chief of this country. That sort of thing alienates all the libertarians I know, none more so than the religious ones who especially want to keep government and faith separate (so that politics doesnt befoul religion).

Unfortunately for Cruz, alienating libertarians is no way to win the GOP nomination or the White House. While hes leading polls going into the Iowa caucuses at the start of February, hes only in the third place in New Hampshire (behind Donald Trump and Marco Rubio) and hes 20 points behind The Donald nationally. Hes in a dead heat with Hillary Clinton in head-to-head matchups. When it comes to the general election, Republican candidates have won a majority of the popular vote only once since 1988 (that was George W. Bush, in 2004). Come November, Republicans will need all the votes they can getand those votes are not going to come from the dwindling number of hard-core social conservatives that reliably turn out for the Republican nominee.

They might, however, come from libertarian-leaning voters, especially if the GOP could drop its culture-warring and actually live up to its endlessly professed ideals of making the government smaller in all areas of our lives. Two scholars at the Cato Institute, David Boaz and David Kirby, argue that about 15 percent (PDF) of the American electorate is reliably libertarianthat is, socially liberal and fiscally conservativeand that upwards of 70 percent of them will vote for Republicans when offered a candidate not overly noxious to the full range of libertarian sensibilities. Pollsters at Zogby, Gallup, and Pew find larger percentages of libertarians based on responses to questions about the role of government in promoting morals, regulating the economy, and providing basic goods and services.

In any given national election, the libertarian vote is enough to swing things in one direction or another. That may also hold true in various Republican primaries too. And for all his reactionary positions, Cruz does approach libertarian sensibilities in some meaningful ways. Hes in favor of strong Second Amendment rights and among the GOP hopefuls, he is second only to Rand Paul on ending bulk collection of metadata and reining in the surveillance state. He has been outspoken against idiotic and environmentally destructive corn-based ethanol mandates, a position that surprisingly hasnt hurt him in Iowa.

And Cruz says that he is a strong federalist, meaning that most political decisions should be pushed down to the most local and theoretically representative level possible among federal, state, and local governments. This is why he talks about having the definition of marriage decided by the states rather than the federal government.

Of course, had the Supreme Court ruled differently last year on the matter, one assumes Cruz would be OK with that, too, because he rarely misses an opportunity to invoke traditional marriage. Thats the main problem with federalism in the end: It is always results-driven and depending on what a particular person wants in a given situation, he will always claim an exemption to a general rule. Just ask the Democrats during the contested 2000 election, when they reversed everything their party stood for and insisted that no, really, the Florida vote was a state issue. And ask the Republicans who insisted that no, really, the fate of Terri Schiavo was a pressing concern for the federal government.

The states rights positions Cruz typically takes are not libertarian, David Boaz told me in a recent interview. A firm federalist would push for the repeal of federal drug laws, said Boaz, the executive vice president of the Cato Institute and author of last years The Libertarian Mind. Cruz doesnt do that. Cruz also believes the federal government should govern abortion, which makes you wonder why he thinks gay marriage should be left up to the states.

That said, theres overlap on some issues that might provide common ground between Cruz and libertarians. Cruz has recently evolved on marijuana and, after attacking President Obama for failing to enforce federal law in Colorado and Washington, now says hes open to the states experimenting with legalized pot.

Boaz rightly observed to me that Cruz turns off libertarians with his heavy emphasis on evangelical issues such as gay marriage and abortion. The apocalyptic extremity of his rhetoric is off-putting even beyond its contents and theres a strong case that Cruz has blown up any possible of rapprochment with libertarian voters. But heand the rest of the GOP field as wellwould do well to start courting libertarians if theyre serious about driving all the way to the hoop in the 2016 campaign. Whoever becomes the Republican nominee is in luck, for he will almost certainly face Hillary Clinton, a candidate as repugnant on virtually every level as the current crop of Republicans. On the other hand, theres a reason why most current candidates are dead even with her in hypothetical matchups. And its not because the GOP is insufficiently hateful toward gays, Syrian refugees, and Ebola patients.

The 15 percentor moreof the electorate that reliably trends libertarian and have shown a willingness to vote Republican in the past are out there, but it wont vote GOP unless they believe the party is serious not about praying and making sand glow but about reducing the size and scope of government. That may be too much to ask for, even and especially from a candidate and party that is constantly talking about smaller government. But its hard to see many libertarians pulling the lever for anybody who only talks the talk.
Theres a really simple reason why armed men thought they could get beat the federal government in Oregon: They beat Uncle Sam the last time they showed up with guns.

Leading the standoff in Oregon is Ammon Bundy, the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, whose band of extremists helped him defeat the feds in two years ago.

In 1993, Bundy decided not to renew his permit for cattle grazing in protest of new regulations under the federal Bureau of Land Management, However, Bundy kept grazing his cattle on public lands so that by 2014 Bundy had accrued over $1 million in grazing fees. A judge had first ordered Bundy to remove his cows from public land in 1998 but since Bundy hadnt done so (after 16 years!) a judge in 2014 said the federal government could remove Bundys cows for him.

After the government rounded up Bundys cows, the rancher and some supporters showed up armed. Wrapping up his critique of cattle-grazing policies with a larger anti-government agenda, Bundy himself said at the time, Were about ready to take the country over with force! According to local press, Bundys supporters were pointing weapons at the police. The assistant sheriff said Bundys supporters were in my face yelling profanities and pointing weapons.

And what did the government do? They released Bundys cattle and left his armed supporters alone.

According to Bundy as of April 2015, he continued to graze his cattle on federal lands without impediment.

Were probably living in the freest place in the whole world, Bundy bragged, adding, We have not had any time of government interference.

The BLM is still in court trying to collect overdue grazing fees, plus interest.

But what about filing federal criminal charges for assaulting, resisting or impeding federal officers, which according to CNN legal analyst Joey Jackson is the least of charges that might have been filed? Well, charges were filed against two of Bundys supporters: one for being a felon in possession of a firearm and another for unlawfully carrying a weapon at a business that sells alcohol.

Thats it. Talk about being soft on terrorism.

Now Ammon Bundy is holed up in the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge to support Dwight and Steven Hammond, a father and son who were found guilty of arson for starting a fire on their property that spread to public land. After serving time in jail and paying $400,000 in fines, the Hammonds were released. But a federal appeals court found that the judge who sentenced the Hammonds did not obey the law, which mandates a minimum five-year prison term for arson against federal property. (The 1996 law was passed as part of a crackdown onyou guessed it domestic terrorists.)

Just months after the Bundy Ranch standoff, the Southern Poverty Law Center released a report documenting that the Patriot Movement was emboldened by the Bundy victory. In fact, according to the SPLC report, more armed anti-government threats and demonstrations proliferated. A Utah county commissioner, Phil Lyman, led a protest against the ban of ATVs on federal land. Joined by members of the Bundy family, Lyman threatened, If things dont change, its not long before shots will be fired.

The SPLC estimates the Patriot Movement has grown from about 150 groups before Barack Obama was elected president to 1,000 as of when the Bundy confrontation happened. SPLC also identifies 276 militia groups, up 37 percent since 2014.

"The number represents a renewal of growth after several years of declines," SPLC said in a statement Monday. "The movement grew explosively after President Obama was elected, from 42 groups in 2008 to a peak of 334 in 2011 before declining in recent years."

Whats even more disturbing, perhaps, is that nothing has changed in terms of the federal governments hyper-passive response to such flagrant acts of menacing and threats of domestic terrorism.

The Department of Justice did, wisely, revive the Domestic Terrorism Executive Committeerecognizing the need to defend against and prevent the very real and comparable threat posed, for instance, by mostly white anti-government zealots and not just Muslim radicals. Yet the FBI said it was seeking a peaceful end to the standoff, and there are reportedly no signs of law enforcement being anywhere near the building. So maybe its not even a standoff if the federal government is standing down.

Of course theres a strategic case to be made for a cautious approach on the part of the federal government that doesnt escalate violence nor feed a cult of martyrdom within the anti-government extremist movement as happened after Ruby Ridge and Waco. That would seem jarring enough juxtaposed with the violent over-policing of black Americans and conservative calls for blanket scrutiny against all Muslims. But in the face of the very direct connection between the Bundy conflict and the Oregon standoff, and the SPLCs evidence that the governments non-response simply gave anti-government extremists more power, the government now seems naive about right-wing extremism at best and encouraging at worst.

Correction: A previous version of this article mistakenly said the Ruby Ridge was in Waco, Texas. We regret the error.
BURNS, Oregon  Ammon Bundys band of Oregon militiamen include anti-government wingnuts who have fought the feds on behalf of ranchers before, and one activist whose anti-Muslim rhetoric sparked warnings from the FBI.

On Saturday, armed extremists seized buildings at the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge300 miles southeast of Portlandto protest prison time for Dwight and Steven Hammond, father-and-son ranchers convicted of arson for torching more than 100 acres of federal land, allegedly to cover up poaching.

The occupiers are led by Ammon Bundy, the son of Cliven Bundy, the Nevada rancher whose 2014 standoff with the feds made national headlines. The elder Bundy was fighting the Bureau of Land Management, which came to seize his trespass cattle that were grazing on public land. Right-wing militias rushed to defend Cliven, and authorities eventually retreated.

Now some of the same anti-government provocateurs are heeding the call to head to Oregon, where Ammon and about 20 others split from a peaceful demonstration on Saturday and drove 30 miles to the wildlife refuges headquarters, which were closed for the holidays.

The militiamen took up posts on the snow-covered desert to protest what they call the federal governments illegal ownership of Harney County land, which they believe should belong to local ranchers.

I didnt come here to shoot. I came here to die, one militiaman told Oregon Public Broadcasting reporter Amanda Peacher. The camouflage-clad man would only identify himself as Captain Moroni, Peacher said in a tweet.

While it appeared police didnt take the bait, the men nonetheless stood guard at a tower typically used to watch for range fires, The Oregonian reported.

Les Zaitz, a reporter for The Oregonian, estimated about 20 people were stationed at the refuges bunkhousewhere women were cooking lunchas well as at the work building and fire tower. In tweets, he described the scene as calm, quiet, [and] no signs of damage.

As the story unfolded Sunday, and the militants released online videos, national news and social media spectators feared violenceand observers challenged news outlets for describing the armed occupation as peaceful.

Not everyone in rural Oregon was happy to see the militia. Signs reading, No Bundy CaliphateTake your Hate Somewhere Else! and Protect the BlueMilitia Go Home were posted on roads heading into Burns. Haney County schools, which were scheduled to reopen on Monday, will be closed all week because of the protest, authorities said.

At the refuge, men bundled in winter jackets and hunting camouflage milled about the parking lot, and a parked pickup truck blocked the gate. Several men, some strapped with knives and sidearms, refused to speak to a Daily Beast reporter at the scene.

While most participants appeared friendly and harmless, a few have reputations within hate groups such as the Three Percenters and the Oath Keepers, The Daily Beast has learned.

On Sunday afternoon, federal officials told Portlands KOIN 6 that the FBI would work with local law enforcement to end the takeover.

The Harney County sheriffs office released a statement Sunday vowing to keep citizens safe.

These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to overthrow the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States, Sheriff David Ward said, according to OPB.

Ammon Bundy said his motley crew planned to stay there indefinitely, KOIN 6 reported.

Were planning on staying here for years, absolutely, Bundy told KOIN 6. This is not a decision weve made at the last minute.

Indeed, Jon Ritzheimer, a former Marine and Arizona militia activist, released a teary-eyed YouTube video days before the event, on Dec. 31, asking his children to be good while he was gone, before railing against the oppression and tyranny in Oregon.

Your daddy swore an oath to protect and defend the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic, and thats why he couldnt be with you on Christmas, Ritzheimer said. Thats why I cant be with you on New Years.

I am 100 percent willing to lay my life down, to fight against tyranny in this country, Ritzheimer later said in the video, in which hes sitting behind the wheel of a truck.

The Iraq War veteran concluded: No matter what happens, no matter what lies are pushed out, just know that I stood for something. Dont let it be in vain.

A fellow extremist posted a video of Ritzheimer at the refuge, where he claimed to be armed with the Constitution and a camera.

We will not fire unless fired upon, but we will stand and defend the Constitution, Ritzheimer said.

In May 2015, Ritzheimer organized an anti-Muslim protest at a Phoenix mosque that drew 250 people, many of them armed, and invited them to draw cartoons of the prophet Muhammad following the Garland, Texas shooting.

After the Dallas-area attack, Ritzheimer began walking near the mosque waving an American flag and wearing a Fuck Islam T-shirt. He also tried raising $10 million on GoFundMe last summer, after claiming his life was being threatened because of his protests and that his family had to go into hiding. (The donation site came down as soon as the media spotted it.)

In October 2015, the bigot helped spur more than 20 anti-Muslim protests across the country called the Global Rally for Humanity.

One month later, the FBI issued a warning to local authorities about Ritzheimer after he published a video of himself brandishing a gun and claiming he was heading to Hancock, New York, to confront a Muslim group.

Ritzheimer was targeting Muslims of America, publisher of the The Islamic Post, which had called the Marine an American Taliban, the New York Daily News reported.

Fuck you Muslims. Were gonna stop at virtually every mosque along the way, flip them off and tell them to get fucked, Ritzheimer says before brandishing his weapon.

The hate-mongerer is affiliated with the Three Percenters militia group, which takes its name from the mythical statistic that only 3 percent of American colonists supposedly fought in the war for independence.

Other right-wing activists descending on Oregon include Blaine Cooper, who at a 2013 town hall event told Sen. John McCain hed have him arrested and tried for treason over his support of intervention in Syria.

Ryan Payne, an Army vet who claimed to organize militia snipers to target federal agents during Cliven Bundys Nevada standoff, was also present.

Payne once told the Missoula Independent he took charge as a kind of on-the-ground commander.

We locked them down, Payne said of the BLM agents. We had counter-sniper positions on their sniper positions. We had at least one guysometimes two guysper BLM agent in there. So, it was a complete tactical superiority If they made one wrong move, every single BLM agent in that camp wouldve died.

Brand Thornton, a political activist from Las Vegas who is now at the wildlife refuge, told The Daily Beast he was a member of the Southern Nevada Militia, which on its Facebook claims not to identify with racist, violent, or anti-government groups.

Thornton said hes tried getting the word out about the Hammonds alleged plight for months. The weekends mission is not haphazard at all; its very, very calculated, he said.

Whatever it takes, Thornton told The Daily Beast. I think were going to be here for at least two months, and possibly six months, thats what Im figuring. Theres a lot we got to do, we got a lot of education, educating people.

Meanwhile, Arizona rancher LaVoy Finicum, Cliven Bundys neighbor across the border who participated in the 2014 Bundy ranch standoff, told a reporter on Sunday that hell stay in Oregon until the Constitution is upheld.

The cowboy-hat enthusiast, who like Cliven apparently refuses to pay grazing fees to the government, told The Daily Beast he came up here just to support the Hammond family because the Bundys did.

When the Bundys came here, I said, Well, I rode with them once, Ill ride with them again, Finicum told The Daily Beast.

Its atrocious what theyve done, he said. How can you throw them in prison for something that happened 11 years ago. They served their prison time, and now they get thrown back in jail for the same thing again. Thats unconscionable.

Let me be very clear, this is to be peaceful, Finicum said. We have no intent of pointing a gun at anybody, and why would they come and point a gun at us?

These are just some rock buildings. This isnt about the buildings, this is about issues, this is about ideas, its about the Constitution. If [we] werent [armed], theyd roll in here and taze us all and zip-tie us and be done by supper time.

The Hammonds said theyd turn themselves in for their prison terms on Monday. The father, who has already served three months, and the son, whos served a year in prison, said they lit the fires to reduce invasive plants and to protect their land from wildfires. Meanwhile prosecutors said that the duo set the fires to cover up their deer-poaching on federal lands.

In October, a judge ruled their prison terms were too short under federal law and ordered them to return to the clink for about four years.

Still, the Hammond family appeared to distance themselves from the militia antics. Dwight Hammonds wife, Susan, told OPB, I dont even know what occupying the refuge means.

I dont really know the purpose of the guys who are out there, she said. I kind of understand where they come from, as far as their priorities in life.
ROME  There is nothing quite as overpowering as the acidic stench of the fresh, wet feces from more than 4 million birds that have apparently decided to winter in Rome this year.

The sickly sweet smell, which is unavoidable in much of the center of Rome, is accompanied by a slick sheen of sh*t covering everything from sidewalks and cobblestones to churches, park benches, and cafe tables. And it is more than just an annoyance. It has become a death trap causing scores of car and moped accidents and nearly 100 fractures and sprains attributed to pedestrians falling on the slippery stuff.

The crisis, which has been brewing for more than a month, came to a head over the weekend, when the first serious winter rains fell on the Italian capital, making the gluey guano even more treacherous. The city of Rome even closed the busy thoroughfare that runs along the Tiber River for more than 10 hours so crews could sand and scrape the slime after more than a dozen accidents were reported in less than an hour as scooters slid and pedestrians plummeted to the pavement.

The messy birds are European Starlings, which always make their mark on Rome as they migrate through the capital in the late fall months on their way to warmer climes. They spend their days gorging on the remains of fresh olives in the hinterland outside of Rome and come to the warmer city to nest at night in the trees along the Tiber River that runs through the city.

During the late-afternoon hours, they put on a mesmerizing, magical synchronized show over the city as they swarm in uniform. Then they bed down in the citys trees and digest their olives, dropping their rain of terror onto the streetsand anyone on thembelow.

Roman residents know all too well to carry umbrellas and not park for long on tree-lined streets during the starling season. But this year, for a variety of reasons, the busy birds have not moved on and their flock has grown from the usual million or so to an estimated 4 million, which has turned their nightly show into something more of an Alfred Hitchcock horror film, as they often collide and come tumbling down in a thud on the busy streets.

The reason the birds are so bad this year has been blamed on everything from global warming with unseasonably warm winter temperatures to the Mafia Capitale scandal under which the city of Rome has been bilked for decades. The theory goes that as the city tried to clean up its coffers, valuable contracts for secondary services like bird chasing slipped through the cracks, leading to what is seen as a largely too little-too late approach to the problem.

The city is without a mayor at the moment, and the last time the city council met to discuss non-essential matters was Oct. 30. Its an embarrassment, says Fabrizio Ghera, a former city council member who had apparently warned the interim city government that theyd better act fast or the, uh, excrement would hit the fan. We are a world class capital in the midst of a Holy Jubilee and the tourists are covered in crap, he said.

The strong Green Party in Italy has also been blamed since years ago they were able to get the city to vow never to engage in mass poisoning or outright hunting of the feathered pests for population controlno matter how deep the city was in fecal matter.

Since November, the city of Rome has spent more than $45,000 on more than 60 attempts to scare away the birds, including a bizarre plan to enlist five Harris hawks named Cami, Niky, Gimmy, Giorgio e Angela that originally hailed from Texas to hunt the birds, which proved unsuccessful after the predatory birds, overwhelmed by the size of the flock, gave up and flew the coop.

The city then found the budget it had previously cut when cleaning up the Mafia Capitale mess to reinstate the marginally successful and incredibly annoying birdmen loudspeaker system, whereby agents in hazmat suits carrying megaphones and bullhorns blast the sound of screeching predator birds under the nesting birds to scare them away. This system has historically chased most of the birds away within a few weeks of their arrival, but because the city is administratively challenged in the absence of a mayor, no one got around to calling in the experts in time this year. And because the city only decided late to spend the $20,000 for the speaker screeching, it hasnt been much help yet, since the bird population has been multiplying fast.

But it may just be Mother Nature who solves the problems. On Saturday night, temperatures in Rome finally dropped to seasonal lows and the Fauna Urbus city environmental agency, which runs the speaker scare program, promised the birds would soon be on the move. Theyve started making their way further south, Alessandra Bruscemi, head of the group said. But because we started so late, we may be chasing the birds away until March.

In the meantime, Roman residents have little to do but sit around and wait, and wade through the mess.
First VinobyVana wine is grapefruit flavoured

Vana Koutsomitis, one of the stars of BBC1 The Apprentice, has launched her own brand of flavoured wines, VinobyVana, exclusively on Virgin Wines.

VinobyVana is an aromatized, low alcohol wine-based drink, comprised of a blend of rose with natural fruit flavours.

Flavoured wine has been a huge trend in France since 2013; its the fastest growing beverage by volume and worth 82.5m in sales. Vana eyed an opportunity to bring the popular and innovative drink to consumers in the UK while holidaying in the South of France in spring 2014. So she partnered with fellow MBA graduate, Joris Magenti, who originates from the South of France.

However, her initial interest in wine originated from her university days where she took a wine course at Cornell, the New York university. Soon after, she began matchmaking people over regular wine dating events. I organised wine dating events as way of encouraging people to meet each other and connect over the social occasions which wine present. One of my most successful events was at The Sampler wine store in London, called Guess the Grape. People loved connecting with wine! says Vana.

The first in the VinobyVana range is Pink Grapefruit. Its a vibrant, refreshing drink, which is low in alcohol  only 8%abv - and can be served on ice. It will appeal to anyone who enjoys fruity, alcoholic drinks, says Vana who has a Masters in Business Administration from Oxford University and undergraduate degree in science from Cornell University.

The style of wine is still relatively new to the UK, which is why Vana approached fellow entrepreneur and CEO of Virgin Wines, Jay Wright about launching her range.

Vana is really hitting an untapped market with VinobyVana, but this isnt the sole reason weve decided to support her business venture - which is quite a different product offering for Virgin Wines.

It was also her entrepreneurial spirit and her genuine passion for connecting people with wine, going so far as conjuring up wine dating schemes. That is the kind of spirit, innovation, and risk we want to promote and support in the wine industry. Its the Virgin way of doing things.

Jay expects demand to be high as British consumers, particularly females aged 18-35, continue to look for lower alcohol wines. The company has taken a first order of 15,000 bottles and will be selling VinobyVana Pink Grapefruit by the case (or 6 or 12 bottles) at 5.99 per bottle RRP.

VinobyVana Pink Grapefruit is available exclusively from Virgin Wines by the case of six or 12 bottles.

4 January 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor
Accolade celebrates landmark achievements

Global new world wine company Accolade Wines has opened its own shop in the UK and been awarded World Class Manufacturer of the Year at the Manufacturer MX Awards.

Accolade Wines manufacturing facility, Accolade Park, first opened its doors in 2009 and now employs over 500 people and produces some 25 million 9L cases of wine every year. It has six packaging lines and the capability of producing 1,200 bottles of wine every minute. It is also home to the largest wine warehouse and distribution centre in Europe (80,000m).

This latest award was given to Accolade Wines for the sustained achievement of world class manufacturing standards across clearly defined strategic pillars with evidence of ownership for continuous improvement from the most senior level to the shop floor. Commenting on this achievement, Richard Lloyd, general manager Accolade Park states: "To win 'World Class Manufacturer of the Year' against competition like Rolls Royce and Siemens is external recognition of the highest order and should be cherished by everyone who makes Accolade Park the special place it is."

Accolade Park now produces 92% of all the wine the company sells in the UK and over half of all the companys wine sales in Europe and is setting new standards in wine production and packaging quality.

Accolade Wines CEO, Paul Schaafsma says: This really is an incredible achievement for both Accolade Wines and the wine industry as a whole and reinforces our reputation as a market leading provider of new world premium and commercial wines. Our company has some of the worlds most highly regarded and respected wine makers in the industry today and I know they all believe in the capability of Accolade Park to ensure the wines they nurture from the vineyard to the winery reach our end consumer in first class condition.

The new bottling line installation showed exemplary in house project management; delivering on time and on budget. Our new Innovation Suite is a purpose built space where we can create shopper experiences, explore innovations and ideas and bring all our technical partners together. We understand both the customer and end consumers packaging requirements and this coupled with supplier strategic partnerships that have provided software innovations and a collaborative working approach has meant weve been able to execute industry leading packaging innovations that make us a go to wine supplier for our far reaching customer base. Finally and crucially we are delivering to the customer when we say we are with an ever improving On Time in Full trend.

Wine shop



Accolade Wines has also recently opened its own wine shop, 1853 Wine Club, at its head office site in Weybridge, Surrey.

The wine shop, which opened its doors on December 16, is an extension of the www.1853wineclub.com e-commerce website, Accolades digital platform that sells a selection of premium wines from its new world portfolio.

The shop has two Enomatic machines, with 16 wines available for customers to sample before making purchases.

The shop was part of the strategy in the decision to relocate the Accolade Wines UK head office to Weybridge in the later part of this year, comments Rob Harrison, Accolade Wines general manager sales UK and Ireland. We wanted to create a cellar door experience in the UK, which embodies our brands from Australia, New Zealand, North America, South Africa and now Chile. The 1853 wine shop will ensure our premium portfolio becomes more accessible to the public.





4 January 2016 - Felicity Murray The Drinks Report, editor
The Texas Academy of Family Physicians named H. David Pope Jr. of Kerrville, the 2015 Physician Emeritus during the organizations 2015 Annual Session and Primary Care Summit in The Woodlands on Nov. 14. Pope was nominated by physicians and patients and selected by a Texas Academy of Family Physicians panel.

Pope started his medical career after receiving his undergraduate and medical degrees from Tulane University, an internship with the Air Force, three months in flight surgeon school and completing a general practice residency at a charity hospital in Louisiana. He began practicing as a family physician in 1961.

His career has included having his own practice, being in a multi-specialty clinic and in a 100-bed Catholic hospital, Christian missions all over the world and as a medical director for numerous nursing homes. He also helped found the Texas A&M Family Medicine Residency program in Bryan, as well as the Texas Academy of Family Physicians Brazos Valley Chapter.

Pope continues to travel to the Texas-Mexico border for Christian missions, serves as Physician of the Day during the Texas Legislature every session and is active in his church and community.
Phi Kappa Phi, the nations oldest collegiate honor society for all academic disciplines, recently presented two Texas A&M University graduate students with the Love of Learning Award.

Payman Dehganian, a doctoral student in electrical engineering and Erin Mattson, a masters student in marine biology will receive $500 to be used in support of their graduate studies. Dehghanian will apply funds from the award toward dissertation research as he pursues his degree and Mattson will use the money for a short externship at the Marine Mammal Pathobiology Laboratory in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Implemented in 2007, the Love of Learning program grants 160 awards annually in support of graduate and professional studies, doctoral dissertations, continuing education, career development and travel related to teaching and studies. Phi Kappa Phi also gives more than $1 million each biennium to qualifying students and members through graduate fellowships, undergraduate study abroad grants, member and chapter awards and grants for local and national literacy initiatives.
Love old or unusual movies but never know when theyre on? Here are several I recommend:

Bubble Boy (2001): Released the same year as Donnie Darko, but much less well known than that film, Bubble Boy is a picaresque fable about a young man (Jake Gyllenhaal) who was born without an immune system. Hes forced to live in a giant clear bubble in his bedroom. When a girl he has a crush on is about to be married, he breaks loose and he and his bubble have a series of Candide-like adventures across America. Swoozie Kurtz is wonderful as his suffocating mother, and Danny Trejo is awesome as always. If you liked Pee Wees Big Adventure, youll love Bubble Boy.

 Showtime, 5 a.m. Monday

Invisible Stripes (1939): Ah, recidivism. Its such a drag. George Raft discovers this when he tries to follow the straight and narrow after a stint in prison. Alas, the pressures of the real world are just too intense, and with the best intentions in the world  to help his brother start a business  he resumes his criminal ways with his old running buddy (Humphrey Bogart). As you can imagine, things dont go particularly well, and things get complicated pretty fast. Soon after this movie, Bogart would forever eclipse his old co-star Raft.  Turner Classic Movies, 11 p.m. Friday

Phase IV (1974): I dont usually feature movies that play between Saturday night and Sunday morning, because of calendar awkwardness, but I couldnt resist this time. Saul Bass created some of the most memorable opening titles for movies, including North By Northwest, The Man With the Golden Arm, West Side Story and many others. He only ever directed one film, and its this very remarkable, low-key but very creepy insect horror movie. Heres all Ill tell you about the plot: The ants get smart. Trust me, you need to see this one.  1:15 a.m. Sunday

Bullhead (2011): This complicated and singular film captivated me when I caught it at the Los Angeles Film Festival, and turned me into a lifelong fan of actor Matthias Schoenaerts. In Bullhead, he plays a young man who has bulked up his body by illegally injecting hormones his family acquires for their cattle business. The mafia is also involved (because of the drugs) as well as a terrible and painful secret from his childhood. The movie is a puzzle to be unlocked, and its all held together by Schoenaerts riveting performance.

 Now available on Amazon Prime Video.

Trivia Question #614: You may not think of George Raft and comedy in the same breath, but he actually plays a featured role in one of the greatest comedies of all time. What was it?

Answer to Trivia Question #612: In The Goodbye Girl, Richard Dreyfuss quotes Tennessee Williams (I have a lawyer acquaintance) which gives away to Marsha Mason that hes an actor.

Bryan native Ray Ivey is a writer and movie fan in Hollywood, Calif. He would love to hear from you at rayivey@ca.rr.com. You can also visit his blog at www.starkravingray.com.
Texas agriculture industry leaders, producers and university researchers heard the latest in emerging innovations for agriculture at the 27th Texas Plant Protection Association Conference in Bryan recently.

Innovations for Texas Agriculture -- Strategies for Implementation was the theme of the conference. The challenge will be producing enough food to meet an ever-expanding world population, according to experts.

"In looking at the theme for this year's conference, I'm reminded this comes at a very good time for us. We need to think about doubling food production over the next 35 years to meet the anticipated world food demands of 9 billion people by the year 2050," said Mark Hussey, vice chancellor and dean of agriculture and life sciences at Texas A&M University, College Station during his opening remarks.

"To achieve this goal, it's going to take continued technological innovations, new and stronger partnerships between public and private sectors, and increased awareness by the citizens of this country on the importance of food production systems -- not only in protecting the economic well-being and vitality of rural communities, but the role in protecting our national security."

Hussey cited the late Nobel Prize winner Norman Borlaug, who was distinguished professor of international agriculture at Texas A&M, reminding attendees the importance of agriculture: "Everything in this world can wait; agriculture cannot."

Former U.S. Rep. Charles Stenholm, senior policy advisor with OWA Law in Washington, D.C., was the featured general session speaker. He discussed current politics and policy in the U.S. and made a call for the return of regular order in Congress.

"Our political system is broken, and there is good reason that 85 percent of you say that in poll after poll it is broken," Stenholm said. "I'm in agriculture, and I'm an optimist. We are going to fix it, and you are the ones who are going to fix it."

Stenholm said regarding the future of the U.S., "There are a lot of questions. We now owe $18.8 trillion, soon to be $19 trillion, and $80 trillion in unfunded liabilities. Anybody in business ... knows that can't go on."

Stenholm said when evaluating agriculture policy, agriculture is in the minority.

"We are the minority. Accept it," he said.

He said to fix the current system, there needs to be a return to "regular order," directly referencing House Speaker Paul Ryan's recent pledge.

Stenholm said when it comes to the future of agriculture, it's going to take assembling the best ideas (of) research, Extension educators, farmers and ranchers.

"If (the idea) requires legislation, then get it in bill form, introduce it, get it referred to the appropriate committee, hear from special interest groups, have the mark up and let people with different ideas vote. Let's then introduce amendments, put it together and improve the legislation and improve it by getting a majority."

He recalled his time spent as a lobbyist, or as an "educator" for the oil and gas industry.

"I've spent a lot of time trying to keep the oil and gas industry and agriculture together instead of fighting," he said. "That's a difficult thing to do. The last time I checked, you can't produce food, feed, fiber and fertilizer without oil and gas. That's not going to change in the next 30 to 40 years based on anything we know today based on science. And you can't produce oil and gas today without food, feed, fuel and fertilizer. And all 320 million Americans can't do without both of us (agriculture, oil and gas).

"That's the kind of coalition we need to do a better job of talking about and finding supporters in the U.S. Congress on both sides of the aisle."

Stenholm said Congress needs to do a better job of fixing the problem instead of having a political issue. Issues such as climate change and water quality are issues that will continue to affect agriculture. He said 'good ideas' need to be developed and taken to Congress to facilitate research funding.

"That's where a lot of you in this room come in," he said. "Thinking ahead, what kind of research do we need to provide so we have a good story to take to our good friends in Congress and get 218 votes? The other side out there is saying we don't need you. But how is the world going to feed itself without new technology?"

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo by Blair Fannin

Mark Hussey, vice chancellor and dean of agriculture and life sciences at Texas A&M University, provided opening remarks during the 27th Texas Plant Protection Association Conference held recently in Bryan.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service photo by Blair Fannin

Former U.S. Rep. Charles Stenholm provided the keynote address during the general session of the Texas Plant Protection Association Conference recently in Bryan.
AUSTIN  During his 14 years as Texas top lawyer, Greg Abbott oversaw a significant  and expensive  escalation of police and firepower in the attorney generals office, which now boasts 160 cops and an arsenal of assault rifles, handguns and tactical gear.

Meanwhile, the cost to pay and train that burgeoning police force, which primarily investigates white-collar crime, has skyrocketed as a direct result of policies Abbott pursued as attorney general and later approved as governor.

Due to a state law passed this year, dozens hired by Abbott and inherited by his successor, Ken Paxton, were given large pay raises that will cost taxpayers millions more each year.

An Abbott spokesman said the attorney generals police force is a key component in fighting crime and rooting out fraud.

Under the leadership of Greg Abbott, the Office of the Attorney General prioritized protecting Texas families by establishing the Cyber Crimes and Fugitive Units, making over 5,000 criminal arrests and identifying nearly $1 billion in fraudulent Medicaid overpayments, spokesman John Wittman wrote to The Dallas Morning News in an email. This would not have been possible without effective police personnel.

But a former deputy director who worked under Abbott, along with a leading House Democrat, has questioned the need to spend millions of dollars to arm employees whose jobs rarely put them in the face of anything more dangerous than a sharpened pencil or biting word.

Ive seen it work without peace officers, said former Assistant Attorney General Rod Boyles, who left the agency this month after 23 years. We dont need peace officers.

The AGs commissioned police work alongside civilian investigators to pursue white-collar criminals, such as computer hackers or doctors and patients who scam Medicaid. Although those officers are held to the same training standards as Texas Rangers and state troopers, they are plainclothed, dont drive police cruisers and, until this year, were paid much less.

Highly complex investigations are not really assisted by firepower and Kevlar, said Boyles, a former deputy director in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which houses 115 investigators. Its straight, white-collar stuff, and your defendants are typically businessmen and business women.

In June, Abbott signed into law a bill that placed AG officers on the same pay scale as officers at the Department of Public Safety. So on Sept. 1, about 158 attorney general staff received pay raises ranging from $10,000 to $44,000 more a year, depending on the officers seniority.

Those higher salaries will cost taxpayers about $17 million more over the next five years and are projected to increase slightly each year, according to salary calculations obtained by The News.

A spokeswoman for Paxton said the attorney generals office is conducting a top-to-bottom review of everything but gave no indication the agency would scale back its spending on police.

Office of Attorney General law enforcement officers investigate a wide range of complex criminal activity, from child predators to Medicaid fraud to transnational criminal organizations, spokeswoman Katherine Wise said. And we must ensure they have the resources they need to do their job: catching criminals and keeping Texans safe.

In the last five years, records show, an attorney general officer has fired a pistol while working only once. That incident, in June, was unrelated to the officers duties as a Medicaid fraud investigator.

Around the early 2000s, Boyles recalled, about a dozen commissioned officers worked among the 4,000 attorney general employees stationed across the state.

Since 2002, when Abbott first won that office, about 150 investigators either came in as sworn officers or were commissioned after being hired, state data show.

And more cops mean more guns.

Purchase orders and spending data show that in the last five years, the attorney generals office spent about $134,000 on ammunition alone, including for rifle and hollow-point rounds designed to inflict serious bodily harm.

In Abbotts last year there, 2014, the attorney general placed orders totaling $68,000 for 23,000 hollow-point rounds, about 115,000 assault rifle rounds and 190,000 target rounds.

Citing security concerns, the attorney generals office would not release an inventory showing how many weapons are in its stores. But an accounting of its rifle cases and diverse bullet selection indicates officers are using M4 assault rifles, 9 mm pistols and .357-, .38-, .40- and .45-caliber weapons.

The office has also spent nearly $1 million in five years on high-end police radios, according to the agencys spending data.

The attorney generals office said the spending on guns and ammunition reflects the training and target practice its officers are required to complete each year by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement.

As for the array of weapons and bullets, effective peace officer training has to be ongoing, challenging and dynamic, Wise said.

Boyles contends that all the training is dumbing down investigations because less time is spent following paper trails while more time is spent at the shooting range or K-9 training classes, for instance.

We actually do nothing, he said. We spend so much time just doing standard peace officer training, firearms training, safety training.

Boyles former unit investigates doctors and dentists for overbilling or defrauding the state and federal insurance program. Those cases result in both civil judgments and criminal prosecutions.

Boyles said he retired this month after a disagreement with his boss, which was unrelated to this topic.

Having police on staff was a luxury that sometimes made investigations easier, he said, but because investigators typically team up with local or federal law enforcement, its not necessary that they be commissioned themselves.

Its peace officer training, he added. Its not related to finding fraud or even knowing what a false claim is.

Rep. Charlie Geren, a Fort Worth Republican and former police officer, said Abbotts administration first approached him a few years ago to draft a bill that would add his police staff to the Schedule C pay scale.

Thats the seniority pay scale applied to officers at DPS, Parks and Wildlife, and the Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

It was a no-brainer, Geren said, but the bill faced opposition and failed in 2013 for fears that adding those officers would further burden the police pension. The successful 2015 bill, however, did not add attorney general officers to the more expensive pension.

They were underpaid, and they deserve those raises, Geren said.

Gerens bill was meant to benefit employees like Robyn Wilson. Shes a level-three investigator with 26 years of state service who earned $42,840 a year, much less than similarly ranked officers at DPS. Jumping to the Schedule C pay scale more than doubled her salary to $86,495 a year, the largest jump of anyone at the agency.

But an analysis of state salary data shows the measure was also a boon for managers, 17 of whom jumped into six figures after receiving raises ranging from about $19,000 to $36,000 a year.

In the Medicaid unit, which houses nearly half of the attorney generals police force, 71 officers will collect about $1.2 million more in pay and benefits this year than last year, the data show.

An additional 85 officers work in separate units categorized as legal services, which includes cybercrime investigations and a fugitive apprehension program that coordinates with law enforcement agencies to round up felons. Officers in those roles will cost about $2 million more this year compared with last.

Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, says its difficult to measure the need for police throughout the attorney generals office.

But hes especially skeptical that so many are needed for Medicaid fraud investigations because there are scores of Medicaid fraud investigators, most of them civilians, working on similar cases at the Health and Human Services Commissions Office of Inspector General.

These are basically white-collar crimes, he said. A computer, as a tool, is better than a gun. Im confused in that regard.

Coleman said he voted for Gerens bill because it seemed unfair that equally ranked police in one state bureaucracy were, by statute, paid less than others in another agency.

He said there was little discussion about whether the attorney general actually needed so many commissioned police.

It appears to be the case around the state, Coleman said. Law enforcement has to be everywhere, and that means a gun instead of just a brain.
In the wrong places, roads can facilitate invasions of natural areas by illegal miners, colonists, loggers and land speculators. In my view, the explosive expansion of roads today is probably the greatest single peril to the world's natural environments and wildlife.

Earlier studies that my colleagues and I conducted, including a major study published in Nature last year, suggest Africa is likely to be a global epicentre of environmental conflict. A key reason: an unprecedented scheme to dramatically expand African roads, railroads and energy infrastructure.

Africa's 33 'development corridors'

In total, we have identified 33 massive 'development corridors' that are being proposed or are underway. At the heart of each corridor is a road or railroad, sometimes accompanied by a pipeline or power line.

The projects have a variety of proponents, including the African Development Bank, national governments, international donors and lenders, and commercial agricultural and mining interests. They're intended to promote large-scale development and their scope is breathtaking.

If completed in their entirety, the corridors will total over 53,000 kilometres in length, crisscrossing the African continent. Some individual corridors are over 4,000 kilometres long.

Will these corridors generate key social and economic benefits, or will they cause great environmental harm? To address this question, we looked at three factors, focusing on a 50-kilometre-wide band laid over the top of each corridor.

First, we assessed the 'natural values' of each corridor, by combining data on its biodiversity, endangered species, critical habitats for wildlife, and the carbon storage and climate-regulating benefits of its native vegetation.

Second, we mapped human populations near each corridor, using satellite data to detect nightlights from human settlements (to avoid lands that were simply being burned, we included only places with 'persistent' nightlights). We then combined the natural-value and population data to generate a conservation-value score for each corridor, reasoning that sparsely populated areas with high natural values have the greatest overall conservation value.

Finally, we estimated the potential for new roads or railroads to increase food production. Areas that scored highly had soils and climates suitable for farming but large yield gaps, were within several hours' drive of a city or port, and were projected to see large future increases in food demand.

Costs versus benefits

When we compared the conservation value of each corridor with its potential agricultural benefits, we found huge variation among the corridors.

A half dozen of the corridors look like a really good idea, with large benefits and limited environmental costs. However, another half dozen seem like a really bad idea, in that they'd damage critical environments, especially rainforests of the Congo Basin and West Africa and biologically rich equatorial savanna regions.

Video: A two-minute video summary of our study's main findings.

In the middle, there are 20 or so corridors that appear 'marginal'. These tend to have high environmental values and high potential agricultural benefits, or vice versa.

We argue that these marginal projects should be evaluated in detail, on a case-by-case basis. If they do proceed, it should only happen under the most stringent conditions, with careful environmental assessment and land-use planning, and with specific measures in place (such as new protected areas) to limit or mitigate their impacts.

Dangers for Africa

There's no such thing as a free ride. For Africa, the dangers of the development corridors are profound. Even if well executed, we estimate that the current avalanche of corridors would slice through over 400 protected areas and could easily degrade another 2,000 or so. This bodes poorly for Africa's wildlife and biodiversity generally.

Beyond this, the corridors will encourage human migration into many sparsely populated areas with high environmental values. The wild card in all this is the hundreds of billions of dollars of foreign investments pouring into Africa each year for mining. Even if a corridor is likely to yield only modest benefits for food production, it may be very difficult for governments and decision makers to say no to big mining investors.

The bottom line: it could be a fraught battle to stop even ill-advised development corridors, though not impossible. If we shine a bright light on the corridors and argue strongly that those with limited benefits and large costs are a bad idea, we may succeed in stopping or at least delaying some of the worst of them.

This is unquestionably a vital endeavour. Africa is changing faster than any continent has ever changed in human history, and it is facing unprecedented socioeconomic and environmental challenges.

The next few decades will be crucial. We could promote relatively sustainable and equitable development - or end up with an impoverished continent whose iconic natural values and wildlife have been irretrievably lost.

Bill Laurance is Distinguished Research Professor and Australian Laureate, James Cook University.

Also on The Ecologist: 'Roads to ruin: the G20's ecocidal infrastructure rampage' by Bill Laurance.

This article was originally published on The Conversation. Read the original article.
China says it will not approve any new coal mines for the next three years.

The country's National Energy Administration (NEA) says more than 1,000 existing mines will also be closed over the coming year, reducing total coal production by 70 million tonnes.

And speaking in Shanxi today, Premier Li Keqiang stated that the coal-rich province should prepare to diversify its economy away from coal.

It "should treasure its two valuable 'mines' of abundant coal resources and the Jin merchants' spirit", he said, in order to "transform Shanxi into a region less dependent on natural resources and more on human resources."

Analysts say this is the first time Beijing has put a ban on the opening of new mines: the move has been prompted both by falling demand for coal as a result of a slowing economy and by increasing public concern about hazardous levels of pollution, which have blanketed many cities across the country over recent months.

Beijing, a city of nearly 20 million, issued two red smog alerts - the most serious air pollution warning - in December, causing schools to close and prompting a warning to residents to stay indoors. A 2015 study estimated that air pollution - much of it from the widespread burning of coal - contributed to up to 1.6 million deaths each year in China.

Coal's share falling

The country is by far the world's largest producer and consumer of coal, the most polluting fossil fuel. Emissions from coal-fired power plants and other industrial concerns in China have made it the world's largest emitter of greenhouse gases, putting more climate-changing gases into the atmosphere each year than the US and the European Union combined.

In accordance with an agreement reached with the US in late 2014, and in line with pledges made at the recent Paris summit on climate change, China aims to radically cut back on coal use in future.

But it's not just the climate: another factor driving the reduction in coal burn is that China is under strong domestic political pressure to reduce the pollution in Beijing and other industrial cities that are blighted by heavy coal smog from factories and power stations.
Two construction workers killed in accident that shut down bridge

Two construction workers were killed and a woman is facing charges following an accident that shut down the Great River Bridge on Tuesday.
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ELLSWORTH, Kan. -- Unemployment is down and wages are up in Kansas -- except for corrections officers.

They are leaving state prisons in droves because of low pay, creating a public safety crisis that legislators will have to deal with on top of plugging a budget hole.

Their starting pay is about 33 percent less than the state's average hourly wage of $20.20, and overall wages are about a quarter lower than the national average. The annual turnover rate is up to nearly 30 percent. Things are so bad that the state is hiring 18-year-olds to manage hardened criminals, despite some prison leaders' misgivings.

"You don't pay me enough to get urine or feces thrown at me by an inmate," said Bruce Martin, who left his job at the state's oldest prison in Lansing in September, even though he was earning a relatively good-for-Kansas wage of about $18 an hour.

Kansas cut spending on prisons and juvenile justice programs during the Great Recession, and the current spending is still below the 2008 amount. The state also has struggled to balance its budget since Republican Gov. Sam Brownback persuaded the GOP-dominated Legislature into enacting massive income tax cuts in 2012 and 2013 as an economic stimulus.

Brownback and fellow conservatives credit those cuts with boosting the state's economy and helping drop the unemployment rate to 4 percent in November, but government spending still will be pinched by at least $160 million next fiscal year. Brownback said he favors higher wages for corrections officers and he sees "decent" support among legislators but added, "The key here will be finding the resources to do it with."

In Ellsworth, where the central Kansas hills give way to the Great Plains, local leaders wooed a prison three decades ago to anchor the local economy. The area's average weekly wage has grown nearly 23 percent in four years, to $18.60 an hour, topping what some sergeants in the prison complex's red-brick buildings earn by $3.50 or more.

"It's made our work pool that we choose from smaller and we have to draw from farther and farther away," said Warden Dan Schnurr, a 30-year prison system veteran. Later, he added: "You've got people coming and going all the time."

To make the pay competitive, Kansas would need to spend at least a few million dollars a year, and the figure could be $20 million, according to state Sen. Laura Kelly, of Topeka, the ranking Democrat on the Senate budget committee.

And Republican Rep. John Rubin, of Shawnee, caused a stir this fall by suggesting during a committee hearing that the necessary funds should be diverted from public schools, saying he's worried prison shifts are short-staffed, or staffed with officers working overtime or inexperienced employees.

"I'm concerned that an incident could occur in one of our correctional institutions," Rubin said.

Uniformed officers statewide received a raise in 2012, but the starting pay for a new officer is $13.61 an hour, or $28,300 a year. But the state Department of Labor reports that the state's average hourly wage rose also, to its present $20.20 an hour, or more than $42,000 a year.

And the average Kansas wage for all corrections and officers and bailiffs in 2014 was $16.39 an hour, or 24 percent less than the national figure of $21.59, according to federal data.

Several former officers at the Lansing prison, which houses 2,400 inmates north of the Kansas City area, said multiple factors, including stress and short staffing, had them finding a way out last year.

Kellon Carlyle, a former sergeant who was earning $15.38 an hour when he left in April, now hopes to land a federal building security job at more than $26 an hour.

"It's not worth it," he said of the prison job, "my health has actually improved."

More than 180 officer positions remain open at state prisons or juvenile centers, or about 9 percent of the roughly 2,000 jobs. In July, the state Department of Corrections began allowing 18-year-olds to become officers -- even though professionals generally have misgivings about their maturity and judgment.

"They've got zero life skills, very little street smarts," Martin said.

The Ellsworth prison houses about 900 inmates, most of them medium-security. Even officers here who said they like their jobs and intend to stay see low pay as a problem.

Jonathan Lawrence, a sergeant earning $15 an hour, initially saw his prison job as a "stepping stone" to another job in law enforcement, but found he preferred managing inmates to police work. Yet, to support his family, he also is a part-time police officer, firefighter and Baptist church youth director.

And, he acknowledged, "I'm always keeping my options open."

___

Follow John Hanna on Twitter at https://twitter.com/apjdhanna .
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TEHRAN, Iran (AP) -- Saudi Arabia announced Sunday it was severing diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran amid escalating tensions over the Sunni kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.

The move came hours after protesters stormed and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and followed harsh criticism by Iran's top leader of the Saudis' execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iranian diplomatic personnel had 48 hours to leave his country and all Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran had been called home.

The mass execution of al-Nimr and 46 others -- the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades -- laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region as demonstrators took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan in protest.

It also illustrated the kingdom's new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shiite power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saudi Arabia on Sunday of "divine revenge" over al-Nimr's death, while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting "terrorism" in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the U.S. and the European Union sought to calm the region.

Al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.

On Saturday, Saudi Arabia put al-Nimr and three other Shiite dissidents to death, along with a number of al-Qaida militants. Al-Nimr's execution drew protests from Shiites around the world, who backed his call for reform and wider political freedom for their sect.

While the split between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the early days of Islam and disagreements over the successor to Prophet Muhammad, those divisions have only grown as they intertwine with regional politics, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia vying to be the Mideast's top power.

Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Iran's backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran also has backed Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Houthis.

Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, condemned al-Nimr's execution, saying Sunday the cleric "neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism."

Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saudi Arabia's "medieval act of savagery" would lead to the "downfall" of the country's monarchy.

Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had "revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism."

In Tehran, a protest outside the Saudi Embassy early Sunday quickly grew violent as protesters threw stones and gasoline bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building ablaze, according to Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, the country's top police official, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.

Forty people were arrested and investigators were pursuing other suspects, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as "extremists."

"It is unjustifiable," he said in a statement.

Hundreds of protesters later demonstrated in front of the embassy and in a central Tehran square, where street signs near the embassy were replaced with ones bearing the slain sheikh's name.

Western powers sought to calm the tensions.

In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration was aware of the Saudis' severing of ties with Tehran. "We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," Kirby said.

Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats," according to a statement.

The disruption in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and others spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the civil war. Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin in mid-January.

Across the region, demonstrators took to the streets Sunday in protest over the execution of al-Nimr.

In Bahrain, police fired tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators on Sitra Island, south of the capital, Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifa family.

In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called al-Nimr "the martyr, the holy warrior," while protests erupted from Turkey to India to Pakistan.

The cleric's execution has also threatened to complicate Saudi Arabia's relationship with the Shiite-led government in Iraq, where the Saudi Embassy is preparing to formally reopen for the first time in nearly 25 years. On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.

Meanwhile, al-Nimr's family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya in the kingdom's al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikh's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.

___

Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Associated Press writers Joseph Krauss and Maamoun Youssef in Cairo, Sinan Salaheddin in Baghdad, Reem Khalifa in Manama, Bahrain, Brian Rohan in Beirut, and Tom Strong and Matthew Lee in Washington contributed to this report.

___

Follow Jon Gambrell on Twitter at www.twitter.com/jongambrellap
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NORWALK -- Members of Al Madany Islamic Center of Norwalk had hoped to settle into their new home at the former Grace Episcopal Church at Union Park by the New Year.

But while Grace Episcopal Church no longer uses the space, another congregation continues to call it home despite eviction efforts.

"We're in court. They want us to vacate the property," said Bishop Michael Densmore, founder and senior pastor of Community Temple. "Hopefully, as soon as possible, we'll find a place to move. (But) with a congregation this size, it's not easy to pack up and find a new place."

Community Temple and its roughly 200 members have leased the former Grace Episcopal Church at One Union Park from the Episcopal Church in Connecticut since 2014.

The lease was on a six-month basis through September 2015. After that, Community Temple has asked to be able to remain on a month-to-month basis until it finds a new home, according to Densmore.

Densmore said Community Temple had hoped to buy the property but was outbid by Al Madany Islamic Center.

The failure of Community Temple to vacate the space now has Al Madany between its own rock and hard place.

Al Madany, which traces its roots to the early 1970s and was part of a legal battle with the city several years ago, announced in November that it had agreed to buy One Union Park and an adjacent house on Berkeley Street from the Episcopal Church in Connecticut.

Most recently, Al Madany has leased space on Main Avenue. Between 150 and 200 members attend prayer services, according to spokesman Farhan Memon.

"Our lease has been up since October and we've been going month to month in anticipation of the fact that we had purchased the building and hoped to be in there in October," Memon said. "Al Madany hopes to get in (One Union Park) when the Community Temple and the Episcopal Church have reached a resolution. It's for these two parties to resolve."

Memon referred questions about the lease to a reverend with the church, who in turn forwarded The Hour inquiry to the church Diocese. The Diocese did not respond immediately for comment Sunday.

According to Memon, the sales price for the Episcopal Church property was $1.65 million and includes the church building proper (1 Union Park) and an adjoining three-bedroom, single-family home (16 Berkeley). The transaction was slated to close by the end of the year in order to allow the Diocese to reclaim its property.

Community Temple leased spaced in Stamford, Bridgeport and along East Avenue in Norwalk before coming to One Union Park in 2014, according to church members.

On Sunday, the church held its regular service at the Union Park space. On New Year's Eve, it held its traditional dinner for the homeless at the space.

"We understood this was going to be our permanent home. You kind of don't do this otherwise," said Community Temple Minister Joyce Bryan, pointing at a picture of Bishop Densmore on the wall.

Memon said Al Madany, in an effort to help find Community Temple a home, has put the church in contact with its landlord on Main Avenue as well as with Unity Congregational on Richards Avenue.

Al Madany's journey for its permanent home was underway for several decades. Three years ago, the effort resulted in a court battle.

In 2012, the Norwalk Zoning Commission rejected Al Madany's plans for a mosque and community hall on the center's property at 127 Fillow Street. The commission concluded the proposal was "out of scale in its density of use and bulk of buildings."

Al Madany sued the city in a lawsuit that reached the levels of federal scrutiny over alleged discrimination.

Under a settlement approved in 2014, the city agreed to pay Al Madany $585,000 for the Fillow Street property as well as cover litigation damages and help the center find a new property.
NORWALK -- A Norwalk woman was arrested twice Saturday night after driving drunk, fleeing a traffic accident and berating Norwalk Police officers with bigoted language.

Ann Finch, 55, of 24 4th St., was held on $2,500 bond, charged with evading responsibility and driving under the influence. Later the same night Finch was charged with interfering with an officer and issued an additional $5,000 bond. Finch was given a court date of Jan. 11 for both arrests.

At 8:45 p.m. Saturday night, Norwalk Police officers responded to a report of a hit-and-run traffic accident in the Davinci's Pizza parking lot at 60 Connecticut Ave.

A complainant told the officers that as she backed out of her parking space a white pickup truck had struck her vehicle and sped off, causing damage to the rear of her car, according to police reports.

With the help of a photograph taken by the complainant on her cell phone, police soon located the white Chevrolet Silverado pickup with front end damage in the parking lot of a Wendy's restaurant on Connecticut Avenue.

Finch was the truck's operator and only occupant and responding officers found her in a disoriented state, mumbling, slurring her words and smelling of alcohol, according to police reports.

When queried, Finch became agitated, denied having been in a car accident and threatened to call Mickey Sherman, a noted Greenwich attorney, police said. Finch then began to unwrap a Wendy's hamburger and was told by Norwalk Police to put it down.

Finch was screaming and abusive before and during field sobriety tests, which she failed, police said.

As she was placed under arrest, Finch began to yell racial epithets at her arresting officer, who is African-American, police reports noted.

At Norwalk Police headquarters, when informed she would be charged with D.U.I., Finch continued to shout insults and racial slurs at police officers and a woman held in an adjacent cell, Norwalk Police said.

After overhearing Finch's insults while attending to another prisoner, a Norwalk Police sergeant instructed Finch's jailor to remove Finch to a cell block to prevent her causing more of a disturbance, according to the sergeant's report.

When Finch refused to leave the holding cell, the sergeant said she would be charged with interfering with an officer if she did not comply, the report said.

Finch was led by the wrist to the cell block area, where she attempted to push an officer, tried to stop the cell door from closing and continued to use overtly racist language, at which point she was arrested again, the sergeant's report said.
BRIDGEPORT (AP) -- Fire officials in Bridgeport say a young child has died in a condo fire that also injured five other people.

Bridgeport fire officials responded to a call of a fire at a condo complex on Frenchtown Road around 3:30 a.m. Sunday.
SOUTHBURY (AP) -- State police are searching for a car and its driver after the vehicle collided with a cruiser at a drunken driving checkpoint in Southbury.

Police said troopers were conducting the spot check on Saturday night at a westbound off-ramp from Interstate 84 when the driver, attempting to evade the check, backed down the off-ramp and struck the parked cruiser, which was unoccupied. The car, described as a newer model silver Infinity, then continued in the direction of Waterbury.
Enough about Alexander Hamilton, the starring topic of the Broadway show bearing his name. Let's talk about Burr.

I mean, about "Burr," Gore Vidal's 1973 historical novel.

It's more accurate, and far more colorful, than school-book versions of the most important period of American history. And after reading it, I came away thinking that Aaron Burr is more than the rapscallion who killed Hamilton in an 1804 duel, among other perfidies. While Hamilton's reputation has enjoyed a renaissance, thanks most recently to the Broadway musical based on Ron Chernow's biography, Burr's role as villain seems secure in every American era.

But as Vidal shows, after mining the historical archives, the real Burr's flaws and petty machinations were no more or less roguish than those of some heroic figures around him.

Through him, we are disabused of numerous myths. For example, he didn't nearly steal the presidency away from Thomas Jefferson in 1800. He allowed Jefferson to become the nation's third president, after they received equal votes in the Electoral College, by refusing to lobby House members to give him the job. Burr was tried (and acquitted) on treason charges for allegedly trying to foment rebellion among the Western states. In fact, he was trying to free territory from Spanish rule, many historians have come to believe.

Burr doesn't get a founding-father halo, though he fought on the Revolutionary War battlefield with more courage than men we honor as heroes. Then he served as New York's attorney general, as a U.S. senator and as Thomas Jefferson's vice president. So he missed the Constitutional Convention. So did Jefferson.

Vidal uses Burr as a foil to tell on his revolutionary peers. George Washington won a few major battles but he was an inept military tactician overall, and no sooner was he elected president than he got an advance on his salary from the Treasury. And as for pompous and hypocritical Jefferson, writes Vidal: "Although often prone to truth, Jefferson was never a fanatic when his own legend was at stake."

Of the duel with Hamilton on the heights of Weehawken, New Jersey, Vidal writes in Burr's voice: "As usual with me, the world saw fit to believe a different story. The night before our meeting, Hamilton wrote a letter to posterity; it was on the order of a penitent monk's last confession. He would reserve his first shot, he declared, and perhaps his second because, morally, he disapproved of dueling. Then of course he fired first. As for his disapproval of dueling, he had issued at least three challenges that I know of. But Hamilton realized better than anyone else that the world -- our American world at least -- loves a canting hypocrite."

Only James Madison seems irreproachable. He "was a strange pale youth, all head and no body, addicted to theology -- a subject with which I wanted nothing ever to do." Because Madison was so small, "people tended to ignore him until he began to speak (in a voice nearly as weak as Jefferson's); then, very gradually, listening to him one became most vividly aware of what a great little man he was."

Vidal, who died in 2012, painstakingly researched his subject, and historians gave him high marks for following the documentary evidence. When his novel first appeared amid the Watergate scandal, it was seen as a well-timed allegory of the Richard Nixon era.

The mean and vindictive Jefferson could be seen as a stand- in for Nixon, a portrayal that became more meaningful as events played out. The Supreme Court justices who ruled in 1974 that Nixon had to release the White House tapes are reminiscent of Chief Justice John Marshall, who acquitted Burr of treason in 1807.

Marshall had subpoenaed letters in President Jefferson's possession that might help in Burr's defense. Jefferson turned over other documents but not the letters, insisting (wrongly, ultimately) that the executive branch could never submit to the judiciary. Marshall had the last word: His instructions to the jury left it no choice but to acquit Burr. For a while, Jefferson considered, but decided against, impeaching the chief justice.

Vidal's "Burr" is useful for any era of U.S. politics. For those who think Donald Trump and all the rest are scoundrels today, and represent some new low point, it always helps to turn over the rock of history.

Paula Dwyer writes editorials on economics, finance and politics.
WESTPORT  A grainy video shows a section of night sky clustered with stars, the brightest three forming a V. Suddenly the bottom star disappears completely, remaining hidden for a full second before winking back into sight.

This video, taken in late November by Westport Astronomical Society (WAS) members Kevin Green and Bob Meadows, captures a phenomenon known to astronomers as an asteroid occultation: an asteroid passes between the Earth and a star or other celestial body and  depending on ones terrestrial vantage point  briefly obscures all or part of the celestial body from view.

(The names given to these objects are often utilitarian: the recent WAS video has asteroid 1998 VR27 occulting a star named TYC 1272-00156-1.)

That one is a small asteroid, just 15 kilometers across, Green said of the asteroid in Novembers occultation video. We werent really expecting to see that one, because ... (its) predicted path was highly uncertain, but we turned out to be in the right place.

Occultations are tracked by amateur astronomers across the globe, who then submit their data for aggregation by the International Astronomical Union Minor Planet Center, which is funded by a NASA grant.

Theres a whole international effort to do this, Green said. Its a citizen science type of a project.

Green said he and his compatriots have recorded and measured more than a dozen occultations inn the year since the Astronomical Societys Rolnick Observatory obtained the requisite equipment.

You time-stamp each frame on the video so you know exactly when the asteroid crosses in front of the star, Green told The Hour, adding that Rolnicks time inserter can measure the beginning and end times onf an occultation with accuracy down to three hundredths of a second. You can get an estimate of the size of the asteroid, which is a very difficult thing to do.

Moreover, data collected from these videos is useful for determining what (the asteroids) are made of, how big they are, how many there are, (and) how their orbits vary, Green added.

Citizen scientists who measure occultations have made significant contributions to the body of knowledge about specific asteroids.

All sorts of different types of shapes of asteroids ... have been discovered, Green said, including some with an unusual dog bone shape.

Programs like the WAS occultation project are a way for amateurs to get involved in technical science, Green emphasized. Its a good way for students to learn some of the basics of the scientific process  observing astrological objects, beyond just pointing and looking.

This data may hold interest for more than just the science enthusiasts among us, however. According to Green, information about asteroid orbits gleaned by measuring occultations might prove valuable for the preservation of life on Earth.

There are over 1,600 potentially hazardous asteroids following orbital paths that could lead to a direct collision with the Earth, Green said. None of (them) are predicted to hit in the next three hundred years or so, (but) they find new ones every day.

Todays technology is not sufficiently advanced to predict an asteroid impact early enough to do anything about it, Green said, invoking the Chelyabinsk meteor that struck Russia in 2013.

(Chelyabinsk) came from the sun side. We would have never seen that, Green told The Hour.

Even if an impact was predicted in time to launch a probe, humans do not posess the technology necessary to deflect an asteroid, Green said  although we soon may, given the recent landing of a probe on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the European Space Agency.

Maybe now you could try to blow it up, just like (in) the movies, Green said. It would be difficult.

Still, Green is confident that Earth technology will eventually outpace any danger posed by menacing asteroids.

Eventually, were going to map all this out, Green said. Were going to map it out, and were going to know.
NORWALK  Anne Murray has come through a year from which some people might not have returned.

The sudden death of her husband to a heart attack, followed soon after by the mauling by her not-quite-2-year-old American pit bull terrier, Tuxedo  an attack that claimed the lower half of her right arm, and most of her left arm, along with other injuries to her legs  could have sent a lesser person into a deep, dark place.

Not Murray, 67, who has battled through much of the preliminary physical and emotional healing in an effort to reclaim her life.

Now residing at Aurora Senior Living in Norwalk, Murray was forthright in talking about that fateful day last November on Range Road.

Generally, the attack is what Im here for, Murray said. It was an unprovoked attack, and its the nature of the dog. He sat next to me. I fed him. I took him out on the leash. Im racking my brain about what I did different that day. He had food and water. I dont know what happened. I dont think he saw a squirrel. I dont think it was an outside stimulus. Thats whats so scary about that breed.

It was the start of one of those walks that led to tragedy for both dog and owner.

Tux took me by the left arm, and dragged me down several sets of tiered steps, Murray said. Then he grabbed my right arm, and I scooted under a car. I know how deserted Wilton can be, but people were walking by. That was a miracle.

The good Samaritan finally called 911, after Murray had exhausted her efforts.

(Tux) sat next to the car, guarding his prey, Murray said with a laugh, sharing that gallows humor that has fueled her recovery. I couldnt yell any more. I had yelled help, help but I was losing a lot of blood. My son (Matthew) had gone to work. We had lost their dad (Matthew, 26, has a twin brother, Ian) not long before. It was a tough time, and this was the cherry on the ice cream.

Wilton police Capt. John Lynch shot Tuxedo to death when it was determined his presence was preventing EMTs from reaching Murray.

Now Murray is ready to accept what life has to offer, but she knows she needs help. That help is not coming from Aurora, which is not equipped to handle the demands of Murrays rehabilitation.

Ive had my eyes open to a totally new life, Murray said. I realize that I am a senior citizen, but (Aurora) has not met my needs. Its not that (Aurora) is not compassionate. The care here is caring. They have great women that keep the place clean. They are very respectful, but they are limited in what they can discuss about a patient, and they dont meet my needs.

Murray spent some time early in her convalescence at Gaylord Hospital in Wallingford, one of the top facilities in the state to deal with all types of traumatic injuries and recovery. Cost took Murray out of Gaylord, and to Aurora, and therein lies the rub. Murray cannot afford the facility she really needs.

I dont want to fall through the cracks, Murray said. Im not sick enough for Gaylords. (Aurora) is a warehousing facility. Im an Army brat. My father was in the military for 30 years, and Im a kid of the (1960s). I want to get in touch with (military) veterans. They deal with these kinds of injuries. I dont know how to contact the right people.

Murray is not looking for a handout  her word  as her Social Security is paying for her to stay at Aurora. That arrangement will end on Halloween.

On Nov. 1 its time to go, Murray said. I dont think they are going to throw me out on the street. Ive worked all my life since I was 15. I was a waitress. I owned my own business  a seasonal restaurant on Cape Cod. I got divorced, and moved back to Connecticut. The maternal side of my family is from the Greenwich/Port Chester area, I re-married. I went to work for Tony Boccarossa Insurance. He was an employer and a dear friend. I did that many years. I had twin boys, then I worked for William Pitt Insurance, and I helped Jeff Cashman grow that business. He did most of the work, but I helped him grow it. Its frustrating because the state will pay for my right half-arm and hook.

Murray needed some time to prepare for the next step of her rehabilitation.

I put off having the left artificial arm, Murray said. Now Im emotionally and physically ready to wear it. After two more months here (Aurora) wants to send me to a facility upstate, way up there. Im vulnerable. I want to stay in Fairfield County. Ive been here 45 years.

Murray almost swooned about Gaylord, and about a woman in a similar situation to hers.

At Gaylord, they get you ready for the kitchen, Murray said. They have a car preparing people to drive. Its fantastic. I met a woman who was in a fire who lost both arms  and she drives her own car. Thats unbelievable  but very, very expensive. Their patients are mostly people with insurance. My Social Security didnt cover it. Social Security covers (Aurora)  meals and a little therapy, like the stationary bike.

Murray believes she cannot be the only person in her predicament.

My situation is systemic to this gray area we have in the system, Murray said. There has to be somebody in a veterans hospital who I can talk to. I feel I am the man in the middle. (Aurora) is servicing a lot of peoples needs  they just are not servicing my needs.

Murray said her sons are trying to help her, but she wants them to live their own lives, and not be burdened by her needs and restrictions.

Im open to anything that will help me in the outside world, Murray said. If I could get any kind of help from (military) veterans, I would be very appreciative. My other dilemma is, if I get a phone call, I cant take notes. It cant be with my sons all the time. I need an advocate.

More than anything, Murray  who attended the original Woodstock festival in a Winnebago, avoiding all the rain and mud in relative style  just wants to move on with her life in her own inimitable way.

I want to be as productive as I can be, Murray said. I want to be a good citizen. My leg muscles were damaged, but Im close to getting my right heel all the way down. I will dance at my sons weddings.

Ive improved tremendously, she said.
DALLAS (TIP): A Nigerian man living in the U.S. on a student visa faces federal wire fraud charges in connection with a sophisticated email phishing scam targeting businesses. Amechi Colvis Amuegbunam, 28, of Lagos, Nigeria, []
DALLAS (TIP): A 20-year-old University of North Texas junior died Friday, January 1 night after she was shot in what police suspect was a road rage incident. Denton officers found Sara Mutschlechner about 2 a.m. []
Laumeier Sculpture Park, located 12580 Rott Road in St. Louis, has announced its winter schedule.

For more information call (314) 615-5278.

September 2015-February 2016

Fall + Winter Art Classes + Workshops

Laumeier Sculpture Park offers age-appropriate courses as multi-day classes and one-day workshops. Art Classes and Workshops provide participants with a focused experience within a particular medium, process or concept. Art Classes and Workshops are taught by local, experienced Artist-Instructors and are designed to encourage artistic development and self- expression. Small class sizes provide participants with individual attention; projects are designed to allow participants the freedom to explore their own potential and creativity. Art Classes and Workshops meet at Laumeier Sculpture Park, 12580 Rott Road, Saint Louis, Missouri. Call 314.615.5278 or visit www.laumeier.org for more information. Supported by PNC Arts Alive, UMB Bank and The Employees Community Fund of Boeing St. Louis.

September 2015-April 2016

Laumeier Teen Program

Laumeier Sculpture Parks new Teen Program for ages 13 to 19 builds on the successful growth of Laumeiers summer Art Camps for ages 4 to 15. Designed to encourage creative expression in young adults, the program offers workshops and mentoring to assist teens seeking a future in the arts in preparing well-rounded portfolios, vital for admission to college arts programs. The program features artist visits, studio workshops and portfolio review sessions. The Teen Program meets on the first and third Fridays of each month during the school year at Laumeier Sculpture Park, 12580 Rott Road, Saint Louis, Missouri. Call 314.615.5278 or visit www.laumeier.org for more information.

October 16, 2015-February 14, 2016

Raqs Media Collective: Art in the Age of Collective Intelligence

If the World is a Fair Place Then...

Laumeier Sculpture Parks inaugural exhibition in the Whitaker Foundation Gallery of the new Adam Aronson Fine Arts Center is a textual installation by Jeebesh Bagchi, Monica Narula and Shuddhabrata Sengupta of the Raqs Media Collective, a New Delhi-based collaborative with a politically charged artistic and theoretical practice. Art in the Age of Collective Intelligence consists of a large series of photographs and a constructed library of books expanding on the Collectives ongoing preoccupation with change from the inside. The exhibition also includes an outdoor commission, If the World is a Fair Place Then..., inspired by the more than 500 responses to the prompt gathered by Laumeier in 2014. Forty stainless steel bands etched with various thoughts, feelings and ideas from the responses encircle tree trunks along Laumeiers Art Hike Trail, exploring Raqs interest in the history of Worlds Fairsespecially the 1904 Worlds Fair in St. Louisand the polyphony of the crowd. The exhibition runs Friday, October 16-Sunday, February 14, at Laumeier Sculpture Park, 12580 Rott Road, Saint Louis, Missouri. Free. Call 314.615.5278 or visit www.laumeier.org for more information.

October 16, 2015-February 14, 2016

Zlatko Cosic + Ashley McQueen: Harmony in 3

2015 Kranzberg Exhibition Series

For Laumeier Sculpture Parks 2015 Kranzberg Exhibition Series, video artist Zlatko Cosic and choreographer Ashley McQueen honor the labor that goes into the manicured landscape of the Park. Through a series of dance performances held in 2014, culminating in a short film, Cosic and McQueen explore Laumeiers unique partnership with St. Louis County Parks, highlighting the passion and hard work that goes into the care and maintenance of the grounds. The exhibition runs Friday, October 16-Sunday, February 14, at the Adam Aronson Fine Arts Center at Laumeier Sculpture Park, 12580 Rott Road, Saint Louis, Missouri. Free. Call 314.615.5278 or visit www.laumeier.org for more information. Supported by Nancy and Ken Kranzberg.

January 17

Free Family Day

Laumeier Sculpture Parks Free Family Days provide families with a chance to bond while encouraging observation, imagination, curiosity and creativity. Free Family Days provide participants of all ages with structured activities for creating art using a variety of materials. Families have fun exploring new media and concepts while finding inspiration within Laumeiers natural environment, temporary exhibitions and the Permanent Collection. Sunday, January 17, 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the Kranzberg Education Lab at Laumeier Sculpture Park, 12580 Rott Road, Saint Louis, Missouri. Free. Call 314.615.5278 or visit www.laumeier.org for more information.

February 21

Free Family Day

Laumeier Sculpture Parks Free Family Days provide families with a chance to bond while encouraging observation, imagination, curiosity and creativity. Free Family Days provide participants of all ages with structured activities for creating art using a variety of materials. Families have fun exploring new media and concepts while finding inspiration within Laumeiers natural environment, temporary exhibitions and the Permanent Collection. Sunday, February 21, 2:00-4:00 p.m. at the Kranzberg Education Lab at Laumeier Sculpture Park, 12580 Rott Road, Saint Louis, Missouri. Free. Call 314.615.5278 or visit www.laumeier.org for more information.
In the last few years many have voiced highly spirited claims that a new formula of education in the form of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) was going to revolutionize higher education. The claim was that ample access to new technologies would make possible for anybody to obtain a quality college education for free through the Internet. A lot of individuals and institutions became very excited about this possibility and the conversation about it ranged from editorial articles in the media to extremely optimistic assertions by people associated with politics, education, government and industry.

One aspect of MOOCs from the beginning that gave respectability to this initiative was their relationship with big-time universities such as Stanford, University of California at Berkeley, The University of Texas at Austin, Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Further, many of these initiatives gained the financial support of big-time organizations, such as the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the MacArthur Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the American Council on Education.

Due to their auspicious beginnings, numerous opinion makers from columnists in The New York Times to other outlets heralded this new type of distance education as the next big thing. And many top educational institutions formed entrepreneurial initiatives to advance this new approach under the promise that it was going to democratize access to higher education, making it more accessible not only to the majority of the population but also to the less privileged ones, those with fewer recourses or living in more rural areas.

As I have expressed in this column in the past, these promises were not that new. New technologies have been hyped as cure-alls for years. Similar experiments were tried with correspondence courses in the 19th century, radio in the 1930s and television in the 1950s. Not only that, but from the correspondence courses of more than a century ago to the MOOCs of today, there is the fact that while large numbers of people sign up for these courses, only a very few (less that five percent) ended up finishing them. And most of those individuals were mature adults of an upper economic status who already had some postsecondary education.

Now a new study has confirmed those suspicions.

In an article recently published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Science, John D. Hansen and Justin Reich, from Harvard University, tested the claims that MOOCs were democratizing higher education. And the results of their study were a clear-cut indication that such is not the case.

They studied the registration and completion patterns of 68 courses offered by Harvard and MIT. These two institutions collaborate in creating a MOOC initiative under the name of edX. These researchers found that the majority of registrants in MOOCs already had a college or graduate degree. Further, this research - conducted among more than 160,000 registrants from the United States - showed that the average student in the 68 courses offered for free by Harvard and MIT under this umbrella resided in neighborhoods where the median household income was almost $70,000, which is about $12,000 above the neighborhood national average. When that comparison was made among students whose age was between 13 and 17 years old, the income difference was even bigger - more than $23,000 above the average American household. Not only that, but the vast majority of participants lived in urban areas rather than in rural ones, confirming the idea that MOOCs were not disproportionally serving those who are geographically isolated.

They also found that students who either had parents with a bachelors degree or already had a postsecondary education were more likely to complete the courses.

As the authors of this study put it, Our research on MOOCs - along with previous decades research examining the access and usage patterns of emerging learning technologies - should provoke skepticism of lofty claims regarding democratization, level playing fields, and closing gaps that might accompany new genres of online learning, especially those targeted at younger learners. Freely available learning technologies can offer broad social benefits, but educators and policymakers should not assume that the underserved or disadvantaged will be the chief beneficiaries.

Hopefully the results of this study, together with others that have been publicized, will open the eyes of those with a blind faith in a technological fix for some of our problems in higher education. This information should also serve as a warning to those administrators, particularly those at institutions serving largely rural, low-income populations, that these approaches are not a valid alternative to quality education for the underprivileged.

Add to that the results of other studies mentioned in this column in the past that show that the proportion of students finishing these courses is extremely low, an important factor these days when politicians and publications that rank colleges are putting more emphasis on completion rates in assessing a schools effectiveness.

Finally, those for us who deal with the day-to-day task of teaching college students need to remind the general population what these students are saying in the classroom to us. They know that there is not a technological substitute for a face-to-face education experience with good teachers in the classroom, the lab and the studio.

These and other data should also be illuminating to those who believe that you can offer cheap (even free) higher education as a way to democratize its access. Quite the contrary, MOOCs seem to increase the social and economic divide between the haves and the have-nots. The problem is that solid data do not always change the minds of desperate administrators dealing with decreasing budget support from their states or politicians who use demagoguery and dismissive assertions against higher education.

Dr. Aldemaro Romero Jr. is a writer and college professor with leadership experience in higher education. He can be contacted through his website at: http://www.aromerojr.net.
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Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

The Golkar Party leadership under Aburizal Bakrie has called on the Law and Human Rights Ministry to issue a decree to recognize the party's new leadership structure following the ministry's decision to revoke the leadership of Agung Laksono.



The government has decided to comply with a Supreme Court verdict that annulled a decree recognizing Agung's leadership. The verdict also ordered the party leadership to be returned to the structure formed at a national congress in Riau in 2009 and recognized Aburizal as party chairman.



Golkar secretary-general Idrus Marham of the Aburizal camp said on Sunday that recognizing the central board committee formed by Aburizal would effectively end the prolonged conflict that has plagued the nation's oldest political party for more than a year, arguing that it would encourage Agung's camp to lay down their arms.



Idrus made the statement in response to Agung's suggestion that the ministry's revocation of his leadership did not necessarily constitute recognition of Aburizal's.



Idrus further said that the party would not hold a national congress to settle the conflict, as suggested by Agung's camp and a number of senior Golkar members, adding that Aburizal would provide a win-win solution by including Agung and his followers on a leadership list to be submitted to the Law and Human Rights Ministry.



The party was plunged in late 2014 into a series of disputes that have seen Aburizal and Agung battling for government recognition.



The issue surrounding Aburizal's leadership is his use of a structure set at a Bali congress deemed invalid by Agung's camp.



Idrus said he would visit the ministry on Monday to discuss Aburizal's intention to register a new committee line-up, which would incorporate Agung partisans, as an addition to the structure set up in Bali.



'If the ministry agrees to approve the new committee line-up, then we will hold a consolidation meeting to include all members of the Golkar party including those from Agung's camp, in the new leadership,' Idrus told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.



The ministry earlier issued a decree to recognize Agung's leadership after a Golkar internal tribunal issued a ruling in favor of Agung in March, though without explicitly naming him legitimate chairman.



In May, the Jakarta State Administrative Court (PTUN Jakarta) annulled a decree issued by Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly that endorsed the leadership of Agung, thus restoring the party's leadership to Aburizal.



The annulled decree was later restored by the Jakarta State Administrative High Court (PTTUN Jakarta) before the Supreme Court finally annulled it in October, further stipulating that the PTUN decision be honored.



Separately, Golkar Party treasurer and Aburizal camp follower Bambang Soesatyo, who earlier supported calls to hold a national congress to resolve the conflict, said on Sunday that holding a congress was not the only solution.



The party, he said, would decide whether to hold an immediate congress during a meeting with regional Golkar representatives in Bali on Monday, adding that the party was preparing to hold a national meeting in Jakarta on Jan. 18.



A senior political analyst from the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), Syamsuddin Haris, meanwhile said on Sunday that the ministry's revocation of Agung's leadership did not provide any legal ground for Aburizal's camp to lay claim to legitimacy.



'Now that the ministry has annulled the decree on Agung's leadership, there is legally no legitimate leadership of Golkar. The annulment means the leadership reverts to the leadership that was formed during the party's congress in 2009 in Riau, and the Riau leadership expired [on Dec. 31],' Syamsuddin said.



Legal battles, he added, would not offer a solution, as each camp would always find a new legal recourse to try to trump its rival.



'The solution must be political, not legal. Agung and Aburizal should sit together to discuss the possibility of holding a congress in the near future,' he said.



On Thursday, Agung called for the Golkar's party tribunal forum to rule for an immediate congress in January.



'In order to maintain the existence of Golkar, holding a congress in January is the only means to fill the vacuum of power at the top of the party,' Agung said.

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Linkedin Callistasia Anggun Wijaya (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

The Jakarta administration will start the construction of facilities to support electronic road pricing (ERP) in the capital this year as the winner of the tender project is set to be announced soon, Jakarta Governor Basuki 'Ahok' Tjahaja Purnama said on Monday.

Ahok said he had not yet released the number of tender bidders but aimed to settle on a winner this year.

The winning company, he said, would prepare various equipment for the ERP system, which he hoped would start operation in early 2017, pushed back two years from the initial plan of 2015.

Despite expressing optimism on the progress of the ERP system, Ahok said there were still obstacles in the way of its implementation.

'The main obstacle is legal enforcement ' how to catch vehicles with non-Jakarta STNK [vehicles registration fee documentation] that violate the ERP. However, I think it will be easy to monitor it through closed-circuit television [CCTV],' he told journalists at City Hall on Monday.

The Jakarta administration has held trials on several roads that are set to use the ERP system, in 2014 and last year.

Once implemented, the system will replace the three-in-one transportation scheme across the capital that requires all private vehicles using Jakarta's main roads to have at least three passengers. The scheme has been slammed by many for making no contribution to lessening traffic congestion but instead creating a market for 'jockeys', extra passengers who ride in cars in exchange for payment, allowing the vehicles to pass three-in-one roads.

Separately, Jakarta Transportation Office deputy head Yani Wahyu Purwoko said the city administration had coordinated with the Jakarta Financial Management Board (BPKD) to open the ERP tender this year.

He said that the minimum fee for ERP roads would be Rp 30,000 ($2.16) while the maximum tariff had not yet been determined.

The fee would be based on the type of car and the level of road congestion, he added.

'For example on Jl. Sisingamangaraja there are only two lanes while on Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, there are five lanes. It means Jl. Sisingamangaraja is more congested than Jl. Sudirman. Therefore, the ERP tariff on Sisingamangaraja would be higher than on Sudirman,' Yani said.

Under the ERP system, each vehicle that passes through an ERP gate will be detected through an on-board unit (OBU). The system will also be implemented simultaneously with electronic registration and identification (ERI), which will allow electronic law enforcement, sparing violators from being fined on the spot.

Meanwhile, for vehicles without an OBU or deposit, the ERP gate would record data and traffic police would send a fine to the owner of the vehicles. The owners must then pay a fine at the Jakarta Police's Vehicle Document Registration Center (Samsat) or at the time of extending their STNK.

The administration has long planned to implement ERP to charge drivers on Jakarta's main roads. By charging fees, it is expected that vehicle owners would make a shift to using public transportation instead. A lack of regulations to coordinate retribution for the ERP system has also hindered the full implementation of the system. (rin)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

Jakarta Governor Basuki "Ahok" Tjahaja Purnama's unwillingness to compromise with political parties may hamper his candidacy in the 2017 gubernatorial election, a political survey says.

Director of the Jakarta-based Cyrus Network Hasan Nasbi said on Monday that it would be easy for political parties to work together to defeat Ahok in the 2017 election.

"There is no benefit for the political parties. Parties need short-term profits. While if they support Ahok, they will only gain long-term benefits such as a good image and a good track record," he said as quoted by kompas.com on Monday.

Ahok left the Gerindra Party in 2014, the party that supported his Jakarta deputy governor candidacy in the 2012 gubernatorial election. Ahok has since said that he will run as an independent candidate in the 2017 election.

The governor has also been in involved in debate with city councillors for scrapping items from the city budget.

Despite the NasDem Party hinting that it may throw its support behind Ahok, Hasan said that its support alone would not be enough.

Furthermore, Hasan said that Bandung Mayor Ridwan Kamil could be Ahok's biggest opponent in the election. Ridwan gained popularity following his achievements in managing Bandung's urban planning. His name was mentioned among Gerindra's possible Jakarta gubernatorial candidates, along with prominent businessman Sandiaga Uno.

Hasan explained that Ridwan could gain the support of parties that disliked Ahok.

"Those who are anti-Ahok also want a capable leader. If Ridwan Kamil runs, it is possible that he will gather votes from people who dislike Ahok," he said, adding that 40 percent of survey respondents were dissatisfied with Ahok's leadership. (rin)(+)
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Linkedin Nani Afrida (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

The Indonesian Air Force has argued that the government should pass new regulations to protect the nation's skies, claiming that foreign planes often entered Indonesian airspace without permission.



'Their is an idea that Indonesia's airspace is open and not exclusive at all, as many non-scheduled foreign aircraft enter our airspace freely,' Air Force spokesperson Rear Marshal Dwi Badarmanto said in Jakarta recently.



He acknowledged that Law No. 1/2009 on aviation did stipulate punishment for those who enter Indonesia's airspace without permission, however, he added that the regulation did not specify the type of criminal actions that would qualify as violations of the law.



'Any violation of our airspace is handled only as an entry-permit violation, not as a violation of a country's sovereignty,' he said, adding that Indonesia should implement regulations on airspace security that protected the nation's airspace and stipulated legal consequences for violators.



Dwi also suggested that the Air Force be involved in investigations into airspace violations.



'The Air Force has a role to protect the nation's airspace, intercept illegal airplanes, and it has enough knowledge about these matters [to carry out these duties],' Dwi said.



Dwi said that the Air Force had taken action to protect the nation's airspace in the past, such as forcing planes flying in Indonesian airspace to land. However, he said that those actions seemed futile if their was no subsequent legal process.



He said that the pilots of planes that were forced to land had only been asked to pay a Rp 60 million (US$4,336) fine, the same price as an airport landing fee.



'The amount is too small and is not proportional with the effort we took. There should be legal punishment so violations will not happen again,' Dwi said.



According to him, a legal process for violators would not only have a deterrent effect but would also guarantee the sovereignty of Indonesian's airspace.



Based on the 1944 Chicago convention and Law No. 1/2009 on aviation, Indonesia has sovereignty and the rights to exclusive use of its airspace, meaning that Indonesia has the right to use its airspace for defense and security activities in the national interest. This includes protecting Indonesia from air strikes and violations of its airspace.



There has been many reports of the Air Force confronting foreign planes that did not have permission to fly in Indonesian skies. In most cases, the Air Force has requested that the pilots of foreign planes leave Indonesian airspace or land.



On Nov. 10, for instance, the Air Force intercepted a civilian plane being flown by a US navy reserve pilot, Col. James Patrick Murphy, and forced it to land at the Juwata airbase in Tarakan, North Kalimantan.



On the same day, the Air Force in Makassar, South Sulawesi, detained a Malaysian airplane and its five crew members as the plane did not have clearance to enter Makassar.



The Malaysian airplane was planning to fly to Bali and then continue on to Australia.



In November 2014, two Sukhoi jet fighters forced down an United Arab Emirates Gulfstream IV Jet in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, after the jet entered Indonesia using fake flight clearance papers.



In March 2011, a commercial airplane owned by Pakistan International Airlines entered Indonesia without proper permission. The plane, which was transporting 49 military personnel, was forced to land in Makassar.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

Safety and security concerns will remain top challenges for Indonesian airlines in 2016 after several accidents were recorded last year despite the government's ambitious plan to improve the country's international safety category.



The country recorded 14 airline-related accidents and incidents in 2015, an increase from the four accidents of the previous year, according to data compiled by airline consulting firm CSE Aviation.



One of the most notable accidents was the crash involving Trigana Air in Oksibil, Papua, killing all 54 passengers on board.



'Operational wise, 2015 didn't look good with so many accidents and incidents. There hasn't been much improvement in safety and security,' said aviation expert Samudra Sukardi.



He added that the government had failed in 2015 to upgrade the country's Category 2 status to Category 1. These categories are set by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).



The FAA downgraded Indonesia's aviation safety to Category 2 seven years ago, signaling that the country lacked the regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards.



Transportation Ministry director for air transportation Muzaffar Ismail previously stated his office had undertaken corrective actions from 21 findings outlined by the organization, which mainly focused on

training.



The FAA has given Indonesia an auditing slot for February 2016.



The ministry also highlighted the fact that it had fulfilled 94.9 percent of International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) safety standards in November, an increase from 45.3 percent in May 2015.



It also allocated Rp 12.03 trillion (US$871.4 million) for transportation safety and security in 2015, a 139 percent increase from 2014.



However, accidents and incidents kept on happening, including the Aviastar plane crash in South Sulawesi that resulted in 10 casualties in October.



Transportation Minister Ignasius Jonan also said the ministry had actively promoted safety by freezing route permits for airlines whose aircraft were involved in crashes, as well as issuing regulations on the maximum age limit for airplanes at 30 years.



The ministry issued around 30 regulations this year to improve the safety, service and security of air transportation.



'The government did issue regulations, but did the airlines comply? The companies have to be audited by inspectors and there are not enough inspectors,' he said, adding that the ministry had just 100 inspectors. It is thought that around 600 inspectors are needed in order to effectively audit all the airlines operating in Indonesia at present.



He said given all the problems, the safety issue would likely remain a major challenge for this year.



Aviation expert Edwin Soedarmo said safety concerns would also contribute to stagnant growth in passenger numbers this year.



'The accidents will make people a bit choosy. But they can't retreat from using aircraft,' he said.

______________________________________



Operational wise, 2015 didn't look good with so many accidents and incidents. There hasn't been much improvement in safety and security.'



National flag carrier president director and Indonesian National Air Carriers Association (INACA) chief Arif Wibowo said he expected passenger growth for airlines this year to be between 8 to 9 percent, the same growth rate recorded in 2015.



In 2014, the number of passengers using airlines hit 72.6 million people, a 5.6 percent increase from 2013.



'It will still be single digits. But we have to be careful because this growth will have to be secured in our bottom line,' he said.



Arif also said that airline operators would aim to improve safety, security and service.



'All of the airlines have to have their service certified by ISO [International Standard Organization]. When people audit it, we will be alerted,' he said.



Garuda recently secured an ISO 9001:2015 certificate for delay management from the British Standard Institute Indonesia.



Arif said 2015 had been a challenging year for airlines with the steep currency drop, even though the industry had been helped by the declining price of avtur.



'It will still be low next year, but it will also be off-set by the capacity growth,' he said.



The government, through its state-owned oil-and-gas firm, cut the avtur price by 1.5 percent for domestic flights and by 5.33 percent for international flights in contrast to the global price in a bid to cushion the airlines from the effects of the depreciating rupiah.



Avtur makes up to 50 percent of an airline's operational costs, according to Jonan.



Lion Air operational director Edward Sirait also voiced similar concerns, arguing that the state of the global economy had affected the airline industry.



Edward also said that safety and security would remain his company's priority going forward, even though the monitoring process would need a large commitment.



'I don't think any [airline] would intentionally reduce its safety,' he said.



Lion Air made headlines after it left hundreds of passengers stranded at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Cengkareng, Banten, following a rash of flight delays.



Aviation observer Gerry Soejatman said instead of just improving safety, some of the ministry's reactive policies were also adding to costs for the airlines.



'Policies are often made thoughtlessly in reaction to incidents. For example, the introduction of price floors for regional routes soon after the Air Asia accident in December 2014. But these policies cause operational costs to go up,' he said.



The Transportation Ministry has so far revoked the air operator certificate for six airlines, including Nusantara Buana Air, Manunggal Air and Survai Udara Penas, all of which failed to fulfill minimum plane requirements in addition to having negative equity. (fsu, rbk)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

National Intelligence Agency (BIN) chief Sutiyoso has said he will send a letter to President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo asking that amnesty be quickly approved for former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) combatant Din Minimi, who recently surrendered to the government.

Sutiyoso said on Monday that he would submit the letter to Jokowi on Monday in the hope that that the Justice and Human Rights Ministry would quickly process the amnesty application and send a letter to the House of Representatives requesting that it follow up on the amnesty request.

"The ministry might send a letter to House Commission III [overseeing legal affairs] to ask that the amnesty be approved. We will just wait and see," he told journalists at the State Palace as quoted by Antara news agency.

The former Jakarta governor believed that the government would grant amnesty to Din.

"I had to be certain that the [request] could be processed further and then offered it to him. If I was not certain, then I would not have gone ahead [with the offer]," he said.

He also welcomed a plan by the National Police to press ahead with criminal charges against Din and his followers while they were on the run.

Coordinating Legal, Political and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan said the government would need to thoroughly study the amnesty requests of Din and his group before deciding.

"[The amnesty] is not as easy as clicking your fingers. We will study it first just as President [Joko "Jokowi "Widodo] suggested," he said on Monday.

Sutiyoso witnessed Din and about 120 of his followers surrendered to the government last week.

The former rebels made a few demands of the government prior to their surrender. The demands included amnesty, honoring of the Helsinski peace agreement between the government and GAM, that government take care the welfare of former GAM combatants, widows and orphans. They also demanded that the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) probe the alleged misuse of Aceh's regional budget and that the government to assign independent monitors for the 2017 Aceh gubernatorial election.

Aceh Police chief Insp. Gen. Husein Hamidi said last week that the police would still charge Din and his group for their criminal activities.

The police also put them on their wanted list in the past year for the illegal ownership of guns and criminal activities such as the murder of two Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel, attacks and kidnapping.

Husein said the police would wait for the government's decision on the amnesty but would still proceed with the legal process against the group despite their surrender. (rin)
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Linkedin Khoirul Amin and Prima Wirayani (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

While New Year's Eve fireworks across Southeast Asia marked the birth of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), part of the ASEAN Community, Indonesia's food and beverage associations foresee no significant change in the business landscape unless standards and regulations are harmonized.



Indonesian Food and Beverage Association (Gapmmi) chairman Adhi S. Lukman said over the weekend that the AEC would bring about no major changes for the industry, as most ASEAN members had already progressed with tariff barrier reductions over the last five years.



'We won't see anything new with the birth of the AEC, as most ASEAN countries reduced over 90 percent of tariffs [on goods] to zero percent during the period of 2010 to 2015,' he said.



However, he added that the government should begin to regard Southeast Asia as a greater Indonesia and employ an ASEAN-centered mindset when formulating policies in the future.



'The harmonization is indeed not an easy process, as each ASEAN member tends to cleave to its own interests. This is something that needs to be resolved,' he said.



One of the ongoing discussions among ASEAN member countries regards the definition of ASEAN products, with some defining them as goods traded and/or produced within the region and some others defining them solely as goods produced there.



The assistant to the coordinating economic minister for trade and industry, Edy Putra Irawady, said last week that the government was preparing to boost the local industry's competitiveness by slashing red tape.



'We're now working on incentives for special economic zones, bounded logistics centers, an inland free-trade agreement [FTA] and a government regulation on industrial zones,' Edy said.



He added that all the policies were expected to help Indonesia and Indonesian products compete with other AEC members.



The AEC, one of the three pillars of the newly born ASEAN Community, will deepen integration among the 10 ASEAN member countries by providing freer movement of goods, people and services.



Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand were set to implement full integration by the end of 2015, while Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam are expected to fully join by 2018.



The community will form a single market and production base of some 620 million people with combined gross domestic product (GDP) of US$2.7 trillion.



Gapmmi's Adhi said that while local food and beverage business players were unexcited by the official launch of the AEC, they were confident about their business prospects, though still cautious about the possible tougher competition.



The fact that ASEAN countries had been reducing trade barriers long before the launch of the AEC had opened possibilities for Indonesia's retailers to expand their businesses, he said.



Local minimarket chain Alfamart, Adhi said, was in the process of building 100 outlets in the Philippines, while rival chain Indomaret was mulling a similar move.



'What we need to look at is improving our human resources for marketing. Traditionally, people sell products overseas by literally exporting the products [without marketing them],' he said.



Many business groups have voiced concerns that Indonesia will serve solely as a market within the AEC, and not as a production base. This view was shared by a consumer, Dipta Dadia, a 29-year-old private-sector employee, who said he had noticed more imported processed food and beverages at the supermarkets he frequented.



'However, their prices are still higher than local products and their taste sometimes doesn't suit my palate,' he said in Central Jakarta, adding that he sometimes bought imported instant noodles and chocolate, among other products.



Wider access to imported products in the wake of the implementation of the AEC did not significantly affect his consumption behavior, he said, as such products were not staple foods and not consumed on a daily basis.



The concern was also shared by Association of Indonesian Soft Drink Producers (Asrim) chairman Triyono Prijosoesilo, who said local regulation constraints could mean Indonesia became merely a market for other ASEAN nations.



'We want to see Indonesia as a production base, but if there are too many cost components, investors may opt for neighboring countries as a production base,' he said, adding that Asrim had voiced concern over the government's plan to impose excise on carbonated and sweetened drinks.



The plan was recently discussed by the government and the House of Representatives as a way to help boost the government's excise revenue.



But doing so would be a hindrance for the beverage industry amid growing foreign investment in the beverage industry, Triyono said.

____________________________________

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Linkedin Anton Hermansyah (The Jakarta Post)  Mon, January 4, 2016

President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has said that the government's free-visa policy, soon to be enjoyed by citizens of 174 countries, has not compromised the security or stability of the country.



'I am not afraid of including more countries in the policy. Look at Malaysia and Singapore-more than 170 countries are included in their visa-free policy and they are still safe,' he said in his remarks during the 2016 opening bell ceremony at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) in Jakarta on Monday.



As for state security, Jokowi believed that the National Police were up to the task of maintaining it. 'Of course I am sure they can provide good security in the implementation of the policy,' he said.



After recording a foreign tourist arrival increase of 19 percent year-on-year following the introduction of the policy for 47 nationalities in October, the government added 84 countries to the list of countries that would enjoy the facility in December last year.

Among those 84 countries are Albania, Antigua and Barbuda, Armenia, Andorra, Australia, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Cape Verde, Chad, Comoros, Costa Rica, Cuba, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras.

Next, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Kenya, Kiribati, Lesotho, Macedonia, Madagascar, Mali, Malawi, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Moldova, Mongolia, Mozambique, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, North Korea, Nicaragua, Palestine, Palau, Pakistan, Paraguay, Puerto Rico, Rwanda, Somalia, Tajikistan, Togo, Tonga.

And, Trinidad Tobago, Saint Kitts and Navis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and The Grenadines, Samoa, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Serbia Montenegro, Sierra Leone. Sri Lanka, Solomon Islands, Sudan, Swiss, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Uganda, Ukraine, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

There were previously 95 countries listed under the policy, but Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Rizal Ramli rejected 11 of them, including Israel. (ags)(+)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

The United Nations (UN) has called on countries to implement the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by world leaders last year, which officially took effect at the start of the year.

The development agenda expects countries to work on efforts to achieve 17 so-called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) over the next 15 years.

'The 17 SDGs are our shared vision of humanity and a social contract between the world's leaders and the people,' UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement on Monday.

'They are a to-do list for people and the planet, and a blueprint for success,' he went on.

Unanimously adopted by the UN's 193 Member States at a UN summit in September 2015, the SDGs address the needs of people in both developed and developing countries, emphasizing that no one should be left behind.

Said to be broad and ambitious in scope, the agenda addresses the three dimensions of sustainable development, namely social, economic and environmental, as well as important aspects related to peace, justice and effective institutions.

The mobilization of means of implementation, including financial resources, technology development and transfer, capacity-building and partnerships, was critical, the UN said in a press release.

It said the Paris Conference on climate change was seen by many as the first test of political will to implement the agenda.

'The Paris Agreement is a triumph for people, the planet and for multilateralism. For the first time, every country in the world has pledged to curb their emissions, strengthen resilience and act internationally and domestically to address climate change. By addressing climate change, we are advancing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,' Ban said.

The UN further stated that turning the vision into reality was primarily the responsibility of countries, but it would also require new partnerships and international solidarity.

'Everyone has a stake and everyone has a contribution to make. Reviews of progress will need to be undertaken regularly in each country, involving civil society, business and representatives of various interest groups,' it further said.

At the regional level, the UN said, countries would share experiences and tackle common issues, while on an annual basis at the UN, the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), would take stock of progress at the global level, identifying gaps and emerging issues, and recommending corrective action.

'The 17 SDGs and 169 targets of the new agenda will be monitored and reviewed using a set of global indicators. These will be compiled into an Annual SDG Progress Report,' the UN said. (ebf)
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Linkedin Syofiardi Bachyul Jb (The Jakarta Post) Padang  Mon, January 4, 2016

The West Sumatra provincial administration has expressed optimism that it can complete a plan to hand over the management of 500,000 hectares of protected forests to local communities by next year despite the relatively slow progress of the policy, which was initiated in 2012.



West Sumatra Forestry Agency head Hendri Octavia said that three years after the launch of the program, the local administration had been able to introduce community-based forest management for 43,821 ha of forest land, only 19 percent of the designated target.



To meet the full target, Hendri said his agency aimed to complete the establishment of at least 200,000 ha of community-run forests this year and another 200,000 ha next year.



'In 2016, we will deploy 60 field officers assigned with completing the establishment of community-based forest management in at least two locations per year. We are optimistic the target will be met,' Hendri said at a recent media conference.



West Sumatra has 4.3 million ha of forests, with 962,000 ha of them protected forests that have the potential to be converted into production forests under the management of local communities.



In 2012, West Sumatra Governor Irwan Prayitno pledged that his administration would facilitate the conversion of 500,000 ha of protected forests into nagari (village) forests, social forests and community plantation forests (HTRs).



In August 2014, then forestry minister Zulkifli Hasan, for example, officially handed over letters of instruction on the allocation of nagari production forests to four villages in the province, covering a total area of 18,985 ha.



Three of the four villages are located in Solok regency, namely Nagari Sirukam, Nagari Sungai Abu and Nagari Sariak Alahan Tigo. The other village, Nagari Paru, is located in Sijunjung regency.



The latest Environment and Forestry Ministry data, however, shows that between 2012 and 2015, only 32,788 ha were officially declared village forests, 4,098 ha as social forests and 6,935 ha as HTRs.



At least 50,000 ha of forest land is currently awaiting for approval from both local and central government to be administered under local community-based forest management schemes.



'We have a commitment to establish community forests. However, our forest area is vast while at the same time we have a limited number of field officers to implement the policy,' Hendri said.



Indonesian Conservation Community (KKI Warsi) director Diki Kurniawan, meanwhile, urged the local administration to speed up the establishment of community forests in the province, arguing that the policy would better protect forests from various threats, particularly forest fires and illegal logging.



'The management of [community] forests rely on local customs. This is partly the reason West Sumatra did not see extensive forest fires last year,' he said.



Last year, many provinces, such as Riau, Jambi, North Sumatra, South Sumatra and Central Kalimantan, struggled for several months to cope with the impacts of smoke from both man-made and natural land and forest fires in their respective and neighboring areas.



The disaster was also exacerbated by last year's long dry season triggered by the El NiAo weather phenomenon.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

Although Law and Human Rights Minister Yasonna H. Laoly has revoked a decree that previously recognized the Golkar Party leadership established by a national meeting (Munas) at the Hotel Mercure in Ancol, Jakarta, in December 2014, his action has not yet resolved internal problems in the party, a party politician has said.



'The government has instead escalated the internal conflicts within the party,' Golkar treasurer Bambang Soesatyo said as quoted by kompas.com on Monday.



The politician said that up until now, the state had yet to announce its clear stance over the legality of either of the Golkar leaders: Aburizal Bakrie, who was proclaimed during the Munas Bali in November 2014, or Agung Laksono, who was elected in the Munas Ancol.



He added that after the law and human rights minister revoked the decree, the state did not directly follow up with an acknowledgment of Aburizal's leadership.



'It means that in the Golkar Party case, the government has chosen to abstain. With such a stance, the government has not only sharpened problems, but has also complicated the legality of the Golkar Party leadership,' said Bambang.



He went on to say that the government actually had authority to settle the internal conflicts currently affecting the Golkar Party. However, he added that the government had instead used its authority as a political tool to complicate the problem.



'The public can now see that the government's position of abstaining is just a move to engineer and escalate internal problems within the Golkar Party,' said Bambang.



Nurdin Halid, deputy chairman of the Golkar Party's central executive board (DPP), which was elected in the Munas Bali, earlier confirmed that the Law and Human Rights Ministry had revoked the decree recognizing the leader chosen during the Munas Ancol and issued a new decree recognizing Aburizal on Dec. 31. The revocation paved the way for the camp of Aburizal to take full of control of the party.



Nurdin said the new decree was issued to implement the Supreme Court ruling that legalized Aburizal's leadership of Golkar.



The dispute over the leadership of the Golkar Party was brought before the court when the two bickering factions filed lawsuits against each other.



On Oct. 20, 2015, the court granted Aburizal's lawsuit against the decree previously issued by the government that legalized Agung. (ebf)(+)
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Linkedin Tama Salim (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

The Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry has started to wind down the operation of its illegal fishing prevention task force, incorporating it into a newer combat task force to ensure the continuity of government efforts against rampant poaching in Indonesian waters.



According to prevention task force head Mas Achmad Santosa, the unit's previous functions will be merged with those of the Presidential Task Force on Combating Illegal Fishing, effectively nixing any concerns of an overlap in authority.



'The work of the prevention task force will be carried over to [the new task force], but since they are more focused on [law enforcement], we will help out with data collection and vessel monitoring,' Achmad said on Wednesday.



President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo formally established the combat task force by issuing Presidential Regulation (Perpres) No. 115/2015 on Oct. 19.



The presidential task force aims to optimize the use of existing personnel and operational facilities from various institutions ' including the navy, the National Police, the Attorney General's Office (AGO) and the Maritime Security Board (Bakamla) ' to eradicate illegal fishing in the country.



Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti leads the presidential task force in consultation with the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Ministry and the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Ministry.



Since its inception early this year, Achmad's prevention task force has played a large part in mapping out the challenges of illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.



One of its main functions was to conduct the ANEV, a compliance audit on 1,132 foreign-built fishing vessels, to coincide with a temporary ban on license issuance. As a result of the audit, the ministry has revoked 15 business permits and 276 operational permits and frozen 61 others.



The latest monitoring data show that 409 vessels that were subject to the audit have now left the country.



'Going forward [with the new task force], it is important that security at the level of the port authorities is strengthened. We're aware that the ships that fled may still be used for illicit operations abroad,' Achmad explained.



The former anticorruption activist said his task force had initiated a blacklist for serious offenders, which will be shared with Interpol, among other entities.



With information gleaned from the audit, Achmad said the task force had proceeded to identify loopholes in existing regulations and provide constructive policy recommendations and a roadmap for good governance in the sector.



The audit also helped the task force uncover eight forms of fisheries-related crimes, including tax evasion, money laundering, forced labor, human trafficking and contraband smuggling.



The task force was additionally tasked with vessel movement and tracking-system assessment, as well as monitoring the progress of ongoing cases and trials across the country.



Navy deputy chief of staff Rear Admiral Widodo, who oversees the presidential task force's day-to-day operations, said on Monday that the team would continue to investigate possible signs of foul play by fisheries businesses.



'We've found issues with unaccountable business permits, unreported catches [...] and export activities that fall short of the requirements,' Widodo said in Jakarta.



The flag officer said that the ministry would focus on guarding the Arafura Sea, North Halmahera and Natuna, three areas among the most vulnerable to poaching.



'In 2016, the first thing we will do is focus on the Arafura Sea, the Halmahera region bordering the Pacific Ocean and Natuna waters. These places are the focus of our operations and are well-known for poaching,' Widodo said.

_______________________________

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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Tangerang  Mon, January 4, 2016

Police at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Banten, have arrested a Lion Air baggage handler after CCTV recorded him breaking into a passenger's suitcase.



The video showed the porter dressed in orange work clothes forcing open the suitcase. According to Soekarno-Hatta Police chief Sr. Comr. Rockye Langgie, airport operator PT Angkasa Pura immediately reported him after seeing the video.



Rockye added that after an investigation, the police also detained three other baggage handlers for alleged involvement in a robbery syndicate at the airport.



Rockye said the police seized items of evidence, including cell phones and cash. He said the police were still investigating whether anyone else was involved.



Meanwhile, one of the suspects, identified only as S, said that he had become involved in the robbery as a result of peer pressure.



'I came under pressure from long-serving members of staff to steal,' S said as quoted by wartakotalive.com on Saturday.



Lion Air spokesman Andy Saladin assured kompas.com that the airline would cooperate fully with the police in the matter.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

The Jakarta Parks and Cemeteries Agency will build 63 city parks this year, according to an official.



Agency head Ratna Diah Kurniati explained that the agency initially planned to acquire plots of land in 139 locations in the capital to be set aside as parks.



She added that by December last year, the officials had acquired 63 plots, amounting to 49.33 hectares in total.



'By the end of 2015, we had acquired around 47.42 percent of our target, in 63 locations. This year, we will work on these locations,' Ratna said on Saturday as quoted by beritajakarta.com.



According to Ratna, the agency will start construction of the parks early this year. She went on to say that most of the parks would be in East Jakarta, where 28 new parks would be built, and South Jakarta would have 21 new parks.



She added that North Jakarta would have five new parks, while Central Jakarta and West Jakarta would get three new parks each.



The agency also plans to build one park in the Thousand Islands.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

Heavy currents swept two visitors out to sea while they were relaxing on a beach on Air Island in the Thousand Islands on Saturday.



Adj. Comr. Zaroki of the North Thousand Islands Police identified the two vacationers, who had spent a night on Pramuka Island with eight others, as Rico Saputra, 21, and Fajar Ramadan, 23.



He explained that Rico was playing on the beach when heavy waves hit and swept him out.



Zaroki said that upon seeing his friend in difficulty, Fajar had immediately tried to help. The currents, however, were too strong and Fajar was also swept away.



'We have found the bodies of the victims. They are now in Pramuka Island Hospital,' Zaroki added on Saturday as quoted by tribunnews.com.
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Linkedin Haeril Halim (The Jakarta Post) Sydney  Mon, January 4, 2016

With more Australians eager to learn the Indonesian language, the Indonesian government will deploy more teachers to its southern neighbor in order to foster people-to-people contacts between the two countries, which have had a rocky relationship over the years.



Indonesian Ambassador to Australia Nadjib Riphat Kesoema said the growing demand for Indonesian-language teachers in Australia was because the language had become of the third most popular foreign language studied by Australians after Chinese and Thai.



Nadjib said that in order to facilitate the influx of Indonesian-language teachers to be deployed by the Culture and Education Ministry, the government had established language centers in major cities in Australia, including Sydney, Perth, Darwin and Melbourne.



'At the moment, the language centers share buildings with our KBRI [Indonesian Embassy] office in Canberra and with one of our consulate offices in Sydney,' Nadjib said recently in Sydney, adding that the government would establish separate buildings for Indonesian language centers in Australia in the future.



Nadjib said that in addition to deploying more teachers to Australia, the government would also recruit Indonesians studying in Australian universities to teach the language to local community groups in Australia.



Another sign of the popularity of Indonesian language and culture among Australians is the number of visitors to the Indonesian cultural center in the embassy in Canberra, said Nadjib.



'The center has become an educational tourist destination to be visited by tourists and students in Australia. We receive around 150 students visiting the place [weekly] who want to know more about Indonesian flora and fauna, music, food and traditional outfits,' he said.



Currently, there are more than 63,000 Indonesians living in Australia, excluding the approximately 18,000 Indonesian students currently enrolled in Australian educational institutions.



Indonesian Consul General in Sydney Yayan Mulyana said the more Australians spoke Indonesian the more the citizens of the two countries could connect in friendship as close neighbors.



'For example, Australians could learn more about Indonesia from news published in Indonesian, not only from the news about Indonesia published by Australian media outlets. That way both countries could create a balanced understanding of each other,' Yayan said, adding that the New South Wales state administration spent a total of A$5 million (US$3.65 million) every year to fund foreign-language learning, including Indonesian, in the state.



Yayan said one of the main reasons Australians wanted to learn Indonesian was to visit Indonesia.



Separately, Epy Djulianti, the head of the Sekolah Pelangi Indonesia, which is one of the four Indonesian-language community centers located in New South Wales, said the school had seen an increase in the number of students recently but it lacked volunteers to satisfy the growing demand for Indonesian-language learning activities at the community center.



'Some of our volunteers have other activities on Saturday. Since its establishment in 2012, the school has received a total of 100 students. We provide fun learning activities to make them interested in learning Indonesian,' Epy added.
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Linkedin Indra Budiari (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

The Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI) has named Jakarta the province with the highest rate of criminal cases involving children, both as victims and perpetrators, in 2015.



In its recently published annual report, the commission recorded 649 legal cases involving minors in Jakarta last year, while West Java and Banten came in second and third place with 391 and 362 cases, respectively.



The figure was collated from reports received by the KPAI throughout the country. After Banten, North Sumatra was in fourth position followed by Lampung, East Nusa Tenggara, East Java, South Sulawesi, East Kalimantan and Bali.



During a press conference announcing the findings of the year-end report, KPAI chairman Asrorun Ni'am said that many Jakartans were marginalized and found it difficult to keep up with the fast-paced life in the capital.



'Poverty can lead to parents ignoring their children and neglected children are more likely to commit crimes,' he said.



According to Asrorun, a lack of mental toughness among Jakarta residents was another contributing factor to the high number of crimes involving children in the capital.



In 2015 the Jakarta Police handled several homicide cases that centered on child protection.



In October, a 9-year-old girl was found dead in a cardboard box in a dump near her house in Kalideres, West Jakarta. A forensics examination found that she had been raped and murdered.



A neighbor of the girl, Agus Darmawan, who was known to be friendly to children and teenagers, was named a suspect weeks later.



In the same month, residents of Jasinga found a dead teenage girl wearing only a skirt and bra in a forest in Bogor, West Java. A month later, the police named one of the teen's relatives a suspect in the rape and murder case.



'A lot of people come to Jakarta, however, some of them are stuck in poverty and are vulnerable to becoming perpetrators of crime. Sadly, some of these crimes have targeted children,' Asrorun said.



The KPAI also highlighted a rising number of children reported for bullying in schools, from 67 in 2014 to 79 in 2014. The number of reported student brawls more than doubled to 103 in 2015 from 46 in 2014.



KPAI deputy chairman Susanto said that the commission was still paying attention to street brawls and bullying among students as this negative aspect of school life in the country remained a serious problem.



According to him, unlike crimes against children, bullying is mostly committed by children from privileged families as a way to achieve personal recognition.



'The alarming fact is that students have started to believe that bullying is nothing unusual and victim have started to accept it. This is wrong. Teachers and principals must do something to stop this perspective from spreading,' he said.



However, the number of children who committed physical violence outside schools decreased in 2015 to 76 from 105 in 2014. The number of children reported to have verbally abused their peers, by making threats and intimidating others for example, decreased to 16 in 2015 from 27 in 2014.



'A long history of rivalry between certain schools is among the primary reasons students are involved in street brawls with other school students,' he told The Jakarta Post.
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

It has been a year since the Jakarta Police painted yellow boxes at main junctions around the city but many motorists have been left in the dark with regard to the function of such marks.



'What is that? I have never been aware of that. Where is it?' questioned Pringgo Trikusumo, an employee of a private company in West Jakarta when asked about yellow box junctions.



Pringgo often commutes by car to his girlfriend's house in Central Jakarta from his house in Ciputat, South Tangerang, but said that he had not realized that such marks existed.



Similarly, banker Hita Arthati said that she did not know the exact purpose of the marks although she had seen them at an intersection near the Sarinah shopping center in Central Jakarta.



She went on to say that she had assumed that the box was a border to reduce gridlock at the intersection, a line to show motorists where they should stop when the traffic light was red.



The head of law enforcement at the Jakarta Police traffic unit, Adj. Sr. Comr. Budiyanto said that yellow box junctions had been introduced as an attempt to reduce traffic congestion at crowded intersections around the capital, such as the intersections located near Sarinah, Al-Azhar Mosque in South Jakarta and the PGC Cililitan wholesale market in East Jakarta.



The marks, which were first set by the city administration on Jl. Kebon Sirih in Central Jakarta last year, serves as an indicator that motorists should not make their way to another road section if the yellow box junction is not yet clear of vehicles, said Budiyanto, adding that although a traffic light might be green, motorists should wait until there were no vehicles remaining at the junction.



'Motorists should follow the marks first in such a situation,' Budiyanto said.



He added that according to Article 287, Paragraph 2 in amendment of Article 106, Paragraph 4, of Law No. 22/2009 on traffic and road transportation, the police can charge those motorists who violate the traffic marks and mentioned that the penalty was a maximum of two months in prison or a maximum fine of Rp 500,000 (US$36).



The police, according to Budiyanto, have yet to ticket disobedient motorists as many had not been adequately informed about the junctions.



He admitted that the police and the city administration, whom had been responsible for deciding the location of each yellow box junction, had not yet broadcast the function effectively.



Motorists continue to violate yellow box junction rules, he said.



Nonetheless, he said, the police had been trying to inform motorists over the past two months by broadcasting information through social media platforms, radio and banners.



Pilot Bonaventura Kenji Sewoko recently learned about the function of the yellow boxes from social media. He said that he had learned of the junctions after reading a friend's post on Path.



Like Kenji, copywriter Ajeng Pramesti said that she knew about the junctions thanks to a broadcast message she received almost a year ago.



Meanwhile, another private company employee, Yohanes Yongky Hartanto, said that he had discovered the purpose of the yellow box after he had noticed the marks painted near Sarinah and took the initiative to search for information on the internet. (agn)
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Linkedin Ina Parlina (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

In his efforts to bring about more inclusive development and increase welfare in Papua, President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo says the construction of a railway may begin this year.



Jokowi has sought more inclusive development across the country, particularly in remote areas in eastern Indonesia, such as Papua, which remain among the poorest regions despite abundant natural resources.



Citing the example of the trans-Sulawesi railway construction project, which is planned to connect at least four provinces in Sulawesi, Jokowi said the railway construction in Papua might start in Sorong, West Papua, some time this year.



'We have just started the construction of a railway project in Sulawesi; later this year, [a railway project will start] in Papua,' Jokowi said as quoted by Antara newsagency.



The comment was made during a dialogue with locals in South Sorong regency on Friday, which was his last day in Papua during his third visit to the region.



Jokowi initially predicted that the feasibility study for the project would be completed late last year, but the study has required more time.



'It's alright; what is important is that the [construction of the] line can be started [soon]. It is likely to be started in Sorong; therefore, other areas should not be upset about this,' said the President, who has often expressed his optimism regarding the railway project in Papua.



The President also said that he expected to see all areas in Papua and West Papua connected by road transportation by 2018.



Papua has long been known for its geographical challenges and security problems, which have hindered development.



The central government has long been accused of being solely interested in Papua's rich natural resources, with little regard for its people.



Critics and observers have called on the government to make more of an effort to improve the people's welfare.



The government has responded to these demands by declaring special autonomy status for the region, allowing it a greater budget for development.



These efforts have yet to bear fruit with many residents living in poverty and frequent fatal clashes between local residents and police and military personnel.



Papua has also been in the news recently following the controversy over negotiations on the contract of Papua's biggest copper and gold mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia, the local unit of US-based mining giant Freeport McMoRan, which cost former House of Representatives speaker Setya Novanto his job.



Jokowi has attempted to use a different approach in Papua by stepping up efforts to create more inclusive development in Papua since he took office despite lingering doubts over how his administration will follow up on his initiatives.



In May, during his second visit to Papua, Jokowi opened up access for foreign journalists and international organizations to Papua and West Papua, and granted clemency to five political prisoners incarcerated in Jayapura.



To foster peace in the restive region, Jokowi has also called on security personnel to promote dialogue with local people in order to build mutual trust.



In his effort to ensure his officials do indeed pay attention to Papua, Jokowi held a limited Cabinet meeting to address issues related to Papua early last December.



'The government, the state, must show its presence [in Papua] by building infrastructure, roads, bridges, ports, industrial areas and markets, as well as by providing health, education and social services,' Jokowi said at that time.



Jokowi has also called on all officials to open doors for Papuan people to participate in the development program, saying that the central government should listen to Papuan voices.
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Linkedin Erika Anindita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) has imposed a travel ban on state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II's former president director, Richard Joost Lino, who has been named a graft suspect, the commission's spokesman has said.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said on Monday that the antigraft body submitted a travel ban request for Lino to the Law and Human Rights Ministry's directorate general of immigration on Dec. 30.

'We requested the directorate general of immigration to impose a travel ban on RJL, starting from Dec. 30,' he told journalists.

The KPK named Lino a graft suspect in an alleged corruption case related to the procurement of three quay container cranes (QCC) in Pelindo II on Dec. 18. So far, the commission has not yet questioned Lino over the case.

Lino was allegedly misusing his authority to enrich himself by directly choosing to buy the three cranes from Chinese company Wuxi Huadong Heavy Machinery Co. Ltd. (HDHM) in 2010.

The KPK began questioning witnesses as part of its investigation into the case last week. Two witnesses who have been questioned are Dedi Iskandar, a senior official at Pelindo II's planning and business development II sub-directorate, and Mashudi Sanyoto, the technical operations director of state-owned port equipment service company PT Jasa Peralatan Pelabuhan Indonesia (JPPI).

Lino filed a pretrial motion against his having been named a graft suspect with the South Jakarta District Court last week, in which his legal team asked the KPK to postpone his questioning.

Lino's lawyer, Maqdir Ismail, said the KPK must postpone the questioning because his client's pretrial hearing request was being processed.

"We have asked [the KPK] not to summon our client and to postpone his questioning," said Maqdir. However, he said he did not know when the KPK should question Lino.

KPK chairman Agus Rahardjo said last week that he had instructed the commission's legal bureau to prepare a defense statement to bolster its position in the pretrial hearing.

"I have been briefed by the KPK legal team regarding the pretrial fight. We are ready to face it. We have prepared ourselves," Agus said on Tuesday. (ebf)(+)
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

Vendors along busy culinary center Jl. Surya Kencana in Bogor, West Java, have welcomed the Bogor city administration plan to revitalize the area, which currently suffers from traffic congestion and damaged pedestrian sidewalks.



The administration is considering repairing sidewalks along Jl. Surya Kencana, which is also Bogor's Chinatown or pecinan, following a grant from the Public Works and Public Housing Ministry to conserve the city's heritage sites, according to Naufal Isnaeni, head of the Spatial Planning and Environment sub-division at the Bogor Development Planning Board (Bappeda).



'We are planning to continue the conservation of Jl. Surya Kencana,' Naufal said. 'We will upgrade the pedestrian sidewalks in the area so they meet international standards, so people, including tourists, can feel comfortable enjoying the city on foot.'



Naufal explained that as part of the Kota Pusaka (Heritage City) program, the ministry had recently approved a proposal to build a gate and a monument to mark Jl. Surya Kencana as one of Bogor's heritage sites. It also agreed to fund the improvement of pedestrian sidewalks from the Bogor Trade Mall to Kujang monument, roughly 1 kilometer from the Chinatown area.



By the end of 2015, the ministry had finished building the gate, which stands at the entrance to the street with a board reading Lawang Suryakancana (Gate of Surya Kencana), while the monument is currently under construction. The city plans to officially change the name of the street into Jl. Suryakancana, to make its pronunciation closer to the local Sundanese language.



Naufal added that the ministry would begin work on the pedestrian sidewalks from Bogor Trade Mall to the Kujang Monument next year.



Naufal said that officials had yet to talk about other ideas for revitalizing the area as discussions about the project budget would start this year.



Fahmi Jayadi, who has been selling Chinese-Indonesian cuisine in the area for 30 years, said the city administration should continue with the plan as the area 'already had a good start with the gate'.



'I think it's good that we have a unique gate, which can mark this area. However, I hope later the administration will also work on the pedestrian sidewalks, as well as reduce the traffic on the street,' Fahmi said while preparing a portion of Bogor's pangsit penganten (fried wonton served with clear soup, glass noodles and shredded carrots) for his customers.



Chinese and Sundanese cultural expert Mardi Lim, who also runs a Chinese-Sundanese restaurant on Jl. Surya Kencana said that he contributed to the design of the gate with a touch of traditional Chinese architecture combined with Sundanese icons, such as the traditional West Java weapon, kujang.



He also said that the blend of the two cultures could be seen in the black and white tigers sitting in front of the gate.



For the Sundanese, the native ethnic group of Bogor, tigers symbolized valor, wisdom and honor, he said. Meanwhile, the black and white colors represent the Chinese belief in balance, called yin yang.



Mardi said that while working on the construction of the gate, he received many complaints from other Chinese-Indonesian vendors in the area. They opposed the gate due to trauma related to attacks on Chinese-Indonesians in the past.



'They were afraid that the gate would mark it as a Chinese-Indonesian area. They feared something bad would happen again,' Mardi said. 'I then assured them that the gate was meant to promote the area as a culinary and tourism spot.'



Jl. Surya Kencana, with its halal and non-halal culinary delights, attracts tourists from many cities.



Many tourists visit Jl. Surya Kencana to taste the mouth-watering ngo hiang, pork, shrimp, or chicken roll served with potatoes, tofu, and sweet peanut paste. Some others head to the street to satisfy their craving for a bowl of famous soto mie Bogor, which is a clear soup served with egg noodle, chopped spring roll and diced beef or pork. (agn)

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Linkedin The Jakarta Post Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

The Army Military Police have arrested Capt. M. Irwansyah Sillia, an officer who absconded from duty after stealing Rp 2 billion (US$144,600) from his military command post (Korem) 091/Aji Surya Natakesuma in Tarakan, North Kalimantan.



'The officer was arrested at a Hotel in Balikpapan,' Kolonel Andi Gunawan, a spokesperson for military command (Kodam) VI/ Mulawarman, told The Jakarta Post.



Andi said that the case would be handled by the POMAD from Kodam Mulawarman.



Irwansyah disappeared on Tuesday along with Rp 2 billion in stolen budget funds of. He had been serving as a cashier at Korem 091/ Aji Surya Natakesuma and had been responsible for taking care of several finance-related matters.



'If we find that he used his position and took the money, he could receive a severe punishment, more than a dismissal,' Andi said.



He stressed that the stolen money was supposed to finance several military programs under the authority of Korem 091.
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Linkedin Rebecca Boone (The Jakarta Post) Burns, Oregon  Mon, January 4, 2016

The remote high desert of eastern Oregon became the latest flashpoint for anti-government sentiment as armed protesters occupied a national wildlife refuge to object to a prison sentence for local ranchers for burning federal land.

Ammon Bundy ' the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a 2014 standoff with the government over grazing rights ' is among the people at the headquarters of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. It was unclear exactly how many people were taking part in the protests.

Ammon Bundy posted a video on his Facebook page asking for militia members to come help him. He said "this is not a time to stand down. It's a time to stand up and come to Harney County," where Burns is located.

Bundy and other militia members came to Burns last month, a small town about 280 miles (450 kilometers) southeast of Portland, Oregon. They were upset over the looming prison sentences for local ranchers Dwight and Steven Hammond. They went to the wildlife refuge Saturday evening following a peaceful rally in Burns to support the ranchers.

Dwight Hammond, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit the fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires.

The two were convicted of the arsons three years ago and served time ' the father three months, the son one year. But a federal judge ruled in October that their terms were too short under U.S. minimum sentencing law and ordered them back to prison for about four years each.

The decision generated controversy and is part of a decades-long dispute between some Westerners and the federal government over the use of public lands. The issue traces back to the 1970s and the "Sagebrush Rebellion," a move by Western states like Nevada to increase local control over federal land. Critics of the push for more local control have said the federal government should administer the public lands for the widest possible uses, including environmental and recreation.

In an interview with reporters late Saturday night posted on Facebook, Bundy said he and others are occupying a building at the refuge because "the people have been abused long enough."

"I feel we are in a situation where if we do not do something, if we do not take a hard stand, we'll be in a position where we'll be no longer able to do so," he said.

Bundy said the group planned to stay at the refuge indefinitely. On Sunday, supplies were seen being delivered to the refuge area, which is remote even by rural Oregon standards.

Dwight Hammond has said he and his son plan to peacefully report to prison Monday as ordered by the judge.

Harney County Sheriff Dave Ward said the group of armed protesters came to town under false pretenses.

"These men came to Harney County claiming to be part of militia groups supporting local ranchers, when in reality these men had alternative motives to attempt to over throw the county and federal government in hopes to spark a movement across the United States," Ward said in a statement on Sunday afternoon.

The sheriff says he is working with local and federal authorities to keep the citizens in his county safe and to resolve the situation as quickly and peacefully as possible.

Beth Anne Steele, an FBI spokeswoman in Portland, said Saturday that the agency was aware of the situation at the national wildlife refuge. She made no further comment.

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden, who had been briefed by the FBI agent in charge in Portland, Oregon, said most local residents do not support the protesters. (dan)
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Linkedin Erika Anindita (The Jakarta Post) Jakarta  Mon, January 4, 2016

The Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK) stressed on Monday that a pretrial motion filed by state-owned port operator PT Pelindo II's former president director, Richard Joost Lino, against him being named a graft suspect would not affect its investigation into the case.

KPK spokesman Priharsa Nugraha said it respected the pretrial hearing motion as the right of the suspect.

"It needs to be underlined that the pretrial motion will not disrupt the investigation. The process continues," he told journalists at the antigraft body office on Monday afternoon.

Priharsa further said the KPK had not yet scheduled Lino questioning.

'The questioning is not being postponed [as reported]. We have not scheduled it. KPK investigators consider the most important thing to do it now is question witnesses about the direct appointment in the procurement of three quay container cranes in 2010,' said Priharsa.

The KPK has questioned four witnesses in the case since last week. On Monday, it questioned Pelindo II's former operational and technical director, Ferialdy Noerlan, and Wahyu Hardiyanto, former procurement bureau chief in the company. Last week, it questioned Dedi Iskandar, a senior official at Pelindo II's planning and business development II sub-directorate, and Mashudi Sanyoto, the technical operations director of state-owned port equipment service company PT Jasa Peralatan Pelabuhan Indonesia (JPPI).

The KPK named Lino a graft suspect in relation to the procurement of three quay container cranes (QCCs) by the company on Dec. 18, 2014.

Lino allegedly abused his authority by directly appointing Chinese company Wuxi Huadong Heavy Machinery Co Ltd (HDHM) in 2010 to supply the cranes.

He will be charged under Article 2 and/or Article 3 of Law No. 31/1999 on corruption and Article 55 of the Criminal Code.

The KPK has also slapped a travel ban on Lino that came into effect on Dec. 30. It is valid for six months.

Priharsa said the KPK was waiting for a report from the Development Finance Comptroller (BPKP) on state losses caused by the procurement.

Priharsa said the antigraft body sent a letter to the BPKP in mid-December asking about the amount of state losses.

"We have officially requested the BPKP give us a report of its estimated state losses," he said.

In 2014, The Jakarta Post wrote that BPKP's audit documents dated 2011 indicated foul play in the purchase of the three cranes for three ports in Palembang, South Sumatra; Pontianak, West Kalimantan; and Lampung.

The documents suggested several violations, including in the direct appointment of HDHM to supply the cranes at a cost of $17 million.

"The procurement through direct selection [in February 2010] and the direct appointment [negotiations were completed in April 2010] of HDHM did not follow proper procedure," the BPKP said in the document. (ebf)

C
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Linkedin The Jakarta Post  Mon, January 4, 2016

The state-owned agriculture company, Perkebunan Nusantara X (PTPN X), has reported it produced 431,020 tons of sugar in 2015, maintaining its position as the largest sugar producer in Indonesia.



PTPN X production director T. Sutaryanto said that the company yielded a 8.3 percent ratio of rendemen (the sucrose content of sugarcane) in 2015, an increase from the 2014 figure of 7.65 percent.



"The rendemen level of 8.3 percent is among the highest in Indonesia," he said in a press statement, as quoted by kontan.co.id in Jakarta.



In 2015, PTPN X managed 70,301 hectares of sugar fields in East Java, producing 5.18 million tons of sugarcane. It operated 11 sugar mills in several cities of East Java, such as Mojokerto, Sidoarjo, Jombang, Nganjuk, Kediri and Tulungagung.



To boost sugar production, PTPN X had revitalized its plantations and mills. Efficiency-oriented programs were launched, such as machinery electrification to curb the usage of the fuel, improvement of its grinders to reduce the loss of sugar and the reduction of idle hours by improving supply.



'Efficiency is very important as it will determine the competitiveness of our sugar mills, especially related to production costs, which ultimately affect the profitability of the company,' Sutaryanto said.



In the future, he added, the company would improve farm performance by boosting the superior-variety of sugarcane through seed cultivation and development.



PTPN X would also improve its monitoring system, increase the competency of its employees and provide stimuli to increase farmers' performances. (ags) (+)
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Linkedin Aya Batrawi (The Jakarta Post) Dubai, United Arab Emirates  Mon, January 4, 2016

Demonstrations erupted across the Middle East Sunday as Shiite Muslims protested Saudi Arabia's execution of prominent Shiite cleric Nimr al-Nimr. Protesters in the Iranian capital, Tehran, broke into the Saudi embassy early Sunday morning ' setting fires and throwing papers from the roof before being dispersed by police. Demonstrations also took place in Bahrain, Turkey, Pakistan and northern India.

By Sunday afternoon crowds of protesters had gathered outside Saudi embassies in Beirut and Tehran, and protests were expected in al-Nimr's hometown of al-Qatif in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Al-Nimr's execution adds a rancorous new chapter to the ongoing Sunni-Shiite struggle that continues to play out across the Middle East with Iran and Saudi Arabia as the primary antagonists. Here's a look at the aftermath and the regional implications.

Who was Sheikh Nimr al-Nirm?

Al-Nimr, who was in his 50s, was a widely revered Shiite Muslim cleric from eastern Saudi Arabia who was convicted in Oct. 2014 of sedition and other charges and sentenced to death. He was an outspoken government critic and a key leader of Shiite protests in eastern Saudi Arabia in 2011. He was also a critic of the government of Bahrain, where a Sunni-led monarchy suppressed protests by Shiites who make up the majority of the tiny island nation. Saudi Arabia sent troops to help Bahrain crush the uprising, concerned it would spread and destabilize other Arab Gulf countries.

Al-Nimr, however, also spoke out against the Iranian-backed government in Syria for killing protesters there.

He directly criticized the Al Saud ruling family for its domestic policies and forcefully spoke out against individual royal family members. Al-Nimr did not deny the political charges against him, but maintained he never carried weapons or called for violence.

Why is his execution important?

His death is seen by some as a warning to anyone thinking of calling for reforms and wider political freedoms in Saudi Arabia. His death also strikes a sensitive chord for Saudi Shiites who claim they are discriminated against by authorities in the kingdom, where many ultraconservatives Sunnis view Shiites as heretics.

Several Shiites mosques and places of worship were targeted by Sunni extremists in 2015 in eastern Saudi Arabia, despite attempts by security forces to clamp down on Islamic State group supporters who have also targeted police.

Al-Nimr's execution came as a surprise to even his own family, his brother Mohammed al-Nimr told The Associated Press. Despite harsh verdicts against government critics, activists are typically given long jail sentences even after initial appeals that uphold death sentences.

His death is expected to further exacerbate the proxy wars for regional supremacy being fought across the region by Saudi Arabia and Iran. The two rival nations currently back opposing sides in civil wars in both Syria and Yemen.

How will this impact Sunni-Shiite relations?

Iran's Shiite clerics have used al-Nimr's death to lash out at Saudi Arabia, which is founded upon an ultraconservative Sunni ideology known as Wahhabism. Many extremist Wahhabis regard all Shiites as heretics.

Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned Riyadh of "divine revenge" and both Saudi and Iran summoned each other's diplomatic envoys in protest.

Saudi Arabia later announced it was severing diplomatic relations with Iran. The move came after protesters stormed and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran.

Iran and Saudi have been vying for leadership in the Muslim world since Iran's 1979 revolution, which elevated to power hard-line Shiite clerics. The U.S. war in Iraq further enflamed religious and ethnic tensions by leading to a Shiite-led government in Baghdad and a crucial shift in the sectarian balance of power in the region.

After Arab Spring protests erupted in 2011, Saudi Arabia and Iran entered into a fierce proxy war in Syria, where they are supporting opposite sides of the conflict, and in Yemen, where Saudi Arabia has been bombing Iranian-allied rebels since March. They also support opposing political groups in Lebanon, Iraq and Bahrain. (dan)
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Linkedin Amir Vahdat and Jon Gambrell (The Jakarta Post) Tehran, Iran  Mon, January 4, 2016

Saudi Arabia announced Sunday it was severing diplomatic relations with Shiite powerhouse Iran amid escalating tensions over the Sunni kingdom's execution of a prominent Shiite cleric.



The move came hours after protesters stormed and set fire to the Saudi Embassy in Tehran and followed harsh criticism by Iran's top leader of the Saudis' execution of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.



Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Iranian diplomatic personnel had 48 hours to leave his country and all Saudi diplomatic personnel in Iran had been called home.



The mass execution of al-Nimr and 46 others ' the largest carried out by Saudi Arabia in three and a half decades ' laid bare the sectarian divisions gripping the region as demonstrators took to the streets from Bahrain to Pakistan in protest.



It also illustrated the kingdom's new aggressiveness under King Salman. During his reign, Saudi Arabia has led a coalition fighting Shiite rebels in Yemen and staunchly opposed regional Shiite power Iran, even as Tehran struck a nuclear deal with world powers.



Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned Saudi Arabia on Sunday of "divine revenge" over al-Nimr's death, while Riyadh accused Tehran of supporting "terrorism" in a war of words that threatened to escalate even as the U.S. and the European Union sought to calm the region.



Al-Jubeir told a news conference in Riyadh that the Iranian regime has "a long record of violations of foreign diplomatic missions," dating back to the occupation of the U.S. Embassy in 1979, and such incidents constitute "a flagrant violation of all international agreements," according to the official Saudi Press Agency.



He said Iran's "hostile policy" was aimed "at destabilizing the region's security," accusing Tehran of smuggling weapons and explosives and planting terrorist cells in the kingdom and other countries in the region. He vowed that Saudi Arabia will not allow Iran "to undermine our security."



"The history of Iran is full of negative and hostile interference in Arab countries, always accompanied with subversion, demolition and killing of innocent souls," al-Jubeir said, just before announcing the severing of diplomatic relations.



Al-Nimr was a central figure in Arab Spring-inspired protests by Saudi Arabia's Shiite minority until his arrest in 2012. He was convicted of terrorism charges but denied advocating violence.



On Saturday, Saudi Arabia put al-Nimr and three other Shiite dissidents to death, along with a number of al-Qaida militants. Al-Nimr's execution drew protests from Shiites around the world, who backed his call for reform and wider political freedom for their sect.



While the split between Sunnis and Shiites dates back to the early days of Islam and disagreements over the successor to Prophet Muhammad, those divisions have only grown as they intertwine with regional politics, with both Iran and Saudi Arabia vying to be the Mideast's top power.



Iran accuses Saudi Arabia of supporting terrorism in part because it backs Syrian rebel groups fighting to oust its embattled ally, President Bashar Assad. Riyadh points to Iran's backing of the Lebanese Hezbollah and other Shiite militant groups in the region as a sign of its support for terrorism. Iran also has backed Shiite rebels in Yemen known as Houthis.



Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader, condemned al-Nimr's execution, saying Sunday the cleric "neither invited people to take up arms nor hatched covert plots. The only thing he did was public criticism."



Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said Saudi Arabia's "medieval act of savagery" would lead to the "downfall" of the country's monarchy.



Saudi Arabia's Foreign Ministry said that by condemning the execution, Iran had "revealed its true face represented in support for terrorism."



In Tehran, a protest outside the Saudi Embassy early Sunday quickly grew violent as protesters threw stones and gasoline bombs at the embassy, setting part of the building ablaze, according to Gen. Hossein Sajedinia, the country's top police official, the semi-official Tasnim news agency reported.



Forty people were arrested and investigators were pursuing other suspects, Tehran prosecutor Abbas Jafari Dowlatabadi said, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.



Iranian President Hassan Rouhani condemned Saudi Arabia's execution of al-Nimr, but also branded those who attacked the Saudi Embassy as "extremists."



"It is unjustifiable," he said in a statement.



Hundreds of protesters later demonstrated in front of the embassy and in a central Tehran square, where street signs near the embassy were replaced with ones bearing the slain sheikh's name.



Western powers sought to calm the tensions.



In Washington, State Department spokesman John Kirby said the Obama administration was aware of the Saudis' severing of ties with Tehran. "We believe that diplomatic engagement and direct conversations remain essential in working through differences and we will continue to urge leaders across the region to take affirmative steps to calm tensions," Kirby said.



Earlier, EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini spoke to Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif by phone and urged Tehran to "defuse the tensions and protect the Saudi diplomats," according to a statement.



The disruption in relations between Saudi Arabia and Iran may have implications for peace efforts in Syria. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and others spent significant time trying to bring the countries to the negotiating table and they both sat together at talks aimed at finding a diplomatic solution to the civil war. Last month, Saudi Arabia convened a meeting of Syrian opposition figures that was designed to create a delegation to attend peace talks with the Syrian government that are supposed to begin in mid-January.



Across the region, demonstrators took to the streets Sunday in protest over the execution of al-Nimr.



In Bahrain, police fired tear gas and birdshot at demonstrators on Sitra Island, south of the capital, Manama, wounding some. In al-Daih, west of the capital, Shiite protesters chanted against Saudi Arabia's ruling Al Saud family, as well as against Bahrain's ruling Al Khalifa family.



In Beirut, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah called al-Nimr "the martyr, the holy warrior," while protests erupted from Turkey to India to Pakistan.



The cleric's execution has also threatened to complicate Saudi Arabia's relationship with the Shiite-led government in Iraq, where the Saudi Embassy is preparing to formally reopen for the first time in nearly 25 years. On Saturday there were calls for the embassy to be shut down again.



Meanwhile, al-Nimr's family prepared for three days of mourning at a mosque in al-Awamiya in the kingdom's al-Qatif region in predominantly Shiite eastern Saudi Arabia. The sheikh's brother, Mohammed al-Nimr, told The Associated Press that Saudi officials informed his family that the cleric had been buried in an undisclosed cemetery, a development that could lead to further protests.(+)
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Linkedin Simon Tay (The Jakarta Post) Singapore  Mon, January 4, 2016

Many turbulent events of the year are symptoms of a world lacking optimism and growth, and facing possible change in global order. Even as social and economic uncertainties continue, major power competition and contention grow, especially between the USA and China.



There is not much that smaller countries can do to directly change these tectonic trends. There is every danger instead that countries in Southeast Asia in particular will face great pressures in an increasing push-and-pull among the great powers.



Yet they are not blank pieces of paper on which a great power can simply write at will. There are domestic politics that matter, and these will be clearly evident in the year ahead in a number of the key regional countries. Consider Indonesia and Thailand, the region's two largest economies, and Myanmar, which has emerged as a promising 'frontier' market.



Indonesia must hope the year ahead will be better. While remaining at some 4 plus per cent, economic growth has notably slowed notably, and its macro economics remains relatively weak, as reflected in the rupiah. Given the flat to poor outlook for resource sector, moving ahead with infrastructure and industrialization is key to growth and job creation.



Yet political signals have been less than positive. The popularly elected President Joko 'Jokowi' Widodo has struggled to lead effectively, facing Opposition as well as a party of different factions. Worse, increasingly assertive and narrow 'nationalistic' voices are putting off many potential foreign investors.



The fires and haze pollution ' and 2015 was one of the worst fire seasons ever ' are an emblem of further problems. Estimates are that Indonesia lost some US$22 billion in economic production and health care, while millions of people suffered in the provinces, both in Indonesian provinces and in neighboring countries. As the fires release heavy loads of climate change gases into the atmosphere, negative international attention also will grow unless the issue is effectively addressed in the year ahead.



Thailand, the region's second largest economy, also had a poor 2015. The military coup was at first cheered domestically for ending months of stalemate.



But since then, only very limited signs of progress have shown and the economy has slowed markedly. Production costs as also the pressure of external sanctions and criticisms have increased, especially from erstwhile ally, the USA.



The Prayut Chan-O-Cha government must be seen to move ahead effectively, beyond patching problems, to steer the country towards newer paths. Thailand's manufacturing capability and infrastructure need to be re-strengthened and new growth sectors must be pushed. If the government cedes to elections within the year, as some speculate, this political transition will further complicate the outlook.



In comparison, Myanmar had a good year, capping a remarkable transition to democracy with an overwhelming general election victory for the National League for Democracy. Questions however follow this result and the year ahead will see if the new government can effectively make the transition from opposition to government.



This is especially as Constitutional provisions prevent iconic Aung San Suu Kyi from serving as President and an acceptable nominee must be proposed.



Despite the electoral mandate, accommodation with the military is still needed. They continue in Parliament and to run ministries key to security and any settlement with warring ethnic minorities in border areas.



Growth for Myanmar in 2015 was in the region of 8 percent for the past year, albeit from a low base. Further progress will require not only the right promises and policies.



Increasingly, the question will be about but the capacity and ability to deliver on the economic opening and reforms. Many challenges remain, especially with infrastructure and the financial system.



On top of such national level issues, there are also regional dynamics in play. At end 2015, the ASEAN Community was inaugurated. The ambitions are to move further ahead to integrate economically, cooperate more closely on politics and security and increase social and cultural understanding among the ten diverse countries of the group.



National priorities will drive the regional, rather than the other way around. With slower growth, the trend is that narrow nationalism seeks to preserve markets for the locals, rather than integrating with neighbors.



On top of economic flows, the movement of peoples beyond borders is also proving sensitive, especially with allegations of mistreatment and human trafficking.



However, if ASEAN can be better integrated and more united, the group can play a central role in the wider region that is accepted by the major powers.



An integrated ASEAN market with some 600 million consumers can also be competitive and offer considerable opportunities.



Two non-ASEAN countries will continue to play key roles in the region's economy: Japan and China. Japan has traditionally been the key economic partner and been resurgent with the optimism from the effort of Abenomics to revitalize the economy. China trade is however now dominant in the region, and further waves of infrastructure and other investment are expected with the creation of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank and President Xi Jinping's vision of 'One Belt, One Road'.



Engaging with China and Japan as the two largest economies in the region can serve ASEAN well. Note however that signs of Sino-Japanese competition are surfacing, most visibly over plans to build railways in Indonesia, Thailand, and between Malaysia and Singapore.



Such competition need not be negative from the perspective of these and other ASEAN countries. A positive competition can lead to better projects on the best possible terms so that region is better connected with a foundation for closer integration. Overall relations with both China and Japan can prosper, rather than seeing things as a win-lose, negative competition.



There is however a need to manage the politics and processes so that national and ASEAN-centered priorities are emphasized, and the best choices made.



Otherwise, donor-driven agendas might be ill fitting, and other concerns will rise about unequal power relations and corruption.



The world is experiencing increasing US-China and Sino-Japanese competition in the region

is visible. Yet despite and even because of the lack of settled order, there is a swirl of dynamics and potential opportunities.



ASEAN growth as a group continues to outperform globally. For ASEAN countries, one key for progress will be to deal with their national priorities while increasing intra-ASEAN unity and cooperation, and remaining central to the wider region.

________________________________



The writer is chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs, an independent and leading think tank in Asia, and Associate Professor of the National University of Singapore Law School. This is the second of a two-part comment on 2015 and the prospects ahead.
The Angry Scot

The war has come to an end and the soldiers stationed in Burma are being sent home except for Lachie MacLachlan (Richard Todd) he finds himself stuck there with Lieutenant Colonel Dunn (Anthony Nicholls) refusing to let him go after he suffered a back injury. What Colonel Dunn hasn't told Lachie is that when he was injured they discovered one of his kidneys was no good and the other was failing fast with him just having weeks to live. In order to try and make Lachie's last weeks pleasant Dunn arranges for Lachie to stay with Sister Margaret Parker (Patricia Neal), a compassionate nurse who has a small ward of patients she looks after. Not one for friendship Lachie rebuffs their kindness especially when he discovers that they knew he was dying before he did.

So let me break down "The Hasty Heart" starting with Richard Todd's performance as Lachie an angry Scot who doesn't do friendship and is made all the more angry for not knowing why he can't ship home. Somehow this performance won Todd an Oscar nomination yet it is such an over the top performance of an angry Scot that it is hard to swallow especially when it is Richard Todd delivering it. At the same time there is Patricia Neal as the compassionate Sister Margaret and she also over does the compassion to make her character as fakes as Todd's.

Then we have the storyline which to me seems almost pointless as we have this drama about a dying man and the friendships which form which are incredibly fragile. Maybe I was just not in the right frame of mind for this light weight drama or maybe it was the acting from Todd and Neal which made it not work but this drama just failed to draw me in. Even the comedy of how the others try to befriend Lachie and end up exasperated by him didn't really make me smile.

That leaves one thing and that is that "The Hasty Heart" also stars Ronald Reagan and I am sure the only reason why this movie gets so many positive reviews as the late U.S. President's movies always garner positive interest. In fairness Reagan as Yank is probably the best thing about the movie and that is because his character is the nicest one in the whole movie with a winning smile, a kind word as well as a funny line.

What this all boils down to is that "The Hasty Heart" just didn't do it for me and maybe it is just a simple case that this stage play probably works best for those with a love of stage plays and can appreciate the way it has been turned in to a movie.
Cecil Rhodes statue We cannot removefrom Oriel College at Oxford University because he represents a shameful and regretful part of our history. We should not remove Cecil Rhodes statue from Oriel College at Oxford University, because the shameful and regretful part of our history that he represents must be remembered and learned from.

The entrance to the Red Fort, flying the flag of Independent India

It is Christmas Eve and I wander the streets of Delhi looking for somewhere to go, something to do. I had heard a lot of good things about the Red Fort, residence of the Mughal emperor of India until 1857. What really caught my eye however, was the Freedom Struggle Museum hidden away in an old army barracks inside the Fort.

Entering the first room I look around me to find paintings of battles from the 1800s. I scoff as I recount the two years I spent studying British India and the Indian Independence movement. This should just be a recap, huh? The first painting I come to depicts the Bundela Uprising of 1842. I tried to pick through the papers I wrote aged 17. No, I could not remember the Bundela Uprising of 1842.

I moved along to the Gadkari Rebellion of 1844. No, I did not remember that one, either. Neither did I remember the Santhal Rebellion of 1844, or the Chaur Uprising of 1799, or the Revolt of Devan Veluthombi, or the Jat Uprising of 1669, or the Bhil Uprising of 1817, or the Uprising of Kittur, or the public hangings of Sikhs in Amritsar after the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or the Indigo Revolts between 1859 and 1862. The list goes on.

A prima facie sense of stupidity began to wash over me as I lambasted myself for forgetting these events. Yet what initial stupidity I felt was soon followed by waves of embarrassment as I realised that I had not forgotten anything: I just had not been taught about them. The embarrassment finally subsided as the sadness for the loss of these innocent men and regret for my ancestors' actions enveloped me.

I studied these paintings, looking as deep into the eyes of the British infantrymen as I could. I wondered (I mean I tried to decipher) the reasons why a British soldier would follow orders to repress rebelling Indian men, women and children. Did they not question what they were doing? Why they were in a foreign land, repressing local men and women with swords and bullets?

Of course, they were a product of their time. Following the Jallianwala Bagh Massacre in Amritsar, Colonel Dyer, the colonel who had ordered the shooting and consequent killing of over 1,000 unarmed and innocent Indians, was celebrated as a hero in England. The Morning Post, a conservative newspaper, even raised and presented Dyer with 26,000 on his return. That is equivalent to around 1,000,000 today.

The fact that these people were a product of their time does not excuse their actions, but it does help one to understand them. It allowed me to look at the paintings of British infantrymen firing on Indians wielding swords and feel not only anger, but a sense of sorrow. They were blind to the consequences of their actions, and those in charge were motivated by greed, where they mistook survival for expansion and oppression.

We cannot and should not remove Cecil Rhodes statue from Oxford University because he represents a shameful and regrettable period in British history. We should not remove his statue, but instead install a plaque by his feet that reads: Cecil Rhodes, a racist, colonial oppressor that bought this statue through the money he bequeathed to this university on his death.

Likewise, we should refer to the Indian Rebellion of 1857 as Indias First War of Independence. What we should not do is twist or delete its happening from history. People like Rhodes and events such as Indias First War of Independence must be remembered and consistently critiqued.

Those that wish to see Rhodes statue removed from Oxford University source their expression of distaste from the well of righteousness. Their downfall is that they are too extreme. In their demands they are creating something even worse than that they lament: they are creating a society that forgets. We should never forget the ills of our ancestors.

We can transform Rhodes statues into a vehicle for good. He can be a reminder and a lesson for generations to come.
The joys of Christmas and the New Year are becoming a distant memory, as work, uni and those resolutions youve vowed to keep begin to creep back into life.

Yet still, a sense of the mystical celebrations that welcomed in 2016 are still being replayed and recollected in your daydreams, and conversations continually progress onto your New Year. Its one of the best celebrations of the entire year, so you better make sure that you have a good story to tell.

Hogmanay is the Scottish way of celebrating the New Year, and it eclipses any attempt the English may try and produce. Sure the fireworks in London are spectacular, and the Toon showcases a brilliant night out, but nothing compares to the magic feeling of the clock changing as you watch Biffy Clyro surround by hundreds of thousands of Scots and see the best fireworks display youll see in your life. Hogmanay is an experience, and one everyone should partake in.

Armed with a copy of Robinson Crusoe, my journey up to Edinburgh itself was a spectacle, and began my trip in the best style. Hurtling through the world before dawn, and seeing the sunrise is a wonderful spectacle. Passing through Durham in the dark, the mighty cathedral stands imposing and illuminated, creating scenes reminiscent of a postcard, whilst the River Tyne glimmers with lights, a metropolis spanning as far as the eye can see. Seeing the sunrise eclipse the County Durham countryside silhouettes, and breathe life into North-Eastern cityscapes is a sight of extraordinary beauty.

The sunrise became truly captivating as the train hit the Northumberland coast, one of the most beautiful areas in the world. A sky filled with hues of pale pink and peach was reflected by the wide expanse of sea, lapping against hidden beaches and grass-fringed cliffs all around. Holy Island was a slowly awakening, whilst hidden fishing villages glowed with the lights of hard work in the pale morning light. The journey into Scotland is truly beautiful, causing the excitement to build.

Pulling into the Scottish capital around nine in the morning, I could see that it was going to be busy. People darted about the station frantically, as officials shepherded people calmly and coolly. Already the air was filled with an electricity and a spark that would only strengthen as the day went on. It was in the station I noticed the sheer popularity Hogmanay had to the world. Trains were arriving on an almost minutely basis, heading in from all parts of the UK. But listening to conversations around, accents were much more far-flung. Aussies were out in their droves, clearly regretting their wardrobe choices as the cold bit at them. Chinese tourists posed in front of the majestic architecture boasted by the station. Eastern Europeans practised their English to find out where the tourist sites were hidden. It became apparent that Hogmanay was a truly international experience, yet very uniquely Scottish.

The day was spent exploring Edinburgh, taking in the ancient sites as well as taking thousands of photos. The citys title as being The Athens of the North is both just and accurate, with impressive structures lying all over the city; Calton Hill a high concentration of monuments, as well as outstanding views of the city from all angles. It seemed Hogmanay had brought thousands of people together to experience the beauty, as the hill was heaving with tourists, all looking to grab the best photo of the monuments, as well as creating the perfect profile picture with Dugald Stewart Monument in the backdrop.

As the day drew to a close and the sun went down, the city really livened up. Streets became cordoned off. People escorted out of the main centre. Lights shining on buildings to illuminate the night sky. Officials appearing out of nowhere in droves. Something hidden and secret was happening, and soon we would all find out. It seemed the organisers were containing the mystery, heightening the crowds excitement and wonder at what was hidden behind these gates.

After a quick security check, we were in. The self-dubbed arena covered most of the city centre, with four large stages erected at crucial points around the capital. Edinburghs Christmas Village served as the main bars and stalls for the event, boasting a rides and a carousel bar, with menus consisting of Hot Apple Gin Toddies or Cocoa with a Wee Dram. Uniquely Scottish, warming and tasty. Where else in the world can one sip a Highland Whiskey Cockles Warmer whilst stood on a converted carousel in the centre of an ancient city surrounded by hundreds of thousands of people?

At around nine, the festivities truly kicked off. A flurry of fireworks was released from Edinburgh Castle (now dramatically lit in shades of blue), signalling the start to the celebrations. The castle itself stands high and mighty, ruling over the city below it with awe and a gravitas unrivalled. I, along with thousands, took my space by the Waverley Stage and saw White, Slaves and Maximo Park all deliver knock out performances. The crowd were excited and electric, with an atmosphere that rivalled Leeds or Glastonbury. Hogmanay attracted such a diverse, cross-generational crowd, yet each and every person gathered were in high spirits and enjoying the musical delights on offer.

During breaks, most people ascended onto Princes Street, the main shopping street and centre of Hogmanay celebrations. The street filled up to an almost standstill during every hour, as revellers watched to see an ever-increasing fireworks display, counting down each time an hour passed. The gathering is a unique experience, and one that my words will never truly capture. It is both vast, yet intimate. Family-orientated, yet filled with drunken revellers. International, yet truly Scottish. The street became a set of contrasts, a juxtaposition of values all sitting side by side, and it felt totally natural, as if the city was telling you it was all fine and you accepted this sense of comfort.

As the clock struck ten minutes before the start of the New Year, there was a shift in the crowd. The main attractions of the stages began to empty, as everyone flocked to gain the best view of Edinburgh Castle. The sounds of a live Biffy Clyro echoed across Edinburgh, and soon they stopped too. All eyes were fixated upon the imposing, ancient building that would feature as the centre of festivities.

Giant screens suddenly filled with the number 30. It was the thirty second countdown, and everyone joined in unison to countdown towards the dawning of 2016. As the countdown reached 10, a new energy surged through the spectators, as everyone linked arms in a display of affection and community. Strangers huddled in together, counting down and swaying, making friends and joining for this significant moment.

The countdown reached zero, and a deafening roar of Happy New Year! sounded out from every corner of the city. Cheers, claps, roars, celebrations, happiness seemed to radiate from everyone and hugs were given left, right and centre. Strangers became comrades as embraces were shared with anyone that lay near to you. It was truly beautiful and warming.

The sounds of friendship were soon eclipsed by the deafening boom of a canon from the castle, before one of the best fireworks displays erupted before our very eyes. It was orchestrated so perfectly and precisely that exclaims of wonder and marvel erupted continually. Each time a slight lull took place, a huge flurry exploded into the night sky. For fifteen minutes Edinburgh stopped still, with all eyes looking upwards to the see the sky glow from red, to blue, to green and gold, shimmering and dazzling the dramatic skyline as they banged and sparkled.

With the fireworks drawing to a close and the audience buzzed with excitement, something very strange happened. A sole, lone, elderly male voice began to softly sing. Within seconds, what seemed like the entirety of the city had taken up his call, joining in with the traditional New Years song Auld Lang Syne. Everyone present crossed and linked arms with those next to them, with a chorus of the song echoing far and wide. It was truly magical and unique.

This finished the organised celebrations, and once a successful navigation out of the arena had been achieved, people flocked towards the Royal Mile. Here, an impromptu parade had been established by a group of drunken locals in a very DIY dragon costume. Fuelled by makeshift percussion and cheers, the parade kept the party going as revellers delighted in spontaneous performances and wellwishing for 2016. Extending into the very early hours of the new year, the party began to dwindle and die down as people began to flock for the warmth of their beds.

Edinburgh Hogmanay is truly a unique experience filled with joy, friendship, awe and wonder, and is definitely an event that should feature on every bucket list. Heartwarming scenes are presented alongside heavy, exciting music and fireworks that are beamed worldwide, all nestled inside one of the most beautiful cities in the planet. If youre unsure as to what to do to welcome in 2017, be sure to book a train and head on up to the Scottish capital.
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We shouldn't be growing this. We shouldn't even try. Andy Phillips should be growing this in Encinitas, California.is one oforchids. The ones that want hot dry days and cool nights. The ones that go belly up here in summer. We excel at hot humid days and hot humid nights. April and October are themonths when an Atlanta greenhouse achieves the California greenhouse grail.And yet, this plant thrives in our back up greenhouse. There must be enough variability in the environmental parameters of its natural range -the area around Bahia, Brazil, Venezuela and Guyana at 1300 to 1600 meters- that allow it to thrive as a slightly dry epiphyte in an intermediate to warm greenhouse in bright light. And that's terrific, because I'm completely smitten with those thick, rough textured leaves that are bright green and shaped like shallow bowls. And the chain of aubergine flowers that open just wide enough for a tiny fly pollinator. I think this plant will do reasonably well as an epiphyte in a bright location about six feet from the ground in our Orchid Display House, so be sure to look for it this spring.
Five dead as Phuket races toward close of New Year road-safety campaign

PHUKET: As Phuket barrels toward the end of its part in the nationwide Seven Days in Danger road-safety campaign, which concludes at midnight tonight (Jan 4), the death and injury toll stands at five dead and 69 people receiving hospital treatment of injuries.

accidentstransportalcoholdeath

By Saroj Kueprasertkij

Monday 4 January 2016, 04:01PM

Five people have died and 69 have been injured on Phuket's raods since the Seven Days of Danger national road-safety campaign began. Photo: Eakkapop Thongtub

There have been no road deaths since that of Myanmar national Than Zaw Htwe, 25, in a motorbike accident in Koh Kaew yesterday (see story here), confirmed the Phuket official of the Department of Disaster Prevention and mitigation (DDPM-Phuket) this morning. The fourth victim was 28-year-old Eksarayuth Intharat, who died at about 1am on Saturday (Jan 2) in a high-speed accident on Chao Fa West Rd, near the entrance to the Phuket Villa 5 residential estate, in Wichit. Police believe alcohol was a factor in the accident and noted that Mr Eksarayuth was not wearing a helmet at the time that his motorbike hit a road sign and then a large mango tree. Nationwide, the death toll has reached almost 300 as more passengers return to Bangkok after the New Year holidays. Deaths are 11 per cent higher than during last years Seven Dangerous Days despite harsh measures. Last year, there were 2,446 accidents during the first five of the dangerous days, compared with 2,753 so far this year, a rise of 12%. Total road casualties (killed and injured) are up 13%, year on year. (See story here).
Man arrested in Phuket in connection with attempted rape of Russian girl, 8

PHUKET: Police have arrested a 30-year-old Trang man in connection with the alleged attempted rape of an eight-year-old Russian tourist at a hotel in Karon on Saturday (Jan 2).

crimesexpoliceRussian

By Darawan Naknakhon

Monday 4 January 2016, 01:15PM

Wutthichai has initially been charged with attempted rape of a minor under 13 years old and committing an indecent act with a minor.

Pol Lt Nipon Temsang received a phone call from a member of staff of a hotel in Karon on Saturday stating that a Russian guest had told them that a Thai man had attempted to rape his eight-year-old daughter after approaching her while she played on a computer on the ground floor of the hotel.

The Russian father said that while his daughter was using the computer a man came to talk to her and lured her to another room and attempted to rape her.

According to the father, other guests at the hotel heard screams coming from the room so they broke in and saw a man escaping through a window. CCTV footage from the hotel shows a man coming to talk to the girl.

The man, Wutthichai Srithai, 30, was previously employed by the hotel as a mechanic but has since left. However, his wife is still employed there.

Police spoke to Wutthichais wife who told them that he was at their home in Moo 5, Srisoonthorn, Thalang, at the time of the attack.

When questioned by police, Wutthichai denied the allegations made against him and told police that he had only gone to the hotel to pick up his wife. He said that he had seen the girl playing on a computer but did not talk to her.

However, Chief of Karon Police Col Sompong Boonrat told The Phuket News today (Jan 4) that after being shown the CCTV footage of him talking to the girl he admitted that he had taken the girl to another room and attempted to rape her.

We sent him to court today. However, we cannot provide any more information. This is a very sensitive case and we do not want to do anything that can affect it, Col Sompong said.

However, we can confirm that the girl is safe and has attended a hospital to be checked, he added.

Wutthichai has initially been charged with attempted rape of a minor under 13 years old and committing an indecent act with a minor.

The attempted rape charge comes with a punishment of imprisonment of between seven to 20 years and a fine of between B14,000  B40,000, while the indecent act charge comes with a punishment of a prison sentence of not more than 15 years and/or a fine not exceeding B30,000.
New Year highway toll up despite harsh enforcement

The government has warned tough legal action will be taken against public transport drivers who violate traffic laws.

transportaccidentsdeath

By Bangkok Post

Monday 4 January 2016, 09:06AM

Heavy congestion was reported on main roads leading into Bangkok yesterday (Jan 3), at the end of the New Years weekend. These gridlocked motorists were on the Phahon Yothin Highway in the Saraburi area. (Photo by Pornprom Satrabhaya)

The death toll has reached almost 300 as more passengers return to Bangkok after the New Year holidays. Deaths are 11 per cent higher than during last years Seven Dangerous Days despite harsh measures.

Last year, there were 2,446 accidents during the first five of the dangerous days, compared with 2,753 so far this year, a rise of 12%. Total road casualties (killed and injured) are up 13%, year on year.

Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd stressed yesterday (Jan 3) that severe penalties will be imposed against both drivers and transport operators, particularly vans and inter-provincial buses, if accidents occur.

Driving and operating licences will be suspended or revoked, he said.

The warning came after several vans and buses were found to be travelling above the speed limit.

Heavy traffic was reported on several main roads leading to Bangkok including Mittraphap from the South and Phahon Yothin from the North.

The prime minister also urges people who are returning to Bangkok to make travel plans to avoid traffic congestion and reduce the number of vehicles on main roads, Maj Gen Sansern said.

A total of 3,046 vehicles were confiscated from drink drivers from Christmas Day to last Saturday. Of them, 2,477 were motorcycles and 569 were cars.

Meanwhile, the death toll from road accidents has risen to 292 from more than 2,700 road accidents in the first five days of the seven dangerous days of the New Year holiday season.

Drink-driving was the major cause of the crashes, with more than 23% of cases, followed by speeding at 16%.

The death toll from road accidents has risen to 292 from more than 2,700 road accidents in the first five days of the seven dangerous days of the New Year holiday season.

Permanent secretary for justice Charnchao Chaiyanukit, in his capacity as chairman of the Road Safety Committee, yesterday said the accumulated road accidents during the five days between Dec 29 and Jan 2 stood at 2,753, with 292 deaths and 2,855 injuries.

Drink-driving still remained the major cause of the crashes, with 23.08%, followed by speeding at 15.98%, said Mr Charnchao.

Most road accidents involved motorcycles, with 83.41%, followed by pick up trucks at 7.24%.

Chiang Mai had the highest number of accumulated road accidents at 108 and the highest number of accumulated injuries also at 108. Nakhon Ratchasima had the highest number of deaths at 12, he said.

No deaths were reported in eight provinces  Trang, Phang Nga, Phrae, Ranong, Samut Prakan, Sing Buri and Sukhothai.

In Nakhon Si Thammarat, one person has been killed and 98 injured in 83 road accidents through Saturday, the fifth day of the seven dangerous days period.

The number of accumulated road accidents in this southern province has increased from the same period of last year by 12, the provincial road safety centre said.

The number of injuries has also increased from last year by 22, but the number of deaths reduced by 3.

Meanwhile, a total of 3,046 vehicles have so far been impounded from drunk drivers across the country as part of the New Year holiday road safety campaign.

National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) deputy spokeswoman Sirichan Nga-thong said yesterday that police and soldiers manning road checkpoints across the country have temporarily seized 3,046 vehicles  2,477 motorcycles and 569 cars, from drunk drivers between Dec 25 and Jan 2.

During the nine-day anti-drive-drive campaign period, authorities have so far taken action against 21,690 motorcyclists and 8,462 drivers of public and private vehicles for violations, Col Sirichan said.

On Jan 2 alone, there were 5,869 violations of the ban involving motorcycles. A total of 525 bikes were seized and 5,040 people face legal action.

There were 2,264 violations involving public and private vehicles on that day, with 259 driving licences and 381 vehicles seized and 1,897 drivers facing legal action, she said.

Army chief Theerachai Nakwanich ordered soldiers to launch a holiday road safety campaign.

Troops and police are arresting people found to be driving while drunk and seized their vehicles. The seized cars and motorcycles can be reclaimed after the New Year festivities.

Reao original story here.
Fee for repeat offenders who don't mow grass could be increased

Those who fail to keep their lawns cut are charged a $100 fee per incident for the city to cut their lawns. The council looks to increase this fee.
Shortly after Elvis arrived in the 50s, the hula hoop fad exploded. People could take the hula hoop and gyrate their hips in public. Robert Bartholomew

Humans have many fears  the dark, the crowd, change. We also have passions for the wacky, like hula hoops and pet rocks. We act in panic and ignorance: in medieval times, people believed Jews were responsible for the Black Death and forced them into ghettos. We often believe urban legends  alligators are roaming through city sewers. We were once afraid of touching a person with AIDS, thinking the illness was contagious through touch. Our fears and passions are detailed in a new book by Robert E. Bartholomew and Peter Hassall, A Colorful History of Popular Delusions.U.S.-born medical sociologist and writer Bartholomew spoke to me from his home in Auckland, New Zealand.

You use the word delusion to explain our fears and passions  crazes like university students squishing into phone booths, mass suicides like the one at Jonestown, the Loch Ness monster, etc. In your books postscript, you say we can learn from this, but I wonder. Its gone on for centuries. It is human, even if funny or despicable at times.

Social delusions and social panics are part of the human condition. They cant be eradicated. But with better education we can understand them. When we talk about social delusions, we arent talking about the psychiatric term. What we mean is the idea that rapidly spreads through a population at a certain time and place. There have been a lot in Canada. You had the toxic bus episode in Vancouver in 2003, soon after 9/11. A guy who had dark colouring walked on a bus and when he got off the bus the driver said, Have a nice day. The man getting off replied, Your day is going to take a turn for the worse. Soon after, the driver fell ill and then other passengers began to feel sick. The bus was pulled to the side of the road and the police began looking for traces of chemical weapons. Nothing could be found, and Vancouvers chief medical officer decided it was a case of mass anxiety.

Elvis Presley was at the centre of many fads and fears, and there was genuine concern that western youth were being perverted by watching him swivelling his hips. Now it seems ridiculous, but it was a genuine fear in the 1950s.

It reminds me of the current Muslim scare, Islamophobia. It doesnt make sense. People get concerned that Muslims are being repressed because some Muslim women choose to cover themselves. It wasnt long ago when people were always covering their bodies. Remember those swimsuits at the turn of the 20th century? It was like swimming in your clothes. Shortly after Elvis arrived in the 50s, the hula hoop fad exploded. People could take the hula hoop and gyrate their hips in public. It wasnt just children using them. They used to have hula hoop contests. It was just a different context, even though it was the same thing, swivelling hips.

The movie Jaws also had a huge cultural effect.

There have been a number of studies in psychiatric journals about people who had psychotic episodes related to Jaws. People wouldnt go into the water. Are there sharks in the water? Yes, but only three or four people a year get killed by sharks.

Urban legends are pervasive. The yearly Halloween scare, for example, with parents checking their childrens treats to make sure there are no razor blades in the apples or candies that have been tampered with.

A sociologist named Joel Best went back to the early 1970s for reports of people putting razor blades in apples and poisoning apples, and there was not one report of a Halloween sadist. What he found was a handful of cases where candy had been poisoned, but in every single case it was family members trying to kill a young adult to collect insurance money. These were deliberate attempts at murder. But you get the perception in the media that this stuff is happening all the time, everywhere.

You claim most of the people involved in rumours, fads and mania over centuries have been women. Thats sexist, isnt it?

Social delusions and mass hysteria are things Ive studied for 25 years. I have collected over 800 cases of mass psychogenic illness; the majority are females. There are different theories as to why. No one is really sure why there are so many women in cases of mass hysteria. Look at Salem, Mass., in 1692. You had a very repressive group of people, the Puritans, who were very strict. Among the young girls, all work, no play triggers hysteria. Social delusion, mass belief in something that is false rapidly spreads.

Women are no more susceptible to social delusions than men. But in mass sickness, it is 99-per-cent women. Some sociologists have argued its the way women are acculturated. There may be some type of biological mechanism that makes them more susceptible. People have accused me of being sexist but if you look at the literature across time, it shows that when there is mass psychogenic illness, it is almost always women.

What was the most horrifying thing you uncovered about human behaviour while doing your research?

For me it would have been the panic involving the McMartin preschool case in the early 1980s. That was the satanic cult scare at that preschool in California. Seven teachers were charged with molesting 360 kids. I remember as a young man hearing that case and thinking, They must be guilty. Why would so many children claim this had happened to them?

As it turns out, the workers were innocent and the case was mishandled from the beginning. The police asked the kids leading questions. There was one question about school aide Ray Buckey. A child was asked if Buckey touched him in inappropriate places, and if the child said no, he was told that other children had said yes, they were molested. That prompted the child to change his story.

The teachers were eventually all found innocent. But their reputations were ruined. Accusations of child molestation are the worst thing anyone can raise. If something like that can happen in modern times in the most sophisticated country in the world, what chance did the women in Puritan Salem have?

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The evening of May 28, 1708, was moonless and stifling, with little in the way of wind to fill the massive sails of the Spanish treasure ship San Jose as it manoeuvred in the calm waters off the coast of Cartagena, Colombia. Not far off, barely visible in the fast-fading light, a British warship streaked toward the Spanish galleon, slowly but steadily gaining ground.

The ships angled toward one another, guns at the ready, battle flags raised. Billions of dollars in jewels and precious metals and the outcome of what some consider the first modern global war hung in the balance.

The confrontation would end in a cacophony of cannon fire and a final, fatal blast that sent the Spanish ship and its costly cargo plummeting to the sea floor. Neither the British nor the Spanish and their French allies would be able to use the loot to finance their efforts in the bloody War of the Spanish Succession; the fight would drag on for six more years and end inconclusively, leading to 100 years of power struggles between the European nations.

Meanwhile, the San Jose and its riches remained submerged somewhere at the bottom of the Caribbean Sea. The Holy Grail of shipwrecks  thought to contain at least $1 billion in cash and as much as $14 billion worth of emeralds, silver and gold  has figured in novels, histories and even an international legal battle, but proved as elusive to treasure hunters in the 21st century as it was in the 18th.

Until now.

In a statement last month, Colombias President Juan Manuel Santos announced that researchers with the countrys Ministry of Culture had found a wreck matching the San Jose using sonar, underwater cameras and remotely operated robots.

It is, Santos said, one of the biggest findings and identifications of underwater heritage in the history of humanity.

An international team led by Colombias Institute of Anthropology and History and the Colombian navy made the find on Nov. 27, Santos said, nearly 1,000 feet below the surface of the ocean, about 25 kilometres from Cartagena.

A museum will be built in Cartagena to house the new discovery, Santos said.

It will take more time to definitively identify the vessel and its contents, and years to dredge them up from their ocean grave. But if Santoss pronouncement is borne out, it will put an end to three centuries of fascination and speculation.

The 1708 struggle at sea wasnt the only battle that the San Jose would be part of. Even before anyone was certain of its location, it was embroiled in a decades-long legal dispute between Sea Search Armada (SSA) and Colombias government over who would get the sunken ships riches once they were finally found.

SSA claimed to have pinpointed the San Joses location back in 1981 and negotiated with the Colombian government for 35 per cent of the ships treasures if the wreck was indeed recovered there. But the government has laid claim to the entirety of the wrecks contents, except for a 5-per-cent finders fee, based on a law passed after the agreement with SSA was purportedly reached, according to CNN.

The Washington-based company filed two lawsuits in U.S. courts contending that Columbias move was illegal, but both were dismissed  though not without some amused commentary.

The complaint in this case reads like the marriage between a Patrick OBrian glorious-age-of-sail novel and a John Buchan potboiler of international intrigue, U.S. District Court Judge James E. Boasberg wrote in a ruling on the 2011 case, according to the Courthouse News Service.

Nevertheless, SSA told CNN that the Supreme Court of Colombia has ruled in the companys favour, saying that the wealth from the wreck should be spit evenly between the two claimants.

Santos made no mention of the conflict with SSA in his announcement of the discovery.

Meanwhile, Jose Maria Lassalle, Spains secretary of culture, said that his country was also interested in the recovered loot, according to the Guardian.

Speaking in Havana last month, he said Spain was examining the information provided by Colombia before deciding what action to take in defence of what we consider to be our sunken wealth and in accordance with UNESCO agreements that our country signed up to years ago.

Three hundred years after it was sunk, it seems the San Jose still cant escape countries fighting over it.

How billions in gold and jewels vanished

The story of the San Jose begins not with the bloody sea battle in the spring of 1708, but seven years before, at the deathbed of Charles II of Spain. The ailing king had named as his successor the grandson of the famous French monarch Louis XIV  establishing a connection between France and Spain that other European powers found too close for comfort. The disputed Spanish succession launched a 13-year struggle over who would control the extensive Spanish colonial empire and its many riches, a struggle that  for the first time in modern history, some say  involved every continent.

The war pitted France and Spain against a coalition of British, German, Austrian, Portuguese and Dutch forces and disrupted annual shipments of precious metals from the New World back to Europe. By 1708, its coffers all but empty from the prolonged fight, France was desperate for the silver and gold mined by native people enslaved in the Spanish colonies.

Finally, Louis XIV ordered a 15-boat treasure fleet to set sail for Europe, with the San Jose as its flagship. The huge vessel was 150 feet from bow to stern, three decks deep and armed with 64 cannons and a crew of 500 men; it carried the bulk of the fleets shipment of coins, bullion, jewels and valuable trade goods. The majority of the treasure belonged to Peruvian and Spanish merchants  the taxes on that, along with more than half a million Spanish reals bound for royal coffers, would amply finance the French war effort.

According to a history written by Sea Search Armada, the Washington-based commercial salvage company, the fleets cargo was worth as much as three times Spains annual income. If it arrived at port safely, the wealth could turn the tide of the war, establishing Frances dominance over Europe and the world. At least, that was likely Louis XIVs hope.

But Charles Wager, commodore of a small British squadron in the Caribbean, had other plans. Alerted that the treasure fleet had set sail  and whats more, had done so without the protection of a full French escort  he waited just off the coast of Cartagena for the Spanish ships to arrive.

They did so on the afternoon of May 28 (Spanish accounts put the date at June 8; the discrepancy is attributable to the fact that the Spanish calendar was 10 days ahead of the British one). Though there were 17 Spanish and French ships to Wagers mere four, the British ships were able to outpace the San Jose, which was weighed down with cargo and suffering from a leaky hull. Resigned to a fight, the Spanish fleet turned and formed a battle line.

Wagers ship, the Expedition, took on the San Jose just after sunset. The bursts of cannon and gunfire lit the cloudy night and filled the still air with the smell of sulphur and smoke. The decks of both ships grew slippery with blood.

Suddenly, a British cannon shot hit a store of gunpowder in one of the San Joses upper holds, sparking a tremendous explosion.

The heat of the blast came very hot upon us, wrote Wager, who witnessed the blast from the deck of the Expedition. Several splinters of plank and timber came on board us afire. We soon threw them overboard. I believe the ships side blew out, for she caused a sea that came in our ports.

The British crew rushed to deal with the shower of debris and the wall of water that sloshed on board. By the time Wager could turn his attention back to the enemy ship, it had entirely vanished. All but 11 of the 600 people on board perished, either incinerated in the explosion or drowned at sea.

But Wager was more worried about the San Joses valuable cargo.

She immediately sunk with all her riches, which must have been very great, he wrote in his diary, despondent.

In the end, Wagers squadron was able to capture only one of the Spanish ships, which contained far less cargo of value. Both sides were denied the riches that could have turned the tide of the war. The conflict dragged on.

The War of the Spanish Succession would end in 1714, but its conclusion did little to resolve the struggle among European powers. Instead, it laid the groundwork for a century of bloody conflicts on both sides of the Atlantic.

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The bitter faceoff between Iran and Saudi Arabia over the Saudis execution of an Iranian-aligned cleric is the latest flash point in a long-simmering conflict between two Middle East powers, and it threatens to add more turmoil to an already unstable region.

Saudi Arabia announced Sunday that it was severing ties with Iran, hours after Iranian protesters set fires in the Saudi embassy compound in Tehran to protest the execution the day before the Shiite cleric, Sheik Nimr al-Nimr.

The roots of the Middle Easts fiercest current rivalry lie in Islams centuries-old schism between Sunni Muslims, who make up the majority in the Saudi Arabia, and Shiites who dominate Iran.

Lately, both countries are seeking to extend their influence across the volatile region. Heres what theyre fighting over:

The United States

As Americas closest Arab ally in the Middle East, Saudi Arabia has enjoyed massive U.S. military aid and has long influenced American foreign policy.

This shifted somewhat in 2015, however, when President Barack Obama reached a historic agreement with Iran that limits Irans ability to acquire nuclear weapons. In return for Irans compliance with the terms of the deal, the U.S. and other world powers must lift crippling economic sanctions on Iran, something likely to occur this year.

The Saudis fear Iran will use the tens of billions of dollars in frozen assets and new business opportunities to support Shiite rebel groups in the region to destabilize Sunni-led governments, as well as use the new revenue to buy weapons in support of its expansionary goals. The Saudis also fear Iran will cheat on the nuclear deal, fuelling a Mideast nuclear arms race.

Yemen

Saudi Arabias poverty-stricken southern neighbour at the foot the Arabian Peninsula has become the closest example of a proxy war between the Saudis and Iran.

The Saudi Kingdom is leading a local military coalition aimed at defeating Shiite-dominated Houthi rebels who are threatening to unseat the government. The Houthis have received direct military aid from Iran.

Syria

Iran is backing Syrian President Bashar Assads embattled regime in his nearly 5-year-old civil war by providing both financing and fighters from Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Shiite militant group based in Lebanon. Assad, a longtime Iranian ally, received a boost in 2015, when Russia sent in military forces to assist him.

Saudi Arabia, along with the United States and Turkey, is backing Sunni rebel groups opposed to Assad. The U.S. is concerned that some of those groups are too extreme and might team up with the Islamic State, the Sunni radical group that a U.S.-led coalition is trying to repel from Syria and Iraq.

Iraq

Although the population is mostly Shiite, Iraq had been ruled for decades by Saddam Hussein and his Sunni minority until the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 ousted Saddams regime. The current, predominantly Shiite government has been heavily influenced by Iran, which has provided support for powerful Shiite militias in Iraq. Saudi Arabia is wary of the Iraqi government and is sympathetic to Sunnis who feel alienated by the government. Some of those Sunni residents are backing the Islamic State militant group.

Oil

As the leading global exporter of oil, Saudi Arabia has refused to cut production in the face of plummeting oil prices to defend its market share. As a result, the world is now awash in cheap oil. The drop in prices already has forced the kingdom to slash its government budget.

The glut may soon worsen  and the value of Saudi Arabias virtually sole source of revenue further diminish  once sanctions against rival Iran are eased under the nuclear weapons deal. Iran, estimated to have the fourth largest oil reserves on the planet, is ready to export 500,000 barrels a day once it is given access to the world market. That figure could grow as Iran rehabilitates its aging oil industry infrastructure.

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WASHINGTONRepublican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, who has remained atop the polls despite little advertising, is out with the first TV ad of his campaign, a 30-second spot that doubles down on some of his more controversial proposals, including one to temporarily bar all Muslims from entering the U.S.

The Great Again spot will begin airing Tuesday in the early states of Iowa and New Hampshire  with a $1.1 million-a-week buy in Iowa and close to $1 million in New Hampshire, Trumps campaign said. The ad comes less than a month before the first voters head to the caucuses in Iowa and as Trump increasingly feels competition in the state from a surging Sen. Ted Cruz. He promised last week to spend big in the early states, saying hes prepared to spend at least $2 million a week.

Trump insisted in a statement that he was leading every poll by wide, double-digit margins and cited tremendous crowds and incredible support from all over the country.

He said his campaign had spent the least amount of money, but had the best results, and this is the kind of thinking the country needs. I am very proud of this ad, I dont know if I need it, but I dont want to take any chances because if I win we are going to Make America Great Again.

The ad, which opens with a shot of Trump at a campaign rally followed by an ominous picture of U.S. President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, centres on Trumps call for a bar on Muslims in the wake of the San Bernardino, Calif., shootings and promises that hell cut the head off ISIS and take their oil and build a wall at the southern border that Mexico will pay for.

Footage of Trump announcing his proposal to bar Muslims surfaced last week in a recruitment video created by the Al Qaeda-affiliated militant group, Al Shabab. But Trump said in an interview that aired Sunday that he had no plans to change course.

What am I going to do? I have to say what I have to say, he told CBS Face the Nation. And you (know) what I have to say? Theres a problem. We have to find out what is a problem. And we have to solve that problem.

Clinton had claimed during last months Democratic presidential debate that Trump had been used in a recruitment video for the Islamic State, but news organizations found no evidence for that claim.

Trump has previously run radio ads in the first three primary states and the campaign says it will continue with a new radio ad this week featuring Kathryn Gates-Skipper, the first female Marine to serve in combat operations. She endorsed Trump at a rally in Sarasota, Fla., in November. Also airing this week is a new radio ad in South Carolina featuring Nancy Mace, the first female graduate of The Citadel.

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North America and Europe may be welcoming the surprise of unusually warm winters. Below, we look at several climate-clobbered stocks that are now joining a group of dangerous investments that are poised for tough times in 2016.

CHK

data by

YCharts

Chesapeake Energy (CHK)

Reeling under the pressures of depressed natural gas prices, Oklahoma-based oil and natural gas major Chesapeake Energy had one hope this holiday season: a cold winter that would beef up demand for heating fuel and ease some of its burdens.

However, so far, North America and Europe are experiencing an unusually balmy winter, owing to the El Nino weather phenomenon (combined with human-caused global warming) that has taken temperatures to 15 degrees Fahrenheit higher than normal.

Almost 50% of the households in the U.S. use natural gas as their primary source for heating and Chesapeake Energy is the country's second-largest natural gas producer, after Exxon Mobil.

The lack of winter demand combined with rising stockpiles owing to record production resulting from the shale boom have beaten down prices to 16-year lows. As of Dec. 16, stockpiles were close to 3.84 trillion cubic feet. Increase in inventory levels and dull off-takes might force energy companies to cut production next year.

While natural gas producers such as Southwestern Energy and Consol Energy are also facing the heat, Chesapeake is perhaps the worst hit. Indeed, the company has plummeted from energy high-flier to one of the most toxic stocks on Wall Street.

Chesapeake's stock has already lost about 80% in 2015, primarily because of the bloodbath in natural gas prices. However, in a double whammy for the stock, the company's debt levels are also mighty concerning.

Its massive $11 billion long-term debt overshadows the $2.9 billion market capitalization. It has even cut its workforce by 740 people.

Acknowledging the trouble it's in, the company has brought on board Evercore Partners Inc. to help it restructure its ballooning debt through a bond exchange or an asset sale. A turnaround in gas prices would also be some respite for the company. But for now, Chesapeake is in hot water.

M

data by

YCharts

Macy's (M)

The warm weather is playing the Grinch, not just for Macy's but also other retailers such as Kohl's, Nordstrom and JC Penney.

With a warmer than normal winter, many shoppers delay the purchase of winterwear, such as coats, boots and mufflers and may altogether postpone them until next year. Also, with temperatures continuing to stay warm during the holiday season, people would possibly forgo purchasing these items for gifting purposes.

According to Planalytics, sales of women's boots slipped 13% in the United States in the week ended December 12, while those of hats, scarves, and gloves declined 4%.

If demand continues to be tepid, Macy's and others in the game would likely have to resort to clearance sales early next year to offload the excess inventory, further crunching profit margins.

However, the weather is not the only problem the department store is facing, making it a stock to shun in 2016.

The strong U.S. dollar has wounded tourism for the country. This spells problems for Macy's stores as foreign tourists account for 5% of the store chain's sales.

Macy's is also chasing the consumer electronics segment by entering into an agreement with Best Buy, and is fighting with online retailers such as Amazon for a share of customer budgets which are increasingly getting allocated to electronics and cars.

To tackle these changing dynamics and maintain profitability, Macy's is closing 40 under-performing stores, and diversifying its business, while fighting off pressure from activist investors to unlock value from its real-estate.

In 2015, Macy's stock plunged more than 45%. Sales in the third quarter of 2015 totaled $5.9 billion, a decrease of 5.2%, compared with sales of $6.2 billion in the same period last year.

Comparable sales on an owned plus licensed basis were down by 3.6% in the third quarter. A weaker than expected third quarter result and dull guidance for the fiscal 2015 ending in Jan. 2016 guaranteed that there is still some pain left.

As you can see, Chesapeake Energy, Macy's, and certain other companies vulnerable to extreme weather are stocks to avoid. However, if you want to see a complete list of the absolute worst stocks you can own right now, I urge you to take a look at this report called 29 Dangerous Stocks: Sell Now! Inside, you'll see a full list of the market's most overvalued stocks, and learn the process you can use to keep avoiding them in the future. Click here now for a copy.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
Shares of Pfizer (PFE) are looking increasingly vulnerable to a deep pullback. The stock spent nearly all of December in a narrow range as overhead pressure continued to build. Following Thursday's weak action, Pfizer is now on the verge of a breakdown. The stock closed out December well above the lows of the month, but investors may see that key level taken out fairly soon.

The first two sessions of December were quite volatile for Pfizer. On Dec. 1, the stock shot up 2.6% as the stock extended its rebound off the late November low to over 7.5%. This sharp rally lifted the stock back up to its declining 200-day moving average, but further upside was limited. PFE opened on Dec. 2 on the plus side and put in a new high before shares slid late in the day. By the close, the stock was off 2.15% as heavy resistance near the 200-day proved its strength. Pfizer fell the next day too as the late November/early December ramp lost its momentum. The stock has been treading water since, but this could change over the next week or so.

In the near term, Pfizer investors should keep a close eye on the December lows of $31.85. If this level is taken out, the stock will have broken the range and will likely see a bump in selling pressure. Once through, Pfizer will be on its way to a retest of major support near the $31 area. This key zone includes the stock's January, February, October and November lows. Slightly below is the September bottom at $30.65.

Pfizer bulls should consider the $31.25-to-$30.50 area as a low-risk entry zone. Monthly lows in this area have yielded strong rallies in 2015. On the downside, a close below $30 will do a great deal of damage to this support zone while leaving layers of heavy resistance behind.

Click here to see the below chart in a new window.

Disclosure: This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author was long Pfizer.
When was the last time you sent a letter when an email could do?

The economy and market forces are merciless when it comes to those who don't adopt a simple maxim: adapt to survive. History has shown us that companies who take heed often enjoy longevity and success, while others fade into our memories. For example, Apple has come a long way from being a simple computer manufacturing company and has created the iPod, Apple TV, iCloud, iPad and iPhone, to name a few.

On the other hand, it's probably been years since you've made Friday a "Blockbuster night." Once a leader in the video rental industry, Blockbuster has fallen victim to cable TV on demand movie options and innovative companies like Netflix, Hulu and Redbox. Everything in life takes part in evolution to either become stronger and more diverse or fall victim to fate through extinction. Business entities and quasi-government agencies are not exempt.

Now the United States Postal Service (USPS), long known for its image of reliably delivering letters and packages across the country and the world, wants to pull itself into the modern age by considering unconventional markets and new investments. But it may be making a mistake.

USPS is an entity with a longstanding history and has evolved from the horse and carriage to overnight delivery to anywhere in the world. But these days, the postal service is seeking to diversify its product offerings to include grocery and alcohol deliveries, and more risky financial-related products like short-term loans and banking services.

Many policy makers question if this is an appropriate path for the postal service. The USPS is protected by the Constitution as a mail-delivery monopoly. However, it is currently accumulating budgetary deficits and is often accused of questionable leadership styles and a highly bureaucratic culture. For the past decade, Democratic Senator Tom Carper of Delaware has advocated for meaningful postal reform, calling it "[a] duty in Congress to pave a fiscally sustainable path that will enable this American institution to thrive."

Some of the Postal service's problems stem from its own serial mismanagement and a disjointed, union-based infrastructure of 600,000 employees with bloated influence-from letter carriers and office-based clerks to management ranks. These issues combined leave the USPS liable for financial obligations that no business could sustain.

According to a new report, liabilities at the Postal Service now stand at $68.3 billion, up roughly $5 billion from last year and 62% since 2007. This occurs in tandem with massive financial losses of $51.7 billion from 2007 to 2014. This is mostly due to a sharp decline in sales of first class mail. In addition to the compounding fiscal deficit, the USPS has seen an increase in late deliveries, reduction of services in rural communities and at least $1.4 billion in funds that could be better allocated, according to the USPS Inspector General.

And if that is not enough, some problems are beyond their control amid a dire fiscal outlook. The USPS is often the victim of competing ideologies on Capitol Hill. A 2014 report published in GovernmentExecutive.com reads, "Postal management, Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill, labor unions, the mailing industry and the Obama administration all agree on the need for congressional reforms to keep the agency -- which still brought in $66 billion in revenue last year -- afloat," and "But there is very little agreement among those groups about what those reforms should look like."

Legislators like Sen. Carper believe something must be done to remedy a decision made in 2011 that required the Postal Service to pre-fund its multi-billion dollar benefits obligations. As no other government or quasi-government agency is held to the same standard, which seems like reasonable reform.

However, at the urging of Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), the postal service is exploring "non-bank financial services". The USPS is seeking new trucks that are better equipped for not only traditional packages, but also grocery deliveries in select cities. Moreover, according to The Wall Street Journal, the USPS is ramping up same-day delivery of everything from bottled water to fresh fish as its new Postmaster General tries to better compete with FedEx, UPS and even Amazon.

Despite its plans to expand its services, the point remains that none of these ventures are guaranteed to lead to increased profits for the embattled USPS, which is starved for cash and is challenged operationally. In fact, it's questionable that the agency wants to start these new lines of production, but couldn't even deliver holiday mail in a timely manner. Before the USPS ventures into its attempt to generate more income through side hustles to reach a balanced budget, it should define what those should be and align itself accordingly.

But here's another problem. These side ventures are coveted by bureaucrats without undergoing a cost-benefit analysis. During my tenure in the financial services industry, I learned that at a minimum, it was critical to perform market and strategic analysis, as well as realistically estimate revenue and profitability outcomes before engaging in new projects.

Additionally, the government's potential new gigs may crowd out private businesses that perform the same services more efficiently with better customer satisfaction and profits for individual investors, pensions and retirement plans.

In the case of banking, the U.S. already maintains more than 100,000 bank branches and 400,000 ATMs. The grocery-delivery market already has several mainstays, including FreshDirect and Peapod. The USPS is late to the party and there may not be any space or profits to share in a market that has narrow margins and is already dominated by highly efficient companies.

Though the Postal Service may be well-intentioned, new business ventures are not the reforms they need. Besides, it's a hard sell to taxpayers that the USPS is reliable and capable of daily delivery of fresh fish, fruits and vegetables, when grandma still hasn't received the Christmas card that was sent via first-class mail.

While Congress may hold the agency behind, they could do their part to focus on their core business mission and better-serve customers. Doing so could perhaps quell the loud, yet narrow, interests and fuel efforts to put the Postal Service on firmer footing.

That is what the market, and Americans, need and deserve.

The author is John Burnett and he holds a position in Apple stock.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. Bancorp (USB) stock is up by 0.05% to $42.67 in pre-market trading on Monday, after Fidelity Investments named the financial services holding company one of its new credit card partners.

Fidelity, a financial services company based in Boston, named Visa (V) and U.S. Bancorp as its new credit card partners on Monday. The companies will replace Bank of America (BAC) and American Express (AXP), which worked with Fidelity in a 12-year partnership that generated billions of dollars in fees, Reuters reports.

Under the partnership, U.S. Bancorp will issue the Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Card, which provides 2% cash back and access to digital wallets.

Additionally, U.S. Bancorp will acquire Fidelity's co-brand credit card portfolio, which has about $1.6 billion in associated balances.

"Fidelity Investments and U.S. Bank are two of the most respected brands for helping Americans achieve financial security," Shailesh Kotwal, vice chairman of payment services for U.S. Bank, said in a statement on Monday. "Together, we are able to offer a new card program that builds on our reputations, making it even easier for customers to plan and build for their financial futures."

Separately, recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate U S BANCORP as a Buy with a ratings score of A-. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, good cash flow from operations, growth in earnings per share, expanding profit margins and increase in net income. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- General Motors Co. (GM) invested $500 million in ride-sharing service Lyft as part of a new $1 billion fund-raising round, the two companies announced today.

The latest fund-raising round boosts Lyft's valuation to $5.5 billion. The investment comes as GM believes Lyft will be vital to the future of autonomous vehicles, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Specifically, GM is planning to collaborate with Lyft to develop a self-driving-car system as the race for driver-less autos intensifies.

"We see the future of personal mobility as connected, seamless and autonomous," GM said. "With GM and Lyft working together, we believe we can successfully implement this vision more rapidly."

Along with this announcement, the companies added that the auto maker will have a seat on Lyft's board.

GM shares are falling 1.85% to $33.38 in pre-market trading on Monday.

Overall, markets were being pressured today following a sharp sell-off in Chinese stocks as China's Shanghai Composite slumped 6.8% and the Shenzhen Composite dove more than 8%, CNBC.com reports.

Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate GENERAL MOTORS CO as a Buy with a ratings score of B. This is driven by a few notable strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its notable return on equity, good cash flow from operations and growth in earnings per share. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Nokia Corp. (NOK) stock is up by 1.57% to $7.13 in in early-morning trading on Monday, after French regulators declared the company's public exchange offer for Alcatel-Lucent (ALU)successful.

The Finnish communications and IT company announced last year that it would acquire Alcatel-Lucent, a French IP and cloud networking company, for $17.6 billion.

Based on interim results from the public exchange offer, Nokia will hold about 80% of outstanding Alcatel-Lucent shares, the company said in a statement on Monday.

The companies will combine on January 14.

"We are delighted that the offer has been successful, and that Alcatel-Lucent's investors share our confidence in the future of the combined company," Nokia CEO Rajeev Suri said in a statement on Monday. "We will move quickly to combine the two companies and execute our integration plans."

Alcatel-Lucent stock is up 2.09% to $3.91 in early-morning trading on Monday.

Separately, recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate NOKIA CORP as a Buy with a ratings score of B. This is driven by a number of strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, reasonable valuation levels, good cash flow from operations and expanding profit margins. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Alibaba Group Holding (BABA) are dropping by 5.48% to $76.81 on Monday morning, as China-based stocks decline from plummeting Chinese markets.

Markets in China nose-dived on Monday causing trading to halt for the remainder of the day, CNBC.com reports. The Caixin Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) showed continued shrinkage in manufacturing, renewing worries over the country's economic slowdown.

The Shanghai Composite fell 6.86% and the Shenzhen Composite plunged 8.18%, CNBC.com reports.

Additionally, Alibaba's finance arm Ant Financial Services Group is seeking funds from investors before a planned initial public offering. This is the second time in less than six months that the company has reached out to investors to finance its growth, Reuters reports.

The funding round could reach at least $1.5 billion, Bloomberg reports, and comes after Ant Financial's first major private placement in July.

Separately, recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate ALIBABA GROUP HLDG as a Hold with a ratings score of C-. The primary factors that have impacted our rating are mixed - some indicating strength, some showing weaknesses, with little evidence to justify the expectation of either a positive or negative performance for this stock relative to most other stocks. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its notable return on equity, robust revenue growth and largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures. However, as a counter to these strengths, we find that the stock has had a generally disappointing performance in the past year.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Bank of America Corp. (BAC) stock is down by 2.82% to $16.35 in mid-morning trading on Monday, after Fidelity Investments ended its credit card partnership with the bank.

Fidelity announced on Monday that it will partner with Visa (V) and U.S. Bancorp (USB) on credit cards. Fidelity has about 24 million customers and is one of the largest mutual fund and financial services groups in the world.

The announcement ends Fidelity's 12-year credit card partnership with Bank of America and American Express (AXP), which generated billions of dollars in fees, according to Reuters.

"It's been a long, good partnership," Ram Subramaniam, president of Fidelity's retail brokerage business, told Reuters.

Under the new credit card program, U.S. Bank will issue the "Fidelity Rewards Visa Signature Card," which provides 2% cash back and gives customers access to digital wallets such as Apple (AAPL) Pay, Fidelity said in a statement on Monday.

Based in Charlotte, Bank of America is a bank holding company and a financial holding company.

Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate BANK OF AMERICA CORP as a Buy with a ratings score of B+. This is driven by a number of strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its compelling growth in net income, attractive valuation levels, good cash flow from operations, impressive record of earnings per share growth and expanding profit margins. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had lackluster performance in the stock itself.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
Trade-Ideas LLC identified

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing

(

TSM

) as a weak on high relative volume candidate. In addition to specific proprietary factors, Trade-Ideas identified Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing as such a stock due to the following factors:

TSM has an average dollar-volume (as measured by average daily share volume multiplied by share price) of $108.0 million.

TSM has traded 918,258 shares today.

TSM is trading at 2.52 times the normal volume for the stock at this time of day.

TSM is trading at a new low 3.03% below yesterday's close.

'Weak on High Relative Volume' stocks are worth watching because major volume moves tend to indicate underlying activity such as material stock news, analyst downgrades, insider selling, selling from 'superinvestors,' or that hedge funds and traders are piling out of a stock ahead of a catalyst. Regardless of the impetus behind the price and volume action, when a stock moves with strength and volume it can indicate the start of a new trend on which early investors can capitalize (or avoid losses by trimming weak positions). In the event of a well-timed trading opportunity, combining technical indicators with fundamental trends and a disciplined trading methodology should help you take the first steps towards investment success.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: Get the inside scoop on opportunities in TSM with the Ticky from Trade-Ideas. See the FREE profile for TSM NOW at Trade-Ideas

More details on TSM:

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited engages in the computer-aided design, manufacture, packaging, testing, sale, and marketing of integrated circuits and other semiconductor devices. The stock currently has a dividend yield of 2.5%. TSM has a PE ratio of 19. Currently there are no analysts that rate Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing a buy, 2 analysts rate it a sell, and none rate it a hold.

The average volume for Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing has been 8.4 million shares per day over the past 30 days. Taiwan Semiconductor has a market cap of $119.7 billion and is part of the technology sector and electronics industry. Shares are up 2.2% year-to-date as of the close of trading on Wednesday.

EXCLUSIVE OFFER: See inside Jim Cramer's multi-million dollar charitable trust portfolio to see the stocks he thinks could be potential winners. Click here to see his holdings for 14-days FREE.

TheStreetRatings.com

Analysis:

TheStreet Quant Ratings

rates Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing as a

buy

. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity, good cash flow from operations, expanding profit margins and solid stock price performance. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

Highlights from the ratings report include:

TSM's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.22 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels. Along with this, the company maintains a quick ratio of 3.08, which clearly demonstrates the ability to cover short-term cash needs.

The return on equity has improved slightly when compared to the same quarter one year prior. This can be construed as a modest strength in the organization. When compared to other companies in the Semiconductors & Semiconductor Equipment industry and the overall market, TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MFG CO's return on equity exceeds that of the industry average and significantly exceeds that of the S&P 500.

Net operating cash flow has slightly increased to $3,031.46 million or 5.01% when compared to the same quarter last year. The firm also exceeded the industry average cash flow growth rate of -5.34%.

The gross profit margin for TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MFG CO is currently very high, coming in at 72.55%. Regardless of TSM's high profit margin, it has managed to decrease from the same period last year. Despite the mixed results of the gross profit margin, TSM's net profit margin of 35.19% significantly outperformed against the industry.

After a year of stock price fluctuations, the net result is that TSM's price has not changed very much. Although its weak earnings growth may have played a role in this flat result, don't lose sight of the fact that the performance of the overall market, as measured by the S&P 500 Index, was essentially similar. Turning our attention to the future direction of the stock, it goes without saying that even the best stocks can fall in an overall down market. However, in any other environment, this stock still has good upside potential despite the fact that it has already risen in the past year.

You can view the full Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Ratings Report.

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NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Itau Unibanco (ITUB) are falling by 2.55% to $6.34 in mid-morning trading on Monday, as some U.S. traded Brazil-based stocks take a hit from the decline in the real and weak manufacturing data out of the country's largest trading partner, China.

The real slumped by 1.8% to 4.0312 per dollar in Sao Paulo this afternoon, following the release of data showing a decline in manufacturing in China, Bloomberg reports.

"Chinese demand is very important for Brazil, so negative sentiment there sends ripples everywhere," ABN Amro Bank analyst Georgette Boele told Bloomberg.

Itau Unibanco is a Sao Paulo-based holding company that provides individual and corporate clients in Brazil with a variety of financial products and services.

Contributing to the decline in China's market is a lower than expected Caixin survey, which was released earlier today, CNBC.com reports. The Caixin index is a gauge of nationwide manufacturing activity, with a focus on small and medium sized companies.

The Caixin December manufacturing PMI was lower at 48.2 versus 48.6 in November.

ITUB

data by

YCharts
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Kinross Gold Corp. (KGC) stock is increasing by 1.65% to $1.85 in midday trading on Monday, after gold prices rose more than 1% as global markets retreat following weak economic data from China.

Gold for February delivery is up by 1.18% to $1,072.70 per ounce on the COMEX this afternoon.

Gold prices are benefiting from weak global equities and increased tensions in the Middle East that are causing investors to return to the precious metal, Bloomberg reports.

Prices for gold have been declining for three years and have been volatile in the past few months while the Fed decided to raise rates, which makes commodities traded in dollars more expensive to hold abroad.

"We could pick up in the course of two or three weeks all our losses from last year in gold if things heat up in the Middle East," Peter Thomas, a Zaner Group senior vice president, told Bloomberg. "Obviously, the slowdown in China is real. With gold and silver at close to production costs, people are thinking, this isn't a bad place to be."

Canada-based Kinross Gold is a gold mining company with operations in Canada, the U.S., Russia, Brazil and other countries.

Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate KINROSS GOLD CORP as a Sell with a ratings score of D. This is driven by multiple weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, disappointing return on equity and weak operating cash flow.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
American Express's (AXP) breakup with Fidelity Investments, the third branded-card client to leave in less than a year, signals heightened competition in the massive market as rewards for both borrowers and lenders fizzle.

Fidelity, a retail brokerage and retirement-savings provider, said Monday it would begin offering Visa (V) rewards cards issued by U.S. Bank (USB) to its 24 million customers, replacing rewards cards issued by Charlotte, N.C.-based Bank of America (BAC) that had used the American Express and Mastercard (MA) payment networks.

The deal marks another loss, albeit a small one, for New York-based American Express, the 165-year-old giant that issues cards and operates its own payment network. The Fidelity portfolio accounts for less than 1% of the company's billings, said Marina Norville, a spokeswoman. In 2015, the company said it was ending branded-card deals with Costco (COST) , which made up 20% of its card-member loan portfolio, as well as New York-based airline JetBlue (JBLU) .

"The co-brand credit card market moved into the spotlight in 2015 with Amex's loss of the Costco partnership," Nomura analyst Bill Carcache said in a note, "and it remained in focus throughout the rest of the year as a number of high-profile renewals made it clear that issuer economics were getting squeezed."

Despite its massive size, accounting for roughly 50% of card spending, the branded-card market is becoming "incrementally less lucrative" for card-issuers, Carcache said in the report, co-authored by Steven Chubak. JPMorgan Chase (JPM) , for instance, said fee income lost when it renewed contracts with airlines United (UAL) and Southwest (LUV) , would cost it $800 million, while American Express indicated that renewals with both Starwood (HOT) hotels and Delta Air Lines (DAL) would pressure earnings, Carcache said.

Consumers are getting squeezed, too. Card users "who were steadfast in saving their points for travel were disappointed to find that it took more points in 2015 versus 2013 to get the same airplane ticket -- with American (AA) , Delta and United -- or hotel room, with Hilton (HLT) , Starwood and Marriott (MAR) ," Carcache wrote.

The average rewards yield for airline card spending was about 0.9% in 2015, down from about 1.3% in 2013, according to Nomura's analysis of 32 branded rewards cards. For hotel cards, the yield dropped to about 1.8% from 2% in 2013, Carcache said.

The Fidelity cards, widely noted for some of the best rewards available, offer points on each dollar spent that can be applied to gift cards, merchandise and travel or converted into cash -- if deposited into a Fidelity account.

Customers using Fidelity's 2% cash-back credit cards have netted more than $1 billion in cash rewards since 2003, Ram Subramaniam, president of Fidelity's retail brokerage business, said in a statement, proving that "the opportunity to use everyday spending to help bolster contributions for longer-term savings and investment goals is too good to ignore."

Under the new agreement, Minneapolis-based U.S. Bank will buy Fidelity's $1.6 billion branded-card portfolio from Bank of America, said Dana Ripley, a spokesman for U.S. Bank.

The decision not to renew the Fidelity deal was a mutual one, said Betty Reiss, a spokeswoman for Bank of America.

"Over the past several years, Bank of America has been exiting from our financial institutions card business where Bank of America has limited opportunity to deepen customer relationships," she said in an e-mailed statement. "This move is consistent with that strategy."
General Motors (GM) , in a bit of intra-Detroit one-upmanship, announced on Monday that it's investing $500 million in Lyft, the fast-growing ride service that is No. 2 behind Uber. GM's investment represents a new $1 billion round of funding in Lyft that values the company at $5.5 billion.

Ford (F) , meanwhile, is widely expected on Tuesday to furnish details of its reported alliance with Alphabet's (GOOGL) Google subsidiary that will go beyond driverless cars and explore ways to provide "alternative mobility solutions."

Mark Fields, Ford's CEO, is scheduled to address the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas at 8 a.m. on Tuesday morning, local time. Ford declined to provide details of his speech. The No. 2 U.S. automaker also is expected to announce that Apple Car-Play and Android Auto, two systems that allow smartphones to be mirrored on automobile dashboards, will be included in Ford's Sync3 infotainment system.

Apple Car-Play and Android already are being rolled out on GM models, though Toyota (TM) is resisting, preferring to develop its own system.

The two Detroit-based automaking giants are historic rivals in an industry that is racing to keep pace with technological developments that are upsetting long-held assumptions about the business of designing, building and selling automobiles. If there is a business model for driverless cars that are shared among users, GM and Ford each want to dominate.

Ford and Google have declined since Dec. 21 to respond to published reports starting on that date that they are discussing a broad alliance for the manufacture of driverless cars. Google has been demonstrating and developing driverless technology on California roads with pilot vehicles built by Toyota and others.

The evolution toward driverless technology, which is unfolding much quicker than forecasts from a year or two ago, could lead to consumers forgoing vehicle ownership in urban settings in favor of services that provide "mobility" -- a buzzword heard more and more frequently among auto executives. Automakers are scrambling to position themselves as more than mere providers of vehicles.

"We see the future of personal mobility as connected, seamless and autonomous," said Dan Ammann, GM president, in a statement. "With GM and Lyft working together, we believe we can successfully implement this vision more rapidly."

John Zimmer, Lyft president, told The Los Angeles Times he believes autonomous vehicles eventually will be shared by consumers. Uber has opened a laboratory in Pittsburgh in collaboration with Carnegie-Mellon University to test driverless technology.

Sidecar, a San Francisco-based, ride-hailing and delivery company and competitor to Uber and Lyft, shut down two days ago.

Doron Levin is the host of "In the Driver Seat," broadcast on SiriusXM Insight 121, Saturday at noon, encore Sunday at 9 a.m.

This article is commentary by an independent contributor. At the time of publication, the author held no positions in the stocks mentioned.
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) are dropping by 4.21% to $6.49 on Monday afternoon, as oil prices erase today's earlier gains.

Oil prices fell this afternoon on concerns over decelerating global economic growth and declining stocks worldwide, Reuters reports.

Crude oil (WTI) is decreasing by 0.86% to $36.72 per barrel this afternoon and Brent oil is down by 0.48% to $37.10 per barrel, according to the CNBC.com index.

Earlier today, oil rebounded after Saudi Arabia cut ties with Iran, which some analysts said could cause restrictions on oil shipments from the Middle East, Reuters noted.

"The Saudi-Iran standoff is certainly one to worry over given its ramifications for oil supply," Phil Flynn, analyst at the Price Futures Group told Reuters. "But the equity markets selloff is more pressing and difficult to ignore because of the impact of China on the global economy and overall demand for oil."

Global stocks were pressured by a sharp sell-off in Chinese markets after the Caixin PMI showed continued shrinkage in Chinese manufacturing, CNBC.com reports.

Separately, recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate FREEPORT-MCMORAN INC as a Sell with a ratings score of D. This is driven by a few notable weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. The company's weaknesses can be seen in multiple areas, such as its deteriorating net income, generally high debt management risk, disappointing return on equity, weak operating cash flow and generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Gold Fields Limited (GFI) are surging by 6.86% to $2.96 on Monday afternoon as gold prices rise today.

The price of the precious metal was pushed into the green today on growing tensions in the Middle East and declining stocks around the world after disappointing data from China, Reuters reports.

"We could pick up in the course of two or three weeks all our losses from last year in gold if things heat up in the Middle East," Peter Thomas, a senior VP at metals broker Zaner Group told Bloomberg. "Obviously, the slowdown in China is real. With gold and silver at close to production costs, people are thinking, this isn't a bad place to be."

Global stocks are being pressured by a sharp sell-off in Chinese markets after the Caixin PMI showed continued declines in Chinese manufacturing, CNBC.com reports.

For February delivery, gold is climbing by 1.38% to $1,074.80 on the COMEX this afternoon.

Gold Fields is a South Africa-based producer of gold with eight operating mines in Australia, Ghana, Peru and South Africa.

Separately, recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate GOLD FIELDS LTD as a Sell with a ratings score of D. This is driven by a few notable weaknesses, which we believe should have a greater impact than any strengths, and could make it more difficult for investors to achieve positive results compared to most of the stocks we cover. Among the areas we feel are negative, one of the most important has been a generally disappointing historical performance in the stock itself.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Target (TGT) stock is advancing by 0.52% to $73 in afternoon trading on Monday, after promoting Janna Potts to the position of executive vice president, chief stores officer, effective immediately.

Within her new role, Potts will oversee Target's 1,805 U.S. stores, according to a statement.

Potts has held a range of leadership positions in stores, operations, and human resources since joining the company in 1989. Most recently, she was Target's senior vice president of human resources focused on stores and distribution.

Potts replaces Tina Tyler, who was fired today and will leave the company on January 9, the Wall Street Journal reports. Her dismissal is tied to CEO Brian Cornell's emphasis on refocusing on fashion and home goods, expanding online business and opening new stores in urban rather than suburban centers.

The management change also underscores Target's desire to distance itself from former CEO Gregg Steinhafel's tenure, the Journal notes.

"As we continue to focus on offering our guests a seamless, uniquely Target shopping experience, we believe Janna's strategic leadership, expertise in managing complex organizations, and her dedication to the team make her well suited for the opportunities ahead," COO John Mulligan said in a statement.

Separately, recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate TARGET CORP as a Buy with a ratings score of A-. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its increase in net income, revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, notable return on equity and good cash flow from operations. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows low profit margins.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Shares of Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) closed trading down 2.18% to $100.48 on Monday, amid a wider market selloff, despite announcing a first quarter dividend today.

The New Brunswick, NJ-based diversified product manufacturer announced that its board of directors declared a cash dividend of 75 cents for the first quarter this year.

The dividend will be payable March 8 to shareholders of record on February 23.

Separately, the company is seeking to sell its Nomarco subsidiary, according to Reuters. Nomarco is the company's manufacturer of active pharmaceutical ingredients in painkillers including oxycodone.

The sale of the division could garner as much as $800 million, according to Reuters.

Johnson & Johnson traded on heavy volume today with 12.3 million shares changing hands today versus the stock's daily average of 7.5 million shares.

In after hours trading the stock is up 2.23% to $102.72.

Recently, TheStreet Ratings objectively rated this stock according to its "risk-adjusted" total return prospect over a 12-month investment horizon. Not based on the news in any given day, the rating may differ from Jim Cramer's view or that of this articles's author. TheStreet Ratings has this to say about the recommendation:

We rate JOHNSON & JOHNSON as a Buy with a ratings score of A-. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, reasonable valuation levels, good cash flow from operations and expanding profit margins. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income.

Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
Montreal, CA (H4T1V6)

Today

A mix of clouds and sun this morning then becoming cloudy with periods of light rain this afternoon. High 52F. Winds SSW at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 70%..

Tonight

Partly cloudy this evening followed by increasing clouds with showers developing after midnight. Low 42F. Winds S at 10 to 15 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Even the weather played its part. By Moscow standards, it was a warm night on December 24the temperature was just a notch above zero degree Celsius, although the rest of the week was markedly colderwhen Prime Minister Narendra Modi boarded his flight to Kabul, after winding up his two-day visit to Russia. His entourage had thinned by then, after some people who accompanied him were sent on another plane to Delhi. Four hours and 59 minutes later, Modi would land in Kabul to deliver Afghanistan its new parliament building. And a few hours later, he did the unthinkable, touching down in Lahore on an unscheduled visit and sharing a warm hug with Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. Modi's visit must have been a surprise for Sharif, but it certainly was not a shock to him.

Feelers had been sent from both sides for a possible surprise visit. It may have been spontaneous and impromptu, but it was not unscripted. In the world of diplomacy, nothing is left to chance, especially in a delicate relationship like India and Pakistan. The Russians reportedly nudged India to engage with Pakistan as they were worried about the possible fallout of the US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan. It is no coincidence that the helicopters on the wish-list the Afghans gave India were as Russian as vodka.

It is no accident, former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri told THE WEEK. There is some method to the madness. The thaw had started a while ago. The UN climate summit in Paris, where the two PMs shook hands in front of the whole world, may have started a buzz, but even before that, there were indications that a reconciliation was in the making.

So, when Modi called Sharif to wish him well on his birthday on December 25, opportunity presented itself. The timing could not have been more perfect. Thanking him, Sharif mentioned that he was in Lahore. Modi reportedly asked him why, and Sharif said his granddaughter Mehrunnisa was getting married. I have got the invite and I will greet you in person, Modi reportedly told him.

After he hung up, it was left to the Special Protection Group to finalise the details. The idea of an Indian prime minister touching down on Pakistani soil without any prior arrangements was unprecedented and dangerous. To assuage security concerns, Pakistan proposed that Sharif would travel in a chopper with Modi from the airport to the Sharif residence in Raiwind, on the outskirts of the city. Their PM would guarantee the security of ours, said PMO sources.

It was only then that the rest of the team on the plane was apprised of the development. It was a surprise even for the spokesperson of the ministry of external affairs, Vikas Swarup. Are you kidding, he reportedly asked, on being briefed by the PM's private secretary. He was assured that it was not a joke. And, moments later, Modi became the first Indian to get a Pakistani visa on arrival.

Getting off the plane in a kurta pyjama and an orange waistcoat, Modi hugged Sharif. His gesture of meeting Modi at the tarmac was as much a guarantee as it was symbolic. I am personally touched by Nawaz Sharif sahibs gesture of welcoming me at Lahore airport, tweeted Modi.

The warmth seemed genuine as the two had met five times before. Despite the hard stance taken by them in the past, the duo certainly share a chemistry. It was quite an intimate meeting. Even the national security adviser and the foreign secretary did not speak much. It was just the two leaders, said an official.

Sitting across from Modi, Sharif opened the conversation by saying that he had always been supportive of the peace process. It has been my calling card, he said. Modi replied that it was important for peace to happen. The conversation was pleasant and while the nitty-gritty of the issues was not discussed, it set the tone for the foreign secretary-level meeting.

The invitation to Modi to visit Sharif's home, especially in the middle of the wedding preparations, was an indication that the visit went beyond business. Modi met Sharif's family, including his mother, for 15 minutes without even his closest aides.

The bonhomie between the two leaders has been growing for some time now. The first real conversation between them happened in Paris, said PMO sources. Modi reportedly told Sharif that it was time to talk. Sharif expressed his disappointment over the blocking of the NSA-level talks and asked what could be done. If that is your worry, lets do it, Modi reportedly told him. The meeting of the NSAs in Bangkok was the result of this exchange. It was the first encounter between Ajit Doval and the new Pakistani NSA, Nasser Khan Janjua, a retired lieutenant general, who differed considerably with his predecessor Sartaj Aziz. It was followed by Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj's sudden visit to Pakistan to attend the Heart of Asia conference. The visas for the delegation accompanying her were processed late at night by the Pakistan High Commission. It was also the first time that Pakistan removed the blanket ban on Indian journalists from travelling across the border. Sushma's visit to Pakistan, where she spent time with the Sharif family, further warmed the relationship.

The announcement of the meeting of the foreign secretaries was made on the midnight before Modi landed, said Kasuri. It is a sequence. The inauguration of the much-delayed Turkmenistan-Afghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) pipeline on December 13 by Vice President Hamid Ansari could be another significant factor. The $7.6-billion pipeline, to transport natural gas from Turkmenistan, could give a vital boost to energy-deficient India and Pakistan. It will bring together the neighbourhood in a tangible manner, ensuring 38 million standard cubic metres of gas each a day for India and Pakistan, while Afghanistan will get 14 million standard cubic metres.

Two days later, Modi indicated to his defence establishment that he wanted to talk to Pakistan. Addressing the combined commanders conference on board INS Vikramaditya off the Kochi coast, Modi outlined his plan for bringing peace to the region. We are engaging Pakistan to try and turn the course of history, bring an end to terrorism, build peaceful relations, advance cooperation and promote stability and prosperity in our region, he said.

The Congress may not be willing to jump on the peace wagon just as yet, but across the border, the Modi-Sharif meeting has been welcomed. Barring a few right-wing groups like the Jamaat-e-Islami, the Pakistani opposition groups and the civil society have welcomed the move. Even the military, believed to be the real power behind the throne in Pakistan, seems to be willing to give it a go. The military doesnt want a hot eastern border, said Rana Banerji, former special secretary, cabinet secretariat. The most obvious indication to this was the way the visit was handled. The military would have been informed and it would have given a go-ahead as soon as the Indian Air Force plane carrying Modi entered the Pakistani airspace. Raheel Sharif, the army chief, shares an equation with Nawaz Sharif. Before inviting Modi to his home, he would have checked with Raheel to see if it was okay, said Banerji.

Lines of control: Pakistan army chief General Raheel Sharif (centre), who shares an equation with Nawaz Sharif, seems to have given the go-ahead for the meeting with Modi | Reuters

There are also indications that the time is ripe for fresh engagement. Modi's acerbic tongue and macho image, which bothered the Pakistanis to no end, have softened. The Pakistanis have also been worried that Sartaj Aziz, who was the NSA till recently, was no match for an operational man like Doval. Now, with a military man at the helm, the Pakistani leadership hopes that the negotiations would have a different tone and tenor.

Kasuri, who had chalked out the famous four points of peace for former president Pervez Musharraf, said the military seemed inclined towards peace. War is not an option for nuclear states, he said. Sharif is keen to leave a legacy behind. And, this time, he will be more careful. He lost power last time when he met Atal Bihari Vajpayee in Lahore because he tried to rush the process without the consent of the army. He will not take that risk again, said Banerji.

Following the theatrics, comes the difficult part. The talks between the foreign secretaries scheduled for January 15 will probably be the most hyped and breathlessly anticipated India-Pakistan conversation in a long time. With the meeting in Lahore, the atmospherics have improved significantly. We are now looking forward to putting in place a comprehensive engagement mechanism that is irreversible and result oriented, Pakistan's High Commissioner to India, Abdul Basit, told THE WEEK.

However, the problem is that there may not be a tangible result for a long time. On December 29, when Sartaj Aziz, who is now the Pakistan government's adviser on foreign affairs, spoke to the Pakistani Senate about the Modi-Sharif visit, he made it clear that expectations must not be unrealistic. He said the dialogue process was challenging and there would be progress in some issues while others would take time and involve difficult decisions.

The foreign secretaries are expected to prepare a schedule for the comprehensive dialogue. Expect the low-hanging fruit, said Kasuri. The agreements are already in place, they will be implemented. There will be confidence building measures, like trade and people-to-people contact.

Trade will probably be high on the agenda. The thrust of Modis foreign policy has been the bonds of business, rather than culture or strategic affairs. He is believed to have told Sharif, If India can have trade relations with China even though we have differences, why cant we engage in trade with you? For Sharif, whose family has many business interests, this makes sense. One of the questions the Senate asked Aziz was whether trade links would be reopened.

Hours before he landed in Lahore, Modi had spoken about his economic dreams. He obliquely referred to a free trade zone while speaking at the new Afghan parliament building: I hope that the day will come soon when energy from central Asia will power prosperity in our region; when a Kabuliwala can once again come across easily to win Indian hearts; when we in India can relish the wonderful fruits of Afghanistan; when Afghans do not have to pay an enormous price to buy their favourite products from India.

Terrorism, the other T, may not be so easy to negotiate. The 26/11 trial will be a major obstacle. India wants a guarantee that the culprits will be punished and that there will be speedy justice. This was discussed when the two NSAs met in Bangkok. India had got an assurance that the trial would be speeded up. India wants specific proof that the culprits will be convicted or charged. We will also want terror mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakwi to be put behind bars, said Banerji.

Kashmir could prove to be a deal-breaker once again. A senior Kashmiri separatist leader told THE WEEK that they had been told by Pakistan to allow the dialogue to gather some pace and not disrupt it unnecessarily. The Delhi round of the NSA-level talks collapsed after Pakistan insisted on meeting the separatist leaders in Delhi. However, according to sources, the stubbornness shown by the separatist leaders enraged many Pakistani leaders. ''After the talks collapsed, the separatist leaders received an earful from Pakistani diplomats,'' said a source. You should have allowed to the talks to begin and not vitiate the atmosphere,'' the leaders were told. This was probably the reason why Modi's Lahore visit was welcomed by the Hurriyat leadership.

Radha Kumar, an interlocutor for Kashmir under the Manmohan Singh government, however, sees the talks as a good opportunity. The fact that there is a momentum to it is a welcome move. One of the issues is that people believe that nothing will happen and no solution is possible. We have to change that, said Kumar.

Also on the agenda are issues like Sir Creek, Siachen and the water-sharing agreementsnone of them have easy solutions. And even if the talks progress, there are many spoilers that can ensure that, like Lahore and Agra, the talks could be derailed. India and Pakistan have gone down this path many times and failed.

Manmohan Singh wanted peace, but he failed to convince even his diplomatic corps. Can Modi tame the hardliners of the sangh parivar? The recent remark by senior BJP leader Ram Madhav about Akhand Bharat has already spooked Pakistan, although it was quickly retracted as a personal observation. If Modi intervenes, people fall in line. We have seen a shift in Indias foreign policy. It is driven by Modi. He is moving away from person-to-person relations to one of nation-to-nation, said Shamika Ravi, fellow at Brookings Institution, an influential American think tank.

For Sharif, it is important to keep the Pakistan army on the peace path. The backing of Pakistan army for the normalisation of relations with India could largely be the result of the security situation in Pakistan. It is leading a major operation against the Tehreek-e-Taliban militants along the Afghanistan border and can ill afford any flare-up on the Line of Control and the International Border with India. The situation in Balochistan, too, is tense.

However, while the army might be on board at the moment, it could change any time. This is a long road, with many twists and turns, said Stephen P. Cohen, senior fellow, Brookings Institution. The most critical element will be those on both sides who want to break up the normalisation process; this has happened several times before, he said. Modi and Sharif, therefore, have to keep the process sustained and carry it forward. The talks have to be meaningful, said Kasuri. If it has no substance, they are bound to fail, he said. Many other observers, too, tend to agree. Sumit Ganguly, who heads the Center on American and Global Security at Indiana University, said there was little or nothing in the public domain that would suggest that the Pakistan army was fully on board. They may have given the nod to Sharif to proceed, but they will not merely keep a very watchful eye, but stand ready to quickly scuttle the talks if it does not proceed to their liking, said Ganguly. He said the talks would have a better chance if China and the US were to gently prod Islamabad.

Modi has shown that he has the style and the capability for the dramatic gestures. He is believed to have told Sharif: I have come empty handed, but I will send a gift. Whether the gifts are of enduring substance is what remains to be seen.

WITH TARIQ BHAT AND AJISH P. JOY
Indictments were handed down in the Lod District Court on Sunday, 22 Teves against suspects in the Duma arson case including his client, a minor and an adult.

The main suspect in the arson case is Jerusalem resident 21-year-old Amiram Ben-Uliel, who was charged with the counts of murder. The name of minors may not be published. One minor was charged with accessory to murder. Two additional minors were charged with violence against Palestinians. The attack, according to the ISA, was to avenge the 2015 murder of Malachi Moshe Rosenfeld HYD, who was killed in a terrorist shooting attack on the Alon Road in 2015.

Ben-Uliel was a member in an organization called Givonim, a subset of the Hilltop Youth, a group of Jewish extremists. According to a Shin-Bet statement, the Givonim seek to accomplish their goal of anointing a king over Israel by carrying out a violent coup against the government, and murdering or expelling all non-Jews from Israel.

The indictment said that Ben-Uliel was supposed to meet a minor who was to assit him in the arson attack, but had failed to show up. Ben-Uliel instead proceeded on his own and carried the attack out by himself.

The fire resulted in the loss of life of three of the family members; 18-month-old Ali Dawabsheh was burned alive in the fire, while both his parents died from their injuries within weeks.

Following the indictments, the attorney for one of the minors, Itamar Ben-Givir, told the press My client is innocent, categorically rejecting the indictment. The indictment is not final but the opening of a Pandoras box opened by the ISA (Israel Security Agency  Shin Bet).

Ben-Givir compared the indictment to past cases in which the ISA came under fire including the 300 bus and accuses the ISA of crossing lines that may not be crossed in desperation to solve the case.

I suggest the ISA does not run to celebrate. My client is innocent! My client has not confessed to police. He was broken by torture during the ISA interrogation. If the ISA claims there was no torture, it behooves the ISA to release the recordings of the ISA basements. The minor I am representing is not a murder suspect.

My client is innocent and was abused and tortured using sodomy beds and he was beaten. The law stipulates such confessions are inadmissible

Note: The 300 bus affair occurred in 1984 when ISA agents shot restrained Arab terrorists immediately following the release of hostages on the bus in Ashdod. This was followed by ISA agents giving false testimony. The case led to a national outcry, the resignation of ISA Director Avraham Shalom and a government investigation committee.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem / Photo: Medabrim Tikshoret)
One of the questions being asked today is how the terrorist responsible for the erev Shabbos shooting attack in a Dizengoff Street pub managed to escape. Kol Chai Radios Mordechai Lavi on Sunday morning 22 Teves asked this very question to Deputy Defense Minister Eli Ben-Dahan.

Ben-Dahan stated this question is being asked by security officials too and perhaps after he is apprehended it will be answered. When Lavi pointed out that perhaps in Tel Aviv, residents are less likely to fire at a terrorist as they might in Jerusalem, Ben-Dahan stated that just a few weeks ago a soldier who witnessed a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv fired at a terrorist, neutralizing him immediately. However, Ben-Dahan admits there are many questions that have yet to be answered. He added he received reports there were people with weapons who for one reason or another did not fire at the terrorist, and this too is being probed.

Lavi added that shuls are a terrorists dream, questioning why the Defense Ministry has not decided to place security guards at shuls during this wave of terror. Ben-Dahan explained There are 11,000 shuls in Israel it is simply not possible to place guards at all of them. However, Lavi questioned why at the very least guards are not placed at the main shul in a community, a question that remains unanswered.

Ben-Dahan explained many details surrounding this shooting remain a mystery at this time and additional answers are likely to be provided when the suspect who remains at large is apprehended.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The Israel Lands Authority published tenders for 4,268 new apartments in Beit Shemesh, in Ramat Beit Shemesh; in areas daled and hey. It is added that additional tenders will be released in 2016 to reach a total of 6,000 additional apartments in Beit Shemesh in 2016.

Last week, a meeting was held with Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, Housing Minister Yoav Gallant, Head of Planning Authority Avigdor Yitzchaki, Beit Shemesh Mayor Moshe Abutbul, Head of the Planning Committee Moshe Muntag and other officials to discuss the tenders and continued growth in Beit Shemesh. How these apartments will be advertised to the public was discussed along with continued development of the city including parks, public institutions, and more.

The apartments are being built towards solving the national housing crisis and as such, contractors are only permitted to sell the apartment to new home owners. That means anyone with an apartment in their name elsewhere will not be eligible to buy one of these apartments. As such, the price per square meter is promised to be very attractive, with an emphasis on young married couples. In the Gimmel area, over 2,000 apartments are in the advanced stage of construction. In Daled, there are 8,300 apartments in three neighborhoods and the current availability is Daled-One with 1,230 units, Daled-Two 1,322 units, Daled-Hey with 5,000 units, divided into two neighborhoods of which 2,074 are being marketed now. It is reported that in southern Beit Shemesh, there are 9,000 units have been approved for construction.

Officials in City Hall are hopeful that residents will begin moving into the new areas of the city in 3.5-to-4 years. It is stressed the new neighborhoods are being constructed on a high standard, and an array of high-standard apartments will be available and there will of course be shuls, green areas as well as shopping and public and commercial services. The area is being built with the chareidi tzibur in mind, amid a realization most residents will not have a vehicle.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
A meeting was held in the office of Chief Rabbi of Israel Rabbi Dovid Lau Shlita and Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush, Education Minister Director-General Michal Cohen and a number of her senior staff. The talks surround efforts to have Chief Rabbinate of Israel semicha (Rabbinical ordination) recognized as a bachelors degree in the work sector. A decision was made to form a committee to probe the merits of such a policy.

The meeting is in response to a decision made by former Minister of Education Shai Piron to diminish the job-ranking points one received for successfully completing tests for Chief Rabbinate semicha. This refers to the point system that determines ones salary as a teacher, with the point system taking documented authorized continuing education classes an academic degrees into account along with ones work-related experience. Acknowledging semicha exams would bring teachers in the chareidi sector to a higher pay scale, more in line with the teachers in the regular sector.

The committee that will probe accepting exams from the Chief Rabbinate semicha will include representatives of the Education Ministry and Chief Rabbinate. Both Rav Lau and Porush were delighted at the formation of the committee for if approved, teachers in the chareidi sector who successfully completed tests for Chief Rabbinate semicha will receive a pay hike.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Adherence to the so-called religious status quo in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood of the capital was ignored on yet another Shabbos as the minhelet community center once again RL offered free movies to interested residents of Shabbos Kodesh. Despite a directive from Mayor Nir Barkat to halt the movies, explaining the religious status quo must be maintained, the local government appears to prefer to continue offering movies in the mixed neighborhood as the shomer Shabbos community within Kiryat Yovel continues to grow.

A minhelet in a respective neighborhood is viewed as an extension of City Hall and is compelled to adhere to directives from City Hall but in this case, the secularist activists appear more interested in preventing their neighborhood from joining the growing chareidi population in Yerushalayim.

Jerusalem Councilman (Bayit Yehudi) Dov Kalmanovich decried the Shabbos movies and the minhelets disregard for directives from City Hall. He stated a body operating under the control of City Hall may not continue doing as it wishes in total defiance of the directives from the mayors office. Kalmanovich adds the movies are a gross violation of the religious status quo to which the administration remains committed.

Kalmanovich on Sunday, 22 Teves, held a kenos to strengthen shmiras Shabbos in the capital attended by Rabbi Chaim Druckman Shlita and roshei yeshivos affiliated with Bnei Akiva. Also in attendance were Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern Shlita and Petach Tikvah Chief Rabbi Micha Halevy Shlita.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The Ministry of Education has the Elkayam School in Bnei Brak in its sights as the school reportedly refused to accept a girl due to its discriminatory policy. Ministry Director-General Michal Cohen sent a harshly worded letter to Bnei Brak Mayor Chanoch Zeibert, warning if the girl is not accepted the ministry will halt funding to the school.

It appears the ministry is taking a harsh position as the mayor has already refused earlier requests to intervene towards compelling the school to accept the Sephardi student into the city-run school. The school and the mayor were given a deadline of 29 Teves at 10:00AM to comply after which time the funding for the school will be cut off.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
The Justice Ministry released details of the indictments handed down in the Duma arson case. YWN-ISRAEL reported on Sunday 22 Teves that Jerusalem resident Amiram Ben-Uliel was indicted in the case along with a minor, whose details may not be publicized.

The Tel Aviv District Prosecutors Office on Sunday morning, in the Lod District Court, submitted an indictment against Amiram Ben-Uliel, 21, who is charged with murdering three members of the Darawshe family in Duma, with attempting to murder an additional member of the family, and with committing other offenses including attempted murder and arson for racist motives. An additional defendant, a 17-year-old minor, is charged with criminal conspiracy and other offenses for racist motives, including conspiracy regarding the aforesaid attack. The arson at Dormition Abbey is also attributable to him. The accused are also charged with belonging to a terrorist organization.

The submission of the indictment was approved by the Attorney General and the State Attorney. According to the indictment, which was filed by attorneys Rachel Avisar and Yael Atzmon, during 2009-2013, Jewish activists carried out various Price Tag actions which were characterized by arson and spray-painting graffiti against Muslims and Christians simply because of the religious or national affiliation. Their overall goal was to deter decision-makers and dissuade them from evacuating communities and outposts in Yehuda and Shomron due to concern over additional actions and future disturbances that would be carried out as a result. In 2013, Price Tag activists were declared an illegal organization.

In the indictment, it is claimed that in the past two years, a group of extremists began to operate that sought to advance a more violent ideological agenda the goal of which was to undermine the stability of the State of Israel by violent terrorist acts including harm to life and bloodshed. To this end, the accused are charged with belonging to a terrorist organization that set for itself the goal of bringing about a security conflagration against a nationalist and inter-religious background. The violent acts carried out by the accused in the framework of this terrorist organization were designed to deliver a message of deterrence and to sow fear among the non-Jewish population.

In the indictment, it says that following the June 2015 murder of Malachi Rosenfeld by Palestinian terrorists, Amiram Ben-Uliel and the accused minor conspired to carry out a revenge attack against Arabs and kill people. In this context, the two discussed a location for the attack and agreed to carry it out in Duma, they also agreed to carry out another attack  if possible  in nearby Majdal, with the intention of killing people in their homes.

To this end, Ben-Uliel prepared a bag with two bottles full of a flammable liquid, rags, a lighter, a box of matches, gloves and a can of black spray-paint. On the night of 30 July, Ben-Uliel donned dark clothing and set out from his home with the bag in order to meet the accused minor in a cave at the outpost known as Yishuv Daat. After failing to meet the minor, Ben-Uliel decided to carry out the attack on his own. Upon reaching the outskirts of Duma, he tied his shirt around his head to hide his face and put the gloves on his hands. In order to increase the damage and ensure that the home he would set fire to was not abandoned, Ben-Uliel looked for a home with indications that it was inhabited. He first spray-painted the words Revenge and Long live the King Messiah on the walls of a two-story home belonging to Mamun Darawshe and then threw a firebomb through one of its windows with the intention of killing its inhabitants. The home, which was empty, went up in flames.

Immediately afterwards, Ben-Uliel turned toward the home of Saad and Raham Darawshe with the second firebomb in his hand. After trying to open two windows without success, he opened a window to the bedroom in which the family members were then sleeping, lit the firebomb, threw it in and fled on foot. The fire spread and caught four family members. Ali Darawshe, a one-and-a-half year-old baby, his two parents, Said and Riham Darawshe, were killed; four-year-old Ahmed is still hospitalized five months later having been severely burned.

Ben-Uliel is charged with three acts of murder as well as attempted murder, arson, and criminal conspiracy with racist motives. The minor is charged with criminal conspiracy to commit murder for racist motives, arson, willfully causing damage for racist motives and additional offenses.

The investigation was led by the ISA and the Israel Police.

Please note: The court has issued a gag order on all details regarding the identity of the minor as well as all details regarding the means and methods used by the ISA in investigating the affair.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Two adults and a minor were arrested by police, all having been documented on video participating in the so-called hate wedding.

Police have announced they would be reviewing the videos of the wedding, which were aired by Channel 10 News, and anyone dancing with a weapon or the photo of a Duma arson victim photo with a knife through it would be arrested. The five suspects including the chosson who were arrested to date have all been released. An attorney for one of the suspects, Daniel Pinner of Tapuach, told police his client was dancing with a toy gun.

The wedding video comes at a time when the Duma arson investigation by the ISA (Israel Security Agency  Shin Bet) received prime media coverage and the nations atmosphere is one of being against anyone perceived as extremist. There have been harsh allegations from suspects arrested in the Duma case of ISA torture and these allegations are being ignored by all rights organizations with the exclusion of Honenu.

On Monday, 23 Teves, Jerusalem Chief Rabbi Aryeh Stern Shlita called for a probe of the ISA to determine if the accusations of torture are accurate. Rav Stern explained that even if the suspects are guilty, state agencies must no break the law while interrogating them. Rav Stern met with families of the suspects and heard harsh testimony of how the suspects, including minors, were tortured and subjected to sleep deprivation, practices that were deemed illegal by Israels Supreme Court.

Honenu attorney Itamar Ben-Givir, who represents some of the suspects from the hate wedding told the media the actions of those involved was stupid and self-defeating but no one broke the law. He insists they were dancing with toy guns and not real one as police allege.

(YWN  Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
Former President Bill Clinton made his debut solo appearance in New Hampshire Monday on behalf of his wife, Hillary Clintons 2016 presidential campaign  a lot grayer, a bit trimmer and far more subdued than nearly a quarter century ago when he rescued his flagging 1992 campaign in this key early voting state.

While Bill Clinton was keen to keep the focus on Hillary Clintons key campaign platforms, the passing time hasnt shielded him from the ghosts that haunted his own presidency  Republican front-runner Donald Trump going on the offensive in recent days with attacks over his impeachment and decades-old scandal.

As Bill Clinton mingled with a lunchtime crowd at a popular Manchester restaurant, news station above his head ran captioned video questioning whether he could avoid Trumps flagrant attacks  and thats just what he did, instead drawing focus to the race at hand.

They have to choose a nominee and we have a primary to win, he said when asked about Trump and the broader Republican field. One of my many rules in politics is dont look past the next election.

In a wide-ranging address that took voters through Hillary Clintons work as a young lawyer in Arkansas, ways to combat heroin addiction, the political achievements of President Barack Obama and the failings of Americas fourteenth president, Franklin Pierce, Bill Clinton argued that the Democratic front-runner offers the best plan to restore broadly shared prosperity.

The event marked the former presidents debut solo appearance for his wifes campaign, part of a broader strategy to boost the Democratic front-runners campaign in the run-up to early voting next month.

I do not believe in my lifetime anybody has run for this job at a moment of great importance who was better qualified by knowledge, experience and temperament to do what needs to be done now, he told several hundred New Hampshire voters gathered in a college auditorium.

Trump was on the offensive ahead of Bill Clintons campaign debut, raising concern over the former presidents scandals and the role his wife played.

So far, Bill Clinton has remained silence about Trumps slams  following the lead of his wifes campaign, which believes their candidate comes across as more presidential by rising above what they see as the Republicans crass political tactics.

He spoke calmly and quietly in New Hampshire on Monday, methodically describing the issues he sees as motivating voters in the next election. Clinton warned voters that the next president could appoint as many as three Supreme Court justices and reverse the health care law and environmental programs of the Obama administration.

Hillary Clinton, her husband said, offers the best path to economic prosperity, dealing with social problems like heroin addiction and foreign policy that doesnt undermine the American character.

I think it is the plan that offers the best chance to have the most rapid movement to broadly shared propserity, he said.

Still, some of Trumps attacks seem to have struck a nerve.

At a campaign event in New Hampshire on Sunday, Katherine Prudhomme OBrien heckled Clinton about her husbands scandalous history, accusing her of enabling him to mistreat women.

You are very rude and Im not going to ever call on you, Clinton snapped at OBrien, after repeated shouted interruptions by the New Hampshire state representative.

Their schedules on Monday showed the degree to which the ubiquitous political couple will be able to blanket the early primary states in the next two months as Democrats hold contests in Iowa, Nevada and South Carolina.

While the former president was drumming up support for his wife in New Hampshire, Hillary Clinton was starting a two-day river-to-river tour of Iowa, holding town hall meetings and organizing events across the state.

Bill Clintons longstanding ability to raise money will also be an asset in the weeks ahead, with fundraisers on the calendar in New York, Seattle, Phoenix, Albuquerque, N.M., Cleveland and Fairfield, Conn. The finance events will allow Hillary Clinton to spend more time on the ground in Iowa and also in New Hampshire, where polls have shown her trailing Sanders, who represents neighboring Vermont.

The couples daughter, Chelsea Clinton, was also getting into the act, headlining fundraisers of her own in Boston, Atlanta and Chicago next week.

(AP)
If investors want to see how music has moved on then trawl YouTube for a video by the French electronic music producer Madeon.

So far it has garnered 32 million hits and shows the 21-year-old tapping away on a grid of buttons and pads that light up a little like the 1980s electronic game Simon.

The effect is as hypnotic and soothing as watching a virtuoso of the piano, or violin.

Right note: Focusrite has gone from being a very high end analogue business to making products for anyone who wants to record dance music at a low cost

The resultant mash-up of nearly 40 samples of songs, tapped out in real-time, spawned the track 'Pop Culture', a huge favourite on the club and festival circuit.

For AIM-listed Focusrite the video has proved an incredible advert for the Launchpad Pro grid controller, created by the firm's Novation business.

Not that Focusrite has needed to rely on the upsurge in interest across social media.

Its consoles, channel strips, audio interfaces, synths and keyboards are already well known among the musical cognoscenti.

A particular favourite is the iTrack Pocket that allows guitarists to record themselves in sound and pictures and share the results on social media. Whether social media is ready for the results of the iTrack is another matter!

Focusrite and Novation's devices fuse the best of British innovation and design and are, in the main, still reasonably affordable.

It is a combination that seems to be working for the company, which has increased turnover from 9million a year to 48million in just six years.

Top products: The Launchpad Pro grid controller was used to create the track 'Pop Culture', a huge favourite on the club and festival circuit

Solo: The iTrack Pocket that allows guitarists to record themselves in sound and pictures and share the results on social media

It is reflective of the evolution of technology in the iPhone era, but also the way music is consumed and paid for.

Focusrite chairman and founder Phil Dudderidge, who was Led Zeppelin's first live sound man, said: 'You can sell your music on iTunes and Spotify. There are revenue opportunities open to musicians there never were before unless you had a record deal.

'So there is a real encouragement to record. That's been enabled by a technological revolution over the past few years.

'As a result we as a company have gone from being a very high end analogue business to making products for anyone who wants to record at low cost, but high quality music.'

FOCUSRITE AT A GLANCE AIM ticker: TUNE Value: 96million Current price: 167p Year-high: 195p Year-low: 142p

The firm, based in High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, designs the accessories and creates the software and apps that go with them, but outsources the manufacturing.

The investment needed to own its own production facilities would be restrictive in so many ways for a business that needs to be nimble and alert to changes in the music market.

In the UK and Germany it goes directly to retailers, while in the US it is what Dudderidge describes as a hybrid model where it also uses a distributor.

Increasingly e-commerce is part of the mix and Amazon is now the firm's second-largest outlet in the US.

The company is also planning an e-commerce facility that will maximise the traffic that comes direct to its sites.

But Dudderidge cautioned: 'That is something we will approach gradually without undermining our retail partners. It is something we are looking at, step by step.'

Shares in Focusrite, which listed just over a year ago at 126p each, are now changing hands for 174p - providing a 38 per cent return for those who invested at the float.

The stock peaked at just under 200p, before taking something of a biffing in the wake of full-year results.

The shares fell to 155p after a perceived downgrade by the company's broker Panmure Gordon.

The results themselves were by any standard strong, with revenues and pre-tax profits up respectively 17 per cent and 12 per cent.

However, there was a currency hit in the numbers - in fact a double hit from the weaker euro and higher dollar - that wasn't fully factored into Panmure analyst George O'Connor's initial numbers.

The subsequent bounce of the stock reveals the tweak to the Panmure figures has been absorbed and more fully understood by the market.

Panmure, meanwhile, expects Focusrite's top line to grow at a decent clip between now and 2018.

Next year it sees revenues growing by 11.5 per cent to 53.5million, then to 58.8million and on to 64.3million. Pre-tax profits will be 6.7million before motoring on to 7.7million and then 8.7million. The firm is sitting on cash of 6.2million.

Analyst O'Connor reckons the shares, currently changing hands for 165p, are worth 217p each.
Money can be tight during the initial months, and even years, of a fledgling business, so it is important that you stay firmly on-top of your finances.

In these early stages making sure you are not paying over the odds for business banking is a top priority.

As with personal accounts, banks will offer you tempting perks to encourage you to sign up, with some promising to waive fees for over two years.

This is Money's has done the hard work for you and picked five of the best accounts to help make your small business a booming success.

Market stall: Make sure you have you have the right account to help your business grow

If you are able to run your business and personal banking alongside one another in an ordinary current account, you will be able to make the most of the perks, free cash and rewards often offered with these accounts.

But most people will struggle with this approach.

Keeping your business banking separate from your personal account means it will be far easier for you to manage cashflow, as well as work out your tax liability at the end of the year.

At their simplest, business accounts simply offer a cheque and paying-in book. But many come with extras including free business banking, interest on in-credit balances, overdrafts, and fee-free transactions.

And, unless you search for a deal, you might end up paying out quite a bit because business bank accounts notoriously charge for all sorts of things.

So the first thing to consider is do you really need a business account. If you are a sole trader then it may be possible to simply open a fresh standard current account. Read our five of the best bank accounts round-up to check the best of these.

This is Money has picked out some of the best accounts for start-ups to help you choose the best, and cheapest, option for your new business.

RBS Start-Up Business Current Account

This account has a range of perks, including two years of free business banking, whereby customers can make unlimited transactions at no charge and neither do they have to pay a service fee.

The account also comes with a 500 free overdraft (after that its 15 per cent) and holders can apply for a fee-free Business Credit Card for one year.

Unarranged borrowing through the current account will incur a fee. However, customers can take advantage of free online business courses.

Natwest also offers the same perks on it's Small Business Account but with a shorter 18-month free banking term.

The small print

This account is available to start-ups who have been trading for less than a year, with an turnover of less than 1million. After two years accountholders will automatically be put on to the standard tariff, although they can choose a different business account if their needs have changed.

Once the first two years are up, you will pay 35p per automated payment, 70p per item for manual payments and 70p per 100 for cash payments.

There is a 5 monthly fee which is waived as long as you use the account enough to clock up charges over a 5 minimum threshold.

CAN YOU APPLY FOR A BUSINESS BANK ACCOUNT? If you have set up as a limited company or partnership, you are required to have a business bank account. As a sole trader, you have the option of using your own personal account or opening a separate business bank account. Many choose the latter, as it can make your financial affairs simpler to run. Other organisations which may decide to open a business current account include charities, clubs and pension funds. If you are a sole trader (not a limited company), then you can simply use your normal bank account for your business, with all the better terms that involves.

Barclays offers free banking for the first year to business less than a year old.

This is less than others offer but it's account comes with some interesting loyalty perks and a choice of fee structures depending on how you use it.

The Loyalty Reward offers an increasing proportion of your charges back each month depending on how long you have held your account.

For example those with an annual turnover under 100,000 get 5 per cent back in years one to five, 10 per cent in years five to 15 and 15 back for anything over 15 years. The amounts also increase depending on the size of your business.

It comes with either a Mixed Payments Plan (6)  for businesses that mainly use cash and cheques and an e-Payments Plan(6.50)  for those more likely to do most of their banking online with electronic payments.

The small print

If you choose the e-Payments option you won't pay anything to make electronic payments but cash and cheque payments cost 1.50 per 100.

The mixed plan charges 90p per 300 for cash payments, 65p for cheques and 35p for electronic payments.

There is a useful calculator on the site to help you find out which will be most cost effective for your business. It will also review your account each year and notify you if switching plan could save you money.

Seeds of growth: Small-business owners need to think about their banking options

Yorkshire Bank Business Current Account

New account holders with turnover of up to 2million can benefit from 25 months of free banking with Yorkshire Bank.

The deal is open to start-ups opening their first business account, as well as to companies switching from an existing account held with a rival provider.

During the first 25 months, there is no monthly account fee or service charges for direct debit or other automated transactions, cash deposits and withdrawals up to 250,000 per year.

Yorkshire Bank also offers handy small business guides covering areas such writing a business plan and growing your business online.

Clydesdale Bank also offers the same Business Current Account

The small print

After the 25-month offer period, the account reverts to the regular business banking tariff, which costs 5 per month.

From then on, cash paid in or out of your account will cost 65p per 100. Paying in a cheque costs 30p, while automated credits and debits will also set you back 30p each time.

The account offers an overdraft facility of up to 250,000 depending on your circumstances with an individual interest rate.

Winning idea: Spend your money on what matters rather than expesive banking fees

HSBC Business Bank Account

This account is available to businesses with turnover of less than 500,000. It offers 18 months of free banking, so theres no maintenance fee or charges applicable to its standard tariff to pay.

After the free 18 months, accountholders move to a fixed price period, which costs 5.50 per month for 12 months.

There is a free Knowledge centre which offers tips and advice for growing your business.

Again it comes with two tariff options once the free-period is up and a Best Tariff Promise which means the bank reviews your account each year to make sure you are are on the cheapest tariff.

The small print

In the fixed price year, you will be able to deposit a maximum of 3,000 in cash per month, with a charge of 50p per 100 levied after that.

For businesses that prefer to use telephone or internet banking there is an electronic tariff, which also costs 5.50 per month. When the fixed price period is up, the two tariffs still cost 5.50 a month, but more of the services come with a fee, such as withdrawing cash at branch or from an ATM.

Santander Start-up Business Current Account

This account offers up to 18 months of free banking to customers in their first year of trading, as long as they have no more than two directors, owners or partners. While 12 months free comes as standard, account holders who become a 1|2|3 World or Santander Select customer will get an extra six months of free banking.

Interest is paid at 0.1 per cent gross AER on any credit balances.

The account can be managed at Santander cash machines and participating Post Offices branches nationwide, as well as through online and mobile banking.

The small print

After this free business banking period, you'll automatically see your account revert to the Business Bank Account, which has a 7.50 monthly charge. This will allow you to deposit up to 1,000 in cash per month and includes all your standard day-to-day banking. If you go over your monthly cash deposit limit, you'll pay 50p per 100 cash deposited.

You can apply for a business overdraft with the Start-up Business Current Account and - if accepted - borrow from 500 to 25,000. An arranged overdraft comes with an annual fee of 1 per cent, with a minimum fee of 50.

WHAT IF I HAVE A BAD CREDIT HISTORY? If you have a poor credit record, you may find it hard to open a business account in the current financial climate. So, if you have been turned away by high street banks, an alternative option could be the Cashplus Business Account. There are no branches, no cheque clearing facility and no overdraft, but you can apply online for this account without the need for a credit check or interview. The maximum balance you can hold in the account is 15,000, and maximum daily ATM withdrawal is 500. You pay an annual fee of 69 and 2 per ATM withdrawal. The first three electronic bank transfers are free, and then cost 99 pence per transfer.






Sir,



It is very sad and miserable to be a civil servant in this country. Look at how government is spending on politicians.

On the one hand, last year ministers received unnecessary lavish cars, how much is a BMW X5? Why do ministers need such extravagant cars to execute their duties? While on the other hand workers are now denied what is long overdue and what by right belongs to them.



The last salary review, if my memory serves me well, was done around 2004, and by right salary reviews must be carried out every after a decade. Mathematically, the review of salaries should have been done last calendar year 2014; i.e. 2014/2015 financial year.

The 2015/2016 financial year is already late to do the review of salaries, now it is crazy and bizarre of government to even dream of further shifting this already late exercise. Why is the government of Swaziland so heartless?

How does this align with the Vision 2022 for the country to attain First World status?



Is this a tell-tale sign that indeed we are headed for 2022? I believe poverty alleviation is one lead toward vision 2022. Is this governments strategy of mitigating poverty among workers? Also does it make sense to engage a consultant on salary reviews in the year 2014, only to implement the review in 2016? What is the meaning of this? Why are they always postponing, did they think 2016 will not eventually come around?



We now appeal to the authorities of this country to please come to our rescue, safa yindlala. The King has said it that Swaziland is our only country. As citizens, if we are asphyxiated to death in our own home, where should we run to?

The upgrading of colleges to university status has failed, the salary review for workers is being suspended, what is government going to successfully execute then? Is 2022 next for adjournment by this government?



Frustrated civil servant
MBABANE  Dwalile Primary School will face legal action if it is found guilty of malpractice.



The school in which 31 pupils were made to repeat Grade VII after being found guilty of malpractice, is being investigated yet again.

Dwalile Primary School is among the 18 schools which are being investigated by the Examinations Council of Swaziland for malpractice. The school was found guilty of malpractice in the 2014 examinations and the pupils failed en masse. This means that some of the pupils who were sitting for this years exam were repeating.



Some of the pupils interviewed last year by this publication said they had only asked for help on one subject and did not understand why they had to repeat the whole class.

The Minister of Education, Phineas Magagula, said if the school was found guilty of malpractice, they would have to take the legal route.



He said such would show that the school was lawless. He said in the Greek language, this was known as the state of anomia, which meant being without law. He said the ministry had administrators in each school and if the school was found guilty of malpractice, they would take the administrator to task. He said a motion would be put aside and they would go the legal route.



If a school is found guilty of malpractice, it means the administrator is lawless and we will deal with them using the legal route. Not all the pupils are wrong, but we blame the people we have put in place to be the administrators, he said.

Magagula said disqualification of the pupils from the examination would put all of them in a bad place, so they would deal with the administrator.



When the results were released, the minister said they wanted to meet the head teachers in order for them to address the issue.

He was supported by Director of Education Dr Sibongile Mtshali, who said according to their investigations, they had found that it was not the pupils who allegedly copied, but they had gathered that it was the teachers who assisted the pupils.
MBABANE  A senior manager at FINCORP is accused of having demanded sexual intercourse, kisses and intimate hugs from a junior employee.



This has resulted in disciplinary measures being instituted against the Manager, Bhekumusa Nxumalo. Nxumalo is the branch administrator at First Finance, which is one of the business entities under FINCORP.

The alleged sexual harassment by the senior manager on junior staffer is alleged to have started around 2011.



He is alleged to have on several occasions sexually harassed one Cindy Dlamini, who is employed as a Data Capture Officer.

FINCORP is the Swaziland Development Finance Corporation.

It is alleged that Nxumalo did not only sexually harass Dlamini at the workplace but also went to the extent of visiting her at her place of abode, where he allegedly made sexual advances.

Amidst reporting the grievance, Dlamini, who was based in Mbabane, is now being transferred to Nhlaangano.



She has since run to the Industrial Court, where she is seeking an order stopping the transfer.

Dlamini alleged that Nxumalo would time and again exhibit his failure to toe the line in so far as employer/employee relations were concerned, by forcing himself upon her in the following manner: demanded intimate hugs and that she kiss him in the office.

Giving a brief background of the matter, Dlamini stated that on or about the year 2012, she approached Nxumalo with a view to realise her statutory leave, which he allegedly flatly refused to endorse.



He went to lay cynical ground rules and/or prerequisites for me to have my leave endorsed for future purposes. These were that, I furnish him with details of where I would be spending such leaves days, with whom I would spend such leave days, why and whether I would be reachable (both psychically and telephonically), alleged Dlamini in her affidavit.

These are allegations contained in an affidavit whose veracity is still to be tested in court.



She further disclosed that regardless of her negating stance, Nxumalo would persistently come to her apartment after working hours unannounced and imposed himself as a friend.

This he continued to do for quite some time and until such time that he started to sing a different tune, expressly and loudly claiming that he had observed that I did not have a man in my life and, therefore, wanted an intimate liaison with me, reads part of the affidavit filed by Dlamini.
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By Tom Momberg

State Sen. Tony Avella (D-Bayside) has released the final report on the current state of homelessness in the city, following a forum convened by the Senate Task Force on the Delivery of Social Services in New York City in October.

Policy analysts, city agency directors and advocacy groups lined up in a series of panels at the forum, highlighting the citys tactics to provide a homeless census and attempts to put more families from its shelter system into permanent housing.

Avellas office said it would be releasing recommendations for the city and state based on that testimony in the coming months.

One Queens civic directors testimony stood out against the city Department of Homeless Services new allocation of about $1 billion over the next four years in an attempt to move more of its shelter population into permanent subsidized or market-rate housing.

Jennifer Chu, who created the civic group Elmhurst United out of concern for the growing number of homeless people and in opposition to the citys proposals for more homeless housing in Elmhurst, said throwing more money at temporary housing is only making the homeless issue worse.

Although DHS is tasked with preventing homelessness and quickly transitioning the homeless into permanent housing, DHS is part of the problem, she said.

Chu gave an example from the departments executive budget that the city spends about $3,800 a month for each room in the Pan American Hotel, 79-00 Queens Blvd., that it uses for temporary housing  about twice the price of market-rate one- and two-bedroom housing.

And in consideration of the many building and fire code violations at shelters that resulted from a city Department of Investigation report in the spring, Chu said DHS should not be paying landlords full rent, but should impose penalties on failing shelters and invest more in permanent housing.

But housing permanency is one of several goals in DHSs ongoing operational plan  with the major intention of moving people out of shelters and into permanent housing.

Former DHS Commissioner Gilbert Taylor said the departments current funding had helped it move 38,000 people out of shelters, including 15,000 to permanent housing.

But Taylor said the priority in the city should be preventing homelessness, so temporary housing is not as much of a need.

It is important to understand that large economic forces have affected New York City, and now we are faced with the results of pronounced economic inequality. told the forum.

Citing a census of the shelter systems population  estimated at 57,000 people  and that one in five city residents lives below the poverty line, Taylor said the new funding over the next four years would go a long way to preventing many families needs for shelters.

Taylor, who resigned in mid-December, was replaced by the agencys human resources administration commissioner, Steve Banks.

After hearing the testimony at the October forum, Avella said the department under the mayoral administrations leadership has failed to address the growing homeless population.

The next step for the Task Force on the Delivery of Social Services in New York City is to analyze the causes of and propose solutions to the homelessness crisis. I look forward to working with Commissioner Banks to rework DHS into an agency capable of servicing the homeless population and stemming its rise, Avella said.
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By Gabriel Rom

The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, a disaster that highlighted dangerous labor conditions for European immigrants in early 20th century New York, will be remembered with a memorial.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York state would put $1.5 million from state economic development funds toward the memorial, which will be attached to the front of the factory building, still standing at 29 Washington Place.

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire galvanized the labor movement in America and should never be forgotten, Cuomo said in a statement announcing the grant.

New York state has always been a beacon for progressive government policies, and while we honor the victims legacy with this memorial, we must continue to improve workplace protections to ensure tragedies like this one are never repeated.

Serphin Maltese, a former state senator from Queens, lost his grandmother and two aunts in the fire.

The entire nation changed as a result of Triangle, said Maltese, who grew up on the Lower East Side only blocks away from the factory, in a video interview with the Department of Transportation from 2011

Triangle woke everybody up to the inequities of the system and the fact that these immigrants were treated so terribly and ultimately resulted not only in the loss of 146 people there but there were other fires and others who lost their lives, he added.

His three relatives had come to America from Italy. The fire was one of the nations worst industrial disasters; 46 of those who died were women, and almost all were Italian or Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. The tragedy led to legislation that addressed factory safety standards, and to better working conditions for the many sweatshop workers in the citys industrial sector.

Remember the Triangle Fire Coalition, a group of labor advocates and descendants of victims, has lobbied for a memorial since 2011.

The design for the memorial, by Richard Joon Yoo, an architectural designer, and Uri Wegman, an architecture professor at Cooper Union, envisions three sets of polished steel panels incorporated into the buildings facade.

The building, which is now owned by New York University, houses biology and chemistry labs. The bottom panel will tell the history of the fire, and a vertical panel at about 17 feet above street level will bear the names of the 146 victims. More than 50 of the workers jumped to their deaths from the floor above.

Were very pleased to hear the great news about Governor Cuomos support of the project, and glad about what this means for the coalitions efforts, John Beckman, New York Universitys spokesman, said.
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By Sadef Ali Kully

A mother, her boyfriend and son were arrested on charges of witness tampering Saturday in connection with the last murder of 2015, the killing of a 16-year-old boy in South Jamaica, according to police officials.

At the same time, an investigation into the first murder of the new year led to murder charges Wednesday against the boyfriend of a 19-year-old woman whose body was found in her Woodhaven home, police said.

Thirty minutes before midnight Dec. 31, 103rd Precinct police officers responded to a shooting at the corner of 109th Avenue and Merrick Boulevard, police said.

Police found 16-year-old Jihad Jackson, from Rosedale, shot once in the neck. He was unresponsive, according to police officials, who also said emergency responders pronounced Jihad dead at the scene.

During the investigation into the murder, police arrested three people in connection with the crime: Eduardo Placencia, 18; Natalie Placencia, 49, Eduardos mother; and her boyfriend, Dorian Carr, 48. All three live near the scene of the slaying.

Police sources said there was evidence from the Placencia home on Merrick Boulevard indicating that after Jihad was shot, he was moved outside.

According to the criminal complaint file by the Queens district attorneys office, all three suspects admitted that Jacksons body was removed from the home and police on the scene found a bloody cloth outside in the bushes near the Placencia home.

Police said they have not yet determined the nature of the relationship between Jihad and the three suspects or the motive behind the death.

Less than 24 hours after the report of Jihads slaying, 102nd Precinct officers found an unconscious woman inside the first floor of her Woodhaven home.

Around 10:46 p.m., police discovered 19-year-old Joceline Romo with no apparent trauma, lying face down on her bed, police officials said.

Emergency responders pronounced Romo dead at the scene and the city medical examiner ruled the death was a homicide.

According to the DA, Romos boyfriend, Fabian Maliza, 24, was charged Wednesday with the death of his girlfriend. He is in custody and being evaluated at Jamaica Hospitals psychiatric ward, the DA said.

Maliza allegedly strangled Romo until she could not breathe and if convicted could face up to 25 years in prison, according to the Queens DA.

In 2015, there was a nearly 5 percent increase in homicidesa total of 348 compared to 2014, which had 333 murders across the city.
Beaver County COVID-19 cases and deaths tracker

New coronavirus cases increased 6.6% in Pennsylvania in the week ending Sunday as the state added 13,256 cases. The previous week had 12,431 new cases of the virus that causes COVID-19.
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A few weeks ago some 190 countries met in Paris to discuss ideas they believe will keep global temperature from increasing no more than 2 degrees Celsius, or 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit. It is reminiscent of the age-old story of man trying to manipulate weather.

At the conference, the countries agreed to prepare and maintain plans they supposedly will implement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Each country's plan, called Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), will be reviewed every five years starting in 2023.

The plans are not legally enforceable, and the report casts serious doubt that this plan is sufficient to prevent temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees C. Richer countries must provide at least $100 billion annually after 2020 to help developing countries reduce emissions.

Even though President Obama supports the agreement, the U.S. Senate must ratify, and that probably is not going to happen for a variety of reasons. One reason is the lack of binding commitments from countries like China and India previously in the Kyoto Protocol. The Senate overwhelmingly defeated ratification of Kyoto some 20 years ago.

The president cannot unilaterally commit the U.S. to binding emission-reducing targets. Any emission targets and timetables must be ratified by the Senate.

Obviously, this agreement is aimed at restricting the use of fossil fuels in the future. The plan suggests that oil and gas consumption should be limited. The International Energy Agency (IEA) projects worldwide oil demand will grow from 90.6 million barrels per day in 2014 to 95.9 million barrels per day in 2020 and then start to decline to 74.1 million barrels per day in 2040.

IEA estimates that natural gas demand will increase from 3.5 trillion cubic meter (tcm) in 2013 to 4.1 tcm per year after 2030.

Clearly, the plan places even more uncertainty on the oil and gas industry, which currently faces a collapse in crude oil and natural gas prices. Much will depend upon the seriousness of developed countries to finance not only restrictive policies in their own countries but also help finance programs in undeveloped countries. Most nations already have spending deficits. The resolve of politicians and the citizens of each developing country will be tested.

For oil and gas companies, a shadow has been cast over long-term projects. Major, integrated oil companies and large producing countries develop large projects with the assumption they will be profitable for decades to come. These projects  such as refineries, long-distance pipelines and liquefied natural gas plants  have high upfront costs. They require substantial product and capital expenditures.

The reality is that the Paris agreement is not enforceable. Violations carry no consequences. Funding of programs in non-developed countries will not happen.
Tonya Couch, center, is taken by authorities to a waiting car after arriving at Los Angeles International Airport, Thursday, Dec. 31, 2015, in Los Angeles. Authorities said she and her son, Texas teenager Ethan Couch, who was sentenced to probation after using an "affluenza" defense for a 2013 wreck in Texas, fled to Mexico together in November as prosecutors investigated whether he had violated his probation. Both were taken into custody Monday, Dec. 28, after authorities said a phone call for pizza led to their capture in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)

The Affluenza Kid has been in the news lately. I'm talking about the boy whose propensity for drugs and irresponsible drinking keeps getting him into trouble. If you don't know his story, you're probably just waking up from a deep coma and need to catch up on all the news. Start with the Middle East.

As for spoiled rich kids everywhere, it might do them good to spend time on a farm caring for livestock amid snow and ice and a power outage. But even if someone offered me the Affluenza Kid at no cost, I'm thinking he might be too much trouble to break in.

As for my husband, Hugh, I'm calling him the Influenza Kid. How did he manage to get sick just in time to miss the longest stretch of no electricity at this farm since 1940? Seriously.

OK. I'll admit he caught the illness from me. He's recovering at our house in the city  the one with electricity and running water, many miles distant from the powerless farm. He retains his critical position as chief adviser. I take orders but don't tell him everything. It works out.

My friend Terri has been helping some. Together we managed to get the recalcitrant generator running after we refreshed the fuel. We cheated a little, giving it a dose of starter fluid. Hugh was nevertheless impressed.

Even as I was basking in his words of praise, misfortune struck. I rear-ended a BMW. No, I wasn't reading Hugh's congratulatory text when it happened. Terri and I were stopped at a traffic light. I was fishing for something in the console. I let my foot off the brake just enough to hit the car in front of us.

If you're in a big diesel farm truck and you hit a sporty little BMW, you're in trouble. In retrospect I could have said, with Terri as my witness, that the BMW driver backed into us. But he didn't. My heart sank when I saw it was a Beamer, or whatever they call them. Is it Biemer? That would be the Germanic spelling if we Americans are pronouncing the vehicular nickname correctly.

Macht nichts, the driver I hit wasn't beaming. Rather, he was irate, especially at first. But of course.

The policemen were the bright spot  a handsome trio of courteous professionals. If they typify the Wichita Falls force, the city should be proud. They'd make three good months on a calendar.

Meanwhile, who drives a BMW except someone who appreciates a fine machine? Or a German playboy? Or maybe the Affluenza Kid?

I theorize the guy I ran into belongs in the first category. Maybe he grew up deprived of life's luxuries. He learned the value of a dollar. He managed to get an education all on his own. He experienced success in many realms. He wanted a BMW. He deserved one. He bought one. I scuffed it. Bummer.

That's a word I know exactly how to say. Definition? Just follow me around.
SHARE Lauren Roberts/Times Record News First National Bank founder Al Flack is celebrating his 87th birthday Monday, Jan. 4 that coincides with the 30th anniversary of First National Bank. Lauren Roberts/Times Record News First National Bank founder Al Flack is celebrating his 87th birthday Monday, Jan. 4 that coincides with the 30th anniversary of First National Bank. Lauren Roberts/Times Record News First National Bank founder Al Flack is celebrating his 87th birthday Monday, Jan. 4 that coincides with the 30th anniversary of First National Bank. Lauren Roberts/Times Record News First National Bank founder Al Flack is celebrating his 87th birthday Monday, Jan. 4 that coincides with the 30th anniversary of First National Bank.

By Ted Buss

When First National Bank of Wichita Falls opened its doors in 1986, the goal was to reach $5 million in assets its first year. By the end of the third day of operation, it had passed $5 million in deposits.

On its 30th anniversary Jan. 29, the bank will have exceeded $400 million in assets. Ironically, First National Bank's anniversary coincides with co-founder Al Flack's 87th birthday Jan. 4. Shortly after Flack resigned his post as executive vice president at First Wichita National Bank  formerly Wichita National Bank  in 1985, he joined Donal Boley in brainstorming the possible launching of a new independent bank.

"We began to think about a name," Flack said. "It had been a long time since there had been a First National Bank in Wichita Falls, so we thought, 'why not?'" Still, they were not certain timing was right to take the leap.

They batted the idea around for a while before coming to the decision to feel out potential shareholders and make an application with the Comptroller of Currency. Flack said that starting a bank isn't like opening a filling station or a grocery store.

"It is a very involved process and you obviously can't have a business plan based on hopes and dreams," he said. "There are countless facts to be checked out and questions to answer. One question we were asked was to estimate our assets for the first year of operation."

Boley, Flack and a group of about 30 shareholders  six or seven who would have controlling interest in the new bank  estimated $5 million in deposits in year one. "We knew it was a little conservative," Flack said, "but nobody imagined we'd do $5 million the first three days."

The $400 million in assets in 2015 exceeds what Wichita National/First Wichita National achieved after their merger in 1960. First Wichita had an employee role of 166. First National Bank of WF currently has 135-140 at the main bank at Kell and Fairway and branches at Taft and Midwestern Parkway and in Southlake.

Banking was changing in the 1980s and it wasn't just the retro blue skin that was plastered on a vintage structure at Eighth and Scott. Banks were becoming mega corporate-owned institutions and more impersonal than someone like Flack was comfortable with.

"When we decided to open we wanted to go back to the one-on-one contact we once had in customer relations," he said. "We wanted to know our customers and treat them with the individual respect they deserved, and take care of whatever banking need they required. There was still a place for a handshake with a friend to create a lasting bond."

Although Flack remains a key member of the bank's board of directors, FNB-Wichita Falls is now under the leadership of President Kevin Goldstein. Cliff Berg is the chief lending officer and Cindy Campbell is the CEO. First National is a full service bank.

When Flack assumed the role of president and CEO on Sept, 10, 1985, he ended a long and successful career at Wichita National and First Wichita National Bank that spanned 37 years.

Unlike today where banking movement of personnel is relatively common, Flack stayed and moved his way up one step at a time at Wichita National.

At the age of 19, he worked in the bank's musty basement and filed checks beneath gloomy 60 watt light bulbs. When the filing was done, he swept floors.

"It was just a normal process," he said. "Each step up took about two or three years. Eventually you'd be noticed and given the opportunity to do something else. I went from filing checks to bookkeeping, to the proof department and from there I became a teller."

Flack never set out to make a name for himself in banking, church or volunteerism. It came naturally. From the 1950s to the 1980s and still today he is a respected and recognized leader in the community.

As a family man, Al and wife Mary Gladys were married from 1948 until her death in 2007. He proposed to her from the balcony during an evening service at First Baptist Church. It seemed only fitting because both were members of the church and Flack was actually on its cradle role in 1929.

There is hardly an area of volunteerism Flack has not supported. He believes in giving back and enjoying life outside the business world. In a little known fact, ge received his pilot's license when he was 14 and flew an open cockpit single-engine clunker of sorts. On many days flying from Dallas to Wichita Falls, his navigational method was to circle small town water towers to find out where he was.

Flack was not one to focus his life on money.

"I've never thought success should be measured by the money you have," he once said in a TRN interview. "I think success has to do with the relationship a person has with the Lord and his family, and the willingness to help the community he lives in."

His son David said, "Growing up I sometimes marveled at the number of people Dad knew through business and civic activities and church. He seemed to know everyone in town. My mom said we'd never be rich because Dad was always involved trying to help someone out."

It is the George Bailey story all over again. Al Flack is truly one of the richest men in town.
TIMES RECORD NEWS file photo The City Council approved an amendment increasing restrictions on the dumping of trash, but it continues to be a problem in the city. About $144,000 is requested for purchase of a loader and truck for the Illegal Dumping Program crew to assist them in picking up oversized items.

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By Claire Kowalick of the Times Record News

Dealing with the increase in illegal dumping in Wichita Falls has turned into a full-time job for some city staff workers.

Since September, the Illegal Dumping Program tasked a two-person crew to address 82 locations per week, taking about 49 hours each week, five days a week.

The new program was approved in the 2015-16 sanitation budget, including $150,000 toward purchase of new vehicles.

Most locations are alleys and next to dumpsters which require dumped items to be hand-carried to the end of the alley, where items are picked up by a truck.

The Wichita Falls City Council at its meeting Tuesday will consider a resolution authorizing $74,587 to purchase a turnkey unit with a grapple truck from Austin Truck and Equipment Ltd. and a Petersen TL3 Lightning Loader 18-24 TBS Trash Dump Body Texan Waste Equipment for $70,243. Total cost of the cleanup unit is $144,830.

The grapple truck will allow staff to lift oversized items and reduce time necessary to clear alleys.

The Wichita Falls City Council will meet Tuesday to consider this item, plus a consent agenda containing two resolutions and passage of two ordinances and three resolutions in the regular agenda.

Other City Council matters include:

From the consent agenda, a resolution to purchase a John Deere 624K front-end loader for the transfer station from Yellowhouse Machinery Company for $208,700.

A resolution to bid and contract with American Pavement Solutions of the annual Crack Seal Project for $99,085. The project will include the cleaning and sealing of cracks and joints on various city streets and associated work.

During the regular agenda there will be a public hearing and ordinance proposal to rezone 134.73 acres of the Canyon Trails Planned Unit Development to allow zero-lot residential houses and remove the use of the land for a congregate living center or professional office park.

Ordinance amending sections of the zoning ordinance to allow a nonvoting, ex officio member from Sheppard Air Force Base to serve in the Airport Board of Adjustment, Board of Adjustment, and Planning and Zoning Commission. This amendment fulfills one of the short-term goals of the Sheppard AFB Joint Land Use Study (JLUS) implementation plan. This position is designed to ensure good working relationship between SAFB and surrounding communities. The member will be designated by the SAFB 82nd Training Wing commander.

Resolution to approve a change order of $279,292.45 for the Asphalt Street Rehabilitation Project.

Resolution for a raw water purchase contract between Wichita Falls and Archer City.
<p>AP photo A supporter of open carry gun laws wears a pistol at a rally at the Capito in Austin.</p>

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By Barbara Green

Montague County Commissioners voted last week to form a committee to determine what areas need to be posted in regard to the open carry laws that started Jan. 1.

The court met for a 25-minute executive session to discuss the new law with County Attorney Clay Riddle and Chief Deputy Mark Blankenship.

The agenda listed conceal carry and open carry limitations for the courthouse and annex.

On Dec. 28, 2015, the committee met and pulled together a preliminary policy in time for the new year. A called session of the court is set for 4 p.m. Dec. 31 in the annex to consider the policy.

The primary question for governmental entities is what constitutes a "government court."

Based on the Texas Penal Code Article 46.03(a)(3) one of the places were firearms can be prohibited in relation to open carry is "on the premises of any government court or offices utilized by the court, unless pursuant to written regulations or written authorization of the court."

Two Attorney General opinions were issued on Dec. 21 based on questions from two counties on this question.

In opinion KP-0047, Tom Green County's sheriff was informed premises of any government court generally means either a structure utilized by a court created by the Texas Constitution or Legislature or a portion of that structure. It means a government courtroom or those offices essential to the operation of the court. The responsible authority would notify license holders of their inability to carry on the respective premises.

A similar opinion, KP-0049, was issued to Hays County stating it is only the courtrooms and those offices determined to be essential to their operations from which the county can prohibit concealed handguns without risk of civil penalty.

County Judge Rick Lewis said Montague County has five courts including the 97th District, county court, two justice of the peace courts and the commissioner's court which will be impacted by this policy.

The judge said they have to determine what is associated with the court, and he provided the court with information he received late last week.

The downturn in the energy industry provided a boom in bidders for rock hauling in the county road precincts. The court opened 17 bids for base rock, rock and transport and just for hauling services.

Commissioners are anticipating using a lot of rock as they complete county infrastructure road grant projects over the next year.

Costs range from a high of $100 an hour or $8 a ton to a low of $75 for one hauler, plus various prices per ton and per mile transported. Rock prices also hovered in the $8 to $7.50 price range on four varieties of rock.

The court voted to accept all the bids, which will allow each precinct to use the vendor that is most accessible and most economical for a particular road project.

Also related to road work, the county approved procedures for Federal Emergency Management Agency disaster relief funds.

In other court action:

 To complete with a bill from the 84th Texas Legislature, the county approved a truancy policy for all school districts in the county. Lewis said if a policy was not in place by Jan. 1, a committee would have to be established to create a policy.

The judge said he talked with all the school superintendents who reviewed and agreed upon a county policy. All participation is voluntary.

 In the November veteran's service office report, Colm Murphy said 309 total veterans and family members were served. An additional $46,694.09 was received in veteran income.

The VSO's monument fund is at $14,606, which will allow the purchase of an additional granite slab for the monument.
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Albany

In the halls of William S. Hackett Middle School on Sunday, dancers in vibrant garb paraded, drummers thumped and the scent of onion, ginger and exotic spices wafted through the air.

Hundreds of members of the Karen community had gathered to celebrate their traditional New Year on the first day of the month of Pyathoe, signaling the end of the rice harvest.

They included Albany residents, as well as Karen people from Utica, Syracuse and other upstate cities as well as Hartford, Conn.

The Karen (pronounced, kahr-EHN) are an ethnic group from the mountainous regions of Thailand and Myanmar, formerly Burma. Those in Albany are among roughly 1,200 Burmese refugees who have been resettled in the Capital Region since 2005 by the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants.

The Albany City School District for the first time hosted the New Year event, which has been held in the city since 2010, because the Karen community's presence in the schools has grown dramatically. As many as half of the school district's 1,000 or so immigrant students are Karen, according to Thomas Giglio, the district's director of ENL (English as a new language) and refugee services. Their language has become second only to English as the most commonly spoken in the schools, recently surpassing Spanish, Giglio said.

The Karen New Year is important as a holiday that is distinct to the ethnic community, said Saw Htoo, a Seventh-Day Adventist pastor who is a leader in the local Karen community. In America, its significance is magnified, as a way to share traditions with a new generation being born in the United States.

"We don't want the youth people or the children (to) miss our culture," Htoo said.

No one seemed to miss the food, served in a packed cafeteria in late morning. There were rice noodles, cabbage and bean sprouts, and kawnor, a fish and chicken soup made for celebrations, according to cooks May Tri and Eh Poh of Albany.

Just a little after noon, Tri and Poh had little to serve from the cooler of soup they'd brought. Tri said she had started cooking it at midnight, after an evening spent decorating the school. About 20 people made the meal to serve 500, Poh said.

Myant San traveled from Utica with her family to celebrate. She relocated to upstate New York in 2003, when her 13-year-old daughter Helen was a year old. Helen was among a group of girls in vibrant pink costumes, ordered from Thailand, who performed the traditional don dance in the Hackett gymnasium, partnered with a group of boys in bright reds, yellows and greens.

San would also like her 11-year-old son to dance, but so far he doesn't like the idea, she said with a smile.

"He's more interested in video games," said En Shee, San's 14-year-old niece.

chughes@timesunion.com  518-454-5417  @hughesclaire
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A woman and man arrested Saturday in East Greenbush allegedly went on a crime spree that spanned four towns and two counties over a period of several hours.

Police caught the pair after an attempted robbery Saturday night at an East Greenbush gas station. They arrested Janelle Litton, 34, of Ravena and Donald Mason, 50, of Coeymans. Investigators believe the pair's crime spree started hours earlier when they allegedly shoplifted at a North Greenbush store.
MALTA - The driver of a car was taken to Albany Medical Center Hospital Monday after his vehicle collided with a state snow plow and a medical transport van, according to the Saratoga County Sheriff's Office.

Deputies said Dennis Jourdanais of Ballston Spa was driving in a car that collided with the plow and a Capital District Transportation Authority van at about 5:19 a.m. The crash occurred at the intersection of Route 9 and Malta Avenue.
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BURNS, Ore. (AP)  Armed protesters are occupying a building at a national wildlife refuge in Oregon and asking militia members around the country to join them. The protesters went to Malheur National Wildlife Refuge on Saturday following a peaceful rally in support of two Oregon ranchers facing additional prison time for arson.

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HOW DID THIS SITUATION BEGIN?

Tension has been building for weeks in the Burns, Oregon, area over the case of Dwight and Steven Hammond. Dwight Hammond, 73, and Steven Hammond, 46, said they lit fires on federal land in 2001 and 2006 to reduce the growth of invasive plants and protect their property from wildfires. The two were convicted three years ago and served time  the father three months, the son one year. But in October, a federal judge in Oregon ruled their terms were too short under U.S. law and ordered them back to prison for about four years each.

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WHO IS LEADING THE PROTESTERS?

The Hammonds have received support from local residents, but the most vocal groups are from outside the area. Ammon Bundy, the son of Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy, who was involved in a standoff with the government over grazing rights, is among those organizing the opposition at the wildlife refuge. Ammon Bundy and militiamen from other states arrived last month in Burns, some 60 miles from the Hammond ranch. Ammon Bundy has criticized the U.S. government for what he called a failed legal process.

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WHERE IS THE WILDLIFE REFUGE?

AP

OUTSIDERS NOT WELCOMED BY SOME IN OREGON

WHAT ARE AUTHORITIES DOING?

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Troy

Tom Nardacci is traveling the United States to learn how the city of Troy can nurture the Capital Region's high-tech creative types.

Nardacci, who owns the public relations firm Gramercy Communications, unveiled plans in November to turn a worn-down building on Fourth Street into the Troy Innovation Garage, a "co-working" business incubator for creative types such as freelance writers, web designers and public relations promoters who need a place to call their own but can't afford traditional office space.

Although construction of the two-story facility won't be completed until fall, Nardacci has been working hard to ensure that the Garage, which will also become the new home of Gramercy, will have an immediate impact. The Garage's mission includes also trying to nurture start-up firms and provide them with spontaneous networking and educational opportunities.

Nardacci and his employees have gone to New York City, Boston and Miami to visit startups and incubators for ideas. He plans trips to Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose, Calif., this month, while some of his employees will take a trip to Chicago. In the spring, Nardacci plans to visit Seattle and Portland, Ore., two other cities known for high-tech innovation.

In December, Nardacci and his team visited Spark Labs in New York City's SoHo neighborhood, an incubator for high-tech and media companies that says it can get a company up and running within 24 hours. Another stop was the Cambridge Innovation Center next to the MIT campus that is home to 900 companies and has attracted $2 billion in venture capital for its tenants. They also visited The Lab Miami, a 10,000-square-foot converted warehouse in the south Florida city's Wynwood Arts District that has the look and feel of an arts school with massive open space and an informal vibe that welcomes people off the street.

"We learned about the importance of developing the community as well as the functionality of the space," Nardacci said. "Every place we visited credited their success to creating a community as well as the actual set up."

The building that will house the Garage, at 22-24 Fourth St., has been home recently to everything from a dance studio to a bank processing center. But Nardacci recently discovered it was known as the Troy Automobile Exchange in the early 1900s when it housed a dealership for the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co. of Buffalo. Nardacci plans to rename the property the Troy Automobile Exchange Building in a nod to the city's rich history.

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And in the middle of all of this, on Dec. 10, the day after he and his team returned from Boston, Nardacci got some exciting news.

The Garage had been awarded a $100,000 grant from the state through Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Regional Economic Development Council awards. The grant is just a small portion of the $98.1 million that the Capital Region Economic Development Council won that day. But to Nardacci, it's a major accomplishment, a "capstone," he says, to the $1 million he is spending on the project, which includes the $300,000 he spent to buy the building.

"Beyond the money, I view being a recipient of this award as important validation," Nardacci said. "During my travels around the country talking about this project, the fact that New York state economic development is interested in what we are doing means something."

lrulison@timesunion.com  518-454-5504  @larryrulison
Albany

Rabi Musah is building a database with the fingerprints of some of the world's worst offenders. They've harmed, hospitalized and  some believe  even killed.

They've done so with impunity for centuries, and that's something Musah and law enforcement across the country would like to stop. Their names are Salvia divinorum, Datura stramonium and Picralima nitida, to name a few. They're ancient, psychoactive plants. And they're natural and perfectly legal.

Musah does not debate their legality. She is a chemist at the University at Albany, not an expert on which substances deserve to be legislated or controlled. But she does know that their effects have caused harm, and that if they were easier for crime investigators or first responders to identify on the spot, then lives could be saved. For the next three years, and with the help of a grant from the National Institute of Justice, she's working to build a database that would let investigators do just that.

"People are dying from the ingestion of psychoactive plants," she said. "And people often don't have to die if it's understood what it is they took. Just like when you go to the emergency room and they know what poison you ingested  they know how to treat you. To us, it's not about finding a way to get people arrested. We're motivated by the greater good."

The debate over which psychoactive plants ought to be regulated has raged for decades, and heats up whenever someone commits suicide in a hallucinogenic haze or a young person winds up in the hospital after an overdose.

Marijuana  the legality of which states and nations are currently debating  is just one of thousands of psychoactive plants that are processed, packaged, sold and ingested for their mind-altering effects. The combined efforts of states and the federal government to combat the growth, distribution and use of marijuana costs more than $8.7 billion a year.

Musah grew up in Ghana, where she saw traditional healers treat people with compounds made from the ancient and psychoactive plants she's now working to identify in her database. Used in the right proportions, they can have healing effects. When abused, they can have toxic, sometimes fatal effects.

"If you go into a crime scene and see that someone has collapsed and is unconscious and is close to death, and it's clear that they have been smoking or ingesting something in some fashion, and you can see it there, but it looks like some random spice or seeds or bark, it can be a long, drawn-out process to actually identify it," she said.

That's because there are thousands of psychoactive plants, and in their dried, crumbled form many of them may look no different than a bit of ground-up oregano.

The existing scientific method to identify them doesn't even really do that, according to Musah. Law enforcement will collect a sample and take it to a lab for analysis, where scientists will use chemical purification techniques to identify specific molecules in the substance.

"Lots of plants can contain the same molecules, though," said Musah. "So we can use that information to rule plants out, but not to tell you definitively what you're looking at."

And that process can take days, weeks or months, which is why investigators often resort to interviewing friends and neighbors to figure out what someone took.

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Musah and her students at UAlbany are pioneering a method that involves measuring the mass-to-charge ratio of detected molecules to determine a plant's chemical "signature" or "fingerprint." Those fingerprints will be added to a database that technicians, scientists, even police officers can use to identify the genus or species of a psychoactive plant in mere seconds.

"Imagine a world where you come upon a crime scene and either the medical professionals or law enforcement can rapidly figure out what it is someone took so that they can come up with treatment options," she said.

The National Institute of Justice awarded Musah $688,158 to build her database over three years. She plans to partner with crime labs around the state to provide learning opportunities for students who want to become crime scene investigators.

The database will initially contain the chemical fingerprints of 20 mind-altering plants the United Nations' Office of Drugs and Crime has identified as "plants of high concern." Over time, the database will grow and law enforcement could use it to begin tracking where particular plants are grown and even trafficked.

"The technology really isn't even limited to this," Musah said. "Imagine you're in agriculture and you have different varieties of beets growing in your field but you're not sure which are which. This technology would allow you to immediately sort those beets by variety. There are all kinds of really, really cool things that you can use this technology for."

bbump@timesunion.com  518-454-5387  @bethanybump
THE ISSUE:

People on a government list of suspected terrorists can freely buy guns.

THE STAKES:

Fixing the list's problems would neutralize the NRA's argument against using it to limit gun sales.

More Information To comment: tuletters@timesunion.com or at http://blog.timesunion.com/opinion See More Collapse

The National Rifle Association's opposition to barring anyone whose name appears on the federal no-fly list from buying a gun seems like the typical cynical rhetoric from the powerful pro-gun lobby.

Unfortunately, the NRA has a point.

More unfortunately, Congress seems to have no interest in addressing it.

To anyone concerned about guns getting into the wrong hands, it makes no sense to allow gun sales to people banned by the government's Terrorist Screening Center from boarding a commercial aircraft for travel into or out of the U.S.

The NRA has long opposed using the no-fly list to restrict gun sales, but after the recent terror attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., calls for the gun sale ban picked up momentum. Rightfully, the governors of Connecticut and New York want to use the list in their states to restrict gun purchases.

The NRA isn't alone in its concerns about the list. Civil libertarians and ideologues both left and right complain that too many people have wrongly been put on it for a variety of reasons. Their names may be similar to someone else with suspected terrorist ties, for instance, or their social media postings might have raised questions. Whatever the reasons, some of the errors have been particularly glaring: Infants, GI's returning from Iraq, veterans and journalists have been listed. Even the late U.S. Sen. Edward Kennedy showed up on the list in 2004.

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Sometimes, too, people learn of the errors only when they're blocked from getting a boarding pass for a flight that's minutes away from takeoff.

The American Civil Liberties Union argues the list is unconstitutional because many people who pose no security risk are labeled potential terror threats, have their travel restricted, and are forced, if they want to try to get off the list, to undergo a lengthy, uncertain appeal process. From how people get on the list to how it's administered to the difficulty of correcting errors, it's a flawed system, and therefore hardly a basis for depriving people of a constitutional right.

So where does that leave the issue? Nowhere. The NRA and greedy gun manufacturers are content to block any restriction on gun sales, and too many members of Congress are more fearful of the NRA than interested in potentially life-saving legislation. So those on the list who may, indeed, be tied to terrorism are free to obtain weapons.

If this absurd and potentially dangerous situation is going to get resolved, the no-fly system needs an overhaul. No system can be made perfect, but there is no reason that the process of fixing mistakes can't be streamlined, and appeals expedited.

Of course we should stop letting suspected terrorists buy guns. But the government needs to fix the no-fly list first, not only because it's the right thing to do, but because the way things work in Washington, you can't keep guns from terrorists until you disarm the NRA of its arguments.
[January 04, 2016] Blackboard Inc. Names William L. Ballhaus Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Blackboard (News - Alert) Inc., the world's leading education technology company, today announced that William "Bill" L. Ballhaus, PhD has been named Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer. He succeeds Jay Bhatt, who has led Blackboard since 2012. Mr. Bhatt will serve as a special advisor to the chairman and is committed to ensuring a smooth transition. This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160104005988/en/ William L. Ballhaus (Photo: Business Wire) Dr. Ballhaus joins Blackboard from SRA International, where as CEO he fostered a culture of innovation that emphasized anticipating customer needs, and he enhanced the company's portfolio in cyber security, cloud computing, mobilization, agile system development, ERP and data analytics. Previously, he served as President and CEO of DynCorp International, a global government services provider. Dr. Ballhaus has also held senior leadership positions at BAE Systems, Boeing and Hughes (News - Alert) where he led global government and commercial technology businesses, particularly focused on software and IT. "I am excited to join Blackboard and continue its progress in helping millions of people around the world find new ways to learn, connect, advance and improve education outcomes. The company is changing the way the education community thinks about technology and the next generation of teaching and learning tools," said Dr. Ballhaus. "The entire Blackboard team has deep technology and industry experience as well as a sophisticated understanding of the systems that serve learners. I look forward to building on Blackboard's strong foundation and being the partner that students and educators alike continue to count on to innovate on their behalf." "I have a deep passion for Blackboard and its mission and vision, and I am very proud of the Blackboard team and all that we have accomplished together over the past three years. However, the evolution of the company must continue with the same pace over the coming years in order to ully realize our potential," added Mr. Bhatt. "In this context, and given the toll that the constant commute from Boston to Washington DC has taken on my family, the Board and I agree that this is the right time for my transition, and that Bill is the right leader to take Blackboard forward into its next phase of growth. I look forward to serving as a special advisor to Bill and am committed to ensuring a smooth transition."



"We are pleased with Blackboard's progress over the past three years. Under the strategic and operational leadership of Jay Bhatt, we have shaped a new direction for Blackboard with deepened customer relationships, investment in new product development, execution of important company and technology acquisitions, strong international growth, and the recruitment of a talented team with experience in software, technology and education," said Peter Wilde, a Blackboard Director and Managing Director with Providence Equity Partners (News - Alert), the majority owner of Blackboard and previously was SRA International's majority shareholder. "As Blackboard enters its next phase of growth Jay and the Board have agreed that now is a good time to transition leadership of the company to Bill, whose operational experience as well as his desire to drive technology innovation that will improve student success will build on the Company's current momentum. We are pleased to welcome Bill to the Blackboard team and look forward to his contributions." Additional Board Appointment

The Company also announced, Brian Napack, a Blackboard director since 2012 and a Senior Advisor at Providence has been appointed Vice Chairman of the Board. Brian brings a wealth of leadership experience in education, technology, and publishing, and in the use of technology to improve outcomes in both K-12 and post-secondary education. "I am delighted that Brian will be playing an important advisory role to me," said Bill. "He will be a valued contributor and Blackboard and I will benefit from his extensive experience in the education industry." Additional Biographical Information on Dr. Ballhaus Dr. Ballhaus holds a Bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of California at Davis and Master's and Doctorate degrees in aeronautics and astronautics from Stanford University. He also earned a Master's degree in business administration from the Anderson Graduate School of Management at UCLA. He currently serves on the UCLA Anderson School Board of Visitors, and as Director Emeritus on the Board of the United States Geospatial Intelligence Foundation. Additionally, he is a Fellow of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. About Brian Napack Brian Napack is a Senior Advisor with Providence Equity Partners. He currently serves on the boards of companies such as Blackboard, Ascend Learning, and Burning Glass. Prior to joining Providence in 2012, Mr. Napack was the president of Macmillan, the global publisher, whose imprints include St. Martin's Press; Farrar Strauss & Giroux; Henry Holt; Bedford, Freeman & Worth; and Scientific American. He has held senior roles in education, publishing, and media with companies such as The Walt Disney (News - Alert) Company, ThinkBox, and Simon & Schuster, and was a partner at L.E.K. Consulting, a leading management consulting firm. Mr. Napack also sits on the Board of Zero to Three, a national advocacy organization dedicated to improving the lives of infants and toddlers. About Blackboard Inc. Blackboard is the world's leading education technology company. We challenge conventional thinking and advance new models of learning in order to reimagine education and make it more accessible, engaging and relevant to the modern day learner and the institutions that serve them. In partnership with our customers and partners in higher education and K-12 as well as corporations and government agencies around the world, our mission is to help every learner achieve their full potential by inspiring a passion for lifelong learning. For more information about Blackboard, follow us on Twitter (News - Alert) @Blackboard. For more information about Blackboard, please visit www.blackboard.com or follow @Blackboard on Twitter View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160104005988/en/

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[January 04, 2016]

Camtek to Present at the 18th Annual Needham Growth Conference

MIGDAL HA'EMEK, Israel, January 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

Camtek Ltd. (Nasdaq: CAMT ; TASE: CAMT) announced that it will be presenting at the 18th Annual Needham Growth Conference to be held between January 12 - 14, 2016 at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel in New York.

Camtek is scheduled to present on Wednesday, January 13, 2016 at 10am Eastern Time.

At the conference there will be an opportunity for investors to meet one-on-one with Rafi Amit, CEO and Moshe Eisenberg, CFO of Camtek. Interested investors should contact the conference organizers at Needham or the Investor Relation team at Camtek.







ABOUT CAMTEK LTD.

Camtek Ltd. provides automated and technologically advanced solutions dedicated to enhancing production processes, increasing products yield and reliability, enabling and supporting customers' latest technologies in the Semiconductors, Printed Circuit Boards (PCB) and IC Substrates industries.

Camtek addresses the specific needs of these interconnected industries with dedicated solutions based on a wide and advanced platform of technologies including intelligent imaging, image processing and functional 3D inkjet printing.

This press release is available at http://www.camtek.co.il

CAMTEK LTD.

Moshe Eisenberg, CFO

Tel: +972-4-604-8308

Mobile: +972-54-900-7100

[email protected]

INTERNATIONAL INVESTOR RELATIONS

GK Investor & Public Relations

Ehud Helft / Kenny Green

Tel: (US) +1-646-201-9246

[email protected]



SOURCE Camtek Ltd
[January 04, 2016] Dermstore Expands Haircare Portfolio With New-to-Market Innovations

EL SEGUNDO, Calif., Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Dermstore, a subsidiary of Target Corporation and the leading online retailer of prestige beauty solutions, announces the expansion of its portfolio of professional-strength haircare with the exclusive launch of TextureTame, a permanent, at-home, anti-frizz smoothing treatment. In addition, Dermstore is the first US retailer to debut the revolutionary and original hair straightening device from DAFNI. The announcement follows the company's recent brand re-fresh and continued focus on embracing technology and trends to bring the discerning beauty consumer a curated collection of cutting-edge innovations in a streamlined shopping experience. "We've worked diligently to become our customers' most trusted resource for innovation, and it's critical to our strategy to be first-to-market with products that are shaping the future of beauty and self-care," says Jani Friedman, Chief Merchandising Officer, Dermstore. "When it comes to supporting daily choices like how to style and tame your haira decision women make every daywe have an insatiable curiosity for what's new and next. We believe TextureTame and DAFNI are two brands that are evolving the professional haircare solutions landscape." TextureTame marks a significant milestone in Dermstore's exclusive brand growth strategy, which currently includes award-winning haircare brand HarryJosh Pro Tools. Before today, professional smoothing and straightening treatments have only been available through expensive salon services. After six years of development by top industry leaders, TextureTame is the first-ever at-home treatment that tames frizz permanently. A chemical-free and affordable solution, TextureTame is a 3-step system that allows women to achieve silky smooth, manageable and frizz-free hair without affecting the hair's genetic wave or curl pattern.



Perfectly complementing Dermstore's haircare mix is the revolutionary DAFNI Hair Straightening Ceramic Brush the original brush that is now making waves all over the world. After discovering the tool in Italy, Dermstore has become the first retail channel to offer the styling tool in the US market. DAFNI transforms wavy, curly or frizzy hair into shiny, smooth and controlled locksjust by brushing. Its unique patented 3D ceramic surface design blends the ease of a hair brush with the results of a flat iron to safely create straight, frizz-free strands faster than any hair tool to date. "Women have a deep emotional connection with their hair, and styling it can be daunting and even defeating. These moments often lead her to seek a solution or inspiration through online search," says Beaupain. "As a digital company, Dermstore is able to analyze this data to guide our decisions in investing in new brands, like DAFNI and TextureTame, that not only make styling easier but also more importantly, help her feel beautiful and more confident."

Dermstore offers an impressive range of physician-strength skincare, exclusive spa care lines, salon-grade brands, and niche products from around the world. In addition to expertly curated product selections, the website also provides advice and content from top industry professionals - all within a clean, easy to navigate interface. For more information about Dermstore or TextureTame and DAFNI products, visit: www.Dermstore.com, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @Dermstore. About Dermstore:

Dermstore, a subsidiary of Target Corporation, is the leading skin care e-commerce site in the United States with a comprehensive portfolio of prestige and professional products offered to over one million active customers. The Company was founded in 1999 by a board certified dermatologist with the vision of creating a trusted dermatologist-backed online store that carries the finest cosmetic dermatology products. Dermstore has grown to offer a range of more than 500 skin care, haircare and cosmetic brands. Dermstore features physician-strength formulas, otherwise only available through a doctor's or surgeon's office, exclusive spa care lines, salon-grade brands, as well as difficult to find niche and specialty brands from around the world. Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151221/317554LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/dermstore-expands-haircare-portfolio-with-new-to-market-innovations-300196258.html SOURCE Dermstore

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[January 04, 2016] AdvisorHub Names Tony Sirianni New CEO, Hires Editors

NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- AdvisorHub LLC (AH), an online forum where financial advisors share news, rumors and compensation information, announced today that it has named Tony Sirianni as its new CEO. Mr. Sirianni, who holds a law degree and a Masters in creative writing, has 25 years of financial services industry experience and served most recently as managing partner of Sirianni Strategy Group LLC. After serving as a financial advisor in New York City, he went on to manage some of the most profitable complexes of brokerage firm offices in the United States for Legg Mason, Smith Barney, and Morgan Stanley. He is also the founder and former CEO of Washington Wealth Management and a founder of Steward Partners Global Advisory, an independent advisory firm. AvisorHub also has formed a new editorial and reporting team led by Mason Braswell, formerly of InvestmentNews, and Jed Horowitz, formerly of Reuters. Each has years of in-depth reporting experience covering the retail brokerage industry at prominent financial publications.



"I want to enrich our website and enhance the experience of our users," Sirianni said. "That means adding real, powerful news, without losing the 'direct-from-the-Advisor' attitude that has made us one of the fastest-growing and most popular sites in finance." AdvisorHub's evolution from a user-submitted rumor website and compensation directory to one that also sources professionally reported news has quickly born fruit. It has been first in recent weeks to report new compensation programs at major brokerage firms, Credit Suisse's raiding complaint against UBS, the forced leave of a Barron's Top 10 financial adviser from his employer and Raymond James' deal to buy Deutsche Bank's U.S. wealth business.

"We plan to deliver high-quality content to our readers," Braswell said. "The interactive nature of AdvisorHub and the information our readers entrust to us gives us a unique advantage over competitors in delivering news first." "We've been given a mandate from the top down to give our community the transparency, facts and insights our readers deserve," Horowitz said. About AdvisorHub AdvisorHub is an interactive online community for Financial Advisors providing news, insights, and compensation information for financial advisors. It is headquartered in New York City and Columbus Ohio, with an additional office in Miami FL.

advisorhubinc.com Press Contact:

Dave Peterson

Sirianni Strategy Group

440-567-6125 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160101/318704 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/advisorhub-names-tony-sirianni-new-ceo-hires-editors-300198367.html SOURCE AdvisorHub LLC

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[January 04, 2016] Penton Establishes Presence in Fast Growing Automotive Tech Market with Acquisition of TU-Automotive, an Event and Digital Information Company Focused on the Connected Vehicle Market

NEW YORK, Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, Penton announced at CES 2016 that it has acquired TU-Automotive, an event and digital information company serving the connected vehicle segment of the automotive tech market, from FC Business Intelligence. This acquisition positions Penton at the center of the industry's most innovative and fast-growing segments: connected vehicles, mobility and autonomous driving. The single biggest opportunity facing the automotive industry is the shift of vehicles to connected mobility for communication, diagnostics and dataflow, autonomy and other intelligent systems. This shift is already gaining significant ground in the trucking industry with connected devices changing fuel efficiency, optimizing speed and brake usage. Gartner predicts that by 2020, more than 250 million vehicles will be connected globally, with the number of installed connectivity units in vehicles worldwide increasing by 67 percent and consumer spend on in-vehicle connectivity fully doubling. TU-Automotive delivers premiere events, networking, content and analysis on the current topics of connected vehicles, mobility, autonomous driving and the downstream implications to related industries. The Company's key assets include: 13 "must-attend" events including the world's largest connected car and mobility event, TU-Automotive Detroit, plus flagship events TU-Automotive Europe, TU-Automotive Japan and The Consumer Telemtics Show, which takes place tomorrow, January 5, in advance of the CES opening in Las Vegas. In addition, TU-Automotive provides market-leading digital content, analysis, education and business intelligence through TU-Automotive's communications hub, analysis.tu-auto.com. TU-Automotive plays a critical convening role for key players in this complex and fast moving segment, including Ford, General Motors, FCA, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Facebook, IBM and Microsoft.



TU-Automotive will become a part of the Penton Ground Transportation group, led by Vice President, Sue Boehlke. The TU-Automotive assets are highly complementary with Penton's existing transportation portfolio, which includes WardsAuto, FleetSeek, FleetOwner, Trailer Body Builders and American Trucker. Boehlke commented, "TU-Automotive offers the most respected, high profile platforms to expand Penton Ground Transportation's reach beyond the United States into Europe, South America and Asia, with a core hub of operations in London. We look forward to TU-Automotive becoming part of the Penton family." The acquisition also strengthens Penton's planned launches around the Internet of Things (IoT) in 2016 across Penton. "IoT and connected devices are a major theme across Penton, impacting many of our industry sectors including ground transportation, aviation, agriculture, technology and electronics. Companies and factories that are connected are more productive and the implications for innovation through IoT are tremendous," said David Kieselstein, Penton's CEO. "In 2016 we are launching a major IoT initiative to help companies break down the complexity. From sensors and platforms to data and security issues, we'll cover best practices to help businesses grappling with policy, strategy and implementation in the application of this new wave of technology."

About Penton

Penton is an innovative information services company that empowers 20 million business decision makers in markets that drive more than 12 trillion dollars in purchases each year. Our products inform with rich industry insights and workflow tools; engage through dynamic events, education and networking; and advance business with powerful marketing services programs. Penton is the way smart businesses buy, sell and grow. Headquartered in New York, Penton is privately owned by MidOcean Partners and Wasserstein & Co., LP. For more information, visit http://www.penton.com or follow us on Twitter @PentonNow. MEDIA CONTACT: Kate Spellman

Chief Marketing Officer

Penton

212 204 4351

[email protected] Logo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20151231/318607LOGO To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/penton-establishes-presence-in-fast-growing-automotive-tech-market-with-acquisition-of-tu-automotive-an-event-and-digital-information-company-focused-on-the-connected-vehicle-market-300198256.html SOURCE Penton

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[January 04, 2016] MicroTech Hires Rusty Lingenfelter as Executive Vice President of Technology and Telecommunication Solutions (TTS)

VIENNA, Va., Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- MicroTech is excited to announce it has hired Rusty Lingenfelter as its new Executive Vice President of Technology and Telecommunications Solutions (TTS). Mr. Lingenfelter is a senior IT leader with rarely rivaled experience in multi-billion dollar global infrastructure programs, operations and service delivery. His unique ability to promote teamwork and purpose among senior engineering teams to increase service levels while decreasing cost will be a valuable asset to MicroTech. Mr. Lingenfelter's has significant experience in program management and strategic sourcing at a very large enterprise level as well as noteworthy executive communication skills with a particular skill in mediation and consensus building. With his significant skills and experience, Mr. Lingenfelter has contributed to revenue growth, improved and expanded partnerships, markets and customer relationships in the industry field. "I am extremely excited to join the Microtech family," said Mr. Lingenfelter. "Tony has been an inspiration to veteran entrepreneurs and business leaders and encouraged them to pursue their passion. I look forward to helping the team continue to deliver quality that our customers appreciate and staying on the leading edge of technologies that help our customer be more efficient and effective." "I am very excited to welcome Rusty to our MicroTech team," said MicroTech President and CEO, Tony Jimenez. "He brings valuable years of nowledge and experience that will help strengthen our team."



About MicroTech: MicroTech, a certified and verified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) and a Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) certified by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC), has had noteworthy success since its inception in 2004. Under Mr. Jimenez's leadership, the privately owned company has experienced exponential growth over the years and is repeatedly recognized as a small business success story. Described as the "hottest Hispanic business in the nation," MicroTech was ranked as the #1 Fastest Growing Hispanic Company in the Nation for three consecutive years by Hispanic Business Magazine. MicroTech was also named one of the Top 10 Fastest Growing Hispanic-Owned Companies in the Nation for five consecutive years and has been repeatedly listed on Washington Technology's annual list of the Top 100 Government Contractors.



MicroTech provides Cloud Computing, Technology Services, Cyber Security Solutions, Products & Managed Service Solutions, Network Systems Integration, Big Data Management, Telecom Solutions & Integration and Financial Services to the public sector, as well as commercial enterprises -- managing more than a quarter of a million technology users daily. A prime contractor of over 100 Federal projects and more-than-25 procurement vehicles, MicroTech offers access to 2500 vendors and a million technology products and services across the government.

MicroTech, a premier Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB), is an industry leading prime contractor on more than 100 Federal projects and holds more than 20 procurement vehicles, offering access to 2500 vendors and over a million technology products and services. The nationally recognized company is also certified by the National Minority Supplier Development Council (NMSDC). Founded in 2004, MicroTech expertly provides Technology Integration, Telecom Solutions, Network Systems, Cloud Computing, Product Support, Managed Service Solutions, and Visual Communications to commercial enterprises, as well as the public sector  managing over half-a-million technology users daily. Jennifer Berman

Director, Executive Operations

MicroTech

Vienna, VA

703-891-1073 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/microtech-hires-rusty-lingenfelter-as-executive-vice-president-of-technology-and-telecommunication-solutions-tts-300198629.html SOURCE MicroTech

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[January 04, 2016] NTS Communications Brings 1 Gig Service to Abilene

ABILENE, Texas, Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- NTS Communications, Inc. ("NTS") today announced the launch of high speed Internet service up to 1 Gigabit in Abilene, TX. The service is delivered over a state-of-the-art pure fiber to the premise (FTTP) network. Effective immediately, local business customers in serviceable areas, including the downtown area, will have access to NTS' Gigabit Fiber Network, which will provide speeds up to 1 Gbps (1,000Mbps). Cyrus Driver, President & CEO of NTS stated, "We are very excited to continue the rollout of our Gigabit Internet speeds to Abilene, making it NTS' next 'Gigabit City'. Our Gigabit Fiber Network will provide the Abilene business community with a highly reliable technical infrastructure for many years to come. NTS' Gigabit services are delivered over a pure fiber network and directly connect to our customers at their premise. This pure and powerful solution will not only provide highly desirable services to current businesses, but will position Abilene as an even more competitive location for new business and industries in Texas." With NTS' Gigabit Fiber Network Abilene's business Internet customers will get one of the most powerful bandwidth solution available along with all of the benefits of being an NTS customer. In adition to the 1 Gigabit speeds for businesses, NTS also offers fully scalable speeds up to 10 Gbps. These scalable speeds are ideal for larger government or educational facilities who are looking for more that up to 1 Gigabit. NTS has over 30 years of experience in the industry, a well-trained customer care department and a 24/7 technical support group. NTS is the premier Internet provider in Abilene and is well positioned to provide the highest level of customer support to its business community.



NTS' 1 Gigabit service also comes with access to a full suite of business solutions including video, voice, telephone systems and more. To date, NTS has launched its up to 1 Gigabit Internet service to many areas across Texas and Louisiana, including the major Texas cities of Lubbock, Midland and Amarillo, Texas. For additional information on NTS product offerings, please call 800-658-2150.

ABOUT NTS COMMUNICATIONS, INC. NTS is a premier provider of Fiber Internet, Voice and Video services to both residential and business customers in regions of West Texas, North Texas and Southeastern Louisiana. NTS delivers one of the fastest Internet connections available over a true fiber to the premise network. The Company currently has operations in Texas, Mississippi and Louisiana and also serves customers in Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma. For the Company's website, please visit: www.ntscom.com. MEDIA CONTACTS:

Kelley Harber

NTS Communications, Inc.

Phone: 806.776.4195

Email: [email protected]

or

Razonia McClellan

Razonia McClellan Public Relations

Phone: 806.370.3820 x101

Cell: 432.352.7477

Email: [email protected] To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/nts-communications-brings-1-gig-service-to-abilene-300198719.html SOURCE NTS Communications, Inc.

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[January 04, 2016] Hunter Fan Company Blows Away Competition with Wi-Fi Enabled, Apple HomeKit-Enabled Ceiling Fans

MEMPHIS, Tenn., Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Hunter Fan Company, the leading manufacturer of ceiling fans, enters the connected home space by debuting two Wi-Fi enabled fans at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show (CES). Named Symphony and Signal, the fans boast support for Apple HomeKit technology and seamlessly interact with other HomeKit-enabled products to create an automated suite of comfort, security and energy efficiency. "Our ceaseless innovation is why Hunter Fan is the industry leader, and these new Wi-Fi enabled fans, with added support for Apple HomeKit, are a testament to our heritage of progress and originality," said Hunter Fan CEO John Alexander. "They're beautiful, affordable, high quality pieces of decor that bring state-of-the-art Wi-Fi technology where it might not be expected: the ceiling fan. As we celebrate 130 years, we have several exciting developments to share with our customers, and are proud to kick off 2016 at CES with Symphony and Signal." Apple HomeKit technology requires iOS 8.1 or later and allows users to control each fan  or a group of fans  using Siri on their iPhone, iPad, iPod touch or Apple Watch. Users can also create custom scenes with other HomeKit-enabled products: for example, one could create a scene to automatically turn on the fan's light, lock the doors, close the garage door and set the thermostat to the desired temperature in just one step. Users can also set up HomeKit-enabled products to work together based on triggers, such as having the fan's light turn on the moment the fire alarm detects smoke. HomeKit technology provides advanced security with end-to-end encryption and authentication between the fan and the iOS device. Symphony has a graceful, modern design and comes in fresh white,while Signal, with its satin nickel housing and reversible wood-finished blades, is a contemporary blend of sleek design and classic finishes. Symphony's MSRP is $329; Signal's MSRP is $379. Both fans are available spring 2016 at: HunterFan.com; Amazon.com; Build.com; BestBuy.com; HomeDepot.com; Lowes.com; Menards.com; and in lighting showrooms nationwide.



Joining the connected home space was a natural extension of Hunter Fan's business, and the company is exploring various opportunities for Wi-Fi enabled designs. "When we first had cameras on our iPhones, we didn't immediately envision the ability to deposit checks with them. Similarly, we know that these fans enhance energy efficiency, home security and convenience, but we believe we've just scratched the surface of their full potential," says Hunter Chief Marketing Officer John Neilson. Symphony and Signal were developed in collaboration with industry leaders Ayla Networks and Marvell Technology Group Ltd., which will feature the fans in their respective displays at CES. For more information, please visit http://www.hunterfan.com/hunterconnects.

About Hunter Fan Company Founded in 1886 and headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, Hunter Fan Company is the world's original ceiling fan manufacturer. For 130 years, Hunter has led the industry in innovative design and quality craftsmanship to deliver maximum air movement and unmatched performance. Hunter ceiling fans are available at lighting showrooms, home centers and online retailers nationwide. For more information, visit HunterFan.com, call 1-888-830-1326 and connect with Hunter Fan Company on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Youtube and Twitter. To see how a Hunter fan would complement your home, download the free Hunter Fan Visualizer app in the App Store and Google Play. Media Contact:

Ressa Tomkiewicz

the / zimmerman / agency

[email protected]

(850) 668-2222 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160104/319044 Photo - http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20160104/319045 To view the original version on PR Newswire, visit:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/hunter-fan-company-blows-away-competition-with-wi-fi-enabled-apple-homekit-enabled-ceiling-fans-300198982.html SOURCE Hunter Fan Company

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Your home network is becoming more crowded than a freeway during rush hour. Ignition Design Labs thinks the way to end the traffic jam is to open up a few more lanes.



The company, which is made up of engineers who made their bones at places like Qualcomm and Broadcom, has come to CES 2016 to take the wraps off Portal, a router that can increase the available bandwidth on a network and dynamically pick the best channels for fast, reliable Wi-Fi performance. Pricing hadn't been set as of this writing, but Ignition is starting a Kickstarter campaign in February and envisions charging about $149.





That would solve a problem facing a lot of home wireless networks: between streaming video, online gaming, connected devices and who knows how many phones, tablets and laptops, there's a lot of things clamoring for our router's attention.



Wi-Fi has "become a victim of its own success," Ignition president Terry Ngo told me when we met in a San Francisco apartment a few weeks ago to see how Portal could navigate an overcrowded wireless setting. "That crowdedness creates congestion, which impacts performance, speed and reliability."

MORE: Best Router - Get a Better Wi-Fi Signal at Home

The answer, Ngo and the other engineers at Ignition believe, is to exploit the radio spectrum in the 5-GHz band that most routers aren't even using. Ignition says that traffic on 802.11ac networks falls either in low-frequency or high-frequency lanes. But there's a big chunk of unused spectrum between those two channels that's going untapped.

Source: Ignition Design Labs

"Everyone's only using two lanes," says Ngo, returning to the analogy of a busy freeway. "There are four empty lanes. [With Portal], you're permitted to drive in the HOV lane."



Of course, there's a reason why a lot of that spectrum goes unused. It's called dynamic frequency selection (DFS), and it's used by things like emergency services, Doppler radar and other high-priority signals. You can still use that spectrum, but the FCC requires radar detection technology. If a radar signal is detected, devices have to abandon that channel and stay off for at least 30 minutes. It's a complex task that's generally limited to the kind of routers that only large-scale enterprises can afford.



Ignition says its radar detection technology is more robust and able to bump traffic over to other channels in the DFS spectrum when it picks up radar signals on one channel. Because Ignition's Portal router is capable of predictive channel changes, that means streams won't be disrupted even if you're watching a 4K movie. What's more, Ignition says its approach to radar detection is low-cost enough to add to consumer routers.



Ignition claims that Portal can boost available bandwidth by 250 percent while the router's ability to dynamically adjust Wi-Fi settings to use faster channels and avoid interference can increase speeds by 300 times. Certainly, in that San Francisco apartment surrounded by competing wireless signals, the Portal was able to meet whatever demands the Ignition team could throw at it, streaming a pair of 4k movies simultaneously while also delivering 543Mbps of throughput on top of that.





The differences were even more stark when we switched between the Portal and an off-the-shelf AC1900 router. An immersive video streaming to a Gear VR headset looked smooth and seamless over the Portal router but had noticeable stutters when delivered by the standard networking device. The Portal router let me stream an Xbox One game to a laptop; that same game was unplayable over the run-of-the-mill router.



There's hope yet for those off-the-shelf routers, though. Ignition executives equipped a standard router equipped with the company's spectrum boosting technology that was able to stream Netflix at full resolution much more quickly than it could without the added technological boost. In addition to producing its own router, Ignition thinks it can integrate its technologies into existing networking devices for improved performance.



To convince router makers that they should adopt that technology into their own products, Ignition plans to turn to crowdfunding. The company will launch a Kickstarter campaign in February aimed at lining up beta testers for the Portal router.



"We want consumers to try it and tell equipment makers what they think," he said.
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Members of the New South Wales government are threatening to shut down music festivals in the state who fail to comply with boosted safety standards. The threats come in the wake of yet another drug-related overdose at a NSW music festival.

As The Daily Telegraph reports, NSW Premier Mike Baird has warned music festival organisers that enough is enough, saying organisers will be held accountable if distressing and avoidable drug-related overdoses continue.

Mr Bairds comments come after a 23-year-old reveller was taken to hospital in a critical condition after allegedly ingesting MDMA during Sydneys Field Day festival on New Years Day. More than 180 people were charged with drug offences at the event.

Mr Baird says he will be calling on the relevant ministers to introduce more drug screening at festival entrances as well as pursuing a review of the system for issuing permits to organisers of music festivals.

Individuals need to take responsibility for their actions, but so do the organisers of these festivals, he said. He added that music festivals who dont adhere to the governments new requirements will be shut down.

If new rules and procedures place additional burdens and costs on organisers, so be it  and we will also examine denying permits to organisers who have not done the right thing in the past, he said. Enough is enough. This simply has to stop.

NSW Deputy Premier Troy Grant confirmed that festivals could potentially be shut down if organisers fail to improve safety standards. He told the ABC the government would be putting [the] onus on these festival organisers to have a better duty of care to the partygoers.

Were not going to say this is going to be an easy task, but its about working together and getting that message out there. Education is the key, he said. But ultimately, if the events continue to cause deaths, well the festivals will write their own scripts.

[include_post id=466572]

The governments plan has already attracted criticism, particularly from those in the dance music community. Kim Moyes, one half of Sydney electronic duo The Presets has since taken to Facebook to label the governments plan nuts.

NSW is starting to become a little hard to swallow, he wrote. In the post, Moyes compared drug deaths to the road toll, saying, I dont want to trivialize their deaths but no government is threatening to shut down transport.

Australia witnessed a grim start to the summer festival season, with multiple deaths occurring during the popular Stereosonic music festival, which followed other drug-related deaths at the Defqon.1 and Dragon Dreaming music festivals.

One approach to music festival safety that has been proven to work but that the government seems reticent to trial is pill-testing. As Tone Deaf previously reported, the practice has been commonplace in Europe where it has successfully changed the drug habits of young revellers.
Its time to celebrate because Free Time  the guitar pop brainchild of Melbourne/ New York based luminary Dion Nania  have just dropped a new track and are playing a string of shows alongside honorary Aussie Mac DeMarco.

Forming back in the summer of 2012, Nania (Panel of Judges) and co. floated through the NYC music scene, playing on US tours for Aussie mates the Twerps and Scott & Charlenes Wedding as well as sharing stages with US indie heroes Real Estate and The Babies.

Featuring a rotating cast of members the bands warmly received debut LP hit shelves in mid 2013, which was followed by a 7 single, Esoteric Tizz, and music videos for singles I Lost Again and Guess Work.

Since the release of the debut LP Nania returned to Melbourne for a year. In true fashion, he immediately modelled an Australian lineup to complete the Free Time record, including Marty Frawley (Twerps), Zachary Schneider (Totally Mild) and Joe Alexander (Terrible Truths). The band have since completed the second LP, recording and mixing at John Lees Phaedra Studios.

Their latest single Who Owns The Moon? is a lethargic but infatuating summer pop gem, the aural equivalent of falling into a summer afternoon nap after a couple of tinnies. Its also the first cut taken from the forthcoming LP titled In Search of Free Time, and set for release by one of our favourite local labels Bedroom Suck Records.

Dont miss the guys as they release a string of new singles and tour locally for the first half of 2016, before Nania will bounces back across the globe to reunite with his US counterparts.

Upcoming Shows (Supporting Mac DeMarco)

Tuesday 5 Jan

170 Russell w/ Mac DeMarco & Gum

Thursday 7 Jan

Factory Theatre w/ MacDeMarco & Kirin J. Callinan
Post Dispatch . . . Lawmakers target Tilley as ethics debate is revived in Missouri

Missouri Growths first actual donation to a state representative came in September 2014. It gave $750 to Rep. Jeremy Lafaver, D-Kansas City . . . St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, a Democrat, received $1,500. Schupp received another $1,000. Fellow Democrat Sen. Jason Holsman of Kansas City received $2,000 . Numerous House Republicans  and a few Democrats  received between $300 and $500 . . .





Was the money from Noranda or from Tilley? Did the candidates know the original source of the money when they received it or asked for it?





This is one of the most insidious ethics problems facing the legislative process. In Missouri, despite a law that says it is illegal to try to hide the source of campaign donations, the practice is common. Tilley is not alone.

MO State Sen. Holsman and State Rep. Jeremy "High Times" LaFaver name checked in this informative article about the Missouri Cash game that Kansas City media is keeping quiet . . .Name check . . .#########And whilst campaign finance reporting is boring . . . This tidbit kinda proves that Kansas City Democrats are just as embroiled in controversial questions as their GOP counterparts.Developing . . .
CHECK THE TOP 5 TRENDS TO START KANSAS CITY 2015!!!

Protest Against Kansas City Police

Corporate Cash Rules Kansas City

Like It Or Not: Kansas City Loves Trump!!!

Already Rising Kansas City Murder Count Could Return To Record Levels

Voters Give Up On Kansas City Democracy

Finally for tonight, we're attempting to hold on to every bit of our holiday chill as just aboutin Kansas City dreads going back to work tomorrow morning.Here's just a bit of what we have to look forward to . . . One of the last in a season of lists . . .In addition to homegrown terrorists and/or occupiers . . . Here's what this town is confronting in what looks like it could be the start of an overall economic downturn for the this town and the world . . .Saturday night our blog community was FIRST to report the OPENING STATEMENTS from protesters decrying Kansas City police shootings and their work looks to set the tone for the new year. More on that for the morning . . .An ongoing theme . . . It's not news to report that "money talks" in Kansas Citythe level of corporate rule is almost absolute in this town and all we have to show for it a toy train that has spiked rent but not job growth. And let's not forget the corporate welfare hotel along with the new airport plan that nobody likes. Developing . . .More than any presidential candidate,has galvanized a diverse base of support and no other candidate sparks as much interest as Trump.For Sunday, here's a faith-based look at his unifying impact . . .The organizer for this movement is from KC and underlying support for Trump seems to be a trend that our local political "experts" don't want to acknowledge.Double murder on the first day of the year doesn't bode well for the future. As we write this, another Kansas City shooting adds to the level of local violence . Even worse, there is a casual acceptance of these killings that include innocent children. There is nothing stopping this body count from moving higher and maybe back to 1990s record levels as local politicos seems to be distancing themselves from addressing the topic directly.None of the elections in Kansas City last year earned more than 10% turnout among registered voters. This year should be better be cause of the presidential race but maybe not. Voters have disengaged from the process and there's not much that seems to be luring them back . . . Even the hope/fear of a reality show host taking the nation's highest office.Meanwhile . . . We continue to look toward the future with a bright shining hope of a new day and new year . . .Hopefully, morediscussion, debate, discourse, more than our share of hateration and all kinds of good stuff for the morning update . . .
At 119 homicides (up 54%) for 2015, the murder rate surpassed that of each of the last four years. 2012 saw only 88 murders, while 2013 hit 104, and 2014 saw 105 murders. And the bloodshed continues . .. .

Homicide #3 So Far This Year

Kansas City Metro Chase

Political Solution Proposed . . .

The spate of violence and killing that pushed the homicide count to near record levels continues into the New Year.A bit of background . . .Take a look:Accordingly . . .Will this collection of politicos and non-profit activists help reduce local crime and stop an already bloody Kansas City year???You decide . . .
Agios Nikolaos in Crete is among 10 up-and-coming travel destinations for 2016, according to UK-based hotel search website trivago.co.uk.

Travel interest in Agios Nikolaos has increased 88% compared to last year.

The results are based on the 200 most searched-for overseas destinations (regions, towns and cities) during 2015 compared against searches made during 2014. This enabled the company to identify the ten destinations with the highest increase in searches, making for a fascinating selection of popular and trending destinations.

Heres the top 10, with the percentage increase of searches in 2015 compared to 2014, based on the top 200 overseas searches made during 2015, in brackets:

Lapland, Finland (320%)

Havana, Cuba (200%)

Lake Buena Vista, Florida, USA (129%)

Stuttgart, Germany (97%)

Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, Spain (95%)

Saint-Tropez, France (94%)

Agios Nikolaos, Crete, Greece (88%)

Puerto de Alcudia, Mallorca, Spain (77%)

Varadero, Cuba (75%)

Marseille, France (73%)

With a 320 per cent increase in travel interest, Lapland has the largest increase in searches compared to last year. The region in the north of Finland is a popular winter destination famed for the Northern Lights.

In second place is Cubas capital city of Havana, which has become popular in the past year largely due to the lifting of travel restrictions at the end of 2014. The coastal town of Varadero follows as the ninth up-and-coming destination, with a 75 per cent increase in travel interest.

Completing the top three is Lake Buena Vista, better known as Walt Disney World in Florida. A 129 per cent increase in searches to Disney hotels suggests the corporation is enjoying a boost in visitors from the UK.

Range of options

The rest of the top ten comprises two Spanish destinations, two in France, one in Germany and one in Greece. Many of these are coastal locations, including the holiday resorts of Las Palmas, Saint-Tropez, Agios Nikolaos, Puerto de Alcudia and Marseille. Stuttgart is an interesting entry, generally considered a base for exploring Germanys Black Forest and Wurttemberg wine region.

Denise Bartlett, from Trivagos UK public relations team, said: It is of little surprise to see such a huge increase in travel interest to both Havana and Varadero, with the lifting of US travel restrictions to Cuba urging many travellers to visit before the country changes dramatically. The real surprise is such a steep increase in searches to Lapland, suggesting that both winter travel and travel to see the Northern Lights are enjoying an upward trend. Finally, the inclusion of a Disney resort city in the top could suggest two things  either more people are visiting Disney, or more people are using a price comparison site to do so  rather than booking packages directly with Disney.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
Cook said a team from across the business was pulled together to transform Airtours, allowing it to offer great value holidays in familiar sun and beach destinations such as Spain, the Balearics, Canary Islands, Greece and Mexico, flying from regional ai

A revived Airtours brand has released two new brochures offering value sun and beach holidays for families and couples.

The re-launch of the Airtours brand comes under Chris Mottershead, the new Cook UK managing director, who told Travel Weekly in July that he saw Airtours as a great opportunity.

Mottershead ran Airtours during its heydays in the 1990s and admitted the brand had been a bit forgotten as part of the Cook portfolio.

Full package offering

This weeks re-launch comes with the strapline Pack More In referring to its full package offering as well as financial protection provided by a mainstream tour operator.

Cook said a team from across the business was pulled together to transform Airtours, allowing it to offer great value holidays in familiar sun and beach destinations such as Spain, the Balearics, Canary Islands, Greece and Mexico, flying from regional airports and sold through local travel agents.

The firm added the re-launch has been informed by customer research that has shown they value flexibility, choice and the ability to tailor make their own holidays.

Exclusive hotels

All hotels in the Airtours offering - including the smartline range - will be exclusive to the brand with no cross-over to the Thomas Cook brand and each property will have a minimum TripAdvisor rating of three.

Mottershead said: "Airtours remains one of the most popular brands in travel, yet it doesn't have a significant presence on the high street. Even though little has been done to promote it recently, its doing really well, representing around 40% of UK sales. It's very much our value for money brand, and were looking to give it the boost it needs to remind people about the great value for money holidays it offers.

Airtours will be aligned closely with the Co-operative retail estate of 258 stores, as well as independent agents.

Co-operative Travel campaign

It will be the focus of the Co-operative Travels turn of year campaign and will be the brand promoted in Co-op shop windows.

The brand will be promoted through partnerships with major independent agents including Barrhead Travel and Hays Travel.

Cook is poised to invest heavily in marketing Airtours, with regional campaigns including radio and outdoor which will focus on travel from regional airports to popular destinations.

Family-focussed imagery

Posters will incorporate all-new family-focussed imagery with slogans designed to bring the brand to life, such as The Funny, Sunny Holiday and Ha Ha Ha Holidays.

New-look brochures including refreshed front covers have also been introduced to mark the re-launch, along with a new all-inclusive brochure and twice as many year-round sun brochures available than last year.

It is anticipated the full rebranding of Airtours will be completed in time for Summer 2017.

Mottershead added: Airtours has a strong position in the market, which we are looking to further strengthen. With Airtours promoted in our Co-operative Travel shops as well as via our partnerships with the major independents, this is a clear statement that it's back and its here to stay.

Read more here.

RELATED TOPICS: Greece, Greek tourism news, Tourism in Greece, Greek islands, Hotels in Greece, Travel to Greece, Greek destinations , Greek travel market, Greek tourism statistics, Greek tourism report
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Oman is planning a RO500 million ($1.3 billion) waterfront development around Port Sultan Qaboos in the capital Muscat that will be paid for by investment from the private sector, Oman News Agency reported on Monday.



The project is the first announced following the publication of the sultanate's five-year plan on Sunday, which highlighted an increased role for outside investment to help maintain development projects at a time of lower oil prices and squeezed state finances.



Financing will be arranged through pension funds and private sector investment, with no government cash involved, state news agency ONA quoted Minister of Transport and Communications Ahmed bin Mohammed al-Futaisi as saying.



The project, due to be completed over four phases up to 2027, will be 51 per cent state-owned through the Oman Tourism Development Company (Omran) and the remaining 49 per cent will be held by investors, it added.



Oman, one of the smaller members of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, plans to cut its budget deficit to RO3.3 billion this year from an actual RO4.5 billion last year.



The shortfall, like in other GCC members such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, is primarily due to lower oil revenue and Oman is looking to amend economic policy to cover the gap, including cuts in spending and subsidies, as well as more borrowing.



The sultanate is targeting more infrastructure projects through public private partnerships (PPPs), with 52 per cent of total investment to come from the private sector, according to the 2016-2020 economic plan, against 42 per cent in the last incarnation.



The waterfront development will span 451,000 sq m, and will include hotels, as well as residential apartments and houses around the marina, ONA said.  Reuters
UAE imported approximately 412,400 cu m of softwood lumber from main European and North American exporters between January and July 2015, said the organisers of the upcoming Dubai WoodShow, citing an industry report.



The 11th edition of the largest trade fair for wood products in the Middle East will take place from April 4 to 6 at Dubai World Trade Center.



Romania is the biggest exporter of softwood lumber to the UAE with a volume of 233,000 cu m, while Germany came second with a volume of 101,000 cu m. The collective exports of Austria, Russia, Canada and Ukraine to the UAE were of the value of 78,000 cu m of softwood lumber.



Dubai WoodShow 2016 will open doors for other pavilions including Turkey and India. This expansion is expected to further boost the shows reputation, compared to last years record growth of 33 per cent increase in exhibitors over 2014.



The event is set to put on display all kinds of both softwood products that are made of cedar, fir, pine, redwood; or hardwood products that are made of ash, birch, cherry, mahogany, maple, oak, poplar, teak, and walnut.



Dubai WoodShow showcases exquisite wood and woodworking material, said Dawood Al Shezawi, CEO, Strategic Marketing & Exhibitions, organisers of the Dubai WoodShow.



The exhibition allows customers in the Middle East to have access to wood products and accessories of topmost quality. Our distinct advantage this year is not just in the number of exhibitors but the new product launches that will use the exhibition floor to target the regional market.



The significant demand for wood in the GCC helps raise the profile of Dubai WoodShow. Lumber and wood manufacturers will showcase their expertise, network with international buyers, traders and investors and discover business opportunities. We have succeeded in creating an ideal meeting platform to attract quality visitors, facilitate meeting with new business contacts, increase branding exposure, help establishing business in a new market, and support networking opportunities through this world-class exhibition, added Al Shezawi.



Innovations in timber industry are set to take the largest chunk of the show, where industry gurus from around the world will participate.



We are trying to help keep visitors up to date with key innovations in the timber industry from around the world. This includes all modern technologies and innovative products related to all the wood processing, such as mortising, tenoning, treenailing, beveling, gluing, and intricate joining and inlaying, added Al Shezawi.



The 10th Dubai WoodShow saw a 30 per cent increase in visitors from the GCC region, with countries like Saudi Arabia, India, Pakistan, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar, Iran, Kuwait, and China featured in the top 10 list.  TradeArabia News Service
Sudan said on Monday it was cutting diplomatic ties with Iran after the storming of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran and consulate building elsewhere in Iran.



"In response to the barbaric attacks on the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad ... the government of Sudan announces the immediate severing of ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran," a Foreign Ministry statement said.



Saudi Arabia cut ties with regional rival Iran on Sunday after Iranian protesters attacked its mission there, angered by the Sunni Muslim kingdom's decision to execute a leading Shi'ite cleric.

Earlier, Saudi state television station Ekhbariya reported that Sudan had decided to expel the Iranian ambassador.

Saudi Arabia cut ties with regional rival Iran on Sunday after Iranian protesters attacked its mission there, angered by the Sunni Muslim kingdom's decision to execute a leading Shi'ite cleric.

- Reuters
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced on Monday it was downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran and limiting the number of Iranian diplomats in the country, state news agency Wam reported.



Close allies Saudi Arabia and Bahrain earlier cut ties with Iran after Iranian protesters attacked Saudi mission there, angered by Riyadh's decision to execute a Shi'ite cleric.



"The UAE has decided to reduce the level of diplomatic representation with the Islamic Republic of Iran to the level of a charge d'affaires and to reduce the number of Iranian diplomats in the country," Wam said.



Sudan also said it was cutting diplomatic ties with Iran over the storming of the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran.

"In response to the barbaric attacks on the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Tehran and its consulate in Mashhad ... the government of Sudan announces the immediate severing of ties with the Islamic Republic of Iran," a Foreign Ministry statement said.



Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir accused Iran of creating "terrorist cells" among the kingdom's Shi'ite minority.



Meawhile, Iran said Riyadh had used the embassy incident and a similar attack on its consulate in the Iranian city of Mashhad as an "excuse" to stoke tensions.



Oil prices rose almost two percent, overcoming economic weakness in Asia, as the two big petroleum exporters traded angry words and tensions spilled into other crude producers such as Iraq.



Stock markets across the Gulf dropped sharply, led by Qatar which fell more than 2.5 percent, with geopolitical jitters outweighing any benefit from stronger oil.



Crude importer China declared itself "highly concerned" with the developments, in a rare foray into Middle East diplomacy. The United States and Germany called for restraint, while Russia offered to mediate an end to the dispute.



The tensions threatened to derail efforts to end Syria's five-year-old civil war, where Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab powers support rebel groups against Iran-backed President Bashar al-Assad.



In neighbouring Lebanon, newspapers said the spat had clouded the hopes of filling the vacant presidency that had been raised last month after Iran and Saudi Arabia both voiced support for a power-sharing deal.



Al-Azhar, the Cairo-based seat of Sunni Muslim learning, and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in Saudi Arabia, condemned the attacks on Riyadh's missions and stressed Tehran's obligation to respect the internal affairs of the kingdom. - Reuters
Robert Schielke joined the Grand Hyatt Muscat as the new pastry chef in December last year.

A German national, Schielke came from Hyatt Regency Istanbul, where he had worked as a pastry chef since December 2014. He began his career with Hyatt in 2006 as commis chef at Park Hyatt Zurich, before transferring to Hyatt Regency Kiev in 2008. It was in Kiev that his culinary journey gained momentum, as he was named chef de partie before being promoted to Pastry Chef in 2013.

Having been with the company from the start of his career, chef Schielke has gained immense experience over the years. I am excited to be joining my colleagues in Oman, and I look forward to creating decadent desserts and indulgent treats with my signature touch, he said.  TradeArabia News Service
Movenpick Hotel West Bay Doha was recently awarded the Best corporate social responsibility (CSR) Initiative for the Tourism Sector in Qatar, for its efforts put forth in helping the local community.



The recipients of this award are chosen by an independent committee comprised of academics, media experts, and representatives from the government and the private sector, all of which study and monitor the initiatives taken by Qatar-based companies before announcing the winners.



The award ceremony took place recently under the patronage of H.E Sheikh Abdullah Bin Saud Al-Thani, the Governor of Qatar Central Bank and Chairman of the Sport & Social Contribution Fund (Daam), who also presented the award to the hotels general manager, Ghada Sadek.



Movenpick Hotel West Bay Doha prides itself on the many different activities and initiatives it puts forth, ranging from sustainability, to education and fundraising.



In addition to being a driver of sustainability and living green, the property is also focusing on supporting individuals with special needs and has introduced a dedicated training programme for the students of the Shafallah Centre for Children with Special Needs. During the two-month training programme, the students learned about the importance of teamwork and time management, whilst nurturing self-confidence. Currently, there are two full-time employees at the hotel from the centre.



The hotel also teams up with Right4Children, an organisation supporting disadvantaged young people through education and consequently career opportunities. Participants of the programme undergo essential training in the hotel until they are ready for a full-time job. As a result, the hotel has trained and hired 18 employees from Right4Children since 2013.



Commenting on the award, Sadek said: This award is a reflection of our strong commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility and giving back to the community. We have made a pledge to plant these meaningful principles and have a dedicated Corporate Responsibility team that is active in driving forward new initiatives.



These activities are part of Shine, the global sustainability programme of Movenpick Hotels & Resorts, which focuses on supporting education initiatives. Through Shine, Movenpick Hotels & Resorts aims to give back and contribute to the prosperity of each destination where the hotel company operates.  TradeArabia News Service